I know, right? 2 Skillers so far in NM (with the first character, too), both for Sorc, one of them with 31 Life is pretty wild. Also found a GC with +20 max damage suffix (and +stamina prefix I think).
Other than that I'm wearing:
25% prismatic coronet
25 life magic amulet (nothing better has dropped!)
28% lr res/fhr light plate (bought @ larzuk normal)
24% fr res/65% extra gold plated belt
frw/6% lr/36% fr greaves
18% cr/24% lr/psn length reduce/... rare gauntlets
+1 cold skills/+2 thunder storm/22 life orb
ancients' pledge kite shield
some useless rings
Curious: does prevent monster heal prevent teleporting superuniques from healing? just shopped a zweihaender with pmh for moron
A dozen or so statics + some FO, pretty easy (I was lvl 45 or 46 though, don't remember). That orb is crummy indeed Found one with +2 fire skills + some stuff, but that's rather useless to a FO sorc
I hope it's OK to double post two weeks later? I have a pretty big update.
Was gone for a week between Christmas and New Year's and didn't play. Started playing again when I got back and I am now level 74 at the beginning of A4 Hell (was level 57 @ beginning of A5 NM last time I posted).
Like I had done before I continued to self-mp for extra experience (full game) in A5 NM. I usually hate the A5 areas with all the imps (Frigid Highlands/Arreat Plateau), but with max static and orb it was actually pretty nice! Don't really remember the order of everything, but basically I finished A5 NM without any problems at all. I did a couple of Eldritch/Shenk/Pindle/Baal runs, as well a lot of shopping at Anya and Larzuk, as well as Charsi (with Cow portal after I became Conqueror). During the Baal runs Bartuc was MSLE once (I also encountered another MSLE questing in NM, but I don't remember where), moron almost insta-died, but I took care of Bartuc. Baal wasn't too hard either, he almost one shot my merc one time with his flame, other than that he was pretty tame. Ancients were done in full game too, don't remember the mods, but I know I didn't have to reroll, so nothing crazy. I progressed to Hell with level 71 or 72.
The smooth play suddenly got way less smooth in A1 Hell with tons of lightning immunes..., so I started skipping lots of mobs. I still did all the quests and collected all the waypoints like I always do though. Same thing in A2 pretty much.
Then came A3; I walked out of the Kurast Dock and found it was nigh impossible to kill the first Thorned Hulk boss pack that was supposed to give me jade figurine. I simply did close to no damage to them with my orb in a full game, so change of plans: I left my tcpip game with all but my sorc and one other character and pretty much just teleported through all of A3, only activating waypoints and collecting all the quest items. Thankfully the Ruined Temple did not have a stair trap and Sarina had reasonable mods (phew, this is always a scary place with untwinked Sorcs), so did the Council in Travincal. Geleb OHKed moron once, but overall no problems. Durance lvl 3 was okay as well, although I had to be pretty careful with Bremm's Conv and all the Blood Lords shooting meteors and stuff. Thankfully Bremm wasn't LE. I had to park Wyand, since his Teleport as well as high resistances (mana burn etc), resulted in him healing in more than I could do damage. Like Geleb Maffer really liked killing moron..., but no real problem. After I had cleared Durance lvl3 I rejoined the game with all my other characters before I killed Mephisto.
I haven't continued questing in A4 Hell yet, instead I started racking a bit in A3, but more on that later.
Character Stats:
Code:
Character name : Frozen_Carnac
Character type : Hardcore Sorceress
Character level : 74
Character exp : 407101475
Strength : 100
Energy : 50
Dexterity : 25
Vitality : 285
Stat Points Rem : 0
Skill Points Rem: 0
Life : 1345 / 722
Mana : 337 / 210
Stamina : 422 / 422
Skills wise I have put everything I gained since the last update into Teleport (for mana costs, lvl 13 now before +skills) and Cold Mastery (lvl 14 before +skills)
I got what I think is a really nice Orb from Anya, Skills could be better, but the rest - wow!
