Level 30 Hammerdin...

[Still-Xey-Lover]

Allo, i tried searching but i couldn't find Matt's old hammy pker. Basically i want opinions on gear, and suggestions on skills. First off heres what i have for gear: +2 combat 10 fcr res all ammy (lvl 30), gonna buy a +2 combat circlet with 20 fcr and res all (lvl 30), 35 fcr spirit sword, i will make a spirit pala shield (you can do that right?), magefists and heres where i'm stuck. Tearhaunch seem pretty nice for boots but i'm not sure what to choose for the rest of the gear. *IF* i roll a 35 fcr shield then all i would need is either Viper (forget how much fcr it has) or a 10 fcr ring to reach 125 fcr. But if i use viper i think i'll reach 125 regardless of the fcr on my shield, especially if i use 2x 10 fcr rings. Obviously 2x sojs would be wonderful for this build but i really dont wanna use such a valuable item on a low level charas it seems like a waste. Next up: merc. I have an eth honor partizan (thanks helz :p) i could use on one but i assume an insight would be much better for the meditation. Put on some max gear and teh merc owns. I don't have many susts, if any at all so this pala will have low life so i will probably pruby his armor/helm. Lastly, skills: max bhammer for the level, as much in conc as i can get, 1 in holy shield? and rest in synergies. Sorry if this is really messy/poor grammar but im |\|3\/\/|3 and i just woke up. Thanks in advance for the responses.

[LuckyDwarf]

Vmagi = 30
Dual spirit = 70
Magefist = 20

You just need 5 more.. go with a nice fcr ring and you can do without the fancy helm/ammy.

Lucky

[PhatTrumpet]

From the Sorc Forum Knowledge Library:

D. Summary of Results

Blessed Hammer: total number of points invested in synergies should be 9 or 10 more than your displayed slvl Concentration.
That's what you need to do for maximum damage, after maxing Blessed Hammer of course.

Besides that, at least 1 in Vigor, 1 in Holy Shield and Charge, 1 in Salvation, optional 1 in Resist Cold.

[Still-Xey-Lover]

Isn't the fancy helm better than a pcrown though?

[LuckyDwarf]

What I mean is that you can use a regular +2 circlet/ammy, instead of going farther out of your way to get them with FCR.

Lucky

[bigD72]

This sounds like a good build, maybe I should try it :rolleyes:

[Still-Xey-Lover]

I already have the ammy, and the circlet is only like 2 fg, so tis not a big deal. :D

[Shadobndr]

Just curious what wepon do ya use, i been mulling over this on my hammerdin.
I have a Suicide branch, and also a Eth heaven's light, which would be better?

[LuckyDwarf]

My weapon choice goes like this.

1) Hoto, if not available, use..
2) Wizardspike, if not high enough level, use..
3) Spirit, or Suicide if you're hurting for the FCR.

Lucky

[Baranor]

Oh noes! Another nasty PK! Whatever you do, sure as hell don’t use:

Dual Spirit
Vipermagi
Magefist
Cow King boots or (well, going to 32) waterwalks)
One FCR ring
Angelic ring+ammy for life, or a 909 to mana ring and maoim oak curio thingie
Bladebuckle for FHR as belt, or string for PDR

Just don’t use those ok?



edit: ill leave this mess, as I DID NOT DO THAT! Crappy forum this is, oh yes!

[Still-Xey-Lover]

Lol..wouldn't tearhaunch be a better choice because of the +2 vigor, stats and res? Also is it worth getting a merc with eth honor partizan + max gear. With my conc he can have decent damage but i don't have any sort of tele attack so i can't get him on the target. Thanks in advance again :D

[STINGER]

Hum........Wonder if you get enuff range out of a level 30 Holy Freeze Merc? Another option might be a Bow *****, maybe 31 for Riphook. Bow ***** can get in range faster, maybe land a chill shot also.

If you arent porting then you waste your time on a Might guy with that ETH pole.

