Skill and Character Builds Discussion

[Lucifer666]

sixofour

Or Salvation on your merc,you will all benefit with higher resists,and your skellis will be immune to most elemental attacks with 1 pointed Summon Resist...

[thepsycho2]

@Lucifer666: All he wanted was Cannot Be Frozen mod.

Got a Decapitator coupon. It's sitting beside my Scarabshell Boots coupon.

[Lucifer666]

Salvation gives CBF to Necro summons and more...for a Summon Necro,much better Def Aura to have...and can be found in shops,so even readily available for purchase if you spend some time on shopping,+ Merc Convert,+Forge,+3-6 Sockets(if uber lucky you can get Jewelers and of Aurora on same item!!!)I know I have one Uber Magic Armor,with both those!!!

Edit: I didn't actively play ES for months now...I'll go find that armor,it's somewhere in my stash...I'll post a pic of it in Rate the Rare...

Edit: God damn...I somehow failed to upload my pics to Photobucet,it says I have to log in first,and I'm already Logged in...any other way to upload here???how does one post a pic here...I forgot...

[thepsycho2]

Two runs ago in the Chaos Sanctuary, I ran across rare Viper Hands that have +16 Might on it. I was rerolling some Spellcaster Gloves before then, but three times (not in a row) all I got was +1 Might.

I've been running there recently because the seal bosses and Diablo drop boss ore 1-3 Bleeding Stone. Any other monsters besides Diabloclone that have a chance to do the same? Because my patience against Lachdanan is wearing thin.

EDIT: It was bound to happen: my druid died from a fanaticism + annihilation pair. I'm going to start up a thunder barb soon, but I am not sure if I have enough resources. I have the Lv.45 barb set, but I am not sure if that will be enough for now.

EDIT 2: Two Zweihanders. Both will get +4% Lightning damage per d-stoning. The big question is, how many sockets am I going to use, and what for? I was thinking since I will need the skills, double "Saiyajin" may work (Ka Me Ha Me Ha), +6 all skills and +2 Teleport. There has to be better, however. I could use "CRESCENT MOON" in one of those, for -35% Enemy Lightning Resist, which will definitely help -- but will sacrifice +3 all skills, but feel it is worth it...

EDIT 3: Preliminary setup for "Sizzle"..

LHand: "Saiyajin" Zweihander
RHand: "Crescent Moon" Zweihander
Switch: "INSIGHT" staff, for mana burn monsters and quick mana recovery on the fly
Body: "Eternal Reign"
Head: Heart of Jewels
Belt: "Navel" (He So) Rumour of Pain, -14% enemy lightning resist
Gloves: "Rain" (A Me)
Boots: "Hot" ("Shank" casts Decrepify when struck, so that won't work) [Ne Tsu]
Ring1: Zodiac Band
Ring2: Barb-crafted class ring up to Madawc's Frenzy
Amulet: Beads of the Guardian (for CBF), Roaring Thunder if he can get his hands on one.

Merc is Act 2 Prayer, he will have an "INSIGHT" polearm to help the barb with mana issues.

Idea is to hit 8fpc, where 7fpc can be attained by tweaks (usually d-stoning FCR). 200% is the number to hit.

EDIT: Slowly making some progress. Had to put dex charms in Sizzle's inventory to reduce the amount of needed base dex. He currently has a blemished emerald in the noob's charm, +20 dex and +10% run/walk, as well as CtC Poison Nova when struck. That won't do much later game, but once I have a Zodiac Band on I won't need the emerald.

ISO: Scroll 30 (7 rare jewels = unique jewel), 38 (RIP mod on weapon). Druid failed to find these.

EDIT 2: minor tweak in the setup, forgot I had a rumour of pain in the stash with -14% lightning resist so used that instead.

EDIT 3: Roadblocked, -62% resists aren't doing well. Lightning immune monsters with LE are left up to my merc to kill, which doesn't really cut things with what he has at the moment.

Instead, I will return and start over as a melee barbarian, my favourite: a greed slayer, using "Gluttony" dire flails.

Greed is, with the rest:
Armor: "Sorrow"
Head: "Thief"
Gloves: Hands of Atlas
Belt: Goldark's Strap
Boots: "Shank" until I get the gloves -> boots scroll. Then it'll be suffocation of indifference, that will let me replace "Sorrow" armor.
Ring1: Madawc's Frenzy
Ring2: One Ring
Amulet: Beads of the Guardian, because being frozen slows you down very much.

"Sorrow" will provide HST and the Decrepify is somewhat the same effect as Weaken.

EDIT: "Shank" boots have +all skills, big life boost and +100% to gold find. The downside is that the boots have enormous FRW, which I might need to trim down (+60%). The previous barb "Golden_Pig" had the lux of using tasselhoff's but not this person.. since I did a near-wipe, I have to look at other ways to keep him up.

[Lucifer666]

Well...I decided to play again...I think I made a long enough break from this game...deleted ALL of my Chars that have finished with Hell Domain on p/8(so that I don't start running with them again)...Any suggestions which of my Chars should I finish up next???I still don't have enough Crystals to make a Gold Scarab for my DualGluttony Barb,so he will wait for a bit more...Was thinking of doing one more run of Hell Domain on p/8 with my Kick Assassin and then to retire her so that I can send her Eternal Reign down to one of my other Chars,but meh I like her so much that I'll leave her be for the time being...

So what do you people say??? Should I do a Melle Sorc now,a Melle Necro(I have two made both in Normal for now),a Thunder Barb(mine is at the end of Normal),or should I finish up some of those Chars of mine that are near end of Hell??? Any suggestions on fun builds are welcome...

Edit: Went and saved Cain in Hell with my Immolation Sorc,updated her gear on my Diary,and killed Uber D for the first time with her,he was gone in 3 casts of Immolation,on p/1 thou,found a Maple along the way too,so it payed off...

[pekoe]

I am interested in doing a melee sorc or necro also but will have to wait till I have better gear for that build. It is amazing how much damage those classes take if your not use to being in the mix. I would be interested in what gear you use and your skills. I think sets would work well and give you nice plus bonus. Keep us updated.
barbarians have it made with the extra strength and resistances and are able to use so much more gear and not give up on life. Not to mention the buffs.

[Lucifer666]

Life??? I never ever put point in Vitality,unless it is a tourny char...One of the Melle Necros will use the Brotherhood Set,the other will use mostly Unique and Rare Equip(this one is at the end of Nightmare now)...for Sorc Melle,I'll also go with some Rares and Uniques...I'll devise some sick setup for them all...

Sickness Gear(Killer Scythe Necro)

weapon : Bone Reaver Demonic Scythe (This is set in Stone,I must use a Necro specific weapon for this guy)
Weapon 2: Maybe that spear with Burst of Speed Oskill
Armor: I have one High Level Craft that is sick for this build,but I'll ponder about this for some more...
Helm:Most Probably some Rare Tiara or Diadem with some sick bonuses
Gloves: Suffocation of Indifference (very nice for every melle build)
Belt: was thinking Rare with +Might
Boots: same as above
Ring 1: same as above
Ring 2: Some of the Unique Necro Rings
Amulet: maybe the level 75 Unique would be good for it's +Max Resist

Merc Defensive Barbarian(BO,BC,Shout)...will carry Annihilation and maybe Concentration for me,,,

Skills would be max Killer Scythe,Bone Armor,and rest in dmg synergyes of Killer Scythe...one pointed Corpse Explosion too with one point in Revive/Skeleton Mastery for some more Meatshields...

Edit: Decided to take my Werewolf Fury for a stroll down in the Domain,right when i stepped out of the stair in Nowhere a pack of Izual Ghosts which ware obviously Extra Fast and something else surrounded me and killed me in couple of seconds,on p/8...gotta work some more on his gear...

Edit: Werewolf - and two Obsidian Melds on Weapon and two Skull Melds on Armor later I was able to pass thru Nowhere on p/8...gonna go after Nihla and gang now with him,even thou I only have something like 10% DR with him...but almost 11 k life...

Werewolf Equip
Weapon 1 Terminate in a Eth Superior Death Reaper
Weapon 2 Raka's Folly
Helm Necromancers Essence Blood Spirit
Armor Transformation in a Ceremonial Armor
Gloves The Hands of Atlas
Belt Suffocation of Indifference
Boots Boots of the Valiant(these he inherited from my Sinn)
Ring 1 Crafted Druid Ring with +16 Might
Ring 2 Yaguls
Amulet Yaguls

Werewolf Skills
Werewolf Form 1
Elemental Form 20
Shapeshift Mastery MAX
Feral Rage MAX
Rabies REST
Fury MAX
Oak Sage 1
Elemental 1

Edit: And my Werewolf did the Domain no probs,Metalspark was the most dangerous of the lot...well this one too earned to retire with only 2 deaths...his stats are updated on my Diary page...

