View Full Version : Okey, what happend when I installed LOD?
bananfrisyre
18-07-2006, 21:20
Man, iam so frustrated now, I today bought and installed LOD and my barbarian became pure crap? What happend? Before this expansions I was able to plow through Act4 at level 40 with WW no problems at all (or seldom) Now I die almost before I encounter an enemy.
I know my equipment aint that good (rather bad actually) but what happend to the difficulty level?
mainaman
18-07-2006, 21:25
if you are talking about a5 yeah you might need to regear also probably rebuild your barb..
what is your skill/stat distribution, and mind telling us what is your gear like?
bananfrisyre
18-07-2006, 22:08
Please do not laugh :P
http://home.no.net/nerf/humf/hurmf.jpg
Put points into Battle Orders, it adds a lot of life. Because of no Battle Orders, your life is pretty low. Also your gear is pretty lowish.
bananfrisyre
18-07-2006, 22:23
ok, and yeah... it's my first char, so its pretty much the things I've picked up on my way. Also I joined some cowgames and just leeched XP. Not a good idea I guess :(
bananfrisyre
18-07-2006, 22:27
So basicly the best for me now is to do some diabloruns on normal and wait for some good drops, or should I do normal monsters at nightmare for drops?
My belt and boots are Sigons, should I go for a full set?
mainaman
18-07-2006, 22:29
you should regear for sure
but imo you need to rebuild that barb
make him axe barb with botd/botd berserker axes
max bo , shout, ww, axe mastery, put rest in leap
one point in prerequisites
armor should be enigma,
helm is arreat face, socketed with um for example.
belt is tgods,
rings are one raven frost, one 10 fcr ring,
gloves trangs/dracks,
boots gorerider,
amulet highlords wrath.
now most of that gear is expansive to get, but try your best and your barb will be doing very well .
actually a much cheaper option is Immortal King set (then max mace mastery) that will be a good
gear choice for you, since they are so cheap (if you play on east ladder i can hook you up with ik set for free, just let me know) . only put 2 shaels in the maul, and ptopazes in the helm and armor
this is when O M F G is actually an understatement
bananfrisyre
18-07-2006, 22:43
rebuild? Hmmm, those 40 levels took a while so I don't know about that. Actually I went with a axe build to level 23 or so, but decided to follow this:
http://www.unc.edu/~jpurvis/whirl/
where it says:b. POLEARMS
These things pack a punch. Characterised by a high average damage & moderate dexterity requirements compared to spears, they blow the competition out of the water quite comfortably. They have some variety & looks are also a major plus.
Hmm... should I really rebuild?
maina, I cant believe you actually gave the guy that advice, look at his gear. No way he'll be able to afford it.
Banan, I suggest you go on with the second baba, use a 1 handed axe + a shield. Youre in LoD now, you need dexterity for block^^, furthermore, try using a mix of concentrate with ww, concentrate with single enemy's etc.
Max Battle Order, Whirlwind, Axe mastery.
Put point into, Nat.Resists. Speed, Leap-attack to get over hard places like river and chaos sanc.
Try getting getting alot of pgems to trade for some decent equipment. Go to the battle.net/diablo2exp/items and look for the exceptional/elite unique weapons. Most shouldnt cost more than 15 pgems and will get you trough hell when played cautiosly.
bananfrisyre
18-07-2006, 23:25
Maina: Thanks for the offer, but I play at the european server =)
Rabbitz: Thanks for your help, I will try your build out! With pgems you mean perfect gem? Any other traps I should avoid? I really do not want to rebuild one more time :P
When you say you just got LOD, did you play classic before??
If so get a merc A2 is usually best as they have the auras,
Also some of the traps I feel into when I switched over was using really crap Items because they has funky stuff on them like chance to cast lvl4 nova when struck or striking, which other then looking good kinda sucks.
