u/droid327

Shards: They still drop very frequently, they shouldnt become a bottleneck. Saw several drop just running a few Tombs and Pits.

Herald drops: They felt better, for the several T3-5s I ran. Definitely saw some rares, and one unique (Arkaines) after just two or three act crawls, so I expect that will be a useful farm all season.

Bind: Bind +Damage value is about 1/3 what it was (mine went from ~2400 to ~800), but fortunately it doesnt seem to be anywhere close to a 66% nerf to total DPS. I guess the +Damage is added after other modifiers, or something. It definitely is noticeable, but doesnt destroy the build. You're just going from 1-shotting whole packs every time (with defilers) to sometimes 2-shotting them. The biggest difference I felt was against T5s and Diablo, where I had to carry more of that fight myself to speed it up - so I might end up trading Insight eCV for an eDeath Decap so I can Mirrored on bosses and T5s, that sped things up considerably. Stone Skin TZ was also noticeably slower, especially against undead, but you should be skipping those anyway in actual play.

Context and caveat: I'm a casual MF build running with a Hell Clan, because every time I take the time to bind a Lancer I die in a freak accident soon after :P It may be more of a difference if you're running a super-high-end Bind Demon build that was soloing Uber Ancients or something before.

edit: and I'm /p1

Anyone running a pure demon build (max bind, mastery, oath, 20 soft points sigil death, 5-soul defiler, rest in engorge)? I was playing around with that earlier in offline and liked how effective it was with pure mf gear (~500 mf 800 gf) and a cursed Fanat demon that could straight tank a T5 undead thorns herald

Has anyone else tried this and liked it? Are there any shortcomings or weak spots I might have missed?

Simple question, but one that Google can't seem to comprehend so I turn to human consciousness lol

Is there a formal term or concept for the idea that some things we categorize as opposites are the inverse of a thing, and sometimes they're the lack of that thing?

Eg, what is the opposite of destruction? Is it creation (the inverse action) or preservation (the lack of destruction)? You would probably find different people that would tell you both ways

This is just a budget Cow javazon so please dont suggest Enigma or CoH :)

Got a cheap GThunder so looking to socket an armor for it - I'm running with Naj's Plate right now, but wondering if Viper is better. Naj's offers more defense and 65 life and 45% DtM, Vipers (34/9) offers 9 more res all and 9 MDR. My resists are middling right now. Or is there something else in that price range I'm forgetting?

I'm leaning towards Naj especially for the Life, especially since Cows are mostly phys, but wanted to get feedback before I punch the hole

Obviously Berserk would benefit from the -enemy magic res, but does it count as a "magic skill" for the +magic skill damage?

Just want to be sure since technically its a physical skill that converts your damage to magic...

Whats the highest level that still carries some game-mechanic benefit, ie where its not just another +5 stats and +1 skill point?

Like I know TZ Andy used to get double desecrated drops if you were L94 or something, but I think they patched that out when they fixed her permabug status...

At L89, any mob in a TZ can drop 45 life GCs. Is there any other significant milestone past that?

I know it's not the bis but full horazon for my magic-phys es lock is such a high performing budget option that I'm not likely to upgrade it. But that gives me three sockets to slot. Guardians light for one of course, but what then? There's no Facets that help, IAS only helps with the occasional swing of mirrored (eDeath), mf seems very incremental. ED jewel seems incremental too on top of the set's 350, but maybe? Res all feels like a default answer, but probably for a reason, and pdia would be cheap. Anything I'm sleeping on?

Yes I know BotD is in the mix too, but I've been playing with Mirrored for bosses and heralds since you need to max it anyway

Advantage of Death: higher damage, can use mirrored with 50% cb + indestructible Advantage of Insight: 35% fcr to hit faster BP, MF
Both offer: Mana sustain, big chance for double damage

Wondering if the situational utility of mirrored is worth the higher rune cost and giving up the fcr

Obviously these effects dont convey all the effects that it does on unique monsters - you dont get the explosions on death or charged bolts on hit, for instance, on every single mob

So when you bind, say, an LE regular mob, what does the LE give it? Just resist to Lightning and some bonus Lightning damage on hit? Do we know how much? Wiki also says LE has a bonus to-hit, is that also active?

Pure summons, so a tanky Fanat Heph + 2 5-soul Defilers and a Dreadfang merc, max radius on Death Sigil. Or Harmony merc if you're willing to suck it up vs the occasional phys immune (tried a Lawbringer IG with Metalgrid...it doesnt stay alive enough)

You can crank it up to like 1500+ GF and 250+ MF with pure farming gear (6xLem, Wealth, etc.) and it clears everything reliably - much better than a similarly-equipped Summon Necro

No horking of course but I get comparable gold returns to my MF/GF hork barb in Trav, and its decent enough gold/min running other zones too when you get bored with that, and you dont need a Lo for Grief

It's always struck me odd that you can do this since when would you ever go through all the trouble just for a short duration buff? Think I might have found one though

Now that bind tanking is getting nerfed and they're more likely to get snarfed by Uber tier bosses, it might make more sense to eat one first for the buff, if it's going to die anyway. Shenk offers a sizeable 42% magic damage buff. That means when DC walks, you can spawn him on Eldritch, swing down and eat Shenk real quick, and either have super strong Miasma or Hex damage to get your anni, while just throwing one point Goats at him to keep him distracted and facing away.

Or am I wrong and a well-chosen Bind can still face tank DC?

Enchant sorc gets to double dip on fire mastery - once when enchant is cast, and then again when fire damage is dealt

Does the magic damage from consuming a defiler work the same? Applies once when you cast hex and then again when you proc hex? Or does only the -enemy magic res affect the actual proc?

There's a substance that keeps building up in my kid's sippy cup. It forms tiny clearish to tannish-white nodules (too small to photo well sorry) all over the inside surfaces.

At first I thought just calcium or magnesium carbonate from the milk or water, but its resistant to overnight vinegar soaks. Soap and hot water also likewise ineffective. Only way to get it off is with a wire brush, and even then it takes some scrubbing.

Mostly milk and apple juice inside, but I cant think of what that might produce that'd be so recalcitrant. Dont think its biological since its so tough, thankfully. I'd hope the plastic itself isnt reacting with anything (it forms on both the cup and straw, which are different polymers), but idk?

Obviously mystery substance in kid's cup is at least somewhat worrisome :)

With all the new goodies for magic damage (void, hellwarden, wager, opal, and renewed cleft), has anyone tried a bone nec this patch? How will it measure up next patch, when renewed sunders should be more plentiful? Is the damage solid or is it just a worse ES lock now?