Main trouble in Act IV Nightmare wasn't the progress, it was making sure I lost as little loot as possible.
Three kinds of creatures can make me lose out on drops of they get slain up towards the very edges of the early areas, or over lava in the later areas: Finger mages, Dark Familiars and Burning Souls. The first two flee when they get hurt, which can complicate things. I do not have the kind of crowd control that some other classes have, and my barbarian friend uses Bash a lot, which may lead to monsters making a run for it. My methods for trying to prevent it from happening:
- Cast a Decoy right next to the monster Vikhyat is fighting, on the side away from him.
- Same idea as above, but place Viri herself there instead.
- (special for part of the City - and great vs. a Champion bat pack) Use walls (preferrably corners) on the few buildings that are around.
My first Valkyrie on the last session was great, with both poison damage and ctc Amp:
That Valkyrie survived the entire RoF. She soon died in the CS. Doom Knights dish out heavy poison damage with their spectral hits, and getting Amped and Decrep-ed as well eventually were too much for her. I did save her about three times with town healing, but was then too slow the next time.
Vikhyat wasn't a fast killer (he's still using Bloodletter) but with the life steal he is better at surviving than when he uses Blade of Ali Baba. Viri poked a few Charged Strikes at almost every 'megademon' critter in the act, softening them up for Vikhyat.
Resists for Diablo:
Even if his Firestorm can hurt a lot if you stand right next to him, this resist setup still led to that plan.
I took him on /p3, not bothering with any CB items (Crushflange, Guillaume's).
I trusted in the raw power of Charged Strike.
Here we go:
Aha, so he prefers attacking Vikhyat. I gave him a few potions but figured out they wouldn't last at the rate he would need them. I didn't want to move now that I was in position. Didn't want any unpredictable mess. Diablo had already used Bone Prison twice right at the start of the fight - jailing Vikhyat. So I let him have his way with Vikhyat.
If I'm not close enough for the lightning hose to miss, this can get very dangerous. I was super ready with the rejuve buttons...
Perfect!
The Firestorm didn't cause me any great scare, but some sort of potion was needed every time he threw one. Not that he got off that many. Resurrected Vikhyat for the killing blow. Had to do it again, but the next time
he got close enough for the hose to miss, and scored the kill.
S/U finds weren't many, considering the huge MF number we're wearing at the moment.
Civerb's Cudgel #2 (Outer Steppes)
Heart Carver (City of the Damned)
The Eye of Etlich (River of Flame maze)
Kinemil's Awl (Grand Vizier of Chaos)
Isenhart's Lightbrand #4 (Diablo)
Sigon's Wrap (Diablo) <- second completed set
Hellforge rune was Fal. Useless if I don't find two more.
Viridissima the Valkyrie/Charged Strike Amazon and Vikhyat the Barbarian, level 67, NM Harrogath, eighty-eight S/U items found
(Why on earth is my number of S/U items getting censored if I write the figures??)