The Certain Death Tournament.

[Morathi1]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

One-hit kills became less common in Act 4, but the killing speed was still very pleasing on p/8. I utilized Fissure overlaps to ensure a higher DPS and greater range. The only real setback were Venom Lords, as they naturally have a high resistance to fire (70% !!!). These guys required several Fissures to take down.

Izual greeted us at the gates of the Plains of Despair. Despite being no real threat what so ever, he did take an eternity to take down. God this guy has so much dam hp! It was worth it though, the reward allowed Drake to max Fissure and begin working on Oaks.

The hell forge was a disgrace, dropping an El and no topaz’s! Drake was not happy at all :rant:. It was a good thing that the site of a burning maggots made him feel warm inside.

I spawned Diablo on p/5 for caution reasons and changed to more survival gear. It turned out to be a saviour! The beginning of the battle started off well. Emilio engaged while I came around the rear to initiate OW with my “steel” fail. We managed to hold this position for quite awhile, I was shocked that Emilio was still standing. That was until, Diablo toasted Emilio with two consecutive lighting hoses. This was where things became difficult!

Emilio kept getting fried, almost instanatly. This meant I couldn't keep a constant positon to attack, as i had to keep on my toes at all times, dodging and weaving Big D's attacks. I ended up resurrecting Emilio on 6 occasions in the space of 2 mintues. I decided to see how I would fair without him, not good! Shortly after that Diablo nailed me with a bone prison! Leaving me helpless with nothing but a stupid Carrion Vine. The terrifying part was as I got imprisoned, I saw Diablo unleashed a lighting hose at the side of the screen! Ah oh....Panic mode! I slammed a rejuv and healing potion at the same time, right as the tip of the Hose engulfed Drake. I feared for the worst. Bang! another rejuv and finally I managed to break the bone prison, just as the lighting hose ended, leaving me with 1/4 life remaining. Holy Crap! Very dangerous indeed but I eventually managed to hurt Diablo enough to sliver him.

I switched back to my MF gear just before the final blow. The drop was actually very good. BloodFist’s were high on my wish list in Act 1, so I am glad I finally found one. I will stash it for now as I like my Chance’s too much :greedy:. The rare Kite Shield turned out to be a gem and quickly became Drake’s new shield .

[highlight]Drake the Fire Druid, Level 35.3, Normal Harrogath, life = 186 (269 with Oaks), aided by Emilio the Prayer merc[/highlight]

 

[Ohomemgrande1]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

GeneralJoe found a Gull dagger for his first S/U in the Pits. That was shortly followed by an Arctic Furs and Arctic Belt. I can equip both of those for +40% MF which would beat my 3 chippie ring mail and it would also get to to 50% cold resistance. That would make me need to swap out a ring. hmm.....

[highlight]GeneralJoe the summon-necro, level 18, Jail 1[/highlight]

 

[soulmanz]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

so, Sparky beat the spidery man thing

act 5 continued to be a massive XP fest, nothing challenging really at all, all the way up to the big guy. Two of the ancients spawned highly resistant to fire, but that was no big thing, they still died eventually

the minions at the throne were nothing much either, having levelled up so much my merc could tank ALL of listers gang without dying. that is saying something

Baal was a total prick though. Blood mana was on me all the time, so if i even felt like firewalling him, bam, there goes 50% of my life. I almost died within the first 10 seconds before i realised, by which time i still needed to tele to escape some tentacles. not fun

after that it was smooth sailing though. I wore my MF gear (around 100%) and nothin dropped at all, a few poor rares

Cow king dropped me an umbral disk, which i used for about 4 minutes till NM res drop hit me in the face. Not really sure what to do on a few fronts -
1. should i even bother with gold and magic find? no rerunning areas makes it pretty pointless
2. where my precious skill points will go
option a - max nova and LM asap. i really need this as my primary damage type in hell
option b - max TK/ES asap. i would be almost invincible if i could get ES high enough, with damage reduction gear anyway

the problem is they are mutually exclusive. i need 30 points for each one, so one will have to lag behind. I think i will leave TK down a bit (i really want to get to a level 30+ES, and nova needs full power). mana shouldnt be the biggest of my problems

but it still leaves the order to sort out. FW kills well for now, how soon will i start seeing fire immunes?

the other thought process is i plan to telebomb nova, which without a good energy shield sounds stupidly dangerous. so i guess that lamost answers my question, and ES comes first. but the more i put in ES, the bigger the mana hit will be ... ahhh its so hard. I almost wish i didnt pump FW this much, it is more powerful than it needs to be!

