Epic Item Review: Part 1, the Carnival

[Astraghal]

Bracers of the Glacier are a TR item, or first life interim caster gear. Melee should be using Epic Bracers of the Claw (multiple reasons), Scorched Bracers (3pc Abisahi) or even Levik's/Jidz-Teka (heal amp). I will continue to mock melee that use Bracers of the Glacier as primary "end game" gear.

The Mask of Comedy is the most overlooked item in the Carnival pack IMO. It's a fantastic TR item, even after you have access to Planar Girds due to the +2 damage.

If you have Seeker +6 on Marilith Chain or a pirate hat, freeing up the trinket slot for the Epic Gem of Many Facets can give you some choices.

If you have heavy fort on a MinII, DT armor or Epic Infested Armor, you could wear something else in the bracer slot.

You would probably have to give up 10% healing amp or +2 exceptional CON but it might be viable for some builds.

Edit: Epic Mask of Comedy is an excellent clicky and one which I constantly use on my Fighter. I'm amazed at how few melee even carry the base item. 5-15 minutes of +2 to damage when no Bard is in the group is a great buff.

[voodoogroves]

The mirror cloak is weak, but honestly what it needs is a reason to wear it all the time.

I don't like the 30% concealment - if you're going that route, give it a displacement clickie. What I'd rather see is something that played on Mirror like the damage backlash the Swashbuckler shield has.

[sirgog]

Good list. Can't comment on most of it, but I'd suggest that the Epic Big Top is outclassed by the Crystal Cove Spyglass in just about every way. They both give stacking +3 UMD, but I'd take swappable true seeing, +20 search/spot and +2 exceptional INT over swappable dance clickie.
Many toons don't have the full epic gear set and use the Minos for HP and fort - not a good idea to swap out fort in order to get UMD for heal scrolls. Even if you're safe, people are going to forget to swap back again every now and then. I feel that the top hat is really underpowered.

Quite a few people do use the top hat as a fulltime item (with their fortification somewhere else, like eClaw bracers or on a Min 2 HP item). While the trinket is a better item, it is also in a slot that has a lot of competition. Against mobs without SR, the Irresistable Dance clickie is a lifesaver too.

I don't think the item is particularly great, but it is at least seeing use. It could be buffed further without breaking anything if the Devs wanted to make it a great item, but it isn't terrible.

[Sarisa]

Epic Big Top: I made this before the Spyglass came out, and I still feel it's at least on par with an un-augmented tier 3 Spyglass as a UMD swap-in. Slot in Good Luck in the Spyglass and it's most definitely superior, but that takes more grind for the tokens than making the Big Top. The Otto's Irresistible Dance clickie is invaluable when "bad things happen" in epics, and I use it in that role quite a bit.

Epic Noxious Fang: Mainly a "for fun" item. It's still the best thrower, except maybe certain Greensteel builds and a Dwarven Thrower in the hands of a dwarf barbarian or fighter with all the axe enhancements. While it's not something I use extensively, it was still nice when a mob was held in a trap for some added autocrit damage. Without autocrit, I only use it now for favour running or pulling.

Mask of Comedy: Base item is definitely under-appreciated. Epic version is something I'm still grinding for, after months of running Small Problem. While it's usually better to have a bard in an epic run, it's not always an option. In addition, it's nice being able as a Cleric to dispel Crushing Despair in eVoN1.

Epic Phiarlan Mirror Cloak: On my wiz/rogue, it's a nice swap-in to hit the needed stealth requirements to sneak Claw. It really needs something to make it a viable full-time item. I agree with sirgog's suggestions.

Epic Antique Greataxe: It was update 9 removing many of the boss resistances that weakened this compared to a MinII. Agree with your suggestions.

Epic Utility Vest: The exceptional int+2 is a nice boost to Assassinate's DC's without consuming a ToD ring bonus. Probably not worthwhile as a full time armour, but still has a purpose.

Epic Shimmering Pendant: With cha+7, I would strongly consider using the item on my bard. As is, I'll stay with a Warchanter necklace.

[Eladiun]

Epic Full Plate of the Ringleader

This armor has equal second best AC potential, the very powerful (if buggy) Radiance Guard and DR 5/- - a very powerful combination of effects. For the rare character that cares about AC, it's a clear upgrade from Dragontouched and a fantastic item to use as a stepping stone to an Epic Red Dragonscale Fullplate.

