Is crafting supposed to be this "difficult"?

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starfire09
Imp
4 | 0
Hi everybody! First post here, and it's a question but I don't think it's very "short" so I'm not posting it in that thread. Sorry if it doesn't deserve its own topic!

I'm playing a holy caster Pally, and I'm about halfway through Destruction Act 4. I've done all the challenges so far, and I've even done all the Ubers that are deemed "Easy" in the character guide I'm following. Even though I've done all that, my gear is still not at all what the guide tells me it should be. It's all Tier 6 unique items that I made back in my "Early Game." According to pretty much every guide I've seen, you should be crafting all your gear as a bridge between early game Tiered Uniques, and your late game ilvl 100 Sacred Uniques.

Through my entire time in Terror and Destruction, I've gathered the base Sacred Rare items for all my slots and found 2 Fascinating(10) shrines. However, I've blown all 20 of those charges and have NOTHING to show for it! I made a crafted Scepter, for example, but haven't managed to get +skills to roll on it even once, let alone make something better than the Vindictatress that I've been using since Hatred. I tried my hand at body armor, boots, and gloves, but I'm having a very hard time justifiably changing out my Queen of Glass or Honorific Gloves for them.

I guess my general question is, is crafting supposed to be so difficult? I know I'm not going to get a perfect skills, enhanced defense, and fire skill penetration roll on my first (or 20th) try, but man I'd do anything to get even ONE of those affixes to roll on my pieces! Any advice for a new guy trying his hand at shrine crafting? Do I just need to grind out dozens of Fascinating Shrines and spam them 50+ times per item to get what I need? Can those Sacred Unique end-game items be that rare that it's worth it to craft everything before you even start farming for them? And speaking of farming, where should I do that if I really need to get so many shrines? I'm having survivability troubles with Act 4 Destruction, so I know I can't do Destruction Fauztinville or anything like that.

Sorry for the super long post and sorry again if it's posted in the wrong place! Thanks for any advice!
LG_Blitz
Bone Archer
70 | 5
Yup, total rng
riskfactor
Dark Huntress
13 | 1
From my experience, though I can't say this for sure, the most sought after affixes (like ctc Stormblast on gloves) have a much lower probability of rolling, so the rng is further weighted against you.

The high end crafting is absolutely a grind, which is just not for everyone.
itsme
Thunder Beetle
55 | 2
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Crafting is ultimately just luck. The reason it's an intermediary point is that getting some shrines is more reliable than waiting for full sets to drop or getting the right SU. I don't know if you're playing online or not but the drop rates are worse on realm than on SP which makes shrine farming more necessary.

As you've found, strong caster builds can do reasonably well with TU gear. Upgrading is more for survivability than anything. Back when unholy caster was OP (i.e. most of Median's history) I would have exactly the same experience; casually farming ubers with T6 gear or something equally dumb.
MadDamon
Skeleton
3 | 0
Pay attention to your item level. If your sacred rares were found in terror, it might be a problem. Maybe someone with better knowedge than me about crafting could confirm...
itsme
Thunder Beetle
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MadDamon wrote:Pay attention to your item level. If your sacred rares were found in terror, it might be a problem. Maybe someone with better knowedge than me about crafting could confirm...

This is a great point. For OP's benefit, the affixes page lists all of them. Basically you only want items from ilevel 90+, unless you're looking for something really specific.
starfire09
Imp
4 | 0
itsme wrote:
MadDamon wrote:Pay attention to your item level. If your sacred rares were found in terror, it might be a problem. Maybe someone with better knowedge than me about crafting could confirm...

This is a great point. For OP's benefit, the affixes page lists all of them. Basically you only want items from ilevel 90+, unless you're looking for something really specific.

Ahh I didn't even think of that. Yeah I figured that "mid-game" was gonna start from whenever shrines started dropping, so I've got a bunch of ilvl 60-80 stuff I'm trying to craft. That might have something to do with it. As for farming (both the shrines and the base items), is there any recommendations? Do I just look at the drop bias doc and just pick the "hardest" zone that I can actually clear?
itsme
Thunder Beetle
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I don't know any numbers, but in my experience clear speed/consistency and quantity of drops are more important than drop bias. Try running cows (massive amount of enemies to slaughter) or Nihlathak (super high elite density) on Terror. Destruction Nihlathak is usually my first call for a new character, but you haven't got that far yet. You can also try Terror Fauzt although that might be too hard to be worth it. You need to do TFauzt anyway for BRC if you haven't done that yet; Blessed Life is a huge boon for Din.
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Bardamu
Gravedigger
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INTRODUCTION
Hello everyone. This guide is a 4 hands work between Mortimer_85 and me. We are avid Caster Druid players and so it was natural at one point to join forces and start to work on a guide about what we believe is a really fun and a perfect starter character to play, who can do most ubers and can face up to endgame with different specs, all using different main skills. Also, one of the things that unifies the different specs is an all around accessibility and easiness in terms of playstyle, that's really well suited for new players or for anyone who doesn't like skill switching a lot, since most of the times you'll be simply spamming your main skill after one or two little self buffs. The fact that there wasn't already a Caster Druid guide updated to Sigma made us also realize that we really wanted to fill this void, expecially after the Seer tree buffs in 1.2, the sweet gifts to the char given by 1.3 patch and the poison avatar damage buff in latest 1.4.