Any thoughts, otherwise im gonna go ES for a while.

anyway,
SparkyPancakes, novawaller, level 47, NM Rogue Encampment (cleared the den of evil)

 

[jiansonz]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

@Morathi: Wow, awesome Diablo fight! Congrats for surviving it, and for the drop. Bloodfist rock in this tourney.

Be careful in the next act, and it shouldn´t be hard for you to gain another +42 base life from the level-ups.

FW kills well for now, how soon will i start seeing fire immunes?

The first critters that will be FI in large numbers are the Doom Knights in Act IV NM. Before that, it´s only occasional bosses.

 

[EmperorMoo]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

@soulmanz: thanks, I'll give your advice a go. My gear is absolutely atrocious, and my MF luck (currently ~100%MF) is not good either.
In answer to your question about skills, I'd do Nova/LM first. It should give you a nice killing speed whilst keeping you pretty safe (think of the flayers in A3 - it'll be a breeze, even on a high /p setting).

@wakiki: I love the ring name/location thing. D2 is great for things like that.

@Morathi: I really enjoyed that write-up of the Big D fight. Gieb shield and Bloodfists!

 

[Mursilis]

So apparently now I see why trappers are so well liked. Jaheira didn't have any problems mowing through the rest of the desert nor in the false tombs. CoS really is a very enjoyable skill, keeps those pesky unravellers from resurrecting any undead. Throw a pair of lightning sentries next to them and watch them twitch.

Act III went pretty much the same way as Act II. Outside Jaheira has a very simple system of moving forward until enemies appear, CoS the area and then pop down 5 lightning sentries to support the mercenary in his assault. Haven't lost the desert mercenary once yet. Come to think of it, I only lost the rogue mercenary before I got access to CoS, and of course against Andariel.

Going into the dungeons of Act III however were a little more tricky. Harder to see the flayer packs before they swarmed Jaheira, so she did get stuck a few times by those massive knives. Nothing life threatening though, just flesh wounds. The one part where Jaheira tread softly was the sewers, keeping an eye out for undead flayers. With such low life that's the last thing I need is my mercenary to kill one with Jaheira nearby. Dolls were found, but thankfully they stayed alive just long enough for Jaheira to put some distance between them.

[highlight]Jaheira the Trapsin, Level 30, Normal Travincal[/highlight]

 

[JayeM]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Trixie is starting out well. Her first 2 forays out of the Rogue Camp netted her several useful rares--quilted armor, ring, boots, and buckler. Her only real problem so far was when she first set foot in the Cold Plains and was ambushed by several large furries (one of which was blue). She got rattled, forgot she had Blade Sentinel, and they chased her around in circles till she managed to pick off all the minions and use up her red potions. She took the WP back to Camp, got potions, came back and finished off Big Blue. Blood Raven and Coldcrow were both wimps compared to that. Arctic Furs dropped somewhere in the Burial Grounds, where she also picked up the rogue Aliza. She just entered the Stony Field, and at level 12 her stats are 41/41/20/35 and resists 10/10/15/20.

[highlight]JayeM, Trixie, Bladesin, Stony Field, 12[/highlight]

 

[Alfonso the Great]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

TheAragorn began his quest the cleanse the evil from this land with a sword and shield in his hand. But he was no Zealot or Avenger...no, his way was the way of the bow and crossbow. So he walked to Akara the witch woman and sold them for a paltry 2 gold pieces. Two gold...that's all the value worthless weapons like that deserved.

