Nice write-up @Grisu !
I’m impressed that you kept your free rogue alive for all of act 1! I tried and kept her safe through the underground passage but she died somewhere before the countess.
@Chaostar I was also wondering about those questions. Thanks!
Also, may I ask what your strategy for the start was? What character order and scrolls have you used so far?
Edit: guess I won’t be using any runewords Anytime soon
Oh, Don't know if I will regret this or not
Been wanting to do some sort of Sept tourney though so why not.
Going to name characters after the other 7 planets
Mercury - Paladin
Venus - Amazon
Mars - Barbarian
Jupiter - Druid
Saturn - Sorceress
Uranus - Assassin
Neptune - Necromancer
Will be starting with Venus the Amazon - playing SC with sit out on death since I want characters of each type long term anyway.
Great, another crazy guy in !!!
@zarfen, I'll post my progress so far today, once I finish the 4th character. I think start strategy is plain, and next will depend on first scroll draws. Mine are not great so far.
@Grisu, do what you want with the naked merc. I won't bother any merc before I can give him stuff, but keep the benefit of the first rogue is fine.
Scroll 81 is really nice, I wish I had this one early too ^^
So, I'll report my first progress in this experimental tournament ^^
I started with a Barbarian, it seems it's a good choice for the 1st character.
So Mayhem started his journey.
A pack of misshapen gave him his first NDE in the underground passage, at lvl 5 !
I found a scepter to improve my dmg a little.
Black marsh, another NDE. It's high time I earn some WP to learn how to improve Vitality.
Just before The countess' room, had to deal with several dark stalkers, they almost killed me too, my life dropped to 11pts really fast, I already drank the 2 rejuv I found.
Once the countess slained, I found 3 little strange token in her pocket (yes, she has pockets somewhere).
I returned to Akara, she said they 'll grant me wisdom to use some magic scroll, like the ones in my stash.
It looked fun, so I decided to ate the little pills to use the scroll that whould allow me to boost my vitality.
Akara told me to spit the pills, it was not the kind of pills you swallow, but you have to put there somewhere else...
I figured out how it worked, and I knew how to improve my vitality.
My HP went HP from 69 to 209, that will be much appreciated.
My way through the barracks, then the cathedral. My main concern is my low damage, and chance to hit. I try to kill most monsters, to gain xp.
I Faced Andariel at lvl 11, I had to be careful, but my 275 HP were my best asset.
I slained her, and claimed the Scroll townfolks promised to give me. I get this :
65 : You can replay the act you just finished at the cost of 1WP for each replay session
Not the kind of stuff I was looking for in the beginning...
2nd character in line : Empyrium, Paladin
Time to catch up with my brother !
I feel lucky, just entered the cold plains, and found this nice scepter :
After I killed Blood Raven, I found a Set Shield into the Crypt
Found 3 WP by killing The Countess. I spend them to invoke a scroll allowing me to improve Strength and Dexterity, and another one that initiate me to the arts of combat.
Strength and vitality are great aptitudes to improve, but it's not always enough. I had hard times once or twice, against packs of extra strong monsters for eg. who deals a lot of pain. I had to flee some foes to stay alive.
The final fight against Andariel was really hard, I was hurt a lot, but I managed to kill her.
After that, I won a scroll :
39 : You can respec your characters at will (tokens or quest reward)
I'm not really happy with that, it won't help me or my siblings at all.
3rd character : Anathema, Sorceress
Anathema starts her journey, she decided to be initiated to the arts of Cold.
Things started well, found a set item in the first cave.
I use ice bolt, then ice blast to kill monsters. I have to be cautious, I had NDE with a nasty pack of extra strong skeleton archers.
Once I killed The countess and found 3 wisdom token, I spent them to learn the Skill improvement scroll.
I use its ability now, and decide to upgrade the Ice Blast skill, to take it to Apprentice level, so I can invest up to 5 skill points in that skill.
My Ice blast is very efficient now, even if it uses a lot of mana.
The end of the act was quite easy, at full speed. I kill everything easily with lvl 5 Ice Blast.
Andariel took 2 minutes, but was slained as well.
103 Can craft any belt recipe
Disappointed with my new scroll once again, will not be useful yet.
4th character : Ulver, Druid
Ulver initiate all shapeshift skills.
Lycanthropy will also be promoted to Apprentice level.
A nice weapon improvement found in the first level of the countess's tower
The fight with the countess and her minions was really tough. I had trouble to hit the evil ladies. Anyway, I killed the countess, and earned 3 WT, which I'll save for later.
NDE experience just before entering the monastery gate. A few foes, I took a lot of damage, and despite my huge life pool, it takes hour to refill with minor healing potions, and I escaped almost dead ! I have to be more careful !!!
I entered the catacombs, on my way to kill Andariel. I'm not great : I have almost no rejuv left, I deal not enough damage, my attack is slow (despite a fast attack weapon), and I have a chance to hit problem. Even a pack of 4 or 5dark ones give me trouble.
Maybe I should have upgraded werewolf instead of Lycanthropy… Now it's done !
Andariel was really hard to kill. I had to heal in town a lot, because of her poison skills. I finally killed her, with 1 single rejuv left.
I win this scroll :
28 : You can equip any magic weapon
It's ok, I guess...
This char had really a lot of trouble in act I. Act II will be dreadful...
So far, after 4 char / 7 :
Family :
Remaining WT : 3
Code:------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Char | Class | Act | Initiated tree | Skills | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Mayhem | Barb | A2 Normal | ? | ? | | Empyrium | Pal | A2 Normal | Combat | ? | | Anathema | Sorc | A2 Normal | Cold | Ice blast (*) | | Ulver | Druid | A2 Normal | Shapeshift | Lycanthropy (*) | | | | A1 Normal | ? | ? | | | | A1 Normal | ? | ? | | | | A1 Normal | ? | ? | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Activated scrolls :
Code:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ID | Desc | WT cost | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | 1 | You can place attributes points in STRENGTH or DEXTERITY | 2 | | 2 | You can place attributes points in VITALITY or ENERGY | 2 | | 6 | Skill improvement : Pick 1 skill (per character) you already have 1 pt invested : improve your knowledge of that skill by 1 tier... | 3 | | 7 | Initiation : pick 1 skill tree (per character) : You can put only 1 pt in any skill from that tree, and use it | 2 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stashed scrolls :
Code:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ID | Desc | WT cost | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | 3 | You can equip 1 set item | 2 | | 4 | You can equip 1 magic item | 2 | | 5 | You can equip 1 rare item | 3 | | 65 | You can replay the act you just finished at the cost of 1WP for each replay session | 1 | | 39 | You can respec your characters at will (tokens or quest reward) | 9 | | 103 | Can craft any belt recipe | 2 | | 28 | You can equip any magic weapon | 1 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@CaseyJones Starting with Amazon seems dangerous to me but maybe staying ranged is the key? Looking forward to reading about her success (so I can steal you tactics for myself
Nice summary @Chaostar! By now you must be quite experienced in running through act 1 with underpowered characters
I misread scroll 7, thinking it was 3WTs instead of 2. Now I’m glad I have 1 WT saved from my barb so I can get str and a skills tree both unlocked already on my next character!
Edit: don’t forget that Akara sells scepters (white ones without any +skills cost about 350g) if you don’t want to wait until the tower for one to drop like your Druid
Yes you're right, but that wolf was really painful to play, so slow, around 65/70% ct hit but really I felt like he touches 1/5 time, it was insane.
And the minor healing potions drove me mad
Anyway, don't know what to play next, maybe assassin then amazon, and finally NOT necromancer (I'm not a necro fan).
I still have doubts about the rules balance. Maybe it will be really too hard in normal, depending on which scroll you pick up...
Also, in the begining, replay an act was always allowed and free without limit, except killing the boss act, and with only a delay between two session (to avoid specific area runs). I fear the actual rule will be too much, I don't know.
That's why I'm glad you all give it a try, we could find flaws and improvements.
Just a short text update tonight.
A paladin from the zarf family follows in Zarfbarian's footsteps. UmerTheFoolish is currently lvl 11 and has cleared up to the black marsh including the tower and countess. I have only gotten 1 exp shrine compared to the barbs 3-4 and also skipped 1 or 2 optional areas with him, so I'm a little behind in exp compared to the barb.
No NDE's yet, having that nice cushion of some early VIT.
