- Jan 1, 2011
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Gather round friends and I will tell you the story of the good Abbot Ciaran and the bear.
Now some of you will remember that Ciaran was one of the 12 Apostles of Ireland and the first abbot of Clonmacnoise. Most don’t know that Ciaran also roamed the lands of Sanctuary as a Paladin Patriarch. As befitted an abbot of Ireland, Ciaran roamed Sanctuary with his magical Shillelagh “Insight” and was accompanied by a rogue mercenary that wielded a magical bow named Faith.
Now as Ciaran journeyed throughout Sanctuary he found many magical weapons, but none as wonderous as his Shillelagh until he found an axe that would allow him to change himself into a bear of fearsome powers and he named the axe Beast. As a bear he had twice the life which he sometimes found useful. Unfortunately, the bear didn’t like the Shillelagh and with it was very slow to hit anything. Though he trained as a bear and used it on occasion he felt that the Shillelagh was the main weapon for him.
In some ways this was a failed build, but I learned a lot and as a result this is a rather long post.
Planning the build
I had read SSOG’s guide a number of times and decided that I wanted to try one. However, I also decided that if I was going to do so, that he would have to wield a Shillelagh as SSOG specified. As I had no Shillelaghs the abbot build was put on hold until Maximus found a cracked Shillelagh in Act 5 Hell. I repaired it and had Larzuk socket it.
As a Shillelagh is an Irish walking stick or weapon, so my good abbot needed an Irish name. I settled on Ciaran who is considered one of the 12 Apostles of Ireland and the first abbot of Clonmacnoise. If you haven’t visited the ruins of the 6th century site, you should put it on your bucket lists. They have two amazing stone Celtic crosses on display.
I had also long considered Beast to be one of the runewords I’d like to try, but Ber runes weren’t easy to find and my priorities for one went to Chains of Honor. I also enjoyed reading the polar bear and other bear paladin build stories. I finally made Chains of Honor by cubing the two Sur runes I had and then not long after found a Ber in LK. Having that Ber sitting in a stash meant that I could make a Beast weapon and the more I thought about it I wondered how an Insight wielding abbot would do as a Werebear and decided to find out.
So, a two-handed weapon meant no shield which meant no holy shield. But that also freed up a bunch of points to put elsewhere. Now one of SSOG’s options was to go with Conviction and Vengeance. I agreed with the conviction, but like others I thought that Vengeance was to slow as it only takes on one monster at a time. I ended up with an approach that I previously thought was dumb, building a zealot and not maxing Zeal.
Conceptually my skill points would go
Prayer – 20
Cleansing – 1
The 5 prereqs for conviction 1 each
Conviction – 20
Zeal – 10+
Vengeance – 1
Sacrifice – 1+
Resist Fire – 10
Resist Cold – 10
Resist Lightning 10
The rest of the points would go where I felt most needed. probably into sacrifice to add on zeal damage or vengeance.
I also didn’t forget about the werebear. I thought I’d probably stick with conviction, but if he was working out well, I could respect some of those points I’d dropped into zeal and put some into holy freeze.
Finally, I decided to go with a cold rogue so that I could equip her with a Faith Bow for the level 15 fanaticism to beef up AR and attack speed when not in bear form.
Here are his ending stats
Gear
The primary and switch weapons were obviously an Insight Shillelagh and Beast which I put into a berserker axe. I debated using a War spike for the faster weapon speed, but went with the higher damage berserker axe.
Since this would be my first Paladin without a shield, I decided that from the beginning I would use two handed weapons. I started with Goreshovel, then an Insight Battle staff to start getting used to Insight and then two Ribcrackers The first at level 31 and then a perfect upped Ribcracker at level 56. And finally, the Shillelagh at level 62. Because the runes are so low, I actually socketed it four times before deciding to use a version with a max to critical strike and Meditation.
