hammersaway
28-08-2007, 18:29
(This is my first post, so I would love comments, and constructive criticism)
Hammer-Uberdin A.K.A “Destroyer Palladian” Guide
(NOTE: THIS IS A PvM guide only, the Destroyer Palladian build is meant for PvM, while there are applications for PvP you will need slightly different gear setup and a slightly different approach, this build guide though only covers PvM)
Why this build?
Simple, as a hammerdin you are the ultimate PvM Char in the game, just about nothing is immune to your attack, by the mid 80’s with decent gear you are dealing from 10-14k un-absorbable damage per hit. Not bad! I can solo any area in the game, rush anyone through hell difficulty, and magic find anywhere. The smite gear on switch really shines with you try running UberTristrem for the hellfire torches, you can solo this level without a problem.
I was just asked on battle net by someone who had just run ubertristram with me; “Hey, what was the build that you used to own the ubers?” If I am running the chaos sanctuary, rushing people or playing around in baal running games, I always get told “your pally rocks, how did you build him?” so I figured in light of this I would write this guide
Section 1: The build
Stats
• Strength-just enough for your gear
• Dex: I recommend getting max block with a high block percentage shield using holy shield and a high block percentage shield, something like 100 hard points by level 80, with your gear this will get you around max block
• Vitality: EVERYTHING you have left goes here
• Energy: Not a thing!
Skills
• Blessed Hammer: 20 This is your main attack, max this first
• Concentration: 20 this is what makes your attack really shine
• Vigor: 20 Synergy for your main attack
• Blessed Aim: 20 Another synergy for your main attack
• Holy Shield: 1-20 It is possible to max this, but it will take you til roughly level 94 if you do
• Smite: 1 point only here, with your plus to skills this really all you need. Over all Holy shield gives you more of a bonus to smite damage than this skill with this build
• Redemption: 1 point, pretty much a free rejuv potion every time you switch to it.
• Salvation: 1 point You will want to do this last, don’t put anything into until your 4 main skills are maxed
Your rough order is to max blessed Hammer, Concentration, Vigor, Blessed Aim, then worry about holy shield. It is important to note, that you should put at least one point into holy shield and concentration and redemption as soon as you can, but don’t start maxing them until you have maxed blessed hammer.
Page 2 of 5
And yes this is a total of 105 skill points to finish this build. That’s ok, you will complete this at level 94 with your plus skill quests, and honestly you will be at pretty much full strength after you have maxed everything and have a handful of points in Holy Shield anyway.
Section 2: Equipment:
(Hammerdin gear this is the gear you will use 95% of the time, for leveling, and PVM and even PVP, the only time you will change is going to be for ubers, and perhaps Diablo clone)
Helm:
• I recommend using a shako(harlequins crest) for the plus 2 to skills and awesome life and manna bonus. Also this has a 50% magic find bonus
• Other options are a Crown of Ages, but I think it’s too expensive and not worth it with only one point bonus to skills
Armor:
• There is only one choice for a Hammerdin, and that is Enigma. You will want this is some sort of light armor, Mage Plate, Arcane Plate, Wire fleece etc…
Shield:
• You will want a HOZ, upped preferably for the increased defense and smite damage. The HOZ gives you +2 to skills and +2 to combat skills which is a huge bonus for us.
• 2nd option Exile Vortex Shield exile has a defiance aura and put it in a vortex shield to gain crazy amounts of defense. The added 5% max resistances for cold and fire isn't too bad to have
Boots:
• For normal play I like War Travelers for the 50% magic find and other bonus, but sandstorm treks are a less expensive option.
Gloves:
• You are really looking for Faster Cast rate here, so your choices are magefists or trang-oul’s. If you need manna Frostburns are a good cheap choice also.
Belt:
• Well, I should not have to say it, but Arachnids Mesh is your top choice here. The plus 1 to all skills and faster cast rate
• Your other options is Verdungo's Hearty Cord-The standard melee belt includes everything, 40 to vitality (that's 120 life, kids) and 15% DR are not bad additions to your game.
Page 3 of 5
Weapon:
• Ok kids let’s be honest, what you need and you know this is coming is a HOTO. You just can’t beat this for a caster, it has that great plus 3 to all skills, +40% faster cast rate, +30-40 to all resists, +10 dexterity, +15% max mana, and +20 replenish life mods
Rings:
• Well I guess I don’t need to tell you that a stone of Jordan is a beast of a ring, plus one to skills addition to manna that would be my top choice for normal play.
