Zeal Paladin Build Guide from Budget to Best Gear - D2R 2.7

Diablo II: Resurrected allows you to choose among different classes that suit your playstyle. If you are the type of person who wants to slay minions head-on, then you'll want to read this article to completion.

Today, we are going to go over one of the best boss-killing builds in the game. So, if you are interested, we invite you to join us. This is our ultimate Zeal Paladin D2R guide!

Build Introduction

The Zeal Paladin, also known as the Zealot, Zealer, or Zealadin, is one of the strongest melee builds in Diablo II: Resurrected. It has high damage both against single targets and monster mobs. This build is able to deliver five attacks in a second, making it a great choice for killing bosses and also for farming Uber Tristram. It's a great ladder starter as viable budget options are available, great for soloing, but is also welcome at parties for its Fanaticism aura,

This build has a beginner-friendly playstyle, so even if you are a complete beginner, you should not run into any problems maneuvering this build. Moreover, the Zealot has decent survivability, which can be utilized in killing Diablo or Baal without dying.

Gameplay

Attacking skills

As the name suggests, Zeal is our primary attacking skill. When used, it deals a great amount of single-target damage by prompting your character to attack them five times (at max level). Furthermore, if you have "Crushing Blow %" on your gear, you will quickly be able to reduce any enemy monster's life without a hitch.

Even though it is not necessarily an AoE skill, Zeal attacks the monsters surrounding you, so you can quickly take care of bigger mobs too. There are very few monsters that have immunity to physical damage in the game, but if you do encounter them, do not worry! You can address that by putting a sunder charm in your inventory. More on this later in the build guide.

Since you have to be at melee range to take advantage of Zeal, use Charge as an opener to close the gap between you and your intended target.

Movement

A big benefit of any Paladin build is the Vigor aura, which helps your running speed immensely. Use it if you quickly want to run to bosses or move inside the Town. In case you get stuck on an obstacle, use the Charge skill to get past it.

Survivability

With decent gear, your survivability is topnotch. Holy Shield provides a huge amount of defense and that is why it is a staple among many Paladin builds in D2R. Also, by wearing Dracul's Grasp, you can quickly cast Life Tap on enemy monsters, allowing you to heal your wounds immediately.

In addition, with Call to Arms as your switch weapon coupled with max resistances of 75%, you will have high enough life and awesome survivability, making the build viable for farming any Hardcore Hell content.

A high-defense "Exile" Runeword on a Paladin shield further boosts your chances of casting Life Tap, while also granting you the Defiance aura that increases your defense. Having % life stolen per hit also helps to heal you from your wounds, so crafted Blood items can come in handy. Zeal is particularly effective in taking advantage of Life Tap or other similar effects due to the nature of the skill itself.

Aside from that, make sure to wear a Raven Frost ring to avoid getting frozen. Putting damage reduction modifiers on your gear is a high priority due to the melee attacking style, so a Crown of Ages helm is very useful if you aren't satisfied with your survivability.

Because you are playing as a Paladin in D2R, you have the option of activating different auras depending on the situation. For example, if you are farming the Chaos Sanctuary, there is a huge chance that the monsters will apply curses on you. In this situation, you can activate Cleansing Aura to significantly reduce the curse duration, thereby improving your chances of survival.

Party and Solo Play

The Zeal Paladin is capable of completing the game solo because of his sheer damage potential and utility in the form of his various auras. Whether you want to do Baal, Diablo, Cow, Mephisto, Andariel or any other boss runs, or just farm through the entire game, you will be able to do it using this build with ease.

In terms of party play, your group will love you because of your high-level Fanaticism Aura, which boosts damage and attack rating by a significant amount. Of course, you can activate Vigor to traverse maps quickly or switch to Cleansing Aura if your team is affected by problematic curses.

Magic Find

Some of the standard Zealot gear can be switched to Magic Find items that do not deteriorate farming performance significantly. However, if you want to use it mainly as an MF character, you should fill your inventory with Gheed's Fortune and as many 7% magic find small charms as you can.

