View Full Version : Sisyfus: The worst enemy is your best friend.
Sisyfus or Sisyphus was the son of Aeolus and Enarete, husband of Merope, and King/Founder of Ephyra (Corinth). He seduced his niece, took his brother's throne and betrayed Zeus's most sacred secrets. Zeus then ordered Hades to chain Sisyphus in Tartarus. Sisyphus slyly asked Thanatos to try the chains to show how they worked. When Thanatos did so, Sisyphus secured them and threatened Hades. This caused an uproar, and no human could die until Ares (who was annoyed that his battles had lost their fun because his opponents would not die) intervened, freeing Thanatos and sending Sisyphus to Tartarus.
Our friend Sisyfus embraces the dead. He will take use of four important skills. First, a Clay Golem. Second, Revives. Third and fourth Poison Explosion and Poison Nova.
1) Clay golems are most effective, especially against bosses, since they have a nice slowing effect. I won't spent more then one point in him. Instead I will max golem mastery for tons of life. Damage is not an issue.
2) Revives have been underrated by most players in D2X. However, in my opininon they are better then skellies. First of all, they usually have more life and are more flexibele. Secondly, they require an investment of 20 points, instead of 40 for useful skellies. Thirdly, and most importantly, you can get more revives then skellies.
3/4) With maxed Golem Mastery and Maxed Revive you will have a maximum of (110-46=) 64 skillpoints left. You could go for teeth, bonespear and bonespirit, but I prefer poison. Poison Explosion probably is one of the very best poison skills in the entire game. Especially combined with the runeword Bramble and Trang's gloves. Trust me, your poison can actually kill, and kill fast.
Another great thing about Bramble is that it grants Thorns aura combined with Spirit Barb charges. The worst enemy is your friend: the more damage it does, the sooner it kills itself; how stronger the monster, how stronger your revive will be.
no skeleton mastery to affect revives? just wondering.
rolling stoned
26-04-2007, 15:42
conviction doesn't effect poison
conviction doesn't effect poison
Ah, was already wondering wether it would or not. I also have to decide which merc to use, since I won't need either one of the Desert Mercs.
no skeleton mastery to affect revives? just wondering.
1Pt Only. Their life wouldn't be much of a problem, nor will you need extra damage. Thorns + Amp and +skills does the magic.
Revives have been underrated by most players in D2X. However, in my opininon they are better then skellies. First of all, they usually have more life and are more flexibele. Secondly, they require an investment of 20 points, instead of 40 for useful skellies. Thirdly, and most importantly, you can get more revives then skellies.
Having more life doest mean youll be able to do wonders with them. but I guess they revives do help to an extent. Especially urdars or the same type for CB effect. How do you intend to get more revives then skellies???? One corpse = One skellie or revive , someone please correct me if Im wrong.
Poison Explosion probably is one of the very best poison skills in the entire game. Especially combined with the runeword Bramble and Trang's gloves. Trust me, your poison can actually kill, and kill fast.
Bramble gives you thorns damage which becomes ineffective i hell difficulties and so on. So how does Bramble or trangouls gloves ( which gives +fcr and +2 to curses ) help poison based spells. Im totally at a loss here.
1Pt Only. Their life wouldn't be much of a problem, nor will you need extra damage. Thorns + Amp and +skills does the magic.
I believe that thorns only oapplies to the person who has the aura not your revives, please correct me if Im wrong.
How do you intend to get more revives then skellies???? One corpse = One skellie or revive , someone please correct me if Im wrong.
Because you max out raise skeleton you get a total of 8 skellies @ lvl 20. If you max out revive you get a total of 20 revives @ lvl 20. 20>8 /done
So how does Bramble or trangouls gloves ( which gives +fcr and +2 to curses ) help poison based spells. Im totally at a loss here.
Bramble and trang gloves have a % increase to poison damage. The gloves increase ur poison by 25%, and bramble up to 50%. That's a huge damage increase.
I believe that thorns only oapplies to the person who has the aura not your revives, please correct me if Im wrong.
You are wrong. Any aura that your main character has, either from his own skill (pallies) or from an item (bramble) will be shared with all the people in your party, including mercs, revives, skellies, masters and valkries.
Having more life doest mean youll be able to do wonders with them. but I guess they revives do help to an extent. Especially urdars or the same type for CB effect. How do you intend to get more revives then skellies???? One corpse = One skellie or revive , someone please correct me if Im wrong.
More corpses = more revives. ^^ You will have plenty of corpes since you kill very fast. With maxed revive and + skills you can get an army up to 40 revives (+-3 times more then skellies).
Bramble gives you thorns damage which becomes ineffective i hell difficulties and so on.
Without amplify it would, with amplify the thorns damage get tripled.
