I wanted to check how Hammerdin feels in pre-expansion Diablo 2. Turns out it ain’t bad.
There are some differences compared to modern Diablo 2. Blessed Hammers are doing physical damage. There are also two variants, since both Might and Concertation auras increase damage of BH at 100% effectiveness (Fanaticism doesn’t give +Enhanced Damage% in 1.05b). Might is easier, when it comes to early leveling. I opted for more common version, since Concentration has higher +ED% compared to Might.
I decided to sacrifice 1-point for Sacrifice skill and use it for leveling. Since I didn’t spend any points in Dexterity, neither had much +AR% from skills, using weapons with flat attack rating early one was the way to go. For Normal Duriel I leveled up to 18 and used Blessed Hammers and some mana potions I saved.
In Act 3, I spend some time shopping for Scepter with Ignore Target Defense (attached on screenshot, beside main gear). This combined with some mana leech, allowed me to spam BH more often.
Before moving onto Nightmare, I farmed for XP till level 30. Acquiring Redemption resolved most mana worries and opened build - at this point I also moved to using Scepter with Fastest Cast Rate instead of ITD. Later I leveled up Redemption - level 4 seems to have enough chance to harvest souls and gives enough to quickly recharge to full mana.
Nightmare was smooth, beside Maggot Lair, where I resorted to using ITD Scepter again combined with 1-point Sacrifice and Concentration Aura. I farmed for gear and XP in NM till level 50. At this point I also unlocked Holy Shield. Most gear comes actually from shopping/gambling.
Hell wasn’t bad either, spare for Maggot Lair again. This time it was really slow, but doable with better ITD Scepter (still normal base, just with some +ED%). Only downside of Hammers doing physical damage is that they can be shield blocked. This limits damage output, when faced with monsters that have high block chance - primary example is Diablo himself.
I also used some rings with +mana after kill, since it helps with sustain, when facing bigger groups of enemies. I didn’t spend any stat points in Energy and I don’t think it is nesesery for this build - some +mana from gear does help though.
There are some differences compared to modern Diablo 2. Blessed Hammers are doing physical damage. There are also two variants, since both Might and Concertation auras increase damage of BH at 100% effectiveness (Fanaticism doesn’t give +Enhanced Damage% in 1.05b). Might is easier, when it comes to early leveling. I opted for more common version, since Concentration has higher +ED% compared to Might.
I decided to sacrifice 1-point for Sacrifice skill and use it for leveling. Since I didn’t spend any points in Dexterity, neither had much +AR% from skills, using weapons with flat attack rating early one was the way to go. For Normal Duriel I leveled up to 18 and used Blessed Hammers and some mana potions I saved.
In Act 3, I spend some time shopping for Scepter with Ignore Target Defense (attached on screenshot, beside main gear). This combined with some mana leech, allowed me to spam BH more often.
Before moving onto Nightmare, I farmed for XP till level 30. Acquiring Redemption resolved most mana worries and opened build - at this point I also moved to using Scepter with Fastest Cast Rate instead of ITD. Later I leveled up Redemption - level 4 seems to have enough chance to harvest souls and gives enough to quickly recharge to full mana.
Nightmare was smooth, beside Maggot Lair, where I resorted to using ITD Scepter again combined with 1-point Sacrifice and Concentration Aura. I farmed for gear and XP in NM till level 50. At this point I also unlocked Holy Shield. Most gear comes actually from shopping/gambling.
Hell wasn’t bad either, spare for Maggot Lair again. This time it was really slow, but doable with better ITD Scepter (still normal base, just with some +ED%). Only downside of Hammers doing physical damage is that they can be shield blocked. This limits damage output, when faced with monsters that have high block chance - primary example is Diablo himself.
I also used some rings with +mana after kill, since it helps with sustain, when facing bigger groups of enemies. I didn’t spend any stat points in Energy and I don’t think it is nesesery for this build - some +mana from gear does help though.
. Congrats on the Baron. I also had a similar experience with when I played 1.05b Hammerdin and Baroned it. Redemption was game changing. As you said, all mana problems was basically gone. I only had 1 point in it though and it usually had a good chance of getting mana at that level but more points on it was definitely a good idea. It was usually a “walk, kill, wait for redemption”, rinse and repeat. Stoneskin is the worst given that Physical Damage BH. But it was a fun character overall and I would definitely make it again.