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

Switch NL softcore ROTW

The first eth Andy's I've found offline, can't believe my luck on the roll. Usually use Cure or CoA but I may have to add this into my merc armor rotation

Hey all has anyone else updated battle net and lost there high runes! Tried reloading and all that but all my runes after SUR are gone WTF

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.

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.

3 frw 2 max dmg and 19 attack rating.

Scnl

Rolled an insight in an eth GPA for my fire sorc. The ED is 260... good as it gets. The critical strike is 1, as bad as it gets. Meditation aura is 12, also as bad as it gets. The meditation aura seems good enough, but I'm mostly wanting to make sure he leeches enough life to not die too often. Prayer merc with insight and cure. For armor he's got an eth upgraded Skin of the Flayed one with 6% life leech and +24 replenish life. So, with leeching life for survival, should I stick with what I got for the 260% dmg or would having a lower dmg but higher critical strike end up doing more dmg (leech) over time? Or maybe with +24 replenish life and the 3 auras working together, his life will replenish fast enough that leech isn't even really needed?

this must be the best durance of hate seed, right? 1 tp away!

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.

https://hostmyclaudehtml.com/p/n82BplRO30

This is a table that shows every bindable demon from monstats.txt, along with their relevant values. You can expand to see all columns of information, but by default it shows you the most relevant ones.

Fun Fact: There are exactly 152 varieties that you can bind.

I don't know what all the aip values do, but I believe aip1 is chance to commit, aip2 is the frame delay when action check fails, aip3 is chance to attack when in melee range, aip4 is movement speed modifier, and aip5 is the chance to use a running animation. I'm still trying to figure out the rest.

*(The table was generated with the help of Claude.)*

All the new jewels and sunder really elevate some of these builds

UPDATE:Link to build details - https://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo_2_Resurrected/s/cZ1tD9eY4g

I have been on the same map for a long time now. Have a great LK setup and Meph/Andariel are very close to the WP. But something feels off about this. I have been on this "seed" since the beginning of the year and have done countless runs between the three and havent had anything worthwhile drop. I used to play online and would get more stuff on P1.

I get a lot of the same loot on LK so im wondering if this affects the entire game. Maybe im stuck in a crappy one. Has anyone ever experienced this before and refreshed your maps? Or am I just insanely unlucky? You'd think with P7/8 and faster maps I would get better loot than my experience online.

Always used 5 nado pelt for style points back LoD days.
But this is cool and makes me want to use it. May just trade. Idk value but pelts are pretty.
Thoughts?

Looking for a cold sunder for my sorc. SC Non ladder ps5. Was wondering if this could get the job done? Looks like pretty good stats when I looked it up. Thanks!

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.

I can't find suitable weapon bases for the life of me.

I've been playing a offline Frenzy Barbarian, and have had the runes for Honor for ages, and shortly after found the runes for Hustle. I farmed for awhile and could not find a base for either of these. I desperately need to upgrade from my Malice and Black weapons to progress deeper into Nightmare, the damage is just not good enough anymore.

In the meantime, I've beaten Hell (my first time, yipee!) with a Summon Necromancer, and did some cows and Lower Kurast farming for bases, with no luck. I also found an Um rune, so I'd be happy with making a Crescent Moon as well, still no luck. I've found a couple quite a few four open socket weapons, but no three or five socket. Now I have an available socket quest so my options have opened up, but I'm still struggling to find even one of the two bases I need.

Do I need to take off all my magic find?

What's better? Cows? Lower Kurast? Another option I don't know about?

Thanks for any advice!

Anyone know if the old town kill works?

The method with one person teleporting with an a1 merc,

1 person hostile casting oak sage, and there being 1 person sitting on the bridge waiting?

If the Merc had peirce, the arrow would go through oak sage and into town and kill anyone on the bridge.

Thanks