I am running single player at the moment and im trying to find a good base pally shield for exile but so far no luck.
Any advice on where to farm to increase my chances for this, ive tried cows over and over still now luck.
What you are looking for is an eth vortex shield. You can acquire this in the pit act 1 or in act 5 crystalline passage up to Baal. They can be a bit of a pain to find but well worth it trust me. Prolly find them all over act 5 but best chances are in the last few places crystalline passage, frozen tundra, frozen river,worldstone, and throne.
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Frozen tundra too low for vortex shield. Min alvl for it to drop is 82, and in a lvl 82 area only off unique packs and the chance will be very small
Vortex shield also high str req and lowest block rate. Id pick sacred targe or rondache over vortex, but really any elite eth paladin shield with high res should work. If I was playing single player im not sure I’d be all that picky about eth either.
When ever I look at gear choices, what needs to be considered is the whole perspective.
What are the best sheilds and why?
There is debate about what’s better, the Herald of Zakarum or the runeword Exile.
To best answer this why not listen to someone who’s clearly given this a lot of thought?
Now take this into account. How hard is it to find a Zaka?
Herald of Zakarum is an exceptional Unique Paladin Shield with an item level of 50 and a Character Level requirement of 42.
- Though only an exceptional item, it’s pretty hard to find, as Gilded Shields are in a very crowded Treasure Class [Armor 51], and class specific items drop at 1/3 the rate of normal items.
Next if you go Exile it really is about Defense over all else. So the clear choice for your base is an ethereal with the highest defense. Which is a Vortex Sheild.
Vortex Sheild
Defense: 182–225
Durability: 90
Str Required: 148
Smite Dmg: 5–87*
Item Level: 75
Clvl Req: 67
Sockets: 1–4
Block: 19%
Speed: 0
Weight: Light
Inv Size: 2×2
Treasure Class 87 (TC 87)
TC 87 is the highest treasure class in the game. If you want to know what all this item stuff is…
Starts at (4:21)
Treasure Class at (10:43)
Vortex Shield Drop Chance
Area Level 85 ‘The Pit’, Hell Difficulty, Drop Chance
Normal Monster - 1:17,579
Champion Monster - 1:4895
Unique Monster - 1:1937
What about finding other stuff and where?
https://d2.maxroll.gg/d2-drop-calculator
Level 85 farming areas
https://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Guide:Level_85_Magic_Find_Areas_v1.10
Now you are weaponized with knowledge.
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You are the best as always bud. What should I do with my eth 3sock vortex? Can i re roll it to a 4? Cause I never tried. I can’t remember if it’s superior either though and that is prolly the big difference maker right there.
No re-rolling sockets. 95% Sure. 
As for 3 socket. A 3 socket runeword.
I use Sanctuary (Ko, Ko, Mal) for my HC character but it’s in a Monarch.
That I can do, I still have a bunch of mal runes left and more ko then I can count. I just couldn’t bare the thought of letting a 3soc eth vortex go to waste 