Vindicator/Templar Author: Pravda Version: 1.10 Page 1 Navigation Who am I and Why a Guide? Introduction Statistics Skills Equipment Dueling Strategies Conclusion Who am I and Why a Guide? Hi all! I’ve been reading the forums for a while, but haven’t posted much before, except for a few replies. My nick is Pravda and I play on the U.S. East realm. I’ve seen countless questions about Vindicator/Templars lately (ever since the 1.10 patch came out), so I decided to make a guide. This guide is aimed more towards the inexperienced players rather than the veterans. I have played Vindicator/Templars for quite a while now, since it was my first Paladin build, and it's still my favorite. I have also played other Paladin subclasses such as Liberators, Judicators, Zealots, Avengers, and more, so I feel fairly experienced when it comes to the Paladin class. I know that there are players out there who are much more experienced than I am, so take this for what it is, “a guide for beginners”. Obviously, most people have their own way of doing things, so what works well for me might work less satisfactoryily for other players. If my suggestions don’t suit your style of playing, try something else instead. However, if you feel like making something that can be competitive in both “Paladin vs. all” and “Paladin vs. Paladin”, this is the build for you. Abbreviations AR = attack Rating Avenger = a paladin whose main attack is vengeance bm = bad mannered CB = crushing blow Crusader = a paladin whose main attack is charge def = defense dex = dexterity dmg = damage dr = damage reduction ds = deadly strike ed = enhanced damage ene = energy fbr = faster block rate fhr = faster hit recovery fcr = faster cast rate FoH = fists of the heavens fps = frames per second frw = faster run/walk ias = increased attack speed icb = increased chance of blocking itd = ignores target defense liberator = a paladin whose attacks are blessed hammers, FoH (only 1.09), and charge ll = life leech ml = mana leech ow = open wounds PvM = player vs. monster PvP = player vs. player ranger = a paladin who uses a bow str = strength v/t = Vindicator/Templar vita = vitality Zealot = a paladin whose main attack is Zeal Introduction A vindicator/Templar (v/t from now on) is a paladin who uses smite and fists of the heavens as his main attacks in combination with fanaticism and conviction. Many have also incorporated charge as one of their attacks, which is a great skill that comes in handy very often. Thus, a v/t can deal two sorts of damage, physical and elemental, which makes it versatile and suitable for PvP. Smite Smite is a skill that lets the paladin use his shield to hit an enemy. The drawbacks with smite are that it’s a relatively low-damage attack and that it doesn’t leech (not that leech is very effective in 1.10 PvP anyway). Why smite for PvP then, you might think? The answer is that smite can’t be blocked, has knock back, and ignores target’s defense, which means that you won’t worry about your attack rating. That is, if your enemy is within your weapon range, you will always hit. Your smite damage will depend on what shield you are using and not on your weapon damage, so the shield will be important for you. It’s also important that you have enough ias when using smite, so you can attack the fastest way possible. You can find the smite-ias table at http://www.diabloii.net/characters/paladin/ias-smite.shtml. As you can see, 6fps is the fastest smite you can get, and is the speed you should aim for. I copied this from the paladin FAQ: Things that work with smite: Crushing blow Chance to cast something on striking Hit blinds target Hit freezes target Open Wounds Enhanced Damage +Damage modifier on the Redeemer (unique Mighty Scepter) and Astreon's Iron Ward (unique Caduceus) Curses such as Life Tap, Amplify Damage... Things that won’t work with smite: Life or Mana leech Deadly Strike Elemental Damage +Max/Min Damage The +damage modifier is specially useful in PvP, since it adds the straight amount of damage indicated (it won't be displayed in the character screen) to your attack, without being affected by the PvP penalty, Damage Reduction... Fists of the Heavens Fists of the heavens (FoH from now on) in combination with conviction can be a very effective attack in PvP. However, it’s easy for your opponent to negate FoH by stacking light resist (i.e. to use far more light resist than he needs to hit max), which many times limits its usefulness as an attack. Why place skill points into a skill that can be negated then? The simple answer is: to force your opponent to stack light resist instead of using better items. For example, a zealot, who normally uses a Herald of Zakarum shield, Verdungo’s, and max/AR/vita charms, will most likely have to switch those for a 4xperfect topaz shield, Thundergod’s, and light resist charms, to have a chance to beat you. Thus, by switching gear, this zealot will lose all the good mods from the shield and belt, and will also deal lower damage and have less attack rating. Also be aware of that FoH has a casting delay of 1 second, which means that after having cast a FoH on your enemy, you have to wait one second before you can cast another