Also if you need I could have a look though my mules and give you some gear for your current barb (probably not the best gear as I'm not rich), but still you might be able to make something out of that barb. That way you could probably start a sorc to do some mfing to get some decent items. Once you got a few items you will probably want to remake your barb or any other characters that you made along the way as well, just because you got better items for them.
What you need to do with him is start maxing bo like rabbitz said, put 1 point in battle command so you get a nice +1 skill, then finish WW off then work on shout or iron skin for def or even natural resistance if you need res(remember this has bad returns for investment after a few points.
Also don't forget the act 5 quest that gives +10 res all as you'll need it.
Another thing puts your stat point in life now unless you need str for equipment.
In LoD Uniques and Runeword are "the" best items unlike classic where them nice rare rule.
Anyways if you need a hand or some crappy equiment you can wisper me on *mowbarb
On a last note try playing the game for a while before you do what everyone does and once at normal baal thats all you'll ever see and play in nightmare and hell, enjoy the game.
With 1.10 (when a lot of the runewords came) IIRC they seriously pumped the hitpoints of every monster in the game. That is the reason you no longer can whirl and kill like you used to in patch 1.09 and earlier.
/Magnus
Uncle_Mike
20-07-2006, 12:01
With 1.10 (when a lot of the runewords came) IIRC they seriously pumped the hitpoints of every monster in the game. That is the reason you no longer can whirl and kill like you used to in patch 1.09 and earlier.
/Magnus
Well, you are heavily undereqipped as others have mentioned. Since this is your first char you will need to get those items. You do not need the highest runewords to make it in pvm.
I think it might be a good idea for you to join some cow games that are a few minutes old and check drops that others have left on the ground. I am quite sure you will get loads of charms and flawless gems that way. Also check the runewords on arreat summit - some of the cheap ones are quite decent. Smoke armor for resistances, lionheart is a great choice too.
Mike
Max Battle Order, Whirlwind, Axe mastery.
Put point into, Nat.Resists. Speed, Leap-attack to get over hard places like river and chaos sanc.
Just to tell you, Leap Attack is required to put points into Whirlwind. Sherlock.
you should regear for sure
but imo you need to rebuild that barb
make him axe barb with botd/botd berserker axes
max bo , shout, ww, axe mastery, put rest in leap
one point in prerequisites
armor should be enigma,
helm is arreat face, socketed with um for example.
belt is tgods,
rings are one raven frost, one 10 fcr ring,
gloves trangs/dracks,
boots gorerider,
amulet highlords wrath.
now most of that gear is expansive to get, but try your best and your barb will be doing very well .
actually a much cheaper option is Immortal King set (then max mace mastery) that will be a good
gear choice for you, since they are so cheap (if you play on east ladder i can hook you up with ik set for free, just let me know) . only put 2 shaels in the maul, and ptopazes in the helm and armor
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
mainaman
20-07-2006, 22:06
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
which part of what i said is so funny please share with me?
the patr about the right gear or the part where i offer free ik set as the cheapest but still viable solution for most part of hell . Next time when you say hahahahaha make sure you back your ignorance with arguments. ty
which part of what i said is so funny please share with me?
the patr about the right gear or the part where i offer free ik set as the cheapest but still viable solution for most part of hell . Next time when you say hahahahaha make sure you back your ignorance with arguments. ty
This guy is OBVIOUSLY talking about surviving in PvM - he's asking why he can't kill monsters. He's not talking about how he can't beat a Bone Nec, nor is he looking for tips about how to take on a trapper. The combination of items your 'build' has is retarded.
