@NanoMist - Well done, that Diablo pic is pretty sweet! Good luck in the home stretch.
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[highlight]Geras, Cultist of Malstrom
Talents: Charms Expert, One With Nature, Pride, Specialist[/highlight]
Geras celebrated his arrival in harrogath by filling his final ring slot with a Hitpower ring which Malstrom allows. Too bad it wasn't
a little bit more useful...
Soon the group had killed Shenk, freed the barbs, and travelled all the way down into the Frozen River to
save Anya. Things were beginning to get a bit more difficult, so Geras decided to finally start using his Ravens more. He pumped a few extra skill points into them and let me say, I'm quite pleased with the decision! Being a single-tree summoner, he won't be hurting for skill points, so it only made sense to get himself the maximum number of ravens. Keeping everything blinded has made groups much more manageable, and makes me think that I might switch to HoW over Oak sooner rather than later. I might even pump them a bit more (currently slvl 5) for the sake of having to recast them less often. We also made the switch from Poison Creeper to Carrion Vine. Our original plan was to have PC essentially be a source of PMH, but it just doesn't stay alive well enough and the life gain from the Carrion Vine is much more useful right now.
He found a decent
pelt enabled by the Specialist Talent, although he's a bit too obsessed with keeping his MF up right now so he's staicking with his topazed helm. We will keep the pelt around in case of tough fights though.
We finally made the switch to HoW when we reached the Ancients. The extra damage (and especially AR) were becoming too appealing to pass up. The fight was easy and the Ancients went down with
no trouble. Before they knew it, to pack had made it all the way to the Throne. The first 4 waves were an absolute cakewalk, and Lister's group was sectioned off into packs of 1-2, making them safe as well. Even Lister was completely
benign as he focused solely on the wolves. They're still quite durable, and every time he knocked one back there were 2 more there to distract him, making us use only a single wolf recast the entire fight.
The Baal fight, however, was not quite as smooth. We had to use the bear as the wolves just got vaporized too quickly to do any reasonable damage. Baal seemed to have a real penchant for cloning himself, as he did so 5 times throughout the fight. Geras had to be especially careful of Baal's hoarfrost attack, as it took away a huge chunk of his life if it hit. After lots of chasing, town trips, recasts, and potions, we did eventually get him to
settle down and get rid of the bugger.
.
His drop even left us an interesting bow to consider. Wizendraw is a definite option, especially for Annor as it rolled a decent -26% Enemy Cold Resistance. It's not allowed naturally under any of Geras' talents, but he decided to take advantage of Malstrom's main ability and personalized the bow to open up its usage to all cultists. Annor will be the first to try it out.
It may not be an ideal candidate for that, but we figured the magic arrows, as well as the -ECR% will help our killing speed, especially as monsters start to get more physically resistant.
Geras also decided that 45 was a bit young for NM, so he levelled himself up to 48 before moving on.
[highlight]Destroyer Geras the Hunter/Summoner Druid with Annor the Cold Rogue - lvl 48, NM Rogue Encampment - 55 points[/highlight]
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Code:
~ Cultists ~
Character ----- Class/ God ------ Forum Name ----- Level ----- Act ----- Score
Pyre Assassin/Thoth NanoMist 76 5hell 159
Derevus Paladin/Sol Vildecor 74 1hell 98
Wicular Necromancer/Requiem Southpaw8668 57 2nm 87
Xiu_Atesh Druid/Xiu-Matesh Dazliare 54 2nm 73
GoreJess Assassin/Ullr mwille 50 2nm 65
Geras Druid/Malstrom Pb_pal 48 1nm 55
ManOfSteel Barb/Fractured One Bry 28 4 38
Toxic_Tom Barbarian/Pherydimox mwille 27 3 28
UndeadCooper Druid/Requiem Mezion 26 2 22
Quimble Necromancer/Sol ranagrande 25 2 14
Vrauzhul Necromancer/Chimaera iMonsterEatCity 17 1 8
Stefon Barbarian/Ouroboros Neksja 1 1 0
~ Legacy ~
Character ----- Class/ God ------ Forum Name ----- Level ----- Act ----- Score
Gore Assassin/Ullr mwille 49 1nm 63
BaileyCat Assa./Antediluvianis Mezion 27 5 48
Lycaon Druid/Ouroboros Neksja 29 4 40
Perturbator Paladin/Pherydimox Mezion 33 4 38
OwenCat Necro/Antediluvianis Mezion 27 4 38
GoreLord Necromancer/Ullr mwille 31 4 38
AnnGore Amazon/Ullr mwille 32 4 38
Derevus Paladin/Sol Vildecor 32 4 34
Sabine Sorc/Chimaera iMonsterEatCity 25 2 18
Snirn Barbarian/Pherydimox broxi_111 22 2 10
Gunvor Assassin/Ullr mwille 20 2 10