Tesladin Gear?

[sanbruno]

I'm quite confused/mixed on what to use for my tesladin...

I've read the guide, but i'm not sure whether I should go for the suggested tesladin set-up, or the crushing blow set-up described in the frostiezeal guide.

Guillames / Shako ?
Crescent Moon / Heavens Light ?
Guardian Angel / Enigma / CoH ?
Draculs / Steelrends ?

A full set-up suggestion would be nice...

What would serve as the best balance between killing and surviving?
Surviving of course would be the most important thing, but killing speed is also something i'm looking for.

Thanks for the help beforehand!

[firstwave]

hmmm i have some vague ideas

Weapon:
The ideal choice would be a fast weapon such as lightsaber, azure etc. I find Cresent Moon (shael um tir) Phase blade to be very useful for its -35%!!, ITD, chances of casting static and open wound.

Rest:
I think the objective here is to obtain as much +skills as possible, therefore, hoz, shako, coh, arachnid.

Jewelery:
Someone correct me on this, but I have Holy shock doesnt give AR, so maybe angelic ring + ammy and a bk or if u want CBF, Ravenfrost.

This is what I think the optimial build

[Phadech]

Crescent Moon Phase Blade is THE weapon for the tesladin build with -35% enemy lightning res and itd. It is also indestructable, and it's very easy to reach 4fpa with it.

"Physical" items like guillaume and steelrend are useless unless you're following the physical backup path. Personally I always use Vengeance + Conviction.

For the helm; there are many options. I prefer Andy. I don't have Griffon so I can't tell the difference.

Outfit of my Tesladin (Europe, SC ladder):
CMPB
Guardian Angel
Andy (Aldur recovers the lost fire res)
Inferior Mara
Gemmed Pally Shield (Provides +120 to all resistances)
Draculs
Aldur Boots
Credendum
3 ll Bul Kathos (3 or 5 does not matter because of the low damage and Draculs' life tap mod, 3 is easy to trade)
Inferior Raven (Just for cbf, also adds some dex to handle a phase blade, in other words, more life)
Ethereal Demon Limb on switch (not a bad weapon for Vengeance imho)

Skills:
1 Zeal
1 Vengeance
1 Conviction (Even if lightning immunity isn't pierced, it's enough thanks to fire and cold synergy from salvation.)
20 Holy Shock, Resist Lightning, Salvation
20 Holy Shield
Currently I'm spending the rest into defiance.

Hireling has defiance aura.

By the way, crushing blow is a very good mod, I agree, but pure lightning damage (and of course static from cmpb) takes care of everything. Immunes are also dispatched easily.

To answer firstwave, Angelic combo isn't needed thanks to CMPB's itd.

Hope this helps. Have fun.

[QuicksandSlowly]

I used Griswold's stuff with my Tesladin (I liked to call him a Shock Zealot though, sounds cooler to me). That worked quite well. My build was as follows:
20 Holy Shock
20 Lit Resist
20 Holy Shield
20 Zeal
20 Sacrifice
He did some good damage, and was even able to out zeal most of those cheap-o Frost Zealots.

My ideal setup for him would probably be a Crescent Moon zerker axe, Crown of the Ages, Stone armor, Mara's Kaliedascope, Gore Riders, Herald of Zakarum shield, Ravenfrost Ring, and like a rare high life leech + resists and strength/dex ring. Belt would be Spider, String of Ears, Verdungos, or Nosferatu's, for gloves my choice was Soul Drainers but Dracul's works just as well. I've never had Steelrends, so that was never a possibility for me.

It's a fun build for rushing/mfin on lower lvls. Your Paladin becomes a portable bug zapper, he walks into a pack of monsters and they promptly fall over and die. With enough plus skills he can treat cows the same way. :lol:

[[exile]]

here's my setup.

-'crescent moon' phase blade -- requires NO extra ias to hit the 5-frame zeal breakpoint. aiming to get any more ias would compromise the rest of my items. ALSO -- the "ignor target defense" mod will negate the need for ANY attack rating bonuses... unless you plan on killing bosses on your own.

-circlets, baby. the obvious choice here is griffon's eye. but rares can be good as well -- i have a +2pala/+30str/+15all res one i'm planning to put on him. although griffon's eye WOULD be far superior, i'm personally not willing to splurge too much on him... just aim for +skills -- andariel's visage is great, as is shako. if you want 4fpa, go with andy's.

-CoH, without a doubt. i believe it was pravda who referred to this as the "SWEET CHOCOLATE CHRIST" armor in his V/T guide. enigma is a colossal waste on a tesladin, and does nothing for you than give +skills; guardian angel is good but i personally find it more suited for a tanking avenger.

