new hammerdin falls on face in hell!!

new to D2R and decided to make a hammerdin in the new ladder (only played the game one other time in which i made a trapsin and made it to lvl75) everything was slow and steady (mainly because me not knowing where to go) but then i made it to hell and feel like i hit a wall. i can not keep follower alive or myself alive. so i decided to go back to nightmare and farm pindle, eldrich,shenk,

Andariel, then cows and reset. is this the best use of my time? am i just stright up playing my class wrong? any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

Take the strategy of work on defense first for Hell. Max out your resistances. I don't know what your gear is, but make a Spirit Sword and Shield. Find a 4 open socket Pali shield that has + resistances and make Spirit out of that. Treachery armor is great for yourself and your merc. Make an Insight and Treachery for your merc. Find or Trade for a

Tal Rasha's

Helm for your merc. This is a farming game, so going back to NM is fine to do. Farm Chaos and

Baal. It's a slow process, but once your Hammerdin gets better gear such as a HoTo, Hell will become easy. Get yourself a cheap Anni, heck, i'll give you one, just send me a FR.

Perfect Gems are easy to get and become a great trading currency later in ladder. Use this site to find trades and up your gear. I enjoy my hammerdin, once geared you have to really not be paying attention to get pwn'd.

Concentration aura maxed

Skin of the Vipermagi for yourself, ez the reach 125 fcr, + res

Naj's Puzzler on switch for

Teleport

Try to get at least 75% faster cast rate. So assuming you've got Spirit sword and weapon this means one or two extra faster cast rate rings. Or just use Stealth.
If you don't have a Spirit shield and weapon, people give those away, just make a game "N free Spirit", "N free pala" and people will dump them in act1.*


Bind

Redemption to a hotkey and switch it on when you notice your health dropping, same with

Vigor if the situation gets tough or you need to get somewhere use it.
So you're cycling between the

Concentration,

Redemption and

Vigor all the time. (This was the standard way to play even for fully geared hammerdins before Enigma)
Make sure you have max 75% block with

Holy Shield. There's no shame in putting a few extra stat points into dexterity or points in

Holy Shield.
Get in the habit of refreshing your

Holy Shield. cast it after you've picked up an item, stopped for whatever reason.

* If you for whatever reason don't want to do that pickup non-magical paladin shield once you have one with with say 40-45% resistances socket it at

Larzuk and make your own Spirit. It will take longer than just using the stuff people will give away at this point in the ladder though.

Well, you did not mention anything about your gear so anything we say may end up useless. For survival; faster cast rate, faster recovery etc. is not really important. Focus on your armor, shield and all res. Take less dmg first, improve your stats later. And yes, farming in Nightmare is the only senseful thing you can do. Hit lvl 65-70 and you can farm hell. Dont spend any points in anything than vitality. Once you put your hands on an

Annihilus and

Hellfire Torch, game will be pretty much done.

Besides, i just wanna say that hammerdin is not the best build for a starter. I mean, for a decent hammerdin you need Enigma and HOTO. For a budget build, you need specific uniques. Just like a Horker, he sucks without proper gear/runes. So, it will be a bumpy road for you if you insist on your hammerdin. But give it some time and you will be there.

Agonyst wrote: 1 year ago

I mean, for a decent hammerdin you need Enigma and HOTO.

I'm sorry but no. Hammerdins existed before runewords, even before lod.
It's a certain playstyle that requires it but not playing a hammerdin.

Also it's one of the two character that can farm hell cows with dual Spirit and Stealth, the other being pretty much any necro.
On that level it's one of the least gear dependent characters.

Insomnia wrote: 1 year ago

Agonyst wrote: 1 year ago

I mean, for a decent hammerdin you need Enigma and HOTO.

I'm sorry but no. Hammerdins existed before runewords, even before lod.
It's a certain playstyle that requires it but not playing a hammerdin.

That statement may be open to discussion, i admit, but this doesn't have anything related to runewords being present or lod. I was around when d2 first came out and hammerdin was nothing like this back in the days, not anywhere near.

For me at least, a decent hammerdin build needs at least en Enigma for repositioning and survival purposes. You may choose to play without it and suffer the consequences.