Code:
Dread Whorl
Glowing Orb
One-Hand Damage: 8 to 21
Durability: 20 of 20
(Sorceress Only)
Required Dexterity: 20
Required Strength: 20
Required Level: 30
Orb Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 61
Fingerprint: 0x5f55bf28
+12 to Energy
+6 to Mana
Fire Resist +34%
Lightning Resist +40%
+1 to Sorceress Skill Levels
20% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Frozen Orb (Sorceress Only)
12% Chance to cast Level 4 Nova on striking
FC and sick resist! and +3 to my main attack
Other than that I am wearing a lot of nice shopped items. Since I have excess Larzuk quests I was pretty liberal with socketing stuff, some were disappointing 1-2 socket ones, but I ended up with the following, which I all like:
Helm
Code:
Prefix 1067 Crown of Sorcery
Defense: 35
Durability: 50 of 50
Required Strength: 55
Required Level: 21
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 72
Fingerprint: 0x447d2310
+13 to Energy
+114 to Life
Lightning Resist +25%
Socketed (3: 3 used)
Perfect Ruby
Inserted into a Crown
+38 to Life
Required Level: 18
Item Version: Expansion
Perfect Ruby
Inserted into a Crown
+38 to Life
Required Level: 18
Item Version: Expansion
Perfect Ruby
Inserted into a Crown
+38 to Life
Required Level: 18
Item Version: Expansion
Armor
Code:
Prefix 825 Ancient Armor of the Whale
Defense: 687
Durability: 60 of 60
Required Strength: 100
Required Level: 37
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 72
Fingerprint: 0x1c7773a8
+247 to Life
+194% Enhanced Defense
Socketed (4: 4 used)
Perfect Ruby
Inserted into a Ancient Armor
+38 to Life
Required Level: 18
Item Version: Expansion
Perfect Ruby
Inserted into a Ancient Armor
+38 to Life
Required Level: 18
Item Version: Expansion
Perfect Ruby
Inserted into a Ancient Armor
+38 to Life
Required Level: 18
Item Version: Expansion
Perfect Ruby
Inserted into a Ancient Armor
+38 to Life
The defense is not really incredibly useful without big skill bonused (got 1 pt in Shiver Armor), but I will love it for twinking a Barb later. I had planned to rack a Skullders later so the 100 str req were ok as well.
Shield:
Code:
Prefix 1002 Kite Shield of the Mammoth
Defense: 17
Chance to Block: 28%
Durability: 30 of 30
Required Strength: 47
Required Level: 51
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 72
Fingerprint: 0x1ecd8b0d
+40 to Life
All Resistances +85
Socketed (3: 3 used)
Perfect Diamond
Inserted into a Kite Shield
All Resistances +19
Required Level: 18
Item Version: Expansion
Perfect Diamond
Inserted into a Kite Shield
All Resistances +19
Required Level: 18
Item Version: Expansion
Perfect Diamond
Inserted into a Kite Shield
All Resistances +19
Required Level: 18
Item Version: Expansion
I LOVE this shield! I had shopped two other Chromatic Kites (no suffixes) that had gotten 1 and 2 sockets, so I was incredibly happy to get this after some more Charsi runs and to also get 3 sockets!
I have also shopped the following two armors for potential later use:
Code:
1)
Prefix 985 Gothic Plate of the Whale
Defense: 133
Durability: 55 of 55
Required Strength: 70
Required Level: 37
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 78
Fingerprint: 0x264cdcf1
+93 to Life
+35 to Mana
2)
Prefix 985 Gothic Plate of the Whale
Defense: 132
Durability: 55 of 55
Required Strength: 70
Required Level: 37
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 78
Fingerprint: 0x63231f1a
+97 to Life
+37 to Mana
I'm really hoping that one of those get 4 sockets to put PTs in case I don't rack a Skullder's.
Also wearing a shopped 100 Life/3 Mana Plated Belt (I really get tons of life from my equipment now lol), and shopped the following sword for moron:
I opted to not progress through A4 yet, instead I attempted my first tries at racking. I am still learning some of the mechanics of racking, this was the first decent map with racks I could get to drop base items I wanted. Would the more experienced of you guys consider this a good map?
The 3 is also an armor rack (I think there's always above the left house of a camp fire?), but I could not get it to drop anything stable. I racked 2 Bul Katho's Sacred Charge (I think moron will get one when I reach level 76) plus some etheral CBs (one of them with 4 sock, good for oath in later patches I think), before I lost the map due to accidentally clicking Nightmare when I created a game. Silly me...
Not that bad I guess, since I don't even know if I'd use a GF. Also collected a lot of gems from those superchests, as well as a Fal, Lem, Ko, Sol each, 2 Amns, a +20 life SC and two rare Jewels (for PSKull cubing attempts in 1.08 I suppose).
After a few more tries I got a map that had an armor rack and a weapon rack within 2 teleports distance from the waypoint. The weapon rack (house south east of the wp) never gives anything interesting, but the armor rack gave me two of these in less than 50 tries:
Since this map didn't seem to offer anything (the camp fire are god knows were...) and I didn't think I'd need more than 2 LoH I was ready to move on to another map. Before I did move on I wanted to see if I could get the armor rack to drop anything else interesting on a stable basis..., this is what it drops when I do a little counter clock wise teleport motion (5-6 teleports total):
:whistling:
Good thing I didn't move on yet I suppose. I'm 6 set balrog skins in and I've run that rack for like 4-5 hours so far I think. Not quite ready to give up on that arky yet
I love reading other people's updates, finds and comments. Sadly I'm a little bit late to the party, as the 1.07 surge seems to have been a while ago. Nevertheless I enjoy it.
I mentioned the Balrog Skin rack I got in my last post. I didn't actually count my runs, but I once timed 50 runs and those took me 13 minutes. Later I found out that an armor rack 3 teleports away from the Kurast Bazaar WP could also drop Balrog Skins like 95% of the time, so I had two racks Over the course of 3 days I must have racked for at least 10 hours I think, so well above 2000 runs, of which maybe the last third included Bazaar? I found 16 Sazabi Armors before I finally found this last night:
And then a second one exactly one hour later (according to my windows time stamps for the screenshots). Racking can be very frustrating, but also very rewarding it seems!
Atma readouts:
Code:
Arkaine's Valor
Balrog Skin
Defense: 1554
Required Strength: 165
Required Level: 85
Indestructible
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x6a1df182
+200% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +50%
+2 to All Skill Levels
30% Faster Hit Recovery
+2 to Life (2 per Character Level)
+2 to Vitality (2.5 per Character Level)
Arkaine's Valor
Balrog Skin
Defense: 1554
Required Strength: 165
Required Level: 85
Indestructible
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x399ab79d
+200% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +50%
+2 to All Skill Levels
30% Faster Hit Recovery
+2 to Life (2 per Character Level)
+2 to Vitality (2.5 per Character Level)
I think I'll do another hour of those and then quest my way through A4 and maybe some of A5 before I attempt any more racking. Also I'm already planning the next character, probably a Barb!
A couple of things:
- When I shopped Larzuk in NM I also bought some +3 Warcries swords for later use (I prefer swords, even though throwing weapons from Anya are easier to shop, style is important! :nod: ) I noticed that the prefix names for that skill tree were different than what I'm used to, e. g. Master's for +3 Warcries instead of Echoing. Didn't pay attention whether this also applies to other skill trees. I assume these are simply renamed when being forwarded, just like all the rares were renamed one patch (can't recall which one).
- ATMA corrupting characters/stashes: anything else I need to be careful about besides 1.07 rune words and items with hit freezes target? How about rune words in later patches btw? I don't have characters in any other patches yet, but I'm curious.
- I know it was mentioned somewhere in this thread (I read it all a while ago), can't seem to find it right now: the rune drops from the Hellforge are the same as in 1.09? I.e. max Um in both NM and Hell?
- Can higher runes be found from (LK) superchests like in 1.1x?
- ATMA corrupting characters/stashes: anything else I need to be careful about besides 1.07 rune words and items with hit freezes target? How about rune words in later patches btw? I don't have characters in any other patches yet, but I'm curious.
Nothing that I know of.
- I know it was mentioned somewhere in this thread (I read it all a while ago), can't seem to find it right now: the rune drops from the Hellforge are the same as in 1.09? I.e. max Um in both NM and Hell?
Correct.
- Can higher runes be found from (LK) superchests like in 1.1x?
Yes, quite a few people have found them. Personally, I have found a Vex from an LK superchest.
Congrats on the impressive run you have going. And in HC! I am sure you have read about Baal, be careful if you really want to tackle that. Nice job on the Arkaines and LoTH!
Yeah, I read about Baal's flame often being a OHK in Hell, which scares me, because I'd really like access to the Cow level. It's one of the reasons I want a Barb, too, don't think I want to attempt that with a Sorc. I will search for relevant posts in this thread and re-read them before I try my luck at Hell Baal for sure
Generally speaking though, I'm quite experienced when it comes to HC, as I played it on bnet for several years (1.09 and 1.11-1.13)
Yes, some names for barb mods are wrong. I had notice that before and even forwarded some items to test what would happen. Iirc the mod will stay the same and the name gets corrected.
I've had some barb hats crashing ATMA. Then I need to drop said hat in D2 and open ATMA again. But nothing got corrupted.
I've picked accidentally some hit freezes target items but when ATMA reloads the character it shows a warning. This allows you to cancel open it in ATMA and drop the item in-game. Other than that mod and RWs I don't remember anything else that can corrupt stuff.
Yes, maximum Um. I've received a Lo from LK, but I don't know up to what runes can those chests drop.
Edit: ninja'ed
Edit2: I'd try to rack a shako before facing Hell Baal. And/or leveling a Barbarian for BO I started HC in 1.07 just to get items so my sorc won't go further than Hell LK
I've just started a throwing Barb in v1.07 and have a question: Does elemental damage get carried along with eh throwing weapon in v1.07?
I believe that there are no unique throwing knives or axes in v1.07, so I'm counting on magical, rare and/or crafted items. Does anyone have suggestions as to how to equip my barb?
Says any weapon, so crafting should work. You seem to be looking for a challenge
---
I played my sorc up until WSK lvl 2, Baal is for another time..., level 78 now. Had to reroll Ancients twice, once because extra fast Talic OH-wwed moron and another time, can't recall why though.
Back to racking, had a stable Bone Knife rack at a camp fire 2 teleports away from the waypoint, but I lost the map (fat fingers I suppose...), found a really nice charm though:
Code:
Prefix 840 Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x428f8826
+20 to Life
+3 to Minimum Damage
As well as this:
Code:
Shaftstop
Mesh Armor
Defense: 749
Durability: 23 of 23
Required Strength: 82
Required Level: 38
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x287f9a7c
+60 to Life
+250% Enhanced Defense
+100 Defense vs. Missile
Damage Reduced by 30%
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired)
Got a map with a stable Shako rack now, I have to pop another rack first (stable Sacred Targe, so I'll end up with a 45@ eventually I think, even if pala shields have lower def in 1.07) and two camp fire superchests, then it drops like 95% Shako :whistling:
Thankfully my current racking map and route (the one mentioned above) includes a campfire AKA three superchests, that way I get stuff to ID all the time, as well as some gems and crafting supplies. Also, I now have two Sacred Targes with 44@ and one with 45@, so I stopped picking up non-superiors.
I think I'm aware of the interesting base items to rack when it comes to S/U, not so sure about others, so I'd like some feedback:
- ethereal (elite) armors if I want any for RWs without %enhanced def in later patches
- ethereal elite pole weapons, interesting ones are without sockets as well as with 4 or 5 sockets?
- same for berserker axes
- maybe cta base with holy shield staff mod (war scepter?)
Missing magic items eligible for 3 or more sockets like cruel ethereal war pike of quickness and the like. Barb and druid hats also have some interesting magics if they get 3 sockets. Also poisonprefix missile weapon of poisonsuffix; if these are socketed with 4 perfect emeralds, they deal some sick damage in 1.07, and if memory serves me correctly, even sicker damage in 1.09
Some of the Lesser Hit Power items that I've crafted seem to work okay -- I haven't tried any Greater Hit Power items yet, mainly because they require a Fal rune.
Missing magic items eligible for 3 or more sockets like cruel ethereal war pike of quickness and the like. Barb and druid hats also have some interesting magics if they get 3 sockets. Also poisonprefix missile weapon of poisonsuffix; if these are socketed with 4 perfect emeralds, they deal some sick damage in 1.07, and if memory serves me correctly, even sicker damage in 1.09
I pick up some potentially interesting elite magic weapons, but not on a consistent basis; I usually skip the pelts (unless I want to sell them for gold) since I don't enjoy playing druids; but I pick up Barb Helms. I recall something about those bows (might have been in this thread even), usually forget about them.
Other than that I became pretty frustrated with my Shako map and gave up on it. I don't count my runs, but it must have been somewhere between 1k and 2k (?), I know that the other rack I ran on it (mostly Sacred Targe, some Kurast Shields), gave me at least 3 failed uniques during that time. I'll have to search for another Shako rack another time...
On the more positive side, I found some nice charms:
Code:
Prefix 854 Large Charm of Quality
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 30
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x1d223afc
+20 to Maximum Damage
Small Charm of Maiming
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 43
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x16189077
+6 to Maximum Damage
Prefix 896 Grand Charm of Maiming
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 37
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x5bdc55ff
+43 to Attack Rating
+20 to Maximum Damage
Prefix 964 Grand Charm of Maiming
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 37
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x4ddad49a
+38 to Mana
+20 to Maximum Damage
Prefix 812 Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x35a38d16
+20 to Life
+18 Defense
Prefix 853 Large Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 66
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x2414524f
+35 to Life
+9 to Maximum Damage
Prefix 1043 Small Charm of Maiming
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 43
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x684b4e1
+5 to Maximum Damage
Fire Resist +9%
I tried finding another map for racking, but didn't find any that I really liked, although I racked two Mavina belts. Before continuing to rack any further I decided to do some leveling instead, mostly to reach level 85 to wear the Arkaine's. I was level 79 and mostly did Bloody Foothills + Frozen River (teleported through Crystalline Passage, because the LIs annoyed me speed wise) + Glacial Trail/Drifter Cavern + Ancient's Way/Icy Cellar. Leveling feels slower than what I'm used to for early 80s, level 83 so far, so two levels to go.
[URL="https://imageshack.com/i/5izcdwj"]Arkaine's Valor[/URL]
Balrog Skin
Defense: 1554
Required Strength: 165
Required Level: 85
Indestructible
Unidentified
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x47cc27db
+200% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +50%
+2 to All Skill Levels
30% Faster Hit Recovery
+2 to Life (2 per Character Level)
+2 to Vitality (2.5 per Character Level)
[URL="https://imageshack.com/i/my7knfj"]Arkaine's Valor[/URL]
Balrog Skin
Defense: 1554
Required Strength: 165
Required Level: 85
Indestructible
Unidentified
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x649b6869
+200% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +50%
+2 to All Skill Levels
30% Faster Hit Recovery
+2 to Life (2 per Character Level)
+2 to Vitality (2.5 per Character Level)
Almost two weeks later I think it's time for an update: I leveled my sorc up to level 85 and equipped one of my two racked Arkaines. I had been saving up some stat points for a while, still lacked 10, but I had a 4x mana 5 str GC in my Atma stash, plus some other str charms. Found a decent map with a Shako rack soon after:
Ended up racking a total of three of them, first one took 1500+ runs, second and third were pretty quick (found the second about an hour after the first!). I may want more for future use in the long term, but I got pretty bored of that map...
Racked WTs (+ some Aldur's...) and Valkyrie Wing (kept some Guillaumes as well) on other maps, didn't think I'd need more. Put the Vallywing on the Sorc for faster racking, the WTs are for the planned MF Barb. Also racked more ethereal polearm RW bases than I could ever use (Cryptic Axes, Threshers, Giant Threshers, which I found racks for in that order, and Great Pole Axes today), got maybe a dozen with 4 sockets total, a few with 3 and plenty of unsocketed ones. I noticed that I never found any with more than 4 sockets, so I guess max sockets for some items are different than in later patches? Didn't recall that from reading this thread. Will they get 4 sockets from Larzuk as well? And their updated max sockets from him in later patches?
I crafted (lesser blood recipe) maybe a dozen Threshers with abysmal results. Re-read WorG's awesome 1.07 crafting guide and noticed that Threshers can't get Grandmaster's. Incidentally I was running a Giant Thresher rack at the time, so I picked up maybe a hundred for crafting purposes. Not that I had anything close to a hundred from the other crafting materials..., especially jewels seem to be the bottleck to 1.07 crafting, but I crafted maybe 35 Giant Threshers or so. Again, results were rather poor, until my third last attempt, which was this:
:spy:
Originally I was crafting these for merc use in 1.09 (which I plan to play), since there are no good uniques/RWs in that patch, but now I'm thinking of building a Barb around that GT, especially since they look pretty stylish on a barb! Range 5, too...
I assume reqs/base damage get updated when forwarded? They look off to me, compared to later patches? Noticed that on CBs as well. I vaguely recall something about changed damages in a patch log.
Do you guys think it's worth it to rush characters to NM HFQ to get more Ko/Lum/Fal runes for crafting? I only have a couple, which I haven't used yet though..
These were the good things, on the worse side I've been trying to find other racks to run (bone knife especially, but also either russet armor or lacquered plate) for about a week, but to no avail..., getting pretty frustrated again
Found one with +2 fire skills + some stuff, but that's rather useless to a FO sorc 
Over the course of 3 days I must have racked for at least 10 hours I think, so well above 2000 runs, of which maybe the last third included Bazaar? I found 16 Sazabi Armors before I finally found this last night:
