HC Druid Summoner

[Heather]

I know well the adventures of Brother Francis becuase I have been following his progress on the AB:)

Cool.:)I won't bore you with repeating details then.

Just to let you know, Diablo isn't much easier in Nightmare, though he probably would be much more manageable with more +skills on my summons and fewer equipment restrictions on Francis letting him spend less time doing the "avoid the LBoD dance." I tried him twice last night, after getting a sol on my nightmare hellforge (which actually didn't annoy me as much as it otherwise might, since I needed a sol for my cleric paladin for an Insight stick for his merc).

The first time, I cleared the CS and started fighting him, and partway through the battle, the game lagged out abruptly. I saved and exited as soon as I realized I was lagged, and was very happy not to arrive in channel invisible or in robes. The game was gone, so I had to start again.:angry::rolleyes:

The second time I got as far as the chaos sanctuary before I realized I was too tired to continue, so I stopped for the night.

I hope for better luck in the future. The best of luck to you as well.

Heather

[Zingydex]

Just doublechecking here, since it seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle, how's your spirit looking? A low-level Oak Sage dies as soon as a monster looks at it the wrong way, which would cost your whole group a chunk of life - usually at an inopportune time. Not a good thing, even in SC.

[pakman]

Just doublechecking here, since it seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle, how's your spirit looking? A low-level Oak Sage dies as soon as a monster looks at it the wrong way, which would cost your whole group a chunk of life - usually at an inopportune time. Not a good thing, even in SC.

At the moment, my Sage is at level 5 and at slvl 6 with my +1 Druid Summoning ammy. Actually, the thing that seems to die the most is the PC, though, not surprising because it's only at slvl 1, but it's a hyper-aggressive vine. Keeps the bad guys away from me and it's great for scouting. I haven't dumped any points into HoW because I have been using a BA merc. I also have been working on maxing my Dires first, then I'll work on maxing the Bear, and lastly, the Spirit wolves.

[Zingydex]

The AR/AC bonus of the Spirit Wolf skill doesn't have anywhere near the impact you might think - you'll get more mileage out of hanging onto that Blessed Aim merc and keeping your character level ahead of the monsters' levels. Personally, I'd make sure OS is cranked to a double-digit level before I hit NM; sooner or later monsters will start drawing a bead on your spirit no matter which one you use, so it needs to be capable of taking a hit or two.

[pakman]

Just to let you know, Diablo isn't much easier in Nightmare, though he probably would be much more manageable with more +skills on my summons and fewer equipment restrictions on Francis letting him spend less time doing the "avoid the LBoD dance." I tried him twice last night, after getting a sol on my nightmare hellforge (which actually didn't annoy me as much as it otherwise might, since I needed a sol for my cleric paladin for an Insight stick for his merc).

The first time, I cleared the CS and started fighting him, and partway through the battle, the game lagged out abruptly. I saved and exited as soon as I realized I was lagged, and was very happy not to arrive in channel invisible or in robes. The game was gone, so I had to start again.:angry::rolleyes:

The second time I got as far as the chaos sanctuary before I realized I was too tired to continue, so I stopped for the night.

I hope for better luck in the future. The best of luck to you as well.

Heather

Well, last night I took on the Chaos Sanctuary. My oh my was that a fight to stay alive. Well, not so much for me as for my minions. I forgot how rough Oblivion Knights really are, too. Emilio and the Grizzly got swamped a few times with the OKs throwing BSpirits and that elemental missile they throw while the Venom Lords, Doom Knights and Doom Casters enclosed the vine, bear and merc. I had to make several tactical retreats to regroup. However, my merc didn't die in those situations as I had equipped him with a life steal stick that did decent damage. The OKs didn't even bother casting IM, instead they like to use Decrepify, which was really annoying more than dangerous. One thing I did notice, though, was that if I recast my bear he still had decrepify on him. Either that or the OKs cast it on him as soon as I summoned it again. After about an hour of clearing the CS, except for two rogue Doom Casters that flew out over the lava and couldn't be reached, it was time to hit the seals.

