Diablo II: Expansion Pack (release date!!!)

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Diablo, Bro. of Mephisto
what character class died?

My necro. Every last one of my xp points disappeared for some odd reason. *sobs uncontollably*

this is my own personal oppinion, but I really like the amazon, and the assasin. I also like the paladin.

What skill plan are you following for the assasin?

[Chowlett]

I too recommend the Assassin - I follow a predominately charg-up/finish + traps route, with the pre-reqs for the good shadows throuwn in. Also, go for double claw attacks, health is not a huge problem. Maybe have a single claw/shield combo on the other weapons set.

If you like the necro, you might like the Druid, going as summoning. I couldn't get into either. But I did find the sorceress fun, but she's a little underpowered now she's around level 40. My barb merc kills more than I do.

[The Mad Monk]

What's everyone's ideas on character/merc matchups? Iv'e been playing around with this a bit, and these are my inital opinions:

Amazon: Cold Iron Wolf. With a valk to do the tanking, and the IW spamming glacial spikes, the Amazon (of whatever build) is a fairly-well balanced party all by herself.

Assasin: Cold Iron Wolf. Really helps with crowd control, especially if traps aren't your strong suit. Again, shadows are there to help tank.

Bararian: Cold Iron Wolf. Crowd control is essential, especially with those damn imps.

Druid: Cold Iron Wolf (seeing a pattern here?), or possibly Rogue with cold high-damage bow. Druids can have minions or not; without minions, a druid may have the normal crowd control problems that vex melee characters, and an IW is essential. With minions, crowd control becomes less of a problem, but the lack of long-range fire can still leave them in a bind with areas such as the act 3 rivers. Here, a rouge outfitted with the appropriate bow can do wonders. A desert warrior's auras can certainly help everybody, but the number of minions that actually benefit from the auras I've seen (as opposed to the ones they say are available) is rather small.

Necromancer: Desert Warrior if a zookeeper, hard to say otherwise. Zookeeper necros can have tons of minions, including spell casters in four flavors. Crowd control is never a problem for the properly managed necro hoard, and curses can quickly cut bosses down to size. The auras of the DW, of whatever flavor, can boost the hoard's efficiency greatly.

Paladin: Rogue with cold high damage bow. Unless built heavily speciallized for boss-killing or PvP (chargadin, etc.), Paladins have a wide variety of crowd-control options available already. They also have ranged fire options available, mainly in the form of spiritual hammer or holy bolt, but these options are limited in how they can be used (holy bolt can only be used against undead, SH is pretty useless in the maggot tunnels and similar areas, etc.). A properly equipped Rogue helps to make up for these deficiencies.

Sorceress: Anything but Desert Warrior. It depends on style of play; lot of sorcs are using barbs as tanks, which is fine if you are in the 'stand there and spam' school of spell casting. I tend to play a more mobile game, and the last thing I want is a merc that just stands there and gets killed while I'm trying to make a retreat. I prefer Rogues, since my sorc (tri-elementalist, mainly GS and Hydra) can handle crowds just fine, but benefits from the extra power a high-damage cold bpow can provide. Plus, the Rogue seems to understand the meaning of 'strategic withdrawal'.

Just a few thoughts...

[Chowlett]

I didn't realise the Desert Warriors had auras now. Must look into them...

So far, my chars haven't got overly far through, except for a spear-azon (who's just discovered that Fend isn't all it's cracked up to be), and cuprosti the Level 39 sorc, about halfway through Act 2 nightmare.

The amazon has just hired a cold IW, on the basis that he's far more powerful than my Cold Rogue. Only trouble is, he never seems to make use of that sword of his - it's just graphical really. But anyway, his Spikes are wonderful, although not a lot of use against the quick moving flayer-class.

My sorc has hired a barb, mainly because she moved straight into Act 5 Normal when I got the expansion. Admittedly, the barb does do a "Death or Glory" thing quite often, but there are a few things you can do to counter this.

