24 December 2025

Diablo 4 Zeal Paladin Build Guide

By newsgame

Zeal is one of the Paladin’s most iconic abilities in the Diablo series, and in Diablo 4, it received a total makeover. It’s now a Resource-spending skill that deals tons more damage than its original Diablo 2 variant, which means Zeal can now be used as an effective tool for wiping hordes upon hordes of demons and melting boss health bars.

The following is a Diablo 4 Zeal build tailored for the endgame. This includes an early starter build for players who are fresh out of pre-Torment difficulties as well as a stronger version that uses a combination of Unique items that greatly improve Zeal’s DPS output.

Diablo 4 Herald of Zakarum Drop Location

If you need something to multiply your stats as a Paladin in Diablo 4, then the Herald of Zakarum is one of the best items you can use.

Best D4 Paladin Zeal Build

D4 Zeal Paladin build — Diablo 4 Zeal Paladin build

Zeal is a melee skill that deals high damage in exchange for having relatively low range and a fairly high resource cost, especially under sustained use. The following build aims to minimize its drawbacks while making its strengths shine a bit more in Torment 1 and above.

Early Endgame Build

Skills	Description
Advance – Wave Dash	Basic skill for mobility and generating Faith and Resolve stacks
Zeal – Cull the Wicked	Main DPS skill. Good for AoE and single-target situations
Fanaticism Aura – Rite of Vengeance	Increases your crit stats while weakening enemies
Defiance Aura – Rite of Prayer	Improves survivability and provides passive healing
Rally – Words of Rejuvenation	Increases movement speed while supplementing Faith generation
Arbiter of Justice – Seraph’s Wings	General movement speed buff that also makes enemies Vulnerable

This is what your skill bar should look like while leveling up or farming items while using Zeal as your main skill. It’s pretty simple to use: spma Zeal until you’re out of Faith, then recharge Faith using Advance and Rally. Use your Auras and Arbiter of Justice when needed.

Use the Path of the Penitent capstone passive to maximum your damage while spamming Zeal and Advance. This should be enough to carry you to Torment 1 as well as the grind for the items you need to make the final build work.

Endgame Zeal Build

Skill	Description
Rally – Words of Rejuvenation	Used mostly for movement speed and Fortify generation with the Arcadia pants
Zeal – Cull the Wicked	Main DPS skill; deals more damage against Weakened targets
Defiance Aura – Rite of Prayer	Improves survivability and provides passive healing
Rally – Words of Rejuvenation	Increases movement speed while supplementing Faith generation
Consecration – Hallowed Ground	Does good AoE damage and healing while applying Weaken
Arbiter of Justice – Seraph’s Wings	Now additionally triggers Argent Veil for free Zeal procs

You should be able to use this endgame skill setup once you get Argent Veil, a Unique ring that automatically casts an equipped Core skill after dodging while in Arbiter form. With this ring, we won’t need to worry about spending and generating Faith anymore, and the build essentially turns into something similar to a Barbarian Whirlwind or even an Auradin build. All you need to do is enter Arbiter form, dodge, then run around while Argent Veil kills everything for you with free Zeal procs.

Passives

D4 Coat of Arms passive — Diablo 4 Coat of Arms passive

En Garde
Discipline
Longevity
The Best Offense
Fortitude
Crack in the Arms
High Charity
Iron Sharpens Iron
Break the Line
Heavyweight
Press the Advantage
Shining Armor
Giant Slayer
Sacred Arms
Coat of Arms

Max out all of these passives once you get enough skill points. If you end up with spare points, spend them anywhere you’d like.

This passive tree setup remains the same regardless of the other parts of your build. It maximizes your defense and DPS, but in order to take full advantage of the damage boosts, you need to make your enemies Weakened and Vulnerable through your active skills. You also need to be Fortified.

We’re going to swap the Path of the Penitent passive with Coat of Arms. Once you get Argent Veil, you won’t be spamming Zeal as much as before, which means you won’t be able to trigger Path of the Penitent’s bonus as much. Coat of Arms, on the other hand, provides a straight damage bonus based on your Armor and Block Chance. You don’t need to do anything; it just works.

Gear and Aspects

D4 Argent Veil stats — Diablo 4 Argent Veil stats

Gear	Aspect/Unique	Ideal Stats/Tempers
Helmet	Apostle’s	Armor Maximum Life Life on Kill Resistances Arbiter Duration
Chest Armor	Heavenly Strength	Armor Maximum Life Resistances Strength Arbiter Duration
Gloves	Zealot’s Covenant	Crit Chance Attack Speed Life on Hit Ranks to Zeal Zealot Critical Strike Damage
Pants	Arcadia (Unique)	Total Resistances Strength Maximum Life Ranks to Heavyweight
Boots	Arbiter’s Zephyr	Movement Speed Maximum Life Armor Resistances
Amulet	Revelator’s	Strength Crit Damage Crit Chance Attack Speed Zealot Damage
Rings	Argent Veil (Unique) + Jacque’s Fervor	Maximum Life Crit Chance Crit Damage Life on Hit Zealot Damage
2H Weapon	Red Sermon (Unique)	Strength Life on Hit Chance for Zeal to Deal Damage Twice Ranks to Zeal

Again, Argent Veil completely transforms this build. You won’t need to generate Faith as much anymore, and you’ll deal a lot more damage thanks to Arbiter of Justice’s constant Vulnerable application. More importantly, it allows us to use Red Sermon

For the unaware, Red Sermon massively increases Zeal’s damage and gives it the Death or Glory upgrade for free. The latter means we can use two upgrades for Zeal, and that Zeal will always cost health to use. If you don’t have enough Life on Hit or Life Regeneration, Death or Glory is going to get you killed more often than not.

With Argent Veil, you can use Zeal for free by casting Arbiter of Justice and dodging. This completely bypasses the health cost, but it still deals all the goodness that Death or Glory provides.

Lastly, since we’re relying a lot on Arbiter of Justice here for free damage and survivability, you’ll want to get Arbiter Duration tempers on your gear. Get your Arbiter Duration as close to Arbiter of Justice’s cooldown as much as possible.

Paragon Boards

D4 Paladin Castle Paragon Board — Diablo 4 Paladin Castle Paragon Board

While many Paladin Paragon Boards offer general damage boosts, you’ll still want to use the Preacher Board for its legendary node that increases your Attack Speed and your overall damage based on your Attack Speed. It also has minor nodes that increase your Max Life, Attack Speed, and Resistances.

Other good boards include:

Castle improves your damage based on your Armor
Relentless boosts your damage even further while you’re moving (and for 2 seconds after)
Fervent increases your crit stats per stack of Fervor you have
Endure gives even more damage while you’re Fortified

Use any of these Glyphs in your Paragon Boards:

Spirit increases your crit damage and the damage enemies take from you after getting critically hit
Feverous improves your damage based on the amount of Fervor stacks you have
Chip boosts your Physical damage