Hammerdin - Blessed Hammer Paladin Build Guide - D2R 2.7

Build Introduction

The Hammer Paladin is by far the strongest farming and PvM character in Diablo 2 and Diablo II: Resurrected, and is also very efficient for PvP. If you enjoy obliterating any enemy that comes your way with one hit, this is definitely a build you should try! Although the endgame build is quite expensive, even with budget gearing options you will be able to crush monster mobs within seconds

Basics

Do you want a build that can destroy any monster in the game, may it be Uber Bosses and enemies on Hell Difficulty? If so, the Hammer Paladin ( popularly known as the “Hammerdin”) is the perfect build for you.

Whether you are engaging Hell's minions or fighting against other people in PvP, the Hammerdin boasts incredible damage and survivability that only a few other classes can match.

Another thing that might entice you to play the Hammerdin is that you could turn it into a bonafide MF (Magic Find) character. This is great, especially if you decide to try other D2R builds in the future. Being able to farm rare equipment and runes is definitely one of the Hammerdin’s strong suits.

Its playstyle involves throwing spinning hammers using Blessed Hammer, making quick work of the enemy. What makes this skill an amazing choice is that it deals magic damage. Most enemies in the game do not have immunity to the said damage type, so you will not have any problems taking on whatever Hell throws at you.

The Paladin is one of the more balanced classes in Diablo II: Resurrected, but this build takes that to a whole new level by adding tons of damage as well. Do not worry, we will give you the information you need to create this awesome holy powerhouse of a build, so be sure to read this guide to completion.

Gameplay

Attacking skills:

Cast Blessed Hammer as this is your primary attacking skill in combination with Concentration Aura. Blessed Hammer deals magic damage and there are very few monsters with magic immunity in the game, so you will rarely need to rely on a secondary attacking skill. 

Because Blessed Hammer deals magic damage, you do not even have to put any of the new Sunder Charms in your inventory, thus saving precious storage space for use on other items.

In case you run into immune enemies, use Holy Bolt for attacking, or just let your mercenary kill them. Blessed Hammers deal damage on a wide area, but often miss enemies. If you want to make sure that your hammers don't miss, teleport on the chosen monster.

Movement:

For maximum movement efficiency, teleporting is the best option. If you can afford the Enigma Runeword for body armor, you will be able to cast teleport anytime. Otherwise, you can buy amulets from Vendor NPCs with gambling that have teleport charges, and repair the amulet whenever charges run out. 

Having a % faster cast rate on your items can greatly improve your teleport casting speed. The second best option for movement is switching between your attacking aura (Concentration) and running aura (Vigor), which increases your run speed by almost 50%.

Survivability:

Your survivability is actually pretty decent even on budget gear. The only monsters that could cause you serious trouble are Uber Bosses. Defensive auras like Redemption for life and mana recovery, Salvation for all resistance, or Defiance for extra defense can further boost your survival chances.

If you want to improve your survivability even further, use Call to Arms Runeword as your switch weapon in order to be able to cast Battle Orders which can almost double your life. Having a 75% block chance with the Holy Shield skill activated and having 75% all resistances on Hell difficulty is recommended, so put points on your Dexterity Stat until you reach 75% chance to block, and get charms with resistances to achieve 75% to all four resistances.

Having % physical damage reduction, additional life, increased maximum resistances, elemental damage absorption, faster hit recovery, faster block rate, higher defense, % bonus to defense, or cannot be frozen stats on your items. Having these can certainly increase your survivability up to the point that your character will become almost immortal and can very safely play even in Hardcore.

Party and Solo play:

Except for Uber Tristram, you will be able to quickly solo the entire game on your own. When you are in a party, the members will be happy to have you as Concentration aura provides a huge boost both to physical and magic damage. If most of your party members use elemental damage for attacking, you can switch to Conviction aura to lower monster resistances. When needed, you can also help your party out by using your defensive or other offensive auras.

Magic Find:

This build is simply the best at MFing among all builds, period. You can quickly teleport or run to any Boss and kill it within seconds. Gearing allows you to have a very high magic find %, while also dealing huge amounts of area and single target damage, making the Hammerdin the perfect option for finding valuable items.

Stats

Strength: Put just enough points on it to be able to wear your items. The majority of your STR comes from the Enigma Runeword. More on this later on in the build guide.

Dexterity: Allocate enough points until you reach the block cap of 75% with Holy Shield activated.

Vitality: Put all your available points on it. This stat not only gives you a comfortable amount of HP for PvM, but it also makes you survive longer in PvP.

Energy: Don't put any points on it because you already have plenty of mana to work with for this build.

Skill Points

• 20 points on Blessed Hammer
• 20 points on Blessed Aim (Synergy, increases damage)
• 20 points on Vigor (Synergy, increases damage)
• 20 points on Concentration Aura (Increases your damage a LOT)
• 1 point on Redemption +prerequisites for healing and mana recovery

• Put 1 point on the following skills:

• Smite
• Might
• Charge
• Cleansing
• Redemption
• Salvation
• Fanaticism

• Remaining points on Holy Shield to increase your defense. Put at least 1 point on it as it becomes available and have it activated at all times.

Blessed Hammer is the bread and butter of the Hammerdin. This is a pretty powerful skill in D2R primarily because it deals magic damage. It is very rare for monsters to have immunity to this damage type, making it the perfect skill to obliterate the minions of Hell.

Of course, there are other skills that have amazing synergies with Blessed Hammer. Blessed Aim is an aura that ensures your hammers will have no problem hitting monsters as they spin around you.

Vigor is another aura that is very useful on this build, not only because it increases your stamina regeneration and run/walk speeds, but it boosts the damage of your Blessed Hammer as well. You do not even have to activate these auras to gain the damage bonus because it is passively granted to your main skill!

Considered the perfect complement to Hammerdins, Concentration Aura is definitely something that you want to max out. Unlike Vigor and Blessed Aim, Concentration Aura increases the damage of Blessed Hammer at 50% efficiency. In other words, your main skill is given more oomph thanks to this aura!

Early on, you might have problems sustaining your HP or mana without using potions. Well, you can forgo those potions if you get the Redemption Aura. When active, any nearby corpses will be redeemed, regenerating your HP and mana in the process.

The addition of Fanaticism is mainly for party play. Activating this aura provides you and your party members with damage, attack speed, and attack rating. Unless you create a Hammerdin specifically for playing in a group, just put a skill point on it and leave it at that.

Other Useful Skills

• Defensive Auras

  • Defiance
  • Salvation

• Offensive Auras

  • Sanctuary
  • Conviction

• Combat Skills

  • Holy Bolt

Defiance is a defensive aura that boosts your defenses. You will take this skill just as a means of unlocking Salvation at level 30. Of course, you do have the option of enabling it if you need to bolster your defenses against attack damage, but in most cases, it won't be necessary.

The offensive auras, Sanctuary and Conviction, are just optional skills that you can take. If you decide to add them to your repertoire, just put a single point on them. If you are wondering what they do, Sanctuary boosts your damage against the undead and provides a knockback effect, keeping them at bay. On the other hand, Conviction is an aura that reduces the defenses and resistances of nearby enemies, making them easier to pick apart!

Holy Bolt, while not truly mandatory, is just a nice way of killing off stragglers. You see, Blessed Hammer creates multiple hammers that spin around you. Because of the way they move, there are times when some monsters will not get hit. Using Holy Bolt makes sense in this scenario because the projectile travels in a straight line.

Breakpoints

This D2R Hammerdin build is fully utilized if you are able to fill the screen with spinning hammers. To achieve this, you must have the "% Faster Cast Rate" mod on your gear.

Without getting overly technical, you need about 125% FCR to reduce the animation of Blessed Hammer to just 9 frames, which is quite noticeable from its original 15 frames.

All of the items you will need to attain that number will be outlined in the "Gearing" section of this build guide.

If you want to learn more about Diablo II: Resurrected breakpoints for the Paladin, you can refer to our dedicated guide.

Gearing

The listed items are organized by slots.

• The usefulness rating of an item is based on how good it is for farming.
• The price rating reflects the cost of the item (cheaper ones are available after the Ladder starts as budget options) higher price ratings reflect exponentially higher cost for an item.
• Magic Find ratings are added to items that are good options for MFing.

