Drop t-bone steak instead of ears
This is a nerf to the set.
Requiring using a polearm significantly limits which characters can use it. Adding more items to a set is usually a nerf because it means you can’t wear something else.
Currently it’s not that bad actually. Not end game gear of course, but since you can equip it at level 25 it can be quite useful.
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It could be a great lld set if the polearm was a Bec-De-Corbin or a Partizan with at least 200%ed
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The set is awful. The only item worth wearing is boots as a temporary travs replacement.
It isn’t LLD or MLD viable, the helm/armor are straight trash in their stats and the set bonuses would all be negated by wearing real gear.
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Totally agree
It’s canon
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Yea…2 handed polearm is not a meta for most builds which is sad 
This is a nerf. There are 3 main bonuses that stand out on the Cow King set:
1: 25% Chance to Cast Static Field when Struck
2: +1 All Skills
3: 125% Magic Find
The +130 Life is also pretty high, and the +20 Strength and Dex nothing to sneeze at.
Aiming to make this a LLD set immediately negates one of the advantages of this set, the 125% Magic Find.
Additionally, you are forcing the player to use a Polearm, meaning other classes that would not use a Polearm cannot use it. Furthermore, you can already get a rare Polearm that has 150% Enhanced Damage, 30% IAS, +300 Lightning damage, that you can equip at level 26, so you be locking the wearer into a specific Polearm in order to gain 50% ED (and you also need to specify other important mods like IAS, ED is not the only important stat ona weapon). Plus, if you really want that 200% ED polearm you can always use Hwanin’s Justice which has 200% ED, 40% IAS and a chance to cast Ice Blast.
Adding additional items to sets are almost always a nerf unless that additional item is significantly more powerful than alternatives simply because it reduces the flexibility of the set.
I think the set is a plausible choice for a melee character playing through Nightmare. You are right that the helm leaves much to be desired. Still, the only specific changes I’d insist on are switching Half Freeze duration for Cannot Be Frozen and making the Chain Lightning trigger on striking instead of when struck. Some additional buffs to the helm would be nice to bring it more in line with what kind of rare you can get on a helm (I’d probably add the Visionary and Mechanic mods, flavorful and would work well with a melee character that wants either resistances or more magic find). To the body armor I’d probably add Hit Recovery.
But even if your assessment is right, it does not change the fact that suggested changes are nerfs to the set and don’t buff it at all. Nor does it change the fact that pointing the set at LLD negates most of the bonuses already on the set.
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If you started off your character with cow kings set that would be the only time it would be viable. Meanwhile getting lucky and finding the full set from the ONE monster that drops it will take a long time. Meanwhile there are plenty of other armors/helms that are not only better than the individual items, but better than the sum of the set bonses, all of which are easier to find or make rather than constantly trying to MF the king lol.
The only viable item from cow king is the boots as temps until you get travs.
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Imagine having the full set on in the Cow level and some noob keeps trying to kill you…
Then here in the forums, the random posters saying “Bug? Sometimes cows are INVULNERABLE”.
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Well, that’s always the trouble with non-endgame sets. You hardly ever find all of the pieces playing through, so it’s only useful on a new character you created after finding all the pieces.
I don’t think sets should be so powerful that you spend time trying to magic find that specific set. Just that they should be powerful enough you actually save the set when you find it so when you play a new character you can equip them.
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I could see using it in your next brand new character I guess, but by that rate by the time you’re worried about there there are just so many other low tier sets that you’d have completed for your character. The biggest thing with cow king is not only that overall 2 pieces are awful and the set bonus is awful, but that farming one takes much longer than farming any other set. Meanwhile sigons/tancerd/vidalas/iratha/cathans etc etc etc are all better. I’m not sure which one is the most generic/universal for new characters though, but all of them are better and easier to find than cow king.
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Added Cow King Leathers to my comprehensive list of changes to sets.
Sigons for melee characters, Iratha’s for range characters. 2 piece Death’s set for anyone who needs cannot be frozen.
Trancerd and Vidala’s need work to make them actually fun enough to be worth using. Cathan’s needs rework to make it a caster set instead of this weird combo of caster and melee.
Yea I wasn’t going to go in detail, but overall too even those other better sets aren’t as good of gear as you can get at a low level. By that time you’d have all your leftover low level rune words and mid tier items. The low level sets just never really have a chance, except maybe in LLD situations? not sure.
Friends of the Beef Herd, another feature being that cows in the cow level will be friendly to a full set user after a short time if no hostile actions are taken. Walk among the cows.
Nobody uses the full set at all for any reason. Ever. I’ve only ever used the boots.
A rare polearm will with 300 lightning damage will do zero in LLD because of the MDR bug.
If I was going 2H, I’d use a 15ed non-eth insight partizan with 275ed/250+%bonus ar/+6 crit strike.
136~281 damage
46% CS
However, I’d highly prefer an erep 2os 165ed 30ias socketed with Shael + a 20ed/15max jewel BH because it’s 1H and hits the 44ias WW bp.
149-262 1h dmg
The set itself is too high level for LLD is it not? Like the current items in the set that is.
Transforming into a cow would be nice. It would also be nice if the full set summoned a few Hell Bovines to fight along side with you.
If only cube upgrade enhanced items stats beyond the base upgrade to be useful later in game…such as elite version of set providing
**+2 To All Skills (+1 To All Skills)
**33% Chance to Summon Hell Bovine (Up to 3) on Striking
25% Chance To Cast Level 5 static field when struct
**+60% Increased Attack Speed (+30%)
**+100% Bonus to Defense (+100 Defense)
+100 to stamina
+20 To Strength
+100 to Life
Magic Absorb 25% (Poison Resist +25%)
**150% Extra Gold From Monsters (100%)
**150% Better Chance Of Getting Magic Items (100%)
**Transforms into Hell Bovine
**+1 to Polearm Mastery ( any class )
Depends on what the level cutoff is for you.
The highest level requirement for the set is the helm which is level 25.
F it…we need a ring that has +3 to sorc skills, 30% fcr, 30% all resistance, 25% chance to teleport when hit, 25% mf, 20 vit, 20 energy
Ohh yeah isn’t VLLD 9 and LLD 30?