Golemancer Attempt No.1

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Everyone, please meet GumbyBalboa, a necro with a mission. And a death wish, for that matter. His ethos is based upon the premise that winning isn't important ... what's important is to die trying.
He is a SP/SC Golemancer, who will be attempting to get as far as he can in the game whilst sticking to the following rules:

1. The only points he will put in the Summoning tree will be for Golems, Golem Mastery and Summon Resist.

2. The only points he will put in the Poison/Bone tree will be for Bone Armour, Bone Wall and Bone Prison

3. Points in the Curses tree are free from restriction.

4. He will play untwinked for the duration of the mission.

5. He will be played as if he were HC as far as possible - i.e. I will do my utmost best to be sure he suffers no deaths. (I'm not playing him HC as I don't rate my playing skills sufficiently high and he has enough to worry about, him being a golemancer and all).

6. He will be allowed to use ATMA for muling on and off the character. I had a long think about this and I feel this is a reasonable compromise, given the difficulty of what he is attempting.

7. Use of /Players X is mostly free from restriction, but cheesy tactics (P1 for monster and P8 for chest) will not be employed.

8. Use of Mercenaries is free from restriction.

9. This may be the controversial one - he will be allowed to use any CTC mod on an item, even if this mimics one of his "forbidden" skills. Thus, an item with CTC Revive (or similar) is usable. I'm not 100% sure of all the CTC's that are available, but I'm certain there is a revive type one out there somewhere.

Other rules may be added as I go along, I'm too tired to think of any more right now.

Random thoughts - the name chosen is an especially stupid one and quite deliberately so. My first ever character was given a dumb name and he actually Pat'd - he's a level 93 Summancer and doing pretty well for himself. I'm hoping that choosing a silly name may be a key ingredient for success.

Progress
I was a little bored with my Summoner earlier today and out-of-the-blue decided to start with this project.
I'm glad I did, as I've really enjoyed my D2ing today. GB was at /Players 8 all day and found the going easy for 95% of the time. Slightly worrying moments included meeting Gargantuan Beasts for the first time without any real gear to speak of :smiley: , meeting Treehead Woodfist (first difficult fight), a Champion pack of Night Clan types (they were fierce!) and my only NDE, being trapped in a cell with a boss ghost pack and a dwindling potion supply. On the other hand, Griswold and The Smith were remarkably easy.

You can see one of GB's first encounters here (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/GumbyFirstOuting.jpg).

You can see one of his first big challenges here (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/GumbyBottlenecking.jpg).

I may continue to do some screen shots for progress reports à la Insane Wayne & Cosmo the Certifiable Druid (over on the SPF), I'll see if I can improve my skills in that regard (I'm just the same with the camera, the action is over by the time I remember to take the shot). Case in point. (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/AfterTheOrdeal.jpg) :grin:

So, after a few hours play today we have GB having just gotten the Inner Cloister WP. He is Level 19, his stats are at starting quotas with all 90 levelling points unallocated. Skills are Amp Damage 1, Clay Golem 1 with 19 Skill Points unallocated. I imagine that there will be a need to start using these very soon in readiness for Andariel. I really need to locate some poison resist and fire damage gear ...

Current gear includes a Short Sword of Frost (virtually the first magic item he picked up and by far the most useful). It is really bizarre for me to hope that corpses to shatter, bearing in mind I normally play a summoner. :grin: Rare javelins on switch with poison and CTC Ice Bolt. A couple of Preserved Heads that will give +skills to various skills when I eventually start using them. My merc fire-using has a nice 3-soc Hunter's Bow with poison, cold and lightning gems inserted. My first set item is an Artic Binding - very nice. My first unique item has yet to put in an appearance!

More posts to come - I hope!

Golemancer GumbyBalboa - Act 1, Inner Cloister

[ChronosHammer]

So what are you going to do with the allocated points? Are you going to focus on a specific golem? Maybe an IG off of a nice item pickup? Surely you aren't going blood.... I'm curious as to how this is going to work out. Keep us posted.

Also, I would be interested to see a guide for this if it works out- maybe a focus on somewhat of a meleemancer with a focus on a badass golem buddy?

EDIT:

I did some research, and I think a moderately viable build (till hell, that is) that would follow your rules would look like this:

Skill Distributions:
20 Clay Golem or Fire Golem (whichever you prefer)
20 Golem Mastery
20 Summon Resist
20 Iron Golem
1 Blood Golem
1 Bone Armor
20 Bone Wall or Bone Prison
4 Amp/Weaken/Terror/Decrep

Total Skill Points Allocated :106-108, depending on where you want your points
Basically, You pick a primary golem (I would prefer an IG with some decent auras, but if you can't find a good one you can fall back to your fire or clay golem) and then melee your way through. Stat points would mirror that of the melee mancer build. Because of the untwinked status, finding decent +skills gear would be difficult, but I bet you could get a few things to make a nice IG out of. I applaud Loz for this experiment, and I'd like to see it go till the end. I love builds that are a little zany (after my first bonemancer I went with a matador -- very fun). Good luck, dude!

[bmathew]

Out of curiosity. Will you be Meleeing with your Golem or are you letting the Golem get all the kills?

Good luck on the quest. By the way. You might want the Iron Golem (Dont recall the skill level you get this at though)before you hit Andariel since hes got some Poison Resistance if I recall correctly. Im not sure you can get Fire before Andy but if you do shes pretty weak to fire. :)

Please keep those updates coming.

[Ed from Russia]

Nice idea, I hope it works. It would be a lot easier with CE I think, but that may spoil the build for you.

[bcoe]

A maxxed dim vision would be incredibly helpful, allowing your golem to work at his own pace through the fray.

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

I started off today with Andariel in my sights, which meant first clearing a path from the Lvl 2 Cats WP and finding the entrance to Lvl 4. This was achieved at P8 and with the stats from my original post.

I was a little worried to discover that I'd started my current quest at the same time that the Annual Shaman convention was in town. Four Champions and two normal Shamans, all backing each other up. I'd shatter a Dark One corpse only for two others to appear in its place. The action was rather hectic, hence no screenshots! A short breather then, only to discover more Possessed/Champion/Normal Shamans were camped nearby. Finishing off a few tail-enders can be seen here (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/ShamanUpperHand.jpg).

The next thing I knew, I was meeting giant spiders and Misshapens. My merc and gumby were equal to the task (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/ArachMisshapen.jpg), but the Clay Golem was looking very second-hand by the end of it. The 1pt Wonder wasn't going to last much longer.

RL called me away before I could get to Lvl 4, so a subsequent restart from Lvl 2 WP was needed. Much preparation (mental and otherwise) was made for Andariel. She's quite a challenge in Normal (in my mind at least!) and I was determined to remain in Players 8.

At the restart, it was time to spend some Skill and Stats points. I wanted to wear some 2os armour I'd picked up (chipped emmys for poison resist) plus a 2os shield (same again). Strength was upped to the minimum requirement. Vitality was boosted too as I didn't want to be insta-killed. You can see this, plus my chosen missile weapon here (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/UppedStats01.jpg). In addition, I felt a 1pt Clay Golem with no Mastery wasn't going to cut it, so I plundered the remaining unspent Skill Points. I also took the opportunity to ATMA some poison resist charms onto my character, for obvious reasons.

The approach to Lvl 4 Cats had some challenges of its own, which my upped Gumby handled with ease ... my confidence was growing steadily (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/StrongerGumby.jpg).

The first meeting with Andariel was, I have to say, nearly a disaster. The new improved Gumby got eaten almost instantly and my merc, Aliza, discovered an almost Act 2 ability to avoid being any use at all. A hasty retreat was called for as I was honestly taken aback by how quickly my Golem was taken down.
I re-grouped on Lvl 3 and repeated this a couple of times - each time the merc found a wall to hide behind and shoot her arrows into. My language at this time was a little choice, I have to say. Successive attempts to engage the big beastiette eventually led to Andy standing in the ante-chamber near the stairs, which really wouldn't do. A quick dash into first chamber to cast a portal and shut the main door to the main chamber (to avoid being disturbed by the various creatures still left in there) was called for, and this worked like a charm. I was finally able to get the Gumby and the merc to attack at the same time, whilst I threw my rare javelins (+17% damage to demons was rather nice). Recasting the Gumby a few times whilst chugging blue and purple pots won the day - although the Golem died at some point during Andy's final moments. A (late) screenshot here (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/TooLate.jpg). The drop included various rares plus a Crushflange mace :grin: big joy!

Skill Pts spent so far: 1pt in each of the Curses up to Lvl 18, 1 Amp, 1 Bone Wall, 1 in Golem Mastery and 10 in Clay Golem - no unused points at this time.
I have 30 unused Stats points, still pondering where to put these ...

I remembered to speak to Warriv after killing Andy (for the bugged drop), but I haven't yet decided whether I will allow myself to re-run areas (other than the absolutely necessary times when I resume my progress after Save and Exiting).

Some answers ...
@ChronosHammer - the skill distribution you suggest is fairly sound, I think, but I will forego additional points in Summon Resist. My current thinking is for the spare 19 points to go towards maxing Fire Golem. I will be filling the Curses tree with one point each, taking the points away from Bone Wall. As to my end-game Golem choice ... most likely IG, but not sure at this point. And ... what on earth is a Matador? :grin:

@bmathew - I will be (and have been) meleeing with my Golem for much of the time so far - but not at the risk of my own skin. My meleeing will tail off as the game progesses. No Sparky for me yet, I'm Lvl 20 at this point.

@Ed from Russia - no CE for me. It's not about the win, it's about the failing miserably! I'm under no illusions that this will work. :grin:

@bcoe - Dim Vision is one of my favourite curses.

Golemancer GumbyBalboa - Act 2, Lut Gholein

[ChronosHammer]

It sounds like you handled yourself pretty well at the end. Staying with P8 for andy and surviving is impressive. I'm curious to see how you will fare with the pits in act 2....

Congrats and good luck

PS a matador is a build focused on maxing bone armor and utilizing iron maiden to return damage to the attacker for the kill :cool:

[Darksilanus]

I'm reasonably certain that this build will be able to make it quite far, maybe farther than some people think, for two real reasons. First, with no restriction on merc, the act 2 should do well as a main killing force with some help from a nice item IG. Second, with no restrictions on curses, a maxed dim vision should be able to handle crowd control so your merc and IG don't get overwhelmed while decrepify + gumby will easily slow bosses to a crawl.

Not to say that there won't be some difficult spots now and again, but I can foresee this going well into nightmare maybe even to hell. Immunes will make life miserable there though.

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Act 2
Only a brief session this evening, so I thought I'd remind myself how tough Radament is in Normal. I re-kitted myself from my ATMA stash to maximise my other resists (esp lightning) after gearing up for poison against Andariel. My current max resist switch now shows a healthy F75/C72/L29/P53 ... waitaminute, 29 Lightning Resist? This isn't good ... oh well, nothing for it.

The sewers were, by and large, laughably easy, even on Players 8. Gumpy was equally happy tanking bosses (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/BaneBang.jpg) or large mixed groups of ordinary monsters (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/SewerTank.jpg). I was challenged though to make good use of curses when faced with massed archers. AmpDam was swapped for a combination of Life Tap and Dim Vision, with the occasional Terror thrown in. For a change, I rarely meleed, preferring to throw Strangling Gas potions from afar. Even the mummies aren't poison resistant/immune, so I was able to wreak havoc whilst my supply lasted.

How difficult could Radament be? Or so I thought. He makes Shamans look like the lightweights they are in the raising corpses stakes. I repeatedly beat down his Burning Dead, Horrors and Mummies, only to have them attack me from behind as I approached Radament himself - I just couldn't shatter enough corpses quickly enough. Rinse and repeat ... (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/RadamentAscendant.jpg).
When he killed my Gumby (which he did a couple of times) I had to chug blues to get enough mana back to re-cast him. Sometimes I wasn't quick enough re-casting and Rad's re-animated hordes drove me back again. To make things worse, I hadn't replenished my javelins before the fight and ran out part way through.
Eventually, Radament was down to a sliver, so I very bravely ran up behind him to finish him off with my shiny new Crushflange. I hit him and - he turned around and faced me. I faced him back, with a depleted javelin stack as my weapon as I'd forgotten to switch. Noobishness kills, I really have to be more careful! As I bravely attempted to run like hell (I preferred the idea of a back-stab, myself), Aliza delivered the coup de grace and I was treated to a light show ... (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/RadamentDown.jpg) but look, once again Gumby failed to outlive the Superunique he faced.
No useful drops from Rad, but I'm fairly happy anyway as I had three El runes drop in the sewers (to add to the Ral that The Countess gave me). A 2os Spiked Shield and a 3os Crystal Sword picked up along the way has me considering various options - junking both being uppermost in my mind.

A Book of Skill plus a level up means I have two unused skill points to ponder, plus another ten stat points I have no idea what to do with :scratch:

I imagine I'll dream of Lightning Beetles tonight. :grin:

Golemancer GumbyBalboa - Level 21, Act 2, Rocky Waste

[Bliphgar]

This has the potential to be my replacement for superdave's anna_goanna thread. Take moar screenshots : D

[aiwa]

shhhh.. dont tell anyone.. but this is my build.my golems lvl 41 and wears bram and i win all melee duels. 8) no monsters or cows in hell mode kill my super gumby fighter now...hes immune and nvr dies.o btw i particullay enjoyed the "bane bang" screen shot. 8)-

[sequoia]

considering someone was able to pat as a mojomancer, i'm fairly certain this can be done with an INCREDIBLE amount of patience

are there going to be any restrictions on your merc? if not, i think this can be done

i think using CE insead of a merc would be harder :)

[SSoG]

considering someone was able to pat as a mojomancer, i'm fairly certain this can be done with an INCREDIBLE amount of patience

How could anyone make Patriarch with a mojomancer? Mojomancers have no enemy-independent way of dealing damage (read: nothing but Confuse, Attract, and IM), and would therefore have no means whatsoever of dispatching any Act Bosses or the Ancients.

With that said, I don't think a Golemancer is possible. I simply think it won't deal enough damage even to overcome monster regen in Hell.

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

It's just occurred to me that I haven't stipulated some further rules

10. The project will be played in SP 1.11b, vanilla (no RWM/RRM), so no Realm-only runewords will be available.

Some answers ...

@Bliphgar - no pressure, then!

@aiwa - your golemancer ... that's encouraging! I may tap you for advice in the days to come.

@sequoia - patience I have in abundance. I'm slow and steady by nature, which will be about right for this build. No merc restrictions are in place for the experiment.

SSoG - I'm reasonably sure you're right about a golemancer's chances in Hell but it's something I have to try. A powerful merc will go a long way to making the build viable, but maybe that won't be enough. I suppose the fact that I'm using a merc at all is diluting the purity of the experiment, but without either the merc or Corpse Explosion, I feel it is virtually hopeless.

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Refreshed after his rest and having defeated Radament, GumbyBalboa headed out into the Desert with a vague notion of finding some Horadric souvenirs. Act Two is possibly my least favourite section overall, mainly because I get irritated by the lightning beetles in their various guises.

Gumby tanked these (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/01_SlingerBeetle.jpg) easily, together with some Spear Cats. Aliza was the main killing force here, as she is in most cases. A Buzzard Boss (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/02_Buzzard.jpg) joined in the fun, attracted perhaps by the commotion.
The Stony Tomb (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/03_StonyTomb.jpg)was no challenge really, hardly a preparation for the Halls of the Dead to come.

Our welcome to the Dry Hills was warm and enthusiastic (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/04_WelcomeDryHills.jpg), with many residents wanting to rush out and greet us at the earliest opportunity. Matters took a more serious turn when Aliza managed to trap herself between the terrain and some unfriendly beasties. She escaped (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/05_AlizaEscape.jpg) but it was touch and go for a moment there.

In the Far Oasis, I may have underestimated the effect her narrow escape had had on Aliza - she needed a shoulder to lean upon (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/06_AloneAtLast.jpg)later on. The relative respite was brief though, when we surprised a group of Champion Death Beetles (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/07_BeetleBosses.jpg)in some vegetation. They were tough, but wilted under our combined missiles whilst Gumby did his tankin' thing.

I realised we were doing things a little back to front as we hadn't fully explored the Dry Hills (and the Halls of the Dead) prior to clearing the Far Oasis. Before us lay the entrance to the Maggot Lair - I considered turning back, but quickly decided we should go for it. I had, in readiness, upgraded Aliza's gemmed Hunter's Bow to a gemmed Composite Bow. Poison, Lightning and Cold were again the chosen instruments of destruction. It wasn't long before we met a creature (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/08_WhereHeGo.jpg)that chilled me somewhat. If it teleported between me and my Gumby (Aliza was off somewhere powdering her nose), I may be in a lot of trouble. The Big Nasty did indeed teleport after Gumby had punched him in the nose - where he went, I'll never know as I didn't see him again! Shame :wink3:
Death Beetles appeared next, all lined up in an orderly fashion (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/09_FormAQueue.jpg)for their Clay and Arrowshaft Sandwiches.
We didn't have things all our own way though - we had to portal to Town (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/09a_AlizaNDE.jpg)at one stage as Aliza had had a VNDE. We had been swamped at a junction, with Beetles and Maggots coming in from several directions and things happening too fast to process.
When Coldworm's burrow was located, I almost laughed as Gumby was able to tank virtually the entire chamber. I Amp Damaged half-heartedly whilst Aliza took out her near-death angst (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/10_Coldworm.jpg)on the Big Worm.

It was time to re-enter the Dry Hills and make our way to the Halls of the Dead. On the way there, I really did have to laugh - Gumby, faced with two Spear Cats, struck one dead at the exact same time a shaft from Aliza struck the other one down. It looked for all the world like Gumby had struck both down with a double blow of his fists. Wish I could have caught that as a screenshot!

There was less to laugh about in the Halls - the Burning Dead archers and mages, not to mention the Horrors, all had the full backing of Hollow Ones, making progress a two-steps-forward, one-step-back affair at best! Occasionally we made good progress, if the Hollow Ones were within range of my Curses (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/11_CrowdControl.jpg). Sometimes a concerted effort that succeeded in eliminating the intervening undead led to even worse problems ... (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/12_HollowProblems.jpg)
Compared to the make-it-up-as-you-go-along tactics I occasionally employed, the times when I was in full control (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/13_MoreCrowdControl.jpg) were a blessing.

When we met our first real Aura Enchanted boss (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/14_FirstAura.jpg), with the dreaded green swirl, I was a little concerned that the battle would be very costly in terms of blue pots and re-cast golems. What I managed to do instead was somehow rush through the door into a room that seem completely full of enemies. I must say I thought my number was up. I ran in circles, dodging mummies, Hollow Ones and the rest until the merc and the golem caught up with me. A very brief respite gave me the chance to cast a portal (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/15_Trapped.jpg)and ... I was safe.
That Portal was not one I cared to re-use, so we Waypointed from Town to the Dry Hills and re-entered the Halls via the front door. Our second approach to the Aura Enchanted Boss (another random "Warp Jade the Howler") was much more cautious. I teased the creatures out of the room a few at a time and killed them out of range of the Hollow Ones. Clearing out the room was simple after that.

The final push to the last chamber and the Horadric Cube was against an exceptional quantity of all the various kinds of monster the Halls has to offer. The first rush of enemies was daunting, but the combination of a strong tanking Gumby, a merc archer who was actually firing her arrows into the enemy rather than the walls and finally, a necro who was enjoying the range of Curses he has to draw upon, it all lead to a battle that was both savage and short (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/16_ConfusionReigns.jpg). GumbyBalboa now has the Horadric Staff and Cube in his possession.

Some Tech Stuff ...
I currently have 50 stats points unallocated, plus 5 skill points. I'm in no hurry to allocate any of these all the time that I am not struggling. All progress has been made at Players 8. Current "best" resists are 75F, 72C, 29L, 53P. I really want to improve my Lightning Resistance. Current weapon is Crushflange/Rare Javelin (and occasional use of poison potions), shields are a pair of blue necro heads with moderate plusses to useful skills. Need to improve my armour and helm, badly! Merc is using a 3-soc Composite bow, Flawed Sapphire, Emerald and Topaz for elemental damage.

Footnote - I really enjoy throwing potions. I've never done that before, don't ask me why!

Golemancer GumbyBalboa - Level 24, Act 2, Far Oasis

[ShazamLies]

You make sp sound like a truly enjoyable experience. I admire your perserverance and how you've shared your adventures with us.

Good luck with Mr. Balboa! :thumbsup:

Btw you can shop a wand in A2 with say +3 clay golem and cast it. Then switch back to whatever it is that you do use. Just remember to switch back and cast your golems/bonearmor with your weapon switch. (Every little bit helps)

[Mad Mantis]

Great read. Still wondering how far you'll go.

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

A small reception party greeted us at the entrance to the Lost City, whose arrival was timed with the Sun abruptly going out (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/17_TombCreeper.jpg). We cast about the City in search of challenges and found none worth the telling.
The trapdoor leading to the Ancient tunnels held more promise and soon Gumby was fighting for his life (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/18_GreenGumby01.jpg). We soon learned to cope with the increased danger in the 'Tunnels, even when it came at us Stone-Skinned (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/19_StoneSkin01.jpg). At some point in the desert, I had found a very interesting Rare Spear that has 5% life leach and a little lightning damage. "That will prove useful", I thought. I picked it up and stashed it, despite Aliza's questioning look - I haven't broached the matter of her long-term employment prospects. I'm a coward, fearful of the wrath of a woman scorned. :grin:

The Viper Temple was hectic, requiring judicious use of Curses (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/20_UsingCurses01.jpg)together with Hit'n'Run tactics. Mummy Sarcophaguses (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/21_MummySarc.jpg)are a pain and really slowed things down ... particularly as my golem and merc lack the ability to do BIG damage at the moment. I have Crushing Blow on my melee switch, but I have lately been hanging back from the direct fighting. I'm testing the build and at the same time trying to hone my Crowd Control and other "soft skills" whilst the going is relatively easy.
Confusion and Dim Vision Curses enabled me to thin down the mobs (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/22_ThinTheMobs.jpg)a little and facilitated taking down the Guardians. A Claw Viper boss pack (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/23_ClawViperPack01.jpg)surprised me at one point, but they presented no real problem. In no time at all, I'd found the Altar and the source of Lut Gholein's darkness. The Salamanders fell like wheat before the scythe (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/24_Salamander.jpg).

Beneath the Palace, there were seemingly endless groups of Skeleton Archers, Mages and Dune Beasts. Blunderbores, although fearsome in appearance, were generally speaking a pushover (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/25_Blunderbore.jpg)on their own. However, combined with the massed missile troops, they were formidible. Again, choice of Curse (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/26_CurseChoice.jpg)was the key to success. Sometimes, I need only cast Confusion and sit back and watch the pretty lights (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/27_SitBackAndEnjoy.jpg). At other times, careful and cautious tactics were required, especially with massed archers hiding behind steel grills (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/28_BehindGrill.jpg). After a few dramas, the Portal to the Arcane Sanctuary was located.

A pure Summonancer, lacking a means of teleport, will find this next part of the quest rather tedious and painful (at least, I did). A more compact team actually relishes this section. I realised before I started that Gumby's killing speed was becoming unacceptably slow. He was also going to suffer from the fire-based attacks of the Ghoul Lords. With this in mind, I allocated three additional points to Clay Golem (now up to 13), and one point to Summon Resist. The killing speed didn't rise appreciably, but survivability against elemental attacks showed marked improvement. Whilst I had the Skill Tree open, I took the opportunity to put a point in Decrepify and, one of my favourites, Attract.
Aliza made short work of anything she pointed her bow at and Curses just added to the fun (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/29_HelplessHellClan.jpg). All I had to do was wander over and pick up the drops, easy-peasy. Soon however, lightning traps put me in a more serious mind. I used this chance to hone my skills against a lethal lightning attack (think Gloams and Burning Souls). I needed to tease out the monsters clustered by the Traps, a few at a time, but at the same time avoid the bolts (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/30_AvoidTheBolts01.jpg)themselves. Time and again I'd approach the Trap and then beat a hasty retreat (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/31_AvoidTheBolts02.jpg). A couple of times, I equipped my Crushflange and attacked the Traps myself - my lack of patience showing through. I was able to tank several lightning hits in perfect safety so this was an acceptable risk, but I won't be trying this sort of thing in the Flayer Jungle, that's for sure.
I finally located The Summoner - but before I had properly assessed my strategy, Aliza had filled him full of holes and that, as they say, was that (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/32_SummonersEnd.jpg)!

The way to the Canyon of the Magi is clear.

Stats Update/Tactics/Random
60 unspent Stats points - hmm, Max Block, Max Life? I always prefer the Vitality route, myself

1 unspent Skill point - I think I will first max Clay Golem, then Golem Mastery, and then move up the Golem food chain.

Two more set items have fallen to me. A Cathan's Seal and Isenhart's Horns - Aliza now has a nice hat.

Mana thoughts - my Summonancer character put points into Energy - stupid, I know, but he rarely runs out of mana. My Golemancer, though ... Blue Pot City. My thoughts turn to Insight (darn, I'm playing vanilla) :grin:

Golemancer GumbyBalboa - Level 26, Act 2, Canyon of the Magi

[Bliphgar]

Go gumby xD I really hope he can tank duriel, because ole gumby is going to need to absorb punishment while Aliza fills him with holes. Good luck though.

[Kirah]

Hey Loz,

Good luck out there! Nice to read up on your adventures. Hope you managed to find a 'lore' helm for that added lightning resistances/+skiller. Also hope you managed to beat hell, though that's a pretty tall order.

good luck and good hunting!
Kirah

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

@ShazamLies - I'm actually not using Bone Wands at the moment. I have Crushflange and a Poison/Cold Rare Javelin on switch - these are helping me at the choke points when Gumby isn't killing and Aliza is shooting at walls. When the right Wand(s) come along, all that will change. I have two Heads equipped, one is +2 to Golem Mastery, the other is +2 Bone Armour, for pre-buffs. I'm anticipating some decent equipment any day now!

@MadMantis - thanks for that. I realise I am following Insane Wayne's posting format to a great extent, but if a thing works, don't fix it! I wonder how far I'll get too (I'm trying not to speculate too much at this point).

@Bliphgar - I certainly expect Gumby to play a key role against Duriel. Whether Aliza does or <ssshhh> a new mercenary with a polearm </ssshhh> remains to be seen.

@Kirah - Lore will make an appearance (I hope), just looking for the right helm and the small matter of the Ort and Sol runes (not easy, untwinked and playing single-pass [so far])

[Gluttony]

Congratulations. You have inspired me to make a pure golem mancer. I believe I'm going to choose Iron as my golem of choice. This will be a just for fun character but I intend to get him to about level 85.

[Mad Mantis]

Have you decided on when you are considering this experiment a failure?

