Favorite meme/non-meta/joke build that actually works?

Hey y’all, every get sick of hammerdins, blizzard/

Nova sorcs, javazons, etc?

One of my Favorite things to do in d2r was to take something that in concept that shouldn’t work and figure out a way to make it viable, or at least to test out it’s limits. I’ve had varying levels of success, from

The Summoner barb to the Brand

Crossbow wielding necro to the max level

Valkyrie Amazon there are some fun builds that are at least worth a token just to see what they can do.

So what’s your Favorite build that is never on a tier list but you still love playing?

Enchant sorc. In a party the other players first get the impression that you are there just to give buffs, but soon they realize that you do quite a damage!

And if this build is already meta because of the recent bugfix, try a

Holy Fire paladin with a

Demon Machine (melee is now meta too after HF buff).

There used to be a guy called SSoG who created all sorts of wacky but somewhat viable builds.

My favourite was called the Invincible Abbott - basically, you stack so much damage reduction, absorb and self heal that you can't die.

Lanceor wrote: 2 years ago

There used to be a guy called SSoG who created all sorts of wacky but somewhat viable builds.

My favourite was called the Invincible Abbott - basically, you stack so much damage reduction, absorb and self heal that you can't die.

Thanks for that hint, that sounds actually hilarious Here's the link to the guide:

https://www.purediablo.com/strategy/inv ... adin-build

I really think about trying that

EDIT: In case someone else thinks about to try this one, the most important point about this build is found on the bottom of the text:

All testing was done in SP, Players = 1. There are discussions at the moment about whether or not higher player count games cause monsters to deal more damage. If that’s the case, then you’ll have to be more wary in larger games, because more and more monsters will be able to break past your PDR and put the hurting on you.

Thus I think I won't try it since my chars all are MP characters

Lanceor wrote: 2 years ago

There used to be a guy called SSoG who created all sorts of wacky but somewhat viable builds.

I've found yet another: The Mighty Kodiak (shifter druid). And more, but unfortunately with dead links. I may update this post if I find those builds.

Trang Oul wrote: 2 years ago

Lanceor wrote: 2 years ago

There used to be a guy called SSoG who created all sorts of wacky but somewhat viable builds.

I've found yet another: The Mighty Kodiak (shifter druid). And more, but unfortunately with dead links. I may update this post if I find those builds.

Yah, his guides were written 15 years ago and are a bit hard to find.

Another funny one that I remember was Ursa Major - a

Werebear assassin with a 2 frame attack. It takes a mad genius to come up with stuff like this. I haven't been able to find it on Google though. :'(

Lanceor wrote: 2 years ago

Another funny one that I remember was Ursa Major - a

Werebear assassin with a 2 frame attack. It takes a mad genius to come up with stuff like this. I haven't been able to find it on Google though. :'(

Apparently after performing some archaeology and necromancy I found it!
No idea if this build still works in D2R, though.

Trang Oul wrote: 2 years ago

Lanceor wrote: 2 years ago

Another funny one that I remember was Ursa Major - a

Werebear assassin with a 2 frame attack. It takes a mad genius to come up with stuff like this. I haven't been able to find it on Google though. :'(

Apparently after performing some archaeology and necromancy I found it!
No idea if this build still works in D2R, though.

I think this is the exact same, although it isn't called Ursa Major. Also explained how it works and such.

kozie wrote: 2 years ago

I think this is the exact same, although it isn't called Ursa Major. Also explained how it works and such.

Gearing is a little different, but the concept is the same. SSoG's one doesn't require

Fanaticism, but MrLlamaSC's one is probably more powerful, given that he uses the Fury Runeword instead of blue Magic

Claws.

Lanceor wrote: 2 years ago

There used to be a guy called SSoG who created all sorts of wacky but somewhat viable builds.

My favourite was called the Invincible Abbott - basically, you stack so much damage reduction, absorb and self heal that you can't die.

Yeah Abbot or Cleric, you just a guy who run around party and give huge defensive buffs to others and you walk in the middle of some tripple

Conviction/might/

Fanaticism aura monsters and u do nothing and you just dont die

Spearazon!
I have solo'ed a spearazon from A1 Normal to Hell

Baal many, many times, starting in 1.09.
All I need is a

Lycander's Flank, a rogue merc, and I'm good to go.

I went

Blade Fury assassin just because it is slept on. Then I found out it's good for Ubers. And trust me it is with the right setup and fairly budget. Then I wanted to level and clear out tons of monsters quickly... After playing around, I figured out using the Destruction runeword on the weapon is completely insane with

Blade Fury. I put it in a

Phase Blade for multi-purpose uses. Players 8 Smackdown!!! My recommendation for the mercenary is act one rogue with Harmony to stack with

Burst of Speed because we're not teleporting. I know Destruction isn't cheap but if you have it, this is probably the funnest way to use it.

kozie wrote: 2 years ago

Trang Oul wrote: 2 years ago

Lanceor wrote: 2 years ago

Another funny one that I remember was Ursa Major - a

Werebear assassin with a 2 frame attack. It takes a mad genius to come up with stuff like this. I haven't been able to find it on Google though. :'(

Apparently after performing some archaeology and necromancy I found it!
No idea if this build still works in D2R, though.

