Feedback on Firehuntermentalist

[xen]

[Softcore]

Hey all,

I would like to get some feedback on my Firehuntermentalist. He is beginning to venture into Hell Act I and the going is quite slow. Since this is my first character ever to make it into Hell, I'm not quite sure whether my character is not up to par, or whether Hell mode is supposed to be this way ;).

In any case, let me start with a blueprint of my character, Rider:

My character tries to balance Fire and Summons, having about equal points in both (although leaning more towards the summons), and complementing it with the use of a bow.

Stats:
Name: Champion Rider
Level: 78

Life: 595
Mana: 294
Strength: 63 (89)
Dexterity: 174 (199)
Vitality: 201 (201)
Energy: 27 (60)

Resists in Hell without Shield:

Fire: 46
Cold: -5
Light: 25
Poison: -25

FCR: 20%
FHR: 42%
IAS: 10%
MF: 134%

AR: 1491 without HoW, 2759 with HoW
DR: 1376

Mercenary stats:
Name: Zanarhi
Level: 77
Type: Might Mercenary

Life: 1524
Defense: 1984

FHR: 60%
Deadly Strike: 70%
Crushing Blow: 35%
MF: 0%

Might level: 22 (+250%)


Skills:

Fissure: 20 (27)
Volcano: 16 (23)

Raven: 1 (8)
Spirit Wolf: 5 (12)
Dire Wolf: 20 (27)
Grizzly: 14 (21)
Heart of Wolverine: 5 (12) / (+97% damage, +102% AR)
Carrion Vine: 1 (8)

Elemental skill points include a Hexfire (+3 fire) that I have on switch.


Equipment:

helm: Jalal's Mane Totemic Mask
body: ethereal Skullder's Ire Russet Armor socketed Ort
belt: Goldwrap Heavy Belt
gloves: Magefist Light Gauntlets
boots: Sander's Riprap Heavy Boots

amulet: Rare resist amulet 43/20/20/20 with +2 summoning skills
ring 1: Rare resist ring 33/5/26/5 with +13 energy
ring 2: Raven Frost Ring +15 dex / +168 AR

weapon: Skystrike Edge Bow (irrelevant at this point)

weapon on switch: Hexfire Shamshir
shield on switch: The Ward Gothic Shield

Mercenary helm: Guillaume's Face Winged Helm
Mercenary body: Duriel's Shell Cuirass
Mercenary weapon: Pierre Tombale Couant Partizan

Charms:
- 2 x plain Summoning skiller (Trainer's GC)
- +20% cold resist, +12% FHR GC
- +29% lightning resistances SCs
- +20% fire resistances SCs
- +33 to life SCs
- 7% MF SC
- +50 poison damage GC


Damage output:

Fissure: 1030-1076 fire
Volcano: 333-340 fire / 109-112 phys

Wolf life: 912
Wolf dmg: 393-425 / (after Might and HoW, if my calcs are correct) 803-869

Bear life: 5200
Bear dmg: 1040-1137 / (after Might and HoW) 2126-2325

Mercenary damage: 926-1719 after Might and HoW


Reflection:

Fissure ruled bigtime during Nightmare, one or two-hit killing many small enemies, and putting others into hit-recovery. The beginning of Hell however sees a massive increase in hitpoints and resistances, leading me to use more Volcano and less Fissure, against single enemies. I'm not sure Fissure will be as useful as it once was.

The wolves have a hard time killing even small enemies. Often, all three wolves plus the mercenary will engage an enemy, taking several seconds to bring it down.

The ravens have been extremely useful throughout Nightmare, but in Hell, the duration of the blind is often only a couple of seconds, severly limiting its usefulness.

Since this is such a diverse character, having damage from three sources (Fire spells, Summons, and Bow), it is difficult to optimize its damage output. Using the bow requires high dexterity and AR (ie. Ravenfrost), and the need to get resistances from someplace other than a shield (Vipermagi, ring). Using throwing axes (Gimmershred) requires dex/AR, as well as a shield that adds to its elemental damage (Tiamat's Rebuke). Optimizing fire spells requires Hexfire or a Spirit sword coupled with a Lidless Wall, as well as a +skills ring (Bul-Kathos), and also a better amulet (Mara's). Optimizing summons requires much of the same: Spirit sword + Lidless Wall + Bul-Kathos WB ring.

