Without Fanaticism and might merc (= only conviction), a paladin needs the
following amounts of mana leech to support Vengeance:
- Baranar's Star: 13%
mana leech
- 100 dmg weapon: 18% mana leech
Using level 26 Fanaticism reduces the need of mana leech to:
- Baranar's
Star: 5%
- 100 dmg weapons: 7%
Might Mercenary (level 22 Might at merc level 75) reduces the need in the
following way:
- Baranar's Star: 7% mana leech
- 100 dmg weapon: 10%
mana leech
With both level 26 fanaticism and level 22 might, we get the following
figures:
- Baranar's Star: 4% mana leech
- 100 dmg weapon: 5% mana leech
It seems that you have to really take care that you leech enough mana back with Vengeance. Mana is not a problem with Zeal, because it costs only 2 mana per 5 swings, and it is mostly used with Fanaticism or Concentration. Thus, zealots may do well with only minimal mana leech, while avengers must pay a lot of attention to it.
Thankfully, many good items such as Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest and Vampire
Gaze have lots of leech. Zealots, on the other hand, may use items like
Harlequin Crest, which have no leech at all, and rely on some minimal mana leech
on one of their items.