D2R - Top 10 Worst Unique Items (With Loathing)

[@XxPhoenixHarpyexX2]

Ginger: corpse explsion is so small that it wont hit anything at all. Me: And yet.....nihlathak kills me with one corpse explosion across the screen.

[@GGMentor]

He has high level CE that has a much larger radius

[@lightningandodinify]

I was looking forward to seeing you do an epic roast 😭🤣 I'm not done the video yet, but it's great that you're teaching us of the good in these items while still clarifying the severity of their bads. It's funny, informative, and kinda sad at the same time. I hope the developers see this video for ideas on how to save these items 😣

[@Chiefs_fan1595]

The level of quality with the content you drop is top notch

[@ejnt00217]

This content rolled superior quality

[@sursnaps]

Kinemil's would be a pretty fun versatile low lvl sword if it applied a lvl 6 holy fire aura to your char instead of +6 skill points.

[@ertavampy4622]

Or if it was one handed so actually viable for a pally.

[@xxZitroxx]

Yea then you could even dual wield as a frenzy Barb and have lvl 12 holy Fire. Early on thatd be pretty nice.

[@MrAlefloo]

Love kinemils awl, so fun just rushing trough and see everything dies up until Blessed hammer🤣

[@teodor783]

Levelling with kinemil dumping all points in holy fire and resist fire with lore, viper and magefist. You just walk around and everything dies

[@GGMentor]

​@@teodor783hexfire + spirit sword is a waaaaaay better combo

[@lordgut5252]

Don’t hate too much on Kinemil…. When you need to farm chipped gems in normal difficulty this Sword is perfect! You never get touched🤣

[@apollo3604]

Exactly what i use this for. Slap this on your higher level character just sprint through Normal listening for chippies.

[@viperswhip]

Mule yourself a complete Flail and it rocks the normal game hard.

[@thewizard7099]

Just got a survey for your video from KZbin. I selected biggest smiley face and checked all boxes. Hope that help the channel:). Best detailed d2 and d2r guides on KZbin IMO

[@GGMentor]

wow a video survey huh never seen one of those. =)

[@thewizard7099]

@@GGMentor it shows up time to time under videos. Asks how enjoyable the content was with a rating from sad face - to huge smile. after has several boxes to check that says check all that apply (relaxing) (enjoyable) (informative) ect.

[@g4lb4n59]

Jajaja... can't stop thinking that I got excited when I got a Viperfork!!! Very entertaining video Ginger and, as always, very nice explanations

[@Hilke88]

Stamina should increase hit recovery. It would make it useful and makes sense within the lore of the fight. More stamina = faster maintaining your ground after taking a hit

[@nononononononononono2045]

love to see you working hard with those videos(and livestreams of course) - keep it up. All the best!

[@choupetto85]

You have 100% more chance to drop a 30+ all res pally shield 0-4 sockets before dropping Alma Negra

[@edwardanthony8929]

This was a very valuable video. The game drowns you with choices, so having a knife to cut out nonsense is great.

[@KrisM189]

This video made me laugh alot:) The contempt is hilarious. I think they should overhaul many of the old unique items to increase variety and playstyles. Hell, they could start by making them fun vs godly ;) gg video man.

[@damyonsim4552]

Man, your content is top shelf...thank you !

[@shinuizabusa2180]

That was a good one. The thought "why it has to be SO BAD" always hits me and it´s sad to see items being a never pickup.

[@adamhero459]

I actually like atmas. But it is more of a jack of all trades, so it really is only something to help fill a few things you are lacking until you find something better or level up a bit more to build up your stats a bit more to no longer need it.

[@patinthechat6452]

I have a viperfork on my merc now, I can't get rid of it fast enough. Had a socketed Hone Sundan but I upgraded it out of his hands haha whoops!

[@kaheldeitz592]

Very informative as usual! Really appreciate your videos!

[@kevinnitta3576]

I have watched a number of your videos' and in my case you are definitely my mentor. Fat too many KZbinrs assume knowledge that I simply don/t have. I .watched a number of your videos and learned more than I ever amassed alone/ I severely underestimated the depth of this hard game.

[@ricardohernandezvega8588]

Good list. I hope they tackle the challenge of balancing most uniques so that they are more viable and upgradeable when transmuting, not to make them all super powerful but in service of the fantasy that each of them is supposed to have been created for. These choices illustrate very well how their intent when creating them, though they could sound interesting, can be very disappointing in practice for lack of proper fine-tuning.

[@nickwheeler9768]

I wish they would make more gear and builds viable

[@insideatent]

alot of these uniques were tweaked in PD2, love it.

[@game_jinx]

thx ggm. overall poison could use some tender loving care. the stack and over ride is a real issue online with uncontrolled player procs

[@GGMentor]

Subscribe or I will curse you with these items as drops from every monster forever. Also DO NOT CLICK THIS LINK kzbin.info/www/bejne/mXiqiWaOiNR4esk

[@sebgal8544]

Alma Negra was used back in the day in Melee duels, you could max resistances without using a shield on a Paladin pretty easy so the no resistance wasn't a big deal (they also used to host PvP games in Nightmare mode instead of Hell also), and also resistance wasn't needed when you were Zeal vs Zeal, Zeal vs Barb, Zeal vs Bowzon (minus Poison of course), Zeal vs Fury Druid etc. ALSO, runewords were banned in certain circles, so it was primarily Uniques/Rares.

[@pokemonfan2630]

Yeah its still a beast for zeal vs zeal, beats out hoz for sure.

[@ext93]

Ah yes. I remember looking for games named "NM DUEL NOW" or "NM DUELZIN"

[@off-meta-michael]

Loved the silent, disappointed look on your face as you dropped the Alma Negra shield on the ground. Says it all. Man and templar's might is such nonsense for how rare it is. It should be +2 to all skills with -50% requirements and something cool like a level 100 teeth when struck. I dunno just something.

[@GGMentor]

I think my disappointment with alma negra is that it has a niche as a high damage shield. But the problem is it doesn't even fulfill it's own niche very well. Aside from a few very specific PVP scenarios it's not better than any other shield choice even in it's own chosen Niche which is dps output.

[@VulcanP90]

I made a CTA in a military pick for the style points.

[@GGMentor]

All right Brad Pitt calm down

[@UnrivaledPiercer]

I know I'm in a minority among purists, but there is a reason why transmogrification is popular in games. Items like Templar's Might are awesome looking when equipped, yet we never see them in normal game play because of the abysmal stats they bring. I really want a cube recipe or something for transmog options in D2R. In single player if you don't care about being 100% legit, it's easy to transfer item stats from one to another of a different design, but online you're really locked into just a few appearances per character based on your build. Green hat gang rise up!

[@robertvose7540]

Well, there's nothing stopping anyone from using an item like Templar's Might. I know one of my favorite armors, Leviathan, is one of the coolest looking in the game, and is entirely worth using. Templar's Might is also worth using. Is it the best? Hell no. Is it even "worth" using? Probably not. Can you use it and still succeed entirely, and have no problems with anything in PvM? YES. And so, really, transmog is not what you want. You can already transmog. You simply have to deal within the constraints of gear in the game. Which is entirely good game design. If you want to be awesome, then be awesome, nothing is stopping you. I look at a game like Dark Souls, often known as Fashion Souls. Why? Because you can use any armors that you want. It really doesn't matter. You can beat the game in rags. You can beat the game in the heaviest armors. And everything inbetween. The stats, while yes they technically matter on the items, the simple fact remains, you can beat the game using whatever items. It's the same in Diablo 2. Sure, it might be more challenging. You might not be the most godly of god gear god gods, or whatever. But maybe, that's part of the fun, no? Maybe challenge yourself, no? Sincerely, - Bing Sz Wang Double Swing Barb.

[@jdstark24]

Lol I also wish there was transmog in D2R, but largely because I hate the look of shako

[@andreandre2230]

Os danos por veneno deveriam se somar

[@josephpowers7155]

My original account name was : silver wings.... and I only played barbarian... imagine my exquisite joy upon discovering that the best barb helm was a triumphantly silver falcon winged arreats face- I had no clue before playing my barb named falcongms... it was fated in the stars to be so- then the devs skin swapped it for the I.K. healm... I perfered the silver... never been the same since

[@TGFMusic]

Nah I hate most changes to D2 but transmog needs to be a thing in every game. The first time I played WoW and could do that I was like omg this is amazing. On top of looking however you want, it adds fun to the game by purposefully looking for garbage items you normally wouldn’t want to find. Most my time in WoW was looking for things that were like 10 years old and severely underpowered but I liked how they looked lol

[@muhammadzinc5228]

honestly devs need to re-work and buff a lot of uniques in order to compete with Runewords

[@ZeroF557]

Is it possible that the devs may have put bad items in the game intentionally, probing the player to carefully think about their choices in which items they equip? Reminds me of what Cain says in Act 1"You may recover some mysterious things from the demons you kill. Some of great use to you... some of great peril".

