Set/Unique Item Worshippers Tournament II
- Thread starter erimatbrad
- Start date
jiansonz
New member
Those are some tough equipment decisions to make. Can´t you keep Hwanin´s belt and go with Thawing potions non-stop?
I have to ask a question: you mention that you use Double Swing with the slowing weapons on the switch. Why not Frenzy instead? That would give you 6 seconds of really fast attacks with Fleshrender once you switch back.
@Gaz:
Nice to see more action in this tournament. :thumbsup:
The host for this tournament set the standard for S/U Worshipper Paladins in the last tourney, he reached Plains of Despair in Hell. :wink3:
Oops, I forgot to fully update my scoring line. Melica has cleared Halls of the Dead and everything up to that. So it´s Far Oasis next.
Insane Wayne
Active member
Welcome to the tournament, Gaz.
Some of my characters carry one thawing potion in a rejuv belt slot, but in that case I have a tank/minion to monitor when it's really needed.
If I dedicate a whole row of Hwanin's to thawing, that's nearly the same as Arctic w/o thawing. I'll try my "one potion" technique, but if I'm making too many trips I'll reconsider.
1. Damage is unimpotant, as I only use it to apply monster slow and/or Knockback.
2. Unlike Frenzy, it starts out super-quick and gets that job done faster, especially against 3 or 4 monsters.
3. I get a little out-of-control with the whole run/walk thing.
However, I didn't realize the attack speed carried over. It's only level 1 Frenzy. Plus I never bothered much with the single-weapon approach until Hell. It's definitley worth trying. I'll test it out, thanks. :smiley:
If, by non-stop, you mean: "drink 20 every town trip", then no, I can't do that. I lack the patience. Anyways, Max very rarely visits town. I only pick up small valuables, like wands and orbs, to stick in my cube. And flawless gems. Even buffed to the max, the potions would wear off long before I'd return to town. I have no room in my inventory to carry them either.
Some of my characters carry one thawing potion in a rejuv belt slot, but in that case I have a tank/minion to monitor when it's really needed.
If I dedicate a whole row of Hwanin's to thawing, that's nearly the same as Arctic w/o thawing. I'll try my "one potion" technique, but if I'm making too many trips I'll reconsider.
I use Double Swing because
1. Damage is unimpotant, as I only use it to apply monster slow and/or Knockback.
2. Unlike Frenzy, it starts out super-quick and gets that job done faster, especially against 3 or 4 monsters.
3. I get a little out-of-control with the whole run/walk thing.
However, I didn't realize the attack speed carried over. It's only level 1 Frenzy. Plus I never bothered much with the single-weapon approach until Hell. It's definitley worth trying. I'll test it out, thanks. :smiley:
Insane Wayne
Active member
I went ahead and made some major gear changes. I ditched Hwanin's belt, Mahim amulet, and the Iratha's helm/glove combo; replacing them with Guillaume's (adding an Ort rune), Bloodfist, Nokozan, and Arctic belt.
The worst part about losing belt slots is my mana problem. To solve it, I added some mana charms, including a Serpent's Grand Charm of Strength. With BO, my mana is up to 300 now, and I can get by with one row of mana pots instead of two. The downside: I am down to ONE free space in my inventory! (Not really a problem though because I rarely collect anything in the field, and if I do, I stick it in my cube.)
There's another benefit to the mana boost. If I get hit with mana burn, I can quickly regen enough mana to fire off a howl/leap when threatened, and conserve my pots. It's a big help.
The Countess' Tower gave me fits, with frequent stair traps. Level 3 had dual goat packs with Stone Skin and Mana Burn. No NDEs, but it was a major hassle. I hit the trifecta of disaster auras on level 5. Upon entering, we picked up a Conviction aura. Fortunately, nothing attacked immediately, but I knew they were close. I noticed an unusual barrel formation on one side. Several barrels formed a solid "L" shape, with additional barrels scattered beyond them.
I walked along the inside of it, feeling like a rat in a maze. After taunting and killing a few ghosts, the Conviction boss (goat) and his pals ran up near me, but were heavily bottle-necked trying to get at me. Flux paced around a bit (he hates tight spaces) and attracted 2 more boss packs: CE Fanaticism Spectral Hit goat pack, and FELE Might Rogue Archers, from a side chamber!! :yikes:
I had to get out of range, and did so by retreating to the bottom corner next to the entrance. The barrels were the key, because the goats were forced into a sloppy single-file line, and their bodies (along with the extra barrels) blocked the archers from closing in. The goat bosses were among the first in line, and eliminating the Conviction and Fanaticism auras made the rest of the battle tolerable. You'd think I'd show gratitude to the barrels, but I smashed them anyway...
The Countess dropped an Ort rune.
Smooth sailing through the rest of Act 1. The Jail produced another set ring, but it was just a boring ol' Cathan's. I'm still stuck with dual-Cathan's! :embarassed: Andariel dropped Tancred's amulet, which is notable because I found the Crowbill earlier as well. The set bonus is 78% MF, which I'll be sure to exploit for future Act Boss kills.
The Act 2 fun began right out the gate, literally. Nice place for a tomb! Level 1 had a stair trap of champ beetles, which was messy. Level 2 opened into these guys, quickly joined by this. Ugh. Lots of Howling and scrambling there.
I found Sigon's shield in the Lost City. This turned out to be a blessing, because I needed the +skill (and Battle Command) to howl away minions in the Ancient Tunnels. How timely! :smiley:
I could've managed without it, but it sure made things easier. My only scare was a Conviction FE mummy pack. I let Flux finish him off.
I decided CBF was necessary for the Viper Temple, so I equipped the venerable Hawkmail. During many battles, I danced around in the lower half of my life bulb and got whacked around like a rag doll. Without chilling assitance, I made sure to hit everything with my slowing weapons first. It was sloppy and slow progress, but I survived.
After years of D2, I'm still terrified of Fangskin. I voluntarily hopped into the altar, packed with an unraveller and skellies, rather than face Fangskin. Easy choice. I portaled back and eliminated the snakes from the safety of the altar stairs.
Not much to comment about skill-wise. Random points went to Whirlwind (blah) and Battle Cry. (After recently wasting a free point to open up Battle Cry, I finally hit it randomly, too late... :tongue: ) It's an awesome skill though, I use it often. I placed a free point in Howl.
Equipment-wise, I'm really loving the Guillaume's/Fleshrender combo. At p1, I can tear through some champ packs, and occasionally kill lesser monsters in 2 hits.
[highlight]Conqueror Maximum (Max) Fang, 16 S/Us, level 78, Act 2 Hell, Jerhyn's Palace[/highlight]
@jiansonz --- I tried your Frenzy tip to get the IAS Fleshrender bonus. But I can't see a difference. Maybe my AR is too low to rack up enough consecutive hits, or maybe level 1 Frenzy can't get to the next breakpoint.
The worst part about losing belt slots is my mana problem. To solve it, I added some mana charms, including a Serpent's Grand Charm of Strength. With BO, my mana is up to 300 now, and I can get by with one row of mana pots instead of two. The downside: I am down to ONE free space in my inventory! (Not really a problem though because I rarely collect anything in the field, and if I do, I stick it in my cube.)
