Diablo II single player questions

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OK, I hadn't realised it was that rare, or that good for that matter. I knew my Paladin would wear it for a long time (after he reaches the level requirement - he's in the early 20's so it'll be some time) but I thought the Paladin set or some other unique would beat it, maybe an elite unique armour. I know each of the advantages is good but what makes it so special, is it the combination of all these advantages together, or specifically the increase to max resist?

Oh and I love you to DR

Balle, you've got some very good items for a Necromancer there. You would want to keep an eye out for a good shrunken head, as for rings and other such items remember you can always use any item that gives generic +skills, doesn't have to be class-specific. My Necromancer is walking around with a unique headwear that gives +1 to all skills for example.

 

yes, well the only slots i would have open for other + skills gear would be boots belt and gloves, the only gloves that offer +skills to necro is trang ouls i think?

other than that there are a few belts, arachanid mesh comes to mind
and boots, with + to skellies is marrowwalk

all of this is because i am struggling in hell right now, because of a badly equipped amazon

also, i do not deem it very likely to find a shruken head better than +2 skills with various other mods (mana, faster cast rate and the likes)

and a better helm than lore (ort+sol) in headgear for +1 all skills 30% light res. and +1 mana after each kill

all in all i will have (helm1+wand2+shield2+amu1)= +6 all skills but out for me right here, i guess that would be enough to get me to hell, but i would like with my amma, lack seriously in res.


i'm also currently working on a tesladin since i found 2 skillers (1 combat 1 offensive) and a nice rare amu, don't remember the stats though
the reason i am doing this is also because it can be considered a poor mans build, because it does not require a high dammage weapon fx to be effective in hell

 

Found the belt of Tal Rasha's set today in the Arcane Sactuary, also got another good rare circlet. Not for this character, but it is a useful one.

 

My Necro got another fantastic item yesterday, not through gambling this time but plain lucky looy. He got a Lidless Wall, a marvelous unique shield for casters and in particular for a Sorceress or an elemental Druid. Needless to say I'm storing it away from my Sorceress to have fun with it when she reaches the required level.

Unfortunately, while I'm finding some very nice uniques for several of my characters (first Guardian Angel for my Paladin and now Lidless Wall) I am completely unable to get any piece for the Necromancer or Sorceress sets, Trang-Oul and Tal Rasha's respectively. Considering they're likely to have a pretty high TC I may need to wait until late Nightmare for these pieces to start dropping or to show up in gambling.

 

Ziad - What makes Guardian Angel so good is a bunch of good modifiers on an item that doesn't have an insane level or strength requirement. Most items of that quality with a huge defense rating, resistance bump, and +skills have item level requirements in the 70s, and have strength requirements of 170 or greater. Obviously, the less stat points you have to invest in strength means more can be invested in vitality, and the longer your paladin will survive in combat.

As for Trang-Ouls and Tal Rasha's set, they are pretty much like the other class specific sets in terms of when you can start getting them. The easier to acquire items like gloves, boots, and belts can be acquired by early nightmare. The two hardest pieces to acquire are generally whatever the class specific piece is (because class specific equipment drops less frequently that the other items in the TC) and the armor (because all the class specific armors are in very high TCs). I know that some of the class specific armors are as high as TC 84, and all of them are at least in TC 72+, so it's actually impossible to get the armor before hell difficulty, because the highest level monster in nightmare is Baal, who is level 70, so he cannot drop them.

Balle - 700 life is an acceptable amount for a bowazon. I'm assuming you have an Act II mercenary and a high level valkyrie accompanying you, so you can stay out of melee combat fairly easily. Unfortunately, it is much harder to avoid elemental attacks, and having negative resistances is not going to work. It is very difficult for any character who doesn't use a shield to get max resistances in hell. Shields are usually your best source of resistances, which is one of several reasons why javazons are more popular than bowazons.

However, just because you cannot max out your resistances, it doesn't mean that you should ignore them completely (as you seem to have). Virtually every piece of equipment can have resistances, and you make several types in your horardic cube. One perfect gem of each type except the perfect skull + any magic amulet = prismatic amulet of [random suffix]. So you could get +20 resist all right there. You should also prioritize your resistances. Lightning and fire are far more dangerous than cold and poison. You should be able to get all of your resistances into positive numbers, and get lightning and fire up to around 50%.

 

I hadn't thought of the requirements of Guardian Angel being a pro in themselves, but I see how the low Strength requirement can be a big plus. I'm rather excited about trying it on now!

