Code:
Forum Name Character Char Name LVL ACT WP Score
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jgreg7 Necromancer Gere 40 NMA2 Lost City 71
SuperSavage Barb Zen 29 NMA1 Outer Cloister 67
jiansonz Assassin Selena 60 NMA3 Kurast Docks 63
Wolron Sorceress Weakron 48 NMA1 Dark Wood 43 (R.I.P)
Quickdeath Barb Styff 40 A5 Worldstone Keep 32 (R.I.P.)
Skunkbelly Paladin Lameskunk 33 A5 Crys. Passage 31
jjscud Assassin Kitana 25 A4 Chaos Sanctuary 27 (R.I.P)
DementiaMaster Paladin Keldorn 24 A2 Canyon of the Magi 10 (R.I.P)
Black Rat Amazon Iramax 21 A3 Flayer Jungle 10 (R.I.P)
Hoop76 Barb Hoop_II 22 A2 Lost City 7
Docturnal Paladin Zealless 23 A2 Lost City 5 (R.I.P)
Horobi Sorceress Maffer 28 A3 Great Marsh 2 (R.I.P)
Bull(R) Paladin Nixar 8 A1 Stony Field -1 (R.I.P)
Uzziah Sorceress Systematic 15 A1 Cold Plains -2
Milb Paladin Hermes 15 A1 Jail Level 1 -13
Krikke Sorceress Clueless 7 A1 Cold Plains -18 (R.I.P)
Wow, was that ever a marathon ending of act 2 NM! Effective playing time of CotM and the seven tombs was something like 8-9 hours.
There was only one nerve-wrecking situation, really. It was at the start of the first tomb I entered. I drew the scary starting layout where the doorway opens up right into a 3-way corridor junction without even an entrance room to fight in. A minion beetle had seen us. It got shot down (knockback on Langer Briser rules!). Then I saw the boss: Fire Enchanted! On the version I play, standing next to such a beast when it takes damage is lethally dangerous. That goes for his minions as well, although they are slightly less dangerous.
The beast came running. I switched to the shield but failed to move away before Sharyn had shot the boss and sparks were flying. I drank a full rejuve immediately. I think that is what saved me.
I ran down-left. In that corridor, another beetle pack was waiting, with one of them having a different colour, i.e. a boss pack. Quick portal park, then back from the entrance. I could shoot 2 more minions, then too many beetles came storming, including the FE boss. Panic run into the right corridor, past an Unraveler and his buddies, then right into a huge back of beetles! I got completely surrounded. I opened a TP and could fortunately click on it. Otherwise it would have been over, most likely.
Now I was really nervous. However, there was a third path I had not yet tried, and I thought I saw that the FE boss followed me quite a bit into the corridor so it might be out of the way. Down from entrance again, and a quick CoS casting and quick run to the north (so the FE boss didn´t get any time to find us). Yet another beetle boss pack here! The minions were blinded and I could run past them. The corridor was rather long and ended with a closed door. No more monsters here, and only the "new" beetle boss had followed. It was not so dangerous (Mana Burn + Stone Skin). Selena tanked it and Sharyn eventually killed it. Finally some breathing room!
Now what? The map revealed that beyond the door lied the treasure chamber (with at least one more boss pack). My main plan was to avoid that FE beetle for as long as possible, until more fighting room was secured. I still got back and killed some minions belonging to the newly slain boss. I also got a few Burning Dead to follow us and killed them quickly. Now I didn´t dare to get closer to the junction (for fear of attracting the attention of the FE boss). Time to try that treasure room!
Burning Dead minions and a boss pack of Preserved Dead were waiting. The Unraveler boss was halfway into the room, so he could see (and resurrect monsters) a bit outside the door. When the mummy boss found us, I had to move back. My desire to pull back was a bit too strong. The early Unraveler close to the junction saw us and got closer. I backed off from there too, since the boss mummy would be too much in the way for us to take out the Unraveler (FYI, it takes Selena and Sharyn at least 12 seconds to kill an Unraveler, and that is with concentrated and constant firing from both of them).
Now I was sandwiched between two resurrectors and harassed by the mummy boss, a minion and two Burning Dead minions. Damn! OK, that mummy boss must die in order for me to get any sort of fighting room. Now followed a frantic dance, where Selena tried to keep the three other critters blinded, tried to get Sharyn to fire at the boss, tanked the boss when she did fire at it, all the while not moving more than 4 steps in any direction of the corridor.
The boss wasn´t too bad (Mana Burn + Holy Fire), although the drained mana was annyoing since I needed it for CoS and BoS recasts. Once it died, that was really the turning point. The three other monsters died, I could go back to the regular Unraveler, blind it and kill it, then lure out more monsters from the treasure chamber. When the Unraveler boss moved towards the door, I answered that move by running past him into the treasure room. I did NOT want him to see my big pile of undead corpses in the corridor! There was one problem left, three mummies left in the treasure room. I lured them to a corner of the room, out of sight of the boss. Now there was only the boss (Multiple Shots + Spectral Hit) left. He was close to the door and OH NO, he´s doing resurrections. He could apparantly see that far BUT the other undead could not see us! Yeah, yeah, please keep turning your head in that direction (so we don´t need to suffer/dodge your multiple elemental-boosted Unholy Bolts)! He died, and the rest of the tomb was easy from here.
An excellent find (a dream item, in fact) in another tomb: Guillaume´s Face! Now it gets reallly interesting planning the future Strength for Selena. This helmet requires 115 STR, exactly the same as the weapon type with the best fighting potential, Runic Talons. Selena has 82 STR if you count her base value and a few points from resist charms I will likely keep the whole game. I have saved stat points for a while now (I have 21 at the moment), those that haven´t been needed to keep the blocking at 65%.
Guillaume´s Face will not be used much in NM. We are still treasure hunting, and CB is not effective on /p8 anyway. Selena will likely not have the strength for it in NM either, but Sharyn can wear it (unassisted) once she reaches level 67. That will be around the Diablo fight (if I live that long).
I found no faster 2s weapon than a Kris, so a 'Strength' Kris it was for the Duriel fight. Selena downed a good number of Thawing potions and filled up inventory with greater healers. I took on Duriel at /p3. After a first vain attempt (that included a quick and brutal Sharyn death), we got into a very good fighting position. Sharyn was outside the HF range and if Duriel knocked back Selena, she got moved away from Sharyn. Only one scary Smite hit (that took away about 60% of Selena´s life bulb, must have been a critical hit) during the fight, otherwise pretty smooth sailing. I used up about 12 greater healers and 5 full rejuves, but didn´t need any more retreats.
Selena the Skilless and Sharyn the Sniper
Levels: 60
Next area: Spider Forest, NM
Score: 63 pts.
Total MF: +460% for Sharyn´s kills, +382% otherwise
Originally Posted by jiansonz
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