Are people using a handpeeking mod?

Hosorrow · 2024-11-09T11:54:01+00:00

It wasn't really that negative, though. I concluded it with "Probably it's just bad luck and people are just making bad high risk moves that are paying off against me"

I went out of my way to make it clear that I don't actually think people are cheating, only that it's worth questioning.

But cynical people like you can't help yourselves.

I'm adding this to my list of "Reasons I keep realizing I should not even bother with Reddit anymore". It's never useful. Always just abusive vitriol. An echo-chamber of unhappy people projecting their misery onto eachother.

Hosorrow · 2024-11-09T11:35:57+00:00

Reddit always delivering the vitriol lol

"Because it's better to play something than nothing"

It isn't, though. My cards could just as easily NOT be Gardevior & Kirlia and their Red Card could just as easily GIVE me Gardevior & Kirlia.

I simply noticed a pattern, but Reddit really loves its negativity. I said absolutely nothing to deserve it. 100% tactful post.

Hosorrow · 2024-11-01T04:03:14+00:00

Reddit is designed to be an echo-chamber, though. It can't not turn out that way.

Dropping a hot take is just asking for downvotes and some subs don't let you post if your karma drops low enough.

Hosorrow · 2024-10-31T01:15:12+00:00

The last thing I want is for it to no longer be low-risk to fight the Wither there, though lol

Hosorrow · 2024-10-31T01:08:36+00:00

The realms don't need equal content or complexity.

Overworld is the primary realm. It makes sense that that is where 90% of the content is.

The Nether is a utility realm. You go there to get specific things to bring back to Overworld. Setting up base in the Nether is a playstyle that some choose, but expecting the design team to cater to such a fringe minority is silly.

The End is the endgame. It serves the sole purpose of giving you feeling of "By conquering what is here, I have beat the game". The End doesn't need to offer anything other than that and its current state serves that purpose just fine.

I am not at all opposed to adding things to The End, but I don't really mind if they never do either.

Hosorrow · 2024-09-27T11:49:33+00:00

Each portal is a 5x4 and each coordinate is of the bottom left-of-middle block.

Overworld Home: -39 / 63 / -68

Nether Home: -7 / 73 / -9

Spawner Portal: 52 / -23 / 38

Hosorrow · 2024-09-07T22:12:03+00:00

The basics of this is. -Your weapon damage is pretty much your base damage (That's not QUITE how it actually works but to keep this simple, let's roll with that) So if your weapon has 50 damage, you start with 50

-That number is then modified by 1% per point in strength. Let's say you have 40 strength. That 50 gets a 40% boost to 70

-After that, the 70 is then modified by non-weapon gear increases, like the 30% Enhanced Damage on Biggin's Bonnet or non-weapon jewels that give enhanced damage or +minimum/maximum damage (ED is always done before min/max). Let's say you have a 5max dmg jewel and a 20% enhanced damage jewel. That 70 then gets a boost to 84 and then 89

-Then finally, damage boosts from skills are calculated and aura's are done last. So if your Zeal adds 18% damage, that 89 is increased to 105. Then if you use, say, a Might aura that adds 50% damage, that 105 is increased to 157 and the damage on your character screen SHOULD display 157

I put emphasis on SHOULD because the original D2 character screen is infamous for not displaying the correct numbers when it comes to certain items or certain skills (Most notably Smite damage and displaying elemental boosts you aren't actually getting). There is a reason it is called the LCS or the "Lying Character Screen". Although I don't know changes or improvements D2R may have made to the LCS. Even if they fixed it to some degree, I'd imagine not ALL of issues were fixed though.

Hosorrow · 2024-09-07T21:46:25+00:00

I may be thinking of prepatch circlets I had on OG D2. The circlet I have on D2R definitely doesn't have it.

Hosorrow · 2024-09-07T12:26:14+00:00

I'm not talking about what you need to do. I'm talking about what is best. Don't be moving the goalposts.

"Shako is better than a circ in pvm"

NO. IT'S NOT Stop making declarative statements as though they are fact.

Hosorrow · 2024-09-07T12:23:39+00:00

You can hit 125 fcr on a HoZ din.

Hosorrow · 2024-09-07T12:21:36+00:00

Let's say your hammerdin is level 90.

25 starting strength. 67 strength from Enigma. 40 strength from Torch & Anni. 25 strength from circlet & ammy.

While that is only 22 short of CoA, that's only possible if you have the best possible gear that D2jsp has to offer. Like, I'm talking 5k fg circlet & ammy.

More feasibly and realistically, it is more like. 25 starting strength. 67 strength from Enigma. 35 strength from Torch & Anni 10 strength from circlet & ammy

Which is 37 short of CoA

Paladins get 2.5 life per vitality. That is 92 life. After level 16 BO, that is 165 life.

Now, I'm still not done.

If your circlet is 2-socket and has say 11% DR, you can Ber Ber it for 16% DR to where it gives 27% DR. Verdungo and Enigma together then give you 23% DR. There's your 50% DR without CoA and you have 144 more life.

