|
|
|
 |         |  |
|
Back to the Weapons Selection Page by jurts This is not a complete WB guide. Instead it may be considered as a chapter devouted to a specific problem that every WB faces - DEX or no-DEX and respective AR consequences. And DEX is a decision that you will have to make early, so I cannot stress how important it is. Target AR = 2500 min -> 3000 max At clvl80 2500 AR gives a 71% to-hit chance against a normal ActV Hell monster, which is a little too low. 3000 AR gives a 74% to-hit chance, that is sufficient IMO. AR enchancing skills: Maul 210% bonus at slvl20 HoW 158% bonus at slvl20 TOTAL = 368% bonus Given that each +1 to all skills gives 17% AR bonus I also assume that you have at least +2 all skills, then AR bonus TOTAL is roughly 400% (for simpler maths) Base AR = 4*DEX-23 1) DEX build Adds points in DEX not only for AR, but also for blocking. Uses 1-handed weapons. How much DEX to reach AR target? Each point in DEX = 4 points AR Min 4*(4*DEX-23)=2500 DEX = 162 Max 4*(4*DEX-23)=3000 DEX = 193 Keeping DEX between 162 and 193 probably would be enough for a decent AR. What would this DEX number do for blocking? I presume that the WB build would be ready at about clvl80 or so. I will use it in the blocking formula Blocking% = ShieldBlock*(Dex-15)/clvl*2, where blocking% = 75%, clvl = 80, DEX1=162, DEX2=195. 1) 75 = SB*(162-15)/80*2 SB = 81,63. In order to have blocking chance of 75% with given DEX score you will need a shield of at least 81% blocking chance. The only shield that comes close to it is Whitstan’s (80% for druid). Not good. 2) 75 = SB*(193-15)/80*2 SB = 67,41 That allows us to use shields like Gerke’s (74%) and Stormshield (67%). Not everyone have these, so I would suggest putting together Rhyme in a Tower shield (64%) or Rhyme in a Grim shield (60%). Rhyme in a tower shield needs 203 DEX to have 75% block chance at clvl80. It will give you an AR of 3156 which is good. Rhyme in a Grim shield needs 215 DEX to have 75% block chance at clvl80. It will give you an AR of 3348 - excellent. As you can see blocking needs more DEX than AR. So you will need a shield with a very high block% (not easy for druid) - the above examples are all good choices. However the high DEX means that you DON’T need any AR from items whatsoever. Pros and cons of this build: C: With a huge DR why bother with blocking? P: Some significant monsters like Lister have ITD attacks and blocking is the only way to defend your self against them. Also Mephs cold ball can be blocked... C: But druids naturally have 10% lower blocking % than paladin, so we need a lot of DEX, no? P: The formulas above show that DEX scores for 75% blocking also take care of AR issues, so it is justified. C: But with so much in DEX won’t my other stat categories suffer? P: You can probably allow yourself less STR as 1-handed weapons have lower STR reqs, also VIT score can be a little lower with 75% blocking. C: 2-handed weapons do more damage! P: Probably, yes. Thou Schaeffer’s Hammer has obscene damage, and some cruel elite magical swords and axes also are viable options. Also keep in mind that you won’t need any AR boosting from items and that gives you more flexibility in item choosing. C: I will kill faster / level faster with 2-handed weapon! P: Shield means safety. A simple Rhyme, that anyone can put together will give you decent resists, decent MF and GF, cannot be frozen and other goodies... C: Run out of cons... 2) Low DEX build (the choice of my current WB) Pushes DEX for weapon requirements (highest is for Boneslayer Blade unique Gothic axe - 79 DEX) and for AR to some extent. Uses a 2-handed weapon. Gotta have some AR from items/charms. How much AR is needed from items/charms? 4*(4*DEX-23+AR)=2500 [DEX=79] AR=332 4*(4*DEX-23+AR)=3000 [DEX=79] AR=457 Needed amount of AR is about 400 (a bit less if you have an equipment that gives % boost to AR). Grand charms can have up to 130 AR and a good other mod as well, also are relatively common. 3 such charms will completely solve your AR woes. 3) No DEX build Leaves DEX at base. Pushes STR to 232 for the heaviest armor or even to 253 for Thunder Mallet (in hope of acquiring Cranium Basher...) with rest in VIT. Has more life than 2 previous builds. Commonly uses 2-handed maces that have no DEX requirement. If godly axe is found uses equipment that adds to DEX to fulfill the item requirements. Relies heavily on AR boosting equipment. How much AR is needed for items/charms? 