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.

Playstyle

A Cleric is a team player, and this build is all about helping the team. However, He doesn't start as a fully functional Cleric, so we have to get there somehow. Also, we are supposed to be able to solo Hell, so how does that work with a Cleric? Well, here is how I did it...

Leveling

At the start, like many builds, the Cleric will be mostly melee. His Medic/Templar duties will not be the main focus until he reaches level 30. Any good melee equipment you can find or give your paladin would be great, and we have a lot of prerequisite skills we can use along the way. After level 30, tactics will change, as the Templar/medic role takes over, then in Hell, you will need to use what you have learnt on the way, and a few new tricks...

Normal Difficulty - The Mighty Zealot!

Levels 1-5 - First get 350 gold and shop Akara for a 2 socket scepter with no skills. Best damage for level1 no twink. Put the first chipped sapphire and ruby/topaz/emerald you find in it for some extra damage and chill. As soon as he gets his first skill point, put it in Might - it is required to get to Conviction anyway. Put a point in Prayer as soon as you like as well, although when active, it will drain mana. Put stat points in strength as you need to to allow you to use your equipment. Due to his end game gear, my Paladin only needs 65 base strength, so be careful not to over do it. 75 total Strength should be enough to let him wear gear good enough for normal difficulty, like Sigons Shield. After that, balance points in vit for health, and dex. Dex is good for AR at this point, as well as helping with block.

Levels 6-11 - At level 6 put a point in Holy Bolt. Feel free to use it when you can to heal or destroy undead, but you will find that the Cleric will run out of mana fast at the moment, so be prepared to drink a lot of blue, or stick with melee most of the time. At level 6 you can try 1 point in holy fire. I found it adds more damage than might. Because might is shared with your party and Holy Fire isn't, it would be better to stay with might in a team.

Levels 12-17 - At level 12 put 1 point in Zeal, and 1 point in Cleansing. Cleansing will heal the party without draining mana, so switch between Cleansing and Might/Holyfire as required. My favourite twink at level 12:

Angelic armour, 2 rings, amulet
Deaths Gloves and Belt
Sigons Helm, Boots and Shield
Whichever 1 hand weapon you like.

Keep changing weapon to the best avaibible, and consider using a mana leech ring or amulet (Manald Heal unique ring at Level15 if you have one)

Somewhere near here your Cleric will probably reach act2, so hire a Prayer (Combat) Merc as soon as you can. Try and choose a name you like, as your Cleric is probably going to spend a lot of time with this chap... Give him the merc best stuff you can spare, especially a source of life leech if possible, as it will help him survive.

Levels 18-29 - At level 18 try a point in Holy Freeze, which is quite good for a few levels, and maybe try Vengance, although it will drain mana quite fast, and I found Zeal more effective.

At level 24 put 1 point in HolyShield, and its prereqs. If your Cleric had a decent block chance before, it should now be very good with the boost from Holy Shield. I would only put more points in dex if block chance is less than 70% after Holy Shield.

You could put a point in Holyshock, but it will make it impossible to complete the skill plan about until at least level80, so I wouldnt bother with it yet. Try and find/shop a Scepter with +1 HolyShock on it if you want to try it out.

This is the hard part - and the best leveling advice I can think of is find some friends to team with. Try and get prayer up a few points (~5), and Holybolt to 10 or so, then your Cleric can start behaving like a medic when in a team.

I am assuming you will complete the Izuzal quest in act4 before the Cleric reaches Clvl30, which will give a total of 32 skill points at level 29. I would spend them like this...

7 Prayer (5 if you havent done Izuzal yet)
1 Cleansing

10 Holy Bolt
1 Zeal (+1 Prereq)
1 Holy Shield (+3 Prereqs)

1 Might
1 Holy Fire
1 Holy Freeze

27 spent,so 5 skills left
4 will go into prereqs so that at...

Level 30

...You can put 1 point in Conviction, and 1 Point in Fist of the Heavens!!

