I tested this build on several days ago, so I think I can share my 2 cent on it: - It functions really well and you can actually build up from level 1 without respec. - At level 85, so I chose to max Fanaticism instead of Smite, but you can max all at 99. Because it benefits Merc much better, and with a 15/40 Reaper, Emilio deal 40k DPS on Decrepified Trav Councils (Hell P1) - I found the perfect weapon for this build was Astreon +4 CB skills, 35%CB, Mini Grief and Upped Um Hoz. They boost damage of both FoH and Smite to the roof. - It’s possible to run with budget gear, because FoH has a big delay, you can do well with just 20FCR, so no need for Enigma, just Charge around at full speed and gear toward + skill and Smite (CB, IAS) - All-around (cheap) setup: Astreon, Hoz, Shako, Mara, Principle, Loh, Tgog, Goblin, BK and misc res charms. You can leveling and Uber without changing gear. - MF: switch to Goldwrap, War Trav, Gheed and MF charm - Uber: switch to Gface, Dracul, Grief, Wisp
@@marv1n558 depends on how you progress through the game. - Rush to hell: just ignore them. Because all high density area where we usually stuck are filled with Undead or/and demon, so not much issue. (Arcane, Tomb, Act 4, WSK). Charge is useful. - Enjoy the game aka finishing normal around 40, NM 60 and Hell 80. Switch between Holy Bolt and Smite at low level, until you have access to Holy Shield, FoH and Fanaticism before/after Diablo, game is much easier for you.
@@marv1n558 Leveling progress 1 - Might (main aura until Concentration) 2 - Sacrify (use with Holy Bolt until 24) 3 - Smite Save 3 skills at 4,5 + Den quest 6-11- Holy Bolt 12 - Holy Bolt, Charge, Zeal 13-17 Holy Bolt 18 - Holy Bolt, Bless Aim, Concentration (Radament Quest) 19-23: Holy Bolt 24 Holy Shield (start using Smite) 25 Holy Bolt 26-28: Vengeance, Conversion, Blessed Hammer Save at 29 30 FoH, Fanaticism (main aura) From here: - Max Holy Bolt - Max Fanaticism if party or good merc gears, else max Holy Shield (max both in the end) - Rest to Smite
Dude, I just wanna say you made D2 great again for me. During this PTR time I've spend time in playing the game offline, so self-found only. And by the gods it's so much more fun when you finally find that item you're after, or finally beating the game on you own without any powercreeps killing the ancients and Baal for you. I've spend a good portion of my life in playing this game the first day it came out, and I'm getting addicted once again, but on solo. I might even skip Ladder, because playing offline is much more of a challenge. Thanks again m8
@@MEGA_FIRE_DONKEY as someone who used to do it when i was a preteen, its the joy in dueling that i looked forward to, now that im older, the joy of the overall gameplay experience and looking for items is my new thrill.
Absolutely feel the same way as you. I’ve tried online when D2R came out, but it wasn’t fun at all, offline however is absolutely different story. It’s engaging, it’s fun, it’s stable (no server lags). There is more benefits, but make it more shortly, I just enjoying Diablo 2 with updated graphics. The same way as it was a long time ago with original Diablo 2
I did a variant on this build that one point wonders all the auras, and utilizes holy bolt and maxes the healing, ignores the Holy Shock, max out as a healer, and roll meditation, one point smite and holy shield. The heals with low +healing does insane heals to party members, 350-750 or something along those lines. You can operate as a hard support for bosses, keep mercs alive, and still blast bosses.
My 2 cents for the beginning of the ladder (as I am planning to play this hybrid build) is to lvl up using holy fire. I have tested it and you crush everything in Normal and Nightmary (till act 2 then I re-spec) and cows normal die in 2 shots on player 3 so you will have 0 problems is a solo game. this way you will be able to have a great farm build to get the base for spirit runewords and you have no issue farming countess Nightmary. NOTE: just get 1 point in to charge. for fat move. farm cows/ chaos normal till lvl 33 -35 and you are good to go after that re-spec go first for FOH it crushes everything, leave the smite for the end you will not need it till ubers. this is if you are going to do it solo.
Holy fires been the go to level up spec for a long while. Smite also helps in act 3 hell since it's full of animals and repairing a tele staff costs hella gold
this is the future of P1 pally. I built this out earlier with hammers and conc (focusing on holy bolt) but then realized they stripped the BH synergy with holy bolt in 2.4, literally cutting its damage in half. building into fanata for smite and the frenzy merc is such a good call, and im 100% running this early ladder for my CS/Smiter needs. Just remember to pack 1 point in redemption on quick cast as not having insight is a killer on mana.
I did build my smiter like this back in .14 to heal my merc in a fancier manner and deal with physical immune, simply because there are always spare points for smiter. I am really happy this comes to be a real thing.
This build is usually called a vindicator or v/t in pvp but with holy shock for dmg instead of holy bolt. For pvm as well this build will be better with 125fcr
I wonder if a proc paladin with LoH and principle, synergised holy bolt, zeal and fanat would be good. Each attack will throw 1-2 1k piercing bolts that hit demons and undead
I just came on here to see if you have thought of this build yet, I thought I was the first to try it, but you beat me to it! I was trying multiple different auras, Might for the merc, redemption in big groups, salvation if needed, overall, fun build!
I was thinking to shoot for a Dream FOHdin might be interesting or something to shoot for in the ladder. Running conviction and holy shock together with FOH and Holy Bolt.
I did a fun variation of this build idea,a foh zealot,leaning more into zeal than the casting- using eth upped zodded ribcracker,cham gface,principle armor,gores,rare leech/ar/fcr/str/res rings,string,hilords,lohs.swap gear is hoz/pally cta[+5foh]. Using max/ar charms,torch/anni, might/reaper/pride merc. Kinda a monk/mage build, where i soften and murder large groups of mobs with a holy bolt synergized foh, then whack leftover mfs to def with my staff. Hes a bit fragile, and i found a zodded reaper in my own hands was way safer and more effective, but when youve got a perfect eth ribby you got to find excuses to use it lol.
