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  Hahnsoo1 Make Ready. We Hunt.Registered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  Building Your Character
  
  In the beginning (a decade ago), I found that it was fun to place stat points and skill points in whatever I felt was best at the moment. This was fun and felt quite organic, but then you will hit a "wall" somewhere. That wall might be at Duriel, Act 2. Or it might be at the Big D himself. Or it could be the Hell difficulty. When playing with friends, you probably won't run into this wall, but you'll certainly feel it when playing solo.
  
  Nowadays, building a Diablo 2 character has been refined into an art. With greater knowledge of various game systems (and unfortunately, bugs), along with the new Synergies and Runewords added in the 1.10 patch, a myriad of fun and exciting character builds have been refined. You don't have to follow any "builds" to the letter (unless they are Advanced builds which require careful calculation of stats and skills), but it helps to know what options are out there.
  
  There's typically a discussion of build "viability" in most Diablo 2 forums and threads. This generally only refers to end-game Hell difficulty. For the most part, any intelligent application of skills and stats will result in a character that can do all of Normal and at least the first two Acts of Nightmare.
  
  General character building

  • For stat allocation, most of the time, you will only need as much Strength and Dexterity to equip your gear. For the novice, this will amount to about 100 Strength and usually very little, if any, Dexterity. In most Hell-viable builds, folks will recommend having enough Dexterity to achieve a 75% block rate with your shield (as you level up, if you don't put points into Dexterity, your shield block rate will suffer), but this can easily be done with end-game level ups and gear. Your remaining points should be sunk into Vitality.
    
    Very few builds will need points into Energy - your mana increases with levels, and it's easy to get large amounts of mana from gear. Drink mana potions like water until then. No points into Energy unless your build absolutely need it.
    .
  • The general formula for building a character is to pick your favorite skill of your chosen class. Look at the skill and all of its synergies. In general, Max out your favorite skill and the synergies. Put one point into the prerequisite skills for that skill and its synergies. Put one point in any "one point wonder" skills (Natural Resistance, Static Field, etc.). This should take up all of your skill points for many levels.

  
  Recommended New Player Builds
  The general recommendation for a New Player is to pick a build that doesn't require a lot of gear (as you won't have much gear as a newbie) and is primarily skill dependent for damage (as skills will give you decent damage for every point you sink into them). Most folks will recommend that you play a beginning build that isn't reliant on a high level skill to deal damage, as you won't be able to plow through the early Acts in Normal difficulty.
  
  Here are some good early options:

  • Necromancer Summoner - a Necromancer focusing on Raise Skeleton and Skeleton Mastery for the first 40-ish levels. Also known as Skeletonmancer, Skelliemancer, Fishymancer, Summonmancer, or Lagamancer. Summoners typically have some trouble when they first reach Act 4 (your skeletons at that level will probably be too weak to defeat Diablo easily, it is still doable with enough levels, a good merc, and Decrepify/Clay Golem) - but otherwise, summoners have the distinction of being able to take on the whole game, Nightmare and Hell included, with absolutely terrible equipment. An detailed example of a Summoner build.
    .
  • Sorceress Fireball/Frozen Orb - a Sorceress using Frozen Orb and Firebolt/Fireball. Until level 30, just keep sinking points into Firebolt. This will carry you all the way through Normal. At level 30, switch to Frozen Orb, which will carry you all the way through Nightmare. Frozen Orb and Fireball will complete Hell.
    
    Note the runeword Leaf (Tir+Ral), which grants +3 to Firebolt and +3 to all fire skills. Make it in a staff with +3 to firebolt, and you've got a +9 to firebolt staff! The Countess in Normal difficulty can drop both Tir and Ral, and Qual-Khek in Act V will give you a Ral rune (and Ort and Tal) as the second quest reward.
    
    Two-tree sorceresses like these can be effective without expensive gear, and can use Teleport to run bosses more quickly than a summoner. They may have some trouble beyond Hell Act III without decent gear, though - too many tough Fire immunes, especially if you don't have a well-armed mercenary.
    .
  • Barbarian - Barbarians are simple. You hit things. They die. Excellent for playing softcore when you're half asleep. You have all of these skills and shouts, but the passive Masteries are really all that you need to become the ultimate tank and meleer. While you'll have trouble against ranged monsters and casters, that's what your friends/mercs are for, right?
    
    Barbarians are quite gear dependent to be viable at harder difficulties, but on the bright side, everyone knows that your Barbarian is a frontline fighter and tank, and so they are more willing to give you loot drops that help a frontline fighter (unless you are playing a Singer or Throw Barb, in which case you probably should have a lot of experience under your belt first, anyway).
    .
  • Paladin Zealot- see: Barbarian, except with auras instead of warcries and masteries. As long as you have at least 4 points in Zeal (after gear) and 1 point in Might or Concentration, you should be good to go. You'll eventually max out Zeal and all of the synergies, and you'll want to max out Fanaticism as your main aura when attacking. It's a solid melee character, and Fanaticism is always appreciated in a party situation.
    .
  • Assassin Kicker - AKA Kick-sin, kick-assin, D-Talonsin. An Assassin that uses Dragon Talon exclusively (without charge-ups). The main advantage of playing a Kicker is that your damage does NOT come from your weapon. It comes from your boots. This allows you to rely on cheap boots rather than expensive weapons: just keep raising your strength high enough to wear appropriate footwear, and you should be able to do massive damage to a single target. There are some weird and funky rules affecting kicks (for example, elemental damage and mana/life leech from your weapon apply to your kicks, but not Deadly Strike or %Enhanced Damage), but it is one of the best single target killing skills. I tend to play a Kick/Trap hybrid listed here (mirror). Just sink 20 points into Dragon Talon for your first 20 levels, then invest the rest in the Lightning Trap tree.
    
