Guide: The Pit strategy v1.10, by Shadow 247

This guide covers item finding in the Pit, a high level dungeon area level found below the Tamoe Highlands in Act One. The Pit is the first Level 85 area found in the game, and the one with the easiest monsters.

Strategy guide info:

• Version: v1.10+
• Game type: PvM
• Character: The Pit Guide
• Author: Shadow_247

The Pit

This is it, it has everything I imagined it would, and then some. I have covered all questions that have been asked in the 3 previous postings of this guide, along with some ideas that came to me along the way. I moved the information around - now everything relating to the pit and MF is at the top. The other info has been placed into the 3 appendices - one for the character guides, one for the list of level 85 areas, and one containing the popular level 85 areas from that list with some more detail. I did a huge spelling check, so there should not be any huge grammatical errors. Formatting appears to be correct as well. I added a strategy section to each build guide, hopefully that will help out those in need.

As the new patch rolled in, many realised that some of the high hell bosses or super uniques they used to run for hours on end have become less rewarding. Either Mephisto was too hard to find, Pindleskin was to hard to fight, or Shenk or Eldritch just didn't drop the new elites they wanted. To add to that, most of the new ladder characters could not just jump up and go MFing in act5 of hell wearing minimal gear and having minimal magic find.

Yes the patch may have destroyed these places, but at the same time, it gave birth to a selection of new magic-finding areas in hell. These new areas could drop every single item in the game, and some of the better ones were located in act 1, of all places. One of these areas is The Pit.

For those of you who don't know where the pits are, what they are, why they are being talked about, and anything else you can think of, I hope to have it all summed up here. This guide can also be applied to most of the other new patch areas found through acts 1-3. I wouldn't go so far as to say that it is fit for acts 4&5, as they are noticeably harder than the first 3 acts and require some different strategies. You can find the other high level areas listed in Appendix A. In Appendix B, you can find some information on the other favourite areas besides the pit.

This guide can also be used to enhance your knowledge about how item generation works in the new patch. Discussion of magic-find in this guide does not solely apply to the pit, but rather, it is specific to the 1.10 patch as a whole. Most questions on item generation are answered in the below sections.

An added bonus, a collection of five popular pit runner guides have been included in this guide - Meteorb, Hammerdin, Strafezon, Wind Druid, WW Barb. These guides can be found in Appendix C. Most of these builds can be used throughout the game, especially in the other, new patch areas. This guide should hopefully prove to be extremely useful, and should clear up any unanswered questions anyone may have about the new 1.10 MF goldmines - namely, The Pit.

Where/What are the pits?

The pits, officially "The Pit", is located in act 1. Contrary to what some seem to think, when people say "The Pit" they are actually not referring to the "Pit of Acheron" or "Infernal Pit", both located in act 5. If you were hoping for a guide on either of these areas, you will be disappointed to hear that this is not that guide. You will be further disappointed to hear that, to my knowledge, one does not exist, and that everyday I pray that such a guide will never be seen to the light of these forums.

Pressing on. The pit is located in act 1, more specifically, in the Tamoe Highlands - the area before the Monastery Gate. There is no waypoint for the Tamoe Highlands, so most pit runners will take the Outer Cloister waypoint and make their way from there to the Highlands. Take the Outer Cloister waypoint, exit the monastery, and follow the road, which will lead you directly to the pits. This way has proven to be faster and easier than the Black Marsh route.

The pit consists of two levels - Level 1, and Level 2. On level 2 of the pits there is an uber chest (Chest that appears on the mini-map and drops many items). The pits have become a very popular location for Magic Finding (MF) since the release of 1.10.

Why are the pits so good for MFing?

The pits are one of several locations that have the highest area level (area_Lvl) in the game, with an area_Lvl of 85 in hell. The Worldstone Keep, The Mausoleum and The Ancient Tunnels all share this area_Lvl of 85, along with a few select others. These other areas are listed in Appendix A, and some are covered with slight depth.

The pits are only truly popular in hell. In nightmare and normal, the area_Lvl of the pit is too low to hope for many good drops. The reason the pit is popular in hell is because it has the same area_Lvl as the Worldstone, but is much, much easier. There are very few elemental monsters, only one comes to mind, so resists are not as critical here as in other areas. This means that it is easier to focus on MF.

The pit is not the only popular location to MF in. The Mausoleum and Ancient Tunnels are other relatively easy areas, with that high area level. The downfall of these areas is that they are filled with undead. Undead means no leeching for physical damage builds, which automatically voids several characters. On the plus side, the Mausoleum has no normal fire or cold immunes, and the ancient tunnels have no normal cold immunes. This means that a single element sorceress could clear the appropriate area with ease, where clearing the entire pit would be near impossible without a means to defeat immunes.

The pit, although having each regular monster immune to a single element (save poison) is often preferred. Some 1.10 builds run dual element, or have a way to defeat immunes so immunities are not always a problem. A mercenary, lower resist charges or -enemy resistance mods can all be used if in immunity trouble. The pit is preferred because of it's size - not only is it reasonably large, but it has two levels. The uber-chest and it's numerous packs of uniques/champions are other reasons it is preferred, and regarded as the new MF hot spot. Not only is the pit a hot spot for MF, but it also provides excellent XP. Pit runs can provide quick levels, so they are best started as soon as you reach hell and have sufficient equipment to withstand the run. Even at high levels, pit runs can make a slight dent in your XP bar, an added bonus to the MFing.

Which factors other than MF affect my ability to find uber-leet items?

mLvls, qLvls and TCs

First note that your character level (cLvl) has no effect on any monster drops. It is a monster's level (mLvl) that defines which items it can drop. Monsters drop weapons and armour from specific treasure classes (TC). TCs make up groupings of items with similar levels. A monster chooses a TC to drop from, and then an item in that TC to drop. In 1.09 weapon90 and armor90 were in the highest TC, now in 1.10, that TC has been dropped, and all weapon90 and armor90 items have been bumped down to weapon87 and armor87.

Sacred armour is in armor87, because of this, only monsters that can drop from armor87 can drop sacred armour. To get even more picky, set and uniques have quality levels (qLvl). If a monster wants to have any hope of dropping a unique sacred armour, they must be able to drop from armor87, and have an mLvl equal to or greater than the qLvl of unique sacred armour. The highest qLvl for a set item is only 55 - all hell monsters meet that requirement - but the highest qLvl for uniques is 87, not easily attainable.

Lucky for us, every monster in the pit can drop from armor87 and weapon87 - in effect, every base type item in the game. Unfortunately, only champions and random unique bosses have a high enough mLvl to drop every unique item in the game. This means that while every monster in the pit can drop every base item, some very high qLvl items can never be unique if dropped by normal monsters with an mLvl too low.

Monsters in the pit have high mLvls because of their area level. Several formulas exist relating area_Lvl to the mLvl of different monster types and to different props.

• Normal Monsters (NOT champion, unique, etc...) mLvl = area_Lvl
• Champion Monsters (Fanatic, Ghostly, etc...) mLvl = area_Lvl + 2
• Random Uniques and their minions ("Arzahd The Violent" - not Pindleskin) mLvl = area_Lvl + 3

Super Uniques (SU) are monsters that have a set spawning place and their own drop tables (Pindleskin). We don't need to worry about super uniques as there are none in the pit.

These formulas tell us that any normal monster in the pits will have a mLvl of 85, any champions will have mLvls of 87, and random uniques will have mLvls of 88.

Let's finish off with an example. We have a normal Dark Archer in the pits. The mLvl of this normal monster, according to the area_Lvl of the pits must be 85. Because the mLvl of the monster is only 85, the highest qLvl item that can be dropped is of qLvl 85. Again, take note that only champions, and random uniques and their minions can achieve drops of qLvl 86 or 87.

For info of what items are in which TCs look here (keep in mind armor90 and weapon90 are now armor87 and weapon87).

Prop Drops

Props are various things that will spew out items when clicked. In the pit, the most prominent props are the dead rogues that scatter the floors and the uber chest on level 2. Props are affected by area_Lvl, but not in the same way as monsters. We know that all monsters in the pit can drop from the highest TC. Props do not share this property.

The TC that props are able to drop from are not affected by area_Lvl. TC selections for props are hardcoded into the game. The highest TC that the chest in level 2 of the pit can drop from is TC 66 - specifically armor66 and weapon66.

Although TC selection is not affected, area_Lvl does affect the item level (iLvl) of the items that can be dropped from props. iLvl is important because it can affect modifiers that spawn on that item (such as enhanced damage or increased attack speed). Most people will take items of high iLvl to craft with or imbue, as the potential for good mods is there.

A monster or prop’s level decides the iLvl. The formula we use to assign an iLvl to an item is very simple. iLvl = mLvl (or prop level in the case of a chest)

Chests get their prop level from the area they are located in. There is a formula we use to give a prop a level. prop level = area_Lvl

In the case of the pit, because our area_Lvl is 85, the prop level of the chest on level 2 is 85. This means that the chest will drop items of iLvl 85. Fairly high iLvl items come out of the chest on level 2, the highest being 99. Items that drop from the chest, or anywhere else in the pit for that matter are very good to craft/imbue with.

Summing up, although the chest on level 2 can only drop from up to TC66, items that drop from it will have high iLvls. And although TC66 may not sound like the greatest, keep in mind that runes up to vex can drop, along with shakos, oculuses, and a handful of other uniques. If you're there, you may as well give the chest a click. Plenty of keys drop on the way to level 2, so picking one up shouldn't be too much of a hassle.

Number of Players In Game

Bluntly put, the number of players in the game increases your chances to find those uber items. Although it does not directly give you an increased chance to find a set or unique, the number of players in the game regulates the number of items dropped. More items will drop in an 8-player game than in a solo game. The chances are increased because more items are dropping, and more quality level rolls are being made to see if the dropped items will be set or unique.

Taking an example. If one sacred armours drop in your solo pit run, the chance of that sacred armour being unique is slim. If however, 5 sacred armours are dropped in one game the chances that one of them will be unique is greater. You need not be partied or within a certain radius of the other 7 players, so you can solo the pit in, let's say, a Baal run. The downside to 8-player games is that monsters become harder, and only top builds can handle them. If you can manage the pit in an 8-player game do it.

Other

The same unique cannot be dropped twice in the same game. An exception to this is that, luck permitting, a single monster drops two of the same unique. This means that you cannot find two Windforces in the same game unless they both came from the same monster/prop drop.

The term failed unique refers to a time when an item is dropped, but the qLvl of the monster that dropped it is too low for it to be unique, or no unique for that item exists. This unique becomes a rare of the same type with 3x the durability. For instance, if a normal monster wanted to drop unique sacred armour, but could not because it's mLvl was not as high as the qLvl of the item, a rare sacred armour with triple durability would drop instead. Failed sets are not an issue in hell, as every monster has a high enough qLvl.

How does my MF affect my ability to find uber-leets?

Magic find affects the quality of the items dropped by different monsters. The easiest way to explain the effects of MF on monster drops is with an example, but first, there are some things relating to MF you should know.

Our natural MF base is 100. All MF mods from equipment, or other items are added to our base of 100 MF, and then are further calculated to fit the quality of the item.

When we have no MF in our equipment our total MF (base and equipment) is 100%, and our chance to find a set item is increased by 100%. When our equipment MF is 100%, our total MF is 200% and our chance to find a set item is increased by 183%. When our equipment MF is 200%, our total MF is 300%, and our chance to find a set item is increased by 242%. The more MF we get, the less we gain in our chance to find a set item. These are called diminishing returns.

On to our example, let's say we are travelling through the pits, and we run into a champion with mLvl 87. This champion decides he will drop sacred armour. Our MF does not change which item he will drop, it changes the quality of it. He will drop sacred armour whether our MF is 1 or 400. MF decides the quality of the item (rare, unique, set).

If the sacred armour normally has a 5% chance to be set (Immortal King Armour), and we have 100% MF in our equipment or 200% total MF, the chance that the sacred armour will be IK armour as opposed to just plain old sacred armour, has increased to 14.15%. (183% of 5 is 9.15, 5 + 9.15 = 14.15)

So you can see, more MF equals better chance that the item is rare, unique or set. The above values are completely phony by the way, so in no way take them seriously. It should taken to note that in regard to rune drops, MF has no effect. Runes are purely your own luck in the pit, or anywhere else where monsters have not been given enhanced rune drops (The Countess for example has those enhanced rune drops).

For more info on MF percentages go here.

What is the best amount of MF to have?

As was seen, as our MF increases, we slowly get less and less of our actual MF counting towards sets. This also applies to rares and uniques, but not magicals. MF is not the most important thing in the world of Diablo. First comes survival (especially if we are hardcore), then comes speed, and close behind should come MF. If we sacrifice speed for MF, we lose efficiency. It would be better to do a pit run in 5 minutes with 500MF, than to spend 10 minutes with 700MF. (These are only examples)

A good balance for me has been 500%. The balance will change depending on the build we decide on, but very few builds are completely independent of items and can use only MF items. 350% is a nice place to start, and stay for some, as that is where the augmentations start to really get low.

What is the best build for pit runs?

This is probably the question I see the most, and the one without a perfect answer. I have had a few experiences first hand with using different builds, but I have also grown accustomed to what others use just by browsing the forums.

First thing to know is that each normal monster in the pits is immune to one single element (fire, lightning or cold). This means that for elemental users you either have to run dual element, or get a mercenary or other means of physical damage. No normal monster in the pit spawns with a physical or poison immunity. Although no normal monster in the pit can spawn with two immunities, know that random unique bosses can spawn with problematic immunities. Even two element casters will not defeat these foes without another means.

Another important point to make is that crowd-control usually defines the best Pit runners. If you can target hordes of monsters, you can make your way through the Pit quickly, and without harm. I will list all viable builds for the pits that have been played with and discussed since the realisation of the pit. This list is in no particular order of speed or quality.

Paladin

• Hammerdin (Blessed Hammer Paladin)
• Shocker, Freezer, (Paladin making use of one of the holy auras - Holy Shock, Holy Freeze)
• Avenger (Pally making use of Vengeance, Conviction, and select veng syns)

Druid

• Wind Druid (Elemental Druid making use of his wind spells)
• Werebear/Summoner (Druid with werebear ability making use of the summoning tree)
• Hybrid Werebear (Werebear making use of fire skills, both in shape shifting and elemental trees)

Amazon

• Bowazon (Amazon using a bow of some sort)
• Multizon (Bowazon using multishot skill among others)
• Strafezon (Bowazon using strafe skill among others)
• Poison Javazon (Javazon using poison javelin skills and synergies, lightning fury may be a secondary attack)
• Hybridzon (Amazon using both bow and javelins usually multi/strafe + lit fury)

Barbarian

• Concentrate Barb (Barb making use of the concentrate skill)
• Whirlwind Barb (The definitive cookie-cutter WW barb, uses Whirlwind as a main skill)
• ZerkerBarb (Barb maxing berserk, it's synergies, and a second attack)
• Singer Barb (Barbarian using his Warcry tree offensively. His find item ability can be quite useful)

Necromancer

• Skelemancer (Necro making use of his revives, skellys, and corpse explosion)
• Bonemancer (Necro making use of his bone skills, and sometimes poison skills)
• Poisonmancer (Necro making use of poison dagger, explosion and nova and select bone skills)