Welcome to the fun bit!! - This is the point I switched to Templar. Hopefully the merc is level27 or more and can now use an "Insight" polearm (if you have one in a normal polearm, or an eth Bill so he meets the strength requirements...) This will boost healing, and solve almost all mana problems for anyone anywhere near your merc. Try to give him a helm or armour with life leech, (Sigons Armour and Helm give 10%) as "Insight" has none. Your Cleric should now be able to use some good Templar equipment - Spirit Sword and Shield, Skin of the Vipermagi Armour, Lore Helm, Nightsmoke belt. That should give him at least +6 all skills. He will now be able to 1 or 2 hit kill most monsters with FoH. Keep working on FoH, all the way up to lvl42, when he should be ready for..

Nightmare difficulty - The Templar/Medic

OK, this is where FoH is the most fun. The Cleric should have no problem at all soloing all of Nightmare with this skill and his merc. I would max FoH as soon as possible, any additional skill points from quests can go into HolyBolt or Conviction as you choose - allies will benefit one way or the other! A high level Holy Bolt does good healing even without max prayer, so you can leave maxing prayer until after Holy Bolt and Conviction are complete.

At level 42, equip a Hand of Blessed Light, if you have one available. +4 FoH, +6 Holybolt and +2 everything else, held in 1 hand. Very nice! Equip your other end game items as and when you reach the required levels. Guardian Angel is usable at level 45, which will further boost your block chance. Again, only put points in dex when block chance starts to drop, unless you need it to equip other items.

FoH Tactics

FoH drops a bolt of lightning from the sky onto your enemy. When it strikes, one Holy Bolt is released from the point of impact toward every monster and ally within its target area. This area seems to cover about half of the screen if the FoH strike is near the middle. Non-Undead targets will still get a Holy Bolt launched at them, even though it will pass through them with no effect. Sadly these Holy Bolts will not heal any party members they hit.

FoH drops from the sky - The Cleric does not need Line of Sight to his target clear. Target which ever monster you wish to wipe off the face of Sanctuary next.

Heaven doesn't know how to miss - FoH will always hit the target you select, even if they are moving.

Close enough will do - FoH seems very happy to strike the nearest monster to where you clicked, as long as there is one quite close, so you don't have to be particularly accurate with your clicking unless you are trying to target a specific monster. This makes it very easy to repeatedly strike a monster while the Cleric is running around. (In my opinion, Paladins "run around" they do not "run away" ~~http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif~~ )

Heaven won't attack Sanctuary - If there is no target within a reasonable distance of where you clicked, your Cleric will do the cast animation, but no Strike will happen, no mana will be used, and the cast delay will not kick in, so you are free to recast immediately.

A Fist full of Holy Bolts - Because of the Holy Bolts it releases, FoH is *very* effective against packs of undead. With my modest setup, the Holy Bolts from FoH do 2K damage each. Target one undead, and the holy bolts will often clear the rest in 1 or 2 strikes. It is very funny targeting an unraveller and seeing the Holy Bolts flatten all the Skellies.

Choose wisely - When facing mixed monster groups (undead and others) it is most effective to target the normal monsters with FoH. The Holy Bolts that FoH produces have almost always killed all the undead before I run out of normal monsters to target.

Lightning Immune Doesnt always matter - Your Cleric may meet a pack of 10 lightning immune skeletons. FoH may still be his best option. If he doesn't have a clear path to them, FoH is still the best way of delivering Holy Bolts to 9 of those skeletons every second, even if the FoH target doesn't take any lightning damage. Holy Bolt the last target, or FoH a different target, so number 10 can join the other 9 on the floor.

This used to be tougher... - FoH makes many enemies that are often troublesome very easy. Packs of skeletons with unravellers, Packs of Oblivion Knights, PI Ghosts, the Shaman behind all the flayers or fallen all become very simple with FoH. Small numbers of tough targets are easy too, as the Cleric can stay out of reach, and strike away for as long as it takes. The Smith, Hephasto, The Ancients etc are all very straight forward. To quote Bara: "Curently lvl 54, just soloed the ancients in NM. FoH rocks."

