I managed to make it to Nightmare mode using the Sigon’s set. But now I’m stuck. That set seems to have lost it’s luster with NM mode. And now I’m struggling so bad trying to find the right gear/skills to move forward.
Currently, I’m level 34. I’ve tried the smiter and hammerdin skillsets, but neither are working for me, and I’m 100% positive it’s because I don’t have appropriate gear.
I need a skillset that can be used for just leveling purposes until I get the gear I need to transition…anyone have any ideas?
My current gear is:
Peasant Crown
Stealth Gothic Plate
String of Ears
Bloodletter
The Ward
Angelic Set Amulet and Ring
Nagelring
Magefist
Goblin Toe
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I just watched a yt video about rune words for getting through nightmare. Search (nightmare runewords) the dbrunski one was the most accurate to what I was looking for.
First thing you should do is get a lum rune and a hel rune or find a nightmare 2os armor and make smoke. And for some XP and drops you can run tristram and countess. Norm cows can drop you a pally shield with resist and 4 socets to make a spirit. And for rings/ammy all 3 should have faster cast rate above all else even magic find.
Oh and stick with hammerdin. With one spirit and 3 10 fcr jewelry you will be very close tho the second to best fcr breakpoint for paladin. It’s something like 73 or 78 for not sure as I’m a newb when it comes to paladin. And caster belt and helm can roll with faster cast to get to that 70ish breakpoint. And anything you can find that adds to mana will keep you alive. Caster rings get mana boosts as a default prefix, too. If you still have the larzuk socket quest you can get a crystal sword (white no sockets) from normal cows and it will get a maximum of 4 sockets from larzukquest reward and you can make a spirit sword and you won’t have a issue again until mid 60s in act 2 hell. You might want to farm countess for more tal thul ort amn runes to get both spirits to roll with 30+ faster cast. Oh and the Hel rune can empty runes out of a item so you can try again and don’t have to go find another sword/shield to make the spirit runeword.
Oh and if you are playing hdin properly based on skill advancement, you will need more mana pots in your belt than heals. And for slow casting hammers you gotta kite the enemies. Throw 2-4 hammers take a step back 2 more hammers step back repeat and you can outlast everything in nm even on high player difficulty. I often found myself leaving the party behind in several areas of playing through nm.
Oh and the wall in hell is the maggot lair. You will need support or a tele staff to get through.
Thanks for the info. What shield should I be using for spirit? Monarch requires Level 54…I can’t seem to figure out what 4os shield I can use at level 34.
Edit: Found a 4os Aerin Shield in Hell Cows that works.
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ancients pledge shield ral ort tal or 4 soc shield with diamonds.
lore helm ort sol
once you get to a2nm hire holy freeze merc.
Use thawing potion/antidote where needed.
don’t forget to add to vitality
you are going to burn through a lot of mana. try the redemption skill on the corpses for a boost after a battle.
don’t forget to craft items if you need a boost. (Thanks Arreat Summit.)
glhf
You can use the Normal, Exceptional, or Elite versions of items.
