Stuck in hell. Now what...?

[felixbavaria]

If you stay with an Act II merc, he definitely needs better gear. You don't write if you have a decent Valk (lvl 17+, synergized), and if you don't, you need a tank anyway.

Helm: Tal Rasha's death mask, Vamp Gaze > Wormskull > blood helm
Armor: Treachery > Duriel's, Lionheart, Shaftstop, Rockfleece > Boneflesh, blood armor
Weapon: Insight, Obedience (need RWM) > Strength, Honor, all in (preferably ethereal) elite polearms or Partizan / Bec-de-Corbin > anything with high ED and LL

 

[Gripphon]

Some Hell basics to throw out there, based on what I'm reading...

1. Defense is meaningless. Don't bother at all with the defense stat unless you're a Concentrate barbarian. It simply doesn't matter at all.
2. Regen is also meaningless. Unless you use the Insight/Prayer combo, you're not likely to regen any meaningful amount of life.
3. Fire and lightning resists matter a lot. Get them to 75. Cold and poison don't matter much. Keep them above zero and that's about it.
4. Really strive for max block if you're using a shield. The points invested in dexterity will usually give a better rate of return on survivability than those same points in vitality.
5. Damage doesn't really matter either. When in doubt, opt for more safety over more damage. A good example is using Cleglaw's Pincers instead of +3 skill gloves. Sure the +skills add damage, but the knockback and slows target might save your bacon.

Pretty good basics, I'll just throw in some additional info about some of them.

1. Defense is meaningless in most cases, but it can still be quite profitable for some players to use buff to up it a bit. Difference between 1500 defense and 4000 defense is like 40-50% survivability against most physical attackers in the game. They will miss you more often, you will take less damage, you will be less in hit/block recovery --> therefore you will be able to have higher damage output. But, actively going for high defense doesn't mean much. It means more to invest into damage output for example. In that sense defense is meaningless, compared to alternative.

4. Depends on the shield, really. Going for max block with Spirit shield will actually hurt you more than it will profit you. With good blocking shields, sure. With poor blocking shield its better to stick to vita build and play less suicidal ofc.

5. Survivability and damage output are very connected actually. The higher your damage output is, the faster you will get rid of monsters and the faster you will get out of danger. This simple principle is what most dedicated optimized magicfind characters are about. So for most characters more damage means more safety. Best thing is to balance between stats which do grant safety like life/slow/lifeleech etc, and damage output. After all, if damage output is too low, you will struggle with monsters longer, so primary focus should be to use some really important stats to grant you important part of survivability (be it max block, or lifeleech, or resists, or life or whatever your char needs badly), and rest effort put into damage following the survival principle stated in second sentence.

 

[GooberGrape]

Depends on the shield, really. Going for max block with Spirit shield will actually hurt you more than it will profit you. With good blocking shields, sure. With poor blocking shield its better to stick to vita build and play less suicidal ofc.

I can agree with that. I usually shoot for a 60% base shield. Anything less than that and you are probably better off ignoring dexterity and go all vita. Of course some builds (barbarians) get a lot more out of a point of vita than others (sorcs). If you can get 4000 life you probably don't need block.

 

[GooberGrape]

Depends on the shield, really. Going for max block with Spirit shield will actually hurt you more than it will profit you. With good blocking shields, sure. With poor blocking shield its better to stick to vita build and play less suicidal ofc.

I can agree with that. I usually shoot for a 60% base shield. Anything less than that and you are probably better off ignoring dexterity and go all vita. Of course some builds (barbarians) get a lot more out of a point of vita than others (sorcs). If you can get 4000 life you probably don't need block.

 

[nulio]

Even if defense is helpful in some situations when it doesn't cost much (life, res, etc) but in some play-styles it is meaningless. When running there's no hit check.
When running block is also limited to 25%.

I think that is important to let someone who is struggling to finish the game know this.

If you can't tele/WW/charge/leap out of a dangerous physical attack situation, don't run into or away like crazy.

 

[Ariadne]

You're all so nice and I have NO idea what you's all on about....you can't predict what a valkyrie wil be like? I do think I have her at level 17 or higher though. Nor can I just go about shopping for gear, I have to wait untill that drops, same with runes.... *sigh*

 

[GooberGrape]

You're all so nice and I have NO idea what you's all on about....you can't predict what a valkyrie wil be like? I do think I have her at level 17 or higher though. Nor can I just go about shopping for gear, I have to wait untill that drops, same with runes.... *sigh*

My shopping list usually looks something like this, in order of progression:

Normal Act 1 and 2 vendors (for socketed items)
Normal Baal
Nightmare Mephisto
Hell Countess
Hell Mephisto
Ancient Tunnels (or other TC87 area)

Running each of those targets 10-20 times should land you enough gear to progress through the game with ease. I especially like Hell Meph as he drops most of the endgame gear for all sorts of builds, so you never feel like your time there is wasted.

