So my comment was 100% accurate? Thanks for the validation…
These developers are clueless. They took a underpowered niche build and made it worse. Killing unique builds in the process. They also butchered werewolf and the only saving grace of the shapeshifting changes was the last minute Fury buff…
They are making underperforming melee builds more gear dependant while still keeping them underperforming.
Dual spirit hammerdin and Blizzard Sorc are the benchmarks by which all melee builds should be judged. If your end game geared character (not BIS) can’t keep pace with entry level geared casters then there is a problem.
Nope, you save your diamonds that you find and roll for a Savage polearm as soon as you get cube. Any diamond + any belt + any staff + any kris
You can even get exceptional polearms with this recipe. Besides the diamonds, you can buy all the ingredients off vendors
Alternatively, gamble a maul or poleaxe and use 3 chipped gems to roll random magic affixes weapon of same type with 2 sockets.
There’s no fast 1H weapons worth using until late game. Normal? Steel in a 2H is gonna be faster and deal more damage than any 1H you find, then gamble a maul, then savage polearm. Nightmare? Insight. Early Hell? Obedience or Oath.
So my comment was 100% accurate? Thanks for the validation…
Defensive much? You’re welcome.
Dual spirit hammerdin and Blizzard Sorc are the benchmarks by which all melee builds should be judged. If your end game geared character (not BIS) can’t keep pace with entry level geared casters then there is a problem.
Yeah, there’s an overarching problem with melee. Attack rating, monster block, gear dependency, etc.
Nope, you save your diamonds that you find and roll for a Savage polearm as soon as you get cube. Any diamond + any belt + any staff + any kris
Yeah, the maul is still nice in mid/late Act 1 where you don’t have access to the cube. Savage polearm recipe is very useful, I forgot to mention it.
Use players8. It actually makes the melee experience better because you over level, and then monsters are easier to hit and they have a harder time hitting you. There’s a slider in the gameplay options I think.
In regards to the grind, back in the day we had TCP/IP. So you knew that even though you were playing alone, theoretically you could always use that character to play with your friends. Just having that possibility really enhanced the experience.
Long Sword Steel is 14 frames
Battle Axe Steel is 15 frames
Broad Axe Steel is also 14 but the damage different between it and the long sword favors the survival benefits of a shield.
Around level 30, Insight/bonesnap/ribcracker wins out for obvious reasons.
The case for Obedience vs Oath really just depends on what bases you have access to. You won’t find 5 socket polearms in NM but you can potentially find 4 Soc eth swords or axes in NM. With max maul, ETH Conquest Sword Oath is 10 frames vs Obedience Thresher at 11 frames. Sheids also come in handy to stack resistances in hell.
Then there is PB Grief as end game.
Then again, I base my thought process on hardcore playthroughs. Survival may not be a factor so 2h would then be the obvious choice until Grief.
Farm the countess on /players 1. Get yourself two Tal runes and Two Eth runes. Then get yourself two 2os 100ish defence armours from Fara and make two Stealth rune words. That will greatly increase your run speeds. Keep making higher defence Stealths for you and you merc. I only play melee and I always use Stealth till about act 4-5 in nightmare. Where I then either make Smoke, Duress, or Lionheart. Stealth will even work well when playing /players 8.
Hmm, I didn’t think the damage/speed tradeoff would be worth it for a shield early game but I’m looking at this from a softcore PoV so you’re probably right.
The case for Obedience vs Oath really just depends on what bases you have access to. You won’t find 5 socket polearms in NM but you can potentially find 4 Soc eth swords or axes in NM. With max maul, ETH Conquest Sword Oath is 10 frames vs Obedience Thresher at 11 frames. Sheids also come in handy to stack resistances in hell.
Though you could find an Oath base in Nightmare you’d be pretty hard pressed to find an elite base, let alone ethereal. Even a small crescent (lowest qlvl [61] 1H weapon that can have 4os) has rather poor odds I think, 1:4700 for a non-eth one at p3 only in WSK 3 and the Throne room.
Meanwhile a feral axe (qlvl 57) has around 1:5000 odds from Frigid Highlands onwards and seems to average around 1:2500 to 1:3000 in later A5 areas.
Even if you did find a really nice eth Oath base in Nightmare you’ll be hard pressed to find a Pul and Mal rune until Hell Countess where you could drop a good base before reaching her. You’d probably be better off moving into Hell to farm an Oath or Obedience base on p1 anyways rather than hanging around in Nightmare.
You’re right about shields though, huge resists which helps a ton so sacrificing a 2H for a 1H does make sense for hardcore.
Then again, I base my thought process on hardcore playthroughs. Survival may not be a factor so 2h would then be the obvious choice until Grief.
That’s a good point, I was looking at this from a softcore viewpoint mainly.
Long day at work today so I didn’t get much play time. Made it through the palace and started on Arcane Sanctuary. Found a few upgrade for me and my Merc but nothing to brag about.
Hopefully tomorrow I’ll have enough time to finish act 2.
I am a bit concerned about my res. Fire is maxed at 75 but Cold is 32, Light is 26 and Poison is 0. I didn’t realize how low my resistances were until I just looked because my health pool is so high it feels like I’m not taking a ton of damage lol.
Hoping to make a few Stealth, Insights and craft some blood gear maybe before I take on Meph in act 3.
Sigons set is pretty OP up into the 30s. Sheild + gloves combo is pretty nice for early game if you don’t have the full set.
Alternatively, it’s easy to shop for a bone shield of deflecting from Drog. The dex requirements of the long sword will get you at 55% block at level 13 (59% with Sigons) for if ya pumped only 39 dex.
I have a tendency to play p8 and hardcore only so I build around being able to solo act bosses on p8.
That’s fine for normal use thawing potions for Dury, thawing and antidote for Mephisto.
Each potion lasts 30 seconds and can be stacked infinitely. Drinking 6 to 8 of each before engaging the boss is recommended.
You need fire res and act 3 , shamans do a lot of dmg. For act 4 you need mostly light and fire res.
I suggest playing normal on /players 3 , thats most effrctive.
Btw buy 3 socket breast plate and 2 socket helm from Fara in act 3 and use topazes in it, flawed ones preferably. Also gamble heavy boots and heavy gloves untill you buy ones with 20 or more mf.
MF is crucial for you so you can find some decent stuff as melee chars do require better items than casters.
This thread and it’s latest noob comment about mf being crucial inspired me to make my first ssf hc werebear on D2R. I started this morning and have been playing on /p8. He’s lvl 22 and got the cube. I’ve yet to put a single point in Maul. I’ve got one point in Lycanthropy, 5 in Raven, 1 in Poison Creeper and 1 in Cyclone Armor. The rest are in requirements and Werebear.
I’m using a Steel large axe and Stealth ring mail. My merc has Dimoak’s Hew, Stealth chain mail and a Nadir helm. I also found The Gnasher and just need an Ort rune to make Ancient’s Pledge, which will max out all my resistances. The rest of my gear is just junk blues and yellows and some res and life charms. I’m yet to use mf, nor will I intentionally add any. No need, as melee druids can get through the whole game on every difficulty very easily with just Magic and Rare items. That said, I’ll take what the game gives me.
DAY 5:
(Sorry I didn’t post this yesterday but I wasn’t feeling well.)
Didn’t get a lot done as I was sick but I managed to grab the brain and the Angelic Ammy dropped so I now have that little AR boost that helped a ton as I haven’t put a lot into dex yet.
Between my Merc and me we are still crushing enemies easily and I’m nearing 1k health.