Kylearan sends an async team to death or guardianship

[T-hawk]

You should count on 14 Larzuk rewards, not 21 - remember the last 7 don't come until the end of hell difficulty.

I would estimate about two-thirds of my characters use both socket quests for starting hell difficulty, and the rest soon after. Most often for a Shael rune in a weapon, or else a resistance rune or jewel in a helm or armor. There are a lot of mid-level unique/set helms and armors worth socketing and using to end-game. I think you're overestimating runewords; there really aren't all that many in the helm and armor slots that are worthy for end-game. Endgame runeword armors start at Duress with an Um rune, which in this format tends to occur only about once or twice outside the hellforge.

Bases drop often enough that you can use the cube-socketing recipes for just about everything. All the cube recipes always roll 1-6 sockets and then cap the result by the item type and ilvl. (The Arreat Summit site says 1-4 for armors, and it's wrong, the game data file says 1-6, unless this was changed in Resurrected.) So for runewords, choose base items that will have the correct max number of sockets. You'd have a 3 in 6 chance of getting 4 sockets on that sword you Larzuked.

I only ever Larzuked a runeword base once in this format, which was for a Silence spear, which would be only a 1/6 chance from the cube recipe.

[KingOfPain]

DOH It was a senior's moment, I kept thinking Crystal sword has 4 hole max.

[T-hawk]

Crystal Sword has 6 sockets max, but all items between ilvl 25 and 40 have 4 sockets max, and Larzuk obeys that cap. The particular crystal sword Kylearan got was in that range and so Larzuk gave it 4. It also would have had a 50-50 (3 in 6) chance of getting 4 sockets from the cube recipe. And all broad/long swords of at least ilvl 25 also have that same 3 in 6 chance.

Style points can matter, but in this format of a single playthrough, it's not wise to trade off a limited resource just for that. I think Kylearan just didn't realize a 4-socket sword would be easy to come by via the cube recipe.

(Kylearan, don't be distracted by my nitpicking, I'm thrilled that you're playing this format and totally want to read along. )

[Kylearan]

Kylearan, don't be distracted by my nitpicking

All the nitpicking happening around here was one of the reasons I joined the old Network54 RB forum way back when, as I actually enjoy this.  So by all means, please continue nitpicking!

[Charr Babies]

Kylearan, don't be distracted by my nitpicking

All the nitpicking happening around here was one of the reasons I joined the old Network54 RB forum way back when, as I actually enjoy this.  So by all means, please continue nitpicking!

Hear! Hear!

RB FORUM on Network54 (now Tapatalk)


[url=https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/realmsbeyond/realmsbeyond-f1/][/url]look way better in night mode

[Kylearan]

RB FORUM on Network54 (now Tapatalk)

More like this.

[Kylearan]

Time to take stock before we venture into Nightmare! Here's where my team stands.


Amazon

Skills: Strafe 13, Guided Arrow 9, Critical Strike 5, Pierce 5, Valkyrie 7, Magic Arrow 1; 1 prerequisite points in Inner Sight, Slow Missiles, Decoy, Dodge, Avoid, Evade, Penetrate, Multiple Shot, Cold Arrow. Has +1 to Bow and Crossbows skills right now.

I won't invest into Magic Arrow just yet, as my cold rogue merc has a bow with +1-107 lightning damage and shoots Freezing and Cold Arrows and is quite a killing machine herself, so I'll max Strafe first and maybe invest more into Valkyrie.

As for gear, she still uses an Edge Reflex Bow which I'd like to replace with something better soon; I hope a better base for another Edge or even Insight will drop. Biggin's Bonnet increases her damage and Twitchthroe her attack speed (and has +10 Dex for even more damage), and she wears Bloodfist for even more IAS. Gorefoot provides 20% FRW and 2% mana leech; a magic amulet with 3% mana leech and +8% damage taken goes to mana sustain her strafe. Two rather bad rare rings together give her over +100 AR, some Energy, Mana and Magic Find, and a magic plated belt bought from Larzuk provides an additional 20 extra mana. She receives +6 Dex and a bit of poison damage from charms.

