The Blood Knight

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Stealthmaster
Godsman Guard
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Introduction

The Blood Knights, warriors of The Black Sun Cult led by Archangel Malthael use arcane power and demonic skills against their enemies and are ready to cleanse the Sanctuary and banish all hell creatures back to the Abyss.
Core of the build

Many of you will probably ask me why I'm posting another unholy paladin guide when the community already has a full tantrumdin guide and many people know how to play an unholy caster. My answer is: I want to show the strength of a paladin who is capable of beating most ubers in melee spec while being different than most other melee builds. It is rather newbie friendly build that does not require rare endgame gear for being successful with it. Thus, the Blood Knight may be your very first character, if you're new to the mod. Also, people who already have a paladin on Single Player or TSW realm and are tired of trying to craft a perfect Tantrum bow with arrow proc may want to give this build a try as well.

Build features

As mentioned above, this build has certain features that make it different from some other popular melee builds:

  • This build is playable from the very beginning and leveling does not require much efforts;
  • This build does not require any SSSU, any Xis runes and any Toraja Great Runes to succeed or excel in certain areas, furthermore, you can beat 80% of the mod content using Tiered Uniques, sets and crafted gear only;
  • This build uses lots of procs that will make your gameplay look rather eye-candy, especially if you're using Glide;
  • This build is not a classic melee build that relies on huge weapon damage by boosting strength/dexterity as in fact, it's a caster that uses melee range to destroy enemies with elemental spells.



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Quick links:


Skills


Innate skill:


Vindicate
A curse that boost %Enhanced Weapon Damage (EWD) and regenerates life when you kill an affected enemy. Gains strength with each new level gained. Though it is a great defensive skill by its own, it is not mandatory to cast it now and then to survive in hard areas. If you are fine with skill-switch, use it to your advantage.


Unholy Demon tree:


Terror Strike
Melee attack that greatly boost our %Total Character Defense (TCD) and all types of spell damage. We need to activate this skill for using some other skills from this tree. Each hard point improves total %TCD boost while soft points increase spell damage you get from each successful hit. Our most important skill, as we need decent emount of defense to survive. Thus, put as maximum points here as you can. Locks out ranged skills.

Lemures
Melee attack that unleashes homing wraiths, dealing cold damage. Can only be used after activating Terror Strike. We will be using this skill to deal with fire immune monsters till we get an access to a powerful runeword. Not so useful endgame due to a delay between casting and actual striking enemies. Put 1 point here.

Black Sleep
Melee attack that deals basic weapon damage and grants a chance to convert hostile monsters to fight for you for some time. Can only be used after activating Terror Strike. Has a spell timer that can be reduced with stacking soft points. Hard points increases skill radius so more monsters in an area can be charmed. Max chance to charm hostile monsters is 66%. There are no places where this skill is mandatory to use and I, personally, never use it. Leave with 1 point.

Blood Thorns
Melee attack that covers a medium Area of Effect (AoE) with a vortex of magic thorns, dealing fire damage. Can only be used after activating Terror Strike. The vortex hits 4 times, damaging all monsters who stay inside. This will be our main source of damage, thus we want to put reasonable amounts of hard points here (around 20).

Hymn
A buff that allows us and our party (minions/other players) to gain life on each melee attack. Benefits from both hard and soft points. This is our main source of survivability so we will put here as maximum points as we can.
[Activate this skill on your on-switch weapon to gain better effect].


Unholy Shadow tree:


Vessel of Judgement
A buff that, when active, automatically casts medium range missiles that deal physical damage. Can be useful to damage some single monsters whom we don't want to face in melee range for too much time. Also useful in certain areas against certain bosses like Volrath the Vile. Leave with 1 point.
[Activate this skill on your on-switch weapon to gain better effect].

Euphoria
A buff that grants us additional elemental pierce. Unfortunately we don't have neither enough hard points to spend nor primary hotkeys to bind this skill. I have never used it and cannot say that there is a certain place ingame where you will need to use it with unholy melee build (at least before -enemy resists Mystic Orbs get removed).

Scourge
Minions that are poison immune and, unlike Hoplites, we can summon lots of them. Completely optional early game but can be quite useful in some mid- and endgame uberquests as they serve as our meatshields.


Unholy Wicked tree:


Tainted Blood
A buff that boosts our %TCD, provides life regeneration and grants additional poison resists. As we will be using Hymn to gain life, no need to put here too many hard points unless when doing some tricky uberquests that require high life regen. Also life regeneration has diminishing returns so endgame we will put around 1-5 hard points here.
[Activate this skill on your on-switch weapon to gain better effect].

Mind Flay
1-pointer in regular game and in most uberquests. However we will be using this skill with smaxed hard points against few bosses whom we don't want to fight in melee (like Kabraxis).


Symphony Of Destruction
A buff that automatically strikes enemies with heavy poison damage. Very cheesing skill that can be used to your advantage against certain monsters (The Smith, Hephasto, Creature of Flame, Death Projector etc). Delay between blasts is decreased with every soft point, so with enough of them, we won't need to put any points here endgame, leaving the delay at 1.2-1.3 sec.
[Activate this skill on your on-switch weapon to gain better effect].

Stormlord
A godly passive that gives massive amount of attribute points. We will put as many hard points here as we can to both not have any problems with str/dex requirements and boost Vitality and Energy of our build.


Holy Light tree:


Rapture
A buff that increases our overall speed (IAS, FHR, FBR, FRW, FCR) by percentage. We will be using this skill to gain advantage in certain uberquests (like Ureh and Vizjun).


Reward tree:


Divine Apparition
A teleport skill that has a 3 sec. spell timer. Allows you to freeze nearby enemies for a short time after landing. Leave with 1 point.


Blessed Life
Another godly passive that increases our survivability. Each hard point spent here gives us %physical Damage Reduction (%DR) while flat physical damage reduction increases with soft points. Also boosts healing rate from Apples when you eat them. Total number of hard points spent here may vary a lot, so be sure to always have at least 5 unspent skill points. If you're planning to use cheap gear endgame you may want to put here around 12-13 points to reach 50% DR cap. Note that many rare endgame stuff have at least 5% DR on them, so together with 1-2% DR from Oils of Luck cubed with armor you may need lesser points to reach the cap. Unspent points from Blessed Life can come to Tainted Blood, for example.

Superbeast
A morph that grants us the fastest attack speed animation (4 fpa) and greatly boosts our spell damage. Superbeast benefits from soft points so we will put some points here earlygame and leave it with 1 points after midgame respec.
[Activate this skill on your on-switch weapon to gain better effect].


Main procs and oskills:


Balefire (proc)
Yes, this is that nasty green fire that have killed you numerous times when you were doing Kabraxis uberquest for the first time. In our hands we get one of the most powerful spells accessible in this mod. Balefire deals heavy magic damage. Though we cannot boost it by -enemy resists, the proc level and our total magic spell damage is enough to wipe out most non-magic immune monsters in no time.

Flamestrike (proc)
A single fire blast that damages enemies in a medium Area of Effect (AoE). Useful to kill random eneimes in front of you if you have been put into hit recovery animation. Can save your life sometimes. The proc comes from a combination of two items so we will cast it on melee attack anyway.

Miasma (proc)
A small field of green goo that deals poison damage, but what is more important, lowers enemies' attack rating and movement speed. What is even more importnat, Miasma also affects poison immune monsters even though it cannot damage them directly. Very useful proc that comes from Mystic Orbs (Marco, I'm begging you don't remove them in future patches).

Plague Avatar (proc)
A floating apparition leaves a cloud of poison that damages enemies in it. Deals decent poison damage. We will be using the proc to kill fire immune monsters as it allows us to forget about Lemures completely.


Lightning Arena (oskill)
A buff that casts a circle of lightning that stuns enemies and prevents them from going into your melee range for some time. Essential skill for many caster builds and very useful to have early- and midgame for our build.


Hotkeys:

The Blood Knight is a build who uses lots of buffs thus we will need to bind several keys. This is the setup I'm currently using with this build:

  • LMB - Terror Strike
  • LMB (on-switch) - Superbeast
  • W - weapon on-switch
  • Q - Divine Apparition/Lemures (early game only)
  • E - Blood Thorns
  • Space - Scourges/Vindicate
  • A (on-switch) - Vessel of Judgement
  • D (on-switch) - Tainted Blood
  • F (on-switch) - Symphony of Destruction



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Early game leveling

We start with a fresh level 1 paladin with a short sword and a buckler equipped. First of all, we need to eat our Signet of Gold, go to Gheed and gamble a Tier 1 Holy Lance. It has bigger range, more damage and faster base attack speed. Go to Blood Moor and keep killing monsters till you reach level 5. After that cube your Median Statue and prepare yourself for Level Challenge 0. In order to do the challenge in a faster way, look for ф Skill Shrine (+2 skills) - it greatly boosts physical damage from Vessel of Judgement, allows you to get rid of all traps in a short time. All you need is to circle around Volrath the Vile while VoJ damages him. Fortunately, Skill Shrines are rechargeable, so if you feel like farming a good reanimate, use this shrine every time before you summon Volrath again. From my experience, you can do 2 Volrath clears while having +2 skills bonus from Skill Shrine. I got Blood Rogue reanimate and was quite satisfied with it.

After getting Harkon charm, proceed further, using Lemures as your main spell against monsters. Always have Terror Strike on your LMB so you are never left without an opportunity to cast Lemures. Buff yourself with Tainted Blood and VoJ from time to time (at this moment you don't have any significant +skills boost so it's not necessary to buff them when you switch weapons). When you get to Tristram, start farming yourself a good Gift Box - you can get
The Crucifier
The Crucifier
Holy Lance (4)

Two-Hand Damage: (6 - 7) to (26 - 38)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 3
Required Strength: 34
Item Level: 10
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
5% Chance to cast level 1 Arrow on Striking
+1 to Paladin Skill Levels
-5% Attack Speed
+(16 to 25) to Maximum Damage
+(21 to 50)% Enhanced Damage
(5 to 7)% Chance of Crushing Blow
(11 to 15)% to Strength
Socketed (2)
Two-Hand Damage: (18 - 22) to (65 - 81)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 23
Required Strength: 64
Item Level: 31
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
8% Chance to cast level 3 Arrow on Striking
+2 to Paladin Skill Levels
-10% Attack Speed
+(26 to 35) to Maximum Damage
+(71 to 100)% Enhanced Damage
(8 to 10)% Chance of Crushing Blow
(21 to 25)% to Strength
Socketed (4)
Two-Hand Damage: (39 - 45) to (133 - 155)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 44
Required Strength: 137
Item Level: 51
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
11% Chance to cast level 5 Arrow on Striking
+3 to Paladin Skill Levels
-15% Attack Speed
+(36 to 45) to Maximum Damage
+(121 to 151)% Enhanced Damage
(11 to 13)% Chance of Crushing Blow
(31 to 35)% to Strength
Socketed (5)
Two-Hand Damage: (59 - 66) to (194 - 219)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 53
Required Strength: 276
Item Level: 77
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
14% Chance to cast level 6 Arrow on Striking
+4 to Paladin Skill Levels
-15% Attack Speed
+(51 to 60) to Maximum Damage
+(171 to 200)% Enhanced Damage
(14 to 16)% Chance of Crushing Blow
(36 to 40)% to Strength
Socketed (6)
from it - very good weapon with a good %strength bonus that will help you level up. Fortunately all monsters including The Smith are no match for our Blood Knight as Symphony of Destruction is capable of killing even the toughest enemy in a matter of seconds. Also it is important to get
Shadowmoon
Shadowmoon
Crown Shield (4)

Defense: (167 - 191) to (329 - 376)
Chance to Block: 2%
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 10
Required Dexterity: 43
Item Level: 10
5% Attack Speed
5% Cast Speed
+(4 to 5)% to Spell Damage
+(8 to 10)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(18 to 35)% Enhanced Defense
Fire Absorb 2%
Lightning Absorb 2%
Cold Absorb 2%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (535 - 594) to (983 - 1093)
Chance to Block: 2%
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 28
Required Dexterity: 64
Item Level: 31
10% Attack Speed
10% Cast Speed
+(8 to 9)% to Spell Damage
+(14 to 16)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(52 to 69)% Enhanced Defense
Fire Absorb 3%
Lightning Absorb 3%
Cold Absorb 3%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (1325 - 1439) to (2386 - 2590)
Chance to Block: 2%
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 45
Required Dexterity: 135
Item Level: 51
15% Attack Speed
15% Cast Speed
+(12 to 13)% to Spell Damage
+(20 to 22)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(87 to 103)% Enhanced Defense
Fire Absorb 4%
Lightning Absorb 4%
Cold Absorb 4%
Socketed (3)
Defense: (1968 - 2123) to (3529 - 3806)
Chance to Block: 2%
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 54
Required Dexterity: 280
Item Level: 77
15% Attack Speed
15% Cast Speed
+(14 to 15)% to Spell Damage
+(23 to 25)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(104 to 120)% Enhanced Defense
Fire Absorb 5%
Lightning Absorb 5%
Cold Absorb 5%
Socketed (4)
and put it in your stash, as you will be using this shield on Terror difficulty.

After you kill Andariel (by that moment you should already be at level 23) it is useful to come back to Tristram and get
The Angiris Pike
The Angiris Pike
Tepoztopilli (4)

Two-Hand Damage: (8 - 9) to (15 - 16)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 11
Required Strength: 112
Item Level: 29
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
+1 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(21 to 50) Spell Focus
+(11 to 15)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(18 to 29)% Enhanced Damage
+(11 to 15)% to Cold Spell Damage
Slow Target (3 to 5)%
Physical Resist (3 to 5)%
3% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (2)
Two-Hand Damage: (23 - 25) to (40 - 44)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 31
Required Strength: 165
Item Level: 40
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
+2 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(81 to 110) Spell Focus
+(16 to 25)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(41 to 52)% Enhanced Damage
+(16 to 25)% to Cold Spell Damage
Slow Target (9 to 11)%
Physical Resist (9 to 11)%
4% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (4)
Two-Hand Damage: (52 - 56) to (88 - 94)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 51
Required Strength: 325
Item Level: 67
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
+3 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(141 to 170) Spell Focus
+(31 to 40)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(64 to 75)% Enhanced Damage
+(31 to 40)% to Cold Spell Damage
Slow Target (15 to 17)%
Physical Resist (15 to 17)%
5% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (5)
Two-Hand Damage: (59 - 63) to (129 - 137)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 60
Required Strength: 641
Item Level: 85
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
+4 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(171 to 200) Spell Focus
+(41 to 50)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(75 to 86)% Enhanced Damage
+(41 to 50)% to Cold Spell Damage
Slow Target (18 to 20)%
Physical Resist (18 to 20)%
6% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (6)
- the true Blood Knight's weapon. Do this before you go with Warriv to Lut Gholein. Also, you should start collecting Apples and eat them - they don't have much sell value anyway. It is also useful to collect low-level runes you find and cube them in order to get runes with higher level like Ral (+5% to Fire Spell Damage). Most monsters in Act 2 are pretty harmless, so I suggest using RunMode on to speed up your leveling. Be careful in Radament's Sewers - Daystar reanimate from
The Angiris Pike
The Angiris Pike
Tepoztopilli (4)

Two-Hand Damage: (8 - 9) to (15 - 16)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 11
Required Strength: 112
Item Level: 29
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
+1 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(21 to 50) Spell Focus
+(11 to 15)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(18 to 29)% Enhanced Damage
+(11 to 15)% to Cold Spell Damage
Slow Target (3 to 5)%
Physical Resist (3 to 5)%
3% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (2)
Two-Hand Damage: (23 - 25) to (40 - 44)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 31
Required Strength: 165
Item Level: 40
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
+2 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(81 to 110) Spell Focus
+(16 to 25)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(41 to 52)% Enhanced Damage
+(16 to 25)% to Cold Spell Damage
Slow Target (9 to 11)%
Physical Resist (9 to 11)%
4% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (4)
Two-Hand Damage: (52 - 56) to (88 - 94)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 51
Required Strength: 325
Item Level: 67
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
+3 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(141 to 170) Spell Focus
+(31 to 40)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(64 to 75)% Enhanced Damage
+(31 to 40)% to Cold Spell Damage
Slow Target (15 to 17)%
Physical Resist (15 to 17)%
5% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (5)
Two-Hand Damage: (59 - 63) to (129 - 137)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 60
Required Strength: 641
Item Level: 85
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
+4 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(171 to 200) Spell Focus
+(41 to 50)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(75 to 86)% Enhanced Damage
+(41 to 50)% to Cold Spell Damage
Slow Target (18 to 20)%
Physical Resist (18 to 20)%
6% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (6)
can cause heavy lag, especially when they revive from pest/the pack bodies. Pick up every single Tiered Unique (gold colored items) and disenchant them to get Arcane Shards so you can make Arcane Crystals and get yourself TU gear. Our paladin can wear rear gear to level up - our killspeed allows us using it. Look for rare boots with 100% ctc Firedance when you Level-Up - it will boost our elemental damage which can be quite useful if you are surrounded with a pack of monsters. I suggest farming Duriel for TU's - the road to him is much closer than if you would go through the Catacombs for Andariel. Also he is easily killable as he does not flee from you unlike the Maiden of Anguish.

