Avenger Pally Help

[dreamingsolace]

Avenger Pally Help

I've decided to make my first pally. After looking through all of the skills and reading some guides, I decided to go with a vengeance/conviction pally and was wondering if anyone could give me some advice? I HAVE read the guides and f.a.q.'s, etc etc, but they all talk about getting the char up to lvl 90+ and, well, I'm not sure I'll have the time or will to get him that high (my highest char atm is my ** mfer sorc and it is becoming a royal pain in the rear to level her up any farther). Also, I want to put a bunch of points into redemption so I don't have to kill myself trying to balance out the stat points (being my first pally, I've got no idea what I'm doing..)

Anyways.. what type of gear would you suggest? I'm looking to get the best resistances/+skills without going completely broke. What type of dmg should I be expecting to get? Do any of you have avenger pally's, and if so, how well can you solo with him? Do you think I should forget about putting pts into redemption?

Any help would be appreciated, thanks

 

[Nolomite]

Any help would be appreciated, thanks

I play an Avenger in Single Play, and he's great. I can't answer all your weapons question, since I can only use what I find, but I can be of some general build assistance.

Skils: You want to max your Vengeance ASAP and Conviction as early as possible; the synergies will take a long time. Definitely work on the individual elemental synergies rather than the Salvation - but sneak one into Salvation from time to time. It can help keep you alive versus versus the elementally-enchanted, and you can stand around in the Blood Lord's firewalls during Meph runs and hardly feel it. But your Vengeance will get a better boost from doing the individual resistances, so plan on at least 14 points in each - more if you've got them.

Put one point each into the 'utility' skills of Thorns, Cleansing, and Meditation. Thorns will be handy versus Duriel, Diablo, and Baal; cleansing throws off both poison and curses, and Meditation will work almost as fast as a mana potion if you've got a couple of + to skills/auras working.

Stats: Keep it simple: for every 5 points you get, put 2 in Strength; 1 in Dexterity; and 2 in Vitality. Leave your Energy at base - this is tough early on, since you'll run out of mana alot, but it will pay off later. Sneak a point into Meditation early on to refill the mana (so you don't have to use potions all the time). Eventually you'll pump strength high enough to use all your desired gear: when you do, stop adding to Strength and put the points into Vitality instead. And the same goes for Dex.

You may need to pump strength a bit more agressively early in the game - that's ok, just keep track of the 'extra' points you're putting in strength and where you robbed them from, so you can make up the difference later. I just pumped my strength 20 points in 5 levels to use a particular set of armor (Milabregas) - I'll spend the next 5 levels pumping the Dex and Vitality to get back on target.

Miscellaneous: Early on your 1 point in the Zeal prereq will actually help you out more than the first few levels of Vengeance - don't be shy about sticking with the Zeal attack (1 point, gets you 2 swings) until you hit level 30 and have your conviction working. My low-level Avenger (lvl 26) still attacks with Zeal and uses the Might aura - that will change at lvl 30, where he'll have Conviction working and a 5 or so levels of Vengeance stored up.


I'll let other folks discuss items in fine detail - but I will recommend the low level sets for your first 30-40 levels. The three-piece Clegaw's set with a cheapo Iceblink armor absolutely ruled Normal. I dumped that setup for a complete Sigon's with a Coldsteel Eye sword in the early 30's, and nothing touches me. A different Pally just retired that same Clegaw's set (with a Cathon's Mesh armor, and the Seal (ring) from that set) for a Milabrega's set - the scepter is pretty lame, but the set gives +3 to skills, so the one point in Zeal yields 4 swings of that scepter. He'll end up with the Sigon's/Coldsteel eventually.

In general, you're going to look to your weapon (1-handed, of course) for the biggest base damage you can acquire, since the Vengence elemental damage multiplies off of the base. Avengers don't get any IAS bonuses, so your speed will come from IAS items. You'll always need to keep the resists up, and increased run/walk is always helpful for crowd control. IAS, R/W, leech, and resists can all be obtained by crafting items, so I suggest you check out the crafting recipes & give it a go. My lvl 85 Avenger still has a crafted Caster Ring he made when he was in the 40's - I haven't found a better one yet! I also still have a Prismatic Amulet that I made in the cube - +17 to all resists and +71 life. Not exciting mods, but the resists are essential in Hell.

