1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

[mouseman1]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Alright thanks for helping me out with that.

I had a pretty successful NM mephisto run streak. I found viscetaurant, magefist and nightsmoke that I now use with my sorceress. Viscetaurant will probably be my endgame shield, as I'm going for max block. I also found rockstopper, sureshrill frost, whistan's shield, razortail, twitchthroe, skystrike, goblin toe and the remaining sigon's parts, to name a few. Also found a couple more rare serpentskin armors...

 

[mouseman1]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

I'll try to keep the thread alive, even though RobbyD has moved on

I'm now running NM Baal with p3 (lister's gang with p1) and leveling to 70 before continuing to Hell difficulty (now lvl 67, started to run him at lvl 65)). I played Act4 and Act5 with p3 and it was okay. The build is pretty solid (FW/Orb) but my gear is quite crappy. Still going with Stealth / gemmed hat (2ptopaz/1psaphire). So I'm really hoping for a skin of vipermagi to drop and I'd jump for joy if Shako dropped. I've found stuff, though, like Ravenfrost, lidless, infernostride & +1 elemental (druid) +27 life GC.

I think I won't stay in 1.09 forever. I'm interested in making it to lvl 90, because I've never done it. After that I'm probably going to prepare a couple patches of HF-mules ready to conversion. With wealth, and preferably 1.10s CtA, I want to do something I've always wanted to do - a twinked barbarian WW/horker. These goals will probably take me a couple of years to complete, so I don't know if I'm ready before Diablo 3 is

EDIT: ran Baal until I hit lvl 70. I found tearhaunch boots and a nice 20%fcr, @res, 24mf, +1 cold skill circlet. I was still kind of bummed - none of the really cool stuff did drop. Like, shako, wizardspike, skin of the vipermagi, war travelers, oculus. I know the odds were 1:600 - 1:3500, but with so many targets I was sure that I would get one of them. I guess I'll just hit Hell Mephisto next, but it remains to be seen how I survive Hell with this gear.

 

[RobbyD]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

RobbyD still has a full sept of Mats/Pats in 1.09, so it's not like I'll never play the patch again. I might take GIEB_VEX on some Countess runs from time to time or rush a group of characters for HF/Larzuk. And I'm always here to share my experiences.

Stealth in NM Act 5??? Wow - you are getting every last drop out of that armor, aren't you? I'd suggest running Hell Countess for a Lum to make Smoke in the meantime (and I bet she drops you Skin and Occy before too long - she especially seems fond of dropping orbs), but you might find her a bit tough to run with your setup. I don't suppose you have a Duriel's Shell or Goldskin for your merc?

NM WKS/Baal is good to about level 75. After that the experience is pretty slow. I'd keep at it until then to see if you can get a useful drop. You might consider some topazes in socketed armor (do you have Griz armor?) to help the MF - in 1.09, it's 1:1 to 111%, so getting about 125%MF is absolutely worth the effort. What shield do you have? A Rhyme would be nice.

 

[Pegleg]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

To cube some kind of Cruel Maul would I need pgems or chipped gems?

 

[RobbyD]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Since the 3-chip recipe only works with swords, I would say the best way to get a cruel maul is to shop it and have a Larzuk reward available. I actually shopped a really nice cruel Mythical Sword with leech to boot just by checking inventories when I would sell/repair. The 3-chip recipe makes the very BEST weapons because it can spawn a cruel sword of whatever with 3 sockets to boot, but it only works with swords.

 

[Pegleg]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Ok cool thank ya

 

[mouseman1]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

RobbyD still has a full sept of Mats/Pats in 1.09, so it's not like I'll never play the patch again. I might take GIEB_VEX on some Countess runs from time to time or rush a group of characters for HF/Larzuk. And I'm always here to share my experiences.

Stealth in NM Act 5??? Wow - you are getting every last drop out of that armor, aren't you? I'd suggest running Hell Countess for a Lum to make Smoke in the meantime (and I bet she drops you Skin and Occy before too long - she especially seems fond of dropping orbs), but you might find her a bit tough to run with your setup. I don't suppose you have a Duriel's Shell or Goldskin for your merc?

