omgbbq

meh no one cares about bm these days. LT is needed to ensure victory :P, plus smiters use dracs anyways

FraterPerdurabo

I don't know about your realm, but on Europe (where I play) all good duelers are GM. LT isn't needed to ensure victory, it's used by noobs that suck and cannot win a GM duel.

Only BM smiters use Dracs, GM ones use rare gloves with 20%IAS (even if the IAS breakpoint has already been reached because it's nice to stack vs Doom and Holy Freeze users, etc) +20 str +15 dex and triple resi.

db_jynx

I think 15 Str / 20 Dex are max on Rare gloves. and 30 Res is max on gloves. just a little helpful info

I got on internet bro this weekend.. PM me if you still need anything. Sorry for the long wait

FraterPerdurabo

Is that so? I thought that it's the other way around, since that's how it is on rare rings, for example, and I presume that it was the same suffixes and prefixes, etc.
No sweat man, I'm actually in London now, and am not going back home (where Diablo is) until the 9th. Just chilling in internet cafes at the moment :)

omgbbq

i play on useast non ladder softcore. LT is needed when ur facing off heavy melee with loads AR i.e. ww barbs that is boosted with demon limb. and LT is not bm, its just a smart way to survive duels.

vampire_darkness

i need a guide to a ww sin like gear skills the whole nine yards so please tell me that

omgbbq

i think frater explained in page 1 or 2 about ww sin

FraterPerdurabo

Holy ****, just go back to the previous page.

There is nothing smart about BMing. It's like saying that Hotspurs and 2xDwarf Star are a smart way of dueling a fire sorc. If you haven't got the skill that is required, make another char or quit diablo.

omgbbq

chill out man its a game. its just like bsing in wc3 or tking in bf2. sorbing is skillful and smart because ull never die.

FraterPerdurabo

No, it's more like mineral hacking in Starcraft, it renders the game pointless for the other person.

It's definately not smart, neither does any respectable dueler use it. Just stick to your pubbies and you'll be fine, but if you ever get interested in having a fair and interesting duel, scrap it.

Consider this issue dropped, I don't want any more spam in this thread.

Necrologician

Alright, i've got a bit of a wierd one. My question is more about gear selection as i cannot make up my mind.

So, i'm playing a melee sorc as part of a trio of aura based chars. The party is supposed to perform in pvp and pvm. It consists of a fanat paly, a conviction paly, and an enchantress. The palys wear dream helmet and shield, hoj sword and dragon armor and use vengeance as their main attack. Mercs provide holy freeze, might, concentration (runeword), and blessed aim. The question is what gear to give the sorc.

The stats are the usual (str for gear, dex for max block, the rest of the points between vit and energy as i am using energy shield, but mostly in vit. need to run the numbers to figure out exactly how many in each)
Main skills are: enchant, fire master, lightning mastery, tk, some in energy shield.

So the question is what to use for the sorcs gear. For certain i am going to use a passion phase blade and zeal, and possibly upgrade to a kingslayer with vengeance. I also plan to wear a dream helm and shield. The problem is this: according to the enchantress/melee sorc guides i have been reading, you need +2 all skills to get the most out of using vengeance. I am fairly capable of acquiring gear, but not so capable that it isn't a lot of work. I'm putting a lot of time and effort into getting enough HRs to make all the runewords these chars rely on (got 2 out of the 3 chars fully geared), but i don't have spare HRs to blow on stuff like Maras, sojs or BKs. I currently have highlords which is 1 to all skills, so now i just need 1 more. I can get this from unique armor or helmet (no anni either), the question is which.

2x dream=level 30 holy shock. With lightning mastery added thats about 1 to 6 or 7 k damage added to my melee. So i definatly want that, so i'm thinking armor. My other gear is going to be ravenfrost, verdungos, rare ring with resists, dual leech and ar, sandstorm trek or gorerider, and dracs/souldrainers/blood gloves. Then i'm filling my inv with elemental damage charms to make the most of my masteries. For armor this leaves me with a few choices. I would most like to wear Bramble for thorns, Leviathan for full physical resists, or dragon for holy fire (more damage). But i need those skills, meaning either Arkains or Coh. Arkains is nice for the life and Coh for the resists, but since i dont have stormshield i can't get full physical resist. This makes me think perhaps i should use a helmet like Andys, delirium, or Nightwings. But then i only have 1 dream, so one of my main damage sources is compromised. Of course, i could wear dragon armor and shield for level 28 holy fire instead, but since i have masteries not synergy auras holy shock is massivly superior.

So, any opinion on what i should go for on the armor/helmet? Also opinions on this whole oddball build/group is welcome. I've done all the cookie cutter builds before so i just have fun doing this sort of stuff at this point.

FraterPerdurabo

You have a neat idea there, but unfortunately, I doubt that it will work out. Ok, let me summarize this, even with stacked auras, Zeal, etc, a melee sorc is inferior to pretty much any other melee PvP char. A Smiter will own you before you can start hitting him, a barb will just WW you to bits, not even mentioning casters, who will just walk over you. Your current build will be torn apart in about 1 second.

