Diablo II single player questions

Correct - class-specific items are never available in the gambling window.

Not quite sure what you mean here. All the item types are available once you hit level 40 (which is when ancient armor becomes available). However, the higher your level, the more potential modifiers you can get on the magic/rares that you gamble.

Sorry, it was a quick question, but there's actually a rather lengthy explanation here. All modifiers that appear on magic and rare items are called "affixes" in the game code, and all affixes have an affix level. Some of the affixes are really low level. The affixes "bronze" and "of light" are level 1, and can be found from the very first area of the game. The highest affix available is +2 to all skill levels on rare tiaras and amulets, and that is affix level 90. Your character level determines the affix level of the modifiers that you can get in the window.

The first thing that the game does when you click on gamble is randomly generate a number between -5 and +5 and then add or subtract that to your character level. That is the maximum affix level you can get on any of the items on the gamble screen. (It does not affect which items are offered, just the affix level.) The game keeps this number hidden, and there is no way to know what number between -5 and +5 got picked.

So for example, a level 50 character will have a maximum affix level between 45 and 55. The key word there is "maximum". It doesn't mean that all (or even necessarily any) of the items on the gambling screen will have that high of an affix number - that's just the ceiling. It's always possible to spend 50,000 gold on a ring - regardless of your level - and get a "Ring of Craftmanship" (+1 to maximum damage).

Based on this, the affix level of items you can gamble continually increases until you hit level 95! (At level 95 you are guaranteed to get at least level 90 as the maximum affix level, meaning all affixes are available.) You have a chance (granted only 10%) of getting affix level 90 items available (if you get the +5 modifier) as early as level 85. (And remember that's a 10% chance that this affix level can be picked - not that 10% of all gambles will yield items with that high level affix.)

And to add another complicating factor, the difficulty has something to do with it too. On nightmare, there is a chance of the item you gamble being upgraded to exceptional - the percent chance is your character's level divided by 10. On hell difficulty, the chance of an exceptional is still your character's level divided by 10 (although since your level is higher at this point you have a better chance than on nightmare) and the chance of an elite item is your character's level divided by 20.

Yes and no. It doesn't matter who finds the item - but it does matter who imbues the item. The imbue quest works EXACTLY as the gamble quest except that:

1. You ALWAYS get the +5 modifier to character level on the imbue (meaning that any character of level 85 or over gets all modifiers available).
2. You ALWAYS get a rare item (the chance of a rare on the gamble screen is 10%).

Some other minor points: Only tiaras (elite circlet) and amulets that are rare and have the +2 to skill level have affix levels of 90. Most other items reach the maximum affix levels earlier - weapons have a maximum available affix of 80, and armor - including necro shields - have a maximum affix level of 75. (The level 75 affixes include +3 to all skills in a specific tree, like +3 to summoning skill levels. If you're looking for +2 to all necromancer skill levels - +3 to all skills isn't available on any item - that's affix level 70 for necro heads.) Spending an imbue quest on a class-specific item is a dicey proposition, as there is a chance you get three +skill modifiers on skills you never use, meaning there's a chance that the generated items is pretty much worthless to you.

 

Woohoo! Took out Baal in Hell difficulty with the necro last night. As is typical, the Guardians were the bigger challenge than Baal, but I had to respawn them several times before I got something I could handle. I kept getting one of them that spawn cursed (so that you get hit with amplify damage), or got one to spawn extra strong, extra fast (which is a very, very bad combo on the sword guy). Eventually a got one I could handle, and only one of them had stone skin, so I saved him for last.

Baal himself was time consuming to kill, but not particularly difficult. It probably took me 3-4 minutes to take him down (plus a few trips back to town to get rid of the clone when he casts it). He just has a ton of life, and with no crushing blow there just isn't a lot to do other than wear him down. It wasn't particularly sporting, but what the heck.

