09-03-2003, 10:01 AM
Hi Lurkers:
First of all, thanks for all that good replies and advice about setups.
Eventually, I've decided that I'll equip the heaviest armor that (yet bought yet found) comes into my path... if I have the required strenght. If not, I'll keep it in my inventary, and will equip it ASAP, even if its affixes are worse than the previous one. I believe this is the closest to the ideals of the muscle mages; everybody must see that I can wear the heaviest armors, that I'm the strongest. This is a question MM proudness.
I've decided also that I won't use the Mana Shield (at least until after my first dot). I wasn't very convinced, anyway. I believe that muscle mages are allowed to use it after their first dot because at some point Charles Warren and Gyrefalcon noticed that the MM's HPs were not enough to deal with the strongest monsters in Hell. Charis states in his LAW guide that about 400 to 500 HPs are needed in Hell/Hell. Well... another thing that I'd like to ask these guys if I could.
Now that I'm talking about spells, Stone Curse can be casted on monsters after completing the game in Nigthmare, but Stone Cursing and then Statue Bashing doesn't sounds much Muscle Mage. If abused, MMs would only need resistances as prefixes in their jewlery, and they'd be MMs still. No, definitely, this doesn't sounds very strategic also. Maybe this was intended to reduce mobs of monsters (or against those who tend to evade?). Heck, at times I think these rules could use an... addenum?, clarifications?, tips for the novice MM?, MM faq?, actualization?, patch?.
There are other things strange/obscure also: two of the quests involve the use of an item of Corruption, but at least for me, these are scarce. I think I've only found two of these in all my Diablo career. Wouldn't it have been better something like...?: "Go waste all your mana casting spells against a dlvl 1 wall, and then proceed with these quests not using your mana at any time". Or did they wanted the increased difficulty of wasting a suffix (and maybe a prefix) with the item of Corruption?. Also, about those armor rules at the begining of a MM career I think it would be useful some clarifying advice like: "You start like the weakest Diablo char. Focuse on strength or soon you won't even be able to equip a studded leather armor or small shield. You won't do much damage with 15 strength, also".
Well, that's enough about the rules for now. Your posts made me think about the strategic side of playing as a MM. I had these ideas:
1. An +AC prefix in my armor. There is this nice article from Charis at realmsbeyond: "An analysis of Harmony and Fast Block". It shows that a low AC mage against the fastest attackers in Hell is dead meat. Even with Harmony (and I can't go Zen, because we MM will only use jewlery suffixes for +all +str +HPs +vit), the Sorc recovers in 0.25, and then... what to do?. My fastest options would be running or casting a spell, but both take an additional +0.40 sec. 0.65 sec in total, and dogs (for example...) swing at only 0.60 sec. Many monsters in Diablo can swing at this speed (or faster), so I guess I'll have to go High/Medium AC at least. A medium AC setup would also free a jewlery prefix/es for +To Hit, when the helm/shield (one or both...) would be used for a resistance prefix. So then, if you were to use resistances in helm/shield... which one would you chose for this if you were me?.
2. Do I use a Fast Block shield or not?. I'm currently equipping one, and its been quite useful. I had the idea of using one in the future, but now, I'm unsure of its usefulness...
3. Fast swing sword/club?. I don't think so. They are useful for the warrior against those mages and the evading succubi, but I'll never swing as fast as a warrior. I thought I'd need something like a King's sword for the extra +To Hit, but after Rhydderch Hael's post I thought I'd pay more attention in the damage, and use golds for extra hit. But will I be able to hit the tougest enemies in Hell/Hell using only golds?. I think I'll need some extra help from the weapon/jewlery, won't it?. Which is the minimum extra +To Hit that I'd need from my weapon?. And if I use the jewlery for this, will I have enough even from 3 heavens?.
4. Wich would be more useful as suffixes in my jewlery, dex or str?. Or will you choose another?.
5. May I bring my MM stats here and ask for an evaluation?. I think I'm being too much timid and that I could go deeper through the dungeons. I'd like to know where is the deeper you would go if you were in my case. I don't have many items right now, so if you wish to eval me, you won't have many setups to think about... ;)
Thanks in advance.
First of all, thanks for all that good replies and advice about setups.