-HoZ with either a diamond or an um rune. coupled with CoH, you're looking at EASY maxed resists in hell.

-dracul's is the best choice for gloves. life tap will make up for your low physical damage and low leech chance. ias is unnecessary, as explained in my weapon selection, but if you want 4fpa, i would suggest laying of hands.

-verdungo's is the only logical choice for a belt, although thundergod's isn't a bad choice either. wear credendum if you have resist problems. but if you're aiming for 4fpa, nosferatu's could be good too.

-gore riders are the best boots for most melee characters; this is no exception. war traveler also provides nice damage and stat bonuses.

-mara's if you need resists; seraph's is cool otherwise; highlord's for extra ias.

-at least one raven frost; i would suggest bul-kathos for the second ring, but dual leech rares are powerful and extremely cool.








1 (yup, ONE) in zeal.
20 sacrifice
20 holy shock
20 resist lightning
20 salvation
rest in holy shield

the reason why i have one in zeal is because after +skills, you get 5 hits, and because AR is unneeded with 'crescent moon'. pump salvation for the damage bonus.






have fun!

[Kefir-Tribe]

I have to disagree. Guillaume's Face > Harlequin Crest. Crushing Blow is just too good to be ignored. Griffon's Eye vs Guillaume's is harder to judge. I think it depends on how many +skills you got. But I would like crazy lightning damage to throw all that CB away.

[Phadech]

'] the "ignor target defense" mod will negate the need for ANY attack rating bonuses... unless you plan on killing bosses on your own.


I forgot to mention that in my post. Thanks for pointing it.

[Phadech]

But I would like crazy lightning damage to throw all that CB away.

You will have crazy lightning damage. :)

[[exile]]

phadech -- you DID mention it, sorta, just not in terms of putting one point in zeal like me, lol.

lightning damage IS insane. without griffon's or any facets, i calculated numbers slightly higher than 500-7000 total damage (including physical, of course).

after griffons and a facet or two, and once you calculate the -enemy res%, a pally with the setup i talked about should in reality be dealing way over 10k max... something near 12k or 13k, i would guess.

fun, huh? :D





oh, and just for the hell of it -- has anyone tried just running around with the aura on to see how quickly enemies die? i think the max is like 1500, then factor in -enemy res% and it should be over 2k. even more fun, huh?

[sanbruno]

Thanks for the suggestions!

my build is a tesladin with phys dmg:
20 Zeal
20 Sacrafice
20 Shock
20 Resist Lightning
5 Holy Shield (adding to this)

Right now my tesladin is wearing this:

Lightsabre
HoZ (Um)
Guillames
Goblin Toe
Seraphs
CoH
Verdungos
BK Ring + Raven Frost
Some rare gloves (planning to get draculs)

I'm debating whether I should trade in the Guillames for an andy or something.. combined with the goblin toe (or even a gore riders if i get one), it has a crushing blow of more than 50%. However, when I play, I'm not sure if the big hits on monsters are attributed to the CB, or just a high light dmg strike.

Also, I don't see how crsecent moon is better than lightsabre? They both have ITD, are into the 5fps breakpoint without additional ias, and doesnt the +magic and light dmg from the lightsabre make up for the -light res?

Thanks for the input again!

[Stuporman]

Thanks for the suggestions!

Also, I don't see how crsecent moon is better than lightsabre? They both have ITD, are into the 5fps breakpoint without additional ias, and doesnt the +magic and light dmg from the lightsabre make up for the -light res?

Thanks for the input again!

No, at least I don't think, the magic and light damage make up for the -35% lightning resists, especally in hell, where the negative resists can help remove enemy immunity (also usefull for PvP). Also CMPB has the chance to cast static on striking which will trigger often with a fast zeal attack.

Conversly (sp?) LS absorbs a nice chunk of lightning damage which is good for fighting the lightning souls in act 5 on hell.

In short use a CMPB if you find yourself going balls-out on the attack, as the static and large boost to your shock damage (from that added to your attack and from the aura itself) and use LS if you really hate the Lightning souls. Personally I prefer the CMPB because I find it to be better in all areas, in all acts, in all difficulies, whereas the LS is really only usefull in one.

