I wonder if you considered the horadric cube upgrades for the uniques as well? some of them can turn into pretty superior variants that remain viable for longer
@@draaaven157 yeah, thinking the same all the time :D I do upgrade some of my exceptional uniques to elites and they rock. MrLlama, wanna do a vid about it? :)
34:24 Final Tier timestamp Tiers are subject to change throughout the vid, so check the final section or continue watching the vid after the item’s timestamp.
LOVE the new format! I appreciate getting the tierlists out, I love em, but a couple of tier lists had entries literally 10 seconds long: "yeah x belt is just trash, D-tier" I like when the stats are displayed and the chat has a good time tearing it apart while you ridicule the trash items.
I saw all of the other videos but had to stop them often to look for the itemstats myself. It's a bad video when I have to stop it to follow the content.
This format is much better, thanx! Only 2 more weeks! Just started a charachter...I am a little bit rusty, haven't played in months, thanx for the content!
Lightsabre is the best sword you can reasonably obtain if you forget the existence of runewords (that excludes godlike upped rare eth dimensional blades). With it's insane ias breakpoint and ignore target defense, also magic and elemental damage you can get through immunities, but also the fact that it scales so well with all the +max damage charms makes it super strong. You can easily farm hell with it, run a pitzerker, zealer or anything like it. It also has ml, which means you can drop one of the rings or other gear that provides it, stack more max damage and call it a day :) also - neither Doombringer nor Grandfather can roll eth. No item that has a pre-set (guaranteed) indestructible affix can spawn as ethereal.
Im biased, but Lightsaber will always be S tier for me... it was my 1st char Zealot's weapon back in 2005.... Kiras guardian, G Angel, HoZ, Lightsaber, Venomgrips, Srting of Ears, GoreRiders,Raven n Dwarfstar rings, Saracens chance. It was a pretty good all around set up
I haven't seen the other videos, but I thought the format on this one was spot on. Easy to follow, easy to absorb, and enough time for your reasoning to "sink in."
yeah... you should have done it in all the other videos but its fine, al least if you´re really interested in the game you are going to search them. Nice video btw, I've been watching all of them
Really like this new format, much more engaging and interesting..plus its cool to be able to guess as you go along. Artosis did this style for Broodwar units and it was actually great content. Like llama says just because an item is super powerful for 1 specific build does NOT make it S tier. IMO the more usable an item is throughout early, mid and end game is what really helps determine its ranking. That, and obviously the more classes and builds it goes with make it a higher ranking item.
Headstriker is definitely 'A' or lower 'A' tier at the very least. It's good as it is, but when upped + a shael rune, it's a very respectable fanaticism Zealot weapon.
Oh definitely, im using one now. Only complaint is durability, but its fine. Headstriker Conquest sword and Butchers Pupil Small Crescent are dope weapons.
I love the new format. Keep it up. I would be nice to go back and make the other teir list that covered more important topics. I know it’s a lot of work, but would be very informative for newer players. Love you llama!
@@YanniHryssomallis 1.09 was the better patch, no lame ass synergies, act 5 nightmare/hell had their original enemies, runewords didn't ruin end game equipment, didn't need 10k plus attack rating to hit things, no teleporting hamerdins, just Diablo 2 as it was supposed to be.
@@Patrick_The_Pure yeah it would be interesting to go back and play it with d2r graphics. I remember putting 1 point into everything on my sorc and she wasn't ruined or anything.
Put my first ever found Azurewrath on my Zeal Tesladin and it was suprisingly good. 500-1000 added magic and cold damage on lightning damage character that attacks stupidly fast made him able to walk through anything in the game. The santuary doesnt do anything really besides put those Oblivion knights into hit recovery sometimes, but the aura looks cool!
I've got nothing else better to do but watch your d2 videos into d2r comes out! Loving that your showing stats!! Hope you go back and redo your other videos like this :) keep me sane for the next 14 days plz!!
I just got a Swordguard and it is much different than the one you listed. Swordguard Executioner Sword Two-Hand Damage 189-325 Durability: 26 of 26 Required Dexterity: 45 Required Strength: 75 Required Level: 48 Sword Class - Normal Attack Speed +20% Faster Hit Recovery 20% Increased Chance of Blocking * (This doesn’t make sense since you can’t use it one handed) +171% Enhanced Damage +425 Defense (Based on Character Level) +200 Defense vs. Melee +100 Defense vs. Missile All Resistences +15 30% Damage Taken Goes To Mana Requirements -50% Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired
I dual wielded bloodletters in hell on barb back when I was about 10 years old. It wasn't super fast, but with the lifesteal and all the damage mods from weapon and skills, this was incredibly good. it's an A tier for me
Amazing new format for these tier lists. Now I wish you redid all the previous ones using it, haha. One major disagreement: *Hexfire* . Nobody "concerned with survivability" is going to use it with a shield over a Leaf staff because it requires 58 str AND 58 dex. I guess you forgot to check the requirements on this one. Bottom of B tier at best, maybe high C.
