Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred (D4)

Zeal Paladin Build

Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred Walkthrough Team

Last updated on: January 6, 2026 03:48 AM

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This is the Zeal Paladin endgame build and guide for Season 11 of Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred (D4). Read on to learn more about the Zeal Paladin build as well as its playstyle in the Season of Divine Intervention!

All Paladin Guides
Class Guide	Best Builds	Oaths

List of Contents

Build Guide
Build Summary
Skills and Passives
Divine Gifts
Aspects and Affixes
Gems and Runewords
Mercenaries
Paragon Boards
Playstyle and Rotation
Related Guides

Zeal Paladin Build

Zeal Paladin Build Summary

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Summary			Skills and Passives			Divine Gifts			Aspects and Affixes
Gems			Mercenary			Paragon			Playstyle

Build Summary
Zeal Paladin Endgame Build
Zeal Paladin Endgame Build	Focus: Zeal, Nuke
Fast Clear Speed High Survivability Requires High Armor

This Zeal Paladin endgame build revolves around spamming the Zenith skill, which allows the Paladin to nuke mobs and bosses with the help of the equipped auras.

The Zealot Oath, Defiance Aura, as well as the Castle and Preacher Legendary nodes allow the build to reach billions of damage that scales higher from Critical Strikes, Armor, and Attack Speed.

Season 11 Guide (Divine Intervention)

Zeal Paladin Build Skills and Passives

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Summary	Skills and Passives	Divine Gifts	Aspects and Affixes
Gems	Mercenary	Paragon	Playstyle
Back to the top ▲

※ More skills can be seen by scrolling vertically.

Active Skills
Basic Skill Tree ┗ Advance (1/5)
Core Skill Tree ┗ En Garde (3/3) 　┗ Riposte (3/3)
Aura Skill Tree ┗ Defiance Aura (2/5) 　┗ Enhanced Defiance Aura 　　┗ Rite of Might ┗ Fanaticism Aura (1/5) 　┗ Enhanced Fanaticism Aura 　　┗ Rite of Vengeance
Valor Skill Tree ┗ Falling Star (1/3) 　┗ Enhanced Falling Star 　　┗ Freefall ┗ The Best Offense (3/3) 　　┗ Fortitude (3/3) ┗ Resolute (1/3) 　┗ Conviction (3/3) 　　┗ Courage (3/3)
Justce Skill Tree ┗ Consecration (1/3) 　┗ Enhanced Consecration 　　┗ Hallowed Ground ┗ Pacify (1/3) ┗ Dizzying Blow (3/3) ┗ Crack in the Armor (3/3) 　┗ High Charity (3/3) ┗ Iron Sharpens Iron (3/3) 　┗ Break the Line (3/3) 　　┗ Heavyweight (3/3)
Ultimate Skill Tree ┗ Zenith (5/5) 　┗ Enhanced Zenith 　　┗ Empyrean Edge ┗ Shining Armor (3/3) 　┗ Giant Slayer (3/3) ┗ Master Craftwork (3/3)
Key Passive ┗ Coat of Arms

Zeal Paladin Class Specialization

Zealot Oath

・Casting Zealot Skills grants Fervor for 2 seconds. Critically Striking with these Skills echoes the attack for an additional 17% of the damage, repeating for each stack of Fervor.

・While at maximum Fervor, additionally Fortify for 1% of your Maximum Life.

The build revolves around Zeal's damage. Zeal Oath increases your damage against all enemies, and its scaling damage increase is extremely useful against bosses.

Paladin Oath Guide

Zeal Paladin Build Divine Gifts

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Summary	Skills and Passives	Divine Gifts	Aspects and Affixes
Gems	Mercenary	Paragon	Playstyle
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Divine Gifts Setup
Essence of Sin
Essence of Pain		Essence of Lies		Essence of Anguish

The Essence of Sin is the most important Divine Gift for the setup, as it grants a 20% armor increase. This synergizes with the Castle Legendary Node, which increases your damage based on your armor.

Essence of Pain and Essence of Lies are equipped for more survivability, while Essence of Anguish is equipped for more movement speed.

List of All Divine Gifts

Zeal Paladin Build Aspects and Affixes

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Summary	Skills and Passives	Divine Gifts	Aspects and Affixes
Gems	Mercenary	Paragon	Playstyle
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Equipment Notes!	Affixes marked with ★ are ones you should aim to upgrade when Masterworking.

※ More gear Aspects can be seen by scrolling vertically.

