Unholy Melee Paladin [105-125 content in TU's]

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Crescent
Cultist
23 | 2
Captcha wrote:Thanks for the builds Elendilli and Crescent.

Crescent - it would be good to see the farming build you mentioned, if you have time to post it.

BTW why do people max Tainted Blood when the diminishing returns seem quite severe? By the time I've put 10 points in it, it's only reducing the time taken for regen (of 100% life) by 0.6 seconds.



Oh, the farming build... I call it "lazyglasscanon".

It mostly based on Kirimaru's (page 15 of this topic - don't know if there is a way to get link to certain post) & Bonespirit's (can't find, really) investigations.

You'll have to die if few random missiles will hit you, so you'll have to run-run-run, it's so easy, thanks to godlike movespeed. Just run and rebuff sometimes. No other actions needed. EVERYTHING on your way just melts.

At level 140 i have around 12k hp with described build. Low defence, no resistances, no regen. Nothing. Only pure damage and ~350% magic find.

Stats:
Energy. That's all.
It works around % EXPERIENCE GAINED, so max it.

Talents:
Window 1:
Grim presence - supermax;
Vessel of justice - supermax;
Life and death - 1 (must have, because it burns trash monsters x3,14 faster)
Symphony of destruction - supermax;
Stormlord - supermax;
Everything you wish for the rest few points (i prefer some FHR coming from Possession).

Window 2:
Nothing.

Window 3:
Divine apparition - 1;
Blessed life - 1;
Superbeast - 1.

Gear:
Weapon:
Deckard Cain's Heirloom
Deckard Cain's Heirloom
Short Staff (Sacred)

Two-Hand Damage: 53 to 55
Required Level: 100
Required Dexterity: 188
Item Level: 120
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.15 per Dexterity)%
+2.5% Spell Damage per 1% Additional Experience Gain
+1 to All Skills
+50% Damage to Undead
-(20 to 25)% to Enemy Fire Resistance
-(20 to 25)% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
-(20 to 25)% to Enemy Cold Resistance
Maximum Fire Resist +2%
Maximum Lightning Resist +2%
Maximum Cold Resist +2%
2% Reanimate as: Random Monster
(21 to 60)% Magic Find
''Knowledge is Power''
Socketed (3)
- it's the main build-builder. If you haven't that - forget about the build.

Boots, belt, gloves, helm - Eerie crafted & blessed armor pieces (don't matter of which type - you'll have no defence in any way). You need as many +% EXPERIENCE GAINED as possible. Btw, helms can proc +5 pala skills, gloves +2 pala skills, belt +2 pala skills, boots - nothing special.

Another AMAZING option for belt:
Lilith's Temptation
Lilith's Temptation
Plated Belt (Sacred)

Defense: (3680 - 4089) to (4031 - 4479)
Required Level: 100
Item Level: 105
3% Chance to cast level 2 Time Strike on Striking
+(170 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
-100 to Life
(60 to 100)% Magic Find
Requirements -100%
Socketed (2)
with high magic find.

Body:
Robe of Steel
Robe of Steel
Full Plate Mail (Sacred)

Defense: (6692 - 7471) to (8202 - 9156)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength:
469
Item Level: 105
+(11 to 20)% Bonus to Spell Focus
25% Cast Speed
+(21 to 30)% to Spell Damage
+(115 to 140)% Enhanced Defense
+100 to Strength
+100 to Energy
Elemental Resists +20%
+250 Life after each Demon Kill
50% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -33%
Socketed (6)
with good rolls (aim for high %energy factor & spell damage).

Amulet: somethimg with exp. gain or
Witchmoon
Witchmoon
Amulet

Required Level: 100
Item Level: 100
1% Chance to cast level 17 Mana Sweep on Death Blow
+(1 to 3) to All Skills
+(10 to 20) Spell Focus
+(10 to 20)% to Spell Damage
Maximum Mana +(30 to 40)%
or
In For The Kill
In For The Kill
Amulet

Required Level: 100
Item Level: 120
2% Chance to cast level 20 Widowmaker on Kill
2% Chance to cast level 20 APF-20 'Maelstrom' MkI on Kill
2% Chance to cast level 20 Thunder Hammer Nova on Kill
20% Movement Speed
Elemental Resists -20%
(25 to 50)% Magic Find
, but don't really matter.

Rings:
Elemental Band
Elemental Band
Ring

Required Level: 100
Item Level: 120
+10% to Spell Damage
+1 to Path of Flames
+1 to Nova Charge
+1 to Lightning Arena
+1 to Hive
(this ring gives you a half of your killing power) &
Adrenaline Rush
Adrenaline Rush
Ring

Required Level: 100
Item Level: 120
+1 to All Skills
40% Combat Speeds
40% Movement Speed
Maximum Elemental Resists +1%
(for run-run-run).

Sockets: +4% exp. gained crafted jewels (really rare proc, yep), maybe with some magic find (in sweet dreams).

MOs: Magic find, then flat energy (till 450% bonus energy factor). Sure +% elemental damage will be better.

The Sleep
The Sleep
Required Level: 90
Cube with Trophy to Awaken
Disenchant to open a portal to the World Nexus
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Maximum Fire Resist +(0 to 1)%
Maximum Lightning Resist +(0 to 1)%
Maximum Cold Resist +(0 to 1)%
Maximum Poison Resist +(0 to 1)%
&
Corrupted Wormhole
Corrupted Wormhole
Required Level: 100
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
with magic find.

For bosses like Astrogha or Xazzax you'll need
Gallowlaugh
Gallowlaugh
Amulet

Required Level: 110
Item Level: 110
+1 to All Skills
+50% Bonus to Poison Skill Duration
-(20 to 30)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+1 to Sacrifices
Poison Length Reduced by 50%
,
Sigil of Tur Dulra
Sigil of Tur Dulra
Ring

Required Level: 100
Item Level: 105
+(1 to 2) to Druid Skill Levels
+(15 to 20)% Bonus to Poison Skill Duration
20% Cast Speed
-(1 to 10)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
Elemental Resists +(20 to 25)%
x2, a lot +poison damage MOs and energized
The Sleep
The Sleep
Required Level: 90
Cube with Trophy to Awaken
Disenchant to open a portal to the World Nexus
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Maximum Fire Resist +(0 to 1)%
Maximum Lightning Resist +(0 to 1)%
Maximum Cold Resist +(0 to 1)%
Maximum Poison Resist +(0 to 1)%
/
Corrupted Wormhole
Corrupted Wormhole
Required Level: 100
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
.

How to farm.
Buffs:
1. Path of flames;
2. Hive;
3. Lightning arena;
4. Nova charge;
5. Grim presence;
6. Tainted blood;
7. Symphony of destruction;
8. Vessel of justice;
9. Superbeast;
10. Sanguine covenant;
11. Vindicate.

Eleven buffs, two of them with short length. Badass thing, yep.

And you DON'T need to watch uptime of Euphoria. It's worthless.

Also you can buff bloodlust with
Shamanka
Shamanka
Long Staff (Sacred)

Two-Hand Damage: 56 to 58
Required Level: 100
Required Dexterity: 203
Item Level: 105
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.15 per Dexterity)%
+(3 to 6) to Sorceress Skill Levels
45% Cast Speed
45% Hit Recovery
+50% Damage to Undead
+(21 to 25)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(21 to 25)% to Cold Spell Damage
+(21 to 25)% to Poison Spell Damage
+(6 to 16) to Bloodlust
Maximum Life +(10 to 13)%
Fire Resist +(50 to 70)%
Lightning Resist +(50 to 70)%
Socketed (4)
on switch.

Buff everything, then just run and get loot. Divine apparition kills the whole screen. Use on CD. But if you're REAL lazy, don't use it. Just run, you're still be good boy. If you're DAMN lazy - don't renew short buffs. Still OK.

How to kill fat bosses.
Buff everything, then suicide with bodyrush into boss. Few deaths - and poison will do the work.

With almost perfect rolls you'll have more than 700% spell damage + godly 450% from energy factor ahead (additive scaling).

With "boss accessories" Symphony's damage can reach around 2-3kk on character's stats screen. If you'll stack few sources of -% enemy poison resistance, you'll kill Astrogha and Xazzax in 2-3 corpseruns.

P.S. This bastard thing kills uber Spirit of Giyua ("Spirit World" in "Mbwiru Eikura") SOOOO EASY, that i can't find a words to describe it. You just run and... there's a loot, huh. But it based on some luck with spirits' spawn (50/50), to be fair. Uldissyan also was killed by running around.
P.P.S. Unholy paladin is so brainless and overpowered now, that with my unskillness the only enemies left - it's Samael, Laz and Phobos, they really need careful strategy. All other bosses became a freakshow if you have paladin.

