Few questions about Ruby of the Endless Night

[Jodro]

Hello everyone,

I got a couple questions about the Ruby of the Endless Night.
- Does it work on all enemies? Bosses as well?
- If the vorpal range is 19-20 from PSWF or Sniper, will it trigger on 19 as well?
- Is there an augment with "upgraded" version for it, like others have? (Wiki does not mention any others, but maybe its not updated)
- Is it actually useful? I know that people say the silver one is better, but that negative effect seems really enticing

Thanks in advance

 

[J1NG]

Only enemies that are Orange Named or below and not Immune to the Negative Level Drain.

There isn't an upgraded version as far as I remember, not unless if there's a new one for trade in right now that I missed seeing.

The usefulness depends entirely on your form of combat. If you're a lower damage but rapid striker or a rapid striker with lots of Vorpals, and you play in moderate reaper difficulty content that isn't immune to the drain, then you can see the effect quickly enhance the time you need to eliminate targets (due to level drain HP normally not being restored on recovering the level drain).

J1NG

 

[minamber]

- bosses are immune to pretty much everything, including negative levels
- I think so
- not that I know of
- in heroic, sure, but in epics and legendaries mobs recover from negative levels way too fast for those to be useful.

 

[Jodro]

Only enemies that are Orange Named or below and not Immune to the Negative Level Drain.

Well thats unfortunate.

The usefulness depends entirely on your form of combat. If you're a lower damage but rapid striker or a rapid striker with lots of Vorpals, and you play in moderate reaper difficulty content that isn't immune to the drain, then you can see the effect quickly enhance the time you need to eliminate targets (due to level drain HP normally not being restored on recovering the level drain).

So I assume the effect of that ruby stack?

- in heroic, sure, but in epics and legendaries mobs recover from negative levels way too fast for those to be useful.

Really? How fast? like a couple seconds?

 

[J1NG]

So I assume the effect of that ruby stack?

For the Improved Vorpal Range, and/or if you're TWF and have high offhand strike chance.

Really? How fast? like a couple seconds?

Yes, seconds, but that's if you're trying to eliminate them entirely via Negative Level Drains, which are not possible in Epic+, but the HP that's drained is (normally) not restored and so a rapid amount of such procs will deal noticeable bonus HP loss on the target. Assuming they are not an enemy that can restore their HP in some fashion (Healers, or Regeneration, etc). Same idea was utilised for reducing the time needed to eliminate the Elementals in Threats, where the Level Drains removed much of their HP before you dropped a nuke on them to eliminate them.

J1NG

 

[Terpilar]

That augment thematically fits very well in Macabre weapons.

 

[Lopnel]

Hello everyone,

I got a couple questions about the Ruby of the Endless Night.
1- Does it work on all enemies? Bosses as well?
2- If the vorpal range is 19-20 from PSWF or Sniper, will it trigger on 19 as well?
3- Is there an augment with "upgraded" version for it, like others have? (Wiki does not mention any others, but maybe its not updated)
4- Is it actually useful? I know that people say the silver one is better, but that negative effect seems really enticing

Thanks in advance

1 Yes the neg level procs against most enemies. Powerful enemies with deathblock no.
2 yes
3 not upgradeable
4 for heroics yes. For epics there may be better choices out there

 

[Jodro]

Yes, seconds, but that's if you're trying to eliminate them entirely via Negative Level Drains, which are not possible in Epic+, but the HP that's drained is (normally) not restored and so a rapid amount of such procs will deal noticeable bonus HP loss on the target. Assuming they are not an enemy that can restore their HP in some fashion (Healers, or Regeneration, etc). Same idea was utilised for reducing the time needed to eliminate the Elementals in Threats, where the Level Drains removed much of their HP before you dropped a nuke on them to eliminate them.

That's a cool usage. So basically the best utilization comes down to attack speed. Well I was thinking it for swf, specifically dragonlord dwarf with dwarven waraxe, so it seems applicable. Also feels good in a party for that split moment you lower opponents save so casters hit.

1 Yes the neg level procs against most enemies. Powerful enemies with deathblock no.

Undeads as well? I feel like they basically have deathblock.

4 for heroics yes. For epics there may be better choices out there

Like what? I want to get more seriously into that, so having some collecting goals would help

 

[Drachmor]

Anybody know if having two slotted in the same weapon would produce 2 negative levels per vorpal?

 

[saekee]

Just to add: I have a PM with inflict weariness which means I am neg leveling quite often on mobs. It seems to help in the initial strikes mainly. It is fun too (we used to call them ‘woo woo’ builds). Late in epics less so, very little in legendary.

I presume that it is dropping their saves so instakiller effects probably will proc better?

 

[TrappedSoulstone]

Doesn't work on undead constructs or otherwise immune to energy drain, no red or purple bosses. It is ok in heroics and somewhat maybe in legendary but there are better options. its nice woo-woo effect if you like it, also you know you rolled 20. Get life stealing item (Nightmare, the Fallen Moon) augment and pale enhancement and you getting lot of negs.

 

[Drachmor]

Just to add: I have a PM with inflict weariness which means I am neg leveling quite often on mobs. It seems to help in the initial strikes mainly. It is fun too (we used to call them ‘woo woo’ builds). Late in epics less so, very little in legendary.

I presume that it is dropping their saves so instakiller effects probably will proc better?

I’ve always wondered what it’d be like running a pale master staff build, using this weapon with both negative levels on crit, and vorp:

https://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Legendary_Bloody_Shadow_Staff

And having two rubies slotted. Would be a lot of woo-woo indeed. What if a whole party of this (all mobbing together on the front lines, with death aura) just makes for intense save reduction, and just one needs to trip wail here and there

 

[Jodro]

And having two rubies slotted. Would be a lot of woo-woo indeed

So you believe that their effects stack huh? With one vorpal can get you to minus 2 lvls,.

Besides PSWF or Sniper, are there any other sources that affect vorpal hit chance? Maybe not listed in wiki.

Get life stealing item (Nightmare, the Fallen Moon) augment and pale enhancement and you getting lot of negs.

That's a nice sword. The more I look into weapons the more I see that dwarven waraxes don't have as good things as the rest

 

[Drachmor]

So you believe that their effects stack huh? With one vorpal can get you to minus 2 lvls,.

Besides PSWF or Sniper, are there any other sources that affect vorpal hit chance? Maybe not listed in wiki.


That's a nice sword. The more I look into weapons the more I see that dwarven waraxes don't have as good things as the rest

Well, Nightmare Moon is a cool weapon for sure, but nobody is using it at the endgame. There are some really kickass Dwarven axes at the endgame, so I wouldn’t necessarily give up on them yet!

Edit: Also Dwarve Axes and bastard swords can be used with a shield and still give you strikethrough, as if you were using a two-handed weapon.

https://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Demise,_the_Beginning_of_the_Fall

Identity Crisis on this weapon is OP, trust

 

[Jodro]

Identity Crisis on this weapon is OP, trust

True, this thing looks amazing, too bad Vecna unleashed wasn't in the code offer.

Edit: Also Dwarve Axes and bastard swords can be used with a shield and still give you strikethrough, as if you were using a two-handed weapon.

Yeah I know, But the main idea it all started was that I was planning a SWF with dragonlord. Dragonlord gives the extra +20% strikethrough without requiring THF (like most other trees), plus the dwarf tree gets you to 65% at heroics. And from there it just scales up in epics/legendary. So when I saw that ruby I thought it would be an awesome addition for something that can hit fast and many enemies at once. And asked for its usability.
In my mind +30% speed and partial strikethrough is better than just strikethrough .

Too bad that its not that good in epics. I desperately wanted it to be.
At least this pushed me into learning more about named weapons and augments, even sentience (now that's available to everyone through night revels). That's why I asked what augments are better in high lvls.

 

[Drachmor]

True, this thing looks amazing, too bad Vecna unleashed wasn't in the code offer.


