A Lack of Information (A S/U Worshipper Tournament)
- Thread starter Pb_pal1
- Start date
Hm, good question. I hadn't considered this. My gut instinct is that you should only use S/U items for your Iron Golems as well. I feel like it would just be too strange having magic/rare/RW items banned for everything and then allow them for IGs.
So let's do that then, Iron Golems must be made from S/U items as well.
Thanks everyone for the condolences on Karna's behalf!
Back on the horse! I'm going to give this one another go with a build I've always had a soft spot for, this time with slight twist, of course.
Miasma, the Poison Necromancer has risen from Karna's ashes and is ready to save Sanctuary. He will have self-imposed restrictions of no hard points in any skellies (thus, revive as well), and only 1 hard point in CE. He will instead use Bone Wall/Prison to trap his enemies and watch them slowly succumb to his poison. He feels this is a fitting way to avenge his fallen friend Karna.
--
Out into the moor he went with his trusty skeleton, ready to take on the world. With 2 (!) XP shrines in the Blood Moor, we hit lvl 6 early and put our first point into Poison Dagger. I think Miasma will need some extra practice concocting his poisons, as it was terribly ineffective. For now he switched back to his skelly wand an continued on with his rattling buddy until his poisons become more lethal.
The Den was cleared out switfly and easily, and Miasma moved up through the Cold Plains. Eventually, Gwinni the Fire Rogue was hired to fight alongside our crew. We remembered Kashya saying something about some corrupted rogue in the Burial grounds, so we went ahead and sent her back to the grave. At this point, Gwinni stuffed 3 chipped rubies into her bow allowing her to completely wreck everything she came across. We figured while we were burying corrupted rogues, we should pop down into the Cave and take out Coldcrow. Her group gave us our first chance to try out Dim Vision, which Miasma was quite happy with. Gwinni insisted on killing Coldcrow herself, which she did quite handily I may add.
We got our first real test right after we set foot into the Stony Field.
That's a double boss pack, with the Archers being CE. DV kept them at bay while Gwinni plinked them down one by one. It wasn't ever dangerous, but it provided us with some good practice for when the harder mobs show up. I've never played a necromancer in HC before, so I've got a ton of learning to do with curse management. I'm excited though, as it always looks like so much fun in everyone else's screenies!
Next up, we freed Cain so that we could finally identify all the charms and sellable items we had amassed thus far. Griswold was no problem for Gwinni at all, and the golem did a fantastic job of sucking up all of his punches. We found this pretty sweet head, which beefed up our skellies. So we popped two chipped diamonds in it and went on our way.
We finally found our first S/U in the Countess' Tower when Infernal Cap dropped for us.
We popped it onto Gwinni so that Miasma could keep rocking his chipped topaz cap. Shame to lose an MF slot so early, but we aren't going to lose any sleep over it. The Countess was dispatched, and shortly thereafter in the Hole we managed to assemble our first set of chipped topaz armour and helm for Miasma. The Pit provided us with our 2nd S/U in Hsarus' Shield (now on Miasma's switch).
Once we hit lvl 18 in the barracks, Miasma could finally start helping in the fighting by using his brand new skill Poison Explosion. I don't think I've ever used this much before, but I am VERY pleased with it so far! One explosion is often enough to clear out a pack once Gwinni gets us a corpse. Hopefully this keeps up as we keep investing skill points in it.
Nothing to speak of for the rest of the trip to Andariel other than completing Gwinni's chipped-topaz armour partway through the Catacombs level 1. Our topaz luck has been quite good so far, so hopefully that continues and we can upgrade our MF pieces as soon as we get the cube.
First things first, Gwinni had one last lady to get rid of:
That's pretty much how the fight went, all I did was re-cast Golems and make sure Amp was on until Gwinni took her out (which didn't take long). Her drop was less than thrilling, with only rares dropping. Good start, on to the desert!
[highlight]Miasma the Poison Necromancer, with Gwinni the Fire Rogue - lvl 20, Lut Gholein[/highlight]
Back on the horse! I'm going to give this one another go with a build I've always had a soft spot for, this time with slight twist, of course.
Miasma, the Poison Necromancer has risen from Karna's ashes and is ready to save Sanctuary. He will have self-imposed restrictions of no hard points in any skellies (thus, revive as well), and only 1 hard point in CE. He will instead use Bone Wall/Prison to trap his enemies and watch them slowly succumb to his poison. He feels this is a fitting way to avenge his fallen friend Karna.
--
Out into the moor he went with his trusty skeleton, ready to take on the world. With 2 (!) XP shrines in the Blood Moor, we hit lvl 6 early and put our first point into Poison Dagger. I think Miasma will need some extra practice concocting his poisons, as it was terribly ineffective. For now he switched back to his skelly wand an continued on with his rattling buddy until his poisons become more lethal.
The Den was cleared out switfly and easily, and Miasma moved up through the Cold Plains. Eventually, Gwinni the Fire Rogue was hired to fight alongside our crew. We remembered Kashya saying something about some corrupted rogue in the Burial grounds, so we went ahead and sent her back to the grave. At this point, Gwinni stuffed 3 chipped rubies into her bow allowing her to completely wreck everything she came across. We figured while we were burying corrupted rogues, we should pop down into the Cave and take out Coldcrow. Her group gave us our first chance to try out Dim Vision, which Miasma was quite happy with. Gwinni insisted on killing Coldcrow herself, which she did quite handily I may add.
We got our first real test right after we set foot into the Stony Field.
That's a double boss pack, with the Archers being CE. DV kept them at bay while Gwinni plinked them down one by one. It wasn't ever dangerous, but it provided us with some good practice for when the harder mobs show up. I've never played a necromancer in HC before, so I've got a ton of learning to do with curse management. I'm excited though, as it always looks like so much fun in everyone else's screenies!
Next up, we freed Cain so that we could finally identify all the charms and sellable items we had amassed thus far. Griswold was no problem for Gwinni at all, and the golem did a fantastic job of sucking up all of his punches. We found this pretty sweet head, which beefed up our skellies. So we popped two chipped diamonds in it and went on our way.
We finally found our first S/U in the Countess' Tower when Infernal Cap dropped for us.
We popped it onto Gwinni so that Miasma could keep rocking his chipped topaz cap. Shame to lose an MF slot so early, but we aren't going to lose any sleep over it. The Countess was dispatched, and shortly thereafter in the Hole we managed to assemble our first set of chipped topaz armour and helm for Miasma. The Pit provided us with our 2nd S/U in Hsarus' Shield (now on Miasma's switch).
Once we hit lvl 18 in the barracks, Miasma could finally start helping in the fighting by using his brand new skill Poison Explosion. I don't think I've ever used this much before, but I am VERY pleased with it so far! One explosion is often enough to clear out a pack once Gwinni gets us a corpse. Hopefully this keeps up as we keep investing skill points in it.
Nothing to speak of for the rest of the trip to Andariel other than completing Gwinni's chipped-topaz armour partway through the Catacombs level 1. Our topaz luck has been quite good so far, so hopefully that continues and we can upgrade our MF pieces as soon as we get the cube.First things first, Gwinni had one last lady to get rid of:
That's pretty much how the fight went, all I did was re-cast Golems and make sure Amp was on until Gwinni took her out (which didn't take long). Her drop was less than thrilling, with only rares dropping. Good start, on to the desert!
[highlight]Miasma the Poison Necromancer, with Gwinni the Fire Rogue - lvl 20, Lut Gholein[/highlight]
Permafrost's luck with drops has finally turned around. Act 5 supplied several much needed pieces. Her frozen orb's power steadily increased through the bloody foothills and frigid highlands, at which point she elected to part with her spell slinging companion and hire a barbarian mercenary named Uther. This proved to be a wise choice, as Uther was able to use the blood crescent. Open wounds and life steal worked so well that I often allowed Uther to kill whole packs by himself for the extra MF chance.
While clearing the crystalline passage, Permafrost and Uther then nabbed some much needed MF in the form of milabrega's shield.
