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Description
This build is my one, true love in D2R. I have played it as my main character for literally a year straight. The following guide is the culmination of my experience up to this point.
https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/v60106v5
Endgame Capabilities
To show you why this guide is worth reading, I'll start by explaining what happens when she's maxed-out.
Do you want to be wonder woman and fly past hammerdins and javazons in P8 Terror zones, making them quit in frustration? Do you want to be a golden goddess, who telestomps packs of champion fanatacism assouls in Worldstone Keep, with 90 lit res and 20 absorb? Do you want dolls, cows, and might-buffed archers to miss you with 12,000 defense? Or avoid getting cooked by Infector of Souls with 83 fire res? This build really does it all, and does it better than the rest. The overall clear speed in P8 Terror zones is unmatched. With a blood-red ethereal War Scythe and golden armor, you'll make other builds look bad in the cosmetics department as well.
Sundering Charm Effect
The Heavenly Crack means lightning immune monsters no longer need to wait for your Conviction aura before you can static shock them, which is hugely important. Without sunder charms, it takes almost twice as long to kill mobs with lightning immunes mixed in. Normally, you'd approach a monster pack at the Edge of your screen, static shock them twice, then move in and drop novas to Stun-lock them until they die. When lightning immune enemies are mixed in that pack, they're typically out of range of your Conviction, and/or haven't received the aura yet, as it takes a second or two to catch up with your position. This means you start dropping novas on a pack where some enemies have half health, and some have full. Full health enemies force you to stay twice as long. Sundering charms let you immediately static EVERYTHING you can see, so those mixed mobs will all start at half health, rather than some at full. Mercenaries are no longer needed to kill unbreakable lightning immunes either, allowing you to use them to further your defensive abilities.
Offensive Abilities
One point in Thunder Storm hits for damage similar to a Nova on a single target, every other second. It effectively increases your damage per second by 15% when there's only one enemy nearby, since you can drop 6 novas for every TS strike.
With maxed-out gear, every single enemy in the game will be set to either -100% or 0% final lightning resist, with a few falling between that range, like hell Mephisto and Diablo Clone. Using Nova, immune enemies will receive between (3315-4366) damage at 0% resist, and the rest receive (6630-8732) damage at -100% resist, over 3 times per second. These novas come after a couple casts of static shock, which brings every visible enemy down to half health.
This extremely consistent damage is matched by extremely consistent defense, with no major weaknesses.
Defensive Abilities
Mobility with 105 FCR (Faster Cast Rate) is where this build shines. Not only does it allow you to quickly move to the next enemy mob, but it also allows you bail out of a fight in the rare event you become overwhelmed. Hitting the 60% breakpoint for Faster Hit Recovery (FHR) is important for this mobility.
Mercenary
Crack of the Heavens turns your mercenary into a defensive unit. Flickering Flame is now used to offload your fire resists, and gives you up to 83% maximum fire resist. Insight provides 150 mana regenerated per second. When novas cost 50 mana each, and you cast 3 per second, this alone cancels out your mana regeneration. Having full Energy Shield (ES) makes mana regeneration all the more important when it is half of your total pool for receiving damage. His Defiance aura provides you with a final 12k defense with which to avoid damage. And finally, Chains of Honor keeps him alive with high resists, decent life leech, and damage reduction.
Lightning Resist
The Lo in Fortitude combines with your Thundergod's Vigor to Cap out your lightning resists at 90% with 20 absorb. The assouls in WSK can hit you at upwards of 1k, which is then reduced to 100 damage after resists, and 60 after absorb. They will nuke your mana, because ES takes all elemental damage at -100% resists, and hopefully dispel your ES due to hitting zero mana. At this point, you should have already drank both a health and Mana Potion, so you can freely attack them. Being able to quickly clear packs of terrorized souls in a full game and survive their hits, in HC, is not common.
12k Defense
Fortitude in an elite base with Defiance aura provides very high defense, which helps very noticeably against some of the other causes of HC deaths. Dolls, might archers, and cows will all hit you less often when you do make mistakes. Dolls can be mitigated completely if you see them in time. Aggravate them, then Teleport away and start spamming novas. Your area of effect is greater than theirs, and they will die harmlessly at the Edge of your Nova radius.
Leveling Guide
Leveling this build from a ladder start is not recommended for pure solo play. You will want some help to level before moving into nightmare and hell, and help is almost necessary to get through hell in acts 4 and 5 on minimal gear. That being said, most of the game can be completed alone from the start of a ladder, and solo self-found play is certainly viable for those willing to grind.
Level 1-12
Start off the journey in The Den of Evil. Use that Fire Bolt staff to clear the place, and put your first skill point in Warmth, with the second in Frozen Armor. You'll want to keep that Frozen Armor up. Put the first 5 stats in vita, and the next 5 in strength, if you haven't found any strength charms yet. You'll want all stats going into vita until level 12. Equip the first socketed Quilted Armor you can and fill it with either a Chipped Ruby or Sapphire. Stock up on potions as soon as you can afford it. Don't skip Blood Raven, or really any quests, in order to avoid being undergeared/underleveled. Put your 4th skill point into Charged Bolt, and shop for a Charged Bolt staff when you can afford that. Pick up every piece of jewelry in hopes of getting FCR mods. You'll need 10fcr on all 3 jewelry slots until the end game. At level 6, put all points into static shock. If you're playing alone and have no Charged Bolt staff, you'll need to increase your damage before level 12 by putting points in CB instead of static. If you burned 3 or more points in CB, respec at 12, with 1 point each in Nova, Frozen Armor, and Warmth, with the rest in static shock.
Level 12-18
This is where both the fun and mana problems begin. From here on out, you'll want to add stats roughly 4 in vita and 1 in energy per level, until you need strength for a good piece of gear. Alternate your skill points between Nova and static. If your damage feels good, pump static. If not, boost Nova. Andariel will be your first boss fight. This build treats bosses very similarly, so consider this a blueprint for how to handle them. Let your merc take aggro, then run just out of range to ensure that he's the target, not you. Don't Teleport, as it will move your merc too. Once he has aggro, you can safely static shock the boss down to 1/4th of their life, or half in hell. Depending how hard your merc is getting hit, you can either drop novas right away, or Teleport around a few times to heal him. You'll want to try and keep him alive. You may need to Teleport, drop a Nova or two, and repeat until the boss dies. Early in the game that means a lot of potion drinking.
Somewhere around level 12-15 you'll at least want a third row of potions, so boost strength to wear a Belt when you get into Act 2. The huge GG Belt at this stage is Nightsmoke, if you can trade for one. You'll use that until your endgame gear. Start looking out for a non-magic 2 socket Leather Armor, and 3 socket Large Shield. Save them until you can make Stealth and Ancient's Pledge. Also start hoarding and cubing every single Diamond you get to eventually upgrade from your Ancient's Pledge. Get an Act 2 Prayer merc and equip him with the first life leech helmet you can find. Upgrade his aura to Holy Freeze in nightmare. Try to conserve mana by using static shock 2-3 times per enemy pack before hitting them with Nova. If you get overwhelmed before you can static, you can either spam novas to keep them in hit recovery, or back off. At 16, put a point in Nova to cover the next couple levels, which will go to telekenesis and Teleport. The only area in the game I recommend skipping is the stupid Maggot Lair. Problem is, you usually are a level or two short of getting Teleport at 18, so either hit 18 first or slog through it. Necrarch in the comments here also recommended farming countess for Stealth runes, and I completely agree. You'll want that as early as possible at level 17.
Level 18-24
You'll probably be in Act 3 around 18. Hopefully you've found a couple FCR rings by now, and maybe a 12% FHR grand charm. These help to Teleport away from exploding dolls and keep them at the Edge of your Nova range. At 19, put a point in Nova, and alternate each skill point between Nova and the pre-reqs for ES. Watch out especially for the flamethrowing double-stacked flayers. The Flayer Dungeon will test you with those guys. When it comes to Travincal, I recommend clearing most of the area around the council before entering. That way, you can safely pull out individual enemies and avoid getting cooked by a ton of hydras. Once you get to mephister you'll want to let your merc take aggro, then move in for 3-4 static shocks before dropping novas.
Diablo in normal HC without gear is scary. Zax recommended for me to include using a resist shield to get through this fight. Since big D attacks with both lightning and fire, a 2 socket shield with a Ruby and Topaz would work. Run around the inner circle as he spawns and wait for your merc to get targeted, then repeat the way you killed meph. Be ready to Teleport out of a Bone Prison, or go back to town for potions. Before you hit 24, shop at Drognan for a staff with ES to keep on your weapon swap. They'll be easier to spot before level 24, as they'll have a red background. Grab ES at level 24.
Level 24-30
Start splitting your stats more evenly here with 3 points vita per 2 points in energy. If your Nova damage feels good, put points in telekenesis (TK) or static. Once in Act 5, you'll need the runes from the second quest. Hopefully you found an Eth rune to combine with the Tal from that quest and make a Stealth armor. That is your first runeword. It helps in Act 5 to have more health than mana to avoid the blood mana curse from the witches. You may want to get a group to kill Baal for a quest here, and maybe level a few times with Baal runs. Do not stand in his minion spawn area. Stand on his podium and use static shock, while others help kill. Pick up any White Crystal Sword, Broad Sword, or Voulge in the throne room. These can get 4 sockets at Larzuk for later. Put your level 30 skill point into Lightning Mastery, and then forget about that skill for a while. This one point goes far.
Level 30-45
You'll want to farm cows for runes and bases before moo-ving on to nightmare. Priority number one here is an Insight polearm for your merc. Wait for a White (or Eth), non-socketed one to drop, then socket it with your Larzuk quest. ONLY use your Larzuk quest on a polearm found in normal cows, normal throne room, or in NM, as only they can get the 4 sockets needed for Insight. I'd also keep farming for a 2 socket helmet, 3 socket Large Shield, and the runes to make a Lore helmet and Ancient's Pledge shield. Use that shield with whatever orb you can find. If you really want to set yourself up for nightmare, you can use Amn + Ral + a Perfect Amethyst to roll sockets in any Broad Sword/ Crystal Sword you find in cows and hope for a 4 socket Spirit base. I'd say the only real requirement for moving on to NM is an Insight merc. Split your skill points evenly between Nova and ES until ES is at level 6-7, then split points between Nova and TK until Nova is maxed. At that point, split points between static and TK. Don't put points into ES again until your TK has a good dozen hard points, and keep those two at a ratio of 2 TK per 1 point ES. I usually put the point in Thunder Storm somewhere between level 30-45. Keep your life and mana roughly equal from here on out, trying to keep 1 more life than mana.
Level 45-65
Insight will allow you to start really moving. Nightmare is, by far, this build's easiest difficulty to play through, and therefore I won't micromanage much here. When you get bored of progressing in NM, I recommend farming Andariel for a Vipermagi armor. Magefists and Nightsmoke are the other two uniques you'll really want. You want to hit 105FCR ASAP, and keep it at all costs. The levels should be coming easily by now. Maxing static shock and TK are your next priorities after maxing Nova, with emphasis on static first. By the time you're ready to enter hell, you should have Nova and static maxed, with TK around 15 hard points and ES around 10 total. This is where I recommend putting points in mastery, with maybe every third point going into TK until thats maxed as well. The last skill you'll max will be ES, starting around level 85. Farm NM cows once you hit the upper 50s, provided you feel safe enough. If not, keep leveling in group baals.
Level 65-85
This is where things get scary. You really need the runes from hell countess, but lightning immune archers can melt you. I'd risk teleporting down to level 5, popping the super chests on the way (they're at a 3-way intersection lined with pillars) and racks at the bottom when it's safe enough, then Teleport to the middle of one of the entry halls into countess's chambers. This way you can walk in through the door. You don't want to risk teleporting over a wall you can't see, because she could have a might aura, and you might Teleport right into the center of her mob. Ask me how I know.
