Ladder reset builds, Need input!

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Animal_Cracker

Diabloii.Net Member
Ladder reset builds, Need input!

So here I am, anxiously awaiting the ladder reset... since mid summer. Bah, I was told that resets should definitely be in late summer... then early august... then september "for sure".

I know people often make up sources, so I finally stopped waiting and started playing again. But Im already bored... so here I am doing one of my favorite things to do in Diablo 2, try and figure out my next build! :thumbsup:

I'm just a bit stuck. I havent personally tried any of these builds, so Im hoping to find some people who have.

Things I want from a build:

Something that doesnt have the smell of cheese. Doesnt have to be difficult (and it probably shouldnt. Im not your micro-frenzied player).
I like semi-fresh builds (given a game this old, hardly anything is "fresh")
and finally, I want something that can take me to and through hell without the utter dependance on others. No, I dont play solo, but I like the option to be there. Also, I intend to play HC.


The builds I have considered are:
1) Leaper Baba. I dunno, that full screen pushback sounds very very fun. Being able to focus targets like that has to be nice.
My questions: Does it work on Baal's minions? does it work for any of his minions? Does it work on champions or mini bosses? Is it very gear dependant?

2) Poison Jabber. Another interesting build =)
I know poison has a very slow cooldown, so I decided to compliment it with jab. I know most people use psn and LF, but honestly, with a skll as effective as LF, I'd just use that, but I dont want that. I have NEVER made a melee zon. I really dunno if it'd work (jab).

3) Lightning Jabber. Same as before, but I go for the melee only and use Power, charged, and Lightning strikes, along with jab or possibly fend. I am *contemplating* using a 2her, but since its HC, I may have to take that back. Besides, teh faster the better, I suppose.

4) Kicker assasin. Ive never made one of these and I always have wanted to. Seem interesting.

5) Holy Fire paladin. Holy Shock is kinda overdone, and I like doing CS runs, so the fire res will always help with big D. A few questions:
Is the fire damage only realized through normal attacks? Or can it carry over to zeal or vengeance? If it does, and if I were to use zeal, would IM still knock me out?


Thats about it. I appreciate ANY input at all. Truly.


Thanks = D
 
Merick

Merick

Diabloii.Net Member
1) Your damage over time will be terrible, it's just not fun IMO.
2) Only if you don't mind waiting 30 seconds for things to die of poison. Jab is not a hearty damage skill.
3) These can be quite good. I made a lightning spearzon, it was pretty good. Forget fend, it's extremely bugged.
4) Not bad, will have trouble surviving especially untwinked.
5) Awful. You're lookin at something like +200 fire damage, it's not even 1/3rd as much damage as holy freeze. Works with any (non smite) attack of course
 
Evrae Altana

Evrae Altana

Diabloii.Net Member
1. You're going to kill really slow with a Leap barb.
2. If you're going to use Jab, I would just load up on crushing blow and deadly strike and forget about poison altogether.
3. These can be extremely deadly if you build her right.
4. You'll need crushing blow for this build to reach its full effectiveness.
5. I'd rather use Holy Freeze or Shock instead.
Animal_Cracker said:
If it does, and if I were to use zeal, would IM still knock me out?
Click to expand...
That depends on the amount of physical damage that you do. The fire damage from the aura would not be returned back to you via IM, but any physical damage you do will.
 
A

Animal_Cracker

Diabloii.Net Member
Awww this is disappointing. Half my builds shot down immediately.

OK, well about the leaper, couldnt I use a skill like frenzy or something to go along with it? Or is this generally how its done, leap in and use a different skill to do the job. Still weak?

Holy fire really isnt that good? I kinda would have figured that itd do decent damage since it doesnt really chill like HF... but apparantly not. Perhaps an Avenger would be better.

And finally, for my kicker, I was thinking of giving her Blade Fury to go along with it... but perhaps this is commonplace as well.

Oh well, thanks for the input =)
 
G

GildedAdonis

Diabloii.Net Member
Hello! Just want to say planning characters and builds is what I find the most fun about Diablo also ^^. More importantly though, onto your questions.

Firstly, I have a IK Leaper Barb, and I absolutely love him. To answer you directly, leap stuns everything not named Andy, Duriel, Mephy, Diablo, Baal, or Izual....infinately. Since the only real skills you will be putting points into for the early stages of your career are Leap, Leap Attack, and BO, I had trouble for a long time deciding where I wanted my extra points. I came to the conclusion that using Berzerk as a left click skill made my barbarian virtually indestructable.
With IK build, or with any large damage 2h weapon (maul), you have no requirement on dexterity. Therefore all of your points can be placed into str and vit, allowing for some freakishly high amounts of hp when combined with BO above lv 35. Leapers are more of the build you use to reach lv 99 rather than anything else, because if you do everything right, it really is honestly pretty impossible to be killed.

I don't have much exp with amazons, but poison imho is always a bad idea in my book, its just a worthless mechanic of the game used by monsters mainly to piss you off. Monsters arent designed to live long, poison is moot.

