Magic Finding

[Zzeno]

Good morning to you all!

Having played several characters already whom have died either in Act 3 of Normal difficulty or to a PK'er in a Baal game, I have decided to start a Magic Find character that is not gear dependant and doesn't need any +skills to be effective against Baal and Mephisto or any other Act Boss or Unique monster.

I am going to list equipment that I do not have but I plan to use them when I eventually find them. Though, I do not consider them "godly" items but they all have "Better Chance of Getting Magic Items" modification on them, except for Mara's Kaleidoscope.

Slot1: Blade Of Ali Baba
Slot2: Blade Of Ali Baba (or Rhyme Rune Word Shield)
Helm: Immortal King's Will (or Artisan's Tiara of Luck)
Amulet: Mara's Kaleidoscope
Armor: Skullder's Ire
Ring: Nagelring
Belt: Goldwrap
Ring: Nagelring
Gloves: Chance Guards
Boots: War Traveler

Personally, I believe the Barbarian is the most suited to Magic Find because, though he does not have the killing speed of a Sorceress nor Hammerdin for that matter, he does have passives that increase his resistances and Warcries that increase all his skills by one such as Battle Command and a Warcry that stuns monsters and deals good damage when synergized such as War Cry.

Now my question is, which character can use the above equipment with only the weapon slots available for switching between fights without too much difficulty?

[Occhidiangela]

Zzeno:

You want a character built to MF "that is not gear dependant and doesn't need any +skills to be effective against Baal and Mephisto or any other Act Boss or Unique monster."

You then list equpment.

???? I am confused. What is it you are trying to achieve?

Magic find is an inherently equipment dependent task, due to + % magic find being solely available on equipment. One of the favorite items that apparently has fallen from favor is the Tarnhelm. Socketed with a perfect Topaz, and with +1 skill to any class, it can get up up to 74% magic find.

Your comment on the Barbarian is correct. The Barbarian has a Warcry skill called "Find Item" that he can used on every slain non exploding boss and non exploding Champions. The process was called "horking" at one time, due to the sound a Barbarian makes when executing that Warcry.

The keys to successful magic find, other than surviving in HC and a high MF count (250-300 I heard was where diminishing returns started to come in) are killing rate, and choosing item hunting grounds. Weapon switching to the item with maxed magic find, just before the sliver of life changes to 0, is a matter of timing. In HC, be my guest with your risk management.

A Tip. Max out the MF on your Merc. His adds to yours. (Three socketed Topaz Crown in handy there.) Let him/Her make all killing blows. This also lets exploding bosses not kill you in hell when the CE/LE/FE explosions roll a critical.

Another Tip: There are some level 85 areas in early acts. Pure Fire Sorceress can run the Hell Crypt and Mosoleum ad infinitum due to there being Lightning Immunes there. A Fire and Cold Sorceress can have good luck in "The Pit" in Hell Tamoe Highlands. Second level has a gold chest, and usually has three little boss packs.

The temples in Upper Kurast, the Causeway, and Kurast Bizarre are all lvl 85 hunting areas in Hell Diff.

Killing speed varies with immunities in an area. I'd run Diablo Hell with a CS Amazon if it wasn't such a pain

YMMV. Enjoy.

Occhi

[GriffonSpade]

Good morning to you all!

Having played several characters already whom have died either in Act 3 of Normal difficulty or to a PK'er in a Baal game, I have decided to start a Magic Find character that is not gear dependant and doesn't need any +skills to be effective against Baal and Mephisto or any other Act Boss or Unique monster.

I am going to list equipment that I do not have but I plan to use them when I eventually find them. Though, I do not consider them "godly" items but they all have "Better Chance of Getting Magic Items" modification on them, except for Mara's Kaleidoscope.

Slot1: Blade Of Ali Baba
Slot2: Blade Of Ali Baba (or Rhyme Rune Word Shield)
Helm: Immortal King's Will (or Artisan's Tiara of Luck)
Amulet: Mara's Kaleidoscope
Armor: Skullder's Ire
Ring: Nagelring
Belt: Goldwrap
Ring: Nagelring
Gloves: Chance Guards
Boots: War Traveler

Personally, I believe the Barbarian is the most suited to Magic Find because, though he does not have the killing speed of a Sorceress nor Hammerdin for that matter, he does have passives that increase his resistances and Warcries that increase all his skills by one such as Battle Command and a Warcry that stuns monsters and deals good damage when synergized such as War Cry.

