Low level guides to leveling and playing

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Smancer

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Hi, I am new here, and I have been searching for information.

I have found some great guides to building a character. I have started an Assassin and want to make her a kick trap person.

I have completed act 1 and I am level 17 in Act two. I am only playing on /players1

What I want is a comprehensive guide of things I really should know to make my life easier and my character better.

Right now I have a lot of trouble with fire arrows from skeletons in the sewers, they drain me of life. I also have a lot of trouble with the lightning that shoots off of the beetles. Because of this I am having trouble getting my character through act 2 on the easiest setting.

From the guides I have read here I know that I will need enough strength for items, and enough dex for max block, and I know exactly what my skill point distribution will be. But what I don't know is what I should be doing right now, to get there. What should I socket my gear with? What should I put points into at this early stage to live? What should my priorities to be knowing that I will respec later?

I have no mana to use my kick spell more than a few times. I am wearing the yellow gear that I have found. And I bought a 2os claw and put a 20 dmg posine jewel in it, as well as a flawed skull to try and get mana back. But it is slow.

I use burst of speed, then I cloak of shadows for bigger groups. I gave my merc with blessed aim a 3 os trident and I put a regular emeraled in it that andy dropped. I have more chipped gems. And I ran to get my cube without killing much of anything. I figured I could use the cube, but I am not sure how to upgrade anything but my gems.

I do know about that there is the arreat summit with recipes, but I am not sure which ones to use at this level.

If you have any advice let me know. If there is a guide that you think I should read please post it.

Thanks.
 
Savage Polearm recipe for your merc. You need a diamond (any quality, so you can use chipped ones) + kris (shop from Fara) + staff (shop a cheap one from Drognan) + belt (shop a cheap one from Charsi or Fara). Retry until you get a Savage Poleaxe or a Savage Halberd. That should make your merc capable of killing most things in Normal difficulty in a few hits.

Also, higher player settings are more challenging at first but will keep you overlevelled, which is very helpful since monsters can't hit you.

Finally, max block is nonsense unless you have a shield with high base block. If you use a dual-claw setup, your chance to block is determined by your skill level of Weapon Block and dexterity will not affect blocking at all. Put more points in vitality instead. In 1.13 you can re-set your stat points up to three times (once after completing the Den of Evil quest in each difficulty).

Mana leech is useless in Normal since you won't do enough physical damage. You should get mana per kill (easy to achieve by socketing Tir runes in a shield, armour, etc.) Run Countess for runes (on /players 1, which maximizes the number of runes that drop). Ral runes (clvl 19 required...) are great for enhancing damage in the early stages of the game.

Burning archers are a pain. Use CoS and your merc for "tanking". As to beetles, kill them as fast as possible (a merc with a Savage Polearm should be able to 1-hit them on lower player settings) and if you really need it, put topazes in your shield for lightning resistance.

HTH
 
I was going to suggest this, too. Even if you don't plan on trying this play-style it's good to make great habits early on, and this guide is filled with LOTS of information as to when things become available.

I would also recommend trying /p8 once you're past this act, because the experience and drops are much better. (higher settings leads to a lower 'no drop' chance from monsters)

I was to also clarify something felix said;
players 1 only increases rune drops from the countess, and this is because her 'special rune drop' is secondary to her primary, regular drop. In all other cases higher /psettings increase your item drop frequency.

good luck! :)

You might also enjoy trying to level multiple characters at once, to give yourself some variety as well as learn the ins and outs of monster strengths/weaknesses a whole lot better as you quest.

FYI: max block is one of those preference things,and unless I'm playing a paladin I've never used max block. (they have a skill called holy shield which drastically increases your block chance.
 
Guys this is a really good guide, and your advice is very much appreciated. I have a couple of questions regarding the guide, hopefully you guys can answer.

1) What exactly is a single pass character?
2) Where can I get more topaz? In Act 1 I only found 2 chipped topaz total and the guide is talking about having 6 or 7.
3) I don't understand the following, Can someone explain both what he mans by having a flawlesss read for a gem shrine, and having an Eth Rune around???

