Socketing My Bone Necros SS?

[bagarn]

I'm making a pvp bone necro, I've got all my stuff and everything sorted out except the issue of what to socket my stormshield with. I want to be able to kill both melee and casters effectively, hence the ss. My charms and other equip when using my melee setup gives me 43dr (enigma+ss), and 86 dex (including base). I want max block so statpoints need to be put into dex. Socketing an eld rune into the ss will save me ~20 stat points into dex, but a ber gets me from 43 to 51dr. I don't need any more fhr, res or str; these I will get from other items. It's basically a question of 8dr vs 20vitality. Which should i use, ber, eld or other?

[GreatStupidPastry]

"It's basically a question of 8dr vs 20vitality"

If those are your only two choices.. I'd go vitality.
Usually I socket all shields with a Pdiamond but since you don't need res..

[bagarn]

If those are your only two choices.. I'd go vitality.

Ok thx for you're opinion :cool:. I'd really appreciate it if some more people would give theirs aswell.

[StillGreen]

I prefer points to vit than having 7 more DR.

Remember that physical attacks have to go through block first, then bone armor and then reduced by DR. 20 vit gives 40 life. For simplicity lets double it to account for BO boost. So the extra 7 DR (since 50 DR is the maximum, you only gain 7 DR) has to reduce at least 80 damage to be more worthwhile. This happens if the player deals 5410 damage (accounting for penalty, block, and armor). There are several characters that can deal more than this in physical damage (barbs, and fury druids come to mind). However, this is looking at the marginal effect. Characters that kill you in 3 hits, will probably still kill you in 3 hits whether you go for vit or DR. IMO, it'll be better to have more life to give a slight edge versus non-physical damagers. Again, these effects are very small so either choice is not bad. It is all preference.

If you do decide to go for vit points, then using a -15% req jewel or hel rune will save you more points than using an eld. This is assuming of course, that you are not spending points in strength for gear like spirit monarch or other high strength gear.

At level 99, where you will get the most benefit from extra block on the shield, you will save 15 points in dex. If you use the jewel/hel, you will save 23 points in strength. You can save 8 extra points. This increases the further you are from level 99 (in the downward direction of course :grin: ). And you also get the benefit from another mod if you use a jewel. I know you are good on resists but having extra lightning won't hurt against a FoHer.

Hope this helps a bit.

edit: Just saw that you were fine with strength. Ignore that section on jewel/hel vs eld then.

[bagarn]

Thx, this helps alot! It seems like I'll be socketing the ss with an eld rune seeing as I get all my strength from items;

15 base
18 Torch
17 boots
5 amu
26 tiara
67 (@lvl90) eni
15 anni
-----------------------
163 strength
(ss and spirit are Rstr 156)

so a -15 req jewel is pointless. I don't need any more lightning resist either because I won't be using ss against FoH palas.
I'll socket my ss with eld but please, if anyone still wants to share their opinion that'd be great. I don't mind unsocketing the ss and resocketing it with ber if that be the case. :laugh:

[XxPinKxX]

barbs are ***..........