Skill-less tournament (3rd edition)

@felixbavaria - 'Argh' indeed. I was enjoying reading through your post (that I was sure was going to end in you reaching Hell) when I was suddenly blindsided. If I died at the end of an act I would probably only have it in me to post a deeds screenshot and a brief description of what happened . . . so big thanks for sharing your NM Act V adventures (and everything up until then)! Getting a Paladin to Hell's doorstep in this tournament was most impressive!
 
Oh no! Incompetentus who was doing so well.


felixbavaria said:
The Drifter Cavern had a CE/FE Snapchip Shatter, who was very ingenious at hiding his CE ability between his innate Cursed and random FE abilities
Click to expand...
No hiding was performed here. He is always Cursed + CE.

felixbavaria said:
A Champion pack of Frenzytaurs ran towards us, killing Razan almost on the spot. In a moment of confusion, Incompetentus ran back to the entrance. There goes our chance to portal park them.
Click to expand...
Your best chance would probably have been to drag them away and TP out in a place far enough from the entrance. Super dangerous of course, running into unknown territory with those suckers on your heels, but fighting three at once probably had even less margin for errors (if it was even possible). Fighting one of those guys is tough enough...
 
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The Harmony bow has still not been used in Hell difficulty. I suppose I could have used it against Griswold to speed things up, but it did not occur to me at the time. If not before, if I survive to the Mephisto fight, I'll bring it there.

Countess (/p1) dropped a measly Eth rune. I can't think of any time her Hell incarnation has ever dropped anything useful for me. Normal, sure, first chance for Tal/Ral. Nightmare, yup, a few of the useful Amn/Sol/Shael. Hell, not so sure (or maybe my memories just drown in all those Elite items falling left and right in high-level areas).

Kicking bosses and Champs that are hard to keep the distance from just by running has worked out fine so far.
Two examples:
HelenaH03ChaosSnarl_zps2875b72d.jpg

HelenaH06spiderchamps_zps81d5aafb.jpg

Here is a combo of kicking (to reduce the number of chances the spider will have to bite me) and standard doorway tactics.

Pit level 2 is always a tense prospect for me. When we arrived, two speedy skeleton minions bounced around (boss leashed) right from the start. The advantage of a ranged merc here is that we could actually kill those two without waking up more. Try to do that with Mr. Desert Merc...

The boss fight wasn't scary, but it was still the most uncomfortable I had been in the act.
HelenaH04Pit_zpsaaa91cdc.jpg

The boss was CE, so I went back to town for some thawing potions. In the fight, Meghan needed more potions than Helena, because my archer ate a constant stream of bolts. Good thing only one minion came along. I took my time in the rest of the area. Quite controlled, despite a pretty strong archer boss and another skeleton bosspack.

Helena taking advantage of the Jail 1 WP and having some fun:
HelenaH05behindbars_zpse501a004.jpg

"What's a door?"

Strength claw was used again against Andariel, as it has been against every act boss since Normal Baal. Two things surprised me in the fight:
1. It took longer than I expected, mostly because my to-hit chance was mediocre even with Meghan's help. Maybe I should have had the CoS claw on the switch to reduce her Defense even more, but the problem was I had no other shield with me.
2. It was far less dangerous than I had expected. Maxed blocking seems to be awesome against Andariel. It gives the big reds time to counter her hits and the poison. I did need a few purples but never went far below half life. She was killed under the influence of 416% MF (I had muled in both armors and helms for both of us). Two greens and two golds: Cathan's Visage, Angelic Halo (a first for Helena, she wants the amulet), Suicide Branch and Rogue's Bow.

Sewers was pretty easy, but the mummies took longer to kill than I had expected. On top of being poison immune, maybe they have decent physical/cold resist?

After Sewers, I have rerolled magical Greater Talons with nearly all my chippies and all my midsized gems except skulls. Also, one of my imbued Greater Talons has been rerolled with perfect skulls. Crappy result. Hopefully I can get one more chance during Hell.