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 active.
• Vitality: Put all the rest of your available points on it.
• Energy: Don't put any points on it

Stat allocation for the Zeal Paladin is a bit different compared to other melee builds in Diablo II: Resurrected. Normally, you only put enough strength and dexterity depending on the gear you want to equip. However, you do have the option of putting a bit more points on STR since this attribute also increases your Zeal damage in some way.

We recommend that you experiment with juggling points between strength and vitality to see which one works best for you. Do you need more damage? Spend a considerable amount of points on STR. Do you need more survivability? Then dump every stat point you have on VIT after satisfying the attribute requirements of your gear.

As for dexterity, put enough just to equip your favorite Paladin Shield. The goal here is to max out your block chance with Holy Shield activated.

Skills

• 20 points on Zeal
• 20 Points on Sacrifice
• 20 points on Holy Shield
• 20 points on Fanaticism
• Spend 1 point on the following:
• Prayer
• Cleansing
• Salvation
• Might
• Blessed Aim
• Concentration
• Smite
• Holy Bolt
• Charge
• Blessed Hammer
• ut your remaining points on Defiance
• Note: If you still have any remaining points, put some on Resist Lightning

Zeal is your primary skill on this build. At max level, you can hit a single monster five times or deal with multiple enemies in quick succession. During the animation, you cannot move or do anything else, which is why having your survivability sorted out is of utmost importance.

You are probably wondering why you need to allocate 20 points on Sacrifice, especially considering that Zeal is your only attack skill on this build. Well, the reason is simple: it provides a decent damage boost to Zeal (at +12% damage per level).

No matter what build you intend to use with a Paladin, you should always have 20 points spent on Holy Shield. At max level, Holy Shield grants you 310% defense bonus, making you an impenetrable fortress fighting against the minions of Hell. Besides that, this skill enables you to block attacks more successfully, so make sure to keep an eye on it and cast Holy Shield again when its duration is fully exhausted.

Fanaticism is, of course, your main aura for the Zeal Paladin. This aura increases the damage, attack speed, and attack rating of you and your party members within the vicinity. If you are going to slash enemies with Zeal, always use Fanaticism along with it.

After maxing out the skills mentioned above, you do have the option of putting your remaining points on the ones that you actually love using. In this scenario, we just recommend Defiance Aura as it synergizes with Holy Shield, giving it a much higher defense bonus as a result.

Still, you can allocate the remaining points to, say, Resist Lightning to passively increase your maximum lightning resistance.

Breakpoints

There are a few breakpoints that you need to be aware of when playing the Zealadin. First and foremost is Increased Attack Speed (IAS). This is a gauge of how quickly you can initiate attacks with Zeal. In other words, it is a measure of how fast the animation of the said skill ends before you can use it again.

Calculating for IAS is pretty complex and oftentimes quite confusing. Fortunately, you do not have to blow your head thinking about it because you only really need 25% IAS to achieve the optimal breakpoint of four frames for Zeal.

The next breakpoint that you need to be aware of is Faster Block Rate (FBR). This is also not complicated since you have Holy Shield up at all times. You just have to achieve a total FBR value of 86% and you should be good to go. Achieving the said number will allow you to block monster attacks in just one frame!

Lastly, you have to consider your Faster Hit Recovery (FHR) value as well. This tells you how fast you can get out of the "hit stun animation," allowing you to move out of harm's way.

Now, attaining 48% FHR is very doable, though we recommend that you aim for 86% to reduce the hit stun animation to just several frames.

If you need a more detailed explanation about the different breakpoints, do check out our Paladin Breakpoints guide.

Gearing

The Zealadin is not hard to gear up. If anything, you can make the build work even with budget equipment. Of course, this build can only be elevated when using the best gear, so be sure to save up if you want to take things to the next level.

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 costs for an item.
• Magic Find ratings are added to items that are good options for MFing.

Adding sockets and improving your items

• If you complete the Act 5 quest Siege on Harrogath, Larzuk will grant extra 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

• Lore runeword -usefulness 4/10, price 1/10
• Peasant Crown unique helm - usefulness 5/10, price 2/10
• Harlequin Crest Shako - Usefulness 8/10, price 6/10, Magic Find - 10/10
• Crown of Ages unique helm - Usefulness 10/10, price 6/10
• Guillaume's face set helm - usefulness 10/10, price 4/10

In the beginning, grab a two-socketed helmet and put the Ort and Sol runes in this specific order. Doing so will result in the Runeword, Lore. This is a common Runeword that you can use at level 27. You only want it for its "+1 to all skills," though its other bonuses ain't bad at all.

Although the base of the item could be improved, the next helmet you are going to wear is the Peasant Crown. This thing still raises the level of your skills by one, but it can grant you 100% Enhanced Defense and 15% faster run/walk speed, which should help you level up your Zeal Paladin much faster than before.

Also known as the "GFace," Guillaume's Face is an incredible helmet for the build, mainly due to its ability to grant you the chance of landing either a Crushing Blow or Deadly Strike when attacking with Zeal.

For the endgame helmets, there are a couple of viable options you can choose from. Crown of Ages is a fantastic choice because it boosts your survivability, in addition to giving you +1 to all skills.

Referred to by many as the "Shako" due to its base item type, the Harlequin Crest is a good alternative to Crown of Ages. That is because of its huge 50% bonus to Magic Find, allowing you to farm some highly coveted items better than without it.

Amulet

• Any amulet with +1-2 to paladin skills, or +1-3 to combat skills - usefulness 4/10, price 1/10
• Saracen's Chance unique amulet - usefulness 5/10, price 2/10
• Atma's Scarab unique amulet - usefulness 7/10, price 3/10
• Mara's Kaleidoscope unique amulet - usefulness 8/10, price 7/10
• Highlord's Wrath unique amulet - usefulness 10/10, price 6/10

Struggling to survive in the higher difficulty levels? If so, there is a pretty useful amulet that you can wear starting at level 47. The amulet in question is Saracen's Chance - a unique ammy that has some decent defensive modifiers, including +25 to all resist, +12 to all attributes, and a 10% chance to cast Iron Maidon when struck.

For the uninitiated, Iron Maiden is a Necromancer-exclusive skill that returns the damage that was dealt by the enemy. Think of this as sort of a "Thorns" mechanic, albeit in curse form.

Sunder Charms are a special group of charms in D2R that enable you to slay monsters with natural immunity to certain damage types. Because of their usefulness, you can expect them to be priced way up there, which may give you a hard time acquiring one.

For the time being, you can opt for the Atma's Scarab as a cheaper solution to breaking (or "sundering) monsters that are immune to physical damage. This is possible due to the fact that you can cast Amplify Damage just by striking enemies with Zeal. Since you attack a target five times in quick succession using the said skill, casting Amplify Damage occurs quite often as a result.

Boosting your attack speed is always a good idea when playing the Zeal Paladin. As such, you want to have IAS on your items as much as possible. That is the reason why Highlord's Wrath is the perfect amulet for this build due to its insane 20% IAS, which is one of the highest found on an amulet in D2R. This amulet provides other goodies as well, such as +1 to all skills, +35% lightning resistance, and 30 added lightning damage.

If you want a relatively balanced amulet that still provides a ton of value, then you can wear Mara's Kaleidoscope. Although it does not give you any attack speed bonus, Mara's Kaleidoscope does offer you +2 to all skills, +30 to all resistances, and +5 to all attributes.

