SP: Freezadin Weapon?

[magicrectangle]

I lucked into a Lo rune when my pally was clearing down to countess so... you never know. Getting high rune drops isn't so bad anymore, but of course when you're not trading there is the matter of getting the right high rune drop.

[Scoobydoo]

I lucked into a Lo rune when my pally was clearing down to countess so...

I hate you! Haha.

[magicrectangle]

I can't see myself ever farming LK. I mean sure farming is a means to an end, but it has to be at least a little bit fun/interesting or I won't do it.

[Azaar]

Thanks, Scoob. Truth be told, I've been waiting for an armor that wasn't a three-socket breastplate (or a four-socket gothic plate -- geez) since the Palace Cellar, where the Lem fell. I'd been waiting on the Lum that just fell earlier today in the Spider Forest since about 2/3 of the way through Act 1 NM, when the two-socket ancient armor dropped. But the damage upgrade is significant with Treachery:

W/O Treachery -- 723-986
With Treachery -- 926-1209

I admit it, I'm loving it now. And definitely not bad, considering I'm using Spirit on a rune sword, and it has no enhanced damage.

I lucked into a Lo rune when my pally was clearing down to countess so... you never know. Getting high rune drops isn't so bad anymore, but of course when you're not trading there is the matter of getting the right high rune drop.

That is certainly the truth. I have both my Dols, but I still need an Um for Crescent Moon, Vex/Ohm/Ist for Exile (with Exile, I can switch to a Blessed Aim mercenary and likely never have to worry about AR again, for the most part), and another Lum for Splendor to replace Rhyme (mostly because of the +1 skills and enhanced defense). I'm not sure still what weapon I want to use for my merc, though -- likely will see what I can scrounge up with runes and go from there.

[Azaar]

Accidental double-post -- please disregard.

[Oldboy]

I think for a first character either on bnet Ladder Reset or SP, an untweaked Freezadin can bring you throughout Norm & NM, and probably as far as Hell act 1 & 2 (if you are lucky in the drops dept). After that, things will get extremely rough especially in Hell act 3 onwards without decent gear. While the nature of the 3 different types of aura based paladins relies entirely on their skills for dmg, they will be kinda screwed in Hell games where we will encounter immunes of various kinds. And unlike sorcs who can go dual tree to counter these problems even untweaked, it isn't as viable for us. Unless we have extreme luck in drops for a decently high physical dmg weapon, I suspect most will restat to a hdin once hitting Hell games.

I honestly thought that having a Hoz drop and eventually making Crescent Moon will carry me all the way to the end, but as of now, I dread the mobs in Crystalline Passage and Icy Cellars where I will be rendered helpless. Even the "trang-like" vampire mobs in Act 3 are giving me a hard time with max'ed fire resist; haha :(.

I was using an Act 1 fire arrow merc through the whole game (with a Harmony bow when I was able to make that). Between her and the procs on the Crescent Moon I was able to handle most CI/PI's without too much trouble.

But yeah, maybe if I knew when I started what I know now I might not have made a frost zealot as my first character. I think Kitriara's guide, which is what first inspired me, glosses over certain issues when it comes to Hell. Namely, the level of gear required, and the life leech problem if you followed the pure cold build recommended there (I didn't, and even with max Sacrifice and 12% life leech I still felt it was only just adequate).

Also, on bnet you wouldn't be able to do the "roll a nice Meph map and use a teleport staff" single player farming trick, so you'd have to trade for the gear you need, but where to get stuff to trade in the first place?

I'm now playing a meteorb sorc twinked with all the nice stuff I got from Meph farming (Occulus!). Obviously a twinked character is going to have a much easier time, but still...the killing speed on /players8 is just awesome. Already L67 and in act5 NM, I can't wait to see how she does in Hell.

I lucked into a Lo rune when my pally was clearing down to countess so... you never know. Getting high rune drops isn't so bad anymore, but of course when you're not trading there is the matter of getting the right high rune drop.

Heh, tell me about it I was sooooo excited when I found a Sur rune, that lasted until I looked up recipes on the Wiki and found out that it was pretty much useless to me on it's own...then it was "why couldn't it have been a Lo".

