KoP's Screenies & Random Rambling

[KingOfPain]

WWology and Throwology

Sometimes I even forget we have a website behind this forum. I am reminded of this recently with the new Whrilwind "fix" and Double Throw buffs from D2RV2.4. So I have been to a couple of websites and seen a couple of youtube vids to get a refresher, and I keep seeing/hearing the phrase "Dance OF Death", the name of a technique I introduced in WWology since before V1.1.

A couple of sites still give due credits, but mostly not, and that's ok. Even the Arreat Summit acknowledged Dance Of Death and pretty much half copied what I wrote and added some of their own words (not the best interpretation). Funny thing is youtubers would mention the technique and declare they are not the best whirlers - because you can't hide bad whirls. Even these Casual-Pair-Of-Griefs youtubers don't have techniques. That is too bad. You will hardly ever see any Barbs using Whirlwind in a public game. Whirlwind at its best (skill and skills) still pales in comparison to mostly all meta builds - pretty useless in a player 8 pug. Most Barbs are reduced to a BO buffer and occasionally a WarCry stunner.

With the new Double Throw buffs and V1.10 Unique Elite throwing weapons I thought it maybe a good time to update Throwolgy as well. The article holds out pretty good (although the math makes my head hurt). I should update it with the latest buffs in skills, and make some meaningful comparisons between the V1.1 Elite throws... maybe even a runeword or 2.

WWology would pretty much stay the same with minor updates. The main focus would be updating the animations of the different WW techniques - with captured vids instead of series-of-screenshot.gifs 

I don't know if they are worth the effort to be updated...

If I do, do you have anything to add? Suggestions and comments are welcome.

Throwolgy

WWology

[KingOfPain]

MyTyrael Build and Stats - Chaos/Arcane Sanctuary Cows Jah

3 weeks into the first D2R ladder. Really enjoying McTyrael with her Flickering Flame and triple attacks. Although she will never see 6k Blizzard damage like those one trick pony builds, she is pretty capable and FUN. I promised I would pump vit and use up all her points and I did; except a handful in reserve until she gets better gear. She might just need a few more Dex, I had to put a Hel rune in the Ali Baba to equip it. No worries, she has more Ali Baba and possibly a couple of spare Ist with it. 

The merc finally became pretty tanky once he hit 90? when he got enuf str to equip the Stone Eth Sacred Armor weighing in at 3214 DR giving him a buffed 2,6306 Defence, with an eth Colossus Voulge Insight. He had such a hard time. He never got any life leech until mid 80s. Yup, not even a Worm Skull or a Undead Crown. Had to gamble up a leech hat for the poor guy then.

As far as the balance of Fire and Cold skills goes, she feels just about right for solo 3-5. A few more damage in the Hydra would be nice. So I think I will take her to lvl 93 and put on an Ormus and maybe a fire jewel here and there - trying to stay away from wearing full Tal. Enough with the purple already  

Stats and cows



Chaos





"Surely whoever, or whatever, built this was mad." But they always kept the place tidy and clean. I am just admiring the perfectly polished floor...



OMG!!! A 3 sockets Tiara. Pick it up, Save and Exit... Do people still do that?

[T-hawk]

Told ya the high runes would come if you kept playing.

[KingOfPain]

That is why I still buy lottery tickets. Keeps the dream alive.

I think I am done with ladder. Already got 2 Flickering Flame, 2 Wisdom, and Runes and flail for a CTA. Tho still hard to be convinced I would need extra HP - Besides I already have a couple of of walking CTA aka Asher Odin and Ali Baba.

Now the Jah, maybe a Dream hat (multi-uses), or trade down for a Beast (again, multi-uses)?

[KingOfPain]

First World Problem - Vex Heleleld Zodeth



This is my Legendary Survivor (top tier hardcore title, after reaching 1337K exp, maybe the equivalent lvl 99 in D2 terms?) Necro on Guild Wars in her Elite Tormentor outfit.







Vex Heleleld Zodeth, aka, BotD, Breath of the Dying

I have always loved the name of the runeword and managed to make a nice sounding name fitting for a female Necro, way back when.

I have never paid attention to what the rune word does since I've never fantasized ever seeing a Zod rune. Not a single one dropped for this unlucky guy in the 22 years. And then yesterday I saw in the game list someone wanted to trade a Zod for a Lo. I didn't have a Lo, but I thought I would try anyway, cuz Zod, as rare as it is, is pretty useless (relatively speaking) other than making BotD. I am happy to report that I managed to acquire it for 1 Ohm, 1 Vex and a Ist.

All at a sudden I have inherited a first world problem. Gone are the days of happy go lucky just use whatever I find on the way. Gone are the days of Items Are For Wimps. Gone are the days of Just Go Naked.   It was so easy. Not only do I have to farm for a suitable elite ethereal weapon now, I will have to decide which base to use -


One handed - an eth Zerker axe is pretty much the only choice. Probably as rare as a Zod rune. a best fit for a Smite/Zeal pally?



2 handed - eth Colossus Balde. Good style points, limited use.



Bow - Nice, but a waste of a Indy mod and limited use



Spear - Forget War Pike, too slow, and Zon spears are out of the question since they are single use. Ghost Spear would be the only choice. Advantage = Fit for a Zon



Polearms - Most likely choice. Just found an eth Giant Thresher too

Afraid to put holes in it until I am ready to make the BotD cuz I might put a random rune in it by accident. It Happens.



Maybe the Giant Thresher is the best choice for one size fits all. LoL @ one size fits all, cuz I don't even know who will use it



I have 2 whirley babrs using the IK set, one on Ladder and the other Realm. Once this season is done, one of them should get out of the IK set and do something else, then dual wield Frenzy. But that would mean a pair of axes.



Ugh decisions decisions...

[T-hawk]

If you've already got the eth giant thresher, just use that. It's flexible enough between any barb build other than Frenzy, any melee druid, a Charge paladin, a merc, or even a melee necro or sorc or passive-only zon if you really want. Better to have it now and start using it than to be in stash on your wish-list forever.

A spear gives you amazon use, but is worse (slower) for all barb, druid, and paladin attacks besides Whirlwind. A 2-hand axe is strictly worse than a polearm, it's identical for everything except minus the merc. A sword (colossus blade) is the other best option overall except for 2-hand Whirlwind; some classes and attacks (notably paladin) go slightly faster with a sword than a polearm.

1-hand BOTD isn't as exciting; Grief is pretty much better for any 1h build like Zeal or Frenzy. (The exception is Vengeance where Grief's +damage doesn't work with the elemental multiplier.) If you do go one-handed, Berserker Axe is the only choice; the only other 6-socket 1h bases are War Spike and Phase Blade, which both do significantly less damage.

BOTD needs a two-hander for the ED% including ethereality to beat Grief's +400. Same goes for bows, other options beat BOTD since you can't leverage the indestructible.

Maybe the hardest part of using BOTD for you will be actually spending the stat points to equip it

[Kylearan]

Haha, I like your first world problem. 

Not only do I have to farm for a suitable elite ethereal weapon now, [...]

Couldn't you just trade for a good base, same as you did for the Zod itself? Or was this a one-time exception and you normally don't trade?

(I never trade and thus have no idea if your Zod deal was good, bad or fair...  I accept my fate that I'll never get to see certain items, but that's okay.)

[KingOfPain]

Better to have it now and start using it than to be in stash on your wish-list forever.

You nailed it in the head! I have got to stop that. I will give it til tomorrow to see if I get anything else.

Couldn't you just trade for a good base, same as you did for the Zod itself? Or was this a one-time exception and you normally don't trade?

I normally don't trade and like to keep items pure. Not that I am absolutely against trading if a good deal comes up. I do frequently trade my perfect gems for runes. I have perfect gems (3 and a half tabs full as we speak) because I am a pack rat. Usually, 30-40 gems gets an Um. Yesterday, I got a Vex for 30 perfect ruby.

Runewords since V1.10 has really changed the game. It makes most items worthless in comparison. And since they have nerf'd the drop from Moo Moo Farm, perfect base items are highly valued. It is funny to see people dive for a grey flail (HOTO, CTA base that would trade for a Lem to Um) and wouldn't move to pick up a Light Sabre or BoneHew.

The Eth Giant Thresher can trade for a Vex easily if I don't hold out for higher runes. A Eth Zerker axe with the right amount of holes would go for more, since, unlike polearms/spears, there are no alternatives.

[KingOfPain]

Bnet Stats June 26 2022

Pretty sad for a Sunday afternoon! Note that at least 1/3 of the lists are games that no longer exist. Game list updates are slow. Most Hell games are trading games.

First half of the vid is for ladder, and the latter is non-ladder. Non-ladder seems to be more active.
 




Found another Arkaine's Valor. Forgot I already found one earlier and posted it, but since I make the screenie anyway...
Wearing Flickering Flame. Although that is making a compromise from wearing a Shako (for example), I like it. It compromises cold dmg for more fire damage without putting hard points in the Fire Tree. Not that there are spare points. And not having to worry about Fire Res opens up more options for gear. 

Holding Exchuta's Temper for extra fire dmg and boosted FCR to over 105% for 8 frames Teleport. She didn't have much luck with Spirit shields, it took 7 rolls to make one with 32% FCR. One has to appreciate the speed difference one frame makes. At 10 frames (37%), it feels slow. At 9 frames (63%) it feels fast (enuf). And at 8 frames it can make your head spin doing fast Meph and Baal runs.

So sad to see a legendary piece of armor, since Classic Diablo, is good for screenies and collection only. YMMV

[KingOfPain]

Beyond Lite N Fire Immune And A Glitch

What does it mean to be beyond Lite and Fire immune?

I saw a glimpse of Black Souls while farming Baal, so I turned on a recording hoping to show what it is like. McTyreal didn't plan to be that way, she just happened as she went along - It's not like I can twink her, she finds everything she uses.



Note that she is in her MF mode and already has better than max resists. I think she can get resists all 95%, or get 75% dfe if she fiddle around with her gear.
She sometimes switches in a Rising Sun for more Fire dmg (and absorb) if she see a lot of those pesky Vile Mothers. It's not so bad that they are Cold Immune, them spawning Vile Childs means they have unlimited lives if you dont kill them fast enuf. Most annoying yet, they have the AI to break rank from the tank and attack the fragile little girl.
 






Note that she did not bother to take the Resist Fire shrine.

She wasn't trying to kill the monster fast for the video.

Those dreaded Black Souls are healing her (Hydras from the Councils , for example, also heal her)

And then it glitched, probably no one has seen before since practically everyone would be trying to flee from the first hint of Black Souls.

EDIT: A year later Dr.Disaster reported it discovered as an Easter Egg Here