+Holy Shield scepter.

[Selisteil]

I've been looking for one of these for a while now, and figured I should find out if they can actually spawn in classic. I know that they can spawn in X-pac, and thought this would be the same in classic. But after spending 30 minutes at hell Drognon whats-his-face, and not having any luck at all... Why not ask.

While I'm here, I've also been searching for a +1 pally skills, 30%IAS Cutlass. I thought this could be shopped also, but after spending alot of time in each act and not even seeing a cutlass- I guessed it might be better to gamble.
Question is- What lvl is best to gamble this? I looked at the affix calc and I think its a 60 something, but I really have never actually known the correct way to figure it out.

Well thanks for your help.

[Fearlessone]

There are NO lvl 30 skills on any items here in classic, not on wands, staves or scepters. You can go to LoD and find perhaps all of these skills available in shops. So buyer beware! ....and gamblers too. And you can forget about any rares dropping with these skills. If you can't find a skill at a vendor, then its not going to show up on rares or gambles.

I recall when I posted this discovery about 1 1/2 - 2 years ago that someone mentioned how much smiters were additionally screwed. He said something to the effect that smite wasnt available on items from hell vendors, and HS wasnt available either. I've tried to search for the thread, but searches arent easy here anymore. Someone, I recall, mentioned that these skills may have been available in the early years of D2, but that wasn't verified. It was a consensus from that thread that smiters were the most screwed of all. In fact, I just posted results from tests that smiters cant poison or chill from any items using smite. Ridiculous. Wonder if thats the same over in LoD...

[Creon]

Holy Shield is a level 24 skill. Here is the spawn process for Holy Shield as described by Orphan in another thread:
It would be possible to shop yes, but the odds of finding one would be highly unlikely. Holy Shield is a tier 5 skill. In order for it to spawn on a sceptor, it'll need to fail a tier 5 skill select 6 times, with the last selection being holy shield. Therefore, you'd be better off shopping with a character who's clvl is 41 or higher, in order to have a 50% chance of a staffmod remaining in teir 5.

The odds of you actually seeing a holy shield scepter though would be 1:279,936. This is a broad estimate though, as I only factored in the odds of remaining in Tier 5 and the odds of failing to get a valid staffmod 6 times. This is for a single staffmod. The odds of getting +3 to holy shield would probably be about 1:933,120 (based on the fact that the game would need to roll 90 or above out of the rand[100] in order to get +3). Again, this is only for a single staffmod.

If 3 skills were selected for the scepter, then the odds should increase, though you'd also need to consider the odds of the other 2 staffmods remaining in Tier 5. Basically, the only "ideal" level to try and purchase a +holy sheild scepter is any that is 41 or greater.

[Selisteil]

So based on that there is still a chance I will find one shopping. A very small chance maybe but its still there.

Thanks a bunch guys.

[Socialism]

Prepare to have a beard by the end of your shoppnig session, though.

[Fearlessone]

Holy Shield is a level 24 skill. Here is the spawn process for Holy Shield as described by Orphan in another thread:

I wonder how applicable that is here in classic. The availability of skills is just radically different here. What would be the point of searching if they werent even available at all? No one ever seems to find any of the lvl 30 skills on any type of item. Does that mean that they are tier 2 or 3 (or whatever, its all news to me) in LoD and tier 5 here?

In nightmare, the skills availability seems about the same as in hell. I went back to norm and saw skills you just dont see in hell: prayer, zeal, might... Maybe they are available and you could find a good scepter if you run a bot for the lifetime of the universe... :rolleyes:

For the dins, finding blessedhammer and concentration so easily is unfair. Just more evidence how poorly classic fared in the 1.10 patch.

[Taft12]

I don't know if it's applicable either just based on experience. If someone can post a screenshot of their Holy Shield scepter, please do but I don't think anyone can.

[PhatTrumpet]

I don't know if it's applicable either just based on experience. If someone can post a screenshot of their Holy Shield scepter, please do but I don't think anyone can.
In all fairness, no realistic amount of personal experience can account for the astronomical odds listed in Orphan's post. It's entirely feasible that, due to the smaller size of the Classic community, no such scepter has been found yet by someone who actually knew enough to actually grab it up.

On the other hand, it's also entirely feasible that such a scepter is not spawnable in Classic...

[Selisteil]

Well so far I've spent allmost two hours at hell drognan, and haven't found one yet. I average about 12-13 seconds per run because I look at other stuff though.

I did find a nice +2 nec 20%fcr +3 bonespear wand, so it hasnt been a total waste of time.

[Orphan]

Holy Shield can spawn in classic on scepters, yes. It'd be just as rare as expansion though.

[WarlockCC]

Do you actually keep the bonusses of a prebuffed Holy shield ? I don't think you do, which can be verified as follows :
cast holy shield while wearing a +2 pala shield, check your smite damage and defence
switch that +2 pala shield for a no skill shield of the same type, check your smite damage and defence again.
If the prebuf stays, you should keep the same damage and defence. Although my reasoning might be flawed in this subject. If so, please point it out.

