Re: Operation Death and Destruction
So, sorry for this project kind of dying. Real life had caught up with me. I've recently had a bit of time for gaming and seeing as D3 hasn't yet hit shelves, I figured I would pick this little project up where I left off (if I can remember all the builds). One slight change is that I've abandonded full clears as I just don't have the time for them.
So first step was loading up War. He personally plays very squishy, but thankfully has more tanks than you can shake a stick at. While the tanks do tend to slow things down because the merc loses access to foes, they greatly increase survivability. So I ended up running with 11 skellies, 3 mages and 0-9 revives depending on immediate danger of the situation and the appeal of the revived monsters.
Act II contained the two exceptions to the large posse rule. The maggot lair and the Arcance Sanctuary. Both areas were cleared with 4 skellies. Controlled one on one (from behind a skellie of course) encounters were very easy for War. The Arcane Sanctuary was also a great place to take advantage of Revived Specters. Act 2 went quite smoothly. As mentioned above the Tomb of Tal Rasha was sketchy, but only getting through the door. I figured out that reviving a couple foes that fell early on also helped make some room and draw some enemies away from the door.
The fight with Duriel was a swift one. The only casualty was, of course, my Iron Golem. This is the point where I finally gave up on the Iron Golem idea. I had to adjust to a much more defensive playstyle to make sure he didn't die, often running to town when he was poisoned. His damage also just wasn't noticeable above the death of a thousand cuts brought down by my skeletons. In the end Clay Golem was just more convenient, and a better choice for bosses anyway. So moving into Act 3 I said good buy to my loyal tin man and welcomed a new squishy face into the legions of doom. Oh and Duriel actually rewarded me with a perfect pair of Chance Guards.
Act 3 went surprisingly fast. I rolled one of those beloved maps where Spider Forest runs straight into the Flayer Jungle. My army of the undead made quick work of the flayers. I mostly just stood back, Amp'ed and cleared up log jams. At no point during Act 3 was I in any danger. The Council accounted for one of Hrothgar's rare deaths. I think he was first into the doorway and was surrounded by council while amped. I didn't have to return to town to resurrect him as my skellies and revived council members/dark lords were enough to finish off the job. Mephisto was also a set it and foget it type of fight. I parked my army and refreshed Decripfy while I cleared out the Dark Lords in the back of the room on my own. By the time I was done Mephisto was dead. He had killed 2 skeletons and Gumby died in the Pandemonium Fortress succumbing to his wounds during battle.
Act 4 was fun as usual. Who doesn't love Act 4? But it could have been better. Seemed spawners and maggots were everywhere. Not a big deal, but somewhat tedious. We killed Izual without event, and I had no clue what to do with the skill points as usual. I believe he sits right now with at least 4 skills points in the bank, and no idea what to do with them. The smith was problematic as he charged at us next to a double boss pack of spawners and a boss maggot. He also had Conviction, and my resists are not so good as it is. I could never really rely on Fade from Treachery because War was just too squishy to take enough hits to get it triggered. In the end the ranks had to use the Run Away, followed by the Run Away Further maneuver to isolate the Smith with his buddies lined up behind him on a narrowed walkway. After he was taken down and his Conviction gone, our Army tore through the rest of his comrades without haste. Hellforge was a disappointing Lem (or maybe Lum, they sound so similar).
The Chaos Sanctuary was fun. Yeah it's not so challenging without IM, but it also means I don't have to resurrect the merc every two seconds. The CS is great for an army because of all the Doom Knights. They make great revives in my hands and actually seem to hurt some of the other monsters. There were no issues with any of the bosses and Diablo was taken down with the reliable Gumby + Decrepify technique. I should probably mention that War's chance to hit Diablo was 46%...with Enchant. But he still swung that sword like a champ.
And finally I moved on to Act 5, to me usually the dreaded Act 5. Full of guest ranged attackers garaunteed to at the very least annoy you, and possibly kill you. It seemed that in all the spaces, I was never standing in the right place. No matter where I went the stray javelins would find me. Maybe this was just the down side of having an army so big, it triggered a lot of ranged attacks, and I guess my minions were just really good at dancing out of the way. Eventually I figured out that by hugging a skeleton really close I could avoid most incoming fire. And of course the best part of loads of ranged physical attackers is, they can play on your team too. Bone Archers, Slingers, Corrupted Rogues, Serpent Magi, even Carver Shaman are great fun to have following you around. One time I revived an entire pack of Bone Archers at once and, although they followed me quite slowly, absolutely melted anything that got within range. It was great fun. Anya was rescued, My resists neared 50%, there was much rejoicing.
And then came Hell Ancients, one of the hardest battles in the game. In Ancient's Way I battled Twisted lightning spitters, Rogue Lancers, and carvers with their Glacial Spike shooting Shaman. By the time I was at the entrance, there were no Rogue corpses to be found, one Twisted and couple Shaman and a pile of dead carvers. The only unit of my army not to lose anyone in the battle was the carvers. I swear if you want to beat a boss, go revive a bunch of Fallen type monsters, they are awesome. In actuality, the Ancients did not put up much of a challenge. I didn't look at their mods. I was lucky in that no obvious evil spawned on them. There was no powerful aura, and I don't remember being cursed. Madawc may have been Physical Immune, but I believe he was broken by Amp Damage. Overall, I first separated the three, then tried to get the bulk of my units to focus on Korlic to keep him from using his big leaps. He went toe to toe with my merc and some undead while I kept all three Decrepified. Talic was next, and Gumby seemed to help keep him from whirling too much and getting around. He was already at low health by the time Hrothgar made his way over and was quickly dispatched. Madawc took some time, but posed no threat. I believe a couple revives went down, but from timer expiration as they were attacking from range. And with that entry to the Worldstone Keep was gained.
This had to have been one of the easiest monster rolls ever for me. I don't remember all the levels, but the highlight was, Demon Imps, Stranglers and Flayers with blowdarts only. I had no Burning Souls. In fact I avoided them in Act 3, 4 and 5. That was a relief with 40some lightning resist after the Anya quest.
Baal's waves were not too difficult. The only required town trip was for Poison removal after wave 2, and to res Hrothgar after Lister's wave. While Lister's buddies were powerful, my skellies could stand toe to toe with them long enough for me to kill one of them. By the time they were able to remove one skellie, I killed a minion and made another. This balance was slightly in their favor, but in the end I was left with 7 skeletons and a dead Lister. Baal was easy with the boss killer of Decrepify and Gumby. Really glad I ditched the Iron Golem in the end. Baal dropped nothing of interest.
With their leader gone, War no longer needed to be waged against Hell's demons and he was retired. My thoughts were that he was just too squishy to play as a serious meleemancer. And his army was too comfortable a hiding place to risk leaving their protection. He basically played as a slow Fishymancer. Only without a merc to give more damage to skeletons. His melee damage was really only needed to clear up log jams. Other than that, he could have very easily never even swung his sword. Yeah I could have built a more successful meleemancer with a not ridiculously slow weapon and with a CTA to make him less squishy. But at least I got to watch all the pretty pretty fireworks.
Here are pics of his final stats without
and with Enchant activated
Gear:
Shako (Ort)
Treachery Dusk Shroud
Mara's 27
Raven Frost
Aldur's Advance
String of Ears
Lava Gout
Arm of King Leoric on Switch
Rare ring
Code:
Death Grasp
Ring
Required Level: 65
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x5ac40667
+17 to Maximum Stamina
+4 to Minimum Damage
Fire Resist +7%
Lightning Resist +34%
Cold Resist +7%
Poison Resist +7%
+50 poison damage over 3 seconds
8% Life stolen per hit
Rare head on switch
Code:
Imp Badge
Gargoyle Head
Defense: 14
Chance to Block: 40%
Durability: 60 of 60
(Necromancer Only)
Required Strength: 20
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 79
Fingerprint: 0xb781b361
+16 to Life
+10% Increased Chance of Blocking
Fire Resist +23%
Adds 12-28 poison damage over 4 seconds
+2 to Necromancer Skill Levels
15% Faster Block Rate
+2 to Bone Spirit (Necromancer Only)
+3 to Bone Spear (Necromancer Only)
12% Damage Taken Goes to Mana
Various Charms:
Code:
4: Steel Small Charm of Anthrax
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x2ba7d327
+31 to Attack Rating
+50 poison damage over 6 seconds
5: Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x39037a91
+20 to Life
6: Steel Large Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 44
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0xcd44c3a
+76 to Attack Rating
7: Steel Grand Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 53
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x747669f
+32 to Life
+111 to Attack Rating
10: Sapphire Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x1ebc445b
+20 to Life
Cold Resist +11%
14: Steel Grand Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 69
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x43b11530
+37 to Life
+113 to Attack Rating
16: Shimmering Large Charm of Incineration
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 26
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xe261e512
All Resistances +8
Adds 7-16 fire damage
17: Amber Small Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xf85c5b14
+13 to Life
Lightning Resist +10%
18: Iron Large Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 34
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x617f921f
+21 to Life
+50 to Attack Rating
19: Shimmering Small Charm of the Icicle
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 25
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x8bf39a09
All Resistances +4
Adds 2-4 cold damage over 1 seconds
24: Steel Grand Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x1508e910
+15 to Life
+123 to Attack Rating
27: Steel Small Charm of Dexterity
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x2f5de7fe
+1 to Dexterity
+32 to Attack Rating
29: Steel Large Charm of Inertia
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 36
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xf7a2913
+64 to Attack Rating
5% Faster Run/Walk
30: Steel Small Charm of Dexterity
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x6d51176d
+2 to Dexterity
+28 to Attack Rating
31: Steel Small Charm of Balance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xc7c30b73
+25 to Attack Rating
5% Faster Hit Recovery
32: Steel Small Charm of Dexterity
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xa5840afa
+1 to Dexterity
+36 to Attack Rating
33: Emerald Small Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x6bf094d2
+13 to Life
Poison Resist +11%
. Other than that, anything goes.
, but let me step back and tell you how I got there.
