Return from pre-LoD

[Kraayt]

A friend and myself have reactivated D2. We left shortly after the release of LoD and have generally forgotten enough to where D2 is nearly a new game for us. We are playing Classic D2.

However, we do remember as we go and have restarted some HC characters. At the time of quitting, I had several 80+ HC toons extremely well equipped.

I am playing a Paladin (again) and he an Amazon (again). Should anyone have any comments about changes in the game since then, I would appreciate your responses. I have been reading extensively, but is a great deal to digest.

Thanks in advance.

[Valar-Wrath]

A friend and myself have reactivated D2. We left shortly after the release of LoD and have generally forgotten enough to where D2 is nearly a new game for us. We are playing Classic D2.

However, we do remember as we go and have restarted some HC characters. At the time of quitting, I had several 80+ HC toons extremely well equipped.

I am playing a Paladin (again) and he an Amazon (again). Should anyone have any comments about changes in the game since then, I would appreciate your responses. I have been reading extensively, but is a great deal to digest.

Thanks in advance.

With any type of Paladin you are probably well off, but the build you choose for the Amazon could greatly alter her effectiveness. So, what builds were you looking at?

[Kraayt]

With any type of Paladin you are probably well off, but the build you choose for the Amazon could greatly alter her effectiveness. So, what builds were you looking at?

I suspect he will go Bowazon.

I will try my Hammerdin again. I understand Concentration is no longer the supporting skills for the Bowazon, so will develop another. Can't remember name of the other skill atm...

[Full_Circle]

Fanaticism is probably the one you're thinking of (Attack Speed, Damage, and Attack Rating). Still, I think you're better off with Concentration, as Fanaticism will have no effect on your hammers, while Concentration will help the Amazon's bow damage.

If you DO want to go with Fanaticism, a Zealot or a Smiter would probably be a better choice, as your hammers will do pretty pathetic damage untwinked w/out Conc.

Anyway... Good luck... and watch out for Fire Enchanted bosses (especially high life super-uniques in Nightmare). Let the zon finish them off, or try to get them on the 2nd loop of your hammers. FE can drop you in 1 hit, and with a hammerdin, getting close is often the fastest way to kill.

[Baranor]

MEEEEH NOOOOO WAAAAIIIT HAAAALT HOOOO STOOOPP right there young man wadda ya think you're advising...

If he's making a hammerdin, he'd better use concentration, and then his amazone buddy will simply have to do with said concentration and 300% ED. Fana+hammers ia no-no as it will greatly reduce the paladins ability to kill, while fana vs concen for pure damage, yes, fana comes out on top, but overall the two-team looses way more damage with fana than with using concentration.

Didi I get your attention yet? Besides, if the build is a mage-zon, with mostly elemental admage (as is wont in classic), then neither fana nor concentration will do much for the damage anyway.


edit: owww crap hadnt read full_circles reply yet... well, I'll leave mine standing ;)

[Kraayt]

MEEEEH NOOOOO WAAAAIIIT HAAAALT HOOOO STOOOPP right there young man wadda ya think you're advising...

If he's making a hammerdin, he'd better use concentration, and then his amazone buddy will simply have to do with said concentration and 300% ED. Fana+hammers ia no-no as it will greatly reduce the paladins ability to kill, while fana vs concen for pure damage, yes, fana comes out on top, but overall the two-team looses way more damage with fana than with using concentration.

Didi I get your attention yet? Besides, if the build is a mage-zon, with mostly elemental admage (as is wont in classic), then neither fana nor concentration will do much for the damage anyway.


edit: owww crap hadnt read full_circles reply yet... well, I'll leave mine standing ;)

Hehe, thanks both of you for the responses.

Ok, Concentration will get the hardest look. His Amazon is basically physical damage focusing on (as I remember) crits, MS, Guided and Strafe. Don't remember past that.

My starter toon is a Thornadin and his a Necro. This is to farm us some gear. We are not into buying to equip our toons, but will farm to tweak our primary characters.

[Baranor]

mmm, consider holy fire instead of thorns. thorns aint that great anymore. holy fire/holy freeze however, when combined with their synergy, can do surprising amounts of damage.


edit: oh ya, toons is definately pre-lod slang ;)

[PhatTrumpet]

Thorns aura is rather weak these days, as Barry said. Any reason you're making two Paladins? I mean I would probably get pretty bored even though they're different builds.

The Necro is a good idea, but a Thornadin isn't the best way to capitalize on the Necro's skills. His Skellies would do very nice damage with a damage aura from your Pally, so a Hammerdin with Concentration would still be a good choice here (that way you wouldn't have to build a whole new primary character). You could also make a Smiter/Zealot (Zmiter, Smealot, whatever) or even a pure Zealot, utilizing the Fanaticism aura (huge damage, huge increased attack speed, nice attack rating boost). Zeal does nicely for general PvM while Smite helps stun particularly nasty monsters and takes down bosses handily with a little Crushing Blow. Only problem is that melee is a dangerous endeavor untwinked without any sort of life boost like Battle Orders (Barb), so I'd have to suggest going with the Hammerdin over anything else.

On the other hand, any self-respecting co-op Necro will have at least one point in Lower Resist, so a high-damage single-element build would also complement him nicely. Javazon (Lightning Fury and Charged Strike), pure Lightning Sorc, and pure Fire Sorc are the first to come to mind (I wouldn't go with a Cold Sorc since she already has Cold Mastery to lower enemies' resistance). His army of minions would keep you out of harm's way while you lay waste to the denizens of evil.

Just a few suggestions. Ultimately you should do whatever is the most fun for the two of you, of course.

[Baranor]

theres also no reason why a bow-paladin with fana//holy shock combined with teh skeleton army of doohoom wouldnt work.

[Kraayt]

[QUOTE=PhatTrumpet] Any reason you're making two Paladins? I mean I would probably get pretty bored even though they're different builds.

[QUOTE]

Well, I enjoy the Paladin. The main reason we are going with the necro/pally setup is to farm gear for the Amazon / Pally team. One reason for the Pally/Necro combo was survivablity in laggy situations. Unless, of course, that has been fixed with all the releases since we left. We rarely lost a toon to anything besides the lag monster. The amazon was a frequent victim.

:lol: