Anything Goes D2 Lounge!

coju said:
Nice info!
What CC techniques did you discover?
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Nothing earth shattering, just using some spells I normally would never have bothered to use when playing twinked or MP'ing (which is 98% of my D2 experience).

Druid: Molten Boulder is fantastic in narrow passages, e.g. the maggot lair and arcane sanctuary. I am still trying to figure out if it can reliably be sent through a doorway to clear an opening, I think I've rolled one through a few times but am not certain. The knockback can setup a 'boulder charge chain' whereby the target is pushed to the far wall and is incapacitated during the slow 'charge'. The damage is pitiful but still a useful tool for a fire/summon druid.

Sorceress: A single blast of frost nova is wonderful for taking the heat off of you and your merc. Also good for keeping those damn fallen from running too far. But this is only useful from 6-17, at 18 Glacial Spike becomes more useful unless you're surrounded.

<comment>You'd think that the sorceress and druid would be equally painful to play as they both rely on magic spells for damage, but the sorceress' mana use is significantly higher than the druid in A1 and probably A2, making it much more difficult to get the sorceress through. I'm looking forward to at least having a reliable merc in A2, seems I had to pull my rogue into every fight this time. Where the two differ significantly is in the targets they're able to most quickly dispatch. Fissure is a wonderful AoE spell and cheap to cast, making questing generally a breeze, but Volcano/MB are the only single-target attack spells I have at the moment and they are pathetic at taking out single high HP targets so I have to rely on the summons to distract and the merc to kill. The Sorceress on the other hand has no great AoE spells at the moment (I have a wand/orb with +3 fireball as my best AoE spell at the moment. I shopped a +3 fireball 2os staff upon reaching A2 and will Leaf it as soon as I play her again. Until Blizzard there are no cheap/effective AoE spells for her, but Static Field is the greatest single target killer of them all especially in Normal where it has no cap. As such, with the Druid the Bloodraven and Andy fights a snap to get to quickly but grueling to complete, the opposite for the Sorc as long as I could chug pots fast enough due to the miniscule SF radius with only one hardpoint an no softpoints. Unfortunately SF is still a mana hog so even if I could turn her into a tank this early to absorb the damage, I would have a serious blue pot addiction in order to use SF on normal monster packs</comment>

Necro: Still getting the hang of Dim Vision. I haven't played a summoner solo since before I found the forums and never used DV, I would just spam Amp and then run around and dodge the incoming missiles. I may put a few early points into DV to increase the radius now as it take more mana than Amp.

Amazon: Slow missiles is pretty cool. Not really a 'control' spell but at least takes the heat off around archers.

Barb: Double swing with 2x Steel flails, didn't need crowd control at all.

Paladin: Holy Fire + Zeal, again didn't need crowd control.

Assassin: Mostly just used Traps. I have MB and CoS (I think, been awhile since I played her), but haven't really needed them.

A question to anyone who's read this far, is there a trick to using CoS? Do you have to cast it at a certain spot relative to you/your enemy? I hear it's the greatest crowd control skill in the game for some...
 
CoS - the enemies have to be on the screen. The point at which you click doesn't seem to matter. If a monster is already close to you it will keep attacking. If you back away though, it will forget about you. The -defense part still works on champions and uniques, but they will continue to chase you and use ranged attacks.
 
I highly suggest putting a bunch of points into energy for untwinked casters. Later on when you have mana items/insight you can just re-spec them out.
 
Smancer said:
I really want that Lem rune too.

I've been running Hell Countess for one. I am not sure that is the best way to get it. I am level 76 now. wondering if I should go finish the game or continue running countess.

On that note, what is the best place for a trap sin to run. Mind you I don't have great gear. I can barely manage the pits on Players 1. Will AT be any easier? perhaps CS?
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Countess is probably the best place for a Lem unless you haven't done your hellforge, you may get lucky.

Trapsin area: Pits is a good place but if you're only level 76 that could be a problem as the enemies are almost 10 levels higher than you, questing for experience to 80 will help. Otherwise anyplace a Lightning sorc runs should be a good place for a trapper, but the only two that spring to mind are WSK and Baal and Cows, both of which require you to have finished the game :) I don't think AT will be easier, you'll run into Lit immunes there, AT is best for cold based characters.

Edit: re: points into energy. Yeah, I will do this. I tend to be a stat point hoarder in A1 spending only what I need on Strength and Dex to equip whatever I've found. I put points in Vita only if I have a NDE. My Druid didn't need any energy points in A1 or A2 as he found enough blue pots to keep going. My Sorc has just arrived at A2 and most of A1 can be done with a chipped gem bow as fast as using spells until I level them a bit. She's going to be a hydraorber, so I won't have a great spell until level 30 anyway. Fireball has the most points now I think as it's a synergy for hydra (right? been awhile so if I'm wrong then it only has one point)
 
BobTheWarrior said:
Druid: Molten Boulder is fantastic in narrow passages, e.g. the maggot lair and arcane sanctuary.
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Hmm.. I'll remember that. Read it before, but never used MB much. I've never got the hang of Volcano, nor have I actually used it to try and kill bosses/single targets.
BobTheWarrior said:
Sorceress: A single blast of frost nova
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Oh yes!
BobTheWarrior said:
<comment>You'd think that the sorceress and druid would be equally painful to play as they both rely on magic spells for damage, but the sorceress' mana use is significantly higher than the druid in A1 and probably A2, making it much more difficult to get the sorceress through. ......
Static Field is the greatest single target killer
...
A question to anyone who's read this far, is there a trick to using CoS? Do you have to cast it at a certain spot relative to you/your enemy? I hear it's the greatest crowd control skill in the game for some...
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Yeah, I did notice that the druid is easier on mana than the sorc. Way easier. The timed spells make a huge difference in that. I love firestorm through act 1 and 2.
I disagree with SF being single target. It's multi target quick death. Especially with Frost Nova, as you've discovered is great at keeping enemies at bay. The greatest sorc 'walkthrough' I've read is from Socialism's Blind TP/TK MF sorc. Post 2 describes it a little bit.
A jist of what it says, "Get a +3 or 2 static field staff asap. This will increase the SF radius and help your merc kill faster. SF + FN destroy"

I really noticed an increase in performance in act 2 doing this. Now with respecs, I just get fireball pumped enough to kill in 1 or 2 hits in act 2.

Concerning CoS: It's radius is what you see on your screen, plus just a little bit. Run into a fallen pack camp in act 1, cast, run around and see how big the radius is. That would be the safest way I reckon. Sure you've noticed by now, but it has a several second delay after you cast it before you can cast it again. So much, in a way, that after it wears off, you still have to wait a second or two before you can cast it again. Skill switching ftw for assassins.

Concerning DV: Greatness. Pure greatness. Used it on my mojo during the idiots of HC MP group (iirc). Dim vision, Confuse, and Attract are great. Confuse will bring minions screens away to the confused monsters, thus bringing more baddies to you. You'll notice on Attract that it has a set radius and will only attract the monsters in that radius to attack the Attracted monster (he'll have a little swirly above his head).
 
coju said:
I disagree with SF being single target. It's multi target quick death. Especially with Frost Nova, as you've discovered is great at keeping enemies at bay. The greatest sorc 'walkthrough' I've read is from Socialism's Blind TP/TK MF sorc. Post 2 describes it a little bit.
A jist of what it says, "Get a +3 or 2 static field staff asap. This will increase the SF radius and help your merc kill faster. SF + FN destroy"

I really noticed an increase in performance in act 2 doing this. Now with respecs, I just get fireball pumped enough to kill in 1 or 2 hits in act 2.
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I may give this a shot. I'm not fond of standing in a pack of baddies as a sorceress. My method in Act 1 using FN was to run forward, activate baddies, case FN when they're in range, retreat behind the merc, plink arrows at them. I have an orb with +3 SF (picked up every orb in Normal with all 7 characters looking for something good). My conflict here is whether it's worth putting extra points in Vita at the expense of Energy now (knowing I can respec later), or just making Leaf in my +3 FB staff and dumping into Energy.

coju said:
Concerning DV: Greatness. Pure greatness. Used it on my mojo during the idiots of HC MP group (iirc). Dim vision, Confuse, and Attract are great. Confuse will bring minions screens away to the confused monsters, thus bringing more baddies to you. You'll notice on Attract that it has a set radius and will only attract the monsters in that radius to attack the Attracted monster (he'll have a little swirly above his head).
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I used Attract in my first fishymancer as it was recommended by nightfishs' guide and am aware of its limitations. I haven't used confuse, it sounds like a possible curse method could be to DV the crowd, confuse those on the farthest edge to pull in more baddies, DV them, then chain corpse explosions. Could work well in A3 for example to swarm the natives before blowing them to hell. Thoughts?
 
