Mist
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-Low Level Dueling Guide- NOW COMPLETE
Here is my unorthodox rebellious personal guide to LOW LEVEL DUELING
NOTE: The guide is now finished, however it will continue to be abridged as necessary for spelling errors, formatting errors, and accuracy errors, and additions may be made to the FAQ.
UPDATE: 6/26 Removed Class-by-class guides. You can now find the new, improved class guides in the strategies forum.
UPDATE: 6/26 This guide's sorta dead, it's just here as a general intro to LLD guide + FAQ, the class-by-class guide is outdated and the formatting is all screwed. Look for my class guides in the strategies forum, they each have their own thread now. I've done zon and druid level 9-16, more soon to come. Level 18 builds will have their own thread.
UPDATE: 6/24 Fixed many errors. More fixes and more detailed charm info coming soon.
Table of Contents
search for a content's code (i.e. "1a.") in your web browser to go directly to it.
PART 1: PREFACE
1a. INTRODUCTION: What & Why?
Low Level Dueling is Diablo 2 dueling of characters who are very low level (9-24). The minimum level required by the game to engage in Plaver vs. Player combat is 9, so the lowest level PvP builds are this level. There are many good unique and set items in the game that can be used at this level, along with many socketed items and types of jewels. You'd be amazed how effective a level 9 player can be in PvP combat at level 9 with enough work on them. If you think you'll never be able to do enough damage to beat other duelers at level 9, you're wrong. With the help of this guide you can easily break 1000 damage at level 9. The reason people Low Level Duel is it is much more intense than high level duels. Because stats, skills, damage, defense, etc. are all limited, the fight is much more even and toned down without overpowered skills which can kill another player in a single hit. Also, there is much less equipment available at this level, leaving a narrower variety of gear used by duelers, which in turn evens out the competition. Finally, Low Level Dueling is very cheap, and though it requires dedication, it won't require the greatest items the game can offer. Some people are afraid that if they decide to start Low Level Dueling, there won't be many other people around who also enjoy this sport for them to duel. Though it's true that LLD is not exceedingly popular, it's not hard to find others who do LLD, just create or join games made specifically for that purpose.
1b. CLASS DESCRIPTIONS: Who's good at LLD?
Mainly, diablo 2's classes are broken down into Melee classes and Caster classes. Casters don't do well in LLD because they are fragile by nature, and while they are designed to eventually inflict devastating damage through synergies, at a low level these skills are undeveloped, cost too much mana to keep up with, and can't break other players' resistances effectively. This means that the Necromancer, Summon/Elemental Druid, Sorceress, Trap Assassin, Hammer Paladin, and Bowazon will be ineffective overall at LLD and thus are not covered in this guide. The key to LLD is to inflict massive amounts of physical damage, while keeping yourself alive. Therefore, Shifting druids, Martial Assassins, Combat Paladins, Barbarians, and Javazons excel at LLD.
1c. RULES: What you should knowLow Level dueling is just what it implies - dueling. It is NOT PK (Player Killing) and it is NOT a free invite to duel other players against their will. I am a supporter of dueling, but I am violently OPPOSED to PKers. These are the rules of LLD:
3a. USEFUL INFORMATION: Tips, General Strategies, and more
Low Level Dueling is a sport. As such, it will take practice and preparation. Be prepared to pay good items if you plan to buy the equipment you need for your characters (Jewels of Wrath are about a Pul a pair). For the normal items, picks, hammers, armors, shields, with a lot of sockets, I suggest running around act 1-5 in normal visiting each NPC, looking for a Normal version of the item. For armor, though, try killing large amounts of mobs in Normal.. foothills and cows are GREAT places to find items like Gothic Plate, Gothic Shield, Crown, Military Pick, and War Hammer for socketing. To socket these items to their full potential, use one of your characters' act 5 socket quests in Hell difficulty. To find all of the charms you'll need, simply run through act 1 in normal killing almost every enemy with an orb sorceress, pick up every charm, and you will have PLENTY of str and dex charms when you're done.
