Barbarian swords and armor...

[Kol]

Hello all,

I'm a new poster, but I've been lurking for a few weeks when I picked up D2 again.

I used to play but only got to Act 2 before school got in the way, college is done and now I have a lot more free time and just finished the game on Normal mode with a Frenzy Barb.

My problem is that I get schooled in NM mode at the moment, my mana depletes with Frenzy too fast and I can't find any leech weapons that are good (I'm using Griswold's right now, along with a low level rare).

I have two Cathan's Seal rings, but my resistances drop too low when I remove my other jewelry, and, they are only life steal.

Long story short, I am having problems finding decent armor and weaponry. I can kill Mephisto on /players 8, or Baal on /players 1. Which one should I be running?

I'm level 45 right now, and I play SP.

Thanks in advance!

[jeremyrx]

I don't play SP, but why not run both?

But, if I had to choose I would run Meph as he is much faster to get to and will drop more stuff on /p 8 and NM Baal I'm pretty sure drops only marginally better than Mephy.

Welcome to the forums!

[Are]

You can make some runeword weapons. King's Grace (Amn-Ral-Thul) works in scepters and swords, and provides 7% lifeleech. Strength (Amn-Tir) works in any melee weapon, and also has 7% lifeleech. Likewise for Honor (Amn-El-Ith-Tir-Sol).

All of those should be better for you than Griswold's. Honor being the best of the lot (and one of my favorite low-level runewords).

[Kol]

I would run Meph as he is much faster to get to and will drop more stuff on /p 8 and NM Baal

Just to be clear, I can only kill Meph and Baal in normal at the moment. I haven't made it through A1 in NM yet, I don't last too long.

You can make some runeword weapons.

D'oh, I completely forgot about Runewords.

I have a handle of those Runes, but don't have an El or a Thul. Is it possible for those to drop at the LK chests on /8 in normal mode?

Also, I have seen a few 2-socket swords, but never 3 and definitely never 5. Where is the best place to hunt for those?

If I find a 3 or 5-socket sword that's just regular (no damage modifiers or whatnot) should I still rune it or wait for a better one?

Thanks again for the advice, it's appreciated.

[jeremyrx]

Cows with no MF gear is a good place to look for socketables or whites that you can have Larzuk give max sockets to. Look at the Arreat Summit website to figure out which weapons will give the number of sockets you are looking for.

Normal Meph, at least in my experience, is very stingy and drops very low level uniques. I've had much better luck running Baal in normal. NM Meph is the place to hunt though, once you can survive there.

[Kol]

I can only open the Cow level once, correct?

Or can I return multiple times as long as I don't kill the Cow King?

I already used Larzuk to give armor 2 sockets, knowing what I know now I would have waited. :(

[jeremyrx]

Don't kill the king and you can cow till the .... cows come home. :-)

If you really just need a socket quest, get someone to rush you for your forge and as a condition make them get you the larzuk quest. Should take less than 10 minutes, then just delete the character once his usefulness is over.

[Poppis]

I have a handle of those Runes, but don't have an El or a Thul. Is it possible for those to drop at the LK chests on /8 in normal mode?


I would recommend NM Countess(or if thats too hard, normal countess) for low/mid runes. Don't know about LKs drops but IMO it's only worth running it in hell, so you have a chance to get some HRs.

[Dodgydave]

Bear in mind Honour requires a five socket weapon which you wont find until hell. You can get one through the Larzuk quest or cube recipie though.

[Kol]

I tried searching through the Cube recipe page on the Summit, but can't find the answer...

...what swords are capable of getting 5 sockets in normal mode?

...there are a few recipes for sockets, what one would I use?

Thanks again for taking the time to guide me through this. I have two socket armor I'm trying to find a Mal rune for and have had no such luck yet.

[Hrus]

http://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Sockets

You don't have to wait for hell, just for item lvl>40.
Item level (=ilvl) is equal to monster level of a mob who dropped it. In normal, monsters will have own mlvl - info at Arrea Summit. Monsters in NM and Hell have monster level equal to area level (not to the value in Arreat Summit).
EDIT2: BTW cows in normal have mlvl 28 (or 27, not sure now), so they can't drop items with 5 or 6 sockets.

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

So to get 5 sockets you need to be in late act 5 or in NM... Btw not many swords can have 5 sockets anyway...

EDIT: Use this recipe:
1 Ral Rune + 1 Amn Rune + 1 Perfect Amethyst + Normal Weapon = Socketed Weapon of same type
It will gove you only random number of sockets though, so patience. Use the item with appropriate ilvl as described...

My suggestion: Run Baal few times for experience, normal Meph can't drop many good weapons anyway.Then advance to NM. 2 Cathan's rings are really not needed in normal, you can allways drink potion. (Same for mana issues). Sooner or later some ring with mana leech will drop. You can also run NM Andariel for unique ring Manald Heal. Build your resistances, get few points in Natural Resistances, gamble for ring, boots, gloves, belts to get better resistances. Get a socketed primal helm and socket it with RAL/Thul/Ort. You should be OK in NM...

[Poppis]

I have two socket armor I'm trying to find a Mal rune for and have had no such luck yet.

Mal is not the easiest rune to find, at least in SP. Hellforge quest and countess in Hell difficulty can drop it. Or you could cube it if you get two ums(which can already drop from NM hellforge).

I assume you want it for "Prudence" armor, but might I suggest to forget it. Prudence really isn't that cost effective. For some better, and at the same time cheaper armors, why not try, "Duress". It gives huge FHR, some resists, and increases your damage nicely(and costs an um instead of mal).

For something even cheaper, "Lionheart" and "Smoke" are both nice.

My personal favorite though, is Treachery. Great mid-game armors and(at least for your merc) a decent end-game armor too.