4 Friends just returned to D2 - With the Oddest Group dynamics

First, a big Thanks to the d2.

Io community. Trading on this forum has been amazing, and has made much easier to return after a decade or two away. My wife, brother-in-law, friend, and I all started playing again around the new year (as my wife and I got new computers for Christmas), and at first, I thought it was a mistake, as we don’t play uber classes. My wife likes Bowazon, I'm a

Frenzy Barb, my friend insisted on Summon Druid, but the brother always played a Hammerdin so he returned to that. However, when working as a team (and we generally only play as a team), the synergies are insane. Here are the group buffs:

Frenzy Barb:

Battle Orders (120% Life/Mana/Sta)

Shout (260% def)

Battle Command (+1 Skills)

Taunt on Bosses (-60% Atk/Dam)
Lvl 17

Iron Golem (which lives because of the insane buffs) - Oath
Lvl 15

Poison Creeper -

Carrion Wind
Lvl 16

Heart of Wolverine (130% Atk R, 125% Damage) - Oath

Azurewrath (

Sanctuary Aura)
Merc is Act 2

Holy Freeze aura, with Insight (

Meditation Aura), and a Delirium

Helm (Confusion proc)

Bowazon:
Standard Ice Build, with a maxed out

Valkyrie
Merc is Act 5 Barb. We had a defense aura merc, but the DPS on the barb is much better, and defense isn't an issue.

Summon Druid:
Maxed Bear and Birds for DPS, his summons are in the 30 range
Lvl 30 Oak Spirit (175% Life, stacks with Barb)
Has Trang

Belt/Gloves, and +8 All Skills, so he often spams lvl 24 fireballs
Merc is Act 1 Cold Archer, Using an

Edge Bow (

Thorns Aura), and an Ondals

Crown (

Weaken proc)

Hammerdin:
Standard Hammerdin,

Concentration Aura (+400% Damage) is standard
Also has merc with Insight (as he often solos stuff), but has Life Regen aura.

So with no rune higher than an

Ist in gear, I have 4800 Life, I touch 4k damage with a one-handed weapon while frenzying, ATK ~20k, defense ~10k, and an army of otherwise disposable critters doing my work, leaving me to search the

Fallen for a second loot chance.

We just got our first set of keys - we never did an Uber before - I hope this crazy combo works. Our next theoretical upgrade is a Beast

Axe for the druid for

Fanaticism, but any other upgrade theories?

Sounds like you got a nice team mechanic going on, since you guys are playing for fun as you are IRL buddies and partners. Looking forward to more AARs.

Why not a might merc instead of act 5? Buffs barb and bowzon damage, plus summons get a sweet boost.

FanciestCrab wrote: 2 years ago

Why not a might merc instead of act 5? Buffs barb and bowzon damage, plus summons get a sweet boost.

never even considered it. that’s why i’m glad we found this forum. thanks

FanciestCrab wrote: 2 years ago

Why not a might merc instead of act 5? Buffs barb and bowzon damage, plus summons get a sweet boost.

Agreed. Cheap and great effect on the groups Damage!

Ive been experimenting with the Summon Druid for years now. Beast is expensive and doesnt do a lot of damage on its own. It gives the Druids summons a huge boost, though. But dont underestimate the reapers toll proc. The

Decrepify Curse is a huge boost to damage! Alternative: RW Brand for Bows.

Amplify Damage increaes the phys damage taken even more.

Made a Thread a week ago covering possible Summon Druid Equip (high end only). Maybe your friend wants to read that as an Inspiration
forums/summon-druid-endgame-guide-t760508.html

Nice setup!

And a hint from me if you will go to try the Ubers - let only one person open and summon them (others can join afterward of course, just open the portals with p1), otherwise they will give you hard time on p4...

@BigBangoBananaBob veru good read! Beast would be.a downgrade for him- but an upgrade foe the rest of the party, so it’s for when we are grouping.

@GamerRoss very interesting point. maybe we’ll try it with one first, then fo from there. i assume the loot scales based on players though?

O: 12

Ber

N: wife who plays D2R

Looks like a fun group!

Frenzy barb here and best recommendation I can make is to change your

Helm. I used Delirium for a long time and used to think it was good, but that

Bone Fetish debuff really gets bad for certain areas. Also, the

Confuse curse isn't that good compared to others, and since only 1 curse can be active on an enemy at a time, it can be a problem once you have other curses being applied (such as

Decrepify). Would recommend buying a cheap

Arreat's Face or Immortal King's

Helm.

@Zero187 My merc has the Delerium, I use all IK except for the weapons.

Also @FanciestCrab your advice in action, tested without our Druid:

Azerin wrote: 2 years ago

@Zero187 My merc has the Delerium, I use all IK except for the weapons.

Also @FanciestCrab your advice in action, tested without our Druid:

Ahh, I see it now! Never thought to try Delerium on my merc. That could be interesting.. Do you notice him turning into

Bone Fetish sometimes? Or is it almost never?

Zero187 wrote: 2 years ago

Ahh, I see it now! Never thought to try Delerium on my merc. That could be interesting.. Do you notice him turning into

Bone Fetish sometimes? Or is it almost never?

Very rare, but the confusion is amazing as it always triggers on my merc. there are a few seconds where they are confused, then

Weaken triggers off the druid's merc, where the mobs will fight themselves while showing the

Weaken debuff. Between confusion,

Weaken, and burst freeze, its rare anything actually physically attack us.

Azerin wrote: 2 years ago

@BigBangoBananaBob veru good read! Beast would be.a downgrade for him- but an upgrade foe the rest of the party, so it’s for when we are grouping.

@GamerRoss very interesting point. maybe we’ll try it with one first, then fo from there. i assume the loot scales based on players though?

Loot is never considered when you run mini-ubers and ubers afterward. I mean, the torch will be pure RNG and only one. You can go full party to kill them, but only one should open the portals, enter them to spawn the monster and than others can join that game, same for ubers. Well... if you want to try you can spawn mini-ubers and ubers in p4, but be prepared

@BigBangoBananaBob nm, I get what you meant. Heh we'll try P1 on the first run through, then maybe P2 if it goes well... has to be next week. we're going to be busy all weekend sadly.

Your

Frenzy barb will be the

Key to doing ubers.

All summons and mercs will die quickly.

You will need to tank all the bosses. You will need lifetap curse on all bosses to do so. So either dracs, or one of your friends casting with a lifetap charges

Wand.

I would also recommend a

Lightsabre (light absorb) and lots of extra lightning resist (over

Cap due to

Conviction) for

Über Mephisto.

Then get some goblin toes or

Gore Rider

Boots for crushing blow.

Angelic ammy and ring to boost your attack rating. Also

Demon Limb or Obedience to proc

Enchant.

You need your attack rating ~20+ k to reliably hit ubers and keep your life steal up.

...my advice.... worth price charged

First run was a success!

Lilith was by far the hardest mob as she almost immediately killed our pets and our gear is not end game. But all other bosses/groups were cake. Might try a P2 later this week.