Yeah I know, But the main idea it all started was that I was planning a SWF with dragonlord. Dragonlord gives the extra +20% strikethrough without requiring THF (like most other trees), plus the dwarf tree gets you to 65% at heroics. And from there it just scales up in epics/legendary. So when I saw that ruby I thought it would be an awesome addition for something that can hit fast and many enemies at once. And asked for its usability.
In my mind +30% speed and partial strikethrough is better than just strikethrough .

Too bad that its not that good in epics. I desperately wanted it to be.
At least this pushed me into learning more about named weapons and augments, even sentience (now that's available to everyone through night revels). That's why I asked what augments are better in high lvls.

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but strikethrough won’t just work on SWF. You can have all the strikethrough stats in the world, but if you aren’t actually using a combat style that supports strikethrough (like two-handed, or hand-and-a-half with bswords / daxes), you won’t actually hit multiple targets.

 

[Drachmor]

True, this thing looks amazing, too bad Vecna unleashed wasn't in the code offer.


Yeah I know, But the main idea it all started was that I was planning a SWF with dragonlord. Dragonlord gives the extra +20% strikethrough without requiring THF (like most other trees), plus the dwarf tree gets you to 65% at heroics. And from there it just scales up in epics/legendary. So when I saw that ruby I thought it would be an awesome addition for something that can hit fast and many enemies at once. And asked for its usability.
In my mind +30% speed and partial strikethrough is better than just strikethrough .

Too bad that its not that good in epics. I desperately wanted it to be.
At least this pushed me into learning more about named weapons and augments, even sentience (now that's available to everyone through night revels). That's why I asked what augments are better in high lvls.

Also- another way that sentience is available to you now is through Ravenloft. You can get a free lvl 29 Morninglord weapon of any kind, followed by a free sentient gem once you talk to the guy in the wilderness area.

(Ravenloft isn’t free rn, but 99 points)

 

[Jodro]

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but strikethrough won’t just work on SWF. You can have all the strikethrough stats in the world, but if you aren’t actually using a combat style that supports strikethrough (like two-handed, or hand-and-a-half with bswords / daxes), you won’t actually hit multiple targets.

As far as I've read all weapons have +20% strikethrough that works with SWF.
Additional strikethrough works with b-sword and daxes as long as you are not TWF and not using DoD (which is sad, imagine having daxes and have +45% strikethrough).
The only one I'm not sure is if the TH Specialty triggers while SWF, but I found a reddit discussion that it said it works. So its extra +30% (PWF)+120%(TH Specialty), overall 190%, plus whatever from items or FoW tree.

So with dwarf and dragonlord (or artificer) you can have that. Unfortunately half-orc, human, warforged need THF feat to take the +20% strikethrough (according to maetrim's builder) so I can't do the same with bastard sword

Also- another way that sentience is available to you now is through Ravenloft. You can get a free lvl 29 Morninglord weapon of any kind, followed by a free sentient gem once you talk to the guy in the wilderness area.

Interesting. Its good to have more than one sentience so you can have 2 main weapons.

 

[Drachmor]

As far as I've read all weapons have +20% strikethrough that works with SWF.
Additional strikethrough works with b-sword and daxes as long as you are not TWF and not using DoD (which is sad, imagine having daxes and have +45% strikethrough).
The only one I'm not sure is if the TH Specialty triggers while SWF, but I found a reddit discussion that it said it works. So its extra +30% (PWF)+120%(TH Specialty), overall 190%, plus whatever from items or FoW tree.

So with dwarf and dragonlord (or artificer) you can have that. Unfortunately half-orc, human, warforged need THF feat to take the +20% strikethrough (according to maetrim's builder) so I can't do the same with bastard sword

Interesting. Its good to have more than one sentience so you can have 2 main weapons.

https://ddowiki.com/page/Strikethrough

According to the wiki, you will only see Strikethrough take effect while two-handed fighting, or using hand-and-a-half weapons like bsword and daxe. I use Kukri swf, and I can tell you I do not get strikethrough

 

[Fisto Mk I]

Anybody know if having two slotted in the same weapon would produce 2 negative levels per vorpal?

No.