Chaos Empire - I killed Baal

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

ArtDent wrote:
> On 8-Mar-2005, Diane <kirchbabe1@verizon.net> wrote:
>
> > After being killed twice
> > by Baal, I figured out that even though I'm playing a skellymancer,
I'm
> > better at meleeing with Baal, so I took out my Azurewrath and beat
him
> > to death with it. I blasted him with decrepify and then beat him
up
> > with the Azurewrath and lo and behold, the bugger died. He killed
my
> > merc, but I wasn't upset about that. I was still left with 6 out
of 9
> > skellies, and 2 mages out of 3, so I'm thinking I did pretty good.
>
> Congratulations!
>
> > So, now that I'm in NM, I'm wondering if it's time to retire my
rogue
> > merc and try something else. I'd appreciate any suggestions for
> > Summoner Striker. And, what kind of gear should I be outfitting my
new
> > merc in. I have a ton of stuff in my stash, so if I know how I
should
> > be building the merc, I can probably find items that would fit, or
at
> > least almost fit, your suggestions.
>
> Most skellimancers agree that the best merc for us is the act 2
offensive
> merc from NM, so keep your rogue until you get to act 2.

For a pure skellimancer, I'd agree. For a meatgrinder, a barb merc is
far better. He runs ahead of you instead of trailing behind you, which
in conjunction with a nice fire golem means that nothing much sees you.
He can also attain a much faster attack speed, which means he can drop
that ever precious first corpse, thereby enabling the CE chain to
begin.

Mickey

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

On 8-Mar-2005, Diane <kirchbabe1@verizon.net> wrote:

> After being killed twice
> by Baal, I figured out that even though I'm playing a skellymancer, I'm
> better at meleeing with Baal, so I took out my Azurewrath and beat him
> to death with it. I blasted him with decrepify and then beat him up
> with the Azurewrath and lo and behold, the bugger died. He killed my
> merc, but I wasn't upset about that. I was still left with 6 out of 9
> skellies, and 2 mages out of 3, so I'm thinking I did pretty good.

Congratulations!

> So, now that I'm in NM, I'm wondering if it's time to retire my rogue
> merc and try something else. I'd appreciate any suggestions for
> Summoner Striker. And, what kind of gear should I be outfitting my new
> merc in. I have a ton of stuff in my stash, so if I know how I should
> be building the merc, I can probably find items that would fit, or at
> least almost fit, your suggestions.

Most skellimancers agree that the best merc for us is the act 2 offensive
merc from NM, so keep your rogue until you get to act 2.
Most of the gear on your rogue will probably go onto any new merc, just
try to get the best killing gear, not necessarily the best defensive but
the gear with the most 'punch' for your buck since gold is no problem if
he dies you just pay to have him resurrected. I have plus fire or cold or
lightning or even poison damage on just about every item my merc is
wearing and it helps him kill quite a bit quicker. I plan on giving him
runeworded items to give him fire/cold/lightning auras as soon as I can
find some nice rare (yellow) items to socket (and as soon as I get/find
enough pskulls). Don't forget to add the one time upgrade recipes after
creating any runeworded items, got to love the 2.5 fire/cold/lightning per
level one for weapons.
Have fun in CA while playing CE, hehe.
--
Don't Panic!

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

"ArtDent" <par@noyd.invalidname> wrote in
news:fZjXd.5628$CW2.1359@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net:

>
> On 8-Mar-2005, Diane <kirchbabe1@verizon.net> wrote:
>
>> After being killed twice
>> by Baal, I figured out that even though I'm playing a skellymancer,
>> I'm better at meleeing with Baal, so I took out my Azurewrath and
>> beat him to death with it. I blasted him with decrepify and then
>> beat him up with the Azurewrath and lo and behold, the bugger died.
>> He killed my merc, but I wasn't upset about that. I was still left
>> with 6 out of 9 skellies, and 2 mages out of 3, so I'm thinking I did
>> pretty good.
>
> Congratulations!
>
>> So, now that I'm in NM, I'm wondering if it's time to retire my rogue
>> merc and try something else. I'd appreciate any suggestions for
>> Summoner Striker. And, what kind of gear should I be outfitting my
>> new merc in. I have a ton of stuff in my stash, so if I know how I
>> should be building the merc, I can probably find items that would
>> fit, or at least almost fit, your suggestions.
>
> Most skellimancers agree that the best merc for us is the act 2
> offensive merc from NM, so keep your rogue until you get to act 2.
> Most of the gear on your rogue will probably go onto any new merc,
> just try to get the best killing gear, not necessarily the best
> defensive but the gear with the most 'punch' for your buck since gold
> is no problem if he dies you just pay to have him resurrected. I have
> plus fire or cold or lightning or even poison damage on just about
> every item my merc is wearing and it helps him kill quite a bit
> quicker. I plan on giving him runeworded items to give him
> fire/cold/lightning auras as soon as I can find some nice rare
> (yellow) items to socket (and as soon as I get/find enough pskulls).
> Don't forget to add the one time upgrade recipes after creating any
> runeworded items, got to love the 2.5 fire/cold/lightning per level
> one for weapons. Have fun in CA while playing CE, hehe.

Thanks for all the advice Art. I'll wait for Act 2. When I get there,
I'll probably ask this question again. You know, the memory thing?
ROFLOL. I have today to play inbetween packing, and tomorrow the
computer goes offline to be packed and shipped out on Thursday.
Hopefully it will arrive safe and sound in CA by Wed of next week, per 3
day shipping, and I'll be back on line by the end of the week. Cripes,
this thing is like my oxygen. Can't breathe without it!!!

Diane

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

On 8-Mar-2005, "Mickey" <mickeyb@comcast.net> wrote:

> > Most skellimancers agree that the best merc for us is the act 2
> offensive
> > merc from NM, so keep your rogue until you get to act 2.
>
> For a pure skellimancer, I'd agree. For a meatgrinder, a barb merc is
> far better. He runs ahead of you instead of trailing behind you, which
> in conjunction with a nice fire golem means that nothing much sees you.
> He can also attain a much faster attack speed, which means he can drop
> that ever precious first corpse, thereby enabling the CE chain to
> begin.

Ya know, I was considering starting a new thread labeled:
CEmod CE conundrum

You see, I want those dead bodies lying around, got to 'hork' them for
those eggs, but sometimes I do have to use Corpse Explosion just to keep
my guys from dying too quick when there are a gazillion monsters all
attacking at once. I am going back to Confuse most times, it just takes
longer to kill 'em all that way. ( I used to use confuse a _lot_ until
someone explained that monsters that kill other monsters do not give you
the exp.)
--
Don't Panic!

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

"Mickey" <mickeyb@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:1110315093.419281.161260@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
>
> For a pure skellimancer, I'd agree. For a meatgrinder, a barb merc is
> far better. He runs ahead of you instead of trailing behind you, which
> in conjunction with a nice fire golem means that nothing much sees you.
> He can also attain a much faster attack speed,

How do you figure that? A Barb merc with a Flamberge [-10] swings at 15
frames base, a Giant sword [0] is 16 frames base, and a Great [10] or
Bastard [10] sword is 18 frames. Versuses a Desert merc with a Scythe [-10]
at 7.5 frames, a Volgue [0] or Halberd [0] at 8 frames, or a Bardiche [10]
or Poleax [10] at 9 frames. The numbers seem to indicate that the desert
merc swings twice as fast as the Barb. Do you have some other information?

Regards-
Mark

Bongo-Fury

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

Mark wrote:
> "Mickey" <mickeyb@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:1110315093.419281.161260@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> >
> > For a pure skellimancer, I'd agree. For a meatgrinder, a barb merc
is
> > far better. He runs ahead of you instead of trailing behind you,
which
> > in conjunction with a nice fire golem means that nothing much sees
you.
> > He can also attain a much faster attack speed,
>
> How do you figure that? A Barb merc with a Flamberge [-10] swings at
15
> frames base, a Giant sword [0] is 16 frames base, and a Great [10] or

> Bastard [10] sword is 18 frames. Versuses a Desert merc with a Scythe
[-10]
> at 7.5 frames, a Volgue [0] or Halberd [0] at 8 frames, or a Bardiche
[10]
> or Poleax [10] at 9 frames. The numbers seem to indicate that the
desert
> merc swings twice as fast as the Barb. Do you have some other
information?

My barb uses either an Azurewrath or a Lightsaber, until such time as I
get Sazabi's set on him. Once he is wearing that, the only thing he
does faster than swing is run. There is virtually no way I can avoid
being behind him, which is EXACTLY where I want to be.

Mickey

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

Mark wrote:
> "Mickey" <mickeyb@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:1110380339.203650.60300@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> >
> > My barb uses either an Azurewrath or a Lightsaber, until such time
as I
> > get Sazabi's set on him. Once he is wearing that, the only thing he
> > does faster than swing is run. There is virtually no way I can
avoid
> > being behind him, which is EXACTLY where I want to be.
>
> A Phase Blade [-30] swings at 11 frames base. The LS has 20 IAS and
swings
> at 10 frames, the Azurewrath has 30 IAS and does 9 frames. The
Cryptic sword
> [-10] swings at 13 frames base, so the 40 IAS on Sazabi's bumps this
up to
> 10 frames. None of these weapons swing faster than any polearm in the
hands
> of a desert merc, without any added IAS. So I still don't understand
how "He
> can also attain a much faster attack speed".

Damn if I know how it works out in the numbers, but just WATCH a
Sazabi's barb merc and see just how fast he swings. In any case and
more to the point, by the time an act2 merc finally walks his fat ass
over to where the action is, the barb will have killed 3 or 4 baddies.
He can out run the wind in that set.

Mickey

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

"Mickey" <mickeyb@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:1110380339.203650.60300@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>
> My barb uses either an Azurewrath or a Lightsaber, until such time as I
> get Sazabi's set on him. Once he is wearing that, the only thing he
> does faster than swing is run. There is virtually no way I can avoid
> being behind him, which is EXACTLY where I want to be.

A Phase Blade [-30] swings at 11 frames base. The LS has 20 IAS and swings
at 10 frames, the Azurewrath has 30 IAS and does 9 frames. The Cryptic sword
[-10] swings at 13 frames base, so the 40 IAS on Sazabi's bumps this up to
10 frames. None of these weapons swing faster than any polearm in the hands
of a desert merc, without any added IAS. So I still don't understand how "He
can also attain a much faster attack speed".

Regards-
Mark

Bongo-Fury

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

"Mark" <bongofury@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:GWFXd.50498$ya6.22094@trndny01...
>
> "Mickey" <mickeyb@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:1110380339.203650.60300@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>>
>> My barb uses either an Azurewrath or a Lightsaber, until such time as I
>> get Sazabi's set on him. Once he is wearing that, the only thing he
>> does faster than swing is run. There is virtually no way I can avoid
>> being behind him, which is EXACTLY where I want to be.
>
> A Phase Blade [-30] swings at 11 frames base. The LS has 20 IAS and swings
> at 10 frames, the Azurewrath has 30 IAS and does 9 frames. The Cryptic
> sword [-10] swings at 13 frames base, so the 40 IAS on Sazabi's bumps this
> up to 10 frames. None of these weapons swing faster than any polearm in
> the hands of a desert merc, without any added IAS. So I still don't
> understand how "He can also attain a much faster attack speed".

Sorry, I screwed that up. The above numbers are for a Paladin. For a Barb
merc the Phase blade is 13 frames base, and 11 frames for 20 or 30 IAS. the
Cryptic Sword is 15 frames base and 12 frames for 40 IAS. Even slower than a
Desert Merc.

Regards-
Mark

Bongo-Fury