1.09 Roll Call - Goals, Progress, Finds
- Thread starter RobbyD
- Start date
My sork, Vexing, is currently sitting in Act 1 Hell. I'm using her to farm Nightmare Cows for charms/gems. She's level 68 at the moment and sporting the FO/Nova build. I love her. I love nova. My gear is pitiful but it works! Hoping to get her leveled up and magic finding for other characters really soon.
Been a long, long while for me. I've been playing Path of Exile for years, but I've starting waxing nostalgic for D2. I looked for and found my old original failed 1.09 Pally and Barb (both in Hell Act 1, so earlier saves than where the story ended) - the ones that I couldn't get past Hell Ancients and caused me to shelve the game before coming back and getting to all of my goals (1.09 Sept, Vex from Countess, WF Zon, etc.). Once upon a time I posed the idea of taking those old char file (with epic fail gear) and finishing them untwinked (maybe sharing items between themselves). Since I have gotten used to going untwinked for each PoE challenge league, I'm mulling over a return to give this a shot. It would probably start with the Pally doing some running of the Countess and NM Blood runs for a decent 2s pally shield and a Shael for Rhyme as well as a decent level to take on Hell.
@VThief - I understand IM with Clay Golem is effective in classic.
@VThief - I understand IM with Clay Golem is effective in classic.
fearedbliss
Member
@RobbyD Welcome back. I just deleted all of my character stashes (Including my 1.09b stuff which was my main patch for a while) like a week ago. However, there's a good amount of people on the Discord channel and we sometimes MP. You could try hanging out in there and maybe a 1.09b group untwinked could get going?
I tried PoE, I have respect for it and I keep up with Chris Wilsons' interviews and game updates, but it's too complicated/way too much depth for me personally, I've been playing Grim Dawn heavily though, I like the direction the GD people went vs PoE (GD still has a lot of depth, but it's more manageable in my head than PoE). Both are really good improvements to the ARPG genre though.
I tried PoE, I have respect for it and I keep up with Chris Wilsons' interviews and game updates, but it's too complicated/way too much depth for me personally, I've been playing Grim Dawn heavily though, I like the direction the GD people went vs PoE (GD still has a lot of depth, but it's more manageable in my head than PoE). Both are really good improvements to the ARPG genre though.
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Don't welcome me back just yet - I'm still working to see how far into the Atlas I can get in PoE - but I am thinking to fire up 1.09 once I reach terminal difficulty in the current PoE challenge league (which has happened to me every time before I can take on any of the real post-game challenges). I must not be sufficiently versant in the elite character engineering (or I just suck at game play) to take on the Uber-type challenges there.
Once I got the idea of finishing those original characters, I couldn't focus on PoE any longer. So I fired up D2, and both the Pally (RobbyD) and the Barb (Asskicker) were in Hell Act 1 at level 59 with mostly abhorrent gear and Barb mercs with blue and white gear.
The Pally had a blue Grim Shield (not even with a blocking affix) with 2 sox from Larzuk filled with pDiamonds. He was rocking Salvation at boot up, as the blue shield had no resists. The halfway decent items he did have were a Zakarum's Hand, Peasant Crown, Gravepalm, and surprisingly decent bling (Prismatic Ammy of Blight, ring with 11/11/22/11 and 5% ll.
The Barb also had decent weapons (Butcher's Pupil and Aldur's Rhythm) and a Scintillating Ammy of the Squid, but the rest of the gear was piss poor - well, the yellow boots did have 30 FRW. His skills were a hot mess - tons of points in axe, mace, and sword masteries and not a single point in BO.
SO... Having learned what I learned - here was my plan:
I shopped a Jeweler's Gothic Plate and stuffed it with pTopazs for the Barb, and eventually had the gear and the memory that Sigon's gloves + belt + boots make a pretty nice barb MF setup to get him equipped with that. I also started shopping for +Warcries weapons and started pumping BO as he leveled up. I did end up with 2 echoing weapons, so running Mephy (I did have to roll a couple maps before I got a really good one) got quick and easy. An IK hat dropped, which helps with MF and BO, so he's starting to get some decent MF.
