I have completed Act 1 and Act 2 on Inferno with the below gear only dieing twice on Belial because of my stupidity
Just started Act 3 and already having issues with the Elite Packs. I Dual Wielded Act 1 and Act 2 without issue but I was thinking to maybe try Sword and Board for Act 3. I have my current gear and stats with DW and S&B (sorry I didn't take a screenshot of my shield but it has Fire Res, Dex, Vit, 12% Life and Block %)
My DPS went down so much with S&B im kinda scared. I loved the DPS I had with DW.
Why playing defensively when you don't use THE sustain stat at all? Pick up life on hit and you're more than ready to plow through act 3 even after cutting your dps by another 50%.
Ps: stop being stingy about your gems at upgrade them at least two times, that investion will last you forever since you can always remove them and carry on into new accessions.
Ive been told that many times about my gems. I will go upgrade them all today
Where would you suggest I get LOH from? I have 112 right now. Switch out Crit gem for LOH gem? What LOH should I aim for then? I have another weapon that has 872 LOH but only Dex and Vit. Id like to find a weapon with Crit/LOH/Dex/Vit but they are so expensive
Upgrade gems, get more attack speed and LoH, and dualwield like a boss 'till the end. Your resistances are bit lower (20) than mine, but you've got 400 more armor while dual wielding, and I'm killing anything in the game np, and farming Act III with half the lights on. Difference is that I have more attack speed and more LoH. Going over 2 attacks per second with both weapons, and getting around 1k LoH will allow you to run more offensive spec (judging from your stats you're running Mantra of Evasion or The Guardian's Path, and either of those is worse than other possibilities, if you have the gear to support you).
If you just want to progress through Act III and don't look forward to spending millions of gold to do it, just switch the gem from your sword to highest lvl of Amethyst you can afford/craft for some fast LoH and equip the shield, and go bore the monsters to death. Sword is better of the two weapons, since it's got faster attack speed. That mace is just too slow - especially for s&b where you lose the attack speed buff from dual wielding. Rings are the best place to look for more attack speed, since they have lower max crit and crit damage than other armor pieces, but can still have up to 9% ias. I run 9% ias and 4.5% crit ones on both slots, and I'm loving them. Later when you have the LoH from somewhere (pref. a weapon with 900+ LoH with socket for 100% crit dmg) you can easily switch to dual wielding and still face tank stuff in Act III.
Oh, and bit more hp wouldn't hurt either. Going over 40k is plenty enough, but the more you have the more big hits you can take before things die, and you start gaining more life from LoH than you're losing from hits.
Don't get rings with LoH. At some point you'll end up looking at them, and thinking about upgrading them again for something that gives you more damage. The rings bring plenty of more important stats to your gear (ias, crit, +damage, dex, +crit damage), and 1k LoH should be enough for anything, as long as you don't gimp your resistances and armor too much and you keep your attack speed high enough.
Upgrade gems, get more attack speed and LoH, and dualwield like a boss 'till the end. Your resistances are bit lower (20) than mine, but you've got 400 more armor while dual wielding, and I'm killing anything in the game np, and farming Act III with half the lights on. Difference is that I have more attack speed and more LoH. Going over 2 attacks per second with both weapons, and getting around 1k LoH will allow you to run more offensive spec (judging from your stats you're running Mantra of Evasion or The Guardian's Path, and either of those is worse than other possibilities, if you have the gear to support you).
If you just want to progress through Act III and don't look forward to spending millions of gold to do it, just switch the gem from your sword to highest lvl of Amethyst you can afford/craft for some fast LoH and equip the shield, and go bore the monsters to death. Sword is better of the two weapons, since it's got faster attack speed. That mace is just too slow - especially for s&b where you lose the attack speed buff from dual wielding. Rings are the best place to look for more attack speed, since they have lower max crit and crit damage than other armor pieces, but can still have up to 9% ias. I run 9% ias and 4.5% crit ones on both slots, and I'm loving them. Later when you have the LoH from somewhere (pref. a weapon with 900+ LoH with socket for 100% crit dmg) you can easily switch to dual wielding and still face tank stuff in Act III.
Okay so I am going to upgrade all my gems tonight to the highest Dex ones possible and the +15% life for Helm. I will look into better rings. I know mine arent that great. Going to focus on IAS, CC and Fire Res (my main res stat). Dex will be nice as well. I am trying to get over 40k HP.
As for the Mantra, I just realised I am still using Mantra of Conviction with Overawe lol. That could be a reason. But I am using Guardian's Path as well. So I will change to Mantra of Evasion with Hard Target to help me a bit with DW. I dont really want to go Sword and Board so.
I will also look for a new weapon with Crit Dmg and LOH on it. Ill see what I can find. I agree I dont want to get rings with LOH as they get really pricey and there are better stats on there I would like.
So for DW are the 2 weapons I have now sufficient if i was to say change both Gems out for the max LOH ones? or would that gimp my DPS too much for DW?
Try switching only one weapons gem first, and see how that feels. Losing all that +crit dmg wouldn't do good for your damage. I suggest looking for a weapon that has some LoH as a rolled stat, and that has a socket, so you can get +crit damage from the same weapon as well. Reasoning behind that is that you can get up to 900+ LoH as a rolled stat, but only 600 from gem, and you can get up to 100% crit damage from a gem, so with 900+ LoH and a socket you can get a weapon that has sick LoH AND sick +crit dmg. Here's my profile, and weapons for a reference: http://eu.battle.net...539/hero/535652
I'm looking to change the 899 dps one into something that has +crit damage as well as the socket, so I can bump my damage some more, but besides that I'm pretty happy with them. And I'm not actually even sure if I'll like the 300 LoH drop, so it may be that I'm stuck with these weapons for a while.
And that Mantra of Conviction with Overawe is actually pretty good when your damage and defense are able to support it (ie. not dying before the mobs die). I'm personally not a fan of either dodge skill (MoE or TGP), and suggest trying Resolve along with that Conviction. If you're struggling to survive with those, then switch the aura first into the MoE. Wouldn't take The Guardian's Path in any case, but that's just my personal opinion.
Try switching only one weapons gem first, and see how that feels. Losing all that +crit dmg wouldn't do good for your damage. I suggest looking for a weapon that has some LoH as a rolled stat, and that has a socket, so you can get +crit damage from the same weapon as well. Reasoning behind that is that you can get up to 900+ LoH as a rolled stat, but only 600 from gem, and you can get up to 100% crit damage from a gem, so with 900+ LoH and a socket you can get a weapon that has sick LoH AND sick +crit dmg. Here's my profile, and weapons for a reference: http://eu.battle.net...539/hero/535652
I'm looking to change the 899 dps one into something that has +crit damage as well as the socket, so I can bump my damage some more, but besides that I'm pretty happy with them. And I'm not actually even sure if I'll like the 300 LoH drop, so it may be that I'm stuck with these weapons for a while.
And that Mantra of Conviction with Overawe is actually pretty good when your damage and defense are able to support it (ie. not dying before the mobs die). I'm personally not a fan of either dodge skill (MoE or TGP), and suggest trying Resolve along with that Conviction. If you're struggling to survive with those, then switch the aura first into the MoE. Wouldn't take The Guardian's Path in any case, but that's just my personal opinion.
Yah I am definitely going to look for a new weapon that has LOH as a rolled stat and a socket for the Crit Damage. Should I be looking for one to replace my sword or to replace my mace? My mace I thought had very good stats with that amount of crit damage (although I know its slower). Or keep the Sword and get a new Weapon to replace the Mace?
Hey, your DPS is much higher than what I had but the problem is you do not have enough sustenance (LoH) to tank elites. I completed Inferno with around 20-22k DPS, about 39k hp, 5500 armour and 650 resists but I had 950 LoH and 1.8/1.4 ASPD (DW) in Act 3, decent enough to tank most elites.
This was my build in Act 3 if I remember correctly: http://us.battle.net...XgYh!UXY!ZcbaYa. In Act 4, I switched from Deadly Reach to FoT and had 1850 LoH. I skipped a couple of elites which are too tough (such as Phasebeasts or shielding/invulnerable) but generally I managed to kill most elites I encountered. I spam Mantra of Evasion whenever I need a quick heal (Transcendence) and boost my dodge for a short period. The dodge boost (55%) works really well with Blind Flash with Searing Light rune as the elites missed fairly often. Finally, the Earth Ally is VERY helpful in splitting the elite pack.