I also went back to my amazon build - the one with the Buriza - and I rediscovered why I gave up on her in hell difficulty. The damage output just isn't there. Even though I have a shaeled Buriza, a bunch of +skills, plus a maxed out strafe, valkyrie and might merc, we just are not getting it done. I even have that unique cedar bow that gives huge bonuses to fire skills in the bow tree, and fires explosive arrows for when I run up against something that is immune to physical (the name is a Koko-something - I cannot remember the name offhand). The zon build is one of those that looks great on paper, but not as effective as you'd like in practice.

 

You know, I should really go back and finish that mod for Diablo 2 I was working on, and release it. I mean, I released a beta years ago, but the new version is quite a bit better (although I think it still has bugs, some of which I will probably never be able to fix without sacrifices).

 

That was exactly what I did. I made sure I got one point in most of the curses, and I got one point in all of the ancillary skills (things like summon resist), and just relied on +skills to get those up to a bit higher level). But with this type of necro, once you max out skeleton warrior and skeleton mastery, there really isn't much else to spend your skill points on. I threw a few more skill points into amplify damage - it increases its area of effect, and it is useful to cover a larger area. After that I maxed out corpse explosion, and after that clay golem. Any remaining points I may earn at this point will go toward amplify damage again.

As far as what you can expect, a maxed out corpse explosion (I believe mine is at level 24 with +skills) covers over half the screen. Other than amplify damage, it was probably my most-used skill of the game on hell difficulty. When you run into a boss pack and amp them, as soon as one dies, you can usually kill off the rest of the pack by exploding it's corpse (although sometimes to kill the boss you have to detonate two corpses).

So I have to start another character - it's either going to be a druid to use all the great druid gear I've accumulated - or a paladin. I also have a Hexfire (the unique shamshir that ignores target's defense and gives +3 to all fire skills, so maybe a sorceress?) So many choices.

 

The thing with higher levels of curses is that their duration increases, which is nice in nightmare and hell difficulty because curse duration is reduced.

Combine Lower Resist or Amplify Damage with Corpse Explosion for even more fun, since Corpse Explosion does 50% physical/50% fire damage. It was rated as Blizzard's favourite skill of all time, and I heartily agree. Theres nothing I enjoy using more.

I like the javazon's higher level lightning skills, such as Lightning Strike and Lightning Fury (I cant remember exact names). The one where you use a melee strike and it starts a chain lightning becomes DEVASTATING at higher levels, because it bounces so many times. The more enemies, and the more spread out they are, the more damage it does. And the one where you throw a javelin and it release lightning bolts that target all nearby enemies is also incredibly powerful (made even more so if you have pierce, so that one javelin can hit multiple times).

 

Hit level 85 last night - Now the fun of gambling can truly begin!

 

That's my line.

I had forgotten that you are playing on players 8. That is a true challenge once you get to hell difficulty. Even though the Pandemonium Fortress is great for experience points, and both Diablo and the three seal bosses can potentially drop any item in the game, I only venture there once, to complete the quest, and never return because of the Oblivion Knights. (Of course, that's because I usually play melee characters. Bowazons, sorceresses, and elemental druids can run the Fortress with ease.)

My necro has now gained uber magic finder status. My base equipment that I use to maximize my own effectiveness in combat (in other words when I'm NOT in magic find gear) is 237%. I can easily add about 100% more on top of that if I felt inclined to, but I don't want my resistances to suffer. I ran Hell Mephisto for shiggles again last night, and I'm beginning to think that he offers the best balance between ease of play and reward. There are Oblivion Knights when you go after Diablo, and on the way to Baal you can get just about anything, including Oblivion Knights and Gloams (which has to be the most difficult combination possible).

Anyway, when I ran Mephisto a few days ago, he dropped Skullder's Ire, the unique russet armor. Handy for magic finding with +1.25% mf per character level, and a lovely +1 to all skills. Fairly solid defense too, so if I had a character that could actually make use of high defense, this armor would work well. But Mephisto did me one better last night - he dropped a Harlequin Crest. It's the unique shako, which is the elite version of the cap. The stats on this thing are amazing. Not only do I get a very nice +50% to magic find, but I get a bonus of +1.5 life and +1.5 mana per character level. If that were all it did it would be worth using. On top of that, it gives +2 to all skills, and reduces all incoming damage by 10%. WOOT! (Oh, it also gives +2 to strength, dexterity, vitality, and energy - which is fine, but it seems to be such a small bonus that I wonder why they bothered.)

