Skill-less tournament (3rd edition)

Welcome back Dezrok, and good luck! Mojomancer is definitely a good choice (all the other chars seem to rely on charges from wands ...)

Incompetentus has defeated Duriel.

The Palace had a nasty surprise. This guy was backed up by a Cursed unique colleague, and another one with junk mods. Horror archers, too. Terror charges and the game's pathfinding AI saved us (the Cursed one was behind a fence and couldn't figure out how to get out). As a reward, some Infidel boss dropped a Fleshrender.

The Arcane Sanctuary took more than 75 minutes of playtime to clear at /p7 (rather than the usual /p5 because of ghosts), which was rewarded by a Ko rune.

Made an Insight Partizan before entering the Canyon (thanks Larzuk and the mlvl 40 guy who dropped it).

A 15% cr / frw charm dropped, which was rather handy against Duriel, and with Life Tap charges he managed only once to critically wound the merc.

Also got a 86% ED, +3 vengeance war scepter from imbuing (alvl=51 at clvl=57). Later on I realized I should have waited, because for rare items the Cruel prefix has alvl 56 (not 51) ... Still, it might come in handy to kill PIs later on, along with the OW belt.

Incompetentus and Razan, level 58, Kurast Docks (NM)
 
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@Dezrok - welcome back and good luck! I've had a good time so far with my necro in this tourney. Carry the black torch! =)

Yredelemnul has made it to the Dark Wood and rescued Cain.

Did some shopping:
-----
Artisan's Ancient Armor of the Whale
Ancient Armor
Defense: 221
Durability: 60 of 60
Required Level: 37
Required Strength: 100
Fingerprint: 0x33aa24ef
Item Level: 77
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+100 to Life 3 Sockets (0 used)
-----
I thought this armor might look really cool, but the shoulderpads are pink. That's not stopping me from wearing it though. Currently socketed with p topazes.

I've done the Cave but I'm saving Blood Raven and those dungeons for when I am higher level. I'll also save Countess and the Pit for later when I get there. And the Hole is lvl 80, so I will wait on that, too.

Archers are tough. There are several nasty combinations of mods. I really notice the shorter duration on my Dim Vision. I've had to use quite a lot of purples to keep Waheed alive and I don't always catch him in time, but we've still got positive income.

Ring from Akara is kinda neat:
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Order Circle
Ring
Required Level: 60
Fingerprint: 0x39b3edd1
Item Level: 60
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+74 to Attack Rating
+10 to Energy
Cold Resist +27%
Magic Damage Reduced by 2
Level 1 Attract (21/22 Charges)
-----
What's the duration of lvl 1 Attract in Hell?
(hmm, 1.5 seconds, probably not worth it)

Yredelemnul, staffmod mojomancer, and Waheed the Mighty, lvl 73, Hell Dark Wood
Black Marsh + Tamoe Highlands next!
 
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Babs has completed Act II of nightmare (finally) and is just a hair away from hitting lvl 58. Tombs were awful in that they took forever to clear, even at P5. I did get a Lum, which with even a moderate amount of good fortune means I'll likely have Smoke to work with in Hell. Now for the Lem and Ko.
 
Yredelemnul has made it to the Inner Cloister.
Blood Raven, Mausoleum, Crypt, the Hole, Countess, and the Pit are all saved for later. There are 2 reasons for this. First, I doubt Waheed could survive to kill effectively in those areas. Second, I'll get more experience there if I'm closer to the area level.

Thank goodness there were no boss ghosts in the jail. Even an amped, non-healing regular ghost takes a long time to bring down. I used attract (from the wand in the stash, so 4 seconds duration) on Pitspawn Fouldog's pack to make them fight eachother instead of my merc, who really needed the help.

Nothing notable dropped, since we're down to /p1 and ~125mf.

Hell Andariel has 1622 def and is lvl 75. I think I can get enough attack rating to hit her (sometimes), so Waheed will stick around for now.

Yredelemnul, lvl 74, Hell Inner Cloister
Catacombs and Andariel next
 
Made it to Lower Kurast WP, almost full clear at /p5 and /p7 for LK. After playing Vanilla for some time, I now realized again how imbalanced that Insight RW is, but in this tournament my character needs all the help he can get, even if that means using the cheesiest ladder RWs and opening chests at /p7.

I just love the mid-NM part of the game, with tons of loot dropping right and left. Nothing immediately useful in terms of S/Us (maybe Magnus' Skin and Tearhaunch are worth considering), but roughly 1M of gold, and a nice circlet from Alkor:

Loath Circlet
Circlet
Defense: 48
Durability: 35 of 35
Required Level: 43
Fingerprint: 0x97fb09c6
Item Level: 57
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Paladin Skill Levels
+5 to Maximum Damage
5% Life stolen per hit
+55% Enhanced Defense
+30 to Life
All Resistances +13

The dreaded temples await! Hoping that CoS + Terror charges will do the trick.

