What do I need to upgrade the most

[:1]So I have a level 81 Tesladin (holy shock/zeal) and I recently found my first high rune ever thanks to some bot who was only picking up crafting materials or something.

I don't really know what the best way to use it would be. Should I keep it for Chains of Honor, or maybe Enigma? or maybe save up for the Conviction aura on Eternity polearm for my merc? Or do I trade it for multiple items that could help me right away?

I think of myself as poor because I have never had a rune higher than UM, and only had 2 of those so far I think.

I guess you need to know my equipment to properly advise me so here it is.

Weapon- Crescent Moon phase blade (-light res to enemy super fast)

weapon on switch- Nords Tenderizer- decent physical and cold damage too

main Shield Spirit Rondache (14 defense but 42 base resist (77 except for fire)

switch shield- sigons guard for some reason...meant to make rhyme...

Armor- Vipermagi- +1 skills 850 defense(upped) 34 res all.may add UM?

Belt- String of Ears, had willhelms too

Gloves- Laying of Hands-

Boots- Marrowwalk

Helm- Shako/Guillaume's Face (Crushing Blow) depending on circumstances...though I have Andariels Visage waiting for lvl 83 or something.

Amulet- Highlords Wrath!

Rings- Cathans seal x2...no joke, this is really pathetic but I have blown a couple million gold gambling rings and not even found a ruby ring of the leech so still stuck with them.

Resists are 65 41 84 41 right now.

8000 or so defense when holy shield and defiance aura from merc is on.

I am using a defiance merc with Ma'vinas armor (highest def i found so far without investing any runes. a unique Yari (Hone Sundan) that has 40% crushing blow and I added 2 amn's to (1 more slot empty maybe shael or amn) He has a 16 resist all circlet with 51 life on right now until his resists get better then I have Tal rasha's helm (stealing from sorcs barb merc) or shako I could give him, or maybe give him guilaumes helm so he has 70% crushing blow.

I am also considering upgrading his unique yari to elite which would double its damage and leech.

Oh I also just found griswolds armor, with 3 sockets,...sadly its defense is only 950 or so and ma'vinas is 1150, but so I could potentially put ias jewels in but I only have 1 and its secondary stat is only +13 defense

I wonder if I should use my Ber to get me an Exile shield as well, then maybe change to a holy freeze merc for slowness and killing lightning immunes faster. though I would need to do something about resistances if I did that.

So any advice on what to worry about upgrading first would be appreciated as well as what to do with my Ber. should I post in trading forum to see what to get for it or maybe just look at price quotes.

anyways thanks!|||Well first of all, as I don't represent this forum, but I personally do not like/interact/use bots or maphacks for the simple reason that they ruin the game and its actual playing values. :/

Second, the runeword Infinity gives Conviction aura, not Eternity, which is a weapon some Barbarians choose to use.

Get a cheap Call to Arms, they are not overly expensive. Instead of the Skin of the Vipermagi, trade it off for any elite unique armor (with the exception of Ormus' Robes). If you get a Call to Arms, get a Lidless Wall or Spirit shield on switch for the +Skills modifier. For rings, I would try to make getting a Raven Frost a priority, then maybe a Bul-Katho's Wedding Band.

That's about all I can think of at the moment, but I can definitely tell you that your defense is way too low, and you should try to achieve max speed for Zeal. Have fun and good luck.|||For the record I am not using a bot. But since I don't have anyone to play with since I cam back recently and can't find people I played with 10 years ago I do go into games with them when I want to level up quickly to get better gear equipped or find some better gear. Because of all the high level gear/runewords there are now, it is pretty hard to get through hell without such things.

I used to play hardcore and play in private games with a couple people I met online almost exclusively, and I wish that were still the case, but its not. So ya if a bot kills a monster and it drops a ber, I pick up the ber.

I actually was going to ask if ravenfrost and bul kathos was the best rings to get, so glad they were your recommendation.

Should I try to trade for a HoZ or are they too expensive compared to a spirit?

I had my eye on arkaines valor (+2 skills is like 0-700 lightning damage every 4/5 frames with zeal (4 frames if I socket something with ias jewel))

but just waiting to find/trade for one.|||hoz are fairly cheap depending on the ed and if it's upped or not|||are you saying to replace the crescent moon with Call to arms?? if so I really dissagree. -35% lightning resistance when you are dealing 1-4500+ lighning damage is much better than what call to arms has to offer (static field aint bad either), unless you just mean to have it on switch for the warcries. But even then not sure it is high priority unless cheap.

