Ethereal Ribcracker: upgrade? Zod?

[Lich Lord Soth]

Hello, I'm playing my first Druid since LOD 1.09. He is currently level 45, and his gear (working from memory here) includes some nice gear such as Buriza, Jalal's, Duriel's Shell, Waterwalks, String of Ears, Angelic ammy and ring combo, a rare dual-leech ring and viper gloves (poison, leech, crushing blow). I also recently acquired a ribcracker which I now appreciate for its crushing blow. As luck would have it, after all this time, I also came upon a new ribcracker that is ethereal, and it wields more damage than the non-eth one I have. So the questions are whether an upgrade is worth the trouble along with the cost of a Zod and whether I would be better off doing something with my original, non-ethereal Ribcracker.

Also, any suggestions on future gear would be appreciated. He (my druid) is a Rabies/Fury werewolf. I also have some other higher level characters (including a very nice level 90 necro), so I can create or find almost any gear. Thoughts? Suggestions? Thank you in advance.

[Verashiden]

Don't have a lot of time so I'll say this:

Ethereal Ribby upped hits 9/5 Fury. Non eth upped Ribby Shaeled hits 8/5. Depends on if you want speed or power.

[Lich Lord Soth]

Don't have a lot of time so I'll say this:

Ethereal Ribby upped hits 9/5 Fury. Non eth upped Ribby Shaeled hits 8/5. Depends on if you want speed or power.


I'm not sure. Since I plan to use Rabies quite a bit, perhaps speed would be the more viable option, but I would like some more information on which would actually yield greater damage over a given period of time weighing both attack types into the equation. As I understand it, Rabies is not quite like a simple poison attack, but perhaps speed does not help its penetration into the crowd. There is much I have to learn and I'm hoping this is the place to speed my education.

Edit: Thank you for your response, by the way. :)

[Summerfun]

Not that long ago some one posted a BIG table of the most damaging weapons for a fury druid.

From that i remember a non eth ribby with shael did more dmg over time than a eth one with zod.
Im guessing its because with more speed CB triggers more often.

So if you dont feel like getting a zod, use the upped one with a shael. :thumbsup:

Allso ill try looking for that post so you can see for your self

[Summerfun]

http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=543945
This threat, you might read the whole thing.

The table i was talking about is on page 2 posted by SSoG (who else:rolleyes: )

[Bjam]

You'll see that the eth Ribby actually ranks above a Shael'd non-eth Ribby. It's the non-eth Ribby with a 15/40 jewel that comes out on top. However, if you want to be legit, are on a budget, want to do the Ubers, or some combination of those, you are better off with a non-eth Ribby (speed kills).

In general play, the eth Ribby is one bad stick, but unless you are checking a stopwatch, you won't notice much difference in either case.

Full disclosure: Eth Ribby...that's how I roll.

[Lich Lord Soth]

You'll see that the eth Ribby actually ranks above a Shael'd non-eth Ribby. It's the non-eth Ribby with a 15/40 jewel that comes out on top. However, if you want to be legit, are on a budget, want to do the Ubers, or some combination of those, you are better off with a non-eth Ribby (speed kills).

In general play, the eth Ribby is one bad stick, but unless you are checking a stopwatch, you won't notice much difference in either case.

Full disclosure: Eth Ribby...that's how I roll.

Ahh, I was wondering what RjoF was. Thanks for clearing that up. I appreciate the information and the pointer to that table. :)

[Summerfun]

Yes, i know but it were some time since i read that thread.
Any way, i dont belive that the difference betwen a 40/15 and shael would be to big, again unless you use a stop watch you are not gonna notic it.

Much of the power from Ribby is the CB and its still there if you go with shael.
But if you have a 40/15 laying arround, go ahead and use that :smiley:
Just be sure it has good if not perfect base ed, other wise that jewel is a waste

[Lich Lord Soth]

Cool. As my druid is only 45, I can hold off on the upgrading/adding jewels for now. He's doing just fine in early Nightmare with just the stick. Perhaps later I'll find some other Ribcrackers.

[Bjam]

Another reason to hold off upping the Ribby...it changes the requirement level to 51 for non-eth (I believe) and a whopping 76 for an eth Ribby.

[SSoG]

Another reason to hold off upping the Ribby...it changes the requirement level to 51 for non-eth (I believe) and a whopping 76 for an eth Ribby.

Eth weapons have the exact same level reqs as non-eth weapons. In this case, an upgraded Ribcracker will have a clvl 56 Requirement whether it is Eth or Non-Eth.

[Summerfun]

I think what he was thinking about were the Zod rune. dossent that require lvl 76? not sure though

[Bjam]

Yeah, it's from the Zod, which you obviously have to add. I thought the req. level would go up to 69, but I will never forget it, because I got caught having to level him up without my best weapon.

[SSoG]

Yeah, it's from the Zod, which you obviously have to add. I thought the req. level would go up to 69, but I will never forget it, because I got caught having to level him up without my best weapon.

Well, in that case, it isn't UPGRADING that is raising the level requirement, it's Zodding the weapon in the first place. It doesn't matter if you use an upgraded or an unupgraded version, they'll both have a high level requirement thanks to the Zod.