The Three-Legged Race Tournament

[Kartongen]

Amusing read as always, all of you.

@HanShotFirst I find it extra amusing that the aura went from lowest possible to highest possible too. Your barb sure wont be strapped for mana now.

 

[Booble]

Fortunately and unfortunately this will be the last update for this tournament.


McRib - Elemental Druid

Act 3 Hell: There is not much to say about the journey into Act 3. McRib's life was cut short due to a misclick and some poor playing. We had wandered into the Spider Cavern or whatever it's called, feeling pretty good. The merc is doing damage, the bear is holding his own, and fissure is still not letting us down. Just cruising along, and suddenly we find some spider that are fire resistant. We knew that coming in, no big deal. Just throw a bear closer to them and the merc will cut them down. My goodness were we wrong. Out of the corner of my eye I see these crazy fast spiders coming out of a second path, within seconds they are attacking the bear and merc from all angles. All of the sudden there is amplify damage in 3 spots, and then it's just on me. The merc died instantly and so did the bear. I try to throw down another bear but I click fissure instead, while fumbling around the keys I'm clicking potions and trying to portal out and drop a bear but it's no use. 2 packs of spiders are eating the delicious McRib for dinner.

My guess is there were at least Cursed and Extra Fast on some of the spiders and then the other group had fire enchanted or something. Did not end well, but I had a lot of fun with the fire druid. If I were to do anything different it would be to slow it down a little in that cave and throw more bears around corners to check if the coast is clear.


Final Gear
Weapon: Leaf Staff
Helm: Magic +1 Druid 20% FRW
Armor: Stealth Hard Leather
Belt: Sigon
Amulet: +1 Elemental Druid +7 Replensih Life 39% Gold
Ring1: 21% nagel
Ring2: 10% Fire 5% Light 10% FCR
Gloves: Trang
Boots: Vidala

Merc
Weapon: Eth Partizan Insight
Armor: Bad Rare
Helm: Bad Rare

McDouble - Lightning Sorc

Because I was not doing single pass I ran through the pits a bunch of times on players 1 to get some levels and some equipment. Very luckily a Vipermagi and War travs dropped so that helped a ton. Pretty happy about that.

Act 3 Hell: We did fairly well in act 3 Lots of Lightning immunes that either had to be skipped or had the merc deal with them. Not super eventful, teleport kept us safe. The jungles were luckily pretty linear. That made everything really quick. We had a challenge at the council, lots of dodging hydras and teleporting to the back of the council area. Eventually we got them one by one and moved on. Completely skipped the durance maps with teleport. I did not want to deal with the dolls. Meph was pretty easy. The merc died and then we got Meph stuck on the stairs for lightning to take care of it.

Act 4 Hell: Toughest part of Act 4 was actually the river of flame. The Urdurs or whatever they were took so long to die and kept stunning the merc. Chipped away at all of them and finally got the hellforge. Dropped a Gul rune so that was nice. I have no idea what to put a Gul into though. Chaos Sanctuary went very smooth, Lightning did great there and the merc finished everything else off. Diablo was not a problem at all. With almost maxed resists, we never felt like we were in danger.

Act 5 Hell: Didn't have a ton of time to play so I rushed through the act as carefully as possible. Didn't really meet any resistance until the Ancients.... and oh boy that was a long fight.

Ancients: After starting the fight we split them up as quickly as possible, there was no way we could win a fight with 2 of them let alone 3. If I am remembering this right, Talic was fairly easy to deal with. No bad mods and not immune to lightning. Korlic was more difficult, Cursed which was super annoying and I think magic resistant which wasn't a problem. The merc and I did our best to not get hit to keep the amplify damage off of us. If we were amped 3 hits would kill the merc and probably 1 or 2 would kill me. Lot's of teleporting and jumping around shooting 1 lightning at a time killed Korlic. And now for Madawc....... Wow. That was super aannoying. Madawc spawns with Stone skin and Magic Resistance. Not bad if he weren't immune to lightning. I have no secondary skill to help so it's all up to the merc with his White Partizan Insight doing a total of 1130 max damage. This fight lasted probably close to 30 minutes. it started off ok, Then when all the health potions were gone it was a nightmare. We had to keep teleporting away just for the merc to regain health. So back and forth we went, from corner to corner, taking little bits of health away from Madawc and then running away to take a break. I am proud of myself and the merc for not dying to the Ancients and also not dying of boredom while fighting Madawc. I will always remember this Ancients fight.

Worldstone keep was quick and painless. Most of the ways down were close to the entrances and didn't have too much trouble. Throne room did not have light immunes so went very nicely. Baal waves were taken with plenty of space in between us and the monsters. Kiting the last wave was really the biggest issue. Baal himself was interesting. He decided to fight the whole battle to the left side of the area. That did not stop us from killing him pretty easily. Although anything will seem easy after the ancients fight.


Final Gear
Weapon: 34% Spirit Sword
Shield: Mosers w/ 2P Diamonds
Switch: Gull dagger + Milabrega
Helm: Tarnhelm
Armor: Vipermagi w/ PTopaz
Belt: Rare 24%FHR 19% Cold 28% Light Heavy Belt
Ring1: Rare 10% FCR +10 Energy 15% Cold 25% Fire 7% Poison MDR2
Ring2: Nagelring
Gloves: Rare 12% Light 7% Poison 56% Gold 19%MF
Boots: War travs 49%

Merc
Weapon: Insight Partizan
Armor: Duriels Shell
Helm: Guillaume's Face


Overall I had a ton of fun playing this tournament and I think this is the first time I have got a character through the game without dying. This was softcore so I can still play these character after this tournament but I played like I would have in hardcore. I started out with 2 and finished with 1 but that's ok.

I think next time I will try a single pass and see how I do. Maybe join another tournament.

Good luck to everyone still going I'm very excited to see the updates.

SP  Forum Name         Characters        Level   Furthest WP             Points
--  -----------------  ----------------  ------  ----------------------  -------
Y   Hanshotfirst       Sorc/Sin          88/87   Guardian x2                200
N   PhineasB           Necro/Druid       83/83   Guardian x2                200
N   Booble             Sorc/Druid        74/70   Matriarch / Deeds          174
Y   skoolbus           Druid/Sorc        60/60   (N) Kurast Docks           90
Y   Hanshotfirst       Necro*/Barb       56*/60  (N) Kurast Docks           80
N   Crudesash68        Zon/Paladin       46/50   (N) Lut Gholein            67
Y   Pb_pal             Sorc/Zon          45/44   (N) Rogue Encampment       60
Y   Gynli              Zon/Necro         32/48   (N) Rogue Encampment       51
N   Swamigoon          Sin/Druid         45/33   WSK2                       41
N   DariusTriplet      Sorc/Zon          31/24   River of Flame             32
Y   Vildecor           Zon/Sorc          21/20   Lut Gholein                12
Y   Maltatai           Druid/Druid       21/15   Lut Gholein Sewers         9
N   CaseyJones         Sorc/Druid        15/23   Lut Gholein                9
Y   b1ur               Paladin/Druid     20/1    Lut Gholein                6
N   Arjan              Druid/Necro       20/1    Lut Gholein                6

 

[HanShotFirst]

@Booble - Wow! An eight act update . I was wondering if maybe you were making some quiet stealth progress .

