All Alone Tournament III

[skoolbus]

PS I think she is cursed, not one magical maiden javelin yet....

Cursed indeed, normally in act 5 my zons manage to pick up ceremonial javelins which I proceed to imbue, which you unfortunately will not be doing.

[OldSoldier]

Well Princess_Diana continued the struggle, beginning at the WSK 2 WP. The WSK level 3 spawned with Oblivion Knights, which in groups of four were pretty much unkillable by my valkyrie. The Valk does so much damage that a single hit with IM killed her, and when decrepified she didn't take any damage but couldn't deal any, so that level was pretty tough. We did find and kill one unique OK, this guy (http://img75.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot011co7.jpg). I don't know how to get their handle to show up on the screen because I have to hit alt before the print screen key to get the picture to show up properly; perhaps I am doing something wrong. But hitting alt during this battle caused me to race toward the LE bolts :yikes: but no fear they missed. I didn't clear out part of this level due to the OKs, but fortunately the stairs down were guarded by about 100 various Doom Knights, Fire Boars, Lashers, Demon Sprites and OKs, which en masse were fertile grounds for Lightning Fury. Princess_Diana smacked them down as fast as they could come, with the corridor blocked with a big valkyrie and a decoy here and there to absorb demon sprite fire. I didn't realize that there could be so many types of monsters in the same area, but Boars and Lashers and again Doom and Oblivion Knights must be a package deal.

The throne of destruction was perhaps the craziest one I've ever had before, and there was only one single redeeming quality about it: no burning souls! There were however, very many doom knights, about 20 oblivion knights, horadrim ancients (who had a NASTY habit of resurrecting both doom AND oblivion knights BEHIND me) and claw vipers. If the claw vipers had been burning souls it would have been deeds for sure, my skills aren't good enough for that maelstrom. I basically ran around and depleted my throwing spears until the horadrim ancients (probably 10-12 of them in the level, in groups of 3 and 4) were all dead, then I focused on the doom knights because they came to me, and then the OKs. My valk died a lot, but obviously Princess_Diana didn't. Sorry no screenshots of this, but it was crazy because for some reason the game doesn't have a good resurrection animation for the knights, so when they got resurrected, all I could see was a dead knight's body sliding along the floor toward me and then BAM they were vertical again. I don't remember seeing this before.

Princess_Diana utterly smashed all minions with little effort. It did take all 40 throwing spears to finish Lister's wave, but the valk didn't lose a sliver and I never got touched by anything. If there was anything LI, I didn't see it and the valk destroyed it in a hit or two. The only wave I retreated toward the door was the council wave, which always seems to throw up hydras and be extra fast, so I didn't see all the action. Ventar and Lister were cake. Here is my inventory (http://img149.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot012sl8.jpg) before heading into the big fight. The belt contained two healing and two mana and 12 full rejuvs. I had another 3 full rejuvs in the cube, along with a bunch of perfect gems and a lightning ring which I didn't use. I ran around the throne until I was back to full on throwing weapons.

This was easily the hardest battle I've ever fought. The clone showed up almost immediately and began to push me around with the cold arrow attack. When I was foolish and had my bow out too long I got frozen (lack of CBF on Rhyme) which usually meant festering appendages. I must admit those stupid things are a blessing and a curse to this build. They caused me to use nearly all my potions but provided LF fodder for when Baal was in their midst, greatly reducing his life whenever I could get a couple off. With no slows target gear or boss attack skill I relied jointly on LF, poison javelin (still level 1) MA and strategic casting of valkyrie. I knew he'd quit casting so often if I got the valk into melee range, but that was hard since he teleported about every 10 seconds. I kept a decoy up as much as feasible, but his strange mobility changed my orientation and rendered the decoy unusable nearly all the time. I tried the hiding trick but it didn't seem to work much. It took about 6 recasts of valkyrie, which never took any noticeable damage, to get a couple of hits. And I must say, that valk hit him really hard. I'd gone from 18 rejuv potions to 5 and he still had just under half life, and I was using them fast because of the appendages appearing everywhere. The valk went in and got two quick hits, and they must have been doubled due to Critical Strike because all of a sudden he was down to 1/4 and I had hope. I switched to MA after using every javelin I had left and getting him to a sliver, used one last Full Rejuv potion to top up life bulb, which had been vacillating between full and less than 1/2 far too quickly, and he went down with a puke and a thud. For that effort, he dropped a rare jewel, which I'll keep for now, Sparkling Mail (left), Blade Bone (I think, the unique double axe, but nevertheless, left on the ground) and three other junk rares, all of which remained on the ground. Here's my real reward (http://img504.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot014vc9.jpg).



Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 71 A1 Hell Rogue Camp
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 63 A5 NM Harrogath
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 52 A2 NM Lut Gholein
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 52+ A2 NM Dry Hills
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon ?? A5 Norm Crystal Passage
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 25 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
thewamp Athena PJ/FA Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Butzull Spinster Amazon ?? A1 Norm Outer Cloister
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Chymaera Marius II BlizBolt Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Cold Plain
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Darkstrikes lighamus Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp

Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 75 A1 Hell Outer Cloister
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 14 A1 Norm Black Marsh
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field


My gear:

Wraith Circle
Ring
Required Level: 23
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 38
Fingerprint: 0xe4ec35f6
+2 to Strength
+12 to Energy
+3 to Mana
+80 to Attack Rating
2% Mana stolen per hit <--- this has been a blessing
+1 to Mana After Each Kill

Sigon's Gage
Gauntlets
Defense: 12
Durability: 11 of 24
Required Strength: 60
Required Level: 6
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 27
Fingerprint: 0x93a3f2cb
+10 to Strength
+20 to Attack Rating

***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
30% Increased Attack Speed <--- please give me the boots, someone!
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***

Grim Grasp <--- junk, really
Ring
Required Level: 14
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 36
Fingerprint: 0xcce52244
+6 to Mana
Replenish Life +5
14% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Level 2 Fire Bolt (6/25 Charges)

Gemmed Full Plate Mail
Defense: 150
Durability: 40 of 70
Required Strength: 80
Required Level: 31
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 45
Fingerprint: 0x19b163ec
+6 to Energy
+7 to Mana
All Resistances +10
24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
30% Increased Attack Speed
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Sander's Riprap
Heavy Boots
Defense: 5
Durability: 8 of 14
Required Strength: 18
Required Level: 20
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0xd52e7c36
+5 to Strength
+10 to Dexterity
+100 to Attack Rating
40% Faster Run/Walk

Plague Buckle <--- I love this belt! I'd never seen 190%ED on a belt before.
Battle Belt
Defense: 113
Durability: 18 of 18
Required Strength: 88
Required Level: 43
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 64
Fingerprint: 0x7833ba68
+33 to Life
+190% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +24%
Cold Resist +29%
Required Level +5
17% Faster Hit Recovery
Repairs 1 durability in 20 seconds

Russet Amulet of Luck
Required Level: 19
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 52
Fingerprint: 0x844577f4
Fire Resist +15%
32% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Coral Ring
Required Level: 13
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 65
Fingerprint: 0x60488a23
Lightning Resist +28%

Prismatic Amulet
Required Level: 31
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 50
Fingerprint: 0xa6fa5ee9
All Resistances +20

Duskdeep
Full Helm
Defense: 54
Durability: 19 of 30
Required Strength: 41
Required Level: 17
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 41
Fingerprint: 0x630f9689
+40% Enhanced Defense
+8 to Maximum Damage
+17 Defense
Damage Reduced by 7
All Resistances +15
-2 to Light Radius

Skull Scratch
Short Spear
Throw Damage: 21 to 37
One-Hand Damage: 8 to 21
Quantity: 18
Required Dexterity: 40
Required Strength: 40
Required Level: 19
Javelin Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 61
Fingerprint: 0xf33e5ad2
+69% Enhanced Damage
+5 to Minimum Damage
Poison Resist +9%
+5 to Mana After Each Kill <--- this keeps high-density LF going and going...
Replenishes Quantity

Rhyme
Kite Shield
'ShaelEth'
Defense: 16
Chance to Block: 53% <--- I found a better shield but still need another Eth, so I dropped it.
Durability: 27 of 30
Required Strength: 47
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 47
Fingerprint: 0xe825d210
+20% Increased Chance of Blocking
Regenerate Mana 15%
All Resistances +25
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
40% Faster Block Rate
Cannot Be Frozen
Socketed (2: 2 used)

Eagle Eye
Jewel
Required Level: 13
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x4f82817e
+9% Enhanced Damage
+3 to Minimum Damage
41% Damage to Undead
+36 to Attack Rating against Undead

Gemmed Gothic Bow <--- come on, Ko!
'TirIthSol'
Two-Hand Damage: 19 to 59
Required Dexterity: 118
Required Strength: 95
Required Level: 27
Bow Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 55
Fingerprint: 0xd0cea888
+9 to Minimum Damage
+9 to Maximum Damage
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Socketed (4: 3 used)

Ocher Large Charm of Life
Amber Large Charm of Pestilence
Large Charm of Sustenance
Small Charm of Frost
Russet Small Charm
Crimson Small Charm of Life
Small Charm of Sustenance
Beryl Small Charm of Thunder
Septic Small Charm of Sustenance
Tangerine Small Charm of Flame
Small Charm of Vita

edit: Wayne I left you out of the table mostly because your posts are a mastery unto themselves and I don't want to ruin that mystique and brilliant style. I did update the others as best that I could.

[Insane Wayne]

I don't know how to get their handle to show up on the screen because I have to hit alt before the print screen key to get the picture to show up properly; perhaps I am doing something wrong.
I think you need to reassign D2's screenshot key in the game control settings. For example, I use the Space Bar.


Sorry no screenshots of this, but it was crazy because for some reason the game doesn't have a good resurrection animation for the knights, so when they got resurrected, all I could see was a dead knight's body sliding along the floor toward me and then BAM they were vertical again. I don't remember seeing this before.
Cool combo. I've never drawn that pairing so I've never seen that eerie effect with knights, only with occasional smaller resurrectables. Must be trippy. Good job getting past them. Souls would've been the ultimate challenge, in part because IIRC they are also resurrectable.


edit: Wayne I left you out of the table mostly because your posts are a mastery unto themselves and I don't want to ruin that mystique and brilliant style. I did update the others as best that I could.
lol. Thanks, but although Asteria is a somewhat aloof elitist, she will take her place in the table eventually like everyone else. My opinion about the table is that it's useful, but distracting if it's used too often. I think you picked a good time to update it. No worries, I'll plug myself in next time it's appropriate.

edit: that is indeed an awesome belt!

[howdidigethere]

OK, im in. I think i'll start with a pally.

[crazy_bear]

@OldSoldier I've seen those sliding knights in the throne room before too when the Mummies and OK's spawn together. That is one nasty combination. You did well to get through it. Good luck in Hell!

Jane_Doe has pushed her way as far as the frozen tundra now. Still cursed, she hasn't found any magical maiden or ceremonial javelins... one normal ceremonial stack in the river of ice and that's it. She didn't even get to use that stack because her dex wasn't up to it until another 2 levels after that. She did find an ort and was able to make 'Ancient's Pledge' in a tower shield to help her resists. Unfortunately this also used up her only Ral, meaning if she does find a Thul then she will have to wait for another Ral to upgrade her belt. She has kept an Iratha's Collar with hopes of reaching NM Andy and having the super poison resists available. She also found a charm that I think is pretty nice:

Septic Small Charm of Blight
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 13
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 38
Fingerprint: 0xb7932ad6
+42 poison damage over 6 seconds

I know it's not uber or anything, but I was imagining how sweet it would be if you could find 10 or 15 similar for low level twinking. Right now it serves well to prevent monster regen when not using plague javelins.

Act V also continues to provide good experience, and she has now reached lvl 44 after doing full clears of everything up to the end of the Frozen Tundra. Next up, Ancients Way!

CB

[Butzull]

Nice work Old Soldier! Looking forward to seeing you kick butt in the Monastery to get some tournament vengeance for Warnie. ;)

Spinster has finished off Andariel in normal. Nothing much to write home about, no good finds or anything yet...just to say that Act 1 on a high players setting for her without a merc was about as tough or tougher than almost anywhere in the game was for Warnie! Act 2 might be a bit better now I have CS, but I can't wait for L24 and of course L30 for Miss Valk. ;)

Will update Spinster in the table when she progresses a little more...thanks for adding here OS. ;)

Butz. :dunce:

[skoolbus]

Very nice work OldSoldier, that is a VERY good belt it looks like. If we get one more destroyer that will be the most of any All Alone tourney. Still mourning the loss of my latest HC death, but perhaps I'll play again this weekend.

[crazy_bear]

I've been getting addicted to this chars progress, so she has seen a lot of play time in the last few days, so here is one more update for today.

She breezed through the ancients way and the ancients were easy too. WSK posed no problems on p8, nor did the normal monsters of the Throne room. With all that cleared, the minions started. Colenzo was easy of course, but then came Achmel. Jane_Doe had been putting points into LF and here she turned to it. It quickly brought down all the skellies and all the mummies but Achmel. On the other hand it also used up 2 mana pots. With no friends Achmel was a bad target for LF now, so Jane_Doe switched to the bow while the Valk went melee. He was only at about 1/4 life, but soon the Valk was dead and Achmel was back to 1/2 life.... uh oh. His regen was faster than I could damage him. I lured him out of the throne room to get him away from Baal's decrep but even then with the Valk and Jane they couldn't bring his life down. She had been relying on poison for preventing this problem, and of course he was immune. So he got parked. Taking this as a warning, I switched to p3 before heading back to the throne area. Waves 3 and 4 went down no problem, but then lister's pack. I figured they could be poisoned... I was wrong. I got a couple with LF, but then realized I was totally out of mana pots... Oh no! I had already picked up all that had fallen in the throne room too. Lister's pack could have been killed, but the time requirement made me give up and park them as well. And now, Jane_Doe had to face Baal with no mana pots and one stack of javelins. (plus bow of course)

As it turned out, it was a long battle waiting for mana regen, but it was pretty easy. Run to baal, throw plague jav, run away, repeat. She had to sacrifice the arrows she had to make more javelins, but after about 25 minute he fell. He did even drop a useful item, the gloves that are in her equipment list. In the throne room, a great helm with good resists also dropped so resists in NM should be Ok.

Destroyer Jane_Doe, lvl 46 Amazon.
Main skills: poison jav 10, plague jav 13, LF 7, Valk 7, Magic arrow 1

Equipment:


Fiend Shell
Great Helm
Defense: 45
Durability: 30 of 40
Required Strength: 63
Required Level: 13
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 35
Fingerprint: 0x27d47e05
+3 to Energy
+27% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +27%
Lightning Resist +20%
10% Faster Hit Recovery

Plague Wrap
Breast Plate
Defense: 91
Durability: 50 of 50
Required Strength: 30
Required Level: 13
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 31
Fingerprint: 0xae8c909f
+32% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +27%
Attacker Takes Damage of 1
Repairs 1 durability in 20 seconds

Ancients' Pledge
Tower Shield
'RalOrtTal'
Defense: 33
Chance to Block: 49%
Durability: 40 of 60
Required Strength: 75
Required Level: 21
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 31
Fingerprint: 0x6bafaa6b
+50% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +48%
Lightning Resist +48%
Cold Resist +43%
Poison Resist +48%
10% Damage Taken Goes to Mana
Socketed (3: 3 used)

Brimstone Clasp
Belt
Defense: 8
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Strength: 25
Required Level: 14
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 26
Fingerprint: 0x3bfcfdef
+1 to Life
+45% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +28%
Cold Resist +17%
67% Extra Gold from Monsters
Repairs 1 durability in 20 seconds

Havoc Finger
Demonhide Gloves
Defense: 64
Durability: 8 of 12
Required Strength: 20
Required Level: 35
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 60
Fingerprint: 0xfefddab2
+7 to Maximum Stamina
+80% Enhanced Defense
Poison Resist +24%
3% Mana stolen per hit
20% Increased Attack Speed

Fiend Brogues
Light Plated Boots
Defense: 9
Durability: 18 of 18
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 12
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 26
Fingerprint: 0xb1e97542
+3 to Dexterity
+21 to Maximum Stamina
Lightning Resist +5%
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Repairs 1 durability in 33 seconds

Iratha's Collar
Amulet
Required Level: 15
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 31
Fingerprint: 0xda40461b
Poison Resist +30%
Poison Length Reduced by 75%

***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
All Resistances +15
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***

Ocher Ring of Regeneration
Required Level: 9
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 23
Fingerprint: 0xcac93c5
Lightning Resist +16%
Replenish Life +3

Nagelring
Ring
Required Level: 7
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 22
Fingerprint: 0xeb3dd105
+51 to Attack Rating
Magic Damage Reduced by 3
Attacker Takes Damage of 3
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Javelin
Throw Damage: 6 to 14
One-Hand Damage: 1 to 5
Quantity: 39
Javelin Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 1
Fingerprint: 0xb734c7fc

plus assorted charms

[OldSoldier]

Wow it looks like all amazons playing right now...

I know that before I got the decoy (I didn't put any points whatsoever in CS) my life as an amazon was miserable. Then the valk showed up and everything was A-O-K. I'm impressed in Jane Doe's fight, Baal was hard for me both times around, and I was stacked with potions both times. I can't imagine going in with no ammo or mana potions; that's just crazy and testament to a great run!

I played my afterlife character today, perhaps I'll try to get a couple more waypoints tomorrow.

Good hunting everyone!

[jiansonz]

Evangelina is moving along nicely in act 2. It feels like she is 'ahead' of the game now, something that hasn´t been the case for a long time. Phoenix Strike is maxed, Shadow is high level and take a lot more punishment now.

One of the chests in an end room in the Maggot Lair turned out to be a 'super chest', and I scored the 5% chance of it dropping rares. Five rares popped out, three of them worth identifying. One of them was these awesome boots:

Grim Tread
Chain Boots
Defense: 16
Durability: 13 of 16
+66% Enhanced Defense
Cold Resist +32%
Poison Resist +20%
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
30% Faster Run/Walk
10% Faster Hit Recovery

I saved Ancient Tunnels for later in case the Claw Viper Temple would be tough. First room in CVT, I met two boss packs: Embalmed and Salamanders. One of the bosses was apparently Cursed (no time to really check!) and things got scary. I should have fled outside, but I fled deeper into the dungeon instead (will I ever learn??). Evangelina blazed past another Embalmed boss pack and ran into a pack of normal Embalmed, plus some snakes. The Shadow happened to teleport exactly to where I needed her the most. Nice! Good use of Cloak of Shadows and shadow recasts slowly allowed me to gain a foothold here. The rest of level 1 was easy, but a Conviction + LE Salamander sure had me retreating a long way. That battle turned when the shadow found a sweet spot where no sparks hit her.

For level 2, I unsommed the shadow. Can´t have her waking up more monsters than necessary. Calm when I enter. I am ready with CoS, then Shadow Master and Mind Blast if necessary. I reach the upper-left part without seeing any monsters. The left side of the level turned out to host two spawn packs of Embalmed. Evangelina killed them on her own, starting off with (and repeating it often) a 3rd charge Phoenix Strike to minimize the risk to get poisoned. After they were dead, I sneaked towards the altar stairs. With her new boots, Evangelina is pretty fast, so I decided to make a run for it when I saw am opening. She squeezed by one of Fangskin´s minions and a couple of Embalmed. Then it was pretty much a piece of cake. (http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m156/jiansonz/EvangelinavsNMCVT2.jpg) However, two Embalmed eventually found their way up here and the latter poisoned me. A nervous wait (with potion drinking) to get rid of the poison.

I think it took me 10 minutes to sort through all the loot in here. :azn: Best find was an Ort rune, allowing me to finally upgrade the War Hammer. The damage isn´t huge, but it´s better than before and most importantly, the bigger damage + leech allows me to use BF non-stop if I want to. I can also heal up easily without potions. From a little more than half life, Blade Fury-ing 3-4 regular monsters takes her back to full.

I found a new Phoenix Strike weapon in Jerhyn´s palace:

Shadow Razor
Claws
One-Hand Damage: 15 to 42
Durability: 174 of 192 <- it´s a failed unique
(Assassin Only)
Required Dexterity: 46
Required Strength: 46
Required Level: 24
Claw Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 50
Fingerprint: 0xad139bad
+91% Enhanced Damage
+39 to Attack Rating
+14 to Maximum Damage
Adds 1-8 lightning damage
7% Life stolen per hit
+1 to Martial Arts (Assassin Only)

I have left the game running at the AS waypoint now, because the current shadow has ctc Amp. That is rare and useful.

Evangelina the PS Assassin, level 57, NM Arcane Sanctuary next.

[crazy_bear]

Durability: 174 of 192 <- it´s a failed unique


Now there's a weapon that will last a while! Nice boots too! :thumbsup:

[Butzull]

Wow jiansonz, those are pretty much end-game boots for an untwinked char, only unfortunate thing (and this is being perfectionist) is that it's a pity the PoisR isn't LR or FR. Excellent though... good FRW, good MF, FHR, dual high resist values...drool! ;)

Spinster has made it to the Arcane Sanctuary and done one arm. She's hit the first milestone of 24 and has decoy, but has yet to cast one in anger. Interestingly, even though I'm packing a bunch of topazes in armour and helm, I've found a single gold to this point (Diggler) and no greens. Come on MF...work! ;)

Butz. :dunce:

[Cygnus]

Wow jiansonz, those are pretty much end-game boots for an untwinked char, only unfortunate thing (and this is being perfectionist) is that it's a pity the PoisR isn't LR or FR. Excellent though... good FRW, good MF, FHR, dual high resist values...drool!

It's particularly sweet in this tournament as town trips are a no-no. I generally gamble FRW/MF/dual resist boots with nearly every single unrestricted character I play, I think it's because there aren't very many affixes that can appear on rare boots. Also, the highest affix level needed is 25 for the highest resist prefixes (up to 40%), so the gambling can start from mid act 2.

[crazy_bear]

Jane_Doe is discovering what a cruel game DII can be....

She has started her journey in NM. The blood moor and Den of Evil were done on p8, but the high poison resistance (and high hp of zombie types) of undead made killing zombie packs painfully slow, although there was no real danger. To make things more enjoyable the players setting has been on 5 since then. With this the undead packs are still not bad, and the demon and animal types drop very quickly.

The first few areas turned up nothing special, one ort rune, a hel rune, and the occaisional gem. No weapons or amour worth mentioning. The gem cache was large enough that she decided to create a prismatic ammy, which came out at 17 res all. Blood Raven was brought down, the stony field cleared, and then it was off to the Dark Wood. First the tunnel though. First pack in the tunnel drops a 47% res all 'The Ward'. Higher blocking than the Ancients Pledge, so switch there. In the second level, a Sigon's Belt drops. After going 3 belt slots for so long, Jane decides to switch. It costs a bit in resists, but you never know, she might get lucky and get more parts too. After arranging gear for a bit, I decide to drop the rare belt, seeing as her resists are still good enough, and storage is such a problem. Next find, in the hole in the black marsh: 44% MF tarnhelm. Nice find! But now that means giving up more resists with the helm! Wouldn't be so bad it I could get my belt back... but it's too late. Well, resists haven't been critical yet, so on goes the tarnhelm, the great helm gets dropped. On to the countess and now Iratha's crown drops. With the ammy she already had it gets too def, and the ammy gets a bonus 15% res all... but what about the MF! So now she has to choose between MF and resists. I decided to do countess with the Tarnhelm, then make up my mind. Finally, in the 5th level, Infernostride. Not great boots, but better resists again.... so bye bye MF boots. Countess dropped Tal Thul, then it was back to decisions with the helm. In the end, she dropped a couple of charms and chippies to make room to save both. Since it is becoming obvious that she will never have a magical maiden javelin, there is no point in the chippies for rerolling after all.

Destroyer Jane_Doe, Act I NM, Black marsh WP.

[jiansonz]

Jane_Doe is discovering what a cruel game DII can be..

Yikes! Don´t scare us like this. You made it sound like it was over...


You are right about agonizing decisions about what to keep, though. Evangelina just gave up a really nice Coral (25%) Plated Belt of Stability, because lightning resists are nearly maxed at the moment, and hence I prefer the crafted Mesh Belt I have (for the +life and OW).

In a more 'normal' tournament, that belt would have been kept for sure, since it would have allowed more equipment options/freedom later.

[OldSoldier]

Princess_Diana made it to the Cold Plains WP, which was right inside the entrance to the area, so she stopped there. No items of note (I am really just looking for runes and Sigon's boots right now) but I did clear the blood moor and den of evil. It was really great to clear the corpsefire area because there were a bunch of shamans in the same area and the game is slow when only the valk can do the killing, and nothing there was LI, so lightning fury took them all down in seconds. It's at least 100 times faster going when I can use that spell in large groups.

[crazy_bear]

Jane Doe has continued along through Act 1, clearing as she goes. She's on the lookout for good exceptional craftables now, but nothing so far. Goals for crafting right now are hitpower gloves for the knockback and blood belt for the OW. (I would try a safety javelin too if I had one to try with...) In this last section she found a Hawkmail, which she used to replace the Iceblink she was wearing. She also found a Wizendraw, but it just didn't seem worth replacing the bow she already had, which is just a rerolled reflex bow. Her rune collection is also growing, with finds of ort, sol and thul. Again, it's getting hard to decide what to keep. In any case, she made it to the inner cloister WP without incident, and has reached lvl 50 in the process.

CB



Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 71 A1 Hell Cold Plains
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 63 A5 NM Harrogath
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 52 A2 NM Lut Gholein
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 57 A2 NM Lost City (Temple Complete)
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon 50 A1 NM Inner Cloister
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 25 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
thewamp Athena PJ/FA Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Butzull Spinster Amazon ?? A1 Norm Outer Cloister
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Chymaera Marius II BlizBolt Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Cold Plain
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Darkstrikes lighamus Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp

Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 75 A1 Hell Outer Cloister
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 14 A1 Norm Black Marsh
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field

[jiansonz]

That Amp-casting Shadow Warrior survived more than three legs of the Arcane Sanctuary, including the Summoner. She was very good to have against the highly physical resistance Specters and Ghoul Lords. Once it triggered, I was quick to take advantage of that with Blade Fury, and if there were corpses already, with Death Sentry.

The Summoner had Evangelina put on her fire resist amulet. -5% resistance against him felt like too much of a gamble.

Lots of gems, ring and amulets dropped in the AS. I craft more and more items now, especially Safety and Caster Amulets, plus Blood Gloves. I may even try an 'expensive' Blood Ring, especially if I can find a second Sol rune. I avoid crafting boots now - it´s very unlikely I can improve on the ones I wear.


Evangelina the PS Assassin, level 57, NM Canyon of the Magi next.

[Insane Wayne]

Poor Monaxia had to endure a god-awful tour through Tal's Tombs. All seven had unravellers and at least one additional type of resurrectable monster. On top of that, two tombs (including the gigantic true tomb!) had the evil trifecta of skeletons/mummies/ghosts! :banghead:

Fortunately, my p8 killing power is still formidable, and CS broke through the dense packs allowing me to charge the unravellers. Or, I let the minions bunch around the valk, and I snuck around them for the kill. I got myself into trouble several times, surrounded and/or poisoned, but managed to break out. I had a severe NDE when a bunch of unravellers hit me with ranged attacks. Went down to 71 life. Yikes... I think I need to work on vitality a little. I got lucky with the mummy caskets, plugging them up before they spawned out of control. Somehow I scored a perfect block (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/perfect_block.jpg) (not one mummy!)

Asteria, always on the move, consumed a steady stream of mana. In a dead-end corner, amongst nasty flies and corpses, I found an awesome ring to help her blue supply: Bahamut's (+115 mana) Ring of the Mind (+6 Energy). Wow! :thumbsup: For this, I ditched my lesser MF ring. Also, I took advantage of an opportunity for a free "repair". I dumped my 4s plate mail (which had Ort+sapphires) and replaced it with a new 4s plate mail with 65/70 durability. I added a new Ort, which leaves me with 3 sockets for topaz or whatever else strikes my fancy. Best of all, no more ugly blue armor!
p8 Duriel had no chance. No problem with the slug.

CS works wonders against large monsters. Every bolt hits. Sszark's pack went down in a few seconds. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/NM_Sszark.jpg) My good ring luck continued. I found two more big mana rings, with potentially useful suffixes:
Bahamut's (101) Ring of Dim Vision (level 2 with 22/25 charges)
Great Wyrm's (83) Ring of Telekinesis (level 2 with 24/25 charges)
Very cool. I learned from Superdave's thread that Telekinesis is useful for opening evil urns. Without access to safety portals, those charges will be handy against dangerous urn-spawn, e.g. snakes/frenzytaurs.

I'm still looking for other useful charges, ID'ing wands for Lower Resist and shields/knives for Terror. No luck there. I've seen a few "of Attract", but I left them. I went from 40 scrolls down to 12, but recovered most of that from Dungeon ghosts. I cubed my second Shael rune, and upgraded the Nightsmoke belt. It was a tough choice over Goldwrap. However, I'm still wearing the Goldwrap, and hope to throughout NM. Upgrading the Nightsmoke provided another free "repair". It went from 8/16 durability to 15/16! :grin:
I also found a lot of rare belts, but they all sucked, especially this POS (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/crappy_belt.jpg). Nightsmoke is my Hell-worthiest belt.

No problems clearing the forest areas or Kurast. I found a new helm, Sazabi's Basinet. +1 skills and good resists roll (17 and 20), but only 14/30 durability. I had to throw out my current helm, which had +mana/level, 29% fire resist, and auto-repair. Tough loss, but Sazabi's +skill is very useful. Of course, my mana took a big hit. I considered switching my final MF ring for +mana, but I soon found a Serpent's (51) GC of Dex. To make room for it, I decided to drop my 23% Cobalt GC. To my amusement, I discovered I already had dumped it, accidentally, for some random junky GC!! That kind of crap can happen when you repeatedly strip/re-equip gear. Oops...

No exciting adventures in the Kurast temples. A couple minor stairtraps, but no worries. Ditto for the sewers. Asteria has a new javelin. Plain white maiden jav with +2 skills. Good stack size. The auto-repair jav is on the switch.

Potetntially useful stuff I left on the ground:
Nadir superior bone helm. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Nadir.jpg) I made this when all the ingredients happened to fall close to each other. I decided to pass on it and keep the Teleport Circlet instead.
Io rune (2nd I've dropped, one more would equal Lum)
Sol rune (Asteria's seventh)
Jewel of Fervor (I replaced it with another JoF with 7% lightning resist prefix)
Steel (115) GC
Rattlecage
Whitstan's Shield
Garnet (29) Ring of Shock
Sigon's Belt

Other stuff: Entrapping GC, Lion-Branded GC of Frost, Bloodletter, Crainte Vomir, Pompeii's Wrath, Dark Clan Crusher, The Gnasher

For now, I've given up on crafting. I just don't have the room to assemble ingredients. Earlier I tried Caster Gloves/Ring, Blood Boots, and a Safety Amulet. They were all garbage. I probably should've kept that Sol rune, for a Safety Jav like crazy_bear mentioned, or maybe a Blood Ring.

Destroyer Asteria, 1.11 CS Amazon, level 63, Act 3 NM, Travincal
MF: 131%

[jiansonz]

Playing Evanglina has become quite relaxing. Crowd control is good, damage output is good, Shadow is growing ever better. But I think I have learned my lesson so I won´t get too cocky. :rolleyes:


Short session today, only the Canyon and two small tombs, but some very nice finds:

* 25% Fire Resistance Grand Charm (Yes, was that ever needed!) :thumbsup:

* Butcher´s Pupil (It slices, it dices, it even juliennes! And it never gets dull! My new PS weapon. I like the range, but the speed is actually a bit on the slow side, even with the 30% IAS)

* This wand:
Demon Knell
Wand
One-Hand Damage: 2 to 4
Durability: 9 of 15
Required Level: 24
Staff Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 48
Fingerprint: 0x9084d8e7
+46 to Mana
Fire Resist +34%
6% Life stolen per hit
+1 to Golem Mastery (Necromancer Only)
150% Damage to Undead
+1 to Curses (Necromancer Only)
Level 2 Life Tap (57/75 Charges)

Duriel, watch out! With Butcher´s Pupil hits that do about 200 damage and with Life Tap going, I think my potion supply will last as long as I need it to.

The Golden Chest of Joy in tomb #1 produced an interesting drop. (http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m156/jiansonz/EvieGCoJunique.jpg)
(btw, I did ID the Cestus, it was total crap)


Evangelina the PS Assassin, level 58, five more NM tombs to clear.

[crazy_bear]

I feel like I'm catching up! (well, at least a little)

Jane_Doe has defeated Andy, and kept two of the drops. The first is endgame worthy: Moser's, and the second was a good resists boots:
Viper Shank
Heavy Boots
Defense: 10
Durability: 5 of 14
Required Strength: 18
Required Level: 18
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x98c9cc78
+51% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +37%
Cold Resist +19%
10% Faster Hit Recovery
Half Freeze Duration

Lightning was her worst resist, so this was a helpful find, though some FRW would have been nice, but she's not complaining. She had one P. Diamond to put into the Moser's immediately, and has in her progress now been able to make another and put that in, so the resists and blocking are good now, as long as the shield is up! Another drop in Andy's chamber (from a separate boss): the Fetid Sprinkler. Wow, I wish I had a pally or BF sin. That ctc decrep would be so nice....

Anyway, with Andy out of the way Jane_Doe moved on to act 2, land of undead (who resist poison so well). The Valk has been most important here so she has been putting new skill points there, including the one from Radament. The outdoor areas are quick, and a new bow (rare ashwood) means that Jane provides good support while the Valk impales. The first real danger came on lvl 1 of the halls of the dead. In the area around the entrance stairs there were 6 mummies, including one unique, and of course the skelly packs to go with them! Jane ended up almost surrounded trying to circle, but eventually she escaped down a hallway, finding two more mummies which she was able to deal with. With lots of dragging skellies away from their ressurecting buddies, and getting the valk in the mummies face she eventually brought them all down. lvl 2 was very similar, but this time only 4 mummies, and 2 unique spear cats! Jane ran again, luckily she was able to get another easier hallway again. I was so happy when there were no mummies on lvl 3.:jig:

Next up, maggots!
Jane_Doe, lvl 54 PJ Zon, act 2 NM
CB

[skoolbus]

Moser's

I would give my 'sins left arm for a moser's. I would hold it with my right hand. Congrats on that find!

[Butzull]

Spinster reached the big fight against Duriel and was absolutely cruising along, so I only dropped it to /players 3 for the big slug.

Given that this was a slight risk, I took a TP in with me. Suffice to say, apparently I underestimated him, and ran out of potions with Duriel still on about 20% of life.

Spinster then decided to give up her anti-social ways and leave the cave...it seems she could no longer face life as a mute, but neither could she face death. She has withdrawn from this lifestyle choice at Level 26 (I'll update the table later) and Spinster will now take up the empty Amazon slot in my regular Septavirate.

I'm now focussing on getting my first 1.11 Guardian and since Spinster's TP casting, I've taken my Necro from the Hell Outer Clositer through the desert and the jungle to the Kurast Bazaar...just 2 and a bit acts to go...then I'll think about coming back here for more.

Quick question...can I re-enter this tournament with a class I've used before, or does it have to be a different class for each retry?

Cheers,
Butz. :dunce:

[skoolbus]

Spinster reached the big fight against Duriel and was absolutely cruising along, so I only dropped it to /players 3 for the big slug.

Given that this was a slight risk, I took a TP in with me. Suffice to say, apparently I underestimated him, and ran out of potions with Duriel still on about 20% of life.

Spinster then decided to give up her anti-social ways and leave the cave...it seems she could no longer face life as a mute, but neither could she face death. She has withdrawn from this lifestyle choice at Level 26 (I'll update the table later) and Spinster will now take up the empty Amazon slot in my regular Septavirate.

I'm now focussing on getting my first 1.11 Guardian and since Spinster's TP casting, I've taken my Necro from the Hell Outer Clositer through the desert and the jungle to the Kurast Bazaar...just 2 and a bit acts to go...then I'll think about coming back here for more.

Quick question...can I re-enter this tournament with a class I've used before, or does it have to be a different class for each retry?

Cheers,
Butz. :dunce:

Thats too bad, but better than getting to hell and dying in a valiant attempt. You can re enter as many times, with any character you wish, as long as you register before the deadline (sep 30th I believe). Good luck on getting to guardian, if my sin in this tourney doesn't my next hope is a frenzier in act 1 NM, and he's essentially without hope.

[Insane Wayne]

Asteria had another NDE, thanks to the FE blast from p8 Council Member Flamefinger. I meant for the valk to finish him, but the last CS poke was a biggie and he exploded. Good thing I topped off my red bulb during the fight, I went down to 99 life!

A few of the undead doll blasts caused similar scares, especially when two went off at once, but I never dipped below 200 life. Everything else in the Durance was easy, until the entrance to level 3. I faced a massive mob of vampires. Three packs: one regular, one LE boss, and one champ pack. Even with good resists, the sheer volume of incoming fire drained my healing potions quickly. They fanned out, and I was lucky the valk did not awaken Bremm. I stayed at p8 for Meph. He took a while to CS but never really threatened Asteria.

Act 4 was a blitz! All of the monsters up to the Chaos Sanctuary were large-body types that absorbed full CS blasts. The only exception were some knights in the first area. Everything else was balrogs, stranglers, corpse-spitters, urdars, and of course, SPAWNERS! Every area had them. Normally that would be a nightmare, but Asteria could usually rush up and drop them before they produced pups. Each CS delivered about 7-6000 damage, and every poke counted (auto-hit). Very rapid progress! When I hit a boss pack of spawners, I let them bunch around the valk, and ran around targeting the adults. No problem.

Near the forge, the inevitable happened. I accidentally combined my ID tomes! I knew it would happen! I was down to 15 scrolls. Well, it was good while it lasted. I ID'ed everything I wanted and never ran out. I wanted the second tome for one more Act, but I'll manage OK. Hellforge dropped a Sol. Not very useful. I used the flawless gems to reroll my +2 ceremonial javelin. It downgraded to +1, and had less javs! :unimpressed: Bad luck.

Diablo's area was difficult. The valk sometimes poofed from IM, and Asteria is so slow that I almost got caught and surrounded a few times. Mana was running short, so I added the second Bahamut's ring for 400+ mana. By the time Diablo spawned, I had plenty of spare potions scattered about. I needed them all, because I tried Diablo at p8. His attack pattern was unpredictable. Sometimes he completely ignored the valk. I'd retreat for potions, and he'd change his mind and attack the valk, at least until I stepped in to attack. Regardless, Asteria held her own, with max resists and 60% block. I had a major scare from big D's prison (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Bone_Prison.jpg)! CS did NOT work well against it. Maybe I had a bad angle. I was trapped about 10 seconds, while Diablo blasted me with spells. I got out though, and finished the fight. Diablo dropped 2 rare gloves and a rare throwing spear. All crap.

I finished the first Act5 quest, marching up the hill against hundreds of burning archers and imps. Plenty of dodging. The skeletons were tough, but the imps were easy. Any monster which likes to flee, regardless of size, takes a full CS as they run away. It works even when they should've been out of melee range. For imps, it's usually fatal. I love it!

New finds I've kept:
Runes: Ral(3) Ort, Thul, Sol, Shael
Nagelring (miserable 17%)
Nokozan Amulet

Left to rot:
Goblin Toe.




Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 71 A1 Hell Cold Plains
Insane Wayne Asteria CS Amazon 68 A5 NM Frigid Highlands
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 63 A5 NM Harrogath
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 52 A2 NM Lut Gholein
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 58 A2 NM False Tombs
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon 54 A2 NM Far Oasis
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 25 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
thewamp Athena PJ/FA Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Chymaera Marius II BlizBolt Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Cold Plain
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Darkstrikes lighamus Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp

Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 75 A1 Hell Outer Cloister
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Butzull Spinster Amazon 26 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 14 A1 Norm Black Marsh
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field

[jiansonz]

I work a lot and I play poker a lot this week, so not much time for playing D2. Evangelina cleared out Kaa´s tomb yesterday. It had Gorebellies and a vast number of Unravelers, including an early Champ pack and three bosses other than Ancient Kaa.

Unravelers are not that annoying for Evangelina, because she has two ways to to get rid of corpses (Death Sentry and PS freezing).
This tomb took about an hour and a half anyway. I was too tired to continue afterwards.

I found a nice rare Belt with FHR, fire resist and +>50 life and shortly afterwards a flawless amethyst, which was what I needed in order to upgrade it. Since I have a good amount of OW with both weapon setups, the crafted Mesh Belt was not so hot anymore and I left it.

Resists are now decent: 38/31/66/5 (subtract 25 for the Blade Fury setup) and Evangelina is nearing 600 life. Blocking with the Rhyme Tower Shield is now at 74% and will be maxed for the first time after the next level-up.

Total MF: about 220. I don´t know the exact value on some of her items; she´s wearing five PTopazes, Rhyme shield, 10% rare ring, Lapis Ring of Fortune, Serpent´s Amulet of Fortune and over 20 on her rare boots.

Evangelina the PS Assassin, level 59, four more NM tombs to clear.

[skoolbus]

I think I'm being paranoid about life and resists. I believe my sin has 0 mf, or something statistically equivalent, but I've almost maxed my resists for hell (while using CoS, perhaps it's time to move to fade...) and I'm not even near hell yet!

