The Vanquisher, defined - a guide to smite/hammer paladins <

good guide. but i read that you havent tested fanaticscm. i tested it myself and want to let you know that it works better than with conc. DEFINETELY worth the 1 point. you hit 6 frame smite and my smite is a good 5kish damage (would be more if i level, only 89)
 
dkay said:
good guide. but i read that you havent tested fanaticscm. i tested it myself and want to let you know that it works better than with conc. DEFINETELY worth the 1 point. you hit 6 frame smite and my smite is a good 5kish damage (would be more if i level, only 89)
True that, maybe for the rest of the levels just invest in fana, I find that with 1+points in fana, i get more socketable options and gear options on top of that :thumbsup:
 
dkay said:
good guide. but i read that you havent tested fanaticscm. i tested it myself and want to let you know that it works better than with conc. DEFINETELY worth the 1 point. you hit 6 frame smite and my smite is a good 5kish damage (would be more if i level, only 89)

Thanks for the heads up Dkay - I'll probably put my next skill point on the budget Vanq I'm running on Ladder into fanat, to test it out. Of course, I'm using a wizardspike, so I'll have to take that into account.. but we'll see how it goes.

@ Heav - if you play Useast, then by all means, I'd love someoen to lag along with, particularly since all my friends seem to be AWOL at the moment. Feel free to message me at *godlessdragon - of course, I assume you meant along, not alone. 'cause if you meant alone, then I'm either just too asleep to understand right now, or not getting the joke, lol.
 
quietus said:
It'd be easier for me to give advice if you listed all the gear that you plan to use. Enigma is a great peice of armor, and I do use it on one of my builds in hammer mode (The build I listed above actually has two modes - in one, I go hybrid smite/hammer with the listed stats. With a gear switch, I give up my smite for cast rate and more hammer damage, and play as a pure hammerdin).

What I would recommend, if you want to think it out yourself, is this :

75 resist all in hell
2k life minimum after bo
75% block
1-1.5k damage smite (With grief, you don't have to worry about smite damage)
7k or higher hammers
7 frame smite minimum

As noted, a grief phase will get you 7 frame smite and take care of all your smite damage problems. Outside of that, this outline is fairly simple, in my opinion, and not difficult to manage with reasonable gear. Of course, if you'd like to list your gear, I can critique how well it would work for your Vanquisher and give suggestions if needed.

And yes, as Junlee noted, life tap works with smite. It's the only form of leech that does.

well the thing is, besides gore riders, enigma is pretty much the only piece i have right now for my pally. been doing mf runs nonstop trying to get more items but not going so well :/

i want to be able to do uber runs and be good pker..but i guess uber runs will come first, then pk as i get more gear. i was going to try to sell the enigma and get a coh then work my way to a grief phase,hoz,dracs. for rings i was going to use a raven frost and a bk when i can afford it, but until then i have a nice ring with 14 str/24 life/all res 6. weapon i have for now is wizard spike. boots i have gore riders,waterwalks,sandstorm,tear haunch. belt - don't have good one yet, using a rare 24% fhr one right now. helm - don't have yet...i was thinking either shako or guil. shield..using tiamats until i can get a hoz.

also i found a nice rare pally ammy:
+1 pally skill
10% fcr
+30 AR
+5 str
+78 mana
poison res +7

i also have a rare one with +1 pally skills and 10+ all res and 23 life

but i dont know...i just started ladder a week ago so thats why im so poor :/
 
junlee said:
well the thing is, besides gore riders, enigma is pretty much the only piece i have right now for my pally. been doing mf runs nonstop trying to get more items but not going so well :/

i want to be able to do uber runs and be good pker..but i guess uber runs will come first, then pk as i get more gear. i was going to try to sell the enigma and get a coh then work my way to a grief phase,hoz,dracs. for rings i was going to use a raven frost and a bk when i can afford it, but until then i have a nice ring with 14 str/24 life/all res 6. weapon i have for now is wizard spike. boots i have gore riders,waterwalks,sandstorm,tear haunch. belt - don't have good one yet, using a rare 24% fhr one right now. helm - don't have yet...i was thinking either shako or guil. shield..using tiamats until i can get a hoz.

also i found a nice rare pally ammy:
+1 pally skill
10% fcr
+30 AR
+5 str
+78 mana
poison res +7

i also have a rare one with +1 pally skills and 10+ all res and 23 life

but i dont know...i just started ladder a week ago so thats why im so poor :/


I know how it is just starting ladder; As I mentioned above, I'm doing the same myself. My most expensive item currently in use is... ummm.... a 45 base resist royal sheild spirit. My vipermagi and shako are borrowed. =P

I'd say, work with what you've got. For now, keep the enigma, and use what you've got :


Helm : 1 pally/10 res circlet
Armor : MP Enigma
Weapon : wizardspike
Sheild : Get yourself a pally spirit
Rings : ravenfrost and that rare ring you mentioned
Amulet : Anything works here really, try to pick up something with skills
Gloves : If you can get them, magefists or trang gloves
Boots : Gore riders
Belt : If that rare is working for you for now, go for it.

This will give you resists from wizardspike + circlet + the rare ring + anya, for a total of 121. Add to that whatever is on the pally spirit, and you're not doing too poorly. If need be, use your amulet and belt to pick up resists to reach 75% all.

Yes, this looks like a hammerdin setup - that's actually exactly what it is. Your first target will be to get your one point wonders, max concentration, hammers, and the main synergy of your choice (I'd prefer Vigor, it helps with the charge). From there, split points evenly between your other synergy and holy sheild. That should take you to around level 80ish, at which point you can start doing key runs - very profitable, those. And if you can manage to stay at base or near-base strength, then you're laughing, because then you can start working your way up to full Vanquisher gear - and you might even be able to hold onto that enigma, to continue using when you fill out the rest of that gear list, to keep doing key runs.
 
quietus said:
I know how it is just starting ladder; As I mentioned above, I'm doing the same myself. My most expensive item currently in use is... ummm.... a 45 base resist royal sheild spirit. My vipermagi and shako are borrowed. =P

I'd say, work with what you've got. For now, keep the enigma, and use what you've got :


Helm : 1 pally/10 res circlet
Armor : MP Enigma
Weapon : wizardspike
Sheild : Get yourself a pally spirit
Rings : ravenfrost and that rare ring you mentioned
Amulet : Anything works here really, try to pick up something with skills
Gloves : If you can get them, magefists or trang gloves
Boots : Gore riders
Belt : If that rare is working for you for now, go for it.

This will give you resists from wizardspike + circlet + the rare ring + anya, for a total of 121. Add to that whatever is on the pally spirit, and you're not doing too poorly. If need be, use your amulet and belt to pick up resists to reach 75% all.

Yes, this looks like a hammerdin setup - that's actually exactly what it is. Your first target will be to get your one point wonders, max concentration, hammers, and the main synergy of your choice (I'd prefer Vigor, it helps with the charge). From there, split points evenly between your other synergy and holy sheild. That should take you to around level 80ish, at which point you can start doing key runs - very profitable, those. And if you can manage to stay at base or near-base strength, then you're laughing, because then you can start working your way up to full Vanquisher gear - and you might even be able to hold onto that enigma, to continue using when you fill out the rest of that gear list, to keep doing key runs.

er the 1/10 res pally thing is an ammy not a circlet sry shoulda specified. and well i have a sorc i can do key runs with so i dont necessarily need the enigma..and i'm new to 1.11 so how many keys are there and who do i get them from? i really have no idea and couldnt find any info about it on bnets site.

also would i be able to solo the chaos tristram with the gear that you are wearing on your nonladder venq if i could get them...or would i probably die fast?
 
junlee said:
er the 1/10 res pally thing is an ammy not a circlet sry shoulda specified. and well i have a sorc i can do key runs with so i dont necessarily need the enigma..and i'm new to 1.11 so how many keys are there and who do i get them from? i really have no idea and couldnt find any info about it on bnets site.

also would i be able to solo the chaos tristram with the gear that you are wearing on your nonladder venq if i could get them...or would i probably die fast?


Actually, you did say that it was an ammy, my bad - I was in the process of studying for a math test when I wrote that reply =P


About key runs/uber tristram : There's a guide here, which may answer any questions about that you may have. If you have other, more specific questions after reading that, feel free to ask - I currently have 76 or so standards of heroes, one from each time I've killed the big uber three.

Now.. if your sorc is a light sorc, then that should be fine for keys - Countess is great for a light sorc. Summoner is always a pushover, just a pain to find. Nihlithak is the easiest to find, but poses the greatest danger - between the bugged damage vipers down there and his corpse explosion, he's quite deadly. In terms of worth, the keys from Nihl, the Keys of Destruction, tend to be worth the most, because of the danger associated with getting them.

