Journal Entry 02: Introduction-Angelwrath

Brief History of my Diablo experience :
[Although we are talking about Diablo II : Lord of Destruction, it shall be mostly called Diablo henceforth, except where naming it properly is necessary in order to distinguish between Diablo 1 and 2. For the uninitiated, its pronounced as *Dee-aa-blow* ]

Ever since I finished the path-breaking Diablo 1, I had been waiting for the release of Diablo 2 very hungrily. I devoured each tidbits of info that was released, each screenshot or movie that was put up on the Blizzard site or Battle.net. After continuous delays in release, Diablo 2 was finally released on June 28th, 2000. My uncle who lives in L.A was to leave for India on the 29th. I asked him to get the game for me, and on 28th morning, he got it! So, I take pride in saying that I was one of the first to buy this magnificent game.

Admitedly, my first impression of the game wasnt very great. I had frankly expected better graphics for such a hyped game, but the graphics were horribly poor to say the least. 640x480 games in the post Quake3/UT era was simply not cool, even though this was of a different genre.
However, the depth of gameplay meant I soon got over my disappointment. The longer I played the game, the more addicted I became...until I was playing the game almost whole of the day!!

Now, Four and a half years later, the game still excites me like no other. Forget about Graphics, Sound, Storyline. Gameplay and replay value are Diablo's forte...and these two features have brought home millions of fans. Diablo is still counted as one of the biggest selling electronic entertainment products ever.

Thats enough history, I suppose. Now over to my present *build*.

Name: Angelwrath
Character Class: Paladin
Build Name: Avenger

Role: To *tank* effectively, Enhance damage of party, and slay whatever can be slain!!

Major Skills : Conviction(20), Vengeance(20), Holy Shield(20)
Synergies: Resist Cold(10), Fire(10), Lightning(10)
Prequisites: Others(17)

Now, conviction decreases the elemental resistances and defence of enemies. Vengeance adds elemental damage to attacks. Holy Shield increases the defence rating of the user.
The Synergies add elemental damage to Vengeance and provide a passive increased maximum resistance.

Items I will be looking for are a very fast single handed unique weapon(to offset the absence of fanaticism and zeal), an armor with high defense and resistance(ofcourse!! ) and a shield with high blocking, resistances and defense(ofcourse!! ;) ). There are plenty of specifics I can name, but that I'll do later.

Its not difficult to see that this build works best with a sorceress. A frostmaiden amazon can also make use of this build, and we have both in our party! :D

They will be introducing their builds soon....Till then...CYa

[Angelwrath]