    Moderately dependent on gear (boots and a fast weapon, mostly) and knowledge of what makes Dragon Talon work. Once you get Death Sentry, you can let your traps carry you, saving your Dragon Talon kicks for act bosses.
    .
  • Druid Summoner - wolves, or bear, depending. Summons are somewhat weaker than the necromancer's, so a hybrid with some other skill is encouraged (Tornados for casters. Shapeshifts for melee). In particular, Werebears are popular as a hardcore starting character because the Werebear shapeshift and Oak Sage spirit boost your life to safer levels.
    .
  • Amazon Javazon - A javelin throwing Amazon. Because your damage will primarily come from your Javelin throwing skills and Charged Strike, you aren't really dependent on gear (other than a decent shield and armor), unlike Bowazons. You can invest in any of the Passive/Magic tree skills with 1 point, and pump the rest into Charged Strike (using 1 point in Jab as your main skill until then), culminating in Lightning Fury at level 30. It will absolutely destroy nearly any grouped clumps of monsters in Nightmare. Note: This build relies almost entirely on Lightning Damage, which isn't good against Lightning Immunes.

  
  "Cookie-cutter" build names for Googling are as follows:

  • Assassin - Kicksin. Trapsin. Self-explanatory, really.
  • Amazon - bowazon. glass cannon bowazon (base Vitality, sinks nearly all points in Dexterity for maximum damage output). Javazon (typically using the lightning javelin skills, not poison).
  • Barbarian - whirlwind. Frenzy. Concentrate. Singer (lots of warcries).
  • Druid - summoner (wolves, or bear). Shapeshifter (wolf, or bear. May use rabies, or fury, or hunger). Wind.
  • Paladin - Fanaticism zealot. Tesladin (zeal/holy shock). Frostadin (zeal/holy freeze). Avenger (vengeance) Hammerdin (blessed hammer).
  • Necromancer - summoner. Bonemancer (bone spear/bone spirit). Poisonmancer (poison nova). Daggermancer (poison dagger).
  • Sorceress - single-tree fire/cold/light sorceresses. Or any two of: Frozen Orb, Blizzard, Meteor, Fireball, Lightning, Chain Lightning.

  
  Mercenary Choice
  Yes, that mercenary is an essential part of your character. Your faithful buddy through thick and thin, your mercenary choice can greatly affect how well you survive and deal damage.
  
  Most people choose Act II mercenaries (the spear/polearm users with auras), because their auras can be extremely useful. Many key runewords that grant auras also work in polearms. The most popular choices tend to be Normal Act II Combat (Prayer), Normal Act II Defensive (Defiance), Nightmare Act II Defensive (Holy Freeze), and Nightmare Act II Offensive (Might).
  
  Most caster characters on a budget go with Normal Act II Combat with an Insight polearm, granting a high life and mana regeneration (Prayer synergises with the Meditation granted by Insight, doubling the life regeneration). Nightmare Act II Defensive with Insight is another cheap option, granting more crowd control (via mass slow) instead of life regeneration.
  
  At the high end, a few folks go for Act 1 Rogues with a aura-granting runeword bow, but the desirable auras are hideously expensive. Edge (granting Thorns) and Harmony (granting Vigor) are both cheap, though their usefulness is dubious when compared to Act II mercenaries.
  
  Popular weapons for mercenaries are runeword items that add an aura (paladin-in-a-box!), life leech weapons (crucial for Act I, II and V mercenary survival), and Crushing Blow weapons (helps kill bosses).
  
  Note that virtually no one uses the Hell mercenaries, because they have slightly lower stats than one hired in Normal difficulty.
  
  Detailed Build Lists
  Here are some websites to get you started:

  • http://strategy.diii.net/ (mirror)- Builds for just about every class, for PvP or PvM. Stick with the PvM builds, if you're playing with us. The guides vary in quality from "Monkeys on typewriters" to technical masterpieces. It may be a good idea to post your selected build before embarking on it, since many older build guides miss out on new discoveries about the game engine.
  • http://forums.diii.net/forumdisplay.php?f=9 - go to your class forum and look at the stickied build list!
  • http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=10971928399&sid=3000 - long, long list of common builds. Some may be old, though.

  
  New Player Tips
  
  This will be an ongoing list of tips for people who are new to Diablo II, or people who haven't played the game in a while.
  

  • OMG! I don't have monay! How can I haz gold?
    Early in the game, you will have a very small earning potential. In Act I, I recommend picking up everything not nailed down and selling it. Throwing weapons are surprisingly profitable (Throwing Knives, even cracked ones, sell for 480 gold+), and constitute the majority of my sellable loot when I start out. Jewelry is always modestly profitable (and you can't beat the inventory space cost). Most people keep their Chipped gems and Rune drops rather than selling them. Scepters, Staves, and Wands all potentially sell well (the more skills they buff, the more money you can get). In later acts, Heavy Armors sell for a reasonable profit.
    .
  • OMG! I haz too much gold! What to spend it on?
    Store enough to resurrect your mercenary and repair your stuff... then gamble the rest. In Softcore, you'll lose it when you die anyway, and you have low caps to your gold in your stash until level 30. In Hardcore... well, you lose everything anyway. So go ahead and spend it on the local gambling vendor (Gheed, Elzix, Alcor, Jamella, Nihlathak, Anya). Gamble for gear pieces that fit into slots in which you don't already have something decent. If you don't have a good belt, gamble for Belts until you get a nice rare one. Or run out of money.
    
    If you plan on gambling a lot (which is an entirely viable way of acquiring high-end equipment, especially if you trade), consider making an Edge bow (Tir+Tal+Amn), which bizarrely grants -15% vendor prices. And get a Gheed's grand charm too.
    .
  • Argh! Lightning! I keep dying to Lightning Enchanteds/Scarabs/Gloams
    Unfortunately, you'll just have to raise your Lightning Resists or use Poison weapons on these bastards. Raising your Lightning Resists is always a good investment, even if it's just three Chipped Topazes in a shield. Use hit and run tactics, healing after every few hits (since you're going to eat a few Charged Bolts). Or use a Ranged weapon/distance spell.
    .
  • I keep getting killed when running away!
    When you are running, your armor is reduced to nothing and enemies have a 95% chance to hit you. So don't run through a crowd. Or switch to walk to get away, then flip on the run when you are clear. Faster Run/Walk is a surprisingly useful investment. You can get up up to 40% faster run/walk on boots. Note that heavy armors reduce your run/walk speed.
    .
  • Damn Archers/Javelin tossers/Gloams keep hitting me!
    You can dodge these projectiles, but some classes have skills that allow them to mitigate ranged attacks. Amazons have Slow Missiles, Assassins have Cloak of Shadows, Necromancers have Dim Vision. Carrying a shield is often worthwhile to block a few projectile hits and can be essential in Hell difficulty with some builds.