Adding sockets and improving your items

• If you complete the Act 5 quest, Siege on Harrogath, Larzuk will grant extra sockets to your items. Use the quest to add sockets to your gear and put useful jewels, runes, or gems in your item sockets.
• You can also upgrade your unique items from normal to exceptional quality and from exceptional to elite by using Horadric Cube recipes. After upgrading, your armor pieces are going to have more defense, and your weapons will deal more damage. The downside of upgrading is the increased strength/dexterity requirements.

Helm

Lore runeword -usefulness 4/10, price 1/10

Peasant Crown unique helm - usefulness 5/10, price 2/10

Harlequin Crest Shako unique helm - Usefulness 9/10, price 6/10, Magic Find - 10/10

Rare or Crafted Circlet with 2 Paladin skills, 20% Faster cast rate, 2 sockets, +resistances, +life - Usefulness 10/10, price 9/10

The Hammerdin needs some really expensive gear to unlock its true potential, but that does not mean that you cannot enjoy the build with budget gear. If you are still starting out, you could get yourself a helmet with two sockets and insert the Ort and Sol runes. Doing so will result in "Lore", a helmet with "+1 to All Skills". This Runeword also reduces your damage slightly, making it a good choice for the helmet if you are on a budget.

A nice alternative to Lore is the Peasant Crown. This is actually one of the most useful helmets in D2R that does not break the bank. The Peasant Crown still provides you with that "+1 to All Skills" similar to Lore. However, this thing has more useful affixes, including faster run/walk speed, increased energy/vitality, and +100% Enhanced Defense.

If you have saved up enough currency, you could invest in Harlequin Crest, the true successor to the Peasant Crown. Also known as the "Shako" due to its base, this helmet significantly boosts your life and mana when equipped. More importantly, it raises the level of all your skills by two, which is quite awesome in the endgame. The Harlequin Crest is great for farming as well. That "50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items" is just too hard to pass up.

The Harlequin Crest can be obtained by defeating monsters on Hell difficulty. However, getting one to drop may actually take quite a long time. Hence, you are better off saving for it and just acquiring it from someone via trade.

Amulet

Any amulet with +1-2 to paladin skills, or +1-3 to combat skills - usefulness 4/10, price 1/10

Any amulet with teleport charges - usefulness 5/10, price 1/10

Rare amulet with 2 paladin skills and resists or/and life - usefulness 6/10, price 3/10

Seraph's Hymn unique amulet - usefulness 7/10, price 5/10

Mara's Kaleidoscope unique amulet - usefulness 9/10, price 7/10

Crafted amulet with 2 to paladin skills, 20% faster cast rate, and additional life and/or resistance - usefulness 10/10, price 10/10

Magic amulet with 40-50% to magic find - price 5/10, 10/10 for magic find

Blessed Hammer already deals significantly more damage to undead monsters and demons, but wouldn't it be great if you can hit them harder? That is where Seraph's Hymn comes in. Simply wearing the amulet provides you with up to 250 increase in damage against demons and the undead. The +2 to all skills and defensive auras are a nice bonus.

Resistances constitute a huge part of your defense. Without achieving at least 75% to all of your resistances, you will get decimated by enemies on Hell Difficulty. That is why Mara's Kaleidoscope is a popular amulet in Diablo II: Resurrected, mainly because it provides you with a huge increase in resistances (up to 30 on a perfectly rolled amulet). The "2 to All Skills" aids in improving the damage of your Blessed Hammer as well. You may need to spend a lot more to acquire this amulet, but trust us when we say that it is all worth it.

Weapon

Spirit runeword - usefulness 7/10, price 2/10

Wizardspike unique weapon - usefulness 7/10, price 3/10

Heart of the Oak runeword - usefulness 9/10, price 7/10

Spirit is an incredible Runeword that you can put on your weapon and shield. It provides you with up to 35% faster cast rate, which is needed to attain the 125% FCR breakpoint mentioned earlier. The faster hit recovery is also nice from a survival standpoint because it allows you to get a hold of yourself more quickly after being attacked by the enemy. To get the "Spirit" Runeword, obtain a sword with four sockets and put these runes in the following order: Tal, Thul, Ort, Amn.

The Wizardspike is a commonly used weapon by many casters in Diablo II: Resurrected. It offers a 50% faster cast rate, allowing you to hit the FCR breakpoint with relative ease. What's more, this thing increases your mana significantly, and that 75 to all resistances modifier is a godsend, particularly because it counteracts the resistance penalty on Hell Difficulty.

