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Aug 3 2021 02:38am
This implies of course that you play a necromancer. Both methods of course rely on the fact that act bosses have bonus damage against invocations which works against them.

The usual way to kill bosses fast is to summon a golem and use Iron Maiden; that works fine in Normal and somewhat in Nightmare, but it loses its effectiveness in Hell.

There is an even better, and damaging, method, for Act 4 normal and up: combine Thorns with Amplify damage. Not only does it work better, but it also works even better in Hell difficulty (if you know how AD works, you'll know why).

In order to get Thorns before Nightmare difficulty, have an Act 1 mercenary equipped with Edge, which provides a level 15 Thorns aura. Summon your golem of choice (I prefer clay golem, it's cheap and very tanky), AD the boss, see his hit points drop quite a lot from one single hit of his...

When reaching nightmare act 2 you can swap for a Combat merc which does provide Thorns as well, although at a lesser level (Thorns is capped at level 15, and the merc has to be level 75+ for that... Ouch).

The ideal is of course to wear Bramble, since it provides a minimum thorns level of 16, up to 21.

Oh, and this of course works for the Ancients too.

This post was edited by notfge on Aug 3 2021 02:42am
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Aug 4 2021 03:40pm
Just use Decrep + Clay Golem + Cold Mages to put them at a standstill. Your Merc should be using Might Aura as soon as you reach Act 2 NM.

Thorns and Iron Maiden is trash in PvM, why is that even a suggestion?
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Aug 4 2021 06:19pm
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Aug 5 2021 02:45am
Quote (eric1014153 @ 4 Aug 2021 23:40)
Just use Decrep + Clay Golem + Cold Mages to put them at a standstill. Your Merc should be using Might Aura as soon as you reach Act 2 NM.

Thorns and Iron Maiden is trash in PvM, why is that even a suggestion?


Two words for you: try it.

After that, see why you are oh so wrong about Thorns + AD being trash.
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Aug 5 2021 11:20pm
Quote (eric1014153 @ Aug 4 2021 05:40pm)
Just use Decrep + Clay Golem + Cold Mages to put them at a standstill. Your Merc should be using Might Aura as soon as you reach Act 2 NM.

Thorns and Iron Maiden is trash in PvM, why is that even a suggestion?


he likes to think he`s a special snowflake with builds everyone has already played
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Aug 6 2021 01:52am
Quote (Hyperdimension @ 6 Aug 2021 07:20)
he likes to think he`s a special snowflake with builds everyone has already played


Very funny. And I'm afraid you're dead wrong on that one. For some reason, I've never seen anyone play Thorns + AD this way.

Again: try it. THEN comment.
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Aug 6 2021 02:47am
Quote (notfge @ Aug 6 2021 03:52am)
Very funny. And I'm afraid you're dead wrong on that one. For some reason, I've never seen anyone play Thorns + AD this way.

Again: try it. THEN comment.


The only time I saw anyone suggest using Thorns or IM was to kill Duriel in normal if you were struggling on that. Last I killed Duriel in normal and NM, I didn't even use a single mana pot. Decrep and Clay Golem really is all you need. Throw Mages in there and you won't even get hit.
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Aug 6 2021 03:35am
Quote (notfge @ Aug 6 2021 03:52am)
Very funny. And I'm afraid you're dead wrong on that one. For some reason, I've never seen anyone play Thorns + AD this way.

Again: try it. THEN comment.


piatek's first video is literally that
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Aug 6 2021 04:15am
Quote (eric1014153 @ 6 Aug 2021 10:47)
The only time I saw anyone suggest using Thorns or IM was to kill Duriel in normal if you were struggling on that. Last I killed Duriel in normal and NM, I didn't even use a single mana pot. Decrep and Clay Golem really is all you need. Throw Mages in there and you won't even get hit.


I have no trouble with it at all. But you can't use Thorns for normal Duriel, so Iron Maiden it is.

Past that, though, you have Edge and AD, and then the fun really begins. Especially in Hell.
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Aug 6 2021 10:59am
Quote (Hyperdimension @ 6 Aug 2021 11:35)
piatek's first video is literally that


I've seen that... Why, though, wear both Edge and Bramble? Thorns auras don't stack AFAIR...
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