The main sources of PDR are amulets, helm and armor. I had a decent amulet in a stash with more 23 PDR but ended up using a Chromatic amulet of life everlasting with 20 PDR and 30 all resistances since I needed the resists badly.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have a good PDR helm. So, I consolidated all the gold left in my other Pats and Mats and went gambling with just over 30 million in gold. Initially I was doing amulets and circlets/coronets, but after quickly finding the Chromatic amulet of Life Everlasting I switched to just circlets and coronets. After spending more than the 30 million the best I’d came up with was a Silver Coronet of Life Everlasting, which I had Larzuk socket and used since I reached level 39. I put a Sol rune and a Scintillating Jewel of Knowledge for the resists
For Amor the plan was to use Griswold’s Heart with 2 or 3 Sol runes until I reached level 85 when I would switch to Arkaine’s Valor or The Gladiator’s Bane.
The rest of the gear
Gloves were Laying of Hands
Belt was String of Ears
Rings were Raven Frost (220/19) and Nature’s Peace (10 PDR)
Boots were a pair of crafted Safety boots
Armor was either Fortitude or Chains of Honor
On switch with Beast was HoZ
Gear readout
BUT as they say no battle plan survives contact with the enemy.
Build Realities
SSOG had a three-part mantra for an Abbot +skills, PDR and resists. Well, I ended with no +skills, only 72 PDR when 80 was SOG’s minimum, but I did manage to get the resists for lightning to 86. So, 1 7/8 out of three isn’t so hot.
With a two-handed weapon, with no resists on the weapon itself, getting high resists in Hell is not easy. This I anticipated going in. What I didn’t realize is that without a shield there was no way to be able to have my resistance above 75% in Hell and be able to wear any of the PDR amors suggested by SSOG. Unfortunately, I had already dumped the necessary points into strength before I realized the problem.
So, it was either go less than the recommended 80 on the PDR or have resistance much less than 75%. I opted to go with higher resists and until I freed Anya in the frozen river, I used Chains of Honor and coupled with the points I put into resist Fire, Cold and Lightning. Got those three to 80%. Once I had increased my natural resists I switched to Fortitude for the higher damage and defense and the 7PDR. As a result, the resists on cold and poison dropped below 75%, but were manageable.
Because of the low defense, it was actually below 1500 for most of Hell, and low PDR I had a lot of deaths, especially in Hell. In fact, I finished Hell before I got to level 85.
The last problem was the ridiculously low attack rate that the bear would have with the Shillelagh. If I had actually checked the speed calculator, I probably would not have made Beast for this build. A paladin in bear form with a Beast berserker axe does 7 fps and with the added fanaticism from the Faith bow gets down to 6 fps. The Shillelagh is at 18 fps without the fanaticism and only 14 fps with it and it looks even slower.
Adding to this is when in non-bear form and using the shillelagh wit zeal and the level 15 fanaticism the is at 6/6/6/6/11. And the final straw is using the LCS data in bear form with the fanaticism the damage is 717-2126 at 6 fps. However, the shillelagh does 1840-2933 at 6/6/6/6/11. In addition, the shillelagh has a 46% chance of doubling the damage which I don’t think is included in the LCS numbers.
SSOG warned that the killing would be slow as Paladins don’t do well with Staves and he was right. However, he had NO idea how slow a werebear would be with a Shillelagh. It was so slow it really wasn’t useable. It then became an issue of sticking with the Shillelagh or essentially redoing the build to us a bear with maximum PDR. I went with the shillelagh and have already started planning a paladin bear PDR build.
Because of the low damage I was only able to do Hell at Players 1. After my last three zealots I was disappointed at first, but then realized that’s what most builds do Hell at.
Conviction worked and I only used Vengeance 5 time on PIs that were taking too long to die with Zeal. I went this way in large part because I had planned to have Beast on switch and he would have conviction to use too. Now knowing that the bear didn’t work I wonder if I would have been better off having Law Bringer on switch to cast decrepify and then switch back to the shillelagh with Holy Freeze or Holy Shock as the aura.
Does PDR work?
Definitely!
In normal a PDR of 26 made me immortal. Parked him in a Normal Act 5 frenzytaur pack and nothing happened. Jump to Nightmare and even with double the PDR the life bulb would visibly dip in the blood moor. For much of Hell I only had 65 PDR and I died frequently, though usually with at least two bosses involved with their packs surrounding me.
However, consider his defense. Of my 6 paladins and without the defense from Holy Shield working Ciaran has the lowest defense at 1493 until I switched to Fortitude. The next lowest was the Ranger, who I thought was fragile at 2053. Yet, Ciaran is a shieldless melee paladin and has no problems handling most packs face to face without doing huge damage and with less than the minimum recommended 80 PDR.