Incompetentus the Cursing Zealot and Razan the walking Insight Partizan, level 60, Lower Kurast (NM)
 
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Thank you all for the welcome backs and as always, great to read other people's progress.

Unlikely and Tylena have cleared the Claw Viper Temple and restored light to the world. All pretty comfortable on p8, with the CG tanking nicely and Tylena doing the killing.

I was excited when a +2 CG head dropped. I could now cast a lvl 5 CG and then switch out the wand for something with a few other options. A bit of shopping turned up a +3 IM, +2 Terror, +1 GM wand for only 200k. I had high hopes for the IM turning the golem into a killing machine, but so far they haven't been realised. Terror might be nice, but the golem draws all the attention and if it dies it is easy to recast rather than mess around with curses. However, I'm sure the GM is being a huge bonus … or not. I'm not even sure if GM has to be active when the golem is cast to have effect or not?

Next exciting drop was a rare Zombie Head with +1 CG, +2 DV and +1 CE, also with +5% all res, +8% cold res, and a few insignificant others. Recasting CG on the fly meant I was often casting a lvl 1 CG … which survived about as well as the lvl 5 CG. Lvl 1 CE is pretty useless on p8 and the DV might be useful, except it is easier to use the CG to draw attention and recast as required.

It's a shame that I can't switch weapons and keep the CG alive. Even with +CG items on both primary and switch, the CG will die. This limits options a bit.

I've put a couple of flawed rubies and a flawed sapphire in a comp bow for Tylena. She seems pretty happy with this at the moment and it does more average damage than a 3xITH bow, I think. I have also cubed a Savage Partizan of the Locust, although that wont be usable by a merc until lvl 41.

Three Uniques have dropped so far: Shadowfang, Deathspade and The Dragon Chang. None are very useful, especially The Dragon Chang!

Palace Cellars up next and other than fine tuning wand and head combinations (which really doesn't seem to make much difference at the moment), the big decision is about if and when to change to a desert merc. I have a Savage Lochaber Axe in the stash which would be a decent damage boost. I also have runes to make Malice and could make it in a Spetum, then put it on a Prayer merc. However, I also like using the Rogue, so I'll probably trial a Desert Merd in the AS before making a decision (and can always change my mind later).

Unlikely and Tylena, Lvl 25, Normal Act 2 Palace Cellars up next
 
Lots of folks making great progress!

I agree felixbavaria that Insight is an OP item, so much so that it inspired me to convert to RWM! I had a couple of normal Partizans which I used the socketing recipe on and both of them rolled four sockets. Since I had Sols I decided to make a second as the first was such a crappy roll (201% ED, +1 Critical Strike, Level 12 Meditation). I ended up with thisView attachment 635

Pretty happy with it.

Using the new weapon, Azrael and Skilllass have made it up to the Outer Cloister Waypoint on p8 where they sit at level 51.
 
Dezrok said:
It's a shame that I can't switch weapons and keep the CG alive. Even with +CG items on both primary and switch, the CG will die. This limits options a bit.
Click to expand...

I am not sure, but there is a good chance that +skills can solve this. +All, +Necro or +Summoning. At least that's what happened for my Assassin the last time I played skill-less. A +All Skills items allowed my Death Sentries to remain even when I switched away from my DS claw. They disappeared without it.
 
Dezrok said:
rare Zombie Head with +1 CG, +2 DV and +1 CE, also with +5% all res, +8% cold res, and a few insignificant others.
Click to expand...

Wow! Hang on to that head, that's amazing!

@Sput - nice Insight roll!

Yredelemnul's first Andariel attempt ended in failure. I got her to half health with crushing blow and 52% hit chance.
Merc could not stay alive (even while wearing Venom Ward), ran out of purples. Tried Life Tap, but that was not enough. Thankfully, I was able to escape with a town portal.

Went back to town to res merc and decided to regear and try again. Fortunately, the maps for the catacombs were nice and I won't have to retrace many steps to get back to Andariel.

I'm going to make Harmony and kite her. I'll also need to change out some resist gear, since I lose a lot of poison res on my boots when I switch to Hsarus's for AR.

Yredelemnul, staffmod mojomancer/dark ranger, and Waheed, weak to poison, lvl 75, Catacombs 2
Hopefully we can kill Andariel this time!

-----
Harmony
Blade Bow
TirIthSolKo
Two Hand Damage: 80 - 149
Durability: 27 of 32
Required Level: 45
Required Strength: 76
Required Dexterity: 119
Fingerprint: 0x34f2db8d
Item Level: 69
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Level 10 Vigor Aura When Equipped
242% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
+9 to Maximum Damage
Adds 55 - 160 Fire Damage
Adds 55 - 160 Lightning Damage
Adds 55 - 160 Cold Damage Over 6 Secs (140 Frames)
+6 to Valkyrie
+10 to Dexterity
Regenerate Mana 20%
+2 to Mana after each Kill
+2 to Light Radius
Level 20 Revive (25/25 Charges)
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Tir Rune
Socketed: Ith Rune
Socketed: Sol Rune
Socketed: Ko Rune
-----
 
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I just killed Hell Andariel with a skillless necromancer wielding Harmony and 7% crushing blow gloves, without help from the merc. Whoa.

View attachment 637

Waheed did not survive the first blast of her poison. The lvl 6 Valk didn't fare much better, and I had to switch weapons to reapply Decrepify anyway. I parked Andy near the stairs, ran away, and made a portal. I ressed the merc, and we came back through the portal to clear the entire long hallway to the throne. Then Waheed fell again to Andariel's poison, and the fun began. Up and down the hallway and in between the pillars we ran, Yredelemnul shooting a few times, missing most shots but sometimes landing one, reapplying Decrepify, dodging poison blasts. So many weapon switches. The Vigor aura was amazing, since I had to run, run, run away. It was a long battle.

Victory was incredibly sweet. Andariel dropped 2 chipped sapphires, a topaz, and an ethereal blue templar coat that still sold for 32k. What a rush!

Conqueror Yredelemnul, Andariel Kiter Extraordinaire, lvl 75, Hell Lut Gholein
 
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I drew maggots, beetles and Hell Cats in the Canyon. Apart from the maggots being very annoying and taking a long time to kill (at one time, two measly maggots kept us occupied for minutes on end. I counted the remains of TEN hatched eggs after the battle*), it was not dangerous.

(* I thought that each maggot only lays two eggs - certainly not the case here. I suppose that either CoS or needing to retreat and get back later messes them up...)

I gambled a rare Short War Bow with +133% ED, +5 max and 2-187 lightning damage. Upgraded to Rune Bow, I thought for sure this would be better than the Edge Cedar Bow. Not in the tombs, it wasn't. Everything in there but beetles is demon or undead so Edge does decent damage, and the IAS, the poison and the Thorns made it win out. BTW, if a monster Thorns itself to death on my character and it's my merc's gear that provides the aura, that counts as a kill for my merc, doesn't it?

Anyway, nothing too bothersome in the seven tombs, and Duriel was easy.

Recent finds:
* 2s Greater Talons with +1 Blades of Ice, +1 Dragon Flight and +2 Mind Blast.
* Small Charm of Sustenance (14)
* Ko rune, which means I have the runes for Harmony now. I found a Large Siege Bow that I had planned to socket with the recipe. 10-42 damage isn't that far behind a Gothic or even a Hydra Bow (average 26 compared to Hydra's 39, so it's 2/3 of the value). But I accidently sold it! Oh well, only 1/6 chance of four sockets anyway...
* Crude Knout, that I normalized and socketed with the recipe. 2/3 chance to get a decent weapon to make Black in. It failed, got 2 sockets. :(

I think I'll bring both bows to the jungle. Flayers are demons, aren't they?


[Highlight]Helena the Assassin and Meghan the Cold sister, level 60, NM Kurast Docks[/Highlight]
 
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i'm not sure if you noticed or not but valk from oskills or ctc will poof unless you're a zon (and even then you might need hard points for the ctc valk... not sure)
 
jiansonz said:
BTW, if a monster Thorns itself to death on my character and it's my merc's gear the provides the aura, that counts as a kill for my merc, doesn't it?

Flayers are demons, aren't they?
Click to expand...

Yes, Flayers are demons.

I don't really know about Thorns. I was reading something about it the other day though. OldSoldier way back in the Merc's Merc tourney in 2009 seemed to think that kills by Thorns didn't give gold or magic find.
http://www.purediablo.com/forums/threads/tournament-mercs-merc.741758/page-8#post-7396709

Grats on the Ko and the "easy" Duriel kill!

pharphis said:
i'm not sure if you noticed or not but valk from oskills or ctc will poof unless you're a zon (and even then you might need hard points for the ctc valk... not sure)
Click to expand...

I've tried her (oskill Valk on Harmony) in the field a few times (while running back to Andariel), and she seems to last long enough to take some of the heat off of the merc or buy me some time if he's dead. I haven't seen her poof yet. I will make a Lore circlet and do some more tests because it would be neat if I could get her to stick around while I curse things. I know that a clay golem might be better, but my curse setup doesn't have clay on it. Mostly, I wanted the damage on Harmony, especially the added fire damage for Andariel. I kinda wish I had waited for a chu-ko-nu or demon crossbow though, because the blade bow isn't as quick as I'd like it to be. And by making Harmony with the Ko, I probably gave up on merc Obedience (so I bet Fal will drop now to mock me!). We'll see if it was worth it. No actually, it totally was worth it. That was my best Andariel kill ever.

