All Diablo 4 players, have you tried Blessed Hammer Paladin build this season? It's sure to impress! It's a perfect interpretation of the classic Hammerdin build. Let's explore its powerhouse features together!

Core Gameplay and Mechanics Highlights

The core of this build revolves around Arbiter of Justice. You first need to activate Arbiter form through Arbiter of Justice, gaining significant damage and defense bonuses. Then, cast Blessed Hammer once, which will transform into Disciple ability.

Next, activate Evade ability, allowing for quick wall-passing and movement without needing any further special maneuvers. When facing higher challenges, activate Consecration ability to reduce damage or increase healing.

However, currently, there might be a small bug. If you activate Arbiter form through Arbiter of Justice, Falling Star will not extend the duration of Arbiter form. However, this can be achieved with 100% coverage via Relentless node on Paragon Board, so the impact is minimal.

Gear Selection?

If you have Mythics, the ideal choice is: Heir of Perdition for the helmet, Shroud of False Death for the chest armor, and Ring of Starless Skies for the ring. For the remaining slots, prioritize All Stats, Attack Speed, Critical Strike Chance, and Maximum Life.

Of course, if you don't have these Mythics yet, don't worry. Godslayer Crown is highly recommended for the helmet; it received a significant buff in Season 12, offering excellent crowd control and even surpassing some Mythics for speed runs. For the chest armor, Aspect of Disciple can be used to inflict the weakness effect on your Blessed Hammer, increasing and reducing damage taken.

The weapon must be Herald's Morningstar, and the chance of Blessed Hammer dealing double damage must be stacked to 100% through Masterworking. The ring should be Argent Veil, which significantly reduces Evade's cooldown, allowing for infinite wall-penetration.

Stats and Affix Priority

The most important principle: Crit Chance must reach 100%. Many of Paladin's damage-boosting mechanics rely on maxed Crit Chance. If it's not at 100%, Gar Rune can be added to assist.

Besides Critical Strike, Attack Speed, Blessed Hammer's Life on Hit, Strength, and Movement Speed ​​are also excellent affixes.

If you're using a non-Mythic version, you might lack resources; this can be alleviated by rolling Faith per Second on some Diablo 4 items. When Tempering, prioritize Critical Strike damage or Discrete skill damage. For Masterworking, focus on Arbiter Form’s Cooldown Reduction, Blessed Hammer's double damage chance, and Critical Strike Chance itself.

Skill Point Allocation

Blessed Hammer requires taking Disciple's Halo so the hammer revolves around you, maximizing damage.

Fantasy Aura should be maxed. If you're using non-Mythic gear as a transition, you can choose Sturdy route for enhanced damage reduction. Remember, once you get Mythic gear, switch to Critical Strike damage route.

For Defiance Aura, Rune is recommended for improved survivability.

Falling Star only needs level 1; it's mainly used for passing through walls and for movement, not for damage output.

Consecration is an extremely powerful skill, restoring 4% health per second, increasing damage, reducing resource consumption, and weakening enemies (reducing damage by 20%). However, this is generally only activated during boss fights or high-pressure situations.

Arbiter form itself needs to be fully upgraded to extend its duration by 10 seconds.

We can also get Coat of Arms, which will always take effect for Paragon Board's damage multiplier.

Runes and Paragon Board

The recommended Runes combination is Bac and Ceh, used for movement and triggering effects.

As for Paragon Board, we need to equip the following:

• Exploit, used to apply Vulnerable
• Apostle, used to increase the damage of Disciple skill, but this only takes effect after Blessed Hammer transforms into Disciple skill
• Spirit, used to increase the damage of Critical Strike
• Relentless, used to gain additional Cooldown Reduction, ensuring 100% coverage of Arbiter form
• Honed, used to gain high Critical Strike damage, and Critical Strike generates 1 point of Faith value

Additionally, for Blessed Hammer Paladin, its stats requirements indicate that it is most comfortable to build at around level 250 Paragon Nodes. Around level 180, rare nodes can be activated using All Stats provided by Godslayer or Shroud of False Death.

Elixir and Applicable Scenarios

Elixir of Fortitude is highly recommended here, as it can prevent being one-shotted. There are no special requirements for other Elixirs.

This build is well-suited for speed runs, completing seasonal quests, and regular boss fights. If you want to tackle higher difficulties, feel free to switch back to Shield of Retribution Thorns Paladin. However, Blessed Hammer Paladin is actually sufficient for most players, isn't it?

On a side note, Thorns is likely to be nerfed next season, making Blessed Hammer and Wing Strike potentially more popular choices.

So, that concludes the guide to one of the strongest speed-run builds, Blessed Hammer Paladin. Hopefully, after reading this, you can effectively utilize its strengths in the game and dominate the battlefield!