NM WKS/Baal is good to about level 75. After that the experience is pretty slow. I'd keep at it until then to see if you can get a useful drop. You might consider some topazes in socketed armor (do you have Griz armor?) to help the MF - in 1.09, it's 1:1 to 111%, so getting about 125%MF is absolutely worth the effort. What shield do you have? A Rhyme would be nice.

Nice to know you're sticking around!

Well, actually Stealth is a pretty nice armor. It was the only source of FRW for me for a long time before I found Tearhaunch boots. I also enjoy the mana regeneration and dexterity for max block, it's actually a pretty nice armor for a caster. But maybe I was too set on the vipermagi so I ignored other options. Smoke gives a lot of @res, but I don't know if it's worth it (no mana regen, no fcr, no dex, no frw). I'll give it a try once I found Lum.

I have Rattlecage for my merc and it's alright for now. Right now my merc is doing fine with Kelpie/Rockstopper/Rattlecage. He stays alive with just his prayer aura, but some lifeleech would be groovy so I wouldn't have to feed him potions occasionally. Also my MF is around 100% in normal setup and I can boost it to around 150% when I MF.

Actually I have had a lot better luck with shields than with armors. I've found two lidless walls and one viscetaurant (what I've socketed with pdiamond). I already have max block with a +20 dex Raven Frost so I'm actually quite alright, just lacking in armor/helm department. If only I could find tal's mask, I could use the orb/belt/mask combo for some MF. I was just wondering what they added in 1.10+ to the set combos? Do I get -15% eFR from the Orb with 3 pieces?

So I think I'll stop at NM countess for a while, but push forward to NM meph for some real running. It's not like I have had a challenging time this far It's actually nice for a change, to go untwinked and in SP. To have to be creative and fend for yourself. Also the lack of trading is actually quite fun, though at time frustrating. Just need to take it easy

 

[RobbyD]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Actually I have had a lot better luck with shields than with armors. I've found two lidless walls and one viscetaurant (what I've socketed with pdiamond). I already have max block with a +20 dex Raven Frost so I'm actually quite alright, just lacking in armor/helm department. If only I could find tal's mask, I could use the orb/belt/mask combo for some MF. I was just wondering what they added in 1.10+ to the set combos? Do I get -15% eFR from the Orb with 3 pieces?

So I think I'll stop at NM countess for a while, but push forward to NM meph for some real running. It's not like I have had a challenging time this far It's actually nice for a change, to go untwinked and in SP. To have to be creative and fend for yourself. Also the lack of trading is actually quite fun, though at time frustrating. Just need to take it easy

Rhyme will give you some mana regen and it shouldn't take long to get the Shael from NM Countess - but the Visc is pretty nice too. Tal's Mask isn't that rare - I bet some Countess/Meph running produces one before too long. I never did find a Tal's ammy though.

The 1.09 class specific sets lack the item-specific partial set bonuses (so you get the MF bonus from 3 pieces since it's a general partial bonus but not the -15% eFR type stuff) and sockets (Aldur's, IK items don't come with sockets, but Gris items come with sockets).

To be honest, I didn't do a Sorc untwinked, so I already had Skin available - so I can't speak from experience on how to build-on-the-go with a Sorc.

 

[mouseman1]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

I'm going with Visc as a end-game shield. I'm just addicted to max block with every character I make and that one has the highest blockrate with +1 skills.

Too bad about the item-specific partial set bonuses.. Yeah, normally I find a lot of Tal's masks, now I've found two Tal's Belts, and I think those are a lot rarer.

Don't get me wrong, you have helped me a lot with everything I just have nostalgic fixations with things like Stealth and max block

Oh, what was your first 1.09 character? I thought starting with a sorceress was kind of like a norm or something. But rules are made to be broken, right?

 

[RobbyD]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

It was a Frenzy Barb. I asked a billion n00b questions and relied heavily on advice from folks here to get him done, and he turned out to be a MF monster. My story's told in my 1.09 Sept post.

 

[mouseman1]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Quick update on my progression.

Finished act 1 in Hell. It was actually extremely easy. Monsters have clearly less hp than in 1.10+ and die quite instantly with p1. My build is actually finished now at lvl 71 (FO/FW/FM maxed) so the one thing about synergies is that it takes longer for your skills to kick in at full power. Sure, they get more powerful with synergies, but the monsters have more HPs throughout the way. So, at the start of Hell, I feel very powerful. I still want to cruise to Hell Mephisto for some running instead of going p3, though. Also, I got that smoke runeword (ran countess until Lum, nothing else notable dropped) and it really helped my resists a lot.

A couple of questions.

Does 1.09 Hell have a lot of dual immunes (FI/CI)? I could still max nova and put a couple points in LM, but I think it nova would be effective only after running Hell Baal/Cows, so it wouldn't really help questing. But I'm just thinking, am I better off putting points into misc skills like static, cold armor, teleport, mana shield or building up a lightning attack? I'm thinking that if it's just one or two bosses who have a chance of spawning FI/CI, then I might want to just static 'em and let the merc do the rest.

 

[RobbyD]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Quick update on my progression.

Finished act 1 in Hell. It was actually extremely easy. Monsters have clearly less hp than in 1.10+ and die quite instantly with p1. My build is actually finished now at lvl 71 (FO/FW/FM maxed) so the one thing about synergies is that it takes longer for your skills to kick in at full power. Sure, they get more powerful with synergies, but the monsters have more HPs throughout the way. So, at the start of Hell, I feel very powerful. I still want to cruise to Hell Mephisto for some running instead of going p3, though. Also, I got that smoke runeword (ran countess until Lum, nothing else notable dropped) and it really helped my resists a lot.

A couple of questions.

Does 1.09 Hell have a lot of dual immunes (FI/CI)? I could still max nova and put a couple points in LM, but I think it nova would be effective only after running Hell Baal/Cows, so it wouldn't really help questing. But I'm just thinking, am I better off putting points into misc skills like static, cold armor, teleport, mana shield or building up a lightning attack? I'm thinking that if it's just one or two bosses who have a chance of spawning FI/CI, then I might want to just static 'em and let the merc do the rest.

Yes, plenty of dual immunes in Hell - very often PI is part of that because Stone Skin = PI in 1.09. The FI/CI type combo is kind of rare - I've only seen that in places like CS.

Interesting question - I can tell you that my MeteOrb did just fine with only Static as a lightning skill. You can get a nice cold armor or ES from Memory in a Staff with a desired staffmod. I did invest in Meteor for my Nova Sorc, but I didn't use it much.

 

[mouseman1]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Thanks for the feedback on your MeteOrb. Now I'm thinking about maxing static field and using it on high player settings (2x static the screen before orb).

EDIT: Completed Hell Act 2 - still surprised how easy Hell difficulty is in 1.09 for an untwinked character (feels like 1.10+ NM, imo). Still a little bit further to get to mephisto. Also getting near my first completed SP character.

EDIT2: Reached Mephisto and ran him for two hours. Notable drops were IK maul and LoH. Some okay stuff, nothing I could personally use. No sign of Shako/Skin of Vipermagi

I modified the moat trick so it would work better for firewall. I don't think I'm the first one to have thought about that, but it works nicely. I just lure Mephisto to the red portal and cast firewalls under him. He moves just sideways, so firewall works wonders (better than other moat trick places). Sometimes getting him into the gateway to the red portal can be a little troublesome, but usually it's painless. This way I can have 192% MF on me, though I'm doing p1 because the additional health from p3 makes it very slow and I don't think it's worth it.

 

[jiansonz]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

I am too attached to the 1.10+ cube recipes, the partial set bonuses, the chance to find many more elite uniques and the better affix pool for rare weapons to ever want to play 1.09 again. Probably a few more things I do not remember.

But I´d like to share my 1.09 history with anyone who is interested.


Coming into the Expansion, I had only played two characters in Classic v1.03:

* Bowazon (level 6 Multishot was main skill) that I completed Normal with, at level 24. I didn´t see the point in continuing to NM, since I had already beaten the game...

