Longish questions

[theGrimm]

Longish questions

1) I know synergy bonuses are limited to the number of hard points placed in a synergising skill. But does this cap also apply to the skill receiving the bonus? For example, if I have level 25 bone spear (20+5 with +skills), does each point of bone spirit add 7%*(Level 20 base damage) or 7%*(Level 25 base damage)

2) I notice, especially with my bowazon, but also sometimes with my sorc, that they attack "behind them". i.e., without them seeming to turn, an arrow or spell fires in the opposite direction to where I am aiming. Is this DII, or possible my mouse? :lol:

3) Where is a good place to level my merc? He is currently level 60 (my necro is level 82), but I replaced him when I realized I had mistakenly taken a Blessed Aim merc all along...omg n00b!) Pit runs worked well from 47 to 60ish, but neither the pits nor ancient tunnels seem to do the trick at the moment.

4) What's the deal with Buriza? Everyone always seems to rave about it, but it doesn't seem to kill a whole lot faster than Kuko Shakuku. (Act Iv Normal, p8, Multizon)

5) Is hellplague a great weapon, or what? My level 49 Frenzybarb uses dual hellplages, and even without the poison, they do massive damage. Nothing I have seen compares (though at lvl 54 I can finally equip a 229% ED Zweihander which MIGHT)

6) Are ALL FE creatures bugged, or only some? Above mentioned bard has tanked a few in early NM and I never saw his life bar drop once. Maybe he was out of range?

7) How do you thrower-types cope with weapons running out? I'm tempted to play a thrower, but have given up most early attempts as it seems I need to return to town to replenish my ammo after every boss back.

Well, thanks to all who took the time to read (or respond) to my extensive questions!

 

[CRG]

1) I know synergy bonuses are limited to the number of hard points placed in a synergising skill. But does this cap also apply to the skill receiving the bonus? For example, if I have level 25 bone spear (20+5 with +skills), does each point of bone spirit add 7%*(Level 20 base damage) or 7%*(Level 25 base damage)

It adds only straight skill points, not +skill, so 20 is the cap

2) I notice, especially with my bowazon, but also sometimes with my sorc, that they attack "behind them". i.e., without them seeming to turn, an arrow or spell fires in the opposite direction to where I am aiming. Is this DII, or possible my mouse? :lol:

It's generally where the mouse is placed. It just happens. Don't be alarmed

3) Where is a good place to level my merc? He is currently level 60 (my necro is level 82), but I replaced him when I realized I had mistakenly taken a Blessed Aim merc all along...omg n00b!) Pit runs worked well from 47 to 60ish, but neither the pits nor ancient tunnels seem to do the trick at the moment.

Run Shenk, Eldritch and Pindle in NM for good XP for your merc.

4) What's the deal with Buriza? Everyone always seems to rave about it, but it doesn't seem to kill a whole lot faster than Kuko Shakuku. (Act Iv Normal, p8, Multizon)

Buriza just does a ton of damage back when Multishot was a lot better. Nowadays, it very slow and since GA doesn't pierce, the Burrito Cannon lost its appeal

5) Is hellplague a great weapon, or what? My level 49 Frenzybarb uses dual hellplages, and even without the poison, they do massive damage. Nothing I have seen compares (though at lvl 54 I can finally equip a 229% ED Zweihander which MIGHT)

Sure. Anything's good if you can kill with it.

6) Are ALL FE creatures bugged, or only some? Above mentioned bard has tanked a few in early NM and I never saw his life bar drop once. Maybe he was out of range?

FE damage is bugged in v1.10 for SP. Check out our FAQ's for information on this.

7) How do you thrower-types cope with weapons running out? I'm tempted to play a thrower, but have given up most early attempts as it seems I need to return to town to replenish my ammo after every boss back.

This is a necessary evil. Just buck up and do it. Either that, or do more damage so you use less arrows or get some great rares with an "increased stack mod."

crg

 

[Mage11]

I can add a little more detail:

1) should be easy to check, as the damages update with the synergies.

3) Your merc levels quicker if he is near the levels of the monsters. Therefore, Act V NM is probably better - maybe do some Baal runs. He will also get more XP if he makes the kill, but that becomes a matter of kill speed.

4) It was much more powerful in 1.09. Not such a big deal now in 1.10.

6) It's luck of the draw. The boss might be bugged, or it may not. Better to be safe than sorry (at least in HC).

 

[shermo]

2. This happens when your character dodges a missile or blow. I havent noticed it on sorcs but it happens pretty often on my zon. I dont think that she actually fires an arrow though. It just appears that way

 

[factotum]

1) I think Crazy misunderstood your question. The synergy is applied to the level 25 damage in your example, not the level 20 damage.

2) This usually happens to me when my optical mouse throws a wobbly and decides to switch my cursor from one side of the screen to the other!

3) Crazy's probably right there.

4) For an Amazon, Buriza is slow (all crossbows are). For most other classes it is te pwn. Also, one of the mods on it is "+2.5 max damage/character level", so you won't notice its power so much when your character is in Act 4 normal and thus not a very high level!

5) 5-32 damage? You really must be short on swords if that's "huge damage"! I think the best sword I have in my stash is a Djinn Slayer (83-148 damage, +250-500 fire damage, and some mana steal as well).

6) FE damage scales with the life of the monster. Against low hit point monsters, especially in Normal, this isn't much of an issue. Try taking on a Fire Enchanted Ancient in Hell and it is a well-recorded fact that they can dish out in excess of FIFTY THOUSAND fire damage with a single hit...