As always, if I die to anyone in the CS, it was going to be De Seis, so I popped him first. He kept casting Decrepify slowing everyone down, and I kept casting grizzly to speed everything back up. Emilio took out the Doom Knights while the bear kept De Seis occupied. He was taken out "easily" after his minions were dispatched. The second seal I popped was a dud because I couldn't remember which one spawned the venom lord pack, but he was next on my hit list. That pack didn't prove cahllenging at all, and was quickly put down like a rabid raccoon. Lastly was the Doom Caster pack that I pretty much just looked at funny and it decided to lay down on its own.

Well, now it was time to pop the last seal and let the Dog out. As a little joke to myself, I, for some unknown reason, decided to play "Who Let the Dogs Out?" in iTunes as I popped the last one. *rumble* *rumble* *rumble* *shake* *shake* *shake* Who let the Dog out? Me and I forgot the leash. I knew this was going to be a hard fight right from the start, it always is. As a reminder I have been full clearing everything on /players8 and Act bosses were no different (meaning no cheating the game back down to /players1). I _slowly_ crept towards the center of the CS casting the vine forward and seeing where it died. Once I got it to Diablo, I cast the bear up there and he was promptly frozen. BigD let out a fire ring and knocked out half the life of the Oak Sage without me knowing it. The Demon was happily LBOD'ing the bear and I was "happily" trying to maneuver Emilio to go start poking at him. The first time Emilio touched him, he took an LBOD to the face and was down for the count. I also noticed that my life was getting large chunks taken out of it as well. Then I noticed that the OS was gone, I had become so used to it just being there and me having 600+ hp and my merc having upwards of 1000. Well pretty much everything died in round 1 except for me and my ravens. I had set up a TP beforehand so I went and visited Tyrael, the local merc necromancer and paid 9158 gold for his revival. I also stocked up on healing potions and mana potions seeing as I was out of full rejuvs. Then next 20 minutes went something like this: go back, cast TP, find D, cast bear in front of him to distract while merc poked at him and I fed the merc healing potions. Each time Diablo would do that fire ring thing, my OS would lose half it's life, so I would recast it just to make sure. The PC kept the Dog green. I had to resurrect Emilio about 10 times during the course of this fight. Diablo kept the grizzly frozen and kept attacking it with the firestorm, LBOD, etc. If the Grizzly's life got into the yellow, I'd just recast it. Finally, Diablo was killed.

Diablo really didn't drop anything of note. I got a pair of Sigon's boots and the Skull Splitter unique pickaxe. I equipped that mainly for the 20% mana regen. He also dropped a couple uninteresting rares.

On to A5. Well the Bloody Foothills are as XP rich as ever, I visibly saw my XP bar jumping with the monsters my minions killed, which I haven't seen since A1 in the Blood Moor when I was whacking things with a club. Shenk was no problem, and I freed the barbies. That's about as far as I got.

I have one question, though. I have the runes for a Spirit RW sword. I am currently in the market for a 4 socket broadsword or longsword seeing as the first 4 socket shield available is a monarch with a STR req of 156 (I only have 80 and the only way it's going to get higher is from items). What are the chances of me going back to A2 or A3, buying a normal broadsword, bringing it to Larzuk, and getting the full four sockets in it? Does the number of sockets received depend on clvl?

[Heather]

Well done on surviving one of the toughest fights in the game!

I have one question, though. I have the runes for a Spirit RW sword. I am currently in the market for a 4 socket broadsword or longsword seeing as the first 4 socket shield available is a monarch with a STR req of 156 (I only have 80 and the only way it's going to get higher is from items). What are the chances of me going back to A2 or A3, buying a normal broadsword, bringing it to Larzuk, and getting the full four sockets in it? Does the number of sockets received depend on clvl?

The number of sockets depends on the ilvl of the item you give him, and I don't have the information in front of me but I don't think you can get a four socket broadsword until nightmare. I think the magic ilvl number is something like 40.

Heather

[mikeandroe]

What are the chances of me going back to A2 or A3, buying a normal broadsword, bringing it to Larzuk, and getting the full four sockets in it? Does the number of sockets received depend on clvl?

The number of sockets depends on ilvl, and the ilvl of a shopped item depends on clvl. (ilvl = clvl + 5 for shopping)

Broad Swords have a max socket config of 3/4/4, meaning from ilvl 1-25 the max is 3, from ilvl 26-40 the max is 4, and from ilvl 41 and up the max is also 4.