Okay, now you finally got to Act 3 which means that all monsters are immune to a single element. Thus we will be using both Lemures and Blood Thorns to clean our way. When you finally reach level 48, you should go to Twin Seas and do Level Challenge 1. This challenge is very easy for us, especially if you eat an Apple before entering Tran Athulua. All our gear has already to be at Tier 5, except for The Angiris Pike, which has to be at Tier 4 :!: - do not attempt to upgrade it before LC1 - you will face level 51 requirement and will be unable to use it :!: Proceed forward, killing amazons with Blood Thorns on your way. Fire immune Priestess will be quickly killed with Symphony of Destruction. Drink potions every time you see the screen shaking - your life will drop down because of Tremor skill used by a Priestess. Together with Phalanx (wall of amazons whooting arrows) they are capable to kill you very quickly. Daystar reanimate from your weapon will help you in this level.

By the time you get to Kurast City, it is useful to have a single piece of honorific gear (in most cases it is gloves) cubed with +2 all resists Mystic Orbs. The gameplay till the end of Hatred difficulty is pretty straightforward except for two things: 1) you should switch back to WalkMode starting from the River of Flame - there are lots of dangerous monsters in there (Troupers, Firebloods, Void Archons) who are capable to kill you very quickly if your defence equals zero; 2) I suggest using Lemures in Act 4 - there is a surprisingly high amount of fire immune monsters (makes sense, because Act 4 is located in Hell :mrgreen:). There are some monsters to be aware of in Act 5 - Detonators (have very low life - cast a huge fireball that moves slowly but deals insane damage on impact), Unseelie Ladies (cast Burning Veil and Ecstatic Frenzy - capable of killing you in a few strikes if they deliver a successful hit) and Blood Stones (cast Fire Cannonade - a stream of fire bolts that can put you in hit recovery animation while other monster will be killing you). However Act 5 has a type of monsters that give us high amount of experience per kill - those are Skull Clans (red goatmen) that have a shaman who revives a pack of goatmen after you kill any of his minions. You can abuse this trick, so make sure you got some Elixirs of Experience in your inventory or any Experience Shrines nearby before you go to kill them. Road to Baal is safe enough as Blood Thorns will kill monsters very quickly, even the Ancients themselves are no match for our Blood Knight. Infernal Contraption in Baal's Throne Room can be killed with Lemures - SoD will affect a random enemy so it's quite unreliable there. Baal is easy as well, just not allow yourself to be surrounded with Shardspawns.

When you finally proceed to Terror you should be careful while leveling - don't rush into big packs of monsters. Though our damage from Blood Thorns and SoD is capable of killing monsters in no time, many of them can deal enough damage to hitlock you and kill as well. Watch out for Griswold - we will need to kill him several times to get a few Special Boxes - if he is surrounded with Daystars he will cast Shower of Rocks very often which will quickly kill you. Also be afraid of Cogs and Warforged Shamans in Act 1 (they cast Death Shards on killed minions) and Ice Clans in Act 2 (goatmen shaman casts Shatter the Flesh on killed minions). By the time you get to Far Oasis you should already have a Zod rune in your stash (get it from Griswold's Special Box or get higher runes and downgrade them). At this moment we forget about Lemures skill forever and create
Demhe

Demhe
Maces, Scepters
Except Hammers

'ZodLew'
Runeword Level: 110
25% Chance to cast level 35 Infected Roots on Melee Attack
+(126 to 250) to Maximum Damage
Stun Attack
+(172 to 200)% Enhanced Damage
+(39 to 45)% to Cold Spell Damage
-(39 to 45)% to Enemy Cold Resistance
+(39 to 45)% to Poison Spell Damage
-(39 to 45)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
20% to Vitality
+(51 to 125) Mana on Striking
+15 Life after each Kill
Runeword (get Tier 6 Flail with 1 socket for that purpose) which will solve all problems with fire immune monsters. Respec 80% of your Strength points into Vitality - we won't be using
The Angiris Pike
The Angiris Pike
Tepoztopilli (4)

Two-Hand Damage: (8 - 9) to (15 - 16)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 11
Required Strength: 112
Item Level: 29
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
+1 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(21 to 50) Spell Focus
+(11 to 15)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(18 to 29)% Enhanced Damage
+(11 to 15)% to Cold Spell Damage
Slow Target (3 to 5)%
Physical Resist (3 to 5)%
3% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (2)
Two-Hand Damage: (23 - 25) to (40 - 44)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 31
Required Strength: 165
Item Level: 40
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
+2 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(81 to 110) Spell Focus
+(16 to 25)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(41 to 52)% Enhanced Damage
+(16 to 25)% to Cold Spell Damage
Slow Target (9 to 11)%
Physical Resist (9 to 11)%
4% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (4)
Two-Hand Damage: (52 - 56) to (88 - 94)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 51
Required Strength: 325
Item Level: 67
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
+3 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(141 to 170) Spell Focus
+(31 to 40)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(64 to 75)% Enhanced Damage
+(31 to 40)% to Cold Spell Damage
Slow Target (15 to 17)%
Physical Resist (15 to 17)%
5% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (5)
Two-Hand Damage: (59 - 63) to (129 - 137)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 60
Required Strength: 641
Item Level: 85
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
+4 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(171 to 200) Spell Focus
+(41 to 50)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(75 to 86)% Enhanced Damage
+(41 to 50)% to Cold Spell Damage
Slow Target (18 to 20)%
Physical Resist (18 to 20)%
6% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (6)
anymore so since that moment we will only put stat points into Energy and Vitality. Equip
Shadowmoon
Shadowmoon
Crown Shield (4)

Defense: (167 - 191) to (329 - 376)
Chance to Block: 2%
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 10
Required Dexterity: 43
Item Level: 10
5% Attack Speed
5% Cast Speed
+(4 to 5)% to Spell Damage
+(8 to 10)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(18 to 35)% Enhanced Defense
Fire Absorb 2%
Lightning Absorb 2%
Cold Absorb 2%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (535 - 594) to (983 - 1093)
Chance to Block: 2%
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 28
Required Dexterity: 64
Item Level: 31
10% Attack Speed
10% Cast Speed
+(8 to 9)% to Spell Damage
+(14 to 16)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(52 to 69)% Enhanced Defense
Fire Absorb 3%
Lightning Absorb 3%
Cold Absorb 3%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (1325 - 1439) to (2386 - 2590)
Chance to Block: 2%
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 45
Required Dexterity: 135
Item Level: 51
15% Attack Speed
15% Cast Speed
+(12 to 13)% to Spell Damage
+(20 to 22)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(87 to 103)% Enhanced Defense
Fire Absorb 4%
Lightning Absorb 4%
Cold Absorb 4%
Socketed (3)
Defense: (1968 - 2123) to (3529 - 3806)
Chance to Block: 2%
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 54
Required Dexterity: 280
Item Level: 77
15% Attack Speed
15% Cast Speed
+(14 to 15)% to Spell Damage
+(23 to 25)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(104 to 120)% Enhanced Defense
Fire Absorb 5%
Lightning Absorb 5%
Cold Absorb 5%
Socketed (4)
which you got from Gift Box.

After that return to Hatred difficulty and be prepared to do Ennead Challenge - I suggest doing it in the old Kurast 3000 B.A. map that has an entrance in the north-east corner of the map. Summon Scourges, buff yourself with VoJ, SoD and Tainted Blood and proceed further without killing totems on your way. Even if you already have max amount of Scourges around you, make sure to summon them half screen away from yourself so Ennead Necromancers will cast Miasma on them instead of you. Your goal is to get Eye of Divinity - a paladin Class Charm (CC). You cannot heal yourself with potions when you stay close to Ennead Necromancer so you must be quickly with killing him before skeletons are able to hit you. You should use Hymn to gain life - this skill will help you to get full hp orb in a matter of seconds. If your CC didn't drop, you can either remake the game and repeat the process or move to another Ennead Necromancer (requires killing totems and skeletons on your way). When you get your CC, cube it with a jewel :!: make sure you do this at level 80 or below :!: and unlock your Ennead Skill.

As you're using
Demhe

Demhe
Maces, Scepters
Except Hammers

'ZodLew'
Runeword Level: 110
25% Chance to cast level 35 Infected Roots on Melee Attack
+(126 to 250) to Maximum Damage
Stun Attack
+(172 to 200)% Enhanced Damage
+(39 to 45)% to Cold Spell Damage
-(39 to 45)% to Enemy Cold Resistance
+(39 to 45)% to Poison Spell Damage
-(39 to 45)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
20% to Vitality
+(51 to 125) Mana on Striking
+15 Life after each Kill
Runeword, it's useful to get
Glowskull
Glowskull
Crown (4)

Defense: (164 - 187) to (248 - 281)
Required Level: 10
Required Strength:
26 to 29
Item Level: 19
+(6 to 8)% Bonus to Poison Skill Duration
+(4 to 6)% to Poison Spell Damage
-3% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(41 to 60)% Enhanced Defense
Poison Resist +(16 to 25)%
(11 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -(11 to 20)%
Socketed (1)
Defense: (561 - 620) to (785 - 868)
Required Level: 28
Required Strength:
50 to 56
Item Level: 36
+(11 to 13)% Bonus to Poison Skill Duration
+(10 to 12)% to Poison Spell Damage
-6% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(81 to 100)% Enhanced Defense
Poison Resist +(36 to 45)%
(21 to 30)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -(16 to 25)%
Socketed (3)
Defense: (1272 - 1392) to (1754 - 1920)
Required Level: 46
Required Strength:
165 to 186
Item Level: 67
+(16 to 18)% Bonus to Poison Skill Duration
+(16 to 18)% to Poison Spell Damage
-9% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(101 to 120)% Enhanced Defense
Poison Resist +(56 to 65)%
(31 to 40)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -(21 to 30)%
Socketed (4)
Defense: (1911 - 2076) to (2614 - 2839)
Required Level: 54
Required Strength:
306 to 349
Item Level: 85
+(18 to 20)% Bonus to Poison Skill Duration
+(18 to 20)% to Poison Spell Damage
-12% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(121 to 140)% Enhanced Defense
Poison Resist +(66 to 75)%
(41 to 50)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -(26 to 35)%
Socketed (4)
as it not only boosts poison damage but have some other useful stats such as %TCD and Unholy Armor proc. Your next task is to go back to Terror difficulty and complete Level Challenge 2. Make sure you have cubed your honorific gloves with +2 all resists and +6 to fire/cold/lightning resist Mystic Orbs before you go for Tal Rasha. You can also socket some perfect gems into your gear to increase your max and flat resists. Our goal is to separate Horadric Mages and use our weapon to stun them so they are unable to cast any spells. Tal Rasha should be surrounded with Scourges and SoD while VoJ damage him, so you won't even need to melee the boss if you feel lazy. Cube your CC with a perfect gem while you have swirlies in order to complete this challenge.

What is important - don't even think of going to Kurast City (Lower Kurast/Bazaar Kurast/Upper Kurast) until you unlock Superbeast uberskill - monsters in those levels will wreck you in seconds if you are not is Superbeast morph. Level up in Act 2 Sewers or Canyon of the Magi. Another importnat moment is to gather all jewels you find starting from Act 4 Terror - you will be using them in socket punch recipe as well as a reagent for crafting jewels. Act 5, starting from Frozen Tundra, is very dangerous on its own - summoning Scourges is not mandatory but they can provide some tanking for us. Worldstone Keep is extremely dangerous - lots of monsters that are capable to put you in hit recovery animation till death so I strongly recommend looking carefully where you are going and what kind of monsters you are about to face.

Don't forget to complete at least 2 minigames on Terror difficulty. Use Scourges to both distract the witches in Countess' Tower in Witch Queen minigame and check the glowing symbol for the right witch when doing Crowned minigame. Mirror Mirror minigame is better to do on Destruction difficulty. After that you are prepared to face the toughest challenge in the mod - The Black Road Challenge (BRC).

  • Trial of Fear - use Scourges to make the Butcher spawn a pentagram then use Divine Apparition to lure him onto it and kill with Blood Thorns;
  • Trial of Greed - selling any high-level rune socketed in any throwing weapon will grant you about 100.000 gold so getting 666.666 gold should not be a problem;
  • Trial of Contrition - quite tricky. King Koth and his Bear Tribe are more than capable of hitlocking you in a second so you won't be able to do anything. You should do your best to avoid any arrows and axes they throw at you (may be quite hard because of snow that cover the battle area). Investing more points into Tainted Blood is worth your time as it will boost your survivability while doing this Trial;
  • Trial of Blood - proceed forward, hit the monsters with your weapon in order to spawn Plague Avatars then retreat and watch them dying in poison clouds when they run after you :twisted:
    Be careful with the Priestesses - :!: do not buff yourself with Voj or SoD so you won't accidentally kill any of them :!:
  • Trial of Knowledge - this one is hard. I won't lie if I say that it is very hard for our build and this is the first time you have to make some dedicated gear in order to do this challenge. This gear consists of a rare amulet with a Lightning Arena oskill and a rare paladin shield with Bear Stance oskill. What is more, you will have to bind your LMB keys for this Trial so you can quickly switch between Terror Strike and Blood Thorns while you keep Bear Stance active on your RMB all the time. Proceed very slowly, hiding in Lightning Arena, using Hymn to gain life and retreating back by using Divine Apparition if you get surrounded. Keep at least 5-7 Scourges around you all the time. If you're playing online, note that inviting another player(s) will save your time and nerves in Fauztinville. When you get all robo brains, cube them with your CC.

Allright, you got all Trials completed! Buy 4 Sacrificial Hearts and cube them with your CC to unlock your BRC skill. Now you are ready for Destruction difficulty.



Image



Early game stats, skills and gear

Stat points:

Strength - around 150 when using
The Angiris Pike
The Angiris Pike
Tepoztopilli (4)

Two-Hand Damage: (8 - 9) to (15 - 16)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 11
Required Strength: 112
Item Level: 29
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
+1 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(21 to 50) Spell Focus
+(11 to 15)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(18 to 29)% Enhanced Damage
+(11 to 15)% to Cold Spell Damage
Slow Target (3 to 5)%
Physical Resist (3 to 5)%
3% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (2)
Two-Hand Damage: (23 - 25) to (40 - 44)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 31
Required Strength: 165
Item Level: 40
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
+2 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(81 to 110) Spell Focus
+(16 to 25)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(41 to 52)% Enhanced Damage
+(16 to 25)% to Cold Spell Damage
Slow Target (9 to 11)%
Physical Resist (9 to 11)%
4% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (4)
Two-Hand Damage: (52 - 56) to (88 - 94)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 51
Required Strength: 325
Item Level: 67
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
+3 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(141 to 170) Spell Focus
+(31 to 40)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(64 to 75)% Enhanced Damage
+(31 to 40)% to Cold Spell Damage
Slow Target (15 to 17)%
Physical Resist (15 to 17)%
5% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (5)
Two-Hand Damage: (59 - 63) to (129 - 137)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 60
Required Strength: 641
Item Level: 85
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
+4 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(171 to 200) Spell Focus
+(41 to 50)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(75 to 86)% Enhanced Damage
+(41 to 50)% to Cold Spell Damage
Slow Target (18 to 20)%
Physical Resist (18 to 20)%
6% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (6)
, 0 with
Demhe

Demhe
Maces, Scepters
Except Hammers

'ZodLew'
Runeword Level: 110
25% Chance to cast level 35 Infected Roots on Melee Attack
+(126 to 250) to Maximum Damage
Stun Attack
+(172 to 200)% Enhanced Damage
+(39 to 45)% to Cold Spell Damage
-(39 to 45)% to Enemy Cold Resistance
+(39 to 45)% to Poison Spell Damage
-(39 to 45)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
20% to Vitality
+(51 to 125) Mana on Striking
+15 Life after each Kill

Dexterity - 0
Vitality - half
Energy - half

Quite simple: The pike requires too much strength to equip it. Even with maxed Stormlord and
Lionpaw
Lionpaw
Chain Boots (4)

Defense: (49 - 54) to (71 - 78)
Required Level: 4
Required Strength: 29
Item Level: 10
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
+(18 to 29)% Enhanced Defense
+(7 to 10) to all Attributes
+(31 to 50) to Life
+(16 to 25) to Mana
(3 to 5)% Bonus to Defense
10% Gold Find
Socketed (1)
Defense: (203 - 218) to (267 - 288)
Required Level: 22
Required Strength: 58
Item Level: 31
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
+(41 to 52)% Enhanced Defense
+(15 to 18) to all Attributes
+(71 to 90) to Life
+(36 to 45) to Mana
(9 to 11)% Bonus to Defense
15% Gold Find
Socketed (2)
Defense: (519 - 554) to (667 - 712)
Required Level: 39
Required Strength: 202
Item Level: 51
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
+(64 to 75)% Enhanced Defense
+(23 to 26) to all Attributes
+(111 to 130) to Life
+(56 to 65) to Mana
(15 to 17)% Bonus to Defense
20% Gold Find
Socketed (3)
Defense: (759 - 807) to (974 - 1036)
Required Level: 48
Required Strength: 403
Item Level: 77
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
+(75 to 86)% Enhanced Defense
+(31 to 35) to all Attributes
+(131 to 150) to Life
+(66 to 75) to Mana
(18 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
25% Gold Find
Socketed (4)
you will need to invest at least 150 points into strength. We don't need dexterity because our spells will always hit the monsters. Having 75-85% cth with Terror Strike is more than enough thanks to our 4 fpa Superbeast attack speed. Paladins gain 3 hit points per point into Vitality, thus we will need to put half of our stat points here. You can even put around 75% of them - our damage from Blood Thorns will still be sufficient to kill monsters quickly. Some points are needed to be invested into Energy - mostly for having mana to cast buffs.

