Diablo II single player questions

There is one advantage to Decrepify that I like, and it's the ability to slow everyone down. Sure it's not that useful against all monsters, but against ranged enemies and casters it's great, not just because their rate of fire goes down but because they become unable to run away all the time, which is a big pain in some dungeons with narrow corridors, when the skeletons start getting in each others' way while the archer pump them full of arrows. I agree that Amp Damage is more effective, but considering the speed with which my army kills everything anyway the difference between 50% and 100% extra damage won't be such a bid deal until I start seeing physical immunes.

 

i have found the runeword of dreams for a shockadin! and attainable for me it is the crescen moon:

Crescent Moon
3 Socket Axes/Swords/Polearms
Shael + Um + Tir

10% Chance To Cast Level 17 Chain Lightning On Striking
7% Chance To Cast Level 13 Static Field On Striking
+20% Increased Attack Speed
+180-220% Enhanced Damage (varies)
Ignore Target's Defense
-35% To Enemy Lightning Resistance
25% Chance of Open Wounds
+9-11 Magic Absorb (varies)
+2 To Mana After Each Kill
Level 18 Summon Spirit Wolf (30 Charges)

at the highest rune being an UM (and i am counting on getting this before nikola (my tesladin) hits hell and i have plenty of shaels and tirs!

this is amazing! look at the stats, good ED% for leeching, and a wooping -35% enemy lightning resistance! OMGWTFASSSTUFF
on top of that, it has ignore targets defence AND (this is a major ****ing thing) 7% chance to static field the big guys asses! it is frikkin perfekt!

- highly recommended for tesladins around the world by top scientists in the US of a



question: can i upgrade a 3 socketed crystal sword to a 3 socketed phaseblade? if yes i just found a three socketed crystal sword, if not please ignore

 

I know that you can turn a rare or unique into its exceptional or elite version, but I'm not sure if there's a recipe for regular items.

 

figured it out myself, no you cannot upgrade magic or white/grey items, damn

 

Balle,

It is generally agreed upon by most experienced players that Crescent Moon is one of the best runewords in terms of availability of runes and quality of the resulting item. There are certainly more powerful runewords, but they all require multiple rare runes that most players will be unlikely to find. You are completely correct that an Um isn't that rare, and is attainable by most players. Crescent Moon is popular among holy shock paladins, but they are also extremely popular among sorceresses that use lightning as their primary attack. As you've seen on this thread, the Meteor/Frozen Orb combination is probably the most popular sorceress build, but with the right items a Chain Lightning/Frozen Orb build is probably the second most common. I've even seen CL/FO sorceresses go melee at times with the ITD (my sorceresses also melees at times because she wields the ITD Hexfire).

My only concern is that you don't have an Um yet. You're sure to get one eventually, but it is rare to see one drop before Hell difficulty, and if your entire build hinges on getting that rune, it may be better to use other characters to get the Um so that you have the runes on hand by the time your paladin enters Hell difficulty.

As far as what weapon to make it in, it's a tough call. I'm assuming you're using the standard holy shock build with at least a few points in holy shield to help with your blocking. So we can take polearms off the list immediately, as they would require you to lose the benefits of your shield. Even with holy shield, you probably still have made a decent dexterity investment to maintain max block, so you should attain the dexterity requirement of all one-handed axes and one-handed swords. (The most dexterity you would need for any sword is the phase blade which requires 136, but you're certain to get there by the time your character is level 70ish to maintain 75% blocking.)

So the next factor to consider is strength. Remember that you want to pick a weapon that doesn't have far higher strength requirements than the rest of your equipment. As a paladin, I'm assuming you're planning on getting your strength somewhere in the 133-156 range. (I'm picking those numbers because 133 is the strength requirement for a pavise shield, popular among paladins for it's high block rate, and 156 is the strength requirement for using a monarch shield - also popular among paladins as it has the lowest strength requirement for shields able to get 4 sockets). So let's stick to options that have strength requirements of less than 156.