I like this thread!!!!

Been doing several thing in D2. Can't really pick and stick to one thing at the moment. Got my barb from act 1 hell to act 3 and did some Trav runs. Need to optimize my merc, and roll a good map before seriously running council.

Been questing with my LF Zon and gotta say they are OP as hell in late normal and nightmare. In Act 1 Hell at the moment. Carefully questing towards Andy. Thinking about switching to Fishy build for hell. Jab, merc, and well placed decoy are enough to take care of LIs so far... but don't know about later acts though. Especially dreading Act 2...

My sorcs are taking a break so far. I need to take 2 of them to Hell Forge and get their rune drops. Same goes for my Barb, and Zealer actually.

But what I really need/want right now is some kind of MF tournament that will make me dedicated to run one area. Considering the popularity of 75k AT runs to 99 thread, i would think there would be some kind of interest in AT marathon or something
 
I thought Kitteh was going to put together another MF league?
 
Quick question to the gallery: my 99 runner is nearing the end, and still has Ancients saved...I know the standard is to 'ding' on Baal, but I was wondering if anyone thought it might be cool to actually level on the Ancients kill?

WoRG
 
Hi I'm having trouble with Diablo on Normal with fishymancer on players 8. I've heard it's a common problem so what s the best way to defeat him?

Also how expensive/rare is arm of king leoric? Cos I'm currently playing a fishymancer and have only a few (17) normal unique/set items. Also how expensive is an SOJ? Secondly, for new players how much MF is recommended? Or rather what amount of MF gives the best value (in terms of sacrificing other things)
 
^Those are a lot of complicated questions. It's all a matter of effective MF vs killspeed, and killspeed is fairly constant for fishymancers There is no SINGLE value that beats anything else. It depends on your character, play-style, and so many other things like map, even.
 
BobTheWarrior said:
I haven't used confuse, it sounds like a possible curse method could be to DV the crowd, confuse those on the farthest edge to pull in more baddies, DV them, then chain corpse explosions. Could work well in A3 for example to swarm the natives before blowing them to hell. Thoughts?
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Never thought about doing that! Confuse would bring the enemies in to start fighting each other, so I wouldn't imagine that you would need DV on top of everyone, maybe just the ones closest to you, but you'll figure it out once you start doing it!

DV, Confuse, DV, Attract, Amp, CE like mad.
If you Amp before you CE, they'll start coming after you, ya'know? A couple of well placed attracts would eliminate all of them coming after you, but, you do have 10+meat shields in front of you, so attract may not be necessary at all.

Your plan sounds like it will work wonders, especially brining in those who attack confused friends.
 
Innocent Lies said:
Hi I'm having trouble with Diablo on Normal with fishymancer on players 8. I've heard it's a common problem so what s the best way to defeat him?

Also how expensive/rare is arm of king leoric? Cos I'm currently playing a fishymancer and have only a few (17) normal unique/set items. Also how expensive is an SOJ? Secondly, for new players how much MF is recommended? Or rather what amount of MF gives the best value (in terms of sacrificing other things)
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You can kill Normal Diablo using just your clay golem and the iron maiden curse. Keep iron maiden on Diablo and keep recasting your clay golem when it dies (it will die a lot) while you dodge the fire and lightning. Diablo will eventually do enough damage to himself this way to die. This takes a while at /p1, I have not tried it on /p8. You could also get your attack rating up with gear, as well as having some fire and lightning resist, and then attack Diablo in melee with a weapon with Crushing Blow on it to soften him up some. That's a bit more risky though.

You can use the drop calculator in ATMA or GoMule to see the effects of different levels of magic find, as well as what the odds of getting a certain item from a specific monster are.

When I was looking for one, I couldn't find the Arm anywhere, but one has eventually dropped for me. SoJ is pretty uncommon and I still haven't found one.
 
^For this clay golem strategy you can throw in use of a bow if you like, too. I'm not sure how much that would help, but I suppose it could.

I killed normal D on /p1 with a singer using zephyr as his form of dmg.
 
Thanks. Will try it it out. Though I guess shouldn't be too much of a problem if I play on p1. I did manage to reduce his health 1/4th on p8.

BTW say if you play p8, do you have to enter p8 code every time you load your character? (load after save and exit)
 
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