[sirwhere]

This is a great thread :)

However, because I think one can beat hell with a freeze merc and 1 pt amplify, I challenge one of the regulars here to do Loz's build on hardcore players 8, NO MERC ^^

[ShazamLies]

This is a great thread :)

However, because I think one can beat hell with a freeze merc and 1 pt amplify, I challenge one of the regulars here to do Loz's build on hardcore players 8, NO MERC ^^

Can you say twinked EBOTD Iron Golem?

Anyhow this build is already hard enough, untwinked it will be hard to find enough appropriate merc gear.

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

In preparation for the Tombs, I did a bit of shopping at Drognan's and came up with a couple of useful Bone Wands - a +15 to Energy/Lightning Resist +10%/+3 to Clay Golem and a Lightning Resist +6%/6% Life stolen per hit/+3 to Golem Mastery. The second Wand combines with a +2 Golem Mastery bonus on one of my Necro Heads for a fine pre-buffed Clay Golem with 1144 HP (according to the LCS). I imagine the "Pet Calculator" will tell me the true position.

The Canyon itself held no challenges, with Gumby easily tanking Hell Cats and Crushers (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/33_Crushers.jpg)alike. We even had time for my favourite game of kick the trapped urn and see who gets stung. Aliza's turn this time (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/34_TrappedUrn.jpg).
The first false tomb I tried held Ancient Kaa, so there was no big build-up ... he was, somewhat surprisingly, easily dispatched (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/35_Kaa.jpg). Other boss Unravelers (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/36_FlameLust.jpg)faired little better, at least initially. Each Tomb was a procession of doorway bootlenecks, Amping the monsters in front, casting Confuse on the massed monsters behind and if they are in range, Dim Visioning/Attracting the Ghoul Lords and Unravelers - it was becoming routine (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/37_CurseRoutine.jpg). The only fly in the ointment ... I was forever running out of mana. One of the bottlenecks proved to be a stalemate, I was unable to get to the Unravelers prevent them raising their undead and my supply of blues/purples wasn't unlimited. Eventually I saw a chance to tip the scales in my favour - Gumby was recast in front of the Unravelers, I cast Attract on one of their number and Aliza and myself snuck through the door. We were then able to take the fight to the enemy much more effectively (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/38_BreakThrough.jpg). The final boss (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/39_StarWound.jpg)could have been tough but actually spawned with very little in the way of support.

I've cleared the six false tombs and only the Tomb of Tal-Rasha stands between my little group and Duriel. This will be a very big test.

Tech Stuff and Thoughts
I now have 70 unallocated Stats point and 3 unused skill points. I imagine the pressure to add to Vitality will steadily grow as I approach Duriel's Chamber. As for Skill Points, I'm torn between switching to Golem Mastery or sticking with Clay Golem. I've still managed everything at Players 8 but even the merc's kill speed is starting to suffer. The good news is that I have found a 3os Superior Short Battle Bow, which I can socket with the usual elemental gems. Current "best switch" resists are 65F, 75C, 50L, 75P - I still want to improve my Lightning Resistance. The Rare Javelin I've had since early Act 1 has been jettisoned as it was no longer doing any damage. Crushflange sits in my Inventory and the two Wands fill my weapon slots.

I really am dreading Duriel. The decision to stick with Aliza or to go for an Act 2 merc occupies much of my thoughts. I'll check her stats when she gets her new Battle Bow, maybe that will help make up my mind.

Golemancer GumbyBalboa - Level 28, Act 2, Tal Rasha's Tomb

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

@Gluttony - my final choice of Golem will very much depend upon what items I can put together for a super-dooper Iron Golem. If all else fails, Gumby will have to do but he isn't the most awesome killer in the game. A deadly Iron Golem would perhaps lend itself to a more pure form of Golemancer, i.e. one that is less Merc dependent. I have to say thought that this build may end up being a slog, but I am hoping that its challenges will make me a better player.

@Mad Mantis - that isn't an easy question to answer. I don't think it is entirely realistic to expect this build to finish the game in Hell difficulty, although it may be possible. One indicator that I have given up is if I feel I must twink to proceed further. Most likely the build will stall at some point, but the terms of my experiment are to see how far I can take it.

@sirwhere - :grin: <scribbles down "Freeze Merc" on notepad> Thanks for the tip! I decided against HC as I didn't want the build to fail simply because I hadn't come to understand it. But yes, HC will be a real test, for some of the better players here in the forums. I intend to go Players 8 all the way - again, I'll see how far I can take that.

@ShazamLies - untwinked is one of the rules I stipulated in Post 1. The experiment ends if/when I decide I want to twink th character.

[jinzo]

nice going. have u seen superDave's thread on the zon forums. if not you shoud he's crazy.

[Ed from Russia]

still need to read some of your entries, but he's a suggestion: once you maxed Clay Golem and have about 10 pts in Golem Mastery, focus on Fire Golem as a synergy to make your Clay Golem do more damage. By that time your Golem will have plenty of life and damage is really what you need.

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

@jinzo - I've skimmed the thread previously, but you reminded me to take a closer look at it. Thanks! :thumbsup:
(I'm on Page 19 but I really ought to be doing some work right now.)

@Ed from Russia- that's sound advice and matches what I've been thinking.
I've been upping CG rather than GM in an effort to get more damage more quickly. The Gumby still seems to survive as a tank at this stage - only one hard point at present but I have +5 skills for the pre-buff.

[sirwhere]

Can you say twinked EBOTD Iron Golem?

Well, twinking is a cheesy option :p

I think golemmancer with no merc on HC players 8 is a challenge par with SuperDave's passives-only zon. Without twinking, you won't have a uber iron golem to pwn hell with :)

The curses will make sure you have adequate firepower to overcome immunes. Just raise an iron golem out of buzzing sword and cast lower resist :)

[jgreg7]

Speaking of threads to read, have you seen the golemancer tournament (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=531406)?

Based on my experiences there, I have three suggestions:

Gumby plus Iron Maiden pwns Duriel (and all act bosses).
I would max Golem Mastery first, rather than of CG. Later your damage will come from IG or FG, and mastery helps all golems. You will wish the points in CG were spent elsewhere...
Also pump Dim Vision to a high level (~10+ by Hell). Since the golem (and merc) only target one monster at a time, you'll need good crowd control to protect you from those archers and magi.

Good luck!

[Josiphos]

Nice going dude! Keep it up. SuperDave seems to be on vacation in his thread...so I'm checking yours daily now...

Iron golem ( Malice RW anyone, crush flange too...hmmm) is going to be your killer later on. You'll need the ow or cb to get anywhere in hell.

Good luck!

[sirwhere]

malice would be funny... golem is life drained and you cant pot him.. lol

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

My preparation for Duriel consisted of researching Runewords and cubing up Emeralds, Topazes and Sapphires to use in Aliza's 3os Short Battle Bow. I soon discovered that I currently lack the runes and/or the necessary items to make any of the runewords I've shortlisted for GumbyBalboa or Aliza. To make matters worse, I found that I was one chipped emerald short of a flawless. Grrr. In the end, I settled for putting in a flawless topaz and a normal sapphire for now. I felt sure I'd pick up a chipped emmy in time for my meeting with Duriel ... it never happened :prop:

Progress through Tal Rasha's true tomb was practically painless. GB and Co were never really threatened (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/40_UnderControl.jpg).

Duriel at first looked impervious to harm. For twenty seconds or so, it seemed we were doing no damage to him at all. We stuck to the gameplan of casting Iron Maiden for speedy damage and, when the golem's health was in the yellow, Decrepify to give Gumby a respite in which to heal. Eventually, some progress was made ... (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/41_ToughDuriel.jpg) Nevertheless, Gumby needed to be recast two or three times during the fight. In the end, it was a race to see who died next, Gumby or Duriel (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/42_NotSoTough.jpg). Aliza, still missing an emerald in the last OS on her bow, was never in any real trouble.
Alas, poor Gumby never saw Duriel's death throes - he's two for two (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/43_GumbyTwo4Two.jpg)as far as dying at the same time as the Act Boss (not to mention missing Radament's demise).

Drops were nothing special, an Angelic Halo and some useless rare items. More importantly, the way across the Sea is now open and Kurast beckons.

Tech Stuff and Random Thoughts
No Stats or Skill Points have been spent in this session. I'm playing suck it and see. I was slightly irritated that I had miscounted my emerald stash for Aliza's bow, but no harm done and it will soon be remedied.
I must say, I'd built up Duriel in my own mind (based upon how much my Summoner struggled against him in Normal). He turned out to be fairly easy, I just needed to sink 4 or 5 Mana potions during the fight.

Some Answers
@jgreg7 - thanks! The Golemancer Tournament thread is largely responsible for starting me on the path to trying out the build. I will need to re-read the thread for useful ideas, but it was that tourney which put the first germ of an idea in my head. And you were right - IM ensured that Duriel helped speed up his own demise.
As for the GM/CG skill point issue, I think you are probably right, but I will eventually be maxing out CG in any event. In Normal mode, it should all work out the same in the end. At some point my emphasis will switch to GM/IG/FG - I'll know when I get there what to do (I hope!).
It's my firm intention to put enough points in Dim Vision to provide cover from Gloams/Archers/etc. I have a deep-seated fear of such things!

@Josiphos - Runewords for my IG occupy my mid to long-term planning thoughts. I suspect that Strength will play a part in this, with its CB and Life Steal abilities. It's a shame that Ancients Pledge has no offensive capabilities - the elemental resists might be quite tasty on an IG. I may well sacrifice my Crushflange to make an IG for Diablo - the fire resistance and CB would be hepful, perhaps - but I'd rather wait for another useful melee weapon to come way first. Not that I'm meleeing these days. Shame about the Malice, though ...

@sirwhere - :grin:

Golemancer GumbyBalboa - Level 28, Act 2, Kurast Docks

[Bliphgar]

If it were up to me, i'd get a cold merc, sparky and LR to go through normal. Looks like you're doing fine on your own though.

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Setting off from Kurast Docks, we met a Dark Wanderer out walking his dogs - but that's another story.
When we saw our first Thorned Hulks, we weren't sure what to make of them but Gumby tanked them easily and Aliza's shafts were very effective (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/44_ThornedHulks1.jpg). Balboa threw Poison Pots, mainly because he had them, but also to make up for the empty socket in Aliza's bow. When a stretch of water intervened, the 'Hulks were even less impressive (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/45_ThornedHulks2.jpg).

At some point, Aliza disappeared into the bushes ... I'm not sure what she was doing but she seemed happier afterwards (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/46_InTheBushes.jpg).

The Spider Cavern needed only a modicum of caution when being explored (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/47_WeHaveNoProblem.jpg). Immediately after this picture though, we were approached on all three sides by the gigantic spiders. Some ducking and weaving was needed to avoid Balboa getting too much punishment. Not cautious enough!
Despite that, when we approached the final chamber and the chest, it all seemed to be going a bit too easily (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/48_WeHaveAProblem.jpg). With the Chest in sight, a sudden mob of Spider minions descended upon us, beating us back for many yards. Gumby required a recast as that Spider venom really didn't agree with him. We eventually gained the upper hand and fought our way back to the chamber. Khalim's Eye fell to the floor (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/49_KhalimsEye.jpg)as some unidentified boss was slain.

The Great Marsh threw Drowned Carcasses and Fetish/Soul Killers at us with glee. Some of the bosses needed careful handling (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/50_NiceCombo.jpg). When Gloams appeared, Balboa's state of alertness was heightened, but he couldn't resist a photo opportunity (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/51_ShowBoating.jpg)when it arose. The lightning didn't hurt him too much, with 40-50% resistance, but one case of Mana Burn was enough for him. Gloams received the care they warrant after that. One tactic that he tried, for an single Gloam accompanied by other monsters, was to cast Attract on it. This tied up the Gloam but at the same time allowed Amp Damage to work on the nearby monsters. This is slightly more efficient than simply Dim Visioning the whole group, but slightly riskier too, I feel.

Another, even stronger, Carcass boss made an appearance, backed up by Fetish with blow pipes, but we'd already dealt with his kind before so we knew what we were doing. (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/52_AnotherCarcass.jpg)

Nearing the Flayer Jungle, the tests became harder and creative use of curses (and so running out of mana) became the norm. A normal Shaman and a Ghostly one were turned against each other (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/53_ShamanPair.jpg)with Attract. Larger, more widespread groups were dealt with using Confuse and/or Dim Vision. (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/54_AllAroundUs.jpg)

The Flayer Jungle Waypoint is ours.

Tech/Random
I finally found an emerald so I can cube up a flawless gem to fill Aliza's last socket.
Gumby appears to be suffering at the moment so I need to think about splurging some points into GM - currently have five points unspent. I will hold off allocating points to CG, particularly as I don't want the mana cost going any higher right now. The reason I keep upping CG instead of GM is simply this - I feel guilty using Gumby simply as a tank for the merc. I want him to be a killing machine and CG ups the damage he does whereas GM does not. I realise that this is foolishness, by the way! On the other hand, I could put some points into BG, IG and FG ... no, GM first.
Balboa's life hasn't been at great risk now since Act One, I think, although he had his Bone Armour stripped away once, today. 80 unspent stats points and still the decisions to made regarding Strength (for gear), Dex and Vitality. Hmm ...

I think this is the first time I've used an Act 1 merc in Act3 to any great extent - so much easier than a Spearboy! I'm having to think about when the Act 2 merc will make an appearance. Not sure at this point.

Golemancer GumbyBalboa - Level 30, Act 2, Flayer Jungle

[Gluttony]

Nice. Keep it up. I've been following this since the beginning now but haven't said much (except that it inspired me to make one at some point). Looking foreward to your future encounter with mephisto. :smiley:

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Long Haul to Travincal
Working our way through the jungle to a good deal of time, partly as a result of having mislaid the Flayer Dungeon. Balboa's spirits were high though, as a result of finding a great pair of rare gloves (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/NiceGloves.jpg)and obtaining a nice rare ring (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/NiceRing.jpg)from Ormus.

The Swampy Pit kept the team on its toes, with Gloams appearing at odd moments (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/55_SwampyPit.jpg). Balboa welcomes these encounters as he needs practice dealing with the more dangerous kinds of Gloams and Souls to come.
Aliza was starting to cause some concern, her mind didn't seem to be on the job. Getting hurt was only to be expected (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/56_Stormtree.jpg).
Care and caution were essential in the Flayer Dungeon, a dangerous place where it's easy to get trapped. Success came to us in the end (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/57_Endugu.jpg).

It was good to finally leave the jungle behind. Working our way through Lower Kurast, a favourite venue for Rune hunters, was like putting on an old pair of shoes. Kurast Bazaar itself held few terrors, save only the possibility of stairtraps in the assorted temples that adorn that place. Oddly, no stairtraps were in evidence in the Disused Fane (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/58_DisusedFane.jpg)or the Ruined Temple (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/59_RuinedTemple1.jpg). There were other dangers ... (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/60_RuinedTemple2.jpg) the reward of a second Isenharts Horns raised a smile.

The Sewers beneath Kurast were very challenging. Horadrim Ancients patrolled the passages in great numbers - their effects could be felt whilst they were out of range of Balboa's under-powered Dim Vision (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/61_Sewers1.jpg). In fact, shortly after this picture was taken, poor Aliza was caught in a crossfire from several 'Ancients and lost her life - her first such misfortune. Once revived, Aliza rejoined the team and was able to share in the push to the second level (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/62_Sewers2.jpg) of the Sewers.

Upper Kurast fell to us with no real dramas (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/63_UpperKurast.jpg). Indeed it was the Forgotten Temple that presented the only real scare - a stairtrap of Bone Scarabs. Balboa was ready though, with Terror hot-keyed and Crushflange (with its knockback) in hand. The large numbers of Wailing Beasts and Spider/Serpent Magi were effectively contained (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/64_ForgottenTemple.jpg). A green Longsword fell from one boss - Cleglaw's Tooth.
The team were very tired at the end of a very long day's adventuring - three of Khalim's relics are in our possession. THe Travincal Causeway is next and all our strength and guile will be needed against the Sextons and Heirophants that await us.

Tech Stuff and Such
The stairtrap incident has highlighted Balboa's deficiencies in terms of vitality and dexterity. The relative weakness of Bone Scarabs meant that the trap wasn't lethal, but it could easily have been if Spider Magi had formed the reception committee. The time to decide between vitality or vitality/dexterity mixture is approaching.
I've allocated a further 5 strength points (and jettisoned some strength charms to save space) to ensure I can use the rare boots that are currently equipped. 85 Stat points and 7 Skill points are unused. The poison sources in the Sewers meant Gumby was often recast, but otherwise his survival was fairly good. No rush to put points in GM yet.
What's very pleasing is that Balboa's resists are now all at 75%, on his best switch. Ormus' rare Ring, the rare Heavy Gloves and a rare Skull Cap found at some stage today were the final pieces of the puzzle. A number of resist Charms are now stashed, freeing up valuable inventory space.
Oil and Rancid Gas Potions are proving useful as backup artillery for when Aliza is, ahem, unavailable.

Golemancer GumbyBalboa - Level 32, Act 2, Travincal

[sequoia]

How could anyone make Patriarch with a mojomancer? Mojomancers have no enemy-independent way of dealing damage (read: nothing but Confuse, Attract, and IM), and would therefore have no means whatsoever of dispatching any Act Bosses or the Ancients.

With that said, I don't think a Golemancer is possible. I simply think it won't deal enough damage even to overcome monster regen in Hell.a golem won't deal enough damage, but his merc sure as heck will :p

by the way, the mojomancer got through hell only killing necessary monsters, i.e. act bosses, quest bosses, ancients, etc.

http://diabloii.net/columnists/a-maldar1.shtml

[SSoG]

a golem won't deal enough damage, but his merc sure as heck will :p

by the way, the mojomancer got through hell only killing necessary monsters, i.e. act bosses, quest bosses, ancients, etc.

http://diabloii.net/columnists/a-maldar1.shtml

Yeah, I'm familiar with Maldar, but he wasn't really a mojomancer so much as he was a bonemancer with a ton of investment in curses. In the end, when he wanted to kill something, he used Bone Spear/Bone Spirit. Pure mojomancers rely on Confuse, Attract, or Iron Maiden to get their kills.

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

The Disused Reliquary needed no special preparations other than equipping the Crushflange and bracing for a stair trap. None came. The Ruined Fane was similarly unthreatening. Serpent Magi (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/65_SerpentMagi.jpg)were held in doorways, unable to make their fast attacks count.

Once in the city proper, attack'n'retreat tactics and crowd control curses meant smooth progress (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/66_CityRiots.jpg), by and large. Confuse for groups, Dim Vision for Heirophants, the usual.

The Blackened Temple promised perhaps the biggest challenge to date. Council Members in small groups are formidible opponents. We had to ensure that we met them one at a time, or in twos at the very most. The usual suspects ... Toorc Icefist (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/67_ToorcIcefist.jpg), Geleb Flamefinger (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/68_GelebFlamefinger.jpg)and Ismail Vilehand (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/69_IsmailVilehand.jpg). Geleb and Ismail were too much for us together so Ismail was lured out on his own and dispatched. Aliza suffered greatly from the hydra flames, and required a rejuvy or too to keep going. (Serves her right for doing overtime with that elemancer! :grin: )
Khalim's Flail duly dropped and a quick trip to the Docks allowed me to create Khalim's Will. Balboa couldn't resist the the temptation to roam the rest of the City with this superfast weapon in hand. The last few Zealots were sent on to the clearing at the end of the path.

The Compelling Orb smashed, we journeyed beneath the City to be met by Maulers, Dolls and Ghoul Lords. A Boss Mauler was amongst the first to go down, followed by his pack (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/70_GettingMauled.jpg).

Certain preparations were needed before attempting the final stage and a more durable Clay Golem was created. Just as well, Durance Level 3 provided a hot reception. Ghoul Lords were slain without much problem, but Bremm Sparkfist (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/72_BremmSparkfist.jpg)needed careful handling, even with high resists. Maffer Dragonhand spawned Extra Strong/Extra Fast but a recently upgraded Gumby was able to tank him (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/73_MafferDragonhand.jpg). It was Aliza that warranted regular care and attention. Wyand Voidbringer spawned with friendly mods (as long as you didn't get close) and took little effort to kill (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/74_WyandVoidbringer.jpg).

Creeping up on on Mephisto, the impetuous Gumby spotted the Prime Evil first and engaged. With safety very much in mind, Balboa cast Decrepify on the Big Evil, which had the desired effect. Unfortunately, Decrepify has a relatively huge mana cost, and at only four seconds duration, it wasn't a practical option. Switching to AmpDam was nearly disastrous, an ice bolt from Mephisto took nearly half (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/75_MephistoStandsTough.jpg)of Balboa's life. Switching back to Decrepify enabled Balboa some thinking time. We decided that the 'bolt was a lucky shot and resumed AmpDam, as Decrepify really didn't allow us to damage Mephisto enough. Sure enough, the ice bolt incident wasn't repeated - all that was required was keeping up AmpDam and recasting Gumby a few times. Victory was eventually within our grasp (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/76_MephistoOnTheBrink.jpg), after several minutes slog.

Mephisto's death throes (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/77_JobsAGoodUn.jpg)uncovered a pile of treasure - mainly useless rares, but a golden wand quickened Balboa's interest - the Torch of Iro. This means slightly more effective Curses amongst other things! Hooray!

The Pandemonium Fortress is next.

Stats/Thoughts/D'oh
The points spent in Clay Golem were troubling me, as some very experienced hands were urging me towards Golem Mastery. The encounter with Mephy highlighted that my original decision to boost Clay Golem was correct - but not for the reason uppermost in my mind. Looking back at my scribbled planning notes, I saw that it was important to boost CG for the slowing effect he has - I'd forgotten this although I remembered the importance of putting points in CG. It simply isn't possible to spam Decrepify at this stage without some serious mana regen capability. In short - CG and AmpDam FTW.
Preparation for Mephy included allocating all my unspent Skill Points - one each in BG/IG/FG and four in GM. Gumby is just a little shy of 1600HP now.
Unspent Stat Points = 90.

Here is my Mephy map (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/71_MephyMap.jpg)- I think it's the best I've ever had! Now, about that re-running rule ... :wink3:

And in other Newbs - I was tired when I was playing yesterday and I'd forgotten something - Lam Esen's Tome. I only spotted that fact when I was reviewing my Quests. I visited the Ruined Temple to pick up the 'Tome and, you guessed it - stair trap. Huntresses, SpiderMagi, with Wailing Beasts waiting for their chance. Crushflange was my friend here, knocking back even the giant spiders from me. They turned to my golem and my merc instead and I was able to heal and antidote myself. A bit of a heart-stopping moment! All treasures were left on the ground as I haven't yet decided whether I am allowing the re-running of areas. I picked up the Tome but had to leave an unidentified grand charm on the floor. Thankfully, I don't believe that it could have been a skiller. What a newb. :grin:

Golemancer GumbyBalboa - Level 32, Act 4, The Pandemonium Fortress

[Darksilanus]

Well, what can I say? Aliza gets around! :wink3: But if it is any consolation, I may be almost done with her.

Please keep me updated on your progress in act four, because I've slowed down tremendously and I'm wondering if it as a result of my switching to the FG and lower resist. Hope you don't mind me using you as a comparison point, but our builds are fairly similar in nature and your progress is a good benchmark for my own effectiveness.

Also, I'm going to run Meph for a bit to see if I can get anything nifty and you may want to do the same, although, I see by the Torch and Crushflange that you have already had a good deal of luck! All I got that was worthwhile was two parts of Hsarus' set which helped my AR by leaps and bounds (+250 AR or so).

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

The only doubts in Balboa's mind as he left the Pandemonium Fortress concerned a fallen Angel by the name of Izual, and were there Burning Souls in Hell?
In actual fact, the action took place the second we set foot in the Outer Steppes. The adventure of the Ruined Temple re-visited was fresh in our minds and it felt good to provide our enemies with our own version of a stair trap (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/78_MyStairTrap.jpg).

Izual rushed us in a very intimidating fashion, but when he locked hours with Gumby, that was the last time he moved. Aliza fired arrow after arrow (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/79_GumbyTank.jpg)whilst Balboa re-cast AmpDam every 12 seconds. A mere eight minutes later, Izual was gone (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/81_Izual2.jpg).

Gumby showed an amazing ability to survive being deluged (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/79_GumbyTank.jpg)... it wasn't until Venom Lords breathed fire on him (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/82_LargerCrowds.jpg)that his health bar even moved. His health actually descended into the yellow once, but not until he was surrounded by Flesh Beasts and their young, breathed upon by Venom Lords and poisoned by Abyss Knights, all at once. Any less punishment and his regeneration outmatched the damage he was taking.

The City of the Damned Waypoint and the stairs down to the River of Flame were duly located and the last few pockets of resistance (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/83_ClearingTheCity.jpg)were cleared. No Burning Souls were encountered, it was almost an anti-climax.

Tech Update
95 Stats and 3 Skill points unspent.

Skill points spent:
1 in all Curses except LR
1 in BA
1 in BW
13 in CG
5 in GM
1 in BG/IG/FG
1 in SR

/players 8 throughout

Set items so far: In use - Isenharts Horns (on Aliza); Artic Binding (on me). In stash - another Isenharts Horns, Angelic Halo, Cathan's Mesh/Rule/Seal, Cleglaw's Tooth.

Some answers
@Darksilanus - I usually find Act 4 to be very easy to play, especially in Normal. GumbyBalboa is no exception. Aliza's kill speed seems adequate, even when I use Confuse instead of AmpDam. Were I depending upon skele mages and LR (plus Aliza), I would expect a slower kill rate overall - skele mages don't really start to put the hurt on monsters until they are well above Level 20, IMO. As for lucky drops, yes, both the uniques I've had are currently useful and I've had more than my share of useful rares, too. Set Items in comparison have been a little disappointing. It should be noted that I rarely use Crushflange and I almost never melee, myself - it's just for emergencies such as stair traps.

Golemancer GumbyBalboa - Level 33, Act 4, The River of Flame

[Darksilanus]

Well done! Glad to hear Izual didn't give you any trouble, though I didn;t think he would. He moves slow as molasses without any help, but with Gumby and decrepify, he'd barely move. As it was, with cold mages he was quite sluggish.

Yes, I think I should have put more points in skeletal mages earlier, but I am working to rectify that now that I have my lvl 30 skills. Sparky is a pretty good tank and it is pure joy to see him wade into a pack of venom lords and not even blink.

@everyone:

I've had a look around the site but I haven't been able to find a table of damage for the different types of mages. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Google "Necromancer Pet Calculator" - you should find something that helps.

[Sindus]

I believe there's a table listing damage over at the arreat summit. Not too sure whether its in date or not, but i use it to get a rough guess for my mage damage.

[Darksilanus]

Right you are Sindus, I found one over there. Thanks for the recommendation.