And sorry for my poor English.
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Crescent
Cultist
23 | 2
Captcha wrote:cut
BTW why do people max Tainted Blood when the diminishing returns seem quite severe? By the time I've put 10 points in it, it's only reducing the time taken for regen (of 100% life) by 0.6 seconds.


As said above - for total character defence bonus. But there's another purpose in some cases...
Very rare SSU armor
Arkaine's Valor
Arkaine's Valor
Splint Mail (Sacred)

Defense: (9532 - 10839) to (12577 - 14093)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 600
Item Level: 120
50% of Your Bonus to Defense Added as Vitality
+1 to All Skills
50% Hit Recovery
+(150 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
+(3000 to 5000) Defense
Physical Resist 10%
Socketed (6)
synergies well with any %TCD.

To bring some comprehesion about this: for example, if you'll get +850% TCD from Tainted Blood, you'll also get +425 flat vitality (850 * 50%). Yes, it works definetly this way. From other items you can earn some more TCD, to around 1200% entire. Equals 600 flat vita.

And combined with some charms and +5% vitality perfect gems you can convert 600 flat vitality into thousands of it! Don't forget about blood thorns/lemures/vitality interaction.

So on, with that rare piece of gear Tainted Blood becomes something very valuable.
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Knight_Saber
Monkey King
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You're better off with %mana regen (MO jewelery for more) than mana on attack on UMP IMO. A little goes a long way.
Jordan28
Invader
9 | 0
what are we using for sockets in gear and MOs
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Knight_Saber
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Jordan28 wrote:what are we using for sockets in gear and MOs

tank or damage build?
cold or fire based?

I like (cold) tank with full vit, so ruby or ohm in spare sockets. That's using full craft/honorific gear, not a silly set that hasn't been rebalanced since all the changes.
Balded_Hige
Dark Huntress
12 | 0
Hello, started playing Median XL with this build still in Normal so have some questions.

Should care for gear progression now or when reach harder difficulties?
What about challenges list?
Best way to keep healthy numbers in arcane shards/crystals?
How is the best efficient way to keep the uniques upgraded?
Can socket perfect gems to keep up the elemental defenses and still upgrade equipment?

Beyond that the build keeps me playing (long time I don't get addicted to diablo 2 until now) only I got one death vs Diablo (got hit by that pillar) so thanks and keep the guide updated when you can.
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Fululf
Gravedigger
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Balded_Hige wrote:Hello, started playing Median XL with this build still in Normal so have some questions.

Should care for gear progression now or when reach harder difficulties?
What about challenges list?
Best way to keep healthy numbers in arcane shards/crystals?
How is the best efficient way to keep the uniques upgraded?
Can socket perfect gems to keep up the elemental defenses and still upgrade equipment?

Beyond that the build keeps me playing (long time I don't get addicted to diablo 2 until now) only I got one death vs Diablo (got hit by that pillar) so thanks and keep the guide updated when you can.


There are probably a few different thoughts on when/where to collect the ACs and start fixing the TUs. Also worth noting that different characters might need their tiered uniqs at different points. With this in mind i'll share how I played my uhm (:
I mostly felt the build didnt require the gear too early, so i just progressed through the game with whatever gear I found. Made a few runs on meph to gather some ACs to make a few uniqs at tier 2~ then played on.
I like to farm nihla for acs since he drops quite a few uniqs (if Im not mistaken, he drops at least 3/run). So when playing this char that's when i started gathering up some ACs and uptiering to T3/4. If u feel the progress is slow in act 4/start of act5 for some reason u can always go back to meph-runs to uptier some more gear.

The first challenge is in act5 at the last wave before baal. Since the charm requires level 50, u might aswell wait until u are at or around level 50 (don't wait longer than level 60 or u must use some ACs to use charm). The challenge is pretty easy, just take it slow and have a tp up behind u.
Second challenge is ennead in nm a3 after u kill meph. As long as u have resist this shouldnt be any problem either. This unlocks ur divine apparition, so u will want it asap. While going through nm u should also gather evil eyes if u happen to come across them since they give 1sk/20%exp gain. Good to apply as soon as possible.

For the sockets, no. If u socket an item and then uptier it, the socketfillers will disapear.
But u can easily unsocket the item first (vendors sell the item oil of disjunction, which unsockets the item), and then uptier and re-socket the gems.