He muttered "/players8" to the heavens and went out to box some Fallen to death until he could get his hands on appropriate weaponry. Before long he was armed with a cracked short bow and some arrows and was on his way to victory. He reached level 3 before entering the Den of Evil, dropped a point in Might, and saved the rest. Gems flew from the bodies of Fallen and he lucked out by finding a 2 socket short bow, into which he inserted an emerald and a ruby.

Experience shrines abounded (1 in the Blood Moor, 1 in the Den, and 2 on the Cold Plains) and so TheAragorn was level 8 before fully clearing the Cold Plains, and had switched over to Holy Fire as my aura of choice. He picked up a fellow archer named Elexa and went to take down Blood Raven with her assistance. In the meantime, a 3 socket shortbow had dropped and TheAragorn stuffed an emerald, ruby, and sapphire in there, giving Elexa his old weapon. Still no topazes, though a ring mail was ready to receive them. Blood Raven was simple: namelock and dumbfire while Elexa tore apart the spawned undead and tanked arrows. Crypt and Mausoleum provided some goldfind rings to make boots and glove gambling go faster.

Did the Cave 1 and 2, found my first topaz (yes!), reached level 12, and began gambling. My first foray of goldspending turned up nothing but some 8% MF boots on the final gamble...better than nothing, I suppose. I took down Coldcrow and crew and one of her lackeys popped a second topaz. Rawk! Coldcrow herself dropped some yellows I pawned off for cash. I also dropped a point into Blessed Aim.

Ventured on to the Stony Field and Underground Passage and gambling whenever I got ~2500 banked up in the hopes of snagging some MF gloves. Here's what popped. Acceptably snazzy.

More clearing and into the Dark Wood. This is what I gambled not long thereafter.. Wonderful little booties, especially considering I still have issues with my Stamina *grumble grumble*. I also traded my gemmed shortbow for a gemmed crossbow with the same socketed doodads, with Elexa receiving another hand-me-down. Topazes are rarer than Zod, but I'm swimming in chipped amethysts, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds.

Tristram went easily enough. Griswold insisted on chasing Elexa around as she scurried away from him at a leisurely pace, so I namelocked and spammed bolts. A Champion group of Fallen Shamans spawned right in the middle of town and they provided a nice chunk of loot, including an improved goldfind ring. Cain was rescued and that's that.

Onward! The Black Marsh, where my first set item exploded off a Brute fairly near the waypoint and about midway between the Hole and Countess' Tower. With about half of the area left to clear, I descended underground and...again underground. Nothing too exciting happened in the Hole (though Elexa did some close to dying when a Multiple-Shot Vile Archer spawned) and the Countess gave up halfway decent runes for a change. After I killed off her honor guard, Elexa happened to get into a position from which she could fire arrows with impunity into the chamber while the Countess just stood there and took her lumps. This might come in handy for NM/Hell, though by then I'll have an Act 2 merc more than willing to bound in and probably disrupt line of sight.

So that's where I stand. Tonight I'm hoping to make my way through the Tamoe Highland, clear the Pit, and maybe push through to the Inner Cloister if I have the time. So far running TheAragorn is a blast...he plays almost identically to the Rogue from the original game and I haven't even had any near-death experiences. I've only spent three skill points and only enough stat points to up my strength for the ring mail and dex for the crossbow...I'll have plenty to spare for equipment in both those categories since energy is even more useless than usual (I don't forsee picking up a SINGLE mana-requiring skill) and vitality...yeeeeeah. Can't wait to hit level 18 so I can pick up Holy Freeze...Andariel should be cake thanks to my ranged advantage, even if Elexa bites the dust in battle.

[highlight]TheAragorn, Ranger Paladin, Level 16.5, Normal Black Marsh, with Elexa the Cold Rogue[/highlight]

 

[cenyth]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Teff is in Act 5.

Mephisto
Not difficult, didn't need to use antidote pots either (forgot to..)

Sword of Destiny
Mephisto's attendants felt sorry for me and dropped a unique.

Manald Heal
Potential mid/endgame ring for me.

