Build Concpet: Heretic

[Squelch]

I'm thinking Insurgent.

I guess that works. To the original poster: I noticed a guide written by you for an "executioner" build, 2 handed axe vengence pala... seems there's already a female version of this character stickied in the sorc forums, which is an enchantress focusing on physical rather than fire damage using a 2 handed axe. Not sure which was made first though. *checks* Turns out Diabolic wrote the executress guide 16 days before you wrote yours.

 

[Rane-]

I've been thinking of taking the aura stacking route (this is PvM so it's in no way BM, like Baal's going to complain) as I believe this would be the most fun way to play with this guy.

For the record I will not mention Defiance in any form (Skill/Exile/Merc) as I believe Thorns is better for this build and we can't have both. I have also decided not to inculde HoJ or Doom as we will not have the skill points to synergise them, making them far inferior to other weapons. I have also left out Mercs with Aura's that I do not deem useful to our cause.

So the places we can get aura's are the Weapon, Armour, Merc, and Self. That's 4 aura's total with a few limitations for each catagory.

Weapon:
Fanatisicm(9)
Armour:
Thorns(21)
Merc:
Might(X), Thorns(X)
Self:
Fanatisicm(~20), Concentration(~20), Thorns(~20)

*X is dependant on Merc's level IIRC

From this we can see that we could achieve a nice damaging party-din having Might(X)+Concentration(~20)+Fanatisicm(9)+Thorns(21). I suddenly feel like making a zealot :xmad:. But NO, staying on the track of the 'Missionary' this would be quite a nice boost to the team. With this level of damage though I have to begin to wonder if our guys could in fact kill you in one hit when the 'turn'.

Other ideas have to be brought up such as the following. Is it worth using Bramble Armour and a Might Merc as opposed to say using a Thorns Merc and CoH/Stone/Duress? Also is a Beast Weapon and Concentration(~20) better than Fanatisicm(~20) and a 6sckt weapon with Ber/Um/Shael? And are we giving our friends TOO much damage? We aren't gonna get hit much, but that's a lot of ED... I'm fearing OHK.

*Goes to dwell on these thoughts*

As for the name, I see no reason why this still can't be called a Missionary, it's just the 04/05 version. If we end up turning it into some type of Support-adin then we can try to brainstorm an appropriate name when we know more about him.

 

[mrbadexample]

I guess that works. To the original poster: I noticed a guide written by you for an "executioner" build, 2 handed axe vengence pala... seems there's already a female version of this character stickied in the sorc forums, which is an enchantress focusing on physical rather than fire damage using a 2 handed axe. Not sure which was made first though. *checks* Turns out Diabolic wrote the executress guide 16 days before you wrote yours.

I knew about that. Since the name is Executress, I think I'm ok.

 

[Rane-]

After much thought I have realised that I completly overlooked the idea of a Might Merc with Bramble armour :thumbsup:. If our buddies are indeed too strong, the bramble armour can always be removed and/or the Merc re-raised with a different skill. For now though I have decided on a Bramble Might Merc.

As for the Pally, I have thought of an excellent setup which costs more Runes that cubing a Zod, twice. Seeing as though I have no way to afford something of this expense, I will share the 'budget' build I am working on.

Shako/Guilleames (Um)
Mara's
Kingslayer Phaseblade
Duress Loricated Mail [cause it looks cool :xsmile4:]
Up'd HoZ (Um)
RF
Up'd Up'd Nightsmoke
BK/Soj
Crafted Blood Gloves/Rends
Gore/Toe

Main problem I'm having is getting 100% Crushing Blow AND still having enough mana to fuel this build. Seeing as though this is PvM we need to worry about mana. We don't want to have to sit around with Meditation between battles as we'd like what remains of our army to move on before the 16secs is over, so we need some way to keep up the mana count. Between Smite at 6fpa and Conversion at 8fpa, Conversion is the one we have to worry about as it uses more mana over time. Leech doesn't work so we're reduced to 3 things; mana, mana regen, and dmg goes to mana. Shako, RF, SoJ, and Nightsmoke WILL take care of this (my avenger is fine with them in hell and he uses ~33 mana a sec). This build only needs to sustain ~12 mana a sec. Nightsmoke is the real mvp here, also granting us the 10res in the process. My thoughts are whether we need Shako and/or a Soj if we have Smoke on. BK and Guilleames would definatly be nicer to have damage wise. I am also slightly worried about Smoke's effectiveness as we will have more defence than my avenger does, meaning we get hit less, and hence recieve less mana.

As for CB, Toe can be used over Gore, but i think that 30% r/w is a tad too important. Let's just say I'd prefer to get CB elsewhere. I am also unsure if the extra 35 str for Rends is worth it. Is 35 Str worth 115%ED? We're talkin about smite here so that's like a whopping extra ~180 dmg at most. Would some extra life/mana with 10% CB gloves be better?

Lastly I'm worried about the Lifetap on Dracs, hence why I haven't listed them. I would think that the situation of 'monster A being tap'd, then converted, then in turn keeping monster B alive while he attacks monster A' would be a little too common. Again I will think more on these issues.

EDIT: For the record if you can afford this sword it would be nice;
Shako(Um)
Mara's
Phase(UmUmMalBerBerBer)
Duress
HoZ
RF
Smoke
SoJ
Crafted 10%CB/10%IAS
Gore