<strike>So, you'll want a Broad Sword of ilvl 26 or greater, which means you want to shop A1 and/or A2 normal when you're at or above clvl 21. I'm assuming you are considering you're in A4.</strike>

Also note that once you're above clvl 19, you can no longer buy white or grey items in A3 Normal and forward. However, you can always buy white or grey items in A1 or A2 normal, no matter what your clvl.

Finally, good job curbing that dog!! IMHO, normal D is the second standard I use in judging my own builds (Duriel being the first). Many times I have rolled through the CS only to have D bring me to a screeching halt, and send me back scurrying for levels. Glad to see you were able to weather his storm, and take him down with perserverance.



/edit: disregard the bad info given above. Apologies for the confusion.

[Doc]

4 socket broadswords and crystal swords drop in nightmare.

DO NOT shop a plain broadsword at any level in normal and bring it to Larzuk. You will only get three sockets, because that is the max sockets of any item spawned in normal.

The good news is, four socket swords start dropping on the nightmare Blood Moor. No need to waste a socket quest.

[mikeandroe]

I'd hate to think I'm giving out bad info here, but....

As far as I know, when you bring an item to Larzuk the only factor used to detirmine how many sockets it will get is it's ilvl.

So what makes an ilvl 26 sword purchased from an A1 or A2 normal vendor different?

[Munkay]

I'd hate to think I'm giving out bad info here, but....

As far as I know, when you bring an item to Larzuk the only factor used to detirmine how many sockets it will get is it's ilvl.

So what makes an ilvl 26 sword purchased from an A1 or A2 normal vendor different?

Sounds like its time for some testing!:)

I'm on it.

[librarian]

Heiho,

no need for testing ^^
Vendors in Norm Act1 can only sell up to iLvl12, regardless of cLvl.
Vendors in Norm Act2 can only sell up to iLvl20, regardless of cLvl.
From Act3 on it'll be difficult to gain a plain sword, because the vendors sell magical only stuff, since from iLvl25 upwards there's magicals only. But you'll need an iLvl26 sword to get four sockets, so even if you rush through the acts, you must be cLvl21 to get an iLvl26 item (Act3 vendors sell up to iLvl28).
You may see some plain items even in act3, but not when you're cLvl21.

[Zyr]

So what makes an ilvl 26 sword purchased from an A1 or A2 normal vendor different?

The Normal vendors have ilvl caps; you'll never buy a white item > ilvl 20 from any of them.

A four socket sword will never drop in Normal, even if its ilvl is high enough. White swords of ilvl >= 26 can drop in Normal, and Larzuk will give them four sockets. I'd link to the Tankazon Resource area level table, but Marduke seems to be down right now (it's an epidemic!:o).

I frequently find four socket Long Swords in NM Act I. Four socket Broad Swords are less common, but still occur often enough for me that I prefer to save Larzuk's talents for less common items. However, a Spirit sword is IMO the best possible weapon for a Summoner Druid, so I would not argue against using a socket quest reward to obtain one as early as possible.

[Munkay]

Sounds like its time for some testing!:)

I'm on it.

After some testing I came to some rather unexpected results.

The ilevel of items is indeed determined by the character level + 5: my level 67 Nightmare Act 5 character could purchase ilevel 72 items; my level 75 act 2 Hell character could purchase ilevel 80 items; my level 22 character in act 3 normal could purchase level 27 items.

But, on normal mode there seems to be a vendor ilevel cap. In act 2 it's ilevel 20. In act 3 it's ilevel 28. In act 5 it's ilevel 45. So if the character's level + 5 is greater than the vendor cap, the vendor will only display ilevel items to their natural cap.

This is confirmed by taking a level 52 necromancer and purchasing a broad sword in Act 2. When it was socketed the item returned with only 3 sockets, not four. It appears the cap does in fact exist.

Not what I was expecting, but very interesting to find out.

I've made backups of my save character files, so my actual quests are all intact. In other words, if there are anymore questions/testing anyone would like to be done I'm more than willing to check it out (socketing a normal broadsword in nightmare Larzuk, etc).

Cheers,

Munk

PS. Using PlugY from the folks over at The Phrozen Keep, I enabled ilevel item display. From there I double checked the displayed numbers by running it through Larzuk's socket quest.

Edit: Awesome, thanks for the confirmation Librarian:) In the future I'll be sure to reload the page before posting!