For elite axes, the best candidates would be a Small Crescent (elite version of axe, str req 115), an Ettin Axe (elite version of double axe, str req 145) or a Berserker Axe (elite version of war axe, str req of 138). All three have about the same average base damage, with the Berserker Axe being a slightly better choice than the other two because it has a fast swing speed while the other two have normal swing speeds.

For elite swords, the best three candidates are a phase blade (elite version of crystal sword, str/dex req 25/136), a Conquest Sword (elite version of broad sword, str/dex req 142/112), or a Mythical Sword (elite version of war sword str/dex req 147/124). All three have about the same average damage as the axes, but again the phase blade is slightly better due to having a very fast swing speed, while the other two swords have fast swing speeds.

Finally, the reason I'm giving you all these choices is that you likely will not have the luxury to be picky when the time comes to make this weapon. Elite weapons with exactly three sockets aren't the easiest things in the world to find, and you'll likely end up going with the first option that you acquire. So let me stress again, that all of the options I listed above are acceptable choices. The ideal choice would be a phase blade, but it is possible to play the entirety of hell difficulty and never find one with exactly three sockets.

However, one of the options I listed you will have a chance to make, assuming you hold onto one of your socketing quests. If you take a white weapon to Larzuk and use your socket quest, that weapon will receive the maximum number of sockets it can get. Of the options I listed, a mythical sword can get a maximum of three socekts (all the others can get either 4 or 6), so if you hold onto one of your socket quests that can be a last resort option. You are far more likely to find a white mythical sword, than find a 3-socket version of any of the other options. Of course, you don't want to needlessly use one of your precious socket quests if you don't have to, so keep on the look out with all of your characters, and pick up all gray item types I listed to see if one happens to have 3 sockets.

 

aldeth thx for the clearing on that, i wanted to get it in a phaseblade, but that is not very likely i see

on the UM department, my ama is coming along quite nicely and can run countess pretty fast with the odd mercenary death, so i think i got the UM rune covered when i need it, she is still running along quite nicely, and will be trying to take down mephisto on hell in a minute or two (i paused the game right at the entrance just before this)
and will be on the lookout for any of those axes and swords thx!

i also got a HF drop coming up soon, hopefully that is


update


ripped meph to pieces, the mages before him (cannot be frozen) was quite hard though

 

The reason why it is unlikely is that socketed items generate with a random number of sockets. Phase Blades can have 1-6 sockets in them. So while you are likely to run across a few socketed phase blades, only one in six of them will be of the three socket variety. Comparitively, you have a one in four chance of getting a socketed Small Crescent with three sockets, and a one in three chance of getting a socketed mythical sword with three sockets. All the other options you also have a one in six chance.

You need to run Hell Countess to get any decent runes, and even then it is spotty. Nightmare Countess isn't worth your time beyond the first time you kill her (as her chest always drops at least one rune too). Hell Countess usually drops three runes, but the lower runes are more likely to drop than the higher ones. It is possible for Hell Countess to drop an Um (or even as high as an Ist), but it is more likely that you get an Eld, Tir, and Nef.

Hellforge is another option, but unfortunately you can only do that quest once per difficulty level. The good news is that Um is a possible drop on both Nightmare and Hell difficulty. Um is rune #22, and Nightmare Hellforge drops from #12-#22 with an equal chance of getting any of those 11, and Hell Hellforge drops from #16-#26, again with an equal chance of any of those occuring. But like I said in my last post - Um isn't that rare - you're bound to run across one in Hell eventually. (Note: This also is the reason why rune #27 and up are termed "high runes", as all the other ones you can eventually get just by doing enough Hellforge quests.)

