Patriarch LeapOffFaith, 3rd generation goldfinder
It's been a while, but here's another character that made it to Baal (and defeated him).
The (hi)story:
This time it's my third goldfind barb. First try was a barb using frenzy which was less then a succes. Then rebuild him using warcries (with better results). And now you're probably wondering why i'm crazy enough to go for a third.
A while ago i visited the barb forum. I hardly leave the single player forums, but it does happen . Anyway, there i saw a guide by MalVeaux about goldfind barbs. So i started reading to see if there might have been an interesting approach i had missed, or maybe a secred piece of equipment that would make my life much easier. As i was using my warcry build i was annoyed by the fact that some bosses didn't get stunned. When i read the guide i saw Mal making an very interesting point: leap stuns all councils. That was the point where i thought: i got to try this. And now here we are..
Let's start with the stats:
Lvl 80 when finishing Baal (or put more accurately: when watching merc kill Baal)
Life: 3368 with BO sticks / 3091 without the sticks
Mana: 194 with BO sticks / 178 without the sticks
Resists:
Fire: 31
Cold: 72
Lightning: 58
Poison: 41
Stats:
Str: 136 (i'll explain later)
Dex: 32
Vit: 317
Ene: 10
Skills:
Maxed BO, find item, leap and increased speed (again: explanation later)
5 NR (future points go here)
1 in utilities and pre-reqs
Damage:
Not existing, nada, none whatsoever. And in case you still don't get it: i didn't do any damage to any monster (after lvl 43 anyway, when i could equip both my ali baba's)
Gear:
IK will (2x lem)
rare amulet /w 80% GF
2x alibaba (both 2x lem)
wealth archon
rare tri-resist boots /w 78% GF
chanceguards
2x dwarfstar
rare belt /w 80% GF
Switch1: 2x BO sticks
Switch2: the gavel of pain (This is why i needed more strenght. If you want to know why i choose this, you'll have to keep reading)
Mercenary is an offensive one from nightmare ofcourse. He's usually wearing a duriel's shell, a crown of thieves and insight cryptic axe. And for act bosses i switched to kelpie to keep them nice and quiet and guillaume's face for some CB.
Notable finds: hardly any. Found a decent defense shako and 39% chancies. And horked a low end HoZ. Was expecting a bit more since i had a decent amount of MF. In terms of numbers a decent amount of sets/uniques dropped, but most of it wasn't worth picking up. Also nothing good to report from the forges: ko at NM and lum at hell. So my bad luck at the forges continues.
Let's see what's left too tell.
Twinked my way early on as usual. Got myself a merc. When he got to a lvl where he could equip a spirit poleaxe (or something like that) my fighting days were mostly over. From then on it was follow the leader, uhm i mean merc, i'm still the leader .
Went through normal and NM on p8. Putting stuff on once i was at a high enough lvl. For my ali's i came 10 dex short. I would get that once i could equip my wealth armor. Since i didn't want to wait that long i used cow king boots till then. And once i could equip wealth i switched the cows boots to my nice pair of slippers. They're almost too good to be worn just by a goldfind barb. And if you're having a deja-vu that's because most of the equipment was also worn by goldfind barb number 2. I keep all my chars fully equipped, but since i only need 1 goldfinder i decided to see which i like best and delete the other. So no need to make it more difficult and equip 2 barbs. I stripped one and gave it to the other.
Did hell on p1. When entering hell i knew i'd run into PI's. Since i didn't do any damage myself and i didn't see my merc killing whole pack's of PI's i needed a solution. Luckily it was given by MalVeaux in his guide. The solution is amplify damage. Which is the reason i have a little more strength. That's so i could equip the gavel of pain (with hel rune to reduce req's). I could have gone with some wand with amp charges or something, but the gavel has lvl 8 amp which is very nice to have both in duration as in range. And even with that little extra strength i have over 3k life so that should be enough anyway.
Anyway when reaching the tower i switched my bo sticks for the PI's i knew i would encounter and that worked out very nicely. Only downside is that the gavel only has 3 charges. So just spamming them is not an option. Though with that range it really isn't necesary. After that switched back to the sticks and kept on using those most of the time. That is until act 4 when i kept on meeting PI's and going back and forth to town to switch my backup weapons. So i decided i didn't really need the extra life and stayed with the gavel from then on.
Didn't have any real trouble going through the acts. Merc was doing the work and with BO he has a pretty nice lifepool. And if that failed i could always start jumping like a madman to knock enemies into a wall or ridge or something like that.
Ancients were pretty easy too. The second try anyway. First try i tried to split them up. But my merc kept lagging behind dragging them with him and he died while i was still trying to split them up. On the second try they all had pretty harmless mods (i think that all 3 off them had cold enchanted as on of the mods). So with the extra life from the BO sticks (ali's wouldn't help me there), a little extra help from a few amp charges and being able to split them up, it was a piece of cake.
Went into the WSK after that. I think it was the first lvl where i got both gloams and the guys to ressurect them. Those mummies proved to be more dangerous then the gloams. Went into a room with 3 bosspacks and the poison damage really hurt both my merc and myself. But with some jumping and a trip back to town to heal it was very doable.
Also ran into some PI witches in the keep. I was really glad i made the choice for the gavel by then. And luckily i found the exit pretty soon, so i didn't have to clear the entire lvl.
In the throne itself i ran into a PI that could not be broken by amp. So nothing left to do but leap to knock him far enough back so he wouldn't bother me. And then quickly run back to lose him.
After that the waves. Waves 1 and 2 was standing behind merc and making sure things didn't get ressurected once he killed them. 3, 4 and 5 was a lot of leaping so my merc could do his work. Still Lister took out my merc once (he had a might aura). And finally on to Baal, switching to slow/CB gear. Which took a while because the merc kept attacking those tentacles. But once he was slowed there was no contest.
General remarks on the build:
- If you're not into passive play this is not the build for you. For me it came in handy since i had a little RSI so a bit more peaceful playing was nice (though i was still horking almost every corpse so it was not like i was doing nothing).
- Skill explanation: This build only really needs BO, leap and find item. That left me with a lot of spare points. I could have gone for a combat skill or a warcry, but i didn't think they would add much to the build. With the gavel i already had my PI solution and i would need to change gear/stats to do any decent damage. So with his future in my head (hell travi) i was thinking i'd loose a lot of time running through town. My resists were decent enough with 5 hard points. So i went for reducing running time and thus speeding up my future runs. And now that's maxed i can even improve my resists some more.
- Though you may look silly and feel pretty useless jumping all the time, i can see this build have more potential for running travi then my previous GF barb. Too bad stun duration is very short, but it works on all the council members which is not the case with the warcries. So i'll probably keep this barb and get rid of the previous one.
- As said before i'm very happy with the choice of my weapon switch and whether you go for the gavel or a wand with amp charges, i think it is very usefull (and maybe even vital) to have this at your disposal. Also very useful against non-PI's with stoneskin.
LeapOffFaith's future is some lvling (probably at pindle) and then running travi.
And to close it off here's a pic of what can happen if you're leaping in the wrong place(pic would have been more spectacular if the leap didn't knock some enemies off the screen)
Special thanks go to MalVeaux for his guide which was the inspiration to make this character.
It's been a while, but here's another character that made it to Baal (and defeated him).
The (hi)story:
This time it's my third goldfind barb. First try was a barb using frenzy which was less then a succes. Then rebuild him using warcries (with better results). And now you're probably wondering why i'm crazy enough to go for a third.
A while ago i visited the barb forum. I hardly leave the single player forums, but it does happen . Anyway, there i saw a guide by MalVeaux about goldfind barbs. So i started reading to see if there might have been an interesting approach i had missed, or maybe a secred piece of equipment that would make my life much easier. As i was using my warcry build i was annoyed by the fact that some bosses didn't get stunned. When i read the guide i saw Mal making an very interesting point: leap stuns all councils. That was the point where i thought: i got to try this. And now here we are..