[Mad Mantis]

Google "Necromancer Pet Calculator" - you should find something that helps.

You can actually link to this calc (http://tph.tuwien.ac.at/~gottwald/necro_pet_calculator.html).

[Ed from Russia]

8 minutes to kill Izual... that seems OK. A few months ago I spent about 40 minutes killing Diablo with only Ravens (in an experiment that showed that Raven is not such a great skill).

Keep it up!

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

The Flames of Hell
Balboa wasn't looking forward to the River of Flame. He'd heard reports of infernal maggots that filled the path as far as the eye could see. A long, labourious ordeal seemed likely.

There were two reasons why the ordeal was anything but arduous. First, no maggots were in evidence and second, employing an archer instead of a spearsman makes for a better kill rate, it seems. Gumby held the monsters at bay (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/84_TankingPitLords.jpg) and Aliza loosed arrow after arrow. It wasn't all plain sailing, of course. Balboa was often engaged in a battle of wits (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/85_Chess.jpg)against bands of Abyss Knights.
It seemed that Gumby could hold off any number of enemies (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/86_Overload.jpg), but immediately after this picture, the dam gave way and we were chased for many, many yards by Venom Lords. It took some time before we were able to make a stand and restore order. Time and again, Aliza proved her worth (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/87_ArcherAdvantage.jpg).
We met Hadriel and so had to double back as we had missed the Hell Forge somehow. Hephasto looked strong (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/88_HephastoAura.jpg), but was no match (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/89_HephastoDown.jpg)for Gumby and Aliza. An Ort rune was found after we smashed Mephisto's Soulstone - excellent, this is one of the runes Balboa wants for his Lore helmet. The gate to the Chaos Santuary was well guarded (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/90_AnyoneHome.jpg), but inevitably fell to us.

Diablo's Sanctuary
The group asked more and more of Gumby as they neared the Seals. Sometimes it was necessary to help him out (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/91_LargeGroups.jpg). Balboa's research had suggested that he turn left at the pentacle, as there was a rumour that the creatures are somewhat weaker that way. He was right (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/92_GrandVizier.jpg).
The middle spur was taken next and revealed a former thief (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/93_LordDeSeis.jpg), but still dangerous opponent. The final spur and the last seals nearly proved our undoing.

Unsure which of the Seals would release a hoard of monsters, Balboa guessed wrong and was unprepared for the sheer speed and number of Venom Lords that descended on our group. A single golem could not hope to stem the tide and minions of the Infector of Souls charged Balboa and Aliza. We were forced to portal out and retry. A cautious return was met with massed ranks as before and our group fled from them. In the footrace that followed, it was the Infector himself, plus a single minion, that were left when we abruptly turned to face them (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/94_HotPursuit.jpg). Isolated, they were no problem for us. The rest of his evil gang were hunted down and slain.

The final Seal was opened and we braced ourselves against the shaking ground. We rushed to the Pentacle where we assumed Diablo would appear. Decrepify was readied, and cast the instant Diablo appeared. Gumby was a split second behind. The battle had begun.
The lightning hose attack took Aliza down in a heartbeat - Balboa had to rally himself and think fast. Retreat was the only option, a terrible start to the encounter.
Aliza was resurrected and battle re-joined. Careful placement of the team was important, we strove always to form a triangle around the Demon. Aliza couldn't always be relied upon to follow orders (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/95_DiabloTough.jpg). The lightning from Diablo couldn't kill Gumby in one go, but put him deep in the yellow, making him vulnerable to Diablo's fire attacks. Regular recasting of the golem, plus occasional healing for himself, played havoc with Balboa's potion supply. AmpDam replaced Decrepify, as the damage rate was just too low and the mana cost too high. And then, when you thought things could not get worse ... (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/96_ThingsWorsen.jpg)
Balboa didn't panic, to his credit. The portal he cast was out of reach, but he had the Crushflange in his backpack, and so set about freeing himself (keeping an eye upon the battle whilst he did so). Once free, and in desperation, Balboa charged Diablo with the unique mace. He was unable to score many hits though, as his priority was always to avoid being the primary target. Aliza required another resurrection at one point but after what seemed a long time, Diablo was weakening (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/97_WeCouldWinThis.jpg). He still had some tricks (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/98_NotDoneYet.jpg)up his sleeve, off course. And then, incredibly, it was all over (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/99_TheMoment.jpg). Breathing heavily, our group gazed around them; Diablo's treasure looked like this (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9900_TheSpoils.jpg).

Tech Stuff/Blurb
Before I entered the CS, the four unspent Skill Points I had were placed in GM. 30 Stats points were put into Vitality, giving me over 300 life - I'm glad I did this! The battles were pretty much as I had envisaged them although I must say the Infector of Souls upset me somewhat.
The two greens I received from BigD were Civerb's Ward (stashed) and Sigon's shelter (on the merc). The rares were junk.
The sheer amount of running around I did against Diablo was mind-boggling, all the while shuffling or drinking potions, re-casting curses and CG, and looking out for Aliza. When I added my own attack with Crushflange, I found I was near the limits of what I could manage. I don't know exactly how long the fight lasted, probably a little over fifteen minutes. That was one fun battle! :thumbsup:

Golemancer GumbyBalboa - Level 35, Act 5, Harrogath

[Sindus]

Well done. I'm not sure i'd have the patience to take on an ordeal like that. Anyway i'm looking forward to reading about your adventures in act five. Plenty of monsters there that will be conspiring to take down gumby.

[Darksilanus]

*Golf clap*

Gumby does it again!

Well done taking down big D! Let's see how act 5 treats you. :grin:

[Bliphgar]

15 minutes eh? Not quite as bad as the 2 1/2 hours that it took dave to beat big D but still pretty long xD

Good job thar.

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Balboa was in a whimsical mood upon leaving Harrogath for the Bloody Foothills. Although Gumby has proved equal to nearly every task, and played a pivotal role in the defeat of Diablo, we decided to bring Sparky into the team to see how he fared. Although slightly less robust than Gumby, his extra "firepower" (groan) proved useful (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9901_SparkyMakesHisMark.jpg). Dac Farren (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9902_DacFarren.jpg), Shenk (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9903_Shenk.jpg) and Eldritch (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9904_Eldritch.jpg) all fell to his fire, with Aliza's help of course. It was noted that the combination of Dim Vision and Fire Golem proves very effective against the annoying, teleporting Rascals/Imps. They fell in droves.
Abaddon proved to be an amusing diversion - Aliza performed for a rapidly depleted peanut gallery (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9905_PeanutGallery.jpg). The foolish creatures were dispatched with little risk to the team.

In the spirit of experimentation, Sparky was dismissed and Rusty introduced. Otherwise useless Rares were used as his foundation. After some initial tries, a Great Axe with poison damage and knockback was settled upon. Rusty proved as good a tank as Sparky and his special abilities were useful. The knockback was effective against creatures even as large as Thresh Socket (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9906_ThreshSocket.jpg). Regrettably, Rusty met his end fighting a Champion pack of Snow Drifters - a tough bunch. Gumby made a brief re-appearance (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9907_SnowDrifters.jpg)and the Crystalline Passage was cleared.

Tech, etc
The swapping of golems made for a very enjoyable change of pace. The relative fragility of the Iron and Fire golems was somewhat offset by their greater killing speed. I especially enjoyed Rusty's knockback trick.
Dac Farren provided me with Isenhart's Parry, which I can store with his Horns - Aliza no longer wears them as the Duskdeep unique full helm dropped in Abaddon. :grin: I really love that helmet at low levels.
The most dangerous opponents of the Act so far, by a long chalk, were the Snow Drifters. My curses, save AmpDam, were useless against them and they attacked in some strength. Sloppy play and over-confidence were responsible for the loss of Rusty, there was no need.
100 Stats/5 skills unspent - I would like to upgrade Aliza's weapon soon, if possible - however, if an irresistibly good polearm turns up, though ... hmmm.

Golemancer GumbyBalboa - Level 40, Act 5, The Frozen River

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Oops, double post ...
@Ed from Russia - that was some experiment :grin: At least you can now say you did it :wink3:

@Sindus - thank you. Act 5 was a breeze up until the Crystalline Passage, but the real work starts now.

@Darksilanus - I've been seduced away from the clay, but I bet I'll be back before too long. :grin:

@Bliphgar - cheers for that. I've read of Superdave's ordeal, I rather thought I was in for about the same. I feel like a lightweight! :laughing:

[Ed from Russia]

I was wondering - do you really notice the slowing effect of the Clay Golem? I've only used them in Fishymancer or Bonemancer builds, so I never really pay attention. Would you recommend investing in Clay Golem in other builds to make killing bosses easier?

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Clay Golem rules for bosses and also for any other creatures that are particularly dangerous (Champion packs). The more points you have in him, as hard points or plusses, the more he slows things down (subject to the overall movement/attack caps). His effect is noticeable on his own, but add in cold mage output and enemies slow down to a crawl. You can then amp damage instead of decrepify for higher damage output and faster kills.

[Gluttony]

I was wondering - do you really notice the slowing effect of the Clay Golem? I've only used them in Fishymancer or Bonemancer builds, so I never really pay attention. Would you recommend investing in Clay Golem in other builds to make killing bosses easier?

Yes. I have noticed how much clay golem slows when using him. The effects are phenomenal. Try Gumby out on a player. Just have a friend let themselves be hit and watch how slow they run. :smiley: Clay golem makes bosses a breeze. :grin:

[Sindus]

Gumby + Cold Damage + Decrep = very,very slow.

I use that on meph and he attacks once every couple of seconds its that slow.

[yiuman]

Great post. I'm looking forward to the next installment.

I've got a couple of points though.

About the Malice IG *cough*prayer merc*cough*
You mentioned earlier about making an IG from Ancients Pledge but that the runeword doesn't have any attack mods - this is true, but you could make it in a +ED% pally shield......
@SSOG About the mojomancer, I guess theoretically you could use IM to kill act bosses and the ancients?
For an act1 weapon upgrade, melody and zephyr might be doable
Melody
Shael + Ko + Nef
+50% Enhanced Damage
+300% Damage To Undead
+3 To Bow and Crossbow Skills (Amazon Only)
+3 To Critical Strike (Amazon Only)
+3 To Dodge (Amazon Only)
+3 To Slow Missiles (Amazon Only)
20% Increased Attack Speed
+10 To Dexterity
Knockback

Zephyr
Ort + Eth
+33% Enhanced Damage
+66 To Attack Rating
Adds 1-50 Lightning Damage
-25% Target Defense
+25 Defense
25% Faster Run/Walk
25% Increased Attack Speed
7% Chance To Cast Level 1 Twister When Struck

Something else you might find useful is the poor mans teleport - using a tp to reposition your 'army' - cast a tp, go through it and straight back to put Aliza and golem where you want them.

[tuvard]

And btw, how do you put on player 8 again ?:rolleyes:

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Phew - real life can really eat into your time, can't it? Work has been crazy so no D2. :sad2: Maybe later today? :smiley:

@yiuman -
Malice IG- Prayer will counteract the life drain, but then you cannot use a Might merc. This will offset the effect of the additional damage from Malice - but it will also go some way to redressing the balance between the merc and the IG in terms of who actually is doing the killing. This really ought to be tested.
Ancient's Pledge IG - I hadn't thought of using an ED% pally shield. Another thing to test!
Melody Bow - some useful mods even without the Amazon-only skills. The runes are well beyond me at the moment but would be reasonably affordable after the NM HF - if the build can get that far!
Zephyr Bow - easily affordable at this time.

The problem with the two Bow runewords is I will lose some or all of my elemental damage/poison-PMH/chilling ability. Alternative sources will be required. Lots to think about!

@tuvard - in SP, press enter to open a chat window and type /players 8 (there's a space between the "s" and the "8". You can use numbers 1 to 8 inclusive to adjust the difficulty. The setting you use stays with any game you start, with any character, until you actually close down Diablo 2 entirely.

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

It was Balboa's task now to locate Anya, lost under mysterious circumstances somewhere along the Crystalline Passage. The passage itself is dangerous enough, but the Frozen River was over-run with Frozen Creepers, Stygian Harlots and Abominables - at one point, Sparky had disappeared (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9908_SpotTheGolem.jpg)under a deluge of the hulking beasts.
Worse was to follow - a creature by the name of Frozenstein ... (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9909_Frozenstein.jpg)Nevertheless, the obstacles were overcome, with Anya located and freed.
The adventure in the 'Passage had a sting in the tail - a boss pack of 'Harlots overwhelmed Sparky and threatened to do the same to Balboa and Aliza. In desperation, and cornered, Balboa raised a clay golem between himself and the ravening hoard. Gumby's influence (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9910_RushJob.jpg)soon turned the tide and order was restored.

Anya's revelations led Balboa to his second search of the day - the traitor, Nihlathak. A hastily cast portal enabled our group to find the last elder's temple - but that was when the trouble began. A more mainstream necromancer should find little to trouble him in the garden of Pindleskin - there are ways to lay the unqiuet dead to final rest. As it was, Balboa was engaged in a pitched battle with an enemy that all too frequently renewed itself. Aliza's arrows shattered the occasional corpse but it was still a long fight. The commotion drew Pindleskin and his minions out into the garden, but the end result was never in doubt.

Once in the temple, the situation looked bleak. Enemies that were slain raised themselves from the ground and renewed the fight. Balboa's progess was a process of inching forward but fighting rearguard actions at regular intervals. Sometimes things got tough (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9911_StoneSkin.jpg).
There was a long running battle all the way to the corner that the Traitor had hidden himself in - it was almost a relief to have the end in sight (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9912_BattleJoined.jpg).
It was fortunate that a skill shrine had boosted Balboa's abilities earlier; he took the opportunity to create a stronger golem (and bone armour) under the shrine's influence. Without this, the end result may well have been different. Nihlathak was a crafty and resourceful opponent (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9913_Traitor.jpg), more so than anything Balboa had yet encountered. A cat and mouse game unfolded - Nih teleported whenever he was pinned down by Aliza's shafts or directly confronted by Sparky's fire. Balboa needed to Confuse the minions that Nih revived in small numbers, whilst dodging Corpse Explosions and all the while keep AmpDam cast upon the enemy necro. The fight lasted maybe as long as ten minutes, and cost Balboa a number of blue pots - the mana cost of spamming the two curses was somewhat ruinous. Eventually, it became apparent which necromancer would win this fascinating contest and Balboa started to laugh, in relief and delight. In time, the traitor found his reward (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9914_TraitorsEnd.jpg).

There were still strong enemies to be vanquished after this but Balboa's confidence was high now, and nothing that remained (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9915_MoppingUp.jpg)in the temple could stand against him.

The Glacial Trail lies before us now, but a major milestone has been passed.

The Stats and, ummm ...
115 Stats and 8 Skill Points unspent
Imbue and Socketing quests unspent
I'm currently looking for socketables to create runewords in - a bow for Aliza, armour for Balboa, an item to creat a Rusty out of, etc. I've decided, if Aliza gets an enhanced damage bow, I will create a Rusty with poison and cold mods - see how that goes.
A single skill point has been placed most allowed skills now, and 13 in CG, 9 in GM and 2 in IG - I must have accidentally put a second point in there! No matter, more points will follow.

Golemancer GumbyBalboa - Level 43, Act 5, The Glacial Trail

[Sivy]

yeah nice reward from Nitla :cry: ... so far so good ur mancer still going on yeah good maybe i today kill Nitla too but now don't have time :undecided: ...

co soon:wave:

Greet Sivy

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

The air became thin as the team made their way towards the summit of Mt Arreat. This had the effect of heightening the sense of anticipation we all felt. The panoramic views were breathtaking, contributing to the growing sense of awe.
As we travelled the Ancients Way passage, great numbers of hell-spawned creatures stood in our path (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9916_FragileRusty.jpg). The iron golem that Balboa had whimsically conjured from a magical sword proved unequal to the task. A sturdy fire golem replaced it.
A small detour led us to a cavern swarming with Drifters and Vile Temptresses; the initial rush was terrifying. Balboa created Confusion amongst the horde and the creatures fell upon each other (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9917_DrifterCavern.jpg). An undead creature (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9918_Bonesaw.jpg)of great power proved no match for the fiery golem - Aliza'a arrows finished the monster off.
Danger was ever present, but Balboa's curses (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9919_DivideConquer.jpg)meant that it was held at bay. In an icy cellar, there were times when the pressure (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9920_IcyCellar.jpg)really was on. Another time, a fearsome boss Frozen Scourge was rendered harmless (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9921_FishBarrel.jpg)when he and his minions were unable to approach our group.

All too soon, we reached the end of the Ancients Way and were confronted by the entrance to the Worldstone Keep. Balboa felt the time was right to prepare his strongest Clay Golem yet. He equipped himself with the Crushflange and some magical rings that might help him wield the unique mace more effectively. Eventually, he could no longer put off the ordeal of the Ancients.

Korlic and Talic attacked Gumby whilst Madawc rushed Aliza and Balboa. Balboa's plan of splitting the Ancients and attacking them one at a time faltered and failed. Yet, incredibly, the Ancients were soon in trouble. Aliza alternately poisoned and chilled Madawc - the fearsome fighter was unable to close with Balboa. It was simplicity itself to dodge the slow lunges of Madawc and his thrown axes were ineffectual. Despite Aliza's under-powered bow, the elemental and physical damage took its toll and Madawc was abruptly no longer a threat (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9922_MadawcsPassing.jpg).
Gumby in the meantime had survived the initial onslaught from Korlic and Talic entirely on his own, although not unscathed. Nevertheless, the erstwhile golem held and slowed the remaining pair of Ancients whilst Aliza sprayed arrows at them both from safe distance. Balboa's Crushflange was in his hand but he hadn't so much as raised it against a foe. Although the combined might of two Ancients meant that Gumby eventually fell apart, he was raised again - whole and fresh, and too strong for the weakened enemy he faced. Korlic fell next (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9923_Korlic.jpg), and finally Talic (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9924_Talic.jpg).

Balboa wasted no time, and pressed forward into the 'Keep itself. At times, the denizens therein filled the corridors but Balboa's curses (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9925_CrowdedWSK.jpg)prevented the team being over-whelmed. It wasn't long before the Worldstone Keep waypoint was found. And ... was that a trace of fear that could be heard in the laughter of Baal as it reverbrated throughout the Keep?

Tech Talk
Prior to the Arreat Summit, I was in some doubt as to whether I had the firepower to deal with the Ancients. I haven't yet found an upgrade for Aliza's weapon, nor was I confident that I had available a sufficiently hurty stick if I decided I wanted an Act 2 merc for the job. In the end, I decided that with a strong enough tank, Aliza could chip away at the Ancients given sufficient time. Besides, she's come this far, I want her to finish the game (in Normal, anyway) if at all possible. Just in case, I equipped the Crushflange for myself, plus some +AR rings for good measure but my services were not required. I put my ten unspent Skill points into GM (now slvl 19!) and, just in case, 75 Stat points into Vitality (life is nearly 500 now).
In the end, the Ancients proved easier by far than either Diablo or Nihlathak. I now have 55 spare stats and 1 spare skill point. Not many options left now if Baal proves to be difficult.

Golemancer GumbyBalboa - Level 46, Act 5, Worldstone Keep Level 2

[Sindus]

I have faith that you (or more likely aliza :P) can kill baal. Gumby and decrep will render baal almost useless, so i predict the greatest threat to ouwill be the tentacles that baal summons.

Anyway congrats on taking out the ancients.

[Sivy]

wow nice... good luck with baal but for u with ur clay golem and decrepify it's will be easy battle :smiley: ... i fighting with amp and IG = no slow baal... u can stay in one place him :grin:
btw you use CE??... my necro found nice deamon head with +2 revive but i don't use them yet and from few sec ago i buy nice wand +2 skills, +3 decrepify it's very good for me because i think in later nightmare and hell decrepify can be my priority curse but time look this :wink3: ... ok i go play now...
cu soon :wave:

Greet Sivy

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

I'm currently trying to talk myself out of using an IG (with OW or some form of enhanced damage) and decrepify, to deal with Baal. I think that will be a bad idea with Decrepify only lasting 4 seconds and each cast costing me half of my mana :rolleyes:

No CE for me, Sivy. The golem and the merc (mostly the merc, Sindus!) are my killers.

Hopefully tonight's the night!

[Sivy]

hmm i using CE from time to time... fallen and shamans was big pain for me moments ago... but one fallen gave me a SOL rune and i can make lore now :jig: ... i think about using a RWMod... it's sux for me that we can't have all rune words from the game... grrr hate blizz for that :undecided:
good weapon to OW from IG is Malice - give 100% OW and is easy to make - Ith + El + Eth - my nec use this rw now on crystal sword :-)
ok i go play further :wave:

Greet Sivy

[Josiphos]

Does an IG made from Malice really die? I thought that -replenish thing didn't work.

Fire golem would be useless in hell. Its useless even with infinity and lower resist actually...

Its going to be IG for you...gumby just can't deal that damage. Unless you get a merc that can get crushing blow or open wounds.

You are going to need crushing blow to deal with Hell monsters.

[Sivy]

yeah Malice golem can die but only when mosters kill him :smiley: ... - replenish don't work... IG has lots heal replenish (~+90/s) my golem in all 1 act worked very well and he is maked from polearm Malice and OW is cool and works great and don't die any time only with Andy fight he can 5-6 chance to die but Andy only hit him :undecided: ... monsters can bit him even with fanaticism + cursed and cursed + might... rest n/c :laugh: ...
i must say for me IG rox actually but maxed clay golem + maxed mastery is great too because tons of hp and slow work nice too...
i don't tests fire golem but hmm nice build for Golem-mancer will be FG max + mastery max+ lower resist (1-5 more is useless) + poison nova and rest in poison synergy... it's can be fun and nice build... when i die my golemancer i make that mancer :D
:wave:

Greet Sivy

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Balboa's plan for his meeting with Baal had undergone several revisions. The smart money was on a Gumby/AmpDam combination, with further slowing being delivered by Aliza's elemental damage bow. The merc had recently found a Superior Razor bow with three sockets - a great upgrade, especially with a flawless sapphire, and perfect topaz and emerald inserted.
Instead of betting smart, Balboa raised an iron golem from a war spear socketed with the Malice runeword, just to see what happened. Mindful of Rusty's fragility, a second special weapon was prepared, a battle axe with the Steel runeword inserted. Surely two golems with Open Wounds capability would be enough? A superior maul with three sockets was later found, to provide Balboa with access to an elemental damage golem, should the runeword golems prove too delicate. Strength in depth.

Thus armed, Balboa's team re-entered the Worldstone Keep. The Malice Rusty cut through his enemies with pleasing effectiveness (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9926_MaliceGolem.jpg)and with little sign of taking damage. Any life drain from the Malice was more than compensated for by Rusty's regeneration rate. Aliza's uprated bow and elemental damage were also making their mark. It was only through the combined efforts (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9927_StygianFury.jpg)of Death Lords and Stygian Furies that Rusty displayed any sign of distress. Balboa felt confident (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9928_Confidence.jpg)of his teams abilities.
Once in the Throne Room, Baal himself cast Decrepify on our team but, oddly, took no other action (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9929_BaalOdd.jpg)whatsoever. Balboa ran around in circles trying to provoke the last remaining Prime Evil, but nothing worked. How strange! (Balboa decided that he had dreamt the whole encounter, but in reality, I needed to Save & Exit in order to progress!)

When Balboa entered the Throne Room for the second time, things started off well enough (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9930_Colenzo.jpg). Achmel, on the other hand, presented a significant obstacle (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9931_Achmel.jpg). At some point, with both Balboa and Aliza poisoned and on the run, the Malice Golem perished. Cursing, Balboa retreated and prepared his Steel golem. This was not the plan, Malice was meant to be Balboa's answer to the Lord of Destruction. No matter. The Steel golem proved effective against the last remaining Kurast Council members - Bartuc being among the first to fall (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9932_Bartuc.jpg).
Things went badly wrong against Ventar the Unholy (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9933_Ventar.jpg)and his Venom Lords. Even employing hit'n'run tactics, the Steel golem could not survive the assault of four or more of the swift demons - eventually he fell.
Balboa was left with his last iron golem option, the maul with added elemental damage. When he cursed the last two Venom Lords with Confuse, Baal threw his Minions of Destruction at us. Led by Lister the Tormentor, the Minions struck at our last Rusty and the remaining 'Lords alike. Such was their fury (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9934_Minions.jpg), no creature lasted long (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9935_RustyAlone.jpg)against them. In utter desperation, Balboa threw Gumby at the ravening Minions. Attack and retreat, hit and run, finally, some gains were made (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9936_GumbyReturns.jpg). The way to the Worldstone Chamber was clear.

Balboa confronted Baal (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9937_GumbyBaal.jpg)with the powerful Clay Golem which had outfaced Lister and all his horde. Battle was joined, but Balboa had one final card to play - an Iron Golem was cast upon the long-hoarded Crushflange, which Andariel had left behind so long ago. The weapon, so powerful and yet so useless in his hands, was Balboa's answer to the weakness of his golems' attack. Casting Decrepify on Baal, and with Aliza's arrows further slowing the monster, Ball was helplessly pinned (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9938_TablesTurned.jpg)by the Golem's ferocity. Crushflange's essence lent fire resistance (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9939_RingOfFire.jpg)to the golem, and he was able to simply shrug off Baal's cold attack. What followed was inevitable (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9940_DestructionsEnd.jpg).

Meet Slayer GumbyBalboa (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9941_Slayer.jpg).

Random blurb
Balboa has 65 Stats and 1 Skill point to spend. GM is maxed, CG is 13 and IG 3. 1 point in most of the rest of his allowed skills (but not LR or BP. Possibly no points will go into these two although one in LR is probably a good idea.)
Normal difficulty was beaten at /Players 8, single pass and mostly full clear (some of Act 2 Sewers got left and I missed the red portal in the Frozen Tundra in Act 5 (I may go back for this).
I wonder how long I can keep the Crushflange Golem alive!

Slayer GumbyBalboa - Level 48, Act 1 Nightmare, Rogue Encampment

[Gluttony]

Balboa's plan for his meeting with Baal had undergone several revisions. The smart money was on a Gumby/AmpDam combination, with further slowing being delivered by Aliza's elemental damage bow. The merc had recently found a Superior Razor bow with three sockets - a great upgrade, especially with a flawless sapphire, and perfect topaz and emerald inserted.
Instead of betting smart, Balboa raised an iron golem from a war spear socketed with the Malice runeword, just to see what happened. Mindful of Rusty's fragility, a second special weapon was prepared, a battle axe with the Steel runeword inserted. Surely two golems with Open Wounds capability would be enough? A superior maul with three sockets was later found, to provide Balboa with access to an elemental damage golem, should the runeword golems prove too delicate. Strength in depth.