Now my question is, which character can use the above equipment with only the weapon slots available for switching between fights without too much difficulty?
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OK, well I think you might be going overboard on the magic find itself. I don't think you get too much actual finding after 300 or 400 compared to how much slower you kill things.
If you're on hardcore this is especially true, as dying isn't something you can just shrug off as a little experience gone and move on.
Also, nightmare or hell?
Warcry barbarians also take a great deal of mana(9+slvl mana per shot), very similar to a nova sorceress, only with physical damage and stun(aka nova sorc on crack).
Unfortunately, even with battle orders you will have massive mana problems unless you have a steady stream of rejuvinations, because mana potions give very few points to a barbarian.
However, if you do go this route, max battle orders, 2 spirit broadswords, an act 2 mercenary with insight(with holy freeze aura), and frostburn gauntlets would remedy most of your mana problems, while also providing +4 skills, 110% faster hit recovery, 50-70% faster cast, over +400 mana, and a reasonably strong mercenary that slows monsters(to approximately half speed?).
A combination of howl and leap/leap attack, which can be risky if you aren't able to tank well, will also get you past most regular monsters you might not want to spend your time on.(leap attack will occasionally be broken by monsters hitting you making it ineffective until you exit the game)
Battle Cry also goes a way to weaken regular monsters, as at skill level 30 it reduces monster damage by over 50%(though against any monsters that are extra strong, have a damage aura, use magical attacks, or are elemental enchanted this affect will be greatly reduced or ineffective), and can be used on act bosses(I do not know the extent of affect it has on them, but seems to be rather affective at making them not kill me)
Oh, and upgrade that goldwrap to give it another row of potions!
No experience magic finding, but hope some suggestions help you out.

[Spinal]

just wanted to say... don't build a mf barb -.-

ok so now when we know what you shouldn't build, here is what you should build (imo ofc)

if you poor (by looking at your items i assume you are) build a fire sorce and run meph/pindle (over and over again)

try to get this gear for her

helm: shako (pt or ist)
armor: tal (pt or ist)
weapon: eschuta (as much as possible to fire)
weapon switch: crystal (socketed with ist/ist/ist/ist/ist/ist) or just use your ali until you get one
shield: spirit
switch: monarch (socketed with ist/ist/ist/ist) or just use your rhyme until you get one
gloves: guards (as much mf as possible)
belt: tal (as much mf as possible)
amu: tal
ring1: nagel (or magical mf rings, they can have up to 40 mf)
ring2: nagel (or magical mf rings, they can have up to 40 mf)

ok so with this build you will kick some ass when it comes to meph and pindle :)

at meph you use the good old moat trick, don't do any close combat and don't remember to switch (press "w") before he dies so you get the extra mf % from you're 2nd gear

anyway when you get a bit more valubale stuff to play with you should make a mf hammerdin... if you wanna do baal runs and the rest that is, hammerdin solo baal really easy (but hes more expensive ofc)

good luck!

[librarian]

Heiho,

if you want to play a item-independent char choose a Summoner Necro.
Forget all that stuff you can't wear until being 70+. Buy a 3socks breastplate at Charsi's, buy a 2sock helmet there, stuff it with Topazes. Whenever you get better Topazes, rinse and repeat. You'll achieve a Shael rune finally, and by then you have found most probably an Eth already. Visit Charsi again to buy a 2sock shield for building the ShaelEth runeword. Maybe as a Necro you've even found a nice shrunkie with 2socks by that time.
Keep an eye onto the low level Sets. Some parts give an enormous MF bonus when combined. For example Tancred's Amulett and Shoes are hardly beatable even by high end stuff for necklaces and boots. So it makes perfect sense to play the game as intended and clear every map from Act1 BloodMoor / Normal on.

And last not least: be happy with every item you find. There is no such thing as a crap item as long as it's better than the stuff you actually wear.

[BruceGod]

The only way to truly have a character that is "item independant" is to have a Naked character. Yes, I have never played one of these mythical beings, but that's because I just haven't been very successful with the clothed ones yet. ;)