It is possible with the birth damnation to hit a level 1 skill and tank a whole tree pretty much. I am personally against people rolling themselves, and understand that with this tournament comes a bit of waiting.
Agree on both. I usually found it quite fun to be rolled by someone else, building up tension (and trashtalk ;-)
@Babyhell
Your levels are too low for full clears p8. it is usually like this:
| Normal (/p8): 20-28-32-35-49 |
| Nightmare (/p8): 52-60-63-67-75 |
| Hell (/p3): 79-83-84-85-87 |
I already did the rolls for a Zealot:
My idea for a Paladin would be:
Act 1, Level 1-20 (20 skill points total)
Combat Skills: 1 pt each in Smite, Holy Bolt, Sacrifice, Charge, BH, Vengeance, Zeal
Offensive Auras: 1 pt each in Might, Thorns, Holy Fire, Blessed Aim, Holy Freeze, Concentrate
That leaves 7 skill points either for later use or to activate all 4 defensive auras to protect the trees from an early lock (Prayer, Dfiance, Cleansing, Vigor) and to have the possibility to pump syerngies later on (e.g. Vigor for BH), even if Prayer gets the damnation hammer from Andy. So 3 skill points left.
Then Andariels Damnation *drumroll* 8 -> Holy Fire (well, glad we put one point in there, but not more than one point!)
Act 2, Level 20-28 (29 skill points total, 17 already used)
Defensive Auras: none unless you need Redemption for mana refills
Offensive Auras: 1 in Holy Shock and Sanctuary as prereqs
Combat Skills: 1 in Conversion as a prereq if you really intend to keep FoH open as a skill
That leaves 9 points to distribute among skills you intend to use. No here it gets interesting: you will get a lv 1-12 skill banned after Duriel. So it is probably wise to put those points into a level 18, 24 or 30 skill (only 3 points in level 30 skill possible because of your clvl) for Act III. So my choice would be to place all remaining points into Holy Freze (skill level 10).
Then Duriel's Damnation: 15 -> Charge (well, glad we put a point as a preq there for HS!)
Act 3, level 28-32 (33 skill points total, 29 already used)
Pump HF some more (skill level 14) or maybe invest a point in Holy Shield, too.
Mephisto's Damnation: 8 -> Sanctuary
Act 4, level 32-35 (38 skill points total, 33 already used)
pump HF some more to make it more viable, hope for Diablo to hit another skill than HF.
Diablo's Damnation: 10 -> Conviction (well, glad we didn't put a point there!)
Act 5, level 35 to 49 (52 skill points total, 38 already used)
now we're doing business! A viable route could be:
a) don't use the Baal rule and see what skill gets banned (HF is off limits for Baal anyways). Instead, invest all points in Resist Cold as a synergy for HF because it is the next skill that could get locked from Andariel
b) use the Baal rule and protect Holy Shock to make a Teslafroster
c) use the Baal rune and protect Holy Shield
As far as I understood the rules, the skills you protect with the Baal rule can still be damned later, right? That's why I would choose option a)
Baal's damnation: 1 -> Vigor (lucky roll!)
Then on to the Cow King: Finally protect one skill forever! Choose Holy Freeze, be good to go Froster in NM.
Act I NM: level 49-52 (56 skill points total, 52 used)
pump resist cold some more (18 points now)
Andariel's damnation: 12 -> Smite
Act II NM: level 52-60 (65 skill points total, 56 used)
max cold resist and either HF for more firepower or start pumping your second skill of choice. I'd suggest the first option. that leaves 5 skill points.
Duriel's damnation: 8 -> already taken -> 4 -> Resist Cold (hah! eat this! already at 20 and a passive!)
Act III NM: level 60-63 (68 skill points total, 60 used)
pump Zeal to at least level 4 (5 swings). leaves you with 5 skill points for Act IV.
Mephisto's damnation: 6 -> HF "can't touch this" -> 4 -> Salvation. Too bad, maybe we should have spent the leftover points there as a synergy for HF and maybe Holy Shock
Act IV NM: level 63-67 (74 skill points total, 63 used)
either commit to a second offensive aura or pump Zeal or save the points until you know more. I'd say I save them.
Diablo's damnation: 7 -> Holy Shock. Dang. I wanted that to be my backup. Glad I didn't put points into it. Now I will probably take Fanaticism as my backup for CIs.
Act V NM: level 67-75 (82 skill points total, 63 used)
put all points into Fanaticism
some ideas:
a) use the Baal rule to protect Fana until Act III Hell (risky! What if Mephisto or Baal damn Fana?) and use the Seal on Zeal (hah! pun not intended)
b) don't use the Baal rule and protect Fana with the Zeal. Worst case would be that either Andy or Duriel damn Zeal
I'd go for b)
Baal's damnation: 2 (Meditation) lucky roll!
Act I Hell: level 75-79 (87 skill points total, 82 used)
max Fana (1 pt), then maybe put points into sacrifice for the Zeal synergy or save the points. Or Holy Shield. I'd put them in Sacrifice and cross my fingers that neither Zeal nor Sacrifice get hit or in Holy Shield, depending on my gear.
Andariel's damnation: 3 -> Defiance
Act II Hell: level 79-83 (at p3. Will be somewhat lower for p1) (92 skill points total, 87 used)
either Holy Shield, Zeal or Sacrifice
Duriel's damnation: 9 -> Thorns
Act III Hell:
From now on we won't gain that much level (maybe one each in Act III, IV and V)
Mephisto's damnation: 4-1-7 (all damned already) -3 -> Redemption
Act IV Hell:
Diablo's Damnation: 1 -> Vengeance
As you can see, this can work (some early lucky rolls).
My best bet would be to put points at the end of normal/beginning of NM in a synergy skill to the skill you protect with the cow King's seal, thus negating bad effects from Andy's and Duriel's damnation. I am skeptical about the Baal rule, because it only protetcs the skil for the next 2 acts, so I would only consider it in NM, never in Normal.
It would have been good to place some synergy points in Salvation (maybe) but overall I liked how the character turned out.
I think it is fun that you can take the safe approach (like me, slower gameplay, less firepower) and have a better build in the endgame or go risk something and put points early in skills you use and cross your fingers they don't get damned. Note that i didn't use a single respec, so the second way (take risks) might actually be the better one, because you still can adapt if your main skill gets damned.
Sorry for the long post.
TL;DR:
Great tournament idea, sounds like fun for everyone (planner and hotheads).
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