How the engine works
You take the Disciple oath and cast Arbiter of Justice to enter Arbiter form. In that form your Evade becomes Arbiter's Evade, and the unique ring Argent Veil makes it fire an equipped Core skill for every 2 metres you travel. Blessed Hammer is the only Core skill on the bar, so every dash throws hammers, and with the Disciple's Halo upgrade those hammers follow and orbit you. You spam the evade through packs and hold Blessed Hammer as well for more damage. Everything else on the bar keeps Arbiter form up, makes enemies Vulnerable and keeps you alive.
Who it's for
Players who want a quick, low-effort farmer that works on a controller. It is at its best speed-clearing easy content and Infernal Hordes, and it carries from Torment 1 upwards.
- Rating
- S to B-Tier
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Key stat
- Cooldown Reduction
- Must have
- Argent Veil ring, with evade-cooldown boots
The bar
One damage skill, an Ultimate that must never drop, three auras and a leap. Every aura has an always-on passive and an active you press on its cooldown. All 83 points go into these six skills and their upgrades.
Rank 15 with Cast Speed (+15% cast speed, hammers travel 25% faster), Disciple's Halo (it becomes a Disciple skill, follows and orbits you, and attacks 20% faster) and Damage Bonus (+5% per hit, up to 5 times, for 3 seconds). Argent Veil casts it for you as you dash. Hold it as well.
Hold — constantlyRank 13 with Cooldown Reduction (20 seconds off), Duration (+10 seconds) and Seraph's Wings (Wing Strikes deal 200% more damage and apply Vulnerable). Your Ultimate, and the way into Arbiter form. Recast it as it is about to come off cooldown so you keep your stacks.
Keep it upRank 15. Passive: spending Faith gives stacking attack speed and critical strike chance, 14% crit at this rank. Take Rite of Humility so the active makes nearby enemies Vulnerable.
Press — on cooldownRank 15 with Rite of Prayer, which heals and grants Resolve. Passive armour and all resistances. The active makes you Unstoppable for 2 seconds, so press it when you get stunned, or simply whenever it is ready.
Press — when stunnedRank 8 with Rite of Mercy for Fortify. A bit of extra healing on a build with low Life regeneration.
Press — when neededOne point. A leap for crossing gaps, and as a Disciple skill with a cooldown it refreshes Arbiter form. Cast it on cooldown to build Aspect of Ascension stacks quickly.
Press — on cooldownPassives
There is no Key Passive here and no passive points are spent. All 83 points, 69 from levels and 14 from Season Rank, go into the six skills above and their upgrades. There are two other ways to fill the last slots. Rally in place of Falling Star refills Faith on demand, if your cooldowns already keep Arbiter form up without the leap. Aegis at about rank 4 in place of Holy Light Aura adds roughly 35 to 38% block chance, which is the easy way to reach the block cap.
Oath
Take the Disciple oath. Whenever you cast a Disciple skill that has a cooldown you enter Arbiter form for 4.5 seconds, and while you are in the form your Disciple skills deal 100% increased damage. Your Wing Strikes gain Disciple skill benefits too. Blessed Hammer only counts as a Disciple skill because of its Disciple's Halo upgrade, so never skip that node. The whole build is about staying in Arbiter form: Arbiter of Justice starts it, Falling Star tops it up, and cooldown reduction plus Arbiter Duration close any gap.
| Pick | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| Disciple oath | Casting a Disciple skill with a cooldown puts you in Arbiter form for 4.5 seconds. Disciple skills deal 100% increased damage while you are in it. |
| Arbiter's Evade | Replaces Evade while you are in Arbiter form. With Argent Veil it throws a Blessed Hammer for every 2 metres travelled. |
| Disciple's Halo | The Blessed Hammer upgrade that makes it a Disciple skill, so the oath and Aspect of Lagera's Sovereignty apply to it. |
| Seraph's Wings | Arbiter of Justice upgrade. Wing Strikes deal 200% more damage and apply Vulnerable. |
What to wear
A one-handed mace and a shield. Two uniques define the build, Herald's Morningstar for damage and Argent Veil for the evade play, and you chase them in that order. Both can be made by upgrading common maces and rings in the Horadric Cube.