If you want to take the damage of Blessed Hammer to a whole new level, then you can invest in the Heart of the Oak. This is a Runeword that makes your cast rate faster by 40%. However, its main selling point is that it raises the level of all your skills by three, making it an amazing option for caster builds such as the Hammerdin. And oh, did we mention that this Runeword allows you to slay demons more easily as well? The Heart of the Oak is typically placed on a Flail due to its relatively low stat requirements, but just about any four-socketed weapon will do. Anyway, the exact runes that you need are Ko, Vex, Pul, and Thul (slot them in this specific order).

Shield

Spirit runeword - usefulness 8/10, price 2/10

Spirit runeword in paladin shield base with % all resistances - usefulness 10/10, price 4/10

Herald of Zakarum - usefulness 7/10, price 5/10

The "Spirit" Runeword makes a comeback here. Its FCR affix is just too good for the Hammerdin, so acquire a Monarch Shield or Sacred Targe with four sockets and put the same runes into them as the ones on the sword (Tal, Thul, Ort, Amn). The Sacred Targe seems to be the preferred choice due to its high base block chance, but the Monarch is not bad, especially if you want a shield with the lowest STR requirement.

Considered by many D2R players as the best shield for Paladins, the Herald of Zakarum is definitely a good replacement for the "Spirit" shield if you have the currency to obtain one. This thing is very popular due to its defensive affixes, such as enhanced defense, faster block rate, and increased chance to block. Furthermore, the +2 to Combat Skills and +2 to Paladin Skill Levels are a great way to make your Blessed Hammer deal exponentially more damage than the aforementioned Runeword.

The only downside we can think of when it comes to the Herald of Zakarum is that it does not provide you with the faster cast rate affix. Therefore, if you are going for the HoZ, make sure to address your FCR somewhere else (like on your amulet or rings).

Switch Weapon

Call to Arms runeword - usefulness 10/10, price 7/10

Gull's Dagger unique weapon - magic find 10/10, price 3/10

Blade of Alibaba unique weapon - magic find 10/10, price 3/10

If you are new to Diablo II: Resurrected, the term "switch weapon/shield" basically refers to the second weapon and shield you can swap to at any time by pressing the appropriate hotkey (default is "W").

That said, you have two amazing options for the switch weapon on your Hammerdin. The first is a Runeword known as "Call to Arms", which you can get by slotting the following runes in order: Amn, Ral, Mal, Ist, and Ohm. Call to Arms is a staple among many builds in D2R mainly because it allows you to cast three Barbarian-exclusive skills, such as Battle Command, Battle Cry, and Battle Orders. For the most part, you will only use Battle Orders to increase your life, mana, and stamina for a short period of time.

Gull and Blade of Ali Baba are just included on the list of weapons you can use for the Hammerdin if you want to create a Magic Find version of the build. These one-handed weapons are famous for granting you an increased chance of finding better loot. Only use them as weapon swaps, specifically for landing the killing blow on the enemy to apply the bonus.

Switch Shield

Spirit runeword -usefulness 10/10, price 2/10

Body Armor

Stealth runeword - usefulness 4/10, price 1/10

Skin of the Vipermagi unique armor - usefulness 6/10, price 4/10

Enigma runeword - usefulness 10/10, price 8/10, magic find 9/10

Skullder's Ire - usefulness 4/10, price 5/10, magic find 10/10, price 5/10

At level 17, you can get your hands on the Tal and Eth runes by trading with other people. Socket these two runes in the order that they were mentioned and it will result in the "Stealth" Runeword. This is the best Runeword for early game leveling due to the 25% boost to run/walk speed, hit recovery, and cast rate. The 30% increase in poison resistance is great when dealing with enemies that deal that damage type. You only need body armor with two sockets for this one, so any base will do just fine.

Skin of the Vipermagi is a relatively affordable body armor for the Hammerdin. This unique armor grants the highest amount of FCR among all of its counterparts in Diablo II: Resurrected. Its "+1 to All Skills" is very valuable, and so is its 120% enhanced defense, magic reduction, and bonus to all resistances. You can even “upgrade” the base of the armor by putting the Ko and Lem runes along with a Perfect Diamond inside the Horadric Cube.