Sorceress

• Meteorb Sorc (Dual-tree sorceress with meteor, a synergy, fire mastery, and frozen orb)
• CL/FO Sorc (Dual-tree sorc making use of chain lightning, it's synergies and frozen orb)
• Other Dual-Tree Sorc (Sorceress making use of two elements in her arsenal (other than those above))

Assassin

• Trapasin (Assassin making use of different traps of different elements. Rare immunity problems)

• *None of the above should need to worry about immunities of normal monsters*

The following (may) run into problems with immunities of normal monsters*

Sorceress

• OrbSorc (Sorc using Frozen Orb, it's synergies, and cold mastery)
• LitSorc (Sorc making use of the lightning tree - chain lightning, lightning...)
• PureFire (Sorc making use of fire ball and meteor, maxes meteor, synergies and mastery)
• Blizzsorc (Sorceress making use of blizzard, synergies/cold mastery)

Amazon

• Javazon (Amazon making use of her javelin skills)
• Furyzon (Amazon maxing lightning fury, and its synergies)

Assassin

• Lightning Trapasin (Assassin making use of traps of a single element, lightning in this case)

Those are all the common ones that come to mind. The biggest being Hammerdin, wind druid, MeteOrb sorc, Bowazons, and Skelemancers. I have written a guide for five pit runners, four being in the top listing. If you want to learn about the different builds that I have not detailed, each class has it's own area in the strategy section of the forums and the users there have guides, or can answer your questions on most builds.

Also, some of the builds mentioned above have a full guide, archived in the strategy compendium. One such archived guide is the Skelemancer guide by Nightfish. This guide includes an alternative MF build and setup and can be found here. More can be found at the main page of the Strategy Compendium.

If you can't find anything that fits your playing style try to make your own builds - this is only the beginning of 1.10, experiment, have fun with your own creations, you may like what you discover.

I myself run the pits with a Hammerdin carrying 500% MF, and I love him. I'd recommend him as my #1 choice because he can clear out any area in the game and survive to tell his tales. Other more "pure" pit-only builds exist, but keep in mind - pit only.

Wrapping up. The Pits should not be a way of life. I know it may seem that way to some reading this, but remember everything in moderation. Don't be disappointed if you don't find a Windforce the first time through. Don't be disappointed if you don't find a Windforce the hundredth time through. The pit has become what it has because several of the popular .09 hotspots have been nerfed, also because the game cannot be played the way it used to in the high acts of hell. Read through the below Appendices, some of them may be extremely useful to you.

The pits are somewhere to kick back, and relax, don't get all tied up in them, and don't make them the sole reason you play. I find pit runs more fun than running stationary superuniques 24/7, but that's just my thought. When I'm not pit running, I try my best to find other places that take a while to move through - usually the other level 85 areas. Continuous, quick act boss or superunique runs are the reason this game tires me out. I enjoy the game so much more when I'm just playing, and pit runs bring that feeling back to me and let's me really have fun with it.

Always remember that sometimes it's good to get out, go elsewhere, so life isn't always ~The Pits~

Appendix A: The Other Level 85 Areas

List of All Level 85 Areas in Hell

This is just a simplified version of the full area level list that has been posted dozens of times. If you are looking for all area levels for all difficulties, just search, it should not be that hard to find it. All of the areas below have an area level of 85 in hell - the highest.

For some of the popular areas, side notes have been made. Boss packs are packs of either champions or random unique bosses. Note that the immunities consist of only fire, cold and lightning and apply only to normal monsters - random unique bosses can spawn with other immunities.

• Act 1 - Pit Level 1 (Few Undead; Any Immunity; ~6 Boss Packs)
• Act 1 - Pit Level 2 (Few Undead; Any Immunity; ~2 Boss Packs)
• Act 1 - Mausoleum (Undead; ONLY Lightning Immunes; ~4 Boss Packs)

• Act 2 - Maggot Lair Level 3
• Act 2 - Ancient Tunnels (Undead; NO Cold Immunes; ~6 Boss Packs)

• Act 3 - Sewers Level 2
• Act 3 - Forgotten Temple (Upper Kurast)
• Act 3 - Ruined Fane (Kurast Causeway)
• Act 3 - Disused Reliquary (Kurast Causeway)

• Act 4 - River of Flame
• Act 4 - Chaos Sanctuary (Boss - Diablo)

• Act 5 - The Worldstone Keep Level 1
• Act 5 - The Worldstone Keep Level 2
• Act 5 - The Worldstone Keep Level 3
• Act 5 - Throne of Destruction
• Act 5 - The Worldstone Chamber (Boss - Baal)

Appendix B: A subtle comparison of The Big Three of 1.10

The Big Three, no I'm not talking about the prime evils here. For me, The Big Three of 1.10 are the three easy, cheesy and sleazy MF spots of acts one and two. Believe it or not, the pits are not one of a kind - so to speak, and this guide can be adapted to any of The Big Three. Keep in mind that no other parts of the guide have been edited to follow the same suit as this section, so don't be surprised if you never hear the other two of The Big Three spoken of again.

Glancing above, we can see the list of level 85 areas. Below are the level 85 areas of the first three acts - only the first three, as the going gets tougher in acts 4 and 5.

• Act 1 - Pit Level 1
• Act 1 - Pit Level 2
• Act 1 - Mausoleum

• Act 2 - Maggot Lair Level 3
• Act 2 - Ancient Tunnels

• Act 3 - Sewers Level 2
• Act 3 - Forgotten Temple
• Act 3 - Ruined Fane
• Act 3 - Disused Reliquary

The Big Three, in my mind, are The Pit (both levels), The Mausoleum, and the Ancient Tunnels.

The Maggot Lair is listed there, but:
a) It's only one level (the last)
b) Nobody likes the Maggot Lair (I often hear the M in Maggot replaced to form a not so pleasant word)
c) It's noticeably harder than the other areas in that list

As for the act 3 locations, I don't believe any of them deserve as great recognition as the others. The temples are quite minuscule in size, you can only see 2 packs of uniques/champs at most in each one. Don't get me started on the sewers level 2, not only are they extremely tiny, and hold hardly any packs, they are near impossible to find.

To expand on the Big Three, I will go slightly more in depth with some brief info on each. Read the key at the beginning to know what you're looking for.

Area Name
1. Location
2. Advantages
3. Disadvantages
4. Normal monster immunities
5. Number of champion/unique packs
6. Best builds

The Pit
1. Act 1, Tamoe Highland - Walk backwards from Outer Cloister.
2. Two levels, uber chest, easy to find, many packs
3. Immunity problems, some ranged attacks
4. Immune to one of cold, fire or lightning
5. Level 1 -- 6-8 packs Level 2 -- 2-3 packs
6. Huge list in the build section

The Mausoleum 1. Act 1, Burial Grounds - Off a path beside the Cold Plains
2. Few immunes, all undead (for those clerics), uber chest, no ranged
3. All undead (no leech for melee), fewer packs
4. Only lightning immunes (No cold, fire or poison)
5. 4-5 packs
6. Single element fire/cold sorceress. Any non-lit/physical builds listed in build section

The Ancient Tunnels
1. Act 2, The Lost City - Look for a trap door leading into the ground
2. Uber chest, many packs
3. Hard to find, many immunes, undead (but not all - bad for both pure clerics and those who need leech)
4. Immune to one of fire, lightning, poison or magic (no cold)
5. 6-8 packs
6. Single element cold sorceress. Any dual element chars listed in the build section

If I had to assign a character to each area I would say:

• FireballMeteor sorc or Cleric for the Mausoleum
• Blizzard or Frozen Orb sorc for the Ancient Tunnels
• All other capable builds for the Pit

As I said, very slight detail. Looking at the above, many are ranking the areas from best to least. There is no real rank that should be assigned.