Uniques
| Item | What it does | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Herald's Morningstar | One-handed mace. Blessed Hammer deals 100 to 130% more damage, a Lucky Hit of up to 20% spawns a base Blessed Hammer on the target, and it adds ranks to Blessed Hammer. The core of any Blessed Hammer build, so get it first. Urivar drops it. | Core |
| Argent Veil | Ring. Arbiter's Evade triggers an equipped Core skill for every 2 metres travelled, and Core skills deal 5 to 15% more damage during the evade and for 4 seconds after. It also rolls ranks to Core skills. This is what turns hand-cast hammers into the evade build. Andariel drops it. | Core |
| Herald of Zakarum | Shield. Percentage Strength, resistance, armour and Retribution chance, with 40% block. Almost as good as an offensive aspect and a large defensive gain, but the build works without it. | Recommended |
| Leoric's Crown | Helm. It counts as jewellery, so its sockets take Soul Splinters, and it increases the effect of whatever is socketed in it. It also has attack speed. First choice to upgrade into a Mythic in the Cube. Until you have one, Crown of Lucion works, but only alongside Ring of Starless Skies. | Recommended |
| Squirt's Blouse | Chest. While you are not taking damage you deal up to 30 to 50% more damage, and the bonus resets when you lose Life. Strong here because Barrier absorbs the hits. | Recommended |
| Temerity | Pants. Overhealing becomes Barrier, and the build makes a very large amount of it. That Barrier is what keeps Squirt's Blouse active. | Optional |
| Ring of Starless Skies | Ring. Spending Faith lowers your skill costs and raises your damage, stacking 5 times. It smooths Faith costs and adds a decent multiplier. | Mythic |
| Griswold's Opus | Unique charm for the sixth talisman slot. Critical strike damage stacks for each enemy you hit, with a double-damage Lucky Hit at full stacks. | Charm |
Before they drop
Before Argent Veil you cast Blessed Hammer by hand, and that is a perfectly good build. Wear a legendary one-handed weapon with Aspect of Lagera's Sovereignty, a legendary shield and ring, and run Aegis in place of Holy Light Aura, pressed on cooldown for block. Useful legendary aspects at this stage are Layered Wards, Spiked Armor, Bulwark's, Utmost Glory, Holy Punishment, Disciple, Ascension, Celestial Strife and Virtuous, which pays off as long as you use Falling Star often. Spending Obols at 70 gives 850 item power gear.
Legendary aspects
| Aspect | What it does for you |
|---|---|
| Aspect of the Arbiter's Zephyr | Boots. Arbiter's Evade cooldown is reduced by 1 to 3 seconds. Mandatory for the evade play, together with the boots affix "Attacks Reduce Evade's Cooldown". |
| Aspect of Ascension | Casting a skill that grants Arbiter form gives 5 to 7% more damage, up to 10 stacks, all lost when you leave the form. Falling Star on cooldown stacks it quickly. |
| Aspect of Celestial Strife | In Arbiter form each kill adds 1 to 1.5% Vulnerable damage, up to 50 to 75%. It is fully stacked after about 50 kills. |
| Aspect of Lagera's Sovereignty | Disciple skills deal 40 to 60% more damage. It applies to Blessed Hammer because of Disciple's Halo. |
| Aspect of Holy Punishment | Holy and Fire damage increased by 40 to 60%. Blessed Hammer is Holy damage. |
| Aspect of Utmost Glory | 20 to 35% more damage while Healthy, doubled against Weakened enemies. Pair it with Aspect of the Disciple. |
| Aspect of the Disciple | Amulet. Disciple skills Weaken enemies for 8 seconds, and you take less damage from Weakened enemies. It switches on the doubled half of Utmost Glory. |
| Aspect of Redirected Force | Critical strike damage equal to a share of your block chance, doubled for 10 seconds after you block. At 100% block and 100% crit it is close to a 180% multiplier, so add it once both are capped. |
The ring alone is not enough
Argent Veil only works if you can evade constantly. You need Aspect of the Arbiter's Zephyr on your boots and the boots affix "Attacks Reduce Evade's Cooldown by # Seconds". Without both, the evade sits on cooldown and the hammers stop. Until you have them, hold Blessed Hammer and play it as a caster.
