what's the best mf-build for these runs...

[Millennium_Man]

baal + minions
pindleskin
cowing

I haven't really played since 1.09 and that's the runs I usually did back then.

Now with pits and tunnels also rewarding well, I'ld like to be able to run those aswell (or just one of them), since it'ld be nice with some different runs.

For builds I's thinking of something like this:

- blizz/glacial sorc or blizz/frost nova/orb sorc ?
- LF zon
- barb (might be to gear-depandant to start of with)

Since I'm starting from scratch, it shouldn't be to gear-dependant.

Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated.

/M_M

[PhatTrumpet]

I would say Trapper... very safe for Pindle, Death Sentry pwns cows, and I've heard they do pretty well running Baal if you max Fireblast as a second element along with the usual suspects.

A pure Bliz Sorc might do pretty well, but I just have something against single element Sorcs attempting to be versatile. Bliz/Static would eat up Cows and Bliz/Glacial would render Pindle harmless, but once you start trying to Baal with one I think you're pushing the envelope. Although last season I did know of at least one person doing solo Hell Baal runs with a Bliz Sorc. He just let his Merc kill the cold immunes... might be worth a try if you've got the gear.

LF Java would be great for Cows and Pindle, much like the Bliz Sorc, but in Baal runs you'll run into a LOT of lightning immunes. Only try this if you know what you're getting into.

A Barb is not a good idea. He'd be useless in cows and would have a lot of trouble running Baal.

A beefed-up dual tree Sorc would do well for Pindle and Baal, but Cows would gang up on you like there was no tomorrow. At the same time, I don't really think Hell Cows are at all worthwhile to run. I'd rather do NM for charms/jewels/gems.


That aside... if you haven't played since 1.09, you've got a lot more to worry about before planning a late Hell magic find character, unless of course you've been keeping yourself well-informed on how 1.10 changed the way D2 LoD is played.

For a starter char it all depends on what you're used to. Trappers are good and pretty item-independent, and later on you can run Pindle/Eldritch/Shenk pretty much untwinked. At the same time, most casters have become relatively gear-independent to a point, so just pick one you enjoy playing. Trappers, Javazons, Wind Druids, Skellymancers (slow), Hammerdins, and Sorcs all do well magic finding.

[xxsteelxx]

i would definatly say L fury zon ....u will tear through cowz in 8 player games with good gear ...pindle runes are 2-3 throws done...and mine does baal runz in around 4-5 mins in 2-3 player games ...Just make sure for baalz and pindle u have high dr///max block//tgods max res for souls

i think this build is alot faster then a trapper and alot safer since u have the dodge//evade//avoid skills that will all be around 50-60 % with 1 point in them and a few + skills

My zon uses

Titans
ss w/-15 req all res jewel
tgods for baal.....razor tail for cowz
war travs
shako w/ um
laying of hands ( since im to lazy to trade for good 20ias//+jav//res gloves)
highlords
raven frost
duel leech//str//res ring
lion heart achron plate (cheap to make and awsome mods)
cta and lidless on switch
2 jav gcs with life
rest mf scs and life scs

75% block ....about 2800 life with bo and high dr
So as u can see my zon dosnt have alot of mf but i can tank pretty much anything......ive had my screen minimize in the middle of a huge group of cowz and i was about 1/2 life with i came back.

For baalz make sure ur merc has good gear and good cb ...mine is holy freeze and uses eth reapers//guillams face and dury shell and he kills souls fast.

Ive done piles of solo baal runs and only have problems if souls have conviction.

[CookiesnCream]

LF and orb sorcs are probably your best bet if you don't have good gear. Orb/es sorcs can run NM meph without too much of a problem and LF zons can tear through NM cows for pgems/lld gear.

