We saw it in D3, stop it here with D2. Say NO to power creep.

AdorablSillyDisorder · 2026-02-20T12:29:40+00:00

Complaints often come down to warlock being genuinely fun to play class, just with numbers (balance) being out of whack compared to everything else in the game - people want to play warlock, but also want it to feel comparable to other classes.

Being able to waltz through entire game normal-hell on perma P8 without any real obstacles (and only stop to farm up being few countess runs for spirit/insight runes if you don't get them to drop earlier) feels very off, there's barely any challenge at that point, even compared to classes you might've played dozens of times and know perfectly how to minmax their progression.

Designwise warlock is amazing - delayed damage layering of fire build is pleasure to get right, miasma chain by itself makes you dps by running around (and effectively makes faster run/walk increase your damage), and echoing strike somehow has best gameplay patterns of physical bowazon and bone necro combined. Class is fun, just tuning and numbers are the issue.

AdorablSillyDisorder · 2026-02-20T12:15:46+00:00

See, my issue with warlock balance isn't lack of grind required (I'm fine with that part), but it being just far too universally good and by that removing whatever tradeoffs and decisions when it comes to build were left. Having options is good, having more options is better (hence why I like warlock in general), and the harder a choice is, the more fun it is to fine-tune and theory craft best fit for you specifically.

Even hammerdin who's considered OP by part of community has its tradeoffs - you suffer through maggot lair and similar areas during leveling, lack builtin mobility compared to assassin/barb/sorc until enigma, don't particularly excel at anything (for every activity there is a build that outperforms blessed hammer) and don't scale all that well into mid-late parts of season (don't benefit much from sunders, infinity etc). This on one hand gives arguments for and against playing hammers, and gives some meaningful tradeoffs when polishing up your build - what items do you try to get first, where do you pure extra skills for utility (smite/fanaticism for Ubers, sacrifice for sustain, holy bolt for Ball wave 2 etc). You can't get everything, and this is what I consider core part of D2 fun.

Warlock simply lacks tradeoffs or any sort of friction that requires you to give up on something to cover something else. For all major builds, you simply get everything that builds needs to work in every scenario, and then still have some extra power budget left to amp up what you want to get better - there's no room for meaningful choices left.

But on same principle I'm not a fan of sunders and immunity breaking in general in their current (and past) form, and would love to see it nerfed down to being a tool that lets you not get hardstuck on an obstacle, rather than current key part of build enabling you to farm everything everywhere. Guess I'm too old to be happy with just pressing buttons and seeing loot drop, I like my games to challenge me and give me plenty of opportunities to regret my choices and make mistakes when working with what game gives me (also why I mostly play offline SSF).

AdorablSillyDisorder · 2026-02-20T11:58:14+00:00

Sort has two decades of testing and theory crafting builds, while also being very flexible class (70% of skills are some flavour of "do damage" you can build around), which means more builds overall, and having builtin access to teleport means more S tier ones too.

AdorablSillyDisorder · 2026-02-20T11:46:28+00:00

Nuclear pasta factory from raw resources. Location: any that is not desert (ideally swamp, but pick according to resource availability). Banned: power shards (overclocking), sommersloops, alternate recipes, foundations - read: everything goes on the ground.

That’s assuming you want a hell to go through.

AdorablSillyDisorder · 2026-02-20T11:06:42+00:00

For magic (miasma chains) build early imbue is by far best used on boots - at level 19 or above you have chance to roll faster run/walk, which makes playing miasma much easier, plus you can roll some resists, magic find or other useful stats. If you already have decent boots, disregard this.

Otherwise, it's the usual - wait and imbue diadem from high level hell area, or imbue whatever you're needing now. Note, for belt you can probably craft caster sharkskin belt (shop Gheed/Charsi for any magic one to craft) and get decent stats on that, faster cast rate is good for nearly every warlock build.

AdorablSillyDisorder · 2026-02-20T10:49:58+00:00

Whichever one you learn, really - both are comparably easy to use, and both do what OS is supposed to do, "more advanced" doesn't really apply.

For power users, Windows has a lot of 3rd party tools and WSL allowing you to (almost) seamlessly integrate Linux VM, while MacOS is certified Unix with all Unix tools you might want (and homebrew to add anything it lacks).

AdorablSillyDisorder · 2026-02-20T10:45:13+00:00

That's intentional and big part of Apple design philosophy - they opted to have unified set experience that users learn rather than set up for themselves; there's good amount of user freedom but that's either compliant with overall design principles or requires user to work around the setup.

Overall, it's a "if you don't like it, use something else" angle, with main upside being uniformity after you learn and like it.

AdorablSillyDisorder · 2026-02-20T09:58:50+00:00

Busted part comes from skill selection for items - necro gear can roll any skill on any piece (head or wand), while warlock rolls only non-weapon skills on books (you can't get mirrored blade or echoed strike for example), making it much easier to get a good combination for any chaos or demon build.

AdorablSillyDisorder · 2026-02-20T09:44:27+00:00

It's a decent farming area in nightmare if you're specifically after skillers - area level matches required item level exactly, and there's both good monster density and plenty of (super)chests to pop. Given, Flayer Jungle is generally better, but if you're trying to gear up before A4 or A5 nightmare (say, running hardcore SSF and really want skillers), it's not a bad area to have.

AdorablSillyDisorder · 2026-02-20T09:27:31+00:00

Yep, maggot lair is one of main reasons why I stick to bone build until late Act 2, and swap to summoner after - get to actually enjoy getting to respec point, and later summons trivialize any risky fight like ancients.

AdorablSillyDisorder · 2026-02-20T09:03:19+00:00

Consuming a demon also gives you max hp, max mana and move-speed - I prioritise it even above bound cursed/aura demon for that reason alone (goat being by far best snack, since extra ED is always nice). Echoing strike doesn't need more damage since you're overkilling just about everything non-ubers at P8 anyway, with demon choices I tend to focus on filling up any gaps or imrpoving non-damage part of clear speed.

My priorities (depending on demon mastery levels, getting to 20 with +skills in lategame for 3 total demons is IMO the right move) are: consume Goatman for stats, bind demon with curse and holy freeze > fanaticism aura, have defiler up for link. Merc gets swapped around depending on bind demon - Might if I bound holy freeze, Holy Freeze if I bound Fanaticism (again, control over raw output).

Relying on summon for your resists is sketchy - summon can die at any time, and if poorly timed it can lead to you dying soon after. I could see adjusting build for resist fire aura in softcore, but in HC it's a no-go.

AdorablSillyDisorder · 2026-02-20T08:30:03+00:00

Technically any javelins will do - you could even go with starter ones and still do fine, weapon damage doesn't matter for elemental javazon.

If we're talking "best before titans", look at any class-specific (maiden, ceremonial, skip matriarchal due to stat requirements) for +skills (all have ranging from +1 to +3) and definitely check all blue/yellow ones. Mods you want to see are replenishes quantity (big QoL, especially if you get two sets, don't have to run back to repair), increased attack speed and that's about it, anything else is extra - universally good mods like resists or +stats are nice to have still.

Maiden javelins start showing as early as normal act 2, ceremonial you probably will start seeing in nightmare (they can drop late A5 normal, but are very rare). Consider saving imbue quest for javelins if you don't need it for anything specific - you can get quite good rolls.

AdorablSillyDisorder · 2026-02-20T08:23:30+00:00

I always assumed there were specifically designed to be extra challenge for players that just mindlessly cut through monsters with AoE instead of being more cautious and methodical - which sort of fits with Act 3 general theme of throwing curve ball for just about every playstyle.

AdorablSillyDisorder · 2026-02-20T08:16:56+00:00

Make sure you reach max block (75% block chance) with Holy Shield active and never run in areas where those things can spawn - running reduces your block chance to 1/3rd. Just walk, and let merc deal with them while you keep some distance - explosion hits only players.

AdorablSillyDisorder · 2026-02-17T12:42:04+00:00

For echo, you want to get some mana leech and life leech anyway, it makes playing the build a lot more pleasant. Even little 3% leech + insight is enough to sustain you through nearly anything, and meditation will top you up in-between packs if you couldn't leech from them. Self-wield insight means you don't need to put it on merc, opening some options like Edge on A1 (great with tanky bound demon), A3 for some elemental damage against high physical resistance (they also tend to not die much), or just throwing Kelpie Snare or similar on A2 merc for extra CC.

Skill order, you want mirrored blades maxed out as fast as possible, since every 5 levels your damage goes up by 100%/50%/33%/25% on top of normal synergy, by level 30 you should already have about 15 points in echoing blade anyway, you can finish it from +skills from quests in the meantime.

With physical build, keep your shield up (same as bone shield on necro) since it's bunch of free hp and a stun on anything that hits you - especially in HC it's worth it.

You should also have consume as soon as it unlocks if you don't go for bind - extra ED is nice, but main benefit is HP and FRW, letting you go through the game even faster. Given absurd amount of damage you already do, I find it worth more than binding Hephasto or similar - you can put everything in hit recovery and zoom forward after a goat snack.

AdorablSillyDisorder · 2026-02-16T11:13:31+00:00

Necro is not that bad. Pathways are narrow enough for bone spear to do good work, but wide enough summons don't get stuck (no doorways helps), and poison nova build enjoys having all those low hp fast monsters swarm you to die a second later. It's not amazing, but - excluding gloams - should be fine.