Diablo
I daresay this is one of the safest fights I have had with Diablo. I accidentally stood in his lightning hose and creeping fire twice each, and took hits from when I started running around. Never went below 50% HP, no pots used. His ring of fire did the most damage to me out of all his attacks.
Amazing, considering I kept messing up:
- Didn't remember to static field him
- Kept pressing "5" when trying to press "4" for mana pots.
In conclusion, I love Energy Shield.

Drops that would've been awesome for another tourney:
Cleglaws Pincers
Angelic Mantle

[highlight]Teff, ES Sorceress, Harrogath, lvl 35[/highlight]

 

[scrcrw]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Great progress everyone. I hope to see NM Baal fall next week at the latest. Kaiko demands revenge from the grave:tombstone:.

@wakiki There is "RIP" missing next to Jenna in the table. Not that I mind, but I certainly won't ressurect her just because the table says she is still alive .
I'm actually not sure how Radament killed her. He just reached out and suddenly some text about deeds popped up...

@Alfonso the Great - I will be following your adventures with interest. Never tried a Ranger pala myself and "he plays almost identically to the Rogue from the original game" certainly got me hooked (* /me looks vacant for several minutes and indulges in diablo 1 nostalgia*).

Also I just can't stay away from this tournament. Dying early and abruptly certainly has a morbid appeal to me...
Going for a Throwbarb this time. Another set of skills I have never even read the description of (well, maybe just after release). This time I won't be using Atma/Gomule at all. With Jenna I massively used it for the first time and it somehow felt like cheating.

[highlight]scrcrw, Clodius, Throwbarb, Rogue Camp, lvl 1 [/highlight]

 

[HanShotFirst]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Well, after two characters that were item independent it seemed like it would be fun to play a character that could really get excited about the drops! . . so my third entry is going to be Helen, an FA/Strafer. I say “going to be” because at this point only Act 1 is complete and at Players 7 Helen only hit Level 20 and is therefore yet to use either Strafe or Freezing Arrow.

Despite not having access to either of her intended skills (and only placing one point in prerequisites so far) Act 1 was still easy. Helen used Javelins through the Blood Moor and then used a Longbow of chipped ruby/emerald/sapphire through the rest of Act 1. Mostly normal attacks were used but when the monsters got nasty the one point Cold Arrow (and later, the one point Freezing Arrow) was used to deal with the monsters (both really used up the mana supply so that’s why their use was mostly limited to emergency situations).

Everything was pretty simple so there’s not too much to say . . . the only monsters that mounted any resistance were Wraiths and those were only concerning when there were uniques involved. Helen didn’t have any close calls and her cold arrow merc was undefeated up until Andariel. Andariel really wasn’t much trouble at all . . . Helen could outrun her so victory was pretty much assured (run a couple steps, shoot a couple times, run a couple steps . . . you get the idea).

Andariel had a great drop! . . not really useful for Helen but still pretty good stuff. The El’s went well with what the Countess dropped and in addition to the Gnasher and Crushflange Helen also found a Felloak and a Death’s Sash (the Death’s Sash might get some use but only getting eight slots is a pretty big penalty for what it offers).

Here were Helen’s stats at the end of Act 1.

[highlight]Helen, FA/Strafer, Lut Gholein, Level 20[/highlight]

 

[wakiki]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Shadow_Salad equipped his merc's old Halberd and looked pretty wicked with it while clearing the jungles. Its five range easily allowed him to attack Dim Vision'ed monsters without getting hit in return.

Ormus gave him a really nice ring:

Spoiler

Beast Finger
Ring
Required Level: 9
Fingerprint: 0xf8b2fa9a
Item Level: 21
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+40 to Attack Rating
Damage Reduced by 1
Lightning Resist +9%
Replenish Life 3
14% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Not end-game worthy or anything, but a great replacement for his plain 9% MF ring!

S_S had a really funny NDE in the Swampy Pit. You know how the golden chest at the end is surrounded by poison spitting traps? Well, he was merrily picking up the loot when suddenly he noticed that his health was below a third and dropping fast! Do the traps deal physical damage as well as poison? If so, he was almost toast! That would have been embarrassing.

