Any ideas??

beau_nidle

Diabloii.Net Member
Any ideas??

This is my first time posting in the Paladin forum, i tend to post in the SP forum, but i thought this query might get a better response here.

I have just rolled up a random character for a tourney, and it's a Thornadin. It means that i can only use the thorns aura, and no other auras, with this is mind what would be the best combat skills to put points into.

So what do you think?
 

xpumafangx

Diabloii.Net Member
Throns hmmmm...... Let me get this right you have to have the thorns arua on at all times?

Does the mean you could add to another arua and not use it?

If no to the second question use range attacks only and teleport. Never let them get close to you.

If yes to the second question. Go with charge, with vengence as a side skill.
 

beau_nidle

Diabloii.Net Member
Can only use thorns aura, not sure of the rules in putting skill points in other auras but i can only have thorns active at any time.

Why use ranged attacks? Surely with thorns you want to get in there and get hit, so that the monsters take damage. If you don't get hit, then what is the point of using thorns at all??
 

Herald of Doom

Diabloii.Net Member
What exactly is the goal of this tourney? Might make a rather large difference if you play solo or untwinked, or in norm/nm/hell.

About Thornadins, they're rather difficult to play with. Any elemental or ranged dmg is gonna make you scream for you mum, because you'll have to kill them with only your left click skill without any offensive help from your aura. Now, one possible way of making a Thornadin would be too go 2handed+charge, but that would cause major problem vs large groups. Groups up to 4-5 will die rather quickly if they're melee on the other hand. You can also take the zeal route, but the damage from zeal alone isn't really that great, but you could use shields then. Ofcourse, shields mean getting hit less and you want to be hit with thorns.... To be honest I'm not very experienced with Thornadins, i've only made one and that's a long time ago, so you might need some more advisors :)
Also, keep in mind that although 1010% dmg returned seems like a lot, the average monster has huge HP compared to its dmg. A Minion of Destruction for example does 83-135 dmg but has 22532-33537 HP, so if you rely mostly on your aura you'll have to be able to take some serious beating. Why did you have to pick Thornadin for Christ's Sake :p

HoD
 

beau_nidle

Diabloii.Net Member
I didn't pick it, the touney is random, i just rolled random numbers and that's what i got.

Can you assign blessed hammer to left click?

Will be playing untwinked, but it's HC, so i doubt i'll last long anyway.
 

Herald of Doom

Diabloii.Net Member
beau_nidle said:
I didn't pick it, the touney is random, i just rolled random numbers and that's what i got.

Can you assign blessed hammer to left click?

Will be playing untwinked, but it's HC, so i doubt i'll last long anyway.
:cheesy:

OK, so you're playing a thornadin, untwinked, in HC. I think we need more help :hanky: . Blessed Hammer is usually assigned to left click, since you want concentration to beef up the hammer damage, and aura's can only go on the right button. So yeah, that's a possibility. But the dmg from Hammers alone isn't that great, although it's ofcourse magical dmg... but thornadins usually go for lots and lots of vit, and an untwinked hammerdin needs energy.

So what are our options:

1) Sacrifice
2) Zeal
3) Smite
4) Charge
5) BH
6) Conversion
7) FoH

what do I think about them:

1) No thanks. You're untwinked, you're gonna get hit a lot, let's not do damage to ourselves. Unless ofcourse as a lovely synergie for Zeal !
2) The choice of many. You would need a very fast weapon without zeal, which is hard untwinked but not impossible.
3) Smite without a good dmg shield or fana= worst damage ever.
4) Charge might work nicely, if you go for onehander+shield. Just think of the thorns as an extra in case you get hit.
5) needs its synergies or conc to do damage+its mana intensive. I wouldn't pick it.
6) Never, ever used it tbh.
7) Needs conviction to do any real damage once you're lvl 30.

I would either choose zeal+thorns+sacrifice (as synergies, you need to get extra damage) or go for thorns+charge (if you're very patient). As for stats, since you want to get hit occasionally, you might want to invest less in dex and more in vit. So str as much as you need, dex to get 40-50% block (you need to be able to survive too) and rest vit perhaps.

HoD
 

beau_nidle

Diabloii.Net Member
@Herald of Doom, that sounds good.

Think i'll try the zeal+thorns+sacrifice route, seems the best one to stand a chance, but i don't hold out much hope for this guy lasting that long, do you?

Lets just hope for some decent equipment, might be the difference between life and death, we shall see!!
 

Herald of Doom

Diabloii.Net Member
beau_nidle said:
Think i'll try the zeal+thorns+sacrifice route, seems the best one to stand a chance, but i don't hold out much hope for this guy lasting that long, do you?

Lets just hope for some decent equipment, might be the difference between life and death, we shall see!!
Well, it depends on if you are a good player (not saying anything negative, but this is a really difficult build and mistakes do happen) and if you find a good weapon fast. Let's hope for that you find a rare War sword or something very early, that one has 14 average without any %ed and [0] speed :) Even with very bad equipment its very easy to complete normal, but once past act1 nm you'd better start praying for a very good weapon with this build :hanky:

HoD
 

prion

Diabloii.Net Member
Convert will really put your thorns to use AND more importantly, take some heat off of you in the battle. Of course you will NEED to combine it with a combat skill, but you don't have to invest 20 pts in thorns, 5-10 might be enough
 

Uhgii

Diabloii.Net Member
prion said:
Convert will really put your thorns to use AND more importantly, take some heat off of you in the battle. Of course you will NEED to combine it with a combat skill, but you don't have to invest 20 pts in thorns, 5-10 might be enough
Convert would be my choice, as mentioned here, it would help a lot.

Then you could simply utalize the thorn skill for your "temporary allies" and could pump holy shield (and maybe defiance if you are allowed to pump auras without activating them) so you could actually survive in HC.

A Thornadin untwinked on HC seems like a really bad idea if you go in there wanting to get hit... because on HC, thats typically the last thing you'd want. Using convert and perhaps eventually items with summon charges (for instance, clay golem would be extremely useful off of the stone runeword to slow enemies, and for another ally) seems like the best idea to me...
 

prion

Diabloii.Net Member
correction to my last post: you do not need 20 points in CONVERSION, but I assume you will want to max Thorns so it will be as useful as possible.
 
C

Cap'n Buttsniff

Guest
Hey i use a pally that uses only Thorns! Imagine that.

I use zeal, a lot of vitality, life leech and resists, and a lot of crushing blow. I can kill pretty fast.

The only thing is u better not lag :uhhuh:
 
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