[[exile]]

crescent moon is superior in all aspects to lightsabre except for the lightning absorb which shouldn't really be necessary anyways -- resist lightning will knowck you up to 85 resist lightning which should be more than enough in all cases. if you want light absorb, you could always throw on a wisp...

as for the damage bonuses on LS making up for -35%, you're wrong. assuming your lightning damage is about 5k (since you don't have salvation), 35% of that is an extra 1750 damage... much more than the measly couple hundred damage on LS.

crushing blow is cool but unnecessary. lightning damage is massive, especially after -enemy res%, so it's a waste of some equipment slots -- crushing blow seems like more of a frost zealot-type attribute.

judging from the rest of your equipment, you don't seem too poor -- so if i were in your position i would aim for this gear:

-CMPB
-griffon's with light facet
-CoH
-HoZ with um
-dracs
-dungos
-gores
-maras (minimum 28 for 85LR, unless you have an anni)
-raven/bk

[Bigru]

']phadech -- you DID mention it, sorta, just not in terms of putting one point in zeal like me, lol.

lightning damage IS insane. without griffon's or any facets, i calculated numbers slightly higher than 500-7000 total damage (including physical, of course).

after griffons and a facet or two, and once you calculate the -enemy res%, a pally with the setup i talked about should in reality be dealing way over 10k max... something near 12k or 13k, i would guess.

fun, huh? :D





oh, and just for the hell of it -- has anyone tried just running around with the aura on to see how quickly enemies die? i think the max is like 1500, then factor in -enemy res% and it should be over 2k. even more fun, huh?

i think if i really tried, i could get about 11.5k max dam without griff or facets, and i think some uber rich ppl could get higher maybe 16k with griff etc?

[[exile]]

does that factor in the -enemy res% already?

i'll go calculate some numbers now.






okay here goes.

with the most godly gear possible (psychotic):
-CMPB
-griff with facet
-coh
-hoz with facet
-maras
-2x bk or soj
-arach
-cta for battle command
-anni
-10x offensive gcs

gives +12all and +22offensive.

with maxed synergies, you get 11541 max lightning damage.
after +25% (griffon and hoz with facets) and -65% (griffon and hoz with facets, and CMPB), i get a final of 23802 max lightning damage.



now for the slightly less kamikaze (more attainable) gear:
-CMPB
-griff with facet
-coh
-hoz with facet
-1x bk
-maras
-anni

this gives 9all.
with maxed synergies, i got 6627 max.
after +25% and -65%, it gives 13666 max lightning damage.



now without griffs or facets.

-CMPB
-andys or whatever +2 helm
-coh
-hoz
-1x bk
-maras
-anni

it gives 10all.
max synergies: 7005 max.
after -35% you get 9456.

[sanbruno]

Well I just made a crescent moon phase blade around 5 minutes ago...

and it came up with..

198% enhanced damage.

wtf?!

On diabloii.net, it says it varies from 220% to 260% ed?
Is it just a mistake on the site?

Anyway, the damage is 92-104. Isn't that extremely low...as in, wouldn't a crescent moon be better in a higher dmg weapon, and i can just use some ias to try to get it back to 5fps?

I haven't tried using it so i dont know the difference yet, but all this just seems logical, using my common sense (which is usually wrong but we'll ignore that for now).



also...

i seem to be having a problem with my mana leech. i have none, without the lightsabre. the +2 to mana after each kill from the CMPB just won't cut it. With my set-up (a few posts above) , I don't see a place where I can really incorporate a mana leech...any suggestions?

[DECOYBOY]

on arreat summit it lists the enhanced damage as varying from 180-220%

dii.net is wrong from time to time

[[exile]]

dii.net is wrong almost all the time.

physical damage isnt too much of a problem; you're mainly basing yourself on lightning damage anyways. if you really want you could go ahead and make 'crescent moon' in, say, a berserker axe, but then you'd needsome ias gear which could compromise the rest of the setup. (43% more outside of the runeword itself to hit 5fpa.)

i seem to have forgotten to put a 15%light ormus in the psychotic damage calculation.

-CMPB
-griff with facet
-15%light ormus
-hoz with facet
-maras
-2x bk or soj
-arach
-cta for battle command
-anni
-10x offensive gcs

10all, 20offensive.

10785 max lightning damage; after -65% and +40%, you get 24913 final max light damage.

[sanbruno]

How do you keep your mana up?

Mine seems to always be out :xquiet:

[Bigru]

thats weird, lately i got 10k light damage, allthough using +2 weap, and skill shrine, i figured that would make up for using 2x raven only 9 off sk no anni highlords and GA >< also no griffs, using a +2 rare

[Kefir-Tribe]

I've seen one with 40k maxdmg (almost pure lightning). But he was made in a cheat program and was worthless anyway, because of lack of AR, block and such.

