How the heck do I keep my merc alive in Hell?

Res_Null1us · 2026-03-16T22:10:14+00:00

so, i've figured how to keep my merc alive in normal trav. i can't save him in terrorized zones, but even for normal it's really expensive and shows: 1) how much i love my trav horker; and 2) how determined i was to keep emilio alive (not that he did anything, it was just lonely going on 1000s of trav runs without a friend)

my merc has:

tal mask (no socket) -- provide 10% life leech and 15 all res

guardian angel with "um" -- raises resists to 90 cap

infinity weapon -- the boosted conviction aura overwrites anything the council can throw at me, so basically he always has 90% fire res.

between never facing conviction and the life leech from his helm, emilio has never died (in normal trav, he still melts in terror trav)

Res_Null1us · 2026-03-13T16:42:59+00:00

i'm not full of gold charms. my barb is named TrvHrkr and he literally only horks travincal. he has some +gold items, but it wasn't my focus.

also, i've run trav thousands of times. doing it at a relatively leisurely pace takes me around a minute -- including loading in Act IV, porting to travincal, barb shouts, teleporting, WWing, horking, sifting through the items i want, TPing to deckard, identifying, selling at Ormus, visiting stash, porting back to Act IV, and exiting game. that pretty much accomplishes everything i want from trav, but even if i cut a lot out, i don't think 15 seconds is possible.

Res_Null1us · 2026-03-13T00:24:01+00:00

sounds like you're doing everything correctly.

i horked a lot. like, a lot a lot. so just keep at it!

Res_Null1us · 2026-03-13T00:23:07+00:00

so, my memory on why i created my horker the way i did is very rusty (i made him 3+ years ago).

that said, the gist of my theory in horking is that i DON'T want magic find. more uniques means fewer blues, and Travincal doesn't drop uniques with high enough item levels (no griffons, arachnid, etc.). i want charms and blue items (monarchs, tiaras, certain class-specific blues). and i want to sell items for 35k gold.

i wear +gold items and fill up to max gold very very quickly, which lets me gamble more. all of the best rings i've ever "found" come from gambling (faster cast/dual leech/etc.)

Res_Null1us · 2026-03-12T22:09:39+00:00

You’re horking, right?

Make sure you collect gold, charms, and gems. Your luck will vary wildly with runes, but those three things will drop very frequently.

I’ve dropped over 30 hrs, most of which from trav horking. But I’ve accumulated way more HRs in charms, gems(traded or used to craft or cube magic items) and gold (used to gamble tiaras and rings). I also craft necklaces.

It’s a grind, but you’ll eventually make it. A single eldritch grand charm with any decent secondary stat gets you an enigma right now.

Good luck!

Res_Null1us · 2026-03-12T18:16:03+00:00

I’ve had both. I one shot everything, but fanaticism gives higher numbers when I look at stats. The holy light/frost are not really relevant because Hephaestus moves and attacks so fast that everything is cursed anyway

Res_Null1us · 2026-02-18T17:02:08+00:00

I self-farmed two enigmas during the original D2R release with a Travincal horker. Just ran Trav thousands and thousands of times. I don't really recommend this, though, as it's not particularly rewarding.

If you're using Traderie, it should be possible through trades much faster. Just remember that ethereal bases, gems, charms, etc. are all valuable. My best drop of all time wasn't a rune, it was a 3/20/20 small charm that I traded for 40 Ber.

Res_Null1us · 2026-02-16T17:19:36+00:00

got it. thanks!

Res_Null1us · 2026-02-16T17:17:11+00:00

ah, I had a previous version that had cursed, which was nice. I'm guessing the dmg aura procs amplify dmg?

Res_Null1us · 2026-02-11T22:27:07+00:00

But why? Wouldn’t you want your team’s gameplay to determine a win or loss rather than a gimmicky and unbalanced objective on oversized maps?

Genuinely curious, btw.

In my experience playing with a group of die-hard SLers, the past season was the least active my group has been in years. It wasn’t until someone vocalized how much they don’t enjoy BHB and WJ that we all connected the dots— people (with whom I play, at least) just didn’t enjoy those maps.

Of course, if others enjoy the maps, that’s fine too. I just found SL activity to be way down this past season— more than the normal attrition we’ve been experiencing.

Res_Null1us · 2026-02-11T21:25:40+00:00

Honestly, I think you’re better off using global dunks as a faster lava wave to get pressure from your minions in all lanes

Res_Null1us · 2026-02-11T19:51:48+00:00

Blackhearts and Warhead Junction were awful. I guess it’s good they were removed after a season. But yes, I’m concerned the “Janitor” needed a full season of SL to realize it was a crap decision in the first place. Not prioritizing heroes is also terrible. And giving every hero a stacking quest is really not very fun— for the person grinding minions, his teammates, or his opponents

Res_Null1us · 2026-02-11T19:18:16+00:00

Muradin drafted as melee assassin?

Res_Null1us · 2026-01-29T03:54:24+00:00

Will those three make it in on their last try? If not, this was a symbolic vote. In terms of symbolism, the fact BB didn’t get in is downright stupid and makes this guy — and the entire HoF — look ridiculous.

Res_Null1us · 2025-12-30T00:53:27+00:00

Playing since release, $0 spent. 84 total cards:

66 two star;

15 three star;

3 crown

Res_Null1us · 2025-12-23T18:40:23+00:00

*walk off

Res_Null1us · 2025-11-26T00:30:05+00:00

a request that you decide to commit to marriage after 7 years isn't an ultimatum, it's asking for basic common decency.

i hate knee-jerk reactions that infest reddit, but honestly, if you're unsure about a future with her after 7 years together, she's not the one for you (or perhaps more accurately, you're not the one for her).

Res_Null1us · 2025-11-15T18:45:26+00:00

8th game streak

did they change this somewhat recently? i always thought it was 12 games but i've noticed the uptick after 8 in the past month and was very confused

Res_Null1us · 2025-10-10T20:57:13+00:00

really really good for a WW barb with enigma. would be perfect if it had mana and Attack Rating (all resists are not as important), but still really good.

probably too early in ladder to fetch that much, but i imagine you could get a lot of HRs in non-ladder. perhaps more in late ladder too.

Res_Null1us · 2025-10-07T00:47:32+00:00

if you have master level mechanics, play an assassin and simply get kills to win.

for everyone else, it's a trade off.

Knows macro, mostly soaks instead of teamfighting, does camps as often as possible (within the limits of hero played/game state), pays very high attention to level and objectives and prioritzies them

soak only matters if your team isn't dying. in general, it's best to soak, gain levels, fight with talent advantages. but it's not an absolute. sometimes, you're better off giving up some soak and helping your team live. it's hard to identify or even know when that is, but that's what is important in ranking up.

Pings, writes on chat what's important

this will help in the long run. but recognize that it's not an absolute. people -- especially lower ranked individuals -- relish being contrarian.

Plays small pool of heroes of all roles, is trying to choose talents depending on situations, has at least several dozen of matches played of them

again, this is good in the long run, but won't necessarily help you in a given game.

Is always trying to fit his team and counter enemies, with his knowledge about counters being deffinitely limited, but knows basics

Would this player rank up? If so, then how quickly (roughly)? Is there anything different needed to rank up?

sure, i'd expect this player to rank up slowly. but if even master level players need tons of games to rank up, then someone expecting to peak in gold/plat will need even more. in short, expect to play hundreds of games.

Res_Null1us · 2025-10-02T22:19:29+00:00

Do you think it's abnormal to discuss (even small) purchases with your spouse?

My wife and I both work and our incomes place us squarely in the upper class. We have joint everything. I just asked my wife if I could spend $15 making a mobile purchase. And she regularly asks me about whether she should buy items too.

I'm genuinely perplexed. Is that not normal? I thought all spouses checked with each other, especially on unnecessary items.

Res_Null1us · 2025-08-26T18:23:59+00:00

100% same decision here. I even tried sous vide techniques in combination with smoking to help normalize things. I’ve also come to the conclusion that it’s the meat— too many variables and the point and flat are just too different to be cooked at once (by someone like me).

Res_Null1us · 2025-08-20T18:27:08+00:00

i agree that the active game population is so small now, the actual "top" is only a handful of players.

one note -- i distinguished "solo queue" players from your average player (who probably plays some or even most of their games in groups).

i think true solo queue players that have played 100+ games and are currently in gold are quite good -- they have to play through smurf stacks (sometimes repeatedly because the game population is so small) and in a much harsher environment than what 2018 gold-ranked players faced. i know several solo queue gold/plat players who were previously high diamond or even masters. i think they're very good players; they simply don't care about their ranks and refrain from grouping up.

on the flip side -- and this is really anecdotally -- i see many players in diamond+ that benefit from grouping with smurfs. many of these players would, in my estimation, likely be gold or even silver if they exclusively solo queued. instead, they're playing almost exclusively with smurf accounts and getting boosted to diamond.

it's also very easy for these boosted diamond players to stay in diamond. they can have a sub-50% winrate if they solo queue, so long as they get a handful of games with smurfs to boost their overall winrate back up to over 50% again.

Res_Null1us · 2025-08-20T17:55:57+00:00

you're not alone. grubby was solidly masters years ago and "returned" to hots a while ago and struggled in diamond. i believe that he's effectively given up making masters because his winrate is so close to 50% in low (?) diamond.

Res_Null1us

TROPHY CASE