[@andrewvader1955]

That pollen sword I've actually used it the moment you're able to with zeal it works just fine but you got specifically build for it and it's very short-lived having fun with it

[@amfitness5598]

These are great videos for theory crafting bc u go into details of why the items are not useful especially for their level. The Alma Negra is an item that has always puzzled me, and I happen to find often in game always to look and charsi it. I mean if the designers plan was to make it offensive shield only and make u sacrifice defensive stats that usually come with a Pally shield 🛡 then the trade off must really be worth it. Higher ED and AR numbers would help. I argue that putting stats like % chance to CB would also be nice…maybe 20-30% range CB? Lastly I was thinking how when u build a Holy Fire or Holy Shock characters there are double rune words to provide u with the auras…but when it comes to Holy Freeze there is only doom with the lvl 12 on it…how cool would it be if Alma Negra as it’s “defensive bonus” instead of giving All Res like all shields instead gives like a lvl 10 Holy Freeze aura when equipped that stacks with Doom? I just think that would be super cool. And yea Pally is my favorite character I have a lot of builds😎

[@choupetto85]

Im curious how much damage Moonfall meteor charges do with Fire Mastery cause the Hellfire torch Hydra goes up to 1.3k if youre a sorceress

[@ericwycoff1399]

"I wouldn't even use this to make an iron golem!" LOOOOL!

[@liquidformat]

To be fair to Skull Splitter it was designed back in ye olden times when uniques had no level requirement so you could use it on a barb around level 6 so it wasn't horrible. Most of the normal uniques suffer from the same issue, just look at the unique normal bows some of them were great when they first came out since they had no level requirements but they gave them all unreasonable level requirements turning them into hot garbage. I really wish they would go back and look at the normal uniques and set items and scale back the level requirements or just remove them. I miss having bonesnap at level 5

[@jesseroberts1041]

That would instantly increase their value for sure

[@factsrecorderjohn5800]

The stats on the uniques were not the same. The patch you are referring to had the worst stats in the whole series, they were later buffed and a level requirement was applied. So no, most people don’t miss having them uniques.

[@cocomunga]

My first character as a kid was a paladin with at least one in every skill and he used the Soul Harvest Scythe. He was bad, but I used the Scythe because it was a cool looking weapon with buffs that I'd never seen. I think that is what many uniques were made with in mind- it is " unique " from a rare or magical item. Not necessarily better, but fun to mess around with. I'm mainly talking about early to mid-level uniques though. +50 Stamina on Templar's might is a slap in the face. Woo I'm at worldstone keep in hell. I need stamina! They call it Templar's Might because you'll need the might of a Templar to wear it.

[@93Beefcake]

My first character was a paladin aswell and I skilled only this elemental damage attack and only strength and went for a 2h Hammer sad to say I missed like 90% of attacks but at least my character was strong right? Still made it to nightmare somehow after endless grinding

[@mvargasmoran]

Could you imagine Stormspike with Zeal? and better procs skills, I think we could leave the charged bolts as is, just to be a sparkling meme melee Sorc.

[@jerrypeterson5011]

This has to be one of the more informative D2R videos out there and still managed to be entertaining to me. Seeing you just throw away uniques and slapping your hand made laugh. Besides saying thank you for the information, I am curious did you really end up throwing away those items in your game files?

[@GGMentor]

Lol, they are still in the item pack who knows maybe one day they will be updated and be useful

[@andrewlanglois6362]

19:34 Alma Negra has no all res, like any ordinary Paladin shield, no features for increased limit res, no cap to attack speeds, no reduction auras/no attack auras, not self-repair capabilities

[@finalcam1740]

Paladin shields can have either all res or damage/AR. alma negra is a damage/AR variant.

[@GGMentor]

Yes and if you made say Spirit Runeword in a Perfect Damage/AR Variant paladin shield it would be better imo than Alma Negra and still provide the increased damage.

[@NoName-md6fd]

The only use of viperfork I can think of would be some weird venom assassin build because the poison damage will stack with venom, but you don't get + skills from claws and Gargoyle's bite is better because it gives poison jav charges on top of the added poison damage and you get to use a shield.

[@flamerollerx01]

Of all the things that should be changed, nearly all charged uniques should just have O skills instead. Then they would actually be really good. Charges should only be a cheap thing you get on magic and rare crap you find (with a few exceptions). I think Kinemil's could be much better if it straight up gave holy fire when equipped, so you could stack it with other auras, or use it on another class. It would be a fun build. Shame it sucks so bad. Also, poisons need to be normalized (same duration) and they need to stack. Also what if Alma Negra had +6 so smite, the amount of damage you talked about, but maybe no attack rating at all, since it would be built for smite and smite never misses. I wonder if Templar's might were an Ancient armor instead if that would be enough to make it useful? Might need a slight nerf to it's enhanced defense though.

[@goatsplitter]

I love a holy fire paladin until act 4 nightmare. I would have loved, instead, a Kinemil's set; even if its just a two-fer, that does approx the same (or ideally, better). Let's say, a one handed weapon and a shield. Using both grants a level 6 holy fire (to ANY class) but that would add to holy fire if you already have it. I think there are a LOT of really cool set ideas like that that would be helpful early on. I think that's one of the big misses in diablo 2 is that there could be SO many more sets and uniques that do really specific things but they decided not to do that. I duno. you right tho. Kinemil's awl is awlful.

