| QUOTE ("Inexorable") |
| Inexorable's Comprehensive Level 29 Dueling Zealot Guide 1. Introduction a. Introduction b. Purpose of your zealot 2. Equipment a. Helm b. Body Armor c. Shield d. Weapon e. Boots f. Gloves g. Belt h. Jewelry(Rings and Amulets) i. Jewels j. Charms k. Stash Gear 3. Skill Placement a. All Damage b. All AR c. The All-Important Balance d. High Defense e. Anti-Caster f. Holy Shield 4. Dueling Strategies 5. Conclusion a. Conclusion b. Credits c. Anything else I can think of. First and foremost, this guide is my own personal property. I currently allow it to be posted publicly on CC-Comp, Baron's Bazaar, and LLD101. Requests to place this guide elsewhere will be considered, simply PM me with the desired location, and once permission is given, please give credit where credit is due. 1a. Introduction Welcome to my guide. Inside you will find a plethora of information with the aim of educating you to the different builds, item setups, and playing styles of a LLD101-legal 29 Zealot. This guide covers level 29 Zealots only, if you're interested in a 30+ zealot, 18 zealot, 21 zealot, you may as well stop reading now. Notes will be inserted in places with any adjustments that need to be made should you decide to create a level 27 Zealot. Just a quick note: Tesla(Holy Shock) Zealots won't be covered here, this guide is once again for phsyical damage based 29 Zealots. 1b. Purpose of your zealot First off, there is the goal for your zealot. This could be Zealot Vs. Melee, Zealot Vs. Caster, Zealot Vs. Pubs, or Zealot Vs. Zealot. 2. Equipment Ah yes, what we used to both cover our Zealot's naked body, and what we use to make him combat effective. See Jewels section for socketing possiblilties, as I'm not going to repeat this line each and every time I list off a piece of gear. 2a. Helm Ahh yes, that which you need to protect the good old melon. Surprisingly, the helm is a very important piece of equipment to the 29 zealot, as there are plenty of highly useful mods available on a helm, not to mention sockets! Oh yes sockets... precious sockets... So, here's some of the more used choices, some of the less used choices, and hell, even honorable mentions. 3-Socket Helm of choice- The basic starter helm. Get one with a strength requirement you can manage, socket away. Artisan's XXX Helm of YYY- 3 Sockets and a Magic Suffix. Quite the upgrade from the plain old 3-socket helm, eh? Plus it can have colors! Ideal suffixes include: Of Balance(10% Faster Hit Recovery), Of the Wolf(10-20 Life. Life = survival), Of Pacing/Haste/Speed(Faster movement, highly useful for out-maneuvering your enemies, but only available on circlets!). Other suffixes, quite frankly, are filler. They can have their uses. Visionary XXX Helm of YYY- First things first. If it has one socket, you have a nice piece of Charsi food. If it has 2 sockets, now we're starting to cook with gas. Visionary, as we all know, adds 1% AR per Character Level. At 29, you guessed it, that's a 29% AR bonus. Doesn't seem like too much, but believe me, it makes quite the difference. Ideal suffixes are identical to the Artisan's Helm ideal suffixes, but with one new addition: The Sun. 5% AR bonus based on Character level, and +5 Light Radius. If you're an AR freak like I am, you go for a Visionary of the Sun, 2 socket. Peasant Crown- More of an anti-caster helm, can only get one socket, but has massive vitality/energy, 1 skill, and some runwalk. Not bad, not great. Definitely not my pick. Rare Headgear- Now here it gets fun. There's a lot of mods that are incredibly useful here. Circlets are your best bet, even though they can get a max of 2 sockets. The list(pick 3 prefixes and 3 suffixes): Monk's(+1 Paladin Skills), Visionary(AR/CLVL), Mechanic's/Artisan's(1-2/3 sockets), Prismatic(16-20 all resistances), Holy(81-100% enchanced defense, *note* Only of good use on a high-defense helm, not wanted on a circlet) of Balance(10% fhr), of the Wolf(10-20 Life), of Pacing/Haste/Speed(10/20/30% faster runwalk), of the Ox(6-9 Strength). Mix and match as you wish. 2b. Body Armor Not as many choices here as helms, but still a far number worth mentioning. Twitchthroe- This is the end-all, be-all of 29 Zealot