Gear	Aspect and Affixes
Head	Heir of Perdition Stats: ・Critical Strike Chance ★ ・Lucky Hit Chance ・Movement Speed ・Core Skills
Chest	Aspect of Hale's Salve Stats: ・Armor ★ ・Maximum Life ・Life on Hit ・Ranks to Defiance Aura Temper: ・ Ranks to En Garde ★
Gloves	Aspect of Utmost Glory Stats: ・Strength ★ ・Armor ・Life on Hit ・Maximum Life Temper: ・Defiance Aura Potency ★
Pants	Aspect of Disobedience Stats: ・Armor ★ ・Maximum Life ・Life on Hit ・Ranks to Defiance Aura Temper: ・ Ranks to En Garde
Boots	Flickerstep Stats: ・Resistance to All Elements ・Maximum Life ・Movement Speed ・Ultimate Damage ★
Amulet	Aspect of Apogeic Furor Stats: ・Strength ・Damage ・Shadow Resistance ・Cooldown Reduction Temper: ・Zenith Cooldown Reduction ★ [/align]
Ring	Aspect of the Zealot's Covenant Stats: ・Strength ・Attack Speed ・Maximum Life ・Cooldown Reduction Temper: ・Zenith Cooldown Reduction ★
Ring	Revelator's Aspect Stats: ・Strength ・Attack Speed ・Maximum Life ・Cooldown Reduction Temper: ・Zenith Cooldown Reduction ★
Weapon (1H Sword)	Griswold's Opus Stats: ・Strength ★ ・Maximum Life ・Ranks to Break the Line ・Ranks to Heavyweight
Weapon (Shield)	Herald of Zakarum Stats: ・Armor ★ ・Maximum Life ・Chance for Retribution to Deal Double Damage ・Ranks to Core Skills

Zeal Paladin Build Gems and Runewords

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Summary	Skills and Passives	Divine Gifts	Aspects and Affixes
Gems	Mercenary	Paragon	Playstyle
Back to the top ▲

Weapon	Armor	Jewelry
Diamond	Ruby	Diamond

Diamond is used for your Weapon to increase your Zenith Damage. Keep in mind that even though shields are weapons, their gem slots act like those of armor.

Use Rubies on your Armor and Shield for more strength and armor. And use any Jewelry slots to accommodate your lacking resistances.

List of All Gems

Zeal Paladin Build Runewords

Runeword 1
Zan Xan

Zani + Xan is used to guarantee Critical Strikes and Overpower Damage for every cast of Zenith.

It's best to use only one runeword for the build and use the Gem Slots for Rubies instead. This setup is more beneficial to the build as Rubies increase armor, which scales your damage through the Castle legendary node.

List of All Runewords

Zeal Paladin Build Mercenaries

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Summary	Skills and Passives	Divine Gifts	Aspects and Affixes
Gems	Mercenary	Paragon	Playstyle
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Mercenary	Reinforcement
Varyana	Raheir

Use Varyana as your main mercenary for the added movement speed and attack speed, while Raheir will be your Reinforcement.

List of All Mercenaries

Zeal Paladin Build Paragon Boards

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Summary	Skills and Passives	Divine Gifts	Aspects and Affixes
Gems	Mercenary	Paragon	Playstyle
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Paragon Boards
1. Starting Board (Spirit)

2. Castle (Undaunted)

3. Preacher (Honed)

4. Fervent (Feverous)

5. Endure (Imbiber)

The Paragon Boards and Glyphs for the Zeal build focus on increasing your damage multipliers and Critical Strike Damage. This is made possible mainly through the Preacher and Castle legendary nodes.

Make sure to keep doing Pit runs to help you max out your Glyph levels and activate all the bonuses they provide.

All Paragon Boards by Class

Zeal Paladin Build Playstyle and Rotation

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Summary	Skills and Passives	Divine Gifts	Aspects and Affixes
Gems	Mercenary	Paragon	Playstyle
Back to the top ▲

The Zeal Paladin build playstyle revolves around casting using spamming Zeal to clear hordes of enemies. The rotation is as follows:

Use Advance to stack Fervor.
Use Fanaticism Aura and and Defiance Aura along with Consecration to buff your Zenith.
Evade through enemies to drop the cooldown of Zenith if needed.
Repeat steps 1 to 3.

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Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred Walkthrough Team

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Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
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Zeal Paladin Build

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Zeal Paladin Build

Zeal Paladin Build

Zeal Paladin Build Summary

Zeal Paladin Build Skills and Passives

Zeal Paladin Class Specialization

Zeal Paladin Build Divine Gifts

Zeal Paladin Build Aspects and Affixes

Zeal Paladin Build Gems and Runewords

Zeal Paladin Build Runewords

Zeal Paladin Build Mercenaries

Zeal Paladin Build Paragon Boards

Zeal Paladin Build Playstyle and Rotation

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