This used to be easier... - Sadly it makes some enemies that are often easy more troublesome too. Because the lightning from FoH is only 1 target at a time, and it had a 1 second casting delay, it is a slow way to kill packs of weak monsters. The Act3 Jungle is a pain for example, although my Cleric was still able to solo it in NM, it was slow going.

Healing Tactics

From the start of Nightmare Difficulty, your Cleric should be able to successfully play as a Medic. At the very least, you can practice on your merc when solo, but of course, playing a Medic is all about helping your team, so try and find some people you can help!

Healing is fairly simple - Cast Holy Bolts at your allies. However there are a few bits of info that will help you make the most of what is a different, challenging and (most of all) fun playstyle.

Holy Bolts pass through non-undead monsters - An ally is half a screen away getting beaten on by some Udars. Don't send your Cleric over there, just cast Holy Bolts at them! The bolts will pass right through the Udars, and heal your ally.

Holy Bolts make short work of Undead monsters - An ally is half a screen away getting beaten on by some Abyss Knights. Don't send your Cleric over there, just cast Holy Bolts at them! The first few bolts will destroy any Abyss Knight unfortunate enough to get inbetween the Cleric and his ally, and the following bolts will heal the ally.

You can't heal you - As a Medic, the only person your Cleric cannot heal is himself, so it is important to try and stay alive. That's one of the reasons I recommend Max block, and high resists (90+) as the tougher the Cleric is, the less you have to worry about his health, and the more you can concentrate on the health of your team. That will make him a better Medic.

Holy Bolts don't pierce - That means your Cleric can cast at his ally, but if another ally/merc/minion or undead is between them, the Holy Bolt will not reach the target. This means that the most important thing about playing a Medic is positioning relative to the team. Your Cleric will not be able to heal the tanks at the front if there are 4 other allies between them, and it's the tanks that may need healing the most. There are 2 methods that work well for me, shadowing, and sidelining.

Shadowing

Shadow a Tank - Agree with your team that your Cleric will shadow a Tank. Stay one step behind the tank all the time. The Cleric can cast FoH from behind the tank (as it doesnt need line of sight) and switch to HolyBolt as soon as the tanks health starts to drop, or you see some hard hitting monsters approaching. A tank can be much more confident in standing their ground in the face of an advancing mob when they can see and hear a steady stream of Holy Bolts flying into them before they've even taken a hit.
Dangerzone - There is one major problem with this tactic: Piercing attacks. The Cleric will be 1 step from the front line, and and piercing attacks directed at the tanks (Balrogs Inferno, Gloams Lightning etc ) are likely to hit him as well. The tank may have a Medic behind him, but the Medic doesn't! Be careful, watch your Clerics own health too.
Who makes a good tank? - Well with a good medic behind them, almost anyone does. I have successfully supported a sorceress tanking. She had the blood mana curse on her too, but wasnt losing health faster than my Cleric was giving it back. The conviction aura meant nothing could stand in front of her very long either, the damage boost Conviction gave her spells meant she was tearing through monsters at an incredible rate.

Side Lining

See both sides - If your Cleric can stay to the side of the current battle area without getting swarmed, then this often means you can target a lot of his team clearly, and the monsters too. You often need to position him quite far to the side, but Holy Bolt has a range significantly beyond the visible screen area, so if he can see them, your Cleric can heal them.

Hell Difficulty - What can a Conviction Cleric do?

Hopefully your face hurts. Mine did after I soloed NM, I was grinning so much ~~http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif~~ However, this is Hell. And things just got a lot tougher.

First things first. Playing Medic and Templar does not change, the tactics are the same, and work well in Hell, it just takes a few more Holy Bolts or Lightning Strikes to get the job done. The Mausoleum and Crypt in Blood Ravens area in Act1 only have undead monsters, so in Hell makes a great place to level up solo.

However, elsewhere your Cleric will quickly meet Lightning immune, non-undead monsters. Even if his conviction Breaks their lightning immunity, they are still going to have a very high resistance, so it will take a lot of FoH strikes to kill a single enemy. The merc should be getting quite good by now, and the Cleric can look after him better than most builds, but watching the merc slowly work his way through packs of monsters is not going to be lots of fun. We need another option. And we have several possibilities, thanks to one thing...

