A Tale of Woe

[Kasreyn]

Hi everyone... been a while since I've been by. (Yes - he's alive!)

I need some advice. I recently had a viciously bad HD crash. How bad? Well, let's just say that I've lost pretty much every save file from every game I own. With the exception of some backups so old they're useless, I've lost all of my items and most of my decent characters. How could this have happened to me? Well, the crash was physical rather than logical, so it ate my backup partition as well as my boot sector. I'm running on a different HD now.

Among the casualties are uncounted uniques, runes, and rares, and a handful of really high-level characters.

So I'm contemplating beginning all over again (GAH). To that end, I'm trying to decide 1.) whether it's worth upgrading to 1.11 (I was running 1.10, Open of course), and 2.) what strategies I should use to try to recover some of my progress.

A plus for upgrading to 1.11 is that now, I no longer have anything I could *possibly* lose by it. A minus is that some of my third party software might be broken - I use a noCD prog (I have a really noisy CD-ROM drive) and PlugY, a program that allows a "shared stash" so I don't have to lose any of the items I find (unless my HD bites the dust, as I've learned.) I see no conflict between this and my opposition to cheaters online. I play Open single player *only*, so the only game I alter is my own.

However, upgrading to 1.11 might break those two programs, and then I'd be back to listening to my CD drive buzz and having to throw away most of the good items I find (plus never being able to rebuild my runes). Does anyone know if there's a version of PlugY that supports 1.11? Additionally, are there any noCD hacks that function for 1.11?

My second query is more strategy-oriented. Anyone who remembers my rare D2-related posts here will know I'm a *huge* fan of Magic Find. Typically in the past, I had spare Chance Guards, Goldwraps, things of that nature to hand to a baby character so they could find better gear. Now, I'm naked again. An interesting challenge for the veteran stash-of-many-things user! If I do upgrade to 1.11: are there any "balance" changes? Ie., have they nerfed a class and boosted another, again? Is one class "uber" all over again? Because I know Blizzard, and their patches usually mess two things up for every one they fix.

Specifically, what is a good character class and build for the jaded item-hunter who's suddenly stripped of all his expensive toys? What character & build can descend into the dungeon butt naked and live to kick the Prime Evils' asses? I must admit to having a preference for Hammerdins, Sorcies of any kind, Frenzy/WW barbs, Werewolves, and zookeeper Necros, but I'm willing to try any build once!

I'd really appreciate any help. I don't normally ask for suggestions on character builds, but I've been "out of the loop" for a while - I chose to never upgrade to 1.10 because I was too lazy to go hunting for new version of my hacks, and I was worried about the effects on my characters. Now that they're gone, I have nothing to lose, so I'm interested in learning what's new in D2.

Thanks,

Kasreyn
kasreyn@bloomington.in.us
-------------------------------
R.I.P. - D2.
Charles Martel, Hammerdin 91
Bruticus, Whirlbarb 83
Rhaelon Redpelt, Werewolf 76
Cryonica, Sorceress 73
Thetkhan Blackblood, Necromancer 65
Attilla, Frenzybarb 51
Freezerburn, Meteorb Sorcie 46
and others of lesser repute, perhaps a dozen.

MIA - D1. (still checking backups)
Lord_Kasreyn, Sorceror 47
Not_Enough_Mana, Nakedmage 41
Quaan, Warrior 33
Triock, Warrior 28
Llaura, Rogue 26

[MonTy]

Hail Kasreyn,

I'm sorry to hear about your hard drive crash. They can certainly be brutal. Did you happen to hear it clicking at all? And do you still have it? In certain cases there is a trick to bring back your HD from the dead for a short period of time. What you can do is put your bad hard drive in the freezer for 30 - 45 minutes and then put it back into your computer. I've personally tried the freezer trick and it worked.

I am also starting back into Diablo 2 (although I never had much experience to begin with), so I can not help you much with the strategy part of your post. You did ask about a stash mod though, and although I've never heard of a stash mod, I do use a mule application called ATMA. Here's the link: http://atma.diabloii.net/ . Or were you looking for something in-game? Anyways, good luck with whatever character you choose. Be sure to let us know how your hero fares!

-MonTy

P.S. - Although I was never a regular poster, I do remember you. Good to see you posting again, and I hope all is well.

[librarian]

Heiho,

I'm also sorry to read about your loss :-(

AFAIK plugY unwires some hardcoded parts of the game, and the addresses of that stuff buried in the dll files changed somewhat from 1.10 to 1.11 and again 1.11b. You'll need at least plugY version 7.00 if you decide to play from 1.11b base installation, otherwise it won't work.

There was no major change in the balance (or imbalance, as you may say) from char classes.
If you want safe but slow progress you may go with a Necro Overlord build, and you can stuff this one with some common MF gear like socketing Topazes in Helm and Shirt without much loss of effectiveness.
If you want the 'I rule them all' feeling you still may prefer the Hammadin.
If your goal is fast MFing you may build a sorc as in every patch. A very common build seems to be a Meteor/FO sorc, but I'm not much at home here, since I don't like that class. Don't go one-elemental unless you really have a good option to deal with Immunes.

For just the fun of playing you may chose any build you like. It'll become tough in hell, but well, this is the meaning of 'hell difficulty'.

[Hammerskjold]

Just off the top of my head here.

- Hiring\switching mercs is a lot less of a hassle in 1.11, no more need to stick to one and levelling them up. Since their clvls are a lot closer to yours. (For me this is probably the only great selling point of 1.11, ymmv)

- Uber Tristram, new bonus area for Hell mode and Closed Realm only. Iirc you will need a mod to enable it in SP, otherwise you can get the Keys (the quest ingredients) but can't do anything with it.

- A bunch of new Armor runewords, surprisingly available for SP as well.

- Some previous Realm Only R-words only are now enabled for SP. Duress, Prudence, Splendor, and Wind are now available for SPers.

[Kasreyn]

Just off the top of my head here.

- Hiring\switching mercs is a lot less of a hassle in 1.11, no more need to stick to one and levelling them up. Since their clvls are a lot closer to yours. (For me this is probably the only great selling point of 1.11, ymmv)

- Uber Tristram, new bonus area for Hell mode and Closed Realm only. Iirc you will need a mod to enable it in SP, otherwise you can get the Keys (the quest ingredients) but can't do anything with it.

- A bunch of new Armor runewords, surprisingly available for SP as well.

- Some previous Realm Only R-words only are now enabled for SP. Duress, Prudence, Splendor, and Wind are now available for SPers.

Thanks, Hammer!

I've restarted on 1.10 for now and am having a blast. I created a new frenzybarb, Ginsu. He's 26 and venturing into the Palace Cellar now. I'm finding that cube formulae and gems are crucial to getting good weaponry for an untwinked melee character in Normal. The only thing I can't decide is - should I keep my cold arrow Rogue for the long haul, or replace her with an A2 spear merc? I'm thinking either defiance aura for DR, or Might aura for max damage. I'm also trying to decide whether I want to focus my synergies on singing (ie Taunt, War Cry) or on armor / power buffs like Shout and Double Swing. Without any end-game items to twink him with, I suspect Ginsu is going to really start struggling to wound enemies once he gets into Hell difficulty. Would Might aura merc + damage boost synergies be best? Because my other worry is I can't twink him the Gladiator's Bane I used to keep for such occasions... he's probably going to be low def also, plus of course no shield... would war cry + shout + defiance aura merc be better, for survivability?

Strategizing and planning a build is certainly tougher when you can't plan for a certain drool-worthy runeword you already own...

Cheers,
Kasreyn

[MonTy]

Hail Kasreyn,

I also started a (Concentrate) Barbarian in the thread "A Warrior Destined For Hell". If you would like, I could give you some feedback from a untwinked Barbarian's point of view. If you read the thread itself, it probably could help you quite a bit. A lot of people gave great advice for a Barbarian.

Whereas War Cry has definitely been a blessing for my Barbarian, I'm not quite sure if it would have the same effect for a Frezy Barb. To make up for the lack of defense, I would personally want to use Howl to scatter mobs out - instead of having them come back from the War Cry stun and pound on your character. Are you thinking the synergy damage boost from Taunt would be nice to weaken enemies with War Cry? If you max out War Cry and Taunt, War Cry does an impressive 360 damage. That would be nice to eliminate mobs in normal and nightmare runs. But from what I've heard (no experience yet), it wouldn't be enough for Hell. Also, in my point of view, I would want to focus on hitting more then casting with a Frezy Barb. If you don't pump up War Cry to higher levels you'll be casting it all the time in later difficulties to keep the stun on, and if you do pump up War Cry you'll have to deal with the 30 mana cost for casting it. Also, using Howl instead of War Cry would save you a lot of skill points. So that is what I wanted to say on War Cry.

I'm finding that cube formulae and gems are crucial to getting good weaponry for an untwinked melee character in Normal.

You couldn't be more right. The H.Cube recipes have allowed my character to progress through the game. The following recipes will aid you greatly:

1 Ral Rune + 1 Sol Rune + 1 Perfect Emerald + Normal Unique Weapon = Exceptional Version of Weapon
1 Ort Rune + 1 Amn Rune + 1 Perfect Sapphire + Normal (Basic) Rare Weapon = Exceptional Rare Weapon

The only thing I can't decide is - should I keep my cold arrow Rogue for the long haul, or replace her with an A2 spear merc?

Untill you get to the point where your damage is significantly increased by the NM Act 2 Might Merc, I would suggesting staying with a control mercenary. The freeze NM Act 2 Merc or the Act 3 Ice Merc would greatly help your group encounters.

Strategizing and planning a build is certainly tougher when you can't plan for a certain drool-worthy runeword you already own...

I've never twinked my characters in any RPGs I play, but I could imagine how different the game would be by twinking them. So far the feeling of accomplishment has been worth getting my current Barbarian through the game untwinked. But I hope your character goes well. Be sure to keep us updated on Ginsu.

Take care,
MonTy

P.S. - If you don't mind, what did you end up using for your mule needs?

*edit - I might just have had the longest run-on sentance in all of history.

[Hammerskjold]

>I've restarted on 1.10 for now and am having a blast. I created a new frenzybarb, Ginsu. He's 26 and venturing into the Palace Cellar now. I'm finding that cube formulae and gems are crucial to getting good weaponry for an untwinked melee character in Normal.

Before I offer you my 2 cents (get them now! they're devaluing as we're speaking!) on anything, I gots to ask if you're running 1.10 vanilla or with the Realm Runeword enabled modification. Because imo, it can make a fairly significant difference. eg: An Edge or Harmony bow can give an Act 1 rogue merc a fighting chance in Hell mode, whereas without it you might have to look for a more expensive alternative. An Insight stick practically changed the game for any builds that previously had heavy mana costs. (You might already know all of this since you mentioned you played with some mods and other utilities for 1.10)


>The only thing I can't decide is - should I keep my cold arrow Rogue for the long haul, or replace her with an A2 spear merc? I'm thinking either defiance aura for DR, or Might aura for max damage. I'm also trying to decide whether I want to focus my synergies on singing (ie Taunt, War Cry) or on armor / power buffs like Shout and Double Swing. Without any end-game items to twink him with, I suspect Ginsu is going to really start struggling to wound enemies once he gets into Hell difficulty. Would Might aura merc + damage boost synergies be best?

I've played frenziers before, but they're not my forte or my cup of tea. There's some real interesting things over on the Amazon Basin forum if you want to take a look. The last barb I've played was a Double Swinger, so let me try to sift my mental sludge for what's apllicable. I guess it does depend a lot on your personal style as well. Like you, I don't bother with much Defense rating since I prioritize resistance over armor. I usually choose speed with ctc effects over raw damage, so my early-mid game weapon was Steel and Strength\Black, with end game target being CrescentMoon and Lawbringer weapons. (Lawbringer can be assembled earlier than Cmoon, but it's not officially activated for SP at this time. Thank bliz for that one.) If I don't have access to a Lawbringer, then probably something with a fast, high AR or armor reducing 1 hander rare with a ctc Amp Damage. Or just finding a l33t blunt to make another 'Black'.

In a no twink or budget situation I would probably take a serious look at axe type weapons (including the thrown types), since axes are eligible for some good rwords, or get some decent speed and damage from the blood craft recipes. I'd also look at blunts, since there are some decent and affordable rwords that can fit in there, as well as some occasionally lucky rolled, Hit Power blunt weapon.

[Occhidiangela]

Hi everyone... been a while since I've been by. (Yes - he's alive!)

