xkcd

by **Mighty Jalapeno** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 5:26 pm UTC

I thought it would be cool to get some locals doing DII again (screw it, I need to unwind during NaNo with senseless VIOLENCE) but first... what server should we play on? I have to start from scratch, so anything is good for me.

Also, what should I be?

Paladin (except Freezadin, Convictor and Hammerdin)
Barbarian (except Frenzy and Zerker)
Assassin (except Phoenix and Machinegun)
Druid (except standard Furywulf, and I hate Bears)
Necromancer (I love's me some Necro, but they don't party well)
Amazon (never really played them)

by **Awia** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 5:32 pm UTC

I'd play, but my version of DII isn't exactly...legal.

I've never played anything but sorceress, so I can't help you with a class selection.

by **Narsil** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 7:54 pm UTC

Hey, I just re-installed D2 and LoD, and I haven't gotten around to playing yet. If you're about to re-start, I'd like to play along. I'll probably play Druid, as they're fun. Then again, I've always wanted to learn how to do a good assassin.

by **existential_elevator** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 8:27 pm UTC

...I can't get my copy of Diablo II working, but I would be up for joining in when I do. It's been a while.

by **tgjensen** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 8:39 pm UTC

Paladiiiiiin! I love paladins! Go Zeal/fanaticism and grab the fastest weapon you can get your paws on, that's pretty much the only thing I ever played. Up close, dirty and in the name of some holy terror is the only proper way!

by **Mighty Jalapeno** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 8:47 pm UTC

Crackdins are always a fun build.

What sort of Assassin do you wanna be? Distance, up close, or crazy damage?

But do we play on US West or US East? I need to know so I can kill... for justice!

by **Mighty Jalapeno** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 12:16 am UTC

Screw you guys... US East, just because everyone on here is on the East coast.

by **Narsil** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 2:54 am UTC

Yeah, I've always played on East. Actually, that Crackdin thing sounds pretty fun. How do you play an assassin for crazy damage? That could be cool.

by **Gelsamel** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 3:54 am UTC

Mighty Jalapeno wrote:Paladin (except Freezadin, Convictor and Hammerdin)

Go Paladin - 1pt Smiter

by **Mighty Jalapeno** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 4:07 am UTC

Narsil wrote:Yeah, I've always played on East. Actually, that Crackdin thing sounds pretty fun. How do you play an assassin for crazy damage? That could be cool.

Crazy-damage = some sort of 2-handed weapon (any will do!), Burst of Speed, and Tiger Strike... +1200% with an Elite Polearm is pretty fun.

Very crappy defense, but MAN it's fun.

by **Gelsamel** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 4:12 am UTC

Mighty Jalapeno wrote:
Narsil wrote:Yeah, I've always played on East. Actually, that Crackdin thing sounds pretty fun. How do you play an assassin for crazy damage? That could be cool.

Crazy-damage = some sort of 2-handed weapon (any will do!), Burst of Speed, and Tiger Strike... +1200% with an Elite Polearm is pretty fun. Very crappy defense, but MAN it's fun.

I made up this build with a perfect ethereal upgraded Bonesnapper + max poison + those ninja star throwing skills. It worked out decently, but I thought it'd do more.

by **Mighty Jalapeno** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 4:24 am UTC

If it was the ninja-star skills, that's a Machine Gun. Without Crushing Blow, they suck on Hell.

I will be a Bear! (But not tonight...

by **Gelsamel** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 6:36 am UTC

I thought you said you hate bears?

Ias bear or something else?

by **Mzyxptlk** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 11:19 am UTC

1pt smiter is very cool indeed. I messed up a bit with mine, but Hell is still a walk in the park. I can also recommend MA assassin with TS/DT for the absolutely insane damage. Meteorb is one of the more entertaining builds, and not as cookie cutter as pure Blizz or FB.

by **Gelsamel** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 11:22 am UTC

Mzyxptlk wrote:1pt smiter is very cool indeed. I messed up a bit with mine, but Hell is still a walk in the park. I can also recommend MA assassin with TS/DT for the absolutely insane damage. Meteorb is one of the more entertaining builds, and not as cookie cutter as pure Blizz or FB.

