Fist of Heavens FOH Paladin Build Guide D2R 2.6

Fist of Heavens FOH Paladin Introduction

The Fist of Heavens skill got a major boost in patch 2.4, as the casting delay of the skill was reduced from 1s to 0.4s, making FOH Paladins one of the most effective, if not the most effective farmers. However they are quite expensive, so I don't suggest this build as a ladder starter. FOH Paladins excel at both Boss and mob farming, and are very good magic finding characters. However they can only kill Undead and Demon enemies, so if your favourite area is the Secret Cow Level unfortunately you won't be able to farm it effectively.

Ideally a FOHer wears an enigma, and the primary way of moving is via Teleport. The build is very fit for almost all purposes, do Diablo runs at an 8 player difficulty, or farm Mephisto and Andariel. FOH Paladins can have up to 800% Magic Find and still clear Bosses without a problem.

This build is perfect for hardcore!! Its survivability is second to none! The Holy Bolts released constantly heal you, while the Redemption aura both heals and helps with mana recovery. You can expect your character to continuously have the maximum life and be pretty much immortal.

Related Guides

Melee Sorceress Build | Berserk Barbarian Build | Meteor Sorceress Build | Bow Sorceress Build

Gameplay

Attacking skills: Our only attacking skill is Fist of Heavens. It deals some Lightning damage to the targeted enemies, and releases several Holy Bolts that deal 5k magic damage each, making you able to clear a wide area quickly. Holy Bolt only damages Undeads and Demons, so you won't be able to easily deal with other types of monsters. On the other hand, you will quickly be able to farm Chaos Sanctuary at 8 player difficulty.

Movement: As per usual, the favoured way of movement is by teleportation. Wear an Enigma, or if you can't afford it, get an amulet or an Ondal's Wisdom staff as switch and use teleport charges. Ideally you should have at least 75% FCR to reach the 10 frame teleport casting breakpoint, but the build is easily able to reach the 125% FCR highest breakpoint.

Survivability: FOH Paladins have no issue with survivability. They have decent defense against melee and missile attacks due to Holy Shield, and can easily reach 75% all resistance. % Damage reduction or elemental absorptions on your gear are not even necessary, since Holy Bolts constantly heal you. If that wasn't enough, you should use Redemption as your aura, and redeem almost every corpse, healing you for 200 life and mana each. Any additional survivability booster item is just a nice bonus. In case you play on Hardcore and want to make sure to survive any situation, you can wear a Stormshield for its % damage reduction. Having Call to Arms as switch weapon also comes handy.

Party and Solo play: You will be able to carry an entire 8player party in Chaos Sanctuary runs on your own, even on hardcore difficulty. The FOHdin is probably the only build in the entire game which is capable of doing that. The party will love you for their easily earned character levels. In addition you can also use Conviction, Salvation, Fanaticism, or any other party-supporting aura.

Magic Find: You can wear magic find gear while still being effective at killing monsters. The build's potential magic find % is about 600%, which puts it well above most magic finding builds other than sorcs. However on 8 player games you might not want to compromise on your damage, and wear maximum damage dealing gear.

Stats

Strength: Have just enough to wear your gear

Dexterity: Have enough to reach 75% chance to block with Holy Shield casted

Vitality: Put all the rest of your available points on it.

Energy: Don't put any points on it

Skill Points

Combat Skill Tree:

• Put a point on Fist of Heavens prerequisites
• Max out Fist of Heavens
• Max out Holy Bolt
• Max out Holy Shock
• Put the rest of your points on Holy Shield

Offensive Skill Tree:

• Optionally you can have a level25 Conviction to maximise Lightning damage.

Defensive Skill Tree:

• Max out Redemption,
• put a point on it's prerequisites

Fist of Heavens FOH Paladin Gearing

Helms

• Griffon's Eye Diadem ➤ Great choice for Lightning Damage and FCR boosting
• Harlequin Crest Shako ➤ Has great offensive and defensive qualities, also a great choice for Magic Find and Hardcore.
• Crown of Ages ➤ You should consider using it on Hardcore.

Amulets

• Mara's Kaleidoscope ➤ The best choice for balanced defense and offense.
• Magic Amulet with Magic Find% ➤ The best amulet for Magic Finding.
• Magic or Rare Amulet with Combat Skill/Paladin Skill, and/or Faster Cast Rate ➤ Good ladder starter, but can be viable for endgame too

Body Armors

• Enigma Archon Plate ➤ A cornerstone item as it allows you to teleport and also deliver the most damage. It is also the best magic finding option
• Chains of Honor ➤ The best balanced armor for both defense and offense, solves resistance problems

Weapons

• Heart of the Oak runeword ➤ Great both for offense and defense.
• Spirit Crystal Sword ➤ A budget choice, but greatly effective
• Wizardspike ➤ Decent choice for early ladder, great for defense and grants a lot of FCR.

