wooginator
07-05-2009, 19:41
I've looked around the forum and there seem to be a lot of competing ideas and a few builds that, quite frankly, won't work, but nothing that people have really tried out and found to be viable. Well, I built one, and I'm really quite happy with it, so I thought I'd put up a guide. He won't be able to crush everything he fights with ease, but he's a really fun character to play.
Gear:
Dream Helm (bone visage or demonhead)
Dream Shield (preferably 65 res all, mine's only 35)
CoH
Metalgrid
2x Ravenfrost with as much AR as you can get
Dungos
IK Gloves
IK Boots (I'll explain these in a second)
Ebotdz
CTA/Pally spirit on switch
You use the IK combo because it does great things. With the two of them on the gloves give you 25% ias and you get a set bonus of 50 attack rating. The gloves give 20 dex and 20 strength, very useful especially since 20 dex adds 100 flat AR. The boots give another 110 AR as well as life and 40% frw. Overall very handy. It's true that with metalgrid instead of Highlord's you don't hit the 9 frame attack speed breakpoint, which is unfortunate, but I've found that you do alright at 10 frames and what good is a faster attack if you can't hit anything with it?
Stats:
As little strength as you can (I had to put in 45 points)
Enough dex for max block, which is essential, hence the one point in holy shield (I put in 30 points)
The rest into vita
Skills: Here you have two options, damage or durability. I chose durability, which is this skill set:
11 in prereqs
20 vengeance
17 conviction (to hit 25)
20 Resist Lightning (double synergy)
1 point holy shield
10 points salvation (double synergy)
alternating points into resist fire and resist cold. This adds evenly to your vengeance damage and also increases your max resist for every two points you put in. Hence the durability aspect. If you want more damage max salvation instead. Adds about 700 damage to your holy shock damage.
Now the idea here is that you function effectively as an auradin who also does a whole lot of damage. Almost twice what a zeal auradin would do in fact. Now we come to strategy. These are all the builds I've come up against so far, and a few theoretical ones.
Bowazons: They rarely have a lot of resistances, so in this case work like an auradin and charge around them letting your aura do the work. Avoid the guided arrows as much as you can. They hurt. If they aren't dying from the aura, wear them down and then charge in, switch to vengeance and try to finish them off before the arrows get you.
Javazons/CS zons: In this case you may have to give up your conviction aura, assuming you can't pulse them to death (which you usually can't). If the pulse damage isn't working, switch to your resist lightning aura for 95 stacked light resist, throw on a tgods if you want, and go toe to toe with them. If you can land a few hits you should be set.
Trapsins: Similar to javazons, use lightning resist and charge them down then switch to vengeance.
WW sins: This works similar to fighting a ww barb. Use conviction, stand still and shift click hit them with vengeance as they pass by. It shouldn't take more than 2 or 3 hits if you can land them.
Hybrid sins: Just combine the two strategies. Shift click while using lightning resist, and if they run try to charge lock them.
Bone necros: These guys are tough. Try not to get locked up in their bone prisons, charge after them and switch to vengeance when you get close. If you can't hunt them down, try to pulse them to death. And for the love of god avoid their attacks.
Poison necros: I've never fought one, and it'd be tough cause this build doesn't have cleansing. You might want to buy a crappy scepter with cleansing and put it on switch. Use cleansing while you chase them and then switch back to vengeance conviction when you reach them. Maybe stick on death's hand gloves.
WW barbs: Shift click and hit them as they pass by. When they aren't near you your pulse will do some damage if they aren't sorbing, and hopefully with block you can get in enough hits to kill them. It's not a sure thing, but you've got a fair shot.
Windy Druid: Charge around them and around them in circles, avoiding their nados and hurricane letting the pulse wear down their cyclone armor if it can and killing their summons. Then, when they don't expect it charge in and switch to vengeance. One hit should rip through their cyclone armor and a second should kill them. You just have to be able to land the hits before they nado you to death.
SS druids: Try pulsing them to death? I've never fought one. You might want to stick to charge and not even try vengeance. You get around 6k holy shock damage without vengeance, so try to knockback lock them. They're similar to zealers. You don't do well against zealers. But any SS druid worth his salt doesn't use a shield, so he'll hopefully be a bit low on resists.
All sorcs: Charge them down, avoid their attacks as much as you can, get in their face and vengeance. It should only take a few hits. ES isn't a huge problem because ES takes damage before resistance deductions, so you do a lot of damage to it. If you're really having trouble you might try using the resistance aura appropriate to their skill set.
Smiters: Yeah...you don't win. Your best bet is probably to charge around them and try to pulse them to death and avoid them getting a charge lock on you. It probably won't work but you never know.
Hammerdins: Run away and let them chase you. Keep them on screen. Never run back or you run the risk of hitting a stray hammer. Always run forward away from them. When they get low try to charge them. The odds are decent but not great.
Auradins and FoHers: The trick here is to get a higher conviction aura than they have, because then theirs doesn't affect you but yours affects them. To this end, if you could find a scepter with a fair amount of damage and +6 to conviction it would be gg. But if not then Heaven's Light with +3 skills is a nice substitute for your ebotdz. Maybe a mara's, any offensive aura gcs you can get, etc. Try to get to around 30. Most Auradins and FoHers don't have conviction much higher than 25.