There's another benefit to the mana boost. If I get hit with mana burn, I can quickly regen enough mana to fire off a howl/leap when threatened, and conserve my pots. It's a big help.
The Countess' Tower gave me fits, with frequent stair traps. Level 3 had dual goat packs with Stone Skin and Mana Burn. No NDEs, but it was a major hassle. I hit the trifecta of disaster auras on level 5. Upon entering, we picked up a Conviction aura. Fortunately, nothing attacked immediately, but I knew they were close. I noticed an unusual barrel formation on one side. Several barrels formed a solid "L" shape, with additional barrels scattered beyond them.
I walked along the inside of it, feeling like a rat in a maze. After taunting and killing a few ghosts, the Conviction boss (goat) and his pals ran up near me, but were heavily bottle-necked trying to get at me. Flux paced around a bit (he hates tight spaces) and attracted 2 more boss packs: CE Fanaticism Spectral Hit goat pack, and FELE Might Rogue Archers, from a side chamber!! :yikes:
I had to get out of range, and did so by retreating to the bottom corner next to the entrance. The barrels were the key, because the goats were forced into a sloppy single-file line, and their bodies (along with the extra barrels) blocked the archers from closing in. The goat bosses were among the first in line, and eliminating the Conviction and Fanaticism auras made the rest of the battle tolerable. You'd think I'd show gratitude to the barrels, but I smashed them anyway...
The Countess dropped an Ort rune.
Smooth sailing through the rest of Act 1. The Jail produced another set ring, but it was just a boring ol' Cathan's. I'm still stuck with dual-Cathan's! :embarassed: Andariel dropped Tancred's amulet, which is notable because I found the Crowbill earlier as well. The set bonus is 78% MF, which I'll be sure to exploit for future Act Boss kills.
The Act 2 fun began right out the gate, literally. Nice place for a tomb! Level 1 had a stair trap of champ beetles, which was messy. Level 2 opened into these guys, quickly joined by this. Ugh. Lots of Howling and scrambling there.
I found Sigon's shield in the Lost City. This turned out to be a blessing, because I needed the +skill (and Battle Command) to howl away minions in the Ancient Tunnels. How timely! :smiley:
I could've managed without it, but it sure made things easier. My only scare was a Conviction FE mummy pack. I let Flux finish him off.
I decided CBF was necessary for the Viper Temple, so I equipped the venerable Hawkmail. During many battles, I danced around in the lower half of my life bulb and got whacked around like a rag doll. Without chilling assitance, I made sure to hit everything with my slowing weapons first. It was sloppy and slow progress, but I survived.
After years of D2, I'm still terrified of Fangskin. I voluntarily hopped into the altar, packed with an unraveller and skellies, rather than face Fangskin. Easy choice. I portaled back and eliminated the snakes from the safety of the altar stairs.
Not much to comment about skill-wise. Random points went to Whirlwind (blah) and Battle Cry. (After recently wasting a free point to open up Battle Cry, I finally hit it randomly, too late... :tongue: ) It's an awesome skill though, I use it often. I placed a free point in Howl.
Equipment-wise, I'm really loving the Guillaume's/Fleshrender combo. At p1, I can tear through some champ packs, and occasionally kill lesser monsters in 2 hits.
[highlight]Conqueror Maximum (Max) Fang, 16 S/Us, level 78, Act 2 Hell, Jerhyn's Palace[/highlight]
@jiansonz --- I tried your Frenzy tip to get the IAS Fleshrender bonus. But I can't see a difference. Maybe my AR is too low to rack up enough consecutive hits, or maybe level 1 Frenzy can't get to the next breakpoint.
jiansonz
New member
Wayne, that was a certainly a potential death trap there in the Tower Cellar! Nice help from the barrels. :wink3:
I have played in the Enchantress tourney to allow you to catch up. Then you just fly past me! My plan yesterday was to get to Jerhyn´s Palace as well, but the Maggot Lair turned out to be more than handful...
I got beetles to fight in the Far Oasis as well, so I got some good practice there.
First floor of Maggot Lair had a very dangerous FECE Mana Burn beetle boss. Even when I kept the distance, some bolts hurt Melica a LOT. Geshef got killed in the same incident. I portalled to town to resurrect him and to drink thawing potions. I also switched to Fade, getting lightning resist near maxed, and cold/fire to >80% when I held Crushflange.
Because the Lair is a high level area, I had more trouble hitting enemies than usual, especially with Blade Fury using Crushflange (Bloodrise worked better because of the big AR bonus).
I had the opportunity to assault that beetle pack from another direction, which was good. Killed all minions but one. The last minion arrived together with the boss. The minion got frozen in a corridor, with the boss right behind it. I only managed to release one Meteor before the minion was dead and I had to retreat. I spammed Mind Blast to get the boss back into the flame patch. That brought its life down below half. I continued the fight in a very cautious way, getting Geshef to tank. I used Blade Fury with Bloodrise, and eventually the Open Wounds and Geshef´s ice wore down the boss. Phew!
I had big trouble making any sort of progress in the breeding chamber. I used everything I had, Meteors and Chain Lightning Storms just inside the entrance (didn´t dare to get further inside because of the risk of getting trapped), lots and LOTS of Death Sentries, CoS to keep the big maggots from laying eggs, etc. I had to retreat several times because of Coldworm´s nasty poison. Even with antidote help, Melica´s poison resistance is negative...
After some big Death Sentry bursts, I had a few chances to get up to Coldworm and smack her, but didn´t. Her extra abilities were LE + Stone Skin. Scary bolts, hard to hit, physical resistance...
After what seemed like 15 minutes (where I had been forced to make two trips back to town to buy potions (both mana, healing and antidotes)), the breeding chamber was still pretty much full of maggots and eggs. Sigh...
I needed a new plan. It´s for moments like these I keep Hwanin´s belt in the stash. I had to stop Coldworm from regenerating.
Getting that crucial hit wasn´t easy. More CoS, loads of Death Sentries, some more Meteors, spam BF in Coldworm´s direction now and then. Big sigh of relief when I saw her emit the first bolts when there were no Death Sentries out. That meant that the PMH had been applied. Now it was just a matter of time. Most of the damage came from exploding big maggots next to her, but I got some more hits in, and OW triggered at least twice. Finally she died!
The mop-up work on big maggots, small maggots and eggs was the longest I have ever experienced. It took at least 10 minutes. When we were done, Melica took a long look at the room. There was not a single patch of ground that wasn´t completely covered with bloody pulp of exploded bug parts!
I was now too tired to continue playing, and it was late as well. So Fangskin and buddies will have to wait until next session. I certainly respect the Temple in Hell, with any character build. I am not that scared, though, because this character has plenty of tricks available. I can explode Bone Warrior- and mummy corpses, I can keep all normal snakes from Charging (if my CoS castings are timed well) and snakes certainly do not like fire. :azn:
The worst case scenario is probably a Champion pack of snakes when I have little ground secured.
