Hi Blib,
as you asked for my paladin build, here it is
First a few words about the general thoughts: after playing Madrigan for 3 years as a two handed fighting toon I decided to try two weapon fighting on Madrygan.
As meanwhile everyone knows: Rapiers are uber crap (they do very few base dps and stat damage is not that important after mod9) and Dwarven Axes are best but I thought it feels not right to play a human pally with DAs
Best choice therefore is Khopesh and as you'll get extra features on human toons it's no problem at all.
The Stats:
Very important here is that you put more points into charisma and NOT in wisdom because wisdom gives you only a few more mana points but charisma is essential for dps (exalted smite) and Lay on hands ability to heal yourself.
So I've chosen as basic stats with a 32 point based toon:
STR 17 (and maximizing with level raise and with action points)
DEX 15 (u'll need a +2 tome to reach improved 2wf)
CON 12
INT 8
WIS 12
CHAR 15
The features:
I'm planning to go for basic (lvl 1) then improved (lvl 6), then greater 2wf (level 12), toughness of course (level 1) and improved crit: slashing (lvl 9) (of course a must when using khopeshes). If I'll have a feature slot spare extend would be a nice feature because you can double the duration of the "zeal" spell (+15% attack speed) later in game.
I'm not sure atm what I took on Madrigan on Keeper so not sure if you need eminent features, anyway it's np on US server to change features. I guess I would go for metamagic "extend" when reaching lvl 15 and another feature then free for level 18... maybe another toughness or power attack (that's not a must but always nice to have).
The Enhancements:
Simply rules:
1. most important line is: smite, e.g. "exalted smite" (u need extra smite evil II or III for that = take additional smites)
ExSmite is the dps enhancement for pallies, it adds twice your charisma bonus to your attack roll, that's why charisma is such an important stat. For example at lvl 11 a pally should do around 300 damage when critting a foe with exSmite. Best to use when you have a mouse that can be programmed so you only need to press a side button to smite the foes instead of searching the right key
Madrigan did 1000+ damage when level 20 and that's only with 1 weapon. Important to know is that smite damage strikes on each hit not regarding which weapon type. So a Khopesh is doing same damage as a greataxe when smiting. Though the cooldown between 2 smites is 4 second (at beginning) til 1 second (level 20) you can do much more damage when using 2wf especially if you using the "zeal" spell which increases your wielding speed like a tempest toon.
2. Lay on hands is eminent to heal yourself and do massive damage on undead foes. It's charisma based also, not sure about the exact calculation. If you have some action points spare and you can take "Human improved recovery" (raises the HP u getting back from healing spells) then LOH will gives u an amount of 270-350 hp back every time you using them (when level 20).
3. Divine Might
Increases your weapon damage for +2, +4, +6. IMPORTANT: u only can reach Divine Might IV (+
with BASE charisma of 20. I personally think it's not worth to maximize char to reach that, +6 on divine might III is enough for me. But if you want it l8er then you must increase your charisma when starting your toon to max.
4. Knight of the chalice
I prefere Knight of chalice instead of the other lines cause it's simply the "dps line"
It gives you incredible save improvements and damage against evil outsiders. Together with exSmite and the capstone (saves and damage against all evil foes and 90% of all foes in game are considered as evil) the pally becomes an uber dps class on these special foes, and that's not a rumour
+4 attack and +4d6 on all ur weapons against evil outsiders + 2d6 against all evil foes (capstone), +15% attack speed from "zeal" spell, 300-1000 damage exSmite, +6 or +8 hit with Divine Might... any questions?
Beware that you take all enhancements for the KoC line as there are: Courage of good II (usually crap cause it gives u +2 to saves against fear or so but u'll need it now), Energy of the Templar II (raises mana) and for the last stage one of the Faith like Sovereign Host or Silver Flame (Basic and later advanced belief). Choose here what you want, it's crap anyway.
Worth to mention that KoC l8er gives u a clickie feature that allows you to stun demons which is very very handy when facing Orthons. I was able to stun them nearly every time even in the new shavarath area, then hitting them to death while they were moveless.
Of course the Pally capstone is one of the best and gives again some additional damage against evil foes as I mentioned above.
Other enhancements like boosting ac or make a pally able to raise like a cleric are nice either but I prefer to go the dps line. Especially on a pally choosing another line would mean to lower the best abilities and making a pally toon gimped. A cleric can do the job better to raise your mates and a shroud mana item will do same (cause it comes with 1 raise/day).
If you have any questions, just ask me in game or post it here. Maybe some others want to create a pally now
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