Tournament: Envious of the Green and Gold

I couldn't resist joining again. I've given it a lot of thought and the build I've come up with is a Fire/Summoner Druid. The first time I actually will play one through the game as I've only played a friends PvP Windy back on BNet, so this should be fun.

Finds:
The Gnasher (from Coldcrow)
Jewel of Envy (blue skin)
Jewel of Wrath (7) (gold skin)
SC with 6%LR

# of Daggers gambled: 100

[highlight]Deathwing the Fire/Summoner and Waheed, Level 20.9, S/U Equipped 1, Lut Gholein Sewers next[/highlight]
 
@jiansonz: TWO characters simultaneously in the same tournament? :crazyeyes: And I thought I had too many chars at the same time.

Act 1 done. Only tight situation was when I tanked a pack of ghosts and decided it wasn't a great idea after they started whacking me. Quick rejuvs got me out of that one but I'm yet to reach for Terror as the curse of choice in these situations ...

Only 2 S/Us in all. Stoutnail and Arctic Binding. Oh well, at least I get an act2 merc who can use a polearm. Found some nice charms (7% lightning SC, 14% fire GC, 7% fire SC) Andy' dropped a Topaz, which isn't that bad considering I didn't find a single Gem shrine in the entire act.
 
Welcome again Jiansonz and awesome progress so far!

Sorry guys, been a bit tied up with RL, hopefully get some play time into Yates this weekend, hopefully can complete Act 2, or most of it! Will post an update at the conclusion of Act 2 (if i make it there hehe).
 
Made it midway through Act V Normal, but now Heroes of Might and Magic VI got in my way - it's better compatible with my workload and with keeping an eye on the little one :whistling:

But I will continue and guardian my Assassin or die trying (literally...)!
 
GreenGoldieII has successfully defeated Baal and become a Destroyer. Act 5 was mostly a breeze, had to deal with the teleporting fire spitting monsters too often though, good thing Holy Shock just zapped them without me having to hit them. Baal and ancients were both done on /P7 and just required the LMB to be held down while zeal chipped away at their lives.

Act 5 yielded quite a few finds, including a good weapon for the merc - Woestave! Also found an Iceblink and a Darkglow. I alternated armours with the Merc in areas of heavy elemental damage (e.g Wave 3 and 4), where he took Darkglow to help him survive (my fire resist was at 90 and lightning was at 79, so I was more than safe). Also found Clegaw's Sword, which has been put on switch with Clegaw's shield. The extra range compared to the Diggler made zealing much more effective. Still no headgear or amulet for GreenGoldieII unfortunately.

I really disliked how big the Halls of Anguish/Pain/Vaught were, took forever to fight through! Next up would be the Cow King and his bovines, and then on through to NM! Also contemplating which Merc to switch to - blessed aim for the AR issues that will become more apparent, or stick with the Prayer Merc and switch to a might merc if/when I make it to Act II NM.

Destroyer GreenGoldieII the Teslafroster and Azrael the Prayer Merc, Level 47, 11 S/U items equipped, Cow Level next.
 
Cow King has been cleared. No eventful finds apart from Bladebone (unique double axe). Cows seemed quite easy in comparison to monsters in late Act V and dropped like flies. Was also good that GreenGoldieII wore Iceblink, since between that and the Merc's Woestave, almost every cow was frozen!

Thinking of gear improvements before I start NM and what to use the socket quest on. I've considered upping the Steelclash for a higher block % and then putting in a p. Topaz for the lightning resists. Alternatively, I could put that topaz in my iceblink instead. Think I might also upgrade the Woestave for the merc when I can. Any suggestions here?

Current gear:
Skull cap with 2x chipped topazes (I've been lazy and haven't upgraded the helm, maybe I will use this to add more resists with jewels)
No amulet
Clegaw's Claw
Clegaw's Tooth
Iceblink
Chance Guards 30%MF
Death's Guard
Hotspur
Manald Heal
Cathan's Seal

Switch:
The Diggler
Steelclash

Merc:
Isenhart's Horns
Woestave
Dark Glow
Resists are at 90/69/69/31 on main and 90/75 (84 actual)/69/31 on switch.
 
Hagar has crossed the desert. He is level 25. The palace is next.

Poison Explosion (8 points, with 4 points in poison dagger synergy) is very effective at this stage but has a very short range (same as Corpse Explosion level 1?) As a monster's life ball dips slowly, Ilzan often gets a hit in, killing the monster for more effective MF. It's also cheaper than CE for corpse clearing.

Found Dimoak's Hew (unique Bardiche) early in the act. Ilzan having a weapon definitely helped me progress smoothly.

The only messy situation was in Fangskin's lair (surprise :)) I went to the right of the room (from the character's viewpoint; left of screen as seen by player) to gain some space. Gumby dutifully followed and tanked the four snakes that were there. Ilzan, though, spotted a couple of snakes on the pedestal, went straight to them, stopped because he couldn't reach them with his polearm and just stood there. This was of course an invitation for Fangy and his pals to charge in, with me caught in between Fangy's pack (with Ilzan in between) and the snakes on the other side (with the Golem between us) Not being able to break through, I put up a portal and waited, decrepifying all the snakes. Thankfully, both tanks held up, and Ilzan managed to kill Fangy's pack with CE/PE support. Hell is a lot less tolerant of such tomfoolery ... no wonder these guys are called morons.

Hagar's MF: 74
Ilzan's MF: 18

Good S/U haul so far in act 2:
Dimoak's Hew (Ilzan)
Berserker's Headgear (Ilzan)
18% MF Nagelring (Hagar)
Crushflange (Hagar, primary weapon) <- it's good to use crushing blow on boss packs, just for fun. AR is decent at the moment.
Angelic Sickle (Hagar, switch) <- Hoping to find amulet + ring :)
 
Would you believe it, Flame the Blaze Sorc died in the jungle! LE Gloam boss vs. crappy lightning resist (17, I think). A problem with big Blaze fire mats is that it is often hard to see LE bolts. I'd have thought 316 life would be enough...I got some warnings with rapidly dropping life, drank big reds but that was not enough.

At the time of death, she was wearing Civerb's Icon & Ward, The Gnasher, Bloodfist, Arctic Binding, with Crushflange and Cleglaw's Claw on switch. My Lightning mage merc had Isenhart's Horns, Angelic Sickle and Cathan's Mesh.


[highlight]Flame the Blaze/Lightning Sorc, 10 S/U items, level 29, Great Marsh, R.I.P.[/Highlight]
 
I decided to join, with Vlad the barbarian.

Found two gem shrines, one in Blood Moor, and another in the Stony Field. But even with two flawed topazes, my S/U count isn't that impressive. Three shields dropped was all that dropped, Pelta Lunata, Cleglaw's Claw and Hsarus' Iron Fist. (I assumed I was allowed to let my merc's shield slot be empty, and let her keep the bow? My damage wasn't exactly impressive compared to hers...)

Andariel took some time, but fell at last. No S/U from her, but some failed set items...

[Highlight]Vlad, level 20, 2 S/U equipped, Lut Gholein[/Highlight]
 
Cow farm produced only some low-interest greens and golds (Angelic Mantle, Kinemil's Awl, Sander's Superstition) but the good part of the visit was that I got a lot of practice fighting tough and large monster packs.

The more I thought about it, the more certain I became of what to socket: Darksight Helm, adding a green +30% Ambergris Jewel.
I have rerolled Grand Charms a lot but I got nothing with good resists. Martina's Hell stats look like this.

There are 10 points wasted on STR because I changed my mind about my gloves. I had brought in Sander's for the extra life, and even though I had to invest 10 point in STR (thus, sacrificing 30 life) to be able to equip upgraded Lance of Yaggai on switch, I would still be on the positive with life because of the +40 on Sander's. Then I thought about the substantial MF on Sigon's boots and how it would be a shame not to make use of it since the "cost" would be small. I want to wear the belt and boots anyway.

I am building up Charged Strike on switch, mostly as a solution to PI+FI enemies, and I chose Lance of Yaggai because it's fast and already does a little lightning damage by itself. The final few synergy points in Exploding Arrow will have to wait for later.

