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[2015] The Show Your Colours Tournament [by Pb_pal]
- Thread starter Grisu
- Start date
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The trio left off in Harrogath on the last journal entry and they have now successfully made it through normal with very little difficulty, as Phoenix Strike is just butchering everything. Ancients were taken on /p8, which took a bit longer than expected, however Baal was taken on at /p3. This was just about right, since he kept smoking Gulzar and the Shadow Warrior, even with her Faded in a couple seconds. Much of the battle was done solo by Ember until just before the final moments when she resurrected Gulzar for the killing blow to take advantage of his added MF. Here are just some of the several items found in Act V alone. The increased MF is really starting to present some payoff finally.
Ember and Gulzar, Level 47, Normal Cows
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@Southpaw8668 - Congrats on the Destroyer! Good to see some drops happening, that's always encouraging. Well done.
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Team Blue has vanquished Mephisto.
The temples were nice to us, only a minor stairtrap here:
We upgraded our Gothic Plate to a 4os one with a perfect sapphire and two perfect topazes. We filled the last slot with a flawless topaz just before Mephisto, waiving 4% future MF for 20% additional MF on the quest drop. The item quality roll was good, the item type roll less so:
Other notable finds in Act III:
- Ko rune (useless)
- Fal rune (useless)
- Lava Gout
- Serpent's (27) Large Charm of Life (6) (d'oh)
Destroyer Vanilla and Razan, level 64, Pandemonium Fortress (NM)
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Team Blue has defeated Diablo.
(Razan likes to sleep on the warm floor of Hell).
We found this blue little beauty in a bone chest in Act IV:
Though I doubt it'll see much use with this build.
The Diablo fight took rather long on /p3, and we had to go back to town several times to restock on potions. Razan was brought back to life for the killing blow, and he delivered it with his last breath:
I'm still waiting for that blue Serpentskin Armor to drop ...
Destroyer Vanilla and Razan, level 67, Harrogath (NM)
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Act V started out favorably. No particularly tough monster draws, only the Gloams in the Frozen River required some attention. Lightning Fury as secondary attack is picking up power, at skill level 11 it is already useful to soften up larger packs of Cold Immunes (I drew CI Goatmen in all the possible areas).
This item would be a candidate for the mulligan rule, I guess:
But we're holding onto our sapphired Double Bow so far. We also found Rattlecage, which will be useful on Razan for boss fights with its 25% CB, or to split up melee packs with its 40% HCMTF.
We figured it was time to upgrade Razan's weapon, as any crafted Lance with an %ED prefix would be an upgrade over his IthIth non-eth Partizan. First crafting attempt yielded this (already socketed and colored):
This must be one of the best possible safety crafts (all four affix rolls are useful: IAS, ED, maxdmg, LL).
Other notable finds:
- Lum rune
- M'avina's Icy Clutch (maybe useful to increase cold length in Hell)
- Baezil's Vortex
- Ethereal The Fetid Sprinkler
Destroyer Vanilla and Razan, level 70, Frozen Tundra WP, Nihlathak's Halls (NM) next
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Razan did fall asleep a couple of times (due to Vipers in Nihlathak's lair and Cursed 4th and 5th wave), but in the end we reached Baal without major hassles. The Ancients were easy due to the CB from Rattlecage. The scariest moment was when we spawned a boss pack of lightning spitters on top of our heads from an Evil Urn (despite using the TK ring to open it).
The WSK had unfreezable Frenzytaurs on level 1 and CI witches in the throne, smooth sailing otherwise. I did lower the player setting to /p1 upon entering WSK level 1 since I remember too well how my skill-less Paladin died there.
Baal himself was quite a nuisance, cloned himself immediately, and the clone did not disappear after going to town. We actually had to burn through a dozen full purples to get him down. Finally he succumbed to the united colors of Vanilla and Razan, and gave us a pathetic drop:
Otherwise, we received two minor gear upgrades:
- Amber (33) Greaves of Luck (35) shopped from NM Anya
- Gambled +2 javelin / 23 MF / 19 PR gloves
We played the Cow Level at /p1 due to increased tiredness, and it dropped us a SC of Vita (18). We also hit level 74 in the Cow Level.
We will now Hel out the beloved Topazes from our armors in favor of resistance runes, and do some crafting before starting Hell.
