Lightning Strikes Twice (Thrice!) - Nikola is 99

**DarkChaos** · 26-05-2007, 21:43

Guess lightning does strike twice, or thrice, in this context.

After the last ~10 days of D2 binge and near exhaustion I managed to finally hit 99 with Nikola. Really fun character that I enjoyed thoroughly, and pretty much every aspect of every piece of gear and skill synergized very nicely. I love synergy in characters. Anyways, here he is:

Stats

Skills:

20 Holy Shock
20 Resist Lightning
20 Salvation
20 FoH
8 Redemption
7 Vigor
1 Holy Shield

Gear:

Weapon: Crescent Moon PB
Shield: Exile
Armour: CoH
Helm: Griffon's (IAS/LR jewel)
Amulet: Highlord's
Belt: Arachnid Mesh
Ring: Raven Frost
Ring: BK Ring
Gloves: Crafted gloves (20 IAS, CB, leech, resists)
Boots: Rare Boots (30+ fire/lit/cold res, 30FRW)
Charms:8x Offensive Skillers with +life
7 Lightning Damage/life Small Charms
5 life/resist Small Charms
On switch: CtA/Spirit

Merc: (Holy Freeze)

Weapon: Infinity
Armour: Fortitude
Helm: Guillaume's (Ort)

Need to rest now, too much d2. I actually fell asleep at the computer last night trying to finish the character as fast as I could. Half the level in 10 days is pretty insane to say the least, I didn't even do that on my sorc. Closing thoughts... 3:30 or a bit longer on Baal runs, very safe char. Even when lifetap didn't work I was able to handle fanat lister or mobs with nasty mods in general. Charge to throne, use FoH to kill OK's (though IM only damaged me heavily - didn't kill me), then proceed to wipe the floor with Baal's minions. Baal himself was quite slow actually even with 75% CB on the merc and Static Field and 10% CB of my own, at 4fpa. I wished the whole time I'd have more life, somewhere closer to my Trapsin and Hammerdin but overall he was quite safe and I never really had any close calls. Doll bosspacks with nasty mods were the only thing to really watch out for, Gloams were not a problem.

Before anyone brings it up, yes, he's melee. I don't care if he's not physical - that's too much of a risk in HC. He's melee, so Dash and everyone else can just shut up about it. Your argument about "a sorc is melee if she casts in melee range" is useless because a sorc is not forced to be melee, while a zealot is forced to be melee. IM was still a danger anyways, that's why I used FoH.

Drops from minions and Baal once again were not that amazing, considering the amount of time spent on said runs. Baal really does suck for TC87s :\

Can't think of anything else to say now seeing as my brain is pretty fried.

EDIT: Part of my charscreen now...

**Thyiad** · 26-05-2007, 21:52

Congratulations doesn't begin to cover it

**sirpoopsalot** · 26-05-2007, 22:17

10 days for 1/2 a level? My Blizzy's been stuck at clvl 94 for much longer than that.

Nice work (again).

BTW, any inclination as to which char is your next 99'er project?

**The Cow King** · 26-05-2007, 22:19

My jaw dropped when I read this was a tesladin instead of lightsorc, and then yet again when I realized this was HC

**Denton** · 26-05-2007, 22:25

Great f'n job, DC.

Now tell me how to activate that godmode, it'd be useful in PvP.

edit, can't hold it in any longer: next time, do a real melee with raw physical hurtage, instead of that kind of foul sorcerer :x

**krovak** · 26-05-2007, 22:41

Congrats on your 3rd truly complete character:grin:

I am planning to make a tesladin, too. I have never planned to use griffon's on him, though. Could you compare it for example with guillaumes's or other typical melee helm? I suppose that -85% from conviction together with -35% from crescent moon is enough for most non-LIs. Souls, once their immunity is broken, have 65% LR(~40-50% with griffon's), that should be low enough to kill them almost instantly with listed damage @P1. On the other hand, 45% CB compared with 10% CB could speed up Ball-killing significantly. What do you say?:scratch: