D2R General Chat

[snickersnack]

TLDR: If you have an eth Thresher, I'd just use that (Hel out Insight). Otherwise I'd use any other eth elite polearm, totally fine.


Technically depends on the build, but generally yes of course. If you just need the Merc to provide the aura it doesn't matter strictly speaking, but it's kinda silly making it in a non-eth base, Merc not benefitting from the high ED etc... even if when making a low-req Infinity for self-wielding I'd make it in an eth base, although that's just for style points.

As for damage output and comparing attack speed vs. base damage, the differences are very small across all elite polearms. You can check with this spreadsheet/calculator. Generally Thresher/GT or GPA are preferred just because they are a little faster which helps with aura triggering, CB application or proc'ing CtC effects such as from Delirium. Again, attack rate differences are super small, especially when considering additional IAS gear on Merc, so IMO it doesn't really matter much.

That's your personal decision. If you're a "current patch purist" so far, I'd say starting to use time travel gear just to get a bit of Merc dmg. is not worth giving up that status unless you are also looking for other hax items from earlier patches.

In most of all cases, the Merc just needs to provide the aura so many of those points above are really just min-maxing with very small improvements, if any.

Thanks!

I'm going to mull over keeping the current patch only status. I never really cared about that kind of thing before, but starting from scratch in D2R has been pretty rewarding. I think that if i just can't get an eth thresher to drop in a reasonable amount of time, I'll forward one from 1.14d.

I just checked, and the Insight I have actually has a pretty good roll (15 medi and +6 CS), so I'll cube socket some of the plain eth threshers I have and see what I get from that. Also, the Insight is in 1.14d, not D2R. The insight I have in D2R is in a partizan ... I really have had garbage luck with elite polearms, but I roll around with 200% mf.

Just to add, merc requirements are significant factor (not for untwinked really..) but if you're planning on using that infinity across multiple characters in the future then consider this:

Eth Thresher can be equipped right away at 63 regardless of what difficulty you hired your merc in (fabulous )
Eth GT you can equip it earliest at level 78
Eth GPA you can equip at earliest at level 73
Eth CV you can equip at earliest at level 91 (!)

These are assuming you hired your merc in normal and have no strength gear on your merc. Eth Thresher is different, it's requirements are so low that any a2 merc will equip it right at level 63. If you hired your merc in nm or hell it's worse because they have lower strength at the same level, so you gotta wait like 2-4 more levels before putting it on them in that case.

Personal experience time: I built my first infinity in a CV and hoo boy was that a mistake. I was so hyped to use it however every character I tried to put it on I was socketing amethysts into their armor and using janky gear setups just to get that thing on a few levels earlier. I mean you can reach hell no problem at level 63, then you have to start dealing with immunes. You got that baby soft javazon walking into hell for the first time, with her supple limbs, you want infinity equipped right away. You wanna start BLASTIN'. You don't want to wait to a PREPOSTEROUS level 91!! Consider it heavily because it makes a huge difference when you play other characters.

That is an excellent point, and one that I had not considered yet. I'm pretty sure, though, that that reason is why I leaned toward threshers in the past.

 

[NorthDakota]

@snickersnack

I'm a huge fan of the 1.07 base but it's gonna take a considerable amount of time to snag one of those. I wasn't paying attention super closely to whether or not you have characters in 1.07 but if not, the hurdles you have to go through will take a lot of time. Getting it up and running well takes a bit of time, then you'll have to gather some knowledge about 1.07 at least a bit, level a sorcy through a janky version. It wasn't TOO bad, maybe even easier in some regards but still massively time consuming for me personally. Then you'll have to go through a process of rolling LK maps until you hit a stable thresher rack which can take a while. After that you're golden if you just want the eth one (not a +15%ed sup base or something).

It's nice to have long term, and it does do more damage by a noticeable amount.. but it's a fairly big diversion. So unless you have chars rolling in 1.07 already or you're looking for a lengthy side project, I'd just build mine in a 1.14/D2R base.

 

[snickersnack]

@NorthDakota I have a sorc in Act 1 Hell in 1.07. I took a long break around that time and haven't really picked her back up yet.

I think that I would be much more likely to try to trade for a 1.07 base rather than racking one given the time it would take, even though I'm partway there. I think that I'll get more enjoyment now if I get Infinity sooner rather than later, and I can always make another if I get the runes. With the way runes drop, that's not too unlikely.