I actually think it performs better than stormlash on kicksins in some areas of the game. If you don't have infinity. Went to Trav and deleted that whole group in seconds. When I have stormlash I need to work a little harder
Yeah, I was finding unique swords so I was like "Oh let's start a sword barb, why not?" I'm 19 with the unique falchion on and I think more enemies die from attackers take damage perk from my siggy set than from me killing. lol
Thanks Llama! Great content. I think most people didnt complain about the length. For most the problem was just that you didnt show a picture of the stats while talking about the item.
Azurewrath is lvl 85 but it's pretty rare so not unusual to be that high a level once you've found it. Anyway, it's definitely worth it's level req, best unique sword in the game! Gotta be S tier.
It's so funny how people have different points of view from this game in so many aspects and that's wonderful. To me, Hellplage it's an low S tier sword.
It would be cool to make one Tier video of S tier Set Swords + S tier unique swords + S tier runewords on swords and walk through what's actually the best in the whole game
A fun use for the vile husk sword actually would let you run hell pindle at a fairly low level reletively safely. Put it on your main hand on a barb, and put a law bringer on your other hand. With a 150% roll you would have ~ 524% e dmg to undead on the weapon alone (574% at a max roll). lvl 20 conc gives 190% edmg. maxing bo gives an extra 200% ontop of that, for 390% edmg, Maxed sword mastery would give an extrra 123% with a 29% critcal strike chance. So for ~ 60 points total (20 conc, bo, and sword mastery) at level 50 you are running a total of 1,037% e dmg towards undead with ~ 500% towards all enemies with a high level sanctuary aura that knocks undead back so the enemies cannot crowd you. If any get through you are running a 340% e def from conc alone, not counting any points in shout, with a maxed bo. Since you are not going to be able to pop the bodies anyway, a nm merc running holy freeze compounds with the knock back from sancturary and you can basically do one on one combat with pindle with impunity from a low level. All it costs is An amn+lem+ ko for the law bringer, a sword not many people want, and if you toss a Lum Rune + Pul Rune + Perfect Emerald in the mix, you are now running that 1k+ edmg on an elite sword with a significant chance of getting critcal strike from maxed sword mastery, and a chance of amp damage on your target and the surrounding monsters. So lem ko lum pul + sword lets you run a end game boss at level 50. Alternatively you can swap vile husk for a elite 4os sword and use a voice of reason in it. slightly less edmg to undead, but you get quite a bit to demons, cannot be frozen, and even better crowd control in pindles area when stacked with a lawbring off hand and a holy freeze merc. That setup basically costs you 2x lems' 2x ko's and a elite 40s base (can be 2h swords since this is best done with a barb). Toss in one more lem and ko and make a wealth since your conc boost your def so much that wealth wont hurt you. Run hell pindle day 2 with 2-3 lem'ss and ko's. Sure you can't pop bodies with this setup, but it would be a niche build.
I miss the old Crystal Sword version of Azurewrath. I had one on a mule long into 1.13 but then my account went inactive and it was finally gone. It was a trophy more than anything else, but was so fun to have. On the topic of things that are fun to have. Watch out for an ethereal Ginther's Rift, because if you upgrade it into a Phase Blade, it's all kinds of interesting. Since Phase Blade's can't be ethereal, and Ginther's has the self repair mod you end up with quite the interesting item. Even useful in some very specific builds I'd say.
Hey Mr. Llama, just wanted to point out that you read out the 1-handed damage on the 2h swords, which only applies to a barb, and only if he has something in the offhand
Awesome, way better tbh. Quick ones were okay for people who have as much D2 knowledge and experience as you Llama, but most of us prefer these type of breakdowns where we get your expert insights and have a chance to learn along the way.. Thanks :)
Found Rixot's Keen during beta, had a blast making 2 pallies, a barb with it and then gifting it to a friend. That sword early game kicks some serious ass.
Huge improvement over previous videos. Seeing stats is much better. Two things - Culwin's Point is actually something you can use early on when paired with sigon's set. Makes for a not bad combination. I would honestly put this in mid C tier, but meh. Second thing - If ANY unique has indestructible on it CANNOT spawn ethereal unless it can ONLY spawn eth, like Shadow Killer. CoA, Doombringer, etc. CANNOT spawn eth. This makes doombringer A tier for me.
Got a rixots keen from the chest in the dungeon under blood raven first thing during D2R open beta as a zeal paladin. Absolutely smashed through act 1 & 2. Was definitely S-tier for that run 🤣
Azuwrath is easily S tier I think... it does some good damage and physical immune monsters as well. It can do 1000 magic damage on top of physical damage.
