Zeal Paladin Zealadin Build Guide Diablo II: Resurrected Season 13

By RenataKane Updated: 2026/02/20

Build Overview for Zealadin in Diablo II: Resurrected Ladder Season 13Strengths of the ZealadinWeaknesses of the ZealadinKey Gear Considerations for ZealadinStat Priority for Zealadin in Diablo II: Resurrected Ladder Season 13

Stat

Points to Invest

Notes

Strength

115+

You'll need STR 115 to wear the recommended BiS helm, but you may wish to invest a few extra points for more damage output.

Dexterity

136

You will need this for the Phase Blade base item for your BiS Runeword weapon Grief -- and you really, really want a Phase Blade base item. These reasons will be explained in the Equipment section. Accept no substitutes. This will be more than enough to make your 75% Block chance.

Vitality

Max

Your remaining points will all be invested here.

Energy

None

Your requirements are very low and you can get Mana Steal to take care of what little Zeal consumes.

Skills for the Zealadin in Diablo II: Resurrected Ladder Season 13

Zeal

Fanaticism

Holy Shield

Skill Tree Distribution for ZealadinDefensive Auradin Point Distribution for Zealadin

Skill

Min cLvl

Description

Prayer
1 point

Prayer is a heal aura, but mostly you want it as a prerequisite for Cleansing.

Defiance
20 points

Defiance boosts the defense of your entire party, but you're not going to use it at all. You want it due to its synergy with the combat ability, Holy Shield. Defiance adds 15% Defense per level to Holy Shield. Put a few points early for leveling, since you won't get your main aura Fanaticism until level 30, but don't invest more points in it until you've maxxed out all your other requisite skills.

Not every Zeal Paladin chooses to max out Defiance, preferring to invest more in Salvation, so feel free to do that. Some also choose to grab Prayer (prerequisite) and Vigor to give them some extra movement speed.

Cleansing
1 point

Cleansing is an aura that greatly reduces the duration of Curses and poisons. This is what's known in the Diabloverse as a One Point Wonder, where even one point in the skill will make a huge difference. This will save you a lot of time in places like the Chaos Sanctuary, where you'll be spending most of your time battling one curse or another.

Salvation
1 point

Salvation is another One-Point Wonder; you don't need a huge investment for it to have a big payoff. Salvation increases all Elemental resistances for yourself and all party members. Even at a paltry level 1, it adds 60% to Lightning, Cold, and Fire. With +Skill gear, you can easily get this up more than 20 points without spending another point. It's also not a bad place to spend some of those spare points, particularly if you don't choose to max out Defiance. This can be particularly useful in Hell levels to get through rough spots.

Offensive Auras Point Distribution for Zealadin

Skill

Min cLvl

Description

Might
1 point

Increases damage for you and your allies. Resist the urge to spend more than 1 point here, even though you're welcome to use it. Your preferred Mercenary, the Act II Desert Wolf, will provide the Might aura for you.

Blessed Aim
1 point

This increases attack rating. Put in just 1 point as a prerequisite and don't bother using. You'll still get a passive 5% bonus to attack rating just by having the skill (only actual invested points count; this doesn't increase with +Skill items). This will overwrite an Amazon's Penetrate skill if activated.

Concentration
1 point

This increases damage dealt and reduces the chance of being interrupted during an attack. Use this as an offensive aura until you get Fanaticism, but don't put any additional points. You won't use this at all after you have Fanaticism, and it offers no synergies.

Fanaticism
20 points

This is Zeal's best buddy and will be your main aura from now on, adding damage, attack speed, and attack rating to you and your entire party. The radius of the aura also increases with every level, from 7.3 yard to 20 yards at level 20. Party damage increases 25-186%, personal damage 50-373%, attack speed 14-35%, and attack+ from 40-135% between levels 1 and 20. It also receives 5% extra damage per level from Sacrifice, and gives 12% damage per level to Zeal.

Combat Skills Point Distribution for Zealadin

Skill

Min cLvl

Description

Sacrifice
20 points

This may seem like a bad skill choice on the face of it, but trust and believe -- the good more than outweighs the bad. It gives synergy to your most important trait -- 12% extra damage per level to Zeal, making it an indispensable investment to this build.

This ability is a reverse life steal, inflicting 8% damage to themselves to increase both +Attack and Damage. Both +Attack and +Damage go up with levels (Attack goes from +20% to +153% and Damage rises from +180% to +%465 between levels 1-10), but the amount of life loss remains the same: 8%. Getting to 8% Life Leech is not hard, but this will have to be 16% in Nightmare and 24% in Hell, since Life Leech is reduced to 1/2 effectiveness in Nightmare and 1/4 effectiveness in Hell. In other words: put a lot of points into it, but don't use.

Smite
1 point

This is a shield bash that does damage and knocks back. Only take 1 point as a prerequisite.

Holy Bolt
1 point

This is a single-target bolt that either damages Undead or heals allies. Not very useful; take mostly as a prerequisite for the level 24 Holy Shield ability. You can hold off on investing even one point in this until you're level 22 and need it to open Blessed Hammer (another prerequisite).

Zeal
20 points

Zeal is the eponymous skill of this build, and you'll want to get at least 4 points in as early as you can to get the maximum number of 5 hits. Zeal rapidly hits enemies, hitting the aimed target first; if there are any other enemies adjacent, the remaining hits will go to them. It's not really true AoE since it's all restricted to melee range. Zeal is interruptible, so you can be in a position where not all the blows land.

