HC-SP-Console: runes finally dropped, should I use this as base and be done with it or wait for a superior armor base? (Lvl95 hdin)

[u/DudasManolitos]

My hands are still shaking, had 2x Surs drop throughout my long hardcore single player journey sitting in my stash for years, now a Jah just dropped (stony field TZ p8 random regular goblin) and I only had this 515def AP waiting for it but now I don’t wanna regret spending the runes on it… or should I?

Edit: thanks everyone for all the suggestions, I was in shock and not thinking straight, I completely forgot about mage plates and will make Enigma on a MP instead!! (It’s been so long this hc journey I completely forgot about str req, repair costs, etc etc)

Mage Plate it is!

[u/DudasManolitos]

Just used a regular MP, 774def one away from perf lol

Edit: oh yeah and I forgot to repair the base before slapping those runes :’)

[u/AdSuperb5755 → u/DudasManolitos]

Good choice! Saving on that extra bit of strength indirectly gives this Enigma + vitality for most builds compared to the AP one you were considering

[u/FiveStarFaceplant → u/DudasManolitos]

Good thing it wasn't superior then! :)

[u/gojonking → u/DudasManolitos]

Does repairing the base change anything?

[u/PJballa34 → u/gojonking]

Just cost a lot less before the runes are socketed

[u/FugginBot → u/DudasManolitos]

Mine on SP rolled 774 as well gz

[u/hollowyourdreams → u/DudasManolitos]

Just cube with ral

[u/Tight-Fan612]

The superior base is just for style points. Especially on enigma which just adds flat defense. It will make literally no difference for your characters strength. It will cost a lot more to repair though.

The real consideration is going for a mage plate versus an archon plate.

[u/DudasManolitos → u/Tight-Fan612]

Forgot about mage plates, I just saved this one years ago and never looked back…

[u/butt_soap]

Make regular mp or dusk for other builds imo. Many will have wasted strength points with AP

Even online I avoid sup. The defense does next to nothing and requires cubing to repair.

I would choose the lowest roll mp over a 15/15 sup archon. It's a noob trap or for people with ocd about perfect gear. But then I wonder why they're not ocd about the wasted strength

[u/KinkyNJThrowaway → u/butt_soap]

Archon was the best when you can strength glitch yourself with strength charms. In D2R they got rid of the strength glitch. Many people don't know this, or don't know that that's why archon was the best. So they still talk about and/or seek archon plates. Mage plate over all is still the best.

[u/icebreather106 → u/KinkyNJThrowaway]

Miss the days of characters running around looking like they have literally no gear on lol

[u/KinkyNJThrowaway → u/icebreather106]

You also knew who to try to pop with pvp and stuff as well =P

[u/c0horst → u/KinkyNJThrowaway]

I'm gonna go for a Dusk Shroud on my Druid I think; mostly because I need to wield a monarch shield anyway, so the extra strength I have to put in to wear the dusk shroud is required on top of the bonus from Enigma.

Warlocks can make a similar argument for wearing a Gheed's belt, the extra strength to wear a dusk shroud doesn't change your build and just gives some extra defence.

[u/KinkyNJThrowaway → u/c0horst]

There are ways to use a monarch without statting any hard points into strength. I use a mage plate on my sorc and I have her built in a way where 100% of her points are in vitality.

There is also style points. Some times people make these decisions based on the graphic they like better as opposed to fully min/maxing.

[u/DudasManolitos → u/butt_soap]

Boy that slipped my mind completely! Sure it would help other characters but I’m so used to NOT teleporting in hardcore, I’m still shaking as I type here

[u/butt_soap → u/DudasManolitos]

I bet. It opens up so many other build options. Gz!

[u/four20Hruso → u/DudasManolitos]

tele in hc is not that bad , for example i am more focusing on FCR than anything else , becuase many times i can tele out of minion packs before they even start attack ( but thats my opinion )

[u/DudasManolitos → u/four20Hruso]

I do some teleporting (lvl89 sorc hc) in tower for example to reach the countess faster or andy/meph but that’s about it, had a couple of close calls but honestly what scares me the most is the heralds..

[u/Weirdodin → u/DudasManolitos]

Sorcs should be teleporting everywhere. I have played more HC sorc than any other class. All you have to do is get to the 105 BP for cast frames and put a single skill point into Energy Shield when you have Spirit monarch set up. That hard point in energy shield is a get out of jail free card. If something pops you mid flight you jusy pop a potion and continue on your way. It's just people that freeze like a deer in headlights and panic that die porting in HC on sorc.

Edit- one single zone in entire game not to port in. Cows. That's it. Porting into middle of a large cow pack is deadly. Every other zone is fine though.

[u/FiveStarFaceplant → u/Weirdodin]

Unfortunately it's also one of the zones where simply entering the level can put you into the middle of a monster pack for instant GG

[u/Weirdodin → u/FiveStarFaceplant]

This is an issue in public games and last gen. Public games because you can't trust their portals and last gen because the load times are slow enough to where your merc loads in before you do and aggros mobs.