[crazy_bear]

I'm truly impressed at the amount of MF Jiansonz and Wayne manage, and still have decent killing speed. I was lucky enough to find a Tarnhelm and a Nagelring, but that is it for Jane_Doe's MF...

Jane_Doe is still working along quite well. As she worked through the desert she found the maggot lair entrance to be very close to the dry hills WP. Since this will make it easy to go back there she decided to leave the maggot lair until she is ready for the staff since then she won't have the storage issue. It seems every space is a tough decision now. For Jane_Doe this is particularly because she is having trouble finding things she wants to craft or reroll. Her gem collection now stands at : 4 P Sapp, 3 P Emer, 3 P Amyt, 2 P Topaz, 2, P Rub, 1 P Diam, 1 P Skul, and 5 asst Flawless. Ugh, 21 spaces of gems.... then the runes for crafting. She is looking for chain gloves, mesh belt, and amazon javs, and can't find any of those. Still not one magical (or rare, not that it would help unless it had replensihing) amazon jav for her. That feels particularly unlucky considering they could have dropped anywhere since act 3 norm. :tongue:

In any case, during her travels she cleared the deserts areas, stony tomb, and ancient tunnels before moving on to the Viper Temple. The altar was soon smashed and the Amulet retrieved. In the palace cellar she found a +1 passive and magic skills ammy, and with the tarnhelm and skill points invested that brought the valk to lvl 17, giving her the last weapon upgrade. This improved killing power meant that Jane could do the Arcane Sanctuary at p8 to get the most out of the chests at the ends of the arms. Unfortunately, that didn't bring any good items anyway. After finishing the Sanctuary she cleared the Canyon of the Magi and the first false tomb which turned out to be the tomb of Ancient Kaa. With huge numbers of Unravellers and resurrectable preserved dead this took a long time, though Jane was never in any danger. I'm very happy with the choice to put the single point into MA now, as she would have run out of ammo on many occaisions without this, and even though the Valk does most of the killing, Jane's arrows do make a big difference. (Plus LF or PJ depending on the situation). So now Jane_Doe has paused before moving ot to the rest of the tombs.

Jane_Doe, lvl 58 Javazon, Act 2 NM, Canyon of the Magi WP

[OldSoldier]

Crazy_bear I feel your pain. My character is in hell now, sitting patiently because I've been out of town on business. I think I've found one or two sets of magical maiden javelins, but didn't think much of crafting them because I didn't have the ingredients all at the same time. They'll come, don't you worry! And when they do, it'll be with replenishing and boucoups LR. I'm still hoping one of us amazons will find some titans revenge too. That'd be great. But I have to admit, once you get a single set with replenishing, the game gets much easier and faster, because your skills have absolutely nothing to do with the damage on the actual weapon itself.

[skoolbus]

Titan's is an endgame weapon on an ubertwinked char, in this tourney it would be massive overkill. Anyhow, OneFingaPushup finally got some play, I'm ready to do HC again. I only had time to clear out one arm of the arcane sanctuary, but hopefully I can finish up act 2 tonight. I'll probably clear all arms of the arcane sanc, then only as many tombs as it takes to find dury (hate the stupid skeleton resurrecters) on p1. On the one arm, managed to massively upgrade a charm, went from a 20 life GC to a 22 life LC with like 32 def (not that I really use def, but the extra inv slot will be useful). Also debating what to try and craft, or if I should just dump most of my runes and stock up on mana pots for duriel. Too many decisions...

[Insane Wayne]

crazy bear, I think you're having some bad luck with the javs. jiansonz is kicking my butt in the MF department. My full-time MF is only about 130, often 110 if I need more mana. Yet I've still seen maybe 10 sets of blue maiden javs and a few ceremonial.

I wouldn't be too surprised if someone found a Titan's. They're not that rare. I'd guess about 1/3 of my tournament characters have found them during single-pass full clears, although those characters usually had more MF. Man, I could really use them now. Not so much for the damage boost, but for the +passives and FRW. I can't even outrun a Bone Spirit! :embarassed:

[skoolbus]

Once again I got lucky and guessed the right tomb for dury on my first try. Amazingly, duriel dropped 3 id worthy items. I had one id scroll so I wasted it on a useless GC, the other two are a rare barbed shield and unique tomb wand which the AS tells me is Arm of King leoric. I dropped two mana potions to keep it, but it doesn't really do anything useful for a sin so I guess I'll mule it off. Level 57 and ready to take on act 3! (probably on p1 as I don't much care for act 3 either)

[Mursilis]

Now that the MFO is over I can finally get back to Anubis, who has been patiently twiddling his thumbs in Harrogath for the past two weeks.

Raising his army wasn't as tough as I expected as the pair of barbarians at the main gates kept the burning dead archers busy enough so they wouldn't target Anubis. And those that did got a bone wall in their way in response.

The going was rather slow as either there were bottlenecks where only a pair of skeletons could engage the monsters at a time or the army was completely spread out (http://img391.imageshack.us/img391/5598/scatteredwf0.jpg) by the gremlins teleporting everywhere. But slowly and surely Anubis and his companions plodded along without any NDE until the WSK, where everything changed.

That's where Oblivion Knights joined the fray, on not one but two seperate levels. :shocked: Of course they weren't viewable (http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/5864/oblivionxy1.jpg) until the swarm of Doom Knights was taken care of. Unfortunately they made up for the fact that IM was never cast in the Chaos Santuary by spamming it constantly, so the going was slow and required trips back to the previous WSK levels to reraise an army time and again.

Finally a path to Baal was cleared and the minion waves engaged. First wave, no problem. Second wave....serious problems. The cold skeletons were CEed to keep them from being resurrected. However apparently at p5 the Unravellers are rather tough to damage, and their poison attacks knock off Anubis' skeletons before much damage could be done in return.

Anubis had to clear out the entire WSK (except Oblivion Knight levels) to reraise his army the 8 or so times required to deal with Wave 2. The progression was simple; raise army, return to Baal's minions and kill off one Unraveller. Once done the army has been reduced to 1-2 skeletons and a golem so Anubis has to retreat, rinse and repeat. Actually ended up running out of monsters in the WSK for the last two army resurrections, so traveled by WP to the Ancient's Way. Thankfully everything was done in one playing session so I wasn't rerunning anything, otherwise Anubis would have been stopped short.

Finally Wave 2 fell and the following waves posed zero problems. Therefore, onward to Baal.

Oddly enough, Anubis was unable to cast the Clay Golem onto Baal's walkway even though he had a clear view. :scratch: While trying to figure this puzzle out quite a few festering appendages appeared to harrass Anubis and clog up his army. It turned out this was a blessing as once Anubis worked his way to the center of the room Baal had come off of the walkway into the more open area. This mean the entire army could engage at once (http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/6910/baaliq0.jpg). Once he was surrounded and decripfied, Baal turned into a *****cat and didn't do much of anything offensively.

Overall only 2 mages were lost, with zero golem recasts required. Baal dropped 6 rares, all useless. This means Anubis is still using his starting wand :rolleyes:

On the subject of MF, Anubis is carrying zero on purpose. He's found rings and boots with MF, but with his resistances so low I made survivability more important than a lucky drop. Considering that nothing nice has really dropped perhaps that wasn't the best of ideas.



Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 71 A1 Hell Cold Plains
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 70 A1 Hell Rogue Camp
Insane Wayne Asteria CS Amazon 68 A5 NM Frigid Highlands
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 57 A3 NM Kurast Docks
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 59 A2 NM False Tombs
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon 58 A2 NM Canyon of Magi
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 25 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
thewamp Athena PJ/FA Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Chymaera Marius II BlizBolt Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Cold Plain
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Darkstrikes lighamus Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp

Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 75 A1 Hell Outer Cloister
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Butzull Spinster Amazon 26 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 14 A1 Norm Black Marsh
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field

[Insane Wayne]

Congrats on the conqueror Mursilis. :thumbsup:


This means Anubis is still using his starting wand :rolleyes:
I thought crazy bear was having bad luck with the lack of zon javs, but this takes the cake! Even with zero MF I'd expect a better white/gray wand would drop for you. I remember tossing Dol and Io and thinking "too bad a necro can't have these..."

On the plus side, you get big style points for the starter gear!

[jiansonz]

My Life Tap plan against Duriel worked perfectly. It was easier than I thought it would be, because the Shadow survived better than I expected. Total amount of resources used in the fight:
* 1 thawing potion (qauffed before going in)
* ~7 charges of Life Tap
* 3 mana potions (mainly for my Shadow recasts)
* maybe a point of durability here and there on my armor items

I´ve had a blast in the jungle. Very easy progress. I only had to watch out against those annoying little Cloud Stalkers (they have a pretty strong poison) and be on my toes against Gloams in the Marsh (no boss Gloams, thankfully).

I took extra care to try to avoid going anywhere near Poison Spinners in the spider dungeons. I still got poisoned twice, but I was smart enough to carry an antidote those times.

A regular Cloud Stalker dropped a Lem(!) rune. That was early...

My two best finds otherwise have been crafted items.

My new belt:
Dread Buckle
Sharkskin Belt
Defense: 33
Durability: 11 of 14
Required Strength: 20
Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 54
Fingerprint: 0x6dcf2a79
+40 to Life
+18 to Mana
Regenerate Mana 6%
Fire Resist +18%
8% Faster Cast Rate
12% Chance to cast Level 4 Charged Bolt when struck

and this ring (which I save until I am prepared to give up the MF gear):
Skull Grasp
Ring
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 56
Fingerprint: 0x2989b7cf
+2 to Strength
+18 to Life
+35 to Attack Rating
Lightning Resist +18%
Cold Resist +30%
2% Life stolen per hit

I also found a DR by 23 Amulet of Life Everlasting. We won´t reach Nihlathak´s level, but it might be useful in tight places.

I found a 2s Tower Shield with 56 durability. Since I had the runes and no future plans for them, I "repaired" my Rhyme shield by making a new one! For Evangelina, Ral runes (the "real" repairing runes) are more valuble than Shaels at the moment (I need them for amulet crafting).

Notable items I left to rot: Waterwalk, Iron Pelt, Howltusk, Plague Bearer and Peasant Crown.

Evangelina the PS Assassin, level 61, Kurast Bazaar next



This means Anubis is still using his starting wand
That´s just crazy. :azn:

I have to ask: how much chipped/regular gems rerolling have you tried with magical wands? I mean, every triplet you try has almost 2% chance to turn the wand into a Graverobber´s, far better than what you have now. And you´ll get a socket or maybe two (if it´s not the worst types of wand). Perfect for sticking in a resist jewel. Over the course of just Normal, you must have had the chance to try dozens upon dozens of times.

And then you have crafting (which can be done with two different types of gem and the really common Tir rune) which can result in nice wands quite early in the game.

Even 'normalizing' low quality wands (with chippie + Eld) would most likely result in something better than +1RS after just a couple of tries.

[skoolbus]

Two destroyers! Yippee!! I'm very optimistic about this go around. Perhaps a guardian? Big congratulations to both of you.


Notable items I left to rot: Waterwalk, Iron Pelt, Howltusk, Plague Bearer and Peasant Crown.

That made me let out an audible What?!? Of course I'm using eth tearhaunch still, but I would LOVE for an extra ~50 to life and missile def.


I have to ask: how much chipped/regular gems rerolling have you tried with magical wands? I mean, every triplet you try has almost 2% chance to turn the wand into a Graverobber´s, far better than what you have now. And you´ll get a socket or maybe two (if it´s not the worst types of wand). Perfect for sticking in a resist jewel. Over the course of just Normal, you must have had the chance to try dozens upon dozens of times.

And then you have crafting (which can be done with two different types of gem and the really common Tir rune) which can result in nice wands quite early in the game.

Even 'normalizing' low quality wands (with chippie + Eld) would most likely result in something better than +1RS after just a couple of tries.

I don't blame him if he hasn't tried any of these, I remember the first claw I got with staffmods (bad ones) I thought to myself, now I'm gonna reroll it til I get a +LS (or SM or venom), but no, I simply won't drop anything to make room, even though I'm positive I won't use most of my runes (keeping them for the 4 os eth monarch that about to drop...). At first I thought it would be a good strategy (and I'm sure it is) but I just can't bring myself to do it.

[Mursilis]

I don't blame him if he hasn't tried any of these, I remember the first claw I got with staffmods (bad ones) I thought to myself, now I'm gonna reroll it til I get a +LS (or SM or venom), but no, I simply won't drop anything to make room, even though I'm positive I won't use most of my runes (keeping them for the 4 os eth monarch that about to drop...). At first I thought it would be a good strategy (and I'm sure it is) but I just can't bring myself to do it.

Nor I. Granted I didn't really try them since it never occured to me in the first place :rolleyes: Not something I've ever done in normal play. Doubt I would have stored rerolling supplies anyway, since space is such a critial consideration. I would have bet my right pinky finger that a better wand would have dropped by now, but so far all I've gotten is +skill wands for curse, bone and golem skills. Argh!


Two destroyers! Yippee!! I'm very optimistic about this go around. Perhaps a guardian?

Phssst. Actually 3 Destroyers counting Butzull, whom we must avenge.

[tripsu]

Wow, this is a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be! Now that the MFO is over, I plan on trying to get as far in this tourney as possible. Looks like Destroyer is the big goal and it seems Guardian is almost impossible.

Anyways, I've made it through Act1. I'm planning on using a combo of FA, Plague Jav, and a lvl 20 Valk. I'm hoping to just be a support to my Valk so I'll probably put some points into Decoy as well to beef up my Valk a little. I'm definitely planning on maxing Plague Jav and putting a few points in it's synergy of Poison Jav. I might put FA up to lvl 5 or so, maybe even lvl 10. I haven't really thought that far ahead yet, since I still need to get myself out of Normal!

Act1 went fairly smoothly with a very safe play style. I got myself a 3 socket bow and out 3 chipped emeralds in it. I was also lucky enough to find 3 +6 poison damage large charms. This gave me 48 poison damage. Through all of Act1 I possibly shot at enemies ran around and waited for them to die. I did all players8 so it took a little time, but was very safe when I still had low life. I did have a couple notable finds. Andy dropped a Nagelring (20 MF, 51 AR) and I also found a +4 replenish life ring in the Catacombs. I'm thinking the replenish life will be invaluable at some points if I run out of pots and just need to sit on my butt while I wait for my life to refill. Life will be tough until lvl 30 when I get a Valk and them I'm thinking play until Act4 NM won't be too much of a problem (I hope).

Good luck all! :thumbsup:




Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 71 A1 Hell Cold Plains
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 70 A1 Hell Rogue Camp
Insane Wayne Asteria CS Amazon 68 A5 NM Frigid Highlands
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 57 A3 NM Kurast Docks
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 59 A2 NM False Tombs
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon 58 A2 NM Canyon of Magi
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 25 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
thewamp Athena PJ/FA Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 18 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Chymaera Marius II BlizBolt Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Cold Plain
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Darkstrikes lighamus Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp

Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 75 A1 Hell Outer Cloister
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Butzull Spinster Amazon 26 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 14 A1 Norm Black Marsh
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field

[TouchOfInsanity]

I was going to work on my project but the Gandhi tournament made me decide to hold off on it. I'll have to see just how far they're able to go. My restrictions might not have been hard enough. So, instead, I'll enter here. It's definitely going to be hard to compete with some of the members but I'll do my best. I'll try with a Shockwave/Summoner Druid. I'll add myself to the chart with my first update.

[tripsu]

I know that poison can't land the last blow in PvP but can it kill you off in PvM. I was just wondering b/c I just sucked back all my rejuvs and red pots to leave myself with this little feeble amount of life. Right now, just waiting it out until I can go back and try and get a couple kills and hopefully land a couple life potions.

http://img413.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot052jy1.jpg

edit: By the way, the Halls of the Dead have been a HUGE pain. It's taking a lot of time with all the revives. I've been trying to get the skeletons one or two at a time and hit them with cold arrow then kill them quickly so they can't be revived. It's been tough going as you can see by my screen shot!

[Insane Wayne]

Lingering poison cannot kill you. It will take you down to 1 HP. However, if you're out of antidotes, it's important you retreat to a safe area to wait it out. You don't have to drink all your potions. Drink enough to get to a safe place. Beware of wall/floor traps that can finish you off (including the ones that spray poison, they do a little physical damage as well).

I've been "super-poisoned" a couple times without an antidote, and watched my red ball drain in a few seconds. In that case, 30 full rejuvs wouldn't have been enough. I ran away and waited (which can take a few minutes).

Nice screenshot. Since you were unsure if poison would kill you, I bet that rattled your nerves.
You just found a regeneration ring, right? That should bail you out of your delicate situation, although the waiting is no fun...

[tripsu]

Thanks for the help! Yeah, I was pretty scared. I had about 6 small rejuvs and 10 red potions between my belt and inventory. The poison was knocking off roughly 30-40 hp and I had rejuved myself to full life and it fell down to 3. I took the screenshot soon after that. Thank goodness for the replenish life +4 ring I found! I knew that would come in handy.

And yes, I had retreated to a floor I already cleared just running like mad and chugging rejuvs. I wish I had known it couldn't take that last point. Would have saved 5ish red potions. Oh well, I'm back at it now! :thumbsup:

[tripsu]

I tried, I tried, and I tried but the Halls of the Dead was just too much on players8. I couldn't get to the cube on the third level. I got swarmed too badly and had no where to run. I'm going to give this another go in a little while with the same build idea. This time all resurrecting areas where there isn't a lot of space to move freely I'm planning on taking on at p1. I think that'll make it possible to get to 30 and get my Valk.

Big congrats to those that are Destroyers!!!! I think this is the toughest/funnest tourney I've played in so far. Even the naked tourney doesn't compare to this difficulty wise.

[jiansonz]

Evangelina more or less cruised through the rest of Act III. A start with spider Champs in one of the temples could have been scary, if it weren´t for the resist poison shrine I had in the Bazaar. In fact, between the Bazaar and Upper Kurast, I had access to resist shrines for any of the four elements. Nice!

The Grand Charms are cursed! I made the exact same mistake as Insane Wayne, and apparently lost my fabulous 25% fire resist charm. I saw in the character screen that Evie had less than 20 resist fire. WTF? I had carried around a stupid Grand Charm of Venom! :duh:
Good thing I had shrines for fire resistance, then. Without them, the Night/Dark/Blood Lords and their multitude of fire spells could have been really dangerous.
Later in the act, I found a 26/4 Ruby Grand Charm of Dexterity :thumbsup:

There was one incident in the Sewers that could have ended in disaster if I had been just a little less alert. The Shadow Warrior died so quickly that I panicked and almost misclicked on my retreat and subsequent actions. My 'rejuve reflex' was working well, though.
Normally, even the most massive mob of Extra Strong/LE/whatever mummies and spiders, etc. will need over 10 seconds to kill a full-life Shadow. Now she died in less than 3 seconds. The culprit: this little pest (http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m156/jiansonz/Evangelina/EvievsGloomBite.jpg) and its gang.

Two interesting finds in the Sewers: another Lem rune (anyone have a suggestion what to do with the two I have?) and The General´s unique Flail. Now there´s an interesting PS weapon prospect. I thought long and hard if it would be worth toting along. Then I thought about Baal and the Ancients and yes, I decided it was worth keeping for a some key fights. But there was no way I could spare six inventory spaces, so keeping it meant giving up my beloved BF weapon, the great dual leech rare Battle Hammer (that I have invested 25 points of STR to use! (Grumbles...))

Advantages of The General´s TDLG
* Extremely fast
* Best possible range on a one-hander
* Hit Slows Target by 50%
* Mana steal, enough so that PS will hardly cost anything

Disadvantages
* Low durability. Will need a couple of repairs in the long term.
* No life steal (and since I have dropped my only life-regenerating item (Manald Heal) I can now get life only from level-ups, shrines, potions and Cobra Strike.) So I miss out on the ability to heal minor wounds with a few blades. That will make playing a little less convenient.
* Too little damage to allow endless Blade Fury use (although that can probably be remedied with an upgrade (just need a Sol for that)).

The low damage means that when I want to use BF, I will do it with Butcher´s Pupil (it takes too long to kill stuff otherwise). I may do a quick switch and add some shots with the Flail if the shadow needs the slowing to tank better.

For the Mephisto fight, I activated a Resist Poison Shrine, had the Life Tap wand ready, with the General´s Flail and Rhyme shield on the 'fighting' switch and Butcher´s Pupil in storage. It worked out well enough, although the low damage on the Flail made the Life Tap less über than against Duriel. Once the shrine effect was over and I got poisoned, I ran out of healing potions and had to gnaw a bit (3 of 10) on my full rejuve supply.
The fight consumed 10(!) durability on the Flail.


Evangelina the PS Assassin, level 64, NM Outer Steppes next

[Insane Wayne]

Two interesting finds in the Sewers: another Lem rune (anyone have a suggestion what to do with the two I have?) and The General´s unique Flail.
"Treachery" armor is what springs to my mind. +2 skills and 45 IAS. Although you used up your Shael making the replacement Rhyme, you can probably get another one. Or, HF might give you a 3rd Lem, and you can cube a Pul, for a realistic shot at making a Butcher's Small Crescent.


The fight consumed 10(!) durability on the Flail.
Don't sneeze on it or you'll lose another point of durability! I've used General's plenty of times and it breaks quick, like daggers. I wonder if it's simply tied to #hits, or if some weapon types actually degrade faster.

[jiansonz]

"Treachery" armor is what springs to my mind. +2 skills and 45 IAS. Although you used up your Shael making the replacement Rhyme, you can probably get another one. Or, HF might give you a 3rd Lem, and you can cube a Pul, for a realistic shot at making a Butcher's Small Crescent.

Ooh, Treachery looks nice! That´s the one I always dream about for my mercs - have not been able to make one yet.
If I can solve the resist issue (need to get some good headgear) then it´s certainly an option. The Venom seems good (would be on more or less all the time, 300 bonus damage per hit) but the Fade seems a bit awkward. 15% PDR and 60% resist all is godly, but only 5% chance to trigger when I get hit (I don´t want to get hit!) and then it lasts for about 5 minutes. Maybe I should just ignore the Fade, and just think of it as something that may try to save me if I get swarmed...

Another potential problem is that I have only so-so foot speed without BoS, but with BoS and an extra 45% IAS, I´m afraid my attack will be too fast for reliable release of PS charge of my choice.

But I think I will give it a try!
I already have a Shael. What I don´t have is a Thul (or a suitable armor).


OK, seeing the Hellforge rune first sound like a plan.

[Insane Wayne]

Asteria continued her run through Act 5 NM, still doing p8. Some of my monster rolls were pretty easy. For example, three areas had goats. I also saw lots of of boars/imps. ID scroll shortage never became an issue, because I drew ghosts/wraiths three times, and CS tore through them popping scrolls left and right. Assisting me was an uber-valk, who had cold and poison immunity in addition to poison damage for PMH. I kept her alive the entire session.

Frozen River was the first real challenge, due to multiple scary snake packs. I found my first evil urn, and the possibility for snakes convinced me to open it with my telekinesis ring. Fittingly, an LE LI snake pack spawned directly around the urn (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/LIsnake_urn.jpg)! I would've been helpless to fight back. Another urn contained Fanaticism snakes, too close for comfort. And it happened again, in the Glacial Trail (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/CEFEsnake_urn.jpg)! This ring has already proven its worth.

The red portal areas had additional dangers, with amp damage witches, fire snakes, undead dolls, frenzytaurs, and knights. I lost my uber-valk to a 1-hit IM from an Oblivion Knight. The timing was OK, because I was quitting the session anyway (at the Arreat Plateau WP). Behold the worst door misalignment (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/door.jpg) ever! It was funny, I couldn't go through until the door was wrecked.

Next session, I made a major gear change after a goat boss dropped the unique Double Bow, Endless Hail. I ditched my spare javs and a 3-socket tower shield. I've been planning for eventual use of low-level Frozen Arrow, for corpse disposal and crowd control. There are other unique bows I'd prefer, but Endless Hail has some advantages:
- it's very fast (and I have 35% off-weapon IAS)
- useful mana boost (+40, now I can easily top 500)
- cold damage with improved duration = increased freeze length
- big cold resist (my weakest primary resist)
- free access to Strafe (with +skill boost, I get 8 arrows)

Ancient's Way had rogue jabbers and LI Afflicted. Again, I used telekinesis for the urns, which contained Afflicted. Icy Cellar was a mess. We were met by a boss pack of dolls, some snakes, and LI gloams (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/IcyCellar_trio.jpg). Champion gloams added to the tense situation, but with good resists I survived. Asteria obliterated Snapchip's gang.

The Ancients spawned LE, Holy Fire, and Stone Skin. Annoying, but not at all dangerous, unlike the WSK levels. Each level had a mix of tough monsters including snakes, flayers, heirophants, more amping witches, and a scary intro to level 3 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/WSK3_trap.jpg). Frenzytaurs are actually the least dangerous. As long as the valk can hold out for 10+ seconds, I can take them down. Throne level was another tough draw: vampires, frenzytaurs, and burning souls. A Fanat gloam (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Fanat_gloam.jpg) was the worst of it. The remaining gloams were frozen solid with freezing arrows until the valk killed them.

I had one problem with Baal's minions; Achmel at p8 had insane regeneration. I had to blast him with sustained CS while popping a few rejuvs to counter his super-poison (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/NM_Achmel.jpg). Very few replacement mana potions dropped from the remaining minions, and I was forced to tackle Baal with only one blue and four purples. I took a few breaks to regen life/mana. No big deal. His drop was crap. My Goldwrap belt made it all the way through the Act! After NM Daiblo, it had 2 durability, and it still does! My other armors lost a few points. That says a lot about how rarely Asteria is hit behind her valk.

Items I left behind:
Lem rune (from random WSK monster)
Jewel of Thunder (1-74)
Preserver's GC of Winter

Conqueror Asteria, 1.11 CS Amazon, level 74, Act 1 Hell, Rogue Camp
Str 85, Dex 133, Vitality 223 (886 life), Energy 47 (371 mana, can go up to 512)
CS Damage: 7 bolts, 1-796 damage per bolt
Javelin skills (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/jav_skills2.jpg).
Passive skills (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/passive_skills2.jpg).
Bow skills (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/bow_skills2.jpg).
Resists: 75/35/65/-12
Chance to block: 55%

Gear:
Maiden Javelin of Replenishing
Maiden Javelin
One Hand Damage: 8 - 14
Quantity: 80
Required Level: 17
Required Strength: 33
Required Dexterity: 47
Fingerprint: 0x3e7edb35
Item Level: 30
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+1 to Javelin and Spear Skills (Amazon Only)
Replenishes quantity

Rhyme
Tower Shield
Defense: 23
Durability: 53 of 60
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 75
Fingerprint: 0xbcfd152
Item Level: 31
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
All Resistances +25
20% Increased Chance of Blocking
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
40% Faster Block Rate
Cannot Be Frozen
15% Regenerate Mana
2 Sockets (2 used)
Socketed: Shael Rune
Socketed: Eth Rune

Endlesshail
Double Bow
Two Hand Damage: 33 - 79
Durability: 19 of 36 <--- no clue why GoMule shows this. (GoMule is still awesome)
Required Level: 36
Required Strength: 58
Required Dexterity: 73
Fingerprint: 0x4589238f
Item Level: 63
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+40 to Mana
207% Enhanced Damage
+50 Defense vs. Missile
Cold Resist +35%
+15 - 30 cold damage with 3 sec Duration
+3 to Strafe (Amazon Only)

Sazabi's Mental Sheath
Basinet
Defense: 183
Durability: 29 of 30
Required Level: 43
Required Strength: 82
Fingerprint: 0x322dbe0c
Item Level: 52
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+100 Defense
Fire Resist +20%
Lightning Resist +17%
+1 to All Skills

Gemmed Full Plate Mail
Full Plate Mail
Defense: 152
Durability: 42 of 70
Required Level: 31
Required Strength: 80
Fingerprint: 0x67b63f9e
Item Level: 49
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
Lightning Resist +37%
+38 to Life
Cold Resist +30%
15% Increased Attack Speed
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Perfect Ruby
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Camphor Jewel of Fervor

Nightsmoke
Mesh Belt
Defense: 64
Durability: 14 of 16
Required Level: 20
Required Strength: 58
Fingerprint: 0x118982a1
Item Level: 37
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+20 to Mana
30% Enhanced Defense
+15 Defense
Damage Reduced by 2
Required Lvl +5
+50 Damage Taken Goes To Mana
All Resistances +10

Soul Hold
Chain Gloves
Defense: 8
Durability: 8 of 16
Required Level: 35
Required Strength: 25
Fingerprint: 0x4bd07126
Item Level: 49
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+2 to Strength
+14 to Mana
Fire Resist +21%
Poison Resist +16%
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
20% Increased Attack Speed

Hailstone Shank
Greaves
Defense: 24
Durability: 14 of 24
Required Level: 18
Required Strength: 70
Fingerprint: 0xeb85298d
Item Level: 46
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
56% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +34%
Poison Resist +19%
9% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Half Freeze Duration

Prismatic Amulet of Enlightenment
Amulet
Required Level: 33
Fingerprint: 0xd5cb313e
Item Level: 45
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+26 to Energy
Fire Resist +18%
Lightning Resist +18%
Cold Resist +18%
Poison Resist +18%

Bahamut's Ring of the Mind
Ring
Required Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0x1e244df2
Item Level: 49
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+6 to Energy
+114 to Mana

Garnet Ring of Protection
Ring
Required Level: 13
Fingerprint: 0x8df50fa0
Item Level: 46
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
Damage Reduced by 2
Fire Resist +29%

Charms:
Cobalt (25) Grand Charm of Pestilence (+25 poison damage / 5 sec)
Garnet (25) Grand Charm
Ruby (27) Grand Charm
Serpent's (51) Grand Charm of Dex (4)
Crimson (4) Small Charm of Life (10)
Russet Small (7) Charm of Greed
Ocher (7) Small Charm of Life (6)
Ocher (6) Small Charm of Dexterity (2)
Ocher (6) Small Charm
Tangerine (5) Small Charm of Flame
Cobalt (8) Small Charm of Strength (2)
Lapis (7) Small Charm of the Icicle (2-4)
Lapis (6) Small Charm of Strength (1)
Lapis (6) Small Charm
Bronze Small Charm of Sustenance (14)
Small Charm of Sustenance (13)

In storage:
Acrobat's Amulet
Great Wyrm's Ring of Telekinesis (17/25 charges)
Snake's Amulet of Regrowth (Replenish Life 10, for emergencies)
Ocher (17) Ring of the Wolf (16)
Tin Jewel of Fervor
Runes: Shael, Ort, Ral (2)
ID Tome (8 scrolls)

[OldSoldier]

Wayne, how do you take a break against Baal when you can't leave? Those appendages seemed to follow me everywhere.

As for Princess_Diana, she went about halfway through the act, starting from the Cold Plains and clearing most areas. She needed a nef and ko rune, 2 os armor and Sigon's boots to be very happy. From the Cold Plains she tried clearing out the burial grounds and mausoleum and crypt but gave up because everything there is LI, so it was a huge drag. Then she cleared all of the holes and caves in the act, minus the pit since she hasn't gone that far yet. From the beginning up until the countess' tower a grand total of zero runes dropped. She cleared every monster available in all areas other than the burial grounds and sub-areas. Finally the countess gave her a nef and an eld, and before she found a tir, keeping all but the eld. Princess_Diana stopped at the Black Marsh WP, which is right next to the entrance for the Tamoe Highland. She found the nef and still needs the ko and 2 os armor. She dropped Sigon's gloves for a rare pair of gauntlets that have 3 separate resists (not lightning though) and IAS, which gives her 40% off weapon IAS. The only thing close to breaking are Sander's boots, which have 7 durability.

[Insane Wayne]

Wayne, how do you take a break against Baal when you can't leave? Those appendages seemed to follow me everywhere.
That has never happened to me. I've always been able to retreat to a safe spot out of his range. Either side usually works. If Baal wanders into one side, I run to the other. Many of my Baal fights involve retreating to restock potions, making the clone disappear, of changing into MF gear for the final hit.

Good luck with that Ko rune! It seems like a tough prospect. Now that Countess is gone, it'll be even harder to find. If you killed every Hell monster, you might be no better than 50/50 to find it. That's my gut feeling anyway, maybe I'm wrong. Mid-runes aren't super-rare but it's not easy to score a particular one. I've hoped for certain runes with previous single-pass characters (lum, lem, pul... etc...) and I learned I can't count on it. Hopefully you'll luck out.

[OldSoldier]

I guess you learn something every day (Baal hiding trick). I just always went as fast as possible when switching things and hiding behind a pillar. About that Ko rune, I doubt I'll ever get one. The farther I go the more likely I am to pick up a higher damage bow and socket it and make an Edge, but socketing it would put me one Amn short, so I am still on the prowl for another of those. Heck maybe I'll go back to a Zephyr if a nice unique doesn't pan out, but then I'm searching for an eth, which admittedly is an easier task than the Ko. I don't think it is smart to wait for three Lum runes either, but I do already have one...

[jiansonz]

Yeah, I can usually get away from Baal´s attention if I make it to the little "room" to the left of the chamber.

Wayne, Asteria´s gloves and amulet are great. :thumbsup:
Her charm collection pwns Evangelina´s, but she is slowly getting there...


I figured Act 4 was going to be the hardest act so far. There is a marked increase in monster life, and many monster types are highly resistant to fire (Doom Knights are immune, even). With most tourney characters, this is the time I usually start buying potions quite often. So I had to be careful.

About 30% into the clearance of Outer Steppes, I ran into the bug where Cloak of Shadows makes the game crash when the CoS duration ends and there is a stationary "monster" around (Trapped Souls in this case). I decided to avoid CoS as much as possible. If I must use it, I shall first draw the monsters back to known and secured areas. This made the playing a bit awkward, and I found out just how strong my reflex to ready CoS after a used right button skill is. I tried to remember to switch to Death Sentry instead. Twice during the session, my Shadow cast CoS (since I had indeed readied the skill anyway) with Trapped Souls around. I ran away a couple of screens before the duration ran out. I don´t know if that helped, but I had no more crashes during the session.

My plan was to advance along the perimeter of the areas and move on to the next as soon as possible. Two reasons for this:
- It may be tricky to establish a foothold in a new area. It´s good to have resources from the other area(s) left in that case.
- I wanted to secure the WP soon, in case of a crash.

Outer Steppes had Cliff Lurkers, Doom Casters and Venom Lords. That was a very good draw. If the Shadow Warrior has Fade on, she can tank a massive mob of these monster types for a long time.

Plains of Despair had maybe the worst draw possible: Doom Knights, Burning Souls and Spawners. Yuck! Fighting spawners and Souls without CoS is tricky indeed. I used a lot of PS Freezing. The Souls weren´t that deadly (Evie´s LR is pretty good) but I still needed to respect them, and dodge Lightning when I could.

The toughest foes were the Doom Knights. More than three at a time and the Shadow was really taking a beating. It´s those poison hits that did it (cuts out the high life regeneration of the Shadow). PS Freezing was good here. Once I managed to freeze most of a pack, I went to work with PS 2nd charge, then 3rd, then 2nd, then 3rd, etc. Quite often, I ended up with a lone frozen Knight that had quite a bit of life left. That was my life/mana supply: 3x Tiger, 3x Cobra, Attack. If all went well, the fight had not cost me anything.

If there were spawners mixed in with the knights, it was usually easier to bring the whole pack down (all thoses pups die quickly to a Meteor, and they are good explosion fodder).

I have never killed NM Izual faster wihout at least 25% Crushing Blow. Shadow tanked him without losing any visible life, and Evangelina only needed one Cobra Strike cycle´s worth of extra mana to finish him off with flames.

City of the Damned had Pit Lords, Stranglers and Abyss Knights. This was the promised land, a place where I could restock potions so I could go back and fight on the Plaines.

I crafted a Safety Belt and a Blood Amulet, both with crap results. The latter was a bad choice at this time, using up my only Amn rune. I forgot that I want a 'Strength' weapon soon.


Evangelina the PS Assassin, level 65, NM River of Flame next

[OldSoldier]

My update is far shorter today; Princess_Diana made it to the Outer Cloister after clearing the Tamoe Highlands and the Pit. The pit was filled with creatures immune to fire and cold, which meant that she plowed the area under pretty fast. On level 2 there were some LI rogue archers, but not many. No stair traps tonight like the goat/carver one last night in the cave. I might have the wrong place, but I remember the monsters weren't LI so she threw some javelins and cleared them out no problemo. Still level 74, but finally Princess caught up to where Warnie passed on and gave him a proper burial. Something had taken all of his money and apparel. Apparently you just can't trust these demons anymore. Her 70% MF yielded nothing on this part of the journey.

[crazy_bear]

Congrats on making conqueror Wayne. Asteria seems very solid at this point. Since Jane_Doe is already using a bow on switch she was also thinking of getting a 1 pt Freezing arrow for shattering corpses. Definitely something to think about...

Jane_Doe has had a couple of play sessions since last update. First, she had to clear the rest of the false tombs. It seemed like it was about 2 tombs to gain a level which was nice for getting her ready for Duriel. In the last false tomb she found this ring:
Bahamut's Ring of the Mind
Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x2310d6c2
+5 to Energy
+108 to Mana
Deciding to give up some resists she tossed a cobalt ring. I was shocked how much difference this made. She could now use LF effectively and the natural regen meant that it was very seldom that she would need a potion for anything except LF. I know now not to under value a good mana pool. She also found a Dol rune, which has few uses, but a couple of runewords (Passion comes to mind) could potentially use it, so she will wait and see what comes at HF before throwing it out.
I was very worried about Duriel, but shouldn't have been. The valk was much too tough for him to take down so Jane could stand back and throw in the PJ until he dropped. Jane only Id'd one item from the drop, a magical pilum. (Nope, not replenishing)
Now in Act 3, I figured I better do the first 3 areas all in one session, because of the difficulty of running around all the flayers at the entrances to the WP areas. She was looking forward to these areas because there were few creatures here that would be immune to her PJ. By the time she reached Lower Kurast she had accumulated 6 flawless gems on the ground that she couldn't carry! (4 had dropped in the flayer dungeon alone, very near the gate to LK so they hadn't disappeared yet.) Realizing I couldn't let these gems go to waste she cleared LK looking for any magical javelin to reroll and try for a replenishing... no javs. So she moved all these gems (up to 8 now) to the Kurast Bazaar and tried there. She finally found a magical war javelin in the ruined temple. So with that she tried the 2 rolls and didn't get replenishing anyway. The last couple she found a matched one for and made a P Ruby. She also found a second Hel rune, but I can't see a use for it. She is carrying it now, but I expect it will get left behind soon.
She did end up skipping the swampy pit, but will go back there now since it is right next to the WP, but the rest of the areas were cleared on p8 without trouble, bringing her to lvl to 62. I was surprised at the slowdown in exp gain compared to the false tombs where she gained lvls very quickly.

Jane_Doe, lvl 62 javazon, act 3 NM, Kurast Bazaar WP

[Sinningthings]

Many of you seem to be cruising along while I just gat back to playing Repunzul. She's lvl 40 and going through the Ancients. This is where we run into a problem. The problem's not with the Ancients themselves but with the game. Every time I get Talic (sp?) half way down the game freezes. I tried it about 5 times and it's starting to feel like it's impassable. Anyone have any suggestions?

[jiansonz]

The problem's not with the Ancients themselves but with the game. Every time I get Talic (sp?) half way down the game freezes. I tried it about 5 times and it's starting to feel like it's impassable. Anyone have any suggestions?

If you or your Shadow are using Cloak of Shadows, that´s most likely the reason for the crashes.

[Sinningthings]

Thanxs jian. Boy though, that's a big part of my little build.

[OldSoldier]

I don't think it would have any effect on them anyway, aren't most unique monsters able to see through CoS? Time to put on them running boots!

[Fingerzam]

I don't think it would have any effect on them anyway, aren't most unique monsters able to see through CoS? Time to put on them running boots!

Well, CoS also lowers enemy defence and increases your defence.

I want to join this tourney too, I'm currently enabling HC (I just reinstalled D2, haven't played for many years, not since 1.10 came out) and I'll start as soon as I have HC enabled.

I'm going to play an assassin. I'm not exactly sure about my build yet, but I'm probably going to use dragon tail as a finisher and either take TS or PS+synergy as a charge. I've never used a dragon tail build before, but I wan't to try it out. Also after trying blade fury I noticed how awesome it is so I'll definitely put a point in it.

That CoS bug scares me a bit, because I was planning to use CoS as a backup resource of AR (well, -enemy defence) if I can't hit anything otherwise. And the AI effect is also nice (well, my life will probably depend on it a lot). But that bug is only a problem in some A4 areas and ancients, right?

[jiansonz]

That CoS bug scares me a bit, because I was planning to use CoS as a backup resource of AR (well, -enemy defence) if I can't hit anything otherwise. And the AI effect is also nice (well, my life will probably depend on it a lot). But that bug is only a problem in some A4 areas and ancients, right?

As I understand it, it´s the Ancients and all 'stationary monsters': crow nests, mummy sarcophagi, Trapped Souls, Evil Demon Huts etc.

