Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

rolled a sorceress with a act2 defensive merc :)
does this mean once (if i ever) get to nm i can get the holy freeze merc?
and do the rules mean i can rerun an area for the xp however i cant pick any items up?
 
Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

ignore previous comment :P

so heres the low down, Twibzilla the sorceress now level 4
so far had 3 strength rolls, 3 dexterity, 4 vitality, and 5 energy (wanted more strength but hey)
1 roll landed warmth , not bad to start i mean its a must have skill for any sorc...
then got charged bolt niiice :)
decided to save my next skill point roll, lightning imo is the best to have so gunna struggle on with no rolls until i unlock the next set of lite skills
just finished the den of evil (saving the skill reward) and got the cold plains wp, not searched plains yet...
got some nice drops though :)
rare dagger, rare buckler, 2 +1 max dmg rings and amulet, gf gc and 2 chipped sapphires, i have a good feeling bout this, i'll keep you posted though :)
 
Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

This Charm is probably my best early Act I find ever - I didn't even know that Shimmering GCs could drop that early (ilvl 15...)!

Yowzers! It´s 3 point away from the maximum in the game*...in Normal Act 1!

(* or you could say, if you don´t count poison resistance, that it´s 36 resistance points out of the 45 that you can possibly have in three inventory spaces. That´s phenomenal.)



@Twibz:
Welcome to the tournament, and good luck with the Sorceress. :thumbsup:

About the mercenary: Once you have rolled an Act II Desert Guard, there are 6 different types that should be equally likely. It´s OK to roll between Off/Def/Comb first (like you did), but now that you know it´s Defensive, you must determine if you rolled Defiance or Holy Freeze. Flip a coin or something...:wink:



 
Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

The Farm is now cleansed of all the cowsies. CE is just ridiculously powerful on /p1. If I get a corpse and use Amplify Damage on the pack and the monster type isn´t highly resistant to physical damage, I will always get at least one more corpse on my first CE. Then a second CE usually obliterates the rest of the pack.


[highlight]Guardian Pete the Necromancer and Drus of Harrogath, level 87, Complete Game Clear[/highlight]
 
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Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Hey guys, read the topic and think it's an awesome way to play. My roll was an amazon with act 2 defiance merc. Hopefully this will be interesting...

Lol i <3 the randomness. So far I haven't rolled a single skill point into any bow skills (which is good because I love javazons) and have rolled far too many stat points in energy than Ive ever had on any char I've made... =(
though I did manage to find some hotspurs off Blood Raven.. DING!
 
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Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Way to go Jiansonz!:cool:

A little update/news on MindBlastedSin

I had started to feel a little weird about the way things were rolling. So I did some testing of my RNG and found that I was not pushing the button properly all of the time, so it was not always randomizing when I thought it was. :coffee:

She was sent out into the wilderness to pay for her crimes against randomness...and she never came back.

So......Rerolled to get a 6,1,1 Which means a Sorc, with a cold rogue. :rolleyes:

Not the best combination, but having a merc in act 1 is very nice.
Act 1 was rather easy for the most part, I had some amazing luck with topazes, netting my first 10 before I left the black marsh, 2 of which were flawed. I also have 9 spares sitting in the stash right now. I waited until level 6 to roll my first skills, getting: 2x warmth, CB, static, TK, and F nova. pretty happy with that for the most part, the static was the most important, and warmth is always nice, especially with my fast growing mana pool.

Pretty much the entire act entailed myself getting surrounded, spamming 3-4 statics, and picking up treasure while my merc killed everything. I was able to pick up a Hsaurus shield in the cold plains area, and several strength charms, so strength is not a problem at all so far. Also found a clegaws shield a little later, which helped on Andy. Got a blood crescent in the Jail, which is a great early sword. All stats are pretty evenly boosted right now, but str is a little behind. Dex and Nrg were the favorites early on, but things finally started to even out toward the end.

I have decided that I will attempt to wait until level 30 to spend any more skill points. This will be a little tough, but I think with the right staff mods it shouldn't be TOO bad.

Currently at level 21* waiting to start act 2

*despite not pulling a single EXP shrine past the blood moor, she somehow manged to hit 21 before she killed Andy, never done that before. :shocked:

P.S. I promise to now devote all my efforts to completing my SUTC character for you jiansonz :)
 
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Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Congrats on the guardian jiansonz, and reaching a high level with a complete game clear! :thumbup: :grin:

I've been offline for a while working on the new house, thus I have a lot of catching up to do reading the tournament threads! :p
 
Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Randi_TrueBlood has defeated Duriel, in a much less epic battle than I thought. Randi ran, threw lightning bolts, ran, drank, threw lightning bolt, and repeated, only going to town once.
She quickly summoned an A3 merc (rolled a Lightning mage,) and still going on players 1.

