[2014] The CtC Tournament for HC and SC players (untwinked, single pass) [by HC Gunther]

[Grisu]

Quick question, can one use non ctc runewords if you personalize them with Anya's quest reward?

 

[Grisu]

Unfortunately no (this was asked somewhere earlier in the tourney). We are always restricted to the ctc runewords.
You also can't socket Dol runes into weapons to make them "ctc".

 

[Grisu]

Edge the Blade Fury sin has defeated Fangskin and will be entering the palace soon. Just finished trying to make the merc a Savage polearm with ctc. Got one (out of 20 or so tries) a Bardiche Had to sell this monster; double

 

[Grisu]

I started a Fendazon character following the rules of this tournament.

Nedid (randomly generated name) started her journey jabbing merrily through the Cold Plains with a 3os spear when suddenly a Throwing Knife of Amplify Damage dropped! Since it was already the third CtC weapon (after a rare Hunter's Bow and a magical Short Sword), she had to switch to an Amp spear bought from Charsi.

Nedid and the rogue made a great combo in Act I, especially the combo of Amp and level 6 Critical Strike makes jabbing quite effective.

Quite some luck with MF items (two Felicitous Rings and amulet), although the amulet had to be dropped for a CtC CB amulet found in Catacombs 3.

Andariel went down in no time (at /p3) and dropped a 29 MF Nagelring. Too bad it can't be used ...

On to Act II! Planning to stay with the rogue for a while.

Nedid, Amazon, level 20, Lut Gholein, 4 CtC items equipped (3 magic / 1 rare)

 

[Grisu]

Welcome felixbavaria and bugger about that Nagelring.


Casti and Haseen have moved onto Kurast after defeating Duriel.


Started off gambling amulets and got a nice rare ctc one with +1 sorc skills and +20 mana. Then it was down into the Sewers, all easy until we met Radamant who was extra fast and Might aura. With his high cold res the Blizzards weren't doing much and Haseen wasn't hurting him much either. Despite having Static'd him down to 1/3 life, he still took some killing and managed to take out Haseen a few times on the way. Radamant's drop wasn't very exciting but both the Mahim-Oak Curio and Suicide Branch had dropped earlier in the Sewers. The amulet is completely useless in this tourney but Suicide Branch might be worth socketing or personalising later on.


Shopped a Russet Bone Shield of Nova Shield, found a Ko rune in the Stony Tomb, then gambled another rare ctc amulet, this one with 10% fcr, 17% all res and 24% MF. Will be hard to replace this one for a while I think. Crafted a hitpower ring with AR and mana leech, which might come in handy later, and also crafted a hitpower gothic shield with +8% block and +19% all res. My resists were looking very healthy at this stage.


I decided the bow on switch really wasn't doing anything, so swapped it for the Wailing Grim Wand of Lower Resist and the Russet Bone Shield of NS. Back to the fighting, all pretty easy. Found Frostburns in the Lost City, then Heart Carver and Shaftstop in the AS. Shaftstop was a particularly happy find and is definitely looking like getting Larzuk's sockets.


While clearing Tal's Tombs we crafted a Blood Belt. No ctc but some other nice mods which might qualify it for a personalize. In the 3rd Tomb we found Naj's Circlet and some rare ctc Sharkskin Boots with 31% lig res, 25% poison length reduced and 10% MF. By upping a rare ctc Belt I had stashed (39 life, 21% fire res, 23% poison res) and swapping a couple of charms around I was able to wear the boots without losing anything off resists. Lost 10% FHR but gained 39 life and the MF.


The final Tomb saw us find a rare ctc Basinet which has some lightning res and 1os - might come in handy later. A 3os Crown also dropped (my first 3 socket headgear) but I didn't have any PTopazes on hand to take advantage of it before killing Duriel. Duriel's drop wasn't a complete waste of time, with 2 uniques, but not really very exciting either.


MF is 174% with an extra 63% on merc kills. Will go up to 196% for Act 3 once i put my 2 PTopazes in the 3os Crown. Skill points are going into Warmth for the mana regen and also to synergise Enchant once I can make an Obedience … hopefully sometime in Act 3.

