Mine doesn’t. Is this perhaps a 1.10 change?
In 1.09 I had a +2 Barb +1 Cries helm (or was it a +1 barb +2 cries?), and I’ve seen posts before that said that since they were on different affix trees, you could get both on an item. I myself have never had one, but I am told it’s possible.
ED, it is indeed a 1.10 change that gives 2 sockets to IK helm.
Duriel last night was an extremely overthought match. Once I figured out to teleport from opposite corner to opposite corner and keep on laying down hydras in front of me, the match was short-lived. I don’t think I ever got below half-life.
A few things:
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It looks like we’ve gravitated towards the gamesurge server. If that’s the case, i’ll ditch the dcloneirc channel, because we really don’t need 2.
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I’ll be getting all of the parts for a new computer in a few days, so i may not be on as much as usual while i build. Then again, i might be on just as much since i’ve gotta sit through a windows install sequence. Who knows.
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We oughta start a sign-up-sheet for the first doper “practice run” for the ladder reset, if we intend to do it. We should also try and plan for some sort of regular time at which we’ll all get together and play, if that’s possible, since that’s the only way we’ll manage to keep our characters close in level. If people would like to “sign up” so to speak, with the type of character they want to play, it may be easier for the others to pick characters who complement the rest of the party (a party of 5 skeleton necros fighting over corpses might be interesting, but rather slow). I suggest that whoever has a character in mind that they want to try should speak up, and i’ll put together a list. I won’t post first, since i have a few types i wouldn’t mind trying, and in general i’m pretty flexible.
Sorc got past Meph yesterday (it’s almost 1 AM here), and getting there was a lot tougher than beating him, which consisted mostly of casting hydras off-screen until I got a qlog update. Drop was nothing of any consequence, and I don’t have any plans to run him.
Diablo will be interesting. In Hell he has 50% res all and ~114K HP. My hydra does about 450 points per hit, so assuming I can find a hiding place and just hydra him for a minute or three, as I did with Meph. However, I “trapped” Meph in that area by the red portal, and I’m not sure Diablo will stop for tea and crumpets long enough for me to kill him.
I would be interested in the ladder practice, but for two things: First, my current account is full, and I don’t feel inclined to either delete mules or make a new one. And second, I’m currently halfway through teaching a six-week summer course, leaving me with much less free time than something like this ought to take.
When the ladder reset does come, though, I’m thinking I’d like to try my hand at another paladin, probably either a Tesladin or a Saviour/Medic. Both have abilities to contribute to a party, and neither is too equipment-dependent. I’ve had some experience at combat first aid with my current paladin, which is both a pro and a con for the the Saviour/Medic build: Variety is also good. On the other hand, though, defensive aurae don’t give much killing power, for when I’m not in a party.
punha, I’d say that the big question will be whether you can survive his Ring of Fire. You should be able to stay out of range of his other attacks, but the Ring of Fire covers some serious distance (longer than Hydra), and is very difficult to dodge. But if you can survive, you’ll win eventually (it’d help a lot if your merc has prevent monster heal, of course). I’d say your best bet for a hiding place would be if you get the map with a hook around Ventar’s seal, and were I you, I might even just reroll the map until I did get that one.
BTW, what skill are you using for fire immunes, then?
In Norm, I wsa able to hide behind a hook on one of the walls. D thought he was infernoing the bejeezus out of me, so he figured the hydra damage he was taking (I whittled him down with orbs, but the blasted things, along with teleporting to escape his ltg attack, drained my mana pretty decent) would be worth it.
Needless to say … and I used the same sort of schema in NM. Planted hydras at his feet while the Sanctuary was still shaking, staticked him down to 1/4 life, then TPed around a bit until he’d basically forgotten about me and proceeded to cast hydras as close to him as I could without getting touched. In both cases the merc bit decently early, though it wasn’t such a bad loss. He wasn’t moving much, so I didn’t need him chilled down.