Stats, gems and paragon
Roll and masterwork toward these, in this order.
| # | Stat | Where you roll it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Attacks Reduce Evade's Cooldown | Boots. Mandatory for the evade play |
| 2 | Cooldown Reduction | Helm, gloves, shield, amulet and rings. Temper it on rings |
| 3 | Strength | Every slot |
| 4 | Critical Strike Chance | Gloves, amulet, rings. Temper on weapon and shield |
| 5 | Block Chance | Tempers on helm, chest and pants, plus paragon |
| 6 | Critical Strike Damage | Rings, weapon. Temper on gloves |
| 7 | Movement Speed | Boots and amulet |
| 8 | Armour, Maximum Life, All Resistance | Helm, chest, pants and boots |
Hard targets
Two caps. Block chance: 100%. Aim for 62 to 66% from gear and paragon and let Aegis supply the rest, or reach the full 100% from the Castle board (9%), the Beacon board (11%), the Shield Bearer board, Bulwark's Aspect (15%) and block tempers if you keep Holy Light Aura instead. Aegis gives 42% at rank 15. Critical strike chance: 100%, then put everything into critical strike damage. Beyond those, never let Arbiter of Justice run out: if it does, add cooldown reduction and Arbiter Duration until it doesn't.
Tempering & masterworking
Temper Block Chance on helm, chest and pants, Critical Strike Chance on weapon and shield, Cooldown Reduction on rings, Critical Strike Damage on gloves, Movement Speed on boots and Lucky Hit: Chance to Restore Primary Resource on the amulet. That last temper on jewellery fixes most Faith problems. While Arbiter form still drops, temper Arbiter Duration on gloves, boots or shield instead. A defensive alternative for the armour slots is +2 to 3 Maximum Resolve stacks, and damage while in Arbiter form is a good jewellery temper. Masterwork critical strike damage. For Transfigurations look for Holy damage, Strength, skill ranks and all stats.
Gems, runewords & Splinters
- Gems: Grand Ruby in the weapon for Holy damage and in armour for Strength. In any jewellery socket not holding a Soul Splinter, Grand Diamond is the defensive choice and a mix of Ruby, Emerald and Topaz is the damage choice.
- Runewords: Igni + Gar and Cir + Lac for the finished build. Earlier, Cir + Qua and Cem + Gar, then Cir + Lac and Poc + Gar. Bac + Ohm in the helm with Cir + Gar in the chest is a sound alternative, as is Igni + Mot with Cir + Que.
- Soul Splinters with Leoric's Crown: put Anguish (+35% critical strike chance and attack speed, skills cost 30% more) and Pain (40% damage reduction, 30% less movement speed) in the crown, where they are boosted. Then Sin, Black Soulstone and Mother in your jewellery. Avoid Hellfire.
- Soul Splinters without the crown: Black Soulstone first (+5% damage per soul for 15 seconds, and 0.5% more damage taken for each), then Pain, Anguish, Sin and Mother. For pure speed farming, Lies and Skarn are the swaps.
- Talisman: a legendary seal with +1 charm slot and the five-piece Light's Epiphany set. Two pieces make Disciple skills cut Arbiter of Justice's cooldown as they deal damage. Three give +30% maximum Life and +10% movement speed in Arbiter form. Five make Arbiter of Justice unleash every Ultimate and add 500% Disciple damage for its duration. Look for +3 ranks to Disciple skills on every charm, and critical strike damage, critical strike chance, Strength and cooldown reduction on the seal.
Paragon
Five boards in this order: Start, Shield Bearer, Castle, Relentless, Beacon. On each board rush the legendary node, then the glyph socket, then fill in armour, block chance and damage nodes. Castle turns stacked armour into a large damage multiplier, and Shield Bearer is worth about a 110% multiplier at 100% block, which is why block is a damage stat here. Below 200 paragon points take the rush path that grabs legendary nodes first, then respec into the full layout. Level glyphs in the order Apostle, Spirit, Exploit, Canny, Arbiter. Get each to 50 for its legendary bonus, then work towards 100 and finally 150.
| Glyph | Where and why |
|---|---|
| Spirit | Start board. Use Challenger here at first, until Spirit is levelled. |
| Apostle | Shield Bearer board. Level it first. |
| Arbiter | Castle board. Last in the levelling order. |
| Exploit | Relentless board. Works with the Vulnerable from Fanaticism Aura's Rite of Humility. |
| Canny | Beacon board. |
Mercenary
Hire Raheir with Ground Slam, Raheir's Aegis, Bastion and Inspiration, and set Aldkin as reinforcement with Field of Languish. There are two other ways to run this. Varyana as reinforcement with Bloodthirst, triggered on skill cast, trades Aldkin's debuff for attack speed. Subo hired in place of Raheir, still with Aldkin reinforcing, is the third option.