1: Carry an antidote potion. One will do, it's just he seems to have tendency to get poisoned for long amounts of time.

2: Ensure you have at least 1 point in teleport. Teleporting moves both you and your merc - so if he or you is in trouble, just port out of there.

In addition, the barb mercs have a great benefit over any other merc - unless poisoned, they seem to rapidly heal themselves - and 'm talking about 3 seconds from red to full strength. Having given him a good sword, the only fault I can find with him is that he kills more things than I do...

[Chowlett]

Man I love the expansion. Before I left Uni, my Level 30 Paladin (Sir St_Probos) was next to useless in nightmare Act I quest 6. (Well, the catacombs). My friend found a second Sigon's Guard, however, so he gave me that as he already had one, to give us a boost. I've now killed Shenk and rescued the prisoners, and levelled up twice. I also found, joy of joys, Sigon's Wrap - which has been tweaked in the XP. It now offers defensive bonus commensurate with level - plus 72 at level 32 - and 2 items of Sigon's steel now give 10% life steal! Say hello to 14% total life steal, and goodbye to death. Add to that a handy strong barb merc and we're rocking on towards Anya. Soon as I kill Baal, I'll use my already-accrued imbue to get some rare armour (unless I find the Sigon one first ), and Andariel won't stand a chance.

[DinoDoc]

OK, I've been working on these plans for two characters that appear to be interesting and I was currious which one you people thought was the better one and/or what improvements you'd make to each one.

Sorceress

Warmth: 8 (Thanks TMM)
Blizzard: 18.
Static Field: 9.
Glacial Spike: 5.
Frozen Orb: 4.
Energy Shield: 4 (Is this better?)
Teleport: 1.
Cold Mastery: 6.
Lightning Mastery: 4.
Shiver Armor: 1

Druid

10 points in Lycanthropy
1 point in werewolf
10 points in werebear
5 points in shockwave
5 points in maul
1 point in Raven
5 points in Spirit Wolf
3 points in Dire Wolf
1 point in carrion vine (and prerequisites)
3 points in HoW

[The Mad Monk]

I don't know enough about druids, yet, but I do know something about sorcies, so I'll give a few suggestions on that one.

My first move would be to dramatically reduce warmth; My sorc has 8 warmth (including +skills items) at level 37, and its proven to be more than enough. At that level, warmth provides a mana refresh of +118% (ir thereabouts), which make for a mana orb that goes from empty to full in less than a minute; with 550 mana, my sorc can fire a level 6 glacial spike sixty-two times before before bumping the bottom (continuous, with a 10% speed boost). A more experienced sorc player said that warmth must be matched to your casting style, and this can really only be done by watching your manasphere as your sorc develops, adding warth as needed.

My second move would be to add a fire based spell (fireball will do, if you really don't want to climb that tree). The sorc's main strength in this game is that she has easy access to three out of six damage categories, in a world where monsters can have up to two immunities; this advantage should be used as much as possible. Lots of sorcs nowadays use firewall, but it seems a likely nerf target. My fave at the moment is Hydra, even after its nerf.

My only other question would be the number of points spent on energy shield; do you really intend to get hit that much?

If you do, it might explain the twenty in warmth...

[Dis]

I have about 8 in warmth in my sorceress. I probably won't put anymore. before the expansion I was going to boost it to 20. but there is no need now

she is primarirly a cold sorc, with fire spells thrown in to inflict more damage.

Paladins are fairly fun.

My amazon is struggling in Nightmare. I should be doing 200 damage per arrow (including poison stacked damage). but for some reason the hit points barely drop. buy my sorceress using blizzard (which currently does less than 200 damage) thrashes most monsters. What's up with that?

I have been playing my barb lately. He's a tank, but not that fun. I had to go beserk or he would be useless. but he's always out of mana using beserk all the time in nightmare. so I don't have much mana to use many war cries. And I have 11 wasted points in whirlwind.