[MrPipes]

Of course, the gear I'm listing is pretty common, but when you can get perfect mods on all of it, it's by far unstoppable, and the best setup possible:

Andy's Visage with 15 IAS/2nd mod jewel
Highlord's
Crescent Moon Phase
HoZ
Dracul's
Verdungo's
Ravenfrost / BK ring
War Trav's

edit: forgot to mention armor, Shaftstop is money here!

[[exile]]

if everyone's worried about mana leech, throw on a dual leech ring instead of bk. it's what i plan on putting on my tesladin. unless you can find a rare circlet with dual leech.

pipes' setup is good -- hits 4fpa with very nice damage. war travs, however, i disagree with; the added damage is cool but this isn't a physical build at all. any chance at crushing blow you can get without sacrificing gear, i would advise you to grab -- i.e. gores. boots are usually what i find i have the hardest time decicing, and for good reason; there aren't really any "ultimate" boots (cough mermans cough) since it's just a matter of preference. thus explaining the reason why those duped rare boots on east NL are so rampant. if you can get rares with similar mods (frw, fhr, resists, stats) then i would advise you to use those instead...

the other problem is using andy's instead of griffons. the damage output is significantly hindered, and i think the sacrifice for just a one-frame difference isn't worth it.

the choice of highlords and shaftstop are also up to you -- if you're not using andy's then there's no point in using highlords at all; and it's either a skill bonus or damage reduction. personally, i find CoH to be better all-around, but if you're dying to physical attacks really often, then by all means, do consider a shaft (upped if necessary).

it's all a matter of preference.

[KrizQooo]

Just another question
the ignore target's defense on a crescent moon
i remember it doesn't work on all kinds of monsters like act bosses
are there still other monsters that this mod doesn't work on?
if there are , how do u guys handle them?
and also for lightning immune , does the relatively low damage from a phase blade handle them well?
for my paladin i have maxed holy shock , resist lightning and zeal , there's like around 20 skill pts left and i am thinking whether i should put them into salvation or sacrifiace
i'm using shako, COH ,2/2 ,saphrxx hymn , raven frost , duel leech ring , crescent moon phase blade , gore riders , er....string of ears? not sure.... , LOH , on switch i have SS + heaven light with 2 shaels to handle lightning immunes and boss kill too with a blessed aim mercenary .
sry for my long post :xmad:

[Phadech]

Just another question
the ignore target's defense on a crescent moon
i remember it doesn't work on all kinds of monsters like act bosses
are there still other monsters that this mod doesn't work on?
if there are , how do u guys handle them?
and also for lightning immune , does the relatively low damage from a phase blade handle them well?
for my paladin i have maxed holy shock , resist lightning and zeal , there's like around 20 skill pts left and i am thinking whether i should put them into salvation or sacrifiace
i'm using shako, COH ,2/2 ,saphrxx hymn , raven frost , duel leech ring , crescent moon phase blade , gore riders , er....string of ears? not sure.... , LOH , on switch i have SS + heaven light with 2 shaels to handle lightning immunes and boss kill too with a blessed aim mercenary .
sry for my long post :xmad:

Quoted from Arreat Summit (http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/magic.shtml#sma): "This ability will not work on Unique Monsters, Super Unique Monsters, Hirelings, other players, and Act-end bosses."

Obviously, players and hirelings don't matter. And I use Zeal+Conviction or Vengeance+Conviction on the others. They all die eventually.

With my Tesladin, CMPB's average damage with Vengeance is 900. A solid weapon on switch works much better.

And about your skill allocation, I recommend building a new Tesladin, 20 Zeal is a BIG waste imho. :lol:

[KrizQooo]

Quoted from Arreat Summit (http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/magic.shtml#sma): "This ability will not work on Unique Monsters, Super Unique Monsters, Hirelings, other players, and Act-end bosses."

Obviously, players and hirelings don't matter. And I use Zeal+Conviction or Vengeance+Conviction on the others. They all die eventually.

With my Tesladin, CMPB's average damage with Vengeance is 900. A solid weapon on switch works much better.

And about your skill allocation, I recommend building a new Tesladin, 20 Zeal is a BIG waste imho. :lol:
omfg......i hate to rebuild characters.......
is it possible for me to make this build an equal in lightning / physical build?
perhaps i should max out sacrifiace too for more physical damage?
if this is done i would have to look for another weapon
and use crescent moon pb against high life , immune to physical monster

are there other opinions from u guys towards my 20 pts zeal?
after reading what u guys posted i feel like a dumb-S in maxing zeal....