Hooray. Hope you are well. :D

A tactical note on Frenzy Barb. I tended to use Walk instead of Run at all times with my Frenzy barb. I used Leap Attack to travel great distances over empty spaces. One point wonder.

Why?

I boosted DR (a bit of luck on rare Armor drops) to where it now and again stopped a hit.

Between some + skills and Shout, and a point in Iron Skin with + skills, the speed of Frenzy Walk provides enough speed to move with sufficient agility, and when you are on a killing streak, walking both avoids desynch and allows your DR to work as you run from spot to spot to engage, particularly when missile shooters are about.

Not a cure all to getting hit, Lister's boys have that irritating ITD Smite skill.

Taunt was my key to slowing down archers/spell casters. Taunt a guy to you, hit with Frenzy, and walk (quickly) all over the battlefield doing that slice and dice thing. :whistling:

Anyhoo, a handy tactical tool for some fights, YMMV.

Occhi

[Kasreyn]

Hooray. Hope you are well. :D

Occhi!! Great to see you. I haven't been lurking much recently (bad Kas! no cookie!) so I'm not up on the news. Are you overseas right now or back in the states? Have you been well?

Hmm, I tried the walking, it looks like it'll work fine. Right now (A3 Normal) nothing can really hurt me too badly so I'm not bothering, but it might be a lifesaver in hell diff.

Out of curiosity, if I want to go Ironbarb route, how much defense rating do I need to attain in order to actually reduce hell diff monsters' chance to hit me? The thought of facing Lister and co. with no shield is making me a bit nervous... Can it be done without godly unique and runeword elite armors? Should I push Shout to 20, Iron Skin to 5-10 or what?

Alternatively, I'm still contemplating forgetting shout and iron skin and DR altogether and going for Warcry to stun monsters. Which build requires better gear, and which requires more skill point investment? I don't have much to work with here...

Also, I have slvl 1 Taunt right now, and it seems to only affect one to two monsters right next to me at a time. Is this due to limited range? Will I be able to effectively taunt packs if I get it high enough?

I'm seriously thinking of putting Ginsu on hiatus and starting a mace mastery frenzier. Flatulence's <a href="http://strategy.diabloii.net/news.php?id=508">Warcry/Frenzy Build</a> at DiabloII.net makes the point that maces require no dex, allowing extra tweaking into vit... 110 Dex for a Cblade is 440 more base life before BO is factored in. (Whew, Barbarian armpit! Motto: Defeating enemies with stink since 1999) The only worry I have is, with base Dex will I have to waste a bunch of inventory space on +attack rating charms just to hit anything, or will Frenzy's attack boost handle it?

One last question from this inquisitive grasshopper: how useful is Berserk for dealing with phys. immunes? Without high-end gear, will it take a lot of skill points to make Berserk a phys. immune killer? I'm not really impressed by its Frenzy synergy, I just want to use Berserk itself against them.

*crosses fingers and hopes someone can help*

[Fragbait]

Out of curiosity, if I want to go Ironbarb route, how much defense rating do I need to attain in order to actually reduce hell diff monsters' chance to hit me? [...]
I'm seriously thinking of putting Ginsu on hiatus and starting a mace mastery frenzier. Flatulence's <a href="http://strategy.diabloii.net/news.php?id=508">Warcry/Frenzy Build</a> at DiabloII.net makes the point that maces require no dex, allowing extra tweaking into vit... 110 Dex for a Cblade is 440 more base life before BO is factored in. (Whew, Barbarian armpit! Motto: Defeating enemies with stink since 1999) The only worry I have is, with base Dex will I have to waste a bunch of inventory space on +attack rating charms just to hit anything, or will Frenzy's attack boost handle it?

One last question from this inquisitive grasshopper: how useful is Berserk for dealing with phys. immunes? Without high-end gear, will it take a lot of skill points to make Berserk a phys. immune killer? I'm not really impressed by its Frenzy synergy, I just want to use Berserk itself against them.

Hi,

My lvl 91 paladin has a little over 17000 defense, resulting in a chance to hit of about 10-20% for usual monsters. Harder monsters (like the Blood Lords in act 5) can achieve a cth of 21-28% against him, and only act bosses manage to hit him with 30-40% cth. I think that with around 12000-15000 def, you should do ok in hell.