The Paladin is a class best known for being up close and personal with the enemy and its impenetrable defense. If you want to develop a Magic Find Hammerdin, then the Skullder's Ire is the ideal choice. Among the body armors that provide MF in D2R, this thing grants the highest amount of defense. Moreover, the “+1 to All Skills” is helpful, most notably when it comes to improving Blessed Hammer, Holy Shield, and Concentration Aura.

However, arguably the best body armor you can equip for this build is one with the "Enigma" Runeword on it, preferably the Dusk Shroud or the Archon Plate as the base. Enigma grants you the ability to move around the map quickly thanks to Teleport, which is a skill that is normally only found on the Sorceress. Enigma also raises your strength considerably, allowing you to allocate more points on dexterity (for block chance) or stamina (for more HP). Do you want to farm items in the endgame? Of course, you do! The Enigma gives you up to 99% better chance of getting magic items, so if you want to farm the Chaos Sanctuary religiously, better invest on this Runeword for sure!

If there is one thing to keep in mind here, it is that Enigma is not cheap. This Runeword requires you to insert three runes into body armor, including the Jah, Ith, and Ber runes. They are very expensive runes, but because of the value that Enigma provides, getting them is definitely worth it!

Belt

Trang-Oul's Girth - usefulness 4/10, price 2/10

Arachnid Mesh unique belt - usefulness 10/10, price 6/10

Goldwrap - magic find 10/10, price 3/10

Getting frozen in an action RPG like Diablo II: Resurrected is no fun at all. You could be immune to this crowd-control effect by slotting in the Cham Rune in your helmet or body armor, but the rune itself is a bit on the expensive side. Fortunately, there is a more cost-effective option in the form of Trang-Oul’s Girth. This belt is coveted for its “Cannot be Frozen” affix on a budget. Although its other affixes are not that good considering that this belt requires you to be at least level 62 to wear, Trang-Oul’s Girth is an item that you can wear to prevent yourself from being frozen at inopportune times.

Obtaining items with "% Faster Cast Rate" is crucial to a Hammerdin's success. If you want to go all-out on the said affix, then look no further than the Arachnid Mesh. This unique item is the only belt that provides a high amount of FCR in the game. Besides that, the Arachnid Mesh raises your skill levels by one, which is something that you cannot find on any other belt in D2R. Understandably, this item is not cheap, though you can farm it yourself by defeating Mephisto, Baal, or Diablo numerous times on Hell Difficulty, preferably with some Magic Find items equipped.

Speaking of which, the Goldwrap should help you get by until you can farm enough resources to acquire the Arachnid Mesh. This belt not only gives you a higher chance of obtaining magic items, but you gain extra gold from killing monsters as well. Bear in mind that this belt only allows you to bring 12 potions at a time. The good news is that you can upgrade the base from a Heavy Belt to a Battle Belt by utilizing the Horadric Cube Recipe. More specifically, you put the Shael and Tal runes together with a Perfect Diamond and the Goldwrap itself into the cube, and then transmute for success.

Rings

Any ring with 10% faster cast rate - usefulness 3/10, price 1/10

Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band - usefulness 7/10, price 6/10

Stone of Jordan unique ring - usefulness 7/10, price 6/10

Raven Frost unique ring - usefulness 6/10, price 4/10

Rare 10% faster cast rate ring with all resist and life - usefulness 10/10, price 8/10

Nagelring - magic find 10/10, price 3/10

Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band deserves a special mention here. Even though this ring does not give you a faster cast rate, it does provide you with +1 to all skills. Not only that but each time your hammer hits an enemy, you get some HP in return, making it a nice ring to use for survivability.

If you find yourself starving for mana (maybe because of your high FCR), then you could wear The Stone of Jordan on the other ring slot for good measure. This thing not only raises the level of your skills by one, but it also increases your maximum mana by 25%, giving you more than enough resources to spam Blessed Hammer comfortably.

Melee builds like the Hammerdin can find great value in items that make them immune to freezing. While the aforementioned Trang-Oul's Girth is one way to keep yourself from being frozen, it is trumped by the Arachnid Mesh in the endgame. Fortunately, you can still get the affix "Cannot Be Frozen" by wearing the Raven Frost - a popular unique ring specifically for this purpose.