From fresh 70 to finished
The build works from the first hour at 70 as a hand-cast Hammerdin. The evade play switches on later, when three specific pieces are in place.
Bar: Blessed Hammer, Arbiter of Justice at rank 15, Fanaticism Aura, Defiance Aura, Falling Star and Aegis at rank 5, pressed on cooldown for block. All legendary gear, with Lagera's Sovereignty on the weapon. Hold Blessed Hammer and keep Arbiter form up. Spend Obols for 850 item power gear and complete Pit Tier 10 for Torment 1.
The biggest single jump in damage. Farm Urivar for it, or upgrade common maces in the Horadric Cube. Below 200 paragon points, follow the rush path to the legendary nodes.
Farm Andariel for the ring or upgrade common rings in the Cube. Put Aspect of the Arbiter's Zephyr on boots that roll "Attacks Reduce Evade's Cooldown". Now you spam Arbiter's Evade and the hammers cast themselves. Swap Aegis out for Holy Light Aura if your block holds without it.
Add Herald of Zakarum, Squirt's Blouse and Temerity, and socket Anguish and Pain into Leoric's Crown. Crown of Lucion from Astaroth fills the helm until then, if you have Ring of Starless Skies. Respec paragon into the full five-board layout and push block and crit towards 100%.
Upgrade Leoric's Crown to a Mythic in the Cube first. Add Ring of Starless Skies, Griswold's Opus in the sixth charm slot and all five pieces of Light's Epiphany. Once block and crit are capped, fit Aspect of Redirected Force. Take glyphs to 100, then 150. Harlequin Crest is the helm to fall back on if Faith or cooldowns are still a problem.
The rotation
Cast Arbiter of Justice. Recast it as it is about to come back so the form never ends and your Ascension and Celestial Strife stacks survive.
Spam Arbiter's Evade. Every 2 metres throws a Blessed Hammer. Binding Evade to the scroll wheel makes this easier on a mouse.
Hold it down while you dash. The hand-cast hammers add to the ones the ring makes.
Press the active on cooldown to keep enemies Vulnerable.
Leap on cooldown to stack Ascension, cross gaps and top up Arbiter form.
Defiance Aura when you are stunned or frozen, since the active makes you Unstoppable. Holy Light Aura for the heal and Fortify.
On bosses
Stay close and cast Blessed Hammer by hand around the boss, keep Fanaticism Aura's Vulnerable applied and keep Arbiter of Justice up. For pushing, swap Falling Star for Consecration and fight inside it for the extra healing and damage.
Strengths, weaknesses, mistakes
What it's good at
- Very fast clear. Hammers cast themselves while you move, so you never stop to attack.
- Strong area damage with good single target once you hand-cast as well.
- Easy to play and comfortable on a controller.
- Works with no uniques at all as a hand-cast build, so there is never a dead period after 70.
- Auras and a shield give it real defensive utility.
Where it struggles
- The evade version needs Argent Veil, the Zephyr aspect and one specific boots affix before it works.
- Close range. The hammers orbit you, so you are always inside the pack.
- Reliant on Barrier, with low Life regeneration underneath it.
- You are always moving. There is no standing still and casting.
- Best at speed-clearing easier content.
Mistakes that ruin it
- Letting Arbiter form drop. You lose Ascension and Celestial Strife stacks and the evade stops throwing hammers. Add cooldown reduction and Arbiter Duration until it is permanent.
- Skipping Disciple's Halo. Without it Blessed Hammer is not a Disciple skill, so the oath's damage bonus and Lagera's Sovereignty do nothing for it.
- Wearing Argent Veil without the boots. No Zephyr aspect and no evade-cooldown affix means no evade spam. Play it hand-cast until you have both.
- Chasing Argent Veil before Herald's Morningstar. The mace is the bigger damage gain and comes first.
- Treating auras as switch-on-and-forget. The passives are always on, but the actives give you Vulnerable, Unstoppable and healing. Press them.
- Ignoring block. Shield Bearer and Redirected Force turn block chance into damage. Stopping short of 100% costs you both defence and damage.
Not for you? The other Paladin builds: Auradin · Shield of Retribution.