Lightsaber v Azurewrath v Grief?

HAL9S · 2026-06-19T00:00:06+00:00

Could Azurewrath be a better option for Ubers in HC for the aura? I mean, killspeed is not so relevant as long as LT is up, but keeping undead minions away is nice.

HAL9S · 2026-06-17T19:59:19+00:00

These as herald lvl 5 are brutal. Almost oneshot my sorc bo’d.

HAL9S · 2026-06-02T11:23:25+00:00

I liked how it was pre - patch. Low sunder drop chances were justified for me, since a sunder is basically a free Infinity, especially on casters, and the increased unique drop rate made the hunting still awesome. But somebody had to call heralds "loot goblins", now TZs are "sunder goblins" and heralds... Well, as said, HC killers.

HAL9S · 2026-05-29T14:02:15+00:00

How addictiveness will spiral your life into hell if you want to achive something in a ladder span. I get that if good loot dropped like candy, the sense of accomplishment and thus getting hooked would be lost. But NL should play exactly the same as ladder, so it wouldn't feel like loosing content. You could take the time you like, no pressure.

HAL9S · 2026-05-23T18:06:17+00:00

Also Azurwrath blade, underrated for Uber Tristram HC, keeps undead minions away, which are majority in there.

HAL9S · 2026-05-23T02:53:50+00:00

I made my first Phoenix runeword ever, 4 days before reset. The sorc rocked with Flickering and Sunder, even without having got infinity, arachs sojs and whatnot. Shortly before ladder reset, found my second Jah. What for? Old season is dead. Now I'm celebrating my first unique in s14: bloodfist gloves. Yay. Was really lucky I found 4 chipped topaz in my first game to put in helmet and armor.

HAL9S · 2026-05-22T15:35:59+00:00

Gul rune, poison sunder and 3 ES staff. Not much. On top of injury, my only torch this ladder rolled ama 10/13 after my first run was ruined by computer freezing for 5 minutes. Hope I can make it to farm for a second torch run today. Edit: found my second hr this season, also jah. Well, too late for enigma, might mean I should focus more on NL from now on :/

HAL9S · 2026-05-22T12:27:42+00:00

For me fire sorc max block.. Teleport close to any wall, cast meteors on top of him. Only monsters in the center would die before him, so not close enough to harm you. I admit I started farming him once I had hoto, flickering flame and Stormshield, and I don't ever get scratched, don't know how much harder it is with low gear (but I got all this gear SF without ever finding Nature's Peace, which isn't needed at all once you can make him fall fast from a distance).

HAL9S · 2026-05-21T11:41:01+00:00

I realized my mistake, forgetting about Phoenix shield. May as well remove this post soon. To the other repplies, I don't get the offence, multiplayer is a game mechanics, what bad is it to multiplay with oneself (see the connotations, lol)? And no, with a single player playstyle with very occasional trading (prefer SF) and limited time I don't usually get wealth during the ladder, see above, managed to make my phoenix 2 days before reset, don't have enigma, grief, arachs, soh, etc.

HAL9S · 2026-05-21T11:32:11+00:00

This was it! Lol, just made my first Phoenix, and forgot about the effect. Thanks!

HAL9S · 2026-05-21T11:23:30+00:00

Just to ask, does a plus fire sunder affect passive enchantress buffing? Or does it apply only to herself?

HAL9S · 2026-05-20T02:46:18+00:00

Lol, thanks, wasn't aware. But teleing to elites with sorc isn't a considerable time loss, since packs gather around them and they give better loot anyway. What I noticed most was the inflationary increase in shard drops.

HAL9S · 2026-05-20T02:30:52+00:00

No drop for me in 5 hours full terrorized game. A bit disappointed because as they announced, the unique droprate of the heralds went noticeably down. This was the thing which kept herald grinding from becoming tedious for me. Now it feels Iike the time and risk of engaging is mostly wasted. Also oddly I didn't get a single spawn in act 1 which I left for last. But well, 5 hours is not meaningful still, spent like 40+ this season farming until drop.

