This is a variety of Paladin I've been meaning to experiment with for a while, and only just got around to. There are a few things of note about the Punchadin. First, there are two different builds for the Punchadin. One uses Holy Shock, the other uses Fanaticism. Second, you are, obviously, very equipment dependant if you're using the Fanaticism build. Third, you're almost unplayable between the levels of 12 and 24. This is not a build for the non-patient. Pretty much the only use for this character is bare knuckle duelling.
As will be the case for all my guides, I think it's more fun to play a character than watch him level as you pick your nose, so I will not be saying the best places to camp in section 5. If you don't enjoy playing a character and only want to get them to high levels, then why are you reading about a Punchadin?
This is the first mathematical and technical part of this guide, so if you don't want to read it then skip right to Skills. The second part is right at the end, when I calculate projected damage results with a finished character. I feel it is important to know damage calculation in order to understand why minimum damage is so much better than maximum or elemental damage, which is why I've included this here.
When calculating physical damage, the last thing which gets added in is minimum damage. For example, you punch naturally at 1-2 damage. If you're wearing Bloodfist, a +1 maximum damage amulet, and two +2 minimum damage rings, here is your damage calculation: 1-2 +1 max from the amulet is 1-3, +9 minimum from the other items gives 10-11. Without the amulet you still get the 10-11, so + maximum damage is useless to a Punchadin once you have + minimum damage.
Elemental damage is calculated before maximum damage is added in. So if you replace the +1 maximum damage amulet with a Nokozan Relic, adding 3-6 fire damage, and replace one of the rings with +1 max instead of +1 min, here is the new calculation: 1-2 + 3-6 fire gives 4-8, +1 maximum gives 4-9, +7 minimum gives 11-12. You will notice that despite having +6 max fire damage and +1 max damage, this is only one damage higher than the first calculation. Substituting out the +1 maximum damage ring for +2 min ring again, it yeilds 13-14, now three higher.
If we removed the 3-6 fire damage, we would be getting 10-8 damage. This would normally defy the laws of mathematics, since the minimum damage is higher than the maximum damage, but since the fire damage is in fact added first, it all works out. What this really means is if you roll 10 on your physical damage, you can get 3 or 4 fire damage out of the Nokozan Relic. If you roll 9 on physical, you can get 3-5, and with a roll of 8 you can get the full 3-6.
For calculating in enhanced damage, here's how it works: Let's assume we're wearing Biggin's Bonnet for +30% damage, with level 1 Might for another +40, that's 70% enhanced damage. The game then multiplies all physical damage by 1.7 before adding it. A simple explanation with the numbers above give 10 minimum physical damage multiplied by 1.7 for 17. Adding 17 minimum damage to the 3-6 of the Nokozan Relic we get 20-21 damage, 17-15 of which is physical. This is not skewed by the 1-2 starting damage of a punch because elemental damage gets added first, then the 2 max, then the 1 min, then the other minimum damage.
How does this work at higher levels? Let's suppose you're wearing Wormskull, for 79 poison damage, along with Bloodfist and Iratha's Coil for +10 minimum damage, Cathan's Amulet and Ring for 15-20 fire damage, War Travellers for +15-25 damage, and some ring giving +11 minimum damage. Let's also suppose you're using level 6 Vengeance for +100% x3 elemental damage (just because it's a nice convenient number, the x3 is because it adds the damage as all of cold, fire, lightning), along with level 11 Fanaticism for another 450% damage.
If we have no auras, the poison and fire damage add up to 94-104. War Travellers add 15-25 for 109-129, and the +21 minimum damage makes your damage 130-131, 36-27 of which is physical. The War Travellers are really 82.5-137.5 physical damage [Fanaticism], and 45-75 elemental damage [Vengeance]. As well, the 21 minimum damage really means 115.5, as well as 63 elemental damage. Now the 94-104 elemental become 202-242, adding 82.5-137.5 to give 284.5-379.5, plus 115.5 minimum damage yeilds 400-401 damage, 198-159 of which is physical.
This is a place where you get monsterous variety, for some definition of monsterous variety. Your options for your attack are Vengeance, which at level 20 will be adding 552% of your damage in various elemental forms, or Charge, which will always cost 9 mana and add 575% of your damage in physical form at level 20, or your base attack, which will not cost any mana.
This argument is rather simple in nature. Charge does physical damage, Vengeance does elemental damage. Vengeance does more damage than Charge until you reach level 17 in both, at which point Charge starts doing (7/lvl + 3)% more damage than Vengeance. The biggest problem with Charge lies specifically in the fact it's only physical damage. While it's great for leeching on, Iron Maiden hits you like a freight train, and physically immune monsters suddenly take very little damage from you. Vengeance also costs less than Charge until level 22, since Charge is always 9 mana and Vengeance costs 4 + .25/level. Also note, you can not be next to an enemy to charge them, you must be farther away.