As for Tal Rasha's and Trang-Oul's, I guess I'll forget about them for the time being. I was thinking of gambling for some of the items but obviously that doesn't make sense at all at my level, so I'll just wait until later in Nightmare. The hardest pieces will be the Lidless Eye and the Wand, since these can't be gambled and have a lower chance of dropping to begin with. We shall see.

 

yea, it is basicly because of a lack of equipment, but i will be making a prismatic amulet when i get the gems (i think i have them)

i have been making progress with my new necro though, he has reached lvl 25 and is in act 3 normal now and is looking rather nice, he is a classic summoner with corpse explosion and amplify dammage
he will be the one to find equipment for everyone else, since my ama can't seem to cut it yet


update:

did make a few changes, i now have 0% mana leech, so i am a heavy drinker, BUT with 59& fire res. and 38% fire resistance it is looking rather nicely, and i am about to take on andarial, when doing so, i might change my armor to the venom ward i just found..

og and i also found laying of hands! greatest gloves ever! 20% ias 30% fire res. and!!!! +250% dammage to deamons, wich is all bosses in the game basicly, and a lot of units as well

 

Nice find on those gloves Balle!

In the great item finds department I was selling my extra stuff when I noticed a very nice wand for sale: +2 to all skills and +3 to Decrepify. I immediately ditched my +2 to Summoning wand that I'd been using for some time and bought it. It dug a rather large hole in my savings (cost almost 400K) but I had the money and it's a good investment until I get a good unique or start finding the Trang-Oul set. I also found a really nice unique Sorceress staff, Chromatic Ire, which gives +3 (!) to all Sorceress skills. It's got a relatively low level requirement too (only 35), so my Sorceress will use it for some time until I find a good globe-type item. The only disadvantage of the staff is that I can't use a shield with it, like Lidless Wall.

 

thx man, i also finally made the insight rune word on my amazons merc(polearm), it doesn't really cost that much highest rune is a sol i think, it offers 14-18 meditation aura with decent ED% and other nice stats, only problem is that i created it in a colossus voulge so my merc needs 210 str to wield it, so i am now looking for 4 socketed armors, helms and perfect sapphires to boost his strength adequately

i also just found tal rashas helm! lot of leech good life and mana bonus and +15 all res. this is going to my merc as soon as he has the strength to throw away they +str helmet i have him to use the insight


update again:

i am having HUGE problems in the snake temple in act 2 hell, as every fing thing down there is cold immune, and i can't break the immunity to freeze them with my wizendraw(-32% enemy cold res.) i am guessing that this is because my merc keeps dying because hes got 0% LL, i have found tal rashas helm though, and i think he can use it in around 2 levels wich will help out alot, only problem is that i gain almost no XP doing countess runs and andarial

 

Trang-Oul's doesn't come with a wand - the class-specific piece of equipment associated with the set is Trang-Oul's Wing, which is the exceptional version of a gargoyle head. In the case of both Trang-Oul's and Tal Rasha's set, the armor is by far the hardest item to acquire. Even though they both contain class-specific equipment, both of those pieces are exceptional level equipment (the Lidless Eye is the exceptional version of a Jared's Stone).

On the other hand, the armors are elite level equipment. (Tal Rasha's Guardianship is the elite version of gothic plate, called "lacquered plate" and Trang-Oul's Scales is the elite version of full plate mail armor, called "chaos armor".) While it's true that class-specific equipment is significantly harder to find than other similar quality equipment, an exceptional level class-specific set item is still considerably easier to get your hands on than a nonclass-specific elite level set item. The hardest set item to find in the game is probably the weapon for Griswold's Set (for the paladin). The class specific item is a cedacus, which is the elite version of a war scepter, in TC 87 (the highest). It's hard to get anything to drop from the top TC, and the fact that it is in the top TC and it's class-specific, means it's practically impossible to find. (On the bright side, Griswold's armor is th easiest armor to fin among the class-specific sets.)

Whenever you see a good item for sale you should always buy it. Gold may be the official currency in D2, but the only thing you generally use it for is gambling purposes. On the rare occassions that you can actually purchase a known item of value, it is always a worthwhile investment. (By the way, it is not uncommon for a nice wand, staff, or scepter to sell for several hundred thousand gold.)