I have spent my new 3 WTs plus my remaining WT on scroll 1 and scroll 7, to allow me to allocated stats to STR/DEX and open up a skill tree. UmerTheFoolish chose the Offensive Auras tree, welcoming a nice damage boost on his scepter whacks.
@Chaostar before I equip it, this Scepter that Akara sold me is OK for me to use with Holy Fire aura once I have unlocked the offensive aura tree via the initiation scroll (7), right?
Hope to do some serious progress tomorrow evening.
Edit:
@Chaostar I will probably not go down the wolf route on my druid then!
I doubt that you have managed a good balance between 155 scrolls on your first try!
You're right.
The scepter itself is ok, because it doesn't need to be id'ed.
As you unlocked the tree where holy fire is, and put 1 skill point in holy fire, you can use that spell, and have the benefit of the +3 on the scepter.
About balance, we'll know it soon, I'm afraid !
Thanks! Just a small clarification: do I need to put a hard point in holy fire or can I use it from scepter only?Chaostar said:You're right.
The scepter itself is ok, because it doesn't need to be id'ed.
As you unlocked the tree where holy fire is, and put 1 skill point in holy fire, you can use that spell, and have the benefit of the +3 on the scepter.
About balance, we'll know it soon, I'm afraid !
Feeling much stronger now that I have vitality and even a few level 1 skills compared to the bare bones barb
I think you can use it even if you didn't put 1 hard point in it. It's what I understand from scroll #7
I bet it's easier now for your paladin !
Still be careful (I know you are, and you clear more than me, I am around Andariel at lvl 11)
Venus selected a nice set of arrows and set out on here way.
Smooth sailing using just a bow, found and early poison shrine so picked up some choking gas potions...stashed for level 16...
Stashed all fulminating potions and strangling gas potions found, after maxing their quantities at the vendors
1 to 4 damage just didn't cut it for Blood Raven and I cracked into the first batch of strangling gas potions, those did the trick.
Shortly after that, found a superior bow... +1 max damage... Upgrade!
Here's Venus plinking at Rakinishu - ranged distance is good
Then, chipped away at Griswold, far enough away no curses for me
We walked along that river back and forth several times as slivers of his life were nicked away and finally:
No real NDE's on the way but the further I moved along, the low bow damage was really starting to slow things down. I was tossing potions more and more often. Then I noticed a pack of throwing knives lying on the ground. Hrm...4-9 damage when thrown....plus use of a shield...where do I sign up? Stopping over to Charsi to get them sharpened and she told me she had just made a batch of her finest knives, superior even for her, +1 max damage, +3 attack rating
On to the Countess where normal mobs were dealt with much more smoothly now. However, champions, uniques and their minions still dropped best with the gas potions.
And Countess is Down!!
Some interesting symbols painted on these rocks...I wonder what they mean, maybe Akara can tell me more...
At least she awarded me with 3 Wisdom Tokens, she says they fit into the lock slots on that pile of scrolls, unlocking their power.
I slid 2 of the coins into a scroll marked VITALITY/ENERGY. Suddenly I knew how to make myself healthier/sturdier and I wasted no time:
from 66 to 203 life...that's going to make the going safer
Still a bit to go in this act but I think the knives and my deep potion stack will help. I also had a decent amount of experience shrine luck along with slower moving area clears....not full clears mind you, but not rushing past much either so I am already sitting at a comfy 10.5 levels.
I really only expect to have issues with the Andy battle now. We shall see!
Keep on keeping on tourney mates...fun to read
I will try to remember. I am very worried that I will at some point become relaxed and unfocused and die. I don't play HC (or SC with 1 death in this case) usually.Chaostar said:
@CaseyJones Nice going with the amazon. I did actually not know that throwing knives did such decent damage. All I've found have quickly been converted to a few hundred gold in town
---
Umer the foolish paladin picked up where I left off yesterday, equipping the +3 Holy Fire scepter and substantially increased his damage output. My whole reasoning for going with Offensive Auras as my first initiated skill tree was that since I would probably struggle to get a good weapon, not being able to put anything in sockets yet, and not using any charms, the +damage from Holy Fire would benefit me the most. I'm so far happy with the decision but I'm of course looking forward to opening up combat skills in the future, at this point especially for the potential boost to AR.
