Best place to find HoZ?

[Timbor]

Hi,

I was just wondering what the ilvl of the herald of zakarum shield is, and what would be a good place to go mfing for it. I just started up a couple months ago, so I havent accumulated enough wealth to trade for one yet, so I figured I would try my hand at looking for one.

Thanks,

Tim

[poroboszcz]

I've found one recently at hell baal, but according to ATMA the best chance of getting it is nm diablo, nm baal and hell mephi, with the last one being probably the fastest one to run as well as possible source of many other nice items that you can easily trade for zaka. gl

[MercurionX]

I have found 3 HoZ thus far (with 2 within an hour) from Hell Meph.
Though chances are chances, sometimes you get drops from the least likely places. A bloodlord dropped me a decent boneshade once, for example.
Advice would be to have enough MF (My MF Barb has around 200% I think? Can't remember) that does not compromise killing speed for more MF. Though u would be boss running in the search for your HoZ, with a decent amount of MF you might just get lucky with a regular monster.

As to the ilvl of the HoZ, it depends on what monster that dropped it (mine being ilvl 87 since I got it from Hell Meph.)

Though chances with NM Meph might be high as suggested, I would recommend that you go with Hell Meph since 1. it is fast and 2. it has the ability to drop Elite Uniques, which NM Meph is unable to. Just to entice you a little, I've gotten a Doombringer, 3 Stormshields and a Arkaine's Valour (albeit a low end one) from Hell Meph ^^.

[Timbor]

Sweet,

Any suggestions on how to run hell meph quickly? Do you just run until you find the stairs to lvl 3?

I will be using a hammerdin, lvl 83, ~5.8-5.9k hammer damage
My resists are fire ~75 cold 90 light 90 poison ~75, my mf is currently around 100-110.

Thanks,

Tim

[zeskelnec]

always counter clockwise from WP (to the left)

[helvete]

Might also want to give hell andariel a shot since she is bugged, and meph is not

[Timbor]

What do you mean by Andariel being "bugged"?

Also, do you have any suggestions on how to avoid being killed by those pesky stygian dolls... they can almost one-hit-kill me, its pretty frustrating.

Thanks,

Tim

[mjkittredge]

What do you mean by Andariel being "bugged"?

Also, do you have any suggestions on how to avoid being killed by those pesky stygian dolls... they can almost one-hit-kill me, its pretty frustrating.

Thanks,

Tim

I try to let my act 2 merc kill them off. Make sure he has a high damage weapon, and toss him a potion if he starts getting hurt. My strategy is, as soon as I see those stygian dolls, I run back to my merc and let him engage them, throw a few hammers in and back off so the bone shards or whatever it is doesn't hit me. Holy freeze merc is best against them. Also, try to boost your life with charms if you have room.

[Noite Escura]

Folks like to use a Sorceress and teleport all the way to the entrance. A pure Blizzard is favoured due to Cold mastery an synergies, which make her a fast killer with crappy equipment. It requires you to ignore/avoid anything else but Mephisto himself due to being single element oriented...

[thegiantturtle]

What do you mean by Andariel being "bugged"?http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=449699

[Timbor]

I try to let my act 2 merc kill them off. Make sure he has a high damage weapon, and toss him a potion if he starts getting hurt. My strategy is, as soon as I see those stygian dolls, I run back to my merc and let him engage them, throw a few hammers in and back off so the bone shards or whatever it is doesn't hit me. Holy freeze merc is best against them. Also, try to boost your life with charms if you have room.

So, is it these "shards" that hurt so much? This would make sense, as it seemed to me like I would kill them before they had a chance to hit me, and after I killed them my life would drop to almost 0.

Thanks,

Tim

[thegiantturtle]

So, is it these "shards" that hurt so much? This would make sense, as it seemed to me like I would kill them before they had a chance to hit me, and after I killed them my life would drop to almost 0.

Thanks,

TimWhen dolls die, they explode, doing physical damage to all enemies in a radius around them. The dolls don't hit hard, they just die hard. To avoid being hit by their death explosion, back a couple yards away and let your merc kill them. You could also try getting 50% DR, 75% chance to block, and alot of life.

[Timbor]

Ok, makes sense.
I already have 75% block, and my life is almost at 1k. I might try a shaftstop for 30% DR... I have one on one of my mercs.

Thanks,

Tim

[jwmoore]

i just found my hoz (solo) from hell andy, hell meph has given me an soj (solo) and an arachs (3 or 4 other ppl in game). all found with a lit sorc almost 500 mf, and all found within the last 2 weeks or so.

[iphaded]

whats up guys I just started up again a few months ago... been having a lucky streak lately. Found my first HoZ on a NM meph run around 3 weeks ago, from a high council actually (along with Bartuc's, Buriza, Occy, and some other stuff) with my meteorb sorc using around 250% mf at the time. And this past weekend I found a 198%ed HoZ from Hell Pindleskin running around 450%mf with my current gear. My runs consist of going meph>pindle>new game.

[Timbor]

Sounds pretty awesome!

Well, if you find too many HoZ... I would have no problem taking one off your hands, lol.

Tim

[Romasm]

sounds like bull, but i found an eth 152ed once in the stash right to mephisto