Saturday, May 26, 2012

Is it possible to lock the action bar? [closed]

Question

Possible Duplicate:
Is there a way to lock my skills?

Sometimes when I am running or walking around a lot I drag a skill off my action bar. Placing the skill back removes my Nephalem Valor.

Is it possible to lock the action bar?

Asked by ayckoster

Answer

If you uncheck elective mode in Gameplay Options, the action bar will once again be locked.

Answered by Alex

What is Error 37?

Question

I keep seeing people talking about this error.

There are even some memes already talking about "Error 37"

What is it and where does it come from ?

Asked by Robotsushi

Answer

Error 37 is "Servers are Busy", please try again later. It starts popping up when too many people try to log onto the Diablo 3 servers at once.

It's notable because Blizzard specifically warned users that they might run into it at launch, and told them to ignore it and try again.

Bottom line is that the problem is not with your PC or your internet connection, but an error on Blizzard's end.

Answered by Raven Dreamer

How are speed run challenges timed?

Question

There are several achievements for completing each Act in less than an hour ("No Time to Rest", "Sandskimmer", "Swift Descent", "On the Wings of Angels", "In a Hurry?"). Can I do these runs on normal with a character who has already completed each Act? Do I need to do the runs with a character who has never been to the Act in that difficulty? Does the timer start when I enter the Act the first time, and does it mark an hour from that point, or only count one hour of gameplay time? How do these speed run timers work?

In A Hurry?

Asked by Sean

Answer

This is confirmed. I just completed Act 1 as a level 46 Demon Hunter who is half way through Nightmare and got the achieve.

As a sidenote, I believe this is about the only viable way to do these achieves. I have a run speed buff, and still only had about 3 minutes to spare despite running through mobs and not killing anything unless necessary.

Answered by Matthew Scharley

How do I get the Walkies achievement?

Question

Jetpack joyride has a new Achievement based on Flash. How can I get Walkies? The description says:

Take Flash on a 10KM Walk

Does this mean I have to travel 10KM in a single run with Flash?

Asked by Ben Brocka

Answer

First you have to own Flash; he's the robot Dog that costs 8,500 coins in the Gadgets menu. The achievement is only possible with Flash equipped to a Gadget slot.

All you have to do is travel 10,000 meters cumulative with Flash equipped. You don't have to reach 10,000 meters in one run, multiple runs still count toward the total. After you've gained 10km in travel with Flash you'll be awarded the achievement upon your death.

There's a counter in My Profile under Gadgets that lists "Total Distance run by dog"; this is the count that matters. The counter appears to go up whenever Flash runs, not Barry. I'm not sure if it goes up when Flash jumps yet.

Answered by Ben Brocka

What monk skill deals the most damage per spirit?

Question

I don't quite know which skills do the most damage (preferably AoE) but have a relatively low spirit cost.

Asked by The Rabbi

Answer

Here is the dps (damage per spirit) of all the Monk AOE spells, taken from http://us.battle.net/d3/en/class/monk/active/.

Note that I'm only listing AOE skills that hit a bunch of enemies at once (not Seven-Sided Strike or Tempest Rush), only runes that increase damage or lower spirit cost, and not listing spirit generators.

Skills, listed in decreasing dps:

  • Lashing Tail Kick: Spinning Flame Kick: 240% weapon damage for 30 spirit = 8 dps
  • Lashing Tail Kick: Vulture Claw Kick: 220% weapon damage for 30 spirit = 7.33 dps
  • Lashing Tail Kick: 200% weapon damage for 30 spirit = 6.67 dps
  • Wave of Light: Pillar of the Ancients: 420% weapon damage for 75 spirit = 5.6 dps
  • Wave of Light: Wall of Light: 312% weapon damage for 75 spirit = 4.16 dps
  • Wave of Light: Explosive Light: 285% weapon damage for 75 spirit = 3.8 dps
  • Cyclone Strike: Eye of the Storm: 100% weapon damage for 30 spirit = 3.33 dps
  • Lashing Tail Kick: Circle of Scorn: 80% weapon damage for 25 spirit = 3.2 dps
  • Wave of Light: 215% weapon damage for 75 spirit = 2.87 dps
  • Cyclone Strike: 100% weapon damage for 50 spirit = 2 dps

Of course, this is very situational. Some of these spells affect a large area and will make it easy to hit a dozen monsters. Some affect a cone or path and will make it hard to hit more than 2 or 3.

Answered by Wikwocket

Guide to how not to die on hardcore

Question

Are there any guides on how not to die on hardcore, preferrably with a given class (Monk)
I'm finding it very hard to do, and I sure could use some tips from a long-time hardcore player

Asked by Nico

Answer

I watch a lot of content from Forcestrategygaming, especially via youtube and he just started a Hardcore run series and elaborates on the pros and cons of gear etc.

The best part is that you can watch him playing so you see how to react to big packs and lure champions out. It's really worth watching even if it's not your specific class (he is playing a mage atm).

Specificly for the monk I found two short guides :diablo3monksguide and mydiablolevlingguide

Answered by Melini

What triggered the war between the Nephalem, resulting in the end of their species?

Question

In the middle of Act 1, to get access to the sunken temple, you have to go in the field where the Nephalem, if I understand it well, killed each other until there was not enough to continue the race. Their ghosts were still fighting in that very field.

But what triggered that "Civil war" of the Nephalem? What happened to make them start to kill each other to a point where their species just disappeared from Sanctuary?

Asked by Fredy31

Answer

The Nephalem were the direct offspring of demons and angels, and had the potential to exceed both of their progenitors in power. Fearing this, Inarius manipulated the Worldstone so that the Nephalem would slowly lose their power over many generations, causing them to become the humans who populate the world today. The Nephalem didn't really disappear, they just lost their powers and became human.

The Sin War, as it is called, was merely a name for the extension of the Great Conflict between Light and Darkness into the mortal world of Sanctuary. Both sides manipulated the Nephalem to their own ends to try and gain the upper hand in the conflict. (Eventually both sides agreed to cease this practice, but the forces of Darkness had a plan...)

Answered by Brant

Who the heck is Abd al-Hazir?

Question

As my hamfisted barbarian (who is in fact, a warrior and a gentleman) bashes his way around Diablo 3, I frequently find the writings of the Abd al-Hazir gentleman. He seems to know a lot about monsters. Who is he, and what is his story?

Asked by EBongo

Answer

He is awesome

Abd al-Hazir is a lore enthusiast and adventurer, scribing about a lot of his experiences in the world of Sanctuary. He is used as a tool for Blizzard to describe Diablo lore on the official Diablo III webpage.

Source

The Writings of Abd al-Hazir are well known in the civilised parts of Sanctuary. They seem to both be named works as well as a collection of entries, such as a diary.

Source

Abd al-Hazir is a renowned gentleman, historian, and scholar. He has recently taken up the unprecedented task of investigating, researching, and compiling information about the unique locales and denizens of our world. All the character classes, monsters and locations are introduced in the official site as parts of his journal.

.

Abd al-Hazir's writings are composed of 42 entries, each one detailing a monster, a location or a class. One description for his writings is: These pages host a collection of writings about this world known as Sanctuary; they are intended for readers who, like the author, are steeped in the arcane traditions. They paint a vivid picture of some of the foulest, most accursed places and creatures you may encounter on your travels. May the knowledge contained within guide you through the darkness that lies ahead...

