1.07 News, Info, and Gossip

[ziambe]

I can definetly relate to the stockpile of BK swords haha!

Also that dedicated level 8 mpk crafter has some nice gear equipped

I cant imagine racking with a barb though!! Can you elaborate on how this works? It seems like it would be even harder to find stable racks because you have less control over the approach than with teleport...

 

[Silvio415]

Haha I gave that mpk crafter some Hsaru boots to make the trips between stash and Anya for potions just a little bit more tolerable, and he needs Sigon's belt to get 4 rows of thawing potions. Otherwise he's just wearing random junk I found while getting him to clvl 8, I just hate leaving any of my character naked.

I rushed 3 dedicated rack runners, an Assassin, Barbarian, and Sorceress. I've found my favorite to run is the Barb. He has >250 FRW with his increased speed skill and dual Crainte Vomirs and he can leap over obstacles if need be. I get what you're saying about less control over rack approaches but I've found that to be a positive. The Sorc just gives you way too many options, you have to run a map several times and approach all the racks from different angles and then Hydra-tick them to see if there's anything worthwhile. But with the Barb, I know in 2-3 runs whether I'll keep the map or reroll.

Typically on a new map I run through the docks and hit LK first. I explore the map in a 1-2 building radius from the waypoint then explore KB and UK as well in the same manner. Then I spend maybe 1-2 more runs trying the most direct routes from the waypoints in LK/KB/UK to the close racks I've scouted out. If there's nothing stable or interesting, then I reroll. To me it seems pretty efficient but I know it'll get tougher as my list of items becomes fewer and fewer. I'll also need to start running HoP/HoV at some point which I've never done and I might find a Sorc is easier there for me.

 

[ziambe]

Interesting...It is true, I definetly have to spend sometimes up to 15 minutes testing maps with sorcs.

On the other hand, do you have any idea if a rack which would normally be stable could become unstable when running it with a barb because the barb can bring monsters nearer to the rack than they would otherwise be?

 

[Silvio415]

While I think that might be possible, I think keeping the rack exploration to a 1-2 building radius from the WP can mitigate that. Also, with leap I am *usually* taking a similar route to what a Sorceress would be taking with teleport, and the FRW leaves mobs in the dust.

 

[ziambe]

Edit:

@m4ke can you recall ever seeing a sacred armor rack in the HoP? I'm having baad luck :/

 

[frozzzen]

I don't know if it's of much help to you, but I do have stable rack in Upper Kurast. Kept this one cuz shiny.

Spoiler

Superior Sacred Armor
Defense: 691
Durability: 69 of 69
Required Strength: 232
Required Level: 80
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x13008431
+15% Enhanced Defense
Increase Maximum Durability 15%

 

[m4ke]

Edit:

@m4ke can you recall ever seeing a sacred armor rack in the HoP? I'm having baad luck :/

I can't remember that. At least any of my current HoP maps don't drop Sacred Armors.

m4ke

 

[m4ke]

@ziambe thanks for motivating me to do more runs for Green Heavy Boots. I did several runs in Hell but I haven't got a drop of any color of Heavy Boots yet.

But I found Tal's Amu !

Spoiler: And This

That puts my 1.07 grail status at -2.

WIll continue for heavy boots. Maybe in NM next.

m4ke

 

[ziambe]

That puts my 1.07 grail status at -2.

Wowzers! What is the other item? Something rackable?

 

[m4ke]

Wowzers! What is the other item? Something rackable?

Not rackable but Arm of King Leoric.

m4ke

 

[ziambe]

Ohhhhh, enough cow runs (with rituals) and youll eventually find that

Edit: having done quite a few more runs, i have to mention that it seems disappointingly rare!

 

[snickersnack]

Has anyone tried or even thought about a 1.07/1.09 Raven Claw forwarded to D2R? I was thinking maybe a multi/strafe zon with just enough points in the physical skills to get some spread, and maybe even just go multi OR strafe. Or, maybe even go Valkless and pump the offensive skills. Of course, enchantress might be stronger?

Edit: Okay, so later that day I was thinking that maybe Explosive Arrow only procs on normal attack, which seems to be true now that I've checked with Demon Machine on my bowzon. Still, might a 1.07 RC work well with an enchantress or would the level 30 EA not matter much after enchant?

 

[entwilighter]

Has anyone tried or even thought about a 1.07/1.09 Raven Claw forwarded to D2R? I was thinking maybe a multi/strafe zon with just enough points in the physical skills to get some spread, and maybe even just go multi OR strafe. Or, maybe even go Valkless and pump the offensive skills. Of course, enchantress might be stronger?

Edit: Okay, so later that day I was thinking that maybe Explosive Arrow only procs on normal attack, which seems to be true now that I've checked with Demon Machine on my bowzon. Still, might a 1.07 RC work well with an enchantress or would the level 30 EA not matter much after enchant?

