Recently, I decided to dust off my copy of Diablo II and start the fight against the Burning Hells anew. At first, I played as an Assassin. I’ve never played as one for any significant length of time, and I thought she might be a good warm-up for the Diablo III Monk. Alas, I soon remembered why I never played her: I just don’t find her fun. I then tried rolling a Javazon, but I didn’t enjoy her either.
Finally, I decided to revisit the Paladin. That was actually the first class I ever played in D2, but I made a whole bunch of newbie mistakes that crippled my character. I was so eager to experiment that I spread my skill points too thinly. I was able to kill Diablo, but when the expansion pack came out and I took my Paladin into Act V, the poor guy couldn’t walk five feet without dying.
Thankfully for my new Paladin, I’ve learned quite a bit in the intervening decade. This time around, I’m restricting my skills to a select few. I’m planning to make a Holy Shock Zealot. I’m only at Level 15, so I haven’t gotten Holy Shock yet, but Zeal is awesome. My guy is cruising through Act I, kicking ass and taking names. His biggest problem is that he occasionally runs out of mana, but I’ve managed to solve that by using a Spiked Club of the Bat that gives him mana leech.
I’m also much better at using gems this time around. My first Paladin didn’t appreciate the power of topazes, but my current one has a nice socketed skullcap that gives him +18% chance to find magic items. Consequently, he’s getting better loot, including a nice rare shield that’s held him in good stead.
What about you? Have you played the Paladin in D2? If so, which build did you use?
Codex Lochianus 