In her off-hand, she still has the Hellcast crossbow although I don't know if I'll ever get to use that.

Her resists are really bad, all in the negative in Nightmare, but for an amazon that's okay for now. I'm sure that will improve, seeing how bad some of her current gear is (the jewelry and the belt provide no resistances at all). Until I finally had mana leech, I had prioritized energy and mana; now I can start to switch out that stuff.


Assassin

Skills: 14 in Claws of Thunder, 13 in Dragon Claw, 2 in Phoenix Strike, 8 in Fade, 1 in Burst of Speed, 1 in Claw Mastery, 1 in Weapon Block, 1 in Cloak of Shadows, 1 in Dragon Flight; 1 prerequisite point in Psychic Hammer, Fists of Fire, Blades of Ice, Tiger Strike, Cobra Strike, Dragon Talon, Dragon Tail.

A couple more points will go into Phoenix Strike to prepare for lightning immunes before maxing Claws of Thunder and Dragon Claw, with points in Fade inbetween.

SHe uses the upgraded dual-leech scissors quihab in her left hand and a rare fascia with 11-52 damage, adds 4-77 lightning damage, 7% life leech and +2 mana after each kill in her right hand. Biggin's Bonnet and Twitchthroe provide IAS and %ED, Sander's Taboo and Riprap FRW and even more IAS plus some AR. A magic amulet with +1 to Martial Art skills and 3% mana leech, a Cathan's Seal with 6% life leech and a rare ring with some resistances round her up, while a magic plated belt bought from Larzuk with FHR looks for a replacement.

With Fade, I have resistances between 20% and 43% in Nightmare, but my defense of only 204 will likely become a problem soon.


Barbarian

Skills: 15 in Leap, 20 in Leap Attack, 1 in Battle Orders, 1 in Battle Command, 1 in Shout, 1 in Find Item, 1 in Increased Speed, 1 in Iron Skin, 1 in Natural Resistance, 1 in Berserk; 1 prerequisite point in Howl, Shout, Find Potion, Increased Stamina, Bash, Stun, Concentrate.

I'll max Leap first and then will have to decide on a Mastery to be able to increase my power afterwards. I'll probably go for Sword Mastery because it has the highest number of options available and thus I increase my chances to be able to use what I find, but I also find that choice kinda boring. This is the one case in this variant ruleset where I think the no-respec doesn't feel quite right, seeing how the mastery doesn't change the build idea itself. 

For now he wields his upgraded War Club to great effect, but I think I'll have to switch to a one-handed weapon and a shield sooner or later, to survive jumping into packs. He wears the scale mail with +defense based on level and +56 life I had shown earlier, and a Duskdeep helm for the +8 max damage and +15 all res. Gorefoot are a perfect fit with their +2 to Leap, 20% FHR and 2% mana leech, and he received Chance Guards someone has found in Act 5 to boost MF for his Find Item. Manald Heal and Nagelring help out with mana leech and more MF, and he wears a Mahim-Oak Curio amulet to increase everything a bit more - I feel like he needs the boost to all attributes the most, being surrounded by monsters all the time constantly. He has a simple rare heavy belt with 26% lightning and 17% fire res plus a bit of mana. (Hm, now that I write this overview I realize nobody really has a good belt; I probably should start gambling a bit.)

His fire Iron Wolf wears a Milabrega's Orb to have some magic find of his own and no weapon - I have yet to find a sword that actually does something for him.


Druid

Skills: 12 in Cyclone Armor, 7 in Twister, 9 in Tornado, 17 in Hurricane, 1 in Oak Sage, 1 in Summon Grizzly; 1 prerequisite point in Arctic Blast, Raven, Summon Dire Wolf and Summon Spirit Wolf.

