would that cost more gold to repair?
Yeah, I totally missed that 
But, even though I can see it’s nice because it starts with a -49% right away… It’s not worth letting go of Fanaticism or HF. I already have 3705 AR (4550 with Sacrifice). I rarely miss, and that possibility is not worth switching to another aura.
If I run into Teleport, I’ll be sure to keep it just in case. Although I don’t see it becoming that big for me, so I prefer to gamble for more useful deals.
Looks expensive, but it’s not hard for me to make that much gold after returning to town with one bag full of loot. Plenty of items reach the 20-30k value, by now.
I’m not sure I understand your idea fully here, regarding mentioning Infinity. But I do like the idea of Decripify and Life Tap a lot. The former, to just bulldoze over those physical immunes.
And Life Tap, to do the same with leech-immunes which have proven quite annoying. Especially those that get healed/resurrected by other monsters in the back. On their own, one mummy + 5 skeletons is something I can just muscle through. But with /players8, they’re often accompanied by many other monsters and even uniques.
Is there any other way to leech from leech-immunes, other than Life Tap? Or a reliable way equipo it and cast it, like a Runeword that doesn’t depend on a small percentage?
Another ugly thing about leech-immunes, is that you can’t easily tell which ones are. I mean, many undead aren’t. I’m glad for that, but it’s confusing. In my head, I just know mummy-led skeletons are. But little else. Many zombies aren’t. And I think some variants of the Swarm are immune too, without even being undead? scratches head
I pray that I haven’t thrown away those, along with all the other necro gear I’ve run across. I’ll be on the lookout for now. I think I was paying attention to Decripify charges already. Because, while I’m pretty ignorant regarding necros, I’ve read about that curse after seeing how troublesome it could become for me. The times my paladin suffered it, I could keep going but it was clearly had a lot of potential. I imagine its level is stronger in Hell, and all.
Of all the skills I abandoned when I re-specced, Cleansing is the only one I actually miss. I may even invest on having it again, even if just at lvl 1.
Great to know. Yes, the amount of random mods the uniques and super uniques can get, and the fact they always bring in their friends, often makes them worse than the actual Act bosses. The main difference really lies in the bosses having at least a couple unique attacks and needing A LOT more hitting to go down.
Charges totally depend on random drops, and it’s a pretty rare mod. But at least it’s 100% reliable, yes. Those “15% chance to cast” sound like I’ll be doing a lot of hitting around with a seriously weaker weapon for who knows how long, crossing my fingers for the cast so I can finally switch back to some real damage. With enough bad luck, that tactic maybe become suicidal.
Although, considering Zeal + Fanaticism + current +30 IAS, I should be able to hit fast enough for overall odds of casting the curse reaching a theoretical 100% fast. How reliable is that percentage offered? If it says 20% chance for Decripify, should I expect it to reliably cast it after one successful volley of 5 attacks from Zeal?
All this stuff is making me think, that as some auras make things tougher for monsters, I should try to get a third aura into the game. Through an item. Which one would be best for my current build? Again, Conviction would only give me the -def on monsters which is pretty pointless.
I was looking at the Dream runeword, and consider that I didn’t see any other nice rw’s for helms as far as my interests go.
And sure, right now Holy Shock at 15 would add like a 35% to my attacks and reduce reliance on physical. But that Jah rune looks like I’ll need to hunt for it forever. And by the time I’d get it, I’d probably find that much damage much less impressive.
Redemption would be cool. It doesn’t make sense for me to spend the skills for it. With its prereq’s (no points in defensives at all right now). Much less so, to use in the middle of a fight. But again, Phoenix needs Jah…
Is it remoetly likely, that I could get Runes that high in my offline game? 
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“Theoretically” … you set yourself onto mindless grind certain area’s (namely Countess, Pit, Catacombs … and my favorite Mausoleum) pick every single rune drop and keep cubing them - you can to high runes relatively fast (some said 1Lo per 100 CS on Hell runs on average) - can’t confirm or deny but I got most of my higher end runes from Mephisto runs Durance of Hell level 3 (to be more specific) - chest/Mephisto himself/trash mob - so I tend to clean entire floor … and yeah I also hate dolls so I use Tele Ammi with 25 charges … usually it burns anywhere from 5 to 40 total (on average 22) .
Highest rune I got so far - Sur (no Ber, no Jah lol … no Lo or Ohm either … but I did cubed several Gul into 2 Vex)
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So… I’m thinking, should I even bother that much for Runes? Or maybe just let the game run its course? Perhaps returning to grind once I know it’ll be easy picks monster-wise.
I’m talking Countess and Mausoleum, not Act Bosses. Countess specially, since it’s not a small or fast thing. What there is worth my time? Cleaning the whole thing? Just the Countess herself + the stands?
What are your thoughts on Pindleskin? He’s definitely the one I grinded the most (back in Normal), and got me multiple nice iteams that lasted a while in my gear. Heck, maybe even some of my current minor items are from there.
Right now, I don’t see any Runewords I’d really covet. That wouldn’t make me relinquish nice mods I’ve got right now.
(Keeping in mind, that I’m not knowledgeable in the mater and I may be missing out. I HAVE been reading up on that, and a website lets me see all rw’s available for my current stock.)
Of socketable gear, only my helm feels comparatively weak. That’s why I thought about Dream. Current useful mods on my rare Circlet: +30% Run, +115 AR, +29% Poison Res.
I could dispense with the extra AR, even when it makes about 10% of my total with all +% from skills. It’d still be pretty decent. But I’m really using that run speed (55 total), and the +res keeps me capped so most poison can be ignored.