Conqueror Melica the PS Assassin and Geshef the Cold Wolf, Level 79, 16 S/U items equipped, Hell Lost City next
I have played in the Enchantress tourney to allow you to catch up. Then you just fly past me! My plan yesterday was to get to Jerhyn´s Palace as well, but the Maggot Lair turned out to be more than handful...
I got beetles to fight in the Far Oasis as well, so I got some good practice there.
First floor of Maggot Lair had a very dangerous FECE Mana Burn beetle boss. Even when I kept the distance, some bolts hurt Melica a LOT. Geshef got killed in the same incident. I portalled to town to resurrect him and to drink thawing potions. I also switched to Fade, getting lightning resist near maxed, and cold/fire to >80% when I held Crushflange.
Because the Lair is a high level area, I had more trouble hitting enemies than usual, especially with Blade Fury using Crushflange (Bloodrise worked better because of the big AR bonus).
I had the opportunity to assault that beetle pack from another direction, which was good. Killed all minions but one. The last minion arrived together with the boss. The minion got frozen in a corridor, with the boss right behind it. I only managed to release one Meteor before the minion was dead and I had to retreat. I spammed Mind Blast to get the boss back into the flame patch. That brought its life down below half. I continued the fight in a very cautious way, getting Geshef to tank. I used Blade Fury with Bloodrise, and eventually the Open Wounds and Geshef´s ice wore down the boss. Phew!
I had big trouble making any sort of progress in the breeding chamber. I used everything I had, Meteors and Chain Lightning Storms just inside the entrance (didn´t dare to get further inside because of the risk of getting trapped), lots and LOTS of Death Sentries, CoS to keep the big maggots from laying eggs, etc. I had to retreat several times because of Coldworm´s nasty poison. Even with antidote help, Melica´s poison resistance is negative...
After some big Death Sentry bursts, I had a few chances to get up to Coldworm and smack her, but didn´t. Her extra abilities were LE + Stone Skin. Scary bolts, hard to hit, physical resistance...
After what seemed like 15 minutes (where I had been forced to make two trips back to town to buy potions (both mana, healing and antidotes)), the breeding chamber was still pretty much full of maggots and eggs. Sigh...
I needed a new plan. It´s for moments like these I keep Hwanin´s belt in the stash. I had to stop Coldworm from regenerating.
Getting that crucial hit wasn´t easy. More CoS, loads of Death Sentries, some more Meteors, spam BF in Coldworm´s direction now and then. Big sigh of relief when I saw her emit the first bolts when there were no Death Sentries out. That meant that the PMH had been applied. Now it was just a matter of time. Most of the damage came from exploding big maggots next to her, but I got some more hits in, and OW triggered at least twice. Finally she died!
The mop-up work on big maggots, small maggots and eggs was the longest I have ever experienced. It took at least 10 minutes. When we were done, Melica took a long look at the room. There was not a single patch of ground that wasn´t completely covered with bloody pulp of exploded bug parts!
I was now too tired to continue playing, and it was late as well. So Fangskin and buddies will have to wait until next session. I certainly respect the Temple in Hell, with any character build. I am not that scared, though, because this character has plenty of tricks available. I can explode Bone Warrior- and mummy corpses, I can keep all normal snakes from Charging (if my CoS castings are timed well) and snakes certainly do not like fire. :azn:
The worst case scenario is probably a Champion pack of snakes when I have little ground secured.
Conqueror Melica the PS Assassin and Geshef the Cold Wolf, Level 79, 16 S/U items equipped, Hell Lost City next
jiansonz
New member
Claw Viper Temple had the start where you get right in the middle of a 3-way junction, with no "room" to speak of. We were greeted by a pack of regular Embalmed from the middle corridor. Nice and easy warm-up. I took the passage down-left first. Short empty corridor, then an end room with closed door. Lots of hissing there, and it looked to be lit up. Boss pack? Uh, I better check the other ways first.
The central direction turned out to be a very long straight corridor with side alcoves and passages branching off it. Regular snake packs of both types, then an easy boss pack of Embalmed. This long secured corridor was my saving grace, because the righthand passage (from the start) had several nasty snake bosses.
Level 2 was calm at first, then we met a small pack of regular Claw Vipers. I spotted two Salamanders on the altar platform. What a great opportunity! I killed one with Blade Fury, then used the second as a target for Dragon Flight to get up there. Tank and rain Meteors on that snake, then I had a very easy time slaying a lot of snakes with BF. Success!!
The tough enemies in Jerhyn´s palace were some really dangerous archer packs. A early double boss pack on level 2 had me worried. However, I managed to get the first boss to follow us towards the entrance, alone. It had very dangerous abilities: Multishot Spectral Hit Stone Skin, plus it had help from a Might aura from the other boss. If all arrows hit, Geshef would be down in 2 volleys! Melica got hurt a lot, too. I had to get out of there and prepare better. Thawing potions and antidotes for both of us, then switch to Fade.
The Stone Skin (making the boss PI) made my usual 'spam BF with Crushflange' method nearly useless. But the boss would be certainly be vulnerable to fire. Skeleton archers don´t move much, so I figured that a single Meteor + afterflames could probably kill it. I took a chance, got in, scored 2 quick hits and ran away. It worked!
The second boss was Extra Strong on top of the Might. I used the pillars as cover, then did the same sort of dash in. Two quick hits, then run. Down it went. :azn:
Pretty hairy start in the Arcane Sanctuary. I chose the teleporting qudrant and met an early boss pack of Specters. Killed 2 minions, then the boss came flying along with 3 minions. Spectral Hit + LE + Extra Strong! Geshef got killed quickly. I had to flee back to the WP platform. I decided to continue the fight myself. The platform isn´t much fighting space (and I happened to hit the WP twice, too. Annoying and dangerous) but it´s still better than a narrow passageway. I kept the minions blinded and danced around the platform, trying to avoid the boss, charge up and release Meoteors on the minions. First minion down, and out came the Death Sentry. I got a chain reaction going where both the other minions died. Boss almost dead, and I nailed it by keeping it burning (using Mind Blast to push it back) in the thickest flames.
The last quadrant had an early FELE Extra Strong goat pack. It was a very good thing I had the teleporting quadrant cleared, so I could lure the goats to the first teleporter, trap them and turn them into sitting ducks.
One interesting find in the palace: Chance Guards. Gee, those would have been nice...about two difficulties ago! OK, I will probably use them a few times but they are not good enough for regular use.
Random skill point went to Burst of Speed. Not bad.
Conqueror Melica the PS Assassin and Geshef the Cold Wolf, Level 80, 16 S/U items equipped, Hell Canyon of the Magi next
The central direction turned out to be a very long straight corridor with side alcoves and passages branching off it. Regular snake packs of both types, then an easy boss pack of Embalmed. This long secured corridor was my saving grace, because the righthand passage (from the start) had several nasty snake bosses.
Level 2 was calm at first, then we met a small pack of regular Claw Vipers. I spotted two Salamanders on the altar platform. What a great opportunity! I killed one with Blade Fury, then used the second as a target for Dragon Flight to get up there. Tank and rain Meteors on that snake, then I had a very easy time slaying a lot of snakes with BF. Success!!