Suggested change:
Adjust monster To-Hit values so that armor class is a worthwhile defense against epic purple nameds. Adjust player behavior so that the needed debuffs to make AC useful against epic rednameds are applied to them. Both of these are beyond the scope of this post.

Add fix bugged blinded mob behaviors so that they do not move when held, stunned, danced, etc and generally make a nuisance of themselves once blinded. Otherwise, the radiance proc is more annoying than beneficial.

[pjw]

This is the first in (possibly) a series of a few threads

That would be fantastic. I find the plethora of somewhat-good-but-confusing junk out there really annoying. Some overview would be great!

I'm most defintely no expert on epics, and I don't know a great deal about melee either, so I will limit my comments to what I find appealing in this lot...

Epic Big Top

This item serves a very specific niche purpose (boosting UMD to the magic 39 mark). It's best-in-slot for that purpose, and so needs no changes.
The clicky is unique and quite fun.

Seven fingered gloves (from a level 11 quest?), though painful to get, seems superior to me. Top Hat should be more than +5 IMO.

Epic Brimstone Verge

Eternal wands need to do a lot of damage to be even remotely worth carrying.
...

Indeed. If I had one, I'd probably save it in the bank for blasting walls in Prey runs. Yay.

Epic Garos' Malice et. al.

This weapon is terrible....

(...and some other weapons too...)

I'm no expert, but it seems to me that en Epic weapon should be better than greensteel. Quite a few seem to be very poor.

Either that, or they should have ML8. Which would be really useful for TRs.

Epic Illusionist's Garb

Whilst this is the weakest of the +7 Int items available in the game, it's also the easiest to acquire. This item is fine as-is; it's an exciting upgrade for many an arcane.

Given that +7 can be put in a red or blue slot, I'm not at all sure that it should be the main selling point for an epic caster item.

Clickies are more or less useless, I'd suggest an Epic Illusionists garb should have 'Greater Blur' (30%), Displacement that procs when hit, and maybe a 5x clicky of Invisibility and a 10% reduction in the costs of Illusion spells. This would seem Epic.

Either it's epic or it's not. Dropping the ML does not seem so bad. Keep the original ML even. Fun for TRs.

Epic Mask of Comedy

Players that want a form of Devotion 7 want Superior, not Greater. Players that want some level of Healing Lore want Major
...

Greater VIII or IX would work, but the Lore needs to be at least Greater. I'd also make it +6 Wis AND +6 Cha. Epic again...

Why go devotion anyway given that 'Tragedy' is Potency. If it has to be 'Devotion' it should be one better than the Potency item.

Epic Mask of Tragedy

Players almost always prefer Superior Potency 6 to Greater Potency 7.
...

Greater VIII or IX would work again, and the Lore needs to be at least Greater. I'd also make it +6 Wis AND +6 Cha. Epic again...

Epic Phiarlan Mirror Cloak
...
Suggested Change:
Replace Blurry with "Greater Smokescreen: This item provides a 30% Concealment bonus (this does not stack with Blur or Displacement)".
Also upgrade SR to 35 (enough that you will occasionally see it prevent a non-damaging spell from Normal Horoth or from trash mobs in epics).
...

IMO this is a completely useless item and your suggestions would help a great deal. The skill bonuses should be +15 though.

Epic Ring of Elemental Essence

I've never seen anyone seek this ring out...

[i]Suggested Change:
Upgrade the Glaciation, Combustion and Magnetism effects to their Epic versions (60% increase to level 6 and lower spells)....

Not even sure that would make it attractive. Two augment slots maybe, or a slot for any shard in the new crafting system might help.

[Junts]

Pjw, the epic big top provides a different-typed bonus from the titan gloves (and stuff like the cartouche, etc). Its 3 umd that stacks itwh everything in the game except the tier 3, lv 20 spyglass.

There's also already a complete overview of every epic item by Leloric in this very forum: http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=289273

[sirgog]

Also to clarfiy pjw, the '+7' you can socket into armor and weapons isn't +7 to an ability score, it's +7 to the weapon or armor's enhancement bonus.

This adds to AC (in armor or shields), blocking DR (in shields) and both to-hit and weapon damage (in weapons, as well as shields when they are used to bash), but +7 to an ability score is quite a rare modifier. Hence the Illusionist's Robe being useful, if not uber.

[pjw]

...Its 3 umd that stacks itwh everything in the game except the tier 3, lv 20 spyglass....

