Jeor the Druid chugged through Act 1, with one NDE at the very end (more on that later).
Contained in the spoiler: my random tournament rolls and comments / future plans.
The Den of Evil was amusingly harrowing. The first monster pack, just steps from the door, was three zombies, a gargantuan beast, and three Fallen Shaman supported by their Fallen. I had to take that situation one monster at a time. The rest of the Den was quite empty because of this.
The tournament has made me break a few of my habits. For instance, I was saving Coldcrow for maximum MF in hopes of getting a Gull before I remembered: I can't use a Gull anyway! I chuckled and went and killed her. Things sped up a lot once I get 41/41 str/dex for a Scythe and Gambled one, but from the Monastery on, the Scythe fell behind and Molten Boulder did most of the heavy lifting. At the end of Act 1 it was level 10. It's a really fun, unique skill and I recommend it to those who haven't tried it. There's little that's more satisfying than aiming a boulder at a shaman, it killing fallen along its path, then exploding on the shaman and killing the fallen that were running away. It's easier to use in narrow, confined areas, and is really fun to use against the big monster types. When it exploded on a p8 Beast or Tainted it took off a third of its health, then burned some more away, and hit two or three others if aimed well. All in all, it's a really fun tactical skill, like, say, Charge.
I've never played with Maul or Fury before so I added points into those skills/prereqs, even though it weakens my elemental abilities somewhat. Maul seems really cool actually -- extra damage and stun, and you don't have to release the charges! I'm surprised people don't use it more; I'm guessing it isn't a good power-killing skill, but I will likely rely on it in later difficulties, assuming I solve the Lycanthropy problem somehow.
Everything was taken on /p8, including Andariel. Since I was taking her on /p8, I prepared well, and I'm sure glad I did. Andariel hit me with three quick poison sweeps, one after the other, bringing my health down to a sliver before I quaffed a rejuv. If I hadn't stacked Antidotes, I would be dead for sure. After that, I was more careful. My rogue (also antidoted) survived the battle. She dropped a skull.
Finds: 12 chipped topazes (too bad I can only wear two on myself and two on my merc!), but more importantly, I found two FHR grand charms. Perfect for my Druid with his terrible FHR. Currently I'm sporting 10 FHR light plated boots and 17 FHR belt (shopped from Fara), so they're stashed. Also found a 6 lightning resistance SC. I was excited to find Arctic Furs before remembering that I can't use the belt.
Also found Gorefoot in the Outer Cloister, but they're unusable.
Jeor is sitting in Act 2, level 20, happy that he can buy magical belts from Fara. I'm planning on grabbing the Horadric Cube before killing Radament, since MF is more important than skills right now.
Contained in the spoiler: my random tournament rolls and comments / future plans.
Forever skills:
Maul
Fury (rerolled Carrion Vine)
Summon Grizzly
I can use both Werewolf and Werebear with 1 point to use Fury and Maul. I like this roll -- it's both challenging and workable, neither over- nor under-powered. I will save every +Lycanthropy and rerollable (i.e. Crude etc.) Falcon Mask to make these shapeshifting skills workable. I'm also delighted with the Grizzly; I get a recastable summon who can deal damage, but isn't invincible. These are exactly the types of skills I wanted.
Skills for Normal
Heart of Wolverine
Volcano
Poison Creeper
Molten Boulder
Armageddon
So I get to be a fire elementalist in normal. I'm ignoring Poison Creeper (not needed in normal) and Armageddon (too many prereqs).
Armors:
Light body armor (rerolled Heavy body armor)
Great Helm
Spiked Shield
Gauntlets
Light Plated Boots
Belt
Falcon Mask
Pretty happy with this, too. Belts will be gamble-able with good mods later on, but they won't have four slots. (I like these reasonable hindrances). Rerolling Heavy to Light was lucky, although I may have preferred Medium. The Great Helm is, well, great -- I can shop 3os from Larzuk in A5 Normal and stuff it with topazes. Further, the Gauntlet pairing grants the possibility of a Sigon's combo later. It's not unlikely, either.
Club
Scythe
War Scythe
Thrilled with this draw; the only thing that would have been better would be to replace the War Scythe with a 4 or 5 range polearm. For my club rolls, I would have been unhappy with Maces and Morning Stars, happy with Flails and Mauls and Great Mauls, but a Club or Spiked Club type (for skills) was what I really wanted.