[@Aggrosk8]

You've done so many unique item videos, it might be a cool idea to do a top 10 uniques to upgrade. That could possibly be a good video idea. Keep up all the great videos!

[@GGMentor]

I am working on it, but it's probably gonna be split into Tier 1 -> 2 Upgrades, and Tier 2 -> 3 Upgrades. Simply because there are so many good upgrade options.

[@Aggrosk8]

@@GGMentor Awesome!

[@PedroJPedro]

Do you think they can program poison damage to be independent of one another? Kind of how like they changed the next hit delay? Or is that impossible.

[@GGMentor]

Open Wounds is separate from poison but functions just like poison and works right along side poison lol. So using that as a base for understanding I am sure they could figure it out if they wanted.

[@zzzzz329]

Just beat the game for the first time with the awl funnily enough, it helped me break 30 holy fire which was really nice for a low level first timer lol. I really think it's a decent weapon for normal difficulty

[@danielj436]

Kinemil's Awl is op at the start at level 23. you run around and everything falls over. you don't need to block or anything, all you do is run past and watch stuff fall over. it's higher damage holy fire than dual spirit. Past normal it loses strength, but I used it until Nightmare act 4 where the damage falls off, and it was a blast until then, and then I just respected into Hammer. Was probably the best leveling experience due to the aura 1-2 hitting everything on the screen. Very relaxed play. Didn't even need to physically attack anything as it was often dead before I could. If you consider the item for leveling till mid Nightmare, then it's pretty op. Discard it after that when you respec

[@GGMentor]

You can get basically the same effect with a Steelclash kite shield and a hell plague. You can also easily get a +3 holy fire scepter from the shop. Often you will find a +1 or +2 paladin scepter with holy fire as well. Which means at a relatively low level you can obtain +7 holy fire and still be using a shield. Long before btw you have access to this terrible two hander. As Steelclash is only lvl 17, and holy fire weapons are even lower level requirements. The moral of the story is, it's a terrible weapon with basically no redeeming qualities. Because every single alternative option is better than it. And no dual spirits is not worse than this sword, it's two handed which means no shield and low survivability. It also means no resistances either since your shield is the main source of res and defense for paladins.

[@johnt836]

@@GGMentor Also just the fact that it's a 2 handed sword is insulting. It's like Blizzard thought, hey, we'll make a sword for holy fire paladins, but then make it two-handed just to say "f*** you" to the player!

[@andycasler9056]

On the viperfork, I'd put some sockets in it, throw in some perfect emeralds and see if I could stack poison damage boost from Trang-Oul's Claws on top of that... just for shits 'n' giggles. Or maybe make an iron golem out of it.

[@TheAdditionalPylons]

Templars Might should grant might as a 0-skill instead of +2 offensive auras (paladin only). There, made it super interesting, hardly changed a thing.

[@digidressdress2363]

How many of those items are from the original diablo2 game, not including any patches or lod

[@GGMentor]

2, I believe

[@njdutoit]

I used Alma Negra on my first Zealot to complete Hell Difficulty. I like it. The Magic Reduction is slso decent.

[@buybuck]

Could U make a Video about the worst sets diablo 2? The completely useless ones. 'coz I keep them all but fell that some of them I've never used & will never be able to use

[@LiliaAlmansa]

20:22 dragonscale is like 🐲 dragon runeword but worst.

[@GGMentor]

lol I can't really hate on the Dragonscale Shield too much, because it does do something unique unlike a lot of the items on this list. I have spent some time setting up a Character with it and the results were ok, I could use conviction and spam hydras before entering combat for some free damage. Stacking Plus to skills to get the most out of the O-Skill Hydra. It could be so much better with a couple tweaks, and the gear needed to make it work is high end lol. It's a novelty at best unfortunately. "The Paladin that can cast Mildly OK Hydras"

[@deeks86]

I was gonna use a kinamils awl for a low level paladin playthrough. I tried it around level 23 in act3 normal and it does pretty well. I'm killing screens in no time with all that aoe fire damage. And with zeal hits he does fairly well. That's the only use for that sword imo.

[@GGMentor]

Holy fire does that fine without the sword 😂 that's like saying the nuclear bomb had an amazing blast radius because you added a sticker on the outside before you launched it. Not even to mention you'd get more mileage out of a +3 HF war scepter, and a decent shield

[@TheLongwei]

Kinemil's awl was the go to sword back in 1.09 when chippadins where a thing, you ran around in act one with a paladin that had maxed holy fire and killed all monsters 2 screens away for chipped gems for 3 chip + CB for a chance of cruel colossus blade of quickenss with 3 sockets.

