Larzuk's Sockets.

[SwordAzon]

Is there a way you can garantee to get 3 sockets as a reward for killing Shenk in Act 5?

I'm planning on having Larzuk put some sockets in my Tower Shield of Deflection (75% chance of blocking).
A friend of mine got pissed off coz he only got ONE socket . He says he made a mistake giving Larzuk a magical shield. He says I should give him a normal shield if I want to get all 3 sockets....
???

Thanx.

[hakai_no_tenshi]

The number of sockets you get on an item depends on

1) Quality: Unique, set and rare items will get exactly ONE socket while magical items will get 1 or 2 sockets (50% chance of either)

2) ilvl: A non-magical item will get from 1 to the maximum number of possible sockets (for that item) depending on the ilvl of the item. Hence items found in Hell which drop from high mlvl monsters will almost always get the maximum number of possible sockets for that item.

In response to your query about 3 sockets on a magical item, that will never happen since you can only get 1 or 2 (as before, 50% chance on either). There is also no way to influence this. If you are looking to see how many sockets a normal item can get, then go to the Arreat Summit and check for the number of possible sockets on the item. For example, a Tower Shield can get up to 3 sockets but unless it has a high enough ilvl, Larzuk's socket quest does not guarantee it *WILL* get 3 sockets.

--T

[adeyke]

The ilvl thing needs more explaining, I think.

There are three caps on the number of sockets an item can have.

One is the item itself. Every base item has a maximum number of sockets associated with it in weapons.txt or armors.txt. For example, tower shields have a maximum of 3. That means no tower shield will ever have more than 3 sockets.

Another cap is based on the ilvl and item type. For each item type (e.g. shields, swords, amazon bows), there's a maximum number of sockets it can have for ilvls 1-24, a maximum for ilvls 25-39 and a maximum for ilvsl 40+. For shields, this is 3/3/4. This means that, even if you had a shield that could have 4 sockets, it can't actually have 4 sockets unless it has ilvl 40+.

The third cap is based on the size of the item. An item cannot have more sockets than the number of spaces it takes up in the inventory. The only time this actually matters, IIRC, is with sorceress orbs; all others already have a low enough maximum that the item size doesn't matter.

(My calculator displays the max sockets for items based on these caps).

Now, these three caps take precedence over everything else. So even if you had a way to give an item 6 sockets, it'd really only get the maximum based on the caps. I often bring up the example of Blade of Ali Baba. The entry in UniqueItems.txt gives it 3 items. However, as tulwars can't have more than 2 sockets, that's what the Blade gets.

Now, on to the Larzuk socketing...

Magic items will, as said, only get 1-2 sockets, randomly. However, the cap does still apply. Bucklers, defenders and some daggers and wands have a maximum of 1 socket, so they won't get 2 from Larzuk.

White items will get the maximum they can have when Larzuk punches holes in them. In the case of tower shields, this would be 3/3/3. That means all white tower shields, regardless of level, gets 3 sockets from Larzuk. The idea that it's between 1 and the maximum number of sockets isn't correct. There are three tiers of ilvls, each with a clearly defined maximum number of sockets.

(IIRC, there's also a maximum of 3 sockets on items dropped in normal and 4 on items dropped in nightmare, but these apply only to when the items dropped, not when you want to add sockets to the items later).

[Crystalion]

The ilvl thing needs more explaining, I think.
...
Now, on to the Larzuk socketing...

It should perhaps be mentioned, since so many people are following the v1.10 beta, that another thread discussed the mechanics of the socketing ("white" item) cube recipes, and they seem to roll a 1..6 random, and *then* cap to the max allowable for an item. This means they might be your best bet to get what you want in some cases in which Larzuk is unlikely (or can't) come through for you.