joeblow69

Actually, I'm a bit hesitant to be friending people I don't really know. I'm trying to keep my friends list to real life friends. My Wiz is able to do torrent 5 level greater rifts, so I think I'm doing ok so far. Even got lucky and got the 6 piece Tal Rasha set. Just finished leveling up a gem of ease, so I'm going to try to start a new char with that in a level 70 weapon to see how fast he levels up.

Gooter

Thanks Buzz for the items!

Hey Joe, my highest char is a Crusader at level 55. Still trying to finish the campaign for the first time. Would love the company if our play schedules coincide. I usually don't start playing until 1030p CST. Not sure if you are on my friend's list. My tag is below.

K&AJones

Get your characters up to Level 70 asap....even though you can run the Adventure & Bounties all the good stuff is at Level 70. I'll stay away till then, I'm not a fan of Power Leveling. You hit 70, we can run the heck out Adventure and Rifts (to get your GR Keys) to get you better gear. Plus more the merrier and more fun. It's just a totally different play at 70; and I'm not even near what some are doing.

Joe...good going on landing the Tal Tasha set. The Wiz does have some good stuff in the Wands, Off-Hands and especially the Helms. The Serpent Wand is one that you want to land; grants you two Hydras at once and fun to play with

K&AJones

Gooter...I sent you a bunch of stuff I no longer need but not sure if you even had a character yet...the Demon Hunter. If you don't or never plan on one then sell or break it down or even post it here and maybe someone else can use it. it's just the "Blackthorn" stuff which is a decent entry when you reach Level 70, better than nothing.

K&AJones

FYI...This weekend Blizzard is doing a special for "Double Bounties and Bonus Cache Rewards"....so yes, even when you do the Bonus Acts, it's Double Rewards on it. so it'll be a great time to stock up on materials for the Cube.

Gooter

Sorry Buzz, haven't followed this thread for a week. Yes, got the items. Thanks again! I will eventually have a DH so will hold on to it. I'm only doing HC once for the trophy and will use a WD for that.

I'm in Act 3 now. Slowly getting there.

Kedrix

I know most people probably have it...but I got the plans for the Staff of Herding to drop last night...Woot! I guess when I'm not gunning for another 70 (4 level 70's and my Witch Doctor is now up to 40) or 500 bounties (415)...I'll go for the mats .

joeblow69

Anyone have recommendations for legendary gems? I leveled up a Gem of Ease, but now I'm not sure what the best gem is. My guess is the one that gives attack speed, or the one that gives a bonus after killing an elite pack?

foxdvd

Depends on what characters and what builds you are doing...There are a few gems though that really are better than the others. All gems I talk about will be at least level 25 when you unlock the secondary power.

Bane of the Trapped almost on every high end character you will find on the leader boards. You are doing 20-30% more damage to any enemy that is under the effect of controlling effects like slow. It also slows all enemies around you, so for monks/barbs it always works, and even other characters have skills that will slow enemies. Why this gem is so powerful and so amazing is that bonus damage is multiplied not added like other gems and items. It takes your end damage and times it by the percentage, making it the highest single bonus item in the game.

After that it really depends on your character build.

Bane of the powerful is good, since it gives a flat 15% damage bonus to elites and raises your damage for a minute after killing one. This damage is additive with other bonus damage, so it is really strong if it is the only bonus elemental or elite damage, but loses some effectiveness if you already have stacked elite/elemental damage. Still a very solid second choice.


If you die a lot, or need help with toughness the third spot can go to Esoteric Alteration (elemental toughness) or Molten Wildebeest’s Gizzard (health regen and shield)...it is easy to think the extra elemental toughness of the esoteric is better, but in practice I find the extra 70,000 life per second and the solid 140,000 or greater shield to bet better for survival.

K&AJones

Pretty much what Fox said...really depends on your character. But Bane of the Trapped is definitely one of the Top 5 used. It's extra damage buff with "impaired" enemies can be used by almost all the characters. Used with your companion Sorceress can be really helpful. With the Wizard and Witch Doctor it's a must.

Besides it I like Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard ...primary a defensive gem it regenerates life and after 25 you gain an absorb shield.

Enforcer...for characters with Pets...it's fun to play with on the Wizard (Hydras), Demon Hunter on the Companions & Sentries, Barbarian (Call of the Ancients) and of course the Witch Doctor with all his pets.

Esoteric Alteration...as Fox touched on a great defensive gem especially in situation where you start running into Elite Mobs throwing out poison, cold, fire and arcane. I actually use this along with Gizzard on my Barb and Monk since they are in the thick of stuff a lot of the time.

IMHO...both the Toxin and Pain Enhancer gems can be really good but picky for the right character. The Toxin Gem at Level 25 is a beast but it's mainly for a wide AOE and deals damage over time. Same with Pain Enhancer's Bleed....great with high critical hit damage, wide AOE and slow devastating damage.

Kedrix

Dunno about other consoles, but this past weekend there was a 100% exp buff to Xbox 360 characters. Got my witch doctor from 40 to 61. My nephew and his cousin dropped into my game a couple of times too and I think they have only really messed with the story at this point.

I took them inside a rift and they were probably blown away by the amount of monsters at one time I had. Not to mention, they were playing a Demon Hunter and a Wizard...and probably never encountered a witch doctor before. The amount of pets I had with my Witch Doctor is hilarious at this point. Four dogs, one Gargantuan, and a seemingly never-ending supply of fetishes. Demon Hunter is still my favorite, but Witch Doctor after playing everything except the wizard is probably my second.

K&AJones

Kedrix...if you really want a real laugh with the Witch doctor, try and land a Grim Reaper Voodoo Helm. Everyone is either breaking one down and using with the Cube in the armor slot or wearing it. Almost 90% of the time, you get two "Mimics"....essentially Skeletons and you turn into one yourself. They will sporadically casts your skills...I've had 2-3 Piranhado pools going, then 1-2 Horrify along with Corpse Spiders and Haunt flying all over. Plus I'll bring along my Sorceress who turns them into Chickens and does confusion...it's the wildest scene I've seen with enemies bouncing up & down beating on each other not to mention the eight Fetish Army Daggers I have running around thanks to one of the Armor Sets

joeblow69

So I'm kind of in a quandary with Diablo 3. This pattern is happening over and over with me:

I get a character to 70, start to get some good gear, and then am able to do Torment 3 or 4 fine. But the next level up is too hard, it just takes way too long to kill enemies. So clearly I need more DPS.

BUT ... on all my chars, I have enough set pieces and other bonuses, that I can't really change any of my gear, otherwise I'll lose something really good. So I don't know how to upgrade my character at that point, and just give up and move to a different character.

Well, now I've done that with all 6 classes, and am stuck. I like playing the game, but feel like I'm not making progress on any of my characters anymore.

marginal

I would look at the most popular builds for the different classes on Diablofans. You might find that switching out your skills and abilities will allow you to advance more easily. If you've got all good level 70 gear, you should probably be able to handle T5 at least, I would think. Also, have you tried transmogrifying attributes on all your stuff? Sometimes you can get a +10% damage on your weapon, or add a socket that allows you to pick what kind of boost you want.

K&AJones

Take what I have to say as a "grain of salt" as the saying goes....

Getting the Green Set Items is a huge boost depending on what they do...but it takes a bit more to get even more damage buff out of them sometimes. In some cases you might have to "re-roll" a item or two to either get a skill or maybe extra vitality, armor, resistance, etc...

Lets say you have the Green Wastes Set for the Barbarian which does a super buff on Whirlwind and Rend.Some of the Magic Properties might have extra damage for Bash or Leap, no Vitality, or something you might or might not need in that particular build. You would go to the Enchantress and change the property...and in this case with this one type of build High Resistance, Life per hit, High Critical Hit, extra damage to Elites, movement speed, etc....