• Yes, the Pits have the most unique/champ packs, but there are many immunes and ranged attackers
• Yes, the Mausoleum has only lightning immunes, but there are few unique/champ packs and undead all over
• Yes, the Ancient Tunnels have a good number of packs and no cold immunes, but it is hard to find

The best idea is to try and fabricate one character that can run all three of these areas in one go. That way, you can keep yourself interested, and on your feet at all times. If you choose to only run one of these areas, pick the one that will be easiest for your build. If you can do the pit as easily as the other two, I highly recommend it. The pit can be located most easily, it has the most packs of uniques or champs (from 8-11 each game), and I find it to be really quite easy.

Then again, I wrote this immense guide, so my opinion just may be biased.

Appendix C: MFing in The Pits (The Guides)

This is a series of guides, for those who need a slim basis, a starting place, for pit builds. Most every piece of gear can be substituted for something else. For any particularly nice item, I have listed reasons, and which are the preferable mods. Ethereal items are the top choices for mercenaries, if you can go ethereal, then do so. The guides follow in the following order: Meteorb, Hammerdin, Strafezon, Wind Druid, and WW Barb.

MeteOrb Pit Guide

The MeteOrb sorc is one who uses two element trees - cold and fire. Her playing style can be varied with changes to equipment, and is not restricted to just The Pit. Because Meteor and Frozen Orb are both timered spells, mana is not a huge issue. The only true immunity problems she runs into are when she is faced with a random unique monster that spawned with an immunity to both cold and fire. This is where her mercenary comes into play.

Stats

• Strength - ~100 (Enough for gear)
• Dexterity - Enough for 75CTB with shield
• Vitality - All the points you can spare
• Energy - If you are lacking in items throw a max of 50 pts in here

Skills

• [20] Frozen Orb
• [~7] Cold Mastery (Have this at 17 with +skills, put these ones after all else)

• [20] Meteor
• [20] Fire Ball
• [20] Fire Mastery

• [1] Warmth
• [1] Teleport
• [1] Static

Equipment Setup

Because the sorceress is a ranged attacker, her equipment can vary greatly, allowing a lot of MF. She is playable even for those not as fortunate.

Main mods to look for in equipment are MF, DR, enhanced blocking, skills, life, and fcr. Cannot be frozen is usually not an issue with sorceresses, as it does not affect cast rate. Resists are not as important in the pit as in other areas - as long as you can maintain positive resists, you should be fine. Equipment discussed below.

Helm

• Shako, for it's MF, skills and life. Look for these mods in other helms.
• Tarnhelm, Stealskull, Peasant Crown)

Armour

• Skullders, for it's MF, and skills. Look for MF in other armours
• (Wealth, 4Topaz armour)

Weapon

• Ist'd Oculus because of MF, skills, fcr, life, and resists. Look for similar mods in other orbs (no staves here).
• (Death's Fathom, Eschuta's Temper, Rare/Magic orbs)

Shield

• Ist'd Stormshield because of MF, DR and it's CTB. Look for the same in other shields
• (Rhyme, Spike Thorn, Spirit Ward)

Belt

• Upgraded Goldwrap, because of affordability, max slots and MF. Look for the same in others.
• (Tals Belt)

Rings & Amulet

• MF in the jewellery is very nice. Look for skills or fcr as second mods.
• (Nagelrings, Rare/Magic amulet/ring of luck)

Boots & Gloves

• War Travs and Chance Guards simply because of the MF. Look for that.
• (Magic boots/gloves of luck)

Secondary Setup

Head back to the armour, belt and amulet. Tals partial set is a valid option, though if you want to you have to wear all three listed pieces. With these three pieces of Tals you get an MF bonus. The bonus, and the MF on belt and armour add up to slightly less than the Skullders combo. The upside is that you may end up having more skills, and most definitely more resists. Tals belt may be taken instead of Goldwrap, without the rest of the set. Although it has less MF than Goldwrap, no upgrade is needed, and it has dexterity, which helps with our CTB.

When shopping for charms, look for fire or cold skills, and life. Hope for annihilus and Gheed's as well.

Lastly, several mercenary choices are available to a sorceress, depending on how she is doing.

• Act 2 Nightmare Defensive Mercenary (Holy Freeze)
• Act 2 Nightmare Offensive Mercenary (Might)
• Act 2 Hell Defensive Mercenary (Defiance)
• Act 5 Hell Mercenary (Less useful in the pits)

The Act 2 MF Mercenary Setup

• Helm - P'Topazed Shako
• Armour - P'Topazed Skullders
• Weapon - Reapers Toll, Bonehew, Upgraded Meat Scraper

The Act 5 MF Mercenary Setup

Helm - P'Topazed Shako Armour - P'Topazed Skullders Weapon - Grandfather, Bul Kathos Colossus Sword

Strategy

Skill-Strategy

The strategy with our MeteOrb sorc is to use her elements together. Most will usually place Frozen Orb on left click, and meteor and fireball, along with their secondary skills, on right click. If you chose not to spend a single point in mana, fireball will not be the easiest skill to use, as it is quite mana dependant. Meteor and frozen orb however are both timered spells, and therefore not as mana dependant and will be much easier to use.

Meteor ~Fire - This has some strategy involved. Find an opportune moment when your enemies are standing still, and call upon a meteor. This is a timered spell, and not very mana dependant

Frozen Orb ~Cold - Target the pack of enemies, and try to let an orb go so it stops in the middle of the pack. This ensures that when the orb explodes, the most spikes hit the enemies and the highest possible damage is inflicted on that pack. This is a timered spell, and not very mana dependant

Fireball ~Fire - No strategy here, just bombard the pack with fireballs until nothing rests but their smoldering ashes. Not a timered spell, very mana dependant (especially with faster cast gear)

Static Field ~Lightning - Not so much damaging as useful, static field can effectively reduce enemies with no lightning immunity to half health - only half health. If you aren't up against lightning immunes use this skill on packs before you initiate an orb or fireball attack. Not a timered spell, but not mana dependant.

Killing-Strategy

Know that fireball and meteor are the most damaging skills in your arsenal, if you aren't up against fire immunes, only use orb as help to slow enemies, use the fire skills to damage.

The way to approach killing with our Meteorb sorc is quite simple. Approach a pack of enemies, static and let loose an orb. Your mercenary will wander up to them in this time, and will act as our tank. Let a meteor drop onto the pack that is currently battering your mercenary. In between each meteor, send some fireballs towards the pack, mana permitting. Killing a pack with this technique should not take long.

This is the best technique, but can rarely be used because of monster immunities. When immunity problems arise, one of the skills in the technique above will have to be removed. For example if you are up against fire immunes, all you can do is static, then throw orbs until they drop.

Hammerdin Pit Guide

The Hammerdin is a paladin who uses Blessed Hammer as his main attack. By maxing it, it's synergies, and it's partnered aura he truly is only of the fastest killers in the game. His playing style is not restricted just to The Pit, but to most areas in the game. He only has trouble in very enclosed spaces, such as the Maggot Lair. There is only a single unique monster that spawns with an immunity to his hammers, and chances are you will rarely, if ever pass by him. Most Hammerdins get a Holy Freeze mercenary to tag along.

Stats

• Strength - ~100 (Enough for gear)
• Dexterity - ~135 (Enough for 75CTB with shield)
• Vitality - All the points you can spare
• Energy - None

Skills

• [20] Blessed Hammer
• [1+] Holy Shield (rest of points here)

• [20] Blessed Aim
• [20] Concentration

• [20] Vigor
• [1] Redemption
• [1] Meditation (for teleporting with enigma - not necessary)

Equipment Setup

Because the Hammerdin does not attack with his weapon, damage is insignificant, and allows for a lot of MF. An excellent Hammerdin is not an cheap build - but a Hammerdin of average quality, can play through, especially in the pits.

