Ask the Experts

Information and updates for the Eastern Sun mod. If you have any questions or suggestions for the mod, please post them here. Click here to visit the official web site.

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Ask the Experts

Post by Metropolis Man » Thu Jan 11, 2007 5:15 pm

If you are new to the Eastern Sun community, welcome!

We are a very proud group of Diablo II players. Tsuru and his continuing efforts have made this mod second to none. But, diving headfirst into Eastern Sun can be a bit daunting. I was quickly made aware of this fact in my first ES game when a boss pack of Rogue Spearwomen ate my Barbarian for breakfast. My first post to this forum immediately followed.

Knowledge is Power and the Eastern Sun mod requires plenty of knowledge to be successful. The good news for newcomers and advanced players alike is there is no shortage of information at your fingertips. Study the links in my signature before asking questions. While at the WIKI, pay close attention to the section entitled “Playing Tips.”

Also, there already exists a thread dedicated to Skill and Character Builds Discussion, viewtopic.php?t=35213, so if you have questions like “What’s the best skill strategy for a Bowazon?” Or, “What’s better — Spirit Wolves or Dire Wolves?” then use that thread.

Finally, don't feel like you need to be an "Expert" to share your Eastern Sun knowledge. I just liked the title ;).

Metro
Last edited by Metropolis Man on Thu Jan 11, 2007 7:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Ask the Experts

Post by LordSkrolk » Thu Jan 11, 2007 7:18 pm

Is there anything useful I can do with Ancient Scrolls, Decipherers or Dragon Stones in the beginning, or do I have to wait to get use out of it? I couldn't figure that out from the wiki page...

edit: thx :mrgreen: (didn't want to put up a new post for this ;) )
Last edited by LordSkrolk on Thu Jan 11, 2007 7:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Ask the Experts

Post by Metropolis Man » Thu Jan 11, 2007 7:23 pm

You bet there is. Logger, one of the forum's experts, walks you through a cool trick on turning Dragon Stones into a truckload of gold. You do need Ancient Scroll #2 to do it —

http://miyoshino.la.coocan.jp/eswiki/?Playing%20Tips
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Re: Ask the Experts

Post by Billybgame » Fri Jan 12, 2007 12:49 am

Well, lets not forget...

8 Ancient Decipherers= 1 Dragon Stone
7 Dragon Stones + Scroll to Town Portal + Wirt's Leg= Cookbook
Chipped Skull + Key= Randomize Stone
Randomize Stone + Cookbook= random Ancient Scroll 1-30

This is what my goal usually was with my Decipherers, if I didn't have a Scroll to ID.

Of course, I never had Gold Find as a goal, before recent tourneys, though......

Main thing is, read through the recipes closely, and you'll learn these things much better.
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Re: Ask the Experts

Post by Logger_120 » Fri Jan 12, 2007 5:13 am

As Metro already pointed out duplicate scrolls are really good for getting gold if you need it. If you don't think you need gold then you don't gamble enough. If you don't gamble enough you are missing out on having truckloads of great items. With the gamble filter, enough gold, and the right lvl character you can get any set or unique item you heart desires. If you don't want to gamble then just turn the scrolls into PGems and keep them in that form instead of downgrading and selling.

Decipherers and D-Stone are also big in most cube recipies. If you haven't check out this page then browse it you will be surprised at all the wonderful things you can make to help get characters started and improved high lvl characters.

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Re: Ask the Experts

Post by magicbane » Fri Jan 12, 2007 7:24 am

can someone what the point of devils food is, and its practical application???

i made one and now am wondering what to do with it......

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Post by Hans » Fri Jan 12, 2007 7:27 am

devils food is used to spawn Uber Diablo in Hell.
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Re: Ask the Experts

Post by Billybgame » Fri Jan 12, 2007 7:51 am

[quote=Logger_120";p="304087"]As Metro already pointed out duplicate scrolls are really good for getting gold if you need it. If you don't think you need gold then you don't gamble enough. If you don't gamble enough you are missing out on having truckloads of great items. With the gamble filter, enough gold, and the right lvl character you can get any set or unique item you heart desires. If you don't want to gamble then just turn the scrolls into PGems and keep them in that form instead of downgrading and selling.

Decipherers and D-Stone are also big in most cube recipies. If you haven't check out this page then browse it you will be surprised at all the wonderful things you can make to help get characters started and improved high lvl characters.[/quote]

As a counter, my duplicate scrolls have ALWAYS been used to try and get the other scrolls I'm missing.

2 Ancient Scrolls and Randomizing Stone = New Ancient Scroll
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Re: Ask the Experts

Post by Nameless » Fri Jan 12, 2007 7:59 am

I only cube scrolls into decipherers or gems (with AS#2) early in the game. Later on, especially when you're wearing good GF gear, the money isn't worth it any more and it's better to cube them into new scrolls (if you need to fill in holes in your scroll collection) or to cube them into dstones or PGems for crafting/forging/dstoning/gem-melding.

In a tourney (when you can't twink on gear) it can give you a HUGE boost to cube your first scrolls into gold so you can gamble the GF combo (Leathers of Luck, Autocylus Belt+Boots) and possibly one of the early class sets. If you're lucky enough to find a scroll in Blood Moor when you can still gamble for 600-1000 gold a shot, then you're almost guaranteed to get one or more of the above items with the proceeds of a single scroll.

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Re: Ask the Experts

Post by Logger_120 » Fri Jan 12, 2007 8:04 pm

[quote=Nameless";p="304114"]In a tourney (when you can't twink on gear) it can give you a HUGE boost to cube your first scrolls into gold so you can gamble the GF combo (Leathers of Luck, Autocylus Belt+Boots) and possibly one of the early class sets. If you're lucky enough to find a scroll in Blood Moor when you can still gamble for 600-1000 gold a shot, then you're almost guaranteed to get one or more of the above items with the proceeds of a single scroll.[/quote]


Very true to that. In the Rumble in the DoE I found 3 scrolls on a single clear of teh Blood Moor and one was AS#2. THis allowed my all the gold in needed to completely fill in my gear. I rarely use this method in noraml play cuz I generally not playing untwinked. Later in the game scrolls go to D-Stones and PGems, if I have a full collection, like you said.

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Re: Ask the Experts

Post by Metropolis Man » Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:13 pm

Is the "Attacker takes damage of x" mod for skulls (armor, shields, and belt) only for a melee attacker?
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Re: Ask the Experts

Post by Blinn » Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:33 pm

Yes, it is pretty much exactly like the thorns aura except they take a set amount. When you are hit, you see the little "thorns" swirly thingy (for lack of a better description) on the monster.

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Re: Ask the Experts

Post by Metropolis Man » Sat Jan 13, 2007 12:14 am

Cool, Blinn. I was thinking of a bizarre build idea down the road. Unfortunately, I'm pretty certain a Cow Balloon needs to be touched for its damage to be dealt.
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Re: Ask the Experts

Post by Blinn » Sat Jan 13, 2007 12:21 am

If you try making a get-hit Druid, you will need to stock up big time on mods like DR and DR%, while trying to limit your defense and block as much as you can. It's a pretty quirky way to build things, I tried a similar thing with a Sorc and CtC Immolation but ultimately decided spending the resources on her to try and get it to work wasn't worth it while I had other characters who needed them.

If you rely solely on Cow Balloon, you won't have any way to take down ranged monsters.

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Re: Ask the Experts

Post by Nameless » Sat Jan 13, 2007 9:14 am

AFAIK the "Attacker takes damage of x" mods are simply WAY too low to be useful in Hell. They would need to be 10 times higher or even more. As they are now, you'll run our of health long before monsters do even with maxed %DR and lots of straight DR.

If you really want a damage-return build, the a good option would be a Golemmancer with on-equip thorns (Dread shield, Bramble armor, ...) and Amp (AFAIK Thorns + Amp/IM)

And you need a backup attack for monsters with elemental damage and ranged attackers.

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Re: Ask the Experts

Post by uman » Sat Jan 13, 2007 6:45 pm

What is the difference between "Freeze target" and "slows target"? For example, I have one item that is "Freeze Target +2" and another that is "slows target 12%"

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Re: Ask the Experts

Post by Nameless » Sat Jan 13, 2007 6:58 pm

Freeze Target works pretty much like the cold spell Glacial Spike (or Frozen Arrow). It freezes the target (or chills a boss) and can't affect cold immunes.