Get runes for a Memory staff to keep on weapon swap. Ideally, you'll want a 4 open socket staff with +1-3 ES on it, or a White unsocketed staff that can get 4 from Larzuk. So, no war staves or short staves. Make it as soon as you can, even if the staff has nothing to ES. Your goal in hell is to reach The Arcane Sanctuary, which you will call home for a while. This will be your biggest money maker. I'd only progress beyond this if you find a group who can handle it for you, as the resists from Anya's quest are vital. Speaking of which, once you get 3 perfect diamonds, look for a new 3 socket shield, or clean out your Ancient's Pledge with a Hel rune + TP scroll, and put the diamonds in there. If you're up around 80 and have resists taken care of, you could burn the strength points for a Spirit Monarch and respec. Your top three farming spots will be hell Arcane, Countess, and NM cows. Start looking for a 3 socket sword with low requirements. Arcane has the highest potential to give you the high runes needed for endgame gear. Trade anything you don't use for the runes to make a Call To Arms. Getting a CTA is absolutely your biggest priority in hell and should be your first major purchase. Use it with either a Splendor shield or Lidless Wall for that +1 all skills. Keep looking for rare rings with FCR, mana and lightning resist. Craft some Caster Boots, or trade for SandStorm Treks if you find them cheap. Right around this point, you should be wearing a Spirit sword, Ancient's Pledge (or 3 Diamond, or Spirit, or Moser's) shield, Lore helmet, Vipermagi armor, Nightsmoke Belt, Magefist Gauntlets, and some FCR jewelry with some ES buff on weapon swap. Aim for at least 30 faster hit recovery (FHR) including charms.
Grinding for Endgame Gear
There's no way around this: you gotta grind for the gear needed to fly through those Terror zones. Before getting a CTA, you'll wanna stay farming solo countess and up to 3 players in Arcane. NM cows will still give you a great chance for the skill charms you need, but their experience drops off pretty quickly once you get into the 70s. I'd still farm there though. After that CTA, try to get 3 lightning skill charms to help offset the Spirit you're about to lose. Make a Crescent Moon sword to replace your Spirit. That will really help your clear speed in Arcane Sanctuary, and allow you to push up to 5 players in the game. Next up, buy the cheapest Sorceress torch you can find. After that, aim for Griffon's Eye, then your rings and another skill charm or two, depending how much room you can spare. Now comes the biggest grind of all: Infinity. Farming Arcane with about 5 players in the game is how you'll get this. Keep looking out for a normal base to use for it. My preference is an ethereal War Scythe, but a regular Scythe has zero requirements once you get both a torch and Annihilus. Once you FINALLY get this, you can start farming hell moo-moo's, but tread carefully. Your fire resist is probably still too low to farm the Chaos Sanctuary and most other zones with fire mobs, which brings me to the next purchase. Fuckering Flame is needed for the mercenary, who should still be using Holy Freeze for safety. Once you buy/make a FF, grab a cheap life leech armor for him, such as Skin of the Flayed One, and socket it with an Um or resist jewel, if possible.
At this point, you're mostly geared. Your resists are good enough to expand farming into Chaos Sanctuary, some TZs, and start selling rushes. A fast rusher is lucrative in HC where people die all the time. She is also the fastest Nihlathak farmer, on par with a 200FCR Nova variant. Just fly in and telestomp ol' nihl until he dies. Drink a mana pot if there's a buncha witches.
You still need to get most of your charms, a Fortitude Great Hauberk, a crafted Caster Amulet, and a Thundergod's Vigor. I recommend saving the Fortitude and tgod's for last, as you can simply avoid those Terror zones with souls for now. Fill out the charms next. The 3 skill charms with 12% FHR alone are going to cost about the same as your Infinity. Start crafting your own caster amulets around level 91, preferably 93. Make sure you gamble the amulet you're about to craft with to ensure it's at it's highest level. Realistically, focus on getting that lightning resist to 90%, even if your cold and poison hang around 50% to make it happen. You need at least 15%FCR from a crafted Caster Amulet in order to wear Fortitude. Once you have a FartATurd, you'll have enough defense to justify changing your merc's aura to Defiance. Do a final respec for 1 more life than mana, after Battle Orders, and grab Enchant so you can look sexy. You won't need that point in Frozen Armor anymore, either, as the Chilling Armor from Fortitude is vastly superior and overwrites it. I wouldn't stress too hard about taking 2 ES points for Enchant, especially since your life pool is big. The very last purchase should be a Chains of Honor for your merc. If you've managed to completely gear her out, then huge congratulations. You're now the most efficient killing machine in the game.
