62 replies to this topic

[REP]

READ THIS BEFORE READING THE GUIDE:
This guide may not be the most strategically sound as of now (6/9/08). It was written years ago, before the advent of new strategies and popular new dupes/rare items. There may now exist better alternatives to the gear listed. Any questions? Contact me via EMAIL at jzhang91@gmail.com - it is the ONLY thing that I check regularly. AIM: not so much, Realmgaming: only when I have time, JSP: only when I'm in a D2 mood.

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The FoH Pally: A Guide By REP



Before You Start:

I. I would like to thank you in advance for the time you're taking to read this. Please know I am open to criticism, just don't overdo it. This is my first guide, so please be patient while you read it all. Its 7 pages on Microsoft Word on Times New Roman Size 12 Font... lol...

II. IF YOU CANNOT AFFORD AT LEAST 10 SOJS WORTH OF DECENT GEAR, STOP READING THIS GUIDE RIGHT NOW. EVEN THE MOST BASIC GEAR TO MAKE YOUR FOHER HALF-DECENT TAKES AT LEAST 10 SOJS.

III. Abbreviations to Know:
FoH-Fist of the Heavens, Your main attack...
HS-Holy Shield
PvP-Player vs Player
PvM-Player vs Monster
MF-Magic Find
IAS-Increased Attack Speed
FCR-Faster Cast Rate
FHR-Faster Hit Recovery
HoZ-Herald of Zakarum Guilded Shield (Zak Shield)
CTA-Call to Arms
BO-Battle Orders
BC-Battle Commands
CoH-Chains of Honor
IMO-In My Opinion
SOJ-Stone of Jordan Ring
TG-Town Guard
NK-Naked Kill
PnB-Poison and Bone

IV. Comments/Suggestions?
If you have any comments or suggestions, please PM me with them, email it to wildchickenonfire@yahoo.com, IM me @ Chinese Druggy, message me on MSN @ wildchickenonfire@hotmail.com, or whisper me on b.net @ Start@USEast




The FoH Pally:


1. Introduction/FAQ:
What is the FoH Pally? The FoH Pally is a Paladin utilizing Fist of the Heavens as its main attack, with the aid of the aura, Conviction. Most (if not all) FoH Pallys are used for PvP, only a few players on Battle.net use them for PvM or MF.

Why use them for PvP? Because FoH is a ranged and targeted elemental attack, with the aid of an aura to lower your enemy's resists/defenses, FoH can often be a lethal one-hit kill.

Okay, so then why do people use them for MF or PvM? When FoH strikes, it usually releases Holy Bolts, dealing incredible ammounts of damage to the Undead. The only place where people would MF or use FoH for PvM is in the Act 5 Pindle Runs. All of the monsters in the Pindle Runs are undead, which receives huge amounts of damage from FoH.

Why do you have a lot of items with IAS in this guide? Because FoH is affected by IAS and not FCR, the only reason you need FCR is for a faster tele.

Ok, well if it's affected by IAS and not FCR, why do you have FCR items? I would post items with IAS, but there really is no Ammys/Rings that give +IAS. The only ammy that gives it is "The Cats Eye", but then you're losing the +Skills. I don't know of any boots (yet) that give +IAS, or any belts/shields.

Why do you use an ETH Scepter for CTA? Because Ethereal items have lower Str/Dex Requirements.

Okay, so when are you gunna teach me how to make a FoH Pally? Right now



2. Your Stats:
Str: Enough for gear, usually around 50-100, depending on which kind of Enigma you use.
Dex: None, remember that the object of FoH is to kill your enemies in 1 hit, so you don't want to spend any points in blocking, maybe just enough for CTA Flail, which is usually 35
Vit: Everything
Energy: Barely anything, if nothing at all



3. Skills:
Prereqs for FoH/HS/Conviction/Holy Shock: You need these if you want to be able to use those skills
-Recommendation: 1 Each, 13 Total

FoH: Your main attack
-Recommendation: 20

Holy Shock: Synergy for FoH, gives 7% Lightning Damage Per Level
-Recommendation: 20

Conviction: Leave this on while you use FoH because it lowers your enemy's resists, removes monster immunities, and lowers enemy defenses
-Recommendation: 15 (I didn't max because someone said that cap on -Res is 25, and your gear should be able to give you the rest)

Holy Shield: Gives a huge bonus to your Defensive rating and increases chance of successful blocking
-Recommendation: 20

At this point, you'll have used 88 Skill Points (if you did all skill q's), the build can be completed at Level 78... If you wish to continue leveling, there can be a number of things you wish to put your Skill Points into

Holy Bolt: Synergy for FoH, it can cause tremendous amounts of damage to the Undead, great against Summon Necros and for MFing on Pindle
Defiance: Synergy for Holy Shield, increases your Defensive rating
Meditation/Prayer/Cleansing: Auras that increase your mana recovery rate/heal you while active