Maul
Fury (rerolled Carrion Vine)
Summon Grizzly
I can use both Werewolf and Werebear with 1 point to use Fury and Maul. I like this roll -- it's both challenging and workable, neither over- nor under-powered. I will save every +Lycanthropy and rerollable (i.e. Crude etc.) Falcon Mask to make these shapeshifting skills workable. I'm also delighted with the Grizzly; I get a recastable summon who can deal damage, but isn't invincible. These are exactly the types of skills I wanted.
Skills for Normal
Heart of Wolverine
Volcano
Poison Creeper
Molten Boulder
Armageddon
So I get to be a fire elementalist in normal. I'm ignoring Poison Creeper (not needed in normal) and Armageddon (too many prereqs).
Armors:
Light body armor (rerolled Heavy body armor)
Great Helm
Spiked Shield
Gauntlets
Light Plated Boots
Belt
Falcon Mask
Pretty happy with this, too. Belts will be gamble-able with good mods later on, but they won't have four slots. (I like these reasonable hindrances). Rerolling Heavy to Light was lucky, although I may have preferred Medium. The Great Helm is, well, great -- I can shop 3os from Larzuk in A5 Normal and stuff it with topazes. Further, the Gauntlet pairing grants the possibility of a Sigon's combo later. It's not unlikely, either.
Club
Scythe
War Scythe
Thrilled with this draw; the only thing that would have been better would be to replace the War Scythe with a 4 or 5 range polearm. For my club rolls, I would have been unhappy with Maces and Morning Stars, happy with Flails and Mauls and Great Mauls, but a Club or Spiked Club type (for skills) was what I really wanted.
The Den of Evil was amusingly harrowing. The first monster pack, just steps from the door, was three zombies, a gargantuan beast, and three Fallen Shaman supported by their Fallen. I had to take that situation one monster at a time. The rest of the Den was quite empty because of this.
The tournament has made me break a few of my habits. For instance, I was saving Coldcrow for maximum MF in hopes of getting a Gull before I remembered: I can't use a Gull anyway! I chuckled and went and killed her. Things sped up a lot once I get 41/41 str/dex for a Scythe and Gambled one, but from the Monastery on, the Scythe fell behind and Molten Boulder did most of the heavy lifting. At the end of Act 1 it was level 10. It's a really fun, unique skill and I recommend it to those who haven't tried it. There's little that's more satisfying than aiming a boulder at a shaman, it killing fallen along its path, then exploding on the shaman and killing the fallen that were running away. It's easier to use in narrow, confined areas, and is really fun to use against the big monster types. When it exploded on a p8 Beast or Tainted it took off a third of its health, then burned some more away, and hit two or three others if aimed well. All in all, it's a really fun tactical skill, like, say, Charge.
I've never played with Maul or Fury before so I added points into those skills/prereqs, even though it weakens my elemental abilities somewhat. Maul seems really cool actually -- extra damage and stun, and you don't have to release the charges! I'm surprised people don't use it more; I'm guessing it isn't a good power-killing skill, but I will likely rely on it in later difficulties, assuming I solve the Lycanthropy problem somehow.
Everything was taken on /p8, including Andariel. Since I was taking her on /p8, I prepared well, and I'm sure glad I did. Andariel hit me with three quick poison sweeps, one after the other, bringing my health down to a sliver before I quaffed a rejuv. If I hadn't stacked Antidotes, I would be dead for sure. After that, I was more careful. My rogue (also antidoted) survived the battle. She dropped a skull.
Finds: 12 chipped topazes (too bad I can only wear two on myself and two on my merc!), but more importantly, I found two FHR grand charms. Perfect for my Druid with his terrible FHR. Currently I'm sporting 10 FHR light plated boots and 17 FHR belt (shopped from Fara), so they're stashed. Also found a 6 lightning resistance SC. I was excited to find Arctic Furs before remembering that I can't use the belt.
Also found Gorefoot in the Outer Cloister, but they're unusable.Jeor is sitting in Act 2, level 20, happy that he can buy magical belts from Fara. I'm planning on grabbing the Horadric Cube before killing Radament, since MF is more important than skills right now.
Last edited:
Google
