PvM MF Hammerdin - Early Season D2R

Welcome to our  PvM/MF Hammerdin guide for Diablo 2 Resurrected. If you're looking for a build that can clear through nearly every monster in the game with ease, is not disrupted by immunities, and also has great magic find capabilities, then you're in the right place. This Hammerdin build is designed to offer fantastic survivability , high resistances, defense, and good MF percentages. With some practice, you'll be able to efficiently clear all areas in the game. The Hammerdin can still be considered one of the best all round PvM characters in Diablo 2 Resurrected and great for early Ladder.
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Gear Choices:

The gear choices for a Hammerdin MF build are designed to maximize survivability, resistances, and magic find while still maintaining sufficient damage output to efficiently clear areas. Here is a breakdown of each item and alternatives:

Armor

Enigma: The optimum armor for a Hammerdin MF build is either a Mage Plate, Archon Plate or Dusk Shroud Enigma. The +2 to all skills, teleport, and increased MF from Enigma make it a top choice, but it can be expensive, especially early on in a New Ladder season given the rune requirements (Jah and Ber). Without Enigma, the mobility and thus clear speed and efficiency of the Hammerdin is severely hindered.
Vipermagi: This a cheaper alternative, offering +1 to all skills and resists, while Que-Hagens is another viable option with added magic damage reduction and faster hit recovery. Remember, without Enigma, you are severely limited.

Main Weapon:
The Heart of the Oak: This runeword flail is the best choice for this build due to its massive boost to all skills and high resistances as well as a very good (40) FCR boost.
The Wizardspike: Fantastic option which offers high FCR (50) and huge boosts to all resistances making this a very good defensive option (great for hardcore mode). It lacks the damage boost from the additional skills of its alternatives.
Spirit: A spirit weapon is also a fantastic option and cheap alternative while you farm.

Main Shield:

The Herald of Zakarum: This is the ideal shield due the myriad of offensive synergies and defensive stats, making this optimal to achieve your goal of efficient clearing with good survivability. Socketing it with an Um rune will further increase resistances, while socketing with an Ist rune will further increase your magic find.

Spirit Shield: This is a viable alternative and can be built in a Paladin-only shield base, meaning you will not need to reach the strength requirements of a Monarch to wield. Additional resistances mods can also be found on the base shield. The significant FCR boost from Spirit is something not found in our first option. The huge boost in Faster Hit Recovery also pushes us into comfortable breakpoints.

Helm

Shako: This is the best helmet option for this build, offering +2 to all skills, mana, life, and magic find, as well as the often overlooked damage reduction. Socketing it with an Um rune will further increase resists, while an Ist rune will further boost your magic find.
Peasant Crown: A cheaper alternative with less defensive stats but good MF.
Crown of Ages: The strongest defensive option with huge boosts to resistances and damage reduction.

Gloves

Chance Guards: These are the go-to gloves for a Magic Find build due to their massive boost to MF (40).
Magefist: This is the de facto option if you're looking for faster cast rate, with additional mana bonuses.

Boots
War Travelers: These are the best choice for this build, providing a high amount of MF and some useful stat mods (Strength and Vitality).
Rare boots: Though harder to find, rare boots with resistances, Faster Hit Recovery, and Magic Find are also a good alternative.

Rings:
You have some optionality on ring selection depending on the goals for your character:
Stone of Jordan: Additional Damage and Mana
Bul-Kathos Wedding Band: Additional Damage and Life
Nagel Ring: Additional MF
Magic ring (up to 40% MF standalone): Optimised MF
FCR Ring: Required for FCR breakpoint

Amulet
Maras: This is our de facto amulet providing +2 to all skills, and up to 30 to all resistances.
Alternative: Any +Paladin skills amulet which offers your desired stats can be considered (FCR/Res/MF/Life/Mana/Stats) 

Belt

Arachnid Mesh: The ideal belt, offering +1 to all skills and faster cast rate.
Goldwrap: The best magic finding belt for MF prioritizers.

Weapon Switch
Call to Arms: The standard switch gear for any character CTA/Spirit with a twist, both items can be made in Paladin only bases. Look for CTA bases with additional Holy shield skills. 

