Diablo 2: The Brother (And Sister)hood of EoFF

[SeeDRankLou]

In general, you can sacrifice some attack for more attack speed. If you hit for 100 once per second, you do less damage than if you hit for 75 twice per second. That's an extreme example, but you get the gist. And if you have the Might aura, you are probably at least doubling that difference. If the weapons don't differ too much in damage, and the less powerful weapons hits the enemy more often than the more powerful one, go with the less powerful one. You'll end up doing more damage. You'll also end up repairing more, but that's trite compared to killing a monster. On the other hand, if you have a socketing quest, then you can always socket the more powerul weapon with a Shael, and that should even things out.

Tav, I am quite enjoying the Infinity. And I started doing public Baal runs, which are fun. People seem to like my merc. And someone even give me gold to revive my merc when I enter someone's tp into a hoard of Gloams, and her lightning resist I think is like 3 or something. But that is the only time my merc has died since I got the Infinity. Good stuff. If you are planning on making another one, or need another 4os elite polearm, I found another 4os Thresher. Countess runs are nice for finding socketed items.

And I also have a 3rd key to terror. So in theory, I could trade a Key of Terror for a Key of Hate, and the other for a Key of Destruction, giving me a key set. And I could trade that for a high rune. Am I on the right path there?

So I found an Ettin Axe, which I will use my nightmare socketing quest to give 5 sockets. Step 1 for a Grief, now just need a Lo and Mal (the other three I have plenty of). And if anyone finds an Archon Plate, either 4os or not socketed, could you hang onto it for me. Thanks a bunch.

I am almost no longer ill, so happy about that.

[Tavrobel]

This is the first time I've looked at this thread

You automatically fail.

I must say, meleemancer is WAY more fun than a regular necromancer. More fun than my Auradin build. Oh, a question. If I'm building a paladin around Might, should he have very fast weapons?

Probably. You'll need +IAS mods (increased attack speed) on weapons as a general rule, but once you get onto LoD, there are a great massing of Runewords that give both. Alternatively, you can socket something with a Shael, which gives IAS, I believe, as SRL has said.

Tav, I am quite enjoying the Infinity. And I started doing public Baal runs, which are fun. People seem to like my merc. And someone even give me gold to revive my merc when I enter someone's tp into a hoard of Gloams, and her lightning resist I think is like 3 or something. But that is the only time my merc has died since I got the Infinity. Good stuff. If you are planning on making another one, or need another 4os elite polearm, I found another 4os Thresher.

Yeah, that's why people try their hardest to find an Infinity. I may not have all of my Ber runes left, but I'll keep making them when supplies are available. If you are having resistance problems, equip a Fortitude, El Sol Dol Lo/4Os Armor with defense at 450+ (I've got some of those for you). I also have a Rockstopper Sallet with a Tal socketed, so it should cover your resistances and is good with its faster hit recovery.

What are you merc stats?
Difficulty?
Aura?
Helm?
Armor?
Resistance in Hell?

And I also have a 3rd key to terror. So in theory, I could trade a Key of Terror for a Key of Hate, and the other for a Key of Destruction, giving me a key set. And I could trade that for a high rune. Am I on the right path there?

Terror Keys == Hate Key, but two Terror Keys == a Destruction Key.

And if anyone finds an Archon Plate, either 4os or not socketed, could you hang onto it for me. Thanks a bunch.

I am almost no longer ill, so happy about that.

Ahh, that would explain your absence. Also, I have some 4Os armors, but not Archon Plates. Dusk Shrouds are also good substitutes, but a high defense one of those are difficult to find.

[SeeDRankLou]

OMG the typos and grammar errors in my last post. *cringes*

So if I get one more Key of Terror I can trade for a key set, awesome.

I have a 4os Scarab Husk with 470ish def and a 4os Wire Fleece with 450ish def. I guess it wouldn't hurt to use those, they are both better than a low end Archon Plate anyway.