PROS AND CONS

Pros:
  • Easy to play, newbie friendly
  • Little to none skill switching
  • Doesn't require expensive gear to farm
  • Easy life farming places until level 120 even in T4 gear
  • Good boss killer

Cons:
  • Pretty squishy early game. Can be easily solved by practicing playstyle
  • Can have some mana problems early
  • Boring playstyle if you don't like spamming the same skill over and over



BUILD AND GENERAL PLAYSTYLE
Caster Druid is a newbie friendly build that requires no skill switching, has pretty intuitive stats placement, demands no expensive gear to clear most farming areas, and has an easy farming life expecially in usually annoying places like Teganze and Toraja. It is also a pretty safe build, since in the end game you will benefit from a nice amount of defense for a caster, some cheeky meat shields in acid fiends, a good amount of life from Lifeshield, outstanding life after kill courtesy of Feed The Pack/Circle of Life, and some nice life regen and avoid thanks to Symbiosis skill synergies and Faerie Fire uberskill. Also, the recent Sigma change on monsters immunities made one-element builds possible, so now you can effectively specialize in one type of element without spending much more skill points in a secondary one, since with enough elemental pierce and damage output you can just annihilate everything on screen.




SKILL POINTS

Depending on progression, spec and preferred play style, the distribution of skill points can differ. However, since all builds are Caster specs, only the Seer and the Corruption Tree will be of use for us, with the exception of the devotion passive from Bear or Wolf tree.

► SKILL UTILIZATION




BREAKPOINTS

FCR:
24/46/86/174 (6 fpa) - Stave
11/24/78/142 (7 fpa) - 1 Hand Swing (Swords, Daggers, Sceptres,...)
FHR:
24/40/70/133/360 (4 fpa) - Stave
39/56/86/152/377 (4 fpa) - 1 Hand Swing (Swords, Daggers, Sceptres,...)
FBR:
32/42/52/68/86/120/174/280/600 (7 fpa)

Source: Speed Calculator v. 1.2 by Terryys.




Pierce
► Pierce Stats




Stave vs 1 Hand + Shield

We are aware of the fact that a 1 Hand + Shield setup can have it's uses for a caster Druid:
  • more available sockets
  • easier access to PR% with Crafted Shields
  • easier access to max res due to items like
    Dreamflange
    Dreamflange
    Mace (Sacred)

    One-Hand Damage: 44 to 50
    Required Level: 100
    Required Strength: 442
    Item Level: 105
    Strength Damage Bonus: (0.11 per Strength)%
    +(3 to 4) to All Skills
    +(51 to 75) Spell Focus
    50% Cast Speed
    +50% Damage to Undead
    +(16 to 20)% to Spell Damage
    +(51 to 100) to Energy
    Maximum Elemental Resists +2%
    +2 to Light Radius
    Socketed (3)
    or
    Wheel of Fortune
    Wheel of Fortune
    Large Shield (4)

    Defense: 85 to 162
    Chance to Block: Class%
    Required Level: 4
    Required Strength: 27
    Required Dexterity: 45
    Item Level: 10
    +(21 to 30) to Vitality
    Maximum Elemental Resists +1%
    Elemental Resists +(6 to 10)%
    Fire Absorb 1%
    Lightning Absorb 1%
    Cold Absorb 1%
    (4 to 7)% Gold Find
    (5 to 10)% Magic Find
    Socketed (1)
    Defense: 240 to 405
    Chance to Block: Class%
    Required Level: 21
    Required Strength: 53
    Required Dexterity: 67
    Item Level: 31
    +(31 to 40) to Vitality
    Maximum Elemental Resists +1%
    Elemental Resists +(11 to 20)%
    Fire Absorb 2%
    Lightning Absorb 2%
    Cold Absorb 2%
    (9 to 12)% Gold Find
    (11 to 20)% Magic Find
    Socketed (3)
    Defense: 501 to 817
    Chance to Block: Class%
    Required Level: 39
    Required Strength: 184
    Required Dexterity: 139
    Item Level: 51
    +(41 to 50) to Vitality
    Maximum Elemental Resists +2%
    Elemental Resists +(21 to 30)%
    Fire Absorb 2%
    Lightning Absorb 2%
    Cold Absorb 2%
    (14 to 17)% Gold Find
    (21 to 30)% Magic Find
    Socketed (4)
    Defense: 684 to 1113
    Chance to Block: Class%
    Required Level: 48
    Required Strength: 368
    Required Dexterity: 288
    Item Level: 77
    +(51 to 60) to Vitality
    Maximum Elemental Resists +2%
    Elemental Resists +(31 to 40)%
    Fire Absorb 3%
    Lightning Absorb 3%
    Cold Absorb 3%
    (17 to 19)% Gold Find
    (31 to 40)% Magic Find
    Socketed (4)
  • presence of actual good ele caster Endgame Shields like
    Celestial Barrier
    Celestial Barrier
    Spiked Shield (Sacred)