If you're fine with using your sorc to do key runs, then yes, you can go ahead and trade your enigma for a CoH if you want. And if you use the gear I have above, and can get similar stats, then absolutely, they shouldn't pose a great deal of trouble for you. It is worth noting that my HoZ is socketed with Um, and my Guillaime's face socketed with Ort. Also, I have a 4 bo call to arms that I use to get my life boost.

If you decide to go this route, I highly suggest shopping Malah in hell for a wand with charges of life tap. I have one with 105 charges of level 6 life tap - I keep this on my weapon switch going into tristram. You enter the tristram portal, move counterclockwise around the building yo'ure next to. Stop just at the edge of Meph's range, he'll come to you, you hit him with life tap then hit 'w' or whatever key you have it set to to go back to grief/hoz, and smite away. Unless he gets extremely lucky, Meph won't stand a chance. Once he's down, Diablo and Baal are pushovers, just make sure you carry some super mana potions to deal with baal's mana rift and spectres.
 
junlee said:
would the lifetap from dracs be enough? or do i really need a charge wand


The life tap from drac's is fine, but I find that if I rely on that, then that 5% chance doesn't happen as fast as I need it to. Meph does a lot of damage very quickly, and you need to have life tap on him ASAP to be able to stand it. I used to die once or twice every run before I got the life tap wand. Since then, I put an ort in my guilla and got my tap wand, and the only time I die is when I suddenly hit 1000 ping - and even then, there's been times I've come out victorious.
 
junlee said:
oh, i see. hm i am going to have to hope i find one

Like I said, shop Malah in hell. Took me about five minutes and 50k gold.
 
quietus can you tell us how your vanquisher is developing? i personally would like to know what equipment you use to get hammers to 14k in hammer mode
 
msoerensen said:
quietus can you tell us how your vanquisher is developing? i personally would like to know what equipment you use to get hammers to 14k in hammer mode


The vanq I'm building on ladder runs 6k hammers and 700 damage smite/900 damage charge with a wizardspike. The 14k one is 'finished', basically, and is level 93, needs to get to level 97 to finish maxing holy sheild. He currently stands at :

Max:
conc
blessed hammers
blessed aim
vigor

Near-max:
holy sheild

1 point :
Cleansing
Charge
Smite
Redemption
All prereqs


And to get 14k hammers, I run him as a pure hammerdin, using :

Shako (um'ed)
Mage plate enigma
39 hoto
umed hoz
29 mara's
2x bk rings
arachnid mesh
magefists
gore riders
1x pcombat
1x off gc
14/19 pally torch
20/15 anni

14k damage hammers, 3.2k life after bo w/ a 4 bo flail, charge and smite are useless in this mode thanks to the hoto's slow speed and low damage, respectively.
 
oh boy...i decided to give it a go for the fun of it. got the 3 keys made portal to duriel. heh. luckily i found a lifetap wand and my friend stood there lifetapping it every 30 seconds while i smited it with my crappy rare shield and heavens light..after an hour of having duriel heal from 1 hp to 10%..i managed to finish off the 1 hp with hammers..yay :d i hope the other 2 dont take as long lol
 
Do you not have open wound on your character? If you do, just keep smiting. If you don't, stop doing ubers now and get some things that gives OW.
 
I can assure you, they will. Crappy gear is NOT good for trying to take out the Ubers. The fact that you managed it is quite impressive though, congratulations.

As AnimeCraze mentioned, having some open wounds will help - kind of stops their regen, if I'm not mistaken... I'll have to look into that.

As for base dex... *Looks it up* 100, though that's a bit high for me, it's up to 150 after items. I have hoz and 35% block from holy sheild, no other sources of +block.
 
AnimeCraze said:
Do you not have open wound on your character? If you do, just keep smiting. If you don't, stop doing ubers now and get some things that gives OW.
yes i have gore riders for open wounds. but after keeping duriel at around 1-2% hp for 10 seconds he would somehow heal back up to around 10-20% rapidly then i would get him down again and he would heal. kept happening. im only lvl 79 and my smite is doing 744 dmg max, so crushing blow on heavens light and gores really are the only thing that allowed me to kill him. and being constantly frozen from his aura really made things more difficult. luckily 1 hammer was enough to kill him after i had him down at really low hp.

oh here ill list my gear:
shako
4 socket akaran targe (110 cold res- 2 p saphires in it since i read that duriel has cold attacks)
mageplate enigma..1 def from perfect :D
+3 skill/268% ed/2 socket heavens light
sanders gloves
rare ring with 14 str, 24 life, 6 all res
raven frost 15 dex
198 ed gore riders
ik belt
seraph ammy
 
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