The tiny damage from the pulsing aura was also a major "quality of life" upgrade when running around in Fallen camps. It wasn't enough to matter against Dark One's in the catacombs, but I loved it for the jail.
And another consideration is that in case I can't handle being melee anymore in the following acts, the auras work nicely with bows as well.
I only spent 1 actual skill point yet (in might), holding off on the decision of which direction to go in the skill tree.
The Outer and Inner cloister were uneventful, as was most of the catacombs apart from some challenging boss packs. Being so much more powerful really sped things up and I reached the bottom of the catacombs quite quickly after firing up today's gaming session.
No extremely close calls, but I had to pop a rejuv a few times. Umer also kept gas potions on his weapon switch in case he wanted to switch to morecowardlysafe tactics.
UmerTheFoolish then vanquished Andariel. Level 14, so a little lower than my barb. I skipped more of the catacombs, doing no additional backtracking once I found the stairs. It wan not too tough of a battle since fire works well on big demon ladies, but I did take a lot more damage than my barb. I have saved some stat points for later and put 5 in str, meaning lower VIT which was noticeable.
All in all I enjoyed* Umer's adventures in act 1 and there was not really much to report. No interesting drops either.
*except for the paladin's stupid walk animation when going vertically straight up on the screen
After the flames Andariel left died out, he found a scroll in the ashes. ID 139 (close to the elusive 144 again!!) - You can craft any boots recipe. Hmm, not a homerun this time either. It seems useful later in the game, but I don't know how useful crafted boots are compared to gloves or belts which IIRC are more common crafts for untwinked chars. I won't get this ability anytime soon anyway since I can't even wear crafted boots yet!
Which family memeber the Zarfs will send out next is yet to be decided, but the next playthrough should be a piece of cake with the ability to freely distribute stat points and even use some skills from a single tree
... unless you go for a Wolf druid !zarfen said:
GG guys, it's nice to read your progress !
yeah, you really should go for a Bear Druid instead - Shockwave is probably the best skill in the game (writeup for my Set/Unique Worshipper 2017 Bear following the next few days).Chaostar said:... unless you go for a Wolf druid !
GG guys, it's nice to read your progress !
I will probably go Amazon next, My Paladin is about to face Andariel. Still doing full clears, so it takes some time...
So, Fester, the Paladin, defeated Andariel - even without a poison shrine (but not without Antidote potions). A level 4 Holy Fire makes me reckless, I guess... (1 skill point, +3 from Scepter).
Hit level 17 with Andariel, so I was even more lucky with my XP shrines (and saved them for bosspacks - that is the best use IMHO).
After defeating The Countess (this time frontal assault with 200+life)I invested all WT in Scrolls 1 and 7 (seems to be the hype around here) and chose Offensive Auras for the Paladin, immediately spending one point in Holy Fire and equiping the +3 Holy Fire Scepter.
3 early Gem Shrines got me this gem (literally), which unfortunately I can't use
Pitspwan Fouldog behaved better this time and was locked behind bars, which made him and his gang a good target for my Strangling Gas Potions. gg!
Good thing it wasn't a Pal Killer...
Not sure about the next character, probably Amazon, but I'll think about the best progression strategy (which character is best with only 1 skill point in a certain skill?)
Code:------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Char | Class | Act | Level | Initiated tree | Skills | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Lurch | Barb | A2 Normal | 16 | ? | ? | | Fester | Paladin | A2 Normal | 17 | Off. Auras | ? | | Wednesday | Amazon | A1 Normal | 1 | ? | ? | | Morticia | Assassin | A1 Normal | 1 | ? | ? | | Pugsley | Druid | A1 Normal | 1 | ? | ? | | Gomez | Necro | A1 Normal | 1 | ? | ? | | Grandmama | Sorc | A1 Normal | 1 | ? | ? | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Activated scrolls :
Code:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ID | Desc | WT cost | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | 1 | You can place attributes points in STRENGTH or DEXTERITY | 2 | | 2 | You can place attributes points in VITALITY or ENERGY | 2 | | 7 | Initiation : pick 1 skill tree (per character) : You can put only 1 pt in any skill from that tree, and use it | 2 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stashed scrolls :
Code:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ID | Desc | WT cost | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | 3 | You can equip 1 set item | 2 | | 4 | You can equip 1 magic item | 2 | | 5 | You can equip 1 rare item | 3 | | 6 | Skill improvement : Pick 1 skill (per character) you already have 1 pt invested : improve your knowledge of that skill by 1 tier... | 3 | | 34 | You can equip any magic ring | 1 | | 81 | You can equip any magic class specific item | 1 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I think I just broke my personal best for clearing act 1. At least doing full clears. This time with Envya the assasin. Yes the name is envy, one of the 7 deadly sins, with and -a added to make it sound more like a name
I didn't stop to record much of her journey as I really wanted to finish act 1 with her today since I was home alone tonight and will be away for most of the weekend.
