In this D2R 2.4 new build guide, we're going to look at Trogdor - the holy fire paladin that has become the most overpowered build in Diablo 2 Resurrected Patch 2.4 PTR! We will break down why he is the template for a broken build and how to rebuild it in 2.4.
Diablo 2 Resurrected 2.4 Holy Fire Paladin Build Changes & Pros
Before we get to his proper build, it's worth noting Trogdor is a bit of a special case, because it is a post-game build with extremely expensive equipment and somewhat niche use.
With the changes to holy fire, holy fire paladin does enter the realm of being overpowered in certain areas, though this is at the cost of three surrounds, three low Diablo 2 ladder runes, a cham, a pole and a vex which most players will tell you is not a cheap setup. That's because the uniques and rares pack in the other slots, the mercenary equipment, or even the charms in fact even with modern rune drops, this will take you at the bare minimum several months of dedicated farming if you're lucky and several years if you're unlucky. So for most people, it's only in reach via trading which will also be expensive and time-consuming unless you have access to people funneling your Diablo 2 items.
So since we've seen the melting at the top end let's throw in comparison real quick of a self-cast holy fire paladin. For comparison, we just threw plus 23 holy fire on, invested fully in holy fire and its synergies which just puts us one level lower than Trogdor's setup. This is within reach of a more normal mid to high-budget process game paladin. Thanks to the affordability of skill charms and lower-end plus skill sources, assuming you've gotten far enough to get yourself a low Torch and Annihilus and a couple of skill items around the board, and just splurged a bit on the pole and vex for a Flickering Flame helm. So it's not super budget but it is affordable.
Annihilus
Required Level: 701 To All Skills
10-20 To All Attributes (varies)
All Resistances 10-20 (varies)
5-10% To Experience Gained (varies)
[18-20 ATTR & 18-20 RES]
(Only Spawns In Patch 1.10 or later)
D2R 2.4 Holy Fire Paladin Build Skill Setting
Go with 20 fire resist and 20 salvation to synergize with holy fire to make it actually deal damage which puts it at base damage of about twice what it was in 2.3, though with scaling that puts it at four times when the enemies point blank with you which makes it a solid match for level 30 holy shock with teslan runs. The other skills we invest in are 20 in Conviction for the resist reduction and then the remainder into Zeal, Sacrifice and Holy Shield depending on preference. You can set on 20 to Sacrifice, 1 to Zeal, and the rest into holy shield just to make max block easier, and the duration longer and since you don't need a massive attack rating boost on zeal thanks to conviction, you can opt for the sacrifice damage source.
Best Skill Set Recommend For The Build
20 Points to Resist Fire
20 Points to Salvation
20 Points to Conviction
20 Points to Sacrifice
1 Point to Zeal
Rest Points to Holy Shield
D2R 2.4 Holy Fire Paladin Equipment
Let's take a look at the gear you need to reproduce this well-broken build and why it works that way since there are three major factors at play here and removing even one of them drastically changes how strong the build is.
1. The first factor 1 is the equipment-based holy fire - Through the use of the Dragon armor and Dragon shield taking Sur, Lo, and Sol runes, as well as the use of the Hand of Justice* which itself takes Sur, Cham, Am, and Lo. By stacking these three items, you get a level 44 holy fire active on your character without taking up your active aura slot, meaning you can use any additional aura you want and this level 44 holy fire synergizes with your resist fire and salvation hardpoints allowing you to bump it up into high values.
2. The second factor is how this holy fire scales - Dealing double damage next to your character and base damage at the skill's range limit. This means the range limit is vitally important since the radius is about the same as the full vertical length of the screen meaning you're hitting about a half screen's worth of stuff you can't see and it's scaling based on this distance and meaning the things you can see approaching from above or below you or an equal distance from the sides you're already halfway into the damage scaling effect of the double damage. With things completely off-screen, just taking the base damage.
3. The third factor is that conviction aura we have going on - The conviction aura has a 13.3-yard range which is just a little smaller than the normal vertical screen space and in lord of Destruction makes a nice ellipse that approaches but doesn't touch the end of the screen. The reason this is so important is with minus 150 resist which we have here with our max level conviction on top of a bit over minus 30 percent fire resist from Hand of Justice* and the Flickering Flame rune word, we are flooring every enemy with less than 80 fire resist down to negative 100. This means we are doubling our already doubled short-range damage.
Without all three of these factors, the build slows down drastically, so nerfing holy fire itself may not be the right answer to fixing this fringe case, instead, our recommendation to Blizzard is to make the item-based holy elemental auras, only scale the damage when they are your active auras as opposed to equipment cast auras, this alone would knock the damage down drastically but not so far that it would be useless and would still preserve the synergy bump and in turn the utility of the build to be a bit longer range but back to lower damage competitor to the cheaper holy shock tesla variant. There are two ways they could approach this technology too and that is either taking the equipment auras a unique special skill like the hellfire's firestorm, or the balrog infernos that you get roasted by left and right, where it shares the screen name but not all of the functionality and just adds the synergies to its template to make it kind of function similar. Or they could introduce a flag that checks if it's the active aura versus equipment aura and just has it only do the double damage as things get close if it is the active aura.
