Zealot Pally PvM Help.

[Utherdin]

Hi, I want a make a ladder PvM zealot and I have some questions. There are items that I ultimately want him to wear, but I'm stuck on what would be the absolute best PvM weapon for him. I hear stormlash is the best, but I looked at schaefer's and wondered if an eth shaeled would be better. I looked at the new runewords and thought grief would be really good in a phase blade. I also looked at the other runewords and the ones that aren't indestructible make me wonder if repairing would be an arm and a leg.

The things I want to do most is have low strength and/or dex required items. I want him to have as much vitality as I can. If I go for schaefers it requires 189 strength, but doesn't require any dexterity. If I go for stormlash it's strength is much lower, but requires some dex. If I use Grief pb it requires 136 dexterity and that's a lot. I've used a botd zerker last ladder season and thought it was pretty good, but I've never used a stormlash or schaefer's and I"m definetely not rich enough for the other really good runewords.

The helm I want to wear is a good res Dream Bone Visage which requires only 106 str. I would use CoA, but again I"m trying to go for low strength if I can and Dream seams really good. If schaefer's is really that good then I might as well go for CoA then. I know CoA has dr and +1 to skills and two sockets, but I don't think +1 to skills makes THAT much of a difference really when I"m a high level.

An archon Fortitude I hear is the best armor for killing really fast and only requires 103 strength. I would use CoH, but I really want a high defense armor. Plus, what I miss in resists and skills anny and torch will hopefully pick up the slack.

For a belt I'm torn between tgods or verdungos. I've used tgods before and it seemed to be the best because my pally from last season used it and Black Souls did nothing to me. If I use verdungos I miss out on absorb but get lots of really goods mods.

For gloves the only thing I might use is Lava gout for 20 ias and enchant if I use a schaefer's or.

Goreriders for boots.

For a shield HoZ then a good Eth Vortex Exile with 40+ res.

For rings I would need manald Heal because I have no mana leech and then probably a raven for cannot be frozen.

For an ammy if I really suffer from res I would use a good mara, otherwise highlords or anything better.

Thanks for any help.

[kingdryland]

To clear some things.
1. There is no such thing as ethereal schaefer's.
2. Mara's amulet is almost useless for a zealot, if you want resists get a metalgrid.
3. You can't avoid pumping dexterity because it is needed for high block (it provides attack rating as well)
4. You absolutely need life tap and crushing blow/deadly strike.
5. Forget manald heal,you can get mana leech from a nice rare ring.

So here is two gear setups.

Affordable.

Stormlash as weapon. cb,static field,decent damage,elemental damage,speed...You can hit max zeal speed with an extra 15% ias from somewhere. The best pvm zealot unique hands down.
Alma negra with high enhanced damage and attack rating bonus. Better than Hoz for zealots if you have high resists.
Duress armor. Defense,resists,crushing blow and some extra ele damage.
Gore rider boots.
Dracul's gloves.
metalgrid amulet if you need resists,highlords if you don't,ravenfrost ring,mana leecher/ar/all res rare ring.
Guil face helm. Insane item.Coa is a pvp helm,doesn't offer that much against monsters.
A verdungo or tgods or nosferatu belt.

If you get an average torch (15% all stats) you can settle with something like
70 base strength and 100 base dexterity (if you level really high,90+, you will need more dex actually).

Expensive.

Grief phase blade for weapon. Sick damage,just sick.Itd too.You won't need any extra ias. It has the mana after each kill mod which means no mana leech needed.
Fortitude armor. Resists,defense big damage bonus,life boost.
Exile in a sacred targe. You don't need the extra defense of the vortex in pvm,why suffer the high strength and level requirement penalty and the pitiful block of the vortex?
Highlords amulet.
Gore rider boots
Blood crafted gloves (cube a pair of blue heavy/sharskin/vampirebone gloves with nef,perfect ruby and any jewel). They will have cb and other nice mods.
dungo/tgods/nosferatu again for belt.

Again you can have low base str/dex. My pvm ladder zealot is using the above setup minus the exile (i use alma negra atm) and he has 1.6-1.8k life(depends on setup) without bo.I do use an anni though. My average dmg per zeal is about 11k +, defense is at 20k (without defiance merc or more than one point spent in defiance as holy shield synergy ), ar at 10-11k. Your zealot will be a great uber tristram runner too.

[AnimeCraze]

You need max block, so go with lower str and higher dex stuff, if you insist on getting as much to vita as possible. I personally would not carry an anni or torch if this is PvM (in particular anni), since I want to be able to kill DC if he somehow shows up, then collect loot and leave. If you make sure your resist is stacked, this can double as an uber runner.

[Utherdin]

Thanks for the replies guys it really helped. King, you actually forgot to mention helms in the expensive part.

[kingdryland]

Thanks for the replies guys it really helped. King, you actually forgot to mention helms in the expensive part.

Yes. Guil face again :)