Name          Character    Class       HC? Diff.   Area               Level  M/R/S/U/C/RW
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dezrok        Casti        Sorc        HC  NM      Kurast Docks          60  2/5/0/0/1/0
grk           Shaetemmu    Necromancer SC  NM      Jail level 1          51  5/2/0/0/0/0
dhaos         TheAnimal    Druid       HC  NM      Rogue camp            47  5/3/0/0/0/0
jdkerr        Acephal      Amazon      HC  NM      Rogue Camp            46  2/4/0/0/1/2
Sput          Edge         Assassin    ??  Normal  Palace Cellar         ??  ?
HC Gunther    Zounds       Paladin     SC  Normal  Lut Gholein           21  5/0/0/0/0/0
felixbavaria  Nedid        Amazon      ??  Normal  Lut Gholein           20  3/1/0/0/0/0 
Kitteh        Olypuirs     Assassin    HC  Normal  Dark Wood             15  6/1/0/0/0/0
Dazliare      Athena       Amazon      HC  Normal  Cold Plains            6  0/0/0/0/0/0
Grisu         Flashy       Barbarian   HC  Normal  Rogue Camp             1  0/0/0/0/0/0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RIP:
Dezrok        Chansi       Amazon      HC  NM      Cows                  75  0/6/0/0/2/1
dfp           Chantix      Sorceress   HC  Normal  Rogue Camp            19  2/3/0/0/0/0

 

[Grisu]

Edge has made her way to the Lower Kurast waypoint; so far everything has gone easily. She is currently level 30 with 13 points in Blade Fury, 7 points in Shadow Warrior, 1 in Venom, and 1 in Mind Blast. The plan is not to spend any points on Death Sentry or Lightning Sentry, so as to make Edge a true Blade Fury sin.

Edge has six CTC items equipped as of now, all rare, the highlights being: Gloves, Boots, Shield, and Weapon.

 

[Grisu]

Casti and Haseen have carved Mephisto into ice cubes.


Not really much to report. Haseen is due for a weapon upgrade but as he doesn't really need to kill much I am holding off for now (he is still using his imbued partizan from Normal). A few decent non-ctc uniques dropped: Goldwrap, The Meat-Scraper, The Ward and Ripsaw, along with a few okay rares. Ormus's reward ring was a complete dud and was sold immediately. A second set of 4os Gothic Plate gave Haseen an upgrade, and two skillers, both Lion Branded, were useless. Meph dropped Hwanin's Refuge for a ctc body armour option in the future.


Casti the Sorc and Haseen the merc, Lvl 64, NM Pandemonium Fortress, 8 ctc items equipped

 

[Grisu]

Nedid has defeated Diablo and moved on to the Frigid Highlands WP.

The progress was smooth except for an unfortunate incident with the Infector of Souls. Good that I'm playing SC. It was not easy to recover the corpse without a weapon, though. :badteeth:

Ironically, he dropped a rare Pike with Amplify Damage. Thanks!

In retrospect, I should have hired the Cold Mage earlier. So much more crowd control ...

Currently 9 CtC items equipped (5 rare, 4 magic)

- Rare Pike with 46% ED (CtC Amp on strike)
- Switch: Rare Short Spear with 31% ED (CtC Amp on Strike) - dropped by Summoner
- Switch: Rainbow (11) Bone Shield of Frost Nova - bought from Ormus
- Rare Gloves with LR/PR/MF (CtC Nova when struck)
- Ormus' Ring: some crap rare with CtC
- Belt: with LR and CtC Charged Bolt
- Magic Ring with FR and CtC Charged Bolt
- Rare Boots with CtC Nova and 20 FRW

Geshef the Cold Merc: Crystal Sword of Amplify Damage

Nedid the Fendazon and Geshef the Cold Merc, level 36, Frigid Highlands

 

[Grisu]

Act 4 was a quick one.

We started out by shopping an Artisan's Mask of Charged Bolt! Finally all that window browsing paid off! Then it was off to slaughter monsters and seek adventure. This guy in the City of the Dammed caused us a few headaches and Haseen a nasty death. In the pic, Casti is getting in close to help with a bit of Static Charge. With almost 700 life (over 700 by the end of the Act) she didn't mind getting in and taking a few for the team.

The Hell Forge was uninspiring. However, in the RoF one of this guy's Minions dropped this! In the Chaos Sanctuary, the Grand Vizier dropped these ctc Gauntlets, then we took on Diablo at p5. Haseen got a nice position under his hose (although it is a bit hard to see him in the pic) and then his drop, while very pretty, was lacking in ctc goodness.

The Ist rune has me pretty excited about making that ultimate piece of ctc headgear, the Delirium rw! Only a Lem away … of course I'm also wanting to use Lem in Voice of Reason, Treachery and maybe even Lawbringer. Otherwise am only a Vex (hehe) from Silence, or could just socket it in a weapon for the MF, or maybe just leave it on the mantlepiece to look at.

Still no Fal rune for the Obedience and no suitable base either. Normally I like to make the first Obedience in a Battle Scythe but not a single white one has dropped.

Lots of Pgems building up in the stash for a big crafting spree and also for rerolling charms before going on to Hell.