I think another sign of PDR effectiveness was the huge repair costs for Fortitude. I spent over 1 million in gold repairing it in Act 5 from after rescuing Anya to killing Baal. That is probably a reflection of the fact that the chance of monsters hitting me was always greater than 50%
Finally, I got curious after finishing and went back and switched the Fortitude with a Griswold’s Heart with 3 Sol runes which brought my PDR to 93, but dropped my resists to 53/40/56/39. Then I took him out to the Crystalline Passage where I stood him in a group of vipers and Frozen Creepers and the life bulb barely flickered. Next was the throne of destruction that was packed with Hell witches and Ghoul Lords. The life bulb dropped and I did need a rejuv eventually, but given his fire resists was 53% he was much tougher with the higher PDR. However, I also noticed a big drop off in damage from losing the 300% ED from Fortitude.
Forge drops NM- Lem and in Hell – Lum. Yep, Nightmare drop was Higher.
Finds: With only 48 MF I wasn’t expecting a lot and while I found over 50 items most were normal uniques with only two elites a Warshrike and Razor’s edge. I did find a Pelta Luna for my self-grail. As for the piece de resistance, I can’t decide. First, how many of you have been gifted a Tancred’s Skull by Baal himself? And then there is this great +2 paladin skill sword
Raven Scythe
Scimitar
One-Hand Damage: 4 to 8
Durability: 15 of 22
Required Dexterity: 21
Required Level: 58
Sword Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 71
Fingerprint: 0x5c7dbc71
+40% Enhanced Damage
+47 to Attack Rating
+2 to Minimum Damage
5% Life stolen per hit
+2 to Paladin Skill Levels
+3 to Mana After Each Kill
HMM, maybe I’ll save it for when I’m under an IM curse.
Now some of you will remember that Ciaran was one of the 12 Apostles of Ireland and the first abbot of Clonmacnoise. Most don’t know that Ciaran also roamed the lands of Sanctuary as a Paladin Patriarch. As befitted an abbot of Ireland, Ciaran roamed Sanctuary with his magical Shillelagh “Insight” and was accompanied by a rogue mercenary that wielded a magical bow named Faith.
Now as Ciaran journeyed throughout Sanctuary he found many magical weapons, but none as wonderous as his Shillelagh until he found an axe that would allow him to change himself into a bear of fearsome powers and he named the axe Beast. As a bear he had twice the life which he sometimes found useful. Unfortunately, the bear didn’t like the Shillelagh and with it was very slow to hit anything. Though he trained as a bear and used it on occasion he felt that the Shillelagh was the main weapon for him.
In some ways this was a failed build, but I learned a lot and as a result this is a rather long post.
Planning the build
I had read SSOG’s guide a number of times and decided that I wanted to try one. However, I also decided that if I was going to do so, that he would have to wield a Shillelagh as SSOG specified. As I had no Shillelaghs the abbot build was put on hold until Maximus found a cracked Shillelagh in Act 5 Hell. I repaired it and had Larzuk socket it.
As a Shillelagh is an Irish walking stick or weapon, so my good abbot needed an Irish name. I settled on Ciaran who is considered one of the 12 Apostles of Ireland and the first abbot of Clonmacnoise. If you haven’t visited the ruins of the 6th century site, you should put it on your bucket lists. They have two amazing stone Celtic crosses on display.
I had also long considered Beast to be one of the runewords I’d like to try, but Ber runes weren’t easy to find and my priorities for one went to Chains of Honor. I also enjoyed reading the polar bear and other bear paladin build stories. I finally made Chains of Honor by cubing the two Sur runes I had and then not long after found a Ber in LK. Having that Ber sitting in a stash meant that I could make a Beast weapon and the more I thought about it I wondered how an Insight wielding abbot would do as a Werebear and decided to find out.
So, a two-handed weapon meant no shield which meant no holy shield. But that also freed up a bunch of points to put elsewhere. Now one of SSOG’s options was to go with Conviction and Vengeance. I agreed with the conviction, but like others I thought that Vengeance was to slow as it only takes on one monster at a time. I ended up with an approach that I previously thought was dumb, building a zealot and not maxing Zeal.
