Aldur_Kutter

[RAZARKUTTER]

Aldur_Kutter

My guild and I are setting up a cooperative game where we are playing avatars of the persona's displayed in the set items (Aldur, Trang-Oul, Tal-Rasha, Immortal King, etc...)
I am working on getting my druid "Aldur_Kutter" together using all of the Aldur's set. Another requirement is that for all slots your specific set doesn't fill you have to fill with other set items only...NO unique, rare, magic, other, so what I was thinking something like this:
Helm Aldur’s Stony Gaze
Weapon Aldur’s Rhythm
Armor Aldur’s Deception
Shield Whistlan’s Guard
Gloves Magnus’ Skin
Belt Wihelm’s Pride
Boots Aldur’s Advance
Amulet Angelic Wings
Ring #1 Angelic Halo
Ring #2 Angelic Halo
Anni/Torch

Do you think this set up is best, or would you replace any of the other set items? What build would you use? I am thinking fire claws were-bear, as we will have physical damage from Griswold paladin, and Immortal King barbarian.
I could go summoner druid, or elemental druid, but I think Aldur's set is best utilized by shape changer, so I was thinking of going rabies/poison creeper werewolf, or fire claws werebear, but I am open to suggestions/comments as of right now I am only 4th level, with nothing spent on attributes, and 1 point spent into lycanthropy and werewolf, which are both prerequisites for any other shape changing ability.
I think I will max Oak Sage, as since we will only be using set items, it will be difficult in Hell difficulty and the extra life will help everyone including all minions.
Thanks for any / all feedback and/or suggestions.

By the way...any thoughts on any of the other set item builds that might be cool? Natalya, Trang-Oul, Tal-Rasha, The Orphan, Immortal King, Griswold, Sanders, The Disciple, Heaven's Avatar(Heaven's Brethren), Hwanin, M'avina, Naj, Sazabi, other?

Thanks,
Michael

 

[Romasm]

The way i think of Aldurs = no fun at all. Its slow/weak damage/low on skills and the other bonuses are just smelly. No eledruid should touch this set, no fcr and such a lowball skillbonus makes this set the worst imo.

All the other charactersets are quite good. + Dont forget about Bull Kathos Children. If u are using set items only, why not going full set only, and use set jewelery? Any melee can use Angelic amu/rings anyways.

My HC summonnecro did very well with Trang Oul. An ik barb was my first ever high lvl charac, and it still rocks.

 

[vknez]

werebear fire claws is good option. with 3 shaels and 30 ias from equipment you can reach 7 frame attack which is solid speed (werebear only).

for belt/gloves combo IK is better option or even sigon which will give you 30 ias above mentioned.

rabies are more suited for pvp
other sets:
natalya - phoenix striker
trang oul - summoner
tal rasha - meteorb
ik - ww/concentrate/berserk
griswold - zealot/tesladin/holyfreezer/foher/avenger/smiter even hammerdin

bul khatos - frenzy barb
sazabi - barb/paladin

it will be interesting if you will keep us informed about the progress. nice idea...

 

[thepandafactor]

I would use trang belt/glove, it is the best set belt/glove combo in the game. Also I think two pieces lets you cast some fire spell, could be amusing.

 

[RAZARKUTTER]

Aldur's set sucking

That is kind of the reason for playing it. I have several characters with the standard: Shako, Enigma, Soj, Soj, Arach, Hoto, Spirit, War Trav, Mage Fist, Maras, with Cta/Spirit on switch.
The problem is that almost any character can solo hell easilly, by themselves and it doesn't promote team play.
By playing with just set items you rule out power uniques and ruenword gear so now only the sorceress can teleport (short of someone using charges from Naj's staff), only barbarian can battle orders, only druids can turn into lyncanthropes, etc...
You will also have less ias, resistances, fhr, fcr, dr, etc...so you will have to rely on people in your party and it will promote team work, and rekindle some fun of playing with other people versus just leaching off other people.
I look forward to playing a druid that on his own, might get owned in chaos sanctuary in hell, but with my heart of the oak, immortal kings battle orders, trang oul cursing our enemies, we aught to do well.
That is my hope anyways.

Thanks for the comments/suggestions..they are great. Keep them coming.

