Solo Paladin build?

[seanidor]

I'd like to mention a few things. My main is a 26 pally right now and I basically had a setup that you guys were listing off for the OP. After selling almost all of his gear and switching back to banded, there is almost no difference in his abilities to solo the same mobs. Basically his AC dropped by about 100ish and his STR went down from 183 to 147ish and things were pretty much the same. Also, dwarves can't use a Treeweave or Hero Bracers and its pretty much impossible to get a Ghoulbane for cheaper than 600. :-)

[pasi]

Not sure why people suggest ghoulbane when you can get a baton of faith for 200pp or a sword of the mourning for <1k.

[A1551]

Originally Posted by pasi [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Not sure why people suggest ghoulbane when you can get a baton of faith for 200pp or a sword of the mourning for <1k.

Yeah what Pasi said -- forget ghoulbane, or really anything else. Baton of faith can literally be picked up for about 200pp or even less and is 30/40 2HB. The DPS on this post 20 trashes ghoulbane even vs. undead. As an untwinked paladin there really is no other answer for a cheap, effective weapon. Additionally, there aren't a whole lot of droppable upgrades to a BoF and most of them are fairly expensive for a first time character.

My experience here with this is my first char on P99 was a paladin, who I took up to about 52. I did get a ghoulbane around level 20 (and it was expensive/took a lotta jumping through hoops to afford). Lvl 20 is when it starts proccing. It WAS a lot of fun in unrest and seemed pretty overpowered, but as soon as I saw another pally w a BoF I realized I had made a mistake. Sold the GB for a few pieces of DW and never looked back.

Also as to the paladin class in general -- I loved it right up until about 50. Post 50 (even 40s) even with amazing equipment your DPS is almost inconsequential. Someone earlier said gun to your head, just pull the trigger on that gun instead of solo leveling a pally, and I'd have to agree. A paladin's strength is their (essentially awesome) snap aggro, making them good tanks for experience groups. Their heals / undead nukes in theory make them sound like they could solo, but the dps is just not there to do in any way that is even marginally efficient.

[Ogre]

Originally Posted by A1551 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Post 50 (even 40s) even with amazing equipment your DPS is almost inconsequential. Someone earlier said gun to your head, just pull the trigger on that gun instead of solo leveling a pally, and I'd have to agree. A paladin's strength is their (essentially awesome) snap aggro, making them good tanks for experience groups.

How exactly is a Paladin's melee DPS significantly worse than a non-Ogre SK? I mean, the Paladin class has the same Offensive skill caps that a Shadow Knight does.

[godbox]

Originally Posted by Ogre [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

How exactly is a Paladin's melee DPS significantly worse than a non-Ogre SK? I mean, the Paladin class has the same Offensive skill caps that a Shadow Knight does.

SK has pet/dots/lifetaps/fear/snare/higher damage weps <---(well not really higher dmg weps but higher innate str)

[Danth]

Godbox said it. Baseline Paladin and Shadow Knight melee is roughly the same, but soloing Shadow Knights have a lot more besides melee. Also, SK's solo mostly via fear kiting, which means they hit mobs in the back and benefit from the associated higher hit rate. Soloing Paladins don't generally have such a luxury.

The hardest part about soloing as a Paladin is that the class's damage potential just doesn't scale well at 45+, and particularly at 50+. Monsters in that level range gain health at a much higher proportional rate than you'll gain damage, resulting in a slower and slower kill rate.

Danth

[A1551]

Originally Posted by Ogre [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

How exactly is a Paladin's melee DPS significantly worse than a non-Ogre SK? I mean, the Paladin class has the same Offensive skill caps that a Shadow Knight does.

Godbox basically answered this but yeah, the SK really only edges out paladins in terms of dps with all their spells / pet / ability to fearkite, not that SKs dps is particularly good but it certainly trumps paladins. I think the most significant difference is the SK has a much wider variety of good weapons to use. Unless you have a fair amount of plat to spend the paladin is basically stuck with the BoF until they can afford something like a granite face grinder or quest for Fiery avenger etc. The SK has a lot of choices that bridge you between the 200pp weapon you can afford as a new character on the server and the 7-10Kpp weapons you probably can't afford until you could quest something better anyway.

[webrunner5]

If you think playing a Paladin is bad now wait till Velious comes out and mobs hit about 3 times harder and try and kill them on a Pally. Good luck with that. But they do make pretty good pullers in Velious. P.S. I do like the class though

[Itap]

Originally Posted by seanidor [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I'd like to mention a few things. My main is a 26 pally right now and I basically had a setup that you guys were listing off for the OP. After selling almost all of his gear and switching back to banded, there is almost no difference in his abilities to solo the same mobs. Basically his AC dropped by about 100ish and his STR went down from 183 to 147ish and things were pretty much the same. Also, dwarves can't use a Treeweave or Hero Bracers and its pretty much impossible to get a Ghoulbane for cheaper than 600. :-)

sean! why did you sell your gear bro