Conqueror Vanilla and Razan, level 74, Rogue Encampment (H)
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@felixbavaria - Congrats on the Conqueror! Awesome boots too, and some other decent finds.
@Southpaw8668 - Don't forget about blood helms. In my experience, they roll sockets fairly regularly, so if you can get one with 2 inherant sockets you don't even have to sacrifice much MF, and it takes care of your LL (and hopefully some resistances too!). I know you need rubies for Ember, so it makes it a bit more complicated, but maybe worth a shot.
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We started Hell after doing some shopping and crafting. We desperately wanted to find a blue javelin with +skills but that seemed out of reach. Anyway, level 15 LF seems good enough for /p1 Hell.
We crafted a Blood Belt:
Beast Strap
Mesh Belt
Defense: 79
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Level: 49
Required Strength: 58
Fingerprint: 0xef0c7f3a
Item Level: 74
Version: Expansion 1.10+
2% Life stolen per hit
10% Chance of Open Wounds
+93% Enhanced Defense
+19 to Life
Cold Resist +21%
Fire Resist +12%
and stuffed some spare jewels in a 4os Stag Bow:
Gemmed Stag Bow
Stag Bow
Two Hand Damage: 7 - 12
Durability: 41 of 48
Required Level: 25
Required Strength: 30
Required Dexterity: 45
Fingerprint: 0x231ba583
Item Level: 36
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Bow and Crossbow Skills (Amazon Only)
Adds 10 - 14 Cold Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
+5 to Strength
+2 to Dexterity
+24 to Mana
+24 Maximum Stamina
Cold Resist +10%
10% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
4 Sockets (4 used)
The Topazes are gone from the 4os Gothic Plate (now PSapphire / Ral / Ort / Thul), but we have the 3os / 2 PTopaz Mask stashed for the kiling blow on Act Bosses, and made a PSapphire / Ral / Ort Great Helm instead. LCS upon entering Hell:
Not too bad, and in the Den of Evil we found this:
Shimmering Grand Charm of the Icicle
Grand Charm
Required Level: 27
Fingerprint: 0xa7997274
Item Level: 79
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 2 - 3 Cold Damage Over 1 Secs (25 Frames)
All Resistances +14
That freed up a resistance ring slot in favor of +29 MF Nagelring, so we're back at ~ 100 MF at 75/22/75/-41 resists.
We cleared Act I up to and including the Dark Wood (where we found a good saving spot) in one session without incidents, although this duo gave us a warm welcome upon entering the Cold Plains:
They are both immune to two of our elements, and highly resistant to the third one. I'm glad LF works with OW. Who would have thought ...
Conqueror Vanilla and Razan, level 75, Dark Wood (H)
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Team Blue has reached the desert.
After an uneventful finish of Act I (we did skip the death trap that is Pit Level 2), we ran for the CVT, that nemesis of Cold Bowazons. "I hope I know what I'm doing."
Level 1 had Unravelers and both types of snakes, but nothing too nasty. Level 2 started quietly, no unravelers, only lesser mummies and snakes. The HCMTF on Razan's armor caused a mummy to flee in Fangskin's direction, and the Valk promptly chased it. A few seconds later she had disappeared. She is level 17, so GTFO. I had a Ring with Confuse charges. Decoy, Confuse, valuable seconds gained. Run counter-clockwise around the altar, get the amulet. Snakes charging from all directions, TP out. Phew. I didn't even see Fangskin's mods, but probably Extra Strong + additional elemental enchantment.
After that, we smoothly cleared the rest of the first part of Act II.
Notable finds (useless, though HC grailers):
- Langer Briser
- Homunculus
- Trang-Oul's Scales
Conqueror Vanilla and Razan, level 78, Lut Gholein (H), Palace Cellar next
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The Rest of Act II went not too bad.
Summoner left an awesome drop:
I had shopped a blue Sapphire War Staff of Lower Resistance for the Duriel fight but of course forgot to mule it back on. So it was Razan and the Valk vs. Weaken-ed and bleeding Duriel. Still had to resurrect Razan a couple of times.
Gold Ring was Carrion Wind (meh, but HC grailer).
Notable finds:
- Ohm rune (not sure what to do with it - hope for a 2os crafted War Pike?)
- +2 Maiden Javelin of the Glacier (finally)
..
Conqueror Vanilla and Razan, level 79, Kurast Docks (H)
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