Hello there,
I’m a new player, I’m starting Act II with my paladin.
I used to play with holy fire and zeal and it worked well enough. However, I tried hammers and it seems so bad now, they fly everywhere (randomly, I guess ?) barely touching any ennemy, and when it does, well… let’s say that it’s not really impressive.
I guess that it’s a bit early to spec in hammers ?
Spec to hammers should be OK at level 40-45 when you’re entering nightmare… You can max hammers and then its synergy first (vigor + blessed aim) if you need to run salvation for resistances, other wise concentraion. Big deeps.
You should stay with Holy Fire at least until act 3 boss. Hammers are hard to aim and unplayable in narrow maps which there will be a few in act 2 and 3 (some improvement for the game on this matter would be nice). Later you use teleport staff to skip those maps.
Damn, I used my respec by mistake in Act I…
Can I respec again in normal mode ? Do I have to finish the normal campaign and then respec in nightmare ?
Or maybe just reroll…
Go as hammer with the respec.
Max hammer
Max concencration
Max synergies
Its the most easy spec in the game.
You won’t be able to respect until Nightmare, but finishing Normal is certainly still doable. Focus on maxing blessed hammer and work on your aim. A bit of practice will get you through, and can always lean a bit on your merc if necessary. If you’ve put your points in to some of the synergies, then each point into hammer will boost the damage a fair bit. It’s more the aim that you’ll need to work on.
Good luck! 
Hammers are one of the most powerful skills in the game.
Make sure you use concentration aura. It should be good at lvl2 even.
Wear items with plus to faster cast rate and skills.
Pick up blue and yellow scepters and check for +to hammers
Get stealth armor
Get fcr rings and amulet. Thats all you need
his first impressions are correct though, low level hammers can be a bit slow especially if you don’t understand how to use them.
but once you get into your mid 30’s hammers is one of the most op builds in the game.
Hammers can be a little tricky to get the feel for, and they can be especially challenging at lower levels. If you happen to find any Tir runes, socketing 2 or 3 into your gear can really help with mana costs too.
A word of caution for Act 2, the Maggot Lair will really make you want to smash your screen as a Hammerdin. Since you’re still in Normal though, I’d recommend trying to keep a decent melee weapon around to switch to for slogging through the narrow passages in there. I’d recommend shopping for a plain 3 socket Scepter from Drognan and filling it with whatever +damage gems you can find.
In the earlier parts of the game, it’s a good idea for any spellcasting character to still have a decent melee or ranged weapon on hand so you can clean up stragglers without using up your limited Mana and you’ll still have something to do when you run out of Mana.
one time i was streaming a sorc playthrough and i kept finding really good weapons and i basically used melee all the way up to diablo with static lol.
actually no. Go into Blood Moor (Act 1 starter area) and spam hammer to get a feel for the pattern. It’s always the same.
Holy Bolt + FoH is easiest Pally build for noobs…
Paladin is arguably 2nd strongest class so if you find it hard, only easier character to solo softcore with is a sorc…
Paladin with Blessed Hammer mostly shines in Hell difficulty. In normal and nightmare I also had that experience at first that it’s hard to aim with it and maybe people are overrating the build. Then I enter Hell and just clear it much easier than other builds because of high damage and no immunes.
riiight, ONE of the most op builds after mosaic is … overrated… do you even play d2?
do you even know why we have sunder charms?
the reasoning goes like this:
they release TZ on PTR and everyone said hammerdin outclassed every other build in TZ so bad they decided to release sunder charms. if hammers weren’t as op as they are we wouldn’t have sunders.
but ya, totally, overrated. R O F L.
I don’t think you understood me correctly. I meant my first time long ago playing paladin just as op is having his first playthrough. Then as I said as soon as I entered hell difficulty I understood why the build is so strong. I’m not saying it’s overrated now, I meant my noob impression before even playing on hell.
Now I totally agree that it’s too strong on hell because there are no magic immunes and sunders are poor solution.
Yeah, depending on the Sorc build, I’m usually doing mostly weapon attacks with an occasional spell burst here and there until around the mid-20s.
This game is a test/game of pure will…
…If that makes any sense at all.
Yes, OP is right; D2 has old mechanics and plenty of such noob traps. And conversely, skills which seem to be “fun” and viable on Normal may not ne viable on Hell. When in doubt, use a guide.
Hammeradin into smiter is how you do a pally… holy bolt and foh?? lmao
Also Mosaic Assassin is now the strongest character followed by probably a Javazon or light sorc you absolute noob…
You legit have no idea what you are talking about.
Hammeradin became an absolute chad in 1.10 and remained a baal chad until d2r Mosaic…
Light sorcs could kinda be like a hammeradin but never the same to be entirely honest.
FoH + Holybolt? LMAO
So for a solo player especially with fresh start, Holy Bolt and FoH have no merit? It should be a damn cakewalk. Holy Bolt will wreck act bosses while keeping your a2 merc alive and FoH does so much work in many areas. Oh, I didn’t know sins instantly got 2 Guls & Mals to be the easiest class for a first time player to play this game, which is what this thread is about. Holy damn dude, go take your pills or see a therapist asap!!