How to return from a long slumber.

[[wcip]Angel]

Fellow adventurers!

I am in need of your generous wisdom and experience.

Being slightly disappointed with Oblivion's lack of great loot (the only flaw of the game), and feeling the need to do some adventuring again, I decided to return to familar feeding grounds... so here I am, now for the 7th time, installing D2 yet again.

I want to play again, and I also want to try all the classes this time (not just a 450%MF Frozen orb-sorc for meph-runs).

My plan is to start a character, finish the difficulty, start a new character... rinse and repeat. I'll play all characters through normal before I start again in NM. (This is the plan, I don't know if it's practical, so I'll have to wait and see.)

Anyway, what I ask of you dear sirs and madams, is for the latest tips on how to create a cookie cutter for each class. I can't even remember what the CCCCs (Cookie Cutter Character Classes) were last time I played.

So, if you wouldn't mind, please list your favourite builds. No need to go into great detail, just steer me in the right direction.

Example:
"Sorc: max frozen orb and firewall. Put 1 point in static field and 5 in teleportation. Switch between Faster cast/MF-gear for meph runs" (Don't know if this is accurate as of July 2006)

Now, I need similar run-downs on all classes.

Additionally, if you have any general advice about the game, please feel free to include those as well. I've been away for a while, so I don't know what the latest patches have included. I'm guessing more runewords, but I'll look those up in a while.

Blood Raven awaits.

Cheers! And may the first Tarnhelm be a half-cent!

PS: (Multiplayer, Battlenet Closed Europe, Softcore)

[pakman]

Well with synergies these days a lot of the CCCCs have changed. I, too, recently got sucked back into D2 after breaking Oblivion with 120% Chameleon.

So here goes from what I gather:

Windy Druid: max hurricane, armor, tornado, and twister, Oak Sage. Get an A2 merc and put an Insight stick on him (new Realm only runeword)

Lightning Trapsin: Max fireblast, lightning sentry, death sentry, and shadow master. One points wonders include: Fade, Psychic Hammer, cloak of shadows and mind blast. Sometimes dragon kick thrown in for the teleportation and regrouping the merc.

Sorc: Orb/Hydra is popular now. Max orb, hydra, firebolt, fire mastery. One point wonders include: teleport, telekinesis, static field.

Not Sure about Amazons

Paladins: not too sure, but hammerdins have regained some power.

Barbs: I believe the WW barb is still popular with BO, concentrate for the synergy, war cry. One point wonders: leap, find item, find potion, berzerk fo PIs

That's about all I can think of at the moment.

[Fragbait]

Hi,

Let's see. What have we here...
For starters, we have:

the Bowazon maidens,

the Lightning Javazon,

the Summon-Necromancer,

the FireMauler Were-Druid, but I suppose a Werewolf Druid and the Wind build that has been mentioned already are also more than viable.

basically all Conviction Paladins, as well as probably hammer-palas, but that I wouldn't know.

the Lightning-Trapsin Assassin,

or the Blade Fury Assassin,

the Hydra/Fireball/Orb Sorceress,

or the Enchantress.

the Berserk Barbarian - or is it here? I do suppose that a WW Barb is doing ok, too. But he's not the killing machine he once was. A synergized Concentrate Barb is viable more or less, too. Barbs have been seriously nerved in comparison to former patches, though.

Generally speaking, this awesome resource is all you will need strategy-wise. I'm afraid that they have overtaken the lounge when it comes to DII strategy a long while ago, probably because the lounge is mainly about WoW nowadays.


Greetings, Fragbait

[pakman]

Unfortunately, the summoner necro is very different from what used to be called the Zookeeper. IIRC, the way the necro summoning worked is that for every point you put into summon skeleton and summon skeletal mage, you got one more skeleton and one more mage. However, now you only get eight total skeleton warriors and mages with maxed skills, although they have become tougher now. You can still get 20 revives, however. No more are the days of walking around with 60 minions.

[Fragbait]

Unfortunately, the summoner necro is very different from what used to be called the Zookeeper. IIRC, the way the necro summoning worked is that for every point you put into summon skeleton and summon skeletal mage, you got one more skeleton and one more mage. However, now you only get eight total skeleton warriors and mages with maxed skills, although they have become tougher now. You can still get 20 revives, however. No more are the days of walking around with 60 minions.

Hi,

Yeah, I guess it helped reducing the annoying 'lagomancer' effect.
But with, say, +8 skills you still get 11 skels, 11 skel mages and 28 revives. That's 51 minions, too, with the golem :).


