1.07 News, Info and Gossip

[galtwish]

I like the idea of frying the monsters from behind a pack of trusty wolves.

As for a missile weap on switch, Goldstrike Arch worked very well for my hunter druid, with the AR bonus, but he had 50% crushing blow. It was quite comical how often the level 2 Fist of the Heavens would end up finishing off Physical Immunes who had been slivered by CB. With 20% off-weapon IAS, the Buriza goes 14 frames while GSA goes 11. Then again, if you go that route you might as well make a hunter, so maybe no bow on switchtime.

I've got both, and the silly-good 20% IAS/14% CB greater blood gloves + either IK or Sigon's belt/boots/gloves should make for a decent Volcano/Tornado/Hunter, though the summons would likely be weak. I'll have a ton of stats left over, so getting the dex up to 95 won't be an issue for GSA (but I'd rather spend it on VIT)

Hexfire is no great loss for a druid.

It is when it's one of the few Exceptional Uniques you found Of course if it gave the +3 fire skills, I'd socket it w/Shael and go Fire Claws Werewolf

Say, have you considered a Barb merc? What about some Oak Sage instead of HoW? With the fast regen of the barbs and a big bunch of life, he might hold up a lot better than an act II merc.

As for bosses, those with an area attack are likely to kill all your pets and sidekicks and leave you standing there alone.

Oh, this sounds good! I'll give it a shot in NM after picking up an A5 Merc--If I can get past NM Diablo w/Barb + Dire Wolves. I've got a 30% FR/30% LR/14 PDR armor and a 30% FR/20%LR/38% FHR armor that are just waiting to be shuffled between mercs on my final toons, so one of these should go well on a Barb. Not to mention all the awesome 2h swords I've been stashing for the last 9 months. Cruel Executioner's Sword of Quickness, socketed with a couple -15% req jewels seems to be the order of the day in that case. Thanks for the idea!

Quick question: would a +3 combat skills circlet provide the stun/bash bonus on an A5 merc?

[Disco-neck Ted]

Oh, good point about the fire skills and fire claws.

Mercs do not benefit from +skills items at all in 1.07. As for GSA, nice find. I was aware that you have one, hence the discussion in practical terms instead of abstract.

As you know, you can hire a high level barb in act V hell, so even if your drood isn't lvl 76 at the time, you can put a BK colossus blade on the merc immediately, if you have one. The resists help a lot, 35% crushing blow is excellent and the knockback is a non-issue since the barb uses bash half the time anyway.

Until then, that tasty cruel executioner sword sounds like the word of doom.

[ApisCanis]

FINALLY! Got a good drop from Big-D. :grin:

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...eenshot017.jpg

Back to the grindstone...

[Arkardo]

Well, I just got to 1.07 and I have some questions, if you guys don't mind.

- If I read correctly, Cold Mastery works by division. So, a level 1 CM has 23% and will reduce a cold resistance of 92% to 4% (since 92/23 = 4). If this is correct, then why bother putting more than 1 point in CM?
- All piercing items don't work with CM like they do in 1.09, right?
- Items that freeze targets can/will corrupt characters and stashes, right? Does this include the Cham rune? Would be a shame if I would find one. :azn:
- Laying of Hands has 50% fire absorb. Is there a (known) cap on absorb by percentage in 1.07?
- And what happens if these gloves are brought to 1.11, where absorb by percentage is capped at 40%? I suppose the effect will then be 40%, rather than the listed 50%?

- Lastly, would this be a good skill point distribution?
20 Frozen Orb
1 Cold Mastery
20 Static Field
20 Nova (I read positive things about it for 1.07)
20 Lightning Mastery
Rest in Cold Mastery

Thanks in advance!

[RTB]

- If I read correctly, Cold Mastery works by division. So, a level 1 CM has 23% and will reduce a cold resistance of 92% to 4% (since 92/23 = 4). If this is correct, then why bother putting more than 1 point in CM?

I remember it being a straight reduction in 1.07, but I'm not sure on it.

- Items that freeze targets can/will corrupt characters and stashes, right? Does this include the Cham rune? Would be a shame if I would find one. :azn:

Not until it's used IIRC.

