Back in the day, it was common for serious D2 players to keep a low lvl gearset on a mule, that they would xfer over right before starting a new character. This often was a mix of sets like Arctic, Cathans, Sigons, etc. Some people were so hardcore about it, they even had pieces of the set socketed and filled with the best low lvl jewels available. We are talking damn serious!
Nowadays with the new ladders, some people don't even bother with low sets at all, perhaps just doing Trist/Tomb runs mostly naked, or at the most keeping a full Sigons set on a mule. But one thing I've noticed, is how often I see people complaining about making the leap from low lvl Insight (usually in a simple Polearm), to an elite Insight that requires quite a bit of str to equip on your merc.
How come I never hear about people keeping a simple 2 piece set on a mule, for use when finishing off the leveling process in Hell Baal games, so that they can equip an elite Insight at a more appropriate time? Assembling such a set COULDN't be easier... save a few pgems up (keep 3-4 P Amethysts for yourself to empower the set), buy a cheap and very common Gris Armor, and either a Guillame's helm or a Nat's helm. Or even a Face of Horror (you wanna talk about dang cheap, you might get this free just for asking).
Throw 3 P Ame's in the Gris Armor, and just with 2 pieces you know have anywhere between 60-70+ Str. This can be enhanced even more if you are dedicated, by quickly rushing a mule for socket quest and putting another P Ame in your merc's helm.
All of these pieces have fairly low lvl reqs, are common drops, and are very cheap. There is a good chance with this setup that your merc could use the Elite Insight CV beginning in his 60s, possibly even in his 50s (I didn't do the exact math). This might even allow you to use a non-eth CV (since it's a guaranteed 4 socket from Larzuk and more of a common drop) until you find a rarer Ethereal Elite with 4os.
So with this all having been said, how come you don't see more people talking about/storing such a set for what often is such a common problem? So many of the popular builds these days benefit from Insight, you'd think this would be discussed a lot more than it seems to be >.>
Edit: I checked my merc's str on my lvl49 necro, the merc is lvl46 with 122 natural str. If you were to use either a Face of Horror (up'd or not at your convenience) or a perfect Nat's, either socketed with a P Ame and a Gris with 3 more P Ames, that should get you to +80 str. Which is enough to equip an Ethereal CV immediately at the weapon's lvl req (lvl 48), or a non-eth one 5ish lvls later. If you want to use Guillame's for the vastly superior stats on it (namely Crushing Blow), then your max added str would be 75 instead of 80.|||I use a Tal'd Sig Helm and a Ral'd Sig Armor for my Act 2 Defiance merc, which I usually get between levels 21 and 27. These two pieces give 10 LL, Bonus to AR by level, good def, and +30f/30l/30p resists. Simple, effective, they work well enough that I can forget about his gear until Hell Diff (he even does ok in Act 1 Hell, though he does die more often).
With leech off-weapon he can use whatever weapon is available early on. I give him an eth Bill Insight at level 27 (85 str req, no dex), which works fine through NM. I upgrade to eth Partizan Insight when he can use it. End game wep depends on what I'm building.
I level characters in the old-fashioned way, keeping Death gloves and belt, two Sig Helms (one at level 6 with Flawed Amethyst, one Tal'd for higher level) and Sig boots, two Angelic armors (one unsocketed at level 12 and one with Ort for level 21), angelic ammy and rings. With this gear, any character type can bow/melee through normal, pretty much. I use a 3-soc BP with Flawed Amethysts, +3 STR large charms, and dump points into STR if needed to equip the heavy Sig helm and boots early. AR, IAS, resists, CBF, bonuses to life and mana, Life Replenish, Damage gt Mana, a +skill--it's all there. All pieces are relatively easy to get in norm trade games too.
Weapons vary by class type but usually include 3-5 soc long bow with gems (find the 5-socs with other, higher level chars and twink). Generally, I like 3-5 soc flails and war scepters with gems for melee. Depending on class, I use other weps (vendor-bought +9 Fire Bolt LEAF rune-word staff for sorcs at level 19; Malice claws for sins at level 15, twin Bloodletters for barbs at level 30, etc.).
At level 75 (when I usually go to Hell), merc has about 173 STR and 139 Dex ... plenty enough to use up to Cryptic Axe elite polearms. CV is slow, has crappy range, high STR req ... I've never understood why people like them, other than they get 4 socs from Larz.|||I hear ya brother... but I don't think anyone really "Likes" Colossus Voulges. I myself prefer either Thresher or GT, and have an Eth 4os Thresher for my sorc's merc, solely because of the speed issue.
I think it's more that people 'put up' with CV, because very early in the ladder when everyone is desperate, that first non-eth CV that drops is gonna be guaranteed to be 4os after Larzuk. If there was a way to have such a guarantee on other elite polearms, then I am sure CVs would fall by the wayside.
It's all a matter of luck and poor drop rates. Not only do you need an Elite to drop, but then if you've already made a non-eth for now in the meantime then you want an Eth to drop, and THEN you need it to be exactly 4 sockets (or risk cube rolling it). All in all, that is a lot of luck that needs to happen.
People actually just settle for CV
Edit: let me re-phrase this another way: If there was an easy way to equip an Elite Polearm immediately at lvl48+, wouldn't it be worth it? That's mainly what the Guillame's + Gris P Ame armor really allows. Some people may care, some may not. I am actually very lazy with lvling... I leech in Baal runs while watching tv, and I do lvl55 then NM, lvl75 then Hell, and then try to get close to 90 depending on how important those last few skills are to my build. I get made fun of a lot for being super high lvl in Baal runs, but half the time I don't see the ridicule because Two and a Half Men is on tv =p|||I use enchant to level up; in fact used it for years (but bad blizzard decided to delete my favourite account for that randomly.. eh) and use the typical ench gear (ravenclaw, angelics, infernal cap, twitch, etc); and I know the problem of medium level merc.
Unfortunately I play non ladder and during my ladder days I never found any 4 socket medium level polearms. Those were either those very low level polearms, or few CVs that had to be socketed via larzuk. So it's not that easy as you write.
Thus I have to use such tactics as you wrote (+50str griswold armor etc.), or use leviathan armor (level 65 req though..).
In the past, one could level up in UT; those were the days, 1-89 in 1 hour, 1-90 in another... : /|||Really? I found at least four 4os non-eth Partizans running through NM with my first sorc ... I was surprised to find so many so quickly. Ended up giving most of them away. It's a bit annoying, not finding many elite poles early this season once I got to Hell. I got lucky and cubed 4os on the one eth Partizan I found; my MF sorc's merc is still using it.
Ironically, I did find one eth CV in the pit, no socs. When my merc has the STR to use it with gear, I'll prolly use a quest and make an Insight out of it. Just need to find/trade for an Andy's. I'e been playing a lot off-line lately though; ladder has already lost it's novelty, argh. Soloing a lot /players 1 gets old quick; not many seem to like to run together in Hell diff much anymore. Just a bunch of bots, meh.|||Quote:
I hear ya brother... but I don't think anyone really "Likes" Colossus Voulges. I myself prefer either Thresher or GT, and have an Eth 4os Thresher for my sorc's merc, solely because of the speed issue.
I think it's more that people 'put up' with CV, because very early in the ladder when everyone is desperate, that first non-eth CV that drops is gonna be guaranteed to be 4os after Larzuk. If there was a way to have such a guarantee on other elite polearms, then I am sure CVs would fall by the wayside.
It's all a matter of luck and poor drop rates. Not only do you need an Elite to drop, but then if you've already made a non-eth for now in the meantime then you want an Eth to drop, and THEN you need it to be exactly 4 sockets (or risk cube rolling it). All in all, that is a lot of luck that needs to happen.
People actually just settle for CV
Edit: let me re-phrase this another way: If there was an easy way to equip an Elite Polearm immediately at lvl48+, wouldn't it be worth it? That's mainly what the Guillame's + Gris P Ame armor really allows. Some people may care, some may not. I am actually very lazy with lvling... I leech in Baal runs while watching tv, and I do lvl55 then NM, lvl75 then Hell, and then try to get close to 90 depending on how important those last few skills are to my build. I get made fun of a lot for being super high lvl in Baal runs, but half the time I don't see the ridicule because Two and a Half Men is on tv =p
Quote:
At level 75 (when I usually go to Hell), merc has about 173 STR and 139 Dex ... plenty enough to use up to Cryptic Axe elite polearms. CV is slow, has crappy range, high STR req ... I've never understood why people like them, other than they get 4 socs from Larz.