Slows target by x% is independent and in addition to slowing by cold damage (it works the same as the Clay Golem ability). It can affect almost all monsters, only a few monsters are immune (Frenzytaurs).

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Re: Ask the Experts

Post by Metropolis Man » Sun Jan 14, 2007 4:09 pm

Crafting has always confused me a bit. I remember the first time I crafted an item in ES and I couldn't use it because I was below the required level. I thought I had done something wrong. To me it still seems like a crap shoot — put in your item, perfect gem, Dragon Stone variation, jewel, and cross your fingers for good affixes.

It's the affixes that confuse me. How are these determined? Is it my character level? Is it the level of the item I am crafting?
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Re: Ask the Experts

Post by Nameless » Sun Jan 14, 2007 4:37 pm

The random affixes are determined just as they are for a rare item (except that a crafted item has from 1 to 4 random affixes, not 3 (2?) to 6 like a rare). The item level (or the quality level; see the ilvl formula/calculator) determines what affixes you can get. For a crafted item the item level is the average of your char level and the original item level.

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Re: Ask the Experts

Post by Metropolis Man » Sun Jan 14, 2007 5:50 pm

Would crafting a class-specific weapon, such as a Druid Oak Branch, determine if there would be class specific affixes (i.e. +x to Winter Fury, etc)?
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Re: Ask the Experts

Post by Nameless » Sun Jan 14, 2007 6:10 pm

Those are Staffmods and they (can) spawn in addition to any affixes. Some of the class items have Automods (e.g the Resist all on Pally shields or the +to Jav skill on Amazon javlins...).

edit:
Don't forget that some of the new ES items also spawn with automods, e.g. Dwarven Circlets have a bit of GF and Muscle Wraps have some +to Str.
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Re: Ask the Experts

Post by Metropolis Man » Sun Jan 14, 2007 6:50 pm

[quote=Nameless";p="304430"]Those are Staffmods and they (can) spawn in addition to any affixes.[/quote]

I think it's starting to sink in. So, if +1 to Winter Fury shows up on a club, it's called an oskill because any character would be able to use that club and skill. But, if +1 to Winter Fury shows up on an Oak Branch it's going to have (Druid Only) after it — and then it's referred to as a staffmod.
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Re: Ask the Experts

Post by Logger_120 » Sun Jan 14, 2007 9:18 pm

[quote=Metropolis Man";p="304436"]
I think it's starting to sink in. So, if +1 to Winter Fury shows up on a club, it's called an oskill because any character would be able to use that club and skill. But, if +1 to Winter Fury shows up on an Oak Branch it's going to have (Druid Only) after it — and then it's referred to as a staffmod.[/quote]

Correct.

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Re: Ask the Experts

Post by Metropolis Man » Sun Jan 14, 2007 9:24 pm

I was crossing my fingers that you, Nameless, or Blinn weren't going to jump on me and say, "You almost have it right. It means this..."

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Re: Ask the Experts

Post by Billybgame » Mon Jan 15, 2007 12:03 am

[quote=Nameless";p="304114"]I only cube scrolls into decipherers or gems (with AS#2) early in the game. Later on, especially when you're wearing good GF gear, the money isn't worth it any more and it's better to cube them into new scrolls (if you need to fill in holes in your scroll collection) or to cube them into dstones or PGems for crafting/forging/dstoning/gem-melding.

In a tourney (when you can't twink on gear) it can give you a HUGE boost to cube your first scrolls into gold so you can gamble the GF combo (Leathers of Luck, Autocylus Belt+Boots) and possibly one of the early class sets. If you're lucky enough to find a scroll in Blood Moor when you can still gamble for 600-1000 gold a shot, then you're almost guaranteed to get one or more of the above items with the proceeds of a single scroll.[/quote]

Thanks for the tip. I hadn't thought of it, this way. That really makes sense, as it dawns on me, you can't even use most scrolls until later on, anyway. So, better to turn them into lots of gold, early on. I'm just such a collector, at heart..........
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