Tournament: Set/Unique Worshippers 2017

[Drystan1]

OT

Oh, no, not that one. I didn't even know that series. Is it worth reading? The name simply came to me and is based ond Oberon, the Elf King (who, in turn, is based on Alberich from the Nibelung).

'The Iron Druid Chronicles' Oberon is a wolfhound whose owner, Atticus, a Druid in the modern day has a connection with. I've got some of the audio books (the books don't get shipped here, apart from ebay and co, and I'm quite fond of the humour and history/lore, which takes from all the gods, myths and legends, and creatures we know of, and twists in into an entertaining world, much deeper than the typical "Werewolf vs vampire" movies/stories we get. The narrarator (Luke Daniels) puts a lot of character into each, already deep character.
Book 1 is Hounded, narrated by Luke Daniels, written by Kevin Hearne. There is an upload on youtube if you want to hear some of it playing in the background, something like 8 hours long.

 

[Old_Frog]

As expected, my new Prayer buddy had no problem killing the critters on the Foothills and the Highlands so that I could get to save the barbarians and hire one that I could equip with the mighty Bloodletter.

Almost halfway through the Foothills, Sigon's Shelter dropped. This was great, because I wanted a helm/armor with potential to last a long way to socket a topaz in. Here was one with good lightning resist (sometimes hard to come by) and with a number of good partial set combos. But I needed 10 more Strength to be able to wear it, and had no saved points at this time. It worked out perfectly, though, because Viri gained two level-ups here, the last one on Shenk himself. So now she is back up from zero to 27% MF (Perfect topaz and a Lucky charm).

I dunno if that 27% helped, if I was just lucky or simply that the act is so darn big (and the phenomenon with ilvls being too low for some S/Us fading out more and more) but there was quite the haul to be had during the rest of the act:

Berserker's Hatchet (Frigid Highlands)
Sigon's Shelter #2 (Crystalline Passage)
[Highlight]Blinkbat's Form[/Highlight] (Bonesaw Breaker)
Sigon's Guard (Halls of Vaught)
Angelic Halo (Nihlathak)
[Highlight]The Chieftain[/Highlight] (Frozen Tundra)
[Highlight]The Diggler[/Highlight] (Frozen Tundra)
Cathan's Seal (Ancients' Way)
Isenhart's Case (Throne level)
[Highlight]Venom Ward[/Highlight] (Baal)
Tancred's Crowbill (Moo Moo Farm)

Not much to say about the gameplay. My barbarian merc Lanth (and then Damien from WSK 3 and onward*) simply owned everything. Viri has now maxed Decoy and taken Valkrie to level 7. I'd like to keep it there for a while, because there may come a time when my merc wears MF stuff and then I don't want the Valkyrie to steal kills for him/her. A level 7 Valkyrie uses a rare Spear while a level 8 Valkyrie uses a rare Lance (around 8x higher base damage!). Of course, now that I have found Sigon's Guard, I can choose between a Valkyrie that just tanks or one that can actually kill.

Useful Valkyrie weapon mod:

View attachment 8095

Viri tried out the Chieftain. She liked it so much that she spent a hefty number of stat points to be able to wield this:

View attachment 8096

I don't usually have my band attack Achmel's pack head-on, but merc + Valkyrie were so strong that I did so here. Viri's job was to smack down those Death Mages as they kept rising:

View attachment 8097

I still have white/grey items in my gloves/belt/boots slots. All of them are Demonhide items. Gloves are ethereal (5 durability left - I have spare whites if they break).

(* Why switch mercs? I wanted to get the XP for the suicide bombers on WSK 2 so I hired a temporary Cold Iron Wolf for that level. His damage and my Chieftain were enough not to make it tedious. We failed to gain XP for only two of the bombers)


[Highlight]Viridissima the (still!) undecided Amazon and Damien the barbarian mecenary, level 48, NM Rogue Encampment[/Highlight]

Wow, that is some wonderful luck she’s having with not much MF! Very useful drops indeed. That’s was a great roll on the Valkyrie mods, did she have both poison and amped damage? Good luck in NM.

 

[Old_Frog]

Durbanex has killed Diablo and now sits in Harrogath. Yes, he too wimped out and played Diablo on P1. At that, he barely lived through it. Thanks to the level 5 Grizzley, Durbanex is still alive. As I collected the five rare and one magic item in the Diablo drop, I decided that it was probably better than burying a dead Druid. Then I noticed this circlet:

+2 to Druid Summoning skills
+1-54 lightning damage
+21-43 Fire damage
+36 life

OK, it was bad enough not getting any S/Us in the drop, but to have to set that one aside really hurts.

In case it is not obviour, Durbanex found no S/Us in Act IV, so he still stands at 15.

I feel your pain, Wuzhul has found two Amulets with +1 Necro and the rare one had some other very useful resistance mods as well.

 

[Oakbrain]

[highlight]Destroyer Jathnolf, level 50, NM Black Marsh[/highlight]

Just a brief update here. I've slogged through the monsters as far as the Countess. It's been fine except for some nasty LE bosses, which included Treehead Woodfist. Treehead vs Oakbrain, it was an ugly fight but the forces of Light prevailed with the help of more than a few full rejuvs.

View attachment 8122
Tristram was unusually tame, with the only annoyance being an Unholy Freeze aura Griswold. I aggroed him early by either bad luck or carelessness, and his freeze effect made it impossible for Jathnolf to deal with the usual scrum of monsters in the middle of the village. I had to howl away a lot of monsters and then kite Griswold out to the north.

My first Exceptional Unique dropped in the Black Marsh: the sharkskin gloves Gravepalm. Not immediately useful, and rolled with average stats. Even so, the big increase to damage against the undead means I'll keep them around for the next act where I think they'll do sterling service in all those tombs. The Countess dropped a Thul, if you're interested.

Up next: the Hole, then the Pit.

 

[jiansonz]

That’s was a great roll on the Valkyrie mods, did she have both poison and amped damage?

Don't remember, it might be that Shadow Call was that green.

 

[Grisu]

@Drystan: Iron Druid Chronicoles remind me of the Dresden Files from what you said about it...maybe I should give it a try! Loved the Dresden Files.

@all: I've been away for some time. Back then it was considered standard to post links to pics instead of posting the pics themselves. Also, there was no way for non-premium members to attach pics to a post, so we had to use external sites to host pictures. That was before everybody had broadband, though What's the policy nowadays? Just put the pictures in the post? How many is considered too many for one post?

Thanks to the flu I made rapid progress while being sick at home...
View attachment 8125
Oberon found his 4th Gem Shrine and was overall lucky with his Gem drops. I managed to get the full set of flawed Topazes for my merc and me and made a 50% MF Breast Plate

Apparently this helped, because I shortly after found Civerb's Ward with Pluckeye just around the corner (yes, as a rule of thumb, I do the Sewers after getting the Horadric Cube)
View attachment 8129 View attachment 8126
When I obtained the Horadric Staff, I was unstoppable for some time, because of the inherent 50%IAS. Does anyone know, what base item type the game uses für the Staff of Kings/the Horadric Staff? Whatever it uses, this thing is fast...With 250 damage per hit with Fire Claws and this thing, I breezed through Act II...until this dropped and I had to either equip both Pluckeye and Shadowfang or had to leave my merc weaponless:
View attachment 8127
I won't complain though - an upgraded Shadowfang is usually able to take you through NM and Hell, although for my build IAS is far more important than Weapon damage...

Then ... nothing. My streak of luck with S/Us ended. On the bright side, I ended Duriel's life, too. Without any problems at all. Havin 600 life and doing lots of fire damage apparently helps when facing Duriel

My S/Us so far (in the order they dropped):
Infernal Cranium
Hsarus' Iron Fist
Nagelring
Civerb's Ward
Pluckyey
Shadowfang

[highlight]Oberon, Level 28 Fire Claws Druid, and Haseen, the Defiance Town Guard, Normal Kurast Docks next[/highlight]

EDIT: What happened to using tables btw? I usually find it helpful to keep track of the participants, even if there is no winner declared May/Shall I do one?

 

[jiansonz]

Just put the pictures in the post? How many is considered too many for one post?

I think the software limits it to 10 pictures per post.

until this dropped and I had to either equip both Pluckeye and Shadowfang or had to leave my merc weaponless:

Couldn't you have given Pluckeye to a merc and kept going with the Horadric Staff?
(until you had to 'use' it in the orifice)

EDIT: What happened to using tables btw? I usually find it helpful to keep track of the participants, even if there is no winner declared May/Shall I do one?

Yeah, we've reached the stage where a table would indeed be useful. I've just forgotten to make one. You are very welcome to make one, I'd be thankful. If you do not, I'll make one soon.

 

[zoo]

Just wanted to leave a quick update from Jens-Rune the barbarian.

He's about to face the council but has happended upon bit of a set back on the weapons front. The third S/U weapon just droped which means the following three candidates are available.

1. Cathan's Rule
2. Axe of Fechmar
3. Ichorsting

None of these can be worn by any of the hirelings at his disposal meaning Haseen needs to go weaponless. Also, none of these are all that potent when it comes to doing damage. My initial guess is that the choice is between the axe or the staff since there is no weapon mastery for crossbows. I'll get back to you when I know more.

 

[Grisu]

Couldn't you have given Pluckeye to a merc and kept going with the Horadric Staff?
(until you had to 'use' it in the orifice)

Would have had to switch back to a Rogue merc though, which I didn't want to do - but yeah, would have been possible

btw, do quest items have the same status as other uniques? Say I find a unique Polearm weapon for my merc, may I equip Khalim's Flail on my character and stash Pluckeye for some time? All 3 weapon slots would be equipped with Sets/Uniques in that case.

Yeah, we've reached the stage where a table would indeed be useful. I've just forgotten to make one. You are very welcome to make one, I'd be thankful. If you do not, I'll make one soon.

I have one almost finished, if you give me another 24-36 hours, then I can post it

 

[jiansonz]

btw, do quest items have the same status as other uniques? Say I find a unique Polearm weapon for my merc, may I equip Khalim's Flail on my character and stash Pluckeye for some time? All 3 weapon slots would be equipped with Sets/Uniques in that case.

(And third weapon slot has Shadowfang, right?)
Yes, you can do that.

(You can view quest items as 'wildcard' items, because they won't force you away from white/grey weapons if those slots are still open to them.)

I have one almost finished, if you give me another 24-36 hours, then I can post it

Great.

 

[OldSoldier1]

AndrewNiteTorch has taken the reins from my other tournament character (final update in the other tourney thread hopefully soon) and moved along at a fairly slow clip. In the jail, he found his third S/U weapon, the Dragon Chang.
View attachment 8136

While good that it is a nice weapon for an act 2 merc, which is what I plan on using for at least the rest of normal difficulty, it did take away my current merc's ability to use her weapon, and she did the vast majority of the damage for the team. So, the Gull dagger had to pull offensive duties, with the help of a level 4 might aura, in taking down the rest of the creatures in act I. The merc did what she could with her bare hands and the Biggins' Bonnet.

There were lots of these guys.
View attachment 8137

Pitspawn showed up early and restricted our maneuver space.
View attachment 8138

We got a green BP in the catacombs so we lost our merc's magic finding. Andariel died to multiple stab wounds to the ankles and thighs and dropped her usual.
View attachment 8139

Act 2 saw the town guard replace the rogue and finally AndrewNiteTorch can relax a bit and let the merc do the work while he collects the goodies. Biggins' Bonnet plus level 4 might plus 100% damage to undead on the weapon makes for a stout killer at this stage of the game.
View attachment 8140

AndrewNiteTorch, level 23 paladin, Dry Hills

 

[Grisu]

Quick question - I found a gem shrine in Blood Moor. It won't stay a gem shrine if I S&E right? I want to use it on a topaz, but it would be nice to save it for a potential normal topaz from Andariel. I've never done Act 1 without a muling trip though...

One thing that works (which I have done in the past when I needed to suddenly interrupt my gameplay for a longer period of time and didn't manage to find a good spot to restart from) is to leave the game running and use power saving mode and then continue the next day.

Et voilà! Leadership boards! I included all information from all posts previous to this post, but didn't find all the information I needed. Please feel free everyone to update/correct the table to your liking!

P.S.: I didn't include drmalawi, Locohead and logoutzero, because it seems they haven't actually joined so far. Also, I didn't include Kitteh because he, too, didn't rejoin as far as I have seen...

Player:            Name:           Class:       Build:            Level:  S/U found:  Area:
----------------   ------------    -----------  ----------------  ------  ----------  ----------------
Oakbrain           Jathnolf        Barbarian    Berserk/War Cry   50      ???         NM Act I Black Marsh         
jiansonz           Viridissima     Amazon       Valkyrie/?        48      ???         NM Act I Rogue Encampment
Wolron             Durbanex        Druid        Summoner          ??       15         Act V Harrogath
Drystan            Goldilocks      Amazon       ??                32       12         Act IV Panda Fortress
Southpaw8668       Wuzhul          Necromancer  ??                32      ???         Act IV Panda Fortress
Charlo             KulKanta        Druid        ??                29      ???         Act IV Panda Fortress
zoo                Jens-Rune       Barbarian    ??                ??      ???         Act III Travincal
Grisu              Oberon          Druid        Fire Claws        28        6         Act III Kurast Docks
OldSoldier         AndrewNiteTorch Paladin      2-handed ?        23      ???         Act II Dry Hills
Dezrok             Roland          Paladin      Avenger           20        4         Act II Lut Gholein
GothamsBeard       Envy            Amazon       Elemental Bowzon  ??      ???         Act II Lut Gholein
hackedagainanda    Conrad          Paladin      Frost Zealot      ??      ???         Act II Lut Gholein
ioupainmax         Habacalva       Sorceres     Melee Enchant     17        1         Act I Tamoe Highland
RedTang            PaniSuka        Sorceress    FO/Lightning      ??      ???         Act I Outer Cloister
Dazliare           Pestilence      Druid        Rabies            ??      ???         Act I Stony Field

