Diablo II Single Player Thread - 2

Remove all ads!

I'm not sure what you mean by 5 attacks per "round". If you mean 5 attacks per second, that's 5fpa, and yeah, that's pretty damn fast.

 

Yes, per second of course. Was still thinking of IWD2 while posting..

 

Well, Level 67, Act V NM. Getting there. Slowly. I haven't had a ton of time to play the last few days, and I still have 9 levels to go to equip end-game gear. I'll definitely complete NM and have to run Baal multiple times to level to 76. The weapon at this point is still cutting it, although not as fast as I'd like. I'm going to need that enhanced damage once I get to Hell difficulty. (And yeah, I get that 350% damage is on the set, not the weapon, so it doesn't up damage as much as if it were on the weapon, but it cannot be that bad. It just won't be uber.

 

If you're using decoy, it's a no brainer. Heck, even if you didn't use it, it's your best bet. You only have three skills you use regularly - Valk, Strafe, and FA. You've maxed out the damage of FA, and Strafe doesn't have any synergies. You won't have enough points to pick up another arrow skill, and you're well into diminishing returns on all the other passive skills. So pumping decoy, which you're using anyway, gives a life and resistance bonus to your valk is the only justifiable option for those points.

Excluding bosses, I thought the bowazon was among the quickest characters in the game for general questing. She's the only character whose killing speed improves when there are more monsters on the screen. She gets a below average grade from me against bosses, but a good to excellent grade against just about everything else.

She is still my best Pit runner, and she was very good at Countess runs as well (although I think my sorceress could do Countess a bit quicker, because there are always PI ghosts in the Countess runs).

Unlike javelins, there is never a worry of running out of arrows. Despite firing way more arrows than I threw javelins, I don't think I ever had to purchase a single quiver. Arrows are such a common drop that you can't pick them all up - there are more dropping than you could ever hope to use.

I agree with what you said about safety. Even though you didn't have a lot of life, it wasn't much of a problem because nothing ever got to within melee range. So long as your resistances were up to snuff to take a few hits from elemental using enemies (and with your equipment you're definitely maxed out) the danger was minimal. And that's not even taking into account that with Silence a lot of the enemies will be blinded or fleeing.

One reminder for hell difficulty - hotkey slow missiles. It's your gloam solution. There's nothing you can do about your merc and valk brainlessly wading through the lightning bolts (although your valk may well survive), but it makes your life a lot easier. (You can outrun a lightning bolt with slow missile active.) It's also fun in the maggot lair. The poison they spit at you moves so slow that you have to allow yourself to be hit.

The only thing that sucks with Kuko is the cooldown on Immolation Arrow. I remember having IA on right click, and Exploding Arrow on left click, so I could keep my damage up during the cooldown timer.

 

I'm still working my way through Act V NM. Level 70-something (with something being defined as less than 76). Switched back to the bear and stun-burning everything. The only thing left to decide is after I finish the first synergy if I want more synergy or if I want to pump Fury. My Fury chance to hit is starting to lag behind FC in a major way. I'm still nearly at the cap for FC (93%), but my fury is at 85%. Gratned, I still have quite a bit of dexterity coming my way, so I'll see once I equip the set.

I played DAO - sadly it didn't do a whole lot for me. I thought it was just OK. I think it was built up too much. If most people considered it a decent game, I may have agreed with them. Kind of like the movie Titanic. By the time I saw it, it was built up to the point that unless it was the best movie ever, it wouldn't have lived up to the billing.

 

I should finish NM tonight. (I'm at the last WP.) Level 73, with an outside chance of hitting level 74 by the time I defeat Baal. So that's two levels worth of Baal runs before I start NM. I'm using the WB form almost exclusively with FC now. I'm hoping that's not a permanent switch over, as I would like to include Fury in my attacks, but right now, FC does so much more damage it doesn't make sense to Fury. I'm hoping that changes once I equip the full set. (The damage will definitely increase substantially, not just from the complete set bonus, but from the large strength bonus I'll get.) I'm also due for a huge vitality boost of +45 once that set is equipped.

 

Although I nowadays shun single-target attacks but Fire Claws does pack a punch with a bit of synergies to it. It's actually comparable, if not better, fire dps compared to a full-out Holy Fire Zealot swinging at 4 fpa. Not only that, but the damage is concentrated on a single target, rather than spread around.

However, since I'm rusty on my druid-fu.. Is there ever a reason to use a shield together with wereforms? You seem to get pretty similar fpa with two-handed maul compared to the standard phaseblade, so there's a clear dps advantage going two-handed mode.

 

Besides block and other bonuses you get for using a shield, the wereforms also have very short blocking animations iirc.

Then there's the versatility - you could set up a weapon+shield combo for use against fire/physical immunes (these are everywhere in Hell Chaos Sanctuary and the Countess' Tower). If you use spells or skills like Shockwave, HotO+Spirit or double Spirit will help more than a high damage Maul.

