The Passive Aggressive Tournament

So a brief update: in act 2 NM.


I found a supernice amulet, especially for this girl.

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I also found a Butcher's Pupil which I really thought was going to be my end game weapon, being passive aggressive and not suppose to kill anything anyway...

I was just wandering about the real tomb of Tal Rasha after having cleared the six false one, being lvl 60 and feeling quite safe and sure on how to handle the type of monsters you see in act2.


BAAAAAMMMMMMM!!!!


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Not even a champion or a boss pack. Just a bunch of steel scarabs.

I am just exhausted and shouldn't even be playing HC at the moment.
 
Oh no! Sorry about the deeds queenEm. :( That's a tough loss, especially after coming this far, great job though, I really enjoyed her journey. As you said, tired + HC is a dangerous mix.

RIP PassiveQueen, you shall be missed.

EDIT: any thoughts of rejoining, or entering another tournament?
 
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@queenEm - Ah bummer about the deeds, those were some pretty nice items you found towards the end. I've always liked that axe. Good luck with another go!!![emoji6]
 
Isen and Ilzan reported in last time on their way to the CVT. They continue with the same tactics that have led them this far. Allowing Ilzan to jab away at almost everything, unless of course they confront a pack of heavy hitters or there is a need to convert Unravelers or the like to thin out all the undead and then kill the summoner lastly. These big lugs make excellent friendly meat shields.
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The Summoner didn't stand a chance.
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A prime example of how well conversion has been at crowd control in large areas with quick monsters that stack up and tend to overwhelm the pair. Just have to stay alert and keep enough monsters converted to keep it safe.
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Here's the reverse tactic, since he can't convert the bosses he overwhelms them with their own henchmen and wears them down as Ilzan is jabbing away at the leader. This was the boss that dropped the Tiamat's Rebuke.:D Worth losing the MF on Milabrega's for this beauty.
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Duriel dropped a Kelpie Snare, but Ilzan will stick with the Insight Partizan, except maybe against bosses. We'll see.
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This guy was one of the only slight threats they have encountered, since he kept swarming around Isen and later dropped an IK helm.
View attachment 2555 Found this amulet which is even better than the last +1 skills rare found.
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Taking it to Sarina's pack and then some. She is hiding there up against the corner and the last to fall.
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Overall a ton of S/U have fallen, most of them not too useful to the pair but it's still nice to see!

Isen and Ilzan, Level 61 MF 302/445, Upper Kurast
 
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Isen and Ilzan continued throughout the jungles of Kurast at their typical snail's pace, it was all fairly safe from what we remember. Big fellows in the Kurast Bazaar were no match for Ilzan and his Insight shaft and Isen's added 100+ resistances.
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More CE critters, seems like they rolled a lot of that in this Act.
View attachment 2608A scarab boss dropped a Fal rune in the Disused Reliquary at an attempted stairway trap.
This caster wasn't much on his own for Ilzan, but was a serious threat for them both with all of his minion Zealots running around getting healed faster than they could kill them. Eventually we split them up enough and thinned them out.
View attachment 2609 The Council wasn't too terribly tough, utilizing Conversion and luring them out of hiding out as usual.
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And the highlight for this entire session, a eth Hone Sudan!!! I think a Cadaver boss dropped it, but it happened so fast I'm not sure what Ilzan killed to make it drop. It's quite lovely however Ilzan will stick with his Insight weapon for now and perhaps utilize that on some Act bosses. What should I stick in it besides two Shaels and maybe an Amn for LL?
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Well these were a pretty sweet find too, but I don't think they top the Hone Sudan for Isen since he doesn't really do much of the attacking but his strength is already pretty close to the requirement to wear them for the added defense and fire safety.
View attachment 2612 Thought I had a shot of the Mephisto battle but I guess not, must not have been too memorable of a drop.

Isen and Ilzan, Level 64, Act IV
 
Isen and Ilzan had to dial back the difficultly some, /p3-5 most of the mid to later parts of Act IV. Isen just isn't doing significant enough damage to take it any higher at this point. Maybe we we'll find him an exceptional or elite polearm worth crafting another Insight with in late NM. For the most part Conversion is saving their hides from getting overrun with the harder hitting monsters of Act IV. Might even give the Hone Sudan a whirl and see if it kills much faster than the current Insight Partizan Ilzan is using.
Here's a few of the nastier bosses we confronted along the way. Set sharkskin gloves and a Cuirass were found in the CS and a unique Chain Mail in the RoF.
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We overwhelmed every seal boss with their own minions and it worked like a charm! Ilzan hardly ever took a hit.
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I thought we had Diablo in the ultimate Cheese position, where his elemental attacks couldn't reach Isen and then he stepped to his left and he was back to full streams. So we came back around the other side and took the up close and personal approach with the Black flail. Just his melee attacks were doing some damage but not to significant so I was able to manage with only full reds remaining on the belt.
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He at least dropped a couple unique weapons and one Cathan's ring on /p3 that we later sold of course.
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Isen and Ilzan, Level 66, Harrogath
 