Conceptually my skill points would go
Prayer – 20
Cleansing – 1
The 5 prereqs for conviction 1 each
Conviction – 20
Zeal – 10+
Vengeance – 1
Sacrifice – 1+
Resist Fire – 10
Resist Cold – 10
Resist Lightning 10
The rest of the points would go where I felt most needed. probably into sacrifice to add on zeal damage or vengeance.
I also didn’t forget about the werebear. I thought I’d probably stick with conviction, but if he was working out well, I could respect some of those points I’d dropped into zeal and put some into holy freeze.
Finally, I decided to go with a cold rogue so that I could equip her with a Faith Bow for the level 15 fanaticism to beef up AR and attack speed when not in bear form.
Here are his ending stats
Code:
Name: Ciaran
Class: Paladin
Experience: 985693651
Level: 84
Naked/Gear
Strength: 160/165
Dexterity: 62/86
Vitality: 278/283
Energy: 15/25
HP: 1040/1321
Mana: 139/179
Stamina: 425/425
Defense: 15/2276
AR: 295/150443
Fire: 183/143/83
Cold: 170/130/70
Lightning: 186/146/86
Poison: 169/129/69
MF: 48 Block: 12
GF: 5
FR/W: 30
FHR: 5
IAS: 20
FCR: 60
PDR: 72
Sacrifice: 5/5
Smite: 0/0
Holy Bolt: 0/0
Zeal: 13/13
Charge: 0/0
Vengeance: 1/1
Blessed Hammer: 0/0
Conversion: 0/0
Holy Shield: 0/0
Fist of the Heavens: 0/0
Might: 1/1
Holy Fire: 1/1
Thorns: 1/1
Blessed Aim: 0/0
Concentration: 0/0
Holy Freeze: 1/1
Holy Shock: 0/0
Sanctuary: 1/1
Fanaticism: 0/0
Conviction: 20/20
Prayer: 20/20
Resist Fire: 8/8
Defiance: 0/0
Resist Cold: 10/10
Cleansing: 1/1
Resist Lightning: 12/12
Vigor: 0/0
Meditation: 0/0
Redemption: 0/0
Salvation: 0/0Gear
The primary and switch weapons were obviously an Insight Shillelagh and Beast which I put into a berserker axe. I debated using a War spike for the faster weapon speed, but went with the higher damage berserker axe.
Since this would be my first Paladin without a shield, I decided that from the beginning I would use two handed weapons. I started with Goreshovel, then an Insight Battle staff to start getting used to Insight and then two Ribcrackers The first at level 31 and then a perfect upped Ribcracker at level 56. And finally, the Shillelagh at level 62. Because the runes are so low, I actually socketed it four times before deciding to use a version with a max to critical strike and Meditation.
The main sources of PDR are amulets, helm and armor. I had a decent amulet in a stash with more 23 PDR but ended up using a Chromatic amulet of life everlasting with 20 PDR and 30 all resistances since I needed the resists badly.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have a good PDR helm. So, I consolidated all the gold left in my other Pats and Mats and went gambling with just over 30 million in gold. Initially I was doing amulets and circlets/coronets, but after quickly finding the Chromatic amulet of Life Everlasting I switched to just circlets and coronets. After spending more than the 30 million the best I’d came up with was a Silver Coronet of Life Everlasting, which I had Larzuk socket and used since I reached level 39. I put a Sol rune and a Scintillating Jewel of Knowledge for the resists
For Amor the plan was to use Griswold’s Heart with 2 or 3 Sol runes until I reached level 85 when I would switch to Arkaine’s Valor or The Gladiator’s Bane.