Casti and Haseen, Lvl 67, NM Harrogath, 8 ctc items equipped

 

[Grisu]

Against that FI/CI Devil Jade did you try Telekinesis to "distract" him? It has been a while since I played a Sorc, but I seem to remember using Telekinesis against dual immunes to help out the merc.

On first reading I guessed (hoped maybe) that you had found The Oculus in the RoF, but as I look at it now I should have guessed it was a rune. I would be extremely tempted to put it into a weapon and get that 30% MF working as soon as possible. Especially since you are still in Nightmare and who knows when or if a Lem will drop. OTOH, of course Delirium is a FANTASTIC runeword for the merc, so I can see your dilemma.

Great job so far.

 

[Grisu]

I'm retiring my character, should have been deeds anyway. Too slow going ...

Nedid and Geshef, now sitting at the fire in Harrogath, retired at level 37

 

[Grisu]

Against that FI/CI Devil Jade did you try Telekinesis to "distract" him? It has been a while since I played a Sorc, but I seem to remember using Telekinesis against dual immunes to help out the merc.

I did, but only after Haseen died. Act 4 had been such a walk in the park up to that point that I really wasn't expecting a challenge

On first reading I guessed (hoped maybe) that you had found The Oculus in the RoF, but as I look at it now I should have guessed it was a rune. I would be extremely tempted to put it into a weapon and get that 30% MF working as soon as possible. Especially since you are still in Nightmare and who knows when or if a Lem will drop. OTOH, of course Delirium is a FANTASTIC runeword for the merc, so I can see your dilemma.

Oculus would have been nice too. I thought long about using IST for the MF but the only ctc weapon I have with a socket is a lame Battle Axe and I don't feel like giving up all the good stuff I currently get from weapon and shield just for an extra 30%MF. Also not interested in using Larzuk's reward on a weapon that I will only use until the end of NM difficulty.

I'm retiring my character, should have been deeds anyway. Too slow going ...

Nedid and Geshef, now sitting at the fire in Harrogath, retired at level 37

One death is enough for any tourney character. Enjoy the fire.

 

[Grisu]

Hell has been all sorts of fun!

Casti went in to Act 1 with about 250 MF, 700 life and 320 mana. While resists were: fire 45, cold 3, lightning 41 an poison -30.

The Blood Moor coughed up it's usual array of CI Zombies, these guys were unbreakable with the wand of LR. On p3 we could handle 1 or 2 Zombies at a time (okay, so maybe only one). Casti would Static them down to half life and then Haseen would finish them off while Casti knocked them about with Telekinesis. Even so it was slow going. Then we came across this CI/PI dude and I thought our full clear was going to come to an end. In desperation I turned to the 1pt Hydra I found I had as a staffmod on Casti's orb. Not really expecting it to do anything, I was surprised at how effective it was, ultimately resulting in a WIN! And another CI/PI Zombie.

On to the Den of Evil where there were more CI Zombies (those guys pack a punch!). With our new found Hydra trick we were able to separate them all out and take them down without too much trouble (no CI/PI combos though).

The Cold Plains had CI Dark Hunters. These guys hit much softer than Zombies and unless they were in packs of 5 or more, they didn't cause Haseen much hassle.

The Burial Grounds, Crypt and Mausoleum were all CI free and Blizzard made short'ish work of them. All CI free up until this unbreakable CI/LI beast in the Mausoleum. The LI made it impossible for Haseen to tank (Haseen's lig res was only 42%) and without Haseen's poison stopping his regen, Warp Lust would regen faster than the Hydra could do damage (plus they made his sparks fly, taking Haseen down even faster). After a few deaths for Haseen I realised our current set-up wasn't going to work. So we hit the shops for a while, hoping something good would turn up. When nothing did, we tried a bit of gambling amongst the shopping and gambled a rare ctc Lochaber Axe. Slightly better than the Partizan and with more poison damage. Still not even scratching Warpy, so when we eventually shopped a Deadly Long Bow of Amp Dam, we thought we'd switch to a Fire Rogue. Turns out this was no good either, with no poison damage old Warpy would regen back to full health while we were moving into a new position (those narrow corridors in the Mausoleum were definitely working against us). After a close encounter between Casti and Warpy that left Casti with 4 life (ouch!) I decided that enough was enough (almost too much) and that it was time to end the full clears and abandon Warp Lust. He can reign in solitude in the Mausoleum and Casti lives to fight the rest of the monsters, but with a bit of work to do to come up with a plan for handling future such encounters.

As an aside, Windhammer dropped from a random Skellie in the Mausoleum. All sorts of ctc goodness here, but the rather high Str requirement means we probably wont get to use it.

Casti and Liene, Lvl 76, Hell, The Cave up next, 8 ctc items equipped

 

[Grisu]

On with Hell.