- Laying of Hands has 50% fire absorb. Is there a (known) cap on absorb by percentage in 1.07?

It was at 50% in 1.09

- And what happens if these gloves are brought to 1.11, where absorb by percentage is capped at 40%? I suppose the effect will then be 40%, rather than the listed 50%?

Correct.

- Lastly, would this be a good skill point distribution?

Go with orb and static first. Levels don't come as easy as in 1.09/1.10+.

[Arkardo]

Thanks for your input! Just a question on the Laying of Hands gloves:

It was at 50% in 1.09

But the 1.07 guide says:

From the set items, the most interesting ones are the Laying of Hands (Bramble Mitts) for it's 50% fire absorb

Is the 1.07 guide wrong?

Also a question on Barbarian mercenaries. What kind of innate skills do they have and how does +skills from primal helms work? Do they benefit from, for example, +skills to Natural Resist while they do not have it by default?

[Grisu]

I think RTB meant that Fire Absorb was capped at 50% in 1.09. So neither the guide nor RTB are wrong:wink3:
I don't even know if there are other items in 1.07 with %Absorb - if not, then the question regarding caps wouldn't matter anyways

[ItAllGoesWhite]

To chime in on the Cold Mastery Bit...

I'm pretty sure it isn't a straight reduction. From what I remember, it's literally a percentage reduction. That sounds terribly vague, but like this:

CM = -25%
Monster Resists = 50%

In 1.11b that would reduce the monster's resistance to 25%, correct? In 1.07 it would lower the monster's resistance to 37.5. If CM was at 50% it would reduce the Monster's resistance to 25%, make sense?

Again, I'm not a numbers person but I recall it working like this, and it would also explain why Frozen Orb's damage isn't vastly increased when dealing with low cold resist monsters. I've had extensive experience with Frozen Orb in 1.07, so, take that for what it's worth. I can assure you, however, that it does not work as you described.

Like RTB mentioned, you're better served going for 20 Static, 20 Orb, and 20 Cold Mastery. Since Cold Mastery has extreme diminishing returns you can probably get away with just 10 or 15 points, but since there isn't any other spell you need for damage, why not go whole hog? From there, you can choose between warmth, teleport, energy, shield, or maybe even one of the ice armors. I'd suggest 1 point in energy shield, 1 point in your armor of choice, 10-20 points into teleport, and whatever else into warmth.

Oh, and Frozen Orb is funky in 1.07. It takes a lot of getting used to if you're accustomed to aiming the ball directly into a monster. In 1.07, if at any time the ball touches a monster, it glitches and shards from that orb will no longer hit anything. It's incredibly annoying at first, but you get used to it and it becomes second nature.

Hope I helped!

--Mark

[Jaedhann]

To chime in on the Cold Mastery Bit...

I'm pretty sure it isn't a straight reduction. From what I remember, it's literally a percentage reduction. That sounds terribly vague, but like this:

CM = -25%
Monster Resists = 50%

In 1.11b that would reduce the monster's resistance to 25%, correct? In 1.07 it would lower the monster's resistance to 37.5. If CM was at 50% it would reduce the Monster's resistance to 25%, make sense?

I think it works like that yes.

Again, I'm not a numbers person but I recall it working like this, and it would also explain why Frozen Orb's damage isn't vastly increased when dealing with low cold resist monsters. I've had extensive experience with Frozen Orb in 1.07, so, take that for what it's worth. I can assure you, however, that it does not work as you described.

I experienced the same. But i really felt the difference between highish coldmastery and maxxed one. Especially on cold resist monster. Say a monster has 150% coldresist. 50% coldmastery would reduce it to 75, still a lot.Once you hit the 70's with coldemastery everything really starts to drop dead agains orb. Either go with a point or 5 or go all out. There's not much in between.Unless you are going for another element, then one point and some +skills would do.

Oh, and Frozen Orb is funky in 1.07.

QFT. But you will get used to it indeed. Then you go back to 1.11b and have to unlearn it again. DAH!!:rolleyes:

[scottee]

Hey, two quickies:

Does anyone know where I can get the 1.07 patch? I've found a few links to it, but they're all broken. Also, my google-fu was not up to the task of finding it :embarassed:

Does RRM work with 1.07?