Balancing Zeal with BHammer?

[Anger-DRS]

Balancing Zeal with BHammer?

Hey.

So I'm considering this, obviously I'll also have a point in smite for the shield spell, I want to get to about lvl 80. I'm not sure how to balance it, I have vague ideas regarding conc and fanat, not taking one and either taking a hit on Hammer Damage or slowing down on Zeal...hm...obviously I need utility auras like salvation too.

What order to take things for leveling?

Thanks.

 

[Master Zap]

Re: Balancing Zeal with BHammer?

Hey you've come to the right place!

I've extensive experience working out a good Zealer/hammerdin (on hc mode)

you can start by asking this question:

What does your standard physical damage zealer/smiter use?

20 fanat, 20 sacrifice, 20 holyshield, 20 zeal

What does your standard hammerdin need?
20 Hammers, 20 Blessed Aim, 20 vigor , 20 Conc , rest in holyshield

The solution?

Make a hammerdin , get 5 hit zeal. Use a ITD wep like grief on switch with an up'd hoz for zealing and smiting
Use a caster setup on switch for hammers. Pvm aim for 75 fcr which is easy if you use spirit shield and wizzy.

Because your hammerdin has maxed blessed Aim you get a 200% passive ar boost.
Concentrate has about the same top end damage as Fanat maxed (around 550% ish)

that only leaves you needing ias since conc does not grant this. I would recommend using a 15ias Andy's helm. Paired with Highlords ammy you'll hit the fastest Zeal speeds with a decent grief.

gear:

Andy's helm
enigma armor/Coh/Duress/Ga Plate/Lionheart/Gbane/Smoke/
tgods belt
Hoz for the melee, Spirit for Casting
Grief pb melee, Wizard Spike casting
Dracs for the lifetap
Goblin toe boots - Gotta get the cb somewhere, more useful then goreriders exp if you smite. you get sufficient OW off Dracs alone. The Deadly strike does not work on smite, and I feel that between highlords and grief the DS is less useful then the the added cb.
both are pretty good options.


What you end up with is a character that can do everything.

you'll have an AOE attack (hammers) vs large packs of stuff and for PI's and IM spots.
the Zeal will help you take down single targets faster, helps in hard to aim hammer
spots and tanks better because of lifetap. (plus I think Zealing /smiting and casting hammers is WAY more fun then the pure zeal or pure hammer) (not that you give up much to either build btw )

The zeal hammer grief in a setup like I advise with basic charms has numbers like:

48fhr bp
75/75/85/75 res
max block
5-7K zeal/smite attack at its fastest speeds
8-12K hammers at 75 fcr
Lifetap, ow , cb and a good amount of Deadly strike (apprx 50% ish )



the merc is pretty much whatever you favor. I used a insight wielding Blessed Aim merc for awhile, but the added AR wasnt really needed

I play as melee thru norm, or at least until my hammer damage is decent.
Hope this helps.

 

[Anger-DRS]

Re: Balancing Zeal with BHammer?

Oh wow dude, thanks. I'll be sure to follow that.

 

[finalorder]

Re: Balancing Zeal with BHammer?

Got a quick question. I was thinking about my last reply on a different thread.. for the skills of a zealer/bhammer I was thinking..

max blessed hammer, max blessed aim, max concentration, 10 resist lightning 1 salvation, 4 zeal, 1 might, 1 smite, 1 charge, 1 holybolt. That equels out to be 79 points.

now, for a typical hammer build.. u would max vigor with 5 into holy shield, 1 sacrifice, 1 prayer, 1 defiance and 1 cleansing, with 1 point left over to equel out 109 points total.

BUT, if you wanted to go more melee side of things (zeal more then bhammer, as master zap says he considers him biuld in another thread).. could you just do the original 79 i posted, then 20 into sacrifice and 10 into holy shield? No vigor at all.. you zeal will be stronger, but how weak will your blessed hammers be? significantly weaker or not much weaker?

 

[ThomasJohnsen]

Re: Balancing Zeal with BHammer?

Oh wow dude, thanks. I'll be sure to follow that.

as master zap says he considers him biuld in another thread

I doubt very much, that Master Zap prefers to be called neither a dude nor a him :whistling:.






...."He" is a she...

 

[Anger-DRS]

Re: Balancing Zeal with BHammer?

Ah!

Sorry Master Zap. My apologies, But ThomasJohnson said that if I didn't refer to you as a he he would break my legs.

 

[Master Zap]

Re: Balancing Zeal with BHammer?

Ah!

Sorry Master Zap. My apologies, But ThomasJohnson said that if I didn't refer to you as a he he would break my legs.

