This strategy no longer applies to the latest version of Diablo II. It remains here for archival use only.
Hammerdin:paladin who relies primarily on the blessed hammer/concentration combination for all combat.
New Stuff in 1.2: Just some typo fixes and a couple changes (bug discussion, skill recommendations)
Note: I have based this guide off quite a bit of testing with open hammerdins, my own realms hammerdin (currently in hell), a hardcore hammerdin, and fairly extensive chats with other hammerdins and partial hammerdins. All tactics have been tried in hell. Props need to go to Lord SuperTrooper who, I'm fairly sure, coined the hammerdin term.
Why a Hammerdin? If you've tried Blessed Hammer (BH), I can guess what you're thinking. It seems hard to hit with, and it doesn't do that much damage. Why on earth would you want to base a character around this skill? Below I will go into all that makes the hammerdin a great choice. Is it the most powerful class/path in the game? Nope. If you're looking for the same old easiest-to-play character choices, the hammerdin is not for you (paladins probably aren't for you either). Is it viable though hell? Sure is.
What makes the hammerdin strong? (pros)
High Damage with Concentration, Not resistible
Doesn't need to go toe-to-toe with monsters
Great group damage potential
What makes the hammerdin hard? (cons)
Needs more points in Energy than other pals
Aiming BH is an art that takes some time to master
Very tight hallways (eg. maggot lair) greatly reduce effectiveness
Dishing out Damage Let's take a look at damage first. At skill level 20, BH does 164-168 Damage per hit -- not much, eh? Well, there is a very important thing that the BH and the Cowardly Paladin tips don't mention, concentration effects BH. So try these numbers, level 20 in both skills:
164 + 350% (574) = 738 Damage per hit (1107 to undead)
Much better. Note that though this extra damage doesn't show up on the character screen, it certainly is there. More importantly, this damage is NOT RESISTED by elemental resistance, so while other characters' elemental attacks get weaker in hell, this one stays just the same.
Is this a bug? Some people have claimed, quite reasonably, that concentration effecting blessed hammer is a bug. This may well be, but it is, in my opinion, not a terribly unbalancing combo when compared with other classes. Not to say blizzard wont nerf it (who knows what they think?), but it sure isn't pre-1.03 Whirlwind or Corpse Explosion. If you're worried, or don't want to exploit this possible bug, it IS possible to play a non-concentration hammerdin (see variants section at bottom), and most of this guide will still apply.
Fighting with Blessed Hammer The great benefit to BH is that you don't need to be next to an enemy to hit them. This is, of course, a great way to avoid taking damage. The catch is that BH has a very odd flight path. It spirals out from your paladin in ever widening circles. If it hits a wall or obstacle, it stops dead. This is the real challenge and art of the hammerdin. Once you master it, you'll even be able to use it in the most foul of places for the hammerdin, the maggot lair.
Tips for hitting:
Practice! Spend some time firing BH without any monsters around, pick a target like a column and try to hit it from different distances. Notice that you CAN hit monsters right next to you, but only from certain angles.
Never Stop Moving! You want to minimize your time standing and fighting, you should constantly be moving and firing hammers. The hammers spiral from wherever you shoot them, so you get the best coverage if you keep moving. NOTE! Do not run right next to a melee monsters, they get a 95% chance to hit you if you run past them.
Use Shift! When a group of monsters is coming towards you, toggle on run, then start backing away. Every step or two hit the shift key and fire a hammer. 2 steps, hammer, 2 steps, hammer. This should leave a cloud of hammers behind you which the monster will obligingly walk into and die.
Hit and Run! For missile/magic monsters that don't walk into your hammers, you'll have to hit and run. Run towards them, fire a couple hammers, then run away.
Draw them Out! You can definitely use BH in hallways, but you'll get more satisfaction if you can draw the monsters into a slightly larger room.
Switch off Auras! Concentration only needs to be on the second you fire a hammer, if you are quick with your hot keys, you can switch off to another aura (HF, redemption, vigor, etc) between shots.
The Mana Problem Hammerdins can burn mana fast; at maxed level it costs 10 mana per shot. This can add up quickly. First and foremost, its important for hammerdins to have a lot of Energy (for mana and for running), much more so than other paladin flavors. The extra mana is important because you want to be able to get a lot of hammers off before you have to recharge. Stocking up on mana potions is also helpful. In the end though, you need something more to get your mana back up. There are three possible options for keeping a fresh supply of mana:
Meditation: If you're patient, switching off to meditation between fights can certainly do the job. I don't like waiting around so this isn't for me, but it is workable. Requires throwing away (essentially) 2 skill points in prayer and cleansing to get there. Mediation needs several points to be effective, the more the better.
Redemption: Much faster than meditation with the added benefit of healing life too. Only needs a couple points to be quite effective. Requires throwing away 3 points in cleansing, prayer, and defiance -- you might actually use the 1 point in vigor in occasional running away situations. Redemption only needs a couple points to be effective (It's just a matter of how many clicks you want to stand around waiting to redeem the remaining corpses).
Mana Steal: Mana/Life Steal DOES NOT work with BH, but get a good mana steal weapon or ring, and your plain old vanilla weapon swings (aided by concentration) can restore mana nice and quick. I'm not crazy about relying on this, as it works well through nightmare, but in hell you really don't want to be forced to go toe-to-toe to replenish mana. Certainly doable though, depending on what you choose as you're backup skills (see below).
Hand To Hand Skills Most players will find it hard to survive on BH/Concentration alone (it *is* possible, my realms paladin went all the way through nightmare without ever striking hand to hand). In any case, sometimes the hammerdin will find it easier to get his hands dirty and do a little direct damage (whether it be to clean up a few remaining monsters, replenish mana with mana steal, or fight your way out of a messy corner). Again, there are several possible skills to choose from, and there isn't really one right answer here (this touches on the much larger "best paladin skill" debate, which I'm sure not going to try to answer):
Zeal, Sacrifice (or even vengeance) Either of these is a possibility, however, I would not recommend it. Both may work for a good meaty high str/high vit/high dex paladin, but the pure hammerdin has a lot of points in Energy, and really wants to spend no time going hand-to-hand with monsters in hell.
Smite This does cruddy damage of course, even with 20 concentration. But the knockback/stun is very helpful for getting the baddies in hammering position. I use Smite/Holy Shield for my realms hammerdin. It works quite well as a monster control skill, or to clean up those last stragglers.
Charge This is probably the best combat skill for the hammerdin, as its the one that lets you do some good damage without putting your fragile hide at risk. The downside is that you still might have problems if the monsters really get close.
None With 20 Concentration your swings will hit pretty hard (but your AR will still be pretty bad), depending on your other skills choices, play style, and equip, this is a possibility.
Other Skills? Some folks may find a couple other paladin skills work as nice supplements for the hammerdin. Here are a couple that worked for me when tested. I would stay away from loading up on a lot of extra auras; concentrate and redemption are probably all you need:
Holy Freeze Using this in spurts to freeze groups of monsters works nicely to help you group up your targets or simply when running away.
Conversion Even without thorns this can be quite useful. Converting a couple monsters to be used as tanks can make it easier to get monsters to group up as well as keeping their attacks away from you.
Salvation Just for those certain situations in hell. You can fire off a couple hammers, then switch to salvation to defend against the Lightning flying off the Lightning Enchanted monsters or incoming magic attacks, then back to concentration to fire more hammers. Rinse. Repeat.
Holy Shield Useful, as it is for any paladin, for its additional blocking and defense. Its particularly helpful for my hammerdin because it helps his smite, and helps his defense because of his very low dex.
Leveling and Allocating As always, don't waste skill points. Yes, the first 20 levels or so may be a bit more of struggle than they otherwise would, but you're going to be happy later that you don't have multiple skill points sitting somewhere that will never get used. Use scepters, or the 1 point you'll have in Might, to get by at lower levels. If you've decided to supplement with a combat skill (like charge), go ahead and start investing SINGLE points to that too (dont put more than 1 for now, you want to save as many points as possible for BH and concentration). Once you get to level 18, start investing in Concentration and Blessed Hammer. Spread the points equally (or keep concentration a little ahead if you like); by the time you hit 21 you'll start to find them useful. I think the best approach is to get BH and Concentration high (above 12) before putting more than 1 point in anything else. You should max them as soon as possible.
Stat Points Energy You need a good bit of energy if you are playing a hammerdin. You need to be thinking more like a Sorc or a Necro. Yes, you have lots of tools to replenish, but there is no substitute for a good supply. I wouldn't be shy about taking this one into the 80s, but I wouldn't take it much past that (at 90 you get around 250 mana bt level 40, thats 25 hammers before you need to recharge, a pretty flexible number). This depends greatly on eq and play style, if you are only a partial hammerdin who spends a lot of time charging, then this can be much lower. Strength Forget about the Ornate, at least until later. It's nice to try to get to 133 (Pavise requirement), but even that isn't a necessity. You are pretty much only getting strength for requirements; it's not helping your hammer damage. Vitality You get better payoff for VIT points than a sorc or necro, so feel free to dump extra points here. Being able to not die in one hit from the monster who gets close to you in hell is a Good Thing. Dexterity You're AR isn't terribly important, but defense is. Strike a balance between this and strength (will the better armor make up for the lower dex?). Again, very dependent upon play style, but my recommendation is that dex is the least important stat for the hammerdin, and you'll do fine putting no points in it at all.
Equipment Weapon Scepters are a perfectly reasonable choice for the hammerdin, the extra skill points are going to be valuable, and the cruddy damage doesn't matter much since you aren't depending on it to kill things. If you decide to go for a damaging weapon, make sure its one handed. I would also definitely NOT raise dex if the only reason you are doing it is for swords. Maces have no dex requirement, are faster for paladins, and the best mace (battle hammer) has a slightly higher average damage than the best sword. Shield Use one! Early on, if you can get it, Wall of Eyeless is very helpful (+5 mana after each kill), but the low blocking makes it tricky. Sigon's Shield, of course, is good for all paladins. Ultimately, though, you probably are going to want a triple perfect diamond shield of one sort or another (Pavise if you get the 133 strength, otherwise a Tower is your best bet, unless you plan on really pumping holy shield). Gloves More so than other paladins, you really want frostburn. Good luck. :) Boots Look for boots with fastest run/walk, moving quickly is very important to the hammerdin. Jewelry Look for fast cast rate! This is key to hammer hit and run tactics. Other Equipment For the rest of your armor and jewelry, its all about the combination. LIfe/Mana Steal eq is only useful, remember, if you plan on using a hand to hand attack. Concentrate on resistance, +stat, +mana, +skill equip.
Variants The Non-Concentration Hammerdin A player who had a hardcore hammerdin reach level 51, Stomp-Alot, wrote to describe his hammerdin, which did not use concentration. Instead, he kept very high level redemption on, therefore did not need nearly as much energy. This, combined with level 20 holy shield, means he was playing a much more defensive hammerdin (makes a lot of sense for hardcore). Playing this would take a lot of patience since it will take around 4 times longer to kill stuff than with a concentration hammerdin, but it just might work. A couple possible strategies:
Use BH simply as support damage to the standard conversion/thorns paladin (both being indirect combat methods, they compliment each other well).
Go for extra fast BH, get rings, ammy, scepter all fast cast. Get 20 in meditation and as much mana regen as you can, and go nuts with hammers :)
Conclusion I haven't given many specific numbers here, mainly because I dislike recipe style guides and because the paladin has so much flexibility. However, I hope this proved useful to those of you considering some of the less common character/skill choices.
Good luck and Happy Hammering. Send comments to
, feedback welcome, flames ignored.
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