    Defense: (2525 - 2828) to (3012 - 3374)
    Chance to Block: 1% + Class%
    Required Level: 100
    Required Dexterity: 550
    Item Level: 120
    +(4 to 5) to All Skills
    1% Base Block Chance
    -50% Attack Speed
    30% Cast Speed
    -(20 to 25)% to Enemy Elemental Resistances
    +(150 to 180)% Enhanced Defense
    50% Bonus to Defense
    1% Reanimate as: Random Monster
    Socketed (6)
But the downsides of worse hit recovery frames and 7 fpa maximum cast speed are enough for us to only cover Stave setups in this guide.
However we encourage you to experiment and come up with nice setups, especially in encounters were max res and phys res is very important.



MERCENARY Taken from: Melee Sorceress Guide by Solfege.

Personally both of us prefer playing without a merc, however a good support Merc can be helpful in many situations.
If you are going to use a merc we suggest an A2 Fighter Mage. He is tanky, has good crowd control skills. On a second choice, a Shapeshifter is also tanky and can buff us and our Acid fiends with Bloodlust.
Note:
Mercs have an innate +100% Elemental res. They still suffer from the res penalties in later difficulties.
Tip:
Mercs inherit both your GF and MF, on top of any they get from gear, as long as they get the kill. They also benefit from the + all skills modifier. Mercs cannot use oskills.



SUMMONS Taken from: Melee Sorceress Guide by Solfege.

Summons gain 15% Elemental resistances per Skill Point up to a maximum of 75%. They can gain more res with the Summoned Minion Resistances mod from gear/skills/Charms, but they cannot utilize more than +75% from these sources. They suffer the same res penalties you do in later difficulties.

Summoned Minion Resistance Penalties per Difficulty (assuming at least 5 Skill Points in a summon skill):

Normal (+/-0% Res Penalty)
75% innate resistances. An additional +25% Minion Res will make them immune.
Nightmare (-50% Res Penalty)
25% innate resistances. An additional +75% Minion Res will make them immune.
Hell (-100% Res Penalty)
-25% innate resistances. An additional +75% Minion Res will give them 50% resistances.

Tip:
Summoned Minions (and Reanimates) inherit your MF, as long as they get the kill.



EARLY GAME
Our playstyle in early game is really simple: we will use Plague Avatar as our main damage dealer skill, while using Rain of Fire for dealing with bosses, "immunes", and in general for immobile non-resistant monsters. Prebuff with Mark of The Wild, summon your Acid Fiends and kill every monster in sight with your Poison Avatar when they approach your summons. In early game, we will be really squishy, so try to play safe behind your minions and to not rush or overxtend, healing yourself with Pagan Rites when needed. Your fiends are pretty tanky early game, but try to always keep an eye on their number so you can avoid to get suddenly swarmed. Also, try to not spam constantly your Poison Avatar, since its high mana cost will empty your mana pool really fast.

ATTRIBUTE POINTS

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GEAR

Various gear choices are possible early game. We selected different and best possibilities for each slot so you can then try them and personalize it yourself:

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SKILLPLAN

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MID GAME
Starting from lvl 115 we can start farming with our current t4 gear Kurast 3000 KBA for sets/SUs, and consequentially work up to find some better pieces in order to boost our damage and increase our general killspeed. You can actually farm even 120 uberlevels like Duncraig and Teganze quite comfortably with t4 stuff. From now on, we'll list two different specs for skills and gears you can start working toward.

ATTRIBUTE POINTS

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SPEC.1: ICE

For this particular spec we opt for easy to find gear and go with full Lone Wolf set coupled with some basic SUs, using Hunting Banshee as our main damage dealer skill. Full Lone Wolf bonus gives you a delicious +1 projectile to your Hunting Banshee skill and will be your transitioning gear before going for SSU Flamen Staff Biting Frost in endgame.