It’s a delicate balance I don’t wanna break unless something “godly” comes along or within reasonable reach.
I just got the first IAS Jewel ever. Only +15. But, from what I’ve read, even +5 would be enough for me to reach a nice break point right now.
So, I’m thinking that, if no nicer options show by the time I get Larzuk’s Quest in NM, I could socket the helm there and put the Jewel. And when a Shael shows up, as I said, clean the socketed Battler Hammer Ironstone and put it there.
I think Larzuk’s best use, is in socketing rares and uniques right? As those are crazy hard to socket through recipes, while socketing good bases is way easier with the cube.
My other speed-related info, in case you wanna know: Battle Hammer is normal, +30 from gloves, Fanaticism 20, Zeal.
From what I’m learning, my current atk spd is 3.67/s (6 frames). With the Jewel boost, I’d get up to 4.16/s (5 frames). Break point. Right?
This, from the d2.lc web.
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meeting the next breakpoint for attack speed is good but maybe by the time you get higher in NM you will get better weapons and other stuff. I would say for now just advance in NM until you get to the end of it then you can farm gear for Hell. So much can change between now and your next boss kill lol… or no change at all haha
It can always happen, yes. Indeed, I guess I should see what the rest of NM has in stock for me. And if nothing interesting happens before facing Baal, maybe force a change. Like I did with Duriel. Since I wasn’t getting the needed base for Spirit shield, armor wasn’t looking too good and drops weren’t interesting enough, I made Rhyme and Lionheart. And most recently, the Ironstone upgrade of course.
I just really hope for an interesting helm. Like the one I have, but better, so I keep the +Run and res.
One worth keeping long enough, that putting only one socket in it (and through a quest) makes sense.
Ideally, a higher +IAS Jewel by then.
It is almost endless circle 
… You got comfortable killing rate and safety in plowing through the current content … why you going to keep playing? 
perhaps to play as close as possible to God-mode? or may be explore different class(es)? everyone have very own answer to this. For good or bad - game does have tiers and distance between each tier of players is huge… Compare let say “budget hammerdin” (2 Spirits + Lore) with solid mainstream (Shako, HOTO, HOZ, Arachnids etc.) with “BiS” hammerdin (add here CTA, Enigma, PCombs with Life, Anni, Torch with good stats) - you will difference between barely making through the Hell and facerolling Hell with 8 players.
Again for better or worst - keys that made this difference are high runes (and Hammerdin so hated by many just because this built require least investment compare to say Classical PBowzon - heck even compare to Paladin-zealot)
Is it worth doing mindless grind? not for me …do one need get certain level of gearing to have pleasant time playing given class? - absolutely. Hell difficulty is “cut off” that test your gearing level, breakpoint between mainstream and BiS I’d say serves Ubers how comfortable you are in doing Uber Tristam
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I just keep playing because I know the challenges ahead are bigger. Who knows what I’ll do, once I beat the game in Hell. I enjoy the “getting the very best items” idea enough to probably keep grinding for some of that. Maybe try to reach a point where I feel the toughest parts of the game are “easy” thanks to good gear and stats. But I don’t think I’ll ever try for a “everything capped” thing, or close to that even. As it sounds like I’d have to keep grinding forever even after I’m done beating the game in Hell.
Also, if I run into something good enough that does not fit into my permanent gear, I may keep it as an alternative for specifics.
Now, I have Shael in my Battle Hammer Ironstone. I finally made Spirit Shield, and I switch between that and Rhyme depending on what I’m facing.
As far as alternatives, I’ve had some interesting results lately. A scepter with Redemption, which to me mostly means a nice quick switch to eliminate corpses. Also, one item with low-level Attract and other with Weaken. Still thinking about what situation would be best for exploiting those, as switching around gloves and rings is annoying and those curses only last like 16". But they both look so useful.
Oh, I also found Telekinesis charges on a ring. I keep it in case some exceptional situation demands I use it. I dunno, maybe opening the seals in Chaos Sanctuary? I ran into a dead body that was in a piece of floor that couldn’t be accessed, the other day. It wasn’t worth spending two charges, to push the body and then grab the loot. But I liked being able to.
I don’t know what BiS, ammi or anni are. But I do get, that we’re talking about “perfected or close to” builds where every last geared item (or close to) is the best runeword or unique possible for the build according to the player.
Honestly, Hammerdins always sounded like boring min-maxing that focuses on dull efficiency. While not giving a cr*p about the game’s actual spirit and experience. The skill itself looks silly, and you have to mind your surroundings obsessively to avoid one little corner or pile of bodies from blocking half your hammers. I put that in the same category of “fun” as creating spreadsheets for budgeting.
It’s the classic “let’s exploit an unbalanced part of the game that is that way because the devs didn’t see it coming.” Since it doesn’t look Paladinesque at all, especially with the Teleport.
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I’m still at a point where getting skill points is not that difficult. But far ahead enough, and with only one Adria quest left, so that respeccing is not an option. Also, my build is pretty much done in that respect. Fanaticism + Sacrifice 20, Holy Shield 12, Zeal 8. So, I may just start putting the next skill points somewhere different since I have well over a dozen points ahead of me before it gets really hard to obtain more.
The only decision I’ve made thus far on that, is investing in Vengeance at least a bit for the Physical immunes.
And reading about it, I’d love to get a Doom Berserker Axe and then switch my merc to a Might one probably. But that looks like it’ll take a long while to reach.
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