[highlight]Randi_TrueBlood, Lvl 23, Kurast Docks, and Devak, Lightning mage[/highlight]

She is still very much a Jack of all trades build, but she'll probably become some form of bowazon.
 
Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Way to go Jian!!!! :congrats:

Another very impressive Guardian :). I enjoyed reading Pete's adventures. Him and Drus sound like the perfect combo of safetey and power!
 
Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

For a change of pace I rolled a character for this tournament. The result was Clotho the Amazon, to be accompanied by a lightning Iron Wolf.

Most of Clotho's early points were in the bow tree so I played her in Act 1 as a bowazon. From the Forgotten Tower on her bow was a hunter's bow socketed with a Tal dropped by the Countess along with a chipped ruby and chipped sapphire. Aside from poison-resistant ghouls in the catacombs it seemed to kill monsters in Act 1 pretty easily.

Clotho's skills at level 20:

Javelin and Spear Skills: Jab 3, Poison Javelin 1
Passive and Magic Skills: Inner Sight 1, Critical Strike 5, Dodge 2, Avoid 1
Bow and Crossbow Skills: Magic Arrow 1, Fire Arrow 1, Cold Arrow 2, Multishot 1, Exploding Arrow 1, Guided Arrow 1

And her stats are Strength 51, Dexterity 47, Vitality 43, Energy 34. Not too many points in Energy, at least at this stage of the game.

Although I'm not thrilled by having so many one-pointers in the bow tree, the 5 points in Critical Strike is very nice.

The third point in Jab came near the end of Act 1. Despite the fact that Jab is now Clotho's strongest skill, and despite a relative abundance of points in Strength, I'm going to keep playing her as a bowazon, at least to start Act 2. Almost the entire bow tree is open so I'm expecting I will still be rolling a lot of points there.

Clotho has just arrived in Lut Gholein and will be tackling the Sewers next.
 
Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

I decided to roll up another character for this tournament, and ended up with a Paladin and a Cold Rogue merc. I named my Paladin Brian.

So this is the start of the Life of Brian...

Might, Might, Might...The points just kept rolling in to Might early on. I didn´t save any points for later, because I wanted to try to open up the Combat Skills tree before the resist auras without prereqs would make the Defensive Auras tree more likely to take the points. This hasn´t worked in my favour at all.

With my many points in Might, I use that as main aura, and I let Ithera do all the killing. We are stuffed with as much MF gear as I have been able to get. I´ve even started a 'poor man´s Milabrega´s Orb' - 3-socketed Kite Shield with a 6% Jewel of Prosperity...
Crushflange, Cleglaw´s Claw and Hsaru´s belt are the notable greens/golds.

Ithera uses a rare Composite Bow with a little ED and IAS. I plan to make a 3x Ith Composite Bow, but I haven´t seen any Ith runes yet. I hope some start to drop in the next area (which is quite likely). Otherwise, the last part of Act II will either be tedious or Brian has to (gasp!) get his hands dirty...

Skills:
Prayer 2
Resist Fire 2
Defiance 1
Resist Cold 3
Cleansing 2 (occasionally useful)
Vigor 2 (ditto)

Might 8 (!)
Holy Fire 2 (main aura before my 6th topaz chippie)
Thorns 1

Holy Bolt 3 (yep, that´s all I have in this tree!)


[Highlight]Brian the confused Paladin and Ithera the Cold Rogue, level 26, Arcane Sanctuary next[/Highlight]
 
Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Going to give this tourney a shot. Not sure if I have the patience to make it the whole way through or not.

I rolled an Assassin with a Barb Merc. Been playing assassins a lot lately, hopefully this one will be up to snuff. No idea what kind of build I want to try and make, just going to see what skills I get dealt.

[highlight]Haphazard, level 1 Random Assassin, Rogue Camp[/highlight]
 
Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

The Life of Brian :) Gotta love it!

You must be careful not to soil your hands, that would just be soooo wrong! I think a Paladin is a pretty tough roll, but the aura's will be nice at least.


Konfus (I think I forgot to put her name in my first post) has slaughtered every skeleton in act 2, many 2 and 3 times each. Although I take too much credit for what Hannah did, as she killed 95% of monsters. I picked Hannah because I always hated the name, and my wife really wanted to name our daughter that. (That's my kind of compromise :) )

Hannah used a rare bow for the first half of the act, then she got a comp bow with "Ith,+8 max jewel, and envy jewel" Act2 was much like 1, I staticed and she killed. The only things I killed were Unravelers and non treasure droppers.