Edit: Yredelemnul has only 1 sol rune, so I did the Harmony Valk +skills test on my SC blizzsorc wearing shako (she has a +4 valk harmony for pindle running). With the +2 skills from shako, the valk stayed around for a seemingly random length of time when I switched weapons away from Harmony. Sometimes she poofed in 5-10 seconds. If I switched back to Harmony quickly, the valk seemed not to disappear at all. This was in town though, so I don't know yet if there are combat situations that update and cause the valk to poof.
 
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@SunsetVista - awesome work on the Andy kill! Very impressive and gives me hope!

Unlikely has defeated Duriel and moved on to Act 3.

The Palace Cellars were straight-forward. On reaching the AS it was time to ditch Tylena and try out a Prayer merc. Vikhyat was equipped with a Malice RW Spetum which worked a treat. The Diggler and Cathan's Seal dropped, along with 10 runes (5x Eth and 1 each of El, Eld, Tir, Ith and Ral). Thank you AS!

Before moving on to the Canyon, I spent far too long shopping a 3os Breast Plate. Quite unbelievable how long it took! Once bought it was filled with flawed Topaz to give a boost to Unlikely's MF. The Canyon also saw Vikhyat swap the Malice for a Savage Lochaber Axe of Carnage. Almost doubled his damage, although lost the OW … he didn't notice the loss and made short work of the poor monsters. Stormguild was the only unique from here.

The Tombs proved to be a breeze. One of the easiest clears I can remember in a tourney. Vikhyat and the CG tanking while Unlikely kept the Unravelers quiet with DV and the odd CE to get rid of corpses. That Savage Lochaber Axe really carved the monsters up. Not much in the way of drops though: Gorefoot, Isenhart's Horns and Goreshovel.

During this time I was also able to shop a wand with +1 CG, +1 GM, +1 Life Tap and some extra mana. I also found an amulet with +1 Summoning skills and 6% MF, which I was able to show that jiansonz was correct and I could now switch weapons without losing the CG. Happy days indeed although somewhat confusing.

Given how well I was going, Duriel was taken at p8. Confidence that was not misplaced. I had been going to use the Iron Maiden tactic, however, I forgot to switch in the correct wand. Life Tap and the CG did the trick however and 6 health potions and one blue later (no purples used at all) Duriel was dead and Umbral Disc the only notable drop.

So now the question has become if and when to swap back to an Act 1 Merc. Maybe when I find my first Amn rune (Edge RW) … if it is before level 41, when that Savage Partizan of the Locust can be equipped.

Unlikely and Vikhyat, Lvl 28, Normal, Act 3, Kurast Docks
 
I wish I had cleared Nightmare on /p8 instead of /p5. Then I'd have maybe 2 more levels, and a war pike from Fara wouldn't be just a pike dream. I thought I had a lot of purple pots saved up, but we are burning through them faster than I'd like. I tried to gamble some circlets, but didn't get anything good. Most of the gold is reserved for merc resurrections now.

Yredelemnul and Waheed have cleared the outdoor desert areas through Lost City. Had a scary moment with black raptors in far oasis, they came out of nowhere. Used terror on leaper packs to isolate the boss for easier disposal.

Tactically, I did a lot of running back towards the corpses of enemies we'd already killed. Boom, corpse explosion!

Radament is dead. I used the Black flail and Whitstans Guard. I had a terrible chance to hit, but with enough antidote pots and purples, we made it. Found Griswold's Heart armor in the sewers - very nice for merc if he needs more str for an elite polearm - that could even be a Strength colossus voulge, I have a 2 socket one. Then he could apply crushing blow too.

The Countess's Tower was next. I had terror ready for stairtraps, but there were none, thankfully. Ghosts were split up with terror, amp'd, shot with Edge, and then led over to a corpse explosion if possible, while archers got dim vision'd or decrep'd. Countess dropped an Ort. meh.

Wish list:
1. merc survivability - in the form of more levels, a new weapon, new armor
2. AR! I'd love to be able to hit things. Worried about Duriel again. How long does the -target defense on Eth runes in weapons last? Would I have time to go to town and swap in my crushing blow weapon?
3. runes. Where are all those golden shiny 1.13 runes of hope?

Of the areas remaining (stony tomb, halls of the dead, maggot lair, AT, viper temple, blood raven, mausoleum, crypt, the hole, the pit), I think we'll try to kill blood raven next.

Yredelemnul, staffmod mojomancer, and Waheed, lvl 76, Hell Lost City
 
I've never heard of -% target def applying for a duration. I think it's used in each hit-check when you swing with that weapon
 
As a quick update - Vladimir is level 54 in NM Far Oasis.

On another note, I'm so embarrassed - I vendored my +3 find item helm :(:(
 
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