[@zmk5374]

Doesn't Holy Fire proc independent of attack speed? You can just be standing around and it procs on its own.

[@GGMentor]

Yes, for the pulse damage which isn't really that great. But Holy Fire Consists of two elements, the Pulse Damage, and the On Hit Physical Damage which is the primary output. The on hit physical Fire Damage does depend on Attack Speed. If you wait for the pulse damage to kill everything your gonna be waiting a while. Unless you just ridiculously over leveled for the zone.

[@vjspectron]

My thoughts on these for anyone who wants to see them: -Viperfork - 50% IAS on a pretty-fast base spear and not-bad damage. Decent! If they do the right thing and give Poison Explosion a physical aspect this could be a hit someday. Iron Golem rating: 7/10 -Radament's Sphere - Okay this one is pretty crappy, doesn't even reduce poison duration. Iron Golem rating: 2/10 -Kinemil's Awl - Too clunky and big and not really good for anyone. Rares at this level spawn better stats. IG rating: 1/10 -Alma Negra - No resistances(!), they tried to make an offense-based Pally shield and it gets stomped by any unique Spiked-type Shield. IG rating: 1/10 -Templar's Might - A sick end-game joke. This is missing its centerpiece, it would need an oskill or aura, something focal to give it value commensurate to its scarcity. It gives Vitality so mercs don't even get health. Heavy AF. IMO this is the worst item on your list. IG rating: 2/10 -Moonfall - It's mediocre but I wouldn't say top-10 worthy. An oddball fire build or even enchantress might like its added fire damage and a 1/20 chance to drop a small meteor on your enemies...if it didn't have a Level 42 requirement! IG rating: 4/10 -Stormspire - Put a zero behind each CtC stat and make it a spear and suddenly it isn't worthless. Still not great, but at least it would be an option for Zons. IG rating: 7/10 -Stormspike - pretty useless, who asked for a lightning-themed dagger? It's weak but at least it gives heavy lightning resist. IG rating: 3/10 -Atma's Wail - HOLY SHNIT it's better than Templar's, and it still sucks. 30% FCR and MF, a little dex, and it helps you recover a bit of health and mana automatically. Subpar but not outright offensive. IG rating: 3/10 -Skull Splitter - This drops all the time, it's like a tiny runeword in its effects. Not too bad for level 20! IG rating: 5/10 OTHER WORST ITEMS: Steel Shade - Holy moly this is awful. It's a mistake! At its level and requirements it's gotta be unfinished. THE worst unique in the game IMO. IG rating: 3/10 Heart Carver - Better in D2R since they gave barbs daggers under Blade mastery, but meh. Deadly Strike is the least useful of the big damage mods for its target audience, and it loses to an Ali Baba or any MF item every time I wanna hork. Where's the MF, Heart Carver?? IG rating: 3/10 Wraith Flight - I wanna love it, but the devs did what they always do to the "infinite ethereal" uniques: the enhanced damage is underpowered. And it's sloooow. It's like they were scared to make giant monster-damage ethereal items so they skimmed the damage for "balance". If this had 200%+ enhanced damage it would be the only way it'd be a viable (but clunky) option for a ranged playstyle. IG rating: 4/10 Stormstrike - Required level 25 for 9 - 20 damage: something hurts about that, and it's not anything you're shooting! Actually all the lower Unique bows have insane level requirements for the measly damage they do. I picked on this one because it seemed the most useless aside from some pierce which is nice, I guess. The Battlebranch - Offers nothing a good rare can't improve upon. IG rating: 3/10 Gravepalm - If you're a physical attacker, you usually want to make sure your gloves have IAS and some AR or dex boost, maybe leech or a class-specific ability for zons and assassins. This, uhh...helps you fight skeletons. The hardest enemies to hit/damage in the game are demons, so items focused around hitting the undead are pretty niche. Too niche. Thanks for making this video! It's a fun point of discussion and maybe we'll see some of these fixed someday.

[@SaulGoodman-w2x]

One of the worst feelings in D2R - finding a super rare unique item that is utterly terrible.

[@MrShadowhearth]

I am really late to the party( I played D2 in eastern eu internet cafe ), and your vidoes are so helpful for me to get back in to D2R as old fecker and learn about items and their values. You are one sexy ginger beard fecker!

[@GGMentor]

Lol glad I can help

[@dmagick914]

War Spike can actually be a good base for Doom because it has better speed than a Berserker Axe and Doom can’t be made in a phaseblade.

[@ms.aelanwyr.ilaicos]

Kinemil's might be interesting if it was just an active lvl 6 Holy Fire aura. Also, could be useful on an avenger from 23-30?

[@OneWayTraffic]

Kinemil's Awl is fine for cruising through Normal up to Level 45 or so. Then time to respec from Holy Fire.