one. Faster cast rate will only speed up the casting animation a few milliseconds, which means that having faster cast rate items on a V/T is rather pointless. Charge (optional) Charge is a skill that lets you attack from a distance by running up to your enemy and deliver a hit. The attack is very hard for another player to dodge since it’s super fast and one hit can do serious damage. Charge in combination with pressing the shift key (shift-charge) is also very useful when you need to move quickly. So what are the drawbacks with charge then? Well, first of all, it’s still very buggy. Sometimes you will freeze when charging and sometimes it won’t work at all. Hopefully Blizzard will fix this soon, but you never know. Moreover, you cannot use charge if you are in melee range. That is, if your enemy is within your weapon range, you can’t use charge unless you first take a step back. I strongly suggest that you take advantage of charge in some duels, since it’s a great skill to hunt down retreating opponents with. By taking advantage of charge, I don’t mean charging around with a Silence phase blade, but instead using a high damage weapon such as a Fury berserker axe or similar. Statistics This is pretty simple and most PvP builds use the same stat allocation. Sometimes it’s useful to put some extra stat points into strength and dexterity, in case you get hold of a new item that has higher stat requirements than your current one. Strength Enough to wear your heaviest item. If you plan to use enigma, you might not have to put any points into strength at all. Make sure you have enough strength on your weapon switch, too. Otherwise you won’t be able to equip your Paladin again after it dies (and trust me, it will). Dexterity Enough to have 75% chance to block. Be aware of that shields have different chances of blocking. For example, you will need more dex to have 75% chance to block with a Stormshield than with a Herald of Zakarum. Thus, if you plan on using more than one shield, calculate your needed dex based on the shield with the lowest chance of blocking. Vitality All your leftover skill points should go into vita. Aim for at least 2000+ life at level 90. Energy None. Skills There are many different ways of allocating your skill points. Some players choose to max smite and have a weaker FoH, while other players choose to max FoH and it’s synergies and have a weaker smite. Whatever you decide, just remember it’s a v/t you are making, and not something else. I will explain my choices here: Combat Skills Sacrifice (1 point) Prerequisite for FoH. Smite (1-20) I definitely recommend that you max this skill. You are making a v/t with an emphasis on the v. As I explained above, FoH can be negated, which means that with a lower level smite, you might run into problems. Holy Bolt (1 point) Prerequisite for holy shield. Zeal (1 point) Prerequisite for FoH. This skill is also useful when leveling your Paladin. Charge (1 points) Prerequisite for holy shield. A very useful skill, as mentioned above, but only one point here. With skill charms and items your charge level will hopefully be 25+ anyway. Vengeance (1 point) Prerequisite for FoH. Blessed Hammers (1 point) Prerequisite for holy shield. Conversion (1 point) Prerequisite for FoH. Holy Shield (20 points) Maxing this skill is a must. Your smite damage depends more on Holy Shield than on smite itself. Holy Shield will also boost your defense which is imperative when dueling melee-oriented characters. Fists of the Heavens (10+ points) It’s not necessary to max this skill, but it may help you in some cases. I think around 10 points is enough if you plan on dueling only other Paladins (since most experienced Paladins stack light resist). However, if you plan on also dueling other classes, maxing this skill could be beneficial. Just make sure to calculate how many points you need in holy shock (synergy) to get an optimal FoH damage before putting any points in here. Offensive Auras Might (1 point) Prerequisite for fanaticism and conviction. Holy Fire (1 point) Prerequisite for conviction. Thorns (1 point) Prerequisite for conviction. Blessed Aim (1 point) Prerequisite for conviction. Concentration (1 point) Prerequisite for fanaticism. Could be used in combination with smite, but then you would lose the ias from fanaticism (unless you plan to be bm and stack auras using the Beast rune word). Holy Freeze (1 point) Prerequisite for conviction. A very useful skill in 1.09 when aura flashing was possible. Less useful in 1.10 so only 1 point here. Holy Shock (1+ points) Synergy for FoH. Adding points here will increase your FoH damage. How many is up to you to calculate. Sanctuary (1 point) Prerequisite for conviction. Fanaticism (20 points) Maxing this skill is a must. It will provide you with ias and ed. Conviction (1+ points) I dumped the rest of my skill points here after having maxed smite, FoH, holy shield, and fanaticism. However, I made my v/t in the previous patch, so you might want to add points here before putting lots of points into FoH and holy shock. Notice that this skill is capped at level 25, so plan out what items you are going to use before putting points into this skill. Any