Builds for those "useless" items?

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Kitriara

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Builds for those "useless" items?

I was inspired to create this thread because I find that there are way too many set and unique items that are basically regarded as "useless." Sure, they may have some nice mods, but it seems that, in general, there are a handful of insanely useful items, then a plethora of them that fall short.

I'm curious to know if and how players are using lesser-used set and unique items in new, creative or interesting ways.

I'll offer up two quick ones as a start.

1. WIZENDRAW on my Frost Maiden amazon
I had always kind of ignored this bow, but upon reading a guide or two, I realized how insanely effective that -cold resist% could be on a build that wasn't concerned with physical damage. Pretty cool.

2. FLAMEBELLOW
Sadly, this is more of a request - there does not seem to be ANY use for this item. I guess a Barb could wield it, or an Act 5 merc, or you could use it for an Iron Golem? I found my first one yesterday during a Pit Run and was immediately disappointed that of all elite uniques that could've dropped, this was the one.
 
Re: Builds for those "useless" items?

Wizendraw is a very common bow thanks to the Fishyzon, the freezing arrow back-up.

I like building characters around items myself, however my main issue is to FIND those items :)

Dragonscale & Ravenclaw: I have a Fire mage/ranger/zealot using Ravenclaw (thanks to RobbyD he will be wielding a .09 from now on) & Silence PB/Dragonscale main skills Holy Fire, Zeal & Hydra. Will post a pat thread one day :)

Then there are always your more obvious ones such as Wolfhowl and Beast. As for Flamebellow, no clue mate - it is one lousy unique!

/g
 
Re: Builds for those "useless" items?

Tournaments like the Gold Diggers can often result in the use of normally "useless" items. Even more pronounced was this in the old Green with Envy tournies (only set items allowed) where it was very interesting to discover what partial set bonuses that might be of use.
 
Re: Builds for those "useless" items?

Flamebellow, while an insanely cool weapon, just doesn't cut (no pun intended ^^) it. I don't think anyone here as ever matted a pure Inferno sorceress, let alone any character using Inferno from Flamebellow. Not just because the damage is lackluster to say the least, it also requires lots of mana AND continuous casting (i.e. sitting duck) --> not fun.

There's a lot of oddball weapons/equipment out there, and most of them can be used to create strange and unique characters, but Flamebellow just... fails.
 
Re: Builds for those "useless" items?

Nightfish posts are pretty much a must read for those on the forums. His Sept compilation is here, where he outlines a number of unusual builds equipped with various unusual S/Us.
 
Re: Builds for those "useless" items?

I spent some time trying to figure out if the unique aegis Medusa's Gaze could possibly be useful for some builds. Since it has a ctc Lower Resist, the idea was a vanilla version of Infinity, a way of breaking immunes for essentially single-element attackers. My efforts were a Tesladin Vogonotronic and a fireclaws bear Jeltz. Neither one was that convincing, but I do think it interesting to try and figure out a good use for an otherwise neglected item.

Flamebellow, sadly, is pretty useless. An ethereal one is a reasonable barb merc weapon, but there are many better choices. Grisu thought about a dual Flamebellow inferno barb but the damage would be quite weak.
 
Re: Builds for those "useless" items?

That dual flamebellow write up is funny, I'd love to go into a mp game and cast inferno, and let the other characters follow the flames to see how insanely far that would be! level 64 and still only 100 damage, wow!

I love using odd builds/weapons, but am fresh off a restart and haven't found many of them yet.

oooo...a thought just came in my mind that would be fun to try, but It's a secret 'til I think about it some more (it's not related to flamebellow).
 
Re: Builds for those "useless" items?

lol - I totally forgot about that Flamebellow analysis :D btw, I forgot Arachnid's in my calculations... :rolleyes: Now if that doesn't make the build viable... :p

Well, I got everything mentioned except for 10 Burning GCs (only 6), so that would make level 59...hmm...I think I should try it...

..oh wait, I think I already tried it some time ago and all I managed was to get locked in place...INVINCIBLE!!!! I should name a character BruceWillis and beat the game that way.

But I have another build idea around a "useless" weapon..hmm...

*back to the drawing board*
 
Re: Builds for those "useless" items?

Flamebellow is teh sux, but it does have some good qualities. Back on b.net (yes I know, the least likely candidate for good ideas), one of my friends used a Double Swing Flamebellow/Flamebellow Barbarian. On switch, he had Frostwind/Frostwind. He was primarily fire, but would switch to Frostwind/Frostwind against FIs. Decent fire damage, decent %ED comparable to a low Cruel-affix, slap on Highlord's Wrath/Gore Rider for DS/CB, works decently.
 
Re: Builds for those "useless" items?

hehe, I got one during a pit run too. It's polar opposite dropped right next to it too.
FireandIce.jpg
[/IMG]

But yeah, useless... so far.
 
Re: Builds for those "useless" items?

If only Iron Golems would use 0skills... Think of the epicness of two necros, each with a golem of those...
 
Re: Builds for those "useless" items?

Yea, a lot of the seemingly "useless" Items are actually not that bad if you upgrade them (this goes mostly for weapons). A lot of the others can be useful for mods that aren't common otherwise. Of course they can rarely compare to OP runewords, but that's not really the point, is it? :)

As has been pointed out, I liked to use many "crappy" items, some to great effect. I still remember my Dual Vile Husk Frenzier fondly. Goddamn that was a lot of damage he put out.
 
Re: Builds for those "useless" items?

Flamebellow - it's about style, not how powerful the build is :)
Dante - 2h Avenger

I have also uses Crainte Vomir & Upped Vile Husk. Not optimal, just interesting.
 
Re: Builds for those "useless" items?

I never really considered it before, but I'm thinking about making a Voice of Reason in a Phase Blade for my Frost Zealot. Against non-cold immunes it seems like it could be really effective, despite sacrificing all my physical damage.
 
Re: Builds for those "useless" items?

Kitriara said:
I never really considered it before, but I'm thinking about making a Voice of Reason in a Phase Blade for my Frost Zealot. Against non-cold immunes it seems like it could be really effective, despite sacrificing all my physical damage.
Click to expand...

I used both on my riftadin and Voice of Reason is cheaper, good alternative to Rift for Conviction Zealots.

VoR is a bit more defensive with it's CTC ice blast and CBF means you don't need to use Ravenfrost. Plus you can put it in a phase blade where Rift can only be put in a slower scepter/polearm.



 
Re: Builds for those "useless" items?

I've had a bee in my bonnet for some time now regarding Sazabi's full set.

The set has some nice attributes, extra life, life leech, FRW as well as the usual resists, FHR etc.
The idea is to couple the sets 318% ed versus demons with other items, LoH for example along with DS & CB for a specialized demon killer/council rune runner.
It works reasonably well though every time you crunch the numbers, your standard Griefadin will still do at least twice as much damage against the council. But's it's nice to do something with an obscure set rather than the usual Grief PB/HoZ/Guill face/Gores/Highlords/etc zealot build.
 
Re: Builds for those "useless" items?

the usual Grief PB/HoZ/Guill face/Gores/Highlords/etc zealot build.
Click to expand...
Psssh, Exile n00b.

I had always fancied doing a %ED vs Demons build, either a frenzier (which I could never make work) or a zealot. I tried out some items on my zealot, little things like LoH instead of Drac's, and the damage increase was certainly visible.

If we're going for truly useless (end-game wise), I always dreamt of a full Naj's sorceress back in my b.net days. I eventually gathered it all, and found that it wasn't exactly...good. That was when it first hit me that maybe I should learn about what I was trading for before I got ripped off.
 
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