Seriously though, I think apart from a summoner necro, one of the best untwinked builds is a conviction pally. He's pretty easy to play, and he can kill pretty much everything. He doesn't need uber items either, but maybe I'm biased because of my lvl 91 (fanaticism) pala.:wub:

You could go like this:

Defensive Auras:

• Resist Fire: 15 (+- a couple)<>
  
• Resist Cold: 15 (+- a couple)<>
  
• Resist Lightning: 15 (+- a couple)<>
  
• Salvation: 1 (optional)<>
  [st]
  Offensive Auras:
  • Might: 1<>
    
  • Holy Fire: 1<>
    
  • Thorns: 1<>
    
  • Holy Freeze: 1<>
    
  • Sanctuary: 1<>
    
  • Conviction: 20 (obviously)<>
    [st]
    Combat Skills:
    • Sacrifice: 12 (for the synergy to zeal)<>
      
    • Smite: 1<>
      
    • Holy Bolt: 1<>
      
    • Zeal: 1 (5 attacks with +4 skills, + with conviction you don't really need the AR bonus)<>
      
    • Charge: 1<>
      
    • Vengeance: 1 (low mana cost, +246% fire/coldghtning damage via synergies)<>
      
    • Blessed Hammer: 1<>
      
    • Holy Shield: 12<>
      [st]
      That would require 101 skill points, 89 when the skill boni from quests are figured in. So you'd complete this build at clvl 90, which can be reached with a bit of patience.
      He should be a solid killer in hell
      
      Code:

      (if you find a halfway decent weapon, considerably fast and about >125 avg dam, for example a Grandmaster's Mighty Scepter of Speed: 175% ed, 40-52 base dam ->110-143 dam =126.5 avg dam along with nice speed and possibly nice mods)
      , using mainly a +246% fire/coldghtning damage vengeance at 5 mana per swing, combined with -145% enemy resists and -92% enemy defense (equals +1250% AR). Against double elemental immune foes, or for refilling mana or just for fun and the fast attack, the Zeal should provide enough damage to be a sufficient alternative in hell. With Only 4 +skills, which can be achieved fairly easy, you get a lvl 16 Holy Shield, which boosts your defense by 250% (you should aim for at least about 11000-13000 def in hell), lasts 6 1/2 minutes and makes sure you are a good and efficient blocker even without to heavy invests in dex. That will result in an adequate life pool (well over 1000 life), since a good share of stat points will go into vitality. Also your resists can be rather good thanks to the hidden +%maxresist bonus in the elemental defensive auras.
      I'm pretty convinced that this is rather a 'cookie cutter' build like you were asking for - simple to pull off.
      
      
      Greetings, Fragbait

[[wcip]Angel]

Thank you all for your exhaustive replies:)

I'm currently building a Hammerdin. I just completed act1 at lvl 15 and I've got 14 skill points saved up. With synergies, I'm wondering which aura I should use.

As I can only use 1 at a time, I'm caught between these
* Fanaticism (for speed and dmg)
* Concentration (Way back when, conc+hammer was a good build, IIRC)
* Blessed aim (synergy to Blessed Hammer)
* Vigor (synergy to Blessed Hammer)

As both blessed aim and vigor provide the same synergy bonus, is there any difference in choosing the two? Should I go for a synergy bonus, or fana/conc?

If I max 1 aura and blessed hammer, that's 40 points. Besides blessed shield, should I put my points into something else? Zeal to build up mana, or vengeance for PIs? Does Blessed hammer bypass PIs?

[Fragbait]

Angel' date='Jul 20 2006, 08:27 PM' post='114148']
Thank you all for your exhaustive replies:)

I'm currently building a Hammerdin. I just completed act1 at lvl 15 and I've got 14 skill points saved up. With synergies, I'm wondering which aura I should use.

As I can only use 1 at a time, I'm caught between these
* Fanaticism (for speed and dmg)
* Concentration (Way back when, conc+hammer was a good build, IIRC)
* Blessed aim (synergy to Blessed Hammer)
* Vigor (synergy to Blessed Hammer)

As both blessed aim and vigor provide the same synergy bonus, is there any difference in choosing the two? Should I go for a synergy bonus, or fana/conc?

If I max 1 aura and blessed hammer, that's 40 points. Besides blessed shield, should I put my points into something else? Zeal to build up mana, or vengeance for PIs? Does Blessed hammer bypass PIs?

Hi,

Since I'm no expert with Hammerdins, may I refer you to this and this guide to this build. Beware though - since that's diabloii.net content, double checking cannot hurt.

Greetings, Fragbait

[[wcip]Angel]

Beware though - since that's diabloii.net content, double checking cannot hurt.