Thus armed, Balboa's team re-entered the Worldstone Keep. The Malice Rusty cut through his enemies with pleasing effectiveness (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9926_MaliceGolem.jpg)and with little sign of taking damage. Any life drain from the Malice was more than compensated for by Rusty's regeneration rate. Aliza's uprated bow and elemental damage were also making their mark. It was only through the combined efforts (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9927_StygianFury.jpg)of Death Lords and Stygian Furies that Rusty displayed any sign of distress. Balboa felt confident (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9928_Confidence.jpg)of his teams abilities.
Once in the Throne Room, Baal himself cast Decrepify on our team but, oddly, took no other action (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9929_BaalOdd.jpg)whatsoever. Balboa ran around in circles trying to provoke the last remaining Prime Evil, but nothing worked. How strange! (Balboa decided that he had dreamt the whole encounter, but in reality, I needed to Save & Exit in order to progress!)

When Balboa entered the Throne Room for the second time, things started off well enough (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9930_Colenzo.jpg). Achmel, on the other hand, presented a significant obstacle (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9931_Achmel.jpg). At some point, with both Balboa and Aliza poisoned and on the run, the Malice Golem perished. Cursing, Balboa retreated and prepared his Steel golem. This was not the plan, Malice was meant to be Balboa's answer to the Lord of Destruction. No matter. The Steel golem proved effective against the last remaining Kurast Council members - Bartuc being among the first to fall (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9932_Bartuc.jpg).
Things went badly wrong against Ventar the Unholy (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9933_Ventar.jpg)and his Venom Lords. Even employing hit'n'run tactics, the Steel golem could not survive the assault of four or more of the swift demons - eventually he fell.
Balboa was left with his last iron golem option, the maul with added elemental damage. When he cursed the last two Venom Lords with Confuse, Baal threw his Minions of Destruction at us. Led by Lister the Tormentor, the Minions struck at our last Rusty and the remaining 'Lords alike. Such was their fury (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9934_Minions.jpg), no creature lasted long (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9935_RustyAlone.jpg)against them. In utter desperation, Balboa threw Gumby at the ravening Minions. Attack and retreat, hit and run, finally, some gains were made (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9936_GumbyReturns.jpg). The way to the Worldstone Chamber was clear.

Balboa confronted Baal (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9937_GumbyBaal.jpg)with the powerful Clay Golem which had outfaced Lister and all his horde. Battle was joined, but Balboa had one final card to play - an Iron Golem was cast upon the long-hoarded Crushflange, which Andariel had left behind so long ago. The weapon, so powerful and yet so useless in his hands, was Balboa's answer to the weakness of his golems' attack. Casting Decrepify on Baal, and with Aliza's arrows further slowing the monster, Ball was helplessly pinned (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9938_TablesTurned.jpg)by the Golem's ferocity. Crushflange's essence lent fire resistance (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9939_RingOfFire.jpg)to the golem, and he was able to simply shrug off Baal's cold attack. What followed was inevitable (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9940_DestructionsEnd.jpg).

Meet Slayer GumbyBalboa (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/9941_Slayer.jpg).

Random blurb
Balboa has 65 Stats and 1 Skill point to spend. GM is maxed, CG is 13 and IG 3. 1 point in most of the rest of his allowed skills (but not LR or BP. Possibly no points will go into these two although one in LR is probably a good idea.)
Normal difficulty was beaten at /Players 8, single pass and mostly full clear (some of Act 2 Sewers got left and I missed the red portal in the Frozen Tundra in Act 5 (I may go back for this).
I wonder how long I can keep the Crushflange Golem alive!

Slayer GumbyBalboa - Level 48, Act 1 Nightmare, Rogue Encampment

Congratulations! I thought it was pretty epic at the end. The weapon you gained from near the beginning used to defeat the lord of destruction. It was truly movie-esque. Anyway, keep up the good work. :smiley:

[Sindus]

Such peotic irony, killing the last boss in the game with a weapon dropped by the first boss. I'm glad to hear you made it to nightmare. It should be interesting to see what happens now.

[Nimbostratus]

Yeah, I think everyone (including myself) loves the weapon choice for Baal's defeat. Great thinking.

[Sivy]

gratz LozHinge... Slayer GumbyBalboa yeah sounds nice :flowers:
if u will be careful and u will be runing rescue ur golem to heal in town in before he will die u can play with crushflange golem long time... my Malice golem is for me since 5 akt normal... now i'm in act 2 nightmare after killing Radament :thumbsup:

Greet Sivy

btw i'm interesting what weapon use Aliza and how is her dmg??

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Balboa's journey into Nightmare Diablo started smoothly. Crushflange Rusty seemed equal to any task and was Aliza's match in terms of killing power. Even the Den of Evil (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/001_DenOfEvil.jpg)held few terrors. Bishibosh's encampment (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/002_Bishibosh.jpg)was teased apart and destroyed in stages - it took time and patience, though. Rusty was not invulnerable - sometimes crowds required Confusing, to allow him a breathing space (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/003_HelpingRusty.jpg). Perhaps it was over-confidence that caused the problem that followed ...

The prospect of an encounter with Blood Raven was one which troubled Balboa. He had heard of a crazy Amazon who had taken on the demon and ended up filling the Stony Field with Blood Raven's raised undead.
With the tactics needed to beat the former Rogue captain in mind, Balboa engaged the enemy in the Burial Grounds.
At first things went well. Aliza followed Balboa's lead, ducking under the out-stretched arms of zombies to carry the fight to Blood Raven herself. There were early successes but also setbacks as the demon dodged and hid behind her army. The cat and mouse game took up more and more of Balboa's concentration. He glanced over at the Crushflange golem, who seemed to be tanking ten or twelve zombies without distress - and threw himself whole-heartedly into the fight.
Stupid mistake ... at some point, Rusty went down under a host of undead creatures and was nowhere to be seen when Balboa next glanced in his direction.
Fool. Balboa's rage and disappointment warred within him for a few moments. Gumby was recalled to service - here was a summoning that could easily tank the entire army of zombies. Aliza and Balboa re-doubled their efforts to bring down Blood Raven, whose speed and agility meant that most attacks failed to strike their target. In his frustration, Balboa tried ever more outré strategies (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/004_WeirdStrategy.jpg)to get to grips with his slippery foe. Finally, the chance came - Blood Raven was backed against a wall (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/005_PinnedDown.jpg)by Gumby and pinned down by Aliza's shafts. Even Balboa raised a weapon to assist in this - although the damage he caused was negligible, he was able to inflict a chilling effect that further slowed the Turned Rogue. They end came soon after, although the victory felt hollow.

Rusty made a re-appearance in the Dark Wood - cast from a Rare Axe with potent anti-undead qualities. Against "normal" foes, he was less effective (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/006_Woodhead.jpg). Nevertheless, he proved his worth (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/007_Griswold.jpg)in Tristram. A Rare Maul was later found - enhanced damage (and even more damage against the undead) plus a rather amusing additional ability (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/008_NovaGolem.jpg) - this version of Rusty almost compensates for the loss of Crushflange. His strength against normal monsters (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/009_RustyJade.jpg)is greater than that of Crushflange, but the crushing blow will surely be missed against Bosses.

The Countess has been defeated (she provided the Team with Dol and Nef runes) and the Black Marsh Waypoint secured. A Wormskull bone helm was found in some dank underground hole at some stage. Some lightning resistance has been sacrificed to accommodate this new addition.

Random musings
A gruelling and disappointing day, overall, but progress has been made. The loss of Crushflange was unnecessary and galling.
75 Stats and 2 Skill points unspent. There is pressure to spend some points on Strength in order to equip better items. Wormskull has made Balboa's curses slightly more effective, as well as his other skills, of course. Base IG skill is up to 5. All other base skill points unchanged. It's fun collecting Rare items for possible use as a Rusty. I'm trying to collect socketables that can provide useful Runewords - I have another Malice waiting in the wings.

Some answers
@Gluttony, Sindus and Nimbostratus- thanks very much! Balboa is very much at home in Nightmare, but it's still only Act 1. It will get very testing very soon.

@Sivy - stupidity cost me my Crushing Blow golem. I won't make the same mistake again.
Aliza is using a 3-soc Razor Bow, with flawless sapphire and perfect emerald and topaz. Her kill speed will soon become too slow - I'm looking for socketables to stick a runeword in, but not much has turned up as yet. A good unique would be nice!

Slayer GumbyBalboa - Level 50, Act 1 Nightmare, Black Marsh

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Balboa has collected a number of different Rare items from which to create his Iron Golems. In fact, this subject has become something of an obsession for him. Whereas his primary focus was previously on what Uniques and Set Items he can locate, now he is experimenting, looking for the optimum Rare item that would provide a highly versatile Rusty.

The current version was adequate, doing good damage and, of course, had the entertaining Nova effect. This was especially useful against creatures like Foul Crows (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/010_FoulCrows.jpg), with their small life pool but annoying damage. Balboa's team cleared The Hole in the Black Marsh, but it was time consuming and moderately hard work. His mana pool is at long last sufficient to cast multiple curses - Dim Vision, Terror and AmpDam were extremely useful in the Hole.
The Tamoe Highland was dangerous. Bands of skeletal mages and archers roamed at will - sometimes in appreciable numbers (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/011_MassedArchers.jpg). It was in the 'Highland that Balboa's armour upgrade finally dropped. The rare Leather armour he had been wearing since probably around Act 1, Normal was replaced by Darkglow. Six Stat points were used to make the 36 Strength required.
By the time Balboa's team reached the Barracks, Balboa wanted to experiment again with Rusty - somewhat carelessly, the golem was sacrificed against a mob and the next version prepared. This time, poison, enhanced damage and another CTC Nova was combined with 100% monster flee. The experiment, predictably, wasn't a success - the golem's Terror overwrote Balboa's careful choice of curses, and Rusty spent most of his time chasing after the fleeing monster. Initially amusing, this soon proved tiresome and another new version raised - a Rare broadsword with enhanced damage.
The latest Rusty was beaten into a new shape by The Smith (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/012_TheSmith.jpg)and didn't last long. As a temporary measure, Sparky made a brief reappearance. He was capable of reasonable damage, but was far too fragile (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/013_SparkyReturn.jpg).
A trip back to the Rogue Encampment led to a new Rusty - a Rare Flamberge with LL, ED and IAS. He's useful but nothing special. He was instrumental in dismantling an enemy stronghold in one of the Jail levels ... this one was a tough nut to crack (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/014_Stronghold.jpg). A group of Fallen later attempted their own version (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/015_FishInABarrel.jpg)of a stronghold - Aliza could scarcely hold her bow for laughing.
The Cathedral presented the most heavily modded boss to date - a regular Renaissance man (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/016_TheTalentedMrRipley.jpg)indeed!

Balboa has a couple of alternative Rustys in mind but isn't sharing at this point. A third, longer term, alternative has recently presented itself, as a result of finding an Amn rune in a chest.

With only a single Aliza NDE to mark progress so far today, the Catacombs L2 WP is available and preparations for Andariel are now in the making.

Stats
79 Stats and 4 Skill points unspent
Best switch resists: F80, C57, L80, P75
I have to say, the tactical battles are the best part of all this. Killing speed is not quick, but it's not impossibly slow either. Trying to bludgeon your way through the game simply won't work. Almost every encounter requires some thought as to curses to be used, merc/golem placement and, quite often, the need for strategic withdrawals. This challenge is really improving my gameplay!

Slayer GumbyBalboa - Level 52, Act 1 Nightmare, Catacombs Lvl 2

[Ed from Russia]

I love this thread; there should be more of those. I may start one myself if I can think of an original character.

[Gluttony]

Still here reading your posts. I'm glad you're having so much fun. Looks like a blast. :smiley:

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Preparations having been made for the confrontation under the Monastery, we travelled to the L2 Catacombs Waypoint. I felt I knew a direct path to the stairs to Level 3, but Balboa insisted that the entire level be cleared, and Level 3 as well. We travelled with a Gumby this time so all killing was left to Aliza. I noted that her kill speed was becoming too slow, especially without the help of a Rusty. Balboa had a plan in mind though - two plans in fact. Naturally, neither one was what we ended up doing, but I am getting ahead of myself.
Plan A was a 3-soc Short Battle Bow for Aliza, socketed with the best rubies we had. With this we thought to have a strong attack against Andariel. A Gumby would supply the necessary tanking ability, Balboa would either augment the slowing effect with Decrepify or, if that proved unnecessary, speed up the killing with AmpDam. If this proved ineffective, Plan B was a Malice Rusty, with Aliza keeping her existing tri-elemental Razor bow. Balboa would almost certainly need to employ Decrepify for this option, but surely one or the other approach would prove effective.

Before putting either plan into effect, we needed to clear the creatures out from the Level 4 stair room and the ante-chamber. This actually proved rather tricky.
It wasn't going to be practical to lure the Fallens into the stair room, as their proximity to the Shamans in the ante-chamber meant we would be facing enemies front and rear when they were revived. Balboa's idea, which I wasn't entirely convinced about, was to make a break into the ante-chamber and use crowd control tactics to keep the Fallens at bay whilst Aliza assassinated the Shamans. This actually worked after a fashion, but there were tense moments. Balboa and Aliza slipped past the fight and into the ante-chamber; the fight itself was contained at the doorway with Gumby tanking all comers. The presence of a Possessed Afflicted, being curse-proof, was worrying but the situation was stable. The only problem was Aliza could not get a clear shot at the Afflicteds, as revived Fallens kept intervening. Balboa thought to speed things up - before I could stop him, he cast Confuse on the crowd in the doorway.
Idiot! The monsters fell upon each other as planned, but the increased clamour and commotion attracted the attention of the massed ranks of Fallen waiting deeper in the ante-chamber. A wall of monsters charged Balboa and Aliza, and panic gnawed at our resolve. Quickly, Balboa cast Terror at the Fallens and raced to the corner of the room. Any returning creatures were Terrored - repeatedly. Incredibly, the tactic worked - necromancer and mercenary all at once stood unmolested (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/017_DontMove.jpg)as the battle again raged in the doorway. Balboa daren't move a muscle after that!
When the Afflicted were gone, Balboa judged the moment right to try to engage the Shamans at the far end of the room. Confuse, Dim Vision and Terror were cast to the left and right as Balboa attempted to position Aliza (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/018_DuckingDiving.jpg)to attack the Shamans.
I was convinced that our team was doomed (even before its encounter with the first Lesser Evil) but Balboa's daredevil tactics actually worked and the first battle for the ante-chamber was won.

With fear and genuine reluctance, Balboa pushed open the doors to the main chamber. Ghouls were encountered straight away, and were easily dispatched. Sending the Gumby forward as a scout, more Fallens charged our team. A plan long agreed upon meant a controlled retreat from the ante-chamber back to the stair room - drawing the Fallen back with us and out of range of the Shaman we knew waited within. This process was repeated again and again, until finally the Shaman was isolated and slain. A final cast about for further enemies was cut short as a wave of poison was hurled at us. Andariel was here.

I wanted to bring Andariel into the ante-chamber, away from any allies that lay in the main chamber. Such was the ferocity of her charge, we were pushed back in some disarray into the stair room. Gumby rallied at the doorway (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/019_LetBattleCommence.jpg)and I used the opportunity to assess how well our tactics were working. It didn't look good, as a matter of fact.
Aliza's fiery bow was all but ineffective - damn! - and the supposedly invulnerable Gumby was being torn apart by Andariel's poison. By Decrepifying Andy, the golem's life was extended slightly, but little damage was being inflicted on her. The mana cost of Decrepify and Clay Golem was ruinous and Balboa's supply of pots would not last.
Thinking quickly, Balboa improvised - Aliza's original tri-elemental bow was returned to service and AmpDam was used instead of Decrepify. More damage was being done, less mana was required for cursing, but the cost to Gumby was extreme. He needed recasting two or three times a minute. Ouch.
The battle raged (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/020_BattleRages.jpg)from one side of the room to the other. The double-doors were closed to prevent ingress by any creatures left alive in the main room ... we needed all the room we could get! The dwindling supply of pots was worrisome, especially once the odd few left behind by the dead Fallen were scavenged and used up. And then, quite suddenly, we realised that we were winning (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/021_WereWinning.jpg)!
Unfortunately, with Andariel within a sliver of her life, we ran out of potions (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/022_ImOut.jpg). Balboa raced to the portal he had created at the beginning of the fight and restocked potions in Town. He had hoped that wouldn't be necessary but he'd underestimated his requirements. Lose some style points and bragging rights.

Andariel's last sight was the death of the golem that had been tormenting her. She didn't live to see Gumby re-cast in the fires of her death (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/023_TooEasy.jpg). Exhausted, the team looked over the treasures (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/024_AndysTreasure.jpg)left behind by the Demon. A unique scythe might make an interesting Iron Golem at some stage but the rest was junk. The day was won for the forces of light, but foreboding over the trials and challenges of the future lay heavy on our hearts.

Thoughts ...
None, I'm too tired! Actually, one thought - we are severely underpowered!

PS - thanks for comment, Ed from Russia. Try an usual character, you'll either love it or you'll hate it!

PPS @Gluttony - I am having the best fun with this character. So challenging! :grin:

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

I'd forgotten the Cow Level in Normal! D'oh.
It was decided that we return to Normal difficulty and see what happens. Rusty, currently constructed from a spare Cleglaw's Tooth (just for the Hell of it) tanked an extraordinary number (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/025_CowsWeak.jpg)of Bovines. The Confuse curse helps, of course! The Cow King readily identified himself with his Charged Bolts and so it was a simple matter to let him escape.

Lut Gholein's Sewers were easily cleared - skeleton archers were either Dim Visioned or Confused, whilst Rusty tanked the melee monsters (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/026_LutGholeinSewer.jpg). Aliza cut through Burning Dead with satisfactory efficiency. Radament (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/27_Radament.jpg)was easy - he only raised about four revives, I don't think his heart was in it.

The Stony Tomb was relatively simple, although some hit and run tactics were required when Rusty struggled (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/28_StonyTomb.jpg).

The Dry Hills Waypoint was obtained just before Balboa called it a night.

Stats'n'Such
89 Stats and 7 Skill points unspent
Best Resists: F80, C63, L80, P80 (very pleasing)

I'm re-thinking my Skill point allocation plans - certain ideas are suggesting themselves as I learn about this build. Thankfully, I do not believe that many (if any) of the points I've spent have been wasted. The main issue I have at this time is how high do I pump Dim Vision?

Slayer GumbyBalboa - Level 54, Act 2 Nightmare, Dry Hills

[Josiphos]

How about crafting a hitpower or blood weapon and making Rusty out of that?

That or the three chipped ruby/sword recipe...

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Good call, Josiphos!
The options for creating a Rusty are numerous - unique, rare, runeword, crafted. Makes my head spin!
I will probably be forced to research the subject more thoroughly once I start hitting a wall.
I'm determined to come up with a Rusty that at least matches the merc's kill speed. Even if I have to nerf the merc to do it! (I know, I'm a CHEAT! :grin: )

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Just a quick update to say that the Halls of the Dead have been cleared and the Far Oasis Waypoint secured. The Halls were a real tactical challenge - my established gameplan was to cast Attract on the Hollow Ones and Slingers, Confuse when Rusty was in danger of being overwhelmed, and Dim Vision and AmpDam where required. Sometimes I had to draw the undead away from the influence of the Hollow Ones to make progress, at other times I would charge into a room and try to assert control with liberal use of the aforementioned curses. All the time, I was dodging missiles and teleporting bosses (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/029_TacticalTombs.jpg)whilst trying to position Aliza effectively. I LOVE this character!

Eventually, I grew tired of Rusty's increasing inadequacy. The Cleglaw's Tooth I used for him was just an experiment so I decided to let him go. A Malice sabre was the next thing to try, but first I placed all my unused Skill points into Blood Golem, to bring his life up a bit. The LCS shows a tad under 4000HP, which is reasonable. The Open Wounds mod is very effective at this point, if a little messy (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/030_KensingtonGore.jpg).

94 Stat points unused, no spare Skill points. Allowed skills are all at 1 point except for LR and BP (still zero), GM 20, CG 13, BG 9 and IG 5. I found a Nightsmoke in the Far Oasis (hooray for more non-charm based resists and another row for potions!). Best resists now 80 for all except Cold which has gone down to 33% (no longer wearing Artic Binding). Aliza has a 4-soc Cedar Bow, with PEmerald, PSapphire, PTopaz and a Nef inserted. Nice piece of kit! I was going to put a PRuby in instead of the Nef, for style points, but practicality won through in the end. The slightly slower attack speed compared to the Razor bow is more than compensated for by the bigger damage.
Found a lovely rare necro Circlet, +2 to the ... PnB tree :rolleyes: and a superb rare necro Wand with +2 to ... PnB, again. Sheesh.

Still going strong at /players 8 and still having a great time with this character! Hope that's still the case when I brave the Maggot Lair!

Slayer GumbyBalboa - Level 55, Act 2 Nightmare, Far Oasis

[garion]

i love the story telling...this is so fun to follow...a real change of pace....i think im adding these little stories to my blog...they are just too fun to read...can't wait for the next installment (i feel like a kid reading comics again =p)

*great job lozhinge!!!

[Sivy]

Nice to hear u are still going on... good luck...
i leave my all project on patch 1.11 and back to 1.09 play with my friends for fun because summer is near and we have some free time now :thumbsup:
good luck i will be look on this topic...
:wave:

Greet Sivy

[Mad Mantis]

Still going strong at /players 8

That is what amazes me. I thought you'd have to switch back a long time ago.

[garion]

yeah...id imagine arcane and maggot were a pain....=/....

i just started a nec (pure summoner...maybe not that pure...)...but i do not "heart" those lvls....

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

The team was ready for The Maggot Lair and the search for the Staff. Malice Rusty was proving himself a capable killer - there is a synergy between him and Aliza that is a delight to watch. Often, a golem submerged in enemies has some of the heat taken off him by Aliza's tri-elemental knock-back arrows. In return, Rusty intercepts creatures who attempt to overwhelm the deadly, but fragile Rogue mercenary.
Rusty, mindless automaton that he is, seems to have a sense of the absurd nonetheless. Balboa shook his head at the golem's antics (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/031_ColdwormClimb.jpg), but there is a serious side to metallic monster. There was nothing amusing about the bloody trail (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/032_BloodTrail.jpg)of destruction that Malice Rusty is capable of leaving when given free rein.
The Ancient Tunnels (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/033_AncientTunnels.jpg)proved no challenge to a team that has honed its underground fighting skills and strategies.

The culmination of this evening's endeavours was the dangerous Snake Temple. Claw Vipers and Salamanders can be dangerous foes, but they had no answer to Balboa's Attract curse. Their swift attacks were turned against themselves and their allies, and the serpents showed their glass cannon fragility (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/034_ClawViper.jpg). Aside from a stair trap, the only really difficult moment was at the Serpent Altar itself.
Having decended the stairs, the team was charged by Bone Warriors and Rusty was hard-pressed to hold back the tide. Aliza knocked-back and occasionally shattered the odd skeleton that broke past. Balboa was unable to make his curses really count as Guardians, out of range, replaced virtually every skeleton that fell. A few Vipers that were mixed in with the crowd were Attracted and eventually fell, but after a few gains a stalemate ensued.
Balboa himself had to create the opening - he Terrored the Bone Warriors (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/035_Terror.jpg)repeatedly until he and Rusty were able to advance and get a line on the Guardians. Repeated castings of Attract on the Guardians eventually caused the Bone Warriors to turn on them, which gave Balboa the breathing space he needed. He Attracted the two separate groups of Guardians and unleashed Rusty on one of them. Aliza picked off the occasional skeleton that attempted to get at Balboa, and then turned her attention to the Vipers at the Altar. After a long, bitter fight where quarter was neither asked nor given, the Guardians' hold on the situation was broken - unable to raise skeletons, they at last became vulnerable (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/036_ViperLastStand.jpg)to attack and the tide of the battle had turned.

With daylight returned to the land, Balboa and his team returned exhausted and triumphant to Lut Gholein, for an important briefing from the City's ruler.

Stats'n'Such
Balboa has 99 Stats and zero Skill points unused (a skill point was added to BG this evening).
No significant change in equipment, but the refinement of skills and tactics continues. Still at /players 8, I'm sure some folks would consider the kill rate too slow to be enjoyable but for me, this is part of the challenge. There are no quick answers to tricky situations and bulldozing my way through simply isn't an option.
I must say, the final battle with the Guardians, Bone Warriors and Vipers was special. Switching between the curses, making sure Rusty wasn't over-whelmed, dealing with half a dozen different factors at once is exhausting, but exhilarating. I'm buzzed right now!

Some answers
@garion - thank you very much! The Maggot Lair was a breeze really, only one scare when I was caught with Beetles/Scarabs in front and behind. Aliza's knockback and Rusty's tanking ability saved the day. Haven't got to the 'Sanctuary in this difficulty yet, should be fun. Both the Sanctuary and the Lair are enjoyable with this build - as a Summoner they're a pain as your (larger) army just trips itself up all the time.

@Sivy - thanks. I really enjoy the updates on your project and hope to read of some more successes from you soon. :thumbsup:

@MadMantis - P8 is no problem so far (save for Blood Raven - she really is a pain). I'm sure I will need to drop the setting eventually but not for a while yet, I think. Maybe not until Hell ...

Slayer GumbyBalboa - Level 56, Act 2 Nightmare, The Palace of Lut Gholein

[garion]

Some answers
@garion - thank you very much! The Maggot Lair was a breeze really, only one scare when I was caught with Beetles/Scarabs in front and behind. Aliza's knockback and Rusty's tanking ability saved the day. Haven't got to the 'Sanctuary in this difficulty yet, should be fun. Both the Sanctuary and the Lair are enjoyable with this build - as a Summoner they're a pain as your (larger) army just trips itself up all the time.


yeah i agree..those two are slow going...although sanctuary might be easier than arcane...less turning around...and forks...and more predictable...

thanks for the awesome reads!....this has been the best thread in ages! (That isn't a guide or off-topic or anything but just pure gaming fun~ness (so good we had to make up a word!)

[Gluttony]

The team was ready for The Maggot Lair and the search for the Staff. Malice Rusty was proving himself a capable killer - there is a synergy between him and Aliza that is a delight to watch. Often, a golem submerged in enemies has some of the heat taken off him by Aliza's tri-elemental knock-back arrows. In return, Rusty intercepts creatures who attempt to overwhelm the deadly, but fragile Rogue mercenary.
Rusty, mindless automaton that he is, seems to have a sense of the absurd nonetheless. Balboa shook his head at the golem's antics (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/031_ColdwormClimb.jpg), but there is a serious side to metallic monster. There was nothing amusing about the bloody trail (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/032_BloodTrail.jpg)of destruction that Malice Rusty is capable of leaving when given free rein.
The Ancient Tunnels (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/033_AncientTunnels.jpg)proved no challenge to a team that has honed its underground fighting skills and strategies.

