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Diablo III: Reaper of Souls |OT3| Tyrael Looted: {[El'druin]}

IceMarker

Member
Props to Vanz, Metzger, and Havik for the INSANE runs this morning, on top of one of the best T9 Goblin vaults I've ever seen!

J9goS0P.gif
 

Maledict

Member
Same. I guess no D3 for me today.



I thought firebird was supposed to be pretty good now? I did notice on the PTR that unless I had a bunch of mobs and an elite on fire, my damage sucked, but I chalked that up to me not having the right gear to play around with it on there. Is it really still bad?

Yep - the fundamental concept doesn't work, and on top of that the numbers are laughably lower than all the other class sets.

The idea that things have to be permanently burning before you get the bonus is silly - it either means the set doesn't activate at all on trash, making it worthless. Or you have stood still for 4 seconds channelling onto a mob, by which point you are dead anyways (and it's incredibly slow).

On top of that, the payoff is silly. You would have to have set 80 trash mobs on fire before you get the same damage boost as Delsires gets all the time on any mob. Firebirds also doesn't have any defensive options, any group buffs or debuffs, and that damage bonus shrinks as you kill things.

It literally takes my wizard longer to kill a T6 half zombie that it does a T6 melee dmeonhunter to kill a rift guardian.
 

Nokterian

Member
Almost paragon 400 and with the help of Dunfisch here on gaf for giving me the vital pieces i needed for my build. Never ever have i been so fast to such a high greater rift nor paragon.
 
Band of might won't drop, ugh
Steamrolling (4 minutes average) gr 45 but i die sometimes so i'm not pushing hugher for now
Still missing furnace too. Gr60 should be easy
 

BigDug13

Member
I meant 2-3hours after hitting 70, might be more but it's really quick.

If you're on season, and seeing as how you're doing T1, did you miss the free set?

When you hit 70 on your first char in the season(won't work for others, it's achievement based), you get a mail(bottom left corner of your screen). This has 2pieces of your Jade set, which should let you do T2-3 easily.

Then you go to T2, go to act 2 and kill Kulle(don't need the bounty, just kill him normally). This give you yet another mail, with 2 more pieces of the Jade set.

Now you have 4pc, get some decent rares for other slots, increase difficulty to torment IV, do a rift to get a greater rift key. If you don't get a key try again until you get one(you can go back down to T2 or T3 if T4 is slow, but do it once to unlock GR), once you have a key, do a GR20 solo, it should be easy to do with 4pc and rares. Once complete, bam another mail, you now have 6piece jade and you should be able to handle T6. At that point you can go back to T1 and see how fast you kill a boss(spoiler, it'll take less than 5seconds).

General Jade spec is Haunt+Locust Swarm+Soul Harvest, the usual Spirit Walk and then whatever for other slots(piranhas probably), and make sure you use the passive that makes dots last longer to massively increase your damage. And gamble a Quetzacoatl(voodoo mask, so gamble helms), asap, as it also massively increases damage.

This season has a large boost in power very quickly due to the free sets, people aren't stuck on low torments for a while, instead you jump directly to T6/7 even with just rares in every slot. And farm for a few hours with a bit of luck and you'll be T9 ready.

Didn't know about the free set. Thanks for this.
 

Mengy

wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
I meant 2-3hours after hitting 70, might be more but it's really quick.

If you're on season, and seeing as how you're doing T1, did you miss the free set?

When you hit 70 on your first char in the season(won't work for others, it's achievement based), you get a mail(bottom left corner of your screen). This has 2pieces of your Jade set, which should let you do T2-3 easily.

Then you go to T2, go to act 2 and kill Kulle(don't need the bounty, just kill him normally). This give you yet another mail, with 2 more pieces of the Jade set.

Now you have 4pc, get some decent rares for other slots, increase difficulty to torment IV, do a rift to get a greater rift key. If you don't get a key try again until you get one(you can go back down to T2 or T3 if T4 is slow, but do it once to unlock GR), once you have a key, do a GR20 solo, it should be easy to do with 4pc and rares. Once complete, bam another mail, you now have 6piece jade and you should be able to handle T6. At that point you can go back to T1 and see how fast you kill a boss(spoiler, it'll take less than 5seconds).

General Jade spec is Haunt+Locust Swarm+Soul Harvest, the usual Spirit Walk and then whatever for other slots(piranhas probably), and make sure you use the passive that makes dots last longer to massively increase your damage. And gamble a Quetzacoatl(voodoo mask, so gamble helms), asap, as it also massively increases damage.

This season has a large boost in power very quickly due to the free sets, people aren't stuck on low torments for a while, instead you jump directly to T6/7 even with just rares in every slot. And farm for a few hours with a bit of luck and you'll be T9 ready.

I just don't see how some of you level so incredibly fast. I hit 70 by playing multiplayer rifts and it took me about six hours, that's fast for me. But now I've been playing T1 rifts in groups to level Paragon and after three hours I'm only level 36. Some of you just seem to be able to level incredibly fast somehow....

Good advice on the free set though. I only have two pcs of my free wizard set, I have to do what you said above and get the rest of it tonight. I didn't get great rolls on my pcs so far but I'll have to enchant it some to help it out once I can.
 

Maledict

Member
I just don't see how some of you level so incredibly fast. I hit 70 by playing multiplayer rifts and it took me about six hours, that's fast for me. But now I've been playing T1 rifts in groups to level Paragon and after three hours I'm only level 36. Some of you just seem to be able to level incredibly fast somehow....

Good advice on the free set though. I only have two pcs of my free wizard set, I have to do what you said above and get the rest of it tonight. I didn't get great rolls on my pcs so far but I'll have to enchant it some to help it out once I can.

Levelling in Rifts is very slow compared to levelling by doing bounties - in particular, cursed chest bounties. Combine those with romps through the Halls of Agony and you level much faster - because the new chain exp modifier for killing monsters doesn't work in rifts. You can end up with 200+ chains in Halls of Agaony Level 3, which is a huge multipler on the experience you are getting.

And re Torment 1 for Paragon, you should be able to do higher than that from the get go with the season sets. Even the crappy wizard set let me kill Kulle at T2 once I had hit 70, and then I was in Torment 3 straight away and aiming for the T4 for the final bits of the set.

GLevelling up and gearing up is so much faster in this season.
 

Dreavus

Member
How do I use Firebird's Finery?

The damage buffs seem very inconsistent to the point where I feel like I'm doing something wrong. Sometimes I see the buff on my bar when fighting an elite, and sometimes not, and sometimes I just get the buff icon for a long time for no discernible reason. I've been using Teleport: Safe Passage to help with mitigation for now since the set doesn't come with any (other than revive), but I am getting torn up by only T6 enemies pretty badly.
 

davepoobond

you can't put a price on sparks
How do I use Firebird's Finery?

The damage buffs seem very inconsistent to the point where I feel like I'm doing something wrong. Sometimes I see the buff on my bar when fighting an elite, and sometimes not, and sometimes I just get the buff icon for a long time for no discernible reason. I've been using Teleport: Safe Passage to help with mitigation for now since the set doesn't come with any (other than revive), but I am getting torn up by only T6 enemies pretty badly.

you should spread fire around on as many mobs as possible and you should basically be getting the 25% damage buff per mob you've got burning.

they will only burn for 3 seconds, so if you are not doing some sort of mass burning thing constantly you'll lose your damage buffs

the fire disintegrate should help you, hydra mammoth (fire), other fire spells. basically you need to use all fire spells with the firebird set
 
Hah! That's nothing. I still haven't had a perfect Obsidian drop, much less an Ancient one so I can enchant it with the new cube recipe...

Damn, good luck man. I'm still on the fence about using that new cube recipe, don't know which gear I should keep and which ones I should try for a better roll.

Which would still be 1%

I know, 1% doesn't seem much, but when I'm burning hundreds of millions on enchanted rifts trying to get another 0.3% for my Bane of the Trapped every 1% matters. Sounds silly but idc.
 

Maledict

Member
you should spread fire around on as many mobs as possible and you should basically be getting the 25% damage buff per mob you've got burning.

they will only burn for 3 seconds, so if you are not doing some sort of mass burning thing constantly you'll lose your damage buffs

the fire disintegrate should help you, hydra mammoth (fire), other fire spells. basically you need to use all fire spells with the firebird set

That's not how it works.

The damage boost only triggers when something is burning with the 3000% permanent burn from the 4 piece bonus. If you cast on a lot of mobs, it doesn't trigger at all - you need to focus fire to burn things to activate the bonus.

That's the problem with the set - it only works after you channel a fire spell on a mob for 4+ seconds to get the bonus to activate, by which point it's usually dead anyways, so the bonus isn't doing anything for you outside of bosses.
 

davepoobond

you can't put a price on sparks
That's not how it works.

The damage boost only triggers when something is burning with the 3000% permanent burn from the 4 piece bonus. If you cast on a lot of mobs, it doesn't trigger at all - you need to focus fire to burn things to activate the bonus.

That's the problem with the set - it only works after you channel a fire spell on a mob for 4+ seconds to get the bonus to activate, by which point it's usually dead anyways, so the bonus isn't doing anything for you outside of bosses.

that's... strange. it sounds like a bug to me. the set only says if "they are burning" -- they should be burning regardless as long as you deal fire damage over 3 seconds. having to get a permanent burn for every mob sounds like an awful bonus for only 25%. i guess its basically useless except for on bosses and high health mobs then. like its not meant to really work on small trash mobs on purpose.

(4) Set:
Dealing Fire damage causes the enemy to take the same amount of damage over 3 seconds, stacking up to 3000% weapon damage as Fire per second. After reaching 3000% damage per second, the enemy will burn until they die.
(6) Set:
Your damage is increased by 25% for each enemy that is burning. Elites that are burning increase your damage by 600%. You can only have one Elite damage bonus active at a time.

they changed the set for this season, right?
 

Dreavus

Member
Oh jeez, that's why I'm not seeing anything. Just tested and I saw the buff show up briefly when attacking a high health normal monster then disappearing of course when it dies.

It's almost completely useless outside of elites/bosses. What a goddamn disappointment.

EDIT: Was just talking to a buddy and he says you have to use the "bug" where you leave an elite/elite minion alive but burning to hold onto the huge buff for as long as you can. Not really used as intended, I don't think, but maybe that's the way to go.
 

davepoobond

you can't put a price on sparks
Oh jeez, that's why I'm not seeing anything. Just tested and I saw the buff show up briefly when attacking a high health normal monster then disappearing of course when it dies.

It's almost completely useless outside of elites/bosses. What a goddamn disappointment.

EDIT: Was just talking to a buddy and he says you have to use the "bug" where you leave an elite/elite minion alive but burning to hold onto the huge buff for as long as you can. Not really used as intended, I don't think, but maybe that's the way to go.

yeah that makes sense, just kite the boss around killing the smaller mobs.

i think it might be intended in some fashion. They do have the meteor resurrection as part of the set...
 
Two things....

One - May I please get an invite to the GAF Clan? ApathyReigns#1159 (NA)

Second - Playing a WD, trying to level up my own, but Ive played through the campaign a bajillion times. Would someone mind letting me be a useless tag-a-long for some power leveling?
 

Maledict

Member
The problem is its completely contrary to how you should play the game, you lose the bonus when you next kill an elite or boss anyways, AND even after all of that 600% extra damage is a drop in a teacup compared to Delsires (2000%), Tal Rashas (2000%), Helltooth (900% + a much better dot that requires no stacking) etc etc.

600% would have been amazing two seasons ago. Now it's actually very weak compared to what other sets do.

There might be a working 6 piece Tal'Rasha / 4 piece Firebirds that uses Disintegrate however, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that working. I'm not wedded to Firebirds mechanically, I just want to use lasers of death.

EDIT: The metoer effect is in replace of a defensive bonus weirdly enough. all classes get some form of massive defense boost now, but Firebirds gets an extra life instead... ;-)
 

th3dude

Member
Two things....

One - May I please get an invite to the GAF Clan? ApathyReigns#1159 (NA)

Second - Playing a WD, trying to level up my own, but Ive played through the campaign a bajillion times. Would someone mind letting me be a useless tag-a-long for some power leveling?

I'll be playing later tonight if you still need it. th3dude#1399
 

Mengy

wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
Levelling in Rifts is very slow compared to levelling by doing bounties - in particular, cursed chest bounties. Combine those with romps through the Halls of Agony and you level much faster - because the new chain exp modifier for killing monsters doesn't work in rifts. You can end up with 200+ chains in Halls of Agaony Level 3, which is a huge multipler on the experience you are getting.

And re Torment 1 for Paragon, you should be able to do higher than that from the get go with the season sets. Even the crappy wizard set let me kill Kulle at T2 once I had hit 70, and then I was in Torment 3 straight away and aiming for the T4 for the final bits of the set.

GLevelling up and gearing up is so much faster in this season.

That's excellent info, makes sense with the new chain modifiers. Wish I had known that yesterday, LOL!

I just worked my way up to G20 and got my free Firebirds set, and yeah now I can handle T4 fairly easily, I might even push it up to T5 or 6 but I think it would be tough for me until I upgrade and enchant a bit. That 6-pc Firebird's buff is wonky, like mentioned above. I think I'll work on going 4-pc with it and using another partial set or ancient legendaries.
 

eek5

Member
Is it bad enough that you would drop it for 4 piece Delsere? I've been trying to get a full set before I switch over. The damage doesn't seem too terrible, but there is no defensive bonus to FB except for the cheat death mechanic.