The Nagelring is an awesome ring for the Magic Find variant of the Hammerdin. This is one of the only rings in the game that has a naturally high MF roll. Plus, you can wear it as early as level 7!

Gloves

Trang-Oul's Claws - usefulness 4/10, price 2/10

Magefist unique gloves - usefulness 10/10, price 3/10

Chance Guards unique gloves - magic find 10/10, price 3/10

For the gloves, there are two viable options that provide FCR. The first is Trang-Oul's Claws, which grants a 20% faster cast rate and 30% cold resistance. This is the ideal choice if you want to have more defenses.

The second pair of gloves that are fit for the Hammerdin is the Magefist. This still gives you a 20% faster cast rate like the Trang-Oul's Claws. However, the main difference is that instead of bolstering your defenses, it grants you a substantial 25% increase in mana regeneration. It is a bit more expensive due to the fact that it provides other bonuses that work for the Sorceress. But, other than that, the Magefist is a worthy option to take for this build.

If all you care about is a tanky Magic Find character in D2:R, then you might as well equip the Chance Guards on the gloves slot. This is best paired with the Goldwrap and Skullder's Isle because it has modifiers that also affect gold find and magic find.

Boots

Tearhaunch unique boots - usefulness 4/10, price 2/10

Sandstorm Trek unique boots - usefulness 8/10, price 5/10

Waterwalk unique boots - usefulness 8/10, price 4/10

War Traveler unique boots - usefulness 7/10, price 5/10, magic find 10/10

Earlier in the guide, we mentioned that Vigor synergizes with Blessed Hammer in that it grants more damage to your main skill depending on its level. That said, a great budget pair of boots for the Hammerdin is the Tearhaunch because it raises the level of Vigor by two. It also gives +10 to all resistances, which is great from a survival standpoint.

Having to stop just to recuperate your stamina sucks. Is there a way to address this somehow? Yes, there is! The Sandstorm Trek is a pair of unique boots that increases your maximum stamina depending on your character's current level. Moreover, it slows down the stamina drain considerably, so even if you do not have Vigor up, these boots will still get you going.

When farming late in the game on Hell Difficulty, you will constantly be bombarded with attacks on multiple fronts. If you want to ensure that no attack will kill, you might want to equip the Waterwalk boots. This unique item increases your defense against missile attacks. On top of that, the +5% to maximum fire resistance is incredibly useful for mitigating fire damage even further. Since you do not have the Resist Fire aura on this build, Waterwalk gives you the maximum fire resistance you need to survive in the endgame.

Many praise the War Traveler for what it can bring to the table, so much so that it is considered one of the best boots in Diablo II: Resurrected, particularly for Magic Find builds. If you get a perfectly rolled War Traveler, you can enjoy that huge 50% boost to the chance of getting magic items.

Charms

Any charm with +skill, life, faster hit recovery, or faster run and walk - usefulness 4/10, price 1/10

Annihilus unique charm - usefulness 10/10, price 8/10

Hellfire Torch unique charm - usefulness 10/10, price 6/10

Magic grand charms with +1 to paladin combat skills - usefulness 7/10, price 5/10

Magic grand charms with +1 to paladin combat skills and +life, +faster hit recovery or +faster run and walk - usefulness 8 to 10/10, price 6 to 10/10

Magic small charms with resistances and life - usefulness 8 to 10/10, price 6 to 9/10

7% to magic find magic small charms - magic find 10/10, price 3/10

Gheed's fortune unique charm - magic find 10/10, price 4/10

Charms are items in D2:R that provide bonuses so long as they stay in your inventory. Although they do take up some precious storage space, using the best ones make them worth it.

Having said that, the Hellfire Torch is a great way to boost Blessed Hammer's damage. The unique large charm does this by raising the skill's level by three. Make sure to purchase one specifically with "+3 to Level of Paladin Skill Levels" because this thing can roll the same affix for other classes as well.

Gaining XP in Diablo II: Resurrected, especially in the higher levels, can be an excruciating experience. Thankfully, there is a unique charm that can help your leveling journey be a lot less painful and that is the Annihilus. This small charm boosts your XP gain by up to 10%. Not only that but it grants other useful stats, including +20 to all attributes, +20 to all resistances, and +1 to all skills.

