Anything Goes D2 Lounge!
- Thread starter NorthDakota
- Start date
My bnet one is in an ebugged shadow plateJust a hair under 3700 defense, it's incredible. Haven't gotten a Lo on sp yet though
Yea.. the problem with SP and SA is the str req though, almost forces you to use Andy's. Plus you can forget about using it on rogue merc or something.. That's why I think Kraken shell is a good compromise.
If you do have a full set of lightning skillers then 28k is a bit on the low side unless you're running some variant of a) 200 FCR b) Crescent Moon or c) High mf.
My guess is that you're lacking a few pieces or you're too committed to resistances that do very little for you.
You have some time from clearing wave 3 until the hydras are vanished that you can spend on a visit to Mara if you were hit by a strong poison.
The merc dies because he has no pdr% and poor defense. Upgraded Duriel's Shell + Vampire Gaze is probably the best all-round setup for an Infinity merc without expensive things. I continue to stress the important of CBF on merc as he will be too slowed to kill an LICI lister or maintain leech vs some spectral/CE lister variations.
For comparison these are roughly the numbers that I had on my SC lightning sorc, a char which I put a lot of time and effort into back in 2007-2008. 120 fcr, 37k lightning, ~260/310 mf, ~2,2k life, -24% ELR, ~25/?/75/? res. Again that's a reasonably high MF so you could increase the other stats some if you were emphasizing less on that. No early/beta version items were involved.
You have a good point there Zaph, I'll consider it, since I have an eth KS ready to be bugged.
NorthDakota
Well-known member
Expense is no issue for me. My fcr is needlessly 140% with my only replaceable piece being my magefists. I could swap them out with some chancies but that's really the only thing. I'm not sure how you're achieving 37k lightning damage. Right now I'm clearing in around 3 minutes, slightly over, so I don't really see the point in pushing it. My lightning damage as of last check was 29k however, so I'm feeling alright. If you have a better setup I'd like to know what it is. Pretty much my space for improvement looks to be 2 more light skillers, which I have as open space now in my inventory.
Setup:
Eschutas
Spirit
Griffons
CoH
Maras
SoJ
Another ring - (no second SoJ, open to suggestions here - wearing Dwarf star for fire absorb currently, just for ease of runs - could wear wisp projector for light absorb from gloams but they're not really an issue I've had)
tri res fhr frw boots (seriously a sick pair, could sub for wartravs honestly, but dont care enough about mf to do so on baal runs)
arachs
Magefists - seriously serving absolutely no purpose right now. Frostburns would mean less mana potions - trangs would mean more resists which I don't need - chancies would mean more mf which I don't care about.
switch is spirit and CtA with 6 bo
I have 6 light skillers, cube/id/tp/life+mana charms for the bottom row. Two open 3columns to the left hand side where two more light skillers could go.
Honestly, maybe my lack of light damage could be attributed to the only being level 93 (I dunno why I though I was 94, my mfer is 94 just from pindle) - but the runs are super duper quick. Everything dies within 5s of being casted by baal. I static 4-5 times and chain light/light to finish off stragglers. goes quick. Even last wave, very quick, comparable to other videos I've seen.
I could probably drop some resists but I don't know how that would help my damage. My eschutas fares better than my hoto as far as damage and I am still at max resists on everything. I could sub my CoH for vipermagifacet and then drop my spirit shield for something that would make my runs easier, like phoenix for the redemption. But I'm not into using pre1.13 items so I don't really see much room for improvement aside from two lightning skillers. I could snag a better crafted amulet (2sorc fcr any resists) and drop maras, and then I would maybe be able to get rid of CoH and Spirit but... I dunno where the extra damage you're getting comes from.
Also my life is under 2k currently by a smidge. I could have better lightning skillers with more +life, but I'm literally at the least possible str and the rest in vit. Dunno if spirit monarch is really the issue here - I feel like it could be better overall.
As for the merc - I don't even know what to say. It's probably a skill issue. When I have a good run there's no issue. When I have a bad run he dies, either to hydra or to listers boys when lister is LI and enchanted. I feel like this is a skill issue on my end, not quite getting the positioning right. It's definitely something I'm working on.