The culmination of this evening's endeavours was the dangerous Snake Temple. Claw Vipers and Salamanders can be dangerous foes, but they had no answer to Balboa's Attract curse. Their swift attacks were turned against themselves and their allies, and the serpents showed their glass cannon fragility (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/034_ClawViper.jpg). Aside from a stair trap, the only really difficult moment was at the Serpent Altar itself.
Having decended the stairs, the team was charged by Bone Warriors and Rusty was hard-pressed to hold back the tide. Aliza knocked-back and occasionally shattered the odd skeleton that broke past. Balboa was unable to make his curses really count as Guardians, out of range, replaced virtually every skeleton that fell. A few Vipers that were mixed in with the crowd were Attracted and eventually fell, but after a few gains a stalemate ensued.
Balboa himself had to create the opening - he Terrored the Bone Warriors (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/035_Terror.jpg)repeatedly until he and Rusty were able to advance and get a line on the Guardians. Repeated castings of Attract on the Guardians eventually caused the Bone Warriors to turn on them, which gave Balboa the breathing space he needed. He Attracted the two separate groups of Guardians and unleashed Rusty on one of them. Aliza picked off the occasional skeleton that attempted to get at Balboa, and then turned her attention to the Vipers at the Altar. After a long, bitter fight where quarter was neither asked nor given, the Guardians' hold on the situation was broken - unable to raise skeletons, they at last became vulnerable (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/036_ViperLastStand.jpg)to attack and the tide of the battle had turned.

With daylight returned to the land, Balboa and his team returned exhausted and triumphant to Lut Gholein, for an important briefing from the City's ruler.

Stats'n'Such
Balboa has 99 Stats and zero Skill points unused (a skill point was added to BG this evening).
No significant change in equipment, but the refinement of skills and tactics continues. Still at /players 8, I'm sure some folks would consider the kill rate too slow to be enjoyable but for me, this is part of the challenge. There are no quick answers to tricky situations and bulldozing my way through simply isn't an option.
I must say, the final battle with the Guardians, Bone Warriors and Vipers was special. Switching between the curses, making sure Rusty wasn't over-whelmed, dealing with half a dozen different factors at once is exhausting, but exhilarating. I'm buzzed right now!

Some answers
@garion - thank you very much! The Maggot Lair was a breeze really, only one scare when I was caught with Beetles/Scarabs in front and behind. Aliza's knockback and Rusty's tanking ability saved the day. Haven't got to the 'Sanctuary in this difficulty yet, should be fun. Both the Sanctuary and the Lair are enjoyable with this build - as a Summoner they're a pain as your (larger) army just trips itself up all the time.

@Sivy - thanks. I really enjoy the updates on your project and hope to read of some more successes from you soon. :thumbsup:

@MadMantis - P8 is no problem so far (save for Blood Raven - she really is a pain). I'm sure I will need to drop the setting eventually but not for a while yet, I think. Maybe not until Hell ...

Slayer GumbyBalboa - Level 56, Act 2 Nightmare, The Palace of Lut Gholein

BRAVO Are you going to do the sewers before you leave act 2? You seemed to have rushed to the maggot lair (unless I missed it somewhere). I'd like to see you fight radament for his skill increasing book. I enjoyed this and the tacticalness must be very entertaining. Good luck :smiley:

[Sivy]

"Still at /players 8, I'm sure some folks would consider the kill rate too slow to be enjoyable but for me, this is part of the challenge. There are no quick answers to tricky situations and bulldozing my way through simply isn't an option."

yeah u have right because 95% people playing D2 choose allmighty build like: hammer, blizz sorc, java etc. why? because on BN when u will be play ur mancer people ridicule you... nobody understending what is a lots of fun playing that build and another no "allmighty" with no tax etc. yeah big BEER :thumbsup: for everybody who likes play "not special" build... we know what is the best... :thumbsup:

btw. sorry for my english i still learing this language... it's my second :-)

cu soon when i stop play on 1.09:wave: ... maybe i will back fast if new ladders gives new patch :jig:

Greet Sivy

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

@Gluttony - Radament was done in Post #83 (94+ posts, what the ...? :grin: ). Like most Superuniques, he seems a lot easier in NM than he does in Normal.

@Sivy - your second language beats mine, hands down!
Don't play with Ladders, stick to SP :grin:

[Gluttony]

@Gluttony - Radament was done in Post #83 (94+ posts, what the ...? :grin: ). Like most Superuniques, he seems a lot easier in NM than he does in Normal.

@Sivy - your second language beats mine, hands down!
Don't play with Ladders, stick to SP :grin:

Yeah, I missed it. Your thread accumulates lots of posts very quickly and I must have overlooked it. :smiley:

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Jerhyn's briefing made for sober listening - demons and slaughter within the very Palace of Lut Gholein. We resolved to investigate and deal with the Hellish incursion.
Blunderbores, although intimidating in size and demeanour, were the least of our problems once we had decended into the lower levels of the Palace. Skeletal mages and archers were the most dangerous denizens down there. Having managed a boss and his retinue, we had only turned a corner when a champion pack of poison mages and archers caught us in a deadly crossfire (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/037_Crossfire.jpg). Dim Vision took much of the sting from these attacks but there was considerable cost in terms of red & blue pots. A tremendous find on the second Harem level made the work seem more worthwhile - Balboa is certain he can find a good use for the Humongous Giant Axe :grin: .

The portal to the Arcane Sanctuary marked a threshold in the team's progress. The paths through the yawning gulfs of heaven inspire awe, but the creatures we faced (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/038_GangsAllHere.jpg)were some of the toughest we've met to date. Malice Rusty struggled to cope with the fireballs of Ghoul Lords, the quick strength of the Goat Clans and the stacked Spectres - sometimes all at once. Balboa was too slow creating an escape portal and, inevitably, Rusty gave up the unequal struggle. Several Rare weapons were used to create a succession of unsuccessful Iron Golems. In the end, Balboa selected the Soul Harvest unique scythe - Open Wounds, resistances, enhanced attack & damage, and fast attack speed ... a decent package, if a little inferior (kill speed-wise) to Malice.
Anticipating a struggle to find him in the celestial maze, the Summoner proved to be easy to find - at the end of the first spur we tried, in fact. Balboa, Aliza and Rusty were more than a match for the Summoner and his two Ghoul Lord bodyguards - he gave up (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/039_Summoner.jpg) after a small struggle.
Further exploration of the Sanctuary led to a difficult encounter with a large group of Ghoul Lords and their Boss (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/040_GhoulLords.jpg). The leader proved easy as he had foolishly teleported across to us, whereas his minions were more circumspect; they fireballed and fire-walled us from across a gap. We couldn't use the portal to engage them hand to hand - there were too many of them. A long duel ensued, Balboa' curses and Aliza's shafts vs the fire spells of the Ghouls. Rusty could only pace, impotent and ineffectual. It was some time before we felt that the Sanctuary had been cleansed of evil - Rusty certainly left his mark (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/041_UnderControl.jpg)on the paving stones of the strange structure.

Both Palace and Sanctuary have been reclaimed from the forces of Hell - and the Canyon of the Magi awaits.

Stats
109 Stat points spare, no Skill points unused. Skills are as before save for BG - now up to Level 12.
I am really chuffed with the Humongous Axe - I have that plus enough runes for two Strength runewords. An ample supply of CB is just what this build needs, I feel. I don't know whether it will be possible, but ultimately, I want the IG to provide as near an equal share of the killing as the merc. It's an aim, anyway.
Oh yes, Balboa hasn't made use of the Imbue, Socket and Personalise quests rewards yet - I wonder if/when he will.
Best rune to date - a Dol from, IIRC, a random nasty in the Mausoleum in NM.

Slayer GumbyBalboa - Level 58, Act 2 Nightmare, Canyon of the Magi

[Gluttony]

Jerhyn's briefing made for sober listening - demons and slaughter within the very Palace of Lut Gholein. We resolved to investigate and deal with the Hellish incursion.
Blunderbores, although intimidating in size and demeanour, were the least of our problems once we had decended into the lower levels of the Palace. Skeletal mages and archers were the most dangerous denizens down there. Having managed a boss and his retinue, we had only turned a corner when a champion pack of poison mages and archers caught us in a deadly crossfire (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/037_Crossfire.jpg). Dim Vision took much of the sting from these attacks but there was considerable cost in terms of red & blue pots. A tremendous find on the second Harem level made the work seem more worthwhile - Balboa is certain he can find a good use for the Humongous Giant Axe :grin: .

The portal to the Arcane Sanctuary marked a threshold in the team's progress. The paths through the yawning gulfs of heaven inspire awe, but the creatures we faced (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/038_GangsAllHere.jpg)were some of the toughest we've met to date. Malice Rusty struggled to cope with the fireballs of Ghoul Lords, the quick strength of the Goat Clans and the stacked Spectres - sometimes all at once. Balboa was too slow creating an escape portal and, inevitably, Rusty gave up the unequal struggle. Several Rare weapons were used to create a succession of unsuccessful Iron Golems. In the end, Balboa selected the Soul Harvest unique scythe - Open Wounds, resistances, enhanced attack & damage, and fast attack speed ... a decent package, if a little inferior (kill speed-wise) to Malice.
Anticipating a struggle to find him in the celestial maze, the Summoner proved to be easy to find - at the end of the first spur we tried, in fact. Balboa, Aliza and Rusty were more than a match for the Summoner and his two Ghoul Lord bodyguards - he gave up (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/039_Summoner.jpg) after a small struggle.
Further exploration of the Sanctuary led to a difficult encounter with a large group of Ghoul Lords and their Boss (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/040_GhoulLords.jpg). The leader proved easy as he had foolishly teleported across to us, whereas his minions were more circumspect; they fireballed and fire-walled us from across a gap. We couldn't use the portal to engage them hand to hand - there were too many of them. A long duel ensued, Balboa' curses and Aliza's shafts vs the fire spells of the Ghouls. Rusty could only pace, impotent and ineffectual. It was some time before we felt that the Sanctuary had been cleansed of evil - Rusty certainly left his mark (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/041_UnderControl.jpg)on the paving stones of the strange structure.

Both Palace and Sanctuary have been reclaimed from the forces of Hell - and the Canyon of the Magi awaits.

Stats
109 Stat points spare, no Skill points unused. Skills are as before save for BG - now up to Level 12.
I am really chuffed with the Humongous Axe - I have that plus enough runes for two Strength runewords. An ample supply of CB is just what this build needs, I feel. I don't know whether it will be possible, but ultimately, I want the IG to provide as near an equal share of the killing as the merc. It's an aim, anyway.
Oh yes, Balboa hasn't made use of the Imbue, Socket and Personalise quests rewards yet - I wonder if/when he will.
Best rune to date - a Dol from, IIRC, a random nasty in the Mausoleum in NM.

Slayer GumbyBalboa - Level 58, Act 2 Nightmare, Canyon of the Magi

:cry: I feel for the loss of your iron golem and the failures of the rare golems. It appears now that only uniques/runewords are going to be effective in the trials ahead. Even so you have enough items that if everything goes as they have been will last you up to act 4. As long goal plans what will you do if you run out of items for your golem? Will you go back and farm to get new runes so you can replace him?

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Hmmm, it's going to have to be a very special rare item golem to beat uniques and runewords - but that is always the case with rares.

I believe that I am going to be able to maintain a slender supply of uniques and RWs, sufficient for my needs, as long as I am more careful. The last Malice I lost was completely avoidable, had I exercised my usual level of caution. With the current Soul Harvest golem, I have a total of four potential boss-beating Rustys - Soul Harvest being the least of these. If I haven't lost the current golem before I get to the CS, I will undoubtably lose him there with the OKs. I have a strategy for keeping Rusty alive against OKs, if I absolutely have to, but it will mean a long, and I mean LONG, process. I'll have to transfer this save from my laptop to my desktop to make it work as I won't be able to Save&Exit in the meantime! Please don't make me go that route!

I will hold off farming for runes/uniques/socketables as long as I can. If I cannot beat the game without doing runs, then the first stage of my experiment is over - can a Golemancer beat the game on single-pass and full-clear?

[sirwhere]

What you should do is to have a stock of gold enough to buy a couple buzzing weapons to make rustys out of :)

Then cast lower resist and gogoogo :P

By the way, what happens to a malice rusty if he gets to 0 health from life drain? (sorry if you already answered that.. didn't read the whole thread.. lol)

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Balboa's team arrived at the Canyon Waypoint and set to work. In the blink of an eye, the situation became desperate. An overwhelming tide of Crushers beasts, the likes of which I've never before seen, washed over Rusty, completely submerging him (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/042_Yikes.jpg). As if that wasn't bad enough, more Crushers fell upon the team from the North and East. In all honesty, I thought our number was up. (No chance of a screenie when things were at their worst, I'm afraid!)
Balboa thought fast and started spamming Terror at the milling bands of monsters. Running and dodging between the hulking beasts, only to run into yet more monsters, it occurred to Balboa that he would not escape this. The Waypoint was completely over-run and unusable. Balboa and his team would have been instantly slain had he attempted a Portal. In the end, Balboa simply ran blindly to the South and East.
Incredibly we outran the pursuit and, in a brief moment of relative safety, a Portal was cast. Not a moment too soon (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/043_CloseCall.jpg), Soul Harvest Rusty was at the end of his endurance.
Rusty was repaired at Fara's and we gave thought to how we were going to regain the Canyon. The Portal was by now completely surrounded, but Balboa reasoned that the Waypoint may be clear, or relatively so. This turned out to be a good call. With the marauding bands of monsters spread out along the line of Balboa's blind panic flight, we returned unmolested to the Canyon. We happened upon one of the Crusher bosses, alone and unguarded (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/044_OrderRestored.jpg), and made quick work of him. One creature at a time, or in small groups, Balboa took ownership of the Canyon - an outcome that looked very unlikely at the start of the day.
After such an epic battle, we could only wonder at the reception we would get in the Tombs. The answers that came made us somewhat uncomfortable (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/045_BoneBrow.jpg).
There was worse, much worse to come. Two bosses, working in concert and with a veritable army in support, blocked the way (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/046_DeadlyPairing.jpg)through the first of the false tombs. It took an age to tease the skeletons out from the influence of the Unraveler. Ultimately, the two stood alone (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/047_TamingThePair.jpg), the MSFE Unraveler and the Stone Skin Extra Fast Ghoul Lord. Shriven of their support, they were slain like all the rest. No long after, an MSCE Unraveler boss (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/048_SteelSpell.jpg)went the way of his predecessors.

The second false tomb had an important resident (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/049_AncientKaa.jpg)with some fearsome capabilities. Balboa was glad that his curses were able to turn Kaa's own servants against him. Sorely weakened, the Ancient Unraveler fell to Rusty and Aliza in no time at all.
More dangerous by far were Kaa's lieutenants (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/050_FourBrothers.jpg)- three Champions and a Possessed Unraveler. In the longest battle yet, hordes of skeletons and mummies were drawn away from the four brothers and slain - time and time again we led the underlings down the hallway to their doom. When finally the last skeleton safely out of the way, there was still the not inconsiderable task of dealing with the four Unravelers themselves. One by one (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/051_TwoBrothers.jpg) they fell.

With five more tombs to clear, and Duriel himself waiting, Balboa announced that they had done enough for one day. I certainly wasn't going to argue.

Stats
114 Stat points and one Skill point spare. I will be hoarding Skill points if possible as I need to assess whether points now need to be used for Curses or for Golems. We'll see.
The first Tomb claimed the Soul Harvest Rusty - once again I wasn't careful enough. I really need to use TP, instead of retreating and trusting that Rusty will follow, when removing the golem from a deadly situation. As a temporary replacement, I used a blue Voulge I'd found but then a really nice Unique Brandistock dropped into my lap - Bloodthief. 35% OW and 9%LL, plus some ED. Oh, yes. I will try to look after this Rusty!
The battles today have been long and hard - patience is key to this build, but it also requires quick decisions in the heat of battle regarding curses and placement of golem and merc. Lacking an over-powering ability to kill, guile and tactical play are needed. I am learning the extent to which Rusty can be risked before pulling him out of a battle. Some mistakes have meant the loss of a useful Iron Golem on more than one occasion, but learning the limits is a necessary process.
It's still awesome fun - and it's still /Players 8!

Some answers
@sirwhere - I haven't included LR in my skill plan. I don't yet know whether this is a mistake,
As for Malice's life drain, Rusty's regen more than compensates for any loss of life (if he is in fact losing life in the first place!). He always tops up his life bulb, assuming he isn't being beaten up by the purple uglies.

Slayer GumbyBalboa - Level 59, Act 2 Nightmare, Canyon of the Magi (The third false tomb)

[defensiveunit]

Dude, ur a genius

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

At daybreak, Balboa and his team made their way to the last of the false tombs, in search of the true resting place of Tal Rasha.
Aliza was finding it harder now to slay the monsters we met. Balboa couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding at the thought of the encounters to come. On the other hand, Bloodthief Rusty was impressive and Balboa was quietly confident of the golem's ability.
A game of tag with a pack of Champion Ghoul Lords left one tomb's paving stones slippery with gore. Balboa found an answer (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/052_GhoulLordTag.jpg) to Aliza's irritating habit of knocking creatures out of the room. The knockback effect is a mixed blessing and Rusty was often exposed to additional hazard when chasing Aliza's victims.

The penultimate tomb gave Balboa one of his biggest shocks to date - it was nearly, but not quite a stairtrap. An incredibly powerful Gorebelly bosspack crashed upon the party like the side of a mountain. Rusty was sent spinning, nearly slain in an instant. Balboa created an emergency portal and got his team out ... but Rusty didn't arrive with him at Lut Gholein. The transition through the portal must have been too much for the sliver of life the golem had been left with. Cursing with frustration, and badly shaken by the speed with which his team had been rendered helpless, Balboa created a Clay Golem as he could conceive of no other summoning at his disposal that could stand against this over-mastering foe.
Returning to the tomb, the Gumby was surrounded but the Gorebellies were crafty as well as strong. At least two of their number always ignored the golem and charged the humans. Balboa was chased around the stairs in circles - it was fortunate indeed that the corridor formed a square around the stairway structure so that he didn't have to run blindly into unexplored territory. At each circuit, Balboa dashed past the mob that surrounded Gumby, dodging their blows as he passed. A long last, Aliza was able to make her shafts count, and Balboa's team slowly gained the upper hand (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/053_GorebellyTag.jpg). Gumby's ability to tank this crew was nothing short of amazing!
This particular tomb was teeming with Gorebellies - we'd hardly got our breath back when another bosspack appeared. Fortunately, our position this time was defensible (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/054_MoreGorebellies.jpg) and our dignity was somewhat restored. After all that, we were ready for anything (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/055_SinKiller.jpg).

Fatigue was gnawing at our muscles when we found the last, true tomb. The battles we had survived already were worthy of song, yet here we were with the biggest challenge yet ahead of us. Balboa dismissed Gumby and prepared a Steel Rusty. This wasn't our most powerful option, but it would do until we found Tal Rasha's chamber, at least. In the course of the search, Balboa discovered something odd - Mummy Sarcophagi are not immune (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/056_OWSarcophagus.jpg)to the open wounds left by Rusty. We watched the spectacle for time, fascinated.

The culmination of our search came before we truly felt ready for it. Tal Rasha's chamber was before us so Balboa put his final preparations in place. Steel Rusty was dismissed and replaced with Strength Rusty. A second Strength weapon, a War Spear, was placed in the stash in readiness for ... what? Aliza looked questioningly at Balboa, who simply shook his head. Potions blue and red were purchased and purple pots readied in our belts. We portalled back to the chamber ... and squeezed our way into the hidden room that had been opened up with the Horadric staff ... and walked straight into disaster.

Duriel was there. Shrugging off the effects of the Decripify cast by Balboa, he hurled his attack at Rusty. Aliza, having seen Balboa's elaborate preparation and knowing the importance of the golem, hurled herself at Duriel. Balboa, caught off-guard by this insane, yet selfless act, watched helplessly as the mercenary was slain. Raging, he cast a portal and ran through it.
Back in town, Balboa played his final card for this phase of the campaign. A desert mercenary, whose special ability was Holy Freeze, was hired and equipped with the armour and helm formally worn by Aliza, plus the Strength War Spear that Balboa had prepared with almost prescient foresight.
We returned to the hidden room and engaged Duriel. By decrepifying the demon and using pots on the merc, we started to hurt (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/057_Duriel.jpg)the giant bug. Many times, either the new merc, Pratham, or Rusty were close to death. Balboa lost count of the number of times he had to portal back to Lut Gholein to regroup. The battle raged long and hard, but we gained the upper hand and slew Aliza's Bane in the end. It wasn't pretty, but we'd won. Alas, Duriel's treasures (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/058_DurielTreasure.jpg)were mediocre.

It was a bruised and bloodied necromancer and his team that spoke to Tyrael, Jerhyn and Meshif, and who later travelled into the East.

Stats and Talk
Stats unused = 94 I had allocated 25 to Vitality but in all honesty they weren't needed. Kurast Jungle ... that's another matter though.
Skills unused = 2 The temptation to throw points at a golem skill is strong, but I may need to boost DV very soon.

My Act2 merc is level 56, appreciably under-powered. I hope I can rectify this without resorting to re-runs!

I'm out of Amn runes, but I have enough Thuls and Orts to make one more - if I need another Strength runeword. I'll keep the Act 2 merc for a while, so I have a secure access to CB. I also have the Humungous Giant Axe still, which I am saving for an emergency. I have the runes for another Malice now, so happy days! The procession of buff Rustys and the frequency I lose them with is slightly sobering, so I am really, really pleased that the Rusty I took on Duriel with survived.
This was one long, hard slog. I remember now why Act 2 is not my favourite.

Some Answers
@defensiveunit - not true! A genius wouldn't be playing a golemancer! At /players8! :laughing:

Slayer GumbyBalboa - Level 60, Act 3 Nightmare, Kurast Docks

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Balboa insisted upon a last minute shopping spree in Lut Gholein before we sailed East. He was clearly pre-occupied with something but his joy as he stepped out of Drognan's shop was plain on his face. I was shown two Bone Wands - but what was wrong with his existing ones? However, the Torch of Iro was put into storage and the other wand he used for raising Golems was sold.

Kurast Docks is a dank, depressing place. Once our business is done here, for good or ill, I won't miss it. Balboa set about making contact with the local notables, showing his face and such. At the break of the next day, we set foot in the so-called Spider Jungle. We immediately encountered a stranger, but he seemed to disappear at the same time that we were attacked by some slug-like creatures. Puzzling.

It wasn't very long before we discovered the entrance to the Spider Cavern. Poor Pratham spent virtually the entire time underground in a poisoned state, whereas Strength Rusty seemed immune to the spider's toxic bite. We settled into a comfortable routine, but a rude shock very soon shook us to the core. Sszark the Burning (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/059_Sszark.jpg), a flame spider of puissance and enormous power, was just too strong. Even when we had separated him from his retinue, Pratham simply could not stand against him and Rusty could not hope to prevail alone. It took several trips back via a portal to revive the stricken mercenary before we were finally victorious. Pratham's inexperience was perhaps the greatest factor here, although he seemed to grow in stature in the encounters to come. But I digress ...

Once again under the open, if overcast, sky, we were attacked by a large number of Cloud Stalkers. The encounter wouldn't have been memorable, but for one of the treasures (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/060_SurprisingFind.jpg)left behind ...
Another underground lair was soon located, next to a Waypoint. Although still hazardous (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/061_ArachnidLair.jpg), it was nowhere near as dangerous as the previous hole in the ground.

Deeper into the jungle, we were accosted by ever larger swarms (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/062_CloudStalkers.jpg)of 'Stalkers, accompanied often by mosquitoes of enormous size. We soon encountered a great marsh, which was inhabited by some very unfriendly creatures (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/063_BogBeasts.jpg). Had it not been for Balboa's Dim Vision curses (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/064_MarshGas.jpg)(augmented, apparently, by one of his recent purchases), we may well have been routed or even slain. Having found a Waypoint in the Great Marsh, Balboa called for a halt and a rest.

Stats and Tactics
94 Stats and 2 Skill points unspent - still waiting to see how to spend these. The life pool is over 600, including Charms.
The two Bone Wands! Pre-buff with +3 Summoning skills (replaces my +3 GM, +2 CG wand) and a +2 Necro skills with additional +1 Attract (replaces my Torch of Iro). Colour me chuffed to nuts! :grin:
The merc levelled from 56 to 60 in no time at all, it just took the two Spider holes and the Spider Forest. It helps a lot. Both the merc and the golem have CB ability, but I'm worried that Rusty's AR is getting too low to be effective. More points in CG may be required - more demand on Skill points :undecided: .
I have a very nice rare Lochaber Axe that looks a possibility for the merc - 11-122 damage plus 13-38 Cold over 2 seconds. Trouble is, its too slow. I have a Steel and a Malice weapon available to replace Rusty, when he inevitably dies. I also found another Amn rune, so another Strength weapon is possible.
So good, so far, in spite of Sszark's best efforts!

Slayer GumbyBalboa - Level 60, Act 3 Nightmare, The Great Marsh

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Just a quick note of progress through the Spider Forest and Flayer Jungle. A bit of backtracking through the Marsh and the Forest was required to get to the Flayer Jungle. From the Great Marsh WP, the reception was hot - an Extra Fast Mana Burn Bramble Hulk and his crew, plus this nasty (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/065_Hulks.jpg). The 'Hulks were so strong that Balboa had to forego his AmpDam and Attract curses in favour of Decrepify. It was seriously touch and go for Pratham and Balboa, but too much indeed for Strength Rusty. A trip back to the 'Docks enabled Balboa to create another Malice Rusty - the odd thing is that this version proved to be a far more capable killer than his predecessor. We all enjoy watching the Open Wounds in action, too, so it's all good.

Standing between the bands of Fetishes and Gloams, and our deaths, there was only Balboa's Dim Vision (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/066_GloamFarm.jpg), which became the utility skill in the jungle. Here is more (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/067_Gloams2.jpg) and yet more (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/068_Gloams3.jpg)Gloams for those who like looking at them in safety. :wink3: Vast numbers of Soul Killers, Fetishes and the like were tamed with this incredibly useful skill (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/069_SoulKillers.jpg).
Another surprising rune drop (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/070_AnotherSurprise.jpg)was found on the ground. Other notable finds were a Warcries skiller GC with +5 dex, a +1 Necro skills amulet :grin: and an Infernal Torch Grim Wand :rolleyes:

Dim Vision didn't work against everything, of course (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/071_CurseProof.jpg), but my goodness it was useful! A tough campaign had led us to the Flayer Jungle Waypoint, so we can be pleased with today's progress, I feel.