Weapon

• Black runeword - usefulness 5/10, price 2/10
• Kingslayer runeword - usefulness 6/10, price 6/10
• Oath runeword - usefulness 6/10, price 5/10
• Azurewrath unique weapon - usefulness 5/10, price 5/10
• Stormlash unique weapon - usefulness 6/10, price 5/10
• Grief Phase Blade - usefulness 10/10, price 7/10
• Last Wish runeword - usefulness 10/10, price 10/10

Any equipment that gives you a chance to land a Crushing Blow is always a good way to increase your damage output. A weapon in the form of a specific Runeword offers that and then some. This Runeword is none other than Black (not to be confused with the color of the same name).

Black is best known for its 40% Crushing Blow chance and insane +200 increase to attack rating. Furthermore, the 15% IAS coupled with +120% Enhanced Damage are welcome bonuses to help you quickly decimate any monster you come across.

If you are interested in Black, get yourself a three-socketed Flail and insert the following runes in the exact order: Thul, Io, Nef.

While not as famous as the other weapons for the Zealadin, the Kingslayer is a strong and reliable contender for its 30% IAS, 270% Enhanced Damage, and 33% Crushing Blow. Any monster unfortunate enough to be at the receiving end of this weapon suffers from the inability to heal their wounds, thus allowing you to make quick work of them.

Kingslayer is a Runeword that is made possible by having a weapon with four sockets, preferably a Phase Blade for its naturally high base attack speed. The specific runes that you need for this one are Mal, Um, Gul, and Fal.

Do you want to be a boss killer, but you do not have the budget for acquiring a really expensive weapon? Do not worry! Oath is an awesome Runeword that helps you achieve that and more!

This thing provides a huge 50% increase in your IAS. On top of that, you deal significantly more damage to demon-type monsters. Mind you, the Act Bosses and Uber Bosses in the game are considered demons in Diablo II: Resurrected, so this Runeword actually helps you defeat them more easily.

In case you are wondering what runes you need in order to form this RW, then you have to get your hands on Shael, Pul, Mal, and Lum. If you want to have the power to slaughter legions of demons with ease, then go for Oath, hands down.

Diablo II: Resurrected is riddled with undead monsters. As such, you want to be equipped with something that can help you deal with the problem. The good news is that the Azurewrath is perfect for quelling the undead.

Its 30% increased attack speed makes Zeal a lot more comfortable to use. Additionally, the +1 to all skills is great for boosting the damage of your main skill. If you do not want to go through the hassle of obtaining individual runes to form an RW, then the Azurewrath is a good choice.

As you tackle much harder content, you will find that enemies become incredibly tough to beat. You need to have the means of reducing their HP considerably, which is why the Stormlash is an appealing weapon in the endgame.

Stormlash is renowned for a couple of things. First, it enables you to land a Crushing Blow, thereby dealing a huge amount of damage. Second, you have a chance of casting Static Field when hitting enemies, which effectively reduces their life by a good percentage.

With those two bonuses combined, you will have no problems slaying even the most difficult enemies in D2R!

While Zeal is a powerful boss-killing skill, it has a huge downside that forces you to complete five different slashes before you can move your character. To aid you in your survival during this time, you will need Life Tap to recover some of your life back, especially after taking damage with Zeal's animation still playing.

Last Wish is an incredible source of Life Tap. Because of the fast-attacking nature of Zeal, this effect will proc quite often. The 49% MF is nice, particularly when you engage with the Pandemonium Event, for example.

Take note that Last Wish does require you to obtain some pretty expensive runes, such as a single Ber rune and a few Jah runes. As if that is not cumbersome enough, you are going to need a six-socketed weapon too!

If you want the best weapon for the Zeal Paladin, then look no further than Grief. There is a reason why many D2R players have hailed this as the best melee Runeword in the game. Let's start with its "Ignore Target Defense" modifier. This allows you to eliminate even the toughest enemies without a hitch.

Okay, if you are still not convinced, then you will be ecstatic to find that it contains some pretty awesome bonuses, including +40% IAS, 20% Deadly Strike, and a huge increase in damage when fighting against demons, among many others!

