The Exposure Tournament

Re: The Exposure Tournament

@bladejj:

Do not rush the points in Fade: there is a real possibility to be able to make Treachery (especially if you are running 1.13), and that will be better than the points you can afford anyway.
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Just remember to use a big hurty one handed stick for BF. Maybe shop for cruels, or imbue ethereal legendary mallets (assuming you find any)?
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Here is my planned skill allocation (which is highly susceptible to change):
Traps:

Fireblast - 20
Wake of Inferno - 20 (*424-487 damage, 5 shots) **main skill**
Wake of Fire - 20 (*1662-1887 damage, 10 shots)
Death Sentry - 10 (*8.3 yard radius, shoots 11 times, 1-244 damage)
Blade Fury - 1
Prerequisites - 4

So any thoughts?

Good luck with Wake of Inferno. I built a Fire Trapper guardian that used it but Wake of Fire is much faster and seemed to be more effective. For some reason WoI did work well on bosses though.



 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Assuming you are past Radament, you need to be level 81 (80 skill points from level-ups and 10 from quest rewards). A /p8 full clear of Normal and NM and then /p3 in Hell gets you there a bit into Act II. I always end Act II at level 83 with that players setting setup.

Ahhh yes, that is right. I've only gotten about 3 to 4 HC character past that stage in the game. Let's hope that she makes it that far.


Do not rush the points in Fade: there is a real possibility to be able to make Treachery (especially if you are running 1.13), and that will be better than the points you can afford anyway.

True, I forgot all about that runeword. Although I wouldn't get the reduction in damage, It would save me some points. I actually don't have any point in fade right now because my resists are nearly maxed already. I plan on keeping fade and CoS at level 1 until late NM or Hell (depending on how things are going).

Just remember to use a big hurty one handed stick for BF. Maybe shop for cruels, or imbue ethereal legendary mallets (assuming you find any)?

That's the plan, well I'm not sure about the imbueing part though. I do plan on making or upgrading a large 2 handed maul or something of the sort. A legendary mallet is only one handed so that one will be out of the question in this tournament.

Good luck with Wake of Inferno. I built a Fire Trapper guardian that used it but Wake of Fire is much faster and seemed to be more effective. For some reason WoI did work well on bosses though.

Oops, my bad. I switched the names on that post. If you switch the two names then the stats will be correct. Yes, also meant to say that Wake of Fire will be my main skill. As you said, even though it does less damage it kills a heck of a lot faster. Although, I do enjoy seeing WoI shoot across entire screens.



 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Stepping up to the mark Uta donned full mf gear with boots (35) gloves (25) headgear (72) Armour (96) Gull dagger (100) Amulet (35) 2x rings (49) small charm (4) for a 416 total and 3 negative resists, no frw and minimal fcr on swap to take down enemies before switching to Gull to get corpses and detonate them. With a setting of p8 the whole of act 1 up to the underground passage was cleared for very good experience but barely any noticeable effect on mf apart from Guillames helm, a few low set items and a 15 RA scintillating ring with 19mf which was dropped in the Stony field and immediately donned. Bone walls and prisons were resillient enough to keep all, even the LE's at bay. Dim vision was increased to 10 points but that part took simply hours. Blood Raven dropped a rare ring and amulet excellent for an amazon.

Switching back to questing gear the rest of the act was then done on a safe p1 apart from the pits which were saved for later and Andariels level set back to p8 again yielding a poor drop. Tristram had three nasty bosses and Griswald in amongst the ruins and Im sure it would have ended badly at p8 but the tower run was trap free and straightforward yielding only an ort and shael. Several nice rares were picked up on the way, but a mal dropping in the catacombs was a pleasant suprise in the not immediately useful category, as opposed to this nasty suprise. A +2pb amulet was gambled and stashed whilst obtaining amulets for crafting but the four caster amulets were poor. The only unique to drop for all that effort was the mighty sceptre just before the great doors to Andariels lair which made Uta think of a career change to paladin momentarily.