I found a day or three ago a Husaldo Evo, which has Prevent Monster Heal (PMH). I’m pretty sure that I’m going to use it on D with my merc; equipping my Pierre Tombale against D with the merc would be pretty useless, since the merc probably will not stay alive long enough for the 55% deadly strike or 7% ll (I Amned it) to affect D as much as PMH will. My gameplan for now, since the Forge gave me a Ko (third one of those; one from another char and two from this girl) and I am thus unable to make a runeword of use, is to basically do what I did last time, but be open to improvisation. I have no problem whatsoever sitting for five minutes slowly killing D so long as I do not die (I’ve died three times now, two because of gloams). I sat throwing hydras at Mephisto for probably 2 or 3 minutes and it was very nearly the easiest fight I’ve ever had against him.
It will be very interesting to see how I do against the Ancients (assuming of course that I get that far). I took the two skill points from Izzy and used them to boost my cold mastery to 70%, which means that D will have negative cold resist against me (one other plan I have for him is to basically orb/tp/orb/tp. Given that I have nearly 1200 mana, and level 20 warmth, I do not anticipate a problem running out of the stuff even considering Eshield and D’s ltg attack.
For FIs I have orb at level 12 and spike at level 10. I use spike mainly to freeze stuff solid for a bit (though in Hell it tends to just mostly Really Slow Stuff Down) and orb to kill stuff, since it slows stuff down about as much as the merc’s HF does. The trouble becomes when I get FI/CIs and I go to my chain lightning and Tstorm. Needless to say, the merc kills those folks, so if I spawn a CI/PI/FI, I will be fuxx0red.
Did the ladder reset or was that idle speculation, theckhd?
I’ve been busy with house stuff and stuff and things, but I’m planning on getting back into D2 this week, so if anyone is available to rush an A3-norm Sage-WBear.
no, it hasn’t reset yet, and probably won’t do so for another few months at least. We’re planning a practice for it though, where we all start new, un-twinked characters, and play as a party to go through the game and level quickly using only what we find. We had been discussing it in the old thread, in case you want to see the origins of the idea. It should be on the last page or two.
And i’m sure we can give your druid a rush. I should be on some tonight, though it looks like most of the parts to my new computer are being delivered today. If the last two parts make it, i may not be on as much as usual since i’ll be assembling and installing and such. 
Yup, 1.10 IK Helms have 2 sockets, plus the hidden set boni. You should check out the massive amount of magic damage the IK Maul gets for hidden boni.
I’m beginning to think that Nzappa, my TeslaFroster, is cursed. He does plenty of damage (equipped with a Lightsabre and has a Crescent Moon phase blade on the switch) but has a hard time staying alive. I ditched his Holy Freeze merc in favor of a Defiance merc and that has helped some, but he still dies a lot. I’ve taken to dropping all of his gold on the ground before going into battle, because he was losing such huge chunks of it every time he died. So what happens? Act 4 Hell, just starting out, he gets swarmed and dies right outside of town. Unable to retrieve the body, I save and exit… forgetting all that gold on the ground. So now he’s completely broke.
AAAARRRG!
I decide to give him a rest and go play Padruig, my wind druid. My spirits were low after the trouble with my Pally, but they were lifted back up when Padruig killed a champion pig on the Arreat Plateau. Piggy dropped Jalal’s Mane 
Sure wish I could figure out what’s wrong with my TeslaFroster. Maybe my play style is the problem.
Unfortunately, I may not be available a lot for 3 weeks starting Friday. I’m driving down to South Carolina to pick up my best friend and her 3 kids to bring them to Baltimore to visit. I will be able to be on some (probably), but I imagine that between the four of them they’ll keep me fairly busy… especially since the kids are 8, 4 and almost 3.
I’ll be more than happy to run another LF javazon/FA Bowazon although nowadays I realize I come on way too late for some of you guys, I’ll try to get home earlier from work and keep the family happy.
Do you have any points in Cleansing? Just turn that on for a few seconds, and you should be OK.
But seriously, what’s your blocking like? You should have a good shield, with a few points in the Holy Shield skill, and enough dexterity to get you maxed blocking. Any points that don’t get spent on dex go to vitality. If both your weapons are Phase Blades, then you don’t need any strength at all for them, and of course you don’t need any energy, either.
Also, what are your resists like? A paladin should always have good resists. You ought to have a full 85% lightning resist (lightning seems to be the deadliest element in 1.10, and if you’ve maxed the Resist Lightning aura for synergy, your max will be up 10%) and at least 50% or 60% in your other resistances (more is always better, of course). The easiest way to get resistances is off of a socketed paladin shield: The shield itself can have up to 40% resist all, and four diamonds will add 76% more to that. If you’re still short, you can add charms for more resistance in particular elements, or put Tal, Ral, Ort, or Thul in your armor or helm (or Um, if you’re lucky and rich).
Finally, paladins are not the greatest against crowds, so sometimes you will have to draw off a few monsters at a time and kill them separately. This is not cowardly.
Indeed, it’s tactical. There are select few characters who belong up against a crowd; one of them is a novasorc (along with her merc), though she shouldn’t be up against a crowd so much as near enough that the nova damages the enemy; a cookie-cutter barb, a claw-claw asn (and even then, see above) and a WW druid with enough in the summoning tree to keep himself alive. The rest of us do with tactical moves designed to separate and kill. Last night while going through the first bit of A4, I led more than two groups of baddies halfway across one of the lands (they were half FI and half CI, so it was difficult to keep the FI guys from soaking up the hydras and the CI guys from soaking up the orb).
I’d add a zealot, a Frenzier, a Concentrate barb and a fendazon to that mix. But the point that many characters need to draw enemies out is a very important one.
How viable is a dial-up connection for D2?
Pallys do like their armour, though. Putting enough points in Strength for Guardian Angel isn’t an awful plan.
More, even. I have a Targe with innate +42% res all.
45%. My 4-pdiamond vortex has 45% base for a total of 121, afaik this is the highest resist a shield will ever see.
As an extension, if you build your paladins like tanks, you can stand your ground in a crowd well enough, but you may take several days to kill everything unless your damage output is high, especially in groups with spawner enemies like Flesh Spawners or Maggots.
I used to grab a beer from the fridge, get out some pretzels, and hunker down in my computer chair before venturing into the River of Flame with my pre-1.10 zealots. Often i’d pop in a movie as well, since i knew i’d be there for a while.
… okay, mild hyperbole. In 1.10 though the paladin’s damage output (especially for Holy Freeze and Holy Shock paladins) is significantly higher. It sounds like your problem is defensive. I agree with everything that Chronos said (i prefer maxed resists myself, but if i have to settle i’d definitely max lit first). Make sure your armor is up to snuff, and you have enough hit points. I like to operate with somewhere around 1000+ (ColdYouSo has 1275) and a defense of 5000+ (this is actually kinda low, but it’s the price you pay for using an un-upgraded Guardian Angel for 90+ res all).
Also i’d think that the Holy Freeze merc would be more helpful than a Defiance merc, since Holy freeze should slow all of your enemies, making them attack more slowly and hit less often as a result. While defense is nice in 1.10, it’s also not the most important stat to worry about – good blocking and holy freeze’s slow effect can make up for having a relatively low defense.
Also, i can’t stress leech enough. If you’re not packing 15% or more life leech in hell, it’s not enough. Dracul’s significantly fixes this, especially for zealots since we use shorter, faster attacks and thus trigger the Life Tap casting more often. I have not found any pair of gloves in 1.10 that does a better job of keeping me alive.
(For comparsion, my concentration barb has around 20k defense when swinging, and he still gets hit occasionally in nightmare baal runs).
