Just remember there are some skills you can’t use on the left key (like Pally auras, and I think shouts). If you use an area effect skill on the left, be careful casting it since you might run into the pack of monsters you are trying to kill. Remember if you hold down SHIFT you won’t move, so you can use that for those cast skills (like frozen orb, etc).
You can… but it’s not as effective anymore. They’re usually built a little more specialized these days. Thorns, in particular, is not that great unless you have a Skelly Necro around. Holy Freeze has suffered a bit on the high end. It’s maybe worth getting, but you have to be a bit more specialized before going anywhere on it.
You could do that. But eventually, you’ll remember. You’ll probably even stop naming the skills in your head, it’ll be “OK, F1, F3, F4… and F5 for the finale,” or whatever.
Joe
It’s been a while since I played, and I always played single player, and never past 1.10. I’ve played many of the “standard” builds. The only one I really could get very far with was a Concentration/Berserker Barbarian, who I could get good Magic Find on and managed to get some good gear for. Never could get past the Ancients with him, though.
Then I discovered ATMA - the muling program for single players that lets you store items outside the game and switch them between your characters. That changed everything. I don’t know how using that’s viewed, but it was pretty normally used on the single player forums I read.
I then did a LOT of magic finding runs - Mephisto and Ancient Tunnels (although I remember the month I spent running Hell Andariel to get Mara’s Kaleidoscope and the Tal-Rasha’s Amulet). Most of the Magic Finding was done with a Meteor/Frozen Orb Sorceress. That character (who is level 92 now) found almost all the items I ended up using on other characters. Last I looked, I think I was missing just over 50 of the unique/set items. I spent a LOT of time running for items before I got a life!
I’d agree that Skeleton Necromancers are one of the easiest classes to advance in, especially with no special gear. But I still think that that Meteor/Frozen Orb Sorceress is the best all around build for single-player. Other builds are better once you have a lot of the great gear (Trap Assassin with huge level bonuses, Bow Amazon with Windforce or even better the full M’Avina set) - but for getting the great gear, nothing beats the Sorceress. And I’ve found the Meteor/Frozen Orb combo to be the best - having strong attacks in two elements is key, and even the rare Fire/Cold immune (Countess being one) can be beaten down by Static Field and a good merc.
I’ve been meaning to try a sorc from scratch again - this time with no bringing in of outside gear. Maybe it’s harder than I remember.
A trapper is actually one of the easiest classes to get good gear for. In A5 NM or Hell (preferably Hell), rescue Anya, and let her open up the portal. Look at her inventory, then step down the portal and come back up to refresh it, and look again. Repeat until you find magic claws with +3 to traps skills (or at least, something better than what you already have). Repeat until you have two of those, and two +3 shadow claws for your other tab (for use when casting your Shadow Master, Fade, etc.). Presto, you’ve got your most important gear. Top off with an Ort Sol runeword helm or other +1 to skills, and maybe a +1 skills armor (any of them will do) if you can find one. If mana is a problem, get a Prayer merc, and give him an Insight runeword polearm (Ral Tir Tal Sol). Now, you can certainly do a lot better than that, but that’s more than enough to get by on.
Someone on the D2 forums spent something like 20 in-game hours doing this, looking for a 3-socket, +3 Traps, +3 Lightning sentry claw (or something like that). Never found them, and was offering mass high runes for one.
You can get good stuff from Anya, but she tends to only have 2-4 claws per shop, and they’re about .01% worthwhile. Prepare for a long wait…
Joe
Okay, I just started a new account on East. Who’s in?
(I’ve never friended people before, what are the commands for such things?)
I’m in later, over at a friends house studying for a test tomorrow. To add friends, type /f a <account name>
My account is hirka, so you would type /f a hirka
To send a message to everyone on your /f list, type /f m <message here>, ex. /f m Hey remember me from the Dope?
I might be on later, if I can get home at a decent time tonight. What is your account name?
My account name is NoPepperGames.
A clear case of “the perfect is the enemy of the good”. Yeah, a claw like that would be just about ideal, but you’re never going to see one. On the other hand, a simple +3 traps with no other mods will be about an hour or two of shopping, and will serve you well.