Skill points:



Nothing much to say here: you should always max out Stormlord and Terror Strike and split your stat points between Hymn and Blood Thorns. You can put some extra points into Superbeast but it's not obligatory as this skill can always be kept with only 1 hard point.

Breakpoints:

In order to farm fast and safe, we have to reach certain breakpoints. For our build, we are looking at the breakpoints for Increased Attack Speed (IAS) and Faster Hit Recovery (FHR). In order to distinguish Increased Attack Speed (IAS) from FCR (Faster Cast Rate) note that the latter modifier increases amount of spells casted. Spell is an attack that has flat numbers of damage (melee spells are Wildfire, Blood Thorns etc.) while every skill that has a division value like 3/2 or 3/4 weapon damage is considered a non-spell, thus its amount casted per second depends on IAS modifier. However, as we are a melee caster, it's IAS that benefits us, not FCR. As we are a melee build we're also looking for high values of FHR.

A breakpoint is a value where our speed changes. The game speed in Diablo II is measured in frames with totally 25 frames per second (fps). As for IAS, a single attack will take the whole second if we have 25 fps. Our goal is to reach 4 fps so we could attack more than 6 times per second. 25 fps for FHR means that after we get hit, it will take the whole second before we can move again. Unfortunately, Superbest morph has a very bad hit recovery time, so our goal is to reach at least 7 fps so we could move after 0,28 seconds after being hit.

Image Image

Early game gear

The Angiris Pike
Tepoztopilli (4)

Two-Hand Damage: (8 - 9) to (15 - 16)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 11
Required Strength: 112
Item Level: 29
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
+1 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(21 to 50) Spell Focus
+(11 to 15)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(18 to 29)% Enhanced Damage
+(11 to 15)% to Cold Spell Damage
Slow Target (3 to 5)%
Physical Resist (3 to 5)%
3% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (2)
Two-Hand Damage: (23 - 25) to (40 - 44)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 31
Required Strength: 165
Item Level: 40
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
+2 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(81 to 110) Spell Focus
+(16 to 25)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(41 to 52)% Enhanced Damage
+(16 to 25)% to Cold Spell Damage
Slow Target (9 to 11)%
Physical Resist (9 to 11)%
4% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (4)
Two-Hand Damage: (52 - 56) to (88 - 94)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 51
Required Strength: 325
Item Level: 67
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
+3 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(141 to 170) Spell Focus
+(31 to 40)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(64 to 75)% Enhanced Damage
+(31 to 40)% to Cold Spell Damage
Slow Target (15 to 17)%
Physical Resist (15 to 17)%
5% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (5)
Two-Hand Damage: (59 - 63) to (129 - 137)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 60
Required Strength: 641
Item Level: 85
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
+4 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(171 to 200) Spell Focus
+(41 to 50)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(75 to 86)% Enhanced Damage
+(41 to 50)% to Cold Spell Damage
Slow Target (18 to 20)%
Physical Resist (18 to 20)%
6% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (6)


The Angiris Pike is the best choice for a low-level Blood Knight. Being a pike it has the weapon range of 5 - the biggest you can get. The attributes on this item are incredible: we get +skills bonus, massive boost to our spell damage, good %DR and reanimates who are a bit laggy but numerous and quite tanky. And we can get it from Griswold's Gift Box! The only downside of this weapon is its huge strength and level requirements, so be very careful when doing an upgrade recipe. Socket with Ral runes.

Demhe Runeword is something different. We will make it on a tier 6 flail which has the weapon range of 2 which is , obviously, more useful than a mace or a morning star with the weapon range of 1. Reroll the base item to superior and use socket punch recipe (1 socket will be enough). Cube with 15 +10 Life on Striking in Melee and 11 -1% to Enemy Poison Resistance Mystic Orbs.

Shadowmoon
Crown Shield (4)

Defense: (167 - 191) to (329 - 376)
Chance to Block: 2%
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 10
Required Dexterity: 43
Item Level: 10
5% Attack Speed
5% Cast Speed
+(4 to 5)% to Spell Damage
+(8 to 10)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(18 to 35)% Enhanced Defense
Fire Absorb 2%
Lightning Absorb 2%
Cold Absorb 2%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (535 - 594) to (983 - 1093)
Chance to Block: 2%
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 28
Required Dexterity: 64
Item Level: 31
10% Attack Speed
10% Cast Speed
+(8 to 9)% to Spell Damage
+(14 to 16)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(52 to 69)% Enhanced Defense
Fire Absorb 3%
Lightning Absorb 3%
Cold Absorb 3%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (1325 - 1439) to (2386 - 2590)
Chance to Block: 2%
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 45
Required Dexterity: 135
Item Level: 51
15% Attack Speed
15% Cast Speed
+(12 to 13)% to Spell Damage
+(20 to 22)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(87 to 103)% Enhanced Defense
Fire Absorb 4%
Lightning Absorb 4%
Cold Absorb 4%
Socketed (3)
Defense: (1968 - 2123) to (3529 - 3806)
Chance to Block: 2%
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 54
Required Dexterity: 280
Item Level: 77
15% Attack Speed
15% Cast Speed
+(14 to 15)% to Spell Damage
+(23 to 25)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(104 to 120)% Enhanced Defense
Fire Absorb 5%
Lightning Absorb 5%
Cold Absorb 5%
Socketed (4)


When you get an access to Demhe Runeword, you will be using this shield you got from Griswold's Gift Box. 15% FCR is useful as well as extra poison spell damage. Cube with +15% Enhanced Defense Mystic Orbs till you get 350% ED and 15 -1% to Enemy Fire Resistance Mystic Orbs. Socket with Ral runes.

Dragon's Blood
Light Plate (4)

Defense: (241 - 284) to (487 - 573)
Required Level: 8
Required Strength: 33
Item Level: 19
4% Chance to cast level 8 Wrath on Melee Attack
15% Cast Speed
+(19 to 30)% Damage to Demons
+(11 to 15)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(11 to 15)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(24 to 46)% Enhanced Defense
+(31 to 35) to Vitality
+(16 to 25) Life after each Demon Kill
Socketed (2)
Defense: (806 - 915) to (1526 - 1733)
Required Level: 25
Required Strength: 65
Item Level: 36
6% Chance to cast level 18 Wrath on Melee Attack
25% Cast Speed
+(43 to 54)% Damage to Demons
+(16 to 20)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(16 to 20)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(69 to 92)% Enhanced Defense
+(41 to 45) to Vitality
+(36 to 45) Life after each Demon Kill
Socketed (4)
Defense: (2057 - 2268) to (3809 - 4199)
Required Level: 43
Required Strength: 228
Item Level: 59
8% Chance to cast level 32 Wrath on Melee Attack
35% Cast Speed
+(67 to 78)% Damage to Demons
+(21 to 25)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(21 to 25)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(115 to 137)% Enhanced Defense
+(51 to 55) to Vitality
+(56 to 65) Life after each Demon Kill
Socketed (5)
Defense: (3094 - 3380) to (5716 - 6245)
Required Level: 51
Required Strength: 455
Item Level: 85
10% Chance to cast level 45 Wrath on Melee Attack
40% Cast Speed
+(79 to 90)% Damage to Demons
+(26 to 30)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(26 to 30)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(138 to 160)% Enhanced Defense
+(56 to 60) to Vitality
+(66 to 75) Life after each Demon Kill
Socketed (6)


Oh, yes, this armor is just perfect! Literally, every single attribute on it is useful. We will be using this armor in midgame as well, so try to get it as soon as possible. Cube with +15% Enhanced Defense Mystic Orbs till you get 350% ED and 15-1% to Enemy Fire Resistance Mystic Orbs. Socket with perfect gems to get extra max. resistances.

Godhead
Hundsgugel (4)

Defense: (97 - 132) to (145 - 196)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 2
Required Strength: 25
Item Level: 1
+(31 to 60)% Damage to Demons
+(31 to 60)% Damage to Undead
4% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(11 to 50)% Enhanced Defense
+(21 to 30) to Strength
+10 Life Regenerated per Second
Socketed (2)
Defense: (373 - 464) to (523 - 650)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 19
Required Strength: 50
Item Level: 31
+(61 to 90)% Damage to Demons
+(61 to 90)% Damage to Undead
6% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(61 to 100)% Enhanced Defense
+(31 to 40) to Strength
+20 Life Regenerated per Second
Socketed (2)
Defense: (1000 - 1185) to (1379 - 1635)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 37
Required Strength: 175
Item Level: 51
+(91 to 120)% Damage to Demons
+(91 to 120)% Damage to Undead
7% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(111 to 150)% Enhanced Defense
+(41 to 50) to Strength
+30 Life Regenerated per Second
Socketed (3)
Defense: (1693 - 1947) to (2315 - 2661)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 45
Required Strength: 350
Item Level: 77
+(121 to 150)% Damage to Demons
+(121 to 150)% Damage to Undead
8% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(161 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
+(51 to 60) to Strength
+40 Life Regenerated per Second
Socketed (4)
Glowskull
Crown (4)

Defense: (164 - 187) to (248 - 281)
Required Level: 10
Required Strength:
26 to 29
Item Level: 19
+(6 to 8)% Bonus to Poison Skill Duration
+(4 to 6)% to Poison Spell Damage
-3% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(41 to 60)% Enhanced Defense
Poison Resist +(16 to 25)%
(11 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -(11 to 20)%
Socketed (1)
Defense: (561 - 620) to (785 - 868)
Required Level: 28
Required Strength:
50 to 56
Item Level: 36
+(11 to 13)% Bonus to Poison Skill Duration
+(10 to 12)% to Poison Spell Damage
-6% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(81 to 100)% Enhanced Defense
Poison Resist +(36 to 45)%
(21 to 30)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -(16 to 25)%
Socketed (3)
Defense: (1272 - 1392) to (1754 - 1920)
Required Level: 46
Required Strength:
165 to 186
Item Level: 67
+(16 to 18)% Bonus to Poison Skill Duration
+(16 to 18)% to Poison Spell Damage
-9% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(101 to 120)% Enhanced Defense
Poison Resist +(56 to 65)%
(31 to 40)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -(21 to 30)%
Socketed (4)
Defense: (1911 - 2076) to (2614 - 2839)
Required Level: 54
Required Strength:
306 to 349
Item Level: 85
+(18 to 20)% Bonus to Poison Skill Duration
+(18 to 20)% to Poison Spell Damage
-12% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(121 to 140)% Enhanced Defense
Poison Resist +(66 to 75)%
(41 to 50)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -(26 to 35)%
Socketed (4)


The first helm can be also obtained from the Gift Box where is can spawn with Tier 2. We will use it to deal with huge strength requirements from our pike. The second helm is a perfect complement to our Demhe Runeword and we cube it with +15% Enhanced Defense Mystic Orbs till we get 350% ED and 15 3% Faster Hit Recovery Mystic Orbs. Socket with either perfect gems or Ral runes.



There are no gloves among Tiered Uniques and low-level runewords that can be good enough for our build so we stick with honorific Tier 1 Leather Gloves and will be cubing it with 15 All Resists +2%, 8 Fire/Cold/Lightning/Poison Resist +6% and 13 3% Faster Hit Recovery Mystic Orbs.
:!: You cannot get more than 155 resists with Mystic Orbs on these gloves, so be sure not to add more +6 resists MO's when you reach 155 value with each element :!:

Lionpaw
Chain Boots (4)

Defense: (49 - 54) to (71 - 78)
Required Level: 4
Required Strength: 29
Item Level: 10
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
+(18 to 29)% Enhanced Defense
+(7 to 10) to all Attributes
+(31 to 50) to Life
+(16 to 25) to Mana
(3 to 5)% Bonus to Defense
10% Gold Find
Socketed (1)
Defense: (203 - 218) to (267 - 288)
Required Level: 22
Required Strength: 58
Item Level: 31
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
+(41 to 52)% Enhanced Defense
+(15 to 18) to all Attributes
+(71 to 90) to Life
+(36 to 45) to Mana
(9 to 11)% Bonus to Defense
15% Gold Find
Socketed (2)
Defense: (519 - 554) to (667 - 712)
Required Level: 39
Required Strength: 202
Item Level: 51
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
+(64 to 75)% Enhanced Defense
+(23 to 26) to all Attributes
+(111 to 130) to Life
+(56 to 65) to Mana
(15 to 17)% Bonus to Defense
20% Gold Find
Socketed (3)
Defense: (759 - 807) to (974 - 1036)
Required Level: 48
Required Strength: 403
Item Level: 77
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
+(75 to 86)% Enhanced Defense
+(31 to 35) to all Attributes
+(131 to 150) to Life
+(66 to 75) to Mana
(18 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
25% Gold Find
Socketed (4)


Lionpaw grants good flat attribute and %TCD bonus. It is useful to use them before Stormlord reaches its full potential. As soon as you find Nih rune, make Nephilim Runeword. It gives us both flat and %strength and vitality bonus. More stats are always useful to have. Cube with 10 3% Faster Hit Recovery Mystic Orbs.

Aerin Orbiter
Belt (4)

Defense: (88 - 96) to (121 - 132)
Required Level: 5
Required Strength: 28
Item Level: 10
5% Cast Speed
+(4 to 5)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(4 to 5)% to Lightning Spell Damage
+(4 to 5)% to Cold Spell Damage
+(18 to 29)% Enhanced Defense
+(11 to 15) to Energy
Elemental Resists +(3 to 5)%
Elemental/Magic Damage Reduced by (3 to 5)
Socketed (1)
Defense: (310 - 334) to (389 - 419)
Required Level: 22
Required Strength: 56
Item Level: 31
15% Cast Speed
+(8 to 9)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(8 to 9)% to Lightning Spell Damage
+(8 to 9)% to Cold Spell Damage
+(41 to 52)% Enhanced Defense
+(21 to 25) to Energy
Elemental Resists +(9 to 11)%
Elemental/Magic Damage Reduced by (9 to 11)
Socketed (2)
Defense: (754 - 805) to (938 - 1001)
Required Level: 40
Required Strength: 201
Item Level: 51
25% Cast Speed
+(12 to 13)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(12 to 13)% to Lightning Spell Damage
+(12 to 13)% to Cold Spell Damage
+(64 to 75)% Enhanced Defense
+(31 to 35) to Energy
Elemental Resists +(15 to 17)%
Elemental/Magic Damage Reduced by (15 to 17)
Socketed (2)
Defense: (1104 - 1173) to (1358 - 1443)
Required Level: 48
Required Strength: 402
Item Level: 77
30% Cast Speed
+(14 to 15)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(14 to 15)% to Lightning Spell Damage
+(14 to 15)% to Cold Spell Damage
+(75 to 86)% Enhanced Defense
+(36 to 40) to Energy
Elemental Resists +(18 to 20)%
Elemental/Magic Damage Reduced by (18 to 20)
Socketed (2)


A mainstream belt for caster builds and it suits us perfectly. %FCR bonus will help us to reach its breakpoint earlygame. Cube with +15% Enhanced Defense Mystic Orbs till you get 350% ED and 15 3% Faster Hit Recovery Mystic Orbs. Socket with perfect gems.



You should start gambling a rare amulet when you reach Act 4 on Terror difficulty. When you get it, keep cubing with Oils of Renewal till you get the stats mentioned above. A good amulet will have at least 30% Fire Spell Damage, Lightning Arena oskill and +2 to All Skills. If you can get at least -21 Enemy Fire Resistance, it will be perfect. Cube with 15 -1% to Enemy Fire Resistance and 12 +1% to Fire Spell Damage Mystic Orbs.