Edit: Noticed that I have two Druid Veterans Odd Charms,one I made with my Creeping Doom and the other with my Werewolf...decided to tweak my FOTH Pally with a Angel Runeword Charm and to finally have one Paladin that has finished Hell,will work on Him for a while since he lacks a couple of Forges still...if anybody is interested I could post his gear and skills...
Now I just need to make a Veterans Odd Charm with one of my Necros,and I'll have a Veteran Charm for every Class...and I need to decide on which Druid I'll be finishing now...maybe my Firestormer or Windzor...

Edit: Man my HolyMight(FOTH Pally) is powning Hell on p/8,and i only tweaked him with a Angel Charm...I don't even use that Teleport that comes with it,just stroll around spamming FOTH and everything is dead...and I still have to Forge 5 or 6 pieces of his Gear...

Edit: AND My FOTH Paladin became a King on P/8 with no Deaths!!! Doing decent dmg of 22,5 k on PFE slvl 88 and every bolt of FOTH slvl 93 doing somewhere around 37 k,and my Holy Bolt doing around 45 k slvl 94 per bolt...I focused more on Magic Dmg than Lightning and all my Jewels and Dstoning ware meant to enhance the Magic portion of Dmg more,I also use a Oskill PFAB to do some Dmg before my Merc decides to drop his AC...gonna go on Nihla and gang on P/8 soon and after that retirement of this Char...

[thepsycho2]

I have Master of Fire now, thanks to Lucifer666. I am compelled to make an immozon. The thing is, I have not done much in terms of fetching equipment, but I do know that I will have at least two things -- an easy-to-get amazon bow and the Act 5 Offense barb. I will have to design all skills around the build, to raise the level of oskill Fire Mastery.

I forgot one important thing: a veteran's charm. Unfortunately, I didn't seem to transfer that out. I also ditched the ancient scrolls so I don't have #49. I am willing to give two maples if anyone can get me #37, #38 and #49.

[Lucifer666]

I'll send em to ya soon...

[thepsycho2]

Thank you! I can start progress.

[Lucifer666]

Been looking at the Charge skill of my FOTH Pally,with only One Point in it he has it on slvl 53,and it gives more than 2500 ED% with only Two points in Synergies(I picked up the Bear with Hard Points)...I think I will take my Charger Pally to Hell next,but first I need to decide on weapon...I was thinking Etherial Thor's Hammer Unique Titan Maul would be Ideal,that or a Etherial Rare Wrecking Arm...what should I pick up for him???I am leaning towards the Eth Titan Maul,I mean +13 Charge would bring something like 650 ED% to my attack without Forge and Socket,with it would be +14 Charge and +1 all other Skills since I got to put a Wo inside it so that it does not break...or maybe do a Wo Forge...God knows I now have enough of them...

[pekoe]

I have been playing with a plague javalin amazon and at 26 find it really easy. I am not sure if the damage will falter later on. It seems to have a lot of synergies for bonus. The jab seems to be really good also. It seems to add a lot of enhanced dam and quick jabs which is nice.
I tried a sorc and really wasnt impressed with any of the damage output. I found leveling slower and harder. I really depended on my act 5 merc a lot to stop things. I did like the mana regen. Mid 40s.

[thepsycho2]

Plaguezons are pretty useful up until you hit poison immune monsters. Then a secondary throw, whether it be Pyre Javelin or Lightning Fury for packs, is better suited for these. In my opinion, if you are doing primary throws, Frost Javelin then Jab should be last priority. I just haven't seen Frost Javelin shine..

[Lucifer666]

My FOTH Pally done the DOmain on P/8...not even once was he endangered,but Metalspark took the longest to kill since I had to use Holy Bolt to keep my Merc alive along with PFL for some Lightning Absorbs...Retired with 0 Deaths...

Now I'll finish up my Freezeer Pally...or Martyr...gonna see which one is closer to Hell Baal...

[pekoe]

I was thinking of what my secondary dam would be yes. I tried all 3 and decided to go with cold. It seems to work since I am poisining things although it seems my pyre does knockback unless it is a glitch. So both are good. I dont care for lightning.
On a second note I noticed they had firewall. I love firewall back in early vanilla. Does it do insane damage in eastern sun?