Let's start with the stats:
Lvl 80 when finishing Baal (or put more accurately: when watching merc kill Baal)
Life: 3368 with BO sticks / 3091 without the sticks
Mana: 194 with BO sticks / 178 without the sticks
Resists:
Fire: 31
Cold: 72
Lightning: 58
Poison: 41
Stats:
Str: 136 (i'll explain later)
Dex: 32
Vit: 317
Ene: 10
Skills:
Maxed BO, find item, leap and increased speed (again: explanation later)
5 NR (future points go here)
1 in utilities and pre-reqs
Damage:
Not existing, nada, none whatsoever. And in case you still don't get it: i didn't do any damage to any monster (after lvl 43 anyway, when i could equip both my ali baba's)
Gear:
IK will (2x lem)
rare amulet /w 80% GF
2x alibaba (both 2x lem)
wealth archon
rare tri-resist boots /w 78% GF
chanceguards
2x dwarfstar
rare belt /w 80% GF
Switch1: 2x BO sticks
Switch2: the gavel of pain (This is why i needed more strenght. If you want to know why i choose this, you'll have to keep reading)
Code:
Immortal King's Will
Avenger Guard
'LemLem'
Defense: 165
Durability: 55 of 55
(Barbarian Only)
Required Strength: 65
Required Level: 47
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 55
Fingerprint: 0xfa02739
+125 Defense
137% Extra Gold from Monsters
40% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+4 to Light Radius
+2 to Warcry Skills (Barbarian Only)
Socketed (2: 2 used)
Wraith Heart
Amulet
Required Level: 25
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x2421d9b0
Fire Resist +14%
Lightning Resist +21%
Cold Resist +14%
Poison Resist +14%
80% Extra Gold from Monsters
10% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to Summoning Skills (Druid Only)
Blade of Ali Baba
Tulwar
'LemLem'
One-Hand Damage: 32 to 72
Durability: 32 of 32
Required Dexterity: 42
Required Strength: 70
Required Level: 43
Sword Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 99
Fingerprint: 0xa71d6a9e
+13 to Dexterity
+15 to Mana
+106% Enhanced Damage
150% Extra Gold from Monsters
200% Extra Gold (Based on Character Level)
80% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (Based on Character Level)
Blade of Ali Baba
Tulwar
'LemLem'
One-Hand Damage: 35 to 76
Durability: 32 of 32
Required Dexterity: 42
Required Strength: 70
Required Level: 43
Sword Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xc8d15aaa
+6 to Dexterity
+15 to Mana
+119% Enhanced Damage
150% Extra Gold from Monsters
200% Extra Gold (Based on Character Level)
80% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (Based on Character Level)
Wealth
Archon Plate
'LemKoTir'
Defense: 508
Durability: 60 of 60
Required Strength: 103
Required Level: 63
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x17311414
+10 to Dexterity
300% Extra Gold from Monsters
100% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Socketed (3: 3 used)
Chance Guards
Chain Gloves
Defense: 27
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Strength: 25
Required Level: 15
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xc27fd4d4
+27% Enhanced Defense
+25 to Attack Rating
+15 Defense
200% Extra Gold from Monsters
39% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 to Light Radius
Corpse Cord
Plated Belt
Defense: 8
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Strength: 60
Required Level: 12
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x29f37cb4
+17 to Life
Fire Resist +11%
Lightning Resist +8%
Cold Resist +13%
Replenish Life +4
80% Extra Gold from Monsters
Dwarf Star
Ring
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xc2da0962
+40 to Life
+40 to Maximum Stamina
Heal Stamina Plus 15%
Magic Damage Reduced by 15
100% Extra Gold from Monsters
15% Fire Absorb
Dwarf Star
Ring
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x146e7de
+40 to Life
+40 to Maximum Stamina
Heal Stamina Plus 15%
Magic Damage Reduced by 15
100% Extra Gold from Monsters
15% Fire Absorb
Hailstone Blazer
Scarabshell Boots
Defense: 64
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Strength: 91
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x1b2e61b8
Lightning Resist +32%
Cold Resist +36%
Poison Resist +29%
78% Extra Gold from Monsters
30% Faster Run/Walk
14% Chance to cast Level 5 Nova when struck
Mercenary is an offensive one from nightmare ofcourse. He's usually wearing a duriel's shell, a crown of thieves and insight cryptic axe. And for act bosses i switched to kelpie to keep them nice and quiet and guillaume's face for some CB.
Notable finds: hardly any. Found a decent defense shako and 39% chancies. And horked a low end HoZ. Was expecting a bit more since i had a decent amount of MF. In terms of numbers a decent amount of sets/uniques dropped, but most of it wasn't worth picking up. Also nothing good to report from the forges: ko at NM and lum at hell. So my bad luck at the forges continues.
Let's see what's left too tell.
Twinked my way early on as usual. Got myself a merc. When he got to a lvl where he could equip a spirit poleaxe (or something like that) my fighting days were mostly over. From then on it was follow the leader, uhm i mean merc, i'm still the leader .