However, let me go through your choices of gear quickly.

Leviathan = forget about it. Too high STR req.
Bramble = FHR is nice, Thorns is useless. It's efficiency is neglible in PvP.
Verdungo = nice choice, but have you calculated your breakpoints?
dual leech ring = effects on leech are neglible in PvP.
gloves = Dracs are a good choice but BM, Trang's are also a good choice, but BM as well. The other ones that you listed are garbage, forget about them.

If using Dream shield and helm (it's actually 2xlvl15 Holy Shock aura, not a lvl30 aura), you ought to make a pure light sorceress, also, they won't work for PvP. Forget about max block, unless you are going to Whitstan's or Stormshield, otherwise you will end up putting tons of your points into DEX (a good 400).

Most Enchantresses actually use Widowmaker and Guided Arrow

Also, the Vengeance on pallies is pointless. The skill sucks. Make an auradin instead, I suggest Smite auradin, Hammer auradin or just a V/T. Vengeance does not have what it takes, even with the best gear. What do you mean by a Fana pally?

Also, don't rely on mercs for PvP, using them is noobish and they will die in 1-2 hits anyway.

My answer is very oncoherent, since your post was extremely disorganised, but what I can tell you now is that your "group" is going to be weak in PvM and a joke in PvP. However, if you are interested in making a proper Enchantress, let me know.

Also, your main problem was that you had completely disregarded all breakpoints. Going on with that plan of yours will be an utter disaster.

Necrologician

Alright, thanks for the advice.

FraterPerdurabo

Sorry I couldn't really help you out, but if you need advice with anything else, let me know.

DiGiTaLiS

ok, this applies to my wind druid and hammerdin. When I did my character's stats I put in dex with max block with hoz on hammerdin and ss on my druid. Now, when they are gaining levels they are losing a % of block. Making it 74%. Each time they gain a level should I be adding points to maintain max block or what? thanks

Syntax_Errors

Any suggestions or ideas from the "known" types of paladins? Any experimental ideas? Sound like you know windy druids; could you explain this one? I like druids but find myself getting very ted and maybe they can kill an UBER or maybe not?

FraterPerdurabo

Yes, your % to block falls with each level that you gain. This was done in order to keep characters balanced throughout all the levels (imagine not being able to achieve max block for your low level dueler).

Use this calculator to see exactly how much you need at a given level:
http://dpw.bounceme.net/d2/

For a druid, have a look in the Character Development section for my Wind Druid guide. Probably one of the best PvP chars. I have a few more ideas so I'm going to try them and possibly add them in once I get home. And no, a Wind Druid cannot kill ubers.

For a nice paladin, I suggest a V/T. Have a look on page 1 or 2, someone asked for one before.

edit: Digitalis, it seems that the link that I provided earlier doesn't work (for me at least). However, there are various max block calculators available for download, check at diabloii.net, I think I downloaded one from there a while ago.

Necrologician

What are your thoughts on berserk barbs? I currently have a level 90 sword and shield barb that i use for general purpose and for MFing, mostly in the chaos sanc. I have maxed berserk, bo, and berserk synergies. My gear is this:

Eth death collosus sword, storm shield, arreats, laying of hands, verdungos, goreriders, cats eye, fortitude, raven frost, rare ring with + all resists and dual leech.

When mfing i switch to the ik helm with p topazes, enigma, and pull out duel ali babas to land final blows on bosses. With a 40% gheeds and some other charms i think i have about 350% mf.

The build isn't perfect, coming in at about 3k life and 3.5-6.5k damage per attack. I use howl to keep monsters off me when Chaosing and just kill the bosses. It takes me about 2 minutes to go through all the seals and kill diablo, somtimes more depening on enemy placement.

Is this any good? I enjoy this char immensly as i do not enjoy playing the more cookie cutter builds, but i really have no perspective. Is this actually a good build, or do i just have good gear? Any suggestions on berserk barb builds?

FraterPerdurabo

Berserk is a good option for exactly that, Chaosing with a barb, unfortunately it's not very effective and your success is entirely up to your gear. I really don't see how you could improve it in any way. I would recommend some other gosu chars for Chaosing, but you said that you're tired of cookie-cutters, so I really have no idea.

You might consider using Frenzy, though, if you are really into killing bosses. Get rid of the seal bosses with Berserk, so that you won't get owned by IM and use Frenzy to take out Diablo, it will be way faster. Arguably, Death and Beast are the best PvM Frenzy weapons, so try getting hold of those. The CB ensures that you'll take them out pretty fast, but you probably won't be able to change gear a lot, due to low IAS on Death.

Use this calculator to determine how much IAS you would need with either weapon:
http://diablo2.ingame.de/tips/calcs/...p?lang=english

If you can, change Cat's Eye for Highlord, the Deadly Strike works wonders on bosses.

DiGiTaLiS

Ok, I recently made a wind druid and I was wondering how much life I should have with out ele gc lifers. I have about 4.2kish with max block with storm shield and was wondering if that is good with out lifers and how much I should expect to have once I have the lifers