No you can't. 4pc del is just defensive for the most part. The bug has to do with the stacks of firebirds. For some reason it's like 24 stacks or 0 stacks. It doesn't build up like the set description so a lot of times you won't be doing any damage. Thankfully it seems to work on elites so when you apply firebird dot to an elite you'll get the 600%. I've heard that there is also a bug where you can apply a 600% dot to an elite, port out switch to non-fire skills and keep the 600% bonus for the rest of the game although I haven't tried it.


here are the actual steps:
Equip both a fire and non-fire resource spender
Find an Elite pack
Use the fire spender on some of the monsters in the pack until you get the buff. Do not use it on all of them, however.
Kill the rest of the pack without fire damage
Now, enjoy 24 stacks of the buff until you kill an elite pack with fire damage again.
 

Firemind

Member
This just makes me livid. Fuck off Blizzard you piece of shit.

Can't even close and reset the game because the game thinks it's still open
 

IceMarker

Member
Firemind, are you sure you're not just getting the achievement toast bug? Check your profile. I know I wasn't seeing my achievements popping up at first.
 

Firemind

Member
I didn't get the seasonal journey achievement popup, but when I check the list, the Zoltun Kulle T2 achievement is checked, so I don't know what the fuck is going on.

Edit: Maybe it's because the game already dropped two pieces, I have four pieces total, so it doesn't trigger haedrig's gift? If so, fuck you, Blizzard.
 

TP

Member
I don't remember 100% but I think I wasn't getting the pop ups either while playing solo. I do recall seeing them come up while in co op.
 
I didn't get the seasonal journey achievement popup, but when I check the list, the Zoltun Kulle T2 achievement is checked, so I don't know what the fuck is going on.

Edit: Maybe it's because the game already dropped two pieces, I have four pieces total, so it doesn't trigger haedrig's gift? If so, fuck you, Blizzard.

You get two pieces for level 70, two for killing Kulle on T2 and the last two for completing a GR20 solo.
 
reforging it is the only option

Maybe in the future..

That's the problem when you're playing for numbers. That's why I play for fun instead. That's why I'm still rocking my WW barb. Fuck leaderboards.

Funny that you mention that, it does sound a lot like I'm chasing leaderboards, but spoiler alert
I'm a console peasant. No leaderboards, no one to compare against, just my OCD kicking in when I can min/max.

I'm posting here because there is a lot of movement and more active members, but if that bothers someone just tell me.
 

Bombless

Member
Man, the new Shadow set is ridiculous. Still at T4 with only 6p and Conclave (litteraly the first leg ring that dropped once I dinged 70) and I have yet to see a non shielded elite/boss I don't one-shot. I suspect I need to up it past T6 to start seeing mobs surviving the first Impale.

Is that the case with all "starter" sets? (except Firebird's lol)
 

mercviper

Member
Man, the new Shadow set is ridiculous. Still at T4 with only 6p and Conclave (litteraly the first leg ring that dropped once I dinged 70) and I have yet to see a non shielded elite/boss I don't one-shot. I suspect I need to up it past T6 to start seeing mobs surviving the first Impale.

Is that the case with all "starter" sets? (except Firebird's lol)
SunWuko for monk is pretty garbage tier by itself too.
 

Dreavus

Member
No you can't. 4pc del is just defensive for the most part. The bug has to do with the stacks of firebirds. For some reason it's like 24 stacks or 0 stacks. It doesn't build up like the set description so a lot of times you won't be doing any damage. Thankfully it seems to work on elites so when you apply firebird dot to an elite you'll get the 600%. I've heard that there is also a bug where you can apply a 600% dot to an elite, port out switch to non-fire skills and keep the 600% bonus for the rest of the game although I haven't tried it.


here are the actual steps:

It's because it only counts as a buff when you plaster an enemy with 3000% worth of weapon damage so they get the permanent burning effect as outlined in the 4pc bonus. In the vast majority of cases you will kill the enemy before stacking that much damage, unless they are elite. I wonder if it'd be too strong if they changed it to activate on any active burning.

Any idea if that perma buff trick would be considered abuse of game mechanics? I might roll with this tactic for a while until I can build up another set.
 
It's because it only counts as a buff when you plaster an enemy with 3000% worth of weapon damage so they get the permanent burning effect as outlined in the 4pc bonus. In the vast majority of cases you will kill the enemy before stacking that much damage, unless they are elite. I wonder if it'd be too strong if they changed it to activate on any active burning.

Any idea if that perma buff trick would be considered abuse of game mechanics? I might roll with this tactic for a while until I can build up another set.

They could easily scale the bonus down and increase the ease of activating it resulting in the same max just an easier application and it wouldn't be imba.
 
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