Yah, I always thought it meant that damage would drain mana instead of health. I used 'damage goes to mana' for characters who didn't need their mana' anyway lol
Yes, they have terrible explanation of how things work in Diablo, "Reduced damage %, % Increased damage - in items like body armor, was it hard to write Increased physical attack damage.
Something just feels different/ better about using these classic uniques. All these great memories growing up as a kid trying to trade or find something like a windforce, grandfather, coa, shaft (Underrated), stormshield etc etc. Feels better if you end up using and equiping those as opposed to these runewords that seems like everyone has.. idk
I think Zakarums hand, alma negra and lightsabre all deserve honorable mention. Those are beast items that you can use in hell that gets over looked quite often for budget builds. Huge fan of your vids btw. I love your in depth explanations. Keep em coming!
Earlier today I was listening to your video "Top 10 Worst Unique Items" in the background, while doing a few Mephisto runs (Single Player, PlugY). And I actually found a Shaftstop (non eth)! Which is kind of a big deal, my mercenary is pretty happy with it. I like this channel & your style, Ginger Gaming Mentor.
Regarding Bloodfist, the Minimum Damage is huge as well, especially if you have say one more source of that from gear, totalling like 10-12, it helps massively with consistent damage early on.
The good thing bout hotspur and gull dagger is if u make an alt to level 8 and give him like 4m gold you can easily gamble both items from gheed it takes like half an hour but it's good for early ladder to get those handy items ..it's abit of a secret but u heard it here first
Awesome video. Love crainte vomir it’s been my favourite quirky weapon for years. I use it on my solo SF barb paired with a doombringer which also has a special place in my heart :). I would have put Butchers Pupil amongst those as well. I did a solo hardcore run with a berserk barb build and was lucky to drop it. I then found a Lucky Pul to up it in Hell and it carried me to the entire game pretty much / except the end of act 5 as I’d dropped an Um for crescent moon at that point for baals killing blow. Butchers pupil is a solid weapon
Been using a double pDiamond Mosers for my season 2 Fohdin because i couldnt find a decent spirit base until Level 79. Yes i know damn. Mosers absolutely killed it on my playthrough. It even smited the hell ancients to death (helped by a "strength" sabre i have to admit). I Was absolutely blown away by ist usefulness. My Block Chance tanked after I Switched to spirit.
I don't know about Azurewrath. I was really excited about having it, but when I tried it out on my zealot, I immediately switched back to Lawbringer Phase Blade, which felt much better.
The Decrepify on hit from Lawbringer massively upgrades the damage Grief does by breaking most physical immunes or reducing physical damage reduction by 50%. And it has a higher level Sanctuary aura for more Magic damage on hit. Lawbringer is a better switch weapon on a physical Zealot or off hand Frenzy (physical builds). Azurewrath may be a better choice on an elemental melee character like an Avenger with Conviction aura to boost the Elemental damage effectiveness on the weapon, but the Physical damage converted by Vengeance to Elemental would be relatively low.
Good call on the Redeemer. I found Hand of Blessed Light on my Paladin run and that was a game changer. Lots of crushing blow plus sockets. Still got it on my weapon swap (with two Shael runes) for smiting.
BEST part of Bloodfist gloves is the +5 minimum damage. At level 9 this makes a GIGANTIC difference for weapon damage characters. Combine Bloodfist with my triple armor/dual helm 20/2 poison jeweled pretties, and then a triple socket weapon for either fire, lightning or even more poison damge, along with some dmg charms, and your leveling up in normal and even parts of nightmare speeds up massively. Also, never to be forgotten, Hsarus defense set and Sigon's steel, both are excellent for speeding up levelling. And Sigon worked so well on at least on character that even in late Nightmare, still using it.
Nightsmoke is the only item on your list I can see on a true endgame build, and that automatically puts it on first place for me. It's a comfortable item to use on a Zerker barb or you can make a lower skill investment Energy Shield sorc with it that stacks damage taken goes to mana to a point where it has technically endless mana and still goes max vita (and guess who is stashing rare jewels with that stat... lol). If there is a clear better choice, it's hard to evaluate how underrated an item is. That said I think Stormlash IS underrated, it is insanely rare, and well known, but I think most people just go with Grief and the other obvious stuff without having first hand experience with Stormlash.
Azurewrath is super underrated. Its main purpose over Lawbringer is no Decrepify, which interferes with Life Tap. I had an easy time with Ubers on my Frenzy Barb giving this to my Act 5 Merc because the Sanc Aura is so good against Mephisto and Baal's minions.
My favorite act 2 merc is upped GA with a 15% IAS jewel, Kira’s Guardian socketed with the same and ETH Reapers Toll with an IAS / ED jewel. Only way to farm trav or any place with high elemental damage
Excellent list of items what Hardcore characters look for. Like a speed runner almost died laughing when rare mob dropped Bloodfist gloves. At that LVL with almost any character you get double the life points just equiping these gloves. Nightsmoke I put on every energy Sorc I ever made, why? The all resist and damage to mana helped alot during mana burn. The Moses shield or Ward shield helped a F$#ked ton for resistance issues. The lightsaber with sanctuary order was perfect for Nel runs BC it's alot of Undead. Shaftstop nobody ever threw that away.