point over 25 will be a waste. Defensive Auras Prayer (1 point) Prerequisite for vigor. Defiance (1+ points) A useful aura if you don’t plan to go with a strong FoH. Defiance also is a synergy for holy shield which will boost your defense. Cleansing (1 point) Prerequisite for vigor. A very useful PvM aura. Vigor (1 point) A one point wonder. Very handy to have when you want to move quickly. It’s not necessary to have a point in vigor, but I strongly recommend it. Meditation (0-1 point) If you plan to use FoH a lot, you might want to add a point into this skill. I don’t think it’s necessary though. Resist Fire, Resist Cold, Resist Lightning, Redemption, Salvation (0 points) My v/t has the following skill allocation at level 99 together with all the prerequisites and vigor (which was the most common skill allocation in 1.09 I guess): Smite - Max FoH - Max Fanaticism - Max Holy Shield - Max Conviction - 11 As some people pointed out after having read an earlier draft of this guide, it’s better to use a combination of FoH and holy shock instead of maxing FoH (like I did), since it will give you a higher damage. I still recommend that you max smite, fanaticism, and holy shield, before spending the rest of your skill points in a combination of FoH, conviction, and holy shock. Equipment I choose gear depending on whom I duel. It can get a little bit cumbersome sometimes to switch gear all the time, so if you want to stick to one setup, just make sure you fulfill the following: · close to 50% DR · 75% chance of blocking · 75% resist cold, fire, and poison · 85-95%% max light resist and still have 85-95% after someone locks a level 25 conviction on you (only if you plan on dueling FoH Paladins) · at least ~2k average smite damage · at least 27% FHR · at least 8000 defense with holy shield (preferably a lot more). · at least 1500 life at level 85+ (preferably a lot more) Now, your goal when choosing gear is to get as much life and +skills as possible and still meet the requirements above. Here are some viable alternatives I think are worth mentioning. I know that some of the items below are hard to get, so I wrote down some cheaper ones. However, be aware of that equipping a v/t isn’t exactly cheap, so it might take a while before you have all the items you want. Also, just reminder, don’t be bm and use items that come with inherent auras such as Exile or Doom, since they give the user an unfair advantage in a duel. I haven’t mentioned any items that, in my opinion, would be unsuitable for PvP purposes (e.g. slows target or chance of casting something) or have ridiculously high strength requirements (e.g. Templar’s Might). RW = runeword Helm Harlequin Crest – Possibly the best helm for a v/t. It comes with +2 skills, a huge life and mana boost, and 10% DR. Great mods and easy to get, too. Crown of Ages – Interesting alternative if the mods are good. The drawback is the strength requirement. Vampire Gaze – Only use this helm if you lack dr. Armor Enigma (RW) - Awesome mods on this armor. +2 skills, 45frw, huge defense, 8%DR, 5% increase in max life. If you plan to use this armor, keep your hands off the teleport when dueling, since most people, including me, consider it bm. Shaftstop – Still one of my favorite armors. 30%dr and +60life makes this a top choice. Easy to get, too. Chains of Honor (RW) – Another great armor. +2 skills, 8%DR, and 65% resist all, together with life replenish and a boost in defense. Guardian Angel – Good armor if you want to raise your maximum resistances. If you plan to use this armor it will save you some stat points since it comes with an increased chance of blocking. Good defense and +1 skills aren’t totally wrong either. Arkaine’s Valor – Personally, I think there are better armors than Valor for a v/t. Sure, it adds a lot of vitality, but considering its high strength requirement, you won’t gain that much extra life, since you have to put more stat points into strength. If you plan on using it, make sure you get one with +2 to paladin skills. Lionheart (RW) – One of my favorite rune words. It comes with 70 stat points and 30 to resist all. Gives more life than valor, and the runes are cheap, too. Duriel’s Shell – I think this could be a good armor for a v/t if you have your dr solved elsewhere. It adds lots of life, +15 to strength, and resistances. Another good thing is the “cannot be frozen” mod, which will give you more flexibility when choosing rings. Stone (RW) – High defense armor, which can be useful when dueling melee-oriented opponents. It also comes with 42 stats, fhr, and resist all. Belt Thundergod’s Vigor – The best belt you can have if you plan to duel characters who deal lightning damage, such as charge strike Amazons, lightning trappers, FoH Paladins, etc. The 10% to max lightning resists along with some absorb makes it very handy (no to mention the 40 stat points). Verdungo’s Hearty Cord – The best belt if you duel melee characters, since it comes with dr and lots of vita. String of Ears – Feels kind of outdated in 1.10 since leech is nerfed heavily in PvP (not that smite leeches anyway). Still a good belt if you need dr and can’t get hold of Verdungo’s. Trang-Oul’s Girth – Adds