 

Well, keep in mind that I made this druid using the full Aldur's set. And the weapon is one-handed, so it's not like I'm going to be leaving the shield slot open. I threw a Spirit on him, which helps everything.

I'm now in Hell mode, Act I. I didn't play much this weekend, but so far, so good. For me, Maul is too slow. As a WB, I have been using FC even against some fire immunes, as you still get the physical damage too. In areas packed with fire immunes, I switch over to WW form, and use Fury. One place I have liked running thus far is the Mausoleum. Everything in there is lightning immune and undead, meaning FC (with a blunt weapon no less) is excellent for clearing it.

 

Just checked - wereforms have the second slowest blocking animation length category at 5 frames base. Only Necro and Druid in human form have it worse at 6 frame base.

In other words, block lock might be a problem against a swarm of pygmies unless you can cram in some Fast Block as well.

 

Well that sucks. I always thought that is was the opposite.
Checking it now and it seems the Werebear, in particular, is the slowest blocking character of all. Only an amazon not using a spear or bow is slower (nonexistent).

 

The slow block animation is why I use Spirit, and sunk no points into dexterity. The only thing the shield is there for is for resists and the +2 all skills. Quite the oppose of most characters, I want my chance to block to be as low as possible for exactly the reason that the animation is so slow. Ideally, I would have it at the 5% minimum. Unfortunately, that's hard to do just with the bonuses to dexterity on the set. Still, it's one of the few characters where less is better.

IIRC, the fastest blocking character in the game is the paladin.

 

Yes, pally takes the win here. Especially since you get 1 frame base with Holy Shield.

 

Done and done. I'm not playing D2 this week. I won't have time before I take my vacation the last week of July to finish a character, so I'm taking a D2 hiatus. I will entertain myself with some Medieval Total War 2 tonight. I don't know why, I just have a desire for some low intensity strategy game.

 

I'm back! Making a Templar, which is the curious name given by the on-line community to a paladin specializing in using Fist of the Heavens.

Max FoH, Conviction, Holy Bolt, Holy Shock.

(You use Conviction as your aura - Holy Shock is only there for the lightning synergy to FoH.)

---------- Added 1 hours, 18 minutes and 45 seconds later... ----------

Here's the build:

From the Combat Skills tree:

Fist of Heavens (20 - obviously, it's your primary attack).

There are a ton of prequisites and a synergy in this tree):
Holy Bolt (20 - synergy)
Zeal (backup attack)
Vengence (alternate backup attack)
Blessed Hammer, Conversion, Sacrfice prequisites

I also would like a 1 point Holy Shield, which adds Smite and Charge to the synergy list.

Subtotal: 48

Offensive Auras:

Holy Shock (20 - synergy)
Conviction (20 - primary aura)
Might, Holy Fire, Holy Freeze, Thorns, Sanctuary prerequisites

Subtotal: 45

Defensive Auras - nothing

Total: 93

Projected Equipment:

Weapon: Hand of Blessed Light until level 61, then Heaven's Light. Heaven's Light will give +3 all paladin skills, which is better overall than the +4 I'd get to Fist of Heaven's from HoBL. Plus it has 33% CB which will be useful.
Armor - Gloom Runeword
Shield - 4xpdiamond paladin shield
Boots - Gore Rider 15% CB
Gloves - are pretty damn optional. Magefist would provide a mana boost. Or Venom Grip would add in some more life leech, and a bit more CB, which never hurts.
Helm - I have to look at my paladin helms, but at worst, a shako
Belt - also pretty optional - Goldwrap is a possibility. I also have to see if I have the unique Gloom's Trap as that gives mana leech, and a big boost to mana which will be useful to keep FoH going.
Rings - Ravenfrost and SoJ
Amulet - +3 combat skill

That setup should give me +9 combat skills, +6 auras.

Conviction maxes out at level 25, where you get -150% resist all and -95% defense. So I guess I technically only have to spend 19 in Conviction. The +9 combat skills will give me a level 10 Holy Shield (30% increased chance to block, more than adequate duration) and level 10 Zeal (which, as long as I have level 4 is adequate).

The reason for Gloom and the 4xpdaimond pally shield is I can max my resistances in hell difficulty only using those two slots. If I ever get a Ber rune I can make Chains, but no such luck yet. Not sure what I'll make Gloom in. Heaven's Light has a strength requirement of 125, so the armor has to be less than that. Elite armors under that strength requirement include: Dusk Shroud, Wyrmhide, Sacarb Husk, Wire Fleece, Great Hauberk, and Archon Plate - so there's lots of choices.

Primary attack will be a fully synergized FoH. For unbreakable lightning immunes (except undead LIs - FoH will still rip through them), I'll have Zeal. I'll keep Conviction on, so with -95% monster defense I'll hit everything, and with around 50% CB they won't last long. I suppose Zeal will also be useful for some emergency mana leech.

So I need 125 strength. Dexterity I haven't calculated yet, although with a +30% block chance with Holy Shield, I'm probably not looking at a ton. Nothing in energy, rest into vitality.