The Exposure Tournament

Re: The Exposure Tournament

Faith is now a Destroyer. :yes:

As I thought, Act V would be easy. What started off as smooth progress just became increasingly easier as Faith gained more levels and could pump Phoenix Strike, eventually maxing it. It was ridiculous near the end. The fire version of Phoenix Strike is now almost as strong as it was in the endgame for my Green with Envy III character (just being one +skill (she had Sigon´s shield) and one point of FoF synergy behind).

The only enemy that provided some resistance in the later part of Act V was Baal. I took him on /p8, because I felt so powerful. Baal actually caused me to drink two rejuves.

When Faith´s mana pool is a little bigger, I am going to switch to Dragon Claw as finisher (instead of Attack).

I´ve had pretty bad topaz luck. Only two perfect so far (used in an Artisan´s Great Helm of Balance). Not a single MF jewel have dropped, so the four sockets in her chippie-rerolled magical Blade Talonses (is that a word?) are still empty. All my gold have been used for gambling. STILL no Amulet of Luck, despite gambling amulets like crazy. I´m at a 22% Fortune now.

Lightning is the only good resist at the moment. I may have to do something about that. Or not - I should be able to find some nice resist charms and the belt is only a +59 life Colossus, so that can be improved upon.

Life is a solid ~640, so as long as I don´t do anything stupid, progress up to the Act III temples should be safe. I hope...


[Highlight]Destoyer Faith, dual claws Phoenix Striker, level 49, Moo Moo Farm next[/Highlight]
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Got the itch to fire up TheStreak again and nudged him on a little bit. Have to say early game Chargers feel a lot like walking through mud so far. But I can feel him almost reaching a tipping point. The big shift came from shopping Fara to upgrade his weapon. He went from a two handed sword averaging 13 damage to a Claymore hitting in the upper 20s. Charge is now a power skill, but such a mana hog I either dont use it, or carry and inventory full of pots. So it see's sparing use. I still have a long bow from Act I that I used to snipe off enemies in the Catacombs to great effect. Not so helpful in the open spaces of Act 2, but it is good for isolated leapers and spearchuckers. Going has been really slow as I use Cleansing to top off life between battles. Can't wait for Redemption.

He's currently at the Dry Hills Waypoint. I skipped the Sewers for now to get the cube. I see a pile of Savage Polearms with his name all over them. I'm just dreading the Unraveler groups in the Halls of the Dead.

Build plan is a hybrid Charger/Hammerdin running Insight staff with spare points into Prayer (or maybe not). Currently has Charge at lvl 8 and all points possible into Concentration. One point each in prereqs up to Vigor and Blessed Hammer. Finds have been pretty much garbage with only three runes in all of Act 1, and Fell Oak club my only S/U.
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Time for an update!

I slacked off and did not provide an update for Jimbo at the end of Act III so I guess I will do so at the end of Act IV.

Jimbo had some issues with the poison immunes in the jungle, notably the flying wasp type creatures. The other monster bodies tended to be of low-hp variety so blowing them up wasn't always a viable solution. A few times I bypassed a group with Dim Vision. You can do almost anything with that spell.

He was cruising along nicely, facing Sszark and coaxing him to drop a nice shiny precious, which turned out to be a Ravenfrost. CBF Woo Hoo! It also comes in handy for the 61% Cold Resist that Jimbo currently sports.

Interestingly enough, another form of CBF dropped shortly later but he didn't equip it because the FHR and extra resists of the Smoke are better than the increased life, in my opinion. He's also not strong enough to equip it, even putting it on in ATMA first, without using charms.

Jimbo had a couple of tough starts to levels, including a champion ghost pack in the Flayer Dungeon. In here and in the Flayer Jungle Jimbo's 7 frame FHR worked well.

We faced Dolls in the Durance of Hate, but fortunately the Urdars spaced periodically throughout the three levels provided ample protection; the MO was to run around and gather a big stack (certainly enough of them to kill Jimbo if they all exploded in proximity) and then Decrepify them to amplify the explosion and make them a bit slower, and lead them to an Urdar body and BOOM! No dolls ever survived that tactic. A few times I had to blind them and come back to gather them up later, which I hated to do but had to be done. Zombie bodies worked well for that tactic too but I needed an Urdar to kill these guys in the first place.