However, some of these things are too expensive for me (Mara's, BKWB, Arachnid Mesh).

I have long wanted to use a Harmony Shadow Bow (or alternatively a Kuko Shakaku Shadow Bow), but it seems a Gimmershred's + Tiamat's Rebuke seems the better choice, both in terms of damage output (40% better) and resists (25-35%)

Then there is the option of using the Lacerator (33% ctc Amplify Damage) but that would make me feel like a degenerated Necro. I mean, casting Amp for my minions and then sitting back to watch the slaughter.

The best bet seems to be Gimmershred + Tiamat's, and on switch Spirit/Hexfire + Lidless Wall.

And I'm planning to give my Merc "Obedience" and "Duress". That's a total of 90% CB!


Your Thoughts

So I'm wondering what your thoughts are on this. Did I miss out on some good equipment? Should I give my mercenary Vampire Gaze? Shoud I put my remaining points in Fire skills?

[sdbramwell]

edge is worthless in hell. get a new weapon. otherwise i think youll be fine.

[crawlingdeadman]

hey, your gear looks fine and where it's less than ideal, you've identified some way to improve (2druid would be a good start, you really dont need maras. i also like highlord's for some ias and 1 skill). first thing i'd like to say however is that you really dont need full res in hell with a ranged character like this. i really love harmony for this build. it lets all your minions fly around at break neck speed. try to get a good +valk and you may get yourself yet another good tank. i rarely with my huntermentalist switched to cast my fire. usually i just prebuffed my minions with switch and then kept my bow going. you may also try out witchwild string. it has lacerator's amp, but it's a bow, has res, and has a cool feature of shooting magic arrows instead of regular ones with the 'normal' attack. i like harmony better, but you may like it more.

have you been trying bear vs dire? i really find the bear tearing through crowds faster than 3 wolves. if you dont like the idea of dropping 2 tanks, try harmony's valk. compared to bear she's nothing (for a druid) but if you can get some more +all skills she make take the spot of a wolf.

i like this build, but you really have to watch that you dont spread yourself too thin. i look at it as a shaman with a bow. get your fire where you want, then summons strong enough to kill fire immunes (or at least tank them till your merc can kill them), and then put a bow on. i was satisfied with mid-high 60% chance to hit with a bow.

ps. instead of obediance (great weapon) try reaper's toll. the decrep going off makes your whole world easier.

edge is worthless in hell. get a new weapon. otherwise i think youll be fine.

skystrike =/= edge.

[VeeSe]

Your gear looks mostly alright to me. Hunters don't generally kill that fast, and you should expect a major slowdowin hell compared to nightmare if it's your first time. This is normal, and the hunter requires a lot of patience without godly gear. Excellent advice from crawlingdeadman, and just keep at it if you like the character. And if you feel like it can't be done, just think about Insane Wayne's summoner Cosmo, who he Guardianed... naked through all three difficulties!

[xen]

Hey guys, thanks for the advice.

Well it's not that the going has been impossible thus far. I mean, killing Blood Raven was dead easy (if that's any comparison, Blood Raven is always hardest when you just start out in Normal) but the fight against physical immune lightning enchanted uniques has been intense. It was more like I was thinking, if the going in Act I is slow, then how will the tombs of Act II be? Yeah I like this character a lot, and I'm sure to keep playing, even if the fight sometimes is too intense for my mind (I have a 'brain weakness').

I already have the runes for Obedience and Harmony, so I'll just try to make them first, if I can get my hands on the socketables. (It's not like it's going to waste :)).

My playing style is mostly casting fire and then letting arrows fly, off and on. Although against the fire immunes of Act I, I try to just shoot the shamans with my bow.

The +2 druid skills amulet is a good tip and a good starting point. I hadn't thought of that. I don't really need the Highlord's, I already have +10% IAS with my Goldwrap, which is nice enough for a Harmony bow, and I'd rather have the resists I now have.

I'll just try and go with Harmony and Hexfire/Lidless Wall on switch. I'll see where it ends... ;D.

[sdbramwell]

ahh yes, i am worthless, you definitely need a different bow. skystrike is terrible imo.

i agree the harmony could be a good combo, so would a faith, but that might be a lil expensive.

sorry about the confusion, i was thinking of the runeword with thorns, which is worthless in hell, but whatever.

