01-28-2004, 05:51 PM
Karl_Orcslayer is at lvl 29 now, with Frenzy at lvl 4 (or 5 maybe). I wasn't too impressed with Frenzy initially but I decided to give it a chance, I figured it was only lvl 1 at the time and there's not too many skills that stand out at lvl 1, although that first point in a Barb's weapon mastery (any mastery) can seem to make a huge difference with the To Hit and Dmg bonus.
I made it into Act IV last night after Frenzying Mephisto, and saw the true potential of this skill. I then cruised through the first few sections of Act IV without too much of a problem (I was using Players 5 to boost my XP gain) except for those invisible critters that shoot lightning all over the place, they made me catch my breath when my health fell from full to damn near empty in barely a second. I still have my Rogue from Act I shooting Ice & Poison arrows all over the place from the socketed battle bow I got her back in Act III, thank heavens. I'm sure she kept me alive several times, she earned her retainer last night for sure. I started using Frenzy a little more often when I got it to lvl 4 (or 5) but it still drops my Mana considerably (I only have 40 or so mana right now) so I have to use it sparingly, but it sure helped me mop up those bugs and Flesh Demons. I made it to the River of Flame before realizing I hadn't killed Izual, so I trotted back upstairs, found him and Frenzy'd him to death, on Players 5 no less. It took a little while to kill him but my Life & Mana leech were working well, and despite him freezing me occasionally (although he spent a large amount of time frozen himself), I didn't use a single potion during our little toe-to-toe slugfest. It robably helped as well that my Rogue was sticking Poison & Ice arrows into him by the dozen. Finally Izual fell and I continued down into the River of Flame.
I found Hephasto, killed him and his crew (using Frenzy until I ran out of Mana), smashed Mephisto's soulstone and got three skulls and a rune for my trouble. A normal skull, a flawless skull, and a perfect skull!!! I fought my way through the rest of the River of Flame to Hadriel, activated the WP, and it was only when I was depositing my skulls in my stash that I realized the Rune I'd picked up was ITH!!! I already had El and Eth, and a 3 socketed Flail was sitting empty in my stash, it was time to create a Malice Flail. Yes, I know I was supposed to put Malice in a War Scepter, but I was already lvl 26 by the time someone mentioned Drognan & Ormus having a cap on supplying non-magical socketed War Scepters. Not only did they no longer have vanilla 3-socketed Scepters, but just about all of the Scepters were priced at 200K or more! Insane! So Malice went into a Flail. I figure if I picked up Ith that easy, I'll find it again later on (someone mentioned doing a Countess run for Ith, El & Eth?)
Now I had Malice AND a Perfect Skull which offers +5 life regen (& close to 20% mana regen) IF I could drop it into some socketed armor. Problem is no-one had any socketed armor, not even socketed helms. I didn't want to wield Malice only to bleed to death, so I popped in & out of The Fortress several times checking Armor & Helms to no avail. What I finally found was a Plated Belt offering +5 Life Regen, perfectly countering Malice's -5 Life drain AND allowing me to carry 16 potions. So I still have my spare Skulls in my stash, I can wield Malice w/o any penalty, and I have plenty of potions to back me up if needed.
Equipping the chunkier of my two triple socketed Flails alongside "Malice" I now dish out (approx.) 100 to 200 dmg with each hand. Bear in mind my Strength is not yet triple digits, Mace Mastery is at lvl 18 or so while Frenzy is just getting started at Lvl 4 (or 5), and I'm still only playing the normal level and haven't beaten Diablo yet.
Feeling cocky I WP'd to the River of Flame, strolled past Hadriel towards the Chaos Sanctuary, squishing any bugs & flesh demons foolish enough to get in my way. The first shrine right inside the Chaos Sanctuary's front door was an XP shrine, awesome! With a magical banner above my head I ran screaming into Diablo's house, hit my first mob and Frenzy'd them to death...I had to gulp down a potion or two though.
Wanting to make the most of that XP shrine I ran in further and took on a second, larger mob, and gulped down a couple more potions...but my health was still dropping and NOW I WAS FROZEN!!! AND BEING SHOT AT!!! AND I'D RUN OUT OF POTIONS!!! RUN AWAAAAYYYYYY!!!!
I just made it out of there alive, and my Amazon made it out in one piece too...but with more health than I did!!! WTF!!! I don't think I was holding Ctrl and handicapping myself...but maybe I was. Maybe in my enthusiasm to enter the fray, and subsequent panic, I held down Ctrl and helped the mob kick my a$$. Anyway, I like Frenzy, I know it works and I like the look of my Malice Flail. But I think I need a few more levels under my belt, and maybe a few more skills points assigned, before I head back into the Chaos Sanctuary.