 

[jiansonz]

@Grisu: Thanks for the table! I'll update it now and then.
A question: 'S/U found', is that the total number found, or how many that are currently equipped?

 

[ioupain]

[HIGHLIGHT]Habacalva, Level 22 Melee Enchantress, Dry Hills, Sets/Uniques Found: 3[/HIGHLIGHT]

Habacalva found a Cleglaw's Claw halfway through Act 1 (but missing screenshot) and then found another Cleglaw's Claw:
View attachment 8141

Habacalva finally unlocked her true potential at level 18 and began to learn the art of Enchanting her weapons. This made the most innocuous items, powerful weapons in the right hands.

Andariel fell to Habacalva and Gaile, the Cold Rogue, but she was not carrying anything of value:
View attachment 8142
When they reached Lut Gholein, it was with great sadness that Habacalva bid Gaile goodbye:
View attachment 8144
Waheed, a Combat Desert Mercenary, joined Habacalva in Gaile's stead and they pressed on. Waheed discovered the Arctic Binding which Habacalva reluctantly wore...for her existing belt had many more slots. The set belt did provide some useful Cold Resistance. It was though Gaile's spirit had stayed with Habacalva and even now watched over her:
View attachment 8145

Radamant fell to the poisonous, flame enchanted Trident that Waheed wielded:
View attachment 8146

Habacalva had reached the Dry Hills waypoint but could continue no further for her arms were weary after countless swings of her tiny, green sacred globe.

[HIGHLIGHT]Set/Unique Worshippers Leaderboard[/HIGHLIGHT]

Player:            Name:           Class:       Build:            Level:  S/U found:  Area:
----------------   ------------    -----------  ----------------  ------  ----------  ----------------
Oakbrain           Jathnolf        Barbarian    Berserk/War Cry   50      ???         NM Act I Black Marsh      
jiansonz           Viridissima     Amazon       Valkyrie/?        48      ???         NM Act I Rogue Encampment
Wolron             Durbanex        Druid        Summoner          ??       15         Act V Harrogath
Drystan            Goldilocks      Amazon       ??                32       12         Act IV Panda Fortress
Southpaw8668       Wuzhul          Necromancer  ??                32      ???         Act IV Panda Fortress
Charlo             KulKanta        Druid        ??                29      ???         Act IV Panda Fortress
zoo                Jens-Rune       Barbarian    ??                ??      ???         Act III Travincal
Grisu              Oberon          Druid        Fire Claws        28        6         Act III Kurast Docks
OldSoldier         AndrewNiteTorch Paladin      2-handed ?        23      ???         Act II Dry Hills
ioupainmax         Habacalva       Sorceress    Melee Enchantress 22        3         Act II Dry Hills
Dezrok             Roland          Paladin      Avenger           20        4         Act II Lut Gholein
GothamsBeard       Envy            Amazon       Elemental Bowzon  ??      ???         Act II Lut Gholein
hackedagainanda    Conrad          Paladin      Frost Zealot      ??      ???         Act II Lut Gholein
RedTang            PaniSuka        Sorceress    FO/Lightning      ??      ???         Act I Outer Cloister
Dazliare           Pestilence      Druid        Rabies            ??      ???         Act I Stony Field

 

[zoo]

Player:            Name:           Class:       Build:            Level:  S/U found:  Area:
----------------   ------------    -----------  ----------------  ------  ----------  ---------------------------
zoo                Jens-Rune       Barbarian    ??                32      10          Act IV Pandemonium Fortress

Not sure if I should post the entire leaderboard when updating or if this is sufficient?