Shield Switch

Paladin Spirit shield: Ideal to buff our battle orders from Call to Arms without the high strength requirement of a Monarch base shield.

Charms:
The standard Annihilus and Torch is expected. Magic Sunder offers us effectiveness in the few Magic Immune that exist in the game. Paladin Combat +1 Skill Grand charms can be used to further boost damage, while small charms can be adjusted as needed depending on the characters needs (Life / MF / Resistances / FHR are all available mods on small charms) 

Mercenary Gear Discussion (Act 2)
The Act 2 Merc is the best for Hammerdins given the additional auras they provide. When it comes to auras, there are a few different options to choose from based on the difficulty level you're playing on, here are the most relevant:

• Defiance (Hell/Normal): This aura boosts the defense of all party members, including your Hammerdin and your other Mercenaries. This aura is underutilized by D2R players so will not likely be present in parties.
• Prayer (Hell/Normal): This aura heals all party members, making it a great choice if you're looking for life regeneration between fights. Additionally, prayer synergises with Insight runeword as it provides Meditation aura (doubling Prayer’s heal). This significantly reduces potion reliance.
• Holy Freeze (Nightmare/Hell): This aura periodically slows enemies nearby, making it a good choice if you're looking for additional crowd control and safety.

The de facto choice is the Holy Freeze merc with Prayer Mercenary coming a close second as they both offer some great benefits for a Hammerdin.

Mercenary Gear
One important thing to note is that ethereal items will NOT lose durability on mercenaries, so you don't have to worry about your mercenary gear breaking down. Additionally, ethereal items have higher defense and damage than their non-ethereal counterparts, so it's always optimal to supply your mercenary with Ethereal gear where possible.

Here are some specific gear recommendations:

Armor: Eth Fortitude or Stone/Treachery

• Fortitude offers a ton of benefits for your mercenary, including enhanced damage, +300% to defense, and +15% maximum cold resistance, among others.
• Stone is a good alternative, as it offers +60 to all resistances and +250% to defense.
• Treachery is also a cheaper alternative which provides good survivability.

Helm:
Eth Andariel's Visage socketed with a Ral rune or jewel with +30% Fire Resistances.

• Andariel's Visage is a great choice for a mercenary, as it offers a ton of extra damage and attack speed, as well as +25 to strength and dexterity.
• Adding a Ral rune or jewel with +30% Fire Resistance can help offset the fire damage taken from Andariel's Visage.
• If you find that your mercenary is getting frozen too often, you can socket the helm with a Cham rune to provide immunity to freeze.

Weapon:

• Insight is a great choice and our de facto option, reducing our reliance on mana potions.It provides your mercenary with a Meditation Aura up to level 17.
• Breath of the Dying offers a ton of damage and life steal, as well as the chance to cast a variety of powerful spells. This is the highest damage option.

Overall, the gear you choose for your mercenary will depend on your personal playstyle and what benefits you're looking for.

Stat Build

This build focuses on Blessed Hammer as the main damage dealer, while utilizing Concentration to boost Blessed Hammer damage. Here's what you need to know about the stats and skills:

Stats:

• Strength: Enough to equip enigma 
• Dexterity: Enough to achieve 75% after Holy Shield
• Vitality: All remaining points
• Energy: None

Skill Build

Blessed Hammer: 20 points (max)

• Concentration: 20 points (max)
• Blessed Aim: 20 points (max)
• Vigor: 20 points (max)
• Holy Shield: 20 points (max)
• Redemption: 1 point (for an additional source of Health and Mana during and after combat)

With this skill build, you will have a powerful Hammerdin capable of dealing massive damage while also providing offensive and defensive buffs to yourself and your party. Vigor will provide a significant boost to your movement speed, allowing you to move around quickly when not teleporting.

Holy Shield is a crucial defensive skill that provides a significant boost to your defense and block chance. This skill is especially important in preserving dexterity points required to achieve max block. These points can be appropriated into vitality for even more life.

Redemption is a useful utility skill that allows you to recover life and mana from the corpses of fallen enemies. This is useful primarily as a post-combat regeneration tool.