Even though it does not provide you with % Enhanced Damage, its huge +400 to flat damage is nothing to scoff at. You can just address the lack of ED on this Runeword by equipping other pieces of gear that have the said modifier.

Anyway, find a good weapon with five sockets and put these runes in the exact order: Eth, Tir, Lo, Mal, and Ral.

Shield

• Rhyme runeword - usefulness 4/10, price 2/10
• Ancient's Pledge runeword - usefulness 4/10, price 2/10
• Herald of Zakarum unique shield - usefulness 8/10, price 6/10
• Exile Ethereal Vortex Shield, preferably with all resistances -usefulness 10/10, price 7/10

There are only a handful of items that can make you immune to freeze - one of which is Rhyme. This is a Runeword that is possible by inserting the Shael and Eth runes into a two-socketed shield.

Aside from freeze immunity, this Runeword increases your block chance by 20% and provides you with 40% FBR, thus giving you a much easier time to get to the 86% breakpoint mentioned earlier.

In Diablo II: Resurrected, it is important to cap your resistances to at least 75% in order to mitigate as much damage as possible. If you have trouble doing this, you can wear a shield with the Ral, Ort, and Tal runes socketed into it. This will result in the Runeword named Ancient's Pledge.

This thing grants you considerable bonuses to all resistances, including fire, cold, lightning, and poison. What's more, this RW helps you sustain your mana because 10% of the damage you have received from an attack is recovered as mana.

Exile is a Runeword in D2R that is great for Paladins who utilize any of their combat skills to a great extent. Not only does this RW grant you 30% FBR and +2 to Offensive Auras, but it also gives you the ability to curse enemies with Life Tap while attacking.

As we have discussed earlier, Life Tap is crucial for your survival. That is because hitting enemies that are affected by this curse enables you to gain a portion of your life back. Plus, this thing grants you up to level 16 Defiance Aura, which alleviates the need to put more than one skill point on the said skill.

Exile should be placed on a shield specifically made for the Paladin. Ideally, you want to put the Vex, Ihm, Ist, and Dol runes into an Ethereal Vortex Shield, but you can use any base that you want.

While Exile is definitely a top contender for your main shield, obtaining it may be cumbersome to do. If you do not want to go through the hassle, perhaps you should opt for the Herald of Zakarum instead.

The Herald of Zakarum is considered by many as one of the best shields for Zealers because it raises the level of Zeal by four. In addition, you get a percentage bonus to attack rating, which is much higher than the flat amount, especially considering that you have Fanaticism active all the time.

Switch Weapon

• Magic wand with Life Tap curse charges - usefulness 5/10, price - 1/10
• Call to Arms Crystal Sword - usefulness 10/10, price 7/10

Life Tap is an incredible way to help you survive at higher difficulty levels. That is because it is a form of life leech that allows you to recover HP just by attacking the monsters affected by the said curse.

Having said that, you might want to pay the town vendors a visit often until you can find a wand of magic rarity (denoted by blue text) with Life Tap curse charges. One easy way to do this is by going in and out of a town. Doing so will force the vendors to sell you a set of entirely different items. Just hope to get what you need.

Sure, the Life Tap wand is pretty awesome, but ultimately, you will replace it with the "true endgame" weapon swap, Call to Arms.

CTA is an amazing Runeword and is often used as the switch weapon for many builds in Diablo II: Resurrected. The reason is that this thing allows you to cast Battle Orders and Battle Command - two Barbarian-exclusive skills that grant you +1 to all skills and increased life, mana, and stamina for a long period of time.

Switch Shield

• Spirit Monarch -usefulness 10/10, price 2/10

Spirit is another Runeword that is often paired with Call to Arms. That is primarily because of the "+2 to all skills" that it offers, which actually affect the Barb-exclusive skills mentioned above.

The specific runes that you need to form Spirit are Tal, Thul, Ort, and Amn.

