Tyrael's Mighty Breakdown - Item Find Thread September 2015

A few gifts from Meph (first was a grailer):

Code: 
Heaven's Light
Mighty Scepter
One Hand Damage: 146 - 190
Durability: 47 of 50
Required Level: 61
Required Strength: 125
Required Dexterity: 65
Fingerprint: 0x9c73eea6
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Paladin Skill Levels
+20% Increased Attack Speed
266% Enhanced Damage
-33% Target Defense
+150% Damage to Undead
33% Chance of Crushing Blow
+19 Life after each Demon Kill
+3 to Light Radius
2 Sockets (0 used)


Eaglehorn
Crusader Bow
Two Hand Damage: 45 - 283
Durability: 39 of 44
Required Level: 69
Required Strength: 97
Required Dexterity: 121
Fingerprint: 0x3356cc95
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Amazon Skill Levels
200% Enhanced Damage
+150% Enhanced Maximum Damage (Based on Character Level)
Ignore Target's Defense
+450 to Attack Rating (Based on Character Level)
+25 to Dexterity

I've also found my 3rd Steel Shade Armet... the only elite unique helm I have in HC.... where oh where is my Harlequin Crest??
 
@T72on1 Excuse my ignorance, but is the reason for Fortitude the Enhanced Damage? I always used Treachery or something with %Dmg Reduction. The CTC Chilling Armor helps the raw defensive stat and plus to life is always nice. I've seen a lot of people use Fortitude on the Merc, but I guess my question really revolves around how much help the Enhanced Damage is.

I just need to find a Lo as I have some nice Ethereal armors put back.
 
Main reason is indeed the Enhanced Damage.

However, it has a lot of other things to go for it: extra life, resist all, CTC Chilling Armor, minor DR, higher max light res, ... I always tended to use Treachery as well, thinking that the ias would be most beneficial for my merc, and Fade (once it triggered) too. I was surprised to find out that, once I changed his armor from Treachery to Fortitude, he became much more sturdy, despite the DR% on Fade from Treachery. The Chilling Armor definitely adds safety, but other than that I think it's the fact that the Enhanced Damage on Fortitude improves his damage so much, that he leeches much better. Otherwise I wouldn't know why he is much more sturdy now, but he definitely is. I used to have to feed him pots a lot when doing CS runs, and even then he would die once in a while. Now I hardly even need pots for him anymore.

And yes, the Enhanced Damage makes a big difference in damage output :).
 
We can estimate how much impact does Fortitude have on merc damage. Normally it has less importance on might merc which seems to be the most common merc.

Might merc lvl 95: 204 Str, Jab lvl 23 (+51% dmg), Might lvl 20 (dmg 230%), Fortitude (300%).
Total damage factor: ~885%
Fortitude adds: ~50% dps (aka survivability because 50% stronger leech)

Holy Freeze nerc lvl 95: 204 Str, Jab, Fortitude
Total damage factor: ~655%
Fortitude adds: ~84% dps

On top of it Fortitude adds 115% defense via Chilling armor and armor alone grants huge amount of defense. He can get really high on defense, and that is impactful thing too.

Overall, even without 300% ed Fortitude might offer better survivability to merc than a triggered fade from Treachery and extra ias/fhr. With it, Fortitude easily offers anywhere above 50% better survivability of the merc than Treachery ever can.
 
he will hurt you when he pokes that thing at you :)

edit: i reread what i just said and realised this can be read in so many diffent ways. what i ment was the merc will hurt when he hits a monster with his polearm while wearing a fortitude armor.
 
I would like to add the fact it is much easier to get a 4 socket bugged armor instead of a 3 socket one (exept if you are playing 1.00). This is expecially the case for bug armors with a raw defense over 1K. Personally I always use defiance mercs and the high def value of forty + defiance is a great way of creating a nearly invulnerable merc. Personally I have one golden rule with diablo 2, if your character isn't a barb or isn't using lightning dmg coa + eni + defiance merc works wonders. And a defiance merc needs forty any day of the week. Now I just need to find a COA on 1.00...
 
I love how this game works after all the years I've been playing it. Switched to SP some time ago since wasn't too happy with ladder-life. Been hunting some basic items for all my HC chars and hell Meph has seen some serious grinding ;) . After several levels gained running him I finally found my unique shako. I was seriously happy since it was my first self found ever.
Next day I decided to proceed past Diablo and resque Anya in act5. First 5 monsters in RoF dropped another unique shako and also Ormus robes (charged bolt). I laughed genuinely happy that after months of searching I get two shakos in a row (days, not meph runs).
View attachment 4585

Now D2 LoD, you know I'm still short on titans and stormshield for my javazon :)

-Causa
 
After so many attempts I finally got a decent resist wand on 1.00... Untill you realise there is no fcr and find out even felloak is better. It really seems to be impossible to get one on 1.00. Guess I have to deal with it -.-.
View attachment 4586
 
Leveled my LK-runner from 88 to 90 during weekend with p1 AT runs. Finds were a bit meh, only tc87 was The Grandfather. Some could-be-useful uniques like Eschuta's, Boneshade and HHG but rolls were awful. This was nice though:
WWZM1Ls.jpg

From lonely zombie I blizzarded for no real reason. Nearly S&E'd before decided to check that "Sol".

With that Sur from Pits earlier, I now basically possess an extra Ber. I just made Chains of Honor. I have no Jahs, and don't particularly need new Enigma. Same goes with Infinity. Destruction, Eternity and Last Wish are currently out of the question. So, Beast? Not really a fan of that idea, since none of the builds using it particularly inspires me at the moment. And there's also Wrath, but.. yeah, not really interested in that.

So what to do with an extra Ber? Socket it in some unique for CB/%DR? Or just make CoH for Merc in some nice, eth bugged thingy?
 
@Burgomaster3 In my opinion CoH is never worth it (I am sorry to all CoH users). In your case I would save a Ber for some thingies. I see you are currently using Tal Armor on your sorc. By putting eni on your sorc you gain quite some nice added bonusses compared to CoH. In terms of survivability eni offers a whopping 45 str at level 90 over CoH and flat 5% life bonus. Since you are using Shiver armor an eni dusk or ap would give 400-500 more def (which translates to a 3K bonus if you are using a defiance merc). Using eni also opens the door of using high str equip. Personally as I stated before, I use on all sorcs that are not light CoA on higher levels, as it makes surviving so much more reliable. Another major advantage of eni is 45% frw, if you are doing alot of lk runs or AT runs that 45% frw really is going to make a big difference.If you are determined of getting a better merc armor build forty, stone or Treachery.

If you have a dual socket CoA putting in a Ber would be a strong candidate!
 
@Treeharl I have currently over 20 characters, of which maybe 10 I play regularly, and I share equipment between all of them, so this Ber isn't just for this Sorc. I use my characters to very specific tasks, and I like to equip them according to that task. The reason she's currently wearing Tal's armor is because three part Tal's is the best way to go in AT, since it gives you best combination of mf, fcr and survivability. I can't remember when was the last time I died in AT using this setup. For LK-running she needs gear that gives her 200 fcr, so no use for Enigma there. I'm no stranger to Enigma's awesomeness, but for the tasks I use my sorceresses for, it simply isn't the best option. Trust me, I'd use it if it were.

I play SC, for me, effiency matters more than survivabilty. If once in a blue moon my char dies, so be it, leveling up is fairly quick below level 94 or so. If I had a plan to 99 a character, then I might pay more attention for survivability, but even then, I think CoA for sorceress is overdoing it a bit. Harlequin Crest is enough to survive 99% of the time, and it gives kill speed and MF. I play this game to find stuff, after all, so that is kinda important to me.

I mentioned those specific tasks. For some of those tasks, Chains of Honor can be very worth it. For instance, in my experience it's the best armor for Travincal-running Sorceress. It's also great questing armor for some builds that don't want (or don't need) to use Enigma, like TS/Dtail Sin I'm playing with currently. It also gives life leech, which makes it awesome merc armor for setups that don't get leech from weapon/helm. Fortitude and Treachery are great for most of the situations, but CoH opens up different options, and I want to explore those options.

There's also the thing, that I'm starting to get somewhat wealthy. I've been very thoughtful with the use of my HRs in the past, (mostly) using them for useful things like Enigmas, Infinities and alike. Now that I have those bases more or less covered, I'm exploring a bit more left-field options of what to do with my runes :).
 
As it often happens, when an item finally drops, a second one drops soon after:

View attachment 4596

A Tal's belt also dropped in that same game, so Tal's was definitely on sale yesterday.

During that 25 AT runs, I also got the following (and a Nature's Peace, which I didn't screenshot):
View attachment 4597

Grailer for me, only Arm of King Leoric and Ribcracker to go when it comes to exceptional uniques.

View attachment 4598

View attachment 4599

View attachment 4600

2os only this time, but still a nice drop.

Not bad for only 25 runs. Ironically this was on /p7, with only 300% mf, while I have been doing lots and lots of /p1 runs with 600% mf prior to this without getting anything good at all.

And this one dropped a few days ago:

View attachment 4601
 
Finally got the helm i was seeking thank you mephisto

View attachment 4602

edit: this trires belt dropped not the highest roll but for level 41 it is very much okay
Code: 
Soul Lash
Heavy Belt
Defense: 6
Durability: 16 of 18
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 45
Fingerprint: 0xb3216f09
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+5 to Strength
Replenish Life +6
Lightning Resist +12%
Fire Resist +13%
Poison Resist +23%
 
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Sweet goldfind charm from the tunnels:
Code: 
Shimmering Small Charm of Greed
Small Charm
Required Level: 25
Fingerprint: 0x4dc9d31a
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
All Resistances +5
10% Extra Gold from Monsters
 
To add to CoH discussion, potential usage of CoH and why it might be worth it is under spoiler.

