There doesn't seem to be a lot of information on the UHM build so I decided to make a small topic covering some basics I discovered along the way and will only be covering mid-game information. Also not a full guide cuz im lazy.
I've seen a few different ways to play UHM but so I'll only be covering the specific build I went because it's really impossible to test it all in 3 days.
- So for those that don't know, Unholy Melee Paladin's damage from "Lemures" and "Blood Thorns" scales with %spell damage (fire and cold). The skills basically proc a spell on hit so you want to scale the damage with +cold and +fire spell damage.
- In addition, vitality scales with Energy factor which basically means you get damage for investing points into vitality. More importantly, you get the most important buff from 1 point in Sanguine Covenant "-enemy fire and cold resistances" for every 1000 life points you get -10 enemy fire and cold resistances. For example I currently have 15k life = -150 enemy fire and cold resistances. Specifically if you reach 20,000 life you will achieve -200 enemy cold and fire resistances. This means if you have enough vitality (which is incredibly easy to achieve 20k life with vitality crafts btw) you can easily obtain close to -200 without much investment from your gear.
This skill build is specifically for MID-GAME builds. Anything over 100-110+. This was completed when I reached Level 120
This skill tree is now updated since Ancient Apparation nerf. I updated parts of the skill tree to clairfy it.
Vessel of Justice - 1pt (free damage buff + additional fire damage from Grim Presence)
Europhia - 1pt (reaching -200 is already too easy, so its not needed)
Life and Death - 1pt
Demiurge - 1pt
Scourge - 1pt (meat shields that actually do a lot damage + benefit from possession i think)
Tainted Blood Max/remaining pts (between Lemures and Tainted Blood the extra points will go into either)
Mind Flay - 1pt
[b]Symphony of Destruction - 1pt (good dmg, buffed from as well Grim Presence)
Slayer - 1pt
Stormlord - Max (its foccin broken max it. free +200-300 all stats. solves early gear equip issues, more life, mana everything)
Grim Presence - Max or 1pt (Max if planning to use Ancient Apparition + Fire Vessels)
Lemures - Max/remaining points vs Tainted Blood (primary damage source, best single target but also bounces some hits to nearby enemies, multihit which means more life on attack from Sanguine Covanent (I could be wrong about this but it really feels like it hits a lot more)). NOTE: Manacost will go up with every point (esp when u max). You will need to MO with Mana on Attack if you don't have enough mana sustain and also need good %AR if you are attacking bosses.
Possession - 16pts (to achieve the max 35% chance to dodge which I think applies to minions)
Blood Thorns - 1pt (secondary damage source, use in crowds of monsters of more than 4-5 cows for example or cold absorbs)
Divine Apparition - 1 pt (best teleport 1 pointer, don't need to put point into it, damage caps at level 28 total skill anyway)
Blessed Life - enough to reach 50% DR / enough to reach 50% DR with Bear Stance / or just max it seriously)
Superbeast - 1pt (shit hit recovery frames on this morph but thats what possession is for, godly attack speed and damage output with this)
The juicy part (not anymore) - why max Grim Presence and now Divine Apparition? Because Divine Apparition becomes stupidly good when you have -200 enemy cold resists and the entire screen gets blown up what more could u want?
Gear
Sacred Shrine craft and blessed
Crystal sword craft with cata as a starter then later war sceptre. Use War Sceptre. It can roll Paladin skills (thanks torrent) however it's near impossible to roll cataclysm+pala+cold spell. Seriously if you can get 2 or more its a great weapon cuz it takes so much rolls and luck. You are probably better off crafting a decent Crystal sword first then try rolling on War Sceptre when you get extra shrines . Haven't tested Paladin maces or 2h lances. Combine a Cataclysm proc weapon with the Cataclysm 2 set pieces for even more Cataclysm if you can afford it somehow.This weapons amazing. Cataclysm is basically a bunch of fireball procs in conjunction with -200 enemy fire res, it chunks HARD. This removes the need to use bloodthorns more often but not always. big cold spell dmg to lemures + MO'd with x2 Mana on attack mystic orbs cuz you just lose too much mana
Quiet Shrine crafted and blessed
You can roll a better one than this. Bear stance + paladin skills + high vitality to quickly reach -200
Quiet Shrine crafted and wish it was blessed
+5 pala and more vitality for obvious reasons. TU Great Helm has 10% flamefront which is godly in conjuction with TU Aerin shield's 15% chance to proc flamefront (thanks tgtalcon)
Quiet Shrine crafted and blessed
I crafted with Sacred cuz I ran out of quiet but u really want +2 pala + vitality craft instead of whats in the picture
Before crafting use random rare ring + random ammy on Sacred Rare boots to lower ilvl then craft and bless with Quiet Shrines
35-40%ms, vitality.... cold spell is a bonus
Quiet Shrine crafted and blessed
javelin nova is nice (but useless had to clarify TWICE so certain someone(s) would understand). Vitality btw. Body armour is highly replacable with SU's but its day 3 so crafts is all you get. Ice tomb SU is alright, replacable late though
Belt? Probably vitality craft and +2 paladin skill (don't have pic) otherwise Nero belt for Path of Flames looks cool
Ammy - Literally any +4 all skill + cold spell or Black Dwarf or Klaatu or proc ammys.. I don't know look at the SU list and if it looks good chances are it doesn't matter cuz ur unholy melee paladin
Rings - 1 skill + cold spell or look at the su list and think fire or cold related stats etc
Sockets - 2% vitality and high 3-4% cold spell jewels. Fill with Ohm if you don't have Jewels which is what I mostly have on my gear. Cap on res with Thai runes or specific resist runes as well
So... with this gear I reached around 15k life which is -150 enemy cold res (add that with the other -50 enemy cold res I had and its -200) and this is all crappy crafts. 20k life is easily achievable.
How do you use your spells? Well if you made it this far and still don't know you buff with Grim presence, vessel, tainted blood, symphony of destruction and sanguine covanent (every 1 min this one resets so u gotta rebuff alot) and then you press Lemures on a target and right click. you will find that clearing every single uber in the game at 120+ was easily achievable.
Divine apparition NERFED and has CAPPED damage now. It's not so exactly worth it anymore so forget maxing Grim Presence in most situations.
Later on in the game you might find it more favorable to max Tainted Blood for just more defence over Lemures in situations where you get hit more but if you want more DPS max Lemures.
Fun fact I pressed right click on Athuala, moved mouse off screen (this lets you continue attacking while not doing anything), went to the bathroom and came back she was dead. 5Head
Edit: Very important details I forgot to mention is %AR check when doing ubers or bosses. Hover over your normal attack to check. It's very important you have decent %AR so when crafting Jewels look for %Ar, 3-4% cold spell and 1-2% vitality. Either of these on a Jewel is really good but you mostly want %cold spell and %vitality since %AR is not too necessary its just for bosses but important nonetheless. Not exactly sure of the numbers yet so I'll give guestmates of ~10k at 100-110, ~20k at 110-120 and ~25-30k at 120-130+