I have used it very often around the imp towers in act 5, and it has not been a problem there. Not around catapults either.

[OldSoldier]

:duh: I forgot about the defense changes. My assassin is even waiting to take on the ancients in the afterlife tournament and having a tough time with the LI one (Madawc I think).

Princess_Diana took advantage of my not wanting to play against the ancients last night and went from the outer cloister to the inner cloister. In that span of time she found a good Stormeye, Soul Harvest, Milebrega's Rod, and a couple of really nice circlets with massive amounts of +life and +mana. All left to rot. In the jail the part I was most concerned about Pitspawn Fouldog because his guys' lightning balls hit really hard and they're sometimes pretty fast as well, sniping from odd directions and generally causing much mayhem. Well I lucked out this time as his entire crew was parked inside of a locked small jail cell. Princess_Diana stood directly outisde of the range of their lightning attack and plinked away, bit by bit, with the gothic bow and MA. They all died, even Pitspawn, until only one was left, and I opened the door for the valk who finished him off quickly. They were the only LI monsters in the entire jail until level 3 when some bone mages showed up.

She found a 2os Demonhide armor with good durability left and made the Smoke out of the Nef from hell countess and Lum from NM hellforge. Appropriately, about 3 minutes later a 2os Cuirass with roughly double the defense and durability dropped. Argh! Shortly after that a Ral fell, which eased the pain slightly. No Ko though...

So far she's found 3 Duskdeep helms and 4 Cathan's Rings (a perfect complement to the Angelic amulet she is still dragging around). With the equipment she has on, she can get good resists; +15 (Duskdeep), +50 (Smoke), +25 (Rhyme), and +20 (shimmering amulet) puts me over zero for all. Add in separate resists items (charms, belt, gloves) and I am looking OK for resists. I am still on the prowl for a higher base blocking percentage 2os shield to make my blocking percentage better (I put enough in dex to maintain 60% now). Putting on the smoke hurt my attack speed and MF though, as the old armor had 2 fervor jewels and a Ptopaz.

Next stop: the catacombs!

[Sinningthings]

Not using CoS worked just fine. They went down pretty easy (I'm a coward, I changed to players 1). Baal was a handful. He must have copyed 4 times and whacked my lvl 10 shadow master out in seconds. But it off to NM for Repunzel.

Baal dropped a +2 to shadow skills hat!!:thumbsup: I still need to find jewellery that’s not blue.

[skoolbus]

Started out at the spider forest wp, had just a sliver of already cleared area to run through to get back to new territory. Thank God I did it on p1! I tried just running through, but got choked up, and got mauled by everything. Must have used 7 potions just getting to where I hadn't been. 3 times my health went to an invisible sliver. Thank god I've placed so much importance in getting over 700 health. After that I put it on p8, which lasted for one thorned hulk bosspack, where it went down to p3, which is comfortable so far. This playing session has netted some good finds. Top of the list is a fal rune from one of the stupid flying things that poisons you. I'm keeping it in the hopes of lionheart. Also left a mav's belt on the ground because I don't need FRW and decided that my bladebuckle was better than some mana leech. Right now the game is paused, and I'll get back to it later tonight.

[skoolbus]

Hmmm, a 2 soc grim shield just dropped, and I'm in quite the pickle right now... Should I make a Rhyme Grim shield or hold onto this

The Ward
Gothic Shield
Defense: 112
Chance to Block: 51%
Durability: 23 of 40
Required Strength: 60
Required Level: 26
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 53
Fingerprint: 0xe3924815
+10 to Strength
+100% Enhanced Defense
+10% Increased Chance of Blocking
+40 Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 2
All Resistances +37

Also found a +3 phoenix strike greater talons, seriously considered keeping them and using that as a backup skill for a while. Keeping the game paused until someone can offer a suggestion. It should be noted however that I have no CBF, and don't think I'll ever get any, but I do like the resists on this shield. Worried if I can beat NM baal without CBF...

[tigercan]

Worried if I can beat NM baal without CBF...

I could well be wrong, but don't thawing potions give you CBF & cold resist for a period of time?
Save a couple of them up and you should be ok (assuming you have the space for them)

[Insane Wayne]

IMO Rhyme Grim Shield is much better than a 37 Ward. Higher blocking, faster blocking, CBF, and a bonus MF boost. Thawing potions are good for temp cold resist and to remove chill, but they don't give you CBF. Maybe if you already had high blocking (or don't care about blocking), and CBF, you could opt for the extra resists from Ward. Or I guess if you really needed the +str. Otherwise, I wouldn't trade Rhyme's attributes for 12 extra resist-all.

[Mursilis]

I wouldn't trade Rhyme's attributes for 12 extra resist-all.

I agree, Rhyme is much better than the Ward. Now if you could socket the Ward and put a Pdiamond in there I'd consider the Ward. But since that quest is lost to us go Rhyme.

Anubis joined Princess_Diana at the Inner Cloister. Getting started was by far the hardest part of the trip. Anubis spent 10 minutes, all his mana potions and 3 rejuv potions attempting to get a boss pack of zombies to kill off one of their own. Apparently letting the monsters attack the clay golem with IM cast isn't very effective, they regenerate about as fast as they hurt themselves. So Attract is still the only way I can get a first corpse since Anubis has no offensive skills and the Clay Golem is rather useless for such a task.

But eventually one of their number fell and was replaced with a skeleton and the army was started. Have it up to 10 skeletons, 6 skeleton mages and a clay golem.

Did have one NDE, when a cold enhanced boss died/exploded and Anubis was a tad too close. His heath just about disappeared, which was lucky as I was assuming such an occurance would be a deeds action, considering his cold resistance is currently -64 :yikes:

Speaking of that, Anubis has finally replaced his starting wand with.....a +1RS wand with a....gasp....socket. Into this socket was a placed a random jewel that fell for 10% cold resistance. This probably saved Anubis' life when that cold enhanced boss died :shocked:

Also found a new belt with 4% more lightning resistance but has 4 rows for potions instead of the 3 Anubis had previously. Ya, more inventory room for...more potions.

Next up, Andariel.

Edit: Ok question. When everyone is saying they are parking their characters for the night I'm assuming your just pressing ESC and minimzing the game until next play session. Or is there something I am missing? This isn't something I've tried before but due to the issues I'll have getting my army started I think most if not all of Hell will be done in this manner.

Edit2: I updated the table as best I could, but I know some of the character levels are incorrect.



Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 74 A1 Hell Inner Cloister
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 72 A1 Hell Inner Cloister
Insane Wayne Asteria CS Amazon 74 A1 Hell Rogue Camp
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 65 A4 NM River of Flame
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon 62 A3 NM Kurast Baazar
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 57 A3 NM Kurast Docks
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 25 A1 NM Rogue Camp
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
thewamp Athena PJ/FA Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 18 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Chymaera Marius II BlizBolt Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Cold Plain
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Darkstrikes lighamus Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp

Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 75 A1 Hell Outer Cloister
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Butzull Spinster Amazon 26 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 14 A1 Norm Black Marsh
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field

[OldSoldier]

@ Mursilis - good work on making it so far. That must have been tough for your character to get the army going like that. I'd be afraid that with one single skeleton that the zombies would kill it and you'd be back to square one. I'd CE the first one or two. Another method might be to use fallen as your initial army-makers, if you happen to be in an area where they're likely to spawn. They attack faster and have far fewer hit points than zombies. When I "park" my character I S&E at a convenient waypoint. I only have one summon to make so it isn't a big deal like for you.

Regardless, Princess isn't feeling very talkative, so please respect her wishes to maintain your distance. [/publicity agent rant]

@ Skoolbus - definitely make the Rhyme. It'll have better blocking percentage, better block rate, CBF, MF, and will allow you to run faster and your stamina will drain less (lighter shield). I'm in the market for the same kind of shield myself, with a spare Shael ready to go.

[Mursilis]

I was worried about the solo skeleton as well, it did almost die. So I kept using attract on another zombie to keep the rest occupied. Once I had two skeletons and a clay golem they could pretty much handle their own against the remaining 3 zombies.

I'd prefer to go against carvers too, unfortunately this was the first pack I ran into and I was worried they'd follow me around and I'd get swarmed. Didn't expect it to be so difficult to get them to fight each other :rolleyes:

[skoolbus]

Doh, I didn't make it in the first grim shield I saw, but also came across another one and a 2 soc dragon shield. I decided against it for a few reasons. 1) I rarely get frozen. 2) I rarely get hit. 3) I have one sheal and I need to see if I get a good rune from NM hellforge for a runeword armor (which I could very much use) 4) I need cold and a little light resist and tons of poison resist.

I think I got so excited when it dropped that I didn't think about these and just asked without thinking for myself first. However, if I don't get an um pul lum or hel from NM hellforge (praying for a lum) I'll make it first good 2 soc shield I find.

If I do get a lum from hellforge, should I make Smoke or hope for hel and make lionheart? Lionheart gives me a nice boost to mana and more health than I'll hopefully ever need, while smoke gives very nice resists and FHR. I suppose it depends on

Another question, is crescent moon a good weapon for blade fury? It seems like it would be and the spirit wolves might come in handy too.

Yet another question, I think I remember hearing about a bug in the runeword Peace, with the ctc valk, am I imagining things?

[Insane Wayne]

I decided against it for a few reasons. 1) I rarely get frozen. 2) I rarely get hit.
I see your point, but I'm just not convinced by these two reasons. By the same logic, you can argue that improved resists are not that important. Even the best HC players do get ambushed, blind-sided, or lose their concentration. I feel that CBF mobility and improved blocking are more likely to be game-saving factors than the extra 12 resist. (although, not always, considering what just happened to Mursilis with the death nova, but that is very unusual). In particular, many Hell monsters have an automatic cold attack, and then of course there are the frequent CE minions, many of them very speedy and/or ranged. It's so much tougher to do anything while chilled.
However, I agree you can wait until starting Hell, to see what other runes you get, in case you want the Shael for something else. That sounds like a good plan.


If I do get a lum from hellforge, should I make Smoke or hope for hel and make lionheart? Lionheart gives me a nice boost to mana and more health than I'll hopefully ever need, while smoke gives very nice resists and FHR.
Tough call, they're both great. There's a realistic chance you'll find a Hel before Hell. If not, I'd make Smoke as soon as I started Hell. Of course, you're not favored to find a Lum for either of them, so if you really want to replace your armor you might have to make a gemmed one. Ral Ort Thul PRuby = poor man's Lionheart, which is close to what I'm using. :tongue:


question, is crescent moon a good weapon for blade fury? It seems like it would be and the spirit wolves might come in handy too.
Sure! Why not? But I wouldn't count on those unsynergized spirit wolves lasting long. They might serve as a brief distraction in an emergency. I've had maxed dire wolves (with max Oak Sage) drop dead in a couple seconds against common Hell boss mobbings.

[Brak]

Yet another question, I think I remember hearing about a bug in the runeword Peace, with the ctc valk, am I imagining things?


Peace is totally buggy. Basically the valk disappears when any of the following things end their duration:

Your character is poisoned.

Certain shrines expire (ie. Resist Lightning)

Certain curses end (ie. amp dmg)

Certain character skills expire (only know of paladins holy shield but haven't tested sins fade or BoS)


In short the valk's not reliable, but if your very careful you can keep it around. Also since BF hits very often it might trigger enough to be worth it. On second thought I don't even know if BF can trigger the valk.

[skoolbus]

Peace is totally buggy. Basically the valk disappears when any of the following things end their duration:

Your character is poisoned.

Certain shrines expire (ie. Resist Lightning)

Certain curses end (ie. amp dmg)

Certain character skills expire (only know of paladins holy shield but haven't tested sins fade or BoS)


In short the valk's not reliable, but if your very careful you can keep it around. Also since BF hits very often it might trigger enough to be worth it. On second thought I don't even know if BF can trigger the valk.

I know BF triggers ctc on striking stuff, but this is just ridiculous, no way am I going to bother with that mess. Thanks for the info though.

[Mursilis]

So Anubis decided to take on Andariel. She's one of those bosses I normally don't have any trouble with. Anubis has 50% Poison Resist and doesn't expect to get hit anyway so this should be a piece of cake yes? Nope. Minion resistance is at 47%, apparently not enough to not keep dying constantly to her poison damage. After four army restorations finally got Andariel to target the clay golem while the 6 surviving skeletons chipped away at her life. Eventually she died, and dropped nothing.

I'm finding this is one of those catch 22 scenarios. I need an army to raise my army after it gets wiped out. Have to time a retreat well enough to have enough survivors to be able to tackle any wandering monsters Anubis encounters. Really don't want to have to spend 15 minutes using Attract to get that first corpse.

Anubis decided to clear out the Sewers for good measure before stopping for the night. Finally getting to use Corpse explosion now. First Anubis runs into a mob (http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/608/beforebd1.jpg) of about 25 or so monsters, then 4 CEs later the mob has mysteriously disppeared (http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/6802/afterfm2.jpg).

Anubis, Level 73 Summoner, Hell Act II Sewers level 2

[Mursilis]

Uh oh, I have a problem. I'm attempting to get through the Cellar on my way to the AS. On the third level in the room adjacent to the portal is a conviction enhanced boss pack of lightning archers. Along with them is a boss pack of skeleton lightning mages. They are of course spread out through the entire room so my army disperses as soon as I enter. They are completely owning my army, I can kill one or two before I have to retreat to find more bodies. Problem is I'm running out of mana pots, and bodies in the entire Act. I can't make a break for it to the portal since that Invader boss pack is parked at the doorway.

Dim vision doesn't last long enough with only one point invested and I've tried using Attract but it's only somewhat successful with ranged attackers. My minions simply don't do enough damage quick enough to make much of a dent. Any ideas?

[tripsu]

I would suggest. Get an army going, run in and send the army in so they take most of the fire from the archers. Run to the door and try to attract the pack away from the door. After you have them away from the door. Get another army going, and run like mad towards the door and just hope!

It sounds like trying to kill all them isn't possible, so this may be your only chance.

Good luck!! :thumbsup:

[skoolbus]

Uh oh, I have a problem. I'm attempting to get through the Cellar on my way to the AS. On the third level in the room adjacent to the portal is a conviction enhanced boss pack of lightning archers. Along with them is a boss pack of skeleton lightning mages. They are of course spread out through the entire room so my army disperses as soon as I enter. They are completely owning my army, I can kill one or two before I have to retreat to find more bodies. Problem is I'm running out of mana pots, and bodies in the entire Act. I can't make a break for it to the portal since that Invader boss pack is parked at the doorway.

Dim vision doesn't last long enough with only one point invested and I've tried using Attract but it's only somewhat successful with ranged attackers. My minions simply don't do enough damage quick enough to make much of a dent. Any ideas?

Do you have any more skill points free? If so, I would put them in dim vision and try and lure the invader boss pack from the doorway so you can squeeze through (perhaps with cunning golem placement?), else, only thing I can think of is trying to go around a different route or teleport, but doubt tele is an option.

Conviction takes about a second to affect you, so if you're really speedy you should be able to get far enough away before it harms you. Sorry I don't really have a suggestion other than a jailbreak plan.

[tripsu]

So basically what Skoolbus and I are saying is, Run in and run around like mad! Then run out, and run back in like mad again but towards that portal!

[skoolbus]

So basically what Skoolbus and I are saying is, Run in and run around like mad! Then run out, and run back in like mad again but towards that portal!

What we said is something I would do, and from my HC experience (of which always ends in deeds) I'd say you have ~40% to make it. But I do know that if you run out of bodies or mana pots, you will have a 0% of making it.

[Mursilis]

Unfortunately no extra skill points left. I've tried the alternate route as originally they were blocking the door so only a single skeleton could attack at a time. I've come in the back way, which is why I can get to the room with the portal, however the Invader pack is waiting there.

I see what you mean about luring the invader pack out. Think I'll try that. I still have some parts undiscovered in the Act, should be able to get some sort of army going, at least a few more times. It's mana that's going to be the killer...

Personally I'd kill for an amulet with teleport charges, if I do get past this part those tombs are going to be murder.

[Insane Wayne]

Personally I'd kill for an amulet with teleport charges, if I do get past this part those tombs are going to be murder.
Yes, I learned this lesson the hard way in the first tourney. That's why I sacrificed 4 precious spaces to hold a magic circlet with teleport (what a lucky find). Your situation is tough, but if you're patient, careful, and a little lucky I think you can make it. If you can lure the Invader boss first, some or all of his minions will follow. Otherwise his minions will retreat back to the room due to "boss leash". Skeleton archers can also be lured, but it's a very slow process. Running for it is also possible, as long as you don't misclick the portal! Good luck.

[jiansonz]

Quite a bit of work in River of Flame and Chaos Sanctuary for Evangelina, but not too much damger.

I got a Hel from the Hellforge. I may use it later for destroying the topazes in my armor, so I can get more resists.

I got lucky with the Infector´s seal. It was the formation that has the seal out in the open. (I could probably have done the cul-de-sac variant too, with a well-times CoS and then a Dragon Flight, but it was nice to avoid it nonetheless.)

A regular monster in the Vizier´s wing dropped a Ribcracker. Very interesting item. Lots of offensive qualities but no blocking and no resists.

I took the players setting down to 3 for Diablo, and put on my fire resist amulet. I decided to forego any fancy slowing or CB (well, other than on the gloves) in favour of Rhyme shield, access to the Life Tap wand on switch and just good ol´ fashioned flames. I got off to a bad start (and Diablo completely ignored the Shadow Warrior), but once I managed to get close enough so the Lightning Inferno couldn´t touch me, I was pretty safe. The Life Tap healed all minor wounds right away. Sometimes I didn´t even need a potion when the Firestorm was pouring through me.

Evangelina left Swordback Hold and The General´s Tan Do Li Ga to rot, grabbed Ribcracker and headed back for the WP. She used Tyael´s skill points reward to bring Fists of Fire up to level 7.


Evangelina the PS Assassin, level 66, NM Bloody Foothills next

[Mursilis]

Anubis started to engage in hit-and-fade schirmishes against that nasty room in the Cellar lvl 3 since the monsters have since moved and make getting to the portal room impossible. Oh did I mention the other boss is cursed? :rolleyes: Three army resurrections lead to three eliminated skeleton lightning archers. Unfortunately at this point Anubis has cleared out the entire Act except for the two underground tombs in Rocky Waste/Dry Hills. Well that and he's running critically short on mana potions.

So onward to clear those areas to restock for one more shot at my conviction enchanced nemisis. Oddly enough ran into another conviction enhanced skeleton mage boss pack in the tomb at the Rocky Wastes. This battle however was far easier and didn't require any mana potions or loss of minions.

Along the way encountered a champion pack of skeleton mages. I think this (http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/8945/strugglejt4.jpg) shows what Anubis' main problem was, lack of killing power. One minute for a single non-boss monster simply doesn't cut it.

Anyway, stocking up nicely on potions/bodies when Anubis entered a room with another boss pack of skeleton mages, a champion pack of the same monster and a small pack of lightning beetles. In an effort to drag his army into the room Anubis entered and quickly found this was not the best idea. His minions near the door crumbled quickly and now the way out was blocked. He tried casting the golem to lure the mages away from the door. Unfortunately the golem lasts perhaps a second before it crumbles. Not good. Suddenly Anubis is cornered and then....drat (http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/294/deedsmf9.jpg).

Normally I'm not much of a necromancer fan, my last one was boring as anything. I think I was just playing him badly as this one had less killing power and went far quicker than I remember. My main problems were getting the army started (which was avoided by just not ending the game session) and not using all of the options available to me. For example crafting or rerolling wands to get something better than +1 RS :rolleyes: Thoughts to take with me for next tournament. Overall it was fun, this is the second farthest I've ever gotten a HC character and only the third to ever get to Hell.

Good luck to everyone else still playing, guess I'll now be waiting to see who can avenge Anubis :grin:



Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 74 A1 Hell Inner Cloister
Insane Wayne Asteria CS Amazon 74 A1 Hell Rogue Camp
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 66 A5 NM Harrogath
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon 62 A3 NM Kurast Baazar
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 57 A3 NM Kurast Docks
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 25 A1 NM Rogue Camp
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
thewamp Athena PJ/FA Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 18 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Chymaera Marius II BlizBolt Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Cold Plain
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Darkstrikes lighamus Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp

Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 75 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 3
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 75 A1 Hell Outer Cloister
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Butzull Spinster Amazon 26 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 14 A1 Norm Black Marsh
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field

[Insane Wayne]

RIP Anubis, those Act 2 bonus tombs are TOUGH, potentially the most difficult spots in the entire game. So many boss/champ packs and so little space. Sometimes they spawn with only a few normal monsters, other times they look like what you saw. Boss packs stacked on top of each other. Great job getting this far. :thumbsup:

[OldSoldier]

RIP Anubis. If Insane Wayne or I make it that far we'll find your clay golem and give him a stern talking-to for letting you get lynched. Not sure about the other two all alone tournaments before but I'd bet this is farther than anyone else has ever gotten. Someone else may enlighten me, but nevertheless, kudos on an outstanding achievement! This tournament has four Conquerors, very impressive.

[Insane Wayne]

I'm pretty sure Mursilis is the new all-time All Alone champ for getting past Hell Fangskin. That's where I got trapped (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Monaxia/trapped.jpg) by ol' Fangy and deeded (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Monaxia/deeds.jpg).

So Mursilis, how was it against Hell Fangskin? Clay golem is awesome against snakes, because it can't be knocked back. BTW that's a great screenshot in the sewers. Looks like an angry mob trying to get past your personal riot police force.

@jiansonz- awesome Ribcracker! Very tempting. Understandable that you tossed the flail to keep it, although losing the shield slot hurts. And it's got extra durability! How did the ED roll? 200-300 is the range IIRC. Regardless, the CB more than compensates for a low roll.

[jiansonz]

@jiansonz- awesome Ribcracker! Very tempting. Understandable that you tossed the flail to keep it, although losing the shield slot hurts. And it's got extra durability! How did the ED roll? 200-300 is the range IIRC. Regardless, the CB more than compensates for a low roll.

Yeah, the max. durability is excellent, but I got unlucky with the initial value - only 20. I have two Ort runes at the moment, but at least one will be used to boost my resists if I make it to Hell.

I am not at the computer I play D2 on now, so I can´t check the +%ED. I am pretty sure it was over 250. I think it was an even ten, either 260 or 280.

[Mursilis]

So Mursilis, how was it against Hell Fangskin? Clay golem is awesome against snakes, because it can't be knocked back. BTW that's a great screenshot in the sewers. Looks like an angry mob trying to get past your personal riot police force.

Fangskin didn't pose any problems. Orignally when I entered level 2 and proceeded to the open area my army split into two groups; one going left to engage Fangskin and the second going right to fight a skeleton/dual unraveller group.

To avoid that issue I retreated to level 1 and then back down in order to bunch up both my army and the attackers in the corridor by the stairs. That way all the monsters couldn't engage my army. Had a line of skeletons protecting me from the monsters with the mages behind doing their thing. Lost about 3 minions (out of 18) before I got my first body, after that CE took care of the rest.

[jiansonz]

R.I.P. Anubis. I can imagine that you´ve had a devil of a time to get your first corpse in a session or after an army wipe-out.

As I understand it, you didn´t have access to the more damaging golems (Iron, Fire) which can (under most circumstances) eventually produce a corpse on their own, nor did you have a high level Iron Maiden, right? Without any of that to work with, I can see that the build would be heavily dependant on a merc to get a corpse. And we don´t have mercs, of course...

[jiansonz]

It´s been notably slow levelling for Evangelina in early act 5, due to a strange lack of boss packs. I have never seen anything like it:

Foothills: Enslaved and Quill Rats (no random boss, just Dac and Shenk)
Frigid Highlands: Burning Dead Archers, Slingers and Blunderbores (no random boss, just Sharptooth and Eyeback)
Abaddon: Horror Archers, Hell Spawn and imps (one Hell Spawn boss pack)
Plateau: fire mages, Carvers and imps (no random boss, just Thresh Socket)
Pit of Acheron: fire mages, imps and Frenzytaurs (no random boss)

Come on, I fought more bosses in Normal!

It only became dangerous once. My fire resist is still not very good (too greedy to use the 40+ resist amulet) so I had to be on my toes not only against the Burning Dead Archers but also against the flaming catapult shots. Even imp shots hurt a bit. Anyway, I handled the archers by either Cloak of Shadows, good movement or hiding behind my Shadow Warrior. Except for one time, and that cost me a full rejuve. I blame that mistake on playing when I was too tired.

I tried to remember where potions fell, because I often needed to go back for them. Sometimes I was low on healing potions, sometimes on mana potions, but there was always at least one (out of four) left in the respective column. When I ran low on healing, I used CoS constantly, stayed behind my shadow and used BF liberally. When I was low on mana, I simply slowed down my advancement and killing, allowing it to refill. In both cases, I would take any good and safe opportunity I saw to fill up the bulb using Cobra Strike.

I am now well aware of the CoS bug vs Evil Demon Huts, so I didn´t use that skill around them. To avoid getting burned too much by the imps, I released 2-3 Meteors on the Hut, then mixed in a 3rd charge here and there to freeze some of the imps that had spawned.

Now that I have a good amount of Crushing Blow in the form of Ribcracker (which has +280% ED, btw :thumbsup: ), I no longer had an immediate need of an Amn rune, so I went ahead and used the one I found to craft a Blood amulet. I liked the result and equipped it instead of the Lion Branded Amulet of Luck I´ve used for a long time now. The new ammy has:
* 3% life steal
* a little Faster Run
* 18% lightning resistance
* +15 life
* a little +AR
* +18% MF


Evangelina the PS Assassin, level 68, NM Crystalline Passage next

[Fingerzam]

I started playing yesterday night and cleared everything up to Stony Field.

After seeing too many angsty character names I named my character Happiness. Happiness is a TS/Dtail assassin.

I can't really believe how lucky I got. I found FOUR experience shrines, too bad I wasn't playing the whole act, I could have saved them for later, and I found the last one when I had almost cleared Stony Field already, so it didn't help much. With these, I got to almost lvl 14 after clearing everything up to Stony Field.

I found two gem shrines, which netted me a normal topaz before I had a lvl high enough to even use one. And on top of that I found three useful small charms: +4% FR, +6% FR and +8 life.

After all this luck, I went and almost got myself killed by Rakanishu, getting swarmed by his gang. Got out of that with a blade sentinel and many potions.

I don't want to think about my characters future when I see how quickly my claws break. Good thing weapon damage doesn't matter so I can just get any (fast) repair weapon.



Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 74 A1 Hell Inner Cloister
Insane Wayne Asteria CS Amazon 74 A1 Hell Rogue Camp
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 66 A5 NM Harrogath
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon 62 A3 NM Kurast Baazar
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 57 A3 NM Kurast Docks
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 25 A1 NM Rogue Camp
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
thewamp Athena PJ/FA Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 18 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Fingerzam Happiness TS/DTail Assassin 13 A1 Norm Stony Field
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Chymaera Marius II BlizBolt Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Cold Plain
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Darkstrikes lighamus Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp

Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 75 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 3
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 75 A1 Hell Outer Cloister
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Butzull Spinster Amazon 26 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 14 A1 Norm Black Marsh
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field


Happiness the TS/Dtail Assassin, level 13, The Underground Passage next

[skoolbus]

Sorry to hear about Anubis's death Mursalis, but a big congratulations on getting as far as you did. As Insane Wayne said, that's the furthest anyone has ever gotten. Do you have any plans of starting another character?

[Butzull]

RIP Anubis, but good job in putting up a good fight in trying circumstances!

Butz. :dunce:

[crazy_bear]

RIP Anubis, that was a heck of a run, I don't expect to get that far myself, so hats off to you Mursilis.

As for Jane_Doe, she was last finished Upper Kurast before the current session. The plan was to go all the way to Meph, starting with clearing Travincal then coming back for the sewers. However a boss Mage thing (can't remember the name... Cantor?) caused problems just inside the causeway, with no room to retreat without attracting critters from UK that had previously been cleared. She ended up dragging monsters to one sewers entrance, then coming back up the other to clear space. After this she was able to fight off the minions with a bit of space, then the boss was easy. She cleared the tombs on the causeway next, then Travincal. Council cooperated nicely, and the Valk held them easily, though they had no interesting drops. So it was back to the sewers again and the last body part was collected. On durance lvl 1, a stoneskin/conviction blood lord boss was particularly tough. His regen was incredible. After the amount of time to defeat him, I changed to p5 for the rest of the durance. (and with the increased life of act 4 monsters, it will probably stay there now). The rest of the durance was straight forward (and durance 2 huge of course) A Bloodlord boss on lvl 3 dropped this ring which was a nice surprise:
Beast Gyre
Ring
Required Level: 48
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x9ae135ed
+1 to Energy
+21 to Life
+82 to Attack Rating
Fire Resist +10%
Lightning Resist +19%
Cold Resist +10%
Poison Resist +10%

By careful movement Bremm's pack was split, and defeated, and the rest of durance 3 was easy. Jane kept a Valk in Meph's face and he dropped without much of a fight. He dropped an infernal torch, angelic armor, rare mask and longsword, a junk jewel and a Blackhorn's Face. With the possible gloams in act 4, Jane finally ditched the Iratha's Coil she had been carrying, and kept the Blackhorn's. The other mods are nice too, I wonder if the slows enemies is enough to affect baal?
So now Jane is in the Pandemonium Fortress, ready to head into act IV

Jane_Doe, lvl 64 Javazon, Act 4 NM.

[jiansonz]

Surprisingly easy and safe yesterday. I guess the monster rolls were good for me. Frozen Horrors just get owned by PS Metors. If a monster is big, it will take damage from several fire spots at once. That´s what makes it such a great act boss killer.

Drifter Cavern was heavily populated by Abominables, rogue archers and goats, but was not threatening at all.

I found my first ever unique Russet Armor! It dropped from a normal monster in one of the ice caves. I decided to wear it until I can make a Treachery armor. The +skills sure is nice. It gives me a beefier Shadow that uses level 17 Phoenix Strike (21/2+21/3).

I have recently learned that the Shadow will get Fists of Fire synergy (synergy level is counted the same way as other Shadow skills) if that particular shadow has ever used Fists of Fire. I have run out of hotkeys, but when a new shadow is fighting in a situation that isn´t dangerous, I will manually bring up FoF on the left button until she uses it.

Next session is all for the marbles. Evangelina will Conquer or die...

Evangelina the PS Assassin, level 70, NM Ancients´Way next

[Mursilis]

Thanks for all the support. I was rather down when I first deeded as I was starting to think the only problem areas I would have were where gloams appeared (due to 5% LR). I never expected to have Anubis' journey end in Act II. After reading the threads for the first two All Alone tournaments I'm feeling much better though :grin:


Do you have any plans of starting another character?

At the moment I wasn't going to start another character. I restarted somewhere around 4 months ago and only have a single mat/pat as I've been playing almost exclusively in tournaments. I want to get back to my poison javazon for now. However when I mat her, if I can still join this tournament before the deadline I may do so as it was quite fun.

Until then I'm rooting for someone to pass me and get a guardian :thumbsup:

[OldSoldier]

Jiansonz, that is a great find. I've played this game since it came out and have never found a Skullder's. Having high MF is always great in tournaments, but hopefully you won't run out of ID scrolls looking at great items. I was lucky in this tournament to find two Tomes of ID in the normal jail but last night I was down to 5 scrolls in a single tome and so I freed up two spaces by combining them. Needed to happen when I found this (http://img523.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot033gz1.jpg). What's the chances of finding something that can max out your poison resist two levels before facing Andariel? I took it with pleasure, temporarily putting aside my main skill during the big fight. More on that later...

The catacombs weren't too hard this go-round, none of the boss packs were very hard. The usual cursed, extra fast stuff, but no terrible spawns, so it was fairly straightforward. There were a lot of shamans and of course they can resurrect fallen several screens away, to my annoyance. So several times that opened up my flank and I had to grit my teeth and run headlong forward to find them to use LF or decoy to distract while I plinked away with the magic arrows. Still no Ko. I did full clear the levels but only on P1. I don't want to push my luck. I did find a cruel hyperion javelin but it didn't roll with replenishing so I left it. Sadness!

Clearing out Andariel's level was easy too. A boss pack or two of slow moving zombies was easy to deal with, as were the shaman due to Lightning Fury. My valk must have been LI because she bathed in bolts since I started at the inner cloister and never lost a lick of life. That is, until Andariel woke up and smashed her in three hits. Three hits turned out to be the max, most went down in two. I entered the fight with 12 full rejuv potions, 2 healing and 2 mana pots.

At the start I tried using LF because I had it but quickly realized that I needed the Jade Tan Do. I got poisoned two or three times without that equipped and had to retreat to level 3 to un-poison. Once that happened I went back down and tried some more. Andariel was healing pretty fast so I decided to stick it out and stay down there for the kill rather than let her heal up while I was doing the same. The valk casts sometimes got a hit, sometimes they didn't. At 186 mana max, I could cast her four times before needing more mana.

I found a good tactic, shown by these two screen shots.
One. (http://img523.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot034ef3.jpg)
Two. (http://img170.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot036vw1.jpg)
Basically I ran around the valk in circles, while Andariel chased me personally. The valk did pirouettes of pain, impaling Andy as she went round and round. This worked until Andy decided that she was tired and stopped to hit the valk, which nearly always instantly perished. I was out of mana pots, and there weren't any very close to the stairs so I started using rejuv potions to make more valkyries.

I got caught in the stream of poison several times. When I had the bow on (poison was barely negative here) my life drained to 1 in no time. Time out. When I had replaced the javs with the Jade Tan Do, and got poisoned, I lost about 50 life before the poison timer ran out. Nice! I still didn't want to tank her since she hits hard enough to mess up my mojo, but eventually about 25 valkyrie casts later, she went down and dropped utter garbage. Nothing even to ID. Goodbye (http://img170.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot038rc6.jpg) buddy, maybe my best situational drop ever. I ended the fight with 2 healing pots and 7 full rejuv potions. Not too shabby.

Off to Lut Gholein!



Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 75 A2 Hell Lut Gholein
Insane Wayne Asteria CS Amazon 74 A1 Hell Rogue Camp
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 70 A5 NM Frozen Tundra
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon 64 A4 NM Pand Fortress
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 57 A3 NM Kurast Docks
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 25 A1 NM Rogue Camp
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
thewamp Athena PJ/FA Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 18 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Fingerzam Happiness TS/DTail Assassin 13 A1 Norm Stony Field
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Chymaera Marius II BlizBolt Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Cold Plain
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Darkstrikes lighamus Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp

Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 75 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 3
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 75 A1 Hell Outer Cloister
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Butzull Spinster Amazon 26 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 14 A1 Norm Black Marsh
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field

[crazy_bear]

Act IV began with a great find for Jane_Doe, and ended with a horrible drop from D. The first was a Trang's set gloves. A nice boost to cold resists and +25% poison skill dmg, just the thing for plague javs. From there, she had a relatively easy time with the critters she found. They either weren't very poison resistant or had low enough life that a couple of plague javs would wipe out groups. Izzy went down fairly easily (Valks are amazing tanks) and it was off to the River of Flame. The unique lance dropped. Id'd it to get stats, but it went into the cube to make more javelins... Hellforge gave a Ko... Not exactly what she was hoping for. For now it is in the stash, maybe it will become a melody bow if a suitable bow can be found.
The chaos sanctuary was hard on the javelin supply. With still no replenishing javs (or magical amazon javs...) she is reliant on the spear (or jav) + arrow recipe to create more and 3/4 of the way down the first arm I carelessly let Jane throw her last javelin. No spears were left from before, so she had to fight the rest of the act with the bow! I guess it's a good thing for the point in MA! Diablo took a while, but he fell in the end too. He dropped 3 magicals and 2 rares, none of them on good base type items. The experience from D put Jane within a whisker of lvl 67 though.
Onward to act V, I'm going to be watching boss monsters to compare to Jiansonz's experience.

CB

[jiansonz]

Evangelina can now call herself Conqueror! :azn:
But she nearly bit the dust. Twice.

No problems up to the Ancients. I brought two TP scrolls with me to the Summit, just in case. Korlic had Mana Burn, Talic was Extra Strong and Madawc was FE. Main priority: stay AWAY from Talic and Madawc! But Madawc was very stubborn in his pursuit. After a lot of running and some progress, I screwed up and ended up in a corner, trapped by Korlic and Madawc moved up right next to me. "Hey, you are supposed to be a RANGED attacker!!". As I understand it, the FE bug is not at all "fixed" in NM. NM Madawc caused my first FE bug death in v1.10. Instadeath from 700 life. With an Assassin... I did not have the nerve to try to DF out to the approaching Talic. I quickly opened inventory and cast a TP. Phew!

Next try: CE Korlic, LE Madawc and Might Enchanted (ouch!) Talic. This was trouble. The two meleers pwned my Shadow Warriors in short order, and Madawc simply would not leave Evangelina alone. I tried to work on Talic with Blade Fury (wielding Ribcracker) the short times I had the chance. I figured that if I can kill him, there would not be much danger left. But he moves a lot when he whirls, so it was difficult to get several blades to hit per try. And Madawc was never far away.

Screw that! I changed plans. Since the Shadow will not move from a fight unless I move far away from her, I tried to get her to fight one or two Ancients on one end of the Summit, then quickly move to the other, thereby teleporting the shadow to me so the guys couldn´t track us. It worked, only Madawc followed. We fought him along the lower edge of the place. His axes had Knockback, so the fighting situations shifted a bit. Nailed him without "waking" the others. Now it should be easy, right? Wrong.

I still did not have much time to throw blades before a new shadow was needed. This was very taxing on my mana. Ran around the Summit to refill mana often, chased by two crazy guys. Another problem was that Korlic quite often decided that fighting a Shadow was boring, and made a leap for Evangelina. He was helped by Might the whole time, of course. If I reacted quickly and my clicking was good, I could run away far enough to be out of reach, but if everything didn´t go perfectly, I have learned that it´s better to not try to get away if you are not sure you will - better to stand still and have full blocking in that case. He´s unlikely to kill me in one hit anyway. As it turned out, Evangelina did manage to block all his Leap Attacks. Talic died eventually (I switched to BF with Buther´s Pupil when he got low - the bleeding was nice to see, a confirmation that I made progress...) but Korlic still made occasional attacks. Not so scary now, though. Evangelina entered melee and rained some flames on him, but his very last life was taken down with BF to avoid the death nova. Victory at last!

I had plenty of full rejuves left, but few other potions. The plan for the WSK was to try to establish a foothold on the next level as soon as I had found the exit, had full life and mana plus one full column each of healing and mana potions.

First floor had vampires, Sirens and Defilers. This was pretty easy, and I found the exit early. So, I now had a place I could farm potions, if needed. Good.

Second floor had poison mages, snakes and suicide bombers (including a boss pack of bombers :grin: ). I only managed to get XP for one bomber, but the floor was easy.

Third floor had Hell Temptresses, Flayer blowdarters and Doom/OB Knights. This was much more dangerous and draining on both life and mana. Twice, I went back to restock potions from WSK 1 and 2. I made a terrible mistake here. I often lured Doom Knights far away from their masters, so I could kill them quicker and easier (same method I used in the Choas Sanctuary, described earlier). On such occasions, the OB Knight often flung a curse at me when I "fetched" the Doom Knights. On one occasion, I had brought back three knights and went to work. And my life plummeted like mad! Oh yeah, he hit me with Iron Maiden earlier, I suddenly realized. :rolleyes: I let go of the button, but the next swing was too late to cancel. Evangelina´s lucky star was shining today, though, so she actually survived two hits in a row while cursed by IM.

I felt sheepish, like i didn´t really deserved to survive since it was so stupid. Quickly shrug that feeling off, and played much more focused after that.

Throne level was dead calm when I entered. Easy start with some stray vampires, then it warmed up fast with Undead Flayers and finally Doom/OB Knights, including a Champion pack of them. I decided to take on as much as possible of the floor and Baal´s boss packs now, and leave what was left of the other floors as reserves. Turns out everything here got killed without too much trouble. I found enough replacement potions on this floor.

Achmel poisoned me twice, and I retreated to a safe spot to wait out the poison. The Shadow Warrior I had here didn´t get hit with any poison. I checked with Unsummon selected, but there was no indication that it was poison immune. Strange.

Lister was really tough to beat and the fight felt like it took forever. I pulled off a classic: strand right behind your minion so it doesn´t get knocked back. I needed about 15 Shadow recasts before the fight was over. I needed only a few mana potions because I snuck in a little Cobra Strike here and there.

I mopped up the rest of WSK 1-3 and planned for the Baal fight. My 3 PTopazed Crown had now served its purpose and I knew I was going to use the Hel to make it into a resistance item. I decided to do that now so I could make room for more potions for the Baal fight. He tends to suck out all your mana on a regular basis and I knew I was going to need many Shadow summons. So focus on mana potions but a few extra healing as well.

I took the players setting down to 1 and entered. I was met with an early swarm of Appendages but as soon as I got a Shadow in Baal´s face, I whipped out Ribcracker and started throwing blades. The fight was on. In less than 20 seconds, it looked like this. (http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m156/jiansonz/EvievsNMBaal.jpg)
(BTW, I love Evangelina´s posh look here. Shiny armor, a crown and a big blue staff. It has 'mighty spellcaster' written all over it!)