[xen]

I made my Harmony, in a Shadow Bow. Not as fast as a Blade Bow, but the damage output per second is nearly equal. And I liked having a bow with requirements that somewhat mirror my character's stat distribution, ie. lots of dex but low strength.

I tried a little magic creating the runeword. I said something like "I make appeal to the creation in coincidence of a 275% enhanced damage." Then I focussed for a second or two, and then I made the runeword. And it seemed to work :P.

Harmony Shadow Bow 'TirIthSolKo'
Two-Hand Damage: 64 to 229
Required Dexterity: 188
Required Strength: 52
Required Level: 47
Bow Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xee6c2c72
+10 to Dexterity
+273% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
+9 to Maximum Damage
Regenerate Mana 20%
Adds 55-160 fire damage
Adds 55-160 lightning damage
Adds 55-160 cold damage over 4 seconds
+2 to Light Radius
+4 to Valkyrie
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 10 Vigor Aura When Equipped
Level 20 Revive (25/25 Charges)
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Well, it almost worked. Near perfect. And +4 on the Valkyrie.

I do have to get used to my minions pacing around like restless zombies. Their moronity is much more pronounced now that they have picked up speed. And I have to take care not to stroll right into battle due to a mis-click.

[crawlingdeadman]

once you get used to it, you'll really miss the aura when it's gone (if you swap weapons again). how goes the questing? tried out revives yet :D ?

[xen]

hey man

no i haven't been playing in Hell yet, and haven't tried out revives either. I'm a bit out of shortcut keys for summons (I use QWER for summons, but I guess I could AS or C - DF are Fissure/Volcano and ZX are Vine and Spirit, V is town portal, and I use F4 for my teleport amulet but between games that shortcut disappears regularly!... won't my shortcuts for Revive and Valkyrie disappear between games?)

i wanted to wait with Hell mode until one of my other characters got a socketing quest reward so that I can make Obedience in my eth 1.07 Thresher.

[xen]

I've made my Obedience! Less luck this time...

Obedience Thresher 'HelKoThulEthFal'
Two-Hand Damage: 84 to 1097
Durability: 33 of 33
Required Dexterity: 84
Required Strength: 112
Required Level: 53
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x3c6a50ef
+10 to Strength
+10 to Dexterity
+370% Enhanced Damage
+228 Defense
All Resistances +24
Adds 3-14 cold damage over 3 seconds
Requirements -20%
40% Faster Hit Recovery
-25% Target Defense
40% Chance of Crushing Blow
30% Chance to cast Level 21 Enchant When You Kill an Enemy
-25% to Enemy Fire Resistance
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (5: 5 used)

So, ..it's about time I started questing again.

[VeeSe]

One way to keep your hotkeys for charged items like teleport amulets on is to have the amulet on every time you save and exit (I'm assuming this isn't your normal permanent amulet, because if it is, then I don't know of a way), but yes, it's annoying.

By the way, vigor + revives spells disaster to me, unless you have a TON of patience. If you decide to run between battles, all your revives will almost instantly die since they can't keep up and just go poof (they don't teleport to you like mercs/summons do). Even though they have the vigor aura, I can't imagine them keeping up with you, unless you have ghosts or revive really fast moving monsters. If you need to get places fast and have revives that you don't want to die, you're going to have to teleport to make them come with you.

[xen]

Alright, thanks. You're right, it isn't my main amulet. I just like to teleport to save time running Baal or running the Countess, in case the map has shortcuts that I can teleport through.

I always have my characters on run instead of walk.. is there really anyone who walks from time to time?

[DcDrachma]

I walk with my summoning necro sometimes, to keep my revives =)

[Verashiden]

I walk most of the time with my Huntermentalist. Keeps you from turning a corner into a frenzytaur pack >.>

[xen]

I walk most of the time with my Huntermentalist. Keeps you from turning a corner into a frenzytaur pack >.>

But if you do happen on a frenzytaur pack, you won't be able to run away as quickly ;).

But.. cool to see some of you actually use that feature ;D.

[Verashiden]

Psh, why'd you think i said most of the time :P.

"Doodeedum... Frick... Um... RUN! RUN FOR YOUR FURRY LIVES!!"

