New to median xl, stuck after starting destruction

Hello, new guy to median xl here.

I've played so far as necro, amazon and assassin. I'm playing offline so i'm using the offline median tools to spam the skill/stat respec to try lots of builds on each char. Every single character so far goes like this: I reach mephisto on act 3 relatively easily, then proceed to farm him for a while and craft and uptier uniques to deck out my char. Then i stomp everything, including the level challenges, until i reach act 4 in terror. While i can kill stuff relatively fast, i die almost instantly the moment something sneezes in my general direction. I have 80% on elemental/poison resistance on everyone and even on my spear zon in which i get 120k+ defense, i get deleted instantly specially from "bosses" (griswold, hammer guy in act 1). For example, the moment griswold casts his "rocks fall, everybody dies" im dead so fast that even though im expecting it i dont even have the time to drink a potion. After diablo on terror, the only way to beat bosses is to kite them and spam barrage in between stutter steps while they chase me relentlessly.

All the guides i see are like use x tiered item then for end game use x sacred unique. What do i do in between tiered and sacred uniques? Do i craft my own stuff? what the hell am i doing wrong? thx

likourgos94 wrote:All the guides i see are like use x tiered item then for end game use x sacred unique. What do i do in between tiered and sacred uniques? Do i craft my own stuff? what the hell am i doing wrong? thx

A few questions:

Did you put mystic orbs on your gear? For example 120 k def on a spearzon is not much. Get more enhanced defense on your armor pieces

Did you try getting runewords? Some of them give some nice physical resist, which reduces incoming physical damage. The best and easily obtainable ones are:

Erawan

Erawan
Body Armors
'LemKoCham'
Runeword Level: 83
15% Combat Speeds
5% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(144 to 171)% Enhanced Defense
(27 to 30)% to Strength
(27 to 30)% to Vitality
Physical Resist (13 to 15)%
(15 to 20)% Bonus to Defense

,

Truce

Truce
Belts
'Jah'
Runeword Level: 80
5% Combat Speeds
Stun Attack
Slows Attacker by 5%
+(172 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
Physical Resist 10%

,

Megalith

Megalith
Boots
'LoFal'
Runeword Level: 73
+1 to All Skills
25% Cast Speed
15% Block Speed
+(115 to 143)% Enhanced Defense
+(10 to 20) to all Attributes
5% to Dexterity
Regenerate Mana +30%
Physical Resist 5%

Add to that

Terra Indiges

Terra Indiges
Maiden Pike (4)
Two-Hand Damage: (7 - 8) to (34 - 43)
(Amazon Only)
Required Level: 10
Required Strength: 43
Required Dexterity: 87
Item Level: 19
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.13 per Dexterity)%
Amazing Grace
10% Chance to cast level 10 Ember Spirit on Melee Attack
+6% Bonus Damage to Bloodlust
10% Hit Recovery
+(16 to 23) to Maximum Damage
+(41 to 60)% Enhanced Damage
Elemental Resists +(21 to 30)%
Physical Resist (4 to 6)%
(11 to 15)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (2)
Two-Hand Damage: (20 - 23) to (78 - 92)
(Amazon Only)
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 63
Required Dexterity: 126
Item Level: 40
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.15 per Dexterity)%
Amazing Grace
13% Chance to cast level 24 Ember Spirit on Melee Attack
+12% Bonus Damage to Bloodlust
15% Hit Recovery
+(29 to 37) to Maximum Damage
+(61 to 80)% Enhanced Damage
Elemental Resists +(41 to 50)%
Physical Resist (7 to 9)%
(21 to 25)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (4)
Two-Hand Damage: (47 - 52) to (157 - 183)
(Amazon Only)
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 123
Required Dexterity: 246
Item Level: 59
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.15 per Dexterity)%
Amazing Grace
16% Chance to cast level 33 Ember Spirit on Melee Attack
+18% Bonus Damage to Bloodlust
20% Hit Recovery
+(43 to 57) to Maximum Damage
+(81 to 100)% Enhanced Damage
Elemental Resists +(61 to 70)%
Physical Resist (10 to 12)%
(31 to 35)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (5)
Two-Hand Damage: (66 - 72) to (210 - 237)
(Amazon Only)
Required Level: 55
Required Strength: 241
Required Dexterity: 483
Item Level: 85
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.15 per Dexterity)%
Amazing Grace
20% Chance to cast level 40 Ember Spirit on Melee Attack
+24% Bonus Damage to Bloodlust
20% Hit Recovery
+(60 to 72) to Maximum Damage
+(101 to 120)% Enhanced Damage
Elemental Resists +(71 to 80)%
Physical Resist (13 to 15)%
(36 to 40)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (6)

and you should have a very reasonable amount of physical resist. (it's capped at 50%)

Griswold's rock fall attack kills everybody. :calm:

IMO Amazon and Assassin are the weakest classes.

Here are my favorite builds:
2H Axe Barb
Xbow Necro
Unholy Caster Paladin
Melee Sorceress
Traprat Druid

yeah ok ill try investing some MO's and getting some phys res. what hp should i be about at this stage?

Basically you are not supposed to facetank stuff, unless you are really tanky. You have to manually dodge enemy attacks, or kill them before they can hit you.

Hi again,

Hey I was searching for info around how to physical resistance (currently only 10%). Then I found this thread and noticed the comment about 120K being to low for a spearzon. But my defence stat on stat sheet is only 3,131 - which is an order of magnitude lower. Im clvl 68 right now. Is there something Im doing wrong or am I just reading it incorrectly?

Thanks again :-)

Longstaff wrote:Hi again,

Hey I was searching for info around how to physical resistance (currently only 10%). Then I found this thread and noticed the comment about 120K being to low for a spearzon. But my defence stat on stat sheet is only 3,131 - which is an order of magnitude lower. Im clvl 68 right now. Is there something Im doing wrong or am I just reading it incorrectly?

Thanks again

Don't worry. As long as you don't have problems with survivability you're good! 3k is a bit low for your level but as long as you don't die to regular mobs why care? You can always MO +100 defence on your amulets and rings or make a defensive runeword for starters.

Hi stanbsl - thank you, thats a really sensible way to look at it :-)

.

Still I cant help wondering about the huge difference - 120,000 on the spearzon (above) versus me with just 3,311 - that makes his 36 times higher than mine, and his was described as low? I have absolutely no idea why they are so different.

Also can I please sneak in one more question about amazons - how many points do you put into STRENGTH as you level up? It doesnt seem to do a whole lot and having it in DEX instead would have a far greater impact. But, reading the forums and guides I see many examples of recommended gear with a very high strength requirement - do I chuck points into strength every level-up to get it up around the 400 mark to equip the recommended gear, or is there a better way to do it without sacrificing points that could go into DEX ? Right now at clvl 72, I have only 152 STRENGTH and 674 DEX, including the bonuses from my current equipped gear. I dont see how I will ever get STRENGTH up over 400 even if I put every point into it from now on?

Ok thanks again, and I promise no more newb questions :-)

Longstaff wrote:Hi stanbsl - thank you, thats a really sensible way to look at it .

Still I cant help wondering about the huge difference - 120,000 on the spearzon (above) versus me with just 3,311 - that makes his 36 times higher than mine, and his was described as low? I have absolutely no idea why they are so different.

Also can I please sneak in one more question about amazons - how many points do you put into STRENGTH as you level up? It doesnt seem to do a whole lot and having it in DEX instead would have a far greater impact. But, reading the forums and guides I see many examples of recommended gear with a very high strength requirement - do I chuck points into strength every level-up to get it up around the 400 mark to equip the recommended gear, or is there a better way to do it without sacrificing points that could go into DEX ? Right now at clvl 72, I have only 152 STRENGTH and 674 DEX, including the bonuses from my current equipped gear. I dont see how I will ever get STRENGTH up over 400 even if I put every point into it from now on?

Ok thanks again, and I promise no more newb questions

U'll get STR from charms that u'll be getting as u progress through the game. That being said, I think it's a good idea to dump 100-200 points into STR anyway even if it's not ur primary attribute, and then respec later when u can afford it. U also got runes (+5, +10, +5%) and jewels with -10% requirement, which can help.
For defence, if it's working for you, then it's fine. I have a lvl 117 assassin with 13% block chance and 7k defence. Not all builds need it. And yea, 120k def is nothing above lvl 110. There's very little difference between 120k and 3k later on.
If u wanna go defence, it's an "all-in" kinda thing. It's simply not gonna happen for some builds. Necro/Barb can reach above 900K. For characters like Assassin/Bowzon it's useless stat. Worst you can do is go "half-in" , u'll just end up gimping ur character.

Longstaff wrote:Hi stanbsl - thank you, thats a really sensible way to look at it .

Still I cant help wondering about the huge difference - 120,000 on the spearzon (above) versus me with just 3,311 - that makes his 36 times higher than mine, and his was described as low? I have absolutely no idea why they are so different.

Also can I please sneak in one more question about amazons - how many points do you put into STRENGTH as you level up? It doesnt seem to do a whole lot and having it in DEX instead would have a far greater impact. But, reading the forums and guides I see many examples of recommended gear with a very high strength requirement - do I chuck points into strength every level-up to get it up around the 400 mark to equip the recommended gear, or is there a better way to do it without sacrificing points that could go into DEX ? Right now at clvl 72, I have only 152 STRENGTH and 674 DEX, including the bonuses from my current equipped gear. I dont see how I will ever get STRENGTH up over 400 even if I put every point into it from now on?

Ok thanks again, and I promise no more newb questions

The guy in the post was doing early ubers, which is level 105, you can't compare lvl 68 with lvl 105+. Defense will come later on.

Regarding strength, the 400+ strength pieces are typically scared items/bases and it's not a requirement to upgrade to those right away. You often want to put points into strength early and then as you gain signets, levels and charms, you will have more and more natural strength and you can then respec many of the strength points into dex. Level 72 is way too early to worry about having 400 strength.