Mephisto, nya nya you missed me! He got back at me by dropping crap.

Act IV was not too bad of a start; we had the Hag spitters, who I either blinded to reduce the number of babies they spat out, or hit them with LR and blasted them once their babies were dead (two poison novas always do the trick). They were in nearly every area.

Izual was not difficult, interestingly, and he added 0.6 yards to my CE radius. Sweet!

The River of Flame was a real pain in the butt as I faced corpse spitters and had two boss packs of them. I had to use the Malice almost exclusively and they take a long time to bleed out. When I tried to get them near a corpse to speed things up, about half the time they ate the corpse and used it against me before I could blow it up. Their "eating" range is amazing!

Hepasto was not difficult and I was excited to get to the hellforge. Notice the few blinded spitters in the corner. I was tired of killing them at that point.

Blinded by science!

Lord De Seis had potential to hurt me but he failed with the help of several red potions.

Diablo's drop was bad. I put on MF jewelry before I finished him off and got a Skull Splitter for my efforts.

Other items found include an IK Stone Crusher and an Islestrike.

[highlight]Jimbo, level 80 Necromancer, Harrogath[/highlight]


Ginger was just at the NM River of Flame WP, and she has also made some progress. Her fight against dual immune Lord De Seis was not easy but he eventually went down with Static Field and Malice work.

Diablo's drop. He's easy at any players setting for a Sorceress.

Here is the Lum rune that I spoke of earlier. It ended up making one of these. I bought a +3 Blaze base item from normal Drognan and got Larzuk to assist and voila! It sure made her kill speed much, much better. It has +6 to Blaze and +5 to Static field, both spells I use often. Add the +3 to Orb and CM and it can't be beat.

Not all was good for Ginger. She did endure a two boss pack Frenzytaur stair trap with one pack only getting stirred up after I fled from the first one. Teleport FTW here.

Did I ever mention that archers are hard for Ginger? They hit hard for her small HP pool. Still she was able to maneuver enough to dispatch them all.

This snake was a snake for sure. She got most of his HP down via Static but the Extra Fast mod caused him to hit her and interrupt her Malice whacks before she could swing, nearly every time. She got one hit in several town trips to get potions, but he regened agaain and I figured to skip the area instead. You win, Seethe Web, for now!

The Ancients were not difficult, nor was Lister (due to the LR staff, usable at level 72) or even Baal.

As usual, I do a comprehensive rekit when entering hell in order to maximize resists and life at the expense of MF and other mods. Check out my new armor for Hell difficulty. Thanks Larzuk! I put an Ort and a Ral in there.

I have had trouble finding a good set of jewelry, initially trying hard for Blood Rings (life), Blood Amulets (FRW) and Safety Rings (life). None of them really worked out, and I was really trying hard to meet the 8 FHR breakpoint (60% faster) and so eventually I decided that the best amulet for me would be the Nokozan Relic. It has 50% FR, +10% max FR and 20% FHR. Deal. Her character screen looks like this.

She has gone a few rounds in hell, trying out her new digs, rescuing Cain after seeing dual immune Bishibosh. Same tactic as before, although the static field is now level 10 which makes it easier to use in all situations now.

Items found since the last update include a Heart Carver, Woestave, Frostburn, Sazabi's helm, Gore Rider, and Todesfaelle Flamme.

[highlight]Ginger, level 76 Blaze Sorceress, Dark Wood WP[/highlight]
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Wow great progress, and lots of pics.

