Guide written by Greybeard on the DiabloII.Net Single Player Forums.
A Tankadin is a variant of the Paladin class, he is similar to the Defiant but with one big difference, he uses the Defiant merc instead of the aura/skill himself.
After playing many Paladins, I realized that his one main weakness is his lack of hit points and overall inability to handle being swarmed. I knew that I didn't want to go the Defiant route so I decided to hire a act 2 normal desert merc with Defiance. With the right equipment and maxing Holy Shield, my first Pally to complete Hell had a Defense Rating of over 13,000.
This meant he got hit very little and when he did, the PDR gear reduced what little damage he did take. This build is fairly dependent on having the right equipment near the end game-Hell mode, but until then you can get by with less than "Godly" equipment. More on equipment later.
I came up with this build to counteract the image of the Paladin being a wimp and not being able to hold his own, especially when surrounded and mobbed.
I dubbed him a Tankadin since his main goal is to beable to tank for himself with the aid of his merc, and can, as they say "take a licking and keep on ticking". Unlike the Barb or the WW, WB Druid, the Paladin is fairly weak in the hitpoint and defensive area, so this build will hopefully solve that.
I have now taken three Tankadins through Hell Mode and none have died, so that is a fair testament to this build, and how, with the right character skills, equipment, and player skill,( that being on the conservative side), can survive Hell in single player, without the benefits of teammates.
Benefits
Negatives
Strength A strength base of 120-130 will cover you, considering you will pickup extra through equipment. Your highest strength requirement is Baranars Star at 153.
Dexterity A rule of thumb is 2 dex per level, or a max of 130-140 depending on your equipment and how many points you put into HS.
Vitality All extra points go here.
Energy Base
Conviction 20 Points This is one of the mainstays of this build, a simply great, great skill. It reduces monster DR when maxed by 90% and monster resists by -125%. Although the bottom cap is really -100%, so if a monster has 75% resist then with maxed Conviction his resist will now be -50%.
Holy Freeze 20 Points Another great skill, one of my favorites, as it will slow down and be effective on most all of the monsters in the game including bosses. The slowing-freeze percent drops after about slvl 12 but the radius increases all the way to max. A great crowd control skill and it serves some other interesting purposes. More on that later in my TIPS section.
Fanaticism 20 Points This is where the desire for fast hitting, high leach and damage comes in. This is used along with Conviction and Holy Freeze as a three way attack. A great skill, although if playing in a party you may want to try Concentration for the auras radius and damage boost to teammates it provides.
Cleansing 1 Point A great utility skill, often overlooked but a very useful skill with one point into it. It cuts the duration of poison and more importantly, curses by a %. Very useful when fighting OB Knights in the Chaos Santuary.
Zeal 1-5 Points This skill is your workhorse, it will almost always be active even when using a slow hitting aura-skill such as HF Zeal will, with the right speed weapons, allow you to hit fast and often. If you are going to have some +skill equipment then one or two points put in will be enough, since you are aiming for 5 points total.
Vengeance 1 Point I use this only in the CS for dealing elemental damage to OB Knights to aviod the IM curse. I get this skill thru + skill items.
Salvation 1 Point This skill will help counteract those nasty Conviction Enhanced Monsters you come across, by bumping your resists up by 60%.
Holy Shield 8 Points Minimum Another great skill, as whether to max this or just put enough points in to keep your blocking at 75%, depends on if you want the extra shield defense more points provide. I usally put all my extra skill points into here, 10 points usually, max if possible thru using + skill equipment.
That's it for skills, if you end the game around clvl 80 you should have some extra points to play with, and put where ever you want.
Note: I will not list all the equipment that can be used, for that would fill twice the amount of space, and the equipment listed below is what I have used, or tryed for this build, feel free to experiment if you want.
Now the fun stuff, I won't list every mod on every piece of equipment, since most of you already know them, but will give a general idea what does what.
Shaftstop clvl 38, a great armor and imo custom made for this build, with the +60 life and 30%PDR, + 250 defense vrs missles, you really can't go wrong.
