Tabel of Contents:
1. Revision History
2. Legal Stuff
3. Why a Healadin?
4. Paladin skills
4a. Offensive Auras
4b. Defensive Auras
4bI. Table-Regeneration skills
4bII. Table-Other auras
4bIII. Table-Resistance skills
4c. Combat Skills
4cI. Table- Sperate from weapons attacks
4cII. Table- Shield skills
5. Level by level skill chart
6. Stat point distribution
7. Strategy
7a. vs. Amazon builds
7b. vs. Assasin builds
7c. vs. Necromancer builds
7d. vs. Barbarian builds
7e. vs. Paladin builds
7f. vs. Sorceress builds
7g. vs. Druid builds
8. Suggested equipment
9. Alternative methods
10. Contact me
11. Credits
1. 7/11/04- Today I started this guide.
8/4/04- Today I comleted this guide and submitted it to Gamefaqs.
8/9/04- Today I added a note in the skills section.
8/15/04- Today I fixed an error in the skills section and added a note in
the level by level skill chart.
9/15/04- Today I added to the "Why a Healadin?" section, and did a bit of
reformatting.
10/25/04- Today I changed the skills section, updated my contact
information and updated the legal stuff section. Updating the level-by-level
skill chart can take a while, and I dont have the time right now. I will get
to it as soon as possible.
2. Basically this guide is for private use only, if you want to use it for
anything else then email me. Dont use this guide without my permission. Also,
when using this faq please give credit anywhere aplicable. Besides that, Im not
too picky.
Right now I have only given permission for this faq to be posted on three
websites. If you see it anywhere else, please e-mail me and tell me about it.
The three websites are www.gamefaqs.com, db.dlh.net, and www.neoseeker.com
3. Why a healadin? Being an avid team dueler I am always looking out for
oppertunities to help out the team. The purpose of the healadin is solely to
heal your team members. There are also many other benifits then just healing
that come with a healadin, read on to find out what.
There are several small guides on the healadin, aka cleric
but they are all small, contained within general paladin faqs, and dont have
enough content within them to sufficiently explain the build. I tweaked the
given builds to best fit the needs of me and my team. The build I created was
extremely effective and fun so I decided to write this guide on my re-named
build, the healadin.
If you team duel this build is gaurenteed to increase your win percentage.
Being able to heal team members is an obvious plus. Also making this character
may make you play D2 for the actual fun factor, not just because Diablo is so
addicting. Yeah you know what Im talking about.
4. As you know the paladin's skills are broken up into three trees.
*note* I have seen many people saying that you should max fist of heavens and
blessed hammer when making a healadin because they add to the damage of
holy bolt. But this is not a holy bolt paladin. Do NOT do this when making a
healadin. You do not need nor want damage from holy bolt, only the healing
effect matters. Put NO points into fist of heavens and only 1 point into
blessed hammer as a prerequisite.
4a. Offensive Auras
These auras will include ones to help you and your party members
offensively, they include increased damage, bonuses to attack rating, and
even auras that damage enemies. While these are useful, as a healadin you
will not be using these skills.
Put no points into any of these skills.
4b. Deffensive Auras
These auras will include ones that help you and your party defensively.
Bonuses include ones to resistances, defense, wallk/run speed, and most
importantly for the healadin, health regeneration.
There are a few skills youll want to invest in from this tree.
These are skills that will regenerate life and mana, and help deal with curses
and poison.
Prayer-prerequisites:none-required level 1
This skill regenerates a certain amount of life every two seconds, with the
amount of life gained increasing with every point. There is a major drawback
howeveer, this is the only aura that has a mana cost, and at early levels it is
a considerable one too. Early on your will not be able to keep this on
continualy. Despite this it is an important skill, and it will help even more
later on. Max this skill.
Cleansing-prerequisites:prayer-required level 12
This skill decreases the amount of time you and your party will remain poisoned
or cursed. This is very useful druing act 2 with all the poison and act 4 with
curses. And of course, when dueling those nasty necromancers. One very useful
feature about this skill is that if you have points in prayer, this will heal
the same amount that prayer would, but it has no mana cost, and you will also
get the other effects of cleansing. Max this skill.
