What does me wearing clothes have to do with anything

If you don't wanna wear clothes, I wont stop you. In the words of Frank from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. "Ooooo go for it, go for it."

My pre-enigma budget set up was



Eth elite staff insight (can be any elite eth weapon, I just like staffs low req and high min)
Spirit
Coven diadem
Loh
Highlords
Trang belt
Authority
Bk ring
Manald
Rare res / mf boots
Rnd anni and cheapest 15/15 non lock torch (just for res and stat place holder)
Rnd gheeds


Merc
Bulwork
Honor eth gt
Duress (ow)


Has positive all res with high fire /light res, and can go anywhere do anything in game. Handles most p8 tz / chaos just fine, merc is pretty safe behind a hephasto bind. Kills dclone in 3s, very solid overall. About 150mf

In todays pricing this is about a 1-1.2k build


Upgrading beyond this for me was arach + shako to replace Trang and coven at the same time. Add second bk ring, enigma then add meph book. After that upgrade merc to pride

I mean sure. If someone wants to just buy a grush and then get carried to level 80 or something then sure. Leveling just doesn’t matter if that’s what’s up for debate.

I am a huge fan of budget and comfort, if ladder were to reset as is without any nerfs then...

Weapon: ETH Shillelagh, Elderstaff, CV - Lazuk myself for insight
If none on market day 0 then non-eth is ok, arioc is okay but the price held value for too long

Shield: Spirit monarch - plenty of other options but its such a solid easy pickup, I usually just roll and sell spirit monarchs the first couple of days and use/swap the one I wear as I go. Other option is like ancient's pledge or whatever but I wouldn't waste those runes that early myself. Tbh I consider spirit monarch my "splurge" every ladder, I could be like ~150fg richer but whatever, I just put 156 str in my characters and don't like to think about it

Helm: Kira (fixes all res/cbf and always hyper budget and undervalued imo). Can also put on merc later, Kira+guardian angel merc is a cult classic esp for trav

Armor: Authority took me just a couple of countesses? insane price to performance. Want all those easy +skills.

Gloves: Laying of hands (% dmg to demons + fire res) or trang is fine, extra oomph for budget - I find myself doing demon content more than anything so LoH was hyper budget this ladder

Ammy: Seraph's Hymn, +2 skills, small %ed to demon/undead, was for pennies on the dollar, you only are fighting vs the paladin market but can usually get them for near nothing esp 2/1. I feel this one was undervalued compared to people's usual recommendation of highlord/maras

Ring/Belt/Boots Fix your res, grab whatever, most of the gear doesnt matter but you can't get cheap damage boosts from these slots as easily (+skills/ed) so they will be there to solve any holes in your defenses or use it for MF or hit FCR breakpoint, plenty of options that cost next to nothing/free

Grab any demon (trav) with (1) cursed (2) damageaura/fant whatever

Only part I havent figured out is Hex:Purge vs Consume vs Levitation mastery vs Blood Oath or whatever for dump points when on budget gear and access to only +6 all skills. My gut leans consume for overall dmg/survival/utility but someone smarter prob has the actual answer.

Different strokes diff folks, most people play arpgs for the loot, norm/nm is just a barrier.

/e there is a reason everyone rushes hell in teams on reset, instead of playing solo/slow.

This post was edited by ISellLeagueBoosts on Mar 2 2026 11:52am

I honestly found Tal's Mask a massive quality of life upgrade early on (dual leech, res, big life/mana stats), so don't sleep on that while leveling up. I also liked Lionheart runeword (extra % enhanced damage, big stats/life, big resists for a Fal and Lum)

thanks for all the comments! rly helpful! :-)
I will just leech dia hell until my toon is lvl 65 and then go for baal runs, so rly looking for viable end gear but not too expensive.