I think that the max sockets for the Troll Nest should be increased from 3 to 4 because the Troll Nest has higher defense and has a lower strength requirement than the Monarch and most builds (Not including Paladin Builds) that use the Runeword Spirit in a shield do not need 156 strength for anything other than the Monarch. The reason I do not include Paladin builds is because Paladins already have many other options for 4 socket shields in their class specific shields
Monarch
Requires 156 Strength (not ncessary for most charactr builds)
Defense ranges from 133 to 148
Required Level 54
Troll Nest
Requires 106 Strength
Defense ranges from 158 to 173
Required Level 57
Based on the 3 camparisons I made the Troll Nest will work for most builds that use s Spirit Shield and do not already need higher than 106 stength for another piece of gear even though the level required to equip a Monarch is a little bit lower at 54 VS 57 for a Troll Nest
The shield is a lot easier than a claw as claws are smaller than shields and why do you need 4 socket claws as the crystal sword is easy for all characters to equip and why not give all classes at least 1 more shield option for spirit due to the fact that the paladin has a lot of shield options for spirit due to a majority of the paladin exclusive shields being able to have 4 sockets and if you look at the necromancer specific shields all of which can only have a max of 2 sockets and besides spirit can only be made in 4 socket swords and shields
It’s a trade off. BiS caster shield but you have to invest str. It would be another power creep for caster and nothing for melee.
I would prefer to lower req of other 4 socket shields to monarch level for diversity. I personally prefer trollnest skin over the others but the low str req would be another hard buff to caster
this is the exact reason they shouldn’t add it to troll nest, though a lower lvl lower def and still high strength shield like a Pavise is a good candidate imo.
So if troll nests can be 4os what happens to the monarch? It becomes useless and now we still only have 1 choice for spirit shield, and we will get another post saying why can’t we have 4os tower shield so I don’t have to spend so much strength for troll nest.
Pointless… for end game builds, they normally don’t need to put much into strength especially if they are running Enigma. Otherwise you’re only saving 50 attributes, wow an extra 100 life on an already squishy sorc is nothing…
think about it why go with a normal or exceptional quality shield when there are other options for elite shields and I suggestd the Troll Nest due to the fact that I do not feel I should have to sacrifice 50 points that I can put in vitality for more health just for a shield when I can upgrade a lidless wall to a troll nest. Spirit is not really that much better than lidless wall and quite frankly it is way easier to make spirit than to find a lidless wall
Keep in mind you also need to ba 3 levels higher for a troll nest than a monarch
Spirit is also does not alaways get 35% FCR and has a base level requirement of 25 so you are actually already making it in an item that has a level requirement that is more than double the requirement for the actual runrword
I’m fine with 4os costing you 156 str, but I do think the heavier shields should have a better payoff. Maybe toss some life or faster block rate on Ward and, especially, Aegis.
4os Troll nest would be nice just for cosmetic…just bump up the str req some(gotta account difference between monarch and the extra dex req needed for max block at lvl 99
17 dex difference(according to maxroll
so…156-106-17 = total str bump needed(33)
Troll nest extra base def wont change much for enemies hit rate…pass reducing enemies hit rate by 50% there is a huge diminishing return…
Blade Barrier would also be nice for a spiky cosmetic shield
Option B: transmog added to D2…fix cosmetics desire that way
buy model from npc…select a transmog piece to lvl up
kill X Boss on hell difficulty 15 time to unlock the selected model to be usable
Andy: unlock Blue&Purple Models
Duriel: unlock base color & remaining colors Models
Mephisto: unlock Yellow&White Models
Diablo: Unlock Red&Orange Models
Baal: Unlock Green&Black Models
that be about 200-300 kill of each bosses to unlock every single set(think thats a fairly reasonnable amount to unlock all of it)
You realize spirit in shield is so strong that people have no problem whatsoever investing to get 156 str to use it? That’s how good it is (don’t forget it already “refunds” you that str investment with +22 vitality and huge mana increase, not to mention everything else it does) To require any less str to use such an incredible and cheap yet ultra powerful runeword just seems wrong. Or, if you really want lower str shields to get 4 sockets, then how about we take away the +vit and +mana on spirit to make up for not needing nearly as much str, is that what you want, hmm? I didn’t think so. You’ll keep using spirit monarch regardless, and you’ll continue to be thankful such a runeword exists for you to use.
but assassin would benefit a lot more if they have 4os claw for things like hand of justice, passion, and many other rw with the support of claw mastery
I understand the benefit of 4 socket claws, however it is not possible to have 4 sockets in a claw for reasons I cannot explain.
I can agree that a spirit is a great shield runeword but to need to invest so much into strength for a shield that has low base defense is really not worth it when there are shields like lidless wall that have are not even elite that are arguably as good as spirit on certain builds and have way more defense and can be upgraded to increase that defense.
I perfer to use an upped lidless over a spirit only due to the high str needed for a monarch, aegis, or ward and spirit being an easy runeword to actually get the runes for the strength investment is too much when there are unique shields that grant great bonuses and do not need as much strength
The Troll Nest is also the highest defense shield in the game that is equippable by any character Class
It is either Level 54 Strength 156 for the Monarch which has a max defense of 148 or Level 57 Strength 106 for the Troll Nest which has a minimum defense of 158 which is 10 more than the max defense on the Monarch
my entire reason for choosing the Troll Nest is due to it having the most defense of all the non Paladin exclusive Shields and keep in mind some classes will be level 57 before they reach 156 str for the monarch with out stat bonuses from other items/charms
basically you are trading a lower level/higher str shield for a higher level/lower str shield
There is only a 2% differense in base chance to block between the 2 shields
Odin your point is taken as for those stats you can get them from other items/charms except the + skills a differense of 1 point really does not make that much differense in your damage
You could change the title of the topic for: Let make spirit shield more OP
But yes, I will like to have an other option, Ward and Aegis extra required strength is insane for what you get, 4% extra block and maybe 13 extra defense for 63 extra strength lol. For 219 strength, Aegis should be 75% block 200 def min. or drop the required strength, like 165 for the Ward and 175 for the Aegis.
Yeah you can get those stats from other items, but the package is so strong that you always lose.
15 fcr difference to lidless means either 1 good craft amulet or 2 rings. So you not only lose the skill from lidless but also either 2 skills from rings or 2 bo skills from amulet which is a loss in hp/mana. Still you also miss the 22 vita which reduces the str investment. To counter the res and fhr you would lose other or higher stats on charms. If you need 5 fhr scs they could have been 20 life scs.
Basically the extra str needed is negated by the stats freed up