life and has “cannot be frozen”, which makes this a good option if you have enough dr from other items. Weapon Silence phase blade (RW) – One of the best Smiter weapons around. +2 skills, 20fhr, and 75% resist all makes this a top choice. It might be hard to get hold of since Vex runes are rare. Silence berserker axe (RW) – Same mods as above. A berserker axe has two advantages over a phase blade. Its range and damage. The disadvantage is the speed. If you plan to use this, you will need to add some outside ias to reach the desired 6fps smite. Rosebranded/Priest’s War Scepter/flail of quickness – I’ve never used war scepters, but I know that some players do. If you plan on using one, socket it with Um or Ber runes for a chance of doing extra damage. Kingslayer (RW) – My favorite weapon. It has 33% chance of crushing blow and 50% chance of open wounds, which makes it one of the better Smiter weapons in my opinion. Good thing too is that the runes are pretty easy to come by. Wizardspike – Some people use this weapon on their weapon switch for casting. It will give your Paladin a nice boots to mana along with high resistances and fcr. Personally, I prefer not to use the switch for casting when dueling other paladins. Reason being that charge is so fast. If you are casting a FoH, your opponent can charge you before you can even react, leaving you with two less-desired options. Smiting with Wizardspike or switching to your main weapon. If you decide to switch, he could get a few hits in before you can even begin to smite him. However, I sometimes do use Wizardspike, but only when I know I won’t use smite. Fury berserker axe (RW) – A viable weapon in my opinion (if you plan to charge a lot). It comes with 66% chance of open wounds and 33% chance of deadly strike. However, I believe there are better weapons that are a lot cheaper. Malice (RW) – Only useful mod on this runeword would be 100% chance of open wounds. Notice that it also comes with a very unwanted mod, namely “drain life”. If you plan to use this runeword, try to have some life replenish. Steel, Strength (RW) – Decent options if you are poor. Make sure you will hit 6fps smite if you plan to use any of these rune words. The Redeemer – I’ve never used this weapon, but according to a post in the forum by Ragnarod, this weapon will add its +damage to smite. The drawback with this weapon would be its short range. Would definitely be worth trying out though. Rings Ravenfrost – The most useful mod on this ring is the “cannot be frozen” which is imperative in PvP. If you get frozen you will attack and move slower, which will put you in a serious disadvantage. If you don’t have a Cham rune socketed somewhere, you will need one of these. Bul-Kathos’ Wedding Band - +1 skills and +0.5 life per level can’t go wrong. Use at least one of these (2 if possible). Soj – Poor man’s choice. I’ve seen a lot of people in the forums and in games that are using SoJs on their v/ts even though they can afford Bul-Kathos’. Don’t! You won’t need the extra mana. I’ve never run out of mana in a duel. Only use a SoJ if you can’t get hold of Bul-Kathos’. If you plan to use FoH a lot, use a wizard spike. It will give you plenty of mana. Wisp Projector – Only useful mod on this ring would be the 10-20% lightning absorb it comes with. If you lack absorb and can’t use Thundergod’s, this ring can be useful for you. Amulets Mara’s Kaleidoscope – One of the best choices for a v/t. +2 skills 20 stats (5 unwanted in energy) and 20-30 resist all. If you don’t have a nice crafted or rare amulet, this is the amulet for you. Highlord’s - +1 skills, light resist, and 20ias. Useful amulet if you lack ias or if you plan to charge a lot, since it also comes with deadly strike. The Mahim-Oak Curio – A cheaper alternative to Mara’s. Boots Waterwalk – Waterwalk is a good choice for a v/t. They can have up to +65 life along with 15 dex, which would give your Paladin a nice life boost. Gore Riders – Interesting option because of 10% chance of OW and 15% chance of Crushing Blow. Sandtrek – Comes with up to 30 stat points, fhr, and good defense which makes them another good choice. Ethereal ones would be best since they repair themselves. Marrowwalk – Another good new unique. If you plan to use these, don’t use the life tap charges, since it’s bm. Classic rares – I play on East where Soul Spurs are the most common ones. Plenty of stats, frw, and (light) resists make these one of the best choices for a v/t. If you don’t like dupes, use something else instead. Crafted boots – Can get pretty good mods if you’re lucky. 