After you get a good amulet, gamble two rings and keep cubing them with Oils of Renewal in order to get the stats mentioned above. A good ring will have at least 20% Fire Spell Damage and +1 to All Skills. Cube with 15+1% to Fire Spell Damage and 12 -1% to Enemy Fire Resistance Mystic Orbs.
:!: Having more than -100% to Enemy Fire Resistance is considered useless, so you may want to check your other armor for the amount of enemy pierce before cubing it with more Mystic Orbs :!:



Make Gabriel Runeword as soon as you find an Ath rune. Prepare several perfect gems to reroll the runeword till you get +5 to Paladin Skill Levels. After that gamble a rare paladin shield and reroll it using Oils of Renewal till it spawns with +4 to Paladin Skill Levels. This on-switch prebuff combination is more powerful than
Elverfolk


Elverfolk
Staves

'ChamIstVex'
Runeword Level: 83
+(7 to 8) to All Skills
+(60 to 80) Spell Focus
35% Cast Speed
-(27 to 33)% to Enemy Elemental Resistances
+750 Defense vs. Missile
(21 to 30)% to Energy
Maximum Life and Mana +5%
Elemental Resists +(35 to 45)%
(31 to 40)% Bonus to Defense
10% Magic Find
because you gain an additional +1 Paladin Skill Levels and 4 sockets in your shield to fill with Nih runes for longer buff duration.


Edited by Stealthmaster 7 years.
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Image



Mid game leveling

On Destruction difficulty you should already have full early game gear. You will be using it to complete 50% of all uberquests. By that moment you must also have plenty of magic/rare jewels you picked up before (if you don't have any, return to Terror difficulty and farm Kurast 3000 B.A. level till you get 25-30 jewels) and lots of Arcane Crystals you created from useless TU's/got from Griswold's Special Box. When you complete Infernal Machine uberquest, you get 200 Crafting Points. Go and buy a magic ring to cube it with 2 +25 Crafting Points Mystic Orbs. Now you are ready for jewelcrafting. We will be using such recipe: Zod rune + Oil of Jewelcraft + jewel + Arcane Crystal. Our goal is to craft a jewel with at least 5% Fire Spell Damage and then cube it with an Oil of Luck. If you craft at least 10 jewels, monsters ahead will be easier to deal with, as those jewels can also spawn with resists and flat life.

Never forget to buff yourself with SoD, VoJ, Tainted Blood, Hymn and Lightning Arena when you switch to your secondary weapon. Among all buffs, Hymn will always have the shortest duration so it's important to know the time where you need to re-apply buff on yourself. Use Lightning Arena to hide from dangerous monsters. Such areas as Kurast City, River of Flame, Frozen Tundra, Nihlathak Halls, Ancient's Way and Worldstone Keep are quite dangerous so you should do your best to avoid big packs. Even though Blood Thorns and Plague Avatar deal enough damage to kill everything in a matter of seconds, you will become very vulnerable if those backs hitlock you so you are unable to teleport away/gain life. Using minions (Scourges) is not necessary, but they can be useful for distracting stationary Startled Witches or luring monsters away from your body if you happen to die and need to recover your corpse.

Proceed further, doing easy ubers and gathering all set and Sacred Unique items that drop on your way. Look for
Malthael's Ward
Malthael's Ward
Sash (Sacred)

Defense: 1013 to 1027
Required Level: 80
Required Strength:
400
Item Level: 1
+1 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(11 to 15)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(11 to 15)% to Cold Spell Damage
+(26 to 38)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(21 to 40) to Vitality
(11 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -20%
Socketed (2)

Malthael's Sanctuary
(Paladin Ritualist Set)
and
Malthael's Stride
as we will be using these items for harder uberquests. Useless Sacred Uniques and sets have to be cubed with a Catalyst of Learning in order to get Signets of Learning. Each signet will give you 1 additional stat point (you can invest 500 additional stat points throughout the game). Also look for a sacred Crystal Sword and if you happen to find one, pick it up and put it in your stash as we will be using it as a reagent for making a crafted weapon and after that, it will be our main weapon for the rest of the game. With full early game setup and several points in Blessed Life you are strong enough to farm Fauztinville uberlevel on Terror difficulty for the shrines. We will pick up every single shrine that drop there. Use Shrine Vessels to store all your shrines. When you get at least 50 of them, you are ready to craft yourself a Crystal Sword with Balefire proc in order to get the double MO bonus and in the end, substitute our Demhe RW with that sword.

Destruction Baal requires lots of patience. His stun novas can kill you if you're low on health. Look out for Baal's normal attack and do not let yourself get surrounded with Shardspawns at all costs! Though we do have a teleport skill that can get us out of danger it won't work if you get hitlocked. Fortunately, corpse recovery is rather easy there, just don't forget to create a Town Portal before fightning with Baal. If you get at least -130% Enemy Fire Resistance, the whole fight won't take a lot of time. Another important moment is getting R.I.P. modifier on one of your jewelry. If you happen to craft a perfect rare ring/amulet and don't want to waste it for that recipe, roll another rare ring and cube it with - Enemy Fire Resistance Mystic Orbs till you get more than -100 total fire pierce. After Baal is dead, you should go and get Fool's Gold in Cow Level. Keep killing Bull Prince Rodeo till he drops a good charm with high vitality bonus and/or useful reanimate.



Image



Mid game stats, skills and gear

Strength - 0
Dexterity - 0
Vitality - all
Energy - 0

When you get most charms with flat/% attribute bonus, you will have to choose where to invest stat points. Vitality is great and the more points we put in there, the morey tanky our Blood Knight will be. With 1110 total stat points available the difference is between having 3-5k extra elemental damage (full energy build) or 6k extra hit points (full vitality build). If you craft good jewels with Energy Factor bonus, you may consider investing half points into Energy, otherwise go full Vita.

Skill points:



Your goal is to sMax Stormlord, Terror Strike and Hymn while you keep Blood Thorns at 20 points. 1 point in Superbeast is enough to get around 210% extra Spell Damage when you cast it with on-switch weapon. Points invested into Tainted Blood and Blessed Life may vary. My gear don't have much %DR modifiers on it, also I was lazy to farm Griswold to get Blessed Oils of Luck (it can give you up to 2% extra DR) so I invested only a few points into Tainted Blood while put the rest into Blessed Life.

Mid game gear



The first question you will probably ask is why we are using a Crystal Sword with a weapon range of 1 instead of Flail with a weapon range of 2? The answer is simple: crystal sword was designed as a caster weapon, so it can spawn with additional %Spell Damage and -% Enemy Resistance unlike most other melee weapons that are designed for WDM builds. Aslo, being a caster build who does not rely on WDM we don't need +50% Damage to Undead that always spawn on blunt weapons like flail. Base attack speed also does not matter, as we rely on FCR instead of IAS. Finally, a true Blood Knight looks more cool with a crystal sword than with a flail. Although we can use a war scepter that can have the same modifiers as a crystal sword, the latter suits our alignment better.

Balefire is much better than Miasma because it is capable of killing even the toughest fire immune monsters almost instantly. Superbeast grants us additional %Physical/Magic Spell Damage, so with each soft point from +skills this proc will deal more damage. Miasma proc is also nice since it slows monsters down, but you will have to rely on your SoD to deal with fire immune monsters. You will be getting Balefire/Miasma proc with every 5th shrine (every 50 charges). Make sure you got the sword in any area above Terror River of Flame so you will always get item level of 99 that way. You will have space for 16 Mystic Orbs, so if you got Balefire proc, cube the sword with 15 1% Chance to cast Level 3 Miasma on Attack Mystic Orbs. If you got Miasma proc, you can cube it with either 15 +10 Life on Striking in Melee or 15 +1% to Fire Spell Damage Mystic Orbs and add 1 MO of the different type afterwards.
:!: Use ANY type of shrine for crafting. The main goal is to get Balefire or Miasma proc, rest modifiers does not matter at this stage of the game. :!:

[spoil=midgame swords]Image Image Image[/spoil]



After you make a cratfed sword, look for a dex-based sacred paladin shield in order to craft it with Fascinating shrines. With enough luck we can get a very decent crafted shield that will have at least 45% Fire Spell Damage and +4 to Paladin Skill Levels. Rest stats are optional. Cube with 3% Faster Hit Recovery and Fire/Cold/Lightning/Poison Resist +6% Mystic Orbs (only if you need some resistances after you substitute your honorific gloves with another variant).

Dragon's Blood
Light Plate (4)

Defense: (241 - 284) to (487 - 573)
Required Level: 8
Required Strength: 33
Item Level: 19
4% Chance to cast level 8 Wrath on Melee Attack
15% Cast Speed
+(19 to 30)% Damage to Demons
+(11 to 15)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(11 to 15)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(24 to 46)% Enhanced Defense
+(31 to 35) to Vitality
+(16 to 25) Life after each Demon Kill
Socketed (2)
Defense: (806 - 915) to (1526 - 1733)
Required Level: 25
Required Strength: 65
Item Level: 36
6% Chance to cast level 18 Wrath on Melee Attack
25% Cast Speed
+(43 to 54)% Damage to Demons
+(16 to 20)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(16 to 20)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(69 to 92)% Enhanced Defense
+(41 to 45) to Vitality
+(36 to 45) Life after each Demon Kill
Socketed (4)
Defense: (2057 - 2268) to (3809 - 4199)
Required Level: 43
Required Strength: 228
Item Level: 59
8% Chance to cast level 32 Wrath on Melee Attack
35% Cast Speed
+(67 to 78)% Damage to Demons
+(21 to 25)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(21 to 25)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(115 to 137)% Enhanced Defense
+(51 to 55) to Vitality
+(56 to 65) Life after each Demon Kill
Socketed (5)
Defense: (3094 - 3380) to (5716 - 6245)
Required Level: 51
Required Strength: 455
Item Level: 85
10% Chance to cast level 45 Wrath on Melee Attack
40% Cast Speed
+(79 to 90)% Damage to Demons
+(26 to 30)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(26 to 30)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(138 to 160)% Enhanced Defense
+(56 to 60) to Vitality
+(66 to 75) Life after each Demon Kill
Socketed (6)


This armor is powerful enough so we keep it while doing midgame ubers.

Umbaru's Jinx
Mask (4)

Defense: (116 - 126) to (195 - 209)
Required Level: 7
Required Strength: 30
Item Level: 10
+(0 to 1) to Necromancer Skill Levels
15% Hit Recovery
+(6 to 10)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(21 to 40)% to Summoned Minion Attack Rating
+(31 to 50)% Enhanced Defense
+(51 to 100) Defense
Poison Length Reduced by (11 to 20)%
Physical Resist 1%
(6 to 10)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (1)
Defense: (416 - 448) to (546 - 587)
Required Level: 24
Required Strength: 60
Item Level: 31
+(0 to 1) to Necromancer Skill Levels
30% Hit Recovery
+(11 to 15)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(41 to 60)% to Summoned Minion Attack Rating
+(61 to 80)% Enhanced Defense
+(151 to 200) Defense
Poison Length Reduced by (21 to 30)%
Physical Resist 2%
(11 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (3)
Defense: (927 - 994) to (1163 - 1249)
Required Level: 42
Required Strength: 210
Item Level: 51
+(0 to 2) to Necromancer Skill Levels
45% Hit Recovery
+(16 to 20)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(61 to 80)% to Summoned Minion Attack Rating
+(91 to 110)% Enhanced Defense
+(251 to 300) Defense
Poison Length Reduced by (31 to 40)%
Physical Resist 3%
(21 to 30)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (4)
Defense: (1422 - 1515) to (1759 - 1876)
Required Level: 50
Required Strength: 420
Item Level: 77
+(1 to 2) to Necromancer Skill Levels
60% Hit Recovery
+(21 to 25)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(81 to 100)% to Summoned Minion Attack Rating
+(121 to 140)% Enhanced Defense
+(351 to 400) Defense
Poison Length Reduced by (41 to 50)%
Physical Resist 4%
(31 to 40)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (4)


As soon as you get a crafted sword and get rid of Demhe RW, you can either keep
Glowskull
Glowskull
Crown (4)

Defense: (164 - 187) to (248 - 281)
Required Level: 10
Required Strength:
26 to 29
Item Level: 19
+(6 to 8)% Bonus to Poison Skill Duration
+(4 to 6)% to Poison Spell Damage
-3% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(41 to 60)% Enhanced Defense
Poison Resist +(16 to 25)%
(11 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -(11 to 20)%
Socketed (1)
Defense: (561 - 620) to (785 - 868)
Required Level: 28
Required Strength:
50 to 56
Item Level: 36
+(11 to 13)% Bonus to Poison Skill Duration
+(10 to 12)% to Poison Spell Damage
-6% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(81 to 100)% Enhanced Defense
Poison Resist +(36 to 45)%
(21 to 30)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -(16 to 25)%
Socketed (3)
Defense: (1272 - 1392) to (1754 - 1920)
Required Level: 46
Required Strength:
165 to 186
Item Level: 67
+(16 to 18)% Bonus to Poison Skill Duration
+(16 to 18)% to Poison Spell Damage
-9% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(101 to 120)% Enhanced Defense
Poison Resist +(56 to 65)%
(31 to 40)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -(21 to 30)%
Socketed (4)
Defense: (1911 - 2076) to (2614 - 2839)
Required Level: 54
Required Strength:
306 to 349
Item Level: 85
+(18 to 20)% Bonus to Poison Skill Duration
+(18 to 20)% to Poison Spell Damage
-12% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(121 to 140)% Enhanced Defense
Poison Resist +(66 to 75)%
(41 to 50)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -(26 to 35)%
Socketed (4)
or substitute it with another helm. Though the crown gas %TCD and Unholy Armor proc, the mask provides us with reanimates which we will need when farming Fauztinville for a Qor rune.

Malakbel Runeword is, undoubtedly, one of the best choices for the Blood Knight. It requires a Fauztinville Great Rune which can be dropped by any monster in this level. What is more, this runeword can even outclass most Sacred Uniques. Just look at the stats:
  • 100% Chance to cast level 41 Death of a God when you Die - casts a Balefire clone that deals massive fire damage. It can easily finish nearby ubermonsters if they were harmed before you died;
  • +2 to Paladin Skill Levels - quite nice, considering the fact that most SU Paladin Helms can roll with the same number of skills;
  • 10% Faster Cast Rate - allows us to spend less %FCR Mystic Orbs to reach the breakpoint;
  • (0.5 per level)% to Fire Spell Damage (Based on Character Level) - equals 60% to Fire Spell Damage at level 120 - the cheapest item with such a big bonus to FSD. Only a very few items ingame have more.
  • Fire Resist +100% - extra resists are always nice, especially if you happen to craft jewels with %5-6 Fire Spell Damage but with no resists on them;
  • 2% Reanimate as: Baal (Vision of Destruction) - the icing on the cake. Vision of Destruction reanimate uses Baal model and sound but has some unique abilities that are different from the actual Lord of Destruction:
    • Casts Thundergod - a buff that automatically casts stun novas that damage your enemies (regular Baal also uses this skill);
    • Casts Rust Storm - a curse that affects monsters in a very large area, reducing their defense and movement speed;
    • Casts Tremor - earthquake reduces a certain percentage of enemies' life.

We will need a sacred Blackguard Helm in order to make this runeword. It suits our unholy alignment much more than if we were using a Hundsgugel.



Very good choice for our build. Unformed Land is very easy to farm so it is a matter of time for you to get 4 Fire Stones and 4 Unknown Skulls. You can exploit the proc by taking damage from monsters that use multihitting spells like Pyroblast or Brimstone. All other stats on these gloves are worth the time you spend for obtaing reagents for the runeword. Remake it till you get both +1 to All Skills and %50 Fire Spell Damage.

Malthael's Stride


These boots are rather easy to obtain and we will be using them in order to get a bonus from wearing two items of Malthael's set. Overall decent stats and the proc works great against fire immune monsters. Cube with +15% Enhanced Defense Mystic Orbs.

Malthael's Ward
Sash (Sacred)

Defense: 1013 to 1027
Required Level: 80
Required Strength:
400
Item Level: 1
+1 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(11 to 15)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(11 to 15)% to Cold Spell Damage
+(26 to 38)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(21 to 40) to Vitality
(11 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -20%
Socketed (2)

Malthael's Sanctuary
(Paladin Ritualist Set)


The second piece of Malthael's set is way more important than the boots because it doubles the duration of Terror Strike which is great to have when farming such uberlevels as Duncraig, Unformed Land and Fauztinville. Cube with 3% Faster Hit Recovery Mystic Orbs.



You should gamble a new rare amulet and try to get better stats than on your early game rare amulet. It is worth getting Blessed Oils of Luck from Griswold's Special Box for that purpose as you may get an amulet with +4 or 5 to All Skills.



