Weapon dilenma

[Raito]

Hi there!:)

This is my first time playing Diablo 1(with Hellfire add-on) and I can't believe I kept forgetting to pick up this game everytime I wanted to buy it.

Anyways, I'm playing as a warrior, am in level 6(I think... or was that level 7?) and have these 2 weapons:

Ivory Sword of brilliance

Damage: 4 - 12, Resist magic: + 36%, + 11% to magic. When I equip this, my damage is around 12 to 20.

I'm using it together with this Crimson Shield of the Eagle, Armour : 6, Resist Fire: +24% Hit Points: +24

And then, there's this crystalline axe I've got: damage: 6 - 17,+ 218% damage. So, when I equip it: damage is around 27 - 62.

However nice the axe is, I seem to have problems hitting the monsters at times. My warrior simply does not nothing when I click on the monster. But on the other hand, it's such a pity to sell off the axe and I'm running out of inventory space.

I also see weapons with "Fast Attack" in Griswold's shop. However, I'm not really sure how such a weapon would measure up against a weapon which does more damage.

Anyone can give some advice on which weapon I should keep?:unsure:Also, how long do items stay on the ground before they disappear?


Thank you!:D

[Munkay]

Congratulations on finding an incredible game! You'll find a lot of answers here at the lounge, as well as some legit players if you wander onto battle.net.

I personally am rusty with my Diablo 1 knowledge, so I'll let a much more competent poster answer your questions. In the meantime, be sure to browse some old posts and take full advantage of the search button:)

Cheers,

Munk

[Raito]

Congratulations on finding an incredible game! You'll find a lot of answers here at the lounge, as well as some legit players if you wander onto battle.net.

I personally am rusty with my Diablo 1 knowledge, so I'll let a much more competent poster answer your questions. In the meantime, be sure to browse some old posts and take full advantage of the search button:)

Cheers,

Munk

Mehz... battle.net? Mm I guess I'd probably pass on that for now as I've been incredibly busy. Thank you for the recommendation, though.:)

Yep, I'm pulling up threads both old and new. Hopefully, I can find some advice.:)


Thanks!:)
Yuri

[LennyLen]

However nice the axe is, I seem to have problems hitting the monsters at times.

Your real problem may not be what weapon to use. It is a common mistake for first time Warrior players to put the majority (or all) of their level-up points into strength. What is more important is Dexterity, as this increases your chance of hitting your opponent. As you have seen, if you can't hit the enemy, it doesn't matter how much damage you can do.

I'm not a Warrior player, so I'll leave it to someone else to tell you how to distribute points.

Now, as for the two weapons... The ivory sword of brilliance offers you nothing really, except for the fact that it can be wielded with a shield. If the monsters are having difficulty hitting you when you are using the axe, then use that. If they are hitting quite often however, you should probably use the sword/shield combo.

(This is assuming you can acually hit the enemy however)

[Raito]

Your real problem may not be what weapon to use. It is a common mistake for first time Warrior players to put the majority (or all) of their level-up points into strength. What is more important is Dexterity, as this increases your chance of hitting your opponent. As you have seen, if you can't hit the enemy, it doesn't matter how much damage you can do.

I'm not a Warrior player, so I'll leave it to someone else to tell you how to distribute points.

Now, as for the two weapons... The ivory sword of brilliance offers you nothing really, except for the fact that it can be wielded with a shield. If the monsters are having difficulty hitting you when you are using the axe, then use that. If they are hitting quite often however, you should probably use the sword/shield combo.

(This is assuming you can acually hit the enemy however)

Ahhh... thank you.:) Hmmm... my warrior has 52 base strength and 59 strength after modifiers, and dexterity 46 base and 53 dex after modifier.

I guess you are right and perhaps I should keep on the lookout for one-handed weapons that may have dex modifier too.

Yep, I seem to be hitting the enemy quite often with the axe, though it may not work so well against a gargoyle. Only thing is, I wonder why my warrior doesn't attack at times when I hold down the shift key and target the monster. Oh well...

[Nystul]

When your warrior doesn't swing, does this happen at the same time you get hit by monsters? If so, it is because he is being stunned. When you get stunned in the middle of an action, you have to start that action over again.

The main problem with using an axe is that you can't use a shield for protection. Not only does a shield increase your armor class, but it also gives you a chance of blocking attacks. Normally, this extra protection is worth a lot more than the slight damage boost you would get from an axe. But in your case, the axe does a ton more damage than your sword, so it is a trickier call. Another thing to keep in mind is that swords do 50% more total damage (weapon damage plus your character's damage from strength and level) against animals. Enemies like gargoyles, rhinos, spitting dogs, etc. are all animals, so in the catacombs and caves area, a sword often does more damage than what is listed.