It depends on the character. Generally, the fighters will tend to spread out among all three trees, spellcasters will have to specalize, but anything more detailed than that, it depends on the class (and even the build).
AMAZON: You’ll generally use 2 trees: the passive skills tree plus whichever weapon you choose to use. If you’re using Javelins or Spears, you’ll be using the aptly named Javelin/Spear tree; if you’re using a bow or crossbow, you’ll be using the bow/crossbow tree. Every Amazon will also use the last tree for Critical Strike, the dodging skills, and possibly Valkyrie.
ASSASSIN: Like the 'zon, you’ll generally use two trees. You’ll pick your utility spells from the Shadow Discipline tree, and then either your Combat Skills tree (for a claw user) or Traps (for a trap user). Some crossover as all Assassins can use Dragon Flight (for teleporting) and Death Sentry (weaker version of Corpse Explosion).
BARBARIAN: You’ll use all three. Pick an attack from the combat skills tree, pick a warcry or two from the warcry tree (everyone maxes Battle Orders, some use War Cry as well, and might drop 1 point into the others for utility), and then drop points into the weapon mastery of your choice and a few in the other passives from the Combat Masteries tree.
DRUID: If you’re a shape-shifter, you’ll be using the shapeshifting tree, possibly with a summon or two. If you’re a spellcaster, you’ll be using the spellcasting tree, and maybe a summon (though less useful here). Also possible to do a pure summoning build, but it’s not as good as the Necro.
NECROMANCER: Everyone will pick up some curses for utility, but you’ll probably either be a Summoner or a Poison/Bone mage. However, necros get a LOT of skill points to play with, so there’s also some crossover here (mages can get some summons to tank, summoners can get bone spirit to do extra damage).
PALADIN: You’ll generally pick one aura, and one attack skill. I’d wager that the Defensive Aura side is the least used of any skill tree in the game; most people like to pick an offensive aura like Conviction or Fanaticism. Or Concentration if you’re a whirly hammer-tossing lame-o.
SORCERESS: In the end, you’ll usually end up picking two elements (plus a few in Lightning for the utility spells like Teleport and maybe Energy Shield). The Sorceress is probably the most hurt by the synergies system - she needs to be able to drop as many points in one tree as possible to boost damage, but she also needs to be multi-elemental because of how immunities work. The most point-efficient build I’ve seen is probably Fire/Ice, focusing on Fireball/Meteor/Frozen Orb.
These are just the general ones, though. There’s lots of room for “theme” builds (such as a Singing Barbarian, or a Shadow Assassin, or passives-only Barb or Amazon, curse-only Necro, etc…). You might not be able to do anything in Hell difficulty, but you’ll stand your own in Nightmare if you know what you’re doing.
Sorry I didn’t show up, seems my CD Key and account were banned for some reason. I made a new account, it is hirkat.
No problem. I only stayed in game for a couple hours. Managed to level up to 12 in a pally-only game, and a high level character came by and dropped off a Griz Armor and Wizardspike for me. Threw me a +3 def. aura ammy as well.
He showed me his gear - holy schnickies! There were a few rune words in there that I couldn’t believe!
I tried one of these once. Even with a blue potion IV injected directly into my arm, I still couldn’t get enough mana. And for all that effort, I was doing something like 500 damage in a small area of effect.
Okay, someone was on last night, trying to contact me. Was that you, Hirka? Sorry I was slow to type - I had to bring this thread up to remember how.
Edit: And man, is it hard to do anything in Act 2 unless you have decent twink gear! I got smacked around by a bunch of beetles, and said screw it.
Act two isn’t all that bad once you figure out how to deal with the static beetles.
Act three is swarming pygmy death.
I like Act 2, the skeletons make a satisfying crunch when they die.
On Act 2 beetles: their weakness is that they don’t have all that much life. Good ranged attacks take them down pretty fast. Act 3 pygmies are best dealt with via immense area bombardment. A merc with Frost Aura helps a lot, since it turns them bright blue and slows them down. And the Frost Aura seems to extend offscreen.
I was at least one person trying to contact you, Munch. My account is *sonorhC (Chronos spelled backwards).