1.08 Deadly Crafts: Why, How and When

ziambe

Well-known member
Oct 21, 2009
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1622585087686.png20 years of Diablo 2 is a long time. Yet in all that time, I had never heard of the deadly crafts until @art_vandelay published his 1.07 - 1.08 crafting guide - wherein amidst all the information gained over the last years, the deadly recipes were hidden:1622585089522.png


Magic Demonhide Sash

+​

Perfect Skull​

+​

Jewel​

+​

Mal Rune​

=​

Deadly Belt

(2-10% Crushing Blow)

(2-10% Deadly Strike)

Magic Sharkskin Gloves

+​

Perfect Skull​

+​

Jewel​

+​

Um Rune​

=​

Deadly Gloves

(2-10% Crushing Blow)

(2-10% Deadly Strike)

Magic Demonhide Boots

+​

Perfect Skull​

+​

Jewel​

+​

Pul Rune​

=​

Deadly Boots

(2-10% Crushing Blow)

(2-10% Deadly Strike)

Magic War Hat

+

Perfect Skull

+

Jewel

+

Lem Rune

=

Deadly Helm

(2-10% Crushing Blow)

(2-10% Deadly Strike)


Imagine my shock, having spent 100's of hours reading about and playing 1.07 and 1.08...but I had never stumbled upon this: A belt with up to 10% crushing blow and 10% deadly strike! Hereby I hope to spread awareness for these crafts for those who would dare venture into the realm of patch 1.08!

In recent years, players have come up with many new ways of playing our beloved game; Magic Finding Olympics, Rune Finding Leagues, Speed-running, Tournaments, Grailing etc. each of which brings the joy of the game in their own way. These recipes appeal to 2 of my favorite ways to play D2: grailing and twinking. I simply cannot see my collection of items as complete, without making these items!​

Practically speaking however, the belt and to a lesser extent the glove crafts offer sources of deadly strike and crushing blow which are difficult to find from any other source in these slots.​

A deadly belt could be a fun twist to a physical damage based character who does not specifically require the Life leech, Damage Reduction or Attack Speed offered by String of Ears, Verdungo's or Nosferatu's. Personally, I can't wait to try one out!​

The glove craft is significantly less useful due to the fact that 20 IAS is so important on the glove slot. Crafting a deadly glove with this affix will result in a level requirement of at least 53, and more likely 56, 59 or 62+ depending on the number of additional affixes. Since the level requirement of Laying of Hands is 63, they greatly limit the usefulness of a deadly glove to non-demon/non-undead enemies.​

However, if you are ok with only 10% IAS, you could intentionally try to craft a pair of gloves with only this affix, and the required level to equip would be 30. Then you could happily use these until you are ready to equip Laying of Hands.​

At first glance the helm and boots could be considered just trophies because they are easily overshadowed by Guillame's and Gore Riders. But, if you intentionally try to craft a helm and boots so that the only get 1 affix, then the required level to equip the crafted item will be the required level for a War Hat and Demonhide Boots - 22 and 24 respectively. Since the required level for Guillame's and Gore Rider's is a little higher (34 and 47), then the deadly helm and boots can be used as a low/mid twinking item!

Crafting deadly items is more complicated than any other craft, in any patch.

  1. Firstly, you need to be familiar with both Time-Travelling (playing older patches) and running multiple instances of Diablo 2. For the sake of brevity, information on how to play older patches or run multiple instances will not be discussed here.​

  2. Secondly, you will need to level a character to 91 in 1.08 or earlier. Level 91 is the crafting 'breakpoint' which will maximize the amount of affixes you receive when you craft an item. The details on this formula are available in art_vandelay's guide.​

    • Without the /players command in 1.07 or 1.08 this can be quite tedious. One of the best methods to achieve level 91 is by self-MP'ing the secret cow level in 1.07 (with a javazon maximizing crushing blow); run 8 instances of the game and leave the 7 extra players outside of the cow level while you decimate moo moo farm repeatedly... When finished, you can forward the character to 1.08. However the leveling challenge pales in comparison to the primary obstacle of these crafts: finding the runes.

  3. Finally, you will have to make an important decision which ultimately affects how many affixes your craft will have. Will you choose:​

    • Option 1: Make as many crafts as possible with an 80% chance to have 3 affixes and a 20% chance to have 4​

    • Option 2: Make a very limited number of crafts but with a guarunteed chance to have 4 affixes​

If you choose option 1, you can search for the difficult to find materials (runes) at your own pace; slowly over the course of weeks or months and mule them into ATMA to be used when the appropriate day arrives. Additionally, you can bring runes forward which you may have found in 1.07 in order to craft in 1.08.​

If you choose option 2, you will need to plan both your real-life and diablo-life accordingly since there will only be 7 days each month for each recipe during which you must find and use the appropriate runes. While the helm, boots and gloves require runes which can (relatively) easily be obtained via Hellforge rushing, the most useful craft requires a Mal rune which can best be found in the 1.08 Lower Kurast. Herein lies the fundamental problem of the Deadly Belt craft: the chances of finding a Mal rune from a superchest are approximately 1 in 32,767!

Option 2 does however allow you to use a lower level character to craft. If you find your runes in the Lower Kurast (area level 88), then level 50 is high enough to craft.