4. Gear Suggestions:
R=Rich Paypal/Ebay users
H=Higher Class, Runs some kind of a Bot
L=Lower Class, MFs by themselves, usually can't config a Bot, lives based on the frees they get from other people

Things to Socket: P 5/5 Die Light Facet, Ber, Um, Shael (IAS/FHR), 15 Res/15 IAS Jewel

Weapon 1, Your FoHer Weap:
R=Scepter: +3 FoH, +3 Conviction, Socketed with 5x P Die Facets, THE ABSOLUTE BEST!
H=HOTO: Res/FCR/+Skills, Standard Caster Weapon
L=Hand of Blessed Light: +2 Pally Skills, +2 FoH, +4 Holy Bolt, Cheap and easy to find...

Shield 1, Your FoHer Shield:
R=Eth Indestructable Glitched Upgraded HoZ Socketed W/ Something, EXTREMELY RARE!
H=Normal HoZ w/ P Diamond, Don't worry if you use this, this is what most people use
L=Lidless, You need to start MFing and Botting more...

Helm:
R=Griffs or Rare Circ w/ Res, FCR, +2 Pally Skills, Life, Strength, GODLY!
H=Shako, Again, don't worry if you use this, your still above average...
L=Tarnhelm, +1 Skills and up to 50 MF, Easy to find in NM Andy runs, or Lore Runeword (Ort Sol), cheap to make, +1 skills, mana boost and more

Armor:
R=85% ED Archon CoH, but if you're East NL, get a BTals, Skills, Res, 25 DR can't be ignored
H=Any CoH will do
L=Guardian Angel, still not a bad armor, +1 Pally Skills, +15% all max res, and a decent Defense

Amulet:
R=Crafted or Rare Pally Ammy, FCR, +Skills, Res, Str, Life. If you're East NL, use Armageddon Slippers.
H=Maras Ammy, +Skills, Res...
L=+3 PCombat Ammy or The Cats Eye (For IAS)

Rings:
R=2x Sojs
H=Dwarf or Raven, both have either +Life or +Mana and both have Sorb
L=Magical or Rare +Life, Res, or Mana Rings

Gloves:
R=20 IAS, High Res, +Stats, +Life
H=Upgraded Bloodfist: 10 IAS, 30 FHR
L=Magefists or Frostburns, Both have % Mana Increase and Mage has 20 FCR

Boots:
R=Boots w/ High R/W, High +Res, and FHR (Grim Spurs on USEast NL), GODLY!
H=Eth Treks
L=Treks

Belt:
R=Arach
H=Arach
L=Bladebuckle, 30 FHR

Weapon 2, Your CTA:
R=6 BO ETH Scepter w/ +3 Holy Shield, ONE OF THE MOST EXPENSIVE ITEMS IN THE GAME, 60+ SOJS!
H=4-6 BO CTA
L=1-3 BO CTA

Shield 2, Your +Skills Bonus:
R=Spirit Heraldic Shield *Lower Req* (Ladder), or Lidless (Nonladder)
H=Spirit Monarch (Ladder), or Lidless (Nonladder)
L=Sigon's Shield

Grand Charms:
R=9x P Combats w/ 30-40 Life or 12 FHR, GODLY!
H=9x P Combats, Plain
L=Any Offensive or P Combats you can manage

Small Charms:
R=15-20/15-20/8-10 Anni, 9x +5 Res/20 Life or 5 FHR SCS
H=10-14/10-14/5-7 Anni, 9x +3-4 Res/10-19 Life or 4-5 FHR SCS
L=Any +Res/Life/FHR SCS

Other Charms:
Paladin Torch/Anni



5. Basic Strategies:
-No matter which enemy you face, you want to get the first hit
-With your main Weap, use FoH as the left click skill, Conviction as the right
-Always cast BC/BO/HS before you go into battle
-Tips for Hotkeys: F1=FoH (L), F2=Conviction ®, F3=Holy Shield ®, F4=Teleport ®, F5=BC ®, F6=BO ®
-When you attack with FoH, try to attack from a ranged distance.
-Things to watch out for: 4 P Topazed Shield (Renders your Conviction useless), Wisp or Tgods (Lightning Absorb)



6. Dueling Strategies:
Note: These strategies apply to people w/o Sorb or 4 P Topazed Shield

Barbarians
WW/Conc/Frenzy: Okay, well these people are tough cookies, most of them have backup sorb gear, high life, high res, and high defense. You would most likely not kill them with your first hit. Keep your distance, don't let them hit you. It's basically a hit and run situation.

Amazons
Charged Strike Zon: Just stay out of their Javelin's range, most of them have INSANE IAS, so make sure you hit them first. If they don't die after the first one, then tele around them in circles and to a hit and run.
Guided Arrow Zons: This is one of the FoHer's more formidable opponents. They usually have 150+ IAS, their arrows stream out in long powerful lines, if you get hit by one, then you'll get hit by the rest... But they do have a weakness: Most of them don't have great res, because they sacrifice res for damage/speed (CoH for 16060) and most have low life and defense, usually no more than 1500 life. You can usually finish them if you get the first hit.

Paladins
Zealer: Follow Barb Strategies
Smiters: Follow Barb Strategies
Frost, Flame, Shock Rangers: Follow Guided Arrow Zons Strategies
FoHers: It's all a matter of who's gear is better, and who attacks faster...
Hammerdins: These, IMO, are one of your easier opponents. They usually camp in one spot, waiting for someone to attack them, while they have their protective shield of hammers. Stay outside there hammer range, and rain FoHs down on them.
Charger: These are also strong opponents, and can usually beat a FoHer if the FoHer doesn't have the proper strategy. Most Chargers like to Name-Lock and just chase you around. When they Name-Lock you, just lure them back into town. When you're in town and they're still in the Blood Moor charging to catch up to you, they freeze up as long as you stay in town. Leave them frozen while you stay in town. After a while they'll get pissed off and either leave or start flaming. If they start flaming, they're usually looking at the messages, and too busy to notice what goes on in-game. Leave town and enter the Blood Moor, and while they're pissing in their pants, FoH them to death. =)
Hybrid Pallys: Vindicator/Templar, etc... I've never personally had experience dueling them, so I'm afraid I cant leave you with any advice.

Sorceresses
Fireball, Orb, Chain Lightning, etc...: These guys have 3 key weaknesses. 1. They have extremely low life, 1500 at most. 2. Most have no res at all, but the higher society Sorcs have about 70-80, no more, Conviction kills these bitches... 3. They have low defense. That all being said, just get the first hit, and they're usually down.
Cheap TGers/NKers (Blizzard, Meteor, Fire Wall, etc): Simple, take the WP to Cold Plains, and tele back to kill them. They're usually too busy watching town and spamming: "Come on out newb, come on out newb, I own you" to notice what actually goes on behind them.

Necromancers
PnB: Same strategies as the Sorc strategies
Summon: LMAO! LMAO! THE EASIEST OPPONENT FOR YOUR FOHER EVER! 2-3 FoHs to their Necro, and all of their minions are dead. Remember, FoH releases Holy Bolts, damaging the Undead... Skeles are Undead... If the 2-3 FoHs don't kill their Necro first, their minions will still be dead anyways, and they'll be helpless without them. GG!

Druids
Elemental Druids: Treat them like a Hammerdin, stay out of their Hurri/Twister/Nado range and FoH at them. They can be a little tougher because they like to tele around. Make sure you kill their Oak Sages first.
Rabies, Fire Claw, and other Melee Druids: Follow Barb Strategies
PvP Summon Druids: Never seen one...

Ahh finally, the last class, The Assassin
Trapsins: If they TG, then follow the Sorc TG Strategy, if they don't, treat them like Guided Arrow Zons, tele around and hit them before they hit you.
Martial Arts or WW Sins: Treat them like Barbs, except know that they are faster but still have lower life, res, defense, etc. Tele out of their attack range, then FoH them.



7. My Zon-Fire FoHer's Stats (lol) equipped with all the "Rich/Ebay User" Gear I listed.
Misc (Geared/Precasted):
Level:92
FoH Damage:8387-8567
Conviction Stats:-95% Defense, -150 Res
Res:195/195/195/235 (75 All in Hell)
Defense:32849
Mana:378
Life:3539

Stats (Naked):
Str:75
Dex:30
Vit:425
NRG:25

Skills (Precasted/Geared):
+Combat:24
+Pally:12
+All:7

Misc Stats:
FHR:65
FCR:65
IAS:20


All +Skills/+Stats Q's were used.
(Boots were P Eth Treks; Gloves were Eth 35 All Res Except PSN, 20 IAS, 100% EDef, 20 Lifers, Repair Dura; Ammy was 20 Res, 20 FCR, +2 Pally, +20 Str, All Items Were Perfect; As for the charms, all P Combats were 40 Lifers, all Res SCS were 5 FHR; all socketables were P Die Facets; I chose to max Defiance after build finished)

lol, that was just a little experiment I wanted to do to see how leet the leetest FoHer could be =)



8. Okay, well that's basically it. This guy was inspired by Pyro_Brian's post about FoH help, I told him many of the things I said in this guide, and he told me that I should write my own guide. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and please contact me with any Comments/Suggestions. I'm open to criticism too, because I want to learn from my mistakes (just don't overdo it).

