1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

[RobbyD]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Going slow, but mostly because I haven't been playing a lot. I'm now lvl 22-23 and in arcane sanctuary.

I got a prayer mercenary and shopped some good equipment for him. I got him a leech stick, superior 2os splint mail (I dropped a couple of El runes for added defense) and a FHR helm. He stays alive even in p8 and is leveling quite nicely right now. When you combine that with firewall, which I have put a couple of points in, my life has become a lot easier. I think the hardest part was lvls 14 - 19, when you either didn't have firewall or it was weak.

My Sorc has had quite the easy time to level 17, but then again all she's done so far is get the Rogue merc and run Coldcrow exclusively. That 6 pEmerald Long Battle Bow waits for level 18.

I rolled the savage recipe three times and got three exception polearms. I don't want to whine, but I'm not able to use them yet Is it true that chipped diamond would've worked, too? :O

Yes, any quality diamond, to my understanding.

It is times like these that I'd love to trade some jewels and stuff to have those basic runes in bnet

We do have SP trading here :whistling:

RobbyD, is it true that prayer aura also gives me mana? I thought it was just life?

Sorry for my glitch - I do think you're right and it's just life, but that's still handy for a sorc since she's not going to be leeching life.

Oh, and I also use the +cold armor weapon switch. It's really a nice way to get your defense up in act 1. If you get your ring mail and stuff at lvl ~6 and have that kind of orb/staff in weapon switch, those act 1 monsters won't stand a chance I usually use it all the way, and you can find some really nice +ES and +cold armor orbs or staves (because there are three of those cold armors, it's not that rare to get one of them). So it's nice to have something on switch before memory or CtA.

Yeah, I started using an Orb with a cold armor staffmod on switch for both of my Sorcs for an armor cast. I really like watching the Chilling Armor work for my Countess running.

 

[Fervid]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

So it's nice to have something on switch before memory or CtA.

No CTA in 1.09 :whistling:

Still no vex from countess >.<

 

[RobbyD]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Still no vex from countess >.<

I feel you there! I got Gris armor AND Sander's Paragon from her. It's getting ridiculous.

 

[mouseman1]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

It's getting ridiculous? I've been following your thread and I think you have gone so far past ridiculous that you can't even see where ridiculous were

Yeah, I'm not sure about the SP trading, especially since 1.09 player base is so small and split up between 1.09b (me) and 1.09d. It might be a good idea to try and unite under a single 1.09 patch to get some trading going on. But for now I'm liking not being able to get free stuff.

EDIT: Killed Duriel at lvl 25. Didn't give me much trouble - or items. I have found 0 unique items, 2 set items (isenhart & berserker weapons), 5-6 rares (have gambled two) and that's that. I guess my 11% MF really is too low. I just hate to pump mf when leveling because I feel that it's such a big trade-off from killing speed.

 

[mouseman1]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Quick update with a quick question:

I'm now in Lower Kurast, lvl 29 and in full mage mode. I was lucky enough to find Ral and Tal runes on my way to the jungle so I could at last make Stealth and Leaf runewords (cubed up an eth rune earlier). I even spent some time shopping and got a nice +2 firewall base staff for leaf => +5 Fire Wall and +6 warmth rocks on a low lvl FW sorc.. doubled my damage output.

Also my mana regeneration rate is quite fast with Stealth and the huge boost to warmth. I've found some nice mana and life charms, too. I'm about to hit lvl 30 and I've been saving skill points so I can take Fire Mastery, Frozen Orb and Cold Mastery all at the same time. I except a huge change in gameplay, though it's been easy going even before Stealth/Leaf upgrade.

I ran LK superchests for maybe 30-40 times and got alot rings, amulets, charms and gems. Also lots of runes up to ral. I now have 59% MF and I see a lot rares dropping (one chest dropped 8, I think) but so far have found just one unique (shadowfang). Is it worth running normal LK on p8 or should I just press on for some normal meph runs? I'd love some normal uniques (tarnhelm, face of horror, nightsmoke, tearhaunch, magefists, frostburns and so on). Does normal LK/meph have chances on dropping these?