When he got a little more hurt, I took the rest of the fight with axe + shield, finishing him off in a burst of flames. The drop was crappy (Tancred´s Crowbill as only S/U item). The only item worthy of an ID was a rare Belt. Total crap.


Status report at the beginning of Hell difficulty:

Stats:
STR 100+8
DEX 168+8 (gives 75% blocking)
VIT 152
ENE 25+2
Life 769
Mana 154
Resists in Hell: 40/59/62/-50

Skills:
Phoenix Strike 20+1
Shadow Warrior 20+1
Fists of Fire 14+1
ALL other skills except Shadow Master, Wake of Inferno and Blade Shield: 1+1

Primary Gear:
* Gemmed Crown ('RalOrt' + 29/6 Sapphire Jewel of Virility), 14/50 dur.
* Stone Talisman (rare Amulet): 10% ctc lvl 3 Hydra when struck, Resist Fire 41, Resist Cold/Lightning/Poison 5, +1 max damage, +1 Offensive Auras (Pally only)
* Butcher´s Pupil unique Cleaver (indestructible)
* Skullder´s Ire unique Russet Armor (self-repairing)
* 'Rhyme' Tower Shield, 41/60 dur.
* Pain Hold (Heavy Gloves): +15 life, Resist Lightning 17, +1 Light, 1% Life Steal, 9% Crushing Blow, 10/14 dur.
* Skull Grasp (Ring): +2 STR, Resist Cold 30, Resist Lightning 18, +35 AR, +18 Life, 2% Life Steal
* Dread Buckle (Sharkskin Belt): Resist Fire 18, 8% Faster Cast, +40 Life, +18 Mana, Regenerate Mana 6%, 12% ctc lvl 4 Charged Bolt when struck
* Skull Touch (rare Ring): 10% ctc lvl 3 Charged Bolt when struck, +2 ENE, Resist Lightning 30, +10% MF
* Grim Tread (rare Chain Boots): 30% Faster Run, 10% FHR, Resist Cold 32, Resist Poison 20, +23% MF

Weapon switch:
* Ribcracker unique Quarterstaff (+280% ED), 24/130 dur.

* Sapphire (29) Grand Charm
* Ruby (26) Grand Charm of Dexterity (4)
* Coral (21) Grand Charm of Sustenance (29)
* Large Charm of Sustenance (21)
* Ocher (7) Small Charm of Life (7)
* Tangerine Small Charm (5)
* Tangerine (4) Small Charm of Dexterity (4)
* Small Charm of Sustenance (13)
* Small Charm of Sustenance (13)
* Small Charm of Sustenance (12)
* Small Charm of Sustenance (11)

Other stuff:
* Demon Knell (rare Wand): +1 Curses, +1 Golem Mastery, +46 Mana, Resist Fire 34, 6% Life Steal, Level 2 Life Tap (29/75 Charges), 9/15 dur.
* 18/10 Ambergris Jewel of Prosperity
* Jewel of Envy
* Jewel of Fervor
* 6 perfect gems (Amethyst x2, Diamond, Sapphire, Ruby, Topaz)
* Runes: Nef, Ith, Tal x2, Ort, Shael, Lem x2

Conqueror Evangelina the PS Assassin, level 73, Hell Rogue Encampment

[Mursilis]

Congrats on the Conqueror jiansonz, very nice writeup.

Not realizing IM is cast on my melee characters never happens to me :rolleyes:

[OldSoldier]

Good work, Jiansonz! Your Baal fighting experience was far far different than mine. That's great though! Makes it interesting. I guess having BF and lots of crushing blow really helps a lot. My NM ancients fight was easier than yours though so it all evens out.

Crazy Bear, that is a great find on the gloves. What a powerful drop for your build! Not that plague javelin needs any more damage, it is already a ridiculously powerful skill when synergized.

Princess_Diana decided to clear the sewers last night. There were no LI monsters until she got near Radament, and then there were only a few mages. I pulled them away piece by piece and the valk killed them all. There was one place where about 20 archers were in close proximity all firing (albeit slowly due to slow missiles) at my valk. I took a screenshot of the hordes of arrows (a la "300" or "Hero") but forgot to put it on the USB stick. I cleared it all out without incident, no good finds either. I did spend 3 pgems rerolling a tiara but it came out garbage. She is level 76 now. Skill points are spread all over the passive tree, 11 MA and 20 LF + prereqs. Blocking is still at 60%.

[Insane Wayne]

kept the Blackhorn's. The other mods are nice too, I wonder if the slows enemies is enough to affect baal?

It's an excellent mask, one that I hope all my characters find. But it's doubtful that by itself it will restrict Baal much. Without Decrep/HF, I think you want about 50% slowing, and a little sustained cold damage, to render Baal totally harmless. Nonetheless, Blackhorn's 20% slowing is definitely useful against all difficult monsters.


When I had replaced the javs with the Jade Tan Do, and got poisoned, I lost about 50 life before the poison timer ran out. Nice!How timely! I remember finding a Jade while playing a tournament barb, and holding it in one hand, like a blockless shield, while using Concentrate with his other hand (a big, slow, hurty war hammer). As a result, the war hammer swung much faster due to weapon speed averaging, and I got the Jade's passive CBF/poison immunity. Useful combo until I needed a real shield later in the game.


Conqueror Evangelina...
Solid performance, great write-up, and an outstanding collection of +life suffixes on your gear/charms! :thumbsup:

[Elendoras]

First of all, hello everyone (yay first post :grin: )

Wow, look at everyone breaking Hell with these restrictions, so some congrats are in order.

With that out of the way, i thought this tourney would be a nice way to get back into d2 after a long time. After starting to read these All Alone topics i made a test character to see how i would cope with the restrictions while at the same time trying to get used to the game again. They have brought a lot of fun into my game.

/end classic "nice game mode!" speech

And without further ado, i present "TheBarbWhoCould" (only a small "fallen" in a tournament of OKs at the moment :tongue: ). I know it won't be the easiest character for this challenge (no minions to tank for him, equipment dependent etc.) but hopefully i will manage;and if not, hopefully it will be lots'o'fun. The original concept is to make him somewhat a variant of the concentration barb. We'll see how he fares.

"But now, we turn our eyes to the Rogue Camp, where our adventures begin. We see the brave and resourceful rogues guarding the camp, the mighty priestess Akara, the talented blacksmith Charsi, cunning trader Gheed and...what this..can it be, yes..the one,the only, the bringer of light :soapbox: yes ladies and gentlemen, it's the hen. Oh yea, there is that weird dude who smells bad, that arrived a few days ago too. He said he wanted to rid the world of evil or something like that.

So much for the big entrance. Seeing that he wasn't exactly the star attraction in the village he decided he doesn't need them, at least for the moment, so he set foot into the blood moor and never looked back. He will show them!"

So, having nothing more than a rusty axe and buckler i set out against diablo's minions. Almost everything went smoothly, although i remembered how much i hate CE rogue archer bosses and rogue archer champ groups (high block and "shout" really helped against the champ group, even though i would get chilled on a regular basis by the ghostly ). Lots of howls and taunts later i reached and cleared the dark wood at level 14 ( the end of the journey for today).

Weapons are really going to be a problem at least for the time being. I went through 3 scepters (yay for high durability though) and 2 axes; but no other part of my equipment broke...ever :shocked: . (not even the 1/3 dur. Cracked sash i used until the entrance in the underground passage)

Had no noteworthy rares or S/U yet, hopefully i'll at least get a self repairing weapon soon since carrying 3 spare weapons that brake after half an area isn't that efficient.




Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 75 A2 Hell Lut Gholein
Insane Wayne Asteria CS Amazon 74 A1 Hell Rogue Camp
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 70 A5 NM Frozen Tundra
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon 64 A4 NM Pand Fortress
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 57 A3 NM Kurast Docks
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 25 A1 NM Rogue Camp
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
thewamp Athena PJ/FA Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 18 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Elendoras TheBarbWhoCould Barbarian 14 A1 Norm Dark Wood
Fingerzam Happiness TS/DTail Assassin 13 A1 Norm Stony Field
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Chymaera Marius II BlizBolt Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Cold Plain
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Darkstrikes lighamus Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp

Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 75 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 3
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 75 A1 Hell Outer Cloister
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Butzull Spinster Amazon 26 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 14 A1 Norm Black Marsh
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field

[Insane Wayne]

Welcome to the tournament. :smiley:
It's good to see a barbarian. Very challenging no doubt, but I know it's possible. You might want to take a look at another tourney thread featuring 100% barbarians with no town repairs, the Money-Haters. (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=425157) Plenty of tips there, you will definitely want to do a lot of weapon rerolling!

[skoolbus]

Welcome to the tournament. :smiley:
It's good to see a barbarian. Very challenging no doubt, but I know it's possible. You might want to take a look at another tourney thread featuring 100% barbarians with no town repairs, the Money-Haters. (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=425157) Plenty of tips there, you will definitely want to do a lot of weapon rerolling!

In the first two All Alone tourneys, I played a pally using zeal, so I know all about weapon nightmares (though I could get by with a cracked club if need be). My advice is find a good base magic weapon (I used sceptors, but there's plenty of others) and save all the chipped gems you get, and use the 3 chipped gem+magic item to reroll stuff. When I found flawed gems or extra runes, I would just throw them into the weapon for the 20 or so durability it had left.

By the way, welcome to the SPF, you certainly picked a difficult tournament to start out with :wink3:. Hopefully I'll have time to play either tomorrow night or sat, work has been KILLING ME these past few weeks.

[jiansonz]

but no other part of my equipment broke...ever :shocked: . (not even the 1/3 dur. Cracked sash i used until the entrance in the underground passage)

Haven´t we all used one of those...plenty of times.
The monsters in the early areas must buy 1/3 dur. Cracked Sashes in bulk, since there seem to be so many. :wink3:
A nice thing about them is that it really doesn´t matter if they break; as long as you don´t remove it, it will still hold potions.

Good luck in the tournament! A barb will be a challenge, but they are also masters of getting by with little resources.

Another little tip: if you find a good sword type (like Long Sword, which is fast and does good damage) don´t forget this little recipe:
Magical sword + 4 healing potions (any size) + ruby (any size) -> Sword (same type) of the Leech. You won´t get sockets (well, there is a small chance of Mechanic´s), but you may get a useful prefix.

[Insane Wayne]

Ugh. Act 1 Hell is not a nice place for a lightning zon. The very beginning wasn't so bad. Den of Evil was no problem. Corpsefire dropped a rare elite claw. Must...resist....urge to ID. Curiosity...overpowering...
I had to do it. Pretty nice claw (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/elite_claw.jpg)! :tongue:

The party ended quick. So many damn lightning immunes! Against large packs of LI undead, I equipped maximum mana (~500) and applied group damage with Frozen Arrow. At p1, it's enough to get the job done, but it's slow. The valk took down the small groups. She has no problems with demons, but she's not so quick against the undead. The best way to customize her is to cast her with poison damage for PMH, and hopefully CBF and poison immunity. One of my valks spawned a Pike of Invisibile Extra-Longness. Something went haywire, and she was able to poke at monsters well out of range (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Long_Pike.jpg). Unfortunately, they could hit her from afar as well, so I guess it evened out.

Blood Raven's area was the worst, all immunes above ground and below. I harassed Raven non-stop until she fell to CS, taking out a couple dozen zombies. The tombs were awful, all I could do was putz around messing with my inventory. For kicks, I equipped junk items with Ice Blast and Blessed Hammer charges. Of course, the damage was negligible.

Asteria played her first game of "Can it Be Killed?" against this horrible zombie boss (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/BoneFist1.jpg). Fanat CE Stone Skin PI LI! Immune to all our major attacks and highly resistant to cold! And I don't have OW or true PMH. I parked him while I cleared the rest of the level for resources to use against him.

With 700 arrows, I began my assault (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/BoneFist2.jpg). He gradually lost tiny slivers of life, and I kept at it. It's working! (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/BoneFist3.jpg)
Uh-oh... I'm low on arrows and mana, this is gonna be close!...
Curses! Foul creature! Slivered and out of arrows (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/BoneFist4.jpg)!
But wait... I will jab at thee (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/BoneFist5.jpg) and inflict mighty charm damage in the form of 1-2 fire damage, 2-4 cold, and a little poison for PMH!
HaHaHa!! Glorious ice cubes (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/BoneFist6.jpg)!

The worst was over. Many of the following areas had some LIs, but also other monsters I could tear through. The Tower was packed with boss packs, but no major stair traps. Easy clear. Countess dropped an Ith, Nef, and a Key of Terror. The ghosts dropped some ID scrolls, but I'm still running low. My only helpful find: a Maiden's amulet, which is slightly more useful the my +1 passive ammy.

Other finds:
Natural Grand Charm of Quality

Conqueror Asteria, 1.11 CS Amazon, level 76, Act 1 Hell, Tamoe Highland

[jiansonz]

Asteria played her first game of "Can it Be Killed?"

Yikes! That was a tough dude indeed. The only good thing is that as long as you keep it poisoned, it has no way of healing itself.

What was the reward for killing it? Looks like a buckler or something similar.

[Insane Wayne]

It was a lowly magic crown, which I didn't bother to ID. (probably a perfect jeweler's/mammoth...) At least it dropped something, I had a couple bosses drop flawed skulls or similar nonsense.

[Fingerzam]

I've been thinking about which shadow I should take.

Warrior would let me have more control, but my current lvl 1 warrior doesn't seem to want to charge tiger strike more than a single charge and doesn't even always use Dragon Tail to finish it when it's the only skill available, but rather uses a plain attack. This doesn't really make me want to use it.

Master would get better items and better resistances and would use a variety of skills, but I'm also a bit afraid of it using CoS where it will crash my game.

About items, what boots do shadows use? I can't find any information about them, and if they don't have boots, what is their base kick damage? If it's low, there wouldn't be any point in driving a warrior for me.

[Elendoras]

A small update for "TheBarbWhoCould".

After entering the Black Marsh things started getting a little too..."interesting". He was getting hit a lot more often than in the Dark Wood; even with an 8-10% chance to get hit; i even had a couple of moments when i went into a small block-lock from all the damned carvers swarming me. Howl came in handy again to stop this though.

But the true challenge lied in the Countess' tower. While i was used to breezing through this, i had a rather unpleasant surprise when i encountered a CE rogue archer boss group couples with a rogue archer champ pack near it :yikes:. I managed to pull the boss group away from the champs (thank god for twisting corridors), and then slowly but surely taunted the minions away from the boss, behind a wall and killed them one by one. The actual "dudette" was actually a lot more annoying since she was hitting me constantly with the chill...at least until i remembered concentrate actually has some preq. skills. That 1 point in stun was all i needed to swing the tide and kill her in a matter of seconds (the actual stun didn't affect her all the time but it gave me a couple of breaks where i could swing at her at my normal attack speed) :grin:

I was filled with "joy" when my last non-cracked melee weapon broke after this fight. Luckily, searching through the pockets of some rogues i found a 3os Hunter bow, on which i promptly used a chipped sapphire, emerald and topaz.

On the next level i had the "merry band of extra fast" ghosts out for my head. I HATE physical resistant monsters. Careful taunting and "luring behind a wall" technique worked wonders again, even though attacking with a bow in melee combat isn't exactly my idea of "safe fighting". Oh, did i say i hate physical resistance monsters?

In the end after another few tedious battles with other packs of ghosts i managed to slay the countess who dropped only an El rune :cry: and some rare throwing daggers i didn't bother carry around since i was out of ID scrolls. Also, apparently she hated me even more than usual since her chest didn't open.

Moving on to Tamoe Highlands and the Pit: never remember these areas being so easy. Taunt+non-unique ranged attackers=:jig: . In the Pit level 2 i had my first NDE with a LE rogue archer. Taunting in this level doesn't work that well because the mobs often hit walls and just resume their normal attacks, thus making my main tactic hard to use. This battle took almost 10 minutes featuring me trying to lure one minion away in corner one at a time without attracting attention to the others. Finished this, out of red potions and with only around 50HP out of my 215.

Now "TheBarbWhoCould" has reached the Outer Cloister at level 17 (and 3/4) doing full clears on /p8.

This session was a little more rewarding since it netted me a self repairing weapon (a scimitar having +1 cold damage its best mod :/), self-repairing gloves and a better self-repairing skull cap with a little poison resist. Lots of useless rares, no S/U. Find item on the uniques has netted me zilch to this moment but i hope i'll hit the jackpot sometime. Funny enough i'm still using my yellow leather armor i found in the den, with a whooping 66/72 durability

My main concern right now is that i'm not getting any decent shield and maintaining a decent chance-to-block (over 50%) is taking it's toll on this character (no spare attribute points).

Thanks for the suggested recipes, i'll keep them in mind if/when i get the horadric cube. It feels so "empty" without it ^^

Whew ...long post...wasn't expecting it to take this long. I'll try to write sorter stuff next time =)

[OldSoldier]

Welcome to the tournament Elendoras! Don't worry about the length of the posts; people aren't required to read them, and those that follow the thread may be interested to hear of your experiences. It's all part of the forum family.

Insane Wayne, I feel your pain about the LIs in the burial grounds area. I couldn't kill blood raven because she'd raise a single zombie and run away and the valk would take 10 seconds to kill it, whilst she made two more. Not worth it to me. And every monster in the crypt and mausoleum was LI for me, definitely not worth it. So I skipped them; more power to you for doing it.

Last night Princess_Diana was just going to try to find the dry hills WP and call it a day, but she ended up going a bit farther. In most areas there were beetles, which are lightning immune, so that slowed things up a bit, but the valk was a good one and hit pretty hard, killing most things in 3 hits or less, not bad for Hell difficulty! Unfortunately a boss cursed her and killed her about 80% of the way through the run last night and I couldn't get one to deal really good damage after that. In the Halls of the Dead the reviving monsters (what ARE their names?) were LI, but the zombies and skeletons were not. Therein lies the weakness of my build compared to a CS build- I run out of lightning damage when my javelins deplete, so I couldn't clear this area. I went to the Stony Tomb, which had many more LIs and had to park the first of four LI/PI bosses (three of them were beetles). I tried to damage him and was successful; in about 5 minutes I got about 30% of his life gone by keeping him poisoned and the magic damage (at least 5 per hit!) did have effect. Alas I gave up and moved on because I hadn't found a good WP yet.

I searched all Far Oasis, with many more beetles, those things were everywhere! I decided to do the maggot lair, which, obviously, had both scarabs and death beetles as types of monsters on both the first and second level. Not dangerous, but VERY slow. The third level was a cakewalk, containing itchies and both types of worms. The worms were poison immune, meaning they regenerated very fast. Sometimes I went very low on javelins just hitting them as hard as possible before they went underground and regained 20% of their life back. Champions were really hard, as my valk was a wimpy one and I tried several more of them but none seemed to get better.

I went near Coldworm's area to start them spawning eggs and opened one other area to let the monsters build up a bit. I went back and the entire room was clogged with worms. With 21 lightning bolts all doing up to 566 damage, piercing through the entire room, I cleared it out in seconds. I threw some javelins down the corridor and wiped it out. I dropped some full rejuvenation potions to make room for the staff and called it a day.

She found a sol as a reward drop from a boss and kept it by tossing out a full rejuv potion. She also found a +11 res all rare ring, and can now get LR up to 75% by switching gear. Booyah!

[Mursilis]

Nice progress OldSoldier, seems not much is giving you issues you can't handle/park.


I decided to do the maggot lair, which, obviously, had both scarabs and death beetles as types of monsters on both the first and second level. Not dangerous, but VERY slow.

I'm curious as to what your definition of slow is. For me slow was 2 hours in the Maggot Lair :shocked:

[crazy_bear]

Congrats on the conqueror jiansonz, that's awesome. Looks like you took apart Baal very easily. :thumbsup:

Welcome Elendoras. Good luck with the barb! :smiley: Things will roll nicely once you find a good self-repairing weapon.

@Insane Wayne, your patience is amazing. I never would have bothered with a boss like that. Too much effort for me. You deserve a better drop than that from him.

@Oldsoldier, I'm not looking forward to act 2 either. Good job so far.

As for Jane_Doe, a couple of sessions today took her from Harrogath all the way to the Frozen Tundra. It seems that the undead are going to be the main difficulty for Jane at this point. All the skeleton types were poison immune. This means that Jane has to use LF or arrows to pick off the skellies. However, LF goes through a lot of javs, and without replenishing it's a pain in the rear end. Not really that bad though, as progress was stil reasonable. In any case, Jane actually had relatively little difficulty throughout. In the frozen river there were snakes and 2 types of succubus, which was fairly easy to clear fully, leaving poor Anya alone in her prison of ice.
In the hell pit in the frozen tundra there were Oblivion Knights and PsnI Balrogs. Nice little reminder of what the Chaos Sanctuary was like in act 4. Again, no real problems.
For interesting finds, Jane found a few normal uniques, none useful, another Spire of Honor, and a Thul rune. She tried another safety ammy with this result: ammy screenshot (http://img68.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot036ea1.jpg) Would've been great for a sorc! Oh well.
Looking at my overcrowded collection of items, I realize a sane player would start ditching some of the gems and less useful runes. Here is my inventory: inventory screenshot (http://img68.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot038vc1.jpg) But since I am not sane, I'm still holding out for the item or two that makes it all come together.

Jane_Doe, lvl 70 amazon, Act 5 NM, Frozen Tundra WP

[Magicboy]

Well, I got a little bored of Battle.net so I decided to enter this tournament (probably a little late :azn: ). Sindri is a summoning necromancer who plans on using bone spirit to whack down 1 monster and then have summons take care of the rest.

Today, I went through most of act 1 on 8 player without much difficulty. In the cave, I nearly got killed by Coldcrow when my skeletons died.:cry: Fortunately, I had a rejuv in my belt and I resummoned my army. The rest of the act was pretty easy up to the catacombs where the monsters had more hp than I expected. I took the difficulty down to 1 for Andariel and she was a piece of cake.


Sindri, lvl 20 Necromancer, Act 2 Normal, Lut Gholein WP

[Fingerzam]

Nothing interesting happened in The Underground Passage or Dark Wood, did full clears on everything. Countess dropped two rals, which was a pleasant surprise. There was a river in black marsh and for some reason my game on the other side of the bridge and the next time I just skipped the other half of black marsh completely.

Tamoe Highlands was a pain. My melee weapon broke and the the only weapon I had left was a short bow with a chipped saphire and a chipped topaz. So I tried to gather a group of enemies to a single spot and use CoS and Blade Sentinel to kill them in a reasonable time. The first thing I meet is a champion pack of archers :undecided: and then i run away from them to meet a boss pack of archers. :sad2:

After killing them really slowly with BS and my bow, at some point I find a scimitar and things start looking better. At some point of this I found Death's gloves, really nice drop for beating Andariel, but I got hit a lot and soon had only 3 durability left on them. Stored them in my invetory after that.

After I got to lvl 18 things got a lot easier, blade fury and shadow warrior helped a ton, and my main skill (DTail) came available. I found a identify tome in the jails, and on the way to Andariel I found a total of 4 set items, the Death's Hand mentioned previously, Cleglaw shields, Arctic belt and Hsaru's shield. I also found a rare self-repairing sabre, which was a really good drop. With the deaths hand and TS+DTail, Andariel was pretty easy. Unfortunately, she didn't drop anything useful.

Then it was time for A2. Started with the Sewers. Couldn't really use DTail much here because I couldn't leach life with CS from skeletons, so I spent much time just hacking at things with my sabre. Radament was really easy, because I could get the charges from hitting the skeletons and then go DTail Radament, while CoS prevented any ranged monsters from shooting at me.

After that, everything that was leechable was quickly dead. Once I found tir and el I made a Steel for BF. Did full clears on every area on /p8. Notable finds were Cleglaw's gloves in Arcane Sanctuary (at this point I asked myself why I had a useless Hsaru's shield on my BF switch instead of the Cleglaw's I found earlier), which I still use and normal greaves (as my damage depends on boots). At some point I switched my main weapon with a stack of balanced knives (they are faster than a sabre) to see if they last as long as some have claimed, and they did, so I dropped my repairing sabre. I'm not so sure this was good idea though.

After clearing the Canyon I cleared all six false tombs. Some of these were pretty dangerous, especially because I couldn't use CoS, but BF helped a lot against the most dangerous enemies. After that I went to the real tomb and cleared it, and without thinking enough I went to Duriels Chamber thinking I had prepared and then I realised I was still on /players 8.

My shadow died in two or three blows, but I tried to use those seconds to charge TS and CS, so if I had both charged and still had mana, I recasted shadow because I would soon have full mana anyways. I couldn't take many hits from Duriel and the slow chilled kick always felt like an eternity, especially when it missed twice in a row. After a lot of running around, drinking potions and casting shadow I finally won the battle, with 2 health potions and 4 full rejuvs left.

Happiness, TS/DTail Assassin, level 28, Act 3, Kurast Docks

[crazy_bear]

Introducing Conqueror Jane_Doe!

The last session of NM started in the Ancient's Way, after a very short sprint from the Frozen Tundra. Jane had an easy time with the minions there. The valk took care of the bone mages (or they got arrowed) and Jane poisoned the rest (Afflicted and Frozen Creepers). Jane's closest experience with death here was in Snapchip's cave when she tried to run past the Valk just as the valk took a swing at a FE stygian doll boss. Boom! That took about 500 life, and left me feeling dumb for running that way. Ouch! Anyway, Jane obviously survived and it was on to the ancients.

Approaching the pedastal Jane cast a decoy and then touched the altar. As the 3 ancients sprang to life, they all saw the glowing valkyrie and charged. Standing back, Jane launched plague javelins into the fray. Despite their best efforts, the valk never dropped below 3/4 life, and soon all three ancients were returned to statue form. This was the easiest battle with ancients I have ever had.

In the WSK Jane found lots of poisonable creatures. They never stood a chance. So when she reached the throne room she was well supplied having carried an extra load to make a stash of potions and javelins. The throne room contained Blood Lords, Invaders and Oblivion Knights. The main worry here was to bring the Oblivion Knights away from the throne area to ensure none got ressurected. This was successful as none reappeared during the battle with Achmel. The minion waves were much easier this time compared to normal. A large factor was probably the PMH on the blackhorn's face. None of the waves needed to be parked this time, and it was on to Baal.

With no way to bring anything extra in, Jane had to do Baal with the stack of Javelins she was carrying, and the potions in her belt. I thought the safest way to fight would be to run in, throw a plague jav in, then run away. Only problem was, I would get tagged by the appendages, and Baal kept summoning his clone. After trying this for a bit, Baal had lost about 1/3 life, and Jane had gone through about 2/3 of her javs and 1/3 of her potions. Time to get the Valk involved. Instead of the javelins, I started casting the valk right on top of Baal. This seemed to distract him from using his other powers so much, so the valk got some hits in, and Jane could also keep the poison going. She ran out of javelins, but used the last one with the arrows to make 30 more. Finally, Baal dropped and victory was ours!


On finishing NM/Starting hell:
Base Stats:
Str 95
Dex 155
VIT 175
ENE 25
Life 749
Mana 240
Resists in Hell (with shield): 36/62/62/-10

Skills:
Javelin Tree: Jab 1 / Psn Jav 10 / Plague Jav 20 / LF 16
Passive Tree: All 1 except valk 16
Bow Tree: 1 in MA, 1 in Freezing Arrow and pre-reqs.

Primary Gear:
- Tarnhelm (44% MF)
- Prismatic Ammy (17%)
- javelin (yup, regular old javelin, same as starter weapon)
- Moser's Blessed Circle w 2x p diamond Dur:39 of 64
- Beast Mantle Plate Mail: Dur 30 of 60 (+44 to Life, +80% Enhanced Defense, Damage Reduced by 1, Fire Resist +26%, Poison Length Reduced by 25%)
- Trang Oul's Claws Heavy Bracers
- Sigon's Wrap Plated Belt
- Viper Shank Heavy Boots Dur 11of 14 (+51% Enhanced Defense, Lightning Resist +37%, Cold Resist +19%, 10% Faster Hit Recovery, Half Freeze Duration)
- Beast Gyre Ring (+1 to Energy, +21 to Life, +82 to Attack Rating, Fire/Cold/Psn res +10%, light res +19%)
- Bahamut's Ring of the Mind (+5 engergy, +108 mana)

Weapon switch:
- EndlessHail Double Bow (found in Arreat Plateau, forgot to mention it last update)

Charms:
- Fine Small Charm of Shock, Septic Small Charm of Blight, Lapis Small Charm of Strength, Sapphire Small Charm of Dexterity, Coral Small Charm of Inertia, Amber Large Charm of Winter, Lapis Small Charm of Life, Tangerine Small Charm of Frost

The Rest:
- Blackhorn's Face Death Mask, Acrobatic Amulet of precision, Nagelring (25% mf)
- crimson jewel of virility (+7 min dmg, +3 str), Lapis Lazuli jewel of Bliss (+10 min dmg, +5 cold res)
- 4x p diamond, 3x p ruby, 2x p topaz, 4x p sapphire, 3x p. amythyst, 1x p skull, 1x flawless ruby
- 2xral, ort, thul, amn, sol, shael, dol, hel, ko



Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 76 A2 Hell Far Oasis
Insane Wayne Asteria CS Amazon 76 A1 Hell Tamoe Highland
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 73 A1 Hell Rogue Camp
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon 72 A1 Hell Rogue Camp
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 57 A3 NM Kurast Docks
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 25 A1 NM Rogue Camp
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
thewamp Athena PJ/FA Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 18 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Elendoras TheBarbWhoCould Barbarian 14 A1 Norm Dark Wood
Fingerzam Happiness TS/DTail Assassin 13 A1 Norm Stony Field
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Chymaera Marius II BlizBolt Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Cold Plain
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Darkstrikes lighamus Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp

Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 75 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 3
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 75 A1 Hell Outer Cloister
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Butzull Spinster Amazon 26 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 14 A1 Norm Black Marsh
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field

[Insane Wayne]

Great work crazy_bear! :smiley:
PMH is definitely handy against Baal's minions.
That Moser's sure looks tasty. Great blocking and 63 resist-all! :starry:
Saves a lot of charm space, but be careful using your bow, you'll be dipping into the red zone! Should be manageable as long as you stay alert, and you have a decent amount of life as insurance.


-Bahamut's Ring of the Mind (+5 engergy, +108 mana)

Weapon switch:
- EndlessHail Double Bow (found in Arreat Plateau, forgot to mention it last update)
It's funny, we both found these exact same items in the exact same places.

[OldSoldier]

Mursilis, the maggot lair probably took me about 75 minutes. Level 1 was by far the hardest, I found the stairs in the last possible room that I could explore. Level 2 had the same types of LI monsters but I found the stairs faster, and level 3 was all poison and physical immunes, no problem there. Sometimes the valk would have to kill 10 or 12 of those beetles, one at a time, with me plinking away slowly with MA and poison charms, prepared to cast a decoy at my backside if a monster found the path. So far I have been really fortunate with not having crazy stair traps and the chaos sanctuary has been good for me with the layout and infector's spawning.

Crazy Bear, congrats on achieving conqueror! I tried the valk casting thing myself but he nearly always teleported right after I did that, or cast a clone, and the two of them could smash a valk in seconds. Good to hear it worked well for you. I'll keep watching your thread with interest.

Last night I played a bit more, starting from the far oasis WP. I ran past dozens upon dozens of beetles until I got to the entrance to the Lost City. They boxed me in a time or two, and I used one full rejuv potion before I did a Barry-Sanders style end run and got past them all into the Lost City. I did kill a few (3-4) right at the entrance that were going to follow me and make any tactical retreat through that corridor very difficult. I hope no one frowns on this. There were three boss packs right inside the entrance, none of them LI, so they went down quickly. My valk spawned poison immune so she was happy here and in the Ancient Tunnels (no finds but no problems either). A normal monster dropped a gold ring in the Lost City, which I figured would be a manald heal, but it turned out to be a carrion wind. I decided to keep it and wear it, which gives me a question: how can you repair charges on a ring? It had only two charges of poison creeper; can I get more? It doesn't really fall into either armor or weapon category. I haven't tried any recipes yet, that can't hurt I suppose.

Claw viper temple was filled with CI stuff- vipers, bone mages and (FI) guardians. No problems at all on level 1. I was prepared to have a battle royale aka Wrestlemania IV, but upon entrance there was nothing there. Fangskin was not near the door, or anything else for that matter. When he did appear my valk engaged and I supported with lightning artillery until he went down (and dropped nothing at all). I smashed the altar and saved my game. Now level 77 and ready to avenge Anubis in the cellar. It'll be time for slow missiles to shine, now.

[Insane Wayne]

it turned out to be a carrion wind. I decided to keep it and wear it, which gives me a question: how can you repair charges on a ring?
Unfortunately, there's no way to cube-repair charges on a ring. I had a tourney zon who found that ring, and had mixed results with the poison creeper. Against some monster types, it lasted forever and was useful for group PMH poisoning and as a distraction. Against others, it was insta-killed repeatedly. Also, some monsters tend to focus on the vine, and will try to follow it as it pops up in random spots, which might be near you.

The ctc spells are somewhat useful. Twisters cause mini-stuns as they pass through mobs.

[jiansonz]

until he went down (and dropped nothing at all).

In the current version (v1.11) Hell Fangskin never drops anything. Such are the mysterious ways of the programmers of this game; with every version, bugs get fixed and new ones (that were never around before) get introduced. :scratch:

Nice progress! :thumbsup: If you can reach the Arcane Sanctuary, you´ll set a new All Alone best.

[crazy_bear]

Nice work Oldsoldier. Only a short way to a new record. Carrionwind is a cool find.

@InsaneWayne: It is funny how some of these items come up. The EndlessHail has been Ok, but the bahamuts ring has been amazingly helpful.

Jane_Doe has now progressed as far as the Black Marsh, including clearing 'the hole' but not yet the tower. Hell difficulty was a major adjustment. A random unique quill rat almost killed her in the blood moor because I wasn't careful and had the bow out. Zombies took forever to kill, and the valk had to carry the load against the skellies and hungry dead that were LI. On the other hand, blood raven wasn't so bad, and with fewer undead present the areas since the stoney field have also been easier. Jane also found her first EU in the lvl 2 of the underground passage: Lacerator. What an interesting find! OW, amp dmg, replenishing. Now how about a javelin with all that! Jane crafted a blood ammy (with results not worth mentioning) to make a bit of inventory space. Three was enough to put the javelin in inventory and carry the lacerator in hand. However, she needs to drop the lacerator to throw javs, so she tends to leave it behind here and there then go collect it. PITA, but until she can find some more items to burn gems on, I guess that will do for now; the mods on the Lacerator just are too tasty to pass up. :undecided:
Next up, ruined tower. Odds are against this, but here's hoping the countess has a nice rune for Jane.:thumbsup:

Jane_Doe, lvl 75 javazon, act 1 Hell, Black Marsh WP

[Butzull]

Great work guys. I'm so disappointed with my efforts last time, i can't resist but get back in. I'm sure I can do well with a Zon in this. :)

See you next update!

Butz. :dunce:

[jiansonz]

Evangelina´s first real test in Hell was in Cave level 2. There was an undead bosspack in the big room, but they weren´t the threat. It was the rogue archer pack that had set up camp among all the Fallen in the lower right part. Cursed Cold Enchanted Spectral Hit. Not the kind of girl you want at your party...

Shadow was taking a severe beating, and we were pushed up towards the entrance. I figured we HAD to make a stand in the narrow passage, and not let the fight move to the tiny starting room. I was very busy, recasting Shadow, using CoS, moving in and releasing Meteor on the closest minion, etc. Just when it looked like we were forced back once more, I figured "something must have died in that mayhem" and tossed in a Death Sentry. There was a Frost Nova right away - the boss died - and from the explosion of her body, just about everything else died. :azn:

Saved by Death Sentry. I figured that skill has certainly earned some more points. Thus, all five skill points I have gained here in Hell have been invested in DS (it operates at level 7 now).

Blood Raven was quite easy, but the affixes on her bow were annoying (Knockback, poison and ctc Amp.)

Smooth sailing all the way to Dark Wood. There I faced the worst boss in the entire act, this feisty wench (http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m156/jiansonz/Evangelina/EvieHell1.jpg). The aura is Fanaticism, if you can´t tell because of the Shadow´s (useless) flames. At first, I could not understand why none of the minions died from all the flames we were making. Then I saw that they were Vile Lancers (who are FI), not Vile Hunters like the ones we completely dominated in the UGP...
Very hectic fighting and running around. I had to keep CoS going the whole time, otherwise the Shadow would get swarmed and die in a matter of seconds. The screenie is taken once I had control. 2-3 minions had been lured to us and killed before I managed to isolate the boss. The early part of the fight consumed nearly all my healing and mana potions. I was glad I had spare ones lying in the UGP, plus a small part of the UGP to clear (left as reserves).

The Hole level 2 hosted the next variety of fire immune Fanaticism rogue boss. (http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m156/jiansonz/Evangelina/EvieHell2.jpg) It was completely useless trying to kill her before she was isolated and pushed up against a wall.

Tower Cellars had no stairs traps to speak of; worst was three Blood Clan Champs in the back part of the first room. The Shadow held the line just long enough for the first one to die. DS took care of the other two (they were softened up by lightning storms and ice shards). Countess dropped Nef, Eth and a Key of Terror. The chest didn´t open (first time I´ve seen this bug in 1.11).

Pit level 2 is always a potential trap. This time, it was easy at first. Three melee rogues and the first two Devilkin packs got killed. Then there seemed to be few monsters left. I even got to kill one of the two remaining Devilkin packs before the boss pack (there is always at least one) showed up. Archers, Spectral Hit Mana Burn something. It was hard to keep track of all the minions, and situations very often left Evangelina in the line of fire from the boss. And that Spectral Hit was nasty poison annoyingly often. This was not really a dangerous fight, but it sure took its toll on my potion supply. (http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m156/jiansonz/Evangelina/EvieHellPit.jpg) The boss drop and the sparkly chest allowed me to re-supply pretty well.

I have new belt and gloves. Crafted Mesh Belt with +35 life and 30% Fire Resist. Pretty good timing, the old belt had 2 durability left. Losing the mana friendly stuff on the old belt was a bit of a bummer, but that was partly fixed with my new crafted Blood gloves. They were very similar to my old ones:
* Same life steal
* Same CB
* 2 less lightning resist
* +2 more life
But the new ones have 3% mana steal, which does make a notable difference on how much mana PS using spends.

3s armors seem to be quite rare. I have only found two, both Tigulated Mails. Not so good, heavy and only a little more than 30 durability. OK, I could accept one of those eventually, but I need to find a Thul (or Ort) first, since I really don´t want to throw out stuff to carry a bulky armor (and no, I won´t take off Skullder´s and wear a plain socketed armor for who knows how long...:grin: ).

Same plan as in the WSK in the Catacoms: leave plenty of uncleared areas on the other floors as reserves. That was badly needed, because our first skirmish with Andariel went downhill in a hurry! Second try was better, and I managed to bathe Ms. Nipple Chain in 4-5 Meteors for more than 10 seconds. That was enough to win (although the second before she fell she scared the crap out of me with a MASSIVE hit that probably left Evangelina with <100 life!). She dropped Deathbit and Atma´s Wail.

It sure felt weird to spend the next 1.5 hours mopping up Catacombs areas after Andariel was dead...

Sewers were not too tough, but the fire immunes (Burning Dead, mages and Invaders) slowed me down, and all the unleechable undead took their toll on my mana. If the Shadow had no problem tanking, I often resorted to plain old Attack with either of my weapons to conserve mana. It works, but it´s certianly not quick killing. After Radament was killed, I ended the session, with 2 mana potions left.

Notable items left to rot: Blackhorn´s Face, M´avina´s Icy Clutch, Arcanna´s Sign (my 3rd in SPF tourneys, quite remarakble considering its rarity), Cleglaw´s Pincers, Rockfleece.

Conqueror Evangelina the PS Assassin, level 77, Hell Rocky Waste next

[OldSoldier]

I think amazons are doing so well in this tournament because of the sturdiness of the valkyrie. I don't know about anyone else's experiences, but my character was enormously painful until decoy showed up, and got much better after level 30. It was truly the hardest part of the game for me, by far.

Last evening I took Princess_Diana through the cellars, doing full clears. The archers were a pain in the butt, and a few times I was flanked and the decoy went poof in seconds, so it was fun. Slow missiles was very handy, and I cast it frequently. The arcane sanctuary was pretty safe, except for the one time that I decided to "run past" a few ghosts, hoping to activate a few more to increase the power of the LF, and several tracked me down, on both sides. The valkyrie is useless against them due to physical immunity, and they were mana burn, so I got hit a few times and lost some full rejuv potions before I blocked a few attacks (I spent my last shael on a rhyme "upgrade", getting a round shield with better blocking; only 4% better though) and kept mana long enough to launch a few lightning fury attacks. Only dumb thing here. The level went easily and the summoner died with a single decoy cast. Lots of blue items, nothing really useful. I have about 13-14 ID scrolls now, it was a bit disappointing there. I did find a hel.

She stopped at Canyon of the Magi, still level 78. I need to block off a lot of time to clear the tombs, and I got engaged to be married today, so I don't want to lose my best tourney character on the same day. I'll continue tomorrow.