Azurath is S-tier. It can be used on a smiter, zealer, or barb as an off hand. The reason it's S-tier is the same reason Lawbringer rune word is S-tier. It gives you Sanctuary aura, which lets you negate the physical damage reduction from undead mobs. In hell chaos sanctuary for instance, most mobs have 33% or 50% physical damage reduction. Negating this damage reduction is the equivalent of having a constant decrepify, which lowers physical resistance by 50%. Undead mobs die nearly as fast with Azurewrath as a Grief. That's how powerful the Sanctuary Aura is. It also causes a knock back which nearly stun locks all of the undead in CS, which make up 3/4 of all the enemies.
Rixols keen is amazing imo. I actually keep one on a mule for when I start a new character. With the lvl 2 requirement it just feels nice to be able to use a decent weapon almost immediately after starting a new character.
I just beat a Pally Normal playthrough with a Skewer of Krintiz. The high attack speed and ItD make it an excellent Holy Fire vector. Which just goes to show, a unique doesn't have to be particularly good to make short work of Normal.
I disagree with Griswold's edge. If you run a barb or a paladin, level 17 to level 25 (before baalrun) is critical and this is the highest damage output sword, if not best 1H weapon at this level (and you put it last...). Llama you run a lot solo or in 8PPL ladder group. But many people play the whole season. Add a duskdeep +8 damage to this very fast sword and you fly. I agree with the rest. Great content.
I think headstriker has to be A or better. I used a non-upped even through hell and it was decent thanks to the leveled stats - even ran pindle for a while with it. Before that I was using bloodletter which I found relatively mediocre even in early NM, and the level reqs are not that different. Plus bloodletter has absurd repair costs for that point in the game, which can actually be a significant problem for SSF. currently running an upped headstriker as my budget grief on pindle runs and it's doing great! Haven't even socketed it yet either!
I'm wondering how the list would look if you also considered upped versions of these. A lot more work, obviously, but as a relative n00b I would very much appreciate a pro's opinion on whether an item is worth keeping / trading and that obviously includes potential upping. Thanks!
Kinemil's Awl is S tier from level 23 up to Act 2 Nm, if you have a maxed and synergized Holy Fire. The area damage gets to the point where you don't even need to hit anything, they just die as soon as you get close.
Headstriker is a really great budget item. You can up it and socket things into it and it's like a poor man's oath. It just does huge damage. And you don't need much ias for a zealot ,ww barb or fury druid. I used it for a while and it was great for me .
Llama, you should do a tier list of magic finding areas. Which areas are best to MF for overall loot? or you could break it out a bit into best place for runes, uniques, ect..
You can upgrade Rixot by late Normal ,make it very valuable till mid NM. I can't recommend and uppd Hellplague enough for Zealot or a Barbarian. Uppd Head striker is a total sleeper, and Lightsaber was my first great weapon, so I'll always love it.
in path of diablo, that bing sz wang is actually low key op, kinda like a mini doom. It gets +3-5 cold mastery so u can slap it on a holy freeze pala to get -cold res to enemies, and pretty much perma freeze everything not cold immune. only thing that sucks is no shield.
I rate this tier list an S, mainly because now we can see the stats and hear a more detailed explanation for the classification. I couldn't remember the exact stats for quite some of items in previous tier lists, so those classification weren't always quite obvious.
Headstriker is a high A. Especially of you up an eth one. Act 5 mercs do double damage with one handed weapons and with 100% DS you get double double damage. It’s the best act 5 merc weapon in the game for damage and also a good zealer sword. Easy A llamer.
Skewer of Krintiz is great stat stick if you have a shield you can reach fairly high block. Could be worse, wish it had some type of resist. Crainte is fun on frenzy barb.
SO MUCH BETTER!!! I hate to ask...but can you go back and do this for all the videos you have already done? Especially the runewords. They need separate videos for low/mid/high or even by item type.
How do you not put the lightsabre in S? It's iconic for numerous reasons.. but it's also one of the best pvp swords a barb can use. Yea it's primarily going to be an offhand immune beater and pvp sword.. but it's literally one of the best weapons to do that.
Gosh I really disagree with LLama's assessment of the lower level swords with life and mana leech. I am doing a solo play through with a barb right now and I was using a few of those swords. The leech makes it so I hardly ever have to use potions. The mana leech is especially useful because it enables melee characters to use their skills full time like bash or zeal. As far as the life leech goes sure if your damage is low you wont leech a lot, but you have to keep in mind that monsters at that level have trouble hitting you and when they do they hardly deal damage.
