u/Hank_Hill_Howdy

I played a little bit when it first came out, but this is my first real crack at it. Playing a Devastator, though I wish I had gone Elementalist. Flame Volley and Rolling magma with overwhelm and a Core Keeper tank is how I've been playing. Getting bonuses from Forge's elemental infusion and Ring of Flame, but at a point now where I feel like I have all the major upgrades that contribute toward my build. I still have some incremental damage from incoming active and passive skill points and gear upgrades, but most of it is just small damage upgrades.

I haven't tried the Overload mechanic yet, maybe that's a route, and im saving all my charms/relics for later. Also crit seems really hard to come by? I have almost no added crit%. It just feels like with 20+ levels to go there should be some other breakthrough point soon and I'm not seeing it. My damage and survivability are fairly good, but not great.. I just see myself getting outscaled by enemies at this point unless I find a new way to add significant damage.

Any advice on adding damage as I progress?

Ive dropped 4 pieces of Immortal King on my first character, and Barbarian was already on my short list of alts to make, and the other pieces are cheap to buy. I'm at a point now where getting the needed runes to progress further either comes down to insane play time or insane luck, and it seems like Immortal King offers the highest "bang for your buck" out of the options for barbarian gear.

I imagine the answer is situational, but I also assume someone has done the math on the value of trading up runes, vs using what you've got to trade online. Any thoughts?

If I can get ahold of just one Jah and one Ber I can really get my build to pop off. It seems runes barely want to drop as it is. Ive been doing random terror zone acts, and the loot overall has been kind of mid I'm lvl 87 now.

Hey, so i am in Hell Act 5, lv 84 and still doing pretty well, but I'm trying to figure out where to go with my gear from here. I'm running full Naj's ancient vestments for its resists, +skills, and teleport.. overall a solid set. I have a mara's amulet, measured Wrath grimoire, magefist, and gheed's wager. Rings and boots are just magic/rare resists and MF.

I think my ideal swap is to replace Naj's with Mang Song's lesson, chains of honor, and flickering flame.. but mang's goes for roughly a Jah, and Chains of Honor needs a Ber... not sure I will ever see them lol. And switching to flickering flame alone isnt worth giving up the set bonus for Naj's.

Do I just dig in with what I have and farm? Are there maybe some good upgrade options I'm not considering? I think the most potent addition I could make would be for more fire resist shred.

Also, would it be worth it to use larzuk to socket my measured wrath with a couple perfect diamonds? My resists are currently maxed except fire at 65%, but if I lose Naj's I will have problems again.. and it would free up rings and boots for more mf.

I am speechless. Is that a thing?? Can ol boy just show up wherever he wants??

Personally I leave 3-4 columns open, and my prison wallet (hcube) of course. Do you just make a stupid number of trips back to your stash?

Idk, I just hit this point in the catacombs of act 1 where I'm not sure if I'm having fun any more. I don't blame that on the game, but dealing with immunities is tough unless you have a dual-damage or magic build.

I was cruising in Nightmare and really felt like it was coming together, but Hell is tough. I went from one shotting most things with flame wave to now needing 2-3 waves on even basic enemies. Apocalypse and flame wave are just so slow and clunky too, even with 60% FCR.. maybe I'm playing the wrong build for me. I have bind demon maxed and run it with one defiler and one goat, and the demon itself performs super well, 1-2 shotting most enemies.. but in larger packs I'm just standing there waiting for it to finish dashing between them all just sending out the occasional inspirational flame wave.

My one saving grace is that I have (literally the worst roll you can imagine, then somehow worse) renewed flame rift waiting for when I turn 75.. but even then sundering doesnt take away most of their resistance right? Won't I still be hitting for next to no damage? I cant even imagine waiting until AFTER you beat hell to try farming a sunder charm, and I definitely cant afford an Infinity lol.

I'm just not sure what the move is. I know plenty of people do it. So what's the secret? How do I get my way through hell without wanting to apocalypse my brains out? That or talk me into switching to Echoing strike. I usually hate changing builds late game, but I'm considering it.

Lol, I don't think I have ever hit those odds before, I didn't realize she had a 'no drop' option.

Both only have 1 actual point in the skill, but maybe I'm just surprised at how little damage the tainted seem to be doing compared to the goatmen, it feels incorrect. I even have 10 levels in boiling blood which scales their damage. I wonder does the modifier from demonic mastery not apply to them because they use a ranged attack?

I get that there are other factors going on like what enchantments and aura they carry, just trying to get a gage on if I should be looking to upgrade or not.

Also, if you have any advice on what enchantments are best like stoneskin or spectral hit that would be helpful as well.

Thanks!

I understand they make caster amulets, but damn.. I did not expect to be able to get a Wizardspike or hexfire for a single gem.

It feels like I am not supposed to keep all the set items I find (not duplicates of course), not to mention my uniques, runeword bases, old runewords to pass to alts, cool shit I find for different classes/builds, and even just some decent leveling gear at various levels to expedite alts... there just isn't enough room for it.

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I think we should have 5 personal and 5 shared at least. It almost doesn't feel worth it to make mules for 1 page of storage, but I may have to.

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And I'm assuming using storage mods in online or ladder games is a big no no. Not even sure if you can get away with mods offline.

Sorry if those is one of those basic ass questions, I just don't really know what I should be shooting for. Google says either like 156 for Spirit in Monarch or like 60-70 relying on lower level base items.. not sure which direction to go. Ideally I'm probably running one of the unique grimores at end game, but I don't know how realistic getting one is, so maybe Spirit is the way to go.

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Also Defense questions I couldn't figure out. How important is high defense? What value is considered a good defense? And defense just lowers your chance of being hit, correct, It doesnt actually provide any mitigation?

Got a Hellwarden's will and was wondering how to apply its resistance debuff. I think with weapons you have to actually hit the target with that weapon, right? So not sure if I'll be able to apply it with my caster build.

I know that some of the shops sell those +skills base items that can be super good and super expensive, so there is an outlet.. but if your build isn't chasing one of those items it leaves me unsure what I'm hoarding it all for.

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Bonus question. Can gambled items be of any rarity? Like even set or unique?

So big bonus to Splendor is ofcourse +1 skills, but Rhyme has +25 resist all. Currently im running a grimoire with +22 resist all from diamonds, but I worry taking that away will make me a lot more vulnerable, putting most of my resist in the ~<20 range for Nightmare.