Lidless or Splendor?

[tonavin]

Lidless or Splendor?

First of all, the Search feature seems to be broken/gone, so if this has been asked before many times, apologies in advance.


I mostly play as a Barb, and have in my entire career made I think 2 Sorceresses, so naturally I have very little experience with them. I was just starting a new Sorc up, and was wondering what kind of shield I want to use. This is going to be strictly a PvM / MF build, so something like Stormshield is not really what I'm looking for at all. Looking at all the runewords and uniques and just generally what most people use in the games I've played, I seemed to notice that Splendor actually looks quite good. I've been fortunate enough to get a Lum rune on ladder (I don't play 6+ hours a day anymore, so getting anything above a Shael is good by my standards), so I was thinking of just going with that.

Is Splendor better than Lidless, for what I'm looking for? I noticed the stats are nearly identical, with the only real variants being the MF/GF on Splendor, and the 10% max mana on Lidless. Just curious on others' opinions

 

[melianor]

FCR is different too and can make a difference at reaching your FCR breakpoint.
I would use Lidless and place Rhyme or Splendor on switch for that added MF, when you kill bosses.

The +mana on kill is also handy on Lidless, also the extra mana and Energy.

 

[MrScythes]

I 2 use Lidless and Splendor on switch for that final blow

 

[tonavin]

Wow, I never even thought of doing that

Granted, it's probably better to have something like a 4-isted Monarch on your switch though right? Of course, I have nowhere near the amount of anything of value to trade for something like that. But just hypothetically. Or is Splendor still preferred, in case you're doing 'easy' runs (like if I were to do Andy on NM to try and get SoJs, I would just use the Splendor the whole time since it's non-MF stats are pretty good) ?

 

[melianor]

Wow, I never even thought of doing that

Granted, it's probably better to have something like a 4-isted Monarch on your switch though right? Of course, I have nowhere near the amount of anything of value to trade for something like that. But just hypothetically. Or is Splendor still preferred, in case you're doing 'easy' runs (like if I were to do Andy on NM to try and get SoJs, I would just use the Splendor the whole time since it's non-MF stats are pretty good) ?

You will never really need that much extra MF. Use the shield slot for soemthing more useful, than a 4xIST Monarch!

 

[Euro-Crash]

You will never really need that much extra MF. Use the shield slot for soemthing more useful, than a 4xIST Monarch!

Also the strength requirement of equipping a Monarch is 156. As a Sorc, you will definitely not need that much strength. You could use those attribute points to acheive max block and invest more into vitality, which is by far a smarter thing to do.

Doesn't Rhyme have more MF than Splendor? I thought one was 25% (Rhyme) and the other was 20% (Splendor).

Anyway...note the table in the forum that shows the diminishing returns for MF. 300-400 MF is really adequate. Killing speed, connection type, connection speed, RAM, Processor, HDD speed, and the capability of your video card have more bearing...because they will enable you to kill faster, exit games quickly, create games faster, and decrease the amount of lag you experience...thereby increasing the VOLUME of MF runs.

Coincidentally, finding items is not affected by MF totals as much as it is affected by volume of MF-runs. Even with 700+ MF, you still have to do a butt-load of runs to see any return. With lower MF, you might balance the character out more and have a greater speed of clearing areas (PITS) and Bosses.

 

[Stormrider2112]

I'd say get a Lidless Wall socketed with a Pdiamond. Since Splendor lacks resists and is set [unless you have a Pally shield], you still get a bunch of mods with Lidless AND can get some resists so you don't always die

 

[Sartok]

Haha, true. A lidless with a PDiamond is a dangerous thing. So cheap, yet very useful. I would suggest a switch as well, I use rhyme, but splendor works just as well... though don't go for the 4 Ist shield, unless you wanna be showing off to people everywhere it not worth it with the deminishing returns on mf%'s.