I think a better D2R Enchantress weapon would be Demon Machine or Kuko. At least that has been my experience in LoD - 1.07 Ravenclaw is great up to a point, but the Pierce becomes invaluable at higher levels. I like Kuko because with Faith on the merc and the right gear setup, you can hit lower frames than Demon Machine, which maxes out at 11 FPA. I've built one in LoD but she's kind of stuck at Hell Council. I think she'll be a lot better when I eventually forward her to D2R.

As for whether 1.07 Ravenclaw is still buff in D2R, I'm not sure but I would assume so. Somebody like @Helvete might know.

 

[Helvete]

I haven't forwarded any items yet. Gotta find Torc of Iro and Cow boots first. And preferably Cham.

 

[snickersnack]

I think a better D2R Enchantress weapon would be Demon Machine or Kuko. At least that has been my experience in LoD - 1.07 Ravenclaw is great up to a point, but the Pierce becomes invaluable at higher levels. I like Kuko because with Faith on the merc and the right gear setup, you can hit lower frames than Demon Machine, which maxes out at 11 FPA. I've built one in LoD but she's kind of stuck at Hell Council. I think she'll be a lot better when I eventually forward her to D2R.

As for whether 1.07 Ravenclaw is still buff in D2R, I'm not sure but I would assume so. Somebody like @Helvete might know.

Demin Machine is what I have on my enchantress now. I'm using Infinity on the merc; I hadn't even thought about Faith.

 

[Derklord]

Has anyone tried or even thought about a 1.07/1.09 Raven Claw forwarded to D2R?

Of course, I do all my twinks with that! It does retain the lvl30 Explosive Arrow passive effect for over 300 damage per shot.
But yeah, since it only works on basic attacks, no sense using it later on (post ~lvl30).

I think she'll be a lot better when I eventually forward her to D2R.T

I have played a BoSo (or as I like to call her "Demon Queen" after the weapon) all the way through hell on p8 both in 1.13 and D2R (post-buff), and the damage output in the latter is obscene. You outright do almost 4x the damage per shot as you used to, and Sundering Charm with Infinity, Flickering Flame and a jewel in the weapon takes care of fire immunes.

Demin Machine is what I have on my enchantress now. I'm using Infinity on the merc; I hadn't even thought about Faith.

Denim Machine?

I like Kuko because with Faith on the merc and the right gear setup, you can hit lower frames than Demon Machine, which maxes out at 11 FPA.

I played with the idea as well, but there's just no way for that to compete with Infinity. 9 fpa is +22% DPS over 11 fpa, that's about 1/4th of what Infinity grants at its worst.

 

[snickersnack]

Of course, I do all my twinks with that! It does retain the lvl30 Explosive Arrow passive effect for over 300 damage per shot.
But yeah, since it only works on basic attacks, no sense using it later on (post ~lvl30).

Good to know that it least it still does work. I'll probably leave it in 1.14d, though, since it's not really useful outside of twinking.

Denim Machine?

 

[entwilighter]

I played with the idea as well, but there's just no way for that to compete with Infinity. 9 fpa is +22% DPS over 11 fpa, that's about 1/4th of what Infinity grants at its worst.

Yeah, I thought Infinity would have higher DPS, but some of us just have a need for speed

And to clarify, no point using Faith merc with Denim Machine - it maxes out at 11 FPA unless something has changed in D2R.

 

[Derklord]

Yeah, I thought Infinity would have higher DPS, but some of us just have a need for speed

It does have one advantage over Infinity: You don't have to wait for the enemies to get into the aura range. Teleport helps you place the aura, but a BoSo (that's "Bow Sorc", in case it wasn't clear) would love to just stand and shoot at where ever the enemies are, yet doing so in an open area has many of them not affected by Infinity, as your outrageous damage output could easily gun them down before they get close.
The reason I never tried it is the cost beyond the Conviction aura. Getting those 9fpa requires 56 IAS on your equipment, and with Flickering Flame being so great for the head slot, that's really problematic. Hustle in the swap slot could help you out, lowering the IAS requirement to 20, but without CTA the Sorc is rather squishy, especially when in this situation you're using a ranged merc without Holy Freeze. And to boot, you have 23% less pierce.

 

[entwilighter]

It does have one advantage over Infinity: You don't have to wait for the enemies to get into the aura range. Teleport helps you place the aura, but a BoSo (that's "Bow Sorc", in case it wasn't clear) would love to just stand and shoot at where ever the enemies are, yet doing so in an open area has many of them not affected by Infinity, as your outrageous damage output could easily gun them down before they get close.
The reason I never tried it is the cost beyond the Conviction aura. Getting those 9fpa requires 56 IAS on your equipment, and with Flickering Flame being so great for the head slot, that's really problematic. Hustle in the swap slot could help you out, lowering the IAS requirement to 20, but without CTA the Sorc is rather squishy, especially when in this situation you're using a ranged merc without Holy Freeze. And to boot, you have 23% less pierce.

Yep, you're right on, and I was looking at that recently with regards to forwarding the character in the future. I still haven't found a good solution.