Some Hammerdin Gear Questions, etc

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I started a Hammerdin, and my next character will be a Smiter, if the ladder
doesn't quit on me first.

All of these questions are concerning the Paladin
First question: Max block or no? I haven't put any points in dex so far.
I've got 65 Str currently, 175 or so in Vit and 30 stat points in the bank.
Still running normal Baal, so I haven't really needed blocking as of yet.

End-game setup
Guardian Angel
Tarnhelm (until I find something better, like +2 pally skills, and resists)
or a Harley
Frosties
Jewelry, most likely rings for resists and still hunting a good ammy.
Boots......does it really matter? Whatever I can find with some life
and/or mana boosts.
WizardSpike, Suicide Branch, or one of those new nifty runewords (but I
don't foresee that happening soon). Even better, a nifty Scepter with all
the +skills I need.
HoZ (see below)

What suggestions do we have for the gear category?
Skills I'm just going the BH/Concentrate/BA/Vigor, maybe HS after that.

Next round of questions......
I plan on upgrading the GA, but not till I'm lvl 66, since I heard that's
what the lvl req turns into when upgraded. I also heard that the str goes
up to 196!! So that brings the next question
I've got 2 jewels
1 with 15 resist all and -15% reqs
1 with -15% reqs

Should I put the one with the resists in the GA or the Wiz?
I'm thinking the Wiz will be used by other characters, so the resists and/or
the -reqs would be useful there, then again I'm going to reuse the GA on my
Smiter so the resists and the -reqs could come in handy there as well. What
to do, what to do?

Last batch of questions
I've got a Mal rune, should I trade it for the ever popular HoZ? I'm
wanting one in a bad way right about now, with the next character going to
be a Paladin as well. The real question is this: Will I be getting ripped
off trading a Mal for the HoZ? I've seen ums, ists, mals and multiple puls
offered in the channels, but I'd hate to cheat myself, ya know?


Thanks!


short - it feels like I left a question out

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

"short" <shorts@zoominternet.net> wrote in message
news:30ov6dF32f0neU1@uni-berlin.de...
> All of these questions are concerning the Paladin
> First question: Max block or no? I haven't put any points in dex so far.
> I've got 65 Str currently, 175 or so in Vit and 30 stat points in the
> bank.
> Still running normal Baal, so I haven't really needed blocking as of yet.

Definitely go for block UNLESS you have 20k+ life (then it doesn't matter).
Going block is especially recommended if you use GA and HoZ, becuase with
these two items, you may be able to max block with less than or around 100
dex, that's like paying 30 bucks for a SI swimsuit-model-class-call-girl,
ie, hard to resist.


> What suggestions do we have for the gear category?

I once asked some experienced guys if Tearhaunch would serve my hammerdin
better or would some other boots with 50+ life be better. The suggestions
were unanimous -- 5% more resists (for me it was from 90% to 95%) would
worth more than 200 life.

> Next round of questions......
> I plan on upgrading the GA, but not till I'm lvl 66, since I heard that's
> what the lvl req turns into when upgraded. I also heard that the str goes
> up to 196!! So that brings the next question

First, who's going to use the upgraded GA? If it's the Hammerdin, I don't
really see a reason doing so. The additional str is too much for the
benefit of doing so, IMHO. If it's going to be for the Smiter then it's
okay, even though a Duress might serve him better.

> I've got 2 jewels
> 1 with 15 resist all and -15% reqs
> 1 with -15% reqs
>
> Should I put the one with the resists in the GA or the Wiz?
> I'm thinking the Wiz will be used by other characters, so the resists
> and/or
> the -reqs would be useful there, then again I'm going to reuse the GA on
> my
> Smiter so the resists and the -reqs could come in handy there as well.
> What
> to do, what to do?

You know -15% requirement on item "A" won't lower the requirement on item
"B", don't you? Unless someone with very little dex will use the Wizzy, I
don't see a point of putting -15Req jewel in to that lovely dagger.


> Last batch of questions
> I've got a Mal rune, should I trade it for the ever popular HoZ? I'm
> wanting one in a bad way right about now, with the next character going to
> be a Paladin as well. The real question is this: Will I be getting
> ripped
> off trading a Mal for the HoZ? I've seen ums, ists, mals and multiple
> puls
> offered in the channels, but I'd hate to cheat myself, ya know?


On USEast HCL, HoZ is still going for Mal. I'm not sure it will go down in
price next week as more players migrate to WoW.

Where the heck do you play anyway?

