Looking for a Sun Paladin - 2h guide.

[Zanatar]

Seems alot of guides are missing for many of the classes. Not to mention alot of those we do have are outdated for ver 1.1.5 . Would love see more guides in general made , especially for 1.2.3 .

Perhaps I won't ask anyone to MAKE a guide now for my thread but I am a bit unclear as to what talents to concentrate on early on , with a Sun Paladin 2h d'er. I don't want to go sword and board, simply because I just played a Bulwark. Want to try 2h sun paly next.

1) Recommended race? I haven't unlocked everything yet.. I was however simply thinking of going Cornac.

2) Where to put my cat points .. especially if I do end up going Cornac.. as I'll have the extra one. Also the future cat points. (Two probably reserved for Inscriptions). Guessing I should put my first one into Combat/Crusader.. given I`m going 2h'der. But is that best place to put that first cat point? Would love advice on best use of Cat points for this char.

3) Would love a small guide just for first 10 levels.. as to what abilities to grab first etc.

Thanks.

[The Revanchist]

I've heard great things about Skeleton Pallies, and even more so for Ghouls... But those aren't "standard", and you might not have them yet...

Another saying is "You can never go wrong with Thalore". With a Cornac, though, you might just be too spread out in the early levels. And you'll have no spiffy racials.

[Razakai]

1) Shalore is very strong. Grace+Suncloak+Providence+Timeless gives a near permanent uptime on those effects. Plus the crit passive, when combined with the other 2 crit passives 2h SPs get gives you something like 30% base crit before gear. Goes well with the damage boost/lightburn on hit talent.

2) I used to get a 4th infusion slot with my first point. Playing on Nightmare, being able to run another movement or teleport rune got me out of a lot of bad situations. However I've started going Crusader first. Absorption Strike hits incredibly hard, and the debuff is useful. However you tend to be very point starved early on, so I don't think there's a bad choice either way. Either take Crusader for increased damage and early access Righteous Strength, or a 4th infusion so you can invest more points into Combat/2h skills.

3) Get 3 points in Sun Ray right away for the blind. 2 points into Path of the Sun to get it to 8(?) range, as it doesn't improve much beyond 2/5. You want at least 1 point in the other talents, although ignore Combat Veteran. A lot of the Sun/Combat talents get much stronger with a 2nd point, in particular Wave of Power and Weapon of Wrath. Generally at 10 my points would look something like:

Sun: 3/2/2/0
Combat: 1/2/2/0
Two-Hand Assault: 1/1/1/0
Crusader: 1/0/0/0

Generics would just be the usual stuff, get everything in Light, Weapon Mastery/Accuracy/Armor Training, and I generally prefer to just use Chant of Fortitude. The hp boost is pretty nice and synergises with Weapon of Wrath, but some people prefer Resistance.

Although I'd probably end up shifting a few more points into 2h Assault as having 3/5 Death Dance and Stunning Blow is pretty useful. From there you can improve Crusader, get Second Life and continue developing the existing talents.

[Zanatar]

Thank you so much.. This is exactly what I needed!

[Zanatar]

I do have another quick follow up question.. actually less a follow up more just your opinion..

How different are sword and shield Sun Paly's in comparison to Bulwark's? I have just finished playing as a Bulwark. Very fun.. Enjoyed it.. however I do want to move away from playing another shield character so soon. Which is why I'm discussing 2h Paly's here.. but part of me also does want to play a sword and Shield Paly, as I have the Dawn's Blade / Unsetting Sun sword and shield set. Have it in the Vault. Almost a waste not to use it.

Is the feel of a Sword and Shield Paly much different , then a Bulwark? Will it feel like Im playing the same character again?

Granted , I also have Champion's Will 2hder for 2h Paly too.

[DaveStall]

I actually just recently finished (and won) with both a Bulwark and a sword and board Sun Paladin. Many of the important skills (namely shield offense) are the same, so up close combat can feel similar. However, the Sun Paladin was much, much more fun to play because of the celestial talents. Having access to the Celestial / Light tree for generics as well as all of the really cool Celestial class trees makes the build play much differently as far as mobility, ranged attacks, and general combat management are concerned. A well spec'd SP can tank like nobody's business. I think the two classes play differently enough to warrant playthroughs. My character was a dwarf if that helps, and it was one of my most fun runs, maybe only just behind Anorithil and a couple of Archmage builds.

Now that you have brought up the idea of a 2H build I think I might give it a shot myself.