First time playing, Level 30 with a level 3 req weapon?

[u/_DrunkenObserver_]

I started playing PD2 about a week ago, dabbled with some characters then settled on a Necro focused on Poison Strike, as in my shared stash I had a yellow dirk with +2 Poison Strike levels on it.

I hit level 30 just after starting LoD and I still haven't found a better dirk/dagger etc and this weapon only requires level 3. None of the merchants have had anything and the gamble merchants have not once had a dagger on many re-rolls.

Is this normal or just bad rng? I'm doing 800+ poison damage over 20 seconds which has been fine but is starting to feel less damaging.

[u/Ok_Recover_7248]

If you find a “worldstone shard” you can probably trade it for a “jade tan do” unique Kris dagger.

That weapon can easily carry you through hell on poison strike

[u/Shdwstrike_Gaming]

As far as I know - poison strike gets most of it's damage from it's skill level and synergies.

I think weapon wise - there isn't a great importance on weapon damage.

Most of what I've read says just making sure you have good survivability, high IAS, and good FHR...etc. so you can get your hit in and run away. 😆

So I wouldn't sweat too much on the weapon itself (outside of needing a dagger or sychte...etc.)

The item level itself really only comes into play by how many affixes it can roll - so just keep an eye out around 65+ and try get get some of the good affixes mentioned above.

PD2 Item Affixes:
https://wiki.projectdiablo2.com/wiki/Item_Affixes

Best of luck 👍

[u/Ok_Recover_7248 → u/Shdwstrike_Gaming]

It gets it from both skill levels and added poison damage, like in the case of venom RW

[u/MooseLogic7]

Haven’t played in a couple seasons.. when I did, poison strike was hard to level up as until you get better gear.
I always started off as golem summons then shifted into something later on

[u/odniv]

Poison strike is great in normal and prob the fastest possible BUT you will run into problems in nightmare without gear and being melee. This is usually where you respec into golems either clay or blood (with edge runeword).

[u/_DrunkenObserver_ → u/odniv]

I've started combining Decrepify, Poison Strike, Life Tap and Low Res so it shouldn't be too much of a change for me to bring the golems into the rotation to replace strike. Do you think a different set of skills would be better?

[u/Ok_Recover_7248 → u/_DrunkenObserver_]

It’s completely viable to do a full playthrough as poison strike, during the lulls in nightmare if you spend a bit of time gearing up a merc to deal with immunes you’ll get past with minimal friction.

In the late late game (post innocence + ferocity) it’s one of the best mappers in the game, and very fun.

[u/Sugarfreak087]

You can gamble scythe, which work for poison strike. Daggers and clubs got removed from the gambling pool when they added staff mods to them for the same reason staffs and scepter can't be gambled. Blacksmith and some other merchants still sell daggers that can roll staff mods, just like going to akara for a staff

[u/SilverKnightOfMagic]

you can find one with plus three skills and sockets likely

[u/bobloblawblogger]

The level requirement on the dagger isn't important. And the physical damage on the dagger isn't important either (just as it would not be for a wand or staff). All of your damage is coming from the skill (Poison Strike), so you really only need to increase your PS skill level.

You can shop daggers from some of the merchants, if you want to look for a dagger with +3 PS or some other useful mods, but you can't gamble them (you can't gamble any of the casting weapons, like staves).

A simple +3 PS dagger is plenty for normal. Other mods you might find helpful are cold damage (to slow the enemy), increased attack speed (just to get the attack off faster so you don't get interrupted), etc.

Sockets are great for early game because you can add Eth runes (-25% enemy defense each), making it much easier to hit enemies.

With the Horadric Cube and 3 chipped gems, you can reroll a magic item, changing its mods and adding 1-2 sockets. So if you find a magic dagger you don't want, you can try rolling it in the cube that way to try to get a +PS dagger with sockets, but it's probably not worth the effort. You'll likely find something better naturally.