Mert1
22-06-2004, 22:18
Introduction.
Inspired by Baranor’s Library I deciced to make one for a site in my language. But with all that work being done I thought to myself – cant I help here as well? WTF, all I did in d2 last few months was connected to LLD – so I decided to share my experiences. This article is quite long and overloaded with links as I tried to incorporate all discussions being held in d2net HC forums as well as other main d2 forums for months. Here you will find all information concerning LLD in 1.10 and I hope this will inspire you to make a char of your own and invent more effective and funny builds.
PART I GENERAL INFO
Definitions
LLD = Low Level Duelling, low level being lower than 30, 27, 24 or whatever according to different rules. Lvl < 30 brings most sense, so here all builds requiring 30+ are given separately.
PK = Player Killing. Killing HC chars with specially built chars. PK victims are normal untwinked pvm chars, they have low life and naturally try to escape if they are not total newbs. Thats why PK is all about quick kills, in 1-2 hits, otherwise the victim exits. Important is damage, life and defence is less important. PKing is often referred to as “hunting”, this requiers quite a skill to pk and usually means the PK cant be killed by a victim (can be by a PKK)
PKK= Player Killer Killing. Killing PKs with specially made chars. This is aimed at surprising PKs while on their hunt. A PKK should be able to take hits, deal good dmg oneself and look like a normal pvm char
PvP= Player vs Player = consentual duelling. Both chars should be able to take hits and deal good dmg. PKK can make good duellers, but not always. PKK is about surprising high dmg and low life opponent. In duels both players know what to expect from each other, which makes some PKKs incapable in duel. Still, many duellers try to look like another/ harmless build making them behave as true PKKs
More on PK/PKK meaning and PKK stories here:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=175350
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=199167
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=206453
Why LLD?
1. LLD is fair. You wont need duped enigmas to be a decent dueller. You wont need 50 bots running either.
2. LLD is interesting. No need to level to 90 thru thousands of pointless runs and get tppked in the end. LLD char can be remade quite fast, however some builds require full rush which will be tougher then normal rushing
3. LLD is not frustrating. Yes, you will regret loss of an LLD char, but you wont need to make “ACT1 newb again gogo” – type game and lose all your wealth and effort.
4. LLD is not cheap. Some LLD items are worth dozens of sojs and not worse than 160/60 armors. However decent gear is easy affordable
5. LLD is crazy fun. Its another dimension of D2 universe and many players totally sank in it. Its about having the best knowledge of the game and can be compared to making out of a pile of rusty metal a car that will pwn latest type BMW. Its about killing a lvl 90 with lvl 20 and lvl 50 with lvl 9. With LLD you will discover another world.
How to PK
1. Find game. Best games are common “runs” (Andy, Sewers, Arcaine, Travincal, Diablo , Baal etc)
2. Join the party and check the party location. Check the high lebels, many pks died to a high lvl they hadnt noticed. Pay attention to high lvl sorcs as the party might be enchanted. One big party is better than several small ones
3. Wait till most players are in the same easy accessible location and hostile. Best is to come from another exit when the party passes by (sewers), or wp located further. Sewers are not an easy location as most people will exit immediately, they lose nothing. On the other hand, Maggots, Diablo, Meph and such are more suited for pking as many players will try to get the quest and wont exit.
4. Reach the party and pk whoever you can. If all players exit to town, wait by the tps, sometimes they came back. Or go to the next location (e.g. Viper lvl 2) and wait there. Many players are caught simple as that
5. Nice if the party decided to kill you, thats just what you want. Challenge them to a duel outside of town. Nice idea is to make them angry looking like an annoying newb (e.g. asking for wp in Ballrun when everybody is in the Throne, getting angry and hostiling). The idea is to make them think you hostiled not to pk, but out of frustration or whatever.
6. Behave politely, no need to quarrel (if its not for pk), get angry, insult or feel oneself superior. PK is minor outsmarting the opponent, not dominationg him (he has untwinked char anyway)
7. If you got an ear or everybody left / learned you pk, leave. 9/10 games you hostile you will get nothing (just as a wildcat, hope you wont die from hunger like her though)
Dont forget to create friendly ambience. Read this:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=178159
How to PKK
1. Find game. Look for same game as you were a PK. Try to spot a known PK in the name list or at least see chars looking like PKs (lvl 18 palas with violent names are an example)
2. Join the party and check the party location. Check the high levels, if theres a high lvl, no PK will strike. If you see only amas and sorcs, 99% chances theres no PK there. If all the party bypassed a location suitable for PK (e.g., all went to sewers lvl 2), they are all pvmers. Look where everybody. The PK wil never go levelling with the party as all of them are built not to exceed a certain lvl. Not to mention that if anybody standing near the gate/trapdoor/south Sewers entrance (!), they are almost definitely pks.
3. Pick the fight. If you have a well known build (like a jabber), go to the location and try to be the 1st pk target. Works best when you let the party go further and when the pk comes, look like running FROM him (not TO him, this will reveal who you are). Evntually he catches you and gets a nice kick(s). If you have a special build, unusual in duelling (e.g. merc necro), no need to bother with the location. Just join the game, stand in town and drink a beer. When the PK hostiles, behave like a newb and challenge him to a duel. (lol pala, u wanna die? My skellies will pwn u, Come act 1, etc). The PK will come for an easy ear (if you knew how HARD it is to get an ear, you’d never doubt a PK accepts this present) and leaves his own instead.
4. Listen to the party praising you and laughing at the PK. Dont do it yourself, PKK is about outsmarting people, not dominating them (havent you pked yourself?)