Congrats on the finish! That Ancients battle does sound quite memorable. Just a thought for your future consideration ... if you brought a Life Tap wand along for the battle it would be like bringing an additional ~67 potions. It might relieve some stress ... or maybe it would have just made you really bored .

Sorry to hear about McRib, although:

2 packs of spiders are eating the delicious McRib for dinner.

That has to be one of the best 'deeds' quotes ever .

 

[Zedwardson]

Random question -- When D2R comes out, can you convert these characters to D2R and continue?

(I may be throwing my hat in the ring, so you can all see me fail badly.)

 

[Zedwardson]

Going to throw my hat in the ring - Cold Sorc and Summoning Necro


SP Forum Name Characters Level Furthest WP Points -- ----------------- ---------------- ------ ---------------------- ------- Y Hanshotfirst Sorc/Sin 88/87 Guardian x2 200 N PhineasB Necro/Druid 83/83 Guardian x2 200 N Booble Sorc/Druid 74/70 Matriarch / Deeds 174 Y skoolbus Druid/Sorc 60/60 (N) Kurast Docks 90 Y Hanshotfirst Necro*/Barb 56*/60 (N) Kurast Docks 80 N Crudesash68 Zon/Paladin 46/50 (N) Lut Gholein 67 Y Pb_pal Sorc/Zon 45/44 (N) Rogue Encampment 60 Y Gynli Zon/Necro 32/48 (N) Rogue Encampment 51 N Swamigoon Sin/Druid 45/33 WSK2 41 N DariusTriplet Sorc/Zon 31/24 River of Flame 32 Y Vildecor Zon/Sorc 21/20 Lut Gholein 12 Y Maltatai Druid/Druid 21/15 Lut Gholein Sewers 9 N CaseyJones Sorc/Druid 15/23 Lut Gholein 9 Y b1ur Paladin/Druid 20/1 Lut Gholein 6 N Arjan Druid/Necro 20/1 Lut Gholein 6 N Zedwardson Sorc/Necro 1/1 Rogue Encampment 0

 

[Booble]

@Booble - Wow! An eight act update . I was wondering if maybe you were making some quiet stealth progress .

Congrats on the finish! That Ancients battle does sound quite memorable. Just a thought for your future consideration ... if you brought a Life Tap wand along for the battle it would be like bringing an additional ~67 potions. It might relieve some stress ... or maybe it would have just made you really bored .

Sorry to hear about McRib, although:

2 packs of spiders are eating the delicious McRib for dinner.

That has to be one of the best 'deeds' quotes ever .

Yea had my first big chunk of time to play so I decided to go all in.

That's a fantastic idea about the life tap wand. I will try that next time.

I did have to have some fun with the deeds, haha

 

[Maltatai]

SP  Forum Name         Characters        Level   Furthest WP             Points
--  -----------------  ----------------  ------  ----------------------  -------
Y   Hanshotfirst       Sorc/Sin          88/87   Guardian x2                200
N   PhineasB           Necro/Druid       83/83   Guardian x2                200
N   Booble             Sorc/Druid        74/70   Matriarch / Deeds          174
Y   skoolbus           Druid/Sorc        60/60   (N) Kurast Docks           90
Y   Hanshotfirst       Necro*/Barb       56*/60  (N) Kurast Docks           80
N   Crudesash68        Zon/Paladin       46/50   (N) Lut Gholein            67
Y   Pb_pal             Sorc/Zon          45/44   (N) Rogue Encampment       60
Y   Gynli              Zon/Necro         32/48   (N) Rogue Encampment       51
N   Swamigoon          Sin/Druid         45/33   WSK2                       41
N   DariusTriplet      Sorc/Zon          31/24   River of Flame             32
Y   Maltatai           Druid/Druid       24/24   Far Oasis                  14
Y   Vildecor           Zon/Sorc          21/20   Lut Gholein                12
N   CaseyJones         Sorc/Druid        15/23   Lut Gholein                9
Y   b1ur               Paladin/Druid     20/1    Lut Gholein                6
N   Arjan              Druid/Necro       20/1    Lut Gholein                6
N   Zedwardsson        Sorc/Necro        1/1     Rogue Encampment           0

Savage slashing stabs secure sanguinary superiority seldom seen so soon.

Spoiler

Diary of Black Hack
13 August
The staff department completely ignored my well founded allegations and complaints about Treehead Woodfist and his hairy hooligans. Scandalous! I have instead been promptly reassigned to the catacombs, the damp and dreary career churchyard for disgruntled employees. I am a fearsome spider, extra strong and weaving my web of justified intrigue ever wider. I will have the last laugh, just wait... Although there is some talk of disarray in the barracks, the smithy is apparently overrun by a renegade brute. Well, don't come crying to me and say I didn't warn upper management...

​

14 August
Dammit! This time I could see for myself, in high eight eyed definition. It isn't a brute as such, but some kind of upright walking bear creature that is menacing our ranks. It came at my spider pack with wide swings like a drunken Tristram blacksmith - it is a mystery how such a slow and witless oaf of a creature could survive at all. But it had the help of one of the archers that we chased out of this decrepit temple complex. She shot me with chilling arrows and just as I was about to skewer the walking fur coat I was so slow I could not even counter his graceless pummeling. It was like some sort of green glow circled him, whatever it is it is surely some sort of cheat. Uh, back to try and make management see sense and awaiting reassignment, Black Hack is signing off for now.

​

So Paul has caught up and had varied success. He is awfully slow compared to the wolf but had some luck with items, particularly with the fine rare maul he dug up in the catacombs, a real treasure so early on.

​

Facing Andariel and the rest of Act I without too much difficulty, Paul was still plagued by the lack of speed and life and mana leeching. He was also running out of storage space at a critical rate and ran past the Rocky Waste and Dry Hills initially to obtain the means of freeing up his inventory a bit.

​

Zanarhi proved to be quite useful but shortly after I lost him in a completely unnecessary manner as I discounted the unbalanced damage of Radaments poison and Zanarhi died as I was fumbling with the tome of town portal that the bear used for convenience. That was a sharp reminder of sticking to scrolls in the belt so you can reach town in time. This was truly embarrassing. I wasn't optimistic about the chances of keeping the mercenary intact throughout the game but Act II in normal is just pathetic.

After several failed attempts Paul rolled a savage partizan that he was able to equip even earlier than Tord, level 23 instead of 24. Cubed amethysts and emeralds were instrumental in scraping together enough stat points.

