HCE NG+5

[Skull]

I am wondering if the Engineer scales well at very endgame in Elite, I haven't really been able to find anything about it and the only build that I know has completed it is a Zerker.


I am an old D2 player, and still play sometimes ( active PvP community over at D2jsp, no mods, tournaments ect...) I would always run a Necro for Hc and the Engineer feels very similar, you have Spider Mines which is pretty much like CE, the only thing I'm worried about is that they don't scale like CE did in D2, they aren't % based off of the mobs Hp they do stagnant damage. This worries me playing in NG+5 when everything will have 25 levels on you and the insane health buff from Elite.

Do spider mines still kill in NG+5 or am I better off going with a cannon build? I really don't want to spend all those hours to get there only to find out that I'm doing 1/1000 damage per mine and don't have a backup killing skill.


I'm running Normal Hc atm with a cannon build so I can twink the hell out of my Elite for when I do this run, I'm wanting to go complete endgame, I'm not looking to just get to NG+, so I'm not worried about getting through the beginning of the game, I just need to know what will scale at the end. Thanks in advance.

[B the Self]

well i dont really play engineer a lot but as far as i know he scales pretty good with all the shields and the robots
if you want to do damage with spider mines you have to upload focus and the passives that gives fire damage
and everythng will scale in the end as long as you do a good build

[Ziel]

I have a summoner engineer in NG+4 (which has the same enemy levels as NG+5), and it's doing really well on elite. It's not a HC character but I can give you some pointers.

Most important stat is +pet/minion damage, Spider Mines scale with it as well, as do summoned creatures from spells. Definitely get the Summon Skeleton spell and spam those as much as you can.

You will never attack anything yourself, so get ~70 DEX for some decent dodge value, the rest goes into VIT.

For endgame gear, there is no point in going for a complete set, it will do nothing for you. Instead mix and match to improve you summons. Some good items to shoot for are:

http://torchlight.wikia.com/wiki/Obscure_Belt
http://torchlight.wikia.com/wiki/Obscure_Helm
http://torchlight.wikia.com/wiki/Mondon%27s_Belt
http://torchlight.wikia.com/wiki/Outercore_Belt
http://torchlight.wikia.com/wiki/Medallion_of_Triangulation
http://torchlight.wikia.com/wiki/Hands_of_Orlac
http://torchlight.wikia.com/wiki/The_Asphyx

http://torchlight.wikia.com/wiki/Hack-Chop
http://torchlight.wikia.com/wiki/Iron_Sword

For shield, any with high chance to block

Free slots can be filled with pieces from Valkyrie and Dragonrift sets, preferably with +pet/minion damage, +life, +VIT.

For socketables you wanna find Skulls of Umbarmun (+35% pet/minion damage), Skulls of Joskin (+25% pet/minion damage), Skulls of Riechliu (+1500 life), Skulls of Limoany (5% damage reduction). In HC you'll likely have to balance it out a little more than I did.

You probably also want to slot a skull to help with mana regen. If you can get your hands on the Asphyx pieces, you also need a skull to counter the life loss.

I have to say though, the first levels until you get Spider Mines will be hell on elite, maybe pick a lower difficulty until then.

Ask away if you have any questions.

[Skull]

Thanks guys, I'll still roll a summoner then, it seems to be able to survive better than any other build since that is the style I'm used to playing on Hc.

Ziel you are right the beginning is insane starting out on a summoner, this is why I decided to twink my build, I think that is what the devs had intended for Elite. I'm going to be running 75% Dr/ Block from the first town and have the best % pet minion damage per level ( I think I will have to replace better skulls as I get the level for them) so the beginning should be pretty cake, I was just worried about clearing the very end after twinking doesn't matter, also didn't really notice at first that NG4 is where the game pretty much ends and scales up, but I would still like to see that NG5 so I can feel like I beat it then play around with some mods haha.

This game is great, I wish these guys would spend the money they made from this game to buy back D2 from Blizzard and release a remastered version. I would pay $100 for that.

