So I’m having a hard time deciding what is better and why… when to change, it’s hard to judge and understand. I also want to state in advance that I’m a low level and it probably doesn’t matter but I want to know as I level!
I just want to know why you’d pick XYZ and what I should be looking for, what I should be caring about and what I shouldn’t be as I level. I gave a few comparisons of each so I better understand why you feel that way.
Amulet :
Ring :
Shield :
Weapon :
Boots :
Any advice on why the price difference, what I should actually looking for and how much thought I should actually put in to it would be appreciated!
If you are selecting efficient leveling skills you shouldn’t be lacking for damage for a while. Thus it comes down to selecting gear which speeds up the parts of leveling that isn’t reducing monster HP to 0. Movement speed is a godsend so keep pairs of boots that you stumble across with %MS. Experience bonuses level you faster (duh).
Biggest loss of time? Dying or running around in circles because you can’t facetank. You want HP for Normal difficulty and relevant resistance for what you’re going up against. Come Elite resistances will be more important as it’s a very large swing in % damage taken (low res vs. moderate to high res).
Normal / Veteran will test you on simple things. (Do you know not to stand in glowy fire swirl?)
Elite will be testing your gear choices to an extent but mostly your build. (Don’t expect to go through this quickly if Phantasmal Blades is your main attack)
Ultimate is a gear check/survivability check. Stuff naturally does lots of damage even with 80% res. This is a long way down the road.
I personally don’t find magic/rare items in veteran to be of such great significance that there is a right or wrong answer in your list there. At first I was pretty confused about it as well, since in a guide there are specific items to aim for but I didn’t understand the game well enough to know what to look for until I got to those legendary items.
Generally, go for something that has the highest synergy with your build. If neither have it then just evaluate overall stats, like the two shields, the magic one has more physical resists, but the rare blocks more damage more reliably and has additional pet benefits. Even if you’re not playing a pet build, the 8% less physical resist is not too big of a sacrifice for an overall better shield. At the same time, going with higher resists is hardly ever wrong. Ultimately, you’re gonna probably switch it out soon enough anyway, so try them out and see what works before you put components on them.
Playing enough will educate you more on what you need so you can make these choices on your own easily! Also, allocate those attribute points
Only advice I feel comfortable giving you as a relative novice is if you want to clear normal and elite fast don’t level as a sword and board. Take a two handed weapon either ranged or melee and skill into your end game build when you get there and have the gear. If you level sword and board you will probably end up very frustrated and it will take you a long time.