It's a good idea to make a separate account for LLD. You might enjoy it and want to make several characters you don't have room for.
To duel strangers, just create a Normal game called "Low Level duels" or something like that, and plenty of people will come. Remember that most people who LLD are not extremely devout, and probably won't be a challenge and will call you a hacker when you beat them. Just ignore these idiots
-perhaps more to come in this section.
F.A.Q.
Q: ROFL LVL 9 DUELER... NOOB
A: Come duel me sometime, then...
Q: WTF?! Why does each of your builds have 20 skill points???????? My level 9 char only has 8 skill points!!!!!!!!!
A: For each build I assume you have grushed each char up through hell and have done his skill quests. Grushing means that after your rusher kills Diablo, you create or join a Baal for Quest game and sit in town while others do baal, and you get credit. You can do this for Normal and Nightmare to get access to all difficulties and skill quests.
Q: So what about the 55 stat points?! I did all my skill quests but my char only has 40 stat points.... so WTF.....
A: The Lam Esens Tome quest (quest#4) in Act 3 gives you +5 stat points per difficulty upon completion.
Q: OK, people keep calling me a hacker because I'm beating them "with no armor on." WTF? I have armor on, I can see it, but everyone says im not wearing any armor?????????
A: This is a glitch. If you don't have enough base strength to wear an item such as a helmet, armor, shield, or weapon (this means that if you took off all items EXCEPT that piece of armor, you wouldn't be able to wear it because you rely on charms / items to get the required STR), then any other player in the game can't see you wearing it. For example, if you are wearing the Sigons Shelter armor but can only wear it because of the Sigons Gloves which add +10 str (this is the most common case), you will appear as if you're wearing no armor at all to other players.
Q: OK I explained that to them, NOW they're calling me a hacker because they say I am disappearing when I attack. WTFH no im not!!!!
A: Yes you are, you just can't see it. This glitch happens often when using Double Strike as a barb or sometimes kicking as a kick asn. The glitch makes your character disappear while you are attacking if your attack rate exceeds a certain point, which can be done using Double Swing (swings extremely fast) or Dragon Talon (kicks extremely fast). I don't know exactly how this works yet, but I know that it relates to your attack speed being too high.
Q: Well, they're still calling me a hacker. What should I do?
A: Duel them naked and let them kill you, or show them your items so they can see how good they are, or just ignore them. It isn't really worth it if they're stupid enough to think you're hacking.
--More FAQs to be added as questions arise, so ask at will.
3b. APPENDIX: Useful links / bibliography
This guide, and any guide, would not be possible without The Arreat Summit at Battle.net. It has a definitive, accurate list of every item and magic prefix/suffix in the entire game.
This is a useful tool for calculating which Runewords you can make with your items if you don't have RunewordWizard - http://tomatoman.net/cgi-bin/d2runes.pl
This is a VERY useful skill calculator for when you don't have an editor handy or don't feel like wasting the time editing - http://www.d2items.com/skills.php
This is a mid-quality diablo 2 resource site. It has some accurate trade charts, which are nice - http://d2freedom.com/index.html
This is an extraordinarily useful chart with very accurate information about Experience gained at different places depending on level - http://strategy.diabloii.net/news.php?id=512
Your handy-dandy HotIP Notebook - http://counts.dcloneirc.net/
LEEROOOOOOOOOOOY - http://www.leeroyjenkins.net/
3c. GLOSSARY: Terms, Acronyms, & Phrases
PvP: Player vs. Player
LLD: Low Level dueling
AR: Attack Rating
Str: Strength
Dex: Dexterity
Gc: Grand Charm
Sc: Small Charm
Asn: Assassin
Barb: Barbarian
Pally: Paladin
Javazon: Javelin Amazon
Bowazon: Bow Amazon
Ele: Elemental
PK: Player Kill
More will be added as necessary.