So you didn't play hammerdins with

Twitchthroe, a shopped magic +2, +2, +3

Scepter, eyeless and a

Tarnhelm?
I did, a bunch. That was in classic.
In early lod you then suddenly got lidless and charms.
Now with increased monster hp since 1.10 dual Spirit is about as good, still enough to solo the entire game including farming higher player count cows.

Telestomping is optional.
I'm trying hard not to get riled up here...

Insomnia wrote: 1 year ago

So you didn't play hammerdins with

Twitchthroe, a shopped magic +2, +2, +3

Scepter, eyeless and a

Tarnhelm?
I did, a bunch. That was in classic.
In early lod you then suddenly got lidless and charms.
Now with increased monster hp since 1.10 dual Spirit is about as good, still enough to solo the entire game including farming higher player count cows.

Telestomping is optional.
I'm trying hard not to get riled up here...

You are just trying to patronize me here or something? What is this?

Agonyst wrote: 1 year ago

Well, you did not mention anything about your gear so anything we say may end up useless. For survival; faster cast rate, faster recovery etc. is not really important. Focus on your armor, shield and all res. Take less dmg first, improve your stats later. And yes, farming in Nightmare is the only senseful thing you can do. Hit lvl 65-70 and you can farm hell. Dont spend any points in anything than vitality. Once you put your hands on an

Annihilus and

Hellfire Torch, game will be pretty much done.

Besides, i just wanna say that hammerdin is not the best build for a starter. I mean, for a decent hammerdin you need Enigma and HOTO. For a budget build, you need specific uniques. Just like a Horker, he sucks without proper gear/runes. So, it will be a bumpy road for you if you insist on your hammerdin. But give it some time and you will be there.

im wearing a Lore helmet, vipermagi, Spirit sword , Spirit shield, eye of etlich neck,

Magefist, and rings

Belt and boot just have all the res i could find. like i said im new and doing the best i can with the limited knowledge i have. i may just be i am not playing the class correctly

Agonyst wrote: 1 year ago

You are just trying to patronize me here or something? What is this?

I'm trying not to as I posted earlier. This is nothing against you but your information regarding the viability of "ungeared" hammerdins is incorrect.

CuP_TaTeR wrote: 1 year ago

Agonyst wrote: 1 year ago

Well, you did not mention anything about your gear so anything we say may end up useless. For survival; faster cast rate, faster recovery etc. is not really important. Focus on your armor, shield and all res. Take less dmg first, improve your stats later. And yes, farming in Nightmare is the only senseful thing you can do. Hit lvl 65-70 and you can farm hell. Dont spend any points in anything than vitality. Once you put your hands on an

Annihilus and

Hellfire Torch, game will be pretty much done.

Besides, i just wanna say that hammerdin is not the best build for a starter. I mean, for a decent hammerdin you need Enigma and HOTO. For a budget build, you need specific uniques. Just like a Horker, he sucks without proper gear/runes. So, it will be a bumpy road for you if you insist on your hammerdin. But give it some time and you will be there.

im wearing a Lore helmet, vipermagi, Spirit sword , Spirit shield, eye of etlich neck,

Magefist, and rings

Belt and boot just have all the res i could find. like i said im new and doing the best i can with the limited knowledge i have. i may just be i am not playing the class correctly

Your gear seems enough for a starter build, mate, i don't know, i guess you are stucking yourself on narrow corridors and can't get out. Try to play safe and stay away from crowded narrow areas. Worst part of playing without an Enigma is that clunky hammers circling around and not hitting anything leaving you helpless. If i were you, i would just play nightmare and level up, gear up.

Here we have a guy levelling up.

Sure it will be better with Enigma and HotO, especially to top contents like Ubers.

However, as Insomnia said, doing the standard hell game is very feasible without those... and when you are at this point of the game that's usually the case !

For CuP_TaTer, entrance to Hell is usually the moment when things get significantly more difficult.

Farming a bit in Nightmare is a good idea, the gear evoked is also good, and as for skills, 20 Blesssed Hammer / 20

Concentration / 1+

Holy Shield permanently worn are the minimal stuff to have.