Since you actually have 20 Dex base and 30 Str base, the amount of hitpoints gained by wielding something like a devil star instead of something like a conquest sword or berserker axe later on is:

devil star StrRequ:153 DexRequ:44 avgdam:48
conquest sword StrRequ:142 DexRequ:112 avgdam:45
berserker axe StrRequ:138 DexRequ:59 avgdam:47.5

Life Points wasted (in comparison to investing in Vit):
for the devil star: ((153-30)+(44-20))*4=588 life. (with BO ~1176)
for the conquest sword: ((142-30)+(112-20))*4=816life. (with BO ~1632)
for the berserker axe: ((138-30)+(59-20))*4=628 life. (with BO ~1256)

Life Points wasted assuming at least 153 Str will be invested for the armor in any case:
for the devil star: (44-20)*4=96 life. (with BO ~192)
for the conquest sword: (112-20)*4=368 life. (with BO ~736)
for the berserker axe: (59-20)*4= 156 life. (with BO ~312)

So if you choose the sword, you have 368-96=272 less life than with the mace. (~544 with BO)
If you choose the axe, you have 156-96=60 less life than with the mace. (~120 with BO)

Seems to me that if you can hit something without dexterity, then you should go mace. I tend to go axe with my frenzy barbs, though. I'm thinking you'll need angelic rings and amulet or many +AR charms to cope without investing in dex in hell though.

Concerning Berserk:
Many put 1 point into it. A one point wonder, it helps defeating pi monsters quite well. My lvl 73 IK barb maxed it out. It's actually quite impressive - not only on pi monsters. Just have to make sure to stand behind my hireling, since 0 defense isn't pretty in hell;). The 0 defense time goes down to 1.2 seconds at slvl 20, but that's still more than enough to get you killed against fast attackers, so that is no reason to max the spell. The damage is impressive though, and I frequently use this skill for single enemies / enemies I can't leech of, since WW is not the right skill then.

Greetings, Fragbait

[librarian]

Heiho,

OTOH the most dangerous enemies either deal out elemental damage or use skills with huge AR Boost or such which don't need AR at all.

[x] WC

recommended reading:
SSoGs Summary of Barbie's crowd control

[Occhidiangela]

Occhi!! Great to see you. I haven't been lurking much recently (bad Kas! no cookie!) so I'm not up on the news. Are you overseas right now or back in the states? Have you been well?

Thanks, been back since Oct 2004, though I seem to have left some of my sense of humor "over there."

Out of curiosity, if I want to go Ironbarb route, how much defense rating do I need to attain in order to actually reduce hell diff monsters' chance to hit me? The thought of facing Lister and co. with no shield is making me a bit nervous... Can it be done without godly unique and runeword elite armors? Should I push Shout to 20, Iron Skin to 5-10 or what?

The conventional wisdome is that Max Shout/Max BO is a good combination. One point in Iron Skin. One could go for a Defiance Merc on top of that, and let the DR pile up. If you do that, I suggest ensuring that Crushing Blow is on at least one weapon. For maces, two "Black" rune Word" flails might be just what the doctor ordered. (Check the Rune words, that one is not all that expensive.)

Alternatively, I'm still contemplating forgetting shout and iron skin and DR altogether and going for Warcry to stun monsters. Which build requires better gear, and which requires more skill point investment? I don't have much to work with here...

Good idea. If you put 10 points into Berserk, you add 10% magic damage to each of your Frenzy attacks. Worth considering as a synergy if you eschew heavy DR.

Also, I have slvl 1 Taunt right now, and it seems to only affect one to two monsters right next to me at a time. Is this due to limited range? Will I be able to effectively taunt packs if I get it high enough?

Taunt typically taunts one monster at a time. It's range is as far as you can reach with your mouse, if you select a target, and seems to me about "1/3" of a screen otherwise.

I'm seriously thinking of putting Ginsu on hiatus and starting a mace mastery frenzier.

Brilliant idea. The Unique Mace adds STR, and it has plenty of CB. If you find two, (66% total) you are in great shape, all you need to worry about then is chance to hit.

One last question from this inquisitive grasshopper: how useful is Berserk for dealing with phys. immunes?
*crosses fingers and hopes someone can help*

It is pretty good, your challenge will of course be crowd control. If you go Mace, a nice big two handed hammer/Mace and Berserk do some nifty damage. The problem there becomes attack speed.

Occhi