I've been really limited in D2 time recently. But TheStreak has gotten his cube. I've used all of my chipped diamonds on Savage Polearms and I so love that recipe. He's killing most things in two swings now, or one charge. This will get better once he hits lvl 25 and can upgrade to his Savage Bill. I also have a Partisan, but am debating whether or not I should make the stat investment for it as the plan is to go with exceptional > elite staves in the long run. Just cleared Ancient Tunnels and is heading to the take on the snakes next playing session. I have to say, it's a nice change from watching the merc kill everything through this phase of normal. I'll have to see how happy about that I am in Act 3. Flayers + slow single target attack and no companion don't sound like a lot of fun.
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Played TheStreak a little bit more this weekend. He made two major gear improvements aside from the Savage Bill that he is currently sporting. First, he rolled a life leech ring from three Amulets. This is wonderful as most damage he takes during a skirmish gets topped back up from the leech. Only problems are Beatles, which he didn't face too many of. But the big find was a pair of Sander's Riprap. The 40% rw are great for a charger. Combined with Stealth, he is moving fast. This is wonderful for separating from enemies when in a bunch to reapply charge. But it's also got some great other mods I had always taken for granted in the past, biggest of which is +100AR. This really helped fill an AR gap as I am trying to keep Dex investment very low since Staves are the end game weapon, and Charge has plenty of AR bonuses that gear should do him fine once he get's his Insight. The passive mana gain per level has also finally caught up to a point where Charge can be used when needed, although most enemies die in 3 or fewer swings with normal attack.

The remainder of Act 2 went quite smooth, the slowest bit being the clearing of the 7 Tombs as usual. Thankfully, Scarabs were only present in a single tomb as resists are being fairly neglected. Unravelers were no problem as fast run/walk bypasses skelly minions and a quick charge or two takes them out straight away.

Duriel was surprisingly easy. Charge in, Vigor out. I actually only get pinged by his Holy Freeze once because of how quickly I was getting in and out. Only took one mana potion to take him down. Proving that the Diablo gods really wanted to make sure TheStreak was properly geared, Duriel double down on the run/walk and life leech. He dropped Treads of Cthon and a Cathan's Seal. The ring was swapped in, but the boots didn't beat out Sander's.

He's moved on to Act 3 and has partway completed the pain that is Spider Forest/Great Marsh/Flayer Jungle. Initially I was worried about the fast moving numerous Flayers, but with high AR and good damage I now refer to them as really minor healing potions.

I don't know when I'll get another playing session in, but I have to say, even with all its bugs, charge is a really fun skill.
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Brak, your charger sounds like fun. I started one in this tournament too and even got him to level 12 before I got sidetracked and decided to try a Blaze sorc (Ginger). She's at Lut Gholein now, and Jimbo just killed Ventar the Unholy before I had to leave for work, so the computer is running unsupervised right now. Hopefully I can finish him up in the next couple of days.

I can imagine those Sanders' boots are a great addition to a charger's forte. That +100 AR will be great for a long long time and 40% FRW is awesome. I nearly always find a pair in a tournament and many times keep them for situations where running fast is a necessity. Good find!
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Morathi I need a ruling. My sorc was fighting Diablo and as you would expect with a Blaze sorc, she was running all over making a big carpet of flames. As Diablo was standing in a big mat of them, health steadily decreasing, he imprisoned my character and began his lightning hose. Naturally I teleported out of there before dying and when I teleported away I went two TPs to get out of his hose range, and when I came back to continue the fight, he'd died and left his drop (garbage) but Tyrael won't let me go to Harrogath. Apparently I was too far away from him when he died and I didn't get credit for it. Never seen that before (I don't MP but I guess that's an MP thing?).

I do not trust my skills to teleport through the CS and not kill anything (especially since this time it was darn near all OKs) except for the seal bosses. Can I do a rerun or is my character out because of this?

Jimbo already Guardianed but I was hoping to get two since she's already gone so far.
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

I think that Morathi has pretty much exited D2 for now.

I'd say you are fine to re-run it on p1 and not pick up any items, except to replenish any gold/potion losses you take.

This stuff just happens sometimes, and it's not fair to loose an entry because of it. It happened to me in gold diggers tournament twice on hell ancients, and I just did what I suggested to you.
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

I am also OK with that.

The game crashes on me now and then, and then I replay what´s absolutely necessary on /p1 and only pick up potions and TP scrolls to replace the ones I use.
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Jimbo finished his journey in the last couple of weeks. There were several points that were not easy for him to pass, but he did prevail with the help of a couple old tricks.

I think I know the reason why Jimbo never really had a helper (i.e. exposed). His nickname should be El Cheapo.

The Frozen River had the first of many areas with poison immunes. Usually they accosted Jimbo at the entrance to a level.

