Playing D2 for the first time in a LONG time [Archive]

Ryum

30-06-2008, 21:14

I saw the announcement for d3 like a lot of people, and decided to find my old D2 disc and my local gamestop had the expansion for 10 bucks so decided to get that too.

I have no clue when it was patch wise when I played last, but it was quite a long time ago.
It seems a lot of things have changed (as to be expected) and want to get an idea about what is good nowadays.

Back in the old days you would generally skip raise skeleton, or just 1 pt in that and mage for revives way later on. All the skeletons did were make normal mode a cake walk, then on nightmare or hell (can't remember which) you'd routinely lose a screen full of summoned skeles as soon as they hit any mobs.

So my old school necro was a clay golem user/maxxed
and bone spear/corpse explosion dmg dealer...
It was hard, but when I got stones of jordan (probably bleh items now) and other gear that pretty much gave near infinite mana it became super easy.
Spear, then CE and would own the cow level at like lvl 30 (again this was a while back, and well before the expansion... no clue if that is good now)

Now that you know the history, here are the questions.
I loaded up the expansion, and before doing much else looked up what patch I should get. In general most of what I read is you want 1.10 unless you plan to play on bnet... so I got that. Might try out bnet sometime, but no rush to do so. I only play a little bit as it is.
Is that info bout the patches true? I just recently found this board, and most of what I read was made/posted in 07

Are skeletons really useful in the higher difficulties now?
I have read bout 2-3 guides bout necros and almost all of them say raise skeleton is suppose to be the best summon in the game right now.. in general

I have read a lil about synergies... can anyone explain what synergies are best for necros?

Are skel mages still horrible? Even in normal where they were suppose to shine way back... the mages were dumb... got in the way of the melee skeles and their dmg was bleh at best.

Would like to find out any HUGE changes or updates that are probably considered common knowledge by now... I have probably read up, and know most of it, but you never know.

Ryum

30-06-2008, 22:46

also curious what the minimun stats are now... if it's changed

str - No clue what the gear reqs are anymore.
Dex - what's the dex req of some of those better shields?
Vit - still a dump for extra points?
Energy - think I got this to 70 early then didn't put anymore points into it at all

Mad Mantis

30-06-2008, 22:54

Welcome Newcomer to The Darkness. Grab a brew :guiness: and feel free to raise some corpses.

Try reading the guides in The Mouldy Tome: Necromancer Guides, Tips and Tests (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=366742). Not really the latest, but all the info still holds true. The easiest place to start. And yes, Skellies now rock. Max RS, SM and put a point in Amp and you can beat the game.

Rifts

30-06-2008, 23:05

First of all welcome back, yah A LOT has changed for the good of course.

1) play on bent
2) yes raise skeleton it a very good build currently for getting through hell mode. (best in the game)
3) synergies are skills which you put points into to make your other skills more powerful
4) yah skele mages are horrible sorry =[
4)

Nimbostratus

30-06-2008, 23:25

Skeletons are great in this version, but golems are near useless in terms of raw damage. Skeletal mages are sort of a debate; some people love 'em, others hate 'em. I kept them around as a good way of dealing with physical immunes and for the added damage in general. Just note that the poison mages' damage is pathetic, so avoid getting more than one poison guy if you can (hint: Unsummon). However, make sure you have a friend or a backup attack for dealing with normal Diablo, since he destroys any summon almost instantly. After that, though, summoners are very easy to finish the rest of the game.

Ryum

30-06-2008, 23:32

thanks for the link, and info. Will check out that guide... why is the summoner spec called fishy now?
As far as I can tell... it seems to take a lot of pts to keep getting more summons... so now that I got 4... think next pt will make it so I can summon 5 after that I think I am going to put pts into skele mastery for a while.

What bout playing on bent is better? I figured I would play thru the original then exp offline then try bnet later on... I play pretty slow so should be a while

for the stat points... with so many mobs How important is vitality? with my golem/bone caster it was important, but I imagine this set up would get me hit much less. I hate wasting stat points

edit: I read something about teleporting... what's that all about. All I remember about teleporting is town scrolls and the way points

Nimbostratus

30-06-2008, 23:49

They call it a "fishymancer" because somebody called Nightfish wrote the guide for it.

You get one skeleton per point for the first three levels, then one additional skeleton every 3rd level. But don't worry, as they're so much stronger now. Also, after placing one point in mastery, pump Raise skeleton first. Makes them much stronger while still leveling.

Battle.net has been pretty laggy lately, and don't be surprised to have every third player shouting "UNSUMMON U NOOB". Other players can help out with the hard parts (normal diablo, for example), but I MUCH rather go single player so I don't have to deal with the idiots and lag.