I think this is the exact same, although it isn't called Ursa Major. Also explained how it works and such.

This is absolutely hilarious and amazing!

Couldn't understand how he reach the 12.5 attacks per second...
is it some old bug?
(on maxroll I could reach only 5 attacks per second max with the Bear normal attack with the Assassin...)

justinman114 wrote: 7 months ago

kozie wrote: 2 years ago

Trang Oul wrote: 2 years ago

Apparently after performing some archaeology and necromancy I found it!
No idea if this build still works in D2R, though.

I think this is the exact same, although it isn't called Ursa Major. Also explained how it works and such.

This is absolutely hilarious and amazing!

fredkid wrote: 7 months ago

Couldn't understand how he reach the 12.5 attacks per second...
is it some old bug?
(on maxroll I could reach only 5 attacks per second max with the Bear normal attack with the Assassin...)

IIRC, there was a bug in the understanding of the mechanics, so it wasn't 1 attack per 2 frames but rather per 3 frames, even though everything known at the time said that it should have been 2 frames.

It was still an utter Beast.

I was active on the AB at the time and i played in a game where 2 people were testing that build at the same time, and they just ripped everything apart.
Rest of us could relax, follow along and just watch the mayhem.

The truly amazing part however, is this quote from his description:

"Anyway, back to the guide. If you’ve read any of my guides, you know that I place a high value on Skill point flexibility. I like to have the core of my build completed in under 40 points, if possible, so that I have a lot of points leftover for variants. Well, this build sets a new record for skill point flexibility- one which I’m reasonably confident shall never be broken. You see, Ursa Major relies entirely on an oskill and standard attack. The build is completed without ever investing a single skill point. How’s THAT for flexible?"

That's definitely hard to beat!

FULCRUM75 wrote: 7 months ago

fredkid wrote: 7 months ago

Couldn't understand how he reach the 12.5 attacks per second...
is it some old bug?
(on maxroll I could reach only 5 attacks per second max with the Bear normal attack with the Assassin...)

IIRC, there was a bug in the understanding of the mechanics, so it wasn't 1 attack per 2 frames but rather per 3 frames, even though everything known at the time said that it should have been 2 frames.

It was still an utter Beast.

I was active on the AB at the time and i played in a game where 2 people were testing that build at the same time, and they just ripped everything apart.
Rest of us could relax, follow along and just watch the mayhem.

The truly amazing part however, is this quote from his description:

"Anyway, back to the guide. If you’ve read any of my guides, you know that I place a high value on Skill point flexibility. I like to have the core of my build completed in under 40 points, if possible, so that I have a lot of points leftover for variants. Well, this build sets a new record for skill point flexibility- one which I’m reasonably confident shall never be broken. You see, Ursa Major relies entirely on an oskill and standard attack. The build is completed without ever investing a single skill point. How’s THAT for flexible?"

That's definitely hard to beat!

That is absolutely wild! So I take it this is no longer a possible build? If it is still possible I'd love to try it sometime LOL

Even if it was 3 frame per attack instead of 2, it is still faster than the 4 frames per attack that seems to be the maximum possible today:
attackspeed.php?char=Assassin&data=1-1- ... -1-0-0-0-0

How could he attack faster than 4 frames?

FULCRUM75 wrote: 7 months ago

fredkid wrote: 7 months ago

Couldn't understand how he reach the 12.5 attacks per second...
is it some old bug?
(on maxroll I could reach only 5 attacks per second max with the Bear normal attack with the Assassin...)

IIRC, there was a bug in the understanding of the mechanics, so it wasn't 1 attack per 2 frames but rather per 3 frames, even though everything known at the time said that it should have been 2 frames.

It was still an utter Beast.

I was active on the AB at the time and i played in a game where 2 people were testing that build at the same time, and they just ripped everything apart.
Rest of us could relax, follow along and just watch the mayhem.

The truly amazing part however, is this quote from his description:

"Anyway, back to the guide. If you’ve read any of my guides, you know that I place a high value on Skill point flexibility. I like to have the core of my build completed in under 40 points, if possible, so that I have a lot of points leftover for variants. Well, this build sets a new record for skill point flexibility- one which I’m reasonably confident shall never be broken. You see, Ursa Major relies entirely on an oskill and standard attack. The build is completed without ever investing a single skill point. How’s THAT for flexible?"

That's definitely hard to beat!

fredkid wrote: 7 months ago

How could he attack faster than 4 frames?

You could read the AB link?
Outdated, but definitely better than my Memory. ^_^

Anyway, Beast runeword on Assassin, the

Werebear transformation combined with

Fanaticism and normal attack apparently worked out, interestingly.

Based on looking at the calculators linked, i assume it was a bug of some form that was fixed in D2R...

And they've definitely changed how IAS works, so even if it wasn't a bug, that alone probably would have removed this exploit.

But the effect of high percentage crushing blow and over 8 attacks per second was pretty much hilariously effective.