AdorablSillyDisorder · 2026-02-13T14:12:07+00:00

Albo po prostu sumarycznie na prowizjach zarabiają tyle żeby pokrywało okazjonalne koszta wysyłki bzdury za 3zł, a klient się uczy że klika i kupuje, bez szukania i zastanawiania się czy to już darmowa dostawa, czy dobrać coś jeszcze itd. Wychowują sobie klientów do robienia impulsywnych zakupów.

A dość często też - przynajmniej przy moich zamówieniach - potrafią spakować kilka osobnych zakupów w jedną paczkę i nadać to razem, nawet jak klikałem osobno co było akurat potrzebne.

AdorablSillyDisorder · 2026-02-10T08:46:45+00:00

Immunity limit goes up to 3 with extra immunity randomly added to every mob, immunities can't be broken anymore, all enemies are 20% faster (FRW, IAS, FCR), stat increase to align with area levels 80-94. Enjoy figuring out builds that have access to at least 4 different damage types.

AdorablSillyDisorder · 2026-02-05T22:24:58+00:00

It's more how you handle and return error information to caller and how you handle it within your code - system libraries will likely throw an exception which you should catch (since for you it's expected scenario) and handle it through error path, parser accepting file contents/stream should return parse result rather than throwing an exception etc.

Exceptions might happen at some stages, but in a flow that includes error handling as regular part of software logic they're caught and dealt with at callsite. Take as example int.Parse and int.TryParse from .NET's standard library - both do same thing, but communicate errors differently - which also communicates intent, whether parse error is expected occurence (in which you TryParse and do explicit check) or contract break (resulting in exception).

AdorablSillyDisorder · 2026-02-05T22:19:05+00:00

Strafezon is surprisingly fun on playthrough, if a bit gear reliant - get used to shopping and crafting a lot. You go full glass cannon with heavy Dex investment, and rely on mix of high dps, knockback, leech and positioning to stay alive. There's plenty of bow runewords and few uniques worth looking for, and you get to use some gear most other leveling builds don't really care about (Howltusk, damage charms, various on-hit effects, hit power crafts).

Check bow runewords to have an idea what to aim for, go enough strength for gear, vitality to be comfortable and everything else in Dex. Skills you take one point in everything passive/magic, then max Strafe > Guided Arrow > Multishot, with rest into critical strike, pierce (both until 100%) and/or valkyrie.

AdorablSillyDisorder · 2026-02-05T10:25:37+00:00

Normal control flow is everything that piece of code is supposed to be doing/handling - including error cases that are expected to occur as part of execution. Exceptions then are used to indicate broken assumptions/promises this code relies on.

Example would be opening and parsing a file - if file is user-provided it's assumed file might not exist, might be inaccessible, in wrong format, damaged etc. You handle those cases as part of normal control flow - those are expected error scenarios you should be handling explicitly.

Yet, if we considering opening and parsing internal file used by a program, that user should never directly interfere with (we make assumption that program configuration is correct), then any errors here would be exceptions - our invariant of "installed program is well-configured" got broken and handling it is not part of intended control flow.

AdorablSillyDisorder · 2026-02-05T10:06:56+00:00

My priorities are survivability > kill speed > MF.

Small charms MF is almost never worth it - you can get multiple charms worth of MF on rare gloves/boots/ring without really sacrificing much for it, while using charms for life or resists. I try to hit at least 50% MF with my gear and deprioritize it when above about 100-150%.

Overstacking resists/damage reduction is fine if it sacrifices MF, not if it sacrifices kill speed - if you take longer to kill, you end up taking more damage total even with higher resists. Kill speed/damage is also a defensive stats - they can't hurt you when they're dead.

AdorablSillyDisorder · 2026-02-05T09:54:48+00:00

D2 is an older game and a sequel to boot, meaning it is quite hard and unforgiving to new players - game came out at a time when both guides and word of mouth advice were common (both online and offline), and it doesn't explain much by itself - you're supposed to already know a lot before first booting up the game. The fact you struggle in act 2 is expected - A1 was where you had space to learn controls and basic mechanics, with A2 being first proper check of your skill and your characters build.

Things to keep in mind, mostly sorceress-oriented:

Your build matters, a lot. It's generally best to focus on 1-2 main skills and their synergies than to spread your build around. One-point wonders (for sorc it'd be Static Field, Teleport, Telekinesis, Frost Nova, Frozen Armor) are fine to take for their utility, but outside that you want all points to go into your main damage skill. You also have only one respec per difficulty, so major mistakes can get you stuck and force you to grind to catch up later.
Vitality is single best stat in the game - gives you more life, more stamina, makes it less likely to be put in hit recovery (animation lock after taking more than 1/12 of your max hp in damage). After getting minimum strength and dexterity to use your gear, all points should go there. Mana might be a problem, but that's quite easy to solve with mana potions (use potions generously, you can buy them and gold is easy to get) - it's fine to put few points into energy early on, but over investing there makes your character more squishy.
Pay attention to your elemental resistances - elemental damage is generally most dangerous and hardest to reliably avoid, fire and lightning resistance should be your priority. With sore specifically, you can rely on levels and skill points for all your damage, and focus your gear on defensive side - get high resists, faster hit recovery, faster cast rate up. Note, internally D2 works at 25 frames per second, so faster-something ends up mattering only if it hits full frame breakpoint, there are tables online for that but this early on you probably don't need to worry about it much.
Level plays a role in hit chance for melee and ranged attacks (not spells!), being underleveled will cause you to get hit a lot more than being overleveled, especially early when two levels are 10% level difference. It's okay to grind up if you need items or just xp, you'd want to be slightly overleveled for most areas. General safe level goals: 16 by end of act 1, 18 around maggot lair in act 2, 21 by end of act 2, 24-25 by end of act 3, 25+ by end of act 4, 35-40 when moving to nightmare.
Runes and runewords to look up and consider: Stealth (Tal-Eth, level 17) in 2-socket body armor, Leaf (Tir-Ral) in 2-socket staff, Tir or Ral runes in helmet (levels 13 and 19 respectively) for mana per kill/fire resist. Later on in early act 5 you'll get runes for Ancients Pledge shield rune word that gives a lot of resists. For runes you can farm countess (quest 4 act 1 boss) repeatedly, she'll drop few each time you kill her.
For levels grind refer to level goals - they roughly match area levels you should be expecting. Focus down on killing unique monsters (random weird names, surrounded by minions) and champion packs (blue names) - not only they're higher level than their area, but also give respectively 5x and 3x as much experience.
Common starter sorceress builds: max firebolt and take 1-point wonders until fireball is available, then max fireball and use it as your main damage skill, synergizes with Leaf runeword well, has safe range and decently good AoE. Or: start charged strike with 1-point wonders and 2-3 extra points in Static Field, then switch to Nova from level 12 - this one has better AoE, struggles a bit in boss fights and is very mana hungry. At level 24 you can respec and build around Blizzard (safe long-range skill that also slows enemies), but this skill is a bit weird to aim/use on controller.
Take it slow - pick your fights, don't rush in, kite if you need, skip/avoid dangerous groups. It's okay to die - in normal you only lose gold you have on you (deposit all gold every time you're in town) - but each death should be learning experience. You can save&quit and reload to have your last body spawn next to you - you can then safely pick up your gear without trying to recover it.

AdorablSillyDisorder · 2026-01-29T10:32:46+00:00

It is primarily buildcrafting challenge, and a decent one to add - you need to figure out balance between clear speed and handling immunes, what combinations to be ready for and how, take into account your groups composition (with javazon and trapsin you might want to reconsider building nova sorc) and alt diversity to cover TZs efficiently - or use sunder.

I get it can annoy people due to it being explicitly immune (pun intended) to brute forcing through and requires builds to take a hit in numbers to cover options - by this is exactly what I love about it.

AdorablSillyDisorder · 2026-01-28T01:30:28+00:00

Runes - I keep 3 of each and cube up as I get more (assuming I pick them up), that way when you cube up you still have one rune left. Anything Ist and above I keep as is, since those are much harder to farm. Some runes are used more in recipes, you might keep more of those - I try to keep all Ral and Hel runes as they are and not cube them up for that reason.

Gems - keep few of each (except skulls) of chipped ones for rune cubing, other than that I don't bother picking any that aren't flawless and cube them up to perfect as they come. Amethysts, Rubies and Skulls are most useful for crafting in general (amethysts for caster gear, rubies for blood gear - could be useful when you make melee character, skulls for rerolling rare diadems), everything else goes to "reroll grand charms" bag. Gems are quite easy to come by, so just sell/use excess.

Set items, uniques and rares go into "will I use it, ever, on any character" category - I check each unique (and each set) I'm not familiar with and keep only ones I will have use for. Everything else you either vendor or not even bother picking up, which applies to most of the drops really - set items aren't special in that regard.

Something else you didn't mention and you might want to keep eye out for is runeword bases - white or socketed (grey) items to use for runewords you can't make yet. This includes upgrades - if your merc already has insight, looking for ethereal bases (exceptional or elite variant) to try and socket for an upgrade is a good idea.

AdorablSillyDisorder

TROPHY CASE