[Azaar]

I'm level 62 right now, in Act 3 NM. The rate I'm going, I figure I'll be lucky to get past 70 by the time I defeat Baal, but with all the NM Meph runs I'm gonna be looking at (I think about half my ideal equipment is sitting with NM Meph, and most of the rest of it is Runeword or late Hell-only finds), who knows what I'll be when I reach Hell. I'm already not looking forward to it, though -- I know regular Zombies and their like are CI, the game has already thrown a LOT of CI at me in Act 1 NM alone, so I know it's gonna be several orders of magnitude worse.

Thankfully I'm using Treachery now, so I'll have physical plus poison. I'm gonna try my best to nab at least Lava Gout and War Traveler off Meph in NM (and hope that some of the higher runes will drop as well, particularly in Act 5 NM so I can have a fighting chance at assembling more Runewords in preparation for Hell), so that will give me fire damage and some more magic find (among other things) as well.

At that point, all I'd need is an Um and a three-socket phase blade, and I'll have Crescent Moon for lightning damage to try and take me the rest of the way (and be a walking Vengeance without the actual skill), but I hear phase blades won't drop until Hell, so I'll just have to hope for the best.

[Scoobydoo]

At that point, all I'd need is an Um and a three-socket phase blade, and I'll have Crescent Moon for lightning damage to try and take me the rest of the way (and be a walking Vengeance without the actual skill), but I hear phase blades won't drop until Hell, so I'll just have to hope for the best.

I've checked the MF drop calculator and it shows that PBs can't be dropped in NM games at all as far as I can tell. The earliest point where PBs of any kind (socketed or not) is in Hell act 1 and restricted to a few high level locations like; Pits, Crypt & Mausoleum, Hole tunnels, Burial Grounds, Tower Cellars, The Cave, and apparently Tristam & Den of Evil (but I think these last two locations do not drop it all that often). You best bet would be Crypt & Mausoleum for the weapon racks and mobs, and finally Pits for sure (however, the runs I made there did not give me any).

I would only advise Crescent Moon if you are hurting in the AR dept and also if you lack any or sufficient CB (the Static procs only works on non-lite immunes). IMO, the best possible unique weapon upgrade in Hell act 1 would be Heaven's Light from Hell andy, which should technically suffice all the way to Hell act 5 if my experience on bnet with this weapon is any indication.

[Azaar]

Yeah, I was figuring on Hell when it would start dropping. My AR...I am a little concerned on it. Right now, I'm sitting with a Dex of 150 base (so I'm more than good for the PB requirements in that regard), with a rare ring giving me +108 AR, another rare ring giving me +101 AR, and a grand charm that's a pretty significant AR. That, Zeal is maxed, and I have +3 all skills (+1 from Lore, +2 from Spirit)... and I'm still finding myself in the mid-80s percentiles to hit, on average. Crescent Moon would help with that, but I'm looking at the variety of elemental damage I can dish out with it.

Heaven's Light is outside the realm of possibility for me -- I'm playing single-player and it's ladder-only. Only reason I have access to Ladder runewords is because of the RWM mod, otherwise I wouldn't have Spirit on hand. If only Astreon's Iron Ward wasn't pretty much Baal Hell-bait (Nihlathak has a chance to drop it, but it's astronomical; not quite so bad for Frozenstein, Pindleskin, Shapchip Shatter and Thresh Socket, but a bit higher than Baal himself).

[Scoobydoo]

I'm still finding myself in the mid-80s percentiles to hit, on average. Crescent Moon would help with that, but I'm looking at the variety of elemental damage I can dish out with it.

IMO, if you do make Crescent Moon, I would suggest restating and keeping your dex at 136 for the PB req.

Heaven's Light is outside the realm of possibility for me -- I'm playing single-player and it's ladder-only.

"Ladder Only" means we can only find it on bnet? Dang, I didn't know that :(

Well, the good news for today is that after this many LK runs for rune drops, I finally hit the JACKPOT!