So I only been playing since like September, found out a lot by reading guides, relearned most all the incorrect info I read thru by asking questions and still am learning things myself, like: if you need to heal in solo, just whistle some lvl 1 monsters and heal.... <-- for real just realized this today.

Well, I was whistling lvl 10 monsters and just for fun I decided to kill a few rounds maybe 20~ and got a +4 tier 3 drop. Was crap but I see with no ML I can still get decent tier drops at whatever level I whistle.

If I was to pack out like 20+ ml on charm and armor, use my MQ wep, and whistle lvl 25-35 monsters, would the ml and quickness of kills outweigh the lvl penalty? Is there an actual chart for penalties or is it just a "you get less but dunno how much less and it seems to be more with higher level gap"

Tldr::: Is it less often drops or lower quality drops or both for whistle penalty and can this be outweighed with ML?

This post was edited by LordBerem on Jan 3 2019 10:19pm

This is personal preference and what I have done.

I do NOT whistle, I do NOT use Enhanced Effect armor (only STAT armor) and I use my level 25 Focus Heal up to level 73 (Samurai) while exploring catacombs.
The Focus Heal is the ONLY healing and ML (+7) item I use during the 48 levels. NOTE: I do however at times use /set easy 1 when spun a long distance on
explored areas.

When I am Paladin, or being lazy while on samurai, I will switch my Focus for a level 55 Wild heal (52% ee) with 30 Strength and occasionally whistle @ 71+

Is there a penalty, not that I would notice, but, I have noticed that it doesn't really make much of a difference in drop rate or quality, some catacombs will give
you good drops, while others will just give crap, this I believe is random.

Main things to remember, Weapon with high EE and no less than 1 tier below character level, Armor with 0 enhanced effect should be the same level as your character,
and the ML comes from your charm. When welling, this is where you can alter your setup based on the Tier you drop in to the Well, so you can concentrate on more ML.

Hopefully others will give you a bit more advice, I can not be 100% certain, but, I do believe @ level 55, if you placed a Tier V into the well, the highest Tier side drop
will be TierVII... a factor of two(2) tiers higher, so, placing a TierXII (level 45) item in the well, you can get a TierXIV (level 55) side drop... only thing to take in to
consideration, is the fact that you can KILL while using high Magic Luck.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, I only use 1 ability... Salvation, so my killspeed is based on my Weapon and Stat on armor or charm, but, @ level 55, I use 57 int lvl55 Chain with 0 enhanced effect because surviving on HC is essential. SC can get away with other things...


This post was edited by izParagonzi on Jan 3 2019 11:03pm

So with no EE on armor, you know a little more precise how many you can take? I don't quite understand why no EE on armor if that isn't the case. Or is the int for heals outweigh EE?

/e im not intending to well things, just wondering how bad is the penalty on drops if i hit 55 and whistled like lvl 25-30 monsters (which should be able to drop lvl 15-20 items cause im looking for a few items that level)

This post was edited by LordBerem on Jan 3 2019 11:24pm

I do have set Stat points that I have to reach (Hardcore based) as I am climbing, but, to give you an indication of what armors I use from level 25 to 55 could indicate what you could build on:

Magical mithril chain mail
Level Req: 25
Physical Defense: 24 to 62
Magical Defense: 0 to 16
+40 Strength

Arcane adamantium plate mail
Level Req: 35
Physical Defense: 38 to 114
Magical Defense: 0 to 13
+22 Strength
+1 Life Regen
+1 Mana Regen
+1% Magical Damage Reduction
+32% Heal Mastery
+2% Mana Skin

Legendary fossilized scale armor
Level Req: 40
Physical Defense: 22 to 91
Magical Defense: 17 to 51
+47 Strength
+1 Mana Regen
+1 Extra Equipment Slots
+1 to 3 Mana per Attack
+1% Quick Draw
+24% Heal Mastery
+1 Jubilance

Angelic ultimanium chain mail
Level Req: 55
Physical Defense: 53 to 133
Magical Defense: 0 to 54
+57 Intelligence
+8 Life Regen
+3% Damage Return
+7% Armor Pierce

Now, this is my level 25 Focus Heal:

Mythical focused heal VIII
Level Req: 25
Heals: 89 to 107
Mana Cost: 61
+113% Enhanced Effect
+7 Magic Luck
+6% Armor Pierce
+3% Mana Syphon
+1% Power Shot


Now my set rules are applied from level 1 upwards:
Reach 75 Vitality from level 1 first.
Reach 25 Intelligence after reaching 75 vitality.
Now, you need to reach a total of 95 base vitality and 35-40 intelligence by adding 5 stat points (5 levels) to each at a time.

So: Base Vitality = 95 Base Intelligence = 35-40 (this is also dependent on the EE of the charm used), now, rest goes in to Strength because I use either Longsword (75/25 ratio) or Battleaxe (50/50 ratio)

A Samurai starts with a base of 10 Intelligence, so this means 25 to 30 levels of stat points.

Now for Softcore, you could alter things, you could carry Regen gear where I do NOT, that is because I rely on Salvation ONLY... you need to find your comfort zone, also, I wish my armors had +X ML, it would be so much better with those stats...

EDIT: forgot to mention, it helps to explore so you can get certain objectives to help with extra stats, of course Pinch and Treasure Pest...

This post was edited by izParagonzi on Jan 4 2019 12:06am

Good question. And this absolutely is a no go.

You got a random lucky drop. Sheer dumb luck.

Try killing like 500 monsters. 400 will be nothing.. 70 will be t1 whites. 25 will be t1 magical-mystical. And 4 will be t2. With the rrmaiNing 1 spread out over every single other drop.

Even 1 level lower it's ridiculously drastically reduced drop rate percentage rarity etc.etc.

You can't stack enough ML. You can't even stack enough ML to offset it from 1 level lower.

All you will do is kill lots of monsters. Boring. Boring monster killing.

To put it simply, you can not win the lottery if you don't buy a ticket. It is just that simple.

He wishes to find the best odds, even if the outcome is a loss.

No. He wants to know whether, with the current MF at your level being a 6 digit lottery， mfing at a lower level but with magic luck. Which makes it an 8 or 9 or 10 digit lottery, whether enough magic luck can compensate to return it to a 6 digit lottery....

Which it can't.

Ml only applies to quality and not quantity. Means you won't get more drops, but have a chance on higher rolls on the drops.

Second thing is, that drops are tied to difficulty and level of the mob. If I remember correctly that only applies to the tier of the dropped item.

Both things have been said by Paul in the rewrite threads.

I think you are over thinking it. To keep one(1) thing simple, to find an overspawn item, you would need to have at least one(1) magic luck on your character as you climb... whether you are level 1 or level 185. Now we could go in to semantics and find the "sweet spot" of X amount of ML per level to give the best chance of overspawn drop rate, tier or other benefits like increased chance of MODS spawning on items etc. Neither you nor I have the answer, only Paul, BUT, the end result is this, what amount of ML can you add to your character while climbing WITHOUT sacrificing survival and killspeed.

It is the same logic as D2... You can have 200 ml or 1500 ml even with diminishing returns, the only thing you NEVER sacrifice is KILLSPEED. Why you ask, simple, the more runs you can complete increases your chance of finding great items.

But specifically. The more runs you can complete at the highest killing speed of monsters your level. Anything below your level is an absolute bust for magic finding even with 14/14/14.