This is the end of the guide for now. Look for more from me in the future and PLEASE reply to this guide with any comments or questions you have whatsoever. Thanks!
-MIST
Here is my unorthodox rebellious personal guide to LOW LEVEL DUELING
NOTE: The guide is now finished, however it will continue to be abridged as necessary for spelling errors, formatting errors, and accuracy errors, and additions may be made to the FAQ.
UPDATE: 6/26 Removed Class-by-class guides. You can now find the new, improved class guides in the strategies forum.
UPDATE: 6/26 This guide's sorta dead, it's just here as a general intro to LLD guide + FAQ, the class-by-class guide is outdated and the formatting is all screwed. Look for my class guides in the strategies forum, they each have their own thread now. I've done zon and druid level 9-16, more soon to come. Level 18 builds will have their own thread.
UPDATE: 6/24 Fixed many errors. More fixes and more detailed charm info coming soon.
Table of Contents
search for a content's code (i.e. "1a.") in your web browser to go directly to it.
PART 1: PREFACE
1a. INTRODUCTION: What & Why?
Low Level Dueling is Diablo 2 dueling of characters who are very low level (9-24). The minimum level required by the game to engage in Plaver vs. Player combat is 9, so the lowest level PvP builds are this level. There are many good unique and set items in the game that can be used at this level, along with many socketed items and types of jewels. You'd be amazed how effective a level 9 player can be in PvP combat at level 9 with enough work on them. If you think you'll never be able to do enough damage to beat other duelers at level 9, you're wrong. With the help of this guide you can easily break 1000 damage at level 9. The reason people Low Level Duel is it is much more intense than high level duels. Because stats, skills, damage, defense, etc. are all limited, the fight is much more even and toned down without overpowered skills which can kill another player in a single hit. Also, there is much less equipment available at this level, leaving a narrower variety of gear used by duelers, which in turn evens out the competition. Finally, Low Level Dueling is very cheap, and though it requires dedication, it won't require the greatest items the game can offer. Some people are afraid that if they decide to start Low Level Dueling, there won't be many other people around who also enjoy this sport for them to duel. Though it's true that LLD is not exceedingly popular, it's not hard to find others who do LLD, just create or join games made specifically for that purpose.
1b. CLASS DESCRIPTIONS: Who's good at LLD?
Mainly, diablo 2's classes are broken down into Melee classes and Caster classes. Casters don't do well in LLD because they are fragile by nature, and while they are designed to eventually inflict devastating damage through synergies, at a low level these skills are undeveloped, cost too much mana to keep up with, and can't break other players' resistances effectively. This means that the Necromancer, Summon/Elemental Druid, Sorceress, Trap Assassin, Hammer Paladin, and Bowazon will be ineffective overall at LLD and thus are not covered in this guide. The key to LLD is to inflict massive amounts of physical damage, while keeping yourself alive. Therefore, Shifting druids, Martial Assassins, Combat Paladins, Barbarians, and Javazons excel at LLD.
1c. RULES: What you should know
PART 3: CONCLUSION
3a. USEFUL INFORMATION: Tips, General Strategies, and more
Low Level Dueling is a sport. As such, it will take practice and preparation. Be prepared to pay good items if you plan to buy the equipment you need for your characters (Jewels of Wrath are about a Pul a pair). For the normal items, picks, hammers, armors, shields, with a lot of sockets, I suggest running around act 1-5 in normal visiting each NPC, looking for a Normal version of the item. For armor, though, try killing large amounts of mobs in Normal.. foothills and cows are GREAT places to find items like Gothic Plate, Gothic Shield, Crown, Military Pick, and War Hammer for socketing. To socket these items to their full potential, use one of your characters' act 5 socket quests in Hell difficulty. To find all of the charms you'll need, simply run through act 1 in normal killing almost every enemy with an orb sorceress, pick up every charm, and you will have PLENTY of str and dex charms when you're done.
It's a good idea to make a separate account for LLD. You might enjoy it and want to make several characters you don't have room for.