I'm not scared of dying, really I'm not ;) but if Diablo's minions can beat the $hit out of me I am not ready for Big D, not yet.
I want to thank everyone who's posted here for all of the advice and the fantastic discussion we've got going. I really appreciate all of the comments. Keep 'em coming.
I made it into Act IV last night after Frenzying Mephisto, and saw the true potential of this skill. I then cruised through the first few sections of Act IV without too much of a problem (I was using Players 5 to boost my XP gain) except for those invisible critters that shoot lightning all over the place, they made me catch my breath when my health fell from full to damn near empty in barely a second. I still have my Rogue from Act I shooting Ice & Poison arrows all over the place from the socketed battle bow I got her back in Act III, thank heavens. I'm sure she kept me alive several times, she earned her retainer last night for sure. I started using Frenzy a little more often when I got it to lvl 4 (or 5) but it still drops my Mana considerably (I only have 40 or so mana right now) so I have to use it sparingly, but it sure helped me mop up those bugs and Flesh Demons. I made it to the River of Flame before realizing I hadn't killed Izual, so I trotted back upstairs, found him and Frenzy'd him to death, on Players 5 no less. It took a little while to kill him but my Life & Mana leech were working well, and despite him freezing me occasionally (although he spent a large amount of time frozen himself), I didn't use a single potion during our little toe-to-toe slugfest. It robably helped as well that my Rogue was sticking Poison & Ice arrows into him by the dozen. Finally Izual fell and I continued down into the River of Flame.
I found Hephasto, killed him and his crew (using Frenzy until I ran out of Mana), smashed Mephisto's soulstone and got three skulls and a rune for my trouble. A normal skull, a flawless skull, and a perfect skull!!! I fought my way through the rest of the River of Flame to Hadriel, activated the WP, and it was only when I was depositing my skulls in my stash that I realized the Rune I'd picked up was ITH!!! I already had El and Eth, and a 3 socketed Flail was sitting empty in my stash, it was time to create a Malice Flail. Yes, I know I was supposed to put Malice in a War Scepter, but I was already lvl 26 by the time someone mentioned Drognan & Ormus having a cap on supplying non-magical socketed War Scepters. Not only did they no longer have vanilla 3-socketed Scepters, but just about all of the Scepters were priced at 200K or more! Insane! So Malice went into a Flail. I figure if I picked up Ith that easy, I'll find it again later on (someone mentioned doing a Countess run for Ith, El & Eth?)
Now I had Malice AND a Perfect Skull which offers +5 life regen (& close to 20% mana regen) IF I could drop it into some socketed armor. Problem is no-one had any socketed armor, not even socketed helms. I didn't want to wield Malice only to bleed to death, so I popped in & out of The Fortress several times checking Armor & Helms to no avail. What I finally found was a Plated Belt offering +5 Life Regen, perfectly countering Malice's -5 Life drain AND allowing me to carry 16 potions. So I still have my spare Skulls in my stash, I can wield Malice w/o any penalty, and I have plenty of potions to back me up if needed.
Equipping the chunkier of my two triple socketed Flails alongside "Malice" I now dish out (approx.) 100 to 200 dmg with each hand. Bear in mind my Strength is not yet triple digits, Mace Mastery is at lvl 18 or so while Frenzy is just getting started at Lvl 4 (or 5), and I'm still only playing the normal level and haven't beaten Diablo yet.
Feeling cocky I WP'd to the River of Flame, strolled past Hadriel towards the Chaos Sanctuary, squishing any bugs & flesh demons foolish enough to get in my way. The first shrine right inside the Chaos Sanctuary's front door was an XP shrine, awesome! With a magical banner above my head I ran screaming into Diablo's house, hit my first mob and Frenzy'd them to death...I had to gulp down a potion or two though.
Wanting to make the most of that XP shrine I ran in further and took on a second, larger mob, and gulped down a couple more potions...but my health was still dropping and NOW I WAS FROZEN!!! AND BEING SHOT AT!!! AND I'D RUN OUT OF POTIONS!!! RUN AWAAAAYYYYYY!!!!
I just made it out of there alive, and my Amazon made it out in one piece too...but with more health than I did!!! WTF!!! I don't think I was holding Ctrl and handicapping myself...but maybe I was. Maybe in my enthusiasm to enter the fray, and subsequent panic, I held down Ctrl and helped the mob kick my a$$. Anyway, I like Frenzy, I know it works and I like the look of my Malice Flail. But I think I need a few more levels under my belt, and maybe a few more skills points assigned, before I head back into the Chaos Sanctuary.
I'm not scared of dying, really I'm not ;) but if Diablo's minions can beat the $hit out of me I am not ready for Big D, not yet.
I want to thank everyone who's posted here for all of the advice and the fantastic discussion we've got going. I really appreciate all of the comments. Keep 'em coming.