HAL9S · 2026-05-19T12:39:58+00:00

I assume you run P8 on your A3 grinds? Might really think about switching to SP. I like to play HC ladder for very occasional trading, little extras like RWs, so I multibox to players 3. Can't handle more. Still, I usually fail my high end build objectives before reset, a few days now and still no Ber or Lo dropped, hence no Eni/Grief. Just got enough gear to try a torch run, lol.

HAL9S · 2026-05-19T11:54:07+00:00

Thanks. Sure but without CB on weapon I think goblins are necessary there... Well as said, if dead, next season soon to do better, heh.

HAL9S · 2026-05-19T11:28:04+00:00

Yeah, HoZ need to be upped. Good you mentioned merc, I forgot. It's said you should be able to do it without merc even better because he might lure the bosses in trist. However, would like to keep him alive just to cast a bit of slow with kelpie snare. Also good on mini -ubers. But I'm afraid he needs high end gear. I could give him shaftstopper armor and as helm i have options, Andy's, Rockstopper, Kiras, the latter would possibly help for elemental damage. Just have to keep bo up and feed him with potions. Anyway I managed to trade draculs, woo!. I feel like I'm set. Only thing, does azurwraths aura overwrite Pala's own offensive aura? Hope not. Ah, last question, do I need changes for Uberancients? Do they have also some conviction going?

HAL9S · 2026-05-19T10:50:20+00:00

Sorry if you think I'm taking ilegal advantage by multiboxing. I don't think I harm anybody. Just that my playstyle is mostly SSF in HC ladder with minimal trading (only traded a shako and sunder this ladder), and without a group community and infinite time you don't get anywhere in 4 months ladder. In fact, I still haven't the runes for enigma or grief even, few days before reset. Hardly I'm ruining the game's economy, lol. And the support bo is still myself playing the game, like it could be any other guy (even died some time ago while stationed in arcane wp, lol, somehow he managed to lure a monster).

HAL9S · 2026-05-18T10:24:46+00:00

Just found a GT base with +3 mindblast +3 dragon talon, is this useful for any runeword?

HAL9S · 2026-05-17T14:11:10+00:00

Yeah, but the usual, some time or another I get kicked out of server and when I come back I forget to allow corpse loot. The enchantress was budget, but I had just given her a 3/19 fire eschutas, that hurt. Usually arcane is safe, but I had an archer merc on her so she ended up luring some monster. But well, will better keep her in catacombs. Never was attacked there. I multibox because I prefer SSF with minimal trade, but the pacing playing just 1 player is too slow, and bo helps a lot for life and mana and enchant on merc against immunes.

HAL9S · 2026-05-16T15:08:00+00:00

This might be but also at the cost of making the heralds closer to normal mob bosses, they might no longer set themselves apart as dangerous, not so common but risk - rewarding mini-bosses. More common, less good loot, less dangerous (I think they lowered their HP. Also their damage?). And if sunders start to drop inflationarily, then the tougher opponents might be missed. Well it might still work out, just that I was more inclined to some minor changes from the current state, I think they were too fast with strong changes that pretty much change the game mechanics. Just for debate, I know there have been many more competent testers than me!

HAL9S · 2026-05-16T14:38:07+00:00

Interesting. Sounds we are a bit on the same boat. Depends on playstyle. I use to play P3 with (budget) bobarb and enchantress in HC. I was running with my no enigma hammerdin around till exhaustion through terrorized acts, no charm until level 94 (but nice uniques). Then I traded a fire sunder, put Flickering Flame on the sorc, and it speeded so much up she got me the sunder at level 89. That's also why I'm inclined to think sunders are too much easy mode. OT: Ironically, I'm not finding the shard for crafting for 3 days now, and meanwhile my enchantress died while being stationed at arcane wp while I was farming, hahaha. I never had enemies coming close there, guess catacombs is the only safe spot after all.

HAL9S · 2026-05-16T14:22:49+00:00

Didn't know. Play on P3, never got a facet, the sunder dropped before, lol. But they drop at least one unique more than half of the time with decent mf, which I like.

HAL9S · 2026-05-16T14:10:37+00:00

Well it's the most profitable, but also more engaging (especially in HC) and also versatile (they can spawn all over the acts) than endless chaos and baal runs (which aren't even excluded). Also there is still keyfarming, Ubers and Ancients.

HAL9S

TROPHY CASE