rmors. IAS, Increased Chance of Blocking, Faster Hit Recovery, and 10 each to Strength and Dexterity. It's been around as long as the game has, and it's still very damn good. Artisan's XXX Armor of- The Colossus(41-60 life), Stability(24% Faster Hit Recovery), Ease/Simplicity(-20%/-30% requirements). Use it if you must pass up the benefits of Twitchthroe. There might be a niche build out there I don't know of that would use one of these. Holy Exceptional Armor of Ease/Simplicity- The defense-oriented Zealot's armor of choice. Ideally an Ornate Plate for the massive defense it will get. Even better if ethereal. Rattlecage- Good for the Crusing Blow. Not much else. Rockfleece- If you're looking for some dr%. I would not suggest it though. Skin of the Vipermagi- The Anti-caster armor. up to 35% resist all, and up to 13 Magic Damage Reduction. Rock on bro. 2c. Shield It blocks things. Block saves you from melee hits and arrows. Block is ESSENTIAL. Crown Shield with Knight's Automod(101-121 AR, 51-65% enhanced Damage- special Knight's automod for paladin shields, differs from the regular Knight's prefix)- Must have 4 sockets. Crown shield is preferred for the higher block chance. Don't balk at the strength requirement, you'll have enough. This is a dex-saver, and looks cool. Rare Paladin shield with Knight's automod, 2 sockets, Deflecting Mods, and whatever else you wish- More for an all-rounder build, I'd rather have the aforementioned shield anyway. AR and Damage are your bread and butter, they are how you kill. Holy Grim Shield of Deflecting- Once again, the defense-oriented Zealot's shield of choice. If you can get these two mods in a rare as well as 2 sockets and whatever else you want, far more power to you. Ethereal adds even MORE defense. Spirit Paladin shield with inherent resist all automod- Great for casters and elemental-based builds. FHR/Skills/Life/Mana. 2d. Weapons Here it is, what you've been waiting for. Once your Zealot is up and running, this is your instrument of choice for inflicting pain, death, and suffering on your enemies. Honor Runeword- +1 Skills, +10 Strength, +250AR, +25% Deadly Strike, +160% enchanced damage, +9Min AND Max damage? Between the Deadly Strike and AR, this weapon's incredibly difficult to beat. Ideally made out of either a Knout(great damage, range 3, -10 base speed, all of them being important), a Divine Scepter(-10 base speed and possible automods. Potentially the route to the highest damage Zealot around, but only range 2.). Crowbills work, but only have range 2, no automods possible, and are -10 base speed. Disadvantages of the Divine Scepter with nothing to make up for it, other than looks. Rares- To even compete with an Honor, you'll need 130+ ED%, some IAS if you need it, max damage, high AR, and quite possibly a +1 Pally skills mod. When Deadly Strike is taken into account, the rare will not beat Honor out for damage in all but the most extreme cases. An Ethereal/Self-repairing Rare makes it better, but still may not close the damage gap. If you happen to find one of these decent lld rares, by all means use it. More power to you. 5Shael Knout/Divine Scepter/6Shael Crowbill- the 4-Framer Zealot's weapon of choice. -10 speed weapons need 142% IAS to hit a 4-Frame Zeal, -30 speed weapons(Cutlass ONLY), need 72% IAS to get a 4-Frame Zeal. 2e. Boots Boots cover our feet. Boots make us run faster, usually. Boots are our friends. Cow King's Boots- 20 Dexterity, Fire Damage, and 30% faster runwalk. Good boots, low level requirement. A saver on Dexterity for max block purposes. Sander's Boots- 5 Fewer stat points than Cow King's, but the +100 AR on them results in higher overall AR with these boots. 40% runwalk too, so they are a bit faster. Now if only they weren't purple... Goblin Toe- Fair enough, you want some Crushing Blow. Here it is. Bewarned that you lose the valuable stats/AR the other two options offer, as well as the stats. It's your choice. Rares- Another great place to get some FHR, Resists, and Stats. Given the right mods, these can be a very viable option. 