I took out Nightmare Baal with my Meteorb Sorceress yesterday. Total destruction. From the time I walked through the portal, Baal was dead in well under one minute. I ran up to him and blasted off a few static fields to take off about half of his life points. Then I just held down the right click, and cast Meteor-Fireball-Fireball-Meteor-Fireball-Fireball over and over again. There is about a 1.5 second delay from the time you cast a meteor before you can cast a second one - which is approximately the time it takes for the first casting of meteor to hit the ground. That 1.5 seconds is enough time to get off two fireballs, and the first meteor is still burning on the ground when the second meteor hits. After about 20 seconds, two healing potions (one each for me and my merc), and a mana potion I had one burnt-to-a-crisp Baal.

I am impressed with the Meteorb Sorceress. Now I know Hell is a lot tougher than Nightmare, but the thing is, my Sorceress is nowhere near her maximum potential when it comes to her fire skills. She's currently level 66 (maybe 67 - I think I leveled fighting Baal's minions). So far she's maxed out Frozen Orb and Meteor, and has put a good chunk of points in Fireball. All of her remaining skill points - probably about 20 when you add in the four skill quests in hell - will go toward maxing Fireball (which is a co-synergy with Meteor) and Fire Mastery (which improves the damage of both Fireball and Meteor). And we still haven't counted the -15% enemy fire resistance that I'll get once I start wearing some of Tal Rasha's set at level 71. I'm looking at a couple thousand more damage per meteor and several hundred more damage per fireball by the time I put on another 10 or so levels.

My current plan is do some cows and Baal runs until I'm at level 71. I want to be able to wear all of my end-game gear by the time I start Hell difficulty.

 

sry i did not specify it before, but my amazon is in hell, and going on act 4, wich has proven to be a tough job!

i'm currently switching between two bows wizendraw and a gothic bow with edge in it, i would really like a better and faster one like eaglehorn or maybe buriza? i am still looking, and i have discounted gathering any of the runes for either ice or faith as they include ber and stuff like that wich i am never going to collect, and even if i get 1 high rune i still need more

 

Buriza can potentially be good, but it really depends on what kind of amazon you have. What skills does she specialize in? Is she more like a cannon that casts elemental arrows, or does she fill the air with low damage arrows using strafe or multishot? I can give advice buy I need to know what I'm working with. Most bowazons do go for two bows - usually one that adds automatic elemental damage like Koku.

 

shes a FA/strafer with a high lvl valk and a might merc

current gear is

rare+1 necro ammu with +20 all res +18 light

spriit forge linked mail? with 2 PT in

the two bows edge and wizendraw

rare res and AR rings

sigons boots for res.

and a lore helm

sadly she doesn't do a lot of dammage even to non-cold immunes in act 4, even with the wizendraw wich has -32% enemy cold resistance


i have maxed FA and cold arrow i think, the one that synergises with the dammage of the FA

and to deal with my mana problem i have an insight on my merc, who tends to die a lot, but i figure it will become less frequent when he can use the crown of theives when he hits the next lvl (81)

 

Aldeth, this is how powerful the Meteorb is When I ran mine a few years ago I didn't even use Meteor that much until well into nightmare (except for uniques and bosses of course). Fireball by itself was doing a splendid job for most of Normal and Nightmare and can be spammed relatively quickly). Hell is significantly harder and I died many times on that difficulty, but once I got my resistances to something decent it was manageable. Meteor and Frozen Orb don't lose any of their killing power in Hell and will tear through things rather quickly. Keep in mind that I was doing all of this without the benefit of Tal Rasha's set! Good items are useful for any build, but the Meteorb doesn't need them as much as others.

 

My Zealadin just reached Act III of Nightmare so I pretty much stopped... I absolutely hate that act.

As such I'm looking for another character to start, this time it will probably be a druid, sorceress, or necro, not sure yet.

 

Wizendraw is a decent bow to use. It even fires magic arrows when you don't over-write it with a skill, so it's useful against quite a few creatures. But the first thing you got to do is upgrade that bad boy to make it do the respectable damage it's capable of using the following receipe.