Source

Quill Fiend

Dear Reader,

I am Abd al-Hazir, adventurer, scholar, and researcher. I share my knowledge of this incredible world and its creatures through my insightful missives, often at grave risk to myself. Why, I was recently in Khanduras, where my tents were ransacked by vicious quill fiends! I was able to beat them off with a shoe, but a less bold man would've been fared for worse.

Abd al-Hazir

Source

Answered by Michel Ayres

How do I beat Insane AI in 5 minutes?

Question

Here I asked how to beat AI in 5 minutes on medium level.

I played as Terran. The key was to start barracks building close to opponent base (and use small map). I was successful on Medium, then on Hard...but on Very Hard my best time with Terrans was 5m2s... but usually it takes 5m30s, 6m15s... I couldn't find the quicker way... So I switched to Protoss...

Finally, I've beaten the A.I. in 4m40s, and now I'm itching to beat the A.I. on Insane level. I did that with a lot of effort on Very Hard, but I'm afraid that my strategy won't work for Insane.

I will probably try to cannon rush, but I'm not sure if it will help.

Please advise: what race, what strategies?

I haven't tried it myself yet, and I don't see any good strategy.

On Very Hard with Protoss against Terran I played in such way:

In the very beginning build new Probe - it will go to build a Pylon close to enemies base; build Pylon, Gateway, Gateway, Gateway - 3 gateways. Why? In order to get enough zealots quicker. After building 3rd gateway my probe is going to disturb their SCVs. It is not actually too successful, but it is boring to sit and wait for 1st zealot. When 1st gateway is completed you should have enough money for 1st zealot. it should go to opponent base and run close to Barrack/SCVs. While there are no marines - kill SCVs (don't get them to surround you. when marine appears - kill him with zealot. Keep producing zealots, when you reach supply limit - send your probes to die - you will get 1 more zealot. If you have money you can build 1 more pylon and train more zealots, but 6 was enough for me (2Pylons=>18 food - 6 probes=12/2 = 6 zealots).

I found this tactic almost from 10 attempts, and final time was 4m40s.

I did that on... the 1st map in the list (please let me know what it's named, I don't remember that).

I don't think that will work on Insane. Probably I need to build 2 gateways and get 3 probes with myself to push AI...?

P.S. BTW, such practices help to improve your micro: handling those zealots/probes against SCVs/marines :)

Asked by Budda

Answer

I've beat Terran with Protoss using photon rush.

  1. Build probes constantly, 1st build probe will go to opponent, all others - go to minerals; 10-12 actually should be enough.
  2. Build the 1st pylon outside of the opponent's start location - if you build it in the opponent base (after the choke) he will attack the pylon with large amount of SCVs. The Pylon should be built as close to the opponent base as possible.
  3. Build 1 forge.
  4. Build 2 cannons close to the opponent base - they will shoot up the ramp soon.
  5. When these cannons are almost complete, send a probe to the opponent's base and build 1 cannon (you 1st pylon should give enough space for 1-2 cannons).
  6. Opponent will try to attack your building cannon, but your first 2 cannons should be able to protect them. Keep you probe from being killed by SCVs/marines.
  7. Build new pylon close to new cannon, once the new pylon is done, build 1-2 additional cannons not to far away from the 3rd cannon; it should be able to protect the new building. The new cannons should also be able to attack the command center.

After the last cannons been build they will start shooting the command center. The AI will give up quickly.

I did the above and finished sometime around 4:30.

Answered by Budda

What is the present for getting all 123 cards in Botanicula?

Question

I got two presents for getting 107/123. What is the reward for collecting all 123 cards? (Is it the third present?)

123 cards

Asked by Sean

Answer

It is unclear exactly how many cards are needed to get the third present, but getting 123 will should unlock it as proved with the pic below. In this forum post, a user states that they do not have the third present and have found 122 cards. However Tom mentions above that he got the present without getting all 123, and a comment on this guide agrees. To your specific question, it also mentions the exact reward as:

Got 3 gifts at the end (116 or 119/ 123), two of them were mentioned above. Third one is the beet root fighting the black parasite Jedi style :)

Which seems to agree with what Tom stated.

123 cards

Several sources confirm that getting 123 cards does not award the Mythology achievement, as some suspected it might.

Answered by EBongo

Worker or set troops to mine first?

Question

Which is better in the start of a Starcraft II match? Build a worker and then split or vice versa; split workers then build worker

If they each have their own benefits please list them!

Asked by Nick122

Answer

Really? it doesn't really matter.

However, if you think about it, having six workers returning with minerals half seconds faster isn't as good in the long run as having a worker created half seconds earlier - as that delays all future workers by those precious half seconds.

However, if you need that pylon down or that supply depot out a half second faster, make sure to follow this precise order:

  • Send your workers to work
  • Create your next worker
  • Split your workers as they are reaching their mining nodes.

Of course, screwing up any other action by a half second will undo all this precision.

Answered by Resorath

What monsters drop level two clue scrolls?

Question

I want to get some good loot, and I know clue scrolls are a good way to get good items. I know how to get Lv 1 clue scrolls, but I do not know what monster drop Lv 2 ones. Also, could you tell me the item requirements for Lv 2 scrolls(Shovels, sextants, ect. ect.).

Thank you.

Asked by Shadow Zorgon

Answer

This page has a list of all monsters that drop Level 2 (medium difficulty) clue scrolls. For completeness, these monsters drop easy clue scrolls, these drop hard clue scrolls, and these drop elite clue scrolls. In addition, as this page says, there are a couple of other ways to get medium clue scrolls, including Shades of Mort'ton chests (Steel and Black), caskets from big net fishing, Manage Thy Kingdom, Evil Trees, and Trouble Brewing.

Answered by murgatroid99

How to use the 'Ancient Device' in the Desolate Sands?

Question

I have found the 'Ancient Device' spawn in the Desolate Sands area, and talked to the guy who was afraid to use it. He ran off, and I searched his brother's body and bag and found some gold and a journal. How do I use the device though? I might have clicked on the pedestal on accident, because some floating orb or something appeared to be there. After that I couldn't do anything with it. I left the plateau for a second, and came back and the orb appeared to be gone and I still couldn't use the device. It seems like I ought to be able to use it to teleport somewhere. Am I missing something? Or do I just need to reload and try again?

Asked by Drewmate

Answer

The Ancient Device gives you a random result each time you find it within the Desolate Sands (after reloading level), there is an achievement called "wheel of Fortune" for getting each outcome. I have only found it once while playing and it gave me a couple dozen piles of gold.

Answered by Damien Arends

What are the special effects for each damage type, and when do they trigger?

Question

I've noticed that when I use a weapon with cold damage, every attack "snares" my targets, even when I don't use any skill or item which explicitly snares or slows. I'm guessing this is due to the cold damage.

  • Do other damage types have a special effect this way? If they do, what are those effects?
  • Does it also happen if I get a bonus damage from a source which is not directly on the weapon? e.g. if I have a ring which adds cold damage, will all my attacks snare?
  • Do these special effects always trigger on attack, or only under certain conditions?
Asked by Oak

Answer

Unlike in Diablo II, on-hit elemental damage is simply that - bonus damage, with the sole exception of cold damage (which has a small snare). Frost damage does a little less damage comparatively because of this.

While there was originally a more complex critical hit system (as documented below), that functionality did not make it to the final game.

Critical hits just add damage.

Historical Answer:

More interestingly, in the Diablo III Beta, each type of damage has a different effect on a critical.

