Holy Shield

Holy Shield is a Paladin Skill in Diablo II.

Lore
''To a Paladin, the shield is a symbol of his faith. Particularly devout Paladins can channel their faith into their shields, bolstering its defensive value with holy energy. The purer his faith, the greater his defense.''

General Information
One of the Paladin's most important and often-used skills, Holy Shield greatly increases a user's chance to block, Smite damage, and total Defense from all sources, including armor. Holy Shield is a personal buff similar to the Sorceress' Frozen Armor line of spells and the Necromancer's Bone Armor spell. It costs a large amount of Mana and, at lower levels, the duration isn't very long; however, more points allocated in this skill will increase its duration and power, effectively making it a passive enhancement.

The defense increase listed for this skill multiplies the total Defense the user has, not just that of the shield.

The skill effect still remains active even if weapons are swapped. Therefore, if the user's secondary set has better bonuses to Combat Skills and/or Holy Shield, he/she can activate Holy Shield with that set and then swap back to their main set with a better enhancement to their shield than one would have earned by casting the skill using your primary equipment.

Holy Shield effectively lowers the effectiveness of the Thorns Aura, which only activates when foes successfully hit users.

Synergies

 * Gives synergy to :
 * Smite
 * Receives synergy from :
 * Defiance: +15% Defense per level

Skill Progression
Mana Cost: 35