Martina's gear at the start of Hell:
* Darksight Helm, socketed with a green 30% Ambergris Jewel
* Nokozan Relic
* Cliffkiller
* Skin of the Vipermagi (29% resist all)
* Sigon's Gage
* Cathan's Seal
* Sigon's Wrap
* Manald Heal
* Sigon's Sabot

Charged Strike switch:
* Lance of Yaggai Yari

Protection gear (kept in stash) in case I need to re-enter a crowded stairs trap area:
* Heart Carver (holding a dagger gets rid of the extremely bad block recovery speed with swinging weapons)
* Whitstan's Guard

Jemali the Holy Freeze guard:
* Stealskull
* Athena's Wrath
* Twitchthroe Trellised Armor


[Highlight]Conqueror Martina the Immozon and Jemali the Holy Freeze guard, level 74, 13 S/U items equipped, Hell Blood Moor next[/Highlight]
 
Hi all


This is my first post and tournament. So excuse me if any errors, I hope the code table comes out right. Added my toon to the list.


Code: 
Name          Character    Class       Diff.   Area               Level    S/U's Equipped
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archone       Chicken      Necromancer  Completed                    87          15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
jiansonz      Martina      Amazon       NM       Bloody Foothills    67          14
Kitteh        Briony       Assassin     NM       Inner Cloister      50          13
felixbavaria  Bruno        Druid        NM       Cold Plains         48           9
srrw          Selene       Sorceress    NM       Rogue Camp          48          11
jdkerr        Phusis       Assassin     NM       Rogue Camp          47           9
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RIP           Thor         Paladin      Normal   Harrogath           35          11
Immortal_S    GreenGoldie  Paladin      Normal   Harrogath           34           8
Grisu         Meronym      Assassin     Normal   City of the Damned  33           9
igloosPat     Hennifer     Assassin     Normal   Great Marsh         29           3
Glenstorm     Irene        Assassin     Normal   Kurast Docks        27           3
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tox FTW       Oatmeal      Paladin      Normal   Dry Hills           22           2
Jason         Qirana       Amazon       Normal   Rocky Waste         22           4
kestegs       SankeEyes    Sorceress    Normal   Lut Gholein         21           3
Morathi       Yates        Barbarian    Normal   Lut Gholein         20           0
Archone#2     Ms_Piggy     Assassin     Normal   Lut Gholein         20           3
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jerametrius   Passion      Paladin      Normal   Lut Gholein         20           2
CDM           BK           Druid        Normal   Outer Cloister      17           2
djmbbandie    Cassie       Amazon       Normal   Inner Cloister      19           1
kstarm        Malice       Necromancer  Normal   Outer Cloister      17           0
djmbbandie    Catherine    Sorceress    Normal   Rogue Camp           1           0
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kitteh        Brydon       Druid        Normal   Rogue Camp           1           0
Enceladus     Vengence     Paladin      Normal   Dry Hills           23           5




I stumbled across these diablo.incgamers.com forums sometime ago and only took the time to read the SPF recently. I didn't realise that SPF was the acronym for Single Player Forum. I mainly just focused on reading the strategy guides when browsing Diablo forums.


I've been a regular Diablo SP for some years. Occassionlly playing on Bnet. Oh and I get distracted in some other games too.


My favourite quote when bragging about how long I've been playing Diablo is "I've been playing Diablo for over 10 years and I still haven't made it to hell" - lol. I thought it a bit cheep that Blizzard made 3 levels of difficulty for the same story, and when I first got to the end of Normal and saw that there was no new content, just gearing I lost interest for some time, not to mention that I only had a borrowed game at the time and had to give it back and RL had higher priority.


Anyways I still haven't made it to hell, and the highest level toon I've ever had was somewhere in the 40s. I love the pallies, and found some good builds for barb, and necro which I've dabbled in.


I find the SPF interesting and the tournament a challenge. I've created a toon for this, and maybe I might just make it to hell this time ;)


I had an interesting start summarise here in the S/U finds:


S/U items in order of find:
Act I normal
Arctic Furs - The Crypt
Gull Dagger - Tower Cellar Level 5
Cleglaw's Claw - The Pitt
Nagelring - Andariel


Act II normal
Death Spade - Rocky Wastes
Skewer of Krintiz - Stoney Tomb level 2
-- Merc had to go weaponless!
The Diggler - Radament


Oh I decided to hive off the Gull for a more serious hardcore MF char :)


Cheers
 
Heya all !

I'm not too sure how much I'll be able to play, but this sounds like way too much fun to just pass on it. So here goes :

Golgren, Necromancer.
The objective is to try and make a Dim Vision Daggermancer. Only thing will be finding the dagger. Currently level 13, cleared everything up to the entrance of the underground passage. I decided to stop there, courtesy of a great stony field map. Oh, and my first S/U. Quite happy with it, at least I get CBF. But being stuck with a two row belt is a bit scary.

At the moment, sporting 4 in Clay Golem (wanted 33% slow), 1 in Golem Mastery, 4 in Dim Vision, 1 in Amp Damage (will get to Lower Resist at some point, and Decrep is always welcome along the way), 2 in Poison Dagger, and 1 in Bone Armor. Shoulda saved those PD points for when(if) I find a dagger. Oh well.

G.R.D. (Fun fun fun)

[highlight]Golgren, Dim Vision Daggermancer (Ninja?), level 13, Underground Passage to explore.[/highlight]
 
Hagar is done with act 2. Safe clears all along the way. How safe? He wore an ethereal Gorefoot for nearly half the act and didn't lose a point in durability.

I used Poison explosion heavily as a corpse-riddance mechanism. When used in doorways and when gumby/Ilzan were surrounded, it racked up quite a few kills on its own.

Kaa was perhaps the toughest fight. He had a few unravellers around and crushed the merc a couple of times with his magic missiles and melee attack. Once I manoeuvred Ilzan into killing the other monsters first and then focus on him, it was easy.

Duriel was taken at p5. Plan A was to decrepify and whack him with Crushflange. I expected to shut him down between the decrepify and the golem slow. After taking a couple of hits from him, it's time for plan B. Iron Maiden and gumby recasts. No problemo.

Ilzan's kill speed is coming down as monster HPs go up. Unless many others, an act3 merc is a bad idea for me. It's time for another nice spear or polearm to drop ...

Finds:
Berserker's Headgear (nnnnoooooooo ... second one, which means I lose my topazed helm)
Bloodfist (nice, equipped)
Sigon's Gage
Hsarus' Iron Heel (equipped)
eth. Gorefoot
eth. Deathspade
Cathan's Seal (equipped ... not that it makes a difference)
Sander's Superstition (yeah, baby! MANA! fast cast and enough cold damage to make it worthwhile to take a whack at some monsters. I do not have cold damage anywhere else)

Hagar: 56 MF, Ilzan: 31 MF. I can increase it to 64 and 38, respectively, but I am hoping for more/better topazes to drop. If I don't find S/U body armors by then, I will definitely upgrade my MF before reaching Travincal.

Oh, 311 daggers and counting.

@jiansonz: Ouch on the blaze sorc. Time for one more? ;) Good luck in Hell, btw.

@Enceladus: Some of us are going insane trying to gamble a Gull and you want to mule yours out? :crazyeyes:

Chances are there will be no more updates from me for another 3-4 weeks or so as I'm traveling. Good luck to everyone!
 
What a great tournament! It is so fun to read about everyone's adventures.

I have an update coming soon, but I need some advice. After a long dry spell in NM, I had a few great drops. Accordingly, I am trying to decide between two different mercenary weapons:

Kelpie Snare: +30-50 damage, 156%ED, slow target 75%, +1.25/lvl life, +50% fire resistance
Blackleach Blade: +1.25/lvl max damage, 111%ED, 5% CtC Weaken, -25% req, 8% life stolen

I have the runes to upgrade either one. I would prefer Kelpie Snare for the slow, life, and substantial fire resistance. However, it lacks life leech, which is typically prized in a gear setup for a mercenary, and I do not have leech anywhere else on his gear. Blackleach Blade has life leech. It also has ctc weaken, which could be nice. The slow seems like a big deal, but my mercenary helm has 20% slow and my gloves can apply 25% slow (viz., through blade fury). I am just not sure which is the better idea. Of course, another option is to keep both around, using an upgraded Blackleach for typical mobs and Kelpie for intimidating single monsters that need to be heavily slowed. I suppose that a major worry is resists, though -- my mercenary helm and body give nothing but 15% LR.

I suppose I am leaning toward Blackleach. I will refrain from upgrading until I am sure, but I wanted to solicit some advice from all the veterans here.
 
Isn't blackleach blade a bill, upgrades to colossus voulge ( which your merc might not be able to wear ) ?
Dang I don't remember.
 
Yes, that is correct. As far as my calculations indicate, the "-25% req" feature of Blackleach should enable the avoidance of that problem (Strength = 210*0.75 = 158).
 
