PTR Builds and Hammerdin

General Discussion
#1

On one side, i feel that many of the PTR’s builds are just bad and maybe many people didn’t spend time re-dressing / respec other builds hence putting Hammerdin as the best L95 end-game geared option shifted analytics heavily into saying “Terror Zones are easy cause Hammerdins say so”.

On the other side, Terror Zones as a concept really shines for Hammerdins as they are the most flexible for full zone farming due to the considerable magic damage component.

Worth taking into consideration is that technically Hammerdins are not BIS by far compared to other classes for targeted farming, they can just cover more content.
Realistically, you have other options farming WAY more efficiently with either budget/endgame gear:
Javazon mowing down cows and bosses; Sorcs teleport for key farming, lk chests, seal popping, boss farming etc.; FoHdin > Hammerdin in CS on low player count, losing traction after P3-4; Barbs with find item get more drops than Hammerdin when properly geared etc.
Also, most classes just buff up, go/tele there, spam 1 skill, hold alt for disappointment, difficulty of playing is not really a factor.

Now i would open for debate the following: is the real problem the Hammerdin or analytics or Terror Zones concept altogether?

I would say that Terror Zones seem easy with any geared class but clearly benefit Hammerdin’s magic damage flexibility. However, nerfing Hammerdins only addresses the main thing they’re good at (flexibility), not address the easiness of Terror Zones or inaccessibility of other classes due to immunes.

And last: How would you nerf them? Limit them like other classes to only be good in 2-3 farming spots? Or nerf damage to be useful only until P2-P3?

#2

Nerf hammers like this

And buff terror zones like this

#3

Hammerdins are op no matter how much you try to lie to yourself they aren’t

1 Like
#4

Nerfing their damage will not necessarily stop them from mowing down Terror Zones, they’re still flexible, it will make them less likely to join your P3+ game just to mow down your game’s Terror Zone :slight_smile:

Also @Alekk
Didn’t say they’re not, huge damage with only some farmable areas with immunes (eg. Ancient Tunnels) looks like a dream build. But as i said they’re just flexible while other builds are way better at targeted zone farming (at least until Enigma).
The other reply’s suggestion of TZ improvements looks great but … looks more complicated than “let’s just pump ilvl in an area and say it’s terrorized” so i don’t who will develop on that :smiley:
Why not just nerf teleport or remove teleport from Enigma? That way playing Hammerdin after Enigma will not break everything and you’d have to actually walk everywhere making it less desireable.

#5

I wouldn’t say mow down

And you have to realize 1 thing

It’s not only a nerf to damage lol

It’s a nerf to flexibility

There is 1 extra synergy

From:

Bh 20
BAim 20
Vigor 20
Conc 20
Pathing 5

Total: 85/110 which leaves 25 free points to max holy shield and 5 extra points in it synergy

To:

Bh 20
Sanctuary 20
Foh 20
Hb 20
Conc 20
Pathing 7

Total: 103/110

You can’t max holy shield anymore

#6

I think barbarian wpuld really shine but they gave him only lvl 85 on ptr :laughing:

#7

Mehhh

Barb is mostly melee

Melee is a black hole

Impossible to shine whatsoever

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#8

Arguably, by the way you need to position the Hammerdin to work, he’s also an “annoying melee” with no leech whatsoever … just a truckload of damage …
Also @Zax yeah, i really wish they had a 95 WW barb with dual Grief in PTR :smiley: … and a 95 Sorc with multiple gearing options (Fathom, Eschuta etc.).
Like in any game, people pile on the meta and causes drama while other fun builds are forgotten.

#9

Barb is best mf char in game.

#10

no it’s not

It’s the best grailer

Sorc remains the best Mfer

And this kind of rhetoric is exactly why melee sucks

Saying that melee is the best mfer through barb for using a combo of exclusive mechanics that have absolutely nothing to do with “melee” and that lead to a hell boring and clunky gameplay

#11

No, best mf char is barb. Sorc dominates only early when you have budget gear.

#12

This somehow describes hammerdin gameplay as seen by many tbh, near-“melee”, clunky and boring. I also agree and there’s a lot of YT videos that support barb as best mf char so no point detailing here.
But going back to the Terror Zones topic and reading other threads i somehow feel there is no easy fix for this and it will only end up in a half-assed nerf like it usually happens and a lot of drama to follow.
If they nerf hammerdin you’ll still get your game ruined by Amazons mowing your cows or sorcs killing your bosses or fohdins in CS so … godspeed. All i’m saying it’s not a fix, it’s just a “patch” based on a half-baked analysis from the the few best geared/thought PTR chars.

2 Likes
#13

He is on top.
I ask a question, why they buffed Find item with Find potion synergy, rather than give barb more damage.
Its my opinion, but I feel most barb players would rather have a strong barb that smack monsters fast… then have a barb that is more efficient at magic finding.

#14

Issue of barb is that you need more skill points than you will get. And they gave us two more skills to level up… Some other decent changes too but may issue still persist.

#15

Well yeah weapon mastery is mandatory 20 points.
I think for WW, Leap attack, Throw there is enough points. You then decides to go damage road or safety road: Grimward+Find potion vs. Battle orders.

Only skill that is horrible loaded is Frenzy - the amount of synergies that still makes it less powerful than 20 point WW is just bad.

I mean yeah I level up Find potion at max with WW or Throw barb.
I pray devs just make one more step: just remove the Fear effect and use any corpse and its done! Barb will do crazy good at clearing of whole room.

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#16

I am seriously removing find potion for my d2r mod, i just dont know with what yet :slight_smile:

#17

Use the corpse of enemies to repair your gear, even ethereal lol

#18

Maybe you’re on to something.

Zax should replace Find Potion with some sort of brutal cannibal like ability. Like “consume corpse” that can restore your hp/mana over time.

Maybe the corpse explodes and does aoe damage

Or maybe the Barb tears out an organ to throw as a projectile to debuff his enemy lmfao

2 Likes
#19

Agree, barbarians are not barbaric enough :smiley:
But yeah, a lot of classes need more flexibility, or have Terror Zones rotations include mobs without certain immunities. Content feels very gated for many classes and i really think everyone wants to enjoy it with any class, not have bad luck that immune zones are terrorized precisely when they start playing.