Skills Basics guide for the most used builds

[SoD-GoD]

If your looking for a simple plan out for the most common builds, heres what you'll want to know.

Warcry/WW Barb.

Howl:1
Shout: 1
Battle Orders: 20
Battle Command:1

Weapon mastery(your choice): 20

Bash: 1
Stun: 1
Leap: 1
Leap Attack: 1
Concentrate: 1
WhirlWind: 20

The build will be finished at lvl 58 if you don't use skill quest points incorrectly(in other skills other then the ones intended) Excluding those from Hell Izzy

Bone Necromancer

Teeth:20
Bone Armor:1-20(Dependent on if PVP or PVM)
Corpse Explosion:1
Bone Spear:20
Bone Spirit:20

This build can be improved upon for dmg by adding additional points into Bonewall and Bone Prison.

*Blizzard Sorceress

Ice Bolt:20
Ice Blast:20
Glacial Spike:20
Blizzard:20
Cold Mastery:20(if possible)

This build has a few flaws, but I will not discuss these here atm.

*Light Sorceress
This build can be done multiple ways

Charge bolt:20
Lightning:20
Chain lightning:20
Light Mastery:20
Nova:20(optional)

*Note: all sorceresses need to have at least one point into Telekinesis and Teleport to be a useful/successful build(without Enigma Runeword in the gear).

Lightning Trapsin Assasin

FireBlast:1
ShockWeb:20
Charged Bolt Sentury:20
Lightning Sentury:20
Claw Mastery:1
Burst of speed:5
Death Sentury:20

The build should be completed around lvl 75 with the skill quests from all three difficulties

Hammerdin Paladin

Holy Bolt:1
Blessed Hammer: 20
Might:1
Blessed Aim: 20
Prayer:1
Cleansing:1
Defience:1
Vigor: 20
Concentration: 20
Smite:1
Charge:1
Holy shield: minimum of 1

This build will be complete around 76, with the use of the Skill Quest points from all three difficulties.

Wolf Shifter Druid

WereWolf:20
Lycanthropy:20
Feral Rage:20(optional)
Rabies:1
Fury:20
Oak Sage:1
Heart of the Wolverine:20

This build will be completed at lvl at lvl 70 with all the skill quest points from all three difficulties.

Windrid Druid

Arctic Blast:1
Cyclone Armor:20
Twister:20
Tornado:20
Hurricane:20
Oak Sage:20

This build completes at lvl 90 using all the skill quest points from all three difficulties.

If other Member would like to correct me on anything that may have been mistakenly put into this thread, feel free to say so.

Also, I'm not too good with any other builds, such as Smiter, Zealot. If members that have full knowledge of these skill setups would post so for all the new kids, I'm sure that they would appreaciate it, and I would also.

~~SoD

PS:If a Mod feels the need to move this to the newbie section, I'm down with that.

Edit: Added Trapsin for those that want to try it.

[SweatyOgre]

Good job. I do however, think you were right about it being better off in Newbies Only.

[SoD-GoD]

Meteorber(not common)

Skills guide
The skills that will be needed are mainly fire, but you can get pretty good dmg without having all the latest runewords

Fire skills

Firebolt=10
Fireball=10
Inferno=1
Blaze=1
Firewall=1
Meteor=20
Firemastery=5

With these skills, and without additives, meteor does 1.5k-1.6k

Cold Skills

Icebolt=1
Frostnova=1
Iceblast=1
Glacialspike=1
Blizzard=1
Frozen orb=20

Though not your primary skill, orb does a pretty good amount of dmg at this point, with 252-258 without skill additives.

Short explaination

The stats are a different story, and I know that some people want to know these, but I can't give out stats unless I give out items and what type. If you have items in mind for what you want to use with this build, PM me, and I'll see the best stat distribution that I can.

[bmf-2]

Hammerdin
Defensive Auras=1 point in prayer, defiance,clensing-20 points in vigor
Offensive Auras=1 point in might, blessed aim-20points in concentration
Combat Skills= 1 point in smite, holybolt, charge-20 points blessed hammer, Holy Shield


This is 88 skill points.

[JustPwnedYou]

your joking right? 1 point in blessed aim? ...lol i say no more

[Ntrik_]

Originally Posted by bmf-2

Hammerdin
Defensive Auras=1 point in prayer, defiance,clensing-20 points in vigor
Offensive Auras=1 point in might, blessed aim-20points in concentration
Combat Skills= 1 point in smite, holybolt, charge-20 points blessed hammer, Holy Shield


This is 88 skill points.

thats the most flawed hammerdin build Ive ever seen.