Your aura is a choice as well. If you're using Vengeance, you almost certainly want to have Fanaticism as your aura, so that 552% turns in to 925%. If you're using Charge, Vengeance will give you a total of an extra 948% damage, though most Paladins I've seen choose to use Vigor with their Charge. Finally, if your attack is simply you base attack, you must use Holy Shock, which will add 1-715 damage to your attack. If you don't use Holy Shock, I get to laugh at you.
Both auras have their merits for the Punchadin. Holy Shock means you're not as item dependant, since at level 20 it lends 1-715 lightning damage regardless of what you're wearing. It also means you will not really be punished by Iron Maiden, since you're taking 1200% of 1-2. However, you must get Holy Shock up to a high level for it to really be effective, and it does have that bottom range damage of 2 (1 physical, 1 lightning). The real bonus to using Holy Shock is you don't need to put 22 points in Vengeance and its prerequisites, meaning you can finish building your character 22 levels earlier if you get a ride through Nightmare and Hell, or more likely about 19 levels.
Fanaticism is your level 30 offensive aura, and with good reason. At level 20 it gives an extra 373% damage, 135% attack rating, and 35% attack speed. You have the potential to do a lot of damage with this aura, and quickly. While you're item dependant, since all your items will be adding to minimum damage and not maximum damage you will have a damage range of 1, meaning you do consistently high damage. With a huge weapon, Fanaticism Vengeance can do three thousand damage a swing. However, since so much of your damage is physical, you really suffer from Iron Maiden.
The real question between Fanaticism and Holy Shock has to do with how much damage you can actually dish out. In D2Classic, where I recommend this build over the expansion, you will read below that Holy Shock deals more damage than Fanaticism by a rather large amount, however you deal your damage much faster with Fanaticism, and in a tighter range with a higher chance to hit.
Because you will be hitting things with your fist, you will certainly be taking a much longer time to kill things than you might otherwise take with a weapon, so having a shield is vital. In fact, having a shield with a high blocking % is a must. As such, you really have to max out Holy Shield, since at level 20 it gives +35% to blocking.
I'm a fan of Vengeance+Fanaticism. Using that skill choice, you will need 24 skill points to get your Holy Shield, 22 more for Vengeance, and 23 for Fanaticism, totalling 69. This means at level 58 you're essentially finished, unless you feel like making your Paladin more pliable. I'll go in to that later. My current Punchadin is Holy Shock+base attack.
This is a section which really varies between the Punchadin and any other Paladin. For starters, you only want enough strength to equip your armor, since strength DOES NOT ADD TO PUNCH DAMAGE. I don't know why, that's just the way it is. Any more strength than necessary to equip your armor is wasted. If you're playing in D2Classic, you will want no more than 70 strength, enough to wear Rattlecage. I'll go in to detail on equipment in the next section.
Dexterity is needed to add to blocking, which is absolutely vital for this build. After doing some quick math, I've determined you want your dex to equal 1.75 your level, + 15. For instance, at level 43 you want 90 dex. With 20 points in Holy Shield and a high block% shield equipped, like Stormguild, this formula will keep your blocking at 75%.
Life vs. Energy: This really depends on how you are building your Punchadin. If you plan to use Holy Shock with the basic attack, you don't really need any points in Energy and can simply pump Vitality. However, if you plan on using Charge or Vengeance then you really need to pump Energy, since you likely won't have any mana leech on for very long.
As I stated before, there are two builds of Punchadin. One is equipment dependant and the other is not. I'll break this down for both builds seperately, for ease of reading. I originally had this written with them both in at once, and I know if I left it that way anyone reading it would come break my kneecaps. First I'll tell you what you need for both builds anyway, then when they start to vary I'll break it up. Here's a list of the items you'll want (LoD items have a *):
At level 3, put on Biggin's Bonnet and Hsaru's Set. With your level 1 Might, you'll be doing 1-11 damage since Hsaru's gives you +5 max. If you have Rings of Craftsmanship put them on, since 1-15 is better than 1-11. You're now punching for enough damage to kill most things you'll face early on in one shot. If you don't get them, the Thorns of 5 on Hsaru will. The only drawback here is it looks like you smeared something on your head that was never meant to be smeared on your head.
At level 9, put on the Infernal Cranium and Buckle. It's worth an extra 7 poison damage over 3 seconds, which beats out the extra 3 from Biggin's. Also put on Bloodfist, for the +5 minimum damage. These gloves will last you the rest of your life.