​

It is the earliest that any of my characters have obtained these things and while the damage is certainly impressive so early on it comes at a high price in lack of life and other things.

​

Both wolf and bear has focused mostly on lycanthropy to compensate for the lack of vitality but now that Paul has acquired hunger I will put some points in it to make use of the vast increases from the first few skill points. With hunger taking care of mana problems for both and with solid damage and life leech, the rest of the game is looking far more promising. Real life is making it hard to have time and energy to spare for a single pass playstyle though, which I guess is quite evident in Pauls fiasco in the sewers. My wife, I should add, made the apt comment that both the tv-series characters are idiots after all so in that way it is sort of fitting that they should make fools of themselves.

 

[Zedwardson]

SP Forum Name Characters Level Furthest WP Points -- ----------------- ---------------- ------ ---------------------- ------- Y Hanshotfirst Sorc/Sin 88/87 Guardian x2 200 N PhineasB Necro/Druid 83/83 Guardian x2 200 N Booble Sorc/Druid 74/70 Matriarch / Deeds 174 Y skoolbus Druid/Sorc 60/60 (N) Kurast Docks 90 Y Hanshotfirst Necro*/Barb 56*/60 (N) Kurast Docks 80 N Crudesash68 Zon/Paladin 46/50 (N) Lut Gholein 67 Y Pb_pal Sorc/Zon 45/44 (N) Rogue Encampment 60 Y Gynli Zon/Necro 32/48 (N) Rogue Encampment 51 N Swamigoon Sin/Druid 45/33 WSK2 41 N DariusTriplet Sorc/Zon 31/24 River of Flame 32 Y Maltatai Druid/Druid 24/24 Far Oasis 14 Y Vildecor Zon/Sorc 21/20 Lut Gholein 12 N CaseyJones Sorc/Druid 15/23 Lut Gholein 9 Y b1ur Paladin/Druid 20/1 Lut Gholein 6 N Arjan Druid/Necro 20/1 Lut Gholein 6 N Zedwardsson Sorc/Necro 13/1 Dark wood 4

Having fun with the Ice Sorc, had a nice drop from the countess (Ral/Tal/Tir plus a rare ring that was actually junk) -- Normally that would be "Hey, that cool, I can build leaf" but leaf is useless to me due to the rules and I am on the Ice Skills. So have to decide what Runeword I should use (Can't use ladder runewords till I figure out how to launch D2 in Linux with the -3dfx and so on)




Playing HC, so being safe and playing at p1 and p2 till she built up a bit of equipment and so on.

 

[HanShotFirst]

More dead demons for the pile:





When will the pile be large enough? Will it ever be large enough? Are we doomed to dance this dance forever!?

NM Act III and IV has been cleared by my Barb at players 7.

You'll notice I didn't say Concentrate Barb. At this point it is painfully clear that I no longer have a Concentrate Barb. At this point I have a ... crowd control Barb? When last I checked-in I was in search of a decent one-handed weapon. I did not find one. Not one. Where the exceptional one-handed uniques are hiding I do not know. All I know is that they aren't where I went looking. And I looked everywhere. I did full clears at players 7. I put more points into Item Found (now at nine ... 41% chance of success), and used it on every corpse. Every corpse! Factor in 219 mf, and you'd think that would get you something! Nope .

So I continued, and continue to be a crowd control Barb. Skills are 20 points Concentrate and Battle Orders. 9 points Find Item. 1 point in Berserk and every other Warcries skill except Grim Ward. For game play, this translates to lots and lots of stunning with a one point War Cry. Champions and uniques got slowed with The General's Tan Do Li Ga Flail via Concentrate. Berserk worked on the few PI's we encoutered:



None of it was fast, but it worked. And while I really don't care for Singer Barbs, I do have to admit that it was fun to stun enemies that were planning to stun me:



Other than the rate of progress, I can't say that I encountered many problems. There was one unique Doom Knight pack where the unique totally blended in with the pack until BLAMO - I'm cursed and getting hit by a monster that is not only not stunned but is extra strong! That sort of thing was pretty rare though. Mostly it was easy to see the danger coming and stay out of the way:



Boss fights were pretty easy too. Life Tap wand goes on switch. Slow with The General's Tan Do Li Ga Flail, and then sub in the Crushflange. Simple, easy to remember. I had been worried about a players 7 Diablo's elemental attacks, but it was unjustified. I'm not sure if the Slow Target by 50% was chiefly at play, or if we just landed in the perfect position, but we met Diablo just outside of his pentagram and the battle never shifted or moved:



Diablo kept targeting the merc ... and doing much less damage than I expected ... maybe he was standing in just the right spot relative to Diablo ... I know that can happen sometimes ... Anyhow, Life Tap was plenty good to keep his health full. I stayed on the safe side, and we just marched right through his points. Well that was easy!

Good thing too, he didn't drop much of interest. If it had been a real battle I might have been disappointed ...

I did however find at least one endgame item elsewhere. Buried amidst lots and lots of rubbish set/uniques ...

Here's the complete list of set/uniques to result from a players 7 full clear of NM Act III and IV:
With 196 mf (+23 if the merc kills ... which was pretty much always).

Vidala's Barb, Long Battle Bow (Spider Forest)
Angelic Halo, Ring (Spider Cavern)
Tancred's Spine, Full Plate Mail (Spider Forest)
Skystrike, Edge Bow (Spider Forest) <-- No, no. I wanted an exceptional one-hander ... not a bow ...
Gorefoot, Heavy Boots (Flayer Dungeon Level 1)
Rogue's Bow, Composite Bow (Swampy Pit Level 2)
Angelic Wings, Amulet (Swampy Pit Level 3)
Razortine, Trident (Flayer Jungle)
Milabrega's Diadem, Crown (Lower Kurast)
Arcanna's Flesh, Light Plate (Ruined Temple)
Infernostride, Demonhide Boots (Sewers Level 1) <-- Via Item Find!
Kinemil's Awl, Giant Sword (Sewers Level 1)
Angelic Wings, Amulet (Ruined Fane)
Sigon's Visor, Great Helm (Durance of Hate Level 2)
The Impaler, War Spear (Durance of Hate Level 2) <-- Again, I wanted an exceptional one-hander!
Steelclash, Kite Shield (Mephisto)
Wormskull, Bone Helm (Mephisto)
Valkyrie Wing, Winged Helm (Mephisto)

Cathan's Sigil, Amulet (Plains of Despair)
Tancred's Crowbill, Military Pick (Plains of Despair)
Civerb's Ward, Large Shield (Plains of Despair)
Duriel's Shell, Cuirass (City of the Damned) <-- And it shone like a gem, in a five and dime store.
Iratha's Cord, Heavy Belt (River of Flame)
Lance Guard, Barbed Shield (Chaos Sanctuary)
Isenhart's Case, Breast Plate (Chaos Sanctuary)
Milabrega's Orb, Kite Shield (Diablo)
Hwanin's Refuge, Tigulated Mail (Diablo)

So one of those things is not like the others:



Duriel's Shell
Cuirass
Defense: 606
Durability: 30 of 150
Required Strength: 65
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 60
Fingerprint: 0xb5503218
+15 to Strength
+199% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +20%
Lightning Resist +20%
Cold Resist +50%
Poison Resist +20%
+100 Maximum Durability
Cannot Be Frozen
+1 to Defense (Based on Character Level)
+1 to Life (Based on Character Level)

Woohoo! This was found via Find Item. Interestingly, it came off the corpse of a unique that had dropped a rare Tyrant Club ... that's the first and only elite weapon I've seen so far. What a great monster! The rare Tyrant Club wasn't anything interesting but what a great roll on the Duriel's! It replaced the Spirit Shroud on the merc and will be most helpful come Hell.

