So, get on Hell difficulty with my level 74 Paladin, playng Zeal+Smite build. Even mobs in act 1 one shot me. Any chance to not just hit&run strategy, e.g. Blizzard Sorceres?
As I understood the posibilities to defnd in these games are(I would take Paladin as example):
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Using Shield can block enterily an Psihycal attack, but max 75% chance to block, so 25%chance to be hit
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Defense actualy is NOT DEFENSE, is a Chance to dodge, meaning you will still have a big chance to be hit
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There are some % damage reduction items but not got any until now
→ when there are 5+ monsters around a melee char and all try to hit than of course frequently those above “filters” are passed and you will be hit to dead…
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Magic damage from monsters will hit always(no matter defense, not sure shield?), so only Resistances count, but also resistancies are 75% max(there are some itmes that can make you res to go above 75% but this depends if find them, if fit your build…)
^^^ again, you will die!
so, what this? this is SUper Mario Bross ! in Mario game, you need to avoid any monsters otherwise will die. Comparing Mario to a Sorceres:
- Mario can jump, Sorc can Telport
- Mario can shut, Sorc can do Blizzard spell
^^^ this is why Sorceres is the best/easy to play, because can kitem like Mario
Anyway, is there possible that a Zeal Paladin to finish Hell? ~750life, maxed Holy Shield, ~3000defense, good all res(even using aura for resistances sometimes). or I am waisting my time for nothing?
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I have played a Zeal pally back in the day, it was not like that, I remember once I used Schaefers hammer too. You may need to freeze them maybe, a lot of leech of course and you cannot stop hitting else, yes, you die. This is all from memory, have not played pally since.
You can experiment by running the old Diablo 2 LOD in Single Player and use hero editor and make a character of the same level and with same gear and then see what works and what does not.
Crushing blow my man
And lots of leech reduce en resist
Max FPS ias and ED armor and merc
Expensive class but one of the strongest melee in the game once you get there
I have 29% life stolen.
Have alos 5% Crushing Blow on gloves and that armor with 25%, but can not use armor since in low on defense.
Just out of curiosity, is it wise to max holy shield? Maybe its better to spend those points for more damage? A dead enemy cant do damage plus more damage more life leech.
Normally you max holy shield last, after you maxed out your main damage skills.
The problem is that a melee class is just not a good starter class, since you rely on a good weapon and some decent armor. You’ll just get stuck without them.
Perhaps just respec holy hammerdin for now and just grind until you get some armor / weapon upgrades
The problem atm is the laggy servers that makes melee char ultra hard, because many of your hits just won’t hit.
Don’t forget too back in the past, there were bots and dupes everywhere, it was ultra easy to find op things like grief, chain of honor, torch etc…
ATM it’s very hard to gear properly a char.
You can farm baal run in nightmare until you find decent gear to do act 1 in hell, but it will still be a huge struggle until server lag is patched or until you find op gear.
My advice is to just play something else than melee until you find decent gear.
good luck though !
One thing I noticed is your low life, 750 HP in Hell is way to low, I would say you should be around 1000-1200 territory. I’ve just finish Normal with a Paladin and I’m around 400 so you could do better than 750, no doubt, with lvl 74 especially.
Maybe you’ve got your points distribution wrong, maybe put to many into Dex/Str, also skills might be all over the place, it’s hard to tell without knowing it.
If you rely on block, defense doesn’t matter so much, also you can raise your max resistances to 85% with Paladin thanks to Resist Fire/Cold/Lighting skills, there’s a hidden bonus of 1% max res for every 2 pts you spend there.
Overall difficulty spike from Nightmare to Hell is huge, common mobs and groups with bosses are the real challenge, not act bosses - they’re pretty weak compared to some crazy Extra Speed+Cursed+Fanatism mobs etc.
PS. one thing you didn’t mention is your aura, hope you’re using one cause that’s what makes a good Paladin 
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I had to change to BH to stand a chance in act1 hell. I do agree with one thing though, defence needs to be looked at as I tested something out on act 1 normal, I kept a gothic plate that I was able to wear as a barb. I got my strength up to 80 and then pumped into vitality afterwards. I was lvl 15 and no /playersX command and I was still losing health just as much as I would with normal defence items for that lvl as if playing naturally. So imo, defence needs looking at and possibly adding to strength rather than dexterity.
Just lije the original poster, I’m struggling in hell as a melee…
But I’m doing a little better now with fanatism aura, I was using holy shock, but chance to hit was low. Also I think life leech won’t work with the added lightning dmg, now it’s much better.
correct. LL ony works with your physical damage.
You could take a look at some guides on the net (I personally think maxroll is least wrong), while they give BiS (best in slot) suggestions they also make suggestions for budget equipment. Get some inspiration there.
