Sacrifice (Diablo II)

Sacrifice is a Paladin Skill in Diablo II.

Lore
''At what price glory? By sanctifying his weapon with some of his own blood, a Paladin of Zakarum is able to increase his efficiency in combat by forfeiting a portion of his own physical essence. This sacrifice is a symbol of faith that even the lowliest Paladin must submit before the Light, in order that he may prove himself worthy of victory.''

Strategy
Sacrifice may seem counter-productive, taking health from the Paladin to increase his attack effectiveness. But as points are invested in this skill, the amount of damage inflicted increases. The relative amount of harm inflicted to the Paladin himself, though, is at most 8% of the physical damage the Paladin inflicts, and decreases with skill investment, in exchange for the damage-boosting effect.

This makes Sacrifice more harmful to Paladins the more damage they do, but also makes their attacks independent from Mana pool (which is beneficial for builds that focus on Auras and therefore do not invest into Mana-increasing gear). Combat Shrines  increase the life lost when using Sacrifice as they increase physical damage dealt, but on the other hand may decrease the damage part dealt to self.

Combined with a life-stealing weapon, Sacrifice becomes a powerful tool; otherwise the use of this skill on high levels can be suicidal and cannot be healed enough fast by potions, except by Rejuvenation Potions. This is more problematic on higher difficulties: lifesteal on Nightmare is cut to 1/2 the original value and on Hell it is cut to 1/3 of the original value.

The health damage works as a negative lifesteal, so a character with at least as much lifesteal to nullify Sacrifice's self-damage at given difficulty level, difficult as it may be, doesn't suffer any health damage. Enemies that shrug off life steal are exceptions to this rule. Prayer and Redemption work well with Sacrifice as both serve to replenish health.

As a powerful synergetic skill for  Zeal, Sacrifice is a useful skill to invest in even if it isn't used directly.

Synergies

 * Gives Synergy to:
 * Zeal: +12% Damage Per Level
 * Receives Synergy from:
 * Redemption: +15% Damage per level
 * Fanaticism: +5% Damage per level

Skill Progression
8% Damage to Self