Thx MrLlamaSC, the best tier list so far! As the tier list before only fit for those extreme veteran players who already known and remembered all the item name, where they even not in need of the tier list themselves... LOL.. most of the part I'm agreeing, but the patriach is definitely a bottom D tier for me as its high str requirement, it will nvr be used as u can easily obtain an exceptional level weapon which is much better than it. Azuwrath actually is quite great, i'll give it high A if not S, its the weapon i used it to complete my only char that beat hell (Zealot), as it can kill everything with its big added magic dmg when my fanatiscm and zeal goes null.. the gleansythe i oso feel it should be in D as it attack real slow which dps easily out run...
I would disagree with early mana leach being bad. It might not fill up your globe in one hit but it allows you to bash or zeal in perpetuity without mana pots which is a nice convenience.
I would say Azure is S because unlike most of these it can have late game usage. Very good on hybrid kicker with traps. If I do world stone with barb, pairing Azure with runeworld is better than 2 runewords because you don't have to Berserk. I also use it on phoenix strike instead of claws, and on Tesladin in undead areas.
hey really want you to make a build that revolves around an upped vial husk like maybe a frenzy barb with lawbringer or azurewrath vial husk and undead crown gravepalm heavenly garb or a pally with maxed sanc aura and show it off even if it can only do a few places like sewers crypt or ancent tunnels or somewhere else i would love to see it even if its trash so it will put this thought train to rest. good luck with it
Upgrade Ali Baba to a Hydra Edge if youre a mellee chharacter, just make sure you get a good ED% roll. Also, upgrading a Headstriker Conquest Sword is awesomne for single player Zealot or Frenzy
33:07 sorry Llama, have to correct you. If an item has indestructible, it can not spawn eth unless it's a blue item. Exceptions are uniques which always spawn eth.
I remember doombringer and grandfather was the best barb weapon end untill rune words like botd and greifs came in. I still like both weapons for end game.
Indestructible unique items cannot be ethereal unless they are always ethereal. Brain fart when saying that!
Thank you for hearing out us utube peeps. Its been almost 2 decades since I've played and the refreshing on details is extremely appreciated.
No worries. I'm sure it can be difficult to focus when chat is trolling you nonstop.
I wonder if you considered the horadric cube upgrades for the uniques as well? some of them can turn into pretty superior variants that remain viable for longer
@@draaaven157 yeah, thinking the same all the time :D I do upgrade some of my exceptional uniques to elites and they rock. MrLlama, wanna do a vid about it? :)
When ranking them you should take into consideration that on ladder you can upgrade the base which makes some items incredibly better
Timestamps for item description:
30:44 Azurewrath
23:01 Bing Sz Wang
11:30 Blacktongue
17:03 Blade of Ali Baba
01:27 Blood Crescent
13:40 Bloodletter
28:56 Bloodmoon
25:35 Cloudcrack
14:53 Coldsteel Eye
21:36 Crainte Vomir
07:59 Culwen's Point
28:00 Djinn Slayer
32:43 Doombringer
32:10 Flamebellow
31:29 Frostwind
18:00 Ginther's Rift
05:20 Gleamscythe
06:06 Griswold's Edge
18:43 Headstriker
06:54 Hellplague
15:50 Hexfire
10:25 Kinemil's Awl
29:30 Lightsabre
19:56 Plague Bearer
12:16 Ripsaw
02:59 Rixot's Keen
08:35 Shadowfang
04:07 Skewer of Krintiz
09:36 Soulflay
26:54 Swordguard
20:45 The Atlantean
33:45 The Grandfather
13:01 The Patriarch
24:24 The Vile Husk
26:16 Todesfaelle Flamme
34:24 Final Tier timestamp
Tiers are subject to change throughout the vid, so check the final section or continue watching the vid after the item’s timestamp.
LOVE the new format!
I appreciate getting the tierlists out, I love em, but a couple of tier lists had entries literally 10 seconds long: "yeah x belt is just trash, D-tier"
I like when the stats are displayed and the chat has a good time tearing it apart while you ridicule the trash items.
yeah, and tbh I'd love to see all of the tierlists presented this way!
I saw all of the other videos but had to stop them often to look for the itemstats myself. It's a bad video when I have to stop it to follow the content.
@@NavidErde It been tough but he is putting in slightly more effort now....
This format is much better, thanx! Only 2 more weeks! Just started a charachter...I am a little bit rusty, haven't played in months, thanx for the content!
Lightsabre is the best sword you can reasonably obtain if you forget the existence of runewords (that excludes godlike upped rare eth dimensional blades). With it's insane ias breakpoint and ignore target defense, also magic and elemental damage you can get through immunities, but also the fact that it scales so well with all the +max damage charms makes it super strong. You can easily farm hell with it, run a pitzerker, zealer or anything like it. It also has ml, which means you can drop one of the rings or other gear that provides it, stack more max damage and call it a day :) also - neither Doombringer nor Grandfather can roll eth. No item that has a pre-set (guaranteed) indestructible affix can spawn as ethereal.
Im biased, but Lightsaber will always be S tier for me... it was my 1st char Zealot's weapon back in 2005....