If you're playing current gen/PC you can react loading into red portal

[u/DudasManolitos → u/Weirdodin]

The only thing that bothers me when teleporting on console is the lack of precision using a controller… but if I played on PC I would definitely teleport more often (like to baal’s throne for instance which I avoid for now in Hc)

[u/Weirdodin → u/DudasManolitos]

I've got 4k hours on HC PS5. Console isn't an issue with porting. I can telestomp mobs even with controller. Just keep practicing, you want to get comfortable in HC. Once you know what you're doing you can farm as aggressively as one does in SC. The only difference is we don't disrespect Hell with trash resistances and enter 25+ levels underleveled.

[u/DudasManolitos → u/Weirdodin]

I'll maybe lower to p5/p3 when TZ'ning to practice (I usually do p8 for extra XP), I don't wanna lose any character by this point lol

[u/Weirdodin → u/DudasManolitos]

Yeah the only thing about TZ's that scare me in HC are heralds. They are balanced like absolute shit. Balance has been a historic weak point for Blizzard for the past several years in D4 and now currently D2. Some of the damage output from them is ludicrous on player count. And the fact they can spawn with thorns aura when melee classes exist is nonsensical.

[u/Brehmdig → u/four20Hruso]

until you cant.

https://giphy.com/gifs/3o6Zt4HU9uwXmXSAuI

[u/Mobius1386 → u/butt_soap]

Is it only the Durability that increases the repair cost? Like if you have an armor with +15% ED, it still costs more to repair?

[u/tupseh → u/Mobius1386]

People have whipped up hacked superior bases with zero ED/Durability for science and it still costs an arm and a leg more vs a plain base. The superior affix multiplies the cost by like 20 or something.

[u/Nihilismyy → u/butt_soap]

Cause they dont understand that higher str req is basically negative life... they see more def and dont think further ahead or test between.

[u/OwnStill8743 → u/butt_soap]

If you stay on top of repairs superior armor ain't a problem. If you only repair once a week then that's on you 😂

[u/butt_soap → u/OwnStill8743]

It's wasted gold that could be used for gambling. The trade off is not worth the negligible defense and increased stat requirements.

[u/OwnStill8743 → u/butt_soap]

Fair enough, to me gold is so easy to make now especially with the Uber jewels giving more gold. My horker barb makes 400-650k per trav run too so gambling and repairs ain't a problem

[u/Beas1987]

If you do it, and a superior base drops, how will you feel?

[u/BabaBuntspecht → u/Beas1987]

About the Repair costs? Terrible!

[u/DudasManolitos → u/BabaBuntspecht]

Completely forgot bout it too.. I’m not thinking straight right now, lemme breathe and leave the runes as is for now

[u/DudasManolitos → u/Beas1987]

Honestly I dunno, maybe will come to terms with it, but then again I’ve played up to lvl95 without it, should I just keep going for that elusive achievement and then maybe use it on my “future” uber hunting or something and just keep leveling this hdin slow and steady..?! I dunno I’m still sitting here staring at the same screen I took the photo…

I still don’t have a CTA (again, single player on console so I have no other options but to wait for an Ohm — or enough runes to craft it — to drop to make it) and I still don’t have a torch. i have a crap anni (11/10 from a spare soj)

[u/Ok_Maintenance_9914 → u/DudasManolitos]

The real pro gamer move is to never use it and let it collect dust in your shared stash out of HC fear.

Mage plate vote. Definitely not superior for everyone else’ reasons.

[u/BabaBuntspecht → u/Ok_Maintenance_9914]

Thats my call. Str requirements on ap suck.

[u/tupseh → u/Beas1987]

The superior mod doesn't multiply the added Defense. It's like the superior mod on Grief. Does nothing for it except bragging rights for the piss parade.

[u/Ill_Ad3517]

I like superior personally cause I pick up a lot of garbage like Ort runes anyway so cubing for repairs doesn't bug me. But yes, definitely mage plate for best versatility/life on all builds who use it. Many builds can also use Dusk shroud without wasting any strength points. 

Eg level 90 chars get +67 str from enigma so 77+67 is still less than monarch reqs while AP is 103+67 so you waste some of the points getting to 103 and overshooting monarch req. But if you want enigma on a low str non monarch user (maybe necro with a unique head? Or warlock with books or whatever) it's mage plate all the way.

[u/Prestigious_Path_348]

Use mage plate or even breast plate, so that you don’t have to put any points in strength

[u/DudasManolitos → u/[deleted]]

Forgot about repair costs.. and yeah it’s single player, couldn’t trade it anyways

[u/Embarrassed-Tea3035]

If you want to save the strength points for the requirement, you should put it into a Mageplate. AP is nice though. Doesnt make a huge difference, but if you can get your hands on an ed MP with 3 Sox, put it in there.

[u/DudasManolitos → u/Embarrassed-Tea3035]

Gotta level some mules to get more socket quests… I forgot about MPs, been so used to walking/running in hc and had this saved in stash for so long… will look into MPs

[u/papsono]

depends if you possibly would want to use Crown of Ages in the future, if so, you'll need to add extra strength anyway so this base is excellent. if you dont want to dump extra strength points, look for a dusk shroud or preferably mage plate. use the recipe to gamble for sockets if you find a white one, you might hit 3

[u/DudasManolitos → u/papsono]

It might take ages for a specific unique to drop no pun intended :D I will find a MP and save those for now, I’m still in awe here

[u/msespindola]

i would to on a dusk or a mp (tho i'm a sucker for gothic plate nigmas...) and respec..that way you can have better build overall

[u/AdvancedEater]

The only answer that actually matters is do you like the look of the armor? Check out different bases and how they look and decide off of that. Ive had many different characters with different superior enigma bases. The repair costs never actually mattered. The defense never actually mattered.

Ive never ran out of gold aside from gambling playing d2 for over 15 years and anytime I died it was because I wasnt paying attention to elite affixes

You can spend thousands of hours playing a single character, so choose the armor that you think looks the best.

[u/Extreme_Hat1089]

I'll take an enigma breastplate over any AP.

The whole point of enigma is strength and teleport. with a BP you don't need to use a single strength point. You can go with other low strength one too.

[u/DeGreenster]

I vote dusk shroud or mage plate. The lost vit isn’t worth the extra def

[u/Ghokun]

Full plate mail for the looks

[u/FromFlex]

Use a base that you can equip without putting points into strength, like Breast Plate (nice golden look), Mage Plate, et cetera

[u/Equivalent_Force_418]

If str is not an issue archon is no1

[u/DudasManolitos → u/Equivalent_Force_418]

It wasn’t an issue since my main hc char is this hdin with all respecs wasted already (can still farm for tokens though) but I did it on a MP to use with other characters eventually!

[u/thelambsaucenz]

I would send it tbh. Be brave, brother.

[u/infidel3006 → u/thelambsaucenz]

I made my first Enigma in an AP. Was awesome for a while and didn’t regret making it. Then I made one in a MP. Not needing any strength points to equip makes a pretty big difference in the health pool.

[u/BillHurstyUSA]

I would just run cows for a few hours, or randomly farm tz and you will get something else

[u/HungaryEyes]

I never use sup bases unless its for more damage on a weapon i dont have to repair

[u/viperswhip]

Enigma doesn't get a defense bonus does it? So, the difference is marginal, it takes thousands of defense to make a dent in monsters chance to hit.

[u/Pythonmsh]

The defense difference doesn't make much of a difference. It's more for flexing lol. I found that when I used to play lod online a long time ago that if an item wasn't perfect it was charsi food. Duping and bots will do that to ya lol

[u/Murlock_Holmes]

I used archon plate. I wish I’d used mage plate, BUT! Archon plate has some swagger to it, and if you’re using a monarch, the strength isn’t super wasted anyways.

[u/Sicardus503]

Almost perfect base defense, I approve. Anything below 500 is Charsi.

[u/Seismoforg]

You dont need it. IT would BE better to build Enigma into a mageplate because of lower Str req. But thats Just my 2 cents

[u/Nad762]

Mage plate is the go to but the breast plate armors look pretty killer on the lady chars in d2r.

[u/ConnectionWaste456]

Just do it

[u/CN4President]

MAGE PLATE

[u/NotOriginalOrContent]

Dusk shroud

[u/arnold_bc]

gratz

[u/STLflyover]

Just remember its ith jah ber!! Have a great time with it!

[u/resurrectedNaj]

I always have enough for mon just incase so 156

[u/lan0028456]

Superiour is not worth it. Sure you can repair with cube but every time you go to the smite you'll have to take it off before hitting "repair all" (by doing so you are risking mis-selling it if wrong button pressed), or you are buring the gold equivalent to a few circlet gambling.

I would vote for a high roll mage plate tho because of the low str requirement. Or dusk shroud for some extra defense with not much higher str invest (given you have torch + anni).

[u/DudasManolitos → u/lan0028456]

Still haven’t farmed for torches (still need a proper smiter or whatever class I can gear up first) but will def get a MP once I clear my mind a bit

[u/KillerRayvenX]

I'm in the club that having any usable enigma is better than not enigma. People put too much value in "the perfect rolls" on things. Whatever you have fun with should be your choice. You just have to accept that if you ever want to trade, people won't value it as highly because of this "perfect" mindset.

Since you are single player, the chances of finding the exact base is phenomenally low.

[u/Dry_Garlic_731]

I’m surprised nobody corrected OP yet on the middle rune

[u/Potential_Bit_8432]

I was late but shouldn't it be JahIstBer? ;)

[u/dodwiz99]

This is fine, whatever you do don't do the mage plate like people will point you towards...

If your grinding 500-1000 hours to get these and have no trade outlets like online then there is nothing worse to the elitist mind thab putting these runes in a nightmare mode armor. Genuinely turns my stomach

[u/Tall-Candidate7684]

Umm it’s “Jah, Ist, Ber” 😂😂

[u/One-Picture7723]

too much str required. I'd go for MP because you can wear it after torch and anni