Please help, need suggestions on eq my hammerdin

[queenlatifah]

My topic got closed twice on the pally forum :grrr: (I thought it was an error the first time). I hope people will help me out here.

He will be playing HC and is entirely setup for Hell Baal running, so MF and PvP stuff is irrevelant. Also, I can't afford godly gear so hoto, sojs, mara's, and stuff like that are out of my leaue.

Total FCR: 80%
Total Resist: 164-179(Depends on the Viper)

Wizzy
HOZ(PDiamond)
Shako
Vipermagi
Frosty
TGod's/Gloom's Trap?
Silkweave/Waterwalk?
+2 seraph's/rare/crafted ammy
Ravenfrost/Bahamut Ring?
Dwarfstar/Bahamut Ring?

1)Is Light absorb really necessary? TGod's or Gloom's?
2)I like the defense vs missle attack on Silkweave so I'm sticking with that. What do you think?
3)Is CBF(Ravenfrost) necessary? Will there be a situation where being frosted will get me kill? Should I replace it with a Bahamut ring or something else?
4)Will the Fire absorb on Dwarfstar help me survive a hit from FE? Should I replace it with a Bahamut ring or something else?

[ConnerMacleod]

hehe, I screwed up 3 Hammerdins, with the fourth I finally learned.


1)Is Light absorb really necessary? TGod's or Gloom's?
2)I like the defense vs missle attack on Silkweave so I'm sticking with that. What do you think?
3)Is CBF(Ravenfrost) necessary? Will there be a situation where being frosted will get me kill? Should I replace it with a Bahamut ring or something else?
4)Will the Fire absorb on Dwarfstar help me survive a hit from FE? Should I replace it with a Bahamut ring or something else?

1) Light absorb only if your resistance stinks, which it won't if you have all that res from Wiz/Vipe/HOZ. Unless you intend on taking on a few CL/Lightning sorcs, I wouldn't bother.
2) I like 10% more mana on Silkweave. Defense is handled with Holy Shield. Took me 2 Paladins to learn that lesson. Also I went with FBR in my HOZ so I become unhittable.
3) If PvM go with 2 x FCR rare rings with mana mods/etc. I use a Nature's Peace on one hand for those areas where things tend to be respawned. Very handy. Being frozen does not affect Cast Rate. So if you end up frozen, just spam hammers and whatever froze you will be dead soon enough.
4) Your choice there. Most FE's in Hell aren't too bad as long as you have max fire res. NM is another story.

I prefer hitting the 125% FCR rate over anything else. If something hits you and knocks you back, FHR is another good thing to have. When something knocks me back, I can be recovered very quickly and spam them to death very quickly.

Nature's Peace is cheap. Most people take a HotO before NP, which is fine by me. Makes them cheaper. Also get a Naj's Puzzler for teleporting around. All the FCR and you will teleport as fast as a 75 FCR sorc. Only the "GOTTA OWN"s have to wear Enigmas, when in truth if all you are doing is PvM they are a super cheap way to go. Not only that you aren't burning precious mana, leave that for spamming.

EDIT: Oh yeah, dump those frostburns. Go with Magefists. 20FCR and 25% mana regen. I have my mana at base and I never have problems.

[terrymanning]

Last season my hammerdin ran Baal at will with very few problems. My gear was similar to yours.

Shako (socketed w/UM)
Mara's
GA (socketed w/PUL I know, it was a mistake)
HoZ
Verdungo's
Frostburns
BK ring
Rare pris. ring.
Waterwalks
33 Res. HotO
Crappy Anni.

I liked the 95/90/90/90 res. in hell more than the faster cast from Skins. The extra blocking from GA also reduces the points you have to put in dex for max blocking.

1) You don't need lit. absorb if you kill the gloams fast. I think 90 res. is better than 75 res with absorb. I just usually ran up and spammed hammers and kept a finger on the rejuv button.

2) Kill stuff fast and it won't make a difference.