The rest of the gear
Gloves were Laying of Hands
Belt was String of Ears
Rings were Raven Frost (220/19) and Nature’s Peace (10 PDR)
Boots were a pair of crafted Safety boots
Armor was either Fortitude or Chains of Honor
On switch with Beast was HoZ
Gear readout
Insight
Ciaran's Shillelagh
'RalTirTalSol'
Two-Hand Damage: 212 to 338
Durability: 30 of 40
Required Dexterity: 27
Required Strength: 52
Required Level: 62
Staff Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 1
Fingerprint: 0x77a46f31
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
+213% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
Adds 5-30 fire damage
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+6 to Critical Strike
35% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Warmth (Sorceress Only)
210% Bonus to Attack Rating
150% Damage to Undead
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 17 Meditation Aura When Equipped
Socketed (4: 4 used)
Chromatic Amulet of Life Everlasting
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 93
Fingerprint: 0x9401f846
Damage Reduced by 20
All Resistances +30
Silver Coronet of Life Everlasting
'Sol'
Defense: 36
Durability: 24 of 30
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 93
Fingerprint: 0xe23cd9e1
+5 to Energy
+78 to Attack Rating
Damage Reduced by 31
All Resistances +11
Socketed (2: 2 used)
Scintillating Jewel of Knowledge
Required Level: 26
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xa76106ac
+5 to Energy
All Resistances +11
Fortitude
Superior Wire Fleece
ElSolDolLo
Defense: 1533
Durability: 32 of 32
Required Level: 59
Required Strength: 111
Fingerprint: 0x733dae0b
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
20% Chance to cast level 15 Chilling Armor when struck
+25% Faster Cast Rate
300% Enhanced Damage
+215% Enhanced Defense
+15 Defense
+84 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Replenish Life +7
+5% to Maximum Lightning Resist
All Resistances +30
Damage Reduced by 7
12% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
+1 to Light Radius
4 Sockets (4 used)
Chains of Honor
Archon Plate
DolUmBerIst
Defense: 880
Durability: 60 of 60
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 103
Fingerprint: 0x8e15eb1e
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+200% Damage to Demons
+100% Damage to Undead
8% Life stolen per hit
+70% Enhanced Defense
+20 to Strength
Replenish Life +7
All Resistances +65
Damage Reduced by 8%
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
4 Sockets (4 used)
Laying of Hands
Bramble Mitts
Defense: 83
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 50
Fingerprint: 0x1bf60bba
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
10% Chance to cast level 3 Holy Bolt on striking
+20% Increased Attack Speed
+350% Damage to Demons
+25 Defense
Fire Resist +50%
String of Ears
Demonhide Sash
Defense: 107
Durability: 22 of 22
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 20
Fingerprint: 0xa7a8132
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
8% Life stolen per hit
+164% Enhanced Defense
+15 Defense
Damage Reduced by 15%
Magic Damage Reduced by 14
+10 Maximum Durability
Carrion Greaves
War Boots
Defense: 59
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Level: 51
Required Strength: 125
Fingerprint: 0xde951672
Item Level: 89
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+30% Faster Run/Walk
+10% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +6%
Poison Resist +30%
Damage Reduced by 4
Magic Damage Reduced by 1
Half Freeze Duration
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Nature's Peace
Ring
Required Level: 69
Fingerprint: 0x8bed83cb
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Prevent Monster Heal
Slain Monsters Rest in Peace
Poison Resist +30%
Damage Reduced by 10
Level 5 Oak Sage (27/27 Charges)
Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Fingerprint: 0x238320f9
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+220 to Attack Rating
Adds 15 - 45 Cold Damage Over 4 Secs (100 Frames)
+19 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
Cold Absorb 20%
Cannot Be Frozen
Beast
Berserker Axe
'BerTirUmMalLum'
One-Hand Damage: 85 to 252
Durability: 26 of 26
Required Dexterity: 59
Required Strength: 138
Required Level: 64
Axe Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xa794d567
+30 to Strength
+10 to Energy
+256% Enhanced Damage
40% Increased Attack Speed
+3 to Werebear
+3 to Lycanthropy
Prevent Monster Heal
25% Chance of Open Wounds
20% Chance of Crushing Blow
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 9 Fanaticism Aura When Equipped
Level 13 Summon Grizzly (5/5 Charges)
Socketed (5: 5 used)
Herald of Zakarum
Gilded Shield
Defense: 437
Chance to Block: 52
Durability: 50 of 50
Required Level: 42
Required Strength: 89
Fingerprint: 0xc28fcc2f
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Combat Skills (Paladin Only)
+2 to Paladin Skill Levels
+30% Faster Block Rate
30% Increased Chance of Blocking
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
+159% Enhanced Defense
+20 to Strength
+20 to Vitality
All Resistances +69
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Perfect Diamond
In the pack I had 3 GCs and 12 SC adding up to 74 Lr, 36% Fr, 69% Cr, 8P%r and 198 Life.