"Cube topazes as high as you can, but try to always have a flawless ready, in case you find a gem shrine. Start to keep an Eth rune around in the stash at all times..."
 
I don't recall what eth is for, however I'll answer the rest.

1) Single pass character is a very restricted (and therefore fun/challenging) way to play the game. It essentially means no re-running of areas and if you're forced to run through an area again to kill only the monsters that you cannot completely skip (and to ignore any drops from them).
2)Play on higher settings to increase your number of drops. . .there isn't really any other way, so it's just luck and high settings.
3) A gem shrine cubes up the lowest rune in your inventory to the next level, so chipped to flawed, flawed to regular, regular to flawless, and flawless to perfect. So this means that if you keep a flawless around in your inventory and find a gem shrine (and make sure the gem is the only one in your inventory when you activate it) you will replace your flawless with a perfect one :)
so it's just an easier way of accumulating perfect gems and being prepared for those instances when you see the shrines.
 
Welcome to SPF! (By the way, if your nick is Smancer, why not play a fishymancer (guide here)? Sometimes it's easier to build what you want having some items to start with, instead of going untwinked (without using items found by other chars).

By the way, I have zero idea on how to play an untwinked assassin. (Not very helpful... I know :badteeth:). Down bellow is a wall of text of what I use to do with untwinked charcters. Maybe you can find a tip or two that you can actually use.

If I was going to make a untwinked char, I would do the following most of the time (v. 1.13d with go mule and Rune word mode). My general guide for an easier life is the following:

Players 1 (the "/players X" command, can be used to add dificulty - and XP):

- Find the Black Marsh WP, do a bunch of countess runs to get low runes for runewords. Ex.: I bought a 3 sockets spear thing at Fara (the act 2 vendor that heals you - not sure about her name) and made a malice (Ith el et) runeword. I used it until the beggining of act 5 normal. My sorc's gear was something like: Stealth (runeword), Leaf (runeword)... Anyway, use anything that can move you up to pindle.

Players 1 - 8 (I incresed the number as I level up, depending on the killing speed)

- After that, a bunch of shenk/eldritch runs (the bosses nearby the first act 5 waypoint). They are not crazy efficient for experience, but you can find some runes, rares, socketed items, etc.
- At level 40 I move on and save anya. After that, a bunch of pindle runs for rares.
- At level 45, I beat normal.

Players 1:

- On NM, I do the den of evil quest, find the black marsh wp and run past everything else but act bosses/mandatory quests.

Players 1 -8:

- I stop at pindleskin (skip the early act 5 super uniques) and do a lot of runs for socketed bases (from his minions) and rare/magic items from pindle (At a decent level, I tend to run countess on nm a bunch of times to get runes for some upgrades, like Shael, Sol, Amn, etc.; anything up to Lum can be found there, even Ko iirc)

- After merc reaches level 70 I beat NM. I heard merc needs to be at lvl 70, due to the lvl of monsters in hell. Never bothered to check, since it takes only around 5 baal runs to merc catch up. Merc should have Insight polearm (ral tir tal sol) + life leech somewhere on armor/helm or a Socketed unique polearm with Amn rune + stuff.

Players 1:

- I clear the den of evil on hell (if my "final build" deals physical, poison, magic or lightning damage I skip this step)
- Respec the character and start hell. If I can, I tend to run high level areas on hell for levelling/gear. If not, I do MF Meph/Andariel/Pindle runs on nightmare for items.

That isn't set on a stone. If I play I fishymancer, for example, I just follow the guide I mentioned.

Problem: TL, DR

Solution: A common issue :yes:. Find out what skill can carry you through normal asap, hit level 41. Repeat the process in NM, reach level 70. Respec your char for the build you want to play (like a trapsin).

Problem: "I don't have mana for "X"

Solution: I use RWM because of that. It's on one of the stickied posts. I usually find a white voulge, polearm or scythe on act 5 normal (iirc, must be on act five normal). Then, I open my char on go mule and check the item level. If the number of maximum sockets on this table is 4. Example: a ilvl 31 voulge found on act 5 normal can have the maximum of 4 sockets. After clearing the first quest on act 5, larzuk will add sockets to 1 item as a reward. On white items, you'll get the maximum number of sockets. You need a white/ethereal unsocketed polearm that can have a maximum of 4 sockets, like a ilvl 31 voulge.