[SoD-GoD]

Ok, if you are in this thread to criticize my computation of skills without reading the entire piece of the guide, don't post in it.

BMF, your guide that you put up, I've already got that in the beginning of this thread, and it is more complete, and better layed out.

Justpwned, one into baim will get your ass kicked. Theres a reason that it is a synergy of Bhammer.

Don't try my patience in my thread, and if you're looking to critisize, make sure you know what the hell you're talking about!

[Chris]

Vengadin

Although kinda corny, this can be a lethal PvM paladin build

Basis of Growth:
20 pts in Vengeance
20 pts in Conviction
20 pts in Holy Shield

Mercenary:
Anything but Rogue, a3 mercs can do more damage with Conviction; but that is up to you.

Optional things to do with the rest of your points:
Defiance - Makes HS more effective (you cant be struck so easily)
Resist Fire/Ice/Lughtning - Each point makes Vengeance do 10% more damage of that element (good for maximizing effect)
Salvation - Makes Vegeance do 2% more all elements (not that recommended)
Meditiate - Mana regen after battle (only if mana hungry).
Smite - Stuns target allowing you to vengeance without the enemy attacking you back. (a good strategy vs one opponent)

Stats should up all but Energy. Use mana pots and p skulls in weapons to recover mana, you will blow a lot doing this. The outcome is that you can kill any opponent regardless of immunity. Also the conviction will allow sorcs and druids and some of the necromancer's summons to take maximum effects now that some immunities are gone. Note that some monsters keep thier immunities, so be aware of these.

Suggested Weapons: Anything that does high damage and grants bonus elemental damage but poison. Nords and Baranars are good picks. As

[bone52781]

I took this Paladin all the way to Act 2 Hell on Single Player with absolutely no cheating. Everything he wore, he scrounged from the enemies I killed. Please note that since I've only ever played single player, and just now decided to try a Druid instead of a Paladin which I've always used, that I do not know whether this is really all that good since I have nothing to compare to. It worked for me though, so give it a shot.

Note: Built to v1.09 Single-Player

Zeal: 20
Sacrifice: 20 (+dam synergy for Zeal)
Holy Freeze: 13
Salvation: 1
Holy Shield: 15
+Preresiqutes.
(After this you can either max holy freeze and holy shield, or maybe throw a little in to conviction. I have a hard time dealing with having a lot of auras. I don't hot key well, so I try to avoid setting stuff up to have to change it. Try to get 8% life leech so you can use sacrifice on bosses. Hopefully you can hook your merc up enough to deal with P.I.)

Dump a lot of points in to strength and vitality. I cursed how many I stuck in dexterity that might have been better used for life. Zeal just doesn't hit as often as it seems it should regardless of what you stuff in to dex. I wouldn't say leave dex at base, but if I had to do it all over I think I'd favor vitality.

I used an Act 1 cold merc, wore crap, swung on monsters with crap, and still did fine until Act 2 of Hell. Holy Freeze is a really underrated skill for PvM. If you dump enough in to it, with an act 1 merc with a half decent bow, you can really make her count. Mine mowed enemies sometimes better than I did.

You're going to inevitably run in to the problem I did with resistances. I just got the best shield I could scrape up and shoved three perfect diamonds in it. That was my primary source of resistance along with a little here and a little there on other items and a lot of charms. I pretty much just viewed shields as a way to get +resist and didn't attempt to use them for anything else.

Some +resist all on armor will really help your cause.

For a weapon, just try to get the fastest one you can find with the biggest smack to it. I didn't aim for elemental damage. Later on, stuff doesn't seem to be too fazed by it. Fast or Very Fast are the only acceptable attack speeds, beyond that just look for a big smack.

+Skills is nice and all, but man, +skills on your jewelry are not going to save you if you have 30% resist on stuff in nightmare. Keep your resists as high as possible, I forsake almost any cute little +to perk in favor of resistance. It's just too hard to keep abandoning holy freeze for salvation. Salvation is meant to save your hide once in awhile on hell. You need to keep that holy freeze on for zeal to be effective.

Scoring an Act 1 Merc any good weapon that adds a chance to cast meteor on striking will make you very pleased with her. When you're in the thick, and she's shooting from the outside and she gets that meteor attack off, it smashes through some monsters all around you.