[@GGMentor]

eh, better off with a +3 holy fire weapon you can by from akara, and a decent shield. Hexfire +spirit is better by miles.

[@pmgpc69]

Out of all those uniques you went over in the video, I only came across Atma’s Wail. I put it on my character for a few minutes. Wanted to see what was special about it. Slayed a few monsters. Looked at its stats. I remember saying to myself, “That’s it?” Went back to town and put my other armor back on. I agree that it’s one of the worst uniques in the game.

[@GGMentor]

I mean, "If You don't have anything better" Was an item I feel like it would be atma's Wail.

[@bluebarrymore5442]

do you think they should update items in diablo? like so many things are just basically unusable.

[@GGMentor]

I think some items need some adjustments, but They said they would not be touching uniques in diablo 2 so it's a moot point.

[@Pharisaeus]

Viperfork at least has 50 ias and mancatcher is a fast base. With treatchery you could hit max merc ias frames, which could stack nicely with some CB. But I guess you could achieve similar effect (but with even better results) by putting shaels into hone sundan.

[@GGMentor]

Like I said during the video, if you didn't have anything else... But an Eth Obedience Mancatcher, an Eth Hone Sudan Yari, an Eth Tomb Reaver, An Eth Insight in a thresher are honestly all better options. Eth Obedience Mancatcher is by far the cheapest, and best option over a viperfork

[@catnium]

you will notice that barbarian armors dont have resistances because barbs have natural resistances

[@jessebishop5239]

This list is great entertainment. I think you could easily make another 10 worst uniques items list. There is a decent amount of them out there…Dragon Chang anyone?

[@sherizaahd]

Isn't the problem with most unique items that they released Runewords without rebalancing the other items? Though, I'm sure a lot of unique items were always poor compared to other rare or unique items.

[@condorkon7928]

I have never even came close to 5000 defense for hell lol.

[@woreyour]

granted they are all pre runewords right?

[@GGMentor]

Exceptional and elite uniques came out with runewords in LoD Granted new runewords we're added in following patches but I don't think these items were ever really that great. With exception to the poison items which were better before the poison damage nerf patch.

[@BH-vh3iu]

Just 'cause I watched this I got a Moonfall from Diablo, eeck

[@GGMentor]

oh no lol

[@demiserofd]

Don't forgot good old IRONSTONE! With stats worse than common rare weapons! Ironstone War Hammer +100-150% Damage +100-150 AR 1-10 Lightning Damage +10 Strength Level 27

[@manowartank8784]

Up to 47-72 for one hander is not bad at lvl 27 - i could see a Fanaticism Zealot using it to finish Normal, then using it to farm NM Countess for Sol to upgrade it further to Battle hammer - 87-145 weapon would be decent for rest of the NM. You would do some 500 average Zeal hit in A4 NM with it, so it's 3-4 hits to kill Oblivion knight. Still not that bad - considering you don't find anything else by that point. Far from being useless as other pieces in the list.

[@ismirdochegal4804]

Why did you add a socket to every item shown in your videos? Oh, I see [42:30] it is single player and some mod in which you remodeled "Wisdom".

[@GGMentor]

Yes there are mock runewords in the pack for d2 and D2LoD users that want to try out the new runewords in the old version of the game without a modification

[@PhukYu1]

Wait you can ONLY have ONE source of poison? Like one charm or whatever? Because I never figured it out?

[@GGMentor]

Basically yes, although some can combine before applying to the target. But once they are applied to the target only the strongest poison stays. For instance, a poison charm in your inventory+poison dagger combine. Poison nova + poison charm don't combine because poison nova is a spell and does not add charm damage.

[@PhukYu1]

@@GGMentor Ahh was only keeping them around for weapon damage so - like charms and weapon though losing like 200ish max dps probably isn't going to do much harm - it shows as green still despite being added from Holy Shock - dunno if it's a bug or what or how the damage is actually applied. Found one charm recently for two slots and it's like +150 poison over X seconds and +1 dex or something (well the thought that counts) and I'm like, oooh cool! Mainly want the freeze charms just to proc freezing on anything that it can apply to D2 math has always been - WEIRD

[@GGMentor]

@@PhukYu1 holy shock has to be applied with a melee weapon so charms apply when you strike with your melee skill. Holy shock also applies with you melee weapon so they apply at the same time

[@GodOfWar187]

I think eth Templar's Might has a niche use in melee duels because of the defense, or at least I remember seeing people use it way back in the day, but that's about it. Even then I'm not entirely sure if it would be better over an eth G-Bane or Leviathan (though I don't think Leviathan can be eth which is a point against it) because those at least have DR. I guess you could pop a Ber in there since I don't believe eth items lose durability in duels, but I could be wrong about that. Even then though, it would only be 8% and you can also just put that Ber in a G-Bane instead.