The tough enemies in Jerhyn´s palace were some really dangerous archer packs. A early double boss pack on level 2 had me worried. However, I managed to get the first boss to follow us towards the entrance, alone. It had very dangerous abilities: Multishot Spectral Hit Stone Skin, plus it had help from a Might aura from the other boss. If all arrows hit, Geshef would be down in 2 volleys! Melica got hurt a lot, too. I had to get out of there and prepare better. Thawing potions and antidotes for both of us, then switch to Fade.
The Stone Skin (making the boss PI) made my usual 'spam BF with Crushflange' method nearly useless. But the boss would be certainly be vulnerable to fire. Skeleton archers don´t move much, so I figured that a single Meteor + afterflames could probably kill it. I took a chance, got in, scored 2 quick hits and ran away. It worked!
The second boss was Extra Strong on top of the Might. I used the pillars as cover, then did the same sort of dash in. Two quick hits, then run. Down it went. :azn:
Pretty hairy start in the Arcane Sanctuary. I chose the teleporting qudrant and met an early boss pack of Specters. Killed 2 minions, then the boss came flying along with 3 minions. Spectral Hit + LE + Extra Strong! Geshef got killed quickly. I had to flee back to the WP platform. I decided to continue the fight myself. The platform isn´t much fighting space (and I happened to hit the WP twice, too. Annoying and dangerous) but it´s still better than a narrow passageway. I kept the minions blinded and danced around the platform, trying to avoid the boss, charge up and release Meoteors on the minions. First minion down, and out came the Death Sentry. I got a chain reaction going where both the other minions died. Boss almost dead, and I nailed it by keeping it burning (using Mind Blast to push it back) in the thickest flames.
The last quadrant had an early FELE Extra Strong goat pack. It was a very good thing I had the teleporting quadrant cleared, so I could lure the goats to the first teleporter, trap them and turn them into sitting ducks.
One interesting find in the palace: Chance Guards. Gee, those would have been nice...about two difficulties ago! OK, I will probably use them a few times but they are not good enough for regular use.
Random skill point went to Burst of Speed. Not bad.
Conqueror Melica the PS Assassin and Geshef the Cold Wolf, Level 80, 16 S/U items equipped, Hell Canyon of the Magi next
jiansonz
New member
It is a lot of fun, becuase you have only partial control over which direction the character is going. Just go ahead and start a character. :azn:
Melica faced maggots, Crushers and melee cats in the Canyon. The first boss pack was cats, and they were fortunately quite wimpy (with a 'tankable without being so painful to do it'-boss). Next up, I saw a Might aura in one direction, took a 180 degree turn and saw Fanaticism in the other direction. I chose a third direction (up from the waypoint). I met no boss there, and could secure enough space to be safe for the rest of the area. The Might boss was a Crusher, which was also Extra Fast and something else nasty I don´t remember. Geshef got killed, and Melica was forced to run along the entire eastern edge of the area several times, whittling down that boss with Blade Fury.
The seven tombs had a disproportianlly large amounts of Gorebellies (who are cold immune, yuck!) but unless I faced a boss pack early or the boss was Extra Fast, they weren´t much trouble. If I should try to find one good thing about fighting these annoying brutes, is that none will shatter when it dies, and they make excellent bombs...
Melica´s abysmal poison resistance meant that for every melee poison hit from an Unraveler or Preserved Dead, I had to go town or quickly find an antidote on the ground. After a while, I started to carry around dropped antidotes, and/or put them in small stashes at strategic places. Even the poison breath of an Unraveler (which you can usually just ignore) took down Melica´s life to below half, eventually.
Unravelers were preferrably meleed at range 2 (so they couldn´t melee back). It wasn´t always easy to arrange, but often worked. At that distance, they will only breathe poison and shoot Unholy Bolts. Bosses with Holy Freeze, LE or Multishot was best not meleed, though.
It´s quite interesting; my big damage type is fire, then lightning and physical after that. But it´s the cold immunes that give me the most trouble. It really drives home how important Geshef is to this character.
I (foolishly) fought Duriel on /players 3. Will I ever learn that unless you have strong recastable minions or >1500 life, Hell Duriel is DANGEROUS!!? (Sigh.)
The plan was to equip Crushflange + Sigon´s shield. Use Phoenix Strike until I score one charge-up, then release with Dragon Talon (my finisher with highest chance to hit). I pictured a tough battle, but I also thought I could have the flames from several Meteors burning the big slug. Yeah, right...
Tanking Duriel was much more painful than I had expected. He seemed to hit far more often than the blocking would suggest. Melica had boosted her cold resist with potions, but it was still not above 50%. That could be one explanation for the unexpected pain. On some occasions, a HUGE hit out of nowhere took off 60% of Melica´s life. I had to drink more full rejuves than I had planned. I think I had 13 of them to start with.
I got better at drinking super healing potions faster, and that helped a bit. Also got a bit luckier with long periods of time (like, 7 seconds or so!) without getting hit. The Crushing Blows and flames did eventually take its toll on Duriel. When he was slivered, I portalled back to town and put on Chance Guards. Switched to Bloodrise/Milabrega´s Orb and told Geshef that this was going to be painful. He would now have to tank for me. Blade Fury with Open Wounds all the way from here. Three resurrections and one more Geshef-death later, Duriel died. Woohoo!
4 full rejuves left (but I´ll bring in some regular gems to cube more for next session)
Disappointing drop: failed set Lochaber Axe, failed set Cestus, rare Cestus, rare Composite Bow, rare Ring...
Melica is now in the lead! Among those who have updated, that is.
If I know Insane Wayne as well as I think, Max the barb is probably at least halfway through act 3 by now...Conqueror Melica the PS Assassin and Geshef the Cold Wolf, Level 80, 16 S/U items equipped, Hell Spider Forest next
Insane Wayne
Active member
Max narrowly survived after a critical mistake in the Palace. It was by far my worst NDE, and probably qualifies as an extreme NDE. I was on level 3, and opened a door which led to Fire Eye's usual area. It was packed with horror archers, including 2 boss packs. We slowly taunted them out the door for easy pickings, and then I coaxed the bosses out. No problem.
From the doorway, I taunted out additional normal monsters. After all that, I figured that room had to be empty, and stepped in. Big mistake!
Packed along side the wall, just inside the doorway, were more archers. I got slammed and chilled. 2 quick rejuvs. I hobbled further into the room. Flux came in, took a couple volleys, and dropped like a rock, his first Hell death IIRC. I used his cover to escape back out the door. I portaled out and resurrected Flux. To ID my attackers, I needed a very narrow angle to peer through the doorway. Yikes!
Boss pack plus champs! Never assume anything! Those sneaky ********! I got my revenge...
Max and Flux enjoyed an easy clear of the Arcane Sanctuary. There were no nasty apparition packs to threaten us. Mana-burn was an early nuisance, but I neutralized it by forcing Flux to tank the ghosts while I struck over his shoulder. It was a task he bore capably, as long as I kept Battle Orders going.
