Welcome to classic, here is a info dump..
For the most part there are 2 types of gear on classic,
Barb gear and
Caster gear. This is because of str requirements, pretty much everyone other than a Barb wants to be pure vita on classic. When we say pure vita on classic, we mean it. We don't mean just enough str to use gear and the rest into vita, we mean pure vita.
There is of course exceptions to this, such as ornate paladins and bow zons, but for the most part it's
Casters and
Barbs. And 80% of
Casters want to be pure vita.
CastersMost casters str is going to top out at around 50-58, sorc's probably more in the 40's and maybe even 30's. The 58 str cap is to use items such as grim shields and grim helms. Both have a str req of 58 and the highest possible defense for shields/helms on classic.
Mage Plate are also a vary sought after armor base because of its 55 str req and 508 possible def. Mage plates have the highest possible defense on a armor under 58 str req, excluding things like -30 req shark tooth or templar coats..
Speaking of these armor types, some armors, gloves and shields, are going to be pretty much worthless. Even with "GG" mods, simply because they fall out of the range of casters str req, and are not high enough defense for barbs. Here is a example
https://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=88194373&f=245So what do casters want on gear? it's pretty simple. FHR, Life/Stats and Resistances (Cold Light Fire.) Either dual 20+ or tri Resistance. This is a good time to alk about Poison resis. Poison Resistance is not considered a resistance on classic. This is because it's pretty ez to deal with poison as long as it's not negative, and since 99% of casters use a prismatic ammy and shield so they are not negative. People will argue about this, but pretty much anytime someone is talking about "tri res" on classic, they are not talking about poison resistance. And if you find something that looks "GG" based on what you read below, but one of the dual resistances is poison.. Most people would not consider that to be a true "GG" item.
HelmsMax FHR on a helm is 10, Max Life is 40, No Str or Dex on helms, Max resistance is 30. A "GG" helm is the following: 10 FHR 31+ life and dual 20+ cr lr fr. Defense above 120 is considered high and a bonus, but mostly what is going to effect the price outside of those specific mods (FHR 31 Life 2x Dual cr lr fr) is going to be what the helm looks like.
ArmorMax Fhr on armor is 24, Max Life is 60, Max Str is 15 and Max Dex is 15. A "GG" armor is a bit more of a grey area because of the higher Life/FHR possibility and the fact that stats can roll. Ed or Enhanced Defense can also have WAY more of a impact on armor than it can on helms.
The same mods for our helm above, (10 FHR 31 life 20+ dual cr lr or fr) would not really be considered a "GG" armor if it rolled on say a breast plate. People will ask for more out of their armor, such as srt/dex or higher FHR/Life to meet breakpoints or help with other gear requirements.
The values for mods are greater on armor and stats are also possible so people will require more from their armor but the same FHR, Life/Stats and Resistances (cr lr fr) rule applies for what 99% of players are looking for.
BeltsMax Fhr on a belf is 24, Max Life is 60, Max Str is 20 (no Dex) Max Resistance is 30. Same rules as above (FHR Life/Stats and dual 20+ Resis) but almost everyone is going to require some amount of Str and life out of their belt after a certain point.
This is because outside of rings and amulets there are not a whole lot of places to get all the Str or Dex you may need for your gear, most Sorc's use a shard with 35 str and 51 dex req and most Paladin scepts come with 55 str rq.
This can make low Str req 4 slot belts (Dhides/sharkskin ect.) with FHR, 10-15+ Str , 40+ Life and Resistances EXTREAMLY valuable. I have not really seen a crazy one yet on D2r but you will probably be aware when they drop because the jsp trade forums will go bananas.
Bootys Max Run/Walk 30, Max FHR 10, Max Dex 9, and Max Resistance 40. The big thing to note here is the 40 Max resistance, because of this people like to see 30+ when it comes to the resis instead of 20+ "GG" Boots are pretty much the following 20 or 30 FRW, 10 FHR and 30+ dual Resistance (cr lr or fr)
Tri res boots are pretty common on classic, so much so that you LOD jerks (j/k
mostly....) come to steal them and convert. 30, 20 or even 10 FRW tri res boots with or without Dex or FHR are also "GG" and maybe even considered "Godly" if they do have FHR and or Dex. The classic forums will go bananas over these just like a GG FHR 20 Str 60 Life Dhide sash, and you may even see them get posted on the LOD forums for more offers.
