Equipping Hammerdin and Avenger

I have a level 65 Hammerdin and I'm leveling an Avenger as well.

Current shields I have available are Storm Shield, a HoZ(just found it), and a Spirit in a 42 Resist Sacred Rondache.

For the Hammerdin I was thinking of going Wizard Spike/HoZ. FHR will have to come from some where else, but I love the plus skills, resists, and +block so I can put less stat points in Dex and more in Vit. The Hammerdin will be used purely for Hell CS runs.

On the Avenger I was thinking of (Oath or Heavens Light)/Storm Shield. I think that the Avenger will really benefit from the DR and I'm not counting on another HoZ dropping any time soon. The Avenger is just for fun and maybe when my friend plays his sorc.

Do you guys agree or would you go with another combo for these guys?

Thanks|||What other gear do you have/plan to have on your hammerdin?



Using Wizzy Spike and 'Spirit' you can probably hit a very nice cast rate (125%)



If you don't have enigma already, I wouldn't worry too much about getting it. Having an item with teleport charges will get you past the River of Flame, and everything from there is worth killing IMO.



I don't know what you are playing (/NL/Ladder/SP) but I would go with a "cheap" set-up:



Helm: Shako (Ptopazed, Um'd if you need the resists)



Armour: Skin of the Vipermagi (up'd and um'd or Ptopazed)



Weapon: Wizardspike (Ist it)



Shield: 'Spirit' or Hoz (pdiamond) if you really need the extra damage



Boots: Treks (I found these early surprisingly, but War Travelers are cheap and work nicely too.)



Amulet: Maras (or an amulet with teleport charges)



Rings: Raven and SoJ, or any ring you find (I seem to find quite a few 10% fcr ones, preferably one of those to hit a Breakpoint)



Belt: String of Ears for now, but Arachnid Mesh eventually I assume (if you can get one 20% FCR removes the need to reroll your spirit to perfect, and you can use whatever ring you want )



Weapon switch: Naj's Puzzler (to get past the River of Flame)



With the exception of maras (took me ages to find/trade for one), I used this set-up on my Hammerdin for CS for quite a while. If you find a "ring of the apprentice'" (I think thats what they're called) giving you that extra 10% FCR you be laying down the best hammerfield possible, and I LOVE watching things walk into that



To sum it up: Put the 'Spirit' on your hammerdin, and HoZ on the Avenger



EDIT: I was just guessing as to what gear you have, and the above listed stuff is relatively easy to get. I assume you know what endgame gear you want to get.|||Right now my Hammerdin is wearing:

Weapon: Wizard Spike

Shield: Spirit in a 42 Resist All Sacred Rondache

Helm: Lore (Could use Kiras or a 3 PTopaz helm unfil I find a Shako)

Ammy: 44MF may switch to 60 Life/30 Mana/11ResAll/24MF

Armor: Skin of the Viper (32 Resists) w/ PTopaz (Just found a Skulders)

Belt: Night Smoke

Gloves: Magefist (Have Frost Burns as well, but I use the Magefist)

Boots: Cant remember off the top of my head, nothing amazing)

Ring1: Rare FCR, Mana, MF

Ring2: Rare FCR, Resists (Have a Raven Frost, Dwarfstar, 24 Nagel)

My goal for the Hammerdin is 250-300MF, 50+ Resists(in Hell), 75FCR(125 would be nice as long as i'm not sacrificing too many resists or MF). I really like your idea of using an Ist on the Wizard Spike, it has so many usefull stats.

The Avenger is only level 12, I don't even know what gear i'm going to use on him yet. I have the Stormshield and the HoZ. I just thought the DR on Storm Shield would be nice in Hell for a melee character, but HoZ is sexy as well.|||I would definently switch out amulets. The stats on that 60/30 are awesome. I would strive to get a arachnid mesh. Then ditch the resist ring for the nagel (or raven if being slow really irritates you) If you can get tri-resist boots that would probably help you in the resist area. Do you have a torch and anni?|||After reviewing my Hammerdin in game I realized with the Wizard Spike, Spirit in a 42 resist all shield, 32 resist Skin of the Viper, and 20 resist all from Normal and NM Anya my resists are maxed except fire it's 68 in hell.

Is block rate a concern for Hammerdins? A couple of times if enemies got to close and I blocked it seemed to slow down my casting.

Currently a Shako and Arachnids are the 2 pieces of gear I really need to get. I do not have an Annihilus or Torch. I adjusted my gear some and it is now the following:

Weapon: Wizard Spike

Shield: Spirit in a 42 Resist Sacred Rondache

Helm: Peasant Crown (until I get a Shako)

Ammy: 44MF

Armor: Skin of the Viper (32 Resists) w/ PTopaz

Belt: Tals (Only have 11MF yuck, will replace with Arachnids)

Gloves: Magefist (Can switch to MF gloves when I get Arachnids)

Boots: Aldurs (40 FRW, 50 Life, Tops off Fire Res) until I find War Travs

Ring1: 24 MF Nagel (will switch to Dwarf Star for running Chaos Sanc)

Ring2: 25 MF Nagel

Thanks for the input Trionth.|||I've never once worried about block rate. Rarely do monsters get through a 125% FCR hammerfield (especially if you're walking everywhere, then you can't teleport right in the middle of a pack of snake things *hatred*)



Get max block, but the FBR doesn't really matter (IMO)|||I would strongly advise against the stormshield on the avenger. you have a HoZ and a Spirit and either choice is fine. The Avenger can certainly benefit from the +2 skills, Vit, FHR and huge mana from spirit (the larger your mana pool is, the more effective your leech is and avengers tend not to put any poins into energy) the only really useless stat spirit has for an avenger is the FCR but hey, that's easy to look beyond. HoZ gives you a good boost to Vengeance and holy shield (+4) but keep in mind that higher level vengeance requires more mana as well, and there is nice stat bonues to go with it, and extra AR. I would say the choice comes down to how much mana leech you have. if you have tons of it, go with HoZ on the avenger. if you don't have that much, then spirit might benefit you more.

The hammerdin can also use either shield, it's just a matter of how much FCR you want to hit, 75% or 125%. it's been proven that higher FCR will ultimately give you better results in long term MF, so go with spirit for 125% FCR assuming you have the rest of the gear to get there. Otherwise HoZ and wizzy should get you to 75% fcr (which is the bare minimum you should strive for) and leave you with plenty of spots open to load on mf gear.