It gains synergy from Sacrifice, which increases Zeal's damage by 12% per level. You get more damage by investing in Sacrifice rather than Zeal, so max Sacrifice before maxxing Zeal. Not all Zealadins go for a full-Zeal investment, preferring to invest only 10-15 points, but that's up to you if you have other places you really want to put points.

Bug Alert: There are two minor bugs associated with Zeal.

If you're standing close to the target but not quite in melee range, Zeal may only hit once instead of several times. Just make sure you're standing closer next time.
Zealadins can experience action locked, where your character has to go through all of their hits before they can move. If you have 5 strikes with Zeal, your character must complete all 5 before they're allowed to move. This is known as zeal locking. Increased Attack Speed (IAS) minimizes this problem, and with only 5 shots, this is not a big problem anymore (Diablo I had up to 20 possible shots!). However, in a poorly timed confluence between attacking and getting hit with a nasty ground effect, it can keep you from getting out of danger fast enough.

Charge
1 point

Charge can be useful to close distance with an enemy. However, you'll only be investing 1 point here. Still, use it when you want to get where you're going faster. It does add some +damage and +attack at the end of the Charge.

Bug Alert: Charge that can sometimes cause the player to be stuck in place. Using the W key to swap weapons can clear this problem.

Blessed Hammer
1 point

Prerequisite to Holy Shield. You won't actually use it, so wait until you're level 23 to invest in it.

Holy Shield
20 points

When cast, Holy Shield magically enhances your shield and boosts its defense. Early on, it doesn't last very long and isn't very powerful, but duration increases from 30 seconds at level 1 to 8.4 minutes by level 20. Defense starts at 25% and goes to 310% 1-20, and Blocking percent rises from 14 to 35%. Paired with a high defense, high block shield can mean your Paladin is preventing an incredible amount of damage. It's also the reason you'll pick up the Defiance aura later on; although you will never use that aura, Defiance adds another 15% Defense per level to Holy Shield. Zealadins will always be up close and personal when fighting, so this is an extremely useful skill.

Skill Rotation for Zealadin in Diablo II: Resurrected Ladder Season 13

Cast Holy Shield to bless your shield with extra defense. Keep an eye on this and renew when Holy Shield falls off.

Run your Fanaticism aura (right click ability).

Run up to things and hit them with your main attack, Zeal (left click ability).

Leveling as a Zealadin in Diablo II: Resurrected Ladder Season 13Best Mercenary for Zealadin in Diablo II: Resurrected Ladder Season 13

Weapon - The Unique polearm Reaper's Toll is an amazing addition to the Zeal Paladin's arsenal of attacks; his mercenary will gain a 33% chance of casting Decrepify on striking, decreasing his enemy's Physical resistance. If you're having mana issues, you can equip your mercenary with the runeword Insight, which gives a level 12-17 Meditation aura that will pretty much eliminate your early mana woes.

Helm - Vampire's Gaze makes your mercenary a more powerful tank, which you'll need since you're primarily a DPS class. Between a tanky mercenary and your bear, you'll have plenty of protection. The set helmet Guillaume's Face, aka G-face, also brings a lot of power and extra damage. Another possible choice is the Crown of Thieves, which not only gives your mercenary extra survivability through Life Leech, its extra gold find makes sure your mercenary pays for his own upkeep.

Body Armor - The runewords Fortitude and Treachery are both good choices, depending on how you want your Mercenary to focus. Fortitude is a more defensive build, while Treachery creates a more DPS-focused Mercenary.

Zealadin Best in Slot (BiS) Gear in Diablo II: Resurrected Ladder Season 13Zealadin BiS WeaponHoly ShieldZealadin BiS ShieldZealadin BiS Body ArmorZealadin BiS HelmZealadin BiS BeltZealadin BiS BootsZealadin BiS GlovesZealadin BiS AmuletZealadin BiS RingsRaven FrostZealadin BiS Charms

Small Charms - Zeal Paladins should look for Charms that give All Resistances, Attack Rating, Min/Max Damage, and Life. Picking up extra Resistances from Charms will make the higher difficulty levels easier to deal with. The unique charm Annihilus is the best Small Charm available, granting +Skills, +All Attributes, +All Resistances, and 5-10% extra experience. This charm only drops off Uber Diablo.

Large Charms - The same traits you will look for in Small Charms will also be available in Large Charms. Small Charms tend to scale better, so look for Small Charms to replace Large down the road. The unique Large Charm Hellfire Torch grants +Skills, + Attributes, and +All Resistances. This charm drops from the Pandemonium event.

Grand Charms - For Grand Charms, you'll want anything with+Combat skills. Both your main attack and main defense are there, so it's the most important tree to boost. The unique Grand Charm is Gheed's Fortune, giving big boots to Magic Find and Gold Find, and reduces vendor prices by 15%.

Zealadin Breakpoints in Diablo II: Resurrected Ladder Season 13

Increased Attack Speed (IAS):

Without Fanaticism: 105% (4 frames)

With Fanaticism: 25% (4 frames)

Paladin:
Frames

Faster % Stat Needed

Faster
Cast Rate

Faster
Hit Recovery
Spears & Staves

Faster
Hit Recovery
All Other Weapons

Faster
Block Rate
Normal

Faster
Block Rate
With Holy Shield

15f

14f

13f

18%

30%

48%

75%

13%

125%

20%

32%

48%

15%

75%

27%

129%

48%

280%

86%

13%

200%

32%

86%

600%

86%

Zeal Paladin Zealadin Build Guide Diablo II: Resurrected Season 13

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