So, Mephy's dropped a Hone (I put on the Barb's merc because he helps SO much when he does show up for the Mephy fight) and a Meat Scraper (Pally's merc). I haven't gotten a Duriel's Shell, but once I saw the Goldskin drop, I knew that + a Duskdeep would do until I can run NM Countess for a couple Lum runes for Smoke. The Pally is ready for Hell (Moser's with 2x pDiamond, Skin of Vipermagi, Scintillating Ammy, Tearhauch) as he's a good Countess runner (Sanctuary for the PI ghosts). With a couple Lum runes and elite 2os armors, the mercs will be pretty much set (I'm expecting to get another Hone for my Pally's merc) and I think I'll be ready to take these guys through Hell and long overdue glory!
The Pally had a blue Grim Shield (not even with a blocking affix) with 2 sox from Larzuk filled with pDiamonds. He was rocking Salvation at boot up, as the blue shield had no resists. The halfway decent items he did have were a Zakarum's Hand, Peasant Crown, Gravepalm, and surprisingly decent bling (Prismatic Ammy of Blight, ring with 11/11/22/11 and 5% ll.
The Barb also had decent weapons (Butcher's Pupil and Aldur's Rhythm) and a Scintillating Ammy of the Squid, but the rest of the gear was piss poor - well, the yellow boots did have 30 FRW. His skills were a hot mess - tons of points in axe, mace, and sword masteries and not a single point in BO.
SO... Having learned what I learned - here was my plan:
- Go get NM Act 2 Might mercs for both.
- Run NM Countess for Amn/Shael level runes
- Run NM Mephy (Asskicker IS a frenzy barb, which is the best Mephy runner in 1.09 IMHO) for gear to get these chars ready for Hell.
- Run A5 for XP and socketables.
I shopped a Jeweler's Gothic Plate and stuffed it with pTopazs for the Barb, and eventually had the gear and the memory that Sigon's gloves + belt + boots make a pretty nice barb MF setup to get him equipped with that. I also started shopping for +Warcries weapons and started pumping BO as he leveled up. I did end up with 2 echoing weapons, so running Mephy (I did have to roll a couple maps before I got a really good one) got quick and easy. An IK hat dropped, which helps with MF and BO, so he's starting to get some decent MF.
So, Mephy's dropped a Hone (I put on the Barb's merc because he helps SO much when he does show up for the Mephy fight) and a Meat Scraper (Pally's merc). I haven't gotten a Duriel's Shell, but once I saw the Goldskin drop, I knew that + a Duskdeep would do until I can run NM Countess for a couple Lum runes for Smoke. The Pally is ready for Hell (Moser's with 2x pDiamond, Skin of Vipermagi, Scintillating Ammy, Tearhauch) as he's a good Countess runner (Sanctuary for the PI ghosts). With a couple Lum runes and elite 2os armors, the mercs will be pretty much set (I'm expecting to get another Hone for my Pally's merc) and I think I'll be ready to take these guys through Hell and long overdue glory!
As it turns out, the Pally isn't as great at running Hell Countess as I had hoped. (As a matter of fact, I'm noticing that D2 1.09 is significantly more challenging than PoE on overall gameplay.) He has a great map, uses Vigor from Tearhaunch (or whichever boots grant Vigor), Salvation for any ghosts that get in the way and Holy Shock with Holy Thunder in a War Scepter for the PI bosses, and the merc sporting a Blackleach Blade, but really can get overwhelmed if a boss spawns in or near the Countess' room. I'm having to pick up armors to keep up with the merc resurrection costs.
So... One other character from that original group of failed characters is Vrejitoare, a *cough* Blizzard Sorc with horrendously allocated skill points at level 42. She died once upon a time (to a CI NM Duriel, from the looks of it) and I, for some reason, didn't manage to recover her gear. SO... she had been shelved naked. Well, I know she's level 42 without a single point in FO or Nova... but I'm wondering of I can maybe get her to the point that she can run Countess effectively.