[highlight]Tarantella Uta-Refson Necromancer Level 79 Lut Gholein(Hell) 302 points[/highlight]
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

After a bit of a break, Scaven is back in action. Acts 3 and 4 in NM went pretty smoothly, despite one nasty start in the Ruined Temple. Lower Kurast brought his first elite weapon, a white truncheon, which was imbued with mediocre results. He also crafted a nice Gothic Axe for his berserk switch and got to use it on the council. Meph went down easily with a forgettable drop.

He got the typical gloam greeting in act 4, but once stunned they weren't much of a problem. The City of the Damned afforded the rare opportunity to smash a few windows.

Act 5 saw more elites dropping, including a small crescent which became a decent craft. Finally a 3os knout dropped, but he held out and not long after a 3os tyrant club dropped from which he made 'black'. M'avinas belt was dropped by Eldritch or his gang and was used until the start of Hell when the resists of Nightsmoke were needed again. This pack turned out to be extra fast/mana burn which made his life a little difficult.

Then came the nightmare of the Drifter Cavern where he walked into what was probably the nastiest trap of my D2 career. First, it was the center entrance, and immediately there were two champ moon lords on him with archers in the background. He took a few whacks, but his life was going down fast, so he tried to flee to safer ground. Instead, he awoke a moon lord bosspack and the other two champs. The boss was holy freeze. Fleeing again, he awoke yet another moon lord bosspack! He opened a portal in the corner and had to scramble to get in it, spamming purples all the while. He then took the portal and made the long run from the wp. He was able to get a couple at a time once back in, but the tp/wp trick had to be repeated a few times. The other boss turned out to be extra fast/cursed. Once the initial mess was cleared, he explored the rest of the small cave, finding two succubus boss packs one screen away in the other direction!

The rest of act 5 was tame by comparison. Nili's temple was no problem (ie no vipers). The most interesting thing that happened there was Black Hades dropping from an armor rack. The ancients were easy, despite an FE Madawc taking off 1600 of his life with his death explosion (oops). The Spire of Honor dropped in the WSK, a point in spear mastery was taken, and it was quickly put to good use. Baal's minions were easily separated and Baal himself went down with no issues (and no good drops).

Cowtown was entered cautiously and its a good thing, as right away there were overlapping might/fanat auras whose bosses had to be separated to be dealt with safely. When the Cow King went down, he saw stamina potions fly again, but was very pleased with the hork. The helm is now in use (ort/ral), and one of the great swords turned out to be 160ed/20ias/2warcries/etc. It will likely be upgraded and put on berserk/buff switch.

He had to rearrange some gear for hell, but he has cleared the den and got the Cold Plains wp. Here were his stats starting hell.

[highlight]Scaven, slightly scared frenzy barb, Hell Cold Plains, lvl 72, 262 points[/highlight]
 
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Re: The Exposure Tournament

Great progress the two of ya, and congrats on scaven surviving that bosspack orgy!

Nev has done the blood moor/den and it haas been ok, although progress is a bit slow on p8. I feel he is gonna start feeling weak soon
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

@CTM: You had really hot Drift Cavern, good job. Such situation would be lethal for my char. I think Drift cavern and Icy Cellar belong among the most cruel places in the game. Crowd of nasty monsters suddenly surround your char and any move to any side makes it only worse. Congrats on surviving that.


NM finished :alright:.

Act 5 went really alright, there were only few places worth mentioning. There is one particular kind of monster I'm really afraid of and that's frenzy taurs. I hoped BlackDeath could be lucky to not meet them, and he actually was, except one situation. This pack (together with succubuses who were all around) would smash BlackDeath in a minute (it was all /p8). Very lucky they were accross the moat!!! Out of fun I fed them with few pieces of bone wall and I was almost scared they would jump over the moat how they were speeded up. Gladly they were helpless there, and gladly there were no more such packs.

Also Frozen River were this time place of respect. Gloams and succubusses. The most scary gloam packs came from Evil urns though, like for example this one.

And traditionally, Cavern and Icy Cellar were quite tough. Funny was situation in Icy Cellar. When Blackdeath entered, I noticed Experience shrine on the other bank. I thought about how much I want it, but it was clear there is some trap. And indeed. Fanatic pack of snakes and dolls everywhere (no one like CE doll-boss with teleport ability). In these places it's always amazing how such crowd of monsters appears out of nowhere and with every movement there are more and more of them. So, in the end, Exp shrine was the last thing I cared about.

In the end of act 5 I lowered to /p5. Partially I started to be a bit unpatient and also the progress started to be quite slow, it's not really fun to visit town every five monsters for mana (even though BlackDeath has Insight staff on switch, I'm not much used to use it).

Cows were done on /p3, I wasn't sure what to expect, but this was perfectly alright. I was just quite disappointed with drops, nothing useful at all.

Next ---> Hell.

[highlight] BlackDeath, bone necromancer, lvl 74, Rogue Encampment H, 275 points [/highlight]

Code:
Name           Character       Class       Location         Level  Points
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tarantella     Uta-Refson      Necromancer H Lut Gholein      79     302
ChrisTheMean   Scaven          Barbarian   H Cold Plains      72     277
kestegs        Running_Scared  Sorceress   H Rogue Camp       74     275
sequana        BlackDeath      Necromancer H Rogue Camp       74     275
Hanshotfirst   Hester          Sorceress   NM Kurast Docks    60     201
ancalagon      Umbriel         Assassin    NM Kurast Docks    59     200
skoolbus       Gorm            Barbarian   NM Dark Wood       49     ???
SoulManZ       Nevermore       Druid       NM Rogue Camp      39     ???
Jason Maher    Vanessa         Amazon      Moo Moo Farm       48     136
jiansonz       Smaragd         Necromancer Harrogath          35     ???
Old Soldier    Thalestris      Amazon      Lower Kurast       30      81?
bladejj        Elsa            Assassin    Kurast Docks       28      ??         
wikkid         Rabidwolfkin    Druid       Lut Gholein        24      ??
jdkerr         Kobe            Assassin    Halls of the Dead  23      50
GCanada        PoohBear        Druid       Lut Gholein        20      42
liquid_mage    Wulfgar         Barbarian   Lut Gholein        20      42
scrcrw         Nagisa          Barbarian   Lut Gholein        20      42?
Hanshotfirst   Hector          Paladin     Lut Gholein        20      42
Vang           Deadite         Barbarian   Lut Gholein        20      42?
ILikeRocks     Gragamel        Paladin     Lut Gholein        21      41
Brak           TheStreak       Paladin     Inner Cloister     19      37
CM             Lisbeth         Assassin    Inner Cloister     18      36
DaveW          Blades          Assassin    Lut Gholein        18      36
Shaandore      Irreducible     Paladin     Black Marsh        17      30
daed           Strafy          Amazon      Stony Field        12      19
wielanja       Beowulf         Barbarian   Stony Field        12      19
Sorcererbob    Cabaret         Sorceress   Stony Field        12      19
Ashmer         Fuzzy           Druid       Stony Field        12      19?
wakiki         Polemos         Barbarian   Cold Plains         7      11
Quickdeath     Limber          Amazon      Cold Plains         6       9
NightCraweler  Ragran          Barbarian   Rogue Camp          1       2
vague          Benkei          Barbarian   Rogue Camp          1       2 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
RIP: 
ChrisTheMean   TheLoner        Paladin     NM Underground P   48     148
HanShotFirst   Frost-Fang      Druid       River of Flame     33     100
Morathi        Dorian          Paladin     Flayer Dungeon     30      80
Krazy_Solo     Burn_Notice     Druid       Duriel             27      67
Morathi        Diago           Druid       False Tomb         27      ??
Krazy_Solo     Auriel          Amazon      Halls of the Dead  22      48
Krazy_Solo     Snave           Druid       Act II             21      46
Krazy_Solo     Nispart         Assassin    Andariel           20      39
GCanada        MsGarrison      Assassin    Jail               18      35
tavaritz       Boner           Necromancer Barracks           18      35
Wikkid         BloodQuencher   Barbarian   Kurast Docks       28      28
Bluechip       SeymourKrelborn Necromancer Tal Rasha's Tomb   23      23
Dark Matter    BoneyM          Necromancer Stony Field        12      20
Quickdeath     Blink           Assassin    Barracks           15      15
Vang           Leeloo          Amazon      Catacombs 3         1       2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Retired:
Dark Matter    Arthur          Barbarian   Lut Gholein        20      42
Jason Maher    Fanven          Paladin     Dark Wood          15      25
mattinm        Kamikaze        Necromancer Rogue Camp          1       2
 
