Stone

[PraetorianX]

Okay, never made a stone runeword armor before, and was just wondering what kind of armor should i be looking for , and what defense on the base armor should i shoot for?? plz let me know :)

If it helps, it will be used on a paladin or barbarian.

[Myrakh-2]

You can find the elite armors here (http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/elite/armor.shtml). Choose the one that fits your needs:
- do you prefer light armor, or is medium ok?
- what about strength requirement?

Taking these into account: Archon PLate is popular for a reason --- it's a low requirement light armor, with the highest max defense of the light armors. The highest max defense on all elite armors is the Sacred Armor, but that is a medium type armor, and it has high str requirement. Nothing comes for free, basically.

[Runesi]

A 524 defense Archon (Perfect) up to a 15enhanced defense archon can get a good defense (usually 1.9k+). I suggest Archon or the one above it for the best defense. Generally only use armor if it's within 4 of the best. This means 520 defense and up will generally get you a decent stone unless you're unlucky and happen to get the worst ed.

[PraetorianX]

Ok, thanks for the suggestions. I prefer an armor under like 120 for str requirements. Medium or light is okay, definately not a fan of heavy armors. Also resale value means absolutely nothing to me, so thats not a factor. Of course, may seem strange to some, but I do get picky on how a armor looks too, i'll just check the armor appearances under the barb forum for that though.

So far I guess a 520-524 Archon plate is what i will look for.

[Uzziah]

Ok, thanks for the suggestions. I prefer an armor under like 120 for str requirements. Medium or light is okay, definately not a fan of heavy armors. Also resale value means absolutely nothing to me, so thats not a factor. Of course, may seem strange to some, but I do get picky on how a armor looks too, i'll just check the armor appearances under the barb forum for that though.

So far I guess a 520-524 Archon plate is what i will look for.

I always suggest dusk shroud for the Stone runeword it has a str required of 77 and its clvl requirement will be 49. I have one its really nice in dusk shroud you can get in the 1500-1600 range for defence (as a normal dusk shroud not superior or ethereal)

[nubikoen]

So far I guess a 520-524 Archon plate is what i will look for.

I might be wrong about this but..
If an armor get ed(ef) the base value is always the max possible +1.

Not 100% sure about this, I would like some confirmation on this if anyone knows for sure.

[krischan]

The problem with superior armor is that it costs a fortune to repair them. That's the reason why I made Fortitude in a non-superior archon plate (but one with >500 defense), even though I have two of them on my mules, for example.

[Myrakh-2]

Normally amors with enhanced defense are based on the item max.

HOWEVER, I'm not sure at all about runewords: a unique or set armor, after all, has the base item and the added stuff created when the item drops. A runeword, on the other hand, uses an existing item and adds mods to it --- so it may very well be possible that the item keeps its original defense.

[Phaeax]

Any piece of armor that spawns with enhanced defense as a mod has a base defense of MAX+1. Putting a runeword in it with enhanced defense will not change the base defense, as it didn't actually spawn with ED.

[Uzziah]

This is why superior armors with the +ED% gives the highest value with runeworded armors, the +1 max bonus is applied then the runeword bonus is applied, add on Ethereal and you can get one heck of a strong Stone runeword. Expensive yes but extremely strong.

[krischan]

IMO the problems with gathering the money/repair rune isn't worth the additional 5-15%ed, but I'm not doing any PvP, so my opinion regarding this might not be that relevant.

[Runesi]

I'm not sure if the ed on the superior armor adds onto the ed of the stone. Example:
524*(3.90+0.15) = whatever it becomes
Or does it do this:
524*(1.15)*(3.90) = whatever the answer is

I'm not really sure but I hope someone can tell me.

Also just use ral runes to repair you're armor. Today I had max gold in my inventory and stash on my lv 93 hammerdin, I wonder if that gold is enough to repair your armor as you guys stated.

[LanceLink]

524*(3.90+0.15) = whatever it becomes
...is correct.