Upgrading Herald of Zakarum

[Guest]

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I have been lucky enough to find a HOZ shield recently, a perfect
specimen, no less! Even though I find hammerdins boring to play, I
have now restarted a character as I also had a couple of Gul runes
floating around to cube up and found a 4 socket flail. With HOTO in
hand, well, the game screamed hammerdin out to me.

Anyways, I've been thinking about upgrading the HOZ. Does anyone know
what the stats should be once the upgrade is done? Will it keep the
200% ED? What would the Defense rating be, and how much strength will
be required to equip the thing? Looking at Battle.net, I think that
it may upgrade to a Zakarum Shield, requiring 142 strength. Is that
all there is to it, or could I end up with something less good (and
much heavier) than what I already have?

Also, what gem or rune to insert in a socket? I hear talk of perfect
diamonds, but is there a better option?

It'd be nice to have a character that can quickly solo Countess, Trav
and Baal, as I am looking for some better runes. Maybe I can finally
find runes to cube up for that elusive enigma.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

> Anyways, I've been thinking about upgrading the HOZ. Does anyone know
> what the stats should be once the upgrade is done? Will it keep the
> 200% ED? What would the Defense rating be, and how much strength will
> be required to equip the thing? Looking at Battle.net, I think that
> it may upgrade to a Zakarum Shield, requiring 142 strength. Is that
> all there is to it, or could I end up with something less good (and
> much heavier) than what I already have?

Yes, it will keep the 200ED... however, the base def (169 for HoZ) will get
rerolled for a Zakarum shield (and be between 169 and 193), so defense will
most likely go up a bit. Strength required will be 142 as you noted,
blocking stays the same, and smite damage goes from 24 to 46.

> Also, what gem or rune to insert in a socket? I hear talk of perfect
> diamonds, but is there a better option?


Well, an Um is 3 resistance points better than a PDiamond if that's what you
mean. It's so easy to remove items from sockets now I'd just go with PD and
see how your end game equipment shapes up. You may well want an Ist for MF
or something else entirely.

If it matters, I've made a few (5 I can remember) paladins in 1.10. I think
all except my Griz Pally ended up with Herald's and only my smiter got his
upgraded.

hth, BK

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

In article <c865811ci813ttmotteutbkc9jkolm4m3m@4ax.com>,
FuManchu <FuManchu@smellus.net> wrote:

[snip]

Congrats about the find.

>Anyways, I've been thinking about upgrading the HOZ. Does anyone know
>what the stats should be once the upgrade is done? Will it keep the
>200% ED? What would the Defense rating be, and how much strength will
>be required to equip the thing? Looking at Battle.net, I think that
>it may upgrade to a Zakarum Shield, requiring 142 strength. Is that
>all there is to it, or could I end up with something less good (and
>much heavier) than what I already have?

It will keep it's 200%ED, and the underlying shield will be changed from a
Gilded Shield to a Zakarum Shield indeed.

However, keep in mind the def on this shield can spawn with anywhere
between 169-193 defense, after which the 200%ED is added. Gilded goes from
144-168, so if you're unlucky, the difference in defense can be quite
small...

>Also, what gem or rune to insert in a socket? I hear talk of perfect
>diamonds, but is there a better option?

A PDiamond is the cheap option, which adds +19 res-all. If you need all
the res you can get, put in an Um, for +22 res-all (i.e. 3 res-all more).
You decide if it's worth it.

>It'd be nice to have a character that can quickly solo Countess, Trav
>and Baal, as I am looking for some better runes. Maybe I can finally
>find runes to cube up for that elusive enigma.

You need teleport for really quick solo-ing, so that would imply either an
Enigma, or a sorceress build. The sorc will not be helped much by your
HoZ, but the HotO is something she will be quite happy with.

Regards,

Patrick.