Eventually, I've decided that I'll equip the heaviest armor that (yet bought yet found) comes into my path... if I have the required strenght. If not, I'll keep it in my inventary, and will equip it ASAP, even if its affixes are worse than the previous one. I believe this is the closest to the ideals of the muscle mages; everybody must see that I can wear the heaviest armors, that I'm the strongest. This is a question MM proudness.
I've decided also that I won't use the Mana Shield (at least until after my first dot). I wasn't very convinced, anyway. I believe that muscle mages are allowed to use it after their first dot because at some point Charles Warren and Gyrefalcon noticed that the MM's HPs were not enough to deal with the strongest monsters in Hell. Charis states in his LAW guide that about 400 to 500 HPs are needed in Hell/Hell. Well... another thing that I'd like to ask these guys if I could.
Now that I'm talking about spells, Stone Curse can be casted on monsters after completing the game in Nigthmare, but Stone Cursing and then Statue Bashing doesn't sounds much Muscle Mage. If abused, MMs would only need resistances as prefixes in their jewlery, and they'd be MMs still. No, definitely, this doesn't sounds very strategic also. Maybe this was intended to reduce mobs of monsters (or against those who tend to evade?). Heck, at times I think these rules could use an... addenum?, clarifications?, tips for the novice MM?, MM faq?, actualization?, patch?.
There are other things strange/obscure also: two of the quests involve the use of an item of Corruption, but at least for me, these are scarce. I think I've only found two of these in all my Diablo career. Wouldn't it have been better something like...?: "Go waste all your mana casting spells against a dlvl 1 wall, and then proceed with these quests not using your mana at any time". Or did they wanted the increased difficulty of wasting a suffix (and maybe a prefix) with the item of Corruption?. Also, about those armor rules at the begining of a MM career I think it would be useful some clarifying advice like: "You start like the weakest Diablo char. Focuse on strength or soon you won't even be able to equip a studded leather armor or small shield. You won't do much damage with 15 strength, also".
Well, that's enough about the rules for now. Your posts made me think about the strategic side of playing as a MM. I had these ideas:
1. An +AC prefix in my armor. There is this nice article from Charis at realmsbeyond: "An analysis of Harmony and Fast Block". It shows that a low AC mage against the fastest attackers in Hell is dead meat. Even with Harmony (and I can't go Zen, because we MM will only use jewlery suffixes for +all +str +HPs +vit), the Sorc recovers in 0.25, and then... what to do?. My fastest options would be running or casting a spell, but both take an additional +0.40 sec. 0.65 sec in total, and dogs (for example...) swing at only 0.60 sec. Many monsters in Diablo can swing at this speed (or faster), so I guess I'll have to go High/Medium AC at least. A medium AC setup would also free a jewlery prefix/es for +To Hit, when the helm/shield (one or both...) would be used for a resistance prefix. So then, if you were to use resistances in helm/shield... which one would you chose for this if you were me?.
2. Do I use a Fast Block shield or not?. I'm currently equipping one, and its been quite useful. I had the idea of using one in the future, but now, I'm unsure of its usefulness...
3. Fast swing sword/club?. I don't think so. They are useful for the warrior against those mages and the evading succubi, but I'll never swing as fast as a warrior. I thought I'd need something like a King's sword for the extra +To Hit, but after Rhydderch Hael's post I thought I'd pay more attention in the damage, and use golds for extra hit. But will I be able to hit the tougest enemies in Hell/Hell using only golds?. I think I'll need some extra help from the weapon/jewlery, won't it?. Which is the minimum extra +To Hit that I'd need from my weapon?. And if I use the jewlery for this, will I have enough even from 3 heavens?.
4. Wich would be more useful as suffixes in my jewlery, dex or str?. Or will you choose another?.
5. May I bring my MM stats here and ask for an evaluation?. I think I'm being too much timid and that I could go deeper through the dungeons. I'd like to know where is the deeper you would go if you were in my case. I don't have many items right now, so if you wish to eval me, you won't have many setups to think about... ;)
Thanks in advance.
"La espada de la divina justicia no hiere prematura ni tardÃamente, aunque una u otra cosa parezca a los que la deseen o la temen".
Dante Alighieri
Dante Alighieri