 

[Jary]

team play only exists in short spurts in this game, one of the friendliest parts is starting over again when you gotta work together. I feel like an old man >.< but I remember playing back in 2002 when it was just hell cows and blood runs, it was all about teamwork but I guess an evil power emerged by the name of enigma and killed that off

 

[Bjam]

RAZARKUTTER,

Glad to see you are moving ahead with this idea. I think it will be a lot of fun. I see that you got "hooked up" in the trade forums. Just so you know, an Aldur Windy is perfectly possible, although obviously not ideal. However, with your additional restriction of using other set items in the gaps, it would be a BAD idea (no FCR). Have fun.

 

[RAZARKUTTER]

FCR and windy druid

You could get minor FCR (+20%) from Trang-Oul's Claws gloves, plus the (+18 fireball) with 2 Trang-Oul pieces. You could also get some FCR from Tal-Rasha.

That being said I was thinking of going a couple of different routes:

Prereq's or 1 point placements
Werewolf
Lycanthropy
Werebear
Feral Rage
Maul
Firestorm
Molten Boulder
Artic blast
Fissure
Cyclone Armor
Twister
Tornado
Volcano
Hurricane
Armageddon
Fire Claws
Total 16 points

Max
Firestorm
Moltenboulder
Fissure
Firestorm
Total 76 points

Total 92 points, done at 80th level, after that you can place more points into werebear, lycanthropy, armegeddon, fire claws, and/or oak sage.

You only have one point a piece in fire claws and armageddon, but you have maxed synergies for both of them. The question is without maximizing the actual skills will they still do decent damage in hell difficulty?
It costs 6 more points to take Armageddon after taking the synergies for fireclaws, you can cast it in werebear form, so it seems worth it? Is it?

If not I was thinking, just scrap the Armageddon and take more in fire claws.

------------------------------------------------------------

I was also thinking a safer build, something like
20 lycanthropy
20 oak sage
10 werebear
20 Fireclaws
1 Maul, Feral Rage, Werewolf (Prereq's)
20 Molten Boulder (synergy for fireclaws and has knockback)
94 Total points (done at 82nd level)

Spend all additional points into Firestorm, Fissure, and/or Volcano to further synergize fireclaws.
This build is much safer, life from lycanthropy, oak sage, (Then the Immortal Kings Battle Orders), should mean insane forms of life.

With not having the most elite gear, should I try to get my damage as high as possible, or bring my life up to keep me safer?

Any thoughts/comments on skills I might be missing / over looking?

 

[Ed from Russia]

Actually I just finished Hell with a Fireclaws Werebear using Aldur's Watchtower. It was surprisingly easy. For most of my run through Hell I played together with a Blizzard Sorc, which helped to deal with Fire Immunes, but I did a couple of areas by myself (including Hell Forge and Anya quest), and had no problems whatsoever.

I intend to post a guide of this build the coming 1-2 weeks, depending on when I have time.

 

[furiousFenrir]

Hey cheers to you for doing something to spice up the game for yourself. It's a neat idea and gets the brain working

 

[RAZARKUTTER]

Thank you

Thank you,
I think so as well. You know after 7 years I love this game, but it is weird when you see Sorceress' telling Barbarian's not to Battle Orders because their Battle Orders is higher, or people telling summoner's not to, because it is lagging, or not to fire meteor's etc...
Once you have played the game long enough, it doesn't take long (even after a ladder reset) to work your way up the ladder to getting uber gear. Until you reach that point everyone is working together, or leaching off of others around them, but once you get uber gear it is easier to MF, Key-Run, DClone hunt, UberTrist, etc... by yourself versus working as a team.
My hope is that each person is important, and important for the role they play. Without infinity - Griswold pally will be important for running conviction aura - how many paladin's do you see actually run conviction on ladder...hardly any because they don't have to.
Without teleport - Tal Rasha will be very important for getting to WP's, and moving the party from point A to point B. Aldur and Immortal King will be important providing the party more life via Oak Sage and Battle Orders, as it will be needed with lower resists from lack of uber gear. Summons will also be more important as tanks will be needed to allow time for people to heal, and position themselves so Golems, Valkeries, Shadow Masters, Grizzlies, and undead may play a important role in the tactics on the battle field.
In normal play this is too slow, and people want fast efficient killing with high DR, resistance, able to run where they want, when they want, kill everything in a moments notice by themselves...
Well that takes the fun out of playing with people. I think using the set item limitations will make characters strong enough to work together to accomplish questing in hell, while still making it difficult enough where you need to use teamwork.
I look forward to the challenge.

