Whitefang tested out his new weapon these last couple of days and maybe it is more of a game changer for him than I thought. Before, I'd find myself running from more than two bad guys that did much damage because my life bulb just wouldn't raise fast enough when hitting to make up for the damage dealt to him, and the hit chance was not good enough to be consistently leeching. Well those problems are a thing of the past, and Whitefang hits almost every time. Before the Fool's weapon, he struggled to maintain 80% CTH but now everything is pretty much 95%. Basically the misses went from 1 in 5 to 1 in 20. A Fury cycle hits 5 times most of the time and casts amp damage quite a bit. And when that happens, stuff just melts. I killed a Mauler in three fury hits, or 18 frames. It was incredible and it felt like that act II screenshot where he was completely surrounded and survived, all over again. Let me run you through with some screenshots to make the point.
Safety is still first, this is HC after all! I think situations like these where there are 10 enemies that can "fit" around my character are probably the biggest threat right now, so I took them on a couple at a time. The nice thing about the ancient axe I am using is that it has a range adder of 3, which means it reaches out and touches pretty far. It can get a flayer and the flayer (or two) behind it on a single Fury cycle.
I was not able to take more than two of Stormtree and buddies at once when they were frenzied up, but Ajheed was great about freezing some of them in place while others followed me deeper into the jungle, so I could spread them out and dispatch them easily. You can see that Stormtree was Stone Skin. The amp nearly always went off on these guys because they took a lot of hits to bring down, but once it did, no problem.
Both of the temples in the Kurast Bazaar were stair traps. This one had a boss pack of Blood Lords blocking one exit from the room, and the other exit had about a dozen serpent magi and wailing beasts coming through as they could fit one at a time. I hadn't had a lot of experience with the survivability granted by this new weapon and 80%+ life leech so when they kept pouring through, I decided to leave since there was no way to get my back against a wall and I didn't know what else would come through the magi-beast doorway. I decided to come back later after clearing the rest of Kurast and the sewers. The spiders and beasts were just normal monsters, not bosses, so they were basically mobile purple potions and it was not much trouble.
The other temple had Sarina in a different configuration temple than I normally see her in, and she was extra fast and extra strong (of course) and her pack did quite a number on me. I didn't dare try Fury because I was getting mobbed and it just wastes a ton of time when you are mobbed because it misses, so I focused on Sarina herself with Feral Rage while Ajheed tried to freeze her minions. I had to run up the stairs once. I went back down and finally caught a break when I amped Sarina and Ajheed threw out a glacial spike, which gave me some time to deal with her one on one. I did use six purples and three reds dealing with her though.
I couldn't get the loot! I'm sure that necro head is worth 30K!
I started to get more confidence when facing this guy and his minions. He had a conviction aura, which scared me at first, but once I finally waded in, and started wailing away, even standing in a couple meteor patches with conviction, I wasn't even feeling it. Feral Rage > Conviction Meteors!
The council was no problem whatsoever, even with 55% fire resist. My life moved from full one or two times, by maybe 200 HP max. It really was too easy.
Durance level 1 had three boss packs of undead dolls which I was concerned would kill me when they died, but the biggest hurty explosion was about 400 HP, and they are leechable, which surprised me, so the very next one filled Whitefang to the top before it popped. The first boss I hit with the Steel tabar (I upgraded from the giant axe in this act) and allowed Ajheed to shoot at him while he chased me around and eventually bled out, popping by himself. That is a tactic I will probably use again in later difficulties/areas. The other two I tanked and they were no real problem. I just made sure to use Feral Rage and not Fury so I could control when they died.
Durance level 2 was easier, with zombies and maulers and blood lords, all leechable monsters. I was able to tank all four champion maulers (two were dead before I took the screenie). I am not sure I'll try that again but it was nice to see it in mid-NM anyway. No potions required. I don't think I used a potion after the Sarina fight until getting to Mephisto.
I killed the council members in level 3 in seconds. It was ridiculously fast. I just about ignored the blood lords' damage. They took a fair number of whacks but that means that amp went off on about half of them, and then their health shot to zero in a few seconds or less.
I was feeling pretty bold about my character's power at this point and once I killed the last council member, I decided to charge straight to Mephisto because I had my Feral Rage ball maxed out. Life leech with a maxed out Feral Rage (which for me was level 19 at this point) and the weapon I carry was I think 91%. I also have 40% FRW boots, which combined with Feral Rage, give me 93% FRW. At this point, I am faster than everything and if it is leechable, I am almost untouchable.
Take a look at the Mephisto fight. No way would I try this with most characters! I'd spend copious time drawing the blood lords away from Meph so I could take him one on one. Well with Whitefang, I saw them as purples! Meph isn't leechable, so when I focused on him, I would take noticeable damage from standing in firewalls and such, so I would switch targets and kill a blood lord to get back up to 100%. When I could get amp to go off on Mephisto, I would fury away at him until I needed to get more life, and go back and kill another blood lord. Their fire did hurt when I wasn't leeching so I decided to kill 3 or 4 in a row once to get some control of the situation, but it was never in doubt. I did use all my small purples and a couple of full purples because when Amp went off on Mephisto, I didn't want to waste it. Once all the blood lords were dead, I did go back to town to restock potions one time, but I just kept my eye on the life bulb (which was mostly green) and Feral Rage, Feral Rage, Fury, Fury, repeat, and he went down in a heap. I checked the LCS at the Pandemonium Fortress and my CTH on Mephisto was 89% with Feral Rage and 88% with Fury.
My drops this act were pretty funny. Remember the +3 elemental skills circlet from my last update? I think the game is trying to tell me something about my build preference! I have hardly gotten any other +skill tab equipment, for any class, let alone druid. The amulet was an Iratha's, not an Angelics, grrrr.
Destroyer Whitefang, level 64 Titan Wolf, NM Pandemonium Fortress
edit: I am trying to plan ahead for Diablo - I have Cleglaw's gloves which provide 25% slow but I have been unable to find any additional slow. I have found 5 Hel runes and that Lem but nothing else so I can't make Lawbringer unless I get a Ko at the forge. So basically I'll be fighting a full power Diablo unless I can get a good drop beforehand. I can make a Black RW to help with some CB against Diablo but am not sure the weapon range I need to be using in order to stand inside his lightning hose reliably like the Doom Knights did for Jiansonz. If I make Black in a flail (range adder 2) will I be hit by the hose? Morning Star (range adder 1)? War Hammer (range adder 0) will certainly get it done but it is super slow with a werewolf.