Kiras guardian, G Angel, HoZ, Lightsaber, Venomgrips, Srting of Ears, GoreRiders,Raven n Dwarfstar rings, Saracens chance. It was a pretty good all around set up
I even liked it before but great that you took the feedback into consideration, i like it so much that you can see the item on the right now.
I haven't seen the other videos, but I thought the format on this one was spot on. Easy to follow, easy to absorb, and enough time for your reasoning to "sink in."
yeah... you should have done it in all the other videos but its fine, al least if you´re really interested in the game you are going to search them. Nice video btw, I've been watching all of them
Really like this new format, much more engaging and interesting..plus its cool to be able to guess as you go along. Artosis did this style for Broodwar units and it was actually great content. Like llama says just because an item is super powerful for 1 specific build does NOT make it S tier. IMO the more usable an item is throughout early, mid and end game is what really helps determine its ranking. That, and obviously the more classes and builds it goes with make it a higher ranking item.
Great to see you've took feedback on board. Thanks.
I miss when Azurewrath was a low lvl crystal sword. Loved using that on new characters.
Still got a few copies on an old mule of mine, never gonna get rid of those.
Props for putting the Grandfather in S tier just because of its old reputation in the early years of LOD. Definitely the most iconic item in the game.
Headstriker is definitely 'A' or lower 'A' tier at the very least. It's good as it is, but when upped + a shael rune, it's a very respectable fanaticism Zealot weapon.
That I totaly agree with. Upgraded Headstriker myself in the past.
Though, it will not compete vs etherial Oath. Runewords are the next tier.
Oh definitely, im using one now. Only complaint is durability, but its fine. Headstriker Conquest sword and Butchers Pupil Small Crescent are dope weapons.
I love the new format. Keep it up. I would be nice to go back and make the other teir list that covered more important topics. I know it’s a lot of work, but would be very informative for newer players. Love you llama!
"Cheapmans version"= Any unique that's not a late game runeword. Now I miss classic.
Miss 1.09
@@YanniHryssomallis 1.09 was the better patch, no lame ass synergies, act 5 nightmare/hell had their original enemies, runewords didn't ruin end game equipment, didn't need 10k plus attack rating to hit things, no teleporting hamerdins, just Diablo 2 as it was supposed to be.
@@Patrick_The_Pure yeah it would be interesting to go back and play it with d2r graphics. I remember putting 1 point into everything on my sorc and she wasn't ruined or anything.
Put my first ever found Azurewrath on my Zeal Tesladin and it was suprisingly good. 500-1000 added magic and cold damage on lightning damage character that attacks stupidly fast made him able to walk through anything in the game. The santuary doesnt do anything really besides put those Oblivion knights into hit recovery sometimes, but the aura looks cool!
It's one of the best swords for melee to beat Physical Immunes, very effective at that. Similar to Lawbringer runeword in that regard.
@@Dragonphoenix25 yeah, it's a beast against PI - high level req, but still underrated in my opinion. Hard to find though.
I've got nothing else better to do but watch your d2 videos into d2r comes out! Loving that your showing stats!! Hope you go back and redo your other videos like this :) keep me sane for the next 14 days plz!!
This format is much better! So nice to talk through the items. I often wondered what to keep of that B to C stuff.
I just got a Swordguard and it is much different than the one you listed.
Swordguard
Executioner Sword
Two-Hand Damage 189-325
Durability: 26 of 26
Required Dexterity: 45
Required Strength: 75
Required Level: 48
Sword Class - Normal Attack Speed
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
20% Increased Chance of Blocking * (This doesn’t make sense since you can’t use it one handed)
+171% Enhanced Damage
+425 Defense (Based on Character Level)
+200 Defense vs. Melee
+100 Defense vs. Missile
All Resistences +15
30% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
Requirements -50%
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired
I dual wielded bloodletters in hell on barb back when I was about 10 years old. It wasn't super fast, but with the lifesteal and all the damage mods from weapon and skills, this was incredibly good. it's an A tier for me
I've been doing that on a barb recently, it's pretty fun
Amazing new format for these tier lists. Now I wish you redid all the previous ones using it, haha.
One major disagreement: *Hexfire* . Nobody "concerned with survivability" is going to use it with a shield over a Leaf staff because it requires 58 str AND 58 dex. I guess you forgot to check the requirements on this one. Bottom of B tier at best, maybe high C.
Azurewrath is S tier for sure. Amazing situational zealot weapon. Sanctuary aura is under rated.
I found and used azurewrath on my selffound zealot. Amazing how easy chaos runs became after that.
It melts physical immune and anything undead, and just has great dmg in general
I actually think it performs better than stormlash on kicksins in some areas of the game. If you don't have infinity. Went to Trav and deleted that whole group in seconds. When I have stormlash I need to work a little harder
It would be nice if the other Tier List videos talked more in depth about when that item would be relevant, what class, and purpose.