My only snag was a CEFELE vampire boss. He was CI so I had to do all the work myself. His bolts packed a wallop! I hit him one last time, and ran to avoid the blast, but the Open Wounds stopped with a micro-sliver of life remaining. Recklessly I ran up for one more shot and took the blast, without my max-resist gear. The explosion barely took off 250 life. I'd never do that in 1.10!
Tal's True Tomb opened into a ghost champ pack. That was truly a nightmare because all the dodging we did risked attracting more monsters. Thankfully there were no unravellers. I didn't see any S/Us but I did obtain two excellent charms. One came from a ghost and the second was a reroll:
Shimmering (15) Grand Charm of Greed (25) :thumbsup:
Grand Charm of Vita (40)
I was able to dump several small resistance charms to make room for these.
Duriel was no match for Max, thanks to his big life pool. I slowed him and used Battle Cry and Concentrate. I killed him at p5, and he dropped Sigon's Boots. They won't replace Tearhaunch but they might provide some flexibility down the road.
[highlight]Conqueror Maximum (Max) Fang, 16 S/Us, level 80, Act 3 Hell, Spider Forest[/highlight]
From the doorway, I taunted out additional normal monsters. After all that, I figured that room had to be empty, and stepped in. Big mistake!
Packed along side the wall, just inside the doorway, were more archers. I got slammed and chilled. 2 quick rejuvs. I hobbled further into the room. Flux came in, took a couple volleys, and dropped like a rock, his first Hell death IIRC. I used his cover to escape back out the door. I portaled out and resurrected Flux. To ID my attackers, I needed a very narrow angle to peer through the doorway. Yikes!
Boss pack plus champs! Never assume anything! Those sneaky ********! I got my revenge...
Max and Flux enjoyed an easy clear of the Arcane Sanctuary. There were no nasty apparition packs to threaten us. Mana-burn was an early nuisance, but I neutralized it by forcing Flux to tank the ghosts while I struck over his shoulder. It was a task he bore capably, as long as I kept Battle Orders going.
My only snag was a CEFELE vampire boss. He was CI so I had to do all the work myself. His bolts packed a wallop! I hit him one last time, and ran to avoid the blast, but the Open Wounds stopped with a micro-sliver of life remaining. Recklessly I ran up for one more shot and took the blast, without my max-resist gear. The explosion barely took off 250 life. I'd never do that in 1.10!
Tal's True Tomb opened into a ghost champ pack. That was truly a nightmare because all the dodging we did risked attracting more monsters. Thankfully there were no unravellers. I didn't see any S/Us but I did obtain two excellent charms. One came from a ghost and the second was a reroll:
Shimmering (15) Grand Charm of Greed (25) :thumbsup:
Grand Charm of Vita (40)
I was able to dump several small resistance charms to make room for these.
Duriel was no match for Max, thanks to his big life pool. I slowed him and used Battle Cry and Concentrate. I killed him at p5, and he dropped Sigon's Boots. They won't replace Tearhaunch but they might provide some flexibility down the road.
Not good enough? Don't you appreciate their uber defense bonus and +25 AR? ...Okay, I'll admit they suck but I suppose that's the price to pay for greed. Did they at least roll high MF? I have yet to beat 38%.
Not quite, but I do have a slight lead. It's only because I always kill those worms at the start of Act 3 after killing Duriel. So I am five spawner pups ahead of you.Melica is now in the lead! Among those who have updated, that is.
[highlight]Conqueror Maximum (Max) Fang, 16 S/Us, level 80, Act 3 Hell, Spider Forest[/highlight]
keep it up and i like them screenshots.
jiansonz
New member
So, three boss packs and one champ pack of archers in that room? Quite an ambush! That boss was a real meanie, too.
Correct obsevation and good advice, to never assume anything...
A 15% Shimmering Grand Charm! Gotta love those.
I can picture that. I remember that he was a pushover for Sten in the first tourney.
No, got a really bad roll, 28.
(Melica´s maximum MF gear gives +108%)
Not quite, but I do have a slight lead. It's only because I always kill those worms at the start of Act 3 after killing Duriel. So I am five spawner pups ahead of you.
Goody! I like it when we are close.
I am now closing in on my personal best with an assassin. That effort was in the Melee Blues tourney, where Devil Jade, Might + Cursed + FE Thrasher boss, killed my poor Aimee in Kurast Bazaar.
Been a while since i updated, sorry. Now that i've finally gotten my magezon to guardian i'll focus on Twilight.
There have been two S/U finds in act 1. Deaths guard and Cleglaw's pincers. That means i'll be stuck with one-row belt for a while. CBF is great, as is slow and knockback provided by gloves.
In act 2 i bought 3 socket armor and two socket helm and used up some topazes i had. I hired defiance merc and found him a nice stick afterwards with life leech and chance to cast amplify damage. Also, i found pretty good shield, +2 to summon mage, +3 to iron maiden, +2 to terror. This means i can cast IM at level 5 now :smiley: I still have no idea what should i do with my saved skill points. Advice, anyone? Here's current situation :
Summoning tree :
Skeleton mastery, summon skeleton, golem mastery, summon skeleton mage - 1
Clay golem - 2
Poison and bone tree :
Bone armor - 3
Poison dagger - 2
Bone wall - 1
Curses :
Amplify damage, weaken, terror - 1
Iron maiden - 2
I have 8 unspent skill points too.
I'll probably drop a point into decrep soon. Im still hoping to unlock CE by random points but thats unlikely. 1/18 chance to get teeth :sad2:
[highlight]Twilight, 2 S/U items equiped, level 24, act 2 normal, lost city[/highlight]
There have been two S/U finds in act 1. Deaths guard and Cleglaw's pincers. That means i'll be stuck with one-row belt for a while. CBF is great, as is slow and knockback provided by gloves.
In act 2 i bought 3 socket armor and two socket helm and used up some topazes i had. I hired defiance merc and found him a nice stick afterwards with life leech and chance to cast amplify damage. Also, i found pretty good shield, +2 to summon mage, +3 to iron maiden, +2 to terror. This means i can cast IM at level 5 now :smiley: I still have no idea what should i do with my saved skill points. Advice, anyone? Here's current situation :
Summoning tree :
Skeleton mastery, summon skeleton, golem mastery, summon skeleton mage - 1
Clay golem - 2
Poison and bone tree :
Bone armor - 3
Poison dagger - 2
Bone wall - 1
Curses :
Amplify damage, weaken, terror - 1
Iron maiden - 2
I have 8 unspent skill points too.
I'll probably drop a point into decrep soon. Im still hoping to unlock CE by random points but thats unlikely. 1/18 chance to get teeth :sad2:
[highlight]Twilight, 2 S/U items equiped, level 24, act 2 normal, lost city[/highlight]
Insane Wayne
Active member
Plenty of action so far in Act 3. Spider Forest was easy. Weak monsters and no cold immunes. The poison spiders in the cave areas are often a nuisance, but taunting and freezing worked so well that I didn't need antidotes. Sszark was Extra Strong Extra Fast Cursed LE, and landed a couple hard hits. After I got him slowed and chilled, he fell quickly.
