Actually, it’s a staff, and it’s a set item; part of Arcanna’s Tricks.
Well, I’ve beaten Diablo with four of the five classes so far…haven’t done the Sorceress yet. The easiest time was with the Paladin, in my opinion. I’ve done the Cow level with the Paladin and the Necro solo; both had an incredibly easy time (for the Paladin, Blessed Hammer mows cows down like a lawnmower; for the necromancer, I did the whole thing with Bone Spear and Corpse Explosion - and no mana potions).
My roommate and I are also starting to complete some sets. We completed Sigon’s Complete Steel, for example. This is a very nice set, to be sure, however, we are also finding that most of the sets really won’t serve a character very well into Nightmare mode. The defense provided is simply not sufficient to keep a character from taking horrendous amounts of damage. Of course, for classes like the Sorceress and Necromancer, this isn’t a major problem (Sigon’s Steel would work very well for the Necro). But the warrior types are much better off looking for rare/unique armor and weapons.
Anyway, no point here…just musings!
The Palidan probably is the easiest way through. I’ve been slowly going through with my second Palidan, only playing for an hour or three every second day or so. I wanted Salvation (protects against elemental damage) so I had to get to level 30. I spent a few days clearing out Act 4 over and over again and got to level 30. With my Light Gauntlets of Fortune (def. 9, 32% better chance of magic item), chain Boots of Fortune (def. 8, 21% better chance of magic item), plus two rings 16% and 10% better chance of magic item, I was always getting really good magic and unique items. I could go toe-to-toe with the smith in the River of Fire and hack him down - he always dropped something great such as my armour.
I’m ready for Diablo. I’ve got (a) the Spirit Carapace Full Plate Mail, def. 231, fast hit recovery, lightning resist 33%, +1 to life, (b) Dire Guard Gothic Shield, def. 69, blocking 66%, poison length reduce 75%, +1 light, fire resist 7%, attacker takes damage of 3, © Infernal Buckle Heavy Belt, def. 31, +20 life, (d) Soul Grasp Chain Gloves, def. 15, +2 light, +29 life, sli. incr. attack speed, (e) Spirit Track Greaves, def. 24, +2 light, lightning resist 6%, +16 life, +2 dexterity. From my vast jewelery collection I’ve selected Platinum Ring of the Tiger (+102 attack, +28 life), Platinum Ring of Dexterity (+104 attack, +1 dexterity), and the unique Havoc Collar Amulet, lightning and fire resist 8%, +1 mana, +18 life, +14 strength.
Weapons? I was enjoying a Massive Long Sword of Quickness, damage 6-30, greatly increased very fast attack speed, but I switched it for a Lord’s Long Sword of Readiness, damage 6-33, +110 attack speed, sli. incr. attack speed. I also have a one-handed Plague Mangler War Axe, damage 20-30, +1 mana for each kill, +26 attack, +8 strength, and a two-handed Storm Scythe Great Sword, 36-65 damage, -27 monster defense per hit, +40 attack, +7 strength.
So I figure my Palidan is pretty hot shit and I’m feeling sorry for old Diablo who ain’t going to know what hit him, right? Well I just got killed after throwing a switch and being hit by about eight mage warriors who cornered me and threw everything at me, including that damned curse that makes me drop potions.
Thanks to all you Dopers for your tips. I might never have tried the magic hammer skill without your recommendation. I might have a chance against those horrible cows this time around.
I didn’t see anything about gems and the cube in the posts so, here is a tip. Three of the same gems in the cube will convert over to the next higher lvl gem. Three chipped become a flawed or whatever the next level was.
Right now, I’m just trying to get experience points. Here’s a tip for everyone who loves Ice: Cold Mastery ain’t that great. So far, I’ve been mostly pumping up Fire Mastery, but CM only reduces an enemies’ resistance to cold which, for regular enemies, has minimal effect, and for special enemies, Cold loses the advantage of being able to freeze anything.
Right now, I have it set for left-click: Fireball and right-click: Glacial Spike. Use Spike to freeze, use my Fireball (which does well over a hundred damage) to kill. Works especially for all those damn Fetishes on Act III.
And weirddave… I ain’t getting rid of my staff, man, just the amulets! Sheesh… nutball 
Anyway, I’d hold off getting something imbued for a while. In our house, most of the time someone got something imbued, they got rid of it just a couple levels later. I’d suggest waiting 'til you find a really badass weapon or armor (like Full Plate or something) to imbue. Or gauntlets, or a Plated Belt, or anything else. Don’t, I repeat, DON’T imbue leather gloves!
i just beat it with a level 27 paladin
it was pretty tough, but mostly in act 4.
i used concentration a lot and zeal
also, the freeze spell is very handy!
i recommend you have a lot of resistances when you get close to the end of the game …
now onto the necromancer…
chief: Just wait 'til you get Fanaticism. HooHOO! Use it with Zeal and you make a Frenzied Barbarian look like an amateur 
It has definitely replaced Concentration as my ‘working’ aura (though I still use Concentration in conjunction with skills like Charge).
Al Zheimers: I’ve found that in Diablo’s Place, just after throwing the switches, if you cut loose with a barrage of Hammers you can fell most of the minions before they even touch you. The bosses then crumble before your Zeal
Chief, ya gotta pass it AGAIN on Nightmare mode! It’s hard as hell, pal! C’mon, that’s the point! And then you get to pass it for a third time on Hell mode. And after that… well… play some more!
