Diablo II Strategy

[dannimal]

I have a very specific question right now, but I imagine that I (among others) would love to plumb the depths of brains of the likes of DrCrypt and others who play the game a lot more then I.

Today's specific question:

With the Druid Shapeshifting skill Feral Rage (throw Maul in there too), it talks about getting better with successive hits. Does charging these skills impact subsequent normal attacks, or does it only work if you keep using the skill to attack? I've as yet been able to figure out which it is.

Alright, while I'm here:

I assume that the Lycanthropy bonus is tacked on after the Wolf/Bear bonus? So if I have a life of 100, and Werewolf of 1 and Lycanthropy of 1, my end life after changing it (100 * 1.25) * 1.2 = 150.

[Stroker Ace]

for that life bonus, i'm pretty sure you're not getting compounded health increases...

+200% and +100% would give you 300%, not 400%

for feral rage, i *think* it compounds the damage, but since it increases your run speed and leech, you're better ofF using it no matter what.

also, by "successive hits" with feral rage, they mean "up to 3". so charge up to 3 feral rage hits, go crazy with your basic attack, and then tag someone else with a single feral rage within 20 seconds to keep from losing your chrage.

[shang]

I assume that the Lycanthropy bonus is tacked on after the Wolf/Bear bonus? So if I have a life of 100, and Werewolf of 1 and Lycanthropy of 1, my end life after changing it (100 * 1.25) * 1.2 = 150.

Firstly: The order of operands in multiplication doesn't matter. 100 * 1.25 * 1.2 = 100 * 1.2 * 1.25 ;)

Secondly: As far as I know, all bonuses in Diablo 2 cumulate by addition, so if you have the bonuses Life+20% and Life+25%, your total bonus is Life+45% (and not e.g. +50%). Furthermore, the bonuses are always applied to the base value, so if you have Life+20%, Life+25% and Life+20pts, your total will be 100 * (1 + 0.2 + 0.25) + 20 = 165.

[bee cubed]

Secondly: As far as I know, all bonuses in Diablo 2 cumulate by addition, so if you have the bonuses Life+20% and Life+25%, your total bonus is Life+45% (and not e.g. +50%). Furthermore, the bonuses are always applied to the base value, so if you have Life+20%, Life+25% and Life+20pts, your total will be 100 * (1 + 0.2 + 0.25) + 20 = 165.

i read the same thing on blizzard's official guide:

http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/

(which is excellent, btw, and doesn't feature the annoying popups of diabloii.net)

[Stroker Ace]

clarification:

the percentage bonuses aren't compounded, but the finite bonuses ARE added in before the percentages.

for instance:

you have 100 life.

you have a combined +100% life from skills and items; this gives you 200 life.

you get a hat of +20 life, then your BASE life is 120, and after the +100% bonus you'll have 240 life. This is a very useful consideration for classes like barbs or druids who have huge +life% bonuses.

also, +percentage bonuses on items are factored out and then the result is treated as your base before your skills kick in.

you have a sword that does 100-100 damage. It has a +100% damage mod on it, so its "base" damage becomes 200.

you have a SKILL of +100% damage, so that sword's actual damage is 400.

the previous mention about finite modifiers should be applicable in these cases as well.


final note: leech % is cut in half when you enter nightmare and hell difficulties. if you are planning on being effective by constantly using an expensive skill that is augmented by mana leech (i.e. whirlwind or multiple shot), then realize that whatever breakpoint of damage dealt / mana returned by leech you have to cross to become effective in normal will be twice as hard to pick up in the next difficulty level.

i think leech stays the same between hell and NM, both at 50% of the printed value.

[dannimal]

Thanks for all that. I know about Battle.net's guide but it's painfully large so I missed the part about adding the percentages first before applying them.

This is the stuff I'm not so good at, which makes the game a lot harder on NM and such. If you don't plan ahead you end up seriously flawed but there's a lot of work in the planning and a lot of different places to look for the info. AND it changes from patch to path. Games are a lot of work, sometimes. ;)

[Jason McCullough]

Leech drops to 1/3 in hell. It's a major pain.

All the changes:

http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/bas...fficulty.shtml

[DavidCPA]

If you are a melee player, the leech penalty shouldn't bother you too much in NM or Hell as you should have some pretty high damage equipment and high leech equipment by then.

-DavidCPA

[Jason McCullough]

Au contraire, my barb is having a hard time. Well, he was until he got some super EQ just yesterday.

[dannimal]

Okay, throwing up a new topic:

Character builds. I don't mean the cookie cutter recipies you can grab off the 'net and blindly follow, but just general trends. This is my other huge weakness (any wonder I've never made it through Act III of the 2nd go-round?). I spread too thin early on, and pay for it MUCH later.

Currently, My Druid is entering the focusing time (at least, IMO. In the first 15-20 levels, you're not doing a whole lot with skill points, partly because half the tree is open and half because they come so fast and you don't need them to kick butt so I save them).

I've decided on Shapeshifting as my focus (hence the Feral Rage question). Can you be successful using both forms, or should you concentrate on one + lycanthropy + form skills? How much can you put into other skills (Oak Sage, some wolves, Cyclone Armor?) without making life difficult later on?

Weapons? Is the Wolf/Bear attack speed tied to the weapon attack speed or it is on it's own and adjusted from there? Single-handed/shield or two handed for extra damage?

The other two in the pipe are a Sorc and a Necro so if you have any suggestions there, shoot. I'm also running through the Battle Chest Strategy Guide (it covers the expansion, but obviously not 1.10) for thoughts. Any other sites with good info on character builds/playstyles? I know of Battle.net and diabloii.net (which keeps trying to install spyware).