Yeah I love my 1pt smiter because he could solo ubers with shitty cheap gear.

by **Mighty Jalapeno** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 4:53 pm UTC

I used to hate bears, but I read the Kodiak build, and it sounds like oodles of poodles of fun.

by **Narsil** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 5:03 pm UTC

Alright, I think I'll give a crack at that assassin. So what do you say, when do we play? I'm free all day.

by **Mighty Jalapeno** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 5:12 pm UTC

I am at work, and I can't find my darn disk. If people leave me alone here today, I'll see what I can do!

by **Mighty Jalapeno** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 5:17 pm UTC

I FOUND IT! I'M THE GREATEST!!!

I still have two bosses here. You got Gmail, we can keep in touch for when I'm free later.

by **Narsil** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 5:38 pm UTC

"supergameboy" is my gmail handle.

by **Mighty Jalapeno** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 5:44 pm UTC

Added you, but you aren't on.

Ladder or non-ladder? Making my bear.

My account is "mightyjalapeno" on Bnet

by **Mighty Jalapeno** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 6:10 pm UTC

Ok, it's kicked me off three times, and now I am flat out "Unable to connect to Battlenet".

Uh.... kay.

EDIT: And now it's let me on. yeesh. I'm GloriousBastard the Druid.

by **Gelsamel** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 8:07 pm UTC

Whats the Kodiak build?

Bear IAS builds are good, with a 110% ias phase blade you can get 4fpa on FC and just about anything else. Wolves can only get it down to 5fpa.

by **Mighty Jalapeno** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 8:19 pm UTC

Kodiak is basically IAS / CB / Elemental Hunger build with Heat of Wolverine.

by **Gelsamel** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 11:23 pm UTC

Elemental as in Elemental Damage? Like a famine or something (off the top of my head, don't blame me if I get it wrong).

To me it sounds like it'll be better without the elemental bit and just a shael'd upped ribcracker instead. The only problem with that is you wouldn't reach max fpa. You could just get a 6s PB and get it up to 110% ias and stack CB in other slots. You won't need IAS gloves or anything sp you should be able to make up the CB there. That would get you 6.2 Hungers a second.

The good part though is that hunger SHOULD let you survive long enough for drac's to proc without needing a LT wand or something to save yourself.

by **Mighty Jalapeno** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 3:44 am UTC

Thank you for sucking every last shred of fun out of this game.

by **Gelsamel** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 3:54 am UTC

The theorycrafting isn't fun?

by **Mighty Jalapeno** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 3:58 am UTC

"You know what this gothic fighting game needs more of? Decimal calculations of attack speeds!"

by **Haistfu** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 5:08 am UTC

Mighty Jalapeno wrote:"You know what this gothic fighting game needs more of? Decimal calculations of attack speeds!"

Sounds like an xkcd comic...

by **Mzyxptlk** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 6:06 am UTC

Mighty Jalapeno wrote:"You know what this gothic fighting game needs more of? Decimal calculations of attack speeds!"

Personally I like that bit the best :(

by **Gelsamel** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 8:37 am UTC

Mzyxptlk wrote:
Mighty Jalapeno wrote:"You know what this gothic fighting game needs more of? Decimal calculations of attack speeds!"

Personally I like that bit the best

I had this huge urge to play a bear ribcracker druid when I started thinking about it. And then I realise that starting to play Diablo II again is like getting out the old monopoly game in your cupboard full of dust because you think it's a good idea to play it and then hating it 10 mins in.

Or say, finding lego at friends and tipping out the whole box so you can make something cool and then realising how boring it is.

by **Aikanaro** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 12:34 pm UTC

Heh, I saw this and laughed, I've been on a D2 kick again lately, for some reason...

Why no love for Avenger pallies?

Pair'em up with a cold sorc merc and enemies cry....

Also, pre 1.10, I had a hybrid hammerdin/smiter I was fond of...anyone know roughly how much damage you lose out on by not maxing Smite? It never occurred to me to not max out all relevant skills for it....that build could probably get even scarier now, by having more skill points to dump towards Hammer in addition to Smite....probably Concentration, Holy Shield, Hammer, then could either go Defiance for insane defense when needed, or up the Hammer damage more with a synergy...

You say 1 pt smiters get good damage with cheap gear? Hmm....

EDIT: Oh, about the machine-gun assassin...I tried that once, with a maul, but how do you compensate for the low AR that comes from not getting boosts from claw mastery?

by **Narsil** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 12:55 pm UTC

Jesus, I'm intimidated. I never played this hardcore. I never even realized there were builds. I just picked a class I liked and went with it.

This may be why I was never all that good.

by **Jebobek** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 1:10 pm UTC

Unfortunately D2 is all about cookiecutter builds and having exact peices of gear to be successful.

