PvM Shockadin

[mocaw]

This is a character based off of Holy Shock and the impressive damage it does with total crap gear. The character in rares with no + skills can easily do 4000 damage a hit with zeal. With quality gear that number quickly approached 8-9k per hit.

However, in pvp I have found this build to be ineffective against players that have high resistances and/or lightning absorb, so this character I strictly suggest to starting out players without a large budget.

Stats: (no real surprises here)
Strength- As high as needed for gear, my guys is around 160 base.
Dex- Same deal as strength
Vitality- All points go here not needed for gear.
Energy- none

Explanation
Strength- As a shockadin, your primary source of damage is lightning, as such, increased strength does not increase lightning damage, and is pretty useless. Thus it is not a stat you should drop a lot of points in.

Dexterity- This may be a little different, in that as a shockadin your minimum and maximum damage disparity is huge (holy shock is always 1-x) so you want as many hits in as little span of time as possible. Additionally, block is important, so consider a few points in this stat if you have issues with beating the crap out of stuff.

Vitality- Same reason as everyone else, vitality is a crucial stat.

Energy- Zeal at level 20 has a 1 point mana cost, and if you have any leech gear it will always be up. Not to mention most practically regenerate mana faster than you'd use it. Zero points.

Skills-
20 Lightning Resist Aura
20 Salvation
20 Holy Shock
20 Zeal
20 Sacrifice

Explanation-
No surprises here, just putting points into key talents and their synergies. If you would like to expand, the best skill to not put points in would be sacrifice, because the damage gain from that, although helpful, is nowhere near as valuable as the other skills.

Gear suggestions-
Well, as stated earlier, this character is my personal favorite as a starting character because even with worthless gear they can kill things even in hell difficulty.

If I had to say though, any items that provide faster attack speed, + skills, and life leech are your friend. I personally use Harlequin Crest Enigma and Exile, since this guy is now my mfer, but really, you could be naked with this build and still perform well.

Just a measly strategy that I'd throw out there, not as well organized as the stickies, but I figured since I hadn't seen this build suggested I'd throw it out there.

Additional notes- (Credit to NV)
For more defense, skip sacrifice and max holy shield, and leave 5 in zeal for the 5 hits. This would help with survival. (actual post directly below)

[N V]

just one thing i thought of mentioning is since most of (if not all) your damage is lightning, putting just enough points in zeal to get 5 hits and skip sacrifice alltogether would be better. i woud max holy shield instead for better defense and block which will help you survive, and place rest of whatever points you have in zeal if you need the ar. getting angelics ring/amu and hsarus boots/belt for a nice ar boost shouldnt be difficult even for new players without any equip at all.

[mocaw]

just one thing i thought of mentioning is since most of (if not all) your damage is lightning, putting just enough points in zeal to get 5 hits and skip sacrifice alltogether would be better. i woud max holy shield instead for better defense and block which will help you survive, and place rest of whatever points you have in zeal if you need the ar. getting angelics ring/amu and hsarus boots/belt for a nice ar boost shouldnt be difficult even for new players without any equip at all.

Great points, and I'll add it to the post. In my defense about zeal though, is that with lightning being such a large range(from min to max damage), I suggested it to help mitigate the miserably low minimum damage in comparison to the tremendous max damage. Not to mention in hell, lightning immunes will suck.

[Zarley]

I'd recommend maxing Holy Shield and Fanaticism over Zeal or Sacrifice. HS + Fanat lets you have a secondary physical damage Smite attack (or even Zeal w/ Fanat). It makes you much more versatile in Hell, and maxed HS is also great for defense.. a big plus for a melee build that doesn't leech well.