Went through normal and NM on p8. Putting stuff on once i was at a high enough lvl. For my ali's i came 10 dex short. I would get that once i could equip my wealth armor. Since i didn't want to wait that long i used cow king boots till then. And once i could equip wealth i switched the cows boots to my nice pair of slippers. They're almost too good to be worn just by a goldfind barb. And if you're having a deja-vu that's because most of the equipment was also worn by goldfind barb number 2. I keep all my chars fully equipped, but since i only need 1 goldfinder i decided to see which i like best and delete the other. So no need to make it more difficult and equip 2 barbs. I stripped one and gave it to the other.
Did hell on p1. When entering hell i knew i'd run into PI's. Since i didn't do any damage myself and i didn't see my merc killing whole pack's of PI's i needed a solution. Luckily it was given by MalVeaux in his guide. The solution is amplify damage. Which is the reason i have a little more strength. That's so i could equip the gavel of pain (with hel rune to reduce req's). I could have gone with some wand with amp charges or something, but the gavel has lvl 8 amp which is very nice to have both in duration as in range. And even with that little extra strength i have over 3k life so that should be enough anyway.
Anyway when reaching the tower i switched my bo sticks for the PI's i knew i would encounter and that worked out very nicely. Only downside is that the gavel only has 3 charges. So just spamming them is not an option. Though with that range it really isn't necesary. After that switched back to the sticks and kept on using those most of the time. That is until act 4 when i kept on meeting PI's and going back and forth to town to switch my backup weapons. So i decided i didn't really need the extra life and stayed with the gavel from then on.
Didn't have any real trouble going through the acts. Merc was doing the work and with BO he has a pretty nice lifepool. And if that failed i could always start jumping like a madman to knock enemies into a wall or ridge or something like that.
Ancients were pretty easy too. The second try anyway. First try i tried to split them up. But my merc kept lagging behind dragging them with him and he died while i was still trying to split them up. On the second try they all had pretty harmless mods (i think that all 3 off them had cold enchanted as on of the mods). So with the extra life from the BO sticks (ali's wouldn't help me there), a little extra help from a few amp charges and being able to split them up, it was a piece of cake.
Went into the WSK after that. I think it was the first lvl where i got both gloams and the guys to ressurect them. Those mummies proved to be more dangerous then the gloams. Went into a room with 3 bosspacks and the poison damage really hurt both my merc and myself. But with some jumping and a trip back to town to heal it was very doable.
Also ran into some PI witches in the keep. I was really glad i made the choice for the gavel by then. And luckily i found the exit pretty soon, so i didn't have to clear the entire lvl.
In the throne itself i ran into a PI that could not be broken by amp. So nothing left to do but leap to knock him far enough back so he wouldn't bother me. And then quickly run back to lose him.
After that the waves. Waves 1 and 2 was standing behind merc and making sure things didn't get ressurected once he killed them. 3, 4 and 5 was a lot of leaping so my merc could do his work. Still Lister took out my merc once (he had a might aura). And finally on to Baal, switching to slow/CB gear. Which took a while because the merc kept attacking those tentacles. But once he was slowed there was no contest.
General remarks on the build:
- If you're not into passive play this is not the build for you. For me it came in handy since i had a little RSI so a bit more peaceful playing was nice (though i was still horking almost every corpse so it was not like i was doing nothing).
- Skill explanation: This build only really needs BO, leap and find item. That left me with a lot of spare points. I could have gone for a combat skill or a warcry, but i didn't think they would add much to the build. With the gavel i already had my PI solution and i would need to change gear/stats to do any decent damage. So with his future in my head (hell travi) i was thinking i'd loose a lot of time running through town. My resists were decent enough with 5 hard points. So i went for reducing running time and thus speeding up my future runs. And now that's maxed i can even improve my resists some more.
- Though you may look silly and feel pretty useless jumping all the time, i can see this build have more potential for running travi then my previous GF barb. Too bad stun duration is very short, but it works on all the council members which is not the case with the warcries. So i'll probably keep this barb and get rid of the previous one.
- As said before i'm very happy with the choice of my weapon switch and whether you go for the gavel or a wand with amp charges, i think it is very usefull (and maybe even vital) to have this at your disposal. Also very useful against non-PI's with stoneskin.
LeapOffFaith's future is some lvling (probably at pindle) and then running travi.
And to close it off here's a pic of what can happen if you're leaping in the wrong place(pic would have been more spectacular if the leap didn't knock some enemies off the screen)
Special thanks go to MalVeaux for his guide which was the inspiration to make this character.