Meditation-prerequisites:cleansing-required level 24
This skill will increase mana regeneration for you and your party. The mana
recovery rates are rediculously high. At level one yourll gain mana 300%
faster! Plus if you have points in prayer you will gain life just like you
would with cleansing. This is the aura you will have on most of the time. The
mana recovery rates are so high that you only need a few points into this
skill to get good results. If you are poor and have mediocre equipment, put 5
or so points into this skill. If you have good equipment then put 1 point into
this skill and let + to skills do the rest.
These skills are ones that decrease damage taken by certain elements.
Resist fire-prerequisites:none-required level 1
Just as the name says this skill increases your resistance to fire. While this
skill can be useful in some situations you need to invest in it heavily to make
good use of it, plus there are only rare occasions where it would be useful.
This skill is not practical, especially for a healadin, put no points into this
skill.
Resist cold-prerequisites:none-required level 6
Just as the name says this skill increases your resistance to cold. While this
skill can be useful in some situations you need to invest in it heavily to make
good use of it, plus there are only rare occasions where it would be useful.
This skill is not practical, especially for a healadin, put no points into this
skill.
Resist lightning-prerequisites:none-required level 12
Just as the name says this skill increases your resistance to lightning. While
this skill can be useful in some situations you need to invest in it heavily to
make good use of it, plus there are only rare occasions where it would be
useful. This skill is not practical, especially for a healadin, put no points
into this skill.
Salvation-prerequisites:none-required level 30
This skill adds to your fire, cold, and lightning resistances. It is much more
useful than the above three skills. It Can be useful to have on the rare
occasions when your facing an elemental-damage focused build and your having
trouble getting chances to heal your partner and yoruself. If you have
mediocre or bad equips, then go ahead and put 3 points into this skill. If you
have good equips then put 1 point here and let + skills do the rest.
These are skills that..dont fit into any other catagory.
Defiance-prerequisites:none-required level 6
This skill increases the defense rating for you and your party. This skill isnt
needed my healadins because they are casters, and just like any other catser
they don't need defense. Also your party members should be taking all the hits,
and while they take more hits then they would with this skill, you can always
heal them once they are hit. Put one point into this skill as a prerequisite.
Vigor-prerequisites:defiance, cleansing-required level 18
This skill quite simply makes you and your party go faster, for longer. It
gives bonuses to your walk/run speed, increases your stamina, and your stamina
recovery rate. The skill is rather nifty, but is only useful for certain
builds. A point or two into this skill will come in very handy if you get in
trouble in a duel, such as if your oponent is teleporting right next to you.
If you have enigma or something with teleport charges dont bother with this
skill, but if you dont then put one point into this skill when you qualify,
then pump it some more once you have everything else completed.
Redemption-prerequisites:vigor-required level 30
This skill uses the corpses of slain enemies to give you health and mana. This
is probably the most useless skill for a healadin. First of all if only helps
you, not the rest of your party, and the healadin is a party player. Second
meditation and prayer will give you plenty of mana and health. Third the
healadin is used mainly for dueling, so there will be a lack of corpses to use.
Fourth the percentage is rather low with only one point into it, but putting
enough points into it to make it useful would take away too many points from
essential skills. Put no points at all here.
4bI. These are table of the regeneration skills. *note* here I will only
make tables on the skills you should use.
4c. Combat Skills
Just like the name say's these are skills the paladin will use during
combat. If you don't know what I'm talking about you shouldn't be playing
Diablo 2.
These are skills that enhance your weapons and damage
Sacrafice-prerequisites:none-required level 1
This skill alows you to drain 8% of your life in order to increase your attack
damage and your attack rating. This skill has asbolutely no use to a healadin,
put no points here.
Zeal-prerequisites:sacrafice-required level 12
This skill allows you to use your swing your weapon multiple times for each
click of your mouse, while also increasing your damage. However this skill is
no use for a healadin, put no points into zeal.
Vengence-prerequisites:zeal-required level 18
This skill adds elemental damage to your attack. This skill is also useless so
put no points here.
Conversion-prerequisites:vengence-required level 24
This skill gives your attack the ability to convert a monster to fight for you
for a certain amount of time. The skill has a very low chance even at level 20.