EDIT: Defeated Mephisto. Quite easy with over 1k firewall! Leaf really owns with this build (+3 fire skills affects Fire Mastery as well). Ran mephisto 5 times and only S/U from him was Glegclaw's gloves. Maybe I need radically more MF (59% now)? Oh, second unique dropped from Bremm - Blinkbat's Form. Is there a way that I could see what normal Mephisto drops and what are the chances?

 

[Pegleg]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

What would be good weapon choices for fury druid in 1.09? Also which weapon would be the best for the fury druid?

 

[mouseman1]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

What would be good weapon choices for fury druid in 1.09? Also which weapon would be the best for the fury druid?

I think 1.09 was the patch of the "BuriDruid". Buriza with fury was quite popular with shaftstop, jalal and the rest.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, I remember having a druid back then. Buriza was good even against PI's, but I used Barana / Tiamats on switch for all kinds of elemental damage. Buriza is so great because it's so fast. You get leech constantly and keep the monsters in hit recovery instead of you (I remember that buriza was godly compared to Hellslayer). I would consider Buriza or Ribby to be the best picks.

 

[RobbyD]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

@pegleg: Good to see you back in the fray! How have you been? Did you finish that Sin? To your question, I used the Dragoon's guide (Yahoo "Dragoon Werewolf") for my druid planning - popular choices listed there are Ribby, Buriza, IK Maul, Hellslayer, Messy's Reaver - but an Athena's Wrath would also do quite well through much of the game - I used a 3 skill AW for casting. Baranar's Star and Lightsabre are the viable 1H options, or you can use the 3-chip recipe on a Cryptic or Mythical Sword for Shaels/JoFs. The site also lists Cruel Giant Threshers of Craziness and the Stormspire as options, but those weren't options for me. Wolves and Bears have similar weapon mechanics, so you still want a fast 2H weapon with lots of WIAS.

Couple observations from my druid experience that you might find helpful: Hunger offsets IM, so I think it's worth the investment. Also, red pots are pathetic for a druid, so Hunger is a great alternative. I recommend investing in getting Hunger. One other thing - PIs are all over Hell, and Wolves/Bears don't much deal in elemental damage, so I recommend a Lightning Hose +3 skills A1 (fire) merc for dual beneficial bugs.

@mouseman: I'd run normal Mephy over normal LK chests for some normal uniques, but another idea is to hit the racks in LK/KB/UK - LOTS of racks there, and I racked some Hotspurs the other night just questing through Kurast.

Quick Update on GIEB_VEX - got her to level 30 and did a complete gear overhaul - off came the 6 pE LBB, Angelic, Deaths, and Cow set items, on went SoVM, SoE, Frosties, SoJs, Infernostride, Rhyme Grim Shield, Skill/res Ammy, and lvl 30 orbs (NOTE: ATMA is not perfect at reporting level requirements of Orbs - 2 of the 3 Orbs I had selected based on ATMA's reporting of required lvl 30 actually had higher level reqs - one was 35 and one was 48!). The one I could used had +3FO, +2CM, +1Chilling Armor. So she went full caster, and let me tell you, it has gotten FUN. FO + Honor Yari merc = hordes of dead monsters. I got her from KB A3 to the second WP of A5 and to level 37 (and was able to put on that +2Light Skills, +2 LM Orb for some seriously fun telestomping Nova action - I've never had so much fun dealing with the teleporting Imps in A5). The levels are coming fast for both GIEB_VEX and her Merc. Nova is impressive already - I can't wait until level 42 when the Occy and skillers become available.

Note - the ratio of mana to life is hopeless at this point - >800/300, so Blood Mana is unavoidable - I'm just going to have to be very careful and rely on the merc in CP, etc. This is with nary a point in Energy.

First socket reward will go into a Lidless Wall, as the setup I'm planning is Occy + SS on one for the 63 FCR breakpoint, and Wizzy + Lidless on the other for the 105 FCR breakpoint (I want to see what the impact of that breakpoint is and to see of the DR of SS is better than the stunlock of 105 FCR Nova).