30frw, 10fhr, some dex, life, and good resists. Gloves Bloodfist – One of the best gloves around in my opinion. Easy to get and has great mods, such as 30fhr, 10ias, and 40life. Crafted gloves – Can get great mods such as ias, str, dex, crushing blow, and resists. Rare gloves – Same as above, except crushing blow won’t spawn on these. Magefists – No, No, No! I’ve seen lots of players thinking that Magefists will make their FoH cast faster. Don’t use them. It’s not worth the millisecond faster casting animation. Shield Now, there are, in my opinion, only a few choices here. Using an elite Paladin shield is a must (only exception is Herald of Zak) since they have the highest smite damage. Also, when choosing a shield, try to get one with a low damage range, since smite isn’t exactly a one-hit killer. Hitting for average damage is more important than having a high maximum. Herald of Zakarum – Awesome mods on this shield. +skills, stats, resists, and enhanced defense makes this shield a top choice. It will have lower smite damage than an elite Paladin shield, but its overall mods makes it superior to most rare elite shields. Once the ladder season ends, try to get hold of an upgraded one (unless you play ladder and are fortunate to have one), which will be the best possible Smiter shield. Alma Negra – Pretty good shield with high defense and high damage. The drawback is the lack of resistances. Griswold’s Honor – Interesting option. The 1.10 version of this shield is much improved, since it now comes with 45 resist all and 20icb in addition to the three sockets. The damage is somewhat erratic though (i.e. low min and high max). Rare elites – Rare elite Paladin shields can get very good mods. All elite paladin shields have the same average damage (except rondache which has 0.5 more), but different chances of blocking. Sacred targes have the highest chance of blocking which means that you will need less dexterity to have 75% chance to block. If you plan to use one, make sure it at least has +2 skills, fbr, icb and resists. Otherwise, use Herald. Rhyme (RW) – This is a good alternative if you can’t afford a Herald of Zakarum. Try to find a sacred targe or rondache with inherent resistances to use, since they have the best block and lowest strength requirement. Jeweler’s XXX of Deflecting - I haven’t seen many of these around. I only know one guy who has one. A shield like this could solve all your DR problems if you socket it with Ber runes. If you have lots of perfect gems collecting dust in your stash you can always try to cube one. I wouldn’t recommend it though, since these mods are very rare. I must have spent hundreds of gems trying to cube one. Rosebranded/Priest’s XXX of Deflecting – I doubt many people have shields with these mods. I’ve only seen a Priest’s of Deflecting one time on East. What to Socket Socketing is pretty simple. If you need more dr, use Ber runes. If you want more life, use Jah runes or perfect rubies, and so on. Armor and Helm Ber, Jah, Lo, and Cham are all good options. If you can’t afford runes, use perfect rubies instead for extra life. You can always unsocket your armor and helm later. Some jewels also have good mods you might want to use. If you plan to use your weapon switch and want a Cham for “cannot be frozen”, make sure you put it in your armor or helm instead of in your shield. Otherwise you won’t have the “cannot be frozen” mod on your switch. Shield If you want more resists, socket your shield with an Um. It will give you more resists than if you socket it in a helm or armor. Ber, Cham, and Lo are also good options. If you lack a certain resist (e.g. fire or lightning), you can always use a perfect gem in your shield. Weapon Make sure you have enough ias for a 6fps smite. Otherwise you might want to socket your weapon with a Shael rune. Bers and Ums are both good option for a weapon, since they have a chance to increase your damage. I personally prefer Um runes, partly because they are cheaper than Bers, and partly because open wounds is very helpful in some duels. Charms Paladin combat charms are the key to this build. Without these charms, your smite damage will suffer, and it will be hard for your to be competitive in duels. Try to get 10 Paladin combat charms (with life if possible) and fill the leftover slots in your inventory with life/resists charms. If you can’t get hold of that many combat charms, use vita and resists charms instead. Some people use a few offensive charms to raise their fanaticism and conviction, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Combat charms are the only way to go. My Setups This is what I use on my v/t. I plan on getting an upgraded Herald once the ladder season is over. Against Melee characters Helm – Ber’d shako Weapon - Silence phase blade or Kingslayer berserker axe Armor - Enigma Belt - 40/15 Verdungo’s Boots - Classic rares or Marrowwalk Gloves - Bloodfist Shield - Ber’d rare sacred targe (+2 skills, 20fbr, 15icb, 41res all, rep life, 27life) Ring 1 - 20dex Raven Frost Ring 2 - Bul-Kathos’ Amulet - 29% Mara’s or Highlord’s (depending on if I use Kingslayer or not) Comment: A Herald is probably a better shield, but I like this rare one, and I’ve had it for a while. Sometimes, when I want more defense, I use an ethereal Herald. This setup gives me 49%DR, 75% resist all, ~3k average smite dam (with Silence), and ~2500life, and works alright for me in all-around duels. Against Casters Helm – Lo’d shako Weapon - Silence phase blade or Kingslayer berserker axe Armor - Um’d Guardian Angel Belt - Thundergod’s Boots - Classic rares Gloves - Bloodfist Shield - Ber’d rare sacred targe Ring 1 - 20dex Raven Frost Ring 2 - Bul-Kathos Amulet - 29% Mara’s, Highlord’s, or Nokozan Relic Comment: This setup gives me 95% lightning resist, 90-95% fire resist, and 