Level drain

[Mastus]

I figured I would post this question in here because although I am not exactly new I am still inexperienced and in search of guidance

So my primary character is a monk. I love monks. He flips, he kicks, he's a one man killing machine. He ignores rest shrines and laughs with impunity at traps. However, there is one thing that absolutely shuts him down, and that is level drain. What makes it so brutal is once one drain lands, it suddenly goes from bad to terrible, as they cascade into 2, then 5, then 10, then 14, as they get progressively easier to land. All of a sudden I can't land any hits, and most of the gear I am wearing isn't even working anymore as I am too low level (vampirism handwraps).

My question is are there any ways to avoid level drain or become immune to it? I know there is the Silver Flame trinket, but my understanding of that is it only absorbs 10 level drains. Does it auto absorb it, or only if it would have landed anyway like if I saved? If it auto absorbs since they spam it I can see it getting eaten up within a few seconds of the fight. And there is also death ward, but half of the time if the mob can drain levels it can also dispel the death ward, which makes it pretty worthless.

I am pretty much so frustrated with level drain that I am considering TR'ing into a warforged, and I HATE warforged. Any advice before I do anything drastic?

[TheDearLeader]

Death Ward.
Silver Flame Trinket. (as you have noticed)
Hunter of the Dead III.
Warforged.
These are it.

[Rumbaar]

Can try the Tangleroot chain and go for the Flesh Render Guards, which I'm sure Death Ward clicky will protect you from level drains.

http://ddowiki.com/page/Visor_of_the..._Render_Guards


You'll not get it dispelled as much as those that can drain you.

[SemiraLynn]

The divine spell Death Ward protects against negative levels. If you have the Tangleroot pack, one of the end reward items (Visor of the Flesh Render) for finishing the chain grants one use per rest of the Death Ward spell, protecting you from pretty much everything except beholders (which the silver flame item can be used against).

[noinfo]

I figured I would post this question in here because although I am not exactly new I am still inexperienced and in search of guidance

So my primary character is a monk. I love monks. He flips, he kicks, he's a one man killing machine. He ignores rest shrines and laughs with impunity at traps. However, there is one thing that absolutely shuts him down, and that is level drain. What makes it so brutal is once one drain lands, it suddenly goes from bad to terrible, as they cascade into 2, then 5, then 10, then 14, as they get progressively easier to land. All of a sudden I can't land any hits, and most of the gear I am wearing isn't even working anymore as I am too low level (vampirism handwraps).

My question is are there any ways to avoid level drain or become immune to it? I know there is the Silver Flame trinket, but my understanding of that is it only absorbs 10 level drains. Does it auto absorb it, or only if it would have landed anyway like if I saved? If it auto absorbs since they spam it I can see it getting eaten up within a few seconds of the fight. And there is also death ward, but half of the time if the mob can drain levels it can also dispel the death ward, which makes it pretty worthless.

I am pretty much so frustrated with level drain that I am considering TR'ing into a warforged, and I HATE warforged. Any advice before I do anything drastic?

It is one of non WF vulnerablities unfortunately. Depending on what is level draining you the best option is the Death Ward spell. You can get goggles with this clickie as an end reward from Tangle Root chain, it lasts for 7 min and is not exclusive so you can farm a few. This is not useful vs beholders and in that situation the silverflame trinket is by far your best option and then kill them fast although there is also beholder optic nerves from Invaders that can help there.

Also there is no save vs level drain.

[Jaid314]

i have found that a useful buff for dealing with this sort of thing is the "punch stuff in the face" buff.

basically, i wait until i see a caster, then i run up to them and punch them in the face. until they are dead. ideally, some sort of CC is involved along the way as well, such as stun or trip.

this generally keeps me from getting level-drained very often, and as a general rule is sufficient (when used alongside a silver flame neck) to keep me from getting level-drained at all.

(in other words, you'd be surprised how far the necklace goes when you kill the stuff that spams negative levels on you).

[Enoach]

As mentioned by previous posters the Tangleroot End reward list can contain an item called the Flesh Render's Guard which has a 5 minute Death Ward Clickie.

However, Death Ward Spell from clickie or Cleric/FvS can be disspelled and is not immune to Anti-Magic fields. So against creatures that not only drain you, but also debuff this is not the prefered approach.

A better item is the Silver Flame Trinket - Necropolis Tomb Series 1 to 3
Tier 1 - Death Block (Prevents insta death, not level drain) 1 charge Negative Energy Absorb
Tier 2 - 5 Charges of Negative Energy Absorb
Tier 3 - 10 Charges of Negative Energy Absorb

You can get the Token in Necropolis and run the Cursed Crypt 3 times to get a Tier 3 Silver Flame Trinket.

Then there is "The Mantle of the World Shaper" 5 charges of Spell Absorb - Any 5 bad spells - Charges recover at 1 per Rest.

Then there is the Scarab of Spell Absorption - Limited by charges - Once used they are gone. Charges are used based on Spell level level 1 spell = 1 charge, Level 5 spell = 5 charges

The highest end item is the Pale Lavender Ioun Stone - Unsupressed - 50 charges with rechard of 15 per rest. Charges expended based on Spell Level absorbed.

Forgot about the Beholder Optic Nerve.

Also one other option - helps more for the Enervation levels then Level Drain due to caster level - Spell Resistance Item as these types of spells don't have saves, but do have SR Checks tied to them. It won't negate, but outside of protection completely this puts a Roll between you and a drain. And making it 30% harder to land can be worth it.

