Paladin Leveling Guide!

[MaesterWoody]

Hey everyone, I really wanna know how to get from level 19.. To 24.. So I can do Ancients then Baal.. But I dont know ANY good spots for me to level.. If there is a leveling guide or someone who can tell me where to go and get those 5 little levels.. Help me please..

[HeavAngel]

Max Damage Hammerdin Guide, by captain_bogus (http://strategy.diabloii.net/news.php?id=535)

Leveling Up

I’ve read some posts, some websites, tried things out and come up with a method of leveling up that works for my paladin and me in 1.10. Some might think it’s cheesy so take it with a grain of salt.

Level 1 - 12 Solo Act 1. Do the Den of Evil quest. Get as far as you can by yourself. At level 12 get someone to kill Andariel for you. Get an Act 2 mercenary.

Level 12 - 18 Do sewer runs, kill Radamant. At level 18 have a high level sorceress grab the cube, the staff, and the amulet for you. Get the Arcane waypoint from her.

Level 18 - 24 Do Arcane runs. This is your chance to perfect your hammer technique. Kill everything with hammers. I found that if you pick up mana potions you won’t have to buy any. Don’t forget to put your Khalim’s Will back on your mule.

I hate Act 3 for some reason. To skip Act 3, have a high level sorceress go to Travincal and kill the council members. Do not pick up the flail. You will not be able to take a portal to Durance until you talk to Cain. Grab the Durance waypoint. Kill Mephisto. I had no problem killing Mephisto solo at level 24.

Level 24 - 26 Clear all of Act 4 solo, especially Izual for the two skill points. I had no problem doing all of Act 4 including Diablo using nothing but hammers and my mercenary.

Level 26 - 42 Do Shenk and rescue the barbarians. I did this solo. Have someone give you the Crystalline Passage waypoint and grab Anya. Get the Ancients’ Way waypoint. Do the Ancients quest. I soloed the Ancients at level 27 and didn’t even lose my mercenary. Touch the altar step back and spam hammers, move, spam hammers, etc. Then go get the Worldstone waypoint.

I found doing Baal runs to be amazingly easy. From the Worldstone waypoint I use vigor and run through to the Throne room. You’ll have to drink a health pot every once and a while running, but Baal’s minions will replenish your supply. The formula is easy. Spam a nice hammer field right before the minions appear. Most of the minions will die very quickly. Run up to the last ones and nail them point blank with a hammer or two, or let your mercenary kill them. The council member group is the worst because of their hydras. If you spam a hammer field to kill most of them, cast a portal, then go see Malah for a quick heal, your mercenary won’t get killed by their hydras. For Baal just run up to him and nail him point blank with hammers. At this level solo Baal runs will give you almost a full level per run in Normal.

Level 42 and up: More into nightmare once you get your Herald of Zakarum. The funny thing is, Nightmare is easier than Normal in this case. Watch every monster fall beneath the feet of the mighty Hammerdin.

Hell is much harder though. I waited until I got my Wizardspike and an Um rune in my HoZ so I would have maxed resists in Hell. I have no problem doing solo Baal runs. This guide is primarily written for the leveling up stage rather than the end game. There are other fine Hammerdin guides on this website that focus on fighting strategy and the end game.





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[Ragnarod]

The quickest way would be doing some normal cowruns, if you can manage them (having a high lvl friend open the cow level, and perhaps helping you kill cows, or getting a high lvl enchant sorc to enchant you and kill them yourself), else you could try doing travincal runs or something similar, with monsters close to your level, you'll eventually lvl up that way

[Kandon]

What Ragnarod said. Do norm cows from lvl 20-24. If for some reason you cant do norm cows, do tomb runs.

[DTtheBlackMage]

thats the build im doing and it owns

[Bigrob]

1-6: den of evil

6-15: trist runs

14-16: sewer runs

17-20: tomb runs

20-24: cow runs

25: ancient quest

this the quickest way to do it, arcane runs arent that good anymore.

[HeavAngel]

:scratch: So, the Max Damage Hammerdin Guide, by captain_bogus is no longer valid>? Needs to be updated>?

[DTtheBlackMage]

**** im doing that and it owns so far i need the items which are a ***** to find but i manage

where can i level up levels 37 - 50? quick i been doing nightmare cow runs but haven't done no quests in nightmare till i get to 50

[Ragnarod]

The guide isn't that outdated, it's just that doesn't take into account being helped extensively by a higher level character, it does most of the killing solo if you read it carefully. To open the cow level, for example, you need to have killed Baal in normal, and that's not going to happen playing that way, so it's not mentioned. The fastest way of getting those early levels in normal is the one Bigrob's suggests, but since it's not available to everyone (single players, or people just starting ladder, for example), it doesn't mean the way captain_bogus suggested should be replaced.

Of course, the fastest way of leveling is just getting rushed to act 4 hell, and having a friend do chaos sanctuary runs for you until you're level 60 and can kill hell ancients and do baalruns in hell, it might take a day or so from level 1 to level 80, but that's hardly playing the game, isn't it?

@DTtheBlackMage: the fastest way of getting to lvl 45 or so is just doing normal baalruns, after that you can go to nightmare and start doing nightmare baalruns until lvl 75 or so. It's easier if you get help with waypoints and such, but the hammerdin is a powerful enough build to do it solo without any trouble. You won't be able to kill the ancients in nightmare until lvl 40, so make sure you're at least that level before attempting it

[DTtheBlackMage]

thanks for the info man im at uhh 39 now and havne't finshed all the quests in normal killed baal but haven't done the rest :lol:

[HeavAngel]

No, not replaced.
But, it does need to be updated on the leveling.
Maybe add in the other leveling options.
Also, maybe a few other things.
Thanks!

[Quietus]

No, not replaced.
But, it does need to be updated on the leveling.
Maybe add in the other leveling options.
Also, maybe a few other things.
Thanks!

Perhaps it should be pointed out that actually playing the game is, quite possibly, the most effective way to level? Assuming I go and do all the quests, this is what a normal character's life looks like up till norm baal :

End of act one : Level 12-15, usually closer to 13/14
End of act two : Level 18-20, typically closer to 18
End of act three : Level 21-24, depends entirely on how far I have to walk in the jungle.
End of act four : 24-27, depends on my level at the end of a3
Ancients : 27-30 by the time I get to them

Baal runs from there on out


Yeah, it takes a bit longer to do things this way, and my friends always laugh because I do take the time to do this... but what would you rather do, spend your time getting to know your character, getting attached to them, or spend the same amount of time fighting to find a cow game?

[sir goatscelot]

Perhaps it should be pointed out that actually playing the game is, quite possibly, the most effective way to level? Assuming I go and do all the quests, this is what a normal character's life looks like up till norm baal :

End of act one : Level 12-15, usually closer to 13/14
End of act two : Level 18-20, typically closer to 18
End of act three : Level 21-24, depends entirely on how far I have to walk in the jungle.
End of act four : 24-27, depends on my level at the end of a3
Ancients : 27-30 by the time I get to them

Baal runs from there on out


Yeah, it takes a bit longer to do things this way, and my friends always laugh because I do take the time to do this... but what would you rather do, spend your time getting to know your character, getting attached to them, or spend the same amount of time fighting to find a cow game?

Good on ya mate ;) Thats the proper and imho, best way to lvl. You also tend to find more useable items without skipping or bypassing areas, as well learning how to actually play in the proper manner.

This thread is not a lvling guide.., it's more of a "how to rush" guide..

[HeavAngel]

I'll send on the info to add in the options in the Guide.