MLB The Show 26, like FC 26, is a competitive game. Diamond-level players have a higher ceiling and can pull off incredible swings or pitches, but you're still the one in control.

Here, we'll focus mainly on how you approach pitching. This covers not just in-game techniques, but also your settings and even your hardware. Whether you're a newcomer or a veteran, this guide aims to help you level up your pitching game.

Controller Choice

For Xbox players, the default controller feels somewhat sluggish in MLB 26. Plugging a microphone into the auxiliary port improves the situation a little, but it still won't give you 1:1 precision. Therefore, you can use a third-party controller for pitching. PlayStation players don't face this issue.

Game Settings

Pitching Interface

Watch top players, and you'll see almost all of them use Pinpoint Pitching, with the occasional exception using Pure Analog. The problem with Pure Analog is that when your pitcher's confidence drops, the pitching meter disappears, and you'll also need to learn how to use a mound visit to restore it - too complicated for beginners. It's really not difficult to learn Pinpoint Pitching. Finish one Conquest map, and you'll basically have the feel for it.

Pitching Ball Marker

Pitch Trail shows the ball's full path from the pitcher's release point to the intended landing spot. Some players prefer Chevron (the small arrow symbols), but it may not give you a 1:1 sense of the ball's actual trajectory as it crosses the plate - you're almost guessing.

Fixed Pitch Location

This is a new feature in this year's edition. When turned off, the aiming reticle automatically snaps back to the center after each pitch; when turned on, it stays where you left it. If you're an experienced player and don't like this change, you can turn it off.

Pitcher Delivery

When grinding games offline, you can set this to Stretch Only, which speeds up the pace of play.

Pinpoint Pitching

Pinpoint Pitching isn't unique to MLB 26; it existed in previous games. First, you need to select the pitch type and landing point. Then, using the right analog stick, carefully trace the unique trajectory of each pitch type.

When you choose a pitch, the game visually shows you the stick movement you need to replicate - both the speed and the shape. Watch it closely and copy the motion. After completing the movement, return the stick to the center. Wait for the two blue circles at the bottom of the screen to close together - at that exact moment, pull the stick straight down.

Different pitches have different difficulty levels: fastballs, because they're straight, demand tighter precision for a perfect execution; forkballs are harder to throw well, but the accuracy requirement is actually looser. However, the timing of pulling down applies to all pitches.

Also note that right-handed and left-handed pitchers may mirror each other's motions, so some pitch trajectories can be reversed. Pay attention to the pitcher's handedness and follow the on-screen prompts. Head into custom practice and try various pitches repeatedly - you'll quickly get the rhythm of Pinpoint Pitching.

Many players obsess over a perfect angle, but as long as you hit the threshold in each category, every perfect pitch delivers the same result. So Pinpoint Pitching has one drawback, which you can't intentionally miss your spot. In Pure Analog, you can deliberately release late to avoid hanging a breaking ball, but Pinpoint doesn't allow that.

Throwing Balls

Throwing balls is perfectly fine, especially early in the game or early in the count. Use them to test the opponent's swing tendencies. Are there certain locations or pitch types that opponents can't resist swinging at, even when they're clearly out of the zone?

In online games, many players aren't good at consistently identifying balls. So mix in some balls to tempt them into chasing. Especially early in the game, experiment with different spots and pitches to find the zone where the opponent swings and misses most often.

The more strikes you throw, the lower the hitter's batting average. Aim to keep your first-pitch strike rate between 60% and 80%. A first-pitch strike doesn't have to be a called strike; as the game goes on, you can throw a chase ball that gets a swing-and-miss, which also gives you a 0-1 advantage.

Tunneling

Tunneling is making one pitch look like another. You need to know which pitch types are naturally similar:

• 4-seam fastball & forkball: very similar
• 4-seam fastball & cutter: very similar
• 4-seam fastball & slider: moderately similar
• 4-seam fastball & changeup: moderately similar
• Circle changeup: less like a fastball

For example, steal an outside corner strike with a 4-seamer, then follow with a cutter that's a ball - the batter may chase and miss or produce weak contact. Next, attack the inside corner with a sinker. Once the batter starts protecting the inside too much, throw a circle changeup low at waist level. It has a similar motion and spin. The batter will often swing early, rolling the ball over to the first-base or second-base side for a groundout.

You can also use cutters and sliders to make the ball move horizontally from the same initial trajectory - inside against righties, outside against lefties. Tunneling is one of the most important advanced pitching skills, and it works especially well against other human players.

In online matches, PAR limits how effective tunneling can be. Still, even with a knuckle-curve, you can try to make it look like a 4-seamer by placing the pitch at a similar release point and gambling that the batter will swing.

These are some general pitching tips. You'll discover more techniques through practice. But remember: while you're studying the opponent's habits, they're often studying yours as well. So keep varying your approach.