Mercenary
Delirium
Superior Tiara
LemIstIo
Defense: 301
Durability: 27 of 27
Required Level: 52
Fingerprint: 0x973e241a
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
1% Chance to cast level 50 Delirium when struck
6% Chance to cast level 14 Mind Blast when struck
14% Chance to cast level 13 Terror when struck
11% Chance to cast level 18 Confuse on striking
+2 to All Skills
+261 Defense
+10 to Vitality
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Increase Maximum Durability 10%
Level 17 Attract (60/60 Charges)
3 Sockets (3 used)
Patrick's Faith
Superior Diamond Bow
OhmJahLemEld
Two Hand Damage: 144 - 175
Durability: 33 of 40
Required Level: 65
Required Strength: 89
Required Dexterity: 132
Fingerprint: 0xee5b2c73
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Level 15 Fanaticism Aura When Equipped
+1 to All Skills
339% Enhanced Damage
Ignore Target's Defense
300% Bonus to Attack Rating
+75% Damage to Undead
+50 to Attack Rating against Undead
Adds 120 - 120 Fire Damage
All Resistances +15
10% Reanimate as: Returned
75% Extra Gold from Monsters
4 Sockets (4 used)
Ciaran's Shillelagh
'RalTirTalSol'
Two-Hand Damage: 212 to 338
Durability: 30 of 40
Required Dexterity: 27
Required Strength: 52
Required Level: 62
Staff Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 1
Fingerprint: 0x77a46f31
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
+213% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
Adds 5-30 fire damage
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+6 to Critical Strike
35% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Warmth (Sorceress Only)
210% Bonus to Attack Rating
150% Damage to Undead
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 17 Meditation Aura When Equipped
Socketed (4: 4 used)
Chromatic Amulet of Life Everlasting
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 93
Fingerprint: 0x9401f846
Damage Reduced by 20
All Resistances +30
Silver Coronet of Life Everlasting
'Sol'
Defense: 36
Durability: 24 of 30
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 93
Fingerprint: 0xe23cd9e1
+5 to Energy
+78 to Attack Rating
Damage Reduced by 31
All Resistances +11
Socketed (2: 2 used)
Scintillating Jewel of Knowledge
Required Level: 26
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xa76106ac
+5 to Energy
All Resistances +11
Fortitude
Superior Wire Fleece
ElSolDolLo
Defense: 1533
Durability: 32 of 32
Required Level: 59
Required Strength: 111
Fingerprint: 0x733dae0b
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
20% Chance to cast level 15 Chilling Armor when struck
+25% Faster Cast Rate
300% Enhanced Damage
+215% Enhanced Defense
+15 Defense
+84 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Replenish Life +7
+5% to Maximum Lightning Resist
All Resistances +30
Damage Reduced by 7
12% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
+1 to Light Radius
4 Sockets (4 used)
Chains of Honor
Archon Plate
DolUmBerIst
Defense: 880
Durability: 60 of 60
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 103
Fingerprint: 0x8e15eb1e
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+200% Damage to Demons
+100% Damage to Undead
8% Life stolen per hit
+70% Enhanced Defense
+20 to Strength
Replenish Life +7
All Resistances +65
Damage Reduced by 8%
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
4 Sockets (4 used)
Laying of Hands
Bramble Mitts
Defense: 83
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 50
Fingerprint: 0x1bf60bba
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
10% Chance to cast level 3 Holy Bolt on striking
+20% Increased Attack Speed
+350% Damage to Demons
+25 Defense
Fire Resist +50%
String of Ears
Demonhide Sash
Defense: 107
Durability: 22 of 22
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 20
Fingerprint: 0xa7a8132
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
8% Life stolen per hit
+164% Enhanced Defense
+15 Defense
Damage Reduced by 15%
Magic Damage Reduced by 14
+10 Maximum Durability
Carrion Greaves
War Boots
Defense: 59
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Level: 51
Required Strength: 125
Fingerprint: 0xde951672
Item Level: 89
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+30% Faster Run/Walk