He had a much grosser NDE in Lower Kurast. He was so full of items he had gems and runes practically running through my fingers as he ran to find the waypoint. A pack of extra strong Doom Apes semi-surrounded him, he was at half health, and I paused the game to consider my options. (Hows that for switching from third to first person in the same sentence? ) I considered just S&Eing and running all the way from the Flayer waypoint...but ugh, that would be terrible. So I put a finger on the full rejuv button and chanced it. BAM! The boss hit S_S and he had no visible health in his bulb. He drank a full rejuv and managed to escape. Now that would have been a LAME death. (Also, I'm pretty sure that the boss didn't crit me. If he had, I would be dead for sure.)

Wanna see how S_S cleared the Ruined Temple? First, he cast DV into the room and the Battlemaid came to face Zanarhi alone. Second, they entered the room and he cast a few more DV's for good measure. Third, S_S collected the loot as Zanarhi cleaned up. Absurdly easy...

S_S found an amazingly placed experience shrine right in front of the Causeway. Perfect! He finished clearing Upper Kurast and cleared his inventory to prepare. He hit the shrine and ran up the Causeway. One boss pack. Entered the temple on the right. Two boss packs. Found another boss pack in the temple and killed half of them with the experience shrine still on. Sweet! 2-and-a-half packs is not bad for one experience shrine, especially in normal!

Everything was easy thanks to Zanarhi's Savage Bill of Slaughter. Mephisto was taken down the same way Duriel was. 0 potions used thanks to Life Tap.

Other finds:

• Nokozan Relic
• Sander's boots
• Two gems shrines (1 perfect topaz and counting)
• yet another Cleglaw's shield
• Hsaru's belt
• Snakecord light belt

Now I'm nearing my Chargadin's grave....
[highlight]Shadow_Salad, level 32 Meleemancer, at the Pandemonium Fortress[/highlight]

 

[Morathi1]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

This time I won't be using Atma/Gomule at all. With Jenna I massively used it for the first time and it somehow felt like cheating.

I have to agree with this statement.

Drake is my third character to use an extended stash and my god the advantage gain is HUGE!

Right now i have about 30 odd items selling at max gold in my extended stash, waiting to be cashed in. Early on i saved every single chipped gem, staff (which didn't sell for max) and rejuvs. This allowed me to cube more Savage Polearms and have several re-rolls if needed.

It seriously is a MASSIVE advantage to have an extended stash.

I might go back to how i used to play which was no mods what so ever. I feel more natural doing it that way, and of course, its a harder way of playing :smug:.

 

[wakiki]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Nice progress, everyone. Here's the new table:

Forum Name     Character       Class            Location               Level
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
scrcrw         Kaiko           Blade Fury Asn   (N)Throne of Destruction 72 RIP
Tarantella     Amarantine      Skirmisher       (N)Throne of Destruction 72 RIP
HanShotFirst   Ulquiorra-san   Bone Necro       (N)Mephisto              64 RIP
Drystan        Argoel          Sorceress        (N)Kurast Docks          58
scrcrw         Jenna           Poison Java      (N)Radament              53 RIP
Bluechip       Inevitability   Sorceress        (N)Black Marsh           44 RIP
Thomh          Uzumati         Fire Claws Bear  (N)Dark Wood             49
jdkerr         Lifeless        Wind Druid       (N)Rogue Encampment      48
Tarantella     Damasque        Skirmisher       (N)Rogue Encampment      48
soulmanz       SparkyPancakes  Novawaller       (N)Rogue Encampment      47
ancalagon      Shatterproof    Strafer          (N)Rogue Encampment      45
cenyth         Teff            ES Sorceress     Harrogath                35
Morathi        Drake           Fire Druid       Harrogath                35
HanShotFirst   Scorn           Fire Druid       Diablo                   34 RIP
Brutass        Tane            Summ/Fire Druid  Diablo                   30 RIP
nermind        EatMyBones      Bonemancer       Chaos Sanctuary          34 RIP
EmperorMoo     FineFingers     Strafezon        Chaos Sanctuary          31 RIP
wakiki         BathtubPancake  Charge/H.Freeze  River of Flame           34 RIP
wakiki         Shadow_Salad    Meleemancer      Pandemonium Fortress     32
Mursilis       Jaheira         Trapsin          Travincal                30
kavarin        Roadkill        Fire/Wolf        Flayer Jungle            29
soulmanz       SwayBabySway    Passivezon       Kurast Docks             27
Mournblade     Mouse           Golemancer       Kurast Docks             26
JayeM          Glassjaw        Barbarian        False Tomb               25 RIP
NagisaFurukawa Rin             Strafer          Arcane Sanctuary         25
EmperorMoo     MELIKECAKE      Concbarb         Arcane Sanctuary         24
PepitoSari     Kratos          Barbarian        Fangskin                 25 RIP
Morathi        Sibella         Cold Sorc        Maggot Lair              24 RIP
JayeM          Glasscannon     Assassin         Maggot Lair              20 RIP
holiecows      HolieTraps      Assassin         Lut Gholein              21
QuickDeath     CandleintheWind Javazon          Lut Gholein              20
pepitosari     SassyAssasin    Assassin         Lut Gholein              20
HanShotFirst   Helen           FA/Strafer       Lut Gholein              20
Bluechip       Vitamin         Throwbarb        Inner Cloiser            14
JayeM          GlassEye        Necromancer      Jail Level 2             17 RIP
Ohomemgrande   GeneralJoe      Summoning Necro  Jail Level 1             18
sirpoopsalot   QuestionMarks   ES/GS Sorc       Barracks                 18 RIP
Brutass        Snatch          Trapsin          Barracks                 18 RIP
Bluechip       Sickness        Poison Javazon   Barracks                 15 RIP
Alfonso        TheAragorn      Ranger Paladin   Black Marsh              16
Brutass        Sparkles        Lite/Orb Sorc    Black Marsh              14
XxUberStarxX   Inevitable      Chargadin        Stony Field              12
Shaandore      Fastpoison      Psn/Feral Rage   Stony Field              12
JayeM          Trixie          Bladesin         Stony Field              12
Galningen      Blade           Bf/Light Traps   Cold Plains              6
EmperorMoo     BraveSirRobin   Mojomancer       Cold Plains              6
Brutass        Sparky          Lite/Orb Sorc    Den of Evil              6  RIP
Kefka          Fergie          Trappa           Rogue Encampment         1
maareek        DeathtoCurtains Berserker        Rogue Encampment         1
Myth           RAWR            Throwbarb        Rogue Encampment         1
Machete        Benny           Bow Barb         Rogue Encampment         1
Galningen      KingLeoric      Bonemancer       Rogue Encampment         1
Zefimas        Susannah        Bowzon           Rogue Encampment         1
scrcrw         Clodius         Throwbarb        Rogue Encampment         1

@Morathi: Awesome write-up, dude! I don't know how you guys manage to take screen shots in such frantic situations! Nice Bloodfists, too. The life is great, but I think a mod people might overlook is the crucial Hit Recovery. In this tournament every monster hit sends me (and probably everyone else) in hit recovery, so that's very important. Also, if I were you, I would greedily hold that Milabrega's for the rest of normal difficulty.

Ohomemgrande: OH MY GOD THAT IS SOME AMAZING LUCK DUDE!! Wowwwww. Gull Dagger. And Arctic armor+belt combo?!?! incredible! You should have no problem getting to 200% magic find!

@soulmanz: I don't think single-pass makes MF less important. The key is knowing when to switch from your MF gear to your safety gear. In some tournaments, Hell is when that happens. In this one, I'd say Nightmare is a good time to maximize your survival ability. MF will still be nice, of course. My plan for Nightmare is to try to get mf on my circlet, boots, and gloves, along with some other good survival mods, and not worry about MF anywhere else. (As for the skills strategy, I have no experience with them so I have no idea.)

@EmperorMoo: I'm glad someone noticed meh ring.

@Alfonso: Nice write-up. Wanna hear something depressing? I'm still having Stamina issues in act 3! Wheeee!

 

[Bluechip]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Vitamin died at level 23 in Duriel's tomb to about a million wraiths - champions mixed in.

