Version History
- Patch 0.7.9 – slight nerf to T5 affixes – new item options – some smite fixes that will make our judgement be able to proc smite lightnings/fissure – idols still okay – went from about 50% dodge to 40% dodge — searing faith and holy fire in judgement were changed to affect sub skills, but they don’t seem to help smites from judgement – rebuke is a spell
- Patch 0.7.8f - testing Idols
- Patch 0.7.8f - initial version
Bugged Idols?
I'm using the wrathful idols that give a total of 200% increased damage to vengeance and smite. I heard that they were bugged. I'm not sure if they were fixed or not but I think our damage will still be fine if they are changed.Overview
Use your heavenly judgement to bring down hellish smites on your foes. The main version uses a two-handed staff.
Gameplay Videos
0.7.8f arena - - YouTube
Last mono boss (spoiler) - - YouTube
Pros
- Tanky caster
- Fast monos
- Fun movement skills
- Benefits from player skill
Cons
- Weaker AOE
Skills
Smite
Can hit enemies off screen and can target enemies without having to click exactly on them. We want to keep the mana cost low so that we can regain mana when we cast smite. We use the void smite so we can leech back health from the sacrifice node, but we no longer heal allies. The passive tree is used to turn fire smite into void smite.
Judgement
Used to cast 4 smites at nearby enemies. There is a setting called "move to melee attack enemies that are out of range". We want to turn that setting off so that we can use judgement from a distance. Judgement is also great at knocking back foes to maintain distance and interrupt their attacks.
Sigils of Hope
Provides a lot of damage and armor. I like the instant cast option and only putting 4 points into duration. But there are a few points to play around with to make it how you like.
Volatile Reversal
Amazing skill for mana, avoiding hits, and more damage. This build is much slower without this skill because judgement needs the mana benefit.
Shield Rush
Only used for movement speed and kiting. I like to put some points into final hit area to break barrels. It can save your life such as when you are surrounded. Also, it can provide more time to cast smite because you move away from enemies faster.For arena, it may be better to replace this skill with another skill like Devouring Orb.
Build
Passives
Sentinel Pretty straight forward like mana gained on smite. Iron mastery tends to only proc when fighting big groups of enemies.
Void Knight
We want the void smite damage and leech
Forge Guard
Infinite bulwark is amazing so we spend 30 points to get it. We will want to use the belt affix “dodge rating for 4 seconds on potion use”. Every time we use a potion, we get 200% armor and 40% dodge. We will earn back the potion we just used from the increased chance to find potions. I like to use a potion everytime I stop moving to cast a series of judgements.
Paladin
We want the 300% increased spell crit chance. I get some useful passives along the way, such as defiance and faith armor.
Gear
With patch 0.7.9, we have more options and need to be more flexible depending on what drops we get.Our first priority is to get Orian’s Eye amulet. I’ll post a version without it but I don’t think we should waste time/resources on those pieces of equipment. Until we get Orian’s Eye, we can put 30% void protection, +200 void protection, 30 mana on an amulet. Currently, you can gamble for Orian’s Eye.
Good stats
Mana - want about +50 to cast more judgements, Orian’s Eye will give us this
Spell crit - want to get to 100% crit
Cast speed - more mana gain and damage
Glancing blow/crit avoidance - standard stuff
Movement speed - boots should give tier 5 movement speed before other stats
Attunement - damage!
Protections - protections go well with this build because the higher they are the more effective our leech is. Also, we get some sentinel bonuses to protections.
Dodge on belt - want 40% dodge when we use a potion
Stats for Build Alterations
Mana Gained on Smite Use - an affix for the helmet. If we get this affix, we can upgrade our smite to cast 3 lightning strikes for additional aoe.
Leech - there is a new chest, Woven Flesh, that gives a lot of leech. It would let us use fire/healing smite instead of void. I tried it and it doesn’t seem as good as the void smite.
Links
Here are some tier 5 gear options with numbers showing the potential dps (damage per second) and ehp (effective health and ward pool). These are estimates until we get better tooltips explaining skill stats, and the estimates include the new blessings.
FIXED - should have been using the relic that gives crit multi instead of fire damage
Basic without Orians - 75k dps, 20k ehp, 480 health regen and leech a second
Basic with Orians - 84k dps, 21k ehp, 590 health a second
Conversion Gear - 68k dps, 25k ehp, 460 health a second
Leech (void version) - 72k dps, 18k ehp, 2300 health a second
Conversion gear is where we convert damage taken, such as necrotic, to another type like physical. We have a lot of armor so this gives the most ehp but we lose out on extra mana gained on smite use. We could go with a helmet that gives necrotic conversion and mana gain. Poison resistance is not as important right now.
