Remake PVM zealot

[tydon]

I currently have a zealot that I just stuck gear on, and his skills/stats suck, so I thought I would remake him to optimize damage and all that good stuff.

Gear:
COA with um and 1 open, thinking ber if I stick with gloom over GA
1800 def gloom or uped um GA
Verdungos
HOZ (thinking about upgrading, not sure if its worth it)
Stormlash (clean still, not sure what to socket)
Ravenfrost
Dual leach ring
Gore Riders
Highlords
Draculs

What I was thinking on stats:
150 str
130 dex
Rest into Vita

Stats:
20 sachrifice
20 zeal
20 holy shield
20 fana
Then what should I pump? defiance, smite perhaps? charge? Really not sure on this one....

I hope to have alot more HPs than he has now, and maintain the damage output he has, which I think this build will do, however, I will have problems with ar I feel, as I have 7k now, and I have 155 dex, so would an alternative to adding dex be to get charms with ar and life or something of that sort?

Also, if I get rich enough, would exile be a better choice than HOZ for a zealot?

Thanks,
Tydon

[Pravda]

Okay, I assume this is pvm, so I would say you need more life leech. You can't have more than 15% right now I think. If you don't plan to pvp with this zealot I would recommend lionheart instead of gloom. Gives lots of life and resists. I never thought defense was a big issue in pvm. If you feel like you need more, get a merc. You won't need more than around 5-6k attackrating either in my opinion. The only thing I have a hard time hitting with a 5-6k ar zeal is Baal, so I smite him instead. I would probably use a gaze as well for more leech and dr. CoA looks ugly on pallys anyway :)

Gaze Um
Lionheart
Tgods
HoZ Um
Stormlash Amn
Raven
Dual leech ring
Gores
Highlords
Draculs

A setup like this would give you some dr and decent resists. You should be able to have 75% res all in hell with some extra charms. Also, you wouldn't have to spend a whole lot of points in str and dex, and would have a lot more life. About skills, do like this:

20 zeal
20 sacrifice
20 holy shield
20 fana
1 vengeance
1 vigor and prereq
1 redemption
1 salvation
rest in conviction

Put a few points in conviction and one in vengeance before maxing out sacrifice. Otherwise you have to be high level before you can use vengeance effectively.

About upgrading your HoZ, if this was non ladder, I would say no. But since it's ladder, and ppl like me who don't play ladder, will trade for those upgraded HoZ once the season ends, I say, go for it. Upgrade it!

If you plan to pvp with your zealot, just ignore everything I wrote, because then you would have to take a completely different route.

cheers

[assmuffin]

I can say right now that he won't have enough AR to consistently hit the monsters in the later stages of the games. Even with max Zeal and max Fanaticism, my Zealot only had about a 70% chance to hit the enemies. I decided to switch my Highlord's and Dual Leech ring out for the Angelic Set bonus to AR and my AR skyrocketed to something like 12k from being at only 7k. This gives me a mid-80% chance to hit the enemy and I found that I am doing much better.

[Pravda]

Interesting, because I sometimes do baal runs when I want to level my v/t and I don't have any problems hitting monsters consistently with 5k ar.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I use zeal, not smite -,-

[strength_honor]

Just use a friggin Lightsabre if you really want to hit -_-

[Pravda]

Just use a friggin Lightsabre if you really want to hit -_-

Maybe he wants to do some damage too

[Evanta]

u'll probably need juz a little bump in AR. The worst normal monster def u need to get thru is minions at 2.3k def, 7 k will already give u 75% chance to hit if of equal lvl, probably need a juz bump to 8k, then your're pretty well-covered. 1-3 Fine/Sharp Charms will do that nicely.

[willster_2001]

if you are really worried about attack rating, then metalgrid is also a good option...

[xpumafangx]

For your last skill to pump points in to do blessed aim or smite. If I was you get a creasnt moon weapon over a lightsaber, but stormlash > creasntmoon. Never add a um rune to a helm or armor. Using a 15 resist all jewel is alot better exp if you find one with a second mod. I have heard that they are realy rare. But I think the truth to the matter is that the jewel is alot easyer to find in nightmare then it is in hell. Up the hoz and add a um rune to it. But the def will not go up by very much but the smite damage will.

[Pravda]

Never add a um rune to a helm or armor. Using a 15 resist all jewel is alot better exp if you find one with a second mod. I have heard that they are realy rare.

If those jewels now are so rare, why not use an um rune? That's like saying he shouldn't use a stormlash but an ethereal one instead because they are better...

[tydon]

Well, I already have a UM in the COA for the pally I have now, and I do not actually need the um to get max resists, however, if I swap out for the GA, I end up with about the same amount of res, just a lower amount of defence and other bonuses. If I stick with gloom, which I think is better than lionheart, just because I actually notice the difference between 1800 defence and a 900 defence armor when I have used skulders on the pally I have now.

I think I will just aim for some fine charms to make up for the AR loss by having less dex.

As for the LL, I can do solo baal runs up to lister as of now with the 15% he has, with less life. Lister I have to lead the guys out and do them one by one, otherwise I get batted around too much.

I used a gaze for awile, but decided that I wanted some more versatility out of my helm. With a ber/um, I would have similar DR, and 38 resists. Furthermore, as of now I do not need the LL from gaze, so the only bonus I could see is ML, which I get from my dual leach ring.

I might stick with gloom and add a ber/ed jewel to the open sockets that will be on the HOZ upgraded and the COA. I also could look into getting COH and then add some to my DR, although the def would go down, I would make up for that with the upgraded HOZ......

*bah, just ignore my ramblings, I guess I just need to make him and move on*

BTW, my ultimate goal is a ethreal stormlash, but atm, I could only afford a zod OR the ethreal stormlash, which doesnt do me alota good :)

[xpumafangx]

If those jewels now are so rare, why not use an um rune? That's like saying he shouldn't use a stormlash but an ethereal one instead because they are better...

I must be realy lucky then? I have like 4, found 10. I dont know I guess I am the only one that picks up jewels in nightmare.

[tydon]

Ive found none since 1.10 came out, and found about 10 ums, so :)