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Once upon a time last week, I was looking at my 'Death' Colossus Sword and thinking "there's a lot of Crushing Blow and Deadly Strike on there... I wonder if I could get them both to 100%"... and then I remembered that Ray already did that, and Liq followed it up with a build that threw 100% Open Wounds on top of that. Oh well, I guess that means I won't be the first, or the most original, but at least I'm adding a big, mean, two-handed swipe to the idea. And since I was going that far I decided to see what kind of damage numbers he could put up (within reason). Also, after the Fendazon, I wanted to build a two-handed zealot so I could compare them a little.
As for the name, unlike my recent Fendazon (NoName), I spent more than 3 seconds trying to think of something this time. Nothing really popped out at first, so eventually I just decided to pay homage to one of my favourite uncles in RL.
Stats:
LCS
... Don't forget 100% Deadly Strike and 100% Crushing Blow on top of those numbers.
Skills:
20 Fanaticism
20 Zeal
20 Sacrifice
20 Blessed Aim (for the passive AR boost)
4+ Resist Fire
1 Vigor, Conviction, Vengeance, Salvation, prereq's
+2 skills (Highlord's Wrath & BattleCommand)
Gear:
ethereal 'Death' Colossus Sword (370%) from v1.07
Fortitude
Guillaume's Face (26/15 Ruby Jewel of Fervor)
Highlord's Wrath
Goreriders
Ravenfrost (19/244)
rare Bramble Mitts (+13 str, +6 dex, 20 IAS, 28 FireRes, 19 LiteRes)
rare Vampirefang Belt (+26 str, +18 life, 23 FireRes, 30 LiteRes, 12 ColdRes)
rare ring (+14 str, +12 life, 38 AR, 16 FireRes, 22 LiteRes, 7% LifeLeech)
Switch: beta-CtA Caduceus + Spirit Sacred Targe
Stash: DemonLimb (Hel rune)
Charms:
6x Sharp GC of Life/Inertia (4 for +99 life, 2 for 14 FRW)
1x Shimmering GC of Life (15/18)
1x Shimmering LC of Vita (7/34)
1x Shimmering SC of Str (5/2)
2x Fine SC of Balance (16/3 & 18/2)
2x ColdResist SC of Balance (11 & 9)
1x Sapphire SC of Vita (11/20 = perfect)
Merc:
Might Aura
ethereal 'Obedience' 1.07 Cryptic Axe
ethereal 'Treachery' Archon Plate
Tal Rasha's Mask (PTopaz)
... with my level22 Fanaticism, he had a 4.5-frame jab going, and ~9k max damage.
And just for kicks, I took a moment to swap armors with him so he could see what the Obedience + Fortitude + Might aura + Fanaticism aura would look like: 13k max damage is what it looks like.
Finds:
Hel/Lum Hellforge
Shimmering Large Charm of Life (+8/11)
Septic Small Charm of Antrax (iirc... it's in the item find thread)
... not much else.
Notes:
1. He was such a powerhouse that most of hell was on /players8, with a dip to /players5 for most of the last couple of acts (including Ancients), with /players3 for the Chaos Sanctuary and WSK. He scored a lot of one-hit kills throughout the entire game, and could've maintained /players8 with ease (it was just a little slower).
2a. As I said previously, my intention was to see what his damage could reach, without making too big of a sacrifice to his survivability and viability. So I could've pumped a bit more damage by dropping a few extra in Strength or swapping some charms, but I felt that was a little overboard.
2b. I was also hoping with all of the +strength/dex items I was planning, I might reach 400 points into Vitality. However, once I got to level65 and equipped everything, I learned I only had about 5.7k AR. So Vitality stopped at 300 and future points all went into Dexterity (even if it wasn't entirely efficient). Also, my initially planned skillpoints into Resist Fire/Lightning were delayed so I could pump Blessed Aim instead. The result pushed me to 9.1k AR at the end (without Enchant from DemonLimb - which I used sporadically throughout hell mostly because the red sword looks better than the grey one).
3. Speaking of sporadic usage, he was so strong that I didn't really bother with casting Battle Orders until he ran into some Dolls in Act3 hell. But it definitely helped when the hard-hitters showed up more in the later acts. He probably had ~5 deaths from IM, and 2-3 more from lazy/slow potion usage.
4. And speaking of hard hitters: They're. Back. Actually, none of them spawned Extra Fast this time, and the map was much more favourable, so I had no problems separating them to battle one-by-one. I still managed to burn through ~50 potions and ~3 merc resurrections questing through the Crystaline Passage, but it wasn't nearly as painful/frantic as it was with NoName.
5. Bonus Screenshot: As far as appearances, the Guillaume's Face and two-handed sword kindof made him remind me of the Black Knight from Monty Python. For example: NONE SHALL PASS!!1one(he really needs black equipment though).
Comparison with the Fendazon:
Well, this was pretty straight forward really...
The Fendazon had a 20-point Decoy to remove some heat and distract monsters. She had an easier time getting decent resists and attack rating, and her merc didn't get killed by IM. She had a slightly crappier backup attack, but that opinion is shaped more by the 25% flee on Passion than the speed & power of Berserk. The fendazon is probably more original and rare, so she probably gets some style points.
The paladin had ridiculous damage and a merc that was a force in his own right. He had less leech, but didn't as much. His resists & AR could be improved with a more balanced buildplan. Aura-swapping on the paladin makes him more enjoyable to play at times, since he has more varied solutions for the problems he'll face. Although his backup was adequate, it was no more than that (lower /player settings probably would've helped).
Their equipment needs are roughly equal, in my eyes, as is their overall survivability. Fend can attack more targets and is actually a little quicker for me, but Zeal can attack one target multiple times, which is nice since most things died so fast that I rarely fought more than 2-3 monsters at once. Zeal cannot be interrupted too, which is probably the biggest advantage in comparing their attacks.
The way I built them, I'd probably give a slight edge to the paladin because he had a Sanctuary aura to help remove physical immunities from undead (which, is about ~70% of the PI's in the game) - but a Reaper's Toll mercenary on either one would mostly remove the aura's advantage. Running around with Vigor is another plus for the paladin, but a minor one... So really, it's a tossup for me as to which is "better", but I give the edge to the Paladin.
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Originally Posted by galtwish
. Where's this nasty little weapon headed off to next?
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