Hmm, What's you opinion ?

I am actually thinking of maybe playing next ladder. Trying to pick a class and build to play that I can do on a budget (staying away from Paladin and Sorceress builds, Those torches are wayyy too expensive).


Poll is for 7 days, re-voting allowed.

I always open Summon Necro, because you can do all content fairly easily without much gear. But they are slow. So, I picked WW barb because Horking.

Just to clarify, what does budget mean to you? Do you mean viable with some trading and grinding, but without Enigma or Infinity?

Or maybe you mean that Enigma/Infinity/Faith are obtainable, but nothing ultrarare beyond that?

Or do you mean that you don't want to grind or trade much, so no high runes?

I may be a glutton for punishment but I love the bowazon, I know - shocker. Hustle is a very attainable runeword for armor and Insight makes a good bow through nightmare. Falls off a bit in hell.

When first starting out throw 2

Tir runes in a

Helm, and stuff a

Hunter's Bow (also

Composite Bow) with any

Ith,

Tal,

Ral, or

Ort runes you find on your travels until you get that Insight. Next get yourself a Stealth armor and look for any

Bloodfist gloves,

Goblin Toe

Boots, and our friend

Goldwrap. Keep an eye on your total IAS, don't want to stack needlessly if you're not going to hit next breakpoint.

Multishot gets mana intensive fast, but she is really fun and engaging. Always looking for that positioning play!

GL, HF

Oh PS, find one source of cold damage, even if it's just a life charm with 1-2 cold damage. Really chokes up the works of people running at you

Voting for Trapsin because:

• Easy leveling and good performance until late NM with fire traps
• Respecc late NM/early Hell: Lightning +
  Death Sentry devastate cows making early farming a smooth thing. Also quiet satisfying seeing cows explode
• Good results with cheap gear, not that much relying on gear
• Can do early Diaclones with Edge and some patience (I posted a way to do this on Über Diablo page)
• Crescent Moon is easy to build and means a big power-up
• Transition into Mosaic possible for late-game potential and access to most Terrorzones

i only played javazon from the above list, so do not have strong views on the rest.

however, i think marl71 is bringing a good point. Basically, what's your definition of "fun" in this context? either farm towards the end game content, including some of the OP runewords, or melt down everything with them....

If you really want to stay on a budget then I'd personally remove summon nec and trapsin from the list, solely because the difference between budget and non-budget (read: Enigma) is still night and day, even though they do work on a budget.

Some might argue that the same applies to a javazon but there's a reason plenty of folks run one without Enigma, apart from just 'cost'. The difference isn't nearly as game-breaking as for the prior two.

WWsin already comes down to your definition of budget since you simply can't have one of those without at minimum an

Ohm invest to even get WW. If

Ohm qualifies as well within budget, then odds are

Lo may still fall into your definition as well which would open up far more performance opportunities for your listed melee options.

If that's already stretching your definition of budget though, zons are probably about as cheap as it gets to build. Sure, a bowzon would love to get a Fortitude at least but even without it you can get some rather solid performance out of them in a gear set that - in total - costs less than that inevitable WWsin

Ohm to even get started.
There's of course still quite a lot of room to the upside in terms of invest if you choose to follow that (solid charms, Faith if you prefer that, the aforementioned Fortitude, ...) but you can get by just fine without all that and not feel as "gated" as something like a non-Enigma summoner.

Ultimately though, all of your listed options can be played successfully on a budget (as well as quite a few others) so I dare say it really just boils down to what is most fun to you from a playstyle perspective.

Yeah, Budget I'm looking for is no Enigma, Infinity, Grief, etc. No runes past

Um. Not looking for those Min/Max builds, Just something that can do hell comfortably. Gear like we had in 1.09 patch, before all the big rune words came around.

Normally I play offline but thinking about playing a ladder character, with stuff i find or trade for, Not stuff that can be made using a character editor.

I've had many summoner nec's over the years, but it's been a few since I played one. I'm kind of wanting to go back to a 1.09 build, mostly uniques and set items, few old rune words. I've always wanted to do a "sin" all the way. But I've recently seen a video of a fire druid, sooo. I'm thinking still.
Forzen Orb Sorc would be nice but then the price of a sorc torch is higher than grocery prices.

