Considering no dex hammerdin. Bad idea?

[Tor Land]

Considering no dex hammerdin. Bad idea?

Title says it all. I'm playing hardcore and have died a few times with my hammerdin, although i've only had a HoZ once. Almost every time it's FE or some extreme elemental attack that kills me, so i wondered if should just put it all into vitality since blocking don't seem to be helping that much. I've also got in mind that i've made myself a spirit in a 45 all res pally shield, so if i'm not going for max block it won't be that important to have a HoZ(?). (although i will ofcourse try to get one eventually, just not right away like I would try to with a max block build).

Opinions? I'm going to use him for mf'ing river of flame.. :grin:

Edit: I should probably mention that I play with a friend who kinda hates trading(because he thinks most people are cheating) , so that's one of the reasons HoZ is kinda hard for me to find - although i might sneak trade abit anyways :grin:

 

[zallus]

well i cant answer it for hardcore but my softcore h'din has no points invested into dex.

I think my dex stands at 70+- a few points but it is base with points granted from equip.

He only has like a 30%chance to block in hell but for softcore at least i havent really noticed a difference, except the fact i have alot more life than most h'dins.

I tried this because someone told me that max block is really only necessary for pvp.

my equip is as follows.
shako, maras, hoto, mage plate enigma, 35% spirit sacred rondache 44res, magefists, treks, arachs, soj, 10%fcr ring, torch, anni, 3pcombs, cta/spirit on switch.

I reach the 125%fcr i have base str, base dex, and base nrg. Have around 10k def and 2k life before bo (dont know exact numbers because i am at work). i think my base life might be much higher than that but not sure.

But yes i think it works very wel but not sure about how it would go for hardcore.

 

[Tor Land]

I wonder - when or if you at all die, what do you die to?

 

[zallus]

i dont know i tele alot of chaos and baal...i dont die very often at all not sure if it has died yet actually.

But i only play softcore so you might want to wait out on a hardcore player for better advice.

 

[LordPaul]

I have a lvl 82 Hc hammerdin and I wouldnt recomend playing with low blocking. I think in softcore it migth be ok, specially if you are an offensive player, but hc the max block thing can save your life.

If you take a look at the "death certificate" thread somewhere in the hc forums, you'll see that indeed elemental damage seems to be the main killer but I believe that the way to go against elemental dmg is mad resistance and even absorb. If your resistances arent really good in hell, there's not much difference between having 2.1 k life or 2.6

Still it is only my oppinion. I haven't played all that much and my hammerdin is still in Act2 hell. However I managed to get 95% all resists with cheap gear (I'm a poor dude) and I take little to none damage from all elemental attacks. My life sucks hard thou.. so all physical damage hurts. Thats where blocking means a lot.

 

[Tor Land]

Always got max resists, maybe not over 75 though

 

[PhatTrumpet]

I think it's a horrible idea.

The extra vit isn't likely going to help you at all against FE explosions. Many of them can one-hit KO any character you throw at them. An extra 100, 200, or even 300 life won't necessarily save you from thousands of damage. Just step away before the monster dies if the mods are particularly scary (pretty much all FE monsters in Nightmare, and just about any combination of FE/LE/CE/ExtraStrong/Cursed in Hell... come to think of it, don't go anywhere near FE/LE even before they die).

As for the elemental damages, stack your resists and get some absorb. Every Hammerdin doesn't automatically need to wear Arach.

 

[Nilaripper]

Playing Hc..? Max block always,for all builds,even ES sorces should have it.
Safety>max damage/vita.
Damage is applied in the following order:

(copied from statistics forum)
1) XvX penalty (for example Player vs. Player = -5/6)
2) EDR% (anything that reduces enemy damage by a percent- only found on the skills Taunt, Battle Cry, Weaken, and Decrepify)
3) Sorceress Energy Shield
4) Necromancer Bone Armor and/or Druid Cyclone Armor
5) Integer DR/MDR
6) Percentage resists (including DR%)
7) Percentage absorb
8) Integer absorb

After 2) there is a chance to block the damage , to block 75% of all physical damage is absolutely necessary,especially if you tele into cursed,extra strong,fanatic Frenzy Minotaurs..It will happen sooner or later.Don't forget to have some FHR aswell to avoid stunlock.

 

[Socialism]

I have a ~90 hammerdin in HC that has manage to tank dozens of FE explosions. I use a 35% FCR Spirit Sacred Rondache (2nd highest blocking paladin shield at 58% I think) with 45 base allres.

My secret? Hotspur boots. Those things are "gg pwn". I have 90 fire res, overstacked to be 90 vs conviction (-80) too. I also have 10 unused skillpoints, thinking of putting those into either fire or lightning (85) resist.

Yeah. Agree with all the block-supporters.

Resists > Damage if damage > 6000, in my opinion.

 

[Tor Land]

Hehe funny, I actually use the Hotspurs too because of the lack of fireresist on the spirit =)

Thanks for the replies guys, I will now go for block on this one too. Kind of "hard" to get max block with my spirit though

 

[Tai.]

There's a dex calculator somewhere around dii.net that'll tell you how much total dex you need at each level with each shield, i'd say track that down and figure out your ideal stuff.

Personally I'd say to aim for Guardian Angel if your playing legit, toss on waterwalks and Tgods and you've saved a lot of stats already, if you can get your hands on a HoZ you'll be looking at level 25+ Holy Shield with 25% increased blocking on the guardian angel and 15 dex from the waters, you're looking at pretty low base dex to achieve max block as is.

Basically find a balance that works for you, I often build my Hammerdins for crazy over the top safety and slower killing, but everyones mileage preferences vary

Cheers
-Tai

 

[zrk]

Going with nearly no dex is completely realistic on a max block hammerdin(with hoz.) In fact i actually planned on that stat point distribution because it seemed to give a higher amount of life than sinking more points into dex would. And well my hammerdin is still alive and kickin.

Items like maras (or sacarens chance), shako, Ko'd wiz spike(or hoto), raven frost, 10fcr 15dex ring, waterwalks, anni and torch all give dex. You could use Tal rashas belt aswell(i use it in my MFing setup). All together, you could get by with only 5-10 points into dex at level 90ish while having no dex charms. While still having 75% block of course.

 

[Tor Land]

MF'ing in WSK now, and it's really,really rare that I get any use of the blocking - almost all damage is elemental. I think that if i die again, I will go with base dex instead. ~300 more life would be more helpfull against the dangerous elementalattacks me thinks

About the guardian Angel: This would ironically give a hefty resist problem. I've fidled with the idea of using guardian angel+wiz spike to make up for the resist though, but would be giving up too much damage.

 

[RoXoR]

its so easy to max block w/ HS and paladin shields i dont see a reason not to max block :/
lvl91Hdin 2k base life max block