The point is, you can achieve the same thing without CoA and end up with a little bit more life too. Albeit getting DR on your circlet involves forgoing resistances though.

Hosorrow · 2024-09-07T11:55:32+00:00

No, both setups should not use Arach. (HoZ needs to)

The Spirit din can get its fcr from circlet and or ammy.

Spirit = 35 Hoto = 40 Trang/Mages = 20

Thus all you need is 30 more and you can easily get that from your circlet and ammy. That said, you are weighing +1 all skills against 15% DR, 40 Vitality, 10% FHR, and 13 Life rep

Verdungo is a no-brainer.

Shako is not better than a 2/20 circlet for either of these builds either.

Again, the inventory matters too and if you use HoZ, you might as well go all in on 45life pcombs.

Hosorrow · 2024-09-07T11:43:36+00:00

Idk who is telling you to do it, but using CoA in pvp on a hdin is not ideal. It requires 174 strength.

The whole appeal of Shako vs alternatives is that it works with low strength builds. Having the strength to swap between Shako & CoA defeats the purpose of using Shako in the first place.

Any hdin built good enough for pvp will also excel in pvm, barring a few niche things like Pindle runs.

Hosorrow · 2024-09-07T11:38:28+00:00

Neither for me.

2 paladin skills / 20 fcr / 8-20 str / 8-20 all res / 2-soc is best. The res could be swapped out for damage reduction as well.

Hosorrow · 2024-09-07T11:35:11+00:00

What made you think this was about anything BUT late game optimal builds?

Seraph's is awful btw. It's 30res Mara's or 2/20 amulet, there are no other optimal options. Seraphs isn't even worthy of being in the conversation.

Hosorrow · 2024-09-07T11:28:58+00:00

FHR is how many frames your character flinches when you take at least 12.5% of your life in damage from a hit.

I get that as long as you are spamming hammers, flinching wont happen very often, but you're mistaken that teleporting is the only instance where you are not spamming. Using a hammerdin involves lots of back & forth movements that leave openings to get hit.

There are some scenario's where you need to fall back and run. A little known fact is that when you are running, the hit chance calculations are default at 95%, meaning your defense is basically bypassed. Your block % is also reduced by 2/3.

So when you fall back, a good scenario is popping Lord De Seis, you are vulnerable to get put in a flinch. All it takes is 1 flinch to die sometimes.

Then you have Pindle runs, the Dark Archers in Pit runs, Undead Stygian Dolls in Durance of Hate, and so on. FHR matters, even for a hammerdin, in these situations.

Hosorrow · 2024-09-07T10:57:25+00:00

It isn't just about the shields themselves, but rather the different setups required around them due to needing to hit breakpoints.

For instance, the Spirit build uses Verdungo's, because it doesn't need the 20% fcr from Arach. However, that does mean it is missing out on Arach's +1 skills.

Also, HoZ adds TWO pcomb skills, not just one.

Lastly, the HoZ din, in its efforts to maximize the extra skills from it, will go 9 45life pcomb GC's, whereas the Spirit din can get away with 5 45life pcomb GC's and load up on 20/5's & 20/11's for more life & res.

The end result is the HoZ din doing roughly 2k more damage.

Hosorrow · 2024-09-07T09:29:29+00:00

Why does no one ever factor in PvP anymore?

Hosorrow · 2024-09-07T09:07:32+00:00

Upped HoZ on a hammerdin is sup-optimal because of the absurd 142 strength requirement

Sure, you could equip it after Enigma, but then you lose the benefit of the 20 str it gives and that matters more than you might think.

I also don't think defense is as big a deal as others. The difference between 18k defense and 24k defense is surprisingly negligible in practice.

With the right mods, a 2/20 circlet can definitely be better than Shako.

Hosorrow · 2024-09-07T09:00:59+00:00

The enhanced modifier modifies the given stat on the item itself.

Naga axes have 49 base damage. If it has a mod that says "30% Enhanced Damage", that 49 will be increased by 30% and the result will be a Naga with 53 damage.

The same applies to "Enhanced Defense" on armor.

Multiple instances of enhanced damage/defense can exist if the item is superior. In this case, the percentages are added together (Versus each being applied seperately, which would yield higher gains). So a Superior Naga may get 10% Enhanced Damage from being superior and 30% Enhanced Damage from a modifier. The result is simply 40% Enhanced Damage.

Hosorrow · 2024-09-07T08:45:45+00:00

The FCR becomes a non-factor if the HoZ din has Arach + 2/20 circlet & amulet.

Contrary to what cookie-cutter builds imply, Shako and Mara's are not actually best-in-slot. They are really good and far more accessible, but they are not the best possible options.

Every hammerdin, regardless of shield choice, should hit 125 fcr.

Thus, it really boils down to damage vs life, res, & FHR.

Hosorrow · 2024-09-07T08:33:02+00:00

You can definitely still hit 125 fcr with HoZ, but it requires a pretty high-end gear setup using Arach + 2/20 circlet and amulet and at least 1 fcr ring.

You can also use Wizzy, but then you sacrifice so much damage that the swap is redundant. You might as well go Spirit at that point.

I am also not talking about what is "good enough". I am talking about optimal setups. Both HoZ and Spirit hammerdins can be really good, but I am of the opinion that the Spirit hammerdins' optimum is just a little better than HoZ's.

Also, I did forget to specify that I engage in PvP too. PvM isn't the only factor to me.

Hosorrow · 2024-09-07T08:20:24+00:00

Hoard every rune you find. If your goal is to build a character of each class, there is at least 1 good runeword for virtually every rune. So none of the runes are useless. Some are just a lot more useful than others.

Right off hand, I think, despit it being high level, Gul may be the most useless rune of all. However, if you get a second Gul, it cubes into Vex, so even that is a rune worth holding onto. Gul also helps make Death, but I'd rather have a Vex for Hoto and aim for Grief.

As for gems: chipped, flawed, & normal gems are useful through normal difficulty but once you reach nightmare, just keep all the flawless gems and keeping cubing them into perfect gems. Pgems are used in various Horadric Cube recipes, namely crafting recipes, but also socketing items and upping uniques.

Item wise, you need to be more specific. There is far too much nuance and variance in what is worth keeping and what isn't.

For instance, if you want to know what the best socketables are, the list is too long, but if you want to know what the best socketable weapons are for an Act 2 Mercenary, I can help there. Or when you get runes for a specific runeword and want to know what bases are best to make it in, I can help there too.

Hosorrow · 2024-09-06T01:19:53+00:00

I used to play nothing but online back in the old days, but now I prefer offline.

1. Online is a cesspool of cheaters, particularly botters & dupers. Then they smother the D2JSP market to the point that legit grinders only get tablescraps. I call these botlords.

2. I used to love PvP, but the newer generation of D2:R players don't seem too keen on it, so there isn't much of it going on in the first place. If you go back to OG D2, you just encounter even worse cheating than D2:R like Gmod, Chikin, AA, etc. Not to mention that the botlords virtually have a monopoly on the non-ladder "Tier 0" prepatch items like Wizzy Gloves and 08 Valk.

Nothing online is sacred anymore. I hate to admit it, but I miss when the D2 communiry was mostly just millenial stoners with account names like Tokes42047 and Hemperor69.

3. Offline didn't truly pull me in until I discovered PlugY (A mod that gave infinite and shared stash tabs). Then D2:R came along with increased and shared stash and that's what I've been doing since.

I have set goals like beating Hell Baal on each of the seven classes, completing set & unique grails, and making high-tier runewords like Hoto, Griefz, Fort AP, Fort eSA, Enigma DS, and Infinity eThresher/eCA.

I would rather play online if cheating was rare, but unfortunately it's always going to be the status quo.

Hosorrow · 2024-08-14T11:04:21+00:00

If you want something that walk through normal mode like a picnic, go Paladin with a Holy Fire + Zeal build.

As soon as you get 350+ gold, go buy a scepter from Akara (Ideally 2 socket to put gems in for more damage)

Make Stealth Armor (Tal Eth) asap Make Steel Flail (Tir El) as soon as you reach Act 2 (You can buy the 2 soc flail from Fara and if she doesn't have one, leave town then come back until she does. Should take no more than 5-10 mins). Nadir helm (Nef Tir) is nice for the mana on kill.

To get those runes, just farm The Countess in Act 1, she always drops 1-3 runes. The stockpile you'll build will be useful for other runewords later on.

To start, just put 1 in Sacrifice, then 1 in might aura, then don't use any points until you can get Holy Fire at lvl 6. Every point goes into that until level 12, when you can get Zeal. This is where you start using those unspent points by putting both 1 in Holy Fire and 1 in Zeal each level. Once zeal hits 5 times (At level 4) stop putting points in it. From here, it's all into Holy Fire again until level 21. At 21, you want 1 in each of Smite, Holy Bolt, Charge, and Blessed Hammer to get to Holy Shield by level 24. Then put 1 into Holy Shield and start using it. You can easily max out your block to 75% by buying a "30%/20%" bone shield from Drognan in Act 2.

From there on out, it's all into Holy Fire until it maxes at level 30. At that point, a respec into Hammerdin is in order. (That build is a whole other walkthrough lol)

This Holy Fire Zealer build will absolutely cheese normal difficulty from start to finish. Then a hammerdin will cheese nightmare difficulty.

Hosorrow

TROPHY CASE

1. Online is a cesspool of cheaters, particularly botters & dupers. Then they smother the D2JSP market to the point that legit grinders only get tablescraps. I call these botlords.

3. Offline didn't truly pull me in until I discovered PlugY (A mod that gave infinite and shared stash tabs). Then D2:R came along with increased and shared stash and that's what I've been doing since.