The Hellforge drop:



Half an Um Rune . Because in 1.11b I'm pretty sure I won't find any of the other runes I'd need to create any of the runewords that use a Pul. A Lum or Um would have been great ... oh well ... maybe I can find some useful stuff in NM Act V ...

SP  Forum Name         Characters        Level   Furthest WP             Points
--  -----------------  ----------------  ------  ----------------------  -------
Y   Hanshotfirst       Sorc/Sin          88/87   Guardian x2                200
N   PhineasB           Necro/Druid       83/83   Guardian x2                200
N   Booble             Sorc/Druid        74/70   Matriarch / Deeds          174
Y   skoolbus           Druid/Sorc        60/60   (N) Kurast Docks           90
Y   Hanshotfirst       Barb/Necro*       67/56*  (N) Harrogath              89
N   Crudesash68        Zon/Paladin       46/50   (N) Lut Gholein            67
Y   Pb_pal             Sorc/Zon          45/44   (N) Rogue Encampment       60
Y   Gynli              Zon/Necro         32/48   (N) Rogue Encampment       51
N   Swamigoon          Sin/Druid         45/33   WSK2                       41
N   DariusTriplet      Sorc/Zon          31/24   River of Flame             32
Y   Maltatai           Druid/Druid       24/24   Far Oasis                  14
Y   Vildecor           Zon/Sorc          21/20   Lut Gholein                12
N   CaseyJones         Sorc/Druid        15/23   Lut Gholein                9
Y   b1ur               Paladin/Druid     20/1    Lut Gholein                6
N   Arjan              Druid/Necro       20/1    Lut Gholein                6
N   Zedwardsson        Sorc/Necro        13/1    Dark wood                  4

Up next: Maybe I can find something that'll get me back to being a Concentrate Barb ... or maybe I'll end up going more towards being Singer. Either way, NM Act V should prove pivotal!

 

[Pb_pal]

@Booble - Sorry about the deeds. Sszark is always cursed (and extra fast I think?), was it his group that you woke up? Sometimes he's not as nestled by the chest and can surprise you. Cingrats on the finish with your other character though, that's fantastic!

@Zedwardson - Welcome! And yes, as far as we know it should be a seamless transition to switching to D2R tournament-wise.

@HanShotFirst and @Maltatai - Great progress! Keep it up

 

[Zedwardson]

@Booble - Sorry about the deeds. Sszark is always cursed (and extra fast I think?), was it his group that you woke up? Sometimes he's not as nestled by the chest and can surprise you. Cingrats on the finish with your other character though, that's fantastic!

@Zedwardson - Welcome! And yes, as far as we know it should be a seamless transition to switching to D2R tournament-wise.

@HanShotFirst and @Maltatai - Great progress! Keep it up

Then I might make another team for my desktop. (I fully expect that on my desktop I will go to playing D2R exclusively, so didn't want to make a tourney character for it to be abandoned in a month or so.)

 

[Arjan]

Small update because I didn't have too much time playing D2 this last week (ok.. I cheated and started a D3 season on PS4).

Been putting some levels on the necro. Didn't find anything of note, and then remembered I could swap items between my Druid and necro, so we are going to wear that nagelring and a MF amulet from now on. P8 is easily doable so far, but I am not really familiar with the poison and bone skilltree, so I am not sure how I am going to play diablo when the time comes... but I'll have plenty of time to figure that out while I walk through the countryside around Tristram.

SP  Forum Name         Characters        Level   Furthest WP             Points
--  -----------------  ----------------  ------  ----------------------  -------
Y   Hanshotfirst       Sorc/Sin          88/87   Guardian x2                200
N   PhineasB           Necro/Druid       83/83   Guardian x2                200
N   Booble             Sorc/Druid        74/70   Matriarch / Deeds          174
Y   skoolbus           Druid/Sorc        60/60   (N) Kurast Docks           90
Y   Hanshotfirst       Barb/Necro*       67/56*  (N) Harrogath              89
N   Crudesash68        Zon/Paladin       46/50   (N) Lut Gholein            67
Y   Pb_pal             Sorc/Zon          45/44   (N) Rogue Encampment       60
Y   Gynli              Zon/Necro         32/48   (N) Rogue Encampment       51
N   Swamigoon          Sin/Druid         45/33   WSK2                       41
N   DariusTriplet      Sorc/Zon          31/24   River of Flame             32
Y   Maltatai           Druid/Druid       24/24   Far Oasis                  14
Y   Vildecor           Zon/Sorc          21/20   Lut Gholein                12
N   CaseyJones         Sorc/Druid        15/23   Lut Gholein                9
Y   b1ur               Paladin/Druid     20/1    Lut Gholein                6
N   Arjan              Druid/Necro       20/13   Lut Gholein                8
N   Zedwardsson        Sorc/Necro        13/1    Dark wood                  4

 

[Zedwardson]

SP Forum Name Characters Level Furthest WP Points -- ----------------- ---------------- ------ ---------------------- ------- Y Hanshotfirst Sorc/Sin 88/87 Guardian x2 200 N PhineasB Necro/Druid 83/83 Guardian x2 200 N Booble Sorc/Druid 74/70 Matriarch / Deeds 174 Y skoolbus Druid/Sorc 60/60 (N) Kurast Docks 90 Y Hanshotfirst Barb/Necro* 67/56* (N) Harrogath 89 N Crudesash68 Zon/Paladin 46/50 (N) Lut Gholein 67 Y Pb_pal Sorc/Zon 45/44 (N) Rogue Encampment 60 Y Gynli Zon/Necro 32/48 (N) Rogue Encampment 51 N Swamigoon Sin/Druid 45/33 WSK2 41 N DariusTriplet Sorc/Zon 31/24 River of Flame 32 Y Maltatai Druid/Druid 24/24 Far Oasis 14 Y Vildecor Zon/Sorc 21/20 Lut Gholein 12 N CaseyJones Sorc/Druid 15/23 Lut Gholein 9 N Zedwardsson Sorc/Necro 13/16 Dark wood 8 Y b1ur Paladin/Druid 20/1 Lut Gholein 6 N Arjan Druid/Necro 20/1 Lut Gholein 6

Sorry for the bad screenshot.

