Ok, this Textbook challenge had me learn a few things to necessarily be strong as I got limited stat/skill reset chances, I play HC and players8.

so i discovered a trick on horadric cube that helps a lot. basically:

- find a rare "normal" weapon with lots of % ed
- use ort + p saph + amn (everything is quite easy to find, specially on nm) with it
- and BOOM, you got a godly dmg exceptional rare weapon (same mods, only that its exceptional, so...)

now, you all know how to find rare easy, right?
yea, thats correct. GAMBLE (and dont get seduced by rings and amulets, they will eat all your gold in a sec. so plz dont!!!).

- get all those skill items such as staffs, minion heads, barb helms, druid pelts, sorc orbs, wands, scepters,
- get all mail-like armors
- get all exceptional magic armors
- and if you can, build an "edge" runeword to reduce the prices.

and sell them for GOLD.

now ill give you a spoil on where to find them EASY.

- get keys, if you are not assassin (yes, assassins dont need keys. THATS AWESOME. I DIDNT KNOW!!!)
- go upper kurast (yes, upper)
- enter sewers and reach sewers lvl 2. it must be somewhere CLOSE to upper kurast entrances
- enjoy endless loots around the monster of the loch ness

Also, sewers lvl 2 is a good place to find chipped and flawed gems. As well as it ALWAYS has a shrine. Sometimes it can be a gem shrine.

Hope this helps someone out. Peace!


edit: here, I am copying and pasting some interesting formulae from arreat summit that even I never paid much attention (think ive played battle net too much)

6 Perfect Skulls + 1 Rare Item = 1 Random Low Quality Rare Item of the same type
You can use this formula to get another chance at a Rare Item of the same type. ilvl = int(.4 * clvl) + int(.4 * ilvl) Player level matters. This formula will not work on items larger than 3x2.

3 Perfect Gems (of any type) + 1 Magic Item = 1 New Random Magic Item of the Same Type
You can use this formula to get another chance at a Magic Item of the same type. The ilvl = ilvl. This means to use 100% of the ilvl of the input item. It's important to note the difference between "the ilvl is set to a fixed number" like what happens in some recipes and "the ilvl of the output is exactly the same as the ilvl of the input" as is the case here. So if you're cubing for +skills Grand Charms, for example, you want to use Charms starting from late Nightmare, not ones that dropped in the Normal Blood Moor. You can use this formula (with an Amulet) to create a +2 Skills Amulet. And you cannot Gamble one before Character Level 84. Be warned however, that the chances of getting that on an Amulet might be very low (considering everything is available) and it might take a lot of tries. Rare Items cannot be used with this formula to create new Rare Items. You can also use this on Charms and Jewels.

Diamond (any quality) + 1 Staff (any type and quality) + 1 Kris (any quality) + 1 Belt (any type and quality) = Savage Polearm Class Weapon - this is amazing for act 2 mercs!!!
ivl = 50. The polearm will always have the Savage prefix (66-80% Enhanced Damage) and has a chance at getting a suffix as well. The polearm will be one of the following, selected randomly: Bardiche, Battle Scythe, Bill, Halberd, Lochaber Axe, Partizan, Poleaxe, Scythe, Voulge, War Scythe (put another way, any normal polearm or any exceptional polearm other than Bec-de-Corbin and Grim Scythe).


both that follow are great for runewords without using Larzuk.

1 Tal Rune + 1 Thul Rune + 1 Perfect Topaz + Normal Body Armor = Socketed Body Armor of same type
The number of sockets created will vary. The item must be normal and unsocketed. Low-quality items and superior items do not work. The item gets 1-4 sockets, randomly. However, the number of sockets is then restricted by the maximum number of sockets that base item with that ilvl can have. The chance to get X sockets in most armor is 1/4 (I.E: Mage plate has a max of 3 sockets, so it has a 2/4 [1/2] chance to get 3 sockets). The base of 6 was used in the ratios for all the above mentioned areas.

1 Ral Rune + 1 Amn Rune + 1 Perfect Amethyst + Normal Weapon = Socketed Weapon of same type
The number of sockets created will vary. The item must be normal and unsocketed. Low-quality items and superior items do not work. The item gets 1-6 sockets, randomly. However, the number of sockets is then restricted by the maximum number of sockets that base item with that ilvl can have. For example, if you have an item that can only have 2 sockets, there's a 5/6 chance of getting 2 sockets and a 1/6 chance of getting 1 socket.

well, there are some more, you should just check http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/cube.shtml

adios!

This post was edited by goathik on Oct 12 2014 01:03am

You said in a recent post that you've been playing for 14 years yet you're just now realizing you can upgrade weapons?

the info is useful, but most people allready know thise Things

@OP

Well it's useful. If you have motivation I'd suggest to make this post again with even more info and make it clear. Then it could be sticky?

why sticky a copy+paste from arreat summit.

sure it's useful, but everyone know these

Glad you realize how fun single is though ^^

I don't think he was serious. LOL

common knowledge; thanks for resharing

Ive been playing for all this time, but i could help myself without the cube. ive always sold the flawless gems ^^



yep, i just thought that perhaps they dont cos i didnt, truly



thanks for the idea. i would really like to contribute, but as many have argued: this is common knnowledge already.



ah, yea, pretty much of this, yea. btw didnt mean to become a redactor by writting this;



actually i was. as there are also many things you may not know, mr. 2009.



you're welcome this helped me cos ive been ignoring some cube recipes, and perhaps it can help someone else too


jsp, always so lovely

also you can upgrade runes! 3x El is 1x Eld, very good!

LOL