Repeat the same process with your rare rings till you roll better stats than on your early game rings. Again, having Oil of Luck bonus is a must.



Crafting jewels requires patience and, what is more important, a good supply of base magic/rare jewels, gold and Arcane Crystals. The total result is worth the time spent: these jewels will serve you in endgame as well. Socket them in all your gear.



Use same prebuff weapons as before. Don't forget to cast all buffs when you switch weapons.


Image



The Endgame

Endgame gameplay includes farming different areas to supply yourself and your other characters with Great/Elemental runes, sets, Sacred Uniques and cycles. The Blood Knight is an excellent Unformed Land farmer. Endgame you are able to reach 300.000 defence, 50% Damage Reduction, about 17-20k life and about 1400 Life on Striking in Melee which makes you almost immortal in there. The only thing we should be worrying about is our terrible hit recovery rate. Even with 7 fps hit recovery animation many monsters can hitlock you to death. Thankfully, we have plentiful of hit points and 1 point wonder teleport skill (Divine Apparition) to feel safe in most uberlevels. If you're playing online, you may want to get to level 121 doing Cow Level runes. Before doing each run, you should create a bunch of Elixirs of Greater Experience (they grant +300% to Experience Gained bonus for 30 seconds after drinking each of them) Cube a Perfect Emerald with a Scroll of Town Portal to get elixirs. Another useful recipe that we can use is creating Elixirs of Power that grant +15 to All Skills for 30 seconds after drinking. Cube a Perfect Sapphire with a Scroll of Town Portal to obtain those elixirs and use them before you switch to prebuffing weapons when you start the new game.

In order to complete the ultimate uberquests you need to remember about few things:
  • Some uberquests require obtaining/creating dedicated gear;
  • Most endgame uberquests require patience and fast reaction skills (Astrogha, Kabraxis, Arihan execution etc.)
  • Many uberquests require having hotkeys. If you missed/didn't pay attention to key binding section of the guide or just lazy to skillswitch, don't even think about doing endgame uberquests solo.

Conclusion:

The Blood Knight is a very fun build to play. You won't be in desperate need of rare gear aka 'N Endgame stuff, can't proceed further'. Just be careful with playing on Realm with a big amount of players as our build can often reach sprite limit. Note that some parties may not be welcomed (for example, Rain of Fire/Shadow Avatar Elemental Druid). Also the same problem applies for solo playstyle: due to lagging caused by a massive procfest on our gear, you may not be able to see some 1hit KO mechanics like a barrel in Duncraig or falling meteor in The Truine. Thus, this build is not really suitable to play on Hardcore. You have been warned.

Many of you will ask me why this guide lacks gameplay videos. Well, if only I could properly record a video, I would gladly post it here. Unfortunately, I have an outdated PC that cannot use such modern recording programs like OBS or xSplit and I have been being a total noob with Bandicam settings so I neither can record a video nor any sound. When I get a better computer, I will update this guide with gameplay vidoes.



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Endgame gear



By the endgame you have to find another crystal sword and try to craft a better weapon that you had from midgame. Use Fascinating shrines to reach the full potential of your crafted weapon.

[spoil=endgame swords]Image Image[/spoil]

Vizjun's Commdish


Excellent shield for endgame: all stats are very useful and they will improve your killspeed a lot. I recommend using this item if you have a mediocre midgame crafted shield at the moment.

And yes, the skill icon is broken. I'm still waiting for it to be fixed :)

Sankekur's Faulds


This armor is a perfect endgame choice, especially if you're planning to use your Blood Knight for endless uberlevel farming. Extra %absorb is handy as well as tanky reanimates. Try to get one with a good %Fire Spell Damage and %Physical/Magic Spell Damage roll.



I see no reason to substitute this item with a super mega rare SSSU. If you have played a melee necromancer that uses
Chthon


Chthon
Necromancer Scythes

'UmSurMal'
Runeword Level: 75
13% Chance to cast level 10 Crucify on Kill
25% Chance to cast level 3 Tremor on Kill
50% Attack Speed
+(50 to 70) to Maximum Damage
+(250 to 400) to Attack Rating
+(101 to 125)% Enhanced Damage
5% Chance of Crushing Blow
Weapon Physical Damage +75%
3% to All Attributes
Regenerate Mana +15%
Elemental Resists +10%
+(80 to 100) Life after each Kill
, you'll love Vision of Destruction reanimates as well.

Lamha Na Draoithe
Gauntlets (Sacred)

Defense: (1339 - 1506) to (1567 - 1763)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 625
Item Level: 120
+2 to All Skills
+150 Spell Focus
30% Cast Speed
+(16 to 20)% to Spell Damage
+(140 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
+75 to Strength
-100 to Life
Elemental Resists +15%
Socketed (4)


As for me, I still prefer using
Retribution
because Pagan Rites can save your life in many situations. However, this Sacred Unique is better as it adds Strength Factor to Spell Damage and grants bonus to all %Spell Damage, not only to Fire one. +2 to All Skills are also nice.

Malthael's Stride
Toesie Warmer


If you want to save Flamestrike proc, keep set boots equipped. If not, you can use Toesie Warmer for %TCD and Vitality bonus.

Malthael's Ward
Sash (Sacred)

Defense: 1013 to 1027
Required Level: 80
Required Strength:
400
Item Level: 1
+1 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(11 to 15)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(11 to 15)% to Cold Spell Damage
+(26 to 38)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(21 to 40) to Vitality
(11 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -20%
Socketed (2)

Malthael's Sanctuary
(Paladin Ritualist Set)


We will keep this belt endgame because we badly need that awesome Doubled Terror Strike Duration modifier :)

Lamen of the Archbishop
Amulet

Required Level: 110
Item Level: 120
Orb Effects Applied to this Item are Doubled
+4 to All Skills


Look for a high %Fire Spell Damage roll, good Vitality bonus and at least +3 to All Skills (Oil of Luck bonus). With endgame gear we won't have to hide in Lightning Arena anymore, so this amulet is nice to have.

Ras Algethi
Ring

Required Level: 100
Item Level: 105
2% Chance to cast level 44 Magic Missiles on Melee Attack
+(40 to 50) Spell Focus
+(15 to 20)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(15 to 20)% to Fire Spell Damage
-10% to Enemy Fire Resistance
Physical Resist -2%


%Physical/Magic Spell Damage and %Fire Spell Damage bonus together with a powerful on-death proc and extra Energy Factor makes us think that these rings were specially designed for the Blood Knights. Negative %DR is not a problem, we will just need to max out Blessed Life and leaving Tainted Blood with 1 point.

Darkspite
Spetum (Sacred)

Two-Hand Damage: (165 - 228) to (302 - 392)
Required Level: 80
Required Strength: 453
Required Dexterity: 492
Item Level: 105
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.15 per Dexterity)%
15% Chance to cast level 6 Rust Storm on Melee Attack
(20 to 50)% Attack Speed
Adds (40 to 80)-(140 to 200) Damage
+(120 to 160)% Enhanced Damage
(5 to 10)% Deadly Strike
50% Curse Length Reduction
-5 to Light Radius
Socketed (6)


Very nice prebuffing weapon that should be socketed with 6 Nih runes. Fortunately, it's a rather common item so getting it shouldn't be a problem.



Image



Alternate gear

This guide offers you a build who is capable to do most uberquests using midgame gear. After Realm drops nerf on XV patch many new (and old) players started complaining how hard is to find a good Sacred Unique in order to make their build viable or sell it for a bunch of TG. That's why when making the Blood Knight guide, I tried to use as many cheap gear pieces as possible. Some of you will probably doubt how can this build farm Unformed Land or Duncraig without wearing a single Sacred Unique. Well, the answer is simple: our build has a variety of buffs that help us to survive in some uberlevels which are rather hard to farm for some other builds. I remind you that the Blood Knight is a caster build who goes into melee range to cast spells. That's why we will always have bigger damage per second (dps) as most other WDM builds. Our tankiness comes from a few things, most important of them being Terror Strike that greatly increses our defense and Hymn which allows us to gain huge amount of hp in no time. Considering the fact we can easily reach FCR and IAS breakpoints, we can perform about 6 attacks per second, which, with 1300 Life on Striking in Melee (LoSiM) from Hymn will result in gaining about 8.000 hp per second. If you don't get hitlocked, gaining hp will never be a problem. Lastly, a few words about Tainted Blood - this skill is great as it boosts our TCD as well, but, unfortunately, it benefits a lot more from hard points than from soft points. We don't have enough skill points to waste endgame, so we won't be relying much on this skill for our survivability.

Allright, as the section of the guide suggests, here will be shown some alternate gear that our Blood Knight can use if you hate crafting or farming and prefer buying all main gear for TG from the beginning of the game. I have tested most of them and, unlike in my previous guides (Pouncezon and Melee Necromancer) I'm not gonna suggest too many alternatives for this build. Midgame gear is great, it is not hard to get most of it (the only and one item that is a must is, probably,
Malakbel
Runeword). More to say, farming Destruction Fauztinville won't be easy if you don't have a Qor rune yet and have only Tiered Unique gear equipped. But, in my opinion, it is great to have such a challenge and it grants much more fun than if you buy that Qor rune from other players. All other gear can be easily substituted with either more or less expensive things. Such item as
Dragon's Blood
Dragon's Blood
Light Plate (4)

Defense: (241 - 284) to (487 - 573)
Required Level: 8
Required Strength: 33
Item Level: 19
4% Chance to cast level 8 Wrath on Melee Attack
15% Cast Speed
+(19 to 30)% Damage to Demons
+(11 to 15)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(11 to 15)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(24 to 46)% Enhanced Defense
+(31 to 35) to Vitality
+(16 to 25) Life after each Demon Kill
Socketed (2)
Defense: (806 - 915) to (1526 - 1733)
Required Level: 25
Required Strength: 65
Item Level: 36
6% Chance to cast level 18 Wrath on Melee Attack
25% Cast Speed
+(43 to 54)% Damage to Demons
+(16 to 20)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(16 to 20)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(69 to 92)% Enhanced Defense
+(41 to 45) to Vitality
+(36 to 45) Life after each Demon Kill
Socketed (4)
Defense: (2057 - 2268) to (3809 - 4199)
Required Level: 43
Required Strength: 228
Item Level: 59
8% Chance to cast level 32 Wrath on Melee Attack
35% Cast Speed
+(67 to 78)% Damage to Demons
+(21 to 25)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(21 to 25)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(115 to 137)% Enhanced Defense
+(51 to 55) to Vitality
+(56 to 65) Life after each Demon Kill
Socketed (5)
Defense: (3094 - 3380) to (5716 - 6245)
Required Level: 51
Required Strength: 455
Item Level: 85
10% Chance to cast level 45 Wrath on Melee Attack
40% Cast Speed
+(79 to 90)% Damage to Demons
+(26 to 30)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(26 to 30)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(138 to 160)% Enhanced Defense
+(56 to 60) to Vitality
+(66 to 75) Life after each Demon Kill
Socketed (6)
is wonderful, and, with having a good supply of Arcane Crystals you can reroll it till you get the highest stats and/or 1-2% DR from Oils of Luck.

Worldstone Shard
Whispers of Mirakodus
Astral Blade
Long Sword (Sacred)

One-Hand Damage: 45 to 48
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 540
Item Level: 120
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.11 per Strength)%
+1 Hunting Banshee/Ember Spirit Projectile
8% Chance to cast level 13 Mythal on Melee Attack
15% Chance to cast level 60 Ember Spirit on Melee Attack
15% Chance to cast level 60 Hunting Banshee on Melee Attack
+(100 to 125) Spell Focus
100% Attack Speed
+(20 to 25)% to Fire Spell Damage
-(15 to 20)% to Enemy Fire Resistance
+(20 to 25)% to Cold Spell Damage
-(15 to 20)% to Enemy Cold Resistance
Socketed (6)


  • Worldstone Shard:
      [+]the cheapest of Sacred Unique Crystal Swords;
      [+]nice Supernova proc that does much more damage at close range, being able to one-shot a single regular enemy you attacked;
      [+]big chance of activating the proc (50%);
      [+]can roll with +3 to All Skills.
      [-]Supernova proc is not suitable for killing big packs of scattered enemies;
      [-]not enough space for Mystic Orbs and no base Double MO bonus;
      [-]no base %Spell Damage bonus.
    Verdict: a rather mediocre sword: if you equip it, your killspeed will be slower than if you would be using a crafted crystal sword with Balefire proc.
  • Whispers of Mirakodus:
      [+]nice life regeneration (equals 240 at level 120).
      [-]Apocalypse proc is rather weak and it won't kill fire immune monsters;
      [-]not enough space for Mystic Orbs and no base Double MO bonus;
      [-]no base %Spell Damage bonus.
    Verdict: not suitable for our build.
  • Astral Blade:
      [+]good base %Spell Damage bonus;
      [+]rather good procs;
      [+]good Energy Factor bonus;
      [+]extra -enemy resistance.
      [-]not enough space for Mystic Orbs and no base Double MO bonus;
      [-]using this sword will result in reaching sprite limit way more often that with most other weapons;
      [-]too many procs: they are rather eye-candy but if you hardly can see a monster in a massive procfest, you're gonna have bigger chances to get killed;
      [-]hard to obtain.
    Verdict: not a really good sword for farming, because you can substitute Hunting Banshee proc with Lemures skill if you like homing wraithspirits so much.

Darkfeast
Goedendag (Sacred)

One-Hand Damage: 53 to 54
Required Strength: 574
Required Level: 100
Item Level: 105
(Paladin Only)
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.18 per Strength)%
+(0 to 2) Projectile to Hunting Banshee
+(50 to 200) Spell Focus
+50% Damage to Undead
+(30 to 50)% to Cold Spell Damage
-(10 to 25)% to Enemy Cold Resistance
+(18 to 30) to Hunting Banshee
+50 Life Regenerated per Second
Total Character Defense (30 to 60)%
+50 Life after each Kill
Socketed (3)


  • Darkfeast:
      [+]very good procs;
      [+]good base %Spell Damage bonus;
      [+]extra Life after Kill;
      [+]great max.life bonus.
      [+]rather common item;
      [-]not enough space for Mystic Orbs and no base Double MO bonus;
      [-]no place for a shield.
    Verdict: this sword is good. You can use it instead of your crafted one if you prefer 2-handed weapons.

Black Sun Spear
Tepoztopilli (Sacred)

Two-Hand Damage: 68 to 75
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 733
Item Level: 105
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
+(7 to 11) to Paladin Skill Levels
+(150 to 250) Spell Focus
+(30 to 40)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(30 to 40)% to Lightning Spell Damage
-(35 to 50)% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
+150 Life Regenerated per Second
100% Bonus to Defense
Cannot Be Frozen
Socketed (6)


  • Black Sun Spear:
      [+]very powerful proc;
      [+]excellent base %Spell Damage bonus;
      [+]excellent Energy Factor bonus;
      [+]superb + Paladin Skill Levels bonus;
      [+]weapon range of 5;
      [+]rather common item.
      [-]no place for a shield;
      [-]not enough space for Mystic Orbs and no base Double MO bonus;
      [-]rather low chance to activate the proc - can be crucial in the moment when fire immune monsters will be killing you.
    Verdict: a very good endgame choice. This pike is great, and though it does not have serious advantages over a crafted sword with Balefire proc (a really good shield can easily outclass this weapon), it can be a good alternative if you are lazy to craft and/or happen to find this item in the regular game.
  • Taqiyya Runeword:
      [+]powerful procs;
      [+]excellent IAS, FCR and FHR bonus;
      [+]excellent Uninterruptable Attack bonus;
      [+]weapon range of 5;
      [+]base Double MO bonus.
      [-]no place for a shield;
      [-]no base %Spell Damage bonus.
    Verdict: excellent stats, Double MO bonus and enough space to add Mystic Orbs make this runeword good for farming everything but Fauztinville. Actually, it's farmable, but requires much more time for a full clear, because Neon Fiends will be only taking damage from VoJ and SoD. In most other areas this item works great: though the procs are not very powerful, the chance of them being triggered is high so several fire/lightning novas in a row will kill all nearby monsters.
  • Ensi Enhanced Runeword:
      [+]very powerful proc, capable to instakill a single non-fire immune monster;
      [+]weapon range of 5.
      [-]no place for a shield;
      [-]no space for Mystic Orbs;
      [-]no base %Spell Damage bonus.
    Verdict: though this pike cannot help us deal with fire immune monsters, you can use it in limited situations. For example, this weapon is great for farming Astrogha. Yes, you heard it correctly. There is a trick with a long range weapons like spears (weapon range of 3) spetums (weapon range of 4) and pikes (weapon range of 5) that, when used against Astrogha, make him cast 1hit KO Frozen Orb rather rarely. Considering the fact that Cataclysm deals more damage in a close range which, together with Superbeast insane speed, can be a serious advantage over Mind Flay against Astrogha in terms of damage and safety. Finally, corpse recovery is easy if you have Hoplites around you, so use this spear if you want to get a good Astro charm or the trophy.



