My MF Sorcs can't find nothing

[Hawklord]

Ok maybe not nothing at all but most of the time it's all crap like Magic, cheap Rares, Low end Sets etc...

I have over 360% MF, doing some Hell Pit runs not many because I find it takes too much time. Almost the same amount of time as of Hell Meph.
I find doing NM runs to Andy, Meph, Diablo and Baal is much faster and sometimes have better results but of course I won't get that much of chance to get the higher end stuff.

Is my MF not high enough or too high?
I heard around 350% is good enough.

And how long should it take to get to the level 2 Pits and kill everything?

[SumoSalad]

Its all about real life luck really.....

[Hawklord]

I guess I'm "SOOL" because I can't even win anything in real life too. :(

[Gleric]

350% is a bit over the top unless you have exceptional gear. The general idea is that 250%~ish is an ok level and after that you should only add as long as it doesn't affect your killing speed to much. Unless you can blaze through areas like the pits in no time it's usually more effecient to go at bosses, level85 areas don't got higher chances to drop items than any other areas, they just CAN drop more items.

Don't know anything about your build or gear but lower your MF and increase your killing speed. And as SUmoSalad said, it all boils down to real life luck.

[Hawklord]

Well I have full Tal's set, 33% Chancies, Nagel 30% and 28%, Rare boots with 25%, Gheeds at 33% (I think) and some 4% SC.
So about 250% huh, Maybe I can replace the Chancies with Frostburn or Magefist or something.

She also only a lvl 81, wouldn't think that should make a difference.

Thx for the info, I guess I'll just keep plucking away. Hopefully I'll eventually start getting some better drops.
Earlier I did one run to test what I had and all I got was one Unique which was The Chieftain and everything else were Magic items, grrrr :(

[Scudstorm]

Magic items or white items can be very valuable.

Get at least 105 FCR. It should make more difference than 50ish MF.

[sirpoopsalot]

...doing some Hell Pit runs...

(roughly) how many is "some"?

[udgard]

Hmm.. what build are you using? I started with worse gear than you, but having MF gear combined with meph runs paid me off quickly, and certainly much quicker than pit runs. My meteorb started hell meph at about lv 72 when my meteor damage was only 5k-ish. I used my best gear to tele through durance and fought meph. Once his health drops to 10%-ish, I switch to MF gear and deal the finishing blow (which is why meph runs pays of quicker than pit for non-very high end gear people, we can whittle him down to near death and then just switch to full MF for the finishing blow). For a note, I started with 2 angelic halos, the armor piece, and the sword on switch, paired with a vidala boots and ammy. VERY crappy, and changing gears is a hassle, but the amount of MF pays off quickly, especially since killing speed is not affected much.

[Bladewind]

I must have did at least 400 runs with my MF zon in Chaos Sanc to Hell Diablo since I restarted back in Feb. She only has 200+ MF as well. Never even seen a Shako drop.

Yes MF runs are runs in the thousands, don't expect anything good in less than 200 runs.

[Grumpy Old Wizard]

It usually takes a while to find something good. Pit runs can drop good but it may take a while. You may want to throw in some key runs. 1 key set can net you a pul in trading on USA East. 3 puls will get a HR.

[Hawklord]

Magic items or white items can be very valuable.

Get at least 105 FCR. It should make more difference than 50ish MF.

(roughly) how many is "some"?


Well at first I only had about 20 FCR because of all the MF items, now I've removed a few to replace for some FCR, so now I have about 50 FCR which I noticed that it does make a difference. So very good point on that and I'll try to find some more.
My MF is at 252% now.


I try to do about 10 runs a night if possible or if I get sick of it because of the non drops. Then I jump to Meph, and again if he doesn't drop anything good like lastnight after about 5 runs I didn't even get one Unique. It was all crappy sets, a few Rares and then rest of course stupid Magic items.
From the Pits I did get a White Superior Grand Matron Bow, no I idea if it's worth anything.

My sorcs is a CL/FO, she can kill quick enough if my merc would stay alive longer as well. He's a Act 2 Holy Freeze using Runeword "Insight", "Smoke" and a Rare Circlet with +59 life, +19 All Res and some good dmg.
I know "Infinity" would be better but I currently don't have those Runes yet.


I guess I'll just continue doing those runs now that my FCR is a bit better.

[ginNtonic]

Meph is a better target unless all you're after is the rarest of items (only drop in 85 areas). No matter what you run it can take hundreds of runs before you see something. In areas like the Pits, WSK, Ancient Tunnels, RoF etc etc.. it could take thousands of runs before something worthwhile pops. As someone stated before: These areas CAN drop everything in the game. Running act bosses for an hour will probably generate a higher number of uniques/sets than going to the lv85 areas simply based on the games drop mechanics. Pindleskin is always an "easy" target that can drop anything in the game as well.

