i don't see what you aren't getting

it lets you cast farther than you normally can

I do this in windowed mode.

you can only cast in the very corner/edge, so its basically impossible in windows mode because you'll click out w/o a mouse capturing thing

you can still start casting in the field and then holding it down and dragging over to the tab to cast further that way

^^^

ok thxs cuz i can only play on windows or else it laggs to much

I'm going to elaborate on matchups because theres still lots of n4ps out there:

fw has limitless potential. Compared to other builds that are restricted by the skill they use (ie. short range vs long range matchups) and really don't have a chance to win a certain matchupl, fw is lethal against everything. It's also one of the simplest builds to master...most builds have multiple attacks, and they need to look for openings to make those attacks, knowing when they can or can't get the kill. Fw is just tele tele tele fw, tele tele tele fw constantly pressuring everything.

This simplicity makes for some pretty easy duels, as always, I consider matchups as if I were dueling myself:

Hammerdin
If you can beat a decent-good hammerdin on a fw sorc, you can beat the best hammerdin just as easily...spam frost nova, don't tele in hammers, fw. If you have good mana and screw up and tele into hammers once or twice you'll probably still win.

Trapper
This one takes a bit more strategy if you want to call it that...but it carries a similar idea, any decent-good trapper will sit in traps, try to avoid fw, and mb you. The best trapper ever will duel the exact same way. Use the corners and c/t and drop walls on the trapper where you can't get mb'd, if you see an opening where they don't have traps, go for it and let them namelock you when you drop the fw. Just like hammerdin, if you can master this strategy you can beat any trapper. You can still screw up a few times and win thanks to our friend WSG.

Plague
Charge in w/ 0 life and lose vs stay back and rep and win. Pretty obvious...just threw it in because people still bring it up lol

The next 3 classes are the sorcs "weaknesses".

Charger
The weakness in this case is randomness. If the duel isn't completely boring and l8zy, you're going to be tanking some 2h charges. Stand next to a puddle/wall/river etc. so that if the charge does hit, it won't be a kb + multiple hit. Use invisible fws a lot, overall pretty boring duels >_<

Fb Sorc
The threat here is a good unexpected jump or just constant pressure. IMO equally geared, the fb has a slight advantage. If the fber is constantly locking you, walk along a fw and tele away when they jump you. Every fber ever will cast fb after they jump a lock, so they'll take a good amount of damage. Overall pretty fun/dynamic duels.

Tele Druid
Same as fb sorc, but less of a threat from a single unexpected jump, because even after 1-2 nados you should still be able to just tele away. A tele druid has a chance to take down a fwer with good constant pressure, but doesn't have as many opportunities to do it with a tele staff. Fw has a decent advantage, still fun duels though.

Tele Barb
Worth mentioning because its probably the single greatest LLD invention of all time. Basically a combination of charger/tele druid when it comes to dueling fw sorcs. Relies on good pressure + good hit checks and crits etc. Fw still has a good advantage.

lmk if I missed anything

windows mode is playing diablo 2 in a smaller frame. its harder to do things like c/t because if you click off the screen onto your desktop you can open other files etc

the benifit of windows mode is it gives you a higher frame rate because there is less to process for your video card.

To go into windows mod rightclick your d2 desktop shortcut and click properties and then type -w after the extension name now you should be able to play d2 in a window.

also you can config C the default (the character screen) and T the default inventory screen to any button (the technique will remain the same) I use z and x because i use asd keys along with w for swap and i find this is more comfortable for me.

hoepfully this helps explain a few things i thought his explanation was pretty solid though but im bias because i already knew about this for years lol

This post was edited by lld_mayhem on Aug 4 2010 01:11pm

Thanks for the guide

I finally got around to trying this (although I did not read your guide, just built on a small budget and went), guide has made a couple of things more clear vs just seeing you duel. I'll probably pick up some more gear to really give this thing a chance.

After just one night of dueling in pubs I can already see the unlimited potential if I were to invest in a good inventory and slightly better gear. Everything about this build is exponential rather than linear like most. The more mana you have - the faster you regen - the more room for error you have - the more aggressive you can play. Everything just scales so beautifully.

I still hold the opinion that if I ever actually finish this char I would feel obligated to delete it right then and there -- because it's just too goddamn good/lame/gay/OP/insertotherQQhere.