DiabloLand - Paladin Combat Skill

Sacrifice [top]

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	Sacrifice Required Level: 1 Prerequisites: None	None
At what price glory? By sanctifying his weapon with some of his own blood, a Paladin of Zakarum is able to increase his efficiency in combat by forfeiting a portion of his own physical essence. This sacrifice is a symbol of faith that even the lowliest Paladin must submit before the Light, in order that he may prove himself worthy of victory.

Effect: Increased damage at the cost of health.

Sacrifice allows you to do a large amount of damage without spending any mana. Paladins that focus in this skill and Auras (except Prayer), do not have to spend any points in Energy for increased mana, use mana items, or worry about using Mana Potions. This may be appealing for some Paladins.

The first thing to understand about Sacrifice is that the more damage your weapons does, the more life will be drained from yourself. It's possible to increase Attack Damage so high using Sacrifice, a good weapon, and Might or Concentration, that you will be losing huge amounts of life each time you hit a monster. If you plan on using Sacrifice as your main attack, you will have to balance the loss of life with items or you will have to use a lot of Healing Potions.

Items that "Steals % Life" work well with Sacrifice. Find a weapon and ring that steals life. If you can steal enough life per hit with high life stealing percentages or a combination of life stealing items, you can make up for the loss of your health and actually use Sacrifice attacks to heal yourself.

Items that Replenish Life can also help make up for the loss in life when using Sacrifice. It can, however, take a while to regain life such that Replenish Life may not alone be enough to make up for the loss of life. However, they can be used in combination with Prayer, Healing Potions, and Life Stealing items to make up for the time it takes Replenish Life to work.

The Prayer Aura can be a good skill to use with Sacrifice initially. You can use Sacrifice on the left Action Button, and have your Prayer Aura active healing you at the same time on the Right Action button. You will have to devote points to Energy to increase your Mana to support Prayer or use magic items that add to Mana. Later on you will probably want to upgrade to Redemption Aura which although doesn't help party members, can make up for Sacrifice hit point loss much faster and better than Prayer.

Be careful when using Combat Shrines. Combat Shines will greatly increase your damage, which will greatly increase the life lost when using Sacrifice. You may want to avoid Combat Shrines when using Sacrifice, or use them then switch to another skill.

Powerful Two-handed Weapons
By using Sacrifice and Might or Conviction at the same time with a powerful two-handed weapon, you may notice you will do a lot of damage. This looks very attractive at first glance. You may do so much damage that you can kill many monsters including Uniques in one or two hits. However, you may also notice that you are losing a lot of your life with each Sacrifice hit. At first you may believe this is caused by giving up the defense and blocking of a shield to weld a two-handed Weapon, but the increased loss of life is really caused by the increase in damage of your new two-handed weapon. The more damage you do, the more life you will lose. Another problem with high damage weapons when using Sacrifice is that you may be doing more damage to the monsters than you need to. A monster may die in one hit with a Two-handed weapon damage of 538 but 200 damage might also be all you need to kill the monster. The extra damage caused by your powerful weapon will cause increased loss in your life needlessly. Try finding a less powerful weapon. Although you will not kill the monster as quickly, you will be draining less hit points.

To make up for the life lost when using Sacrifice you will have to find the right balance between the damage of your weapon compared to the monsters, life stealing items, Potions, Replenish Life items, and Prayer.

Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Damage to Self: 8%

Attack Rating +% 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115

Damage % 180 192 204 216 228 240 252 264 276 288 300 312 324 336 348 360 372 384 396 408

Holy Bolt [top]

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	Holy Bolt Required Level: 6 Prerequisites: None	Screen shot Animation
The Paladin can learn to summon bolts formed of pure, righteous energies. These projectiles are vessels of life, bane to the undead, and succor to the faithful. At the battle of Taelohn Bridge, the villagers feared the day was lost when an army of the walking dead besieged them. Just as the battered militia was about to be overwhelmed, a small band of Paladins appeared. Wading through the rotting carcasses of the living dead and hurling spheres of pure Light that expelled the evil controlling the battling corpses while renewing the strength of the remaining villagers.