I haven't been away that long:P

Thanks for the links. I checked them out. I must be misunderstanding auras, because it seems they're running 3 auras simultaneously. Conc + blessed aim + vigor. :wacko:. Colour me confused.

[Fragbait]

Angel' date='Jul 20 2006, 10:31 PM' post='114161']I must be misunderstanding auras, because it seems they're running 3 auras simultaneously. Conc + blessed aim + vigor. :wacko:. Colour me confused.

Hi,

Having 3 auras at once switched on isn't possible except with the aura-granting gear of the latest patches and / or an act 2 hireling. Since the 'aura-switch-sticky-delay' has been nerved, it's hardly possible to maintain two auras at once (I guess if you neglect attacking, you CAN make them stick for about 0.25 seconds, but that's for a pure Auradin to find out), and even before, 3 weren't possible.

I think what you misunderstood / what they are talking about is that they max Blessed Aim and Vigor, yet they seldomly apply them. Their main purpose is their synergy to Blessed Hammer. While there may be times when especially Vigor comes in handy, chiefly if you have no FRW on your boots, the main aura that a Hammerdin has on would be Concentration. It's the only aura that does boost the damage of the hammers (not synergy-wise).


Greetings, Fragbait

[[wcip]Angel]

Ah! :shuriken:

Get the paint-remover out! I need a coat of "enlightened". Thanks Fragbait!:)

I just hit 18, and I'm about to bust up the palace in Lut Gholein. I guess virtual 18-year olds hit the harems just as hard as real ones.. :wub:

[Zingydex]

Too bad this one's been ransacked. :(

[[wcip]Angel]

Yeah:)

Damn! I was just about to build a new character (My pally hit NM this weekend), and the Basin is down. Where will I go for strat? Damn that infernal Internet!

[librarian]

Heiho,

a Necro from scratch is not what I'd call a cookie cutter, especially not
when compared to a BH Pal.
OTOH max out Raise Skeleton, then max out Skeleton Mastery, in between drop
an occasional point each into Clay Golem, Golem Mastery, Summon Resist,
Amplify, Dim Vision and, if you like, Decrepify and Lower Resist, and later
on max out Corpse Explosion.

Wear what you like, skill boni, mana boosters and maybe some socketed
topazes for getting all that nice low level Set stuff are always welcome.
If you're on the low side with skill boni you may want to spend more points
into your curses. You may do so, but keep in mind that it is _very_ easy to
get skillboni stuff (OrtSol Helm, gambled Amu, shopped Wand, found Shrunkie
...).

Spend attributes in strength to wear desired equip, spend points into
energy if needed, boost vitality when you're a bit on the thin side here..
Spend later on the other Skill Points at your favor.

Choose the hireling you never had before, since you want to change to a
Mighty guy later on and it's a bit of fun here.

Watch your army slaughtering enemies away, supply them with curses and drop
the CG where needed. Kick every barrel and urn and chest while they do the
dirty job in front. Collect stuff. Proceed to next map. Do every Map, so
you're always a bit ahead of population's mLvl. Further you , respectively
your pets, will be strong enough to do the Act Bosses almost alone.

The two other main branches dedicated to Poison Nova or Bone Spear, aren't
that much faster, but they're more dangerous and item dependant to play from scratch.



PS: was that just me or had the LL a brief breakdown of about one, maybe two hours?

[coyote]

concerning pally auras : only concentration will give you additional DMG to your hammerz:D

as for gear - get double spirits and youre the master^_^
hat - Lore (OrtSol)
be sure to get some A2 merc and to give him insight stick, too :lol:

[[wcip]Angel]

Yes, the LL stumbled a bit for a few hours.

Thanks for the tips, but tell me, why avoid revives? Last time I played D2, every necromancer used revives. Has it been nerfed?

A guide I read recommended maxing skeleton, skeleton mages, skeleton mastery and revives. Is this a viable build? I like to play "clean" builds, meaning I'd like to avoid distributing my skill points over more than 3-4 skills. No need for skills with 1 point put into them.:)

Cheers!

[Fragbait]

PS: was that just me or had the LL a brief breakdown of about one, maybe two hours?

Hi,

I noticed it too. Now it could be that only us Germans got kicked out, but I think it's rather due to heavy amazon traffic these days...;)

By the way, the Diablo II homepage seems to be working alright again. Can't take long now, and the forums may be accessible once again, too.
*keeping fingers crossed*


Greetings, Fragbait

[pakman]

Hi,

I noticed it too. Now it could be that only us Germans got kicked out, but I think it's rather due to heavy amazon traffic these days...;)

By the way, the Diablo II homepage seems to be working alright again. Can't take long now, and the forums may be accessible once again, too.
*keeping fingers crossed*
Greetings, Fragbait

Unfortunately, the D2 forums are still broken at the moment.

