Anything Goes D2 Lounge!

[BBS_Agonistes]

That’s interesting about map layouts… didn’t know for sure that was the case but certainly felt it in my gut.

To report back on Javazon, I ended up with:
Griffon's 'Plain IAS jewel'
Main: Titan's / Spirit
Switch: 6 BC, 6 BO CtA / 35 FCR Spirit
Enigma
Highlord's Wrath
Ravenfrost
10 FCR Ring w. 5% mana leech
Silkweave
Razortail
3+ Jav gloves

Might Merc:
Vamp Gaze
Infinity
Treachery

Charms: Wasn’t sure on this, so besides Torch and Anni, loaded enough FHR for 86% and enough mana charms for over 900 mana after BO.

For the first time I can run Cows easily at p7! I’m so pleased with her. Before I could only do p3.

With 5 mpk boots and 5 mana leech ring, she rarely needs potions—some runs not at all. It’s fascinating how she does more damage and uses less javelins at p7 than she used to p3. I think the main key was Griffon’s Eye, but thank you guys for diving into all the details!

Looking forward to gearing her up with even better gear as my stashes grow!

 

[Excalibur]

Charms: Wasn’t sure on this, so besides Torch and Anni, loaded enough FHR for 86% and enough mana charms for over 900 mana after BO.

For the first time I can run Cows easily at p7! I’m so pleased with her. Before I could only do p3.

With 5 mpk boots and 5 mana leech ring, she rarely needs potions—some runs not at all. It’s fascinating how she does more damage and uses less javelins at p7 than she used to p3. I think the main key was Griffon’s Eye, but thank you guys for diving into all the details!

Looking forward to gearing her up with even better gear as my stashes grow!

Nice! I assume you herd a lot?
How do you handle the extra loot?

 

[BBS_Agonistes]

I've tried to mimic the herding I've seen in videos of better players than I and so far it works well. I'm still getting used to it, so no crazy speeds, but I'm actually finding the more appropriately I play the character, the better the mana is. I don't really have to use potions anymore now.

The extra loot is rough. For runes, I just hit F twice to zoom in zoom out quickly and see if I see a flash of orange. Other loot is trickier though... I've heard you mourn the crowded loot on p7 cows... any insight?

 

[Excalibur]

I can't stand the massive loot myself and this is why I no longer herd. On the contrary, I just focus on smaller packs and keep moving to the others. If I end up in a big pack I may kill them because it's really hard to resist but for the most part I tend to keep the groups of cows away from each other. This of course affects the typical Javazon play-style a lot.

I know it sounds weird but I am one of those players who has to check the loot to make sure there's nothing in there and that consumes me more time than killing the cows. I can't unlock my Javazon's full potential/speed without a loot filter.

The extra loot is rough. For runes, I just hit F twice to zoom in zoom out quickly and see if I see a flash of orange. Other loot is trickier though... I've heard you mourn the crowded loot on p7 cows... any insight?

Most of the items on the ground are usually potions so you need to get rid of these quickly. What I used to do is blindly pressing on the ground to gather the potions since they go directly to the belt (while also using them to make sure there's always room in the belt) and by leaving barely any space in your inventory you won't be picking trash items by accident.

 

[Arparrabiosa]

A quick question, just to confirm. I can re-roll a rare Diadem with the 6 P Skull recipe as many times as I want and getting all the good afixes / prefixes, no matter what level is the character re-rolling it, right?

 

[LouB]

@Arparrabiosa No, the item level will be lowered each time and it will also depend on the Character level. Here is what it says in the Horadic Cube section:

6 Perfect Skulls + 1 Rare Item –> 1 Random Low Quality Rare Item of the same type

• ilvl = int(.4 * clvl) + int(.4 * ilvl)
  • This recipe rerolls the rare item, resetting all the modifiers. The item level is lowered, but can still be fairly high, if the item and the character rolling it are high level. (Level 80 character and level 80 item would turn into 32 + 32 = ilvl 64.)
  • Note that the cube is only 12 spaces in size, and with 6 perfect skulls there’s no room for 2×4 items such as large bows/xbows, polearms, spears, etc.

 

[ffs]

Affixes for Diadems specifically don't depend on ilvl. IIRC the only downside is that at some point it can no longer get 2 sockets when ilvl is too low. Apart from using random skulls I happened to pick up I still never bothered though, just because with a proper Travincal gold farmer you can gamble rare circlets way quicker than skulls.

 

[Zyr]

A quick question, just to confirm. I can re-roll a rare Diadem with the 6 P Skull recipe as many times as I want and getting all the good afixes / prefixes, no matter what level is the character re-rolling it, right?

Yes. As @onderduiker wrote here,

Diadems have a magic level (18), so alvl = ilvl + 18. Since Diadems have qlvl 85, if ilvl < 85, then ilvl = qlvl = 85 and thus alvl = 85 + 18 = 103 = 99 (if alvl > 99, then alvl = 99) . This means that no matter how low its ilvl becomes due to repeated re-rolling, a rare Diadem will always have alvl 99, which is the maximum.