View attachment 2035
Cathan's staff also dropped, to go with the mask I already found, but sadly its +1 to fire skills is of little use to me now. The ancients hardly put up a fight. Uther was able to stand his ground easily while orbs dispatched the three warriors with ease. Moving onward, WSK supplied Permafrost with Sigon's belt (fire res is always welcome) and a 24% MF Nagel. View attachment 2036
View attachment 2037
Now bursting with MF (relatively speaking) Permafrost and Uther marched onward to face Baal's minions. Four waves went by without issue, but the fifth wave required some quick teleports to save Uther's skin. Baal managed to kill poor Uther three times before dying himself. Baal's drops were disappointing, but marked the beginning of a new journey.
After getting a taste of Nightmare difficulty (and a skill point) by clearing the den of evil, Permafrost is now resting before continuing on. She sits at level 48, having cleared the Nightmare blood moor.
While clearing the crystalline passage, Permafrost and Uther then nabbed some much needed MF in the form of milabrega's shield.
View attachment 2035
Cathan's staff also dropped, to go with the mask I already found, but sadly its +1 to fire skills is of little use to me now. The ancients hardly put up a fight. Uther was able to stand his ground easily while orbs dispatched the three warriors with ease. Moving onward, WSK supplied Permafrost with Sigon's belt (fire res is always welcome) and a 24% MF Nagel. View attachment 2036
View attachment 2037
Now bursting with MF (relatively speaking) Permafrost and Uther marched onward to face Baal's minions. Four waves went by without issue, but the fifth wave required some quick teleports to save Uther's skin. Baal managed to kill poor Uther three times before dying himself. Baal's drops were disappointing, but marked the beginning of a new journey.
After getting a taste of Nightmare difficulty (and a skill point) by clearing the den of evil, Permafrost is now resting before continuing on. She sits at level 48, having cleared the Nightmare blood moor.
I'm going to give it another go as well. Three times a charm and this time around I will be running a FA/IM Bowzon, if I can ever find a S/U bow. Her name will be Witchie in hopes that the game will get the hint and drop that awesome bow for her. [emoji2]
My necromancer found two of those during his run in the passive aggressive tournament; however, he was running with more magic than you will likely have, but you still have a decent shot. As you skills aren't highly physical damage dependent, any set or unique bow should do fine. Good luck!
@Naturallog - Congrats on the Destroyer, good luck in NM!
@Southpaw8668 - Welcome back! I too hope to find a bow (for my merc), here's hoping the D2 gods are good to at least one of us
--
First things first, Miasma set out into the desert to go and retrieve the cube. It became apparent extremely quickly that his skeletons were becoming quite useless. If there were more than 1 or 2 beetles around, they would simply melt almost instantly to the bolts. That's okay, I always knew they were just a temporary thing (remember, Miasma will not be putting any hard points into the skeleton skills).
We had a big welcome party in the Stony Tomb when we got immediately swarmed at the door. I was unable to get any action shots, but we made sure to get a picture of the carnage we left behind:
We moved on through the tomb without issue, and Gwinni easily took out Creeping Feature. We moved on to get the cube, finding ourselves a nice pair of Cleglaw's Pincers along the way. We have started using Confuse on groups of monsters, and let me just say it is wonderful! I have a feeling I'll be using a TON of this skill during Miasma's journey.
After nabbing the cube, we moved on through the sewers where we managed to find ourselves a couple goodies in Cathan's Amulet (meh), and a nice Axe of Fechmar. The axe throws off our plans a little bit, as we had to throw it on Miasma's switch, which forced us to move his Hsarus' shield to our main, losing our necro head with +2 to RS. We now had only 1 weak skeleton from our wand, oh well. As I said, they were becoming useless anyways, so I think we just won't bother with raising our remaining one. I am excited about the axe though, as the freezing on it could prove to be quite useful! Radament was killed, and his stupid book was left to rot in the sewers where it belongs.
We got our first chance to really test out Miasma's new axe in the Maggot Lair, as convincing Gwinni to get into fighting position proved quite fruitless. I'm happy with how the axe performs (especially with amp), the only downside is that it leaves us no corpses for Poison Explosion due to the shattering. Slow and steady, we cleared the maggot lair, and laid Coldworm down to rest.