Don't you just want to get lucky like Gheed? Well, there is a unique grand charm that bears the name of the said NPC. The aptly named Gheed's Fortune is great for farming items and gold. To maximize its effect, Gheed's Fortune is best used in conjunction with the Goldwrap and Nagelring.

Mercenary

Have a Nightmare Act 2 Defensive Mercenary to provide you with Holy Freeze aura. By freezing monsters your Blessed Hammer will hit them more easily.

Ethereal items don't lose durability if your mercenary wears them, so having ethereal item bases for each gear slot is preferred due to their 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:

In D2:R, you can equip your mercenaries with certain items that provide bonuses that may affect you as well. Here are our recommendations:

Helm

Any 3-socketed helm with 3 perfect diamond to increase mercenary resistances and survivability - usefulness 5/10, price 1/10

Tal Rasha's set helm - usefulness 6/10, price 3/10

Vampire Gaze unique helm - usefulness 7/10, price 4/10

Guillaume's Face set helm - usefulness 8/10, price 4/10

Andariel's Visage unique helm - usefulness 10/10, price 5/10

The Act 2 Mercenary is a melee fighter that is capable of dispatching Hell's minions with ease. To punctuate that point, Guillaume's Face is definitely one to consider for the helmet slot, primarily for granting a considerable chance of landing a Crushing Blow.

Andariel's Visage often goes head-to-head with Guillaume's Face (no pun intended). This thing grants +10 to maximum poison resistance, which can be quite helpful for improving survivability in the later stages. Aside from that, its 20% increased attack speed cannot be ignored and so is its +2 to all skills.

If you are sick and tired of your mercenary dying on you, then perhaps you could have them wear the Vampire Gaze instead. This unique helmet reduces physical damage by 20% and magic damage by 15%, making your mercenary tough as nails when they have this on.

Weapon

Insight runeword to provide you with meditation aura so you never run out of mana - preferably in elite base - usefulness 10/10, price 4/10

Bonehew unique weapon - usefulness 5/10, price 4/10

Tomb Reaver unique weapon - usefulness 6/10, price 5/10

The Reaper's Toll unique weapon - usefulness 8/10, price 6/10

Any weapon that has four sockets can be used on the Act 2 Mercenary. That is because you are going to use the special "Insight" Runeword on it, which requires you to put the Ral, Tir, Tal, and Sol runes in the exact order. Insight is primarily used for that Meditation Aura. Since the runes that make up the Runeword are quite affordable, obtain multiple weapons until you get an Insight that grants a level 17 Meditation Aura for maximum benefit.

Another viable weapon for the Act 2 Mercenary is The Reaper's Toll. This thing grants the mercenary the ability to cast Decrepify on striking, which reduces the affected monster's resistance to physical damage by 50%. Subsequent strikes to affected enemies will result in bigger damage.

Body Armor

Treachery runeword - usefulness 9/10, price 4/10

Fortitude runeword - usefulness 10/10, price 7/10

Mercenaries in Diablo II: Resurrected can die if you do not provide the right items. There are a couple of Runewords specifically to bolster your mercs defenses - one of which is "Treachery".

Treachery is a Runeword that is famous for granting the ability to cast a level 15 Fade skill when struck. Once the buff is activated, Fade raises your mercenary's resistances and their ability to resist curses for a short period of time. The runes that are necessary to form Treachery are Shael, Thul, and Lem.

Inserting the El, Sol, Dol, and Lo runes into a four-socket body armor will form the "Fortitude" Runeword. This is another popular choice for the Act 2 Mercenary, mainly because it enhances their defense to a significant degree. Although Fortitude is primarily used for the incredible defense bonuses it provides, this Runeword is no slouch in the offense department as well. This thing gives 300% Enhanced Damage, making your Mercenaries hit like a truck!

The Hammerdin is an awesome build in Diablo II: Resurrected. It has the power to destroy Hell's minions with ease, and it has enough survivability to take on even the toughest players in the game.

Obviously, elevating this build to a whole new level requires a ton of investment, both in time and money. If you do not want to go through all of the hassle, do not worry. We have got you covered!

Rpgstash.com will have D2R items in its Ladder selection already on day 1. We will be doing our best to let you buy 2.4 ladder items right at the beginning of the season including the new runewords, so you can climb the ladder rankings as fast as possible!

If you want to get the best items and runewords in the game, check out our D2R Store today!