[MoUsE_WiZ]

Trappers can do Pindle/Baal/Cows with fairly limited gear.
Mindblast makes pindles 100xs safer than D/A/E ever could.
DS = gg LIs.
Also, fireblast is a waste...it does damage far too slowly to be effective in any way. Or at least on an untwinked trapper it does...I suppose if you had like level 4X fireblast and did like 10k dmg with it it might kind of alright, but at lvls ~25 with all the lightning synergies it's a joke.

However, if you're really serious about wanting to solo mf baals you'd be better off with building a cheap orb sorc and doing meph runs until you have the gear to put together a good blizz sork. Or if you'd rather walk to baal instead of porting there (the WSK drops highend stuff too) a well equipped bonecro is quite good at it, and I'm also a huge fan of bonecros for pindle because he'll never be immune, dv=safe, and BS drops him more or less as fast as any javazon or trapper I've ever played.

[Bonehead632]

baal + minions
pindleskin
cowing

I haven't really played since 1.09 and that's the runs I usually did back then.

Now with pits and tunnels also rewarding well, I'ld like to be able to run those aswell (or just one of them), since it'ld be nice with some different runs.

For builds I's thinking of something like this:

- blizz/glacial sorc or blizz/frost nova/orb sorc ?
- LF zon
- barb (might be to gear-depandant to start of with)

Since I'm starting from scratch, it shouldn't be to gear-dependant.

Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated.

/M_M

I started each new season out with a trapper and let her equip the rest of my chars. Not so sure i'd run baal solo with her......my typical run consisted of Eldrich (above shenk), Shenk, Pinda, Pit, Countess, and Andy. Now i'm not rich and don't have all the goddly runewords that most everyone else has, but my chars are quite capable of going to particular areas over and over without fear. I have an Orb/meteor sorc that does Hell meph/ancient tunnels, countess, andy, and a Pally that can go anywhere in the game. Give me a holler if ya see me on-line and i'll hunt through my mules and see what extra stuff I have and can offer ya.

*Blizsuxazz2

[TheDarkSide]

With No items and starting over Id suggest a summoning necro . Safest build to play and not much resistances / items needed . You can wear all the MF gear you want and not fear negative resists either cause nothing gets close to you . Of course as you level you'll find things to raise your resists along the way . I did most of Hell with 50 % or less resistaance with no problem . Once you start doing Hell Baal runs you'll want to get the resists up a bit , especially lightning as the gloams on the way to the throne can hit hard . But with Dim Vision even they can be neutralized rather easily .

I use my summoning necro to run Hell Baal , Pits , Cows , Trav or anywhere else I want to go really . For this build all ya need to be real efffective is a act 2 might merc , a clay golem , with 20 points in skeletons , 20 skeleton mastery , 1 point in revives if ya want , 1 in corpse explosion , 1 in amp , 1 in decrep , 1 dim vision . , 1 in summon resists , 1 bone armor . Very customizable build that you can suit to your own desire . I even maxxed Bones Spear for some offense and that will synergize your bone armor too ..

Good Luck on whatever ya choose , Iv'e had great success with my Mf Skelemancer ...

[Mal]

I personally have been converted away from the "skellemancer is safest" line of thinking by a few untimely deaths. It depends on your play style. If you are content to remain behind your wall of skeletons, you will never die. I, however, always find myself running ahead to get to the goodies, and end up dead for it. I have been much safer with my trapsin than I ever was with my skelemancer. Fade, claw block, lvl 17 shadow master, equipment is shoppable from Anya, what more can you ask? Sure, light immunes can be a problem, but not if there are enough corpses around to explode! I still enjoy playing skellemancers, but not for MF, there too slow.

[HAMC8112]

baal + minions
pindleskin
cowing

=

Lightningsorc!

