Conviction Cleric Guide

What is a Conviction Cleric?

As you may have guessed, this build is a Paladin focusing in HolyBolt and Prayer, running Conviction as his main Aura. This is a Ladder, Player vs Monster (PvM) build. I know nothing about Player vs Player.

Why Make one?

The goal of this build is to make a party friendly medic, capable of effectively healing his team, and also capable of soloing all of the game, including Hell difficulty.

Advantages

Heal your allies! - This is what makes Medics so unique. With powerful Holy Bolts, and (when not running conviction), the cleansing aura (which heals due to a synergy with prayer) the Cleric will be able to heal his team (including the mercs)! His mercenary will also be healing with a prayer aura, and a meditation aura from his weapon, meaning a possible 3 healing auras at once (and yes, the healing effect stacks)

Damage boost for the whole party! - Paladins are one of the best party members, as many of their auras benefit their allies as well as the paladin. Conviction lowers enemy defence up to 90%+, lowers enemy resistance to fire, cold and lightning by up to -150%, and can break the elemental immunities of many monsters. The elemental attackers in the team will get a huge damage boost, and the melee attackers will rarely miss their targets.

Monsters conviction won't effect the Cleric! - When he is running conviction, any enemy with a conviction aura will not have any effect on him if his conviction level is higher than theirs. This build is designed to run with a Lvl25 conviction, so even Uber Meph in the Hellfire torch quest wont beat the Clerics conviction. Sadly, this only protects the Cleric, not any of his allies.

Slaughter undead! - Holy Bolts may heal allies, but they damage enemy undead, regardless of immunities. My Cleric does around 5600 average damage per Holy Bolt. This is very effective even in Hell.

Solo any part of the game! - With several different effective attack options, the Cleric will not meet a monster he cannot kill solo, and can still be effective when cursed by Iron Maiden.

Disadvantages

The Cleric is not the fastest solo killer possible. - The is a party focused build, and is not going to compete with the most powerful characters (like Hammerdins, LF zons, Orb/Fireball sorcs, Trapsins etc) for overall kill speed.

HolyBolt does not damage non-undead monsters. - One of the main skills he has does nothing at all to demons and animals.

He wont have much Magic Find. - It requires some particular (although not very expensive) items to enable this build to solo everywhere in the game. There are not many item options for a high Magic Find total.

Your Cleric can sometimes make the team nervous. - Many players get nervous when they see the conviction aura graphics, especially around gloams. It's not always clear if a monster has a conviction graphic because of the Cleric, or because it's an Aura Enchanted Boss.

Clerics cannot heal Necromancers Skeletons with Holy Bolts. - Worse still, although his Holy Bolts will not damage them, they will not pass through them either, so they will block the bolts, and get no benefit from them. It is quite tricky playing a medic in a team with a Skelemancer.

Skill Layout

The main skills for this build are:

Max Holy Bolt - The main skill of every medic. This gives effective healing, and an amazing undead killer.
Max Prayer - Boosts the healing power of Holy Bolt, and gives another healing option with...
Cleansing - Allows a healing effect aura without mana cost, and useful in some situations for reducing poison and curse duration.
High level Conviction - Holy bolt doesn't gain benefit from any Aura, so I chose conviction as the most party friendly aura, and it also boost the damage of...
Max Fist of the Heavens (FoH) - (FoH) Additional Damage type (Lightning) and Synergy to Holy Bolt damage. Holy Bolt also boosts the damage of the bolts released by FoH.
Holy Shock - Synergy to FoH. This is where any remaining skill points can go, depending on what level you reach.
Holy Shield - Boost to block and defense. Get hit less, block more. What's not to like about that?

Adding those up...

20 Holy Bolt
1 Holy Sheild (+3 Prereqs)
20 FoH (+4 Prereqs)

16 Conviction (+5 Prereqs)
0 Holy Shock

20 Prayer
1 Cleansing

TOTAL = 78 +12 prereqs = 90 Skill points That is achievable at level 79 with all quests, or level 81 by early Hell act2

The "lower enemy resists" part of Conviction maxes out at Slvl25. Depending on your equipment, you may need to put more, or fewer points in here. Just try and make sure it reaches Slvl25, even on switch...

Any further skill points can be put into Holy Shock. It can even reach max at Level99. However, I do not expect to get my cleric much past 90, which would be level 11 Holyshock. This gives a 77% boost to FoH damage (which is also boosted by Conviction) so does make a significant improvement.

Variations

Meditation. You can sacrifice some Holyshock synergy to get 1 point in meditation. However, the merc should provide meditation with Insight weapon and they don't stack.
Redemption. It will take three skill points due to prereqs, but is a useful skill, especially for removing revivable corpses.
Max HolyShock. You could focus on holy shock to make a More powerful FoH, or even use in melee/ranged attacks. You would have to sacrifice some healing power, and for melee, unsynergised Holy Shock isn't that powerful, and does not help allies. You also cannot run Holy Shock and conviction at the same time. This version would be more like a Templar build, and not really a party focused Conviction Cleric.

Stats

Strength. Enough to wear your chosen equipment (discussed later). The Cleric wont be doing a lot of physical damage, so heavy investment in strength is not going to give much benefit.
Dexterity. Enough for your equipment, and to get 75% block with holy shield. For my recommended equipment, the Cleric will need a total of 136 dex after equip -This is enough to give 75% block at level ~90 with my equipment.
Vitality. Everything else. The Cleric should end up with a reasonable total here.
Energy. Base. Although FoH eats mana, with an Insight merc, My Cleric rarely has mana problems, and a column of blue potions in his belt is a better solution than trying to raise energy.