The lost city gave us a nice gift:
This took up Miasma's last weapon slot, so fate will dictate what happens to Gwinni with our next weapon drop. I'd love to keep her around, but if a useable weapon for another merc class drops, we're going to have to go with that. I'm glad to find Angelic's though, as it at least can provide us some MF if we find more of the set.
Nothing much to note all the way up to the CVT, where we got our first chance to put the Axe of Fechmar's corpse-shattering to use against the unravellers. Between the axe and Poison Explosion, It was pretty easy to get rid of the pesky skellies and take on the Unravellers face to face. I'll be using this tactic quite a bit in the tombs, I'm sure. We went down to the CVT level 2, hoping to gain some positioning before Fangskin showed his face. No such luck, he surprised us early, and made a break for us:
Did I mention before about loving Confuse? Because I do. It kept his whole pack at zero danger, and Gwinni could stick arrows in him at her desire. Once the first body dropped, PE took over, and they were all dead in no time. We grabbed the amulet and worked our way through the Palace. We are now resting at the Arcane Sanctuary WP, safe and sound.
[highlight]Miasma the Poison Necromancer, with Gwinni the Fire Rogue - lvl 26, Arcane Sanctuary[/highlight]
--
A table update is in order, with the new competitors and a new Destroyer to show off
@Southpaw8668 - Welcome back! I too hope to find a bow (for my merc), here's hoping the D2 gods are good to at least one of us
--
First things first, Miasma set out into the desert to go and retrieve the cube. It became apparent extremely quickly that his skeletons were becoming quite useless. If there were more than 1 or 2 beetles around, they would simply melt almost instantly to the bolts. That's okay, I always knew they were just a temporary thing (remember, Miasma will not be putting any hard points into the skeleton skills).
We had a big welcome party in the Stony Tomb when we got immediately swarmed at the door. I was unable to get any action shots, but we made sure to get a picture of the carnage we left behind:
We moved on through the tomb without issue, and Gwinni easily took out Creeping Feature. We moved on to get the cube, finding ourselves a nice pair of Cleglaw's Pincers along the way. We have started using Confuse on groups of monsters, and let me just say it is wonderful! I have a feeling I'll be using a TON of this skill during Miasma's journey.
After nabbing the cube, we moved on through the sewers where we managed to find ourselves a couple goodies in Cathan's Amulet (meh), and a nice Axe of Fechmar. The axe throws off our plans a little bit, as we had to throw it on Miasma's switch, which forced us to move his Hsarus' shield to our main, losing our necro head with +2 to RS. We now had only 1 weak skeleton from our wand, oh well. As I said, they were becoming useless anyways, so I think we just won't bother with raising our remaining one. I am excited about the axe though, as the freezing on it could prove to be quite useful! Radament was killed, and his stupid book was left to rot in the sewers where it belongs.
We got our first chance to really test out Miasma's new axe in the Maggot Lair, as convincing Gwinni to get into fighting position proved quite fruitless. I'm happy with how the axe performs (especially with amp), the only downside is that it leaves us no corpses for Poison Explosion due to the shattering. Slow and steady, we cleared the maggot lair, and laid Coldworm down to rest.
The lost city gave us a nice gift:
This took up Miasma's last weapon slot, so fate will dictate what happens to Gwinni with our next weapon drop. I'd love to keep her around, but if a useable weapon for another merc class drops, we're going to have to go with that. I'm glad to find Angelic's though, as it at least can provide us some MF if we find more of the set.
Nothing much to note all the way up to the CVT, where we got our first chance to put the Axe of Fechmar's corpse-shattering to use against the unravellers. Between the axe and Poison Explosion, It was pretty easy to get rid of the pesky skellies and take on the Unravellers face to face. I'll be using this tactic quite a bit in the tombs, I'm sure. We went down to the CVT level 2, hoping to gain some positioning before Fangskin showed his face. No such luck, he surprised us early, and made a break for us:
Did I mention before about loving Confuse? Because I do. It kept his whole pack at zero danger, and Gwinni could stick arrows in him at her desire. Once the first body dropped, PE took over, and they were all dead in no time. We grabbed the amulet and worked our way through the Palace. We are now resting at the Arcane Sanctuary WP, safe and sound.