* A weird Sorceress that progressed mainly by using level 6 Ice Blast to freeze monsters, then hacking at them with a rare Poignard. Yeah, I was pretty clueless...
I retired her somewhere in mid-NM because the going was very slow.



* My first 1.09 character was Adriella, a Frozen Orb + Fire Wall Sorceress. Some decent investment in Static Field as well. I had now read up at least a little on character builds, and Adriella didn´t have much problems along the way. I was still an unexperienced player, of course, so (not surprisingly) there were a couple of deaths in NM and Hell.
Adriella became my first Matriarch, at level 73, the final level of all my 1.09 chars.

I didn´t know you could change the players setting, and I had already decided that single pass full clear was the way I was going to play this game. I hated the fact that monsters had respawned when I started a new game. I still do. The Diablo 1 way (where everything is saved exactly as it is) is far superior for me.

Adriella´s best find along the way was Harlequin Crest. Truly an amazing item for her.


* Second character was an Amazon named VenomousVixen. As the name suggests, she was a poison javazon. I actually do not remember if she had Lightning Fury available or not. I do remember that she invested a bit in Guided Arrow and had a bow on the switch. Eventually, she found an amazing bow for sale, a high-end Cruel Ward Bow of the Glacier. Got two sockets from Larzuk that I filled with skulls. This way, she got the mana steal needed for non-stop Piercing GA goodness. Very powerful in the late game, she was. (remember, it was players 1). Matriarch at level 73.

* Then there was the Necromancer Whaizzzzg. He was a weird hydrid that relied mainly on CE once the first corpse fell. He had a high level Bone Spear and a buff golem. I remember that returned damage was important (don´t remember if it was from Iron Maiden or from a Thorns merc). Patriarch at level 73. Damage return was actaully a viable build in 1.09.

* Fourth character was Surya the Assassin. I thought Phoenix Strike looked like a really cool skill (actually, Phoenix Striker is my favourite build these days) so I invested quite a bit in that. But when PS was at level 15, Tiamat´s Rebuke dropped somewhere in Nightmare. Surya never used Phoenix Strike again. It simply wasn´t needed. As a noob with melee builds, I was content to not having to bother with those charges and simply use Attack with a fast claw instead. I do not remember having much trouble making her a Matriarch, at level 73.
Yes folks, this is how easy softcore 1.09 is on players 1!

(Sidenote: I still miss Tiamat´s for my 1.10+ grail...)



After Surya, I discovered the excitement of Hardcore mode, and never went back. Next post will be an overview of my 1.09 HC adventures. All but one ended with gruesome deaths...

 

[RobbyD]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Thanks for the feedback on your MeteOrb. Now I'm thinking about maxing static field and using it on high player settings (2x static the screen before orb).

EDIT: Completed Hell Act 2 - still surprised how easy Hell difficulty is in 1.09 for an untwinked character (feels like 1.10+ NM, imo). Still a little bit further to get to mephisto. Also getting near my first completed SP character.

EDIT2: Reached Mephisto and ran him for two hours. Notable drops were IK maul and LoH. Some okay stuff, nothing I could personally use. No sign of Shako/Skin of Vipermagi

I modified the moat trick so it would work better for firewall. I don't think I'm the first one to have thought about that, but it works nicely. I just lure Mephisto to the red portal and cast firewalls under him. He moves just sideways, so firewall works wonders (better than other moat trick places). Sometimes getting him into the gateway to the red portal can be a little troublesome, but usually it's painless. This way I can have 192% MF on me, though I'm doing p1 because the additional health from p3 makes it very slow and I don't think it's worth it.

I really didn't run Mephy much with a Sorc - I ran him mostly with the Barb, which involved jumping the moat and tanking him to death. A leechable Hell Mephy makes that a piece of cake for decent Barb.

Maxing SF isn't a horrible idea, especially if cows are in your plans, but keep in mind that the MP static bug only applies to uniques and bosses, not normal monsters. Still, moat-tricking Mephy with a wide static would be a very effective method for running him. You should pop it on P8 and try that out with your Sorc. Should work well with FW, even better if your Orbs can get to him.

(Sidenote: I still miss Tiamat´s for my 1.10+ grail...)

Quest-bugged 1.10a Hell Andy has already dropped several of those for me - I would try running her if you really want that. I never got a pair of Gore Rider in 1.09, but 1.10a Hell Andy also dropped a couple of those.

 

[RobbyD]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Sorry - double post.

 

[jiansonz]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Quest-bugged 1.10a Hell Andy has already dropped several of those for me - I would try running her if you really want that.

It´s a single-pass grail, so no running. Like I said, I don´t like that the monsters respawn, so I simply pretend that they don´t.


I just hope to find it with some character someday - preferrably one that wants to use it. I have seen everything green or gold in that TC, and the TCs around it. It´s just chance that it has eluded me so far.

(There is still a normal class item I haven´t seen yet - Ume´s Lament.)

 

[mouseman1]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Really nice story, Jiansonz, and surprisingly similar to mine (two failed classic characters, and somewhat succesfull 1.09 FW/Orb sorceress). I'm waiting for the second part of your journeys!

I tried to static Mephisto at p3 and it worked. Although my merc is too weak (meat scraper/rockstopper/rattlecage at lvl 73) to tank properly and I can tank him only with my regular gear on (MF 55%). Static Field would have to be really, really high level to be combined with moat trick. I estimate lvl 20+ (will test that, definitely). It would be an awesome way to level, if you hit Hell mephisto with enough range in SF and would moat trick / static him with p8. That would be fast and rewarding, both in items and in XP. Right now I'm doing the "red portal moat trick" with p1 and 192% MF.

I did Izual in A4 and noticed it's getting harder. I'd like to get some items from mephisto before continuing to Diablo and A5. I'm still using mostly crap, honestly. I estimate I have done about 70 runs, without getting anything I can use. Well, better luck tomorrow.

 

[mouseman1]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

I think my earlier estimation about 70 runs was a bit low. I recorded some three hours of running and today I did 50 timed runs (95 secs average, so 1 hour 20min for 50 runs). So altogether I estimate I have done about 160 runs. Today I got Butcher's Pupil off of Mephisto, but it was the only drop worth mentioning. There's literally like 30 things I would love him to drop, with drop rates ranging from 1:300 to 1:3000, and not a single one of those items have dropped. Usually people just say that it's easy to get the basic items from Mephisto running him a couple of hours, but I think it requires more like a couple of days. And I don't like running him that much. I figured it would just be a quick item stop, but nooo he doesn't agree.

Yeah, I'm arguing with Mephisto. A lot. I think it's time to break up, soon.

 

[mouseman1]

Re: 1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds

Hmm it seems I can’t edit my post like I used to. So sorry for double posting, from now on out I’ll just write everything down in Word and post at the end of the day.

Did another 50 runs. Slightly faster. In the first 50 runs, I did get only 16 set items and 18 uniques, but in the second 50 runs I got 25 sets and 19 uniques. The quality increased as well, I got lidless wall, nosferatu's coil, griswold's heart and, best of all, guardian angel. I value Guardian Angel over any armor in 1.09 and plan to use it. It's great for max block and goes well with wizardspike (which I haven't got, yet). You can invest points in strenght but still get max block from the armor. So, I'm happy. Also got 2 lvls, now I'm lvl 75.

Also went on a rampage and killed Hephasto and Diablo. Forge dropped Dol, which is kind of underwhelming. But I don’t plan on converting this character, so what can you do. Chaos Sanctuary was actually tougher than I remembered, those Oblivion Knights are *****es!

Also did one bloody foothills run on p7. Firewall works great and also static speeds things up with higher player settings. Got one full level (75->76) off of a partial clear. Great XP, but the really great thing about 1.09 bloody foothills runs were the fact that 8 characters could clear different parts of the bloody foothills and everybody would get XP. So runs were really fast and XP was great (also leeching was a problem). But yeah, that’s hard to simulate in a SP game. I’m going to boost some characters to join my runs, though, when I’m strong enough to boost hell with more people on the game.