I tried an elemental druid. level 20, but I couldn't beat duriel . my merc (amazon from act1) does more damage than me. Maybe if I get him to level 24 and tornado.

[DinoDoc]

1) The 8 points in energy shield idea was probably a leftover from my Classic Diablo days. How many skill points do you think it deserves?

2) I was planning on being a cold/lightning sorceress but you do make a good point. How would you reorganize my plan to best take advantage of the fire tree?

3) Dissident: Frenzy is the best barb skill right now.

[The Mad Monk]

Well, I have only one point in energy shield, and my+3 skills boost brings that total to four; this works well for me.

If you are doing a cold/lightning sorc for the fun of it, I'd say stick to that. If you want to use the fire tree for insurance, going as far as fireball or firewall is probably more than enough. Before she advanced far enough to aquire hydra, my sorc did the freeze-fry routine (GS to stop 'em, firewall to cook 'em, rinse, repeat); this was before the advent of firewall as uber-skill, and should still work after the expected nerfing.

My top barb is a frenzier--it works well.

[Dis]

well today was my 3rd try using a druid. and it has been successful

my first was a werebear. The attack speed was killing me. Not to mention lag that caused me to miss too many times. I miss at a bad time was disasterous. I think they should beef up damage and hit points of werebears to make them on par with werewolves.

my next was an elemental/summoner. I did everything the right way. But I was level 20 and struggling in the tomb of tal rasha. And I couldn't hardly dent duriel. My hireling rogue did most of the damage. the elements were fun, but they just aren't powerful enough. and there is no specialized equipment for a elemental druid.

my 3rd today was a werewolf. I must say it kicks ass. I am at level 21 nearing 22. Even without fury yet (a lvl 30 skill) he is fast and damaging. I just entered act3 and bought a maul with enhanced damage. Everything is 1 hit kill now except some uniques. A miss here is no big deal. In fact I miss fairly often. but I still have around 300 hp's, so not to big deal. I do get beat up, but I have yet to die. This character is stronger than my barbarian when he was a comparable level. Of course my barb used a 1 handed weapon. But nevertheless, the werwolf is the melee king. This character is my keeper.

[DinoDoc]

Which skill deals more damage: Hydra or Meteor? And how many skill points does it deserve?

[The Mad Monk]

Offhand, I'd say Meteor does more damage--certainly up-front, and probably over time as well--but Hydra is the 'sneakier' spell, so it shouldn't be discounted simply because of less damage.

Both spells require a modicum of skill to use effectively; Meteor has an 'arrival time', which forces you to 'lead' your aim, or bait the monsters to where you aimed. You can also hit monsters just off-screen with it, due to the initial strike radius, if you know where they are. The flamewall damge generally isn't worth adding into the calculation.

Hydra lists lower damage, but it should be remembered that that damage is for the individual shots the hydrae make, and they do spit out quite a few of them. Hydra makes a great scouting skill, since the hydrae have a visual range apart from yours, so they can shoot at targets that are well off screen--or around corners, or behind walls, etc. They will always target the closest enemy within range, regardless of intervening objects (they can't harm critters hind walls, but they can certainly point 'em out). Since hydra don't do as much damage, you generally have to reapply them, while moving around yourself (to draw targets into range, and keep out of range yourself).

How much to add? If this would be your secondary attack, max it after maxing your primary; if a tertiary, maybe ten points; if (with hydra) simply a scouting tool, one will do.

Now this is just my POV; any other Meteor/Hydra users out there?

[DinoDoc]

Thanks, TMM. You've helped me complete my new Sorceress paper build. Tell me if this is better than the first.

Warmth: 1
Frozen Orb: 20
Static Field: 1
Glacial Spike: 5
Energy Shield: 1
Cold Mastery: 10
Hydra: 10
Fire Mastery: 10
All Pre-reqs: 1

This is the stat point distribution I was thinking of going with.