How to duel
1. Join or make a duel game (“low lvl duels” or such) in normal difficulty. Put the fvcking level restriction on or you get swarmed by lvl 80s!
2. Check for possible scamming. 1st of all, enchant (make the opponent pass through wp to see if he is enchanted). Dont believe in enchant power? Read this:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=169723
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=206181
3. Beware of high lvls near the exit. They like to host and try to pk you while you duelling someone else. Dont stand on the edge, you can get pked by a rogue merc or at least get your merc/golem killed. Be on alert when returning to town.
4. Pick a fight. HC duelling are all about 1 lucky hit. Potting is no BM in HC and be prepared most will use chicken as well. Thew duel is not over untill someone died. So 1 super hit wins vs 999 smaller ones by a big margin.
5. Be aware duelgames are boring and most likely you wont get any fair duels for hours. State of LLD here:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=198936
OK, I want to make an LLD char. What items will I need?
1. Jewels and charms.
Yes, LLD is all about them. Otherwise how would you get life and dmg high enough? 90% builds wont be able to kill without jewels and the rest wont need them, but will need charms.
Usual jewels are:
- 9 to max dmg (lvl 8 req)
- 15 to max dmg (lvl 18 req)
- 20 ED (lvl 9 req)
Perfect or 1 dmg less will do (e.g. 14 max and 15 max), but not less. You put quite an effort into building LLD char – why spoil it with faulty jewels? However you can keep even 11 maxers and make test PvPers with them
Rare jewel can get up to 4 mods. The godly ones for lvl 9 are 8-14/-15 reqs or 14 max/20 ED. For lvl 18 its 20 max/20ED. 20 ED/-15 reqs are valuable as well. The 1st jewel is as rare as 40/15.
ED/max jewels are bugged outside of weapon, think twice. 6 str in ED or max jewel will be nice as well.
More on jewels here:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=186440
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=196913
http://www.diabloworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57135
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=174484&highlight=enhanced+jewels
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=203893
Usual charms are:
- 15 life lc (9 lvl req) – only source of life for lvl 9 char
- 20-24 life gc (14 and 21 lvl req) – not bad if theres nothing else
- 10 life sc (14 lvl req) – best for 14-16 char
- 15 life sc (17 lvl req) – absolute best, any 18+ lvl will need them
- cold dmg sc (10 lvl req) – cheap, but very useful
- 5 stats lc (13 lvl req) – for some builds better than life charms, cheap substitute for them
- FHR chams (any type) – some builds need this
- FRW charms (any type) – same, especially useful for PK
- Max dmg charms (10 max gc adn 6 max lc – 21 lvl req) – so good!
10 max/ 20 life gc in trade will bring you at least a high rune.
I advice to keep all life and dmg charms and a good amount of the rest
2. Materials:
- gems – collect all rubies normal and flawless quality.A few Flawless ametists, topazzes, emeralds will be handy as well
- runes. Need an amount of 1-10 runes (up to Thul) and keep all runes from Amn. They will be useful
- normal armors. Here you will need Gothic/Ancient plates (only ethereal), all 3 socketed helms and pally shields with built-in 6x ED. May pay attention to necro heads, barb and druid helpms, they can have very nice mods
- ethereal normal weapons. Notably Flail, War axe, Knout, Lance, Martel, Partizan and sometimes Pike/War Javelin/Harpoon
Armors and weapons you will have to socket (or find with max sockets already). Max sockets items can have:
- Helms – 3 (only Masks, Crowns, Great helms, Class-specific)
- Mentioned armors, pally shields – 4
- Flail, Knout, Partizan – 5
- War axe, Pike – 6
- Lance, Martel – 6, but you will need 5 ! (for Honor runeword)
If you find them already socketed, bear in mind in Normal max sockets - 3, in NM – 4. Somehow 3 sockets helms dont spawn in Normal either.
If you use Larzuk quest, you will need to check lvl of the location where you found the item.
Heres the table of max sockets you can get for each lvl:
http://www.diabloii.net/items/sockets-list.shtml
And the location lvls:
http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/index.php?showtopic=33345
Bosses have 3 lvls more than the location lvl.
IF you read attentively, you see a problem in getting 5 socketed martels/lances. They get either 4 or 6 sockets from Larzuk and can be found with 5 only in Hell. Moreover, axes cannot get 5 sockets ether as exceptional versions are too high to get dropped in Normal. So, Partizans and Knouts are our only friends, they always get 5 sockets if found in the right place
Another possibility is try socketing formula (perf ametist + amn + ral + item), but the chance to get 5 is 1/6.
3. Magic items - Useful [needed for a special build only]
- boots : Cow King’s (ck), Sanders, [Vidalas, Treads, Hotspur, Hsarus, Goblins, Sigons, good rare War boots]
- belts: String (soe), Deaths, rare with life/str
- gloves: Bloodfists, Clegs, Deaths, [sigons, +2 java 10 ias lvl 30]
- armor: Viper, Twitch
- helm: Peasants, [Biggins]
- shield: Pelta, Umbral Disc
- weapons: Clegs, Bonesnap, Steeldriver [Rogue’s Bow, Jade, , Generals, Hell Plague, Gravenspine, Umes, Iro, , eth Ariocs needle]
- rings: rare lvl 9, Angelic, soj
- ammy: rare lvl 9, Angelic, [+2 certan skills lvl 30]
Getting the items
1. Cows
The easiest way to get most LLD items seems clearing the cow level on Normal and NM difficluty. 1st more monsters = more drops, you get a lot a chams/jewels, 2nd you get all needed materials, 3rd you get all needed low lvl items, 4th you wont need much MF.