Your merc needs life leech. Thats why he's dieing. Try giving him Boneflesh or Flayer Skin armor. Tals Mask/Crown of Thieves/Vampire Gaze for his helmet. All these items can be found from Hell Meph. Another great reason to run him for a while. He should be a lot sturdier provided his weapon is elite. Even if his weapon sucks replacing his armor and helm with leech life items will help a TON. Always remember to teleport him out of sticky situations (surrounded and amped for example).

[Hawklord]

Killing Hell Meph is not a really big problem just getting there is a pain.
So I can do that mostly now that I'll be adding some FCR too and giving some life leech to my merc.

I do have an extra Tal's helm that I can give him, so now it's just the armor and those two you mentioned seen easy enough to find even on NM Meph can drop.

Thx for all your help :)
And I'll keep you posted on my changes and finds.

[SeCKSEgai]

MF.... I used to be big on getting as much as possible, but the longer you play, the less important it feels.

The most important thing to keep in mind with mf is that it doesn't dictate what drops, only the quality (assuming it can be affected in the first place). For example, if game chooses to drop a rune, mf has no effect. If its an item, then it starts to work its magic. However, more mf doesn't necessarily equal more good items.

You can have 1000 mf but if the drops are useless items, it really does you no good. When mf affects your killing speed significantly, its unlikely to pay off.

If you plan on heavy mf (300+) NM is good since there are still a few items that drop there that can sell for a bit, but you also miss out on everything hell has to offer. I found 3 or 4 war travs in nm, still haven't found a single pair in Hell, and only 1 harlequin crest. But I've also found 3 arachnid mesh's, a 2os CoA and some other nice things in Hell.

Really, mfing expect to do a lot for a reward once in a blue moon. Even more so, focus more on effectiveness vs mf%. Your chances of finding something worthwhile are better sacrificing mf vs kill speed more often than not.

Oh as far as your fcr is concerned, I'd shoot for 105 since your teleport speed not only can streamline your runs but also save you (in conjunction with good fhr). Tal's has several fcr bonuses, and if you throw in a good spirit shield, it doesn't take too much more from there (since you only get rings, gloves, and shield to boost fcr).

[Scudstorm]

I do have an extra Tal's helm that I can give him, so now it's just the armor and those two you mentioned seen easy enough to find even on NM Meph can drop.

If you give him Tal helm, Boneflesh and Skin of the Flayed One would be very bad armors for your merc. Stick with Smoke or make a Treachery.

It is traditionally easier to get leech from helm slot and resists from armor slot.

Also, to make your runs more "fun", alternate between bosses and areas. I usually do them in the same game.

[mr hamster]

Also, just my opinion, but adding a fort on your merc (if you can't afford an eth one, a non-eth will work fine) increases his tankability tremendously...not only does it make his def jump, but the EDmg from fort equates to a lot more leech.

I used to do a lot of pits/tunnels runs with my blizzballer sorc, until i realized 99% of the uniques/sets were pretty much charsi food, so now i stick to countess/summoner runs. It's like, a good 50% of the time, something useful drops from the countess, whether it's a rune or key (although i can't say the same about summoner...:thumbup:)

[joebauer]

is 474mf too much?

I'm able to get to Meph and kill him no prob. Should I tone down the mf if I have no issue with my cast rate and dmg?

[SeCKSEgai]

There really is no too much mf. The goal is always to keep as much mf as possible while maintaining adequate killing speed. If you're content in your performance, then there's no reason to "tone it down". The reason many of us drop mf is because we're able to improve killing speed significantly more with other gear choices. If you're content in your performance, there's no reason to drop mf. However, I'm sure the majority would rather sacrifice mf for improved killing speed.

[Scudstorm]

If you're content in your performance, there's no reason to drop mf.

I'd have to disagree on this point... In a lot of occasions you do not want stuff to spawn unique, like the case the archon plates. Getting your mf way over 350 will mostly increase your chance of getting magical (i.e. blue) items because of the diminishing returns on the other qualities. And we want our elite armors, ama bows, claws, zerkers etc to spawn white. Sure, in some cases unique versions of these stuff are good too (especially the zerker :crazyeyes:), but remember: over 350MF, you will only be significantly increasing the chance of magical ones dropping.

[SeCKSEgai]

I'd have to disagree on this point... In a lot of occasions you do not want stuff to spawn unique, like the case the archon plates. Getting your mf way over 350 will mostly increase your chance of getting magical (i.e. blue) items because of the diminishing returns on the other qualities. And we want our elite armors, ama bows, claws, zerkers etc to spawn white. Sure, in some cases unique versions of these stuff are good too (especially the zerker :crazyeyes:), but remember: over 350MF, you will only be significantly increasing the chance of magical ones dropping.

While its true certain white/socketed items are far more valued than their set/unique counterpoints, if you're focusing on mf, you're not looking for those particular items, especially if you're primarily boss running since they're always at least magical to begin with. If you're more focused on socketed, socketables, and runes, then you're better off having no mf at all altogether to minimize the chances of items being magical or better.

You can try to balance mf to get a decent number of whites, but you may inadvertently prevent items you'd want to be set or unique from dropping and may not get the whites you're looking for.