 

[NorthDakota]

@NorthDakota I have a sorc in Act 1 Hell in 1.07. I took a long break around that time and haven't really picked her back up yet.

I think that I would be much more likely to try to trade for a 1.07 base rather than racking one given the time it would take, even though I'm partway there. I think that I'll get more enjoyment now if I get Infinity sooner rather than later, and I can always make another if I get the runes. With the way runes drop, that's not too unlikely.

WHAT. You're like a couple days away from a thresher rack tops!! You could be rack rolling tonight. You could tele to act 3 basically and grab the LK waypoint and start rolling. Rolling would be the hardest part for sure, I don't remember how long it took me to roll mine but looking for anything specific is going to take a while, If I'm ballparking it I'm thinkin like 4 hours rolling. Someone who's done it more recently correct me if I'm insane but that's kinda in my mind what I'd be thinking. This isn't a fun activity, I hate rack rolling but yah gotta do what yah gotta do.

A lot of times when I rolled racks for something, I'd start out looking for something like a shako rack, but then hit a balrog plate rack and then get sidetracked for a few hundred (or several thousand..) runs until I hit the unique, the try for another or reroll for a shako rack again, then get sidetracked by another good base type. The only times I really gunned for one specific rack are the thresher and a caduceus for my auradin, and I don't remember either of them taking too long I don't think..

Dude if you're that close you should just ball out for your infinity, get a reaaaal sexy base and then imagine how good your post would look in the IFT thread.

 

[snickersnack]

WHAT. You're like a couple days away from a thresher rack tops!! You could be rack rolling tonight. You could tele to act 3 basically and grab the LK waypoint and start rolling. Rolling would be the hardest part for sure, I don't remember how long it took me to roll mine but looking for anything specific is going to take a while, If I'm ballparking it I'm thinkin like 4 hours rolling. Someone who's done it more recently correct me if I'm insane but that's kinda in my mind what I'd be thinking. This isn't a fun activity, I hate rack rolling but yah gotta do what yah gotta do.

Huh, I didn't realize that I was that close. To 1.07 it is, then! Thanks for the info!

Edit: Ugh, my barb merc is dying a lot, and it's getting expensive to rez him. I played without him for a bit, but that's pretty risky, and I have to guzzle red pots. I'll probably need to reread the big 1.07 guide to refresh on how to survive.

 

[abridged]

@NorthDakota Yea, i was thinking that, just wasn't sure if you guys had a specific thing you like to use, think i found something that will work and can just hit home every run. Easier then doing the pen and paper route and faster.

I'm going to give this a shot and try to make something, been on my mind while doing LK

 

[maxicek]

@silospen run counter works just fine with D2R.

 

[Grisu]

@silospen run counter works just fine with D2R.

Really? Only the basic one or even the advanced one? I thought the advanced one was reading the game file and assumed it wouldn't work...

 

[maxicek]

The advanced one. It just looks for the file getting saved I think. Anyway I have been using it for the last two weeks without any problems.

 

[Dudzy]

Yea, thought I read somewhere it wouldn't work, so good to know. Will try it later

 

[krischan]

I had no internet, landline telephone and TV for a week, interesting experience!

The good thing was that D2R doesn't insist on an internet connection on single player.

 

[Babyhell]

I had no internet, landline telephone and TV for a week, interesting experience!

The good thing was that D2R doesn't insist on an internet connection on single player.

It does after 30 days without connection to b.net it seems... it did for me a couple of days ago

 

[NorthDakota]

Just wanted to share the updated IAS Calculator here since previously unreachable frames are now reachable in D2R - so if you wanna mess around with reaching some of those faster frames here's a calculator you can use instead of trying to test everything yourself

https://warren1001.github.io/MrLlamaSCStreamInfo/IAS%20Calculator/

 

[Helvete]

Did it enable actual, real 2 frame strafe? Like not just client side, but server side too?

 

[krischan]

Chances might be good that it works. I believe that D2R's graphics are working on a separate 60 fps clock while the clock of the mechanics is still working at 25 fps. IIRC, the 2 frames bug of strafe is related to the animation length being at least 3 frames, so the new minimum would be 3/60 of a second instead of 3/25.

The calculator still doesn't show anything faster than 3 frames on strafe, but that might be because it hasn't been changed in all places.