I have a Semi-onTopic question about playing the game without accepting items from other players or using the ones in your Shared Stash. A little bit of background about my time playing D2R: I started playing D2R about 1 week before Ladder released. The game was incredibly flooded with items by then. People in non-ladder were dropping Enigma's for free etc. What surprised me is how quickly prices dropped and people started dropping good items on Ladder when that released. Since Ladder released I've only played on there and, around the time I was clearing Hell on my 10th character, somebody I had never played with before gave me a Enigma. By then I had already easily gathered many nice sets and uniques mostly through trading perfect gems and runes or from free item games. Around a month into ladder somebody already gave me a perfect Anni for free. I was very surprised with how many great items are being given away for free - especially because it's Ladder. I now have basically no reason to try and get anything better and the game is now too easy with so much best-in-slot stuff. This realization made me sad, which is ironic. In other games people can be so toxic when it comes to items and sharing them. In D2R people are too generous! 😄 Now I want to experience what it feels like to rely solely on my own RNG drop-luck, like I did 20 years ago. Does anybody have any advice on what class & build to play to experience this in a good way?
@@GGMentor I am playing ladder, and already the amount of items is overwhelming. Perhaps I should attempt Hardcore Ladder, but that has inherently not appealed to me since the beginning.
I'm currently using rockstopper, paired with treachery on my furydruid. Really need those defences without a shield, and it's pretty easy to ome by. Great list btw.
Used Rockstopper on my Act 2 Merc leveling through NM. Also used Moser’s with double diamonds to get me through hell difficulty until I crafted Spirit Monarch. Then used that and Wizardspike to carry the bulk of resistances. I feel like Wizardspike could’ve easily made the list too.
You said shaft stop was physical damage reduction? Where did you get the physical part? It says Damage reduced by 30% not Physical damage reduced by 30%. So, is it all damage like it seems cause it is amazing merc armor, or is it actually physical?
It's Physical, anything that states Damaged Reduced by % is physical. Damage reduced by # is also Physical Magic Damage Reduced by # is Magic, Fire, Ice, Lightning, Poison. Physical is actually a resistance just like fire resistance or cold resistance. Anything that states "Damaged Reduced by %" is adding to your Physical Resistance.
Haven't found any of those yet, aside from the Rockstopper, which i found like 10 off,m and use with great pleasure on mercs, myself or even both, in a few builds, and the Crainte: when i found that i was like, wow, this is sick, i have t build a character around it! Thinking Fury Druid or something, maybe doubleswing barb? Those Bloodfist gloves would be sweet on any physical bowazon, through normal and early NM! I think Coif of Glory may be underrated, i find it a lot on newer characters, in ladder, and found a couple in pre-ladder. and they arfe amazing, can last a long time too. I'm only just now finding out how amazing some slowing, blinding and other CC effects can make certain harder builds way more viable! Also really like Darkglow ring mail, and although not Unique, Angelic set is also amazing in many ways. But gets insta dropped back on the ground mostly :p
There is a switch you can use to activate infinity respecs in single player. I go over how to do that here in my 7 commands video. ruclips.net/video/U9f-jlb57UA/видео.html
I am currently testing an upped eth boneflesh on the act V frenzy barb, it's working better than I expected, considering there are few armors with lifeleech.
Rockstopper is dope. I remember finding it in almost perfect form on hell difficulty as my druid. It fucking saved me as I had problems with my resistances.. Of course it was on single player
Moser blessed circle made my budget sorc survivable enough until I got my hands on a mal rune. Then I made a sanctuary troll nest and my survivability shot through the roof. I never played ladder so I never had access to all those absurdly powerful runewords. I also kept mbs on secondary so I could carry a lower resist wand and tank some damage in case the situation was hot. Mbs is a great sheild. I even upgraded it to elite tier. Shit's bomb
Skin of the Flayed One is actually insane for a merc as well upped its like 1800 def +7% life leech +big replenish life with an IAS jewel in it .. YUM It allows you to use something else instead of andys for the helm
Unfortunately the replenish life doesn't work on mercs they are Regen neutral. They have their own regeneration mechanic separate from replenishment. But yes it's a nice armor for Mercs
Haha used that one last season with summon necro because i wanted to see how far can i take it with crushing blow on a2 merc :D basically the options were obedience (mandatory) + helm gface and this flayed one armor. Or rattlecage but then i would need to have some standard helm with lifesteal (gface also gives a small chance of deadly strike and open wounds). So all in all the combination of clay golem, decrepify with teleport amulet and telestomping diablo with all summons+merc with crushing blow basically makes him your bitch :D
I use Azurewrath socketed with cham on my frenzy barb (with grief) when I clear the monsters in Ubers. It makes it a cake walk. The knock back effect helps interrupt the frequency of ranged attacks while the cham freezes enemy's while I'm wailing on them. I wouldn't trade it for anything
Yes the sanctuary can work well to interrupt monsters attack frequency. Blind also works well like this, if you have a item that gives dim vision when struck. It will blind the ranged monsters and cease their attacks for the duration. Very similar effect. I believe gloom runeword has the dim vision on struck.
I use Azurewrath in my off hand on my whirlwind barb and it's pretty dope. Lightsabre is a good budget option too with that 25 percent lightning absorb.
I think um socketed gut siphon and riphook have a niche use for summon type characters to clear the mini uber bosses. Put it on an act 1 merc and pair it with a summon necro, druid or valkyrie amazon. Haven't tested it, but it could be a very budget, easy and safe way to have open wounds constantly on lilith, uber duriel and uber izual. Your actual character can just be a bystander and occasionally replace the summon.
