@Morathi - Don't worry about the progress. Like I said before, I've already got another char planned after this one, so you'll have some company from me at least!
jiansonz said:
The Izual reward points completed my 62 skill points investment to maximize Enchant damage, as far 'native' skill points go. Any extra boost needs to come from gear (or skill shines) now. You can see the current damage in this screenie
Wow that is some awesome damage output! Very impressive.
jiansonz said:
The Izual reward points completed my 62 skill points investment to maximize Enchant damage, as far 'native' skill points go. Any extra boost needs to come from gear (or skill shines) now. You can see the current damage in this screenie
Calabi hasn't managed any other PTopazes after filling her first armour yet. Kasim is still wearing the 3-flawed armour from A2/3 Normal.
--
Calabi has moved on up through the Glacial Trail and Frozen Tundra without anything interesting happening. The standard tactic is to throw a decoy into a group, cast slow missiles, cast inner sight and wait for Kasim to kill everyone with Decoy re-casts as needed. I'm starting to look forward to when we are finished the treasure hunting portion of the journey, so that Calabi can become more involved in the fighting. For now it was time to get some revenge for our new friend Anya.
First two levels were no problem.
We stepped down into the Halls of Vaught and were immediately rushed by a bunch of Night Marauders, together with a Wretched Defiler. Good, Calabi thought, these guys can be dealt with easily. Kasim took care of them, and we picked a wing to explore. We were inching forward as slowly as the random exploring patterns of Kasim and the Valk would allow, when all of a sudden we saw green. Tomb Vipers. Serves me right for half-complaining about how unexciting Act V has been so far.
They spit their poison clouds and Kasim ran towards them, and his death. Retreat and raise Kasim, give him a little lecture about not being so reckless, and head back down. We could subdue the snakes as long as we could get a decoy in between them all. This forced them into melee-mode, and Kasim could then kill them without worrying about the poison. The problem was this was not easy to achieve very reliably, with other monsters around, and Kasim and the valk running around triggering ranged attacks. After one wing cleared, 400K+ in resurrections, and countless merc deaths(many to
this fine gentleman, courtesy of an evil urn) we decided there had to be a better way. So we left Kasim dead, and cast a new valk using a +1 P+M Skills amulet we keep in our stash. This allowed us to cast her at slvl 8 with her weapon upgrade. It's amazing the difference it made. The valk went from being just a meat shield to occupy monsters, to a meat shield that could actually kill, even at a reasonable pace.
Luckily the 2nd wing didn't have too many snakes present, so we were able to clear it out fairly easily. The 3rd wing was a mix of sheer terror and lots of running away. We were immediately confronted with two packs of snakes. It was not easy work seperating the snakes from each other, as they are quite quick and their charge attacks would knock the decoy around all over the place. We had one huge NDE where 3 seperate snakes all charged the decoy in turn knocking her way back. Calabi tried to run to re-position but the poison spears came flying. She Avoid/Evade-ed the first, but got caught in the animation, and the next two (and possibly a third? I couldn't tell) smacked her. I didn't check the numbers on the life bulb, all I know is that I couldn't see any red. She must have had under 20 life left.
Well with most of my rejuvs, a few more NDEs(though not quite as horrifying), and a ring with Dim Vision charges that was dropped by a snake(fittingly), we were able to seperate out the packs, eventually getting them all alone so that Calabi could
valiantly hack them in the spine.
Nihlathak's wing was nicer to us, as it didn't boast too many snakes. Kasim made his reappearance and we killed Nilly without troubles. He dropped us only a blue studded leather for our troubles. How nice of him.
So that was easily the most terrifying part of Calabi's journey so far. If she is lucky enough to make it that far in Hell and there are snakes present, you can rest assured she will let Nihlathak live out the rest of his days down there in peace. So with her(read: my) nerves spent, she is taking a break before heading up through the Ancient's Way.
Calabi hit 72 somewhere in the temple, which meant that Penetrate has now been maxed (along with Decoy). We have 13 skill points saved up, so that whenever we finish our treasure hunting (or whenever the need arises) we can switch from a slvl 7 valk directly to a maxed one. Considering how well she did in the Halls of Vaught with just her first weapon upgrade, I'm very excited to see what a difference this will make. I'm sure Kasim will appreciate the help as well. The rest of the skill points are currently distributed evenly throughout CS/Dodge/Avoid. I am aiming to have them all at 50% before +skills (thats slvl 8/12/7 respectively). After that (if Calabi gets there
) I'm not sure, just whatever I see fit I suppose, depending on the diminishing returns on those skills. Either that or I will pump Slow Missiles to get a longer duration. We'll see.
Destroyer Calabi the Axe-wielding Amazon, with Kasim the Blessed Aim Guard - lvl 72, NM Ancient's Way Next
I most likely won't be able to update this weekend, so I figured a new table was in order to at least get all the newcomers added.
Code:
Table of Heroes:
Forum Name Class Char Name LVL ACT Area
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pb_pal Amazon Calabi 72 A5(NM) Ancient's Way
jiansonz Sorceress Sissy 69 A5(NM) Crystalline Passage
Zylo Druid Hoyt 59 A3(NM) Kurast Docks
djmbbandie Assassin Natasha 31 A3 Upper Kurast
sivaeB Necromancer Toast 27 A3 Kurast Docks
felixbavaria Sorceress Swoosh 25 A2 Lut Gholein
Morathi Assassin Carrisa 21 A2 Lut Gholein
pharphis Sorceress SlamDoorsShut 18.5 A1 Jail Lvl 1
Jocular Assassin ????? 14 A1 Stony Field/Dark Wood(?)
jamesixgun Druid John 6 A1 Rogue Encampment
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