PS3 - A Third PlayStyle

Conviction. - The skill that changed this from being an normal Medic. Lets have another look at it.

Lowers Enemy Defense by 90% or more. This should give a 95% chance to hit even with modest AR.
Lowers Enemy Fire, Cold and Lightning resistance by up to 150%. Any fire cold or lightning attack you use will get a big Boost.

So what we want is some kind of elemental attack, and we dont need much AR to deliver it. It's going to have to be mostly equipment based, as we dont have enough skill points left to use skills. There are several options.

Mini Avenger. - We had to get 1 point in Vengance as a prereq, so with a good weapon, it could be quite good, although no where near a dedicated Avengers damage output.

Skill Items. There are many items that give access to skills that work well with conviction. Some examples would be:

Holy Shock from a "Dream" Runeword Helm/Shield
Holy Freeze from a "Doom" runeword weapon or "Ice" missile Weapon
Holy Fire from a "Dragon" Runeword Armour/Shield or "Hand of Justice" Weapon
Fireball/Firewall from partial Trangs Set bonus.
Inferno from Flamebellow Unique Balrog Blade
Arctic Blast from Frostwind Unique Cryptic Sword
Hydra from Dragonscale Unique Zakarum Shield

I haven't tried many of these, simply because most people don't have an secret endless supply of high runes and unique items. I have however tried Fireball and Firewall from trangs set, which was fun, and surprised a few people, but doesn't really do enough damage. If you want to know if it's worth spending the runes on any of the runewords listed above, I would recommend trying it in single player with a mod, or borrowing one from a friend first. Many people are never going to see that equipment in legitimate team play on bnet, and team play has always been the focus of this build.

Conviction Ranger - Use a ranged weapon with good elemental damage. Some possible choices are:

"Harmony" Runeword bow
Hellrack Unique ColossusCrossbow
Gimmershred Unique Flying Axe
Demons Arch Unique Balrog Spear

With conviction, the Cleric should have no trouble hitting, and the damage is not bad. It has the advantage of keeping him off the front line, so he can still position like a Templar/medic. I tried Hellrack for a while, but found it disappointing, and like a true Paladin, my Cleric felt a little lost without a shield. I also tried Gimmershred, but found a better way of using that...

The EZ Option

The Elemental Zealot! - Here is where I found the answer to my Cleric's prayers! With the +skills equipment gives access to a Slvl4+ Zeal, giving 5 hits. Chance to hit and AR will be no problem thanks to Conviction. Use a fast weapon with good elemental damage, equipment that boosts elemental damage, as many elemental damage charms as you can fit in, and solve lightning immune problems by zealing them to pieces.

Adjust the Clerics equipment, and put your choice of zealot weapon and shield on switch, and the Cleric can easliy change between Templar, Medic and Elemental Zealot to suit the moment.

I think there are two great weapons that are achievable for most people.

A "Rift" Scepter. Preferably in a Caduceus with + 3 Conviction. The Conviction boost gives more freedom of equipment while still maintaining a level 25 Conviction (as the Cleric just lost +2 offensive aura skills by not using HoBL or Spirit weapon)
A "Voice of Reason" (VoR) Sword. Preferably in a Phase Blade.

Why? Chance to Cast Frozen Orb on Striking. - Here are the stats for these 2 weapons, and some Zeal/IAS info

"Voice of Reason" (VoR)
Lem + Ko + El + Eld

15% Chance To Cast Level 13 Frozen Orb On Striking
18% Chance To Cast Level 20 Ice Blast On Striking
+50 To Attack Rating
+220-350% Damage To Demons
+355-375% Damage To Undead (varies)
+50 To Attack Rating Against Undead
Adds 100-220 Cold Damage
-24% To Enemy Cold Resistance
+10 To Dexterity
Cannot Be Frozen
75% Extra Gold From Monsters
+1 To Light Radius

