Reroll necro heads

[theGrimm]

Reroll necro heads

I have a plan, and what I'd like to know is if it could work.

The plan is this:

-Collect low quality necro heads (cracked, low quality, etc.)
-Reroll them with chippies + els to set ilvl to 1
-Hope for good mods to RS/SM (+3/+3 please oh please)
-Socket with a quest
-Make a Rhyme runeword

Any flaws in this plan (aside from the really low odss, of course)?

Can I use all types of low-quality heads?

Failing that, I guess I'll use the +3RS/+1Amp I already have...don't see why I should be running around with a Rhyme Grimm Shield...

 

[corax1]

hmmm. should work. although IIRC dont wouldnt 1lvl one shields only be capable of 1 socket? or am i a noob.

 

[theGrimm]

More likely I am a noob. Doh, that could just ruin my master plan...

Guess i'll settle for the +3RS, then.

 

[bill_n_opus1]

More likely I am a noob. Doh, that could just ruin my master plan...

Guess i'll settle for the +3RS, then.

In my humble opinion, your master plan should include a Homunculus. :innocent:

Although a Rhyme necro head sounds good in theory ... but don't think you can get the two socks if i'm not mistaken ....

 

[sunbearie]

Well, a Grim shield has better blocking but definitely go for the necro head if you find a good one!

I guess its still possible to find 3/3 RS/SM heads off the ground but you better do a lot of running (without mf). Shaels are relatively common after all, by the time you find the head, you should have the runes for it anyway.

 

[Summoned]

I thought the maximum amount of sockets for necro heads was always 2, no matter the ilvl. Anyway, I think the chance of getting +3 RS alone is 1/57, iirc, from one of my threads.

Although, any ultimate "master plan" for a necromancer must include Darkforce Spawn.

 

[bill_n_opus1]

I thought the maximum amount of sockets for necro heads was always 2, no matter the ilvl. Anyway, I think the chance of getting +3 RS alone is 1/57, iirc, from one of my threads.

Although, any ultimate "master plan" for a necromancer must include Darkforce Spawn.

I guess it really depends on what subclass you like to play and what style you like:

Darkforce Spawn: potentially +3 skills overall, 30 fcr, +10% mana and big defence. Very low block though. High str reqs. Mid level clvl req of 64.

Boneflame: +20%frw, just slightly less def than DS, potentially +3 skills, all res 20-30 and slight defensive mods in the 15% ctc terror when hit. Even lower blocking than DS and high str and even more dex required. Clvl 80 req though!

Homunculus: +2 to all summon and bone skills. +4 to curses. Good def but not as good as other two. Good all around mana mods (+20 ene and +5 per kill) and great mana regen at +33%! +40% res all! Huge blocking and faster blocking but at a cost of dex. ~ 185-190 and up for ilvl 85-90 end game. Low str though and available to be used at clvl 42.

So, DS for casters I would hazard to guess with the 30fcr and 10% extra mana and potential skills but hope you are good enough player to not get hit that much.

BF for a a more overall balanced head but at more cost to dex (assuming that you don't spend too much on dex on the DS in comparison). Way too high clvl reqs though. By that time in my opinion, the blocking becomes more important.

Homo: overall the best head imo. Only lacking in fcr and frw but can be compensated easily in other areas. Add a pdiamond/um and you're laughing for res. Perfect for summoner/CE.

Also consider the Trangs head too.

Hmmmnnn ... this little exercise has made me appreciate my Homo much more and lessened my desire to find the other heads apart for my grail.

 

[theGrimm]

Interesting suggestions...<searches spare equipment pile>

Nope, sorry, got none of those. Actually, my interest in a Rhyme head is that I can get 20% MF together with useful necro skills. Not the best necro shield available, but better than anything else I have AND it has 20% MF.

I already have the runes for a second Rhyme Shield...

 

[bill_n_opus1]

Interesting suggestions...<searches spare equipment pile>

Nope, sorry, got none of those. Actually, my interest in a Rhyme head is that I can get 20% MF together with useful necro skills. Not the best necro shield available, but better than anything else I have AND it has 20% MF.

I already have the runes for a second Rhyme Shield...

Yeah, definitely go with what you got. I should have made a Rhyme shield out of a necro head a long time ago. I never even thought about it truthfully. I just used rare heads with a +1 skill and then a +2 skill until a Devilkin Shaman finally dropped a Homu in the Pits for me and i've been using it ever since.

I kinda regret not checking out those socketed heads more closely before selling them off.

 

[Uzziah]

I thought the maximum amount of sockets for necro heads was always 2, no matter the ilvl. Anyway, I think the chance of getting +3 RS alone is 1/57, iirc, from one of my threads.

Although, any ultimate "master plan" for a necromancer must include Darkforce Spawn.

Just what I was going to say, and infact it is a max sockets of 2 for every shrunken head, no matter the ilvl. So the +3/+3 is possible then use the quest to get the 2 sockets. The socketing recipe gives you a 5/6 chance to get 2 sockets so you may want to consider it as well, especially if you don't have that perfect +3/+3/+3 or whatever head, save the quest for those perfect ones that can not be messed up.

Getting +3/+3 on a ilvl 1 white item is a big crap shoot getting the +3/+3 that you want is ever harder, just warning you I lucked out at 5 rerolls with a +2 claw mastery claw, none of those 5 had more than 1 staffmod and actually 1 had no staffmods on it. Rerolling wands will show pretty much the same, it takes a lot of rerolls to get the +3/+3 that your looking for be prepared to run the countess for runes and be prepared to run for chippies as well.

 

[theGrimm]

Just what I was going to say, and infact it is a max sockets of 2 for every shrunken head, no matter the ilvl. So the +3/+3 is possible then use the quest to get the 2 sockets. The socketing recipe gives you a 5/6 chance to get 2 sockets so you may want to consider it as well, especially if you don't have that perfect +3/+3/+3 or whatever head, save the quest for those perfect ones that can not be messed up.

Getting +3/+3 on a ilvl 1 white item is a big crap shoot getting the +3/+3 that you want is ever harder, just warning you I lucked out at 5 rerolls with a +2 claw mastery claw, none of those 5 had more than 1 staffmod and actually 1 had no staffmods on it. Rerolling wands will show pretty much the same, it takes a lot of rerolls to get the +3/+3 that your looking for be prepared to run the countess for runes and be prepared to run for chippies as well.

So, the good news is, I can make Rhyme with any normal head. If I get a +3/+3, I'll definitely use a quest reward, I won't risk 1/6 chance of 1 socket.

I suspect the biggest problem will be a shortage of low quality heads to "repair", not 'els' and chippies.

 

[jiansonz]

I suspect the biggest problem will be a shortage of low quality heads to "repair", not 'els' and chippies.

True enogh. However, you could also farm early Normal for heads. Those do not have to be low quality. If you are prepared to use up a Larzuk reward, even Superior ones will work.

 

[CRG]

This is a cool idea. Let me know how it turns out, as I would love to try it for when I make an untwinked nec.

crg

 

[usamahanas]

only one thing to add here,
from my experience it's much easier to find such a head in act 1-2 than to cube it. I found once a head with +3RS,+3SM,+1Amp in act 1 normal but unfortunatly I lost it as the game crashed :cheesy: also I found many other shields with bonus to RS, SM, Amp or clay golem, so you should realy find something usefull that way and it's very easy act1 normal running :evil:
PS: also note to go to Akara and to Dragon in normal difficulty to look for those white wands with beatifull mods on them, with some patience you can shop something like this: +3BS, +3RS,+3SM. after that make a white runeword and enjoy a godly wpn for a hybride necro

 

[ron]

With my Bnet Summoner I got a pretty lucky drop. I found a +2RS, +2 SM, +2 Clay golem head. Unfortunatly it was magic, so I wont be able to make a runeword out of it. I am level 30 right now, and it has served me well up to this point. I have Homonculus waiting for me, so I don't really need the runeword shield anyway, although I would have loved to rhyme it for weapon switch. Good luck on finding the perfect head! Let us know how your project goes.

 

[Thrugg]

Actually his odds of getting +3/+3 to two level 1 skills on an ilvl 1 head are as good as you'd ever get for any two skill combo. On ilvl 1 items, you have an 80% chance of any one staffmod being a level 1 skill (20% of it being level 6). As you go higher, more skills become available, so that chance only goes down.

On a given reroll you have a 30% chance of 0, 40% of 1, 20% of 2 and 10% of 3 skills. So you have 30% chance of getting at least 2 skills.

On a 2 skill head, the chance of the first skill being RS or SM is 32% (80% that it is a level 1 skill, and there's 5 of those, of which 2 are what you want) and the chance of the second skill being the other is 20%, for 6.4% altogether. You have triple that chance on a 3 skill head (three possible pairs). So all up 3.2% chance of getting both RS and SM on an ilvl 1 head (or wand for that matter, the process is the same).

Not too bad so far. The bad news is that any one skill has only a 10% chance of spawning +3 (60% will be +1, 30% +2). So to get both of them +3 worsens your odds by a factor of 100. So all up the odds of +3 RS/+3 SM on an ilvl 1 wand or head is 1 in 3125.

You could of course get much better odds by accepting less than +3/+3.
I'm not trying to dishearten you, just to make it clear what you are facing.

 

[Uzziah]

Actually his odds of getting +3/+3 to two level 1 skills on an ilvl 1 head are as good as you'd ever get for any two skill combo. On ilvl 1 items, you have an 80% chance of any one staffmod being a level 1 skill (20% of it being level 6). As you go higher, more skills become available, so that chance only goes down.

On a given reroll you have a 30% chance of 0, 40% of 1, 20% of 2 and 10% of 3 skills. So you have 30% chance of getting at least 2 skills.

On a 2 skill head, the chance of the first skill being RS or SM is 32% (80% that it is a level 1 skill, and there's 5 of those, of which 2 are what you want) and the chance of the second skill being the other is 20%, for 6.4% altogether. You have triple that chance on a 3 skill head (three possible pairs). So all up 3.2% chance of getting both RS and SM on an ilvl 1 head (or wand for that matter, the process is the same).

Not too bad so far. The bad news is that any one skill has only a 10% chance of spawning +3 (60% will be +1, 30% +2). So to get both of them +3 worsens your odds by a factor of 100. So all up the odds of +3 RS/+3 SM on an ilvl 1 wand or head is 1 in 3125.

You could of course get much better odds by accepting less than +3/+3.
I'm not trying to dishearten you, just to make it clear what you are facing.

1 in 3125 thats about the same chance as getting fissure charges on a club.

that is not a huge number to go through compared to some other choice combos that are desired in magical items. But considering that you have the control over when this item "drops" (well rerolls) you have complete control and can get the chances needed to get that head. I wish you luck though.

 

[theGrimm]

Results

Rerolled four heads yesterday. Three of them began without any staffmods, and ended without any staffmods (coincidence, surely). One of them went from +1Blood Golem to +1 Amplify Damage. Only slightly more useful...or less, since the value went down :lol:

The most interesting thing was that a mummifued trophy lost some poison damage on the reroll. Going down to 2-7 from 5-14(iirc). Not that the poison damage is an issue.

I think the advantage of rerolling (over finding) is that you can limit the mods to tier one and two, as opposed to heads that you find. And you can find low-quality heads throughout the game, especially in places with high chest density such as LK. Even with high level chars on Hell. I found the four I used in the past two days with my level 83 Necro and Sorc without any specific effort, and now that I am keeping my eyes open, I will hopefully find more.

If Thrugg is right, I only need another 3000 odd low-quality heads to get a +3/+3. Bet I get there before the next lvl 99!

 

[Gwandort]

Are you playing an untwinked necro?

If not, I may be able to help you. Not that I have a spare homunculus, but I think I have some usefull heads you could socket and make Rhyme of. Have to check at home. Just leave me your email if interested.

peace,
Gwandort

 

[theGrimm]

Really? That would be great :clap:

theGrimm_in_SA @ hotmail . com

I do have a couple of semi-useful ones already, so if you have a use for them (or a more needy candidate), then I understand. But if they're just rotting away in your stash, then I'd love 'em.