Vengeance Paladin Guide -D2R 2.6

Build Introduction

The Vengeance Paladin, otherwise known as the Convictionist or The Avenger is a very solid Melee paladin build which is very popular both amongst softcore and hardcore players. It's budget friendly, a great ladder starter, and can melt through any enemy very quickly whether it's any of the random monsters of Bosses. It deals a great amount of every elemental damage, so you won't have any difficulties with immunities, and it's survivability is extremely great even compared to other Paladin builds, so you will even be able to melt through the Ubers and farm Hellfire Torches.

Related Guides

Mercenary Guide | Magic Find Guide | Charms Guide | Quest Rewards Guide | Hardcore Guide | Levelling Guide | Secret Cow Level Guide | Restating and Skilling Guide | Item Upgrade Guide | Cube Recipe Guide |

Gameplay

Attacking skills: Our attacking skill is Vengeance. Playing with this build is very straightforward, just click on monsters while your Conviction aura is being used. Having a nightmare act2 defensive mercenary will provide Holy Freeze aura which will make it quicker to get to monsters so they can't run away. Having a Pride runeword on your mercenary can further increase your damage, or having an act1 mercenary with a Faith bow can provide you with fanaticism aura that will boost your attack speed and damage.

Movement: An enigma is not a preferred choice of armor for this build, so you should simply be running. If you are in a dangerous area, switch to walking so you can keep your block chance up while moving. Using Vigor aura is suggested when you want to run to any destination, and you can use the Charge skill to pass through obstacles.

Survivability: The Avenger has incredible survivability in endgame gear. 75% all resistance on Hell is a must, which can further be boosted by your Holy Fire, -Lightning and -Freeze auras with +1 to max resistance for every 2 hard-set skill points. Your Block Chance will be 75% without needing to put too many points on dexterity, and you will have amazingly fast Block Recovery at 2 frames. Gearing options will allow you to wear items with % chance to cast Life Tap on them, with which you will constantly heal yourself. You can also switch to Redemption Aura for healing and mana recovery. In case you play Hardcore, you should also aim for 50% physical damage reduction, and having a Call to Arms as your switch weapon to cast Battle Orders can also greatly help you.

Party and Solo play: Party playstyle is essentially the same as soloing. You will be a very useful member as you provide Conviction Aura that all elemental damage dealers can take advantage of. In budget gear, you will be of great help to kill Bosses. Defiance, Salvation and Meditation can be great party helper auras as well.

Magic Find: This build is not intended to do MFing, as gearing options for Magic Finding are limited. If you'd still like to use this build for MF purpose you should have an inventory full of 7% magic find small charms and a Gheed's fortune.

Stats

Strength: Put just enough points on it to be able to wear your items.

Dexterity: Put just enough points on it to have 75% chance to block with Holy Shield casted.

Vitality: Put all the rest of your available points on it.

Energy: Don't put any points on it

Skills

Best option for soloing:

• 20 points on Vengeance +1 point on prerequisite skills
• 20 point on Holy Shield
• Conviction should be Level 25 while geared, as it's resistance reduction is capped at -150%. +1 point on prerequisite skills
• 1 point on Vigor +1 point on prerequisite skills
• 1 point on Redemption
• Remaining points to Resist Fire, Cold and Lightning

Breakpoints - Check out our Paladin Breakpoints guide.

Items, Gearing

The listed items are organized by slots.

• The usefulness rating of an item is based on how good it is for farming.
• The price rating reflects the cost of the item (cheaper ones are available after ladder starts as budget options) higher price ratings reflect exponentially higher cost for an item.

Adding sockets and improving your items

• If you complete the act5 quest Siege on Harrogath, Larzuk will grant extra socket/sockets to your items. Use the quest to add sockets to your gear and put useful jewels, runes or gems in your item sockets.
• You can also upgrade your unique items from normal to exceptional quality and from exceptional to elite by using Horadric Cube recipes. After upgrading, your armor pieces will have more defense, and your weapon pieces will have more damage. The downside of upgrading is the increased strength/dexterity requirements.

Helm

• Guillame's face set helm - usefulness 7/10, price 4/10
• Vampire Gaze unique helm -usefulness 8/10, price 4/10
• Crown of Ages unique helm - Usefulness 8/10, price 6/10 - Great for HC

Amulet

• Any amulet with +1-2 to paladin skills, or +1-3 to combat skills - usefulness 4/10, price 1/10
• The Cat's Eye - usefulness 6/10, price 3/10
• Mara's Kaleidoscope unique amulet - usefulness 7/10, price 7/10 - Great for HC
• Highlord's Wrath unique amulet - usefulness 10/10, price 6/10

Weapon

• Lightsabre unique weapon - usefulness 4/10, price 3/10
• Oath runeword - usefulness 6/10, price 5/10
• Breath of the Dying berserker axe - usefulness 10/10, price 7/10
• Grief runeword in phase blade - usefulness 10/10, price 7/10
• Last Wish runeword in phase blade - usefulness 10/10, price 10/10 - Great for HC

Shield

• Sanctuary runeword in @allresist paladin shield - usefulness 6/10, price 5/10
• Herald of Zakarum unique shield - usefulness 8/10, price 6/10
• Exile Runeword in eth @allresist paladin shield - usefulness 10/10, price 7/10 - Great for HC

Switch Weapon

• Call to Arms runeword - usefulness 10/10, price 7/10

Switch Shield

• Spirit runeword -usefulness 10/10, price 3/10

Body Armor

• Duress runeword -usefulness 7/10, price 5/10
• Ormus's Robe - usefulness 7/10, price 5/10
• Chains of Honor - usefulness 10/10, price 7/10 - Great for HC

Belt

• String of Ears - usefulness 10/10, price 4/10
• Verdungo's Hearty Cord - usefulness 10/10, price 5/10

Rings

• Bul Katho's Wedding Band ring - usefulness 9/10, price 6/10
• Raven Frost unique ring - usefulness 9/10, price 4/10

Gloves

• Bloodfist - usefulness 4/10, price 2/10

• Dracul's Grasp - usefulness 10/10, price 5/10 - great for HC
• Steelrend - usefulness 10/10, price 6/10

Boots

• Goblin Toe unique boots - usefulness 8/10, price 2/10
• Gore Riderunique boots - usefulness 10/10, price 5/10

Charms

• Any charm with +skill, life, faster hit recovery or faster run and walk - usefulness 4/10, price 1/10
• Annihilus unique charm - usefulness 10/10, price 8/10
• Hellfire Torch unique charm - usefulness 10/10, price 6/10
• Magic grand charms with +1 to paladin combat skills - usefulness 7/10, price 5/10
• Magic grand charms with +1 to paladin combat skills and +life, +faster hit recovery or +faster run and walk - usefulness 8 to 10/10, price 6 to 10/10
• Gheed's fortune unique charm - magic find 10/10, price 4/10

Mercenary

Have a Nightmare Act2 Defensive Mercenary to provide you with Holy Freeze aura. If you can afford a Faith Bow for your merc, use an act1 mercenary with frost arrow.

Ethereal items don't lose durability if your mercenary wears them, so having ethereal item bases for each gear slot is preferred due to their increased defense on armor items and increased damage on weapons. In many instances ethereal items that are great for mercenaries will be much more expensive than non-ethereal ones.

Act2 Mercenary gear:

Helm

• Any 3 socketed helm with 3 perfect diamond to increase mercenary resistances and survivability - usefulness 5/10, price 1/10
• Tal Rasha's set helm - usefulness 6/10, price 3/10
• Vampire Gaze unique helm - usefulness 7/10, price 4/10
• Guillame's face set helm - usefulness 8/10, price 4/10
• Andariel's Visage unique helm - usefulness 10/10, price 5/10

Weapon

• Insight runeword - usefulness 5/10, price 3/10
• Ethereal the Reaper's Toll - usefulness 9/10, price 6/10
• Pride runeword in elite base usefulness 10/10, price 8/10

Body Armor

• Treachery runeword - usefulness 9/10, price 4/10
• Fortitude runeword - usefulness 10/10, price 6/10

Act1 Mercenary gear:

Helm

• Delirium runeword - usefulness 10/10, price 5/10

Weapon

• Faith runeword - usefulness 10/10, price 7/10

Body Armor

• Fortitude runeword - usefulness 10/10, price 6/10