I am not really sure why I bothered to rescue Anya except for the thrill of victory. I didn't intend on ever going into the Halls to fight Nihlathak.

Beyond the many poison immune monsters (most of the gloams I killed with the Malice kris, but not all) I'd met throughout the journey, the Frozen Tundra with this, this, and these takes the cake. There was not a single monster in this entire area that wasn't unbreakably poison immune. So, Jimbo used DV and ran the whole area along the perimeter till the end.

Frenzytaurs populated the Ancient's Way but with DV the normal monsters were immobilized and I did not run into any extra fast bosses. I think that might have been the end of Jimbo but it didn't happen.

The Ancients fall easily to a Poisonmancer, including Madawc, Talic, and Korlic.

Trouble in WSK3. I hate OKs because they aren't prey to DV.

Jimbo made it otherwise fairly easily to the Throne of Destruction. He knew that Achmel would be hard to kill. He realized that Ventar was far worse, and Lister and his buddies got parked in groups of two or three in various corners of the level, so they survived. No way I was touching them.

Here is an action shot of the fight against Baal. Since Act V had dropped absolutely nothing, this really didn't surprise me. The Cow King did the same, but his buddies went down very quickly to CE.

Jimbo's LCS.

Final skills layout:
Dim Vision - 16 (18)
Attract - 1 (not used)
Decrepify - 1
Lower Resist - 0 (3) (switch only)
Poison Dagger - 20 (23)
Poison Explosion - 20 (23)
Poison Nove - 20 (23)
Corpse Explosion - 9 (14)

Gear:
Code: 
Shadow Lock
Belt
Defense: 5
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Strength: 25
Required Level: 13
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 45
Fingerprint: 0x437f3b03
+11 to Life
Fire Resist +12%
Lightning Resist +20%
24% Faster Hit Recovery
 
Smoke
Serpentskin Armor
 
Rune Shank
Heavy Boots
Defense: 12
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Strength: 18
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 48
Fingerprint: 0x8150cdcf
+83% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +23%
Poison Resist +34%
10% Faster Run/Walk
Poison Length Reduced by 25%
10% Chance to cast Level 3 Charged Bolt when struck
 
Wraith Hand
Leather Gloves
Defense: 5
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Level: 57
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 63
Fingerprint: 0xd3c1fe74
+17 to Mana
+48% Enhanced Defense
Regenerate Mana 8%
Fire Resist +23%
Cold Resist +12%
20% Increased Attack Speed
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
 
Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 63
Fingerprint: 0x39de2d2a
+16 to Life
 
Cobalt Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 20
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x7914f734
Cold Resist +8%
 
Lucky Grand Charm of Balance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 59
Fingerprint: 0x8fa22231
7% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
12% Faster Hit Recovery
 
Snowy Large Charm of Inertia
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 18
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 76
Fingerprint: 0xb1728768
+3 cold damage over 1 seconds
5% Faster Run/Walk
 
Serpent's Large Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 33
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 55
Fingerprint: 0xa4f2223b
+11 to Life
+27 to Mana
 
Fine Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 76
Fingerprint: 0xbb9eecba
+16 to Life
+13 to Attack Rating
+3 to Maximum Damage
 
Lizard's Small Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 17
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 64
Fingerprint: 0xfad7d7aa
+12 to Life
+4 to Mana
 
Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 73
Fingerprint: 0x9f8d001a
+18 to Life
 
Stone Horn
Circlet
Defense: 28
Durability: 35 of 35
Required Level: 40
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 66
Fingerprint: 0x7d8e4fcb
Fire Resist +16%
Lightning Resist +16%
Cold Resist +30%
Poison Resist +16%
6% Mana stolen per hit
20% Faster Run/Walk
 
Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0x6e65d3a6
+17 to Life
 
Raven Frost
 
Jade Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 64
Fingerprint: 0xc0aa65df
+16 to Life
Poison Resist +8%
 
Viridian Small Charm of Balance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 56
Fingerprint: 0x4ed40db8
Poison Resist +7%
5% Faster Hit Recovery
 
Azure Small Charm of Dexterity
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 5
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 12
Fingerprint: 0xd01f4507
+1 to Dexterity
Cold Resist +5%
 