Main mods to look for in equipment are MF, enhanced blocking, skills, and life. Cannot be frozen is quite critical here, unless you are teleporting. You should have fairly high resists, but even so, resists are hardly a worry in the pit.

Helm

• Shako, for it's MF, skills and life. Look for these mods in other helms.
• (Tarnhelm, Stealskull, Peasant Crown)

Armour

• Enigma, for it's MF, skills, teleport, and all it's other great mods. Look for MF and skills in other armours
• (Skullder's, Wealth, 4Topaz armour)

Weapon

• IstIst Ali Baba, for it's MF, and dexterity. Look for MF in weapons.
• (Gull, Ist Wizardspike)

Shield

• Ist Herald of Zak, for it's skills, MF, CTB, resists - this shield is too good.
• (Rhyme, Ist Alma Negra)

Belt

• Upgraded Goldwrap, because of affordability, max slots and MF. Look for the same in others.
• (Tals Belt)

Rings & Amulet

• MF in the jewellery is very nice. Look for skills in the amulet as a second mod.
• (Nagelrings, Rare/Magic amulet/ring of luck)

Boots & Gloves

• War Travs and Chance Guards simply because of the MF and Frw. Look for that.
• (Magic boots/gloves of luck)

Secondary Setup

Hop back up to the belt for an instant. I have found that instead of Goldwrap, I can equip arachnid mesh and a 10%Fcr ring. Although not necessary, I take these for the cast rate breakpoint I hit, and the extra skill is nice. This speeds the runs up, and I believe it to be more efficient. 10%fcr rings can spawn with MF, so if you are lucky enough to get one, this combo may be for you. Note if you decide on this combo, wear both the belt and ring, as both are needed to get the fcr breakpoint.

Note If you decide on Enigma for your Hammerdin, a fcr weapon switch is often useful. Try for wizspike and lidless wall, they should speed up your teleports. Also invest a point in meditation, and flip to that after teleporting, when it runs your mana pool dry.

When shopping for charms, look for combat or offensive skills, and life. Hope for annihilus and Gheed's as well. Note Combat charms profit you more, but offensive charms will help both you and you mercenary.

A mercenary is the last thing here. Holy Freeze is the most popular for our Hammerdin, as he slows enemies down as they walk into our hammers.

Act 2 Nightmare defensive mercenary (Holy Freeze)

The Act 2 MF Mercenary Setup

• Helm - P'Topazed Shako
• Armour - P'Topazed Skullders
• Weapon - Reapers Toll, Bonehew, Upgraded Meat Scraper

Skill-Strategy

The strategy with our Hammerdin is all about learning to aim the hammers. You must place blessed hammer on left click, and the concentration (damage) aura on right click. Also on right click should be the secondary spells. Our hammers are cast rate dependant, but while we are an MF build, there is no need to worry about achieving the high breakpoints.

Blessed Hammer ~Magic Damage - The only killing skill for our Hammerdin. Don't let the magic damage scare you, hammers ignore resistances of undead and demons (almost every monster in the game), so immunities are the last thing to worry about.

Concentration - When you are spinning hammers, have this aura equipped, it boosts your damage sufficiently

Vigor - Use this aura when you really need to pick up your feet. Useful from running away from enemies, or to places.

Redemption - Your leech, so to speak. When your mana is running low, or if corpses are making it hard to see, switch to this aura, it changes corpses to mana and life, which you receive. You need usable corpses for this to work, that means no corpse explosion, revive, or RIP spell can have been used on a corpse you wish to redeem.

Holy Shield - This is one of the better skills. Not only does it boost your defence, improve your chance to block, and speed up your block rate but it looks really nice. Just right click, and it should last at least 5 minutes.

Blessed Aim - This would be useless if it wasn't a synergy. I have yet to find a use for it at high levels, but at low levels, when you are forced to melee it's useful.

Killing-Strategy

There is one monster in act 3 that is immune to the hammers, chances are you won't see much of them, if any at all.

Learning to aim is like riding a bike, you won't forget. Hammers always spiral outwards from your 9o'clock (the left side of the screen), and travel clockwise, making two and a half rotations until they disappear. Hammers pierce, and kill multiple enemies. The only way to learn to aim is to try it out yourself. As a general rule of thumb, most will stand to the bottom-left of the monster they wish to kill and let their hammers fly.

After you have a good feel of how to aim your hammers, the rest really just falls into place. Your mercenary will slow everything down as monsters get in range, making your hammers hit more often. If you ever need mana, you need not stop spinning hammers, just hit your redemption hotkey, and switch back to concentration when you have redeemed. If you are ever in a fix, use vigor to kick up some dust and get out. If you have an annoying curse over your head or are badly poisoned, switch to your cleansing aura (which is a prerequisite) to speed up the removal process.

Strafezon Pit Guide

The strafezon is an amazon who uses strafe and usually freezing arrow as her main attacks. By maxing strafe, freezing arrow and its damage synergy, this is fast becoming one of the better Bowazons. Her playing style is not restricted just to The Pit, but equipment changes should be made if you venture out. She uses strafe when running into cold immunes. Most Bowazons get a Valkyrie and mercenary. With both these tanks you should seldom get hit.

Stats

• Strength - 100-150 (Only enough for gear)
• Dexterity - All the points you can spare
• Vitality - ~60 (don't spend more than 50 points here)
• Energy - Nothing

Skills

• [20] Strafe
• [20] Freezing Arrow
• [20] Cold Arrow

• [17+] Valkyrie (if you can spare points)
• [10] Critical Strike
• [5] Penetrate (only if desperate for AR, you shouldn't be)
• [5] Pierce (use elsewhere if pierce is in equip)
• [1] Dodging skills

Equipment Setup

Because really good bows are hard to find, many have taken to upgrading. Sadly, the exceptional to elite recipe is only available to ladder characters. Upgrading is not particularly expensive, so making this build is not as expensive as some of the others.

Some of the better bows to upgrade are Lycander's Aim, Goldstrike Arch, and perhaps Buriza. Though Buriza is slow, strafe greatly helps it there. Lycander's Aim and Goldstrike are both viable, although the best bow for this build would be a very fast, cruel bow with either +damage or +IAS as a second mod.

Main mods to look for in equipment are MF, leeches, life, and perhaps passive skills and IAS. IAS will be tougher to find, so it's probably wise to socket your bow with a shael rune, if you find that it is too slow.

Helm

• Stealskull, for it's MF, leeches, and IAS. Look for these mods in other helms.
• (Shako, Vampire Gaze)

Armour

• Enigma, for it's MF, skills, teleport, and all it's other great mods. Look for MF and skills in other armours
• (Skullder's, Wealth, 4Topaz armour)

Weapon

• Windforce, for it's leech, speed, and damage above all else. Because it is so rare, most people run the pits just fine with one of the below weapons.
• (Cruels, Upgr'd Buriza, Upgr'd Lycander's Aim, Upgr'd Goldstrike)
  • Place Upgraded Langer Brister on the switch, the MF is useful for special packs.

Belt

• Upgraded Goldwrap, because of affordability, max slots and MF. Look for the same in others.
• (Tals Belt)

Rings & Amulet

• MF in the jewellery is very nice. Look for skills in the amulet as a second mod if you can.
• (Nagelrings, Rare/Magic amulet/ring of luck)

Boots & Gloves

• War Travs and Chance Guards simply because of the MF and Frw. Look for that.
• (Magic boots/gloves of luck)

Secondary Setup

Again we can see Tal's partial set is an option. While wearing helm, armour, and belt, we lose some MF, but get a lot of other really nice mods - leeches, dexterity and life are only some. This is an option if you find that trouble meets you in the pits.

Note The valkyrie is quite the topic of discussion. Some will put one point, others will max it. The valk gets a weapon upgrade at level 17, so that's as far as I take her level (with +skills). If you decide against placing more than one point here, take a look at the other passive skills, they will make life simpler.

Note If you decide on Enigma for your strafezon, a fcr weapon switch is often useful. Try for wizspike and lidless wall, they should speed up your teleports.

When shopping for charms, look for passive skills, life and maybe some resists. Hope for annihilus and Gheed's as well.

Mercenaries

Lastly, a mercenary will help you out a whole lot. While might is probably the most popular, there are other options.

• Act 2 Nightmare Offensive Mercenary (Might)
• Act 2 Hell Offensive Mercenary (Blessed Aim) - Only if you are absolutely desperate for AR (You shouldn't be)

The Act 2 MF Mercenary Setup

• Helm - P'Topazed Shako
• Armour - P'Topazed Skullders
• Weapon - Reapers Toll, Bonehew, Upgraded Meat Scraper

Skill-Strategy

The strategy with the strafezon is as straight forward as melee/ranged attacks get. Most place strafe on left click and freezing arrow on right click, although because both skills can go on either click, it is personal preference. Also on right click should be the secondary spells, such as your valk.

Strafe ~Physical Damage - One of the two main attacks. Strafe will shoot until all monsters within range are dead or the limit of 10 arrows has been reached. While arrows are shooting you are in "Strafe-Lock" while in this lock, you cannot do anything except watch, so be sure you are always at a safe distance before you begin strafing. Strafe has built in speed, and you shoot ridiculously quickly when strafing.

Freezing Arrow ~Cold&Physical Damage - The second main attack, a cold arrow is shot that also produces sufficient physical damage.

Valkyrie - Your personal slave. Your valk is more or less a less damaging mercenary. She is able to take hits well, making her ideal for tanking.

Decoy - Creates a stand-still duplicate of yourself, another tank to take hits.

Slow Missiles - This skill is very useful when facing annoying ranged attackers, it slows down their projectiles making them easier to dodge.

Cold Arrow - Just a synergy, it is of no real use when we have freezing arrow instead.

Pierce - Allows your projectiles to pass through your enemies, hitting others behind them. If you can get pierce in equipment, that is preferred, if not, this skill exists for a reason. As of 1.10 this no longer works with guided arrow.

Penetrate - Gives an added bonus to your AR. Probably not a required skill as you will be pumping dex, but just in case, here it is.

D/A/E Dodge skills - Gives a chance to dodge enemy melee and ranged attacks. Really just prerequisites, but they provide minimal aid.

Killing-Strategy

There are several strategies the strafezon can use. Freezing arrow is often used just as often, if not more often, as strafe. Though much slower attack speed, freezing arrow does high damage, and has a splash effect. If you aren't up against cold immunes, freezing arrow may be faster, and safer to disperse of large crowds. Strafe-lock is problematic when dealing with those large crowds, and unless your mercenary and valk are properly placed, strafe can be deadly. Though there is a downside to strafe, it is often preferred for MFers because it adds such a speed bonus that increased attack speed gear it not always necessary, allowing for more MF.

Generally, you should go out of town with your hired mercenary, and cast your valkyrie. Make your way to wherever you are headed with a full quiver of arrows. When you reach your destination, say, the pit, don't rush in without taking your time. Strafe has a neat feature that more or less detects and fires upon enemies within your range. While standing, take a shot with strafe. If only one arrow is shot, no enemies are in range. If arrows fly out in a particular direction, know that monsters lie in that direction, and you should continue to fire until you get strafe to shoot only one arrow again, letting you know that monsters are no longer around. You can also cast decoys near the edges of your screen to try and lure enemies there to serve them quick justice.

If you are up against a few individual monsters, strafe is usually the easiest way to finish them. Though if a pack begins to rush you, cast a decoy, fire a freezing arrow into the pack, and run behind your mercenary and valk, in order to let them take hits. At this point make use of freezing arrow's splash and fire until most of the pack is dead, or until they have spread out. If they spread out, or if only a few remain, use strafe to clean them up. One of the biggest problems for the strafezon are the ranged enemies. As always, try to hide behind your tanks. This is an opportune moment to use the slow missile spell to your advantage. Strafe is usually the easiest way to get rid of rangers, as they run all over and strafe ensures a quick, direct hit.

Wind Druid Pit Guide

The wind druid is a druid who uses the wind half of his elemental tree. By maxing tornado and it's synergies, the druid is left with some nice maxed skills. His main attack does mainly physical damage, restricting him from really battling with physical immunes. His playing style is not restricted just to The Pit, but equipment changes should be made if you venture elsewhere.

Stats

• Strength - ~100 (Enough for gear)
• Dexterity - Enough for 75CTB with your shield
• Vitality - All the rest
• Energy - Nothing (if lack of mana is killing you, help yourself to some energy, you should have tons of life)

Skills

• [20] Tornado
• [20] Hurricane
• [20] Cyclone Armour
• [20] Twister

• [?1] Summon Grizzly (if you need a tank, warning prerequisites)
• [5+] Oak Sage (all the rest)

Equipment Setup

Because the wind Druid does not attack with his weapon, damage is insignificant, and allows for a lot of MF. A very decent wind Druid is probably one of the cheaper builds because of the great ease to change.

Main mods to look for in equipment are MF, enhanced blocking, skills, and mana. Cannot be frozen can be a useful mod, and if you are making Rhyme, then you already have it. Resists are not really an obstacle for the druid.

Helm

• Shako, for it's MF, skills and life. Look for these mods in other helms.
• (Tarnhelm, Peasant Crown)

Armour

• Enigma, for it's MF, skills, teleport, and all it's other great mods. Look for MF and skills in other armours
• (Skullder's, Wealth, 4Topaz armour)

Weapon

• IstIst Ali Baba, for it's MF, and dexterity. Look for MF in weapons.
• (Gull, Ist Wizardspike)

Shield

• Rhyme Troll Nest, for it's cannot be frozen, blocking enhancements, MF and resists
• (Ist Lidless Wall)

Belt

• Upgraded Goldwrap, because of affordability, max slots and MF. Look for the same in others.
• (Tals Belt)

Rings

• SoJ may have to be a ring for you if you need mana. MF and mana in the rings is your best bet.
• (Ravenfrost, Nagelrings)

Amulet

• For amulets look for MF and mana or skills second mods.
• (Rare/Magic amulet of luck)

Boots & Gloves

• War Travs and Chance Guards simply because of the MF and Frw. Look for that.
• (Magic boots/gloves of luck)

Note If you decide on Enigma for your wind druid, a fcr weapon switch is often useful. Try for wizspike and lidless wall, they should speed up your teleports.

When shopping for charms, look for elemental or summoning skills, life, and mana. Hope for annihilus and Gheed's as well.

Mercenary

Lastly, a mercenary may be someone to help you out. Take note that mercenaries are not necessary in this build.

• Act 2 Nightmare defensive mercenary (Holy Freeze)
• Act 2 Hell defensive mercenary (Defiance)

The Act 2 MF Mercenary Setup

• Helm - P'Topazed Shako
• Armour - P'Topazed Skullders
• Weapon - Reapers Toll, Bonehew, Upgraded Meat Scraper

Skill-Strategy

The strategy with the wind druid is not particularly hard to learn. Most place tornado on left click and all secondary spells on right click.