That's pretty budget. But if you are up for trading 8 perfect amethysts (or whatever the going rate is now) for a

Mal rune, then you can make Oath in an ethereal sword for a

Whirlwind barb. He handles everything and is fun to play

Level as a singer barb, with cheap caster gear. Farm a few things in early hell, then respec to

Whirlwind

marl71 wrote: 4 days ago

That's pretty budget. But if you are up for trading 8 perfect amethysts (or whatever the going rate is now) for a

Mal rune, then you can make Oath in an ethereal sword for a

Whirlwind barb. He handles everything and is fun to play

Level as a singer barb, with cheap caster gear. Farm a few things in early hell, then respec to

Whirlwind

I've played so many WWbarb's over the years, it's not funny. WWbarb is my goto build. I'm normally a melee player in whatever game i'm playing, sometimes i venture out into the caster world. Melee takes skill to play, casting is for the scared and lazy.

Replaced Fury Druid with Fire Druid.

If I were to start afresh today I would go with a Strafezon because I like the upfront action. You can effectively get through the game fairly cheaply. When you start you just go with what you find until you farm enough runes to make an

Edge Bow at level 25 (

Tir,

Tal,

Amn). Then you start collecting runes and base for the next level bow a Harmony (

Tir,

Ith

Sol,

Ko). Depending on your base it will take you all the way through Nightmare and allow you to run Nightmare TZs to level. If you want to keep it cheap all the way through Hell lvl then you can cheaply pick up a

Witchwild String (lvl 51) bow which when paired with the right stuff is an end game bow for single player. You can get one for a couple of P Amethysts or

Hel runes. Once upped it does amazingly well even in Hell

Chaos Sanctuary. If you want to continue improving the build then the next bow will be a

Windforce which you should be able to easily trade for by then. Note, I haven't yet tried a Hustle but it looks promising.

Edge

mhlg wrote: 4 days ago

If I were to start afresh today I would go with a Strafezon because I like the upfront action. You can effectively get through the game fairly cheaply. When you start you just go with what you find until you farm enough runes to make an

Edge Bow at level 25 (

Tir,

Tal,

Amn). Then you start collecting runes and base for the next level bow a Harmony (

Tir,

Ith

Sol,

Ko). Depending on your base it will take you all the way through Nightmare and allow you to run Nightmare TZs to level. If you want to keep it cheap all the way through Hell lvl then you can cheaply pick up a

Witchwild String (lvl 51) bow which when paired with the right stuff is an end game bow for single player. You can get one for a couple of P Amethysts or

Hel runes. Once upped it does amazingly well even in Hell

Chaos Sanctuary. If you want to continue improving the build then the next bow will be a

Windforce which you should be able to easily trade for by then. Note, I haven't yet tried a Hustle but it looks promising.

Everything here.

I would have voted - but not for a MSer. FA all the way babiiiiiieyyyy

GrumpyOldFart wrote: 5 days ago

Yeah, Budget I'm looking for is no Enigma, Infinity, Grief, etc. No runes past

Um.
[..]

GrumpyOldFart wrote: 5 days ago

[..]
Forzen Orb Sorc would be nice but then the price of a sorc torch is higher than grocery prices.

Well, if you're talking "nothing beyond

Um", you're far from optimized on any build either way. Doesn't mean they won't perform and can't still do just fine but you'll obviously be worlds away from their true potential. By that same logic and with that same approach, you can still easily play a sorc and pally and just not get a torch. That way they're not much more expensive (if at all), still have a number of performant builds each to add to your list and end up much the same as any other build on the list in that they "can perform just fine but aren't anywhere close to max potential".

Generally speaking, if you're just looking for something that can do hell comfortably, that's really any class with multiple builds each - budget or not - so your options there are quite a few and I still say just go with what you find the most fun from a playstyle perspective.
It really only becomes a question of "the right build" if you want to go beyond that and want to also be able to run ubers and such while remaining on a budget at the same time as that would then disqualify a fair few builds.

this ladder my

Strafe a zon i beat the game with:
Peace,

Stealskull, WWS,

Hit Power Gloves, random rares

merc: Bulwark, Treachery, Obedience

everything found or traded with pgems/PAs

most expensive thing:

Pul rune to up the bow...

only danger: gloams , me at 20 lit res...

krathkor wrote: 4 days ago

this ladder my

Strafe a zon i beat the game with:
Peace,

Stealskull, WWS,

Hit Power Gloves, random rares

merc: Bulwark, Treachery, Obedience

everything found or traded with pgems/PAs

most expensive thing:

Pul rune to up the bow...

only danger: gloams , me at 20 lit res...

Slow Missiles. Underrated & underused.

krathkor wrote: 4 days ago

this ladder my

Strafe a zon i beat the game with:
Peace,

Stealskull, WWS,

Hit Power Gloves, random rares

merc: Bulwark, Treachery, Obedience

everything found or traded with pgems/PAs

most expensive thing:

Pul rune to up the bow...

only danger: gloams , me at 20 lit res...

Thundergod's Vigor will protect you from gloams.

Bonemancer

Edit: HC, of course