He still wears Hsarus' Set for the defense, which with 560 gives him the highest defense of all my characters, a hundred more than even the barbarian. I'm curious to see how long I can use this; it's quite nice. The Spirit weapon was really an improvement for him, and the Stealth in a serpentskin armor will last a while too. The best headgear I could find so far is a magic one with +2 Tornado and +12 to life - there's definitely room for improvement there. He has a Nokozan Relic for the fire res, but I hope to get something better here too (although he will still wear it against Diablo, I guess). Two simple magic rings with 10%FCR and and some MF and resistance as well as some mediocre rare gloves with MF and resistance also look for an improvement, but are okay for now. His resistances are all in the positive, and fire and poison even quite high (56% and 30%, respectively).


Necromancer

Skills: 12 in Bone Wall, 3 in Bone Prison, 20 in Bone Spear, 7 in Bone Spirit, 1 in Bone Armor, 1 in Corpse Explosion, 1 in Amplify Damage, 1 in Clay Golem, 1 in Golem Mastery, 1 in Summon Resist; 1 prerequisite point in Teeth.

Maxing Bone Spirit will be next I guess, more for the Synergy to Spear than for its own merit, as it is still too expensive to cast very often.

He wields a Bone Wand with +2 to Bone Spear and +2 to Bone Wall (which also has an open socket which I realize haven't used yet, should remedy that) and a rare unraveller head with +1 to Poison and Bone skills, +1 to Bone Spear, 28% cold resistance and some other, less useful stuff. A Lore helm and a Stealth armor are worn for obvious reasons, Sigon's Sabot for the 20% FRW and 40% cold resistance, and some badly crafted caster gloves and two rare rings with a focus on mana to sustain his spamming Bone Spear. A rare belt with some cold and poison resist needs to be replaced soon.

On weapon swap he has a Bone Wand with +2 to Golem Mastery for when he casts his clay golem - I have yet to find something better and/or an accompanying +skill head for the off-hand.

He has very good resistances except fire, which is at -13%. Together with his general squishiness, I'll have to be a bit careful here but should be okay in Act 1 at least where fire doesn't yet rain from the sky.


Paladin

Skills: 20 in Holy Bolt, 1 in Fist of the Heavens, 11 in Conviction, 4 in Vengeance, 1 each in Resist Fire, Resist Cold and Resist Lightning; 1 prerequisite point in Might, Holy Fire, Holy Freeze, Thorns, Sanctuary, Sacrifice, Zeal, Conversion, Blessed Hammer.

That's three points wasted in the three resist element auras. I don't know what exactly happened there in my brain, but somehow I didn't really think about them and subconsciously believed they work passively like the Barbarian's Natural Resistance, which of course they do not - they are active auras.    It's not that I haven't played many paladins back in the day, but... dunno, complete brain fart. I considered doing a respec here, but in the end decided I have to own up to my stupid fast-clicking-without-thinking. At least they still provide a +10% synergy each to their respective element to Vengeance.

I'm also considering investing yet another 3 skill points for Holy Shield.

Gear-wise, I have two modes: The Holy Bolt/Fist of the Heavens mode, and the Vengeance/Conviction mode. For Holy Bolt, I wield a Spirit sword and a Steelclash shield which also provides +1 to paladin skills and +15 to all resistances. When I have to enter melee, I switch to my upgraded morning star (60-103 damage) and a rare Rondache with +35 to all resistances and some damage and magic damage reduction, although this slot needs something better soon. I wear a Stealth serpentskin armor, a rare full helm with +8 energy and +34 mana (based on character level) and Sander's taboo and riprap. A Nagelring is accompanied by a magic ring with +energy and +mana, and a magic amulet with +49 mana. The belt is a magic plated belt with +mana - I think you can see my theme of more mana = more convenience shining through here. Now that I have Spirit, I'll replace the jewelry and the belt hopefully soon.

Besides some resistance small charms, he also carries a large charm with +6 max damage, +47 AR and +6 poison damage over 3 seconds which is nice for Vengeance. I should collect +elemental damage charms on him too, I guess. Overall he has quite bad resistances, but that will be easy to remediate in his case.


