Diablo II single player questions

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That seems to be the same link...

Here, I'll upload mine to megaload if that is better.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KI665M2M

 

Some mercenary issues.

OK, I've been doing some thinking about my paladin, and one of the things I noticed that is definitely reducing his effectiveness is that he has a terrible % chance to hit. It's a 50-something percent chance for the monsters in Act III Hell. And I'm level 81, so it's not a penalty because of a massive level difference between the monsters and me. I'm actually wonding if I should hire a blessed aim mercenary. If a blessed aim mercenary can take my chance to hit from 50-something to 70-something, hitting more often may actually turn out more damage than getting a bonus to damage when I hit (especially against non-cold immunes).

What I really need is a Raven Frost. I cannot believe I don't have one of them lying around. I've found tons of unique rings, and the Raven Frost has the same drop frequency as a Dwarf Star, and I have several of them. A Raven Frost has a bunch of useful mods on it:

Adds 15-45 Cold Damage, 4 seconds cold length
Cannot be Frozen
Absorbs 20% Cold Damage
+15-20 to Dexterity
+150-250 to Attack Rating
5% Chance of casting Slvl 5 Frost Nova When Struck

Big attack rating, with the dexterity adding to attack rating too, and all of that gets multiplied by my zeal skill. One of those should raise my attack rating several hundred points. I also don't mind the additional cold damage and increased slowing effect that comes with it, and since I don't have any cannot be frozen gear currently equipped, that's useful too. The 20% absorb cold damage is more of a novelty stat, as so few things deal big cold damage for it to be of much use, and the level 5 Frost Nova is definitely insignificant damage in hell difficulty.

As for my sorceress, I'm torn on what mercenary to use. It certainly is going to be an Act II merc, as I need a body in front of me while I'm casting spells. I definitely don't need an offensive mercenary of either type - either blessed aim or might, as my character won't be entering combat that much. And thorns and prayer mercs are always near-useless regardless of the character you are playing. But there are good things to be said about both the holy freeze and defiance mercenary. I'm in normal now, so obviously my only option is the defiance mercenary at this time. With some decent armor, a defiance mercenary can last quite a long time in combat. Of course, a holy freeze mercenary will slow enemies, making them easier targets for my spells. Seeing as how holy freeze works on just about everything (cold immune creatures don't take damage, but are not immune to the slow effect), it should also indirectly reduce the damage the mercenary takes by getting hit with less frequency. [edit] and the holy freeze merc will have much higher damage output that the defiance merc due to the aura. [/edit]

One thing I am sure of is that I'm going to give my mercenary an insight polearm, as soon as I find a suitable 4-socket polearm. (It doesn't literally have to be a polearm - anything in the polearm class will do. Although spears don't work, so pikes are out. Ideally, I would make it in an exceptional grade weapon.) The runeword is Ral-Tir-Tal-Sol, so all common runes that I have in abundance. Getting an appropriate 4-socket polearm is definitely to hardest part of the runeword. Insight gives:

Level 10-17 Meditation Aura When Equipped (varies)
+35% Faster Cast Rate
+200-260% Enhanced Damage (varies)
+9 To Minimum Damage
180-250% Bonus to Attack Rating (varies)
Adds 5-30 Fire Damage
+75 Poison Damage Over 5 Seconds
+1-6 To Critical Strike (varies)
+5 To All Attributes
+2 To Mana After Each Kill
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Some of these stats are useless to a mercenary. He doesn't gain any benefit from faster cast rate or mana after each kill (mercenaries don't use mana to activate their skills - even the ones that cast spells!). The damage, attack rating, and magic find are definitely nice, but what I really want it for is the meditation aura. Strangely, the meditiation skill (from the paladin's defensive aura tree) provides a far greater mana regeneration rate than the sorceress's warmth skill. Fortunately, the two skills work additvely, so I should be regenerating mana very quickly.

(Strange in the sense that there aren't too many mana-intensive paladin builds, so I don't see why many paladins would need this aura. Even for the mana heavy paladin skills, you'd probably want a different aura active. Hammerdins use concentrate (the only offensive aura that works with blessed hammer) and nearly all Avengers use Conviction to lower the elemental resistance of their enemies. Perhaps a paladin specializing in Fist of the Heavens could use that aura, but it's not like you see many of them running around.)

One other thing about my sorceress. I purchased a 3-socket long bow from Gheed early in Act I, and later upgraded to a rare 2-socket hunter's bow in Act II. You wouldn't think of a bow as a weapon for a sorceress, but she is kicking major ass with it. She was able to one-shot kill everything in Act I, and most monsters don't take more than 2 arrows in Act II. Her chance to hit in Act I was 95%, and it's still in the high 80s in Act II. I will concede that by Act III or IV, it will probably become impractical to use a bow as the monsters by then will have higher defense ratings and I won't be able to hit anything. However, for the first two acts a bow (or crossbow I suppose) packed with chipped or flawed gems for the elemental damage is a really good strategy. It allows you to kill from a distance, does more damage than most of your early spells, and gets you through the early acts when you're most likely to suffer from mana problems.