Phase Blade needs 13IAS to reach a 5 Frame Zeal

"Rift"'
Hel + Ko + Lem + Gul

20% Chance To Cast Level 16 Tornado On Striking
16% Chance To Cast Level 21 Frozen Orb On Attack
20% Bonus To Attack Rating
Adds 160-250 Magic Damage
Adds 60-180 Fire Damage
+5-10 To All Stats (varies)
+10 To Dexterity
38% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
75% Extra Gold From Monsters
Level 15 Iron Maiden (40 Charges)
Requirements -20%

Caduceus needs 8 IAS to reach a 6 Frame Zeal
Caduceus needs 42 IAS to reach a 5 Frame Zeal

Which One? - VoR is faster, and requires less rare runes to make. However Rift has a more powerful Orb, and is still possible for many players. A Gul rune is "only" a lucky hellforge drop away... I choose VoR, as a single IAS jewel gives a 5 frame zeal. I also like the Ice Blast that freezes monsters, and the cannot be frozen mod. I also didn't have a Gul rune...

Frozen Orb. - This spell damages all non-cold immune targets in a large area, slowing down enemies, and is very good on groups of monsters. Anything that didnt start cold immune is going to get hurt, with up to -150 less cold resist from Conviction, and another -24 from the weapon.

Low Physical Damage Can Be A Good Thing. - The Cleric has little Enhanced Damage from Skills, is not running a damage enhancing aura, and neither is his merc. Why is this good? Iron Maiden(IM). The total damage to himself when IM'd is only boosted by+12ED from 1 point synergy from sacrifice, maybe a little from zeal depending on your +skill equipment, and your strength bonus. My cleric has 48ED from all skills, and 145 Str after equip. He tried zealing when IM'd in Hell Throne of Destruction. Unlike my Zealot, the Cleric did not instantly die. He often took all 5 hits, but did not manage to kill himself in 1 full cycle, with 1360 life and no DR or DR% at all. I do not recommend doing this often (switch and FoH/Holy Bolt them!), but it helps to have a little more margin for error when in OK infested areas.

Magic, Lightning, Cold and Physical. - The Cleric now has a source of two extra different damage types (Cold and physical) just by switching weapons. But he can do more. This Paladin has seen his brother Knights take down even the toughest of monsters by rapidly applying a purely equipment based effect...

Crushing Blow. - Crushing Blow (CB) does physical damage, and is not dependant on the physical weapon damage. So a lower physical damage build like this one can still use it to do significant additional damage. A 5 frame zeal is a reasonably fast method of applying crushing blow, and because of conviction, will have a very good chance to hit, making each blow count. I learnt that the biggest problem with this tactic was life leech. Low physical damage, and not yet having any life leech on equipment meant my Cleric could not stand toe to toe with his enemies for as long as I would like.

EZ Equipment

The challenge is to try and fit some leech and CB into the skills and caster focused equipment. As mentioned before, it is best to try and maintain Slvl25 Conviction, so a minimum of +5 to offensive auras. Bear that in mind when choosing your equipment.

Here are some revised and some additional equipment Suggestions for the elemental zealot approach...

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

"Voice of Reason" Runeword in a Phase Blade.
"Rift" Runeword in a Caduceus with +3 Conviction.
Gimmershred Unique Flying Axe. Can be thrown too!
"Famine" Runeword. Only if you have lots of high runes spare...
"Death" Runeword. 50% CB and 25% CTC Slvl18 Glacial Spike.
Baranars Star Unique mace. Fast, with good elemental damage.
"Last Wish" Runeword. Ridiculously expensive, but ridiculously good too.
"Voice of Reason" Phase Blade. Needs a 4 socket phase blade, Lem, Ko, El, Eld. I think it is the cheapest weapon with good enough performance.

Shield

"Spirit" Runeword in a 40-45 all res 4 socket Sacred Targe or Sacred Rondache. - Probably still the best choice, for skills and resists.
Dragonscale Unique Zakarum Shield. Good fire damage, and you can use Hydra. No resists or skills though.
Tiamats Rebuke Unique Dragon Shield. Extra elemental damage, reasonable resists. No skills though.
"Exile" Runeword Paladin Shield. Expensive, with no skills, but the CTC lifetap will solve all life leech problems.
"Spirit" Runeword. Yes, this is the still the best budget choice.

