Mummelmann said: lestatdark said: Mummelmann said: lestatdark said: TruckOSaurus said: lestatdark said: All this Diablo III talk and expectation has led me to go back to Diablo II once more xD. This time i'm starting a Summoner Necro from scratch and what is my surprise to find that in 1.13 they upped the damage from Corpse Explosion to 70% - 120% of the total health of the enemy I've fired up the old Diablo II too, this weekend. I didn't start a new character but had some fun with a Immolation Arrow Amazon I started a long time ago. Well, Immolation arrow is all kinds of fun now on 1.13, since they increased the explosion's effective range and damage by an overall of 50% (33 % for the immolation effect per se). That is good news, I always felt that the Amazon ranged attacks were a bit underpowered. Can still do decent damage with melee weapons though and I seem to remember that the Valkyrie packed a nice punch and could soak some damage (I only ever played one Amazon though and only to around level 65). Well, Multishot and Guided Arrow, with the proper build, could easily take out an entire room, even on Hell, as they did crazy amounts of damage with all the synergies they get from each other. The problems with an Amazon build arose when you tried to build an elemental amazon (Immolation Arrow, Freezing Arrow, Explosive Arrow, etc.) because they either lacked punch or effective range to take out a group in the higher difficulties, not to mention that most enemies start gaining a lot of elemental immunities as well. Yeah, elemental resistance and immunity on higher difficulties is a real challenge to overcome. Makes it damn near impossible to fully specialize as a sorceress. Also makes it hard in coop when the party's main DPS dealer is hampered by resistances and immunity. Still, better than being a melee fighter against The Ancients...

Meh, once you've got a CB and Life Leech decent melee build, The Ancients were a piece of cake, unless one of them rolled a Physical Immunity, and if that was the case, then you just had to TP back to Harrogath and that would reset their immunities (and HP too).

Though nothing sucks more than the pesky Magic Immunities. Elemental Immunities could be circumvented with some relative ease by most classes (except Sorcs), but you couldn't do anything against MIs except with Hammerdins pre 1.13, (since Blessed Hammer ignored resistances on Undead and Demon, the only enemy types that could get MI).

lestatdark said: All this Diablo III talk and expectation has led me to go back to Diablo II once more xD. This time i'm starting a Summoner Necro from scratch and what is my surprise to find that in 1.13 they upped the damage from Corpse Explosion to 70% - 120% of the total health of the enemy

The things I hate with summoner classes is that End Act Bosses just slaughter the shit out of minions.

TruckOSaurus said: lestatdark said: All this Diablo III talk and expectation has led me to go back to Diablo II once more xD. This time i'm starting a Summoner Necro from scratch and what is my surprise to find that in 1.13 they upped the damage from Corpse Explosion to 70% - 120% of the total health of the enemy The things I hate with summoner classes is that End Act Bosses just slaughter the shit out of minions.

It depends on your build really. The only End Act boss that actually gives me some pause is Diablo, mostly because his AoE attacks come out too quickly, thus I usually bring an Act I mercenary with Cold Arrows to slow him down on Normal difficulty and from Nightmare onward, I mostly use Aura equipments or Act II mercs. 

Trust me, there's few things deadlier on Diablo II than a Summoner with 20 levels on Raise Skeleton, Skeleton Mastery (+ all the extra skill levels from equi pieces), a Might aura Merc and a Beast runeword weapon that grants you a level 9 Fanaticism Aura. When your skellies deal between 4-5K damage each, have about 6K defense, 2.5K health, have an attack speed of 215%....you just can sit back an enjoy

lestatdark said: TruckOSaurus said: lestatdark said: All this Diablo III talk and expectation has led me to go back to Diablo II once more xD. This time i'm starting a Summoner Necro from scratch and what is my surprise to find that in 1.13 they upped the damage from Corpse Explosion to 70% - 120% of the total health of the enemy The things I hate with summoner classes is that End Act Bosses just slaughter the shit out of minions. It depends on your build really. The only End Act boss that actually gives me some pause is Diablo, mostly because his AoE attacks come out too quickly, thus I usually bring an Act I mercenary with Cold Arrows to slow him down on Normal difficulty and from Nightmare onward, I mostly use Aura equipments or Act II mercs.  Trust me, there's few things deadlier on Diablo II than a Summoner with 20 levels on Raise Skeleton, Skeleton Mastery (+ all the extra skill levels from equi pieces), a Might aura Merc and a Beast runeword weapon that grants you a level 9 Fanaticism Aura. When your skellies deal between 4-5K damage each, have about 6K defense, 2.5K health, have an attack speed of 215%....you just can sit back an enjoy

Gotta try that out!

