The Arcane Sanctuary was cleared without incident, and without Shael Runes (highest rune drop was Ort). The Canyon had all sorts of nice doodads to hide from the Scarabs' charge bolts.
The first Tomb I entered had two boss packs in it (Beetle and an Apparition), and I had no room to maneuver, so I teleported around and cleared out two of the branches. Then I took care of the monsters in the first room by pulling spreading them out. In the third branch a mummy was annoying me, so I decided to run over to him and knock him toward my merc. Suddenly, a group of extra fast Apparitions shot into the fray and attacked me.
We all know how dangerous a surprise pack of extra fast monsters are. Ghosts, however, are a different matter entirely. Since they don't have to get around each other, the entire pack of them will instantly attack you, sending you into hit recovery and draining your mana in the blink of an eye.
They did just that. Before I could even say "whoa," my mana was gone, my energy shield was stripped away, and my health dropped to 25% and was falling fast. I hit a full rejuv potion and moved my finger to the teleport hotkey as my health dropped to a sliver and all of my mana was lost once again so I used my last full rejuvenation potion while frantically right clicking, and
just managed to escape.
The action in the above paragraph probably took a little while to read, but the important thing to realize is that it all happened in the space of about one second. While it may sound like I was being calm and collected, I was really just clicking frantically, with my health and mana shooting from full to 1/4th over and over again.
So once I was several rooms away, I portaled to town, bought more health potions (I had used them all as well), and went back down. Apparently, some of the ghosts didn't follow me while I was teleporting and some did, so they were nice and spread out. It turns out that the second mod the boss had was extra strong.
In hindsight, I should have teleported to the mummy - this is what I usually do – that way, I would have had teleport ready and wouldn’t have been fumbling for it. And when the Ghosts attacked me, I should have switched to my shield instead of trying to teleport immediately.
The rest of the tombs were cleared without any significant problems or Shael runes. There was a cold enchanted / extra fast Apparition group, but they didn’t hurt
nearly as much as the extra strong group, and went down easily. But man, do those things move fast or what? I think that Apparitions move faster than Ghosts.
The first time I tried Duriel, I accidentally left the game on players 8, and forgot to grab my balanced knives with Life Tap charges. I couldn’t make a dent in him and my merc kept getting killed, so I restarted on player 3 with my life tap knives, and he went down without too much trouble. He dropped Isenhart’s armor and sword, as well as Naj’s circlet and some crappy rares / magicals.
Overall, Act II Nightmare started out fun, but quickly turned into a miserable slog without a single good item or Shael rune found. I'm really obsessed with finding a Shael rune, haha. :tongue: My only gear improvements were from shopping and gambling, and they weren't significant anyway. Hopefully Act III will be more rewarding.
Code:
Forumname Charname Current Weapon Lvl Waypoint
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atigdng Summer Lawbringer (Phase) 83 Hell Arcane Sanctuary
Bladejj Ms_Enchantress Kuko Shakaku(shael) 82 (RIP) Hell Palace Cellar
Aerwynd Flare Hellplague 69 (RIP) Lister & Co.
Shadow Druid Inara Hellplague 63 (RIP) NM River of Flame
Wolron Olga Gemmed Double Bow 62 (RIP) NM Tranvincal
Cygnus Circe Bow/Jade Tan Do 60 (RIP) NM Diablo
wakiki Cercei Langer Briser 60 NM Kurast Docks
Moar Eirin Hellplague 58 NM Pandemonium Fortress
Tartanasia Charizard Leaf/Zephyr 53 (RIP) NM Act 3 Lower Kurast
FoghornLeghorn FearlessFemme Blood Crescent 53 NM Sewers 2
waflob Stevie_Nicks Hellplague 53 NM Lut Gholein
enithsmith Paksennarion Baezil's Vortex 52 (RIP) NM Kurast Bazaar
janmaxim Justine-II Gemmed Scimitar 52 NM Stony Field
Niyougegema Flame Scimitar Of Quickness49 (RIP) NM Black Marsh
jiansonz Phiona "Steel" Flail 49 Cold Plains NM
Docturnal Mme_Zur Rare Chu-Ko-Nu 45 (RIP) NM Cold plains
synax Jolly steel/ravenclaw 37 a5 Pindle
Tasdaz Hot_Pants Long Bow 31 (RIP) - Infector Of Souls
Yiuman Willow fists 31 (RIP) Chaos Sanctuary
Gaz Chanty Rare bal knife 30 (RIP) Chaos Sanctuary
PetePizza HotHotHeat Sander's Wand 28 (RIP) Crystal Passage
Barren MissFireStarter Sander's wand 27 Pandemonium Fortress
Morathi Mory 'Steel' Large Axe 27 (RIP) Flayer Jungle
Chymaera Faile Horadric Staff 25 Canyon of the Magi
Quickdeath Macho_Lady Morning Star 25 (RIP) Canyon-Magi
Naab Fierysorc TalTalTal Long bow 25 AS(RIP)
tweety Phurby Steel Battle Axe 24 Arcane Sanctuary
Freekje Energetica Rare Throw. knife 24 (RIP)
lpblasch Tressy 2os scepter 23 (RIP) Spider Forest
Skunkbelly Skunkflame 2xTal long bow 22 Far Oasis
Dornak Flame_Bait 'Steel' Large axe 20 Lut Gholein
ThaCheeZe ChopChopBaby 'Steel' 2-hsword 19 Lut Gholein
AndiDi FlamingLips 'Steel' Large Axe 19 Inner Cloister
skoolbus Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh Crystal Sword 16 (RIP) Barracks
TrubbaNot Greg Magic Scimitar 16 Dark Wood
Yiuman Wilow 'Steel' Large Axe 15 Outer Cloister
EmperorMoo MissFlamey Gemmed Bardiche 15 Outer Cloister
Cattleya Candice Scythe of the Leech 15 Black Marsh
IronCrown BloodGeon Broad Axe 14 (RIP)Black Marsh
zatlaren Sophie Rare Short Sword 12 Cold Plains
Seein2Stars TP-Sorcme Gemmed Long Bow 12 (RIP)Stony Field
Smilts FuryStrike Gale Pale Bardiche 8 burial grounds
NacRuno Rapidash Gemmed Axe 6 Cold Plains
DuesNox Blzing-Sddls Short Staff 1 Rogue Encampment
ZeN ? Short Staff 1 Rogue Encampment
Eudoxos Fireclaw Short Staff 1 Rogue Encampment
nubikoen XXXXXX Short Staff 1 Rogue Encampment
Sar Sara Short Staff 1 Rogue Encampment
TheFaceless AllThatRemains Short Staff 1 Rogue Encampment
[highlight]Summary:
Cleared Arcane - Duriel, Spider Forest next
Near Death Experiences: 1 this session, 4 so far
Magic Find: 291
2nd place among the living, 7th overall
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