LF javazon seems the best cow killer in game and she doesnt require good items. Java is also nice as she cannot accidentally kill the Cow King, as he is lightning immune
Stats: str for items, dex for max block, rest in life
Skills: max LF, 17+ pierce, 40%+ dodging skills, rest goes in Valk and synergies for LF
- Normal cows java:
1. Shop mana per kill throwing spear in act 4/5 and BsoD in act 2
2. Make 3 perfect topazzes mask
3. Rest is up to you, try to get more MF, life and str. Nice will be Wealth in a Breast plate, Tancred amu + boots, life/str belt, MF gloves and boots, Manald ring, Rhyme instead of BSoD
The java kills all visible cows in one throw of LF and never runs out of mana. Only needs to be in NM. With this java you get most of your 9 max, 15 max and 20 ED jewels as well as 15 life large charms and 10 life smalls. Most likely you will get all low lvl items as well.
- NM cows java
Here you will need better items as you can easily die and will lack killing speed. My java uses the following:
1. Titans
2. Witstans with 3 mana per kill jewel
3. Shaft
4. Shako
5. Verdungos
6. Dracs (thats for 10 life per kill and Life Tap for the Merc)
7. CK boots
8. Manald, Raven frost, +2 skills and life ammy
Merc uses Upped Skullders, Reapers and Gaze. Merc can be Defience or HF for more safety, but less killing speed. Valk is maxed
This is by no means the best setup for a java, check experts advice here:
https://webspace.utexas.edu/kusumava/java
http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/index.php?showtopic=36863
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?p=1787208
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=174439
With this java you get 15 life small charms, same 15 max charms, lots of runes and gems, low lvl exceptional uniques and eth exceptional weapons/armor. NM is essential to get max sockets in shields and weapons. Even Flail can get 5 sockets only if found in NM cows. However Gothic and Ancient armors can get 4 sockets if dropped in Normal cows. Another advantage of NM cows is that you get good items for trade (notably, skillers ( Combat pala with life , etc) , 7 mf charms, 20 life charms, good runes (Ist drops often btw) and good items (skullders etc). Wont get a Shako this way.
How to play with the java:
1. Log in with lvl 1 char and look for “run” games (Baals are best as they are fast and make you kill fast too, not wasting much time)
2. Copy game name (Ctrl-C)
3. Quickly log with the java and paste the game name (Ctrl-V) or create next game. Last is useful for those newby runs where Cain is not rescued.
4. By any means dont kill the king, you will spoil your java with that. Dont join cow games as party members may kill the king. For the same reason dont party up. Beware of tppkers, sometimes they come in cows to tppk you.
5. Why cant you run cows in private games? Drops will be worse. You will need at least 4 people in game for good drops, reduces no-drop chances (http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/index.php?showtopic=20130 )
I advice having 2 javas – one for Normal and one for NM. This way you can replace NM java if she dies and most important, will be able to see NM games with your Normal java (makes a chain: mule – N java – NM java)
Java is nice for finding one of the best items for LLD: ck boots. The boots can only drop in Cow level. More on Ck boots odds here:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=192947 ck boots finding
2. Shopping
Some items can be shopped from NPC in game. These are:
- 3 socketed breastplates, Act 2 Fara
- any spears, act 4/5 Hratly/Malah
- BsoD (Bone Shield of Deflecting), act 2 Drognan
- Scepters/Staves/Wands, act 3 Ormus, act 1 Akara
More on shopping here:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=202162
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=196553
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=166219
3. Runewords
Useful Runewords:
- Honor (27) – best weapon at that lvl
- Rhyme (29) – best shield at that lvl
- Strength (25) – for a special build
- Malice (15) – for a special build
- Leaf (19) – for a special build
http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/runewords.shtml
4. Imbue
Imbuing may be the only way to get some items. These are notably throwing weapons. Throw barb will be weak without nice rare ethereal War Javelins/Harpoons, same with Jabber zon. Imbue is more complicated thatn it used to be, so the old imbue guide can no more be used. Instead, look here and directly follow the four steps:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=182890&page=4
http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/index.php?showtopic=35103&st=0&#entry439615
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=202287
5. Cubing
Charms can be rerolled using Horadric Cube recipe (3 perfect gems) and the level will always be that of the charm, so try to get those appropriate for the affix lvl:
Check the needed affix here:
http://www.d2data.net
Then check the location here:
http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/index.php?showtopic=33345
The charm lvl will correspond to the location lvl (if boss dropped, this lvl +3). More on charms cubing:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=185105
http://www.lurkerlounge.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=7&t=2832&
6. Trade
Finally, if you dont find a certain item, trade for it. Here you have several options:
1. Trade channel (LOD Europe Hardcore-1, always try to get in 1, sometimes its full). Channel is good for specific items (e.g. 20 ED/ -15 reqs charms) and trading away good items (runes etc). How to spam: print your offers/needs, Ctrl-C, than Ctrl-V 2-3 times in a row (not more, you will get disconnected)
2. Trading games. These are “HC trade”, HC Trade2” and more, “Trade HC”, “Trade HC2” etc. The games are goood if you have many average items, these are hard to trade away in channel. Also you can get extremely nice deals, especially at night, when there are less people. Beware of scam though, most popular is trading gemmed Cap as a Shako (usually shows Shako, says no place, comes back and puts green cap in trade screen).
3. Trading forums. These are good for very rare items and give a certain warranty you wont be scammed. However, many items can be traded in channel for a better price
4. Your own games. These are for newby starting items you will need for LLD (e.g. Gravenspine wand), but will never get in channel unless you offer high rune for it. Make games like “N Gravenspine Wand’ etc in normal difficulty. Also names like “Offer PK jewel” usually mean 15 max.
HC trade forums:
http://www.rpgforums.net/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=75&f=37
http://www.battle.net/forums/board.aspx?ForumName=d2-hardcore-trading
Also check price guides:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=190989
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=201646
Quick price check on LLD items:
- 9 max, 20 ED jewels, 15 life charms – Lem (at least)
- 15 max 2 Lems-Pul
- with 2 mods –Um
- Ck boots – Um + Pul
- Eth Ariocs – Pul
- Ang ammy – Lem
- Viper - Pul
- Peasants – Lem (at most)
- Eth snap, steel - not sure, expensive
- Others – crap, trade them for pgs
Technical info
1. Formalae:
- pvp penalty:
Mostly 1/6 (http://www.freewebs.com/keoz/xvx.html)
Check that this penalty applies to mercs and golems as well, contrary to what people usually think. From my experince thats true.
- weapon dmg:
(weapon min + min from gear)*(ED from skills + ED from gear + bonus+100)/100
(weapon max + max from gear)*(ED from skills + ED from gear + bonus+100)/100
bonus = 1.1str/100 for mauls, dex/100 fro bows, xbows, str+dex/100 for throw weapons
For example, full rushed lvl 9 pally with eth war axe, eth gothic armor, 4 socket 65 ED Rondache and 3 socket Mask all with 9 max jewels and maxed Sacrifice/Might for the level will have the following max dmg:
(27 +9*17)*(276+120+65+60+100)/100 = 1120
http://www.hut.fi/~tgustafs/weapondamage.html
- dex needed for blocking:
needed block/block from gear*2lvl+15
needed block = mostly 75 % (max)
block from gear = block from shield + block from items that add blocking (e.g. Twitch)
For that pala dex needed is:
75/40*2*9+15 = 49
- total life
base life + life bonus*(lvl-1)+ life from quests + gear + charms + vitality points* vitality bonus
Most LLD will put all in vitality after equipping items and maxing block
with full rush will have:
55+2*(9-1)+3*20+40(Bloodfists)+300 (20 15 life gcs) = 481
Then vitality:
Needed points in str = 60(gothic) - 25(base) – (5+2+2 on jewelery) = 26
Needed points in dex = 49(max block ) – 20(base) =29
Total statpoints = 5*(9-1) + 3*5 = 55-29-26 = 0
The pally doesnt have statpoints left for vitality. Otherwise he’d get 3 life for each spare statpoint
Thus we have a Pally with 1,1k listed max dmg (187 pvp), max block and 481 life at lvl 9.
More on LLD life and dmg here:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=168685
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=179713
2. Jewels
ED/Max and ED/min jewels are bugged in a strange way
If theres only ED or min/max, jewels work as intended
ED/max jewels will apply ED bomus only to min dmg of the weapon
ED/min jewels will apply ED bonus only to max dmg of the weapon
More on that here:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=203893
This generally means do not put ED/min or ED/max jewels outside the weapon
Besides, ED jewels work in weapons and outside it differently
In weapon they increase the BASE dmg of the weapon (same as ED from affixes)
Outside weapon they work as ED modifiers (same as ED from skills)
Thus theres a problem what jewels to use where. General rules are:
- the more base dmg of the weapon is, the better will be ED jewels as opposed to min/max ones. For example, in eth war axe (27 max dmg) 15 max will be better than 20 ED, while in eth martel (148 max dmg) 20 ED jewel will add almost 30 max dmg (and increase min dmg meanwhile) which is certainly better than 15 max from a jewel
- the more ED added from skills, the better max/min jewels will be as opposed to ED ones. This is a special issue for mercs as their ED is usually low, so that in 90% cases ED jewels will add more to the merc’s dmg than min/max jewels. On the other hand, LLD ED is usually high (you saw almost 400 ED from skills for lvl 9 pally), so taking into consideration you cant use ED/max jewels in armor, min/max ones are what most LLD chars usually use.
Sometimes a certain mix of ED and max jewels will add more dmg than a pure combination of only one type. This happens very rare, but in case you will encounter this, consult ED/max jewels calculator. Best is here: http://medlem.spray.se/doub
3. Mercs
Mercs are crucial for certain LLD chars (e.g. necros). On ifo on them here: http://diabloii.net/townsfolk/mercias
4. Durability
Most LLD wil use eth versions of weapons (for 50% more base dmg) and armors (10 less str and dex requirements). The price for that - eventually the items will break. But no need to worry, most likely your char will not survive his items. Info on durability loss here: http://www.lurkerlounge.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=8&t=3434&
http://www.lurkerlounge.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=7&t=2086&
5. Usefull info on different aspects of LLD chars:
http://d2items.com/skills.php skill planner
http://www.hut.fi/~tgustafs/hitrecovery.html
http://diablo2.ingame.de/tips/calcs/weaponspeed.php?lang=english#history german IAS calculator
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=208562
6. General FAQs and facts:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=203893 PvP faq
http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/index.php?showtopic=21104 LLD faq
http://www.euro-pvp.net/index.asp?M=PVPINFO all pvp tables
http://strategy.diabloii.net/news.php?id=551 facts/formulae
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=188995
7. All information on items and their affixes::
http://www.d2data.net all affixes info
Inspired by Baranor’s Library I deciced to make one for a site in my language. But with all that work being done I thought to myself – cant I help here as well? WTF, all I did in d2 last few months was connected to LLD – so I decided to share my experiences. This article is quite long and overloaded with links as I tried to incorporate all discussions being held in d2net HC forums as well as other main d2 forums for months. Here you will find all information concerning LLD in 1.10 and I hope this will inspire you to make a char of your own and invent more effective and funny builds.