I was planning on doing this exact build for Ladder once they announced the addition of damaging demons for holy bolt. You get the versatility of being able to farm some really good level 85 areas, and the ability to do ubers. What more can you ask for from a build??
I die a little inside every time a D2 build guide flippantly mentions a "random hodgepodge" of gear while showing off Grief, Enigma, and +20 to skills, lol. I am super interested in this build tho, I just hope it performs remotely as well without skillers/torch/anni/grief/teleport. I do have a Redeemer, which is Damage +80 so I think it works like a baby Grief? Also gives me +6 Holy Bolt and Redemption. Probably painfully slow for smiting though. Also, where do you get MF in this build without Enigma (and without sacrificing vastly more damage than I'll already have to)? I guess Shako in place of Gface would be plausible, especially since without skillers I'd have to find +skills from somewhere.
That’s the way streamers usually talk, since they play 8-10 hours a day and their progress to these items is so quick that they consider them as standard and they do not realize that majority of players are the casuals who may not have enigma, grief or Mara even at the end of the season.
thats the problem, everything work well, with half synergies when u got all high end runes when u have +40 skills, enigma and infinity. thats why i don't follow these guides. u came for guides and stuff and the only thing u hear is : -"with +40 skills, enigma, infinity, this build is cool" So basically all those guide are useless.
Heaven's light scepter is a really interesting starter option aside from Hand of Blessed light for the Smite+Foh variant over an Oath/Black. +2-3 to all skills for FoH and Smite, 33% crushing blow, and -33% target defense. It's rare but SUPER BUDGET so it may be a valid option for ladder starting before you get a grief tier item. The Reedemer, Zakarum's hand (Ignore targets def), and Fetid Sprinkler (5% decrepify chance on striking!) are along the same lines too. The old D2 bad itemization is finally kind of good for paladins?
@@Ant3rn didn't know at the time how -def worked, however it still stands as a solid early ladder starter that you can pick up for roughly a lem for the 2/1 version and about an ist for a 3/2 version. Just shael it up and go I used that exclusively to farm D clones for folks early on in the ladder until I got my grief.
MrLlama I see all these great builds that you do and I love them. I was wondering if you would put together and foh/zeal or foh/smite build with exile and principle do see what that foh damage would be with a 100 % chance to cast on striking ?
More just that we're getting this awesome build right away, I'd love to make this my starting ladder char, I just feel they will nerf this because at mid gear it's already effective. It will have the same fate as holy fire
1 point smite is more than enough for ubers...especially with gear like that. What I did with mine was 20 FOH, 20 Holy bolt, 20 Holy shield, 20 Fanat. Rest into pre reqs and redemption. Not quite as fast as a pure smiter but much better all around build. 2.4 in my opinion brought back the V/T and T/V builds in such a nice way.
@@forzenmagma No problem. I'm not running a grief either. Using a 3 skill 2os heavens light for less gear swaps. Stack up on your resists and cb and open wounds and you won't have an issue. Gear suggestions Guillames, duress, hoz, heavens light, raven frost, dracs or laying of hands, gore's, tgod, maras for ubers. I switch to normal mf gear for everything else.
I'd probably just make my CTA in a Phaseblade and pair it with a HOZ on switch. I'm gonna be maxing out holy shock anyway, so might as well prep my swap setup for a tesla zealer. Gore riders, highlords, raven would probably be enough to clear most animal mobs. Or i'd get silkweave instead of gores if I want to run a Frenzy merc in place of an insight merc. I guess, giving up CTA entirely and using a real melee weapon would also be viable since pallies are quite tanky already.
@@matthiaspeeters4104 Dex = max block, attack rating. Especially since CTA has no ITD and you'd probably don't want too many attack rating charms in you inventory. Or as i've said, you can simply ditch CTA altogether and get something like a grief + exile on switch.
Legit what I was thinking for a build. So happy to see you figured it out as well! Great run through on the build. Can't wait to give it a try. Gonna try uber budget and go Full Gris XD never know might be something lol.
I'm running it, Ladder Hell mode. So far so good. I maxed holy shock, so FoH can killl things that aren't deamon/undead as well as smite; but FoH is ranged, so it's more useful. Also found that smite is really good in Hell mode, if you get surrounded and can't move or hit with something ug you can usut start smiting something nearby to regain life and make a move. You can use the unique scepters +4 combat or +3 all skill that both have crusting blow. I'm testing the Guardian Angel up'ed into the bud to see how it does with 90% res all. Also good to get conviction to break immunes, so you don't need a sunder charm. The guardian angel gives you more block rage and chance, and it seems to make a really tanky build. With some DR. The build now is lacking some resistance, as it's good to have +250 all about incause of lower resist. Goes well with a trench used for proc fade and switch back to GA. Damage is really good 1 player, and in groups the conviction plus your ape holy bolts does a good job. Single down targets immune to holy bolt with FoH and use smite on tanky bosses that aren't physical immune. I'm really liking it... You can do Ubers np. Worth mentioning that you can have your merc in from of your target and shoot holy bolts at the mod and heal your merc and kill the mob at the same time. The heals are small, wondering if a preyer build would allow you to heal your merc and kill anything.
I tried this on PTR, but with less skillpoints needed. I put 1 point in fanaticism, smite, and redemption and I can choose to go full caster with damage(conviction), caster with survivability(redemption), or swap gear out and go smiter(fanaticism) for ubers. It doesn't even need grief as putting on guillames, dracs, and gores are enough to get the job done for the bosses, and FoH clears out the minions.
I would like to see a play thru of this build. I started a pally this ladder (2) and seems to be weak in hell. I beat the ancients, but the worldstone keep kicks my butt every time. I even tried running salvation to make sure I had max res, but still no luck. Is this just an end game build? It seems really viable the way you describe it. I have also watched both your smiter and foh playthrus. This just seems to combine them. I would think it should work as a starter build…. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Please do a playthru for this build as it is newer take on the character with the changes to foh.