So my merc, I have to wait until I get home for all the details, but here's what I know off the top of my head:
Level 83
Level 16 Holy Freeze (natural)
Level 15 Holy Shock (dream)
Level 12 Conviction (infinity)
Infinity Thresher
Dream Grand Crown
Duriel's Shell
All resists maxed.

All of his resists are maxed without Duriel's Shell, so I could probably upgrade him to the Dragon armor I want him to have and give Duriel's Shell to another of my mercs.

And yes, sinus infections are the devil.

[Tavrobel]

I though this sinus infection are mesing with you brain, to, SRL.

You know Dragon is 3Os, right? Sur + Lo + Sol.

[SeeDRankLou]

Yeah, I was talking about for a Foritude/Bramble/Chains of Honor (in a perfect world). I haven't found a good 3os armor yet, but it's not like my merc is dieing without it or anything. My sorc on the otherhand.

[Tavrobel]

Most Mercenaries use Fortitude when possible. It's realitively cheap, with great mods (including +damage).

Chains of Honor, Dol Um Ber Ist, is usually for people with sucky resistance (Amazons).

Bramble is a Poison Necromancer armor, along with Trang's Gloves, 20/20 Poison Monarchs (4 5/5 Poison Facets), 15/15 Helms (3 Facets), and whatever else they can scrap together.

[SeeDRankLou]

Well, my Rabies Druid is a poison based fighter too. He's actually wearing Trang's gloves. With Rabies and Poison Creeper maxed, 10 extra skill points to Rabies and Trang's Gloves, I'm almost doing 16k poison damage with Rabies. Add Bramble (especially if it's close to 50%+ poison damage) and I could well go into the 20k range and not add anymore "over X seconds" to the poison damage. I already own cows with this Druid without the Bramble, hell cows will be a breeze if I can get a Bramble and a few other things.

[Tavrobel]

Like 5/5 Poison Facets. Those are a necessity, because Conviction does not affect Poison ratings.

[Nominus Experse]

I've been meaning to make a Poisonmancer for some time now, but always thought that I would be smurfed over by the Immunities and the like. Is it possible to have a workable, lovable Poisonmancer?

[Tavrobel]

Poison Facets are your friend.

Also, since the poison tree is only 60 Skill Points, +10 for Curses, this leaves 40 Skills in reserve (Lower Res).

[Nominus Experse]

Should I make this Poisonmancer one that just runs around spamming Poison Nova, or one that can actually fight along side his Golem and Merc?

[Tavrobel]

Usually, it's Poison Nova. There's only a small Casting Delay on PNova. Most use Daggers for the synergy, but it is possible to melee with a Poison Necromancer. You'll need a hell of a mercenary, though.

The main 60 points are: Poison Dagger, Poison Explosion, Poison Nova (no pre-reqs).

For the remaining skill points, you can invest an additional 55 points; I suggest:
Corpse Explosion (is Fire based, as you know; Teeth pre-req)
Lower Resist (this also reduces Poison resistance, so max it; pre-reqs)

You probably won't be able to spend the other points.

[SeeDRankLou]

Poisonmancers are more than workable. Like Tav said, you have 40+ skill points to work with, which means you can make a rather viable back-up attack. You can max Corpse Explosion, build yourself a small skeleton army, use one of the golems, use some revives, you actually have quite a few options. There are only a few monsters that I have seen in the game that have a double immune that work against you (besides the random mods of uniques). All in act 5, there are wraith types that are poison/physical immune. And then there are Skeleton Mages who are poison/fire immune. The wraiths are far more deadly than the mages, and the wraiths appear in the narrow passages trying to rescue Anya. I'd say only having to worry about the immunity of one monster is Hell is a very good build.

[Nominus Experse]

Alright, thanks for all the insight Tav. I've always wanted to make one, but I never thought it was possible.

I made one named Mryhnlescas. It's going to be difficult to run about with no Golem, however, so I may need some help later on.

[Tavrobel]

I think Iratha's might be your best bet for a low level set (no weapon). I've got the full thing on mules.

Are you going to start by using Wands or Daggers straight off? Remember, you need high Dex.