Guardian Angel clvl 45, another great armor, I use mine in areas where high resists are more important than the worry of taking physcial damage. Example areas such as, Chaos Santuary, Baal's minnions, Durance Of Hate. If you already have maxed your most important resists, lightning and fire, then the +15% cap to resists on this armor is just gravy. The IAS, +1 to skills, +20% increased blocking, +30% faster block rate, scaling AR to Demons, all make for a great armor by itself or to alternate with Shaftstop.
Griswalds with +2 to Defensive skills, and 3 sockets you can tailor this armor to make up your resist shortcomings. The high DR rating certainly doesn't hurt either.
Duriels Shell Another great armor, low requirements, +20 resist all, scaling life and DR bonus and the always useful "can't be frozen" make for a great armor, and it is fairly easy to get.
Iceblink One of my all time favorite armors, with the "freezes target" this is probaly the most "fun" armor to use and is viable into NM. It is also a fantastic Merc armor, easy to find and a good DR for normal mode. You can as I have did use it into NM, the freezes target offsets the low DR, with a high DR this would probaly be a keeper all through the game, especially with a UM rune in it for resists all.
Smoke Runeworded Armor, a great set of armor using the Runes, Nef and Lum, gives this armor high resists, defense against missles, and faster hit recovery. This armor is somwhat expensive to repair with its charges of weaken.
Lionheart Runeworded Armor, another good runeworded armor using the Runes,Hel, Lum, Fal. Provides good resist all, bonuses to life, energy, Vitality, dex, strength, and a great +20% enhanced damage mod.
Just about any armor with high DR and some good resists will work fine, although I do highly recommend Shaftstop, since it really helps the Paladin take hits and survive mobs.
Hellmouth great gloves, with the bonus of fire absorb, fire damage, and the always cool chance to cast slvl 8 Meteor, these are some fine gloves for this build.
Lava Gout Somewhat better than Hellmouth, due to the 20% IAS, they also have 25% fire resist, chance to cast Enchant, which will give some additional fire damage to the damage these gloves already provide.
Laying Of Hands Simply great gloves, easy to get, very hard to beat for any Demon slaying you do, some great Boss killers, since all the Bosses are Demons. With the 350% damage bonus to Demons and 50% fire resist, 20% IAS, and the 10% chane to cast lvl 3 Holy Bolt, which doesn't do much damage, but looks cool as hell, these gloves are hard to beat.
Bloodfist Some real "sleeper" gloves, athough low in defense, they more than makeup for it with some great mods. Such as, 10% IAS, 30% hit recovery, +40 life, +5 minimum damage, and the fact that you can use them so early in the game (clvl 9) makes them very good and can last towards the end of normal, and possibilty beyound.
My suggestions: Hellmouth in mid act 5 normal, Lava Gout in NM, LOH in Hell.
String Of Ears A great belt with PDR and MDR, life steal, and a fairly low lvl requirement (29) a belt that can take you all the way thru Hell.
Thundergods Vigor My all time favorite, with 20% lightning absorb, 1-50 lightning damage, + 10% max lightning resist, + 20 to vitality, + 20 to strength, they are really hard to beat. The lightning absorb will allow your Paladin to go toe to toe with MSLE's and spit in there face.
My suggestion, you guessed it, Runeworded armor.
Herald of Zakarum For a Paladin they just don't get in better that this, I won't list all the mods since there are a ton, just simply the bes tPally shield period. One drawback, they are hard to find and trade for.
Tiamats Rebuke A great subsitute for HOZ, with great elemental damage this is a good shield for PI's in hell. One drawback is the relativly slow blocking speed, and a fairly low chance to block, put a Sheal rune in it, add a few Holy Shield points, and you are good to go.
Rhyme Runeworded Shield
A great shield using Shael and Eth Runes. With "can't be frozen", 40% faster blocking rate, +25% all resists, 50% more gold, 25% MF, and 20% increased blocking, this is a great shield period.
Note: Try to find a Pally (heradlic) shield with + resists already on it, some also can be had with enhanced damage on them, so a Pally shield is the preferred one to use.
Steelclash Sometimes called the "baby HOZ" this is a great early game shield, with +1 all skills, +20% all resists, a fast blocking rate and high block.This one will take you all the way to clvl 29 when you can use the Rhyme shield.
My suggestion, of course the Herald of Zakarum, but if not, that then either the Tiamets or even the Rhyme will work good.