[ReaperAlexEU]

one thing to note in addition to all the above, there is no save against negative energy drains. the basic spell does 1 to 4 levels worth, but there are higher level spells that drain more at a time. you've not been struggling to save against it, there was never an option to save in the first place!

[NovaNZ]

Hail Mastus.

Not what you're after I'll grant that, but if u run with a RS cleric - ask for a radiant burst from said cleric - I believe it heals/replaces up to 4 -ve lvls at a time.

Go speedy fists go ....

[Sarisa]

What I do is carry around 2 Visors of the Flesh Render Guards, which gives me 14 minutes of Deathward. Due to the low caster level, however, mobs that spam Dispel (Drow, Scorrow, Giant Skeletons) will easily knock it off of you fast.

I also carry around a Silver Flame Talisman. This I put on when both my Visors are used, or I'm in an area where it's no point in using the Visors (Dispel spammers and around classical Beholders).

I don't have one, but the named Beholder's Optic Nerves are also a decent item to carry if you can afford one. It's specifically protection from Beholders, but it can essentially give you an 8 Silver Flame Talisman like charges when you're faced with a large number of Beholders (such as Invaders!, or In the Flesh on elite).

The best protection, however, is an upgraded Pale Lavender Ioun Stone. The stone will absorb a Beholder's Antimagic cone, and allow you to keep your buffs (including Deathward). This makes traditional Beholders a lot less threatening, only Disintegrate is really painful. This item is quite rare and expensive, and requires a grind to get the essences to upgrade in the Dreaming Dark.

[somenewnoob]

I've gotten in the habit of taking a hireling with deathward with me. Only problem with deathward is the anti-magic of beholders will kill it, so for beholders I have the silver flame trinket.

There isn't much you can do other than that, except to have a cleric with you for restoration and radiant bursts. Both of those will remove negs.

As far as I know there isn't a clicky with restore (somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, because I want one!)

For most beholders 10 neg level absorb will be enough, the exception I've bumped into is the boss in ghosts of perdition, he drained me and a partners silver flame trinket and then had us each 5-6 levels down by the time it was over. Fun fun!

[Sarisa]

As far as I know there isn't a clicky with restore (somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, because I want one!)

The non-epic Hammer of Life from the Vault of Night raid has one click of Restoration. Note that Restoration will only remove a single negative level.

The Shard Trinket of Greater Restoration is also an option, but expensive and non-rechargable. Since it casts Greater Restoration, it will remove all your negatives at once.

If you have UMD, you can also use Greater Restoration scrolls (Guild Vendor sells them), but note that negative levels will temporarily reduce your skill points, making it harder to reach a high enough UMD to cast the scrolls.

[Gauthaag]

dont forget u can also farm motes at mabar event to get potions of restoration and dw potions

[somenewnoob]

The non-epic Hammer of Life from the Vault of Night raid has one click of Restoration. Note that Restoration will only remove a single negative level.

The Shard Trinket of Greater Restoration is also an option, but expensive and non-rechargable. Since it casts Greater Restoration, it will remove all your negatives at once.

If you have UMD, you can also use Greater Restoration scrolls (Guild Vendor sells them), but note that negative levels will temporarily reduce your skill points, making it harder to reach a high enough UMD to cast the scrolls.

I forgot all about the hammer, I think I pulled one when I was new to the game and put it up for roll lol. Doh! Hindsight!

[Tom_Hunters]

i guess u're being messed up with a beholder

I am not sure of your level
but in addition to all these mentioned, you might consider wearing spell resistance item.
It's not great, but a SR22 on some named items is able to block most spells at low to mid levels

if that's not a beholder, u can consider the buff itself, or drows maybe
but of course if that's not a beholder, u can also get deathward items (tangleroot)

or just get a mantle of worldshaper/beholder optics/silver trinket

[aerendhil]

Not usefull for a monk, but for knowledge's sake, "Axe of Famine" cast Greater Restoration on the wielder on a Vorpal Hit.

[Diyon]

Death Ward.
Silver Flame Trinket. (as you have noticed)
Hunter of the Dead III.
Warforged.
These are it.

Just to clarify, its Hunter of the Dead II not III.

On the other hand I really don't expect you to take 12 paladin levels to solve this.
Basically what everyone else has said, UMD restoration is normally my solution.

[Angelus_dead]

All of a sudden I can't land any hits, and most of the gear I am wearing isn't even working anymore as I am too low level (vampirism handwraps).

Negative level penalties don't stop your equipment from working (except perhaps items with a UMD requirement that you no longer meet)

I am pretty much so frustrated with level drain that I am considering TR'ing into a warforged, and I HATE warforged. Any advice before I do anything drastic?

Win Tangleroot 5 times.

[MrkGrismer]

In addition to all of the above very good suggestions I have one more to add:

Kill things faster. Dead things don't give you negative levels.

It is not really an option on some content (Ghosts of Perdition...) but you get neg levels back now relatively quickly many things that give neg levels won't neg you if you can kill them fast enough. Beholders especially, on a monk you should be able to take them down very quickly (consider maldroit handwraps of bone breaking, if you can find them).

Oh, and grind tangleroot for Flesh Rendor Visors

[Arnhelm]

A word about Visor of the Flesh Render. It's a single-use clicky. Beholders like to cast remove-spells. Sadly, that spell gets removed. 'Nuff said.