Vitality is basically the number 1 stat nowadays. Nearly every build has the following:
Strength: Just enough for gear. For an untwinked (i.e. no items muled on at the start) summoner, I would go for somewhere between 90 and 110. You can get by with less, but I love having flexibility with gear choices.
Dexterity: None, enough for gear, or enough for max block. Summoners don't use anything that needs dex to equip. As for blocking, you probably won't find a good shield for a while, and besides, you have a whole ARMY blocking for you already.
Vitality: As much as possible.
Energy: No/minimal investment. You can get tons of mana from your gear and level-ups. But having a few points in here isn't a bad idea for leveling.

Teleporting: In most cases, people are referring to the +1 teleport granted by the "Enigma" runeword, which applies to EVERY class, not just the sorceress. However, you can find charges of teleport on magic amulets and circlets. There's also Naz's Puzzler (set staff) and Spellsteel (unique axe), both of which have teleport charges as well.

Ryum

01-07-2008, 00:06

"I MUCH rather go single player so I don't have to deal with the idiots and lag."

yeah me too... wouldnt mind doing something like a small group on a lan server or something

been reading thru mantis' guide.. the stop at 1.10 advice if not going on bnet seems to be recommended cause some items will give you a big boost in synergies. It's going to be a while before I get to that point anyways.

Ryum

02-07-2008, 00:59

with 1.10 you know if you can make it so you don't have to use the CD?

I have copies the mpq files bout 5 times from the disc to diabo folder, but doesn't do anything.

LonghornRob

02-07-2008, 07:43

No, that's with v 1.12.

The skeletons are killer now, yes. I've also noticed certain monsters, when revived, are absolutely killer. Namely, the ones that are absolutely killer when they are alive. Urdars and those Frenzy Minotaurs murder things when you revive them.

Ryum

02-07-2008, 21:37

is there a way to Unbind a spell to a key? I bound scroll of town portal, now I keep accidentally using them

Nimbostratus

02-07-2008, 21:48

is there a way to Unbind a spell to a key? I bound scroll of town portal, now I keep accidentally using them

Just bind the key to a different skill.

Ryum

03-07-2008, 02:25

I use the mouse wheel to scroll thru in combat what curse/whatever I want to use... what I would like to do is do my summons, then unbind them then have whatever curse and CE and toggle back and forth between them.

Is that possible?

edit: did LoD 10x the gold drops? still early in the game and maxxed out my stash limit, I have bought a lot of gear, and still have 100k on my character... Every instance seems to have a field of gold. Not complaining just such a drastic change. I remember having to horde my potions cause if you used them like crazy and had to buy more you could run out of money

also what are the best necro runes? just got my first rune drops and out of the ones I have the get 2 mana per kill seems to be the best so far. Want to get a couple more of those and use it to fuel CEing
re-edit: found out the hard way that pet kills do not return mana from that rune. Oh well

Ryum

04-07-2008, 21:01

from another guide I read how you can use /players 1-8 and make the mobs give more exp, and ect. What exactly does it do?
Not sure what all it does, but consideringly my little swarm wipes everything off the screen pretty fast it should help with leveling.

Mad Mantis

04-07-2008, 23:42

from another guide I read how you can use /players 1-8 and make the mobs give more exp, and ect. What exactly does it do?

What it does is simulate extra players in the game. This causes the monsters to get a boost to their HP and also increases drop chances for things.

Ryum

05-07-2008, 06:39

it doesnt increase exp per kill?

kaervek

05-07-2008, 07:16

It does. iirc its 2/3 more exp per player, so 8 players is 566% of normal exp. I just came back after seeing the D3 announcment too lol.

Which ladder (east/west/ europe) is the most stable/populated? I'm trying to decide which realm to start playing on.

Ryum

05-07-2008, 08:33

I am a little confused by the rune Tir

it's says you are suppose to get 2 mana per kill, but it didn't seem like I was getting any. So thought it was cause if pet gets the kill then you dont get mana... but I keep watching it and randomly I do seem to be getting the mana.

Nimbostratus

05-07-2008, 08:44

+mana per kill doesn't work with kills made by minions. And keep in mind that mana regenerates on its own, and MPK works with corpse explosion.

Ryum

08-07-2008, 23:41

How do you know what aura the merc from act 2 is using?
and which aura is best?

XtremeTiramisu

09-07-2008, 01:42

Act 2 Offensive Merc in Nightmare for his Might aura.
Your army will appreciated so will you ;)

Ryum

09-07-2008, 03:19

ouch... still on normal. is the cold arrow archer better til then?
and again how do you know what aura the merc is using? is there an icon or something?

Ryum

09-07-2008, 05:04

also does the merc benefit from faster attack speed on weapons?

Ryum

09-07-2008, 08:52

Mad Mantis

09-07-2008, 09:18

ouch... still on normal. is the cold arrow archer better til then?