Recent finds:
* 28/34 Emerald Grand Charm of Sustenance
* Small Charm of Vita (18)
* Ethereal Edge unique Silver-Edged Axe. This was a grailer for me. Ethereal, and I was surprised to see that it was also indestructible. I thought the only ways to get indestructible ethereal items were to use a Zod rune or to upgrade an ethereal rare/unique Dimensional Blade. I looked it up on the AS. Ah, it's always ethereal! As the name implies. Neat.


[Highlight]Conqueror Helena the Assassin and Meghan the Cold sister, level 79, Hell Rocky Waste next.[/Highlight]
 
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@jiansonz : Nice to see that kind of progress :).

Adriana has also progressed, just a little further.

Starting with the second half of Far Oasis, she fell back to terror curses as main help for merc. One place with 3 crow nests in close proximity of each other created a somewhat perilous situation as the crows ended up encircling Adriana. We drunk potions heavily and survived, but after that we discovered there is a distance at which we would not activate the spawning of nests, but merc's range allows him to attack it. That made following nests easier.

Lost City had leapers so, dreading another crash, we forewent the CoS and tried Mind Blast for a while. That did not provide the amount of control needed to feel somewhat safe, as the converted monster is random and merc has not enough power to dispatch a monster in a reasonable amount of hits. That requires of him to concentrate on a target for a while so changing the converted monster makes for a tedious battle. The boss packs were swarming Adriana which could not handle that kind of tanking, not even with the help of a puny Master. We felt sorry for losing the assassin touch, but survival is a priority, so Terror went back into action.

A dubious fight involved Adriana against 3 (three) towers. The ghoul pack of the City was nearby, but was killed easily. One of the towers, next to a wall, provided a good point of trapping monsters. Leaving merc behind, Adriana run behind the wall. When monster followed, it scanned the wall for a go around, followed in turn by merc. The point next to the tower made a dead end with the only exit blocked by the pursuing merc. After that, it was slaughtered while idling, looking in the general direction of Adriana. The towers, tough, provided a good >10 minutes of bashing with a war javelin. Strangely, the javelins had replenishing mod, but did not replenish after used with a standard attack. Might need to be thrown around a bit to trigger the replenish.

In Ancient Tunnels we felt again at ease to use CoS again and the going was smooth. Again, the Tunnels provided as usual, this time a ghost armor (minimum Magic Damage Reduction - 7) right next to another small shield. Nice options for later with the Rattlecage and The Spirit Shroud. I'll wait to see some more equipment drops and create a good balance of Crushing Blow, Cannot Be Frozen (on merc) and resistances. When the going gets tough, I see Adriana wielding a Strength weapon on main, so if Angelic's armor goes, so does MF and 50% fire resist. Not to mention that, before that, we also lose 25% resist all from the set bonus when we give up Angelic sword. That's why I would reserve the quest reward to socket something like the Rockstopper for increased resists in vulnerable areas. If I keep the Angelic weapon and equip the Rattlecage, I'll have the MF and +1 All Skills, applying CB with a good speed (2.27 attacks / second). If I keep Angelic armor I still have CB from a Strength Blade Talons (hopefully Cutlass) which has 2.17 attacks /second ( Cutlass has also 2.27) + the fire resist of Angelic armor, losing only the Flee mode of the Rattlecage. Using the Shroud forces the use of a maximum of 2 Angelic Items with MF loss and a hit to fire resist, keeping the AR. Merc equipment it's another (intriguing) problem. But it's to early for such computations :).

Right now, Adriana is staring intently down the darkness of the entrance in the Claw Viper Temple, planning a shadowy assault.
 
Azrael and Skilllass have defeated Act III on p8 and now stand at level 64. Skilllass again took up tanking duty against the act boss, but things were generally less scary this time; only one Full Rejuv needed.

View attachment 711

Mephisto's drop was crap, but a Ko rune from a basket on level 3 of the Durance was nice. I now have the runes needed for Obedience, should I want to go with that option.
 
Hmm. I find myself a bit annoyed.