3) I never had CBF, but there were a few times I wished I did. Don't be afraid to S&E if things get hairy. So I don't think it's absolutley necessary. Nice but not required.

4) Not sure about the fire absorb but the MDR is great. You wont need that much mana. A single point in redemption will take care of what you use spamming hammers once things are dead. I had base mana and some mana charms and never ran out.

Hammerdins are great Baal and council runners. Enjoy.

[STINGER]

Nature's Peace is cheap. .

Still learning, Natures is a very bad choice for a hammerdin as it negates Redemption!!!

Light absorb never hurt but its not a must.

CBF is nice but not a must, only time it will bother you is if you wish to run and that is what Vigor is for and as much as you have you should move plenty fast enuff wiht Vigor.

Mana is nice to have and tons is nice to have but it is also a bit pointless to have the mana of a sorc as you will not use it.

Magis or Trangs Glooves are good, Frosties are ok, but not needed.

The Shako alone with maybe a couple charms, or maybe one ring will be plenty of Mana. A 3 Saphire Helm is all the mana you really need and the Shako beats that. Maybe a rare ring with FCR/Mana/DEX. Extra mana is nice but dont dedicate slots for it, let that just be a nice extra.

I personally vote for the GA over Viper simply for the bigger max rez and D and Block boost. Go Viper if you are going for the 125 FCR point , but otherwise the Wizzy/glooves/1 Ring covers cast. 125 FCR is some sweet carnage but 75 is also.

no amount of Mana regen is really going to help a Hammerdin much unless it is the lvl of Mediate which at lvl 1 is 300%, so personally I would forget regen mods or at least make them "extras" to other usefull mods, so forget Glooms.

Silks are nice but personally I would choose other boots. Sandstorm Treks could do a lot for your FHR as well as give you some stats, otr maybe some life boots like IK or Aldurs or Walks, Walks are just the best of two worlds with DEx and Life.

Dwarf is a good second ring if only for the life and MDR and its nice having big piles of gold all over the place to revive that Merc after he kills himslef repeatedly to IM.

If you use a merc at all I suggest the Holy freezer, go for medium damage so he hits with lower damage and IM doesnt smoke him as quick, you might kill those buggers before he hits them enuff. Holy freeze rocks for a Hammerdin. Defiance is also a good choice but really only good if you go for the big D armor. My personal choice is HF.

[queenlatifah]

thank you for input guys. i've taken all of your comments into consideration and thought up of a new setup:

-Total FCR: 75%
-Higher max resist
-additional +1 skill from sws
-20FHR

at lvl 70:
Wizzy
HOZ(PDiamond)
Shako
GA
Magefist
high mdr SOE
Stormtrek(+str boost will be useful for GA str req)
+1 or +2pally 5%FCR crafted caster ammy
high mdr dwarfstar
high mdr dwarfstar

at lvl 80, switch Magefist and Gloom's with Frosty(what's a better substitution for this?) and Arachnid Mesh.
Will the crafted caster ammy always roll at least a 5%FCR every time? If so, I think crafting a +1/+2 pally ammy won't be

as hard. also, what's the required clvl and ilvl for a +2pally?

[PhatTrumpet]

+2 crafted amulets are always at least lvl 89, and I've seen as high as 94, so do as you wish. You will always get at least 5%FCR, and as much as 20% is possible (perfect 10% roll with 10% rare mod).

Even though being frozen doesn't affect cast speed, you still have to run around as a Pally. 40 mana, up to 20 dex, and cold absorb is nothing to scoff at either. I would lose one Dwarf for a Raven.

You're too worried about mana. It's much easier to simply switch to Redemption every so often to refill your bulb than to lose the 20%FCR on Magefists. The +mana from Shako and a couple Serpent's Grand Charms will be plenty.

I like the MDR strategy. With that much MDR and TGod's you would pretty much negate Gloams attacks, but that's not necessary.