Stats
99 Stats and 3 Skills unused. Best resists are: F78, C25, L80, P80
We like our Malice Rusty! :grin:

That'll do for now.

ps. Dim Vision pwns.

Slayer GumbyBalboa - Level 61, Act 3 Nightmare, The Flayer Jungle

[kykle]

wow way to go this far - i wonder how confuse stacks up againt dim vision for crowd control?

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

I use Confuse to take the heat off the merc and golem when they are in the middle of a crowd of melee creatures that can really damage them. DV isn't as useful in such cases as it doesn't stop the attacks if the monsters are up close and personal.

DV is great for stopping ranged attacks and for holding monsters in place - Leapers and Fetish are prime candidates for this. It saves my troops from having to run around after them, getting out of position and then exposing me to counter-attack!

Two incredibly useful skills, for slightly different situations.

[Sivy]

impresive still going on... nice:thumbsup: i see u change ur merc i think it's good idea and good move... good luck man :thumbsup:

btw what stuff u use now??
i play necro too but on 1.09 :prop: today is ladder reset maybe a new patch too we will see what blizz make for us...

Greet Sivy

[kcos]

I finally managed to get 'up to date' and finish reading Balboa's adventures so far, and I have to say, nice storytelling, keep it up! Already looking forward to seeing a Patriarch GumbyBalboa screenie :wink3:

Also, I noticed you have a point in bone wall... any reason why you aren't using it as an additional means of crowd control?

[Gluttony]

I finally managed to get 'up to date' and finish reading Balboa's adventures so far, and I have to say, nice storytelling, keep it up! Already looking forward to seeing a Patriarch GumbyBalboa screenie :wink3:

Also, I noticed you have a point in bone wall... any reason why you aren't using it as an additional means of crowd control?

He has before. GumbyBalboa casted it behind some mobs back when he had knockback to keep himself from having to chase them.

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

@Sivy - good to hear from you! Thanks for the encouragement. Hurry up and get that Elemancer in action again. :grin:
I was reluctant to use an Act 2 merc - he is the most powerful of the mercs, IMO, and I didn't want people to think that he is the only source of killing power I have. The Rogue is a useful utility merc that complemented the Golem in many ways. Alas, I think she is just too fragile in a Golemancer setup.
I've compromised on my choice of Act 2 merc. The Holy Freeze is helpful, but the Golem is still a roughly equal partner in the killing stakes. Well, very roughly!
My gear? Currently:
Wormskull
Amulet +1 Necro skills
Darkglow Ring Mail
Rare Gloves (+2 Dex, Lit Res +29%, Cold Res +16%, Psn Res +8%, MF +10%, Half Freeze Duration)
Nightsmoke Belt
Rare Boots (+1 Dex, Fire Res +8%, Psn Res +5%, +2 Light Rad, +10% FHR, Repair 1 dur in 33 sec)
Viper Finger Ring (+14 Life, +26 AR, Lit Res +22%, Psn Res +11%, Replenish Life +5, L1 Telekinesis 22 Charges)
Shadow Grasp Ring (+22 AR, Fire Res +25%, Lit Res +10%)
Switch 1
Bone Wand +3 Summoning; Zombie Head +2 GM (pre-buff gear)
Switch 2
Bone Wand +2 Necro skills, +1 Attract; Preserved Head +3 DV, +2 BA, 2 soc (chipped emeralds, possibly to be upgraded soon as I have a Hel rune now)

The wands and heads are really, really useful to this build, I've been very lucky with them. Both wands were purchased from NM Drognan.

@kcos - thank you. Don't hold your breath for a Patriarch - I have my doubts, but I'll give it my very best. The BW is an occasionally used utility spell, and it also adds a little to my BA. I use BA as an early warning system - I often see damage to the armour more easily then I'll see my life bulb emptying, if the on-screen action is hectic.

@Gluttony - that's right. It's a useful little skill. I'd love to put more points into BW, for the BA synergy, but the skill plan won't allow for it.

[garion]

nice....worm skull and nightsmoke on untwinked (Great pickups!)

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Balboa had heard of a couple of underground labyrinths hidden in the Flayer Jungle and resolved to cleanse them of any evil creatures infesting them.
The approach to the Flayer Dungeon was well guarded - the enormous Bramble Hulks proved a handful for Strength Rusty and Pratham. Amp Damage and Attract (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/072_Stormtree.jpg) gave the two fighters the edge they needed.
Once in the Dungeon itself, Balboa's curses foiled countless Fetish ambushes (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/073_FetishAmbush.jpg). Merc and golem were able to go about their business in relative safety. When the boss of the Dungeon (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/074_WitchDoctor.jpg)himself came forward to challenge us, he was able to put up very little resistance.
The Swampy Pit was right next to the Flayer Jungle Waypoint. Aside for the presence of Gloams, there was little to trouble us. One particular Gloam (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/075_PossessedGloam.jpg)was a little difficult to track down but once caught between merc and golem, there was no doubt who would prevail.
Balboa wanted to secure Lower Kurast before the end of the day - we ended up almost nonchalantly strolling through ravaged dwellings, slaying Tree Creepers and Doom Apes (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/076_LowerKurast.jpg)at will. It was almost too easy.

Stats and Talk
104 Stats and 4 Skill points saved
A change of footwear for Balboa:
Heavy Boots: Lit Res +34%, 20% FR/W, 12% CTC L4 Nova when struck, Repairs 1 dur in 20 sec.
I was concerned about the Flayer Dungeon, but I needn't have worried, there were no dramas. LK was a joke - I had to check that I was still in NM mode, I thought maybe I'd gone back to Normal difficulty!
However, Travincal will cure me of any over-confidence :grin:

And in reply ...
@Garion - my previous necro found a Wormskull early on and has two or three now. I almost feel it's my right to find one! :grin: The Nightsmoke was a peach of a find, I'm very pleased with it. I've had some great drops and finds.

Slayer GumbyBalboa - Level 62, Act 3 Nightmare, Kurast Bazaar

[Sivy]

yes i agree act 2 merc is most powerful... great dmg, nice killing speed and aura ofc and gear is easy to complet for him...
cool man nice heads u found and few low level uniq but very nice for ur build great stuff... great luck to u...
:wave:

Greet Sivy

btw. yeah maybe my necro will be back soon but hmm now i don't have lots time to play... damn it i'm must learning to examinations... crap :undecided:

[sirwhere]

boooo you're going with an act 2 merc?? that's cheesy ^^

Restart right now on hardcore with golem only. no merc ^^

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

<hangs head in shame>
... but ... but ...
<hangs head in shame, again>

[sirwhere]

eheh.. lol

well, with a golem only you should perhaps use players 8 only on normal. Then drop to players 4 on nightmare and players 1 on hell.

Hell players 8 will probably take too long to kill stuff and the point is to have fun, not sleeping on top of the keyboard :)

[Gluttony]

eheh.. lol

well, with a golem only you should perhaps use players 8 only on normal. Then drop to players 4 on nightmare and players 1 on hell.

Hell players 8 will probably take too long to kill stuff and the point is to have fun, not sleeping on top of the keyboard :)

He's already on act 3 with player's 8. I think he's doing rather well. I, as well as others, have always believed it to be impossible with patch 1.11 to defeat hell difficulty with a golemmancer but if he beats nightmare on player 8 and is forced to do hell on player 1. I'm sure it's quite doable.

[Ed from Russia]

Still reading & enjoying. Are you going to try Hell as well?

I hope that by the end you'll give us some tips how to use Golems.
Just a quick question for the new ladder season: Do you think that it's a good idea to use a Golem for my fishymancer (max RS, SM, CE), instead of mages? How would you invest about 30 skill points; Golem Mastery and Iron Golem?

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Thanks, Ed from Russia. Hell is the ultimate goal for Balboa, but how he'll fare, and at what /players setting, is anyone's guess.
If I learn anything about using golem's, I'll pass it on! :grin:

For a Fishymancer, 1 point CG and GM is all you want or need, IMO. IG isn't worth the Skills investment, unless you do so at the end of your Skills plan, just for fun.

That said, my lvl 93 Summoner is using IGs (as part of my research for the golemancer) - I've had fun with the various sorts. I haven't tried the higher RWs for size yet, I may do so before using them with Balboa (should he ever get far enough, of course).

@sirwhere - I have in fact nearly nodded off playing this character, already. Heaven help me in Hell!

@Gluttony - thanks! We'll see how Balboa does. I'm looking for elemental damage items now, in readiness for Hell's PIs. It's possible that Aliza may return, at some point.

[sirwhere]

@Loz: I can imagine a golemmancer being extremely boring to play. You have a lot of waiting to do while the golem kills stuff.

Still, superdave's passives-only amazon had some decoy positioning to do. For gumby, the tactical cursing can break some of the boredom. Same thing with a mojomancer. In fact, alternating dim vision, attract, confuse, terror, decrepify and all that can create some interesting diversion. The difference to a mojo that the mojo's merc can eatup stuff faster at players 8 than a golem at players 1 :)

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Keeping the Iron Golem alive makes for an interesting time of it, I have to say. I'm working at least as hard as any mojomancer with my curses :grin:

If the golem isn't in danger - facing low damage, high HP enemies - it can get a little dull. For those occasions, you can cast Confuse on the monsters and await a great rush of additional enemies that are attracted by the curse. :laughing:

[Sivy]

hmm only golem... IMO impossible althoug maybe :scratch: ... neee... one golem how can do some dmg is IG rest have no dmg IMO but he must be make with nice dmg weapon/rw/uniq/set items... but i think without curses and merc dmg will be still to low for killing on late nm and hell... one
uinq with extra strong/aura (might or fana)/spectral hit/etc. and golem
will no survive this fight and kill nobody IMO :undecided: ...
SuperDave on his ama use merc too because same Valkirie can't kill a pack of monster or uniq pack... ofc Val have more dmg than IG if she random good weapon mods... only best RW IG can do more dmg but it's very very expensive and hard to make :sad2: ... i think it's impossible to end hell game with only golem (IG ofc)... but maybe i check this in future :thumbsup:

Greet Sivy

[kykle]

find an Ik maul to make rusty out of :P

[garion]

yeah IK maul and bonesnap (great ways to get rid of 8 slot items =P)

[Sivy]

yeah IK maul or BS is fantastic weapon for IG :thumbsup: ... 40 CB is very helpful and a nice dmg too... but IMO: NO CURSES = FAST DIE not only golem :undecided: maybe only golem and curses can end game...

Greet Sivy

[sirwhere]

Golem only should be pretty nigh impossible, but golem + curses should be able to do hell ball players 1.

And I stand by my theory that merc + curses only = beat hell baal players 8 ^^

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Balboa's progress through Kurast's former splendour was steady and assured. Enemies were cursed, isolated and slain with practiced ease (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/077_KurastBazaar.jpg).
Only the various Temples gave us any real concerns - some of the creatures sheltering therein (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/078_SpiderTemples.jpg)were quite fierce. The descent into the Kurast Sewers wasn't without its dangers, but it was a confident team that cleared the entire area of evil creatures. Rusty was quite capable (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/079_RustyKiller.jpg)of tanking and killing on his own. And few could stand against the pairing of mercenary and golem.
A stair trap (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/080_BoneScarabTrap.jpg)in one of the abandoned temples gave Balboa a scare, but thankfully it was only Bone Scarabs. Terror kept Balboa safe whilst his team dealt death to the giant beetles.
The Council were not nearly as dangerous as Balboa had feared. They required careful treatment of course, and we got our fingers badly burned when we rushed into the Blackened Temple too soon, but patience won the day in the end. Toorc Icefist (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/081_ToorcIcefist.jpg), Ismail Vilehand (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/082_IsmailVilehand.jpg)and Geleb Flamefinger (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/083_GelebFlamefinger.jpg)all fell in time.
The Compelling Orb smashed, we entered the Durance of Hate, to be greeted by Maulers, Dolls and Zombie-type creatures. The Dolls make for a bit of a nerve-wracking experience, and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the Zombies rushing around nearly as fast - but it was all down to one particular boss (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/084_SpeedyZombie.jpg). I was glad when he was slain.
We have the Waypoint on Durance Level 2 in our possession and now, serious thought must be given to how we will deal with Mephisto.

Stats and Such
119 Stats and 6 Skill points unspent. Is Malice Rusty strong enough for Mephisto? Will I need to go for another Strength golem?

Kill speed is on the slow side of satisfactory, with Pratham being slightly quicker than Rusty, whilst Rusty is a marginally better tank. There is a synergy here, as there was with Aliza and Rusty, which means that the golem is an integral part of this build - at least in Nightmare. Balboa is more than a mojomancer with a couple of tanks, and the golem is not over-shadowed by the merc. They are partners.
I'm looking forward to Mephy, but it will be a tough fight, that's for sure.

Slayer GumbyBalboa - Level 64, Act 3 Nightmare, Durance of Hate 2

[Summerfun]

Uhh, i just cant wait!
Good luck with Mephisto (though you dont need it) :thumbsup:

[sequoia]

haha, sounds like a ton of fun and have always wanted to do it

keep it up!

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

It was late in the day when Balboa roused his team for the assault upon the last Durance level. We'd spent much of the day planning and preparing for the biggest test yet in this campaign.

Almost from the moment we set foot from the Durance Waypoint, we were beset by Maulers, Ghoul Lords and Stygian Dolls. This was going to be no easy walk-through. An enormous band of Maulers (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/085_BeatenBack.jpg)confronted us at one point, and beat us back several times. Malice Rusty and Pratham were in constant danger of being totally overwhelmed. Dim Vision suppressed the spells of the Ghoul Lords whilst the two meleers dealt with a Ghoul Boss (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/086_GhoulBoss.jpg). Finding the stairs down to the lowest level was hard going, yet all too soon, we found ourselves in Durance Level 3.

We teased the Ghoul Lords out a few at a time (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/087_EasyDoesIt.jpg), with little danger to the team. The Council leaders were less obliging. Maffer Dragonhand (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/088_Maffer.jpg)and Bremm Sparkfist (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/089_Bremm.jpg)were both very strong, requiring careful handling. Even Wyand Voidbringer (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/090_Wyand.jpg)provided stiff resistance.

At the end, a lone Ghoul Lord accompanied Mephisto in our initial confrontation (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/091_Mephy1stStrike.jpg). Balboa made a virtue of a necessity, and Attracted the Ghoul. Although Decrepify curbed the worst of Mephisto's excesses, we could use all the help we could get! A bitter struggle ensued, requiring all my healing potions for the merc and a visit to town on at least one occasion. At some point, Mephisto had slain the Ghoul, but I didn't see when that happened - all I knew was that after a several minutes, Mephisto was at the end of his endurance (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/092_MephyLastGasp.jpg).

The first of the Prime Evils has fallen!

Stats'n'Such
Discussion to follow, when I post of Balboa's adventures in Act IV. I will say, though, I've had tougher fights than NM Mephisto! :laughing:

Replies
@sequoia and Summerfun - thanks guys! :grin: I'm having a ball with this. :thumbsup:

[dutes]

Great work!:starry:

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Tyrael's Portal had brought us to Heaven's last outpost. Mephisto's Soulstone weighed heavily upon Balboa's mind and he felt an irrational desire to hurry, to destroy the evil thing lest it corrupt him. Such a thing has happened before, after all. After all too short a rest, the team followed the steps down from the Fortress to an eery, austere plain. Wracked by wars between Heaven and Hell, this was a desolate land, devoid of any promise of comfort or well-being.

Trouble came quickly and in great numbers (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/093_OuterSteppes1.jpg). Venom Lords, Doom Knights and Casters drove us back up the stairs time and time again (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/094_OuterSteppes2.jpg). Descending the stairs from the Outer Steppes to the Plains of Despair, Pratham and Rusty separated (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/095_DividedWeStand.jpg)- Balboa was puzzled by what type of competitiveness might be at work here. Rusty is said to be a mindless automaton, but Balboa sometimes wonders about that. I've seen a thing or two, myself ... In any event, the lack of cooperation between the two fighters was unhelpful. A strong group of Doom Knights chased us back up the stairs (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/096_StrongKnight.jpg).

On the Plains, we encountered the fallen angel Tyrael had warned us of - Izual. His long burden of pain was brought to a violent, clamourous end (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/097_Izual.jpg).

Nearing the City of the Damned (what were the original denizens like, in this fearful place?), some of the strongest foes yet awaited us - Pit Lords raved fiery death (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/098_PitLords.jpg)at us but to no avail. Their leaders fell (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/099_CityDamned.jpg), like all else before them.

A River of Flame

With the City's waypoint secured, Balboa had called for a rest. The next day - albeit in a land with no day or night - we braved the stairway that led down to a fearsome landscape. We were bogged down almost immediately. Legions of poisonous maggots block our way, and the two fighters could make little headway in the face of such numbers. Dim Vision seemed to slow the increase in numbers, but was essentially ineffective. Confuse was the key (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/100_BugProblemMaam.jpg)to unlock this problem.
A long slog led us to the Boss bug (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/101_BugBoss.jpg), or so we thought, but no sooner was this achieved than we were back in the same boat (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/102_SlowProgress.jpg). Inch by inch, we hacked and slashed (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/103_InchByInch.jpg)our way forward. Urdars were attracted to the clamour ... powerful bands of the enormous creatures (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/104_UrdarTrouble.jpg)frequently halted our progress or even drove us back. Quick casting of Confuse helped Rusty and Pratham to survive the first onslaughts, giving Balboa the time he needed to plan a more surgical approach - Attract and AmpDam. A successful tactic.
In time, the Hellforge came into view. Battling Maggots and Casters, Balboa used Attract and Confuse to keep the lesser creatures at bay, enabling Pratham to bring down Hell's own blacksmith (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/105_Hephasto.jpg).
Having smashed the Hellforge, we found a collection of gems and a second Fal rune. A waypoint was soon found and Balboa announced that we had toiled enough; we headed for home.

Stats, Thoughts, Ummm
129 Stats and 10 Skill points spare - I'm beginning to feel that I have the flexibility now to be able to react to the skills requirements to come. Wish I could cash in Stats for skills, say five or ten for one. That would be handy!

A word about Confuse/Attract - I can't remember if I've mentioned this, but it's important enough to say it again - there are serious drawbacks to using these skills. When in danger of being overwhelmed, they take the heat off of you until ... off-screen monsters come crashing in on you from all sides. The use of these two skills need to be carefully considered before they are cast - ask yourself, "What are the potential consequences?".

Three words - Oblivion Knights, Diablo. Some serious thought is required on how to approach these two serious problems. I don't have an archer now, although I do have a possible bow I can use, if an archer were to, ahem, become available. I foresee a strong element of cheese in my diet in the near future.

Slayer GumbyBalboa - Level 66, Act 4, The River of Flame

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Balboa's preparations for his meeting with the Lord of Terror were thorough - in fact, they were very nearly good enough. He packed a few items for use on the way - a War Spear socketed with the Malice runeword (just in case), a rare Trident with some fair elemental damage, a vast collection of potions stored in the Horadric Cube plus one oddity, a Rune Bow socketed with four perfect gems, one of each elemental damage variety. Curious, was Balboa going to use a bow? He hasn't swung a weapon in anger since ... when?

The approach to the Chaos Sanctuary was slow but steady. It was only when the gates of the Sanctuary were in sight that resistance stiffened considerably (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/106_BusyApproach.jpg). Once through the gates, a complicated strategy was put in place to deal with the Iron Maiden cast by the Oblivion Knights. Pratham's Strength War Spear was packed away and the elemental damage Trident substituted. Casting Confuse deflected the OK's castings somewhat, although this usually resulted in a Curse Duel between Balboa and the 'Knights - costly in terms of mana and blue pots. When the Knights' support was eliminated, Balboa had to take steps (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/107_OKsTrapped.jpg)to ensure that the exposed OKs were not able to get away.
After initial success, the sheer weight of numbers took its toll on Pratham, who needed several revives. At one point, our group had to flee a large number of Venom Lords. Balboa looked back ... and Rusty was gone, spirited away it seemed. The golemancer cursed his luck and portalled home.

A different strategy was required. A new Malice Rusty was created, Pratham was dismissed with heartfelt thanks and Paige the Rogue was welcomed to the team. Balboa was confident that this was the way to beat the OKs and their minions.
Paige received a baptism of fire - and bone spirits. There were just too many Venom Lords (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/109_ManyVenomLords.jpg); even when they were Confused, we had to flee back towards the entrance to the Sanctuary. Whenever a bottleneck area presented itself, we turned and made a stand (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/110_Bottlenecking.jpg). This proved to be an oft-repeated tactic. When the OK Boss (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/111_OKBoss.jpg)came up against us, we fought it for a long time - he was one tough customer.
The first two Seals opened to us and the Grand Vizier (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/112_GrandVizier.jpg)was dealt with, although that proved a little difficult - he could hit very hard and Balboa's Confuse and Attract curses seemed to have little effect upon his minions. Random Venom Lords and their bosses (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/113_VenomBoss.jpg)meant we had little respite from battle. De Seis' crew backed us up to the point where we could retreat no further. The Decrepify curse (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/114_DeSeisCrew.jpg)was all that stood between Rusty and destruction. Lord De Seis himself (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/115_LordDeSeis.jpg)was very strong but again, Decrepify tamed him.

The final two Seals stood between us and a powerful evil. The reputation of the Infector of Souls was fearsome and Balboa gave some thought to surviving the encounter. The answer - cast a Town Portal, open the last Seal and run through the Portal. Discretion before valour indeed, but the tactic worked. Balboa led us back through the River Waypoint and to the Sanctuary. When we met up with the Infector, we weren't trapped in a dead end and this was just as well. We ended up running for our lives.
When we turned to meet the charging Venom Lord minions, even when employing the bottleneck approach, Rusty alone could not stand against the swift strength of these savage creatures (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/116_Infector1.jpg). We portalled out, as Balboa had a contingency plan. Paige was dismissed and Razan, a desert merc with Holy Freeze (just as with Pratham before him) joined us. When we returned to meet the Infector, things went very much our way (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/117_Infector2.jpg).

It was with this configuration that we hoped to slay Diablo, the Malice Golem and the Holy Freeze mercenary with the Strength War Spear.
We ran towards the giant pentacle hoping to engage the demon before he loosed his lightning or his fire. Balboa cast Decrepify and the two fighters engaged the huge creature (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/118_Diablo1.jpg).
It was quite a battle but Balboa felt in control throughout. There were a few, perhaps three, trips back to town to re-stock potions. One of these trips was slightly mis-timed and Razan didn't make it, requiring a revive from Tyrael. However, in time, the Crushing Blow from Razan and the Open Wounds of Rusty wore Diablo down (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/119_Diablo2.jpg)and suddenly, it was all over. We had won!
Our rewards were some rare items that were later sold, plus an ethereal Lenymo sash and an Arcanna's Head skull cap. Tyrael transported us to Harrogath where we now wait and plan the road ahead.

Stats
134 Stats and 11 Skill points unspent - excellent
Razan is Level 64 but I am confident he will level up fairly quickly. His armour is 2os Ancient Armour with two pTopazes. I'm looking for something better.
Quick recap of Skills - all Curses at 1 except LR = 0; 1 BA, 1 BW; GM 20, SR 1, CG 13, BG 12, IG 5, FG 1. I am considering a point in Bone Prison, as a means of trapping OKs and other non-cursable nasties. Hmmm ...

Slayer GumbyBalboa - Level 67, Act 5, Harrogath

[kykle]

Way to go so far... bone prison will be very weak with only 1 pt tho

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

A long day's adventuring today, so I'll limit myself to the edited highlights.
The Bloody Foothills required hit'n'run tactics as Death Maulers really hurt! Confuse, Dim Vision and Attract naturally all played a part in winning through.
Dac Farren took a while to pin down (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/120_DacFarren.jpg). Shenk and his horde were easily dealt with as they hadn't picked their ground (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/121_Shenk.jpg)very well. Eldritch spawned extra fast which meant having to keep a close eye on him (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/122_Eldritch.jpg)and his minions.
Speaking of minions, one of my least favourite areas are the fortifications in Act V. My minions always feel more threatened by doors and barricades than by the monsters that are beating them (and me) up. Drives me nuts. I ended up taking steps (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/123_StupidMinions.jpg)to curb this behaviour.

This little feature (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/124_DoubleTrouble.jpg)was a problem for a while, until I hit upon the tactic of circling around the back of the huts. Actually, I didn't know what trouble was until Threshsocket seemed to two-shot my Malice Rusty. One minute, he was fine (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/125_DamnUThresh.jpg), the next Rusty was gone. Rats.
I had fortunately kept a Steel weapon in the stash just in case, and the new Rusty seemed to be doing very well (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/126_RustySteel.jpg). He even survived the first rush of monsters (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/127_FrozenRiver.jpg)in the Frozen River, but unfortunately, I got distracted keeping myself and the merc alive - and my second Iron Golem of the day was lost. Not good. Not good at all.
Lacking a reasonable alternative, Gumby made a return and helped in the defeat of Frozenstein (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/128_Frozenstein.jpg). It was amazing how many creatures Gumby can tank - I could almost forget about him. With the CG's Slow, the Merc's HF and Decrepify, even Vile Lancers appeared to crawl.
A rare axe with suitable, if unexciting, mods appeared from some random monster, and another Rusty was created. This version's damage couldn't outstrip monster healing and so was rejected for another rare axe with slightly better mods:
Raven Slayer
Balanced Axe
Throw Damage: 12 to 15
One-Hand Damage: 5 to 10
Axe Class - Fast Attack Speed
+155 to Attack Rating
Adds 1-4 fire damage
Adds 1-54 lightning damage
+100 poison damage over 6 seconds
+1 to Mana After Each Kill
He was capable of contributing (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/129_ClawVipers.jpg)but he isn't a serious contender. I have prepared a couple of War Scythes for the next session, with runes for Strength and Malice on standby.

I have the Glacial Trail WP in my possession, plus a portal to Nihlathak, so it's game-on.

Stats & Chats
149 Stats and 14 Skill points unused - Rusty looks vulnerable sometimes, there's one one or two monster types that can really hurt him. May have to spend a few points somewhere ...
Balboa has found a total of three Fal runes now - he has better luck than my Summonancer ever did!
Blood Lords and Moon Lords, especially Champions, are some of the toughest critters we've met to date. Starting to think about the Ancients now, can Rusty tank one or two of them? Decrepify FTW perhaps? Hmmm ...

In answer ...
@kykle - thanks!
BP with 1 point and +skills will be weak, but I don't use BP or BW as a permanent structure. Sometimes the obstruction just needs to last a second to do its job - it can be a big help in crowd control and manipulation.