I've started Murderherder, my hunter/summoner druid who will use hurricane if I get that far. A group of ravens is called a 'murder.' You get it. He's level 15 and in the outer cloister. I have oak sage. This is like cheating. ~120 life already? Too easy.

 

[NagisaFurukawa]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Rin started off her day clearing the arms of the Arcane Sanctuary. For the first time since who knows when, she actually managed to find the Summoner quickly (second try)... except that she had planned on full clearing the area anyway. Blasted game. . The false tombs were particularly grueling, as her mercenary kept poking away at skeletons which were being revived, and she suffered an NDE from impatience, as she blindly rushed into a room full of ghosts, skeletons, and mummies, only to end up getting stuck while her mercenary continued to fail. . At the cost of her purples, she managed to escape, but decided to tune things down to /players 3 as a result. With that, the progress was much smoother, as her own damage became noticeable, and she cruised her way through the rest of the Act.

The same could be said for the typically annoying (for me, at least) Act 3. Nothing was threatening for much of the time, but she again ran into trouble in the temples of Kurast. Her mercenary had decided to pull the old "here, but not actually attracting attention from monsters" trick, which led to a very close call in the Ruined Temple. Upon entering, Rin found herself surrounded by spiders, but she found a little space, threw up a Decoy, and the rest was history. Naturally, it hadn't occurred to her yet that her mercenary was being evil, so she ran towards Sarina, only to get pushed all the way back. The Decoy proved rather fragile, but the usual "run in circles while the mercenary kills stuff" tactic kept her alive. Neither the Council nor Mephisto were particularly bothersome. A rare Pike with life leech had dropped in Durance 2, and proved to be all that her mercenary needed (aside from an occasional Decoy) to deal with the demon.

Long story short, she made it to Act 4, albeit with a few bumps along the way. Current stats and weapon. She's got a few points in both Strafe and Critical Strike, and one point in Freezing Arrow. Not entirely enough damage to perpetually Strafe, but good enough for her purposes. .

[highlight]Rin, Strafer, Level 30, Pandemonium Fortress[/highlight]

 

[Mournblade]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Mouse began Act 3 making it through the Forest, Marsh, and Jungle. Collected his potion of life, turned in the Gibdin?, got the Eye and Brain. Found the Lower Kurast waypoint and stopped there. Finally put a 2nd TAL in my bow as it was taking awhile to kill. The TALs give 150 poison over 5 seconds, much better. I do use amp and CE to clean up tight crowds quicker, but both are level 1. The Swampy Pit was a little scary. I think level 2 was dolls, gloams, and I think the bats. Definitely paid attention there. The golem does seems to stay with me better than a merc.

A nice gamble from Alkor:
Rare Chain Gloves - +1 dex, 17%CR, 13%PR, 1/2 freeze, 24MF

Ormus actually gave me a decent ring:
+2 str, +10 life, rep life +3, 14 stam, 29%LR, 15%PR

Need to hold off using the ring until I find some decent boots to replace my LR ones, as using both along with my bone helm I don't want to part with would send me over the 50%

I have found 5 TALs so far with this character, which has been nice. Cubed up a 6th one. I have used 2 TALs in the bow, but still have the following:
2 EL
1 TIR
1 NEF
4 TAL

Stats
Level 28
Life 133
Damage 164-194 mostly poison
STR 60
DEX 98 (94)
VIT 15
NRG 56 (46)

[highlight]Mouse the Golemancer, Lower Kurast, Level 28[/highlight]

 

[EmperorMoo]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

It seriously is a MASSIVE advantage to have an extended stash.

Yes, I never use the extended stash option in tournaments. I like to make things as hard as possible for myself...

MELIKECAKE is now in the Kurast Docks. I did Duriel on /p3 - no real problem, no value drop.

I'm off wandering the jungles of Kurast today, hopefully Mr Mephisto will drop something nice by close of business.

@soulmanz: Thanks for the suggestion about getting a better weapon. Cubing a savage polearm has made me a force to be reckoned with (as long as no-one hits back!). TBH, I'm a bit embarassed I didn't think of it...

