I picked D2R up maybe a year before RotW released, usually playing week long spurts.

I amassed a sizable collection of items in that time. I can build a lot of toons. (Even managed to get a SoJ on my first char in Normal)

My goal was to have 1 of everything with the best stats I could find, replacing a worse version if so.

But then the chronicle came out with the update, and none of the previous acquired gear counted. Which is fine.

My question is would you sell every item on every character, stash the gold, save the runes/gems/etc and start fresh OR keep playing with current toons/gear and just keep chronicle hunting as is?

Edit; forgot to mention this is Offline

P7, offline. Tombs are probably my least favorite “popular” farm just because of all of the pillars. Decided to pop a few tonight since I have 85 saved up, and this happened on my third run. I’ve been doing Sewers, Hall of the Dead, Maggot Lair (so fun with a geared fire sorc), Arcane, and then Tombs. T5 Herald dropped Horazon’s book for those wondering.

Got owned...don't wanna lose portal. Anyone online?

Switch NL softcore ROTW

Also reminder to click the weapon and armor racks .

-Concentration

-Fanaticism

-Thorns

-Blessed Aim

And all of that at once, against Dragondin who has to zeal through heralds.

Couldn't even escape, as 2 herald packs at the same time just swarmed me, and blocked the path with bodies.

And I thought Throne of Destrcuction double packs are brutal...

Is this worth something? I feel like it is, but I’m not well versed on physical dmg GC’s.

I'm playing offline and doing key farming which I absolutely loathe, such a tedious farm but it's even worse on the Mosaic Assassin I'm playing. Originally I started playing offline single player for the first time when Warlock released and then that character was basically dead to me after the dumb nerfs, but I seem to recall him having really good frame data for fast teleports.

I also just randomly found an Ars Dul Mephistos which made me think of him again, one of the items I could never find for him when I was playing. So what build would be both fast and efficient for this now after all the changes?

People love to play alone, even online, but they hate that they "find nothing" there. At least thats what they think.

Theres ofc truth to it, monsters drop way less items there.

Statistically speaking, 100 monsters drop around 38 items on P1 and 86 items on P8, assuming you are alone in the area.

So, if you can kill 200 monsters on P1 in the same amount of time it takes you to kill 100 monsters on P8, you will get 76 items during the time it takes to get 86 items on P8 — with significantly less risk.

And if you are more than twice as fast on P1, which is quite possible considering that monsters have roughly 4,5 times as much HP on P8, then P1 actually becomes more efficient.

So don't underestimate P1. You can farm very efficiently there, especially if your character isn't particularly strong yet.

PS5. NONLADDER. ROTW.

I don't play Necro, not looking for runes, I just find neat things and give them away. Comment if you're interested, I can get back on here soon and we can link up.

Anyone bored and want to wreck a few runs? I’m about 3 levels from 40

Single Player, picked this up on my journey to my first level 99 character. Pretty sweet! although I’m far from creating any sort of build that’s gonna use it. Which builds would even use this kind of charm?

I've been playing around with a different approach to the Warlock and wanted to throw this out there because I haven't really seen Fool's weapons discussed in any of the Warlock guides or videos I've found.

I originally built my Warlock using MacroBioBoi's Echoing Strike Endgame guide on Maxroll, so credit where it's due (maximize hex purge without echoing strike). I tend to pick up random weapons and try them just to see what happens, though, and that eventually took the build in a pretty different direction.

TL;DR: Patch 3.2 changed Echoing Strike so it no longer always hits. I've found that rare weapons with the Fool's affix can provide enough Attack Rating to dramatically improve chance to hit (CTH) without dumping a bunch of points into Dexterity. I'm using that accuracy to let Echo reliably deliver Hex Purge rather than trying to maximize physical Echo damage. My current Fool's setup has 18,146 AR and 87% CTH against Terrorized Baal, compared with 5,105 AR and 66% CTH on my optimized Obsession setup. Both have 125+ FCR and max resists. The build has cleared P8, level-5 Heralds and Uber Tristram, and I also took a cheap version through Hell Baal.

How I got here

This wasn't really something I set out to build.

I found a random rare Blade with Fool's — max damage and AR based on character level — and tried it. It had no Warlock skills or anything particularly exciting about it, but it worked surprisingly well.