It is useless, even to non-healadins. Put no skill points here. If you want
something to fight for you check out my summon druid guide on gamefaqs.
These skills create attacks seperate from your weapons.
Holy bolt-prerequisites:none-required level 6
This skill allows you to unleash a bolt that deals magic damage to undead, or
heals your party members. This skill is very important because of the healing
feature. A few of these and your ally will be back to full health. Without a
doubt you need to max this skill. It also gets extra healing power from prayer.
Blessed hammer-prerequisites:holy bolt-required level 18
The main attack of the best pvm build in diablo, has no use to a healadin. It
allows you to summon an ethereal hammer that spins outward and hits your
enemies. It Adds magic damage to holy bolt, but you dont use holy bolt for the
damage. Put one point into here as a prerequisite.
Fist of heavens-prerequisites:blessed hammer-required level 30
Lightning comes down from the skies and damages your enemies. Sounds pretty
cool right? Well you wont be using it as a healadin. It adds damage to holy
bolt but you dont need that. Put no points here.
These skills involve your shield.
Smite-prerequisites:none-required level 1
This skill allows you to bash a monster with your shield. This damages the
enemy and stuns them, making this a useful skill. However thats not the idea
when making a healadin. Put one point into this as a prerequisite.
Charge-prerequisites:smite-required level 12
This skill allows your paladin to run up to an enemy and back it with your
shield, dealing massive damage. Like smite charging up to people and hitting
them is not the right idea for a healadin, but also like smite you need one
point into this as a prerequisite.
Holy Shield-prerequisites:charge-required level 24
This skill enchants your shield dramatically increasing its defense and block
rate. This skill is important in some situations, and useless in others. When
you are fighting melee fighters then this can save you. With enough dexterity
that is. If you are fighting casters then it is useless. Nevertheless it is
important you invest in this skill, and make sure its always on. I suggest 20
points.
4cI. These are the attack seperate from your weapons. Im only making tables
on the skills you will use.
5. Level by level skill placement chart.
This chart shows how you should build your healadin level by level. You
Should follow this chart very closely, unless you have decided to make your
build slightly different then suggested. *Note* This chart Isn't perfect. It is
my best guess of how I built my healadin. If you find any flaws on this chart
then please tell me.
6. Stat point placement. This is where you should put your stat points.
Strength- As a healadin and a caster you should be extremely frugal with your
points into strength. You will be wearing caster equipment, which is generally
lighter than other equipment.
Put just enough points here so you can use your equipment.
Dexterity- Although most of your trouble will come from casters (where block
doesn't matter) you will occasionaly get into trouble with a melee fighter.
When you do max block will be your friend.
Put just enough into dexterity to attain max block with your best pally shield.
Vitality- Well you shouldn't be taking too many hits, youll like having a bunch
of Vitality so you can survive when you do get hit with a nasty spell.
Put all extra points here.
Energy- In the first few levels It will be tempting to pump this stat with
prayer using up all your mana. But once you get meditation you wont need much
at all. Of course if you need to put cleansing on for a moment you will need a
little bit to keep you going until you switch back to meditation.
Get this stat to 50 at most, nothing more.
7. Strategy
This build is purely pvp so I will include mostly dueling hints in this
section.
*note* in all the strategys when I say a caster I mean any ranged attacker.
Before I get to the dueling techniques let me tell you about the basic strategy.
You should have holy bolt set as your left click, and this will not change ever.
On your right click you should have meditation on unless the situation says
otherwise. You should also have cleansing, salvation if you have it, holy
shield, and vigor hotkeyed for your right click. (not in that order of course)
7a. vs Amazon builds.
These strategys are to bt used against various amazon builds.
The javazon- While dueling this build a strong holy shield is a must. Try to
get behind the person who is dueling on your team and let him/her take the hits.
Use the minimap to see where your opponent is and re-position yourself
everytime your opponent makes a move so you will stay behind the person on your
team. If the opponent gets to close, or just teleports next to you, put on
vigor (or tele if you have enigma) and run away!
The bowzon- While dueling this build holy shield will help a lot. Again make the
person on your team take the hits. And again if they get next to you run away.
*note* vs all amazons stay away from the valkyrie.
7b. vs Assasin builds
These strategys are for use againt assasins.