Yeah, I was finding unique swords so I was like "Oh let's start a sword barb, why not?" I'm 19 with the unique falchion on and I think more enemies die from attackers take damage perk from my siggy set than from me killing. lol
Thanks Llama! Great content. I think most people didnt complain about the length. For most the problem was just that you didnt show a picture of the stats while talking about the item.
Azurewrath is lvl 85 but it's pretty rare so not unusual to be that high a level once you've found it. Anyway, it's definitely worth it's level req, best unique sword in the game! Gotta be S tier.
It's so funny how people have different points of view from this game in so many aspects and that's wonderful.
To me, Hellplage it's an low S tier sword.
It would be cool to make one Tier video of S tier Set Swords + S tier unique swords + S tier runewords on swords and walk through what's actually the best in the whole game
A fun use for the vile husk sword actually would let you run hell pindle at a fairly low level reletively safely. Put it on your main hand on a barb, and put a law bringer on your other hand. With a 150% roll you would have ~ 524% e dmg to undead on the weapon alone (574% at a max roll).
lvl 20 conc gives 190% edmg. maxing bo gives an extra 200% ontop of that, for 390% edmg, Maxed sword mastery would give an extrra 123% with a 29% critcal strike chance.
So for ~ 60 points total (20 conc, bo, and sword mastery) at level 50 you are running a total of 1,037% e dmg towards undead with ~ 500% towards all enemies with a high level sanctuary aura that knocks undead back so the enemies cannot crowd you. If any get through you are running a 340% e def from conc alone, not counting any points in shout, with a maxed bo.
Since you are not going to be able to pop the bodies anyway, a nm merc running holy freeze compounds with the knock back from sancturary and you can basically do one on one combat with pindle with impunity from a low level.
All it costs is An amn+lem+ ko for the law bringer, a sword not many people want, and if you toss a Lum Rune + Pul Rune + Perfect Emerald in the mix, you are now running that 1k+ edmg on an elite sword with a significant chance of getting critcal strike from maxed sword mastery, and a chance of amp damage on your target and the surrounding monsters.
So lem ko lum pul + sword lets you run a end game boss at level 50.
Alternatively you can swap vile husk for a elite 4os sword and use a voice of reason in it. slightly less edmg to undead, but you get quite a bit to demons, cannot be frozen, and even better crowd control in pindles area when stacked with a lawbring off hand and a holy freeze merc. That setup basically costs you 2x lems' 2x ko's and a elite 40s base (can be 2h swords since this is best done with a barb). Toss in one more lem and ko and make a wealth since your conc boost your def so much that wealth wont hurt you.
Run hell pindle day 2 with 2-3 lem'ss and ko's. Sure you can't pop bodies with this setup, but it would be a niche build.
I miss the old Crystal Sword version of Azurewrath. I had one on a mule long into 1.13 but then my account went inactive and it was finally gone. It was a trophy more than anything else, but was so fun to have.
On the topic of things that are fun to have. Watch out for an ethereal Ginther's Rift, because if you upgrade it into a Phase Blade, it's all kinds of interesting. Since Phase Blade's can't be ethereal, and Ginther's has the self repair mod you end up with quite the interesting item. Even useful in some very specific builds I'd say.
Hey Mr. Llama, just wanted to point out that you read out the 1-handed damage on the 2h swords, which only applies to a barb, and only if he has something in the offhand
You do a good job at listening to your fans/viewers and I appreciate it. Great job man!
These vids are a godsend. Helps me wade through all the random uniques I'm getting while farming Hell Andy.
I love the content no matter what but for what it’s worth, I do prefer the longer, more in depth guides / tier lists! Keep it up!
Awesome, way better tbh. Quick ones were okay for people who have as much D2 knowledge and experience as you Llama, but most of us prefer these type of breakdowns where we get your expert insights and have a chance to learn along the way.. Thanks :)
Found Rixot's Keen during beta, had a blast making 2 pallies, a barb with it and then gifting it to a friend. That sword early game kicks some serious ass.
Thanks for listening to criticism! Now that's how you do it! You explain and show the item and everything! Great work!
I like that you are showing the item descriptions, prefer the old format though because it was more compact
Huge improvement over previous videos. Seeing stats is much better.
Two things - Culwin's Point is actually something you can use early on when paired with sigon's set. Makes for a not bad combination. I would honestly put this in mid C tier, but meh.
Second thing - If ANY unique has indestructible on it CANNOT spawn ethereal unless it can ONLY spawn eth, like Shadow Killer. CoA, Doombringer, etc. CANNOT spawn eth. This makes doombringer A tier for me.