[highlight]Miasma the Poison Necromancer, with Gwinni the Fire Rogue - lvl 26, Arcane Sanctuary[/highlight]
--
A table update is in order, with the new competitors and a new Destroyer to show off
Code:
The Proven (Guardians):
Forum Name Class Char Name LVL ACT Area
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Azimuthus Amazon Furiosa 83 -- Game Complete
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table of Heroes:
Forum Name Class Char Name LVL ACT Area
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
jiansonz Paladin Beren 60 A3(NM) Kurast Docks
EasyG Barbarian Ignorant ?? A3(NM) Kurast Docks
Naturallog Sorceress Permafrost 48 A1(NM) Cold Plains
kestegs Paladin Dauntless_Train 48 A1(NM) Rogue Encampment
Dazliare Necromancer Covenant 28 A2 False Tombs
Virtue Assassin ThisWontEndWell 26 A3 Kurast Docks
Pb_pal Necromancer Miasma 26 A2 Arcane Sanctuary
srrw Sorceress Zoey 25 A2 Palace
SunsetVista Assassin Kalandra 23 A2 Far Oasis
ranagrande Druid Orbin 21 A2 Rocky Waste
U.i.n.i.u Necromancer SetUnique ?? A2 Lut Gholein
Bry Necromancer BoneCut 15 A1 Black Marsh
Jocular Paladin Grok 12 A1 Stony Field
Southpaw8668 Amazon Witchie 1 A1 Rogue Encampment
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Fallen (RIP):
Forum Name Class Char Name LVL ACT Area
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Southpaw8668 Necromancer Mithik 80 A3(H) Spider Forest
Pb_pal Assassin Karna 67 A5(NM) Abaddon
Azimuthus Necromancer BoneVoyage 62 A3(NM) Upper Kurast
Southpaw8668 Paladin Wolfswift 51 A1(NM) Cathedral
Jcakes Paladin Ares ?? A4 Diablo
Bry Sorceress ScruffMcBuff 31 A4 Plains of Despair
------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hm that's weird, they all show up alright for me. Anyone else having trouble with them? I hadn't even though of attract! Definitely going to try that out next time, thanks for the tip!
Hm that's weird, they all show up alright for me. Anyone else having trouble with them? I hadn't even though of attract! Definitely going to try that out next time, thanks for the tip!
I enjoyed using attract more than any other curse for my passive aggressive necromancer. I initially loved confuse but quickly into NM, I found it created many unstable and unmanageable situations. In addition to the randomized effects, monsters gained more hit points which made amp damage a necessity for a decent killing speed. For you, lower resist may be needed later (or amp damage for poison immunes). Attract also allows you to better "herd" the monsters together which creates a much safer and more predictable environment.
I haven't done a very good job of documenting Orbin's progress. He, Fazel, and assorted ravens, wolves, vines, bears, and nature spirits tore through Normal difficulty at /players 8. For almost four full acts I never even had any close calls. They annihilated everything everywhere they went. Nothing could possibly stand against their onslaught. Orbin and friends were unstoppable, invincible even.
Then I reached the end of Act IV and the game's title character curbstomped them all out of existence. Oh well, their deeds of valor will be remembered...
It was fun while it lasted! I still like the idea of doing three tournies at once and I already have an idea for another Committed Passive-Aggressive S/U Worshipper, but for now I'm just going to concentrate on my MFing Amazon. (And maybe do the Living Color tournament even though I really don't have time for it.)
Orbin the Summoning Druid, level 34, DEAD.
Then I reached the end of Act IV and the game's title character curbstomped them all out of existence. Oh well, their deeds of valor will be remembered...
It was fun while it lasted! I still like the idea of doing three tournies at once and I already have an idea for another Committed Passive-Aggressive S/U Worshipper, but for now I'm just going to concentrate on my MFing Amazon. (And maybe do the Living Color tournament even though I really don't have time for it.)
Orbin the Summoning Druid, level 34, DEAD.
@ranagrande - Shame about the deeds. It's tough following one set of tournament rules, much less 3! You did great getting that far. Best of luck with your amazon in the mean time
Here Witchie puts her stand-by Amp bow to work cursing, switching back to her high damage 3 chipped-topaz, hunter bow and making short order of the stone skinned beast. Liaza was also sporting a 3 chipped-topaz hunter bow. They were unstoppable at this point.
View attachment 2096
Here's a cool shot where the final Exploding Arrow pierces through Pitspawn Fouldog as he explodes back and his semi-circle frozen nova just hits Liaza.
View attachment 2097
Pulse Fester never new what hit him as the two lethal ladies were in perfect "L" formation attack positions.
View attachment 2099
Now working their way through the Palace level 2 and even with an intentional 0 MF up to this point they were still cursed with three lousy set pieces. Well the boots aren't bad, which she managed to find first, but the other two pieces are junk. If she is forced to find another useless S/U non-bow weapon then all those points into the bow skills were wasted.
Set pieces found:
Hsarus' Boots
Arctic Binding
Beserker Axe (needs two more strength to put on switch)
Witchie finally learned Immolation Arrow and with the aid of Ice Arrow, she's been able to cook up the monsters pretty well throughout its burn duration. Just doesn't do a ton of damage yet, but fun as heck freezing and roasting them.
View attachment 2100
Didn't really think about the Mana issue this build was going to pose without having Insight available in this particular tournament. Guess she is going to have to plug Sapphires in her gear instead of Topazes or Rubies. Right now for the lack of anything better she is firing a long bow with two emeralds and one topaz, since she isn't super concerned with speed at the moment the damage output is super with the added skills damage. Still awaiting that magical unique bow to drop...
Witchie and Mizan, Level 24, Wandering the Palace Level 2
View attachment 2096
Here's a cool shot where the final Exploding Arrow pierces through Pitspawn Fouldog as he explodes back and his semi-circle frozen nova just hits Liaza.
View attachment 2097
Pulse Fester never new what hit him as the two lethal ladies were in perfect "L" formation attack positions.
View attachment 2099
Now working their way through the Palace level 2 and even with an intentional 0 MF up to this point they were still cursed with three lousy set pieces. Well the boots aren't bad, which she managed to find first, but the other two pieces are junk. If she is forced to find another useless S/U non-bow weapon then all those points into the bow skills were wasted.
Set pieces found:
Hsarus' Boots
Arctic Binding
Beserker Axe (needs two more strength to put on switch)
Witchie finally learned Immolation Arrow and with the aid of Ice Arrow, she's been able to cook up the monsters pretty well throughout its burn duration. Just doesn't do a ton of damage yet, but fun as heck freezing and roasting them.
View attachment 2100
Didn't really think about the Mana issue this build was going to pose without having Insight available in this particular tournament. Guess she is going to have to plug Sapphires in her gear instead of Topazes or Rubies. Right now for the lack of anything better she is firing a long bow with two emeralds and one topaz, since she isn't super concerned with speed at the moment the damage output is super with the added skills damage. Still awaiting that magical unique bow to drop...
Witchie and Mizan, Level 24, Wandering the Palace Level 2
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@Southpaw8668 - Cool strategy limiting your MF to try and keep a bow going longer. I look forward to seeing how that works out!
--
Miasma continued his journey into the Arcane Sanctuary, and it wasn't long before he was very thankful that he still had Gwinni by his side:
All he had to do was wait until she got the first corpse, and then Poison Explosion took over. We had a few other moments like this in the AS, and it made us nervous that our next S/U weapon would most likely force us to switch from Gwinni, leaving us with no ranged option. Oh well, we'll worry about that when the time comes.
The Canyon was cleared and it was now time for the false tombs. We stepped into the first tomb and were immediately confronted with a boss pack of Ghosts. The boss also happened to be our first PI monster. I don't think I've ever seen one this early before. I've had several in Act 3 (Ghoul Lords), but never one in A2 (that I can remember, anyways). Later on in the tomb we were granted our first S/U belt in Arctic Binding. Great because of the promise of some MF should we find another part of the set (come onnnn gloves!), but going down to 2 rows in our belt makes us a bit uneasy.