You showed your own ignorance to his problem by giving him a crapped out PvM build that is pretty damn close to becoming a half assed BvC. Also, considering he's having trouble making it past monsters, I'm at a loss as to why you think he'll be able to afford an Enigma, 2x BotDs, etc. etc. Nice job. :cry:
you should regear for sure
but imo you need to rebuild that barb
make him axe barb with botd/botd berserker axes
max bo , shout, ww, axe mastery, put rest in leap
one point in prerequisites
armor should be enigma,
helm is arreat face, socketed with um for example.
belt is tgods,
rings are one raven frost, one 10 fcr ring,
gloves trangs/dracks,
boots gorerider,
amulet highlords wrath.
now most of that gear is expansive to get, but try your best and your barb will be doing very well .
actually a much cheaper option is Immortal King set (then max mace mastery) that will be a good
gear choice for you, since they are so cheap (if you play on east ladder i can hook you up with ik set for free, just let me know) . only put 2 shaels in the maul, and ptopazes in the helm and armor
Don't listen to this guy. There's nothing inherantly wrong with your build. You don't need to go 1-handed with a shield, you don't need to rebuild, you just need to work on this guy a bit.
To start off, in LoD, your merc is very important. Get yourself an A2 Defensive merc, who will provide the Defiance Aura and go a long way to increasing your survivability. Proper use of a merc is just like 50% damage reduction- he takes half of the attacks, so you take half of the damage! Let him engage monsters, and don't be afraid to feed him some pots if his life starts dropping (shift plus the hotkey for the potion slot gives it to your merc).
The way I see it, you have 4 problems. None of them are deal-breaking on their own, but the combination of the 4 is what is causing you problems. Read on, and I'll help you fix all 4 problems so that your Barb will be right as rain.
Your first problem is that you developed ALL of your offensive skills before you started worrying about your defensive skills. By level 40, you should have a couple of points in Natural Resistances, you should have one point in Increased Stamina and Increased Speed, and you should have at least one point in all left-side War Cries. These are the things that keep you alive, and you've woefully neglected them. It's salvagable, but you'll have to devote ALL of your skill points for the next 12+ levels to DEFENSIVE abilities.
Your next big problem is stats. You've got far too much Str/Dex and not enough Vit. Your red orb is probably a little bit underdeveloped for that stage of the game. I'd pump the next 30-50 points directly into Vitality. You should see another nice increase in survivability.
Your third big problem, as has been mentioned, is gear. Don't listen to most of the suggestions around here. The general opinion is that you need uber-l33t gear to make it in Hell. That's not true at all- players have made guardian without ever equipping a single piece of gear. There's a guy I know who always plays Hardcore with naked Barbarians (wearing nothing but a belt and a weapon). It's definitely possible to get by without uber gear. Anyway, to be perfectly honest, you aren't under-geared in the slightest. That's more or less what I'd expect a no-twink Barbarian to be wearing, and is more than sufficient to get you through Normal and early Nightmare. Since your defensive skills are so underdeveloped, though, you're going to need a little bit more help from the gear department, especially the weapon. Remember this- One Staff (any type and quality) + One belt (any type and quality) + One Kris (any quality) + one Diamond (any quality). Take them, pop them in the Horadric Cube, and hit transmute... and you're the proud owner of a shiny new Savage (60-80% ED) Polearm. Compulsively cube these until you get an Exceptional quality Savage Polearm, which will greatly increase your damage output. Killing enemies faster means giving enemies less time to kill you, which is a good thing. Anyway, your biggest gear problem is you're lacking the single most important piece of adventuring gear- the merc! A good merc can kill everything in Normal Difficulty entirely on his own without any help from the player whatsoever. I recommend A2 Mercs (if you need a tank) or A3 Cold Mercs (if you want something to freeze monsters for you- frozen monsters can't attack you). A1 Mercs are also powerful, but as fragile as you are, you need something to take some heat off of you.