+10% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +6%
Poison Resist +30%
Damage Reduced by 4
Magic Damage Reduced by 1
Half Freeze Duration
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Nature's Peace
Ring
Required Level: 69
Fingerprint: 0x8bed83cb
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Prevent Monster Heal
Slain Monsters Rest in Peace
Poison Resist +30%
Damage Reduced by 10
Level 5 Oak Sage (27/27 Charges)
Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Fingerprint: 0x238320f9
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+220 to Attack Rating
Adds 15 - 45 Cold Damage Over 4 Secs (100 Frames)
+19 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
Cold Absorb 20%
Cannot Be Frozen
Beast
Berserker Axe
'BerTirUmMalLum'
One-Hand Damage: 85 to 252
Durability: 26 of 26
Required Dexterity: 59
Required Strength: 138
Required Level: 64
Axe Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xa794d567
+30 to Strength
+10 to Energy
+256% Enhanced Damage
40% Increased Attack Speed
+3 to Werebear
+3 to Lycanthropy
Prevent Monster Heal
25% Chance of Open Wounds
20% Chance of Crushing Blow
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 9 Fanaticism Aura When Equipped
Level 13 Summon Grizzly (5/5 Charges)
Socketed (5: 5 used)
Herald of Zakarum
Gilded Shield
Defense: 437
Chance to Block: 52
Durability: 50 of 50
Required Level: 42
Required Strength: 89
Fingerprint: 0xc28fcc2f
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Combat Skills (Paladin Only)
+2 to Paladin Skill Levels
+30% Faster Block Rate
30% Increased Chance of Blocking
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
+159% Enhanced Defense
+20 to Strength
+20 to Vitality
All Resistances +69
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Perfect Diamond
In the pack I had 3 GCs and 12 SC adding up to 74 Lr, 36% Fr, 69% Cr, 8P%r and 198 Life.
Mercenary
Delirium
Superior Tiara
LemIstIo
Defense: 301
Durability: 27 of 27
Required Level: 52
Fingerprint: 0x973e241a
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
1% Chance to cast level 50 Delirium when struck
6% Chance to cast level 14 Mind Blast when struck
14% Chance to cast level 13 Terror when struck
11% Chance to cast level 18 Confuse on striking
+2 to All Skills
+261 Defense
+10 to Vitality
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Increase Maximum Durability 10%
Level 17 Attract (60/60 Charges)
3 Sockets (3 used)
Patrick's Faith
Superior Diamond Bow
OhmJahLemEld
Two Hand Damage: 144 - 175
Durability: 33 of 40
Required Level: 65
Required Strength: 89
Required Dexterity: 132
Fingerprint: 0xee5b2c73
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Level 15 Fanaticism Aura When Equipped
+1 to All Skills
339% Enhanced Damage
Ignore Target's Defense
300% Bonus to Attack Rating
+75% Damage to Undead
+50 to Attack Rating against Undead
Adds 120 - 120 Fire Damage
All Resistances +15
10% Reanimate as: Returned
75% Extra Gold from Monsters
4 Sockets (4 used)
BUT as they say no battle plan survives contact with the enemy.
Build Realities
SSOG had a three-part mantra for an Abbot +skills, PDR and resists. Well, I ended with no +skills, only 72 PDR when 80 was SOG’s minimum, but I did manage to get the resists for lightning to 86. So, 1 7/8 out of three isn’t so hot.
With a two-handed weapon, with no resists on the weapon itself, getting high resists in Hell is not easy. This I anticipated going in. What I didn’t realize is that without a shield there was no way to be able to have my resistance above 75% in Hell and be able to wear any of the PDR amors suggested by SSOG. Unfortunately, I had already dumped the necessary points into strength before I realized the problem.
So, it was either go less than the recommended 80 on the PDR or have resistance much less than 75%. I opted to go with higher resists and until I freed Anya in the frozen river, I used Chains of Honor and coupled with the points I put into resist Fire, Cold and Lightning. Got those three to 80%. Once I had increased my natural resists I switched to Fortitude for the higher damage and defense and the 7PDR. As a result, the resists on cold and poison dropped below 75%, but were manageable.
