Diablo II single player questions

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Things worth gambling:

First of all, some rules regarding gambling: 10% of all gambles will be rares. 0.1% of all gambles will be sets or uniques (they each have a 1 in 2000 chance of happening), so while it is not impossible to get a set or unique from gambling what you are looking for are rares.

The higher your characters level, the better modifiers you can get from items you gamble. You will need to be level 85 or higher to have a chance to get any modifier available in the game.

All items shown in the gambling window will look like the base level item, but there is a chance that they are automatically upped to the exceptional or elite version if you are playing on hell difficulty. The percent chance of a gambled item being an exceptional (as opposed to normal) is your level divided by 6. So effectively it can't be more than 16%. Elites are you level divided by 30, so never more than 3.3%. However, those are exactly the items you are looking for when you gamble.

Thing I like to gamble:

1. Circlets. You never know when one is gonig to get upped to a tiara (elite circlet). Circlets, coronas and tiaras all have bonuses to their random modifiers and so can potentially be the best head gear available in the game. Tiaras have a chance to spawn with +2 to all skills, and rares can have +2 to all skills plus a bunch of other modifiers.

2. Rings and amulets. Because you don't have to worry about exceptional and elite percentages. High level rings and amulets can have fantastic mods, and 1 in 10 will be rare and give you that possibility.

3. Specific potential high damage weapons. This one depends on what character you are playing, and what weapon he uses. For example, if I'm playing a barbarian and he has axe mastery, I will gamble every war axe I see, in the hopes that it gets up the Berserker Axe (the elite version) and that it is a rare with good mods.

I also will gamble pikes for my mercenary.

I also will gamble high end armors in the the hopes I get at least an exceptional rare.

Gambling is the best source of items in the game. You collect tons of gold just playing the game and selling equipment to Larzuk. I usually save up about 2 million gold, and then go on a gambling bonanza. 10% of everything you gamble is rare, which is a way higher rate than what you get monster killing. And you never have to waste money on an equipment slot you are happy with. If you like your boots - don't gamble for boots. But if you find your boots lacking, buy every pair you see - eventually you'll get something you like. The only thing you have to remember with gambling is to always save about 50,000 gold in case your mercenary dies. The only other thing you need money for is equipment repairs, which are usually negligible, and with nothing else to buy, you may as well gamble.

 

What type & level of character are you using dmc?
We might be able to help with some more info.

 

Hmm... I forgot to mention this possibility. The ancients spawn with random modifiers every time you face them. It is entirely possible that if you get an unlucky spawn, they will be unbeatable. For example, if you get one that spawns extra fast and extra strong, you're probably done. If you get one (in your character's case) that spawns immune to cold and fire, he'll be practically indestructible.

Sadly, your only recourse if the ancients spawn with very difficult modifiers is to "save and exit", and respawn them. Going back to town and re-activating them does not work on single player - they will have the same modifiers as they had the last time. You actually will have to start a new game (although you shouldn't need a new map). Lather, rinse, and repeat until you get a spawn you can deal with.

Some other suggestions: Make sure you don't clear the entire ancient tunnels before you face the ancients. If you merc should die and you head back to town, you'll want him to get his might aura back up before you fight the ancients again. There is a 10% every time your merc attacks that his aura will activate (and once it activates it stays activated).

Stock up on full rejuvenation potions. I would recommend at least 8 of your 16 belt slots be devoted to full rejuvenation potions. A lot of times, they hit so hard that full healing potions simply will not get the job done fast enough - there will be times you are taking damage at a faster rate than healing potions resotore it - those are the times you save and exit, but you need the full rejuvs to make sure you can save and exit before dying. Also, you definitely don't want to run out of healing potions, but you also don't want to be digging around in your backpack while the ancients are attacking you. What I do to circumvent this is go to the summit with my inventory loaded with full healing potions. Then I scatter them at various parts of the summit, so I shouldn't have to go far to reach one of the groups no matter where I am. As I'm sure you know, if you have empty belt slots free, a potion will automatically go to your belt when you pick it up, instead of your backpack. Throwing a ton of potions on the ground for easy access during battle can save your bacon.

Take out the guy with the throwing axes FIRST. For some reason he has a hell of a lot less life points than the other two, but he hits for a ton of damage. If you can take him out, you can usually succeed in the battle.