All, thanks for the advice on the ring. Since I can't repair I guess I won't be worried about the poison creeper much. The two available charges wouldn't survive long anyway. The twisters do stun monsters but it isn't really long at all so I guess the ring is mainly worth the life leech.

For those amazons with CS as a major form of damage, I'd be happy to hear how fast the arcane sanctuary goes; it was fast with LF, but I can't imagine how fast those bolts will shred this area. I say crank it up to /p8 baby!

[CDRToast]

Well, I've seen all the fun you all were having and figured i'd join in...
Here's my HC Trappsin named Isolated, hoping to make good use of mind blast as well as cloak of shadows... full clears on /players 8 are going okay so far.

more to come...




Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 76 A2 Hell Far Oasis
Insane Wayne Asteria CS Amazon 76 A1 Hell Tamoe Highland
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 73 A1 Hell Rogue Camp
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon 72 A1 Hell Rogue Camp
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 57 A3 NM Kurast Docks
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 25 A1 NM Rogue Camp
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
thewamp Athena PJ/FA Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 18 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Elendoras TheBarbWhoCould Barbarian 14 A1 Norm Dark Wood
CDRToast Isolated Bow/Trap Assassin 14 A1 Norm Underground Passage
Fingerzam Happiness TS/DTail Assassin 13 A1 Norm Stony Field
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Chymaera Marius II BlizBolt Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Cold Plain
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Darkstrikes lighamus Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp

Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 75 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 3
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 75 A1 Hell Outer Cloister
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Butzull Spinster Amazon 26 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 14 A1 Norm Black Marsh
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field

[skoolbus]

Small update, but glad I got to play some at least over this weekend. It's getting difficult to find large chunks of time when I won't be distracted. Went from LK to the bazaar. I found a magic jewel that I'm keeping so I can craft something, right now looking towards blood boots as my eth tearhaunch are nearing 0 durability. Hopefully I get at least two good resists to make up for it. I also found a +1 traps ammy, replacing the +15 replenish life one I normally use, bringing my total number of ammys kept up to three.

Also good to see fresh entries :grin:.

Destroyer OneFingaPushup, level 59, NM Kurast Bazaar

[CDRToast]

I'm having a lot of fun and yet it is a bit frustrating...
Do I drop the chipped gem?, the Light Healing potion?, the un Id'd ring?, or the Grand charm of whatever it's called when it's 6 dam over 3 seconds?...
Trying to remember where you left that ID scroll a level back...
The frustration of 5 Tomes of Town Portal dropping from bookshelves, and no ID tomes :(
The luck (or unluckiness) of a triple dura rare katar dropping it has okay stats, poison damage, cold damage, AR and a little +%dam... but not gonna hold up for long in the damage dept.
Shadow Warrior is tanking for me now, and life got a lot easier... any suggestions on putting more points in warrior or waiting for master?
I was suprised when my shadow warrior had knockback and ctc charged bolt when struck, then after a recast she had ctc nova when struck, weird because I don't have that gear on... I thought she was a copy of me.
I guess I have a lot to learn about playing Assassins.

Notable drops:
Arctic belt
Triple Dura Rare Katar
Rare self-repairing Quilted armor
Jewel of freedom (I'm holding for later)

Am I the only one who keeps finding he's picked up a couple thousand gold for no good reason? Buying gear has always been a big part of my gameplay, and old habits are hard to break.



Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 76 A2 Hell Far Oasis
Insane Wayne Asteria CS Amazon 76 A1 Hell Tamoe Highland
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 73 A1 Hell Rogue Camp
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon 72 A1 Hell Rogue Camp
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 57 A3 NM Kurast Docks
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 25 A1 NM Rogue Camp
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
thewamp Athena PJ/FA Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
CDRToast Isolated Bow/Trap Assassin 19 A1 Norm Inner Cloister
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 18 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Elendoras TheBarbWhoCould Barbarian 14 A1 Norm Dark Wood
Fingerzam Happiness TS/DTail Assassin 13 A1 Norm Stony Field
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Chymaera Marius II BlizBolt Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Cold Plain
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Darkstrikes lighamus Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp

Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 75 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 3
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 75 A1 Hell Outer Cloister
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Butzull Spinster Amazon 26 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 14 A1 Norm Black Marsh
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field

[Magicboy]

@CDRtoast: I pick up gold as well. Even though I don't need it, I seem to just automatically pick up gold as I go along. My necro has like 50k gold in his inventory!


Sindri took a little while to kill radament because there were armies of skeletons that took a while for my skeleton army to get though. Radament himself was very easy and died in a short while. In the dry hills, the Halls of the Dead proved fairly quick and the cube saved a lot of space in my inventory. (By cubing everything together and the extra 8 inventory spaces.)

Far Oasis was a was extremely easy until the maggot lair which proved to be pretty difficult and time consuming. Most of the time, my skeleton army was behind following me and only one skeleton and a few mages attacked the monsters in the tunnels. Once, Sindri nearly bit the dust when he charged into a room and the skeletons were trapped in the doorway leaving Sindri surrounded. It was a good thing that he picked up a magical ethereal falchion that did a lot of damage so he quickly cut a path back to the skeletons without using up too many potions. Finally, Sindri reached maggot lair level 3 where the boss and the minions were easy in the open.

Lost City was fairly difficult in the ancient tunnels but the rest was easy in the open where my skeletons could chip away at enemies. Also, Sindri found his first unique in the ancient tunnels (Umbrial Disk). The claw viper temple was pretty long and the Sindri's first set item was found there. (Ceglaw's Pincers) Fangskin took awhile to kill and Sindri had to resurrect the skeletons quite a few times as they slowly died. Once fangskin died, the rest was easy.

Sindri the Summoning Necromancer, Level 25, Normal Harem next

[crazy_bear]

I think amazons are doing so well in this tournament because of the sturdiness of the valkyrie. I don't know about anyone else's experiences, but my character was enormously painful until decoy showed up, and got much better after level 30. It was truly the hardest part of the game for me, by far.

There is no doubt of this. Without a merc, you need something for distraction/tanking. Of the 6 that made it to hell: 3 amazons of course, 1 assassin, a Druid and a necro. All have strong minions, and secondary skills (decoy, CoS, curses, ravens) that help to keep monsters off you. I think the amazon is probably the easiest of these because of the amazing toughness of the valk, and the wide range of attacks that don't require a good weapon.

@CDRToast: You aren't the only one picking up gold. 3 times I've hit max gold now and everytime I see something that will sell for a lot of gold I have the urge to pick it up! I've dropped a total of around 2 million gold... :laugh:

In the last session for me Jane Doe cleared out the countess' tower. The Lacerator turned out to be very useful vs single or pairs of ghosts where LF and PJ were both very inefficient, and of course the PI meant the Valk couldn't kill them. Only one stair trap on lvl 3. An archer pack at the bottom of the stairs. A quick decoy and the valk meant Jane only had to use a couple of rejuvs to defeat them. The countess herself dropped no rune at all. She dropped 3 magicals, a scale mail, halbard and kris. At least her special chest opened for me, though it contained nothing worth mentioning.

From there it was on to the Tamoe Highlands and the Pit. The pit was packed with boss packs, which was great for exp, but no great drops. In the pit lvl 2 a magical hydra bow dropped, but Jane doesn't have the str to use it. Besides the EndlessHail was better anyway.

Continuing on, I ended up taking Jane into the Jail. The Smith in the Barracks couldn't touch the valk, and the poison did its job on him. In the Jail lvl 2 Pitspawn Fouldog spawned with a second boss pack in the same place, giving some anxious moments when the valk died in about 3 seconds. A quick retreat spread them out enough to defeat them though, and it was progress as usual from there.

Also on jail lvl 2 Jane found a Riphook. That is an interesting find: since it has the OW Jane doesn't need the lacerator to help vs phy immunes, and the 30% slow is very interesting, especially if Jane wears the Blackhorn's at the same time for 50% slow. So now the Lacerator can be muled off, and Jane will actually have room to pick things up for a change! I'm sure that won't last long. I finally stopped at the inner cloister WP. Hopefully next time Jane will bring down Andy.

Jane_Doe, lvl 76 amazon, act 1 Hell, inner cloister.

[Fingerzam]

Act 3 was really easy for this build. I had CoS for tight situations and pretty much everything died to one or two 3 charge tiger strike DTail. If possible, I tried to get enemies to swarm around my shadow and then release a DTail to kill a group quickly.

Cobra Strike also helped a ton, so I didn't have to use almost any potions at all during A3.

Swampy Pit had a total of three set items. Angelic Sabre, which was pretty useless. The second one was Cleglaw's sword. At this point I wanted to hit myself. I still had the Cleglaw gloves from Arcane Sanctuary, but I no longer had my Cleglaw shield, which I found in A1. This must be the first time I've ever found a full set during a normal play through. I felt even more stupid because I still had a Hsaru's shield on switch, why didn't I save the Cleglaw's instead? The full Cleglaw would have been a really good Blade Fury set.

Well, the third one was Hsaru's boots, which would give a really nice AR boost with the shield, but I couldn't really wear them because my damage is dependant on boots and my greaves have much more damage than chain boots. Oh well. I used the Cleglaw sword for BF for the rest of A3, as the increasing max dmg was useful for it.

I cleared the whole act on /players 8. This took quite a lot of time, must be the first time I've completely cleared A3. Somewhere in the jungle I found an amulet with 4% ML and 6% MF, which sped up killing things as I no longer had to charge CS really often for mana. Then I found a balanced knife with 10% IAS, which was also nice.

Later at kurast Bazaar I found a blade talon with repair. This was really nice, possibly a weapon for the rest of the game. I had been trying to cube one with chippeds since I found a blade talon in A2, but it wasn't really successful. Well, I'll still try to cube one later, because that would let me also socket it. I also found another Angelic saber here.

Counsil members were pretty easy, as I could use CoS to blind the non uniques and take care of the unique ones first, one at a time. One of them dropper Iratha's belt. And one of them dropped chain gloves with 10% IAS, 15FR, 17LR and half freeze duration. Grabbed these and decided to use them soon, as my Cleglaw's had only 2 durability left.

I took Mephisto on /players 8 because I was expecting it to be an easy fight, and it was. I got mephisto hitting my shadow, then went in to charge tiger strike, 1 cobra strike to be safe and release. I don't think I used a single potion during this fight. Meph dropped a bunch of useless rares, picked up the soulstone and went through the portal.

Now could someone explain why I'm getting so many set items? My brains fail to understand this.

Happiness, the lvl 32 TS/DTail Assassin, normal Pandemonium Fortress, Act 4

[Mursilis]

Nice progress OldSoldier, a new All Alone record :thumbsup: Fun reads as well...

@Fingerzam: The bottom line is that you're absurdly lucky. I've only completed one other set in single pass and that was Isenhart's, but that took till Hell to find everything. So a full set midway through Normal is just nuts :shocked:

[OldSoldier]

Thanks Mursilis, this tournament is a smashing success so far. 6 conquerors is amazing!

Personally I am most worried about Duriel; I think he poses the biggest threat (other than Baal) left in the game because of the close confines. I think that a charged strike build is far better suited to getting past that fight than I am currently. MA is a joke with a bow without any respectable damage, and LF is worthless in a room with one monster. If the valk cannot handle it I am in trouble. I do have the runes in the backpack for an Edge, which may be very useful for the thorns damage. Lots of high-life decoys and thorns may be the ticket, though I don't have the socketed bow to play with. Perhaps the false tombs will provide what I need, but I also lack the PAmethyst to socket a bow in case I find a white one that maxes at three sockets. I usually don't even check the false tombs but this will be interesting because I need all the drops that I can get!

[crazy_bear]

@OldSoldier: I have also felt Duriel to be the biggest worry on each difficulty level. It's that tiny room with no chance of getting a break to re-ready onself. At least on NM difficulty the Valk was enough, but in Hell?

Jane_Doe hopefully will move her way through act 2 to see Duriel, now that she has defeated Andy. Taking a cue from Jiansonz I figured I would leave a part of the catacombs unexplored to find potions later, but as it turned out Jane was very bad at finding the stairs down so left very little for after. The most interesting find was this (http://img237.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot002ls9.jpg).:grin: Wow! all thoughts of potential armors leave my head until I realize this (http://img237.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot003qq6.jpg). Oh! :sad2:

So how long will that 13 durability last me? I'm not sure, but I'm hoping at least a couple of acts. That really is one of the most generally good armors there is. So now Jane is off to Act 2. Here's hoping she can match other's accmplishments.

CB

[Insane Wayne]

Personally I am most worried about Duriel; I think he poses the biggest threat (other than Baal) left in the game because of the close confines.I'm not sure what your passive tree looks like, but a high-level valk can easily solo Hell Duriel if you have enough synergy points to help her. Level 17-20 valk with a few points in Dodge and maybe 5 points Decoy is probably enough. Less than that and you may need some recasts. Don't forget the Weaken charges on your armor, that would be an ideal time to use a few! I've been in that exact situation, and Weakening Duriel made a huge difference.


I've dropped a total of around 2 million gold... :laugh:I've probably dumped the same amount, after hitting max gold capacity several times. In the former tourney I called them "golden cairns of benevolence". Imagine a future adventurer discovering neat piles of 500,000 gold! :greedy:


The countess herself dropped no rune at all.
I've never heard of this! I thought her special rune drop was guaranteed. Congrats on the oddity...


Jane found a Riphook. That is an interesting find: since it has the OW Jane doesn't need the lacerator to help vs phy immunes, and the 30% slow is very interesting, especially if Jane wears the Blackhorn's at the same time for 50% slow.
Mmm, nice combo! I woud gladly sacrifice +skill on my helm/bow to own that pair. If found earlier, I'd probably throw a few points each in Strafe/Penetrate/Pierce. Would be awesome against PIs.

[skoolbus]

Ethereal!!! The extra defense!! But seriously, I hope it lasts you the rest of the game, very doubtful you're going to find a better armor.

I've heard of the countess dropping no rune, and I believe it's happened to me once, but it certainly is uncommon.

[skoolbus]

Petrified Wand of Lower Resistance
One-Hand Damage: 8 to 24
Durability: 10 of 15
Required Strength: 25
Required Level: 36
Staff Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 52
Fingerprint: 0xeca559ec
+1 to Summon Resist (Necromancer Only)
150% Damage to Undead
Level 1 Lower Resist (29/67 Charges)

The one wand I decide to pick up and id in hopes of getting this. I now can continue hoarding my 14 skill points as I don't need to find a LI solution until I run out of charges and ort runes (I have one now). When the charges get lower, I'll have to pick up and save a chipped gem as well. Beginning to run into durability crisis zone. 3 left on my eth Tearhaunch and 5 left on my bladebuckle. Found a 15% IAS jewel, and if I find a good 3 soc helm, it will most likely be the first thing to go in, followed by a thul and I don't know what else. Picked up and kept a +64 life ammy and 26% CR ammy, but I'm still using my +1 traps one. I'll probably switch out for council and meph to either the +15 replenish life or the 39% LR ammy.

Enough about items, I stopped at trav, only killing a few monsters in trav on the way to the wp, so next time I'll just kill the monsters on the way to the council and the coucil. Definately going to doing the rest of the act on p1 as it's unlikely they will drop anything useful, and I don't want to run out of potions before meph. Wish I could have kept going because there were ~4 id scrolls I left in the sewer. I cleared out some of the temples, and some I left because after a quick peek I determined it to be too risky. Almost died after getting surrounded a few times, I tried to Dflight, but then came to my senses and spammed MB, which bought me enough time to reposition.

I don't expect my fight with the council to be very difficult, I will keep CoS always active and try and just lure them out one or two at a time. What I'm very worried about is when I step down to durance 3, getting hit by a dozen of those vampire mages and being hit by the conviction aura... I don't think meph will be too difficult, I'll probably just moat trick him if my shadow can't stay alive long.

Destroyer OneFingaPushup, level 61, NM Travincal

[Insane Wayne]

Within a minute of starting a new session, I found the entrance to the Pit. I jumped right in, and hit a brutal double-boss pack: MSFE Stone Skin archers (also LI) and a Conviction LE melee rogue pack. My powerful valk was gone in a few seconds. It was too soon to deal with this, I wasn't even warmed up! I ran out and cleared the Tamoe first. Along the way I found a skill shrine and summoned a stronger valk. I re-entered the Pit, and tried the opposite ditection. I managed to leave the Conviction boss behind. Good thing, because I ran straight into 2 skeleton packs! Extra Strong Cursed CE, and Extra Strong CEFE! Scary, but preferable to those archers, and CS tore through them.

Level 2 was heavily populated including a few boss packs, but I arranged good valk and decoy positions (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/pitlevel2.jpg) and it went smoothly. One of the monsters dropped Skystrike Edge Bow. My Endless Hail is a better bow in several small ways, but Skystrike's +skill convinced me make the switch. Now I can always summon a lvl 23 valk, lvl 25 with shrine, both of which are levels in which she receives a magic --> rare item upgrade, not to mention the improved life/damage/defense. The upgraded gear will make it easier to roll multiple elemental immunities.

I made use of that right away, rolling a valk until she spawned a strong weapon, plus she had cold/poison immunity. Many times she 1-hit the Fallen, and even a Tainted. We powered our way through the Jail and Catacombs. Best find was a casket that dropped 2 ID scrolls. :cool:
Andariel was no problem, but in my haste to finish her off, she scored a mega-hit which killed the valk. On top of that her drop was crap.

I rolled a new valk in the Act 2 sewers. After a few tries I had another winner. Huge damage, amp damage, poison damage, and cold immune! She could be poisoned, but she had some defiance gear, so it didn't last long and wasn't a major problem. We made quick progress against very few LIs, and Radament went down easily.

Stony Tomb was an interesting trip. It opened into LI Fanatacism FE Horrors. To keep the valk alive, I used bursts of Freezing. After that, no major threats. I leveled up against Creeping Feature's pack, and maxed Decoy. Last to fall was Creepy (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/creepy.jpg) himself, always a satisfying kill.

Halls of the Dead sucked! The unravelers were LI, and I faced several mummy caskets, completely losing control of two of them. I didn't want to lose my uber-valk by spot-casting her on the unravelers, so I timed freezing arrows with valk hits to shatter the skeletons. After thinning them out a bit, I pulled the valk towards the unravelers, and kept the remaining monsters off of her. Slow progress, with plenty of useless repeat kills. Mana was a problem at times, so I dipped into my purples.

When the valk walked into the treasure room, she disappeared in a couple seconds. What the hell?
Bloodwitch emerged: Extra Strong Extra Fast Cursed Fanaticism (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/bloodwitch.jpg)!! And a bat pack with Might Cursed Spectral Hit! Nothing can stand against that combo, so I used the hallways to pull them apart in small groups. My reward, more useless gold (and nothing else).

Additional earlier finds:
nice rare ring. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/rare_ring.jpg) Should be handy against gloams.

Left Behind:
295%ED Rare Falcata with -req% and auto-repair
Graverobber's Grand Charm
Hexfire

Conqueror Asteria, 1.11 CS Amazon, level 78, Act 2 Hell, Dry Hills

[jiansonz]

Evangelina is a bit confused about her future gear plans now. Isn´t it interesting how a single item can turn the whole situation on its head?

Item in question, a gift from a boss Slinger in Rocky Waste: Guillaume´s Face. My first thought was "this is my ticket against Dury-boy!". Earlier, I had tried to picture different scenario about how I can possibly use Ribcracker and still not be in heavy danger. Now I can have 44% CB and 75% blocking at the same time! I am confident I can now tank him long enough to kill him with a CB/Meteor combo.

There are two problems with Guillaume´s, however, the STR requirement and the lack of resists. Apart from the armor where I am sticking with my Treachery plan, I have at least one BIG resist suffix on all of my armor items except the gloves (which still have 15% lightning), so there is not much room for improvement. I will likely try some boots crafting again, since the big resist on the boots is cold, and if I manage to complete a Treachery I will have 30% cold resist there. I can also spare a few more inventory spaces for charms, but of course you never know if they will drop. This is hard...

Evangelina has 100 base strength, plus 3 from items that will most likely be kept until the end (charm + ring), plus 6 on her current helm. So 109 with items. She will likely level up twice before Duriel, so she can have the required 115 STR by then and still have nearly maxed blocking. The STR bonus on Guillaume´s itself will make it usable even when I lose the +6 on the current helm. That´s risky though, and I will likely need to keep the Gemmed Crown until I have levelled up more and can wear Guillaume´s without "outside" help to put it on (plus I may only have around 25-30 fire/lightning resist and may need the the safety of the Crown now and then).

On the plus side, I plan to ditch Ribcracker now and can use the weapon switch to store the Staff of Kings (and later my Life Tap wand (plus a spare shield if I want to)).

The gameplay last session was a mixed bag, so it was good I was fighting on more than one "front" at a time. Stony Tomb was a pushover (although the Conviction Multishot lightning mage pack was pretty scary!).

Halls of the Dead level 3 opened up with the biggest room possible that had 5 Hollow Ones, including a very annoying Fire Enchanted Stone Skin Teleportation boss. There were also 8 Dried Corpses and a bunch of javelin cats in there. Lots of Death Sentries were used, as you can imagine.

Wowie! This character is actually strong enough that I can defeat mummy caskets even if I fail to block them! Just rain down flames on the sarcophagus (it has zero Defense so I can spam more than one Meteor per second with great accuaracy), and all the undead that spawn just drop dead. Add some Death Sentries for even more mayhem.

I am now down to 4 ID scrolls (I´ve ignored some magical jewelry lately because of the shortage) so I´m looking forward to the Itchies/Locusts and later Specters/Apparitions for a refill.

Conqueror Evangelina the PS Assassin, level 77, Hell Far Oasis next

[CDRToast]

Isolated has continued onward having noone to talk to but herself and the monsters, she's even started talking to her shadow... thankfully noone's around to see her strange behavior.

The session started from the Inner Cloister we cleared the cathedral, then remembered we never did the Pit, the Tamoe Highlands yes, but the Pit had been missed, so she Way Pointed back to the outter cloister and ran past everything to the entrance to the pit and cleared it out.
Continuing onward the Catacombs lvl 1 wasn't a problem at all, lvl 2 was more of the same. Lvl 3 had some LE guys I simply couldn't kill, they took down my Shadow Warrior too fast, so I parked the boss and cleared the rest of the level making special note of the Healing Shrine near the stairs to lvl 4.
Rather simple to clear the first 2 rooms in lvl 4, but when I opened the door my shadow sprints straight up the map... I'm thinking NOOO... WTF wait until we clear the bottom half, so i run down the map to pull her back with the "leash". Thankfully she didn't spawn Andy and we were able to clear the bottom. Fighting Andy was interesting to say the least, she smote my shadow with her morning death breath repeatedly, meanwhile I kept recasting the warrior, running, pew pew, run run, dodge the poison, pew pew, throw some fire blasts, run... run.. run... up the stairs, Heal at the shrine, repeat for 20 minutes until she drops.
Andy dropped A topaz, Deathspade (left behind), 2 chipped gems (also left), and a rare ring which was a slight improvement over my old ring.

Beast Whorl
Ring
Required Level: 4
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 12
Fingerprint: 0x15dbda83
+9 to Mana
34% Extra Gold from Monsters <-- One of the two most useless mods in this tourney
10% Chance to cast Level 3 Charged Bolt when struck

She then met up with Warriv and went to the desert lands, ignored everyone as she ran straight for the sewers and began clearing things out.
She found a plain belt to replace her 0 dura rare light belt she had, the 3rd row of pots is very helpful. She also found a couple very low level runes, El El Eld Eld Tir to go with the countess's Tal from act 1... still trying to figure out what I can do with them.
In the Sewers lvl 3 she remembers the rules "if you don't find a ID tome you can buy one from drognan" oooh where was that way point again?
Here's the conversation that followed:
Isolated says "Hi, I'd like a Tome of Identification please"
Drognan " No problem, got a nice one over here for you, that'll be 340 gold"
Isolated blinks with a confused look on her face... "Umm gold?" She checks her purse... 136 gold "FFS"
Isolated returns to the sewers to pick up some gold and returns 2 minutes later with 500ish gold, she claims her ID scroll and quite a bit of valuable inventory space.

Long story short, Radament died and the session ended
Isolated is lvl 21 (about 80% of the way to 22)

I was really torn between keeping my rare Quilted armor of self repair or putting on the breast plate I stumbled upon, finally I decided that the repair mod is worth more than 50 def, but barely...

Gonna run to the cube, then come back to clear areas.

[CDRToast]

Swarmed ... can't go back, it's blocked... ran... swarmed... ran into more... ran... cornered... fought my way to a healing shrine, took down the Hollow Ones that were near it... fought my way almost back to clear land, when I got poisoned... swarmed ... exits blocked ... and Deeds.:cry:

Sigh...

2 more levels and i'd have had 2 of my key skills available
Mind Blast and Lightning Sentry were big parts of my plans, but alas... Deeds
Might rebuild... full clears at /p8 takes a long time though, maybe i should have dropped it to /p3 or something until I got the cube...



Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 76 A2 Hell Far Oasis
Insane Wayne Asteria CS Amazon 76 A1 Hell Tamoe Highland
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 73 A1 Hell Rogue Camp
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon 72 A1 Hell Rogue Camp
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 57 A3 NM Kurast Docks
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 25 A1 NM Rogue Camp
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
thewamp Athena PJ/FA Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 18 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Elendoras TheBarbWhoCould Barbarian 14 A1 Norm Dark Wood
Fingerzam Happiness TS/DTail Assassin 13 A1 Norm Stony Field
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Chymaera Marius II BlizBolt Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Cold Plain
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Darkstrikes lighamus Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp

Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 75 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 3
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 75 A1 Hell Outer Cloister
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Butzull Spinster Amazon 26 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
CDRToast Isolated Bow/Trap Assassin 22 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 14 A1 Norm Black Marsh
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field

[Butzull]

Commiserations CDRToast, RIP...but good luck with the next one.

I know exactly what you mean about the importance of getting to your end-game skills. Silencia (the Zon...just for something different ;)) has made it to the Inner Cloister and reached Lvl 18. This is good because I have made it to Charged Strike, but I REALLY can't wait to get to first Decoy, then of couse, Valk.

As others have previously mentioned, there have been plenty of hairy moments so far as I progressed with a Lvl 1 Power Strike, but aside from avoiding a HF Archer Pack, I've been able to take everything else out at /players 8, including Pitspawn. I've never seen so few wells in consecutive areas though, which did make it tough!

Butz. :dunce:

[ilshad]

Hello all. Haven't played in a while due to RL, but i decided to start up again. I saw this tourney and just couldn't resist. So, without further ado, let me introduce StyxofThunder the amazon. I haven't played much with an amazon, so this should be interesting.

I have already made it to the inner cloister, doing full clears on /p8 so far, and am lvl 19. Running into mana problems early though. As of now, i am using a slvl 10 power strike on small groups and a slvl 2 CS on large groups. When CS surpasses power strike in damage, i will be CS full time. Everything should get a lot easier once decoy and valk become available.



Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 76 A2 Hell Far Oasis
Insane Wayne Asteria CS Amazon 76 A1 Hell Tamoe Highland
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 73 A1 Hell Rogue Camp
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon 72 A1 Hell Rogue Camp
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 57 A3 NM Kurast Docks
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 25 A1 NM Rogue Camp
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
thewamp Athena PJ/FA Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 18 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ilshad StyxofThunder CS Amazon 19 A1 Norm Inner Cloister
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Elendoras TheBarbWhoCould Barbarian 14 A1 Norm Dark Wood
Fingerzam Happiness TS/DTail Assassin 13 A1 Norm Stony Field
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Chymaera Marius II BlizBolt Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Cold Plain
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Darkstrikes lighamus Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp

Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 75 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 3
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 75 A1 Hell Outer Cloister
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Butzull Spinster Amazon 26 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
CDRToast Isolated Bow/Trap Assassin 22 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 14 A1 Norm Black Marsh
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field

[jiansonz]

I have a rules question for skoolbus, since I have a problem regarding how I should proceed.

My Far Oasis map is divided into two equally sized parts. I cleared about 75% of one part (left some reserves), a part which holds the WP and the Maggot Lair (very close to each other). I have not yet been in the other half of the Oasis (which must hold the exit).

I made my way down to Coldworm´s room, but I had to abandon my first attempt at defeating the room, since I ran out of mana potions and also got hit by the very nasty poison twice. I have tried again, without a Shadow, spending very little resources (the occasional Meteor to spawn a fire to kill many incoming young, the occasional Death Sentry to kill a big maggot that is in the line of fire in front of Coldworm), and working on Coldworm with BF with Open Wounds, without being seen by her (i.e. she won´t spawn adult maggots). It seemed to be working better, but I ran out of mana this time as well. This led me to clear out the entire Maggot Lair, looking for more mana/rejuve potions. Just when I had popped two chests in the final room on level 1, the game crashed. :sad2:

Now what? There is no way I can exactly re-create the situation I was in.
How much am I allowed to clear out in the areas I have already been in? I especially need a cleared out level 3 and/or last part of level 2 I can retreat to if the big poison hits again. All the boss packs I killed yesterday made me gain almost half a level, so even if I kill only the boss packs I must kill in the Lair in order to make safe progress, I will still have more XP than I would´ve had if the game hadn´t crashed.
How much of the areas may I loot? Can I pick up replacement potions for the ones I may need to use to make progress? What about other loot? What about the few monsters and containers that were left in this half of the Oasis (it´s impossible to tell exactly where and how many they were)?

What complicates matters is that I feel I don´t relly deserve a second chance where I know the layout of the Maggot Lair. I am not sure I would have managed to defeat Coldworm with my new plan, or if I had been forced to try something riskier (move into the room and spam Meteors, getting bittten and heavily posioned, etc) or to proceed to further areas looking for mana potions for another safe attempt.

My suggestion:
I start a Normal/NM game to reroll the map, then do everything from the Far Oasis WP where I may clear all Oasis/Lair areas but I may loot only potions in this half of the Oasis and in the Maggot Lair (except the breeding chamber, which I can fully loot). I would get a slight XP advantage, but I would miss out on some potential loot from small parts of this half of the Oasis. How does that sound? I think it´s as fair a situation as I can create.

[ilshad]

Andy is dead. She wasn't very difficult with cs. The only problem so far has been a shortage of mana and mana potions. Normally they drop from almost every kill, but so far in this tourny, they drop few and far between. Go figure :rolleyes:



Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 76 A2 Hell Far Oasis
Insane Wayne Asteria CS Amazon 76 A1 Hell Tamoe Highland
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 73 A1 Hell Rogue Camp
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon 72 A1 Hell Rogue Camp
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 57 A3 NM Kurast Docks
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 25 A1 NM Rogue Camp
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
Ilshad StyxofThunder CS Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
thewamp Athena PJ/FA Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 18 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Elendoras TheBarbWhoCould Barbarian 14 A1 Norm Dark Wood
Fingerzam Happiness TS/DTail Assassin 13 A1 Norm Stony Field
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Chymaera Marius II BlizBolt Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Cold Plain
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Darkstrikes lighamus Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp

Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 75 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 3
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 75 A1 Hell Outer Cloister
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Butzull Spinster Amazon 26 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
CDRToast Isolated Bow/Trap Assassin 22 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 14 A1 Norm Black Marsh
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field

[Insane Wayne]

Asteria suffered a major slowdown in the Dry Hills/Far Oasis, which was overrun with LI vultures and beetles. After a dozen recasts, I scored a strong valk and she did a good job knocking them out, although it still took a while. Potion slingers were a nuisance, but at least I could take them out quick. Slow Missiles against them is funny; they toss potions straight up, sky high, and they descend like a meteor and hit you anyway (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/potion.jpg). One of the beetles dropped a Lem, the 2nd Asteria found from a normal monster, and just as useless.

Into the Maggot Lair! More beetles! Asteria crossed her arms, frowned, and tapped her foot impatiently, as the valk defeated long lines of scarabs. Level 2 had lots of locusts, which boosted my scroll supply a little. Also on level 2, I found a Spectral CE PILI beetle boss. We couldn't harm it. I've been working on a 3-socket kris, adding Ith and El. Either I would find an Eth this session and complete "Malice", or this beetle would be my first parked monster in over two years. For now, I was able to work around it and get to level 3, which was free of beetles. Easy clear to the staff room. Lacking the massive group power of Lightning Fury, I did the next best thing: stormed in without hesitation (before major spawning could start), took out a few guard maggots, and blasted Coldworm directly (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Hell_Coldworm.jpg). It was a little dangerous, and required a few potions, but large maggots absorb all the CS bolts and thus fell quickly.

I went to p3 for the Ancient Tunnels. It was packed with an exciting assortment of mummy, zombie, and invader boss packs, many with brutal mods. The valk was poison immune, but still lost health steadily, and every mobbing was a race for me to save her life by killing them before they killed her. With my paltry 57% MF, I didn't expect to find much, but some monster from a double boss pack dropped an EU armor (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/bane.jpg). Too bad I can't meet the STR (or level) requirements for a long time. Cool find, but no help to Asteria.

Back to p1 for the Viper Temple. I was hoping to get lucky and avoid skellies, but no such luck. However, because nothing was LI, I was able to rush the unravelers and take them down. It was much less difficult than Halls of the Dead. The snakes were dangerous. It's scary to get blasted backwards out of nowhere. But they're delicate. I took them out one-on-one as they advanced, or I let them surround the valk and picked them off. Good news: I found my Eth rune and completed the Malice kris. Not the best option for Malice, but I was desperate to have it available and the kris was the first 3-socket compact weapon I found.

Now for the dreaded level 2. I equipped my Circlet of Teleportation. Skeletons marched into the doorway corridor, and a I spotted an unraveler with more skellies inside the altar. As the valk re-killed the resurrecting skellies, I tried to sniper the unraveler with Frozen Arrow, but it was shielded by its skellies. I tried to get a new angle, a little closer, and the snakes came from both sides. Screw this! I teleported inside the altar, on top of the unraveler pack. It cost me a few potions, but I wiped them out. Bad news: another unraveler, way back in the shadows, was re-raising the altar skeletons. Snakes completely surrounded the altar. I ran onto the altar stairs, while the valk protected my back, and I took out about 10 snakes in single file. These snakes charged hard, and I drank many potions. Fangskin cursed me and nearly killed me, so I switched places (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Hell_Fangskin.jpg) with the valk. I was down to 2 rejuvs and one antidote (I always store a couple in a rejuv column). When Fangskin died I teleported out, killed the unraveler, and mopped up the remaining snakes. Another grand adventure with Fangskin!

One last task remained, a showdown with that tough beetle boss in the Maggot Lair. Time for a little stabby (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Malice.jpg) action. Open Wounds worked its magic, and he dropped a magical troll belt.

Conqueror Asteria, 1.11 CS Amazon, level 79, Act 2 Hell, Jerhyn's Palace

[crazy_bear]

Jane Doe started her way through act 2, beginning with the sewers. No problems there, as larger packs could be LF'd and one or two skellies could always be MA and Valked to dead. Radament spawned phys immune/LI and so he took a while to go down, but since he couldn't get rid of the valk in his face there was no danger.

The outdoor areas were great for Jane, as most of the monsters there were not very resistant to poison. The maggots either got LF'd or Valked, and most of the rest got Plague Javelins. On the other hand, the indoor areas were not so fun, as most of the creatures there are undead, which are universally resistant to poison, and some of the LI as well. It wasn't bad in the Stony Tomb, but in the Halls of the dead the unravellers were a major pain. Frequently Jane turned to her single point in FA. This helped shatter corpses, but is mana intensive to keep going. I couldn't get the knack of good timing like Insane_Wayne. However, she stuck with it, and did eventually clear all 3 levels. She had a scary moment on lvl 3 when a boss unraveller was stuck in a corner raising skellies and zombies outside the door. Having cast a couple of decoys already I figured he was the only one left in the room so Jane went in to bring the valk in. However it turned out to be Bloodwitch's room. Very quickly the unraveller also raised a skelly in the doorway, which stayed there against the valk, and blocked the way out. Jane was pursued for a couple of laps around the room (casting decoy to keep them off her) before she could escape.

Jane skipped the Maggot Lair for storage concerns, and went straight to the lost city. Ancient Tunnels didn't produce any interesting items so it was soon on to the Viper Temple. Again no problems there, and on lvl 2 Fangskin's pack spawned a long way from the doorway and there were no unravellers, so Jane had lots of room to work there. LF dropped all but Fangskin very quickly when she did find him, and then Valk plus poison took it from there.

Next up, palace cellars.

Conqueror Jane_Doe lvl 78 javazon, act 2 Hell.

[skoolbus]

I have a rules question for skoolbus, since I have a problem regarding how I should proceed.

My Far Oasis map is divided into two equally sized parts. I cleared about 75% of one part (left some reserves), a part which holds the WP and the Maggot Lair (very close to each other). I have not yet been in the other half of the Oasis (which must hold the exit).

I made my way down to Coldworm´s room, but I had to abandon my first attempt at defeating the room, since I ran out of mana potions and also got hit by the very nasty poison twice. I have tried again, without a Shadow, spending very little resources (the occasional Meteor to spawn a fire to kill many incoming young, the occasional Death Sentry to kill a big maggot that is in the line of fire in front of Coldworm), and working on Coldworm with BF with Open Wounds, without being seen by her (i.e. she won´t spawn adult maggots). It seemed to be working better, but I ran out of mana this time as well. This led me to clear out the entire Maggot Lair, looking for more mana/rejuve potions. Just when I had popped two chests in the final room on level 1, the game crashed. :sad2:

Now what? There is no way I can exactly re-create the situation I was in.
How much am I allowed to clear out in the areas I have already been in? I especially need a cleared out level 3 and/or last part of level 2 I can retreat to if the big poison hits again. All the boss packs I killed yesterday made me gain almost half a level, so even if I kill only the boss packs I must kill in the Lair in order to make safe progress, I will still have more XP than I would´ve had if the game hadn´t crashed.
How much of the areas may I loot? Can I pick up replacement potions for the ones I may need to use to make progress? What about other loot? What about the few monsters and containers that were left in this half of the Oasis (it´s impossible to tell exactly where and how many they were)?

What complicates matters is that I feel I don´t relly deserve a second chance where I know the layout of the Maggot Lair. I am not sure I would have managed to defeat Coldworm with my new plan, or if I had been forced to try something riskier (move into the room and spam Meteors, getting bittten and heavily posioned, etc) or to proceed to further areas looking for mana potions for another safe attempt.

My suggestion:
I start a Normal/NM game to reroll the map, then do everything from the Far Oasis WP where I may clear all Oasis/Lair areas but I may loot only potions in this half of the Oasis and in the Maggot Lair (except the breeding chamber, which I can fully loot). I would get a slight XP advantage, but I would miss out on some potential loot from small parts of this half of the Oasis. How does that sound? I think it´s as fair a situation as I can create.

Hmmm, this is most unfortunate that this happened to you. I just finished typing the following, but I reread your post and I think my way would be very unfair as it won't allow for you to safely go to the lost city/viper temple looking for potions should you need them. I'll leave this option here for you if you should choose it, or theres a second one.

Just start at the Far Oasis WP and if you want, you can clear the part of the Far Oasis you didn't clear and pick up anything you wish, or just go into the maggot lair. Kill what you need to get to level 3 safely, then you can clear out the portion of level 3 you feel is necessary for you to be safe should you need to retreat (if you think you need the entire level, then clear the entire level). I'll let you pick up potions so you can get there and clear it out, but once it's cleared, drop however many are left from the ones you picked up (so it will be like in your original game with the maggot lair cleared, but still no potions, unless the chests you popped had some and you didn't get a chance to pick them up). I'm not sure what players setting you are on, but for the parts you need to rerun, do it on p1, then you can change to whatever you want for coldworm.

If after you kill him, you do not wish to try and run back to the Far Oasis because you feel you might die from monsters on levels one or two, then I'll allow you to either tp to town and go back to the WP (since it's right by the entrance) or save and exit if you can't find a tp and next time try and run by everything until you get to the Lost City (but you most likely need to kill stuff on your way, and go ahead. Also you may pick up potions to replace ones you use when you're reclearing a path to the Lost City). If this is confusing (most likely) pm me and I'll clarify.

Second option
Keep your map and you may clear a path to the uncleared area of the Far Oasis and then proceed killing stuff as far as you want, and then go back into the maggot lair and kill what is on the way and what you need to to feel safe to get down to level 3, where you can clear it all out.

Regardless of which option you choose, when you're reclearing an area, just pick up potions to replace the ones you use while reclearing it. You'd get all drops from coldworms chamber, the portion of the far oasis you didn't clear, and the lost city/viper temple. I also say don't reroll your maps, as then you would have to entirely reclear the far oasis and maggot lair levels 1 2 3, which will add up to quite a bit of experience. Knowing where you have to go won't make much of a difference, because you're only going to be killing a fraction of the monsters in the far oasis and lair level 1 and 2.

Once again, pm me if you have further concerns.

ps. I REALLY hope this mishap doesn't lead to your death while reclearing something :cry:.

[jiansonz]

ps. I REALLY hope this mishap doesn't lead to your death while reclearing something :cry:.

It didn´t! (http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m156/jiansonz/Evangelina/Eviecorrectedcrashsituation.jpg) :jig:
(Well, there may be sort of a gauntlet situation on the way over to those stairs next session...)