To duel strangers, just create a Normal game called "Low Level duels" or something like that, and plenty of people will come. Remember that most people who LLD are not extremely devout, and probably won't be a challenge and will call you a hacker when you beat them. Just ignore these idiots
-perhaps more to come in this section.
F.A.Q.
Q: ROFL LVL 9 DUELER... NOOB
A: Come duel me sometime, then...
Q: WTF?! Why does each of your builds have 20 skill points???????? My level 9 char only has 8 skill points!!!!!!!!!
A: For each build I assume you have grushed each char up through hell and have done his skill quests. Grushing means that after your rusher kills Diablo, you create or join a Baal for Quest game and sit in town while others do baal, and you get credit. You can do this for Normal and Nightmare to get access to all difficulties and skill quests.
Q: So what about the 55 stat points?! I did all my skill quests but my char only has 40 stat points.... so WTF.....
A: The Lam Esens Tome quest (quest#4) in Act 3 gives you +5 stat points per difficulty upon completion.
Q: OK, people keep calling me a hacker because I'm beating them "with no armor on." WTF? I have armor on, I can see it, but everyone says im not wearing any armor?????????
A: This is a glitch. If you don't have enough base strength to wear an item such as a helmet, armor, shield, or weapon (this means that if you took off all items EXCEPT that piece of armor, you wouldn't be able to wear it because you rely on charms / items to get the required STR), then any other player in the game can't see you wearing it. For example, if you are wearing the Sigons Shelter armor but can only wear it because of the Sigons Gloves which add +10 str (this is the most common case), you will appear as if you're wearing no armor at all to other players.
Q: OK I explained that to them, NOW they're calling me a hacker because they say I am disappearing when I attack. WTFH no im not!!!!
A: Yes you are, you just can't see it. This glitch happens often when using Double Strike as a barb or sometimes kicking as a kick asn. The glitch makes your character disappear while you are attacking if your attack rate exceeds a certain point, which can be done using Double Swing (swings extremely fast) or Dragon Talon (kicks extremely fast). I don't know exactly how this works yet, but I know that it relates to your attack speed being too high.
Q: Well, they're still calling me a hacker. What should I do?
A: Duel them naked and let them kill you, or show them your items so they can see how good they are, or just ignore them. It isn't really worth it if they're stupid enough to think you're hacking.
--More FAQs to be added as questions arise, so ask at will.
3b. APPENDIX: Useful links / bibliography
This guide, and any guide, would not be possible without The Arreat Summit at Battle.net. It has a definitive, accurate list of every item and magic prefix/suffix in the entire game.
This is a useful tool for calculating which Runewords you can make with your items if you don't have RunewordWizard - http://tomatoman.net/cgi-bin/d2runes.pl
This is a VERY useful skill calculator for when you don't have an editor handy or don't feel like wasting the time editing - http://www.d2items.com/skills.php
This is a mid-quality diablo 2 resource site. It has some accurate trade charts, which are nice - http://d2freedom.com/index.html
This is an extraordinarily useful chart with very accurate information about Experience gained at different places depending on level - http://strategy.diabloii.net/news.php?id=512
Your handy-dandy HotIP Notebook - http://counts.dcloneirc.net/
LEEROOOOOOOOOOOY - http://www.leeroyjenkins.net/
3c. GLOSSARY: Terms, Acronyms, & Phrases
PvP: Player vs. Player
LLD: Low Level dueling
AR: Attack Rating
Str: Strength
Dex: Dexterity
Gc: Grand Charm
Sc: Small Charm
Asn: Assassin
Barb: Barbarian
Pally: Paladin
Javazon: Javelin Amazon
Bowazon: Bow Amazon
Ele: Elemental
PK: Player Kill
More will be added as necessary.
This is the end of the guide for now. Look for more from me in the future and PLEASE reply to this guide with any comments or questions you have whatsoever. Thanks!
-MIST