She's in NM Act 2, so I can hire a Might Merc, and the Barb did farm a Soulfeast Tine which will help the merc be effective immediately... but I don't know if I can salvage her skill allocation. I may pass on FO and instead try to complete her as Nova/Blizzard.
My Barb has collected some gear I can put on her - a Skin, Frostburns, the Peasant Crown my Pally originally had, a Wall of the Eyeless - and a great orb that she can't use yet (levreq 48 - she's 42). I did make an Honor Knout (Knout rack in that Hell Countess Tower in my Pally's map) and I think that can (a) help the Sorc melee her way past NM Duriel and (b) is at least a little bit of a caster weapon with the +1 skill.
We'll see how that goes.
So... One other character from that original group of failed characters is Vrejitoare, a *cough* Blizzard Sorc with horrendously allocated skill points at level 42. She died once upon a time (to a CI NM Duriel, from the looks of it) and I, for some reason, didn't manage to recover her gear. SO... she had been shelved naked. Well, I know she's level 42 without a single point in FO or Nova... but I'm wondering of I can maybe get her to the point that she can run Countess effectively.
She's in NM Act 2, so I can hire a Might Merc, and the Barb did farm a Soulfeast Tine which will help the merc be effective immediately... but I don't know if I can salvage her skill allocation. I may pass on FO and instead try to complete her as Nova/Blizzard.
My Barb has collected some gear I can put on her - a Skin, Frostburns, the Peasant Crown my Pally originally had, a Wall of the Eyeless - and a great orb that she can't use yet (levreq 48 - she's 42). I did make an Honor Knout (Knout rack in that Hell Countess Tower in my Pally's map) and I think that can (a) help the Sorc melee her way past NM Duriel and (b) is at least a little bit of a caster weapon with the +1 skill.
We'll see how that goes.
OK, so I think the Sorc is not salvageable, but I've made some progress with gearing the Pally and the Barb. First, I've been getting better at running Countess with the Pally - plus I accidentally lost the map, but when I rerolled a decent map, I got one that (a) has a rack that drops Boneweaves about 5% of the time, and (b) spawns boss packs in the Countess' room a lot less often. It also has 2 superchests and 2 sets of poppable graves on the way. So, I've gotten a couple 2os and 3os Boneweaves, and did get 1 Lum - so I now have my endgame merc armor for the Pally. I'm still running Countess with the Pally cuz I need about 3 more Lums from her, but the merc with Smoke and Natalia's Fugly is now much less fragile. I also picked up a sweet Shimmering GC of Life, so hopefully my Pally will be able to shed the Skin for something a little more melee.
My Barb continues to run NM Mephy for gear (picked up a G-Face for the Merc, so when the merc 'ports to join the fight with Mephy, Mephy goes down FAST), mostly looking for 2x Blackhorn's for the mercs and another Hone for the Pally's merc. Got a Duriel's Shell, which I think will work fine for the Barb's armor in Hell - and he can replace the IK Hat with another G-Face for Hell. T-God's prolly won't drop from NM Mephy - I've run Baal a couple times - no problem doing that - but I don't think I'll have the patience for that. A String would probably work, but, oddly enough, I haven't got one of those to drop.
So - one Smoke in an elite armor - that a major step towards getting these guys through Hell.
My Barb continues to run NM Mephy for gear (picked up a G-Face for the Merc, so when the merc 'ports to join the fight with Mephy, Mephy goes down FAST), mostly looking for 2x Blackhorn's for the mercs and another Hone for the Pally's merc. Got a Duriel's Shell, which I think will work fine for the Barb's armor in Hell - and he can replace the IK Hat with another G-Face for Hell. T-God's prolly won't drop from NM Mephy - I've run Baal a couple times - no problem doing that - but I don't think I'll have the patience for that. A String would probably work, but, oddly enough, I haven't got one of those to drop.
So - one Smoke in an elite armor - that a major step towards getting these guys through Hell.
OK, a little update.
