The Best Paladin builds For Diablo 2: Resurrected
As one of the seven Diablo 2 Resurrected classes, the Paladin is a defensive class that can buff himself with auras. These auras can grant resistance to enemy blows, improve his attacks, and even heal or buff allies or hirelings. For this, Paladin will forever be a welcome addition to any party. So in this article, you’ll find the best Paladin builds for Diablo:2 Resurrected with a short description.
The Zealot
Zealot is the most common Paladin build in D2R with good survivability and Physical damage but a limited area of effect. With a few key d2r items, particularly those that provide Chance of Crushing Blow, the Zealot can quickly take down bosses and single monsters. Overall, it is still one of the stronger melees builds in the game.
But when used with the Fanaticism aura, which bestows a significant amount of attack speed, the Paladin can deliver over five attacks per second with proper gear. This attack speed is then combined with a maximum % Chance of Crushing Blow — an item attribute that deals a large percentage of the target’s current Health in damage — to deal extremely high single-target damage.
The Smiter
The Smiter brings a whole new meaning to the old adage “the best defense is a good offense” with its iconic shield bashes.
Smite is a rather fast-hitting skill that relies chiefly on the Paladin’s shield to determine its damage, which is generally mediocre. However, its most notable aspect is that it cannot miss nor be blocked. Indeed, the maximum chance to hit for most weapon-based skills in the game is 95%. The Smiter obeys no such rule and completely disregards attack rating as a stat. This aspect contributes greatly to making the Smiter a prized boss-killer, particularly in Uber Tristram. Smiters are rarely used outside of Uber boss killing due to their completely nonexistent area of effect damage.
The Dream Zealot
The Dream Zealot Paladin build is a slight twist on the classic fast-hitting melee Zealot. Specifically, it uses a shield and a helm with the Dream Rune Word to add a large amount of Lightning damage to its Physical attacks. This provides the Paladin with more coverage in the types of monsters it can kill. The main downside of the build is its steep gear requirements to function at all, as Dream is expensive.
Also, note that since Dream is only available from Level 65 onward, playing as a Dream Zealot from the start of the game is not possible.
The Hammerdin
One of the most popular characters in Diablo 2, the Hammerdin is an iconic Paladin build that revolves around the Blessed Hammer skill. Owing to Magic damage that is very rarely resisted by monsters, the Hammerdin is the ultimate jack of all trades, offering unparalleled versatility throughout the entire game.
Besides its versatile damage type, Blessed Hammer boasts both high damage output and a fair area of effect. This combination makes the Hammerdin a very competitive build in virtually all aspects of the game, though never as efficient at any given task as some of the more specialized builds. Still, the unmatched versatility of the Hammerdin has earned it its rightful place as the top build in D2R.
That is all you need to know about the best Paladin builds for Diablo 2: Resurrected. Was this article helpful? And if you want to know more guides, please check here.