Arachnid Mesh is a unique web band (notice the pun?). It is a popular belt for throwers due to several of its modifications.
The statistics:
Defense: 119-138
Minimum force: 50
Level requirement: 80
+ 90-120% Enhanced Defense (varies)
Slows the target by 10%
+1 to all abilities
+ 20% faster casting speed
Maximum mana is increased by 5%
Level 3 Poison (11 charges)
Slows the target by 10%
This mod is supposed to reflect the belt’s relationship to cobwebs.
Although Arachnid Mesh is more of a caster belt, this mod only works when engaged in close combat or attacking with a ranged weapon, thus requiring a target.
+1 to all abilities
While +1 to all abilities is great for all classes and builds, it benefits casters more, because they have to rely on their abilities to deal damage, compared to melee characters who can rely on strength and The power of their weapons.
A +1 to all abilities not only increases the caster’s primary attack skill by 1 level, it can also enhance any synergistic skill, further increasing the power of the primary attack skill.
+ 20% faster casting speed
This is the mod that all pitchers want on their team. Being able to cast spells faster makes a huge difference in the world of Diablo 2, as the faster you can cast your spells, the faster your enemies die.
Maximum mana is increased by 5%
Another mod on Arachnid Mesh that is attractive to launchers. The more Mana you have, the better this mod will work.
Level 3 Poison (11 charges)
Poison is an assassin ability that deals poison damage. A level 3 poison deals 90-110 poison damage.
One thing to note about Venom is that it limits the duration of the poison to 0.4 seconds. That means if your Skills and items deal 700 total poison damage over 10 seconds, but you use Poison, then you would only deal 28 damage over 0.4 seconds, and if you want to deal more poison damage, you must successfully hit the target of again, dealing another 28 damage over the next 0.4 seconds. Therefore, Venom prevents poisoning in the long term, and you would have to constantly hit the target every 0.4 seconds to get the total damage of 700 in 10 seconds.
So while Venom generally does good poison damage, if you want your poison to last longer (and thus prevent monster regeneration rates from increasing above 0 for a longer period of time), then you should try to avoid activate Venom or just avoid items with Venom activators.
Summary:
Arachnid Mesh has a downside: it lacks bonuses to resistances. Otherwise it is a good wheel belt. It also has a very, very low sink rate, making it difficult to find. There are Diablo 2 players who have never seen an Arachnid Mesh fall in the game. If you’re really excited about getting an Arachnid Mesh for your caster, you might consider doing Mephisto Runs in Hell Difficulty over and over again, as it appears that Mephisto in Hell has a higher chance of dropping Arachnid Mesh (still very, very low though) compared to other bosses and uniques in the game.