[xeyloderixed]

there are of course a variety of builds you can use if you are insanely rich, in the areas that you mentioned:
(1) cl/orb sork do pretty well for baal/pindle, but i havent tested cl in cows. any lightning spell does good in baals because none of the spawns have built in li; but from experience you will usually run into a few of em either on the way or as a random spawn. a lowish orb kills the few li's pretty fast. to do baals fast though, you will need some teleporting gear, which are rather expensive.
(2) if you prefer to walk than run, necs are the next best thing. psn necs do well if you want a balance of safety and killing power; the fastest psn necs tend to neglect lightning absorb so it's not as safe to baal. summoners kill uber slowly for my tastes, and cows are a problem. bone necs are good, although in the long run you might have to wear marrowalks, which may or may not be your style. and bone necs tend to be the most "non necrolike" of the three (only a single summon, clay), yet has probably the best killing power if you're poor (psn necs are the fastest killers in game i hear, but needs insanely expensive gear)

there isn't really a single class that can do all those runs well (except maybe the duped lam-o-dins, but these still do die to random fana/curse/might). i've heard stories of fire sorks doing 8-p cows with ease, but they tend to not do baal runs too well. javazons/lightning trappers are the best for pindle, and javazons are good for cows (trappers i tested, killed too slow) but both consistently fail in baal runs because of gloams.

i suggest just building one that can do *mostly* all those runs with ease. and since necs are the fastest levelers overall, i'd pick a nec build that suits your tastes.

[HAMC8112]

there isn't really a single class that can do all those runs well.

Yes there is! The lightningsorc!*




*using T-Gods and just standing there while the merc jabs the gloams into oblivion. CB rules on all of them runs, it is the merc who makes the difference here. Get one in normal, the defiance one.

So i'll say it again:

baal + minions
pindleskin
cowing

=

Lightningsorc!

[xeyloderixed]

gloams tear up mercs/mana pool real quickly

cows are a btch because you can sometimes roll a 1 on your lightning -.-

besides, lightning sorks arent the fastest killers -.- even trappers beat them in damage (the average lightning sorks at least)

[HAMC8112]

gloams tear up mercs/mana pool real quickly

Not when you have a merc from normal who is wearing that lvl83 armor that give's 20 magic dmg reduced.( Gladiators bane?) Also get him max ias and CB. He can take out alot of gloams, ofcourse if the throne room is filled with them i bail out, it takes less than a minute to create a new game and be in the throne room again. I would like to see you do that with a trapper.

However, i am not stating that the trapper dont work, i have got no problem with them. It is just that i find the sorc alot faster.

cows are a btch because you can sometimes roll a 1 on your lightning -.-

Yes, sometimes you get badluck rolls, not enough though to make a difference.

besides, lightning sorks arent the fastest killers -.- even trappers beat them in damage (the average lightning sorks at least)

ahh, now i see where you are comming from. Let me explain what i mean when i say: the lightningsorc.

1 in static
1 in teleport
max Chain lightning
Max all sinergy's
max lightning mastery

And that is basicly it. Ofcourse you need the gear for this. This build is also dependend on the merc as i have said above, the point is that whenever there are many enemy's you take them out with Chainlightning and single bosses(who will have high lightres in hell) will be dealt with swiftly by your merc.
Take Baal for instance, tele straight into his feet and static, zap him with 13000max lightning dmg while your merc takes him down in 2 sec's by means of that amazing Crushing Blow.

Did i mention T-Gods? They are a must, absorb and alot of strenght. Alway's handy to equip that storm.

[MoUsE_WiZ]

I'd go blizzard over CL for solo baals.
The only inherent CIs are the skeletons on the second wave and the merc can own those in a blink easily enough. Possible enemies for the throne include more CIs than LIs as well, birdies and mages are a joke for a merc though. So really it's just if you'd rather let your merc deal with fishies, or if you'd rather use static+merc for OKs. On the one hand the OKs can be a pain as they kill the merc quicker/more often/more consistently, on the other hand they die quicker and aren't any sort of a threat to YOU while they're alive.

Other than that with blizzard you get GS for pindles, and of course blizzard is a great meph killer, and you get the Ancient Tunnels.

Though of course if you want cows in there with the same character CL is the better choice.

But I still say just do a simple orber for meph until you get decent gear, THEN worry about soloing hell baals.