 

[Coldfire]

As long as you're playing with 6 other people that you already know it should be prettty cool :thumbsup:

 

[RAZARKUTTER]

Guild = Teamwork

Yeah, everyone participating this is part of our guild "Demolition Crew".
As of right now we have
Griswold - Vengeance/Conviction Paladin
Aldur (Me) - Fire Claws (Possibly with Armageddon) - Druid
Immortal King - Concentration Barbarian
Tal-Rasha #1 - Lightning Sorceress (I think)
Tal-Rasha #2 - No idea
Trang-Oul - Cursing specialist and (hasn't decided between poison/bone or summoning)
Natalya - possible (he is undecided if he is going to do it)
????? - another friend who just upgraded pc and internet, never played diablo before, but should pick it up = pretty quick

I don't know how many of us will be there each week...probably 4-5, but depending on who is there will make for interesting challenges.

We should have 3 tanks Aldur, Griswold, and Immortal King
One in between Natalya
Couple support TalRasha X 2, Trang-Oul

We should have elemental damage, physical damage, and possible poison and/or bone depending on what TrangOul decides to go with. The key will be to utilizing: Conviction, Lower Resist, Amp Damage, Decrepify, Life Tap, Battle Orders, Oak Sage and to make sure our tactics are sound...if we don't help each other...God help us...5-6 player game with non uber gear will be tough unless we synergize with one another...again that is the key, and I hope that is what keeps it fun.
We will also have to carefully choose mercs...Act I or III if we need elemental damage, Act II if we need aura's, and Act V if we need pure tanks. I might take Act V merc and go with Sazabi gear for him, he would get full set bonus, and that might be kind of cool.
If TrangOul decides to go summoner I think that will make it a lot easier, with tons of tanks, it makes things much easier, but if she goes PnB and I don't take summons it could really depend on how well our Merc's do, and if anyone has a shadowmaster, valkerie, other.
I am undecided if I am going to take Grizzly as of yet. There are so many ways I could allocate points...do I want to be defensive, offensive, somewhere in between?
Max Offense - max fireclaws and as many synergies as possible
Max Defense - Max Oak Sage and Lyncanthropy
Alternate build 1 - get one point into Armageddon as synergies for fireclaws also synergize Armageddon.
Alternate build 2 - get a point in Grizzly, for an additional tank...more likely if TrangOul goes non summoner.
Mid build - Go Lyncanthropy or Oak Sage not both..if so which do I decide? Lyncanthropy helps me only, but never dies? We are doing group play so Oak Sage would help everyone.

Lots of decisions for sure. To do viable damage in hell, with this gear do you think splitting between defense and offense will allow you to do enough damage? If you don't put points into Oak Sage/Lyncanthropy will I be able to survive decent?

Lots of stuff to mill around.

 

[vknez]

trang oul poison and bone is bad cause of very slow casting (in vampire form)
natalya can be good for martial artists sinergized phoenix strike (it will benefit much from conviction) dragon claw as finisher.

other option is trapper. any way with assasin you will get another helper (shadow) and two great crowd control skills (mind blast/cloak of shadows)

i recommend using act 2 merces with different auras (might, blessed aim, holy freeze, prayer, defiance...)

for fire clawer you can go with maxed fire claws, maxed oak and rest in sinergies. get one or more in shock wave (excellent crowd control)

light sorc relies lots on fcr. how much will you get with tal rasha and trang gloves?

 

[Verashiden]

Get all Prayer Mercs, the auras stack

 

[vknez]

Get all Prayer Mercs, the auras stack

are you sure about that? as far as i know only the highest aura is active. anyway i think they will benefit more from different auras (higher damage, ar, defence...)

 

[Verashiden]

Prayer works differently (SSoG explained this before, I'll have to see if I can find it). Prayer stacks, so get all prayer mercs with insights and be immortal . Looking for the link now, I'll edit this post when I find it.

EDIT- Here it is Clicky

 

[sirmessbu]

No Mavina? or even a Bul-Kathos' Disciple** frenzy barb?




