Couple things.
Cow MF (and drops in general) has/have been nerfed. They’re no longer the magical place for XP and items that they used to be. Baal runs are the new Cow Run for both items and XP.
You cannot subtract from your MF by adding more MF. However, once you get above a certain level, the MF applies toward finding rares or uniques drops off substantially.
Since you were the one who built that paladin, care to share some tips? Stat allocation? Skill investment?
There are five things you need to beat the Diablo Clone. You need to be able to survive his melee attacks, you need to be able to survive his spells, you need to be able to hit him, you need to stop his regeneration, and you need to be able to do massive amounts of damage. This means maxed blocking (defense is worthless here), maxed resists, smite or maxed conviction, prevent monster heal or open wounds, and crushing blow.
Equipment is straightforward. The two most important pieces of equipment are a Black runeword weapon (preferably a knout or scourge for the attack speed, but I use a jagged star), and a paladin shield with automod resistances and four diamonds. Other sources of crushing blow are good (I use Goblin Toes and Guillauime’s Face (Orphan’s Call), for a round 100% chance), and you need something with open wounds or PMH (Malice runeword on switch or blood-crafted belt are either one sufficient, and easy to get). A Dwarf Star is also handy, but not essential. The rest of your equipment is pretty free.
For stats, you want enough strength to wear your equipment, enough dex for maxed blocking (this will cost about two points per level, in the long run), and all the rest in vitality.
Skills, I’m less sure about: I know of at least one set that works, but I think I might be able to do it more efficiently. I put 16 into Resist Fire, just for the passive increase to max resist, but in retrospect, I’m not sure that’s necessary: 75% fire resist seems to be enough. You could also increase maximum resistance from equipment. 3-5 points in Holy Shield are essential, but after that, the bonus to blocking (the main reason we want Holy Shield) starts seeing some steep diminishing returns. I use maxed Conviction along with low-level Zeal to enable me to hit (-90% or more to monster defense, which is equivalent to +900% or more to attack rating), but a single point of Smite will also do the job, and you can combine it with the aura of your choice. On the other hand, Conviction will greatly help any party members who do elemental damage, since the Clone has such high resistances. And, of course, you want your standard smattering of paladin utility skills, like Cleansing, Meditation, Holy Bolt, Vigor, and Salvation.
Hey guys, I have been out of the game for a while. I just got another big stick of RAM and I have been playing C&C Generals: Zero Hour now that I can play it without all of the lag that I was getting before. Very exciting.
I promise I’ll be back this weekend. 
No kidding. I found a Laying of Hands on a Pit run today before I even got out of the Black Marsh (my seed has the Marsh WP very near to the Tamoe Highland and the Pit very close to that junction), and my next run netted me a unique I didn’t even know existed - Horizon’s Tornado - and Rattlecage. However, the swings and roundabouts of it doesn’t seem to alter in my favour past 350% MF and I prefer the killing speed anyway.
You’re in not-horrible company; my burizon, who back in 1.09 found close to 90% of the game’s items, ran 450% at her highest, I believe, and always around 400. I found running 60% ltg res with 400 mf was better than running with 450 and -20 or so ltg res.
Two things:
Courtesy of diabloii.net:
"Blizzard has posted a list of 4 new realm-only Runewords, 3 of which have already been found by players and publicized widely. The fourth one is news, though.
Wind (Sur + El)
2 Socket Melee Weapons
10% Chance To Cast Level 9 Tornado On Striking
+20% Faster Run/Walk
+40% Increased Attack Speed
+15% Faster Hit Recovery
+120-160% Enhanced Damage (varies)
-50% Target Defense
+53 To Attack Rating
Hit Blinds Target
+1 To Light Radius
Level 13 Twister (127 Charges)"
Also: Given that Po is a rare enough rune (I’ve found some apart from Forges, of course, but I’d pick that place as the one most likely to drop one), I’d think it would behoove any reset team (ladder or for the challenge) to have probably 4+ players for the rune drops; also, if one player leaves the game right before Norm Baal (or NM Baal) is killed, then someone who did get the quest starts the next game, you can have LH MF for a while. I’d also suggest, perhaps as a makeshift, making Ancient’s Pledge in a 3S shield for the clonekiller.