PART I GENERAL INFO
Definitions
LLD = Low Level Duelling, low level being lower than 30, 27, 24 or whatever according to different rules. Lvl < 30 brings most sense, so here all builds requiring 30+ are given separately.
PK = Player Killing. Killing HC chars with specially built chars. PK victims are normal untwinked pvm chars, they have low life and naturally try to escape if they are not total newbs. Thats why PK is all about quick kills, in 1-2 hits, otherwise the victim exits. Important is damage, life and defence is less important. PKing is often referred to as “hunting”, this requiers quite a skill to pk and usually means the PK cant be killed by a victim (can be by a PKK)
PKK= Player Killer Killing. Killing PKs with specially made chars. This is aimed at surprising PKs while on their hunt. A PKK should be able to take hits, deal good dmg oneself and look like a normal pvm char
PvP= Player vs Player = consentual duelling. Both chars should be able to take hits and deal good dmg. PKK can make good duellers, but not always. PKK is about surprising high dmg and low life opponent. In duels both players know what to expect from each other, which makes some PKKs incapable in duel. Still, many duellers try to look like another/ harmless build making them behave as true PKKs
More on PK/PKK meaning and PKK stories here:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=175350
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=199167
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=206453
Why LLD?
1. LLD is fair. You wont need duped enigmas to be a decent dueller. You wont need 50 bots running either.
2. LLD is interesting. No need to level to 90 thru thousands of pointless runs and get tppked in the end. LLD char can be remade quite fast, however some builds require full rush which will be tougher then normal rushing
3. LLD is not frustrating. Yes, you will regret loss of an LLD char, but you wont need to make “ACT1 newb again gogo” – type game and lose all your wealth and effort.
4. LLD is not cheap. Some LLD items are worth dozens of sojs and not worse than 160/60 armors. However decent gear is easy affordable
5. LLD is crazy fun. Its another dimension of D2 universe and many players totally sank in it. Its about having the best knowledge of the game and can be compared to making out of a pile of rusty metal a car that will pwn latest type BMW. Its about killing a lvl 90 with lvl 20 and lvl 50 with lvl 9. With LLD you will discover another world.
How to PK
1. Find game. Best games are common “runs” (Andy, Sewers, Arcaine, Travincal, Diablo , Baal etc)
2. Join the party and check the party location. Check the high lebels, many pks died to a high lvl they hadnt noticed. Pay attention to high lvl sorcs as the party might be enchanted. One big party is better than several small ones
3. Wait till most players are in the same easy accessible location and hostile. Best is to come from another exit when the party passes by (sewers), or wp located further. Sewers are not an easy location as most people will exit immediately, they lose nothing. On the other hand, Maggots, Diablo, Meph and such are more suited for pking as many players will try to get the quest and wont exit.
4. Reach the party and pk whoever you can. If all players exit to town, wait by the tps, sometimes they came back. Or go to the next location (e.g. Viper lvl 2) and wait there. Many players are caught simple as that
5. Nice if the party decided to kill you, thats just what you want. Challenge them to a duel outside of town. Nice idea is to make them angry looking like an annoying newb (e.g. asking for wp in Ballrun when everybody is in the Throne, getting angry and hostiling). The idea is to make them think you hostiled not to pk, but out of frustration or whatever.
6. Behave politely, no need to quarrel (if its not for pk), get angry, insult or feel oneself superior. PK is minor outsmarting the opponent, not dominationg him (he has untwinked char anyway)
7. If you got an ear or everybody left / learned you pk, leave. 9/10 games you hostile you will get nothing (just as a wildcat, hope you wont die from hunger like her though)
Dont forget to create friendly ambience. Read this:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=178159
How to PKK
1. Find game. Look for same game as you were a PK. Try to spot a known PK in the name list or at least see chars looking like PKs (lvl 18 palas with violent names are an example)
2. Join the party and check the party location. Check the high levels, if theres a high lvl, no PK will strike. If you see only amas and sorcs, 99% chances theres no PK there. If all the party bypassed a location suitable for PK (e.g., all went to sewers lvl 2), they are all pvmers. Look where everybody. The PK wil never go levelling with the party as all of them are built not to exceed a certain lvl. Not to mention that if anybody standing near the gate/trapdoor/south Sewers entrance (!), they are almost definitely pks.
3. Pick the fight. If you have a well known build (like a jabber), go to the location and try to be the 1st pk target. Works best when you let the party go further and when the pk comes, look like running FROM him (not TO him, this will reveal who you are). Evntually he catches you and gets a nice kick(s). If you have a special build, unusual in duelling (e.g. merc necro), no need to bother with the location. Just join the game, stand in town and drink a beer. When the PK hostiles, behave like a newb and challenge him to a duel. (lol pala, u wanna die? My skellies will pwn u, Come act 1, etc). The PK will come for an easy ear (if you knew how HARD it is to get an ear, you’d never doubt a PK accepts this present) and leaves his own instead.
4. Listen to the party praising you and laughing at the PK. Dont do it yourself, PKK is about outsmarting people, not dominating them (havent you pked yourself?)
How to duel
1. Join or make a duel game (“low lvl duels” or such) in normal difficulty. Put the fvcking level restriction on or you get swarmed by lvl 80s!
2. Check for possible scamming. 1st of all, enchant (make the opponent pass through wp to see if he is enchanted). Dont believe in enchant power? Read this:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=169723
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=206181
3. Beware of high lvls near the exit. They like to host and try to pk you while you duelling someone else. Dont stand on the edge, you can get pked by a rogue merc or at least get your merc/golem killed. Be on alert when returning to town.
4. Pick a fight. HC duelling are all about 1 lucky hit. Potting is no BM in HC and be prepared most will use chicken as well. Thew duel is not over untill someone died. So 1 super hit wins vs 999 smaller ones by a big margin.
5. Be aware duelgames are boring and most likely you wont get any fair duels for hours. State of LLD here:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=198936
OK, I want to make an LLD char. What items will I need?
1. Jewels and charms.
Yes, LLD is all about them. Otherwise how would you get life and dmg high enough? 90% builds wont be able to kill without jewels and the rest wont need them, but will need charms.
Usual jewels are:
- 9 to max dmg (lvl 8 req)
- 15 to max dmg (lvl 18 req)
- 20 ED (lvl 9 req)
Perfect or 1 dmg less will do (e.g. 14 max and 15 max), but not less. You put quite an effort into building LLD char – why spoil it with faulty jewels? However you can keep even 11 maxers and make test PvPers with them
Rare jewel can get up to 4 mods. The godly ones for lvl 9 are 8-14/-15 reqs or 14 max/20 ED. For lvl 18 its 20 max/20ED. 20 ED/-15 reqs are valuable as well. The 1st jewel is as rare as 40/15.
ED/max jewels are bugged outside of weapon, think twice. 6 str in ED or max jewel will be nice as well.
More on jewels here:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=186440
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=196913
http://www.diabloworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57135
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=174484&highlight=enhanced+jewels
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=203893
Usual charms are:
- 15 life lc (9 lvl req) – only source of life for lvl 9 char
- 20-24 life gc (14 and 21 lvl req) – not bad if theres nothing else
- 10 life sc (14 lvl req) – best for 14-16 char
- 15 life sc (17 lvl req) – absolute best, any 18+ lvl will need them
- cold dmg sc (10 lvl req) – cheap, but very useful
- 5 stats lc (13 lvl req) – for some builds better than life charms, cheap substitute for them
- FHR chams (any type) – some builds need this
- FRW charms (any type) – same, especially useful for PK
- Max dmg charms (10 max gc adn 6 max lc – 21 lvl req) – so good!
10 max/ 20 life gc in trade will bring you at least a high rune.
I advice to keep all life and dmg charms and a good amount of the rest
2. Materials:
- gems – collect all rubies normal and flawless quality.A few Flawless ametists, topazzes, emeralds will be handy as well
- runes. Need an amount of 1-10 runes (up to Thul) and keep all runes from Amn. They will be useful
- normal armors. Here you will need Gothic/Ancient plates (only ethereal), all 3 socketed helms and pally shields with built-in 6x ED. May pay attention to necro heads, barb and druid helpms, they can have very nice mods
- ethereal normal weapons. Notably Flail, War axe, Knout, Lance, Martel, Partizan and sometimes Pike/War Javelin/Harpoon
Armors and weapons you will have to socket (or find with max sockets already). Max sockets items can have:
- Helms – 3 (only Masks, Crowns, Great helms, Class-specific)
- Mentioned armors, pally shields – 4
- Flail, Knout, Partizan – 5
- War axe, Pike – 6
- Lance, Martel – 6, but you will need 5 ! (for Honor runeword)
If you find them already socketed, bear in mind in Normal max sockets - 3, in NM – 4. Somehow 3 sockets helms dont spawn in Normal either.
If you use Larzuk quest, you will need to check lvl of the location where you found the item.
Heres the table of max sockets you can get for each lvl:
http://www.diabloii.net/items/sockets-list.shtml
And the location lvls:
http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/index.php?showtopic=33345
Bosses have 3 lvls more than the location lvl.
IF you read attentively, you see a problem in getting 5 socketed martels/lances. They get either 4 or 6 sockets from Larzuk and can be found with 5 only in Hell. Moreover, axes cannot get 5 sockets ether as exceptional versions are too high to get dropped in Normal. So, Partizans and Knouts are our only friends, they always get 5 sockets if found in the right place
Another possibility is try socketing formula (perf ametist + amn + ral + item), but the chance to get 5 is 1/6.
3. Magic items - Useful [needed for a special build only]
- boots : Cow King’s (ck), Sanders, [Vidalas, Treads, Hotspur, Hsarus, Goblins, Sigons, good rare War boots]
- belts: String (soe), Deaths, rare with life/str
- gloves: Bloodfists, Clegs, Deaths, [sigons, +2 java 10 ias lvl 30]
- armor: Viper, Twitch
- helm: Peasants, [Biggins]
- shield: Pelta, Umbral Disc
- weapons: Clegs, Bonesnap, Steeldriver [Rogue’s Bow, Jade, , Generals, Hell Plague, Gravenspine, Umes, Iro, , eth Ariocs needle]
- rings: rare lvl 9, Angelic, soj
- ammy: rare lvl 9, Angelic, [+2 certan skills lvl 30]
Getting the items
1. Cows
The easiest way to get most LLD items seems clearing the cow level on Normal and NM difficluty. 1st more monsters = more drops, you get a lot a chams/jewels, 2nd you get all needed materials, 3rd you get all needed low lvl items, 4th you wont need much MF.