** Bk sword set with Disciple set

 

[RAZARKUTTER]

No BK/Mavina just yet

There are too many "Avatar persona's to play even maxed out at 8 players which I don't know that we will have at any one time.
I thought doing a Mavina character with a Vidala Act 1 merc would be really cool.
In this set up as an added inspiration for someone to play BulKathos, I said they could use the 2 rings (Unique not set), but no one has decided to do that yet.
You could use one of the BulKathos swords on either an Act III or Act V merc.

As of right now my Aldur_Kutter character is mid 20's. Obviously I can't use any of my above listed gear so what I am using currently is
Helm Sigon
Amulet Angelic
Sword Angelic
Armor Sigon
Shield Sigon
Gloves Sigon
Ring #1 Angelic
Belt Sigon
Ring #2 Angelic
Boots Sigon

I am real close to upgrading to a couple of the Orphan/Aldur's pieces but it won't probably be worth it right away. Actually I think most people would be surprised at hot potent Sigon + Angelic set is when used by a mid 20's level character.
Diablo is down - all quests done accept
Act I - Charsi making rare item
Act II - All done
Act III - Fizbin
Act IV - Forge
Act V - All quests left

I have placed points into strength (enough to equip/utilize Sigon gear) all other points unspent as of this time.
I have one point in all prereqs for fire claws, and one point in each fire element skill up to and including fissure.
No points in Oak Sage yet, and I am still alive, and functioning quite well. I have an act II defensive merc and he seldom dies as well. His gear is not very good, but there aren't many options for him at this time.
Kind of playing it by ear to decide on how to further spend my points...where to spend them and when. Balancing between offense and defense could really hinder the build if I don't spend the points correctly early.

How much damage will Fire Claws/Armageddon do with one point in each and 2 maxed synergies
Example:
20 Oak Sage
20 Lyncanthropy (more life)
1 Fire Claws, 1 Armageddon, 10 or so in prereq's
20 in Molten Boulder
20 Fissure
All other points in synergies up to the 110 max? You will be very durable tank for rest of group, but how much damage will you deal?

If you go no Oak Sage, 1 point lycanthropy, 10 points or so prereqs
1 Fire Claws, 1 Armageddon
20 Molten Boulder, Fissure, Volcano, Fire Storm
All remaining points in Fire Claws up to the 110 max?
You will still do far less damage then maxing Fire Claws, but still do decent damage with Armageddon as well.

So question...since synergies add to both Fire Claws and Armageddon is it worth spending the extra 6 points to get the skill. What type of damage would you deal with Fire Claws/Armageddon with one point in base skills but maxed synergies for both? How about if you only max 2 synergies to go more life?

Assume Aldur's Set + Orphan set + Anni + Torch. I do have other assortments of charms and some PGems/runes can be added to Shield, Weapon, Helm, and Armor.
Since Fire Claws is greatly affected by attack speed I thought 3 Shaels in Aldur's Rhythm weapon. Probably PDiamonds/Lum in Armor/Helm/Shield for added resistances as this will probably be an area I am short in; although +5/-5 fire facets would probably be benificial in all socketed areas right?

Any other thoughts/suggestions.

Thank you everyone..thus far I have had fun playing this character, and I am not even up to utilizing the equipment I have set aside for him. All of your help/comments/suggestions have been greatly appreciated.

 

[VoX Dei]

werebear fire claws is good option. with 3 shaels and 30 ias from equipment you can reach 7 frame attack which is solid speed (werebear only).

for belt/gloves combo IK is better option or even sigon which will give you 30 ias above mentioned.

Excellent advice by vknez. Just one sidenote: Aldur's Rhythm 3 x shael (90% WIAS) + IK gloves + belt (25% OIAS) will get only 8 FPA fire claws. Considering that only set items can be used, either Sigon's gloves + belt or Death's gloves + belt will get 7 FPA fire claws. I favor Death's gloves + belt as it gives the needed 30% OIAS plus CBF, 15% res all, 50% pois res which will make a nice round res all number with the 50% light, fire, and cold res from Aldur's items. The drawback is that Death's shash only carries 8 potions.

For shield, either Orphan's (huge fbr and block%) or Sigon's (+1 skills, decent block%) will do.

Razarkutter you and your friends have my utmost respect for finding a way of playing the game in a fun and challenging way.