 

I've only ever used Act 2 mercs for my sorceresses. You really do need someone at the front line who can soak up the damage and if you're doing that Holy Freeze is just perfect for slowing them down and making sure you mercenary survives longer (of course the longer he survives the longer your Sorceress stays out of trouble). If you can get that Insight polearm that's great (I don't think I've ever created it), you'll never have mana problems again, which is great.

I got my first complete set! My necromancer found the last piece for Cleglaw's Brace so I passed it on to my Paladin. And... wow. Lots of defense, lots of resistances, huge amount of damage... it's probably going to stay with my Paladin for some time.

 

Cleglaw's Set is good for any melee character, so a paladin will do. The increase damage per level and attack rating per level you get from wearing the weapon and gloves are the best part with that set. I don't remember there being much resistance on the set (a little bit on the shield maybe?), but for me the biggest annoyance was the gloves come with knockback - a stat that is great on a missile weapon, but annoying on a melee weapon.

 

Thanks for the link, Chicken is Good. Downloaded, and I'll use that one tonight.

I got a unique drop in normal mode act 2 last night! It's the Crushflange Mace, which has a +15 boost to strength and a 33% chance for Crushing Blow (I'm not quite sure what that is - I assume it's an instant kill - can anyone help me here?). It does close to half the damage that my other weapon does, a 3-socketed Grand Scepter that I socketed with 3 runes: Tir, Ral and El (+2 mana/kill, +5-30 fire damage, +50 attack rating and +1 light radius). I had several of these 3 runes to spare after doing multiple Countess runs, so I figured what the hell, and didn't worry about a rune word special item.

My question is - is the 33% chance of crushing blow good enough that I should use the Crushflange instead of the socketed scepter as my main weapon? Or - is the scepter better for general use since it does much more damage, and the Crushflange better for bosses for the crushing blow chance? I kill just about everything with a single hit with the scepter as it is, and the Crushflange might give me an edge vs. bosses. Thoughts?

ps - What is a 'ladder character'?

 

No.

Yes.

What Crushing Blow does is when it activates it takes off 25% of a monster's hitpoints. For Champions, Uniques, and Bosses, it's 10% of the current hitpoints. Therefore, for something like a boss, you're much better off using Crushflange, because 10% of the boss's life is way more than what your scepter can do. Against a normal monster, you're already one-hit killing everything, so Crushflange would only slow you down.

So put it on your weapon switch, and whip it out when you get to Duriel. Beat him down to about 1/4 of his starting life - that should only take 2-3 zeal cycles with a 33% chance - and then weapon switch back to your scepter (once his life gets low, Crushflange again becomes worse than your scepter, as 10% of a small life total is a small amount of damage).

 

The prayer merc should also be great with Insight because prayer-meditation synergy. I've seen some casting type Druids and Necromancers using it.

 

I forgot to add make sure you download in a IE window/browser.
I didn't work for me the first time I tried downloading it using the AOL browser.

 

The shield gives +15 to all resists. Not huge, but for Act 2 Normal (where my Paladin is) it's pretty big, especially since it has already pushed my fire resistance into the stratosphere (thanks to a wonderful little item I found that gives +50 to fire resist and +10 to max fire resist). Fire Enchanted enemies are now complete pushovers. The damage and attack are where it's all at though. Unfortunately the knockback effect is a big disadvantage for Zeal, but it's not so bad when my Paladin gets surrounded by baddies. I'll probably drop the set when I get either a very good Paladin shield or a very food scepter, but until then I'm going to have some good fun with it.

 

Skills that are granted by items and items that give +skills don't count for synergies, nor do they benefit from synergies. You actually have to spend hard points in both the skill and the synergy to get the benefit. At least that's how it works for player characters - it is possible for the rules to be different for mercenaries.

Anyway, it's not like the effects of prayer are helpful in emergency situations anyway, and you can mimic the effects of prayer by wearing some regenerate life gear.

EDIT: Ziad, I'd actually hold on to the set for use in boss situations. The completed set gives you 35% crushing blow, which = boss killer, as I detailed a few posts up the page in my reply to Death Rabbit. The strategy is identical: use the CB weapon to get the boss's life down to around 20% of it's normal total, and then switch to your regular weapon. You usually portal back to town before fighting a boss anyway, to load up on potions and sell off your loot to make room for big boss item drop. Keep your set in your stash and use it as boss-killing equipment. Knockback doesn't work on bosses anyway, so the main detriment to the set is removed.

 

@Aldeth

The thing is, Mercs do actually have levels in Prayer. Since Meditation receives a bonus from Prayer, it would work if the character were a player. I dont know if it will work with mercs, I dont know if mercs have synergies but I imagine they would (since, having seen how skills are calculated, there is nothing mentioned what the skill user is).