Bing

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

"Bingain" <bingain@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:30pbgkF3395m4U1@uni-berlin.de...
> "short" <shorts@zoominternet.net> wrote in message
> news:30ov6dF32f0neU1@uni-berlin.de...
> > All of these questions are concerning the Paladin
> > First question: Max block or no? I haven't put any points in dex so
far.
> > I've got 65 Str currently, 175 or so in Vit and 30 stat points in the
> > bank.
> > Still running normal Baal, so I haven't really needed blocking as of
yet.
>
> Definitely go for block UNLESS you have 20k+ life (then it doesn't
matter).
> Going block is especially recommended if you use GA and HoZ, becuase with
> these two items, you may be able to max block with less than or around 100
> dex, that's like paying 30 bucks for a SI swimsuit-model-class-call-girl,
> ie, hard to resist.
>
ROFL! Good point.

>
> > What suggestions do we have for the gear category?
>
> I once asked some experienced guys if Tearhaunch would serve my hammerdin
> better or would some other boots with 50+ life be better. The suggestions
> were unanimous -- 5% more resists (for me it was from 90% to 95%) would
> worth more than 200 life.
>
Hrm...never thought of it that way. I believe I do have some 'Haunches
around.

> > Next round of questions......
> > I plan on upgrading the GA, but not till I'm lvl 66, since I heard
that's
> > what the lvl req turns into when upgraded. I also heard that the str
goes
> > up to 196!! So that brings the next question
>
> First, who's going to use the upgraded GA? If it's the Hammerdin, I don't
> really see a reason doing so. The additional str is too much for the
> benefit of doing so, IMHO. If it's going to be for the Smiter then it's
> okay, even though a Duress might serve him better.
>
But I don't have the Duress runes, and I have the upgrade runes
I'm going to have to up his str for the HoZ as well, I plan on upgrading
that too.........so I'm really in a quandary here

> > I've got 2 jewels
> > 1 with 15 resist all and -15% reqs
> > 1 with -15% reqs
> >
> > Should I put the one with the resists in the GA or the Wiz?
> > I'm thinking the Wiz will be used by other characters, so the resists
> > and/or
> > the -reqs would be useful there, then again I'm going to reuse the GA on
> > my
> > Smiter so the resists and the -reqs could come in handy there as well.
> > What
> > to do, what to do?
>
> You know -15% requirement on item "A" won't lower the requirement on item
> "B", don't you? Unless someone with very little dex will use the Wizzy,
I
> don't see a point of putting -15Req jewel in to that lovely dagger.
>
Well, yes. If I didn't go max block, each of the items will be getting one
of those jewels. The main question was, which item gets the jewel with 15
res all?

>
> > Last batch of questions
> > I've got a Mal rune, should I trade it for the ever popular HoZ? I'm
> > wanting one in a bad way right about now, with the next character going
to
> > be a Paladin as well. The real question is this: Will I be getting
> > ripped
> > off trading a Mal for the HoZ? I've seen ums, ists, mals and multiple
> > puls
> > offered in the channels, but I'd hate to cheat myself, ya know?
>
>
> On USEast HCL, HoZ is still going for Mal. I'm not sure it will go down
in
> price next week as more players migrate to WoW.
>
That's what I've been thinking as well, so I'll probably go ahead and trade
for it.

> Where the heck do you play anyway?
>

West SCL of course!


Thanks!!!!


short

 

[Phil]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

"Bingain" <bingain@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:<30pbgkF3395m4U1@uni-berlin.de>...
> "short" <shorts@zoominternet.net> wrote in message
> news:30ov6dF32f0neU1@uni-berlin.de...
> > All of these questions are concerning the Paladin
> > First question: Max block or no? I haven't put any points in dex so far.
> > I've got 65 Str currently, 175 or so in Vit and 30 stat points in the
> > bank.
> > Still running normal Baal, so I haven't really needed blocking as of yet.
>
> Definitely go for block UNLESS you have 20k+ life (then it doesn't matter).
> Going block is especially recommended if you use GA and HoZ, becuase with
> these two items, you may be able to max block with less than or around 100
> dex, that's like paying 30 bucks for a SI swimsuit-model-class-call-girl,
> ie, hard to resist.

But keep in mind that you'll be boosting your blocking with holy
shield (+25% blocking at lvl5), so between that and the +15% blocking
from GA (and the irrelevance of attack rating for hammerdins), you'll
hardly need to spend any points on dex at all.

> > What suggestions do we have for the gear category?
>
> I once asked some experienced guys if Tearhaunch would serve my hammerdin
> better or would some other boots with 50+ life be better. The suggestions
> were unanimous -- 5% more resists (for me it was from 90% to 95%) would
> worth more than 200 life.

Silkweaves are also a good choice (+10% max mana).

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

"short" <shorts@zoominternet.net> wrote in message
news:30phdbF32i38qU1@uni-berlin.de...
> Well, yes. If I didn't go max block, each of the items will be getting
> one
> of those jewels. The main question was, which item gets the jewel with 15
> res all?
>
> That's what I've been thinking as well, so I'll probably go ahead and
> trade
> for it.