So don't worry about dropping your DPS for some LoH. If possible, try to aim around 1.8 attack speed and 1k LoH.
That's a tough one. I'd try to replace the mace for now, but when you get more attack speed from gear, you could switch out the sword and replace it with the mace. Overall the mace is better, but it needs some gear to support it that isn't there yet.
That's a tough one. I'd try to replace the mace for now, but when you get more attack speed from gear, you could switch out the sword and replace it with the mace. Overall the mace is better, but it needs some gear to support it that isn't there yet.
I kind of came to that conclusion as well. Plus the sword has Vitality which is nice! Ill go ahead and look for a new Sword/Fist to replace the Mace with LOH stat and a Socket, and of course lots of Dex (150+ I am hoping).
Does it matter which one you equip in which slot?
Is there any gear except the rings you thing i should change right now? I think I have pretty good gear at the moment.
Hey, your DPS is much higher than what I had but the problem is you do not have enough sustenance (LoH) to tank elites. I completed Inferno with around 20-22k DPS, about 39k hp, 5500 armour and 650 resists but I had 950 LoH and 1.8/1.4 ASPD (DW) in Act 3, decent enough to tank most elites.
This was my build in Act 3 if I remember correctly: http://us.battle.net...XgYh!UXY!ZcbaYa. In Act 4, I switched from Deadly Reach to FoT and had 1850 LoH. I skipped a couple of elites which are too tough (such as Phasebeasts or shielding/invulnerable) but generally I managed to kill most elites I encountered. I spam Mantra of Evasion whenever I need a quick heal (Transcendence) and boost my dodge for a short period. The dodge boost (55%) works really well with Blind Flash with Searing Light rune as the elites missed fairly often. Finally, the Earth Ally is VERY helpful in splitting the elite pack.
So don't worry about dropping your DPS for some LoH. If possible, try to aim around 1.8 attack speed and 1k LoH.
Thank you that is good to know I appreciate your help and input. I have been tempted to try Deadly Reach as well so maybe ill try that for a bit in Act 3 and see how I do.
No, the game alternates between weapons for each swing, and even that doesn't matter in terms of LoH or crit damage, since the buffs are for all the hits. Weapon with high (800+) LoH and socket is going to be very expensive, or is going to have very low dps, so it may take some farming before you can get one. Before getting there you can try regemming one of the weapons and see if that would feel better than going all out for damage.
it is sad we have to rely on loh and crit and crit damage for everything past act2
We don't necessarily need to rely on them, but crit and crit damage have really nice synergy with Sweeping Winds with Cyclone rune, so they really are the best way of increasing damage right now.
Going for max attack speed is still possible as well, and it has the advantage of increasing the efficiency of LoH, so it does give you that nice warm feeling of immortality when standing in fire chains, molten, plague and desecration hitting stuff and laughing with hp staying full.
It's more of a finding synergies and striking a balance between defensive stats, damage and sustainability (LoH, globes, life steal).
Thank you that is good to know I appreciate your help and input. I have been tempted to try Deadly Reach as well so maybe ill try that for a bit in Act 3 and see how I do.
What Rune for Deadly Reach do you suggest I use?
You're welcome! Mine was a very defensive build, so I used Keen Eye rune for Deadly Reach. I had to kite a lot with DR. Truth to be told, I didn't like its slower attack speed but it was what kept me alive. However, the main issue with DR is its inability to sustain damage against ranged elites that moves A LOT. There was one molten pack which enraged because they keep running away from me (and I had to avoid their molten). It was a terribly frustrating moment. When I got to Act 4, DR wasn't able to apply enough damage and LoH against naturally fast elites (Subjugators!). I had no choice but to switch over to FoT with Teleportation; that way I was able to chase them even if they kept running away from me.
P/S: I'm envious of Lumis' OP gear even though my gear had improved since I've done Inferno. Wished I had that kind of gear but I'm poor :/
If you want to run Deadly Reach for more defensive approach go definately with Keen Eye. I used to progress with s&b using Deadly Reach as primary spirit builder, and very defensive build. I've tried that as well, and besides very slow killing speed there is nothing wrong in that. With Deadly Reach IAS becomes even more important though, since it is a slower hitting skill compared to FoT. FoT also gives you more life from LoH if you are surrounded by enemies (the last hit gives hp for each enemy it hits).