Sorceress

Skills: 10 in Fireball, 16 in Hydra, 4 in Fire Mastery, 4 in Frozen Orb, 2 in Cold Mastery, 1 in Frozen Armor, 1 in Teleport, 1 in Static Field; 1 prerequisite point in Frost Nova, Blizzard, Ice Bolt, Ice Blast, Glacial Spike, Telekinesis, Fire Bolt, Warmth, Enchant.

She wields a Leaf staff with +3 to Fireball and a Stealth hard leather armor. She has a rare circlet with 20% FCR, quadruple resists and a socketed perfect sapphire for +38 mana, and another 10% FCR and cold resist from a ring. The other ring is a plain magic +30 mana ring which will be replaced now, and the amulet is a simple +1 to sorceress skills which also seeks something better. Vidala's Fetlock provide 30% FRW, and belt and gloves are rather bland as well with some resists, some +mana and 22% magic find. A lot of equipment is sub par here, but on the other hand she doesn't really need better, so... here resists in Nightmare are good except for -8% lightning.

Her barbarian merc wields a rare war sword with +1 barbarian skill levels and a Death's Touch on the off-hand. Now that I have two barbarian mercs, I need a lot of good swords to equip them with...


Overall, I had expected to create more Lore helms, but in the end I felt only the necromancer really benefited from one. In high demand are good belts and better jewelry, and I hope I'll find some open-socketed exceptional bases for Insight polearms and bows, Rhyme and Ancient's Pledge shields and maybe a Peace armor for the amazon (more for fun than anything else). I'd also like to have two more Spirit swords for the barbarian to wield off-hand, for buffing and Find Item, but that's not very pressing and certainly can wait a bit.

[T-hawk]

Hey, lots more nits to pick!

Yikes, those resistance numbers scare me. Max resists should be the default expectation for starting nightmare. Almost every one of my characters had that. Bare minimum would be like 60/30/60 fire/cold/lightning. It might be less of an issue in Resurrected if some of the fire/lightning/cold enchanted boss bugs are fixed, but I still wouldn't want to take chances.

Really, the vendors are your friends. Ten minutes to shop a simple Garnet or Coral belt could well save one of the characters, definitely better than just a +mana prefix. Also gambling circlets is a good idea now, with most of the good affixes available (+1 class skills, +2 tree skills, all the resists) and before the price escalates more.

Also shields. A shield with 3 perfect diamonds would be an improvement for your paladin, druid, and maybe necromancer. Or make more Ancients Pledge shields now - exceptional bases for those are not important, the defense is small. Fara in normal difficulty can sell 3-socket Large and Kite shields. Also Rhyme is quite good, particularly in a necro head (all have max 2 sockets), or for a meleer who wants Cannot Be Frozen.

For the amazon, upgrading that Hellcast (if you can make the 110 strength requirement) would do a lot more damage than anything else you have available or are likely to find in the first half of nightmare.

I wouldn't max Strafe yet. Critical Strike gets more damage per skill point for quite a while, typically up to level 9, and works with all the physical bow skills.

For the barbarian weapon mastery, what I always did was save primal helms with the different masteries, and swap them in as required. Particularly good if socketed into a Lore. These can only drop from low monster levels though, so if you didn't save them, you won't get more. I think I would do 1 point in Mace Mastery now, but no more than 1 in any mastery until you get an endgame worthy weapon. Unless you do want to respec. No respecs isn't a core part of the format at all, just how I wanted to do it myself.

His fire Iron Wolf can use a Spirit sword, when you can make another.

Your druid skills are all over the place - Tornado should be maxed first for damage, then the synergies.

For the necromancer, +Clay Golem at low skill levels often results in more life than +Golem Mastery. Try this pet calculator if you like (though I don't know what changed for Resurrected): http://tph.tuwien.ac.at/~gottwald/necro_...lator.html

The paladin resist auras have the passive effect of increasing <i>max</i> resistance, by 1% per two points.

[Kylearan]

Hey, lots more nits to pick!

\o/

Yikes, those resistance numbers scare me.

I'm not too much concerned yet, as I know this will improve a lot quickly. The casters now have enough mana to swap out +mana with +resistances items, and I have saved some bases already for appropriate shields. And maybe I'm too naive or too cocky, but I feel like my ranged characters can get away with lower resistances; I'm more concerned about my melee classes, the assassin with her rather slow double-attacks in particular. She will stop using Burst of Speed now and instead switch on Fade (and put more points into that skill), which should help. The paladin will get a Rhyme in a +14 res heraldic shield for when he has to use Vengeance, and the druid gets an Ancient's Pledge. The barbarian has the highest amount of life, Natrual Resistance and will switch to a shield rather sooner or later, so he will be fine as well.

Really, the vendors are your friends.  Ten minutes to shop [...] Also gambling circlets is a good idea now, [...] before the price escalates more.

I won't do vendor grinding, but I will gamble now. I wanted to do that soon anyway; good point about the increasing prices, I didn't think about that!

For the amazon, upgrading that Hellcast (if you can make the 110 strength requirement) would do a lot more damage than anything else you have available or are likely to find in the first half of nightmare.

You're probably right, but I find Hellcast to be sooo slow, freezing me into place much longer than I feel is safe. That's what I like about Edge, giving you 35% IAS, but of course the damage against non-undead/non-demons is not good. I did find a cedar bow with four open sockets, so I'd have to compare Insight in that base to Hellcast, but for that I'll have to refresh my memory first how exactly Strafe and attack speed works.

I wouldn't max Strafe yet.  Critical Strike gets more damage per skill point for quite a while

Good point, didn't think about that.

For the barbarian weapon mastery, what I always did was save primal helms with the different masteries, and swap them in as required.  Particularly good if socketed into a Lore.

Neat, something I have to remember for next time!

Your druid skills are all over the place - Tornado should be maxed first for damage, then the synergies.

I increased Tornado as much as I could while leveling and spent all remaining points into its synergies, until I reached level 30 and reached Hurricane, which I want to max first. Mostly for convenience again; it deals nicely with crowds in an automatic fashion, and Tornado does enough damage as it is for now.

I could have saved the points I spent for the Tornado synergies to continue increasing Tornado itself instead in parallel with increasing Hurricane, but decided I wanted the synergy bonuses before level 30 already, when every cast of Tornado was precious (I severely lacked mana). Not the best plan long-term, but the druid at the moment feels very powerful as it is, so I guess it turned out okay.

For the necromancer, +Clay Golem at low skill levels often results in more life than +Golem Mastery.

I figured as much, but didn't have any +Clay Golem items when I thought about the weapon swap option. I forgot to look at Drognan's for that when I had been in Act 2, and nothing better has dropped so far. Again something that could be fixed by vendor grinding, which I stubbornly refuse to do.  

The paladin resist auras have the passive effect of increasing <i>max</i> resistance, by 1% per two points.

Yes, but only the hard points, correct? So this won't really help me, I guess.

[T-hawk]

Oh, there is a way to get more +skill barb helms. Find a low-quality/cracked/etc one, and use the El + chipped gem recipe to fix it, which sets its ilvl to 1 and so it can get low-tier skill bonuses. Most of them also get capped to 2 sockets this way, so it's easily cube-socketable into a Lore as well. I forgot about this trick and should have used it myself. It also works for assassin claws, to get exceptional claws with +Claw Mastery, Tiger Strike, Dragon Talon.

For amazon attack speed: https://www.theamazonbasin.com/wiki/inde...tack_speed

If you have any Jewels of Fervor, just putting three of them in a socketed helm isn't a bad idea.

The paladin auras are only hard points, yes. I wasn't suggesting for you to do that, just saying that's why you remembered them having some passive effect, just the wrong one.

And if you're going to be that stubborn about no vendor grinding, I guess I was equally stubborn about no respecs and no ladder runewords. I reacted with disgust for a second when you mentioned Insight in a bow, wow that sounds like a terrible balance mistake. I hate Insight and Spirit and a few of the others like Obedience and Grief; they are so out of line for power compared to everything else and just dominate every other option.