Hi

I am wanting to make a Melee Welling | Grinder character... at the moment I am only using a BARB... but I have 100% success rate at welling up until
my character level is 30 with the gear that I have access to. Therefore... I want to improve on the build, and I can only get assistance from those that
are in the know... or long-time Ladder Slashers.

Anyway... to get a better idea of how to help me... this is my main character and item mule for upgrading:
izDemonBash
izMage = Mule

Now... I am missing Armor for certain levels as I grind... so I know that I will have to invest in later on... so let us move onto the components of the items:

Because I am grinding Arena and Welling... I only pump Dexterity... nothing else... I have tried the Strength idea... and in Arena... he sucks.

My idea of components to look for on items:
1. More Enhanced Effect on Armor and Weapons... because of funds... this is hard
2. Stats: Intellegence (Reduced Magic Damage) | Vita (More Base Defense of Armor) | Strength (Added Damage)
... I recall that EE (ATTACK) is capped at certain levels... so... does this also effect added Strength from items? (does STR give same properties as EE?)
3. +XX% Life Steal
4. +Life Per Attack
5. +Life Per Kill
... Now... does LPK/LPA & Life Steal Stack?... Does any of these cancel out the other? Example: Life Per Kill cancels out other two (2) because monster is KILLED.

The list above is more than likely NOT cheap... but is ideal for this build... we can ignore the Strength since I feel I do adequate damage with my 22 Strength Charm.

Other Components to look for:
1. +X% Reduced Physical Damage
2. +X% Reduced Magical Damage
3. +X% Damage Returned
4. +XXX Maximum Life

The list above could also be effective is combined with a Hybrid Healer/Melee... meaning that his gear is HM/INT and Acc Charm is highest possible Enhanced Effect.
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So guys... what advice can you guys give me?
In time I will be passing some MQ's and get to Sammy/Paladin and hope that I can utilise the same concept to those classes...

Thank you in advance...

The best things which will increase your success with welling will to be getting higher enhanced effect on your weapons and plate mails, or to stat intelligence and get a heal charm with EE. The second option helps more at higher levels and you'll be able to last a lot longer rather than just getting max life (if you use a decent heal charm). A fighter would probably be a better choice for that than a barbarian because of the higher base intelligence, but you could try either one

Thanks for the advice... all noted.

I was thinking about the fighter... besides the 5 extra Int and better Dex... I was hoping more for the barb based on:
Vita (life and defense @ higher levels)
Strength ... for that added punch.

The second option adding INT... Stat gear options would be: Strength + Dex... More dex than strength maybe?
So... with what I have... I would get Weapon and Armor and a better heal EE charm with these properties:
A MUST HAVE: Dexterity + Heal Mastery (Wpn/Armor) and also highest Enhanced Effect as I can afford
ADDED PROPERTIES: LPK/LPA + X% Life Steal
OR THESE: + Max Life AND + Max Mana
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At the moment my main charm is sufficient with 248 Life and 22 Strength... unless I find better... OR should I was thinking that this charm would be better.

Mythical heal V
Level Req: 10
Heals: 18 to 48
Mana Cost: 45
+17 Strength
+3% Life Steal
+3% Damage Return
+1% Physical Damage Reduction
+10% Heal Mastery

This post was edited by izParagonzi on Aug 9 2009 10:30pm

I'd say that your main charm with higher strength and life would be better, because the 10% HM is pretty minor. Though it may be worth testing each one out because that life steal may come in useful

Once I get the items setup... I will definately test it out... never know.. might find better...
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On another note... some questions still need to be answered:

LPK + LPA + X% Life Steal:
1. Does any of those cancel out other
2. Would X% Life Steal be the main property on all 3 items? (Wpn/Armor/Charm)

This post was edited by izParagonzi on Aug 10 2009 12:03am

I know that life steal as a main modifier has become a lot less useful since it was changed, I think that it's more of just a very nice secondary mod now.

And I also know that LPA doesn't work on the killing blow anyways so that and LPK can't cancel each other out. I'm not sure if LS will stack on top of LPA + LPK though, but I assume that it would.

Thanks for the info... when I was using the +3% Life Steal charm awhile back... I did notice that it did not calculate the return properly at low/mid damage.

Example: 35 damage @ 3% return = +1 Life... I did not once see it give me 1 life when I was doing that damage.

I have been thinking more on this matter... I think I know what I need to get if I am going for pure melee.

Weapon And Armor:
+5% Life Steal
+3-5% Crit Flux | OR | +3-5 Crit
+60-XX% Enhanced Effect
+1-20 Life Per Kill

Charm:
+5% Life Steal
+3-5% Crit Flux | OR | +3-5 Crit
+1-20 Life Per Kill
+25-50 Strength
+25-50 Dexterity
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With the extra Crit / Flux... I should be able to get more higher damage with sword more frequently
The 15% Life Steal will be contributed by more frequency of the Crits...
Life per kill 3-60 (if stackable) will help... as you stated... final blow does not get LPA or % LL... so this is good

The reason why I did not want any Life Per Attack, is because I think it will cancel out the % Life Steal... so this is just assuming at the moment.
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Anyone think this would work?
If not... point out some ideas to improve it thank you...

anymore ideas