Effect: Bolt of energy that damages undead, or heals friendly units.

Holy Bolt will not heal undead minions. Works on hires and on Golems and party members. Friendly Skeletons will not take damage from Holy Bolt.

Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Mana Cost 4 4.2 4.5 4.7 5 5.2 5.5 5.7 6 6.2 6.5 6.7 7 7.2 7.5 7.7 8 8.2 8.5 8.7

Magic Damage 8-16 14-22 20-28 26-34 32-40 38-46 44-52 50-58 56-64 62-70 68-76 74-82 80-88 86-94 92-100 98-106 104-112 110-118 116-124 122-130

Healing 1-6 3-8 5-10 7-12 9-14 11-16 13-18 15-20 17-22 19-24 21-26 23-28 25-30 27-32 29-34 31-36 33-38 35-40 37-42 39-44

Smite [top]

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	Smite Required Level: 1 Prerequisites: None	Screen shot Animation
The sword of a Paladin represents the might of righteousness and his shield symbolizes the strength of his faith. Both are tools he uses to mete out justice. Just as righteousness can give his spirit the fortitude to overcome the attacks of the unjust, so too can faith be a weapon to strike back at those who work to defeat him. To this end, the Paladin has developed several combat techniques that use the shield not only for defense, but also as an offensive weapon.

Effect: Shield bash that does damage and knock back.

Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Mana Cost: 2

Damage +% 15 30 45 60 75 90 105 120 135 150 165 180 195 210 225 240 255 270 285 300

Stun (seconds) 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3.0 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 4.0 4.2 4.4

Zeal [top]

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	Zeal Required Level: 12 Prerequisites: Sacrifice	Screen shot
A noble Paladin, fervent in his dedication to righteousness, can draw upon the spirit of that dedication to perform seemingly impossible tasks. When surrounded by his enemies, a Paladin versed in this skill sets upon his adversaries with the zealous fervor of many times his number.

Effect: Quickly attacks multiple adjacent enemies.

Zeal increases your Attack Rating, and allows you to attack multiple adjacent monsters. Additional points into Zeal increases Attack Rating and increases the number of swings per use of Zeal. Zeal allows you to take a lot of very quick swings at a monster while at the same time increasing your attack rating. Be warned, that for each point into Zeal, it will add one more swing. To retreat from a battle you will have to wait until you are finishing swinging. As you put more points into Zeal, this time becomes longer.

Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Mana Cost: 2

Attack +% 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105

Number of Hits 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Charge [top]

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	Charge Required Level: 12 Prerequisites: Smite	Screen shot
In showing fear, a Paladin displays his lack of faith, and a faithless Paladin is less than a man - let alone a knight. This is vital in that when all else fails, it is faith that will carry the Paladin through to victory. Warriors of faith never shirk from combat, but rush forward with heads down and shields up, allowing their glory to carry them into the thick of battle to deliver the first blow.

Effect: Closes the distance with an enemy, delivering a bash on contact.

Although Charge is after Smite on the Skill Tree, Charge does not require a Shield. You can charge without a shield with a two-handed weapon.

You can also use Charge on the Left Action Button while having Auras active at the same time. When maxed, Charge offers more damage than Sacrifice. Consider getting Mana Stealing Items when using Charge to offset it's mana cost.

You can only use Charge on a Monster if you are already not in melee range. This is the one drawback when compared to Sacrifice. You will have to back away or select another monster that is further away.

Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Mana Cost: 9

Damage +% 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 350 375 400 425 450 475 500 525 550 575

Attack Mod +% 50 65 80 95 110 125 140 155 170 185 200 215 230 245 260 275 290 305 320 335

Vengeance [top]

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	Vengeance Required Level: 18 Prerequisites: Sacrifice, Zeal	None
When a Paladin undertakes a crusade to banish evil, he is permitted to call upon the just souls of past crusades. Thus summoned, the spirits of the honorably vanquished manifest themselves and lend their energies to the weapons of the Paladin and his party.

