When do phase blades first appear?

[tigercan]

Title says it all.

I have a FC bear who just finished NM, and I'm wondering when I can expect to find a pb to throw my 6 shael's in. I've seen several elite items dropping in the late acts of NM...can phase blades appear in late NM or do I have to venture into hell?

Somewhat related question: Will Larzuk automatically give it 6 sockets?

Thanks in advance :)

[MYK]

They show up in Hell. You'll get 6 sockets out of any of them.

[Ax2Grind]

http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/elite/swords.shtml

http://strategy.diabloii.net/news.php?id=551

QLvl = 73, so Catacombs Level 2 and beyond (as well as several places before that) contain monsters capable of dropping plain phase blades. They have a chance of dropping with 1-6 sockets, and will get six from Larzuk or an equal chance of any when using a Horadric Cube recipe if they have none. An inferior can be tempered using another recipe, which will then give it three from Larzuk or a 1/6 chance each of one or two, and 4/6 of three.

SOT: I think a six-Shael'd phase blade is definitely overkill, unless that's what is recommended by the Druid forum depending on your other gear.

[tigercan]

Thanks for the explanation A2G. I guess I'll have to venture into hell afterall.

A 6-shael phase blade is indeed the weapon of choice for a 4 frame FC attack in bear form

[phool]

I think ideal is actually 4 shael 2 ias/x jewels. 120 is overkill, you need 110 for 4 fpa.

They're really common throughout most of hell tbh. If you have no mf and don't get rushed you'll probably find 3 per act minimum.