Finally, you'll want to get a Holy Freeze merc from NM Act II - it's tough for an Avenger to take on a dozen of anything at the same time, and the HF aura is essential for crowd control. Avengers don't move/fight very fast, so it helps immensely to slow the targets down.


The veterans of the Paladin forum will be able to help you out in more detail - I hope this intro stuff helps.

Enjoy your Avenger! :wave:

 

[Nolomite]

Also, I want to put a bunch of points into redemption so I don't have to kill myself trying to balance out the stat points

Do you think I should forget about putting pts into redemption?

Any help would be appreciated, thanks

Absolutely you should forget about redemption - it'll heal your life & mana after a battle, but you can drink potions for that. They're laying around after that very same battle. Save your skill points for skills that help you dispatch monters. Cleansing is good for throwing off poison/curses when you are standing out of danger; Meditation is worth a point, to top off your Mana, but Prayer works too slowly to be of any assistance. Thorns is good to help you kill bosses. Spend the rest on your skills and synergies - you'll be a very deadly Avenger!

 

[BlackWinterDay]

You are going to need 11 skill points for pre-requisites (Including Holy Shield). You are going to want to max Conviction and Vengence. You are going to want 5-10 points in Holy Shield. That is already 56-61 skill points with no synergies selected yet.

Stay away from Salvation, because it is the weakest of all the synergies. Put everything else into the three Resist Auras. You're not going to have a lot of skill points left over for utility skills, so forget about redemtion too.

You could also drop Holy Shield. That will save you 5-10 points plus 4 synergy points. I wouldn't really reccomend it though... Vengence is pretty slow compared to Zeal, so don't think that you aren't going to get hit.

You need a fast, high physical damage weapon. I've done an analysis of all unique weapons, and Azurewrath, Runemaster (5x Shael) and Nord's Tenderizer are the top three weaponse in the hand of an Avenger. I haven't looked at runewords yet, but Famine is an early winner without even thinking about it too much.

If you're going to drop Holy Shield, then I reccomend a Gaurdian Angel for sure to help with your blocking. If you're keeping HS, then you have a lot more options. Many Avengers choose to go the damage reduction or maxed resists with GA route. If you're really rich, CoH would be pretty sexy.

My Avenger build will look something like this when I am done getting the gear for it:

Runemaster - 5x Shael
Upgraded Shaftstop - Facet
Herald of Zak - P.Diamond
Crown of Ages - 2x Facets
Highlord's Wrath
Soul Drainer
Manald Heal
Nature's Peace
Nightsmoke
Gore Rider

 

[ArchAngel-Infested]

I may not be upo to date with the 1.10 and all, i just started back after a long break b4 1.10 came out, been back about 1 1/2 months.

I have an avenger pala and to date hes still my favorite chara i own, hes lvl 85 all i do now is duel with him. Hes a 1.07 build, but hes stil ldecently good, although no syngergies because hey it was 1.07.

As for your gear, I use:

Enigma
Eth Zod'd Gaze
410% BOTD
Cham'd SS
+Skills pala ammy(crafted myself)
Bul kathos and a dual leech ring
(Back up rings/Ammys- Angelics, its massive AR bonus is insane)
Arachnids/String(String for runs in hell for leech)
Steelrend Gloves
Gore Riders/Soul Spur's for my boots.

As for solo, i can do hell solo, i have to equip my string, and my other dual leech ring., add those with a gaze, and carry 4 super potions, your garunteed t oalmost never die.Especially with HS and an SS.

 

[dreamingsolace]

thanks to everyone who replied, you all really helped me out a lot.

I started working on the new pally.. he's just about ready to do some norm baaling and already hes doing very well. thanks!