Slayer GumbyBalboa - Level 70, Act 5, Glacial Trail

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

(I've played so much D2 over the past couple of days, the addiction is in full flow :grin: )

Progress through the Ancient's Way was punctuated by attacks from Moon Lords. Bosses and Champions are especially dangerous, and required multi-cursing with Decrepify and Attract (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/130_MoonLords.jpg). Rusty and Razan were able to tank the normal 'Lords one to one or two on two, but they really needed help from Balboa's curses in the face of anything stronger.
We took a detour through the Icy Cellar, where Balboa really needed his wits about him. You develop a sixth sense in the presence of Gloams (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/131_IcyGloams.jpg). Against Champion Gloams, Dim Vision is useless - Balboa used whatever cover (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/132_ChampionGloam.jpg)he could find to weather their attacks. Where no cover was available, Decrepify seemed to tame (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/133_DecrepifyGloams.jpg) these dangerous creatures.
Snapchip Shatter and his crew were a powerful foe, but Amp Dam and Attract (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/134_Snapchip.jpg) enabled our victory.

Having cleared the Ancient's Way, Balboa's thoughts turned to Nihlathak - perhaps the traitor should be dealt with before braving the Ancients. The garden of Pindleskin is a dangerous place to loiter if you have no easy way to dispose of the corpses before they re-animate. The tactic we used was to draw all the corpses off to one side and deal with them there. We then ran to the entrance to the Temple and defeated Pindleskin before any of the enemies outside could get back to us. The last thing Balboa wanted was to be trapped between two powerful forces - the little plan worked like a charm.
The Temple itself was entirely clear of re-animating dead, for which we were all heartily grateful. It made the huge labyrinth much more enjoyable (if that is the right word to use!). Returned (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/135_Returned.jpg), Temple Guards (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/136_TempleGuards.jpg), Infidels (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/137_Infidels.jpg), Grotesques (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/138_Grotesques.jpg)and Flayers (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/139_Flayers.jpg)made up the majority of opposition we faced. At one point, Balboa narrowly avoided a serious mistake - tipping over an Evil Urn (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/140_EvilUrn.jpg)at the wrong moment could prove fatal. Numerous encounters with Hell Temptresses (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/141_HellTemptresses.jpg)were managed through the use of Dim Vision.

Balboa's idea for dealing with Nihlathak was to be ultra-careful and elaborate. His minions were teased a safe distance out from the traitor's lair one, two or three at a time. This perhaps excessively cautious approach paid dividends. The traitor had spawned with a disagreeable mod (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/142_Nihlathak.jpg), but lacking all but a couple of corpses to raise or explode, he fell to Decrepify, Rusty and Razan very easily.

Nothing now stands between us and the Worldstone Keep ... ah, except the small matter of the Ancients.

Stats & Chats
164 Stats and 8 Skill Points unspent. I'm tempted to spend some stats on Vitality, as a couple of hits from Temple Guards was enough to smash my Bone Armour and halve my HP. I'm S/C but I'm playing the game like it's H/C so caution is key.
In preparation for the today's trials, I'd maxed out Blood Golem, in an effort to beef up Rusty. The Iron Golem had been looking vulnerable recently ... I was also going to max Clay Golem, to achieve an AR boost for Rusty, but the Pet Calculator indicated a rather modest increase for the seven point investment. In view of this, I am holding on to the points as I may want them for DV in WSK and Hell (if I get there).
The Calculator shows that Rusty is at HP 4522 and AR 2502. I don't know what the Defence value is except for what the LCS shows: 560. Yikes. Maybe I need to max out IG instead! It's in the skill plan, but not until later on ... may need a re-think.
Quick re-cap of skills: 1 in all curses except LR. BA/BW 1 each. GM 20, SR 1, CG 13, BG 20, IG 6, FG 1. I may need to rob a point from the planned DV allocation and place it in LR - PIs in Hell that cannot be broken worry me a little as I get closer!

Notable drop: Grim's Burning Dead - nice, but useless to this build.

Slayer GumbyBalboa - Level 73, Act 5, Arreat Summit

[kykle]

cant wait to see the ancients battle :)

[Jaquiezz]

I must say I'm impressed- not only that you've made it this far, but by your documentation. Very well organized and worded.

Why not use Grims for a Rusty? Would give him some really nice damage (Fire damage as well)

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

@kykle - myself, I could wait a little while longer but I've no excuses to put it off. :grin:

@Jaquizz - thanks very much!
Grim's wouldn't make a very effective Rusty (compared to the Malice or Strength runewords). especially in Hell with all the Fire Immunes - but it might make a decent Elemental pole for the merc if we meet a Physical Immune that Amp Dam cannot break ... hmm ... worth a try, perhaps! Thanks for the idea. :thumbsup:

[Feonn]

Still in the inner-cloister? I check this thread every 3 days :(

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Still in the inner-cloister? I check this thread every 3 days :(


Er ... last time I checked, I was about to encounter the Ancients in Nightmare!
Are you looking at a cached version of this thread?

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

In preparation for the Ancients, Balboa wanted a couple of back-up plans. He prepared the ingredients for a Strength Iron Golem plus a hurty stick with ED jewels inserted. It seemed likely that more than one Rusty would be required to best the Ancients.

We needn't have worried. Talic spawned Extra Fast but he merely danced ineffectually in and out of the battle. On the other hand, Korlic was physically immune, but the unpleasant surprise was that the PI couldn't be broken by Decrepify nor even by Amp Dam. We had to settle for Decrepifying the Three and allowing Malice Rusty's Open Wounds to bring Korlic down slowly (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/143_Korlic.jpg)- very slowly. Once he fell, Talic was very quickly dealt with, which left only Madawc to deal with. The third Ancient had spent almost the entire battle Holy Frozen and Decrepified and he'd hardly moved. When we turned our attention (and Amp Dam, too) onto him, he tried to flee, leaving a trail of blood (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/144_Madawc.jpg) behind him. He was soon overcome by a golem and a merc that had suffered barely a scratch throughout the battle on the Summit!

Any over-confidence we had as a result of our success was gradually eroded in the Worldstone Keep. Things started well enough, with the two fighters entirely capable of handling the Vile Witches (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/145_VileWitches.jpg)that infested the first level. Unfortunately, the team suffered a setback when a mixed group of Witches and Champion Death Lords overwhelmed Rusty - yes, we had lost another Malice golem! We re-grouped, and the backup Strength golem joined the team. Once again, I was left with the impression that Strength in a golem is less effective than the Malice version, which seems strange as surely CB is better than OW for damage? Balboa will have to ponder this puzzle.

Level 2 was easy enough, with Horadric Ancients and Skelemages (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/146_SkelesAncient.jpg)making up the majority of the opposition - although there were some unpleasant exceptions (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/147_BlackSoul.jpg). Occasionally, a Black Soul would wonder off over the precipices near the stairs, beyond the reach of merc or golem. Terror was effective in moving the 'Soul back into areas where the fighters could engage.

The reception on Level 3 was, frankly, too much for us. Ghosts, Hell Temptresses, Doom Knights and Oblivion Knights rushed us within a couple of seconds of coming out of the stairwell. An emergency portal was needed to escape as the Iron Maidened Rusty came within a hair's breadth of dying. We re-grouped in Harrogath and took the Waypoint back to the WSK.
This time, Balboa readied his Confuse and Attract curses to try to disrupt the charge, but the OKs overwrote those curses (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/148_Everybody.jpg)and we were soon driven back up the stairs. Razan's health had dropped to the point where I couldn't even see a sliver on his bar. This was getting ridiculous!
Round Three saw Balboa with Dim Vision and Terror prepared, to try and buy some time and hopefully drive the majority of creatures back, to obtain a foothold. This time the onslaught was so swift and so fierce, a good five-sixths of Balboa's own health was taken in the wink of an eye. Retreat was the only option.

We now sit in Harrogath, disconsolately considering our options (of which there appear to be precisely one).

Stats and Gripes
169 Stats and 9 Skill points unspent
The battle with the Ancients would have been a failure had Open Wounds not been available from my Iron Golem. That said, the decision to use Malice was a deliberate one as I was aware of the danger of an unbreakable PI Ancient.

However, my miscalculation on Lvl 3 WSK is a serious setback - I completely failed to get some distance between myself and the stairs, which meant that I was always going to be vulnerable to a stairtrap situation if I lost the first battle. This is exactly what has happened. I should have immediately run from the stairwell and on into the Level, as the TP I cast initially was far too close to the stairs. Now, I can make no further progress on this map and will have to re-roll it. By one measurement at least (i.e. my personal rule of full-clear, single pass) the experiment has failed here. However, I'm going to blame this on my inexperience and a certain amount of over-confidence, rather than on a weakness of the build and so will proceed. What a bitter disappointment though! I won't be making this mistake again anytime soon.

Slayer GumbyBalboa - Level 74, Act 5, Worldstone Keep Level 3

[kykle]

Shame about WSK3 - good job on ancients though :)

[SpeedySlicer]

CB takes 12.5% of their health which of 800-1300 is 100-162.5 damage.
These are approximations of Succubus healths.

Open wounds is based on character level so likely it is based on your level of course and not the golems.

Spareing you the math and formula You at lvl 74 do 196.8 damage a second via open wounds over an 8 second duration it does 1571 damage aswell as makeing them unable to regenerate health.

So till enemies get higher health open wounds actually does more damage then crushing blow, But it will only do half that damage on Boss Monsters therefore crushing blow is better for Baal and Uniques.

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

@kykle - thanks :cry:

@SpeedySlicer - thanks for the explanation. I had guessed that something like this was the case but it's nice to get a better understanding of the game mechanics behind what I see.

Oh well, onwards and upwards ...

[rickcarson]

A maxxed dim vision would be incredibly helpful, allowing your golem to work at his own pace through the fray.

Dim Vision + Iron Golem does indeed work quite well.

[rickcarson]

CB takes 12.5% of their health which of 800-1300 is 100-162.5 damage.
These are approximations of Succubus healths.

Open wounds is based on character level so likely it is based on your level of course and not the golems.

Spareing you the math and formula You at lvl 74 do 196.8 damage a second via open wounds over an 8 second duration it does 1571 damage aswell as makeing them unable to regenerate health.

So till enemies get higher health open wounds actually does more damage then crushing blow, But it will only do half that damage on Boss Monsters therefore crushing blow is better for Baal and Uniques.

You are assuming that the Golem hits frequently with the Crushing Blow (approx 1/second). If the Golem hits infrequently (for instance, if the monsters have high block or the Golems attack rating sucks?) then Open Wounds may be better?

[SpeedySlicer]

I'm assumeing that they both hit once a second. But true if the golem hit infrequently the duration of OW would work alot better then CB. However his golems seem to have a high enough ar to keep hitting at a good chance. Besides if I looked at it without a standard hit a second ratio it would be alot harder to calculate.

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

The reception on the third level was once again instant and unfriendly. Strength Rusty and Razan engaged the mixed group of Fire Boars, Lasher-types and Doom Knights - the Oblivion Knights naturally hung back. A brief curse duel ensued, with Balboa's Confuse being over-written time and again. Once the OKs had Decrepified their own Confused allies, Balboa judged the time to be right (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/149_ColdReception.jpg)and broke away from the stairwell. Fleeing blindly down corridors is not a comfortable experience and countless enemies, among them Flayers, were woken up. Balboa simply could not find a quiet corner of the dungeon in which to make a stand - Razan fell to Iron Maiden and Rusty was losing health at an alarming rate. Desperate measures were called for so the decision to "go cheesy" was made ... a TP was made and Balboa and Rusty slipped through it and escaped.
Once in town, Balboa arranged for Rusty to be repaired and Razan revived. We returned to the WSK via the WP and the stairs down and basically repeated the exercise (but without Razan dying). I think in the end it took four attempts of descending the stairs, running down corridors and TP'ing out when we were overwhelmed before we managed to clear (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/150_SomeSuccess.jpg)the stairwell area. Further into the Level, Flayers, DKs and OKs made our lives very hard. The Bone Wall trick (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/151_DKOK.jpg)is handy for holding OKs in place, though.
The entire level was cleared in the end and the stairs down to the Throne of Destruction located. Hell Temptresses and Vile Witches made for a rather tactical game of hide and seek (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/152_SinSkin.jpg). At some point during this game, Strength Rusty vanished. Most irritating, as his Crushing Blow was being counted on to beat Baal. Malice was prepared and to be honest, Balboa thought that this would be a better bet against Baal's minions. Razan's CB alone would have to suffice for Baal.
All too soon, the rest of the level was cleared and only the Throne Room itself remained. Colenzo (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/153_Colenzo.jpg) and his crew were surprisingly strong and required Decrepifying. The battle with Achmel and his fellow Ancient Horadrim was an epic in itself. It was necessary to draw as many troops as possible off to one side and then suddenly strike at the exposed leaders one at a time. Confuse, Dim Vision and Decrepify were the curses used to control the mob - once Achmel was isolated (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/154_Achmel.jpg)and engaged, we knew we'd win.
Bartuc and his minions were a different matter. Their attacks were too strong to resist and we were driven from the Throne Room. The time-honored tradition of teasing out Council Members away from their comrades one or two at a time was observed and as ever, proved successful (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/155_Bartuc.jpg). A similar tactic was needed against Ventar and Co (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/156_Ventar.jpg).
At long last, only the Minions of Destruction stood between us and their Master. In spite of Balboa's foreboding, the Minions meekly strode up to Razan and Rusty in twos and threes and once Decrepified (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/157_Minions.jpg), offered little challenge. Even Lister himself (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/158_Lister.jpg)fell with little drama.

When finally we followed Baal through to the Worldstone Chamber, his reaction was to instantly create a clone of himself. Very shortly after that, his tentacles were thrust up through the ground at us. Balboa cast his Decrepify, Malice Rusty engaged the tentacles whilst Razan tanked the two Baals. Once Rusty was free, he re-joined Razan and set to work (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/159_SeingDouble.jpg)... Baal's clone was soon destroyed. Baal himself, Decrepified and Holy Frozen, moved sluggishly and although he cast the occasional spell (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/160_BaalSlow.jpg), he had no answer for the two fighters. The end was a while coming but it was inevitable (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/161_BaalEnd.jpg).

Meet Champion GumbyBalboa the Golemancer (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/162_Champion.jpg)!

Stats, etc
174 Stats and 1 Skill point unallocated
In readiness for WSK Throne, I'd allocated all of my Skill points to max out CG and raise IG up to Lvl8, thus raising Rusty's AR and Def.
Rather foolishly, and because I was excited at having beaten Baal, I decided last night to finish the Cows as well. What a nightmare that was! I was completely swamped by bovines and very swiftly lost my Malice Rusty. Had to TP out and portal back in, this time with a Rusty with ED Jewels in a 4-soc Battle Axe or similar. He faired no better so next was a Rare Cinquedas with Cold, Poison and Nova on Striking. He got eaten too. FCOL, I've beaten Baal, how hard can some cows be? Having run out of Rusty items, I used CG until a suitable Magic item dropped - can't remember hat it was, something with ED anyway. The cow level was a slog that seemed to go on for hours. I was so tired that I found myself casting repeat AmpDams from time to time as my finger rested sleepily on the mouse button. Somehow, I survived, and killed every single cow except for the King himself. Ha!
Here's a screenie (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/162_Cows.jpg)which was the only one I remembered to take. One compensation for all the effort was the amount of runes Ithat dropped: Dol, Shael, Sol, 3x Ort, Ral, Ith, Nef, Eld, El. Amazing!
Now it's time to plan for Hell - un-stashing charms for resists, considering how many stats points to spend in Vitality, seeing if I have any better gear stashed away that I'd not needed in NM and have forgotten about, etc. Oh, and a decision about the /players setting. Will I be able to continue at P8? We'll see.

Champion GumbyBalboa - Level 75, Act 1, Rogue Encampment

[kykle]

you many want to make rusty out of armor.. his damage will be slightly lower but it makes him into a very powerful tank, with the possibilities of extra hit recovery and resistances that arent normally found on weapons

congrats on baal :P

[Ed from Russia]

Awesome! Persistance pays off.

[dutes]

Awesome! Congratulations, onto Hell. Who cares if you had to reload once, what you've done is still amazing. And still without a death, good luck on hell although you're not going to need it :rolleyes:

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

@kykle - thanks!
I've considered armour as the base for Rusty but something stops me. The golem is meant to be more than a mere tank for this build, otherwise a CG would be more than adequate. I need to make Rusty from powerful weapons - high damage, CB, OW, enormous elemental damage etc - for simple reason that I want this to be a golemmancer, not a merc-mancer. The golem has to be doing 50% percent of the work, or as near as I can make it. If I had the courage of my convictions, I wouldn't use a merc, but I want to finish the build before old age stops me! I compromise on the merc issue by using a Holy Freeze Act 2 merc rather than a Might merc. I may need to swap to a Defiance merc as some point, depends upon how bad Hell is. I don't know which will be better as yet.

@Ed from Russia - cheers mate. Persistence and caution are key for this build.

@ dutes - many thanks for that, my confidence took a knock I must say. In Hell I will need lots of luck and maybe a miracle or two. Preparations have been made thus:
- my Save has been moved from my Laptop to my PC, as I don't think I'll be able to S&E between sessions anymore - the small amount of re-running I sometimes have to do after I find a WP and save for the night will be probably be too much, even at P1.
- I've allocated 50 pts to Vitality, my Life is now 711 (more than my botched Lvl 93 Summonancer!)
- A Strength Rusty (from a War Scythe) is in place for when I start Hell, with a Malice Executioner Sword in reserve. I must find some more socketables ...
- I've re-jigged equipment to maximise my resistances as far as possible.
First I used my Hel rune to remove the two chipped emeralds I stuck in my +3 DV/+2 BA Zombie Head in Act 1 Normal :grin: and stuck two pDiamonds for some all over resists. Next I changed my Belt from Nightsmoke to a rare Sharkskin belt with LR 28% and FR 24%, plus four rows for potions! :grin:
Finally, I played around with my store of Charms.
Best switch resists are F80, C22, L80, P78. Not too shabby! Need some more CR for the CEs though ...

I remember the culture shock I suffered the first time I went from Nightmare to Hell - I hope I'm ready for it!

[sirwhere]

go gumby go!!!

[zarfen]

Oh, this thread has sneaked by unnoticed by me. I must say Great Achievement so far :thumbsup:

The time I tried for a golem mancer I made a goelm/mage hybrid which failed horribly.

Keep it up and good luck in hell :grin:

[dutes]

I remember the culture shock I suffered the first time I went from Nightmare to Hell - I hope I'm ready for it!

I'm hearing you there, just got my first ever character to hell (a lvl 76 Zealot Paladin) and after breezing through nm, knocking baal off with laughable ease and then... 3 deaths in the den of evil :shocked: needless to say i switched down from players 8 but its still a huge jump from nm.

[Kirah]

Clap! Clap! Bravo for making it this far! The NM to HELL switch is quite the shock, and I'm glad to see you have a bunch of resists charms in the stash in preparation for the switch over. With the ladder reset, I'm back to playing untwinked hardcore ladder with my favorite starting character the fishy with mages to rebuild up the wealth again. I have to say, I've really enjoyed the reading and you've been very thorough in your documenting with screen captures!

kudos to you!
Good luck and good hunting!
Kirah

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Balboa felt he was as prepared as he could be for what was awaiting him outside of the Rogue Encampment. I had my doubts ... guess who was right.

Just outside the gate, we met a boss with Fanaticism and that was almost curtains for us. We ran back to the camp and thought awhile. The plan this time was to Terror away the minions and attack the boss on his own - aside from a moment when I thought we were going to lose Rusty, this worked well (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/001_Welcome2Hell.jpg).
Our first fight in Hell and it was already like an Act Boss encounter! There was more to come - every band of monsters seemed to have its own tinpot dictator (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/002_AuraRUs.jpg) with its own brand of aura. Then, the biggie - a boss that we simply could not hurt (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/003_FullStop.jpg). Crushing Blow on merc and golem and we could not take more than a tenth of Seethe Break's life before it healed. Stalemate. We parked the physically immune monster for the moment and moved on.
There were plenty of challenges (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/004_MoreChallenges.jpg). Spike Fiend (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/005_SpikeFiend.jpg)type monsters made Razan's life hell, the poison really disagreed with him. These encounters allowed Balboa to determine one thing - Strength Rusty was not cutting it and would have to go.
Returning to the encampment, we created a new Rusty from a Rondel that had Poison damage over 5 seconds. Maybe this would interfere with Seethe Break's healing? The answer was a resounding "No", Poison Rusty was totally ineffectual. Finally, Balboa returned to the good old standby, Malice. We returned to the "unkillable" zombie boss and ... proceeded to kill him (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/006_NowIGotYou.jpg)!

Buoyed by our success, we located the Den of Evil and descended. The response was nearly overwhelming, but Terror and Decrepify (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/007_Den.jpg)came to our aid. The two fighters (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/008_TwoFighters.jpg)seemed to grow in stature as we travelled ever deeper underground. Even the Shamans (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/009_DivideConquer.jpg) easily fell to the intrepid duo.
A running battle ensued with Corpsefire and his minions, with attack and retreat being the successful tactic against this powerful foe (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/010_Corpsefire.jpg). I'm glad he wasn't Stoneskinned! In no time (ahem), the Den was cleared.

Proceeding on into the Cold Plains, we fought Dark Spearswomen and Hunters (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/011_WhatADrop.jpg), one of which dropped a true treasure - Atma's Wail. Good defence and FHR, Razan was a picture of delight when he put it on.
The final climactic battle of the day was against Bishibosh and his hoard. We drew his troops away to the South, then swung around to the North-West to strike at the boss himself (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/012_Bishibosh.jpg). With him dead, the Shamans fell next and finally the stragglers. A good days work.

Stats and Stuff
129 Stats and 3 Skill points spare - DV and IG will be the main competitors for points from now.
Good grief, this took hours. I wonder if I will have the willpower to keep this up at P8? Further compromises may have to be made - might merc? Hmm ...

In a strange (read, masochistic) way, I'm finding the challenge of Hell fascinating. Be warned though, it is very slow going.

(This has been a long update for what amounts to a fairly small degree of progress, in which I have attempted to provide a taste of the difficulty faced by this build in Hell. I'll try to be briefer in future!)

Replies
@sirwhere - he's going, he's going! :grin:

@zarfen - good to see you visiting here from the SPF. Many thanks!

@dutes - it is a big, BIG jump. Fortunately, nothing is easy for this build so Hell wasn't the big shock it might have been :wink:

@Kirah - thanks very much! I've only ever played untwinked, but with ATMA as a stash, you have so many options. However, now that I am Save and Exiting more infrequently, my opportunities for retrieving gear from ATMA are limited. Shifting the gear off the character is simple with hot muling, getting it back on again requires a S&E!

Champion GumbyBalboa - Level 76, Act 1, The Cave (in Cold Plains)

[dutes]

Looks like Malice Rusty is the way to go at higher difficulties, great work getting as far as you have. Like I said before my Zealot couldn't make it out of the Den of Evil without a death and he was the same level as you. Great work, as for the length of the update... if you can, please keep up that level of detail it makes it very enjoyable to read :thumbsup:

[Ishmayl]

(This has been a long update for what amounts to a fairly small degree of progress, in which I have attempted to provide a taste of the difficulty faced by this build in Hell. I'll try to be briefer in future!)

Please, don't be briefer! Your story-telling is wonderful; I much prefer your updates when they're in storybook format, as opposed to just brief descriptions and text. Looking forward to the next one.

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Baboa glanced around the dreary Rogue Encampment. His gaze also took in his companions, a shiny Malice Iron Golem and a haggard and worn mercenary - much more at home in the Deserts, by the look of him. "It's not much, but it will have to do", he thought to himself and - for perhaps the thousandth time in his career, he asked himself why he had slept through the skeleton raising lessons back at the Necromancer College (a.k.a. The Unearthed University).

We stepped through the Waypoint into the Cold Plains and made our way to The Cave. Once underground, we drew upon our experiences in the Den of Evil to good effect. Minions and bosses alike fell to our curses (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/013_SteelSpell.jpg)and of course, the two fighters. Crushing Blow and Open Wounds make for a very complementary joint attack. We were jolted out of our routine by Coldcrow, who demanded a lot of time, patience and craftiness to subdue. Balboa cast Attract on one of the minions to draw Clodcrow's fire - her arrows did extraordinary amounts of damage - Dim Vision on the other minions to take them out of the equation and then Decrepify on Coldcrow herself to try to hold her in position for the two fighters to engage. This worked well except when the Attracted minion decided to take a powder and run off - whereupon the carefully crafted strategy would collapse like a house of cards. The battle raged across half of the length of the first level - at one point Balboa wondered if they were going to be driven from the Cave. After what seemed like hours but was probably only (!) ten minutes, only Coldcrow and a single minion (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/014_Coldcrow.jpg)remained. It didn't take long after that.
Many of the other bosses (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/015_BlightFester.jpg)we encountered were tough in their own ways. It was shortly after meeting Blight Fester that Rusty disappeared without trace. A portal was needed to return to base and to raise another Malice. Balboa raged inwardly, the strain obvious in his face but we pressed on. The second level of The Cave was located and cleansed.

I reminded Balboa of a pressing matter in the Rogue's ancestral Burial Grounds - the snappishness of the Necromancer's response betrayed his concern and unease. I was informed of the plan to deal with Blood Raven - circle the grounds to pick off any stray monsters, then strike hard and fast against the turned Rogue. Any undead that tried to interfere would be Terrored away. A simple plan, and the best ones always are.
Almost always - Balboa tried every trick he knew to pin down the Demon Rogue whilst holding back the hoards of undead she raised. With "My army will destroy you" ringing in his ears, Balboa led the charge only to be driven back by sheer weight of numbers. We attempted to draw the zombies away to the South and race back around to the North, trying always to isolate Blood Raven. Attract, Confuse, Bone Wall, Decrepify, every trick in the book was attempted. Slowly (but not so surely!) Blood Raven was hurt as the battle raged for perhaps an hour. The mercenary needed reviving more than once, we ran out of potions several times ... it was a war of attrition. Another Rusty was lost as well, such was the fury of the battle. Balboa's third and last available Malice was prepared and we hurled ourselves back into the fray. At one point, we thought we had all but won (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/016_BloodRaven1.jpg)the struggle, only to be once again overwhelmed by the undead army. And then, unexpectedly, having once more cleared the grounds of stray undead, we happened upon the former Rogue in an ideal position. Ichor gushed from her many wounds and, try as she might, she could not escape (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/017_BloodRaven2.jpg). We had beaten her. Savage joy!

