untwinked sp: fade?

[teampowerforce]

As the title says, I will be playing untwinked single player, using only what I can find. I've read a lot of threads, and they all say not to max Fade, because you can essentially get the benefits of Fade from gear; expensive gear that I will most likely not have. So in my case, does it make sense to make Fade? The PDR and bonus resists sure seem tempting.....

Thanks for all advice!

[stephan]

You can always get two +3 shadow claws from Anya in act 5 nigtmare or hell. This gives you a lvl 7 fade with just one point in it. At lvl 7 you have the larger portion of the resists of fade.

You also have to remember that certainly untwinked it will be very difficult to get IAS (if you need it) but resistance comes fairly cheap. You could socket armors, helmets with orts, tals, rals and thuls, and shields with perfect gems (or you could make a RalOrtTal, which every one who has a 3 socket shield can make). On top of that, any magical or rare piece of equipment can give you resists, while almost none give IAS (only gloves and weapons). Consider this before heavily investing in fade.

It will depend on what kind of build you play too of course...

[BIGeyedBUG]

It really does depend. Is the build melee, ranged, or a mix? Do you have some leeway with skill points? Are you willing to spend the time shopping, gambling, and crafting gear? Are you playing HC, or do you just hate dying? And what kind of luck finding resist gear or PDR gear is the character going to have. It's untwinked, so you have to plan for some factors being unplannable.

There's only a few untwinked situations where I personally would consider maxing it. A non-Phoenix melee build, and a purist BF or Bow/Throw build. Point flexibility in both cases, as well as a good-sized need for tanking on the former. Even then, there's a good chance I would settle for fewer than 20 points in it. If you're careful, it is quite possible to make it through the game with just 1 point and +skills, even with a hc melee build. It does require a lot of care though.

That's not very specific advice, I know. But here's some that will probably apply in most cases: I would hold off on putting in more than one point until Nightmare at least. Other than Diablo, there aren't many challenges in Normal that are *really* hard on your resists, and they're all manageable with some easily findable situation-specific gear, and some good tactics.

Hope that helps.

[SSoG]

There's only a few untwinked situations where I personally would consider maxing it. A non-Phoenix melee build, and a purist BF or Bow/Throw build. Point flexibility in both cases, as well as a good-sized need for tanking on the former. Even then, there's a good chance I would settle for fewer than 20 points in it. If you're careful, it is quite possible to make it through the game with just 1 point and +skills, even with a hc melee build. It does require a lot of care though.

To add another situation where you might want to max it- if you have a Shadow Warrior and you're heavily depending on her to tank for you. Max Fade will turn SW into a super-tank.

Anyway, like BeB, I usually just toss a handful of points into Fade (usually 5 or so in order to get good resists at low levels when I can't yet shop +Skills items), and then the rest of my career I rely on prebuffing it with +Shadow Claws on switch.