Other way of using Deadly Reach would be weaving it into your FoT hits. Since it's the third hit of a hit sequence that gives the buff, you can hit 2 hits with FoT and then the third with Deadly Reach. I suspect that it would get annoying with only 4 secs of buff, so you'd basically alternate between FoT and Deadly Reach alot. And you would need to give up another skill slot for using 2 spirit builders.
If you build for crit and crit damage, FoT is your bread and butter. For sword and board the Keen Eye rune gives huge defensive bonus, and is something to try at least.
I am not trying to come off as an ass, because I am very critical of my own play so I feel the need to be honest with you. I just cleared up the act 4 Diablo with the stats you have currently have using a shield while dual wielding, until the latter half of act 4 where I had to equip a shield. If I had the DPS you do dual wielding it would have been a joke. You need to examine your build and play style not your gear.
I've hit roughly the same problem so staying on this same thread and i wont say i found latter stages of act 2 easy in the slightest.
i always play co-op 2-3 players with friends which makes incoming damage often quite difficult to manage.
All the items i've got so far have either been self farmed, or bought for under 50k...
I'm looking for advice on how i should be gearing just in case i'm gearing wrong. Mostly i've gone dual res (physical / all) and dex .. throwing in Vit where i can .. I know my helm and amulet could do with an upgrade, just havn't found anything yet.
I have completed Act 1 and Act 2 on Inferno with the below gear only dieing twice on Belial because of my stupidity
Just started Act 3 and already having issues with the Elite Packs. I Dual Wielded Act 1 and Act 2 without issue but I was thinking to maybe try Sword and Board for Act 3. I have my current gear and stats with DW and S&B (sorry I didn't take a screenshot of my shield but it has Fire Res, Dex, Vit, 12% Life and Block %)
My DPS went down so much with S&B im kinda scared. I loved the DPS I had with DW.
Any suggestions on gear would be great!!
Thank you everyone for your time.
Ive been told that many times about my gems. I will go upgrade them all today
Where would you suggest I get LOH from? I have 112 right now. Switch out Crit gem for LOH gem? What LOH should I aim for then? I have another weapon that has 872 LOH but only Dex and Vit. Id like to find a weapon with Crit/LOH/Dex/Vit but they are so expensive
If you just want to progress through Act III and don't look forward to spending millions of gold to do it, just switch the gem from your sword to highest lvl of Amethyst you can afford/craft for some fast LoH and equip the shield, and go bore the monsters to death. Sword is better of the two weapons, since it's got faster attack speed. That mace is just too slow - especially for s&b where you lose the attack speed buff from dual wielding. Rings are the best place to look for more attack speed, since they have lower max crit and crit damage than other armor pieces, but can still have up to 9% ias. I run 9% ias and 4.5% crit ones on both slots, and I'm loving them. Later when you have the LoH from somewhere (pref. a weapon with 900+ LoH with socket for 100% crit dmg) you can easily switch to dual wielding and still face tank stuff in Act III.
Okay so I am going to upgrade all my gems tonight to the highest Dex ones possible and the +15% life for Helm. I will look into better rings. I know mine arent that great. Going to focus on IAS, CC and Fire Res (my main res stat). Dex will be nice as well. I am trying to get over 40k HP.
As for the Mantra, I just realised I am still using Mantra of Conviction with Overawe lol. That could be a reason. But I am using Guardian's Path as well. So I will change to Mantra of Evasion with Hard Target to help me a bit with DW. I dont really want to go Sword and Board so.
I will also look for a new weapon with Crit Dmg and LOH on it. Ill see what I can find. I agree I dont want to get rings with LOH as they get really pricey and there are better stats on there I would like.
So for DW are the 2 weapons I have now sufficient if i was to say change both Gems out for the max LOH ones? or would that gimp my DPS too much for DW?
http://eu.battle.net...539/hero/535652
I'm looking to change the 899 dps one into something that has +crit damage as well as the socket, so I can bump my damage some more, but besides that I'm pretty happy with them. And I'm not actually even sure if I'll like the 300 LoH drop, so it may be that I'm stuck with these weapons for a while.