However, what I can't see is subbing out my treachery for duriels. I just absolutely cannot see this as being good for my run overall. I think it will KILL my mercs survivability. I have tried it before, it might be because he's only 93 (this is laughable, but whatever, I'm playing other games and I've only just started). It seems whenever I swap out treachery he just gets smoked. I have an eth upped shaftstop that I've tried to sub in every now and then and he still just doesn't quite survive the same way. I haven't tried fortitude. I don't have a vamp gaze, although I'd love to have one so I could try that instead of andys. Right now, I'm locked into using andys and treachery because there's no other option. The poison is a mere annoyance. It dictates that I must carry the antidotes and that's all. I would say this slows down my run time by about 5s because I have to pick up more antidotes every 3rd run or so.
To sum it up - I think I just have to get going. I think the main issue now is skill and willingness to just let the small things slide. I want my runs to be perfect but I don't think they can be now. In practice, the difference between a good and bad run is 3:00 to 3:30, which is still great run times, better than many of the 99ers that have come before me, excluding the really megafast megaawesome epic people. Even if the merc dies (I would say he's dying 1/20 runs right now) thats only adding about 30s onto my run time every 20th run. So that's really not a big deal. I feel like I just have to grit my teeth and bear it, because swapping out for duriels just isn't a viable option just to avoid poison. I feel it will be easier in a couple levels. Merc resists are maxed out so only really poison length reduction could benefit him but I think it'd add more time to get it if I'm going to lose the fade proc..
@corrupted - I can't imagine a gear setup that allowed you to achieve that mf with that dps - perhaps you could post it for me so I could be enlightened. I'm not going for the 200 FCR because that will never be a quicker runner for me. Also if you could name the expensive things i'm missing for my merc, I'd love to hear it because you didn't really name any, and I'm about out of options with trying to think of alternatives. There's nothing too lucrative, I'm a fantastic runner and I've put up thousands on thousands of runs to get things before. Treachery just seems like the best option, I've seen comparisons to everything in strictly mathematical terms, including ebugged forts which fare worse overall in damage mitigation in almost any situation by comparison to fade.
Anyways, sorry for the wall of text. What I'm saying is - take a look at my setup. Take those items, consider any amount of ridiculous wealth or whatever, and tell me what could be better. I can do it, I will do it, it's not a problem. I just can't see it.
Setup:
Eschutas
Spirit
Griffons
CoH
Maras
SoJ
Another ring - (no second SoJ, open to suggestions here - wearing Dwarf star for fire absorb currently, just for ease of runs - could wear wisp projector for light absorb from gloams but they're not really an issue I've had)
tri res fhr frw boots (seriously a sick pair, could sub for wartravs honestly, but dont care enough about mf to do so on baal runs)
arachs
Magefists - seriously serving absolutely no purpose right now. Frostburns would mean less mana potions - trangs would mean more resists which I don't need - chancies would mean more mf which I don't care about.
switch is spirit and CtA with 6 bo
I have 6 light skillers, cube/id/tp/life+mana charms for the bottom row. Two open 3columns to the left hand side where two more light skillers could go.
Honestly, maybe my lack of light damage could be attributed to the only being level 93 (I dunno why I though I was 94, my mfer is 94 just from pindle) - but the runs are super duper quick. Everything dies within 5s of being casted by baal. I static 4-5 times and chain light/light to finish off stragglers. goes quick. Even last wave, very quick, comparable to other videos I've seen.
I could probably drop some resists but I don't know how that would help my damage. My eschutas fares better than my hoto as far as damage and I am still at max resists on everything. I could sub my CoH for vipermagifacet and then drop my spirit shield for something that would make my runs easier, like phoenix for the redemption. But I'm not into using pre1.13 items so I don't really see much room for improvement aside from two lightning skillers. I could snag a better crafted amulet (2sorc fcr any resists) and drop maras, and then I would maybe be able to get rid of CoH and Spirit but... I dunno where the extra damage you're getting comes from.
Also my life is under 2k currently by a smidge. I could have better lightning skillers with more +life, but I'm literally at the least possible str and the rest in vit. Dunno if spirit monarch is really the issue here - I feel like it could be better overall.
