Trying for Spirit Shield - Help please?

General Discussion
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Hi all. Thanks for your time.

Offline single player. Softcore Paladin lvl 47, just started NM. Using the /players8 difficulty since Normal Act IV. Overleveled for current area, I know now.

I have had all 4 runes for a while now, and I read around that I could already farm for a really good, 4-socketable non-magic shield. To then 4-socket with the Horadric Cube recipe, if it doesn’t come with its own (Larzuk’s Quest in Normal is already spent).

My questions are:

  1. Where’s the best place to farm for it? Without needing to reach Hell, or say act IV or V of NM? I don’t wanna wait “half a game” for it.

  2. What are the best shield options, under these circumstances? I can’t find a complete, properly organised shield list online. And I’d rather not waste the runeword on a shield that is (say) 100 def with +15 to all res, If I learn I could run into a (say) 180 def one with +30 if I keep farming.

What are the highest non-magic stats I could hope for, then? Defense, block, +Dam +AR or +Res.

(Can I also get faster block rate on non-magical shields?)

I read that the last two stats are mutually exclusive. You either get a boost to dam and AR, or to all res. Is that true? Of course I’d want at least one of those, but both would be super if possible.

+Res is the priority, I’d say. Since the +2 to all skills from the runeword, would boost dam and AR indirectly anyway. As I use Zeal/Sacrifice+Fanaticism.

The -40 handicap to res from NM looks like it’s gonna start giving me trouble soon, as all my res are currently in the 0-45 range.

And all my items (except shield) are rares or uniques with nice bonuses I’d rather not give up to boost res by changing them.
Thanks to those, I have enough run and attack speed, hit recovery and dual leech to handle almost everything thus far without even needing to touch potions. By just diving into crowds and zealing away.

–

My current shield is an Akaran Targe I got farming Pindleskin in Normal. 108 def, +dam and +AR. But it’s magical (self-repair), so I cannot runeword it.

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Why do you say it as its a bad thing? Its good thing to be few more levels above current location. :slight_smile:

Nowhere, just honestly keep clearing nightmare and it will usualy drops.

If you really want it you can try socket recipe on any Pala shield you found in NM.

But dont waste socket quest on it.

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http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/exceptional/paladinshields.shtml

Good shield will be with decent resists and nm version so it has some defense.

No.

Btw, Are you melee or caster build?

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Oh then dont make spirit. Make shael eth in two socket shield. Or ral ort tal in 3 socket shield. Spirit is mostly for casters.

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5

Normally I’d say cows, but you can run about everywhere in act 4 and 5 (or even act 1) to have them drop.
So I guess best option might be to just push on (maybe do some countess on NM, there are a decent amount of armor and weapon stands in the tower these have a reasonable chance to drop Auric Shields as well (and lots of smaller monsters in Act1 makes for better chance of a auric shield dropping), as a bonus you will likely get another set of the needed runes thus you can just maken another spirit when you find a better shield.
Just kill monsters fast, don’t aim for bosses but for masses.
Best stats personally think defensive isn’t the important part.
Assuming you use Holy Shield, go for good block shields like Aerin or Crown (or their NM versions but I don’t think they can drop anywhere you are yet and its not important enough to wait for them).
65% damage + 121 AR or 45 resist all is the best, which type you need depends on you gear, you have bad res go for res, otherwise some extra damage+ar is always nice.

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Best choice will be really Rhyme tho Shael+ Eth because he will need cannot be frozen. And also rhyme has good block and faster block rate.

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Yes, the cannot be frozen is really nice. bonus to block very nice as well.
But I personally would make both, Spirit for prebuff (and sometimes main) and rhyme mostly for the Cannot Be Frozen if not already allready present, which is the most likely situation.
But both have different socket needs so whatever is found first will help finding the second :stuck_out_tongue:

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Zax, the problem with Ancient’s Pledge and Rhyme is that they lack the +2 to all skills. I know Spirit is best for casters, but it still has multiple bonuses I find interesting. hit recovery, vitality and def vs missiles.

AP is out of the question, since it only benefits def and res.

Rhyme DOES look interesting with those big boosts to block, though. Even if its +res is not that high.

Is “cannot be frozen” THAT important? I mean, I know that long freeze is a serious pain for a melee. I’ve gone through that. How often am I gonna run into such dangers, from now on?

Also, I don’t have any Shael yet. Is it hard to get?

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  • skills is much more important for caster builds which get a lot higher damage from + skills. It doesnt matter for your build. You need block and cannot be frozen.

Absolutly, you will suffer greatly without it.

No, if you play on more players it will eventualy drop.

Also if you find shield with decent res you will have good amount together with rhyme. Also rhyme has some +MF

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Btw keep in mind that if you run, your block is zero. If you walk its 1/3.

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You can go on without it, but its really good for melee.
Solo melee I’d go for Spirit under W and Rhyme as main, and in certain areas Spirit main and Rhyme switch.
But frozen impacts movement speed and attack speed, so will slow you down immensely and might actually get you killed (frozen in area with many ranged can be really dangerous).

Countess NM drops one in average 9.37 runs, shouldn’t take to long and is a good place for farming the shield anyway.

PS: the amount of times you encounter things that freeze you becomes more when getting in higher difficulties and if you don’t have a high cold resist (high difficulty is penalty to resistance) the duration is even longer.

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Ok, so to sum it up…

  1. Both Rhyme and Spirit look good enough to keep, switching as needed. I have no secondary gear right now, except for rare gloves with great poison resist stashed away.

I’ll aim to make both, then.

+2 to all skills is not as awesome as it looks, true. Not THAT huge a bonus. But desired, speciallt to boost the skills that will remain low level. Such as Vengeance, which I’ll invest on just as a way to face “immune to physical” types (as my dam is mostly physical).

  1. Max +res on non-magic shields I could expect while on NM, is +45. I’ll try to max that out on both, so between that and the runewords I’ll get boosts high enough that I probably won’t ever replace those items.

  2. Best place for farming all I’m lacking, is Countess NM.

Actually, I’ll also need plenty of rubies to make a perfect one. As I’ll need TWO of those, total. And I only have one now.

What’s the best currently reasonable place for that? Does any grind-able drop kind of “guarantee” gem drops?

  1. And what’s about the best def score I can expect? That remains unanswered.

I know it’s not top priority, over the bonuses. But I keep feeling the overall def is kinda low. I have around 425 right now. I boost it with Holy Shield, one of my main skills (9 right now, so I get a bit over double that). But maybe I’ll run into enemies that lower it, with curses and auras and so?

Should I be more concerned about def?

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Better then spirit and obtainable in nightmare

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REDACT3D:

Forgot that even existed. Yes, I’m that much of a n00b :sweat_smile:

Act 3 has the best chances for that drop, right? Before going into NM’s end.

A 18’ video seems excessive for just one item that cannot be obtained any other way except randomly, right? So, I Googled and found these areas mentioned in RankedBoost: Great Marsh, Flayer Jungle, Arachnid Lair, Spider Cavern.

Would you say that’s a good guide to get it? Focus on those levels of Act 3?

They also mentioned Baal-summoned Radament in NM. But, again, I’d rather not wait “half a game” to get it.

Considering I’m lvl 47 right now, I could rush up to Act 3 rather fast. Not so much, to Act 5. And I want that +res asap.

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True, but chances of that dropping are very very slim, while a Spirit or Rhyme shield should never be a real problem to get.

Chances on getting this are very slim.
Best chances are Baal/Diablo/Mephisto Quest (first time you kill them), without MF on player 8 it would be 1 in 1436/1450/1945 (B/D/M).
After that non-quest (B/D/M) 1 in 2244/2265/3039
After that it becomes 1 in 20k or more, act 3 monster (non-bosses) have little chance of dropping it Unique 1 in 85k, Champion 1 in 217k and normal 1 in 4.110k.
Basically go for Spirit/Rhyme and hope you find on of these, don’t hunt for it, chances are far to low.

