Re: Frenzy: Max Damage and Uber Guide 1.11
For MF, I would still recommend my setup over yours because:
1) The best droppers are Act bosses, and you need CB against them, otherwise even with the biggest damage weapon you'll be swinging at Baal for ages. Decrep and Static are pretty damn helpful too.
To be honest, I wouldn't even go after Baal if you're using a cheap setup like this. It's just not efficient. You're much better off running the Pits, Travincal, Pindle and Eldricht. If you want to run Meph, you still don't need the CB as he's not that tough. Decrepify is definitely a useful curse, but it's better when you're using Lawbringer as a switch weapon to set up a beatdown by your main weapons. And since you're obviously using Babas as your switch weapons, Lawbringer just seems out of place.
2) The Sanctuary aura from Lawbringer is invaluable for PvM in Undead-heavy areas.
First, its knockback effect on Undead keeps you safe from being swarmed and disrupts enemy attacks; quite helpful when you're swarmed by a bunch of Bone Fetishes (those things are freakin' deadly) or under fire from Skeleton Archers. It also disrupts and reveals Gloams/Burning Souls (they are Undead, you know), allow you to Leap-Attack them one by one while largely evading their Lightnings. If you want to run Mephisto or WSK "on the cheap", without Enigma, that is pretty damn important.
Disagree on this. Frenzy speed lets you get by many of those packs unless you are very foolish. Leap Attack will get you out of trouble spots too. The Sanctuary aura definitely helps, but again, I don't think it's worth trading down in damage for it. And again, I wouldn't bother Baal with a cheap build as it's not efficient compared to what else you could do.
Second, Sanctuary aura negates the physical damage resistance of the Undead. This is important because in Hell, Undead typically have 50% or more resistance to physical damage (Gloams have 90%), some monster types which always spawn physical immune such as the Wraiths are Undead (important when running the Countess or WSK, where they can also spawn as guest monsters), Pindleskin and his pack are Undead, and two Treasure Class 85 areas (the Mausoleum and Ancient Tunnels) are populated exclusively by Undead. That's a lot of MFing areas where Lawbringer solves you a lot of problems.
The higher damage on Doombringer helps move through the undead even if they do have the physical damage resistance. Wraiths are annoying to deal with when doing Countess runs, agreed. But you can still switch to Berserk for those kills after clearing a room. Pindle is easy to beat too, you don't really need the aura for him. I agree that if you're going to run the Mausoleum and Ancient Tunnels, then your setup is better. But personally, I'd just, well, not run the specific ares that counteract your setup.
3) Lawbringer's Slain Monsters Rest in Peace mod can help speed things up in The Pit- another popular MF spot- against Devilkin packs headed by Shamans.
Eh, largely a non-issue.
If you do strictly area MFing as opposed to Act boss running, Lionheart may make more sense than Duress (and Treachery makes more sense than both of them combined) and Doombringer is superior to Crescent Moon- but my setup is more flexible.
I disagree with you still, obviously. The build I'm running is based on max life leech for survivability, that way you can get stuck in crowds and still leech enough without issue. Dual Doombringers not only help because of the leech on the sword, but because of the life bonus that you receive. This build is made to stand in crowds and just swing away. Besides, Howl is crowd control 101 and much more versatile than forcing yourself to use Lawbringer for undead areas.
I just disagree that you need Crushing Blow and all these gadgets as much as you say. Area MF such as the Pit and super-unique MF such as Trav, Pindle, Eldricht, Shenk, etc don't require crushing blow and really, neither do Meph runs, which are easier and less time consuming than Baal or Diablo runs. If you're working on the cheap, that means you don't have the super items to stand up to anyone, so why force yourself to try to switch gear around just to go places you really don't need to go? The build I'm looking at has ~250 MF before switching to Babas for a sliver kill, or to hork corpses. It also lets you speed through areas rather than slow yourself down by going for Baal drops where you're much more likely to move slowly or even die. It doesn't really make much sense to me to not stick to the easier, high drop areas if you don't have the full gear that you really want.
Lastly, you can get 2x Doombringer for 2x Pul at this point in the ladder. Lot easier than 2x Um, Lem + Ko if you're really just scraping by while getting started.
