Pindleskin: Worth it?

[JoeBruce]

Ok, so first let me say I don't have the ideal characters for the running of Pindleskin right now. In my mind, that would be a Blizzard Sorc or a Lightning Fury Zon. I've been using an Orb sorc with high level Static Field, just in case you're curious.

But, out of the many times I've killed Pindleskin over the many years he has been in the Diablo game, I remember him dropping me two uniques: a Nokozan amulet and a Bloodmoon sword (cool, but I already had 2). There was probably a few more, but I don't remember ever finding anything useful from him, except gold. I know some people run him with great success, I've seen the screenshots. I know people do tournaments where all they do is run Pindle a bunch of times. Where my question comes in is, I actually die during Pindle runs (yeah this is Softcore). It's almost always when he's cursed, and I have just started and am playing careless, but it is horribly frustrating (even more frustrating considering it's pretty much the only spot where my sorc dies). Now aside from what I could and can do to make my sorc less fragile, it just makes me wonder: is Pindleskin really worth it? I've lost a good amount of experience from the various deaths, with nothing to really show for it but a little gold - oh wait, I lose that when I die too. Anyway, vote if you care to (and I have the poll working), and let me know your experiences and two cents - I know how you love to give it.

[aitrus]

There is so many experience written on Pindleskin runs... try the search, you'll be surprised (hopefully it works ok now)

In the mean time take a look at the table in SPF Elite Runners (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?p=5272660#post5272660) thread to see what you can get from him and how much runs people around here do

[pwangsta]

analytically, i'd have to say that pindle is worth it: there is nowhere that is significantly more efficient than running pindle in the long run. however, subjectively i have to say that i despise pindle-running. even meph running is better since i run him on /p3, but pindle-running always seems to consist more of save & exit than actually playing. That's not to say I've never run pindle - a majority of my better (and now nonexistent due to an unfortunate software accident) finds were off pindle: IKSC and Gris helm come to mind, the result of maybe 500 pindle runs.

One thing that bothers me about pindle is the low success rate - i simply can't stand going for 100+ runs without anything more significant than a cathan's seal (just as an example). The solution I've found to is continuously remake blizz sorcs - that way, at least the leveling provides me with some sense of progress, rather than being a complete waste of time. In general, though, I've accepted the fact that I'm just not a "pindle-person" and am content with running meph and baal for items.

[Nightfish]

Well you gotta realise that there's a difference between running for items of TC72/75 and lower and running for items of TC78 and up, especially TC87. There is no fast way of getting the good stuff. Luck is much more of a factor here.

If you run something that can drop every item in the game except for three (those three being: arachnid, easy from meph, azurewrath, also meph, tyrael's, not easy from anything) you will inevitably get everything if you do enough runs. Since pindleskin runs are fast he has always been and will always be a popular target. Do enough runs and you will get stuff. However, the same holds true for other targets.

Now, judging by your post, you don't enjoy those runs, right? Then don't run him. Go somewhere else where stuff can drop. Pick an alvl 85 area and run that. Personally I have always done my MFing past TC75 in the WS K. I like the place. I can run it fast and it's not boring. I don't die because I don't get bored and complacent. And good times will be had by all. Well, by me at least and that's all that matters.

Bottom line rhyme:
Run where it's fun

[Bazhell]

Ah, Pindle.

Frankly, I've never had problems with killing Pindle with any of the characters that I've gotten to Act 5 Hell. That's the beauty and the pain of running him since he's easy and quick it also means he's boring. It seems that every few months when I'm convinced it doesn't make any real sense to run him because he never drops anything, he drops a Death Clever or Templar's Might.

Nightfish has it right, run where you have fun. I generally do a pindle and a meph run a couple of times a night. That's less than 5 minutes total. Some nights I don't have time for anything else, but at least I get my Diablo fix.

[noobintraining]

Pindleskin is a great target, but expect to do a lot of runs. Unlike Hell Mephisto, you can kill Pindle several dozen or even a few hundred times and not get a darned thing.

I'd also like to echo Nightfish's statement about "run where it's fun." I get very bored running the same level 85 area over and over again, so I switch it up a bit. I'll run the Ancient Tunnels several times, then run the WSK. Sometimes even The Pit, if I manage to get a waypoints close to both The Pit and Ancient Tunnels.

[Ugla]

I must second Nightfish as far as fun factor is concerned. For me, running Pindle is extremely boring, and unless you do thousands of runs, you will hardly get satisfying results. I think I spent more time shopping Anya&Gheed for +3java/20%IAS gloves (5-6 hours) than running Pindle with all my characters combined.

There is another important thing about Pindle. I guess Nightfish already mentioned it in one of his threads, but I don't remember which one it was, so here it goes again:

If you collect the grail (all sets&uniques in the game), and don't have Tyrael's yet, forget about Pindle. The existence of this sole item, which cannot be dropped by him, makes Pindle-runs not worth the effort.

[bill_n_opus]

If you collect the grail (all sets&uniques in the game), and don't have Tyrael's yet, forget about Pindle. The existence of this sole item, which cannot be dropped by him, makes Pindle-runs not worth the effort.

I would go so far as say that ... I would say that Pindle is worth it because of the fact that:

- he can drop anything except for the three
- runs are easy
- runs are fast
- you get good exp so you can level

Once you get most of your grail then it's certainly time to mix it up with alvl85 areas and Baal runs, WSK as NF likes etc.

Just because Pindle cannot drop T-might does not automatically make it "not worth the effort". Getting that one hard to find item from Pindle can really kickstart your diablo experience.

Last time I checked it was pretty difficult finding a Stormlash from Meph! Or an IK Soul Cage ... or a Death's Web ...

[jjscud]

I agree with Ugla. If all you want is a useful item base then Meph will generally do. If you are absolutely positively going for the grail then the most efficient way is to hunt down the rarest item first. So no Pindle.

If you start with Pindle and find lots of his good stuff you will most likely find it all over again while hunting down Tyrael's later. Its more efficient to start in the Baal/lvl85 areas and move to Pindle once you have Tyreals.

Of course if you are really after that one item to make a build (Windforce, dWeb, d Fathom ect...) then Pindle is the place to be.

[Thyiad]

I would say goes with what you find interesting. I would rather see my 95th pair of chancies from Memphy and my 96th pair two runs, later than have 800 runs of zip-ee-de-do-da from Pindle then the Whoa! drop. I know I will have given up long before then.

[DarkChaos]

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[Ugla]

@bill_n_opus:
Exactly as jjscud said. You can eventually move to Pindle to find the rest, once you have the Tyrael's. But there is still a substantial threat of dying from boredom, by which I don't mean only your HC chars! :rolleyes:

Concerning TC87 stuff
Stormlash: required lvl82
IK armor: lvl76 is ok. I guess that king must have had like million arms to wield all those mauls. What a killing power :shocked:
Death's Fathom: lvl73 - pity my sorcs are always "in a hurry". I guess I might use it for act5 Hell, if it wasn't full of CIs..
Death's Web: this one seems really cool with mere lvl66, but I'm affraid it's just the exception.

Those are the TC87s - mostly useful for finished chars, i.e. for MF purposes, to search for other TC87s..

I will probably give Pindle another try with my healer, who is currently in act1 Hell. You can never have enough yellow lacquered plates :evil:

EDIT: @DC those must be some really cool gloves, please show the stats
EDIT2: not that good joke after I found out, I clicked just at one particular image..

[Klæmint Vágadal]

I second DC. (http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/2086/screenshot003hl7.jpg)

EDIT: Nice trick DC, did not noice it before grogs pointed it out :D

[grogs]

DC that was very tricky making each of the letters a link on it's own... I missed it the first time :P

[bill_n_opus]

@bill_n_opus:
Exactly as jjscud said. You can eventually move to Pindle to find the rest, once you have the Tyrael's. But there is still a substantial threat of dying from boredom, by which I don't mean only your HC chars! :rolleyes:

Concerning TC87 stuff
Stormlash: required lvl82
IK armor: lvl76 is ok. I guess that king must have had like million arms to wield all those mauls. What a killing power :shocked:
Death's Fathom: lvl73 - pity my sorcs are always "in a hurry". I guess I might use it for act5 Hell, if it wasn't full of CIs..
Death's Web: this one seems really cool with mere lvl66, but I'm affraid it's just the exception.

Those are the TC87s - mostly useful for finished chars, i.e. for MF purposes, to search for other TC87s..

I will probably give Pindle another try with my healer, who is currently in act1 Hell. You can never have enough yellow lacquered plates :evil:

EDIT: @DC those must be some really cool gloves, please show the stats
EDIT2: not that good joke after I found out, I clicked just at one particular image..

I understand your point of view ... but I still disagree.

He's still "worth it" - the statement being a subjective and objective one that is defined by one's value system.

The way I see it - he's easy to run and that's what makes it for many people to make it worth it. The popularity of Pindle runs is evidence of that itself. That's a given - no argument.

As for the assertion that somehow Pindle doesn't drop T-might somehow makes him an afterthought ... well, I think that's a superflous statement. I've found many of my good base high-power items from Pindle that have allowed me to try many other builds that allow me to MF all parts of the game ... as well as flesh out my grail from Pindle finds myself.

The issue of "boredom" is a purely subjective issue ... and really shouldn't be used in any form of argument apart from highlighting the very personal . I can run Pindle until my eyes bleed ... others are not so hardy. Just because boredom and HC-issues are things to consider for some players ... it's not a blanket statement for all D2 players.

If Pindle runs bore you and/if you play HC ... well, don't run Pindle then. That's simple enough. Doesn't mean it's not "worth it" for others.

If I remember correctly ... even Doc Tenshi said Pindle is the "best" source of
grail-fillers. If it's good enough for Doc then it's good enough for me. :wink3:

[Grumpy Old Wizard]

Ok, so first let me say I don't have the ideal characters for the running of Pindleskin right now. In my mind, that would be a Blizzard Sorc or a Lightning Fury Zon. I've been using an Orb sorc with high level Static Field, just in case you're curious.


I say Pindle is very much worth it. He can be run very fast and safely with different characters. My best rune drops (Ber, Jah, and Vex) came from Pindle.

Some characters that are good runners, in no particular order are:

1) Blizzard/Firewall, Blizzard/Fireball
Spam some Glacial spikes to freeze the minions, a blizzard or two and if necessary use your fire attack on Pindle.

2) Barbarian (whirlwind or frenzy) with warcry. He can hork Pindle too.

3) Lightning trapper with fireblast backup. Cast your shadow in the midst of the temple as you enter and mindblast. Lay down traps.

4) Frozen arrow zon with a secondary attack.

5) Bonemancer

[wangnala]

As an aside on Pindle runs, there is one weapon combo that no one talks about anymore:

Crainte Vomir - Exceptional Unique Sword, up to +742% damage vs undead based on Clvl

Ghoulhide or Gravepalm - Exceptional Unique Gloves, maximum +200% damage vs undead


Combine these together and Pindle runs sound easy...


I got this tidbit from a very old forum that has died (no new postings in past 3 years), posted this tip with URL link, and this site felt insecure enough to deem it as a competiting site... go figure...

[Gabriel74]

I used to think Pindle was useless. Then I found out that I was an idiot (not for thinking he was useless, that is a personal opinion, and everyone is free to have theirs), no my problem was that I had been running him on P8, you know, the same way you run Meph or Baal higher for more drops.

Then a kind soul finally told me that P1 or P8, pindle drops the same either way.

I survived a lot more after that, and my runs are much, much quicker. Of course running pindle on P8 for a while helped get my hammerdin up to 96. But my blizzballer is much better at running him, completely safe, don't even use potions.

Still waiting for an amazing drop.

[zarirazz]

i'd say pindle's worth it. completed about thousands of runs, and found a griffons, dweb, dfathom, windforce=) it's more of an upgrade from running hell meph. plus the option of juz running him @ p1 is a bonus.

[Ugla]

I guess I must clarify my statement a bit more. I didn't say Pindle was useless in general. Many people like to run him, and looking at their results, he's one of the best sources of TC87s in the long term. Still, he's just not a good starting point for grail hunt, because of the reasons Nightfish and jjscud stated.

Tyrael: I'm still using that armor, if you haven't noticed. Forget about it!

Honestly, I don't know exactly which items are TC87 and which are from lower TCs, and don't care much. But I know it's possible to build a character capable of running any MF target using items from Mephisto.

Thus, for sake of grail: Meph->lvl85 area of your choice (->Pindle) would be the most efficient route.

Except for my short affairs with Andy and Meph, my first and true MF target has always been Baal (+WSK). Even if I find crap, at least I'm leveling, sort of. I usually MF when I'm tired, and thus prefer SC.

@zarirazz: Griffon's :tongue: that's another reason, why I suppose to give Pindle a few more tries.

[Nightfish]

I don't think it's very useful to post uberfinds to prove how good / bad any given target is. As long as it can drop something, it will, sooner or later. Of course DC has twenty of every item since he basically spends his life doing pindle runs, and likely has a brain interface so he can do some while he sleeps. That does not prove that pindle is the best place to MF for everybody.

Surely you get good results if you do thousands of runs. But you would get equally good results running an area of your choice if you're smart about it and spend as much time.

Imho, first and foremost you should have fun playing a game. If it feels like work you should get paid. If pindle is fun for you, run him. If not, don't. In contrast to some others I don't feel fun is a small thing when it comes to picking targets. I'd rather spend two hours doing runs that I find fun than doing runs for two hours being bored.

[Klæmint Vágadal]

Coming home from a hard day's word, just brewing up a cup of coffey and doing pindleruns...now thats what I call relaxing, you just can't do that in the WSK.

But I do to think that area runs are rewarding too, but Pindle is altso hella worth it. Yesterdays pindle runs gave me a Griffons, IK SC, Pul, Mal, Frost Wind and Tal's amulet, and other crappy uniques (Bartuc, Blood Raven, Dwarf Star..)

But he's not at good starting point, Hell Meph always wins there IMO.

[JoeBruce]

You all have made some excellent points and started some nice discussion. As far as running where you like, well I pretty much do that (World Stone and some of the Act5 Ice Caves come to mind), but it's just that Pindle is so damn accessible. Every time you're in Harrogath you can practically hear him calling your name through that red portal. Mostly it's just an afterthought, or something quick to do while I'm actually out clearing other areas, so I think I've found a solution to my problem. Go get the WP and close the red portal, and simply use some other, future character to run/farm him. The character I'm using was built for running high level areas, mainly dungeons, and is extremely versatile and able to run/kill anything, but maybe Pindleskin is just not on her ticket.

[Darkflight]

Is Pindle a good target? Depends...

People collecting the grail should forget him until they get Tyreals Might. Then he is a good target, but I think a good roll on a map for Ancient Tunnels or WSK is better.

For highend stuff, he is a good and VERY easy target with good rewards.

But some people find him boring. I've run him ~15000 times and I am not bored, but I do Ancient Tunnels for the chance of Tyreals Might along with all those other goodies. I don't need it, and I am not grailing seriously, but what the heck.... would be nice to show off. :wink3: