Highest rune countess can drop???

lonnie913

Diabloii.Net Member
from what i understand, the countess has a regular item drop and a special rune drop. her special rune drop allows her to drop up to ist, and as a regular item drop she can drop up to lo.
 

FenrirKnight

Diabloii.Net Member
A thread just below addressed this:

Normal: El - Ral
Nightmare: El - Io/Ko ; above Io is much rarer
Hell: El - Ist/Lo ; above Ist is much rarer

I the "much rarer" refers to this special drop.
 

desrat

Diabloii.Net Member
That table seems to be outadate

FenrirKnight said:
A thread just below addressed this:

Normal: El - Ral
Nightmare: El - Io/Ko ; above Io is much rarer
Hell: El - Ist/Lo ; above Ist is much rarer

I the "much rarer" refers to this special drop.

I had that very table somewhere in my notes.

One day (Feb. 10, 2005) I got a Fal rune from the Countess in NIGHTMARE! Of course, I was excited, and dug out that table to see how close to the "highest possible rune drop" my Fal was. Only to find that it was higher than the table listed possible.

I was baffled. Some possible explanations I can think of are:

(1) The table was simply inaccurate.

(2) The table was for an early version. I don't recall what version I was in on Feb. 10, 2005, but it was the latest LOD version at that date.

(3) There are [hidden?] exceptions to the general rule.

By the way, getting a high-level rune is still a lucky shot. For most sets of 15 Countess runs, even in Hell difficulty, I'm lucky to get even as high as a Thul rune. And several knowledgeable persons have said that your amount of magic find has no bearing on rune level.

desrat
 

Myrakh-2

Diabloii.Net Member
The countess usually isn't alone in her room; she likes to have company. So, another option: one of them dropped the FAL.
 

RTB

Diabloii.Net Member
It shouldn't be possible indeed. No monster there can drop higher than Ko in NM.

Something went wrong there, and gave you a rune that normally doesn't drop there. The table is still accurate.
 

lonnie913

Diabloii.Net Member
desrat said:
By the way, getting a high-level rune is still a lucky shot. For most sets of 15 Countess runs, even in Hell difficulty, I'm lucky to get even as high as a Thul rune. And several knowledgeable persons have said that your amount of magic find has no bearing on rune level.

desrat
heh. this is an important thing to remember. rune drops are not very common. getting a pul after 300 countess runs is cause for celebration. :lol:
 

Savvi

Diabloii.Net Member
desrat said:
<snip> And several knowledgeable persons have said that your amount of magic find has no bearing on rune level.

desrat
I believe that is incorrect. Runes are NON magical. Though the effect is relatively small, increasing your chances of getting a magic item decreases your chances of getting a rune. If you really want to get the maximum chances for a rune, minimize your magic find.

The effect is pretty small. But so is your increased of getting a magic item by getting your MF to 250% from 200%. That extra "50%" is actually a few percent at best (I didn't look it up to tell you what it is exactly though).
 

BatTheMan

Diabloii.Net Member
IMO rushing yourself to NM or HellForge would be faster then countess runs. I don't know about Hell's highest drop rune, but I got lem and um so far from 2 nm hellforges. Most of the time I found high level runes is when I don't look for them. Eldritch Nm dropped me an Ist lately (HCL) wee.
 

RTB

Diabloii.Net Member
Savvi said:
I believe that is incorrect. Runes are NON magical. Though the effect is relatively small, increasing your chances of getting a magic item decreases your chances of getting a rune. If you really want to get the maximum chances for a rune, minimize your magic find.

The effect is pretty small. But so is your increased of getting a magic item by getting your MF to 250% from 200%. That extra "50%" is actually a few percent at best (I didn't look it up to tell you what it is exactly though).
MF affects item quality (unique/rare/etc) and runes are always white. Therefore MF has no influence on runes at all.
 

eelnala

Diabloii.Net Member
RTB said:
MF affects item quality (unique/rare/etc) and runes are always white. Therefore MF has no influence on runes at all.

I agree. If I recall correctly, MF isn't even applied until after the item type is determined (will it be a weapon, armor, potion, etc.)
 

Savvi

Diabloii.Net Member
RTB said:
MF affects item quality (unique/rare/etc) and runes are always white. Therefore MF has no influence on runes at all.
I can buy that. I seemed to recall Thrugg saying in a post long ago that MF affected rune drops (in a negative way), but perhaps I came away with more from that thread than was actually there;-(.
 

Thrugg

Diabloii.Net Member
Perhaps this will help:

MF has no effect whatsoever on rune drops.

The main reason people have this idea that it does is because they figure, more magical drops, must be less drops of the non-magic kind, including runes. This is not how it works.

The game does not choose the quality first and then the type, it chooses the type and then the quality. MF is only used in the second stage. So, for example, some monster might drop 1 rune for every 3 swords, 3 armours, and 2 gems. Killing the monster with more MF means it is more likely those swords and armours will be magic - so you will get fewer white swords and armours - but once a rune (or gem) is picked it doesn't matter what quality it is, MF has no effect by then.
 

Myrakh-2

Diabloii.Net Member
BatTheMan said:
I don't know about Hell's highest drop rune, but I got lem and um so far from 2 nm hellforges.
Lucky you. I got Sol, Dol, Sol and --- finally --- UM :)

Nightmare forge can drop SOL - UM
Hell forge can drop HEL - GUL

This also means Hell can drop PUL/UM as well.
 

XxSartakxX

Diabloii.Net Member
In hundreds of NM Countess runs, twice has she dropped no rune at all. Not that it affects much of anything, but I guess it's not quite true to say she has a guaranteed rune drop.
 

krischan

Europe Trade Moderator
AFAIK, the countess has a chance to drop nothing at all, although the chance is very small (and probably zero in a 2 or 3 player game and beyond), but if she drops something, a special rune drop is among it.

BTW, her minions can can drop any rune up to Zod IIRC, although the chance for that rune is just one in several millions.
 
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