GlovesWhen we are talking about
Caster Gloves, we are talking about Sorceress. This is because on Classic "all" (meaning 99%) of Paladins and Necromancers use Magefist, amazons use Death's set. Even shard Dins use Magefist and go for the 75% breakpoint so "all" caster gloves are sorc gloves.
So why would a Sorc use Rare gloves instead of also just using Magefists? Well not all sorc's have 45 Str for one, most do but some don't. The other main reason is because the amount of total Stats plus Resistances is greater if you cut out the Magefists and use Rare gloves and Fcr rings.
The rare gloves Fcr rings option is going to cost more, so most Sorc's will use Magefists and some stat rings with resis in the short term but most Sorc's want to upgrade out of Magefists. So what do Sorc's want on Rare gloves?? Stats, lots of Stats and lots of Resistances.
Max Str on gloves is 9, Max Dex is 15, Max Resistance is 30. "GG" Gloves would be 5-6+ Str, 10-12+ Dex and dual resis 20+ either cr lr or cr fr. Unfortunately fr lr is a bad look here because Sorc's want to stack cold resistance, and unfortunately again lower str requirements here can make or break the gloves. Light gauntlets with a str requirement of 45 is not going to be nearly as desirable here as some Demon hide gloves. Things like a 3rd resistance, Mana or half freeze duration will be what separate "GG" gloves from "Godly" gloves.
ShieldsAll caster shields need to be prismatic or "priz." There
might be some exceptions to this rule like a +2 100ed 17/30/20 grim shield or something close, but for the most part all caster shields need to be priz. On top of that all non Paladin caster shields need 30% faster block rate and 20% increased chance of blocking or 30/20
That means if your prismatic shield is not +2 to Paladin skills, it MUST be 30/20. You will see people selling 15/10 shields and some will even buy them for copium at the start of ladder but 15/10 shields are gross. Nobody other than paladins get get max block on classic so we need as much as we can get from the mods.
Prismatic or + to all resistances on classic can only roll between 16 and 20. On top of this the Max Resistance a shield can roll is 30, making the total possible resistance 50. (20 priz 30 resis roll) When a resistance rolls on top of a prismatic roll we call that being "stacked"
So a "GG" caster shield is pretty much the following, 30/20 prismatic with a 50% block chance. There are a ton of extra features that can come on shields such as 10 or 17 FHR, up to 9 Str, Mana, 1/2 Freeze, one or even two stacked resistances. These are the things that will drive the price up.
Lets talk types, hands down the best is bones and grims because of the 60% block chance. Towers can get 64%, but most consider the 75 Str req to be to high. After grims/bones it's round shields then defenders and spikes and some other shields tie at 50% anything under that like kites are less desirable
Paladin shields you just need it to be prismatic because of holy shield. Any +2 priz shield under 60 str req is going to be worth a lot 30/20, FHR, stacked resistance and high defense will push the price up. Looks go a long way on shields too, a red grim/bone is always going to be worth more than anything purple.
That is pretty much it for casters, rings ammys I hope are pretty self explanatory for the most part. I'll post in depth a bit more about them later but this is already taking way to long..
Also Classic Hardcore is a bit different, on HCCL you will see WAY more ornate dins and sorcs with higher str. Some sorcs even like to push for 75 str for that 64% block chance on the tower shield and as a whole they focus on defense more... Speaking of defense.
BarbsBarbs like Defense. Barbs can wear anything, Str req dose not exits for most of them because they have 170 Str. Barbs will happily buy you greaves or plated belts, and this is why pretty much all "GG" boots are worth something on classic.. But some barbs would much rather have some war boots with 100+ def than the greaves that were to heavy for your paladin. Or a belt that looks kinda bad, but has cold damage?
HelmsLooking for the same mods as casters but with 150+ defense, and FHR is not as desirable (5% ar is a really good replacement for FHR) This limits barb helms to grim helms, grand crowns and winged helms. This may seem like finding a helm is going to be impossible but remember, Barbs don't need the FHR on helm and they have Natural resistances.
So something that is pretty trashy for most, like 75% ed 150 def 31 life 10 cr 10 fr Winged helm. Something like this is perfect for most barbs and they won't have any competition except from other barbs.
Armor (Ornates)All Barbs wear Ornates. They do not care a bout FHR or resistances as much, what they want is high ed (defense 750+) and high life (40-50+) added Str is a major bonus because Str = Damage.
Things like FHR, resistances and -20% or -30% req on top, will still push a ornate armor into the realm of "Godly" but this is because Paladins will now become interested and Anc Axe Barbs with 125 Max Str like Ornates too.
BeltsAgain FHR is less desirable, they are more concerned with getting as much stats as possible. 20 Str, 60 Life and 100+ defense or as close as they can get to it. Cold damage can roll on belts and this mod will be more sought after by pure bvb's over resistances. While more barb vs all types might opt for resistances and FHR instead when they can find it.
Something like a Battle belt with 88 Str req, no FHR but 20 str 50+ Life and some cold damage might look trash and unusable by most, but a BVB will pay well for such a item.
BootysBarbs will buy your boots, again 30/10 100+ defense blah blah blah.. If your boots are good barbs of one kind or another will buy them. bvb's don't need speed and bva's and speeders do. Bvb's don't need resis but bva's do.
BONUS STUFF!! You might have discovered that someone people do not want mf on certain items. I could make a huge post about mf on classic and why this is, and probably will in the future.. but all those "GG" boots that people say "the mf ruined it" Popper barbs... Popper barbs want your mf gears.
GlovesLike belts and boots, Barbarians are open to anything and the wide range of builds for barbs makes lots of different gloves good for different builds. So I will just give some examples below at this point.
BVB, 80+ def 6+ Str 10+ Dex 5% ar
BVA/Speeder, 80+ def 6+ Str 10+ Dex dual resis 20+ cr lr
Popper or just PvE Barb, Dual leech 3%/3% with some stats or dual resistance, fire and light resis is going to be better for PVE, Magic find is gonna be a HUGE bonus! 20%+
Shields (Swordback HoldBVB will use Swordback a lot of times, but grim shields and pavise shields can also be used. Pavise shields, the upgrade to towers have 74% chance to block in classic, 1% from Max block. So a pavise in combination with other high defense gear such as grim helms and ornate plates can edge out the Swordback on barbarians with high enough shout lvl
So just a 30/20 100 ed Pavise can be worth quite a bit, and a priz one is "Godly" for a BVA
EXTREMLY high ed grim shields can work too for BVB just off of sheer defense but they need to be like 300+ defense. So 98% ed and the barb needs to be max shout and probably some into iron skin as well to win that fight.
WeaponsThere are 3 main weapon types barbs use in classic. Mace, Axe and swords, here is what you want to look out for as far as bases. For Mace it's going to be Martel de fer for your 2 hand, and Battle hammers for your 1 hand. For Axe it's going to Ancient Axe for your 2 hand, and Naga for your 1 hand. For sword it's going to be Executioner's sword for 2/1 Hand
You can also check Rune swords and Ancient swords for the 1 hand damage but most people when they buy a Executioner's sword they are done buying weapons. When it comes to the ed or enhanced damage on barb weapons 160%, or around that is a fair amount. Of course higher is better and the things that will push a barb weapon into "Godly" status is..
180%-190% ed, cold damage, Str and triple durability. The triple durability or trip dura is really sought after by popper/mf barbs and can slip under the radar, it's really good when paired with mana leech. however trip dura on a weapon with cold damage is useless.
Spears! This is the bread and butter of the speeder barb, the only base you are looking for is Lance. Triple durability is not as great on lances because lance popper is still pretty rough with only 75 dura.. But +1 or +2 to skills is INCREDIBLE on a lance because it helps raise all those meme skills speeder barbs love so much. Like Increased speed, Natural Resistances and Leap. Cold resis and -req is also great to have on a lance.
Polearms are a meme and throw barbs don't work on classic really.. Singer barbs do actually work on classic and can kill in Hell cs, but they are pretty meme too and you never see them.
Amazon?Amazon is in a weird spot on classic and no matter how you play it, half of it's gear is set in stone. They all use Twitch for armor and Deaths set for gloves and belt. All bow zons use Howltusk unless they rolled the GOD bow with knockback. Jav zon is going to want the same caster boot/helm/shield as any other caster but has more shield options thanks to twitch's increased block chance. Bow zons use vary specific minimum/maximum damage stat rings, it's some funky shit you probably don't need to worry about to much.. There should be enough info in here to keep you from tossing most good things.
If anyone wants to add/elaborate or correct/critique feel free but maybe just put a @Miku in your post instead of quoting me, if something of this size gets quoted a bunch it will turn into eye aides.