Looking for "expert" help with socketing ideas

[keyser soze 0]

I now have a level 89 Range Hunter Dryad and level 89 BFG Seph (wife) in Niob. I also have all the gear together to slap on their outfits (except for Detheya's Greaves (Legs)). The wife's gear is pretty low level but never the less I want to start running with these outfits which means I need to socket stuff now. So its time to put my shopper to work and get some ammies/rings/smith to slap into these bad boys and optimize their defense/offense the best I can. From the best I can tell, I think that since both of these characters are range shooters their ideal sockets are pretty much the same. Perhaps I should go slightly more defensive for the SEPH and offensive for the Dryad but either way this is kind of what I am thinking. Please feel free to chime in here.

 

Gold sockets: Slap in only +skill ammies with best possible second mod. Ideally want to pump the +to all skills to help with everything. I can theoretically find +8 ammies so I should be able to produce a nice bonus here for the toons.

 

Silver sockets: I am thinking at least 40% deathblow here since it seems to scale down from there. So likely 2 rings with 20% with good second mod of phys damage or something like that. Next %damage rings or smith since both toons typically do a combination of phys and some other magic damage.

 

Bronze: Smith for damage/attack for Dryad and then maybe defense or attack for the Seph (question: Does anyone use Crit% adders)

 

* Note: I do not really see any reason to get +Combat Art rings/ammies for these builds since I get a tad from the armor themselves and I can pretty much PUMP infinite runes into all the Combat Art's that we are actually using. Perhaps 1 for the SEPH but still undecided and looking for suggestions.

 

Dryad: Gets nice RI and DA bonus from gear. I can pump DD, SP, GT, AB until I am blue in the face as each are modded to decrease regen/cooldown times. I only use Vines to hold bosses so no need there.

 

SEPH: Soul Hammer and Pelting strike could probably use a boost from a +Combat Art but everything else: Battle Stance, Devine Protection, Warding Energy, Dashing Alacrity, BFG get pumped to death with runes. Faring nova is just there as a stunner so no need to add points here.

 

So basically I am saying the order of preference for item modifiers is as follows:

1) +all skills

2) 40% deathblow

3) %Damage

4) %Damage Phys (since majority of damage is Phys)

5) Max Hit points (more life is always good)

6) Can not evade (so we hit more)

7) Some form of LL for regen hitpoint purposes as well as streamers In case of Dryad for taking down bosses much faster!

 

Now what other stuff am I missing that is hard for me to know how important it is? I would like to hear what you guys think about the following:

DOT reducers (often on ammies)

Max hit points (how much weight do you give this?)

Visibility Range

Spell Intensity (What is this, how does this relate to Critical hits? Very confusing)

Chance for Crit Hits

Chance to wound

 

 

Thanks to all who respond and take the time to chime in!

[gogoblender 3,071]

Does RPH work on your console ? When it started working for us on PC I threw out everything I used to build in to dryads. Plus skills rings got meaningless with rph being so overpowered. I even started eating DA runes o_o cuz RPH was so good...at least the level I was able to buy... If it`s that oeverpowered for you... maybe you can do what I did... just socket rph and phys damage rings...and btw I hardly used Deatbhwlo unless enemy health levels got so high cuz other peeps were on server...and if there were a lot of peeps on server I`d just stick them in the extra ring slots as needed ...just enough to match monster hp levels. My boss kill slots course had dblow, and this worked find...making the build have as much base damage and rph as possible in fact made left click dryad hits with blow gun and right hit a terror in the swamp and any other area.

 

 

 

gogo

[keyser soze 0]

Does RPH work on your console ? When it started working for us on PC I threw out everything I used to build in to dryads. Plus skills rings got meaningless with rph being so overpowered. I even started eating DA runes o_o cuz RPH was so good...at least the level I was able to buy... If it`s that oeverpowered for you... maybe you can do what I did... just socket rph and phys damage rings...and btw I hardly used Deatbhwlo unless enemy health levels got so high cuz other peeps were on server...and if there were a lot of peeps on server I`d just stick them in the extra ring slots as needed ...just enough to match monster hp levels. My boss kill slots course had dblow, and this worked find...making the build have as much base damage and rph as possible in fact made left click dryad hits with blow gun and right hit a terror in the swamp and any other area.

 

 

 

gogo

 

Thanks, and yes, RPH is very important and truthfully I simply forgot it. I have around 1.0/sec on both characters and that goes get it done. Sounds like I am in the right direction with just amping damage as much as possible. Thanks

[Numerii 1]

I'd really consider using one armor blacksmith rune on your Dryad. I know that Ancient Bark gives a lot of armor...but that's why you should use a rune. Niob gives right at +25% armor and when you have about 20k or so at your level that's a 5k increase for just a bronze socket.

 

Everything else you are aiming for sounds dead on. I usually shoot for 50% deathblow(this stacks with Soul Hammer's Coup de Grace mod for the Seph, so very easy for that character to get high DB).