90% cold resist. It also gives me somewhat lower life and smite damage, but works well against most sorceresses and trappers. Against Paladins with FoH Helm – Lo’d shako Weapon - Silence phase blade or Kingslayer berserker axe Armor - Lo’d Shaftstop Belt - Thundergod’s Boots - Classic rares Gloves - Bloodfist Shield - Ber’d rare sacred targe Ring 1 - 20dex Raven Frost Ring 2 - Bul-Kathos’ Amulet - 29% Mara’s or Highlord’s Comment: I have yet to figure out a good way to get close to 50% dr and at the same time use Enigma and Thundergods. This is pretty much what I used on my v/t in 1.09 except that I used a Stormshield instead. In addition to the items described above, I also use 10 combat charms with 39-40life, 9 small charms with 19-20life/10-11light resist, and an Annihilus. Using as much light resist as I do isn’t needed if you plan to duel only other classes, but is necessary if you duel FoH paladins, since conviction will lower your resistances. A cheap alternative to get more light resist is to stick 4 perfect topazes in an elite paladin shield. If you can’t get hold of high-level runes, I would suggest a setup like this for all-around dueling: Helm – shako (perfect ruby) Weapon - Steel phase blade Armor - Shaftstop (perfect ruby) Belt - String Boots - Waterwalk Gloves - Bloodfist Shield - Herald of Zakarum (Um or perfect diamond) Ring 1 - Raven Frost Ring 2 - Soj or Bul-Kathos’ Amulet - Mahim-Oak Comment: This setup would give you more than enough DR and should work alright. You won’t get max resistances with these items alone, so you might want to have some resist charms in your inventory. Dueling Strategies I will list some of the most common classes and how I go about to duel them. Some classes are fairly new (e.g. fireball Sorceress), which means, I don’t have as much experience dueling those as some of the older classes. Now, I use some absorb, which some players feel is bm since it (together with high resists) may nullify an elemental attack. However, I feel that the key to PvP is versatility. If you spend all your points into one attack and its synergies to reach a ridiculously high elemental damage, you can’t really complain. It was your own fault not to make your character more versatile. If you don’t agree with me, then don’t use absorb against them. Most of the classes below, I’ve only dueled in public duels, which is, as you know, a circus. Some of the strategies below won’t work in public duels, since people in those games, more often than not, exploit items with inherent auras, skill charges, and teleport. The organized duels I have had, were either with friends, or in Temple (which sadly doesn’t exist anymore). Also be aware of that I listed some classes as easy to beat. However, I know that there are some skillful players out there, who play those classes, and who possibly would wipe the floor with my v/t. Obviously, I have omitted some classes, partly because I haven’t had a chance to duel them a lot (e.g. throw barbs and poison Necromancers) and partly because my memory is short . Just a heads up, make sure that you always have walk on when dueling melee chars and Bowzons. Otherwise your chance of blocking and defense will suffer. Assassins MA – Easy duel in my opinion. Be aware of that if she uses dual claws and clawblock, she can block your smite. However, you should be able to smite her to death before she can barely touch you. If she uses the chaos runeword (to use ww), drop a few FoH on her, or just keep on smiting. Trappers – This can be a hard duel. Make sure your Guardian Angel and Thundergod’s are on. You have to be fast when dueling a trapper. Once you get into her screen, she will try to lock you in a series of Mind Blasts, which is very annoying. With a Guardian on and max resists, her traps won’t do that much damage (even with full synergies), but your life will still wither away. Sometimes, if I have enough resists, traps won’t hurt me at all. If this would happen, I usually take some resists off. Otherwise this would be a very boring duel. I usually use my Kingslayer berserker axe against trappers. Reason being open wounds and range. You won’t be able to land that many hits before you end up in a series of Mind Blasts, and if you are able to land a charge or smite before she locks you, you have a good change of doing an extra 3-400 dam due to open wounds. I usually duel them like this. Shift-charge around her in an unpredictable pattern. Use vigor if your run/walk is low to make it faster and harder for her to catch you in a Mind Blast lock. Once we are in the same screen, it’s basically who is the fastest to namelock. Me with charge or she with Mind Blast. If I’m able to land a charge, I follow up with fanaticism and smite and try to get as many hits off before she can lock me with a Mind Blast or runs away. If you get caught in a series Mind Blast, shift-charge away until you’re out of the lock and repeat. If she runs away from you, charge again, or switch to FoH and conviction and kill her. Amazons Javazons – An easy duel. Just smite them to death. If the Amazon runs away and starts throwing bolts or javelins at you, charge after her (but try to avoid the missiles) or use