[Baranor]

Hum. No. I'll explain why:

Resistances; 10% to all? Peanuts... a good +res pally shield + anya quest will fix a lot of the resistance problems anyway.
Stats: What, +5 to Dex and Str? Cow King Boots add +20 to dex, so they win
Faster run/walk: CK boots add 30%, Tearhaunch add 20%. no questions asked
Requirement wise CK boots win
And as for the +2 vigor... thats nice, but it doesnt add to the synergy you dummy ;), so all you gain is what, 3% faster run/walk? Not worth it imo. I'd even go for Sanders boots before I'd use Tearhanches... more stats (+10 str, +5 dex), and 40% runwalk.

Go for the Merc. You might not teleport, if you do manage to put someone in hit recovery, he can fix it really quick. Plus he keeps your mana up, which is nice.

[STINGER]

So whats the skill points of this build?

Seems to me IIRC BHamma is like Charge where you actually gain more benefit by pumping the synergys vs the actual skill at low levels?

If this is the case then isnt BH going to be damn cheap on enrgy and have no real need for mediation?

Could be wrong here its been a long time......

[PawnOfChaos]

Hammerdins work well at that lvl, just don't duel a charger :)

I once convinced a mid 30's hammerdin with perfect gear (soj's and all according to the rest of the game) to duel my 39 eth-headstriker charger by saying I couldn't be eth-spire (which is what he thought I was) because I used holy shield. He thought I was a zealot or something. His hammers did something like 450 pvp to me, but he died in 1 shot, so meh.

You're gonna need some kinda tele, I'd get a staff on switch. Also beware of the truly dangerous mid-30's pvp builds... boners. I learned the hard way about their potency.

Its just hard to say what hammerdins are good against in duels at that range. Kickers for sure you'd have an advantage against, probably a zealot if they exist at that lvl, but what else?

Fury wolf's would have to close, but they'd have nice life (though hammer field could take out oak, which might be gg).

WW'ers would be a natural target, but they'd be 2 handed and capable of killing you in 1 ww, even with your max block, and they should have more than enough life to ww through some hammers before being able to juv.

You'd own my brother's eth-honor naga zerker, but good luck finding 30's zerker pvp barbs besides his (which is kinda retired).

You could die to a cs zon, I've seen it done. But then they would prolly play defensively and use range attacks, tele would really help you here.

Meh, I'm going off on a tangent. There are some nice hammerdins out there (or at least there were a few months ago), so some people here could give you advice on who they can kill.

[Still-Xey-Lover]

Ok well i have a few more questions. Is +1 pala/all skills better than +2 combat skills, and should i go for max block?

[PhatTrumpet]

Ok well i have a few more questions. Is +1 pala/all skills better than +2 combat skills, and should i go for max block?
1) No.
2) Why wouldn't you?

So whats the skill points of this build?
Read the link in my first post. The only things you'd need other than pure damage are Holy Shield (and Charge prereq), Vigor, and maybe Salvation.

[Still-Xey-Lover]

Would the dmg difference be big enough to hassle over +2 combat helm/ammy?

[STINGER]

Does anyone still have that link to taht German site where you can play around with all the atts and crap? Hell it may not be around anymore.

[Still-Xey-Lover]

So phat if i have 10 in blessed aim (synergy) i should only have 1 in conc?

[PhatTrumpet]

Not supposed to link to the German site, but if you were to do a Google search for something like "diablo2ingame"...

[AzaZaz]

You're gonna need some kinda tele, I'd get a staff on switch. Also beware of the truly dangerous mid-30's pvp builds... boners. I learned the hard way about their potency.

Its just hard to say what hammerdins are good against in duels at that range. Kickers for sure you'd have an advantage against, probably a zealot if they exist at that lvl, but what else?

Fury wolf's would have to close, but they'd have nice life (though hammer field could take out oak, which might be gg).

WW'ers would be a natural target, but they'd be 2 handed and capable of killing you in 1 ww, even with your max block, and they should have more than enough life to ww through some hammers before being able to juv.

You'd own my brother's eth-honor naga zerker, but good luck finding 30's zerker pvp barbs besides his (which is kinda retired).