  • Demhe Enhanced Runeword:
      [+]superb proc which is as powerful as Balefire;
      [+]excellent base %Spell Damage bonus;
      [+]extra -enemy resistance;
      [+]Stun Attack modifier is capable of stunlocking single regular eneimes.
      [-]no space for Mystic Orbs.
    Verdict: excellent endgame weapon. Obtaining a Xis rune will require some time, but, fortunately, the Blood Knight is an excellent build for skullhunting in Unformed Land. If you manage to make this runeword it can be as great as a crafted sword with Balefire proc.

Malthael's Wrath
Holy Lance (Sacred)

Two-Hand Damage: 49 to 85
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 80
Required Strength: 514
Item Level: 1
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
+(3 to 6) to Paladin Skill Levels
75% Attack Speed
10% Movement Speed
+(21 to 40)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(21 to 40)% to Cold Spell Damage
+(76 to 125) to Vitality
Socketed (6)

Malthael's Sanctuary
(Paladin Ritualist Set)
Malthael's Halo
Field Plate (Sacred)

Defense: (6477 - 7287) to (7694 - 8656)
Required Level: 80
Required Strength:
375
Item Level: 1
+(2 to 3) to Paladin Skill Levels
+(11 to 20)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(11 to 20)% to Cold Spell Damage
+(140 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +(31 to 50)%
Cold Resist +(31 to 50)%
Requirements -40%
Socketed (6)

Malthael's Sanctuary
(Paladin Ritualist Set)
Malthael's Crown
Blackguard Helm (Sacred)

Defense: (2347 - 2640) to (2474 - 2783)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 80
Required Dexterity: 387
Item Level: 1
+(1 to 3) to Paladin Skill Levels
(201 to 250)% Bonus to Attack Rating
+(8 to 9)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(8 to 9)% to Cold Spell Damage
+(140 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
(16 to 20)% to Strength
10% to Vitality
+(21 to 40) Life on Melee Attack
Socketed (4)

Malthael's Sanctuary
(Paladin Ritualist Set)
Malthael's Stride
Malthael's Ward
Sash (Sacred)

Defense: 1013 to 1027
Required Level: 80
Required Strength:
400
Item Level: 1
+1 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(11 to 15)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(11 to 15)% to Cold Spell Damage
+(26 to 38)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(21 to 40) to Vitality
(11 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -20%
Socketed (2)

Malthael's Sanctuary
(Paladin Ritualist Set)


  • Malthael's Sanctuary Set:
      [+]pretty common set items (no rare set pieces);
      [+]excellent -enemy resistance bonus;
      [+]three powerful procs, two of them being excellent single target killers;
      [+]massive max.life and mana bonus;
      [+]Doubled Terror Strike Duration modifier that is accessible from a single set piece.

Full set bonus:



Malthale's set is excellent in any situations. It is suitable for everything: obtaining medium and tricky charms, farming uberlevels, killing bosses with Heroic Shield. Full set gives us free -100 enemy elemental pierce bonus which is extremely viable in any uberlevel. Using the full set you can easily farm most heroic bosses for a perfect charm. Even caster spec becomes very powerful: Mind Flay will destroy any boss that is dangerous to face in melee range. All you need is roll two rare rings and an amulet for obtaining at least -175% enemy lightning resistance.

Deathforce


Deathforce: Decent shield for the endgame, thanks to good %Spell Damage bonus and a powerful Nightmare curse that reduces enemies' velocity. Again, casting Nightmare requires another binded key, so it's up to you whether to cast it or not. Moreover, the shield has Blood Marquis reanimates which can distract troublesome enemies and make you breathe easier when farming hard uberlevels. However, too high amount of reanimates can be a downside in Duncraig as a pack of them will often attract 1hit KO barrels.

Yes, the skill icon is broken. Again :(

Stormflyer
Kite Shield (Sacred)

Defense: (4190 - 4737) to (4889 - 5527)
Chance to Block: 1% + Class%
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 550
Required Dexterity: 559
Item Level: 120
25% Chance to cast level 60 Forked Lightning on Melee Attack
1% Base Block Chance
+(30 to 40)% to Lightning Spell Damage
-(15 to 20)% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
+(130 to 160)% Enhanced Defense
(11 to 15)% to Dexterity
(31 to 40)% to Energy
Lightning Absorb 5%
25% Weapon Damage Taken Restores Mana
Socketed (4)


Stormflyer: This shield has another good proc that can help you dealing with tough fire immune monsters. Huge %FRW bonus is also great to have as well as decent Energy bonus. Still, it requires some luck to find it, but it can be a good alternative to your crafted shield.



Myrrhbearer Runeword: Great %Spell Damage boost to our Blood Thorns and Balefire. Body of the Saviour requires Resurrect uberskill to use it, so it is completely useless unless you equip
Itherael's Splendor
or Khanduran Royal Pendant all the time while Akarat revenant is alive. Still, it's a good shield for endgame. Just keep in mind that Auhe rune is rather hard to find.
Image

Light's Widow


Light's Widow: Can be a good substitute for
Dragon's Blood
Dragon's Blood
Light Plate (4)

Defense: (241 - 284) to (487 - 573)
Required Level: 8
Required Strength: 33
Item Level: 19
4% Chance to cast level 8 Wrath on Melee Attack
15% Cast Speed
+(19 to 30)% Damage to Demons
+(11 to 15)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(11 to 15)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(24 to 46)% Enhanced Defense
+(31 to 35) to Vitality
+(16 to 25) Life after each Demon Kill
Socketed (2)
Defense: (806 - 915) to (1526 - 1733)
Required Level: 25
Required Strength: 65
Item Level: 36
6% Chance to cast level 18 Wrath on Melee Attack
25% Cast Speed
+(43 to 54)% Damage to Demons
+(16 to 20)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(16 to 20)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(69 to 92)% Enhanced Defense
+(41 to 45) to Vitality
+(36 to 45) Life after each Demon Kill
Socketed (4)
Defense: (2057 - 2268) to (3809 - 4199)
Required Level: 43
Required Strength: 228
Item Level: 59
8% Chance to cast level 32 Wrath on Melee Attack
35% Cast Speed
+(67 to 78)% Damage to Demons
+(21 to 25)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(21 to 25)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(115 to 137)% Enhanced Defense
+(51 to 55) to Vitality
+(56 to 65) Life after each Demon Kill
Socketed (5)
Defense: (3094 - 3380) to (5716 - 6245)
Required Level: 51
Required Strength: 455
Item Level: 85
10% Chance to cast level 45 Wrath on Melee Attack
40% Cast Speed
+(79 to 90)% Damage to Demons
+(26 to 30)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(26 to 30)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(138 to 160)% Enhanced Defense
+(56 to 60) to Vitality
+(66 to 75) Life after each Demon Kill
Socketed (6)
, but, apart from extra %DR (useful if you're using
Ras Algethi
Ras Algethi
Ring

Required Level: 100
Item Level: 105
2% Chance to cast level 44 Magic Missiles on Melee Attack
+(40 to 50) Spell Focus
+(15 to 20)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(15 to 20)% to Fire Spell Damage
-10% to Enemy Fire Resistance
Physical Resist -2%
), reanimates (Blood Marquis? again?) and a rather high gap between min. and max. %Fire Spell Damage, this armor has no other stats to call it a 'superb choice'.

Victory Enhanced Runeword: If you don't know where to socket all those Xis runes you keep in your mules, you might want to try making this armor. With enough luck you get a good attribute bonus, decent %Magic Find and high %Spell Damage as well. If you are ready to test your luck (Xis rune cannot be unsocketed), then this armor could be a good endgame choice. With a bad roll, even
Dragon's Blood
Dragon's Blood
Light Plate (4)

Defense: (241 - 284) to (487 - 573)
Required Level: 8
Required Strength: 33
Item Level: 19
4% Chance to cast level 8 Wrath on Melee Attack
15% Cast Speed
+(19 to 30)% Damage to Demons
+(11 to 15)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(11 to 15)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(24 to 46)% Enhanced Defense
+(31 to 35) to Vitality
+(16 to 25) Life after each Demon Kill
Socketed (2)
Defense: (806 - 915) to (1526 - 1733)
Required Level: 25
Required Strength: 65
Item Level: 36
6% Chance to cast level 18 Wrath on Melee Attack
25% Cast Speed
+(43 to 54)% Damage to Demons
+(16 to 20)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(16 to 20)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(69 to 92)% Enhanced Defense
+(41 to 45) to Vitality
+(36 to 45) Life after each Demon Kill
Socketed (4)
Defense: (2057 - 2268) to (3809 - 4199)
Required Level: 43
Required Strength: 228
Item Level: 59
8% Chance to cast level 32 Wrath on Melee Attack
35% Cast Speed
+(67 to 78)% Damage to Demons
+(21 to 25)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(21 to 25)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(115 to 137)% Enhanced Defense
+(51 to 55) to Vitality
+(56 to 65) Life after each Demon Kill
Socketed (5)
Defense: (3094 - 3380) to (5716 - 6245)
Required Level: 51
Required Strength: 455
Item Level: 85
10% Chance to cast level 45 Wrath on Melee Attack
40% Cast Speed
+(79 to 90)% Damage to Demons
+(26 to 30)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(26 to 30)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(138 to 160)% Enhanced Defense
+(56 to 60) to Vitality
+(66 to 75) Life after each Demon Kill
Socketed (6)
can be better than this runeword, so you have to know what you're doing.

Hivemind
Blackguard Helm (Sacred)

Defense: (1828 - 2092) to (1927 - 2206)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Dexterity: 387
Item Level: 105
+(2 to 3) to Paladin Skill Levels
+(20 to 30)% to Spell Damage
-(25 to 35)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(16 to 19) to Hive
+(31 to 40)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(87 to 114)% Enhanced Defense
Maximum Mana +25%
Poison Resist +30%
Socketed (4)


Hivemind: A decent helm that makes a good combo with ZodXis Demhe Runeword. Look for +3 to Paladin Skill Levels and a high -enemy poison resistance roll. Hive oskill is also useful, but sometimes it causes too much lagging. Darklings are minions that come in very high numbers (you can summon around 40 of them) and are Magic Immune, so they can be very useful to distract a Startled Witch boss.

Cannonball Enhanced Runeword: A rather interesting helm to equip. Apart from high %Fire Spell Damage roll, it grants a great boost to our walking speed. When Celerity proc is triggered, you gain super speed, so it's very important to control your moves in order not to suddenly appear in a dangerous area, full of monsters that are ready to rip you apart. Blast Wave oskill can come handy as it knockbacks all adjacent monsters in a large area.

Klaatu Barada Nikto
Amulet

Required Level: 110
Item Level: 105
30% Enhanced Damage vs. Necrobots
10% Chance to cast level 40 Nova Bomb on Melee Attack
+2 to All Skills
25% Attack Speed
Adds 1-188 Lightning Damage
+650 Poison Damage over 2 seconds
Stun Attack
+(11 to 16) to Hive
Lightning Resist +(40 to 50)%
Poison Resist +(40 to 50)%


Even though this item suits our Blood Knight perfectly, I don't use it with my build. Most stats are useful, so if you can get one with +3-4 to All Skills, it will be a good substitute to a rare amulet/bad Lamen roll.


Edited by Stealthmaster 7 years.
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Uberquests

All uberquests are rated in 5 difficulty categories (Easy, Medium, Tricky, Hard, Very Hard) and suggest a few types of gear that is needed to complete each of them.



Image



Dungeon uberquests:

Death Projector: Uses clockwise Mind Flay that instakills you. If you apply multihitting spells like Plague Avatar, it will trigger counterclockwise Death Spiral that also instakills you. So just circle around the boss and let Symphony of Destruction do the job for you.

Gear: Doable with TU gear.

Creature of Flame: You can kill all Astral Guardians, activate Symphony of Destruction and walk near the boss so he will be taking poison damage. May take some time, because he has about 90% avoid.

Gear: Doable with TU gear.

Infernal Machine: Proceed slowly, hiding in Lightning Arena and killing monsters on your way. Alpha Centaurs and Unseelie Dames are not harmful for us but we must keep an eye on Trap Rats, as they are able to hitlock you to death. Use Divine Apparition to jump on the boss and damage it, using Demhe RW to trigger Plague Avatar proc. After 2-3 seconds, teleport away so the boss won't be able to kill you with Deathstrike. Kill nearby monsters, then teleport back and finish the boss.

Gear: Doable with TU gear.

Rathma Square: Summon as many Scourges as possible, buff yourself with Symphony of Destruction and enter the level. Simply proceed through the empty middle of the temple (not through the upper corridor, full of Gore Crawlers). When you see the boss, use Divine Apparition to jump on him. Scourges will serve you as meatshields and Plague Avatar proc will melt Primus in a few seconds.

Gear: Doable with TU gear.

Azmodan: Summon Scourges and use them to lure Azmodan to the upper right corner of the map. Then quickly go to the lower left corner and kill all monsters that have lost their immunity. When you clear at least 1/3 of total monsters in the area, go back to Azmodan and kill him. Farm yourself a trophy.

Gear: Doable with TU gear.

Cathedral of Vanity: Summon as many Scourges as possible, then cast Hymn to apply LoSiM buff on your minions. Quickly go downward and cast Hailstorm on Crystal Ball several times. Go back to the small room and keep an eye on Nuns of Vanity: if they stay immune for more than 10 seconds, then either Crystal Ball is spawned with Cold Immune modifier or hasn't lose enough hp. In the latter case either remake the game or go back to Underground Passage, resummon your army, re-apply Hymn and teleport to the ball in order to finish it with Hailstorm. Stack additional lightning resists in order not to be killed
by High Clerics. When the monsters lose their immunity they are easy prey for the Blood Knight. Just watch out for Guard Towers summoned by Inarius. A stream of arrows can easily kill you.

Gear: Doable with TU gear but requires crafting a rare amulet with Hailstorm oskill.

Vizjun: This uber requires you to do a respec: smax Tainted Blood, Stormlord, Blessed Life and put several points into Rapture from the Holy Influence tree. Prebuff yourself with Tainted Blood and Rapture, enter the level and proceed to the boss. You have to bind at least two keys: for Divine Apparition and Purify. 1 Purify is enough for the boss to be killed. Pick up the charm, Save&Exit. Farm yourself a charm with a good Vitality bonus (at least 40 to Vitality).

Gear: Not a single robot can be killed while doing this uber, so, in theory, it's doable with TU gear. I had a crafted sword with Balefire proc and
Malthael's Ward
Malthael's Ward
Sash (Sacred)

Defense: 1013 to 1027
Required Level: 80
Required Strength:
400
Item Level: 1
+1 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(11 to 15)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(11 to 15)% to Cold Spell Damage
+(26 to 38)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(21 to 40) to Vitality
(11 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -20%
Socketed (2)

Malthael's Sanctuary
(Paladin Ritualist Set)
equipped in case the charm is surrounded by a pack of monsters that are needed to be killed first.

Toraja: Fortunately for us, LoSiM from Hymn works with immune monsters here. Both Celebrants and Morlus have ridiculously low hp, so they can be killed with Terror Strike only (it will trigger Plague Avatar/Balefire). Try to separate Lilith from her minions, because the archers are capable to hitlock you with ease. Keep summoning Edyrem on your RMB all the time.

Gear: Doable with TU gear, farming is possible with TU gear as well.

Startled Witch: You can use
Hivemind
Hivemind
Blackguard Helm (Sacred)

Defense: (1828 - 2092) to (1927 - 2206)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Dexterity: 387
Item Level: 105
+(2 to 3) to Paladin Skill Levels
+(20 to 30)% to Spell Damage
-(25 to 35)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(16 to 19) to Hive
+(31 to 40)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(87 to 114)% Enhanced Defense
Maximum Mana +25%
Poison Resist +30%
Socketed (4)
that has Summon Darklings oskill (they are immune to her attacks) to hide behind those minions, but since the boss ignores your magic resists and uses attacks that pierce through your minions, she is capable to one-shot you very quickly. From my experience, her fast knockback missile deals almost 15k damage which will leave you with only a little hp. In theory, this uberquest is doable on Single Player, but you'll need a lot of patience and fast reactions in order to avoid her deadly attacks. Make sure you have about 150.000 Attack Rating. Put half of your points into dexterity, half into vitality. Use Wyrd on the boss and then Purify her, then use Wyrd again to apply Open Wounds. Dodge her missiles/novas, resummon Darklings if needed, use Wyrd till she is dead. If you play online, bringing a party will ease the job.

Gear: Requires dedicated gear. Obtain 100% Open Wounds (
Ripstar
Ripstar
Ring

Required Level: 60
Item Level: 60
+0.5625 to Maximum Damage (Based on Character Level)
+20 Life on Melee Attack
) and a magic ring which has to be cubed with 15 +1 to Wyrd Mystic Orbs.