  
  Hardcore Gameplay Tips
  
  We tend to roll up new characters to play with new folks who come into the Hardcore PA games, so there's no problem of "passing people up", as it were. NoGreatName tends to log in and drop pressies for everyone, too. Because of player turnaround (i.e. deaths), the Normal game tends to be populated.
  

  • It's very tempting to sink your initial points into Strength or Dexterity so that you can use that Scimitar or wear that Breast Plate earlier... but don't. Seriously, don't - your first twenty points go straight into Vitality. Maybe thirty.
  • Don't put your eggs in one basket! If you find some cool gear or you have a hoard of gems/runes, mule them off to another character. Make multiple characters so that if you lose one, you won't lose your only Act III capable character.
  • Never do a boss alone. Andariel and Duriel aren't too difficult to solo at the appropriate level, but you never know when the lag monster will hit, and there's a chance that you are overconfident and underprepared for the encounter. Bring friends. PA: here to help.
  • The false Summoner in Act II can be unpredictably dangerous as well. Don't stand in his fire wall. Dodge his glacial spike.
  • Never do Diablo alone, either. Even well-prepared characters can be caught off guard by Diablo's Pink Hose of Doom. Note that to complete the Diablo act quest, a character who hasn't completed the quest must be partied and standing very close to Diablo - the pillars just north of the central star are a good hiding place.
  • Start making some alts when you get a character to Act 3. You should be able to assemble Khalim's Flail into Khalim's Will, and then mule that off to your brand new characters. Khalim's Will has no requirements to equip, attacks swiftly, and does 1-40 Lightning damage, which allows you to plow through all of Act 1 and nearly all of Act 2 with little effort. It is - without exception - the best starting weapon.
  • Resists and Life are important, more so in Hardcore than in Softcore. You should have at least 50% lightning and fire resist before taking on Diablo (75% ideally). Swap equipment if you have to, or delay your Diablo kill attempt. Without Lightning resists, the Pink Hose of Doom is an INSTANT kill.
    * Remember that antidote and thawing potions will temporarily boost your cold and poison resists. Chug 'em before taking on Andariel, Duriel, Mephisto, or Baal for the first time.
    ** Lightning Resists are paramount in Normal difficulty. The leading cause of death is a carpet of Charged Bolt death from a Scarab or Lightning Enchanted boss. Get a 3-socketed shield and dump 3 Chipped Topazes in there, if you have to.
    *** We've also had folks killed or almost killed by Meteor spells in Act 3 Durance of Hate. You should probably have some decent Fire (for Meteors) and Lightning resists (for Mephisto) by the time you get to the end of Act 3. Mephisto also occasionally launches a cold ball that does a stupid amount of cold damage. Rare but deadly - drink a thawing potion.
  • The Safety Dance. The mods "Physical Damage Reduced By X" (PDR) and "Magical Damage Reduced By X" (MDR) may not seem like much, but they are very useful in mitigating damage. In particular, damage dealt over time tends to be calculated on a PER FRAME basis (25 frames a second!) rather than a PER SECOND value. This means that 50 damage per second on a damage over time attack will actually deal 2 damage per frame (50 divided by 25 frames), and just 2 points of damage reduction will nullify it completely. Many of the most deadly attacks in the game are dealt in this manner, including Diablo's Lightning Hose and Demon Lord/Flayer Shaman Infernos. The Safety crafted items all have these mods as a default part of the item.
  • There's no such thing as overleveling your characters for a particular area. I would strongly suggest getting to level 15 before taking on the Monastery (we've had folks die in Outer Cloister for being underleveled), and level 21 before taking on Tal Rasha's Tomb/Duriel (again, folks have died here).
  • Beware of public games. You're safe as long you're level 8 or below, but thereafter there are assorted exploits that allow PKers to kill you without warning. Play with PAers whenever possible.
  • Go into every encounter expecting to die. I mean it. If you haven't muled important stuff to your alts, stop and take time to do so. We won't laugh at you or get upset that you are slowing us down... we know the risks and the stakes. Take care of your business before you head out to kill things. You'll thank me later.
  • Resist the temptation to put future gear "to grow into" on your characters. All of the gear that your mercenary has and in your stash/inventory is GONE when you die. Keep your good gear on your mules until you are ready to use it on your play characters.
  • When you join up the PA game, allow everyone else to loot your corpse. Open the party menu and select every single person in the game. This can save your equipment when you do eventually die (and you will die at least once).
  • Also, when you die and Your Deeds Will Be Remembered pops up, STAY IN THE GAME. Do not hit Esc. If you hit Esc, your corpse will disappear and take all your equipment with it. Suppress that softcore instinct.
  • Don't be afraid to ask for gear. We might not be able to provide you with Stone of Jordan, but we'd rather that you go into battle as well-equipped as possible than to have you die for lack of decent armor/weapons.
  • If a random boss monster looks too hard to kill... don't. This isn't softcore, don't feel obliged to kill every monster you meet.

