The Ballad of Legendary Larry

[SixteenTons]

I was bored one morning, the fates didn't shine.
I got tired of farming, with stacks and with shrines.
I farmed SixteenTons, and what did I get? Another day older and deeper in debt.
St. Tyrael tried to call me, but I couldn't go until I bought my soul at the company store.

After a couple months of playing a Barb, I got tired of grinding and decided to try a new character. Demon Hunter seemed like a complete 180 - it would give me chance to go through the whole game again from a different perspective.

Something I always enjoyed in D2 was to have fun with my rerolled characters - particularly with low level uniques and sets. There was so much to the game that you missed if you just waited for drops, and now I had a whole Auction House in front of me to make that a reality.

But wait . . .
Items Suck!
Sets Suck!
Legendaries Suck!
RageRageRage!

Screw that noise - I'm gonna make a Demon Hunter, I'm gonna have fun and I'm gonna use Legendaries.
Not just the "good" ones. As many as I can.
Hell - why stop there - let's see what happens if I ONLY use stuff I buy from the Legendary tab.
If it's not Legendary, it's crap!

And LegendaryLarry was born.

I began with the Crudest Boots and a Broken Crown
I rested on Cain's Laurels
I gave in to Aughild's Demands
I borrowed Hammer's Jammers
I dared to don Captain Crimson's Codpiece
The Inquisitor punished me for my Seven Sins by putting me on the Hellrack
I pledged Danetta's Oath, flew on Raven's Wing, and witnessed the awesome power of a level 47 Windforce

And now, on the eve of 1.04, my quest has reached an end.
75 Hours + 74 Legendaries + 4 Difficulties = Achievement - The Prime Evil (Inferno)
LegendaryLarry's banner gets the Grandmaster Hunter sigil.

Was it easy?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
The Legendaries seems to become available in waves - for a few levels I'd be massively overpowered, then a few levels later I'm struggling and I realize that I've got equipment that's 20+ levels behind.
Some things were godly (reduced level Windforce at 47 in A3 NM), and some were horrible (no decent shoulders until 42).
Inferno was a challenge, but it went reasonably well. I played public games a few times, but soloed all key quests the whole way through, and played Acts II-IV in Inferno with only the help of my Enchantress (she appreciated the Legendary bling)

Was it cheap?
Not really, but I could have spent way more than I did if I went for elite items like Natalya's set. For the whole adventure I spent about 70 million gold, and I haven't sold anything back yet. For me, the presence of the Auction House was a key factor in deciding to buy the game, so things like this were what I wanted to do from the start.

Was it stylish?
I enjoyed all the unique artwork - a lot of the pieces are really nice (Ravenswing, Inquisitor, Hallowed Barrier)
Some combinations rocked the runway, and some were What Not to Wear - I wish that Invisible Dye worked on Legendaries so that when my bright blue pants clashed with everything else I could make them go away.

Was if fun?
Hell yeah!
I used a ton of different items and practically every DH skill along the way.
To me, it was much more fun than grinding my original barb with his stack of rares.

What Brought Down the Prime Evil?
My final build for Acts II-IV Inferno was a tank DH:

Items:
Helm of Command
Stormshield
Empyrean Messenger
Inquisitor
Seven Sins
Kymbo's Gold
Puzzle Ring
Hierophant's Seal
Depth Diggers
String of Ears
Sage's Grasp
Sage's Seekers

Skills:
Grenades - Gas Grenades
Chakram - Shuriken Cloud
Caltrops - Jagged Spikes
Spike Trap - Scatter
Sentry - Guardian Turret
Marked for Death - Valley of Death
Numbing Traps
Custom Engineering
Cull the Weak

Key Stats:
DPS 12,000
Health 45,000
AR 400
LoH 1600

Highlight: A face-to-face beatdown on Rakanoth
Lowlight: Struggling to get enough DPS to beat Belial's enrage
Diablo? My Shadow Clone was tougher than Big D

What's Next?
With 1.04 set to drop tomorrow, it's a whole new world for Legendary Larry. Legendaries are getting better, Inferno's getting easier, and things will never again be as they once were. With Paragon Levels in place, I've got a whole new road to walk down.

My Wish for 1.04?
Some new procs for Hammer Jammers:
Can't Touch This - chance to dodge increases by 3% each second until an attack is successfully dodged
Stop! Hammer Time! - 2-5% chance to freeze all enemies and attacks for 1 second, attack speed increased by 400% for 1 second
These large pants cannot be touched.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading.

If anyone has interesting tales about having fun using non-elite Legendary and Set items, please contribute.

[TheThirdMan]

Well done, sir. That was quite an entertaining read. And a fun idea in general. Honestly, your writing is well-informed and clever. I look forward to seeing more of it in the future.

[Llama8]

Well done, sir. That was quite an entertaining read. And a fun idea in general. Honestly, your writing is well-informed and clever. I look forward to seeing more of it in the future.

What he said, except now I can't get U Can't Touch This out of my head.
Thanks for that.