So how does Bramble or trangouls gloves ( which gives +fcr and +2 to curses ) help poison based spells. Im totally at a loss here.
Bramble gives 25-50% extra poison damage. Trang'oul gives another 25%.
I believe that thorns only oapplies to the person who has the aura not your revives, please correct me if Im wrong.
I doubt that. But even if thats true, you can simply use a thorns-merc.
P.s. Haha Redtan, we posted this in the same minute and with almost the same response.
Secondly, they require an investment of 20 points, instead of 40 for useful skellies
They dont. They require 0 points, you dont need ANY points in it.
I'd rather do like this:
'white' runeword with:
3revives
3psn nova/ 6 total in psn nova. 20 fcr is also good.
You'd get alot of revives from /skills.
Torch-Anni1-2sojs-Shako2/darkspawn(possible other 3SK head, but they dont offer fcr)/amulet 2 nec if possible
enough FCR for 75 bp.
Totally: 14revives.
Possible summ sks. More then 20 revives... is a waste since i prefer skellies then.
Instead investing those points in:
Confuse or lower resist. might aswell take 1pt confuse and take som points in lower res to get to 69-%.
Putting a few in CE will do the trick for some of the poison immunes.
Maybe using Eni instead of bramble since you can get the minions on top off you.
And the extremly good teleport.
Darkforce Spawn > 30 fcr possible 3psn bone and 3 summon if you can afford it.
They dont. They require 0 points, you dont need ANY points in it.
I'd rather do like this:
'white' runeword with:
3revives
3psn nova/ 6 total in psn nova. 20 fcr is also good.
You'd get alot of revives from /skills.
Torch-Anni1-2sojs-Shako2/darkspawn(possible other 3SK head, but they dont offer fcr)/amulet 2 nec if possible
enough FCR for 75 bp.
Totally: 14revives.
Possible summ sks. More then 20 revives... is a waste since i prefer skellies then.
Instead investing those points in:
Confuse or lower resist. might aswell take 1pt confuse and take som points in lower res to get to 69-%.
Putting a few in CE will do the trick for some of the poison immunes.
Maybe using Eni instead of bramble since you can get the minions on top off you.
And the extremly good teleport.
Darkforce Spawn > 30 fcr possible 3psn bone and 3 summon if you can afford it.
White:
Hit causes monster to flee 25%
20% Faster Cast Rate
Magic Damage Reduced by 4
+13 to mana
+10 to vitality
+3 to bone and poison skills
+4 to skeleton mastery
+2 to bone spear
+3 to bone armor
I rather have Heart of the Oak:
+3 To All Skills
+40% Faster Cast Rate
+75% Damage To Demons
+100 To Attack Rating Against Demons
Adds 3-14 Cold Damage
7% Mana Stolen Per Hit
+1 To Blizzard (Sorceress Only)
+10 To Dexterity
Replenish Life +20
Increase Maximum Mana 15%
All Resistances +30-40 (varies)
Level 4 Oak Sage (25 Charges)
Level 14 Raven (60 Charges)
+50% Damage To Undead
For the +3 skills, Oak Sage and FCR.
Or perhaps even Call to Arms when I'm not in a party.
P.s. Bramble is the most important runeword for my entire build, since it got the desired thornsaura, combined with a huge poison damage bonus.
Yeah. But i think that:
white 3revive/3psnova covers it up,
Thornsaura doesnt DO nearly the damage you want it to do, ( actually isnt what i would call, effective - even with amp )
This offers: 3 more to psn nova, but 20- fcr. Or white could even have 3psnova/3revive/3bprison. ( really rare )
From what i see, you have no spare points for maxing, lower resist which this allows you to do. 69-% at max. I don't think that really compares bramble, lower resist = the same damage as perf bramble, and trang ouls gloves.
But you would keep Trangs gloves on.
However the setup would grant you enigma = Teleport 2 skills, and massive strength bonus.
If i'd think as you i'd want:
Lower resist, should be apart in the guide, you could easily get lvl 20 by not
maxing full revives and such ( lvl 20 in total with skills combined )
If you think that Thorns is effective, use Bone prison, too.
Which btw White could cover up also.
However, i would bet that my suggestion, would be a faster killer, have more saftey, and generally have more flexibility if needed.
Not that if thorns is that necessary, i'd go with merc a1,
Ice , Bramble , Andys Jewel prefix and suffix cold damage.
( i'd prefer merc with other item anyways )
Act 2 merc can have thorns aura, + items.
CTA is always on switch.... :S
Revives are MEATwalls that cover YOU from dying. Nothing more.
I consider thorns as an extra thing on em.
You can get thorn from Iron golem also, Iron golem in white woe... rocks
And anyways, i dont think i can change your mind.