Your fourth problem, and easily the biggest one, is that your skills are underdeveloped. Not your Barbarian's skills, but YOUR skills. It's understandable, since this is your first character, but leeching XP in Cow Games did not help one little bit. I'd start my Barbarian in A3 and walk through A3 and A4 to get some good practice. It's hard since you don't have a lot of the utility skills, but you'll have to make do. Traditionally, a Barbarian relies a lot on his secondary skills to keep him alive. Taunt will shut down annoying ranged attackers and make them walk into melee range. It will also stop revivers like the Fallen Shaman from reviving the Fallen, it'll stop casters from casting, it'll stop gloams from firing off lightning bolts... it basically tells every monster in the game "Hey you! Be stupid!", and has them listen. Fantastic utility skill with even 1 point. War Cry is another skill that you're lacking- it stuns all monsters around you. Stunned monsters cannot attack you. Monsters that cannot attack you cannot hurt you. You can see how this would be useful. Anyway, practice lots of maneuvers, such as running away from monsters to keep them from surrounding you, and focusing your power on the most deadly monsters first, and whirlwinding around the edges of groups instead of right through the middle. Practice, practice, practice!
Fix those 4 things, and you'll be running fine all the way through Nightmare (especially the first 3 acts). Push this character as far as you can before you decide to rebuild, though, or else you won't learn from your mistakes and you'll be doomed to repeat them.
-Tempus-
22-07-2006, 15:14
if you are talking about a5 yeah you might need to regear also probably rebuild your barb..
what is your skill/stat distribution, and mind telling us what is your gear like?
playing D2Classic is a ton of fun but when you take a char from classic and move them to LoD its going to get very hard for them.
in LoD ww is based on your weapon speed, in D2C all weapons are the same speed. a 20 maul is the same speed as a -60.
the monsters in act4nm LoD are much higher lev then the ones in classic. if you can kill monsters you could lev in nm arcane at your lev.
your pole blows for classic or LoD. take some time and shop for a high dmg magic weapon with ias on it. at lev 43 you can use a cruel bec that can have +300 dmg. if you cant find that maybe look for a stealdriver and shael it. its not the right weapon class for you but its dmg and speed will work for a while.
all your skills are ok but i wouldnt put anymore into iron skin. drop a point into zerk so you can kill phy imms and a point into NR. after that max ww and bo. once thats done go back and max shout.
pickup a might merc since you dont have much dmg and try and get sigs helm+gloves for the AR+LL.
-Tempus-
Lol what kinda advice is this?
Be more realistic look at the items the guy is using and ppl are recomending him botd, enigma etc.
He has just joined LOD so the most realistic option is using a set, i.e IK set.
This will provide him enough power to get through hell no problems solo and even in a 8 man game as well.
also rebuild
for ik barb stats should look something liek this,
Max bo
Max shout
1 point battle command
Max skill, (i.e WW, concentrate etc)
1 point bezerk if u choice WW or Conc ( This is to deal with pyshical immune monster or even monsters labeled with ironskin.)
Max mace mastery
1 point prequests
add points to ironskin and like 4 to natural res
Also if u use ik set the best skill to use is WW due to the fact its a 2 hander and skills like bezerk without shield will prolly = in u dieing fast.
stats wise
str= enough to wear gear
dex= enough to hold item
vita= everything else
energy= none
also ik does give alot of Atack ratting if i remember so 1 raven + leech ring i.e manald ring and highlords is good
2x shael the maul so that it can reach bp if ur lucky and can get 2x 15 ias/ed jewels use those.
Socket helm with ed jewels and even p ruby
and armour ideally ed jewel.
INVENTRY
If ur lucky try to get hold of any life scs u an find ideally with secondary mods like ar and possibly res, ideally life scs from say 10-20 life will work well.
Also on switch it is a nice idea to carry bo sticks which can easily be aquired from the act 5 seller and be bought from there.
Bo sticks can have a total of 3 to warcries on each stick so 2 will give u 6+ bo which will improve ur life, defence and the duriation of the bo
MERC
Act 2 Nightmare Offensive Merc i believe gives u the Might aura which is very usefull to adding to ur dmg and try to equip ur merc with as much crushing blow items like guillemes face etc.