 

[Kruemelmonschda]

Affixes for Diadems specifically don't depend on ilvl. IIRC the only downside is that at some point it can no longer get 2 sockets when ilvl is too low. Apart from using random skulls I happened to pick up I still never bothered though, just because with a proper Travincal gold farmer you can gamble rare circlets way quicker than skulls.

An alternative for the 6ps recipe is to use it on rare jewels for low level twinking purposes.

 

[Bamilus]

Hi guys,

Long time lurker and big fan of the all the great posts here (ffs, gripphons, others). I know many here still play LoD but I'm playing D2R (SP) so I had a few questions because quite a bit has changed with D2R, especially 2.4. Since I'm SP I don't have sunder charms, obviously, but there have been other changes.

1. Titans vs TStroke for Javazon - With TStrokes getting the quantity buff from 80 to 120, this probably puts them ahead of titans now, correct? I get titans has some QOL stuff like the small amount of ML and FRW, but has anyone tested out the new increased quantity for TStrokes, especially for running cows?
2. WW Barb - With the buff to find item via the find potion synergy, WW Barb is the clear travincal best farmer now, correct? I don't see how blizz sorc could compete but not sure if anyone has tested for D2R.
3. Trav - Common wisdom has been running P3 for trav but is there any reason to run trav outside of P1 with barb that can hork in the 70%'s? Seems to me your kill time would have to be much quicker. I get back in the day P3 maybe made more sense but I'm unsure if that's still the correct optimal setting for WW Barb?
4. FOH/Smite Hybrid - I have a FOH/Smiter https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/th01062w#3 . Gear is ok, still need to get better stuff but I got lucky roll on my first and only HOTO. My question is: I'm using this guy as purely a chaos sanctuary farmer and uber killer. Because of that I rely on my merc due to my high fanaticism aura. I need to test more but do you think I should socket andys with a fire res jewel or swap it out to something like a vamp gaze or tals? If his fade doesnt proc he takes some damage even with fanaticism.

I just started playing a few months ago and I only have three pat/mats (FOHdin, blizz sorc, java sorc), so I'm going to end up testing all of these things but wondering if anyone else had any thoughts in the meantime. Eventually I will share my test data, but I am playing on a PS4 with an SSD so my load times are probably worse than PC players (about 7 second load in from start menu).

I did test and can confirm for running LK and mephisto its better to just save and exit than go back to Act 4, at least with my SSD setup. I save about 4-5 seconds minimum running through Act 3 to WP than switching acts, because the loading time switching acts is more significant than the loading time between same act WP's. This isn't new knowledge to anyone but just thought Id confirm it for console, as well.

 

[ffs]

.

1. Titans vs TStroke for Javazon - With TStrokes getting the quantity buff from 80 to 120, this probably puts them ahead of titans now, correct? I get titans has some QOL stuff like the small amount of ML and FRW, but has anyone tested out the new increased quantity for TStrokes, especially for running cows?

I'd say in LoD TStroke was "firmly 2nd place" and in D2R it's "on par" with Titan's. The latter (if ethereal) still has the added benefit of higher physical damage (leech as well), no or very few repair trips, and the FRW is not to be ignored. In comparison, TStroke is a bit more higher damage one less IAS source required, but lower damage (leech), slower FRW and having to repair them much more often. Definitely a better option in D2R, but still not my cup of tea.

2. WW Barb - With the buff to find item via the find potion synergy, WW Barb is the clear travincal best farmer now, correct? I don't see how blizz sorc could compete but not sure if anyone has tested for D2R.

Yes, WW is best Trav build for sure in D2R. Mostly because of loading times, and FI buff and auto gold pickup also help a lot.

3. Trav - Common wisdom has been running P3 for trav but is there any reason to run trav outside of P1 with barb that can hork in the 70%'s? Seems to me your kill time would have to be much quicker. I get back in the day P3 maybe made more sense but I'm unsure if that's still the correct optimal setting for WW Barb?

Worth testing as well, although I strongly suspect P3 is still way to go. Most of your drops come from the initial kills (1.0 vs 0.7X or whatever) and whenever I fail to set it to P3 and accidentally run P1 for just one run, I immediately notice the lack of drops, it's a big difference. But it's certainly worth exploring if WW gear is not yet top tier with Griefs etc.

4. FOH/Smite Hybrid - I have a FOH/Smiter https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/th01062w#3 . Gear is ok, still need to get better stuff but I got lucky roll on my first and only HOTO. My question is: I'm using this guy as purely a chaos sanctuary farmer and uber killer. Because of that I rely on my merc due to my high fanaticism aura. I need to test more but do you think I should socket andys with a fire res jewel or swap it out to something like a vamp gaze or tals? If his fade doesnt proc he takes some damage even with fanaticism.

Depends on Merc setup as a whole, but for general purposes Andy's is good, ideally with Fortitutde. CoH is a good alternative, Duriel's Shell for budget. Could also just socket a Ral for FR. Not too hard to make him safe for everything in CS except Conviction roll Infector, but that one will always require you to be careful.

