Discussion:
What to socket my Aldur's Rythm with?
(too old to reply)
Julie Warden
2009-03-03 06:13:44 UTC
Permalink
Any advice on what to put in the 3 sockets for my Aldur's Rythm mace?
I'm playing a frenzy Barb with a Pulpit axe and the Aldur's. I have
Signons for 30% extra attack speed.

TIA,
Julie
Patrick Vervoorn
2009-03-03 09:15:37 UTC
Permalink
Post by Julie Warden
Any advice on what to put in the 3 sockets for my Aldur's Rythm mace?
I'm playing a frenzy Barb with a Pulpit axe and the Aldur's. I have
Signons for 30% extra attack speed.
Well, Aldur's Rhythm could perhaps get you through NM, but it will not
be enough in Hell, so you'll need a replacement for it in the near
future. Keep this in mind when spending stuff to put in it.

But if you really want to socket it, try to get some cold damage in
there (which will freeze/slow enemies), so that'd be a Perfect Sapphire.

Beyond that, no idea really, whatever fancies you most, but it also
depends on your other gear and/or what monsters you have difficulties
with for which reason(s).

If you play online, keep in mind 3 perfect gems should be able to get
you something a lot better than Aldur's Rhythm, so it'd actually be a
shame to stuff 3 pgems into it. ;)

Regards,

Patrick.
Magnate
2009-03-03 10:42:07 UTC
Permalink
Post by Patrick Vervoorn
Post by Julie Warden
Any advice on what to put in the 3 sockets for my Aldur's Rythm mace?
I'm playing a frenzy Barb with a Pulpit axe and the Aldur's. I have
Signons for 30% extra attack speed.
Well, Aldur's Rhythm could perhaps get you through NM, but it will not
be enough in Hell, so you'll need a replacement for it in the near
future. Keep this in mind when spending stuff to put in it.
[snip]
Post by Patrick Vervoorn
If you play online, keep in mind 3 perfect gems should be able to get
you something a lot better than Aldur's Rhythm, so it'd actually be a
shame to stuff 3 pgems into it. ;)
I always thought it ironic that the class with the worst class-specific set
weapon is ... the druid. Not just by a little bit either - even Griswold's
caduceus, despite being way underpowered relative to its rarity, is at least
an elite weapon with 40% IAS. Aldur's mace is just an embarrassment to the
canon of high-level set items.

Maybe someone in charge of LoD was having a laugh: "no no, let's pretend
we've added TWO new classes ...." ...

CC
Shiflet
2009-03-03 13:19:16 UTC
Permalink
Post by Magnate
I always thought it ironic that the class with the worst class-specific
set weapon is ... the druid.
Why is that ironic? Annoying sure, but ironic?
Post by Magnate
Not just by a little bit either - even Griswold's caduceus, despite being
way underpowered relative to its rarity, is at least an elite weapon with
40% IAS. Aldur's mace is just an embarrassment to the canon of high-level
set items.
An Aldurs druid in a Baal run called my wind druid a noob once. Keep in
mind, my windy is far and away one of my best and most expensively geared
characters. Perfect Maras, 19/19/10 Anni, 20/19 torch, full 40+ life
elemental grand charms, perfect HotO, full 5 res/18-20 life small charms, a
rare green wolfhelm pelt with 2 druid skills, +3 tornado, 10 fhr, 28 life
socketed with a 15 res all/7 fhr jewel...any one of those items worth more
than his entire Aldurs set put together. So he "dares" me to come to act 1
and fight him. He never even touched me, and the fight was over so quick I
was able to make it back to the throne room before all the waves had been
finished.
Post by Magnate
Maybe someone in charge of LoD was having a laugh: "no no, let's pretend
we've added TWO new classes ...." ...
I'm lost.
Post by Magnate
CC
r***@telus.net
2009-03-04 01:39:15 UTC
Permalink
Post by Shiflet
An Aldurs druid in a Baal run called my wind druid a noob once. Keep in
mind, my windy is far and away one of my best and most expensively geared
characters. Perfect Maras, 19/19/10 Anni, 20/19 torch, full 40+ life
elemental grand charms, perfect HotO, full 5 res/18-20 life small charms, a
rare green wolfhelm pelt with 2 druid skills, +3 tornado, 10 fhr, 28 life
socketed with a 15 res all/7 fhr jewel...any one of those items worth more
than his entire Aldurs set put together. So he "dares" me to come to act 1
and fight him. He never even touched me, and the fight was over so quick I
was able to make it back to the throne room before all the waves had been
finished.
That's just bizarre. You can pretty easily give an _untwinked_ druid
a better rig than Aldur's. How on earth did he imagine he was going
to be able to kill you?