Great Marsh had one of my favorite monster types, Drowned Carcasses, featuring another Black Hack. These guys shine nice and bright against the dark background. They were fodder for Max's Berserk attack. After some DoubleSwing slowing and Flux freezing, I could handle big mobs of them, and frequently did because there were a few double-boss packs and several champs. I darted around bashing their heads while they stumbled trying to get around one another. That was fun.
Flayer Jungle was a bit tougher due to CI flayers. I had to Howl them off and track them down. I killed an FE Shaman boss, then his pygmy counterpart, and marvelled at the double-drop. Two for one! :laugh:
The sword was nothing new, and quickly tossed. I had high hopes for the boots... Not impressed!! Some Str, some Vit (which isn't boosted by BO), and the rest garbage. Two stamina mods?! Poison resist?! :unimpressed: It has some FHR, but I already have a whopping 92%, enough to reach the last reasonable breakpoint. I'll stick with Tearhaunch, thanks...
Flayer Dungeon was difficult. Undead dolls have natural CBF and most flayers were CI. Level 2 was awful, I was quickly attacked by an Extra Fast doll pack with no free space. Open Wounds, and bad timing, triggered a double doll death explosion that took 1500 life! :shocked:
A careful scan revealed dual bat packs (the other was LE Mana Burn) and I still hadn't even entered the first room! And then I got to face a ghost pack with scary mods, burning up all my mana. The only good thing I can say is: No Gloams!
My quest for Lam Esen's Tome began with a stair trap. I had no choice but to tank that mess. I'm glad I remembered about those "immune to Magic" brutes, and used Concentrate instead of Berserk.
This is what I got to see after 1 second in the Disused Fane. That's a Fanatacism Vampire boss and a Cursed FE Spectral Hit brute pack! I actually got a good position blocking the doorway, but the meteors were too much and I had to run for it. I fired off a Howl and ran the opposite direction, into a (thankfully) clear room, and quickly portaled out. When I returned, the vampire boss was waiting for me. He started casting spells on us. Do I rush to attack him and risk attracting that mob? Or do I explore more new territory while he trails me? I pondered it for a minute while absorbing his attacks. Suddenly he rushed me and I seized the opportunity to beat on him. He soon fled though and got away, back towards his buddies. I moved on to a new hallway, killing a few normal beasts. The stupid vampire boss came on the scene again, hanging back in a center room. From that point on, he contaminated every battle and lent his aura to the monsters, making my progress 5 times more difficult. The Cursed beast was especially fun, every hit had me scrambling for a rejuv. Eventually, I worked my way around the map, taunted out his minions, and finished him at last. I'll give him credit for getting under my skin.
While mopping up Kurast, a normal monster dropped something new. What the heck is the unique Armet? Garbage, that's what. Especially compared to my Guillaume's. I gave it to Flux to replace his Milabrega's, since his resists are already maxed.
The Kurast Sewers had very few monsters. As usual, I risked p8 for level 2, and encountered TWO boss packs, both with serious FE potential. Yuk. Bugged mummies and teleporting FE. I hugged the wall as Flux finished them off.
Only two temples remained. The first opened into a deadly beetle pack. I howled away the minions and fled to properly equip myself. The Conviction chilling was so severe, I had to do the slow blue walk of shame all the way to Alkor for some thawing potions. With Hawkmail, I held my own, but was stunned at how tough he was. Then I realized I was still on p8 from the sewers. :duh:
It took a long time, but I finished that temple, breezed through the next, grabbed the Travincal waypoint, and quit for a muling session.
2 random points have gone to Throwing Mastery and Double Throw. blah...
1 free point went to Howl.
Additional interesting finds:
Gaean (+3 elemental) Amulet of the Whale (83)
a nice Sparky! (reroll)
[highlight]Conqueror Maximum (Max) Fang and Flux the Cold Wolf, 16 S/Us, level 81, Act 3 Hell, Travincal[/highlight]
Great Marsh had one of my favorite monster types, Drowned Carcasses, featuring another Black Hack. These guys shine nice and bright against the dark background. They were fodder for Max's Berserk attack. After some DoubleSwing slowing and Flux freezing, I could handle big mobs of them, and frequently did because there were a few double-boss packs and several champs. I darted around bashing their heads while they stumbled trying to get around one another. That was fun.
Flayer Jungle was a bit tougher due to CI flayers. I had to Howl them off and track them down. I killed an FE Shaman boss, then his pygmy counterpart, and marvelled at the double-drop. Two for one! :laugh:
The sword was nothing new, and quickly tossed. I had high hopes for the boots... Not impressed!! Some Str, some Vit (which isn't boosted by BO), and the rest garbage. Two stamina mods?! Poison resist?! :unimpressed: It has some FHR, but I already have a whopping 92%, enough to reach the last reasonable breakpoint. I'll stick with Tearhaunch, thanks...
Flayer Dungeon was difficult. Undead dolls have natural CBF and most flayers were CI. Level 2 was awful, I was quickly attacked by an Extra Fast doll pack with no free space. Open Wounds, and bad timing, triggered a double doll death explosion that took 1500 life! :shocked:
A careful scan revealed dual bat packs (the other was LE Mana Burn) and I still hadn't even entered the first room! And then I got to face a ghost pack with scary mods, burning up all my mana. The only good thing I can say is: No Gloams!
My quest for Lam Esen's Tome began with a stair trap. I had no choice but to tank that mess. I'm glad I remembered about those "immune to Magic" brutes, and used Concentrate instead of Berserk.
This is what I got to see after 1 second in the Disused Fane. That's a Fanatacism Vampire boss and a Cursed FE Spectral Hit brute pack! I actually got a good position blocking the doorway, but the meteors were too much and I had to run for it. I fired off a Howl and ran the opposite direction, into a (thankfully) clear room, and quickly portaled out. When I returned, the vampire boss was waiting for me. He started casting spells on us. Do I rush to attack him and risk attracting that mob? Or do I explore more new territory while he trails me? I pondered it for a minute while absorbing his attacks. Suddenly he rushed me and I seized the opportunity to beat on him. He soon fled though and got away, back towards his buddies. I moved on to a new hallway, killing a few normal beasts. The stupid vampire boss came on the scene again, hanging back in a center room. From that point on, he contaminated every battle and lent his aura to the monsters, making my progress 5 times more difficult. The Cursed beast was especially fun, every hit had me scrambling for a rejuv. Eventually, I worked my way around the map, taunted out his minions, and finished him at last. I'll give him credit for getting under my skin.
While mopping up Kurast, a normal monster dropped something new. What the heck is the unique Armet? Garbage, that's what. Especially compared to my Guillaume's. I gave it to Flux to replace his Milabrega's, since his resists are already maxed.
The Kurast Sewers had very few monsters. As usual, I risked p8 for level 2, and encountered TWO boss packs, both with serious FE potential. Yuk. Bugged mummies and teleporting FE. I hugged the wall as Flux finished them off.