4*(4*DEX-23+AR)=2500 [starting DEX=20] AR=568 4*(4*DEX-23+AR)=3000 [starting DEX=20] AR=693 Needed amount of AR is about 600-650. Some people have suggested Blessed Aim merc for this build. However even the biggest AR bonus is futile if you have very low base AR, so some 130AR grand charms still should be carried around. Of course downside is that you are very dependant on your merc and when facing especially dangerous foes that can easily take out your merc (act bosses for example) and you lose the Blessed Aim boost, it can be troublesome. Some ways to boost your AR for items: Weapons I will look only at the top unique/set 2-handed axes and mauls, since that is what you will be using at the end game. 1) Boneslayer Blade (unique Gothic Axe) - 35% Bonus to Attack Rating. Remember that this weapon also needs 79DEX to wield it. Let us look at what this bonus do for your AR: 4,35(included weapon bonus)*(4*DEX-23)=[DEX=79]=1275 Of course this is not enough on its own but the 35% bonus applies to the AR from other equipment, so you will still need less. How much less? 4,35*(4*79-23+AR)=2500 AR=281 4,35*(4*79-23+AR)=3000 AR=396 So you will still need about 350 AR from other items. The 35% AR bonus actually saves you about 50 AR, that is not so much. Of use only to low-DEX build IMO. 2) Messerschmidt's Reaver (unique Champion Axe) - 100% Bonus to Attack Rating, +15 to Dexterity. I mention this as well, ignoring its incredible scarcity. Needs 59 DEX to wield +15 DEX = 74 DEX. Let us look at what this bonus do for your AR: 5(included weapon bonus)*(4*DEX-23)=[DEX=74]=1365 Of course this is not enough on its own but the 100% bonus applies to the AR from other equipment, so you will still need less. How much less? 5*(4*74-23+AR)=2500 AR=227 5*(4*74-23+AR)=3000 AR=327 So you need about 300 AR from other items or charms. This is actually good, because this weapon is better for no-DEX build, all you need is 39 DEX from equipment to wield the weapon. 300 AR is easy to get from charms. 3) Immortal King's Stone Crusher (set Ogre Maul) - Doesn’t give any AR boost on its own, but this sets partial bonuses are: Wearing 2 any items: +50 AR Wearing 3 any items: +75 AR (total 125 AR) Wearing 4 any items: +125 AR (total 250 AR) Wearing 5 any items: +200 AR (total 450 AR) (P.S. You cannot use the full set because the helm is barb-only) Also include 110 AR from IK boots and 20 DEX from gloves for total of 560AR + 20DEX. IK Maul has no DEX reqs as well. So let us use maths once more: AR from IK Set = 4*(4*40(DEX bonus included) - 23 + AR) = [AR=560] =2788 That is almost sufficient. Of course the body armor is virtually impossible to find, so you may end up using 3 or 4 items. I suggest at least 3 items: Maul (of course) + IK Forge gloves for 20 DEX and IK Pillar boots for 110 AR (boots are excellent on their own). With the partial bonuses you will get - 235AR + 20DEX. Throw in the belt for +125 to AR. Very good set for WB, IMO... 4) Runeword weapons: 1) Fury (Jah - Gul - Eth) - ITD, however it won't work on bosses, so AR is still an issue. I hear that the Eth in this runeword actually makes it ITD even on bosses, but that could be considered as bug exploitation. 2) Honor (Amn - El - Ith - Tir - Sol) - 250 to AR, +1 skills (equals 17% bonus to AR), a good choice IMO and common runes too. Put this in an elite maul (axes are out since they have DEX reqs, the only that doesn’t have DEX reqs - Feral Axe has 4 sockets max) Ogre Maul or Thunder Maul (haven’t seen any grey one yet...). You will still need some AR from elsewhere, though... 3) Silence (Dol - Eld - Hel - Ist - Tir - Vex) - 2 to all skills (equals 34% bonus to AR). Despite the rarity of Vex and Ist being wanted for MFing a popular choice. Thou as with the Boneslayer Blade, examples show that the 34% bonus to AR doesn’t translate into much... Armor BODY ARMOR To be honest, no body armor will do much for your AR, some will have DEX, +skills that also translates in AR, AR vs. demons, sockets, etc... Other armor: Boots Sander's Riprap Heavy Leather Boots 100 to Attack Rating, 10 DEX Low defense and lack of resists ruin these for a long-term use... Gloves Chance Guards Chain Gloves 25 to AR, good if you plan some MF as well... Magnus' Skin set Sharkskin Gloves 100 to Attack Rating Jewelry Rings Nagelring +50-75 to Attack Rating, use