The trap assasin- These duelers are very tough indeed. Especially if the dueler
on your team is running right through the traps and expects you to follow
him/her! Holy shield wont help and getting your partner to take the hits doesn't
work either. One thing you must do is hotkey vigor, use it if you get stuck. It
will also keep you from running out of stamina and getting pulverized. I suggest
you and your partner to stand a decent ways away, but dont lose sight of
eachother. Resist the urge to run right through through the traps to get to
your opponent, take your time dodging the traps. This build is very very tough
to beat, especially if your partner is melee. Patience and practice is your
best ally here.
The martial arts assasin- This build is much easier. Being melee you dont have
any missles to contend with, but holy shield is still good to use. If your
partner is melee then make him/her go toe-to-toe with the assasin, and send a
constant stream of holy bolts to heal him/her. If your partner is a caster then
put on vigor so your partner can run away, cast, then run again, healing when
needed.
*note* vs all assasin builds also stay away from the shadow warrior.
7c. vs Necromancer builds.
These are for dueling against necromancers.
The poison and bone necro- These are some of the best duelers around but not
the hardest when you have a healadin. Cleansing is very useful here against the
poison and the curses. Use it whenever needed. If the necro is using poison
stay far enough away to avoid the effects. If the necro is using bone spells
either dodge them or get behind your partner. If you happen to get a bone
spirit in your tail tank it if you think you can, or if you cant put on vigor
and outrun it.
The summoning necromancer- These are mainly for pvm but when you do find one
dueling follow this strategy. Stay away from the mob of minions at all costs.
Holy shield will save you when you are chased after by a minion or two, but do
everything in your power to stay away from more than that. If you get
surrounded your doomed. If your partner gets surrounded them he/she will also
probably be doomed. Keep your partner in the range of your holy bolt at all
costs. Vigor is also useful here, retreat a bit, turn, cast or swing, run,
repeat.
7d. vs Barbarian builds.
Use these when fighting barbarians.
Virtually all barbarian builds can have the same strategy used against them.
Although they do vary it is not enough that the strategy cant be used.
Barbarians are usually considered the best melee builds. Although someone with
a constant stream of holy bolts can survive a while against them, avoid having
your partner going toe-to-toe with them for extended periods of time. Make the
opponent concentrate his attacks on your partner, you wont last long at all
once the barbarian starts attacking you. If your partner is melee then have
him/her fight the barb for a few seconds, put on vigor and retreat a bit (while
healing) then repeat. If you partner is caster then run away, cast, and repeat.
7e. vs Paladin builds
For use against paladins, of course.
The fist of heavens pally- This build is very tough to duel against. Keep your
partner in the very corner of your screen and use the minimap to position
yourself as far away from the pally as you can without losing sight of your
ally. The fohs can have a devistating effect against your partner but luckily
theres enough cool down time that a stream of holy bolts should heal him/her.
If the opponent has enigma and teles next to you then put on vigor and retreat
behind your ally as quickly as possible. Holy shield doesnt matter here. But
lightning absorb helps.
The hammerdin- Stay away from those hammers at all cost, they can deal massive
damage. And also have your ally stay away, if the first hammer doesnt kill your
partner you will probably not have enough time to heal him/her before the next
one hits. If your partner is melee then heal him/her as much as possible and
hope they miss the hammers. If your partner is melee do the usual run/cast
routine.
The zealot- This build has insanely fast attack rate so get hit once and youll
get hit a couple times. This can spell trouble for your partner, but luckily
these builds usualy dont do enough damage that you cant heal them. Of course
you cant heal your partner forever. The key if your partner is melee is to hit
the zealot before it hits your partner. The key if you partner is a caster is
to kill the zealot before it gets to you, or do the cast/run routine.
The smiter- I have never faced these in duels but my best guess is for a melee
to go toe-to-toe with it and a caster to tank if they can, or cast/run if they
cant.
The charger- These builds are very tough, with charge on they can get to you
before you can even react, holy shield, vigor, and zig-zagging may be the only
way to avoid these guys, as for your partner get him/her to do the same
(healing constantly) and getting in a hit whenenver theres an oppertunity.