Got a rixots keen from the chest in the dungeon under blood raven first thing during D2R open beta as a zeal paladin. Absolutely smashed through act 1 & 2. Was definitely S-tier for that run 🤣
Azuwrath is easily S tier I think... it does some good damage and physical immune monsters as well.
It can do 1000 magic damage on top of physical damage.
Thank u for taking attention at comments and improving your videos
Tier lists have been great, but this is amazing. Thank you for changing it up
Azurath is S-tier. It can be used on a smiter, zealer, or barb as an off hand. The reason it's S-tier is the same reason Lawbringer rune word is S-tier. It gives you Sanctuary aura, which lets you negate the physical damage reduction from undead mobs. In hell chaos sanctuary for instance, most mobs have 33% or 50% physical damage reduction. Negating this damage reduction is the equivalent of having a constant decrepify, which lowers physical resistance by 50%. Undead mobs die nearly as fast with Azurewrath as a Grief. That's how powerful the Sanctuary Aura is. It also causes a knock back which nearly stun locks all of the undead in CS, which make up 3/4 of all the enemies.
Rixols keen is amazing imo. I actually keep one on a mule for when I start a new character. With the lvl 2 requirement it just feels nice to be able to use a decent weapon almost immediately after starting a new character.
this is the format I was really hoping for. Thanks for hearing our calls Llama!
A - motherflippin - mazing!
Realized the feedback almost immediately and now it's easily S-Tier in the Tierlists tierlist!
Perfect please redo all of them with this format
I just beat a Pally Normal playthrough with a Skewer of Krintiz. The high attack speed and ItD make it an excellent Holy Fire vector. Which just goes to show, a unique doesn't have to be particularly good to make short work of Normal.
Love the new format, thanks! If possible, to have the item image up as you're going through would be even better!
Headstriker and Ginther's Rift - nightmare weapons you can easily beat the game on Hell. They deserve a higher tier imo.
Thanks for the new format, this is a LOT better :). Now if you could redo the rune words in this format that would be amazing!
I disagree with Griswold's edge. If you run a barb or a paladin, level 17 to level 25 (before baalrun) is critical and this is the highest damage output sword, if not best 1H weapon at this level (and you put it last...). Llama you run a lot solo or in 8PPL ladder group. But many people play the whole season. Add a duskdeep +8 damage to this very fast sword and you fly. I agree with the rest. Great content.
I was actually enjoying the old videos and you wouldn't have heard me complain about them, but this is a lot better :)
"I apologize if I was to fast". Don't worry, we've all said that before
Lol
I think headstriker has to be A or better. I used a non-upped even through hell and it was decent thanks to the leveled stats - even ran pindle for a while with it. Before that I was using bloodletter which I found relatively mediocre even in early NM, and the level reqs are not that different. Plus bloodletter has absurd repair costs for that point in the game, which can actually be a significant problem for SSF.
currently running an upped headstriker as my budget grief on pindle runs and it's doing great! Haven't even socketed it yet either!
I'm wondering how the list would look if you also considered upped versions of these. A lot more work, obviously, but as a relative n00b I would very much appreciate a pro's opinion on whether an item is worth keeping / trading and that obviously includes potential upping. Thanks!
Kinemil's Awl is S tier from level 23 up to Act 2 Nm, if you have a maxed and synergized Holy Fire. The area damage gets to the point where you don't even need to hit anything, they just die as soon as you get close.
Headstriker is a really great budget item. You can up it and socket things into it and it's like a poor man's oath. It just does huge damage. And you don't need much ias for a zealot ,ww barb or fury druid. I used it for a while and it was great for me .
How good is the sanctuary aura on azure... Is it worth running a build on it (I know the level requirement is high though)
Llama, you should do a tier list of magic finding areas. Which areas are best to MF for overall loot? or you could break it out a bit into best place for runes, uniques, ect..
We gave our whirl wind barb two vile tusks and that helps a ton for clearing the chaos sanctuary it was a sight to see when he got my 30 con aura
YAY!! details Horaay! Appreciated MrLlama
You can upgrade Rixot by late Normal ,make it very valuable till mid NM. I can't recommend and uppd Hellplague enough for Zealot or a Barbarian. Uppd Head striker is a total sleeper, and Lightsaber was my first great weapon, so I'll always love it.
I crushed Beta with Skewer on my fire aura pally! Really good sword for low level.
in path of diablo, that bing sz wang is actually low key op, kinda like a mini doom. It gets +3-5 cold mastery so u can slap it on a holy freeze pala to get -cold res to enemies, and pretty much perma freeze everything not cold immune. only thing that sucks is no shield.
Always good content. Mrllamas videos are like your favorite toons when kids
I rate this tier list an S, mainly because now we can see the stats and hear a more detailed explanation for the classification. I couldn't remember the exact stats for quite some of items in previous tier lists, so those classification weren't always quite obvious.
Can you go over the difference between crushing blow, deadly strike, critical strike or hit, open wounds............??