That wand is very nice. The ultimate wand for a summoning necro is The Arm of King Leoric, a unique. dmc has that one and loves it. I don't have that one, and so I had to settle for a regular blue wand that gives +3 to summoning skills and +2 to clay golem. Since the summons are the main part of the build, you are generally better off getting +3 to the summoning tree as opposed to +2 to all skills, but a +2 to all skills certainly is not a bad choice. Unfortunately, there's no such thing as a magic or rare item with +3 to all skills (although there are sets and uniques with such modifiers).

Never make a runeword in a item that has that kind of strength requirement. You are going to need a TON of +strength equipment for your merc to use that. It is always the PC that is the main force of the build. Your merc is never there to kill on his own. Building a runeword in an exceptional weapon is usually more than acceptable (although I will concede that it isn't always easy to find a 4-socket polearm). Still, a good rule of them is "make sure you can actually use the runeword you are making".

The snake temple is just really hard, regardless of your character, but especially one that relies on cold damage. Regardless of whether your merc has LL or not, he likely won't be able to leech back fast enough. The equipment you are looking for is damage reduction equipment. Either damage reduced by X, or damage reduced by X%. The vipers hit for about 50 damage with each strike, and the problem is you are often being hit by half a dozen or more, which takes your life down really fast. The best advice I can give is have your PC run into the room, and then run back out. You can usually lure out one or two at a time, and they are managable in small numbers. That was the only way I could do the snake temple with my frost zealot (another build that relies on cold damage), but the going is slow. Once you get to the bottom level, luring out a few at a time is essential. Fangskin is the unique claw viper down there, and he always spawns lightning enchanged and extra fast, and gets two bonus random modifiers on hell difficulty. If you get him and a group of his minions on you all at once death is nearly certain.

Cheese alert: You don't have to actually kill Fangskin to complete the quest. You can gamble/find/buy an item that has teleport charges on it - amulets are the most common item with this - and teleport down to the altar, activate it, grab the amulet, and then save and exit - cheesy, but effective.

 

@aldeth

yea i got the RW thing as well, but i thought since it costs so little runewise it didn't matter

i have gone as far as level 2 in the snake temple and got owned down there, i will try with some dammage reduction gear, i got an armor that gives both dammage reduced by X and dammage reduced by x%

and i have considered running by them, i haven't got a tele amu or other stuff yet

update:

another problem iv'e got is that i have such a low dammage again non-undead and non-deamons because of my bow since it only adds dammage against undead and demons, and since the vipers are neither i only get dammage for the base dammage of 50 on my gothic bow

 

My bad, I thought the Wings were a wand. Should read the item descriptions more carefully!

I keep forgetting that Elite items are much harder to find than Exceptional ones. I've not come across any Elites yet (obviously) and the different names for items with the same appearance continuously confuses me, especially when some of them have similar names (I find a Cedar Staff and sometimes think it's a Cedar Bow, when it's among a large number of items and I can't sort out the names properly).

Forgot to mention that the wand also has +2 to Summon Resist. Not a huge advantage, but it's nice that all the modifiers it has are actually skills that I use. I would go with the +3 to Summoning if there was one, or if one shows up at some point later, and I'll definitely keep an eye for the Arm if it appears.

My Necro is doing quite nicely and finished Act 1 Nightmare. Andariel was easy now that I've maxed Raise Skeletons and I'm on the way to maxing Skeleton Mastery. I'm not sure which way to go after that. Skeletal Mages will only add more mages but it doesn't seem to affect the damage they cause; then again there is no value for their damage anywhere so it's hard to tell. The other alternative would be to either invest more points in the Clay Golem or in Corpse Explosion. I don't think it's worth putting points into any of the Bone skills, since I won't be able to max the synergies.

 

i would go with corpse explosion, since it really help out alot, also with phys. immunes

and in nm i think it is easier with a higher CE than a higher clay golem since you have plenty of meat shields in your skellies

 

If you cannot kill them quickly, it probably isn't even worth attempting to fight them. The run around option is viable, although I would highly recommend going around the altar in a counter-clockwise direction, even though it's the long way. If you think of the altar as the face of a clock, the direction you enter from is about the 1 position. Fangskin and company hang out around the 5 position, with the stairway entrance to the altar in the 6 position. If you go around clockwise, there's no way to get through without fighting Fangskin. If you go counter-clockwise you can usually get to the altar before Fangskin gets to you, especially if your merc does his usual tactic of charging headlong into the pack of claw vipers. This suicidal action on his part may actually give you the second or two you need to grab the amulet. Think of it as him sacrificing himself for the greater good. Once you get the amulet, don't even try to escape. Immediately save and exit.

