So last night I was grinding away in Act 5 when this sweet Archon Plate dropped. Got all excited thinking “hell yeah, time for that Enigma runeword!” Without thinking, I rushed straight to Larzuk and had him punch holes in it. Big mistake.
My screwup with Larzuk
See, I totally forgot Larzuk always gives max sockets based on the item level. That plate was high level so it got four holes instead of three. Now I’m stuck with this useless four-socket plate when Enigma needs exactly three. Felt like such an idiot wasting that quest reward!
Then came the cube disaster
After that fail, I thought I’d use the Horadric Cube recipe instead for this Bone Visor helmet. Threw in the hel, Amn and perfect ruby. Clicked transmute… boom, only got one socket when I needed two for my Lore runeword. Turns out the cube recipe randomly gives 1-4 sockets? Could’ve smacked myself right then.
What I learned the hard way:
- Larzuk ain’t for runewords – Only use him on white items when you absolutely need max sockets
- Cube is a gamble – Save it for throwaway gear you don’t care about
- Check base stats first – Wasted a Phase Blade because it rolled crap damage AFTER socketing
- Runes go left to right – Messed up Steel runeword by putting Tir before El. Durrr.
Now my strategy? For important gear like that Archon Plate, I’ll farm socketed bases directly in cows or chaos runs instead of risking Larzuk/cube. Saved my butt yesterday when I found a natural three-socket Mage Plate – made Enigma no sweat. Live and learn, right?