-- Roy L
Shiflet
2009-03-04 01:59:01 UTC
Permalink
Post by r***@telus.net
That's just bizarre. You can pretty easily give an _untwinked_ druid
a better rig than Aldur's. How on earth did he imagine he was going
to be able to kill you?
Everyone in the game was wondering that same thing, heh.
Post by r***@telus.net
-- Roy L
~misfit~
2009-03-04 03:53:45 UTC
Permalink
Post by r***@telus.net
Post by Shiflet
An Aldurs druid in a Baal run called my wind druid a noob once. Keep
in mind, my windy is far and away one of my best and most
expensively geared characters. Perfect Maras, 19/19/10 Anni, 20/19
torch, full 40+ life elemental grand charms, perfect HotO, full 5
res/18-20 life small charms, a rare green wolfhelm pelt with 2 druid
skills, +3 tornado, 10 fhr, 28 life socketed with a 15 res all/7 fhr
jewel...any one of those items worth more than his entire Aldurs set
put together. So he "dares" me to come to act 1 and fight him. He
never even touched me, and the fight was over so quick I was able to
make it back to the throne room before all the waves had been
finished.
That's just bizarre. You can pretty easily give an _untwinked_ druid
a better rig than Aldur's. How on earth did he imagine he was going
to be able to kill you?
With his awesome aura? ;-)
--
Shaun.

"Build a man a fire, and he`ll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and
he`ll be warm for the rest of his life." Terry Pratchett, Jingo.
Magnate
2009-03-06 11:11:32 UTC
Permalink
Post by Shiflet
Post by Magnate
I always thought it ironic that the class with the worst class-specific
set weapon is ... the druid.
Why is that ironic? Annoying sure, but ironic?
Simply because the druid has enough suckage without having the worst class
set as well!
Post by Shiflet
Post by Magnate
Maybe someone in charge of LoD was having a laugh: "no no, let's pretend
we've added TWO new classes ...." ...
I'm lost.
Have you forgotten how bad druids were before 1.10's synergies made wind
druids quite a powerful build? There was precisely one hell-viable druid
build - the Fury wolf. Come to think of it, that build got fairly screwed in
1.10, so there's still one hell-viable druid build ...

CC
Shiflet
2009-03-06 14:13:54 UTC
Permalink
Post by Magnate
Simply because the druid has enough suckage without having the worst class
set as well!
Wind druid's are I would say one of the top 5 builds currently being run,
for general play....
Post by Magnate
Have you forgotten how bad druids were before 1.10's synergies made wind
druids quite a powerful build?
True, they were lousy back then, cept for fury wolves.
Post by Magnate
There was precisely one hell-viable druid build - the Fury wolf. Come to
think of it, that build got fairly screwed in 1.10, so there's still one
hell-viable druid build ...
Wait, since when did the fury wolf get screwed in hell? Mine's lvl 90 and
can handle most things pretty easily, and I know there's fury wolves who can
do uber trist runs, too, so the build can't be that screwed...
Post by Magnate
CC
Magnate
2009-03-09 10:54:36 UTC
Permalink
Post by Shiflet
Post by Magnate
Simply because the druid has enough suckage without having the worst
class set as well!
Wind druid's are I would say one of the top 5 builds currently being run,
for general play....
Post by Magnate
Have you forgotten how bad druids were before 1.10's synergies made wind
druids quite a powerful build?
True, they were lousy back then, cept for fury wolves.
Post by Magnate
There was precisely one hell-viable druid build - the Fury wolf. Come to
think of it, that build got fairly screwed in 1.10, so there's still one
hell-viable druid build ...
Wait, since when did the fury wolf get screwed in hell? Mine's lvl 90 and
can handle most things pretty easily, and I know there's fury wolves who
can do uber trist runs, too, so the build can't be that screwed...
You have a point - I think I overstated my case. What I meant to say was
that Fury wolves stayed static while all around them got lots of whizzy
synergies in 1.10. So when the monsters suddenly got a lot tougher, the wolf
had a harder time than before. Having said that, the Fury wolf remains more
viable post-1.10 than other favoured 1.09 builds (I'm thinking of GA zons
and Hydra sorcs, neither of which you see much any more).