only if the MF seed is good (>25%). Raven Frost +15-20 to Dexterity, +150-250 to Attack Rating, no comments... Amulets The Mahim-Oak Curio +10 to Dexterity, +10% Bonus to Attack Rating, an excellent choice the v1.09 version is actually better than many think. Saracen's Chance +12 to Dexterity, love it for that IM... The Cat's Eye +25 to Dexterity, love it for the 20% IAS as well... Atma's Scarab (my choice) +20% Bonus to Attack Rating. + Amp on top... Mara's Kaleidoscope +5 to Dexterity, 2 to all skills, I have never seen this amulet, sorry... Magical/rare items The only magical weapons you will likely use is the cruel ones, which exclude AR prefix. Only exception may be the Grandmaster’s prefix (+251-300 to Attack Rating, Damage: +151-200%). So I will pay attention to armor mostly. +AR Rating Rare and Magical - circlets and rings up to 120, amulets and gloves up to 20. Best bet is a gambled rare ring with some other good moods. +% Attack Rating (Based On Character Level) - Visionary prefix Rare and magical helms - + (1 Per Character Level) 1-99% To Attack Rating (Based On Character Level). With all the godly uniques around I doubt you will use a rare. If yes look for a good one with resists, etc... Charms: +AR / +AR per stash space Grands 132 / 44 Large 64 / 32 Small 36 / 36 Grands obviously are the best, look for a juicy secondary mod as well. Set items: Some of the low-level set have scaling AR bonus (depending on clvl) as a partial set bonus. These are great choices for normal and NM difficulty: Angelic Halo (ring) + Angelic Wings (amulet) +12 AR each clvl +10 dexterity You can equip two angelic halo rings for an additional +12 AR each clvl bonus Hsarus' Iron Heel (chain boots) + Hsarus' Iron Stay (belt) +10 AR each clvl Sigon's Visor (great helm) + Sigon's Gage (gauntlets) +8 AR each clvl 30% increased attack speed 10% life leech +20 attack rating Berzerker's Headgear (helm) + Berzerker's Hauberk (splint mail) +8 AR each clvl WEAPONS For socketing weapons you will almost always want Shael. I will still list some of the possibilities: Runes El: 50 to AR Gul: Weapon: +20% AR Jah: ITD Gems P-Amethysts: 150 to AR Jewels Silver / Rares - up to 60 AR Argent / Magical - up to 100 AR Socketing in armor: Gems: PDiamond: 100 AR Jewels: see above Special PI weapons: 1) Magical wands are very popular - no DEX req, easy to buy, doesn’t take long to shop for a right one (elemental damage on wands is very common), take very little stash space, fast attack speed. Wands won’t have any AR boosters, so if you get your AR from your main weapon, switching to wand will drop your AR considerably. That can be very dangerous in a crowd of angry specters. 2) Baranar's Star (unique Devil Star, requires 44 DEX) - 200% bonus to AR (!!!), 15 to DEX, elemental dmg galore... There will be no loss of AR when switching to Baranar’s, that’s for sure. More likely you will have a better to-hit chance with Baranar’s than with your main weapon. My current WB at clvl76 a 72% to-hit chance with IK Maul, 78% to-hit with Baranar’s. That is why some even consider levelling with Baranar’s more efficient, with main weapon for larger targets. 3) Lightsabre (unique Phase Blade, requires a whopping 136DEX) - ITD. Unfortunately with so much DEX just to wield Lightabre the ITD is a bit overkill as 136 DEX ensures a decent AR... and as I pointed out earlier ITD won't work on bosses. 4) Buriza Do-Kyanon (unique Ballista, requires 80 DEX) - adds 35 DEX. This is not my choice - cold dmg only, total of 115 DEX doesn’t guarantee excellent to-hit, takes up big stash space (2x4), bear with a crossbow - some think too cheesy... There are many options of how to get elemental damage, too much weapons to list them all. Just be sure to check whether your to-hit chances don’t suffer too much when switching to PI weapon. Well I started it out as a little comparison between the builds, but it turned out as a chapter in a guide... well, who knows. Thanks go out to Spearthrower who’s SP WB guide really made me interested in druid class, also to SuicideMinion for his help on maths and formulas, cheers. Thank you for reading, it was kinda hard for me to put this all together, so if you feel I have left something out, don’t be shy, point it out. This is still very much a work in process, so you are all welcome to add your ideas. Jurts, 07.04.2002. Back to the Weapons Selection Page |