Description by saggytits
https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/v60106v5
Endgame Capabilities
To show you why this guide is worth reading, I'll start by explaining what happens when she's maxed-out.
Do you want to be wonder woman and fly past hammerdins and javazons in P8 Terror zones, making them quit in frustration? Do you want to be a golden goddess, who telestomps packs of champion fanatacism assouls in Worldstone Keep, with 90 lit res and 20 absorb? Do you want dolls, cows, and might-buffed archers to miss you with 12,000 defense? Or avoid getting cooked by Infector of Souls with 83 fire res? This build really does it all, and does it better than the rest. The overall clear speed in P8 Terror zones is unmatched. With a blood-red ethereal War Scythe and golden armor, you'll make other builds look bad in the cosmetics department as well.
Sundering Charm Effect
The Heavenly Crack means lightning immune monsters no longer need to wait for your Conviction aura before you can static shock them, which is hugely important. Without sunder charms, it takes almost twice as long to kill mobs with lightning immunes mixed in. Normally, you'd approach a monster pack at the Edge of your screen, static shock them twice, then move in and drop novas to Stun-lock them until they die. When lightning immune enemies are mixed in that pack, they're typically out of range of your Conviction, and/or haven't received the aura yet, as it takes a second or two to catch up with your position. This means you start dropping novas on a pack where some enemies have half health, and some have full. Full health enemies force you to stay twice as long. Sundering charms let you immediately static EVERYTHING you can see, so those mixed mobs will all start at half health, rather than some at full. Mercenaries are no longer needed to kill unbreakable lightning immunes either, allowing you to use them to further your defensive abilities.
Offensive Abilities
One point in Thunder Storm hits for damage similar to a Nova on a single target, every other second. It effectively increases your damage per second by 15% when there's only one enemy nearby, since you can drop 6 novas for every TS strike.
With maxed-out gear, every single enemy in the game will be set to either -100% or 0% final lightning resist, with a few falling between that range, like hell Mephisto and Diablo Clone. Using Nova, immune enemies will receive between (3315-4366) damage at 0% resist, and the rest receive (6630-8732) damage at -100% resist, over 3 times per second. These novas come after a couple casts of static shock, which brings every visible enemy down to half health.
This extremely consistent damage is matched by extremely consistent defense, with no major weaknesses.
Defensive Abilities
Mobility with 105 FCR (Faster Cast Rate) is where this build shines. Not only does it allow you to quickly move to the next enemy mob, but it also allows you bail out of a fight in the rare event you become overwhelmed. Hitting the 60% breakpoint for Faster Hit Recovery (FHR) is important for this mobility.
Mercenary
Crack of the Heavens turns your mercenary into a defensive unit. Flickering Flame is now used to offload your fire resists, and gives you up to 83% maximum fire resist. Insight provides 150 mana regenerated per second. When novas cost 50 mana each, and you cast 3 per second, this alone cancels out your mana regeneration. Having full Energy Shield (ES) makes mana regeneration all the more important when it is half of your total pool for receiving damage. His Defiance aura provides you with a final 12k defense with which to avoid damage. And finally, Chains of Honor keeps him alive with high resists, decent life leech, and damage reduction.
Lightning Resist
The Lo in Fortitude combines with your Thundergod's Vigor to Cap out your lightning resists at 90% with 20 absorb. The assouls in WSK can hit you at upwards of 1k, which is then reduced to 100 damage after resists, and 60 after absorb. They will nuke your mana, because ES takes all elemental damage at -100% resists, and hopefully dispel your ES due to hitting zero mana. At this point, you should have already drank both a health and Mana Potion, so you can freely attack them. Being able to quickly clear packs of terrorized souls in a full game and survive their hits, in HC, is not common.
12k Defense
Fortitude in an elite base with Defiance aura provides very high defense, which helps very noticeably against some of the other causes of HC deaths. Dolls, might archers, and cows will all hit you less often when you do make mistakes. Dolls can be mitigated completely if you see them in time. Aggravate them, then Teleport away and start spamming novas. Your area of effect is greater than theirs, and they will die harmlessly at the Edge of your Nova radius.
Leveling Guide
Leveling this build from a ladder start is not recommended for pure solo play. You will want some help to level before moving into nightmare and hell, and help is almost necessary to get through hell in acts 4 and 5 on minimal gear. That being said, most of the game can be completed alone from the start of a ladder, and solo self-found play is certainly viable for those willing to grind.
Level 1-12
Start off the journey in The Den of Evil. Use that Fire Bolt staff to clear the place, and put your first skill point in Warmth, with the second in Frozen Armor. You'll want to keep that Frozen Armor up. Put the first 5 stats in vita, and the next 5 in strength, if you haven't found any strength charms yet. You'll want all stats going into vita until level 12. Equip the first socketed Quilted Armor you can and fill it with either a Chipped Ruby or Sapphire. Stock up on potions as soon as you can afford it. Don't skip Blood Raven, or really any quests, in order to avoid being undergeared/underleveled. Put your 4th skill point into Charged Bolt, and shop for a Charged Bolt staff when you can afford that. Pick up every piece of jewelry in hopes of getting FCR mods. You'll need 10fcr on all 3 jewelry slots until the end game. At level 6, put all points into static shock. If you're playing alone and have no Charged Bolt staff, you'll need to increase your damage before level 12 by putting points in CB instead of static. If you burned 3 or more points in CB, respec at 12, with 1 point each in Nova, Frozen Armor, and Warmth, with the rest in static shock.
Level 12-18
This is where both the fun and mana problems begin. From here on out, you'll want to add stats roughly 4 in vita and 1 in energy per level, until you need strength for a good piece of gear. Alternate your skill points between Nova and static. If your damage feels good, pump static. If not, boost Nova. Andariel will be your first boss fight. This build treats bosses very similarly, so consider this a blueprint for how to handle them. Let your merc take aggro, then run just out of range to ensure that he's the target, not you. Don't Teleport, as it will move your merc too. Once he has aggro, you can safely static shock the boss down to 1/4th of their life, or half in hell. Depending how hard your merc is getting hit, you can either drop novas right away, or Teleport around a few times to heal him. You'll want to try and keep him alive. You may need to Teleport, drop a Nova or two, and repeat until the boss dies. Early in the game that means a lot of potion drinking.
Somewhere around level 12-15 you'll at least want a third row of potions, so boost strength to wear a Belt when you get into Act 2. The huge GG Belt at this stage is Nightsmoke, if you can trade for one. You'll use that until your endgame gear. Start looking out for a non-magic 2 socket Leather Armor, and 3 socket Large Shield. Save them until you can make Stealth and Ancient's Pledge. Also start hoarding and cubing every single Diamond you get to eventually upgrade from your Ancient's Pledge. Get an Act 2 Prayer merc and equip him with the first life leech helmet you can find. Upgrade his aura to Holy Freeze in nightmare. Try to conserve mana by using static shock 2-3 times per enemy pack before hitting them with Nova. If you get overwhelmed before you can static, you can either spam novas to keep them in hit recovery, or back off. At 16, put a point in Nova to cover the next couple levels, which will go to telekenesis and Teleport. The only area in the game I recommend skipping is the stupid Maggot Lair. Problem is, you usually are a level or two short of getting Teleport at 18, so either hit 18 first or slog through it. Necrarch in the comments here also recommended farming countess for Stealth runes, and I completely agree. You'll want that as early as possible at level 17.
Level 18-24
You'll probably be in Act 3 around 18. Hopefully you've found a couple FCR rings by now, and maybe a 12% FHR grand charm. These help to Teleport away from exploding dolls and keep them at the Edge of your Nova range. At 19, put a point in Nova, and alternate each skill point between Nova and the pre-reqs for ES. Watch out especially for the flamethrowing double-stacked flayers. The Flayer Dungeon will test you with those guys. When it comes to Travincal, I recommend clearing most of the area around the council before entering. That way, you can safely pull out individual enemies and avoid getting cooked by a ton of hydras. Once you get to mephister you'll want to let your merc take aggro, then move in for 3-4 static shocks before dropping novas.
