The Paladin Resurrected in Diablo 2: Beginners Guide

 

The paladin is not only one of the strongest endgame characters in Diablo 2: Resurrected, but with the right starter build he also effortlessly fights his way through the first few hours of the game. We'll show you the right skills and rune words to master the "normal" level of difficulty.

General tips for the paladin

The paladin is probably the best melee fighter in Diablo 2 , as he is not only extremely resilient but, unlike the barbarian, can also deal a lot of damage. A hallmark of the Paladin are its offensive and defensive auras, which provide both you and your team members with powerful bonuses.

The most important attributes

• strength

In Acts 1 and 2 you should put up to 30 and 40 points in strength, respectively, in order to be able to carry your equipment. In act 5, 60-70 points are helpful to equip the best items of the level of difficulty.

• skill

30 points in skill are sufficient for the normal level of difficulty.

• energy

In the normal level of difficulty, no points are required here.

• vitality

Every point that you do not need to carry your equipment is put into vitality.

Beginner builds to get you started

The paladin's strongest and easiest skill in Normal difficulty is the Holy Fire skill . The aura not only amplifies all your attacks with fire damage but also automatically inflicts damage to all enemies in the area . As a result, some monsters die all by themselves, so that you can strategically focus on individual opponents in most situations. As your primary attack skill, you put a point in zeal .

At level 25, your build could look something like this:

capability	Skill points
Holy fire	20th
zeal	1
Power	1
victim	1
Resistance to fire	1+

As soon as you have reached the maximum of the skill Holy Fire , you can put all further points in resistance to fire . Due to the synergy of the two abilities, each point in this skill continues to increase your damage with Holy Fire .

Helpful rune words

In the normal difficulty level , the paladin can benefit from several rune words.

Runeword	Runes and equipment	Effects
Steel (level 13)	Tir + El Gray mace, ax or sword with 2 bases	20% increased damage +3 to minimum damage +3 to max damage +50 to attack value 50% chance of open wounds + 25% increased attack speed +2 mana after every kill +1 to radius of light
Malice (Level 15)	Ith + El + Eth Gray melee weapon with 3 sockets	33% increased damage +9 to max damage 100% chance of open wounds -25% target defense -100 to monster defense per hit Prevents monster healing +50 to attack value Loss of life -5
Stealth (Level 17)	Valley + eth Gray armor with 2 sockets	+ 25% movement speed + 25% faster cast rate + 25% faster recovery after being hit +6 to dexterity Mana regenerate 15% +15 to maximum stamina Poison Resistance + 30% Magic damage reduced by 3

Like the other melee classes, the paladin can use the rune word steel from level 13 or wait until level 15 to create the somewhat more powerful rune word wickedness . The latter is a bit more complex, as you not only have to find all three runes but also a weapon with three sockets.

You also have to find a way to compensate for the loss of life -5 . The easiest way to do this is with a mercenary from Act 2 with the Prayer ability . This will automatically regenerate your life. From level 17 you can also be a suit of armor with the Runeword Stealth carry, by far the best option for each class at this point in the game.