[thepsycho2]

I haven't used firewall yet. As for the knockback, you may have that mod on the weapon you're using.

[Lucifer666]

You can stack several Firewall in one place so yes it CAN do insane dmg...

[pekoe]

sweet I will make a fire wall zon for sure with a cold backup.

[bestdnd]

Hi, I'm starting a MindBlaster, and want your advice.

1. I'm going to have 3 Shadow Warriors, which will probably do more damage than me. Therefore anything I invest in my own damage will only inprove about 1/4 on the overall damage. Would it be better to invest in Vitality instead of Energy, so I can focus my gear on +skills rather than survivability?

2. I guess A5 Offense Barb is the merc for the build (for his Ancient's Call and Battle Command)?

3. What do I need to do to help my Shadow's damage?
Meditation for fast cast

[Lucifer666]

First thing first,you want to find the Thread I already made for this build,it is titled "Lucifer666 MindBlast Assassin" I think...Lots of tips there...

Now...

For Stats you will want ALL Energy,it will increase your Dmg and Shadows Melle Dmg(which will be needed at some point in game)...

For Skills only 3 skill points will not be in Shadow Disciplines Tree,those you will use to get Dragon Flight...

Shadow Disciplines Tree Skill progression-Claw Block from Noob Charm,5 Points in Cloak Of Shadows,pick up Command Mastery,Burst of Speed,Warrior and Fade with one point,pick up Psychic Slash with one point,at this time you may already be at Andariel(if you play like me)...Dragon Talon is a great skill,use it on LMB until you get Mind Blast...next you will want to get to 15 in Command Mastery to get second Warrior,when you get second Warrior put something like 10 points in Warrior(so that they are stronger),now you will want to max out Psychic Slash and Mind Blast before you get third Warrior,after that finish with Command Mastery,now with Cloak of Shadows and rest in Warrior...If you got some spare Skill after that pick up Death Sentry(this one is preffered as a Staff Mod so you don't have to use 5 Skill Points to get it and it is not necessary with this build)...

For Merc much better is either of the Rogues(I prefer Cold one),reason is simple...Mind Blast = Wind Dmg(Physical),Psychic Slash = Wind/Magic Dmg...SO,you will want Amplify Damage as your main Curse,and there is nobody better than the Rogues to distribute it all over the screen...

Meditation is optional,you will be using your Skills only against Bosses,against Normal Mobs just let your Shadows do the work...

There is some strategy involved with playing this build,you will want to experiment a little to get the best results...and be sure to check out the thread I already mentioned,you will find some invaluable info on this build there...

[thepsycho2]

Faster cast doesn't need to be maxed up, but of course 125% is your cap (9fpc) when you're using the mindblaster. Your best skills will be Psychic Slash and Cloak of Shadows. Once you have some fairly decent wind damage boost, Mind Blast is great for taking out weak groups. You are right on 3 warriors though, in due seriousness you'll have a lot more fun with 3 warriors.

Fade is your skill of choice for resists, curse duration reduction and slvl% DR. You will be able to focus a little more into raising your skill levels. If you find your warriors being beat up, don't be afraid to boost shadow warrior as Lucifer pointed out.

Meditation on equip is good as this is somewhat mana intensive, but if you are all Energy you'll have less of an issue.

[Lucifer666]

Yo Psycho,you just lurking or are ya playing some???you didn't make any update in a long time???just asking you know...if you got bored you could join in the HC...there is no time limit...or any scoring you know...just the pleasure of being able to beat the game like it was your first time...I find myself using lots of stuff I never used before...it is kinda more interesting in HC...knowing your Char could die any second for real man...now this is just ramble...do as you like...

[thepsycho2]

I really oughta come back to playing this, maybe let the others see how ES works since I do have a youtube, but most of my time is gone to other games at the moment. There just isn't a good push right now for me to update my diary either; there should be another means of me doing my updating.

On that note, since discussion is at it, I'm going for an assassin. Not sure what, but signs point to Psychic Slash/MB.

[Lucifer666]

What are ya playing now??? I occasionally switch over to some other mod for D2LOD...Those D2SE Mods are mostly awesome...or I play modded(like 150 mods) Fallout 3...or vanilla Fallout 1 and 2...Fallout New Vegas is not really to my liking...

[thepsycho2]

I'm in a tie between terraria, torchlight 2 and UT3.

I started a cold druid, "Chillout".