Perm 2 Paladin group?

[Thetmes]

My wife and I play pretty much exclusively together...

If we both make "melee" based Paladins what two build compliment each other the most?

I was thinking:

Zealot/Avenger
Zealot/Tesladin
Avenger/Tesladin

Anyone have anything to add?

I'm thinking with Insight already made, and 1 rune form Infinity, skies the limit. Just looking for seasoned paladin input. :)

Oh, I think I like Pure Zealot/Frost Zealot (using VoRPB) sounds like a-lot of fun. :)

[BAMFSpecialOps]

Depending on your gear situation a Zealot/Conviction zealer with VoR might work out better. The VoR freezes enemies on screen and off with Frozen Orb while conviction allows the orbs to increase their damage, increases both players AR. Might go with a Holy Shock zealer and a Holy Freeze zealer.

[Thetmes]

Oh that would be cool with an act 1 fire merc with Faith* :)

[Kossuths Will]

I think straight conv/veng and fanat/zeal would work best. Keeping it simple here, all enemies -def from conv and both pally's ar and dmg increase means both pallys hit hard and often. A tesladin would work well also, but imo, the avenger is a must. Which zealot variant u choose is certainly debatable. The frost avenger I wouldn't go with, just use an a2 merc for that. That still leaves you a lot of options for a 2nd merc.

[Asmodeous]

Definetely one pally has to have Conviction. So pick what skill you want to use with that aura, Zeal or Vengeance. Zealer can be a elemental zealer, Telsa or freezerdin or even an Eletemplar or as others have said a Rift or VoR zealer.

The other pally needs Fanatism and again, pick either Zeal or even Vengeance. Hey, Vengeance and Fanatism makes a rather good combo on its own.

But at the end of the day, you will do very well with a pure physical attack, an elemental attack, Conviction and Fanatism auras. If fact it may be a bit too easy.

[Thetmes]

Why can't we have one tesladin, one frostzealot, act 1 fire merc with Faith (fanaticism), and act2 norm blessed aim with inifity?

that gives us:

Holy Shock
Holy Freeze (the whole point of frostzealot, for the massive +cold damage).
Fanaticisim
Conviction
Blessed Aim

[Kossuths Will]

Why can't we have one tesladin, one frostzealot, act 1 fire merc with Faith (fanaticism), and act2 norm blessed aim with inifity?

that gives us:

Holy Shock
Holy Freeze (the whole point of frostzealot, for the massive +cold damage).
Fanaticisim
Conviction
Blessed Aim

you could, it's just a bad idea. infinity gives a 12 conviction, which isnt going to be near as effective if you have a character with lvl 25. there is a big difference there in - enemy resistance and defense. you can do whatever you want, but as has been mentioned, you don't want to go without conviction. i dont know that you need blessed aim if you have both conviction and fanat going, it would be overkill i would think and there are much better options. especially if you choose to compliment the conviction with a frost or shock zealot. if that is the route you go, you are going to want a lvl 25 conviction running on one of your paladins. otherwise you are going to have a harder time hitting and your elemental damage wont be as potent, either.

[Thetmes]

hmmm, I already have a conviction zealot will have to think this through. :)

[ronya]

In particular, you don't want your pally team to fall apart instantly if your Infinity merc dies to Iron Maiden.

Suggestion: since you're rich... Dreamadin. Conviction/Dream zealot. Weapon slot is free for Voice of Reason/Rift/whatever. The other paladin can be a straight-up fanaticism zealot.

No IAS problems. No AR problems (level 25 conviction = 95% chance to hit with crappy AR, no matter what the Lying Character Screen says). No resist problems - pvm dreamadins max salvation and holy shock, just flip those on if you meet nasty Gloam packs. Few immunity/damage issues either - lightning immune physical immune monsters after conviction are happily rare, and you have a lot of freedom with weapon slots to throw on an Azurewrath or whatever. Maybe an Oath. Easy crowd control vs. packs of ranged mobs, something which is rare with melee characters (ctc Confuse on Dream).

Both can use Gimmershreds on switch to handle Oblivion Knights.

[LordC]

Suggestion: since you're rich... Dreamadin.

I'll second that. I think a Dreamer (Shock) or Auradin (Shock+Fire) running Conviction alongside a pure Zealot would be the best possible melee combo.

Auradins have a tremendous amount of raw power, reducing enemy resists while dishing out huge quantities of elemental damage that pure Tesladins and Frostzealots could never hope to match. Auradins, however, have poor leech and lack the flexibility to proc Lifetap while still hitting the optimal 4fpa Zeal. Dreamers are a bit more flexible, but clearly offer less multielemental ownage.

Teaming an Auradin with a Fanatic Zealot solves these issues. The higher physical damage and attack speed allow for greater consistency and more flexibility in gear choices. And of course, Fanatics are themselves no lightweights when it comes to damage output.

Fanaticism is key for keeping your attack speed, physical damage, and life leech high. Conviction is key for keeping your chance-to-hit and elemental damage high. As such, both of these should be cast off of your main characters for maximum effectiveness (high skill levels) and consistency (your mercs may die at inopportune times).

That also frees up your mercs to use Freeze, Might, and/or Defiance, which are useful but not as critical to your survival. The equipment options for this combination of characters (past dual Dreams and possibly Dragon + Hand of Justice for the conviction pally) is virtually limitless.

If you want to go totally nuts, you could even equip both zealots with the lvl30 Fire and lvl30 Shock gear and have one run Fanaticism while the other runs Conviction. This could easily produce over 12k average damage per hit against most monsters.

The other builds mentioned (Avengers, Tesladins, Frostzealots) offer much lower damage that the above setup. They are less gear-dependent, cheaper to assemble, and start operating properly at lower levels, but if you're going to be twinking expensive runewords anyway, you might as well go for broke.

In any case, let us know how it goes; it sounds like a fun experiment.

[BAMFSpecialOps]

If this group is going to be played for the fun of the game, then I don't see how putting 2 characters together and equipping them with the best gear is fun. Either of the suggested characters can walk through the game as they have been geared.

[LordC]

If this group is going to be played for the fun of the game, then I don't see how putting 2 characters together and equipping them with the best gear is fun. Either of the suggested characters can walk through the game as they have been geared.

You're right. The suggestion I made outlined what I believed to be the most efficient two-player combo. The most fun two-player combo is just too vague and subjective to address. To that end, maybe:

Tesladin + Plague Javelineer
Fanatic Martyr + Fishymancer
Rift Zealot + Melee Sorceress
Ranger Paladin + Singer Barb

All of these sound silly, but they'd probably be a lot of fun for that very reason. And you have to give major style points to anyone who can kill Uber-Mephisto using only Sacrifice and Decrepify. Still, it's a subjective call as to what precisely constitutes a fun game; obviously, most B.netters don't think the above builds are fun, because it's rather unusual to see any of them in-game.