This has been my main build for a while now. Didn't follow any guides or anything and Ive experimented with every possible different skill allocation and gear setup you can think of and the best and quickest/strongest setup is max zeal and sacrifice, fanat holy bolt and Foh. You need level 98 to be perfect 20pts in all skills but the result whether you max zeal or smite the damage difference is barely noticable. The only real difference is with 1pt smite and holy shield you kill bosses slower. I like to go max smite and holy shield just so that I can pvp without having to respect. I'm exactly 2 exp bars from hitting that 98!! I really don't care to reach 99 but we'll see how I feel after 98 comes. Before this build the highest I've ever done all by myself is 96 which looking back feels like nothing 😅
After 20 years it feels like Blizzard is opening back up hybrid builds. Pre-synergies, you'd have to spread your skill points around to cover your character's weak points. Once we got synergies, builds coalesced into just a handful of pre-made, obvious builds. I'm really liking what I see with these interesting hybrid paladins and druids. Giving players realistic meaningful build choices makes running new characters fun even after all these years.
"Hodge podge Pally, I just grabbed some trash off the floor with an inventory full of Pcomb lifers and full endgame gear and boom look what he can do"...
Might as well just stick your CTA into a Caduceus with Holy Boly/FoH/Holy Shield staffmods if you're going to go that route. Smiters do struggle with large groups, so it makes sense.
That's genius if you're aiming for convenience over min/maxing! Depends on how badly you want FCR for tele once you get enigma. Until then though, CtA in CAD for FoH and grief for smite and you're set. That's if you can find a CAD with right automods for a decent price
Holy shield can't spawn on scepters realistically, and they haven't been spawning in D2R. Sadly you can't have Holy Bolt and FoH together either. You can have one or the other.
@@MacroBioBoi Who are you? Do you even play paladin ;)? But hey he's right, HS in 5os scepters is a very rare bugged roll. I'm dissapointed about the bots and the lack of high runes drops. Won't play D2R new ladder seriously if I play at all. I'm getting too old to grind that much. PD2/Slashdiablo are just better mods to enjoy once again a 20 years old game.
I played around with this earlier and decided I would put 1 point in smite and my auras, max holy bolt, zeal, sacrifice, and holy bolt and then dump the rest in holy shield and then fanaticism last. I think I just found my ladder starter
Not optimized…. Has enigma and grief with full inventory of gcs. Of course you fast clear p1, you have realistic best/optimal gear. Any pally and be a smite, it’s a one point wonder. Maybe a few more points to get fanaticism.
Yoo that sounds like an amazing idea. Thought you'd be missing res and plus skill from a pally shield. The bow give 200 % Demon and undead damage off the bat and chance of foh... hmm interesting
Hey llama why not more foh and 1 point smite w/ 15 points fanat since you can clear faster overall and light smite for boss/ubers? Or max fanat, holy bolt, and about 15 holy shock until 99... I have never needed holy shield or smite to clear ubers or a boss with decent gear.. I'd rather focus more on mass aoe with foh and near max holy shock for extra lightning as I hit lvl 85 to 99 to clear more areas faster. Not sure 15 fanat or 15 holy shock but think holy shock is less important vs being able to nuke with smite as needed.. even players 8 seems like the added shock does less than the added fanat hits but either way just 5 points one way or other.
Gonna try my hand at ubers, trying to figure out what to use so I don't mess up and lose my keys lol. Already made a bear druid but I'm scared to try might lvl up a smite first to try it on that 1st
Have respecced into FoH. Tried a hybrid and pure FoH build so far. Your vid looks to be p1, which doing a hybrid on works well for. On p8 pure FoH is a lot better imo. Hoto, perf griffons w facet, enigma, rare dual res frw fhr big def boots, arach, dwarf + wisp, 45all res sacred targe spirit, cta and spirit, magefists upped or trangs claws. Eight pcomb with torch and anni. Put 5 pts prayer, 8 pts conviction, max foh and hb, max holy shield, one pt redemption. With plus skills from gear and cta you will reach lvl 25 conviction, have 70-100 overstack on res, and be at 140 fcr. You can pvp, pvm, or uber. With ubers, one swap in a last wish phase blade, or stormlash/heavens light though with the sl/hl you will need a lifetap wand in cube. Prebuff fade, and you can run conviction or fanaticism. Fana attacks faster, conviction obv safer against mephisto. Find this to be more fun in p8 than hybrid where you do most things mediocre, or worse then either of the more focused builds. Hammer is faster at pure pvm, without ubers. Feel foh is probably better pvp and ubers.
Does anybody know what the best budget options would be for this build? Cuz I’m poor but I really want to try this build. Would a budget build be as good to play for this build?
Honestly smite is such a 1pt wonder. I recently transitioned my hammerdin to foh with zeal and a frenzy merc to clear up packs that Holy Bolts don't hit. Using Grief on my swap now, but I'm thinking about swapping to Destruction/Rift/Stormlash since I'm not really using fanat. Might as well take advantage of the conviction aura that i also never use.
Do we know if the holy bolts from FoH heal other party members? Edit: If yes. Then I would think about maxing prayer and either use Cleansing or Meditation with it. Also of course still using 1 point redemption for corpse clean up if no Barb or Necro is in the group. Even still if running with a group conviction would still be great to have. If running solo I think this build would benefit a lot from redemption as main aura and just use Merc to clean up anything you can't.
He was testing the other day how good they are now, on the same character, prolly not bothered swapping it, since let's be honest paladin barely ever needs a merc for anything, mostly for Insight to save on pot spam ( even then has redemption, ) so nah, not needed at all.
@@Ryudoz26 Dude this build is garbage without level 34 Might Aura from Dual Last Wish Merc. Yes it is needed. FOH doesnt no damage at all maxed with Holy bolt maxed synergy. Smite is tough with max Fanaticism, but I cannot clear like LLama using FOH and my Act 2 Merc with Infinity. He tricked us all. LW is critical.
Great and very versatile! FoH every demon and undead out there and Smite the butt of all the rest and bosses! Gonna try this!... if they don't change it before the official release of the patch...