Strength: 60 (for frostburns)
Dex: BASE
Vitality: 200+
Energy: 100+

[Chowlett]

My gut feeling is that a warmth of 1 would be too low. My sorc has an altered warmth of 6, giving +90% recharge, or so. I have no problems, but was running out at lower levels. You may find that until you get your energy up, you may have difficulty.

About the only other thing I'd say is that at level 1, the radius on SF is pitiful, and you have to get very close to the monsters your attacking. The damage doesn't increase, but the radius of effect does increase dramatically. I wouldn't be happy with mne at less than about 3.

[Dis]

well with all those cold spells, yes more warmth will probably be necessary (esp in the beginning normal level).

I'm getting burnt out on this game though. Melee characters just aren't fun. My druid is kind of fun. But my barbarian is a pain in the ass. I haven't found any swords whatsoever. The sword I'm using now came in nightmare act2 before the expansion. I'm in act 5 nightmare now. I'm not doing diddly damage to these monsters.

I find tones of assassin weapons, but no good swords.

This game is broken. Plain and Simple.

This is why the sorceress is the only character I can play now. They don't rely on finding weapons to be good. I can't even find any good items to trade with other people. I'm at the end of act5 nightmare. And I still only find the same set items I found in normal level.

It takes 10 seconds to kill one of those blood lord (I think is name) in act 5 nightmare. I can't handle a pack by myself. Tell me how that is fun?

The sorceress is the only character I will use from now on, unless they improve item drops. Less assassin items, and more barbarian items (besides helmets- I see a ton of barb helmets, but no swords whatsoever).

even if they nerf the firewall (most likely), the sorceress will still have the advantage of not needing to find good items just to keep the game moving along to the next act.

[The Mad Monk]

I think it looks better, but it's hard to say without actually playing the build. One point in warmth is enough to start with, but don't hesitate to add more if you think your mana isn't recovering fast enough.

How much do you expect to depend on skill/mana/mana regen boosts from gear?

Both diabloii.net and the lurker lounge have reams of data, if really want to get into the nitty-gritty of 'build theory'.

BTW, anybody here read the ongoing adventures of Naked Babe?

[OldWarrior_42]

DA ... or just D here at Apolyton . I have a level 37 Barbarian that I am currently using in Nightmare...but Still in Act I.

He has 2 excellent swords that kick ass, I ended up buying them both, as the ones I have found are not as good. But I have put almost all of my skill points in just 3 areas. Sword mastery, Frenzy and Natural resistance.

And when I get into a melee and just use constant Frenzy .... with these 2 swords, I rip everything to shreds. I love to go into a packed area and clean house.

If I can remember to write down what swords and attributes they have, I will post them here when I next get a chance.

But the Barbarian can actually be a very powerful and fun character to play. At least for me. I hope you have better luck in getting some weapons that you can enjoy.

[Dis]

you don't get tore apart with no shield?

I probably could do better with 2 swords. anyways beserk lowers my defense to 0 anyways. but my shiled deflects a lot (I still have around 65% blocking with my dex mod)

[OldWarrior_42]

Nope....no torn apart.....and no shield . I actually beat Diablo in Normal, standing toe to toe and hacked him up eventually with my 2 swords and frenzy. Also lots of potions. Health and mana.

But yeah, I get along without any shield whatsoever and so far in act 1 of nightmare I have found nothing to give me a hard time yet. And I don't use beserk. I think frenzy is the better skill.

If you create another Barbarian and go through the game again, try just feeding sword mastery and frenzy and of course natural resistance. You also obviously will need to waste a few points to go down the tree to frenzy but thats life.

[Chowlett]

Something just struck me. I've seen all of the following magic modifiers (or their effects) on item's I've picked up...

Angel's, Monk's, Summonner's, Acrobat's, Slayer's, Lion Branded, Shaman's.

For those of you that don't know, those give +1 to these skills:

All Sorc, All Paladin, All Necro, Amazon Magic + Passive, All Barb, Paladin Combat Skills, All Druid.

