"mf" and Hammerdin questions

Finally got a hammerdin made and doing mf runs solo easily in most areas. The generic 75% fcr setup with Enigma, Hoto, Hoz Arachs, anni, Torch max res and around 300-350 MF.

However I am now trying to MF in full games (Going solo) and can easily do Pit, Andy, Eldritch and Shenk, but the rest not so much. Meph is easy but takes a but longer since I have no Pcomb's and while I haven't tried doing Chaos or cows (solo in full game) I know at peast for Chaos I would struggle. Any advice on how to be able to run those area's solo in a full game or would I need to invest in Pcombs?

My main go is to mf in areas with potential HR drops as well as uniques. I am saving up to build an Auradin and currently have a

Jah and 11 ists saved up for Dreams (or Dragon and Hoj). Do pits have a good chance of HR drops?

The short answer is: yes.

In order to farm quicker you have to increase your damage output. Combat Skiller do exactly that. Pits is a good place to farm, but not optimal for hammerdins, since they can't fully take advantage of the spiral hammers in tight places. Chaos is imho the prime farming spot for hammers, but consider overstacking resistances to counter the annoying curses and high damage output of the pit lords.

i don't understand how you got another 200% MF besides Enigma?

care to provide a gear setup?

rikus wrote: 2 years ago

i don't understand how you got another 200% MF besides Enigma?

care to provide a gear setup?

39% Gheeds, 28% Nagel, 38% Travs, 93% Enigma, 74%

Shako, 5-7 7% mf sc. Feel like I'm missing something.

Edit: 46% travs.

I only recently tried Hammers and I've been fairly open that I don't like it, so I hesitate to counter someone called "KeepHammering", but IMO the biggest benefit of

Blessed Hammer is versatility, you can efficiently farm pretty much anywhere you like and stack mf without impacting your damage in any noticeable way.

But, if you want to target farm a specific area then there are often better options. FoH > Hammers if you want to farm Chaos or Pit or Countess.

Lightning Fury > Hammers if you want to farm Cows.

Janet the Java wrote: 2 years ago

I only recently tried Hammers and I've been fairly open that I don't like it, so I hesitate to counter someone called "KeepHammering", but IMO the biggest benefit of

Blessed Hammer is versatility, you can efficiently farm pretty much anywhere you like and stack mf without impacting your damage in any noticeable way.

But, if you want to target farm a specific area then there are often better options. FoH > Hammers if you want to farm Chaos or Pit or Countess.

Lightning Fury > Hammers if you want to farm Cows.

I originally considered FOH but wasn't sure how to build, and read ultimately hammers were better. But I'd be willing to try it out if it clears pits/Chaos easier. Is Infinity needed because All I have is Insight currently.

Short compare.
FoH is better is p1-p3
Hammerdin is better in p7-p8

Interesting, fair enough! I've only ever done p1-p3 so I always forget about higher player counts, if that's your plan then you can definitely ignore me. Although I still find Hammers to be annoying and cumbersome, so there's that.


As for Infinity, it's a complete waste with FoH, Insight is better. FoH does lightning damage, which is improved by Infinity, but the damage is low and it's far too slow to ever be effective. The real party piece is that it spews out

Holy Bolt on impact, and this is not affected by Infinity.

Holy Bolt is unusual (unique?) in that it has nothing to do with immunities, damage is based on monster types. It hits hard against demons and undead but does nothing against animals, and there is literally nothing you can do to change that. As a result, it's fantastically effective in Chaos because there are no animals, but absolutely terrible in areas with lots of animals. For example, I tried

Nihlathak yesterday and it was a total waste of time.

Janet the Java wrote: 2 years ago

Interesting, fair enough! I've only ever done p1-p3 so I always forget about higher player counts, if that's your plan then you can definitely ignore me. Although I still find Hammers to be annoying and cumbersome, so there's that.


As for Infinity, it's a complete waste with FoH, Insight is better. FoH does lightning damage, which is improved by Infinity, but the damage is low and it's far too slow to ever be effective. The real party piece is that it spews out

Holy Bolt on impact, and this is not affected by Infinity.

Holy Bolt is unusual (unique?) in that it has nothing to do with immunities, damage is based on monster types. It hits hard against demons and undead but does nothing against animals, and there is literally nothing you can do to change that. As a result, it's fantastically effective in Chaos because there are no animals, but absolutely terrible in areas with lots of animals. For example, I tried

Nihlathak yesterday and it was a total waste of time.

Another Question. Can a Java zon be made cheaply(ish) and still be very effective in cows? I plan to make one eventually but wanted to save for other characters first, Unless it's cheap.

Well, I caveat this again by saying I have never done p8, so it probably comes down to whether you plan to farm on p8 or p1-3, but yes you can easily farm p1 cows with a pretty cheap Java. I don't have Infinity or Griffon's or

Eth Titan's or Chains of Honour, for example. It's still incredibly effective with

Shako/Valk Wing, regular Titan's, Vipermagi. I don't even use a merc.

What’s your talent build?
From what you said about your gear, you have +18 to combat if you also have +2 amulet, which put your

Blessed Hammer at lvl 38,

Concentration aura lvl 36. With maxed

Blessed Aim and maxed

Vigor your hammer damage should be around 10k when

Concentration is on. There is no way you should have trouble in Chaos solo run.

Flyhorse wrote: 2 years ago

What’s your talent build?
From what you said about your gear, you have +18 to combat if you also have +2 amulet, which put your

Blessed Hammer at lvl 38,

Concentration aura lvl 36. With maxed

Blessed Aim and maxed

Vigor your hammer damage should be around 10k when

Concentration is on. There is no way you should have trouble in Chaos solo run.

Running a crafted 2 combat skill, 10fcr, 10 AR ammy. As for skills you are correct it is around that much with 11k hammers, and yes I can easily solo Chaos. My question is about running solo in P5-P8 games which I have issues running to maximize drops to hopefully get good rune/unique's. Really the only answer I can think of is as others have stated and get Pcomb's which (I'm playing NL) is worth a

Vex for a blank one. I can buy some easily but I would prefer to use those runes and save for the gear needed on my Auradin. Just slow going as my drops usually only warrant about an

Ist worth of trade a day or 2. I will just continue to run pits or make an attempt at running (by myself) cows in a p5-p8 game if possible, but I fear that will be very slow.

Blindfire187 wrote: 2 years ago

Really the only answer I can think of is as others have stated and get Pcomb's which (I'm playing NL) is worth a

Vex for a blank one. I can buy some easily but I would prefer to use those runes and save for the gear needed on my Auradin

You can use 3

Vex to buy 3 PCom GC for your Hammerdin.
Once you can get almost enough rune for your Auradin, you can still sell the 3 PCom GC to get 3

Vex back.

It is better than having 3

Vex sleeping in your inventory.