Surviving IM with a Fanatic Zealot?

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

Hi,

Another of my current projects is a Fanatic Zealot. Gear-wise, he's pretty
much set, and I have some nice goodies for him. Some he wears, some he
needs (a lot of) levels for:

Helm: Guillaume's Face/Vampire Gaze/Delerium Helmet/Andariels Visage?
Sockets?
Armor: Fortitude Archon Plate
Weapon: Stormlash (socket: unknown)
Shield: HoZ+PDiamond
Amulet: Highlord's Wrath or Seraph's Hymn?
Ring1: Raven Frost (Cannot Be Frozen!)
Ring2: rare res/ll/ml/ar
Gloves: Dracul's Grasp/Laying of Hands?
Belt: Verdungo's/something else?
Boots: Gore Riders

Inventory: a bunch of charms to max his resists, rest of space filled with
elemental damage charsm, leaving a 'comfortable' space free.

With the above gear, he should be able to survive most areas of the game,
_except_ Act IV Chaos Sanctuary, and Act V WSK, and some of the portals
there. Any place with Oblivion Knights is a problem for him.

While a Barbarian has Berserk as the '1-point wonder' to at least be able
to whack away on OK's without fear or self-killing him, the Zealot has no
such skill: Vengance only adds some elemental damages, but there's still a
lot of physical damage being dealt.

I've considered putting a bow or crossbow in the 2nd weapon slot, but the
problem with those is a Ranger deals rather little damage with one.

There is one way to obtain Berserk, and that's via a Passion weapon. How
viable is this as a way to survive OK's/IM?

Are there any other ways to be relatively safe in the presence of IM?

Regards,

Patrick.

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

In article <d87ctp$2o0$04$1@news.t-online.com>,
Oliver Wenzel <ouuch@t-online.de> wrote:

>Patrick Vervoorn <patrick.vervoorn@NOSPAM.perihelion.demon.nl> wrote in
>news:2e7cd$42a6ffb5$82a1d3bf$22058@news2.tudelft.nl:
>>
>> With the above gear, he should be able to survive most areas of the
>> game, _except_ Act IV Chaos Sanctuary, and Act V WSK, and some of the
>> portals there. Any place with Oblivion Knights is a problem for him.
>>
>> Are there any other ways to be relatively safe in the presence of IM?
>
>how about Gimmershred's? About 1300 max fire/cold/lightning damage and with
>a bunch of Crushing blow OK's should go down nicely.. I guess with +skills
>you'd have some Holy Shock/Freeze to throw into the mix.

I have several of those on mules, but wouldn't AR be a problem for him?

I could of course try it out, depending on Gimmershred's requirements
dex/str-wise... I need more dex for Gimmershred than for Stormlash, but in
order to maintain max blocking with the HoZ, I'll probably raise dex quite
a bit above the minimum required....

Since I don't have another HoZ, what would be the next-best shield switch
with Gimmershred's?

It's an option, certainly...

Patrick.

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

In article <1118272209.235752.146540@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
chaliban <chaliban@hotmail.com> wrote:
>Patrick Vervoorn wrote:

[snip]

>> dex/str-wise... I need more dex for Gimmershred than for Stormlash, but in
>> order to maintain max blocking with the HoZ, I'll probably raise dex quite
>> a bit above the minimum required....
>>
>> Since I don't have another HoZ, what would be the next-best shield switch
>> with Gimmershred's?
>
>I presume you are intending to throw the glimmershreds. You could
>always put a couple of points into Conviction. That would solve your AR
>problems. It does take a few pre-req skill points to get there though.
>And you are right that the dex required for the glimmers will be
>comparable to dex for max block.

Yes, my impression was you'd throw them... Hacking away with them is also
an option, but they still do a respectable amount of physical damage, so
if I'd do that, that would be with the 'normal' attack, and no
damage-enhancing aura active. However, that would probably also drop my AR
through the floor, causing me to have a very low chance-to-hit with 'em.

Throwing them, I can keep Fanatism active...

I'm not sure Conviction is on the list of aura's to get. I just became
lvl51, so Gimmershreds are also out of the question right now, but I
managed to get through the NM Chaos Sanctuary just letting the merc kill
the OK's. However, this will probably no longer work once I'm in Hell, and
Act 5 WSK might also become a problem.

>A good shield might be Tiamat's for the extra elemental damage. Or
>depending on what aura you are using, a "Spirit".

Spirit, in a Monarch, means I'd need 156Str, and that's quite a bit above
what I was planning to put in Str... Hmmm.

>Another tactic people use is getting a wand with high elemental damage. >

Well, see the other reaction(s); I'm not too happy with that option,
though it might work if you can get the Life Tap on f.i. Draculs to
activate, with Conviction as active aura to further enhance the wand's
elemental damages...

I also have a Buriza somewhere on a mule, and might use that. It at least
deals respectable damage, and can be used now, intead of at lvl 70 (for
the Gimmershreds)...

Regards,

Patrick.