Always max Shout over Ironskin. Much more effective.
-Hal
mainaman
23-07-2006, 07:56
This guy is OBVIOUSLY talking about surviving in PvM - he's asking why he can't kill monsters. He's not talking about how he can't beat a Bone Nec, nor is he looking for tips about how to take on a trapper. The combination of items your 'build' has is retarded.
You showed your own ignorance to his problem by giving him a crapped out PvM build that is pretty damn close to becoming a half assed BvC. Also, considering he's having trouble making it past monsters, I'm at a loss as to why you think he'll be able to afford an Enigma, 2x BotDs, etc. etc. Nice job. :cry:
well maybe you should reread what i said in my post
i said all the enigmas and botd etc are very expensive , so i suggested ik set, i also suggested to give him free if he plays east ladder.
next time read more carefully before posting:flip:
well maybe you should reread what i said in my post
i said all the enigmas and botd etc are very expensive , so i suggested ik set, i also suggested to give him free if he plays east ladder.
next time read more carefully before posting:flip:
Again, it's you who needs to read more carefully. Why suggest something that is completely out of his reach unless he 1) Ebays 2) Steals from one of his friends or 3) One of his friends quits and gives him a ton of high end gear? Your smileys do not detract from the fact that it was idiotic to suggest that kind of gear when he's having trouble killing monsters. That's great that you said you'd give him an IK set. The suggestion about the high end gear is STILL stupid.
Romper Stomper
23-07-2006, 09:51
Best thread ever.
Hence why i gave him a mini setup for ik barb as he will be able to solo hell and play safely at the costs of very little, as most of ik set can cost pgems and and where i play the actual armour is cheap as well.
The only things that can get expensive is the socketings as u could go for 2x shael in the maul or 2x 40/15 jewels and Ed jewel in armour etc.
mainaman
23-07-2006, 18:08
Again, it's you who needs to read more carefully. Why suggest something that is completely out of his reach unless he 1) Ebays 2) Steals from one of his friends or 3) One of his friends quits and gives him a ton of high end gear? Your smileys do not detract from the fact that it was idiotic to suggest that kind of gear when he's having trouble killing monsters. That's great that you said you'd give him an IK set. The suggestion about the high end gear is STILL stupid.
so basically you are saying that listing top gear for future reference doesnt make any sence? why shouldnt he know about it? and what makes you think he will not find ppl to give him some of that top gear for free as if it is too xpensive anyway .even lowest botd and nigma will do the job in pvm and these are worth the hrs they are made of which is exactly nothing -6 hr big deal
rest of gear is worth pgems
Wow, you're ACTUALLY thinking someone is just going to randomly give it to him? Obviously that happens... sometimes. But banking on that chance in hilarious. WOW, the lowest botd/nigma is only 6 HR! The majority of people that come onto this site are 'legit' [rolling my eyes here] and I cannot begin to count the amount of people that have posted they have rarely [even though it is easy] gotten more than 1 HR worth of.. anything. You didn't think this through very well, but you're continuing to try to defend your point in which almost everyone this entire thread doesn't agree with.
And you suggested that for future reference? Don't make me laugh. I'm quite sure your mindset was that he regear his barb, now, with that crap.
mainaman
24-07-2006, 00:10
Wow, you're ACTUALLY thinking someone is just going to randomly give it to him? Obviously that happens... sometimes. But banking on that chance in hilarious. WOW, the lowest botd/nigma is only 6 HR! The majority of people that come onto this site are 'legit' [rolling my eyes here] and I cannot begin to count the amount of people that have posted they have rarely [even though it is easy] gotten more than 1 HR worth of.. anything. You didn't think this through very well, but you're continuing to try to defend your point in which almost everyone this entire thread doesn't agree with.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
And you suggested that for future reference? Don't make me laugh. I'm quite sure your mindset was that he regear his barb, now, with that crap
Obviosly you don't think i was aware of the fact he will have really hard time to get that top gear, by himself?
i also said some of the gear is really xpensive. have i said he need to get that gear to be able to play ? no i said cheapest and still viable option is IK set.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Obviosly you don't think i was aware of the fact he will have really hard time to get that top gear, by himself?
i also said some of the gear is really xpensive. have i said he need to get that gear to be able to play ? no i said cheapest and still viable option is IK set.
