Nice updates @CaseyJones! Interesting to see how the /players x scroll plays out for you. Seems like your characters are in good shape for act 2.
CaseyJones said:
So which family are you talking about?
I made it through act 1 too !
I won't make a complete report, as it is my second attempt (the last one, I hope
I made a few changes in my choice with my family, but not so much.
I activated 4 scrolls :
1 You can place attributes points in STRENGTH or DEXTERITY
2 You can place attributes points in VITALITY or ENERGY
6 Skill improvement...
7 Initiation
My family seven are :
Mayhem (Barbarian)
Empyrium (Paladin), unlocked combat tree
Absu (Assassin), unlocked Traps, and get shock web to apprentice (which is less efficient than the fire spell I unlocked on my 1st attempt)
Dodheimsgard (Necromancer) : psn & bones, and Teeth (much better)
Wilderun (Amazon) Jav-Spears and Power strike
Anathema (Sorceress) Cold, no apprentice spell for now
Ulver (Druid) Shapeshift and Feral Rage.
The druid was the most (only) difficult to play, and only on the end. He was great with javelins in the beginning, from tamoe and lvl 12 it became too difficult to kill, so he chose the lycanthropy path (I was really tempted to go for elemental, but no)
I fear for the druid life in act 2, and I still don't know how I'll deal with Duriel with a necro without golem / Iron Maiden (unless I become extra lucky with spells).
A few graiers
Stashed scrolls (12 WT saved) :
3 You can equip 1 set item
4 You can equip 1 magic item
5 You can equip 1 rare item
18 You can equip any set belt
14 You can equip 1 item with the ethereal property
93 You can equip any unique helm
9 You can equip any set body armor
116 Family trade : you can get items from your other characters' mule
139 Can craft any boot recipe
132 You can buy 2 new ability scroll in town at the cost of 1 THUL Rune (sold to merchant, you cannot buy it back)
Nice going @Chaostar !
Looks like you picked up a few decent scrolls too.
Did any of your mercs survive act 1? I don't know how @Grisu does it! I had a couple make it to Andy but quite quickly succumbed to her poisonous ways.
I am anxious to start into act 2...hoping the first couple chars I take through pick up some more skill advancement or initiation scrolls
No worries - I will kill them off in Act III to get an Iron Wolf merc ;-)CaseyJones said:
It actually isn't that difficult once you get used to the bad AI of Rogues. You just have to "Teleport-bug" them (run away from them until they can't follow you - they will teleport to you and most of the time from then on melee monsters will ignore them).
Fighting Andariel: You have to position the merc somewhere to the side and engage Andariel in melee. If the Rogue is at least 90° to one side of Andariel, she will never get poisoned. if she does, quickly grab your TP and go to Akara for healing. Doing full clears and having a high merc level helps of course.
The rogue was actually pretty important for my sorc in Act II - with Enchant at level 1 and a +3 Enchant staff, she actually did some decent damae even unequipped (write-up follows).
Good progress everyone! I like reading your updates
I never get a rogue past the barracks, I focus on my chars survival
@CaseyJones : I'm not too worried for first chars, Paladin, Sorceress, Java, and Barb I guess will make it (unless I do stupid moves again ^^). Trap assassin, I don't know, I'm more concerned about wolf and necro.
Agreed, it's lots of fun reading about your experiences.
My paladin UmerTheFoolish has conquered the deserts. Long post ahead!
He planned his adventure after the tales of the success of @Grisu 's paladin Fester.
It's only +2 to HF, but it has +zeal ready for the future and it's non-magical, so I didn't want to risk it and picked it up and didn't search for upgrades later when in town either. Maybe he should have continued to look whenever I was in town, because he acquired a lot of gold so he could surely afford a +3/+3 scepter.
Thanks for the tip @Grisu! I did not know about this. (Nevermind the 3 bodies on the ground from failed attempts before I got the angle to the door right)
Awesome! But of course, it's just gathering dust in his stash right now. Just like Fester's...
He was level 14 when he started the act and felt quite weak. The only gear upgrade he had readily available to him right away was shopping for some magical MF gloves. He also unlocked scroll 5 and started gambling for rare boots, hoping to score some with MF to really start the treasure hunt.
I soon decided that I needed to add some dexterity to be able to hit anything since who knows when he will be able to use a combat skill to boost his AR. Paladins are pretty good at blocking as well, so dex does boost survivability as well so that's nice. He actually spent most of his stat points from Act 2 in dex, adding some in vit when he felt he could afford to, and boosted his str to 40 for a white Kurast shield.
There was still plenty of danger even early in the act, however. Small tombs with lots of monsters make for great risk of deadly surrounds, so he had to use the environment to his advantage several times. This way of playing really is very fun and quite refreshing!
Doorways were his best allies for all of act 2.
After clearing the first few areas of the act as well as having bought the scepter, he had some spare gold and really started to hit up Elxiz looking for some gambled boots. He spent a few 10's of k gold, but then he hit the jackpot:
Ding ding ding! What a great set of boots already! I wouldn't be surprised if he wears themuntil he diesfor a very long time! I guess he can stop hoping for good rares to drop for a while because these aren't leaving his feet!
With rekindled spirit and head held high, he continued questing though the desert without many problems. Once he reached level 18 and started using Holy Freeze, everything was quite a lot safer. He dropped below 100 life a few times, but I never felt truly in danger (famous last words). He improved his Holy freeze aura to apprentice tier, so his damage kept getting stronger as well as he leveled up which was a nice change in this tournament
PSA: Choking gas potions are just as great in act 2 as strangling gas potions are in act 1 (well, there are some poison resistant monsters around so maybe not as great) and the cloud radius is huge. Very nice complimentary AoE attack for a character with barely any skills unlocked.
The maggot lair left no lasting impression apart from the Nagelring drop. The claw viper temple was a little scary, as it always is. I was almost knocked back up the stairs. But slow and careful play saw Umer through to the altar though.
I was a bit weary of the summoner since he often gets a kill on my toons before I am able to take him down. Especially when his platform, and especially the stairs leading up to it, is crowded with monsters to slog through.
Luckily, it turned out that the summoner was all alone without any support. I felt confident enough to snap an action shot on my way over there. Even threw a couple choke potions up there for good measure.
The glacial spike missed it's target
After that were the 7 tombs. I cleared them out over 2 play sessions because it took quite some time. He cleared everything in Act 2, having learned from his restlessness in Act 1 and regretting coming to the desert at only level 14. He found some S&Us in the fake tombs, including the Berserkers helm and Cleglaws claws.
So then he had arrived at Duriel's waiting room. No combat shrine and no backup plan. He went to town to prepare a little extra. He unlocked scroll #3 which allows all of the Zarfs to equip 1 set item. He shopped for a magical bone shield of deflecting (excellent block) and swapped his magical MF gloves to Cleg's gloves for the fight(for the slow target modifier). He then drank all the thawing potions he could get his hands on and went down into the tiny hole where Duriel reigns supreme.
This is what the screen looked like for a good 14 minutes (yeah, that's right. No exaggeration, I timed it). And I couldn't really look away either because I had to feed Umer a steady stream of health potions, and still be alert for when Duriel landed a string of hurty hits in a row which put Umer's life at alarming levels, prompting him to drink a rejuv. He had to go to town maybe 5 or so times to stock back up on potions.
He did finally fall, and UmerTheFoolish became the first Zarf to make it through the desert. He swapped out his magical shield for a magical MF amulet for the last hits before the kill, and...
... what a lucky guy! Tarnhelm is an awesome drop! And I have scroll 93 (you can equip any unique helm) ready and waiting in the family scroll rack! I'm holding off for now though, since there's still a while before I can continue with Umer. The rest is nothing to sneeze at either but I don't think I'm in any position to equip those right now.
To continue his lucky streak, he was rewarded with scroll 75 - Skill improvement! Score! This one I just snapped off right away. What a relief!
In case it isn't obvious, I had lots of fun playing UmerTheLuckyFoolish through the desert! Undecided on who's next. Getting a second skill improvement unlocked certainly helps a few of them quite substantially. At this point, I'm most worried about how to defeat Duriel with each of the characters (like some of you already noted).
Good luck to the other participants and I look forward to reading your success stories!
Edit: He ended the act at level 23, which I'm pretty happy with.
@zarfen - Nice write up there and grats for getting your paladin through. Those boots are quite a gamble! Also some nice drops along the way.
A bit jealous of your skill advancement scroll at the moment!
I've started into the desert with my druid...will be several play sessions before reaching Duriel though. Fun stuff, the restrictions definitely change the gameplay.
Guys you're doing GREAT !
I'm jalous too, drops, good ideas... I don't have all this, when I read your proogress, I think "damn, I should have done this !!"
Anyway, I have some progress too, I started Act 2 with my paladin too :
First thing : buy a new scepter, and some (not magic) new pieces of equipment.
Then, I chose to improve Zeal to apprentice (now, I realize i should have improved an offensive aura first, but anyway...)
I cleaned everything methodically, to improve xp, and try to find some nice stuff. Everything went really nice, as long as I dont get surrounded.
Beetles hurted me with their light bolts, but I try to take them one by one, and drink a lot of pot to deal with them.
The claw viper was the real first test, I passed, by taking the amulet and leaving the vipers where they stood.
I found my first set (cleglaw shield) but I decided it wasn't worth spending WT to learn how to wield it.
Also find a nice rare mace, I stashed it in case of I have dmg trouble.
The invocator was slained easily (he was alone for me too !), and granted me 3 more WT. I now have 15 to use.
The canyon and tombs were more complicated. More easy to be surrounded, I drank a lot of potions, some rejuvs while cleaning 1 or 2 tombs, so I only have 2 left when I decided to stop this and face Duriel, at lvl 21.
I was not really confident, I really missed a mercerary
So, I try to fight to worm. I had almost 300HP, but still, it deals me a lot of dmg, faster than the healing potions restored my HP. Duriel's decrepify is a pain in the ass, so it took me maybe 10 mn and a lot of travel in town to get it under 50% life.
At that moment, I had to pause the game for Real Life matter (not good timing in the middle of the final fight, but it was so long and thrilling)…
When I returned, my computer had rebooted, so I had to start with a fresh Duriel
I decided to clean 2 other tombs before that, to get to lvl 22, try to find a gear, maybe a Thul to gain 2 new scrolls ?.. Or at least, find some rejuv in case of emergency.
I only found 1 or 2 NDE, and had to Save & Exit twice, surrounded by a dozen of scarabs and ghouls.
This game sucks. I remembered the rare mace in my stash, and it was still better than my scepter, the amp cast seems nice too, so I spent 2 WT to allow me to wear 1 rare Item. Should have done it before.
I made it again to Duriel's chamber, at lvl 22. I had to go back to town maybe 15 times during the fight, each time my life went under 80HP, praying he wont charge me while i walked to to town portal, but I made it !!
Gave me a set item… oh wait… he's kidding me ??
Anyway, it's done, and it was really painful in the end.
pulled a great scroll, even if I'll need soon a skill tree boost…
66 You can equip 1 item with "Fast cast" affixe
Now who's next, I don't know... Barbarian or sorceress, I guess.
Thanks @CaseyJones
You’re already caught up and then some, nicely done @Chaostar. I was starting to get worried when reading about the Duriel fight,glad it worked out the second time
I started with my Assassin next. Level 1 wake of fire is still very strong early in act 2. Quite different gameplay, as she focuses on running in circles around her traps, trying to avoid any melee engagement as soon as she is outnumbered (so 2 enemies at a time or more
I was worried too, and this time was way more difficult than last time, when I died. Probably only because of the lack of mercenary. ANyway, glad it's over, 6 Duriel left to killzarfen said:You’re already caught up and then some, nicely done @Chaostar. I was starting to get worried when reading about the Duriel fight,glad it worked out the second time
GL with your assassin, this time I didn't go with WoF with mine, I started to regret that choice at the end of act1.
Yeah, I've made a few regrettable decisions myself but that is one of the things that make this tourney fun. All we can do is try to make them work out for the best anywayChaostar said:
OMG, guys, I went to act 2 with my barb.
For the start, I decided to unlock combat tree and give 5pts to double swing.
I bought some fresh stuff, including 2 grand scepter.
I dropped a nice weapon, and decided to use 6WT for the scroll "You can equip 1 item with "Fast cast" affixe"
Things were pretty easy, xp grows fast, I cleaned everywhere, that was all good.
I killed Radament at some point, he gave me a nice drop !
So, I now hold 2 rare scpeter in the same time, how powerful I feel !
Crappy defense, right, so even with a huge life bubble, I have to take care. But still fine.
I dropped 2 uniques items on the way (cannot use). Stoutnail and Crushflange.
Gained 3 WT from the invocator, then Duriel...
I was 21 on the first try, and OMG, it was awful.
I decided to step back and clean all tombs, trying to find stuff, gain a lvl...
When I finished, I was lvl 22, no really more stuff to wear, so I came back.
I really though I would die. Even with 377 HP, my life dropped incredibly fast, and healing pots are slow to regenerate.
I switched to 1 weapon + shield with Bash lvl 1, even if my chances to block are ridiculous (5%). When I'm frozen by Duriel, my double swing is useless, plus the fact one of my scepter deals less dmg than the other.
I had around 15 rejuv in the begining, I tried to save them, but slowly they were drank...
Basically, I open a TP, try to move on the side of Duriel and hit him once or twice, make a circle around the chamber as he chases me while I drank healing potions, and go back to town.
Sometimes I didn't touch him even once...
I had probably 15 or more NDE, that was insane, and maybe gone back to town 50 or 60 during the fight, a true nightmare...
Finally after, I don't know, 20 minutes ? 25 ? ...
That Duriel was THE MOST PAINFUL FIGHT I EVER HAD !
I gained a perfectly useless scroll, which idiot made this up ?
72 You can assign any number of skill points in skills unlocked at lvl 18 or before from a skill tree as soon as you have 2 maxed skill in that skill tree
I'm exhausted.
I don't know how another char could beat Duriel, don't know what to do, I need a mercenary, to improve some skills.
3rd char to enter Act 2, Anathema, cold sorceress.
This act was really easy, the only point is she had to dring a lot of blue pot.
But unlike her 1.00 cousin, she could buy it, so it's really fine.
She upgraded Glacial spike to apprentice.
All the way, I've been blessed by the drop gods, even if nothing can be used :
She could deal with many foes without any trouble
Every tomb minus 2 were cleared, to get to Duriel at lvl 22.
Glacial Spike lvl 7 (5+2 from the staff) to deal dmg, as many HP as possible, which is less than 300, but the point is not to get too close to the worm.
Unfortunately, once again without mercenary, it was a pain to get away from the worm and its freezing cold aura.
I took half his life with a lot of trouble and risking my life a lot, until
I saw death coming, but nothing I could do, I already cleaned almost all the act, can't get a mercenary, couldn't really improve my gears, it was a dead end.
I'm not the finest Diablo2 player, I'm aware of that, but still, I still feel this tournament idea was great, the point was to make first acts more challenging than they usually are, but still I think I Duriel is a real problem and I hadn't though enough about it.
At this point, I don't feel like taking my amazon or assassin next, because they have tremendous chances to end up dead in Duriel's room too.
Maybe I should have included one scroll allowing to hire a mercenary in the starting pack, as I did for those allowing to set stat points, because I figured they had to be available since the start ?
Or allowing somehow to step back, to rerun acts at will, to use /playersx at will, anything I would have done this morning, because each time I took the portal to Duriel, I knew she'll be dead soon, but I had no other issue.
I don't know... I'll see you how you get things done with act 2
I sort of feel your pain @Chaostar , read on for details...
First of the Sol family headed into Act 2, Jupiter the Elemental Druid.
Headed into the sewers where we did a bit of bowling for baddies....
After cleaning out the pipes, we headed into the desert. Retrieved the cube, the staff, where I had to switch up spells...as molten boulder didn't work the best on the oversized maggots but worked for most other mobs still. Employed a lot more use of firestorm, even to finish the mother of all bugs...
Didn't run into too many issues...had a couple of NDEs with the poison tossing cat people...I normally have a healthy poison resist by now (Stealth) and didn't realize how quickly it was sapping my life.
After all the staff parts were gathered, onto the Palace cellar....Molten boulder was wonderful down there. Fire Eye was a piece of cake...
Shortly on the way through Arcane Sanctuary I dinged 24 which opened up Volcano and Tornado. Used those along with Molten Boulder in clearing out the sanctuary....I cleared 3 of the 4 paths and found the summoner...another virgin tossed into a volcano!
Sitting at 24.5, I didn't feel the need to clear all the tombs and went straight for Duriel (at /players1 too). It wasn't a tough battle...maybe 5 trips back to town...the boulders seemed to work best if I stood still and kept Duriel in the after explosion flames...I could only stand for 2 to 3 boulders and then back into town as my health regen, even with potions, was not keeping up with his damage dealing...it went well though...
A first set item for Jupiter! Cathan's Mesh...so so. Stashed for now...Finished up at level 24.5 and rolled scroll 71-You can use any skill granted by an item (wand, amulet, …)(1WT)
Next Sol family member stepped forth. Saturn the Sorceress!
I spent 3 of the 4 WT on hand to unlock scrolls:
3-You can equip 1 set item (2WT)
71-You can use any skill granted by an item (wand, amulet, …)(1WT) - this will be great for teleport staves in act 3
Saturn was one of the few characters who already had a set item drop so I quickly equipped Hsaru's belt for the +20 life and 20% CR. I then spent a little time shopping for a +3 blaze staff...my Duriel plans were set!
Into the sewers, I had just dinged 18 and I came across a random skeleton warrior unique. Perfect opportunity to try out this fancy new staff....or so I thought.
I laid down the blaze and he followed as expected...flinging lightning at every step. No worries I thought, I was on a long straight run, surely it'll drop him soon enough. And then I ran into the far wall...skeleton on my heals...lighting flying all over but not hitting me as I stayed in front. I just need to do a quick turn here and I will double back, surely he'll fall on the return run.
And as I turned, multiple of those lighting bolts slammed into me nearly at once....Lightening Enchanted claims another!
I was rather stunned...I really didn't expect to have trouble getting the sorceress through but there she was...dead. Well, at least I am playing soft core so there is always the chance of rolling that res scroll some time. I never did quite have the knack for hard core style play. I just don't have the play time windows (or patience) to move along that cautious and slow.
Well, the Sol family mourned briefly, and then Mercury the Paladin stepped forward to avenge her death...his tales will come another time.
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