I play only hardcore, and to be honest i do use almost all of these items. I do not use crainte vomir, and i did not find a fleshripper, but: - My hammerdin is using guardian angel AND infernostride, his mercenary did use headstriker for some time. - My wolf druid is using shaftstop AND moser shield - i found an eth rockstopper on ladder start day, it helped me through nightmare, but i had to put it on mercenary after mephisto, only 2 durability left.
Maybe I'm an idiot but I already read damage goes to mana as it takes your mana away rather than gives. Like with Nightsmoke 50% dmg is taken out of your life and mana pool. But it actually converts the dmg to mana? Well thats eye opening to know now, thanks!
Yes Damage Taken Goes to mana Adds the equivalent damage dealt to your mana pool. You still take the damage though. It's great for melees, completely fixes mana issues early on. I have a video that goes over it in more detail if you're interested. ruclips.net/video/eZMQxekn8XY/видео.html
A good honorable mention could be twitchthroe as well. I’m using it on a berserk barb for block chance and ias since the defense doesn’t matter with berserk
Rockstopper tends to get ignored because as you stated the awful rolls it typically gets AND the fact it lacks life leech. Otherwise,- it would be used extensively. If you can get a perfect roll *LOL GOODLUCK* use it
Hi Ginger, iv been doing solo online Hell. Seeking tips on what to do if i get cornered and die by the entrance of the floor level and a pack of monsters are waiting by the entry point. I keep on dying everytime i go to the level. I had to exit the game and i lost all my MF gear( skullder's ire, Alibaba and a ternhelm) i also lost my Hoto and spirit monarch. If i die and get trapped by the entrance what should i do? Exit the game right away then go back to the spot where i died? Will my gear still be there? Exiting and going back is the only way i know for the monsters to leave my body and give me room to retrieve it. I hope you can relly or anyone who can, appreciate it. Keep safe! Thanks
So your body stores all your gear, and if you die a second time that body stores all your gear and you can have up to like 17 bodies or some crazy shit. But only one body comes with you when you leave the game. How the game determines which body is kept is by item value in gold. If you equip a second body and that body is worth more than the first and you leave the game you can lose your first body. The easiest way to make sure nothing gets lost is to leave on the first death and rejoin. Your body will be waiting for you in town with everything on it. I suggest you watch my video on death ☠️
I run a Whirlwind barb with Grief in main hand and Azurewrath in offhand. The dual PB weapons with 30 ias work very nice with the new WW breakpoints, even when chilled or cursed in Chaos Sanctuary. Amazing weapon for sure.
I think vampgaze is amazing too, but it never works it's way into any of my builds. For all of it's power, I felt like it didn't deserve a spot on the list because many other helmets usually come first.
There are three uniques that I wish were upgradable to be kept until endgame : bloodfists, biggins bonnet and Blinkbat's form. I would do something silly like adding the mod underarmor and these items merge with other uniques. Like yes, I want a Bloodfist dracul's grasp.
You totally missed kelpie snare I dropped an eth one on my original play thru first chr this ladder and used it on my merc immediately. Then upped it once I got to hell dropped amn in it, Dropped a treachery on him and kelpie was a unique / champion monster and boss shut downer. All the way easily thru hell. Very capable endgame wep IMO.
Twitchroe for honorable mention. Anyone with a shield gets a huge buff at a time when you likely do not have points to put into dexterity. FHR, IAS and block all on one item; and it is armor so there aren’t many ideal items for that equipment slot for a long time.
I feel like twitch is a well loved piece of gear, that's why it didn't make it on the list. I think the majority of the community uses that armor for lowbies and even lld
Shaftstop ist such a staple on mercs I wouldnt say its underrated. Fleshripper though, yeah definetely. The fact that its a dagger makes it unappealing for many, who are not usually wielding daggers. Are you sure range doesnt matter for Smite? Cause I am sure smites range is your weapons range.
Right now I am stacking plus to skills, FHR, and Life on my summon druid. Very squishy. Is it viable that I should have a build where I am dodging enemies because I die super quickly? Im in nightmare with negative resistances but my summons pump out tons of damage. For example instead of using a rockstopper I would have a wolfskin hat with +2 to skills and nothing else.
If you do NOT need mana regen (like say, ranger Paladin) - then Woestave upgraded is insane (because of defense reduction blind AND freeze... tbh it at least equals my Partizan insight base...)
depends on the item. There are eight different Horadric Cube recipes depending on what you are trying to do. Unique/set Normal Armor-> Exceptional Shael + Tal + PDiamond Unique/set Normal Weapon -> Exceptional Ral + Sol + P Emerald Rare Normal Weapon -> Exceptional Amn + Ord + P Sapphire Rare Normal Armor -> Exceptional Thul + Ral + P Amethyst Unique/set Exceptional Armor-> Elite Ko + Lem + P Diamond Unique/set Exceptional Weapon -> Elite Pul + Lum + P Emerald Rare Exceptional Weapon -> Elite Um + Fal + P Sapphire Rare Exceptional Armor -> Elite Pul + Ko + P Amethyst
E Zod'd Fleshripper was my go to main hand weapon on my old fury druid for pub duels, before they first fcked with the ias frames. 399% E Fleshripper with a Zod is gg af & I got to listen to people cry about the slow.
Lol, people tell me the slow is Bad manners in pvp. I laugh every time I hear about Bad mannered PVP. It makes no sense to me not to leverage something like slows target.
@@GGMentor Public duels are for public dueling, open to the public & not bound by ridiculous dictates of others preferences about what you are 'allowed' to use on your character, totally agree. My wolf barb used ebotdZ or E deathCleaver for gm melee duels (if I had a token to spare - I had the axes on hand all the time) but for public duels I always used *grief pb* or zerker, depending on which I wanted to use. I was wealthy back then & didn't give a damn. Poor af now though, lol. I miss my old almost p wolfhowl...
What are ppls thoughts on GoldStrike? Its one of my favorite items and with foh/holybolt reworked to hurt both types demon and undead, Goldstrike deserves a second look.
During my Godzealer theorycraft I tested it, and couldn't get it to proc reliably to do any significant damage. Gold Strike Arch also has a ton of rolls and as a weapon tends to be subpar unless you can find one with good rolls.
@GGMentor maybe it's one of those items that if it was reworked a bit with maybe with higher % to cast on striking and higher level FOH, it could be a good middle-end game Bow for running Chaos with a strafe zon before getting Runeword bows or Windforce. (Great in NM and maybe in Hell if upped from Gothic bow to Hydra bow with its decent(if high roll) ED and high IAS.)
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It took me 20 years to understand the "damage taken goes to mana" mechanic. 🤣 Thank you GGM! 🙈
Yah, I always thought it meant that damage would drain mana instead of health. I used 'damage goes to mana' for characters who didn't need their mana' anyway lol
Yes, they have terrible explanation of how things work in Diablo, "Reduced damage %, % Increased damage - in items like body armor, was it hard to write Increased physical attack damage.
It's the one thing almost nobody understands. Poor phrasing by the devs
21 years for me lol today is the day i learned it hahah
On every single new melee character I make I end up using the bloodfist gloves much longer than I should
Subscribe and I will give you 1 gold in game
Get Your own Harlequin Crest Shako! @ ggmentor.com/products/harlequin-crest-unique-shako-beanie
Blood fists are sick for some pvp builds
Ok, done! Now come and give me my 1 gold!
🤣 sold!
I'm on ps4 so I can't get the 1 gold 😂, but I subbed 😁
@@thegiantyt3157 I will see if we can't transfer it over
Something just feels different/ better about using these classic uniques. All these great memories growing up as a kid trying to trade or find something like a windforce, grandfather, coa, shaft (Underrated), stormshield etc etc. Feels better if you end up using and equiping those as opposed to these runewords that seems like everyone has.. idk
Completely agree brings me back to the old pre lod expansion days.
Well, you should play ssf, you will actually use all of them without hesitation if you find them. Especially in HC.
I would rather have gamę mode without runewords
@@jedrusnowak3317 True. I enjoyed game when there wasnt the big runewords. Though I was very young at the time
@@kramer911 they should add one. Meta would be much funnier and items would actually matter
I love the fact you mentioned shaftstop, it's been a major improvement for my merc in single play
Wheres a good spot to g8nd it? I just made it to hell in single player and my merc keeps dying
I think Zakarums hand, alma negra and lightsabre all deserve honorable mention. Those are beast items that you can use in hell that gets over looked quite often for budget builds. Huge fan of your vids btw. I love your in depth explanations. Keep em coming!
yeah Lightsabre is awesome on my zeal paladin it carried me until I could use Azurewrath
@@unkeptorc9656 exactly! lightsabre is great, i used it many times for frenzy barb...
Lightsabre carried my zealer through hell until I got grief
Those were all beasts pre rune word days
Earlier today I was listening to your video "Top 10 Worst Unique Items" in the background, while doing a few Mephisto runs (Single Player, PlugY).
And I actually found a Shaftstop (non eth)! Which is kind of a big deal, my mercenary is pretty happy with it.
I like this channel & your style, Ginger Gaming Mentor.
Regarding Bloodfist, the Minimum Damage is huge as well, especially if you have say one more source of that from gear, totalling like 10-12, it helps massively with consistent damage early on.
Oh Yeah you can basically punch things to death with blood fists on because of it.
Hotspur is one of my favorites, 90 fire resist is easily obtained with them on and fire is probably the most important resistance next to lightning.
The good thing bout hotspur and gull dagger is if u make an alt to level 8 and give him like 4m gold you can easily gamble both items from gheed it takes like half an hour but it's good for early ladder to get those handy items ..it's abit of a secret but u heard it here first
Awesome video. Love crainte vomir it’s been my favourite quirky weapon for years. I use it on my solo SF barb paired with a doombringer which also has a special place in my heart :).
I would have put Butchers Pupil amongst those as well. I did a solo hardcore run with a berserk barb build and was lucky to drop it. I then found a Lucky Pul to up it in Hell and it carried me to the entire game pretty much / except the end of act 5 as I’d dropped an Um for crescent moon at that point for baals killing blow. Butchers pupil is a solid weapon
Keep up the good work, really helpful videos for people who haven't played Diablo in years!
Or the new ones just showing up =}
I'm using azurewrath with grief pb on my frenzy barb and I love it. They were made for each other. AW is like an upgraded lawbringer.
Been using a double pDiamond Mosers for my season 2 Fohdin because i couldnt find a decent spirit base until Level 79. Yes i know damn. Mosers absolutely killed it on my playthrough. It even smited the hell ancients to death (helped by a "strength" sabre i have to admit). I Was absolutely blown away by ist usefulness. My Block Chance tanked after I Switched to spirit.