• The Bul Kathos wedding band is a solid choice also for the plus one skill and addition to life you receive
• You might want to note for special uses you will want a wisp protector which adds lightning absorb, dwarf star which adds fire absorb and natures peace if you are running Nik hunting for destruction keys
Amulet:
• Top choice here would be a Mara’s kaleidoscope for the plus two to all skills, plus to resistances and plus to all attributes
Section 3: Ubers
What really makes this build shine is the ability to use the build to solo ubertristram. I used the straight hammerdin gear for everything else, but now is the time to switch. Why do I need a different set up for the ubers? Well the ubers have a EXTREMELY high regenerate rate and they come with a HIGH magic immunity and absorb.
So, what’s the way to deal with this, well it’s to switch out some of our gear for ubersmite gear and take advantage of crushing blow to kill the ubers. In case you don’t know, when you deal a crushing blow it takes a tenth of a monsters life away instantly, so stack the crushing blow and watch their life fall. It is important to note that when fighting the ubers there are a few other considerations.
• Crushing blow
• Resistances
• Lifetap
• Decent base damage
Ok, so how do we get all these things from our char? Well for starters we have one point in smite, so that’s going to be our main skill for ubering. Our shield, be it a exile or HOZ has a good base smite damage, with holy shield we have increased that drastically and while running our concentration aura you will show somewhere in the range of 1000-2000’s at around level 80 but in reality you will be dealing much more damage than what is shown when you add in crushing blow and open wounds, somewhere in the realm of 8,000 damage to be truthful.
Page 4 of 5
Then we will have to switch our our Enigma for a Chains of Honor. I know, I know, why give up enigma? Well, simple, mephisto loves to cast conviction which sharply lowers your resistances and we are going to need the COH for the +65 to all resistances it carries
Then we will want to put on our gore riders for the 15% crushing blow, add the Last Wish phase blade for the 60-70% crushing blow, plus to resistances, also it comes with a might aura which ups our damage and has the ability to cast fade which adds to your resistances also. Lastly the Last Wish phase blade has a chance to cast lifetap upon striking so once that casts whatever uber you are fighting they are done for. Life tap in case you don’t know is a necromancer skill that returns damage you dealt the enemy to life for your character, extremely useful against a very strong opponent such as the ubers.
Your second choice for a weapon would be a Grief Phase blade. The + damage mod on this gets added directly to your base shield damage, then increased by any enhanced damage, such as strength, concentration, fanaticism, smite.. the list goes on. Most of the mods on this don’t help a Destroyer, since venom won’t carry on smite, so the -% poison resist doesn’t help, and deadly strike also doesn’t carry. However, the damage boost is incredible.
For gloves we are going to use dracul’s graps, these gloves also have a chance to cast lifetap and 10% life stolen per hit, also it has a chance of open wounds, which will prevent the opponent from healing when that happens
For our helm we are going to use Guillaume's Face this helm provides 30% faster hit recovery and a whopping 35% crushing blow.
So to sum up your gear should look like this for fighting ubers
• Helm: Guillaume’s Face
• Gloves: Dracul’s Grasp
• Weapon: Last Wish Phase Blade/Grief Phase blade
• Shield: Hoz or Exile
• Boots: Gore Riders
• Armor: Chains of Honor
Rings, and Amulets keep the same, and I use my normal belt also.
Section 4: Notes and advice:
This build is not mercenary dependant but let me just tell you from experience using a mercenary is a HUGE bonus. Manna is going to be a problem for most hammerdins especially at lower levels, once you reach level 80 or so you can get by fine on your own, but for a worry free casting experience I use a mercenary.
The best kind of mercenary to use is going to be an act two defensive mercenary. This mercenary comes with a holy freeze aura which slows your opponents down so you have more time to mow them down with your awesome hammers before they get close to you. Also act two mercenaries are able to carry pole arms and that is going to be invaluable.
Page 5 of 5
• Weapon: Insight polearm
• Helm: Vampire Gaze
• Armor: Duress or Fortitude
For our weapon we want to equip the guy with an insight pole arm, simply because of the crazy amount of damage and the fact that it has level 10-17 meditation aura. This aura regenerates your manna extremely fast so you don’t have to worry about potions
The helm vampire gaze offers life leach to help keep him alive also offers damage reduction
The Armor you can choose between Duress or Fortitude. They are both high defense armor, the fortitude is what I currently use. Fortitude armor comes with a +300% to damage, plus to life and a 25-30 plus to resistances. That really puts together a hard hitting mercenary. The Duress armor offers a 30something chance of open wounds, and a 15% chance of crushing blow. I would recommend Fortitude for this build, but the final decision is up to you.
Over all my Merc, now level 88 deals 1-4K damage per hit by himself and has perfect resistances in hell. You should note that when we are fighting he is under the influence of my concentration aura because we have that always running, he deals just over 4-9K damage per hit, not too bad!