The second thing you should look for is a second damage type, for taking on cold immunes. My personal favorite bow of choice as a switch is:

This one is easy. It fires explosive arrows all the time, and if you are willing to invest one point into fire arrow, exploding arrow, and immolation arrow, you will have a slvl 7 immolation arrow that has a 50% chance of travelling through it's target and exploding on another target behind it.

This brings me to my next point - it seems like you don't have any equipment with chance to pierce on it, which is necessary for any amazon build. Unless you have a ton of points invested in pierce, that may be a signifcant problem. The reason I like Kuko and Buriza so much is not just because they come with different damage types (Kuko fire and Buriza cold) it's because they both come with a 50% chance of piercing. This allows me to minimize my investment in pierce (usually just one point and get some +skills) and I'm hitting everything that's in a straight line. If you can get your hands on the belt Razortail (33% chance of piercing) it's conceivable to hit the 95% max chance pierce rate.

So my recommendations here are get pierce as high as you can - either by skill investment or items, and definitely absolutely upgrade that wizendraw. It's a decent bow with the upgrade, and if you can afford insight you can afford an upgrade.

 

upgrading it right now, and you are correct i haven't been able to find any piercing equipment yet! very annoying that is, i have however just found a sol rune and will upgrade it right away, any recommendations for sockets? i got 3 shaels?

 

How about a pskull for mana and life leech? Although I typically don't socket weapons. Another thought is a perfect sapphire for even more cold damage... A Shael isn't a great idea if you use strafe a lot, because it won't speed it up that much. If you use FA more, then possibly, although I'm thinking that the -enemy cold resist would push me to maximize my cold damage on each shot.

 

not a bad idea with the saphire after i find one to upgrade it!

though i don't think i would take the Pskull because the physical dammage i do is so low i don't think it will matter

---------- Added 13 hours, 9 minutes and 48 seconds later... ----------

what the **** just happend!!?

i was doing my regular countess run for xp, and diablo is there instead of the countess!?

is this the infamous diablo clone!?

i will try to kill him but will likely fail i guess...

 

That's the DClone! Are you playing on battlenet? Hell, once you find yourself a suitable elite 3-socket weapon, I'll GIVE you an Um if you need it. But yeah. You should have seen a message in the top left of the screen that said "Diablo Walks the Earth". When that happens the next Super Unique monster you encounter will be replaced by the Diablo clone. Sometimes when players get the message Diablo Walks the Earth, they deliberately go to an easy area of the game to get DClone to spawn in an area where all the other creatures are easy. The two most popular locations are the Den of Evil, where DClone will replace Corpsefire (the super unique zombie) or the Cold Plains where DClone will replace Bishbosh (the super unique fallen shaman).

However, this is all moot at this point. You have neither the character type nor the equipment necessary to take DClone out. He has about 650,000 life, and is capable of regenerating about 7,000 life per second, so without crushing blow, I don't see how you can kill him solo.

EDIT: Here is the link. He is also referred to as Uber Diablo, although that name is usually reserved for the version that spawns in Tristram.

 

thx bt i'm in single players with the plugy tool which makes it happen some times

i did get him down to like 99.99% of his life though, i got prevent monster heal on my edge bow if that helps.

i would really have liked taking him down and getting the annihilus

the reason i'm not playing online is that, all of my cd-keys are taintet, otherwise i would do



but hey, shouldn't us single player guys try to get together and take out uber diablo, meph and ball for a torch?

i havent got the character or equipment yet, i have got a few keys though

 

I have all the keys - I just lack a character to do it successfully. I have no desire to build a smiter with a lifetap wand on switch. They are great for DClone and the Ubers, but not particularly fun to play anywhere else.

I still say my crushing blow paladin can take him out if he is lucky enough to encounter him. I've never beat him either. The only character I had that did well against him was my concentrate barbarian. I eventually saved and exited that game after it became clear after a few minutes that we couldn't kill each other - both of us were able to leech and/or regenerate life at a faster rate than the other was able to take it away.