I love how he always dose all these builds at lvl 99 but how would you even level this this kinda character? Build a smiter then start adding FoH with the rest of the talents or go all FoH and then built up Smite as you go along? Maybe do a Leveling guide for this hybrid class
Personally I went 20 smite 20 Fanat 20 holy shield 20 FOH And random skills to get 1 defiance and working to get vigor. Currently level 82 With my budget gear I’m looking at 1.9-2.1k smite 1k foh Guillems helmet +1 pala ammy with all res (looking for better) Dracs String of ears Gores Upd hoz Treachery Heavens light (shael+shael) Bk ring / all res stat ring with reduce frozen No skill charms only res charms for now Also super underused skill I use as my hotkey is the conversion while I’m smiting hordes. Since I’m a weaker smiter for now there is nothing better than having an army while you knock down champions and unique bosses
He still lacks a little more damage to be more competent to get into as SA tier, and also others like firetrapsin, bladesin, eledru with more physical dmg in fire and more cold dmg(hurrican) builds, bear form druids lack a little movement speed, impalezon 70%more speed, bowazon little dmg :D, ww(so it's the S tier it should be), singer(here a lot more, this is currently C tier), throw barb, leaps in barb need high dmg and velocity, auradin up to 250, sorc hydra 6--> 7 hydras, 50%- delay cd for fb, and a small buff to seldom used domains (5-10% more dmg It would probably make people give him more importance), the necro still lacks damage on spear and bone spirit, and double or triple damage on skeleton wizards is very important.
If you don't have ridiculous gear that will take you months to get, and dont have a hacked single player character with 20 hard points in everything, your FoH damage will be 1-1.5k, and your holy bolt damage will be 4-5k. holy bolt damage is not to be confused with the damage that the holy bolts from FoH do, the Foh's holy bolts do a bit less damage than the holy bolt skill
this build will be my endgame build for ladder Will be great to be able to kill uber diablo if he spawns and get myself an anni without having to worry about getting a friend or something over to kill it while still being able to farm keys/chaos/torches
Have you played Diablo before Resurrected came out? You seems to know quite a lot about this game ;). - nice build, makes Smiter a lot better -it used to be Uber only char, now it changed ;)
Not possible really. Tesla uses a Dream shielf for one (so no HOZ) and uses Cres Moon alot so this build would be weakened heavily by not using Astreons or Grief or whatever. Stretching yourself too thin just make 2x builds
@@infernalz1337 still if you are lacking in points in conviction, the 35% in andys helm with a proper jewel along with 2 skills and the str should help dramatically.
4:52 Barb merc really working on that cardio.
I tested this build on several days ago, so I think I can share my 2 cent on it:
- It functions really well and you can actually build up from level 1 without respec.
- At level 85, so I chose to max Fanaticism instead of Smite, but you can max all at 99. Because it benefits Merc much better, and with a 15/40 Reaper, Emilio deal 40k DPS on Decrepified Trav Councils (Hell P1)
- I found the perfect weapon for this build was Astreon +4 CB skills, 35%CB, Mini Grief and Upped Um Hoz. They boost damage of both FoH and Smite to the roof.
- It’s possible to run with budget gear, because FoH has a big delay, you can do well with just 20FCR, so no need for Enigma, just Charge around at full speed and gear toward + skill and Smite (CB, IAS)
- All-around (cheap) setup: Astreon, Hoz, Shako, Mara, Principle, Loh, Tgog, Goblin, BK and misc res charms. You can leveling and Uber without changing gear.
- MF: switch to Goldwrap, War Trav, Gheed and MF charm
- Uber: switch to Gface, Dracul, Grief, Wisp
One of the only downside i’m finding in starting with this build is very not everything is a demon/undead :( How do you deal with those?
@@marv1n558 you smite them down or just ignore them.
@@marv1n558 depends on how you progress through the game.
- Rush to hell: just ignore them. Because all high density area where we usually stuck are filled with Undead or/and demon, so not much issue. (Arcane, Tomb, Act 4, WSK). Charge is useful.
- Enjoy the game aka finishing normal around 40, NM 60 and Hell 80. Switch between Holy Bolt and Smite at low level, until you have access to Holy Shield, FoH and Fanaticism before/after Diablo, game is much easier for you.
@@makiet Thanks for the answer
@@marv1n558 Leveling progress
1 - Might (main aura until Concentration)
2 - Sacrify (use with Holy Bolt until 24)
3 - Smite
Save 3 skills at 4,5 + Den quest
6-11- Holy Bolt
12 - Holy Bolt, Charge, Zeal
13-17 Holy Bolt
18 - Holy Bolt, Bless Aim, Concentration (Radament Quest)
19-23: Holy Bolt
24 Holy Shield (start using Smite)
25 Holy Bolt
26-28: Vengeance, Conversion, Blessed Hammer
Save at 29
30 FoH, Fanaticism (main aura)
From here:
- Max Holy Bolt
- Max Fanaticism if party or good merc gears, else max Holy Shield (max both in the end)
- Rest to Smite
Dude, I just wanna say you made D2 great again for me. During this PTR time I've spend time in playing the game offline, so self-found only. And by the gods it's so much more fun when you finally find that item you're after, or finally beating the game on you own without any powercreeps killing the ancients and Baal for you. I've spend a good portion of my life in playing this game the first day it came out, and I'm getting addicted once again, but on solo. I might even skip Ladder, because playing offline is much more of a challenge. Thanks again m8
a true Viking right here. May the gods of Valhala bless you on this Single battle to greatness
For real, skipping 99% of the game by rushing to max level, BiS gear, and meta build is so boring. I don't understand why people do it.
@@MEGA_FIRE_DONKEY as someone who used to do it when i was a preteen, its the joy in dueling that i looked forward to, now that im older, the joy of the overall gameplay experience and looking for items is my new thrill.
And running SSF in hardcore is even more challenging and so much fun even if a character dies. Love this game...