Second is rings & amulets, sets or alone and hopefully with a socket. The importance of equipping the Legendary gems cannot be stressed enough as mentioned posts above. But their properties also are important. With the Barb Wastes & Whirlwind set there is the 'Skull Grasp" ring which has one very important buff...like 350% extra damage with Whirlwind. Now if you were running the Immortal Kings set you would look for items to buff cool down, extra damage, resistance, and so on.

Put a socket in your weapon(s)....CC (critical chance) and CD (critical damage) play a huge role. I'm fuzzy on the mathematical equations that many have learned but having between 30-45% CC and above 300% CD is almost a must. If not like you say it's taking longer to kill. Putting a socket on a weapon especially via the Ramaladni's Cube is a super boost with a Flawless Royal Emerald giving you 130% Critical Hit Damage.

If you're playing solo take care of your Follower and use the right one. I use the Enchantress quite a bit and lucky enough to have some spare Maximus swords to hand out giving her a Demon to pop out and help. She has some good Legendary gear and plus when enemies are Chickens for 5 seconds they can't do much damage.

Gooter

Hey Buzz! I'm getting closer to 70... 66 now. I'll chat you up when I do reach it and would love for you to give me a tour of life at 70.

K&AJones

Good to hear...and definitely complete the story including the Act V. Maybe I can drag kanji in and the three of us can do some Rifts & Greater Rifts. There are still items I'm looking for and some set pieces I just want to play and try out.

Gooter

Buzz, level 69.7... finished Act 4 and on to Act 5.

Fox, you have any of your killer builds for a Crusader?

Thanks

K&AJones

Not sure what I'll be doing tonight...stepped away from both Diablo and Shadow of Mordor to play with the 8yr old and we go into Dungeon defenders II and couldn't quit. But I'll probably be back with SoM or Diablo and wait till he comes back this weekend...I dare not play without him or I'll never hear the end of it.

Can't help on the Crusader..."She"is probably the least exciting as she really doesn't have the "Pets & Help" as some of the other characters...Monk has Mystic Ally, Barb has the Ancients, Wizard has Hydras & Familiar,Witch Doctor has a whole farm of creatures and Demon Hunter has a group of Animals. I take a Enchantress and both of us use the Maximus Sword to get some Demon Help....I still need to find that one special chalice for her that everyone said is really good...can't remember the name and if 1 or 2 handed.

joeblow69

If you have 50 death's breath, build a rare 70 level crusader shield (not regular shield) and a rare 70 2 handed flail.

Put both of those into the cube, and do the "upgrade rare item" on them. They both should end up with some kind of crusader special power on them. Create a build based on those powers.

foxdvd

The crusader is the one class I don't have a build for...I just don't like playing them..

Gooter

I've salvaged some orange items as of late due to space concerns. Most were low level but I've also salvaged a few 60-65 range items. Am I supposed to save orange items to use in the Cube? Or does it not matter because I will also need the craft materials that you get from salvaging those items anyway?

joeblow69

Have you upgraded your stash? Weird that you'd be running out of space already. Most of the oranges you can get rid of ... I only save the ones that have really cool effects on them to eventually be put into the cube.

K&AJones

Yep...second what Joe said. I've got to the point now with the Cube if items don't have some "special effect"....like specifically for a character or stat...usually in Orange and not Yellow...it gets canned. Items that have say high Critical Hit, +% damage to elites, combos of high resistance, High Elemental damage buff....something that really stands out then I'll keep and might try to re-roll or hold in case they work with a build.

Also for space....use every character you have and a "Mule" for that Character. Look at it this way....you have 220 spots in your main stash. Each character can have 60 spots...even if you don't play them...there's (12) openings you can create. It's up to you if you want to go that route or not but since I started all the characters I had "Mule" for each one and some items can be used and switched between characters so it helps.

Gooter

Yes, stash is upgraded. Sorry, space issues was a poor choice of words. It was more along the lines of I knew I didn't want the item anymore and didn't want to stash it for another class so I salvaged it. Then I read about the Cube and was wondering if I should have kept those to Cube vs salvage.