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My Diablo II itch was luring me back for a while but since I run Windows 7 and couldn't run it properly I was dissuaded, but now after finally fixing it I'm back.

WhiteWalker, or WW as his friends call him, not that he has many or any, is born. A Necromancer who wasn't able to control a huge ammount of summons nor the powers of offensive magic. He could just curse (which he does a lot), summon a Golem and cast defensive magic. Lets see what his journey brings him.
 
Isen and Ilzan continue on their journey with speed and success. As they ventured through the frozen, Barbarian lands the difficulty was dialed all the way down, due to the frustration from Ilzan taking forever to kill the multitude of fast moving creatures and those with ranged attacks that could more directly target Isen from his medic position. A few items were found like another unique set of chain mail and a few runes, however for the most part at /p1 not much was to be awarded even with the high collective MF.
The Ancients first spawn was an absolute nightmare. Madawc was fanatical and FE and Talic was LE with Conviction, not sure what Korlic had going for him. Holy cow, I couldn't keep Ilzan alive much more than a couple minutes while running all over the Summit trying in vain to separate them. It was impossible with their added speed and his throwing axes hit seriously hard with the added poison damage! When Ilzan finally dropped I teleported out for more pots and hopefully come back to a more realistic roll. They did and when they engaged Ilzan this time with Thorns active the thrower and the leaper went down about the same speed as they were first to elect to attack him. Talic held back for a minute and waited to be taken one on one fortunately. I can't remember their modifiers on that roll, but it was definitely more manageable for the pair of heroes.
Their journey continued to be very exciting even with the lower difficulty once they left the Ancients to their resting place. With Salvation active they both have everything maxed but poison, so the Gloams were not as much of a concern as the hard hitting fast movers like these melee Flayers and Knights.
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Once inside the Throne the sides were cleared out before venturing into the Great Room. This was a nice test for what to expect from the behavior of the hard hitting Oblivion Knights. Isen needed to stay back just a bit further, as they tended to want to pursue him if he got too close to Ilzan while engaged with a group of them. Eventually, we had to switch back to the Conversion methods, as they would just hit to hard with the added poison damage after swarming Ilzan.
View attachment 2669 Probably the most difficult group of minions to beat was the second wave with their cold mages and the summoners just kept reviving knights and skeletons faster than Ilzan could drop them. Eventually Isen sprinted in the fray and drew a couple of the Unravellers toward him and converted them as he did in the tombs, this was enough to eventually overwhelm Achmel's tactics. With their boosted resistances Ilzan could stand in the middle of the waves that were using elemental attacks primarily.
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Baal was tricky even at the lowest difficulty level. With all his multiple types of attacks and teleportation, he was a tough cookie to crack. It was nearly impossible when his clone came to his aid, so they would TP out and await his departure. This had to be done a couple times and then eventually Baal stood still long enough and everything lined up to finally give him the smack down. He of course didn't drop anything useful given the /p setting. :(
The Necromancer awarded us with nothing and the Cow King dropped a unique Maul and set Broadsword we sold.
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Isen and Ilzan, Level 70, Rogue Encampment (H)
 
@Southpaw8668 - Awesome job! Congrats on the Conqueror. :) Best of luck in Hell, I'm super curious to see how your duo fares.

--

Time for a table update!