[@FCTRiglet]

Thanks!

[@GGMentor]

You shall not be cursed with these drops due to your magnanimity

[@mikezharov725]

I would disagree about kinemin's awl it's a fine jack of all trades weapon for a auradin/pally in normal. when you arent facing negative resistances, when you dont have a good shield and when your +3 holy fire scepter looks pittiful in comparison. even polearms at that level can barely go toe to toe with it's + fire damage without that much str investment. You are correct, It's not optimal for any fighting style, but it's sheer stats 150 ar and 100+ fire damage at level 23 pulls it through. you can zeal or vengeance, or charge with it all the way through to Begining of Nightmare when the resistances demand you get a shield.

[@Unotverysmart]

Love the videos and your style of showing things, I just wish they weren’t so long

[@GGMentor]

I am long winded that is my style, watch it at 1.5 x speed 🤣

[@Unotverysmart]

Ginger Gaming Mentor not a bad idea honestly 😂

[@off-meta-michael]

Just your preference. I don't mind long videos if it's something I'm actually interested in. He is well spoken so it's fine.

[@IYPITWL]

Poison should work so differently. The damage should stack from each source but the time should be summed instead of averaged. That way each tick could grow in damage as the monster becomes "more poisoned." Then monsters could use the % reduce poison duration. Oh well, it doesn't really matter since damage is ignored half the time anyways (same frame bug).

[@drppnts4food]

As with many others. Disagree with Kinemils awl. Playing self found hardcore ladder and this item is absolutely carrying me. You don't need to attack with it, you're just using the aura. And the level req is low. If you are leveling up with holy fire through normal and early nm with holy fire, then what is better? This item has many case uses.

[@GGMentor]

Honestly a +3 holy fire random scepter, and a +1 shield of any type is better. Like sigons, steelclash, ect.

[@halwakka504]

A lot of these items are crap now because the game has been patched and changed so many times over the years without adjusting the stats on these items. Pre-synergy D2 was an entirely different animal.

[@andrewlanglois6362]

22:54Spirit runeword in a non-paladan shield (low level) can support a necromancer character looking for shield advantage (curses and bone type).

[@SelevanRsC]

There are no low lvl non paladin shields which would work with spirit tho

[@PhukYu1]

Even upping skull splitter is meh because the lightning dps is awful the chance to open wounds is iffy and blind target is meh *mind you I can see upped being useful for I think zeal?*

[@RiotforPeacePlz]

Yah it's like oh I got this lvl 40 sword that cast a lvl 3 firebolt ohhh wow that monster is going to fear that lol

[@wyrmh0le]

I was leveling a holy fire paladin and found the awl right when it could be required and i was so excited cus +6 to my main skill seemed awesome, in theory. In practice it was easy worse than a scepter and shield with +2 skills between them, and that's just the damage output not counting survivability. It was palpably disappointing in a way most F-tier uniques aren't. And of course both were garbage compared to Raven Claw 😈

[@GGMentor]

@@wyrmh0le lol raven claw for a low level holy fire paladin is God tier, then Kuko is even better

[@wyrmh0le]

@GGMentor So good! It's still working great in NM A3, i made a wisdom to up the output to hopefully get me to hell and am desperately looking for a kuko but this is SP so... 🤷‍♂️

[@bangomatic4623]

Just leveling my barb, reaching NM LK. Suddenly a unique jagged star drops at 32:48 of your video.

[@GGMentor]

Hah

[@joeyholthusen6495]

Radamant's shield 80 percent stack with poison creeper?

[@game_jinx]

atmas really helps a merc put on better polearms much sooner. i used it early before duriels 😇

[@mikewatkins225]

I did the same thru NM, until I was able to make fortitude.

[@Elrond_Hubbard1]

I gotta be honest, I dump all skill points early on into holy fire and use the Awl to just aura kill everything. You're right, though, a scepter and shield with one less point is better.

[@GGMentor]

More than that if you get a good scepter =)

[@fathersondiecast6521]

yeah I'm really hoping for a major item overhaul in the next major patch for next ladder season.

[@Rubbyx100]

12:10 No. It applies fire damage to your attacks AND does pulse damage. You can clear the entire screen without even moving in like a tick or two. I was able to beat the game on normal difficulty on P8 pretty easily. So it's actually not a bad weapon. At the beginning of the game you can buy a scepter from Akara with +3 to Holy Fire, and you can get a shield with only +1 to all skills like Sigon. That's only +4 to HF that you can possibly get. This sword gives you +6, which means much more damage and range.