Hammer-Uberdin A.K.A “Destroyer Palladian” Guide
(NOTE: THIS IS A PvM guide only, the Destroyer Palladian build is meant for PvM, while there are applications for PvP you will need slightly different gear setup and a slightly different approach, this build guide though only covers PvM)
Why this build?
Simple, as a hammerdin you are the ultimate PvM Char in the game, just about nothing is immune to your attack, by the mid 80’s with decent gear you are dealing from 10-14k un-absorbable damage per hit. Not bad! I can solo any area in the game, rush anyone through hell difficulty, and magic find anywhere. The smite gear on switch really shines with you try running UberTristrem for the hellfire torches, you can solo this level without a problem.
I was just asked on battle net by someone who had just run ubertristram with me; “Hey, what was the build that you used to own the ubers?” If I am running the chaos sanctuary, rushing people or playing around in baal running games, I always get told “your pally rocks, how did you build him?” so I figured in light of this I would write this guide
Section 1: The build
Stats
• Strength-just enough for your gear
• Dex: I recommend getting max block with a high block percentage shield using holy shield and a high block percentage shield, something like 100 hard points by level 80, with your gear this will get you around max block
• Vitality: EVERYTHING you have left goes here
• Energy: Not a thing!
Skills
• Blessed Hammer: 20 This is your main attack, max this first
• Concentration: 20 this is what makes your attack really shine
• Vigor: 20 Synergy for your main attack
• Blessed Aim: 20 Another synergy for your main attack
• Holy Shield: 1-20 It is possible to max this, but it will take you til roughly level 94 if you do
• Smite: 1 point only here, with your plus to skills this really all you need. Over all Holy shield gives you more of a bonus to smite damage than this skill with this build
• Redemption: 1 point, pretty much a free rejuv potion every time you switch to it.
• Salvation: 1 point You will want to do this last, don’t put anything into until your 4 main skills are maxed
Your rough order is to max blessed Hammer, Concentration, Vigor, Blessed Aim, then worry about holy shield. It is important to note, that you should put at least one point into holy shield and concentration and redemption as soon as you can, but don’t start maxing them until you have maxed blessed hammer.
Page 2 of 5
And yes this is a total of 105 skill points to finish this build. That’s ok, you will complete this at level 94 with your plus skill quests, and honestly you will be at pretty much full strength after you have maxed everything and have a handful of points in Holy Shield anyway.
Section 2: Equipment:
(Hammerdin gear this is the gear you will use 95% of the time, for leveling, and PVM and even PVP, the only time you will change is going to be for ubers, and perhaps Diablo clone)
Helm:
• I recommend using a shako(harlequins crest) for the plus 2 to skills and awesome life and manna bonus. Also this has a 50% magic find bonus
• Other options are a Crown of Ages, but I think it’s too expensive and not worth it with only one point bonus to skills
Armor:
• There is only one choice for a Hammerdin, and that is Enigma. You will want this is some sort of light armor, Mage Plate, Arcane Plate, Wire fleece etc…
Shield:
• You will want a HOZ, upped preferably for the increased defense and smite damage. The HOZ gives you +2 to skills and +2 to combat skills which is a huge bonus for us.
• 2nd option Exile Vortex Shield exile has a defiance aura and put it in a vortex shield to gain crazy amounts of defense. The added 5% max resistances for cold and fire isn't too bad to have
Boots:
• For normal play I like War Travelers for the 50% magic find and other bonus, but sandstorm treks are a less expensive option.
Gloves:
• You are really looking for Faster Cast rate here, so your choices are magefists or trang-oul’s. If you need manna Frostburns are a good cheap choice also.
Belt:
• Well, I should not have to say it, but Arachnids Mesh is your top choice here. The plus 1 to all skills and faster cast rate
• Your other options is Verdungo's Hearty Cord-The standard melee belt includes everything, 40 to vitality (that's 120 life, kids) and 15% DR are not bad additions to your game.
Page 3 of 5
Weapon:
• Ok kids let’s be honest, what you need and you know this is coming is a HOTO. You just can’t beat this for a caster, it has that great plus 3 to all skills, +40% faster cast rate, +30-40 to all resists, +10 dexterity, +15% max mana, and +20 replenish life mods
Rings:
• Well I guess I don’t need to tell you that a stone of Jordan is a beast of a ring, plus one to skills addition to manna that would be my top choice for normal play.
• The Bul Kathos wedding band is a solid choice also for the plus one skill and addition to life you receive
• You might want to note for special uses you will want a wisp protector which adds lightning absorb, dwarf star which adds fire absorb and natures peace if you are running Nik hunting for destruction keys
Amulet:
• Top choice here would be a Mara’s kaleidoscope for the plus two to all skills, plus to resistances and plus to all attributes
Section 3: Ubers
What really makes this build shine is the ability to use the build to solo ubertristram. I used the straight hammerdin gear for everything else, but now is the time to switch. Why do I need a different set up for the ubers? Well the ubers have a EXTREMELY high regenerate rate and they come with a HIGH magic immunity and absorb.
So, what’s the way to deal with this, well it’s to switch out some of our gear for ubersmite gear and take advantage of crushing blow to kill the ubers. In case you don’t know, when you deal a crushing blow it takes a tenth of a monsters life away instantly, so stack the crushing blow and watch their life fall. It is important to note that when fighting the ubers there are a few other considerations.
• Crushing blow
• Resistances
• Lifetap
• Decent base damage
Ok, so how do we get all these things from our char? Well for starters we have one point in smite, so that’s going to be our main skill for ubering. Our shield, be it a exile or HOZ has a good base smite damage, with holy shield we have increased that drastically and while running our concentration aura you will show somewhere in the range of 1000-2000’s at around level 80 but in reality you will be dealing much more damage than what is shown when you add in crushing blow and open wounds, somewhere in the realm of 8,000 damage to be truthful.
Page 4 of 5
Then we will have to switch our our Enigma for a Chains of Honor. I know, I know, why give up enigma? Well, simple, mephisto loves to cast conviction which sharply lowers your resistances and we are going to need the COH for the +65 to all resistances it carries
Then we will want to put on our gore riders for the 15% crushing blow, add the Last Wish phase blade for the 60-70% crushing blow, plus to resistances, also it comes with a might aura which ups our damage and has the ability to cast fade which adds to your resistances also. Lastly the Last Wish phase blade has a chance to cast lifetap upon striking so once that casts whatever uber you are fighting they are done for. Life tap in case you don’t know is a necromancer skill that returns damage you dealt the enemy to life for your character, extremely useful against a very strong opponent such as the ubers.
Your second choice for a weapon would be a Grief Phase blade. The + damage mod on this gets added directly to your base shield damage, then increased by any enhanced damage, such as strength, concentration, fanaticism, smite.. the list goes on. Most of the mods on this don’t help a Destroyer, since venom won’t carry on smite, so the -% poison resist doesn’t help, and deadly strike also doesn’t carry. However, the damage boost is incredible.
For gloves we are going to use dracul’s graps, these gloves also have a chance to cast lifetap and 10% life stolen per hit, also it has a chance of open wounds, which will prevent the opponent from healing when that happens
For our helm we are going to use Guillaume's Face this helm provides 30% faster hit recovery and a whopping 35% crushing blow.
So to sum up your gear should look like this for fighting ubers
• Helm: Guillaume’s Face
• Gloves: Dracul’s Grasp
• Weapon: Last Wish Phase Blade/Grief Phase blade
• Shield: Hoz or Exile
• Boots: Gore Riders
• Armor: Chains of Honor
Rings, and Amulets keep the same, and I use my normal belt also.
Section 4: Notes and advice:
This build is not mercenary dependant but let me just tell you from experience using a mercenary is a HUGE bonus. Manna is going to be a problem for most hammerdins especially at lower levels, once you reach level 80 or so you can get by fine on your own, but for a worry free casting experience I use a mercenary.
The best kind of mercenary to use is going to be an act two defensive mercenary. This mercenary comes with a holy freeze aura which slows your opponents down so you have more time to mow them down with your awesome hammers before they get close to you. Also act two mercenaries are able to carry pole arms and that is going to be invaluable.
Page 5 of 5
• Weapon: Insight polearm
• Helm: Vampire Gaze
• Armor: Duress or Fortitude
For our weapon we want to equip the guy with an insight pole arm, simply because of the crazy amount of damage and the fact that it has level 10-17 meditation aura. This aura regenerates your manna extremely fast so you don’t have to worry about potions
The helm vampire gaze offers life leach to help keep him alive also offers damage reduction
The Armor you can choose between Duress or Fortitude. They are both high defense armor, the fortitude is what I currently use. Fortitude armor comes with a +300% to damage, plus to life and a 25-30 plus to resistances. That really puts together a hard hitting mercenary. The Duress armor offers a 30something chance of open wounds, and a 15% chance of crushing blow. I would recommend Fortitude for this build, but the final decision is up to you.
Over all my Merc, now level 88 deals 1-4K damage per hit by himself and has perfect resistances in hell. You should note that when we are fighting he is under the influence of my concentration aura because we have that always running, he deals just over 4-9K damage per hit, not too bad!