Diablo II Single Player Thread - 2

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So you are keeping your finisher as just a one-point wonder? If you decide you want to max out both FoF and BoI that is probably a necessary sacrifice. I think I would probably lean towards more points in my finisher for fire damage, and then maxing BoI. You'd still have fire, cold, and electricity that way. OTOH, I'm assuming your merc is using Infinity, which means it's unlikely you'll NEED tri-elemental damage.

Then there is the matter of the Shadow Master, and there's two options there as well. With all the +skills you have, even just a one point investment will place a body out there with decent enough hitpoints to take the heat off of you. I doubt it will kill much of anything, especially on hell difficulty, but hey, if you're doing so well in killing, then you might not need the SM for killing.

What type of merc are you using anyway? I'm guessing you have infinity so it's an Act II merc, and since your damage is mostly elemental in nature, a might merc probably wouldn't do much for you. Holy freeze?

 

You're right about your damage rates. FoF does the least (which is another reason I'd lean towards getting your fire damage from your finisher), BoI is in the middle and has some defensive properties to it, and CoT is the highest damage output.

But here's the other thing that just occurred to me, you maxed PS, so you HAVE a fire based attack. (I think it does fire damage with one charge). I think I would lean towards maxing CoT and BoI, and if you should run into something that is immune to lightning and cold - and let's face it, that's like 1% of stuff in the game - you can rely on the fire damage from PS and your 1-point finisher.

You can alternate left-click right-click quickly with a little practice, to try to get off the fire based PS, but you're using two claws, so if you left click PS and both claws hit, you'll be getting the cold damage as well, but no biggie. In fact, since you don't need the cold damage, it might make it even more effective, as you'll get the fire based charge even if only one of the claws hit.

At any rate, I'd definitely advise maxing FoF last. Hmmm... I think maxing all three elemental attacks is actually a named build. [quick check] Yup, it's the Elementalist. While the recommended equipment doesn't include the assassin set, I think it's because the author is including low end, medium end and high end choices for each of the equipment slots. It says you can go with or without a shield, and the only disadvantages of the build are weak in PvP (which is of no concern), and low physical damage.

 

I agree - substituting in Gore Riders and Guilaume's Face will give you a big amount of CB and make up for the lack of physical damage. CoH or Enigma would make up for most of the lost +skills (my preference of CoH is well documented - although I've never actually made Enigma, which may be the reason for my bias).

 

I can understand the hype for Enigma for PvP purposes, but other than summoner type characters, I can't see much of a difference in PvM usage other than the odd moat or river here and there. (No, doing 8972862 Baal runs in manual brains-off mode doesn't count.) For summoners, the "hey minions, I'd like some dps here, right now, pretty please" function of teleporting right beside the intended target is nothing short of a godsend.

 

I was wondering if that set was not necessarily designed well for a martial artist. With the bonuses to all 3 trees, it's one of those things where you might be better off spreading the points out. Then again, between CoH and Shako, you're already getting more +skills than you were with the set... Still, there are certain class-specific sets that really only lend themselves to a couple of builds. For example, if you're using the IK set, you're not getting to get the most out of it unless you're playing a WW barb.

 

The sorceress set is also pretty general in what builds work with it, the druid one seems to strongly (?) favor shapeshifters and Amazon one is clearly designed for a Frost Maiden, although a Strafer could put the huge +cold damage bonus to use as well.

 

Yeah, I've got tired of it after going back to it for an extended period of time. Once you accumulate a certain level of wealth, it's no longer just about getting through the game. There's no real joy in beating the game on hell difficulty - you just compare your current character to previous characters. Although I went back to BG2 upon hearing about the new mod that added all the BG1 NPCs into BG2. Complete with banters and everything. Even a couple of new areas. (The circus tent is considerably more challenging, especially if you don't happen to have any protection from petrification on you.)

 

Verdungo's is arguably the best belt in the game - especially for a sorceress, as not many give belts give +1 skills.

 

It is Arachnid Mesh. That's the one that's far and away the best belt for a sorceress. I even forgot about the FCR on it, which only makes it better.

Verdungos isn't bad by any means, but it's stats make it much better suited for a melee class with the FHR, %DR, and the huge boost to vitality. In the hands of a barbarian, that can easily translate into 300-400 more life.

 

Sorry - just saw the reply now. An Auradin is an ambitious build to say the least. You have the digital wealth for that? I know you already have some of the items you'll need, but my god is there a ton of high runes you'll need to do it the "right way".

The only helm I'm aware of that gives an aura worth having is Dream, which gives Holy Shock. Like I said, I don't remember the runes required, but I'm sure at least one of them is high - l just checked it's Jah.

With armor, I know Dragon gives the Holy Fire aura, and Bramble gives the Thorns aura, although I'm not sure if Thorns is really what you're going for. I would expect that this character would have a ton of defense so I'm not sure an aura that requires you to get hit is the way to go. (Dragon needs "only" a Sur and a Lo.)

For shields, you have the aforementioned Dragon and Dream - and I'm nearly positive the effects stack cumulatively. So if you have two Dreams equipped, you don't get two level 15 Holy Shocks, you actually get a level 30 Holy Shock. What else is there? Exile gives Defiance, but meh. Phoenix gives Redemption - double meh - plus IIRC, the runes required are ridiculous. EDIT: just checked - it requires Vex-Vex-Lo-Jah - not even close to worth it.