Tornado ~Physical Damage - Your attack, the only one you have some control over. Cast rate dependant, this skill creates tornadoes and flings them at enemies. It does pierce enemies so can disperse of packs. The downfall to this skill is that it takes time to learn precision. Tornadoes are almost random in their movements, but after shooting a few, you get used to the different ways they shoot out and can aim properly.

Hurricane - A synergy for Tornado, but useful on it's own. Hurricane is a passive skill, which surrounds the druid, damaging any enemies that come within close range to him. It freezes enemies for a short time so can be quite useful in close-range moments.

Cyclone Armour - A synergy for Tornado, but also a useful skill on it's own. It protects you from elemental damage, absorbing huge amounts of lightning, cold and fire damage sent at you by enemies.

Twister - Just a synergy really, you most likely won't be using this, as you have the more damaging tornado as a main skill.

Oak Sage - This skill summons a sage who can really boost your life at high levels. Always try to keep this guy alive and out of harm's way, so you can keep that huge life bonus.

Grizzly Summon - Just a synergy, it is of no real use when we have freezing arrow instead.

Killing-Strategy

The strategy for the wind druid is simple, as he only really has one attack. Precasts are very important here, be sure to recast them if they run out. First take a walk out of town. Your precasts, in no real order should be oak sage, hurricane, cyclone armour and you may summon a grizzly if you decided to take that skill route.

Once you come across a pack of baddies, simply unleash a few tornadoes. At first aiming may be though. Generally try and aim for the monster in the middle of the pack. This should ensure that even when the tornadoes go haywire, they will still hit monsters on either side of that middle monster. Don't take to much worry to ranged elementalists, as your cyclone armour should protect you. If melee monsters being to rush you, again, don’t panic. Your hurricane will slow them, and you can focus your main attention to them.

Remember you aren't a tank - even though it may seem that way with maxed chance to block, cyclone armour and your huge life. If you have a mercenary or grizzly, try and get them to take the hits. The only time you should be forced to take hits is when your sage is in trouble. Keeping that summon alive is among your highest priorities, as in turn, that summon keeps you alive. When you are up against physical immunes, you're toast without another means. You can try to entangle the immune in your hurricane, other than that, all damage in your arsenal is physical, leaving few choices but fleeing the scene.

WW Barb Pit Guide (Tomb Reaver Barb)

The whirlwind barb - the cookie-cutter build of 1.09 still has some ability to kill in 1.10. He usually focuses on maxing whirlwind, the mastery corresponding to his weapon, and battle orders - in order to bring up his life. Our barbarian has a unique skill, allowing him to loot a monster's corpse with an added MF bonus. This skill renders the corpse useless to re-animation, explosion or any other corpse skills. Physical immunes are rarely a problem, as the berserk skill is proficient in killing these PIs with only one point invested in it. Nothing else resists our barbs power. This barb has been coined as the Tomb Reaver Barb, simply because the Tomb Reaver Unique Cryptic Axe is by far the weapon of choice for this barb.

Stats

• Strength - ~165 (Enough for gear)
• Dexterity - ~100 (Enough for gear)
• Vitality - All the rest
• Energy - Nothing

Skills

• [20] Whirlwind
• [1] Berserk (For those PIs)

• [20] Battle Orders
• [1] Battle Command
• [1] Find Item (more than one is unnecessary)
• [+?] Shout (if you have many skill points remaining this is an option for added defence)

• [20] Mastery corresponding to your weapon
• [13] Natural Resistances (13 with +skills, as this is where it starts to really diminish)
• [1] Increased Speed (Faster run = faster pit runs)

Equipment Setup

Because the barbarian is very dependant on his weapon, it can be difficult to collect a lot of MF in that area. The barbarian remains in the higher area of expense because of his dependence on several items. I find this build works best on ladder for several reasons, but it can be viable on non-ladder.

Main mods to look for in equipment are MF, defence (ladder upgrading comes in here), and mana and life leech. Cannot be frozen is also very important, the best place to find that is in a ravenfrost (which will also add to your chance to hit). IAS any place other than the weapon is almost useless to a WWer, so keep in mind only weapon IAS affects WW speed.

Helm

• Upgraded stealskull is the best here, for it's MF and dual leech. Look for these mods in other helms.
• (Shako, Arreats, 2xTopaz IK helm)

Armour

• High defence Enigma, for it's MF, DR, teleport, and all other great mods. Look for MF and defence in other armours
• (Upgraded or Ethereal Skullder's, Wealth, 4Topaz armour)

Weapon

• Shael'd Tomb Reaver Cryptic Axe! The ultimate weapon for this build, MF, damage, highest range, resists, sockets, onboard IAS and so much more. This polearm brings the entire build together. Look for damage if you can't get Tomb Reaver.
• (Shael'd Steel Pillar, Cruel/Rare Warpikes, Robopikes, BOTD pikes)

Belt

• Upgraded, Upgraded Goldwrap, because of affordability, max slots and MF. Look for the same in others.
• (Tals Belt)

Rings

• Ravenfrost is really nice for dex, AR and cannot be frozen. Look for leeches in a second ring.
• (Ravenfrost, Rare Dual/Single Leech)

Amulet

• Look for leeches in an amulet as one ring and this amulet may be all you have if you decide against stealskull.
• (Rare Dual Leech, Crescent Moon)

Boots & Gloves

• Upgraded War Travs and Chance Guards simply because of the defence MF and Frw. Look for that.
• (Magic boots/gloves of luck)

Note If you decide on Enigma for your barb, an fcr weapon switch is often useful. Try for wizspike and lidless wall, they should speed up your teleports. If you decide on skullder's know that upgrading ethereal armour is useless because of a bug.

Note For the weapon - Tomb Reaver is anyone's best bet only one shael is needed to hit the max WW breakpoint. If you manage to have those extra sockets try throw in some Ist runes. If you aren't ladder it's easier to find BOTD pikes, or ist robo/cruel pikes, so I included them for all those non-ladder.

Note With this build I like to shoot for really high defence. I recommended to upgrade everything, but that isn't necessary, do what you can with what you have.

When shopping for charms, look for any barb skill and life. Hope for annihilus and Gheed's as well.

Mercenaries

Lastly, a mercenary may be someone to help you out. Take note that mercenaries are not necessary in this build.

• Act 2 Nightmare offensive mercenary (Might)
• Act 2 Hell defensive mercenary (Defiance)

The Act 2 MF Mercenary Setup

• Helm - P'Topazed Shako
• Armour - P'Topazed Skullders
• Weapon - Reapers Toll, Bonehew, Upgraded Meat Scraper

Skill-Strategy

The strategy for a whirlwind barb is a no-brainer. Have whirlwind on your right click, along with all your Warcries, and your physical immune killing berserk on left click.

Whirlwind ~Physical Damage - Your main attack, the barb will furiously spin about hitting enemies within range. Hopefully you have a large range weapon with good weapon speed as that will get the best result out of this skill.

Berserk ~Magic Damage - Berserk deals huge magical damage, but reduces you defence to zero for a very short time after each attack. The only time you should find yourself using this skill is on physical immunes.

Battle Orders - This Warcry will give a huge bonus to your life, usually at least doubling it. This is one of the more useful skills of the barb.

Battle Command - Temporarily gives you +1 to all skills. Use this skill before the other Warcries, to get the added skill, and therefore, added bonus.

Shout - Gives a boost to your defence, making it harder for monsters to hit you. Because you have no shield, and cannot block, defence is more important in this build than in others.

Natural Resistances - A passive skill that permanently adds to your resists, nothing to do here.

Increased Speed - A passive skill that permanently enhances your run/walk speed, nothing to do here.

Mastery - Enhances the damage and your chance to hit while using a certain weapon class. Another passive skill, so nothing to worry about.

Find Item - Allows the barb to loot the corpses of slain monsters. This more or less rolls a monster's drop again, with a slight added MF bonus from the skill itself.

