Ok guys. Way too much talk about cookie cutters hammerdins and 1 point smiters and ridiculously expensive auradins. Seems as if there's no fun to have with the paladin, or is there? Seems like there is..

The idea

The first idea I had was to make a medic with holy bolt. I was thinking about how I could increase aura damage by stacking might, concentration, and fanaticism . Since I had beast, it dawned on me that I could indeed make such a character.

Then when I started playing it, I realized that without prayer synergy the healing bolts don't heal much at all , as I had no points for it. Had maxed the offensive power of holy bolts.

I could use smite as an attack, but without proper smite equipment it wasn't very good, and the knockback is very annoying. One point zeal doesn't work either. Unsynergized hammers or fist of heavens is a joke. Then it dawned on me, hey I could use bear form to kill the non undeads. And thus was the palabear born.

This build relies on one particular piece of equipment as a switch weapon as beast isn't a good one. That equipment is the 'Grief' phaseblade. Why?
Grief has ITD. Doesn't work vs bosses but w'ever.
Grief is fast. Palabear can get 6fpa with bad roll grief ( like mine ), or 5 fpa with good roll.
Grief has amazing wtfbbq damage.

The build

20 Holy bolt
20 blessed hammer
20 Fist of heavens
20 concentration aura
1 vigor, redemption, salvation, sanctuary, smite, holy shield ( utility skills ) , and all prereqs.

The build is completed at level 88.

Screenshots

Caster form

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/967...shot009zyt.jpg


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Bear form

http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/2...nshot010gi.jpg


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What can he run?

This is more of a fun build than serious MFing, but still.
Sewers. 2 are level 84, one 85. Chock full of undead
Ancient tunnels. level 85. Mostly undead
Chaos sanctuary. Level 85. Mostly undead.

I use holy bolts to kill undead, and bear form to kill others. Merc does tons of damage. Grief pwns so much that I sometimes use bear form against undeads too. But having a range attack against gloams/dolls/OKs is just so good.

Also, sometimes use the sanctuary aura in caster form. The knockback clumps up the undead so that I can massacre them with fist of heavens.

Items

Here's what I aimed for

75 fcr. Accomplished with perfect spirit, fortitude, 10 fcr ring, 5 fcr crafted ammy
Leech. 22% leech accomplished
Life. Caster form is pretty good and bear is strong as an ox.
Resists. Nearly maxed resists
+Skills. Gotten through circlet, amulet, spirit and lion branded GC.
+damage. Gotten through fortitude and laying of hands.
Max block. Didn't try for this. Still, with holy shield I have 59% block using holy shield, which I don't often use because the Kurast shield graphics are way too cool to be replaced by HS. Palabear blocks at 6 frames with no FBR, which is fine.
Some amount of CB,DS,OW. Gotten through Gore riders and beast
ITD. Gotten through grief
CBF. Gotten through ravenfrost.
Defence rating. Gotten through fortitude, holy shield and bear form.

My items


Beast + perfect 35fcr 45 allres spirit Kurast shield ( caster switch )
Grief + 45 allres spirit Akaran targe ( weapon switch )
Fortitude
LL/10 fcr ring
LL/+2 pala circlet
String of ears
Gore riders
Laying of hands
Ravenfrost
5fcr +2 pcombat crafted ammy

Other suggested items, and what I tried

Helm: Andariel's visage has +2 skills and LL. But it's ugly. Oh god it's ugly.
Shako: +2 skills and DR

Armor+ammy
I used SOVM+rare +2 paladin ammy with no fcr until I could craft a pally caster ammy, and get fortitude.

Other
Don't think there's any other choice really. Spirit is amazing in pally shields, LoH complements this build perfectly with the dmg to demons ( which most non undeads are ), and the resist that spirit lacks. Belt, boots, etc. all fill in vital other elements.

Readouts of the rare equipment

Code:
Rune Turn
Ring
Required Level: 65
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 89
Fingerprint: 0x9f0c088a
+10 to Strength
+58 to Attack Rating
Poison Resist +9%
7% Life stolen per hit
10% Faster Cast Rate

Dire Cowl
Circlet
Defense: 28
Durability: 99 of 105
Required Level: 67
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x3dd11f56
+11 to Life
+5 to Minimum Damage
Poison Resist +26%
7% Life stolen per hit
+2 to Paladin Skill Levels

Grim Emblem
Amulet
Required Level: 53
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 91
Fingerprint: 0x3b5feae
+13 to Energy
+19 to Mana
Regenerate Mana 8%
All Resistances +20
5% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Combat Skills (Paladin Only)
14% Chance to cast Level 5 Charged Bolt when struck


Other notes

I use smite to bring down act bosses against whom holy bolts and ITD doesn't work. Smite with beast, not grief. It's faster and applies more CB.

Utility skills immensely useful to a paladin. Redemption to heal and deny corpses. Sanctuary to pummel PI undeads in bear form. Salvation to counter conviction. Vigor for running around.

Merc has reaper, Tals and ebug stone ( might merc )

Can I do this untwinked.

No, don't really think so. Kind of depends on having a Beast and grief.
However, other types of medic builds are still fun.

Conclusion

Try this build. It's fun, and fairly effective. I put all this together in single player- Bnetters should have an even easier time. You can add a torch and all those crap I don't know about. Thanks for reading.