Most powerful weapons

[Sir Kongol]

What is the most powerful weapon you have found? So far the best one I have got is The sword of the heavens Damage 10-21, Durability 50, Required strength 70, +15 to all attributes. The way I have set up my sorcerror (probably spelled that wrong) I can do 37-48 damage with it. I look forward to your replies. B)

[LemmingofGlory]

Bloodslayer or Civerb's Cudgel. Both weapons triple character damage vs Demons. Extremely potent in the hands of a Warrior, though "Gold" jewelry is required for ToHit. Stack on the potential for a critical hit and the damage gets scary.

Jester's weapons in Hellfire have potential for massive damage, particularly if combined with Peril suffix. Even so, I've not found myself fond the affix. The damage is much too fickle for my liking.

When it comes to utility, it's hard to beat a KSoH. My "nicest" to date was a broad sword base. (Also have a Two-Handed base, but ick.) Don't recall exact stats.

[o: *LEMMING* :o]

[Draconis]

I've found a Kings Broad Axe of Haste before, which gave a fair bit of damage..but yeah, my favourite is my Kings bastard sword of haste. It gives my warrior about 202 max damage :)

[Nystul]

That may be an unanswerable question for many of us. The most powerful weapon for one character is not the most powerful for another, because of differences in playing style. Powerful weapons are relatively common for those who have been playing for years, so I'd dare to say that many of us have found nearly all of the "best" weapons. But to single out one of those is pretty much impossible.

If I had to pick a single weapon to use with any class to make a powerful character, I'd probably end up choosing the Dreamflange. Spell power is an important aspect of any "uber" character in Diablo, and Dreamflange allows characters to take full advantage of those powers. All of my main characters kept one, if only for reading books. If your goal is to actually hit monsters with your weapon, however, Dreamflange is no longer such a good choice :)

[--Pete]

Hi,

What is the most powerful weapon you have found?

That question has no answer. It all depends on the definition of "powerful". A weapon that can do lots of damage may be useless because the character wielding it can't hit squat. Or it may be useless because the character doesn't have enough resists to keep from staying in perpetual stun-lock from magic attacks. Or it might be useless because the character doesn't have enough armor class to avoid being hit all the time and doesn't have the dexterity to block. And, finally (although others might add more insights), a weapon may do lots of damage and be so slow as to be useless because anything you try to hit with it just walks away. So, "most powerful weapon" is a meaningless phrase. And that's just for a warrior -- add the rogue and mage into the equation and it becomes even less meaningful.

Now, given that a warrior does plenty of damage bare handed, but lacks the ability to hit most mobs, the first thing one usually looks for in a weapon is ToHit% adders. Because of the way things worked out (some claim intentionally, I claim through sloppiness), the King's prefix is way low level compared to the others in its series. So a King's Sword of anything is almost a given for top end equipment. Since the two handed weapons do very little additional damage compared to the one handed weapons, giving up a shield is not worth it. That's giving up two slots for magic enhancements and giving up blocking. And a blunt is not that good since it does half damage against animals (which includes Lava Maws). So any one handed sword (from dagger to bastard) with a King's prefix is good. For suffix, there are some trade offs. Speed and Haste are nice since they increases the damage per unit time and increases the ability to keep enemies in stun lock. Because Speed is as fast as Haste and is cheaper to repair, some people prefer Speed, though the actual difference is minor in a game where you end up throwing money away. Some people like Bat or Vampires for the mana stealing abilities which allow extended telekill. Others like Leech and Blood for the life stealing, but really pots are more than adequate for that.

What for sure is not desired by many is a two handed sword that doesn't add anything useful.

And, anyone who is using a sword to do damage with a mage is either an expert player building a Muscle Mage or clueless. But an expert player wouldn't post about a crap sword.

