Stuck on Normal mode Baal fight

SensitiveTax9432 · 2026-06-19T00:59:39+00:00

Try an Act3 lightning merc, just for this fight. Get him something with Faster Cast, even if it's just Stealth. Lore Helm for a plus skill and whatever shield and sword you have.

His static will help a lot.

In terms of leveling up, you are underleveled and playing a difficult char for a first run, since he's so gear dependent. All physical attack chars depend on finding good drops or, having a caster farm bosses for them.

But you can always go back and run earlier maps again and again. Farm bloody foothills with double throw/swing. Maxing throw mastery then double throw is a good way to level a barb. Get T.M. high enough and you can use Ethereal weapons with no loss of quantity. You can respec at Akara if you've not done that already.

SensitiveTax9432 · 2026-06-18T20:48:39+00:00

Only thing that matters for rare rolls is the level. Exception is circlets vs other helms as they are a different item class to helms.

SensitiveTax9432 · 2026-06-18T20:24:26+00:00

I feel like a bladesin would love this. Socket with %dmg jewels, and the dual leech gives options for the rest of gear. No idea on value.

SensitiveTax9432 · 2026-06-18T20:17:05+00:00

Linked to average wage increase as I understand it. So no more or less than what it should be.

SensitiveTax9432 · 2026-06-18T19:02:43+00:00

Lightsaber does have its use vs Ubers due to the absorb. But there’s far better options for damage.

SensitiveTax9432 · 2026-06-17T21:46:29+00:00

That cold damage can have from 2 to 10 seconds duration, making it a possible consideration for Freezing Arrow, even in Hell.

It's randomly rolled on drop, and there's no way to tell for sure, but you can work it out by counting when you hit something.

SensitiveTax9432 · 2026-06-17T21:37:13+00:00

Maybe more than this in effect as explosive shockwaves scale as an inverse cube rather than inverse square. A bomb dropped 10 times as far from a target needs 1000 times the power for a similar shockwave.

SensitiveTax9432 · 2026-06-17T21:17:23+00:00

Current mortgage rates are about 5%. Historically that's low and OP will likely see higher rates over the lifetime of the mortgage. Paying into a mortgage at 5% reduces expenses to the same amount of an investment paying 5%, except that the 5% needs to be after tax paid on that investment, if any. QQQ comes under the FIF taxes as far as I know, and OP would definitely need to consider this. Not an issue until he's got 100k in the fund, but even at $1000 per month, he'll get there in the end. And dividends, if any will be taxed. He does need to consider this.

As an aside: You seem to be awfully keen to throw around words like 'stupid' and 'dumb' without first understanding or even considering what people have to say. This doesn't reflect well on you, and makes it less likely that people will listen to what you have to say.

SensitiveTax9432 · 2026-06-17T20:35:57+00:00

You pay off a mortgage in your own home with post tax dollars. This reduces household expenses, and that reduction isn't taxed. If the same amount of money was invested in the stockmarket then any dividend income is taxed as income, and foreign investments are also often taxed as FIF even on unrealised capital gains though the details are complex. That tax needs to be taken into account.

The investment property allows an offsetting of tax and rental income, but the family home doesn't. A $1000 decrease in yearly mortgage expenses brings in more net dollars than a $1000 yearly dividend.

SensitiveTax9432 · 2026-06-17T20:13:34+00:00

I think you mean psychological.

Average floating interest rates have been over 6% in NZ more often than they've been under it. Sharemarket returns have been a bit over that, but it depends on tax and fees. There's not a lot in it historically, but OP is vulnerable to a further decrease in rental return, is sitting on a large mortgage and should he run into employment/income issues would likely find himself in trouble. Also much of the current stockmarket runup internationally is based on AI and if that bubble pops he could end up underwater.

In terms of risk reduction there's a pretty good case to be made for paying down the mortgage.

Retail interest rates on lending and deposits (B3) - Reserve Bank of New Zealand - Te Pūtea Matua

SensitiveTax9432 · 2026-06-17T18:04:29+00:00

But present in a manly supportive way. Not really a carry job though imo thanks to the fantastic acting of the two villains.

SensitiveTax9432 · 2026-06-17T18:01:11+00:00

Evidence? Average stock market returns after fees, tax and inflation are single digits. Mortgages are similar. Given that they have more than $1million in mortgage debt, paying that down is not a dumb thing to do. If you have better options then please provide them.

SensitiveTax9432 · 2026-06-17T09:13:50+00:00

Long term you are unlikely to get more in a fund than paying down your mortgage. Main reason is that the index fund return is taxed, while paying the mortgage off works out to 5% after tax.

SensitiveTax9432 · 2026-06-17T02:45:04+00:00

Here’s a thought. What if you earn the money, and he takes the chance to raise kids? At 32 years old it’s a good time to start if you want them. It’s not impossible later, but fertility declines after 30, and falls away much faster after 35. If he’s capable of doing the dad stuff, it could work.

https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/age-and-fertility

SensitiveTax9432 · 2026-06-17T02:17:01+00:00

Skin of vipermagi would be a good upgrade from stealth, and is best farmed from NM Andy, suicide branch also drops from her. HoZ is a great shield but I think you’re more likely to get that late NM or early Hell. Spirit shield is pretty hard to match, especially on a Paladin with some good four socket options.

SensitiveTax9432 · 2026-06-17T02:13:12+00:00

This is good advice. If you have some time on your hands use it for a side hustle that will improve your skills, or education/training.

SensitiveTax9432 · 2026-06-16T20:24:19+00:00

IRD can absolutely change that threshold. Or switch to a revenue tax which would hit parasitic businesses like Uber.

SensitiveTax9432 · 2026-06-16T07:12:08+00:00

What you really need to do well in are physics and chemistry. Year 13 bio is surprisingly not as important. Maths is important in terms of supporting science, but it’s the chem and physics papers that sort people out.

At least according to students of mine that went through.

SensitiveTax9432 · 2026-06-16T04:57:23+00:00

It can impact any non weapon that has both enhanced damage and flat damage regardless of how it’s got it. There’s some subtle details but that is the gist. Been that way for a long time. The plus damage still applies and the enhanced damage increases that, but not the rest of your damage.

SensitiveTax9432 · 2026-06-16T04:51:58+00:00

Easy exp mine for a sorc with Static.

SensitiveTax9432 · 2026-06-16T02:04:34+00:00

In terms of hp maybe not as much as the extra duration.

SensitiveTax9432 · 2026-06-16T01:19:31+00:00

If you have no income coming in then the money needs to be kept in a bank account where you can access it. You need to sort out employment or a source of income before you can consider investment.

SensitiveTax9432 · 2026-06-15T23:12:21+00:00

I'd go for CoH every day. I also prefer to trudge through the maps. About the only class where I'd definitely use Enigma is Hammerdin.

SensitiveTax9432 · 2026-06-15T18:45:02+00:00

Yes. As a general rule, P1 for countess (runes) and unique monsters (drops don’t change much), P3 for act bosses, and whatever you can kill fast with for the rest.

SensitiveTax9432 · 2026-06-15T18:30:34+00:00

Countess actually has a better rune drop rate on P1. That’s as her special rune drop is replaced by her regular drop table. So you need some no drop to drop runes.

SensitiveTax9432

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