View attachment 712

I was using Teleport to set up Hazade to take on the Thrashers at the choke point between the wall and the trees and then meant to switch to Telekinesis to stun the lead Thrasher against the ones behind him. However, the F2 keystroke apparently didn't register and instead of using Telekinesis to stun the Thrasher I instead used the still queued up Teleport to send the Sorceress into the middle of the players 5 Thrashers :eek: . It was immediately obvious that it was game over but I went down swinging (er, um, casting teleport) managing to use seven of eight fat purples before the Thrashers (who of course only kept getting faster and stronger) did the deed.

The exact same problem had happened multiple times before (most notably sending me into the middle of NM Lister's thugs :confused: ) . . . So, . . . I had warning . . . I paid $11 for the keyboard. I should have paid more . . .

Hanshotfirst, Sorceress, Two, Level 86, Act III Hell, Flayer Jungle
The End
 
Ouch. Very sorry about that. I would probably eat my keyboard in frustration (pun intended). I was sure you would get much further since you still played on p5.
 
HanShotFirst said:
Hanshotfirst, Sorceress, Two, Level 86, Act III Hell, Flayer Jungle
The End
Click to expand...

Oh crap. One false click and it can be over.
So this was Stromtree's gang?

I have also been nearly killed several times with a Sorc after failing to switch from Teleport to an attack skill.
Hm, is it possible to assign TK to the left mouse button? If yes, doing so could have prevented this.
 
@HanShotFirst : So sorry about the loss.

Man, that's a lot of fatalities lately. I guess we should expect that, given that many participants are in the toughest areas of the game. I also find myself switching weapons to cast some skill (quick press W followed by right click) only to find that I'm still wielding primary. Probably the game has a delay in accepting keyboard input, when keys are pressed in fast succession. It might have nothing to do with the keyboard quality. Anyway, deeds eventually come to all of us (well, all except jiansonz :) ). What matters is to have a good time until then :).
 
I'm so incredibly stupid. Adriana (56) has died at, well, my own hands. In Palace level 2 we found an ape boss pack close to the entry. I automatically tried to avoid bringing it close to the stairs (like we didn't have another entry to that level!) and run deeper into the dungeon, feeling very safe seeing them moving so slowly (merc's doing). I saw monsters (large ones) converging from all sides and didn't think to hit TP right away. Instead I tried to re-cast CoS, but it had not expired from the previous casting, so that failed. Merc was behind, so new monsters were moving fast and immediately encircled Adriana. The TP I put out (I actually repeatedly tried to TP out, as they spawn in different places) could not be reached (beefy monsters) and I could do nothing but use a potion from time to time to delay death. I was also to quick to do that. With the life and blocking Adriana had, she could have waited a while, using potions more rarely, maybe merc would succeed in thinning the crowd. The boss pack was also Mana Burn so I would have needed to pay close attention to the moment the previous CoS would expire and have a rejuv to power it up again before next blow came.

It was going so well... I think that was my downfall: most of my characters died when things were moving on their own. It got me careless enough to make mistakes I did not have the presence of mind to repair. This time I made so many so quick that I really don't feel I deserve to have gone further. It really was a stupid way to get deeds.

Good luck to those left. I, for one, will definitely re-try this at some time. My next project, though, is to finish Ion in The Random Tournament, but it'll take a few days to mourn Adriana :).

Here's another version of the table. I'll keep posting it from time to time.

