Creating Socket with Horadric Cube Recipe

Creating Socket with Horadric Cube Recipe

Hey, Everyone,
How's it going? I am trying to get a 4-socket staff that has +3 Energy Shield on it so that I can make the Memory Runeword out of it (for a total of +9 Energy Shield). However, I have been unsuccessful in finding such an item in my Baal run games.

I thought that perhaps it would be easier if I just used the following Horadric Cube recipe:
1 Ral Rune + 1 Amn Rune + 1 Perfect Amethyst + Normal Weapon = Socketed Weapon of same type
The number of sockets created will vary. The item must be normal and unsocketed. Low-quality items and superior items do not work. The item gets 1-6 sockets, randomly. However, the number of sockets is then restricted by the maximum number of sockets that base item with that ilvl can have. For example, if you have an item that can only have 2 sockets, there's a 5/6 chance of getting 2 sockets and a 1/6 chance of getting 1 socket.

Before I do so, however, I want to make sure that if I pick up a normal staff with +3 Energy Shield on it and I put the staff through that receipe, the +3 Energy Shield will still remain. Can someone confirm this for me?

Thank you in advance,
-=MaStA ViC

 

Yes, the +3 ES will remain.

 

Thanks for the confirmation!

-=MaStA ViC

 

Getting a +3 ES 4-socketed staff for Memory is something that a lot of people are interested in. For getting the sockets, there are 3 possibilities:


1) Find it with four sockets already- the best but unlikely.

2) Find an unsocketed white staff and get the sockets added via Larzuk's socketing reward.

3) Find an unsocketed white staff and get the sockets added with the cube recipe.

One thing to understand about adding sockets with the quest is that Larzuk always gives the maximum number of sockets that item type can have for that ilvl. So for the staff types that can have 4 sockets (at all ilvls): Gnarled (and Cedar and Elder) and Battle (and Gothic and Shillelagh) if you find a +3 ES then it would be better to use the Larzuk quest than to chance the possible failures with the cube recipe. The staves that can only get 2 (Short, Jo and Walking Stick) and 3 (Long etc.) there is of course no point in trying, and for the big staves (War, Rune and Archon) the Larzuk quest will give 5 or 6 depending upon ilvl so those are the ones you'd have to take your 1/6 chance with the cube recipe on.

 

Ah, thanks for letting me know about Larzuk's quest! I completely forgot that Larzuk always adds the maximum amount of sockets to an item. Thanks a lot!

Now I just have to find the staff that I want =P
-=MaStA ViC

 

No problem, good luck finding a suitable staff! One slight correction in what you said- "Larzuk always adds the maximum amount of sockets to an item" isn't exactly true. The number of sockets will be the maximum for that item type of that ilvl. So it can depend upon where the item drops. It doesn't matter for your purposes, but it can make a difference. For example, if you want a six-socket crystal sword, you can't use of ilvl 24 or less (which would get 3 sockets) or one of ilvl 25-39 (which would get 4.)

 

Since the ilvl issue is brought up, it's safer to point this out: suppose you get a staff that is low-quality (cracked or damaged), you can fix it by using the cube recipe Eld+Item+Chipped Gem, which will set the ilvl of the item to 1. This allows you to get 4os from Larzuk for something that normally gets 6os (i.e. rune staff, archon staff, etc.). However, the staffmod (+3 ES in this case) *will* be rerolled when the item is fixed using the cube. Since the new staffmod will be based on the ilvl, you certainly won't be get +3 ES any more. So in short, do *not* use the cube-fix recipe if you want to keep the staffmod.
You can find a complete list of number of sockets based on ilvl here.

 

Actually, according to that page, the max sockets for a rune staff of ilvl 1-24 is 5, not 4, so that doesn't help in this case if that page is accurate.

It may be worth pointing out that when you are hunting for a white or grey staff/scepter/claw with a particular staffmods, it's good to know about how automods are selected. There are 6 tiers of skills and Energy Shield lives in Tier 5. An item can have up to 3 staffmods, and the tiers are chosen based upon the ilvl:
ilvl 1-11, tier 1
12-18, tier 2
19-24, tier 3
25-36, tier 4
37+ tier 5

Then there is a 20% chance to add 1 tier, 50% chance to stay at that tier, 20% chance to subtract 1 tier (if possible) and 10% chance to drop 2 tiers (again, if possible.)

So for an Energy Shield (tier 5) staff, a good place to look is someplace with lots of monsters of level 37 or more- I suggest NM Cows, run with a javazon with no MF (you don't want magic items, just white and grey.) It can be trickier with other desired staffmods where the monsters that have the best chance of dropping something with the desired staffmod aren't high enough level to allow the desired number of sockets, but in this case that is not a problem.

 

Good catch! I was more thinking along the line of trying to fix a low-quality berserker axe for 5os (which only gets 4os).

 

Is there anywhere I can look up what tier other spells for staffmods lie?

Specifically looking for Chilling Armor and Shiver Armor.

 

Take a look at this thread; there is a lot of good info there. But to figure out tiers, just look at the skill levels though. Tier 1 = available at level 1, tier 2 = available at level 6, 3 at 12, 4 at 18, 5 at 24 and 6 at 30. So Frozen Armor is tier 1, Shiver Armor is tier 3 and Chilling Armor is tier 5.

 

Slight self-nitpick- it's not always so simple as just looking at the level of the skill to get the tier. That works for all classes except Barbs, which don't have exactly 5 skills of every level. For Barbs, how it works is described in this thread and it's pretty close to just the level but it doesn't work out as there aren't exactly 5 skills of every level like there are for the other classes.

 

Even better, here is a post with all the tiers listed explicitly, including the anomalous barb ones, from the Statistics Forum FAQ thread.

 

I've read all the replies and understand this a whole lot better now.

Quick question (before I do the socket quest and mess it up):
If I do the socket quest of Act5 on an Archon Plate, is it guaranteed to have 4 sockets?

Thank you,
-=MaStA ViC

 

Yes, unless that archon plate was "upgraded" from low quality.

 

Ah, I see. Thanks for telling me to keep that in mind.

-=MaStA ViC

 

Question


is there any way for me to reroll the socketing of a phase blade if it use larzuks quest on it I assume that it will get the maximum of 6 sockets) because i need a 3 socketed one.


in generel, what is the easiest way to get a 3 socket phase blade?

 

No you can't reroll the number of sockets.

The only way to get a 3 socket PB is finding one, or using the cube recipy on a white one. You could also look in the trade forums if there are any available.

EDIT: if you happen to find a low quality (cracked) phase blade and repair it with the cube recipy (eld + chipped gem) Larzuk will give it 3 sockets.

 

Can't really remember, but I don't think I have ever seen a low quality phase blade.

 

Yeah, a cracked indestructible sword would be quite funny, but I'm not aware of anything that is preventing it to drop (which doesn't mean there isn't).