NM Mephy had been slowly, very slowly coughing up items I need - running him with my original Barb, outfitted with about... 220MF - and using Echoing weapons on switch to make up for the fact that I had to start pumping BO at level 59. I finally got a Tiamat's Rebuke from him the other night, and I realized I'm sitting here with no Larzuks for either my Barb or Pally. I did get a Jewel of Thunder (1-97) that I'd like to put in that Tiamat's (more stylish that a pDiamond), so I started working on my Sin "Draca" who was at the beginning of Normal Act II.
So, after countless Skystrikes and Shadowfangs, and a couple Tal's masks, a Blackhorn's still eluded me. I finally realized, though, that at level 76, my Barb had put enough into BO that I didn't need those echoing weapons, so I equipped him with the Ali Baba (2x Shael) and the Gull (both had come from NM Mephy) and try using those on weapon switch (Concentrate with the Ali Baba so I don't wear down the Gull), and within about 30 runs, BAM (I have screenies, but the old hosting site is defunct) he FINALLY coughed up the Blackhorns.
Now my Pally should be pretty much ready to go for Hell - the merc has a Hone (2xAmn + Shael), Smoke Boneweave, and now, finally, a Blackhorns, and the Pally has Tal's Fugly, Butcher's Pupil (though I am seriously considering making him a Black Knout to see how they compare - though the 30 durability might irritate me), Moser's with 2 pDiamonds, String of Ears, and a Skin (I thought about something else for him, but I might need the extra MDR since NM Mephy most likely won't cough up a Thundergod's Vigor), Lava Gout gloves (until I find a LoH), and a Ravenfrost.
My Barb will need to continue running Mephy for his own merc's Blackhorn's, but then he should be pretty much ready to go for Hell as well.
NM Mephy had been slowly, very slowly coughing up items I need - running him with my original Barb, outfitted with about... 220MF - and using Echoing weapons on switch to make up for the fact that I had to start pumping BO at level 59. I finally got a Tiamat's Rebuke from him the other night, and I realized I'm sitting here with no Larzuks for either my Barb or Pally. I did get a Jewel of Thunder (1-97) that I'd like to put in that Tiamat's (more stylish that a pDiamond), so I started working on my Sin "Draca" who was at the beginning of Normal Act II.
So, after countless Skystrikes and Shadowfangs, and a couple Tal's masks, a Blackhorn's still eluded me. I finally realized, though, that at level 76, my Barb had put enough into BO that I didn't need those echoing weapons, so I equipped him with the Ali Baba (2x Shael) and the Gull (both had come from NM Mephy) and try using those on weapon switch (Concentrate with the Ali Baba so I don't wear down the Gull), and within about 30 runs, BAM (I have screenies, but the old hosting site is defunct) he FINALLY coughed up the Blackhorns.
Now my Pally should be pretty much ready to go for Hell - the merc has a Hone (2xAmn + Shael), Smoke Boneweave, and now, finally, a Blackhorns, and the Pally has Tal's Fugly, Butcher's Pupil (though I am seriously considering making him a Black Knout to see how they compare - though the 30 durability might irritate me), Moser's with 2 pDiamonds, String of Ears, and a Skin (I thought about something else for him, but I might need the extra MDR since NM Mephy most likely won't cough up a Thundergod's Vigor), Lava Gout gloves (until I find a LoH), and a Ravenfrost.
My Barb will need to continue running Mephy for his own merc's Blackhorn's, but then he should be pretty much ready to go for Hell as well.
I got my Pally to Hell Act 3, and started shopping as I was working him to LK. Lucky me, LK on this map has 2 sets of superchests (not running for runes, but hoping to rack something good - I did get a Sacred Targe off of one of them, but only once, so I'm working on the paths). But, I did shop a Mythical Sword, and on the last roll of the second char inventory of chippies, got Cruel (279%). So, I'm going to pop an Eth (never have to worry about AR again), a Ruby Jewel (32%, but it is the only one I got from these characters), and a Shael in it, and see if it out-performs the Butcher's Pupil.