[Tiomasta]

In this game, the stuff that scales with your level actually scale really well.
If it's something weak it stays proportionately weak, but if it's something strong it gets even better later.

Especially with the Engineer's Forcefield, it's laughable early but crazy good later.

Spider Mines are known for being good. They won't be starting to deal little damage, more like they'll start killing everything by themselves.

You can get random blue armor parts that have +25% Petminion Dmg (even in the blacksmith), and it's good to use a blue helmet with cast speed bonuses because on a helmet it can go up to 14 which is a lot.
On a pure summoner build you actually want a Focus build, because it gives you more maximum MP.

[Ziel]

Originally posted by Tiomasta:

On a pure summoner build you actually want a Focus build, because it gives you more maximum MP.

I don't know, it seems like the logical thing but from my own experience I will say that early on it's better to rely on mana regen embers since you can't socket the good stuff anyway. Later on, whatever Focus you get from Boris is easily enough, maybe one Skull of Trenkay to make sure. No harm in putting some points into Focus in the beginning to get you started, but I really feel that overall Vitality is more beneficial, especially in HC.

[Skull]

I still haven't decided on Focus yet, if I can hit max block from just twink gear with enchants then obviously I will, I may put 100 hard points into Dex for the dodge, after 75% block Vit seems pretty useless since FF isn't based on armor ( Aegis shield is just plain bad compared to FF even with high armor ).

I'm using another build to get armor for the Elite run, so I will be able to have insane pet damage and Dr from the time I reach the first town to get to shared stash. Dr/ Block are my main priorities right now, and minion damage is my third. Early on I will be able to drink high level Mana pots for pretty much unlimited casting, however later I may have to find a way to get really high mana regen which works great on the build I'm using right now. Hopefully I can hit max block with enchants and this would allow me to stack Focus and once I get a big mana pool I will be looking for things with % to mana.

[Tiomasta]

but I really feel that overall Vitality is more beneficial, especially in HC.

You look like you don't know the actual values for Vitality points or the effects of armor points, because they're so low it's hard to believe. It's the opposite of Diablo here. It literally doesn't even make you survive one extra hit (stacking the direct equipment +Health of high values, and stacking equipment DR are what's useful instead). The only reason Vit isn't declared as a waste is because Vit gives shield block chance and they patched the block chance cap to increase from 50 to 75. (Forcefield and Aegis don't let you roll for blocks while active, so that kinda matters less than normal to Engineers)

A couple mana regen gems are recommended for everything, but Focus helps a significant amount after it starts piling in, especially for a build that's just going to cycle between casting and walking. More so if it's a still-leveling-up playthrough part before you can wear your wishlist in the first place even if you had twinked them over, and even more so for a hardcore run where you absolutely could use everything just as you go. But I see someone here is crazyprepared and stockpiled on not only potions but lategame potions to twink over.

[Ziel]

Well at least Vitality affects something. Like I said, I'm playing a build like this and you don't need a lot of Focus, you can only cast so many Spider Mines. You don't need Strength at all because your minions are doing the work, so what's left is Dex and Vit. Of course then you put most of your points into Vitality.

[Skull]

Just ran into my first headache with this build, I finished off the Wazir set which I will be able to equip at Lv 9 with 75% Dr ( have 10 Grell eyes ) the problem is that all my Hp gems are too high of level to go into this set, so I'm going to be a little squishy on Hp. I can enchant this enough to give me the 99 Str I need for my starter shield which comes with a built in 25% to block, I'm still just worried about the 1 shot.

It looks like I'm going to have to stick with Wazir for a while until I can get enough stat points to put on my +Hp armor, then I'll have to break the Wazir to get the Dr gems out. I'm hoping that 75% Dr and high block will be enough to allow me to hit ~lv 40 so I can wear some better stuff, it's such a pain finding items to stack to wear better stuff I'm about to just try getting there with Wazir instead of my plan of having a Lv 60 set at Lv 9.

Anyone know a good way to stack +Hp at item lv 35? I'll have about 150 Vitality which will help a little, but it still feels squishy to me.