Effect: Adds Elemental (Fire, Lightning and Cold) damage to all melee attacks.

The Damage bonus applies to all three elemental damages. At level 1, it would be +35% Fire, +35% Cold, and +35% Lightning (not Poison). Poison is not included in the Vengeance Skill. Monster resistances have the ability to reduce the additional elemental damage.

Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Mana Cost 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9 9.5 10 10.5 11 11.5 12 12 13 13

Cold Length 1.2 1.8 2.4 3.0 3.6 4.2 4.8 5.4 6.0 6.6 7.2 7.8 8.4 9.0 9.6 10.2 10.8 11.4 12.0 12.6

Elem Damage +% 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 125 130

Attack +20%

Blessed Hammer [top]

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	Blessed Hammer Required Level: 18 Prerequisites: Holy Bolt	Screen shot
The Visions of Akarat tell of a hopeless battle. Legions of the undead had laid siege to a small convent of nuns who were the keepers of a sacred relic, the Hammer of Ghrab Thaar. Suspended over a fiery chasm within the convent, the sisters knew the Hammer to be a powerful vessel of the Light and vowed never to allow it to fall into the hands of evil. With no weapons of their own, and no one to defend them, the nuns sacrificed themselves to destroy the hammer. Rather than let the undead despoil the church and the relic, they took the hammer and plunged themselves into the fiery chasm. At that moment, a powerful force of Light washed over the undead legion, striking them down where they stood. Since that time a well-trained Paladin is able to tap the remnants of this released energy, whirling a magical hammer to strike down his adversaries, especially the forces of the walking dead.

Effect: A magical Hammer spirals outward, damaging enemies. The Undead take additional damage.

This sends out a little glowing Hammer. The Hammers spins around you making a wider and wider turn until it disappears. Blessed Hammer has the ability to damage multiple enemies if it hits them.

Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Mana Cost 5 5.2 5.5 5.7 6 6.2 6.5 6.7 7 7.2 7.5 7.7 8 8.2 8.5 8.7 9 9.2 9.5 9.7

Damage 12-16 20-24 28-32 36-40 44-48 52-56 60-64 68-72 76-80 84-88 92-96 100-104 108-112 116-120 124-128 132-136 140-144 148-152 156-160 164-168

Conversion [top]

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	Conversion Required Level: 24 Prerequisites: Sacrifice, Vengeance	Screen shot
Through force of will and strength of steel, a noble Paladin with this skill is able to blind his enemies with the glory of the Light. After trading blows with the Paladin and facing the fire of righteousness burning in his eyes, an enemy will sometimes be struck with a divine epiphany and momentarily repent his past undertakings. So complete is the transformation, that the converted will turn to slay its former comrades.

Effect: A successful attack has a chance to convert the target to fight evil.

Player vs Player - This will not work on other Players.

This skill will not work on Super Unique Monsters and Bosses.

Conversion allows you to steal Monsters and use against other Monsters in the area. Consider stealing Monsters with special attacks like Lightning or Blizzard, to help you fight. Be warned that eventually conversion will wear off and you will be forced to destroy your new friend.

You get experience for kills made by monsters you have converted.

Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Mana Cost: 4

Chance to Convert % 7 13 18 22 25 27 29 31 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 40 41 41 42

Duration (seconds) 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210

Holy Shield [top]

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	Holy Shield Required Level: 24 Prerequisites: Smite, Holy Bolt, Charge, Blessed Hammer	Screen shot
To a Paladin, the shield is a symbol of his faith. Particularly devout Paladins can channel their faith into their shields, bolstering its defensive value with holy energy. The purer his faith, the greater his defense.

Effect: