Quote (SinsOfTheSun @ Mar 14 2024 11:12am)

Not too bad scepter for budget :)

Ofc best would be a magic
3pcomb
3foh
3hammer
10fcr
2os

But I guess those are hard to find eh

Quote (XanderOptik @ Mar 14 2024 11:15am)

I get the feeling the 3pcomb/10fcr 3foh/3hammer 2os will cost as much as some used cars :P

Quote (XanderOptik @ Mar 14 2024 12:07pm)

Played around with the build a bit this morning using a budget scepter on 86fcr. Not sure whether I prefer 86fcr or 125fcr for the faster tele / hammer cast speed when I decide to spam hammers. So far I've had the best survivability using a Might merc, hes only really died from p8 Diablo's firestorm attack.

https://i.imgur.com/Le71sfs.png

Quote (SinsOfTheSun @ Mar 14 2024 12:55pm)

Trick for a budget scepter :

Reroll any blue scepter with 3 flawless gems
It reroll ilvl 30 (enough for +1 paly) with 1-2 sockets
New staffmods everytime
High chance of 10fcr at this ilvl

Easy temp +4/10fcr/2os scepter

Quote (Void511 @ Mar 14 2024 12:05pm)

cool scepter man - those are hard af to find : /

And yea mine doesnt do great vs D either but if you stack hammers well to double your dps vs him can usually kill him faster than he can kill merc

hoto would be better than that though due to the fcr allowing for more +skills elsewhere.

Pretty sure 3/3/3/20fcr doesnt exist on d2r but the 2os would be mostly pointless since there's nothing really useful you could even socket it with besides some res, which is already fairly easy to get in the build.

Quote (SinsOfTheSun @ Mar 14 2024 01:20pm)

20fcr is not possible on scepters

2os can be nice for 2x ist if you want to mf, else 30@

But yeah, the reroll trick is meant for ultra budget. I mean, I’m doing it while walking norm/nm. Simply keep a rand scepter in cube and reroll whenever you have 3 flawless gems.
At ilvl 30 with very few mods that can roll, you have high chances of having a +4skill scepter before you can even roll your first spirit cs

Quote (Void511 @ Mar 14 2024 12:05pm)

cool scepter man - those are hard af to find : /

And yea mine doesnt do great vs D either but if you stack hammers well to double your dps vs him can usually kill him faster than he can kill merc

hoto would be better than that though due to the fcr allowing for more +skills elsewhere.

Pretty sure 3/3/3/20fcr doesnt exist on d2r but the 2os would be mostly pointless since there's nothing really useful you could even socket it with besides some res, which is already fairly easy to get in the build.

Quote (KimSulki84 @ Mar 14 2024 01:44pm)

This is pretty cool bro

Quote (XanderOptik @ Mar 14 2024 02:08pm)

My merc survives probably +90% of the time or so. Occasionally those big firestorms just clap his cheeks though. I spent some time looking for scepters and this was the best one I could find. Gonna keep my eyes open for an upgrade but I can't imagine they're very common.

Quote (Void511 @ Mar 12 2024 05:53am)

Not sure if anyone has thought of this for a hybrid foh/hammer setup but I played around with using a pride merc to supply conc aura so that I could save points to pump up hammer synergies and it works nicely.

Here is the skeleton build with 3 different varriations

https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/0dqd0ylk

Set 1 would be best in slot gear for dps. The sceptre would obviously be hard af to find but it's nice to have a real end game option to strive for

Set 2 has 1 less fcr frame on tele, hammer and foh but packs a greater punch for those that like to see big numbers on the char screen (this build isnt as good as set 1)

Set 3 is a "budget" build that doesnt use a top of the line scepter and instead uses hoto. Still solid dps at a fraction of the price.


The benefit to using pride as stated allows you to save 20 skill points from concentration and instead invest those points into hammer synergies. The works out to around a 2k increase on hammer damage compared to a standard foh/hammer hybrid build with the same foh dmg and frames.

The secondary benefit to this setup is that you no longer have to swap to concentration when using hammers which increases QoL of the build and also allows you to use redemption without giving up dps to further boost QoL and survivability.

Let me hear your thought. Apologies if this was already what people were doing - it just occurred to me

Quote (Hamsterbaby @ Mar 13 2024 08:33am)

It is but, Hammers work much better on bosses except for baal, that dick head teles every now and then, but when he summons his tentacles I will FOH them and the bolts will shot gun baal. Pretty funny.