Vampire Gaze A fairly wide choice here. I use and recommend as your mid- end game, the Vampire Gaze, with dual leach, PDR, MDR, and cold damage, its hard to beat for this build.
Rockstopper A great helm with fairly low requirement, high resists, PDR, fast hit recovery, a great helm that can take you all the way.
Lore Runeworded Helm A great helm using easy to get runes, Ort and Sol. This is a good early game helm you can equip at clvl 27, you can also use any "white" 2 socket helm, bassinet, etc. This helm gives you +1 to all skills, +30% lightning resist, +2 mana per kill, + 10 to energy, and the all important +2 to light radius.
There are so many great Unique and even Rare helms that I won't cover them all, since the Vamp Gaze is the prefered for this build.
Eye Of Etlich A great ammy, that can be used at alow clvl of only 16, with its +1 to all skills, life steal, and cold damage, this makes for a great ammy you can use anytime in the game.
Saracens Chance Another great ammy with clvl 47 you will have to wait awhile to use it, but the wait will be worth it. With 10% chance to cast Iron Maiden, +12 to all attributes and +18 to all resists, this one will carry you to clvl 65 when you get the great amulet Highlords Wraith.
Highlords Wraith This is a amulet made for this and most Paladin builds, that use Zeal. With +1 to all skills, 20% IAS, scaling chance of Deadly Strike, +30% lightning resist, and 1-30 lightning damage, this is the one to use for this build, simply a godly amulet.
Raven Frost Simply great, with can't be frozen, huge boost to AR and Dex, cold damage and 20% cold absorb, you can ignore any cold enchanted monsters with this one.
Any Rare Ring with some good life leach will do, other useful mods would be, +life, + AR, + resists.
Gore Riders, with their chance of open wounds, crushing blow and deadly strike make these boots great for NM,also the +30% faster run/walk doesn't hurt either.
Note: as fast as a Paladin hits these mods will fire off very frequently making them great damage dealers for a Paladin.
Infernostrides These will be your Hell mode boots, with 20% faster run, extra gold, +10 to max fire resist, fire damage, and the always fun chance to cast slvl 8 Blaze these are the boots you want in Hell.
Wartravelers Very good boots, great for magic finding and the extra damage bonus, although I prefer the Gore Riders, these still are very good boots.
I will do a weapon progression, of the weapons I use and comment on some of the mods on them.
Steel Runeworded Long Sword, available for use at clvl 13, this is a great early game sword, with open wounds, extra damage, IAS, this one can take you into mid-act 2 normal, easily found runes, Tir and El make this a very handy weapon.
Kings Grace Runeworded Long Sword or War Scepter, makes for a very good high damage weapon that can last you almost all the way thru normal. With good mods like life steal, 100% damage to Demons and Undead, very fast speed, cold, fire damage, a boost to Ar against Demons and Undead and three fairly easy to get runes, Amn, Ral, Thul, this weapon can compete with most of the Uniques with the same requirements. One of my favorite weapons is a Rune Sword with Kings Grace in it, I use that almost to the end of act 5 normal, a great weapon.
Hand Of Blessed Light Divine Scepter I just started using this on my last Pally, and found what a great early NM weapon this is. With mods like +2 to all skills, good damage, 100% bonus to AR, and the very fun 5% chance to cast slvl 4 Fist Of Heavens makes this a great weapon, even though it is pretty expensive to repair. The FOH actually does pretty good damage in late normal and early NM, it sure is fun if anything.
Aldurs Rhythm This weapon is a real sleeper, easy to get and cheap to repair, with very good mods, although alittle low on damage the mods makeup for it. You get life and mana steal, +300% damage to Demons, a very fast +30% IAS weapon speed, and a good amount of lighting damage. A great weapon for those on a budget and also very good for early to mid NM.
Butchers Pupil A most fashonable weapon with its striking blue color, this one can deal out some damage. With its good damage and great chance of deadly strike, open wounds and also being indestructible it all makes for a very good NM weapon.
Lightsabre Not much needs to be said about this awesome sword, with lightning absorb, and damage, with wicked speed, any Pally will hit like a madman. Great late NM weapon.