I think it's still fair to say that the Fury wolf has life less easy since
1.10 than he did before, but I guess I went a bit far in describing it as
screwed.

CC
Shiflet
2009-03-09 12:14:38 UTC
Permalink
Post by Magnate
You have a point - I think I overstated my case. What I meant to say was
that Fury wolves stayed static while all around them got lots of whizzy
synergies in 1.10. So when the monsters suddenly got a lot tougher, the
wolf had a harder time than before. Having said that, the Fury wolf
remains more viable post-1.10 than other favoured 1.09 builds
I'm not sure they became harder to use, just more gear dependent, same as
pretty much every physical damage based char did in 1.10(barbs, wolves,
zealots, bowzons...).
Post by Magnate
(I'm thinking of GA zons and Hydra sorcs, neither of which you see much
any more).
We don't see GA zons much anymore? Wha? While zons aren't the build that
everyone and their grandmother runs these days, I still see tons of bowzons
out there, both in duel games and regular pvm play. And based on what I see,
if I were to guess, I'd say 95% of those bowzons on bnet(mine included) max
and use GA as one of their primary skills. Not only watching the zons, but
whenever bowzons are asked about in channel, the suggestion always includes
maxing GA. You just don't see GA a much in general play cause the zon will
use MS/Strafe when leveling because those are mob killers. GA is single
target(and with the pierce bug being fixed, there's now little reason to use
a single target skill over a mob clearing skill, generally speaking), and
generally sees use against bosses and the occasional priority enemy or
running enemy. You're right about hydra sorcs being uncommon now though,
I've only seen a couple beyond my own, though they still do fine(barring the
limitations of the sorc class in general, you can go pure fire and rely on
teammates to kill immunes, or you can hybrid, as I did).
Post by Magnate
I think it's still fair to say that the Fury wolf has life less easy since
1.10 than he did before, but I guess I went a bit far in describing it as
screwed.
Depends on the gear, I suppose. Dracs makes them basically invincible in
regular PvE play, couple it with an eBotD(or similar) weapon of some sort
with those nasty 5 digit damage numbers, tack on some CB and DS gear, and
well, not sure that's making things much tougher on em than it was before. I
know my wolf can take down monsters in full 8 player Hell games in a couple
of hits, and with tap he well, doesn't die unless he runs into something
like conviction souls(which can be nasty against most builds, even the
vaunted hammerdins), so I can't really say his life is a lot rougher than
older Fury druids. Although if you're playing untwinked, yeah, you'll
probably wanna avoid playing a wolf.
Post by Magnate
CC
Magnate
2009-03-11 11:30:37 UTC
Permalink
Post by Shiflet
Post by Magnate
You have a point - I think I overstated my case. What I meant to say was
that Fury wolves stayed static while all around them got lots of whizzy
synergies in 1.10. So when the monsters suddenly got a lot tougher, the
wolf had a harder time than before. Having said that, the Fury wolf
remains more viable post-1.10 than other favoured 1.09 builds
I'm not sure they became harder to use, just more gear dependent, same as
pretty much every physical damage based char did in 1.10(barbs, wolves,
zealots, bowzons...).
Agreed. You illustrate this very well further down ...
Post by Shiflet
Post by Magnate
(I'm thinking of GA zons and Hydra sorcs, neither of which you see much
any more).
We don't see GA zons much anymore? Wha? While zons aren't the build that
everyone and their grandmother runs these days, I still see tons of
bowzons out there, both in duel games and regular pvm play. And based on
what I see, if I were to guess, I'd say 95% of those bowzons on bnet(mine
included) max and use GA as one of their primary skills. Not only watching
the zons, but whenever bowzons are asked about in channel, the suggestion
always includes maxing GA. You just don't see GA a much in general play
cause the zon will use MS/Strafe when leveling because those are mob
killers. GA is single target(and with the pierce bug being fixed, there's
now little reason to use a single target skill over a mob clearing skill,
generally speaking), and generally sees use against bosses and the
occasional priority enemy or
I think we're agreeing with each other here - in 1.09, thanks to the (buggy)
awesomeness of Pierce, GA was the primary bowazon attack skill. Now it's MS
and/or Strafe, and you don't see GA used nearly as often. Personally my
bowazons max one of the elemental arrows as their secondary attack, and I
don't max GA until last (if at all), but I guess you would know better than
me about the proportion of builds which suggest maxing GA.
Post by Shiflet
Post by Magnate
I think it's still fair to say that the Fury wolf has life less easy
since 1.10 than he did before, but I guess I went a bit far in describing
it as screwed.
Depends on the gear, I suppose. Dracs makes them basically invincible in
regular PvE play, couple it with an eBotD(or similar) weapon of some sort
with those nasty 5 digit damage numbers, tack on some CB and DS gear, and
well, not sure that's making things much tougher on em than it was before.
I know my wolf can take down monsters in full 8 player Hell games in a
couple of hits, and with tap he well, doesn't die unless he runs into
something like conviction souls(which can be nasty against most builds,
even the vaunted hammerdins), so I can't really say his life is a lot
rougher than older Fury druids. Although if you're playing untwinked,
yeah, you'll probably wanna avoid playing a wolf.
Yes, that's exactly what I meant. I've never found Drac's, or the runes for
a top-end weapon, so I find wolves much harder than they used to be. My wolf
is using an IK Maul, which is quite a way off five-digit damage! In 1.09 the
same build+gear was a lot easier to play in Hell.