I don't know about Azurewrath. I was really excited about having it, but when I tried it out on my zealot, I immediately switched back to Lawbringer Phase Blade, which felt much better.
Lawbringer and azurewrath actually work well together on a frenzy barb or merc
@@GGMentor lawbringer 4 frenzy. Azurewrath 4 ww.
Loh + grief + azurewrath can beat chaos santuary.
Another weapon underated is The redeemer. My mini-grief (damage, +dmg, +Demon dmg). Redeemer + loh + ww = easy travincal. (new bp: 63 IAS)
The Decrepify on hit from Lawbringer massively upgrades the damage Grief does by breaking most physical immunes or reducing physical damage reduction by 50%. And it has a higher level Sanctuary aura for more Magic damage on hit. Lawbringer is a better switch weapon on a physical Zealot or off hand Frenzy (physical builds). Azurewrath may be a better choice on an elemental melee character like an Avenger with Conviction aura to boost the Elemental damage effectiveness on the weapon, but the Physical damage converted by Vengeance to Elemental would be relatively low.
Good call on the Redeemer. I found Hand of Blessed Light on my Paladin run and that was a game changer. Lots of crushing blow plus sockets. Still got it on my weapon swap (with two Shael runes) for smiting.
Very useful in Durance & WSK against dolls.. on a Tesladin.
My paladin ssf hc is level 84 and he is still using bloodfist gloves in act 3 hell ! Underrated gloves for poor people.
I've seen one of your clan member in my game yesterday haha. Subbed for having fun content!
Lots of clan members these days up to almost 300 =} glad it was a positive experience
BEST part of Bloodfist gloves is the +5 minimum damage. At level 9 this makes a GIGANTIC difference for weapon damage characters.
Combine Bloodfist with my triple armor/dual helm 20/2 poison jeweled pretties, and then a triple socket weapon for either fire, lightning or even more poison damge, along with some dmg charms, and your leveling up in normal and even parts of nightmare speeds up massively.
Also, never to be forgotten, Hsarus defense set and Sigon's steel, both are excellent for speeding up levelling. And Sigon worked so well on at least on character that even in late Nightmare, still using it.
you can basically just run around punching everything to death lol
Nightsmoke is the only item on your list I can see on a true endgame build, and that automatically puts it on first place for me. It's a comfortable item to use on a Zerker barb or you can make a lower skill investment Energy Shield sorc with it that stacks damage taken goes to mana to a point where it has technically endless mana and still goes max vita (and guess who is stashing rare jewels with that stat... lol). If there is a clear better choice, it's hard to evaluate how underrated an item is. That said I think Stormlash IS underrated, it is insanely rare, and well known, but I think most people just go with Grief and the other obvious stuff without having first hand experience with Stormlash.
rockstopper my goat!! great coverage this video! I always hunt Rockstopper right away going into nightmare. Beautiful item
For my first Solo WW Barb Hell Completion, I relied heavily on my tried and true Bonesnap and Duriel's Shell to get me through!
Azurewrath is super underrated. Its main purpose over Lawbringer is no Decrepify, which interferes with Life Tap.
I had an easy time with Ubers on my Frenzy Barb giving this to my Act 5 Merc because the Sanc Aura is so good against Mephisto and Baal's minions.
Man I love Swordguard. Got a hardcore barb with it. The difference in survivability is instantly noticeable when you use it.
Especially if you pair it up with other defensive items
My favorite act 2 merc is upped GA with a 15% IAS jewel, Kira’s Guardian socketed with the same and ETH Reapers Toll with an IAS / ED jewel. Only way to farm trav or any place with high elemental damage
This is probably my favorite video that you've done. So much useful information!
glad you like it, I felt like these uniques needed a spotlight
This video reminds me how good D2 was when the Runewords doesn't exist yet
So how long did it take you to realise you made a mistake at 18:28?
(Magefist)
As a new D2R player, I really appreciate your channel. It’s helped me discover a lot of cool items I otherwise wouldn’t have
Excellent list of items what Hardcore characters look for. Like a speed runner almost died laughing when rare mob dropped Bloodfist gloves. At that LVL with almost any character you get double the life points just equiping these gloves. Nightsmoke I put on every energy Sorc I ever made, why? The all resist and damage to mana helped alot during mana burn. The Moses shield or Ward shield helped a F$#ked ton for resistance issues. The lightsaber with sanctuary order was perfect for Nel runs BC it's alot of Undead. Shaftstop nobody ever threw that away.
Great video man. Cool to see these items get some love.
I have ran infernos on 90% of my toons over the past 10 years. Great boots till you get those nice Mf Tri-res boots... Or travs
I have a Semi-onTopic question about playing the game without accepting items from other players or using the ones in your Shared Stash.
A little bit of background about my time playing D2R:
I started playing D2R about 1 week before Ladder released. The game was incredibly flooded with items by then. People in non-ladder were dropping Enigma's for free etc.
What surprised me is how quickly prices dropped and people started dropping good items on Ladder when that released.
Since Ladder released I've only played on there and, around the time I was clearing Hell on my 10th character, somebody I had never played with before gave me a Enigma. By then I had already easily gathered many nice sets and uniques mostly through trading perfect gems and runes or from free item games. Around a month into ladder somebody already gave me a perfect Anni for free. I was very surprised with how many great items are being given away for free - especially because it's Ladder.