However, I haven't as yet picked up anything that adds to Assassin skills, despite having characters in Act II nightmare. Do such items exist?

[DinoDoc]

Sorceresses are boring me. I'm going to start an assassin. Here's the build I'm following:

No Martial Arts

Shadow Disciplines:

Burst of Speed: 3 points

Cloak of Shadows: 1 point

Fade: 3 points

Shadow Warrior: 1 point

Mind Blast: 20 points

Shadow Master: 20 points

Traps:

Wake of Fire: 1 point

Lightning Sentry: 20 points

Wake of Inferno: 20 points

Death Sentry: 5 points

(1 point in all prereq)

[Diablo, Bro. of Mephisto]

I like the amazon the best. my strategies are as follows:

Make your Amazon a Bowazon, though they may not do as much damage, you will most likely not die as much, and ranged attacking in hell difficulty is invaluable.

I use Ice Arrow in my left hand, so I shoot 1 every time. in my right hand I use strafe. I level up both those skills 'til their maxed. I also go for the passave skills, like penetration I max out as soon as possible, so I can have good attack rating. the dodging skills are very usefull as well, especially if you are a spearazon/javazon. and the "chance to do double damage" skill is also very usefull when you are a bowazon.

the valkyrie I try to max as well, in hell difficulty she provides excellant distractions to the harder monsters like the bosses. though she is usuless in attacking, since she can't hit worth crap. I just use her has a deception while me and my merc go in for the kill.

the freezing arrow is good to use when facing the physical immune guys in hell difficulty. though it drains your mana like no other.

I like to keep my atts like this: (I am lvl 78)

strength: 230+
Dexterity: 300+
vitality: 100+
energy: 80+

having high strength is good for equiping the high lvl elite armor. the dexterity of course is good for attack rating and damage (when using a bow or Xbow). high vitality is good for life. having nice mana is good for the skills that require more mana (e.g. freezing arrow).

right now my amazon is using Eaglehorn bow, which so far as I know, is the best legit bow in the game.

stone of jordan ring is good for boosting your spells and your mana. my other ring I use is a prismatic ring, +15 to all resists, and +10 to both dexterity and strength.

my amulet is...forgot its name, (this is the legit version) but it is +20 to all resistances, +2 to all skills, and +5 to all attributes. there is a hacked version which is like +250 to all resists, +7 to all skills, and +95 to all attributes. I have the hacked version too, but I prefer to be legit. (I play open b.net and single player, the realms are too laggy for me)

[Dis]

well the patch is out. many, many changes. although none to extreme

the biggest is firewall. Before my level 16 firewall (3 mastery) was doing around 1800 damage. But now does around 1500 damage. but 15 % isn't too bad. it was needed.

there are also changed to amazon arrows, I'm not sure how that works.

quite a few other minor changes. you can now give potions to your hireling much easier.

[The Mad Monk]

Looks very much like what happened to DinoDoc's necro, not so long ago. Overtime at work enabled my characters to duck the blow...any casualties here?

[DinoDoc]

I have a question about ethereal Iron golems. Does the ethereal mod give them the ability to break the physical immunity of monsters?

TMM: You mean that wasn't just a random accident that killed my original necro? Jesus, I pity anyone that has to suffer such a fate. Especially if they play ladder. How's your character doing anyway?

[The Mad Monk]

Sorry it took so long to get back...

What happened was undoubtedly an accident--and all Blizzard's fault. Expansion characters would be selected for play, but be booted out of games for not being expansion characters; the next time those characters entered a game, they were level 1, with only the level one starting gear! There were a number of level one matriarch/patriarchs running around (or just quietly sobbing) that evening...

A rollback apparently cleaned that mess up.

My characters are all doing fine; I want to get in more play time in with my assasins and druids (my highset level assasin, Dark_Creampuff, is now level 22), but I'm too busy obsessing on getting a Po rune or five (hundred ). To that end, I've been busy 'runehunting' in nightmare with my bowazon.