Absolutely feel the same way as you. I’ve tried online when D2R came out, but it wasn’t fun at all, offline however is absolutely different story. It’s engaging, it’s fun, it’s stable (no server lags). There is more benefits, but make it more shortly, I just enjoying Diablo 2 with updated graphics. The same way as it was a long time ago with original Diablo 2
Can we please make this a guided playthrough!!!!!
EVERYONE LIKE THIS SO HE SEES IT!!!!!
thank god the pala finally has a viable build for lategame... truly the most forgotten class in D2.
I really hope that was sarcasm
Don't worry hammers are still better than foh
great irony
I still remember when all paladins were good for was thorns. Waaaaay back before LOD released. They were truly useless lol.
RIP to Druids, their reign of terror has ended
I did a variant on this build that one point wonders all the auras, and utilizes holy bolt and maxes the healing, ignores the Holy Shock, max out as a healer, and roll meditation, one point smite and holy shield. The heals with low +healing does insane heals to party members, 350-750 or something along those lines. You can operate as a hard support for bosses, keep mercs alive, and still blast bosses.
My 2 cents for the beginning of the ladder (as I am planning to play this hybrid build) is to lvl up using holy fire.
I have tested it and you crush everything in Normal and Nightmary (till act 2 then I re-spec) and cows normal die in 2 shots on player 3 so you will have 0 problems is a solo game.
this way you will be able to have a great farm build to get the base for spirit runewords and you have no issue farming countess Nightmary.
NOTE: just get 1 point in to charge. for fat move.
farm cows/ chaos normal till lvl 33 -35 and you are good to go after that re-spec go first for FOH it crushes everything, leave the smite for the end you will not need it till ubers.
this is if you are going to do it solo.
Thank you! My man!
Holy fires been the go to level up spec for a long while. Smite also helps in act 3 hell since it's full of animals and repairing a tele staff costs hella gold
this is the future of P1 pally. I built this out earlier with hammers and conc (focusing on holy bolt) but then realized they stripped the BH synergy with holy bolt in 2.4, literally cutting its damage in half. building into fanata for smite and the frenzy merc is such a good call, and im 100% running this early ladder for my CS/Smiter needs. Just remember to pack 1 point in redemption on quick cast as not having insight is a killer on mana.
I did build my smiter like this back in .14 to heal my merc in a fancier manner and deal with physical immune, simply because there are always spare points for smiter. I am really happy this comes to be a real thing.
This build is usually called a vindicator or v/t in pvp but with holy shock for dmg instead of holy bolt. For pvm as well this build will be better with 125fcr
fcr for foh isnt really noticable in the new patch after 75fcr so it makes it even more viable for hybrid builds
Was looking for this. There are great v/t guides out there.
I wonder if a proc paladin with LoH and principle, synergised holy bolt, zeal and fanat would be good. Each attack will throw 1-2 1k piercing bolts that hit demons and undead
I just came on here to see if you have thought of this build yet, I thought I was the first to try it, but you beat me to it! I was trying multiple different auras, Might for the merc, redemption in big groups, salvation if needed, overall, fun build!
That's exactly the build I was missing.Only will run goblin toes instead of gores.Love it.
This is a VT paladin. The build's been the best PVP build for ever.
I was thinking to shoot for a Dream FOHdin might be interesting or something to shoot for in the ladder. Running conviction and holy shock together with FOH and Holy Bolt.
It's rips hard. I used one on ladder since I had a dreamdin all I had to do was respec.
I did a fun variation of this build idea,a foh zealot,leaning more into zeal than the casting- using eth upped zodded ribcracker,cham gface,principle armor,gores,rare leech/ar/fcr/str/res rings,string,hilords,lohs.swap gear is hoz/pally cta[+5foh]. Using max/ar charms,torch/anni, might/reaper/pride merc. Kinda a monk/mage build, where i soften and murder large groups of mobs with a holy bolt synergized foh, then whack leftover mfs to def with my staff. Hes a bit fragile, and i found a zodded reaper in my own hands was way safer and more effective, but when youve got a perfect eth ribby you got to find excuses to use it lol.
Its called a Vindicator Templar (VT) in PvP. Its funny it can be used in PvM now as well !
I was planning on doing this exact build for Ladder once they announced the addition of damaging demons for holy bolt. You get the versatility of being able to farm some really good level 85 areas, and the ability to do ubers. What more can you ask for from a build??
I die a little inside every time a D2 build guide flippantly mentions a "random hodgepodge" of gear while showing off Grief, Enigma, and +20 to skills, lol. I am super interested in this build tho, I just hope it performs remotely as well without skillers/torch/anni/grief/teleport.
I do have a Redeemer, which is Damage +80 so I think it works like a baby Grief? Also gives me +6 Holy Bolt and Redemption. Probably painfully slow for smiting though.
Also, where do you get MF in this build without Enigma (and without sacrificing vastly more damage than I'll already have to)? I guess Shako in place of Gface would be plausible, especially since without skillers I'd have to find +skills from somewhere.
That’s the way streamers usually talk, since they play 8-10 hours a day and their progress to these items is so quick that they consider them as standard and they do not realize that majority of players are the casuals who may not have enigma, grief or Mara even at the end of the season.
You can run sanc naked with foh build so shouldn't be an issue with redeemer
thats the problem, everything work well, with half synergies when u got all high end runes when u have +40 skills, enigma and infinity.
thats why i don't follow these guides.
u came for guides and stuff and the only thing u hear is :
-"with +40 skills, enigma, infinity, this build is cool"
So basically all those guide are useless.
Heaven's light scepter is a really interesting starter option aside from Hand of Blessed light for the Smite+Foh variant over an Oath/Black. +2-3 to all skills for FoH and Smite, 33% crushing blow, and -33% target defense. It's rare but SUPER BUDGET so it may be a valid option for ladder starting before you get a grief tier item.
The Reedemer, Zakarum's hand (Ignore targets def), and Fetid Sprinkler (5% decrepify chance on striking!) are along the same lines too.
The old D2 bad itemization is finally kind of good for paladins?
-33% target defense ? But Smite always hits.