Edit: Fixed a mistake, 13 prereqs, not 12. Thx Trog.
And just to tell the world, you need to be level 82 and not 81 to complete the build because you don't get any skill points for the first level, level 1.

Edit2: Cleared up Dan's question. I see what I did wrong, thx for pointing that out.

Edited by REP, 09 June 2008 - 03:32 AM.

[Dan]

Looks good. Not all of us rich people are ebayers you know :roll: .

Also is that a typo where you say "Why do you have a lot of items with FCR in this guide? Because FoH is affected by IAS and not FCR, the only reason you need FCR is for a faster tele." Because surely if you only need the Fcr for a faster tele, which isn't as important as the Ias, then you need items with ias as a priority. I could be wrong though, it's just the way you worded it.

Can't think of anything else except maybe say a Lore runeword for the cheaper helm instead of a tarnhelm. It gives +2 skills instead of +1, and the mf on the tarnhelm isn't really helpful. By the time you get to the level to be able to mf properly, you could instead equip a shako, which to be honest everyone has.

[REP]

._. Lore=+1 Skiller, http://www.battle.ne...runewords.shtml
Check it out, and I'll edit the post and clear it up a bit.

[Dan]

Fair enough but still i'd prefer it over a tarnhelm. The energy and mana boosts will help with a shortage of mana in the early stages.

[REP]

ok, fine I'll put both of them lol

[Kevin]

not to bad of a guide... can belive this is the first pure foher :|

[REP]

lol yeah thx =)

[Legend_Keiro]

why cant more guides be like yours? lol it says everything from the gear you need at any experiance lvl to every charm you need,
Thx alot man
Keiro

[Dan]

The words 'same ip address' come to mind.

Anyway it's a decent guide. I think the only reason there isn't a stickied foh pala guide is because well, they aren't the hardest chars to make.

[hey_barbie]

1) max block is extremely useful. i think it would be worth spend around 50 stat points in dexterity to go from crappy block to excellent block. this would usually rid u of the barb problem.

2) hammer pallys tend to tele on top of u and spam hammers. just be constantly on the move and keep casting foh.

3) since foh has a casting delay, i'm not really sure ias matters.

great guide overall tho

[0460553]

Quote

The words 'same ip address' come to mind.

Anyway it's a decent guide. I think the only reason there isn't a stickied foh pala guide is because well, they aren't the hardest chars to make.

I'm afraid you're assuming too much, Dan. I verified REP and Legend_Keiro's IP addresses and they're nothing alike. Sometimes praise is just praise, but it never hurts to be sure either.

As for the quality of this guide, it's not only noteworthy, it's STICKY-worthy. GSC's version was a hybrid, but this build offers a more precise focus on Fist of Heavens, which differentiates this guide from GSC's work. Although this build is both easy and well-known, there are still those new users who seek the knowledge veteran players have taken for granted. I know the Paladin section is saturated with STICKIED guides, but I also know that nobody had bothered to post one like this for the new guy.

A thorough analysis of the FOH Paladin. Excellent work, REP.

*STICKIED*

Peace and blessings,
Sean

[REP]

=) thanks Seany
I love you ._.
I'm taking an SS of this guide as the first guide that I ever wrote that was stickied

And btw, thanks to everyone for there comments/suggestions, especially Trog/Dan, u made my guide leet

[alex12345]

Hey good job! How long did it take to write the whole thing?
NOt complaining i like how detailed it was but man it was like a 5000 word essaty! Once again Good Job.

[REP]

lol, like 2 hours
i spent half of my afternoon writing it =)

[PyRo_BrIaN]

woot this is dope man good job... u should consider some other guide making too and gj first guided stickied :shock:

pyro

[Ataneruo]

wow. to be honest, i thought you'd taken a lot longer than two hours to write that. it's one of the most complete guides i've ever seen. props 8)

[NecroFire_Odin]

Humm, I dont think there is any such thing as a Eth Upped Bugged HoZ.
Nice guide =)

[REP]

lol.... people can dream....
But thanks to everyone who said thanks =)

EDIT: I would try and write more guides, but I think DRealm has covered all the chars... if you have a Char you want me to write a guide about, PM me, and I'll try it out on Zonfire, if it works, I'll write a guide, giving credit for the idea to you

[koolkat5]

This is a good guide indeed. I can really tell u put a lot of time in it. And i have dueled a summon druid. They use bears. The bear could be treated as a barb with half the stats. And a thing to remember about summoners: They always stay in town and summon their pets ouside of town. So consider their summons as an actual char. Just something to point out.

[yoshimitsu676]

Quote

And i have dueled a summon druid. They use bears. The bear could be treated as a barb with half the stats. And a thing to remember about summoners: They always stay in town and summon their pets ouside of town. So consider their summons as an actual char. Just something to point out.

Ok... Bit random but still. Anyway, Nice work REP, covers all a FoH Pala would want :)