  
  Hardcore Character Killers

  • Act Bosses - Mostly Diablo (pink lightning/purple hose attack, strong fire damage, bone prison), although every Act Boss has the potential to kill you.
  • Iron Maiden - Anathema to folks who depend on melee physical damage... elemental damage and ranged attacks are fine. Iron Maiden is cast by Oblivion Mages, who are found in the Chaos Sanctuary (all difficulties) and the Worldstone Keep (Nightmare/Hell). This has killed about a dozen of us.
  • Undead Dolls - Found in Act 3 Durance of Hate (all difficulties) and the Worldstone Keep (Nightmare/Hell). These things explode when they die, with damage proportional to the amount of life left just before they died. Unfortunately, this means the more powerful you are (and more likely to one-shot these guys), the more likely you'll kill yourself. They also roam in packs, for multiple explosions if you aren't careful. This has killed about 3 or 4 of us.
  • Nihlathak - He uses Corpse Explosion, which can easily kill unprepared characters in one hit. Bring something with Rest in Peace, and don't let Waheed kill anything (or give him something with Rest in Peace). Don't bother killing Nihlathak unless you're looking for his Key of Destruction, though.
  • Pindleskin - ah, Pindle. So easy to kill - just leave your Anya portal open (don't get the Halls of Pain waypoint). But also unpredictably dangerous - beware skeleton's charge attack. Four or five skeletons can easily stunlock and kill most characters. Also, there's a bug where the Fire Enchant explosion happens randomly after Pindleskin has died (the game tries to resurrect him because he's a skeleton, but can't because he's a boss, and just replays his death explosion over and over again). If Pindleskin is Extra Strong or Cold Enchanted, stay the hell away from his corpse.
  • Extra Strong/Fire Enchanted bosses - also, just Fire Enchanted bosses with a lot of life, such as the Council and the Ancients. They explode with a wide radius and for both physical and fire damage.
  • Fire Enchanted/Cold Enchanted/Lightning Enchanted bosses - there's a bug where each enchant 'event' - the corpse explosion of Fire, the frost nova of Cold, and charged bolts of Lightning - trigger invisibly every time one of the others is triggered. This means that a Cold Enchanted Scarab will emit invisible frost novas every time it is hit, and will emit invisible charged bolts when it dies. Fire Enchanted/Lightning Enchanted Council members are incredibly dangerous for this reason.
  • Player Killers (PKers) - There are many techniques (including hacks) that people use to kill off other people's character. Again, avoid public games. Especially Baal runs, which are usually set up by PKers and their friends to draw in fresh meat and kill them with a simple TPPK at the Throne Room. There are even ways to kill people in town.
  • Lag - It does happen, and it happens to the best of us. If you cast Town Portal and it doesn't appear instantly at your location, Save and Exit. If you see network lag (mercenary and all monsters aren't moving, nothing moving on the minimap, outrageous ping if you use the /fps command), S&E immediately. Don't risk waiting. Saving and Exiting during lag won't kill off your character. Waiting until it resolves does.
  • Playing solo - Don't get me wrong... you should try to play solo at times. But just remember that it's more dangerous when you don't have someone who's got your six.

  
  Also good reading for the prospective Hardcore player: a very detailed FAQ. anti-TPPK guide.
  
  Playing in Hardcore Right Away
  Also, if you want to jump into Hardcore right away, but you don't have the option, you can either hack a single player character using one of the many character editors out there and beat the game on normal, or you can use RegEdit:

  Using Regedit to allow Hardcore mode:
  Run > type in "regedit" > enter. Then click on My Computer > HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Blizzard Entertainment > Diablo II.
  
  You should see the following keys on the list: Always Run, AutoMapLeft, AutoMapFade, AutoMapMode, etc. AllowHardcore should be right after (Default) and right before Always Run.
  
  If the AllowHardcore key is not there, add the following key (Edit > New > DWORD value):
  Name: AllowHardcore
  Type: REG_DWORD
  Data: Hex - 0x00000001 OR Decimal - 1
  
  
  
  If the AllowHardcore key is there, just change the value to 1 (decimal) or 0x00000001 (hex).

  You can also use korodullin's Registry Key here (Works for XP, not sure if it works for Vista). It does the same thing as the instructions above:
  http://korodullin.googlepages.com/Hardcore.reg
  
  Technical Help/Troubleshooting
  
  I have a kickass computer... why is it running so slowly?
  If you are having problems with video/framerate performance, try using DirectDraw instead of Direct3D. Also, try running the game in windowed mode (add a -w to the command line) or running the game in compatibility mode with an older version of Windows (98, 2000, etc.).
  
  Also note that since this is a (mostly) 2D game, you won't get realistic framerates in the 60s. In fact, the gameplay framerate is locked at 25 frames per second. The /fps will show higher values, however. Some people "claim" they can tell the difference, but really what they are seeing is the frame averaging. If you have above 30 fps, you should be fine for most situations. The higher framerates give you a buffer when the game starts to chug (if you are running at 30 fps, you may drop to as low as 5 fps... whereas a computer that can handle 60 fps will drop to around 30ish fps, which is still quite playable).
  
  Really, for the best performance on Diablo 2, you need an ancient (by today's standards) Voodoo graphics card. But those cards aren't made anymore.
  
  I still have my CD keys written down on a sticky note next to my computer, but I don't have my CDs anymore! Help!
  If you still have your CD keys, but you don't have one or more of your discs, you can download Diablo II directly to your computer through battle.net. Just register for a battle.net account and attach your CD Key to your account. Once the game is linked to your account, they will give you a downloader for the game (which supports both torrenting and direct download). You'll have to download Diablo II and Lord of Destruction separately.
  
  I keep lagging at Diablo and Baal when they die. Any way to speed things up?
  As of patch 1.12, you can play Diablo II without using the CDs, as long as you copy over all of the files on both Diablo II and Lord of Destruction that end with the extension ".mpq". If you do a full installation, you are probably missing the d2music.mpq file. Copy all of the .mpq files to your Diablo II directory (there should be other .mpq files in there), then remove the CD from the drive. If you use the downloader from battle.net, you should already have everything installed.

  Hahnsoo1 on April 2009

  

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  Hahnsoo1 Make Ready. We Hunt.Registered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  Player Lists
  
  Finally, the post that will be relevant to the interests of the gentle reader.
  