Mad Mantis
26-04-2007, 21:01
2) Revives have been underrated by most players in D2X.
Herding them without Enigma really sucks. I spend a fortune on TP's or charges.
Yeah. But i think that:
Revives are MEATwalls that cover YOU from dying. Nothing more.
Actually, those Urdar types do sweet damage as well. Only tried 'em in PvP but they do damage, knockback and provide shields. Now, THAT's sweet. ^^
@ Rawness
Iron Golem has low thorns and if you want to make him useful he is very costly. Bramble not only got thorns, but also got spirit of barbs. When you let your merc wear it you will loose both the spirit of barb and the precious poison damage. Thorns + Spirit + Amp will actually really do the job. Another reason why I dont use lower resist. Amplify is simply better in my opinion.
Bone prison will be no problem when wearing the Marrowwalk boots (13 lvl 33 bone prison charges) The bug is that as long as you have no points into Bone Prison, it will count as having 33 levels of it for synergies. Meaning it will add synergetic bonusses to Bone Armor and Bone Wall as if you had actually put 33 points into it. Bone wall and bone armor should be suifficient to make your life a hell of a lot easier.
You are right that I don't really need to max revive. Ten points will do. Another thing, perhaps I shouldn't max golem mastery at all. Its only use is slowing. Revives, in contrary to skellies are better boss killers and are less golem-dependent. This will safe me 30 points. Which I can place in lower resist or in Skeleton Mastery to give my Revive's real killing power. In this case I will use a Act 1 Merc with a Faith bow for fanaticism.
By wearing Bramble instead of Enigma, you will be losing the precious ability to herd your revives. Remember that Revives have a terrible tendency to wander - much more so than your other summoned minions.
Although Revives have an exceptional amount of life and can most definitely deal some high damage, they aren't truly useful unless you can get them to engage the enemy when and where you wish them to. Without Enigma, I am not sure how you might go about this.
If you are set on using Iron Maiden, it may be a much better choice in having your Mercenary wear it. In this way, you can wear Enigma, allowing you to control your Revives. However, you lose the precious bit of extra poison damage. Seeing as Hell difficulty is rife with Poison Immunes, you'll have basically spent skills in something you can't use much - which sounds less than savory considering that's 40-60 skill points. The only way you could make this up would be to use a poison-faceted weapon and armour/shield, or perhaps even a Death's Web.
It just doesn't sound like it could work very well in Hell difficulty.
AnimeCraze
27-04-2007, 04:28
If you are set on using Iron Maiden, it may be a much better choice in having your Mercenary wear it. In this way, you can wear Enigma, allowing you to control your Revives. However, you lose the precious bit of extra poison damage. Seeing as Hell difficulty is rife with Poison Immunes, you'll have basically spent skills in something you can't use much - which sounds less than savory considering that's 40-60 skill points. The only way you could make this up would be to use a poison-faceted weapon and armour/shield, or perhaps even a Death's Web.If nova/skele necros can work, I can't see why this cannot. The only thing I don't see is why 20 points in golem when all you are using is clay. Might as well as put them into poison dagger and drop the bramble for enigma.
I do agree that you should get LR.
Summerfun
27-04-2007, 08:52
You should never max Lower res, with just 1 point in it and some +skills it would be fine, my base lvl 1 lower res does -61% res and if i were to max it, it would do -69% res its not worth 19 more skill points to gain 8% more
Iron Golem has low thorns and if you want to make him useful he is very costly.
I said use Whitewoe. Your golem will be similar to that off Clay.
50 slow on it and some sweet mods. And whitewoe is not a COSTLY item.
Actually, those Urdar types do sweet damage as well. Only tried 'em in PvP but they do damage, knockback and provide shields. Now, THAT's sweet
They do damage, but you do more. By meatwalls i mean, they protect you.
This is white woes:
50% Chance Of Open Wounds
Slows Target By 50%
Hit Blinds Target +3
-50 To Monster Defense Per Hit
Freezes Target
Prevent Monster Heal
-3 To Light Radius
I think... it's quiet potent in hell.
You should never max Lower res, with just 1 point in it and some +skills it would be fine, my base lvl 1 lower res does -61% res and if i were to max it, it would do -69% res its not worth 19 more skill points to gain 8% more
I never will either, in case you tought I would. Actually, I doubt wether I will use lower resist at all (since I rather cast amp). The only use would perhaps be vs physical immune. I never spent more then one point in curses, +skills do the trick.
Just one question btw. Revives have both physical and elemental damage in hell, or not? Since most (or all) monsters in hell got elemental and physical damage.
The only thing I don't see is why 20 points in golem when all you are using is clay.
The only reason I tought about it (golem mastery, not the golem it self) was for the extra life, but its more of a luxury. In practice I'll probably wont max golem mastery at all.
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