Be advised that all the runes which these recipes require are very rare in both 1.07 and 1.08 *Especially Mal runes* for the belt craft. Unfortunately, the best way to find a Mal in 1.07 is pure luck since the hellforge and LK will not provide them. For Lem, Pul and Um you can use either the NM or Hell Hellforge quest which drop up to Um. Mal will, however, drop from the LK in 1.08. Oh and you can forget about cubing runes too, as that feature does not exist in either of these patches :devilish:

Neither 1.07 nor 1.08 provide the /players command, so your time in LK will have to be at /p1. @Fruit has provided the community with a simulator which provides all rune patterns in LK for all patches/all player settings and the relevant results for deadly crafts are below:​

1622577854916.png
1622577819453.png

The simulator shows that in 1.07 only Lem and Um are available from LK, however both of these runes are also available from NM and Hell Hellforge.​

However if you are only interested in crafting belts, then it is best to ignore the Hellforge, and go straight to the Lower Kurast in 1.08 where, in addition to Mal, you have a chance to drop Pul and Lem (for helm and boot crafts).​

Recall that the point of option 2 is to guaruntee 4 affixes on your deadly craft, so you will need to find the appropriate rune, and craft the item in the same game (and of course during the appropriate 7-day window in which the recipe is active). Ultimately this option means that you will need to play as much Diablo 2 as possible during the 7-day window for the craft you want to make each month in order to maximize your results. Then again too much Diablo 2 can't be bad, can it?​

As if the collection of materials was not complicated enough, each of these crafts are enabled in game during a 6-8 day window (depending on the month) each month:​

  • Helms must be crafted on the 1st - 7th​

  • Boots must be crafted on the 8th - 14th​

  • Gloves must be crafted on the 15th - 22nd​

  • Belts must be crafted on the 23rd - 31st​

If you chose option 1 above, then all this means is that you can only put the materials you collected in the cube on the respective days.​

If you chose option 2 however, then you will also need to get the appropriate rune to drop on the appropriate day!

  • Lem on the 1st - 7th (helm)​

  • Pul on the 8th - 14th (boots)​

  • Um on the 15th - 22nd (gloves)​

  • Mal on the 23rd - 31st (belt)​

Keep in mind if you do use the HF quest to collect Lem, Pul or Um and you get the wrong rune at the wrong time of the month (i.e. you do the HF on the 8th of the month in order to make boots but a LEM drops instead of a Pul), the resulting craft will only have a 20% chance to have 4 affixes instead of 100%.

Deadly Helm - 1st - 7th of each month - Simply a trophy :)
1622577651056.png
Deadly Boots - 8th - 14th of each month - Twinking boots before Gore Riders :D
1623401351991.png1623402029748.png
Deadly Gloves - 15th - 21st of each month - Fills the gap between death's/sigon's until LOH
1623792321608.png1623792311180.png
Deadly Belt - 23rd - 31st of each month - The most difficult craft in Diablo 2!
1624447555143.png1624447570947.png1627392057287.png
 
Last edited:
Nice!

A few things though:
  • You don't need clvl 91 for four affixes, rather you need Ilvl 91 on the craft which can be achieved at much lower clvls as long as the rune ilvl is high enough.
  • How did you get that chance for a Mal? There are 2 patterns for it and 65534 patterns total so a 1 in 32767 chance for a Mal per chest.
  • At the end of the second to last spoiler you say that the craft will not have four affixes but actually it only has a 80% chance of not having four affixes.
Great to see somebody else appreciate @Fruit 's simulator :D
 
You don't need clvl 91 for four affixes, rather you need Ilvl 91 on the craft which can be achieved at much lower clvls as long as the rune ilvl is high enough.
Ah good point! In my eagerness, I forgot to factor in that finding and crafting during the window will also allow a lower clvl. I'll update that accordingly but I think that I might want to reorganize the information then and for now I just wanna do some more mindless LK :p

How did you get that chance for a Mal? There are 2 patterns for it and 65534 patterns total so a 1 in 32767 chance for a Mal per chest.
Yes! A math error. Corrected.

At the end of the second to last spoiler you say that the craft will not have four affixes but actually it only has a 80% chance of not having four affixes.
Can't find what you are referring to :D
 
Can't find what you are referring to :D
This:

Keep in mind if you do use the HF quest to collect Lem, Pul or Um and you get the wrong rune at the wrong time of the month (i.e. you do the HF on the 8th of the month in order to make boots but a LEM drops instead of a Pul), then the craft will not have the maximum number of affixes.


And stop running at the beginning of the month and use your Guillaumes instead :p
 
@ziambe Thanks, now I have to go set up 1.08. ;)

Not really, for now anyway! I still need to dust off my 1.07 sorc and do some runs/racking, but 1.08 will be on my list next!
 
Such interesting mechanics. So... If you keep the game running while minimized, without S&E, into the next month you maintain rune freshness for your intended craft? :unsure:
 
I've been playing this game for 21 years and just when I think I've seen everything...

Well done creating these - they're certainly remarkable trophies :D
 
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This:

Keep in mind if you do use the HF quest to collect Lem, Pul or Um and you get the wrong rune at the wrong time of the month (i.e. you do the HF on the 8th of the month in order to make boots but a LEM drops instead of a Pul), then the craft will not have the maximum number of affixes.


And stop running at the beginning of the month and use your Guillaumes instead :p
I need only one of those crafted Warheads for some WAR-theme Paladin :D

(there are many items with war, warpike, ik-belt/glove/boot, which leaves the armor empty)
 
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