LF javazon seems the best cow killer in game and she doesnt require good items. Java is also nice as she cannot accidentally kill the Cow King, as he is lightning immune
Stats: str for items, dex for max block, rest in life
Skills: max LF, 17+ pierce, 40%+ dodging skills, rest goes in Valk and synergies for LF
- Normal cows java:
1. Shop mana per kill throwing spear in act 4/5 and BsoD in act 2
2. Make 3 perfect topazzes mask
3. Rest is up to you, try to get more MF, life and str. Nice will be Wealth in a Breast plate, Tancred amu + boots, life/str belt, MF gloves and boots, Manald ring, Rhyme instead of BSoD
The java kills all visible cows in one throw of LF and never runs out of mana. Only needs to be in NM. With this java you get most of your 9 max, 15 max and 20 ED jewels as well as 15 life large charms and 10 life smalls. Most likely you will get all low lvl items as well.
- NM cows java
Here you will need better items as you can easily die and will lack killing speed. My java uses the following:
1. Titans
2. Witstans with 3 mana per kill jewel
3. Shaft
4. Shako
5. Verdungos
6. Dracs (thats for 10 life per kill and Life Tap for the Merc)
7. CK boots
8. Manald, Raven frost, +2 skills and life ammy
Merc uses Upped Skullders, Reapers and Gaze. Merc can be Defience or HF for more safety, but less killing speed. Valk is maxed
This is by no means the best setup for a java, check experts advice here:
https://webspace.utexas.edu/kusumava/java
http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/index.php?showtopic=36863
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?p=1787208
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=174439
With this java you get 15 life small charms, same 15 max charms, lots of runes and gems, low lvl exceptional uniques and eth exceptional weapons/armor. NM is essential to get max sockets in shields and weapons. Even Flail can get 5 sockets only if found in NM cows. However Gothic and Ancient armors can get 4 sockets if dropped in Normal cows. Another advantage of NM cows is that you get good items for trade (notably, skillers ( Combat pala with life , etc) , 7 mf charms, 20 life charms, good runes (Ist drops often btw) and good items (skullders etc). Wont get a Shako this way.
How to play with the java:
1. Log in with lvl 1 char and look for “run” games (Baals are best as they are fast and make you kill fast too, not wasting much time)
2. Copy game name (Ctrl-C)
3. Quickly log with the java and paste the game name (Ctrl-V) or create next game. Last is useful for those newby runs where Cain is not rescued.
4. By any means dont kill the king, you will spoil your java with that. Dont join cow games as party members may kill the king. For the same reason dont party up. Beware of tppkers, sometimes they come in cows to tppk you.
5. Why cant you run cows in private games? Drops will be worse. You will need at least 4 people in game for good drops, reduces no-drop chances (http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/index.php?showtopic=20130 )
I advice having 2 javas – one for Normal and one for NM. This way you can replace NM java if she dies and most important, will be able to see NM games with your Normal java (makes a chain: mule – N java – NM java)
Java is nice for finding one of the best items for LLD: ck boots. The boots can only drop in Cow level. More on Ck boots odds here:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=192947 ck boots finding
2. Shopping
Some items can be shopped from NPC in game. These are:
- 3 socketed breastplates, Act 2 Fara
- any spears, act 4/5 Hratly/Malah
- BsoD (Bone Shield of Deflecting), act 2 Drognan
- Scepters/Staves/Wands, act 3 Ormus, act 1 Akara
More on shopping here:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=202162
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=196553
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=166219
3. Runewords
Useful Runewords:
- Honor (27) – best weapon at that lvl
- Rhyme (29) – best shield at that lvl
- Strength (25) – for a special build
- Malice (15) – for a special build
- Leaf (19) – for a special build
http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/runewords.shtml
4. Imbue
Imbuing may be the only way to get some items. These are notably throwing weapons. Throw barb will be weak without nice rare ethereal War Javelins/Harpoons, same with Jabber zon. Imbue is more complicated thatn it used to be, so the old imbue guide can no more be used. Instead, look here and directly follow the four steps:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=182890&page=4
http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/index.php?showtopic=35103&st=0&#entry439615
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=202287
5. Cubing
Charms can be rerolled using Horadric Cube recipe (3 perfect gems) and the level will always be that of the charm, so try to get those appropriate for the affix lvl:
Check the needed affix here:
http://www.d2data.net
Then check the location here:
http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/index.php?showtopic=33345
The charm lvl will correspond to the location lvl (if boss dropped, this lvl +3). More on charms cubing:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=185105
http://www.lurkerlounge.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=7&t=2832&
6. Trade
Finally, if you dont find a certain item, trade for it. Here you have several options:
1. Trade channel (LOD Europe Hardcore-1, always try to get in 1, sometimes its full). Channel is good for specific items (e.g. 20 ED/ -15 reqs charms) and trading away good items (runes etc). How to spam: print your offers/needs, Ctrl-C, than Ctrl-V 2-3 times in a row (not more, you will get disconnected)
2. Trading games. These are “HC trade”, HC Trade2” and more, “Trade HC”, “Trade HC2” etc. The games are goood if you have many average items, these are hard to trade away in channel. Also you can get extremely nice deals, especially at night, when there are less people. Beware of scam though, most popular is trading gemmed Cap as a Shako (usually shows Shako, says no place, comes back and puts green cap in trade screen).