Crafted Item Crafted Recipe Fixed Effects
Caster Helm Magic Mask/Death Mask/Demonhead Mask
Nef Rune
Perfect Amethyst
Any Jewel
(1-4)% Mana Stolen Per Hit
Regenerate Mana (4-10)%
- (10-20) To Mana
Caster Boots Magic Boots/Demonhide Boots/Wyrmhide Boots
Thul Rune
Perfect Amethyst
Any Jewel
Increase Maximum Mana (2-5)%
Regenerate Mana (4-10)%
- (10-20) To Mana
Caster Gloves Magic Leather Gloves/Demonhide Gloves/Bramble Mitts
Ort Rune
Perfect Amethyst
Any Jewel
- (1-3) Mana Per Kill
Regenerate Mana (4-10)%
- (10-20) To Mana
Caster Belt Magic Light Belt/Sharkskin Belt/Vampirefang Belt
Ith Rune
Perfect Amethyst
Any Jewel
5-10% Faster Cast Rate
Regenerate Mana (4-10)%
- (10-20) To Mana
Caster Shield Magic Small Shield/Round Shield/Luna
Eth Rune
Perfect Amethyst
Any Jewel
- (5-10)% Increased Chance Of Blocking
Regenerate Mana (4-10)%
- (10-20) To Mana
Caster Body Magic Light Plate/Mage Plate/Archon Plate
Tal Rune
Perfect Amethyst
Any Jewel
- (1-3) Mana Per Kill
Regenerate Mana (4-10)%
- (10-20) To Mana
Caster Amulet Magic Amulet
Ral Rune
Perfect Amethyst
Any Jewel
(5-10)% Faster Cast Rate
Regenerate Mana (4-10)%
- (10-20) To Mana
Caster Ring Magic Ring
Amn Rune
Perfect Amethyst
Any Jewel
- (1-5) To Energy
Regenerate Mana (4-10)%
- (10-20) To Mana
Caster Weapon Magic Normal/Exceptional/Elite Rod**
Tir Rune
Perfect Amethyst
Any Jewel
Increase Maximum Mana (1-5)%
Regenerate Mana (4-10)%
- (10-20) To Mana
Thank you for all the help. After swapping to dual spirit and and Lore helm, I was able to move forward. Actually, pretty quick and well too.
Now I’m level 65 donning a Harlequin’s, Vipermagi, Wizardspike, and a Seraph’s Hymn…and I’m tearing through Hell mode Act I.
A teleport staff will make Maggot Lair easier, but it isn’t needed; it just takes a bit of patience. If your merc has insight, casting around bends will take out one enemy at a time. It is tedious, but doable.
I actually had zero problems without teleport. It was a little slow, but totally doable. I think I got lucky too, and was finding the right paths fairly quickly.
I am very surprised that no one ever consider Kuko Shakaku…majority of ppl already leveling up with holy fire invested, just slap Kuko Shakaku onto your paladin and boom, all holy fire’s weapon damage os attached to the exploding part of the exploding arrow Kuko Shakaku shooting out. You literly made yourself a mini fireball sorc with no mana needed that way. This alone will get you tho nm easily.
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Just came back made a holy fire Pally solo self found just to mess with new Terror zones. He’s 78 and I enjoy lvling an auradin through the game. Only in hell does it get tricky especially without better gear.
However it’s simple and not gear reliant through NM, just put everything into Holy fire. Look for a +3 HF mace at vendor (isn’t hard to find) Then pump up resist fire first then salvation. Literally no combat points or anything first. I used a +3 HF mace with +1 zeal so I had that.
The Aura will kill everything without much gear with full synergies. Actually found a Shako in a NM Terror zone. However with just a + 1 armor, Ammy, made a spirit shield and + 3 Sceptor it’s easy to lvl fast since everything on the screen explodes as you walk by.
When new season starts will do another Holy Fire pally to lvl through fast since the screen dies without the needed gear and faster exp, more loot and gold early on. Then when you get to hell you can look for a +3 offensive aura +3 HF mace, harder to find that.
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And what do you do with fire immunes?
That being said, someone should make a guide about going from a very budget build single aura paladin (fire, cold or lightning) to the very expansive auradin (omnidin). That way someone can start with very budget gear and improve it gradually to, eventually, the super rich auradin.
Non issue leveling and with Terror zones you can go too 75+ level in NM. Besides that you have a Merc when you eventually do run into them. The point is you can level super fast to a relatively high level in NM now and also find okay gear just going pure Hfire.
So as too the point of the thread, leveling is fast/easy and a non issue especially now.
Yea maybe I’ll take a crack at that depending on my play through and how busy IRL I am.
Have a few builds I’d like to try with Dragondin since you have 3 separate level 44 Aura’s. So want to experiment more with a pure Auradin with stacking multiple Aura’s.
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