You could die to a cs zon, I've seen it done. But then they would prolly play defensively and use range attacks, tele would really help you here.

Meh, I'm going off on a tangent. There are some nice hammerdins out there (or at least there were a few months ago), so some people here could give you advice on who they can kill.

1) no need for tele. Charge walking is as effective if not more so.

2) hammer > any asn build 3x
hammer > any barb builds (Except the perfect ww which i know of 2 right now)
hammer > any druid build (except the perfect nado druid only encountered 1)
hammer > sorc as he will have max res and the sorc will just run
hammer > zon a bow will just run a cs has to get nice and close to be effective
hammer > summon

the only troubles for this build in the 3x range is a very good bs necro, and i've yet to see one lvl 30-35 with the potency to kill a hammerdin. And a very good windy druid same problem as the neccy.

Of course in relation to those two builds, I killed one of the only 3x bs necro's i've seen this season with my 35 hammerdin, and I killed one of the two 3x windy druids. If you know your build better than they know theirs, there is no challenge.

2) Fury wolves are hard because of their hit recovery capabilities. But most of them will not stand up to 125 fcr hammer

3) WW barbs will never kill my 35 in 1 ww. Don't care if you're sporting an eth yari, steel, or some uber 1 hand weapon. It's gonna take at least 2. A ww duel is tough because you have to tank to land the big dmg, but not as much as the barb has to tank you. So that gives the hammerdin a slight strategical edge.

4) The only 3x eth naga zerker i know of right now on east is nics who doesn't really hold up to the 35 hammerdin. I fought a 39 zerker as well who got rocked. Not really a challenge unless they roll a perfect zerk that gets thru the max block and is a critical on the first swing.

5) I saw a really good duel between a 39 cs zon and a 37 hammerdin last season who had both mastered their build. Came out pretty even in the end. I've never seen another 3x cs zon that would hold up to a hammerdin since that one. And thats only with the aid of LR.


For the most part I think the 3x hammerdin is one of the most effective characters for dueling a range of builds and having the most success. Granted....if you go through with this you're gonna have to duel mine for bragging rights and then all this advice will have been for nothing ;)

[Still-Xey-Lover]

Haha, i remember matt/sips was 35 also, why 35?

[AzaZaz]

34 allows for lc sus. i'm not sure if my ammy or circlet was 35 req and thats why....other than that, no real reason. I like that i'm smack dab in the middle of the 3x range.

[PFR]

We made it level 35 because I always go an extra level for most of my duelers. If the highest level requirement is 27 (from lets say honor), then ill go to level 28 to throw off anyone from guessing I use honor.

I think the major reason why we went to 35 was because every level we get is higher blessed hammer damage. I think we got around 350 pvp damage per hammer at 125 fcr.

Remember, its easy to kill people who want to get near you, and very very hard to kill those who run away. A good sorc is basically impossible to kill unless they are stupid enough to tele in your hammers range.

One duel that i had sticks out in my mind against a level 5x trap assasin. He has burst of speed and it was extremely hard to get in a good hammering position....it would have been easier to keep an eth upgraded steeldriver on switch and just charged him once or twice.

[Still-Xey-Lover]

I didn't want to make a new thread for this, but i'm gonna go level 35 for sust LCs and more dmg is more fun. Waterwalks would be a lot better than ck boots correct? Even though the run walk isn't as high.

[Matt]

I didn't want to make a new thread for this, but i'm gonna go level 35 for sust LCs and more dmg is more fun. Waterwalks would be a lot better than ck boots correct? Even though the run walk isn't as high.

Yeah, use waterwalks.

Though I never dueled a good one with any 30s hammerdins, a good mid30's fury druid could easily kill it.. I've had a couple nicely equipped level 35 hammerdins, and one very, very well equipped 37 druid, my money would definitely be on the fury wolf. With a couple thousand life and an average damage fury cycle approaching 2k, its only a matter of time. The hammerdin might win more softcore style duels, but he simply wont do enough damage to ever kill the druid, who in turn just needs to land one good fury.

On a side note, hey everyone; its been a while since I've stopped by here.

-Matt