I cleared what I had to do to get to level 3. Very little was needed on level 1, a little more on level 2, and about half of level 3. Inspired by Insane Wayne, I took the "brute force" approach, against the LE Holy Shock Coldworm. Three quick Meteors, then dash out and drink my only antidote. Coldworm is huge, which means she gets very hurt by those flames. The flames I had created in there were more than enough to kill her.

(I feel I got away cheaply, because I still don´t know if I could have fixed the mess I had set up for myself last session: a room full of maggots alongside a Fire Enchanted Cursed Coldworm...)

Oh well, time to just forget this nonsense and move on, I guess. :azn:

[skoolbus]

It didn´t! (http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m156/jiansonz/Evangelina/Eviecorrectedcrashsituation.jpg) :jig:

Great job, I would have felt pretty bad if your char died after you've gone so far.

[OldSoldier]

Well, a two day business trip along with a USB memory drive and a laptop = a large chunk of time for playing after work, perfectly suitable for the tackling of the canyon and tombs and (gasp) Duriel.

Princess_Diana has passed her greatest test so far... Bone Maim, a random unique zombie that spawned extra fast spectral hit mana burn. You got it right, mana burn and spectral hit in the same combo. Let me set the, uh, setting. I cleared the canyon easily, because there were no beetles (woo hoo!). I cleared the real tomb first because I wanted to free up some space. There were three Gorebelly boss packs within about 12 steps of the door, but luckily I stumbled on them in order and they went down. They hit hard and kept knocking the valk silly but poisoning and lots of magic arrows works on everything except some poison immunes. Since I was so close to the entrance I went back often to the canyon and completely abused a well out there to keep the valk alive (I probably should have recast because this valk STUNK). She hit poorly, rarely, and slowly. At least she was poisoned a lot. I need better patience trying for better ones, it really makes all the difference.

The true tomb was cleared, after many beetles slowly perished from poisoning. No 3 socket missile weapons, but I did get one flawless amethyst. Only two more to go for a 4/6 chance to get an edge for Duriel! Then I started clearing another false tomb which had blood lords, mummies, and ghosts. Woo hoo, nothing immune to lightning! I found Kaa and couldn't make a dent in him. He had more mods than his health bar was long, including lightning enchanted (even though he was magic and cold immune) so even in a room full of skellies and mummies, LF didn't even scratch him. I decided to leave and try to come back later after the rest of the level was clear, and I stumbled into a big room at the end of a big hallway that was filled with mummies and ghosts. I thought the mummies would go down more quickly than they did, and before I knew it I was stuck in a corner with ole Bone Maim and his mana burn buddies hammering me. I knew it'd be deeds long before the valk got a kill, but my skills and 65% blocking was keeping me alive, though drained constantly of mana. I burned through 8 full rejuv potions before I killed some of his three-deep crowd with one or two lightning furies per rejuv (maximum, sometimes it got burned off again right away) and scooted away. What I'd have given for Insane Wayne's teleport helm. So now I was down to 4 rejuv potions.

I was disgusted with myself. It was almost midnight (I'd been playing for over 5 hours at this point, to clear 1.9 tombs and the canyon) and I decided that I'd just go for it. I'd found a pellet bow, without sockets, so I dropped it when I found bloodfist, which I figured would be handy for the life and FHR for the fight. I summoned a L21 valk (I have a +1 passive ammy, good find) and put weaken on a hot key and walked in with 8 healing, 4 mana and 4 full rejuv potions...

Duriel killed the valk 4 times, I cast weaken 3 times, probably didn't need to, and he kept the valk in constant hit recovery, so basically I poisoned 84,000+ hit points with charms, something like +25 over 5 seconds. Of course, the arrows themselves hit too, but he went down in about 15 minutes, and I hadn't used a single potion. What a joke. Amazons, don't fret going into that battle, for the valk kicketh booty. At least as a distraction...

Level 79, Kurast Docks. I did find a Tal Rasha's Crest as a drop from one of the Gorebellies. I slapped that ugly thing on so fast the horns turned purple. +mana, +life, same res all as my old duskdeep, dual leech. I went into that fight with Duriel with +19% LL (can get to 22% when I use my normal gloves) and 10% ML. Too bad I don't hit anything (I swear MA is bugged somehow) and when I do it is for little damage.

Long post, sorry.

[crazy_bear]

Too bad I don't hit anything (I swear MA is bugged somehow) and when I do it is for little damage.

IIRC The AR reported on the LCS is incorrect for MA (and all amazon bow skills) because the AR bonus from the skill is not applied. So unless you have excellent base AR you probably had about a 35% CTH Duriel.


Well one careless moment was all it took to end Jane_Doe's run. I'm particularly angry at myself because I should have been more careful. She had cleared the Harem, Palace Cellars 1 and most of 2, and had just a few rooms left in Cellar 2. I forgot to switch back to javelin/shield from bow after fighting some archers and stepped into a room that I though was empty. With no chance to react Jane took 2 quick hits in succession from an Invader that was hiding next to the door and it was deeds. With the shield up she probably would have survived by having improved resists (they do fire damage) and most likely blocking one or both of the attacks. Or she could have just sent the decoy in first. It was just a plain old normal Invader, what a stupid death.

RIP Jane_Doe lvl 78 Amazon Palace Cellar lvl 2

This is such an enjoyable tourney I might still start another char, I'm thinking Druid, pally, barb and sorc just seem too hard without minions.

CB

[jiansonz]

@OldSoldier:
Nice progress! I hope you´ll be able to sleep, and won´t think about the potential goodies you left behind in five false tombs (I know I couldn´t). Tal´s mask is a great find, anyway.

Nice job surviving Bone Main and crew!

Ancient Kaa is always LE + Extra Strong + Mana Burn + 2 extra abilities in Hell difficulty. I can understand you had trouble doing damage to him.

Don´t worry about your posts being long. The thread is here for the updates. :smiley:


@crazy_bear:
:hanky:
What an annoying way to go. I think that Invader must have scored at least one critical hit. They can´t do that much damage otherwise. How much life did Jane have?

[Schmeat]

Alive Characters
Forum Name Char Name Char Class Area/Difficulty
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Schmeat Ohsh*t Necromancer Act 1 / normal

[Butzull]

Sorry for the deeds crazy_bear, but great run to get that far! It just goes to show how much of a knife-edge we're all living on.

Nice progress all the Conquerors!

Silencia has finished assembling the staff (in normal...how boring) and made it to L24. The Decoy has already been used to good effect to distract Fangskin so I could go get the unravellers and clear the place out pretty well.

Butz. :dunce:

[Schmeat]

Im in also :)


Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Class LVL ACT WP
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Schmeat Ohsh'it Necro 18 A1 Normal Jail lvl 1

[OldSoldier]

Time for a new table. I went back only a couple of pages, so if I missed something, please berate me appropriately.

Sorry about your loss, crazy_bear. That stinks to get a hit like that. RIP Jane-Doe. In response to the AR issue with MA- wow I guess I should have picked something else to do while the valk is busy with LIs. The LCS says that I should be hitting about 60% of the time but it is more like about half that by my peepers. I have been dragging the angelic ammy around almost the entire game, waiting for the ring. I have found 4 green rings, but all of them have been Cathans. Perhaps I need to put that on my list of things to hope for. It certainly is a slow game when not using LF, this pace is ridiculous!

Jiansonz, I did actually check two more tombs before I went back to face Duriel; both of them were filled with beetle stair traps, so I popped out really fast without worrying about them. I was afraid I'd drain the rest of my potions and face Duriel without any backup to help myself. Of course, I probably left that angelics, a ko rune, and a SOJ in there too.



Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 79 A3 Hell Kurast Docks
Insane Wayne Asteria CS Amazon 79 A2 Hell Lost City
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 77 A2 Hell Far Oasis
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 61 A3 NM Travincal
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 25 A1 NM Rogue Camp
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Butzull Silencia Amazon 24 A2 Norm Lost City
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
Ilshad StyxofThunder CS Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
thewamp Athena PJ/FA Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 18 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Elendoras TheBarbWhoCould Barbarian 14 A1 Norm Dark Wood
Fingerzam Happiness TS/DTail Assassin 13 A1 Norm Stony Field
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Chymaera Marius II BlizBolt Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Cold Plain
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Darkstrikes lighamus Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Schmeat SchmeatOhs*t Necromancer 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp

Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 75 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 3
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon 78 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 2
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 75 A1 Hell Outer Cloister
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Butzull Spinster Amazon 26 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
CDRToast Isolated Bow/Trap Assassin 22 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 14 A1 Norm Black Marsh
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field

[Insane Wayne]

Running into mana problems early though. As of now, i am using a slvl 10 power strike on small groups and a slvl 2 CS on large groups. When CS surpasses power strike in damage, i will be CS full time.
That's the exact same skill plan I used. Rapid build of mid-level Power Strike, useful for early kills and future synergy for CS. Then I maxed CS ASAP. CS will very quickly out-perform PS. I found that 6 Tirs in shield/body armor, combined with some additional +mana, worked well.

------------------

@crazy_bear: Sorry about the death. That is always the problem with bow-wielding. No shield and compromised resists. It's unusual to be knocked out that quick with your decent life pool, but it can happen. Well, you had a good run. :smiley:

[Schmeat]

Now that I have reached the age of 19 and soon I'm going to battle against the fierce demon queen Andariel, me and my legion of undead foes will surely crush her like an infidel. but still... Im afraid of what could happen.
Will my army abandon me and leave me to root down there in the catacombs or help me achive great victory?...

[ilshad]

That's the exact same skill plan I used. Rapid build of mid-level Power Strike, useful for early kills and future synergy for CS. Then I maxed CS ASAP. CS will very quickly out-perform PS. I found that 6 Tirs in shield/body armor, combined with some additional +mana, worked well.

I saw that in one of your previous posts. I figured if it worked for a master such as yourself, it might work for little ol' me as well(which it worked wonders!). I plan on maxing CS right after i put a few points in my valk. I tank will take a load off me and my mana pool. If i could find the Tirs to put in the armor, then i would use those. Unfortunately, i have only found 1 Tir thus far.

[skoolbus]

RIP Jane_Doe lvl 78 Amazon Palace Cellar lvl 2

This is such an enjoyable tourney I might still start another char, I'm thinking Druid, pally, barb and sorc just seem too hard without minions.

CB

Ahhhhh, on no! Sorry to hear about Jane_Doe's death, but glad to hear you're considering starting again. If I remember correctly, there were some paladins that did very well in the last one, so don't exclude them! (and druid no minions? :tongue:)

Well, OneFingaPushup polished off the council and meph with great ease (mostly due to it being on p1). I found sigons boots in a basket in durance, which was convienent as my eth tearhaunch had 3 durability left, and sigons had some much need CR. Meph dropped me two useful items, first Nat boots, which I got very excited about (LR and CR) but was very sad when I saw that I got a total of 33% resist (30 min 50 max) so I kept the sigon boots because I could max LR with my ammy on. The other item I kept was this.

Viper Cloak
Gothic Plate
'Thul'
Defense: 179
Durability: 52 of 55
Required Strength: 70
Required Level: 28
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 59
Fingerprint: 0xda5b0a0e
+32% Enhanced Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 3
Cold Resist +30%
Poison Resist +27%
Attacker Takes Damage of 6
14% Chance to cast Level 5 Nova when struck
Socketed (2: 1 used)

Now that I look at it more closely, it's really just a 3 soc superior armor with a tal and thul in it already... Oh well, I'm planning on a good rune from the hellforge to make a delicious runeword in.

OneFingaPushup level 61, NM Pandemonium Fortress

[crazy_bear]

@crazy_bear:
What an annoying way to go. I think that Invader must have scored at least one critical hit. They can´t do that much damage otherwise. How much life did Jane have?

Jane_Doe had around 750 life. According to AS invaders do a max of 125 physical plus unspecified fire damage. I expect that means that you are right, one or both hits must have been criticals to kill Jane so quickly.

@Schoolbus: Looks like I need some punctuation help... :laugh:
The druid choice is for the minions.

Also, the ethereal vipermagi never lost a point of durability, and Jane never found a single magical (or rare) amazon javelin. That's amazing to me, considering they can start dropping act 3 normal, and she survived to act 2 hell, 10 acts in all.

I did start another char, a druid name Vink. He will be a wind/summoner hybrid, with a roughly even split in points between the two. He will use the Grizzly as the main minion, with a few points ravens to help blind enemies. He won't be getting main skills, hurricane, tornado and grizzly, until lvl 24 or 30, so the first part of the game will likely be hardest for him as well. Looking at gear options: crafting clubs might turn up a good one with druid skills, plus he can hope for a good pelt to help his skills. Here's hoping for a second good run.

CB

[jiansonz]

Lost City was a piece of cake for Evangelina. Only the leapers were fire immune, and they are not that sturdy. I found the exit early, and decided to tackle the CVT right away.

Cursed LE Stone Skin Salamander boss as close to the door as it´s possible here - almost a stairs trap. I was quick with CoS and only a minion and the boss came crawling up to us. I used the minion to release a couple of Meteors, and the whole pack died from that plus a Death Sentry.

Once the curse had wore off, I proceeded with caution. I lucked out, no fire immune Guardians. Yay! Just snakes and Embalmed. Found the stairs early, and decided to take a shot at level 2, now that I had a belt full of potions. Just like in NM, I did not want any Shadow Warrior around that would wake up more monsters than necessary.

"Well, hello there!" (http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m156/jiansonz/Evangelina/EvieandHellFangy.jpg) :flip:

I used up all my mana potions to slay the pack from here. It was so worth it, and there were replacement in the corridors on level 1. It did get a bit lively in here anyway, because there was another Salamander boss pack around.

Ancient Tunnels was a lot of hard work, because of the large number of FI Invaders. Here (http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m156/jiansonz/Evangelina/EvieinAncientTunnels.jpg)is an interesting situation. That´s a boss pack of Invaders, and then some. I got very lucky to catch them in such a bottleneck. It took me a long time and many potions to bring them down. It would have been nearly impossible to defeat such a large pack out in the open.
(Oh yeah, there are some Plague Bearer Champs in there, too, but they don´t count since they dropped really early from the flames from mis-timed Phoenix Strikes)

Palace was a grueling experience for Evangelina. Invaders on three floors, and Blunderbores on two. Big, hurty, fire immune foes. Nasty stuff. The main plan was to establish a foothold on every floor, and a safe passage along the righthand side of each level. My number of potions fluctuated like mad. At worst (when I had made my first visit to the last floor, killing 5 Invaders, 2 Blunderbores and 2 lightning mages in a crazy battle), I was down to a grand total of one Greater Healing and four full rejuves!

Palace Cellar level 2 had poison mages, and I got more and more careful to not get posioned by them. As long as there were no other monsters around, I let the Shadow Warrior do the battling (she is poison immune if she has Fade on). I could build up a little potion supply here, and there were still some rooms left on the easy (boss free and no fire immunes) Harem level.

I finally found my coveted Thul rune! Now I only need a good 3s armor.

Gained a level in here. I was tired of the fire immunes so I decided to boost Claws of Thunder. My PS 2nd charge improved from about 1-900 to about 1-1000.

I got better at fighting with less resources (plus the mana + health shrines on the Harem level were visited many times) and I could make progress on the last floor without spending more potions than I found. There was a total of 5 Champion Blunderbores and 2 Fanatic Blunderbores here. I managed to fight them one at a time. Used the same tactics as against Lister (stand behind shadow so she doesn´t get knocked back) and spammed PS 2nd (and sometimes 3rd, which is almost as good) charge. Mixed in some Cobra Strike as well.

When everything was cleared, I was back to a full belt of potions. Yay!

Conqueror Evangelina the PS Assassin, level 79, Hell Arcane Sanctuary next

[Insane Wayne]

Palace was a grueling experience for Evangelina. Invaders on three floors, and Blunderbores on two. Big, hurty, fire immune foes. Nasty stuff.


Palace was a relaxing experience for Asteria. Invaders on three floors, and Blunderbores on two. Big, bulky, fire immune foes. Cream puffs.



Fat fodder for my CS. Zap zap splat. What an easy run, not a single LI archer! Perfect monster rolls, weak bosses. Alas, soon it'll be your turn to laugh, as I struggle against hundreds of LI flayers. :azn:

Conqueror Asteria, 1.11 CS Amazon, level 79, Act 2 Hell, Arcane Sanctuary

[Butzull]

Nice work guys, here's to you two squishing the big bug for the last time. :)

SPeaking of which, that's just what Silencia did a couple of hours ago...sadly though that was just in Normal, but that should pave the way to an imminent Valk before the matchup with Meph. Hoorah!

Butz. :dunce:

[ilshad]

The big bad bug is dead. Wasn't too hard. With decoy cast on the other side of him, he focused on the decoy and not on me. His drop (http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t212/ilshad/d2/StyxofThunder/Screenshot003.jpg) was just a bunch of rares and a useless unique.



Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 79 A3 Hell Kurast Docks
Insane Wayne Asteria CS Amazon 79 A2 Hell Lost City
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 77 A2 Hell Far Oasis
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 61 A3 NM Travincal
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 25 A1 NM Rogue Camp
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Ilshad StyxofThunder CS Amazon 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Butzull Silencia Amazon 24 A2 Norm Lost City
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
thewamp Athena PJ/FA Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 18 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Elendoras TheBarbWhoCould Barbarian 14 A1 Norm Dark Wood
Fingerzam Happiness TS/DTail Assassin 13 A1 Norm Stony Field
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Chymaera Marius II BlizBolt Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Cold Plain
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Darkstrikes lighamus Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Schmeat SchmeatOhs*t Necromancer 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp

Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 75 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 3
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon 78 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 2
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 75 A1 Hell Outer Cloister
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Butzull Spinster Amazon 26 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
CDRToast Isolated Bow/Trap Assassin 22 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 14 A1 Norm Black Marsh
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field

[OldSoldier]

With decoy cast on the other side of him, he focused on the decoy and not on me.

I remember my experience with normal Duriel - I'd been pushing decoy since I'd gotten it in hopes of providing a decent distraction for the fight, but I cast it once, Duriel smashed it in milliseconds, and I ended up tanking him, alternating between a 1-point jab attack and magic arrows. Good to hear that you were more successful. But with a good level charged strike I'll bet he went down faster than a level 11 magic arrow... Good work, keep it up!

[ilshad]

Act 3 is now completed. Meph is dead. The valk tanked him and i used CS until he died. Funny thing is the valk died just as Meph himself fell. As usual, he dropped crap. (http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t212/ilshad/d2/StyxofThunder/MephsDrop.jpg)

Found this (http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t212/ilshad/d2/StyxofThunder/SameAmmy.jpg) off of a normal monster. The resists will come in handy during act 4.

@OldSoldier: Duriel dropped very quickly using a slvl 10 CS. This skill has turned out to be a VERY powerful skill. I hope it holds its own in the challenges to come.



Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 79 A3 Hell Kurast Docks
Insane Wayne Asteria CS Amazon 79 A2 Hell Lost City
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 77 A2 Hell Far Oasis
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 61 A3 NM Travincal
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 25 A1 NM Rogue Camp
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Ilshad StyxofThunder CS Amazon 32 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Butzull Silencia Amazon 24 A2 Norm Lost City
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
thewamp Athena PJ/FA Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 18 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Elendoras TheBarbWhoCould Barbarian 14 A1 Norm Dark Wood
Fingerzam Happiness TS/DTail Assassin 13 A1 Norm Stony Field
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Chymaera Marius II BlizBolt Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Cold Plain
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Darkstrikes lighamus Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Schmeat SchmeatOhs*t Necromancer 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp

Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 75 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 3
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon 78 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 2
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 75 A1 Hell Outer Cloister
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Butzull Spinster Amazon 26 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
CDRToast Isolated Bow/Trap Assassin 22 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 14 A1 Norm Black Marsh
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field

[Insane Wayne]

Arcane Sanctuary was no problem for Asteria. I could've done p3, but I didn't want to give those LI lightning towers any extra life. It turned out there were a lot of them, so I'm glad I stayed at p1. The other monsters fell easily and quickly, especially the ghosts. I scarfed up some extra ID scrolls. The only scare came when I realized I'd left my Circlet of Teleportation behind. I'd already cleared about half the first wing. Fortunately the timer didn't run out as I ran back to grab it.

Tal's Tombs offered a good variety of monster combos. LI beetles slowed my progress, but a strong valk took them down. I broke out the Malice again, against a teleporting beetle (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Malice2.jpg). 19/24 durability remaining. Gorebellies frequently put my valk in jeopardy. I didn't want to lose her, so I risked some hazardous positions and potential mobbings to bail her out under enemy fire. A little tricky, but everything worked out OK.

I found an Amn rune and tried the Blood recipe with the next amulet. Horrible result: minimum run/walk and low +life; paltry 5% MF plus useless mods including gold find, druid skill, and weak poison resist. :sad2:

I faced plenty of unravelers+skellies; neither was LI so I could usually blast through with CS. If there was too much danger, I freeze-shattered the valk's kills, or simply led them out of resurrection range. Apparitions were also common and most welcome. More scrolls and plenty of mana! Asteria had 2 scary moments: the first was a barrage from this ghoul lord party (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/ghoul_party.jpg), when I forgot to equip my Garnet ring. The second was from a monster shrine. There was only one normal ghoul left, next to the shrine, so I ran and clicked it before the valk made the kill. The ghoul transformed into a Fanaticism Extra Fast Extra Strong freak, and score a big hit on me! I wasn't at full life at the time, and my bulb dipped low.

Surprisingly, Kaa dropped in a heartbeat. He came out unexpectedly and I was worried he would raise a pile of skeletons, so I rushed him. He got a couple zaps before I hid behind the valk. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Hell_Kaa.jpg) I must've found a sweet-spot CS angle, and I think the valk scored a couple massive critical strikes, because Kaa fell faster than most regular unravelers. I tried Duriel at p8. I figued my tough valk with 1760 extra synergy life would withstand him. Not the case! Duriel smacked my poor valk like a red-headed stepchild, and I had to rescue her with frequent decoy distractions so she could regenerate. I think I will put the next couple points in Dodge to help her out. I've definitely neglected my D/A/E (2/1/1). Meanwhile, CS slowly ate away Duriel's health, and he eventually dropped Isenhart's Breast Plate as a reward!

Keepers:
Amber (10) Small Charm

Left behind:
Small Charm of Good Luck (6)
Pierre Tombale's Partizan
Diggler

Conqueror Asteria, 1.11 CS Amazon, level 80, Act 3 Hell, Kurast Docks

[Butzull]

Well done Wayne, Duriel over and done with for good (for this gal anyway!)...nice. :)

My gal, Silencia, has progressed through Act 3. There was one very scary moment when I somehow managed to get myself into a very compromising position, I was too scared to even take the couple of seconds lag for s screenie, so busy was I first emptying my belt then going into the inventory supply of potions. Fortunately CS at about L12 was enough firepower to blast my way out JUST before the mana ran out, it left me with only 2 rejuvs. Luckily that was early in the act and i was able to replenish them as I progressed.

Meph dropped 5 weapons, 4 rares, none of a type even worth identifying for my gal. I took a screenie, but it's not particularly riveting, and I'm tired. ;)

The item of the act was a rare set of replenishing pilums. As I pushed into Act 4, I couldn't work out why they weren't replenishing. Finally when they got to 2 left, I was getting desperate, so I threw one into mid-air, stood around a minute and sure enough, that triggered them to start replenishing...thank goodness.

I did also find a manald heal...normally that would have me groaning in frustration, but in this case it's quite useful as the replenish switch!

I've stopped for the night at the City of the Damned WP, at L32, with a slvl2 Valk and a slvl15 CS. Now that I've reached the next "bolt" threshold, I'll focus on the Valk until she becomes a tour-de-force...oh, I'll also focus on trying to get enough resist gear for the balrog seal and Big D himself!

Butz. :dunce:

[Insane Wayne]

As I pushed into Act 4, I couldn't work out why they weren't replenishing. Finally when they got to 2 left, I was getting desperate, so I threw one into mid-air, stood around a minute and sure enough, that triggered them to start replenishing...thank goodness.
Great find! I've also put up with that bizarre bug ever since I found my Maiden jav of Replenish long ago. I meant to warn people here but I kept forgetting. :embarassed:
Javelins consumed in melee won't replenish. I went through the same stress you did, until discovering the same solution. My stack size is large so it's rarely an issue (starting a new game will also trigger the repair).

Good luck finishing Act 4. Hopefully you won't draw abyss knights. They are too skinny for efficient CS, and have 80% lightning resist in Normal.

[jiansonz]

The AS was easy for Evangelina. Goats are FI, but not that sturdy, and thanks to the narrow walkways, the Shadow could tank all of them but the baddest bosses. The Specters competed fiercly in the 'Who Can Die The Quickest' game. :azn:

Very lively start in the Canyon with two boss packs and one Champ pack of beetles (and you know how many "minions'" those Champ packs tend to have as company...). I was busy trying to stay alive and recasting Shadows, Cloaking, etc. for a good while until I finally found a chance to release two meteors, recast the dying shadow on the same spot, and then start a massive Death Sentry fest that must have killed 25+ beetles!
Nearly all my healing and mana potion were used up, but there were plenty lying on the ground now...

Semi-scary start in two of the tombs, but nothing too serious. I took my time to lure away Burning Dead as much as possible. When 3-4 remained in a pack me and the shadow was fighting, I would often switch to Attack to save mana. Next time I "fetched" a couple more, I tried (and often succeeded) to get the Shadow to cast Death Sentry as the new "recruits" were walking close to the corpses of the last pack. Corpse cleaning and some damage to the new ones, for free.

Before the Duriel fight, I repaired/recharged my Life Tap wand. I had kept a chippie with me for a while, just for this purpose. I did have 29 charges left; I mostly did it to free up space for a few more potions.

Then I added 6 points to STR and tried to put on Guillaume´s Face.

"I can´t use that yet"

Say WHAT?? :tongue:

Ah, there is a millisecond or so when no headgear is equipped, so the +6 STR on my current crown won´t help. I should have known this! Really. What a bummer. This means I need two MORE levels before I can use it. Hmm, I wonder if I´ll get to level 82 before Mephisto?

OK then, nothing more to do than try to kill the Lord of Pain anyway! Life Tap wand on switch ready, Thawing potion drunk (found only one in this tomb), two spare Greater Healers in inventory.

It didn´t take long before I realized this was going to be one HELL of a fight. The Shadow Warrior couldn´t survive many seconds and I was hitting far less often than I thought (and hoped) I would. The one thing the Shadow did help with was to maybe give me a chance to attack without being more or less constantly in stun-/blocklock.

My performance was sometimes good, sometimes crappy. The Life Tap didn´t help much, since I so seldom scored hits. When Duriel was down to 1/3, I had very few potions left and things looked very bad indeed. At one time, I ran around in the chamber, Holy Frozen, Duriel hot on my heels, and the Burst of Speed had timed out. I didn´t have mana for a Shadow unless I would drink one of my last three full rejuves, and I didn´t want to do that until I was ready for a final stand. I actually managed to refresh BoS without getting hit (all my experience with Blaze running in Classic probably helped here). I skipped fiddling with Life Tap and just concentrated on trying to refresh the Shadow as soon as the casting delay had run out (BTW, how come you can spam golems, bears and valkyries but we poor assassins must wait 6 SECONDS before recasting a shadow?!?). Twice, I was out of mana about the same time as I needed healing anyway, so that was OK. Duriel is slivered now, and there is a Meteor on its way, but here goes my final rejuve! Cast Shadow again and make one final tanking effort.

Oh yes, flames almighty, I did it! (http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m156/jiansonz/Evangelina/EvievsHellDuriel.jpg)
Can you say CLOSE!?!


So, on to act 3 without any potion supply at all. :rolleyes:
The Wanderer´s beasts dropped a small rejuve. Yay!

There were Cloud Stalkers around, so I had to be very, very careful. Cloak of Shadows nearly all the time, and I left the fighting to the Shadow. Helped her against Hulks and apes when she was in a stable tanking situation. The first boss pack were Hulks: LE something. Managed to explode and burn all the minions, but the boss survived that. Had to retreat almost to town, to regenerate mana and the Shadow´s life. The rematch was quickly won, and my number of potions quintupled. :grin:

Built up a nice supply of potions and made good progress. Arachnid Lair was plenty of work, but no trouble. It was worse in the Spider Cavern, since I ran out of mana against a couple of Sszark´s minions. (There we are again with my bothersome enemies - FI monsters with lots of life...) Played a bit in Great Marsh (it was easy here: Bog Creatures, Hulks and Fetish Shamen) to collect mana potions, then back to the Spider Cavern and cleared it out this time. Sszark was FE Extra Fast, pulverized 6 Shadows but died all the same.

The Marsh WP was in a pretty good spot. Since I found a weird little passage from the Spider Forest to the Flayer Jungle (but no 'main passage' between those areas), I know where one part of the Flayer Jungle is, and it´s not far from the Marsh WP. I will probably need to re-kill a couple of monsters, but I promise I won´t loot anything in the parts where I have been already.


Conqueror Evangelina the PS Assassin, level 80, Hell Flayer Jungle next
(plus a tiny fraction of the Great Marsh before that)

[ilshad]

Act 4 was easy enough. Almost everything went down very quickly with CS. The Plains of Despair spawned no gloams, but i did run into one boss pack of them.

I was unlucky enough to spawn the abyss knights that Insane Wayne warned us about. They are tough little devils! Went through many potions here, but luckily they were easily replentished. The Hellforge gave me this. (http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t212/ilshad/d2/StyxofThunder/StyxNormHFDrop.jpg) Picked up the P Saphire and left the rest.

Accidentily forgot to lower the player setting for Big D and took him at /p8. Oh well. He went down easily, just needing a few valk recasts. He dropped this. (http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t212/ilshad/d2/StyxofThunder/DiablosDrop.jpg) Only thing i picked up and id'ed was the wand (http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t212/ilshad/d2/StyxofThunder/LifeTapWand.jpg), which turned out to have life tap charges on it. Still debating with myself if i am going to keep it or not.


Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 79 A3 Hell Kurast Docks
Insane Wayne Asteria CS Amazon 79 A2 Hell Lost City
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 77 A2 Hell Far Oasis
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 61 A3 NM Travincal
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 25 A1 NM Rogue Camp
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
Ilshad StyxofThunder CS Amazon 35 A5 Norm Harrogath
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Butzull Silencia Amazon 24 A2 Norm Lost City
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
thewamp Athena PJ/FA Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 18 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Elendoras TheBarbWhoCould Barbarian 14 A1 Norm Dark Wood
Fingerzam Happiness TS/DTail Assassin 13 A1 Norm Stony Field
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Chymaera Marius II BlizBolt Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Cold Plain
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Darkstrikes lighamus Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Schmeat SchmeatOhs*t Necromancer 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp

Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 75 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 3
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon 78 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 2
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 75 A1 Hell Outer Cloister
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Butzull Spinster Amazon 26 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
CDRToast Isolated Bow/Trap Assassin 22 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 14 A1 Norm Black Marsh
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field

[Insane Wayne]

Ah, there is a millisecond or so when no headgear is equipped, so the +6 STR on my current crown won´t help. I should have known this! Really. What a bummer. This means I need two MORE levels before I can use it.
You're probably very close to 81 right now, so you might hit 82 before Meph. You can probably scrounge up a temporary +Str item, if you really need it. I just left a +6 Str GC to rot. And a Rainbow (10) Ring of the Giant (15)!

Nice Duriel fight. Right down to the wire, awesome! Would've been much faster with Guillaume's (and less exciting). BTW, valk does have the delay timer, ~6 seconds I think. I wish she was spammable; uber-valk creation would be much quicker.


Only thing i picked up and id'ed was the wand, which turned out to have life tap charges on it. Still debating with myself if i am going to keep it or not.
Tough call. It's not likely it will benefit your zon because her phys damage is puny. But if you were backed up with no retreating room, like a stairtrap, you could probabaly keep your valk alive against a brutal mob, including the Ancients. Could be useful if you were short on mana, or had an awesome valk you didn't want to recast. Still, it's hard to justify sparing 2 inv spaces.

[skoolbus]

Polished off act 4. Wasn't as fun as I'd imagined. As soon as I step out of the pand fort I come across a champ and boss pack of knights plus a bunch of venom lords. I had planned on doing act 4 on p8, but that instantly became p1. When I got to izual's area, I was met with a boss pack of burning souls as soon as I got through the gate. Luckily I had max light resist and I didn't get fried. After a while I managed to get enough extra potions to do full clears, which was good for xp only.

HF dropped me a shael and perf saph. The saph went into the free socket in my armor until I can find a good armor. I now have 3 shael runes and nothing to do with any of them, probably the first item to go when I have to clean out. I found a 3 socket tower shield and debated putting two pdiamonds and a ptopaz in, but decided I like running fast better and I use my hellclap almost exclusively nowadays.

Luckily my shadow was able to kill everything fairly fast on p1. I just made sure CoS was always active. I don't know what I'm going to do, I don't do enough damage to be able to complete hell. Baal is gonna have to drop me a bartucs and shako or I'm gonna be in trouble.

I found chance guards in the chaos sanc, which I put on for the last hit on diablo. His drops were garbage, though I had a bunch of id scrolls and id'd a sorc orb with charges to teleport! I cried. Diablo nearly killed me because I wasn't paying attention and didn't realize that the red lightning hitting me was hurting me and wasn't one of my LS traps. It wasn't terribly difficult, as my shadow's lasted quite a long time. I used two lower resist charges on him just to save potions. I want to do act 5 on p8 to gain levels, but if it's anything like act 4, that's not going to work so well.

I would kill to shop anya for some claws, me and my stupid restrictions...

Destroyer OneFingaPushup, level 63 NM Harrogoth

ps -
Still, it's hard to justify sparing 2 inv spaces.

I think that is the funniest thing I've heard on these forums. Even worse because he's being dead serious.

[mordeth]

Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 79 A3 Hell Kurast Docks
Insane Wayne Asteria CS Amazon 79 A2 Hell Lost City
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 77 A2 Hell Far Oasis
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 61 A3 NM Travincal
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 25 A1 NM Rogue Camp
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
Ilshad StyxofThunder CS Amazon 35 A5 Norm Harrogath
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Butzull Silencia Amazon 24 A2 Norm Lost City
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
thewamp Athena PJ/FA Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 18 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Elendoras TheBarbWhoCould Barbarian 14 A1 Norm Dark Wood
Fingerzam Happiness TS/DTail Assassin 13 A1 Norm Stony Field
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Chymaera Marius II BlizBolt Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Cold Plain
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Darkstrikes lighamus Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Schmeat SchmeatOhs*t Necromancer 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Mordeth Destitute Hybrid Paladin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 75 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 3
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon 78 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 2
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 75 A1 Hell Outer Cloister
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Butzull Spinster Amazon 26 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
CDRToast Isolated Bow/Trap Assassin 22 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 14 A1 Norm Black Marsh
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
[/QUOTE]

Please count me in. This sounds like fun!

[jiansonz]

It was nice and easy progress in the jungle (yes, even in both Flayer Jungle dungeons, but DAMN how those poison traps can be annoying!) and just about anywhere else except a few of the temples (of course...).

I found my dream item in Kurast Bazaar, a 3-socketed Mage Plate with 30/60 durability. Yep, that is plenty good enough for a Treachery. So long Skullder´s Ire, it was nice getting to know you. :azn:

OMG, is this armor cool or what?! It´s like I almost don´t recognize Evangelina. Well, I do, but it´s like she´s on speed or something! I think one of the best changes is the increased speed with which she can spam freezing charges. It provides a way to do damage and be on the defensive at the same time. Awesome.

I had a Resist Poison shrine in Lower Kurast. The first four temples are potential spider lairs, so I made sure to prepare with this shrine every time. Standard procedure when entering a temple was to cast CoS as soon as I entered, then immediately switch to Mind Blast and see if I am in the middle of a monster pack. If yes, spam Mind Blast on my position. If not, react to the situation at hand.

Ruined Temple did put me in the middle of a monster pack: 8 regular Spider Maguses. But since both me and the Shadow were unaffected by the poison, we suffered only some minor bruises.

I prepared with a Resist Fire shrine for the last two temples. Ruined Fane put me in the middle of a beetle pack, with a Holy Fire Extra Strong LE snake pack just a few steps away. The result: passed though with flying colours! It wasn´t even scary. Very few of my characters would have been able to handle that situation so well.

I lost track of Riftwing down in the Sewers. I had lured the bugger over to a corpse pile made from its minions (I used BF to lure them over one by one, then CoS to make them stay put for the kill). Once I dropped a Meteor and started to explode corpses, Riftwing teleported away, never to be found again despite painstaking searching for body or boss drop. I even stopped often to see if the Shadow Warrior could spot Riftwing. No go. I guess Open Wounds killed Riftwing above water.

There is only 9 durability left on the Rhyme shield. I have a 2s Bone Shield on switch; hope to find another Shael. I have started to identify every rare shield that has good base block percentage. If I get more desperate, I will probably do this with magical shields as well.

My gloves have broken. It´s not that big a deal since they are not that good (some medium lightning resist, minor leeching and +life). Still, a Ral would be nice just about now...or some Heavy Gloves so I can try another craft.


Conqueror Evangelina the PS Assassin, level 81, Hell Travincal next



BTW, valk does have the delay timer, ~6 seconds I think.
I stand corrected. However, valks are so study that you are rarely in a panic to cast the next one. Plus you have Decoy as well.



You can probably scrounge up a temporary +Str item, if you really need it.
That´s taken care of. :thumbsup: A rare ring with +19 STR, 21% fire resist and +55 mana. Not a bad item. I may even used it full-time later.

[Insane Wayne]

Wow, great progress. :thumbsup:
I've never seen one of your characters advance so quickly. Then I realized, you're not pausing for dozens of town trips each area to sell stuff!

lol @ Riftwing. I hate that bat.

[ilshad]

StyxofThunder is now Destroyer! (http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t212/ilshad/d2/StyxofThunder/Destroyer.jpg) Only lowered the difficulty for the Ancients and Baal. With a maxed CS, both went down really easily. Baal dropped crap (http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t212/ilshad/d2/StyxofThunder/BaalDrop.jpg) and it all was left to rot. No notable finds. I hope CS tears through NM as easily as it did Normal.



Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 79 A3 Hell Kurast Docks
Insane Wayne Asteria CS Amazon 79 A2 Hell Lost City
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 77 A2 Hell Far Oasis
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 61 A3 NM Travincal
Ilshad StyxofThunder CS Amazon 47 A1 NM Rogue Camp
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 25 A1 NM Rogue Camp
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Butzull Silencia Amazon 24 A2 Norm Lost City
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
thewamp Athena PJ/FA Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 18 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Elendoras TheBarbWhoCould Barbarian 14 A1 Norm Dark Wood
Fingerzam Happiness TS/DTail Assassin 13 A1 Norm Stony Field
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Chymaera Marius II BlizBolt Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Cold Plain
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Darkstrikes lighamus Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Schmeat SchmeatOhs*t Necromancer 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Mordeth Destitute Hybrid Paladin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 75 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 3
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon 78 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 2
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 75 A1 Hell Outer Cloister
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Butzull Spinster Amazon 26 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
CDRToast Isolated Bow/Trap Assassin 22 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 14 A1 Norm Black Marsh
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field

[skoolbus]

StyxofThunder is now Destroyer! (http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t212/ilshad/d2/StyxofThunder/Destroyer.jpg) Only lowered the difficulty for the Ancients and Baal. With a maxed CS, both went down really easily. Baal dropped crap (http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t212/ilshad/d2/StyxofThunder/BaalDrop.jpg) and it all was left to rot. No notable finds.

No notable finds ?!?!?!? I didn't even know there was a set leather armor, must be a hard to find tc3 :laugh:. Congrats on destroyer! You're blazing through this tourney, hope it continues through NM.

[jiansonz]

No notable finds ?!?!?!? I didn't even know there was a set leather armor, must be a hard to find tc3 :laugh:. Congrats on destroyer! You're blazing through this tourney, hope it continues through NM.

Yeah, that´s the pretty much useless Vidala´s Ambush. The only way to convince me to use it is to give me the amulet as well in the really early stages of the game (when the MF of my armor + amulet is less than 50). :azn:

I am curious as to why the rare bow wasn´t interesting, though.




I've never seen one of your characters advance so quickly. Then I realized, you're not pausing for dozens of town trips each area to sell stuff!

Yeah, I have noticed the same thing, and you nailed the reason for it. I just can´t bring myself to leave so much gambling money behind when I play normally.

One of the things that do take a while for me in this tourney is to sort through the huge piles of stuff from sparkly/super chests. I find a spot without any items and dump my three Grand Charms there. Then I pick up all the gold (and maybe some less useful potions and drink them), then I move items from the dropped pile to a trash pile until the drop pile is small enough to see the text from every item left in it.

[ilshad]

I am curious as to why the rare bow wasn´t interesting, though.

Thus far I haven't even thought about using a bow. This being only my second attempt at a hardcore amazon(the first was a pure javazon who met her fate only because i tried to play her on my laptop during a trip with my family to Michigan and took my eyes off the screen for a second...:cry: ) I will probably regret not using a bow if and when I reach hell. Any tips and tricks from the pros out there would be most appreciated.:wink3:

[Insane Wayne]

Thus far I haven't even thought about using a bow.
I didn't concern myself with bows until Act 5 Nightmare, where regular LI monsters are present and I wanted to have Frozen Arrow's crowd control/corpse disposal available. Until that point, I usually had spare javs on my switch, readily accessible for re-rolling, which helped me get the replenishing maiden javs. My priorities were CS/synergy, valk, and decoy; which has left me with pitiful AR unsuitable for any bow skill except FA which is thankfully auto-hit. Theoretically a cracked short bow would suffice but I'm glad to have a +skill/+mana bow.