3. Trading forums. These are good for very rare items and give a certain warranty you wont be scammed. However, many items can be traded in channel for a better price
4. Your own games. These are for newby starting items you will need for LLD (e.g. Gravenspine wand), but will never get in channel unless you offer high rune for it. Make games like “N Gravenspine Wand’ etc in normal difficulty. Also names like “Offer PK jewel” usually mean 15 max.
HC trade forums:
http://www.rpgforums.net/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=75&f=37
http://www.battle.net/forums/board.aspx?ForumName=d2-hardcore-trading
Also check price guides:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=190989
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=201646
Quick price check on LLD items:
- 9 max, 20 ED jewels, 15 life charms – Lem (at least)
- 15 max 2 Lems-Pul
- with 2 mods –Um
- Ck boots – Um + Pul
- Eth Ariocs – Pul
- Ang ammy – Lem
- Viper - Pul
- Peasants – Lem (at most)
- Eth snap, steel - not sure, expensive
- Others – crap, trade them for pgs
Technical info
1. Formalae:
- pvp penalty:
Mostly 1/6 (http://www.freewebs.com/keoz/xvx.html)
Check that this penalty applies to mercs and golems as well, contrary to what people usually think. From my experince thats true.
- weapon dmg:
(weapon min + min from gear)*(ED from skills + ED from gear + bonus+100)/100
(weapon max + max from gear)*(ED from skills + ED from gear + bonus+100)/100
bonus = 1.1str/100 for mauls, dex/100 fro bows, xbows, str+dex/100 for throw weapons
For example, full rushed lvl 9 pally with eth war axe, eth gothic armor, 4 socket 65 ED Rondache and 3 socket Mask all with 9 max jewels and maxed Sacrifice/Might for the level will have the following max dmg:
(27 +9*17)*(276+120+65+60+100)/100 = 1120
http://www.hut.fi/~tgustafs/weapondamage.html
- dex needed for blocking:
needed block/block from gear*2lvl+15
needed block = mostly 75 % (max)
block from gear = block from shield + block from items that add blocking (e.g. Twitch)
For that pala dex needed is:
75/40*2*9+15 = 49
- total life
base life + life bonus*(lvl-1)+ life from quests + gear + charms + vitality points* vitality bonus
Most LLD will put all in vitality after equipping items and maxing block
with full rush will have:
55+2*(9-1)+3*20+40(Bloodfists)+300 (20 15 life gcs) = 481
Then vitality:
Needed points in str = 60(gothic) - 25(base) – (5+2+2 on jewelery) = 26
Needed points in dex = 49(max block ) – 20(base) =29
Total statpoints = 5*(9-1) + 3*5 = 55-29-26 = 0
The pally doesnt have statpoints left for vitality. Otherwise he’d get 3 life for each spare statpoint
Thus we have a Pally with 1,1k listed max dmg (187 pvp), max block and 481 life at lvl 9.
More on LLD life and dmg here:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=168685
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=179713
2. Jewels
ED/Max and ED/min jewels are bugged in a strange way
If theres only ED or min/max, jewels work as intended
ED/max jewels will apply ED bomus only to min dmg of the weapon
ED/min jewels will apply ED bonus only to max dmg of the weapon
More on that here:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=203893
This generally means do not put ED/min or ED/max jewels outside the weapon
Besides, ED jewels work in weapons and outside it differently
In weapon they increase the BASE dmg of the weapon (same as ED from affixes)
Outside weapon they work as ED modifiers (same as ED from skills)
Thus theres a problem what jewels to use where. General rules are:
- the more base dmg of the weapon is, the better will be ED jewels as opposed to min/max ones. For example, in eth war axe (27 max dmg) 15 max will be better than 20 ED, while in eth martel (148 max dmg) 20 ED jewel will add almost 30 max dmg (and increase min dmg meanwhile) which is certainly better than 15 max from a jewel
- the more ED added from skills, the better max/min jewels will be as opposed to ED ones. This is a special issue for mercs as their ED is usually low, so that in 90% cases ED jewels will add more to the merc’s dmg than min/max jewels. On the other hand, LLD ED is usually high (you saw almost 400 ED from skills for lvl 9 pally), so taking into consideration you cant use ED/max jewels in armor, min/max ones are what most LLD chars usually use.
Sometimes a certain mix of ED and max jewels will add more dmg than a pure combination of only one type. This happens very rare, but in case you will encounter this, consult ED/max jewels calculator. Best is here: http://medlem.spray.se/doub
3. Mercs
Mercs are crucial for certain LLD chars (e.g. necros). On ifo on them here: http://diabloii.net/townsfolk/mercias
4. Durability
Most LLD wil use eth versions of weapons (for 50% more base dmg) and armors (10 less str and dex requirements). The price for that - eventually the items will break. But no need to worry, most likely your char will not survive his items. Info on durability loss here: http://www.lurkerlounge.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=8&t=3434&
http://www.lurkerlounge.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=7&t=2086&
5. Usefull info on different aspects of LLD chars:
http://d2items.com/skills.php skill planner
http://www.hut.fi/~tgustafs/hitrecovery.html
http://diablo2.ingame.de/tips/calcs/weaponspeed.php?lang=english#history german IAS calculator
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=208562
6. General FAQs and facts:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=203893 PvP faq
http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/index.php?showtopic=21104 LLD faq
http://www.euro-pvp.net/index.asp?M=PVPINFO all pvp tables
http://strategy.diabloii.net/news.php?id=551 facts/formulae
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=188995
7. All information on items and their affixes::
http://www.d2data.net all affixes info