Sapphire Small Charm of Burning
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 65
Fingerprint: 0xb185adad
Cold Resist +10%
Adds 4-5 fire damage
 
Crimson Amulet of Teleportation (special circumstances only)
Required Level: 48
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 71
Fingerprint: 0xb990a4bd
Fire Resist +8%
Level 1 Teleport (22/22 Charges)
 
Malice
Kris
 
Lapis Ring of Fortune (Boss kills only)
Required Level: 31
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 56
Fingerprint: 0x840eda35
Cold Resist +18%
24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
 
Death Touch
Ring
Required Level: 44
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 72
Fingerprint: 0x288476d6
+1 to Energy
+61 to Mana
Regenerate Mana 9%
Fire Resist +29%
Poison Resist +9%
Half Freeze Duration
Iron Ring of Fortune
Required Level: 31
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x4a4998b1
+28 to Attack Rating
24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
 
Chromatic Amulet (normal amulet)
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 55
Fingerprint: 0x774dc5a0
All Resistances +26
 
Amulet of Luck (Boss kills only)
Required Level: 19
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0xe818df67
35% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
 
Snake's Grand Charm of Greed
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 18
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0x5e9654ca
+31 to Mana
28% Extra Gold from Monsters
 
Coral Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 15
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 40
Fingerprint: 0x9130d235
Lightning Resist +22%
 
Necromancer's Bone Wand of Chain Lightning (weapon switch)
One-Hand Damage: 3 to 7
Durability: 15 of 15
Required Level: 42
Staff Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 83
Fingerprint: 0x6ea19c91
+2 to Necromancer Skill Levels
+1 to Lower Resist (Necromancer Only)
150% Damage to Undead
8% Chance to cast Level 3 Chain Lightning on attack
 
White
Bone Wand
'DolIo'
One-Hand Damage: 3 to 7
Durability: 15 of 15
Required Level: 35
Staff Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 20
Fingerprint: 0xbff3f275
+10 to Vitality
+13 to Mana
Magic Damage Reduced by 4
20% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Corpse Explosion (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Dim Vision (Necromancer Only)
+4 to Skeleton Mastery (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Bone Spear (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Iron Maiden (Necromancer Only)
+3 to Bone Armor (Necromancer Only)
Hit Causes Monster to Flee 25%
150% Damage to Undead
+3 to Poison and Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)
Socketed (2: 2 used)
[highlight]Guardian Jimbo, Level 82 Poisonmancer[/highlight]

Thanks for the input guys, I guess I'll muster the gumption to try the CS again with Ginger. It was nothing but champ packs of OKs this last time and so I was very disappointed in what happened. But, I got better at killing them than I'd been before so that's a nice silver lining.
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Congrats on the Guardian, OldSoldier! :thumbsup:

It´s been interesting to follow his progress, particularly for me who also has a Poisonmancer in the tourney (still in early A5 Normal, though). I will go a different route with him, and get a big elite two-hander for dealing with poison immunes. High-level Dim Vision will be key for me also, but I will probably not be able to affort 16 hard points.
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

kestegs said:
I think that Morathi has pretty much exited D2 for now.
Click to expand...

I may be inactive but i still lurk here :thumbup:. Starting a full time job has really killed my free time and i have lost interest in this game. D3 is just around the corner and i am literally jumping up and down in anticipation of its release :jig::jig:.



OS, firstly a huge congradulations on the Guardian :congrats:! I am amazed that you continuely manage to get Guardian's in my tournaments. Hmmmm, maybe i am not making them tough enough :evil:.

Secondly, Kestegs suggested exactly what i would have. So that is fine. Thanks for pitching in Kestegs :thumbup:.



 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

jiansonz said:
Congrats on the Guardian, OldSoldier! :thumbsup:

It´s been interesting to follow his progress, particularly for me who also has a Poisonmancer in the tourney (still in early A5 Normal, though). I will go a different route with him, and get a big elite two-hander for dealing with poison immunes. High-level Dim Vision will be key for me also, but I will probably not be able to affort 16 hard points.
Click to expand...

Thanks fellas!

I was afraid my durations wouldn't be good enough without at least 16 points, and by the time I spent that many I already had the +2 on the wand, and it was nice to blind everything for 10 seconds (enough time to get into optimal position and run off three novas in safety) but I would probably stop at 14 hard points if I did it again. Ginger is close so I hope to get her finished up before the baby comes in a couple of weeks.

