Sorc's the only good MF class?

Sorc's the only good MF class?

I've come to a stumbling block here; it just seems to me like the sorc is THE only char for MF'ing as quickly as possible. After a year's hiatus, I recently started up an amazon from scratch and discovered ATMA ( :thumbsup: crazy program for Sp!!). I got to hell meph ok (buriza and kuko helped a ton, though it took me like 300+ nightmare meph runs to get those) and farmed him for a while, but just realized that the amazon is certainly not a great MF'er at all. I could kill meph just fine but it would take me around a minute on /players 1, this is with max guided arrow and a buriza and a fat valkyrie sitting there while I just shoot the stuffing out of him.

Meph's blocking would seem to prevent at least the amazon from killing him very quickly, so I then decided to start up a blizzard sorc because of its good damage and cold mastery to screw up his resists. Now an entire run takes 40 seconds (from entering the world to entering the world again after killing meph), whereas before just the meph killing took 1 minute (and the rest would be another 30 seconds or so due to only being able to use tele charges across the moat).

The sorc turned out to be amazingly better than the amazon - I could do the run faster (teleport all the way + kill meph fast), with more MF, and with less upkeep time (no need to buy arrows or repair teleport charges, although I do use a lower resist wand that needs a repair every 67 runs).

This kind of depresses me, because my goal is to get all the items, and it would seem that only the sorceress accomplishes the goal the fastest. Is this true? Are there other good characters out there that can do specific runs faster or better? I'm thinking like perhaps a barb would be able to harvest Thresh Socket the best, because you can get a waypoint next to him and you can always item find his body, and with good enough weapons you could frenzy/double swing him to a sliver then switch to gulls/babas, so every run would be 1.4 runs if you had a 40% find item. This might be able to do it more efficiently than the sorc, but of course thresh doesn't drop as well as pindle.

Any other ideas? I could of course just relax and play a character more for fun and do slower runs, but that's not my goal right now. It just kind of makes me feel like the game is only for sorcs, while the rest of the characters are like sidebars for fun once you got all the items : (

 

Nothing beats the sorc for time v.s. fast returns.

Just relax and play for fun, otherwise, it'll be no fun.

And make a summoner necro to run those level 85 areas.

 

The sorc may be the best for single targets, like boss running, specificaly meph and andy, but the other charachters rival them when it comes to area running.

Personaly I love sorc's, but I have a lf zon that I use for cows. A fishymancer is great for all level 85 running.

You can keep going on for most of the common mf build...

The issue is, you have to figure out what areas it is that you want to play, and what charachters you'll have fun playing. You just have to make sure that your not playing a charachter you like in the completly wrong setting.

EDIT: Ninja'd by frostburn :thumbsup:

 

The summoner necro build looks really cool; I just wondered if Diablo is a problem on normal or not. I noticed Fishy recommends doing it around level 32 which is fine if you slow down a bit, but I just wonder if skellies can survive a couple fire rings or a lightning hose to the face. Even with decrep + clay golem I'd imagine he'd be able to down your horde, which would be really annoying.

What just irks me about the current balance of diablo 2 is that something like a phoenix strike assassin or a werebear would just plain suck for item finding compared to a lot of other builds, because they'd be slow at killing 85 areas and you'd have to farm for them in order for them to farm.

 

I used a hammerdin for quite awhile when running meph..... i kept looking until i found a good map seed straight to durance 3 and could kill meph in about 30 secs with close to 500 magic find...... but like all the others said.... its all about where you are mfing....

 

I don't think the devs had mfing mind when they built the game. That's just something that we, as players decided to do. All they wanted was to make builds that are fun and sort of balanced.
It is possible to beat the game with some insane builds. If the reason your playing the game is to mf then you are limiting to yourself to those builds that are really good at mfing. Just remeber when you finish that there are other things to do in the game other than collect items.
/Hypocrasy (All I do it mf. )

Have fun with the fishy. They are lots of fun!
Corpse + CE = Big Boom :wink2:

 

I have various characters I use for MF. I use a Barbarian for Mephisto, LF Amazon for Pindleskin, and a MS/Strafe Amazon for lvl 85 areas. I don't MF cows anymore as that never seemed to pay off for the time consumed, though I do typically get good rune and charm drops. I enjoy them all and I don't care whether they are the most efficient or not.

 

I always used to use a Barb for general MFing.... maybe not be the best, but with Find Item I found many a nice extra item along the way.

Personally, I always played an MF character for fun though - I was never that serious about it. I had an MF Sorc but I got so bored of the speed of the kill and the whole rinse and repeat thing... coupled with no real danger ever.... it just bored me.

I think running just isnt my thing which is why I am happy going non-twinked now I am back.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

 

can a full synergy blizz sorc run hell baal? If I recall, those girls that can spawn are cold immune...

