Diablo II single player questions

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Then ladder only runewords such as spirit should also work?

 

dmc would be the best person to ask that question, as I play on ladder, so they obviously work. I would recommend doing a trial on something that is relatively cheap though. I would recommend trying it on the cheapest ladder-only runeword that you can find.

 

The cheapest I could find was Edge which is tir-tal-amn and is for missile weapons only.
Another relatively cheap is Spirit which is tal-thul-ort-amn and works for shields and swords.

 

IIRC ladder-only uniques appear only in offline SP and in ladder, but ladder-only runewords can only be created in ladder and not in offline SP. I vaguely remember not being able to create a ladder-only runeword when I played the game years ago. However the reason I'm almost certain ladder-only runewords won't work is that PlugY specifically has an option to enable ladder-only runewords in SP (note that it has no such option for ladder-only uniques). If ladder-only runewords were already there in SP there'd be no reason for this option to exist.

dmc, if you're going to create a runeword in SP just to double-check this, you might as well back up your save. No reason to lose the runes, even if they're cheap, just to test if the functionality exists. Besides I think all the ladder-only runewords are relatively expensive.

 

I'm glad you found Rik's guide. As I said, I think it is the most comprehensive guide to all things WW-related. The only maul that I am aware of that hits the last WW break point is the IK Stone Crusher, and even that only works if you put Shael runes in both sockets. Of course, in order to use the IK maul you'll need about 230 in strength, which is probably significantly more than you were planning on investing in that attribute, although probably not THAT much more than the combined str/dex investment for some high end spears and polearms.

Hey, actually there is a choice for a mace class which hits the last WW-breakpoint - Baranar's Star - if you shael it. And you can use a shield with it. You might want to consider it even for a weapon switch, as it does huge elemental damage which would make using Berserk not usually necessary when dealing with physical immunes. Of course, you lose a lot in range when using Baranar's Star - it's only a range 2 weapon, and it would only be a good choice for a switch if you went with mace mastery.

The one thing that mauls have going for them is that there is a natural progression of quality mauls to use as you level your character. Level 24 allows you to use Bonesnap, and from there you can graduate to Bloodtree Stump at level 48, and then double Shael a IK Stone Crusher (I'm sure you have one of them) when you hit level 70 (I think?) to use it. I have used the IK maul and it is really nice, especially if you equip a couple other items in the set.

On your other choices, it seems to me that Bonehew, while certainly a solid choice (that's the one fires bone spears, right?) seems to be a very similar attribute investment as mauls. Ogre axes have close to a 200 point strength (it's either 190 or 195) requirement, and a dex requirement of around 75 or so. So you'll probably need to invest something in dexterity to hit that, and combined with the strength requirement it'll be about the same outlay of points. Of course, a polearm looks totally bad ass, and making a weapon choice on that criteria alone is justifiable.

On the looks department, spears are definitely pretty weak, and there is only one real choice when dealing with spears - you want an upped Hone Sudan with three shaels in it. That is almost certainly a significant outlay in attribute points similar to mauls. You're looking at a 122 str / 163 dex requirement (and items will definitely not get you there). Here the question comes down to how much strength you'll need for other gear. If all your other equipment is around 120 or so in strength, the Hone Sudan makes sense. However, if you have some other high strength requirement gear that will require you to go significantly higher than 122, you may be better off going with mauls. The one thing you want to avoid is having a really high strength AND dexterity requirement. Getting your strength to 230 isn't so bad if you don't need to spend anything in dexterity - you'll still get vitality well over 200.

 

Got quite a cool axe from Mephisto with my Sorc. Ethereal Edge unique silver-edged axe with a damage of 250-438. I think my druid just got a weapon that will carry him through hell. Definently better than hellslayer axe this one and if not equal then atleast close to the messerschmitts reaver which used to be the axe of choice for barbs in the old days.

My sorc is facing a troublesome dilemma though, with the finding of tal rashas orb I'm left with two options. One to take the orb into use and gain the good bonuses that come from wielding the belt, orb and the mask and go down on the resistance department (leaving my fire and cold in the twenties and lightning and poison in the forties), I'll also get the benefit of having a shield which currently is a Rhyme runeworded hyperion(block 65). So is the orb worth the resistances that I'll have to sacrifice (they'll go down with about 20 each)?

I really like it and it would be a pity if the resistances force me to leave it for now. I simply love the magic find bonus it gives as well as the -15% to enemy fire resistance, now to mention the huge speedup in casting speed.

 

Yeah had huge trouble with those in act3. The bosses tore my sorc down in an instant. I could of course keep both and use the razorwitch as a secondary weapon if my resists start failing me. Yeah, I know my block probably ain't exactly the same my natural dex being 90, but with all gear some over 100.

 

If you want to find your real block rate at your current level, open your character stats and hover your mouse over your defense. The tooltip should display your current block rate. And as dmc has pointed out it will usually be lower than the shield's blocking, unless you've really boosted DEX.

