So yesterday I’m messing around in Stony Field, right? Just killing stuff, minding my own business. Suddenly, this weird, kinda ugly sash drops. Steeddriver. Never seen it before, gotta be honest. Picked it up, looked at the stats. Seemed… okay? Low defense, but it had some FHR – that’s Faster Hit Recovery for the new folks – and a bit of Enhanced Defense.
Threw it on my Barb real quick. Felt squishy compared to what I usually wear, but maybe the FHR would help? Went back to smacking Fallen shamans. Got surrounded, took a few hits. Yep, felt that low defense right away. Health chunked down faster than I liked. The FHR helped me recover quicker after those hits, I’ll give it that. Didn’t stop me needing to guzzle potions like cheap beer though.
Okay, needed a proper test. Took the Barb to the Outer Steppes, where the skeletons hang out. Less burst damage than those little demons. Results? Let’s see:
- The Good: Smashed through skeletons decently fast. The damage felt okay. FHR definitely procced a lot, saved my bacon a couple times when I got too cocky.
- The Bad: Still felt paper-thin. Every hit landed harder than I wanted. No resists on it at all! Cold damage from those archers? Hurt bad.
- The Ugly: Found a unique ring! Sweet! …but it required level 22. Steeddriver is level 13. Why?! Made the sash feel even weaker compared to stuff I could be using so soon after.
Got curious about why it exists. Dug a little. Apparently, it’s got something to do with Runewords? The base defense might matter then? Honestly, math hurts my brain sometimes. Didn’t feel worth sticking around to find out for sure.
Ended up swapping back to my old belt after maybe 20 minutes of testing. The slight FHR boost didn’t make up for getting smacked around like a punching bag. Found a plain Heavy Belt with like 5% cold resist not long after, and that felt way better. Surviving hits matters! Go figure.
So, final verdict? Unless you’re really, really desperate for a FHR boost right this second, and literally nothing better dropped? Steer clear. It drops early, it feels weak early. By the time you could maybe, maybe find a niche use for its base stats later on (like, way later for Runewords?), you’ll have found a dozen better belts. It’s kinda like real life – holding onto something just because you found it early, even if it kinda sucks, usually isn’t worth it. Trash it or vendor it, move on. Plenty of actual good gear out there.