LLD101

[ATOMICMAN]

ok for most this should be damn easy for most but i figured something more structured should be put up

i had a lvl 29 hammerdin (which was good enough for most but since euro goes by 9, 29, 49 this should be good for you), but now ive been messing around with a mage (hammer/foh). now also including information about lvl 18 hammerdins (which i do have one)

skills:

hammer (lvl 18)

holy bolt: 1
smite: 1
charge: 1
blessed hammer: 1
might: 1
blessed aim: 7
conc: 1
prayer: 7
cleansing: 1
defiance: 1
vigor: 1

hammer (29 and 30):

blessed hammer: 12 or 13 for lvl 30
holy bolt: 1
smite: 1
charge: 1 (one of your most important skills, used for movement and desync)
holy shield: 1 (or you can get scepter to prebuff and you can save the point and put it in blessed aim)
might: 1
blessed aim: 14 (synergy for bh)
conc: 1 (reason behind only 1 is that it only adds 50% of the listed ed on this skill so if you have 100% ed for conc, it only adds 50% towards bh)

mage (lvl 30 only)
now one quick thing, i say its better to get a foh scepter on your switch with nothing less than +1 foh and +1 conviction otherwise either your foh will be worthless or your hammers will be worthless

blessed hammer: 13
holy bolt: 1
smite: 1
charge: 1 (one of your most important skills, used for movement and desync)
holy shield: 1 (or you can get scepter to prebuff and you can save the point and put it in blessed aim)
might: 1
blessed aim: 5 (synergy for bh)
conc: 1 (reason behind only 1 is that it only adds 50% of the listed ed on this skill so if you have 100% ed for conc, it only adds 50% towards bh)
holy fire: 1
holy freeze: 1
holy shock: 7 (synergy for foh)

other skill choices:

only optional choice i see is prayer to give your meditation some life regen when you switch to insight and if you go that way take a point from blessed aim and dump it into prayer

equipment

lvl 18 hammer (i will include 2 sets here one real basic other is godly)

basic

eye or +1 combat ammy
2 10% fcr rings (or if you cant get enough mana to duel use 2 manalds)
stealth breast plate (or light plate if you have the str with your other gear equiped)
scepter with atleast +3 hammer (nothing less than +3 if thats the only skill on it) and hopefully +conc socket with a hel if only 1 socket or 2 -15% req jewels with dtm
steelclash (hel or -15% req jewel with dtm if you get 2 sockets on your scepter or ith rune if you only get 1)
deaths sash
bloodfists
tarn helm (perf sapphire)
cow king boots

rich

rare circlet (or magic) with +1 combat and 10% fcr and if it has other mods these are what you want to look for 2 o/s, life, mana, resists
rare ammy +1 combat 10%fcr and look for the following mods in order life, mana, stats, resists
2 10% fcr rings with mana and the following stats in order mana, stats, resists
rare or magical scepter with +1 combat +3 hammer +3 conc 10% fcr and if rare the following mods in order 2 o/s, -reqs, stats, resists (socket with a hel if only 1 socket or if 2 2x -15% req dtm jewels)
stealth sup breast plate (or light plate if you have the str with your other gear equiped)
deaths sash
bloodfists
steelclash (if you have a 2 o/s scepter a -15% req jewel with dtm or if only 1 socket scepter with only hel ith your shield)
cow king boots

charms for your lvl 18 are pretty easy lots of life smalls and try to get enough mana to keep you around or over 300 if you cant afford 15 life smalls with mana use grands with life/mana or stat/mana grands

pure hammer lvl 30

+2 combat circlet with the following mods in order (fcr, 2 sockets, life, mana, resists) socket with perf ruby [ies]
+2 combat ammy with the following mods in order (fcr, life, mana, stats, dtm, resists)
viper magi (perf ruby)
mage fists
deaths sash (yes i think this is vital, i dont condone caster belts or rare belts, you get chilled you cant move and that will kill a pure hammerdin)
2x sojs
sanders boots (r/w is vital, but if you wish cow kings work well if you want more life)
spirit pally shield with resists
spirit crystal sword (or any sword but i think crystal is the best both in stats and looks)

switch

insight staff or +2 combat/spirit shield with +hs scepter to prebuff

lvl 29 pure hammer

+1 pally circlet with the following mods in order (fcr, 2 sockets, life, mana, resists) socket with perf ruby [ies]
+1 pally ammy with the following mods in order (fcr, life, mana, stats, dtm, resists)
viper magi (perf ruby)
mage fists
deaths sash (yes i think this is vital, i dont condone caster belts or rare belts, you get chilled you cant move and that will kill a pure hammerdin)
2x sojs
sanders boots (r/w is vital, but if you wish cow kings work well if you want more life)
spirit pally shield with resists
spirit crystal sword (or any sword but i think crystal is the best both in stats and looks)

switch
insight staff or hs prebuff

mage

+1 pally circlet with the following mods in order (fcr, 2 sockets, life, mana, resists) socket with perf ruby [ies]
+1 pally ammy with the following mods in order (fcr, life, mana, stats, dtm, resists)
viper magi (perf ruby)
mage fists
deaths sash (yes i think this is vital, i dont condone caster belts or rare belts, you get chilled you cant move and that will kill a pure hammerdin)
2x sojs
sanders boots (r/w is vital, but if you wish cow kings work well if you want more life)
spirit pally shield with resists
spirit crystal sword (or any sword but i think crystal is the best both in stats and looks)

switch

scepter with atleast +1 foh and +1 conviction and a spirit pally shield with resists

now with a mage i think you get more versitility with the +1 pally gear rather than +combat or +offensive, i think if you overspecialize here you will in the long run hurt yourself if you go +combat you get much stronger hammers, more life from high holy shield level saving you points in dex, and high foh lit damage but you lose the vital - resists from conviction that really makes foh effective, if you go +offensive you loss your hammers big time, you lose life from the loss in holy shield making you spend more in dex, and you lose foh lit damage but you gain more -resists for conviction making your foh more effecive in the long run. i think you get more for your money just going +to all and let it all stay more or less equal.