 

[Pegleg]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Im thinking about hunting for the impossible ZOD rune.

 

[RobbyD]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Im thinking about hunting for the impossible ZOD rune.

I have one word for you: "Moo!"

OK, maybe 2 words: "Moo, moo"

************************
I thought about it a little more...

You do know that 1.09 is pretty much the worst patch to find a Zod in, right? Significantly worse than 1.07, and obviously worse than 1.13. Really, if you want a Zod, you should probably fire up a 1.13 instance.

 

[mouseman1]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Starting a Zod hunt is probably the easiest way of making yourself crazy, I would say. But good luck!

I made 40 normal Mephisto runs and decided I would share the results, since I don't think Mephisto is usually run in normal. I had only 59% MF and the trick was to kill him without using mana pots. I had a perfect map (wp right next to durance lvl 3) and so I teleported only 3 or 4 times in durance lvl 3 to get over the moat. I had enough left mana to FO, FW, static, static, static, static, FW, FW, which meant dead Mephisto with p8. So no need for mana pots. One run took me a little bit over one minute (55% faster run/walk).

Altogether I found 12 sets and 5 uniques in those 40 runs. I was a little bit disappointed because I had previously run him just a couple times and got set/unique nearly every run. I was hoping for magefists, but my best finds remained as sigon's belt & shield and a +3 vengeance Rusthandle. Nothing too fancy, but even with these basic set / unique items it would be possible to really help the process of leveling a melee character. And I now have a complete isenhart's set, believe it or not

So I would recommend running mephisto with your first untwinked sorceress to get some very basic items. If you start running for items only in NM you're going to probably miss some early items good for twinking. Going back and running those items can be tedious later on.

Oh, and I got 2 levels from it, too (lvl 31 -> 33). Next stop, Diablo!

 

[Pegleg]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Mouseman, I have decided not to do the zod hunt right now, but I will do it in the future. Right now I am going to focus on getting my Bear druid through the ranks.

 

[RobbyD]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

I got GIEB_VEX to NM Act 2 and paid attention to the level range of the available mercs: 32-35, so you can't hire a merc over lvl 35 - he can't carry a Battle Scythe without Dex help, so you might as well stay with Honor Yari + Face of Horror until you get him to level 41 (for Hone + Vamp's + Duriel's). I also found that going back and doing some Normal P8 Baal runs leads to CRAZY fast merc leveling (like 3 levels per WSK/Baal clear) and actually still gives your character nice XP even in the low 50s.

I also noticed that sometimes the Blood Mana curse doesn't show the halo graphic, so you don't know you're on Blood Mana unless you watch your heath bulb as you cast. Good thing to keep in mind - I don't know if that happens in 1.10+ or not.

GIEB_VEX is now level 55 at the Canyon WP with maxed Nova+LM and 6xSparkers - I have like 50 unspent stat points because I want to see if I can find a TGod's for her. If I find one, I'll pump STR so she can wear it. That will allow the Rhyme Hyperion over the Rhyme Heater.

Mana is usually enough for a big battle, but she does need to drink a blue pot or 2 if she is aggressively telestomping. I'm hoping the Shako bonus alleviates that, but finding fat blues on the ground is usually not a problem.

***********************

A note on the +5 skill A1 Rogue merc experiment (associated with my Bear) - +5 skills does indeed make her shoot poison bolts, but they aren't the poison missles that the AKs shoot - they are the blobs that the cockroaches spit. I went back to +3 skills, but I went with the +2 Valk Wing so she could use a GSA for faster attacking.

 

[Pegleg]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

I got GIEB_VEX to NM Act 2 and paid attention to the level range of the available mercs: 32-35, so you can't hire a merc over lvl 35 - he can't carry a Battle Scythe without Dex help, so you might as well stay with Honor Yari + Face of Horror until you get him to level 41 (for Hone + Vamp's + Duriel's). I also found that going back and doing some Normal P8 Baal runs leads to CRAZY fast merc leveling (like 3 levels per WSK/Baal clear) and actually still gives your character nice XP even in the low 50s.