--Pete

[Sir Kongol]

Just so there is no confusion I am trying to build a power mage and second this is th first time i have dusted off my copy of D1 in years besides I only use a weapon in the first few dlvls and against the warlord of blood. By the way I have had to re-install the game and so that is the best weapon I have found since re-instalation. Right now my mage has plenty of dexterity, enough to give me 153% to hit and i have no problems regarding being put in stunlock, fire resist max, magic resist 48, lightning resist 48.

[LemmingofGlory]

Just so there is no confusion I am trying to build a power mage

Allow me to introduce you to our jargon:
Tank Mage Eventually attains high enough AC for Hell/Hell.
Artillery Mage Favors +Spells over AC. Usually ends up wearing Naj, Thinking Cap, and either Dreamflange or an Arch-Angel staff.

Tank and "Arty" are the most common mage styles.

Muscle Mage "Variant" (gist): A mage who plays like a warrior. Very limited use of spells in combat. Extremely uncommon, it tends to be played by people who know what they're doing -- and know they'll be beating their head against the wall.

Which category most closely represents your mage?

and second this is th first time i have dusted off my copy of D1 in years besides I only use a weapon in the first few dlvls and against the warlord of blood. By the way I have had to re-install the game and so that is the best weapon I have found since re-instalation.

Irrelevant defensiveness, but it gives us some insight. And it reaffirms Pete's assertion. Pete's very blunt but quite accurate, and "clueless" seems an accurate descriptor when it comes to the way you've built your mage.

Easier ways to kill the Warlord of Blood:
Stone Curse Spell or Scroll. Attacks automatically hit Stone Cursed enemies. SC him and wail away.
Golem It's relatively uncommon for mages to know this by dlvl 13, but if you do (or if you have a scroll), Golem can help dispatch the Warlord.

Right now my mage has plenty of dexterity, enough to give me 153% to hit

Mages can neglect Dexterity until... forever. It's just not a statistic your average mage ever needs. Strength can similarly be neglected, though pumping it every so often won't do any harm. Vitality is only interesting because of a Mana Shield bug. And this leaves Magic, which increases both your base mana and your capacity to read stronger spells (and higher spell levels).

By the way, you'll want to avoid Fascinating, Ornate, and Sacred Shrines. Don't touch Goat Shrines or Cauldrons, either. These will wreck your base mana.

[o: *LEMMING* :o]

[Sir Kongol]

Like I said it's been a few years since I played D1. I like to build my mages so that they are strong with weapons and magic. I have maxed out strength and am close to doing so with dex. I am most concerned with maxing out magic at this point though since I enjoy using Mana Shield. I mainly use spells but depending on my mood I might just want to start hacking away at demons instead of blastin'em with CL or Fireball.

[Sir Kongol]

By the way I use stone curse on warlord of blood Thats why I said i use my weapon for him. I cast then hack away. And I am a very defensive person. I guess my mage is a cross between a muscle mage and a tank mage.

[Sir Kongol]

I mean tank and artillery mage. I just thought of something Isn't there a way to get The arch angel's staff of appocalypse?

[--Pete]

Hi,

Of course, if you prefer to talk to yourself, that's your choice. One not much different than your method for building mages.

Now, if all you are interested in doing is playing single player (and, I would guess, in normal) then how you build your characters doesn't matter, they'll all be overpowered anyway. If you want to try your hand at harder difficulties, you might just play multi-player solo where how you build your characters does make a small difference. Of course, you could also just try some variants and make the game a real challenge.

But in any case, come off your pedestal. Your initial post is clearly the work of a clueless newbie. Claiming to have a lot of previous knowledge of the game doesn't really help your case. Everybody starts out ignorant, no problem there, no need to explain or apologize. But if you have experience and still remain ignorant, then that is an indication of something -- I'll leave it to you to figure out what.

--Pete

[Nomad25055]

Poor kid oh well I agree with lemming you are quite blunt. I myself prefer artillery mages how bout' you pete?

[Nomad25055]

Hey Lemming could you ellaborate on the mana shield bug I have not heard anything about that one.

