Wish for invulnerability for pally

[Wolfedude]

Ok, I was with the team Oxy & Kenshin et al played through hell on Saturday night. I was playing my Disciple set freezerdin and, to be very honest, never could have gotten very far without the group and, especially, the BO provided by our barbarian participant. I am now level 75 and even if I wander around act 1 Blood Moors I can get the bejesus beat out of me by enchanted quill rats and many of the aura'd monsters just outside the gate.
It is bad enough that many of them are cold immune and some are physical immune. That would just mean that I would have trouble killing them. These guys are killing me. I am running away way too often for a character my level.
I want to build this guy up to where I doin't have this worry all of the time and want the advice of folks that have been where I am & have taken care of the problem.
My equipment:
Tal's mask
Disciple set
P diamond HOZ
Heavens Light +3 skills w/ shael/eth
Ravenfrost
Dwarfstar
1300 life and maxed resists except for cold which is 85%

Now I know this isn't the optimum setup for a pally but I didn't think it would be this bad.
What if I switched out the set items and went this route?
Guardian Angel armor
HOZ
Tal's mask
Ravenfrost
Dwarfstar
Thundergod's vigor
and some good rares that would get my resists up to 90% all. Would these changes get me to the point that I am not on the edge of my seat in act 1? I realize that I may have to socket some things to get the resistances up to 90% but would that be enough?

I have been using a Fire arrow Rogue merc and she is assisting killing pretty well. Should I change to a act 2 Defiant? Blessed aim? I am hitting pretty well at about 79% and don't think that increased to hit is what my problem is anyway. If I change out these items and figure out a way to get the 90% resists (95% cold) and get a defiant merc and etc. will this take care of the problems? I do have a Reapers Toll I could put on a merc but once again I am talking about my survivability not killing. Will increased defence and resists take care of the problems?
Many thanks for your reading all of this & taking time to answer. Remember I don't have a bunch of high runes to make some sort of exotic runeword armor to make myself invulnerable I have an IST and a couple of UMs but may need them just to get the resists up.
Thanks again and hope you can help me.

[MoUsE_WiZ]

What's your defence at?
How bout the holy shield level?

My pally's life drops like a stone when he starts getting hit, but with 11k defence (which is lowish, he's melee...many hammerdins have like 15k+...I blame lack of +skills available on mediocre meleeish gear) he doesn't get hit very often at all.

What to do to beef up your character (assuming your defence is low due to un-maxed holy shield) is another question though...the resists really shouldn't be a problem from what you describe, if you were to switch gear I'd consider Gladiator's Bane + that belt with vita and DR. Possibly a Gaze instead of the Tal's Mask...
Of course all of this depends on an ability to keep up resists in other places, which may not be an option for you.

As for switching the merc, that sort of depends on what your defence is already at. If it's on the higher side already, go for the defiance merc for sure, otherwise don't bother...2x0=0. Oh, and walk, don't run.

[Wolfedude]

I think defense is about 7000. Maybe defiant merc? As for Holy shield it is at about 12 with + skills.

[MoUsE_WiZ]

Well then, my theory would be switch to defiance merc, then start pumping holy shield and you should probably be just fine through hell.

[kenshinlod]

OMGZZZ what nubz. Go cta 'nigma botd. kekekeke... :uhhuh:

act 2 hell defensive (defiance) should definitely help. try to get a reapers on him. defiance + holy freeze + decre = :thumbsup:

or you can try draculs glove for life tap. i heard that you're almost invincible when that curse goes off.

also I would try to upgrade to vampire gaze for helm any dr is always helpful. the mdr is good too.

also not too sure how you're doing with fast hit recovery. a good fhr is vital for a melee guy. gogo charms.

if you're going with ga, you might want to switch to strings or verdungos for the extra dr. unless you're doing baal runs. those gloams hurt.

good luck. :clap:

[0takuPryd3]

My only advice is to never underestimate Skull Collector. That's a damn good staff with some sweet-*** mods.

[Wolfedude]

OK. I managed to score a GA and will begin changing out my present items for the new ones. I will hire an act 2 defiant, put a reapers toll on him along with the Griswold's Heart. I figure the added +2 to defensive on the armor can't hurt and I can put in runes to help with his resists. Will also put Tal's mask on him for extra life, resists and life steal. Not sure how I will achieve the resists I need. May have to use those UMs I have been hording. Probably will try & trade for some 15 resist all jewels. I have a ton of gems and might be able to get them for that.
Thanks for the advice. I will try using String but like the idea of Thundergods because of the absorb.

[Full_Circle]

Griswold's Heart. I figure the added +2 to defensive on the armor can't hurt and I can put in runes to help with his resists.

Unfortunately, the +2 Defensive doesn't work, since he's not a Paladin.

[det]

Reading this does not make me too optimistic for my KTA Zealot...untwinked and all....ouch, ouch..ouch..

[tooie1]

OK. I managed to score a GA and will begin changing out my present items for the new ones. I will hire an act 2 defiant, put a reapers toll on him along with the Griswold's Heart. I figure the added +2 to defensive on the armor can't hurt and I can put in runes to help with his resists. Will also put Tal's mask on him for extra life, resists and life steal. Not sure how I will achieve the resists I need. May have to use those UMs I have been hording. Probably will try & trade for some 15 resist all jewels. I have a ton of gems and might be able to get them for that.
Thanks for the advice. I will try using String but like the idea of Thundergods because of the absorb.

My shockadin was fairly fragile and it got to the point where it wasn't really fun to play because he was always on the edge of dieing (mostly untwinked). Even with max block and max resists. Since I didn't have holy freeze, I had to get a HF merc which meant my def was teh suxxors. Seems like frostadins have similar set of problems soloing.

I have a vamp gaze and like a +12? resist all jool for some perfs if you need.

[nebby]

Well, the other thing you're totally lacking as a frosty is a good offense: what i mean here is that you GOTTA get your Crushing Blow up, man. This is the thing that really makes a frosty rock. Your cold damage helps too, of course, but CB is helpful against nearly everything, espcially since youre zealing. If you've done your skill placement well, you should be having >2.5K cold damage with that new gear (the discple set is teh suxxorz). If you kill them well, they get less shots at you...on the CB thing, you'd be better off with a Crushflange than some mediocre 1-h weapon.

Given very similar gear, my frosty (lvl83) could run about with near impunity in the WS. Sure, his vamp gaze was Um'ed, and his HoZ was PD'ed, but it's not that much of a stretch. And definitely either the defiance or might mercs, see if you can get a cresent moon on them. Dump that silly little girl wit da' bow.

Also, don't forget to load up on the res charms. Every little bit helps.

[stevethatsmyname]

heavens light scepter has 33% CB so his weapon is all g.

[Wolfedude]

neby, I would appreciate a list of the items that your character wears. And what your skills and resistances are.

[nebby]

neby, I would appreciate a list of the items that your character wears. And what your skills and resistances are.

Well, I had removed the game from my computer, and had only been thinking of making a new strafer, but, since you aksed I'll obviously have to re-install now just to check him out. All in the name of science, of course. Or something like that. Get back to you tomorrow.

edit: yeah, I noticed the heaven's, which is what most frosties use. Good weapon, but more CB is always better, IMO (for any zealer).

[slayer of fools]

I'd say the areas you really need to work on are defense (start pumping holy shield), more life (charms,charms, charms), and get some %damage reduction gear. MDR also doesn't hurt.

All this and don't drop your resistances below 75%.

My 2 cents anyway

Slayer