If you can deal with the corpse popping she is pretty good.

and again how do you know what aura the merc is using? is there an icon or something?

Try looking on this page (http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/basics/hirelings.shtml).

also does the merc benefit from faster attack speed on weapons?

Yes, they do. Breakpoints can be found here (http://diablo3.ingame.de/tips/calcs/weaponspeed.php?lang=english).

kaervek

09-07-2008, 09:35

when you get near cap on gold and want to burn some money on gambling... what type of item should I go for?

been mainly buying belts, and gloves since they are only 4-6kish but wanted to see if there was anything specific I should be looking for.
I am on act 2 on normal atm

I'd suggest getting the discount runeword bow(15% vendor reduced prices) which works with gambling also. Tir+Tal+Amn in that order, you can buy the bow in A1 normal I think.

In the low 20's i'd suggest boots since they're the only gear that isnt easily replaceable by set/unique gear latter on and thats the best level range for getting MF boots.

Later on (i'd say 40-60+) start going for amulets and circlets. The ideal level is 62 iirc to get +3 skill tree mods.

Ryum

09-07-2008, 13:36

On one character a long long time ago I got frostburn gloves from gambling... but no clue what level I was, but it couldn't have been much higher than the 30s

I guess for the hireling I should just go with an aura merc since I have all those skeles running around.
If you hire on a lowbie hireling should you run back and do some lower level content to make them level faster?

Ryum

10-07-2008, 21:50

got the hireling leveling fine... one more thing bout gambling.

Is there any reason to back track to previous acts to gamble? I remember something bout gheed being the main guy people gamble to, but don't remember why. Nearing 30 now.

edit: what is the dim gold type of item?.. in the past there was just bright gold, and that meant the item was unique, but I don't remember the dim gold

Sarp

10-07-2008, 22:36

dim gold is unique, bright gold is rare i believe.

Ryum

13-07-2008, 21:26

Nimbostratus

13-07-2008, 21:48

Anyone know if stone of jordan is still unique? and also a long time ago I remember if you kept whatever unique rings you have ever got. Then it would increase the chance of getting a SoJ. Is that still true? cause I got the nagelring or whatever its called.

Don't you have the highest chance of getting a soj when you are aroind late 20s or late 30s?
same question for the frostburn gloves

Yes, SOJ still exists. However, that "keep the other unique rings so the next will be SOJ" thing has been fixed. The items you have don't have any effect on what will spawn (well, other than magic find, of course). Character level has no effect on drops, just gambling and shopping.

Ryum

14-07-2008, 03:10

Nimbostratus

14-07-2008, 03:35

" Character level has no effect on drops, just gambling and shopping."

thanks for the info, in that case what levels are recommended for gambling for soj, frostburn?
andriea(sp) nightmare is still best for trying to kill for sojs right?

Don't gamble for uniques, the chances of getting a unique are something like 1/2000 (and the chances of it being a SoJ even lower). And yes, Nightmare Andariel has the best chance of dropping one. As for Frostburn, she has a good chance of dropping that too (especially if the quest bug is in effect. If you talk to Warriv after defeating her for the quest in the same game, her drop is bugged to always be a quest drop).

Ryum

14-07-2008, 04:51

whats the single best item to make a iron golem from... no matter how rare, and ect

1 outta 2k is rough... did anyone ever figure out the best levels to gamble for those? just curious

Nimbostratus

14-07-2008, 05:52

According to the wiki, SOJ and Frostburn both have an item level of 39. The item level when gambling ranges from (clvl-5) to (clvl+4). To prevent other things from messing with your chances, you want the lowest "all possible" level, which for this would be 39 + 5 = level 44.

For the iron golems, I think an "Infinity" polearm would be the top choice if cost is no issue, because of its high damage, crushing blow, and conviction aura. However, the golem dying or randomly disappearing would make this very problematic.

Though a more reasonable choice for golems would be an "Insight" polearm (high damage, meditation aura). Or you could try making the ultimate tank-golem; a shield full of perfect diamonds, or a 45 res pally shield full of sol runes or ber runes (though the bers would be expensive).

Ryum

14-07-2008, 08:56

Is it true there are some rune words you can only make on the ladder server?

Mad Mantis

14-07-2008, 09:21

Yes. Find info on that here (http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/runewords.shtml).

Ryum

16-07-2008, 06:06

when you give your act 2 merc a javlin does it display the throw dmg or 1hd dmg on the hireling stat screen?

Cause I have 2 weapons and one is a
throw dmg 36-66
1h dmg 19-38
attack speed fast
ect
and on the stat screen it says Damage 81-250

and a

2h dmg 21-77
normal speed
ect and displays
73 - 194 on the window

seems pretty straight forward that the javlin is better but wanted to see if it might be displaying the wrong set of dmg.