At this point I have to say that I pretty much have end-game equipment. About the only equipment piece I would consider changing out at this point would be if I found the unique necro wand called The Arm of King Leoric, as that is simply the best wand in the game for a skellimancer. Here are the stats on this bad boy:

Arm of King Leoric:
+1.25 Mana per clvl
10% Faster Cast Rate
10% Chance to cast level 2 Bone Prison when struck
5% Chance to cast level 10 Bone Spirit when struck
+2 to Summoning Skills (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Poison & Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Terror (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Raise Skeletal Mage (Necromancer Only)
+3 to Skeleton Mastery (Necromancer Only)
+3 to Raise Skeleton (Necromancer Only)

So it's effectively +5 to Raise Skeleton and Skeleton Mastery. (My current wand gives me +3 to all skills on the summoning tab.) Now there's always the possibility of finding a great rare which could theoretically make me change any of my equipment choices (like a +2 to all skills amulet with resist all and magic find), but as far as possible magic, set, and unique possibilities are concerned, I have end-game equipment, and will continue using this necro for magic finding until I reach a point where I find something that really makes me want to start a new character. (I'm leaning towards a druid, as I already have a +2 to druid skills amulet and +2 to druid skills circlet, along with a very nice druid weapon that gives +3 to all shape changing skills, so I would be starting off with +7 to that tree.)

 

You should start using the Arm of King Leoric as soon as you meet the level requirement, which you should have long since exceeded (as I recall the level requirement for the Arm of King Leoric is not that high). If you're in Act V Nightmare, you have to be at least level 50, which is definitely high enough. The bonus to attack rating and defense given by the Infernal Set is of marginal benefit. The mian reason you would use that set is for the +2 to skills, and since Leoric exceeds that, there's no reason to continue using that set (especially since you can also trade in your hat - with the Harlequin Crest - and belt for an upgrade too).

 

Well, the things most worth running in Nightmare difficulty are pretty much the same things most worth running in Hell difficulty - so in addition to Mephisto, there's the Big Three (Eldritch, Shenk, and Pindleskin) if you're looking for quick and easy, and of course Baal himself if you're willing to invest a bit more time (the same goes for Nihlathak). The biggest difference is that Baal runs offer way more experience than Mephisto runs, so if you're interested in leveling up your character a bit more, it would be much more efficient to do it with Pindleskin runs. There's no such thing as a Level 85 area in Nightmare though, so there's no real point in traveling back to Act I to do the Mausoleum or the Pits. I'd wait until I was at level 70, then head over to Hell difficulty.

And of course, now that you're getting up higher in levels, you definitely want to look into getting a bit of gold find on your character so you can feed what should become a healthy gambling habit. (In addition to having 237% mf, I also have 169% gf.) Gambling will never completely substitute magic finding because the chances of landing a set or unique item are very long. However, there are certain items (notably rings, amulets, and circlets), that are definitely worth gambling because a 1 in 10 shot at a rare on these items is worth the money. No matter how much magic find you stack, you aren't going to find a ton of rare or better circlets, rings, or amulets, so gambling is your best source for these items.

 

Coronets are basically the exact same thing as a circlet. They are both considered normal items, that can have the exact same modifiers. The exceptional and elite versions of BOTH of them are the tiara and diadem, respectively. Diadems are perhaps the least dropped item in the game, and if you happen to find one with a white name, it is something that you almost have to use your imbue reward on.

 

Yes, this is an EXCELLENT item -- I had it before swapping it in favor of a Phase Blade. The gargantuesque skill bonuses from Trang-Oul's set allowed me enough comfort to use a non-Necro weapon. Another reason why I loved my Necrobutcher run.

