Healthy, untwinked Paladin for stumping through?

Friends ,

I have not played Diablo II for some years, though it was always my favourite game. Synergies and the like are all over the place, and I think I've gotten a grasp on them. The Paladin was always my favourite character, and many idle hours were passed by slaughtering untold numbers of Hell Cows. Since the poor old Bovine farm has died away into legend, I have decided to come back! Now, what am I to do?

My inventory, at present, consists of zero gold, a cheap short sword, and cheap buckler. Are there any new tricks and weapon suggestions (such as finding a 3-socket flail and stocking it full of ridiculous gems and such), and especially builds that I can look through? I just want to stump right up through the game, leisurely playing each act for the quests involved, and trying my very best not to die. This poor Paladin of mine has literally no mules or anything to his name, so I am untwinked in the most literal sense!

It seems that the best choice is a frost zealot. This is a general opinion I've observed; however, I'd rather have real input instead of 4-year-old forum questions left unanswered. I am not in the mood for creating a boring old sorceress, but I really want to build this Paladin up safely, respectably, and healthily. Hammerdins are out, because I want to smack stuff, just without dying a lot - which sounds like an easy enough task, now that I.M. is gone! |||Frost Zealot works. I actually prefer going Frost and Tesla to deal with immunes. It can be done on pretty cheap gear. One of my first characters in single player did that and I just used a 4 Eth 2 Shael phase blade for most of Hell. Rune drop rates have increased a lot, so check the Arreat Summit for things you might be able to make. A lot of the links in the guide thread seem to be messed up at the moment, but check the Paladin section of the Strategy Compendium.|||Thank you for your advice, friend! May I ask how I should distribute teslafroster points, then, without a "Dream" word or anything like that? I've heard the attack rating is dreadful on such paladins.|||thats what the 4 Eth in the PB is for

get in one hit and its -100% Def :P|||holy shock does Double damage than freeze though - if you dare|||Freeze/Tesla hybrid ftw. Holy fire works great until act 4, then you can respec (in case you didn't know you can reset your char at akara once in each difficulty now) to holy freeze. I'd put points into shock much later before you start encountering many cold immunes.|||Quote:








Freeze/Tesla hybrid ftw. Holy fire works great until act 4, then you can respec (in case you didn't know you can reset your char at akara once in each difficulty now) to holy freeze. I'd put points into shock much later before you start encountering many cold immunes.




Wow! Thank you very much for this practical advice. Nothing is more helpful than a tidbit or two about actual game play. I'd just discovered Akara's new ability last night... it certainly is handy.