There's also already a complete overview of every epic item by Leloric in this very forum: http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=289273

Ah, thanks for both the clarification and link.

Also to clarfiy pjw, the '+7' you can socket into armor and weapons...Hence the Illusionist's Robe being useful, if not uber.

Ah, OK. I've been misreading DDO Wiki for a looong time, thinking I could get a +7 stat item. Harrumph.

In that case, I'd agree it's definitely useful, but not particularly epic, as such.

[Sarisa]

Snipped out other replies that came through as I was typing.

IMO this is a completely useless item and your suggestions would help a great deal. The skill bonuses should be +15 though.

The Mirror Cloak stacks. +15 Items are Competence, the Mirror Cloak is Enhancement.

While the Mirror Cloak needs help, the stacking stealth bonuses are still useful.

[Carpone]

If you have Seeker +6 on Marilith Chain or a pirate hat, freeing up the trinket slot for the Epic Gem of Many Facets can give you some choices.

If you have heavy fort on a MinII, DT armor or Epic Infested Armor, you could wear something else in the bracer slot.

You would probably have to give up 10% healing amp or +2 exceptional CON but it might be viable for some builds.

The Gem is a great interim item and has some niche uses, but Litany of the Dead and the +2 exceptional seeker trinket are superior.

Of course you can find a different slot for Heavy Fort and you can live without +2 exceptional CON; the +4 damage is and the 20% incite are the primary reason to have the set bonus. I'd never put Heavy Fortification on DT or on epic chest armor with a blue slot, as it would lock me in to that armor. There's not much room for greensteel accessories in optimized DPS builds, unless you're giving up the Abishai or Claw set bonus (a poor tradeoff). My melee only wear 45hp items when they're tanking raid bosses (swapping out Tharnes).

[Junts]

The Gem is a great interim item and has some niche uses, but Litany of the Dead and the +2 exceptional seeker trinket are superior.

Of course you can find a different slot for Heavy Fort and you can live without +2 exceptional CON; the +4 damage is and the 20% incite are the primary reason to have the set bonus. I'd never put Heavy Fortification on DT or on epic chest armor with a blue slot, as it would lock me in to that armor. There's not much room for greensteel accessories in optimized DPS builds, unless you're giving up the Abishai or Claw set bonus (a poor tradeoff). My melee only wear 45hp items when they're tanking raid bosses (swapping out Tharnes).

There are certainly builds for whom gloves+gem+ravens sight is superior to either Litany or the bold trinket for performance. Many monk builds spring to mind immediately, as they tend to suffer significant to-hit issues, and litany can be particularly low-value for them if they are planning to use 3 pc abishai sets.

I would have done this with my monk if I had not chosen epic charged gauntlets specifically to avoid the threat bonus from claw, as getting aggro on a ninja spy is a pretty significant DPS drop.


There are other melee with hit-issues enough to make this relevant. I've seen it on many rangers as well, as they in general lack significant hit buffage and are particularly limp vs non-favored enemies. Hitroll is the best dps.

[Carpone]

Epic Phiarlan Mirror Cloak: On my wiz/rogue, it's a nice swap-in to hit the needed stealth requirements to sneak Claw. It really needs something to make it a viable full-time item. I agree with sirgog's suggestions.

While it may be easier with sneak, Epic Claw has never needed sneak to be successful.

I find it a sad state of affairs that the non-epic Mirror Cloak is more useful than it's epic counterpart. Running harbor/marketplace quests with SR17 really cuts down on curses and other annoying-at-that-level debuffs. I can't imagine how Turbine could revamp the Epic Mirror Cloak to make it competitive with the Epic Cloak of Night.

[Astraghal]

The Gem is a great interim item and has some niche uses, but Litany of the Dead and the +2 exceptional seeker trinket are superior.

Of course you can find a different slot for Heavy Fort and you can live without +2 exceptional CON; the +4 damage is and the 20% incite are the primary reason to have the set bonus. I'd never put Heavy Fortification on DT or on epic chest armor with a blue slot, as it would lock me in to that armor. There's not much room for greensteel accessories in optimized DPS builds, unless you're giving up the Abishai or Claw set bonus (a poor tradeoff). My melee only wear 45hp items when they're tanking raid bosses (swapping out Tharnes).

AFIK the +2 exceptional Seeker bonus on the Greater Bold Trinket is still broken and doesn't stack.

