So I only have 1 Lo rune. Wondering what the best use of it would be both in terms of build effectiveness and versatility.
Obviously I can make Grief and hope for a decent roll and then go with a Duress or something for armor.
Or i can go Death in a eth zerker and go with Fort on my armor.
I know Grief is a better weapon than death but would the combo of Death + fort be better than Grief + Duress (or whatever).
Open to any suggestions
i’m wondering this as well. especially fortitude armor. it says 300% enhanced damage. would that apply to a grief weapon AFTER grief’s flat +damage amount, or would it apply to the base damage of the weapon before grief’s boost?
Unfortunately, the 300% ed get apply to 31-35 PB dmg. So about 100dmg increase. Back to original question, I would say always Grief first for the first Lo, since dmg is a big problem for zeal pally, not def (covered by divine shield).
So youre saying a grief pb and a random armor (say duress) would be more damage than death in an eth zerker + fort armor?
In terms of cumulative damage stats grief + duress would give me large chunk of raw dmg, 10-20% dmg, 20% deadly strike, 15% cb and 33% open wounds. Whereas death and fort would give me massive % enhance dmg, 50% cb, large % deadly strike.
Im honestly kinda leaning towards death and fort combo if it werent for the fact that getting a vex and an eth 5 os zerker is like half the cost of another Lo rune anyway. Still trying to decide…
EDIT: Actually went and did the research instead of being a lazy bum 
Played with d2planner and calculators and factoring in what I’d need to hit zeal and smite breakpoints the dps with a max eth death zerk with fort armor is still no match for even the lowest grief pb and duress. Plus I still come out with similar amount of CB, deadly strike and open wounds with grief duress combo with only minor hits to defensive stats.
Looks like I’m gonna go with grief. Guess there’s good reason why it’s such an OP runeword.
Yes always grief first the damage difference is insane there are alot of maths out there to explain it I’m no math guy so I won’t try to explain it but the damage difference is insane make your grief in a PB (pb since you won’t need as good of a IAS roll vs a zerker)
Damagewise Grief, but thats everyone running, i built death and now i will wait couple of years for Lo to drop to get Fortitude.
My 2 cents
Please consider fact that bulk of your damage is NOT related to damage of your weapon - it comes from CB/Open Wounds/+Dmg mode. You need maximum speed to apply as much as possible you CB damage and use actual damage of the weapon to finish remains.
In the grand picture of Paladin - zelot differ from smiter by 2 things - zelot have probability to hit or miss and have number of attempts deliver your special damage within single attack and attack applies to all targets within melee distance around you. Smiter on other hand can’t miss (attack always hit) but have 1 attempt per 1 attack to deliver damage but with 100% probability and have no AoE whatsoever. Saying this as a zealot you still want fastest possible weapon (which would be Grief in PB) and to offset natural low base damage Grief give you +Dmg mode (which is pretty big). Ppl choose Grief for simple reason this weapon allow you deliver you special damage at highest possible speed (proc of LifeTap kind of help too ;))
I’m far from an expert, and don’t know any of the math, but I do have experience… FWIW.
I’d listen to DoomDrake, he’s help’d me a bunch.
So, I did most of hell solo with a Breath of the Dying axe (running fortitude dusk armor)… and got the opportunity to trade for a Grief phase blade. The difference in damage dealt was staggering.
That’s all I know.