The light bless Thorns! Thorns at level 4 for my Level 10 Paladin, I just stand there and let the vile archers and little red and blue pygmy guys kill themselves on me…
What a trip! Think if I just keep Thorns pumped up constantly every level, by the time I get to Diablo he’ll just take one swing at me and die?
I have thorns at level 3 and I hardly use it anymore. Don’t waste those priceless skill points! You’re going to meet some baddies at the higher levels who won’t give a flying fiddlers f*** about your thorns.
Think I should save 'em for blessed hammer then? I was thinking that as an alternative, and some more to zeal, i’ve only got 1 on zeal right now.
soul,
Follow the skill trees. Remember, skills further down are more advanced versions of the earlier ones. ( for the most part.) More than 4 zeal will have you busy attacking while you get surrounded and then you can’t retreat.( I made this mistake with my paladin )Holy Freeze is MUCH better than thorns. Does dammange, and slows baddies down to a crawl.
My $0.02 worth of Paladin lore…
While it is true that Zeal can get you into trouble (I have it at about level 7 I believe, which means 8 hits), if you can do enough damage, it’s not too much of a problem. I’ve been surrounded on many occassions and couldn’t get away. I’ve also killed myself by opening up on Lightning Enchanted bosses (without realizing they were in a group I was wailing on)…and not being able to stop hitting them! However, I’ve also found it to be terribly useful. Especially in conjunction with Fanaticism, as I mentioned earlier. To deal with the issue of being surrounded, I use Blessed Hammer (which I have at about level 5 or 6). Keep firing it off until you’re out of mana, and you’ll probably be out of opponents as well. For the Lightning Enchanted bosses (when I spot them), I use Charge with the Concentration aura (I can do well over 200 damage / hit with that combo). I don’t bother with Thorns (although Thorns in conjunction with Iron Maiden could be frightening…), since I feel the best defense is a good offense, and I don’t like using up potions unnecessarily (they may take damage from hitting you, but then, so do you). I also don’t see the need for auras like Holy Freeze and Holy Shock. The damage is just too minimal for the skill points you have to put into them (my flail does cold damage, so I get pretty much the same effect as Holy Freeze anyway). I also use the resistance aura (I forget the darn name of it - but I like the pretty colors :p) when battling magic types.
Thus far, I am very happy with the development of my paladin. This is my third attempt, and this one seems to be working out very well. Even at Nightmare difficulty, he is not experiencing any major difficulties (he recently beat up Andariel with little effort).
Of course, I’m not saying this is the best way to go…only that it works for me
Soulsing: I’m sure you passed the council by now, but if not, try using the traditional BG/IM combo in the face of a unique, and once he dies (you may need a couple BGs to do this, depending on your allocations and whatnot; a few bone spears will also help him on his way), CE him and watch all the minions around him die. CE everything until you’re surrounded by nothing but giblets…
Soon enough, I’ll have the opporutnity to imbue an item again. I was thinking of getting some new shoes, but then I found some set item boots (serious armor, btw) that give me fastest run/walk and add serious points to maximum stamina.
So while right now I’m thinking to imbue gauntlets, I’m wondering what would happen if I asked to imbue a staff or, even better, a war staff. Would it get sorceress-specific attributes?
Or a bone helm. Those look pretty cool and I once found a rare one of such incredible power that I was actually tempted to part with my precious Tarnhelm Skull Cap.
Anyone have any experience with those particular items?
I tried imbueing an unmagicked wand as a necromancer. Pretty disappointing results. The results was a fairly good wand, but no better than most of the ones you can buy in Act II.
The necromancer had amazingly little trouble getting through Travincal. When I did it as a Paladin I got my butt kicked several times before I iced the council. The necromancer just sent in the “boys”, 3 skeleton mages, a golem, and a few skeletons and while the council goons were busy with them, it was easy enough to take them down with bone spear.
Of course, the Paladan had no trouble at all with Mephisto, so my necromancer went in expecting him to be a pussycat. One bolt of lightning pretty much took out the team, and only three or five quick dives through a town portal saved the necromancer's increasingly singed ass.Right now I’m trying to beat it on hell difficulty. If you thought Nightmare was hard, hell will be impossible.
Did anybody here beat it in Hell mode? Anything cool happen?
WOO HOO! I did it! I beat Mephisto with my Level26 Necromancer. Not easy at ALL!!!
Now, there’s only three missions in ACTIV, I think I can, i think i can [sub]i think i can[/sub]…
My paladin is coming along nicely…unfortunately I’ve pumped waaaay too many points into Zeal. I’ve got a scepter that adds 3 to zeal, and 3 to blessed hammer. Just starting into Nightmare (I just freed Cain) have I found the usefulness of Blessed Hammer. My thorns are at about level 7, and I return about 510% damage. My zeal (unfortunately) is at level 11 (with the scepter upgrade) and I miss almost every swing. About 2 connect. I cant understand this. I have an 85% chance of hitting a level 27 monster! Anyone care to shed some light on that situation? Luckily, I’ve been blessed with the best armor I’ve seen…the Goldskin. (Unique Full Plate Mail obtained from the Cow King) 215 armor, +30 to all resists, attacker takes damage of 9. It’s sweet. My shield is quite good as well. The Ward (Unique Gothic Shield, obtained from Diablo) Has 50 armor, adds 15 to strength, and…something else. Oh well…I think I’m gonna start again with a Necro, so all this necro advice is invaluable. Keep it comin’ guys!