Code: 
Alive characters:
Forum Name      Class       Char Name    LVL   ACT     WP             Version
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
jiansonz         Assassin   Helena        79   A2(H)   Sewers Lvl 2      1.13
Sput             Sorc       Skilllass     64   A4(N)   Pandemonium Frt
japanzaman       Barb       Babs          57?  A3(N)   Travincal         1.13
Dezrok           Necro      Unlikely      62   A3(N)   Kurast Bazaar     1.13d
Dazliare        *Barb       Vladimir      59   A3(N)   Kurast Docks
imakeigloospat   Druid      Glenn          1   A1      Rogue Enc         1.13d
xXxGrimmxXx      Amazon     WaffleStrike   1   A1      Rogue Enc         1.13d
Atroz           *Assassin   ?              1   A1      Rogue Enc
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dead ones:
Forum Name      Class       Char Name    LVL   ACT     Place of Deeds  Version
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SunsetVista      Necro      Yredelemnul   81   A3(H)   Travincal        1.13
HanShotFirst  ***Sorc       Two           86   A3(H)   Flayer Jungle        
felixbavaria    *Paladin    Incompetentus 72   A5(N)   WSK 1            1.13d
epaminondas     *Assassin   Adriana       56   A2(N)   Palace Lvl 2     1.11
Southpaw8668    *Paladin    Lucious      >19   A2      Duriel           1.13
xXxGrimmxXx    **Druid      Roland      >=17   A1      Monastery        1.13d
Southpaw8668     Necro      Goulash       14   A1      retired          1.13
xXxGrimmxXx    **Assassin   Noctyria       9   A1      Cave Lvl 1       1.13d
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notes:
*  = this class has been randomly chosen
** = this class has been somewhat randomly chosen
*** = this character needed a random decision that it would not be random :)
 
@epaminondas - ack, sorry about the Deeds. It's natural to try to avoid stair traps, especially after all the stories about NDE's to them. Sometimes things happen so fast (getting surrounded) that you only have time to think about them after. Thanks for hosting and good luck on your next try and in the Random Tournament, too!
 
I deeded ~4 characters in 3 days in the Path of Exile race, and the new league doesn't start for almost 2 weeks. Vladimir will try and avenge the deaths of his fallen brethren. We forge through the jungle tonight....
 
Ouch! So many casualties the last few days.

epaminondas said:
I automatically tried to avoid bringing it close to the stairs (like we didn't have another entry to that level!)
Click to expand...
Exactly, do not forget those back doors in the palace.

epaminondas said:
Anyway, deeds eventually come to all of us (well, all except jiansonz :))
Click to expand...
That comment was kind of you, but deeds does come to about 2/3 of my tourney characters.



Helena is still alive and well, though. I am going to focus on two of the starting areas in HotD, because that's where the action was today.

First level had two Hollow Ones, including a boss, but the dungeon layout allowed me to drag away the skeletons to a corner and blow them up. Well, all but one (as usual). Freaking Stone Skin boss, they take a long time to kill, and it kept resurrecting that darn skeleton, which caused Meghan to lose focus. Now that I do not have PMH anymore, I need that OW active full-time for big monsters like this boss. OK, time to drag (and kick!) the skeleton close enough to the boss for a DS to work on it:
HelenaH08earlyHoD_zps49de8d44.jpg


Second floor greeted me like this:
HelenaH09HoD2-1_zps9297e434.jpg

You know what? I didn't panic. Got a little nervous, sure, but there was no boss there, and the Hollow Ones could not reach us with their shots. Helena worked up a sweat here with CoS, kicks to keep them back and Death Sentries.
It was starting to get a little tight, though:
HelenaH10HoD2-2_zps361dd3ab.jpg


Meghan works best when she is free from monsters close to her, of course. She is not completely hopeless when she's fully surrounded either (she has no choice but to fire). She IS hopeless when she can move around a little.
A few spear kitties showed up as well. Timing of the CoS was often not optimal, and even the times it was, there were still resurrections happening. This was hurtful in the long run, even though most of the skellies were slowed and chilled. The DS setup has no shield. I was out of reds and fled back up the stairs.

Eventually, we thinned them out a little. A nice triple chain corpse explosion did most of the work.
HelenaH11HoD2-3_zpsa230e624.jpg


No problems from here. I lucked out with Bloodwitch, and got her seven minions out first. CoS and kill. Slowed and chilled, it was not hard to keep our distance to Bloodwitch. She was FE + MR.

Recent finds: nothing interesting.