Balboa allowed us very little rest after the most difficult battle imaginable. He was determined to rescue some old fellow called Cain - I think Akara has some kind of hold over our leader, he always seems to follow her suggestions. In any event, we needed to locate an Underground Passage. "Terrific, more underground adventures", I said to Razan, who merely glared at me. The mercenary has beem acting oddly recently, standing around moodily when there's fighting to be done, or charging into battle when Balboa sounds a retreat. Stupid spear-boy. Anyway ...
We located the passage, and that's when things went well and truly squirrely. The entire Carver nation (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/018_Carvers.jpg)appeared to be down that hole - yet they were tamed with Confuse with little damage done to our side. The Misshapen we encountered were cut from a very different cloth - Confuse held them back (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/019_Misshapen.jpg)for a few minutes but when the dam burst, we were swept back before the flood. Razan was for some reason very vulnerable to these creatures and required several revives back at base. We were getting pushed back, dangerously close to the entrance, but Balboa's tactics of Attract, Decrepify, Dim Vision and use of landscape features won through in the end. I have to hand it to that Necro sometimes ... though I'll never tell him that. Unfortunately, after the main danger had been met and defeated, and whilst searching for the passage's second level, our last Rusty was lost in the maze. There are few sights I can recall that have affected me as deeply as Balboa's show of rage when he realised what he'd lost. A brief experiment with a fire golem was tried but with many fire immunes in the Passage, it was never going to work. Welcome back, Gumby!
The second level was effectively a stair trap. It was nearly a disaster as well, with both mercenary and necromancer barely escaping back up the stairs with their lives. Balboa decided he would put off a return visit for later in the day. Yeah, right. Discretion is the better part of getting your *** handed to you on a plate.

The other side of the passage led to a Wood, populated by Spike Fiends, Carvers, Vile Hunters and Brutes, plus other assorted nasties. Chief amongst these was Treehead Woodfist and his minions. We encountered them shortly after we found a scroll which made Balboa rather excited. Treehead himself was, no other word for it, handled. Gumby held him in place, Balboa AmpDamaged him and cast Terror at his minions, whilst Razan put the hurt upon him. Worked liked a dream (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/020_Treehead.jpg). Eventually we cleared the woods of enemies and found the Dark Wood waypoint, and I thought we were done for the day. Balboa, with righteous fury in his eyes, lead us back to the Underground Passage. Oh no, I thought, not that.

Balboa was stocked up with red and blue potions and led us down the Passage to the second level. When we stepped out from the stairs, we were swamped (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/021_UPStairTrap.jpg). Balboa's nerve held and he spammed Decrepify and Terror onto the hoard that were pressed up against us. Decrepify slowed the bosses and Terror drove back their minions and, somehow, we survived the onslaught. I cannot express my astonishment at that simple fact.

We are resting up now as Balboa says he has an important date next with some high-born girly he's heard about. Yeah, right.

Stats and such
139 Stats and 5 Skill points unspent - the Skills are likely going to be needed for DV for Gloams, assuming I survive to Act 3. Hah, I'm not going to make it past Andariel if I stay at P8. The pressure to lower the /players setting is growing - kill speeds are slo-o-ow.

I am nearly out of Malice runes and out of half-way decent 3os weapons. Losing Malice Rustys is driving me mad - three in one day, FCOL! It's not as if they're getting killed, most of the time. The ones in Balboa's stash now are just about the bottom of the barrel.

Skills check: 1 in all Curses except LR, 1 each in BA/BW, 20 each in GM, CG and BG, 8 in IG, 1 each in FG and SR. Still using the Wands and Heads picked up or shopped in Normal difficulty!

Champion GumbyBalboa - Level 78, Act 1, Dark Wood

[Fists of War]

Congrats on the current progress, it must hard to have the self-determination not to break your self-imposed rules...

I was trying a similar build in classic Diablo 2, singleplayer...but twinked with all +skill gear. As IG's in classic are next to impossible to use well (they disappear after games) I used a fire golem. My skill allocation was max fire golem, max mages, max golem mastery, 15 or so points in skelly mastery, with the rest in random bone skills/curses (including a total of level 10 lower resist).

I must say that it's very fun just starting off in hell and trying to get the kill with Fire Golem and lower res...considering he only does around 750-800 fire damage. But once I get my 11 mages, I can kinda kill in Hell. Solo NM chaos sancuary was fun as well. Some hard differences in classic are
- no viable merc, no merc at all in A4
- hard to get good items for Sparky
- Mr. IG doesn't stay around between games
- NO summons or mercs stick around between act changes

Still fun, many would argue that it's unviable, but I know better :P

[dutes]

Great update Loz, this thread has inspired me to try my own Golemancer, although I've decided to play him twinked but still try for players 8 and single pass full clears. You're an inspiration :thumbsup:

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Balboa woke up in the night, having gone to sleep with the idea that he'd forgotten something. We discussed the issue briefly - it was a simple matter of reviewing our adventures to date. "Of course", said Balboa, "There's a Crypt and a Mausoleum in the burial grounds that we failed to give the once over." "Damn", I thought, hoping that these would remain over-looked. "We'll swing by the 'Grounds again before we go looking for the old duffer Akara mentioned and still have time to see the Countess." "Do what?", I thought, and then asked, "Did I just say that out loud?", but Balboa was already packing up his rucksack. Razan was already to go and Rusty was, well, you know, Rusty (it hadn't stopped raining in a while).

The Crypt was fairly taxing, I have to say. Razan simply could not tank the Hungry Dead that infested the tunnels, he needed help from Decrepify and the Iron Golem every time. That said, he tends to kill three monsters for every one that Rusty puts down, by and large. We found a Legend Sword down there with three free sockets - this will do very nicely for a Malice Rusty!
If the Crypt was taxing, the Mausoleum was Hell on Earth. So many zombie-type bosses (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/022_Mausoleum.jpg)- it took all of Balboa's guile to keep the merc alive (and even that wasn't enough on more than one occasion) and even Rusty struggled to survive on occasion.

We were glad to leave the 'Grounds, despite the Necromancer's natural affinity for graveyards - the memories of Blood Raven and of the tunnels beneath will haunt us for some time to come. We almost looked forward to creating the portal to the village of Tristram to pick up Cain. Unfortunately, Tristram was now populated by many Skeleton Archers, Moon Clan, Carvers and their Shamans. We had to work very hard indeed (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/023_CirclingTristram.jpg) to make progress. It was necessary to draw the hoards of Carvers off to the North East, away from the influence of the Shamans. Methodical, patient work all the way. We were thorough, as we didn't want to be surprised by any lingering monsters when we located Cain and looked for the former blacksmith, Griswold. Despite his fearsome reputation, Griswold turned out to be surprisingly easy to take down (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/024_LastManStanding.jpg). Cain made good his escape - you know, he didn't even have the courtesy to leave his Portal open for us, he just yelled over his shoulder that we should get lost, or something. Sheesh.
Just when you thought things couldn't get more surreal, Balboa knelt down by the side of a body and - I kid you not - took a wooden leg from the corpse and put it in his backpack. Words fail me.

Well, we put Cain's rudeness and Tristram's dreary ruination behind us and struck out for the Black Marsh. Brutes now ruled this land, in large bands with powerful leaders (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/025_BlackMarsh1.jpg). We were compensated for our trouble - a unique crossbow called Demon Machine. Balboa liked the look of it but it is well beyond his skill. Anyway, more Brutes followed, with Goat Clan followers (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/026_BlackMarsh2.jpg). Things gradually got worse, Black Hawks (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/027_BlackHawks.jpg)made our lives miserable. Then, light at the end of the tunnel - we'd searched the entire 'Marsh from end to end, and found the Waypoint next to the ruins of an old forgotten tower.

The first dungeon level of the tower was tricky, but manageable (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/028_FTLvl_1.jpg). Preparing for a stairtrap which didn't come, we descended to the second level, and were soon used for target practice by a boss Dark Archer and her minions. An elaborate and difficult game of chess ensued, we attempted to Dim Vision the minions and Decrepify the boss, but Blood Clan and Devilkin hampered our efforts. Razan and even Rusty were far from immune from the shafts of the archers - this was very dangerous. Many portals back to town were used to repair Rusty and heal Razan. Finally, we got there (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/029_TargetPractice.jpg), but it had been terribly hard. More archers followed, accompanied by Ghosts - a nasty combination (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/030_NastyPairing.jpg), but we cleared the second level. Interestingly, Rusty kills Ghosts faster than Razan.

My hand shakes as I attempt to relate the tale of the third level. We took our normal stairtrap preparations, with Decrepify and Terror primed and ready. Slowly, very slowly we descended the stairs - and into the most horrific stairtrap it has been my misfortune to see. Balboa managed to cast his Decrepify and Terror, and was nearly dead in that time, He managed to crawl up the stairs, shaken by the ferocity of the attack. There just hadn't been any time to take in what was happening - he found that his Rejuvenation potions were all gone, though he didn't remember drinking them. Red and blue potions were downed, Bone Armour recast, and - incredibly - Balboa ordered us down again. Was he mad?
Balboa spammed Terror and Decrepify again, and once again, we barely escaped with our lives. This time, we took in a few details - there were Ghosts, Devilkin and Blood Clan down there. A facing wall meant that the Terrored creatures were instantly rebounding back into the fight. Time and time again, Balboa descended the stairs in an incredible show of bravado and courage - and then, astonishingly - we found that there was space to move down there, that the monsters were not jam-packed in front of us. Balboa's Terror had been doing its job on the previous descents and now we could set to work, establishing a foothold (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/031_NervesRShot.jpg)on the level. I'd considered the situation hopeless, but Balboa had shown faith and fortitude.
When we finally turned the corner, we found where the Ghosts had gone - but we isolated them, one from the other (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/032_ThatsWhereTheyAre.jpg)and slew them one or two at a time. Further along on the third level, we encountered a particularly vicious Ghost (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/033_EvilDead.jpg)and his crew. We managed to split them up, which is essential when dealing with these awful things.

Nervous exhaustion meant that Balboa had to call a halt before we go any further - I think I know what we will be dreaming of tonight.

Stats and that ...
119 Stats and 6 Skill points spare - after the stairtrap on level three was dealt with, it suddenly occurred to me that I should put another 25 pts into Vitality. I sometimes wonder what I use for a brain. Life is up to 767 now.
I can safely say that this stairtrap was the very worst one I have ever survived. I've never felt so afraid while playing a game! :laughing:

I have level 4 and 5 of the Forgotten Tower to do yet - please, no more stairtraps! I hope the Countess can supply some useful runes - funnily enough, I need Iths and Eths more than anything higher but we'll see.

Some answers
@Fists of War - I think I really like under-powered builds, it's a different game when every single encounter has the potential to kill you. The control you need to keep yourself alive ... you don't know you're doing it until something comes along and gets you out of position. Then you realise just how much everything is hanging by a thread.

@dutes - thanks for that - but don't blame me if you go insane playing yours. You can't say you weren't warned. :grin:

Champion GumbyBalboa - Level 79, Act 1, The Forgotten Tower

[kertin$]

I love the narration of the story! Balboa is a mighty character :P

keep it up!

[kykle]

Surviving that stair trap more then makes up for the worldstone :) good job

[Ishmayl]

I've got to admit, it's getting harder and harder to wait for new "episodes" of this thread. I find myself checking about once an hour now to see if you've updated. Have you given any thought to trying out another character when you're done with this one? I could see you wanting to take a break from this style of gameplay, but it would be interesting to see some of the other typically non-feasible builds, such as Ranger paladins, dual-elemental druid, charged boltress, etc.

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

With a degree of trepidation, Balboa led us down the stairs to the fourth cellar level of the Tower. The sensation of anti-climax when we found the way before us clear was palpable, but we needn't have worried. A long, long running battle with ghosts in the corridor outside the stair room taxed us to the limit - a particularly strong boss and his minions drove us back (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/034_GhostBoss.jpg)to the stairs where Balboa was maintaining an emergency portal. We'd no sooner defeated the ghosts when a powerful band of Dark Archers assailed us - yet again, we were driven back to the stairs (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/035_DarkArcher.jpg)and - worse yet - Rusty was lost to them! We quickly returned to Camp and made a new Malice Rusty from the Legend Sword we'd found previously. Recharged, we broke the 'Archers eventually and then happened upon a Boss pack of Devilkin - although fearsome in demeanour (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/036_Devilkin.jpg), they were by comparison a trifling matter.
I was beginning to wonder if we were actually going to make it through to wherever it was the Countess was lurking but Balboa was confident. Well, he was until we found some stairs leading down to the fifth level. Sweat beaded across the Necromancer's forehead as we crept stealthily down the steps and into an ambush ... of four Devilkin (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/037_Level5.jpg). We laughed as we slew the paltry creatures.
After the trials and tribulations in the cellar levels, our meeting with the Countess and her retinue of Dark Stalkers was an almost trivial matter (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/038_Countess.jpg). Our reward for ending the Rogue Sisterhood's secret shame was reasonable (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/039_Loot.jpg).

Balboa deliberated for a time as to our next course of action - the cave in the Black Marsh known as "The Hole" or explore the Tamoe Highland. We all agreed that we'd had our fill of underground passages for the moment so the 'Highland was next. We were very soon up to our hips in Thorn Beasts (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/040_ThornBeasts.jpg)- the place was filthy with them. And with Skeletal Mages and Archers, too. Balboa was soon irritated by the hit'n'run tactics of the 'Mages - he took extreme (and oddly effective) measures (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/041_Mages.jpg) to counteract this behaviour. Even Boss Mages (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/042_BossMage.jpg)were subjected to the ignominy of this treatment. In remarkably good time, the 'Highland was cleared of all evil creatures, down to the last few stragglers (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/043_Straggler.jpg). We stopped at the Monastery Gate.

A rest is next, then we go pot-holing down The Hole. We can't wait. :shocked:

Stats and ... Bloody Windows
124 Stats and 7 Skill points spare - pressure is mounting to spend more points in DV as I am getting slightly owned by off-screen ranged enemies. The loss of a Rusty in the FT to archers was annoying but I was struggling to keep all the balls in the air and all the plates spinning. I cannot afford slow starts these days!

As part of the preparation for Hell Difficulty, I had, as previously mentioned, transferred my Save from my laptop to my desktop PC. This allows me to leave the game running overnight if I choose. Very handy. If you're thinking of doing the same, you must remember to turn off automatic installation of Windows updates overnight. I forgot to do this, so this morning I found that the PC had re-booted and that I had to re-run the FT levels 1 to 3. I didn't burst into tears, but I wasn't dancing for joy either. :mad: I re-ran 1, 2 and 3 at P1 and ignored all drops, chests etc. I got stair-trapped at Level 3 again, but it was somewhat easier this time than it was at /players 8! The creatures I met were all very similar to those I met on the first run, so little or no change in gameplay was experienced. I am treating this incident as a non-issue in terms of the overall mission.

The Hole is going to be very hard, but The Pit is going to be a complete mare of a job. I'll need to be very lucky.

And in reply ...
@kertin$ - thank you, you're very kind. I wouldn't call Balboa "mighty" though. :wink3:

@kykle - thanks for that thought. I feel like I've gone some way towards paying my dues for the WSK fiasco.

@Ishmayl - I've no plans for any particular build next, whether it will be a cookie-cutter or an oddball. I'll see what inspires me when I have gone as far as I can with this fella.

And now is a good time to again pay homage to Insane Wayne and his Crazy Naked Druid, Cosmo. Wayne's adventures and postings on the SPF make up a good portion of the inspiration for this thread - plus an honourable mention is due for Quickdeath and his Golem-mancer Tournament.

Champion GumbyBalboa - Level 80, Act 1, The Hole (in Black Marsh)

[dutes]

Ack, I missed an update :undecided:
Great work though, nice tactic for the bone mages :thumbsup:
Good to see you got a bit of compensation (from the countess) for the PitA that the FT must have been.
Like Ishmayl - after finding I missed an update I think i'll be checking in hourly as well :wink3:

[boodah]

Great Thread! Keep it up.

[Ishmayl]

And now is a good time to again pay homage to Insane Wayne and his Crazy Naked Druid, Cosmo. Wayne's adventures and postings on the SPF make up a good portion of the inspiration for this thread - plus an honourable mention is due for Quickdeath and his Golem-mancer Tournament.



Do you have links to the adventures of Cosmo?

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Sure thing. Read about him here! (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=548935&highlight=cosmo)
:cool:

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Balboa held us back a moment and considered the dark entrance to The Hole. Little was known about the cave system beneath our feet, but rumours abound. It was time to see if imagination matched fact.

We were rushed, the instant stepped off the stairs - a couple of Misshapen at first, but more piled in. Razan simply cannot live with these monsters, he can barely tank them one to one and here we all were, outnumbered by perhaps three to one. Balboa spammed Terror and led us back up the stairs. Healing and repairs were carried out and we descended once again. The pattern was repeated half a dozen times before we managed to hold our ground at last (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/044_Stairtrap1.jpg). Even then, we were repeatedly pushed back by Misshapen and Dark Archers. Inch by inch, we started to make up some ground (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/045_LookedOK.jpg) - until the Dark Archer Boss stepped up. She dropped Razan in the blink of an eye, and whilst the Necromancer was assailed by Misshapen, and all the while dodging the shafts of unseen Archers in the shadows, Rusty was felled. Balboa barely escaped with his life.
Back at camp, a new Rusty was made, from the last of the Malice weaponry we have readily available. Returning to the Hole, we fought fiercely to gain more ground. Using Dim Vision and Terror, the 'Archers were drawn off and isolated, where they became easy prey (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/046_TeaseEmOut.jpg). We next finished off the Misshapen and their powerful boss, Blade Bite, but then the remaining archers were joined by Brutes. Our lives were held in the balance at all times - two or three arrows would have killed Balboa - so an emergency Portal was always in place in case we needed to flee. It was in regular use ... we'd jump through the portal (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/047_WheresTheExit.jpg)back to camp, then return via the Black Marsh Waypoint and then the stairs. When we could finally strike at Bone Fist (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/048_GettingThere.jpg), the Archer Boss, we started to feel like we might be able to make some progress.
That feeling was rather premature - another Misshapen boss (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/049_StoneThirst.jpg)arrived on the scene, requiring some deft Cursing and positioning of troops, harried as we were by Carvers. Stone Thirst was gone, but a Brute boss (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/050_HazeRend.jpg)appeared straight away. We dealt with him only for another one to appear, Storm Sludge (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/051_OneAtATime.jpg). He was Decrepified whilst his minions were Terrored away.
We'd encountered perhaps six boss packs in no more than thirty yards of territory, in the fiercest, most demanding fighting we'd yet experienced. Potions were thankfully plentiful, as they were desperately needed almost the whole time, especially on the occasions when Razan was poisoned. In time, we found the Shamans who had been reviving the Carvers that made our lives difficult - they were light relief (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/052_ShamanChess.jpg)in comparison to what we'd been through.
And still we weren't done - another Misshapen boss rained charged bolts (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/052_IceCrawler.jpg)of lightning upon us whilst still more Archers were Dim Visioned and Brutes Terrored away.

Exhaustion threatened to dull our reactions, endangering us even further, so Balboa decided to take a break and look for the Waypoint that was said to be located on the other side of the Monastery Gate. We found the Waypoint with little difficulty, and slew the monsters (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/053_OuterCloister.jpg) lurking in the outer cloister - a trivial matter.
Returning to The Hole, we located the second level and played a fearsome game of cat and mouse with the Misshapen, Carvers and Dark Archers (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/054_TheHole2.jpg)therein. The strain had been tremendous, but the Hole has been cleansed. It had taken us three hours.

Stats, etc
104 Stats and 8 Skill points spare - After very nearly being slain so soon after setting foot in The Hole, I allocated another 25 points to Vitality, making 300 in total. Life is now 820.
Three hours to clear The Hole (plus the Outer Cloister)! My little team was badly over-mastered - it was only through extensive cursing, regularly escaping via TP or Stairs and copious potion-chugging that we could survive. This has to have been the hardest sustained fighting yet. Every single monster down there could hurt us or even kill us - even the Carvers were a little too strong for the merc on his own. I'm done in. And I've still got The Pit to do! OMG.

Replies
@boodah - thanks! :smiley:

Champion GumbyBalboa - Level 81, Act 1, The Pit (in Tamoe Highland)

[kykle]

I wish you luck in the pit - a combination of DV and confuse would probably work wonders on range monsters

[dutes]

Yikes thats some intense fighting, I wish you the best of luck as you continue in the Pit

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

@dutes - you're not kidding, it was insane. Thanks!

@kykle - Confuse currently lasts less than 5 seconds per cast, and seems to be less effective in Hell than it was in earlier difficulties. It has its uses still, but not often.
Dim Vision is the true saviour here, it stabilises the situation for seven or so seconds per cast until you can figure out a strategy. With +skills, DV is level 8 - not quite high enough, I think, for when I encounter larger groups of ranged enemies. My skill plan allows me to put up to 10 hard points in DV, I'm thinking of sinking a few in there before I try the Pit. I need the wider coverage and longer duration, because all too often monsters are rushing in from off-screen and driving me back. I'm also being hit by arrows from archers that are out of range for me.

The problem I have is if I put ten points into DV, I cannot max IG until I'm level 92. This may not be crucial, maxing IG may not be necessary, but it is one of my goals. However, survival must be the main driving force.

:scratch:

[loyalpeon]

Great stuff dude - been reading avidly in the last week or two (it's the first thing I check when I get into work in the morning! heh)

As to your current dilemma... I'd sink a few more points into DV first, see if the duration is enough for a safer and more comfortable run through the pits and if it is, through the rest in IG, if not, keep pumping DV. Nothing fancy, but it seems like the best bet overall.

I'll be cheering from the fences. Good luck!

[Ed from Russia]

I'm with you on DV; 10 hard points would double the duration, which may be crucial to get any further in Hell.

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Balboa was encouraged by our success in The Hole, but was under no illusiuons that The Pit would easy - or even possible. It's reputation was in fact the worst of anywhere in the region.
Our first tentative steps led us into a band of Devilkin and their boss (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/055_SeetheWight.jpg). Once again, Razan was somewhat over-mastered and needed all the help he could get from Rusty and Balboa's Decrepify curse. We pushed on regardless though, into the arms of a Bone Warrior group led by Rust Froth (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/056_RustFroth.jpg). They were bottle-necked on a short flight of steps and dealt with. Blight Fester's band were similarly dispatched (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/057_BlightFester.jpg), and Balboa began to wonder what was so bad about this Pit.
Gut Brow became our next victim (http://http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/058_GutBrow.jpg)but things went decidedly hinky after that. A Bone Warrior boss send a stream of charged bolts at Balboa which, combined with the shafts of some unseen archer, nearly caused a disaster (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/059_FFSRun.jpg). As it was, we lost Rusty somewhere during our flight to safety. That was the last of our readily accessible Malice runewords - and so Balboa found a rare war axe of some sort in his stash with enhanced damage, Poison and CTC Nova. A fairly decent piece of kit which would do for now.
And so it did do for us, for a time anyway. Using Dim Vision and Decrepify, we managed to slay Blight Shield (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/060_BlightShield.jpg), a very powerful Archer who with her minions had chased us almost the length of The Pit. Another archer boss, Devil Hack, proved slightly easier to deal with - and I do enjoy watching archers pinned against Balboa's Bone Wall (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/061_DevilHack.jpg). However, the struggle to split this boss from her minions had cost us another Rusty. A rare blade was located in the stash, with cold damage and, interestingly, a CTC Chain Lightning feature. I really enjoyed watching that one trigger! :grin:
Through cautious advance, judicious retreat and a couple or so Mercenary resurrections, we had cleared the entire first level of the Pit. A second level beckoned ...

Mindful of a stairtrap, we proceeded cautiously. A constriction in the cave a few yards from the stairwell promised a defendable bottleneck and we took full advantage of this. Dark Stalkers, including a boss of some sort, plus Bone Warriors and Devilkin hurled themselves at us, but with the help of the Decrepify curse, we held them back ... until the tell-tale sound of an Amp Damage curse split the air. I had time to think, "Ooh, we're in trouble" and a split second later, Razan went down. The position was untenable, a slightly underpowered Iron Golem had no chance of holding back the tide of creatures arrayed against us.
We fled back up the stairs. Razan was resurrected, Balboa readied his Terror and Decrepify curses and we descended the stairs once more. The end result was never in any real doubt (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/Loz999s/Golemancer/062_NeverInDoubt.jpg) ...

[more to follow]

Champion GumbyBalboa - Level 81, Act 1, The Pit (in Tamoe Highland)

[kykle]

ARG! Well you made it this far and thats an acheivement by itself. you have also proved that golemmancers are viable, so good work there

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Thanks for the encouragement, kykle. :smiley:

The stairtrap second time around was insta-kill, I never stood a chance.

Things I could have done differently:
1. Sunk more points in Vitality (would have delayed the inevitable)
2. Used a Prayer or Defiance Merc instead of Holy Freeze (may have worked)
3. Reduced the /players setting down from 8 (d'oh)
4. Delayed doing The Pit until I'd levelled a bit more (D'OH!)
5. Watched a movie instead of playing D2!

I will continue playing this character, to see if he can get further in the game, but I guess Gumby Balboa's big adventure properly ends here.

Thanks everyone who read and contributed to the thread, or who quietly cheered Balboa on. :thumbsup:

[dutes]

Alas brave GumbyBalboa has fallen :cry:
Great story though and you've shown that with time and patience Golemancer's can be a viable, if underpowered, build.
As I wrote earlier this thread inspired me to start a Golemancer and i'm certainly enjoying the different challenges that it presents (preparing for normal Izual).
Great thread but in the end I guess it was just one stair-trap too many

[Ishmayl]

It is a shame, I hope you will continue your stories though.

[zerashk]

R.I.P GumbyBalboa,

I'm one of the quietly cheering on Balboa's adventure reader. It's good to know that some supposedly underpowered build can go the distance.

I hope I can continue to read on Balboa's adventure progress, even though officially the big adventure has ended - but I would like to think that after all that you've been through, not even death can stop you from the inevitable victory of conquering Hell.

It appears to me that GumbyBalboa's main weakness is lack of a solid crowd control skill. I was thinking that Dim Vision can make a difference, Confuse and Attract have their own merit but as you've mentioned they both have their own drawback as well. I'm playing a lord of mages build currently with Gumby and/or Rusty as my primary tank, most of the time it'll be the ranged mobs that eats up my golem, e.g. flayer blowpiper, bone archer, etc. Dim Vision totally shuts them down, allowing Gumby / Rusty + mages to bulldoze through the mobs without much resistance.

Anyway good job with GumbyBalboa and hope to there's to come. Or another big adventure maybe?

[Ishmayl]

I think that the real adventure, which is, "Can a Golemancer solo Hell?" can still continue. Sure you died, but many D2 characters have died before, and still been great characters. Please continue updates.

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

A new thread has been started for Gumby Balboa's further adventures in Hell. Although the "pseudo-hardcore" rule I had originally stipulated means that a death is the end of the "adventure", the experiment is ongoing and still valid, I feel, and will continue to be reported.

A significant change has been made (i.e. reducing the /players setting from 8 to 5), which certainly warrants a new thread.

Thanks to all who have offered their encouragement!

[garion]

oi..they had might AND you were amped....

congrats on putting up a great fight...! (i love reading these entries!)