This Build Destroys Everything [ 2.5 FoHammerdin Paladin Build ]

The FoHammer Paladin (Fist of the Heavens - Blessed Hammer Paladin, also called "Magedin") - is an interesting build that is a lot of fun to play, and while it can't full-tilt into both skills, it is a powerful farming tool, and good as long as you don't need to be in maggot lair.
Blessed Hammer Skill Guide - • Why This Is Considered...
Holy Fire Paladin (Starter Build) - • Best Starter Paladin B...
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#Diablo2

[@Alzorath]

Testing out Premieres again (been a couple years) - reply to this with whether you like knowing what video is coming early or not.

[@adud6764]

I absolutely hate it. Unless you have regularly scheduled content, like news or a weekly podcast, there is no point. This isn't TV or cinema, where a bunch of people need to synchronize and need a fixed point of time to watch it. It is a KZbin video, everyone can watch on their own time. So upload it and release it.

[@Alzorath]

@@adud6764 I actually do run the channel on scheduled content mostly (I'm a bit behind on creating currently, but several months of near daily content will do that to you)

[@tomasd5743]

Literally nothing negative with a premiere like this. Don't mind it at all

[@jonathanmccarron55]

I like seeing what is coming up early no problem at all.

[@MrLazyleader]

I really dislike premieres because they clutter up my feed with videos I can not watch yet. When I see a nice video and click on it I expect it to be available. I unsubbed to some channels because of this. It's basically spam.

[@phucnguyen0110]

Well, earlier today I was so convinced to run a Sorc as I talked to you previously. And then this popped up, and you changed my mind again dude. 30 mins of creating a new Paladin, level 12 + 3 Countess runs for 2x Eth, 2x Ral, Tir + El for Steel - with bases for Steel + Stealth + Lore already good to go. I hope this ladder season treats me better lol.

[@Alzorath]

The sorceress is the "easier" of the two, but they are both a ton of fun, so I hope the season goes well for you :)

[@phucnguyen0110]

@@Alzorath yeah I'll have to rewatch the video a few times to fully remember the Skills part anyway - it's a bit tricky to remember 😂😂

[@HidaMan]

I really appreciate you calling out that the Sunder Charms are traps for some builds! They certainly are the shiny new toy, but not everything will need/want one, there are still builds out there to play and enjoy if you don't/can't get one!

[@Alzorath]

yea, I think the "ooh shiny" will wear off a bit when people realize that they only really benefit specific setups lol - and most classes shouldn't even use them until they get their chase gear IF they use them even then. Reality is - I plan to cycle through all 7 classes with the new format, and I've already covered the only two that would use it before end-game gear ;)

[@sytrostormlord3275]

@@Alzorath been running 2-3 days with lighting sunder charm on my trapsin... tbh i'd prefer 1 trap skiller instead... i prefer to have more dmg from my fireblasts and deal with LI issue with fireblasts + death sentries instead of sunder charms+rbfs+infinity... way cheaper, more simple and avaible from the start... but since my current gear has a lot of extra lighting res i can use sunder charm and still are in positive res... so until i fill all my inv with trap skillers, it stays...

[@Alzorath]

Sadly rainbow facets don't help traps - only way to help them post-sundering is conviction/lr - which sadly only do so much :(

[@TheHolyRolle]

Cool build! I tried a zeal hammerdin for fun! Maxed out concentration and used a act 1 faith merc for fanatism

[@DrEvil-os9dc]

Was running hammers but switched to FOH. Been good for chaos/Baal/pindle runs. Single player tho so no sunder. He’s still super playable now even without great gear.

[@NikozBG]

I feel like the smiter is the best hybrid build for FoH, because you want to max out holy shield anyway and you also don't have to worry about being a caster and needing AR at the same time.

[@Alzorath]

It's definitely one of the fun ones if set up properly :)

[@eclipse369.]

Good luck walking yourself thru the game with that. Very painful.

[@NikozBG]

@@eclipse369. Through the game I used Pure FoHdin with Conviction, but After I found a serviceable elite shield I switched and it feels quite good tbh

[@cllee4262]

Smite work great on hammerdin too. Hammer synergy skill concentration increase smite damage at the mean time increase merc damage as well.

[@sytrostormlord3275]

@@eclipse369. its annoying on SP, but online it works quite well :)

[@Tantrumspam]

how bout the merc? Would love to have an in depth look at act 5 frenzy merc with item options, breakpoints, and merc advanced stats (why does it change based on which wep is on right hand?) cheers!

[@fathersondiecast6521]

using this build to SSF this ladder and I'm in Hell comfortably farming the pit and the countess and I'm still just rocking stealth and lore

[@Alzorath]

yea, it is amazingly gear independent compared to a lot of other builds, one of the reasons I love to recommend it so much (this and the FoH-Smite one are both really solid tools, that can work on super-budget setups)

[@realSAPERE_AUDE]

@@Alzorath it is nice how you can use really cheap runewords and still be strong. Dual spirit, stealth, lore, and pretty much nothing else is all that important. The paladin is like the Swiss Army knife of D2. So good that he might be the most trash talked class lol

[@JamesDM4]

I've made a fully synergise FoH and in my opinion it's good. I have 12( should have been 10 but oh well ) in conviction and 10 in redemption. I put the rest in holy shield. And it's good vs everything and works well vs immune and obliterate demons and undead. I dont belive it can uber solo, but i'd like to try with multiple people , since holy bolt does damage to demons and undead even if they are immune.

[@Alzorath]

yea, it's not "bad", but it is a trap - it's not much faster than just holy bolt focused FoH sadly, and I generally prefer having a support skill with it (FoH+Smite, FoH+Zeal, FoH+Hammers are all 3 really solid tools to add that flexibility for similar or less cost)

[@JamesDM4]

@@AlzorathI dont know, at first I had a FoH/smite build, but I have the feeling the speed was the same but I had more troble with immunities and non demon/undead then I have now with the pure FoH build. With convitions, FoH 1hit or 2 every enemies but the immune. They are 3/4 FoH hit. Convition also helps the merc a lot destroying stuff with ease. Also, having a mix gear for FoH and smite or zeal is much more expencive to get then just a pure FoH. Cause now you need good meele weapond ans shield with also good caster gear. Thats my opinion.

[@user-ve3uo7ut3w]

Im playing with this build since 2.4 patch , foh 15 holy bolt 10-12 point , holy shield 1 and everything else to blessed hammer 20 , vigor 20 , conc ans blessed aim all remain points , running shako ist , enigma , Mara , hoto, Zaka ist , wt , bul ring or double Nagel 30mf , arachnid mesh, 75% fcr bp, torch ani full 7mf sc , geed 40% total it 550 + mf and destroy everting in the game on p8 swap Nagel for bul rings and few sc are replaced with combat lifers this is the best build in entire game , you don’t need to invest heavy on foh if you farm p1-3 difficult , 2.5k holybolt dmg on foh is enough and 10k hammer dmg.

@alzorath, holding infinity FOH holy shock paladin, review!

[@ivanmehandzhiyski6014]

That crafted amulet tho....2/20/19 oO

[@andrewhiatt112]

Good lucky and found a +3 heavens light is it better than Spirit sword

[@Alzorath]

that's a tough call - generally I would prefer spirit for the FCR on hammers, but if you are focusing mainly on FoH it can be better - generally for that, I would look at an FoH-Smiter instead of FoH-Hammer.

[@ronperreault8889]

Highest defense armor you get early on isnt a breast plate, its a splint mail. Can buy them in act 2, which you should be in by the time you can even wear the stealth.

[@Alzorath]

Splint Mail is medium armor, which negates the faster run/walk on stealth and is why Splint Mail isn't the "strongest" choice.

[@JJV7243]

For playthrough - for sure hammers/concentration to deal with beasts. Late game = whatever you want

[@kristopherleslie8343]

Pretty much

[@biglittleboy9827]

There's no late game in Diablo 2, only late goals. Unforatunately.

[@kristopherleslie8343]

@@biglittleboy9827 ooomph

[@AwesomePossum1987]

why not max conviction and shock aura instead of using hammers? to low damage compared to using hammers with lightning on immunes? what if you add lightning sunder on top of that?

[@Alzorath]

The Lightning aspect of Fist of the Heavens is generally exceptionally underpowered sadly - most of its damage is from the holy bolt spread (even when fully synergized with lightning)

[@KSNT-TheTaint]

Someone please play the sword song hammer of heaven to this

[@sytrostormlord3275]

i tried going with foher/smither build, with fantism aura all time up and a5 frenzy barb for support... but that didn't go well without grief on swap/merc so meh... might give that 1 a go other time...

[@Alzorath]

on the budget end - a Black runeword weapon is a solid choice for the smiter swap, would help out a bit since generally before grief (or a few unique options), you're not doing a lot of raw damage with it - but yea, smiter is a lot more of an acquired taste for the split.

[@sytrostormlord3275]

@@Alzorath 2 things to add up to that story: #1. wanted to make an all-arround character who would farm himself torches, swap gear and go kill those ubers all by himself #2. did that on HC previous ladder, but unfortunately network lag ended the project arround lvl 84... (and i had such nice 30+ spirit in glided shield with base 43 res all) might do with it again as my starter character season3 with same approach as #1... :)

[@RareFXChrisC]

It bothers me that people say "BotD" (Breath Of THE Dying) but not "FotH" (Fist Of THE Heavens).

[@Alzorath]

not if you use forums over the past 20+ years ;)

[@RareFXChrisC]

@@Alzorath Been playing since day one D2 was released. In and out of the forums -- It still bothers me LOL

[@johnwalker3602]

I really don't get all the hype about blessed hammer. Yes there is very little magic resistant mobs in game, but the skill is mechanically absolutely terrible. Not only it has dead spots where you need to reposition and start throwing hammers again, but it hits and gets absorbed by every wall, tree and rock, even though wiki claims that it pierces walls.

[@Alzorath]

not sure which wiki you're looking at (I would recommend against using it most likely) - since in diablo 2, while hammers will pierce enemies, they don't pierce terrrain (Blessed Hammers from D3's Crusader do though). The main reason blessed hammers are favored by a lot of people is due to the lack of enemy resistance to them, as well as the ability to flood areas with them (and the fact that they do multiple times the magic damage of the nearest competitor: the necromancer's Bone Spear). This makes it exceptionally powerful for farming most desireable level 85 areas (and nowadays, terror zones as well). It is indeed terrible at cramped areas like maggot lair, some cave/sewer zones, and some areas with a lot of terrain breaks - but those are not usually farmed. The reason this build works is you're basically just using hammers to cover the gap in fist of the heavens instead (beasts), which outside of maggot lair, are usually in more hammer-friendly zones.

[@DbzDbz-wc7xr]

Omg why is this a build

[@machin101]

Bro redemtion is far better than meditation its not even a competition

[@miniquadsmegafun3619]

Got enough ads?

[@Qabardaj]

With 40 in skill points every build.will one shot bro 🤣

[@Alzorath]

It's from +skills, and no, most skills won't one shot everything at level 40 without the synergies and items to support it.

[@LordNerfherder]

Please dont be bad and just start hammer.... respec at lvl 90ish with some gear. Worrying about a reset token is ridiculous considering the ammount of hours you waste not being able to even kill everything properly. You get 3 free respecs. If first character just run fire aura -> hammer until GG gear then respec having 1 respec left because you fucked up your dex/str until enigma. If 2nd char skip fire aura.

[@Machokenn]

What? I've watched the part about the Hammer Synergies over and over WTF are you talking about??? Your numbers on your skills don't add up to what you're saying. Call me Stupid, but this is supposed to teach you how. This is NOT teaching me.

[@Alzorath]

... cocentration level is soft-point based, synergies are hard point based - the skills 100% match up to what I'm saying there's 29 hard points in synergies for blessed hammer (20 in blessed aim, 9 in vigor), Concentration is level 19 with plus skills (19+10 is 29).

[@dengeleng7825]

to much bla bla