FoH. Also, if the Amazon uses charged strike, you might want to have Thundergods on. Bowzons/Hybrids – They will most likely use a bow against you. If they are stupid enough to use javelins, just do as above. The strategy here is pretty much the same as for trappers. Shift-charge around the Amazon and try to avoid the arrows. Then charge in and switch to smite. If she runs, you have two options. You can either charge her again or you can use FoH. Most Amazons have low resists so one or two hits with FoH will most likely kill them. I always use my Kingslayer berserker axe and Highlord’s against Amazons, due to the fact that Silence phaseblade is a horrible charging weapon. This should be an easy duel for you. Barbarians Zerkers, Concentrate barbs – Just smite them to death. Your smite will constantly knock the barb back so he won’t be able to attack. However, a melee barb can do huge damage should he be able to land a hit. This is in general an easy duel, but two or three hits from the barb can possibly kill you. If you are low on life, back off. To get some distance between you and the barb, use holy freeze before switching to FoH and conviction. If you use open wounds, you can try this strategy: charge in and get a couple of smites off, then back away and let open wounds drain some of the barb’s life, while you drop some FoHs on him. Then charge in again and finish off with smite. WW barbs – If the barb has high AR, you can run into problems here. Especially if he uses a high damage weapon such as Botd colossus blade. Some people suggest that you try to get your defense as high as possible for this duel, so the barb will have a harder time to hit. That is, you can use an ethereal stone armor, etc., have your defiance aura on, and smite them. I have never tried that strategy, which is probably the reason why ww barbs sometimes can be hard for me. I usually play defensively against ww barbs and use FoH and conviction instead of smite. It is possible to beat ww barbs with smite though, but I rarely bother to even try it, since FoH works well enough. Since most barbs have lots of life, it might take a while before he dies from FoH. If that’s the case, you might want to use a Wizardspike for casting, since it gives a nice boost to mana. The strategy is pretty simple. Just FoH him and try to dodge his ww. If he runs out of mana, you can charge in and smite. Necromancers Bone Necromancers – Very hard duel for you. You have to be very lucky (or skilled) to win against an experienced Bonemancer. He will probably try to prevent you from getting close to him by surrounding you, or himself, with bone prisons. If he has low light resist, it will be somewhat easier, since you can try to lock him with conviction and drop a few FoH. Basically, try to get close to him by using shift charge. If he surrounds himself with Bone Prisons, you can either try your luck with FoH, or just run away and wait until the prisons disappear. If you are able to get close to him, charge in and smite. Some Necromancers will probably be able to tank your smite with bone spirits and win. If he succeeds in surrounding you with Bone Prisons, your only chance is to use FoH and hope for the best. I always use my Kingslayer berserker axe for these duels, since it’s a better charging weapon than Silence. Sorceress Orb/Thunderstorm – Fairly easy duel. Orb doesn’t do nearly as much damage as in 1.09, and thunderstorm will be a joke against your light resist. Once the Sorceress is in your screen, shift-charge up to her with vigor (to make it faster). When you are close, switch to fanaticism, charge in and try to get a few smites off before she teleports away. Then repeat. Don’t namelock her from a long distance since the Bloodmoor is full of puddles that you can get stuck in (that will drain a lot of your mana). Another tactic I’ve tried a few times is to charge her with conviction on and then switch to FoH. Both strategies work fine for me. Fireball – I have a friend of mine who made the very first fireball Sorceress (at least the first I ever saw on East) in 1.09. It worked pretty well in duels, but was not nearly as powerful as they are now. However, if you have Guardian Angel and Nokozan Relic on, you should win this duel. Those items will give you 95% fire resists, and if you want to go even further, you can exchange one of your rings for a Dwarf Star. The strategy is the same as above. Blizzard – This type of Sorceress, I don’t like. They do insane damage that is very hard to protect yourself against. I’m too lazy to bother stacking cold resists and absorb, but it would probably help. Play passively in these matches. Don’t stand under a blizzard or you will be dead within a second. I usually try to use lock her with conviction by shift charging around her (with conviction on) and then drop a FoH once I get a chance. If she teleports up to you, try to get a few smites off and run away. This can be a very long duel if both players play passively. You might want to consider using a Wizardspike since shift-charging costs a lot of mana. You can’t afford to make many mistakes in this duel due to the big damage of blizzard. Thus, a very hard duel for you. Nova – Pretty much a joke to you. With your light resist, she won’t be able to hurt you. What also is funny, is that she has to be close to you in able to hit with novas . Druids Melee – Just smite them to death. If the druid has high AR and you notice that he’s hitting more than what is comfortable for you, just back off (use holy freeze when retreating), switch to FoH and conviction and let open wounds do some work (if you use it). Wind druids – Can be very hard to beat. I always use my Kingslayer berserker axe for these duels, since they will play passively (which means, I will get less opportunities to hit). I usually shift-charge around and try to avoid the tornadoes, then charge in and smite. If he runs, I just charge in again. If you see that the druid is casting tornadoes at you, don’t run straight into them, since they can stun and will hurt you seriously. FoH is rather useless in this duel, since wind druids use cyclone armor, which will nullify your FoH. Paladins Paladin vs. Paladin duels have changed a lot since the last patch. Now duels are mostly over in less than a minute and many times, they won’t even last that long. One reason is that paladins do more damage now than before due to synergies. Skill points are being spent in synergies to increase damage instead of in another attack. Another factor is charge. Now it’s super fast and very hard to dodge. You can use charge to be in your opponents face within less than a second and smite him before he can even react. The amount of subclasses has decreased, too, which makes it less fun. I hope that people in these forums will come up with new variants of paladins that are viable in Paladin vs. Paladin, since all I see on East nowadays are Hammerdins, FoHers, v/ts, and zealots. Zealots – Should be an easy duel easy for you. Just smite him or use FoH (most zealots have low resists), whatever you prefer. If he uses a high damage weapon, such as a Botd berserker axe, he can seriously hurt you, so be aware. In 1.09 smite was weaker than zeal due to leech and the fact that most zealots exploited the eth bug, which fortunately is fixed. Avengers – Same as above, except that they will likely have better resists. Crusaders – Can be very dangerous, especially if he has smite incorporated in his attack. If you get a chance, cast a FoH to check his light res. If it’s low, try to weaken him with a couple of FoH before he gets close. Charge can do serious damage and a fully synergized crusader might kill you in one hit. Best bet here is to play offensively. Charge him before he can charge you, and then switch to smite. Try to have him close to you all the time, so that he can’t use charge. Liberators – The liberator was one of my favorite Paladin PvP builds before 1.10, but isn’t anymore due to the ridiculously high damage they now can deal. Most experienced liberators will stack enough light resist to nullify your FoH, so your two main attacks here will be charge and smite. However, just trying a FoH won’t hurt. If you notice any damage, just continue to use FoH him until he is dead. Play passively since 1-2 hammers can possibly kill you, so you can’t afford to make many mistakes. Open wounds will help you a lot in this duel, so I strongly suggest you use it. Wait for him to make the first move. He will probably try to surround himself with hammers all the time. Try to connect with a charge from the bottom-left direction of the screen if he moves outside his Hammer field. Once you are close to him, smite him a couple of times, run away, and let open wounds drain some of his life, and repeat. If he charges you, smite him and run away. If you stand next to him (bottom-left direction), his hammers won’t hit you. Still, your smite will knock him back so if you have him namelocked and follow up with a smite you might move with him and accidentally walk into a hammer. One of the harder duels for you due to the high damage of hammers. Pure FoH – Pretty much a joke. Just smite him to death, and hear him call you an absorber. I don’t know why anyone would want to make a pure PvP FoH Paladin, since FoH can be negated so easily. Vindicator/Templar – Make sure you have enough light resists to negate his FoH, because you can be sure that he has done the same. If he uses a silence phaseblade, you can try to use a zerker and try to take advantage of charge. However, considering the defense on most v/ts is high, you shouldn’t expect to hit with charge a lot. Anyhow, these duels mostly come down to who has got the better smite damage and highest life. Conclusion To summarize this guide, a v/t is a paladin subclass that is suitable for PvP. It can attack both from a distance and in close, which many other Paladin subclasses can't. This makes the v/t good for both "Paladin vs. Paladin" and "Paladin vs. all" duels. Everything written above is based on my own experiences. Obviously, there are other ways to make a v/t. Some better and some worse… I’d like to thank all the people who commented the first draft of this guide. Your input was appreciated. Cheers, Pravda 0 Please log in to post... Please log in. Use your Diii.net Forum account. Username: Remember me? Password: Want to register?     Lost password?