[mikeandroe]

no need for testing ^^
Vendors in Norm Act1 can only sell up to iLvl12, regardless of cLvl.
Vendors in Norm Act2 can only sell up to iLvl20, regardless of cLvl.

The Normal vendors have ilvl caps; you'll never buy a white item > ilvl 20 from any of them.

Ah, thank you Librarian and Zyr (come to think of it..thanks again to Zyr, because I believe he previously explained this to me in another thread over on the Basin concerning Staves)

Silly Vendor ilvl caps.

Even Sillier me for
1) forgetting that Zyr had explained this to me
2) not clicking on the "how does this work" link on the Shopping Calculator where it clearly states the ilvl caps of the Normal Vendors.

Edited bad info out of original thread.

Oh, and sorry for making you test unnecessarily Munkay.

[Munkay]

Oh, and sorry for making you test unnecessarily Munkay.

No problem. I like getting my hands dirty :)

[Zingydex]

Finally, good job curbing that dog!! IMHO, normal D is the second standard I use in judging my own builds (Duriel being the first). Many times I have rolled through the CS only to have D bring me to a screeching halt, and send me back scurrying for levels. Glad to see you were able to weather his storm, and take him down with perserverance.

Funny, I've always found big D to offer little challenge relative to the battle to clear the CS, unless I'm playing a minion-based character (in which case my experience is more in line with yours).

[Munkay]

Funny, I've always found big D to offer little challenge relative to the battle to clear the CS, unless I'm playing a minion-based character (in which case my experience is more in line with yours).

Whether it's Diablo himself or the CS that proves to be the most troublesome depends highly on the build. Melee characters will generally have a harder time with Diablo, since they are more susceptible to being hit by chainlightening, frozen hand, or fisure style fire. A ranged build has more freedom to dodge his attacks, and the only definite hit is the ring of fire which can be easily offset by a few reds.

Chaos Sanctuary favors the character with better crowd control. Whether this be provided by the player themselves (alert methodical players can walk melee characters through without too much fuss), or the build (a la amazon using decoy for example). Personally I play a very fast and hard pushing style of Diablo II, but give the due pause that is needed in CS and subsequently it's not too big of a deal. Resists of course factor into the "slow and methodical" part.

With all of that said, if you are a ranged character that relies on minions, I think its pretty clear cut. Minions give good crowd control, making CS occasionally tough but nothing compared to Diablo. Diablo is probably the biggest PITA for any summoner I've ever played (Nec or Dru), for the above mentioned problem with melee damage.

Cheers,

Munk

[librarian]

Heiho,

Melee characters will generally have a harder time with Diablo, since they are more susceptible to being hit by chainlightening, frozen hand, or fisure style fire. A ranged build has more freedom to dodge his attacks, and the only definite hit is the ring of fire which can be easily offset by a few reds.

it's some kind of funny, my experience is quite contrary :-)
While melee attackers are able to leech comparably good here they won't suffer bad breath (this pink lighning/physical breeze) or bad smell from feet (this spreading fireblaze wossname), since there is a gap they can use.

Of course you're right when it comes to melee pets or, indeed, hirelings.

[Munkay]

Heiho,
it's some kind of funny, my experience is quite contrary :-)
While melee attackers are able to leech comparably good here they won't suffer bad breath (this pink lighning/physical breeze) or bad smell from feet (this spreading fireblaze wossname), since there is a gap they can use.

Of course you're right when it comes to melee pets or, indeed, hirelings.

Good point to bring up Librarian:)

I think I've had a few too many bad experiences with Hardcore characters early in my Diablo 2 years. A very low AR value, plus some terribly resists made Diablo quite menacing. Of course I've learned a lot since then, but I think the memory of being inexperienced and trying to tackle Diablo with a level 27 untwinked zealot with 15, 27, 18, 08 resists and 5% life leech - I can still remember cursing up a storm.

Cheers,

Munk

[pakman]

So it's been a while since I last posted an upate, so here it is. Not much has happened except that I beat Normal, got my Spirit sword, max resists in Normal and about 50% each resist in NM. I have been using the wolves but just recently switched to the grizzly because I just be Andariel a few days ago and replaced the BA merc with a Might merc.

So there you have it, short and sweet:)