That’s pretty goddamn awful for a word that needs a Sur. No elemental damage, average 140% ED and no mods you won’t have on other items by then. I guess attack speed and FRW on your weapon is nice, but come on - 30-80 cold damage and up to 250% ED wouldn’t have been too much to ask, would it?
Re: MF - nice to know that I’m not just lucky as well as sucky.
I don’t think Po exists anymore, blizzard changed it back when they changed Shae to Shael and such. I don’t remember which one it became though.
Why would we need a Po rune though?
Also the ancients pledge in a decent-resistance pally shield is also a good idea, at least temporarily. As is the LH MF.
Po became Io. However, I’ve found that, depending on font used, Io and lo (or Lo) can be difficult to differentiate between in written word. “Eye-Oh” is a lot more rare than “Low”.
Well, temporary was the whole issue:)
[sub]Looking forward to meeting you at PAdope, theckhk:)[/sub]
Which in case the question still needs answering, means that you want it for Delirium and/or Memory. Man, Memory is a good word.
On the contrary, i’ve found lots of io, but never seen a Lo. io is the common one; Lo is one above Ohm, and is much harder to find than poor old io.
Gah. Meant the opposite in terms of rarity. My mind is on other things right now.
Memory is good, but there are a few caveats:
You’ll want to use it in a regular old staff with some other mods on it; since you can get a staff with other mods on it that is socketed and still viable for the runeword, it’s something of a waste to put it in an otherwise blank staff.
You can’t block with it, so I wouldn’t personally use it except as a prebuff (i.e. use to cast Eshield, use to regen mana, use for Enchant, etc.). If you’re not taking any damage anyway, you could use it as a main weapon, though.
In terms of rune cost, especially early in the game, I’d much rather a Leaf and the spare rune or two, since for my money I’d rather save Sol for a Lore or an Honor. I’d also rather use the Lum in Lionheart (Hel Lum Fal). Maybe that’s a personal preference.
Anyone coming on soon? I’m in sdmb/cecil with my necro right now, I love playin around with all the different classes, its fun, my highest is a 23 sorcerer, and I got a bunch inbetween 1-20.
Just make sure you get two hours of gameplay in (simple as sitting in town for two hours) during the first 48 hours of your character’s existence, else you run the risk of it going byebye. Usually you can get two hours just by going all the way through and beating Andariel.
I’ve found that, if you kill everything along the way like I do, you can get two hours in by the time you kill the Countess.
At that clvl (between 5 and 15 depending, though 15 is certainly on the high end and 5 certainly on the low end), you’d be best-served killing everything you find. When I play in single player (which is all I ever play these days), I usually go with players 8 until Andy, since it gives a lot more xp, and I find that I can get to about level 12 by the Countess, and 18 if I’m thorough in time for Andy.
I’ve been using an Aldur’s Stony Gaze helm for my druid. It’s got two sockets. What ought I put in 'em?
Nothing with IAS (long, bitter story). What do you need to improve? That’s really the determining factor in what you put in it.
Before my old hard drive died, I had Memory made in a staff with +3 to Warmth, Fire Bolt and Meteor. Happy days.
I like staves. I don’t know why, I just do. This won’t stop me using an Arch-Angel’s orb and Sigon’s shield at higher levels, but in terms of power boost Memory is better than any weapon combo you can use from level 37 through to Act V NM unless you’re lucky enough to have an Oculus.
I don’t call clvl37 “the early game”, but YMOV. Sols aren’t usually a problem for me; I don’t exactly find them hand over fist, but I do find enough Thuls and Amns to cube them up.
As for Lionheart, it’s not my favourite runeword. I don’t know why - it’s got lots of nice mods - it just seems like I always have something better to use.
I don’t mind staves either. I never put enough points in dex for casters to have much blocking ability anyway. I think I have 55 dex or so on my level 88 necromancer and he blocks somewhere around 7% of the time. I think the object for casters is to stay away from those trying to hurt them. Of course, I never use shields on my barbs either, I always either double wield or use a two handed weapon.