And no, I usually do not farm act 3 because I don´t see the point in terms of items per hour compared to act 1 and 2. I just can´t farm act 3 fast enough for it to be worthwhile i m o.
While Act3 is significantly slower than Act1 or 2, the quality of items dropping there is a lot better. I have only mere 90 MF on my gear but I see significantly large amount of lvl62 and 63 drops in A3. When I was farming A1 at my usual rate of 3-4 full clears a day, I could easily finish the day with just 1 or 2 lvl63 drops. I usually end up with the same amount of high level drops per town visit, e.i. when my inventory is full. Just yesterday, full clear from Siegebreaker (and all surrounding areas) to Azmodan, I have received 10 lvl63 weapons. I only recall finding 2 lvl63 weapons since patch 1.0.3 went alive.
MF gear have absolutely no influence on item lvl if that´s what you´re referring to, but that however does not change your point. Yes you get significantly more ilvl 62 and 63 in act 3 compare to 1 and 2. However the only thing that matters is how fast you can clear a run compared to drop chance of 62 and 63. The drop chance for 62 and 63 is about twice as high in act 3 compared to act 1 and I clear my act 1 run f more than twice as fast as an act 3 run. In the case of act 2 vs. 3, the difference is only 50% more for act 3. It also takes me more than 50% extra time to clear a run in 3 compared to 2. And this is not even taking in to account that there are alot of sellworthy ilvl 61 items. If we also count them, the difference in terms of money per hour is even bigger for me.
For someone better geared than me, or alot better player, it may be worth farming act 3.But as far as I can see, it´s just not worth it for me, other than the occasional run so I won´t get bored by doing the same thing over and over.
I m o you need to switch out either shadow power or spike trap for preparation. You have absolutely no need for both SS and Shadow power when you have no disc to use them. Personally I always run with both shadow power and SS when playing with my barb friend since reflect packs are a pain in the ass without shadow power. I also have +max disc on both quiver and cloak giving me a total of 49 disc. That means if you´re not SSing like crazy you pretty much have 4 SS instead of the usual 2 and twice that with prep, This to me is worth more than a couple thousand more dps. Vault is not necessarily needed at all. For teleport mobs, they often start their animation more or less instantly after teleporting, so vault will not save you while SS will. Tactical advantage is more than enough to gain distance without the use of vault i m o. Mortars can be a bitch, but I find it easier to be close enough to the mobs where I can see them do the mortar. If they do them offscreen you won´t be able to see them until they´re already on their way down and they fall so fast that it´s very hard to hit SS before the first one lands. Standing so close that they can´t even mortar you is also an option while playing with a tank and just hit shadow power or SS as soon as they´re about to hit you.
Are you joking or you don't farm act 3 but teorycraft here. How you stand close to missle creatures ??? And why you all are so scared about mortar ? Vault help you to avoid mortar and you will recive mortar if you goes static in the battle Vault is not to survive against mortar but avoid it you can do like this 2 shot vault, 2 shots vault and with prep and acrobacy rune you can handle this 20 times. I don't know how you play Act 3 without Vault or 4 pieces Nataliya. I don't know how you deal when you enter tower of damned and there is elite pack when you have no place of kite how you kite there without Vault and how you kite elite pack with fast prefix. Also without vault you can't get range this simple mean that in most of the time your steady aim do not work why you pick it then only for DPS show off ? If you don't pick Vault this mean that you are Wizard without teleport ....
Getting close to mortars work if they are generally melee if you try this against shamans or something other missle I don't get it how you dodge their normal attack ? Mortart is easy affix you just need to run all the time shoot and run shoot and run but affixes as Fast, Teleporter, depend on the place arcain, waller are thoose that make you die.
And last about mortar you can hear it way before you see it just play with sound and when you here it launching just change your possition.
You pretty much misunderstood my entire post. OP is playing with his barb friend and I was giving him advice based on that. I also did not state that there even is a single tactic that works against all kinds of mobs, because that would be stupid. Standing close to mortar affix works most of the time when playing with tank. Against ranged mobs this would normally be a bad idea, didn´t think I would have to state the obvious. When playing single player, standing close to them in act 3 is harder than just trying to keep them at bay and dodging i m o.
I´m not that scared of mortar, OP wanted advice and I gave it based on his comments. I don´t need to use vault to avoid mortars, but you could of course. If I make a mistake kiting against mortar I just smokescreen. Fast affix is a pain, no doubt about that and sometimes I run out of disc playing on my own. However using vault would mean that I have to switch out something and by doing that making some other affix a pain instead. For instance losing shadow power would make reflect mobs alot tougher. I always run with either caltrops or frost arrow for a little help in slowing down fast affix mobs for 1-2 extra shots (and of course for the 15% increased damage with cull of the weak).
For your information I mostly don´t use steady aim while playing act 3, I use cull of the weak, tactical advantage and archery. I never claimed I´m using steady aim. However in coop with a tank I switch tactical advantage out for steady aim most of the time.
And no, I usually do not farm act 3 because I don´t see the point in terms of items per hour compared to act 1 and 2. I just can´t farm act 3 fast enough for it to be worthwhile i m o.
That's a pretty good idea to stand close, I just need to becareful of the plague/arcane/molten I guess. I'll switch night stalker to Tactical Advantage and see how that goes for me and switch spike traps for preperation.
Yeah, against plauged, molten and arcane it´s pretty hard to be able to stand that close, but it works against most affixes.
