Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II
Kenneth has been living the easy life, riding the wave of Mizan's power. Full clears are progressing at a comfortable pace. I soften them up with a Malice Long Sword and Mizan gets 95% of the kills.
Hellforge was
helpful to me, much appreciated. The Diablo fight was fantastic. Mizan missed most of it, I guess he felt he deserved a break and spent some time in limbo. I ran circles around Big D and spanked him with Rixot's for a while. Kenneth's life pool is low, but his resists were near-maxed with Ancient's Pledge. Nonetheless, the occasional singe from a lightning hose took away more than half his life, very scary and thrilling. After a little work from Malice, Mizan was re-awakened for the final kill.
Act 5 was a cakewalk. The only threat came early on, an Extra Strong pack of Hell Lord Frenzytaurs in the Pit of Acheron entrance. I used all my rejuvs to withstand them, as I had no retreating room. Subsequent species of frenzytaurs were harmless, Mizan could tank them easily with red potion support. The combination of Holy Freeze and cold damage was not enough to completely subdue Baal. He still cast spells and teleported. Thankfully, he did not clone. His drop was interesting:
Aldur's Rhythm, with
3 sockets; an excellent weapon for NM! Weapons that feature (+ integer) damage are especially beneficial for skills like Concentration and Sacrifice, which boost integer damage with %damage. Now Kenneth is the damage king, leaving Mizan playing second fiddle. Quite a shift from Normal! This approach is not as beneficial from an MF perspective (letting Mizan score the kills), but it sure is a lot quicker and more fun. The major issue now was the returned damage I suffered from Sacrifice. The inherent 10% LL did not compensate. Nor did the addition of an Amn rune (17% LL), I was still losing a little life every hit. I went all out and stuffed it full of Amns, for 31% LL. Perhaps this was overkill, but I am enjoying the convenience. I can charge into a pack of 20 Fallen without worry, as long as there's no champions or chilling attacks (no CBF yet). Against unleechables, I tried out level 3 Zeal. I like this skill, but there are drawbacks. For starters, there is no mid-Zeal escape, I'm stuck for the duration. Also, it's a bit sloppy, I can't choose my targets carefully. I would prefer to let Mizan kill all the bosses. Overall though, I like Zeal. I just need to be careful.
Something lucky happened in Act 1 NM, I found three 4-socket gothic plates! (Typically I have to wait until late Act 1 just to find one.) The first dropped in the Crypt. I soon had it filled with Perfect Topaz. The 2nd went into the stash for future PTopaz. After the 3rd dropped, I had the unexpected luxury of creating a mid-grade MF boost for
Mizan. Mizan received another upgrade, a gift from Andariel's throne
room. One of my favorite merc utility weapons! Upgraded, it's not quite as hurty as the Savage Partizan of the Locust, and it lacks LL. However, the convenience of freezing, blinding, slowing, OW, and corpse disposal outweighs those shortcomings. This will get a lot of use.
Zeal was employed heavily in Act 2. It's common for Kenneth to tank for Mizan, leeching
heavily, life bulb fluttering up and down, but staying in the upper half. Woestave freezing is shattereing all those nuisance ghosts, mummies, and skellies. I opened up Vengeance, and put it to use against ghosts. Nice. There are difficulties though. Kenneth's life is too low for comfort, considering all his exposure to mobs. More than once, I've narrowly escaped trouble while Zealing. Missile block-lock is also a problem. Rejuvs are used often. I could shore up his life with a Whale belt and PRubies; but MF is, as always, my primary concern at this point.
After grinding out a p7 clear of the False Tombs, we dispatched Duriel in a single trip. Tanking duty alternated as we were bashed
backwards, and potions were re-stocked mid-battle. No major difficulty.
I can make a Rhyme, but I'm waiting for a nice Paladin shield with extra resists. I could really use the CBF (and MF), but instead I'm opting for a huge resistance gemmed shield so I can free up charm space. (More convenient loot storage for selling.) My current charms are mostly +AR and +life. Normally I'm not that concerned about resists in NM, but tanking with low life warrants high resistances.
[highlight]Destroyer Kenneth, Conc/Zeal/HF Paladin, level 60, Act 3 NM, Kurast[/highlight][highlight]
MF: 321%, (457% merc kills)[/highlight]
Stats:
Str 102 (77 random)
Dex 94 (69 random)
Vit 104 (79 random)
Energy (75 random)
Life: 455
Mana: 216
Resists: 68,69,67,75
Skills:
6 Prayer
2 Resist Fire
2 Defiance
3 Resist Cold
2 Salvation
3 Might
8 Holy Fire (Boo!)
4 Thorns
2 Blessed Aim
5 Concentration
5 Holy Freeze
2 Sanctuary
3 Fanaticism
1 Conviction
4 Sacrifice (391-633 damage, 3403 AR)
2 Smite
3 Holy Bolt
3 Zeal (276-445 damage, 3312 AR)
4 Charge
1 Vengeance
Primary Gear:
Aldur's Rhythm. Triple Amn'ed.
gemmed Akaran Targe, 4 x PDiamond, +91% resist-all
Atisan's Great Helm of Balance, 3 x PTopaz
gemmed Gothic Plate, 4 x PTopaz
Goldwrap Heavy Belt
Azure (8) Heavy Gloves of Fortune (24)
Viridian (17) Mesh Boots of Luck (35)
Amulet of Luck (28)
Silver (65) Ring of Fortune (21)
Platinum (115) Ring of Chance (15)
Mizan, Blessed Aim Merc, level 60
upped Woestave, 193-574 damage
gemmed Gothic Plate, 4 x standard topaz
gemmed Mask, 3 x PTopaz
Notable:
Scintillating (14) Circlet of the Whale (95)
Steel (115) GC of Dex (5)
Sapphire (30) GC of Venom
Ruby (30) GC
Coral (21) GC of Strength (3)
Crushflange
Jewel of Fervor x 3
Runes: Ko, Lum, Dol (3), Shael (3), Sol (8), Amn (9)
I did the mistake to plant traps which lured them to the stairs, one bad move and I was cornered by Fangskin and 2 minions, Cloak of Shadows didn't seem to work on them, tried to break free with psychic hammer but it dind't work, maybe should have tried to kick my way out.
Rolled an Amazon, AvengingAngel is her name, I hope she stays true to it. Forgot to roll the Mercenary, now that is rolled its and Act II 5... that is nightmare... literally. Will be very hard, maybe I will have to play around with settings a bit to get that far...
(had lost a throwing barb in the Certain Death tourny and the Assasin from this tourny there)
