I’m nearing the end of Act V Hell with my first Hammerdin. I’ve maxed out Blessed Hammer and Concentration and have +6 to skills from equipment, damage is around 3800. Is the only or best way to further increase dps by acquiring additional equipment with + to skills attributes? Does increasing cast rate help? thanks
Hmm… does not sound right. Check the hammer’s synergies… you need 20pts to Blessed Aim and usually last, you put 20pts to Vigor. At the same time, you need to max Concentration as it is your main aura.
I have maxed Blessed Aim and Concentration. What is not clear to me, is there a synergy benefit from Vigor if it is not active? I hit a wall in Act V at Achmel due to magic immunity, so I have been putting points into Holy Bolt rather than maxing Vigor.
Correct! There is a synergy with Vigor even if it is not active, otherwise it would be stated active/passive respectively just like it is for example resist fire, etc.
Look up any build guide for hammerdin, it is stock standard to put 20pts Hammers, 20pts Blessed Aim, 20pts Concentration, 20pts Vigor.
For Achmel holy bolt is not the best strategy in my opinion, too weak and waste. All you need is 1pt to Smite what you already have I assume (for holy shield pre-req) and I also tend to put 1pt to fanatism. I have a black flail (other crushing blow stat weapon works too) and a shield of any kind in weapon swap and I just switch with fanatism on to my smite gear and bash all the immune mobs down. Act2 merc can also help even with a sort of cheap Insight polearm
Thanks for the clarification on Vigor. I had assumed the worst, that there was no benefit if it wasn’t active. I was aware that all the guides recommended points in Vigor, but I thought that was to get the benefit when switching auras, I basically leave Concentration up all the time.