Avengers: Still around?

[ATTSpartan]

I just rejoined D2 recently, and wanted to do an Avenger. I've done successful zealots in the past, but thought this would be a cool alternative to my usual Pally builds.

Right now I'm still only level 47 around, but I plan to have 5 pts. Vengeance, 20 Conviction, 20 Holy Shield, and 10 in each of the resists.

The problem is, having just come back, I really don't have items. Mana leech is a small problem, but the big thing is doing damage and also actually hitting. Is it normal for a Pally with my level to only have a 56% chance to hit stuff in Act 2? I haven't been around long enough to play through 1.11 very well. My attributes are: 120 or so Str., 150 or so Dex., 60 something Vit., and base Energy.

In other words, any advice? Got no uber items, starting from scratch. Relying mostly on cheap runewords for now, but it doesn't really cut it.

Edit: First post in these forums!

[Ouallada]

Dreamers are the new avengers, in my opinion. You get fanaticism, level 30 holy shock and max conviction all at once. Nothing not to love. The dreams could be costly if you have just started out though.

[ATTSpartan]

Yeah, looked that up, and it looks too costly for my budget.

Just looking for a few pointers to get me through nightmare, and then I can MF on my own. Is this build too item dependent to solo it?

[Ouallada]

In a way, yes. Vengeance depends on the physical damage of the weapon you are holding, and ias is as important as ever. You will basically need a fast weapon with high physical damage. That basically leaves just the runewords. I am looking at ebotdz in particular.

[ATTSpartan]

ebotdz

Man, I am behind. I actually had to google that acronym.

Well, in that case, I just have to work my way up from where I am, then, and hook up with someone to do MF runs. Ty!

[SSoG]

Dreamers are the new avengers, in my opinion. You get fanaticism, level 30 holy shock and max conviction all at once. Nothing not to love. The dreams could be costly if you have just started out though.

Conviction Zealots aren't just limited to Zealers. Rift or Gimmershreds + Conviction + Zeal will deal as much damage per second as Vengeance, and require far fewer skill points than Dream (since you don't have to synergize the elemental damage on your weapon).

Yeah, looked that up, and it looks too costly for my budget.

Just looking for a few pointers to get me through nightmare, and then I can MF on my own. Is this build too item dependent to solo it?

Vengeance is pretty rough for a starting character, not just because it's very item-dependent for its damage, but also because as a single-target attack, it's very difficult to keep your Paladin alive with minimal crowd control. A better starting build would probably be Tesladin or Holy Freeze Zealot, but it's important to do something you think will be fun, and if Avenger is that build, then have fun with your avenger. :smiley:

[Bjam]

I love the classic Avenger build, but I have to agree with SSoG, that they are very item dependent and therefore not ideal starting characters. However, if you want to press on, try to get a Baranar's Star (for a few pgems). It will carry you into and possibly though Hell (depending on the rest of your gear. When you can afford it, acquiring an eBotDz will make your Avenger's day...it has everything you could ask for (speed, damage, and big time dual leech, the stat boost is just gravy).

By the way, don't worry about your to hit when playing an Avenger because the screen does not depict your actual chance to hit factoring in Conviction. Your actual to hit percentage is probably 90%+. An AR of 4K to 5K will let you almost always hit, even in Hell act 5.

[Asmodeous]

Classic avengers are pretty easy to make and not that item dependant. Baranars star, Oath rune word, redeemer, heaven's light and rune master are all fairly easy to aquire via trade or finding yourself. The rest of your gear is fairly standard paladin gear. As long as you achieve a decent attack rate, resists and leeches along with a good merc, you will have a cheap avenger that can finish the game in hell difficulty. Avengers can get expensive and kill very quickly (botd/dream type set ups) but are not neccessary to make a viable avenger. Ask the single players. We make do without BoTD, enigma and dream on a regular basis. The difference is that with a basic set up, you will struggle killing in multi player games with lots of other players. It is the expensive set ups that can deal with the stronger monsters.

Skill and stat point wise, you have it all wrong. For holy shield i'd recommend a maximum of 10 skill points. Vengeance and conviction at 20 points and the rest of your skill points in the synergies. When levelling, start with level 1 vengeance then build holy shield up to level 5-10 then the synergies up to say level 10 each then max out vengeance before returning to the synergies.
The reason for that is the mana cost. High level vengeance is hard to run untill you have a high damage weapon because your rate of leeching is based on your physical damage.

150 dexterity is way too high even for level 85. You'll only want around 120 odd base at level 85 to achieve 75% shield blocking with level 10+ holy shield with a raven frost adding extra dexterity. And you can get away with even less dexterity if your using guardian angel.

[ATTSpartan]

Skill and stat point wise, you have it all wrong. For holy shield i'd recommend a maximum of 10 skill points. Vengeance and conviction at 20 points and the rest of your skill points in the synergies. When levelling, start with level 1 vengeance then build holy shield up to level 5-10 then the synergies up to say level 10 each then max out vengeance before returning to the synergies.

Phew, that's good; it's not too late to follow that yet (I think). My attributes are modded by tons of charms and items, I really don't know how they got that high, :scratch: .

And just how many pgems would it take to get a baranar's?