[2018] Tournament: Set/Unique Worshippers 2017 [by jiansonz]

Jan 3, 2007
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This tournament has already ended. It was originally started by jiansonz on Jan 17, 2018. The last post was made Dec 21, 2019.
(link to original thread on diabloii.net)


Okay, time for another one of these. The tournament concept where you often find yourself using crappier (and sometimes stranger) items than ever, where resists can be hard to come by, where rarely-seen upgraded uniques often make appearances, and where obscure partial set bonuses get a chance to shine.

But first:

The origin of the term.
Around 2002-2003, while the community was waiting for patch 1.10 to come out, Flux wrote a series of top ten lists, called Flux's Decahedron. From best/worst monster types, item types, sets, skills, super uniques, areas, etc. to things like "Top ten ways D2 is better than D1" (and vice versa!) and my favourite: Top Ten Silliest Physical Impossibilities in D2. I found some of those hilarious, while I still disagreed with him about some of his picks. An index can be seen here, but since the columns are regarded as "retired", there are no links to them. Nearly all pages are still around deep down there, though, and can be found with well-targeted web searches.

But I haven't been able to find the last one (from April 2003) in his first series. I was able to find a list (with links) on retired columns on the site, sorted by date, and it wasn't where you would expect it to be. So I guess it has been removed. Maybe it was too harsh towards some b.net people?

The title is: "Top Ten Most Annoying Types of People on B.net" and one of the top ten entries is:
Set/Unique Worshippers


Flux decribed an example, a trade where they discussed boots. These are not the exact words, but it's the gist of it:

b.net trader: "What do you have?"
Flux: "I have some good dual resists, 20% FRW, MF boots. My Amazon used to wear them."
"Got War? Or Gore?"
"Those are rare and highly sought after items. I don't trade those." (<- or maybe he didn't even have them)
"Do you have Nat's boots?"
"Sorry, no."
"Aldur's?"
:rolleyes:

And whenever this type of trader got to see some of Flux' nice rare/magical/crafted items, no matter how good it was, the verdict was always: "it sucks"...


That's how our characters in the tourney are. Pretty much nothing exists except greens and golds.

(I started the original S/U worshipper tourney shortly after I read said column. My version was pretty harsh with skills. I wanted to nerf casters, so it was only about every 3rd skill point you could place wherever you wanted, you had to randomize the rest. OTOH, I was more generous with items. Everything was allowed in an item slot until you found a S/U item for that particular slot, and I think there was no restrictions on socketables.)

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Rules
We've already proven that we can take nearly the most crippled character to Guardian, so this time I've taken a more lax approach. I'm trying to make it more fun, with less focus on grind and competition.

• Your character should be HC (although you may go SC, but a SC death disqualifies the character from further participation).
• You may enter and re-enter as many times as you wish.
• Players can use versions from 1.10+
• Players can use any character class, any build, and assign stat- and skill points as desired.
• Re-specing is NOT allowed (although it’s OK use it to correct obvious misclicks – in this case, it should be done right after the misclick).
• Any /players setting is allowed, and may be changed at will. Cheese those sparkly/special chests on Hell all you want!
• Any merc may be used.
• Single pass only (i.e. no rerunning of bosses, containers, shrines or areas).
When you start a new game and are on the move towards the next area you haven’t played, it’s OK to Save and Exit if you get in trouble during the “transport”. Otherwise, only S&E in town or when you are sure no monsters are around.
• You may return to previous acts and difficulties, but note that single-pass still applies (if you really forgot to collect it while you were there the first time, you may retrieve Wirt’s Leg for Cow level, please avoid killing if possible and no picking up loot).
• ATMA, Gomule etc. may be used as an extended stash.
• Quests can be completed whenever you wish (ex. you may use the Normal socket reward in NM).