Code:
The Proven (Guardians):
Forum Name       Class        Char Name      LVL    ACT       Area
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
jiansonz         Sorceress    Sissy          87     ---       Full Game Clear
Pb_pal           Amazon       Calabi         88     ---       Full Game Clear
bladejj          Necromancer  Relic          89     ---       Full Game Clear
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table of Heroes:
Forum Name       Class        Char Name      LVL    ACT       Area
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Southpaw8668     Paladin      Isen           70     A1(H)     Rogue Encampment
Zylo             Druid        Hoyt           59     A3(NM)    Kurast Docks
sivaeB           Necromancer  Toast          49     A2(NM)    Lut Gholein
felixbavaria     Sorceress    Swoosh         51     A1(NM)    Inner Cloister
Bee              Barbarian    Rocky          48     A1(NM)    Cold Plains
srrw             Druid        PurpleHaze     48     A1(NM)    Rogue Encampment
Dazliare         Amazon       RIP_Vladimir   ??     A5        Moo Moo Farm
djmbbandie       Assassin     Natasha        38     A5        Arreat Plateau
kestegs          Necromancer  WallE          32     A4        Pandemonium Fortress
ranagrande       Barbarian    Beldric        28     A3        Kurast Docks
TrubbaNot        Sorceress    Fine_Whatever  26     A2        Arcane Sanctuary
pharphis         Sorceress    SlamDoorsShut  23     A2        Far Oasis
Morathi          Assassin     Carrisa        21     A2        Lut Gholein
Gino             Druid        Gordon         20     A2        Sewers
Lord Molybdenum  Amazon       Passive        20     A2        Lut Gholein
Jocular          Assassin     ?????          14     A1        Stony Field/Dark Wood(?)
jamesixgun       Druid        John           13     A1        Dark Wood
littlesamurai    Necromancer  WhiteWalker    1      A1        Rogue Encampment
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Fallen (RIP):
Forum Name       Class        Char Name      LVL    ACT       Area
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
queenEm          Druid        LittleGirl     71     A1(H)     Countess' Tower
thefranklin      Druid        FollowTheBear  66     A4(NM)    Diablo
Southpaw8668     Necromancer  Hallow         61     A3(NM)    Great Marsh
queenEm          Assassin    PassiveQueen  60    A2(NM)      Tombs
Interdasting     Druid        Interdasting   29     A3        Flayer Dungeon
TrubbaNot        Sorceress    TheManagement  ??     A2        Far Oasis
Southpaw8668     Amazon       Contessa       15     A1        Andariel
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Well WhiteWalker that akward Necromancer who can't have more then one summon journy started slow, Wands do little damage and not being able to summon that early Skeleton for help made it even slower. Eventually though after picking up and selling everything he managed to get this, which was later changed for this one, don't know if it is that much faster but for sure has more style points. This made him actually hit hard and after getting the Golem and his archer companion he was set for success. He found this axe way to early, sadly because the Gnasher would have been great. One small charm which might be useful later. The countess drop was ok I guess sadly no Tir and El to get Steel in act II.

His topaz luck for the act was lacking, but he did manage to get lots of GF items, like this ring, a rare one and this charm. He also had trouble gambling for MF gloves and boots, but eventually he scored these boots and this gloves, as good as it gets in the MF department sadly not much else.

The journey through the jail and catacombs was mostly uneventful, though a nice pair of gloves dropped.The fight with Andariel started hard, Golem was blown up in 2 hits and she got me low real fast even with the Antidote pumped resists. But eventually I managed to get a setup where she focused me, while the Golem slowed her and Abhaya could fire at will and she went down, leaving us with this.

I'm really considering maxing Dim Vision for the increased area and durationto deal with resurrectors and ranged attackers. For act II I'll probably rush the cube to get some nice weapon for my Desert Companion.
 
I am going to give this a shot to get away from the item restrictions of the two other tournaments I have characters in. Going to go with a Barbarian and try and make him as unkillable as possible.

Adrian the Barbarian, level 1, Rogue Camp
 
I am going to give this a shot to get away from the item restrictions of the two other tournaments I have characters in. Going to go with a Barbarian and try and make him as unkillable as possible.

Adrian the Barbarian, level 1, Rogue Camp

Very cool, I was surprised more people didn't try barbs in this one. They have really cool crowd control, and with the weapon masteries open, killing things in the late game isn't TOO far-fetched. :p Good luck!
 
So far have gotten the cubre, slain Radament and cleared the Stony Tomb. The Merc is doing all the heavy lifting and he should since he is packing quite a bit of extra mf.
 
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Well Act II full cleared, it was mostly uneventful with Neeraj doing all the killing, I gambled dozens of Circlets and didn't manage to score a single one with MF, I scored resists, +1 to skill tree, extra damage (many but one that stood out was a Static Circlet of Pestilence), extra life and mana, but none that I would use now, have 18 saved because of the max money vendors buy them for. It also took me the entire act to manage a Breast Plate full of flawed topazes- Notable finds the 2 unique axes, Axe of Fechmar and Bladebone. The NDE came at the Arcane Sanctuary in the portal section, a couple of time I portales and landed in a sector full of Ghould Lords and Goats, some quick Rejuvs saved the day. The tombs were slow going, took me 3 sessions but not dangerous at all, run back to lure undead so they can't be revived, rinse and repeat. Duriel fight got scary at some moments, since I went P8, needed to tp out once. I Decrepified him, had Clay Golem to slow him, had a cold damage charm and had him focus on me. My Merc didn't die once, his pattern was to attack the closest one, a couple of time he almost 1 hit me, but I just drank Rejuvs. His only remarkable drop was the Unique Morning Star, Bloodrise.
 