One of the things that do take a while for me in this tourney is to sort through the huge piles of stuff from sparkly/super chests. I find a spot without any items and dump my three Grand Charms there. Then I pick up all the gold (and maybe some less useful potions and drink them), then I move items from the dropped pile to a trash pile until the drop pile is small enough to see the text from every item left in it.
I have a similar technique which is perhaps quicker (but usually more wasteful). I drink full column(s) of reds and/or blues and pick up new ones directly into my belt. First I pick up the regular red/blue/minor purple (drinking them) and then restock my belt with the remaining greater/super. No gold/potions are left behind, which clears enough space to scan the items. Often some of my potions are downgraded super --> greater, or I end up a couple short, with no reserves, but that's the price I pay. Finally, if anything is worth identifying, I dump a charm or two.

[skoolbus]

I'm an assassin and I've been using a bow since like act 2 norm :rolleyes:. Mostly because I don't have any id scrolls ever to id any potential weapons and I never find good staffmod claws.

[ilshad]

I didn't concern myself with bows until Act 5 Nightmare, where regular LI monsters are present and I wanted to have Frozen Arrow's crowd control/corpse disposal available.

Very good idea here. I was actually thinking of doing the same thing, with the frozen arrows. Inventory space is such a issue right now, i can't really afford to look for a halfway decent bow at the moment. I will, however, begin to i.d. some bows once I hit Act 4 or even Act 5.

[jiansonz]

Pwned!! (http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m156/jiansonz/Evangelina/EvievsHellMephisto.jpg) :hanky:

I found the stairs to level 3 almost as early as possible. As usual, I moved on when I was strong. Cleared most of level 3 with little trouble. I even found a Ral so I could repair my gloves. Resists were about cold 70, lightning 50.

Shadow moves in, I cast Life Tap, switch weapons and go to work. I noticed a lot of whiffing going on. I don´t remember Meph being this hard to hit...

Anyway, I suffered a hit, but soon scored a hit myself and the LT brought my life back up. Suffered a bigger hit, so it was time for a big healing potion. I hit the potion button then BAM!. Dead from about 2/3 life. That´s 3/4*900 = almost 600. I think that´s more than a little overpowered, eh?

Dammit, second time Meph has slain me in a SPF tourney, and just at the start of the fight this time around, too.

OK, so I should probably have moved around, recast the Shadow so it was closer to Meph than I was, etc. I don´t know if that would have made him attack the shadow instead of me. Maybe I could have done him in with Guillaume´s-BF-ing and many Shadow recasts, but I want to FIGHT the prime evils, dammit! This was a really good tanking character, at least by my standards.


R.I.P. Conqueror Evangelina the PS Assassin, level 81, Slain by Mephisto

Please avenge Evie! Pulverize the Wispy One for me!



Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 79 A3 Hell Kurast Docks
Insane Wayne Asteria CS Amazon 79 A2 Hell Lost City
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 61 A3 NM Travincal
Ilshad StyxofThunder CS Amazon 47 A1 NM Rogue Camp
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 25 A1 NM Rogue Camp
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Butzull Silencia Amazon 24 A2 Norm Lost City
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
thewamp Athena PJ/FA Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 18 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Elendoras TheBarbWhoCould Barbarian 14 A1 Norm Dark Wood
Fingerzam Happiness TS/DTail Assassin 13 A1 Norm Stony Field
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Chymaera Marius II BlizBolt Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Cold Plain
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Darkstrikes lighamus Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Schmeat SchmeatOhs*t Necromancer 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Mordeth Destitute Hybrid Paladin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 81 A3 Hell Durance of Hate lvl 3
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 75 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 3
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon 78 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 2
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 75 A1 Hell Outer Cloister
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Butzull Spinster Amazon 26 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
CDRToast Isolated Bow/Trap Assassin 22 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 14 A1 Norm Black Marsh
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field

[skoolbus]

Pwned!! (http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m156/jiansonz/Evangelina/EvievsHellMephisto.jpg) :hanky:
Anyway, I suffered a hit, but soon scored a hit myself and the LT brought my life back up. Suffered a bigger hit, so it was time for a big healing potion. I hit the potion button then BAM!. Dead from about 2/3 life. That´s 3/4*900 = almost 600. I think that´s more than a little overpowered, eh?

Dammit, second time Meph has slain me in a SPF tourney, and just at the start of the fight this time around, too.

OK, so I should probably have moved around, recast the Shadow so it was closer to Meph than I was, etc. I don´t know if that would have made him attack the shadow instead of me. Maybe I could have done him in with Guillaume´s-BF-ing and many Shadow recasts, but I want to FIGHT the prime evils, dammit! This was a really good tanking character, at least by my standards.


R.I.P. Conqueror Evangelina the PS Assassin, level 81, Slain by Mephisto

Please avenge Evie! Pulverize the Wispy One for me!

:cry: Oh no! I'm sorry meph got to you like that. RIP Evangelina.

[ilshad]

Pwned!! (http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m156/jiansonz/Evangelina/EvievsHellMephisto.jpg) :hanky:
RIP. Very sorry to hear that! Those critical hits hurt!Ouch.



Please avenge Evie! Pulverize the Wispy One for me!

I may only be in Nightmare, but I will do my best to avenge you!

[Insane Wayne]

Resists were about cold 70, lightning 50...
Dead from about 2/3 life. That´s 3/4*900 = almost 600.
RIP Evangelina! So, it was a critical strike lightning attack? Are those blockable? Or was it charged bolts? Incredibly unlucky. Maybe that's the vulnerability of a max-block build: awesome against lots of small/medium attacks, yet susceptible to a 2-hit knockout blow, especially from unblockable attacks. Still, even with max-block you still had decent life. Very surprising.

I was planning on valk-moating Meph for a while at a higher player setting. Instead I will be sure to meet Meph face-to-face for payback, vendetta-style, and give him a sustained taste of his own lightning medicine. :devil:

[jiansonz]

RIP Evangelina! So, it was a critical strike lightning attack?

No, it was not lightning, not at all like for my mojomancer. I was too close for that. I have never been bothered by his Charged Bolts either, they are way too weak to be a threat if resistance is decent. No, it must have been his melee attack. I checked the AS and it states that his best melee attack maxes out at 215 damage. So 430 on a maxed critical. That is still less than half my life. :scratch: Although I have been really scared by some of his hits in the past, but I´ve survived those times.

It´s quite embarassing, I seem to be the only player here who has died to Mephisto...twice.

That does it! It will be the moat trick every time from here. Well, unless I have a super-strong minion or 1500+ life.

[crazy_bear]

RIP Evangelina. Those critical hits hurt, as Jane_Doe discovered as well.:cry:

I figured you would make guardian this time too. Hopefully I didn't jinx you!

Cb

[ilshad]

StyxofThunder trudged through Act 1. CS sustained a lot of its killing power. Most things fell with 1-2 hits except for the ones with high lightning resistance.

Was lucky enough to find this (http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t212/ilshad/d2/StyxofThunder/VenomWard.jpg) in the Black Marsh. It served me well during the fight with Andy.

Had 1 NDE. Was in the Catacombs lvl 3, ran into a room, and came face to face with a champ pack of banished and a unique ghoul + minions. Got hit by one of the ghouls twice and it slivered my life bulb. A quick reflex of the revuv finger is all the saved me.

Andy fell with not much trouble. She didn't drop (http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t212/ilshad/d2/StyxofThunder/NMAndyDrop.jpg) anything of use.

I now have acquired the runes to make a Peace armor. I just need a suitable armor. The only thing I am worried about is it overriding my valk. I guess I can live with it though.

Items found and left:
Spectral Shard in a house in the Blood Moor.
Gravepalm from the Crypt.
Hellcast from the Dark Wood.
Rockfleece in the Tamoe Highland.
Bloodletter in Jail lvl 1.
Crushflange from Catacombs lvl 3.



Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 79 A3 Hell Kurast Docks
Insane Wayne Asteria CS Amazon 79 A2 Hell Lost City
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 61 A3 NM Travincal
Ilshad StyxofThunder CS Amazon 52 A2 NM Lut Gholein
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 25 A1 NM Rogue Camp
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Butzull Silencia Amazon 24 A2 Norm Lost City
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
thewamp Athena PJ/FA Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 18 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Elendoras TheBarbWhoCould Barbarian 14 A1 Norm Dark Wood
Fingerzam Happiness TS/DTail Assassin 13 A1 Norm Stony Field
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Chymaera Marius II BlizBolt Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Cold Plain
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Darkstrikes lighamus Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Schmeat SchmeatOhs*t Necromancer 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Mordeth Destitute Hybrid Paladin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 81 A3 Hell Durance of Hate lvl 3
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 75 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 3
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon 78 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 2
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 75 A1 Hell Outer Cloister
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Butzull Spinster Amazon 26 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
CDRToast Isolated Bow/Trap Assassin 22 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 14 A1 Norm Black Marsh
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field

[Mursilis]

Rest in peace Evangelina, your deeds definitely will be remembered.

Quite the nice run :thumbsup:

I recall dying to Mephisto in the Glass Cannon tournament in Normal. One cold ball of doom = deeds.

[Butzull]

RIP Evie. Very well played though!

Butz. :dunce:

[Insane Wayne]

The jungles of Act 3 weren't as bad as I'd feared, in terms of LI-infestation. Spider Forest had LI cloud-stalkers and apes. I thought I was in for a long lesson of frustration, but I perked up when my carefully-selected valk 1-hit killed the first stalker! She was very strong, and cut through the mobs which I kept frozen. Asteria took care of the bramble hulks herself. The spider caves had no bats. 100% spiders and fat maggots, very easy for CS. Great Marsh had gloams, but I soon found the waypoint.

Next session, Great Marsh rolled zombies, hulks, and frogs. A dream roll, rich with boss packs. The first zombie pack dropped a perfect Small Charm of Vita (20)! However, the pack had spawned along the small trail to the waypoint, and thus was already cleared the previous session. D'oh! Sadly, I gave up the charm.

No major problems with the Flayer Jungle. Some of the flayers were LI, but others were CI or PoI, and easily killed. The dungeons were dangerous but the valk was able to tank the narrow passages OK. I scouted a pack of HF gloams, and emptied a quiver of arrows while the valk tanked them. The Witch Doctor dropped a rare coronet. +10 dex and 18 resist-all. Not nearly good enough to give up my Sazabi's helm. Finally, Stromtree made his appearance: CELE Extra Fast Fanaticism. I took down a couple minions before the full pack arrived, which was enough for the valk to survive while I killed the rest.

The Kurast monster rolls were also good to me. I think one area had LI leapers, and LI vultures in another. No big deal. Lots of fat hulks again! Whee!! :grin:
At the start of a new session, the first thing I did was click a log. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/lycanders.jpg) It was close to previously cleared area, but I knew for sure it was legal and gladly equipped it. My FA damage is improved, and now I can cast level 24 valks full-time. Also my D/A/E is significantly better, very helpful when wielding a bow.

Down into the sewers, rarely a fun experience for me. Bats, mosquitos, and mummies, another great roll! I saw the tiny X-shaped island, with 4 mummies and a skull pile. Eager to keep my latest uber-valk, I used a teleport (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Sewers_Island.jpg) charge. Of course, I didn't think it through very well, and had to use another charge to get off. A while later, another little island! This time, I killed them all with FA. One of them dropped an ID scroll. I decided it was worth 1 telekinesis charge to fetch it.

Severe NDE against Icehawk. As jiansonz mentioned earlier, Icehawk loves to flee and disappear. I was too zealous about preventing that, and nearly paid the price. Chasing him relentlessly, too close to the remaining minions, Asteria took a couple hits as his CELE nova unleashed. I was in the process of pressing the rejuv key, and saw a brief glimpse of an empty life bulb before it filled again. I killed another minion, and just sat there stunned for a few seconds. :nervous:

Back to business. The task at hand: clear the Kurast temples.
Ruined Temple was crazy. 4 boss packs in the large room, and much of the crowd piled up against the doorway (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Ruined_Temple.jpg). Boss vampires and spiders too. CS works well against such a dense mob. Usually the monster I'm jabbing lasts longer than those behind it.
Forgotten Reliquary: Hello! (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Forgotten_Reliquary.jpg) Very scary, but they didn't last long and I only needed one healing potion.

The Travincal zealots were LI. Valk + group freezing (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Zealot_Freeze.jpg) sufficed. Durance wasn't too bad, although the LI maulers were a pain. I did Meph's level at p3. Wyand spawned PILI which required the malice knife (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/PILI_Wyand.jpg). At p3 it was a bit of a wait.

Asteria wasted no time rushing Meph and zapped away. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Hell_Meph.jpg) Meph scored a couple good hits, but nothing too drastic. Soon the valk caught up, and drew Meph's fire. An easy battle, with an unrewarding drop.

Keepers:
Ral and Sol
Russet (7) Small Charm
Small Charm of Sustenance (11)
Small Charm of Vita (18)

Left Behind:
Steel (105) Grand Charm
Spineripper

Conqueror Asteria, 1.11 CS Amazon, level 82, Act 4 Hell, Outer Steppes

[ilshad]

DEEDS. (http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t212/ilshad/d2/StyxofThunder/Deeds.jpg):hanky:

Was doing the Far Oasis and ran across a Unique Beetle that was CE. Wasn't watching my health and the minions were getting in some good hits. Health was down half way when the valk got the last hit on the beetle. Cold explosion = instant deeds. It did more than 300 damage.

GL to those remaining. This was a great tourny. I may re-enter and I may not, am undecided at the moment.



Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 79 A3 Hell Kurast Docks
Insane Wayne Asteria CS Amazon 79 A2 Hell Lost City
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 61 A3 NM Travincal
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 25 A1 NM Rogue Camp
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Butzull Silencia Amazon 24 A2 Norm Lost City
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
thewamp Athena PJ/FA Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 18 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Elendoras TheBarbWhoCould Barbarian 14 A1 Norm Dark Wood
Fingerzam Happiness TS/DTail Assassin 13 A1 Norm Stony Field
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Chymaera Marius II BlizBolt Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Cold Plain
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Darkstrikes lighamus Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Schmeat SchmeatOhs*t Necromancer 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Mordeth Destitute Hybrid Paladin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 81 A3 Hell Durance of Hate lvl 3
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 75 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 3
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon 78 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 2
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 75 A1 Hell Outer Cloister
Ilshad StyxofThunder CS Amazon 55 A2 NM Far Oasis
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Butzull Spinster Amazon 26 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
CDRToast Isolated Bow/Trap Assassin 22 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 14 A1 Norm Black Marsh
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field

[jiansonz]

Asteria wasted no time rushing Meph and zapped away. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Hell_Meph.jpg)

Thanks! :thumbsup:



@ilshad:
Nasty stuff. I was killed by a CE nova in one of the first tourneys I entered ("Psycho´s" tourney, for v1.09 dagger melee characters.) My daggerzon died to a Conviction + CE Bone Warrior in NM Pit level 1. I was greedy (using mostly MF gear), so her resists were abysmal when Convicted.

What was Styx´ cold resist here?

[ilshad]

What was Styx´ cold resist here?

It was pretty low. All of the other resists were close to max, but none of the gear I found had cold resist on it. I cold barely get it up to around -40.

[Fingerzam]

RIP Evangelina. If I ever get to Hell Meph, I'll give him a deserved amount of butt-kicking.

Act 4 was a bit slow. I couldn't use CoS in the outdoors areas and the balrogs/pit lords really drained my health too fast to be comfortable with their inferno, so I just had them hit my shadow and tried to get my attacks charged somewhere without getting fried.

River of Flame was a completely different story. I could use CoS so it was safe and easy. Hellforge gave me a perfect ruby and a flawless emerald and some other gems that I didn't pick up. And the rune was... an Eld.

After that it was time for the main show, Chaos Sanctuary. I was pretty sure that a single charged kick would kill me if I had IM, so I decided not to try my luck and used blade fury for the whole CS and let my Shadow Master do the main killing (I didn't really have a good BF weapon after my Cleglaw's gloves got destroyed making the Cleglaw's sword kinda crappy). This took some time, but finally I had cleared the whole Sanctuary and could then open the seals and melee the non Lord de Seis groups. Somewhere here I found an Angelic's ring, which I decided to keep for the rest of the game in case I'd find the amulet.

The fight against Diablo was pretty easy. I would get Diablo to hit my shadow and would then start charging TS/CS from behind and release. My shadow could take a few hits, but the lightning attack killed it pretty much instantly. This was no problem though, because CS filled my mana to full with a single DTail, so after charging TS/CS I would recast my shadow, release and repeat until Diablo was dead.

Diablo dropped a heavy belt with self-repair, 17% FHR and some FR. I took it but didn't start using it at least yet because of losing a belt row.

A5 didn't give much trouble, though the infernos from towers and Siege Beasts did hurt me somewhat. I was pretty careful with using CoS in the outdoor areas here too, so I took some damage from ranged attack, but nothing serious. The indoor areas were again really easy thanks to CoS. The more I use this skill the more I love it. It forces those Frozen Horrors to only use their melee attack, so I don't have to worry about the cold inferno.

Somewhere in the Glacial Trail I found magic demonhide boots. They have more than twice the damage of greaves, so I quickly replaced my greaves with these. My rare gloves also started to break here, they only had 3 durability left.

In the Icy Cellar I found a rare ring (http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/3236/ringyf3.png), and what a ring it was. Considering that I haven't played 1.10/1.11 almost at all before, seeing an actual dual leech ring made me go pretty much yay^3. I had to press esc and take a 5 minute break to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

Then it was time for the Ancients, I changed to /players 1 for these. First I got all of them hitting my shadow and then started killing Madawc and after that which ever of the remaineng two was close. Had to use a single potion in here, but CS took care of life problems mostly.

After Ancients I crafted a safety amulet, which turned out to be totally crappy. On the topic of crafting, how hard can it be to find magic heavy gloves? I've been searching for them since the beginning of A3 to make blood gloves and haven't found a single pair.

Then it was time for Worldstone Keep and Baal. Clearing the Keep was an easy job, grabbed an antidote potion for Achmel's poison somewhere on the way. The first 4 waves in the Throne were pretty easy, but listers gang sure was another deal. CoS didn't blind them and because they kept knocking my shadow back, they would start hitting me as soons as I got behind them. I took a lot of hits, and that also hurt my gear. I took them out pretty much one at a time with TS/DTail. First I tried to kill them with BF but my BF damage was so low it didn't really work. My gloves broke, and my boots had only 2 durability left after them. At this point I realised I hadn't checked their durability when I found them.

Compared to Lister, Baal was a piece of cake. I changed to /players 5 for Baal. Here I quickly realised how good of a summon Shadow Master is against Baal. Every time he teleports away from melee my shadow would teleport after him with Dragon Flight. Because of this, Baal didn't cast that many spells, and killing him was an easy job.

Now I just need new boots quickly.

My Character:

Stats (with items):

STR 92
DEX 113
VIT 95
ENE 42

life 416
mana 179

Resistances on NM:

Fire -10
Cold -10
Light 4
Poison 13



Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 79 A3 Hell Kurast Docks
Insane Wayne Asteria CS Amazon 79 A2 Hell Lost City
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 61 A3 NM Travincal
Fingerzam Happiness TS/DTail Assassin 47 A1 NM Roque Camp
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 25 A1 NM Rogue Camp
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Butzull Silencia Amazon 24 A2 Norm Lost City
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
thewamp Athena PJ/FA Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 18 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Elendoras TheBarbWhoCould Barbarian 14 A1 Norm Dark Wood
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Chymaera Marius II BlizBolt Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Cold Plain
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Darkstrikes lighamus Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Schmeat SchmeatOhs*t Necromancer 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Mordeth Destitute Hybrid Paladin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 81 A3 Hell Durance of Hate lvl 3
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 75 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 3
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon 78 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 2
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 75 A1 Hell Outer Cloister
Ilshad StyxofThunder CS Amazon 55 A2 NM Far Oasis
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Butzull Spinster Amazon 26 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
CDRToast Isolated Bow/Trap Assassin 22 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 14 A1 Norm Black Marsh
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field


Destroyer Happiness, TS/DTail Assassin, level 47, act 1 NM, Rogue Camp

[Butzull]

Congrats on the Destroyer Fingerzam!

Silencia made it past the Chaos Sanctuary and Diablo himself last night without any real problems. Charged Strike with a low damage weapon makes OKs laughable! I did of course take Diablo on /players 1 given that you have one chance and that's it. He dropped pretty easily with just a couple of potions used, and those just red ones. He dropped rare junk unfortunately.

She has proceeded into Act 5 and found a Viscerataunt in the first area. She wore it briefly before dropping it to don a 2 socket tower shield. Aside from that, drops remain somewhere in the useless->not good enough range. ;)

Valk is Lvl 8 now, so has upgraded her weapon and now can start to do some damage with her slow, ponderous swing.

I'll update the table if/when I make Destroyer, but that might be a little bit delayed, as we're moving into our new home this weekend (good timing with all of these global interest rate issues/scares! Luckily we're with a big bank, not a fringe lender, so should be ok...fingers crossed!).

Butz. :dunce:

[Insane Wayne]

@Ilshad, RIP Styx. :sad2:
CE beetles are difficult even in Normal. Every bolt has extra damage tacked on, and then of course the nova.

@Fingerzam, nice progress! That ring is great.

@Butzull, good luck filling those shield sockets. :cool:

[Insane Wayne]

Asteria is one of those rare melee characters that loves fighting spawners! They were abundant in the Outer Steppes. CS ripped through them. Assisting them were pit lords and LI doom casters. The pit lords were surprisingly tough. I checked their stats, all species have 75% lightning resist in Hell! Crap, they are draining my mana!

More of them turned up in the Plains, along with stranglers again and dreaded Burning Souls! Although the latter two types tend to drop mana, I was steadily losing pots and not able to replace them all. My arrows also ran out, when I needed them most (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/NoMore_Arrows.jpg).

Another tough roll in the City: LI Afflicted, LI Abyss Knights, and pit lords again. Thankfully I had another awesome valk. I've bragged about several lately, but this one was special: HUGE damage, IAS, frost nova, and cold/poison immune. She took out the LIs while I regened mana.

By the time I hit the River of Flame, I was nearly out of blues. Horrible timing; my monster roll was awful: Maggots, corpse-spitters, and stupid pit lords yet again. Lots of mana was wasted cutting through the baby maggots. The spitters have huge life which replenished after eating the corpses. More mana consumed. For the first time in Asteria's career, I really felt the "living-off-the-land" potion restrictions weighing down on me. I drank a full rejuv for mana. No problem, I'll replace it... Then I drank another, and another.
After clearing half the level, I nearly hit rock-bottom. One purple left. No reds or blues. Then I found a champ pack, and earned a small bounty of potions! Hope again! But then I lost my awesome valk, against a terrifying spitter pack: Cursed Extra Strong Fanat (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/trifecta.jpg)! I saw her lose some life and then she just disappeared.

I found a health and mana shrine near the next waypoint. I used them repeatedly while I backtracked through the rest of the river. Very slow-going. If I didn't have 500 mana, I'd have gone crazy. Hellforge dropped a Mal. A maggot minion dropped an elite crossbow. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Hellrack.jpg) Cool find, but way out of Asteria's league. After the waypoint, more drudgery; against urdars, stranglers, and freakin' pit lords. At least this time I scored some better mana drops. I left behind a brutal double boss pack (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Fanat_Urdars.jpg), in case I needed to farm them for potions.

Chaos Sanctuary was tough. I constantly ran out of potions, and had to adopt a strict conservative play style, which wore me out. I went back to farm the urdar bosses, a brief reprieve (if you can consider Extra Strong Fanat urdars a "reprieve"). Their potions helped me get to the center of the CS, where I struck gold: two champ packs of pit lords! :grin:
I parked them near the entrance, and used them to refill potions as needed. The Grand Vizier seal boss was easy. After they spawned, I snuck past them (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Vizier.jpg) for a good position. The seal for the Infector of Souls was in the worst spot, a hopeless dead end. The valk was in jeopardy, so I used a teleport charge to escape back to the main area. Wow, thank you very much! Ditto for Lord De Seis. They were Extra Strong Fanat, destroyed my valk/decoy, and came straight for me. Perhaps I could've weaved throught them and escaped, but I didn't take that chance, opting for teleport again, straight across the lava.

Diablo nailed me with the bone prison (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Evil_Force.jpg). CS hardly affected it, it took me 20+ seconds to break out. It would've been quicker to switch hats and teleport out! While I chipped away, I also had to cast a couple new valks to occupy Diablo. Finally I was free.
Next approach, I wore the teleport helm and resistance rings. Although my mana was cut in half, it didn't matter. Diablo went down quickly. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Hell_Diablo.jpg) His drop was garbage.

Notable Find Left Behind:
Amulet of the Whale (93)

Durability update:
Gloves have 2 durability left. They will break soon.
Belt has 6 and Boots have 7. I don't expect them to last the entire Act.
Helm has 9, Armor has 15. Iffy.
Shield is OK at 37.
14 teleport charges left, which hopefully I won't need!
I have 3 Rals. If I have to, I'll ditch the boots. They have 34 lightning resist. I can recover most of that with a rare ring, sacrificing some mana. Should be exciting!

Conqueror Asteria, 1.11 CS Amazon, level 82, Act 5 Hell, Bloody Foothills

[OldSoldier]

Well done Insane Wayne! That's just incredible. I think you can pull it off (guardian)! Are you going to go into the extra areas or forge straight to the finish line? I don't know if I will make it that far myself; but I'll bet that if you watched me play you'd think it was pretty conservative (and brutally slow). But unless I do something stupid like get caught in a corner, I can go through the game without using too many potions. I just need to spend more time getting good valkyries, as they do all the damage.

Lastly, I'd sacrifice half my equipment for that Lycander's you found.

Enjoy the rest of your journey, and may the blood lords target the decoy!

[skoolbus]

DEEDS. (http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t212/ilshad/d2/StyxofThunder/Deeds.jpg):hanky:

RIP, Cold explosion has killed more than one of my HC characters and has given me heart attacks with how little life it's left me with others.


Destroyer Happiness, TS/DTail Assassin, level 47, act 1 NM, Rogue Camp

Congrats! I wish you luck in NM. That ring is very nice, but in NM I'd recommend a dual resist ring rather than leech (well, I'd take either at this point :grin:).


Durability update:
Gloves have 2 durability left. They will break soon.
Belt has 6 and Boots have 7. I don't expect them to last the entire Act.
Helm has 9, Armor has 15. Iffy.
Shield is OK at 37.
14 teleport charges left, which hopefully I won't need!
I have 3 Rals. If I have to, I'll ditch the boots. They have 34 lightning resist. I can recover most of that with a rare ring, sacrificing some mana. Should be exciting!

Conqueror Asteria, 1.11 CS Amazon, level 82, Act 5 Hell, Bloody Foothills

Incredible! I don't want to jinx anything, but good luck in the last act! I hope you find better armor to replace what you have now so you don't need to worry about repairing.

[Insane Wayne]

Are you going to go into the extra areas or forge straight to the finish line?
I won't be skipping any areas. For me, that's where half the fun lies. Of course, it's more likely to get me killed! I lost my last CS zon to an Act 5 Hell evil urn.


Lastly, I'd sacrifice half my equipment for that Lycander's you found.
Yeah, it's a nice bow. Pretty good damage. It's a pity that most of its power is lost on me. I rarely hit anything, so the physical damage and leech is wasted. I definitely appreciate the +skills. +energy helps too. Great find.


I hope you find better armor to replace what you have now so you don't need to worry about repairing.
That's a possibility I've kept open. I saved an Ort, Thul, and fervor jewel. I can certainly find a flawless ruby, and maybe cube to perfect. With another 4-socket armor, I'd be set. I'd rather keep what I have now (original fervor jewel has useful resist prefix) but beggars can't be choosers!

[Schmeat]

Was a while since i played but now my Ohs*it has reached the lvl of 20, soon to qonquer the wastelands of Lut Gohlein, he has already vanquished the evil undead called Radament and now hes after the ledgendary horadric cube.

Will he make it to the end?

[Butzull]

Great work Wayne...14 Acts down, one to go. I'll be watching on in eager anticipation! Fantastic, all the best. :)

*Silencia wanders off preying quietly for a teleport item all of her own* :wink2:

Butz. :dunce:

[Sinningthings]

Repunzel lvl 51 act 2 NM
Andy was slow. An exercise in running around thejacuzzi and casting shadow master.
Not bad drops...

The Ward
Gothic Shield
Defense: 112
Chance to Block: 46%
Smite Damage: 2 to 6
Durability: 23 of 40
Required Strength: 60
Required Level: 26
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x546cf52d
+10 to Strength
+100% Enhanced Defense
+10% Increased Chance of Blocking
+40 Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 2
All Resistances +47:grin:

Viper Bite (prebuff)
Wrist Blade
One-Hand Damage: 15 to 27
Durability: 34 of 52
(Assassin Only)
Required Dexterity: 33
Required Strength: 33
Required Level: 33
Claw Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x218fa370
+200% Enhanced Damage
Adds 9-14 fire damage
4% Mana stolen per hit
+1 to Assassin Skill Levels
56% Damage to Undead
+73 to Attack Rating against Undead

This is what I left behind...

http://img480.imageshack.us/img480/289/leftbehindki1.jpg

edit: go wayne go...

[crazy_bear]

Good going Wayne!
Great find with the Lycander's, too bad it wasn't a titan's though!

Any thoughts on that Mal? The first thought I had for this tourney was 'prudence' if you were to find a good 2 socket armor.

@Sinningthings: so far so good, keep it up!

I have started Vink the druid, but I think I will hold off on updates till he gets past Duriel at least.

CB

[skoolbus]

The Ward
Gothic Shield
Defense: 112
Chance to Block: 46%
Smite Damage: 2 to 6
Durability: 23 of 40
Required Strength: 60
Required Level: 26
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x546cf52d
+10 to Strength
+100% Enhanced Defense
+10% Increased Chance of Blocking
+40 Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 2
All Resistances +47:grin:

The Ward
Gothic Shield
Defense: 112
Chance to Block: 51%
Durability: 22 of 40
Required Strength: 60
Required Level: 26
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 53
Fingerprint: 0xe3924815
+10 to Strength
+100% Enhanced Defense
+10% Increased Chance of Blocking
+40 Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 2
All Resistances +37

I'll trade ya :laugh:. I'm keeping my eyes peeled for a 3 soc good shield, I think I've decided I'm just going to go with 2 pdiamonds and a flawless diamond rather than rhyme.

[jiansonz]

Nice progress, Wayne. Act 4 is tough job for many characters. Very little terrain to take advantage of (other than in the RoF), lots of life and resists on the monsters. Act 5 is usually more 'easy most of the time, extremely dangerous other times'. Good luck with that.

Teleport sure is a godsend in this tournament, where you can´t TP out.


@OldSoldier:
Is Wayne going down into the extra areas? Haha, is the Pope catholic? :azn:

[Insane Wayne]

Great find with the Lycander's, too bad it wasn't a titan's though!
I got excited when I saw that golden text "Ceremonial". Yes, Titan's!! Then it dawned on me. Still, it's all good either way.


Any thoughts on that Mal? The first thought I had for this tourney was 'prudence' if you were to find a good 2 socket armor.
No, I didn't think of that. :embarassed:
What an awesome armor for this tourney. When I checked the Mal runewords, I totally overlooked Prudence. Asteria no longer has the Mal. Oh well, live and learn...

[OldSoldier]

Is Wayne going down into the extra areas? Haha, is the Pope catholic? :azn:

Ah, I'm such a n00b.

However, Princess_Diana has forged ahead, finding two WPs in the Kurast Jungles (not black marsh yet, I did find the "entrance" but I will only explore in there if there are no gloams). I must say that the spider cavern and arachnid lair are not easy for a LF/MA build. There tends not to be many monsters in a straight line and thus LF is not effective, and they regen much faster than I can hurt them because of the poison spinner immunity. Maybe I should have been looking for a 3 socket kris all along like IW. Those two dungeons must have killed about 10 valkyries between them. I'd wait to heal up my mana and regen all of my 40 javelins and whack away as fast as I could on a boss but I'd run out of javelins before they were dead (or they'd teleport away, that happened twice) and I would have to go back topside and wait for all the javelins to replenish. I was able to kill 4/5 bosses in each area, but the magic resistant, physical immune ones just proved too tough for me, so I bypassed them.

My lucky streak in finding good javelins continued in the flayer jungle shortly before I called it a night as a rare ghost glaive dropped. Upon identification it was ethereal, 30% IAS (putting it faster than my current rare) +1 mana per kill (not as good as the +5 on my current) and replenished as well. So I put that on in a heartbeat and now carry an elite ethereal extra fast javelin weapon with 35 more javelins maximum. All I gave up was 4 mana per kill and 9% poison resist. Not like that 9% was doing much good; when the poison spinners got me, I ended up using 5 healing potions to keep my health up whilst fighting.

I do have one final observance: those flying hawks in the jungle are very annoying. Thanks for listening to my rant.

edit: I did forget that the ghost glaive also adds some lightning and cold damage as well. I can now poke my way out of a corner if trapped, as the glaive does more damage than my bow, by a lot...

[Insane Wayne]

Asteria's trek through Act 5 Hell started on a rough note, against piercing slingers and LI Thorned Hulks. Very annoying and very slow progress. I had to back off against Shenk (CE Conviction) until the bombers exploded, then rushed in to finish him. Frigid Highland was a blast: boars, burning archers, and blunderbores. CS took care of all of them. There were several dangerous bosses which kept me on my toes, but no major trouble.

The first red-portal area was very strange. Stranglers, and two types of witches. Dozens of red balls were constantly flying by, and they hurt! Slow missiles helped. I zigzagged and spun my way towards the small groups and picked them off with quick bursts.

Arreat Plateau was a mixed bag: Slingers, imps/beasts, and LI mages. Lots of dodging and FA to keep the mages in place. We faced more imps in the Pit of Acheron, with goats and fire salamanders. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Fire_Salamanders.jpg) Easy clear. That was a fun bonus area.

Time for some caves... Frenzytaur action (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/PIFrenzytaurs.jpg)! They were PI, but not LI, and I took them down quickly. They were joined by cold mages and infidels, another good roll and quick CS roadkill! Evil urns contained mages. This was a time of plenty, with good potion availablity, capped off by a double-champ infidel gathering (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Champ_Infidels.jpg). Wonderful delicious excess bountiful bonanza of potions (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/potion_bonanza.jpg)!

Spirits were high when I entered the Frozen River, but came crashing down quick. A horrible stairtrap (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/CEGloams.jpg)! Asteria's cold resist is not great, those streams hurt. FA damages them minimally, but won't freeze them in place. Very awkward, I used up most of my potions to survive that mess. I went back to refill at the invader pile, exhausting it.

Back to the Frozen River, I made a little more progress. Around the first turn, I hit a ridiculous crowd of bosses, with gloams, vipers, and snow beasts. They beat us back and shut down the route. No chance. After retreating to the entrance, I tried another path. More gloams awaited me, with a Conviction aura! I cast my valk across the river. She didn't last long. Using decoys, I pulled part of the mob along the river, opposite my side. The Conviction source took the bait. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/CELEConviction_snake.jpg) Gloams harassed me. How quickly my fortunes had changed... I was down to 2 purples. When the snake boss fell, I used 2 telekinesis charges to get 2 healing potions.

FA just wasn't working (my arrows were almost gone anyway). I needed a new approach. I broke out the Malice knife. Earlier, I'd found a spare Ort, and maxed its durability (it still had 80% left at the time). Mostly I wanted to apply PMH, because the gloams like to flutter around and regenerate. However, the Open Wounds worked beyond my expectations. 2-3 isolated stabs were enough to finish each gloam! My playstyle was totally transformed, from non-stop stationary bowing to sneaky quick stab-and-run tactics. Much better, and 99% more fun.

After securing some more area, I had some good terrain to work with. We took out the boss packs in chunks. There was one lone evil urn, which spawned a Berserker (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Berserker_Gloam.jpg). I was glad not to see any more urns! Frozenstein's pack was obliterated in seconds. Asteria heard Anya's cries for help, and replied to her (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Hell_Anya.jpg). It was her first conversation in weeks.

I finished up with a trip through the Glacial Trail, until I hit the waypoint. Wussy monsters: bone mages and a double dose of LI bone warriors. A strong valk took them out. We disposed of Bonesaw Breaker. A triple-boss pack dropped half of Isenhart's (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Isenharts.jpg). Scroll shortage has restricted my ID habits lately, but I took a chance on that rare dirk. Surprisingly, it had 26 charges of level 7 Dim Vision (112 max). That's ~5 seconds after the Hell duration penalty. Possibly useful. To make room for it, I used up 2 Rals repairing my gloves and belt. The rest of my gear is holding up better than expected.

Left behind:
Iron Pelt
Headstriker

Conqueror Asteria, 1.11 CS Amazon, level 83, Act 5 Hell, Drifter Cavern

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

IW, that stair trap ... yikes!
I think that rare dirk's charges will be a big help in WSK, but what a pity there's only 26 left. Anyway, it's worth two inventory spaces at least (and I know how jealous you are of inventory space :wink3: )

[skoolbus]

Conqueror Asteria, 1.11 CS Amazon, level 83, Act 5 Hell, Drifter Cavern

Great read Wayne, good luck in the few remaining areas, ancients, and baal.

Now for my obligatory minor update. Fully cleared the bloody foothills, managing to gain a bit more than a full level. The only possibly useful find was a 4 soc gothic plate, but I didn't see how I could make it much better than my current armor (could have put two shaels in, but I rarely get hit nowadays anyway). I really need to unload my remaining skill points, I'm thinking of splitting them between the fire bomb throwing skill and a LS synergy. Also, I've never used blade fury, is that a decent skill for LI's with horrible weapons? Or would I want something like steel or strength for CB or OW?

[OldSoldier]

Skoolbus, I'll defer the blade fury question since I've never used it before.

Princess_Diana made it a few areas before the computer pooped out and forced a S&E in the upper kurast. There were only winged nightmares as LIs in that area, contrary to the LI-laden areas the rest of the entire act. So in upper kurast (as well as the 4 temples I'd cleared) the killing went OK, with LF dispatching itchies and trees by the bucketful. However, getting there was another story... Flayer jungle was about 75% LI, most everything except some poison immune dart blowers and the flayer shamen. I didn't bother to get back to the black marsh because it would have meant going through the flayer jungle to get back to it and I didn't want to kill all those extra things. I'm sure everything there would have been LI anyway.

I toyed around with many many valkyries until I got a good one; casting at level 21 takes a few false starts before one who hits hard and fast. Too bad the game crashed. But I digress. Beyond the flayer jungle I usually like the lower kurast area, but this time it was LI leapers, LI jungle beasts, and FI kurast men, don't remember their names. Well this was before I had a good valkyrie, so they'd run away before I could get a kill, including some bosses. I ended up skipping some of those guys and left them alone because I couldn't damage them enough to keep them from running 100 screens away, and I couldn't seem to get into a good enough spot to force them to run into a corner and back out again, at least without stirring up a bunch more LI monsters, which are just a drag when the valk stinks.

Kurast bazaar wasn't too bad, but it was there that I found, in a basket that was accompanied by a boss pack of another type of LI jungle beast, Cerebus' Bite. It was a unique I'd never seen, so I made room for it by repairing (and recharging) my Smoke and dropping an Ort, which has limited usefulness to a bowazon. Then I muled it off after the game crashed and now I have several spaces open. I've also made a P amethyst to upgrade a rare bow if a good one ever drops because I am losing time to find that ko. I also muled off the hel rune. I never found the WP in upper kurast so I'll have to search for it again. I hope the monster spawn is as good as it was before the game went down, it was finally easy.

Final note: my ghost glaives replenish so much slower than the short spears. Are there two speeds of replenishing? It takes over a half hour to go from zero to full now. Major drag. At least I had time to charge up some more when I ran into a champion pack of itchies (physical immune) and ended up killing all of them with poison charm and magic arrow damage.

[tigercan]

Also, I've never used blade fury, is that a decent skill for LI's with horrible weapons? Or would I want something like steel or strength for CB or OW?

Blade Fury is a fantastic skill, but it's only worth investing one point. It is AR dependent so make sure your AR is sufficient to hit reasonably often.

Since BF does reduced damage it is usually combined with mods such as crushing blow, open wounds & deadly strike. If you have an easy source of applying one or more of the above you'll be laughing

[skoolbus]

Blade Fury is a fantastic skill, but it's only worth investing one point. It is AR dependent so make sure your AR is sufficient to hit reasonably often.

Since BF does reduced damage it is usually combined with mods such as crushing blow, open wounds & deadly strike. If you have an easy source of applying one or more of the above you'll be laughing


Alright, thought I might need something like that to make it useful, thanks. If I can ever make strength in a claw, I'll probably invest two skill points to get blade fury.