7) Get "increased stack" or "replenishes quantity" throwing items. However, even then they're not particularly brilliant--the only class that can really be effective using throwing weapons is a Javazon, IMHO.

 

[corax1]

1) I know synergy bonuses are limited to the number of hard points placed in a synergising skill. But does this cap also apply to the skill receiving the bonus? For example, if I have level 25 bone spear (20+5 with +skills), does each point of bone spirit add 7%*(Level 20 base damage) or 7%*(Level 25 base damage)

2) I notice, especially with my bowazon, but also sometimes with my sorc, that they attack "behind them". i.e., without them seeming to turn, an arrow or spell fires in the opposite direction to where I am aiming. Is this DII, or possible my mouse? :lol:

3) Where is a good place to level my merc? He is currently level 60 (my necro is level 82), but I replaced him when I realized I had mistakenly taken a Blessed Aim merc all along...omg n00b!) Pit runs worked well from 47 to 60ish, but neither the pits nor ancient tunnels seem to do the trick at the moment.

4) What's the deal with Buriza? Everyone always seems to rave about it, but it doesn't seem to kill a whole lot faster than Kuko Shakuku. (Act Iv Normal, p8, Multizon)

5) Is hellplague a great weapon, or what? My level 49 Frenzybarb uses dual hellplages, and even without the poison, they do massive damage. Nothing I have seen compares (though at lvl 54 I can finally equip a 229% ED Zweihander which MIGHT)

6) Are ALL FE creatures bugged, or only some? Above mentioned bard has tanked a few in early NM and I never saw his life bar drop once. Maybe he was out of range?

7) How do you thrower-types cope with weapons running out? I'm tempted to play a thrower, but have given up most early attempts as it seems I need to return to town to replenish my ammo after every boss back.

Well, thanks to all who took the time to read (or respond) to my extensive questions!

1. using your exmaple i think the latter example is the correct one. synergies can also be gained from CTC items, charges, etc.but only if there are no hard points in the synergy. for example put a carrion wind on a druid with rabies and the damage will jump as a lvl 21 synergy is applied. but if you have 1 point in psn creeper then you will still only get a lvl 1 synergy

2. this seems to happen when you are hit when making an attack

3. try NM pindle for awhile then move on to NM baal runs. should work well enough

4. it WAS the uberest crossbow around in 1.09 due to the GA bug and the high lvl of pierce. its less powerful now but still pretty strong

5. its not too bad for lower lvl's. especially on fire characters. but by lvl 49 you could have gotten something ALOT better

6. the FE bug really only becomes noticable late NM and all of hell. and some FE bosses are worse than others, like lightning beetles and LE and CE foes. theres a guide on it somewhere

7. most throwers use the weapons with replenish quantity. and on some of them its really high like 1 weapon in 3 secs. so you just have to pause in your attack to let them rebuild

the only class that can really be effective using throwing weapons is a Javazon, IMHO.

just wait till strijdje turns up with one of his throw barbs. then you'll see. you'll all see

 

[CRG]

1) I think Crazy misunderstood your question. The synergy is applied to the level 25 damage in your example, not the level 20 damage.

Whoops, yeah, I totally blanked over that. Thanks for the correction!

the only class that can really be effective using throwing weapons is a Javazon, IMHO.

And low level dueling barbs. They are deadly!

crg

 

[DeathMaster]

just wait till strijdje turns up with one of his throw barbs. then you'll see. you'll all see

I consider my thrower barb is powerful. strijdje will always turn something better, we all know that. Just wait his lvl99 uber thrower.

6) FE ancient owns everything. other FE boss might be by chance. wanna take a bet in HC?

 

[jiansonz]

5) Is hellplague a great weapon, or what? My level 49 Frenzybarb uses dual hellplages, and even without the poison, they do massive damage. Nothing I have seen compares (though at lvl 54 I can finally equip a 229% ED Zweihander which MIGHT)

Yes, I like that weapon, too. In one of the tournaments, Normal Baal dropped me one. Since I wasn´t going to keep my Prayer merc anyway, after I would reach Act 2 NM, I hired a barbarian merc. He went on to more or less own /p8 Act 1 NM with an upgraded Hellplague.

6) Are ALL FE creatures bugged, or only some? Above mentioned bard has tanked a few in early NM and I never saw his life bar drop once. Maybe he was out of range?

In HC, it´s a good routine to always back away from an FE boss before it explodes. Let a merc, minion, Open Wounds, poison or a ranged weapon deal the killing blow. Other than that, it´s pretty safe to melee FE bosses, even in Hell, as long as you avoid the following:

* FE + LE bosses. Very deadly, already in NM. Stay out of explosion range the entire fight!

* FE beetles AND their minions.

* Ancients (Immediately cast a TP if they are FE!)

* FE mummy minions: Don´t stand close to ANY of them when they die.

* Reanimated undead FE bosses. Use up the corpse, loot it at once or wait a long long time before looting it.

 

[theGrimm]

oops, my bad...I meant Plague Bearer, no hellplague. 37-150 damage, one handed and fast.

Unfortunately, a lot of the damage won't scale if I up it, so it's not a long term weapon, but it's seems to do the most damage out of all the unique exceptional swords (one handed)...

Did I mention +300 poison? Nice for frenzing multiple targets...

 

[corax1]

oops, my bad...I meant Plague Bearer, no hellplague. 37-150 damage, one handed and fast.

Unfortunately, a lot of the damage won't scale if I up it, so it's not a long term weapon, but it's seems to do the most damage out of all the unique exceptional swords (one handed)...

Did I mention +300 poison? Nice for frenzing multiple targets...

and uber for teh rabies dr00d. gg +5 rabies:teeth: