Thinking Cap

[Lord_Olf]

Hail Lukers,

yesterday, I got lucky and a Thinking Cap dropped for me. Now, as we all know, a very nice thing to have, but wearing it is risky due to the one point only of durability. My question is: How can that be increased?

I'm pretty sure that there was a kind of "weapon oil" or whatever it was called in Hellfire (might be confusing it with an oil that gave +1 max damage to the weapon, so never mind the name; I think it was an oil that increased durability by ten). Sadly, I don't own Hellfire at the moment and still am trying to get my hands onto it.

Second possibility would be a Hidden Shrine. But as I understand it, it would be a gamble, because the Thinking Cap gets chosen for beong decreased in durability, that would mean "bye, bye Cap", wouldn't it? As I said, as I don't have Hellfire, that is a risk I possibly must take. Do you have any ideas of how to maximize the chances for the Cap being the item to have it's durability increased? Should I equip it and another item to have a fifty-fifty chance?

Thanks for your help!

Take care,

Lord_Olf

PS: Sorry if this has been described elsewhere, but after looking for a specific post about TFoS yesterday, I don't really want to search for Thinking Cap now. Feel free to ignore this post if you consider that being too lazy to deserve an answer!

[--Pete]

Hi,

I'd recommend that until you get the durability up to at least 11 you carry the cap rather than wear it. EDIT: You do, however, have to have it equipped for the Hidden to work on it -- you probably knew that, but I say it just to be complete.

The Hidden Shrines will not take an item's durability below 1, so you are safe to use them.

There are two outlooks in using Hidden shrines. Some people think the best way is to equip "junk" gear in the other slots. That seems a waste to me, and I think you should equip all good gear (but nothing that is already indestructible).

The more items the better. If you only have two items equipped, one goes up 10 and one goes down 10 for a net gain of 0. With three, one down 10, two up ten, for a net gain of 10 (3.33 per item). With all four, it's one down, three up for a net gain of 20 (5 per item).

While on the subject: if an item has exactly 245 durability and goes up, it becomes indestructible. Some people make it a goal to get some or all of their gear that way (something to do, I guess, on the way to 50). However, if the item has over 245 durability when you hit a hidden then a round off error occurs (when the item is saved) and in the next game you play, the item will have between 1 and 9 durability.

BTW, to get an item to have a durability that ends in 5, simply get a warrior to repair it a few times.

That's all I remember, others can fill in what I missed.

Good luck on the shrine hunt :)

--Pete

[Lord_Olf]

Hail Pete,

thanks a lot for your information!

As for this special case: Would it not be a good idea to equip Thinking Cap and one item (junk or whatever) and then try the shrine? In this "scenario", the Thinking Cap would have a 50% chance to have its durability increased, if I understood your post correctly. If I equip other items, the chance for Thinking Cap to be increased in durability would be 1 divided by number of items equipped. So, wouldn't it be best to hit the shrine with just Thinking Cap and another item?

Abd, by the way: Thanks for the warning, but I'm keepinp my precious safely stowed in my inventory! No disrespect meant to the TFoS, but right now, the Cap is my precious...

Take care,

Lord_Olf

[Baajikiil]

As for this special case: Would it not be a good idea to equip Thinking Cap and one item (junk or whatever) and then try the shrine? In this "scenario", the Thinking Cap would have a 50% chance to have its durability increased, if I understood your post correctly. If I equip other items, the chance for Thinking Cap to be increased in durability would be 1 divided by number of items equipped. So, wouldn't it be best to hit the shrine with just Thinking Cap and another item?

I think you must have misinterpreted something somewhere. When hitting the shrine, 3 out of 4 of your equipped item raise in durability, and only 1 loses. So, with 4 items equipped, you should have a 75%(3/4) chance of your Cap increasing, and only a 25%(1/4) chance of it decreasing.

[Lord_Olf]

Hail Baajiil,

thank for taking my mind onto a clearer track!

Thanks, again, for the answers.

Take care,

Lord_Olf

[LochnarITB]

Your question reminded me of the story I wrote about the first character I took to 3@30, Tiltowait Does 3@30. It's at Freshman Diablo. You might want to give the site a visit if you haven't already done so.

I'm glad you're enjoying my favorite game of all time. After 7(?) years, I still pull it out for an occasional evening of dungeon crawling.

[Rhydderch Hael]

As Pete said, the Hidden Shrine will not destroy an item, even (especially) if the item reduced has a durability less than 10. the Durability will go to (or remain at) 1 point.

So, actually, wearing a Thinking Cap when accessing a Hidden Shrine is bit of a win-win situation: if the reduced item is one of your other pieces of gear, your Cap got an increase in Durability. If the Thinking Cap was the one tagged for the reduction, you basically got a free boost on the Durability of your other gear with no real detriment

[Lord_Olf]

Hail LochnarITB,

Freshman Diablo was one of the first sites I took a look at after reinstalling D1 two weeks ago. Ths site is mightily helpful, thanks for it!

Take care,
Lord_Olf

[SoulEdge]

Greetings!

One thing worth mentioning is that the Hidden shrine tends to reduce the durability of the item in the "shield hand slot" (i.e. item on the character left hand - the right most slot on the screen). While I usually just put on all four items when I touch a Hidden shrine to maximise the gain (as Pete explained), if a valued shield is low on maximum durability (by previous Hidden shrine effects), one can substitute the shield with a common one before touching the shrine.


Edit: typo

[Lord_Olf]

Hail SoulEdge,

I think I read this somewhere else, might have been at Freshman Diablo or Jarulf's Guide, I'm not sure anymore. Thanks anyway for adding this piece of information!

Take care,
Lord_Olf

[Nightwind]

"shield hand slot" (i.e. item on the character left hand - the right most slot on the screen

How did that ever get such a designation?

Is it because that is the faded side when a 2 handed weapon is equiped?

[LemmingofGlory]

How did that ever get such a designation?

Is it because that is the faded side when a 2 handed weapon is equiped?

I suppose that's as clear a reason as any. I would've said the "non-shield hand" is the one the game autoequips weapons to.

-Lemmy