Rares that beat uniques?

I was wondering if its possible to get a rare or crafted item that can have more value to some builds than uniques depending on their needs (apart from +skills uniques or runewords ofcourse) and possibly stick with that as an endgame gear?(again if u dont really care about those +2 skills armor and prefer more defense and customisation if you get one with 2 sockets)

I haved collected every rare i found from lvl 85 areas and bosses so far and the best i got so far was: Ornate plate, 98 ed, 22 life, 6 dex, magic red 3,requires -20,2 sockets,ethereal, Def:1489

I was about to sell it though for the etheral,but then i remebered that i got 2 ias jewels in one of my mules and have some of the best armors for hirelings (especialy for rogue) and that i can also de-etherilised it by upgrading it with the cube to a sacred..

I Know that magics with jewelers and life,fhr etc are better but those are ultra rares and reminds me old days in d1 when i was trying to get the best possible shield in the game from wirt

So let me know what you think or what some veterans have found-crafted (aprart from amagloves, amulets) thanks hf|||yes, they can

rares and crafteds can be better and more expensive than uniques

if you upgrad eth items with the cube, they will still be eth

only way to remove eth is with a zod|||A lot of rare rings, amulets, boots and belts beat the unique and set items, for many builds, but for as many builds, uniques and rares are better. Nearly no rare or magical armor, shield, helm (except circlets and the like) and weapon beats runwords, uniques and set items, however. Those few which are better are very hard to find, as you said yourself.

With other words, it depends (as usual ).|||I believe it all depends on your build. Circlets can usually be better than unique items for certain classes (there are some insanely crazy sorceress/paladin circlets out there that will give the good old shako a run for its money), and Most wind druids would kill for a +2 druid/+3 tornado/FHR/2 sockets pelt for example.

I don't seem to recall any particular instance where rare armors are better than unique or RW ones, but magical ones can be quite good (Jeweler's <armor> of the Whale is a popular choice among some classes, like zons).

That reminds me of a Shield I once saw on bnet: It was a rare kite shield named "Storm Shield" (that's right! it was on USEast ladder a couple years ago). The stats?

2 open sockets

+all resists (18 I believe)

deflecting (20% block, 30% block rate)

FHR (17% I believe)

and a couple other mods (I can't seem to remember if it also had +2 paladin skills or not, it was a long time ago). If I remember it correctly it was under lvl 30 required to equip (don't quote me on that though). It was the most amazing rare shield i've ever seen. Sadly for obvious reasons his owner would not trade it, but I can say I never quite seen anything like it ever since.|||Quote:








yes, they can

rares and crafteds can be better and more expensive than uniques

if you upgrad eth items with the cube, they will still be eth

only way to remove eth is with a zod




Are you sure? Cause i upgraded some eth uniques and eth was removed..

I think i have tried it already with eth rares, but i try it again with the first i get to make sure..|||Thats i wanted to hear...So yellows can be gold if u lucky and worth identify.

Well most out there i seen on bnet leave tons of elite rares on their way to diablo-baal and when you join a trade game the always show you the old shako, arach and marowalks...

Personally i dont find boring checking items anytime,after all its a fun factor for diablo and adds a little maybe to the missing variation for engame gears...

I agree most about rare gloves,belts,boots,circlets that are easiest to get a really good one, but since i crafted some interesting armors ie:42 fhr kraken shell with 2 sockets and 140 ed -20 req but rest was cr*p..

If u got the time its a better thing to do rather than running bosses all time as fast as u can and doing same areas geting the same uniques imo

They all seem bored to me hope they are not...|||Quote:








Are you sure? Cause i upgraded some eth uniques and eth was removed..

I think i have tried it already with eth rares, but i try it again with the first i get to make sure..




I'm sure that upped items remain ethereal.|||Ok i will try it again asap and let you know |||Nop, my bad..Tryed upgrading eth rare and eth remains, so it should also be the same for uniques also..Must haved in mind cubing eth magics or crafting...

Anyways im sorry for the missinformation|||when crafting eth magic items, the eth mod will be removed/rerolled

cube socketing eth items will still remain eth

(armors will get a boost, +50%def)