12 replies to this topic

[MattNo5ss]

What is the Avenger?

The Avenger is a Paladin that utilizes Vengeance as his main attack. Vengeance allows for 4 damage types - Physical, Fire, Cold, and Lightning - and with this powerful skill no monster should be able to stand in his way (not for long at least). He is a great party character due to his variety of damage types and his Conviction aura which helps nearly every possible character. Enjoy.


INFO ON VENGEANCE DAMAGE* (This will help you decide on equipment)

For calculating Vengeance's damage, only Weapon Physical Damage is considered.

What factors will increase Weapon Physical Damage?

Located on Weapon Only:
+X% Enhanced Damage
+X% Enhanced Maximum Damage / CLvl (ex: Hellslayer, Messerschmidt's Reaver)

Located Anywhere:
+Strength
+X Min / +Y Max Damage (Ex: War Traveler Boots, 3/20/20)
+X Min Damage & +X Min Damage/CLvl (ex: "Eternity" Runeword)
+X Max Damage & +X Max Damage/CLvl (ex: Schaeffer's Hammer)

What factors (excluding Weapon Physical Damage) increase the amount of Elemental Damage added by Vengeance?

Located Anywhere:
+X% to Fire/Cold/Lightning Skill Damage (Ex: Ormus's Robes, Facet Jewels, Nightwing's Veil)
+X to All Skills
+X to Paladin Skills
+X to Combat Skills (Paladin Only)
+X to Vengeance

What factors DO NOT increase any damage from Vengeance?

Non-Weapon Equipment and Auras:
+X% Enhanced Damage (Ex: "Fortitude" Runeword, Socketed Jewels)

Located Anywhere:
Damage +X (Ex: Grief Runeword)
+X to Fire Skills (ex: Hexfire)
+X% Enhanced Damage to Undead
+X% Enhanced Damage to Demons
X% Deadly Strike
X% Critical Strike

*Found on Battle.net forums.

SKILLS

20 Vengeance - Main attack; You will have 4 damage types, and kill most monsters in Hell within 2 hits!
20 Holy Shield - You're going to need max block.
10-20 Conviction - Get this to level 25 after +skills b/c the -resists caps out at -150; Greatly increases your damage and chance to hit.
10 Resist Fire - Synergy to Vengeance. A passive +1% Fire Resist for every 2 "hard" points spent.
10 Resist Cold - Synergy to Vengeance. A passive +1% Cold Resist for every 2 "hard" points spent.
10 Resist Lightning - Synergy to Vengeance. A passive +1% Lightning Resist for every 2 "hard" points spent.

Leftover points:
Salvation/Resist Fire/Resist Cold/Resist Lightning - Synergy to Vengeance.
Any useful aura - Vigor, Redemption, etc.


STATS
Strength - Enough for equipment.
Dexterity - Enough for max block.
Vitality - Rest goes here.
Energy - None here.


EQUIPMENT

Weapon #1 (Any weapon with high %ED and/or %EMD/Clvl and/or IAS)

"Breath of the Dying" Ethereal Berserker Axe - Up to 415% ED if superior and so many other great mods makes this the best choice even though the following items will have more damage with Vengeance.
Ethereal Runemaster Ettin Axe - 4 x 40/15IAS, 1 x Zod; Up to 430% ED and Cannot Be Frozen.
"Doom" Berserker Axe - Decent %ED, +Skills, and Holy Freeze slows enemies, which is kind of like adding IAS.
"Famine" Berserker Axe - Decent %ED, and the elemental damage benifits from your Conviction.
Rare/Crafted Weapon - Rares can spawn with up to 450% ED, couple that with 2 sockets and Ohm runes and you'll have a whopping 550% ED! Crafted Hitpower/Blood Weapons have an innate 30-60% ED and can spawn with 450% ED, so that makes 480-510% ED without Ohms!
High %ED Weapon - Use the highest %ED weapon that you have or find.

Weapon #2
Gimmershred Flying Axe - Nice damage especially with Conviction. Great for when you get Iron Maidened, just start throwing.
"Call to Arms" Crystal Sword/Double Axe - I don't see a need for this in PvM with this character, especially with 95/95/95/90 resists. But if you have one to spare more life is always welcomed.

Shield #1
Herald of Zakarum - The best Pally Shield hands down.
"Spirit" Pally Shield - Nice resists and +Skills.