[Pale_Horse]

Fanatic Zealadin

Sacrifice - 20
Zeal -20
Fanaticism - 20
Holy shield - 20
Defience -20
Blessed Aim - 1
Concentraition - 1
Might - 1
Smite - 1
Charge - 1

[Chris]

In that build you can swap Defiance for Smite, that works as well.

Fireball Sorc

Fire MAstery - 20
Fire Ball - 20
Meteor - 20
Firebolt - 20
Telekensis - 1
Teleport - 1
Warmth - 1
All prereq for Frozen Orb - 1
Frozen Armor - 1
Cold Mastery - 1
Static Field - 1
Frozen Orb - Remaining points.

You might not be able to master FO, so use + skills to make all your spells more effective. Mine at the moment is level 45 and she does 800-900 with fireball. Early on, I recommend making Leaf (Tir and Ral) on a staff that has +2-3 to fireball or +2-3 to fire mastery or both.
The +3 fire skills will improve the effectiveness.

Why FO? Simple. immune to fire reasons.

[gundam501]

i've really not had many builds work for me besides whats been said but can anyone give me a good summoner + bone necro build

[Chris]

Look at the beginning of this guide, a guy posted a bone necro.

[SoD-GoD]

Gundam501, I wouldn't recommend mixing a summoner necromancer with a bone necromancer, reason being that those two builds would be VERY difficult to balance, and get good dmg with anything that they would use.

[gundam501]

ok thnx for the tip u just saved me haha i was just about to go on and lvl my guy to 50 but decided to check and see if someone had replied to me thnx again

[SoD-GoD]

No problem man

[SoD-GoD]

BlizzBaller

fire skills(through lvl 75)

Fire Bolt 20
Fire Ball 20

Cold Skills(through lvl 75)

Ice bolt 1
Ice Blast 20
Glacial Spike 1
Blizzard 20

Summery

Ok, so I've made this sorceress, and she does pretty damn well considering that this mixture of skills isn't common. I suggest that if one is looking to make this char, that you use all skills(up 'til 12) in Fbolt, then all into Fball after that('til Fball is max). This build is pretty good without any items set aside for it, but I would recommend that the player try and refrain from deviating from the set skills(*). This build will be able to stand on her own without a merc just fine, but the player will nee to have good resistance items beyond normal.

Any questions or concerns about this build, pm me, and I'll answer your questions with great haste.

~SoD

*Note:Two skills are subtracted from the twelve that would be acquired in all the skill quests for Telekenesis and Teleport(I suggest the player use those from normal Izual for these two).

[Chris]

Thats a good mix of two elements, but your blizzard won't get the optimal effects unless you get a good set of + skill items .

[Dream_Walker]

Strafe Zon

Bow/Crossbow skills
Magic Arrow - 1 or 2
Cold Arrow - 1
Multiple Shot - 1
Guided Arrow - 1* (for now)
Strafe - 20
Passive & Magic Skills
Critical Strike - 20
Penetrate - 20
Pierce - 1* (for now)
Dodge/Avoid/Evade - 10 or so
Inner Sight - 1 or so
Slow Missles - 1
Decoy - 1
Valkyrie - remaining skill points/your choice


Maxing out Critical Strike helps a lot when killing with Strafe. The Valkyrie helps to tank enemies, and when she is not around, Dodge/Avoid/Evade will be there to save your ass
Why 10 into Dodge/Avoid/Evade?
Well, these are for escaping for yourselves. The stats for the skills are as follow:

Originally Posted by Dodge

Level 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10
Chance to Dodge Any Attack% 18 / 24 / 29 / 34 / 37 / 40 / 42 / 44 / 46 / 47

Originally Posted by Avoid

Level 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10
Chance to Dodge Missile % 24 / 31 / 36 / 41 / 45 / 48 / 50 / 52 / 54/ 55

Originally Posted by Evade

Level 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 8 / 9 / 10
Chance to Dodge Any Attack% 18 / 24 / 29 / 34 / 37 / 40 / 42 / 44 / 46 / 47

Almost having a 50% to have any incoming attacks is really handy, especially when your getting chased. But its on 50%

[SoD-GoD]

@HellWolf: Yeah, I know, but the overall basics for an MF char are quite good. She has shit for gear right now, but at 77 with hexfire, smoke, and rhyme, she has positive resists in hell. Her dmg isn't extremely high, I'll admit, but with all the items that can add to skills, she could easily do 2-3k(she does 1-1.5k blizz and fireball)