Newbie takes on D2 for the first time

[KingOfPain]

Interesting info on potion stacking. I had not realized that was possible. The anti-poison aspect could be very useful for a certain upcoming battle, if I understand the dangers correctly. And there are situations where the thawing could be very helpful. I ran into a cold enchanted archer boss a while ago, and that was a huge pain. Getting repeatedly frozen from a distance was trouble.

Potion Stacking would rank as a bug exploit, bug exploits are generally frowned upon around here.

It is just that you wouldn't want to be doing it  with "a normal character" or "under normal circumstances (in any other games we play)"
That said, it's okay to experiment with, to gain an understanding and have some fun while you are at it.

[haphazard1]

Doing anything with runes is still some ways in the future. Need to find more than just the one rune, first. And get to the minimum clvl for the one I have.

Single use potions without stacking would not be an exploit, correct? So still useful.

Another question: how does the 'prevent monster heal' property work? If I damage a monster using such a weapon, is it prevented from healing for a certain length of time? Just reduced in healing rate? Other? Also, is there a visual indication that the monster has had its regeneration slowed/stopped? I recently found such a weapon, and it seems like it could be very useful against tough bosses such as lightning enchanted ones that have given my sorceress a lot of trouble. Wearing them down with my rather weak non-lightning attacks is a slow process, so stopping their regeneration would presumably help quite a bit.

[KingOfPain]

Doing anything with runes is still some ways in the future. Need to find more than just the one rune, first. And get to the minimum clvl for the one I have.

Single use potions without stacking would not be an exploit, correct? So still useful.

Another question: how does the 'prevent monster heal' property work? If I damage a monster using such a weapon, is it prevented from healing for a certain length of time? Just reduced in healing rate? Other? Also, is there a visual indication that the monster has had its regeneration slowed/stopped? I recently found such a weapon, and it seems like it could be very useful against tough bosses such as lightning enchanted ones that have given my sorceress a lot of trouble. Wearing them down with my rather weak non-lightning attacks is a slow process, so stopping their regeneration would presumably help quite a bit.

It seems you don't play as much as I thought you would since you just finished the Countess a week from when you started. So yeah, in the distant future  

Single use of potion is of course okay. Bug exploitation is sometime okay too if you can find a good excuse to use it.... Maybe you are playing a variant with drinking problems...

PMH stops monsters from healing if it was tagged a physical melee/ranged attack only (not by casting a spell while holding such weapon). IIRC, it does not work if applied by a merc. The only way you can tell PMH is in effect is by the monster health bar not moving up. 

Slow moving LEBs are not much a problem, Don't hit it like crazy and get yourself killed. Notice the Charged Bolt pattern and stand where it is safe. Fast moving LEBs such as Rakanishu (the one that guards Tristram's entrance) can give the under powered a lot of trouble. I don't think you want to go and stab it with a PMH knife...

[haphazard1]

Gaming time is sadly rather limited by other responsibilities. Think of it as slow motion Diablo.

Does PMH carry over? If I hit a monster with my PMH hand axe and retreat (run away!) , then return after recovering health/mana or even resupplying with potions from the base camp, will the monster still be prevented from healing? Not sure how practical that might be, but for a really tough boss perhaps it could work.

[T-hawk]

I've never heard of drinking a lot of potions to extend the duration being considered an exploit. It's always been common advice to do that with poison-antidote potions before the act 1 boss.

I don't think I know of anything at all in D2 that's considered an exploit, unless any item-duplicating bugs still exist.

The other descriptions of PMH are correct, stops monster regeneration if hit by that weapon. I'm not sure about the duration. It most likely resets if you leave the area. Monster regen is mostly too small to worry about until around act 4. One common approach is to find/buy a stack of throwing javelins with the modifier (keep it on your second weapon tab) so you can apply it from a distance and keep trying until your low attack rating hits.

[haphazard1]

On the second weapons tab, what do people like to use in that slot? I have been keeping an alternate staff with boosts to fire skills there, for times when I need a non-lightning attack. But maybe there are better options.

[T-hawk]

Most classes like to keep a set of gear that will boost their passive buffs and summons when those are cast.  Some keep a different type of weapon, most notably an amazon using both javelin and bow skills.  Sometimes you keep a physical weapon to kill monsters immune to your main attack, that's common for a trapper assassin or a hammerdin.  A sorceress has little in the way of passives or physicals, so a weapon to boost a different type of element is a good use, or a PMH javelin as mentioned.

Many serious players keep a set of gear with "+chance to find magic item" (you run an act boss and switch to that just before killing it), though you probably won't care about that in one single-player playthrough.

[Boro]

Keeping a weapon switch for the second element got me killed a few times, so nowadays I'd rather manually swap gear and have my weapon swap hotkey unbound.

[KingOfPain]

From memory, PMH last over an hour. IIRC, if you leave the game or moved too far from the area (maybe a couple of screens) then you would have to apply pmh again.

Swap weapon is popular for Magic Finder. For example, a Barb can switch to wielding 2 fully socketed Ali Baba at the last minute to boost his MF%.

[haphazard1]

Thanks for the thoughts and ideas on second weapons, everyone. Very useful. I had not thought about going with magic find, as I do not have anything boosting magic find at this point, but will keep it in mind as a possibility.

Boro's caution is also good to keep in mind, although the differences in my primary and secondary staves are not so great as to seriously endanger me at this point. One or two points on a couple skills is helpful but not life changing. Eventually it could (and hopefully will!) become a much bigger impact with better gear.