  • Physical: Double Damage

  • Arcane: Silences targets for 4 seconds (prevents abilities)

  • Cold: Freezes targets for 2 seconds (Duration can be affected by talents, etc.)

  • Fire: Sets them on fire, fire DoT (tick rate scales off weapon speed)

  • Lightning: Stuns targets for 2 seconds (Duration can be affected by talents, etc.)

Poison and Holy presumably have effects on a critical hit also, but I haven't been able to find info on them.

Answered by Raven Dreamer

How to donate gold in Diablo 3?

Question

I play with friends but I also play more than them and consequently I have better stuff and more gold.

Since I'm the friendly kind of guy, I want to donate gold to my friends so they can buy better stuff in the Action House and we can play together again with our most advanced character. Right now, I need to play with my second or third best character to match their advancement...

How can I do that?

Asked by ogregoire

Answer

Join their game, run up to them, and right click their portait - there should be a Trade option, which will allow you to trade gold directly to them.

Note that this only works while you're in town.

Answered by Ashel

What does the star that appears next to my Journeyman Craftables mean?

Question

Some of my craftable items have a star by their name, what does this signify?

What's with the star?

Much like my last question, I searched and found no questions pertaining to this. Hopefully this one fares better than my last.

I see the star only appears next to the Journeyman Crafts. Whats a Journeyman Item?

Asked by Ender

Answer

It means it's a new recipe after you recently trained your artisan. If you close it and re-open the star should be gone.

Journeyman is simply a certain tier of your artisan after you trained him sufficiently.

Answered by Pants

Is there a faster way to swap skills than the fullscreen menu?

Question

I know that Blizzard removed item sets from Diablo III to prevent shenanigans like swapping into a Magic Find set just before landing the last hit on a boss.

However, the same reasoning doesn't apply to skills. That has got me wondering - is there a way to swap your equipped skills without bringing up the full screen skill menu (default Hotkey S)?

Quite often I find myself with only AoE spells selected and I come up against a big boss with a huge health pool. I want to switch to a more focused single-target spell. Obviously this will incur the cooldown, which I am fine with. But too often I have to stand still for the 3ish seconds it takes to bring up the Skill menu, select the skill, choose a rune, and close out, which leaves me vulnerable to getting squashed.

Is there a faster way to switch your active spells?

Asked by dpatchery

Answer

Just about the only thing you can do to speed up the skill switching process is to right click on the skill you'd like to change. By doing this you'll jump directly to the skill selection for that key, bypassing one page of the menus you'd normally click through.

This is the only way to speed up the process of changing skills. There is no other way to automate or hotkey skill selection in Diablo 3. It must be done through this menu.

Answered by LessPop_MoreFizz

Where are the books that the templar wants from the Tomb of the Skeleton King?

Question

During my run through of the Skeleton King's crypt I found books with Loric's story (2) and several from the scribe.

The templar I met insisted that if we found any books about his order that they were his.

Further into the game, during Act II, he again mentioned books about his order and a willingness to share them.

I thought I did a good job of looking around, but I didn't find any books, did I miss them?

Are they strictly a plot device and don't actually relate to any game items?

Asked by Stephen

Answer

He can be talking about the book that drops from Jondar, where he discover some information.

As they journey together the Hero begins to ask Kormac about his past prior to joining the Templars, of which Kormac has no memories. He explains that like many Templars he was once a criminal who was purged of his evil ways and made to serve the light, forgetting his past. The Hero continues to as ask Kormac if he ever wantes to learn of his past, and persuades him to look into it, using the information from a book that his traitorous comrade Jondar had in his possession.

As Kormac reads the book he grows worried that he could be being corrupted like Jondar was, and fall back to his old away. Kormac finds information on the Order that shocks him, and comes to a passage which undoes the spell that removed his memories when he reads it, allowing him to remember his past.

Source

Answered by Michel Ayres

What rule system does Diablo III use?

Question

I am really interested in the actual calculations behind damage, how stats increase, avoidance calculations (e.g., miss chance, dodge, etc.), and so on.

How are these calculated? Is Diablo based on a role-playing system (such as GURP) whose calculations are publicly available?

Asked by Zainodis

Answer

There is no comprehensive list of rules yet, but the fine folks at MMO Mechanics have spaded a list of formulas to start off.

Player Life

Life when player level < 35 = 36 + 4 × Level + 10 × Vitality

Life when player level ≥ 35 = (level - 25) × Vitality

Damage

Damage on Character Sheet = (1 + passive skill boosts)*(Weapon DPS + ((minimum damage bonus + maximum damage bonus)/2)Attack Speed)(Weapon Damage Multipliers)(Attack Speed / Weapon Speed)(1 + ( crit% * crit damage %))*( 1 + (main stat / 100))

Spell Damage Modifier = (1 + passive skill boosts)(Weapon Damage + (minimum damage bonus + maximum damage bonus) / 2)(1 + (main stat / 100))

Defense

Total damage reduction = 1 - ((1 - DR from Armor) × (1 - DR from Resistance) × (1 - other DR))

Physical damage reduction = Armor / (50 × Monster Level + Armor)

Elemental damage reduction = Resistance / (5 × Monster Level + Resistance)

Offense

APS (attacks per second) = base weapon APS × (1 + dual wield bonus + other attack speed bonuses)

Experience

Monster level compared to character level      XP gain
3 levels higher and above                      125%
2 levels higher                                    120%
1 level higher                                     115%
Same level monster                             100%
1 level lower                                       90%
2 levels lower                                      80%
3 levels lower                                      70%
4 levels lower                                      60%
5 levels lower                                      45%
6 levels lower                                      30% (no +XP/kill from gear)
7 levels lower                                      15% (no +XP/kill from gear)
8 levels lower                                       5% (no +XP/kill from gear)
9 levels lower                                       1% (no +XP/kill from gear)

Group Mechanics

Normal

# Players   HP%    Damage %
1           100%    100%
2           175%    100%
3           250%    100%
4           325%    100%

Nightmare

# Players   HP%    Damage %
1           100%    100%
2           185%    105%
3           270%    110%
4           355%    115%

Hell

# Players   HP%    Damage %
1           100%    100%
2           195%    110%
3           290%    120%
4           385%    130%

Inferno

# Players   HP%    Damage %
1           100%    100%
2           210%    115%
3           320%    130%
4           430%    145%
Answered by Mr. November

Is there an advantage if I use knuckles with monk instead of daggers? [closed]

Question

Possible Duplicate:
Are class-specific weapons better than other weapon?

I am starting with monk and asked a friend what weapon I should use. He told me that my priority should be on knuckles and fist weapons. I started out that way but daggers seem to be much better because of their attack speed. Is it because knuckles work better with a shield or am I missing something? Why prioritise knuckles? Do monks get bonus damage for them or something?

enter image description here

vs

enter image description here

Asked by Melini

Answer

That particular fist weapon is poor quality, so don't let the low attack speed throw you off.

Later in the game, magic daggers typically have a base attack speed of 1.50 attacks per second. Fist weapons are a close second at 1.40 attacks per second.

If you want to focus on attack speed, by all means try to get these weapon types. But don't limit your options just for that reason. You may find a 1h Spear than is a lot slower but the other stats are so good that its worth using. It's all about your playstyle and what feels good to you.

Also note that later in the game you can find weapons with the + X% Attack Speed affix. I've seen plenty of swords and spears with 1.5 and higher attack speed because of this, and I'm only level 45 so it will surely go higher.

Answered by dpatchery

Do experience gain items on your pet affect your character in Torchlight?

Question

In Torchlight there are wearable rings that boost experience gain by a percentage. If I equip my pet with one of these rings, will this increase the experience gain of my player?

Asked by Sadly Not

Answer

It is unlikely that your pet's +%xp affects your own.

Looking at the similar stat of +% magic find, I know that if you give your pet +Magic Find items, they will benefit from the magic find only when they kill things (as opposed to you killing them. Your pet has magic find = to your magic find + any magic find items worn by the pet.

But the way this concept would work for XP is, if you have a +3% xp ring, and your pet has a +2% xp ring, you would get 103% XP, and your pet would get 105% (all of your xp%, + it's own). However, since pets don't accrue experience, this is irrelevant.

Answered by Raven Dreamer

How do you avoid Belial's poison attack?

Question

My wife and I just recently finished Belial in Normal and obviously the fight's gonna get much worse in Nightmare. I am a Monk and she's a Demon Hunter. Aside from the fact that Belial can't damage me that much because of my high armor(I have twice her armor since I have a skill for that), is there a way to avoid this? I tried telling her to go into a corner but she still gets hit and immediately just dies(I do know here items are great and she has a high Vit).

Is there a secret spot that she can stay in while she shoots Belial? What happened was me trying torevive her(Belial doesn't damage me that much) before we hit the final blow.

Or better, can I just kill Belial and she stil gets the exp(and items) after I revive her?

Asked by corroded

Answer

The key is to just stop attacking and move the moment there's some green under your feet.

You can get back to the fight as soon as you're back in the clear, and you won't take any damage. What's more important, staying alive, or a bit more damage?

When he does his huge multiple poison attack, just don't stop moving until it's over. Keep moving and aim for the spots that either were just poisoned (so they're turning back to normal) or are currently normal. So long as she doesn't get hit, she can join in the fight again once it's over.

If she equips strafe, then she can keep attacking even while moving if she really feels like she needs to put out that extra DPS instead of staying alive.

Answered by Mr Smooth

How do attacks work in Diablo III?

Question

Does Diablo 3 use a single-roll attack table, or does each possibility get rolled separately.

For instance, on a single roll table, any given attack has X% chance to hit, Y% chance to crit, Z% chance to be dodged, and A% chance to be blocked.

The alternative is a cascade, where each possibility is tried in order. I.e., Was it dodged? No, then was it blocked? No, then did it crit? No, so it's a normal hit.

Gearing strategies change a little depending on which method is used, so I was hoping someone could shed some light on this.

Asked by Raven Dreamer

Answer

Click To Loot's Combat Mechanics Compendium, among other sources, seems to suggest a two or possibly even three roll system, in which Dodge and Block are both checked separately from an attack roll. As far as I know, there is no concept of an attack 'missing' in D3. If the projectile makes contact, either it is avoided via Dodge, mitigated by block, or it does 'full' damage (reduced by Armor/Resistance as appropriate).

Regardless, this becomes impossible to test until it becomes possible to approach 100% Crit through gear. In general, mobs do not have a particularly large amount of dodge or block, so it's probably not possible to perform any sort of reliable testing without modifying game files (not happening) or an expansion that introduces large amounts of MUDflation (highly unlikely anytime soon). That said, if it's not possible to test, it's also not possible to build a gear set where that fact is relevant, so the point is largely academic.

Answered by LessPop_MoreFizz

How do I search for set items on AH?

Question

I was looking at AH today and found a filter for my search.

enter image description here

As you can see, there there is no option for sets (The green gear or tier, if you are used to Wow).

Is there a way that I can search for sets only?

Asked by Michel Ayres

Answer

Set items are legendary items, so you should find them in that category. There's no way to search only for set items, though.

If you're interested in one specific set item, just put the name down in the search box at the bottom left, that will filter out only this one set item.

Answered by Mad Scientist

How do I launch Sid Meiers Civilization 5 to play in offline mode?

Question

I have just installed Civ 5 from Steam. Is it possible to play it offline (without connecting to the Internet?) If yes, How?

Asked by GeoStrike

Answer

OK. I intalled the game myself and did a bit of testing. First of, you'll need to run the game once while the connection is still on, to complete all the installations and such. You don't need to play the actual game. Just exit once you reach the menu. (You might even be able to get out during the cutscene by pressing Alt+F4.)

After this, open the Steam window, go to File (upper left corner) and choose "Go Offline...". Steam will restart in offline mode (or at least shut down and be in offline mode once you start it again) that allows you to play the game offline. The game itself doesn't seem to have any additional need for internet connection.

However, this might come a bit late, since the free weekend is about to end. The game will most likely disable itself once the event is over, wether you're online or not.

Answered by DJ Pirtu

How many special abilities do champion/rare monsters have at various difficulties?

Question

Champion and Rare monsters have special abilities that enhance their difficulty. When I was playing on Normal difficulty, these mobs always had one special ability. On Nightmare, I've noticed that they always have two special abilities. Does this continue through all the difficulties? I've found some really nasty combinations of just two abilities, and I can imagine some horrific combinations of three, much less four of them.

Answer

Champion and Elite mobs gain an additional modifier for each difficulty tier (so 2 in Nightmare, 3 in Hell, and 4 in Inferno.)

Get ready to enjoy Molten Vortex Jailer Fast!

Answered by Ashel

What's the minimum item level where sockets appear?

Question

I'm working on a "fast secondary character level up" item set, and one thing I want is a low-level socketed helmet that I can stick a ruby in.

I don't remember seeing gems or socketed items until Act 2, however. Does anyone know the minimum "required character level" on an item that has sockets? Although I'm primarily concerned with helmets, having sockets in some of my other low-level power-leveling gear would be useful, so I'd like a general answer if possible.

Asked by agent86

Answer

After several days worth of research, using the items offered at the Auction House as a guideline, I was able to determine that socketed items are generally available as low as level 15. It does not seem to matter what item is in question (armor, rings, weapons, etc) - you must be level 15 to equip something that contains a socket.

Answered by agent86

What is Tyrael?

Question

Spoilers ahoy, if you haven't yet cleared Act 1.

Midway through Act 1, we learn that Tyrael used to be an angel. Upon disagreeing with his fellow angelic brethren, he opted to fall to Sanctuary and aid the humans in fighting the demons that were poised to overrun it.

Tyrael appears human - so much so that Leah doesn't believe him to be anything more than a man, until he shares his fall from heaven with her in a vision. Later in the game, he mentions that he is mortal, so presumably the gesture was not just symbolic, and he's not angelic anymore. However, humans in the Diablo series are descendants of the Nephalem - the offspring of angels and demons.

It doesn't seem like Tyrael's tearing of his wings made him partially demon, so what is he exactly? Is there any precedent or explanation for this in the lore?

Asked by agent86

Answer

Tyrael is a walking, talking Deus Ex Machina.

There is no precedent or explanation in lore other than 'Angels are powerful and they can turn one of their own into a mortal by ripping off his wings because that would be cool, OKAY?'

This is Blizzard we're talking about. There are tons of plot holes, and very few of them make sense. The best we can hope for is a retcon at some point in a piece of fiction or an expansion that makes a ham-handed attempt to explain things, introducing seven more complications in the process.

Answered by LessPop_MoreFizz

How to launch Sid Mayers Civilization 5 to play in offline mode

Question

I have just installed Civ 5 from Steam. Is it possible to play it offline (without conne? If yes, How?

Asked by GeoStrike

Answer

OK. I intalled the game myself and did a bit of testing. First of, you'll need to run the game once while the connection is still on, to complete all the installations and such. You don't need to play the actual game. Just exit once you reach the menu. (You might even be able to get out during the cutscene by pressing Alt+F4.)

After this, open the Steam window, go to File (upper left corner) and choose "Go Offline...". Steam will restart in offline mode (or at least shut down and be in offline mode once you start it again) that allows you to play the game offline. The game itself doesn't seem to have any additional need for internet connection.

However, this might come a bit late, since the free weekend is about to end. The game will most likely disable itself once the event is over, wether you're online or not.

Answered by DJ Pirtu

How to check Win/Loss for each hero in Dota 2?

Question

Before one of the last patches it was possible but after the introduction of "Performance Index" I don't see anymore the possibility to check the number of Wins and Losses for each hero.

Only 3 most played heroes are shown.

Most player heroes

How to see W/L of all heroes, maybe using some console commands?

Asked by Drake

Answer

As of now (29/04/2012), you can't. There is an external service who provides it, though.

It's this website: http://stats.dota2.be/. You have to create an account associated with your Steam account, so people won't be able to see others' individual stats. It seems they get their information from data mining every match played.

I'm not affiliated in any way with them, so I can't comment about security or anything. However, linking your Steam account is safe, as it uses the Steam API. In any case, I would recommend using a different password for this site.

Answered by Thiago Silveira

What does the Damage stat on the character sheet actually mean? How is it Calculated?

Question

enter image description here

The Damage stat on the character sheet is... not very well explained. I have trouble understanding why some items make it go up or down. It says I do 184.52 damage, but my weapon only does 34 DPS and does 8-41 damage per hit.

What is the formula behind this stat? What does it actually represent? Damage per Attack? Damage per Second? Some abstract constant? And what does this have to do with the damage done by my abilities?

Answer

So, the Damage Stat on the character sheet represents an estimate of DPS, but it factors in a number of stats, including some that you don't see clearly elsewhere on the character sheer.

First off, it factors in the bonus to damage from your characters primary Stat. We'll refer to that as S from here on out. S is a multiplier equal to your Strength, Dexterity, or Intellect as appropriate.

S = 214 (primary attribute)
        × 1% (bonus damage per point)
        + 1 (base)
   = 3.14

Next, it accounts for your chance to get a critical strike, as well as the magnitude of bonus damage gained from Crits. We'll call this C. Because we're accounting for the average amount of damage gained from crits, we can just multiply the crit damage by the crit bonus (as percentages) to get the multiplier. My Demon Hunter doesn't have any gear or talents that modify her crit chance or damage, so that makes the math here easy.

C = 5% (chance to crit)
        × 50% (bonus damage on crit)
        + 1
   = 1.025

Next, it accounts for Weapon Speed. We'll call this R for 'Rate of Fire'. This includes any modifiers that increase your Attack Speed, such as the bonus earned for dual wielding, or from having a Quiver equipped in the case of my Demon Hunter, I have a Quiver, and an Amulet that provide a combined 17% bonus to my bows base attack speed of 1.4. Fortunately, we don't have to do any math here. The character sheet flat tells me:

R = 1.64

Now we come to the big one. Average Damage, which will abbreviate as A in our formula. What we want here is the Average Damage done by every single shot. This includes bonuses such as those from the two Rings of Wounding (+2-4 Damage each in my case), and the Amulet of Wounding (+3-6 Damage in my case) that my Demon Hunter is wearing. So we take the base damage range of 8-41, and add on two bonuses of 2-4, and another of 3-6. We can just add all the minimum and maximum numbers together here, to get 15-55. Remember not to include elemental damage bonuses that are on your weapon - these are already included in the weapons damage range as displayed! Average the two to find A

A = (55 + 15) / 2
   = 35

Finally, you multiply this by any other percentage modifiers that you might have from talents. We can call these M. My Demon Hunter doesn't have any of these as I'm set up right now, but if I were to use the Archer talent, that'd be a 15% bonus, making

(M = 1.15)

Then we just do some multiplication!

Damage = SCRAM

3.14 × 1.025 × 1.64 × 35 = 184.74

We can account for the discrepancy because we took the character sheets word for the Weapon Speed stat, rather than calculating out the +17% modifier there ourselves. If, instead of using 1.64, we calculate out the weapon speed ourselves, we get R = 1.638, and then we see our expected result: 184.52

Now, it's important to note that, among other things, this number doesn't tell you how hard your abilities will hit. What it does give you a ballpark for is, if you fire off the same ability constantly, how much damage will you do?

But what if you do want to know how hard Evasive Shot will hit? After all, it does 125% of weapon damage. But what does that mean? Well, we can use our existing variables - we just need to remove C and R from the equation - C is still helpful for getting an idea of how much damage ten Evasive Shots will do, and R will tell us how fast we can fire them off - both important if we want to know how much damage we can do spamming Evasive Shot, but to know how hard an individual ability will hit, you can use this formula:

Ability Damage = SAME

Where E is the percentage modifier applied to your weapon damage by the ability. For Evasive Shot, E = 1.25

So, in the case of my Evasive Shot, I can expect it to hit for an average of 137 Damage.

So, what's the takeaway from all of this for you? Should you care about maximizing the 'Damage' stat on the character sheet? The short answer is, for most players in most situations, yes. You can rely on the '+ Damage' comparison tooltip to tell you whether something is an upgrade. The primary edge case where you might need to pay close attention to this is if you get a lot of your damage from an ability that you can't or don't use very often - if you can't spam an ability, R becomes much less important to you, and you should take into account that while the character sheet looks at the rate of fire, you might not care about it so much. In these cases, doing the math yourself might tell you that a slightly lower DPS weapon is better - if it hits hard enough to make up for the difference.

Answered by LessPop_MoreFizz

Why does my Plague of Toads make me croak?

Question

When my Witch Doctor hit level 11, I decided to take my Plague of Toads for a spin. However, a typical encounter for me with Plague of Toads goes something like:

  • I see a mob of enemies
  • I summon several waves of toads
  • The toads meander outward in a rough 45 degree arc
  • The enemies walk right through my toads
  • I am repeatedly pummeled by said enemies :(
  • I switch to some other skill and mutter "stupid *&@#! frogs" or somesuch under my breath

The other primary skills for my Witch Doctor thus far have been far more effective at dealing damage, both up close and at range. I keep thinking that perhaps it's a situational attack, but my other primary skills have been pretty generally useful.

What am I doing wrong with Plague of Toads?

Asked by agent86

Answer

You're not doing anything wrong per se, you just might not be using it in the most effective manner. Ideally, plague of toads is a good spell to use when your enemies are occupied by some sort of tank. Whether that tank be summoned by you or if it is another player or follower. Once they are beating on that... release the FROGS!

Experts agree... it's a ribbiting good time.

Answered by Tater596

Is there a way to increase the gold gained in selling to merchants?

Question

I have noticed you very rarely get anymore than 50 gold from selling something to the merchants. I was wondering if there was a way to increase the amount you get from them, or do they give you very low amounts throughout the entire game regardless of difficulty?

Asked by dennis

Answer

White items never really appreciate in value (even on Inferno, you're likely to get a massive 10 gold from selling them) - but magic items are worth substantially more as their required level increases. By late Hell and early Inferno, you'll find that most items command upwards of 200 gold from vendors, sometimes substantially more for weapons.

Answered by Ashel

What's the easiest way to explore my fortresses in adventure mode, without all the preparation?

Question

I'd really like to explore my fortresses in adventure mode, but I don't really like spending an hour to solve quests, gain followers, buy equipment and find the actual fortress.

Is there some kind of shortcut to get me closer to what I want?

Asked by Anna

Answer

The best shortcut is to prepare an armory for your adventurer at the entrance. Spend a few years making a suit of full masterwork adamantine gear, including adamantine underwear and mittens. Put all of it in lead/gold/platinum bins to prevent the items from scattering upon the fortress's death. After your adventurer makes it to the room, they will be nearly invincible (although some demons may still splatter you against a wall, and an adamantine chainshirt heated by dragonfire will burn your flesh the same as an iron chainshirt).

Bludgeoning weapons and shield bashes do not benefit from adamantine's exceptional properties, heavier metals must be used instead for best results. Silver is the best metal for war hammers and maces sans moods (If you have a moody weaponsmith who likes war hammers, get him some platinum or lead, the resulting weapon will hit with the power of a thousand suns).

This of course only works for adventurers which can equip dwarven-made armor. Dwarves and elves qualify. Most dwarven-made weapons should be good for any vanilla adventurer race, and having a sword that decapitates in one hit is always a plus; playing with a tiny race will obviously make regular weapons difficult.

Actually finding the fortress can be quite difficult. Make note of where it is on the world map when you create it (you may also use reclaim to see it on the map), then try to match its position to what you see on the travel map in adventure mode. If that's not helping, try to start with a civ that is nearby the fortress site and use legends mode map viewer to figure out how the position of your starter town relates to the fortress's position.

Answered by kotekzot

How does a sentry pick its target?

Question

I know my question is worded horribly...

             H
      {o}      D      S

The S in this case is the sentry. The D is a demoman, running towards sentry with Grenade Launcher. The H is a heavy, firing at the sentry. The o is a scout, and he is concurrently capping a point ({}signifies a cap point)

Will the sentry shoot the scout first? Demoman first? How does it pick its targets? Is it random?

Asked by Retrosaur

Answer

Whoever is closest to the Sentry Gun within its range will be targeted by it. If the target moves away such that another target becomes the closest, the Sentry Gun will switch to that next closest target. This is why during an ÃœberCharge, it's recommended that a Medic stand between his patient and the sentry to tank its gunfire, so that his patient can damage it.

Highly-coordinated team movements could theoretically cause a sentry to turn back and forth without allowing it to open much fire and cause too much damage, but given a typical game's fast pace, I haven't observed that happen yet.

Note that it doesn't matter what a target is doing; only their position relative to the Sentry Gun matters. Whether the Scout is on the control point or not, if he's the closest to the Sentry Gun then it will fire at him. Whether the Demoman or Heavy is firing at it, whoever is closest will be targeted.

Also, if there's a Spy using Your Eternal Reward, then as long as he is disguised he will never be targeted by a Sentry Gun, even if he backstabs somebody while already disguised and within its range.

Answered by The Annoying Pyro

What do you choose when leveling up?

Question

I leveled up a few times as the Wizard, and I don't understand my choices when I level up. There is always a "suggested" skill or rune, and I click Accept.

What can I do besides accepting? How do I customize a particular build? Can ignore certain skills and buff others?

Asked by ripper234

Answer

You have no choices when you level up.

You unlock new skills/passives/runes, but they're always unlocked at certain levels, you never have to choose.

Your only choices in this game are what gear you want to wear, and what skills/passives/runes you want to use right at this very moment, since you can change any of those things at a moments notice.

You don't pick which skills to unlock, and you don't pick where to allocate your stats.

When you level up, just check what new thing you've unlocked and decide whether you like it better or worse than what you're currently using.

Answered by Mr Smooth

How do armor, resistances and missile/melee damage reduction interact?

Question

How do damage reduction from armor, damage reduction from resistances, and missile/melee damage reduction interact?

For example, let's say I have

  • X armor which translates to x% damage reduction from enemies at my level
  • Y fire resistance which translates to y% damage reduction from fire from enemies at my level
  • 2.00% missile damage reduction.

What happens if I'm being shot by a missile which is supposed to inflict 100 points of fire damage?

Asked by Oak

Answer

In general, ItsColby nailed the basics of how it works. Damage reduction is multiplied rather than added. So 70% Armor and 30% Physical Resist doesn't mean you're a god who blocks all damage... you're actually blocking 79% of the damage. But read on for a closer look.


Armor is good against all damage types

I just want to mention that before I even get started, because a lot of people don't seem to realize it. Armor DR blocks all damage. Fire Damage, Physical Damage, Arcane Damage, etc. It's good against all of them. For any given attack, you'll always be getting your Armor DR as well as one of your resistance DRs. You'll possibly get other special bonuses, such as the special DR against missile attacks in your example of 2% Missile Reduction, but you'll always have at least Armor and Resistance.

Resistance is good against a single damage type

If a monster is hitting you with a sword, you're probably looking at Physical Resistance. If you're standing on some fire a molten elite just left behind, you're probably looking at Fire Resistance.

While it's possible multiple resistances might come into play for an attack (such a Diablo's Lightning-Fire breath), the conventional wisdom is that such attacks have their damage broken into components (though I haven't seen any Blizzard confirmation of that), and DRs are factored in separately for those. You can pretty much just think of it as two separate attacks hitting you at once.

What about Dodge?

Dodge doesn't really interact with damage reduction directly. Dodge is whether or not you flat out avoid all damage from an attack. If you dodge successfully, damage reduction doesn't occur because you avoided the attack and took no damage. If you fail to dodge, you get hit with the full attack and damage reduction is applied normally. There's no "partial" dodging.

How do I figure out how much damage I'm resisting?

The general equation to figure out your damage reduction is:

Total Damage Reduction % = (1 - Armor DR) * (1 - Specific Resist DR ) * (1 - Special DR) * (etc)

Damage Received = (Damage Taken) * (Damage Reduction %)

What about shields?

shield image

As you can see, shields have an Armor Value, a Chance to Block, and a Block Amount.

  • The Armor is added in just like any other piece of gear, which means the Armor value of the shield is working for you whether you block something with it or not.
  • The Chance to Block is the % chance that you'll get to reduce the incoming damage or a melee or ranged attack by the Block Amount.
  • The Block Amount is the amount of damage that will be subtracted from the attack after other DR is applied.

So the formula for damage received when a block is successful becomes:

Damage Received = (Damage Taken * Damage Reduction %) - Amount Blocked

How do classes differ?

The two melee classes, the Barbarian and Monk, seem to have a hidden DR bonus of 30%. This multiplies into the damage reduction just like any other special DR modifier, such as 2% Missile Damage Reduction would.

A specific example:

So in your example above, Thog the Dual-Wielding Barbarian has been neglecting his resistances but is wearing some very shiny armor. He's got 10% Fire Resistance and 70% DR from Armor. He's also got some boots of 2% Missile Damage Reduction. He gets shot with a fire arrow that does 100 damage. And don't forget he's got that 30% for being a Barbarian!

  • Damage Reduction = (1 - .70) * (1 - .10) * (1 - .30) * (1 - .02) = .18522
  • Damage Taken = 100 * .18522 = 18.522

Zoltan the Wizard doesn't have much in the way of armor, and is only at 40%, but his intelligence gives him decent fire resistance of 60%. Sadly, he doesn't have those nice boots that Thog has, but he is using a shield which has a 20% block chance and blocks an average of, say, 25 damage. As a wizard, he doesn't have Thog's innate damage reduction of 30%.

  • Damage Reduction = (1 - .4) * (1 - .6) = .24
  • Damage Taken (when his shield fails to block) = 100 * .24 = 24
  • Damage Taken (when his shield blocks) = (100 * .24) - 25 = 0

Zoltan actually does okay! Thog had great armor, but his low resistance really brought him down. Without that innate 30% for being a Barbarian, he actually would have fared worse than Zoltan, taking 26.46 damage on a hit. And if you factor in the fact that 20% of the time Zoltan will block the entire attack, in the long run it's as if he's taking about 19.2 damage per hit. Not bad for a dude in dress!

So do I want more Armor, or more Resistance?

This Blizzard forum post has a good discussion on how Armor and Resistance linearly scale up your effective health, so your first 100 points of Armor is just as good as your next 100 points of Armor in terms of your overall effective health, when looking at just the armor stat. So while armor and resistances have diminishing returns in terms of the % of damage that they reduce, they don't have diminishing returns in terms of your effective health.

That said, as your Armor and Resistance levels change, their value relative to each other will shift. You can look at this matrix to see what 1 point of Resistance is worth in terms of Armor to you at your current gearing levels. So let's say you've got 7000 armor and 200 resistance. You can see that 1 point of resistance is worth about 20 armor. If you're looking at some gear which would increase all of your resistances by 5 but lower your armor by 70, it's a good trade. If it would raise your resistances by 5 but lower your armor by 130, it's a bad trade.


Credit where it's due:

Answered by Sterno

What happens to Leah after Act III?

Question

At the end of Act III, Leah becomes

the new human host for Diablo (and all of his brothers).

What happened to her soul? Is she gone forever, like her father Aidan before her? Does the process of becoming the human host of a demon completely consumes your soul or is there still a possibility to save her?

Asked by Kappei

Answer

At the end of the Leah's Journey video from the Behind the Scenes DVD, Chris Metzen hints that Leah might return in the next expansion.

"Her spirit's still out there somewhere. There's a good girl there, that deserves to be saved and brought back from the abyss. So while we don't have any clue yet what subsequent chapters will be, (a couple of clues), I would bet that we would chase that down, because it feels right from a story level and it feels right from a character level."

Answered by CTristan

Can Rupture cause a chain reaction?

Question

Example:

Cleave: Swing in a wide arc to deal 120% weapon damage to the targeted enemy and 60% weapon damage to any other enemies caught in the swing.

Rupture(Cleave Rune): Enemies slain by this attack have a 100% chance to explode, causing 150 physical damage to all other enemies within 19 yards.

Once I kill an enemy and he explodes and kills an enemy will that enemy explode as well creating a chain reaction, or is it only the enemy that is directly slain by the cleave that will explode?

Asked by Emerica.

Answer

No, Rupture cannot cause a chain reaction.

I just finished testing this, here is the method that I used:

  1. Purchase a weapon with a low damage spread (high minimum and low maximum damage). This is important to distinguish between damage caused by Cleave (which does 120% weapon damage) and damage caused by the Rupture explosion (which does 85% weapon damage). If there is too large of a spread, it becomes difficult to tell in the videos which one is which. In this case, Cleave did around 43-47 damage against skeletons and Rupture did 27-31 or so. The weapon I purchased for this is called a Fleet Hulk:
    Fleet Hulk

  2. Run around in the Cathedral for several hours trying to find the ideal group of enemies, taking video and analyzing it for places where Rupture should be spreading but isn't.

  3. Upload and annotate the video (Here it is!). If anyone sees anything in the video that makes my conclusion seem incorrect, please let me know and I will try running more tests.

I captured quite a few other segments where Rupture also didn't chain, but in those cases it seemed like there was some doubt since the enemies were a bit more scattered. This video seemed like the most conclusive test since the enemies (especially the group on the right) are quite closely grouped but still don't cause any additional Ruptures despite an enemy dying from Rupture damage right beside them.

Note: In case you're wondering how far 8 yards (the range for Rupture) is in the game, here is a handy image.

Edit: Apparently the annotations got messed up on the Youtube video, I'll try to post a new version when I get a chance.

Answered by Brysonic

Friday, May 25, 2012

What is a “Pally”?

Question

Frequently, playing the Scout in TF2, I hear this phrase:

Thanks pally!

What does the pally in this sentence indicate? Is it his imaginary friend? A paladin? Is it a nickname for something?

Asked by Retrosaur

Answer

It means pal, like friend or buddy. Like saying buddy instead of bud, you can say pally instead of pal (or at least the scout does). It is not a reference to paladins or anything else - it's just a scoutism.

Answered by Sadly Not

Diablo 3 Hardcore Character just died during a 10+ second lag spike, will I be able to get him back?

Question

Question really says it all.

I was doing fine for about an hour. Beat Act I on normal, killed the Butcher by myself, then started Act II.

Just as I entered the desert with the Enchantress I hit a lag spike which lasted about 10+ seconds where I saw two enemies on the screen and I knew this was not good. So I quickly alt-F4'd only to come back and find my character dead and unable to play.

I know Blizzard is strict about Hardcore characters, but is there really no compensation for death due to lag? What if it were the Battle.net servers that caused the lag spike?

Asked by Microsis

Answer

From the manual of Diablo 2

Note: Blizzard Entertainment is in no way responsible for your Hardcore character. If you choose to create and play a Hardcore character, you do so at your own risk. Blizzard is not responsible for the death and loss of your hardcore characters for any reason including Internet lag, bugs, Acts of God, your little sister, or any other reason whatsoever. Consult the End User License Agreement for more details. Blizzard will not, and does not have the capability to restore any deceased Hardcore characters. Don't even ask. La-la-la-la-la, we can't hear you...

Probably carries over to Diablo 3.

Answered by Resorath

Can I compare weapons by their large white numbers?

Question

I'm currently using a two-handed weapon and wanted to try out high DPS one-handed weapons in the store. I can't tell if I can use the large white numbers to off-handedly compare DPS (pun unintended?). I.e., if I am ignoring bonuses from attributes (class DEX/INT/STR, attack speed, extra crit damage), will the sum of two one-handed weapons' big numbers exceeding a two-handed weapon's big number indicate an increase in DPS? Or is it largely useless/futile to compare weapons this way?

Big, white number

Asked by Sean

Answer

The big white number is the weapons DPS. For the most part, you won't go far wrong by always using the weapon for which this is higher, since it takes into account the weapons base damage, any bonus elemental damage, its attack speed, and any attack speed bonuses on the weapon. When dual wielding, you should average the DPS of both your weapons, then multiply by 1.15 to get a number for comparison to your 2H.

All that said, as you increase in level, the potency of having a weapon with points in your primary stat increases dramatically, to the point where a weapon with slightly lower DPS may still be worth using. The best guide for whether a weapon is an upgrade is not the large DPS number, but the Damage category in the Stat Changes If Equipped summary at the bottom of the tooltip. For more on how that's calculated, see here:

What does the Damage stat on the character sheet actually mean? How is it Calculated?

Answered by LessPop_MoreFizz

Who fights with pants?

Question

Diablo III has two achievements that involve fighting bosses in nothing but your skivvies: Naked Lust and The Hero's New Clothes.

enter image description here

Obviously, clothes are kinda important.

Which class is best at slaying monsters in the nude? If you're seeking to complete this achievement in multiplayer, does everyone have to strip down, or just you?

And perhaps most importantly, do weapons count, or are we going to be punching Diablo to death?