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Re: The Exposure Tournament

@sequana and soulmanz- yeah, those caves can be nasty as you never really know what monster types will be there, nor where the door will lead you. That center island entrance is the worst.

@ thread- Oops, I forgot the points for norm/nm in my score. I would have edited, but the table had been updated after my post. So...

[highlight]Scaven, slightly scared frenzy barb, Hell Cold Plains, lvl 72, 277 points[/highlight]

[highlight]TABLE:[/highlight]
Code:
Name           Character       Class       Location         Level  Points
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tarantella     Uta-Refson      Necromancer H Lut Gholein      79     302
ChrisTheMean   Scaven          Barbarian   H Cold Plains      72     277
kestegs        Running_Scared  Sorceress   H Rogue Camp       74     275
sequana        BlackDeath      Necromancer H Rogue Camp       74     275
Hanshotfirst   Hester          Sorceress   NM Kurast Docks    60     201
ancalagon      Umbriel         Assassin    NM Kurast Docks    59     200
skoolbus       Gorm            Barbarian   NM Dark Wood       49     ???
SoulManZ       Nevermore       Druid       NM Rogue Camp      39     ???
Jason Maher    Vanessa         Amazon      Moo Moo Farm       48     136
jiansonz       Smaragd         Necromancer Harrogath          35     ???
Old Soldier    Thalestris      Amazon      Lower Kurast       30      81?
bladejj        Elsa            Assassin    Kurast Docks       28      ??         
wikkid         Rabidwolfkin    Druid       Lut Gholein        24      ??
jdkerr         Kobe            Assassin    Halls of the Dead  23      50
GCanada        PoohBear        Druid       Lut Gholein        20      42
liquid_mage    Wulfgar         Barbarian   Lut Gholein        20      42
scrcrw         Nagisa          Barbarian   Lut Gholein        20      42?
Hanshotfirst   Hector          Paladin     Lut Gholein        20      42
Vang           Deadite         Barbarian   Lut Gholein        20      42?
ILikeRocks     Gragamel        Paladin     Lut Gholein        21      41
Brak           TheStreak       Paladin     Inner Cloister     19      37
CM             Lisbeth         Assassin    Inner Cloister     18      36
DaveW          Blades          Assassin    Lut Gholein        18      36
Shaandore      Irreducible     Paladin     Black Marsh        17      30
daed           Strafy          Amazon      Stony Field        12      19
wielanja       Beowulf         Barbarian   Stony Field        12      19
Sorcererbob    Cabaret         Sorceress   Stony Field        12      19
Ashmer         Fuzzy           Druid       Stony Field        12      19?
wakiki         Polemos         Barbarian   Cold Plains         7      11
Quickdeath     Limber          Amazon      Cold Plains         6       9
NightCraweler  Ragran          Barbarian   Rogue Camp          1       2
vague          Benkei          Barbarian   Rogue Camp          1       2 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
RIP: 
ChrisTheMean   TheLoner        Paladin     NM Underground P   48     148
HanShotFirst   Frost-Fang      Druid       River of Flame     33     100
Morathi        Dorian          Paladin     Flayer Dungeon     30      80
Krazy_Solo     Burn_Notice     Druid       Duriel             27      67
Morathi        Diago           Druid       False Tomb         27      ??
Krazy_Solo     Auriel          Amazon      Halls of the Dead  22      48
Krazy_Solo     Snave           Druid       Act II             21      46
Krazy_Solo     Nispart         Assassin    Andariel           20      39
GCanada        MsGarrison      Assassin    Jail               18      35
tavaritz       Boner           Necromancer Barracks           18      35
Wikkid         BloodQuencher   Barbarian   Kurast Docks       28      28
Bluechip       SeymourKrelborn Necromancer Tal Rasha's Tomb   23      23
Dark Matter    BoneyM          Necromancer Stony Field        12      20
Quickdeath     Blink           Assassin    Barracks           15      15
Vang           Leeloo          Amazon      Catacombs 3         1       2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Retired:
Dark Matter    Arthur          Barbarian   Lut Gholein        20      42
Jason Maher    Fanven          Paladin     Dark Wood          15      25
mattinm        Kamikaze        Necromancer Rogue Camp          1       2
 
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Re: The Exposure Tournament

Thalestris finished off Baal and the Cow King yesterday. I've taken a few pictures along the way, which is rare because it is normal. But hey, why not have a bit of a story to go along with her before she gets into the real stink.

Here was her Countess drop. It was pretty nice because a low level Strafe Bowazon is pretty weak and the Ral worked nicely to upgrade her damage through the first couple of acts.

Somewhere in act II, she found her first unique ring. Normally I don't care for this ring much but this early in the game I liked it, due to the good MF roll and the AR bonus. She's worn it ever since.

Meph's drop was lame but I guess in a tournament setting any Iratha's set piece is a good one. Act IV was uneventful except that knockback didn't seem to work against Izual and thus he was terrible. Worst time I've ever had against him.

Hephasto had a bad aura but it was easy to keep my distance so he eventually went down, yielding this. I liked it since it was only my second Nef and I could upgrade my Ral bow to a chip-cubed long war bow with +19 max damage and knockback. I used it for a while until I found a 2os Razor Bow in act V to make a Zephyr.

But I get ahead of myself. Diablo's drop was OK but no Cleglaw's gloves which I covet highly.

Guys like this caused Thalestris to enter new areas at /P1 or /P3 until clearing out a fair bit of space in which to maneuver. Frenzytaurs just take too much abuse to take lightly without a tank.

Her level of strafe finally got high enough to be useful as an attack (rather than her level 6 Magic Arrow which saw her through most of the difficulty thus far) in the Nihlathak areas.
Halls of Vaught were very good to Thalestris, yielding two Shael runes and this belt. Might be a good upgrade candidate later. As of now, Thalestris uses hit power gloves and a blood belt which got a sweet 10% OW and 3% LS roll.

Along the way to Baal she also found a few other items such as the General's Flail (50% slow) an Amn and Dol rune and the Umbral Disk (sold). Baal drop was crappy but I killed him on /P3 and it took a while. No CB this time around but she'll need it next time. That's when the hit power gloves will be replaced by blood gloves for boss situations.

The Cow King dropped some junk but a random cow dropped this which is easily my best level 18 jewel I've ever seen. Might be useful as an end game helm or armor socket since Strafe suffers that damage penalty.

[highlight]Thalestris, level 48 Strafezon, 116 points, NM Rogue Encampment[/highlight]
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Well I've come across a small wall with my sorc: a Fire/Cold immune Countess. I wasn't thinking hard enough about the fact that she could pretty easily become that, and spawned her at players 3, just to make it worse. A LR wand doesn't cut either immunity, and her life regen is really fast, I know if I could poison her she would not regen, but I only have a 22% chance to hit even with enchant. Anyone have any bright ideas? I don't have anything in the stash that is much use, but I have parked her for now and am hoping for something to drop while I head towards the monastery. She is also Cursed, so that makes it extra tough to stand in there.
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

You could maybe try shopping for one of those usually crappy poison dagger charge items. I think they come on gloves and rings as well as daggers. And IIRC your lower res would help it. Also, if you have any elds in stash, they would help on a socketed dagger. I don't think ITD works on her though.
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Anyone have any bright ideas?