Firstly we made a quick trip back to Normal to get a new Prayer merc - Chalan this time. Then we made a few gear changes to bring our resists up. Chalan got a Scintillating Jewel of Daring (13/5) in the Shaftstop. Casti changed gloves to the Laying of Hands, swapped the ring with Mana and Dim Vision for one with some lightning resist and made quite a few charm changes. Now she had about 220 MF, 710 life and 270 mana, while resists were: fire 75%, cold 3%, lightning 66% and poison -30%. Skystrike was in the cache in case we needed to get a Rogue merc again.

Things went smoothly through The Cave, despite some nasty archer packs. There was a colourful welcoming party for the Stony Field, although they weren't all that scary. In the Dark Forest we quickly found Treehead Woodfist (CI of course) and he refused to attack Chalan, relentlessly pursuing Casti. We had to put a fence between Casti and Woodhead. Chalan got the occasional hit in through the fence to keep Woodhead poisoned while Lower Resist and the Hydras went to work. Treehead had teleport and every now and then he would port across the fence so we would have to swap sides. All of Woodhead's minions were killed in the same way, all of them refusing to engage Chalan. In fact it became clear that none of the monsters would fight Chalan, which was bad news for Casti. And even worse news when we she got locked into hit recovery by this boss and her three minions. Once the purples were all used up it didn't take long. The End.

 

[Grisu]

I am cooling down on Heathstone and have picked back up my own tourney

Zounds has reached Kurast Docks
* I normally do the 3 rings/amulets -> new amulet/ring cube recipe with all of my rings and amulets. For this tourney, I decided to sell my rings and amulets and then try to buy a rare one instead
* I found a CtC bow in one of the false tombs, so my merc had to give up his Savage Lochbar Axe of the Locust (77% ED, 7% life steal). I gambled a rare Pike with two sockets. My merc's damage went from 48-235 unbuffed to 63-199. I am not sure what to put into the sockets
* In another false tomb, I got a Cathan's Seal and a Serpent Lord. Neither are usable
* Duriel dropped two blues, two yellows and an Ith

My CtC's being worn are:
* Amulet with CtC Charge Bolt
* Rare Grand Scepter with CtC Amp Damage, 18% ED, +1 Max Damage, 4% Life Steal, +1 Zeal, +1 Resist Fire, +2 Prayer, 10% Poison Resist
* A ring with CtC Charged Bolt
* Rare boots with CtC Frost Nova
* Switch Weapon - Screaming Scepter of Sacrifice with +3 Holy Fire, +2 Might amd +1 Holy Bolt
* Switch Shield - Small Shield with CtC Charged Bolt
* Merc weapon - Rare Pike with CtC Fire Bolt

Slots I have found CtC items for but haven't equiped:
* One ring because I have the ring from Akara
* Both armors because I am using grey armor with topazes
* Belt becaust I am using a belt that Charsi imbued

Slots I haven't found a CtC item for:
* Both helms
* One shield
* Gloves

Quest Items being worn:
--- 7% MF ring from Akara
--- Rare belt from Charsi

7 Set items - none useable
4 Unique items - none useable

Zounds the Smiter with Alhizzer the Prayer Mercenary, Level 28, 7 Magic CtC, Lut Gholein

Name           Character  Class  HC? Diff.  Area  Level  M/R/S/U/C/RW
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
grk  Shaetemmu  Necromancer SC  NM  Jail level 1  51  5/2/0/0/0/0
dhaos  TheAnimal  Druid  HC  NM  Rogue camp  47  5/3/0/0/0/0
jdkerr  Acephal  Amazon  HC  NM  Rogue Camp  46  2/4/0/0/1/2
HC Gunther  Zounds  Paladin  SC  Normal  Kurast Docks  28  4/3/0/0/0/0
Sput  Edge  Assassin  ??  Normal  Palace Cellar  ??  ?
felixbavaria  Nedid  Amazon  ??  Normal  Lut Gholein  20  3/1/0/0/0/0
Kitteh  Olypuirs  Assassin  HC  Normal  Dark Wood  15  6/1/0/0/0/0
Dazliare  Athena  Amazon  HC  Normal  Cold Plains  6  0/0/0/0/0/0
Grisu  Flashy  Barbarian  HC  Normal  Rogue Camp  1  0/0/0/0/0/0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RIP:
Dezrok  Chansi  Amazon  HC  NM  Cows  75  0/6/0/0/2/1
dfp  Chantix  Sorceress  HC  Normal  Rogue Camp  19  2/3/0/0/0/0
Dezrok  Casti  Sorc  HC  Hell  Dark Wood  76  2/5/0/0/1/0