Baranars Star Simply the best weapon for this build in Hell period. This weapon is legendary and needs little explaining. Does scary elemental damage with blazing speed, nothing more needs to be said. You can do this build and get thru Hell without it, but why would you? I would trade the farm to get ahold of this weapon if need be, combined with elemental charms and gear PI problems are a thing of the past
The above are all just what I use and recommend I am sure other like weapons will also suffice.
Just a few tips about playing a Paladin for those who haven't done so yet.
A must have it only takes a damage of 1 to freeze and possibly shatter monsters, possibly the best kind of elemental damage for a Pally there is, get some through gear or a charm.
The Paladin is fortunate to have a natural fast hit recovery, so very little additional is needed. I usually have around 20-30% depending on whether it is playing in normal or Hell where it is much easier to get stunned. Use charms or alot of equipemnt provides it.
Yes this is a skill, but there are many uses other than slowing monsters. First off it doesn't freeze monsters, it slows them down, and has a wide area of effect when maxed roughly 3 screens worth. It is this radius that allows HF to serve as a "early warning" system, due to the noise it makes when it contacts a monster. That noise is very helpful in detecting monsters in dark areas, ones that are in a room you can't see, and is very good in the Durance Of Hate for slowing and detecting Undead Sytian Dolls, since they run so fast, along with slowing them, it also makes it hard for them to catch you unaware. The same goes for the act 5 suicide minions.
Mods like crushing blow, open wounds, deadly strike, prevent monster heal, are all very useful to a Zealing Paladin, since you hit so fast and so much these mods will go off very often. The same can't be said for any simular mods that activate when struck, since a Tankadin Pally gets hit so little, with his mercs maxed Defiance and max blocking he will get hit on average about 7-10% of the time, so these "when struck" mods aren't nearly as good as the ones with "when striking".
The Paladins great mixture of auras is what really sets him apart from the other classes of melee fighters. With defense, healing, offense and utility auras and skills, the Paladin is a "jack of all trades".
All auras except Fanaticism go into effect 3 seconds after activated and stay active for 8 seconds, Fanaticism is automatic. It is this that allows the Pally to "flash"his auras and can have with some very quick key work, three going at once.
What I do is have Conviction as my default aura, especially in Hell mode. I then as I approach a pack of monsters and see that the "green" color is taking I switch to Holy Freeze, once that takes I finsih them with Fanaticism. You can vary this depending on the mode you are in whether it be normal, nm or hell. Some times in normal and nm I leave HF as the default and only flash Fanaticism, other times just Fanaticism. It really depends on the diffuculty you are in and the monsters you face, that determines the best of the "big three" auras to use, Conviction, Holy Freeze and Fanaticism.
This is a very personal choice but I will list the main ones I use and that make flashing much easier, just make sure and use the same keys for the same skill all the time.
Always keep your Pally at full heath, don't let it drop or walk around with it down, you just might need those 100 heath points you are down to stay alive. I usually carry a few red pots when kicking barrels, taking arty fire in the River Of Flame etc., just to keep my health at max at all times.
Most know how to deal with them, the TP and purples in the corner by the edge trick, there is also a good way to use your auras to hold them off andto come out alive from what is a very tough fight.
I always first activate Holy Shield, the run to the altar in a straight line from Korlics statue. Before the altar is activated I instantly active Holy Freeze, hit the altar and run back to where Korlic comes alive and start the beating. Once the HF takes on all three I switch to Conviction, and if needed flash Fanaticism. The Holy Freeze is a huge, huge help in slowing them all down, giving me and my merc enough time to get soe good licks in. Once Lorlic is dead (also your merc will be also) it is much easier to handle the other two.
Not much to say here most of you know already how to outfit a merc, plenty of life steal and hopefully some cold damage.
It comes in very handy both in the beginning of the game (no repair costs, less character damage, if you are fast) and also all the way thru the Bow has proved to be a valuable addition.
A few uses come to mind:
This is just one of the many variants of Paladin builds that are possible, it is not foolproof and isn't all that different from some of the builds already being used. It is however a great way to make a Paladin that can handle the toughest mobs, and still stay alive. I have now taken three Tankadins thru the complete game in single player, without a death, so it is possible with the right skills and equipment, as mentioned above, for you to do the same. Also a little luck never hurts either.