Weapons of "speed" and "haste" can be very useful at times. If we are talking about a one-handed weapon, they decrease your attack time from 9 frames to 7. So you can think of this as if it increases your total damage by about 28%, since you will be swinging that much faster. In addition to doing more damage per second, the faster swings help you to avoid that situation where you get stunned in the middle of a swing and have to start over. By the way, warriors swing axes at 10 frames, so you can think of a regular sword as being about 11% faster than a regular axe.

Another caveat is that just like enemies can stun you, you can stun them. This requires you do a certain amount of damage in one swing, so this is a case where that big axe would pay off, and a sword of haste might not do enough.

[Merlinios]

And lest we forget, Hasted (or Swifted) swords are actually necessary to stunlock certain enemies (assuming you can do enough damage). That sword is a pretty nice find for a level seven, but it doesn't offer you a heck of a lot. Typically, the only spell you really use (non-variant, non goofing around) before you get some better equipment and tactics is Healing. So any Magic bonus you have is basically irrelevant unless if ramps up your mana ball enough to cast that an extra time.

Dexterity is extremely important. Not only does it factor in your to-hit, it also allows you to block. Higher dexterity (up to a point) will give you a better and better chance to block. This is amazing for a warrior, as he blocks, I believe, three times as fast as his normal hit-recovery sequence. What this means in plain English is you get to go back to swinging faster AND you didn't take damage.

Another thing to consider here is most people talk about the end-game when they discuss non-variant Diablo, because the first few levels pass quite rapidly. Higher level Warriors actually have the majority of their damage from an off-weapon source (some combination of level and strength--I don't know the formula offhand. Don't take this as "pump strength", because the bonus doesn't come into play until you hit the higher levels anyway.), so a one-hander with a shield is generally considered much better. By the same token, haste is much better than damage at higher levels.

At lower levels, you've got a bit of a quandary. That axe will do quite a bit more damage percentagewise, so that's really a judgment call. The other thing you may want to do is keep both and switch them out as required. When I play Ironman with a Warrior, I frequently keep both a mace-class weapon and a sword-class weapon until the caves, because maces are MUCH more efficient against undead, and swords are MUCH more efficient against animals.

Assuming your playtime is not a factor, here's what I believe it boils down to: Does the axe kill enemies at an increased rate as compared to the sword? (Even if it does more damage, you may still be killing faster with the sword because A. the sword swings slightly faster and B. Perhaps you kill in the same number of hits even though the axe has higher damage.) If so, does it kill them fast enough that you take less damage when wearing the axe than when wearing a shield? (because of either armor class, shield bonuses, or blocking)

But for all that, I'm no Warrior expert. Perhaps when you start up some mages (clothed or not) I'll be a bit more help.

--me

[the Langolier]

Only thing is, I wonder why my warrior doesn't attack at times when I hold down the shift key and target the monster. Oh well...

Perhaps you've noticed one click = one attack, unlike Diablo II?

Items will stay on the ground until you leave the game. In single player, whenever you choose "save game", everything on the ground is also saved and will continue to be there as long as you load that game. If you choose new game instead of loading a previous save, everything other than what is on your character will be gone. It works the same in multiplayer, except that a multiplayer character must always create a new game so items on the ground will never be saved from game to game for them.

[Sekel]

Enemies like gargoyles, rhinos, spitting dogs, etc. are all animals, so in the catacombs and caves area, a sword often does more damage than what is listed.

Well, right earlier mentioned Gargoyles are Demons. But they bite hard so I would choose Sword / Shieldcombo to battle them anytime - unless I would have very good axe and crappy sword.
Another advantage of using Sword and Shield is that you can get 1 more prefix and sufix than with two handed weapon. +%Rezist / +Life is good combo on shield Raito. In time you will find or buy better one so you can replace your current shield.

Ivory Sword of Briliance is really weak weapon to battle monsters. But you can use it for reading books until youll find something better. In beginning you can use almost whatever weapon without problem. Later in game there are some magic properties which help you much more than other.
Like prefixes which increases both +% To Hit and +% DMG, or just +% ToHit and suffixes increasing swing speed, or worse but still usable (in normal difficulty Single Player) + All Atributes, + Dexterity or Strenght or +% leaching (mana leeching with good amount of mana is very nice and usable no matter about difficulty. But some Speed or Haste weapon is "needed" for stunlocking Mages and fighting tough battles)

[Nystul]

Well, right earlier mentioned Gargoyles are Demons.

Woops. I don't think I've hit a Gargoyle with a club in all these years...

It took me a good 2 years to figure out that a horned demon was not a demon and now this.