As for the merc - I don't even know what to say. It's probably a skill issue. When I have a good run there's no issue. When I have a bad run he dies, either to hydra or to listers boys when lister is LI and enchanted. I feel like this is a skill issue on my end, not quite getting the positioning right. It's definitely something I'm working on.
However, what I can't see is subbing out my treachery for duriels. I just absolutely cannot see this as being good for my run overall. I think it will KILL my mercs survivability. I have tried it before, it might be because he's only 93 (this is laughable, but whatever, I'm playing other games and I've only just started). It seems whenever I swap out treachery he just gets smoked. I have an eth upped shaftstop that I've tried to sub in every now and then and he still just doesn't quite survive the same way. I haven't tried fortitude. I don't have a vamp gaze, although I'd love to have one so I could try that instead of andys. Right now, I'm locked into using andys and treachery because there's no other option. The poison is a mere annoyance. It dictates that I must carry the antidotes and that's all. I would say this slows down my run time by about 5s because I have to pick up more antidotes every 3rd run or so.
To sum it up - I think I just have to get going. I think the main issue now is skill and willingness to just let the small things slide. I want my runs to be perfect but I don't think they can be now. In practice, the difference between a good and bad run is 3:00 to 3:30, which is still great run times, better than many of the 99ers that have come before me, excluding the really megafast megaawesome epic people. Even if the merc dies (I would say he's dying 1/20 runs right now) thats only adding about 30s onto my run time every 20th run. So that's really not a big deal. I feel like I just have to grit my teeth and bear it, because swapping out for duriels just isn't a viable option just to avoid poison. I feel it will be easier in a couple levels. Merc resists are maxed out so only really poison length reduction could benefit him but I think it'd add more time to get it if I'm going to lose the fade proc..
@corrupted - I can't imagine a gear setup that allowed you to achieve that mf with that dps - perhaps you could post it for me so I could be enlightened. I'm not going for the 200 FCR because that will never be a quicker runner for me. Also if you could name the expensive things i'm missing for my merc, I'd love to hear it because you didn't really name any, and I'm about out of options with trying to think of alternatives. There's nothing too lucrative, I'm a fantastic runner and I've put up thousands on thousands of runs to get things before. Treachery just seems like the best option, I've seen comparisons to everything in strictly mathematical terms, including ebugged forts which fare worse overall in damage mitigation in almost any situation by comparison to fade.
Anyways, sorry for the wall of text. What I'm saying is - take a look at my setup. Take those items, consider any amount of ridiculous wealth or whatever, and tell me what could be better. I can do it, I will do it, it's not a problem. I just can't see it.
Merc items, have you tried Guardian angel? Kira's/GA or Vampgaze/GA ? The extra + % resists really cuts down on hydra, gloam and poison/cold damage from wave 2. So it can be helpful. G-Bane is also worth a try. But really, I don't see a reason not to go Andy/Fort. Maybe I'm uncreative/lazy, but Andy/Fort is really powerful, merc has no trouble surviving. Treachery doesn't work for me. I don't know why, my merc always get massacred with or without fade.
Poison is never a problem for me. You just have to get into the blind zone ( right side near pillars ) and not get hit by poison at all. As for the merc he has 85% PR through andy's and works fine.
Regarding wave 3, I use the following trick. Using teleport, I position the merc behind me so that when the councils spawn the hydras always hit my character and leave the merc alone. Disclaimer- I use phoenix shield which means any type of fire damage heals the sorc. But'll still be fine without it probably.
Use TK vs LI lister, or just park him. Those fatasses are really slow anyway and are not a serious threat. With forti chilling armor they don't hit the merc much either.
If you are already doing fine with 3 min runs or whatever, just continue doing them anyway, there's no reason to obsess about getting an extra +2k lite damage or 5 sec faster or whatever cause it really doesn't matter. What matters is being comfortable and calm so that you can do 1000s of runs and not go mad. Maybe a couple of skillers and ring/ammy adjustments and you'll be just fine. If you don't need that magefist, substitute frostburns and maybe another SOJ. Without phoenix redemption, mana can be a serious pain.