Helm

Guillaume's Face Set Winged Helm. 35% Crushing blow and lots of other nice melee mods.
+ Skills helms as before. Stay with skills here, get CB from other items.

Armour

Guardian Angel Unique Templar Coat. +1 Paladin skills, extra block, higher max resists etc. Still the best option.
"Duress" Runeword. High Defense, 15% CB, extra cold damage and resists. Excellent option.
Rattlecage unique gothic plate. 25%CB is good but the monster flee is not.

Gloves

Dracul's Grasp Unique Vampirebone Gloves. Lifeleech, Lifetap, Str, life per kill. Unbeatable leech gloves.
Soul Drainer Unique Vambraces. Good Dual leech gloves.
Steelrend Unique Ogre Gauntlets. 10% CB, but need High strength to wear.
Sigons Gage Set Gauntlets. With one other set item, give 10% Life leech and 30IAS.

Belt

Thunder Gods Vigour unique War Belt. 1-50 lightning damage as well as all the previous reasons mentioned.
String of Ears Unique Demonhide Sash. Life leech, %DR, and MDR. Very good for melee.
Wihelm's Pride Set Battle Belt. Dual leech belt, with some cold resist too.
Sigons Wrap Set Plated Belt. 20% fire resist, life, and gives partial set bonus of 10% life leech with gloves.

Boots

Gore Rider Unique War Boots. 15%CB, and other good melee mods
Marrowwalk Unique Boneweave Boots. Stat boosts and charges of lifetap.
Goblin Toe Unique Light Plated Boots. 25% CB, but no fast run/walk.

Rings

Bul Kathos Wedding Band Unique Ring. +1 Skills, and life leech. If you need the skills, perfect choice.
Rare rings. Look for leech, resists, FCR and anything else good you can get!
Wisp Projector Unique Ring. CTC Slvl16 Lightning, and lightning absorb.
Manald Heal Unique Ring. Still good, and now the mana leech is useful too!

Amulet

Rare +2 paladin skills amulet. Look for Leech, FCR, resists or other good mods.
Crescent Moon Unique Amulet. No skills, but good leech and MDR.
Eye of Etlich Unique Amulet. +1 Skills, 3-7% Life Leech, some cold damage. A very good mix.

Charms

Paladin Hellfire Torch Unique charm. Hydra Charges (expensive) and CTC Firestorm give extra fire damage.
Elemental damage charms. Use the highest elemental damage charms you can find and fit in your pack. You can add a lot of extra damage this way.

Try and get lifetap somehow. You are a Medic. Your job is to heal your allies. Lifetap is just another way of getting it done. ~~http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif~~

Summary.

I really enjoy playing this build, and hope anyone else who tries it will too. The combination of Templar, Medic, and Elemental Zealot gives a lot of versatility, adaptable for any situatation the game can throw at you...

Allies getting hurt? Fill them with life giving Holy Bolts
Allies poisoned and cursed? Cleanse and Heal them.
Allies running out of mana? Introduce them to your merc.
Facing Obilvion knights casting IM? Holy Bolt them out of existance.
Packs of PI undead? Destroy them all with a few Holy Bolt spewing Lightning Strikes.
Annoying reviving monster hiding behind his minions? Ask Heaven to drop lightning on his head.
Ancients giving you a hard time? Take them for a run, and ask Heaven to drop lightning on their heads.
Lightning Immune Demons? Zeal them, and watch the Frozen Orbs fly.
Uber Meph? My conviction's better than yours, Have some crushing blow...

Like most characters, the better your equipment, the more capable the build will be. However, even with very modest equipment this build is a great team player, who is also capable of soloing anywhere in the game.

Holy_Convict

Just in case anyone would like to know, my current CLvl86 Convcition Cleric "Holy_Convict" is set up like this...

Skills

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

16 Conviction (+5 Prereqs)
7 Holy Shock