When the 1.13 Patch hit the PTR, I decided I was going to revisit the class that I would say i've played the most in my Diablo II career: the Paladin. Unfortunately for all you Pally players out there, he only received one balance change in the latest patch, which was a nerf to Blessed Hammer.
Official Blizzard Quote:
Paladin
-Blessed Hammer - No longer ignores resistances of undead and demons.
Though, this change did not really have much affect for any type of Hammer build. PvP players will not have to worry about anything, and most Hammerdin's will do enough damage by the time they get to Hell and are fully geared, that resistances won't be a big deal. With that in mind, I would also like to revisit the last build I used, with a few alternatives in case you cannot obtain said gear.
Strength: This depends on how rich you are in-game. However, as of now, you can respec your character if you overfill your Strength. Basically, you only need enough Strength to use all of your items.
Dexterity: It would be smart to have enough for max block rate here, which is a 75% chance to block a monster.
Formula To Calculate Blocking
Total Blocking = (Blocking * (Dexterity - 15)) / (Character Level * 2)
In our case, Total Blocking is the amount of blocking we want to achieve (75%) and Blocking is the Blocking of your shield plus the Holy Shield bonus.
Vitality: Dump the rest of your points here. You'll be taking a lot of damage since you are a melee character; your merc will help out, but you'll be the main tank.
Official Blizzard Quote:
Paladin
-Blessed Hammer - No longer ignores resistances of undead and demons.
Though, this change did not really have much affect for any type of Hammer build. PvP players will not have to worry about anything, and most Hammerdin's will do enough damage by the time they get to Hell and are fully geared, that resistances won't be a big deal. With that in mind, I would also like to revisit the last build I used, with a few alternatives in case you cannot obtain said gear.
Mercenary:
Diablo III Analyst
SC2Mapster