Because of the low defense, it was actually below 1500 for most of Hell, and low PDR I had a lot of deaths, especially in Hell. In fact, I finished Hell before I got to level 85.
The last problem was the ridiculously low attack rate that the bear would have with the Shillelagh. If I had actually checked the speed calculator, I probably would not have made Beast for this build. A paladin in bear form with a Beast berserker axe does 7 fps and with the added fanaticism from the Faith bow gets down to 6 fps. The Shillelagh is at 18 fps without the fanaticism and only 14 fps with it and it looks even slower.
Adding to this is when in non-bear form and using the shillelagh wit zeal and the level 15 fanaticism the is at 6/6/6/6/11. And the final straw is using the LCS data in bear form with the fanaticism the damage is 717-2126 at 6 fps. However, the shillelagh does 1840-2933 at 6/6/6/6/11. In addition, the shillelagh has a 46% chance of doubling the damage which I don’t think is included in the LCS numbers.
SSOG warned that the killing would be slow as Paladins don’t do well with Staves and he was right. However, he had NO idea how slow a werebear would be with a Shillelagh. It was so slow it really wasn’t useable. It then became an issue of sticking with the Shillelagh or essentially redoing the build to us a bear with maximum PDR. I went with the shillelagh and have already started planning a paladin bear PDR build.
Because of the low damage I was only able to do Hell at Players 1. After my last three zealots I was disappointed at first, but then realized that’s what most builds do Hell at.
Conviction worked and I only used Vengeance 5 time on PIs that were taking too long to die with Zeal. I went this way in large part because I had planned to have Beast on switch and he would have conviction to use too. Now knowing that the bear didn’t work I wonder if I would have been better off having Law Bringer on switch to cast decrepify and then switch back to the shillelagh with Holy Freeze or Holy Shock as the aura.
Does PDR work?
Definitely!
In normal a PDR of 26 made me immortal. Parked him in a Normal Act 5 frenzytaur pack and nothing happened. Jump to Nightmare and even with double the PDR the life bulb would visibly dip in the blood moor. For much of Hell I only had 65 PDR and I died frequently, though usually with at least two bosses involved with their packs surrounding me.
However, consider his defense. Of my 6 paladins and without the defense from Holy Shield working Ciaran has the lowest defense at 1493 until I switched to Fortitude. The next lowest was the Ranger, who I thought was fragile at 2053. Yet, Ciaran is a shieldless melee paladin and has no problems handling most packs face to face without doing huge damage and with less than the minimum recommended 80 PDR.
I think another sign of PDR effectiveness was the huge repair costs for Fortitude. I spent over 1 million in gold repairing it in Act 5 from after rescuing Anya to killing Baal. That is probably a reflection of the fact that the chance of monsters hitting me was always greater than 50%
Finally, I got curious after finishing and went back and switched the Fortitude with a Griswold’s Heart with 3 Sol runes which brought my PDR to 93, but dropped my resists to 53/40/56/39. Then I took him out to the Crystalline Passage where I stood him in a group of vipers and Frozen Creepers and the life bulb barely flickered. Next was the throne of destruction that was packed with Hell witches and Ghoul Lords. The life bulb dropped and I did need a rejuv eventually, but given his fire resists was 53% he was much tougher with the higher PDR. However, I also noticed a big drop off in damage from losing the 300% ED from Fortitude.
Forge drops NM- Lem and in Hell – Lum. Yep, Nightmare drop was Higher.
Finds: With only 48 MF I wasn’t expecting a lot and while I found over 50 items most were normal uniques with only two elites a Warshrike and Razor’s edge. I did find a Pelta Luna for my self-grail. As for the piece de resistance, I can’t decide. First, how many of you have been gifted a Tancred’s Skull by Baal himself? And then there is this great +2 paladin skill sword
Raven Scythe
Scimitar
One-Hand Damage: 4 to 8
Durability: 15 of 22
Required Dexterity: 21
Required Level: 58
Sword Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 71
Fingerprint: 0x5c7dbc71
+40% Enhanced Damage
+47 to Attack Rating
+2 to Minimum Damage
5% Life stolen per hit
+2 to Paladin Skill Levels
+3 to Mana After Each Kill
HMM, maybe I’ll save it for when I’m under an IM curse.
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