My Necro is doing the summoning tree -- actually a quite simple build. The only question will be how many mages he will add later on (assuming he does not deed before hand.) His map is made for countess runs since the countess castle is only about 10 seconds from the waypoint, with a shrine in between.

Now that both have made it to the countess, it time to push forward to finishing act 1, and deciding if I want to use the imbue now or later.

 

[skoolbus]

@Booble Congrats on the Mat!

Well, another update.
Picked up continuing Ifrit up the Bloody Foothills, and it was a struggle. No idea what was going on or how to fix it, but the moron was in fine form. He would not register mobs to attack unless they were right next to him. Coupled with the bug where the mobs totally ignore the merc, which happened basically as soon as I left Harrogath, and it was not a fun time. I would keep quitting when I got to a new a WP and restarting my PC, and it seemed to keep happening for the first half the act. I know sometimes if your merc disappears and has to teleport to your location, that can trigger the 'ignore merc' bug, but I didn't play any differently and it's pretty uncommon I encounter it. And for whatever reason, midway through the act, things went back to normal. Very strange.

Ifrit did continue his luck with drops in Act V. In approximate order they dropped (all uniques): Battle Gauntlets, Bec-de-Corbin, War Spear, Sharktooth Armor, Ko rune, and Pul rune. The Ko and Pul both dropped in the Frozen Tundra. All he needs now to make HotO is a Vex rune, got a flail just in case . The Ancients went down on /p1 no sweat.

The WSK was a different matter. Not a stair trap on WSK3, but as soon as Ifrit picked a direction to go, he ran into a unique pack of cursed Frezytaurs (green star). A split second decision was made to try and fight instead of running back up the stairs to clear the amp damage. I managed to keep the merc alive for a little bit, but he got overwhelmed. Ifrit beat a hasty retreat, and once again a split second decision was needed. If I go back up the stairs, I didn't think I'd ever be able to clear them when coming back down, so instead I blindly ran the other direction. Of course, Ifrit immediately pulls a second group of unique Frenzytaurs (blue star). At this point his health is dropping about 40% per hit and I'm chugging rejuvs. By some miracle I run into a corner absolutely packed with blowgun Flayers. Completely and totally surrounded by legions of Flayers doing about 4 damage a dart (while Ifrit is cursed) Ifrit is insulated from the Frenzytaurs and can escape through a TP (blue oval). Even luckier, when I came back down the stairs, I had lured them all far enough away, that the original direction of travel was fairly safe. Once I'd cleared a good section that direction, Ifrit was able to fully clear out the WSK3. Here's a pic of the battle, along with the green star Frenzytaur.


This was one of the worst NDEs I can recall surviving. I had that panicked feeling that comes .2 seconds before a deeds. Continuing on, Ifrit cleared out Baal's minions on /p8, lister on /p3, and easily dispatched Baal at /p3.


Afterwards, Ifrit killed Nihlathak and cleared out the cows. I went ahead and socketed and personalized his Vipermagi (with the 15 resist all jewel).

So, once finishing out NM with Ifrit, it was time to attempt it with Shiva. Luckily, Shiva's merc behaved the entire act, and it wasn't made artificially more difficult than it needed to be. Act V brought on the first CI witches. I pumped Fireball to beef up the Hydra's a little bit, and I must say, I'm quite liking Hydra. Prior to this act, I was 50/50 on keeping Hydra or respec'ing to a different fire skill. After my scare with Ifirit, by the end of Act V, I never went anywhere without thoroughly scouting it out with Hydras first. Another bonus of Hydra:


Continuing up to Baal, a Spire of Honor dropped, so equipped the merc with that. The only other really great drop was a 20 life SC. Baal and his minions were no match for Shiva, I did drop it to /p3 for Lister and Baal.


Had Hydra not impressed me so much that act, I'm pretty sure I would have changed courses here and gone with Enchant, Kuku being just about the ideal ranged enchantress weapon. After Baal, I put it on /p8 and went into the cow level. I did not realize how painful /p8 cows was going to be. Almost immediately, I dropped it to /p3 so it wouldn't take 3 hours to clear. But not before:


Tal Rasha's Adjudication
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 67
Fingerprint: 0x3334cd2d
+50 to Life
+42 to Mana
Lightning Resist +33%
Adds 3-32 lightning damage
+2 to Sorceress Skill Levels

What a great find! Glad it dropped for Shiva instead of Ifrit, since at this point I doubt they will share items. I put it on /p1 and went and killed Nihlathak.

So, now that both have completed NM, I respec'ed Ifrit and he's unlocked the summon tree. I maxed Oak Sage and put 1 into Grizzly. I'm going to leave it at 1 for right now and see how it fares. Ifrit is keeping a few free skill points, I'd like to pump Fissure synergies rather than Grizzly, but having two tanks is the priority. I also went ahead and geared him up for Hell. His current gear is below.

Spoiler

I'm pretty excited about his gear and prospects for Hell. He's got max block, plenty of FHR, 2k life with Oak Sage, 75+ resists, and ample opportunity to improve his gear even further. Shiva on the other hand, I dropped the ball on big time prepping for hell. My gear is basically Razorswitch, Tal's Ammy, triple resist gloves, 76 life belt, and the rest is still MF armor.... She has 1k life and her resists are all 60 or higher, so I don't think I'm in imminent danger, but I certainly need to make improvements soon.

SP  Forum Name         Characters        Level   Furthest WP             Points
--  -----------------  ----------------  ------  ----------------------  -------
Y   Hanshotfirst       Sorc/Sin          88/87   Guardian x2                200
N   PhineasB           Necro/Druid       83/83   Guardian x2                200
N   Booble             Sorc/Druid        74/70   Matriarch / Deeds          174
Y   skoolbus           Druid/Sorc        74/74   (H) Blood Moor             124
Y   Hanshotfirst       Barb/Necro*       67/56*  (N) Harrogath              89
N   Crudesash68        Zon/Paladin       46/50   (N) Lut Gholein            67
Y   Pb_pal             Sorc/Zon          45/44   (N) Rogue Encampment       60
Y   Gynli              Zon/Necro         32/48   (N) Rogue Encampment       51
N   Swamigoon          Sin/Druid         45/33   WSK2                       41
N   DariusTriplet      Sorc/Zon          31/24   River of Flame             32
Y   Maltatai           Druid/Druid       24/24   Far Oasis                  14
Y   Vildecor           Zon/Sorc          21/20   Lut Gholein                12
N   CaseyJones         Sorc/Druid        15/23   Lut Gholein                9
N   Zedwardsson        Sorc/Necro        13/16   Dark wood                  8
Y   b1ur               Paladin/Druid     20/1    Lut Gholein                6
N   Arjan              Druid/Necro       20/1    Lut Gholein                6

Well, started playing Shiva after posting, and couldn't contain my excitement over this...

Crown of Ages
Corona
Defense: 377
Required Strength: 174
Required Level: 82
Indestructible
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x4e5451d5
+50% Enhanced Defense
+128 Defense
Damage Reduced by 13%
All Resistances +28
30% Faster Hit Recovery
+1 to All Skill Levels
Indestructible
Socketed (2: 0 used)

If she makes it to level 82, I will face a very tough decision about 2x Hel and pumping strength or give it to the merc...

 

[Zedwardson]

Will update fully once one of my toons finish Act 1(Edit: I now have a 2nd team in), but one of the bigger choices is always when do you use the imbue. For HC I always just decide to use it when I earn it, as a Imbue not used at deeds is wasted. While I can't use the Iron Maiden or Corpse Explosion, the Life stolen and Plenty of charges of Terror will be useful. I also made "Stealth" from runes for my armor.


On my desktop I have started another team, it won't be as active as my laptop team but when I do get a chance to play it may very well be longer sessions. Werewolf Druid and a combat Pali, (Zealot). Both have cleared the den of evil before I head to bed.

SP Forum Name Characters Level Furthest WP Points -- ----------------- ---------------- ------ ---------------------- ------- Y Hanshotfirst Sorc/Sin 88/87 Guardian x2 200 N PhineasB Necro/Druid 83/83 Guardian x2 200 N Booble Sorc/Druid 74/70 Matriarch / Deeds 174 Y skoolbus Druid/Sorc 74/74 (H) Blood Moor 124 Y Hanshotfirst Barb/Necro* 67/56* (N) Harrogath 89 N Crudesash68 Zon/Paladin 46/50 (N) Lut Gholein 67 Y Pb_pal Sorc/Zon 45/44 (N) Rogue Encampment 60 Y Gynli Zon/Necro 32/48 (N) Rogue Encampment 51 N Swamigoon Sin/Druid 45/33 WSK2 41 N DariusTriplet Sorc/Zon 31/24 River of Flame 32 Y Maltatai Druid/Druid 24/24 Far Oasis 14 Y Vildecor Zon/Sorc 21/20 Lut Gholein 12 N CaseyJones Sorc/Druid 15/23 Lut Gholein 9 N Zedwardsson Sorc/Necro 13/17 Catacombs 9 Y b1ur Paladin/Druid 20/1 Lut Gholein 6 N Arjan Druid/Necro 20/1 Lut Gholein 6 N Zedwardson Druid/Paladin 3/2 Rogue Encampment 2

 

[HanShotFirst]

@skoolbus - Tal's Amulet and a Crown of Ages ... on a Sorceress ... in one post ...

This has to be the most disgusting display of luck I've ever seen on a single pass tournament character ... perhaps ever ...

I hope you're ashamed of yourself.

Spoiler

Congratulatoins!

 

[Arjan]

Well... it has been a good day for Rattle (necromancer) and his fitbit. We walked some time enjoying the countryside minding everybodies bussiness, just like necromancer do, when we got to a passage. In we went and after quite some time showing some teeth we got to the lower level. With convidence we descended... and where jumped by not 1 but two groups...

The merc died, fast. So Rattle did the natural thing and ran. Which wasn't really the smartest thing to do...
We got a first hand taste of the meaning of the Iron Maiden lyrics to running Wild: Now all the boys are after me, and that's the way it's gonna be. I doubt there was someone with a poisened dagger in that song, so eventually the boys were all pretty much lying silent on the ground.

I brought Rattle a bit more up on levels with some visits to his lovely mistress, the Countess.
She dropped some nice runes too. So that was time spent rather well.

A deathspade dropped, but I am not going to be a axwielding madman... so that will maybe go to the druid for some time.
Artic fur dropped too. Wore it a bit but then I decided to use them runes immediately and made a Stealth leather armor. 25% fcr, fhr and frw, some poison res for Andyruns later on. For rattle it works. And the merc kinda likes her furs too.

level 18 so I can finally throw around with bone spears... and drink mana potions like crazy.
I still have to get the hang of putting my bone wall somewhere usefull like in a hallway blocking the way and not next to the wall where it's completely useless...

So far I am not unhappy with both characters and how I enjoy playing them HC.

SP Forum Name Characters Level Furthest WP Points -- ----------------- ---------------- ------ ---------------------- ------- Y Hanshotfirst Sorc/Sin 88/87 Guardian x2 200 N PhineasB Necro/Druid 83/83 Guardian x2 200 N Booble Sorc/Druid 74/70 Matriarch / Deeds 174 Y skoolbus Druid/Sorc 74/74 (H) Blood Moor 124 Y Hanshotfirst Barb/Necro* 67/56* (N) Harrogath 89 N Crudesash68 Zon/Paladin 46/50 (N) Lut Gholein 67 Y Pb_pal Sorc/Zon 45/44 (N) Rogue Encampment 60 Y Gynli Zon/Necro 32/48 (N) Rogue Encampment 51 N Swamigoon Sin/Druid 45/33 WSK2 41 N DariusTriplet Sorc/Zon 31/24 River of Flame 32 Y Maltatai Druid/Druid 24/24 Far Oasis 14 Y Vildecor Zon/Sorc 21/20 Lut Gholein 12 N CaseyJones Sorc/Druid 15/23 Lut Gholein 9 N Zedwardsson Sorc/Necro 13/17 Catacombs 9 Y b1ur Paladin/Druid 20/1 Lut Gholein 6 N Arjan Druid/Necro 20/18 Lut Gholein 11 N Zedwardson Druid/Paladin 3/2 Rogue Encampment 2

 

[Zedwardson]

Well today I am on my desktop, so my Paladin had a lot of play today
SP Forum Name Characters Level Furthest WP Points -- ----------------- ---------------- ------ ---------------------- ------- Y Hanshotfirst Sorc/Sin 88/87 Guardian x2 200 N PhineasB Necro/Druid 83/83 Guardian x2 200 N Booble Sorc/Druid 74/70 Matriarch / Deeds 174 Y skoolbus Druid/Sorc 74/74 (H) Blood Moor 124 Y Hanshotfirst Barb/Necro* 67/56* (N) Harrogath 89 N Crudesash68 Zon/Paladin 46/50 (N) Lut Gholein 67 Y Pb_pal Sorc/Zon 45/44 (N) Rogue Encampment 60 Y Gynli Zon/Necro 32/48 (N) Rogue Encampment 51 N Swamigoon Sin/Druid 45/33 WSK2 41 N DariusTriplet Sorc/Zon 31/24 River of Flame 32 Y Maltatai Druid/Druid 24/24 Far Oasis 14 Y Vildecor Zon/Sorc 21/20 Lut Gholein 12 N Arjan Druid/Necro 20/18 Lut Gholein 11 N CaseyJones Sorc/Druid 15/23 Lut Gholein 9 N Zedwardson Sorc/Necro 13/17 Catacombs 9 N Zedwardson Druid/Paladin 3/18 Lut Gholein 7 Y b1ur Paladin/Druid 20/1 Lut Gholein 6


Decided after exploring to the catacombs to go and hit up the countess for some runes to make stealth. But instead of runes I got a unique ring...



a 24% Nagelring dropped, not bad for act 1

|

Going to T with the ring meant my first setbit


It was a Hsarus Iron Fist, and I promptly had another one drop.