Equipment

Here is a list of endgame equipment options I suggest you try for.
Equipment suggestions for lower levels are mentioned in the Tactics/Leveling Section later.
+Skills are very good for this build, so most of the equip choices revolve around that.
Fast Cast Rate (FCR) is good, but as FoH is on a timer, FCR is only significant for Holy Bolt.
I aim for the 48FCR breakpoint, although 75FCR is of course better if you can reach it easily...

Key to Colours: Best Bet - The best one you are likely to see...
Alternatives - Still good, but sometimes expensive or very hard to find.
Budget - Best value and easier to get options.

Weapon

Hand Of Blessed Light Unique Divine Scepter. With +2 Paladin skills, total +4 FoH and +6 Holy bolt, its a Medic/Templar dream.
"Heart of the Oak" Runeword. +3 all skills, 40FCR, good resists.
The Redeemer Unique Mighty Scepter. +2 all skills, extra +2-4 Holybolt and Redemption. A very good choice.
"Call to Arms" Runeword in a +3 Conviction +3 FoH 5 socket Scepter. Good luck finding this one, and I don't think it's worth the runes...
"Spirit" Runeword Sword. +2 all skills, more Mana, FCR, More Vitality. Amazing for the price.

Shield

"Spirit" Runeword in a 40-45 all res 4 socket Sacred Targe or Sacred Rondache. Gives a bucket full of resists, +2 skills, 25-35 FCR etc. Try and get one with 28 or more FCR.
Herald of Zakarum unique guilded shield. HoZ gives more skills for Holy Bolt and FoH, and the same +2 as "Spirit" for the other skills. It lacks FCR compared to spirit, but is a very good choice.
Spirit" Runeword. Yes, this is the best, & the budget choice. Make it in the highest resist 4 socket paladin shield you can find.

Helm

Rare +2 Paladin skills circlet. Hope for fast cast, resist all or other useful mods.
Any +skills helm with other good mods. Harlequin Crest Uniq Shako might be nice, if you can stand the looks...
"Lore" Runeword helm. Very nice mods for an Ort and a Sol.

Armour

Guardian Angel Unique Templar Coat. +1 Paladin skills, extra block, higher max resists etc. Amazing armour.
Skin of the Vipermagi Unique armour. +1 skills, FCR, up to 35 all resists, MDR
Arkaines Valor Unique Balrog Skin. High strength req, but very good.
"Chains of Honor" Runeword armour. If you can afford it, hard to beat.
"Enigma" Runeword armour. I know, not realistic, but it would be good...
"Principle" Runeword armour. +2 skills and CTC Holy Bolt. Needs a Gul rune though...
Spirit Shroud Unique Ghost Armour. +1 skills and other nice mods.
"Stealth" Runeword. No skills, but good fastcast and mana regen.

Gloves

Magefist Unique Light Gauntlets. Mana regen and FCR.
Trangs Set Gloves. Same FCR as Magefist, and 40% cold resist
Frostburn Unique Gauntlets. Huge Mana boost.
Rare gloves with resists and any other useful mods.

Belt

Arachnid Mesh Unique Spiderweb Sash. +1 skills and 20%FCR.
Thunder Gods Vigour Unique War Belt. Combined with Guardian Angel, the Cleric can end up practically immune to lightning. Stat boosts are nice. CTC Fist of the Heavens is fun too.
Verdungo's Hearty Cord/String of Ears Unique Belts. Both are good for helping the Cleric survive.
Crendendum/IK's Detail Set Belts. Good for resists and stat boosts.
Nightsmoke Uniq Belt. Mana boost, resists, and 50% Damage taken Goes to Mana.

Boots

Silkweave Unique Mesh Boots. Good all round caster boots.
Natalyas/Aldurs Set Boots. For Fast run, and resists.
InfernoStride Unique Demonhide Boots. Good for fire resists and extra gold.
Waterwalk Unique Sharkskin Boots. Stat and life boosts and higher maximum fire resist. Combined with Guardian Angel you can get 95% fire res with these or Infernostrides.
Tearhaunch Unique Greaves. Stat boosts, resists, and Vigor (which the Cleric wont have from skill points...)

Rings

Rare rings with resists and FCR. Any other good mods you can get!
Stone of Jordan Unique Ring. +1 Skill and extra mana.
Dwarfstar Unique Ring. Fire absorb, life boost, MDR, and extra gold. A great ring
Bul Kathos Unique Ring. +1 Skills.
Ravenfrost Unique Ring. Cannot be Frozen, extra mana, cold absorb. Always a good choice.
Manald Heal Unique Ring. Mana regen, Life regen, and life.

Amulet

Rare +2 paladin skills amulet. Hope for FCR, resists or other good mods.
Maras Kaleidoscope Unique Amulet. +2 All Skills, and good resists.
Seraphs Hymn Unique Amulet. +2 All skills, and an extra 1-2 to defensive auras (Prayer, Cleansing)
+3 Combat Skills magic (blue) amulet. If conviction is already at Slvl25 from skills and equipment, then this is a good choice.
Any +Skills amulet you can get.

Charms

Paladin Hellfire Torch/Annihilus Unique charms. Use 'em if you got 'em!
Skill, life, mana, or resist charms. Use the best you can get, or as required to reach max resistances, and Slvl25 Conviction.

Credits

Azariah, March 2006. Reprinted with permission from this thread