2f. Gloves With all this fighting, and the banging of metal on metal/flesh/leather/whatever, we need some hand protection! Here it is folks, gloves. Death's Set Gloves- They may not look like much from the get-go, 50% poison resist and 75% poison length reduction, but when paired with the belt from this Set, grants 30% IAS and 8% life leech from the partial set bonuses. Most 29's use these gloves. Bloodfist- If you don't need the IAS from Death's Gloves/Belt combo, rock these bad boys. Life, Minimum damage, 10% IAS, and FHR. Now if only these gloves were actually charms.... Rares- Once again, useful depending on your desired goal. You can get some decent defense from these, some resistances, stats, even 10% IAS. Rock on. 2g. Belt Gotta keep those pants up, eh? Death's Set Belt- Paired with the Death's Set Gloves, this grants you the 8% life leech bonus, enables the 30% IAS bonus on the gloves, and gains a 15% resist all bonus of it's own. Oh yeah, they have Cannot Be Frozen as a mod. CBF is highly important. String of Ears- up to 15% DR, up to 15 Magic Damage Reduction. High defense too. Pretty good if you don't need the CBF or IAS from the Death's Combo. Bladebuckle/Rares- These are largely used for the same things: FHR, Stats, Life, Resists. Same story as String. 2h. Jewelry There's only one combo I'll mention here, as the others really aren't worth exploring.. 2x Angelic Rings and 1x Angelic Amulet- Together, +24 Attack Rating/Character Level, 115 Life, +12 Replenish Life, 20% Damage Taken Goes To Mana, and 10 Dexterity. These are your main sources of AR. The Damage to Mana makes sure you'll never run out, and Dexterity = MORE AR, More block%, and it's a lot of life. Come on, I dare you to think of something better. 2i. Jewels Well, filling all those lovely holes in our gear. Let's get to it. Basics: Jewels of Carnage- Potentially +15 max damage. Cheap, abundant, great damage. Advanced: Dual-modded Jewels of Carnage with any of the following Prefixes: +1-60 AR, +1-9 Max Damage, +Min Damage- You want lots of damage and AR. Do whatever it takes to get both. The combination of jewels needed is up to you. 2j. Charms You want life from your charms. LOTS of life. From here, add in a 12% FHR GC for that nice 32% FHR bp if using twitch, and crank up your damage slowly by replacing plain lifers with max/ar/lifers. 2k. Stash I'd suggest a 100+ Resist all shield, this is accomplished by 4 Perfect Diamonds in a 32+ Resist All automodded Paladin shield, a 4Sol shield, the damage reduced by X really helps against smiters, and any +max resist gear you may need for pub dueling, fighting elemental builds, etc. Alternately, collect ears. 3. Skill Placement Here we go. You've decided on your gear. You hopefully have all your gear on. Now it gets fun. Skills. Note that this is a guide for LLD101-legal 29's, and thus are normal-rushed. You could hell-rush if you really felt the need, but it's a bit of a time-waster if you ask me, not to mention you can't see normal difficulty lld games then. 3a. All Damage Max Concentration for the level. 12 points in this bad boy. Lots of damage. 1 in Might and Blessed Aim as pre-requisites. Depending on the +Skills from your gear, get enough Zeal for 5 swings. Dump the rest in Sacrifice. Congrats, assloads of damage, low-ass AR. 3b. All AR Still max Concentration. You want SOME damage. If not, Pump Blessed Aim. Max Out Zeal. If you have leftover points, use them to taste for the highest AR you can get. 3c. The All-Important Balance Once your gear is on, and you have the goals for your AR and Damage in mind, put points into Zeal until your AR goal is achieved(I suggest no less than 4k, higher is better), rest into Concentration. If you have points left, first see 3f. Holy Shield, then if you have a scepter with +holy shield, the rest into sac. Note that by choosing this route, your skill placement is somewhat gear-dependent. Your end skill build may be different from everyone else's. 3d. High Defense This build is different. You run Defiance as your main aura. Get enough points into Zeal for your desired AR goal, Max Holy Shield for the level, dump the rest into Defiance. The highest amount of defense possible is your goal. Go for it. 3e. Anti-Caster Other than one point in charge, for your mobility, follow The All-Important Balance. 