Anything Goes D2 Lounge!

[djmbbandie]

Thank you. Gonna start him soon. I do have a 4 socket maul loaded with freedom, so thinking melee.

Not related to this but another question. What swords should i be looking for to upgrade a frenzy barb merc currently dual wielding griswalds edge (unupgraded)? I’m currently in nm act ii and he has gotten slow.

 

[Flan]

Working my Dream Sorc through normal, she's up to level 35 wandering Act 5 and going to save Anya. Running as a Fireball sorc for now until I can start using the good things.

 

[Arjan]

Thank you. Gonna start him soon. I do have a 4 socket maul loaded with freedom, so thinking melee.

Not related to this but another question. What swords should i be looking for to upgrade a frenzy barb merc currently dual wielding griswalds edge (unupgraded)? I’m currently in nm act ii and he has gotten slow.

Grief, crescent moon, voice of reason runewords are great, anything with amp damage CTC or Azurewraths little brother.
I’m actually wondering if a dual Fury would work on them. Would give him +10 for frenzy if I’m not mistaken

 

[little birdy]

Not related to this but another question. What swords should i be looking for to upgrade a frenzy barb merc currently dual wielding griswalds edge (unupgraded)? I’m currently in nm act ii and he has gotten slow.

I think there are lots of viable options at that point in the game, before you get to the top tier end-game options. Pick up and ID any rare swords that drop, you might find something interesting. Exceptional uniques would be nice little upgrades if you happen to have any kicking around (Hexfire or Headstriker are the first that come to mind). Even a cheap runeword like "King's Grace" (Amn+Ral+Thul) if you come across a decent 3 socket base (maybe a Battle Sword or Rune Sword). Lots of different things can get you through NM and bridge the gap to the good stuff. 'Grief' is of course one of the best end-game sword options, but you could also give him 'Lawbringer', 'Crescent Moon', 'Voice of Reason', and I also really like the full Sazabi's set on a Frenzy Barb merc.

 

[Arjan]

Just finished cows with the Frenzy Angelic barb so normal is now officially completed. No deeds at all (that's a first I think) and the cows gave me two set items I didn't have before. So now I completed Vidala's and Tancred's. More sets too choose from for the next character I'll make to do this same journey. But first I'm taking Cahir through Nightmare... or as far as I can get him with the angelic set. Which I feel might be further then I would have guessed before.

 

[Triple Helix]

Just started a new necromancer last night as a Fishymancer with the intent to respec' him to a Poisonmancer eventually. Don't think I ever made one in the past, or don't recall if so. Might try him out in the upcoming MFO for the fun of it.

Not having Death's Web yet, hoping he will still be viable in the Pit for MF runs. I have every other piece of end game gear for him and the merc.

 

[PhineasB]

Nice @Triple Helix Poisonmancers are great for the Pit. I think HotO works quite well, and easier to hit 125 FCR and maintain decent resists. That’s how my 99er leveled up to ~93 when the DWeb dropped for him. And I am leveling another Poisonmancer as possible entry for MFO, and I’ve been using HotO instead of DWeb, and it’s been plenty strong.

 

[Triple Helix]

Great to know @PhineasB , thank you! I have a HotO ready to go and hoped that would work.

 

[coju]

Speaking of poisonmancers. Have y’all seen that vid where they test killing Diablo with one? Apparently a bug where if a minion hits D he dies slower. Something like that.

 

[Oblivious]

Hi there !
I am struggling in Hell Act 1 with my untwinked single pass Avenger, mainly due to lack of good weapon drops and the moron dying too often.
I was reading around how others deal with that issue, and while I did not craft an upgrade exactly, I messed around with the 3 chippie reroll recipe. HC Gunter and jiasonz recommend rerolling till you get a cruel affix, but the recipe itself sets the ilvl to 25. I am kinda confused as to how that is possible. I rerolled a cryptic axe a couple of times and voila:

Cruel Cryptic Axe of Maiming
Cryptic Axe
Two Hand Damage: 110 - 506
Durability: 57 of 65
Required Level: 59
Required Strength: 165
Required Dexterity: 103
Fingerprint: 0xccd9f6f3
Item Level: 25
Version: Resurrected
235% Enhanced Damage
+4 to Maximum Damage
1 Sockets (0 used)


Anyone got a clue ? Sorry if this is really a known thing

 

[lizard]

It is not just ilvl that determines affixlvl (available affixes).

Cryptic axe has a high enough quality level that it is still possible to roll cruel even with a ilvl of 25. I think most elite weapons can roll cruel from the 3 chipped recipe.