As far as your elite 2-hander, how will you deal with AR problems? Find one with Fool's mod? Have an Enchant switch? That was always my problem with my single tree curse necro guardian, but I solved that problem with a BA merc. Not an option here.



 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Nice work old soldier!

I considered a poison necro in this tournament but I couldn't get around the unbreakable PI's

I'm also surprised that you decided not to put any points in LR, I rarely use anything but that on my poison necro, but then again I don't much care for DV.
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

OldSoldier said:
As far as your elite 2-hander, how will you deal with AR problems? Find one with Fool's mod? Have an Enchant switch? That was always my problem with my single tree curse necro guardian, but I solved that problem with a BA merc. Not an option here.
Click to expand...

I dunno...swing 50 more times? :badteeth:


Actually, I am hoping for Crescent Moon (which has ITD). I will also keep all set pieces that have big 'AR per level' partial bonus, and big Steel GCs and such. We´ll see when (if) I get there.



 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

kestegs said:
Nice work old soldier!

I considered a poison necro in this tournament but I couldn't get around the unbreakable PI's

I'm also surprised that you decided not to put any points in LR, I rarely use anything but that on my poison necro, but then again I don't much care for DV.
Click to expand...

I did have LR on my switch, and it got me to level 3, which is decent. I didn't have any +skills, since I relied on gear that provided FHR and resists, so the extra points to get to LR and then to make LR good enough to use were better spent on a bigger CE radius. I'd even like it with more than it has now, which is why I'd have stopped at 14 in DV if I did it over again.

As it was, I used LR quite a bit. It actually made all those undead monsters that aren't natively poison immune fairly quick to finish off.



 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Congratulation on Guardian OldSoldier :thumbup:.

I was very interested in your progress with this necro build. I thought it could be very difficult without bone armor/bone prison. But in fact your progress inspired me, it's quite cool character for untwinked tourney. I might try it in some next tourney.


@Morathi: I think your tournaments are tough just enough - not easy at all, but still one can have a hope :).
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Faith has advanced two more acts, but it hasn´t been nearly as easy as I thought it would be. Why? Meleeing nasty bosses/champs when you have <50% blocking and sub-par resists HURTS, that´s why. Champ packs of tough meleers give me the most trouble. Regular boss packs (except the boss) can be blinded by CoS and then I can usually take cover behind a minion and rain down Meteors by fighting the minion.

I have mixed feelings about Weapon Block. On one hand, it´s badass that you can actually block elemental projectiles and such, but on the other hand, the skill has very steep diminishing returns and the blocking percentage isn´t that great. It´s now at level 7, giving 46% blocking. I will probably put two more points in it, because the step from level 8 -> 9 is the last 2%-unit increase there is. I crafted a Safety Amulet to see if its extra blocking ability helps Weapon Block. It doesn´t.

I have found a pretty cool Sapphire Amulet of Life Everlasting (DR by 17) and a plain DR by 22 Everlasting amulet. If I don´t find a Lem rune (for Treachery) in Nightmare, I may go the straight PDR route, and use socketed armor/helm with Sol runes.

My planned '7 PTopaz' gear was completed in Lost City. I got lucky enough to have a 4s Gothic Plate drop for me already in late Act I NM.

STR and DEX have reached their goal values, 79/79. I have gambled two Greater Talons and chippie-rerolled them to get 2 sockets for MF jewels (still haven´t found any!). No useful staffmods on these claws.

I think that all three imbues will be used on Greater Talons. They require ilvl 75 to support +2 assassin skills, which means I am good to use two imbues in very late NM (clvl 71).

Weapon switch currently holds Riphook, which I sometimes use with BF for the OW and the slowing.


In Pit level 2, there was an early Champion melee rogue pack. I managed to '"wake up" only one of them, and after raining heavy fire on it, I rushed ahead to get the other three with me back to the fire patch. Then I spammed Mind Blast to keep them in the fire without needing to suffer any pain tanking them. Worked out nicely.

In the desert, I found something I haven´t seen before. Nifty.