You are eventually going to want to max Corpse Explosion, and I would work on that first. With my summoner necro, I first maxed Raise Skeleton, followed by Skeleton Mastery. I then added a few points to amplify damage (not a ton - I got it up to 8 with +skill items) to increase the area of affect. It's a pain in the butt to have to cast it repeatedly to get everyone, and a modest investment in this skill adds to the ease of playing.

In nightmare difficulty, your skeletons are more than capable of handling anything that comes their way. The clay golem is definitely an ancillary summons before you get to hell difficulty. I would not spend any more than one point in clay golem until after you have maxed corspe explosion, which usually happens somewhere around level 70. After that, I'd put all remaining points into clay golem, although there is no need to max it for it to be effective. dmc has pretty much ideal summoning gear on his necro, and his clay golem has something like 13,000 life. While that's great, there's no need to get the clay golem to that point. My gear is much more attainable, and my clay golem has around 8,000 life, which has proven to be more than adequate. He hardly ever dies, and I usually recast the golem to re-position him - not because it got killed.

Bone skills are mostly worthless without synergies. dmc and I discussed this a few posts back, and basically concluded that even if you invest 10 points into bone spear, you're looking at only about 150 points of damage per cast, which is small compared to what your merc, golem, and skeletons are dishing out.

 

got through the claw viper temple fine with a diversion, setting myself up at the alter, tp'ing and getting my merc and valk in there as well, and making a bottleneck making it rather easy to pick them off, after that, it was a breeze through the tomb and duriel fell rather easy!

on to act 3 and i will try to run meph a few times to get some good gear

 

Slightly off-topic question for dmc and Aldeth: since I know you two are fathers (Aldeth of the newer variety) how on earth do you have time to play so much Diablo 2 with kids? I barely have time to play at all right now and I'm still 2 months away from my incarcer...er, I mean wonderful, joyous marriage.

Just curious...all my friends who were once avid gamers stopped playing almost entirely once the stork showed up. They say there is no greater time suck than a kid...

 

Skeletal Mastery then Corpse Explosion it is then. I'm not fussed about Amplify Damage, as I've been relying more and more on Decrepify since I started Nightmare, even against groups of monsters. It's got a poor area of effect but even with only one point into it, thanks to all the skill increases, it now lasts for long enough against anyone except uniques and bosses. Recasting it is a small price to pay in micromanagement and at least it gives me something to do while I watch my skeletons wreak havoc. I did follow your discussion of Bone Spear and that's why I decided not to bother - at this point my skeletons are probably dealing more damange than this when you factor the amplified damage from the curses, so not point in bothering. Besides Corpse Explosion is incredible. I tend to have large groups attacking my golem or skeletons, then when one falls you get a chain reaction as the corpse explosions kill everyone else left standing. It's ridiculously powerful against anyone except bosses (since none have large groups of monsters around them, sadly)

 

First regarding kids - like dmc, a good chunk of my gaming occurs after Jack goes to bed, or when he is doing something that I don't have to participate in. For example, both my wife and Jack loved watching American Idol. Jack sings his heart out in baby-talk along with the contestants - it's really funny. The thing is, I hate all reality based TV. I hate things like American Idol, The Biggest Loser, The Bachelor/ette, Survivor, etc. They are all equally worthless shows in my eyes. But my wife loves them. So after Jack is in bed and my wife is busy watching crap TV, I game. You are also probably over-estimating the amount of time I am on the computer in a given day. It is generally for about an hour - sometimes an hour and a half.

EDIT: Ziad - one note about amplify damage versus decrepify. The main advantage to decrepify is that it greatly decreases the damage monsters do to you and your minions. That's really helpful against big powerful enemies, but mostly unnecessary versus regular opponents. I use amplify damage almost exclsuively, and I don't lose many skeletons during typical play. In fact, I have to summon a replacement skeleton rather infrequently. The one advantage amplify damage has over decrepify is that amp lowers enemies resistnace to physical damage by 100%, whereas decrepify only lowers it by 50%. Your skeletons, mercenary, and golem all do mostly or exclusively physical damage. Corpse explosion is a combination of fire and physical damage. Unless you are facing an opponent that is capable of taking out a skeleton in a single blow - like an act boss - amplify damage is a better option than decrepify. Amp allows you to kill enemies quicker, and since your skeletons won't die anyway, there is no advantage to using decrepify.