GEAR

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This other one is an alternate setup more suited for self found progression or at least less trading. We recommend doing Athulua Uber in Early Game setup because the additional + max slvl on the charm will let us hit the BP of baselevel 26 on Hunting Banshee. With the unlocking of the third projectile we increase our damage by 50%.


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SKILLPLAN
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SPEC.2: STORM

If you feel more fancy, you can start building toward this powerful spec, based on the Stormclash oskill found on several SUs we will use as our core gear of choice. Rest of gear will be mostly craft to easily reach 135 light pierce and start melting everything. This build is pretty strong and will develop even stronger in endgame when we will get our hands on our Hide of The Basilisk SSU Chain Mail. Overall Storm>Ice, but the latter is easier and faster to assemble. If you can, try to max the Stormclash rolls up to 20 on every gear piece, so we can reach level 75 and get 4 bolts per cast.


GEAR
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SKILLPLAN
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MID GAME PLAYSTYLE

Honestly there is not much difference in playstyle between early and mid game, and it is still pretty basic and simple. You have overall more safety thanks to added defense from items, more life from Lifeshield, tons of life regeneration and 20%+ avoid thanks to Symbiosis and Elvensong. Of course enemies hit harder so try as always to not overextend and never go in melee with anything. Buff yourself with Mark of the Wild and Symbiosis, summon your Fiends and then spam Hunting Banshees to your enemies face. Lone Wolf set gives you also Firedance oskill, a small circle of fire that buffs your spell damage when you're inside it. Has a little cooldown, so if you want a little bit of damage added, alternate the use with your main damage skill. Heal with Pagan Rites when needed.
On Storm side, your main damage skill will be Stormclash. While Banshee has autoaim, Stormclash bolts need to explode on impact with target in order to do damage, so you actually have to aim. Mechanically it works sorta like Elemental: the more bolts you have, the easier it is to hit.




END GAME

Once you have done 120 ubers, have collected your 400 signets of learning and have farmed Duncraig/Teganze till level 125 you are ready to move through end game. In this section we'll list the natural evolution of our two mid game specs of choice in terms of gear. For skillplan and gameplay, nothing changes from the mid game lists above. Just for the smaxing skills, abuse all of +1 to maximum skill level you get from uber charms.

We think that Ice and expecially Storm spec are the most effective available at our disposal in terms of damage and efficiency, despite Fire and Poison getting a great damage buff in patch 1.3 thanks to Vine Companion uberskill. Moreover,
The Searing Heat
The Searing Heat
Flamen Staff (Sacred)

Two-Hand Damage: 48 to 51
(Druid Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 240
Item Level: 120
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.06 per Strength)%
Hunting Banshee Nullified
+3 Ember Spirit Projectiles
+(9 to 10) to Druid Skill Levels
+150 Spell Focus
25% Cast Speed
+50% Damage to Undead
+(25 to 40)% to Fire Spell Damage
-(20 to 30)% to Enemy Fire Resistance
15% to Energy
Physical Resist 5%
5% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (4)
now adds +3 (!) elementals, which can lead to a crazy total amount of them.
Also, you can check out the next Mortimer post in this same thread that covers some extremely interesting endgame builds based on oskills, including: 1) Mana Druid using Arcane Torrent on
Lincos (Xis)
.
2) Ice Druid using Glacial Nova, found on
Absolute Zero
Absolute Zero
Battle Staff (Sacred)

Two-Hand Damage: 61 to 66
Required Level: 100
Required Dexterity: 234
Item Level: 120
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.15 per Dexterity)%
Glacial Nova: +150% Total Damage
Fire Spell Damage Reduces Cold Spell Damage
Fire Pierce Reduces Cold Pierce
Glacial Nova Cooldown Reduced by 4 seconds
+50% Damage to Undead
-40% to Enemy Cold Resistance
+(20 to 30) to Glacial Nova
Maximum Fire Resist -5%
Maximum Cold Resist +10%
(50 to 100)% Bonus to Defense
Cannot Be Frozen
Socketed (4)
, crafted Flamen Staves and crafted Druid Helms.


SPEC.1: ICE


GEAR

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SPEC.2: STORM


GEAR


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We would like to thank:

Brother Laz, Marco and the awesome Sigma team for the never ending, amazing effort they all make in gifting us with tons of hours of pure fun.
Ben-, for his time, politeness, quality checks and quality gear suggestions.
Solfege for letting us use his amazing guide layout.
The Median XL discord friendly community for the quality memes.
Edited by Bardamu 4 years.
HohoHaha
Pit Knight
106 | 10
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Also remember that you get 3 shots at making an item rare through the Charsi hammer quest reward in act 1. Use them on rare, harder to find bases like ancient armor, greaves, or whatever rare sacred bases you cannot find.

cron