Body Armor

• Principle runeword - usefulness 5/10, price 6/10
• Guardian Angel unique armor - usefulness 5/10, price 4/10
• Duress Archon Plate -usefulness 9/10, price 5/10
• Enigma - usefulness 8/10, price 9/10
• Fortitude Archon Plate - usefulness 10/10, price 7/10

While not as popular as the other body armors on this list, Principle does deserve a spot mainly because of its incredible synergy with your main skill. The fast-attacking nature of Zeal takes great advantage of this RW's chance to cast Holy Bolt. On top of that, this thing raises the level of your skills by two. This Runeword requires you to have body armor with three sockets and the Ral, Gul, and Eld runes socketed into it.

Having 90% maximum all resist is a dream come true for many Diablo II: Resurrected players. Achieving such a feat results in a character that can take on any monster in the game, including the Uber Bosses.

If you want to focus on killing the Ubers, then you should think about investing in the Guardian Angel. This is a unique armor that grants 15% to all of your resistances. This thing is also loaded with other defensive modifiers, including 200% Enhanced Defense, 20% chance to block attacks, and +30% Faster Block Rate, among others.

This next armor might not increase your maximum resistances, but it still provides you with an easier time to cap them to 75% on Hell Difficulty. Duress, which you can access by inserting the Shael, Um, and Thul runes into a three-socket body armor, is a good mix of both offense and defense.

Aside from giving you bonus resistances, this thing grants you the ability to inflict Open Wounds or land a Crushing Blow. The added cold damage and "% Enhanced Damage" might not be much, but it should be enough to aid you in defeating the demons in D2R.

The vast majority of your time in Diablo II: Resurrected is spent on farming endgame content, including Uber Tristram and the Uber Bosses. If you'd like to get from point A to point B in a jiffy, then you might want to invest in the Enigma.

Enigma is a Runeword that grants you the power to teleport just like a Sorceress. On top of that, it grants you +2 to all skills, 8% damage reduction, 5% increased maximum life, etc.

Because of its usefulness, Enigma is a pretty expensive Runeword to make, requiring you to insert the Jah, Ith, and Ber Runes into a three-socketed body armor.

Now, if you want to fully invest in a build that focuses on dealing insane amounts of damage, then Fortitude can help you realize that. This Runeword is best known for providing you with 300% Enhanced Damage and the ability to deal a Deadly Strike.

Of course, it has a whole host of other offensive modifiers, including +9 to minimum damage, +50 to attack rating, and a 25% Faster Cast Rate.

Just like the Runeword before it, Fortitude is not cheap to assemble as it needs the El, Sol, Dol, and Lo runes to complete.

Belt

• Nosferatu's Coil - usefulness 10/10, price 3/10
• String of Ears unique belt - usefulness 10/10, price 4/10

Yet another source of life leech is the unique belt called Nosferatu's Coil. While that is quite helpful for the Zealadin, that is not the only thing that this belt offers.

Nosferatu's Coil also possesses a couple of modifiers that can help you defeat the minions of Hell. The first is that this belt slows nearby targets by 10%, giving you a higher chance of catching up to them with Charge.

The second is its 10% IAS. For the uninitiated, this is one of the only belts in the game that comes with an increased attack speed bonus, with the other being the Goldwrap.

Despite the presence of incredible mods, you do not have to worry about the price of Nosferatu's Coil because this thing is quite cheap nowadays, making it worth getting if you are on a tight budget.

If your defenses could use a boost, then you can opt for the String of Ears instead of the Nosferatu's Coil. This unique belt still offers you some life leech, but rather than increasing your attack speed, this thing bolsters your mitigation against physical and magic damage.

Rings

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

A very popular ring, especially for melee builds, is the Raven Frost. This unique ring has the all-important "Cannot be Frozen" modifier which, as it says on the tin, makes you immune to a nasty ailment that can kill you on Hell Difficulty with ease.

Also known as BK, Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band is definitely a must-have for the Zealot. The BK grants you a 5% life leech, +50 stamina, and +1 to all skills. What is there not to love about this ring?