Diablo in normal HC without gear is scary. Zax recommended for me to include using a resist shield to get through this fight. Since big D attacks with both lightning and fire, a 2 socket shield with a Ruby and Topaz would work. Run around the inner circle as he spawns and wait for your merc to get targeted, then repeat the way you killed meph. Be ready to Teleport out of a Bone Prison, or go back to town for potions. Before you hit 24, shop at Drognan for a staff with ES to keep on your weapon swap. They'll be easier to spot before level 24, as they'll have a red background. Grab ES at level 24.
Level 24-30
Start splitting your stats more evenly here with 3 points vita per 2 points in energy. If your Nova damage feels good, put points in telekenesis (TK) or static. Once in Act 5, you'll need the runes from the second quest. Hopefully you found an Eth rune to combine with the Tal from that quest and make a Stealth armor. That is your first runeword. It helps in Act 5 to have more health than mana to avoid the blood mana curse from the witches. You may want to get a group to kill Baal for a quest here, and maybe level a few times with Baal runs. Do not stand in his minion spawn area. Stand on his podium and use static shock, while others help kill. Pick up any White Crystal Sword, Broad Sword, or Voulge in the throne room. These can get 4 sockets at Larzuk for later. Put your level 30 skill point into Lightning Mastery, and then forget about that skill for a while. This one point goes far.
Level 30-45
You'll want to farm cows for runes and bases before moo-ving on to nightmare. Priority number one here is an Insight polearm for your merc. Wait for a White (or Eth), non-socketed one to drop, then socket it with your Larzuk quest. ONLY use your Larzuk quest on a polearm found in normal cows, normal throne room, or in NM, as only they can get the 4 sockets needed for Insight. I'd also keep farming for a 2 socket helmet, 3 socket Large Shield, and the runes to make a Lore helmet and Ancient's Pledge shield. Use that shield with whatever orb you can find. If you really want to set yourself up for nightmare, you can use Amn + Ral + a Perfect Amethyst to roll sockets in any Broad Sword/ Crystal Sword you find in cows and hope for a 4 socket Spirit base. I'd say the only real requirement for moving on to NM is an Insight merc. Split your skill points evenly between Nova and ES until ES is at level 6-7, then split points between Nova and TK until Nova is maxed. At that point, split points between static and TK. Don't put points into ES again until your TK has a good dozen hard points, and keep those two at a ratio of 2 TK per 1 point ES. I usually put the point in Thunder Storm somewhere between level 30-45. Keep your life and mana roughly equal from here on out, trying to keep 1 more life than mana.
Level 45-65
Insight will allow you to start really moving. Nightmare is, by far, this build's easiest difficulty to play through, and therefore I won't micromanage much here. When you get bored of progressing in NM, I recommend farming Andariel for a Vipermagi armor. Magefists and Nightsmoke are the other two uniques you'll really want. You want to hit 105FCR ASAP, and keep it at all costs. The levels should be coming easily by now. Maxing static shock and TK are your next priorities after maxing Nova, with emphasis on static first. By the time you're ready to enter hell, you should have Nova and static maxed, with TK around 15 hard points and ES around 10 total. This is where I recommend putting points in mastery, with maybe every third point going into TK until thats maxed as well. The last skill you'll max will be ES, starting around level 85. Farm NM cows once you hit the upper 50s, provided you feel safe enough. If not, keep leveling in group baals.
Level 65-85
This is where things get scary. You really need the runes from hell countess, but lightning immune archers can melt you. I'd risk teleporting down to level 5, popping the super chests on the way (they're at a 3-way intersection lined with pillars) and racks at the bottom when it's safe enough, then Teleport to the middle of one of the entry halls into countess's chambers. This way you can walk in through the door. You don't want to risk teleporting over a wall you can't see, because she could have a might aura, and you might Teleport right into the center of her mob. Ask me how I know.