After that, I pray for something or someone drop a sol rune (my sorc found one on her way to save anya), farm the rest of the runes on normal countess and make you a Ral Tir Tal Sol Polearm. This runeword will give to your merc decent damage and an aura that replenishes your mana. Big thing. You need to be using the runeword mod to have acess to this ladder-only runeword.

Problem: Assassin guide

Solution: Nothing on this post. I would try to use martial arts an then respec for trapsin. Or maybe I would throw items on her found by other characters and solemn ignore her skills until I have Insight runeword to spawn traps that deal decent damage on a regular basis (editor's choice). I don't really like assassins. :coffee: You can try looking for an assassin guide on the Hrus compilation.
 
1) A character that does not re-run bosses to farm Set/Unique items - kills all monsters exactly once on the way to finishing the game
2) They are random - you just have to get a lot of gems to drop
3a) Gem shrines give you a random chipped gem if you don't have any gems in your inventory - if you have a gem in your inventory, it upgrades that gem. So if you have a Flawless gem in your inventory when you touch a gem shrine, it will upgrade it to perfect. Otherwise, to upgrade gems, you put 3 of identical quality and type in the Horadric Cube, and transmute to make one of the next quality.
3b) Runes drop randomly (though the Countess has a much, much higher chance to drop them as a special drop specific to her). Eth rune is a really common rune, and makes it much easier to hit a target if you put it in a socketed weapon.

Edit: Ninja'd by Pharphis!
 
RobbyD said:
Edit: Ninja'd by Pharphis!
Click to expand...

Don't worry bro, I got Ninja'd by... everyone? :crazyeyes:

3) You keep an eth on stash to make a rhyme shield as soon as you find a shael rune. Answer here.

As I stated on my big wall of text, I don't always play single pass... But when I do, nothing. I just don't play single pass, only if it's part of a challenge. I just found out that things go insanely faster walking around on /p1. It's a playstyle thing. A untwinked sorc on players 8 can make the mana problem a very stressful thing... (like 5+ fireballs to kill one monster and only ten Fireballs per mana bulb). If it isn't a sorc or hammerdin, my thing is finish the build asap and move on.


 
Totally forgot about rhyme.
Totally forgot to mention the shrines drop a chippie if you don't have anything in your inventory.

question for OP;
Is this your first D2 experience? If not, first time in SP?

Also, feel free to drop by the bar, and you can also ask questions there even though no1 likes it (I do it anyway because they just talk about boobs and alcohol, anyway). i'm not saying this thread is bad for question or anything, if that's what that sounded like :p

If this is your first D2 experience you might want to try a tournament character for the SUPER CHALLENGE and just not make it a hardcore char so you can still ply as the char when you die and therefore lose in the tournament. There are a few interesting ones presently. Keeping up with a tournament or two is also very helpful for giving you great insight on some people's strategies and method of preparation for different parts of the game.
Don't do anything like that if you're afraid of spoilers, though.
 
A long time ago, back in college (gosh 8 or 9 years ago?) my roommate had the game. He had a Skeleton necoreMANCER, hence my name. He was very high level, and I remember he would do Bloody runs. He showed me how to do it, and I guess since his guy was so high level and there were other people it made things easier. I didn't know about the gear or anything just how to make skellies.

Anyway I recently saw the game at like a local store that was going out of business and had a bit of nostalgia so I picked it up for cheap. I mainly play FPSs, but was getting bored so I finally installed it (on my mac) and here we are. I picked an assassin because they looked cool. But I guess I could reroll with the necro. I just wanted to try something different.

What is that bar post all about? It seems strange to an outsider.
 
Welcome to the SPF!

*hands out shinguards*

There was some very sound advice up there. Enjoy your game and stop by at the bar for a drink or two.

