Hi fellow gamers - hope it's going alright!
The purpose of this post is to talk a bit more about item running in Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction. But before that... a note about the popularity of the game. Diablo2 LoD still figures amongst the most popular game-related searches online. The FAQs and message boards are still amongst the 10 most popular on any games site. This thanks largely to the massive fan following of die-hard gamers and the awesome replayability and fun-filled nature of the online version.
With that out of the way, on to what you've been waiting for (I can see by the massive number of hits this web page has been getting... keep it up guys!!).
I recently re-started Diablo 2 LoD after a long hiatus due to personal reasons and poor online connectivity. As expected, all my old accounts had been deleted and I'd lost all my hard earned items. I had to start from scratch. I created a spanking new account on the Asia 1 server of battle.net
My first character? A barbarian. A natural choice for somebody with no items to start with, because barbs have high natural strength and vitality... i.e. they survive better with less. But that's only in normal and maybe in nightmare difficulty levels. In late NM and Hell difficulties, you need kickass elite items to even keep your barb alive. Patch 1.10 has made sure that monsters live forever and pack a mean punch. You'll find that with pedestrian items you barely make a dent in monsters and all the while, die with surprising alacrity.
So with my barb on level 9, I expeditiously switched to my favourite character build... a summoning necromancer. This build was the mainstay of my item-find runs in my last D2LoD stint.
This build does not require much in terms of items in order to survive and can basically solo through all difficulty levels except the act end bosses. Summons and minions take extra damage from act end bosses and deal much less than usual. But in multiplayer games, that's not really a problem as you'll be in a party killing the act end bosses.
With my summoner, and very less increased magic find %, I still scored 2 Immortal King armours in the space of 6 days. Of course, I couldn't believe my eyes, my luck, or my sanity when the damn things dropped. But I now am the proud of a IDed Immortal King's Soul Cage, and one still brand spanking new unIDed. Worth a looooooooooot on any realm, let me tell you. But worth a lot more to me because I might never get another one again even if I play for years :))
So what's the fuss all about, the uninitiated might ask. I'll tell you what the fuss is all about. The armour in question is one of the rarest items in the game. The base armour is of the type "Sacred Armour", the highest armour in the game. Sacred Armour (treasure class 87) has an insanely low drop rate. The set version of the sacred armour has an even lower drop rate, hence almost impossible to find.
By comparison to other armours in the game, this armour does not have the best mods. But if you consider that it is the pivotal piece of the Immortal King set, it's importance suddenly skyrockets. The complete set has awesome bonuses to the barbarian character, and with the complete set on, the armour itself gains awesome bonuses. You can visit the
battle.net compendium for further information.
So that is the armour I found twice in less than a week. That too, at all times, not being in any life-threatening situations.
Where did I find it? In Nihlathak's temple. Who dropped it? In the first case, either Pindleskin or one of his minions, and in the second case, one of the prowling dead in the courtyard of the temple.
How much magic find did I have? Well... I have one blade of Ali Baba. With my level of 84 and a socketed jewel, it was 90 % mf, with a couple of rings and an amulet, it would account for another 25 % max. My merc had 58% on a tomb reaver, 2 perfect topazes in his help (that's 48%). So all in all, not more than 230% increased mf for the first drop. In the second drop, the monster died from my corpse explosion spell... I had not even switched to my alibaba at the time. So it would be just about 60% (including wartraveller boots I found after the first drop).
A couple of conclusions about the drops.
1. When the odds of the drop are so astronomically low, it really does not make a difference whether you have 100% magic find or 700%. What's the difference practically, between a 0.0000103 % chance and a 0.0000721% chance? Both really low right?
So the moral of the story? Go and kill as many monsters of the right type in the right area of the game at the right difficulty level, as many times as possible. That should ensure you get the items you want and need.
Now on to my steategy. Using a summoning necromancer has so many benefits.
1. You minimize the danger to yourself because your minions act as a meat shield.
2. Your act 2 merc's aura applies to so many more attacking units. Making your army of minions a formidable killing machine
3. In hell, your skeletons are much tougher - they cause more damage and are much tougher to kill than in normal and NM.
4. Your revives are lethal in Hell, since their stats are based on the monster you revived... so tough hell monsters = much much more tough revives (with high level revive, skeleton mastery and summon resist)
5. Most importantly - your corpse explosion is explosive. A couple of exploded corpses will usually clear an entire area. Reason? Corpse Explosion damage is related to the hitpoints of the slain monster. Tougher hell monsters = high damage explosions. 2 explosions = sufficient to kill all monsters in blast radius. More dead monsters = more bombs for you to detonate... awesommmmmmme!!!