The avenger- Ive never dealt with these before but my best guess is that if
your partner is melee turn on salvation if you have a point in it and heal a
lot, or for casters do the run/cast routine.
7f. vs Sorceress builds
Having trouble against sorcs? Here is where to go.
The Fire sorceress- The main attacks of this build are fireball and meteor. It's
easy to tell when and where a meteor will hit so merely move away to avoid them.
Your main trouble will come with dodgeing fireballs. Position yourself so that
your partner is about 1/2 of the screen away from you. This is so you can see
incoming fireballs. If your opponent teleports right nest to you resist the
urge to run straight away. Instead put on vigor and run around the opponent in
circles, making the circle slightly bigger every time you pass around. This
does two things, it effectivly dodges the fireballs and gives your partner time
to come and help you out. However some sorcs would rather just duke it out then
keep teleporting around. In this case if your partner is melee just have
him/her charge at the sorceress, only stopping to dodge meteors. Let him/her
tank all the fireballs, you just keep healing your partner. You may even put
on vigor to help your ally catch up to the sorceress. If your partner is a
caster just make him/her stay in one stop, tanking everything except meteors.
Keep on the opposite side as the opponent and heal like crazy.
The Lightning sorceress- This is the hardest of all the sorceress builds to
duel with. Stay as far away from your partner as you can while still being able
to heal you. Those chain lightnings can hit you and your partner in one cast so
be careful to avoid these. Also dont stand directly behind your partner. This
is because lightning can go through your ally and straight to you. If the
opponent teleports right next to you then do the same circles as explained
above. If your ally is a caster then again have him/her tank all the hits. If
your partner is melee then have them charge right at the sorceress, stopping
for nothing. But this time stay a ways away in order to avoid chain lightings.
If you think you can handle a chain lightning or two then put on vigor and go
close enough to help your ally catch up to the sorceress.
The Cold sorceress- While the reduced movement speed can be annoying, this will
still be one of the easier builds to duel. Stay a good distance away from you
ally, but stay close enough so you can get back around your ally if your enemy
teleports next to you. The method explained above for avoiding sorceresses when
they teleport next to you will not work with cold sorceresses. They will either
cast blizzard upon themselves and youll be running around damaging yourself, or
they will cast frozen orb and youll be unable to dodge it. Instead youll have
zig-zag away, however avoiding attacks at all costs. This is thehardest part of
dueling a cold sorceress. If your partner is melee then turn on vigor and run
far enough behind him/her to be able to dodge the cold attacks. Unlike the other
two sorceress builds you need to take some care to avoid the attacks, if you
try to tank them you will be slowed down and will never catch up to the
teleporting sorceress. If you partner is a caster then use the dodge and attack
approach. Its allright to tank the occasional ice blast or frozen orb, but
be careful to dodge the blizzards.
7g. vs. Druid builds
The Shapeshsifting Druid- There are two variations of the Shapeshifting druids.
The werewolf and werebear druids. First the will cover the werewolf druids. If
your ally is melee then use the run and attack. While your healing should be
more than enough for your partner to survive going toe-to-toe with the enemy,
but werewolf druids can attack extremely fast, so it is more efficient damage
wise to use the run and attack method. Cleansing can be useful here if your
opponent has rabies. One more thing, werewolves also have increased walk/run
speed, so if your partner is having trouble retreating from the enemy then
turn on vigor to help out. If your ally is a caster then use the normal
run and cast method. Again you may need to put on vigor to run away from the
druid. Now on to the werebear druid. If your partner is melee Then have him/her
go toe-to-toe with the druid. The werebear attacks rather slowly, and even
though they do a lot of damage you should be able to heal your ally enough to
keep them alive. One thing to be aware of, if your enemy uses maul, you musn't
allow it to get to big, if your partner is in trouble with maul then retreat
until it wears off and your partner is healed.
The Summoning Druid- Making an faq about this build I can confidently say that
this build is not good at pvp. If your ally is melee then have him/her
completely avoid the druid's minions and attack the druid. If the druid runs
away only put on vigor if you need help catching up. You should be able to heal
your ally more than enough to keep him/her alive. Try to stay far enough away
that the minions wont start attacking you. If they do than just keep running
away from them. Try to run by your ally and get the minions to attack your
partner. Dont mind if your opponent has spirit of barbs. It wont make a
difference as long as you heal enough. If your partner is a caster then try to
avoid the minions. Run and cast. With both types of partners you may have to
contend with a poison creeper. Just ignore it and use cleansing as needed.