Poison is never a problem for me. You just have to get into the blind zone ( right side near pillars ) and not get hit by poison at all. As for the merc he has 85% PR through andy's and works fine.
Regarding wave 3, I use the following trick. Using teleport, I position the merc behind me so that when the councils spawn the hydras always hit my character and leave the merc alone. Disclaimer- I use phoenix shield which means any type of fire damage heals the sorc. But'll still be fine without it probably.
Use TK vs LI lister, or just park him. Those fatasses are really slow anyway and are not a serious threat. With forti chilling armor they don't hit the merc much either.
If you are already doing fine with 3 min runs or whatever, just continue doing them anyway, there's no reason to obsess about getting an extra +2k lite damage or 5 sec faster or whatever cause it really doesn't matter. What matters is being comfortable and calm so that you can do 1000s of runs and not go mad. Maybe a couple of skillers and ring/ammy adjustments and you'll be just fine. If you don't need that magefist, substitute frostburns and maybe another SOJ. Without phoenix redemption, mana can be a serious pain.
On damage:
You're missing a SoJ, have one skiller less than what I used and you might lack a point or two in synergies (?). Then there's the quality of your Griffon's and the socket in it and maybe a missed skill from battle command (?)
3+ mins for an Infinity Lightning sorc is rather slow considering your equipment and ability in LK. As you said you probably just need more practice. It might also be that your mapseed has a tendency to spawn one or more bosspacks in the throne room that you have to clear before the waves spawn?
On equipment:
Since you're using CoH your resists are more than covered and thus you should be able to swap out Mara's for a Powered Amulet of useful suffix
Spirit shield is hands down the best option for that slot - big chunk of damage, mana pool, no worries about FHR on other slots.
About the MF - you may want to reconsider your opinion since a) you're still missing a +skill ring, a Vampire gaze and are probably hoping to improve your Griffon's and b) At 93 you can hardly be considered 'started' in terms of getting 99. I think drops are quite helpful in motivating you when it starts to get slow.
On Duriels/Merc:
Seems you missed the point; CBF is the "sole" reason for using it, as frozen mercs are often dead mercs. However with no Gaze available I can see why it didn't work out for you.
The ideal Infinity merc setup is simply Fortitude and a helm that provides IAS, CBF and LL for convience: Typically Andariel's Visage with a Cham rune, ideally a Jeweler's/Artisan's Tiara or Diadem of the Locust with Cham and two IAS jewels with secondary mods.
As for the setup I used:
HotO
Spirit
Griffon's [Facet]
Enigma
Maras
2x SoJ
War Traveler
Arachnid Mesh
Rare gloves with +10 str/23 mf/27 fire res/30 light res (IIRC)
7 skillers, gheeds, cube and 7 small charms with mf/light res.
Since you're using Eschutas you could easily replace one grand charm with an IstIst Ali-baba that you manually swap on when Baal is at minimum health.
You're missing a SoJ, have one skiller less than what I used and you might lack a point or two in synergies (?). Then there's the quality of your Griffon's and the socket in it and maybe a missed skill from battle command (?)
3+ mins for an Infinity Lightning sorc is rather slow considering your equipment and ability in LK. As you said you probably just need more practice. It might also be that your mapseed has a tendency to spawn one or more bosspacks in the throne room that you have to clear before the waves spawn?
On equipment:
Since you're using CoH your resists are more than covered and thus you should be able to swap out Mara's for a Powered Amulet of useful suffix
Spirit shield is hands down the best option for that slot - big chunk of damage, mana pool, no worries about FHR on other slots.
About the MF - you may want to reconsider your opinion since a) you're still missing a +skill ring, a Vampire gaze and are probably hoping to improve your Griffon's and b) At 93 you can hardly be considered 'started' in terms of getting 99. I think drops are quite helpful in motivating you when it starts to get slow.
On Duriels/Merc:
Seems you missed the point; CBF is the "sole" reason for using it, as frozen mercs are often dead mercs. However with no Gaze available I can see why it didn't work out for you.
