Not to go back and beat a dead horse but one thing I did notice on Spirit....

It needs a 4os shield and the only ones that exist are the Monarch and the Ward....

The monarch (the lighter shield) still has a level req of 54 and an str req of a whopping 156. So I suppose it depends on how much vitality you want to sacrifice and how it can affect you choose items that give you the str needed to equip this thing for what might not be a substantial improvement over what you use now....

Even using an Enigma your str will only be increased by about 63 or so give or take depending on level. If you combine this with an anni charm to give you say an additional 18 or so if you have a decent statted one....you're still going to need to sink about 59-60 (varies depending on actual stats of gear) points into Str or use charms that take up space to equip the darn thing (which would reduce vitality or resists or skills anyway).

Considering this is supposedly a caster shield......is it worth it? I don't know.

Worth it for, 4 socket swords.

I meant, levi and EDC "wrecked" melee by making 98% of all melee's cookie cutters. What i meant to say was fortitude/phoenix is the new CC IMO.

Phoenix does look interesting. Is Fortitude better than having DR? I don't know I suppose it depends on how much damage you do without the +300%. Remember you can socket a Levi still. You cant do that with a Fortitude.


Pekson remember if you're a caster there are far better caster weapons than a Spirit. (also you dont get the resists when in a weapon...the stats are different). Essentially its like a Silence but you trade resists for FHR and FCR. As a caster though I'd still be sticking with a HOTO probably or if I'm a necro, a white wand (dol io isnt that expensive) with good mods possibly and a sorc has other, better orbs to choose from than a Spirit.

Again low levels and budget its decent for a caster paladin, trapper, druid probably as a weapon. If you can find a way to make the str req work (ie: you like to use a SS on the switch anyways or something) then it could be a potential shield option.

Preference I suppose and again don't get me wrong I do find use in a lot of these new and nifty runewords including Spirit (this was just an example). I just think a counter arguement should be prevalent though among all this rage over new stuff. I suppose "Last Wish" which I find kind of neat especially for pvm could also be a good example of a really nice runeword (though very expensive) but hampered by a weakness in that it has no IAS which thus limits your other gear/builds that can really use it and what you can really socket it into (probably have to be a phase blade and you'll need probably either IAS armor or a fanaticism aura even if you're a speedy zealot).

It's the defence thats going to make the difference. For reference, the fomer #1 ww barb uses Duress. The guy that beat him uses Eth Duress. Dr isnt maditory.

not only that, but all zeal duels will now ALL be one hit k.o... phoenix+fortitude=12k+zeal with ebotdz....

Again, dr isnt mandatory if you're both killing in one hit, now is it?

i wanna switch to ladder now but i dont wanna start all over again -_-

Jarrens zealot does 9k atm and doesn't one hit ko my barb. Of course he has ~6k hp ~_~. But yeah It would be 2 hit ko probably.

Mothefuckers , ladder only...

Hell , this is gonna be fucked up jOO...

ditto.....lol

Very true....I suppose this is blizz's answer to the hammerdin cheese...have every class be able to do one hit KOs and demolish all the fun in pvp. I suppose the only thing left would be necro vs necro as neither can stack an absorb for bone and they could just tele around all day spamming spells at each other or trying to use summons.

Ok slight exaggeration but...

Well, with an infinity merc, i suppose it's almost impossible to sorb a sorc anymore, without severely gimping your char that is.

With faith, zons might make a comeback...
Maybe blizz is trying to bring back .09 !

All this to say, when ladder rolls over, dueling is gonna be weird as hell...

When ladder rolls over, My barb's getting stripped. Melee dueling is fuckin gay enough as it is, it didn't need this.

Oh, and just what we needed. AUTO AIM FANATA ZONS.

Let's celebrate.

Haha your post was at 4:20.

I really want to know what Pride does...

Whoa, this is the most activity i've seen in the d2 forum in a while...

I also think we should celebrate the coming of the auto aim fana zon.
Fun times ahead people.... fun times....

Personally I could care less how it affects NL duels when/if ladder rolls over since all I do is play ladder anyways ;) ...I'll probably give away all my stuff to you guys when it rolls over because it would be going to waste anyways since I wouldnt be able to use it on the new season so someone can make their own "gay" fanatazon....

Hmm...Fanatazon...could be like a Fantazon and get a job with those Fanta girls on those stupid commercials.

I will pay you to make me Grief right now.


(D2 currency, fools)

I wonder if the bugged damage for smite was done on purpose, it'd be funny if it was patched before the ladder reset :D

Of course it was done on purpose... say hello to the new 5k smite dmg smiter !

This is lame... when ladder rolls over, all hell will break lose...