The main reason for me to wear the Epic Gloves of the Claw is 30% healing amplification, the 20% set bonus to incite is nice, but the damage is the main benefit here and with most melee aiming to wear this item, I'd swap in an incite DT robe if I was really serious about having aggro.

The Epic Infested Armor has heavy fortification as a property, independent of the blue slot.

The cove hats have allowed for some slot flexibility and the new trinkets are pretty good competition for anything that's not a Litany of the Dead.

The only way I'd seriously consider using the Epic Gem of Many Facets is if I didn't have all the gear I wanted yet, but had a free trinket slot and was using multiple Epic fens items like Epic Gloves of the Claw, Epic Raven's Sight and Epic Boots of the Mire to make it worthwhile.

Even then I'd still probably rather have the option of switching between the various trinkets.

[Missing_Minds]

While it may be easier with sneak, Epic Claw has never needed sneak to be successful.

I find it a sad state of affairs that the non-epic Mirror Cloak is more useful than it's epic counterpart. Running harbor/marketplace quests with SR17 really cuts down on curses and other annoying-at-that-level debuffs. I can't imagine how Turbine could revamp the Epic Mirror Cloak to make it competitive with the Epic Cloak of Night.

As situational as it is... epic version offers protection from gaze attacks? Right now that would only be the medusa, but if they ever add in basalisks or cockatrices in game?

Or if it really is "mirror" some beholder ray absorption as well?

[sirgog]

The mirror cloak is weak, but honestly what it needs is a reason to wear it all the time.

I don't like the 30% concealment - if you're going that route, give it a displacement clickie. What I'd rather see is something that played on Mirror like the damage backlash the Swashbuckler shield has.

I considered some sort of backlash damage, but couldn't think of an effect I liked. Something like 'Arcane Backlash: When a spell deals damage to you, it has a 20% chance to deal that much damage to its caster too' could be interesting, but I'm not sure if that could be coded.

[Carpone]

There are certainly builds for whom gloves+gem+ravens sight is superior to either Litany or the bold trinket for performance. Many monk builds spring to mind immediately, as they tend to suffer significant to-hit issues, and litany can be particularly low-value for them if they are planning to use 3 pc abishai sets.

I've considered the glove+gem+raven's sight set for my monk. Unless I'm fighting epic Rayium, epic Malicia, or soloing the eVON6 fire djinn, to-hit isn't an issue. Those are niche cases though.

I would have done this with my monk if I had not chosen epic charged gauntlets specifically to avoid the threat bonus from claw, as getting aggro on a ninja spy is a pretty significant DPS drop.

If you're ripping aggro from the tank on a raid boss, then the tank needs more Incite. There's no reason for any geared tank not to have at least 35% Incite (20% from Claw set, 15% from Stalwart set). For non-boss scenarios, even epic trash dies way too fast to matter especially after U9. Now that Brute Fighting works while raged, there's no excuse why up-and-coming-tanks can't deal with threat generation of top geared DPS.

If you're wearing Epic Raven's Sight and Epic Charged Gauntlets, then where's your SA item? Wretched Twilight? Pirate Hat? If it's the hat, then where's your Seeker item?

There are other melee with hit-issues enough to make this relevant. I've seen it on many rangers as well, as they in general lack significant hit buffage and are particularly limp vs non-favored enemies. Hitroll is the best dps.

Obviously if you're not hitting on a 2, then to-hit is the best mechanic to focus on. Although if you're not hitting on a 2 for most raid and epic content, then I'd question the validity of the build.

[Astraghal]

I considered some sort of backlash damage, but couldn't think of an effect I liked. Something like 'Arcane Backlash: When a spell deals damage to you, it has a 20% chance to deal that much damage to its caster too' could be interesting, but I'm not sure if that could be coded.

Maybe give it some visual related buff, like blindness immunity or true seeing.

[Junts]

I've considered the glove+gem+raven's sight set for my monk. Unless I'm fighting epic Rayium, epic Malicia, or soloing the eVON6 fire djinn, to-hit isn't an issue. Those are niche cases though.


If you're ripping aggro from the tank on a raid boss, then the tank needs more Incite. There's no reason for any geared tank not to have at least 35% Incite (20% from Claw set, 15% from Stalwart set). For non-boss scenarios, even epic trash dies way too fast to matter especially after U9. Now that Brute Fighting works while raged, there's no excuse why up-and-coming-tanks can't deal with threat generation of top geared DPS.

If you're wearing Epic Raven's Sight and Epic Charged Gauntlets, then where's your SA item? Wretched Twilight? Pirate Hat? If it's the hat, then where's your Seeker item?


Obviously if you're not hitting on a 2, then to-hit is the best mechanic to focus on. Although if you're not hitting on a 2 for most raid and epic content, then I'd question the validity of the build.

My monk doesn't wear ravens, but my monk has 46 strength, too.

I wear tharnes. You can click 'caelana' to see what I'm using if you wish.

I also wanted the +1 dc as I'm a dual stunning build (41-42 dc with both when yugo'd up properly).

I don't wear seeker anymore at all because it's such a negligible damage bonus with handwraps (seeker 6 is only 1.2 damage per hit). It was the odd-man out when going up against 7 str. I don't wear a hp item anymore at all.

While my tank certainly doesn't have issues with aggro, it's equally true that not every group -has- a dedicated tank, or someone even remotely specced for it, or in fact that anyone even tries. My monk usually ends up tanking Suulomades even without the threat bonus, and I'd really rather that other people were pulling instead of me on a regular basis.

I'd also point out that those ac threat builds are pretty AP intensive: i have no intention of switching to wf or h-orc or investing that many AP in the bonus, which is pretty small, and I doubt most others doing so would either. It's not very efficient c ompared to the other ways of increasing your threat.

I think you dramatically, vastly overstate the ease of hitting high-ac monsters on a 2. Mobs like Turigulon have substantial armor class, as do Lailat and djinn in von6, etc. Very, very few builds - none of them monks with 3 improved power attack enhancements - hit them on a 2 with PA active, especially if they have the aggro and lose their +7 to hit from flanking (2 baseline, 5 from sneak attack item).

If you're 'questioning the validity' of builds that don't hit in those situations, you had might as well question the validity of everything that isn't a kensai or sos-based barbarian, because there are precious few characters who hit ideally in those situations. Things like improved destruction certainly help and can contribute a lot to making life easier, but acting like to-hit is a non-concern for most melee builds is, to say the least, misleading. It also leads to substantial drops in effectiveness when party composition happens to render you bardless. I am no fan of either of that.

[Genasi]

Big wall of text incoming!

This is the first in (possibly) a series of a few threads where I'll look at Epic items in the game, and single out the terrible ones with suggestions to the Devs as to how I'd recommend improving them.

Good, I hope to see more of these threads addressing the Epic items that seem to be lacking. LeLoric's was an extremely detailed and helpful read as well, and while the statements made in these threads still mostly come down to personal opinion, they generally serve the same purpose- pointing out which Epic items nobody is seeking out, which is all the reason I need to consider buffing them a bit. Epic items take more investment to acquire than almost any loot in the game, so to some extent they should all be viable. I'm planning on doing another round of Epic item adjustments soon, probably for the next major update, so I hope that encourages more detailed reviews of Epic items that can help me determine how to go about making more of them desirable.

Looking at LeLoric's thread and compiling a big Excel document of all the feedback there, the items that caused me the most concern are those that score 2 or lower: i.e., the ones that it would be hard to argue are worth very much. That gave me the list of the following loot:

Epic Mummy Wrappings
Epic Sandstorm Glasses
Epic Storm
Epic Adherent’s Pendant
Epic Bejeweled Letter Opener
Epic Ward of Undeath
Epic Azure Necklace of Prophecy
Epic Crimson Necklace of Prophecy
Epic Ruby Encrusted Guantlets
Epic Silver Necklace of Prophecy
Epic Deneith Heavy Chain
Epic Brimstone Verge
Epic Grim’s Bracelet
Epic Kronzek’s Cruelty
Epic Mask of Tragedy
Epic Phairlan Spy Dagger
Epic Ring of Elemental Essence
Epic Shimmering Pendant
Epic Boots of the Mire
Epic Raven’s Talons
Epic Sacred Band
Epic Siren’s Charm
Epic Chainmail Coif
Epic Coronation Shield
Epic Shard of Vollun
Epic Vulkoorim Pendant

That isn't to say that I won't consider buffing other items beyond those listed here (especially if people can agree on some that really need help), but it seems sound to me to begin by targeting the worst of the worst items. My aim there would be to reduce some of the perceived "dilution" of rewards when it comes to Epic scrolls, shards and seals by making more of the ingredients desirable and trade-worthy.