Isen and Ilzan's journey has come to an end...
Hell was very arduous indeed, as it took every bit of finesse that Isen could muster to coax Ilzan into a battle position that wouldn't put him in too much danger, but where he was still able to conduct his Clerical duties effectively. The biggest threat and headaches came from monsters that could re-summon and of course amplify damage, especially from ranged attackers. Those little Quill Rats in Hell really suck, since you can't see their quills all that well.
The Ancients showdown was just plan scary, as Isen had to resurrect Ilzan four times, until they could get everything to line up just right and gain the upper hand on those deadly ole' geezers. I should have shopped for a teleport staff I suppose. Lesson learned there.
This is my first Guardian ever and I am very shocked to have done it with this combo. I managed to take some screen shots at various times early on, but usually didn't chance it against the really nasty boss packs later on. So here are several from their journey throughout Hell.
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View attachment 2715 View attachment 2716 The End, thank goodness! I'll never play Isen again, he can enjoy full retirement as he's definitely earned it.

Isen and Ilzan, Level 82, Game Complete. Yeah!!!
 
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@Southpaw8668 - Wow! Awesome job and huge congrats on making Guardian! Especially cool that it's your first AND you did it with such a unique/challenging build.

Great job and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the techniques you employed along the way. BTW thanks for the mini heart attack with that first sentence. :p

This calls for a celebratory table update!

Code:
The Proven (Guardians):
Forum Name       Class        Char Name      LVL    ACT       Area
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
jiansonz         Sorceress    Sissy          87     ---       Full Game Clear
Pb_pal           Amazon       Calabi         88     ---       Full Game Clear
bladejj          Necromancer  Relic          89     ---       Full Game Clear
Southpaw8668     Paladin      Isen           82     ---       Full Game Clear
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table of Heroes:
Forum Name       Class        Char Name      LVL    ACT       Area
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zylo             Druid        Hoyt           59     A3(NM)    Kurast Docks
sivaeB           Necromancer  Toast          49     A2(NM)    Lut Gholein
felixbavaria     Sorceress    Swoosh         51     A1(NM)    Inner Cloister
Bee              Barbarian    Rocky          48     A1(NM)    Cold Plains
srrw             Druid        PurpleHaze     48     A1(NM)    Rogue Encampment
Dazliare         Amazon       RIP_Vladimir   ??     A5        Moo Moo Farm
djmbbandie       Assassin     Natasha        38     A5        Arreat Plateau
kestegs          Necromancer  WallE          32     A4        Pandemonium Fortress
ranagrande       Barbarian    Beldric        28     A3        Kurast Docks
littlesamurai    Necromancer  WhiteWalker    ??     A3        Kurast Docks
TrubbaNot        Sorceress    Fine_Whatever  26     A2        Arcane Sanctuary
pharphis         Sorceress    SlamDoorsShut  23     A2        Far Oasis
Morathi          Assassin     Carrisa        21     A2        Lut Gholein
Gino             Druid        Gordon         20     A2        Sewers
Lord Molybdenum  Amazon       Passive        20     A2        Lut Gholein
Jocular          Assassin     ?????          14     A1        Stony Field/Dark Wood(?)
jamesixgun       Druid        John           13     A1        Dark Wood
skoolbus         Barbarian    Adrian         1      A1        Rogue Encampment


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Fallen (RIP):
Forum Name       Class        Char Name      LVL    ACT       Area
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
queenEm          Druid        LittleGirl     71     A1(H)     Countess' Tower
thefranklin      Druid        FollowTheBear  66     A4(NM)    Diablo
Southpaw8668     Necromancer  Hallow         61     A3(NM)    Great Marsh
queenEm          Assassin    PassiveQueen  60    A2(NM)      Tombs
Interdasting     Druid        Interdasting   29     A3        Flayer Dungeon
TrubbaNot        Sorceress    TheManagement  ??     A2        Far Oasis
Southpaw8668     Amazon       Contessa       15     A1        Andariel
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
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