Guys! A propper kicking now please. ;)
 
The bar is just the off-topic area for the SPF. So I try to be on-topic sometimes :p (I mostly just don't like to start new threads for simple or 1-lined Q&As).

D2 is awesome ;) You'll never escape
 
*looks at Smancer's unbruised shins after jamesixgun's ineffectual kick*
*puts on Godly Myrmidon Greaves of Shinguard Destruction*
*kicks Smancer's shins with Kick of Devastation (KoD)*
*steals wallet*
*pulls down pants*
*runs away laughing maniacally*

GOOOD LUUuuuuuuuuuck!
 
RobbyD - now that is a greeting how it should be.

Oh don't take it the wrong way they all mean well - well most of them do.

Welcome to the SPF - it is good to have someone else starting the game as well.
 
Keep in mind that a lot of stuff in jiansonz' guide is geared specifically to untwinked singlepass. If you're not playing under that restriction, you can do things like skip the whole Act I gambling/CT nonsense and just buy Fortune boots/gloves and 3os Breast Plates in Lut Gholein.

There is of course a lot of great advice in there, but a lot of it is born of the restriction of only killing things once. Once you hit Mephisto in Nightmare, if you're not denying yourself boss runs, you can get endgame-worthy equipment from him fairly quickly.

And as I'm just playing through my first assassin evar, I have to say they're pretty awesome at low levels (can't really comment on later yet). Burst of Speed and dual-claw blender will make the first few acts fly by...
 
Smancer said:
It seems strange to an outsider.
Click to expand...

Actually, the bar seems strange to everyone...

Bar is a small OT thread:
http://www.purediablo.com/forums/sh...-Memorial-Bar-your-shelter-from-forum-crashes

Skellemancers are called Fishymancers around here (and on a lot of places, since the build is very popular and can beat the game wearing no items). That's because Nightfish wrote a guide about a necromancer build that focuses on melee skeletons (the raise skeleton skill). It is no gear dependant, but a little bit slow sometimes (Hell Baal).


 
I had the chance to play a little bit since getting all this advice. My GF had a dinner to go to last night so I got 2 hours in.

I made a Smancer :thumbup:. That is a Skeleton Necromancer. Forgot what level I stopped playing him at but I killed the countess and got a tal and a tir rune. I also found an eld along the way. I've been more lucky with gems dropping.

The skeletons never kill what I want them too. But I can summon 5 of them now. I ready Nightfish's guide and I have been following that. It isn't as active a playstyle as my sin has been but fun nonetheless to sit back cast Amp dmg and let my skeletons kill.


I found an Artic fur set armor with him. I was pretty excited when I saw a green item drop. :thumbup:

I don't know if I should sell it and start to make a MF armor with my topaz, or keep it if I need it later or what. But I feel pretty good wearing it for the resits.


Then I moved on to play my sin a bit more. The first thing I did was make a Savage Thrasher with a cube recipe so my merc would better.

I am not sure this was the best move. I did get one on the first roll but Enhanced Damage was the only mod to it. The 3 socketed trident he was using did about the same damage since it had a regular emerald in it. And if I had used the other 2 sockets it could have done even more.

Anyway, I started using Cloak of Shadow a lot more, and let my merc do a lot of the work. It actually felt like I was playing my necro, but only had one helper instead of 5.

I made my way through the maggot layer. It was a pain to clear the whole thing. But I felt accomplished when it was done and I got the staff.

She hit level 20 and I started to put my first point in traps as to get the lightening trap recommended by the Kick trap guide I read here. Dragon Talon still Drains a ton of mana. And I found some sweet armor that I could wear if only I had some more strength. That sucks because I want to put more into mana and life, so I can live and kick more.

I tried to gamble for MF boots with her but just ended up wasting a ton of gold. I did get one pair of boots with 14% mf, but the kick dmg was so low I wondered if it was even worth it. I stashed them just in case.

Anyway it was a good day of playing. :thumbup:
 
Arctic armor+ belt gives 40 mf, and Andy has a decent chance of dropping the belt. You may even run into it after that or something. (also 40 cold res iiirc). Always a good idea to hang onto if you like :)
 
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