I’m personally going to try for the Basic with Orians.
Idols
Look for idols that fill in weaknesses such as damage or protection. I’m using 4 idols with increased smite damage and 1 idol with increased armor.
Blessings
Reign of Dragons - poison and necrotic protection
Ending the Storm - chance to gain ward when hit
The Black Sun - crit multiplier should give more damage than the void blessing because we should be close to 100% crit chance
Build Variations
Shield We do about 50% more damage with a two-hander but also take 50% more damage from hits (block doesn't work on dots).Take all of the block passives. You won’t benefit from dodge anymore because of the paladin passive Shield Wall. So, take dodge off the belt and chest. You will probably need to take points out of infinite bulwark to afford the block passives. So this version is less reliant on potions. You will also want to take the block nodes in the sigils skill by removing some armor and damage nodes.
Fire Smite with Healing
Instead of void smite, you could use the standard fire smite. You lose the 26 base void damage. The damage in this version is slightly less even though you benefit from the paladin mastery bonus and you can take the light of rahyeh passive. The movement speed feels really good.
The biggest thing you lose is the leech which was needed to counter act the smite sacrifice node. But in patch 7.9, we can use the new unique Woven Flesh to get lots of leech. I tried it but it doesn’t seem as good as the void smite version.
Devouring Orb
This is a good skill for 60% elemental protection and more aoe damage. You could use this instead of shield rush if you don’t mind losing the movement skill.
Leveling New Character
The goal of this leveling strategy is to use a 2hd casting play style all the way until end game.
Ruined Era
We will be using hammer throw, lunge, rebuke, and smite.1st skill specialization - Hammer Throw
- 2 into Rapid Throw
- 1 into Zeal
- 3 into Rahyeh’s Legacy for ignite
- 1 into Winged Hammers
Save up 2 points, then - 1 into Steadfast Path
- 2 into Catapult
2nd skill specialization - Rebuke
- 6 into Retaliation
- 3 into Dark Thoughts
3rd skill specialization - Smite
- Keep putting points into Sacrifice until it starts to hurt, then
- Put points into Conviction
We should get void smite and leech soon
Mastery choice - Paladin
1st - put 10 points into the VK tree to get void smite, some leech, and Volatile Reversal
Then, we can go for Judgement
Imperial Era
Use holy aura for now.Hammer Throw
Finish Catapult and then go for Disintegrating Aura and Rapid Disintegration
Rebuke
Finish Dark Thoughts and then:
- 1st - Wildfire Shell
- 2nd - Singed Shield
Smite
Finish Sacrifice and Conviction then go for
- 1st - Atonement
- 2nd - Deep Impact
4th skill specialization - Sigils of Hope
Replace Holy Aura with Sigils of Hope.
- 1st - Last Wish
- 2nd - Enduring Hope
- 3rd - Tetragram
- 4th - Exigency
Passives
Put points into Paladin to get Holy Precision and unlock Judgement
Divine Era
Keep leveling skills as described in the Imperial Era. Start looking for items with the Enduring prefix. Keep the items that are good and use Rune of Shattering on the other ones. This way you start to collect shards that give Glancing Blow. We will need those later. Also, keep idols that have glancing blow.Level 49
Remove the specialization for Hammer Throw. Specialize both Judgement and Volatile Reversal.
Volatile Reversal
1st - maximize mana by reducing cooldown, so:
- 2 into Time Snap
- 1 into Timelost Vitality
- 2 into Traveller’s Fatigue
Judgement
- 2 into Sacred Sword
- 3 into Austerity
- 1 into Divine Verdict
- 4 into Righteous Decree
Once you have Judgement capable of doing aoe, then you can replace Rebuke with Shield Rush. Now you can level all skills according to the main build.
Shield Rush
- 2 into Consuming Path
- 1 into Dark Rush (so you can use this skill while using a two-handed weapon)
- 6 into Rush Mastery
- 2 into Protective Speed
Passives
After Holy Precision in the Paladin tree, go for Battle Hardened in the Forge Guard tree.
Starting Monos
Try to ugprade your gear a bit by gambling and crafting. I linked an example of gear that will clear the first monolith.1st priority - Put tier 5 movement speed on your boots. Do this before adding other stats to your boots.
2nd priority - Try to get 100% glancing blow. Hopefully you were able to get some Enduring items and shards. Best case, you are able to put tier 5 Set Glancing Blow on 4 pieces of equipment. Otherwise, you can use some idols to help reach 100%.