Okay. I'd like to say a few more things.

First of all, despite both hammerdin and smiter are paladins, they actually
use very different gears. Let's talk about the HoZ as an example. All
paladins want an HoZ, but a hammerdin will never upgrade his HoZ. A smiter
who uses HoZ will definitely upgrade it. Why? An upgraded HoZ gives may be
50 more defense (at the cost of 53 more str) which makes it an extremely
silly idea to upgrade the shield for defense. However, upgrading also
enhances the average base smite damage from 24 to 45, which is nearly twice.
And this later reason will make it the single necessary reason to upgrade
the HoZ for a smiter.

Secondly, since your hammerdin is going to spend that special 30 bucks, he's
going to have more than enough dex for a Wizzy. A brand new wizzy costs
less than a Pul on USEast HCL, and can often be bought for with less than a
dozen Pgems. So I don't really see a point in sticking a very useful jewel
into it for the purpose 'so everyone can use it'.

I'll be very hesitating about upgrading a GA for any build, but that's a
personal preference. Remember, if you max HS (which you must as a smiter
and will as a hammerdin because you'll have too many spare points later on),
a regular GA + regular HoZ will probably grant you about 10k+ defense when
your shield turns shinny.


Bing

 

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Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

"Phil" <google@donotcall.cjb.net> wrote in message
news:c01c969b.0411261722.61936fbe@posting.google.com...
> "Bingain" <bingain@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:<30pbgkF3395m4U1@uni-berlin.de>...
> > "short" <shorts@zoominternet.net> wrote in message
> > news:30ov6dF32f0neU1@uni-berlin.de...
> > > All of these questions are concerning the Paladin
> > > First question: Max block or no? I haven't put any points in dex so
far.
> > > I've got 65 Str currently, 175 or so in Vit and 30 stat points in the
> > > bank.
> > > Still running normal Baal, so I haven't really needed blocking as of
yet.
> >
> > Definitely go for block UNLESS you have 20k+ life (then it doesn't
matter).
> > Going block is especially recommended if you use GA and HoZ, becuase
with
> > these two items, you may be able to max block with less than or around
100
> > dex, that's like paying 30 bucks for a SI
swimsuit-model-class-call-girl,
> > ie, hard to resist.
>
> But keep in mind that you'll be boosting your blocking with holy
> shield (+25% blocking at lvl5), so between that and the +15% blocking
> from GA (and the irrelevance of attack rating for hammerdins), you'll
> hardly need to spend any points on dex at all.
>
Yup! I figured I might as well go for it, it certainly won't hurt.



short

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

"Bingain" <bingain@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:30q1ekF3328h5U1@uni-berlin.de...
> "short" <shorts@zoominternet.net> wrote in message
> news:30phdbF32i38qU1@uni-berlin.de...
> > Well, yes. If I didn't go max block, each of the items will be getting
> > one
> > of those jewels. The main question was, which item gets the jewel with
15
> > res all?
> >
> > That's what I've been thinking as well, so I'll probably go ahead and
> > trade
> > for it.
>
>
> Okay. I'd like to say a few more things.
>
> First of all, despite both hammerdin and smiter are paladins, they
actually
> use very different gears. Let's talk about the HoZ as an example. All
> paladins want an HoZ, but a hammerdin will never upgrade his HoZ. A
smiter
> who uses HoZ will definitely upgrade it. Why? An upgraded HoZ gives may
be
> 50 more defense (at the cost of 53 more str) which makes it an extremely
> silly idea to upgrade the shield for defense. However, upgrading also
> enhances the average base smite damage from 24 to 45, which is nearly
twice.
> And this later reason will make it the single necessary reason to upgrade
> the HoZ for a smiter.
>
Well, yes. The Upgrades would be used for the Smiter, not the Hammerdin. I
never said that though, did I? )

> Secondly, since your hammerdin is going to spend that special 30 bucks,
he's
> going to have more than enough dex for a Wizzy. A brand new wizzy costs
> less than a Pul on USEast HCL, and can often be bought for with less than
a
> dozen Pgems. So I don't really see a point in sticking a very useful
jewel
> into it for the purpose 'so everyone can use it'.
>
I got a Wizzy and Suicide branch for free last night, so I'm set there, and
that is a very good point.

> I'll be very hesitating about upgrading a GA for any build, but that's a
> personal preference. Remember, if you max HS (which you must as a smiter
> and will as a hammerdin because you'll have too many spare points later
on),
> a regular GA + regular HoZ will probably grant you about 10k+ defense when
> your shield turns shinny.
>
>
Hrm. Now you tell me. I put the 15 res/-req jewel into the GA anyway, just
because. I didn't have an Um, and since it already adds 15 to max resists,
it now adds 15 to all resists, so really gets me 30 res all, so I can live
with it.


short