  Unless marked, we will assume that you are playing on the Ladder
  
  USWest Softcore:
  *Bartholamue (non-Ladder)
  *PaleScholar (non-Ladder)
  
  USEast Softcore:
  *wagako (Andy, Mephisto, Baal... Feel free to join usual password)
  *letum
  *zirikki
  *neaky10(active?)
  *treznor
  *cncaudata
  *LehmanCM
  *centipeed
  *lepenguin
  *ndixon399
  *padonkeyhorse
  *n3ophyt3
  *mustachiojones
  *clbucknall
  *vimonks
  *Mastrius9087
  *Pnut311
  *PA-Rhapsody
  *d2_east
  *skavenblight
  *aenjiro
  *mortenya
  *tanner_t
  *iamtheaznman
  *Forar
  *Jeice_Seifer
  *chloros
  *korodiddle
  *SleepyGorilla
  *Strickland
  *KrunkMcGrunk
  *Bartholamue
  *Arasen
  *ScrillaVilla
  *lowkeyedup
  *goodkingjayiii
  *Branta
  *aenjiro (non-ladder)
  *MosbysRanger
  *ronya
  *cookiesifwewin
  *krizz02
  *Narian-
  *langfor6
  *histronic
  *themightypuck
  
  USEast Hardcore Ladder:
  *Hahnsoo1/bloogame
  *ardielsongsmith
  *NoGreatName (retired until the Ladder reset... then it's GAME ON)
  *IdolNinja
  *delias
  *Sinuath
  *Henroid
  *Suplex86
  *darklite
  *dracilcegon
  *crusix
  *letum
  *lepenguin
  *psyck0 ("with a zero")
  *TheLawinator
  *icj2004
  *n3ophyt3
  *Streltsy
  *somersetlopez
  *Zerokku
  *bahamutzero10
  *korodiddle
  *squirrelrancher
  *WellingtonStabz
  *Threadbaresock
  *pseudopus
  *chlorosx
  *Tagged
  *Lampley
  *Jaef
  *Jeice
  *delicioustoad
  *datac0re (that's a zero in the name)
  *Grislo-east
  *valiance_
  *Jarbo
  *Tachyon_Light
  *Muerte411
  *bobcat_x
  *Kilogrammage
  *lowkeyedup
  *haakenson1
  *Myrc
  
  Europe Hardcore:
  *Absin (Ladder?)

  Hahnsoo1 on April 2009

  

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  lordswing Registered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  ladder reset team so far, more details coming as more reset details are released
  
  1. lordswing (lepenguin)
  2. GoodKingJayIII (conviction/vengeance pally)
  3. IdolNinja (ww+conc BO barb)
  4. emnmnme
  5. TheOne(AndOnly)
  6. Dr.Tongue (werebear druid)
  7. Arkan (paladin)
  8. Tag

  lordswing on April 2009

  D2:LoD East -> *FlipPaulHewitt

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  IdolNinja Registered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  lordswing wrote: »

  ladder reset team so far, more details coming as more reset details are released
  
  1. lordswing (lepenguin)
  2. GoodKingJayIII (conviction/vengeance pally)
  3. IdolNinja (ww+conc BO barb)
  4. emnmnme
  5. TheOne(AndOnly)
  6. Dr.Tongue (werebear druid)
  7. Arkan (paladin)
  8. Tag

  
  If someone also wanted to do a BO barb, I could switch to an Enchantress sorc, also specializing in static field. In fact, I think I'd rather go that route if someone else steps up.
  
  Also, awesome job on the megaposts Hahnsoo1 and ronya. Everything looks great and there's a massive amount of good info there.

  IdolNinja on April 2009

  http://idolninja.com
  http://steamcommunity.com/id/idolninja

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  No Great Name FRAUD DETECTED Registered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  If I play post patch my first hc charcter is going to be a summonmancer.

  No Great Name on April 2009

  PSN: NoGreatName Steam:SirToons Twitch: SirToons
  

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  The Doctor Registered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  Alot of shit on the ground at pa//wang on hc east.

  The Doctor on April 2009

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  TheOne(AndOnly) Registered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  I kinda have a hankerin' for a vengeadin, but does the etra elemental damage from vengeance git hit by iron maiden because its melee or not because its elemental?

  TheOne(AndOnly) on April 2009

  BNet USEast: Lampley | PKBlack FC:1850-1035-3335 | LoL PATheOneAndOnly
  PSN: Lqmpley | Steam: TheOne(AndOnly)

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  korodullin What. SCRegistered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  IdolNinja wrote: »

  lordswing wrote: »

  ladder reset team so far, more details coming as more reset details are released
  
  1. lordswing (lepenguin)
  2. GoodKingJayIII (conviction/vengeance pally)
  3. IdolNinja (ww+conc BO barb)
  4. emnmnme
  5. TheOne(AndOnly)
  6. Dr.Tongue (werebear druid)
  7. Arkan (paladin)
  8. Tag

  
  If someone also wanted to do a BO barb, I could switch to an Enchantress sorc, also specializing in static field. In fact, I think I'd rather go that route if someone else steps up.
  
  Also, awesome job on the megaposts Hahnsoo1 and ronya. Everything looks great and there's a massive amount of good info there.

  
  I'm still going to be rolling a Barb. Either WW or Frenzy, but I'll be maxing BO either way.

  korodullin on April 2009

  
  - The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
  

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  Zen Vulgarity What a lovely day for tea Secret British ThreadRegistered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  Double throw barbs are cooler.

  Zen Vulgarity on April 2009

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  Walrus Pete Registered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  If you've got the gear for a double throw barb, he is indeed the classiest of barbarians. I might try one before too long, I have a Gimmershred and I think a Lacerator, too. I've wanted a ranged-physical character for a while now, but I don't have the gear to support a strafezon.

  Walrus Pete on April 2009

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  0blique Registered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  TheOne(AndOnly) wrote: »

  I kinda have a hankerin' for a vengeadin, but does the etra elemental damage from vengeance git hit by iron maiden because its melee or not because its elemental?

  
  IM only returns damage from physical melee attacks. Skills like vengeance and beserk add non-physical damage, so you won't get as much damage returned. That being said, if your weapon does enough base damage, you could still be seriously hurt, so you still need to watch out.
  
  Also note that if you hit someone with a throwing weapon within melee range, it will count as a melee attack for the purposes of IM. Bows and crossbows don't count. I believe that leap attack doesn't count at any range also (will need more checking). Smite does count.
  