Equipment
• Your character should be untwinked.
• Only S/U's (Set and Unique Items) may be equipped (with one exception, see the last paragraph). White or grey items may be used until a S/U item is found for that particular item slot. If you are unable to equip it (ex. you don't have enough STR/DEX), then you must do your best to equip it (i.e reach the requirements as fast as possible). If you find an S/U item but would rather not wear it, you can leave that slot empty (the most obvious situation I can think of is a Martial Arts Assassin using the claw-only elemental skills – those can be used bare-fisted).
• S/U weapons you find can be used towards any of the three weapon slots (primary, switch, merc) at your choice. Once you find your third S/U weapon you must fill the last slot (it is your choice which slot that is). If your merc cannot equip any of the three S/U weapons, he/she must go weaponless.
• A S/U shield can never force you to ditch a 2-handed weapon, even a white/grey one. So if you were to find two Hsaru’s bucklers but would rather keep using a plain Two-Handed Sword, you can.
• Sockets may only be filled with:
- emeralds
- topazes
- jewels with the green or the yellow graphic
- unique jewels
• All charms are allowed. (If you find Gheed’s Fortune, you must use it.)
• Merc equipment must follow the same rules as your character (socketables, white-/grey- and S/U items).
• Quest items (e.g. Khalim’s Will) may be used (because they are golden items) but they do not force you away from white/grey items if you’d rather use those.
• Akara’s and Ormus’ reward rings may be used if you haven’t yet found two S/U rings. You may not reroll or craft them, though.


Tournament starts now and ends when there has been no update for an entire month.

(Style points to those who go for builds that depend on the physical damage on the weapon, especially if it's a melee build. Also style points if you have a mercenary named Flux...)


Good luck, and may your gold- and green drops not be too crappy!
 
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Tempting. @jiansonz Will you be participating? I vote you get a special difficulty modifier, since you essentially wrote the book on this style tournament!

I'm currently working on a Random Amazon I rolled for myself, because I'm determined to Guardian a character from that tournament. I'd hate to take time away from her, but a se(p)t of tourney characters sounds fun. I'll sleep (and work tomorrow) on it!
 
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Me1: Hey look, jiansonz has started a S/U tourney, you like S/U tourneys!

Me2: Cool, yes, I do like them. I should enter.

Me1: Nice, but what about the TC3 tourney?

Me2: It’s okay, we’ll finish the TC3 tourney first and probably do another run there and then start the S/U tourney.

Me1: Okay, so what build do you think we should play?

Me2: Well, there are style points for using a merc called Flux.

Me1: Flux - That’s an Act 3 merc, interesting. Is it only the lightning mercs, or can it be any Act 3 merc? Flux sounds like a lightning name.

Me2: I’m pretty sure it can be any of them, but I like the idea of a lightning merc called Flux.

Me1: Cool, so what build are you going to play with this lightning merc?

Me2: What about a Kicker? Unique boots are pretty easy to find and upgrade?

Me1: Yeah, but doesn’t really synergise with the lightning merc all that well.

Me2: Good point, okay how about Conviction aura?

Me1: You mean a Paladin? Really?

Me2: Yes a Paladin, is that a problem?

Me1: Well, you know, the whole RMB auto-attack thing.

Me2: That’s a point … how about a lower resist necro then?

Me1: With skeleton mages?

Me2: Exactly!

Me1: Not sure, I think I liked the Paladin better, what would be the main attack skill?

Me2: Well, I was thinking Vengeance goes nicely with Conviction and we focus on cold and fire damage.

Me1: Are we going to do full clears? Cause Vengeance means we will need to individually hit every monster in the game.

Me2: The merc will kill stuff too.

Me1: Sigh. If you say so.

Me2: Trust me, this will be fun, and not in that masochistic way that I normally mean. Look, what weapon do you think i should aim for?

Me1: Well, I always like Steeldriver!

Me2: A 2-handed Avenger, nice, but Paladins are really slow with 2-handed hammers, how about we look for a nice 2-handed sword?

Me1: Okay, we hope for Soulflay of Shadowfang early on and then we take things as they come from there.

Me2: See, this is going to be great fun.

Me1: Yeah … are you sure we can’t play something safe like a ShockBear or a Singer?
 
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I'm enjoying the challenge so far being unable to equip most of what I find and completely unsure what to try to gamble early on as we can only use the set/unique items we gamble. Rings and amulets I'm guessing though early on they're quite expensive to gamble.

Currently clearing stony field and have 2 chipped topaz in my helm, 1 chipped topaz in my chest, 2 chipped emeralds in my bow, and so far no set/uniques found. I've found quite a few small and medium charms though no usable jewels yet.