 

[little birdy]

Great to know @PhineasB , thank you! I have a HotO ready to go and hoped that would work.

My Poison Necro doesn’t have Death’s Web (or a HotO (or some of the other best-in-slot items )) but he still slays in The Pit. For the weapon, he used a ‘White’ wand until I found Blackbog’s Sharp with another character, so that’s what he uses now.

 

[Triple Helix]

Awesome @little birdy ! I had no idea what to expect, but just respec'd him in Act 5 NM and liking it so far!

 

[Oblivious]

It is not just ilvl that determines affixlvl (available affixes).

Cryptic axe has a high enough quality level that it is still possible to roll cruel even with a ilvl of 25. I think most elite weapons can roll cruel from the 3 chipped recipe.

Ah, I see. Suppose I didn't read the Item Generation Guide well enough.
Cheers !
Here's to hoping a BA drops sometime soon !

 

[snickersnack]

My Poison Necro doesn’t have Death’s Web (or a HotO (or some of the other best-in-slot items )) but he still slays in The Pit. For the weapon, he used a ‘White’ wand until I found Blackbog’s Sharp with another character, so that’s what he uses now.

Keep an eye out for good bases and I think you can maybe get more damage output from White. I have a poisonmancer parked in act 1 of Hell. He's holding this:

White
Tomb Wand
DolIo
One Hand Damage: 10 - 22
Durability: 15 of 15
Required Level: 35
Required Strength: 25
Fingerprint: 0x3e39eaf6
Item Level: 84
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Poison and Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)
+20% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Bone Spear (Necromancer Only)
+4 to Skeleton Mastery (Necromancer Only)
+3 to Bone Armor (Necromancer Only)
+3 to Revive (Necromancer Only)
+3 to Poison Nova (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Poison Explosion (Necromancer Only)
Hit Causes Monster to Flee 25%
+10 to Vitality
+13 to Mana
Magic Damage Reduced by 4

I'm pretty sure that I had blackbog's and HotO at the time, so I'm guessing that I didn't need the fcr or all res from HotO. I think he was using full trang's set, so that may have had something to do with it.

Irrelevant fact: I made that runeword over 13 years ago. It's now old enough to make an account and post here. I've since made an Enigma, so if I were to regear him and finish questing, I'd have a pretty good pitmancer.

Changing topics, I've been levelling a new paladin, as suggested by @little birdy, to respec into a 'mercadin.' I started him in LoD, as I usually do, and he's now level 46. I'm not sure how much longer I'll keep him in LoD before moving him to D2R, but when I do, I'll have the opportunity to move some items with him. Currently, I don't have Arreat's Face in D2R, but I have three in LoD. One of them has 5% ll and hadn't been used at all, so I'm okay with moving it forward. (I'm trying to keep forwarding to a minimum, and mostly just duplicates.)

Is Arreat's Face likely the best helm for an act 5 merc? Or is there some better option? In D2R, I have Andariel's Visage, Demonhorn's Edge, Crown of Thieves, Vampire Gaze, and Guillame's Face.

 

[Arjan]

I’ve been planning my pally who’ll be wearing Arctic gear as his adventure gear and when I started thinking about his off hand it made me think why I wouldn’t use 2 CtA. Instead of a CtA and a Spirit shield.

The bonus from each CtA is used right? So you could get +12 if you roll two max rolls (or 7 and be a stinker).

Is there a reason why you wouldn’t want to do that, except for the obvious expensive runes you’ll be using?

 

[little birdy]

I’ve been planning my pally who’ll be wearing Arctic gear as his adventure gear and when I started thinking about his off hand it made me think why I wouldn’t use 2 CtA. Instead of a CtA and a Spirit shield.

The bonus from each CtA is used right? So you could get +12 if you roll two max rolls (or 7 and be a stinker).

Is there a reason why you wouldn’t want to do that, except for the obvious expensive runes you’ll be using?

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think a Pally can dual wield weapons..?

 

[BBS_Agonistes]

@Arjan CtA is a weapon runeword, unfortunately, and can't be made in a shield.

EDIT: If you were meaning dual wield, as little birdy suggested, also sadly not an option.

 

[Arjan]

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think a Pally can dual wield weapons..?

That would be a rather obvious reason why you need a spirit shield. I never actually tried dual wielding on any other character then a barb

 

[Arjan]

@Arjan CtA is a weapon runeword, unfortunately, and can't be made in a shield.

EDIT: If you were meaning dual wield, as little birdy suggested, also sadly not an option.

Yeah I was thinking on using two weapons but that might me the thing: only barbs can dual wield swords