Prevent Monster Heal, preferrably on a throwing weapon. Your sorc may be a bad fighter, but she only needs to hit once (or sometimes once- a few more times) to get the PMH started. Then you need to damage her with elements she isn´t immune to. Long-lasting poison, or maybe make a Steel/Malice weapon so you can hit her with OW (despite the pain!).

Malice has built-in PMH also, and -25% target defense. I would probably make a Malice, preferrably in a fast polearm or something. Sorcs swing fast with polearms, and polearms have decent range, so you may be able to hit her before she hits you.



 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Hmm... my brightest idea before the event would have been to use the CE charges on a 'black' on a p1 setting after using static.


My second brightest idea would be to shop for 2 necro wands, one with bone spirit/spear, the other with poison nova charges and rapid swap between them whilst teleporting out of melee range with potions strewn all over the level in advance for teleporting and an empty cube to possibly repair the charges. An edge bow and spear/spirit wand combination might work better but you might have to draw her out into the large room.
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Hey guys!

Been away for the past week, so just catching up on all the updates.

Congratulations to those who have made it to Hell. A very big hurdle in my eyes and certainly one that will chellange the most skilled players. So, best of luck!



You last heard from me with another deeds. So, now that i am back, its back time to kick start yet another character and see what how i fair. I am still in the process of planning and thinking of ideas, but i will soon come to a conclusion on my next character, who i am hoping will have more success than my other 2 entrants :).
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

You could maybe try shopping for one of those usually crappy poison dagger charge items. I think they come on gloves and rings as well as daggers. And IIRC your lower res would help it. Also, if you have any elds in stash, they would help on a socketed dagger. I don't think ITD works on her though.

How is an Eld going to help against Countess? Is she undead? I second the Malice weapon. If you have the ability to make one without starting over I'd give that a whirl. It is Thalestris' switch weapon and will likely be that way for a while yet.

Thalestris rescued Cain today, gaining level 49 in the process. She also got her first Amazon skill amulet, otherwise pretty useless, and gamled a PDR by 22 circlet. Her resists are pretty icky, probably the worst a character I've played has ever had this far in a tournament. Lots of rune drops though.

[highlight]Thalestris, level 49 Bowazon, Dark Wood WP[/highlight]



 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

@Kestegs - I know the feeling... You could purchase a staff with thunderstorm and lit mastery. sure damage is small at least you can wail away while still being hit for extra damage.

Out of curiosity, besides assassin, necro, and sorc is their any other lvl 1 or 6 multi target skills that can be a primary source of damage through out game?
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

@Kestegs - I know the feeling... You could purchase a staff with thunderstorm and lit mastery. sure damage is small at least you can wail away while still being hit for extra damage.

Out of curiosity, besides assassin, necro, and sorc is their any other lvl 1 or 6 multi target skills that can be a primary source of damage through out game?
Fire Druid. Molten Boulder is a beast early game and synergizes with Volcano and Armegedon. Maxing Molten Boulder early is definitely very easy going with Sapphired/Tir'd gear, and on paper should be end game viable, though in Hell you'd probably just use it for crowd control.



 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Fire Druid. Molten Boulder is a beast early game and synergizes with Volcano and Armegedon. Maxing Molten Boulder early is definitely very easy going with Sapphired/Tir'd gear, and on paper should be end game viable, though in Hell you'd probably just use it for crowd control.
Molten Boulder is very viable in Hell. My only Guardian was a fire druid in a green with envy tournament. Needless to say my gear was subpar, but molten boulder (guaranteed knockback against 99.8% of monsters and uniques) plus volcano (fire/physical damage) got me through with relative ease.



 
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