For weapons, the initial seemingly obvious choice is Doom (Hel-Ohm-Um-Lo-Cham) - for the Holy Freeze aura, and IIRC, you already have that on hand. I'm pretty sure it comes with +2 all skills to boot. The only other one that I can think of is Beast (considerably cheaper with Ber-Tir-Um-Mal-Lum - that's 1HR as opposed to 3), which gives Fanaticism, and the only reason I throw it out there as a possibility is because: A) It can be made in a scepter, whereas Doom is limited to Axe or Hammer and B) it comes with CB. You don't have any CB on the other rune words, so if you can't get some on your boots, gloves, or belt, that's a problem. Granted, with a paladin, Zeal is going to be the primary attack to activate the Holy Freeze/Shock/Fire auras as frequently as possible, so even something like 20% should be more than enough - that's still one CB per Zeal cycle.

EDIT: Forgot about Hand of Justice - although that one seems like the decidedly worst option of the three. It has the lowest IAS, you can get life leech elsewhere, and the ITD is worthless - you'll obviously be running Conviction as the one aura that won't be given by your equipment, and that reduces monster defense by 90% the way it is - so you'll be hitting 95% of the time without it. EDIT: And the runes are ridiculous: Sur-Cham-Amn-Lo. If you had all those you'd go with Doom.

For skill distribution, we definitely want 20 in Conviction, and since that synergizes with nothing, it's an easy call. It's also the only must-take skill in the build. After that there's some choices. You definitely want to use Zeal as your left mouse button, but it's up to you to decide how much to invest. If you want to add physical damage as a decent percentage of your build's output, you'll need 20 Zeal and 20 Sacrifice as the synergy. The other, and IMO better, option you throw just one point in Zeal (I assume you'll have at least +3 all skills so you get the full five attacks) and concentrate on elemental damage.

You will need Holy Shield, but it's not a maxed skill. You're after the increased % block more than the defense for this skill (the dexterity requirement is just too high to maintain max block without it), and there are steep diminishing returns on the block %. You get +25% for level 5 (easily obtainable with 1 skill point and +skills), you get +30% for level 10 (which would require a modest investment), but at level 20 you're up to just +35%, which probably isn't worth the skill points.

With the elemental damage, I think the main benefit of running a combination of Dream/Dragon/Doom would be that you can pick up Salvation as a synergy to all three elemental auras, rather than picking up the individual resist fire/cold/shock. Point for point, you get a bigger boost to individual auras from the resist skills, but if you're running all three you're coming out ahead in the long run with salvation.

Holy Fire gets +18% from a point in resist fire, and +6% from salvation. Holy Freeze gets +15%/+7%. And Holy Shock gets +12%/+4%. So if you're running all three elemental auras, the cumulative +17% you get from salvation is the way to go. It's also the ONLY option if you decide to add physical damage from Zeal and Sacrifice, as there simply aren't enough skill points to do otherwise.

So the physical build is:

20 Zeal
20 Sacrifice
20 Conviction
20 Salvation
Assorted prerequisites and one-point wonders.

The focus on tri-elemental damage is significantly different.

20 Conviction
20 Salvation
Assorted Prerequisites and 1-point wonders
Then distributing the remaining skill points between the resist fire/cold/lightning to boost individual auras.

Build plan 2 is clearly superior if you have the rune wealth to pull it off. You get the best spread of even elemental damage by going Dream Helm, doubling up Dragon on the Armor and Shield, and putting Doom on the weapon. (Provided you're getting CB on your other equipment, Doom is far and away the best choice. Best IAS, an additional penalty to enemy cold resistance, and the +2 all skills to make all those one point wonders better.) Now the question is do you have anywhere near the required runes to actually do this?

Now if you don't use Doom, and go with Beast instead, you'll get crazy IAS from the Fanaticism Aura, and you'll use a scepter which comes with it's own potential benefits. Done that way, you now have dual elemental damage and your plan is:

20 Conviction
20 Resist Fire
20 Resist Shock
Assorted one-point wonders and prerequisites (and points to burn - probably Holy Shield, but whatever)

If you aren't going for all three elemental types, Salvation ceases to be the most cost-efficient option.

 

I'm impressed that you guys still play D2. I'm a D3 guy completely at this point. My Witch Doctor would kick your Necromancer's heinie.

 

I think you're right with Conviction. IIRC though, level 25 grants a -90% penalty on monster defense (meaning even with virtually nothing in dexterity you pretty much autohit) and -125% resistances (meaning all but a few unbreakable immunes are done).

Damn it to hell... just when I think I'm out - they pull me back in!

Agreed completely on D3. I also find it more than a little interesting that Blizzard has come out and said that if they could do it over again, there wouldn't be an auction house. A D3 port to PS3/4 is currently in the works, and they do NOT plan on including the AH there.

Regarding the elemental over physical - as I noted above, I think it is clearly the superior option if you can pull it off. The question really becomes how to optimize it. The more I think about it, there's no real "need" to get tri-elemental damage. Even super uniques that have immunity to two elements don't have unbreakable immunities to two elements. You may be better served by focusing on two elements but fully synergizing them rather than going for three. I'm not sure.