Also got a couple 3os Tyrant Clubs, so I went ahead and made Black in one of those for a nice upgrade over the Black Knout my Barb is using. Still waiting on that second Blackhorn's and String (actually running some A5SUs along with Mephy to see if I can score a Thundergod's).
Also got a couple 3os Tyrant Clubs, so I went ahead and made Black in one of those for a nice upgrade over the Black Knout my Barb is using. Still waiting on that second Blackhorn's and String (actually running some A5SUs along with Mephy to see if I can score a Thundergod's).
It's been a long time since I posted here.
Recently leveled my Paladin to 98, mostly doing WSK level 2 runs, since they were quick (3-4 mins) and gave around 1.5m. This was better XP/hour than cow level for him, since I don't waste time blocking attacks from a thousand cows.
I decided to try and roll a cruel Cryptic sword because Baranar's is slow (in terms of damage), and I'm getting really mad. It's been around 7-8 full inventories of chipped gems, and not even once I've seen a Cruel prefix. But those +7 poison damage though, I get a lot if them. Best I've got so far was a 190% ED +12 Max. I was very tempted to use this, but this would barely be an upgrade.
It feels like there is a huge bias in 1.09 which makes it MUCH more likely to get low level affixes than nice ones. I'm getting really tired of running Act 1 normal over and over again just to get more +7 poison damage Cryptic swords.
I wouldn't be surprised that once I roll a Cruel, it will be ruined by some "of the bear" suffix lol.
Recently leveled my Paladin to 98, mostly doing WSK level 2 runs, since they were quick (3-4 mins) and gave around 1.5m. This was better XP/hour than cow level for him, since I don't waste time blocking attacks from a thousand cows.
I decided to try and roll a cruel Cryptic sword because Baranar's is slow (in terms of damage), and I'm getting really mad. It's been around 7-8 full inventories of chipped gems, and not even once I've seen a Cruel prefix. But those +7 poison damage though, I get a lot if them. Best I've got so far was a 190% ED +12 Max. I was very tempted to use this, but this would barely be an upgrade.
It feels like there is a huge bias in 1.09 which makes it MUCH more likely to get low level affixes than nice ones. I'm getting really tired of running Act 1 normal over and over again just to get more +7 poison damage Cryptic swords.
I wouldn't be surprised that once I roll a Cruel, it will be ruined by some "of the bear" suffix lol.
Hey ERayz - if it makes you feel any better, I'm farming chippies from Act 1 with you. I'm using my Sin for that, and running P16. I rolled two Cruel Mythical Swords fairly quickly (one for my Pally, and one I plan to use for the Frenzy Barb in Hell), but then I decided that I want a hurty 2H stick on weapon switch to 'zerk with, so I started rolling a Champion Sword. Ah, here it is - I've gone through like 4 inventories of chippies with nary a Cruel roll - so it's being at the mercy of Lady Fate. I'm dealing with that in that NM Mephy is being very stingy with the Strings and Blackhorn's('s?) - I've gotten one of each, enabling my Pally to start questing through Hell, but he seems to not want to drop these relatively common items - but I have gotten a Homunculus from him. I may plan on using a Bloodtree Stump or Minotaur (I've gotten both from Mephy) on 'zerk switch if I get the Blackhorn's and String before rolling the Cruel Champion Sword.
As an aside, I've been doing some LK running with my Pally (for the racks, not the chests), and much to my surprise, a random Kurast Bazaar rack dropped a 2os 29res@ Royal Shield!!!! Not EXACTLY what I was looking for (I wanted a Sacred Targe), but I'll take it - I made Rhyme in that and plan for that to be his endgame shield - since he has a Ravenfrost, the CBF isn't needed, so I'm not entirely sure that it's a material improvement over the Moser's, but I think it's SO much more stylish!
I still haven't gotten any better bases for Smoke or Lionheart than those Boneweaves from that Countess rack, but those work for the mercs.
