Best way to find 4 socket polearms?

[UncleSporky]

Best way to find 4 socket polearms?

I assume they're more popular now since all the new runewords came out. I just want Insight for my merc, and I've got all 4 runes. Where can I find one quickly? Or, failing that, do people trade for them? I've had no luck asking around in channels. Sorry if I shouldn't post this here, it didn't feel right posting such a simple request among all the greats in the trading forum.

I'm on USEast ladder, if it matters.

 

[Nolomite]

I've got a merc with an Insight, and it's terrific.

If you want a really good 4os polearm, people will have them availble for trade - but I just wanted a mid-level one, so I had to go find my own. Lots of socketed items drop in Cows, since there are so many monsters to kill. I haven't tried the runes in a spear (rather than a polearm) so I'd be careful, unless you have extra sets of the runes - either way, polearms are usually faster and do more damage, which you'll still want your merc to have.

I'm on USEast ladder too - if I happen across one I'll send it your way. What level is the character that this will go on? The exceptional poles have a req level of only 25; the elites are 52 or 53 I believe. The character who needed the mana boost was only level 40 at the time, so I needed to find an exceptional pole - it eventually dropped for me in Hell Cows, after spending a day running NM Cows looking for it.

Do you have a socket quest availible? Some of the poles have 4 sockets as max, so Larzuk could hook you up if you found one of those with 0 sockets.


In trades, 4os Elite Ethereal polearms trade for an Ist or higher; the non-Ethereal Elite 4os Poles usually go for an Um. Obviously, these get used for a higher purpose than Insight. If you were to go looking around the Farm after a completed Cow run (like a public cow game) there's a fair chance you'd find what you need laying on the ground - people don't pick up the Exceptional poles, since they have no trade value. You might want to try that, if you see a public Cow game listed.



Since I gave my merc an Insight, I haven't used a single mana potion - extremely convenient!

 

[UncleSporky]

Sounds cool, I'll be able to explode corpses all day. I've got a Might merc, and he's a few levels past when I bought him, so I think 32 to 36?

I hadn't considered the Cow level. I'm still leery of it, since I don't know the rules or the difficulty and I don't want to lose my cow priveliges or get in over my head. I may look it up and check there. I don't want to waste my socketing quest just for this if they're as common as you make it sound. I don't need anything fancy yet, just any 4 socket polearm that my merc can use.

If you find one, I'd love to have it, or perhaps you could help me with some NM cow runs. Don't know what you'd want in exchange. The name's UncleSporky, same as here.

 

[Nolomite]

A little hard-won information: the runewords do not work in 'spear' class weapons - at least it didn't work in the Ethereal Mancatcher I tried it in. Luckily I had 3/4 runes sitting around, and I found the last one after a few Countess runs.


I'll keep an eye out for 4os poles for ya - and look me up in the game if you want to go blow up some cows...I'll take my Insight scythe along, and you can get enough Meditation to blow them to kingdom come.



In general, there are a number of us who are more than willing to help out new BNet'ers with some low-level stuff, to help get their characters launched.

 

[FreezerBurn]

cows are pretty easy for a necro once you get the first one down. basic strategy is build your army. go through the cow portal. kill a cow. explode. revive the mess. then keep exploding. i wouldn't bother raising skeles after the first round dies - i just keep my revives up.

the only way you'll lose the ability to make a cow game is by killing the king. i accidently killed him with my necro and didn't even know it. my army killed him while i was off screen. you'll also lose your cow privileges if someone else kills your king. to be safe, it's a good idea to open the portal with one character, then switch to another once you have multiple characters

 

[Elgar]

Clarification: Youll only lose cow privilidges if someone who hasnt killed the king kills the king.

 

[Nolomite]

Skellimancers have a tough time not killing the king - it's really not worth running cows without killing him, if you've got another character who can open the cow portal. I run cows often, and always open the level with one character and cruise the farm with another.

 

[UncleSporky]

I finally found a 4 socket bill in NM tower, and I can't believe how awesome it is. Not only can I cast anything all day, but my merc does 300 to 800 damage with +200% AR, AND some MF to boot. It probably sounds stupid, but I've never had anything so awesome in D2.

 

[Nolomite]

I finally found a 4 socket bill in NM tower, and I can't believe how awesome it is. Not only can I cast anything all day, but my merc does 300 to 800 damage with +200% AR, AND some MF to boot. It probably sounds stupid, but I've never had anything so awesome in D2.

Insight is excellent, for something so cheap!


Also, you might want to continue with your plans on cruising Cows; I just had a plain old cow drop me an Ist!. You could tear through the cow level, using gratuitous Corpse Explosion.