BTW, I started a thread about the lifting of IAS breakpoints in the D2R forum

 

[snickersnack]

Did it enable actual, real 2 frame strafe? Like not just client side, but server side too?

Apparently, yes. The easiest way to see this is with an assassin with level 21 BoS and some ias gear. You can throw fire bomb at crazy speeds. I haven't tested this myself; I saw it in a YT video.

I have a separate question:

My merc is dying a lot. He's level 84, his gear is:

wep: Infinity eth 1.07 GPA
chest: Treachery DS
head: Vampire Gaze

He actually survived better with an eth Insight Partizan, which has both lower damage and slower speed (edit: to be fair, that was before act 5, maybe I just need to level more...). The CS roll on the Insight was +1, so that's not the reason. Any ideas on what I should try? I could make a different armor, but I don't have a Lo rune, so no Fortitude yet. His resists are maxed, and he has 32% DR and 12 MDR. His worst stat is 20% FHR, so I could socket the helm and put a shael in it. Is that the most likely culprit?

He dies pretty easily even on /p1 in Act 5. It's a struggle to keep him alive at /p3 in the Pit.

Edit: I'm in the Ancient's Way, and even with a level 5 LT wand, one frenzytaur takes him out in seconds. Hmm, seems like FHR to me, but I don't know if one shael will help.

Edit/Update: Those were extra strong minions. I took out the unique by scumming him.



So, not as dire as I thought, but still, he's pretty squishy. Once I get to a stopping point, I'll put a shael in that helm.

Also, now the viewport is large enough to scum dangerous mobs.

 

[NorthDakota]

Anyone having any issues with eye strain with D2R? Brights way too bright, darks way too dark, everything oversaturated, fire effects are like blinding. Makes distinguishing enemies very difficult. Places like the pits where there's extreme darkness and then massively bright effects going everywhere with your spells or whatever just really hurts my eyes. like the contrast is so insane, the shine off everything is so massive. Does this bother anyone else? it's like there's hdr and bloom out the wazoo and it just makes everything so tough to look at and distinguish what's going on easily

 

[maxicek]

Looks like there may be another 2h sword assassin in my future.

 

[Helvete]

Apparently, yes. The easiest way to see this is with an assassin with level 21 BoS and some ias gear. You can throw fire bomb at crazy speeds. I haven't tested this myself; I saw it in a YT video.

I have a separate question:

My merc is dying a lot. He's level 84, his gear is:

wep: Infinity eth 1.07 GPA
chest: Treachery DS
head: Vampire Gaze

He actually survived better with an eth Insight Partizan, which has both lower damage and slower speed (edit: to be fair, that was before act 5, maybe I just need to level more...). The CS roll on the Insight was +1, so that's not the reason. Any ideas on what I should try? I could make a different armor, but I don't have a Lo rune, so no Fortitude yet. His resists are maxed, and he has 32% DR and 12 MDR. His worst stat is 20% FHR, so I could socket the helm and put a shael in it. Is that the most likely culprit?

He dies pretty easily even on /p1 in Act 5. It's a struggle to keep him alive at /p3 in the Pit.

Edit: I'm in the Ancient's Way, and even with a level 5 LT wand, one frenzytaur takes him out in seconds. Hmm, seems like FHR to me, but I don't know if one shael will help.

Edit/Update: Those were extra strong minions. I took out the unique by scumming him.

View attachment 71318

So, not as dire as I thought, but still, he's pretty squishy. Once I get to a stopping point, I'll put a shael in that helm.

Also, now the viewport is large enough to scum dangerous mobs.

Frenzytaurs probably also have their attack speed breakpoints lifted. They are bonkers now. Make great revives, but they are not so fun when you are amped and alone...

 

[ffs]

I'm a bit surprised we haven't seen a patch or at least an official Blizzard position regarding things like these. This uncapped IAS thing is only the latest one. We also have Cold Mastery breaking immunes, DoT spells like Fire Wall damage being applied at a much higher rate, weird stat point allocations resulting in higher attack speed...

I realize Blizzard has bigger problems on their hands with log-in issues, loading times etc... and I'm not tech-savvy either, but I'd imagine these are easily and quickly patched out.

Blizzard had stressed in the past they wouldn't make (significant) gameplay changes vis-à-vis 1.14 and some of those are rather drastic ones tbh. I for one expect (and honestly hope) these "feautures" don't stick around. Personally, for the moment I'm not going to build any chars around these.