@@Ant3rn didn't know at the time how -def worked, however it still stands as a solid early ladder starter that you can pick up for roughly a lem for the 2/1 version and about an ist for a 3/2 version. Just shael it up and go
I used that exclusively to farm D clones for folks early on in the ladder until I got my grief.
Mrllama i will definitely run this build. Messed around with it in the PTR and had a blast! Thank you!
MrLlama I see all these great builds that you do and I love them. I was wondering if you would put together and foh/zeal or foh/smite build with exile and principle do see what that foh damage would be with a 100 % chance to cast on striking ?
sweet! Think i'm sold on my league starter. One build, 2 gear sets, and you can easily farm one of the best areas
I'm honestly worried about this build. I feel like it will be nerf'd to the point of hydra sorc
People were already doing this with Hammerdins except Hammerdin is way better.
Isn't hammer/FOH or hammer/smite hybrid just better?
More just that we're getting this awesome build right away, I'd love to make this my starting ladder char, I just feel they will nerf this because at mid gear it's already effective. It will have the same fate as holy fire
on the ptr i played with a couple of hydra sorcs, and it's still super strong.
They should just leave it the way it was....
The only issue I have with this build is that you present a build with a +20 to skills
Is still strong with wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy less gear i tried it on ptr with less +skill and stil powerful as fuck.
1 point smite is more than enough for ubers...especially with gear like that. What I did with mine was 20 FOH, 20 Holy bolt, 20 Holy shield, 20 Fanat. Rest into pre reqs and redemption. Not quite as fast as a pure smiter but much better all around build. 2.4 in my opinion brought back the V/T and T/V builds in such a nice way.
Thanks, bro! I'd like to try yours.
@@forzenmagma No problem. I'm not running a grief either. Using a 3 skill 2os heavens light for less gear swaps. Stack up on your resists and cb and open wounds and you won't have an issue.
Gear suggestions Guillames, duress, hoz, heavens light, raven frost, dracs or laying of hands, gore's, tgod, maras for ubers. I switch to normal mf gear for everything else.
I'd probably just make my CTA in a Phaseblade and pair it with a HOZ on switch. I'm gonna be maxing out holy shock anyway, so might as well prep my swap setup for a tesla zealer. Gore riders, highlords, raven would probably be enough to clear most animal mobs. Or i'd get silkweave instead of gores if I want to run a Frenzy merc in place of an insight merc. I guess, giving up CTA entirely and using a real melee weapon would also be viable since pallies are quite tanky already.
CTA in a phaseblade? That dex req
@@matthiaspeeters4104 Dex = max block, attack rating. Especially since CTA has no ITD and you'd probably don't want too many attack rating charms in you inventory. Or as i've said, you can simply ditch CTA altogether and get something like a grief + exile on switch.
You made me panic when you came back to town after Lilith and started talking. I was screaming " MERC IS DOING TO DIE...!"
Legit what I was thinking for a build. So happy to see you figured it out as well! Great run through on the build. Can't wait to give it a try. Gonna try uber budget and go Full Gris XD never know might be something lol.
Full gris vts slam pvp sometimes if your movement is good.
I'm running it, Ladder Hell mode.
So far so good.
I maxed holy shock, so FoH can killl things that aren't deamon/undead as well as smite; but FoH is ranged, so it's more useful.
Also found that smite is really good in Hell mode, if you get surrounded and can't move or hit with something ug you can usut start smiting something nearby to regain life and make a move.
You can use the unique scepters +4 combat or +3 all skill that both have crusting blow.
I'm testing the Guardian Angel up'ed into the bud to see how it does with 90% res all.
Also good to get conviction to break immunes, so you don't need a sunder charm.
The guardian angel gives you more block rage and chance, and it seems to make a really tanky build. With some DR.
The build now is lacking some resistance, as it's good to have +250 all about incause of lower resist. Goes well with a trench used for proc fade and switch back to GA.
Damage is really good 1 player, and in groups the conviction plus your ape holy bolts does a good job.
Single down targets immune to holy bolt with FoH and use smite on tanky bosses that aren't physical immune.
I'm really liking it... You can do Ubers np.
Worth mentioning that you can have your merc in from of your target and shoot holy bolts at the mod and heal your merc and kill the mob at the same time.
The heals are small, wondering if a preyer build would allow you to heal your merc and kill anything.
FoH Smiter was one of my FAVORITE pvp builds.
Range fight he wins/melle fight he wins.
I tried this on PTR, but with less skillpoints needed. I put 1 point in fanaticism, smite, and redemption and I can choose to go full caster with damage(conviction), caster with survivability(redemption), or swap gear out and go smiter(fanaticism) for ubers.
It doesn't even need grief as putting on guillames, dracs, and gores are enough to get the job done for the bosses, and FoH clears out the minions.
Aka a Vindicator/Template VT??? Aka a great pvp choice.....
I would like to see a play thru of this build. I started a pally this ladder (2) and seems to be weak in hell. I beat the ancients, but the worldstone keep kicks my butt every time. I even tried running salvation to make sure I had max res, but still no luck. Is this just an end game build? It seems really viable the way you describe it. I have also watched both your smiter and foh playthrus. This just seems to combine them. I would think it should work as a starter build…. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Please do a playthru for this build as it is newer take on the character with the changes to foh.
Wasn't there a build where you could spam holy bolts on hit? How well would that work now?
Nice build , do you spec any into defensive auras?
I like these hybrid builds. I've always liked playing a kicksin with traps. This seems even better.
This has been my main build for a while now. Didn't follow any guides or anything and Ive experimented with every possible different skill allocation and gear setup you can think of and the best and quickest/strongest setup is max zeal and sacrifice, fanat holy bolt and Foh. You need level 98 to be perfect 20pts in all skills but the result whether you max zeal or smite the damage difference is barely noticable. The only real difference is with 1pt smite and holy shield you kill bosses slower. I like to go max smite and holy shield just so that I can pvp without having to respect. I'm exactly 2 exp bars from hitting that 98!! I really don't care to reach 99 but we'll see how I feel after 98 comes. Before this build the highest I've ever done all by myself is 96 which looking back feels like nothing 😅
After 20 years it feels like Blizzard is opening back up hybrid builds. Pre-synergies, you'd have to spread your skill points around to cover your character's weak points. Once we got synergies, builds coalesced into just a handful of pre-made, obvious builds.