Unsubstantiated claims. It is all pseudo-intellecutalism by a group of elitist d2 players. CV insights/infinities are the highest DPS base in many scenarios(including the generic infi,andy ias,fort against lower life monsters) setup
manual calculation:
cb damage to regular monster: 0.25*0.4*6000(12k life monster at half life as an estimation)=600
merc ED: 1(base) +.60 (lvl 26 jab) + 2.3 (str with andy) + 2.6(might lvl 23)=6.5
merc ED with fort: 1(base) +.60 (lvl 26 jab) + 2.3 (str with andy) + 2.6(might lvl 23)+3(fort) =9.5
Fort setup:
eth CA 15 ed: 91.5*1.5*4.4=603, with CB and ED 603*9.5+600=6328.5, DPS: 6328.5*25/6=26369
eth giant thresher 15 ed: 77*1.5*4.4=508, with CB and ED 508*9.5+600=5427, DPS: 5427*25/5.5=24668
Treachery setup:
eth giant thresher 15 ed: 77*1.5*4.4=508, with CB and ED 508*6.5+600=3902, DPS: 3902*25/4.5=21678
Conclusion: If you want highest DPS, use eth ca infy, andy 15 ias, fort|||Quote:
Unsubstantiated claims. It is all pseudo-intellecutalism by a group of elitist d2 players. CV insights/infinities are the highest DPS base in many scenarios(including the generic infi,andy ias,fort against lower life monsters) setup
manual calculation:
cb damage to regular monster: 0.25*0.4*6000(12k life monster at half life as an estimation)=600
merc ED: 1(base) +.60 (lvl 26 jab) + 2.3 (str with andy) + 2.6(might lvl 23)=6.5
merc ED with fort: 1(base) +.60 (lvl 26 jab) + 2.3 (str with andy) + 2.6(might lvl 23)+3(fort) =9.5
Fort setup:
eth CA 15 ed: 91.5*1.5*4.4=603, with CB and ED 603*9.5+600=6328.5, DPS: 6328.5*25/6=26369
eth giant thresher 15 ed: 77*1.5*4.4=508, with CB and ED 508*9.5+600=5427, DPS: 5427*25/5.5=24668
Treachery setup:
eth giant thresher 15 ed: 77*1.5*4.4=508, with CB and ED 508*6.5+600=3902, DPS: 3902*25/4.5=21678
Conclusion: If you want highest DPS, use eth ca infy, andy 15 ias, fort
Wait wat. Did you mix CA with CV?
The ideal base-weapon choice comes down to which build you play and what you need your merc for. But I don't see how this is related to this thread.
It's pretty much a fact that you'll get your hands on the runes for Infinity sooner than you'll get an ethereal non-CV polearm with 4 sockets if you trade in public on Battle.net.
I would take an exceptional or even normal polearm insight to allow pdr%/res equip on the merc over the increased damage of a CV.
Later on you can just use Leviathan as armor and a res/ll helm of your choice.|||With andy face both are easily usable. And using a helm other than andy is pretty shady business on a no-leech&no-ias weapon|||Quote:
With andy face both are easily usable. And using a helm other than andy is pretty shady business on a no-leech&no-ias weapon
But Andariel's doesn't quite match a nightmare/early hell mercenary, now does it?
I agree it's the ideal merc helm though in alot of cases if you're using Fortitude as armor. I'm not a big fan of it without a Cham socket however|||Quote:
With andy face both are easily usable. And using a helm other than andy is pretty shady business on a no-leech&no-ias weapon
Yea, I agree with the poster right above me...
This entire discussion was about presenting ideas to help leveling players make that hard initial leap to an Elite version of Insight, which is often made in a CV because it's guaranteed 4os - and CVs involve a strength difficulty since mercs are quite short on that stat at the level the weapon is available (lvl48).
I offered a way for people to ease into that hard transition thru some specific gear, I later made a comment about how people use CVs for the ease in gaining 4 sockets and they would probably use something else like Thresher if Larzuk would 4os it too instead of 5.... and YOU bring up things like Infinity and lvl85 items like Andy's Helm.
I am not exactly sure how you think you were furthering the main point of this topic? There are gonna be 2 classes of players for the most part:
1) Newer players, still leveling, not real rich, perhaps just started a new ladder
2) Higher level players (lvl85+), fairly rich, have access to tons of top gear
It's not some murky mix.... it's mostly either/or. A player still leveling his character that hits 48+ and is eying an Elite version of Insight but his merc doesn't have much str, ISN'T GOING TO BE MAKING INFINITY. And he isn't gonna be able to use Andy's Helm at lvl48.
And a person rich enough for things like Andy's and Infinity, won't be worrying about the str problem in the first place. You seem very confused... not only about what this thread topic was about, but also when you quoted me talking about CV, and then you mostly talked about 'unsubstantiated blah blah' while mentioning CA the whole time. I don't know if you just made a typo or what, but your views on what the best base to make Infinity in doesn't help much in a talk about how to obtain enough str at lvl48+ to equip the most convenient/cheap Insight base - which is gonna be CV for almost anyone, unless they get a lucky 4os Thresher/CA drop. Desperate people don't wait for luck... they take the first CV eth or not, and Larzuk it. Might not be the most patient or wisest thing to do, but at the start of new ladders people just wanna get the ball rolling.
No comments:
Post a Comment