Anything Goes D2 Lounge!

I have a question for yallls. Until I get another 4 socketed colossus sword to make a second Death, I am going to make an Oath for my Frenzy/WW Barbarian to use. Is making it in a non-ethereal sword to use the level 16 Heart of the Wolverine worth the damage from the HoW? Or does the Heart of Wolverine not add enough damage/die to easily to be worth losing out on all of the damage just to be able to use the charges?


Also, what jewel do you guys like the best? I am always curious as to what you guys think about these kinds of things. I am going to put one of these in my Frenzy/WW Barb's Arreat's:

Beast Scarab
Jewel
Required Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0xbc9dd3eb
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10 to Minimum Damage
Adds 21 - 45 Fire Damage
Adds 1 - 31 Lightning Damage
Poison Resist +14%

Bone Heart
Jewel
Required Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0xdfb9b619
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
23% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Maximum Damage
Adds 1 - 10 Fire Damage
Cold Resist +22%

Ghoul Whorl
Jewel
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x6666be29
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+8 to Maximum Damage
+9 to Strength
+9 to Dexterity
3% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Viper Heart
Jewel
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x99355415
Item Level: 82
Version: Expansion 1.10+
30% Enhanced Damage
+10 Defense
+7 to Strength
+4 to Energy

Ruby Jewel of Truth
Jewel
Required Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x134b874a
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+7% Faster Hit Recovery
38% Enhanced Damage

Ruby Jewel of Malice
Jewel
Required Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0xf0704d8
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
40% Enhanced Damage
Attacker Takes Damage of 1

Carmine Jewel of Carnage
Jewel
Required Level: 27
Fingerprint: 0x2b6356e4
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+21 to Maximum Damage
 
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Zyr said:
@Jamie, the Bone Heart jewel, with both ED and +Max damage, is best used in a weapon, because of a bug explained by @onderduiker on the Amazon Basin Wiki Maximum Damage page.

I defer to those far wiser than I with respect to what to put into your Arreat's.
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Thank you for the input. I tend to forget about the bug except when I am dealing with low level dueling. I was leaning towards the 38ed/7fhr jewel, but with the setup I currently have it won't get me to a new breakpoint or anything. I know my set up will change as time goes on though. I have a 35ed/6 strength magic jewel too.

The 10 minimum and elemental damage one kind of intrigues me, but I don't know how much the elemental damage compares to pure enhanced damage. I assume I would be losing out on a lot of physical damage because of using Deaths.

I just found a couple jewels I forgot about. the max damage one will have the same issue. but the minimum damage one is pretty good, no?

Realgar Jewel of Bliss
Jewel
Required Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0x6fd46447
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
30% Enhanced Damage
+8 to Minimum Damage

Realgar Jewel of Carnage
Jewel
Required Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0x264d1cdd
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
23% Enhanced Damage
+14 to Maximum Damage
 
@Jamie youre better off not using the elemental damage jewels. Maybe on a zealer sorc it would work, but even with the effect of elemental masteries, the damage is very low. I would use either the max damage jewel or the 40% ed one. 1 point of strength gives you 1 ed%, so a 35ed/6str jewel is effectively a 41% ed jewel (Atleast with swords, I don't recall if it works the same way with other weapon types.)

You can calculate if 41% ed is better than 21 max damage. I remember reading a post that said that ed% jewels are better with griefs and max jewels are better with ebotds, but I'm not sure about this at all. If you want to be safe, just socket a ed% jewel into the hat.

About the death sword, don't make it in a non-eth base. Added damage and AR from HoW pale in comparison from the damage that you get from making it in an ethereal base. Also it dies really easily (Atleast in my experience from having played druids)
 
@Tatterson The question about the ethereal vs non ethereal was for an Oath Sword that I would be using until I find a base for my second Death Eth CS. The Oath has level 16 Heart of Wolverine charges and I am wondering if the added damage (level 16 adds 125% I believe, but I am now sure how it is calculated) from HoW would outvalue the extra damage from the Oath being ethereal. I use Frenzy mostly and a little bit of Wirlwind on big packs.

I am considering using a 38ed/7 FHR or a 30ed/8 min damage jewel in Arreat's if the ED/Min jewel works appropriately. I will be using 2x Eth Death CS and Frenzy/WW.
 
@Jamie

Oh, well if you have the runes to spare then you can do a non-eth Oath

I doubt that the ed/min jewel works in a helmet, refer to the post that someone else linked. Badass barbs go for a gface anyway :p
 
Kitteh said:
I put a 40/15 jewel in an Arreat's on SC for one single build to use and I never used it again. It wasn't even a good Arreat's. Don't be me.
Click to expand...

Do you mean don't use Arreat's at all or don't waste a good jewel in it? I am barb nooblar and kind of melee nooblar at least on newer patches.
 
Kitteh said:
Oh, Arreat's is wonderful. I just mean don't use something as nice as a 40/15 in it :p
Click to expand...

Did any of those jewels I posted up above seem too good for my 183/6 Arreat's? Does the 30ed/8 minimum damage bug in a helmet? If it doesn't I also have a 38ed/7 FHR jewel that I kind of like. I don't think either are too good for an Arreat's do you?
 
Jamie said:
Did any of those jewels I posted up above seem too good for my 183/6 Arreat's? Does the 30ed/8 minimum damage bug in a helmet? If it doesn't I also have a 38ed/7 FHR jewel that I kind of like. I don't think either are too good for an Arreat's do you?
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Not at all. I was just making a (not entirely needed) point, but I have actually just confused you more. Sorry :P
 
Kitteh said:
Not at all. I was just making a (not entirely needed) point, but I have actually just confused you more. Sorry :p
Click to expand...

Does the 30 Enhanced Damage/8 to Minimum Damage Jewel work okay in Arreat's? Does it bug like an ED/Max Jewel does? Or Does the ed/min bug? That way I know whether or not to use the 30/8 min jool or the 38/7 fhr jooL.

Also I just decided to make this to use until I find another 5os eth CS to make another Death. I was using a Doombringer and that just sucked.

6a03f2d0-5c43-4c2b-b94c-b537f99b61f6-original.jpg
 
zemaj said:
@Jamie
Re: Oath - make it in an ethereal base if damage is even a mild concern. The HoW, even at slvl16, won't add a fraction of the damage that ethereal bonus will (more on this below). Small Crescent axe in general or Balrog Blade if sword-themed would be my reccomend bases for balance of damage/reqs/WSM.

Re: Jewels - first off, that bug applies to any jewel that has ANY +%ED AND ANY +min OR +max affixes, so I'd save any like that for weapons only, where the bug does not apply.
Secondly, I'd go for +min or +max in your setup. With Deaths, you will already have a shedload of on-weapon +%ED, so the slight boost with off-weapon +%ED from jewel wouldn't be as significant as the straight +min/max would be.

That goes back to the ethereal vs. non-eth debate. The reason that eth bonus beats HoW so handily is on-weapon vs. off-weapon +%ED. Basically, when damage is calculated, it's done in steps, and the first is weapon damage. This includes ONLY the +%ED on the weapon itself, +min/max on-weapon and from charms, and ethereal bonus. That's totaled, then all the rest is applied to that (+%ED from skills, auras, non-weapon gear, & strength/dex bonus, and +min/max from non-weapon, non-charm gear). The end result is that any time you can boost weapon damage or general damage, it's almost always better to boost the weapon damage, in terms of raw damage output.
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I have a +21 Max Damage Jewel. You think that would be superior to the 38/7fhr then? I'm not sure how to calculate it, but I do plan on using 2x death eth CS. Right now I have one death eth cs and oath eth conquest sword.
 
zemaj said:
secondly, I'd go for +min or +max in your setup. With Deaths, you will already have a shedload of on-weapon +%ED, so the slight boost with off-weapon +%ED from jewel wouldn't be as significant as the straight +min/max would be.
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On weapon and off weapon is different though. Off weapon is added to skill damage, while on weapon applies to the weapon base. If it was fortitude, it would kinda make sense to go for maxdmg but the bigger the weapon, the more off weapon ed helps.
 
@Jamie if you don't wanna think about it, roll with the 38/7 one if it gives you an extra breakpoint. On the other hand if you want to be a badass mathematician, look up the formulas on how to calculate damage and check if 38ed or 21max gives you more damage.
 
@Tatterson over my head on how exactly to calculate the damage lol. So I'm hoping some melee, barbaric expert out there will see it and have an idea on what goes better in the Arreat's with frenzy/ww death swords, fortitude and lots of max damage charms. It seems it's probably not as obvious as an answer as I had hoped it would be. Just don't want to have to decide on whether I to remove and destroy one, because I made a poor decision initially.

I know it's not really that huge of a deal and probably a close call and that I could go with what I feel is best and hope my understanding of the numbers is going to be correct. I just like to learn from the knowledgeable people on here, so I ask a lot of questions and end up usually getting good advice and explanations. I just really enjoy hearing really specific scenarios from the people on this forum, so much more productive, friendly and knowledgeable than other d2 forums.

I really wish I could 'Cham' it, lol.
 
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If Arreat's is in question, then don't worry. You will find more of those, they aren't exactly rare type of item.

Considering you using Laying of Hands as well as Fortitude and likely War Travelers plus maybe +70 max damage in inventory, eth average rolled Death CS... even against demons high ED% seems to slightly beat +21max dmg jewel. Difference will increase once you replace Fortitude with Enigma if that is some distant future plan. Against non-demons ED% jewel is even better.

In the end difference is rather small, not something to see in practice. However generally speaking high end ED% will beat +max dmg jewels for ethereal strong weapons. This is even more true for 1.07 time traveler with +20max damage charms.
 
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