While it is true CoH is not really best option to use early Ber runes on (some might disagree), it is still great option once basics are cowered.

Arguably better Ber usages consist of:

For Enigma
For Infinity
Beast berserker axe (if you are barb PvP-er or vanilla player, or are madly in love with skelemancer)
PvP BerBer CoA
PvP Ber 1.07 Shako
Faith (cube Bers to make Jah)


After all those things CoH is the next best usage of Ber. Problem with CoH is it is jack of all trades, master of none kind of armor. But it does have its strengths too:

Arguably best sorceress armor for Travincal, though simple Vipermagi is almost as good.
Most convenient armor for merc if you lack leech on your weapon and don't wanna mess with Andariel's Visage (or want to have CBF/crushing blow helm without investing Cham).
Possibly best merc armor for pitzerker and pitsinger, though simple Treachery is just as good, potentially even better (I'm not in that camp though).
Convenient armor to have for non-Enigma characters, but Fortitude is tough armor to beat.

Overall, CoH is armor that looks really great on paper, but in practice it is kinda very low improvement (unless you make it before Fortitude/Enigma). Even when it is mathematically the best, it is the best by a small tiny fraction. Compare it to Enigma, Fortitude, Infinity, Beast company. When those items are the best, they are simply the best and the story ends. When CoH is the best option, it is still easily replaceable by something similarly strong. This is why CoH is not of a great value (unless you make it first, but that case makes no sense to compare since same is true for all other mentioned stuff).

However, once you use all the Ber runes (sorry, but for PvM using Ber as additional DR% or crushing blow is not really useful thing to do considering gear it is usually used), all that is left is CoH which is then obvious candidate to make. It is a good armor even if it lacks that final punch to be the masterrace option by a mile. What else to do, to pile up Ber runes? I have traded/gave several Ber runes and still made second CoH and all the mentioned stuff above, even 3 Enigmas and I still have Ber runes left to use for whatever. Probably reroll PvP Beast I have. Better use it than to dust it.
 
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I didn't chime in on the CoH discussion at first, but since it's being brought up again, here goes ... I don't agree :).

With my first Ber this time around, I made CoH. With my first Ber ever, years back, I made CoH as well. Same for my first Ber in HC. You get the picture. I have to admit that each time this was for a Blizzard Sorc, and Cold Sorcs don't get as much out of something like Infinity as a lot of other characters. But still I think I'd do the same for other characters.

Is Infinity better? You can't really tell, because CoH is an armor, while Infinity is a weapon, and even a merc armor mostly. That's comparing apples and oranges. Yes, Infinity does far more for damage output in most cases, but CoH gives me so much flexibility with my other gear, due to it's huge 65% resist all, that I have a hard time not using it early on, and even after that on many characters.

Is Enigma better? For non-Sorcs probably yes, at least when those characters are at the endgame and just want to farm specific targets. For questing though, most of the times I still prefer not to skip almost all content by teleporting by, so in that case I prefer CoH, again because it gives me so much flexibility. Obviously this is not true for physical damage based characters, who would use Fortitude.

As for the other characters on that list, they are all really specific, often only pvp related. I'm mostly talking about PvM, not only because I have never done any PvP and don't really care for it, but also because I'm actually assuming that PvM is where most people spend the majority of their time. Faith is also only useful in particular circumstances, as Infinity or Reaper's are the best options most of the time. Also, as with Infinity, Faith is mostly a merc weapon option, so again it's comparing apples and oranges.

Now I understand the reasoning behind getting something like Enigma or Infinity first instead. Get those, they will make you much stronger, go to LK, farm two more Surs or a Ber, and you are set for that CoH if you want to. Problem in my opinion is:

1) getting HRs (and you still need another Ber for Infinity or Jah for Enigma when you get that first Ber) is less easy than people sometimes make it out to be. Yes they drop far more frequently in 1.13+ than before, but you still need many hours to get Ber and certainly Jah. Certainly when you are starting out, which often is the case when we are talking about finding that first Ber.
2) some people just don't like to grind LK or other specific sources all day for that Ber or Jah, but want to quest other characters, run different targets, ... in that case it takes even longer to farm the runes for Infinity or Enigma, and you might get more out of CoH

So my reasoning was the other way around. Immediately make CoH when that first Ber drops, and that will help me to get those runes for the other options as well.

At least that is my opinion on the subject.
 
Since opening the RFL thread, I've been running little pit of Pits. Best finds were clearly those Entrapping charms I already posted.

Let's call this a "warm-up haul pic":
View attachment 4610
It's a Templar's, just so you know. Really poor rolls with the uniques. I can post readouts if someone really cares. :p Also found something like seven Lems, lol.
 
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