Avenge or Rift?

[Chovenga]

Hey

I've always been a big sucker for elemental-paladins (being one of my first char when i started playing d2 several years ago).

Now, I seem to have two different ways to go, either Avenger or a Riftadin. Both being I assume semi-item dependant, but I think I can pull it off.
Oh, and it's only for PvM on battlenet, 5-8 players usually.

I've read most guides and threads I can find on these two builds but have yet to find any good comparable numbers on damage for both builds. I don't know what to expect damage wise and how well I'll be able to hold my own versus tough mobs in hell. Could any one please help me shine some light on this?

Thanks,

[Clervis]

The thing is, it's almost impossible to quantify the numbers on a Riftadin. He releases a Frozen Orb every 6.25 swings, or 1.25 Zeals, on average. These Orb does 276-291 damage per Ice Bolt, before enemy resists or you Conviction. Each Frozen Orb releases about 19 bolts on its path and explodes into 16 at the end. On top of this, any monster caught in the orbs path takes extra damage. So, you see already how complicated this is. You could do a Zeal and not even cast an Orb, or you could release 5 orbs on 1 Zeal (1 out of 10,000). That could give potentially give you 291*(19+16[bolts]+~25[orb])*2[-100 resists from Conviction]*5[5 hits in one zeal]=175,000 damage to a group of monsters. Or you do next to nothing as far as damage is concerned. Dreams are a great idea for a Riftadin, because they're a little more dependable (+3.5k per hit, or 5k after Conviction). And that's at 21 frames for 5 hits (with 45 IAS) for 4.2 frames per second

An Avenger is much easier to calculate. He'll be doing around 6K average damage before Conviction. Around 9k after conviction. Throw in a Faith merc and he'll be swinging 8 frames.

So you're looking at an almost guaranteed 9k damage @ 8 frames from Vengeance vs. an pretty certain 5k @ 4 frames from the Dreamer Riftadin. So, you see, a Riftadin w/ Dreams will out do an Avenger even without Rift. I guess it wasn't so hard to calculate after all. Go Rift it!

[Chovenga]

Wow, now that's the kind of answer I was looking for! Thanks Clervis