The Elemental Druid- There are two types of elemental druids. The first is the
windy druid. Melee fighters have a very difficult time with this build. You
will end up healing a lot if your partner is melee. You and your partner should
both get used to retreating a bit if the druid gets too close. The key is to
make the druid come to you. His spells only work in close rang so he'll have
to get in close. When the druid is running he runs at the edge of the hurricane
so youll have a quick chance to hit him once or twice without getting caught.
If your partner does get caught in the hurricane you might as well cast a tp
and retreat to town right away. Your ally will barely be able to move and will
also be bombarded by a ton of tornados. For this reason you must also stay a
good distance away from the druid at all times. For casters the run and cast
method is extremely important while dueling a windy druid. Avoid the hurricane
at all costs. Now on to The fire element druid. Well actually these builds are
very rare so ive never dueled one of them. I will post the method once I do.
Both elements will usually use either a grizzley or a spirit. If you get the
chance go ahead and destroy it.
8. Suggested Equipment
This is where I will lay out the ideal equipment for a healadin.
Armor- Get as many + to skills as you can get here. You wont be taking much
hits (especially with holy shield) You have an aura if you need resistances.
You have vigor so you dont need added walk/run speed. You dont need stats. The
only other thing that could be useful is faster cast rate. Basically get skills
and if you can, faster cast rate.
Weapon- You wont go melee no matter what so damage doesnt matter. It is very
easy to get good amounts of faster cast rate here, so get as much as you can.
And of course skills are very very important here.
Shield- Along with skills you will also want a decent block rate. Your goal is
to achieve max block rate with holy shield. The easiest way to include both
skills and block rate is to use a herald of zakarum (or however you spell it)
aka HOZ.
Helmet- As usual skills are very important. A good circulet is your best option.
From these you can get mad plusses to skills. Can you get fcr on a helm?
Belt- There arent many options here. Get arachnids mesh if you can for the
extra skill point.
Gloves- Sadly you cant get any skills points here, so get as much fcr as you
can get. Magefist works well here.
Boots- There is only one pair of these that would have something you want. That
is the pair of boots that add to vigor (I forget the name).
Amulet- Skills (as much as you can get) and faster cast rate (as much as you
can get) nuf' said.
Ring 1- If you can get your hands on either of the skill rings, great, if not,
then get some faster cast rate.
Ring 2- Same thing as ring 1.
9. Alternative Methods
This is where I will explain some different mothods you can try out with
your healadin.
1. This method will actually turn your healadin into an effective (hopefully)
magic-finder. Once youve completely finished your healadin, get an act 2
nightmare holy freeze mercenary. Then load up your healadin with mf items.
Since it wont effect your killing speed you can have 100% mf items on.
Next load your mercenary with mf items as well. Now you can let your
mercenary loose on the monster of your choosing. Well he may not be an
effective killer on his own but with you on his side the minions of darkness
dont stand a chance. Because when your mercenary kills a monster the drop
is calculated by both your and your mercenaries mf you can get crazy
amounts of mf. I havent tried this yet but the general opinion of the
people ive told is that it is a feasible plan.
*note* having an enigma is crucial here. You cant be an effective mf-er
without have the ability to teleport.
2. This method will increase your roll in duels. First you MUST have max block
and a very good holy shield. Activate it and block the attacks of a
physical damage- reliant opponent, allowing your partner to attack at will.
Cleansing is actually better to use then meditation here as you wont need
mana, but you may need decreased poison and cursed time. I havent tried
this one yet either, my friends havent been available for duels.
Feel free to try these out for yourself and tell me how it went.
KEEP THE SUGGESTIONS COMING!!!
10. Contact me
If you have any questions or comments please feel free to email me at
andrew.dysert@gmail.com or if you have aim you can messege me at thedcliveson.
And of course I play diablo. My account name is iwantahug13, I play on
US East/Soft Core/Non-Ladder.
11. Credits
Thanks to:
The Brady Games strategy guide for the information I put into the tables.