Shields

• Spirit in @allres paladin shield ➤ The highest damage shield choice, great for defense as well.
• Stormshield ➤ Consider it for Hardcore
• Herald of Zakarum ➤ Another great option for balanced offense and defense
• Rhyme runeword ➤ A decent budget ladder starter.

Switch Weapons

• Call to Arms ➤ Almost doubles survivability with Battle Orders, every build needs a CTA.

Switch Shields

• Spirit Paladin Shield ➤ Boosts Call to Arms' Battle Orders and Battle Command

Rings

• The Stone of Jordan ➤ The best ring for damage.
• Raven Frost ➤ Great option against cold damage and being frozen
• 10% FCR Rare Ring ➤ If you don't reach the 125% breakpoint, I suggest using FCR rings. With resistances, they can be great for defense too.
• Nagelring ➤ A good Magic Finding choice.

Gloves

• Magefist ➤ The good offensive option.
• Trang-Oul's Claws ➤ Grants 20% FCR like magefist, and also great for cold resistance.

Belts

• Arachnid Mesh ➤ The highest damage belt, also great for FCR.
• Verdungo's Hearty Cord ➤ Great defensive belt, consider it for Hardcore
• Tal Rasha's Fine-Spun Cloth ➤ A decent choice at early ladder or for Magic Finding
• Goldwrap ➤ The best Magic Finding choice.
• Nightsmoke ➤ A decent budget ladder starter.

Boots

• Triple resist 30% FRW boots ➤ The best choice for survivability
• Sandstorm Trek ➤ One of the best choices for survivability, especially if ethereal.
• Waterwalk ➤ Another great choice for survivability
• War Traveler ➤ The best for Magic Finding.

Charms

• Annihilus ➤ A must have item for every build.
• Paladin Hellfire Torch ➤ Another must have item.
• Lightning Sunder charm ➤ It is optional to remove lightning immunity
• +1 to Paladin Combat skills grand charm ➤ If you can afford it, try to have them with +life. +FHR
• + All resistances small charm ➤ If you can afford it, try to have them with +life.
• + Life small charm ➤ If you can afford it, try to have them with +mana.
• + Lightning resist small charms ➤ They help to compensate for the fire Sunder charm

Sockets/Jewels

• Lightning Rainbow Facet ➤ The best choice for damage boosting.
• Ist rune ➤ The best choice for Magic Finding.
• Um rune ➤ Use it for allresist boosting if needed.
• Ort Rune ➤ Use it to boost lightning resist boosting
• Perfect Diamond ➤ Can use it instead of Um runes in shields and helms.

Mercenary

Have an Act2 mercenary with Holy Freeze aura for crowd control.

Ethereal items don't lose durability if your mercenary wears them, so having ethereal item bases for each gear slot is preferred due to the increased defense on armor items and increased damage on weapons. In many instances ethereal items that are great for mercenaries will be much more expensive than non-ethereal ones.

Mercenary gear:

Helm

• Any 3 socketed helm with 3 perfect diamond ➤ increase mercenary resistances and survivability
• Tal Rasha's set helm ➤ a decent choice
• Vampire Gaze unique helm - ➤ another decent choice
• Guillame's face set helm - usefulness ➤ only use it with high merc defensive abilities
• Andariel's Visage unique helm ➤ the best helm choice

Weapon

• Insight runeword ➤ provides meditation aura so you never run out of mana
• Bonehew unique weapon ➤ simply a good choice
• Tomb Reaver unique weapon ➤ the highest damage choice
• The Reaper's Toll unique weapon ➤ great for both offense and defense
• Infinity runeword ➤ the best choice for offense

Body Armor

• Treachery runeword ➤ great for both defense and offense, a budget choice
• Fortitude runeword ➤ the best choice for both defense and offense

Ladder Starter / Budget FOH Paladin Gear

Lore Runeword Helm ▬ 10% FCR Amulet ▬ Stealth Runeword Body Armor ▬ Spirit Crystal Sword Weapon ▬ Spirit Paladin Shield ▬ No Switch Weapon and Shield ▬ 10% FCR Rings ▬ Trang-Oul's Claws Gloves ▬ Nightsmoke Belt ▬ Rare Boots with resistances ▬ Life and Resistance charms ▬ Perfect Diamond Item Sockets

Best FOH Paladin Gear

Griffon's Eye helm ▬ Mara's Kaleidoscope Amulet ▬ Enigma Body Armor ▬ Heart of the Oak weapon ▬ Spirit Paladin Shield ▬ Call to Arms Switch Weapon ▬ Spirit Paladin Switch Shield ▬ 10% FCR triple resist Rings ▬ Magefist Gloves ▬ Arachnid Mesh Belt ▬ 30% FRW triple resist boots ▬ Annihilus ▬ Paladin Hellfire Torch ▬ Lightning Sunder charm ▬ +1 Paladin Combat Skills, +Life, + Fire resist and +Mana Charms ▬ +5/-5 Lightning Rainbow Facet Item Sockets

If you'd rather skip farming you can quickly buy gear at Rpgstash's D2R Store.