As an aside, I've been doing some LK running with my Pally (for the racks, not the chests), and much to my surprise, a random Kurast Bazaar rack dropped a 2os 29res@ Royal Shield!!!! Not EXACTLY what I was looking for (I wanted a Sacred Targe), but I'll take it - I made Rhyme in that and plan for that to be his endgame shield - since he has a Ravenfrost, the CBF isn't needed, so I'm not entirely sure that it's a material improvement over the Moser's, but I think it's SO much more stylish!
I still haven't gotten any better bases for Smoke or Lionheart than those Boneweaves from that Countess rack, but those work for the mercs.
I actually put a little love into the Sorceress, and got her the Occy that Mephy dropped and a point into FO and TP - she was able to take down NM Duriel on P8 and make some progress in NM A3 - but I was looking at how FO was working, and decided to use her for chippie farming instead of the Assassin. Sure enough, it's a LOT less tedious with the Sorc (broken in skill selection though she may be), and I collected about 3 inventories of chippies with her. I FINALLY rolled a Cruel Champion Sword (250%ED with 7 poison over 3s - I'll take it), so I have my Zerk Stick for the Barb. So, it's back to pure Mephy running for the Blackhorn's (and it's getting vexing - I've gotten like 8 Tal's Masks at least from him) and a SoE for the Barb's Hell gear.
NM Mephy finally dropped a second Blackhorn's, which means I'm a belt away (SoE or TGod's) from having the Barb what I would call properly geared. However, I am getting a little impatient, so I have worked out a setup I think would work (and using stuff that Mephy HAS dropped, most notably that IK belt that was SO close to being a TGod's):
Tal's Mask
Atma's Scarab (from NM Baal)
Duriel's shell
2x Dwarf Star (25 total MDR)
Magnus gloves (until I can find LoH)
IK Belt
Nat's boots
Since my barb has 10 hard point in natural resists:
- resists are covered
- 10 dual leech
- 25 MDR (12 + 13 from the Dwarf's)
- CtC Amp
- big +life (40 each from the Dwarf's, 60 from Tal's, scaling from Duriel's)
- 40 FRW
- CBF from Duriel's
- 25 Str from IK Belt to help hold the Cruel Champion Sword for Zerk switch
Hone + Blackhorn's + 'Smoke' Boneweave for the merc.
just no MF, but the only point of MFing with these original characters was to equip themselves and each other.
I'm going to run NM a little bit more to see if I can score a String or TGod's, but I think this setup will allow him to manage Hell, so I won't toil too much longer.
Tal's Mask
Atma's Scarab (from NM Baal)
Duriel's shell
2x Dwarf Star (25 total MDR)
Magnus gloves (until I can find LoH)
IK Belt
Nat's boots
Since my barb has 10 hard point in natural resists:
- resists are covered
- 10 dual leech
- 25 MDR (12 + 13 from the Dwarf's)
- CtC Amp
- big +life (40 each from the Dwarf's, 60 from Tal's, scaling from Duriel's)
- 40 FRW
- CBF from Duriel's
- 25 Str from IK Belt to help hold the Cruel Champion Sword for Zerk switch
Hone + Blackhorn's + 'Smoke' Boneweave for the merc.
just no MF, but the only point of MFing with these original characters was to equip themselves and each other.
I'm going to run NM a little bit more to see if I can score a String or TGod's, but I think this setup will allow him to manage Hell, so I won't toil too much longer.
I loaded the items in my Barb's stash, made the Smoke Boneweave, popped a Shael and a rare jewel in the Champion Sword, and said "what the heck, let me run NM Mephy a few more times before taking Asskicker to Hell and gearing him up."
So Mephy dropped this:
and I was just hoping for a pair of Lava Gouts to replace the Magnus gloves.
So Mephy dropped this:
and I was just hoping for a pair of Lava Gouts to replace the Magnus gloves.
Nice to see the 1.09 Superchests can deliver as well! Any chance you feel like doing ~10k runs of them or so and making a thread to go along with the 1.07 and 1.13 threads? 
In all seriousness though, if there are good patterns these could be a promising route for beta RWs as an alternative to HF-rushing.
In all seriousness though, if there are good patterns these could be a promising route for beta RWs as an alternative to HF-rushing.