Even if synergies dont work for mercs, the merc will have both prayer and meditation active at the same time anyway. Having invested points into prayer and having it active at the same time as meditation as granted by an item would yield double the regeneration, because of the synergy effect plus the actual effect of the active prayer.

 

I didn't think of it that way Proteus. I was thinking in terms of a paladin who could only have meditation or prayer active, but you're right, since prayer and meditation would both be active it would effectively double the life regaining effects. I know prayer is fairly slow, but doubling it would certainly increase its usefulness. To the point that it would save your bacon in the middle of the fight... I don't know.

 

If he/she did the killing blow, yes.

Yes, the prayer should synergize with meditation and the effectiveness should be doubled. I am sure it's this way in 1.10, but I assume it remains so in 1.12 since no mention of it is ever made explicitly or in changelogs.
I just happened to be in a game with some Nercomancers/Druids who had the setup. I'm not to sure how effective this would be to a Sorceress, but given the advantages with Teleport it should be useful. Especially since the prayer merc is a normal merc.

 

Sorry for not explaining better.
*If your minions landed the killing blow it would be like you did it yourself, so no change.
The mercenary's +MF doesn't get applied.

*If your mercenary landed the killing blow his +MF will be applied along with yours (additive).

Little D2 quirk.

 

Really quick example for dmc:

Say you have +200mf, and your mercenary has +50mf.

Your mf is added to the mf of your merc and minions for things they kill. Since your golem and skeletons have no mf, when they kill things they get your mf of 200. Your merc however, would have an effective mf of 250.

So if your merc is carrying mf gear it is usually wise to try and let him land the final blow to kill an act boss (with an army of skeletons it usually is impossible to ensure this happens).

 

Wow, I missed that post on Crushing Blow. I barely payed attention to the set doing this and focused on everything else, but this is just amazing against bosses! I'll definitely keep the set even if something much better turns up.

 

I have to concede that you have been a much better rune hunter than I am dmc. My highest rune right now is a Ohm, which I believe is #27, but if you have a Ber (or almost have a Ber) that's number #31. Since one Ber is worth about 16 Ohms (and some gems, but their value is so low as to almost not matter), it is safe to say that your total rune wealth is 16 times my own.

Depending on how close you are to a Ber, Countess runs very well may be the way to go. In fact, if you have other characters with lower mf that can run the tower faster, you may even want to let someone other than your necro do most of the work. (For example, I have a barbarian that can usually complete the tower in less time than it takes me to find the tower - as I have a random map each time I play. He has to slow down a little bit for ghosts, but berserk can usually two-hit kill them.) I don't know if you have an alternative for Hell Countess runs other than your frost zealot, who would be decidedly NOT quickler than your necro.

I am of the personal opinion that Naj's set is crap, largely because of the level requirement needed to use it. You need to be level 78 to equip the complete set, and at that point you're never going to spend slots for a two-handed weapon, armor, and headgear for a measly +3 to all skills. Remember, a sorceress kills with her skills, and so loading up on +skills is the primary goal of any build. By the time you are level 78 you should already have a staff or orb that gives +2 or +3 to an entire tree, and additional +skills to individual skills that you use with some frequency. It's also easy enough to find headgear that gives +1 to all skills in a circlet, or +2 if you use the unique shako, HC. There are several options for individual set pieces or unique body armor that give +1 to all skills, and there are a few shields (including one specifically designed for a sorceress) that give +1 to all skills. And we haven't even got into runewords yet. You should easily be able to get +4/+5 to all and +7/+8 to a specific tree (or at least specific spells within a tree) by the time you are level 78.

In the sorceress I just started, I already have equipment on hand that gives +4 to all skills and an additional +3 to the fire tree (which is my primary tree) and all of that equipment I can wear way before level 78. The set wouldn't be so bad if you could use it about 30 levels earlier.

I'm coming to terms with the outcome of my frost zealot. I will eventually finish the game with him. The thing is that this character can do exactly what I built him to do. It's like that girl that every guy dates at some point in his 20s that the only reason you're with her is she's really good at one thing, but is totally incompetant and a complete airhead when it comes to everything else. Well, I built the paladin to be a boss killer, and he is really friggin' good at killing bosses. I don't think I've seen one last a minute against his massive crushing blow. But he's not a character that you can use for much of anything else. He cannot mf because his gear requriements are so rigid, he can survive in almost every area, but he cannot excel in any area because cold and/or physical immunes slow him down a great deal. He cannot run keys quickly. He cannot run Mephisto or Baal quickly (although upon reaching Mephisto or Baal he can take them out quickly - it's getting there that is the problem).

But he can tank bosses. That's what I built this guy for. The next time I'm in a game where I see "Diablo Walks the Earth" this is my guy to take on the Diablo Clone. And while he cannot get the keys to activate the Pandimonium Event, he is the character that is best suited to take on the uber bosses. Because he's really good at one thing.