So the only reason I could see such a scepter being useful is if you actually keep it on, which means you'd have to get a +3 Holy shield bonus from it at least for it to be better then a +2 weapon. Or if you do not have any points in Holy shield, but in that case, what level would the holy shield 'degrade' to once you take off the scepter ?

[Orphan]

The defense bonus and extra duration should be buffable for holy shield. The extra block chance should also be buffable. Not 100% sure about the extra smite damage though, can probably test it later on tomorrow though.

[Selisteil]

Actually the main reason I wanted one is for a Lld so I don't have to spend the extra three points; Holy bolt, B hammer, and Holy shield itself.

[VThief]

Well so far I've spent allmost two hours at hell drognan, and haven't found one yet. I average about 12-13 seconds per run because I look at other stuff though.

I did find a nice +2 nec 20%fcr +3 bonespear wand, so it hasnt been a total waste of time.

Well, going of Orphan's post:

12 * 279,936 = 3 359 232s

= 933.12 hours

You could average 1 holy shield scepter every 38.88 days of constant shopping. That's cool...my music on my HD goes for about that long of constant play...

[plasmo]

And more than likely if one does show up on your 20,000 visit or so, your eyes will be so glazed over you'll miss it. I've done this before plenty of times (I'd check an NPC for X, not see it, go off to kill monsters, and someone else in town would say, "Hey everybody, Malah has an X for sale; can I borrow some gold?")

I'd take a shopbot over a maphack or other bots any day. Going out and killing the same monsters can be somewhat enjoyable while being repetitive; shopping for 4 hours straight and still not finding what you're looking for is horrific.

[goomba]

I don't think you do, which can be verified as follows :
cast holy shield while wearing a +2 pala shield, check your smite damage and defence
switch that +2 pala shield for a no skill shield of the same type, check your smite damage and defence again.
If the prebuf stays, you should keep the same damage and defence. Although my reasoning might be flawed in this subject. If so, please point it out.



except, the smite skill itself goes down by two skills by switching out that shield right, which should be a reasonable drop in damage alone?

this being said, I have never made a smiter, but am postulating based on my experience of how other +skill items have shown up in the LCS.

I guess, my thoughts on the prebuff would be based on the duration of the holy shield resulting from casting it, and then taking items off.

one could test this hypothesis by taking all +skill items off after casting holy shield, and see how long it lasts no? final thought on the subject, when I cast holy shield during cs runs, I typically wait for the baba that is bo-ing to cast Battle Command in order to get that extra buff on the holy shield. I do in fact notice a difference in defense if I cast it pre BC, and after BC.

[Fists of War]

I was under the impression that when holy shield was cast, it affected the damage ON the shield, not on your character. Thats why if you cast holy shield then swap that shield around with another, the new shield will not have holy shield cast on it. I wonder if it goes as far as if you put the original shield back on after a minute or so, will it still have the damage bonus?

[Orphan]

I was under the impression that when holy shield was cast, it affected the damage ON the shield, not on your character. Thats why if you cast holy shield then swap that shield around with another, the new shield will not have holy shield cast on it. I wonder if it goes as far as if you put the original shield back on after a minute or so, will it still have the damage bonus?

Not quite no. The +smite damage from holy shield affects the character, and not the shield.

I spent abit of time running through several tests, on both classic and expansion, and I can confirm that every aspect of holy shield is buffable. The duration, block chance, defense and the +smite damage are all retained for holy shield even after unequipping any +holy shield skills that you have when you cast it.

The LCS will display that you have lost your +smite damage, but this isn't the case. Likewise, unequipping a shield and running around shieldless will not interrupt the holy shield duration (though you can't use smite of course). Equipping another shield (or even the same shield) will retain the smite damage from the pre-buffed holy shield.

[WarlockCC]

This is indeed good to know, thank you Orphan.

[Fearlessone]

Yes, I tested this too, the HS duration for starters. Lvl 20 HS is 505 seconds, and that came out right on the nose with my clock. I added +4 to skills and it read 605 seconds, took off the +items and the LCS went back down to 505 sec. (Btw, I assume LCS stands for Lying Character Screen.) It took exactly 605 seconds for the buffed and switched char to lose his HS. I just wanted to test this with +skills items and not some unattainable +3 to HS scepter. I have NOT tested any +damage boost, and this is the mod of greatest interest, but it looks like a shoe-in now.

Lvl 28 HS is 705 seconds, and I suppose you could boost that up a bit with either a skill shrine or soj(s).

This subject had been talked about nearly a year ago on this forum, and there was alot of confusion. Not enough ppl were reading that smite thread at the time, it was 4-5 pages long, and no one wanted to test it. I had pleaded several times for someone to confirm this. Finally we get some answers.