So yes, it's basically an increase in dependence on gear - but as you say
above, this applies equally to all melee builds (I play a lot of barbs and
zealots too, as well as MA assassins).

CC
Shiflet
2009-03-11 13:12:07 UTC
Permalink
Post by Magnate
I think we're agreeing with each other here - in 1.09, thanks to the
(buggy) awesomeness of Pierce, GA was the primary bowazon attack skill.
Now it's MS and/or Strafe, and you don't see GA used nearly as often.
Personally my bowazons max one of the elemental arrows as their secondary
attack, and I don't max GA until last (if at all), but I guess you would
know better than me about the proportion of builds which suggest maxing
GA.
Oh, I still see GA used quite often, it's just not the ONLY bowskill I see
these days.
Post by Magnate
Yes, that's exactly what I meant. I've never found Drac's, or the runes
for a top-end weapon, so I find wolves much harder than they used to be.
My wolf is using an IK Maul, which is quite a way off five-digit damage!
In 1.09 the same build+gear was a lot easier to play in Hell.
Well, the same applies to all builds, though, not just melee. A blizz sorc
for example with a random wand, peasant crown, vipermagi, and lidless is
gonna be killing a lot slower than one with CoH, Nightwings, Fathom, and a
20/20 shield, gear is always gonna make a difference, just some more than
others. And the maul should be fine, you got a lot of CB and that's the key
source of fast killing for melee builds these days anyways, and as long as
you got some leech gear, you shouldn't be having problems in areas that
wouldn't have been equally rough in 09. As for the no Dracs, shop Malah for
a wand of life tap and keep it on swap perhaps, I've seen smiters do it,
should work for a wolf as well, though you'll have to cast it as a human.
Post by Magnate
So yes, it's basically an increase in dependence on gear - but as you say
above, this applies equally to all melee builds (I play a lot of barbs and
zealots too, as well as MA assassins).
Bow builds, also. A zon running a Kuko isn't gonna be making it through hell
level in any reasonable amount of time either. Plus any single element sorc
build is gonna have a hard time, poison necros are useless without a TON of
+skills gear...it's not just the meleers.
Post by Magnate
CC
EvilBill
2009-03-11 20:11:07 UTC
Permalink
Post by Shiflet
Post by Magnate
So yes, it's basically an increase in dependence on gear - but as you say
above, this applies equally to all melee builds (I play a lot of barbs and
zealots too, as well as MA assassins).
Bow builds, also. A zon running a Kuko isn't gonna be making it through hell
level in any reasonable amount of time either. Plus any single element sorc
build is gonna have a hard time, poison necros are useless without a TON of
+skills gear...it's not just the meleers.
Purist LF javazons have it hard in hell too (Souls etc). When I build a
javazon I max both LF and Jab so she has both lightning and physical
damage. Of course she's very gear-dependent w/Jab, eth upgraded titans
or nothing. LOL


Not so dependent with LF, a cracked pilum could do the job there, but
she still needs decent armour etc.
Kinlaw
2009-03-11 20:50:49 UTC
Permalink
Post by EvilBill
Purist LF javazons have it hard in hell too (Souls etc). When I build a
javazon I max both LF and Jab so she has both lightning and physical
damage. Of course she's very gear-dependent w/Jab, eth upgraded titans or
nothing. LOL
Not so dependent with LF, a cracked pilum could do the job there, but she
still needs decent armour etc.
This is about where I am with my LF zon. I have added enough points to
freezing arrow to be able to kill the LI's in hell, but it can be slow, and
I wouldn't be able to do it without my eth BOTD equipped merc and valk for
help.

