Misc Questions: Magic find, gear levels, etc

Played a bit of DII back in the day but never got too serious about it. LOVING DII: R. So, instead of creating a bunch of threads, here are some misc questions that have popped up.

  • I am currectly level 27 Fireball Sorc. I’m only at the end of Act III Normal because I love farming bosses and mini bosses. My magic find is at +66% and I haven’t found a usable upgrade since… the end of Act I! Bad luck? Seems crazy but almost every items that is dropping is melee focused or just garbage stats. Seems weird for my magic find but maybe I’m missing something?

  • I have my original Ice Arrow Merc from Act I with a 3 socketed bow with good gems. She rocks damage but is very squishy. Should I switch her out for Act IV?

  • When farming items to sell for gold, is there any way to determine value before picking up? Sometimes yellow items are only worth 300 gold and some blue items are worth 10,000. Seems totally random

  • Besides fireball, is there any other spell I should be using at level 27?

  • I have a TirRal runeword in my main staff. Is there any other runewords I should be looking for in my armor? How about a simple runeword for my Bow merc?

Find a 2 socket staff and put Tir + Ral in it. You won’t be disappointed. Most of the good gear you can get early on are going to be runewords. Stealth 2 socket body armor is tal eth is amazing for casters even in nightmare and early hell.

Act 2 merc is widely considered the best merc in the game not just because they have auras but also the best merc runewords are on polearms. Great and cheap runewords like Insight can be equipped by them.

It depends on the properties. Something with +skills or all res will usually be worth more than something with +2 max damage. The best items to pick up early on are class specific stuff that almost always get plus skills like wands and staves. Even white versions of these items can sell for a log.

You can try fire wall, it’s alright. Besides that meteor at 30 is nice, although fireball remains good throughout.

Oh you already got the leaf eh. That will do you until spirit. For a1 merc… You could do Zephyr which is ort+eth. Edge might be worth making as well, though it only gets ED against undead and demons (which to be fair is a pretty significant number of enemies). Even if you don’t want to actually use the bow it has 15% cheaper vendor prices on it which is kinda op. That one is tir tal amn.

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Here is a pretty simple MF guide for people playing solo(not given gear or have high level):

https://www.diabloii.net/forums/threads/guide-to-untwinked-single-pass-early-game-magic-finding.620901/

Basically just pick up Wands/Orbs/Staves that are non-magic(white) or higher. These can roll +skills which sell for quite a bit. You’ll eventually learn what other items are valuable by what affixes they can receive.

You can basically use Fireball through out the game, while skipping fire enchanted(or letting merc kill them) but around level 30 is when people switch to Blizzard or Frost Orb/Fireball(Meteor or Firewall also work). You can find some decent guides here:

https://d2.maxroll.gg/category/guides#classes%3D%5Bd2-sorceress%5D

Here’s a cheat sheet you can use. Scroll down for the runeword section and click the “level” header to sort from lowest level to highest. There are a few options you can use such as Stealth for your chest, or a Zephyr for you Merc. Ancient pledge for a shield(You will get the runes for this for free from Qual-kehk for saving his Barbarians in Act 5)

https://htmlpreview.github.io/?https://github.com/Michaelangel007/d2_cheat_sheet/blob/master/index.html

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I don’t really think ancient pledge is worth making unless you are really hurting for resistance. That doesn’t really happen for me until hell. Rhyme is better for nightmare and hell depending on your other resist gear.

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Ahhh nice! I was actually curious about this also because I have Leaf/Stealth made and wasn’t sure how long it will rock until I need to swap it out.

Thanks for all the prompt replies! A few quick followup ones:

  • Is there a way to transfer gold to another character or your own so you don’t lose so much when dying farming bosses?

  • Is there a way to add sockets to a yellow chest?

  • What are the best stats for gear for a Fireball sorc? Most of the stuff I find is melee related so I just take whatever has the best MF.

Use the shared stash tabs

Larzuk will also socket Rares and Uniques, but they only get 1 socket.

Most magic skills are based on the skill level, and synergies. So go with what you need. Faster cast rate to reach a break point, Fire or Lightning resists to not die quickly to an elite pack. More health or faster run/walk. Etc

I’m still using a stealth full plate on my zon in act 4 nightmare. I’ve been looking for a decent base to make peace on but no luck so far.

The combination of faster run walk, fhr, and fcr are what make it so nice. The mana regen is just icing.

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Act IV now and being all Fire is starting to feel painful :slight_smile: - We only get one respec per difficulty level right?

Yup, Den of Evil quest from Akara in Act 1. After that you need to farm bosses in Hell to craft a Token of Absolution, or ask another player to trade with you for it.

  • Is there any reason to stockpile just “ok” jewels? I don’t see any recipes for them and they are taking up a ton of stash space

  • I finally beat Baal in Normal and ended up at Level 44. I did the Cow Level for the first time and I… don’t get it. The drops are weak and XP is meh. Am I missing something?

  • For a game about finding and hoarding gear, even all the shared space needs to be at least 10+ tabs IMHO. How do people even collect sets?

Jewels are used in various crafting recipes, along with various perfect gems and runes (in the same recipe) Mostly used if you are after a specific resistance or amulets with +skill on them plus a bunch of other affixes.

So if you are not into crafting atm. You can sell off most of them. Some are worth holding on to though. Like jewels with 15% increased attack speed, high hit points, high resistance, enhanced damage and even -15% requirement ones can be very useful (Combo affixes are valuable, like 40ed/ 15%ias jewels)

Rare jewels can be quite valueable as well, with the right affixes on them.

Jewels with lesser values, and if not used for crafting, like +10 HP’s or the like, you can sell or use for leveling other characters.

Crafting recipes;

/diablo2.diablowiki.net/Crafting_Recipes

Edit: If you are playing online multiplayer, some players will trade quite good for jewels in bulk for their crafting.

I honestly have the exact opposite luck.
I found so far: Haemosu’s Adamant Cuirass, Goblin Toe light plated boots, Arctic binding light belt, Sparking mail chain mail, and The Chieftan battle axe.

I’ve been running 50-85% MF through Normal. I have several stashes full of unique and set items.