Found 2 angelic pieces so far: Wings and Mantle, hoping for a halo, that would be sweet!
Also found a Hotspur, which will likely see some use in act 4 :)
The Bug went down easily, of course. I always get worked up about him for nothing! P8 and it took me literally 5 seconds and 1 red potion. Reward was a Twitch, which is oh so very tempting to put on right now, but I will resist. It would give me 57% blocking if I did, and that would be sweet!

Stats were 6 str, 10 dex, 12 vit, and 7 energy. A few more points in STR would have been nice because I have to use a str charm to wear this cool helm I found.

Skull Visor
Full Helm
Defense: 31
Durability: 30 of 30
Required Level: 12
Required Strength: 41
Fingerprint: 0xf4f21e1d
Item Level: 19
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10% Faster Hit Recovery
+18% Enhanced Defense
+4 to Energy
Fire Resist +13%
32% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items 2 Sockets (2 used)
Socketed: Topaz
Socketed: Topaz

Despite my level 21 starting, I didn't even make it to level 28.5 before the bug, not sure why I was so low, but I am still somewhat new to single pass.

[highlight]Konfus & Hannah the Frost Maiden,Level28, Kurast Docks[/highlight]

@jiansozI think your comment after my last post got eaten by the last forum crash, so if it said anything terribly important you may want to say it again :dontknow:
 
Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

@jiansozI think your comment after my last post got eaten by the last forum crash, so if it said anything terribly important you may want to say it again :dontknow:

I think I commented on your character being level 21 after the first act. This happens to me about 10% of the time (or maybe a little less). It has not so much to do with XP shrines as it has to do with how many and how big (random boss packs have boss + 3-6 minions) the boss packs in the Catacombs levels 3-4 are. Ghouls give the most XP, but the Banished and the spitters can also push it up.

As for the level of the end of Act II, that depends mainly on the monster draw in the two big tombs (the True tomb being the most important, of course). Unraveler + skellies give the least XP (because you are so very overlevelled compared to the Burning Dead that they give you practically nothing, and the Unravelers are just one per spawn pack). Ghoul Lords don´t give much either, and typically spawn in duos. Gorebellies are in the middle (boss packs are nice for XP, though) but the three best monsters for XP are beetles, mummies and Apparitions. The combination of large numbers and decent XP per monster makes for the best XP overall. If you draw all three in the true tomb, you are almost guaranteed to end up at level 29.

I´ve ended the act from anywhere between level 28.2 and 29.3.




Oh, and nice find with the Angelic items! The Wings is the hard one to find, so keep packing those MF items and the Halo is likely to turn up sooner or later. Wings + Mantle + Sickle is not a bad combo either (but without MF...).



 
Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

This looks like fun ! So I rolled, Assah, an assassin, whose companion shall be a cold Iron Wolf. I wonder what kind of relation they shall share...

I just finished the Blood Moore, and the Den of Evil, as it's easy to start from the cold plains without bothering about where I already went. Playing at p8. (Last char I played at p1 killed Baal at level 28. I'd like to avoid that.)

She is now level 6, with 27 strength, 24 dexterity, 26 vitality and 33 energy. (+7, +4, +6, +8) Her skills are :
Claw Mastery 2
Tiger Strike 1
Psychic Hammer 1
Dragon Talon 2

May Assah live long and prosper ! And find her cold companion, of whom she ignores even the name !

PS: I entered her as SC, cuz' I might respec her to something else once she dies. It would be a pity to loose a mid level char, if I ever get to that point ! It will also make muleing stuff off easier. (off, and only off...)

EDIT : UPDATE !
I cleared the cold plains, the cave levels 1 and 2, the burial grounds, the mausoleum, and the crypt. Got to level 12, some more skills, and was lucky to find the waypoint of stony field just left of the entrance. So basically no kills to get there. Practical. I never though full clears would be taking so long ! Ha !

Claw Mastery 2
Tiger Strike 2
Psychic Hammer 2 => What does this even do ??
Dragon Talon 3
Blade Sentinel 2 => Yay a trap ! oh that one... too bad then...
Fists of Fire 1 => SOOO COOL !
36 strength, 32 dexterity, 36 vitality, 36 energy.

I'm still hoping for Burst of Speed... :( I also hope Dragon Talon will eventually get to 6 quite soon... (Darn Psychic Hammer)
 
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Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Konfus has made it up to LK and level 30 with it.

She had waited so long to spend those skill points, only to recieve a random kick in the crotch:thumbsdown:

Skill points are now as follows:

Cold:
ice bolt, ice blast, f nova -2
cold armor -4
cold mast -1

Light:
charged bolt, tele -2
telekinesis, static -3
lighting, light mast -1

Fire:
warmth -5
fire bolt -2
fire mastery -1

Well....I suppose its not all bad, I did get all 3 masteries, which I had hoped for. I also got teleport, which is a must. But the most damaging skill I have is lightning, and that's the only skill past the 2nd teir that I got that deals damage.

On the brighter side, I did pick up the angelic sickle. Which still leaves me short the ring, but I am hopeful. I have 175 mf and Hannah has 62, and Sets have been dropping like flies in the jungle. I picked up cathans armor/staff, 2xIsenharts pieces, Angelic Sickle, clegaws glove, arcana's head. Also found an eth Stealgoad, which would be handy for an act 2 merc :scratchchin:
 
Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Psychic Hammer 2 => What does this even do ??

It´s basically the 'push monster' part of Telekinesis, but the damage is Magic instead of Lightning (not that it matters much, since it´s so little damage).
I generally assign PH to the hotkey that I have reserved for Mind Blast later.



 
Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

The Life of Brian, short update.

Crap rolls for the rest of the skill points in Act II. For a couple of levels now, there have been 17 different skills that can be rolled - 8 in the Defensive Auras tree, 5 in the Offensive Auras and 3 in Combat Skills. Nothing new has been opended up. Getting to some cool skills will probably take a while...

My last session was in 4 of Tal´s tombs. I had brought in some low runes and could cube a second Ith rune (all the way from Tir...). 'IthIth' Composite Bow made for a better merc weapon than the rare she had used, so I made the switch. Then I found another Ith early in the first tomb I played. What an improvement over the old rare! Ithera´s listed damage with Might is now 33-134, and she attacks fast. The Cold Arrows are decent crowd control as well.

I have yet to score any Luck items (circlets, amulet or boots). In fact, the biggest MF value on non-topazed gear I have is 26%: a pretty cool Fortuitous Ring of Chance.

A Preserved Dead boss dropped Sigon´s boots. I didn´t know it can drop already in Act II. It´s a nice find. If I can find the gloves, any of the four other items would make for a useful 3-combo once I stop the major treasure hunt. IAS, life steal, foot speed, resists while still providing some MF.
(not that Brian can wear the boots for quite a while - he has only 53 in Strength)

Duriel was easy. Brian buffed with Thawing potions and switched to his rare Bone Shield (gives 47% blocking). Brian tanked Duriel, keeping Ithera outside HF range. We took down /p8 Duriel, needing no more than 4 greater healers and a full rejuve.


[Highlight]Brian the confused Paladin and Ithera the Cold Rogue, level 28, Spider Forest next[/Highlight]
 
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Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Randi_TrueBlood has continued, and is gaining strength! She ramped it up for the last half of Act 3 to /players 3, and is half way through Act 4.
Her Act 3 Lightning merc is really useless. He isn't even a tank. Randi's slowly progressing towards a Valkyrie, but things are only going to get tougher.

Mephisto went down on /players1, thanks to the good ol' moat/AI trick.

[highlight]Randi_TrueBlood the hopeful Amazon, level 27, Quest for the Hellforge[/highlight]
 
Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Haphazard is waiting to kill the Summoner. Right now her skills are a mess.

Fire Blast: 3/3
Shock Web: 0/0
Blade Sentinel: 1/1
Charged Bolt Sentry: 0/0
Wake of Fire: 1/1
Blade Fury: 1/1
Lightning Sentry: 0/0
Wake of Inferno: 0/0
Death Sentry: 0/0
Blade Shield: 0/0

Claw Mastery: 1/1
Psychic Hammer: 3/3
Burst of Speed: 2/2
Weapon Block: 3/3
Cloak of Shadows: 1/1
Fade: 0/0
Shadow Warrior: 1/1
Mind Blast: 0/0
Venom: 0/0
Shadow Master: 0/0

Tiger Strike: 0/0
Dragon Talon: 5/5
Fists of Fire: 2/2
Dragon Claw: 2/2
Cobra Strike: 0/0
Claws of Thunder: 0/0
Dragon Tail: 0/0
Blades of Ice: 0/0
Dragon Flight: 0/0
Phoenix Strike: 0/0

Got shadow master at lvl 24, best draw I've gotten so far.

She's using a combination of blade sentinel and blade fury and it's killing pretty well. I've never used blade sentinel before, it seems like it may be a viable skill to base a character around, it mows down fallens and skeletons, but is quite buggy. Often times I have to click four times to shoot one. The only other skill I would consider using at this point is Dtalon, and with how points are falling there, that may be my endgame skill. Luckily I have plenty of mana to use these expensive blade skills, as I'm getting 4s from random.org like its my job.

Strength: 58/63
Dexterity: 43/44
Vitality: 48/48
Energy: 56/56

No NDE's, but this has been an extremely interesting and fun character to play so far, I hope it continues. Haven't found any useful S/U's, hopefully that means all the good ones are coming.

[highlight]Haphazard, level 25 random Assassin with Barb merc, Arcane Sanc[/highlight]
 
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