Looking far to seeing how far I can progress.
 
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I'm slightly confused, do you keep the first unique weapon you find for the rest of the game? So if I find Blood Crescent, I have to use that as either my main or switch weapon. Or can I replace Blood Crescent with Hexfire later on?
 
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ioupainmax said:
can I replace Blood Crescent with Hexfire later on?
Yes, absolutely. That's a large part of the tourney, trying to find better stuff as you go along.


logoutzero said:
@jiansonz Will you be participating?

Yes, as I wrote in the 'dead' tourney thread, I play an Amazon, with heavy investment in Decoy and Valkyrie. Drops will decide whether I'll go Charged Strike with a spear or Fire/Exploding Arrow with a bow/crossbow. (I don't feel like using Cold bow skills, and I've already done the Immolation Arrow thing).

ioupainmax said:
I vote you get a special difficulty modifier, since you essentially wrote the book on this style tournament!

Haha!
Part of that guide is applicable, but not the gambling. OTOH, you can go for the tactic of trying to NOT find S/U weapons, so you (and the merc) can use weapon types of your choice for as long as possible.
I do get a tiny handicap, because I came up with the rule allowing the 'saving Cain' ring reward after I was past that part.


@Dezrok: Love the internal dialogue! Lots of good points there, back and forth.
(I often see players mention the' attack/melee skill on RMB' thing as something they prefer. I know maxicek was a fan of this when we wrote the Phoenix Striker guide together. (He was the main writer but at least I got a 'LMB alternative' paragraph into the guide) I've tried the RMB attack a couple of times, and I really don't like it. Too unprecise for my liking. I am very specific in my desire to attack that particular monster first, then that one.)
 
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Picked up my first green and I think it'll be quite useful :) Resists will be quite hard to come by on gear I'm guessing.

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I'll join in with my first ever Hardcore character. I've always played softcore but treated it as though it was hardcore since most (90% ish) of my characters have never died.

Class: Sorceress
Name: Habacalva
Build: HC Melee Enchantress
Patch: 1.14d
Stash: Extended GoMule

Habacalva the HC Melee Enchantress

Enchant:
The renowned Sorceress, Habacalva, once assaulted the elemental planes themselves wielding an enchanted mace/blade. Her enemies soon came to fear the mention of the weapon as much as her name.

Hydra:
The Hydra have been allies of the Zann Esu women for generations, owing their freedom in ancient times to the actions of the renowned Sorceress, Habacalva. They never fail to answer a call from a proven Sorceress, and stand ready to spit bolts of scorching magma at her enemies.

The aim is to find some of the following items for this themed build:
  • Bloodrise
  • Hellplague
  • Hexfire (The fabled blade, and Hydra answers call from a proven Sorceress)
  • Moonfall
  • Tiamat's Rebuke (Hydra "trapped" in shield, Habacalva fights for their freedom)
  • Magefist
  • Lava Gout
The main build will focus on Enchant with Hydra as an ancillary support option from items (or possibly 1 point) to deal with dangerous enemies. Will figure out what to do about Hell if I get there :D
 
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I'll give this a shot with Jathnolf, who will be a Berserker using War Cry.

I beat Hell with a single-pass Berserker in the past. That time I used upgraded Bonesnap along with the full set of Iratha's Finery for solid resists. Maybe I can get lucky drops this time too? Wish me luck!
 
Wow, so many tournaments at the moment. What's going on with SPF, all this activity all of a sudden -- great though!

I'll have to take a pass on this one unfortunately. Really looking to push 98-99 on my untwinked Sorc, and having already joined @T72on1's TC3 tournament, this would be getting in the way just a bit too much when considering RL duties I'm afraid. ;)

Good luck everyone, I'll be following the progress!
 
ffs said:
Wow, so many tournaments at the moment. What's going on with SPF, all this activity all of a sudden -- great though!

I'll have to take a pass on this one unfortunately. Really looking to push 98-99 on my untwinked Sorc, and having already joined @T72on1's TC3 tournament, this would be getting in the way just a bit too much when considering RL duties I'm afraid. ;)

Good luck everyone, I'll be following the progress!
You have a RL? :p
 
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