Unsurprisingly, some of the items there coincide with the ones brought up by sirgog in the OP, like the Epic Shimmering Pendant, the Epic Brimstone Verge, the Epic Grim's Bracelet, the Epic Kronzek's Cruelty, and so on. It's worth remembering, too, that the Carnival Epic quests are easier than most, but I think sirgog's point that it's still in many ways tougher than Shroud is probably reason enough that this loot should come closer to greensteel in quality, especially because of the effort required to make an Epic item. All that said, Carnival does seem like a fine place to start for the next round of Epic item improvements.

Epic Antique Greataxe: LeLoric rated this one a 4, stating that it came close to Mineral II and that was a good thing. Your analysis, sirgog, suggests that it's not nearly so desirable. The removal of pit fiend acid resistance is a recent addition to the comparison, though, and a good thing to point out. With regard to giving it Good DR bypassing, Righteousness is a trait we could think about adding; I think it suits the weapon's flavor pretty well. Upping the base damage is also something I'm not opposed to.

Epic Brimstone Verge: It's a bit silly that this item became an accidental twinking tool, that wasn't really intended. But much like when the Epic Robe of Dissonance had its min level fixed, we would need to buff this wand up a bit to make it worth carrying at its intended level. Let me think about how to address that; a recharging Meteor Swarm might not seem out-of-line for Epic mobs, but my initial reaction is that it could trivialize non-Epic content if wielded in other quests. Another route for making such items more desirable at Epic levels is to give them more scepter-like passive caster buffs, with the recharging spells as more of a side benefit.

Epic Brawn's Spirits: Incite 10% sounds like an entirely reasonable extra perk to add, since it's true that the Epic Claw gloves (which came later) took away some of its uniqueness.

Epic Garos' Malice: We can certainly at least give this one Incineration as a baseline; I'll consider making a version with a higher proc rate (and to what degree) afterwards. LeLoric rated it a 2.5, which doesn't quite make me panic, but you make some good points about it too.

Epic Grim's Bracelet: Alongside what you've brought up about Yugoloth potions, let's also remember that Natural Armor +5 is now available on Pirate Hats, and though those are limited-edition items, this one is Epic and should certainly not be outclassed by something usable at such a lower level. I'm thinking Heightened Awareness 4 sounds pretty good- or, perhaps something equivalent to the Parasitic Breastplate's Rough Hide (a +3 natural armor bonus that stacks with other sources of natural armor).

Epic Kronzek's Cruelty: I'll put Lightning Strike on this puppy for sure, it probably should've always had it. And I like the idea of Improved Destruction being on there too, considering that it sees a little less use and has specific application in Epic quests, where mobs are likely to be harder to hit.

Epic Mask of Comedy: I don't think this one should be desirable only for its clicky, so at the very least I'll probably upgrade the healing lore to Major, if not Superior.

Epic Mask of Tragedy: Similar deal to the Mask of Comedy; upgrading the lore is simple and appropriate.

Epic Noxious Fang: Ha, well, I'm fine leaving it as-is, but I'll point out that Junts DID have an argument that it's legitimately useful in certain situations!

Epic Phiarlan Mirror Cloak: I'm not sure about the 30% concealment; persistent miss chances are very potent. I'll definitely improve the Spell Resistance, although it would likely still leave something to be desired at that point. I'm thinking I may come up with a weird unique benefit for this one similar to what was done with the Epic Robe of Dissonance. The idea for this item was more the concept of reflecting spells than dodging physical attacks... hmm.

Epic Ring of Elemental Essence: The focus of this thing was meant to be the elemental part, hence the name. So Archmagi shouldn't really be the focal point. I'm in favor of boosting the glaciation/combustion/etc. to 60%, since it's not like we're talking about Potency here.

Epic Roderic's Wand: I had wanted to put Augment Summoning on this, but I'm not sure that's implementable at present. I'll try to find some way to make it increase the effectiveness of the monsters it summons, since that's the best way to go about upgrading it.

Epic Shimmering Pendant: Increasing the skills to +20 is an option, but I'd be more interested in making it something you'd want to keep equipped. Charisma +7's an option; we have an Int +7 in this pack, after all.

So that's about 10 or 11 items I would begin with this time around. Not a bad start. Like I said, feel free to keep commenting and posting threads that address items from other packs!