For kickers, Im sure you as well as everyone else has heard about the fabled amount of damage kickers can pull off...in fact I think im going to go make one right after I finish this post. Kicks are fast, you have a teleport skill, with dual claws you can get massive amounts of mods and skills, plus claw block can protect you (albeit with a 20% lower chance) from nearly every attack in the game, something those puny shields can't offer (also allowing for higher vit, as claw block is not dex based). Man this is sounding cooler by the minute. Although, yeah, you kinda need gear to make it work. I would make this the third character you rebuild after the fabled reset (A Baba for Bo being first and a MF/Chant sorc being second)

As far as the Elemental auras go on paladins, I have tried builds built around all three, and I must tell you Holy Freeze is the only one worth building around. Yes the damage from them transfers to any melee attack you make, however keep in mind Vengeance only converts physical damage to elemental, not ele to ele, so the extra damage your aura gives you will not be multiplied by Vengeance. HFreeze on the other hand is an unbelievable skill, freeing your merc to wield other aura-inducing runewords, while simultanteously adding upwards of 1500-3000k cold damage per hit depending on how much +skills gear you have. HF with Zeal can be a frightening skill to watch in action.
As for IM, with a HF zealot, you dont even really need a super awesome weapon, as your aura automatically adds obscene amounts of magic damage to your attack. You might try using a low damage, high number of mods weapon to use with HF, with a high phys damage weapon on switch, and have any extra points dropped into vengeance in case you run into cold immunes. This would allow you to get around IM, while still not fearing becoming obsolete in hell. In my opinon, Leaper barbs and HF-adins are tied in my book for the coolest character ever....with kicker assns close behind.

I hope my thoughts helped you, it certainly helped me to be able to voice my opinons.
 
G

GildedAdonis

Diabloii.Net Member
Hello! Just want to say planning characters and builds is what I find the most fun about Diablo also ^^. More importantly though, onto your questions.

Firstly, I have a IK Leaper Barb, and I absolutely love him. To answer you directly, leap stuns everything not named Andy, Duriel, Mephy, Diablo, Baal, or Izual....infinately. Since the only real skills you will be putting points into for the early stages of your career are Leap, Leap Attack, and BO, I had trouble for a long time deciding where I wanted my extra points. I came to the conclusion that using Berzerk as a left click skill made my barbarian virtually indestructable.
With IK build, or with any large damage 2h weapon (maul), you have no requirement on dexterity. Therefore all of your points can be placed into str and vit, allowing for some freakishly high amounts of hp when combined with BO above lv 35. Leapers are more of the build you use to reach lv 99 rather than anything else, because if you do everything right, it really is honestly pretty impossible to be killed.

I don't have much exp with amazons, but poison imho is always a bad idea in my book, its just a worthless mechanic of the game used by monsters mainly to piss you off. Monsters arent designed to live long, poison is moot.

For kickers, Im sure you as well as everyone else has heard about the fabled amount of damage kickers can pull off...in fact I think im going to go make one right after I finish this post. Kicks are fast, you have a teleport skill, with dual claws you can get massive amounts of mods and skills, plus claw block can protect you (albeit with a 20% lower chance) from nearly every attack in the game, something those puny shields can't offer (also allowing for higher vit, as claw block is not dex based). Man this is sounding cooler by the minute. Although, yeah, you kinda need gear to make it work. I would make this the third character you rebuild after the fabled reset (A Baba for Bo being first and a MF/Chant sorc being second)

As far as the Elemental auras go on paladins, I have tried builds built around all three, and I must tell you Holy Freeze is the only one worth building around. Yes the damage from them transfers to any melee attack you make, however keep in mind Vengeance only converts physical damage to elemental, not ele to ele, so the extra damage your aura gives you will not be multiplied by Vengeance. HFreeze on the other hand is an unbelievable skill, freeing your merc to wield other aura-inducing runewords, while simultanteously adding upwards of 1500-3000k cold damage per hit depending on how much +skills gear you have. HF with Zeal can be a frightening skill to watch in action.
As for IM, with a HF zealot, you dont even really need a super awesome weapon, as your aura automatically adds obscene amounts of magic damage to your attack. You might try using a low damage, high number of mods weapon to use with HF, with a high phys damage weapon on switch, and have any extra points dropped into vengeance in case you run into cold immunes. This would allow you to get around IM, while still not fearing becoming obsolete in hell. In my opinon, Leaper barbs and HF-adins are tied in my book for the coolest character ever....with kicker assns close behind.

I hope my thoughts helped you, it certainly helped me to be able to voice my opinons.
 
A

Animal_Cracker

Diabloii.Net Member
The leaper looks to be the char Ill roll. Ill be honest, Im a bit disappointed about the psn zon. I really wanted that to work. But a leaper sounds fun too.
 
K

Kull

Diabloii.Net Member
Holy Fire is viable on an auradin, but that char expensive ... but frost zealot is lot of fun and not that equipment dependant (by time you'll need some cb, but guil's face and gore are not that hard to find) ... only a few monsters immune to holy freeze aura damage on hell ...
 
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