Yes, try to grab a secondary weapon either combat (or just bonus to Holy Shield) put it with Spirit under switch to combat or just switch activate holy shield and switch back.
Elemental or Crushing Blow weapons could be a decent combat switch.

Finding max res or damage/ar is not easy, might need to settle for less first, the rune should drop reasonably often in NM don’t be afraid to make a Spirit/Rhyme from a lesser shield.

Not only good place, but a good place and you’ll get some free runes while doing so, which can be used for upgrading Spirit/Rhyme or a weapon upgrade.

Well NM Auric Shields can go up to 209, but that is not likely to drop and it is less important aswell, the resistance or dam/ar would be more important and having the runeword itself is the most important thing.
Waiting for the perfect shield might have you running Countess thousands of times, just aim for a decent one and move on, upgrade when you find better.

Def is not the main concern, get a good block auric shield and try to keep near 75% block chance, defense is nice to have to so don’t neglect it.
Holy Shield enhances your full defense, not just the shield, 100 defense shield and 600 defense armor is the same as 350 defense of both.

Just keep a few of all the runes you find and check whether a new option for an armor/helm/weapon opens up, might get a bonus for those while doing Countess.

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Any of the exceptional paladin shields will make a decent base for runewords if you can find a good roll of all resist. If you can’t remember their names, just look for lvl required 26 or greater. Akaran Targe and onwards all have decent defense and have increasing block % until you get to the Elite shields.

If you’re not trying to get the faster cast rate mod from the Spirit or cannot be frozen from Rhyme, virtually any magic and rare paladin shield you find can roll with all resist, + skills, and other useful mods. Since you’re using Zeal, enhanced damage on the shield is useless so only look for all resist shields. Basically, just pick up and identify every paladin shield you find until you find one you really like. And then you can start being more picky and only picking up rares, etc. Class specific items don’t drop that often anyway so it’s not a bad rule to follow.

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Just go online, look at the pally shields that can have 4 sockets, do normal cows find a base, go seek out larzuk, get 4 sockets.

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UPDATE: By sheer luck, as each Runeword has a different length, I ended up picking Ancient’s Pledge for the time being.

Had all the runes, and found a nice 3-socket shield without even farming for it.

It has decent def with the Runeword’s bonus (58), and original +res of 23. So, now I have +res of 71 (66 for cold), which in NM is allowing me to have almost all of them maxed out.

Maybe I’ll run into a better option in the future, and give this whole idea another try. But, right now, that +res is quite handy.

I won’t be farming for shields specifically, thus. At least for a while. Herald of Zakarum would be nice, but it looks quite improbable as Regonox pointed out. In any case, I’ll have to wait until NM Diablo to have a better chance for it right? I could farm that.

Does Diablo keep those odds for HoZ in all difficulties, Regonox? Because, if so, I’d go farm for it in Normal. Since he’s easier than Baal overall, and in Normal it’d be easier still as I’m lvl 51 by now.

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It looks like you got your shield sorted out, but another suggestion I’d make is to get a Moser’s Blessed Circle, and put 2 perfect diamonds in it. The shield always drops pre-socketed, so you don’t need to burn a socket quest for it. With the diamonds, it ends up with something like +67 resist all, which is pretty nice. Also has good block rate. It’s a great mid-game choice for a shield; you’ll eventually want to replace it, but it’s good.

And they drop all the time in NM. I’ve given away like a dozen of them the last few days.

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On player 8 with no mf.
Diablo Normal can’t drop HoZ
Diablo Nightmare 1 in 2265
Diablo Hell 1 in 2675
Andy Hell (quest bugged, which she always is in D2r) 1 in 1619
Andy Nightmare can’t drop HoZ

Having mf would obviously increase your odds.
You could check your chances here, remove the - between the //
https:/-/d2.maxroll.gg/d2-drop-calculator#p8,1;mf200;item=unique,unique285

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