[svenr]

I've decided on Shapeshifting as my focus (hence the Feral Rage question). Can you be successful using both forms, or should you concentrate on one + lycanthropy + form skills? How much can you put into other skills (Oak Sage, some wolves, Cyclone Armor?) without making life difficult later on?

I would definitely focus on either Wolf or Bear. I generally try to max out a few skills, and there aren't enough skillpoints around to become a capable generalist. What's more, during your Wolf Time you can't use any of your Bear skills and vice versa.

Same goes with Shapeshifting and Elementalism: you can't use one while using the other, so don't invest in both.

If you focus like this, you should be able to spend points on Summoning. In particular, high-level Oak Sage or Wolverine Heart will make you a much more effective melee player as well as a popular team player.

Should you choose to play an Elementalist Druid, we have just the weapon for you: Earthshaker. Found it yesterday, gave it to DrCrypt for safekeeping.

Weapons? Is the Wolf/Bear attack speed tied to the weapon attack speed or it is on it's own and adjusted from there? Single-handed/shield or two handed for extra damage?

The attack speed and weapon AS are tied, which is why Sigon's Gage combined with a second item from Sigon's set (which gives 30% increased attack speed) is popular among low/mid-level Druids.

I don't know about blocking, but just about every shape-shifting Druid I've seen was using a two-handed weapon, so my guess is that blocking doesn't affect your wereform.

The other two in the pipe are a Sorc and a Necro so if you have any suggestions there, shoot. I'm also running through the Battle Chest Strategy Guide (it covers the expansion, but obviously not 1.10) for thoughts. Any other sites with good info on character builds/playstyles? I know of Battle.net and diabloii.net (which keeps trying to install spyware).

I'm playing a triple-element Sorceress now (27 in Frozen Orb, 25 in Firewall, 25 in Nova, and a bunch in masteries) who, although not as powerful as single- or two-element Sorceresses, at Clvl 83 is still pretty viable on her own in Act 5 Hell.

Jon is playing a Summoning Necro who seems simply obscenely powerful. The only times I've seen one of his skeletons go down is when Jon went seconds before :)

Other newly capable variations on the Necro are the Bone Necromancer (take advantage of the Teeth, Bone Wall, Bone Prison, Bone Spear and Bone Spirit synergies) and the Poison Necromancer. My flatmate is playing the latter and although the reliance on poison is an obvious weakness, his Poison Dagger does 12K-12K damage over 10 seconds, Poison Explosion does 18K-20K over 10, and Poison Nova 3K-3.2K over 2. Blackbog's Sharp, which I got from Jon, is pretty much required for this build.

[dannimal]

For Feedback:

Lvl 20 Druid.
Str 49, Dex 36, Vit 46, Eng 46. Ar 229, Def 154

1 Point in (and not planning on more): Raven, Poison Creeper, Firestorm, Molten Boulder, Fissure, Arctic Blast, Werebear, Maul

1 Point in (and maybe more): Carrion Vine, Dire Wolf, Fire Claws

1 Point in (and certainly more): Oak Sage, Cyclone Armor, Feral Rage, Rabies.

2 Points in: Spirit Wolf, Werewolf, Lycanthropy

I look at it now and think I've wasted 3-5 skill points. I don't think The inferno/boulder/fissure was a TOTAL waste, because at least Molten Boulder is useful in the narrow passages in the early acts. Hopefully it doesn't make things untenable later on to have lose those skill points.

Also, how are the stats? Should I slow the mana focus since I won't be using as much as a wolf and move to Dex?

I suppose I want to know if I should start over and watch points better, or if I can salvage the guy if I just pay attention going forward. I'm less worried about the Sorc and NEcro as both are lvl 13 and have 6 and 5 points free currently so I haven't wasted any.

[DrCrypt]

There are plenty of skill points to go around, so I wouldn't freak out if you feel like you wasted five or six. I ended up putting five or six points into the Lightning Sentry trap on my Assassin (a trap I have barely ever used and which I find much inferior to Death Sentry) and I was still able to manage 23 levels in Shadow Master, Wake of Inferno and Death Sentry by level 80. What you have to worry about is not every once and a while messing up on skill allocation, but really concentrating on a completely implausible build. For example (and no offense) but Russakos has a lightning focussed sorceress that is just completely unviable to solo in Hell because he inherently can't even wound 25% of the game's enemies. In contrast, although sven has spread his skill points thinner, his tri-focus sorceress is an unbelievable powerhouse. My assassin also probably wasted quite a few skill points, but with a maxed shadow that can cast every single assassin skill in the game to tank for me and the synergies of death sentry and wake of inferno, I'm a pretty viable solo character as well.

Despite that , the trick to hell is: stop thinking you can solo it - except in very rare cases, you can't. Even my assassin can be stopped dead by a group of self-healing Oblivion Knights, or a lightning/fire immune baddy and, at level 82, is infrequently killed in Act 1 countess runs. Act 5 is ridiculous unless you are in a seriously powerhouse group. 1.10 Hell means that you need to group with other people and play to each other's strengths, which is why Russakos sorc (though completely ineffectual against enemies 25% of the time) is still a valuable party member in any Hell game and in fact is at Diablo right now. Just make a build that seems fun to you and isn't spread too thin and you'll have a blast.

As for mana focus, I've found with my trapsassin that you don't need much in energy... I think I have 65 mana points. Just carry potions and make sure to pick them up off of enemies after they are killed and secure some decent mana leech gear and you'll be fine. Dex should be higher, but life is the main stat you need to raise for hell... I have 900 life and a def of 1800 and I'm frequently killed in just a couple of hits in Act 5.

[Jon R.]

There's also the blank level 99 chars if you want to experiment with stats and skillpoints.

http://www.diabloii.net/cgi-bin/down...D2X110_Lib.zip