Only two temples remained. The first opened into a deadly beetle pack. I howled away the minions and fled to properly equip myself. The Conviction chilling was so severe, I had to do the slow blue walk of shame all the way to Alkor for some thawing potions. With Hawkmail, I held my own, but was stunned at how tough he was. Then I realized I was still on p8 from the sewers. :duh:
It took a long time, but I finished that temple, breezed through the next, grabbed the Travincal waypoint, and quit for a muling session.
2 random points have gone to Throwing Mastery and Double Throw. blah...
1 free point went to Howl.
Additional interesting finds:
Gaean (+3 elemental) Amulet of the Whale (83)
a nice Sparky! (reroll)
[highlight]Conqueror Maximum (Max) Fang and Flux the Cold Wolf, 16 S/Us, level 81, Act 3 Hell, Travincal[/highlight]
jiansonz
New member
Wow, plenty of tough temples for Max!
A vampire boss with a powerful aura is one of the best possible allies for other monsters (especially when it becomes so elusive for the player!).
Yeah, Steel Shade and Sandstorm Trek were really not impressive items. :grin:
Melica is a bit behind, but she has made some good progress. Most of the jungle was easy, but hordes of cold immune Flayer blowdarters were quite annoying since Geshef couldn´t kill them. Cold Immune Bramble Hulks were the toughest foes in the outdoor areas, but there was thankfully only one boss (which wasn´t fast).
I was actually quite lucky in the dungeons. Only ONE undead flayer boss pack, and I found it late on the level. Boss was Blessed Aim Spectral Hit something.
A CEFE Gloam boss gave me quite a scare, but Open Wounds, some ice and exploding some of its minions was enough to kill it.
Long session was nearing its end. Only Stormtree´s pack was left. I checked his abilities: FE CONVICTION!!!
"You gotta be kidding me..."
Geshef bravely went up to tank Stormtree, and died in less than a second... Melica got hit by some stray bolts. Took quite some damage.
I decided to stay at least 1/3 screen (the long direction) away from him at all times. BF with Crushflange to bring down his life, then BF with Bloodrise to finish him off. Sounds easy, but it required a LOT of precise movement (and some mana potions) to pull off safely. I ran way down the river, until I found a good loop track (two bridges not far from each other, no turns on the river to complicate things). Got him safely, but I was nervous during the fight.
I don´t remember exactly where, but I found a Lum rune this session. That means I can upgrade a weapon to elite, yay! Too bad my currently wielded weapons would become FAR too heavy to use. Not even if I put all future points in STR and switch some items for more STR am I likely to reach the needed number. The only reasonable upgrade I can do now is the one Wayne suggested earlier: Spineripper Bone Knife. But I am so used to (and comfortable with) range 2 now, so I don´t want to use a dagger. I´ll save the runes for now. Maybe something interesting will drop later...
Free skill point from level-up went to Fists of Fire (to boost Meteor damage). The only alternative I considered was Death Sentry (for bigger blast radius).
Conqueror Melica the PS Assassin and Geshef the Cold Wolf, Level 81, 16 S/U items equipped, Hell Lower Kurast next
A vampire boss with a powerful aura is one of the best possible allies for other monsters (especially when it becomes so elusive for the player!).
Yeah, Steel Shade and Sandstorm Trek were really not impressive items. :grin:
Melica is a bit behind, but she has made some good progress. Most of the jungle was easy, but hordes of cold immune Flayer blowdarters were quite annoying since Geshef couldn´t kill them. Cold Immune Bramble Hulks were the toughest foes in the outdoor areas, but there was thankfully only one boss (which wasn´t fast).
I was actually quite lucky in the dungeons. Only ONE undead flayer boss pack, and I found it late on the level. Boss was Blessed Aim Spectral Hit something.
A CEFE Gloam boss gave me quite a scare, but Open Wounds, some ice and exploding some of its minions was enough to kill it.
Long session was nearing its end. Only Stormtree´s pack was left. I checked his abilities: FE CONVICTION!!!
"You gotta be kidding me..."
Geshef bravely went up to tank Stormtree, and died in less than a second... Melica got hit by some stray bolts. Took quite some damage.
I decided to stay at least 1/3 screen (the long direction) away from him at all times. BF with Crushflange to bring down his life, then BF with Bloodrise to finish him off. Sounds easy, but it required a LOT of precise movement (and some mana potions) to pull off safely. I ran way down the river, until I found a good loop track (two bridges not far from each other, no turns on the river to complicate things). Got him safely, but I was nervous during the fight.
I don´t remember exactly where, but I found a Lum rune this session. That means I can upgrade a weapon to elite, yay! Too bad my currently wielded weapons would become FAR too heavy to use. Not even if I put all future points in STR and switch some items for more STR am I likely to reach the needed number. The only reasonable upgrade I can do now is the one Wayne suggested earlier: Spineripper Bone Knife. But I am so used to (and comfortable with) range 2 now, so I don´t want to use a dagger. I´ll save the runes for now. Maybe something interesting will drop later...
Free skill point from level-up went to Fists of Fire (to boost Meteor damage). The only alternative I considered was Death Sentry (for bigger blast radius).
Conqueror Melica the PS Assassin and Geshef the Cold Wolf, Level 81, 16 S/U items equipped, Hell Lower Kurast next
Insane Wayne
Active member
Necros have a ton of one-point-wonder skills, but you will definitely need to be thinking about which single skill to build. You have only enough free points to max one skill. I would definitely unlock important skills like Decrep and CE, because there are too many options already to rely on chance. If you open them now, you might roll a few additional random points in them later to help out. If I had to pick one skill I'd probably go with Dim Vision. That should keep most of the heat off you/your merc and any weak minions you have, and the blinding duration will allow you to manage your other curses better. You probably won't need it in Normal; I'm thinking more about NM and Hell Difficulty.
Or, maybe build up an Iron Golem/skellies? It's a tough call because you will need a way to kill a couple monsters before unleashing CE. Do you plan on being a melee necro?
Awesome Lum rune! Spineripper looks tempting. Excellent damage for a dagger and some other nice mods. But I can understand the range issue being a huge drawback. I'll throw out some crazy random ideas: General's Scourge? What about a Hel'ed Bloodrise/Crushflange? I remember you used one socket quest but I'm not sure about the other two. And you have Cleglaw's Brace IIRC? Is that out of the running for end-game?
jiansonz
New member
General´s Scourge? Why not, the excellent reach, slowing and a mana steal are all good. 125 STR is doable, and then I could probably upgrade Tearhaunch as well.
Bloodrise Devil Star does have a nice ring to it.
Would require 130 STR with a JoF (I don´t remember if I have a Hel (that would take it down to 122, I think)). Maybe something for the final act, since I have already used both sockets rewards (to get Ort runes into armor/helm).
jiansonz
New member
Lower Kurast cleared. Only excitement was two ape boss packs: LE + Conviction (I kept a healty distance!) and LE + Extra Strong (Geshef helped out with tanking, allowing Melica to bring down enough Meteors).
Finds: Treads of Cthon (no resists - no thanks...), Ort rune, a bunch of flawless gems.
Yeah, that´s about it.
I´ve been thinking some more about Bloodrise Devil Star.