Killing-Strategy

As has been said, the strategy when it comes to our WW barb is simple and easy. When you arrive out of town, make your Warcries. Cry battle command first to get that extra point, then do shout and battle orders. Increased speed should help you on your way, to wherever you may be headed.

Upon reaching your destination, and coming across your first group of monsters, prepare yourself. It's usually good to whirlwind through a pack of enemies, and plan to end up on the other side of them. The easiest way to do this is to line yourself up, horizontally to the left or right of a pack of monsters. Click your whirlwind past the last enemy in the pack you wish to whirlwind through. You should pass through that pack, damaging each, or most of the enemies in it, and end up safely on the other side. If monsters remain standing, repeat this in the opposite direction. Once you get used to whirlwinding back and forth between groups, you no longer need to be lined up horizontally, but rather can attack from any angle. You will also learn the timing and precision to ensure that you whirlwind back and forth through a pack, while spending very little time standing still in between whirlwinds.

When you do run into the odd physical immune, simply have your berserk skill on left click, and repeatedly click until the monster dies. You may see that berserk appears to be the faster killer, but remember your defence is reduced to nothing, you cannot leech and the attack speed is much slower than your WW. WW is safer in regard to defense and leech, as it allows high numbers of both.

Those are the five character guides I wrote up, specific to The Pit. These guides are not the most in depth, but rather contain all the bare necessities to make a good build. Most equipment can be switched around, especially with the mercenaries. Keep in mind that not all the above guides will work for all the level 85 areas, but most will not be far off. If you seek further knowledge, many people will go in depth or help out with these builds in their specific forums.

Appendix D: MF - For Richer or Poorer

This appendix (lowercase 'c') is really just a sub-section of the above (Appendix C: MFing in the Pits (The Guides)). Many forumers have been asking "What's the best MF build for a poor person like me?" Hopefully those types of questions will be answered here.

First off, some builds are more expensive than others. This is because some builds are item dependant, meaning they need good equipment to survive or to kill. In a more general perpective than just builds, some types of character are less dependant than others. I have somehow narrowed down every character/build to two "types". The caster type and the ranged/melee type. Both type's minimal cost setups will be discussed here below, along with some tips for the poor MFer.

You will more than likely find alot of gold in your journeys. This opens a door for gambling some better MF items - don't get addicted though! Also, you will more than likely collect useless magical rings or amulets. Hold on to them and you can roll them for a chance at a better amulet or ring. The horadric cube recipies that permit this are 3 Magic Rings = 1 Random Magic Amulet or 3 Magic Amulets = 1 Random Magic Ring recipies.

Because we are already looking at the cheapest build around, I won't include much optional equipment. I will include normal uniques, sets or low runewords where they will help. Because uniques and sets, even the lowest level normal ones, are sometimes hard to find on single-player, I will include optionals for them. Also, I don't think any indepth discussion is necessary here.

Build: Caster

• Minimum Expense: Lowest
• MF Carrying Capacity: Highest

There are several different classes for caster characters. The most prominent being the necromancer or the sorceress. Because caster characters do not attack anything physically, they can concentrate purely on MF. If you have minions, they recieve all the MF of their handler, so are just as good as a character making the kill. The aim with these characters is to take as few hits as possible, while maintaining good damage. Always be sure that the equipment you choose meets your stats, try not to have it the other way around.

Helm

• Helmet socketed with 3 perfect topazes
• (Unique: Tarnhelm socketed with a perfect topaz)

Armour

• Armour socketed with 4 perfect topazes
• (Runeword: Wealth - LemKoTir)

Weapon

• Weapon with + to your skills (wands, scepters, orbs)

Shield

• Shield with good chance to block. (Look to diamonds for reists)
• (Runeword: Rhyme - ShaelEth)

Belt

• Magical 16-slot belt (usually exceptional and above)
• (Unique: Goldwrap)

Gloves

• Magical gloves with magic find mod. Shop the stores for these (Charsi, Fara)
• (Unique: Chance Guards)

Boots

• Magical boots with magic find mod. Shop the stores.

Amulet

• Magical amulet with magic find mod.

Rings

• Magical rings with magic find mods.

That comes out to around 300MF with the lowest items listed and above 350MF with the higher items Of course, charms or any items you find whilst MFing can dramatically improve that.

When looking for MF magical items, try to find ones with extra mods of + to resistances, skills, life or mana.

Build: Melee/Ranged

• Minimum Expense: Mid
• MF Carrying Capacity: Mid

There are several different classes for melee or ranged characters. The most prominent being the melee barbarian or ranged amazon. Because melee and ranged characters attack everything physically, they have to have a damaging weapon, not always cheap. Both will require some amount of leech to replenish their mana/life stocks. The melee characters will be forced to take more hits than say the ranged character, so they will need some slightly more defining equipment.

Helm

• High defense helmet socketed with 3 perfect topazes
• (Unique: Tarnhelm socketed with a perfect topaz)

Armour

• High defense armour socketed with 4 perfect topazes
• (Runeword: Wealth - LemKoTir)

Weapon

• Weapon with a high damage. Preferably a good rare that can be later upgraded.

Shield (If applicable)

• High defense shield with good chance to block. (Look to diamonds for reists)
• (Runeword: Rhyme - ShaelEth)

Belt

• Magical 16-slot belt (usually exceptional and above)
• (Unique: Goldwrap)

Gloves

• Magical gloves with magic find mod. Shop the stores.
• (Unique: Chance Guards)

Boots

• Magical boots with magic find mod. Shop the stores.

Amulet

• Magical amulet with mana/life leech and/or magic find.

Rings

• Magical rings with mana/life leeches and/or magic find.

That comes out to around 250MF with the lowest items listed and above 300MF with the higher items. Of course, charms or any items you find whilst MFing can dramatically improve that.

Most all of your leech will be coming from amulets and rings. Don't be afraid to lose some MF there if it will help you in the long run of survival. Also, when looking for magical MF items, try to find ones with extra mods of leech, + to resistances, or life.

I realize that the above are quite bare, but they are more or less a more precise recap of what was actually given in the above guides. This appendix should be used in conjunction with what was said in the above guides (Appendix C) to create a cheaper, but quite capable MFer.

Resource Centre

I included a couple helpful tidbits/tools below. Because all of my files are hosted on geocities, you will most likely need to right click and save target as for the two downloads. These links will be up as long as geocities' bandwith limits permit them.

• Download the Offline Version of the Above Guide (MSWord format)
• Download the MSWord viewer if you cannot open the offline version of the guide

• View a diminishing returns calculator (written in java)
• Download the newest java platform if you cannot properly view the calculator above

• Download the diminishing returns calculator (in MSExcel format)
• Download the MSExcel viewer if you cannot open the excel version of the calculator

Credits

Thanks to farting bob, Stormie, LordChaos, Saiyanora, ChronoBartuc, Wang123, DeamonMonkey, aragorn_elessar, Shade, th5418, Frenzied Bovine, Voice, Sir Charles, DrizzitT, Thanatosia, Reggitsan, Dredd, m0nk and all others who posted help and suggestions for the guide.

Key

• MF - Magic Find
• TC - Treasure Class
• Lvl - Level
• iLvl - Item Level
• mLvl - Monster Level
• area_Lvl - Area Level
• qLvl - Quality Level

• CTB - Chance to Block (with shield)
• DR - Damage Reduced
• IAS - Increased Attack Speed
• Fcr - Faster Cast Rate
• Frw - Faster Run Walk
• ED - Enhanced Damage
• AR - Attack Rating

• Uber-Leets (AKA UB3R-1337) - Weapon of high significance and stature.
• The Pits - I hope you know what these are after reading this far...