Season 20: The Season of Crazy Cubing!

[Orbert]

I forget now what the official name is, and I'm too lazy to look it up, but you know what I mean.

I like Hydras, so I decided to play a Wizard, even though Haedrig's Gift isn't the new Typhon's Veil set, which boosts Hydras and stuff.  I figured I'd grind my way through to 70, then start collecting.

Got her to 70 (Winnie the Wizard), had a few Level 70 recipes I could use for some gear, but needed chest armor.  Had a handful of Blood Shards already from running Nephalem Rifts, so I hit up Kadala and Bang! Typhon's chest armor right off the bat.  The next worst item I had was shoulders.  You guessed it, I actually got Typhon's shoulders on the third try.  Two-piece bonus already without even trying.  Don't hate me because I'm beautiful.

So anyway, the Season is off to good start so far. 

[syn]

lol

i'm trying the same thing but i'm not nearly as lucky as you are.

[Orbert]

So the 4-piece bonus for Typhon's Veil is geared specifically for defense.  It seems to have no advantages, only negatives, if you're not having any issues with squishiness:

"Damage taken is reduced by 8% for each Hydra head alive, as long as there is one available. Each time you take damage, a Hydra head dies, but no more than once every 2 seconds (4 pieces)"

I found the shoulders and had a RORG, so I tried out the 4-piece bonus.  It was depressing.  Basically, every time you take damage, one of your Hydra heads dies.  I have no idea why this is seen as a good thing.  The first part of it, "Damage taken is reduced by 8% for each Hydra head alive", sounds great, except that if you do manage to take damage, you start losing heads, so your damage reduction is also reduced (since it's tied to the number of heads, which keeps going down), and pretty soon you die unless you keep spamming Hydras to keep the number of heads up.

So I switched the shoulders back out, as I am not currently having any issues with defense.  Swapping out the RORG was not an option as it's in the Cube and I have Sage's and Captain Crimson's bonuses going on for now.


The 6-piece bonus "Hydras deal 1300% increased damage for each Hydra head alive (6 pieces)" massively cranks the damage, yay, but as soon as the action starts, heads start dying every 2 seconds, so when you need it most, your damage reduction goes down and your damage dealing also goes down.  Again, I'm not sure why that's supposed to be a good thing.  Presumably it's not as bad as it sounds on paper.

Been gambling gloves non-stop trying to get a fourth piece of the set, no luck yet.  I still need to try out the 6-piece bonus to see how it all works, but on paper it seems kinda wonky.

[Orbert]

Finished collecting the Typon's Veil set.  The deal with Hydra heads dying isn't as bad as I thought.  You can only lose one head every two seconds (which I knew), but that's actually a relatively long time during a battle (which I didn't realize).  Also, I find myself recasting Hydra pretty often anyway.  The cost is negligible and there's no cooldown, plus I think I'm used to plopping Demon Hunter Sentries all over the place.  That's a habit I need to break, or at least adjust.

Hydras are similar to Sentries in that you put them out there and they do damage.  I was initially disappointed that you still only get two, and they instead increased the number of heads, but I think they intentionally made the mechanics (and thus the gameplay) different.  The five-headed Hydras, especially with the 6-piece bonus, do insane amounts of damage.  So you choose your placement more carefully, move, and place them again.  Depending on the map, I find myself setting up a classic two-sided crossfire in open spaces, or leapfrogging them in corridors and gauntlet-type rifts.  So it's different, which I have to admit is better than just copying the dynamic involved with Sentries.

Went from T8 to T10 as soon as I finished the set, and could definitely go higher right now.  But sadly, I have to work today, so more later.

[Drozz]

I need tips and tricks on the enchanting socket in weapon quest in chap 4. I've spent millions of gold and all out of the forgotten souls I was hoarding. I had this trouble last season too. Any tricks to this one?

[Orbert]

Any weapon can have a socket.  Go to the Mystic and have her Enchant one of the Primary Stats of the weapon.  It has to be a Primary Stat.  That might be your problem.  Depending on the item, it should roll as a choice in maybe four or five rolls, tops.

[syn]

it should roll as a choice in maybe four or five rolls, tops.

or more. it just took me around 20 rolls on my current weapon. yay RNG.

you should check the options available in the slot you're trying to re-roll to make sure socket is possible; you can do that through the mystic window when you select which stat to re-roll. 

[Orbert]

Okay maybe more than four or five, but spending millions in gold seems pretty extreme.  I know RNG is a fickle bitch, but if I'm doing something I think should be possible, and it hasn't happened after a ridiculous amount of time, I double-check to make sure it really is possible.

When I first started, I didn't think about the difference between Primary and Secondary stats, and didn't know about the question marks in the window.  I just knew that the Secondary stats seemed weaker overall and couldn't figure out why I'd go broke before I'd ever get a socket instead of 1.3% Chance to Belch upon Striking a Demon or whatever.

[Orbert]

I know there are newer, spiffier, sexier weapons out there.  I don't care.  I still love The Furnace.



No idea what I'm gonna do with it with Int, but I'll think of something.

[Drozz]

Yeah, I knew about the primary stats and the question marks. I check it every time. I just think my personal RNG sucks.

[Orbert]

Sorry.  I tend to use up all the RNG luck around here.  If I didn't know better, I'd think I was cheating or something.  My luck is unreal sometimes.

[Ray Patean]

One quick tip for the socket... Use a rare weapon if you are low on materials and just want to check off the box on the journey. A rare will only use white, blue and yellow mats and some gold.

[Drozz]

Good tip, Ray. I wish I would have seen that. I did finally get the socket last night, but it took a while to get it.

[syn]

finally experienced a lag death. seems like others have had problems with that this season, but it'd been smooth for me until now. gear was mostly mediocre except for a primal amulet and weapon. annoyed... 

[Orbert]

My Hydra Wizard is still my go-to character this season.  She's the one who rips through Bounties when I need crafting materials, and Rifts when I feel like leveling gems or just collecting Blood Shards for gambling with other characters.

Trying to figure out what to do with the Primal Furnace, I remembered that the Witch Doctor has a new set this season, so I leveled up a Gem of Ease and stuck it in the Primal Furnace, then started a Witch Doctor and gave it to her.  She reached 70 insanely fast, of course.  I love that part.  I already had one of the pieces from a "non-smart drop", and started collecting more.  Then I finally read what the bonuses are, and they're boring.  I'm not a big fan of Spirit Barrage.  I mean, it's kinda different, but the collecting was taking a while, and if the big payoff is cranking Spirit Barrage, it just didn't seem worth it.  I salvaged her gear and deleted the character.

Started a Barb.  WhirlyBarb for now, since they're such silly fun.  Before I collected both swords, she was still Whirling with the Furnace, but I'd tranmogged it into a Blade of the Tribes, that thing that looks like a gigantic kitchen knife.  Watching her Whirl with that giant blade was insane.  Lots of fun.  Finally got the second sword (after nabbing three of the first one), so now she's pretty much geared up.  But now I have to work.