At level 10, put on the Nokozan Relic for 3-6 fire damage, then replace it and one of your rings at level 11 with the Cathan jewelry for 15-20 fire damage. If you can, replace the other ring with a +3 minimum damage ring. At level 12, put on Blinkbat's Form and Snakecord, and re-equip your Biggin's Bonnet. At level 13 put on Stormguild for some 1-6 lightning damage, and switch to some cracked leather boots for style points. For people who are interested, your damage with your fists is now 3-6 from Blinkbat's, 1-6 from Stormguild, 15-20 from Cathan's, 11 poison damage from Snakecord, +5 minimum from Bloodfist, hopefully +3 minimum from a ring and +70% physical from Biggin's and Might. Quick math tells me you're doing 45-46 damage, 15-2 of which is physical.
At about this point the equipment you'll wear starts changing between builds, but here's the other items that are the same across both builds. At level 17 put on Sparking Mail, replaced at level 29 by Rattlecage. At level 21 put on Wormskull. At level 22 put on Goblin Toe. At level 17 you may want to put on Steelclash, as I did, for the resists and +1 skills. Always upgrade your +minimum damage rings whenever you have the chance.
For Fanaticism Punchadins, it's all about minimum damage. If you're building a Holy Shock Punchadin who uses Vengeance or Charge, it's also all about minimum damage. This section is directed at Fanaticism though, since that's where you'll have more use for the minimum damage items past level 30. At level 18, replace Snakecord with Iratha's Cord for another +5 minimum damage. Yes, you can equip it at level 15, but until level 18 when you get Concentration it will give you less damage. When you can, replace your Cathan jewelry with +4 minimum damage jewelry, but do it all at once. If you have them, put on SoJ's.
If you don't trust Crushing Blow to come home at its 50%, you have further options in the expansion. Namely, War Travellers with 15-25 damage, and Spirit Forge, the unique Linked Mail, for 25-65 fire damage. Shields in the expansion are also more varied. Herald of Zakarum, at level 42, will add +2 to offensive auras as well as +2 to all Paladin skills. This means an extra 68% damage from Fanaticism and another 36% from Vengeance or 50% from Charge. My favorite is Tiamat's Rebuke at level 38, which adds 63-268 damage in various elemental forms. Also, Stormchaser has 1-60 lightning damage at level 35.
As part of the expansion, you can socket jewels in to armor, headgear, shields and weapons. Well, we don't care about weapons, but we do care about the other three. If you can find a good Enhanced Damage or + minimum damage jewel, you can insert it in to a socket to make your items better. What this means is the best damage armor you can find is Archon Plate with four perfect ED AR jewels. It also means you can socket your Wormskull and Shield, or use parts of Griswald's set, which all come with inherent sockets. This is only for the expansion, however, unless you have SoJs to burn in your cube.
As you enter Act 2, you won't really be able to take creatures out in an 8-player game on your own. You simply don't do enough damage. This might make levelling a problem, except if you're charismatic you can still do whatever you want. You explain to people what your character is all about, and tell them you can lend your aura to them. This will likely be level 1 Might, adding 40% damage which nobody will complain about, or level 1 Concentration, adding 60% and 20% chance of uninterruptable attack. Since you're not being useless, you're not really leeching experience, and you should be able to follow people around. I've never had anyone complain about my not attacking when I had Fanaticism up. I've actually found that when I get to level 17 I can solo the Arcane Sanctuary in an 8 player game, which surprised me. It takes a long time to kill everything, and a lot of potions, but it's certainly do-able.
You probably want to level in the Arcane Sanctuary until about 24 and then skip Act 3, since it's such a pain in the @$$. If you have your equipment on, you can tank Act 4 and level there, but the Bloody Foothills are easier if you have LoD.
In Classic, the best equipment you can have for a Punchadin's base damage is the original 1-2 with 79 poison damage on Wormskull, +6 minimum damage on each of all three pieces of jewelry, +5 on Bloodfist, +5 on Iratha's Cord, 1-20 lightning on Sparking Mail, 1-6 lightning on Stormguild. Odds are you have no +skills equipment on, unless you got a lucky rare Amulet roll, so we'll assume all involved skills are at level 20. Level 20 Charge gives +575% physical damage, level 20 Vengeance gives +552% elemental damage, level 20 Fanaticism gives +373% damage, and level 20 Holy Shock gives 1-715 damage.
Elemental damage you start with is 79 + 1-6 is 80-85, + 1-20 is 81-105. Adding 29 minimum damage we really add 303 if using Charge and Fanaticism, making damage 384-385, 303-280 of which is physical. The same 29 minimum damage are 137 physical from Fanaticism and 160 elemental using Vengeance, giving 378-379 damage, 137-114 of which is physical. Holy Shock at level 20 with a base attack (and thus different equipment) gives 81-105 + 1-715 + 15-20 fire from Cathan's + 11 poison from Snakecord is 108-851 + 12 minimum is 120-851, averaging 485.5 damage, higher than both other combinations. If using Vengeance, and so the minimum damage equipment, the 29 minimum are 189, making damage 271-820, averaging 545.5 damage. Finally, if using Charge, the 29 minimum become 195, making your damage 277-820, averaging 548.5 damage.