[Iceman]

Angel' date='Jul 26 2006, 01:23 PM' post='114534']
Yes, the LL stumbled a bit for a few hours.

Thanks for the tips, but tell me, why avoid revives? Last time I played D2, every necromancer used revives. Has it been nerfed?

A guide I read recommended maxing skeleton, skeleton mages, skeleton mastery and revives. Is this a viable build? I like to play "clean" builds, meaning I'd like to avoid distributing my skill points over more than 3-4 skills. No need for skills with 1 point put into them.:)

Cheers!

My personal opinion about revives is that they dont worth much. I have a skellemancer and believe me the skellies alone can do all the work for you easy. :DRevives either run out of time and die at the worst points or stay behind and disapear. Its up to you actually but i wouldnt give more than a couple of points.

And for act bosses skellies + clay golem + decrepify = an extremely slow monster. If you add a strong merc to the above then the boss is doomed :D:D

Have fun
Iceman (aka Coldheart at the Basin)

[librarian]

Heiho,

Revives still are not that bad. However, you have to care about what type of monster you revive, since a lot of them are useless for other purposes than being another meatshield, and some are even bad here. Others can't be revived.
You don't get always Frenzytaurs, which are a fine example of a Revive better than your actual Skeleton Warriors.

Next point is, they'll poof after 180 seconds, thus bring the need of constantly reviving new monsters.
And they tend to hang around where they belong to, which is a nice RPG feature.

Further point, you get a Revive for each point spent in that skill. You may say, why is that a disadvantage? Indeed it's not exactly a disadvantage, but makes it easy with even one spent point having some really scary guys around when needed. Skeletons must be maxed out to be tough enough when difficulty grows, so that and Mastery are essential 'max out dis one' goals. A Revive from sLvl1 is as good as one from sLvl20.
This additional point would be what I called a 'spent point at your favor'. I prefer some flying Revives when possible, because they're the only ones who give my army an additional tactical flavor (I have an oldschool Overlord/Lord of Mages style Summoner with Warriors and Mages).
However, you'd note parts of your army will vanish especially when you're in running mode quite often, especially when the pet count exceeds about 25.

A guide I read recommended maxing skeleton, skeleton mages, skeleton mastery and revives. Is this a viable build? I like to play "clean" builds, meaning I'd like to avoid distributing my skill points over more than 3-4 skills. No need for skills with 1 point put into them.

It's viable in terms of 'there is a lot viable in LoD'. I wouldn't recommend it, especially maxing Revives is a waste of points. Maxed Mages are quite ok, when the Warriors hold the front line.
And the Necromancer is full of one-point-wonders. like 1SR, Clay Golem with 1GM, most of the AI curses will destress you with one point invested (though need a bit more investment when more focussed used because of AI duration penalties in higher difficulties).
Heck, even CE serves well as a one-pointer. Contrary to maxing Revives out maxing CE out will give you a huge damage boost in area. When you play from scratch without tweaks and twinks you'll like that, because you'll have to go with your Skeleton Skills at about 25 for quite some time without some better luck in finding/gambling/shopping. This is still viable, but as I mentioned first, not what you call a cookie cutter.

And surely no Necro without maxed CE comes anywhere near the term 'cookie cutter', the other skills are merely first-corpse-bringers, and here going Skeletons is the safest way from scratch.

[[wcip]Angel]

Wow.

Seriously, do you Basiners do this professionally? I am in awe! :wub:

I will look through my skills-list and see if there's any skill fitting the abbreviation "CE". I'll max that along with skeleton/skel warrior/skel mastery.

I'll just need to figure out which order to do them. I'm now lvl 11 with 11 skills saved, so I'll go slightly nuts on the skill tree next time I play:)It's been a hassle running around killing things with conventional weaponry..

edit: Ah!! "Corpse Explosion":P

Edit#2 (hours later): It's definitely another style of playing. The style that says that I can enter a new area, do my push-ups or go get a glass of water, and return to a screen full of loot and corpses.:)I've never played a necro before, but this was certainly interesting. I don't know if the character will hold up in Hell, but in act2 normal, this build is godly. I have 4 skels and 4 skel mages in addition to my act 2 merc. I just stand there looking clever while the team takes apart the enemies. Can't wait to see what Corpse Explosion does.