Shield #2
"Spirit" Pally Shield - Nice resists, and boosts Battle Orders if you use CtA.

Armor
Guardian Angel Templar/Hellforged Plate - Great piece of armor; allows 95/95/95/90 resists and helps you block faster and more often.
"Chains of Honor" Dusk Shroud/Archon Plate - Another great armor with +Skills and Huge resists.
Ormus's Robes Dusk Shroud - Boosts each elemental damage type by up to 15%, so that's up to 45% more Vengeance elemental damage.

Helmets (IAS jewels are a good choice for socketing)
Crown of Ages Corona - Ber + Ber: This helmet is used mainly for DR. I wouldn't recommend getting one specifically for this character since it is so expensive, but if you have one already, then why not use it?
Kira's Guardian Tiara - FHR, Huge resists, and Cannot Be Frozen.
"Delirium" Helmet - Greatly helps with crowd control and it has +skills to boost damage.
Nightwing's Veil Spired Helm - Boosts the Cold damage of Vengeance by up to 15%.

Belts
Verdungo's Hearty Cord - Just a great belt; Life and DR.
String of Ears - Good DR and life leech.
Nosferatu's Coil - IAS will help your killing speed.

Gloves
Dracul's Grasp - Life Tap helps keep you alive in crowds since you won't have the fastest killing speed.
Souldrainer - You might need additional Mana Leech since Vengeance can be a Mana Hog sometimes.
Crafted/Magic - Get 20 IAS, and it will definitely help your killing speed.

Boots
War Travelers - The 10 strength boosts physical damage, like always, and that increase is then boosted by Vengeance. 10-25 damage is bosted by Vengeance.
Sandstorm Treks - FRW, FHR, stats.
Rare Boots - Look for FRW, FHR, stats, and resists.

Rings
Raven Frost - Cannot Be Frozen; Dex helps achieve max block.
Rare/Magic - Look for Resists and Mana Leech.

Amulets
Mara's Kaliedoscope - Resists and +Skills.
The Cat's Eye - IAS, FRW, and Dex helps achieve max block; use this for the IAS if you have high resists in Hell without Mara's Kaliedoscope.

Useful Charms/Charm Mods
Anni - +Skills, Stats, and Resists.
Torch - +Skills, Stats, and Resists.
3max/20ar/20life SCs - These actually give you more damage than Combat GCs, plus you get more AR and Life.
Combat GCs - Boosts Vengeance and Holy Shield.
FHR - Helps when swarmed by enemies.
Resist - Resists can be hard to come by with this character so these should help.
Poison - If you want a 5th damage type (Probably won't need it), or just more damage.


MERCENARY

#1 Priority: Try to get Delirium on him/her to help you deal with hordes of enemies.

Act 1 Rogue (Best if used with "Faith")

Weapons

"Faith" Bow - The Fanaticism solves your slow attacking problem.
"Harmony" Bow - Cheap and good elemental damage which is boosted by your Conviction.

Armors (Get something to help her achieve max resists)

"Fortitude" Armor - 300% ED and up to 30 resists.
"Chains of Honor" Armor - 65 resists.
"Smoke" Armor - 50 resists.

Helmets

"Delirium" Helmet - Greatly helps with crowd control (Try your best to get this).
Vampire Gaze - Good leech and DR.


Act 2 Holy Freeze (This guy is better b/c he gets his aura from...himself, not an expensive runeword)

Weapons
Eth Upped Hone Sundan - Ultimate Act 2 Merc weapon; A lot of damage, 45 CB, and 3 sockets for Amns.
Hone Sundan - 45 CB and 3 open sockets for Amns runes.
"Obedience" Polearm - Good damage, 40 CB, Resists, and FHR; only bad thing is no life leech so he'll need from the helm.
Bonehew - Good damage and 2 sockets for Amn runes.
Tomb Reaver - Good damage, Resists, and 1-3 sockets for Amn runes.

Armors (Get something to help him achieve max resists)

"Fortitude" Armor - 300% ED and up to 30 resists.
"Chains of Honor" Armor - 65 resists.
"Smoke" Armor - 50 resists.

Helmets

"Delirium" Helmet - Greatly helps with crowd control (Try your best to get this).
Vampire Gaze - Good leech and DR.
Guillaumes Face - 35 CB, and FHR (with Hone Sundan that's 80 CB!).
_______________________________________________________________________

Edited by mattno5ss, 18 May 2006 - 11:06 PM.