After the session, I figured that since I kick quite a bit, I may as well upgrade my sweet boots. Now the damage numbers look like this:
Damage_zps1ec4a483.jpg

Not impressive, but it is something, and everything adds up. The yellow numbers are because one of my fire resist large charms is also 'of Storms' (1-26).


[Highlight]Conqueror Helena the Assassin and Meghan the Cold sister, level 80, Hell Far Oasis next[/highlight]
 
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@jiansonz - great progress and congrats on being still alive! You can do it!

I continued to play by the tournament rules - single pass, no skillpoints, just as if I had never met with a terrible fate in Trav. Like I said I would do.

View attachment 713

Leharas the Blessed Aim mercenary joined to take down Diablo. Crushing blow with 'Black' worked just fine.

The Frozen River had lancers, ice bone mages, and ghosts. Pretty good roll, although the ghosts were tough. I led them to piles of corpses for CE, or used Terror to separate them so Leharas could kill them. The prevent monster heal on 'Edge' was excellent. Ghosts in the Glacial Trail were harder because there were frozen horrors and vipers, meaning fewer enemies left explodable corpses.

Used the Hell imbue before Ancients:
-----
Storm Emblem
Hellspawn Skull
Defense: 133
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 16 of 20
Required Level: 50
Required Strength: 82
Fingerprint: 0xe79f5d8
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
14% Chance to cast level 5 Charged Bolt when struck
Adds 5 - 14 Poison Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
+2 to Poison Nova (Necromancer Only)
+3 to Bone Prison (Necromancer Only)
+1 to Decrepify (Necromancer Only)
All Resistances +11
Fire Resist +27%
-----

Used the wand with Lifetap, Black, Whitstan's Guard, Hsarus's Set, and amulet with teleport charges. The Bone Prison kept Madawc still while I separated Talic and Korlic. It took 3 tries before none of them were cursed or aura enchanted. Lifetap kept us alive while crushing blow happened. It was actually my best Hell Ancients fight ever.

wsk 1 - zealots and priests, vamps, death lords
wsk 2 - beetles, hell spawn, souls
wsk 3 - imps, death lords, oblivion knights(S&E to avoid death, got surrounded and couldn't get teleport cast off)
throne - death lords, oblivion knights, horadrim ancients. Hurray CE!

Lister is dead, too. =) I got a lot better at separating his pack.

Baal cloned himself right away, so I sat in town for awhile. Hsarus's set, 'Black' and decrepify on the shield made the fight easy, except when I missed a decrepify. Tentacles sprang up all around me and it was good that I left the teleport amulet on. We swiftly regained control of the situation and removed the rest of Baal's hitpoints.

Finds:
36% Gheeds in Arreat Plateau, Tarnhelm on Frozen Tundra, Lacerator on WSK 2, Warshrike in Throne of Destruction (grailer!)

This was my first Guardian* and I had such a great time! Thanks everyone for all the encouragement, for hosting this tournament, and for writing up so much great info about D2!

*2 total S&E's to avoid death - one in Hell Trav to extra fast, cursed zealots, and one in Hell WSK3 to a nasty double bosspack of Death Lords (boss was phys and fire immune) and Oblivion Knights right at the entrance. So that's kind of almost a Guardian.... eh, maybe next time.

Guardian* Yredelemnul, staffmod mojomancer, and Leharas, blessed aim merc, Level 84, 95 skill choices remaining
sweet, sweet retirement next! =) I'm off to bake the victory brownies.
 
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Looks like i picked a really good time to be busy with other stuff and not playing D2!!

Sorry to hear about the many deeds and congrats on the progress those left.

Will get back to the tourney soon.
 
@HanShotFirst Sorry to hear about your deeds as it is the same sort of thing I have been fearing will happen to Skilllass. In my case it comes from having to switch weapons when wanting to Teleport.

@jiansonz Unfortunately Telekinesis is RMB only. I run into this problem too, since Telekinesis is on the orb with Teleport.

@epaminondas Your deeds sounds particularly frustrating! Good luck with your random tournament character.
 
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