I now have basically no reason to try and get anything better and the game is now too easy with so much best-in-slot stuff.
This realization made me sad, which is ironic. In other games people can be so toxic when it comes to items and sharing them. In D2R people are too generous! 😄
Now I want to experience what it feels like to rely solely on my own RNG drop-luck, like I did 20 years ago.
Does anybody have any advice on what class & build to play to experience this in a good way?
Play ladder 🪜 this will eliminate the charity to a degree.
It's a fresh reset of everything and everyone goes into ladder poor
@@GGMentor I am playing ladder, and already the amount of items is overwhelming.
Perhaps I should attempt Hardcore Ladder, but that has inherently not appealed to me since the beginning.
THANK YOU MAN THIS HELPS SO MUCH I recommend ALL MY FRIENDS TO YOUR VIDEOS
Thank you derron
Shaft used to be the business
I'm currently using rockstopper, paired with treachery on my furydruid. Really need those defences without a shield, and it's pretty easy to ome by. Great list btw.
Does the guardian angel's +1 paladin skill level affect merc's aura skill?
No
Used Rockstopper on my Act 2 Merc leveling through NM. Also used Moser’s with double diamonds to get me through hell difficulty until I crafted Spirit Monarch. Then used that and Wizardspike to carry the bulk of resistances. I feel like Wizardspike could’ve easily made the list too.
@@wuldntuliktonoptb6861 Good points made.
You said shaft stop was physical damage reduction? Where did you get the physical part? It says Damage reduced by 30% not Physical damage reduced by 30%. So, is it all damage like it seems cause it is amazing merc armor, or is it actually physical?
It's Physical, anything that states Damaged Reduced by % is physical.
Damage reduced by # is also Physical
Magic Damage Reduced by # is Magic, Fire, Ice, Lightning, Poison.
Physical is actually a resistance just like fire resistance or cold resistance. Anything that states "Damaged Reduced by %" is adding to your Physical Resistance.
Your d2 knowledge is impressive man! Great video.
Haven't found any of those yet, aside from the Rockstopper, which i found like 10 off,m and use with great pleasure on mercs, myself or even both, in a few builds, and the Crainte: when i found that i was like, wow, this is sick, i have t build a character around it! Thinking Fury Druid or something, maybe doubleswing barb?
Those Bloodfist gloves would be sweet on any physical bowazon, through normal and early NM!
I think Coif of Glory may be underrated, i find it a lot on newer characters, in ladder, and found a couple in pre-ladder. and they arfe amazing, can last a long time too.
I'm only just now finding out how amazing some slowing, blinding and other CC effects can make certain harder builds way more viable!
Also really like Darkglow ring mail, and although not Unique, Angelic set is also amazing in many ways. But gets insta dropped back on the ground mostly :p
Aye dark glow is like the baby guardian angel. Pairs well with Iratha's set
Nice vid i also think stealskull is prob one of most underatted helmets i cant seem to change off of it
What tool are you using to so freely edit your character stats?
There is a switch you can use to activate infinity respecs in single player. I go over how to do that here in my 7 commands video.
ruclips.net/video/U9f-jlb57UA/видео.html
I am currently testing an upped eth boneflesh on the act V frenzy barb, it's working better than I expected, considering there are few armors with lifeleech.
A good high level armor with Life leech is Skin of the flayed one.
Rockstopper is dope. I remember finding it in almost perfect form on hell difficulty as my druid. It fucking saved me as I had problems with my resistances.. Of course it was on single player
Moser blessed circle made my budget sorc survivable enough until I got my hands on a mal rune. Then I made a sanctuary troll nest and my survivability shot through the roof. I never played ladder so I never had access to all those absurdly powerful runewords. I also kept mbs on secondary so I could carry a lower resist wand and tank some damage in case the situation was hot. Mbs is a great sheild. I even upgraded it to elite tier. Shit's bomb
Skin of the Flayed One is actually insane for a merc as well upped its like 1800 def +7% life leech +big replenish life with an IAS jewel in it .. YUM
It allows you to use something else instead of andys for the helm
Unfortunately the replenish life doesn't work on mercs they are Regen neutral. They have their own regeneration mechanic separate from replenishment.
But yes it's a nice armor for Mercs
feelsbadman
Haha used that one last season with summon necro because i wanted to see how far can i take it with crushing blow on a2 merc :D basically the options were obedience (mandatory) + helm gface and this flayed one armor. Or rattlecage but then i would need to have some standard helm with lifesteal (gface also gives a small chance of deadly strike and open wounds). So all in all the combination of clay golem, decrepify with teleport amulet and telestomping diablo with all summons+merc with crushing blow basically makes him your bitch :D
Azurewrath is OP put that ish on your Tesladin. 👌
9:55 I heard that the range of your main hand weapon is actually used for smiting.
Hey. Would Nightsmoke be something for my Nova Sorc having mana shield? Thanx
One time I found a fleshripper made a iron golem out of it! It was amazing
It would indeed make a very sexy iron golem
Is azurewrath hard to get? I'm wondering if this is good for a poor holy fire auradin.
The intro music was amazing.
I use Azurewrath socketed with cham on my frenzy barb (with grief) when I clear the monsters in Ubers. It makes it a cake walk. The knock back effect helps interrupt the frequency of ranged attacks while the cham freezes enemy's while I'm wailing on them. I wouldn't trade it for anything
Yes the sanctuary can work well to interrupt monsters attack frequency.