[REP]

You know you can sticky your own guides right?

Also, for an Avenger, I recommend getting rid of the Physical damage and going ALL Elemental. Get like a 6 Shael PB or something for IAS, also, the Gimmershed works really nicely because of all the added Elemental damage.

[Agent666]

you need physical damage to actually do damage -.-

vengeance is based on physical damage.. he said this in his guide.

Quote

For calculating Vengeance's damage, only Weapon Physical Damage is considered.

[REP]

Agent666, on Mar 24 2006, 06:10 PM, said:

you need physical damage to actually do damage -.-

vengeance is based on physical damage.. he said this in his guide.

Oh really? my bad... I thought Vengeance was an Elemental Attack :(

Avenger's are the one char that I have absolutely no experience with.

[cheddar420]

sheesh rep..its in hisfirst sentance after the intro lol.

[MattNo5ss]

Yes, I realize that I can sticky my own guides, but I'd rather have the opinion of the rest of the members and if they say it is good enough to sticky, then I will do that.

Vengeance is an Elemental Attack, but the elemental damage output is based on a percentage your physical damage. That's why weapons with high %ED give the best Vengeance damage output.

So, if there are any suggestions or anything missing just let me know.

[Sephirothangel]

Hmmm...so does Might aura increase Vengeance dmg as well? I've never really tried one...

For weapons, you can also use Death runeword in a ethereal superior Ettin Axe:
100% Chance To Cast Level 44 Chain Lightning When You Die
25% Chance To Cast Level 18 Glacial Spike On Attack
Indestructible
+300-360% Enhanced Damage (varies)
20% Bonus To Attack Rating
+50 To Attack Rating
Adds 1-50 Lightning Damage
7% Mana Stolen Per Hit
50% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(0.5 per Character Level) 0.5-49.5% Deadly Strike (Based on Character Level)
+1 To Light Radius
Level 22 Blood Golem (15 Charges)
Requirements -20%

Or there's of course...Last Wish:
6% Chance To Cast Level 11 Fade When Struck
10% Chance To Cast Level 18 Life Tap On Striking
20% Chance To Cast Level 20 Charged Bolt On Attack
Level 17 Might Aura When Equipped
+330-375% Enhanced Damage (varies)
Ignore Target's Defense
60-70% Chance of Crushing Blow (varies)
Prevent Monster Heal
Hit Blinds Target
+(0.5 per character level) 0.5-49.5% Chance of Getting Magic Items (Based on Character Level)

Then again...there's Famine:
+30% Increased Attack Speed
+320-370% Enhanced Damage (varies)
Ignore Target's Defense
Adds 180-200 Magic Damage
Adds 50-200 Fire Damage
Adds 51-250 Lightning Damage
Adds 50-200 Cold Damage
12% Life Stolen Per Hit
Prevent Monster Heal
+10 To Strength

Consider these runewords...

Otherwise a well written guide...sticky it.

Btw...its Delirium, not Delerium

[REP]

Sephirothangel, on Mar 24 2006, 08:52 PM, said:

For weapons, you can also use Death runeword in a ethereal superior Ettin Axe:

Why not a Berserker Axe? More damage, less requirements.

EDIT: Also more range.

Edited by REP, 24 March 2006 - 05:57 PM.

[Sephirothangel]

It's easier to find ethereal superior Ettin Axe, as the max sockets that it can receive is five.

However, if you are superbly rich, then you can afford ethereal, superior, 5 socketed Berserker Axe...lol.

[MattNo5ss]

Death is a bad option b/c of no IAS, you'll be attacking slow enough as it is.
Same thing with Last Wish: no IAS and auras don't boost Vengeance damage (although it does boost your physical damage).

Famine is a decent option I'll add it.

I spelled Delirium wrong...lol

I'm also going to add Doom as a weapon choice b/c the Holy Freeze slows enemies, kind of like like adding IAS.
I'm going to add Holy Freeze merc b/c it is WAY cheaper than Act 1 Faith Merc and he slows enemies which is again kind of like adding IAS.

[bojackson]

i think beast is also a decent choice for the fana aura

[ducko]

Beast damage is way too low =/

[MattNo5ss]

Since Vengeance damage is based on Weapon Physical Damage, Beast would not be a great choice. You will attack pretty fast, but you would probably have about the same damage output per second as you would without it and a higher damaging weapon. Also the Fanaticism aura will only boost your physical damage not your Vengeance damage.