Introducing Conquerer Phusis and her trusty mercenary Leharas, poised to take on the forces of Hell!

Nightmare was slow. Phoenix strike was safe, but it was frustrating. There were no S/Us dropped for a long stretch, despite the fact that I was still wearing a topaz-socketed armor and helm. In Act3, I had a significant turn: Fleshrender (barbed club) dropped, which has crushing blow, open wounds, and prevent monster heal. I had often thought about a "dark" Assassin build oriented around blade fury, cloak of shadows, and other such skills. This drop, combined with my frustration with phoenix strike, seemed to indicate an alternative direction for the build. When Cleglaw's Claw (25% slow, knockback) dropped soon afterward, I took it as a sign and used my remaining respec to switch. After this, I was much happier. Later (principally in Act5), my drop luck changed. All told, here are Phusis' numbers entering Hell:

Character: Phusis
Build: BF / DS
Level: 69
Life: 974
Block: 72%
Damage Reduced: 15% (with fade)
Resistances: (with fade)
Fire: 85%
Cold: 9%
Lightning: 65%
Poison: 21%
Gear: Fleshrender, Whistan's Guard (ptopaz), Rockstopper, Isenhart's Case, Cleglaw's Claw, Nightsmoke, Vidala's Fetlock, Nokozan Relic, Cathan's Seal (no second ring)
Skills: Blade Fury (1), Death Sentry (20), Cloak of Shadows (3), Fade (5), Mind Blast (1), Venom (19), Shadow Master (17)

Mercenary: Leharas, Holy Freeze
Gear: Blackleach Blade, Blackhorn's Face, Spirit Forge
 
Code: 
Name          Character    Class       Diff.   Area               Level    S/U's Equipped
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archone       Chicken      Necromancer  Completed                    87          15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
jiansonz      Martina      Amazon       NM       Bloody Foothills    67          14
Kitteh        Briony       Assassin     NM       Inner Cloister      50          13
felixbavaria  Bruno        Druid        NM       Cold Plains         48           9
srrw          Selene       Sorceress    NM       Rogue Camp          48          11
jdkerr        Phusis       Assassin     NM       Rogue Camp          47           9
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RIP           Thor         Paladin      Normal   Harrogath           35          11
Immortal_S    GreenGoldie  Paladin      Normal   Harrogath           34           8
Grisu         Meronym      Assassin     Normal   City of the Damned  33           9
igloosPat     Hennifer     Assassin     Normal   Great Marsh         29           3
Glenstorm     Irene        Assassin     Normal   Kurast Docks        27           3
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tox FTW       Oatmeal      Paladin      Normal   Dry Hills           22           2
Jason         Qirana       Amazon       Normal   Rocky Waste         22           4
kestegs       SankeEyes    Sorceress    Normal   Lut Gholein         21           3
Morathi       Yates        Barbarian    Normal   Lut Gholein         20           0
Archone#2     Ms_Piggy     Assassin     Normal   Lut Gholein         20           3
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jerametrius   Passion      Paladin      Normal   Lut Gholein         20           2
CDM           BK           Druid        Normal   Outer Cloister      17           2
kstarm        Malice       Necromancer  Normal   Outer Cloister      17           0
djmbbandie    Rage         Druid        Normal       Rogue Camp       1           0
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kitteh        Brydon       Druid        Normal   Rogue Camp           1           0
Enceladus     Vengence     Paladin      Normal   Dry Hills           23           5

Catherine fell to a swarm of extra fast Tainted in the Catacombs. Retired Cassie. Now starting again with Rage the druid with Firestorm, molten Boulder, fissure, Volcano (and a bear of course).
 
@jdkerr: nice going! But I am a bit sad that you moved away from my favourite build, although the one you will play is also interesting. If you think Phoenix Strike was frustrating in Nightmare (which I am utterly suprised by, because my experiences with the build has always been that it is super strong in Nightmare!) then I understand your decision.

I would upgrade Blackleach Blade, and keep Kelpie around as special tool.

BTW, Fleshrender (Shael-ed and eventually upgraded) was the weapon my Concentrate Barb used to go through the late game and eventually turn Guardian in the first S/U Worshipper tourney (I came up with the concept and hosted that tourney). He found it in early Act IV Nightmare.
 
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