- Jun 10, 2022
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I recently got the strange urge to play some TRUE Classic Diablo 2. This means pre-D2R, this means pre-LoD.
I discovered Cactus, and, using the instructions found here I was able to set it up and get to playing quickly.
My immediate choice was a Cold Sorc specced on Glacial Spike, Frozen Orb and Cold Mastery.
After reaching level 30, somewhere around the Black Marsh in Act 1 Nightmare, I decided to do a little test: Level up Cold mastery a bit (say 3 levels) and go back to Act 4 Normal to see just how much more crushing my Glacial Spike is against the monsters I had known previously in the River of Flame area.
Well, I levelled to 32, which had my Cold Mastery up to level 3, and with +1 to sorc skills from staff it was level 4.
This showed a -49 cold resistance on the skill tooltip in the menu.
Then came the EXTREME disappointment:
Going back to River of Flame in Act 4 Normal, I didn't see ANY improvemet in my Glacial Spike's performance against the enemies I'd known there back at levels 25-29.
My Glacial Spike is at the same level as back when I was level 26 -- lvl 10 -- and I assumed that it would deal a SIGNIFICANT amount of extra damage thanks to the newly-skilled and leveled Cold Mastery.
However, it doesn't seem so: Maw Fiends still take 3 spikes to kill, and Stygian Hags still take 3 too, sometimes even 4.
As if I had NO Cold Mastery at all !!! (
What's going on here?
My assumption now is that rather than a direct subtraction from resistances (like in LoD), Cold Mastery reduces multiplicatively:
So say if a monster has 60 Cold Resistance, Cold Mastery's "50 percent reduction" would bring it to 30 (50 percent of 60) rather than 10 (60 minus 50).
Is that so? Even if it were, I should have STILL seen an increase, yet I do not! :O
Also, if that were the case, then how does Cold Mastery affect monsters with 0 (ZERO) Cold Res?
Does it even work... AT ALL ???
Just... help me out, please, oldskool hardcore D2 players!!
I discovered Cactus, and, using the instructions found here I was able to set it up and get to playing quickly.
My immediate choice was a Cold Sorc specced on Glacial Spike, Frozen Orb and Cold Mastery.
After reaching level 30, somewhere around the Black Marsh in Act 1 Nightmare, I decided to do a little test: Level up Cold mastery a bit (say 3 levels) and go back to Act 4 Normal to see just how much more crushing my Glacial Spike is against the monsters I had known previously in the River of Flame area.
Well, I levelled to 32, which had my Cold Mastery up to level 3, and with +1 to sorc skills from staff it was level 4.
This showed a -49 cold resistance on the skill tooltip in the menu.
Then came the EXTREME disappointment:
Going back to River of Flame in Act 4 Normal, I didn't see ANY improvemet in my Glacial Spike's performance against the enemies I'd known there back at levels 25-29.
My Glacial Spike is at the same level as back when I was level 26 -- lvl 10 -- and I assumed that it would deal a SIGNIFICANT amount of extra damage thanks to the newly-skilled and leveled Cold Mastery.
However, it doesn't seem so: Maw Fiends still take 3 spikes to kill, and Stygian Hags still take 3 too, sometimes even 4.
As if I had NO Cold Mastery at all !!! (
What's going on here?
My assumption now is that rather than a direct subtraction from resistances (like in LoD), Cold Mastery reduces multiplicatively:
So say if a monster has 60 Cold Resistance, Cold Mastery's "50 percent reduction" would bring it to 30 (50 percent of 60) rather than 10 (60 minus 50).
Is that so? Even if it were, I should have STILL seen an increase, yet I do not! :O
Also, if that were the case, then how does Cold Mastery affect monsters with 0 (ZERO) Cold Res?
Does it even work... AT ALL ???
Just... help me out, please, oldskool hardcore D2 players!!
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