All in all, the tombs where very easy and problem-free. It's really handy that our main killing spell (PE) is also corpse-removal. Basically we just bulldozed our way through the remaining false tombs, having no real trouble but also finding no other goodies. Our only challenge came in Kaa's tomb against the big man himself:
The Golem would only last a couple seconds, but we had enough mana pots in our inventory to keep a steady stream of them raising, which kept Kaa occupied until Gwinni stuck the last arrow in him. Miasma was sure to keep him amped so that Gwinni didn't have to waste any extra energy plucking her bow. He's so very considerate.
In the true tomb we had a drop that gave us mixed feelings. It's Razortine, for those who can't bring themselves to click the link. This meant we had to say goodbye to Gwinni, which is sad. It did however give us some good tanking going forward (at least until Bone Wall/Prison is worth using), which will prove very helpful I'm sure. Miasma doesn't particularly enjoy going toe-to-toe with the monsters, he likes his vantage point further back where he can watch his poisons do their job in peace.
With our new buddy Mizan (Defiance aura) the rest of the true tomb was a walk in the park, and before we knew it Duriel's chamber lay before us. Even though with the CG, Decrep, and the slow on Razortine we could basically turn Duriel into a useless statue, we decided to try a tactic I've never personally used before but have always heard about.
That's right, the old IM and CG self-beatdown ploy. It was cool to see it in action, and we had our finger on the Decrep hotkey the whole fight just in case things got hectic. They never did, and the bug dropped quite quickly.
The ring was Manald Heal, which I'm okay with. Obviously I would have liked a perfect Nagelring, but the mana regen will be nice (mana will be an ongoing issue for Miasma, especially since Insight is banned), and a free life boost is always good. That's our 2nd Angelic Sickle, which we were actually happy to see drop. This allowed us to stash our Axe of Fechmar and use a shield that isn't Hsarus'. We plugged 3 Diamonds we had saved into a socketed Large shield and felt much better about our resistances. All in all an easy trek through the tombs, and a surprisingly good drop from big D. Onwards to kurast!
[highlight]Miasma the Poison Necromancer, with Mizan the Defiance Guard - lvl 28, Kurast Docks[/highlight]
--
Miasma continued his journey into the Arcane Sanctuary, and it wasn't long before he was very thankful that he still had Gwinni by his side:
All he had to do was wait until she got the first corpse, and then Poison Explosion took over. We had a few other moments like this in the AS, and it made us nervous that our next S/U weapon would most likely force us to switch from Gwinni, leaving us with no ranged option. Oh well, we'll worry about that when the time comes.
The Canyon was cleared and it was now time for the false tombs. We stepped into the first tomb and were immediately confronted with a boss pack of Ghosts. The boss also happened to be our first PI monster. I don't think I've ever seen one this early before. I've had several in Act 3 (Ghoul Lords), but never one in A2 (that I can remember, anyways). Later on in the tomb we were granted our first S/U belt in Arctic Binding. Great because of the promise of some MF should we find another part of the set (come onnnn gloves!), but going down to 2 rows in our belt makes us a bit uneasy.
All in all, the tombs where very easy and problem-free. It's really handy that our main killing spell (PE) is also corpse-removal. Basically we just bulldozed our way through the remaining false tombs, having no real trouble but also finding no other goodies. Our only challenge came in Kaa's tomb against the big man himself:
The Golem would only last a couple seconds, but we had enough mana pots in our inventory to keep a steady stream of them raising, which kept Kaa occupied until Gwinni stuck the last arrow in him. Miasma was sure to keep him amped so that Gwinni didn't have to waste any extra energy plucking her bow. He's so very considerate.
In the true tomb we had a drop that gave us mixed feelings. It's Razortine, for those who can't bring themselves to click the link. This meant we had to say goodbye to Gwinni, which is sad. It did however give us some good tanking going forward (at least until Bone Wall/Prison is worth using), which will prove very helpful I'm sure. Miasma doesn't particularly enjoy going toe-to-toe with the monsters, he likes his vantage point further back where he can watch his poisons do their job in peace.
With our new buddy Mizan (Defiance aura) the rest of the true tomb was a walk in the park, and before we knew it Duriel's chamber lay before us. Even though with the CG, Decrep, and the slow on Razortine we could basically turn Duriel into a useless statue, we decided to try a tactic I've never personally used before but have always heard about.