Hope that can be of some help to u!
hf gl with the char
Captcha
Mangler
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Crescent wrote:
Oh, the farming build... I call it "lazyglasscanon".

It mostly based on Kirimaru's (page 15 of this topic - don't know if there is a way to get link to certain post) & Bonespirit's (can't find, really) investigations.

And sorry for my poor English.

Thanks! And your English is fine btw :)
I don't have most of those items but I'll know what to watch for now.
Balded_Hige
Dark Huntress
12 | 0
Fululf wrote:There are probably a few different thoughts on when/where to collect the ACs and start fixing the TUs. Also worth noting that different characters might need their tiered uniqs at different points. With this in mind i'll share how I played my uhm (:
I mostly felt the build didnt require the gear too early, so i just progressed through the game with whatever gear I found. Made a few runs on meph to gather some ACs to make a few uniqs at tier 2~ then played on.
I like to farm nihla for acs since he drops quite a few uniqs (if Im not mistaken, he drops at least 3/run). So when playing this char that's when i started gathering up some ACs and uptiering to T3/4. If u feel the progress is slow in act 4/start of act5 for some reason u can always go back to meph-runs to uptier some more gear.


Yeah started to upgrade to T4 some TU (Lavadome and Catechumen already at T4) and farming some more AC to get early game TU

Fululf wrote:The first challenge is in act5 at the last wave before baal. Since the charm requires level 50, u might aswell wait until u are at or around level 50 (don't wait longer than level 60 or u must use some ACs to use charm). The challenge is pretty easy, just take it slow and have a tp up behind u.


Done already at level 56 and was easy

I have already some grasp of the mod and how the things works. While in the beginning the mod is overwhelming for a new player, it isn't something a good hour or two reading ingame things to learn a lot. Already killed Baal in Normal so can start moving towards next diff (and I have good resistances).

The only problem now is the mana sometimes I can't generate enough to sustain Blood Thorns
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Crescent
Cultist
23 | 2
Balded_Hige wrote:cut


About your mana issues...
You can craft
Pollice Verso
Pollice Verso
Gauntlets (4)

Defense: (48 - 54) to (90 - 102)
Required Level: 10
Required Strength:
28
Item Level: 19
4% Chance to cast level 3 Time Strike when Attacked
+(24 to 40)% Enhanced Defense
+(7 to 10) to Strength
+(6 to 10) Life after each Kill
+(6 to 13) Mana after each Kill
Requirements -8%
Socketed (1)
Defense: (216 - 239) to (333 - 369)
Required Level: 27
Required Strength:
52
Item Level: 36
8% Chance to cast level 5 Time Strike when Attacked
+(58 to 75)% Enhanced Defense
+(12 to 16) to Strength
+(16 to 20) Life after each Kill
+(21 to 28) Mana after each Kill
Requirements -16%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (583 - 635) to (854 - 930)
Required Level: 44
Required Strength:
165
Item Level: 59
12% Chance to cast level 7 Time Strike when Attacked
+(92 to 109)% Enhanced Defense
+(18 to 24) to Strength
+(26 to 30) Life after each Kill
+(36 to 43) Mana after each Kill
Requirements -24%
Socketed (3)
Defense: (875 - 946) to (1274 - 1378)
Required Level: 52
Required Strength:
296
Item Level: 85
14% Chance to cast level 8 Time Strike when Attacked
+(109 to 126)% Enhanced Defense
+(25 to 30) to Strength
+(31 to 35) Life after each Kill
+(43 to 50) Mana after each Kill
Requirements -32%
Socketed (4)
.
Crafting tiered uniques possible through unique reroll cube recipe - see docs here:

https://docs.median-xl.com/doc/items/cube

******For the future: no, sacred uniques creation is not allowed in this game at all.

For more lifequality use ""Mana on attack" (MoA) mystic orbs (MO) (can be bought from Gheed in A1, Drognan A2, Alkor A3 & Larzuk A5).

Also, your talents give you "Ignore target defence", it let your attacks not to miss hitting regular monsters. It don't works for bosses, so you need attack rating (AR) to sustain mana in long boss fights.

Blood thorns uses spell animation and damages as spell, but, initializing by weapon swing, it's still the melee attack, so attack rating not worthless, as some people wrote.

To see which chance to hit certain monster you have (= chance to regen mana/life with each swing), you can switch active skill to normal attack and than move mouse to AR in character state window, there will be shown hit% on mouseover. 70% will be enough for first times (btw, you can attach AR MO's to weapon).