 

[Oakbrain]

Jathnolf has died at level 54 in the NM Far Oasis. I got charged and surrounded by a pack of Extra Strong, Extra Fast lightning beetles. I used War Cry in panic when I should have just leaped out, and got zapped by a zillion sparks before I could drink a potion.

I will reenter with a different character, I haven't decided what it'll be yet though. Doesn't look like we have an Assassin on the leader board yet, so maybe a Trapsin.

 

[jiansonz]

Ouch, too bad for Jathnolf! I wonder how well Howl + some rejuves would have worked (would have been my attempt, not sure if I would have thought of leaping out (I'm rusty with barbarians)).

GL with the next character.


@zoo: That's sufficient, but you could also do it without a table.

 

[ioupain]

@Oakbrain that sucks, sorry about your deeds.

Updates:

[HIGHLIGHT]Set/Unique Worshippers Leaderboard[/HIGHLIGHT]

Player:            Name:           Class:       Build:            Level:  S/U found:  Area:
----------------   ------------    -----------  ----------------  ------  ----------  ----------------  
jiansonz           Viridissima     Amazon       Valkyrie/?        48      ???         NM Act I Rogue Encampment
Wolron             Durbanex        Druid        Summoner          ??       15         Act V Harrogath
Drystan            Goldilocks      Amazon       ??                32       12         Act IV Panda Fortress
Southpaw8668       Wuzhul          Necromancer  ??                32      ???         Act IV Panda Fortress
zoo                Jens-Rune       Barbarian    ??                32       10         Act IV Panda Fortress
Charlo             KulKanta        Druid        ??                29      ???         Act IV Panda Fortress
Grisu              Oberon          Druid        Fire Claws        28        6         Act III Kurast Docks
OldSoldier         AndrewNiteTorch Paladin      2-handed ?        23      ???         Act II Dry Hills
ioupainmax         Habacalva       Sorceress    Melee Enchantress 22        3         Act II Dry Hills
Dezrok             Roland          Paladin      Avenger           20        4         Act II Lut Gholein
GothamsBeard       Envy            Amazon       Elemental Bowzon  ??      ???         Act II Lut Gholein
hackedagainanda    Conrad          Paladin      Frost Zealot      ??      ???         Act II Lut Gholein
RedTang            PaniSuka        Sorceress    FO/Lightning      ??      ???         Act I Outer Cloister
Dazliare           Pestilence      Druid        Rabies            ??      ???         Act I Stony Field

[HIGHLIGHT]Set/Unique Martyrs[/HIGHLIGHT]

Player:            Name:           Class:       Build:            Level:  S/U found:  Area:
----------------   ------------    -----------  ----------------  ------  ----------  ----------------
Oakbrain           Jathnolf        Barbarian    Berserk/War Cry   54      ???         NM Act II Far Oasis

 

[Wolron]

Durbanex (Level 48.4) has killed Baal (on P8!!!) and will be having steak for dinner as long as the cows remember who eats who.

The Baal battle was fun. I decided to use the Grizzley for the first time. He is at level 19 and the wolves have 12 and 14 points for spirit and dire respectively. It took a few minutes of practice to keep him on task, but the battle only lasted about ten minutes and required one return to town. The only good Baal drop was Humongus. That might be an interesting weapon to play with, but I have made some improvements to Witherstring and it is getting quite dangerous. First I socketed it and put a perfect Topaz in it, then I used a SOL rune/RAL rune/Perfect Emerald to upgrade it to a Razor Bow. Now Durbanex can help the wolves or the grizzley a bit.

So far, this is what my S/U list looks like (19 items total):

Durbanex uses:
Isenhart's case, Isenhart's Horns, Witherstring, Sigon's Gage, Arctic Binding, Treads of Cthon, Cathan's Seal, Nagelring. He has no amulet.

In the off hand he carries Bloodrise and uses The Ward shield.

The Act 3 merc uses: Another Isenhart's Case, Gleam Scythe and Arcanna's Head.

Items that are not being used are: Stout Nail, Skewer of Krintiz, Angelic Mantle, another Arcanna's Head, Cleglaw's Claw and Humongus.

I am a bit worried about nightmare. My resistances are sort of low now and they will be almost non-existant when I take the 50 point reduction. I am considering using the Ward shield and any old weapon (skewer of Krintiz seems like the choice) and let the wolves do their thing. Since the Ward has +48 resist all, that may be the best plan. Any thoughts on that. I could still carry Witherstring in the off-hand and use it when it is safe.

 

[Wolron]

My memory is not working well. How do you copy the leader board and update it in a post? I am going to try something, but it probably won't work.