Based on 720 skill points:
Sword 110
Tactics 100
Anatomy 105
Resist 100
Focus 100
Chivalry 96
Healing 89
Base Stats (scrolled to 250):
STR 96
DEX 84
INT 70
I wear Ancient Samurai Helm (DCI 15), Tunic of Fire (RPD 15), Leggings of Bane (STAM +8, HCI 20), Voice of the Fallen King (STR +8, HPR 5, STMR +3), Ring of the Elements (+64 resists), Bracelet of Health (HP +5, HPR 10), and Shield of Invulnerability (SC no neg, DCI 15, RPD 10). My arms add 7 Stamina, 2 HP's and Mana Regen of 2. My gloves add 6 Mana, 2 HP's, 2 Stamina Regen.
It took alot of trips to doom (and a ton of gold) to get all the arties, but that's what it really takes to be elite in this game.
The suit is at or over 70 on all resists with DCI of 30 (replaces Parry), HCI 20, RPD 25, HP Regen 15, Stamina Regen of 4, Mana Regen 2.
With HP Regen of 15, you gotta hit me often and hard to kill me or I just regen it in seconds (DCI helps stop you from hitting me too often).
I'm not sure, but HP Regen may max at 10, because it doesn't seem to regenerate much faster at 15 than 10.
My stats turn to
STR 104 (HP 113)
Dex 84 (STAM 100)
INT 70 (Mana 76)
I usually carry Red/White/Blue pots and purple petals for Paragon PvM or PvP.
They make it much easier, but are not required. They just make me warm all over. With this template, I can solo anything, though DF's take a long time.
I must admit, I've never tried a True Harrower, and of course Ba'al's been kicking my butt all over the place on Napa Luna.
In PvP, I do pretty good, though Legendary mages tend to take me down more often than I can get to them. In PvP tournaments, if I have to give up my ultra suit, I become above average; depending on my connection and a little luck.
If I was going to start a new Paladin, I'd start with 50 Melee (I like sword or fencing) and 50 healing. Buy Chivalry and Resist Magic in game.
Get your Chiv up...
Buy your 333 chiv from the Palidans in Luna. Also buy your Chivalry book and tithe at the alter above the bank. Now, get a boat and get into the 8x8 channel (lots of 8x8 FAQ stuff here at stratics) in Trammel. Once your Chiv hits around 65, you can leave it, and finish it later. Set your Meditation skill up (though you will get rid of it later) so you can get your Mana back faster while you are training.
Read the FAQ's on raising Melee with Jhelom Hired fighters (make sure you use your healing skill to heal them). Get your melee, tactics, and anat up to around 75, then take your guy to Level 2 of Despise. Kill Earthy's and Ettins until you get to 80-85. You can skip the Despise trip by getting jewelry with up to +30 in your melee skill. Basically, you want to have your melee skill over 80 and about 200,000 gold to start the next part of your training.
If you have about 100,000 to 200,000 gold around from killing the Earthy's and Ettin's or other means, buy a 100% poison weapon in your skill, and a GM made Golem. Take the Golem to Luna and stand outside the guard zone. Tell the Golem "all follow me", "All guard me". Attack it (oh, you need to be guilded), then spam it with "All Guard Me" (macro this) until it stops hurting you. Then just sit back and watch the gains come. You'll gain in melee, anatomy, and Tactics. Easy gains, no risk. Golems took me up to over 105 in Melee. At that point, I switched to Despise Level 3 Ogre Lords. Take your Red/White/Blue potions (mostly red to get your stamina back). Make sure you have 70 in physical resist, then kill the Ogre Lords! Heal yourself whenever you get below 50%. The Ogre lords aren't too fast, especially after you wear them down a bit. Your Str and Dex should gain pretty fast here. Be careful...these guys are Tough! At least they don't use any magic. Also make sure you don't cross the bridge where the 2 Ogre Lords spawn. You won't be ready to solo two Ogre Lords until you are a little more advanced.
At this point, you might want to get back on your boat and finish up your Chivalry. Once Chiv is where you want it, lock it, and turn Meditation down.
Now for Resist. Buy it from a Mage Guildmaster. This should get you to around 30. While you are at it, buy 30 in Magery. You'll turn this down later. Buy a spell book and a scroll for Weaken and protection. Add the scrolls to the spellbook. Buy 300-400 Garlic and NightShade. You'll also need a little Ginseng and Sulphurous Ash. Cast Protection on yourself. Your Resist will go down by 35 (below 0). Your resists will change too. Don't worry about that! We'll fix that later. Open your Skill Gump so you can see your resist skill. Choose to show your real skills. Now start casting Weaken on yourself over and over again. You'll see Resist gains everytime you cast it until you get to around 45. once it stops, cast Protection on yourself again. Do something else for awhile (visit a dungeon; that's always fun!). Dying also helps, so don't get too upset if you die. Come back to protect/weaken every day or so, and you'll slow gain resist until you are between 50 and 60. Now, turn Magery skill down. You don't need it anymore.
The next step is to find a ring and a bracelet with the highest amount of Resisting Spells you can find. The most you can get is +30, but you want as much as you can afford/find.
Now that you have your jewelry, you need to get your Real resist up to a point where you can add your jewelry to get to your cap. For instance, if your jewelry is +28, you know you need to get your real resist up to 72.
Here's the best places to get your resist from 50-60 up to 72, or whatever amount you need....
Hedge Maze center. There's about 5 or 6 imps that spawn here. Bring a Daemon Slayer and some cure potions. Avoid the Daemons until you feel confident that you can kill them (they aren't as nasty as they look, especially if you have a cold/poision/energy daemon slayer and some RWB potions). Attack the imps, and let them cast spells on you. They won't do much damage since their Eval Int is so low. You'll get around 10-20 gains an hour off of these guys.
Reapers north of Minoc. These guys do a bit more damage, but they don't move. Attack them and let them cast spells on you. Bring some cure potions (or heal yourself if your healing is above 60).
Liches on the road between Skara Brae and Yew. There are some ruins on the road just southeast of Yew where 4-5 liches spawn (at least on the Napa shard). Bring an undead slayer and some cure potions (healing if you are over 60). With an undead slayer, the liches will go down with about 3-4 whacks. Let them cast on you. Be careful not to be cornered by 3 or 4 of these guys because they can kill you. Their laugh is much worse than their bite.
I alternate between these three locations. That seems to help the gains.
Once you have enough Resist to hit your cap with your jewelry, it's time to go to the Hedge Maze.
Stratics FAQ's on gaining resist are very helpful. Basically you want to be at your cap with your jewelry, then find an Imp that you gain resist off of. Once you find him, let him follow you into the maze until you are away from the center (you don't want to be bothered while you are gaining). Now get around the hedges where the imp is on one side and you are on the other (the hedge is between you and the imp). Now just stand there and let him cast on you. You may want to nail him with a weaken spell from time to time just to wake him up. Using this method, you can gain all the way to GM. You'll gain everytime he casts non-damaging (weaken, curse, mana vampire, etc.) spells on you. Don't physically attack the imp, and don't cast any offensive spells on him (just weaken).
A trick for raising your healing is to go the Covetous. Walk onto one of the exploding spots to damage yourself, then heal yourself. Repeat this until you get to where you want to be with healing. Kill any Harpy's that bother you.
OK. That's it no more help...Go do it yourself!
