a question about a bear...

[Bob_TheMadCow]

a question about a bear...

Hello Paladins, I seek your knowledge and experience. In an attempt to make something fun and different, I've built a Tesla-Bear. For PvP.

Now I know there are a few threads on the topic lurking about in the back pages (the last about 2 months ago). I have read those threads and sought advice elsewhere and still feel I could benefit from the experience of other Paladins.

My setup thus far:

Demon Limb for enchant pre-buff
Beast zerker w/ Sigons for shifting
120% IAS Phase w/ Alma Negra (PDiamond) for fighting
Crown of Ages (Um)
Aldur's Armour
Aldur's Boots
Bloodfists
String of Ears
Raven Frost
Angelic amulet
Angelic ring

mix of skill, AR and life charms

(this is pretty much end gear, though there is still some upgrading to be done, the basic items will stay the same. Mostly it's charms and runes I need now.)

STR 154 (174 w/ gear)
DEX 96 (136 w/ gear)
VIT everything else
NRG base

20 Holy Shock
20 Blessed Aim
20 Resist Lightning
10 Holy Shield
1 Vigor
16 Salvation

I'm lvl 86 atm, I have about 2.7k hp shifted, 11k AR w/ enchant, ~5k def, 75% block, maxed fire & Lit res, cold & poison are awaiting charms to plug the gaps.

Now what I am wondering is if I shoulda gone with Defiance over Salvation. Defiance would double my defense, at the cost of about 15-25% of my overall damage. I want to get this guy to as high a level as I can, to get Holy Shield up to lvl 19 and to try to gain a lvl advantage over my opponents, but will that be enough? He does ok against casters and hybrids, but he fails miserably against other melee. Mostly I feel because other melee have insane def, around 30k or so. I'm pushing really hard for this guy to have as much AR as possible, but should I forgoe some of that AR for better def too? would ~8k be enough?

Thanks in advance for any helpful advice you can give me :spy:

 

[riplix]

gotta state that i've absolutely no experience with this build but i know a little about barbs which probaby are one of your main problems.
i also have little exp about tesladins.

i think you should maximize your damage for 3 reasons:

1. since you're pretty dependent on special non-high-def gear i don't think a barb would have problems hitting you anyway. the returns of defiance would be minor.

2. defiance has no use at all vs. casters, you coulds however use it while getting close to casters. not to mention you'll really hurt more when hitting whatsoever character.

3. you'll have a hard time hitting high def characters. even if you strongly focus on maxing ar (which you should). so if you hit em, make sure it hurts.

just my 2 cent

 

[Bob_TheMadCow]

Cool. I didn't expect many to have had experience with this exact build, but I was thinking that palas would tend to have more experience in melee duels in general.

So the jist of what you saying there is "melee is gonna hit you anyway, focus on hitting whenever possible and hitting as hard as possible". My def will suck either way, so focus on damage :spy:

I have found out two things about this build today:

1) Pwns casters if you can get in without being killed (damned FB sorcs HURT.)

2) Pwns pub Hell Baal runs. I can't beleive how well I was doing today. Actually running to Baal And once there I was the one who never died, even when stepping right into the middle of a pack of gloams. My belt is now: Healing, healing, antidote, TPs :thumbsup: So much fun. not had so many comments about a character before either (all good too ^_^ )

 

[riplix]

yep. that"s basically the essence of what i said
barbs and pallys usually "sacrifice" lot of their slots to maximize ar and probably will do so vs. you since they usually face high def melee chars.

you should visit pvp forum. ppl there will be able to provide more feedback. at least you'll get more info on how to beat melees.

very cool build, would love to try one.
gl with it!

 

[Asheron]

You might want to use Hsarus belt+Boots for sexy AR,that way you could switch your armor to Stone,Enigma or CoH eventually.

You'd lose 20FRW and 8 or so DR overall,but it might be worth it.

 

[jumbo_SHRIMP]

i would also like to say that i think a duress runeword armor would add a ton of damage/kill speed to your build

phelix

 

[Aerath]

Perhaps, but the 150% AR bonus helps a lot too I'd imagine.

Does the +1 Shapeshifting skill actually help you when shifting to a Bear ?

 

[Asheron]

Does the +1 Shapeshifting skill actually help you when shifting to a Bear ?

It doesn't since it says Druid only.

 

[Bob_TheMadCow]

Hmmz... I didn't think it did. I was gonna check, but got caught up in housework/my mate being a pain.

If I could get a Leviathan, that would be best methinks. Um in that, Cham & Ber in a CoA and wear both my angelic rings. Then I will switch to Hsaru's boots + belt. And rebuild with defiance synergy.

 

[Weltkriegpally]

defiance synergy...good idea. I would use a shako and a stormshield. that gives you 45 dr, big life and decent defense, plus it boosts your werebear.

big thing of interest as a pally. phase blades need 60 ias, not 120, for 4 frame attacks. I believe a grizwolds caddy hits 4 frames pretty easily as well on a paladin bear. It also has much higher damage. I would suggest angelic ring x 2 and the ammy, and go with trangs belt. the plus life is multiplied before shifting and it has decent defense.

lets see.....skill setup I would certainly go for.

20 holy shock
20 resist lightning
20 holy shield ( you can reach 50-60k defense with great gear)
20 defiance
20 blessed aim

I would probably go between defiance/blessed aim. 11k ar needs to be upgraded. I can and have hit 15k with a bow and hardly any ar boosters. You don't need skill charms other than an anni, maybe an offensive charm or 2, but not many. best are ar/damage/life, as always. Stone armor would be cheap and most effective. High base defense makes for a much higher defense total. Good luck!

--welt

 

[Bob_TheMadCow]

I currently hit 17k AR with two angelics + Enchant. The only reason I am not wearing two atm is for the cbf on Ravenfrost.

I'm gonna have to check out the speed thing for myself...

As for physical damage/AR charms over skill charms... I'm highly bubious about that too. Unless you are meaning purely for the AR, cause the only %ED I have is from lvl 6 WB, which ain't much. I'd get a far better return on my damage from Skill charms.

Still not sure how I'm ment to hit 50k defense when I'm only just hitting 5k now, and as far as I can tell, doubling my armour's def and adding an extra 300% def on will only bring me up around 15k...

I'm sorry but I'm just having trouble seeing some of your points :scratch:

 

[inkanddagger]

shael and 3x eth a gris caddy? or 3 facet.

use trangs belt/ 2 angelics/stormshield + shako + enigma = max dr. max zeal before maxing blessed aim. it gives ~the same ar bonus maxed and also allows you some physical dmg (wear war travs)

 

[Bob_TheMadCow]

WB form == Normal Attack

and a grizz caddy still needs more than 1 shael I think... I'm really not sure now.

now another question would be is SS better than Alma on this build? I'd lose upto 75% AR and +2 Pala skills, but gain 35% DR. DR that could, imo, be gained elsewhere more easily than the %AR...

I was aiming for 46% DR with the Alma.

 

[chinokix06]

use 4 shael griz caddy ull hit 4 frames and u will get more dmg then the 6 shaeld phase.

 

[Weltkriegpally]

bob, check thedragoons calculator. I Have tested this and it seems to be right. a 60 ias phase definitely hits at 4 frames with wb form. grizwolds caddy could be good, but go for ed or ar/ias jewels rather than shaels if you don't need them. A werebear only needs one shael and 3x ias jewels to hit 5 frames. A paladins initial hit frame is MUCH faster than a druids. I am pretty sure you won't need 4 shaels. As far as defense goes, you need max holy shield. that+defiance synergy can give you easily 30k or more defense (take your pick of shields) on a zealot, using only a 2k defense stone archon and an alma negra. I suggested the ss because 2 to paladin skills will help your holy shock, but won't boost your bear forms defense by much. IIRC, I could get more defense out of a ss than either a herald or alma, but that could just be my v/t and the insane levels of hs that he had. I would prebuff that bear. You can get it to level 14, and the extra life/duration/defense/damage all will help. As far as a grizwolds caddy goes, according to thedragoons calc, earliest you can get 4 frames is at 80 wias and 40 outside ias. As the caddy already comes equipped with 40, that isn't too hard to achieve at all. I wouldn't use coa simply because of the INSANE str. requirement. Remember that a paladin gets 3 life per point vit, and so stat saving actually counts here. I suggest a shako as a cheap alternative, for the good life/mana (not that you need it) that it gives, the 2 all attributes, the low str requirement, and 10 dr. Great all around helm, and unless you have a visionary circlet floating around with 30 frw/2 all pally/2 sockets/etc (I want it if you have anything like it, btw), then you are better off with the harle. You can get some great life on one of these guys. I am betting that 5-6k is easily possible. I guess I had better sum this up.
There is no way you shouldn't be getting super high defense with this build. Bear gives more defense, on top of what you already have. You lose 15-25 percent of your total overall damage, but you gain the advantage of being harder to hit. I guarantee that you can gain 30-40k defense without too much trouble. a high defense armor+a decent shield is most of what you need. get holy shield maxed for sure, and then see about blessed aim/defiance. I reallize it is hard, but the trade off in survivability is worth it. I suppose you need to max blessed aim, as it is the only ar bonus you can get. Lets see on the skill points, then.

20 blessed aim
20 holy shock
20 resist lightning
20 holy shield
all the rest defiance (and useful auras, of course)
finishable by level 91, I think (or thereabouts)

until you can morph into a bear, I suggest getting a rogues bow and a lot of ias gear and leveling as a shock ranger. It is an excellent way to level and learn playing defensively. Good luck!

--welt

 

[druuna008]

yo son-you try that there crown of thieves? i just got my first one after 4 years on d2 and its pretty good. my paly does 600 damage zeal now, but he hits kind of slow. my best weapon is a honor.

 

[fugitive alien2]

defense is definitely > damage for this build. use combats, max HS etc.

don't see you beating good melee no matter what you do though, so i'd personally get good at de-shifting and max foh instead ^^