[xen]

Hm I can see why you would walk when you have vigor... you're still going plenty fast. During battle it is preferable that your miss-clicks don't cause you to jump right into the fray. 40% run boots and level 10 Vigor is a tad too much.

Now that my mercenary has been outfitted with "Obedience" (84-1097) and "Duress", and myself with "Harmony", Act I Hell mode is suddenly a walk in the park. Well, not exactly, I mean, my minions still die so I have to be careful, and I experienced a couple of NDE's, but.. the going is easy. It seems my lifebulb is just big enough to prevent me from dying to a champion pack of Quill Rats, but it shouldn't have been much smaller!

In any case, the going is good. I'm still looking for (gambling for) a +2 druid skills amulet, and I could use better charms (resists and life) but what I have is okay.

[crawlingdeadman]

quick to trouble, quick to escape i say. i ran around in 40frw boots and vigor, just get the timing down and tred slowly where frenzytaurs abound.

[xen]

Frenzytaur == those Act V Moon Lords that use Frenzy, right?

I just experienced my first death in Hell mode. Very typical, in The Pit (Tamoe Highlands), to a bunch of archers. I was foolish enough to run ahead of my bear when I already knew they were there.

Me, I learn from my mistakes,... ONLY! :P. It usually has to go wrong one time before I think to myself, hmm, let's not do that again.

I have begun using the bear because the wolves die too fast. It is easier to keep track of one sturdy bear than three wolves that you have to resummon all the time. I'm bad at keeping an overview of the battlefield when my own life is in danger. After a short while, only me, my bear, and my merc, are all that's left. That's when the hurting starts. The Valkyrie has 700 life but she's quick to die and doesn't do any damage. I forget to summon a couple of Revives, they can make battle easier.

My mercenary actually deals 4000 average damage when my spirit is with me. The challenge is to keep him (the merc) alive long enough.

I'm beginning to think the Reaper's Toll would indeed make life easier, but.. at the expense of a lot of damage. Perhaps a better upgrade would be a good life stealing helmet for my merc. Guillaume's Face is excellent in terms of damage (total 90% CB, 110% FHR, 15% Deadly Strike), but Stealskull, Crown of Thieves or Vampire Gaze, would perhaps be better additions to my mercenary's gear. Still leaves 80% FHR and 55% CB.

[xen]

I finished Act I Hell with my druid. While the going was not that hard, it was still quite tough now and then. Given all the fire immunes, and the fact that my mercenary does way more damage then my bear, my playstyle has revolved around "let the bear tank, let the merc kill".

A summoner druid is a great tank, and that may be an advantage in party play, but I don't think it's a good thing if your mercenary packs more killing power than you do ;). Why is a level 21 bear so weak? (Even with 360% extra skill enhanced damage).

Now I've started Act II and the going is much easier! Well, maybe it's because I've learned the first rule of the summoner druid: Bear First, Merc After. And maybe also because I haven't encountered any physical/fire immunes yet. And maybe also because -finally- my fire skills have some effect. It's good to be able to lay fields of fire to the feet of those skellies, scarabs, and sabre cats. Very good. Very very good.

It's not going to be fun in the Maggot Lair, and neither in the Arcane Sanctuary. I'll have to rely on my teleport amulet in order to "resummon" my merc.

[Verashiden]

Boulder for Lair. Trust me, for that area it's sex-in-a-can.

[xen]

I have not invested in Boulder. Does only some 160 damage compared to fissure with does 1000. Even my bow does more ;D.

[crawlingdeadman]

well fissure wont hit but once maybe twice in a small area like that. one of the worst areas for fissure, really.

[xen]

Maggot Lair was dead easy. Actually my merc died once when I wasn't paying attention, but that was after I had killed the Maggot Queen. My strategy was quit simple... just teleport onto the bad guys. Fissure actually still did some good damage to Mosquitoes and Beetles, even in the tight hallways. It was cool pushing Beetles back using Boulder, but the damage was, as expected, far too low. It was effectively my Merc doing all the work, with help from the bear now and then.

I have 20 points Dire Wolf and 14 points Grizzly. Perhaps those 13 points would have been better spent synergizing Volcano or Fissure. Fissure would have meant 44% more fire damage (1024 -> 1478). Volcano would have meant 139% more physical damage (119.5 -> 286.5) but only 35% more total damage.

Perhaps not such great tradeoffs for a bear (and wolves) that can't kill anything.