Since my defense is low would you recommend switching to a holy freeze merc? that would better allow me to deal with light or physical immunes, and have him deal more damage too.|||people generally only use cta for the warcries on switch. i'm assuming that's what thetimecode ment. and also a low battle orders cta is fairly cheap, we are talking a few ists.

as for your merc i'd sugest a holy freeze one period. it might be because i love them and they are about the only mercs i use. but it wouldn't hurt you either.

edit: if you don't mind investing some low runes you can get your merc a smoke, or a duress in a elite armor to help him out if he needs it.|||Well I just got an ist from my hell forge run, so I just need an Um to make Chains of honor so I think I will do that, and try to get another um to make duress for my merc. I switched my merc to a holy freeze one which made getting to the forge a bit easier so I think I will stick with that since Chains of honor will give me less than 1000 defense unless i get a near perfect armor or superior or whatever and I am just not that patient.

I like chains of honor partly because it will replace some of the life leech i lose from using ravenfrost over a LL ring. (the extra 31 res all and +1 skill over vipermagi obviously good too )

actually the resists may make andariels visage useable around pit lords again, the -30 fire resist was killing me.

Andariel's visage also pushes me to 8/4 zeal speed (have 80ias need 72)

when people say something is not expensive its hard to tell what they mean, expensive to me is cheap to most people it seems so things like bul kathos and ravenfrost that I want I don't really know what to pay for.

Also what would you socket andariels visage with? Or is there a better helm out there I should use? I believe all my resists will be over 60 at least once I have chains of honor

Are there any spears or polearms that are cheap or easy to find, or does my Hone Sundan sound ok until I get infinity

on a side note, is griswolds set good for anything?

and you can't upgrade set items like laying of hands can you? just uniques and rares right? or does the unique formula work on sets?

THanks for the help guys|||Socket Andariel's Visage with Ral if your fire resist is still below 75, but I think that Griffon's Eye would be the best. I have never used the Griswold set just because there are definitely better equipments than that, and correct, you cannot upgrade set items, only unique and rare items. Yes I meant to have Call To Arms as your switch weapon. Have fun and good luck. |||Im just wondering if I should use my ber now to make chains of honor or if I should wait to get infinity (conviction) on my merc. It would suck if I found a ber soon and could have had infinity, but it could also take forever to find one.

thanks again,

and ya I am pretty sure Griffon is best, but probably pricey...it is my goal to get it eventually|||Just wanted to update this to my current equipment.

Weapon- Crescent Moon phase blade (-light res to enemy super fast)

weapon on switch- Nords Tenderizer- 200-455 cold damage

main Shield- HoZ

switch shield- Spirit 38 base res 140 def

Armor- Vipermagi- Chains of honor in wyrmhide (tired of waiting) 775 def.

Belt- String of Ears, had willhelms too

Gloves- Laying of Hands-

Boots- Marrowwalk

Helm- /Andariels Visage (good fit w/ laying of hands fire res.) I socketted it but havn't put anything in it yet

Amulet- Highlords Wrath!

Rings- trying to get my hands on ravenfrost and Bul Kathos (can i do that for a pul and an Ist?) (on USWest ladder)

Resists are 74F 54C 85L 85 P right now.

Defense is 2026 raw 5571 with holy shield.

I switched to a Holy Frost Mercenary. I gave him Tal's helmet for the life leech, Gladiators bane 1410 def some dr/mdr CBF FHR. I upgraded his Hone Sundan but had to socket it with a jewel of freedom so he cold use it. Then i added an Amn and a Shael.

his damage is 386-1610 plus cold damage (btw is there a secret to get the merc to actually turn on his aura? i just spent 5 minutes trying to find out his cold damage but he wouldnt turn it on.)

My main areas of concern are what to socket in andariels and Hoz. I just got a 5/4 light facet...maybe I save that for griffons eye? or do i just put it in the Hoz?

Is the 54 cold resist worth putting a thul into something for...seems wasteful, maybe with the cold absorb from ravenfrost it will be ok?

I am lacking in the hit recovery area, that is what sucks about HoZ I guess but I got better and faster blocking that I can max out with Hoz, and I was much lower before with spirit. Is it worth switching to Guilaumes face for the fhr and crushing blow rather than +2 skills and 10 Life leach and 120 defense and 20ias and 10 str on Andy's. or maybe just put Shael in Andy's Visage.

I was also thinking of getting Duress on my merc, just looking for some elite eth armor with 3 sockets...though if i get one with 4 maybe I will make stone or something else that doesnt require a high rune.

thanks again for any help you guys can give.

also is there any point caring about my defense? I could pump points into HS to increase it (only 1 point now but level 10)

also I have 20 points in zeal Holy Shock and Resist Lightning, and 10 or so in sacrifice...the rest are in prereqs (and 1 in redemption and 3 in salvation) I am still deciding what to do with 5 more points as I am at level 85 now. If it isn't worth trying for defense then I can put some points in either conviction vengeance or sacrifice.