Alas, when wandering in the lower worlds, one often arrives at a spawn point pretty much bare-ass naked — no armor, no belt, no helm, no rings, no amulet, no gloves, no money to buy any, and what amounts to a survival knife in one hand, and that’s it.
You’ll want the skills and the savvy to construct something decent if you can’t find it occurring in the natural state as a magic or unique item, so here’s the list, and it isn’t at all complete — these are just the items you can easily construct in normal or nightmare.
It’s even possible to craft up arms and armor with the cube, but that’s another story. You can combine lower runes to make higher runes, did you know that? Of course, the runes carry a level restriction, so you’ll have to take that into account.
Some of the Spiritual Rehab Missions will be to find the open-socket item and the runes to go with it, make the item and use it. Primarily this will occur in HardCore, so you’ll have to be very careful and at the same time, bold in your searches, to have success at finding the items needed to complete the quest, and to survive the ordeal somewhat intact, definitely still alive.
You’ll have to time the quests based on character level restrictions and need for the item, a sort of balance game between possible success and absurd abject failure. I’m only listing a few open-socket items that are likely to drop and that you might actually make to help you through the beginning stages, when drops are not so good and you need the extra boost.
NORMAL DROPS & BUILDS:
NADIR HELM — LEVEL 13
NEF + TIR make this interesting helm.
+50% Enhanced Defense
+10 Defense
+30 Defense vs. Missile
Level 13 Cloak of Shadows (9 Charges)
+2 To Mana After Each Kill
+5 To Strength
-33% Extra Gold From Monsters
-3 To Light Radius
STEALTH ARMOR — LEVEL 17
TAL + ETH — Easy to find and can be worn very early on.
Magic Damage Reduced By 3
+6 To Dexterity
+15 To Maximum Stamina
Poison Resist +30%
Regenerate Mana 15%
25% Faster Run/Walk
25% Faster Cast Rate
25% Faster Hit Recovery
STEEL MACE, CLUB OR HAMMER — LEVEL 13
TIR + EL make this a very early improvised weapon that you can easily find & make.
20% Enhanced Damage
+3 To Minimum Damage
+3 To Maximum Damage
+50 To Attack Rating
50% Chance Of Open Wounds
25% Increased Attack Speed
+2 To Mana After Each Kill
+1 To Light Radius
ANCIENT’S PLEDGE SHIELD — LEVEL 21
RAL + ORT + TAL, all of which are dropped as a group in Act V, on a single quest.
+50% Enhanced Defense
Cold Resist +43%
Fire Resist +48%
Lightning Resist +48%
Poison Resist +48%
10% Damage Goes To Mana
ZEPHYR BOW OR CROSSBOW — LEVEL 21
ORT + ETH, both easy to find runes in Normal, and the double socket bow is a cinch — I believe you can even buy them at Charsi once in a while, although they’re so easy to find, why buy?
+33% Enhanced Damage
+66 To Attack Rating
Adds 1-50 Lightning Damage
-25% Target Defense
+25 Defense
25% Faster Run/Walk
25% Increased Attack Speed
7% Chance To Cast Level 1 Twister When Struck
IMPORTANT NIGHTMARE DROPS & BUILDS:
INSIGHT POLAXE — YOUR MERC MUST BE LEVEL 27!!!
RAL + TIR + TAL +SOL — Here’s a tip — when you’re level 28, your merc can be a 27. This provides a constant stream of Mana plus all the other percentage extras that rise as your character’s base numbers rise, which happens at every level-up. This item requires a four-socket POLEARM CLASS weapon, which cannot be found in Normal, but is commonly found in Nightmare and of course in Hell. Thanks to Tom Schoeller for the correction:
Level 12-17 Meditation Aura When Equipped
+35% Faster Cast Rate
+200-260% Enhanced Damage (varies)
+9 To Minimum Damage
180-250% Bonus to Attack Rating
Adds 5-30 Fire Damage
+75 Poison Damage Over 5 Seconds
+1-6 To Critical Strike
+5 To All Attributes
+2 To Mana After Each Kill
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
SPIRIT SWORD & SPIRIT SHIELD — LEVEL 25
TAL + THUL + ORT + AMN makes this an easy build with very common middle-ground runes. This is a superior weapon for a number of classes, and is surprisingly effective on a sorc and a trapper assassin. You can’t build this early in the game in a shield, but in a sword, you can.
SWORD:
+2 To All Skills
+25-35% Faster Cast Rate
+55% Faster Hit Recovery
Adds 1-50 Lightning Damage
Adds 3-14 Cold Damage 3 Second Duration (Normal)
+75 Poison Damage Over 5 Seconds
7% Life Stolen Per Hit
+250 Defense vs. Missiles
+22 To Vitality
+89-112 To Mana
+3-8 Magic Absorb
SHIELD:
+2 To All Skills
+25-35% Faster Cast Rate
+55% Faster Hit Recovery
+250 Defense vs. Missiles
+22 To Vitality
+89-112 To Mana (varies)
Cold Resist +35%
Lightning Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
+3-8 Magic Absorb
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
I have in mind several more unusual improvised weapons and armor that I intend to use in the Spiritual Rehab Missions, and we’ll address them as they come up in the training program. Note that I did not include the LEAF STAFF — it’s tempting because of all the extras, and it’s soooooo easy to find & make, but it’s a trap that leads directly to a FIRE SORC, and in Hell, that means trouble. Fun to make, though, with a TIR + RAL in a double socket STAFF — it doesn’t work in an ORB or WAND, besides which, the WAND is strictly for NECROs, not SORCs. Take a look at the LEAF STAFF specs, and I think you’ll see why folks are attracted to it and are easily tempted to use one, in spite of a lack of shield protection.
Adds 5-30 Fire Damage
+3 To Fire Skills
+3 To Fire Bolt (Sorceress Only)
+3 To Inferno (Sorceress Only)
+3 To Warmth (Sorceress Only)
+2 To Mana After Each Kill
+ (2 Per Character Level) +2-198 To Defense (Based On Character Level)
Cold Resist +33%
I’ll be posting more of these fun side-mission items in the future as we work through the levels and get a little more subtle in our searches. In the meantime, stay tuned for details — as soon as we have a good plan for a workshop, we’ll post the details.
See You At The Top!!!
gorby