Headstriker is what I killed my first Dclone with, on a zealot.
Headstriker is a high A. Especially of you up an eth one.
Act 5 mercs do double damage with one handed weapons and with 100% DS you get double double damage. It’s the best act 5 merc weapon in the game for damage and also a good zealer sword. Easy A llamer.
Skewer of Krintiz is great stat stick if you have a shield you can reach fairly high block. Could be worse, wish it had some type of resist.
Crainte is fun on frenzy barb.
Love the new format! Almost wish runewords could be done again in this way.
Frostwind is definitely A tier. For ww barb it gives the max 6.25 attacks and is enough to crush hell difficulty.
the longer format is super! could you re-do the older ones?
SO MUCH BETTER!!! I hate to ask...but can you go back and do this for all the videos you have already done? Especially the runewords. They need separate videos for low/mid/high or even by item type.
Kinemil's Awl on a HF paladin is one of the most fun builds I've ever done. Reccomend trying it out for fun if you ever come across one
How do you not put the lightsabre in S? It's iconic for numerous reasons.. but it's also one of the best pvp swords a barb can use. Yea it's primarily going to be an offhand immune beater and pvp sword.. but it's literally one of the best weapons to do that.
in depth tier list Llama video are gold
Gosh I really disagree with LLama's assessment of the lower level swords with life and mana leech. I am doing a solo play through with a barb right now and I was using a few of those swords. The leech makes it so I hardly ever have to use potions. The mana leech is especially useful because it enables melee characters to use their skills full time like bash or zeal. As far as the life leech goes sure if your damage is low you wont leech a lot, but you have to keep in mind that monsters at that level have trouble hitting you and when they do they hardly deal damage.
Level 40 barb, should I do double Bloodletter, or bloodletter+Headstriker?
Thx MrLlamaSC, the best tier list so far! As the tier list before only fit for those extreme veteran players who already known and remembered all the item name, where they even not in need of the tier list themselves... LOL..
most of the part I'm agreeing, but the patriach is definitely a bottom D tier for me as its high str requirement, it will nvr be used as u can easily obtain an exceptional level weapon which is much better than it.
Azuwrath actually is quite great, i'll give it high A if not S, its the weapon i used it to complete my only char that beat hell (Zealot), as it can kill everything with its big added magic dmg when my fanatiscm and zeal goes null..
the gleansythe i oso feel it should be in D as it attack real slow which dps easily out run...
I would disagree with early mana leach being bad. It might not fill up your globe in one hit but it allows you to bash or zeal in perpetuity without mana pots which is a nice convenience.
I would say Azure is S because unlike most of these it can have late game usage. Very good on hybrid kicker with traps. If I do world stone with barb, pairing Azure with runeworld is better than 2 runewords because you don't have to Berserk. I also use it on phoenix strike instead of claws, and on Tesladin in undead areas.
Now I wish that the previous shorter tier lists could get redone into this format!
hey really want you to make a build that revolves around an upped vial husk like maybe a frenzy barb with lawbringer or azurewrath vial husk and undead crown gravepalm heavenly garb or a pally with maxed sanc aura and show it off even if it can only do a few places like sewers crypt or ancent tunnels or somewhere else i would love to see it even if its trash so it will put this thought train to rest. good luck with it
I think an uppd Crainte Vomir would make an excellent 2nd sword on Frenzy Barb. Maybe Fury Druid
Knockback isn't too bad on a ww barb. Gives you a little survivability. I wouldn't go out of my way for it. But it can be helpful at times.
Mercenary builds/gear. When to use Act 1/5 mercs over act 2? And are there stat differences between normal/nm/hell mercs when same level?
I remember him saying their all the same , that it's a myth.
Upgrade Ali Baba to a Hydra Edge if youre a mellee chharacter, just make sure you get a good ED% roll.
Also, upgrading a Headstriker Conquest Sword is awesomne for single player Zealot or Frenzy
Like the long formate. Good shit.
Doombringer cannot spawn ethereal because of its indestructible quality
The problem with almost all normal unique weapons is that they never get enough ED to stand out much from a regular yellow you can find.
As far as uniques go azurewrath is BiS for zealers tho right?
It would be interesting if you took the S and A tier items from these lists and ranked them against the rune word items of the same type.
33:07 sorry Llama, have to correct you. If an item has indestructible, it can not spawn eth unless it's a blue item. Exceptions are uniques which always spawn eth.
Yeah I realized it after the video lol. Misspoke
used skewer of krinitz until hell act 1 as frenzy barb. Didnt have any better drop, had to upgrade skewer in horadric cube so it'd be 40 dmg.
I like the in-depth, but I also really liked the quick and dirty.
I remember doombringer and grandfather was the best barb weapon end untill rune words like botd and greifs came in. I still like both weapons for end game.