So now you stumble onto the trick. Use the game's advantages against the players to your favour. Tougher monsters in hell = tougher revives and tremendous Corpse explosions.
So how do you get to be a mean fighting machine?
Step one - create a summoner necromancer.
Step two - invest your points in raise skeleton, skeleton mastery, summon resist and revive. Invest one point in amp damage and one in corpse explosion. When the summoning skills are maxed out, invest the rest in corpse explosion. Don't invest more than 1 in raise skeleton mage... you will not be using them much.
Step three - get to act 2 in NM and hire a might merc (offensive aura)
Step four - level up to level 65-70 in NM Baal minion runs.
Step five (the longest) - level up your merc to your own level... so he stops dying all the time. Do this in acts 1-4 in NM.
Step six - rescue Anya in act 5, Hell difficulty
Step seven - start Pindleskin runs without completing the Nihlathak quest
Step eight - equip your merc with high damage polearms, spears or javelins Pindleskin drops
Step nine - continue the runs until you get cool items to your heart's content.
As and when you get stuff that enhances magic find %, use it on yourself and on your merc. You can visit various sites for magic find to get what items you can use. But never compromise on your merc's killing speed (high damage weapon) or durability (high resists and defence). As I said above, the more monsters you kill - the better your chances of getting good items.
Pindle runs -
Enter the portal created by Anya in Horrogath town centre. Quickly move to the right side of the courtyard. Quickly summon skeletons from the prowling dead bodies lying there (again a note for the uninitiated - prowling dead are a type of monster which has a good chance of getting alive even when you kill it. In the case of these monsters... they start off as dead bodies on the ground, but wake up in 5 seconds or so and start attacking). Don't stop raising skeletons even after you reach your limit for skeletons. The more bodies you destroy, the less you'll have to kill afterwards. You may want to revive the bodies, but your revives die quickly when the monsters wake up (kind of a reverse waking up). And revives cost more mana. You can explode the bodies if your corpse explosion is of a low level and costs less mana than raising skeletons.
Once the other monsters rise from the dead, amp damage them. Your merc should quickly create one body for you. Explode it, and you'll find in a couple of more explosions, the field is clear. Dispose of the bodies quickly by exploding them or making skeletons. Don't revive or make skeleton mages... they will slow your run because they stand in the entrance of the passage to Pindleskin and attack from a distance. They therefore block your skeletons and your merc from getting in and doing quick damage.
By now your merc's aura has hopefully kicked in, and your skeletons are lethal.
Run in to the passage leading to Pindleskin. I used to run in and hide behind the protruding walls in the middle of the passage. This confuses the charge of Pindleskin and the defiled warriors surrounding him. But if Pindle spawns with extra fast, they might just catch you with their charge and it'll be a quick but painful death.
So now I run in, go a couple of steps and turn back to the pillars at the entrance. Your skeletons will follow you in and start attacking the monsters, and mainly shielding you and your merc from their lethal blows.
Usually the merc will follow quickly and start attacking the crowd. But often he lingers outside or towards the back of your skeletons without attacking. In that case, move around (taking care to not get killed by the monsters) to trigger a movement from your merc. Once there's one corpse, explode it and others until you can see Pindleskin is almost dead (from the red health line on top of his head when you take your mouse pointer on him), switch to your magic find weapons (alibaba or gull) and let your merc finish him.
Last step - keep your fingers crossed :)))
Note - if by chance you happen to die... don't fret. Just go, resurrect your merc, step out into the bloody foothills... you'll find 3-4 slain mosnters lying around. Raise skeletons. Take them to Nihlathak's temple and kill the offending monsters who killed you. If there are too many, you may consider stepping into act 1, getting a few more skellies and returning.
There... that's how I found 2 IK armours, 1 gargoyle's bite, 2 hellslayers, 1 ravenlore, Griswold's corona and lots lots more (that's just this time around). That's starting from scratch, with no help, no twink items to help me on my way and in a very short time. I did it, you can do it too!! Good luck... I hope you found this useful!