  For the megapost, I suggest that it should be mentioned somewhere about the usefulness of mods like "damaged reduced by 1" or "magic damage reduced by 1". For most attacks, these don't do much (even a fallen does a few damage per hit), but they can help a lot against frame based attacks. Such attacks deal damage every calculation frame (25 fps in D2 irrespective of what your drawn framerate is), so something that deals 50 damage per second, actually does 2 damage per frame. Thus, reducing it by 2 per frame will null the damage completely. Since many of the games worst attacks are frame based (Diablo's lightning hose, snake poison clouds, inferno), having a couple of these items can really help.

  0blique on April 2009

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  korodullin What. SCRegistered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  Zen Vulgarity wrote: »

  Double throw barbs are cooler.

  
  A lightning Javazon gave me my fill of throwing weapons, thank you very much.
  

  0blique wrote: »

  For the megapost, I suggest that it should be mentioned somewhere about the usefulness of mods like "damaged reduced by 1" or "magic damage reduced by 1". For most attacks, these don't do much (even a fallen does a few damage per hit), but they can help a lot against frame based attacks. Such attacks deal damage every calculation frame (25 fps in D2 irrespective of what your drawn framerate is), so something that deals 50 damage per second, actually does 2 damage per frame. Thus, reducing it by 2 per frame will null the damage completely. Since many of the games worst attacks are frame based (Diablo's lightning hose, snake poison clouds, inferno), having a couple of these items can really help.

  
  For some reason, I knew about all of those mechanics, but didn't have them quite click in my head properly. I'll have to keep an eye out for damage reduction stuff to see how it goes. If nothing else, it'll help keep my merc alive a bit longer.

  korodullin on April 2009

  
  - The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
  

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  Monsty Registered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  So... best OP(s) ever? Yeah, pretty much.
  
  I'm not going to play again until the reset hits. I'm already up there on East Hardcore(haakenson1), but I will also play Softcore with my buddy in case anyone cares.
  
  Hurry up 1.13!

  Monsty on April 2009

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  Zen Vulgarity What a lovely day for tea Secret British ThreadRegistered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  korodullin wrote: »

  Zen Vulgarity wrote: »

  Double throw barbs are cooler.

  
  A lightning Javazon gave me my fill of throwing weapons, thank you very much.

  
  Yes, but can you combine that with a quick switch and rape someone with frenzy?

  Zen Vulgarity on April 2009

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  lordswing Registered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  Zen Vulgarity wrote: »

  korodullin wrote: »

  Zen Vulgarity wrote: »

  Double throw barbs are cooler.

  
  A lightning Javazon gave me my fill of throwing weapons, thank you very much.

  
  Yes, but can you combine that with a quick switch and rape someone with frenzy?

  
  You don't need a quick switch to rape. Lightning frenzy IS the rape.

  lordswing on April 2009

  D2:LoD East -> *FlipPaulHewitt

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  Zen Vulgarity What a lovely day for tea Secret British ThreadRegistered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  Maybe if you throw like a GIRL.

  Zen Vulgarity on April 2009

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  korodullin What. SCRegistered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  Zen Vulgarity wrote: »

  korodullin wrote: »

  Zen Vulgarity wrote: »

  Double throw barbs are cooler.

  
  A lightning Javazon gave me my fill of throwing weapons, thank you very much.

  
  Yes, but can you combine that with a quick switch and rape someone with frenzy?

  
  Well if Frenzy is going to be used, why not just stick with that and use Double Throw for, say, IM, like I was planning to [tiny]but totally forgot to mention[/tiny]?

  korodullin on April 2009

  
  - The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
  

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  GoodKingJayIII They wanna get my gold on the ceilingRegistered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  lordswing wrote: »

  ladder reset team so far, more details coming as more reset details are released
  
  1. lordswing (lepenguin)
  2. GoodKingJayIII (conviction/vengeance pally)
  3. IdolNinja (ww+conc BO barb)
  4. emnmnme
  5. TheOne(AndOnly)
  6. Dr.Tongue (werebear druid)
  7. Arkan (paladin)
  8. Tag

  
  Bashiok says that the ladder reset could happen this month.

  GoodKingJayIII on April 2009

  Battletag: Threeve#1501; PSN: Threeve703; Steam: 3eeve

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  lordswing Registered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  Yeah, I know about that, but there's still a lot of doubt. Most resets seem to occur in June/July, so this one would be kind of early. And it's Blizzard, they won't rush anything.
  
  I might just scrap that reset team, I doubt any of us need any incentive to play when the reset/patch hits.

  lordswing on April 2009

  D2:LoD East -> *FlipPaulHewitt

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  ronya Arrrrrf. the ivory tower's basementRegistered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  Yay, new thread.
  

  0blique wrote: »

  TheOne(AndOnly) wrote: »

  I kinda have a hankerin' for a vengeadin, but does the etra elemental damage from vengeance git hit by iron maiden because its melee or not because its elemental?

  
  IM only returns damage from physical melee attacks. Skills like vengeance and beserk add non-physical damage, so you won't get as much damage returned. That being said, if your weapon does enough base damage, you could still be seriously hurt, so you still need to watch out.
  
  Also note that if you hit someone with a throwing weapon within melee range, it will count as a melee attack for the purposes of IM. Bows and crossbows don't count. I believe that leap attack doesn't count at any range also (will need more checking). Smite does count.

  
  Alas, Vengeance doesn't save you from the wrath of Iron Maiden. The magic damage won't be reflected via IM, but since Vengeance adds elemental damage as a percentage of physical damage, any weapon that'll dent that Oblivion Knight will dent you, too. Get a rare bone wand and just zeal the bastard.
  
  Berserk is okay, but beware getting mobbed. Zero defence, no life steal, and a very good chance of getting blocklocked.
  