ARGH!! Got a game crashing error, who knows why, and just after Aldur's helm dropped, I was looking forward to admiring how good it would be if I was playing a druid and looking forward to IDing a GC if I ever got another id scroll. When I start back up, I'm going to go on p1 and run as fast as I can as far as I can from the frigid WP while spamming CoS and MB as much as mana allows. I was about a quarter into the area after the frigid WP, so hopefully I'll still have that much of my map revealed. I did all of the frigid highlands on p8 (took forever) but then changed it down to p3 after the eyetooth fellow, who was convienently LI...

[Insane Wayne]

Final note: my ghost glaives replenish so much slower than the short spears. Are there two speeds of replenishing?
Yes, and one is (I think) twice as fast as the other. Both are slower than replenish found on some uniques.

---------------------------

Asteria resumed her trip through the Glacial Trail. This time we fought Pit Vipers, Frozen Beasts, and lots of scroll-dropping Wraiths (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Wraiths.jpg). Awesome roll! Although half the map had been previously cleared, the remaining area was quite generous. I picked up about a dozen scrolls. Pretty lucky. There isn't much I identify anymore, but this windfall allowed me to take a shot at a magical dusk shroud. It was a Jeweler's! With a useful suffix, and 18 points durability (my full plate mail was down to 14). I added my reserve socketables:

Jeweler's Dusk Shroud of Amelioration
Dusk Shroud
Defense: 465
Durability: 17 of 20
Required Level: 49
Required Strength: 77
Fingerprint: 0x548df6b6
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
Poison Length Reduced by 50%
Lightning Resist +30%
Cold Resist +30%
+40 to Attack Rating
15% Increased Attack Speed
4 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Tin Jewel of Fervor

Best of all, my run/walk got a much-needed boost. Normally a non-repairing quilted armor would be a poor choice due to low max durability, but in my case it should easily last to Hell Baal (or at least outlive Asteria.) I haven't decided on the 4th socket. I'd like another Thul to get to 70% cold resist. We'll see what pops up.

Drifter Cavern opened onto the center island, which is often dangerous. This time, we were met by a wimpy mage (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Cavern_Mage.jpg) "champion". And then some goats and frozen terrors. :rolleyes: Quick and easy clear. There were two evil urns, both empty. :sad2:

The red portal to the Infernal Pit spawned close to the Tundra entrance. Asteria got a quick peek at what awaited (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Infernal_Pit.jpg) her. I thought those balrogs would be tough, like they were in Act 4. However, they seemed to lack the lightning resistance their brothers had. I was overwhelmed by poison darts a few times, but the only hassle that caused was block-lock and trouble swinging my weapon. No NDEs.

Back on the Tundra, Berserkers and goats went down easily, but the dense packs of bone archers were tough. It was difficult lining up good angles for CS. Most of the bolts were wasted. I finally found the waypoint, as close as possible to the next cave entrance. Unfortunately I'm out of blues. I do have an extra full rejuv. On the subject of mana, I added another charm: Serpent's (34) Large Charm. My ID tome has been displaced to the cube. I now have 502 mana with the jav, 532 with bow, and that ain't bad. Again, I owe this find to the extra scrolls. I haven't bothered with Large Charms in a long time, only Grand and Small.

Left Behind:
Sigon's Belt
Dol

Conqueror Asteria, 1.11 CS Amazon, level 83, Act 5 Hell, Ancients' Way

[OldSoldier]

Good luck Wayne, you'll get there.

Princess_Diana restarted in the upper kurast, and after clearing that area went down into the sewers. There were bone warriors (LI) and mummies, unravelers, and undead flayers. I kept getting the warriors and mummies resurrecting so the going was slow but fairly safe. I did get trapped once, but casting a decoy took fire off of me.

After exploring what I can only assume was nearly the entire area with only one boss pack of flayers, I finally found Riftwing, who happened to be extra fast. He had a lot of buddies too, at least 8 or 10, which is more than I normally see, and they were all extra fast. Somehow they killed my (good) valk pretty fast and chased me so quickly that before I knew it I was surrounded and died in the stinking sewers. I was really looking forward to Travincal, as that is often the most fun area of the game for me.

I'm happy with this character, I went far farther than I expected to go, and now it will be refreshing to actually go fast in other games. This was just too slow, especially in hell since there are many LI monsters. She ended up at level 80 and had ingredients for a rare bow upgrade (normal to exceptional, that is) Edge RW and another go-round at Harmony, minus the Ko. The closest thing to breaking were the Sanders boots, which finished at 7 durability; I was getting sniped a lot in this act from flayers so all my stuff was getting beat on a bit. For all that are left, enjoy! Maybe I'll even make a poison necro?

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Aargh, no!
RIP Princess_Diana, her deeds will be remembered! Well played, OS. :thumbsup:

[crazy_bear]

Oh no! RIP Princess_Diana!

That's very sad to hear, especially being the 3rd char to make it to act 3 hell, and the 2nd to end there. :sad2:

Still, great work to get there!

CB

[skoolbus]

Gah, RIP Princess_Diana! The sewers is a pointless place, just like almost all of act 3. Sorry to hear about it, but a poison necro eh? That's going to be mighty challenging.

[Insane Wayne]

Yuck! Not the stinking sewers!! :tongue: That was a tough monster roll.
RIP Diana, you had a good run.

Icehawk's pack is lethal. They caused Asteria's most severe NDE. Cold, lightning, and physical damage; with a fast attack. What's your decoy level? Even a high-level decoy would die quickly, but I'm surprised the valk went so fast. Decoy points give the valk more resistance.

Good luck with your next character.

[Sinningthings]

OS!!.. RIP Diana. Sill you have to feel good about your play. Act 3 hell with a hard core char. is good at the best of times.

[skoolbus]

Well, when I started off, I see none of the frigid highlands explored. Yay, wasted two hours last time I played, so I start out on p8 to clear it all over again. Very soon, I get to one of the barb prison's, I see that it is empty. I think to myself, that's odd, my shadow doesn't seem that good and I know I couldn't have opened it. I check my quest log and I've already gotten it (from last time when it crashed). I stop for a second, put it on p1, and run like the wind through the rest of the frigid highlands and to near the end of the arreat plateau, where I put it on p8, kill thresh socket, and go into the ice cave (or whatever it's called).

The first thing I run into is a few abomibles, takes ages to kill on p8 with me dancing around trying my best not to get hit, and I immediately switch to p3, which was a good killing/safety speed and it remains there until ancients way. On the way, I get the first gold (http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/4014/screenshot022ip9.jpg) I've seen in ages, unfortunately, it's utter garbage and I don't bother running backwards looking for an ID scroll.

Ancients didn't offer too much trouble. I don't believe I got hit once and I don't think I recast my shadow (I had been summoning new ones for a while looking for a good one) and I use two lower resist charges. The WSK was not much fun, with level two being a bigger pain (http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/8946/screenshot023nc5.jpg) than necessary. Luckily wall hugging and CoS let me not get hit too often. Amazingly, I was able to kill all baal's minions without sucking down too many potions. Baal was a different story. He was relentless with appedages and spawned a clone early. Several potions later, after much running around and getting hit, I killed baal (http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/2492/screenshot024iw6.jpg). He dropped a maelstrom and a bunch of garbage, but since I left a potion behind for an ID scroll a while ago, I id'ed the rare flail and was even worse than my expectations.

Best find of the act was easily this ammy (http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/3466/screenshot025dw3.jpg).


Alive Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
Insane Wayne Asteria CS Amazon 83 A5 Hell Drifter Cavern
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 69 A1 Hell Rouge Camp
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 51 A2 NM Lut Gholein
Fingerzam Happiness TS/DTail Assassin 47 A1 NM Roque Camp
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Butzull Silencia Amazon 24 A2 Norm Lost City
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
thewamp Athena PJ/FA Amazon 20 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 18 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Elendoras TheBarbWhoCould Barbarian 14 A1 Norm Dark Wood
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Chymaera Marius II BlizBolt Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Cold Plain
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Darkstrikes lighamus Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Schmeat SchmeatOhs*t Necromancer 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Mordeth Destitute Hybrid Paladin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 81 A3 Hell Durance of Hate lvl 3
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 80 A3 Hell Sewers
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 75 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 3
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon 78 A2 Hell Cellar lvl 2
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 75 A1 Hell Outer Cloister
Ilshad StyxofThunder CS Amazon 55 A2 NM Far Oasis
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Butzull Spinster Amazon 26 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
CDRToast Isolated Bow/Trap Assassin 22 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 14 A1 Norm Black Marsh
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field


Hmmm, I seem to be a little low leveled, but since I haven't felt the need to use about 19 skill points, perhaps I'll do alright.

Conqueror OneFingaPushup, level 69, act 1 Hell, Rogue Camp

[OldSoldier]

Icehawk's pack is lethal. They caused Asteria's most severe NDE. Cold, lightning, and physical damage; with a fast attack. What's your decoy level? Even a high-level decoy would die quickly, but I'm surprised the valk went so fast. Decoy points give the valk more resistance.

I'll only try again if you get guardian... as if you need more motivation!

My points were something like this: 11 in MA, 20 in LF and Valk. Decoy also had 11 and the rest (3-4 likely) were going to go there. The rest of the points were all over the passives map, including (I think) 5 in critical strike, 4 in penetrate and 5 in pierce, and I think D/A/E was 2/1/2. I didn't realize that the AR was bugged so I probably wasted many of the points in MA and penetrate, but it was nice being able to fire without interruption to help the valk, as the poison charms were the difference much of the time. With the replenishing javs I was able to live off the land with zero resources if patient.

With the passive amulet I think the valk had 3080 hit points, which lasted her all of about 4-5 seconds against Icehawk. She was untouchable until then unless poisoned. She'd probably last that long against Diablo! Anyway, all of the bats were resting comfortably and I dumbly threw a lightning javelin at them and made them mad, and they went after us. Only one followed me and the rest smashed the valk, but that one went as fast as I could with 46% FRW and by the time I decided to stop and face one, the valk was down and the rest joined in the attack against me. I got a couple more LF shots off, killing a couple but got into block lock and they were hitting for 200-300 a pop, forcing the use of many rejuv potions (I died with some left, not sure how many). I tried casting another valk, but should have stayed with frantic LF attempts. I went down and Icehawk couldn't have been more than a sliver or two from entering his patented chicken run-away mode. Dang!

7 characters in hell is pretty incredible! Keep going all, I really enjoy this thread.

[crazy_bear]

@ Skoolbus: Nice going, conqueror #7 for the tourney!

Well, here is the first update for Vink, since I said I would post if he survived normal Duriel.

Vink started his questing in the rogue encampment like all would-be heroes. Seeing no-one worth talking to he headed into the Blood moor and proceeded to show the assorted demons, undead, and animals who was new in town. The countess dropped an El, but by the time he had reached the inner cloister he was lvl 19 and had been joined by a couple of dire wolves, an oak spirit, a vine and a number of ravens. At this point nothing could really stand up to the combined army and the arrows from Vink's gemmed hunter's bow. An additional wolf was added at lvl 20 and Andy wasn't a threat at all as she couldn't get rid of the wolves and she soon dropped a bunch of stuff that wasn't useful, except for a standard topaz. This turned out to be a nice start to a p. gem as Vink found 2 gem shrines in the sewers of lut gholein! The things people dump down their toilets these days... :laugh:

Radament was pretty easy, though he took out as many wolves as Andy, and Vink headed for the outdoor areas of Act 2. There he acted like any typical hunter druid, letting the minions carry the heavy load, and continuing to plink away with arrows. Soon the stony tomb, maggot lair, halls of the dead, ancient tunnels and serpent temple were all cleared, as well as the outdoor areas in between. Having good corpse control sure makes a difference vs the resurecting mummies! :thumbsup: The ravens were also very effective in keeping the archers in the cellars minimally dangerous.

In the arcane the ability to summon the wolves at any location simplified the narrow pathways, and when the tombs were reached the corpse disposal of the vines (both solar and carrion as needed) kept the mummies from getting too tough.

Duriel on the other hand was a true challenge. I changed the players setting to 3 and stocked up on potions after placing the staff in the altar. Tornado is at lvl 5 now that Vink made 28, and does respectable damage but aim and mana make it hard to use. Duriel swatted wolves like they were nothing, and both mana and healing pots were drunk like water. Starting with 10 greater healings, 9 mana and 7 full rejuv Vink survived with 2 full rejuv pots left.
Duriel's drop... well, it's duriel after all. :tongue:

So, with that out of the way, act 3 calls. The next deadly encounter I expect to be Diablo. Norm D has killed several druids I have started.

Uniques found: felloak, umbral disk, diggler.
Runes: Ral, Eth

Skills: Raven 5, Dire Wolf 5, Tornado 5, assorted others 1.

I'm planning to max Hurricane first, and grizzly after that. Wolves will probably be better for most of act 3, and Vink is keeping an eye out for +mana gear.

Vink lvl 28 druid, Kurast Docks

[Butzull]

Oh noes! RIP Diana, but fantastic effort to get that far!

Well done skoolbus, here's hoping you can push on through and punish Icehawk for it's insolence!

Good luck with the Ancients and WSK Insane_Wayne. I'm watching eagerly for the next update! :)

Our house move is almost complete, so I'll be able to get back into playing soon...hoorah!

Butz. :dunce:

[Insane Wayne]

Although the Ancients' Way was only a stone's throw away from the waypoint, it was not without drama (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Tundra_Beasts.jpg). That refreshing well sure was convenient!

Ancients' Way wasn't dangerous, but very frustrating, overrun with Fallen. My problem was their chill resistance. Freezing Arrows were ineffective; they thawed after a fraction of a second. Most of the valk's kills didn't shatter, and the shamen seemed to have an infinite resurrection range. What a pain! The other monsters were easy, frozen beasts and quill rats.

I battled the Ancients before trying Icy Cellar.
Korlic: Mana Burn Spectral Hit
Talic: Mana Burn Magic Resistant
Madawc: Teleportation LE (LI)
Not particularly dangerous, but very resistant to a CS zon. Asteria was helpless to do much. Good thing the valk was up to the challenge. Korlic and Talic stayed in a constant pattern, while the valk stood still and whittled them down. After Korlic died, I helped against Talic. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Hell_Ancients.jpg) Madawc was an eager teleporter, zipping around dozens of times. I pricked him with the Malice knife every now and then. He fell eventually.

WSK 1 had a nasty triple pack near the entrance. FE Holy Fire LI jabbers, FELE Flayers, and champion amp damage witches! They easily overwhelmed the valk. I tried to decoy-park them and ran out the entrance. I re-entered (with the teleport helm, just in case), and fought the jabbers. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/WSK1.jpg) Decoys held off a few more, luckily most of the mob stayed out of awareness range. No problems after that.

Level 2 had poison mages, boars, and mummies. Total cakewalk! Terrified mages fled from the immune valk, straight into a corner (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/WSK2_mages.jpg). One of them dropped a magical diadem. At the time I had 2 scrolls left, and used one. It was an Athletic Diadem! +3 passive skills! I didn't have room for it, but I borrowed it (and a skill shrine) to cast a level 28 valk. At that level she spawns with all the rare equipment upgrades. Her extra damage came in handy, against LI mages on level 3. I handled the imps and flayers. Easy level.

Another rough entrance awaited us on the Throne level. Extra Fast FE Mana Burn witches and Oblivion Knights (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Throne_stairtrap.jpg)! Oh man, what a nightmare! Curses flying everywhere, witches zipping around at the speed of light... holy crap! Asteria's sheer lightning power bailed her out. That, and some luck (IM was cast, but quickly overwritten by another curse.) Around the corner was a viper boss pack. Tough map! Unfortunately, later I lost my super-valk to IM. Oh well, good while it lasted.

I had no problems with the minion waves. The valk solo'ed Achmel's pack, while I stayed way back out of the poison aura range. His regen was tough to overcome, but the valk prevailed with help from my arrows. I was ready for Baal, but then I remembered I had to do the Icy Cellar first! :duh:

I dived right in. After an easy stairtrap of snow beasts, I got a wonderful surprise. Gloams! I broke out the Malice dagger. Asteria's psychotic stabbing performance would've made Hitchcock proud. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Cellar_Gloam1.jpg) Little thought was given to durability; I wouldn't be needing the knife after this level. I figured I might as well keep stabbing, to lower their defense 100 per hit. And stab she did! Soon we encountered boss #2. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Cellar_Gloam2.jpg) Next to boss #3! (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Cellar_Gloam3.jpg) With support from boss vipers (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Cellar_snakes.jpg). And could there possibly be more dangerous gloams? Of course! (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Cellar_Champs.jpg) I gulped down potions, but I was able to replace them from the numerous bosses/champs, and stockpile extras. No good finds. Time for a showdown with Baal...

First, I dumped all non-essential items. Keys, tome, both daggers, etc.., making room for more potions. (Actually, I "retired" the items to the town stash.) Baal fled the T-strip just as I reached him. Bummer. He cloned and spammed tentacles. I had to retreat. After several charges, I hurt him some, but my potions were running out. I realized I couldn't outlast him. I was doomed to run out of potions, and one of two things would happen:
1. I'd get killed.
2. I'd be forced to hit-and-run, waiting several minutes to regen life with my emergency amulet. Again and again and again.

Neither option was acceptable, so I reached into my bag of dirty tricks. I changed helms, teleported into the T-strip, and teased Baal until he came towards us. The valk attacked him, and I ran out, then back up along the outside border. The valk, momentarily confused, stayed in the T-strip, alone against Baal (and eventually his clone). I watched safely from my vantage point (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/insane-wayne/Asteria/Hell_Baal.jpg). It's a cheap trick I discovered accidentally in a past tourney. Baal cloned again, and together they killed the valk. This was unexpected, but I was prepared for the possibility and ran to the base of the strip, casting a new valk up there (this time with the bow and maiden amulet for +4 total skills). The new stronger valk resumed her duties, and outlasted Baal after a long fight. He dropped nothing noteworthy. Yep, it's a dirty trick, but in a no-holds-barred tournament like this, I'm glad to abuse Baal's weaknesses! :grin:

Poor Asteria, physically and psychologically scarred from her difficult solo journey, retired to a filthy hut deep in the wilderness. Sadly, her anti-social personality worsened. After several years, her descent into madness was total. No longer able to speak, she grunted and barked at passers-by, like that boomerang-throwing feral kid from the Road Warrior movie. Future adventurers would be wise to steer clear of her, you just might hear her lurking in the bushes...

Guardian Asteria, 1.11 CS Amazon, level 84, retired, Complete Game Clear

Later I'll do a follow-up post with final stats, skills, and gear. Good luck to the remaining participants! I'll be following closely.

[jiansonz]

Guardian Asteria

:thumbsup: Cool!:thumbsup:

I like dirty tricks in these kinds of tournaments. :azn:

That was a great Ancients roll! No nasty aura, no Cursed, no Extra Strong, etc.

Throne level very rarely disappoint. That was a WILD start!

If I had made it though, I would have strayed from the All Alone rules, hired a a merc, started to use the stash, gamble, etc. and started back in Normal and completed all remaining quests, plus cleared up the areas we haven´t done (Tristram, Nihlathak´s areas and the cow level) in all three difficulties. Just so I could have really called the character a Complete Game Clear Guardian. But your situation is different, since this is far from your first amazon Guardian...

[Mursilis]

Massive Congrats on the Guardian :thumbsup: I am supremely impressed and in complete awe.

[OldSoldier]

Well done, you are indeed a master! I wouldn't have imagined it was possible for the valk to tank Baal in hell but there it is! I don't think any other summon could have done that. Truly inspiring! Could you have gone back to fetch that diadem for more valk recasts later on, or had it timed out? I'd have made it a point to keep space for that. When did you start to ditch your runes and gems/jewels for potions? My plan would have been act V at the beginning to stockpile full rejuv potions.

[skoolbus]

Great job Wayne! I can't even imagine getting that far. I wonder if anyone is going to be next? This will be the last All Alone tourney now that someone has finally killed hell baal, so I'll have to get to work thinking of something even more challenging...

[crazy_bear]

Simply amazing Wayne. :thumbsup:

Truly an incredible feat, to accomplish Guardian with these restrictions.

CB

@Skoolbus: Harder?!?! ACK!

[skoolbus]

Simply amazing Wayne. :thumbsup:

Truly an incredible feat, to accomplish Guardian with these restrictions.

CB

@Skoolbus: Harder?!?! ACK!

Maybe make no summons as well? :laugh: Though I honestly don't see it possible to beat the game without summons. Nah, it'll probably be something really fun where you don't have to spend five minutes deciding what to drop to make room for tal rasha's staff. Maybe allow for some reruns? But I don't see how it can be remotely difficult if reruns are allowed.... Hmmm gonna be thinking about this one for a while.

Also, everyone should note, only a little over a month left to register!! Best get your characters killed now so you have plenty of time to restart:tongue:. (jk)

[tragor]

Unbelievable.

Super-congrats, Wayne. An achievement that will be registered in the SPF archives. Take a bow and enjoy life for a while. :cloud9:

[Insane Wayne]

That was a great Ancients roll! No nasty aura, no Cursed, no Extra Strong, etc.
Good thing, because I only brought one TP scroll for rerolling.


I would have strayed from the All Alone rules, hired a a merc, started to use the stash, gamble, etc. and started back in Normal and completed all remaining quests, plus cleared up the areas we haven´t done (Tristram, Nihlathak´s areas and the cow level) in all three difficulties. Just so I could have really called the character a Complete Game Clear Guardian. But your situation is different, since this is far from your first amazon Guardian...
No, you're right. I forgot about the illegal areas. My Complete Game Clear* gets an asterisk. Hell Halls (w/evil urns) and Hell Cows can be perilous, no survival guarantees there. But I think they'd need to be done with the same restrictions. Maybe Asteria can be coaxed out of her hut, to try those areas.


I wouldn't have imagined it was possible for the valk to tank Baal in hell but there it is! I don't think any other summon could have done that.
Probably not. At least, not an untwinked summons that could actually do some damage. IIRC that's the 3rd time I used that tactic. The valk needs to be well-synergized.


Could you have gone back to fetch that diadem for more valk recasts later on, or had it timed out? I'd have made it a point to keep space for that. When did you start to ditch your runes and gems/jewels for potions? My plan would have been act V at the beginning to stockpile full rejuv potions.
The +3 diadem had surely timed out. I wanted to keep it, but I still needed my teleport circlet, daggers, and some jewelry. My inv was almost completely filled with charms. The few runes/gems I carried were all used in the Glacial Trail when I found the jeweler's armor. (I had given up on crafting by that point). My last Ral repaired Sazabi's helm, prematurely. I didn't collect extra potions until the very end. Icy Cellar and a couple saved areas of the WSK. Not all of my extra potions were full rejuvs.

[Butzull]

That's awesome Wayne, great work and a joy to read and follow! Right up there as one of the (or perhaps THE) most impressive tournament Guardian/s I've ever seen. An inspiration.

Quick question: In a single pass tournament, particularly with no gambling, a drop or two can make all the difference. With that as a lead-in...Without the teleport circlet do you think you would still have survived all that was thrown at you?

IIRC Fangskin and perhaps another one or two places were much simplified (or perhaps even made possible at all) by it.

Butz. :dunce:

[Insane Wayne]

Ah yes, the Circlet of Teleportation!
I spend a lot of resources trying to get Teleport for all my characters, assuming it's allowed. I've gotten it by cubing 3 rings to an amulet, or gambling amulets/circlets. In this tourney, lacking access to portals, tele is twice as valuable IMO. Asteria got her circlet in Act 2 Nightmare. Keeping it meant sacrificing many opportunities for crafting, but I felt it was worth it.

Without it, my approach to Fangskin would've been different. Worst-case scenario: Fang's pack spawns close to the entrance (which is what happened), I'm blocked from the "top-side" route (also happened) and the valk/decoy get knocked to the wall leaving me little room to maneuver. In Asteria's favor, she has a powerful attack that puts snakes in hit recovery and quickly kills them. Quick enough to cut down their numbers before the valk is killed. I'd give the snakes a 15% chance of killing me (assuming Fangskin targets Asteria directly) and an extra 25% chance because they were Cursed. So, a 60% survival rate, vs. 95% with Teleport. (Altar contained an unraveler pack, so it wasn't 100% safe.)

Then there was the Infector of Souls seal boss near Diablo. They were on pace to kill the valk, she might've lasted 10-20 seconds. With Decoys, maybe I could stretch them apart and squeeze through. They were resistant to CS, focusing on one long enouigh to kill it would be tough. There were too many to fit around the valk, a couple were likely to focus on me. Each valk recast would risk losing space. Hard to guess, but I'd give myself 60-70% chance to escape, after killing 2 or 3. It would cost me many potions for sure. With tele I had 100% chance.

Finally, De Seis' pack. His Fanat Extra Strong fighters wasted the decoy/valk. But I could recast and string them out a little. They are skinnier than the other seal packs, and I had a little more room. I could probably manage to run past them, I did it in the original tourney. One hit might lock me up though. Hit recovery = deeds. 80-90% survival. 100% with teleport.

To sum up, if we accept my numbers as semi-accurate, I'd have about 25-40% chance to survive all 3 events, vs. 95% chance with teleport. So I'd probably die! But I still had reasonable chances.

[Insane Wayne]

Guardian Asteria, 1.11 CS Amazon, level 84
Str 85, Dex 137 (157 w/bow), Vitality 269 (1066 life), Energy 47 (503 mana, 533 w/bow)
Resists: 64/35/68/-12 (fire/lightning could be maxed when needed)
Chance to block: 50%
CS Damage: 7 bolts, 1-796 damage per bolt
Jav Skills:
3 Jab
12 Power Strike
3 Poison Jav
3 Lightning Bolt
22 Charged Strike
3 Chain Lightning
Passive Skills:
2 Inner Sight
5 Critical Strike
6 Dodge
2 Slow Missiles
4 Avoid
21 Decoy
2 Evade
21 Valkyrie (24 w/ optional +skills)
Bow Skills:
6 Cold Arrow
6 Ice Arrow
6 Freezing Arrow

Gear:
Maiden Javelin of Replenishing
Maiden Javelin
One Hand Damage: 8 - 14
Quantity: 80
Required Level: 17
Required Strength: 33
Required Dexterity: 47
Fingerprint: 0x3e7edb35
Item Level: 30
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+1 to Javelin and Spear Skills (Amazon Only)
Replenishes quantity

Rhyme
Tower Shield
Defense: 23
Durability: 33 of 60
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 75
Fingerprint: 0xbcfd152
Item Level: 31
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
All Resistances +25
20% Increased Chance of Blocking
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
40% Faster Block Rate
Cannot Be Frozen
15% Regenerate Mana
2 Sockets (2 used)
Socketed: Shael Rune
Socketed: Eth Rune

Lycander's Aim
Ceremonial Bow
Two Hand Damage: 56 - 122
Durability: 50 of 55
Required Level: 42
Required Strength: 73
Required Dexterity: 110
Fingerprint: 0x2eeadbc7
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+20 to Energy
+20 to Dexterity
20% Enhanced Defense
198% Enhanced Damage
6% Mana stolen per hit
+2 to Amazon Skill Levels
20% Increased Attack Speed
+2 to Bow and Crossbow Skills (Amazon Only)

Sazabi's Mental Sheath
Basinet
Defense: 183
Durability: 28 of 30
Required Level: 43
Required Strength: 82
Fingerprint: 0x322dbe0c
Item Level: 52
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+100 Defense
Fire Resist +20%
Lightning Resist +17%
+1 to All Skills

Jeweler's Dusk Shroud of Amelioration
Dusk Shroud
Defense: 465
Durability: 10 of 20
Required Level: 49
Required Strength: 77
Fingerprint: 0x548df6b6
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
Poison Length Reduced by 50%
Lightning Resist +30%
Cold Resist +30%
+40 to Attack Rating
15% Increased Attack Speed
+31 to Life
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Tin Jewel of Fervor
Socketed: Flawless Ruby

Nightsmoke
Mesh Belt
Defense: 64
Durability: 12 of 16
Required Level: 20
Required Strength: 58
Fingerprint: 0x118982a1
Item Level: 37
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+20 to Mana
30% Enhanced Defense
+15 Defense
Damage Reduced by 2
Required Lvl +5
+50 Damage Taken Goes To Mana
All Resistances +10

Soul Hold
Chain Gloves
Defense: 8
Durability: 15 of 16
Required Level: 35
Required Strength: 25
Fingerprint: 0x4bd07126
Item Level: 49
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+2 to Strength
+14 to Mana
Fire Resist +21%
Poison Resist +16%
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
20% Increased Attack Speed

Hailstone Shank
Greaves
Defense: 24
Durability: 4 of 24
Required Level: 18
Required Strength: 70
Fingerprint: 0xeb85298d
Item Level: 46
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
56% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +34%
Poison Resist +19%
9% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Half Freeze Duration

Prismatic Amulet of Enlightenment
Amulet
Required Level: 33
Fingerprint: 0xd5cb313e
Item Level: 45
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+26 to Energy
Fire Resist +18%
Lightning Resist +18%
Cold Resist +18%
Poison Resist +18%

Bahamut's Ring of the Mind
Ring
Required Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0x1e244df2
Item Level: 49
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+6 to Energy
+114 to Mana

Great Wyrm's Ring of Telekinesis
Ring
Required Level: 29
Fingerprint: 0x1dea8c52
Item Level: 50
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+83 to Mana
Level 2 Telekinesis (10/25 Charges)

Charms:
Cobalt (25) Grand Charm of Pestilence (+25 poison damage / 5 sec)
Garnet (25) Grand Charm
Ruby (27) Grand Charm
Serpent's (51) Grand Charm of Dex (4)
Serpent's (34) Large Charm
Crimson (4) Small Charm of Life (10)
Russet (7) Small Charm of Greed
Russet (7) Small Charm
Amber (10) Small Charm
Ocher (7) Small Charm of Life (6)
Ocher (6) Small Charm of Dexterity (2)
Ocher (6) Small Charm
Tangerine (5) Small Charm of Flame
Cobalt (8) Small Charm of Strength (2)
Lapis (7) Small Charm of the Icicle (2-4)
Lapis (6) Small Charm of Strength (1)
Lapis (6) Small Charm
Small Charm of Vita (18)
Bronze Small Charm of Sustenance (14)
Small Charm of Sustenance (13)
Small Charm of Sustenance (11)

In storage:
Circlet of Teleportation
Circlet
Defense: 28
Durability: 34 of 35
Required Level: 48
Fingerprint: 0xa11fa4a1
Item Level: 48
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
Level 1 Teleport (12/22 Charges)

Malice
Kris
One Hand Damage: 2 - 23
Durability: 7 of 24
Required Level: 15
Required Dexterity: 45
Fingerprint: 0x5f99a60f
Item Level: 74
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
33% Enhanced Damage
Replenish Life -5
0 to Light Radius
Prevent Monster Heal
-100 to Monster Defense Per Hit
100% Chance of Open Wounds
+9 to Maximum Damage
+50 to Attack Rating
25% Target Defense
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Ith Rune
Socketed: El Rune
Socketed: Eth Rune

Beast Grasp
Ring
Required Level: 24
Fingerprint: 0x705d8ee6
Item Level: 78
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+2 to Dexterity
+24 to Mana
+54 to Attack Rating
Lightning Resist +26%
6% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Level 4 Telekinesis (0/30 Charges)

Demon Quill
Dirk
One Hand Damage: 10 - 20
Durability: 19 of 20
Required Level: 19
Required Dexterity: 25
Fingerprint: 0x3d46230d
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
123% Enhanced Damage
+185 to Attack Rating
+4 to Minimum Damage
Level 7 Dim Vision (26/112 Charges)

Maiden's Amulet
Garnet (29) Ring of Protection (2)
Snake's Amulet of Regrowth (Replenish Life 10, for emergencies)

Rare Finds:
Hellrack (River of Flame)
Gladiator's Bane (Ancient Tunnels)

[crazy_bear]

Nice collection of charms for resists there Wayne. I like seeing what you felt was worth keeping. The rares are so interesting on a single pass untwinked char too. On the topic of teleport, I think you would have been Ok without if you tried. One trick for the Infector's pack is to cast a decoy near where they will appear, then after opening the seal immediately go to the NE corner of the seal end. His pack tends to stay on the other side, and you could have probably picked them off with the valk/ranged attack, at least enough to thin them out and get by.

@skoolbus: maybe not all alone and no minions, but what about just no minions/merc?

CB

[skoolbus]

@skoolbus: maybe not all alone and no minions, but what about just no minions/merc?

With town trips and repairing? Paaleeeaaasseee. It's definately possible to beat the game all by yourself if you're allowed town trips. It's likely to be a while before I have a stroke of genious and come up with something (and this tournament has to end first).

[Butzull]

Skoolbus, you're scaring me! :wink2:

Don't let the fact that a single very talented player was able to make Guardian in your tournament make you think that this is/was easy. :)

Butz. :dunce:

[crazy_bear]

With town trips and repairing? Paaleeeaaasseee. It's definately possible to beat the game all by yourself if you're allowed town trips. It's likely to be a while before I have a stroke of genious and come up with something (and this tournament has to end first).

Well, I'm looking forward (and kind of scared) to your stroke of genious for the next one:smiley: .

For my last shot at All alone, Vink the druid has been progressing nicely. Act 3 brought lvl 30 and hurricane and bear. The hurricane went into use immediately, and the ability to slow the flayers was very nice, even though it wasn't hugely damaging yet. The bear waited as the wolves were more useful at this point, but the damage boost was still helpful. In the Kurast bazaar Civerb's cudgel dropped and the nice +max damage helped Vink to beat his way through the act. One stair trap in a temple of upper kurast showed how nice the multiple minions plus hurricane was. A boss pack plus a second normal pack of the melee rogues were gathered around the stairs so Vink appeared right in them. However the chilling took effect quickly and the wolves and ravens went to work, and soon they were all dead with only one potion required. It won't be so easy if that happens on hell difficulty!
The bear was used to kill the council in Trav, and from there the durance wasn't bad. I appreciated hurricane all over again as when the undead flayers charged they would get caught by the hurricane and stop.:thumbsup:

On durance 3, Bremm was able to kill the bear once while he still had friends, but no real danger was had. Meph was tanked by the bear while Vink shot arrows in, and there was no real difficulty there, but no noteworthy drop either.

Act 4 went well for the first parts. A 3xtir kite shield, and lots of spawners kept the mana bulb full. The burning souls that inhabited the plains of despair were easily brought down by hurricane, and the absorb of the cyclone armor meant that their lightning streams didn't hurt at all. The bear easily took out Izual and hellforge gave a nef (left on the ground). Next up chaos sanctuary. At the entrance to the chaos sanctuary: 4 champion oblivion knights. Ouch, those hurt more than I expected, and the ravens can't blind them (or any other oblivion knights) I ended up having to pull them back to the entrance where they got stuck so they could be picked off one at a time. Whenever OK's spawned with more than 2 together they were a huge pain in the rear end. But soon the sanctuary was cleared, and the seals left. Vink started with the Vizier. No problem with the battle, but then the bear knocked him back off the edge when it killed him, no drop. Damn. Hurricane took care of Lord de Seis's minions, and the bear easily squashed de Seis. Last up, the Infector's seal, which was in the bad dead end arrangement. Using the bear as a distractor as I described above I opened the seal and the pack stayed on the other side. However the bear didn't last long enough against the fire to take any out, even with recasting. Soon they were coming around, and the bear had to be placed in the way again. One bad decision later, they were all around Vink and he was backed into the corner. Oh crap... 5 full rejuvs and all his healing potions later Vink was able to break out and run around the corner. Whew, my heart was pounding. I thought he was dead for sure. However, now he was able to pick off the rest and then activate the last seal. So now Vink goes over to meet D, when I suddenly realize I meant to put the players setting down for D, especially with the shortage of pots, but I had forgotten before he spawned. Oh crap again. D has been one of the hard spots for me with druids even with town visits. Well, there was nothing to do but try. I had a good supply of mana pots available from stockpiling the ones that dropped in the chaos sanc, and there were healing shrines in the RoF section after the WP, so there were some options there for Vink. Fortunately D would always target the bear if it was near him, so as it turned out I could put the bear on D, stand just inside hurricane range and fire arrows/tornadoes at him. He only tried to prison Vink once, and he missed! Even so, the fire nova still took a good chunk of life, and the healing pots quickly ran low. A couple of runs to the RoF were made, mana pots were drunk, but D did go down to this reward:got him! (http://img518.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot006jx7.jpg)

The sigon's belt was happily equipped, and the ring turned out to be quite good:
Viper Band
Ring
Required Level: 30
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 40
Fingerprint: 0xa7b185fd
+3 to Minimum Damage
Fire Resist +28%
Lightning Resist +7%
Cold Resist +8%
Adds 1-5 fire damage
Level 1 Telekinesis (13/22 Charges)

Those telekinesis charges will probably come in handy. Ripsaw was tempting, (I id'd it to remind me of the stats) but ultimately it wasn't suitable for this char so it got left behind.

I did the bloody foothills to restock Vink's potion supply and the one interesting drop there was Dac Farren's: Sander's gloves. The +life is nice and the psn damage allowed Vink to ditch the grand charm he was keeping to have a bit of psn damage for preventing monster healing. So now Vink is ready to go for the next push: Onward to Baal!

Vink, lvl 37 Druid, Frigid Highlands WP.

[skoolbus]

Finally was able to start act 1. One set item dropped, a belt, don't know/care what it was since it didn't hold 16 potions, which automatically makes it unusable. I found a nice circlet, 16 resist all and 13 dex, enabling me to max cold resist, near max light, and just above zero for fire and poison. Other than that, I found vermillion jewels like it was my job, one I even saved for a while to mule off.

I finally used my skill points, I maxed fire blast, and I'm putting the rest of my points into death sentry. Might add one to BoS or start with fade, not sure yet. I had two NDE's, first was underground passage I believe, where I was lucky enough to run into a multishot, cursed, extra strong, and might archer pack. Instantly killed my shadow and dropped me down to ~150 life. Not fun, once I ran away and healed, I was more careful. After that, it was quite uneventful until I decided the chance of the countess dropping me a useful rune outweighed the risk. Was a poor decision. On the last level, there were two cursed archer packs (immune to lightning) and my shadow didn't last long at all, but many mana pots later, I had cleared it out, all for a useless eth rune.

I cleared all of the black marsh area, so next time I'm running from the wp to the tamoe highlands whilst spamming CoS and mind blast.

Conqueror OneFingaPushup, level 71, Hell Tamoe Highland

[skoolbus]

Andy was an absolute nightmare, and all she dropped was radament's sphere... A lot of good it does me now... She took all four of my antidote potions, all my mana potions, all my health potions, and some of my full rejuvs. If durial is anywhere near as difficult, I won't be getting past him. After I killed andy, I went back upstairs to try and replenish my potion supply, and what do I get? Trang armor from a normal zombie I believe. While of no use to this char, it fills my then six empty slots so I keep it and mule it off. Next time I'll start up on act 2, not sure if I'm going to do radament or not, his poison is deadly and I have no more antidote potions.

Conqueror OneFingaPushup, level 73, Hell Lut Gholein

[crazy_bear]

After a few days without playing him I picked up Vink again, and took him from the frozen tundra to Baal today.Vink made destroyer today.

To be honest, there were no exciting moments with him as he let the bear stay in front and do most of the work. Ancients weren't a problem and the only trouble with Baal was that he couldn't bring enough potions in, so there was a lot of waiting in the corner for mana/life to recharge (an angelic ring gives life regen)

his drop: crap of course. Nothing useful at all. But at least Vink has become destroyer. Hopefully NM has some stories worth telling that Vink lives through!

CB

[OldSoldier]

Time to update a character I've been playing recently. Took a couple of weeks to get him to Destroyer, but I just got it. I've been playing a bone necro. Yeah yeah, mana intensive and all, but capable of playing through, even if slowly.

Introducing Scunion, the bone spear necromancer. It was a tough slog at first, but with a couple of drops with +2 to raise skeleton and skeleton mastery, act 1 went by with some friends. Somewhere along Normal I found a +3 clay golem necro head, which was nice as I have only put two points into CG and one into golem mastery. Hopefully I can get away with only those, but we'll see. The golem died at tough spots but he's cheap and allows a few seconds to spam bone spear. I imagine he'll die quickly in nightmare but my plan is to make a Peace RW (I already have the shael and thul) and use a fool's poleaxe that Baal dropped to make a valk. Hopefully that and some points into DV and bone wall will keep me safe in the dark dungeons that lie ahead. Bone wall was frustrating as monsters can smash it in a hit in act V normal, even with 13 points in it, but I sure hope it gets better in the higher difficulties. I finished Baal and left the civerb's shield on the ground. So far the best finds have been manald heal (+20% mana regen) and nokozan relic (big fire resist for diablo). My topaz drops have been utter garbage so I am at 49% MF for bosses, 14% normally. Sad.

[Insane Wayne]

Good luck with your Destroyer. :smiley:
But what does the Fool's Poleaxe have to do with anything? Do you mean that you have to swing it to trigger a valk? That sucks, maybe you'll get lucky and find a nice Piercing ITD throwing knife. Any plans for Revives? Like the valk, they can take much abuse, and allow the golem to inflict his slowing. I have a level 6 golem in NM (lvl 1 + 5 skills), and it can survive most situations with a Revive helping and my quick killing.