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top priority for close fighters is to get high character level
high char level = more defense (enemy attack rating reduced), better attack rating. your equipment and added attack rating and/or dexterity should compliment your character level, not carry it. character level impact should not be underestimated
if you do nightmare runs until you are closer to level 80 you should do better on hell. wait with finishing burial grounds and forgotten tower until you are much higher level. those areas are above level 80 so you will have a hard time hitting anything and your defense will be reduced. avoid all sidetrack areas for the same reason. stick to the main path that progresses the story. sidetrack areas on hell are high enough level that characters who completed the game can come back to and run for exp. its not suitable for chars just entering hell
spellcasters dont have to worry about the hitting part, thats why it seems they are easier to play on hell, but they have other things to worry about. they are also still very squishy against ranged enemies if their clevel is low too. no build can be 100% safe from every type of attack, not until you get high enough level. elemental damage is something all have to deal with, but having high hp with some positive resists is helpful too and something mages cant easily achieve. paladin will have an advantage there
always keep in mind when you play warrior, you get more hp from level ups and vitality, your healing potions give more health, and you have a higher hit recovery. what you feel you can barely manage up close, mages cannot manage at all. they have no choice but to seek cover in most fights. all you need is good c level, prioritize highest defense you can carry, and have okay resists. then you only need to watch out for awful rare monster mod combinations that would worry every class
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If this is your first character will always be a trauma reaching hell difficulty. Better stay doing terrorized nightmare maps for a while, getting more levels and better gear. You need at least 15k armor for defense to be effective… and as a pally this is not so hard to get, with Holly Shield. Goblin Toe is a great of Crushing Blow but will do nothing for deal with Physical Immunes. A well selected merc can help a lot also. 
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Watch guides and level up / get gear before entering hell. I think leveling up to 75-80 before starting in hell is fine. With fire/lightning/cold absorption it is much easier and every 2 (really invested, not + skills…) points into the resistance auras (upper right) gives +1 to max. resist. So if you have 4 points into resist lightning you can have a lightning res. of 77 % e.g. (I think it does not say in the skill description, but after playing LoD for ages I don´t need it). MrllamaSc makes good YT-Guides btw (also for ages 
)
Positioning is important, not a good idea to get surrounded, if you don´t have enough faster hit recovery that is a problem, because you stop hitting and stop leeching life. Get a Call to arms into your second weapon slot… Sometimes walking instead of running is a good idea, when you run everything hits you, because you have 0 defense while running.
Yes, Paladins can finish hell (with “cannot be frozen” and life leech). Merc: My last lvl 90+ Hc Paladin had a cold aura merc (before changing to D2R from D2). With the right equipment you don´t need some more damage from might aura.
good weapon: just needs a Lo rune for a Grief Runeword (Eth-Tir-Lo-Mal-Ral) for swords/axes. It has +360 something damage so it does not really matter if the original weapon has a low damage. So even if it shows 3-7 dmg t is in fact 363+ - 367+ damage.
edit: has +340 to +400 dmg / varies, my last grief had +360 something…
Armor: Fortitude (El-Sol-Dol-Lo) is cheap and good for defense (+200% on the body armor) and offense (+300% damage)
Have not transferred my d2lod chars to D2R, so my current Hc Pal is only lvl. 64.
Has over 800 life now, including +22 vitality from “Spirit” shield Tal-Thul-Ort-Amn, also the 55% faster hit recovery is very good.
might be a bit out of this players league if they cant progress hell, two of those runes are primarily or exclusively found on hell
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Yes, with just one character and without trading it is not likely to happen. I was not really thinking about that.
So in non-ladder/offline whatever it might be a good idea to start with a summon necro, that can equip other chars, if necessary while in the ladder you would need to trade for runes or for other gear that helps.
How on earth do you manage to get one-shot in Act 1 with a level 74 Paladin??? Dude, I’ve played Sorc longer than I’d like to admit, and a bit of Paladin too. Paladin is so much easier to play than Sorc. So what the hell are you talking about?
You get easy max block rate, easy max resists, Hammerdin basically has no immunities to worry about, and since Enigma exists, you even have teleport. You have Paladin shields that are insanely OP… You’re practically unkillable with that character, so how the hell do you get one-shotted in Act 1? (Doesn’t matter if it’s Hell) xD
When I look at my Paladin, I can just stand in the middle of enemies, go make a coffee or have a smoke, and I still don’t die.^^
So no, I don’t agree with you — for me, Paladin is clearly way easier to play than Sorc.
I basically never died while playing Hell. With Sorc, you just randomly die sometimes because you’re squishy as f**k. Teleport into a unique monster group or something like that, and boom, you’re dead.
What does Blizzard give you when the enemy has cold resistance??? Almost nothing.
There’s a reason why the majority of bots are Paladins — because it’s a character that’s so f**king easy to play like no other.
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Paladin is easiest to survive through the game. Sorc is fastest but not the safest, but only why Id die with anything is usually souls lightning or dolls exploding on you. This game is so easy, you cant die…