 

An outstanding place to use your current bowzon would be the City of the Damned WP. Starting there means no teleport is necessary. Then clear the level 85 River of Flame, Chaos Sancturay, and finish with big D.

Or just start at the RoF WP and do the CS. Not many builds can clear that area faster than a multishot zon.

 

@d00m - Yeah, just make sure your merc has a big hurty stick. (A HelHel Bonehew on switch is nice for dealing with the 2nd wave, too - copyright grogs )

edit - Smiters (or any Pally.. with 1 point in it, and lots of Crushing Blow, thanks for telling me Smite didn't use AR, SP forum, heh) can stomp Meph pretty good, as an alternative to a Sorc.

If I remember right, my Zealot (with tele charges) vs. my pure Blizz sorc, the difference is only 5-9 seconds, depending on map. (then again, if you take into account repair time, the Sorc probably gets in more runs per hour by a fair amount)

 

Sorcies are just cheap and effective for any type of run, other chars builds can also be as efficient but generally need a very good gear, for example Hammerdin. WW barb with maxed Find Items is can match soso for area85 IMHO, and more fun.

 

My bowzon is unfortunately strafe-based, so I don't know how fast it would compare to a multizon. I do notice that she is pretty safe at clearing out zones like river of flame + chaos sanctuary due to a fat valk and decoy, but it's not something I can do at players 8 in a reasonable amount of time (those stupid flesh spawners take forever, pretty long at players 1!). On the other hand, extra player count doesn't affect how the champions/uniques drop, which is what I would be after anyways.

Hehe I just started pindle running. I did about 50 runs and got a messerschmidts . The ATMA numbers are really scary though; I'm at 600% MF with a pure blizz sorc and most of the good uniques I'm looking for are easily 1/10,000 +. I think I'll stick with pindle to get those cool elite set pieces like IKSC and the Tal Rasha armor, then maybe hop back to hell meph for arm of leoric and trang-oul's wing.

I wonder what exactly is the ideal setup for pindle runs. My blizz sorc does it in around 22 secs when he's not CI; CI takes another 10+ seconds for the merc. I probably should give my merc a duriel's for cannot be frozen to help him kill CI pindles faster, cuz currently he gets chilled. I'm kicking myself for selling inertia charms, because those would cut down a couple of seconds which is considerable over time. I think perhaps a lightning trap assassin might be the best for pindle if you had enigma; when you start cast burst of speed, switch to craint vomir, dash down to the portal, teleport up to the edge, then mass death sentries. Even if pindle is LI, your traps would rip up his minions and explode them, maybe killing him.

On a side note (I know I'm going all over the place here) how does triple immunes work? I remember vaguely that monsters can't be triple immune, so what does it mean when pindle is CI FI? It reads just cold immune and poison immune when he spawns that way, so what happens to the fire immune which he is normally? Is it capped at 95% resist for fire? Or is it indeed 100%+ but just doesn't technically count as immune, so -% resists would function at full strength?

 

I never try to use amazon to run any place. From what i read in guides and threads, i summed up these few points myself:

1. Sorc for fast killing, especially on single target like act boss. (Teleport is a great advantage)
2. Fishymancer for area clearing. A bunch of minions will do the job for you and you can sit backand relax. Best recommended area will be lv 85 or most commonly known as pits level.
3. Barbarian for finding most of the items. Why? Obvious reason: the item finding war cry which i have forgotten about the name.

 

A strafazon makes a pretty decent pit runner if you can get a nasty bow on her like a WF.

 

strafe is bat with WF, more good is to go ith multishot.
not even a blizz sorc beat a lighting zon in pindle runs. on p1 she kills faster

 

:grin:

It's called....... *drum roll*....... Find Item!! :thumbsup: :wink2:

 

I used to have a strafezon on bnet awhile back that used WF. She was far from bad.

 

Harmony
4 Socket Missile Weapons
Tir + Ith + Sol + Ko
Level 10 Vigor Aura When Equipped
+200-275% Enhanced Damage (varies)
+9 To Minimum Damage
+9 To Maximum Damage
Adds 55-160 Lightning Damage
Adds 55-160 Fire Damage
Adds 55-160 Cold Damage
+2-6 To Valkyrie (varies)
+10 To Dexterity
Regenerate Mana 20%
+2 To Mana After Each Kill
+2 To Light Radius
Level 20 Revive (25 Charges)

Is a pretty decent runeword for a 'zon.

No IAS, so you need a fast bow, but tons of damge for runes that are fairly easy to get.

You'll need the RWM to make it though.

Put it on a Matriachal bow (+1-3 Bow skill, and -10 speed - very fast).

 

my opinion:
For bosses: sorceress - teleport, static, powerful spells
For lvl85 boss runs: sorceress - teleport, powerful group spells

The only character that can rival a blizz/blizzball sorc imho is hammerdin with Enigma.