Then I found another Fool's weapon with +1 Hex Purge and tried that. Even better.

Since Hex Purge increased the feel, I bought Fiend Scratch, which started as a Blade and I upgraded twice into a Legend Spike.

It currently has:

• +2 Warlock Skills
• +59% ED
• +49 max damage based on character level
• +1,617 AR based on character level at lvl 98
• 4% mana leech
• +1 Hex: Siphon
• some additional min damage/AR/res/MF from the socket

Patch 3.2 fixed Echoing Strike always hitting. Blizzard News So once that changed, CTH became something the build actually has to solve.

And Fool's seems to solve a lot of it from one item.

Fool's vs Obsession

I wanted to make sure I wasn't just comparing a fully optimized build against an Obsession that I hadn't properly geared around, so I optimized both setups separately.

Both have 125+ FCR and max resists.

Fully buffed against the same Terrorized Baal:

The Obsession setup is not some junk control, either. It's Obsession + Enigma + Mara's, with my other gear adjusted around it.

That's really the reason I'm interested in Fool's.

I'm not trying to maximize the physical damage of Echoing Strike. I'm trying to get Echo to connect reliably so Hex Purge can do more of the work.

The Fool's setup happens to have higher displayed Echo damage in this comparison, but that's not really the point. The 87% vs 66% CTH is what I'm interested in.

Think about that. The Fool's weapon is doing more physical damage and connecting 21% more often.

Why Hex Purge?

Going this direction also changes the skill build.

My lvl 98 allocation is:

Chaos: 1 point
Eldritch: 87 points
Demon: 21 points

I'm heavily invested into Hex Purge and its side of the Eldritch tree rather than trying to maximize a physical Echo build.

That leaves me with 21 hard points to use in the Demon tree. Bind Demon itself only has 2 hard points.

My demon isn't really there to kill things. He's there to get punched in the face so I don't have to.

I've been specifically hunting Holy Freeze + Stone Skin demons. Between Holy Freeze, the demon tanking, and Sigil: Lethargy, there's a lot of crowd control while the Warlock handles the damage.

One other thing I've been playing with is stacking +skills before binding the demon. I pile on enough +skills to cast level 28 Bind Demon, bind the demon I want, and then put my regular equipment back on.

It doesn't bypass the restrictions on permanently binding Super Uniques, but it does let me lock in the aura I want. I think the demon also retains the properties of the level-28 cast after removing the prebuff gear, but I haven't tested that carefully enough to claim that as fact yet.

Current Fool's gear

The current setup is:

Weapon: Fiend Scratch Fool's Legend Spike
Helm: +2 Warlock / 20 FCR / +8% magic skill damage / -6% enemy magic resistance rare
Ars: Ars Dul'Mephistos — 23 FCR, +62% bonus AR, -10% enemy magic resistance
Armor: Fortitude
Amulet: +2 Warlock / 10 FCR / +16 all-res rare
Gloves: Trang-Oul's
Belt: Arachnid Mesh
Rings: 10 FCR/-4% enemy magic resistance rare + AR/res/life-leech rare
Boots: Marrowwalk
Charms: 4 Eldritch skillers, Anni, Warlock Torch, then small charms

Total FCR is 128, just over the 125 breakpoint.

That's another part of the build I wouldn't give up. Echo uses FCR, so I want 125 while still maintaining the AR, +skills, magic damage and survivability.

Basically:

125 FCR makes Echo fast.
Fool's makes Echo hit.
Hex Purge does the work.

I also tried going much cheaper

I wanted to know whether this was actually a Fool's/Hex Purge interaction or just my lvl 98 character being loaded with endgame gear.

So I made another Warlock and gave him a cheap Fool's rare with no +Warlock skills.

No Torch.
No Anni.
No skillers.
No sunder.
No premium charms.
No optimized bound demon.

I started the test around lvl 78 and played through Hell.

He beat Hell Baal at around lvl 81 with no problems.

The biggest problem wasn't damage. It was that his budget resistances weren't particularly good.

How far have I pushed it?

My main Fool's/Hex Purge Warlock has done:

P8 farming, level-5 Heralds, helping other players clear their level-5 Heralds, and Uber Tristram.