Of course if you're purposely trying to do a "single pass" well then yeah, the game is going to be difficult. But if you are willing to re-run some areas and bosses, it's a great game.

 

[Ariadne]

I rerun stuff all the time, it's how I got all that other equipment! I'm nowhere near Hell Meph, I can barely get passed anything at all in Hell let alone rerun places..... I have no idea what a TC87 area is mind you.

 

[Cyrax]

A TC87 area is an area in the game that has the potential to drop any item in the game*. These are the areas where Tyrael's and zods (amongst other items) can drop which makes them popular to run. Some of these you haven't reached yet, but the pits (hell act I) and AT's (hell act 2) are areas you can run.

Besides the chance to get better gear you can also get good exp there which should also help you and the merc lvl a bit. Which in turn should help you if you want to progress further.

Personally i prefer an act II merc for a java zon. First he can wield insight. Later on infinity. But they do need some decent equip to stay alive so i understand your current frustration with him. Also i played a big part of the game with a valk, but later on i switched to decoy and liked that more. With enough points it's quite sturdy and it's not always in placed you don't want it to be as you can cast it where you want it.

*Note: Despite me saying 'any item' some items, like cow king set cannot drop there.

 

[bodry]

Vivi: If I were you, I would run Hell Countess for good semi-rare runes. You can find her Tower in Act 1 Black Marsh. Get a map where the waypoint is next to the Tower. She will drop good runes, to start you off. Also run Nightmare Cows for good base items.
Upgrade the Moser's Blessed Circle to Luna with the Horadric Cube recipe, stick to Perfect Diamonds in it, and shoot Dexterity enough for 75% chance to Block. Lionheart, Lore runeword are your friends.
You can find every information you need at this place: classic.battle.net/diablo2exp.

Skillwise: I would reset to Fishyzon. Google Nightfish's guide to wsk amazon.

Sent from my Lumia 800 using Tapatalk

 

[Ariadne]

I know where to find the countess, I've played act I many many times since 2001.... not sure about the whole upgrade, reset and whatnot business. I guess I'm not technical enough for that. I just play. Not the first time I hear that's not how you are supposed to game.

 

[GooberGrape]

I know where to find the countess, I've played act I many many times since 2001.... not sure about the whole upgrade, reset and whatnot business. I guess I'm not technical enough for that. I just play. Not the first time I hear that's not how you are supposed to game.

You're more than welcome to play however you want. You just might not beat Hell that way. To be fair, Normal is the actual "game", Nightmare and Hell are enhanced difficulty replays. So don't feel bad if you can't waltz through Hell, it's the equivalent of "super hard mode".

 

[Cyrax]

So don't feel bad if you can't waltz through Hell, it's the equivalent of "super hard mode".

So that's why some people even do it naked?

 

[GooberGrape]

So that's why some people even do it naked?

Uhhhhhh

 

[Gripphon]

So that's why some people even do it naked?

They play diablo naked, or they play with naked characters? Or both?

Anyway, who wouldn't play with a naked amazon? Well maybe ladies would not, but you never know.

 

[Cyrax]

I was referring to the chars obviously as the being undressed yourself doesn't make the game any harder. Well, maybe it would if it was so cold that you'd be shivering all the time. Anyhow, my point was that i have no idea if they are dressed sitting at home. If you want to know that kinda thing maybe you could ask Noodle? He seems like the kinda guy that could know that kinda stuff.

Alternatively you could host a poll. Answers could be something along the lines of: always, sometimes, never, only when nobody is home, it happened and i blamed Durf for it.

 

[Noodle]

Like I'm going to wear pants when I don't absolutely have to . . . On a similar note, Outback Steakhouse's marketing slogan lately has been "No rules, just right!" They do NOT mean it.

 

[Ariadne]

You're more than welcome to play however you want. You just might not beat Hell that way. To be fair, Normal is the actual "game", Nightmare and Hell are enhanced difficulty replays. So don't feel bad if you can't waltz through Hell, it's the equivalent of "super hard mode".

That's a very nice thing to say, thanks.

As for a naked amazon - it's already amazing that she doesn't kip over all the time with that load in front of her, let alone that she can fire any arrows without 'm being in the way.