What would you recommend as a primary MF char for a new player? de

[geryon]

Hey there! Long time lurker, first time poster (be kind!) TLDR version at the bottom.

Long version: After a long hiatus, like many others, I'm excited to tinker around with diablo 2 again. However, I find the plethora of builds rather confusing, and was wondering if anyone had any tips.

Since I'm starting from scratch, I'm looking for any advice on a primary MF char for a relatively 'untwinked' player. I'm still shell-shocked from 1.09 mephisto runs 200+ times a week, so I'm trying to avoid him as a primary goal.

I've tried sorc and fishymancer, both are lovely but frsutrating. My meteorb sorc has issues doing pit runs, prone to dying rather suddenly from archers with immunities hanging out in the shadows. Fishymancer is much safer, though MUCH slower and, without Insight, mana is a constant annoyance. It takes almost twice as long to do the Pits as with my sorc. Things like stairways slow my mob down considerably.

K/T Assassins and Fishyzons are two classes I haven't played but I hear can do pretty well in Pit and WSK runs. I'm wondering how those compare with the chars I've already tried. I'm also open to other builds! I'd like a char with a acceptable speed, able to do anything non-ubers with relative safety, and without the highest of high gear requirements.

Thanks again for all the help you may or may not provide!

TLDR version: In order of speed/safety, what would you recommend for a fresh player interested in pit and WSK runs?

[crawlingdeadman]

as discussed here (http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=767967), you should pick the one you have the most fun playing. all the classes have a build that can be adapted to magic finding. you are going to be playing an mf character a lot, so you have to pick one you will enjoy for hours on end.

that being said, the fishyzon guide was written explicitly to mf in wsk with found gear so i'd recommend it.

[geryon]

Hehe. I totally know the whole "play the one you find the most fun" answer. I think I'm trying to figure out what I'll have the most fun with before I take the 3-5 hours out of my life to get it to end-game.

One of the hard things is that EVERY character (except fishymancer) sucks until about level 40+ when you start maxing things out. Even my trapsin right now is miserably boring at level 14 with 3 traps worth of mana in her total mana pool.

Similarly, my fishymancer was a breeze until Hell, then came to a grinding halt when entering the maggot lair or encountering a stair case.

[ffejrxx]

fishy is fine, for tunnels or thin areas, try to draw the monsters out, or spawn your clay golem behind them

[geryon]

Great tip! I've been using Attract, which helps redistribute a bit.

My main problem with that strategy is the darn dark lancer ladies that run SO fast and get all jumbled up on the stairs before I even see them. Losers.

[Keemossi]

I started Diablo again just a few days ago, and made my first (mf) char fishymancer this time. I think I've started every time before this with a meteorb (maybe one CL-orb somewhere) since 1.10.

There are respecs in Diablo now, no char has to suck before 40. Well, barbarians do suck at least till Frenzy (I really, really hate chasing Fallens and their miniscule kin). Basically any build can reach NM, one respec isn't that big price for that.

Hell Maggot Lair wasn't that bad as fishy. Just had to avoid the insect swarms.. Arcane Sanctuary was a pain, my merc wasn't really useful. Reviving spirits helps a lot there :>

Now that I don't instagib at gloams (carrying Wizardspike when entering any area that may spawn them), and my merc has crushing blow, I find fishy really fun to play. Pit was really, really boring, I'd much rather just meteorb Meph. WSK, however, is easy and fun. Fun mainly because there's Baal at the end. Pit has 2 to 3 nice packs and useless chest at the end, it's just not as fun :/

So.. I do recommend fishymancer. Tight places can be just teleported around (just got Naj's Puzzler today, oh, how very much it helps), and.. well, mana potions drop plenty. And vendors have even more. But really, WSK is more fun than Pits. It has no narrow corridors - so gloams have free line of fire! :)

Some options could also be running Ancient Tunnels with meteorb, or getting Blizzard and synergies for that. Though arrows are still a problem, at least they die really fast. I'd also imagine elementalist druid could manage Pits. There seems to be so few druids, need moar :(