08-22-2011, 06:46 AM
233 AC at level 30 on hell difficulty is fairly effective against lava maw, and somewhat helpful against maelstorm and cave vipers. Against the big boys it will do nothing at all. But lava maw and maelstorm are good enemies to have protection against since they can attack so fast and threaten stunlock.
-15 DFE is not going to prevent you from getting stunned in hell/hell at level 30, so the real question is whether it will allow you to take an extra hit without dying. In that regard, the comparison against extra hitpoints or mana is quite relevant.
I feel like rogues can be the most awkward class for jumping straight to hell/hell. It is hard to get enough damage to stun, hard to get effective AC with bow in hand, and hard to get a really big pool of either life or mana. Usually at that stage I would ignore the AC issue and use armor and hat to max resistances and add to stats.
But as you know, it really just comes down to how many monsters you wake up. If you keep that under control then you will be fine with whatever equipment.
-15 DFE is not going to prevent you from getting stunned in hell/hell at level 30, so the real question is whether it will allow you to take an extra hit without dying. In that regard, the comparison against extra hitpoints or mana is quite relevant.
I feel like rogues can be the most awkward class for jumping straight to hell/hell. It is hard to get enough damage to stun, hard to get effective AC with bow in hand, and hard to get a really big pool of either life or mana. Usually at that stage I would ignore the AC issue and use armor and hat to max resistances and add to stats.
But as you know, it really just comes down to how many monsters you wake up. If you keep that under control then you will be fine with whatever equipment.