Yeah, copy my reply more.
Seriously, it was just plain idiotic to suggest that gear at this point in time. Can you not grasp that fact?
Alright guys, I'm going to have to step in and say that you're *ALL* wrong. Everyone who says he needs to regear is wrong. His equipment is already more than sufficient for a skilled player. If he's having trouble, it's probably less a result of his gear, and more a result of his playing skills- which is understandable, since he's new to the game.
Instead of arguing back and forth about how to improve his gear, why not argue back and forth about how to improve his playing skills? You know, provide him with tips, tricks, strategies, dirt-cheap cube recipes, etc. that will all enhance his killing power and survivability? Or am I the only one here who knows it's possible to play a barb without BotDs or even the IK set?
I have no problem playing a PvM barb, I simply thought the suggestion for BoTDs and Enigmas was hilarious to say the least. :] The use of Howl and taunt in addition to whatever attack skill you have will help you survive much longer than good gear.
bananfrisyre
24-07-2006, 08:43
Wow, this thread has really grown over the weekend :) Thanks for all the help.
SSOG: The Merc really did its wonders, applying a bit of carefullness, a bit of shouting and varied playstyle and Iam back on the "track" again.
So I can keep my polearm? Someone tells me to go 1h axe with shield, another one to rebuild into a macebuild.... hmm.. anyhow I have started collecting alot of topaz/gems/runes etc so I hopefully can make pgems after a while, and make a runepolearm :P
Wow, this thread has really grown over the weekend :) Thanks for all the help.
SSOG: The Merc really did its wonders, applying a bit of carefullness, a bit of shouting and varied playstyle and Iam back on the "track" again.
So I can keep my polearm? Someone tells me to go 1h axe with shield, another one to rebuild into a macebuild.... hmm.. anyhow I have started collecting alot of topaz/gems/runes etc so I hopefully can make pgems after a while, and make a runepolearm :P
Absolutely you can stick with polearms. You'll probably want to upgrade your weapon before too much longer (although yours is more than sufficient for now). You'll also probably hit the wall again towards the end of Nightmare, although that'll probably be more a result of your skill point placement than of any inherent weakness of polearm class weapons. Usually, you put one point into Mastery ASAP and then leave it until you've maxed everything else you want to max. The first point provides so much that it'd be wasteful not to spend it, but that also gives you a lot of flexibility. If you want to make a polearm barb, and in late nightmare you find a godly axe, you can switch to an axebarb and you've only lost one skill point.
Anyway, for now, stick with polearms. Shields are *NOT* essential in PvM scenarios (I find that ~75% of my characters these days go with 2-handed weapons). Remember, keep using your Merc as a human shield (if 3/4ths of the enemies attack your merc instead of you, that's the same as 75% damage reduction). If you do want to try out a different style, then feel free to- the whole point of early characters is to learn what you like and dislike, so it's probably a good idea to get a little bit of experience with a 1-hand/shield Barb before you're forced to rebuild. Like I said, though- if you're patient and put in the effort, you should be able to clear Nightmare with that barb without encountering any insurmountable problems.
A cheap polearm weapon could be Hwanin's Justice from Hwanin's set. Socket it with a sheal and you reach max attack speed with WW. :) This could work as your weapon through nm maybe. Not end gear, but nice. Maybe the whole set would work.
If I had one (and if you play europe) I would have given you one and the shael.
bananfrisyre
24-07-2006, 11:33
Can't believe how helpfull you guys are =) Seems like a good community!
Thanks!
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