Best Gears Recommend For The Build
Weapon: Hand of Justice* Phase Blade
Hand of Justice*
100% Chance To Cast Level 36 Blaze When You Level-Up
100% Chance To Cast Level 48 Meteor When You Die
Level 16 Holy Fire Aura When Equipped
+33% Increased Attack Speed
+280-330% Enhanced Damage (varies)
Ignore Target's Defense
7% Life Stolen Per Hit
-20% To Enemy Fire Resistance
20% Deadly Strike
Hit Blinds Target
Freezes Target +3Swap Weapon: Call To Arms* Crystal Sword
Crystal Sword[4 Sockets & 10-14ED]
Sale [4 Sockets]
Sale [10-14 EDmg]Crystal Sword
1H damage: 5-15
Base speed: [0]
Class speed: Ama, Asn, B, D, P, N - Fast
S - Normal
Adds range: 1
Durability: 20
Req Strength: 43
Quality level: 11
Treasure class: 12
Max sockets: 6
Call To Arms*
+1 To All Skills
+40% Increased Attack Speed
+250-290% Enhanced Damage (varies)
Adds 5-30 Fire Damage
7% Life Stolen Per Hit
+2-6 To Battle Command (varies)*
+1-6 To Battle Orders (varies)*
+1-4 To Battle Cry (varies)*
Prevent Monster Heal
Replenish Life +12
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic ItemsSheild: Dragon Vortex Shield
Vortex Shield[4 Sockets & ETH & 40-44 Res
Sale [4 Sockets]
Sale [ETH]
Sale [+40-44 Res]Vortex Shield
Defense: 182-225
Durability: 90
Req Strength: 148
Req level: 66
Quality level: 85
Treasure class: 87
Max sockets: 4
Weight: Light
Base block: 19
Class block: P: 49%
Paladin smite dmg: 5-87
Dragon
20% Chance to Cast Level 18 Venom When Struck
12% Chance To Cast Level 15 Hydra On Striking
Level 14 Holy Fire Aura When Equipped
+360 Defense
+230 Defense Vs. Missile
+3-5 To All Attributes (varies)
+0.375-37.125 To Strength (Based on Character Level)
Increase Maximum Mana 5% (Armor Only)
+50 To Mana (Shields Only)
+5% To Maximum Lightning Resist
Damage Reduced by 7Helm: Flickering Flame Death Mask
Armor: Dragon Wire Fleece
Amulet: Highlord's Wrath
Highlord's Wrath
Required Level: 65
+1 To All Skills
+20% Increased Attack Speed
+ (0.375 Per Character Level) 0-37 % Deadly Strike (Based On Character Level)
Lightning Resist +35%
Adds 1-30 Lightning Damage
Attacker Takes Lightning Damage Of 15
(Only Spawns In Patch 1.09 or later)Rings: Doom Loop, Raven Frost
Gloves: Lava Gout
Boosts: War Traveler
- Defense: 120-139 (varies)(Base Defense: 39-47)
Required Level: 42
Required Strength: 95
Durability: 48
Assassin Kick Damage: 37-64
+150-190% Enhanced Defense (varies)
25% Faster Run/Walk
+10 To Vitality
+10 To Strength
Adds 15-25 Damage
40% Slower Stamina Drain
Attacker Takes Damage Of 5-10 (varies)
30-50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (varies)
Sale [50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (varies)]
(Only Spawns In Patch 1.09 or later) Belt: String of Ears
String of Ears
Defense: 102-113 (varies)(Base Defense: 29-34)
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 20
Durability: 22
16 Boxes
+150-180% Enhanced Defense (varies)
+15 Defense
6-8% Life Stolen Per Hit (varies)
Damage Reduced By 10-15% (varies)
Magic Damage Reduced 10-15 (varies)
(Only Spawns In Patch 1.09 or later)Charms: Hellfire Torch, Annihiluys Small Charm, Charms with damage and attack rating or cold damage to extend chill
Hellfire Torch(Paladin)
Required Level: 75
5% Chance To Cast level 10 Firestorm* On Striking
3 to Random Character Class Skills (varies)
10-20 To All Attributes (varies)
All Resistances 10-20 (varies)
8 To Light Radius
Level 30 Hydra (10 charges)
(Only Spawns In Patch 1.13 or later)
Mercenary Gears
One major thing different from other player builds is the use of the barbarian mercenary for this build, he's packing Guardian Angel and Vampire Gaze with an Um rune in the armor and a scintillating duel of fervor in the helmet for resistance attack speed, but more importantly he's using the Plague runeword on weapon, he actually gets double damage from this weapon because it's a one-hander. So his display is still suffering from a severe case of lcs but what we use him for and Plague is the 20 cast of lore resist when struck, and while his aggressive AI combined with the tankiness above and beyond other mercenaries. This works out exceptionally well with battlecry his durability significantly even more by nerfing melee enemies that attack him, while laura resists dumps the resist of enemies that don't get close enough to him for him to hit with that, meaning everything that's not immune is going to take double damage and you can also make it.
Best Mercenary Equipment For The Build
Weapon: Plague Cryptic Sword
Helm: Vampire Gaze with Scintillating Duel of Fervor
Armor: Guardian Angel with Um Rune
Overall, this build is overpowered as hell but if you step it back like we recommend, you will fall more in line with the rest of the builds while still not making its outrageous price of entry a complete waste, so instead of breaking everything we could make it basically be just a true late game strong hell build.