Asked by Raven Dreamer

Answer

I did the Cydaea achievement solo on a Demon hunter, and it is about as annoying as you'd imagine. First off, you only need to take off your gear at the end (obviously). Here's how I did it:

-Take a decently geared DPS companion. Mine was at ~500 DPS.

-Fight like normal, get her down really low (<10k). Then retreat to the other side of the map.

-Start taking off equipment. (Do NOT drop it on the ground.) This is annoying because you have to go into your inventory and you're pretty much blind the entire time, hence the retreating part. If Cydaea enters an add phase (lots of spiders spawning and Cydaea vanishes) don't stand still. You need to move and kill them ASAP.

-Keep in mind ANYTHING will oneshot you when you're naked. Smoke Screen really helped me.

-Once you're naked and there are no spiders alive, move your companion within range of Cydaea and hope they target her. She will spawn a small amount of adds even outside the adds phase, and she likes to retreat behind them, causing your follower to target them instead.

-If Cydaea isn't dead before the next add phase (about ~30 sec between them), put weapon back on and kill the adds while avoiding them. If you don't do this, the adds will pile up fast. When the coast is clear, unequip weapon and move back to Claudia Black.

-Rinse repeat

It took me about 15 tries, mainly because spiders can spawn right under you and oneshot you in a heartbeat when you're naked (Keep moving!). It might be easier in coop, with 1 player handling adds/optional ressing, and the other hurting her, but you won't have the follower and your naked DPS is roughly...10.

The other bosses? I haven't tried them yet, but they might actually be easier, because there's no adds, though having to dodge stuff (Belial...) while taking off your gear is probably the trickiest part.

Answered by M156

Can friends see how many people are in my party?

Question

Can people on your friend's list see how many people you are currently partied with?

Mainly wondering if they can tell when a game is full or when there is an open slot (not that I would ever avoid any of my wonderful under leveled/geared friends).

What about in a game versus while waiting in the menus?

Asked by Rapida

Answer

While in menus, if you are on their friends list, they will have an option to "Quick Join" you. If they mouse over your name in that list, they will see who you are playing, what quest, and who you are partied with (but not their names, just portraits).

In game, using just the friends list, they don't get this extended amount of info, however they will still see who you are playing as (name and class), what quest, and how many people.

Another interesting thing to note, if they are in a game, they cannot "quick join" you, they would have to be invited by you. However, they could leave their game and then quick join without an invitation.

This is all assuming you have the quick join feature enabled. If you do not, they will not have anything to mouse over and see if there are empty slots in your game. You would have to manually invite them at that point.

Answered by Tater596

Diablo III: The Rule System

Question

I am really interested in the actual calculations behind damage, how stats increase as well as dodging calculations (when does an enemy miss, when is a dodge successful etc..), how the overall health is calculated etc.. Are there any resources related to those details? Is Diablo based on a Role-Playing-System (such as GURP) whose calculations etc. are publicly available? Sorry for my ignorance here - I am new to Diablo, but I do remember, that Baldur's Gate for instance uses the A D&D - rule system.

Asked by Zainodis

Answer

Diablo 3 is not based on a pen-and-paper role playing system. All of the systems were designed specifically for Diablo 3.

Answered by bwarner

Does The Guardian's Path Passive Skill effect Spirit Per Second bonuses on gear and from skills?

Question

While dual-wielding, you gain a 15% chance to dodge incoming attacks. While using a two-handed weapon, all Spirit generation is increased by 25%.

Does the 25% bonus only apply to Spirit generated from attacks, or does it also increase Spirit per second from gear and mantras by 25%?

Asked by Mr. November

Answer

It also increases spirit per second from gear AND mantras by 25%

Answered by Albert Gil

How much damage do “Reflect Damage” creatures reflect?

Question

Does anyone know how reflect damage actually works? Is it a set amount per difficulty? A set percentage? Some combination of the two? Can life steal overcome the reflect damage enough that on average no life is lost or do the two stack in such a way the the reflected damage hits before the time-delayed life steal kicks in and it's still easy to kill yourself?

Asked by Palantar

Answer

From my experience it is approximately 5%. This was in Nightmare where some spell I was using on my wizard was doing about 700-odd damage and the ticks I was taking were in the high 30's.

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From some of these shots:

  • 104/1925? = 5.40%?
  • 97/1838 = 5.28%
  • 109/2070 = 5.27%
  • 109/2073 = 5.26%

At that low amount, you're not in danger of wild swings up and down if you stack lifesteal. That, or passive health regeneration could keep up with what you lose.

Answered by Nick T

When does Bait the Trap start working?

Question

Bait the Trap is a Caltrops rune which has this description:

Become empowered while standing in the area of effect, gaining an additional 10% Critical Hit Chance with all attacks.

Is the Critical Hit bonus active before the Caltrops are triggered, after they're triggered, or both?

Asked by Brysonic

Answer

If you take a look at this discussion you can see that the intention of this Rune is to set the trap and use its benefits while the enemies are approaching the trap. The ability gets the buff before the trap is sprung and after as well. Until the six seconds of the trap is up you will continue to get the bonus critical hit chance.

Answered by Emerica.

What happens if a follower meets themselves?

Question

I've started a run on Nightmare with my Witch Doctor, and I noticed that although I've started with all of my followers and artisans from the beginning, I still have quests that involve me meeting them for the first time.

In the Blacksmith's case, he just disappeared from his workshop and I had to go meet him elsewhere in town. However, my Templar didn't disappear when I met him for the first time in the Cathedral. At the time, I had the Enchantress with me, and they shared a few unique lines of dialog.

What happens if I take a follower to meet themselves? Do they sit the mission out and are replaced by their pre-follower selves?

Asked by agent86

Answer

As mentioned, they follow you for a time as they did the first time, and only after where it would have asked "Do you want X to join your party" the second disappears. The brief bits of bonus dialogue are as follows:

Double Templar

After releasing and talking with the "Warrior"

Templar: Why have you come here, brother?
Warrior: One of our number has forsaken his vows and joined the demonic coven that infests this fallen cathedral.
Templar: Damn that traitor! We will make him pay.

After re-arming

Templar: Evil cowers at the sight of just one templar. Two will bring it to its knees.

After killing Jondar he simply waits at the top of the steps then disappears.

Double Scoundrel

After meeting the clone:

Scoundrel (1): Wait, aren't you from the guild? How could I forget a handsome devil like you!
Scoundrel (2): Why, yes, of course! It's good to see you again!

He simply leaves when you start his quest at the waypoint.

Double Enchantress

After getting the first quest from her:

[Your] Enchantress: She seems very familiar...

At the roadblock:

Enchantress: You must be one of my sisters! How wonderful it is to see you again.

After the bridge she simply leaves.

Answered by Nick T

How does health link work, exactly?

Question

I'm kind of confused by this mod on elite enemies. Is it supposed to make it harder to kill each one individually? If so, how does it work?

Asked by Kotsu

Answer

The Health-Link description taken from here says:

This trait is for champion monsters only and it activates only if more than one champion is present. Health Link reduces the amount of damage taken by the champion with that trait by linking his HP to that of all other Health Link champions in the area.

This trait can occur only for monsters equal to or greater than level 51

In short, any damage one monster takes is divided between all monsters in the link, so providing X monsters with health link stay near each other, it takes X times as long to single-target dps a monster with Health Link than one without.

It should be noted that if monsters are far enough apart, their "link" isn't active, so you can dps them one at a time if you can separate the group

Answered by Rachel