[@GGMentor]

@@Rubbyx100 it's a horrible weapon stop kidding yourself. It's level 29 you don't get to use it til the end of normal difficulty. The pulse damage only works in normal on baby mobs. Also any other weapon combo is better, Spirit + Sigons, Spirit + spirit, +3 White scepter + random rare +1 paladin shield hexfire +3 and spirit +2, ect Hexfire out classes kinemils Awl by miles, and it's cheap and easy to find, and best of all its one handed. I could go on for days. Those two extra levels are meaningless, and easy to get if you tried on a weapon. Scepters can have +2 and +3 together. Which is a total of +7 with a +2 shield. Stop trying to defend this garbage weapon it's trash.

[@greggen63]

Surprised not to see Howltusk great helm in the video or the comments. Every time I look at it I'm baffled by how much of a letdown it is. I got sick of looking at it on my mules eventually and sold it.

[@GGMentor]

It has niche uses, especially for ranged characters, and ranged mercs.

[@mikemurray4788]

Found a viperfork recently. Glad I searched your channel. Straight in the trash.

[@GGMentor]

glad I could assist with taking out the garbage

[@natef15]

I had a paladin named Al Kinemil last season. Even so I was relieved to use something other than his namesake.

[@ZenTeT]

wizardspike is prolly my top 3 favorite items in the game

[@HenryHoe]

I would disagree on atma's wail. It's a pretty good armor for a cold or fire amazon for leveling especially pre-d2r when insight couldnt be made in bows. The defence, dex, max mana is so useful for a cold or fire or dual element amazon. There are probably other builds that could ay least use this for a leveling armor.

[@XShmoke]

Does Dragonscale shield stack with a paladin HF Torch ? :O

[@Petsemilla]

Reason behind Radaments Shield is, that hell monsters have no life reg. While constantly hitting, the Opponent doesn‘t heal. And you have extra psn nova dmg and 75 res against psn. Every char is lacking psn res without nice charms (maybe except baba and Pala)

[@GGMentor]

If only poison actually stopped regeneration properly. As it is, it mildly prevents some frames of regeneration from happening if poison is also active on those frames. But as soon as poison is not active on a frame regeneration occurs anyways. It's by far the worse way to arrest regeneration

[@ricardohernandezvega8588]

I use Kinemil's Awl while leveling up a sacrifice character when getting the socket quest for an item that needs it. Works like a charm, as the aura is sufficient to kill everything on sight up to that point. I use other uniques while leveling up to that level where I use it 😅

[@GGMentor]

I mean holy fire does that on its own, and by lvl 23 your holy fire is murdering everything in normal difficulty without that sword. Not to mention there are way better choices if you want some holy fire buffs.

[@ricardohernandezvega8588]

@@GGMentor That's right, though for some reason I play with players 7 turned on all the way through Act 4, so the socket quest is a breeze. I play the dumb way lol

[@odingod6091]

what they were going for was to kill stuff without hitting it. If you max out the holy fire and put this sword on you will not need to hit anything. BUT good for like normal and up to act 2 nm then you will need to get a shield I would think.

[@GGMentor]

Pretty much every other option is better in this regard. Steelclash + hell plague A +3 holy fire scepter + Steelclash A decent rare scepter with +1 or +2 paladin and +3 holy fire Basically anything that doesn't cause the paladin to lose his shield, which is the main source of all his resistances and defense. Putting a two handed sword on a paladin is basically death. Also relying on the pulse damage as your main damage is a bad idea. Yeah it kills lots of monsters, but is also doesn't kill lots of monsters. When you go in to deal damage to kill those monsters it can't kill without a shield your gonna die.

[@Petsemilla]

Sorry again… I had a PvP Smite Pala with Alma Negra before I made a nice exile. Worked really nice

[@PedroJPedro]

Honestly alma negra could just use all res and a large flat AR bonus like a +450 and it won’t be horrible.

[@GGMentor]

It certainly does need something to differentiate it from other shields. The problem with the damage bonus is it's really low when you compare that you can innately get that on any shield base. It is obviously meant to be a offensive shield, so why not just lean into that more? Give it 15-30% IAS or increase the AR and Damage to a more significant degree, or give it Crushing Blow, open wounds, or deadly strike. Something to make it stand out over other choices as an interesting option for a offensive focused melee. And most importantly something to make losing the resistances on my shield worth it.

[@kyletaylor883]

Have to argue on Kinemils will. At the level you get it, it basically lets you wear it and run through zones and just kill everything you walk next to. Turns the game into walkin simulator until the end of normal.

[@GGMentor]

Holy fire does that on it's own without the need of a bad sword, and with a lvl 23 requirement you are already most of the way through Normal before you can equip it. On top of that you can easily find a +3 holy fire scepter and still get the benefit of a shield like steelclash with +1 paladin. The scepter can also have +1 paladin so you are looking at 4+1= 5 holy fire and you don't have to use a bad sword to do it.

[@flammenwaffenfries3039]

@@GGMentor not on soloing normal on players 8