Did one more run around before meeting Andy.



Rare amulet, but it was a garbage one



Beat Andy on P3, Now have to decide if I want to use the imbue now for one of the three weak pieces of equipment (Belt, armor, helmet) and head to act 2. Almost screwed up and forgot I was poisoned and was busy screenshotting instead of watching my health bar.

Kinda fun, first time I beat act 1 in about 10 years.

 

[Arjan]

Well today I am on my desktop, so my Paladin had a lot of play today
SP Forum Name Characters Level Furthest WP Points -- ----------------- ---------------- ------ ---------------------- ------- Y Hanshotfirst Sorc/Sin 88/87 Guardian x2 200 N PhineasB Necro/Druid 83/83 Guardian x2 200 N Booble Sorc/Druid 74/70 Matriarch / Deeds 174 Y skoolbus Druid/Sorc 74/74 (H) Blood Moor 124 Y Hanshotfirst Barb/Necro* 67/56* (N) Harrogath 89 N Crudesash68 Zon/Paladin 46/50 (N) Lut Gholein 67 Y Pb_pal Sorc/Zon 45/44 (N) Rogue Encampment 60 Y Gynli Zon/Necro 32/48 (N) Rogue Encampment 51 N Swamigoon Sin/Druid 45/33 WSK2 41 N DariusTriplet Sorc/Zon 31/24 River of Flame 32 Y Maltatai Druid/Druid 24/24 Far Oasis 14 Y Vildecor Zon/Sorc 21/20 Lut Gholein 12 N Arjan Druid/Necro 20/18 Lut Gholein 11 N CaseyJones Sorc/Druid 15/23 Lut Gholein 9 N Zedwardson Sorc/Necro 13/17 Catacombs 9 N Zedwardson Druid/Paladin 3/18 Lut Gholein 7 Y b1ur Paladin/Druid 20/1 Lut Gholein 6


Decided after exploring to the catacombs to go and hit up the countess for some runes to make stealth. But instead of runes I got a unique ring...

View attachment 66754

a 24% Nagelring dropped, not bad for act 1

View attachment 66755|

Going to T with the ring meant my first setbit
View attachment 66757

It was a Hsarus Iron Fist, and I promptly had another one drop.


Did one more run around before meeting Andy.

View attachment 66758

Rare amulet, but it was a garbage one

View attachment 66759

Beat Andy on P3, Now have to decide if I want to use the imbue now for one of the three weak pieces of equipment (Belt, armor, helmet) and head to act 2. Almost screwed up and forgot I was poisoned and was busy screenshotting instead of watching my health bar.

Kinda fun, first time I beat act 1 in about 10 years.

Nice! I am enjoying my Stealth runeword and Nagelring a lot. My druid got it in his act I run and my necro caried it from the moment I remembered I could swap gear between tournament teams. Going to try my luck with Andy in a bit

 

[HanShotFirst]

We did it, Mister Frodo. We made it to Mordor.



NM Act V has been cleared at players 7! ... So, the full clear is still on entering Hell!

First, a bit of a brag. I made it all the way through NM, doing full clears, at players 7, with decent mf (low 200's), and managed not to find a single exceptional unique weapon that can be wielded one-handed. All the more impressive I suppose, as I was playing a Barbarian, using Item Find on every corpse. Also as a Barb, two-handed swords were therefore an additional option. Still, I managed not to find a single one. Not one .

Oh well. So clearly some improvisation was needed. I started NM Act V with 20 points in Concentrate and Battle Orders, nine points in Find Item, and one point in all other Warcries except Grim Ward. I had a good number of skill points saved and decided to put them into War Cry. One point War Cry had been working pretty well but I decided a longer stun length would worthwhile. Level 1 War Cry has a stun length of 1 second. Level 20 War Cry has a stun length of 4.8 seconds. The 4.8 second stun length was really nice ... but the added mana cost was not. So more changes were needed. I tried a Spirit Sword, and that fixed the mana problem, but I didn't like how it made the character play. I've been using Concentrate and The General's Tan Do Li Ga Flail to slow enemies since Act V ... going to being a less involved caster wasn't fun. So I brought back the The General's Tan Do Li Ga Flail, and swapped out my 17 mf Nagelring for a magic ring with 118 mana and 16 life, and that did the trick! I could spam War Cry on most enemies and use the The General's Tan Do Li Ga to slow champions and uniques.

And so it went. Lots of stunning, and then slowing for foes that could not be stunned. Merc kills everything. It's been a long time since I messed around with War Cry, so I started off a bit rusty. The problem I remembered with Singers was: what to do with monsters that are out of range? Oh yeah. Taunt. The description for Taunt is: 'causes a monster to attack'. This doesn't sound helpful ... but I seemed to remember that it was ... so I gave it a go ... What the description for Taunt should be is: 'causes a monster to walk up to you'. Cool! This totally fixes all my War Cry problems. Archers, spell casters, and summoners, were all drawn into my stun field:


Come little healers, I'll be thy friend.

And so, with a War Cry with a 4.8 second stun duration ... and Taunt to draw the flies to my spider web ... progress was pretty smooth. Until, the Ancients Way. That area had the Carver Shaman that shoot Glacial Spikes. Doesn't seem like it'd be a problem, but oh it was ... They seemed to come in groups of four, and if you were at the right passageway junction, you could end up with eight ... or twelve ... or sixteen ... and of course, all their minions. Still, I can stun them and dispose of corpses via Item Find ... but it was easier said than done. I was busy keeping everything stunned so it was hard to beat all those Shaman to a corpse. I could Taunt the Shaman to me and stun them ... but they were operating off the screen ... often around corners ... and sometimes through walls . Oh, and in NM the Ancients Way is HUGE. I got it cleared, but what an annoying mess full of non-stop setbacks.

At least the Ancients were easy. I went through them like a knife through warm butter. Korlic was PI:


But my one point Berserk, and newly upgraded The General's Tan Do Li Ga Knout was good enough to handle him.

Then things got messy again. The Worldstone Keep Level 1 had Vile Witches:



The worst kind of foe. They spread out, attack at range, and cast Amplify Damage. A couple unique packs met at once nearly ended my journey ... let's hear it for Fat Purples and Taunt.

WSK2 ... no problems ...

WSK3 ... PROBLEMS:



Like @skoolbus, I was met at the stairs by two packs of unique Frenzytaurs. As you can see, one of them was cursed . War Cry kept the 'little' guys stunned. The General's Tan Do Li Ga slowed the uniques so the merc didn't get overwhelmed. We got through them without serious incident ... but what a welcome party!

The Throne of Destruction also had a welcome party:



And look, Oblivion Knights too :



Oblivion Knights are immune to Taunt . Throw in the chance that Lower Resistance could appear at any moment and you've got yourself a mess! But it wasn't our time to die ...

Next came the waves. We met the first wave at the base of Baal's throne. Bad idea ... Decrepify brought the merc to all but a stand still. We finished off the first wave and then moved out of Baal's Decrepify range. Future waves were drawn out with Taunt. That worked well until the Plucked Chickens. They didn't need to be Taunted and came charging! Fine. You want to go? Let's go! Right out of the throne room main chamber we went ... to a side chamber ... and then teleported back to the now empty main chamber. As always, Baal was most alarmed by this trick and fled. We then went out and picked the Plucked Chickens off one by one ... which with stun and slow, was no big deal at all.

Baal, was also no big deal. We teleported on top of him and the fight never moved. The General's Tan Do Li Ga brought him to a stand still, and the merc, and the Barb's switch Crushflange, then marched right through his hit points.

But wait! NM's not done yet. Cows ... we still have to do The Secret Cow Level. This is where things got really tedious. We entered at players 7, and right away ran into a problem:



Stone Skin and a Holy Freeze aura . Great. The merc has CBF, but Holy Freeze doesn't care. It all but brought the merc to a stop. <Sigh.> Eventually we poked our way through that unique but it did not get better. At players 7 those cows just had too many hit points. I switched to players 5, but not before I'd traveled enough of the interior to get most of the cows set to P7. So it was a long slog through the area ... A very long slog. Still, War Cry kept things pretty safe ... even with lots of foes around:


Don't try this with ... um, ... probably any other build ...

After much hacking and whacking, and nerve rattling scenes like the one above, we finally poked our way through The Secret Cow Level!

I had been hoping for a nice rune ... or maybe a nifty socketable ... but all that higher players setting struggle was for not!

At least I got something nice in NM Act V ...

Here's the complete list of set/uniques found in NM Act V:
With 179 mf (+23 mf if the merc kills ... which was pretty much always).

Cathan's Seal, Ring (Bloody Foothills)
Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest, Death Mask (Bloody Foothills) <-- Hello .
Cathan's Seal, Ring (Bloody Foothills) <-- Yes, again.
Sazabi's Mental Sheath, Basinet (Frigid Highlands)
Berserker's Headgear, Helm (Frigid Highlands)
Vidala's Barb, Long Battle Bow (Frigid Highlands)
The Mahim-Oak Curio, Amulet (Arreat Plateau)
Goblin Toe, Light Plated Boots (Crystalline Passage) <-- Great! With a different setup ...
Cathan's Seal, Ring (Frozen River)
Manald Heal, Ring (Frozen River)
Iratha's Coil, Crown (Crystalline Passage)
Lance of Yaggai, Spetum (Glacial Trail)
Hsarus' Iron Heel, Chain Boots (Drifter Cavern)
Silks of the Victor, Ancient Armor (Halls of Anguish)
Sigon's Sabot, Greaves (Infernal Pit)
Sigon's Gage, Gauntlets (Frozen Tundra)
Hwanin's Justice, Bill (Frozen Tundra)
Sigon's Wrap, Plated Belt (The Ancients' Way)
Sander's Superstition, Bone Wand (The Ancients' Way)
Cleglaw's Tooth, Long Sword (The Ancients' Way)
Cleglaw's Tooth, Long Sword (The Ancients' Way) <-- Yes, another.
Tancred's Crowbill, Military Pick (The Worldstone Keep Level 1)
Steelclash, Kite Shield (The Worldstone Keep Level 2)
Nagelring, Ring (The Worldstone Keep Level 3) <-- 19 mf ...
Sander's Taboo, Heavy Gloves (The Worldstone Keep Level 3)
Wizendraw, Long Battle Bow (Throne of Destruction)

The Jade Tan Do, Kris (The Secret Cow Level)
Bladebuckle, Plated Belt (The Cow King)
Cleglaw's Pincers, Chain Gloves (The Cow King)
Culwen's Point, War Sword (The Secret Cow Level)

Well, I can't say I didn't find anything. And yes, one of those things was really great!



Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Death Mask
Defense: 115
Durability: 11 of 20
Required Strength: 55
Required Level: 66
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x75c8d299
+60 to Life
+30 to Mana
+45 Defense
All Resistances +15
10% Life stolen per hit
10% Mana stolen per hit

Found via Item Find! It'd be great on the Barb, but since the merc is doing all the killing, he gets first dibs. It replaced a rare circlet with 3% life leech and All Resistances +17 ... and some trash mods. Couple the Tal's mask with Duriel's Shell (also found via Item Find ) and the merc is ready for Hell! The Barb, not so much ...

SP  Forum Name         Characters        Level   Furthest WP             Points
--  -----------------  ----------------  ------  ----------------------  -------
Y   Hanshotfirst       Sorc/Sin          88/87   Guardian x2                200
N   PhineasB           Necro/Druid       83/83   Guardian x2                200
N   Booble             Sorc/Druid        74/70   Matriarch / Deeds          174
Y   skoolbus           Druid/Sorc        74/74   (H) Blood Moor             124
Y   Hanshotfirst       Barb/Necro*       74/56*  (H) Rogue Encampment       100
N   Crudesash68        Zon/Paladin       46/50   (N) Lut Gholein            67
Y   Pb_pal             Sorc/Zon          45/44   (N) Rogue Encampment       60
Y   Gynli              Zon/Necro         32/48   (N) Rogue Encampment       51
N   Swamigoon          Sin/Druid         45/33   WSK2                       41
N   DariusTriplet      Sorc/Zon          31/24   River of Flame             32
Y   Maltatai           Druid/Druid       24/24   Far Oasis                  14
Y   Vildecor           Zon/Sorc          21/20   Lut Gholein                12
N   Arjan              Druid/Necro       20/18   Lut Gholein                11
N   CaseyJones         Sorc/Druid        15/23   Lut Gholein                9
N   Zedwardson         Sorc/Necro         13/17   Catacombs                 9
N   Zedwardson         Druid/Paladin     3/18    Lut Gholein                7
Y   b1ur               Paladin/Druid     20/1    Lut Gholein                6

Up next: I suppose I'd better do some gear rearranging before starting Hell. As is, my resistances in Hell are right around 30 ... that doesn't seem like a good idea. I really would have loved to have found a Vipermagi, or a Lum Rune (Smoke), or another Duriel's, or a Goldskin ... heck, starting NM Act IV I started looking for a four socketed armor I could stuff runes into for resistances ... I didn't find any of them. So, not quite sure what options that leaves me ... I've got my NM socket quest and a whole heck of a lot of unused stat points:


Remember, no respecs in 1.11b.

I'm sure I'll figure something out ...