Uldyssian: We will be using Malthael's set to get -100 enemy lightning and cold resistance and will be doing the stages using different skills. Before you start doing this uberquest, you have to craft a circlet with +(2 to 6) to Psicrown modifier. Psicrown is the skill that unleashes fast homing bolts that deal massive magic damage on impact (you have seen this skill in action while doing Duncriag - Necromorbs cast it, and Judgement day - Psicrown is casted by avatars when they spawn). This skill benefits from the total amount of mana you currently have, so it makes sense to respec all your points into energy for that purpose. For Uldyssian invest half points into vitality, half into dexterity.

► Uldyssian memories

In XVI patch the final fight with the boss was changed. Uldyssian now constantly summons Edyrem which are hostile both to you and to each other. Edyrem are able to kill you in a few hits, but if you just stay away from them, they won't recognise you as a potential threat and continue fighting each other. Unfortunately, the final fight is almost impossible to do on Single Player with our build because we don't have a large AoE WDM attack (like bowazon's Barrage) that will both kill Edyrem and apply Open Wounds to the boss. Bringing a friend on Realm changes the situation dramatically.

► Uldyssian boss fight positioning

Where a yellow dot displays the boss and two blue dots display two players. One player can clear Edyrem with Mind Flay, the other one will be purifying Uldyssian and applying Open Wounds on him. This may not be the best strategy, but if you position yourself as shown in the picture (or similar) both Uldyssian and his Edyrem will not pose a significant threat.

Gear: All stages are doable with full Malthael's set but also require some additional gear such as a crafted circlet with Psicrown oskill and a rare amulet with Hailstorm oskill. For Uldyssian obtain 100% Open Wounds (
Ripstar
Ripstar
Ring

Required Level: 60
Item Level: 60
+0.5625 to Maximum Damage (Based on Character Level)
+20 Life on Melee Attack
) and a magic ring which has to be cubed with 15 +1 to Wyrd Mystic Orbs.

The Void: I haven't finished the uber yet (still lack Scroll of Pride), will update it later. I've been using Malthael's set to kill Soul of Gluttony, Soul of Envy and Soul of Lust with Mind Flay. Soul of Greed and Soul of Sloth are killable with Symphony of Destruction. Use Scourges to protect yourself from Soul of Sloth on-death proc.

Gear: All souls are killable with using full Malthael's set. Soul of Wrath requires
The Dragon's Star
. Cast Rathma's Chosen on your minion and watch the Soul attacking it. Reapply RC till the Soul kills itself.



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Summoning uberquests:

The Butcher: Hits hard but dies fast. Thanks to our insane attack speed the boss will die before he is able to do serious damage. Use Scourges to make him spawn a pentagram then use Divine Apparition to lure him onto it. Kill with Blood Thorns.

Gear: Doable with TU gear.

The Binding of Baal: Lure Tal Rasha's minions one by one to a narrow passage leading to the Lost City. Stun Attack from Demhe Runeword will stunlock Horadric Mages. Summon Scourges, teleport on Tal Rasha when he loses immunity and kill him with your spells.

Gear: Doable with TU gear. Stack perfect gems to get additional max.resistances.

Assault on Mount Arreat: Separate the Bear Tribe warriors from King Koth and kill them one by one. When all minions are killed, summon Scourges, teleport on the boss and kill him with your spells. Symhony of Destruction will speed up the job before he is able to heal.

Gear: Doable with TU gear.

Akarat: His minions are not tankable since they are able to 1-shot you with Hammertime spell. Try to separate them from Akarat and let Symhony of Destruction kill them one by one. When there are 1-2 minions left, lure any of them to the place where Akarat is, kill the minion and after that kill the boss with Hailstorm. He can be faced in melee range, so surviving his attacks shouldn't be a problem. Farm yourself a trophy.

Gear: Doable with TU gear but requires crafting a rare amulet with Hailstorm oskill.

Inarius' Revenge: Summon them in Cathedral of Vanity after you kill all monsters there. Simply run in circles through the cathedral and let Symhony of Destruction kill the boss and his minions for you.

Gear: Doable with TU gear.

Legacy of Blood: Okay, if you're trying to kill Blood Golems, you're doing it wrong and will be dying all the time doing this uberquest. The startegy is to summon as many Scourges as possible, use Divine Apparition to jump on Bartuc, stay for a couple of seconds (Blood Golems will damage minions, not you) and when the boss becomes blue-colored, kill him with your spells. Occasionally you may die after you kill Bartuc - it will depends on how fast Blood Golems will kill all your minions.

Gear: Doable with TU gear.

Lord Aldric Jitan: Summon him in a narrow corridor near the entrance to the Halls of Anguish. After that, quickly go back and wait for the Rakkis Guardsmen going out. Kill them one by one, avoiding on-death Singularity proc and when all minions are dead, summon as many Scourges as you can. The strategy is to immediately teleport on the top of Jitan so he won't be able to cast Fortress. His Lifeblood regeneration spell is very annoying so you should kill him with Hailstorm before he heals.

Gear: Doable with TU gear but requires crafting a rare amulet with Hailstorm oskill.

Judgement Day: Respec all stat points into energy. Gamble a random magic ring and cube it with 5 +1 to Summon Daystar Mystic Orbs. Use Mid Flay on LMB (while holding Shift) to kill the boss when he spawns. Get at least -80% enemy lightning resistance (possible with gambling rare rings and cubing them with -enemy lightning resistance Mystic Orbs. Keep summoning Daystars on RMB all the time. If you're lucky enough, you will kill the boss before you run out of mana.

Judgement Day Upgrade: Requires a lot of luck - after you kill an avatar, pray for the different one to be spawned as soon as possible. Nothing much to say, except that this upgrade part can be extremely annoying and may require dozens of tries before you complete it.

Gear: Doable with TU gear. Try to get as much %Lightning Spell Damage as possible. Socket Ort runes to get more.

Zorun Tzin: Smax Tainted Blood, Blessed Life, Stormlord and Terror Strike, remaining points into Blood Thorns. Kill Terul and all Goliaths in Hidden Fortress. Navigate the level in order to gather all Sewer Rats (Ratfinks) into an uppermost area where they will stay for the whole boss fight. Summon Zorun Tzin in the lowermost area and apply Terror Strike to enable Blood Thorns. Damage him with Blood Thorns while standing still to avoid his instakilling spell. When the boss summons a statue that grants him invulnerability, lure him 1,5 screens away to get rid of invilnerability aura from the statues and keep damaging him with Blood Thorns. When there are too many Sewer Rats around you, you have to escape from the boss so he won't follow you and lure all rats into the uppermost area where you previously gathered initially spawned rats. Use Divine Apparition to teleport to the middle area of the level. In order to kill the statues, go back to the area where Zorun Tzin spawned them (he has to be 2-3 screens away from that area) and use Purify from
Assur's Bane
to kill all statues. After that, go back to the boss and keep damaging him till he is dead.
:!: It is important to control your movement. If you keep moving all the time while luring the boss to another area of the level, you will have bigger chances to get instakilled. Stand still for some time after the boss teleports on you and as soon as his missiles are vanished, continue moving forward. :!:

Gear: Doable with full Malthael's set. Get at least -175% enemy fire resistance (roll a rare ring and an amulet for that reason).

Brother Laz: I've been using the same strategy as suchbalance in his tantrumdin guide. It works great and does not require super rare gear to succeed. I will write some more details soon.

Gear: Coming soon.

MarcoNecroX: Respec to full caster build, smaxing Mind Flay, Rapture and Tainted Blood. Use Scourges to make the boss hit them so he can trigger an exclamation mark ( :!: ) above his head and pray for the successful lightning resists drop. MNX casts homing Magic Missiles that will instakill you so it is important to move as fast as you can, quickly resummoning Scourges and going back to fight.

Gear: Ornate crafted gear with at least 30-60% Lightning Spell Damage on each (not counting additional damage from crafted jewels and Mystic Orbs),
MISSINGNO, the Paladin
is a must as well as -199% enemy lightning resistance. Needless to say that you should already have about 90% ubercharms in your inventory before you try this uberquest.



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Uberlevels:

Cow Level: The easiest uberlevel for the Blood Knight. Blood Thorns and Balefire, thanks to their good AoE, totally annihilate everything on their path. You don't need Lightning Arena or Scourges to feel safe in this area.

Gear: Farming/leveling to 121 requires a crafted sword with Balefire proc.

Kurast 3000 B.A.: Plague Avatar from Demhe Runeword will melt all skeletons as soon as they drop resistances. For obtaining the charm use the same strategy as while doing Ennead Challenge: surround yourself with Scourges and let the boss target them with Miasma instead of you.

Gear: Doable with TU gear, farming requires a crafted sword with Balefire proc.

Island of the Sunless Sea: A rather annoying place due to Sunless Revelers that cast Pain Spirit, dealing massive magic damage. Both bosses require summoning Scourges in order to distract them. Avoid being killed near the pack of monsters as there are invisible foes which will prevent you from recovering your corpse.

Gear: Doable with a crafted sword that has Balefire proc.

Khalimgrad: Enter the area, teleport behing the upper wall and start killing Ethereals to dispel Avatar's immunities. If you surround yourself with Scourges you can teleport through the map to kill another Avatars, but remaking the game and killing the nearest (upper) Avatar will be much faster.

Gear: Doable with TU gear.

Tran Athulua: It could be easy, because both Plague Avatar and Balefire kill amazons almost instantly, but due to Arrowside proc that is capable of killing you in a matter of seconds, this uberquest requires proceeding with caution, avoiding fighting with big packs of amazons. Occasionally you may tank a full stream of arrows from Arrowside if you don't stop hitting amazons and gaining life on striking from Hymn buff. Farm yourself a trophy.

Gear: Doable with TU gear, farming requires a crafted sword with Balefire proc.

Fauztinville: Kinda tricky uber, where you may erase a big pack of enemies without losing any hp and dying a few seconds after because you got yourself hitlocked. There's no chance to predict how hard the monsters will hit you: if they hit you when Terror Strike was not activated and there's no minion/reanimate around you, you're pretty much dead. Hide in Lightning Arena, use Vindicate to heal yourself, drink potions and be sure you have at least 49% DR with your gear and Blessed Life. Fortunately, the area is big, so when you start feeling safe in the area, farming a Qor rune won't take much time.

Gear: Farming requires a crafted sword with Balefire proc,
Malthael's Ward
Malthael's Ward
Sash (Sacred)

Defense: 1013 to 1027
Required Level: 80
Required Strength:
400
Item Level: 1
+1 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(11 to 15)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(11 to 15)% to Cold Spell Damage
+(26 to 38)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(21 to 40) to Vitality
(11 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -20%
Socketed (2)

Malthael's Sanctuary
(Paladin Ritualist Set)
and
Malthael's Stride
for Flamestrike proc to feel safe in this area.

The Truine: All monsters here have kinda low hp, so it's actually possible to clear the whole level with TU gear and Demhe Runeword. Just avoid being killed by the Temple Spires. Kraken Guards cannot harm you if you stack enough cold resistance. You can easily farm this level in order to get a few Cycles of Power with a good Vitality bonus and Cycles of Luck with good Magic Find bonus.

Gear: Farming requires a crafted sword with Balefire proc.

Arihan execution: Tricky. Requires a lot of patience. Dire Charm is actually, a very unreliable oskill because we cannot control the time needed before Arihan becomes hostile. If you're planning to get your charm and never come back here again, just use your Dire Charm oskill from the Tome of Possession you got from Vaca Loca. Body recovery is not hard if you have cleaned the battle area of all monsters beforehead. Use Scourges to distract Arihan so his 1 hp curse will affect them, not you. 1 pt Mind Flay is enough to kill the bats which are spawned by Primus' Messenger. If the boss fight took you lots of nerves and time, it may be useful to use another source of monster convertion. One of them being Charm oskill from
Issalfarstafr
. We can control charm duration, so the whole boss fight should take less time now.
:!: Don't forget to re-equip the Tome of Possession if you die! You can check the 100% avoid aura by summoning Scourges (green aura around their feet) :!:

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Gear: Requires
Issalfarstafr
to farm the boss for +5 to Paladin Skill Levels charm.

The Unformed Land: Oh, yeah, this is our favourite place! In midgame we'll have around 1000 Life on Striking in Melee from Hymn buff. This is enough to forget about survivability issues in this uberquest. Though we won't reach the killspeed of a werewolf druid, we are able to clear the whole place rather fast. You won't even need any Scourges to cover you from elemental missiles. Also, the level density can be very different when you remake the game, so use empty corridors to heal yourself from poison as poison elementals possess the biggest threat to us. Stacking resists is useless here.
:!: Keep in mind that jumping straight into a huge pack of monsters is a very foolhardy act as it will lead to your instant death if all missiles collide with your body with you unable to perform an attack :!:

Gear: Farming requires a crafted sword with Balefire proc.

Terul execution: Lure all ratfinks in the nearby area to the entrance, summon Scourges and then use Divine Apparition to teleport on the opposite side (where Terul is). Kill him with Hailstorm. Repeat till you get at least 5 Trader's Chests. We will be cubing it with a ruby for Vitality bonus. Good roll will be 100+ to Vitality. Also, I usually destroy the charm if it rolls with less than -45 to Energy.

Gear: Requires crafting a rare amulet with Hailstorm oskill.

Kingdom of Shadow: Use the same strategy as for Vizjun uberquest: do a respec and max out Tainted Blood, Stormlord, Blessed Life and put several points into Rapture from the Holy Influence tree. Prebuff yourself with Tainted Blood and Rapture, enter the level and rush to the narrow bridge that leads to the boss. Use Scourges to protect you from the zombies and Darkspawns on the bridge till you finally get to Juris Khan. Balefire will melt him in a few seconds as he never spawns with Magic Immune modifier. Pick up the charm, Save&Exit.

Gear: Doable with a crafted sword that has Balefire proc.

Ghosts of Old Bremmtown: In order to be able to kill the boss within 3 minutes after entering the level, use the following strategy: put Summon Edyrem skill on your RMB and keep summoning them a half screen away from you so all monsters that hide in the area will jump on them instead of you. Rush ahead and destroy Howling Spirits with Terror Strike (it will activate Balefire proc), resummon Edyrem, repeat till you get to the boss. Hymn will help you with gaining hp on your way. The Dragon has low health, so you should kill him before he summons more Howling Spirits and casts Death Spiral. Beware if you left him with 1/3 hp or less - he will start to flee and you won't be able to kill him on time.

Gear: Best doable with a crafted sword that has Balefire proc, and
Malthael's Ward
Malthael's Ward
Sash (Sacred)

Defense: 1013 to 1027
Required Level: 80
Required Strength:
400
Item Level: 1
+1 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(11 to 15)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(11 to 15)% to Cold Spell Damage
+(26 to 38)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(21 to 40) to Vitality
(11 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -20%
Socketed (2)

Malthael's Sanctuary
(Paladin Ritualist Set)
to feel safe in this area. Don't even think of attempting it without having Crystalline Flame Medallion from Judgement Day uberquest.

Duncraig: Reanimates are essential here. Be sure to already have Fool's Gold and at least one item on your gear that has reanimates when you first enter the area. Also, having Terror Strike enabled all the time is crucial, as when it wears off, you become very vulnerable to any monsters in there, being unable to cast Blood Thorns and not having enough defense. That's why, having
Malthael's Ward
Malthael's Ward
Sash (Sacred)

Defense: 1013 to 1027
Required Level: 80
Required Strength:
400
Item Level: 1
+1 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(11 to 15)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(11 to 15)% to Cold Spell Damage
+(26 to 38)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(21 to 40) to Vitality
(11 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -20%
Socketed (2)

Malthael's Sanctuary
(Paladin Ritualist Set)
is great. If you don't have it, use the following trick: before you teleport behind a wall, use Dark Summoning and kill the spawned monster with Terror Strike so the skill will stay activated. After that, teleport to another area and immediately use Blood Thorns to clear your way so you won't need to use Divine Apparition to avoid 1hit KO barrels. Stack perfect gems for additional poison resistance (against Slain Souls that throw poison seeds) and fire resistance (against Assur). Kill all Assur's Lieutenants, gather their sigils in order to create
Assur's Bane
. The boss will die from 1 purify if you manage to hit him once (thanks to 50% Open Wounds we get from The Buther's Tooth).

Gear: Doable with a crafted sword that has Balefire proc. Farming also requires
Malthael's Ward
Malthael's Ward
Sash (Sacred)

Defense: 1013 to 1027
Required Level: 80
Required Strength:
400
Item Level: 1
+1 to Paladin Skill Levels
+(11 to 15)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(11 to 15)% to Cold Spell Damage
+(26 to 38)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(21 to 40) to Vitality
(11 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -20%
Socketed (2)

Malthael's Sanctuary
(Paladin Ritualist Set)
to feel safe in this area.