Feel free to read guides, or give more precise info on what you have done so far for more precise info.

Good luck !

Insomnia wrote: 1 year ago

Agonyst wrote: 1 year ago

You are just trying to patronize me here or something? What is this?

I'm trying not to as I posted earlier. This is nothing against you but your information regarding the viability of "ungeared" hammerdins is incorrect.

You are not trying to? You think you could do it if you wanted to? Huh. Tough luck. Just keep trying buddy.

If you don't care about all those stats, the breakpoints etc. than every build out there is non-gear-dependant. Put some random items on and put some points in your skills, you are good to go. Nice strategy. Good luck.

I will not prolong this. You clearly wanna start a fight or something here. I can not be bothered.

Good riddance.
You don't need to reach the 125% fcr breakpoint for viable gameplay, the 75% one is enough.

Necrarch wrote: 1 year ago

Here we have a guy levelling up.

Sure it will be better with Enigma and HotO, especially to top contents like Ubers.

However, as Insomnia said, doing the standard hell game is very feasible without those... and when you are at this point of the game that's usually the case !

For CuP_TaTer, entrance to Hell is usually the moment when things get significantly more difficult.

Farming a bit in Nightmare is a good idea, the gear evoked is also good, and as for skills, 20 Blesssed Hammer / 20

Concentration / 1+

Holy Shield permanently worn are the minimal stuff to have.

Feel free to read guides, or give more precise info on what you have done so far for more precise info.

Good luck !

tyvm i will read more into some guides, as i do not even understand some of the lingo that has been used in thread thus far. thank everyone for the feedback and sorry, i did not intend on starting an argument among the community.

CuP_TaTeR, regarding the "breakpoints"

Certain bonuses like faster cast rate only become effective at or above certain points.
In case of the paladin and faster cast rate this is at 75% and 125%. This means say anywhere between 75% fcr to 124% fcr has exactly the same effect as 75%.

You can either add up all the values by hand from your spirits, vipermagi and

Magefist or look in the extended character stats list (arrow to the side after you press C)

Now depending on the value you can either drop an item with faster cast rate like

Magefist, to remain at above 75% which will be exactly as effective or you can choose to go higher to reach the 125% or above with either faster cast rate rings, a faster cast rate amulet (including a

Caster Amulet) or if you can acquire it a faster cast rate

Circlet.
Keep in mind that the difference between 75% and 125% isn't as drastic because how the game operates it is only 9/8 or 1.125x the dps or 12.5% more.

In practice this means if you are at or above 75% faster cast rate when removing

Magefist for instance you can swap it out for gloves with resistances without losing anything.
If you choose to go above 125% do so only after you've maxed out your resistances at 75% and are at 75% block with

Holy Shield


Also you don't have to apologize, I sort of do.

CuP_TaTeR wrote: 1 year ago

tyvm i will read more into some guides, as i do not even understand some of the lingo that has been used in thread thus far. thank everyone for the feedback and sorry, i did not intend on starting an argument among the community.

You've nothing to be sorry for! Fwiw, I only played a Hammerdin once and hated it, just never got the hang of those swirls and found him a bit squishy. This was with similar gear to you; that being said, I did beat Hell with this char, I think actually think your gear is good enough to do it, you might just need a bit more patience.

Yeah hell is a pretty big difficulty wall.
Takes some time getting used to.
Also simply leveling up helps in this game I think, even if you don't change any stats or gear.

Janet the Java wrote: 1 year ago

CuP_TaTeR wrote: 1 year ago

tyvm i will read more into some guides, as i do not even understand some of the lingo that has been used in thread thus far. thank everyone for the feedback and sorry, i did not intend on starting an argument among the community.

You've nothing to be sorry for! Fwiw, I only played a Hammerdin once and hated it, just never got the hang of those swirls and found him a bit squishy. This was with similar gear to you; that being said, I did beat Hell with this char, I think actually think your gear is good enough to do it, you might just need a bit more patience.

tyvm, another question is everyone getting their resistances from gear or charms or mix of both, reason i ask is i was capped in nightmare and now in the basement in hell so i am assuming that people stack charms ?!