08-14-2003, 12:05 AM
Well done. I think the Spirit of Sirian lives on! And to think, there won't be any debates with Max Schaefer. :S
Most of my time in 1.10 has been with a Bowazon and a Summon Necro with at least one point in everything. With those characters, I 100% agree about Delirium, it's fantastic on a Melee Merc, and probably on an Act1 merc as well. The chance to cast Delirium is a curse, but worthwhile. Although it only has a 1% chance to cast, it seems to be 100% chance to cast at the worst time. :) Even so, I haven't died as a result of getting bone-ified yet, but my usual strategy when that happens is to run like hell.
In both the Zon and Necro, I use a Bow with Call to Arms. That way, I can get Delirium's Confuse to trigger from a distance. Once the monsters pack together, the Merc's Delirium keeps Confuse going. The Zon's normal Hell weapon is Silence for the +Resist All, in Nightmare she sticks with Call to Arms.
I found Breath of the Dying to be the best Melee Merc weapon, once the Poison Novas (Novae?) start flying it's usually all over.
Crescent Moon was useful for Diablo, and necessary for Baal. Otherwise, I didn't find the Static Field to be as effective as Poison Nova in handling most situations.
The killer armor for non-Sorceress types looks like Enigma. Teleport is THE Merc-saver. Too bad it gives no resistances, combined with Call to Arms and Delirium you really scratch to get resistances above zero in Hell.
You never mentioned what I've found to be the best weapon for my Necro, and I assume would also be best for a "normal" Sorceress. Maybe even good for your Melee Sorc, I suppose you just never ran across the Vex to make Heart of the Oak.
Heart of the Oak, besides giving a big +3 to all skills, has Oak Sage, which, combined with the Battle Orders from your Call to Arms will give you and your crew serious life. The BO will stay up after weapon swap, but the Oak Sage only stays up as long as the Heart of the Oak is equipped.
The only downside with Heart of the Oak is keeping the poor l'il Level 4 Oak Sage alive. It's not bad when you can keep track of what is going on, but with Confuse getting cast, and in areas with lots of range attackers, it becomes totally - uh, Confusing. When my Necro did the Nightmare Frozen River, with lots of Gloams around, he naturally Revived all the Gloam corpses he could find. When he ran into THREE packs of Gloams, the Gloam-bolts were flying across the screen in every direction, and there was no way to tell what was a bolt from a Revived Gloam or one that was still kicking. :) After recasting the Oak Sage 4 times in half a minute, I gave up and just went for the kills.
The Realm economy is going to be absolutely nuts when 1.10 goes live. I think Runes are going to be SO overpriced, that you will be able to get almost any Set/Unique/Rare item for the Runes that are used in what will be perceived as the "Best" items. I bet that there will be players using Delirium within the first two days, even money says the first will be within 24 hours. :)
-rcv-
Most of my time in 1.10 has been with a Bowazon and a Summon Necro with at least one point in everything. With those characters, I 100% agree about Delirium, it's fantastic on a Melee Merc, and probably on an Act1 merc as well. The chance to cast Delirium is a curse, but worthwhile. Although it only has a 1% chance to cast, it seems to be 100% chance to cast at the worst time. :) Even so, I haven't died as a result of getting bone-ified yet, but my usual strategy when that happens is to run like hell.
In both the Zon and Necro, I use a Bow with Call to Arms. That way, I can get Delirium's Confuse to trigger from a distance. Once the monsters pack together, the Merc's Delirium keeps Confuse going. The Zon's normal Hell weapon is Silence for the +Resist All, in Nightmare she sticks with Call to Arms.
I found Breath of the Dying to be the best Melee Merc weapon, once the Poison Novas (Novae?) start flying it's usually all over.
Crescent Moon was useful for Diablo, and necessary for Baal. Otherwise, I didn't find the Static Field to be as effective as Poison Nova in handling most situations.
The killer armor for non-Sorceress types looks like Enigma. Teleport is THE Merc-saver. Too bad it gives no resistances, combined with Call to Arms and Delirium you really scratch to get resistances above zero in Hell.
You never mentioned what I've found to be the best weapon for my Necro, and I assume would also be best for a "normal" Sorceress. Maybe even good for your Melee Sorc, I suppose you just never ran across the Vex to make Heart of the Oak.
Heart of the Oak, besides giving a big +3 to all skills, has Oak Sage, which, combined with the Battle Orders from your Call to Arms will give you and your crew serious life. The BO will stay up after weapon swap, but the Oak Sage only stays up as long as the Heart of the Oak is equipped.
The only downside with Heart of the Oak is keeping the poor l'il Level 4 Oak Sage alive. It's not bad when you can keep track of what is going on, but with Confuse getting cast, and in areas with lots of range attackers, it becomes totally - uh, Confusing. When my Necro did the Nightmare Frozen River, with lots of Gloams around, he naturally Revived all the Gloam corpses he could find. When he ran into THREE packs of Gloams, the Gloam-bolts were flying across the screen in every direction, and there was no way to tell what was a bolt from a Revived Gloam or one that was still kicking. :) After recasting the Oak Sage 4 times in half a minute, I gave up and just went for the kills.
The Realm economy is going to be absolutely nuts when 1.10 goes live. I think Runes are going to be SO overpriced, that you will be able to get almost any Set/Unique/Rare item for the Runes that are used in what will be perceived as the "Best" items. I bet that there will be players using Delirium within the first two days, even money says the first will be within 24 hours. :)
-rcv-