Mad Mantis

16-07-2008, 09:21

The 1h damage is used for the throwing weapons.

Ryum

16-07-2008, 09:28

so then do you think it's the fast rating over the normal speed that is making the 19-38 show the 81-250
or do you think the 81-250 on the hireling stat screen is being derived from the 36-66 even though that isn't the dmg he will be doing since he will be doing the 19-38

I don't know how the damage in the hireling screen is figured out or would just plug in the numbers and see for sure which weapon is better.

Mad Mantis

16-07-2008, 09:47

Auras, %ED on the weapon and the Merc's Strength stat all factor into the damage. Speed does not. Just equip both weapons and look at which one gives the bigger number.

Ryum

17-07-2008, 06:15

heh after all that I got a bandistock(sp?) that did bout the same dmg, had 6% life steal and something like 15% nova 3 on striking. It goes off all the time. I don't know why I never thought of it before, but nova on merc weapon is pretty badass. For the swarm skel build I am trying anyways

Ryum

17-07-2008, 20:32

what's the most useful first rune word thing to get? I did a quest and the guy will put max sockets into an item.

Ryum

19-07-2008, 02:34

I just did NM andy a few times and got unique amulet that has the teleport skill.

I have seen it come up a few times on suggested gear, but what about teleporting is so good?

edit: I'm dumb, didn't occur to me that teleport would let me go thru walls, til I did it on accident... Also helps drop all the skeles right next to the boss which is cool

Nimbostratus

19-07-2008, 04:36

That's a rare, not a unique (no unique amulets have teleport*). Rares have bright yellow names, with randomly generated stats and names (and thus, nobody will know what you're talking about if you list just the name). Uniques have dull gold (or light brown, whichever you see it as) names, like you see on most quest items and the horadric cube.

Teleporting lets you get through areas a lot faster, and regroups all of your minions (who can also all attack simultaneously if you teleport right on top of an enemy).

*though if that amulet IS unique and has teleport, it's bugged and thus probably worth a fortune. Highly unlikely, though. You can see all uniques here, btw: http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/uniques.shtml

lumpor

19-07-2008, 04:39

You shoud play bnet. If you don't like the idiots, just make an own game an set the maximum amount of players to 1. But when you want to trade, or when you're stuck at a hard place, you'll be glad that your character is on bnet.

Ryum

19-07-2008, 09:35

i meant rare, I keep forgetting dull vs bright yellow. Should be easier though finally got my frostburn gloves. Teleporting is fun but takes lots of mana, I have it on the back burner for now, but yeah pouncing and dropping all those skeles and ect on a boss if fun.

Teleport in, amp dmg, run away made andy runs super fast.
I blew my gambling luck yesterday too, got the nagelring(sp) from gheed. I was extremely excited for about 1.5 secs when I saw the text, then saw which ring it was.
It is pretty drastic how much more money is in the game with lod than I remember from when I played last.

I think I got about everything figured out. Want to say thanks for all the great info, and the game is almost too easy so far on NM with this spec. I think I could go naked and clear the game once I get all my stuff summoned. It's going to be hard to play any other class after this

Edit: if I ever get an SoJ will post it here... not gonna hold my breath though.
If I get too desperate will pull my old comp out of my closet and see if I got any on characters from that old machine.

Ryum

20-07-2008, 02:18

how do you find out what boss is most likely to drop a specific unique?

Like for SoJ the best is NM andy, but not sure how they found that out

also do auras stack?

Mad Mantis

20-07-2008, 12:35

Use the ATMA drop calculator for finding out the highest chance. Still, you'll find that the numbers are so low that it doesn't really matter.

Different auras do stack. When two similar auras meet the highest level is applied.

additov

23-07-2008, 00:34

RYUUMU IS THAT YOU?! Lawl you nub! <3

Ryum

23-07-2008, 00:37

It's probably not

additov

23-07-2008, 00:39

Yes it is! USWest? Just completed Trangs?

Ryum

02-08-2008, 21:52

how long do the ladder servers last for?

Ryum

09-08-2008, 07:14

what's uber trist?
I have seen it come up in chat in the game... and I got no clue what that is about.
Is there a new zone or something?

Ryum

05-09-2008, 19:59

Mad Mantis

05-09-2008, 20:45

hey anyone know why I can't make new post anymore?
Your submission could not be processed because a security token was invalid.
pops up when i try to make new post, I followed the inform admin thing yesterday, but still not able to make new post... For some reason I can still make replies which is why I am asking here.

Could you make a screenshot of the problem and host it somewhere. I'll make sure the Admin's know of the problem, but they'll be able to solve it faster with a screenshot.