Shadow power: Gloom > Smoke Screen, it's more Discipline efficient, especially if you have atleast 3k armor, 250 all res, and 35+k hp.
The trick with Mortar I find the easiest, is to watch the enemies...and i know this sounds crazy ..RUN TOWARDS THEM when they begin casting it, Mortar tends to do a pattern of left to right and back a bit (Like a d shape where you are standing on the | part of the d), running ~15 yards in, and then moving 15 yards back out 2 seconds later, means I only get hit by mortar when I'm not watching them.
Or you can just kite normally with stutter stepping, shoot run hold shift and shoot, run > release mouse > aim where you want to shoot, hold shift and left click > click away to run > repeat. If you've got pro SC2 Micro skills you can just hold the left down and aim and press shift to shoot, whichever works for you.
It is more discipline efficient for sure, at least against certain affixes. Against nightmarish, knockback and similar incapacitating mobs it´s however almost useless for facetanking. Also if you´re running with steady aim, which most DHs are, you´re losing 20% damage while facetanking with shadow power. So sometimes shadow power is more effecient, but not always.
For the record, I also find it alot easier to avoid mortars by running towards the mobs. That however pretty much only works when cooping with a tank, or playing around in act 1.
I m o you need to switch out either shadow power or spike trap for preparation. You have absolutely no need for both SS and Shadow power when you have no disc to use them. Personally I always run with both shadow power and SS when playing with my barb friend since reflect packs are a pain in the ass without shadow power. I also have +max disc on both quiver and cloak giving me a total of 49 disc. That means if you´re not SSing like crazy you pretty much have 4 SS instead of the usual 2 and twice that with prep, This to me is worth more than a couple thousand more dps.
Vault is not necessarily needed at all. For teleport mobs, they often start their animation more or less instantly after teleporting, so vault will not save you while SS will. Tactical advantage is more than enough to gain distance without the use of vault i m o.
Mortars can be a bitch, but I find it easier to be close enough to the mobs where I can see them do the mortar. If they do them offscreen you won´t be able to see them until they´re already on their way down and they fall so fast that it´s very hard to hit SS before the first one lands. Standing so close that they can´t even mortar you is also an option while playing with a tank and just hit shadow power or SS as soon as they´re about to hit you.
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MF gear have absolutely no influence on item lvl if that´s what you´re referring to, but that however does not change your point. Yes you get significantly more ilvl 62 and 63 in act 3 compare to 1 and 2. However the only thing that matters is how fast you can clear a run compared to drop chance of 62 and 63. The drop chance for 62 and 63 is about twice as high in act 3 compared to act 1 and I clear my act 1 run f more than twice as fast as an act 3 run. In the case of act 2 vs. 3, the difference is only 50% more for act 3. It also takes me more than 50% extra time to clear a run in 3 compared to 2. And this is not even taking in to account that there are alot of sellworthy ilvl 61 items. If we also count them, the difference in terms of money per hour is even bigger for me.
For someone better geared than me, or alot better player, it may be worth farming act 3.But as far as I can see, it´s just not worth it for me, other than the occasional run so I won´t get bored by doing the same thing over and over.
You pretty much misunderstood my entire post. OP is playing with his barb friend and I was giving him advice based on that. I also did not state that there even is a single tactic that works against all kinds of mobs, because that would be stupid. Standing close to mortar affix works most of the time when playing with tank. Against ranged mobs this would normally be a bad idea, didn´t think I would have to state the obvious. When playing single player, standing close to them in act 3 is harder than just trying to keep them at bay and dodging i m o.
I´m not that scared of mortar, OP wanted advice and I gave it based on his comments. I don´t need to use vault to avoid mortars, but you could of course. If I make a mistake kiting against mortar I just smokescreen. Fast affix is a pain, no doubt about that and sometimes I run out of disc playing on my own. However using vault would mean that I have to switch out something and by doing that making some other affix a pain instead. For instance losing shadow power would make reflect mobs alot tougher. I always run with either caltrops or frost arrow for a little help in slowing down fast affix mobs for 1-2 extra shots (and of course for the 15% increased damage with cull of the weak).
For your information I mostly don´t use steady aim while playing act 3, I use cull of the weak, tactical advantage and archery. I never claimed I´m using steady aim. However in coop with a tank I switch tactical advantage out for steady aim most of the time.
And no, I usually do not farm act 3 because I don´t see the point in terms of items per hour compared to act 1 and 2. I just can´t farm act 3 fast enough for it to be worthwhile i m o.
Yeah, against plauged, molten and arcane it´s pretty hard to be able to stand that close, but it works against most affixes.
It is more discipline efficient for sure, at least against certain affixes. Against nightmarish, knockback and similar incapacitating mobs it´s however almost useless for facetanking. Also if you´re running with steady aim, which most DHs are, you´re losing 20% damage while facetanking with shadow power. So sometimes shadow power is more effecient, but not always.
For the record, I also find it alot easier to avoid mortars by running towards the mobs. That however pretty much only works when cooping with a tank, or playing around in act 1.
Vault is not necessarily needed at all. For teleport mobs, they often start their animation more or less instantly after teleporting, so vault will not save you while SS will. Tactical advantage is more than enough to gain distance without the use of vault i m o.
Mortars can be a bitch, but I find it easier to be close enough to the mobs where I can see them do the mortar. If they do them offscreen you won´t be able to see them until they´re already on their way down and they fall so fast that it´s very hard to hit SS before the first one lands. Standing so close that they can´t even mortar you is also an option while playing with a tank and just hit shadow power or SS as soon as they´re about to hit you.