Get runes for a Memory staff to keep on weapon swap. Ideally, you'll want a 4 open socket staff with +1-3 ES on it, or a White unsocketed staff that can get 4 from Larzuk. So, no war staves or short staves. Make it as soon as you can, even if the staff has nothing to ES. Your goal in hell is to reach The Arcane Sanctuary, which you will call home for a while. This will be your biggest money maker. I'd only progress beyond this if you find a group who can handle it for you, as the resists from Anya's quest are vital. Speaking of which, once you get 3 perfect diamonds, look for a new 3 socket shield, or clean out your Ancient's Pledge with a Hel rune + TP scroll, and put the diamonds in there. If you're up around 80 and have resists taken care of, you could burn the strength points for a Spirit Monarch and respec. Your top three farming spots will be hell Arcane, Countess, and NM cows. Start looking for a 3 socket sword with low requirements. Arcane has the highest potential to give you the high runes needed for endgame gear. Trade anything you don't use for the runes to make a Call To Arms. Getting a CTA is absolutely your biggest priority in hell and should be your first major purchase. Use it with either a Splendor shield or Lidless Wall for that +1 all skills. Keep looking for rare rings with FCR, mana and lightning resist. Craft some Caster Boots, or trade for SandStorm Treks if you find them cheap. Right around this point, you should be wearing a Spirit sword, Ancient's Pledge (or 3 Diamond, or Spirit, or Moser's) shield, Lore helmet, Vipermagi armor, Nightsmoke Belt, Magefist Gauntlets, and some FCR jewelry with some ES buff on weapon swap. Aim for at least 30 faster hit recovery (FHR) including charms.
Grinding for Endgame Gear
There's no way around this: you gotta grind for the gear needed to fly through those Terror zones. Before getting a CTA, you'll wanna stay farming solo countess and up to 3 players in Arcane. NM cows will still give you a great chance for the skill charms you need, but their experience drops off pretty quickly once you get into the 70s. I'd still farm there though. After that CTA, try to get 3 lightning skill charms to help offset the Spirit you're about to lose. Make a Crescent Moon sword to replace your Spirit. That will really help your clear speed in Arcane Sanctuary, and allow you to push up to 5 players in the game. Next up, buy the cheapest Sorceress torch you can find. After that, aim for Griffon's Eye, then your rings and another skill charm or two, depending how much room you can spare. Now comes the biggest grind of all: Infinity. Farming Arcane with about 5 players in the game is how you'll get this. Keep looking out for a normal base to use for it. My preference is an ethereal War Scythe, but a regular Scythe has zero requirements once you get both a torch and Annihilus. Once you FINALLY get this, you can start farming hell moo-moo's, but tread carefully. Your fire resist is probably still too low to farm the Chaos Sanctuary and most other zones with fire mobs, which brings me to the next purchase. Fuckering Flame is needed for the mercenary, who should still be using Holy Freeze for safety. Once you buy/make a FF, grab a cheap life leech armor for him, such as Skin of the Flayed One, and socket it with an Um or resist jewel, if possible.
At this point, you're mostly geared. Your resists are good enough to expand farming into Chaos Sanctuary, some TZs, and start selling rushes. A fast rusher is lucrative in HC where people die all the time. She is also the fastest Nihlathak farmer, on par with a 200FCR Nova variant. Just fly in and telestomp ol' nihl until he dies. Drink a mana pot if there's a buncha witches.
You still need to get most of your charms, a Fortitude Great Hauberk, a crafted Caster Amulet, and a Thundergod's Vigor. I recommend saving the Fortitude and tgod's for last, as you can simply avoid those Terror zones with souls for now. Fill out the charms next. The 3 skill charms with 12% FHR alone are going to cost about the same as your Infinity. Start crafting your own caster amulets around level 91, preferably 93. Make sure you gamble the amulet you're about to craft with to ensure it's at it's highest level. Realistically, focus on getting that lightning resist to 90%, even if your cold and poison hang around 50% to make it happen. You need at least 15%FCR from a crafted Caster Amulet in order to wear Fortitude. Once you have a FartATurd, you'll have enough defense to justify changing your merc's aura to Defiance. Do a final respec for 1 more life than mana, after Battle Orders, and grab Enchant so you can look sexy. You won't need that point in Frozen Armor anymore, either, as the Chilling Armor from Fortitude is vastly superior and overwrites it. I wouldn't stress too hard about taking 2 ES points for Enchant, especially since your life pool is big. The very last purchase should be a Chains of Honor for your merc. If you've managed to completely gear her out, then huge congratulations. You're now the most efficient killing machine in the game.
Can be used to make Runewords:
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