Two Finds, Two Questions

[Kaelor]

Two Finds, Two Questions

Been making fast headway through Hell with my 82 sorc so I can retire my ** when i stumbled across two things:

The first is a tip which I was completely unaware of and have not seen mentioned. When my meteorb runs across CI/FI uniques, I apply the standard static and hope my merc can finish the job. My merc is tanking well but his damage is a little weak for Hell. Being the type who refuses to park monsters or run like a sissy I came across one such CI/FI that my merc was having great trouble finishing off due to his lousy hit recoveries. Getting bored of watching his fruitless labors I took a quick peek at my skills for anything that might help. The only other lightning I have on hand besides SF was Telekinesis. What the hell, it does damage right?
I spammed my uber mid 20s damage lightning attack and laughed at myself. I stopped laughing when I realized with my fast cast I had the monster in total hit-lock. My merc, no longer being smacked around while it regenerated, did his damage much faster; fast enough to counter the regen.
In no meteorb guide have I seen this tip but it helps immensely.

Second is a find I thought I'd share and ask for your opinions on what to do with it:
Raven Mangler
Devil Star
One-Hand Damage: 228 to 280
Durability: 44 of 72
Required Dexterity: 44
Required Strength: 153
Required Level: 52
Mace Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xd203522
+430% Enhanced Damage
+379 to Attack Rating
+1 to Minimum Damage
4% Life stolen per hit
6% Mana stolen per hit
150% Damage to Undead
Is this worth keeping around for higher level chars if I socket it and give it some IAS and additional leech? I usually toss rares to the junk heap and move on but the mods on it seemed a little absurd to me.

 

[DurfBarian]

That looks like a great mace for a paladin or a frenzy barb . . . Definitely worth holding on to or trading. Don't sell it!

The TK tip is a sweet one . . . stunlock is always nice when the monsters suffer from it.

EDIT: it's REALLY great. Check out its damage in comparison to the unique elite maces out there. Sure it probably needs a Shael before some people will want to use it, but it looks pretty good to me. :drool:

 

[Sharakorr]

i agree sorta with durfbarb like it looks like a good mace if u give it some ias, but then again i think many people would prefer bstar whether u trade it or keep it is up to you :thumbsup:

 

[Kaelor]

I know what you mean. I would have preffered a BS myself. :grrr:
Is the BS less effective in 1.10? I know it is a beautiful thing for my Avenger due to the Conviction, but with the increased resists in Hell and the relatively moderate physical damage on BS, would this rare be more effective for more physical damage chars?

 

[spiral55]

Good grief, that's an awesome mace. Definitely socket a shael or IAS jewel with some ED% in it, then give it to an Avenger. The way Vengeance's damage is calculated, that thing will do much, much more damage than Baranar's. Vengeance works best with high physical damage weapons, letting the skill itself do the elemental damage based on that physical damage. Add Conviction on top of that and you'd be doing insane fire, lightning, cold AND physical damage, plus that much physical damage will make leeching back the high mana cost of Vengeance much easier.

As for your TK trick, that's hardly new (as an aside, the same trick works for pallies using Smite, no matter how low the damage might be). People have been using that tactic against tough bosses since the days of Classic. Still, it's nice that folks can see a reminder of its use as a utility skill.

 

[LprMan]

It is nice mace There is better uniques, but if you don't want to keep it, don't sell it to merchants. We have a giveaway thread stickied at the top of the page, post the stats there and send it to someone interested. Maybe it isn't good for you but godly for someone else

 

[Sharakorr]

i think that bstar is less effective in hell now what with all the mixed up combos of immunes and the frenzied death lords that can't be frozen. If i could find it, i would definetly use the 1.10 azurewrath over bstar because of the magical dmg

 

[Fafner]

I second the notion that an avenger would love that mace...I use Nord's because it has decent damage and it freezes everything, CI = bye bye with conviction. If I had another B-star, i'd trade you for it.

 

[whomhead]

for an avenger, your mace is pretty sweet... because, as Spiral said, Vengeance damage is calculated based on your physical damage you will be doing crazy-high elemental damage on top of that. with slvl 25 conviction you would be dishing out elemental damage that is effectively ~1300% ED!!! the only thing that lacks is speed, so it would definitely need a Shael. Bstar is not an effective weapon for an avenger because it does rather low physical damage... the elemental damage is nice for characters that can't get it (Fury WW druids) but that's the last thing an avenger is worried about.

congrats on a nice find!

 

[Almighty Cow]

::drools:: I want a mace like that... Gotta love Cruel Grandmaster's weapons.

 

[Stony]

If you don't want the mace, I am sure there are plenty of people who'd love to give it a good home. Like me. It's nice how rares made a comeback in 1.10, actually. It isn't all about uniques anymore.

Stony

 

[whomhead]

If you don't want the mace, I am sure there are plenty of people who'd love to give it a good home. Like me. It's nice how rares made a comeback in 1.10, actually. It isn't all about uniques anymore.

Stony

i couldn't agree more. i now pick up almost every rare weapon i find. of course i've never come across anything near 430% ED. :teeth: i've seen at least one sword with Cruel, Grandmaster's, and of Swiftness! :drool:

 

[Kaelor]

Thanks all for the input. I haven't used my 'venger in a long while so perhaps tonight I'll switch that rare with his BS. If it doesn't work out due to the attack speed I'll put it up for grabs on a giveaway thread.

 

[pharaoh]

I know what you mean. I would have preffered a BS myself. :grrr:
Is the BS less effective in 1.10? I know it is a beautiful thing for my Avenger due to the Conviction, but with the increased resists in Hell and the relatively moderate physical damage on BS, would this rare be more effective for more physical damage chars?

Don't forget, Vengeance is based off the physical damage of the weapon- double that, and Vengeance is twice as potent. Baranar's has an average damage of 144, and 1-200 of each element. The rare you found has 254 average damage, which gives a difference of 110. My zealot/avenger paly has a level 26 Vengeance with his current gear; this adds 222% elemental damage. This means an extra 244.2 damage, on average, from Vengeance. Granted, you won't have the elemental damage when using skills like Zeal, but for pure Vengeance, this weapon rocks. It's also got dual leech, which is really nice, especially with the higher phys damage, letting you leech back more- Vengeance is a very expensive skill when you compare it to other melee skills. The only one more expensive, at high levels, would be Whirlwind, but that usually lets you leech a lot on one pass.

The only other things a BStar has going for it as far as I can see would be the IAS it's got (which you can get from other sources) and the AR% bonus. You might end up with an attack slower by a frame, but with the diminishing returns on IAS, you won't be a lot slower. As for the AR%, your rare has a nice flat AR bonus, not to mention that a true avenger will be using Conviction anyways, so the target will have lost upwards of 90% of its defense- if you're still having trouble hitting stuff, you need to gain levels, not triple your AR.

The only thing that would make this weapon much better were if the base type was a faster weapon, but then you'd likely have less overall damage.

 

[whomhead]

Thanks all for the input. I haven't used my 'venger in a long while so perhaps tonight I'll switch that rare with his BS. If it doesn't work out due to the attack speed I'll put it up for grabs on a giveaway thread.

if you decide you don't like the rare, let me know and i'll gladly trade for it! my avenger could use it to open a can on the minion's of evil.

 

[jiansonz]

Wow! I have never seen a better one-handed melee weapon myself.


And I agree on the Telekinesis thing, it is very useful in some situations.