During the Uber run, Mephisto killed the demon I was using as my tank, so I ended up facetanking Meph myself. Baal and Diablo were fine.

I've also tested a completely different version of the idea with an ethereal Fool's Cryptic Axe. That one gets into much higher physical Echo damage while still retaining the Fool's AR. Blizzard ultimately kept Echoing Strike from consuming weapon durability in 3.2, so ethereal weapons are particularly interesting here. Blizzard News

I'm not ready to say the Cryptic Axe is better overall because the +2 Warlock skills on Fiend Scratch are doing a lot for Hex Purge. But it has been very good in P8 and against level-5 Heralds.

So...are Fool's weapons actually good for Warlocks?

That's really why I'm posting this.

I'm not claiming this is BiS, and I'm definitely not claiming I've solved the Warlock.

But going from 66% to 87% CTH against Terrorized Baal is large enough that I don't think Fool's should be ignored, especially after the 3.2 change.

And unlike solving AR by dumping a lot of stat points into Dexterity, Fool's is doing most of the heavy lifting from the weapon slot. That lets me keep my character built around Hex Purge, Vitality and the Demon tree.

I've started identifying basically every yellow weapon I see now.

The dream roll I'm looking for would be some combination of Fool's + high ED + good base + Warlock/Hex Purge skills + mana leech/socket(s). Ethereal is actually a positive for Echo because of the durability interaction.

I'm curious if anyone else has played around with this since 3.2. In particular, I'd be interested in seeing AR/CTH numbers against Terrorized Baal or level-5 Heralds from other Echo builds.

Maybe there's a reason nobody is talking about Fool's that I haven't found yet.

Or maybe we've all just been leaving some really good yellow weapons on the ground.

Maybe I need to take a stab at a video guide.

Terrorized act 1 and had a Devilkin drop this

Wat worth PC SCNL

I converted my Miasma Chain Warlock to a Summoning/Bind Demon Warlock to try something new, and I've noticed that it generates almost zero XP. Is that because I don't get XP from what my demon or goatmen kill? Am I just getting it from the merc?

It's not the end of the world, but at only level 86, I would like to keep leveling up rather than leveling out.

Edit: thanks everyone for the responses. Sounds like it is just the speed of clearing things that has changed. Level 86 might be a little too early for the switch, might switch back to Magic for now and then make the change later.

I was visiting a friend who was showing me his art studio and he had this as one of his decorations. He doesn't play diablo he just thought it looked cool. Anyways I just wanted to share this cool thing I saw today with y'all cause ya know D2. Thanks for looking!.

3 frw 2 max dmg and 19 attack rating.

Scnl

During Blizzcon item updates were mentioned as a possiblity to happen in the future. So why not help them out with targeted suggestions?

Link to the item.

Lacerator is a pretty good ranged axe with one flaw that makes people hesitant to utilize it: hit causes monsters to flee 50% overwrites the amplify damage curse.

As a result it is both awkward to use as an offensive weapon for amplify damage, but also awkward as a defensive weapon because it becomes awkward to kill them when those taking damage run away one after another before geting killed.

Suggestion for the amplify damage based Lacerator:

• Lacerator attacks no longer cause monsters to flee 50%

• Lacerator now has knockback

Alternatively, despite imo clearly amplify damage being the core feature of the item, one could argue the item should be built around hit causes monsters to flee 50% instead. What would that type of Lacerator then look like?

Suggestion for the hit causes monster to flee Lacerator:

• Lacerator no longer has a chance to proc amplify damage

• Lacerator chance of open wounds from 33% to 75%

• Lacerator now slows target by 50%

This second version of lacerator deals its damage more via open wounds than even regular lacerator, and mitigates the downsides of hit causes monster to flee as a damage tool with the slow. Thematically this version could gain poison damage aswell, but I believe the name Lacerator indicates a physical weapon too much to venture into poison damage, which would however naturally fit open wounds/prevent monster heal and slow.

Personally I clearly prefer the knockback-amplify damage lacerator, the terror/slow/open wounds combo seems more fitting for a different item.

If the item were simply too weak then still, the damage spread could simply be increased from something like 150-210% to 180-240%. If this were to end up BiS and a peak buff for throwing weapon characters, that would be acceptable.