 

While I cannot answer specifically without knowing what type of phase blade it was, properties that are common to all phase blades that make them desirable include high damage, very fast swing speed, being indestructible, and having very low strength requirements (and the dexterity requirement isn't terrible either at around 130 IIRC). Rembmer that the concept behind the Necrobutcher differs a great deal from a typical Summoning Necro. He actually gets into combat and mixes it up with his summoned creatures, so he evidently was willing to forgo +skills equipment in favor of damage. You have to obtain godly equipment to really get that to work though. For 99% of Necros, you'd never trade the Arm of King Leoric for a typical phase blade, and probably not even for the unique phase blade Azurewrath:

Ladder Only
110.55-123.95 Avg Dmg 1H
Indestructible
25 Str Required
136 Dex Required
Item Level: 87
Clvl Req: 85 +(230-270)% Enhanced Damage
+30% Increased Attack Speed
+(5-10) to All Attributes
+3 to Light Radius
+1 to All Skills
Adds 250-500 Magic Damage
Adds 250-500 Cold damage Chills for 10 seconds
Level 13 Sanctuary Aura When Equipped

My priority would be replacing the rings. While it is difficult to find a rare ring with somewhere around 25% mf on it, rares with around 15% mf and other useful stats (like resistances) aren't nearly as uncommon. Actually, come to think of it, I think I got to 237% mf without any mf on either ring.

That's a very solid mf total. The beauty part with the necro is that since you don't do any killing yourself, and can generally stay out of harms way, it allows you to focus on mf and gf. Every little bit of mf helps, but even if you don't increase it much beyond it's current efficacy, 226% is not bad at all. (In terms of frequency of drops, 226 is pretty much functionally equivalent to 237. Maybe over hundreds of item runs 237 would yield a few more usesful items, but once you get over 200 you need to significantly increase mf to notice a difference.)

I defeated Hell Baal again last night, and leveled up (that's the first time I've been able to make the latter claim in a few days). So I'm now up to level 86, meaning I now have a 20% of having the possibility of gambling for +2 skills amulets. Baal dropped all rares an uniques last night, including the unique aegis called Medusa's Gaze. The aegis is the elite version of a tower shield. You would think with it being an elite unique shield, with a level requirement of 76 and a strength requirement of 219, that this thing would be one of the best shields in the game. It's not. In fact, it's so disappointing I sold it:

Defense 450
Chance to Block: 44%
292 Durability
219 Str Required
Item Level: 84
Clvl req: 76
+(150-180)% Enhanced Defense
Slows Target by 20%
10% Chance to cast level 7 Lower Resist when struck
(5-9)% Life stolen per hit
100% Chance to cast level 44 Nova when you Die
Cold Resist +44%

I'd love to hear an explanation from Blizzard for this item. Other than the high number for defense, the next most interesting modifier is casting a level 44 Nova when you die (but the whole "when you die" part makes it a modifier with limited utility). Even if you were making a high defense build, I doubt you would use this shield. No +skills, no increased chance of blocking, no resistances other than cold, and a strength requirement that is prohibitive to most characters. What type of build can possibly make use of this item?

Come to think of it, I do need one more item to make my necro the ultimate mf character: A Blade of Ali Baba. It the exceptional unique falchion. The damage is crap, but it gives +1%mf per level, and +2.5%gf per level. It comes with two open sockets that I can stick some mf runes into, and has low strength and dexterity requirements. (I don't have much dexterity, but I can meet the requirement of 40!) I would put it on my weapon switch, use my wand to summon up my golem and skeletons, and then switch over to Ali Baba while they kill stuff.

Other than that, the only other things I can do are find some mf charms, and socket my armor and helm with ptopazes. Of course, I've already burned through my socketing quests (in fact, I used some of the socket quests for equipment for other characters! So that's not happening until I start a new character, and I'm not particularly interested in doing so at the moment.

 

Oops, forgot to specify the Phase Blade I had is Lightsaber, the unique Elite Phase Blade.

TBT, the reason I stashed King Leoric's arm away was because of the ridiculous skill boost I got from having the full Trang-Oul set as well as the charms and crap like that passed onto me by a few friends, which also soup up skills. Basically, all those skill bonuses allowed me enough freedom to swap the wand for something that packs a little more punch. The extra damage, increased speed, random Chain Lightning, the Mana leech and Ignore Target's defense was good enough for me.