I also noticed that sometimes the Blood Mana curse doesn't show the halo graphic, so you don't know you're on Blood Mana unless you watch your heath bulb as you cast. Good thing to keep in mind - I don't know if that happens in 1.10+ or not.

GIEB_VEX is now level 55 at the Canyon WP with maxed Nova+LM and 6xSparkers - I have like 50 unspent stat points because I want to see if I can find a TGod's for her. If I find one, I'll pump STR so she can wear it. That will allow the Rhyme Hyperion over the Rhyme Heater.

Mana is usually enough for a big battle, but she does need to drink a blue pot or 2 if she is aggressively telestomping. I'm hoping the Shako bonus alleviates that, but finding fat blues on the ground is usually not a problem.

***********************

A note on the +5 skill A1 Rogue merc experiment (associated with my Bear) - +5 skills does indeed make her shoot poison bolts, but they aren't the poison missles that the AKs shoot - they are the blobs that the cockroaches spit. I went back to +3 skills, but I went with the +2 Valk Wing so she could use a GSA for faster attacking.

In NM you can push to 75 on p8 before starting hell. Thats what I usually do, then when I enter hell I put it on p1 and zoom through it.

 

[mouseman1]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Quick update. Got lvl 35 from killing Diablo. Didn't give me any trouble. Found atma's drop calculator and had some fun with it. Looks like normal Diablo is the first true MF target. Lots of uniques and sets to drop and even some end-game stuff: magefist, frostburns, skin of the vipermagi, SoJ, tal rasha's amulet - though the odds for the greatest stuff are like 1:5000. Still, I checked the odds of the Blinkbat's Form drop from normal Bremm - 1:200700 So, anything can happen.

I got my MF up to 105% through shopping and gambling (nice mf boots and gloves with resists) and I'm going to run Diablo tomorrow until my atma-stashed mana potions run out from teleporting

EDIT: Diablo seems to be the second best place to get SoJ after NM Andariel.. But yeah, considering only SoJs..

 

[Pegleg]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Quick update. Got lvl 35 from killing Diablo. Didn't give me any trouble. Found atma's drop calculator and had some fun with it. Looks like normal Diablo is the first true MF target. Lots of uniques and sets to drop and even some end-game stuff: magefist, frostburns, skin of the vipermagi, SoJ, tal rasha's amulet - though the odds for the greatest stuff are like 1:5000. Still, I checked the odds of the Blinkbat's Form drop from normal Bremm - 1:200700 So, anything can happen.

I got my MF up to 105% through shopping and gambling (nice mf boots and gloves with resists) and I'm going to run Diablo tomorrow until my atma-stashed mana potions run out from teleporting

Normal Diablo.... IMO you should level through to about 45-50 doing pindle runs. You'll be suprised what he can drop. Maybe that sweet SOJ will drop!

 

[Hoop76]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Anyone playing HC? I have started a HC sorceress and have finally gotten her up to level 70 and ready to enter hell. I just found a ribcracker, so i am thinking of making a werewolf, or barb next, if i can get her past hell.

 

[mouseman1]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Normal Diablo.... IMO you should level through to about 45-50 doing pindle runs. You'll be suprised what he can drop. Maybe that sweet SOJ will drop!

Pindle is fast to run, but his drops are roughly 10x worse than normal Diablo's. Diablo drops most of the stuff 1:200 for me and pindle drops the same stuff 1:2000. The ultra rare stuff is also a couple times more rare and even though there are more available drops, I'm not sure if it's worth it. I like to build up anticipation and a big payoff instead of repeated letdowns

I don't think anyone else plays HC. I was thinking about it, being an old HC player from the realms, but decided I'm not up for it right now. And luckily so, because I died one time running normal andariel.. forgot to check my rejuv potions before the run and was all out Of course, that probably wouldn't have happened in HC, so..