TruckOSaurus said: lestatdark said: TruckOSaurus said: lestatdark said: All this Diablo III talk and expectation has led me to go back to Diablo II once more xD. This time i'm starting a Summoner Necro from scratch and what is my surprise to find that in 1.13 they upped the damage from Corpse Explosion to 70% - 120% of the total health of the enemy The things I hate with summoner classes is that End Act Bosses just slaughter the shit out of minions. It depends on your build really. The only End Act boss that actually gives me some pause is Diablo, mostly because his AoE attacks come out too quickly, thus I usually bring an Act I mercenary with Cold Arrows to slow him down on Normal difficulty and from Nightmare onward, I mostly use Aura equipments or Act II mercs.  Trust me, there's few things deadlier on Diablo II than a Summoner with 20 levels on Raise Skeleton, Skeleton Mastery (+ all the extra skill levels from equi pieces), a Might aura Merc and a Beast runeword weapon that grants you a level 9 Fanaticism Aura. When your skellies deal between 4-5K damage each, have about 6K defense, 2.5K health, have an attack speed of 215%....you just can sit back an enjoy Gotta try that out!

I you still are having trouble with that build, I suggest also that you put some a point in Amplify Damage, Weaken and Terror, so you can unlock Decrepify. Amplify Damage is good for augmenting your skellies damage input (by 100%), Weaken is pretty much useless starting from Act III on Normal (Physical only damage becomes rare) and Terror is good when you're about to get overwhelmed by enemies, but the real treat is Decrepify.

Decrepify lowers movement speed, attack speed, damage output and physical resistance by 50%, and it hits everything, even superunique and end act bosses, plus it gets rid of the pesky Physical Immunities that some superuniques roll on Nightmare onward (they'll still have a 150% resistance against physical, but your skellies will be able to hit them). Also, Decrepify stacks with Holy Freeze aura from the mercs in Act II Nightmare, so you can effectively reduce an enemy's movement and attack speed by 90%.

Classes - Monk

Description (borrowed from Blizzard again)

Monks are sacred warriors who channel divine power through sheer force of will. Healing waves, mantras of protection and attacks empowered with holy might are all within their purview.

Skilled monks deliver rapid-fire attacks unarmed or with a variety of well-balanced weapons. In combat, they emphasize high maneuverability over staying power, darting in and out of melees and avoiding protracted slugfests.

Monks’ attacks are primarily melee-focused. They can eliminate single foes with extreme damage, or deliver short-range area-of-effect assaults with waves of elemental power that emanate from palm strikes or crescent kicks.

Skills

Monk skills use Spirit as their resource. It is a slow regenerating resource that can be built up with certain skills and attacks and being completing combos. The Monk's Primary skills are a series of punches of various range, speed and strength which each generate Spirit for his other skills.

On the offensive side you have the Secondary skills and Techniques which allow you to deal damage to enemies in a variety of ways, there's even a technique called Exploding Palm (obvious inspired by Kill Bill's Five Finger Exploding Heart technique) that deals damage overtime and makes the target explode if the damage delt is lethal. Also these abilities have no cooldown and are only limited by how much Spirit you have at your disposition.  

Defensive skills will allow you to cure yourself, blind enemies, gain added protection and keep monsters at bay. Focus abilities are the strategic tools in your arsenal and Mantras are pretty similar to Diablo II's Auras except for the fact that you have to cast them every 3 minutes instead of having them constantly on.

TruckOSaurus Hype Meter

3/5 - This is an intriguing class for me. I still wonder if I'll enjoy the dynamic of building Spirit with Primary skills to compensate the slow regeneration of the resource but the Monk is definitely a class that I want to check out.

Gameplay video of sample skills

Poor Monk needs more lovin'!

Meh Monks, that's probably the least interesting class to play as IMO.

Just wait until you put Witch Doctor up for votes, you'll see all the love they'll get . If the WD is 50% as fun as the Necros are to play in DII, it's going to be amazingly fun. My 4 skeleton army is wrecking havok on DII even at 4 players difficulty XD (man I had forgotten just how much fun the summoner necro was).

I'll add it to the OP!

I will... if it's any good