I don’t know pallys in the least, so I won’t begin to try to figure out the problem. But blocking and resists are keys for a number of characters and character builds. To your list of crowd controllers, don’t forget LF javazons in the mix. Bowazons were good in 1.09, but I’ve yet to find a build that works in 1.10 on Hell difficulty… although I’ve never tried a Windforce bow or a BOTD bow. I do know that Burizas are not the answer. Even though it has such a high IAS it’s slower than a Shaeled Eagle or WF, and a Hellrack is slower still. Then again, in a party, a frozen arrow bowazon will get decent freeze time with enough charms and points in the synergies… so wouldn’t be completely useless… except on cold immunes.
My javazon has all resists maxed (with lightning at 85%) except poison and that is at 56%. She can block well, then can fall back on dodge and evade for shots she doesn’t block.
Well, I believe that lack of blocking is my problem. The guide I was following to build this TeslaFroster didn’t seem to think Holy Shield was necessary, and as a result I’m at clvl 82 without even a point into any of HS’s prerequisites. It’s going to take me to clvl 87 just to get the first point into HS! And at the rate I’m going, this pally is never going to make it to clvl 83 
My attack rating sucks, too, but I still manage to kill quickly.
Anyway, here’s now Nzappa is set up:
Body Armor: “Smoke” (NefLum) ornate plate (787 def)
Helm: Guillaume’s Face winged helm, socketed with a 29% ED jewel - the ED jewel was a mistake, since the vast majority of my damage is coming from Holy Shock and Holy Freeze, not physical dmg. I’ll be looking for a better helm.
Shield: 4 P-Diamond Akaran Rondache; 35% resist base, for a total of 111% A hyperion with 8% lightning resist on the switch, which I never actually use.
Gloves: Gravepalm sharkskin glove. Simply because I have nothing better.
Boots: Silkweave mesh boots. Also because I have nothing better - my druid has my War Travellers, though I don’t think those would help this pally.
Belt: Hwanin’s Blessing
Weapons: Lightsabre - my primary weapon. Crescent Moon phase blade on the switch. I swap these swords as needed, but do it by switching them manually in order to keep the Akaran Rondache equipped. Lightsabre does enough physical and magic damage that it’s superior to Crescent Moon’s -35% to enemy lightning resistance. So I’m really only using CM when I encounter a LI/PI monster.
Amulet: +16 resist all, Dmg reduced by 4
Rings: Raven Frost and a 6% life leech ring
Various charms - mainly +life, +stats and elemental dmg
My resists in Hell are 75/85/85/75.
I could ditch the current ammy without lowering my resists.
Attack skill is Zeal, with Holy Shock or Holy Freeze as needed.
I do 405-4349 dmg with HS; 1231-1731 with HF.
847 life
183 str (150 base, rest from items)
194 dex (140 base, rest from items)
Merc (defiance) is equipped with Delirium winged helm, Prudence diamond mail and Grim’s Burning Dead grim scythe. With the helm and armor, he doesn’t die often. Except when I die. Often.
I’d like to wear the Delirium helm myself, but right now I need the +15 str on Guillaume’s to wear my ornate plate.
Here’s something I don’t get: I have 85% lightning resist, and Lightsabre gives me 25% Lightning Absorb - and LE monsters (including beetles) still slaughter me. Can a monster’s charged bolt be blocked?
Let me add one more thing: those little exploding midget skeletons (Stygian Dolls?) are completely uncalled for. Whatever Blizzard employee came up with those is a pure sadist who should be skinned alive. Damn things can kill me faster than Lister.
They’re especially evil when the hero fighting them is using Zeal.
I’ve figured out how to handle them, but my technique is not always successful. When I see them, I run like hell in the opposite direction. Naturally, they chase me at Mach 6, but I can usually put some distance between me and them. I get far enough ahead of my merc that they forget about me and go after him instead, and their explosions don’t seem to hurt him. While he engages the little bastards, I stand half a screen away with a TP open into which I can step at the first sign that one of the minishits has remembered me and comes at me.
But when they appear out of nowhere and run in amidst the Gorebellies or Ghoul Lords I’m fighting, there’s nothing I can do. I’m dead.