EDIT: Did 10 normal Diablo runs on p6 with 105% MF. Got 2 sets and 5 uniques. Sadly nothing too great. Also found rare amulet, rare circlet and two nice rare orbs - also some runes, gems and charms. Gained 2 and half levels from it (now lvl 38). About 6 minutes per run. Going to level and quest in act 5 now. I'm thinking about stopping next to MF in NM countess, since there's been praise of her in here.

EDIT2: Did 50 pindle runs on p8 with 105% MF. Got 2 sets and 3 uniques. Nothing very useable. Spent a little over 30 minutes doing the runs and gained a little under 3 levels from it. So considering that I spent only half the time doing pindle compared to running Diablo, statistically pindle seems better. But oh my god so boring. Doing runs in bnet is more like every run you need to find the path, can't create games rapidly, maybe trying to get into a game with couple of people to increase the drops. In SP it's really monotonous, but more efficient by far. It will get time to get used to.

EDIT3: Finished Baal at lvl 47. Ran him about ten times and leveled to 52. FO is now maxed with some CM boosting it, pretty powerful right now. Notable drops from Baal: Kelpie, Bloodletter and Death's sword. Pushing to NM!

EDIT4: Act1 is easy with maxed FO. Those fallen camps never knew what hit 'em. Running countess now. Did get a couple of Hel runes from her, but nothing significant in items. Does anybody now what is her rune drop range in 1.09 NM?

EDIT5: Didn't found NM countess too rewarding. After about 30 runs I didn't get any Set/Unique item from her. And no XP either. Some craft runes, 2xHel and one Dol were the best ones. Well, I saw one rare Serpentskin armor.... Enough for today!! And do I remember correctly that in 1.09 one point in Cold Mastery was enough? It was capped so that it didn't take monster resistances to negative side?

 

[RobbyD]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

@mouseman:

NM Countess drops up to Io as her special drop, and supposedly can drop up to Vex as part of her bugged TC drop. She doesn't have that many exceptional unique items available, but can drop blue/yellow high exceptional/low elite items (and some Set elites, like LoH). You won't see any significant XP from her, as 1.09 is very weighted toward Act 5 for XP.

If you have +skill gear, 1 point in CM is indeed enough - it caps fairly early, and the effect is to reduce a percentage of the monster's cold resistance, so doesn't ever get it below 0.

Update on GIEB_VEX:

Got her to the RoF WP and got her NM HF (big Sol!), but more importantly, got her to level 62, so Wizzy and Shako are now avaible. I've already popped a pDiamond in the Lidless, so I'm going to try out that 105 FCR Nova with the Wizzy/Skin/Lidless/crafted (awesome) ammy (9%FCR, 45/19/19/19, +1 Sorc skills) setup. I'll have Occy/Rhyme Heater on switch for MF kills. I'm hoping CS/Act 5 produces a TGod's and a Blackhorn's - nothing like turning MSLE into life leech! Right now she's relying on a SoE.

I've been noticing that FO is sometimes needed for some monsters (the ones that I know spawn LI in Hell - the apparently have high LR in NM too) - currently pumping it - it's at 20 now with skillers. Nova is fully maxed and is very effective... but mana intensive - even with >800 mana, it will drain the bulb in taking down a boss. I'm looking forward to the Wizzy/Shako boost to mana. NOT looking forward to the Blood Mana curse.

Running P8 exclusively, except for Ancients.

Got a couple neat drops - Baezil's Vortex, Kuko, Mentalist GC of Dex that I can think of.

 

[Kestegs]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Nice progress Robby D! You are very close to Hell countess, or do you plan to progress/level more past hell act 1 before you start running her a lot?

I have a feeling I may throw my hat into the 1.09 ring as well, there are some very cool things about 1.09 that I would like to experience. I also would really like to make some 1.10 beta RW's eventually, and 1.09 seems a far better place to prepare for that than 1.07.

Plus I want to get that VEX before you do! :crazyeyes: Nah...I'm sure that wouldn't happen.