She started out as a scepter n' board-wielding face smasher like all of my characters have done so far. Using fire blast to clear packs of fallen and clumped up enemy packs in narrow passages. Then she became a baby trapper at level 12 when she unlocked Wake of Fire.
Andariel was very easy and not very dangerous. I resorted to run circles around the pool of blood and luring her to run through my fire traps. Safe and pretty quick. I had to pull up my inventory to refill my belt a couple of times which let her catch up to me, but there was never any real danger.
A short summary would be: Traps are super powerful even at level 1 when you play at /players 1. After I hit level 12 and put a point if Wake of Fire, the rest of the act went on fast forward. I didn't even end up spending her WTs on anything because I felt like I didn't need it and I was not sure if I wanted to commit to traps or aim for just DS and go more of a martial art route. Because she had access to some nice, or at least passable, AoE from the start I did almost full clears and went into all areas with this one. I ended up at level 15,9 after the Andariel kill.
I got scroll 98, granting the ability to wear rare body armor. Seems all right, but I would use scroll 5 first sicne that grants the ability to wear any rare item. I'm also not sure how useful it will be when locked to the body armor slot, since that has the potential for a lot of sockets to be filled with goodies.
I should probably figure out how to make nice tables (or steal them from previous posters) to keep the tracking in the thread. But for now I'll post a screenshot of my excel document if anyone's interested in how I decided to track everything. Not shown to the right is more columns with Skills tier 2-4
Not sure who's up next, but I will probably end up using my unspent WTs when starting my next family member. I just saved it in case I would get something sweet as an act reward that I could use it on since I didn't want to commit to 5 points on any spell on my sin anyway. Seems like skill improvement is the most bang for my WTs right now, especially since I have sorc and necro left (and even druid I guess) who all can benefit greatly from additional skill points.
@Grisu Lucky that spider was in your game and not mine then
I see you fell pretty low against Pitspawn. I actually tried to snap a similar screenshot, but I dropped so low trying to find the print screen button that I had to abort to avoid an extremely embarrassing death, so I missed the opportunity
@Grisu : lvl 17 in act 1 at /players1, wow ! and a flawless gem ! Never did that myself, but I should !
My character#3 was a sorceress, she did fine, and after the contess you should be able to take a spell to lvl 5 if you want (until you plan to use another scroll).
@zarfen, nice assassin ! maybe my mext char too, I have to confess the only assassins I played were kickers
Just a quick text update since I am on my mobile.
Venus slew the Smith and returned Charsi's mystical hammer. Since I can't equip anything rare yet I had her imbue a sorc weapon for the class mods vendor value.
She then made her way through the jails, into the cathedral, and down through the catacombs. Running by about 50% of mobs due to kills speed issues. Relying most only potions at this point. No near death experiences to report.
Made it to Andariel and we battled it out. The strangling gas potions barely making a dent I had to fill her full of knives instead....run a straight line away, thunk thunk thunk, repeat. A couple of quick trips to town to restock knives and potions, including stamina potions...no good getting exhasuted
Venus prevailed thankfully ending at level 12.
Rolled my number:
31 - You can equip any charm with fire resistance - for 3 WT
That will come in handy later but stashed for now.
Started on the next family member, Mars the barbarian.
He has rescued cain without issue and awaits the next play session to tackle the countess and unlock more scrolls
On a side note, so far my rogue quest rewards have both perished at the first boss pack of dark rangers encountered. Pretty much 10 steps into stony field. Some help they've been!
Definitely looking forward to getting more options unlocked.
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