I'll let is slide this time, next time the bats come out :girly: (seriously I get that all the time as if only you guys can enjoy this fine game called d2 ) Thankfully from playing for years on bnet, I've developed thick skin.

finalorder ,
max blessed hammer, max blessed aim, max concentration, 10 resist lightning 1 salvation, 4 zeal, 1 might, 1 smite, 1 charge, 1 holybolt. That equels out to be 79 points.


Max Bh , check, max BA , check, Max conc, check. Why bother with 10 in resist light? ,sure you get 5% passive res boost. you'd go from 75 to 80. However, if you use a tgods belt , like I suggest, you'll have 10% max boost to res and end up with 85 light res anyhow. This will save you 10 skill points , better spent in either vigor (best spot imo) or sacrifice.

Also , zeal most likely only needs 1 point for 5 hits, at least in end game gear. 1-4 here will not make or break it, so if you need the 5 hits for early leveling , then have at it

I'd also reccomend getting like 5-10 in holyshield right off for ez max block with minimal dex needed, then come back here after the other stuff is maxed.

Skill as a hammerdin, use some bridge gear to split the difference. Grief is amazing for this, however if you cannot afford one of these yet, I'd use something like a fleshripper/black flail/Oath/ Death. you either want massive damage to make the most of the deadly strike and huge damage aura, or if your poor, load up on cb, skip the zealing part and play as a smiter/hammerdin.

There's a few ways to do this, I think that skilling basicly as a pure hammerdin and then play and using some melee items you'll be more then set. All the hammer side needs is spirit and wizzy (75fcr) ( or hoto/spirit and possibly a good stat fcr ring) (I like using Dwarf star and Ravenfrost with highlords ammy this way you get some fire/cold and light sorb for safe play)

 

[Anger-DRS]

Re: Balancing Zeal with BHammer?

Ah thanks, crap I've already put 16 pts in Smite. Remake time. I knew I was forgetting something. :jig:

 

[Anger-DRS]

Re: Balancing Zeal with BHammer?

I remade, then my brother went and maxed Zeal, I'm not going to remake, I'm rapidly losing patience with this game though. -_-

I can kill P.I's with Smite can't I?

 

[Luckymofo]

Re: Balancing Zeal with BHammer?

I remade, then my brother went and maxed Zeal, I'm not going to remake, I'm rapidly losing patience with this game though. -_-

I can kill P.I's with Smite can't I?

No, but blessed hammers can. you need amp to break phys immunes

 

[stephan]

Re: Balancing Zeal with BHammer?

What is the rationale behind a Zeal/BH hybrid?

 

[Anger-DRS]

Re: Balancing Zeal with BHammer?

Phys Immunes.

 

[stephan]

Re: Balancing Zeal with BHammer?

Aren't there more elegant solutions like using elemental damage weapons and/or an elemental aura? Right now you are just making a Hammerdin and force yourself to use Zeal...

 

[Shameless]

Re: Balancing Zeal with BHammer?

This idea sounds ideal, but alas I am new (again) to battle.net and have little wealth beyond a lvl 44 summonmancer and a handful of pgems.

Is it worth starting this build or waiting until I can get better gear?

 

[Master Zap]

Re: Balancing Zeal with BHammer?

Aren't there more elegant solutions like using elemental damage weapons and/or an elemental aura? Right now you are just making a Hammerdin and force yourself to use Zeal...

A great observation

I wouldn't call an elemental wep swap or one of the elemental auras "elegant" over the hammers. You then subject yourself to IM concerns, and prevalent elemental immunities. You also lose a Large AOE attack which is much quicker then the other suggestions presented.

Hammers will have more damage, almost no immunities , larger AOE, while at the same time you have a full on physical damage Zealer/smiter.

It's just a more fun Zealot/hammerdin, however the drawback is pricey equipment needed to pull it off well. With top end gear, and marginally less damage.


Shamless if you cant afford the things suggested for gear, I'd hold off on creating, and put in a few more mf runs.

 

[stephan]

Re: Balancing Zeal with BHammer?

A great observation

I wouldn't call an elemental wep swap or one of the elemental auras "elegant" over the hammers. You then subject yourself to IM concerns, and prevalent elemental immunities.

IM can be worked around with just being careful and elemental immunities are not a problem because you still do physical damage.

You also lose a Large AOE attack which is much quicker then the other suggestions presented.

Hammers will have more damage, almost no immunities , larger AOE, while at the same time you have a full on physical damage Zealer/smiter.

But these are all arguments to not use Zeal at all. I can't think of a situation where I would actually want to use Zeal over BH in this build. Except maybe boss killing, but most Pala's use Smite for that anyway.

This is what I mean with not elegant: what is supposed to be your back-up attack eliminates the use for the main one completely.