I'm really liking what I see with these interesting hybrid paladins and druids. Giving players realistic meaningful build choices makes running new characters fun even after all these years.
"Hodge podge Pally, I just grabbed some trash off the floor with an inventory full of Pcomb lifers and full endgame gear and boom look what he can do"...
Might as well just stick your CTA into a Caduceus with Holy Boly/FoH/Holy Shield staffmods if you're going to go that route. Smiters do struggle with large groups, so it makes sense.
That's genius if you're aiming for convenience over min/maxing! Depends on how badly you want FCR for tele once you get enigma. Until then though, CtA in CAD for FoH and grief for smite and you're set. That's if you can find a CAD with right automods for a decent price
Holy shield can't spawn on scepters realistically, and they haven't been spawning in D2R. Sadly you can't have Holy Bolt and FoH together either. You can have one or the other.
@@MacroBioBoi Who are you? Do you even play paladin ;)? But hey he's right, HS in 5os scepters is a very rare bugged roll. I'm dissapointed about the bots and the lack of high runes drops. Won't play D2R new ladder seriously if I play at all. I'm getting too old to grind that much. PD2/Slashdiablo are just better mods to enjoy once again a 20 years old game.
Holy bolt mod wouldn't help. Synergies work off hard points only. Better to grab foh/ conviction
@@MacroBioBoi good to know!
I created one like this in hardcore, really strong, but i dont have enigma yet, i use the (shael ko eld) for the evade and fast hit, is amazing
I played around with this earlier and decided I would put 1 point in smite and my auras, max holy bolt, zeal, sacrifice, and holy bolt and then dump the rest in holy shield and then fanaticism last. I think I just found my ladder starter
This right here is my first character. The is at which it can flatten chaos sanctuary is unmatched for budget gear
My thoughts exactly. The fact that it can hit demons is so huge
Not optimized…. Has enigma and grief with full inventory of gcs. Of course you fast clear p1, you have realistic best/optimal gear. Any pally and be a smite, it’s a one point wonder. Maybe a few more points to get fanaticism.
Have you tried Goldstrike, FOH Rangerdin? Would be curious to see it.
Yoo that sounds like an amazing idea. Thought you'd be missing res and plus skill from a pally shield. The bow give 200 % Demon and undead damage off the bat and chance of foh... hmm interesting
@@stevenpmurphy9963 plus 9 to FOH as well.
tell me, does increased crit damage (deadly trike) and % damage to demon (laying of hand) work on smite. Thank you
I want to do this build but will just be starting out with it. What skills should I select to get through the game fairly easy until it's like yours?
Would fist of the heavens work with holy fire and resistance fire
What to put into weapon sockets what helps a FoH Smiter? I have a 2 OS Heavens Light and not sure what to put in it.
Use Heaven's Light (shael shael) if you want a hybrid weapon. More crushing blow and another 3 skill levels.
Loving this! Hope you'll do a guide for this Hy-Pa at some point ♥
Hey llama why not more foh and 1 point smite w/ 15 points fanat since you can clear faster overall and light smite for boss/ubers?
Or max fanat, holy bolt, and about 15 holy shock until 99... I have never needed holy shield or smite to clear ubers or a boss with decent gear.. I'd rather focus more on mass aoe with foh and near max holy shock for extra lightning as I hit lvl 85 to 99 to clear more areas faster.
Not sure 15 fanat or 15 holy shock but think holy shock is less important vs being able to nuke with smite as needed.. even players 8 seems like the added shock does less than the added fanat hits but either way just 5 points one way or other.
i was theorycrafting a holy bolt build for chaos and noticed they got rid of the 50% synergy from hammer. why?
Gonna try my hand at ubers, trying to figure out what to use so I don't mess up and lose my keys lol. Already made a bear druid but I'm scared to try might lvl up a smite first to try it on that 1st
How do you think this would work with budget gear? Watched your FOHdin play guide and it seems great. Just curious with the add on of smite.
Whats the Equipment of the Merc ? is it 2xHoJ and Dragon Armor ? And whats the helm ? Anyone know.
Have respecced into FoH. Tried a hybrid and pure FoH build so far. Your vid looks to be p1, which doing a hybrid on works well for. On p8 pure FoH is a lot better imo. Hoto, perf griffons w facet, enigma, rare dual res frw fhr big def boots, arach, dwarf + wisp, 45all res sacred targe spirit, cta and spirit, magefists upped or trangs claws. Eight pcomb with torch and anni. Put 5 pts prayer, 8 pts conviction, max foh and hb, max holy shield, one pt redemption. With plus skills from gear and cta you will reach lvl 25 conviction, have 70-100 overstack on res, and be at 140 fcr. You can pvp, pvm, or uber. With ubers, one swap in a last wish phase blade, or stormlash/heavens light though with the sl/hl you will need a lifetap wand in cube. Prebuff fade, and you can run conviction or fanaticism. Fana attacks faster, conviction obv safer against mephisto. Find this to be more fun in p8 than hybrid where you do most things mediocre, or worse then either of the more focused builds. Hammer is faster at pure pvm, without ubers. Feel foh is probably better pvp and ubers.
Hi does this build need a +20 skills & infinity / enigma
Or does it work with about a +10 ?
Does anybody know what the best budget options would be for this build? Cuz I’m poor but I really want to try this build. Would a budget build be as good to play for this build?
Honestly smite is such a 1pt wonder. I recently transitioned my hammerdin to foh with zeal and a frenzy merc to clear up packs that Holy Bolts don't hit.
Using Grief on my swap now, but I'm thinking about swapping to Destruction/Rift/Stormlash since I'm not really using fanat. Might as well take advantage of the conviction aura that i also never use.
Hey LLama could you please show the Gear of your merc too ? And the breakpionts ?
So did you max smite or just holy shield?
Do we know if the holy bolts from FoH heal other party members?