Nomad25055 B)

[Selby]

Mana shield bug: you evade stunning when your max HP (I believe) is less than the total damage you receive. The game checks your current\max HP versus what you were hit with. Without mana shield the game kills you instantly, and so the game doesn't do the stun routine. But with mana shield the game has already done the "dead" check and checks for mana shield right afterwards. So you die (avoiding stun) but aren't actually dead because of mana shield. Basically if the programmers had put the mana shield check at the beginning of the routine instead of the end of the routine, it would never have occurred.

I thought this was fixed in version 1.05 or 1.07, but I could be totally wrong since it has been a long time and I never exploited the bug anyway.

Selby

[LemmingofGlory]

To this day you'll see mages running around who look like they've had a few too many one-night-stands with BDs.

[o: *LEMMING* :o]

[--Pete]

Hi,

But most of my mages have either been naked or beyond naked.

--Pete

[Nomad25055]

Hi,

Here's a stupid question for you, Is there such a thing as a Messerschmidts reaver with a faster swing speed? For example Messerschmidts Reaver of Haste? That would at least compensate for the fact that it has no plus ToHit%. Or maybe a Messy with a ToHit bonus? I would sacrifice speed for Tohit%. And what could Draconis have been wearing to get that much damage from a KSoH?

Nomad25055 :huh:

[Draconis]

Unique items are just that. There are only one set of modifications on the weapons. Therefor, you cannot get a Messerschmidts Reaver of Haste, or any unique with a prefix.
If you were looking for a nice axe though, i'd suggest a nice kings axe of haste/speed. I know its *possible* for the higher axes to spawn it, but the best i've found at griswold is a kings broad axe of speed. That was a hefty price too :)

To get that kind of damage, I have a level 50 warrior, about 300+ strength, and that nice sword. Trust me, it all adds up :) Not to mention he has 50% critical hit, so he can get up to 400 damage in a shot if lucky.

[Occhidiangela]

Level 50. That takes a lot of time and powerleveling.

I never got past 38 before I tried another character, and then went with "3@30 or nothing" until I stopped playing the game.

[Rhydderch Hael]

Welcome Sir K. It's not often we get someone who is truly at the begining of the Diablo experience, as well -evidenced by those who have spoken before me. Mind you, the Lurker Lounge is filled with old hands at this version of the game, and I mean old hands who have crunched the numbers until it is ingrained in their dreams.

A Sword of the Heavens has a pretty good suffix. The "of Heavens" may be sought for those who want a nice overall boost that covers a lot of fields-- without truly excelling in any one aspect. For a Muscle Mage, the "of Heavens" is pretty decent. Gives you a boost to both Strength and Dexterity, stuff you'd need as a mage relying on melee combat.

But take heed that the best melee weapons, and the best magical items overall, are what I call "double blue": they contain both a prefix and a suffix that add attributes. A King's Sword is nice, as is a Sword of the Heavens. But a King's Sword of the Heavens is what rocks.

Base item attributes for weapons aren't the most important thing in the world-- the boosters from the magical prefix/suffix will more or less make or break a "good" weapon. For example, a King's Sword of Vampires (KSoV) that I have on my Warrior has a weaker average damage than a King's Club of Carnage (KCoC) that this same Warrior carries around. The KSoV is a Broad Sword, damage base of 4-12. The KCoC is a Spiked Club, damage base of 3-6. But the attributes on the club are stronger than that on the sword, so the "weaker" club in fact delivers a minimum damage that is far larger than the sword, which factors into the average damage rating.

The base values of Armor items, on the other hand, must be looked at closely. For example, the Breast Plate has much less Armor Class rating than a Splint Mail, even though the Breast Plate is considered "better protection". I have seen side-by-side comparisons of Awesome Plate and Saintly Plate armors where the "superior" attributes of the Awesome Plate only added an extra 3 or 4 points of AC in comparision to the "weaker" armor granted by the Saintly Plate. Why? The Saintly Plate's base AC was much higher than the Awesome Plate's base AC.

These are but a few of the subtle nuances one must understand about the game. I hope you'll be able to pick up much more in the future.