merciless and self found pro tips

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Namcap wrote:

Once you have one toon to Piety and can farm her for a while, it goes a lot faster I find. It's why many people do a MF character first then their actual intended build (like I'm doing).

yeah. it's really hard to get around the having an MF character plan.

and that irritates the hell out of me.

i don't want to build a character to build a character that i want.

in ambush i was very fortunate in that my incinerate build, in addition to being quite gear independent, also was good for MF.

it's especially important because what i've found is that it's much more difficult now because i have two characters. so i really need to just put the duelist on ice, and level my PA build, so it can farm for the duelist, and itself, of course.

absolutely i need to get to piety. that's just looking like such a daunting challenge at this point.

i sure do miss the leveling uniques ! lol.

Ok. I'm going to toot my own horn here. You need a good build, resists and armour will only take you so far, I finished merciless as a hybrid with around 2khp and 3k es (no armour or eva to speak of), at the start of merci I was like 1.5/2k. I'm playing a flameblast build and with only a 4L still absolutely ripping apart mobs, dps is a total non issue with this skill. There are other skills like that, like fire trap and shockwave totems or some kind of arc build. In merciless I generally skip the side quests and do them later because the side areas are like 6 levels higher than the main areas. With flameblast though it didnt matter I could do them without problems, one thing I also started using again is a skeleton totem to tank bosses. It works great, spell totem + faster casting + minion life + summon skeletons. I'm still using a 4L but it takes me about 5-10 min to clear a lvl 73 map, unfortunately thats my highest tier atm. I've had some luck though, I found rainbow strides, and 3 infernal mantles, which I use in my build (not 3 of them ofc). This league has treated me well so far.

Every single slot is self found:

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plasticeyes wrote:

so i'm wondering, how the hell do you self-found folks do it once you get to merciless ?? and if your self-found solo, i really don't know how you do it (without using certain builds that is).

Don't play melee.
Get a bow.
Rule Wraeclast.

Played selffound to Piety Merci with no big problems in 3-4 days after ladder start. Now farming Piety and then up to Dominus.

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CommodoX wrote:

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plasticeyes wrote:

so i'm wondering, how the hell do you self-found folks do it once you get to merciless ?? and if your self-found solo, i really don't know how you do it (without using certain builds that is).

Don't play melee.
Get a bow.
Rule Wraeclast.

Played selffound to Piety Merci with no big problems in 3-4 days after ladder start. Now farming Piety and then up to Dominus.

well, first of all that's insane amount of gametime.

secondly, yeah, the poison arrow build is doing alright.

melee can be done in this game but it's definitely harder.

edit: insane if you got there in 3-4 days, that easily 6-8 hours a day. i don't play that much !

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thevdende wrote:

spell totem + faster casting + minion life + summon skeletons. I'm still using a 4L but it takes me about 5-10 min to clear a lvl 73 map, unfortunately thats my highest tier atm.

yeah a skelly totem is on my list.

but i'm self found and _neither_ character is a witch, so neither can get a skellie gem.

so that means buying one.

which is not self found. lol.

meanwhile flameblast is well known as a good leveling build. but i don't want to play flameblast!

actually i do, but not this league.

this gets back to the issue, that really, for self found you either want 2 characters, one of which is self found or you want a build that can be a good MF build so you can find good gear.

my incinerate was such a build, i am now realizing.

so is an incinerate build.

and really, archers do pretty well too.

ranged > melee.

i'll get there...i think.

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plasticeyes wrote:

secondly, yeah, the poison arrow build is doing alright.
edit: insane if you got there in 3-4 days, that easily 6-8 hours a day. i don't play that much !

Tornado Shot, not Poison Arrow.
Yeah have semester break at the moment, much spare time :).

I would say, don't be afraid to take a step back. Go through with alting some new gear and if you need alts find an area you can do that is going to drop you what you need. Areas for making alts I like:

The fire dude North of Crossrads in a2 - you can run from wp to Chamber entrance and back.
The Captain in Battlefield in a3 - you can run from wp to Docks entrance and back.
Hillock.

Find the highest one you can do safely and kill them over and over. You will build up alts quite quickly, dependant on kill speed ofc.

I would also say craft on-the-go. Get an item ready and as you make alts you can use them, instead of waiting till you make 40 or 60. This way as soon as you get an upgrade you can use it for your running and get quicker and safer as you go.

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To solve the damage issue if you are a physical damage dealing character is much easier than you may believe. If you find your damage tapering off find your weapon of choice in the highest level range you can with the fastest base attack speed available. Use 4 blacksmiths whetstones to 20% it then slap it in the vendor with one white/blue/yellow rustic sash (I usually use blue rustics because it's cheap) and 1 whetstone. This nets you a +~60% roll for physical damage on the weapon. Aug orb the weapon as well for an additional affix.

If I am reading this right I can take a weapon to a vendor and include a rustic belt and whetstone to get an up to +60% damage? Can you Augment a rare item? Will any of this work with a unique?

My level 35 dualist is using these.



I am a self found player and so far have a pretty good supply of orbs and rares. I use gold rings and other pluses to finding rare items frequently to improve my drops. I did find these boots:

As others have said: Merciless is much, *much* more merciful if you play a ranged character. Actually, even if you are playing a melee character, it's OK to swallow your pride and equip Spectral Throw or Lightning Strike as a back-up plan for when melee gets too hairy.

If you're playing in a softcore league, it's OK to die a few times against a boss. Just remember to level up before you go on a suicide mission, and it won't actually cost you much time. /deaths is just a number.

If it's still too hard, start another character. Eventually your characters between them will find the stuff you need to progress further. You don't progress through the game as quickly, but you get to try a lot of builds (which is the real fun for me).

When you play strictly self-found, you either need more patience, or you must pick a largely gear independent build. Anything that relays on a weapon is harder to play self-found. Masters help with that now, but it still takes longer.

Self-found is like an optional handicap to increase the game's difficulty. Quite fun, at times, but more suited to the permanent leagues, I feel. (I trade lightly in the softcore challenge leagues, and play strictly self-found in the regular HC league.)