3f. Holy Shield Holy Shield is a touchy subject. Depending on your gear, you may already have max block, or very close to it. Holy Shield serves a twofold purpose on your 29 Zealot. 1. Increased Blocking Chance, which can potentially save a LOT of hard points in Dexterity, and 2. Increased Blocking Speed. With Holy Shield active, your blocking animations take 2 frames each. If at all possible, find or shop a scepter with a +holy shield automod, stick it on yor switch with any +skills you can get, a Spirit paladin shield ideally. I find that a level 2 or higher Holy Shield lasts long enough for a duel to get done. By then you're either dead, or running to town to replenish lost life and mana for the next duel. 4. Dueling Strategies First and foremost, know what advantages, if any, you hold against you opponent. If they're packing a range 2 weapon and you're running range 3, stand still, namelock and shift-zeal until they get aggressive enough to come at you and start zealing. This is when range pays off. You can usually(not always) expect a free hit or two. This can make or break a duel, believe me. If you have a point in Charge, this will provide you with a few(not many) chances to catch any running character. My own personal tricks.. sorry guys, I can't share em. ;) Special note on dueling: If you are in a public game and beat the snot out of someone, it is not uncommon for them to leave and rejoin with a higher level character and talk all sorts of trash. A few ways around this: Place level restrictions on your game(I usually go +/- 20, so the level 9's can come play if they wish, and to allow for some higher-leveled chars to beat up on now and then), or simply leave and make a new game. They aren't worth the time. Alternately, you can take my approach to high-level pricks joining LLD games that don't have restrictions: Call upon a highly skilled friend on your friends list to come in and smoke the offending character. 5. Conclusion 5a. Conclusion Well folks, this should be enough information to get you started on your 29. I have given you most of the building blocks of a potent 29, the finishing touches and building of it is purely up to you. Originality is a great thing in the world of low level dueling. 5b. Credits Many many thanks are given to the following people: Omni, for showing me that a 29 zealot was so much more fun than a 18 charger. Knarl, for being the standard I measured my characters against for over a year and a half. Jason(VoicesLLD), for being my partner in crime, having the 29 I worked hard to beat. Fuh, Voices, Knarl, Jerkazoid, ChasingChickens, Oleo, oD-Momo(forgot your name dude, sorry!) for giving me some damn good duels over the years. Seb, Storm, Sleeps, Ant, Wade, Ra, Ehhh, Allie, Tom, Jake, Josh, and EVERYONE else that has come in to clear out the ill-mannered high levels in pub games. 5c. Anything else I can think of. I suppose I should post my 29's current stats. Here they are(any lld stats sig images I have currently are outdated and incorrect): As of 12/02/2005 Name: Inexorable Level 29 Normal-Rushed Zealot Stats: 67 Strength base(92 with gear) Dexterity: 43 Dexterity(73 with gear) (Max block and then some) Vitality: 105 Energy: Base Life: 843 Mana: 57 AR: 6107 Zeal Damage: 357-2529, 25% deadly strike, 5-frame Zeal Resistances: 25/25/25/75, with 75% poison length reduction Dr%: 0 -dr: 0 (28 from 4-sol shield in stash) Fhr: 56%(48% Breakpoint achieved) Fbr: 0%(2-frame with Holy Shield) Skills: 13 Zeal, 5 Sacrifice, 12 Concentration, 2 in Conc pre-reqs Holy Shield level: 5, from switch. Oh yeah... donations to the cause are appreciated! I need eth 0/5 socket Knouts! :) Lastly, questions/comments are appreciated. Flaming and spamming isn't needed, thank you |
| QUOTE |
| [higher level characters] aren't worth the time. |
| QUOTE (Inexorable @ Dec 7 2005, 04:49 PM) |
| Vs casters.. if they're dumb and try to tank you, smack them silly. If they run and you have Charge, make sure you get one charge that connects, then tag em with zeal while they are in hit recovery/knockback. If it's a trapper that hides in her light traps and spams Mind Blast.. good luck. Max your light resist, slap on a Vipermagi and String of ears if ya got em for the MDR, and it'll be more interesting. |