Melica has a base STR of 91. Tearhaunch and Sigon´s gloves brings it up to 106. I do have a Hel rune I can use if I reach the last socket reward. That would take the STR requirement down to 122 (or 123, how is the rounding done?). With only STR from level-ups, it would take level 85 to get there, but only 84 if I can get 1 (or 2) points from somewhere else.
Finding Cathan´s Sigil would solve it (if I can somehow make up for the loss of 50% fire resist on Nokozan...) since I could use two Cathan´s Seals for partial set bonus of +20 STR.
From the gear I have, my only option is The Face of Horror which has +20 STR. But that would mean I give up 5% fire resist, 38% lightning resist and +1 skills. I don´t think I want to do that. Also, I think the Monster Flee would interfere too much with Cloak of Shadows, especially when I fight cold immune monsters. Not a good option.
Charms may be my best bet. There are 10 free spaces in inventory, I have a Small and a Grand Charm I can reroll (and enough Pgems for about 4 rerolls). I should have saved one of those +6 STR Grand Charms... I would have saved more charms if the ATMA stash was allowed for that (we can only store S/U items and socket fillers).
Conqueror Melica the PS Assassin and Geshef the Cold Wolf, Level 81, 16 S/U items equipped, Kurast Bazaar next
Finds: Treads of Cthon (no resists - no thanks...), Ort rune, a bunch of flawless gems.
Yeah, that´s about it.
I´ve been thinking some more about Bloodrise Devil Star.
Melica has a base STR of 91. Tearhaunch and Sigon´s gloves brings it up to 106. I do have a Hel rune I can use if I reach the last socket reward. That would take the STR requirement down to 122 (or 123, how is the rounding done?). With only STR from level-ups, it would take level 85 to get there, but only 84 if I can get 1 (or 2) points from somewhere else.
Finding Cathan´s Sigil would solve it (if I can somehow make up for the loss of 50% fire resist on Nokozan...) since I could use two Cathan´s Seals for partial set bonus of +20 STR.
From the gear I have, my only option is The Face of Horror which has +20 STR. But that would mean I give up 5% fire resist, 38% lightning resist and +1 skills. I don´t think I want to do that. Also, I think the Monster Flee would interfere too much with Cloak of Shadows, especially when I fight cold immune monsters. Not a good option.
Charms may be my best bet. There are 10 free spaces in inventory, I have a Small and a Grand Charm I can reroll (and enough Pgems for about 4 rerolls). I should have saved one of those +6 STR Grand Charms... I would have saved more charms if the ATMA stash was allowed for that (we can only store S/U items and socket fillers).
Conqueror Melica the PS Assassin and Geshef the Cold Wolf, Level 81, 16 S/U items equipped, Kurast Bazaar next
jiansonz
New member
Would you believe it, I totally forgot about Lam Esen´s tome! Those 5 points will make me reach certain STR values one level earlier than I thought. :azn:
No Thrashers in the Bazaar, I appreciated that.
Ruined Temple did not have the T-formation. That is usually good news, because there is more space to work with. Nothing camped the stairs. CE Extra Fast Night Lord pack way back in the second room. Lured 1-2 at a time back to the entrance and burned them up slowly.
Got Sarina´s minions away from her, in two groups of 4 at a time. They did more damage than I expected. Sarina had Teleport + LE, so that was strange. Melica´s resists are decent. Melica tanked Sarina for some time without getting hurt by bolts. One minion joined the fight, and I fled a bit. That was probably a bad move, because it got a bit dangerous here. Geshef did an excellent job tanking Sarina while Melica worked on the minion. It died, and I nailed Sarina by exploding that corpse.
The other temple was also calm to begin with. First pack of monsters were some Extra Fast CE Flesh Hunters. Tough fight in the first room. Meteor flames and Death Sentry got them. Next up were some slow spider minions. Most of them died, then I caught a glimpse of the boss: FELE Spectral Hit.
"Uhh, let´s see what there is in the other direction from the entrance first..."
Nothing much, as it turned out. Once a loop track was secured, I went after the spider boss. Blade Fury all the way.
With all monsters killed, I did the cheesy thing of turning up to /players 8 for all containers in the Bazaar and its temples. However, I had not counted on the possibility to run into this fellow. Oops...
Those buggers have CBF, are hard for us to kill (especially on /p8!) and hurt like Hell. Got him after lots of running, and several potions for Geshef. It left a nice reward: an 11% Amber Small Charm. Best find in the session!
I finished with some muling and 3 Grand Charm and 2 Small Charm rerollings. Got myself a +5 STR Grand Charm. This looks promising.
Conqueror Melica the PS Assassin and Geshef the Cold Wolf, Level 81, 16 S/U items equipped, Kurast Sewers next
No Thrashers in the Bazaar, I appreciated that.
Ruined Temple did not have the T-formation. That is usually good news, because there is more space to work with. Nothing camped the stairs. CE Extra Fast Night Lord pack way back in the second room. Lured 1-2 at a time back to the entrance and burned them up slowly.
Got Sarina´s minions away from her, in two groups of 4 at a time. They did more damage than I expected. Sarina had Teleport + LE, so that was strange. Melica´s resists are decent. Melica tanked Sarina for some time without getting hurt by bolts. One minion joined the fight, and I fled a bit. That was probably a bad move, because it got a bit dangerous here. Geshef did an excellent job tanking Sarina while Melica worked on the minion. It died, and I nailed Sarina by exploding that corpse.
The other temple was also calm to begin with. First pack of monsters were some Extra Fast CE Flesh Hunters. Tough fight in the first room. Meteor flames and Death Sentry got them. Next up were some slow spider minions. Most of them died, then I caught a glimpse of the boss: FELE Spectral Hit.
"Uhh, let´s see what there is in the other direction from the entrance first..."
Nothing much, as it turned out. Once a loop track was secured, I went after the spider boss. Blade Fury all the way.
With all monsters killed, I did the cheesy thing of turning up to /players 8 for all containers in the Bazaar and its temples. However, I had not counted on the possibility to run into this fellow. Oops...
Those buggers have CBF, are hard for us to kill (especially on /p8!) and hurt like Hell. Got him after lots of running, and several potions for Geshef. It left a nice reward: an 11% Amber Small Charm. Best find in the session!
I finished with some muling and 3 Grand Charm and 2 Small Charm rerollings. Got myself a +5 STR Grand Charm. This looks promising.
Conqueror Melica the PS Assassin and Geshef the Cold Wolf, Level 81, 16 S/U items equipped, Kurast Sewers next
Insane Wayne
Active member
Really? It dropped a charm? I only remember these guys dropping forms of scimitars, or nothing. I wonder what else they drop, but I can't find any info. Has ATMA negelcted this monster type?
You're right though, they can hit pretty hard. I like their death animation. It's satisfying (and conclusive) when your enemy shatters into a fine ghostly dust.
jiansonz
New member
I think they can drop from the 'misc. good' type of treasure class. I have seen at least one amulet drop and at least one gem drop.
Coolest drop I´ve seen is Coldsteel Eye, the unique Cutlass.