And if the roll is LI AND PI?

Long fight, but I tend to try it anyway. Die sometimes, but so what.
EvilBill
2009-03-13 03:19:28 UTC
Permalink
Post by Kinlaw
Post by EvilBill
Purist LF javazons have it hard in hell too (Souls etc). When I build a
javazon I max both LF and Jab so she has both lightning and physical
damage. Of course she's very gear-dependent w/Jab, eth upgraded titans or
nothing. LOL
Not so dependent with LF, a cracked pilum could do the job there, but she
still needs decent armour etc.
This is about where I am with my LF zon. I have added enough points to
freezing arrow to be able to kill the LI's in hell, but it can be slow, and
I wouldn't be able to do it without my eth BOTD equipped merc and valk for
help.
And if the roll is LI AND PI?
Long fight, but I tend to try it anyway. Die sometimes, but so what.
My javazons tend to try to park PI/LIs, or hope the rogue merc lives
long enough to do them an injury. <g>
My Speargirls ignore any and all PIs. ;)

Patrick Vervoorn
2009-03-03 14:01:36 UTC
Permalink
Post by Magnate
Post by Patrick Vervoorn
Post by Julie Warden
Any advice on what to put in the 3 sockets for my Aldur's Rythm mace?
I'm playing a frenzy Barb with a Pulpit axe and the Aldur's. I have
Signons for 30% extra attack speed.
Well, Aldur's Rhythm could perhaps get you through NM, but it will not
be enough in Hell, so you'll need a replacement for it in the near
future. Keep this in mind when spending stuff to put in it.
[snip]
Post by Patrick Vervoorn
If you play online, keep in mind 3 perfect gems should be able to get
you something a lot better than Aldur's Rhythm, so it'd actually be a
shame to stuff 3 pgems into it. ;)
I always thought it ironic that the class with the worst class-specific set
weapon is ... the druid. Not just by a little bit either - even Griswold's
caduceus, despite being way underpowered relative to its rarity, is at least
an elite weapon with 40% IAS. Aldur's mace is just an embarrassment to the
canon of high-level set items.
It's not the best of weapons indeed. It's also a bit surprising they
never allowed the 'upgrade' recipes to work on Set items.

Not sure what I'd upgrade, if that were possible though? It might extend
the life of Aldur's Rhythm a bit, even upgraded to Elite, it would be
outclassed by many other weapons. You could perhaps upgrade the armors
of the Griswold and Trang Oul sets, but that'd only a some more def
really (and up the Str requirements).

It would be nice for some of the Low level sets' Belts though, so that
they would have 4x4 slots. A double-upgraded Arctic Furs would have
quite a high defense rating if you're lucky at the Exceptional -> Elite
upgrade step. Death's Guard would be nice as a Demonhide Sash?

Anything else? :)

Regards, Patrick.
Shiflet
2009-03-03 16:16:04 UTC
Permalink
Post by Patrick Vervoorn
It would be nice for some of the Low level sets' Belts though, so that
they would have 4x4 slots. A double-upgraded Arctic Furs would have
quite a high defense rating if you're lucky at the Exceptional -> Elite
upgrade step. Death's Guard would be nice as a Demonhide Sash?
Anything else? :)
Honestly, that's about it. Most of the armors aren't worth using regardless
of their defense, especially considering the higher str requirements that
come with them(keep in mind how many characters use mage plate or even
breast plate enigmas over archons or heavier ones), and same with the
weapons, even upped their damage will be crap. I guess the poor chararacters
who are still using Sigon's in their 50's could get some extra def out of
it, and a few duelers use Death's gloves and belt sometimes and could
probably handle the higher str without too much problems, but otherwise....
Post by Patrick Vervoorn
Regards, Patrick.
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