On the bright side, I can tell you that I have defeated the ancients solo with a might mercenary running a holy freeze zealot. So it is possible (and not just thoeretically so). If you are still having difficulty, the only thing I can think of is do you have a small life pool? I'd say as a melee character that gets up close and personal to kill you would need a bare minimum of 1000 life to have a reasonable chance. Heck, my amazon is currently on Act V hell difficulty, she kills from a distance, and I even made sure her life is a little over 1000 (I think it's about 1050).

 

Your damage is majorly low, you should easily be doing way more than that. Farm until you can get a better weapon.
As aldeth stated it sometimes comes down to the luck of the draw as to what modifiers they spawn with.
Agree totallly with taking out the throwing axe guy first

 

He's running holy freeze, and he didn't list his cold damage - I'd say his total damage is a lot higher than just the 600 or so he listed.

 

I never attempted to do this, so I cannot speak to its effectiveness. If you can do it reasonably well so that he cannot hit you OR your merc, then I see little reason why you would need to take him out first. If he cannot hit you, it certainly suggests you should kill him last.

 

Hmmm... My merc is also having difficulty surviving in hell difficulty, which I do not remember with previous runs through the game. Now obviously, he was more durable when I played a barbarian, because he too benefited from battle orders. But I've had might merc with me with other characters, so it is strange. Now my valkyrie still is a tank. She can handle just about anything (although she doesn't do nearly as much damage once the merc goes down).

 

Here's a little story to put things in perspective for you: Last night, while advancing my amazon through the ice caves, I had the misfortune of running into a boss pack of blood lords (the minotaur-like creatures that have frenzy attacks). The boss had the modifiers extra fast and extra strong (might aura, so the boss and all the minions had the enhanced damage). They mowed down my merc, my valkyrie and me in about 2.5 seconds. I resurrected my merc, recast my valkyrie, and re-entered in an effort to retrieve my body and halve the experience point penalty, only to die a second time, so I effectively took a 20% penalty hit instead of 10%.

The moral to the story is: Once you get to hell difficulty, anytime you get a boss that can spawn with random modifiers you can get completely screwed and get something that you just cannot deal with. Multi-shot with Lightning Enchantment is another usually fatal combination, even with 75% lightning resistance. When dealing with The Ancients, they all spawn with two random modifiers. (Well, they all get two modifiers. There's no guarantee that they all get the same modifiers, other than by chance.) And with three tries, it is not that uncommon to get at least one of them that is effectively unbeatable. Sometimes you have to save and exit, other times you have to change the order you deal with them. For example, if you activated The Ancients and one spawned as Immune to Physical and Immune to Cold, you'd have to deal with him last, because he is going to take forever to kill, even using Vengance. You would concentrate on the other two first, and deal with him in the end when you and your merc can tag-team him.

 

Keep full rejuvenations in your belt slots. Like I said, sometimes you don't have time for a super healing potion.

I actually started a necromancer (again). I have a teleport amulet this time, which is pretty essential gear for when you get separated from your army and swarmed. When you teleport, it brings your merc and all your summons with you, so you have an instant army as soon as you teleport.

The problem is the level requirement to use it is 35, which means I'm not going to have it for the first time I face Diablo. I got a unique maul with 40% chance of crushing blow, so the plan is to switch to that and just have at Big D.

 

2 Full Rejev and 2 Super Healing is what my standard belt slots look like, but I usually up it to at least 3 and sometimes I fill all 4 slots with full rejuvenation potions when I go to fight the ancients.

If you are unsure whether or not you can beat them, it makes sense to get your next level first. Now that you have exceeded level 80 and are getting a penalty to experience points earned, you will notice that you will not get a full level worth of experience upon beating the acients as you did on normal and nightmare. At level 86, you can expect about 2/3 of a level worth, so it's still a huge quantity of experience.

 

I finally got a necro through normal. I'm now seeing the appeal of this character - 10 skeleton warriors along with a merc and an iron golem can pack quite the punch. I have maxed out skeleton warriors skill, and my next skill to max will be skeleton mastery - for obvious reasons.

After that, I'm really up in the air of what to do. The skill I use the most is amplify damage, but more points just increases the radius of the skill - it does not improve the skills performance. I'm not big on revives, because they come with a three minute time limit, although if more points increases their lifespan I may consider it. Corpse explosion is another consideration as the damage from that is half physical and half fire, and does ramp up with more points spent.

 

I find that I use Bone Spear and Teeth heavily even in act IV of Normal.

Also, Iron Maiden is a curse to consider with that many minions. It reflects physical damage. It may pack a nasty punch to the heavy hitters our there...