Blind also works well like this, if you have a item that gives dim vision when struck.
It will blind the ranged monsters and cease their attacks for the duration.
Very similar effect.
I believe gloom runeword has the dim vision on struck.
@@GGMentor Nice, never really messed around with dim vision I shall check it out
I use Azurewrath in my off hand on my whirlwind barb and it's pretty dope. Lightsabre is a good budget option too with that 25 percent lightning absorb.
I think um socketed gut siphon and riphook have a niche use for summon type characters to clear the mini uber bosses. Put it on an act 1 merc and pair it with a summon necro, druid or valkyrie amazon. Haven't tested it, but it could be a very budget, easy and safe way to have open wounds constantly on lilith, uber duriel and uber izual. Your actual character can just be a bystander and occasionally replace the summon.
I play only hardcore, and to be honest i do use almost all of these items.
I do not use crainte vomir, and i did not find a fleshripper, but:
- My hammerdin is using guardian angel AND infernostride, his mercenary did use headstriker for some time.
- My wolf druid is using shaftstop AND moser shield
- i found an eth rockstopper on ladder start day, it helped me through nightmare, but i had to put it on mercenary after mephisto, only 2 durability left.
A well equipped individual
Hey, I'm using bloodfist on the necro I just started. Cool to see I made the right decision.
Maybe I'm an idiot but I already read damage goes to mana as it takes your mana away rather than gives. Like with Nightsmoke 50% dmg is taken out of your life and mana pool. But it actually converts the dmg to mana? Well thats eye opening to know now, thanks!
Yes Damage Taken Goes to mana Adds the equivalent damage dealt to your mana pool.
You still take the damage though.
It's great for melees, completely fixes mana issues early on.
I have a video that goes over it in more detail if you're interested.
ruclips.net/video/eZMQxekn8XY/видео.html
Rockstopper is gold
a lot of these uniques are amazing for mid game, unfortunately not so much end-game. great video!
A good honorable mention could be twitchthroe as well. I’m using it on a berserk barb for block chance and ias since the defense doesn’t matter with berserk
I love twitchthroe, but I think it's properly rated. Everyone I feel like knows how op that armor is lol
Rockstopper tends to get ignored because as you stated the awful rolls it typically gets AND the fact it lacks life leech. Otherwise,- it would be used extensively. If you can get a perfect roll *LOL GOODLUCK* use it
i use it on my 79 poison nova necro to stay alive and help the fhr..its huge
Always loved that Headstriker.
Hi Ginger, iv been doing solo online Hell. Seeking tips on what to do if i get cornered and die by the entrance of the floor level and a pack of monsters are waiting by the entry point. I keep on dying everytime i go to the level. I had to exit the game and i lost all my MF gear( skullder's ire, Alibaba and a ternhelm) i also lost my Hoto and spirit monarch.
If i die and get trapped by the entrance what should i do? Exit the game right away then go back to the spot where i died? Will my gear still be there? Exiting and going back is the only way i know for the monsters to leave my body and give me room to retrieve it.
I hope you can relly or anyone who can, appreciate it. Keep safe! Thanks
So your body stores all your gear, and if you die a second time that body stores all your gear and you can have up to like 17 bodies or some crazy shit.
But only one body comes with you when you leave the game.
How the game determines which body is kept is by item value in gold.
If you equip a second body and that body is worth more than the first and you leave the game you can lose your first body.
The easiest way to make sure nothing gets lost is to leave on the first death and rejoin. Your body will be waiting for you in town with everything on it.
I suggest you watch my video on death ☠️
Thanks Ginger for the quick replies. Love watching your videos. Keep it up. Will look for your video on death.
I cant find the death video, can you place a link. Thanks man
I run a Whirlwind barb with Grief in main hand and Azurewrath in offhand. The dual PB weapons with 30 ias work very nice with the new WW breakpoints, even when chilled or cursed in Chaos Sanctuary. Amazing weapon for sure.
Try eth Fleshripper zodded it's very sexy with we
I keep watching these (great) videos...and I'm appalled at the lack of even a sighting of a vampgaze. Madness!!!
I think vampgaze is amazing too, but it never works it's way into any of my builds.
For all of it's power, I felt like it didn't deserve a spot on the list because many other helmets usually come first.
@@GGMentor appreciate the reply on an older video 😅
AZ's Wrath has always been a fav of mine. Even use it on my summon necro if im doing ubers or chaos. super underrated.
I was today old when I realized what damage taken goes to mana means. I always assumed it to be taken off from my mana. Not added. Wow. Just wow.
Got a whole video on that
Alternative title is “something something barbarian gear” haha jk man. Thanks for sharing!
The guardian angel works very well with fade!
There are three uniques that I wish were upgradable to be kept until endgame : bloodfists, biggins bonnet and Blinkbat's form. I would do something silly like adding the mod underarmor and these items merge with other uniques. Like yes, I want a Bloodfist dracul's grasp.
Bloodfists are BiS for certain builds at endgame.
pulled a bloodfist as soon as you mentioned them lmao
You totally missed kelpie snare I dropped an eth one on my original play thru first chr this ladder and used it on my merc immediately. Then upped it once I got to hell dropped amn in it, Dropped a treachery on him and kelpie was a unique / champion monster and boss shut downer. All the way easily thru hell. Very capable endgame wep IMO.
