I have done a lot of offcasting climbs both solo and group (I am still wayyy below others who climb more) using bad, ok and good gear (never any of the elite gear :P). My experiences are very similar to what Bighead has outlined:


Off casting Sammy sucks, don't do it. Even with really good off casting gear it is much slower and painful compared to melee.

Off casting really becomes beneficial at higher levels, say 65+ when melee starts to slow down. Casting does more damage, but you need a decent mana pool to make it effective. This is also why off casting Sammy doesn't make sense, as going to 73 is easy enough melee.

Pally is by far the best offcaster due to having the best base stats, by quite a bit, of any non-casing class (75 Int+Vit vs 60 for Sammy/Monk/Ninja/Rogue)) and gear being much cheaper. Int Heavy armors and clubs are easy to find.

I prefer to off cast Pally over melee as the melee abilities for Pally suck, so you aren't missing out.

Offcasting monk/Ninja can be worth it if you have the gear as 65+ on those classes can be slow when melee due to having to use robes.

Warlock is the fastest climbing class in the game.

Offcasting HH is even worse than Sammy lol.

Offcasting playing mobile really sucks. You do a lot of shrining when offcasting and shrining on mobile is tedious. If I will be doing a mobile climb, I would only do melee.


In short, if you want to try offcasting, wait until you are Pally and give it a go. You will be doing a lot of shrining.

This post was edited by Nemo-dude on Nov 13 2024 10:34am

My main motivation for off-class casting, aside from killing sneaky has been to skill up profession skills (fishing/cooking/glyphing/suffing/muting)

Let me be the first to tell you that solo off-class casting is a GREAT way to have LOTS of free time to skill up those professions in town while waiting for mana to regen.

Hope I helped

This post was edited by BWConformity on Nov 13 2024 11:11am

Edit: responses since my original questions have cleared up those questions.

This post was edited by TheNextBestThing on Nov 13 2024 11:52am

works the same with melee full vita build

True but an even better strategy that gives you even more time to skill up while regenning in town is exploring and hunting EPs all the way to level 150+

Only works well for profession proficiency though... It's difficult to level up weapon/charm proficiencies when mobs crit you for over 10k

if helps at all can look at these mules. casting gear is lower tier and nothing was too pricy except for the mq robe. have done a low number of climbs with the casting gear but for myself my melee gear is faster (my usual delay was mana issues and having to town and swap to regen items since inventories usually partially full of items waiting to sell/well and not having lots of space to pick up items to shrine by higher lvls)

https://forums.d2jsp.org/user.php?c=3&i=621974&p=501316
https://forums.d2jsp.org/user.php?c=3&i=621974&p=501315
https://forums.d2jsp.org/user.php?c=3&i=621974&p=473497

personally i melee over cast every time and when i encounter sneaky i just swap to caster items to kill sneaky with many trips to town (can also msg casters and usually someone's willing and able to hlp kill faster)

This post was edited by phatshadow on Nov 13 2024 02:22pm

Well, it seems Off Casting character is your main objective as a Samurai, however (HOWEVER), none of the responses (even mine) have included Hybrid Samurai, Paladin, Monk, Ninja or Headhunter.

The gear needs to be insane. (Note: I did a Tri Hybrid build back in the day... Drive, Melee, Cast & Heal while tanking before you could go to town and shrine and Abilities.)

Weapon requirements:
... Enhanced Effect
... + Intelligence (&/or Vitality = Defense / cast attack / healing)
... Other mods like + Max Mana to off set low Int and Mana Pool

Armor requirements:
... + Stats (Intelligence #1 req, as for Str / Dex = Weapon Ratio nowadays... Int main)
... Other mods like + Max Mana (off set low mana pool)
... Enhanced Effect if you are wanting to Tank as well.

Main Charm requirements: (simple enough)
... Enhanced Effect (Cast or Heal as long as they have the following)
... + Int (cast / heal) combined with a Melee stat for your weapon.
... Other mod like + Max Mana (off set low mana pool) ... may even have + X% Magical or Physical Reduction

ACC charm requirement: This is just simple, the more EE the better.


The tactics are simple, cast when you can and melee in between or the other way around depending on your Mana Pool. If you are tanking, make sure you pick the right abilities for your climb. If you run out of mana and out of shrines and do NOT want to regen, use your melee attacks to get you to the next level (if you can) to refresh your Mana/Life Pool to full.

Simple as that... only thing is, getting the gear to support it.

First of all thank you to all of you who responded in this thread.

I had a pseudo revelation I wanna share with you all.

I think I’ve found a way to really enjoy Ladder Slasher. I love the simplicity of the game, but a few things have been frustrating—like how long it takes to find good gear, the hassle of selling mid-tier gear, and the smaller player base. Switching builds or gear setups feels like such a grind sometimes.

I originally left my old game because I didn’t have the time to fully learn the mechanics needed for its end-game content, even though I had top-tier gear. I thought Ladder Slasher would be better for my limited playtime because it’s so straightforward and easy to pick up. But I didn’t factor in how much the smaller player base would affect the experience.

Now, I think I’ve found a good balance. I’m going to focus on a full vita melee build in Ladder Slasher—something that regenerates and fits my semi-AFK style. At the same time, I’ll go back to my old game casually. Playing both together should give me a nice mix, especially with the short bursts of action in Ladder Slasher breaking up the monotony of work or downtime.

Thanks for all the insights—it’s helped me see a new way to approach things, and I’m excited to give this a try!

To this end I think I'm going to narrow the focus on my gear to High EE weapons that cover many classes (swords) EE armors, and Str Charms and I may or may not utilize existing heal charms that I own.

Thanks so much for clarifying for me a path forward I may enjoy!

Just another piece of advice since you are going for Full Vita.

Level 1 to level 25 or 35... EE weapon / +Stat Armor / + Stat Main charm, from level 35, start using EE armor.

I personally like to have +max life on my level 1 to 15 gear, or just one item like Main charm +X Str, +2xx Max Life as an example:

level 1 to 15:
Angelic heal III
Heals: 14 to 37
+15 Strength
+224 Max Life
+185 Max Mana
+3% Armor Pierce

or this one:

Arcane wild heal III
Heals: 4 to 47
+11 Dexterity
+227 Max Life
+1 Critical Strike
+1% Damage Return
+1 Jubilance
+1% Earth Mastery

At lower levels, the +2xx Max Life makes a difference and you can easily get to level 15 (or lower) before switching them out, also helps with low Tier wells.

hope this helps a little bit. Goodluck and have fun.

EDIT: Just for fun, it would be better if you had this one:

Mythical wild heal III
Heals: 4 to 47
+15 Strength
+11 Dexterity
+227 Max Life
+185 Max Mana
+1 Critical Strike


This post was edited by izParagonzi on Nov 19 2024 08:43pm

Irony is I'm doing the opposite.

I've got EE 15/25 and stat 35 no 45 back to EE 55.

Honestly didn't work out that bad tho. I really just wish I could find a great 35/45 EE plate and stay EE the whole way.

I am doing stat charm the whole way tho.