Gloves

• Venom Grip unique gloves - usefulness 5/10, price 2/10
• Soul Drainer - usefulness 8/10, price 3/10
• Dracul's Grasp unique gloves - usefulness 10/10 , price 5/10

There are a few amazing options for the gloves slot that allows you to leech life off of your enemies. The most inexpensive of the bunch is the Venom Grip, which not only grants life leech but it also gives you a slight chance to deal a Crushing Blow.

This next pair of gloves takes full advantage of Zeal's inherently fast attack speed. The Soul Drainer provides life leech and mana leech - both useful modifiers that help improve sustainability. If you wear these gloves, you will no longer need any Health or Mana Potions, provided that you continuously attack any monster that you see.

Even though the aforementioned gloves are great in their own way, nothing beats the value that Dracul's Grasp provides. These gloves are so great that they are considered by many D2R players to be an essential item for the Zeal Paladin. Why is that, you ask?

Well, Dracul's Grasp grants life leech and the ability to gain even more life per kill. But, its main selling point is that it gives you the power to cast a level 10 Life Tap upon striking an enemy, thus providing you with even more life leech!

Boots

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

Crushing Blow is a great offensive ability that you can add to your kit. Landing a successful one on an enemy will result in a significant reduction in their HP, thus allowing you to make quick work of them.

The Goblin Toe might have mediocre stats. However, it does have a redeeming quality in that it raises your chance of dealing a Crushing Blow. If you do not have the budget yet to purchase the next boots on this guide, then the Goblin Toe will not disappoint!

The absolute BiS boots for the Zealer are, of course, none other than the Gore Rider. These boots give you the ability to deal not only a Crushing Blow but Open Wounds and Deadly Strike as well.

Charms

Any charm with +skill, life, faster hit recovery, or faster run and walk - usefulness 4/10, price 1/10

Annihilus unique small charm - usefulness 10/10, price 8/10

Hellfire Torch unique large 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

Magic small charms with resistances and life - usefulness 8 to 10/10, price 6 to 9/10

7% to magic find magic small charms - magic find 10/10, price 3/10

Gheed's Fortune unique grand charm - magic find 10/10, price 4/10

Sunder Charm (Bone Break) - usefulness 10/10, price 7/10

There are several charms that you need to add to your inventory if you want to elevate the Zeal Paladin to the next level. Annihilus only occupies one slot in your bag, but the value it provides is tremendous. It grants +1 to all skills, +20 to all resistances, and +20 to all attributes. Seriously, this thing is very valuable, which is why its inclusion is a no-brainer.

The Hellfire Torch is another staple charm that you should add to your inventory. This can be farmed from the Pandemonium Event. However, if you do not want to go through the hassle, save some high runes and trade for one, specifically with the "+3 to Paladin Skill Levels" bonus.

As we have talked about earlier, most of your time in D2R will be spent farming highly coveted items. To increase your chances of getting some, you should think about adding Gheed's Fortune as well. This Grand Charm provides you with extra gold and Magic Find, which are modifiers that you'd definitely want in the endgame.

Zeal deals physical damage per swing. Unfortunately, you will encounter some enemies in the game that have a natural immunity to the said damage type. One way to address this is by putting the Sunder Charm called Bone Break.

When you have Bone Break in your inventory, those with a natural immunity to physical damage will have their physical resistance reduced to just 95%. That number might still be high, which gives them huge physical damage mitigation. But, at least you are now able to kill them thanks to the Bone Break Sunder Charm.

Take note that Bone Break also increases the damage you take as a result, so make sure that you have your defenses sorted out before adding this thing to your inventory.

The rest of your inventory can be populated with small charms that grant bonuses to life, resistance, and maximum damage.

Mercenary

Have a Nightmare Act 2 Offensive Mercenary to provide you with Might aura.

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.