Elemental as in Elemental Damage? Like a famine or something (off the top of my head, don't blame me if I get it wrong).

To me it sounds like it'll be better without the elemental bit and just a shael'd upped ribcracker instead. The only problem with that is you wouldn't reach max fpa. You could just get a 6s PB and get it up to 110% ias and stack CB in other slots. You won't need IAS gloves or anything sp you should be able to make up the CB there. That would get you 6.2 Hungers a second.

The good part though is that hunger SHOULD let you survive long enough for drac's to proc without needing a LT wand or something to save yourself.

I have no freaking idea what is going on.

Although, I am interested in trying out a crackadin. Walkthrough on the skill tree?

by **Aikanaro** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 1:11 pm UTC

Hardcore? No, I think we're mostly talking about non-hardcore characters. Losing all your gear the second a lag spike hits SUCKS.

(Sorry, in-joke. "Hardcore" are chars that are deleted after they die even once.)

by **Mzyxptlk** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 1:20 pm UTC

Aikanaro wrote:Why no love for Avenger pallies? :P Pair'em up with a cold sorc merc and enemies cry....

Too slow. I prefer fast melee characters.

Aikanaro wrote:Also, pre 1.10, I had a hybrid hammerdin/smiter I was fond of...anyone know roughly how much damage you lose out on by not maxing Smite? It never occurred to me to not max out all relevant skills for it....that build could probably get even scarier now, by having more skill points to dump towards Hammer in addition to Smite....probably Concentration, Holy Shield, Hammer, then could either go Defiance for insane defense when needed, or up the Hammer damage more with a synergy...

You say 1 pt smiters get good damage with cheap gear? Hmm....

Smite damage is primarily based on crushing blow and holy shield, which many people max anyway. Smite itself adds some damage, but it's really not worth wasting 19 points on. You don't need AR for smite (it's always hit), making it an excellent skill to combine with a caster spell like BH. 1 smite, 20 conc, 20 BH, 20 HS, plus some BA and defiance makes for a pretty cool build. Compared to the 1pt smiter/zealot, it has better crowd control, and zero problems with immunities, though it's worse defensively (LL doesnt work with smite) and more expensive.

My smiter/zealot basically needed 1 piece of expensive gear: Grief phase blade (+35% attack speed, +370 damage, ignore target defence, +175% damage to demons, prevent monster heal). Fast and hard hitting and adds a buttload of damage to smite (compare: lvl20 holy shield adds 60 damage). You can easily put it on a switch and bring it out when facing a boss or uber. Everything else is self found.

by **Gelsamel** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 1:32 pm UTC

I had a shitty LW and a greif on my pally, Fort, guilaume's (sp?) dracul's for griefs... but I don't think I have a replacement for when I use LW. Can't remember what shield I had. and the rest was CB and LL/ML stuff but the important part was a really good grief+dracul's+guilaume's.

by **Aikanaro** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 1:37 pm UTC

Back when I was online and still had gear, I think I used Hand of Blessed Light for the skill boosts.....I think pretty much all the gear was devoted to them....also had Herald of Zakarum, and Guardian Angel....I miss my uber gear ;_;

EDIT AGAIN:

Okay, just messed with a skill calculator briefly...Smite itself gives a % damage boost (pathetic when the base damage sucks, but goes up to 300% at level 20), and Holyl shield provides the straight numerical boost....so what all does Smite's boost apply to? Does it only affect the base Shield damage? Because if it also affects the damage from Holy Shield, I'd think it'd be worth maxing still.....

by **Jebobek** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 1:57 pm UTC

Well in any case, I'll jump on board on East coast when I find my CD/keys. I always play sorc but I kinda want to play a class with the fastest attack speed of all, not to necessarily be completely viable, but just to see them attack so fast its a blur on the screen.

by **Mighty Jalapeno** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 2:00 pm UTC

Jebobek wrote:Unfortunately D2 is all about cookiecutter builds and having exact peices of gear to be successful.

It doesn't have to be. I don't play it that way. I play for fun, using a general build as a theme.

Also, counter the AR with "ITD" enchantments on your weapon, if you have it.

Also, I've NEVER, EVER, EVER had an endgame Rune weapon. No Grief, no Crescent Moon, no Bramble, no... no whatever. No Zod Vex Ber bullshit. Not once. I crack up how many people on the forums say YOU CANT BEAT HELL WITHOUT ONE ZOMG YOU NEED +19 TO SKILLS!!!!

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