The ideal Infinity merc setup is simply Fortitude and a helm that provides IAS, CBF and LL for convience: Typically Andariel's Visage with a Cham rune, ideally a Jeweler's/Artisan's Tiara or Diadem of the Locust with Cham and two IAS jewels with secondary mods.
As for the setup I used:
HotO
Spirit
Griffon's [Facet]
Enigma
Maras
2x SoJ
War Traveler
Arachnid Mesh
Rare gloves with +10 str/23 mf/27 fire res/30 light res (IIRC)
7 skillers, gheeds, cube and 7 small charms with mf/light res.
Since you're using Eschutas you could easily replace one grand charm with an IstIst Ali-baba that you manually swap on when Baal is at minimum health.
Sorry, I know its taking too long...
I had written a draft and put a ton of screenies and some vids on a USB flashdrive so I could upload it all at work (WAY better bandwidth...), but I lost the damn thing somewhere and can't find it!! I'm rewriting it, and will get it posted soon...
@ND: gotta agree with Corr, here, CBF is pretty important. If you're standing on the dias, then the merc is gonna be Decrept'ed...add chilling into that, and he never gets a chance to get a swing off! (and a merc that isn't hitting isn't leeching, so dies...) This might be one of those occasions that it would have been better to make Infinity in a Thresher/GT...
WoRG
Sorry, but i have to totally disagree with the CBF being important for a merc of a lightsorc. That merc is just there to carry an aura. The killing is done by the lightsorc and if Lister is LI just park him and continue on your way.
Leeching would help a little in keeping him alive, but overall i doubt it makes much of a difference. Good positioning helps a lot more (that includes knowing when to pull him away from the fray).
Leeching would help a little in keeping him alive, but overall i doubt it makes much of a difference. Good positioning helps a lot more (that includes knowing when to pull him away from the fray).
As I mentioned without a Gaze wearing a Duriel's doesn't work very well and thus I'm not saying CBF at all costs. However what else is there so important to get on your merc that CBF should be viewed as obsolete? Every bit of optimization helps improve those run times. A proper mercenary can kill LI Lister faster than it takes to park him. NorthDakota also voiced his dislike for this. Any time you have to spend catering for your mercs survival is time not using spells that gets rid of monsters.
CBF for merc in Baalruns..
I'll have to say it's not necessary, really.
Okay so he'll get chilled by wave 2 but then I'll kill them in 1 second so who cares.
If you want to kill LI lister with merc.. There's little chance that he'll ALSO be cold enchanted at that time. And anyway if you spam TK on lister + merc has a bunch of defense through fortitude chilling armor means lister will barely hit him at all. Or just park it. Not a big deal.
Sure, cham an Andy's if you want to. I think it's both expensive and a waste of time. Ral/ FR-ias jewel is much better ( and needed vs hydras anyway ).
I'll have to say it's not necessary, really.
Okay so he'll get chilled by wave 2 but then I'll kill them in 1 second so who cares.
If you want to kill LI lister with merc.. There's little chance that he'll ALSO be cold enchanted at that time. And anyway if you spam TK on lister + merc has a bunch of defense through fortitude chilling armor means lister will barely hit him at all. Or just park it. Not a big deal.
Sure, cham an Andy's if you want to. I think it's both expensive and a waste of time. Ral/ FR-ias jewel is much better ( and needed vs hydras anyway ).
djmbbandie
Well-known member
NM Meph's first drop: a 77% Goldwrap.
Now it's time to torture Mephisto...:evil::evil2:
Now it's time to torture Mephisto...:evil::evil2:
djmbbandie
Well-known member
Today's finds so far while torturing Meph:
Milabrega's Robe
Butcher's Pupil
More Finds:
Rakescar
Ghoulhide
Manald
Milabrega's Robe
Butcher's Pupil
More Finds:
Rakescar
Ghoulhide
Manald
Last edited:
You must be over the moon DJ xD
djmbbandie
Well-known member
It will be tortured until I get an HoZ.
Can meph drop hoz?
djmbbandie
Well-known member
According to D2 Wiki, the item level on HoZ is level 50. NM Meph drops up to level 54.
*heads back to the Durance.
*heads back to the Durance.