charms:

you want to keep yourself at 48% fhr or higher (if you dont use spirits) so if you dont have atleast 48% use fhr/mana charms until you hit that bp.

otherwise

15 life small charms with the following mods in order (resists up to 75%then mana)

other equipment choices:

scepters for hammers: only time you would use a scepter over spirit is if it has these mods +2/+1 pally skills (+2 if its pre lod) or +2 combat/offensives, 10%/20% fcr (20% if its pre lod), +bh or +conc. and also if you can keep yourself at the 125% fcr bp with the scepter so look at it like this if it cant add more than +2 to both bh and conc while keeping you at 125% fcr its not worth using. i personally use a +1 pally 20% fcr 8 dex +3 bh scepter that does add more damage than a spirit and i can also keep my 125% fcr, so find something like that if you can but otherwise spirit works fine.


stats:

str: enough to equip your highest str item
dex: enough for max blocking with holy shield (ignore holy shield if you make a lvl 18)
vit: everything else

you should with decent enough gear hit over 1k life and 600 mana or so with dual spirits as for damage it can vary a bit depending on lvl and build, my mage is hitting 800 hammers and 500 foh with -80ish resists

which build do i choose?

well with what i have done so far i say a mage is more promising than the pure hammer builds. the problem with hammers is its mostly defenesive and without teleport you really cant catch casters/ranged or runners. with foh you force your enemies to come in and be aggressive since if they play defensively they will never wear you down. there is one downside to a mage, tons of hot keys and weapon switching. you need hammer/conc hot keyed, foh/convic hot keyed, charge, unsummon, and holy shield hot keyed. it takes alot of practice to get used to the hot keys but it does pay off as you make a char that ruins most melees and can have a good chance vs casters.

any questions not answered here pm me or leave a post here.

[Moritz]

well i'd make a lvl29 hammerdin, but not pure. my choice would be with a divine scepter with 1 medi 3bh and honor in it. i know it requires 103 str but i think its worth doing it. my (hellrushed) lvl29 hammer/charge got 1.4k charge 25%ds and still 1.1k life. i think vs amas and some other chars or when your opponent got only low life left, aktive charge can be really nice.

i gotta say that i use much life/max sc's besides the life/manas, but even with plain 15ers and life/manas u should reach 900charge dmg np.

this would fix that problem u mentioned here:

[prophet_of_doom]

- cbf (death sash) is obsolete for hammerdin. Chill doesn't affect casting speed nor charging speed.
- scepter with at least +1 foh and +1 conv is lvl 30 req so not a possible switch for lvl 29 chars.

[Moritz]

ah y i also dont have cnbf, i prefer string.

[ATOMICMAN]

[prophet_of_doom]

[OutlawHeaven]

I have feedback on my pure hammerdin. I usually dont have "too" much trouble killing casters. I just desync, and hammer away. If that doesnt work, i can always spam/desycn hammers around. IMO, i would just use a pure hammerdin build with a nice 3/3 foh scepter on switch. And i suppose you could ivest pts in Conviction and Foh. Thats my 2 cents...

[Ehhh]

[ATOMICMAN]

i do pretty fine with 650 mana i dont use charge as much as most do but however with foh i dont need to charge like a freak as much as if i had pure hammers

[Moritz]

[Ehhh]

[ATOMICMAN]

[Moritz]

hmm well i never got mana probs and i dont use anything for moving except passive charge. the correct usage of medi aura is the key i think. with medi aura i can hammer and charge as much as i want and still dont lose any mana.

hmm of course 125fc is nice but vs MOST not neccessary. if u want to use it vs a special chartype u can switch to dual spirits. same with fhr.

but i know u will never ever own e.g. a lvl29/30 amazon which is well equipped and which knows how to handle hammerdins with pure hammer.


anyway i tested both and i like the advantages of a decent active charge, but i think both setups got their advantages. its a thing of taste i think.

[Inexorable]

I can attest to Ehhh's massive use of charge, and that character absolutely DESTROYS. Desynch Hammers + Foh to herd someone + Charge to always stay away from them = Far too many dead characters.

[Ehhh]

To a real (not just some pub) LLD FoH is nearly negligible, but it can really give you an advantage if you're patient and good at dodging. However, it doesn't give you enough advantage to stop charging, because it obviously isn't a 1 hit kill deal. Duel a good nec with a sizable life pool and good lightning resists, and I guarantee you will eat bone spirits if you ever stop charging for more than 1 second.

Even when I'm FoHing, I switch to charge/medi between shots and am always moving. There's no reason not to charge to move unless you absolutely need to regenerate mana and are safe to do so.

I've yet to duel any decent bowazons, but I can't see them being that much different than dueling a nec. Most probably won't have the resists of most necs either, so I could probably chip at them with FoH.

I also have a charge switch (eth Honor Flail/60max/63ed/113ar heraldic) in my stash if the need ever arises, so yes I am sure I can own bowazons when I really feel like it.

BTW, my Mage is not hell rushed, so of course I'm not gonna hit 1.5k dmg. If I hellrushed him, he would be an absolute demon