Yshari Sanctum: A rather annoying maze where you cannot teleport behind walls (except for certain places). The main boss that drops the charm requires you to gather a full Yshari set: 5 set pieces are obtained from the minibosses (4/5 chance to drop), 5 other set pieces are dropped by their minions (1/16 chance to drop). The maze itself can be easily cleared with your midgame gear. Watch out for Polar Worms at the 3rd stage that cast Hellgate on death (summon 44 hostile elite monsters) that can cause serious fps drop and extreme lagging. Either leave the worms alone or kill them, step a screen away and use 1 pt Mind Flay to kill all summoned non-lightning immune monsters. Other dangerous monsters at the 3rd stage are Iron Giants that can be killed with Hailstorm or left alone as well. The 4th stage has Swampy Reptiles that can be killed with Blood Thorns but are better left alone, as these monsters have very high health. Finally, the 5th stage is inhabited with Celestial Descendants that can occasionally one-shot you with Storm Crows if all knives collide with your body. So I strongly recommend keeping yourself surrounded with Scourges at all time while you proceed to Baal miniboss/Valthek through the final stage.

  • Dul'Mephistos (miniboss): the hardest miniboss (or the most annoying one), as he summons multiple Veil Kings that instakill you and casts Force Nova that knocks you back. The startegy is to respec all stat points into Energy and kill Mephisto using Psicrown oskill. Summon as many Scourges as possible, kill all Earth Fiends, approach the boss and damage him with Psicrown.

    ► Mephisto fight positioning

    Be prepared for his Force Nova: after he casts it, quickly use Divine Apparition to jump on him and finish with Psicrown, otherwise he will heal and summon Veil Kings that will quickly kill you. Body recovery is almost impossible here, so you have to kill it on your first try.

  • Andariel (miniboss): kill all Giant Skeletons, summon Scourges and let them tank the boss. Kill Andariel with Blood Thorns.

    ► Andariel fight positioning

    Andariel can hardly do any harm if you keep her busy attacking Scourges (they are immune to her spells). Note that she can also heal herself, so you have to be quick.

  • Al'Diablos (miniboss): kill all Chimaeras one by one, using Psicrown oskill. When there are none of them left, approach the boss and kill him with Hailstorm.

    ► Diablo fight positioning

    If you use Psicrown against the boss, you will probably run out of mana and the boss will quickly heal himself. Thus, if you really want to kill Diablo with Psicrown, equip some items that increase your max.amount of mana such as
    Teganze Pendant
    Teganze Pendant
    Amulet

    Required Level: 60
    Item Level: 70
    +1 to All Skills
    +10% to Fire Spell Damage
    +10% to Lightning Spell Damage
    +10% to Cold Spell Damage
    Maximum Life +(3 to 5)%
    Maximum Mana +(20 to 30)%
    Elemental Resists +10%
    +(13 to 38) Mana after each Kill
    , if you happen to find one.

  • Duriel (miniboss): kill all Demon Lords with Hailstorm. Don't use any minions agianst Duriel, because he can get Titan Stance (which make him unvulnerable to all damage) when he hits somebody. Kill him with Blood Thorns.

    ► Duriel fight positioning

    The boss can hardly do any harm because Hymn provides huge LoSiM, so your goal is to spam Blood Thorns till Duriel is dead. Occasionally he will still get Titan Stance, so just wait till it wears off and try again.

  • Tor'Baalos (miniboss): kill all Thokolas with Hailstorm (other skills are not useful because these minions have huge life regen). The boss has life regen as well and is immune to all sources of damage but Physical. Unfortunately, none of our spells can cause any harm to him, so we will have to create
    Amok


    Amok
    Bows

    'GurUmBer'
    Runeword Level: 115
    3% Chance to cast level 17 Gift of Inner Fire on Kill
    90% Attack Speed
    -25% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
    +200% Enhanced Damage
    -25% to Enemy Cold Resistance
    +(34 to 39) to Tantrum
    Slow Target (5 to 10)%
    Elemental Resists +10%
    +5 Life on Striking
    Runeword and obtain 100% Open Wounds (
    Ripstar
    Ripstar
    Ring

    Required Level: 60
    Item Level: 60
    +0.5625 to Maximum Damage (Based on Character Level)
    +20 Life on Melee Attack
    or
    Lacuni Cowl
    Lacuni Cowl
    Skull Cap (Sacred)

    Defense: (2865 - 3115) to (2964 - 3222)
    Required Level: 90
    Required Strength: 550
    Item Level: 105
    Orb Effects Applied to this Item are Doubled
    Adds 150-200 Fire Damage
    Adds 150-200 Lightning Damage
    -(5 to 20)% to Enemy Fire Resistance
    -(5 to 20)% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
    +(130 to 150)% Enhanced Defense
    Maximum Elemental Resists +(0 to 1)%
    2% Reanimate as: Random Monster
    Socketed (4)
    ). Summon as many Scourges as you can and spam Tantrum on Baal. The minions will serve as a shield against Fortress that is casted by the boss.

    ► Baal fight positioning

    Simply keep spamming Tantrum and make sure you are surrounded with Scourges all the time. Drink potions if necessary. Baal often blinks away from Tantrum so it is important to not let Open Wounds wear off, otherwise the boss will heal.

  • Valthek (main boss): has 4 abilities:

    • summons Godsman Guards (needed to use spells from Yshari set);
    • casts Fire Nova (deals little to no damage);
    • casts lightning bolts that instakill you (blockable - you get 75% block from yshari set, which is more than enough to not be afraid of this skill);
    • casts Broadside that deals more damage at close range.
    Yshari set gives you two attacking spells: Arcane Blast (Tempest clone that deals magic damage - has no timer - use it to kill Godsman Guards) and Holybolt (Purify clone - has 5 sec. timer - use it to damage Valthek). Also we have to do a respec: smax Tainted Blood, Stormlord and Rapture (or put 5 points here if you are not used to superfast walking speed). Use normal attack to destroy the totem and step back to not be surrounded with Godsman Guards (if none of them appeared, summon 1 Hoplite as a target and Valthek will summon Guards on top of your minion). Cast Arcane Blast until there are only a few Godsman Guards left and after that, lure the rest of them to the boss. Always keep 2-3 Godsman Guards near Valthek so you can damage him with Holybolt.

    ► Valthek fight positioning

    Run in circles near the boss, dodging Broadside and cast Holybolt. If all Godsman Guards are dead, let Valthek summon more, kill 3/4 of them, and lure the rest to the boss so you can continue damaging the boss.

Gear: Doable with a crafted sword that has Balefire proc but also some additional gear is required: a crafted circlet with Psicrown oskill and a rare amulet with Hailstorm oskill.

Wretched Hive: In order to kill the boss we have to do a respec: smax Blessed Life, Stormlord, Tainted Blood, Mind Flay and put 20 points into Slayer. Put the leftovers into Terror Strike, Blood Thorns and Hymn (1 point will grant you about 320 LoSiM). Stats - either full Energy for damage or full Vitality for survivability. Socket your gear with perfect gems till you get at least 450% Fire and Poison resistance and 95% max of the same resistances. We will make our way to the boss using Blood Thorns and Balefire proc. Hymn will solve all survivability issues. When you get to Brachyceran it is important to clear nearby area of untargetable maggots by luring them away and using Divine Apparition to return back from another way. Go to the boss area, wait till the Maggot Curse wears off and quickly kill all targetable monsters there. Use Scourges to serve you a shield when you are under Maggot Curse. When there are no monsters apart from several untargetable maggots left, switch to Mind Flay and spam this skill till the boss is dead.

Gear: Doable with full Malthael's set. Socket with crafted jewels (must have at least 3% Lightning Spell Damage) or Ort runes for bigger Mind Flay damage. Equip some rare rings till you get at least -175% enemy lightning resistance.



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Heroic bosses:

Baal: If you have no MO space on your Demhe Runeword, create a new one and cube it with 15 1% Chance to cast Level 3 Miasma on Attack Mystic Orbs in order to slow down both Baal and his minions. Use Blood Thorns to kill Baal. Don't forget to equip a piece of gear with R.I.P. modifier on it to prevent reanimates spawning as it will lead to incredible amount of Shardspawns summoned.

Gear: Doable with TU gear. Might also require cubing some gear with additional -enemy fire resistance Mystic Orbs. Try to get at least -130% in total.

Bull Prince Rodeo: It is essential to have at least 1000 LoSiM from Hymn in order to survive BPR's Fowl Fight (homing chicken) attack. Blood Thorns will make him lose at least 1/2 of his hp if you have enough -enemy fire resistance. If he does not heal in the next few seconds when his fire immunity is restored, you are on halfway to success as you only need one more successful fire immunity drop to finish him and grab your charm. He aslo drops poison immunity which means that Symphony of Destruction will also damage him if you don't forget to prebuff it beforehead.

Gear: Doable with a crafted sword that has Balefire proc. Farm him until you get a charm with a good Vitality bonus (at least +25 to Vitality) and/or good reanimate.

► Useful reanimates


Belial: The easiest heroic boss for the Blood Knight because of extremely weak heroic shield that will drop poison, fire and magic immunity rather othen. He casts Burn Nova that will reduce your life to 1 in a few seconds. Fortunately for us, LoSiM from Hymn is not affected by Burn Nova, so you can hardly die if you keep hitting the boss all the time. Just don't forget to separate ratfinks to a distant corner of the map - opposite to the area where you will fight Belial. Farm him for a 450+ to Life charm.

Gear: Doable with a crafted sword that has Balefire proc - it will wipe out all Henchmen around him before they are able to cast Punishers.

Quov Tsin: Kill him with Blood Thorns. It could be an easy uberquest for us, but due to the terrible hit recovery, you will get yourself hitlocked with a Trinity Beam most of the time. The boss fight can be very annoying and the Blood Knight is not really able to farm him for the trophy using melee spec (which is extremely useful, as it adds +15% to Spell Damage). Going full caster build, however, will save your time needed for obtaining the charm.

Gear: Doable with TU gear with partial honorific gear (must have stats: 60 flat Damage Reduction; All Resists +310, 180% Faster Hit Recovery). In the end you must have around 450 fire/cold/lightning/poison resists and 92 all max.resistances in order to make Quov Tsin dealing zero damage.

Astrogha: Not that hard as you might think. The boss spawns Spider Statues that summon Darklings before destroying themselves. Also Astrogha will cast 1hit KO Frozen Orb if you or your minion is standing too close to him. Now a few words about minions: we will be using Hoplites instead of Scourges as they have 50% physical resistance and will completely ignore the damage dealt by Darklings. For the actual execution we will be using Mind Flay as Blood Thorns spell is too unreliable as it will occasionally destroy Spider Statues. Thus, smax Tainted Blood, Stormlord, Blessed Life and Mind Flay. Leave Slayer at 1 pt so we can have 2 Mind Flay missiles instead of 4 for safety reasons. The strategy is to surround yourself with Hoplites (as you will be also surrounded with Darklings, Hoplites won't move, granting you an excellent protection against Darklings). Astrogha will teleport a lot, so you must do the execution from the middle or moderately short distance (but not too short in order to prevent him casting Frozen Orb). Long distance is bad, as it allows Astrogha spawn Spider Statues in your line of sight so you will hardly be able to see him. You will probably die several times while doing the execution, but the good news are that body recovery is extremely easy here. Even if you die right in front of the boss, summon Hoplites - there will always be 5 of them - and pick up your body by using Divine Apparition. I find it easier to fight the boss if there are no other monsters left, so make sure you clear the whole Mausoleum level before you summon Astrogha.

Another strategy which is more suitable for farming the boss is using Ensi Enhanced Runeword (SolXis into a Tepoztopilli). Smax Terror Strike, Tainted Blood, Stormlord and Blessed Life. Cataclysm will deal significant damage so you will be able to farm a good charm with at least +400 to Life. Respec all stat points into Energy. The startegy for killing is to use our long range weapon to activate Cataclysm proc. Even if you kill a Spider Statue, Astrogha will most likely teleport away before the statue is able to heal him. You may die a lot more, using this startegy, but you are also able to kill Astrogha faster when he drops his fire immunity, as Cataclysm deals much more damage than Mind Flay if most fireballs collide with a single target.

Gear: Doable with full Malthael's set.

Kabraxis: There are two different ways to do the uber. The first one requires no additional gear except for the full Malthael's set. Smax Stormlord, Tainted Blood, Mind Flay and put 20 points into Slayer. Respec all stat points into Energy. Try to reach -199 enemy lightning resistance and be sure to have R.I.P. modifier on your gear. The most tricky thing in this uber is to use a right combination of skills in a right time. These are being Divine Apparition and Mind Flay. Destroy the Pillar of Skulls and wait for the boss telport on top of you. After that you have about 0,5 seconds before you teleport away and about 1 second before Kabraxis casts Balefire spell that will quickly kill you. After that use Mind Flay to clear all skeletons and circle around the boss, dodging Balefire. Occasionally he may teleport away, summoning more skeletons, so the problem is to stay alive because if at least 1 Balefire gets you, you're either dead or left with little hp. His heroic shield is tough so the execution may take a lot of time.

The second way requires you having a rare amulet with Hailstorm oskill and
The Veil of Magic
. Before you enter the Black Road level, unequip your R.I.P. modifier gear, summon Spirit of Vengeance from any dead body in Upper Kurast/Causeway and re-equip that gear back. The startegy is to make Kabraxis teleport on Spirit of Vengeance (she is immune to all damage). After that, use Hailstorm to kill Kabraxis. You won't need lots of -enemy cold resistance for that reason (around -140 is enough). The tricky part is that Spirit of Vengeance will reanimate monsters from skeletons' bodies no matter if you have R.I.P. modifier or not. Reanimates will make Kabraxis spawn more flesh monsters and skeletons. Hailstorm is able to kill the boss much faster than if you were using Mind Flay but it's too unreliable because if Kabraxis teleports away, Hailstorm will be hitting an empty place, making it hard to see where did the boss teleport. It will often lead to lagging and reaching sprite limit so the chances that you may die are very high unlike when using Mind Flay startegy where you may die because of misclicking - randomly using Divine Apparition instead of Mind Flay.

► Elemental seals


Gear: Doable with full Malthael's set. Requires having R.I.P. modifier on your gear. The second strategy requires a rare amulet with Hailstorm oskill and
The Veil of Magic
.



Screenshots



► Fauztinville

► Duncraig

► Bremmtown

► Tran Athulua

► Unformed Land and Kurast 3000 B.A.

► The Truine

► Astrogha, Brachyceran

► Zorun Tzin





Credits

BrotherLaz and Marco - for the best D2 mod ever created;
Quirinus - for the awesome documentation;
suchbalance - for helping me with item code and for his detailed Brother Laz strategy;
Thank you for reading.




Image

Edited by Stealthmaster 7 years.
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mahitovec
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Nice. You tried ensi+lemures?
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adaxe
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Could be a war scepter be better than a crystal sword, since one can have "+ paladin skill" stat on it?
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illusion
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thanks for writing all the guides :)
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mahitovec

This combo is fine early game when the damage is sufficient to kill monsters on Hatred/Terror, however I don't like Lemures mechanics, as being said. Using it endgame will probably require EnsiXis rune for better results. Moreover, it cannot kill monsters with double fire/cold immunitites. I've been using Lemures earlygame and sometimes it can be very frustrating that most homing spirits search for only a few enemies, sometimes of them being with cold immunity. Also, target seek increase with each soft point make Lemures search for the enemy in the long range - and we need a stable AoE that will always hit desire enemies (i'm talking about Blood Thorns). Finally, the guide wouldn't be called 'Blood Knight' but just plain 'unholy melee' if I mentioned using Lemures as alternative for endgame.

adaxe

Yes, it could, and this is the only advantage over the crystal sword since all other stats are the same. I see a scepter more like a weapon for true casters (holy/unholy) so I choose the sword to make it look as a more cool weapon for a melee paladin.

What is more, I didn't want to show that 'you must craft Balefire scepter with +4 pala skill levels', since it would be a much more rare combination (as being said, Balefire rolls every ~5th shrine -50 charge), so let the people just craft the proc and be fine. By the way, endgame all your 1 pt skills have around 39-43 skill points onswitch so using scepter over the sword just for those extra 4 pala skills makes no big difference.
Edited by Stealthmaster 7 years.
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Nah 4 skill is pretty huge difference and i believe you know that.
Why no ssu kite shield?
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Stealthmaster
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mahitovec wrote:Why no ssu kite shield?


I was expecting someone to post such a question. The shield is good indeed, and since it happened so fast that someone mentioned this item, I've already added it to the guide. Didn't add before, because I wanted to avoid more SSU or any SSSU alternatives completely.
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cool guide :)