 

[Bamilus]

Is there any reason to pick up any magic/rare items from LK other than rings/amulets (if even those)? The item level is too low to get good circlets right?

 

[gregth]

Is there any reason to pick up any magic/rare items from LK other than rings/amulets (if even those)? The item level is too low to get good circlets right?

I'll let more expert people answer more precisely since i do not know very well the drop mechanics, but I'm pretty sure I found a 2 assassin skills/ 20 fcr tiara from LK superchests

 

[Arparrabiosa]

Is there any reason to pick up any magic/rare items from LK other than rings/amulets (if even those)? The item level is too low to get good circlets right?

I pick gloves and boots too, hoping to get 2/20 with adds and tri-res with frw and MF sprinkled on top.

 

[Grisu]

Is there any reason to pick up any magic/rare items from LK other than rings/amulets (if even those)? The item level is too low to get good circlets right?

Circlets have an inherent magic_lvl of 3, thus their alvl is always their ilvl+3, in case of LK chests this is 80+3=83. That opens up all possible affixes except for +2 to all class skills (requires alvl 90). Tiaras and Diadems from LK can spawn even +2 to all skills, because their magic_lvl is 13 (Tiara) or 18 (Diadems), i.e. they can spawn all possible affixes.

 

[LouB]

I've now finished 1500 LK runs and got an interesting distribution of high runes Pul -1, Um-2, Mal-5, Ist-0, Gul-3, Vex-0, Ohm-0, Lo-0 and Sur-4 and nothing higher. I used three different maps and in the second I was finding a lot of Divine Scepters and now have some great bases for Honor. The third map produced a lot of Paladin shields and claws. I found a nice Sacred Targe with 44 resists, but no decent claws.

I haven't completed everything I wanted in 1.14, but I do have a shiny new Enigma and Infinity, So, I've decided that it's time to break out the laptop I bought and start playing D2R by Sunday night. I started getting ready by reading through all 21 pages of the Go Mule thread and have realized that this means that my starting D2R will result in Blizzard anouncing a new version next month! Yes, you can blame me now instead of Blizzard.

 

[Bamilus]

I'm leveling my barb on D2R and was wondering if I should switch to warcry or another build at 30? I'm playing SC and twinking is available. I have virtually every twinking item possible for both singer and melee builds with the exception of oath/grief (e.g. I have maras, viper, spirits, wizpikes, unbending will, bloodletters, IK set minus chest, bonesnap, butchers pupil, ribracker, treachery, highlords, reapers, headstrker etc etc). Everything online says use singer build starting 30 but I'm wondering if that's for untwinked and if something like frenzy or WW might be faster? Just looking to get through hell and then respec to zerk or WW, but probably zerk. Appreciate any help since this is my first barb ever (I never even played one back in high school 2004).

 

[SirName]

I'm leveling my barb on D2R and was wondering if I should switch to warcry or another build at 30? I'm plaing SC and twinking is available. I have virtually every twinking item possible for both singer and melee builds with the exception of oath/grief (e.g. I have maras, viper, spirits, wizpikes, unbending will, bloodletters, IK set minus chest, bonesnap, butchers pupil, ribracker, treachery, highlords, reapers, etc etc). Everything online says use singer build starting 30 but I'm wondering if that's for untwinked and if something like frenzy or WW might be faster? Just looking to get through hell and then respec to zerk or WW, but probably zerk. Appreciate any help since this is my first barb ever (I never even played one back in high school 2004).

Imho whatever your thought endgame is, the getting through hell part is generally the short part anyway. So why not use the skill you are going to end up with from the start and enjoy the ride? If only going for a mat/pat this reasoning is amplified.

 

[Bamilus]

Imho whatever your thought endgame is, the getting through hell part is generally the short part anyway. So why not use the skill you are going to end up with from the start and enjoy the ride? If only going for a mat/pat this reasoning is amplified.

Because I've leveled a ton of toons already and don't really get enjoyment out of the leveling process so I'm just looking for efficiency at this point. When/if I eventually play SSF HC then I will be untwinked and enjoy the journey, but I just want max efficiency for now. Even saving two hours during leveling would be huge for me

And I'm not going for just mat/pat I'm trying to get to endgame efficiently so I can do endgame activities (or what I deem endgame activities)

 

[LouB]

@Bamilus to each his own. I enjoy the leveling and how do plan out the equipment and skills to get to my end build preferably without respecing. I think you mean efficiently to get to your end game as fast as possible. Here are some game play ideas that could help: Don't do full clears, play Hell at Players 1, possibly even play some of Nightmare at a lower setting. Of course all 3 will result in being at a lower level when you finish, but this might not be an issue for you.

I've played a lot of barbs and usually find a mix of combat and warcries to work best. I also thing Frenz is the better skill in the 30s as you can start adding levels at 24 instead of 30 for WW. I also think WW is too mana intensive at the lower levels, then again I don't like WW. I also don't think you can beat the IK belt, boots and Gloves for all the added attributes. Dual bloodletters are a nice choice till you can add a Honor or Passion and a Lawbringer Swords. Lawbringer in particular can reduce your Nightmare Act 2 tremendously.