Fishymancer viable for MF? [Archive] - Diablo 3 & Diablo 2 Forums

Master Zap

13-08-2008, 23:18

Fishies are great all around characters for anything pvm. As a Summoner I find it more productive to run Area clears to mf ie Pits and cows and when in hell Nith is great to mf as he can drop near anything in the game, and if he doesn't put out the loot, he will drop D keys for you which trade very well.

Summoner's do not kill slow by anymeans , it's simply the non tele issue that makes it seem that way. They do better at areas then bosses.

Here's another highly recommended starter char for hc for mf'ing

Hardcore Orb/Tk
http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=557123

This was recently brought up here
http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=682577

And I think Tai here is spot on as usual

Re: First HC Necro
There's three ways you can go in hardcore with a summon Necro:

Max Dim Vision
Max Corpse Explosion
Max Bone Wall for Armor Synergy

Each has it's merits. Vision gives you added safety against the most dangerous monsters for you (Gloams/Archers). Corpse Explosion allows you to kill a bit faster and theoretically have less monsters firing at you. Bone Armor synergy gives you another few hundred life for when that archer shot gets past your minions.

Personally, I prefer to toss my extra points in Bone Wall for the all-around safety. There will be a time when you don't have a corpse to blow up the bad guys or when your level 20 Dim Vision doesn't get cast fast enough and you'll want the extra life.

Second best option in my opinion for starting Hardcore is Max Dim Vision. Turning off Gloams and Archers is great, and as long as you cast it as soon as entering a new area you should be fine. Cast any other necessary curses after you've secured the room (Decrep/Amp/Lower Resist) but always use DV first.

The worst (and most commonly seen) choice in my mind is max Corpse Explosion. It gives you great kill speed once you get the first corpse but makes you completely dependent on your minions for safety. This is the reason nearly half of the 'Deeds' thread is Summonmancers. You feel safe all the way through the game, blowing up the screen with impunity and then *bam* one Fanaticism Archer pack gets a shot past your skeletons and you die. This could easily have been avoided by the extra DV radius shutting off Archers or by having an extra 300-400 life.

Of course once all of the choices should be fine. Many people have killed Hell Baal with naked Necromancers, they're just so strong if played safely in Hardcore. The three choices dictate just how carefully you need to play your character and I feel maxing Corpse Explosion results in people feeling overpowered and failing to protect their minimal life totals, blocking and defense.

Cheers
-Tai

P.S. A more in depth discussion of this can be found here http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.ph...rpse+explosion

I'm in the maxing CE camp myself for the kill speed bump, but being poorly geared as a new character and if your new at HC in general, I'd go for the syngised bone armor.

and more info on general HC Mf'ing from the FAQ

4.1 I don't have any good items! Can someone help me? Where and how do I magic find?

This is the most common complaint from those migrating from Softcore to Hardcore; having to start again in building up an item base. First and foremost, don't join the beggars in the Hardcore channel spamming "GIVE ITAM" or make games called "Itam PLZ" "Windforce PLZ." Such an approach will get you nowhere. It is also not generally a good idea to start your HC career off by asking for free handouts in the Hardcore Forum. That is somewhat akin to taping a "kick me" sign on your back. Begging for items almost always rubs people the wrong way, even "low level crappy items". Make some friends first, and let their generosity manifest of it's own accord. Do not beg for items.

The most important thing to do is to try and get a character to Act 5 Normal, and level it up until they are capable of doing solo Baal runs. See section 3.1 - "What should my first Hardcore Character be?" if you're having trouble reaching Act 5. Baal Runs will net good experience if you do them in a party, and usually, a set/unique/rare will drop from the big bug (even more likely if you have a bit of Magic Find), but you'll need to go solo to have any chance of getting it. Start collecting any gems you find, especially topazes as flawless grade gems begin to drop in Act 5. Topazes are especially valuable as when placed in helms and body armour they give bonuses to your Magic Find (MF). Bear in mind also, you don't have to transmute 3 flawless topazes to a perfect every time. 3 flawless topazes give 60% MF, whereas 3 perfect give 72% MF. However, it is far easier to find 3 flawless topazes than 3 perfect, and the difference in MF is so slight as to be hardly worthwhile, unless you have a lot of topazes to play with.

The easiest way to item find is to use a 3 socket Mask and a 4 socket Gothic Plate, all filled with topazes, which should give you a MF rating of at least 140% MF (using only flawless topazes). This ensures Baal should drop something worthwhile almost every time. Once you have started to build up a nice item base, you can start bringing other characters up to Act 5 and beyond, with decent gear to pass onto them.

The more popular place to item find is Nightmare Mephisto. The best characters to use for Meph runs are either sorceresses or barbarians. To do these quickly, you will need good resistances (lots of elemental attacks in the Durance and from Mephisto himself), as well as teleport or an item with teleport charges. Barbarians should just use leap attack. You don't need the teleport by any means - it will just take a little longer, that's all. To get through the Durance 2, take the waypoint and follow the wall to the left of your character. The entrance to Durance level 3 is almost always found in a clockwise direction from the waypoint, and always on the outside wall. Sorceresses should just keep teleporting, barbarians can just run straight on through.

Once you reach Durance level 3, head straight across from the entrance. You can kill any monsters you encounter - just be wary of boss packs, especially Stygian Dolls. Barbarians should then turn right, and run straight for Mephisto, leaping over the blood moat to land on the little island with the portal. Watch out for Bremm. Sorceresses should head straight across from the entrance, teleport over the wall on the left hand side and then head for the island. Once you are on this island you are safe, just head straight up and kill Mephisto. Please note that there is not much point doing NM Mephisto unless you have a fair amount of Magic Find - 200% or more is best. Also, you don't have to use teleport or leap attack to skip most of the monsters, however if you want to do runs quickly, it's better to skip everything except Mephisto himself.

Good Items to use for Magic Find that are easily found (apart from helms and armour with Perfect Topaz) include Goldwrap (Unique Heavy Belt), Nagelring, (Unique Ring), Ali Baba's (Unique Tulwar), Tarnhelm (Unique Skull Cap) and Chance Guards (Unique Chain Gloves). There are other, better items with more MF, such as Tal Rasha's Armour, however such items are much harder to find, and cost a lot more to trade for.

Hope this helps and good luck!