And that Mantra of Conviction with Overawe is actually pretty good when your damage and defense are able to support it (ie. not dying before the mobs die). I'm personally not a fan of either dodge skill (MoE or TGP), and suggest trying Resolve along with that Conviction. If you're struggling to survive with those, then switch the aura first into the MoE. Wouldn't take The Guardian's Path in any case, but that's just my personal opinion.
Yah I am definitely going to look for a new weapon that has LOH as a rolled stat and a socket for the Crit Damage. Should I be looking for one to replace my sword or to replace my mace? My mace I thought had very good stats with that amount of crit damage (although I know its slower). Or keep the Sword and get a new Weapon to replace the Mace?
This was my build in Act 3 if I remember correctly: http://us.battle.net...XgYh!UXY!ZcbaYa. In Act 4, I switched from Deadly Reach to FoT and had 1850 LoH. I skipped a couple of elites which are too tough (such as Phasebeasts or shielding/invulnerable) but generally I managed to kill most elites I encountered. I spam Mantra of Evasion whenever I need a quick heal (Transcendence) and boost my dodge for a short period. The dodge boost (55%) works really well with Blind Flash with Searing Light rune as the elites missed fairly often. Finally, the Earth Ally is VERY helpful in splitting the elite pack.
So don't worry about dropping your DPS for some LoH. If possible, try to aim around 1.8 attack speed and 1k LoH.
I kind of came to that conclusion as well. Plus the sword has Vitality which is nice! Ill go ahead and look for a new Sword/Fist to replace the Mace with LOH stat and a Socket, and of course lots of Dex (150+ I am hoping).
Does it matter which one you equip in which slot?
Is there any gear except the rings you thing i should change right now? I think I have pretty good gear at the moment.
Thank you that is good to know I appreciate your help and input. I have been tempted to try Deadly Reach as well so maybe ill try that for a bit in Act 3 and see how I do.
What Rune for Deadly Reach do you suggest I use?
We don't necessarily need to rely on them, but crit and crit damage have really nice synergy with Sweeping Winds with Cyclone rune, so they really are the best way of increasing damage right now.
Going for max attack speed is still possible as well, and it has the advantage of increasing the efficiency of LoH, so it does give you that nice warm feeling of immortality when standing in fire chains, molten, plague and desecration hitting stuff and laughing with hp staying full.
It's more of a finding synergies and striking a balance between defensive stats, damage and sustainability (LoH, globes, life steal).
You're welcome! Mine was a very defensive build, so I used Keen Eye rune for Deadly Reach. I had to kite a lot with DR. Truth to be told, I didn't like its slower attack speed but it was what kept me alive. However, the main issue with DR is its inability to sustain damage against ranged elites that moves A LOT. There was one molten pack which enraged because they keep running away from me (and I had to avoid their molten). It was a terribly frustrating moment. When I got to Act 4, DR wasn't able to apply enough damage and LoH against naturally fast elites (Subjugators!). I had no choice but to switch over to FoT with Teleportation; that way I was able to chase them even if they kept running away from me.
P/S: I'm envious of Lumis' OP gear even though my gear had improved since I've done Inferno. Wished I had that kind of gear but I'm poor :/
Other way of using Deadly Reach would be weaving it into your FoT hits. Since it's the third hit of a hit sequence that gives the buff, you can hit 2 hits with FoT and then the third with Deadly Reach. I suspect that it would get annoying with only 4 secs of buff, so you'd basically alternate between FoT and Deadly Reach alot. And you would need to give up another skill slot for using 2 spirit builders.
If you build for crit and crit damage, FoT is your bread and butter. For sword and board the Keen Eye rune gives huge defensive bonus, and is something to try at least.
So in regards to my other gear (non-weapons) any suggestions from anyone? Id like to get my resistances a bit higher.
i always play co-op 2-3 players with friends which makes incoming damage often quite difficult to manage.
All the items i've got so far have either been self farmed, or bought for under 50k...
I'm looking for advice on how i should be gearing just in case i'm gearing wrong. Mostly i've gone dual res (physical / all) and dex .. throwing in Vit where i can .. I know my helm and amulet could do with an upgrade, just havn't found anything yet.
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/MooTiger-2666/hero/8521607