 

With a high SP and BFG(modded with the +hit chance gold mod) combined with Ranged Weapons you shouldn't need very much -opponents' chance to evade so play around with it and find out basically the minimum each toon needs. In Niob you can probably get the right amount with just one ring/ammy.

 

The jewelry that adds base damage is a big thing to look out for in Niob too. This is where it usually starts coming in around 15+ and with a shopper you can get it with a second stat. I can usually shop that stat and get most of my deathblow or -% to evade and such taken care of.

 

Pay a lot of attention to the BFG seraphim. Just about every mod besides +skills seems to be covered via mods for that character, one of the reasons why that build is so crazy overpowered.

[keyser soze 0]

I'd really consider using one armor blacksmith rune on your Dryad. I know that Ancient Bark gives a lot of armor...but that's why you should use a rune. Niob gives right at +25% armor and when you have about 20k or so at your level that's a 5k increase for just a bronze socket.

 

Everything else you are aiming for sounds dead on. I usually shoot for 50% deathblow(this stacks with Soul Hammer's Coup de Grace mod for the Seph, so very easy for that character to get high DB).

 

With a high SP and BFG(modded with the +hit chance gold mod) combined with Ranged Weapons you shouldn't need very much -opponents' chance to evade so play around with it and find out basically the minimum each toon needs. In Niob you can probably get the right amount with just one ring/ammy.

 

The jewelry that adds base damage is a big thing to look out for in Niob too. This is where it usually starts coming in around 15+ and with a shopper you can get it with a second stat. I can usually shop that stat and get most of my deathblow or -% to evade and such taken care of.

 

Pay a lot of attention to the BFG seraphim. Just about every mod besides +skills seems to be covered via mods for that character, one of the reasons why that build is so crazy overpowered.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I will bump up the defense of the Dryad as you suggested even more. What is the best way to boost the Seph Defense? Also, what do you mean by your last statement about the BFG seraphim?

[essjayehm 58]

I think for extra damage, you should consider shopping some XX-XX physical damage jewelery instead of % damage. It depends on your Combat Art levels, and only takes a few mins. of testing to see if you get signifigant increases in damage output. (oops, Numerii beat me to that one!)

For BFG seraphim, make note that the BFG has ice damage... I think the % of ice dmg changes with buff level, so you do need to watch to see if % phys or % ice damage is the better choice. (if those are the rings you end up using)

 

Seraphim defence increase? if you find a ring with a good Willpower increase, and decent secondary effect, your energy shields and Divine Protection should see decent upgrades in shield "power". Next best, in my very limited Niob testing, seems to be if you can pump her evade chance above 150%. I did that with my level 80 melee seraphim, (with 0% evasion before upgrading) and now she doesn't get hit too often, even against enemies with 5k+ attack value. The console enemy info screen still says they have 70% chance to hit, but they definitely don't hit any more than 25% of the time. My two cents!

 

QUOTE (Numerii @ Jan 20 2010, 11:42 AM)

Pay a lot of attention to the BFG seraphim. Just about every mod besides +skills seems to be covered via mods for that character, one of the reasons why that build is so crazy overpowered.

 

 

Thanks for the feedback. I will bump up the defense of the Dryad as you suggested even more. What is the best way to boost the Seph Defense? Also, what do you mean by your last statement about the BFG seraphim?

 

I believe that he meant that you can get deathblow from the Coup de Grace (gold) mod on Soul Hammer. Enraged is available on Dashing Alactrity, BFG mod for +hit chance resembles "Opponents cannot evade" modifier. etc, etc...

 

Happy Shopping!

Scott

Edited January 20, 2010 by essjayehm

[gogoblender 3,071]

Numerii, love the math for the def , smith run increase. I`ve never socketed any def for dryads... nothing really gets close to them if you spec for huge damage, and can live with the rare close call.

 

The only thing I`d think a dryad would ever need more def would be against bosses, even though the vines works well. Looking forward to that smith rune trick, will perhaps exchange one of my sockets for a smith def run in my boss kill slot.

 

 

gogo

[keyser soze 0]

Numerii, love the math for the def , smith run increase. I`ve never socketed any def for dryads... nothing really gets close to them if you spec for huge damage, and can live with the rare close call.

 

The only thing I`d think a dryad would ever need more def would be against bosses, even though the vines works well. Looking forward to that smith rune trick, will perhaps exchange one of my sockets for a smith def run in my boss kill slot.

 

 

gogo

 

Couple of questions:

 

1) SPELL INTENSITY: I know what wiki says, but what does it do for my damage numerically? How does it compare to lowers enemy's defense? Does spell intensity effect range attacks like BFG gun?

 

2) If I have a blow pipe that is 50% PHYS and 50% POISON by default, will it do more damage if I add a convert 80% to POISON versus convert 80% to FIRE? I totally don't get this part of the game.

 

Thanks

Edited January 26, 2010 by keyser soze