  Leap attack will kill you if you get IMed. So will Charge. and Smite. and any melee attack with appreciable damage, really.
  

  korodullin wrote: »

  0blique wrote: »

  For the megapost, I suggest that it should be mentioned somewhere about the usefulness of mods like "damaged reduced by 1" or "magic damage reduced by 1". For most attacks, these don't do much (even a fallen does a few damage per hit), but they can help a lot against frame based attacks. Such attacks deal damage every calculation frame (25 fps in D2 irrespective of what your drawn framerate is), so something that deals 50 damage per second, actually does 2 damage per frame. Thus, reducing it by 2 per frame will null the damage completely. Since many of the games worst attacks are frame based (Diablo's lightning hose, snake poison clouds, inferno), having a couple of these items can really help.

  
  For some reason, I knew about all of those mechanics, but didn't have them quite click in my head properly. I'll have to keep an eye out for damage reduction stuff to see how it goes. If nothing else, it'll help keep my merc alive a bit longer.

  
  INTEGER DAMAGE REDUCTION IS AWESOME.
  
  The mod is ridiculous in PVM. Here's another bit that 0blique omitted: PDR and MDR overflow onto each other. If you get attacked with a combined physical/magic attack (and almost all attacks have a bit of both, even Gloam lightning), and you've got 1000 PDR and no MDR, the excess PDR will cancel out the magic damage as well.
  
  Which is really helpful since MDR is really hard to get in quantity, while PDR is... well, Sol runes. In the absence of either, integer absorb is pretty effective at nullifying elemental attacks (Thundergod's Vigor!! ridiculous mods for an Exceptional unique). Stand in a pack of Extra Strong Extra Fast Fanaticism Black Souls and heal.
  
  Note that it applies in this order: %DR/%MDR, DR/MDR, resists, %absorb, absorb. If you want to nullify magic attacks, don't bother with DR/MDR - get high resists, then integer absorb. %MDR would be optimal, but it sadly doesn't exist on any in-game items (although the engine supports it )
  
  For your merc: get a four-socket armor (Jeweler's X of Amicae would be ideal) and put four Sol runes into it - bang, 28+ PDR. But really mercs have lots of health - with life steal they shouldn't be dying much.
  

  Tag wrote: »

  Rakai wrote: »

  GoodKingJayIII wrote: »

  Walrus Pete wrote: »

  Tediak wrote: »

  Sorry if this has been asked before, but is there any place to buy D2 and expansion (or even just legitimate serials) cheaper than the $40 most retailers are asking?

  
  A few people here have had good things to say about g2buy.com, and apparently they're absurdly cheap.

  
  Yep. Check them out. They keys are legit, as far as I can tell. And if you do somehow end up with a bad one, their customer support is very responsive, and they'll send you a new key quickly. I bought my D2 and LOD keys for $6.

  
  Depends on how your conscious feels about it. D2 keys were cracked a long time ago. I have no doubt that that's what you're buying. None of your money is going to Blizzard.
  
  http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=17294 $20 at Gamestop.

  
  To be fair, I bet Bliz doesn't see a penny of the Gamestop purchase either (resell). Also, charging $40 for a 9 year old game is terrible.

  
  AFAIK spammers bought hundreds of thousand of game keys from... somewhere... years ago. Then when the Diablo II item market slowly ebbed away the spammers started selling keys instead.
  
  I'd love to find out how thousands of keys got onto the market to begin with, though. I hadn't heard that DII keys were cracked - there certainly aren't any publicly available key generators that work with Battle.net that I know of - my impression was that Blizz had probably sold a pile of them to a reseller in Some Third World Country.

  ronya on April 2009

  

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  emnmnme Registered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  korodullin wrote: »

  IdolNinja wrote: »

  lordswing wrote: »

  ladder reset team so far, more details coming as more reset details are released
  
  1. lordswing (lepenguin)
  2. GoodKingJayIII (conviction/vengeance pally)
  3. IdolNinja (ww+conc BO barb)
  4. emnmnme
  5. TheOne(AndOnly)
  6. Dr.Tongue (werebear druid)
  7. Arkan (paladin)
  8. Tag

  
  If someone also wanted to do a BO barb, I could switch to an Enchantress sorc, also specializing in static field. In fact, I think I'd rather go that route if someone else steps up.
  
  Also, awesome job on the megaposts Hahnsoo1 and ronya. Everything looks great and there's a massive amount of good info there.

  
  I'm still going to be rolling a Barb. Either WW or Frenzy, but I'll be maxing BO either way.

  
  I'd like to try out a poison-spewing necromancer with golems for support.

  emnmnme on April 2009

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  TheOne(AndOnly) Registered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  ronya wrote: »

  Yay, new thread.
  

  0blique wrote: »

  TheOne(AndOnly) wrote: »

  I kinda have a hankerin' for a vengeadin, but does the etra elemental damage from vengeance git hit by iron maiden because its melee or not because its elemental?

  
  IM only returns damage from physical melee attacks. Skills like vengeance and beserk add non-physical damage, so you won't get as much damage returned. That being said, if your weapon does enough base damage, you could still be seriously hurt, so you still need to watch out.
  
  Also note that if you hit someone with a throwing weapon within melee range, it will count as a melee attack for the purposes of IM. Bows and crossbows don't count. I believe that leap attack doesn't count at any range also (will need more checking). Smite does count.

  
  Alas, Vengeance doesn't save you from the wrath of Iron Maiden. The magic damage won't be reflected via IM, but since Vengeance adds elemental damage as a percentage of physical damage, any weapon that'll dent that Oblivion Knight will dent you, too. Get a rare bone wand and just zeal the bastard.
  
  Berserk is okay, but beware getting mobbed. Zero defence, no life steal, and a very good chance of getting blocklocked.
  
  Leap attack will kill you if you get IMed. So will Charge. and Smite. and any melee attack with appreciable damage, really.

  
  But the thing about vengeance is that it can add 1200% elemental damage, paired with conviction it'll hit something the mob isn't resistant to. i figured it would work itself out.

  TheOne(AndOnly) on April 2009

  BNet USEast: Lampley | PKBlack FC:1850-1035-3335 | LoL PATheOneAndOnly
  PSN: Lqmpley | Steam: TheOne(AndOnly)

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  kitch Registered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  So I have managed to make it past level 30 on hardcore. You have no idea how psyched I am.

  kitch on April 2009

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  Bartholamue Registered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  I always thought the first million EXP was the hardest to get.

  Bartholamue on April 2009

  Steam- SteveBartz Xbox Live- SteveBartz PSN Name- SteveBartz

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  Zombiemambo Registered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  playing a Fishymancer seems like a hack of some sort, at least compared to my Barb

  Zombiemambo on April 2009

  

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  PaleCommander Registered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  You don't think it's fair that the rarefied elite of Necromancers get to dance a merry little jig while all the monsters around us fall over and die?

  PaleCommander on April 2009

  

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  ronya Arrrrrf. the ivory tower's basementRegistered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  You know what there should be? Death Sentry, Raise Skeleton, and Skeleton Mastery as oskills. Oh yeah.

  ronya on April 2009

  

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  Zombiemambo Registered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  I don't think it's fair, but I do think it's fucking awesome

  Zombiemambo on April 2009

  

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  Grislo Registered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  Get your hands on an item with teleport charges, maybe a Naj's, and see how really unfair it can be when suddenly you and your 20 friends are standing on top of an unsuspecting monster.

  Grislo on April 2009

  This post was sponsored by Tom Cruise.

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  PaleCommander Registered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  Grislo wrote: »

  Get your hands on an item with teleport oskill, maybe a Nigma, and see how really unfair it can be when suddenly you and your 65 friends are standing on top of Baal and slowing him so hard he can't teleport.

  
  Fixed.

  PaleCommander on April 2009

  

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  Grislo Registered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  Yeah, I know. I use Enigma on mine, I just dislike the type of 'advice' that always boils down to, 'get an Enigma, n00b'.
  
  Not that you were doing that, mind.

  Grislo on April 2009

  This post was sponsored by Tom Cruise.

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  korodullin What. SCRegistered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  Pff, I've got Bers coming out of places I didn't even know Bers could come out of. Are you somehow suggesting that everyone doesn't have an infinite supply of Bers?
  
  :P

  korodullin on April 2009

  
  - The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
  

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  PaleCommander Registered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  Grislo wrote: »

  Yeah, I know. I use Enigma on mine, I just dislike the type of 'advice' that always boils down to, 'get an Enigma, n00b'.
  
  Not that you were doing that, mind.

  
  Awesome, but not helpful, I know. Enigma vastly speeds up the character, but it also makes it a lot easier to die. It's certainly not necessary to comfortably solo Hell mode. For pure survivability (and the sweetest character model transform so far implemented) I liked Trang-Oul's Avatar, while I was using it.

  PaleCommander on April 2009

  

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  korodullin What. SCRegistered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  Trang-Oul's is really fun to mess around with, but it slows down your casting so badly that I had to stop using it way back when. I think about the best you can hope for in the vampire form is, like, a 20-something frame cast speed, which is, I believe, worse than some classes base speeds.

  korodullin on April 2009

  
  - The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
  

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  Grislo Registered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  Heh, yes, I actually started out using that set too, just for the heck of it. I had a thing for class sets for a while, did a Griswold pally, a Mawina amazon and a Natalya assassin as well. The glowing auras are a bit dull compared to a transform, but the fade thing for the assassin is just silly - it looks like she's using a class spell. The assassin is the only character that still uses the set, though.
  
  Did you go for block on your necro? I did, but I'm not sure I really need it, and at times wish for just a bit more health. It can be nice when you're teleporting around blindly, though.

  Grislo on April 2009

  This post was sponsored by Tom Cruise.

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  PaleCommander Registered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  No block dex to speak of, although I still block a decent percentage of the javelins from those stupid cat-warriors. Bone armor fills a lot of the same purpose once you have enough +skills. Sadly, it no longer soaks several hundred damage like it used to before they fixed the bug with Marrowwalks.

  PaleCommander on April 2009

  

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  Forar #432 Toronto, Ontario, CanadaRegistered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  In the last thread I saw someone mention something about "scrolling through skills too quickly". Is there a legit mod that allows you to hotkey or scroll between skills quickly and smoothly? Macroing?

  Forar on April 2009

  First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!

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  Zen Vulgarity What a lovely day for tea Secret British ThreadRegistered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  Rezzing forty udar and raping Ubers is hilarious, too.

  Zen Vulgarity on April 2009

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  ronya Arrrrrf. the ivory tower's basementRegistered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  Forar wrote: »

  In the last thread I saw someone mention something about "scrolling through skills too quickly". Is there a legit mod that allows you to hotkey or scroll between skills quickly and smoothly? Macroing?

  
  In-game menu > Options > Configure Controls > Select Previous Skill. Bind to mouse scroll up. Bind Select Next Skill to mouse scroll down.
  
  Doesn't work for many players on Vista, and it's of dubious usefulness since it makes you prone to a tempban, and you waste a lot of time scrolling through prerequisites or one-point-wonder skills.

  ronya on April 2009

  

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  Tag Registered User regular

  April 2009 edited April 2009

  ronya wrote: »

  Forar wrote: »

  In the last thread I saw someone mention something about "scrolling through skills too quickly". Is there a legit mod that allows you to hotkey or scroll between skills quickly and smoothly? Macroing?

  
  In-game menu > Options > Configure Controls > Select Previous Skill. Bind to mouse scroll up. Bind Select Next Skill to mouse scroll down.
  
  Doesn't work for many players on Vista, and it's of dubious usefulness since it makes you prone to a tempban, and you waste a lot of time scrolling through prerequisites or one-point-wonder skills.

  
  Yeah the scrolling is annoying too. I normally just rebind Q through V and keep the belt as 1-4 so I have immediate access to my skills. (Actually I keep W as weapon swap).

  Tag on April 2009

  Overwatch: TomFoolery#1388
  Black Desert: Family Name: Foolery. Characters: Tome & Beerserk.
  (Retired) GW2 Characters (Fort Aspenwood): Roy Gee Biv
  (Retired) Let's Play: Lone Wolf

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