In the expansion, the best equipment you can have for damage is the original 1-2 with a 40% damage jewel in Wormskull giving 79 poison, +15 minimum damage on all three pieces of jewelry, +5 on Bloodfist, +5 in Iratha's Cord, 15-25 on War Travellers, 63-268 elemental on Tiamat's Rebuke with a 40% damage jewel, four socket armor with 160% damage in jewels. The jewels lend 240% damage. Since it is impossible to have this equipment on with + skills items, any + skills must come from Grand Charms, so I'll still assume level 20 on all skills.
The 79 poison damage from Wormskull get added to the 63-268 on Tiamat's, giving 142-347. 15-25 damage from War Travellers turn in to 107-178 with the jewels and Fanaticism, 51-85 of which come from jewels, and again turn in to another 82-138 elemental damage through Vengeance, or another 86-143 with Charge. 56 Minimum damage from other sources turn in to 398 minimum damage with jewels and Fanaticism, 190 coming from jewels, with another 309 elemental damage from Vengeance or 322 physical from Charge.
142-347 elemental gets 82-138 more from War Travellers and 309 from minimum damage sources, for 533-794 elemental damage. Another 107-178 physical comes from War Travellers, for 640-972, and 398 more damage from minimum damage sources gives us 1038-1039, 505-245 of which is physical. With Charge, War Travellers add 192-319 physical damage, and other minimum damage sources add 717 minimum damage, giving 334-666 + 717 which is 1051-1052, 909-705 of which is physical.
With Holy Shock, that 142-347 gets 1-715 added to it, for 143-1062 elemental damage, plus 51-85 from jewels on War Travellers give 194-1147, plus 190 minimum damage from jewels on minimum damage sources gives 384-1147, averaging 764.5, substantially lower than Fanaticism gave. Using Vengeance, War Travellers add 82-138 and minimum damage sources add 309 elemental damage, giving us 771-1283, averaging 1027. Finally, using Charge, the 380-1145 get 86-143 added from War Travellers, and 322 added from minimum damage sources, giving us 788-1288, averaging 1038.
So you see, while Holy Shock absolutely rules the Punchadin's damage in D2Classic, especially since you're not likely to end up with all top end minimum damage equipment, if you have the top end equipment in D2Expansion then Fanaticism wins. However, since you are not likely to ever have six 40% ED jewels and 3 pieces of +15 minimum damage jewelry unless you're a cheater, the fact Holy Shock is not very far behind when using Vengeance or Charge once again puts it in the lead.
You might remember reading earlier how 15 damage is huge for a Punchadin. If you have the six jewels, using level 20 Charge and Fanaticism, that 15 gets multiplied by 12.82 to turn in to 192 extra damage. In D2Classic, the 10 from Bloodfist and Iratha's Cord get multiplied by 10.48 between Fanaticism and Charge, for an extra 104 damage. Minimum damage is absolutely huge to this build.
To sum up damage, in D2Classic you can give 384-385 damage with Charge+Fanaticism, 378-379 with Vengeance+Fanaticism, 120-851 with base attack + Holy Shock, 271-820 with Vengeance + Holy Shock, and 277-820 with Charge + Holy Shock. In the expansion, the numbers in the same order of skills are 1051-1052, 1038-1039, 380-1145, 771-1283, 788-1288.
So you're level 43, and your Holy Shock Punchadin has 20 points in Holy Shock, 20 in Holy Shield, and 5 in their prerequisites, with 9 unused skill points. What can you do now? Well, for starters you can sink 19 more points in to Charge, which you already have 1 in as a prerequisite for Holy Shield. If you feel like it, you can put another 19 in Smite, since if you have a high damage smiting shield it's going to get 60 damage added to it before it gets multiplied by 4. You might have checked out the Smitadin PvP Strategy Guide. Realize though, that whatever you add points to will cost lots of mana compared to what you've been spending up to now, since you've only needed 35 to cast Holy Shield, so you're going to have to start pumping Energy exclusively or else get good mana leech. And, of course, you can always give up your bare-knuckled ways for a weapon. In D2C, a good Battle Hammer will increase your average damage from 545 to 900.
Is the Punchadin a viable PvM build? Not really, when you consider how much damage gets done by other character classes including non-Punchadin Paladins. Is he a viable PvP build? Well, he's going to win every fist fight he gets in. What's the real question? The real question is "Is the Punchadin fun to make and play?" The answer is yes, I haven't ever enjoyed making any other character more than I've enjoyed this one. You have no idea how much fun it is to taunt someone out for a bare-knuckled duel and then watch them cry when you kill them in one shot with your Vengeance-Fanaticism Punchadin. At least, you don't have any idea until you do it.