Low level Pala shield + skills?

Is there a chance for it, for example, a

Targe drop with some skills? I mean under or equal level 12 or so.

+1 to a Paladin tree is rlvl15
+1 to all Paladin skills is rlvl22

Source: https://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Prefix

Tetra wrote: 1 year ago

+1 to a Paladin tree is rlvl15
+1 to all Paladin skills is rlvl22

Source: https://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Prefix

Thanks a lot! This is really useful. Then, any idea about rare

Targe reroll? Same rule applies or is it possible to get, especially

Holy Fire and

Resist Fire skills on it?

What I said is true for all shields (except Necro's Headshields), rares or magics.

What your are looking for is not possible.

Thank you. Level 15 is not bad but I wish it can be spawn like multiple skills together.

Here a year late to note that

Kurast Shield has a higher possible

Smite damage as well as a higher block rate than both

Vortex Shield and it's Zakarhum cousin.
While lookin just like the latter and being slightly cheaper.

DilloniousT wrote: 1 month ago

Here a year late to note that

Kurast Shield has a higher possible

Smite damage as well as a higher block rate than both

Vortex Shield and it's Zakarhum cousin.
While lookin just like the latter and being slightly cheaper.

Vortex has higher top-end

Smite dmg than a kurast and higher spread. Zakarum has higher low-end

Smite dmg than a kurast and the lowest spread. All three have the same average

Smite dmg. Matter of fact, the only elite pally shield with different average

Smite damage is a

Sacred Rondache which ends up 0.5 higher than the rest.

Also, the look really isn't just like a zakarum I dare say. The base shape, yes. But the border width, emblem, crispness and coloration all differ quite significantly:
(Left = zakarum, right = kurast)

Whether it is "just as good", better or worse than a zakarum remains subjective of course...personally, I love me my zakarum but wouldn't be caught dead using a kurast (ever), solely due to the looks (well, and the stats but the looks alone would suffice). Even with HS hiding it in-game anyways. ^^

The block is indeed higher than vortex or zakarum albeit still lower than the other 2 alternatives.

That's not to say that a kurast isn't a viable alternative. Realistically, they all work just fine. But it is a middle-of-the-road (I'd argue worst overall actually) choice and most certainly not superior with regards to damage for which it is quite literally the only choice with nothing going for it (vortex = highest top-end,

Rondache = highest avg, zakarum = highest low-end and lowest spread,

Targe = closest to "average everything out", kurast = not superior in any single dmg area).

To add some context/reference to the damage bits: What it does have going for it in the specific "vs. zaka or vortex" comparison is that it also has lower str reqs, albeit again still higher than

Targe or

Rondache.

@Schnorki: Out of curiosity, what would be your go to pick from the paladin shields list, both looks wise and function wise (for smiter)?

SnowSnow wrote: 1 month ago

@Schnorki: Out of curiosity, what would be your go to pick from the paladin shields list, both looks wise and function wise (for smiter)?

Zakarum, hands down.

The looks are of course subjective AF but for me, nothing beats a zakarum there.

In terms of performance:
- Str reqs are irrelevant imo as all of them are lower than many other common gear choices will be anyways (e.g. CoA,

Steelrend, ...). Even if you base it off a non-upped gulli, you're only looking at 12 extra str for a zaka. So not only is the str invest minimal to literally 0 but even if you do have some, it simply turns into more damage so it isn't just lost stats so to speak.

- Block chance makes a fairly small (if any) difference in terms of the dex you need for max block as HS offsets most of that difference anyways and you're stuck with quite a bit of dex for your

Phase Blade no matter what. The extra points beyond that (if any) tend to be minimal at best.

- With regards to damage, the avg is near identical across the board anyways (~1% from

Rondache, same as the rest) so that can be ignored imo but having basically 0 damage spread on a smiter is absolutely priceless to me. 0 spread off zakarum, 0 spread off Grief and ED, the only thing that introduces some (unavoidable) minimal spread is HS.

- Defense (which gets amplified massively on a smiter) is the second highest, beat only by a vortex and while I would love the extra def off a vortex, to me it doesn't even come close to outweighing the benefits on the damage side (vortex would be the clear 2nd choice though, if I didn't care so much about the dmg spread).


Personally, I have a very clear ranking for pally shields that basically goes:
Zakarum >> Vortex >>>>>

Rondache >

Targe >>> Kurast
So yeah, I will never understand why everyone goes so nuts over targes.

Though as noted earlier, they're all perfectly valid choices and none of them will make or break your smiter as compared to the others. Nothing wrong with going with whichever you can get your hands on (for cheap) until you reach a point of truly just looking to min/max at the top end.

Schnorki wrote: 1 month ago

DilloniousT wrote: 1 month ago

Here a year late to note that

Kurast Shield has a higher possible

Smite damage as well as a higher block rate than both

Vortex Shield and it's Zakarhum cousin.
While lookin just like the latter and being slightly cheaper.

Vortex has higher top-end

Smite dmg than a kurast and higher spread. Zakarum has higher low-end

Smite dmg than a kurast and the lowest spread. All three have the same average

Smite dmg. Matter of fact, the only elite pally shield with different average

Smite damage is a

Sacred Rondache which ends up 0.5 higher than the rest.

Also, the look really isn't just like a zakarum I dare say. The base shape, yes. But the border width, emblem, crispness and coloration all differ quite significantly:

image.png
(Left = zakarum, right = kurast)

Whether it is "just as good", better or worse than a zakarum remains subjective of course...personally, I love me my zakarum but wouldn't be caught dead using a kurast (ever), solely due to the looks (well, and the stats but the looks alone would suffice). Even with HS hiding it in-game anyways. ^^

The block is indeed higher than vortex or zakarum albeit still lower than the other 2 alternatives.

That's not to say that a kurast isn't a viable alternative. Realistically, they all work just fine. But it is a middle-of-the-road (I'd argue worst overall actually) choice and most certainly not superior with regards to damage for which it is quite literally the only choice with nothing going for it (vortex = highest top-end,

Rondache = highest avg, zakarum = highest low-end and lowest spread,

Targe = closest to "average everything out", kurast = not superior in any single dmg area).

To add some context/reference to the damage bits:
image.png

What it does have going for it in the specific "vs. zaka or vortex" comparison is that it also has lower str reqs, albeit again still higher than

Targe or

Rondache.

I miss spoke its

Smite is similar to vortex. And for me at a lower strength requirment and much lower cost it over takes zakarum.

Matter of preference of course.

Schnorki wrote: 1 month ago

DilloniousT wrote: 1 month ago

Here a year late to note that

Kurast Shield has a higher possible

Smite damage as well as a higher block rate than both

Vortex Shield and it's Zakarhum cousin.
While lookin just like the latter and being slightly cheaper.

Vortex has higher top-end

Smite dmg than a kurast and higher spread. Zakarum has higher low-end

Smite dmg than a kurast and the lowest spread. All three have the same average

Smite dmg. Matter of fact, the only elite pally shield with different average

Smite damage is a

Sacred Rondache which ends up 0.5 higher than the rest.

Also, the look really isn't just like a zakarum I dare say. The base shape, yes. But the border width, emblem, crispness and coloration all differ quite significantly:

image.png
(Left = zakarum, right = kurast)

Whether it is "just as good", better or worse than a zakarum remains subjective of course...personally, I love me my zakarum but wouldn't be caught dead using a kurast (ever), solely due to the looks (well, and the stats but the looks alone would suffice). Even with HS hiding it in-game anyways. ^^

The block is indeed higher than vortex or zakarum albeit still lower than the other 2 alternatives.

That's not to say that a kurast isn't a viable alternative. Realistically, they all work just fine. But it is a middle-of-the-road (I'd argue worst overall actually) choice and most certainly not superior with regards to damage for which it is quite literally the only choice with nothing going for it (vortex = highest top-end,

Rondache = highest avg, zakarum = highest low-end and lowest spread,

Targe = closest to "average everything out", kurast = not superior in any single dmg area).

To add some context/reference to the damage bits:
image.png

What it does have going for it in the specific "vs. zaka or vortex" comparison is that it also has lower str reqs, albeit again still higher than

Targe or

Rondache.

Also even with resurrected's graphical enhancements the differences in appearance are miniscule.

And lets be honest, we're all going to slap

Holy Shield over it anyway.

Schnorki wrote: 1 month ago

- Block chance makes a fairly small (if any) difference in terms of the dex you need for max block as HS offsets most of that difference anyways and you're stuck with quite a bit of dex for your

Phase Blade no matter what. The extra points beyond that (if any) tend to be minimal at best.
- Defense (which gets amplified massively on a smiter) is the second highest, beat only by a vortex and while I would love the extra def off a vortex, to me it doesn't even come close to outweighing the benefits on the damage side (vortex would be the clear 2nd choice though, if I didn't care so much about the dmg spread).

So yeah, I will never understand why everyone goes so nuts over targes.

I have to admit that I'm one of those

Targe nuts.

I went into the Maxroll character planner and had a play around to see what would happen if I swapped my

Sacred Targe with a

Vortex Shield, adjusting Dex for max block and reducing Vitality accordingly.

Sacred Targe - 173 Dex, 403 Vit, 2311 Life, 22752 Defense

Vortex Shield - 195 Dex, 381 Vit, 2212 Life, 25304 Defense

This is in the full gear that I normally run with and both

Holy Shield and

Battle Orders active.

So switching to a

Vortex Shield reduced life by 99 (-4.3%) and increased Defense by 2552 (11.2%).

Is it worth sacrificing 4.3% life for 11.2% Defense? I guess it depends.

Lanceor wrote: 1 month ago

[..]
Is it worth sacrificing 4.3% life for 11.2% Defense? I guess it depends.

Ultimately, like so many things, kind of a matter of taste / boils down to what you really want/need and how/where you play.

Though personally, I dare say in this game, 2k life is more than enough for anything on any build (excluding PvP). Even more so as a pally. But that's me saying that as someone who also intentionally uses full performance-charms on his pally for a grand total of 0 life off charms.
(Still well above 2k though since that's kind of just how pallies work out)

Schnorki wrote: 1 month ago

Ultimately, like so many things, kind of a matter of taste / boils down to what you really want/need and how/where you play.

Though personally, I dare say in this game, 2k life is more than enough for anything on any build (excluding PvP). Even more so as a pally. But that's me saying that as someone who also intentionally uses full performance-charms on his pally for a grand total of 0 life off charms.
(Still well above 2k though since that's kind of just how pallies work out)

Definitely health for me. The closest I've come to dying in the last few levels was a horde of those Suicide Minions in the WSK... 2k health gone in an instant. Unless I'm mistaken, Defense doesn't help against those explosions (or Stygian Dolls).

That said, the

Zakarum Shield is the nicest looking of the bunch and is worth losing some health over. The zero damage spread is icing on the cake.

Woa good conversatiıns running around. I guess I created this topic to make sure how to maximize Paladin start to reach socket quests as fast as possible back then. But overall I like the idea exchange over Paladin shields.

As I see it around, VS is the most expensive one, especially as an Exile base, compared with the same mods on (45 all res in my case). ST comes after. For me, ST is the best due to extremely low str req but like Schnorki said: It really doesn't matter for an end game build mostly. But after finding an ethereal ST with 45 all res and 4os, I'm more than happy.

Lanceor wrote: 1 month ago

Schnorki wrote: 1 month ago

Ultimately, like so many things, kind of a matter of taste / boils down to what you really want/need and how/where you play.

Though personally, I dare say in this game, 2k life is more than enough for anything on any build (excluding PvP). Even more so as a pally. But that's me saying that as someone who also intentionally uses full performance-charms on his pally for a grand total of 0 life off charms.
(Still well above 2k though since that's kind of just how pallies work out)

Definitely health for me. The closest I've come to dying in the last few levels was a horde of those Suicide Minions in the WSK... 2k health gone in an instant. Unless I'm mistaken, Defense doesn't help against those explosions (or Stygian Dolls).

That said, the

Zakarum Shield is the nicest looking of the bunch and is worth losing some health over. The zero damage spread is icing on the cake.

If I remember correctly the stygian dolls damage is full physical and can be blocked and reduced. On a smiter from 20+ years ago I had Exile and 63k+ defense and I wasn't bothered by them.

SnowSnow wrote: 1 month ago

If I remember correctly the stygian dolls damage is full physical and can be blocked and reduced. On a smiter from 20+ years ago I had Exile and 63k+ defense and I wasn't bothered by them.

That does explain a lot! I remember them being lethal while levelling, but the threat decreased significantly at high levels.