[sanbruno]

I maxed zeal also :xx:

but who knows. maybe we'll end up using a weapon without ITD...
and we'll have the last laugh maybe? :xeek:

[Armor_Biff]

I also maxed zeal, but I'm using a rare mighty scepter with 212 - 282 damage, 30% IAS, +204 AR and +3 to holy shock.

[KrizQooo]

i just came up with an idea

like for normal gameplay use cmpb to handle non-immune-to-lightning monsters
and on weapon switch use a beast zerker to handle immune to lightning

and with a blessed aim mercenary i think u'll have enough AR to hit

and yea i stupidly maxed Zeal just to remind u guys :) :xsmile4:

[Wurmer]

With the skills distribution you're aiming for I would certainly include a good amount of crushing blow. Anything that is not immune to lightning will be taken care of rather efficiently by your Holy shock + CMPB. For LI monsters, your physical damage will need some help if you want to get some killing speed. If you play in a multi players game you'll find that killing monsters immune to you most potent attack can get tidious. That's when crushing blow comes in handy. A good testing ground for your Tesladin is the canyon of the magi and the tombs in act-2. Plenty of lightning immune monsters there. Simply put, it's your best friend when you don't have a back up attack beside physical damage.

From what you're proposing I would go with ;

CoH armor
CMPB / Heaven's light on switch with Shael/ber or Ber/Ber (prefered) 67 % Crusing blow
Gore rider
Arachnid
Helmet ! depends, If you can't get Heaven's light with one or two bers I would go for Guilliaum's. Crown of ages is another good option with 2 sockets.
If you have enough IAS, Dracul's all the way for gloves.


Make sure you reach 5 fps with Heaven's light.

[KrizQooo]

With the skills distribution you're aiming for I would certainly include a good amount of crushing blow. Anything that is not immune to lightning will be taken care of rather efficiently by your Holy shock + CMPB. For LI monsters, your physical damage will need some help if you want to get some killing speed. If you play in a multi players game you'll find that killing monsters immune to you most potent attack can get tidious. That's when crushing blow comes in handy. A good testing ground for your Tesladin is the canyon of the magi and the tombs in act-2. Plenty of lightning immune monsters there. Simply put, it's your best friend when you don't have a back up attack beside physical damage.

From what you're proposing I would go with ;

CoH armor
CMPB / Heaven's light on switch with Shael/ber or Ber/Ber (prefered) 67 % Crusing blow
Gore rider
Arachnid
Helmet ! depends, If you can't get Heaven's light with one or two bers I would go for Guilliaum's. Crown of ages is another good option with 2 sockets.
If you have enough IAS, Dracul's all the way for gloves.


Make sure you reach 5 fps with Heaven's light.
i have maxed zeal like i mentioned and with my gear i have 5k attack something , together with heaven's light - target 33% defense do i have a good enough chance to hit monsters? just wonder if that 33% thing works enough
coz i have a blessed aim mercenary ........ i could hit without this mercenary , i would like to lvl up a might aura guy for more killing power towards immune to lightning monsters

btw which weapon will u guys go for?
heaven light? or BEAST zerker?

[Wmeredith]

I also use CMBP and have maxed zeal on my Tesladin.
I keep a Heaven's light on switch and me and my merc destroy bosses etc.
I would keep a beast on switch instead though, if I was rich.

[Kaze]

I'm planning a tesladin also right now ... and btw i thought of somethin , if for dealing with LI's u max sacrifice , could not be a better idea to put 17 points in sacrifice and the leftover 3 points into Fanatism and its prerequisites? the fana will be increased by ur +skills etc , not as sacrifice coz is a synergy ... and have a more powerful physical weapon in weapon switch with fanatism already set in the second slot, so u have good ar for the loss of itd from crescent moon , and lot more damage ... what u think?

BTW I'm still debating about going phase blade for cresent moon ... is the 4fps really worth it againts other mods u loose for getttin addition 55% ias?
or could a crytic sword be better at 5fps ... it has a very nice physical damage for better leechin and always liked the weapon ;) needs 25% more ias to reach 5fps

[[exile]]

i use PB because you need NO extra ias to hit 5fpa.

i have a smite crushing blow setup on switch. 100% cth (if i'm not mistaken) and very nice damage. used for bosses, mainly.

[Wurmer]

I think that Phase blade remains the best option for a Tesladin. What you need here is a high damage output and that's what 4 fps zeal will do.

[Vajar]

20 zeal isn't THAT bad, since there are plenty of bosses (where ITD doesn't work), but it isn't really needed for most parts of the game