Edit: If yes. Then I would think about maxing prayer and either use Cleansing or Meditation with it. Also of course still using 1 point redemption for corpse clean up if no Barb or Necro is in the group. Even still if running with a group conviction would still be great to have. If running solo I think this build would benefit a lot from redemption as main aura and just use Merc to clean up anything you can't.
I did tell myself i wouldn't make a Pala or Sorc this ladder because i always do that, but damn destroying chaos with foh looks so fun.
can this build do Ubers? kinda saves me making 2 pallys :p
As someone who has never used smite/hammers because they seemed boring or FOH because it seemed weak, I might try this. Is Act 5 Merc ideal?
He was testing the other day how good they are now, on the same character, prolly not bothered swapping it, since let's be honest paladin barely ever needs a merc for anything, mostly for Insight to save on pot spam ( even then has redemption, ) so nah, not needed at all.
@@Ryudoz26 Dude this build is garbage without level 34 Might Aura from Dual Last Wish Merc. Yes it is needed. FOH doesnt no damage at all maxed with Holy bolt maxed synergy. Smite is tough with max Fanaticism, but I cannot clear like LLama using FOH and my Act 2 Merc with Infinity. He tricked us all. LW is critical.
The Average D2 Player: Paladin is OP!!
MrLlamaSC: Hold my beer...
why aren't you using principle? I am sure you tried it but the synergies would work with 100% bolt cast.
Have you tryed foh with concentration aura if it raise the holy bolts damage?
Any points at Defensive auras?
Great and very versatile! FoH every demon and undead out there and Smite the butt of all the rest and bosses! Gonna try this!... if they don't change it before the official release of the patch...
Sick build my friend used to play this pally back in the day
Does foh have increased cast rate? Or us fcr a dead stat for them?
would 1 point in concentration increase the holy bolt dmg?
I love how he always dose all these builds at lvl 99 but how would you even level this this kinda character? Build a smiter then start adding FoH with the rest of the talents or go all FoH and then built up Smite as you go along? Maybe do a Leveling guide for this hybrid class
Beautiful hybrid build, Llama!
Be very interesting to do a high ED elite spirit shield for both damage AND caster viability there.
ed doesnt add to smite tho
I absaloutley love this, I can never get to the point of enigma and skillers usually. So I'm hoping a budget version might be able to handle Dclone
Why max smite and rest in fana? Wouldn't it be better max fana before smite?
Personally I went 20 smite 20 Fanat 20 holy shield 20 FOH And random skills to get 1 defiance and working to get vigor. Currently level 82
With my budget gear I’m looking at 1.9-2.1k smite 1k foh
Guillems helmet
+1 pala ammy with all res (looking for better)
Dracs
String of ears
Gores
Upd hoz
Treachery
Heavens light (shael+shael)
Bk ring / all res stat ring with reduce frozen
No skill charms only res charms for now
Also super underused skill I use as my hotkey is the conversion while I’m smiting hordes. Since I’m a weaker smiter for now there is nothing better than having an army while you knock down champions and unique bosses
Man I didn’t think this build was gonna work until it did
He still lacks a little more damage to be more competent to get into as SA tier, and also others like firetrapsin, bladesin, eledru with more physical dmg in fire and more cold dmg(hurrican) builds, bear form druids lack a little movement speed, impalezon 70%more speed, bowazon little dmg :D, ww(so it's the S tier it should be), singer(here a lot more, this is currently C tier), throw barb, leaps in barb need high dmg and velocity, auradin up to 250, sorc hydra 6--> 7 hydras, 50%- delay cd for fb, and a small buff to seldom used domains (5-10% more dmg It would probably make people give him more importance), the necro still lacks damage on spear and bone spirit, and double or triple damage on skeleton wizards is very important.
Mr llama can you try combining dual dream tesladin with FOH cause FOH damage comes from holy bolt ? Was wondering if it viable in players 8
Was wondering the same thing
@@CptChoucroutte Normal Tesladin holy shock from dreams doesn't do much in P8. Conviction does tho. What kills from Tesi is the Zeal. He's a beast.
If you don't have ridiculous gear that will take you months to get, and dont have a hacked single player character with 20 hard points in everything, your FoH damage will be 1-1.5k, and your holy bolt damage will be 4-5k. holy bolt damage is not to be confused with the damage that the holy bolts from FoH do, the Foh's holy bolts do a bit less damage than the holy bolt skill
this build will be my endgame build for ladder
Will be great to be able to kill uber diablo if he spawns and get myself an anni without having to worry about getting a friend or something over to kill it
while still being able to farm keys/chaos/torches
Hi what
is the gear on the Merc ?
Have you played Diablo before Resurrected came out? You seems to know quite a lot about this game ;).
- nice build, makes Smiter a lot better -it used to be Uber only char, now it changed ;)
>Have you played Diablo before Resurrected came out?
lol
great post. excited for a balanced FOH. pallys are a bit over powered across the board
which areas have only demons and undead?
I wonder how smite with holy shock does, or as sort of a crazy expensive build a tesladin foh/smite hybrid.
Not possible really. Tesla uses a Dream shielf for one (so no HOZ) and uses Cres Moon alot so this build would be weakened heavily by not using Astreons or Grief or whatever. Stretching yourself too thin just make 2x builds
For chaos, just one point into redemption is enough
hey Mr lama can you try a tesla-fohdin build
Yes please!!
Would aiming to use this build as a ladder starter for mfing/Ubers be viable? Kinda drained on the basic mf sorc start
How is this build without higher gear?
Is this a viable hardcore build
Sounds fun.
Like something else I will play beside of an hammerdin now
Andys helm would go excellent with that build. 2 skills for foh and the 25+ias to make up for the lower lvl of fant and 10ll
10ll does nothing for smite or foh, but the rest is good
@@infernalz1337 still if you are lacking in points in conviction, the 35% in andys helm with a proper jewel along with 2 skills and the str should help dramatically.
I guess you never heard of a Vindicator or Templar or Mage paladin?
I have always wanted holy bolt to work it seems like it works pretty well