A very nice item especially ethereal
A very fine weapon especially eth on a merc
Twitchroe for honorable mention. Anyone with a shield gets a huge buff at a time when you likely do not have points to put into dexterity. FHR, IAS and block all on one item; and it is armor so there aren’t many ideal items for that equipment slot for a long time.
I feel like twitch is a well loved piece of gear, that's why it didn't make it on the list.
I think the majority of the community uses that armor for lowbies and even lld
wouldn't the nightsmoke make a really good synergy with energy shield?
You might want to check out my video on energy shield, DTGTM has weird interactions with energy shield.
Shaftstop ist such a staple on mercs I wouldnt say its underrated.
Fleshripper though, yeah definetely. The fact that its a dagger makes it unappealing for many, who are not usually wielding daggers.
Are you sure range doesnt matter for Smite? Cause I am sure smites range is your weapons range.
Weapon range does effect smites range, sorry if I said otherwise
made a Iron Golem out of Fleshripper is amazing !
Doing a non-runeword Zealot run and having a blast!
how did i get here again. and almost watched this entire video. and i still dont even play this game?
One of us one of us one of us...
Fleshripper makes a fun Iron Golem it looks like.
Right now I am stacking plus to skills, FHR, and Life on my summon druid. Very squishy. Is it viable that I should have a build where I am dodging enemies because I die super quickly? Im in nightmare with negative resistances but my summons pump out tons of damage. For example instead of using a rockstopper I would have a wolfskin hat with +2 to skills and nothing else.
Summon druids tend to focus on their pets yes, so they often are very squishy.
@@GGMentor Ok thanks dude Ill catch you on your stream sometime
I just found the Bloodfist Gloves yesterday!
fyi weapon range applies to smite :) with that said, range 1 smite is abselutely fine in most situations :)
I’m using a upped & socketed Eth Duriels. Plugs resistances + cannot be frozen.
Nice, upped eth duriel shell is a great armor
id love to see u do a video specifically about faster run/walk
Hah sanicdahoogehag intensifies
Why do you suggest to zod items that aren’t even worth a pul Rune friend?
you and llama are the best!
Definitely the Ward shield. Used it on my Pally for a LONG time.
Couldn’t imagine having enough Zods that I’m throwing them in swordguards and crainte vomir
You can also proc fade with a Treachery and throw on a guardian angel.
Fleshripper and cleglaws gloves I use on my pala when doing ubers I love the slow it is so OP.
If you do NOT need mana regen (like say, ranger Paladin) - then Woestave upgraded is insane (because of defense reduction blind AND freeze... tbh it at least equals my Partizan insight base...)
26:18 zanik da hodgehack jajajajajaja
How do you upgrade items?
depends on the item.
There are eight different Horadric Cube recipes depending on what you are trying to do.
Unique/set Normal Armor-> Exceptional Shael + Tal + PDiamond
Unique/set Normal Weapon -> Exceptional Ral + Sol + P Emerald
Rare Normal Weapon -> Exceptional Amn + Ord + P Sapphire
Rare Normal Armor -> Exceptional Thul + Ral + P Amethyst
Unique/set Exceptional Armor-> Elite Ko + Lem + P Diamond
Unique/set Exceptional Weapon -> Elite Pul + Lum + P Emerald
Rare Exceptional Weapon -> Elite Um + Fal + P Sapphire
Rare Exceptional Armor -> Elite Pul + Ko + P Amethyst
My Pally loves the idea of this phase blade even though I think sanc is... fairly worthless except in chaos sanctuary tbh lol or maybe the tombs....
Azurewrath sounds like a Blizzard sorceress wants to use.
Butchers Pupil is another one that could make this list
E Zod'd Fleshripper was my go to main hand weapon on my old fury druid for pub duels, before they first fcked with the ias frames. 399% E Fleshripper with a Zod is gg af & I got to listen to people cry about the slow.
Lol, people tell me the slow is Bad manners in pvp.
I laugh every time I hear about Bad mannered PVP. It makes no sense to me not to leverage something like slows target.
@@GGMentor Public duels are for public dueling, open to the public & not bound by ridiculous dictates of others preferences about what you are 'allowed' to use on your character, totally agree. My wolf barb used ebotdZ or E deathCleaver for gm melee duels (if I had a token to spare - I had the axes on hand all the time) but for public duels I always used *grief pb* or zerker, depending on which I wanted to use. I was wealthy back then & didn't give a damn. Poor af now though, lol. I miss my old almost p wolfhowl...
I loved this video! 👏👌
just so you know if no one has said it yet weapon range DOES matter for smiters it effects the range of teh smite
What are ppls thoughts on GoldStrike? Its one of my favorite items and with foh/holybolt reworked to hurt both types demon and undead, Goldstrike deserves a second look.
During my Godzealer theorycraft I tested it, and couldn't get it to proc reliably to do any significant damage. Gold Strike Arch also has a ton of rolls and as a weapon tends to be subpar unless you can find one with good rolls.
@GGMentor maybe it's one of those items that if it was reworked a bit with maybe with higher % to cast on striking and higher level FOH, it could be a good middle-end game Bow for running Chaos with a strafe zon before getting Runeword bows or Windforce. (Great in NM and maybe in Hell if upped from Gothic bow to Hydra bow with its decent(if high roll) ED and high IAS.)