Mercenary Gear

Helms

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

Just like the Zealot, you want your Mercenary to be able to sustain himself, particularly when you are in the higher difficulty levels. Fortunately, you have several viable helmets to choose from.

Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest comes from a set that was made specifically for the Sorceress, but it is still quite useful for the Mercenary nevertheless. It provides 10% life leech, +45 defense, and +60 life - all bonuses that can help your Merc survive out there on his own.

Next up is another popular choice for the Act 2 Mercenary - the Vampire Gaze. This helmet gives amazing defensive bonuses, including up to 20% damage reduction, 15% magic damage mitigation, and up to 8% life/mana leech.

The powerful combination of increased attack speed coupled with 10% life leech is what makes this next helmet on the list great for your Merc. Andariel's Visage has been a long-time staple for Mercenaries in Diablo II: Resurrected specifically for the bonuses just mentioned.

Do not be deterred by that -30 fire resistance because you can easily resolve that by socketing a single Ral rune.

Weapons

• Insight Ethereal Cryptic Axe - usefulness 6/10, price 3/10
• Obedience runeword preferably in elite base - usefulness 6/10, price 4/10
• Ethereal The Reaper's Toll unique weapon - usefulness 9/10, price 6/10
• Pride runeword in elite base - usefulness 10/10, price 8/10

In terms of the weapons that you can have your Mercenary use, Insight is probably the weakest. Still, it provides something that none of the other weapons can give and that is a level 17 Meditation Aura. If you need a reliable way to regenerate your mana, then this Runeword is definitely something that you should give to your Merc. Grab the Ral, Tir, Tal, and Sol runes and insert them into a four-socketed weapon.

Although your Mercenary can provide you with some assistance in the form of auras (like from Insight), you can actually go the other way and turn them into a bonafide demon slayer. If you need a recommendation, then look into Obedience.

Obedience is a Runeword that provides a hefty 370% Enhanced Damage. Another selling point of this RW is that it grants your Merc the ability to enchant their weapon with fire, thus increasing their damage output.

If you are interested, you will need five runes to form Obedience. They are Hel, Ko, Thul, Eth, and Fal.

Zeal has a huge downside in that you cannot move until you finish its attack animation (or when you have landed five strikes on the enemy). Even though it takes a bit longer to finish compared to the other skills in the game, you still want to land consistent hits regardless.

To ensure that your attacks won't be interrupted by any means, you could have your Mercenary equip the Pride Runeword. Pride is great for sustain, but what makes it more appealing is that it grants your Merc the power to have Concentration Aura on, so long as they are using the RW. Insert the Cham, Sur, Io, and Lo runes into a Thresher and your Merc should be good to go!

Hailed as the BiS weapon for desert mercenaries, The Reaper's Toll is popular for providing your Merc with a means to cast Decrepify on hit. This is great for both you and the Mercenary because it increases the physical damage taken by monsters affected by the said curse by 50%!

Body Armors

• Treachery Ethereal Archon Plate - usefulness 9/10, price 5/10
• Fortitude Ethereal Archon Plate - usefulness 10/10, price 7/10

At first glance, you might think that Treachery is only suited for the Assassin, but that is just not true. If anything, it can be used by those who want to improve survivability and boost their killing potential.

Treachery grants 45% IAS. When the going gets tough, the Merc can activate Fade to reduce their elemental damage taken by quite a bit. It also decreases the duration of curses applied to your Mercenary.

Conclusion

The Zeal Paladin is an incredible build that focuses on offloading several deadly strikes to the enemy in quick succession. This character is capable of deleting enemies from existence due to its insane damage output and insanely fast attack speed.

One of the main reasons why this build is so attractive is that it does not require specific items to work. Just slap on anything that provides IAS and damage and you should be off to the races!

Of course, to truly bring out the best in the Zealadin, you should be willing to invest. Now, if you do not want to go through the hassle of farming high runes yourself to trade with other players for some valuable items, do not worry. We've got you covered!

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