It's also useful to, whenever you join a game, make at least one friend. That way, if people start bming and nking you can have someone to stack you. And as we all know, no one can bm like an auradin.
Gear:
Dream Helm (bone visage or demonhead)
Dream Shield (preferably 65 res all, mine's only 35)
CoH
Metalgrid
2x Ravenfrost with as much AR as you can get
Dungos
IK Gloves
IK Boots (I'll explain these in a second)
Ebotdz
CTA/Pally spirit on switch
You use the IK combo because it does great things. With the two of them on the gloves give you 25% ias and you get a set bonus of 50 attack rating. The gloves give 20 dex and 20 strength, very useful especially since 20 dex adds 100 flat AR. The boots give another 110 AR as well as life and 40% frw. Overall very handy. It's true that with metalgrid instead of Highlord's you don't hit the 9 frame attack speed breakpoint, which is unfortunate, but I've found that you do alright at 10 frames and what good is a faster attack if you can't hit anything with it?
Stats:
As little strength as you can (I had to put in 45 points)
Enough dex for max block, which is essential, hence the one point in holy shield (I put in 30 points)
The rest into vita
Skills: Here you have two options, damage or durability. I chose durability, which is this skill set:
11 in prereqs
20 vengeance
17 conviction (to hit 25)
20 Resist Lightning (double synergy)
1 point holy shield
10 points salvation (double synergy)
alternating points into resist fire and resist cold. This adds evenly to your vengeance damage and also increases your max resist for every two points you put in. Hence the durability aspect. If you want more damage max salvation instead. Adds about 700 damage to your holy shock damage.
Now the idea here is that you function effectively as an auradin who also does a whole lot of damage. Almost twice what a zeal auradin would do in fact. Now we come to strategy. These are all the builds I've come up against so far, and a few theoretical ones.
Bowazons: They rarely have a lot of resistances, so in this case work like an auradin and charge around them letting your aura do the work. Avoid the guided arrows as much as you can. They hurt. If they aren't dying from the aura, wear them down and then charge in, switch to vengeance and try to finish them off before the arrows get you.
Javazons/CS zons: In this case you may have to give up your conviction aura, assuming you can't pulse them to death (which you usually can't). If the pulse damage isn't working, switch to your resist lightning aura for 95 stacked light resist, throw on a tgods if you want, and go toe to toe with them. If you can land a few hits you should be set.
Trapsins: Similar to javazons, use lightning resist and charge them down then switch to vengeance.
WW sins: This works similar to fighting a ww barb. Use conviction, stand still and shift click hit them with vengeance as they pass by. It shouldn't take more than 2 or 3 hits if you can land them.
Hybrid sins: Just combine the two strategies. Shift click while using lightning resist, and if they run try to charge lock them.
Bone necros: These guys are tough. Try not to get locked up in their bone prisons, charge after them and switch to vengeance when you get close. If you can't hunt them down, try to pulse them to death. And for the love of god avoid their attacks.
Poison necros: I've never fought one, and it'd be tough cause this build doesn't have cleansing. You might want to buy a crappy scepter with cleansing and put it on switch. Use cleansing while you chase them and then switch back to vengeance conviction when you reach them. Maybe stick on death's hand gloves.
WW barbs: Shift click and hit them as they pass by. When they aren't near you your pulse will do some damage if they aren't sorbing, and hopefully with block you can get in enough hits to kill them. It's not a sure thing, but you've got a fair shot.
Windy Druid: Charge around them and around them in circles, avoiding their nados and hurricane letting the pulse wear down their cyclone armor if it can and killing their summons. Then, when they don't expect it charge in and switch to vengeance. One hit should rip through their cyclone armor and a second should kill them. You just have to be able to land the hits before they nado you to death.
SS druids: Try pulsing them to death? I've never fought one. You might want to stick to charge and not even try vengeance. You get around 6k holy shock damage without vengeance, so try to knockback lock them. They're similar to zealers. You don't do well against zealers. But any SS druid worth his salt doesn't use a shield, so he'll hopefully be a bit low on resists.
All sorcs: Charge them down, avoid their attacks as much as you can, get in their face and vengeance. It should only take a few hits. ES isn't a huge problem because ES takes damage before resistance deductions, so you do a lot of damage to it. If you're really having trouble you might try using the resistance aura appropriate to their skill set.
Smiters: Yeah...you don't win. Your best bet is probably to charge around them and try to pulse them to death and avoid them getting a charge lock on you. It probably won't work but you never know.
Hammerdins: Run away and let them chase you. Keep them on screen. Never run back or you run the risk of hitting a stray hammer. Always run forward away from them. When they get low try to charge them. The odds are decent but not great.
Auradins and FoHers: The trick here is to get a higher conviction aura than they have, because then theirs doesn't affect you but yours affects them. To this end, if you could find a scepter with a fair amount of damage and +6 to conviction it would be gg. But if not then Heaven's Light with +3 skills is a nice substitute for your ebotdz. Maybe a mara's, any offensive aura gcs you can get, etc. Try to get to around 30. Most Auradins and FoHers don't have conviction much higher than 25.
It's also useful to, whenever you join a game, make at least one friend. That way, if people start bming and nking you can have someone to stack you. And as we all know, no one can bm like an auradin.