 

Well my block is still at 45% with the dex of 130 (much more than I intially recconed it would be), which ain't all that bad. I know I should have more points in dex but since I've been wielding a twohanded weapon for some time now as my main weapon I have geared down from dex towards life. Now that I'm considering seriously to start using a shield again I'll start putting more points in dex.

EDIT: Funny, I thought this game had no unique charms, probably an addition made by 1.10. Anyhow got Gheeds Fortune char. 30% to magic find 134% more gold and -14 in vendor prices. While the minus in vendor prices is quite irrelevant and more gold is just a nice touch, the 30% magic find makes this definently a keeper for my sorc.

Oh and thanks for checking out the runewords dmc, allthought with what Ziad said I don't think it was absolutely necessary but thanks none the less.

 

Arioc's gives a TON of +skills which is very nice. But Arioc's lacks crushing blow, which is pretty much mandatory for a WW barbarian, as WW is not high damage (it hits a lot of creatures, but each individual hit does not do any more damage - and often times considerably less damage) than any of the combat skills that attack a single foe. Unless you are planning on using other gear with CB, I'd go with Hone Sudan. HS also has the benefit of having a level requirement in the 40s. You can equip it early on, and wait to up it to the elite version once you hit level 67 (and can actually use it).

I still say the decision on what weapon to use should come down to the strength requirements of the rest of your equipment. If you are going to be investing up to 170 or so in strength anyway, then you may as well go ahead all the way up to 230 and use mauls. Remember that barbarians are one of the few classes the can reap the benefits of using the very heavy, high defense armors with huge strength requirements, because you'll max shout, and you'll invest at least one in iron skin, that will later be pumped to considerably higher levels with +skills. I will conservative estimate that you'll reach level 31 in shout (you have at least +11 to war cries) and level 6 in iron skin (you have at least +5 to masteries). That will give you +380% bonus to your entire defense (all items and your dex bonus).

On the other hand, if you are planning on using a lighter armor, and the 122 strength requirement on the HS is your highest you got, it would be highly inadvisable to go for mauls. I can tell you from experience that the IK maul is definitely doable for a WW barb because of the great CB on it, and I can also tell you that the HS works as well. It's just what other equipment you are planning on using, and I would put the break point right around 170 strength. Less than that I'd go for HS, higher than that, go for mauls. I'd advise against all swords, because the strength/dexterity investment will be about the same as it would be for spears (although it would be reversed - higher strength, lower dexterity) and there are absolutely no good choices out there with CB.

Gheed's fortune is one of three unique charms, and the only one available in single player. The other two are the Annhilus (large charm), which you get for beating the Diablo Clone, and the Hellfire Torch (also a two space large charm - which you get for completing the Hell Tristram quest). Your Gheed's is an above average one. The stats on the charm are variable regarding all three modifiers. Magic find is between 20%-30% (so yours is perfect in that regard), gold find is between 100%-150%, (yours is above average) and vendor prices are reduced by 10%-15% (yours is again better than average). The vendor price reduction also affects gambling - so it is not an irrelevant stat.

How much are you losing? I agree with dmc that resistances in the 20s are not good, but if you're only losing about 10% to each resistance, then you may as well go with the Tal Rasha setup. The Rhyme runeword comes with resist all on it, so if you're losing resist elsewhere, but gaining it from using Rhyme, it seems like the net change in resistance won't be much.

 

I'm losing 50 from razorwitch, so while Rhyme gives me 25 I'll still end up losing about 25.
Good point that about gambling though didn't even think about gambling prices. According to diabloii wiki the magic find max is 40 though so in that regard my charm stays as average, a very nice and useful charm still though. Do you have any idea how rare gheed's fortune is considered in general?

 

Gheed's is definitely a rare find, but it's not as excessively rare is things like Arkaine's Valor, or any of the body armor pieces of the class-specific sets (except Griswald's Set - the armor for that is more common than Gheeds). I'd put the rarity of a Gheed's along the same lines as the more commonly found elite unique and set items.

 

Just wanted to ask since these did not exist in 1.09 and earlier version and thought of it as a pretty cool charm. I wonder if Hell difficulty has been made somewhat more difficult and the drops increased since I seem to be getting a lot more good items as drops as I did before. Runes seem to be as rare as they ever were but with a few meph runs I have allready scored IK:s helm, my third ravenfrost, Naj's armor, gheeds, ethereal edge and Hellcrack the unique colossus crossbow (which seems pretty frigging amazing to me). When I used to play (and I played a lot more back then) it would have taken several months to find these items. It just seems to me that elite uniques drop far more than they did before.

Not that I'm complaining without the dropping of ali babas tulwar and skin of the vipermargi I would have probably given up since finding decent items for higher difficulties would have been a huge pain.

 

match the gheed with an edge runeword bow, also minus 15% vendor prices for a great discount when gambling