Pulled a jackpot in Fangy´s lair, both in the pack´s placement and random ability. It could have gotten real hairy with bad luck on these things. Imagine meeting them early, with CE, Might or Cursed instead...

Fire/lightning resists are now pretty good, thanks to charms. I have my 5 seconds poison charm mostly in my stash because it takes up space (it´s a Grand Charm) but I bring it if there´s a boss that is hard for me to kill. I hope to find a small poison charm with 5 seconds duration (and preferrably with a good second affix).


[Highlight]Destoyer Faith, dual claws Phoenix Striker, level 60, NM Spider Forest next[/Highlight]
 
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Re: The Exposure Tournament

Jiansonz, good progress with your Phoenix Striker. I still have not seen a boss Nest. I do not recall seeing Fangskin on the altar before either. Good luck on that one.

Ginger finally got him this time. But I get ahead of myself. My last update for Ginger was at the Dark Wood WP. It wouldn't be fair of me to forget to mention the fight against CI/FI Countess, one of many such fights in Hell Difficulty so far.

Ginger thought for a while after that fight with the Countess (she dropped an Eld and an Eth) that she should hire a mercenary to help defeat those enemies where her primary elements were of no help, but her negotiation techniques failed her in the end. She was able to find a second Lum rune which might come in handy enough to make a Lionheart or a better Memory but so far the gear she has is better, so it sits in the stash.

Her Malice kris has worked wonders in most every situation so far. There was that snake in NM though...

Andariel had no chance in the conflagration. I didn't even bother to hit her with LR, the fire smoked her so quickly. She dropped a Twisted Essence of Suffering. More on that later.

On to Lut Gholein, she dodged many flaming arrows in the sewers, and burned a ton of beetles and itchies in the Maggot Lair. Coldworm took a long time to kill with a low level Inferno. I hit her with the Malice first to stop regen and then waited for the Inferno to do its business. No sweat.

During her travels, she had a lot of trouble with the Guardian monsters, until realizing that the LR charges broke the cold immunity of the foul beasts, and the level 4 cold mastery did much of the rest of the work. They were not very good about standing in my blazes.

Eventually, Duriel went down in a massive carpet of flames, each had almost 2,000 fire damage per second. He also dropped a Twisted Essence of Suffering. I thought they (Andariel and Duriel) would drop different essence items, but both showed the same. Oh well, no big deal.

Ginger was spending most of her money not on hirelings, but on gambling. She got this gem with one of her tries. That's got to be a good one, no? Stashed for now, it may come out later against the Ancients, Minions and Baal.

Even though she had no tanks or way to defend herself with a shield, Ginger put up a nice defense while getting Lam Esen's Tome. She went back and forth at least ten times in the doorway, so when Battlemaid Sarina and her pals (and pretty much everything else in the room; it was packed) came out, they all died very quickly standing and waiting for the monster in front of them to keel over. As it was, only one beast could whack away at Ginger due to the constriction at the door. Too easy!

I was afraid of the dolls in the Sewers, and indeed several blew up nearby enough to Ginger to cause quite a panic, even with 85% Fire Resist, but this guy was on an Island in a sea of poo and no danger to Ginger.

The council fights were fun (only Toorc Icefist was dual FI/CI immune and had to be killed with the Malice) and the Mephisto skirmish was a wonderful departure from my normal chicken-hearted moat trick with sorcs. He dropped a Deathbit.

On to Act IV, and nothing was really too bad to kill, though the Megademons had a fair bit of HP to kill with the Frozen Orbs. The LR charges made it easier but it was expensive.

Hephasto was too easy and the drop was useful for this character (Enlightenment) but I like that current armor so maybe I can use it some other time.

Diablo went down this time very easily. He imprisoned Ginger twice but that's no sweat for a sorc. His drop was garbage, but along the line, Ginger did get a Titan's Revenge in the Ancient Tunnels, Meph left her the Deathbit, and she found a 310% ED Bonehew in the RoF.

[highlight]Ginger, Level 81 Blaze Sorceress, Frigid Highlands WP[/highlight]
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Just joining the tourney, not sure what I'm supposed to do but my characters name is Ryann and he's an paladin, not sure which kind yet, though.
 
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