 

[Zelator]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

It's not too late joining this right? (seeing people are still in normal etc) If not, count me in! Gonna read through the thread first and come up with a char I wanna make. I'll edit my post later.

Edit: I just realized the thread is longer than I thought so I won't read all of it before entering the tourney.

Also, my char will be a Curse/Corpse Explosion necro with a mercenary.

[highlight]WitchOfEndor the Curse/CE necromancer, Rouge Encampment, level 1[/highlight]

 

[Morathi1]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Drake owned Act 5! I wish I had a couple tales of tough battles to share, but the fact is, nothing stood in my way for long. Act 5 is a levelling bonanza, and with each skill point, I built Volcano without hesitation. I brought it to level 15 (was level 4 at the start of the act), and as a result Fissure’s damage increased by more than 2x . I used each skill equally. Depending on the situation, one is sometimes clearly better than the other. I am amazed at how over-powered Fissure is in normal!

Baal didn’t pose any real threat for our duo, apart from a couple times, where he would cast consecutive cold triangles (?). I had a few occasions where my life dropped down to ¼, but nothing too dangerous. Good positioning was the key! Baal managed to clone himself on 7 different occasions, but a quick tp to town sorted that out. His drop resulted in my first real solution to a FI/PI combo. Nice, a Skystrike! Unfortunately its roll was atrocius, 158% Ed, that’s 8% off the worst roll :yuck:.

Drake easily defeated p/8 Cows, with non-stop Fissure action. The Cow King only needed one Fissure and he dropped his Armor. Cool! +30 Life, +18 All Resists, not bad at all! Will look even better with a Ptopaz lodged in it . The Cows were very S/U friendly, dropping 4 sets and 2 uniques in total. Only two concerned Drake however, they are the King’s armor and Blood Cresent (15 all resists, OW, +15 to life). Ill find a way to incorporate both in my gear.

Interesting Drops for the Act:
*Amber Grand Charm (27% Lighting Resist). .
*Thul Rune
*2x Sol Rune
*Balance Knife of Life tap. Shopped from Malah. Will come in handy later down the track, when monsters start to actually pose a threat to Emilio.

As Drake Begins NM, here are his Stats/Skills/Gear: (I will be doing a fashion make over)

Stats
Level 48.5
Str 80, Dex 165, Vitality 25 (duh!), Energy 35, 19 unused stat points
Reists 18/-11/0/4
Chance to Block: 75%
MF: 169%

Elemental Skills
4 Firestorm (will be maxed last, provides synergy for Fissure and Boulder :thumbup
3 Moltern Boulder (will work on after Volcano, I plan on utilizing it alot more)
1 Artic Blast
20 Fissure
15 Volcano
Shape Shifting Skills
None
Summoning
1 Poison Creeper
5 Oaks Sage (end game goal around 8-10)
1 Carrion Vine
1 Solar Creeper (whoops!)

Gear:
Helm: Circlet of Luck (26%)
Armor: 3 topaz Ring Mail (48% MF)
Amulet: Felicitous Amulet (10%)
Weapon: “Steel” Flail
Shield: Rare Kite Shield
Gloves: Chance’s (29% MF)
Ring 1: Ring of Chance (10%)
Ring 2: Snakes Ring of Chance (+5 mana, 8% MF)
Belt: Rare Belt. 17% FHR, 18% Ed, Replenish life 3, Fire Resist 9%, Poison Resist 11%
Boots: Light Plated Boots of Luck (34%)

Weapon Switch: Skystrike .

Emilio's Gear:
Rare Partizan. 48% Ed, +9 max damage, Knockback, 7 poison damage over 3 seconds, +58 to AR
Rare Circlet. 1 to Lightning skills (sorc only), 1-59 lighting damage, 9-20 cold damage, Attackers take damage of 6
Rare Chain Mail. Ctc level 3 Frost Nova, 31% Ed, + 2 Strength, Fire Resist 12%, Poison Resist 11%.


[highlight]Destroyer Drake the Fire Druid, Level 48.5, NM Rogue Camp, life = 212 (318 with Oaks), aided by Emilio the Prayer merc[/highlight]