That's right, the old IM and CG self-beatdown ploy. It was cool to see it in action, and we had our finger on the Decrep hotkey the whole fight just in case things got hectic. They never did, and the bug dropped quite quickly.
The ring was Manald Heal, which I'm okay with. Obviously I would have liked a perfect Nagelring, but the mana regen will be nice (mana will be an ongoing issue for Miasma, especially since Insight is banned), and a free life boost is always good.
That's our 2nd Angelic Sickle, which we were actually happy to see drop. This allowed us to stash our Axe of Fechmar and use a shield that isn't Hsarus'. We plugged 3 Diamonds we had saved into a socketed Large shield and felt much better about our resistances. All in all an easy trek through the tombs, and a surprisingly good drop from big D. Onwards to kurast![highlight]Miasma the Poison Necromancer, with Mizan the Defiance Guard - lvl 28, Kurast Docks[/highlight]
Kestegs
New member
- Aug 27, 2008
- 49,770
- 12
- 3
At last I'm ready for an update. It's been a while, but we rejoin Dauntless_Train, the charging paladin and jabari the lighting wold at the start of act 1 NM. I'm currently using an upped skewer of krintz and a shield with diamonds in it.
As I expected, p8 NM presented a major deficiency in my damage output. Most monsters take 4-5 hits to kill, and some way more than that. Skeletons present a major problem, as I can only hit about 10 times without running out of mana, so even with redemption I'm still not gaining enough mana back. And with the NM penalty to leech I now only usually leech about 10-12 mana per hit on a leechable monster. And still no life leech. Blood raven presented the first major problem. It's really hard to charge her in the graveyard, due to all the obstacles. And she keeps summoning stuff, at one point I must have had 2o zombies following me. I did find out that she will eventually stop raising them though, which was probably the only reason I was finally able to kill her.
Crypt and maus were both tough with all the unleachables. This guy gave me a few scares. My resists aren't very good, especially lighting.
More nasty sketetons in the underground passage. After popping up to the woods and quickly finding treehead, which was really fun, my life suddenly changed. Yes, that IS probably one of the top 3 weapons I could find, and probably the #1 for this point in the game. Of course I couldn't really use it right away, as I had to wait to mule in the materials to up it and to socket it. I was really glad I decided to save that socket quest and sol rune!
Before.......After. As you can see it's also a very good roll (284 on a 200-300 ED roll)
The only big problem now is my resists, especially lightning at -33%. So I resigned myself to running salvation most of the time. It's not so bad, I don't really need the holy freeze so much now.
The rest of the act was a whole lot more enjoyable. Almost every monster dies in 1-2 hits now, which is just incredibly satisfying. I do have a major AR problem though. Well, it's not major yet, but it will be soon if I don't fix it. CtH is around 75-80% most of the time.
Based on the monsters I encountered I highly doubt I would have made it out of the act without this new weapon. Tough goat in the jail. I can charge through the bars, but it's kinda hard to hit them consistently. This guy was rough, mana burn has quickly become my most hated boss mod. I have to be in melee range, and running out of mana basically makes me useless.
I said I'd take all bosses on p1 earlier, but I figured I could handle Andy on p3 at least. Wasn't really too bad. I muled on my death's gloves and pre buffed antidote potions, so I at least had positive resists. Drop was not so helpful.
Sewers were not too bad, the skeletons are not so bad as they usually die in 1 shot, and I can redeem them for the leech I don't get from them. Mana burn plus blessed aim is no good, this guy was tough, plus they hit really hard. This archer was brutal. I learned something very important though: Respect the holy freeze aura. A couple times I screwed up and ended up doing a regular melee attack. I believe the attack animation was roughly 5 seconds. I have 0 IAS of course
And finally, a pair of boots I can wear! Not the most useful, but the +10 dex helps me hit at least. And then a unique amulet. Mahim oak, a nice amulet, but doesn't beat the bonus I get from the angelic amulet + armor. Creeping feature was a little tough, but not that bad.
Halls of the dead also finally gave me my second ring! Since I now have leech on my weapon I was really hoping for angelic, for the sic MF and 3 part bonuses. But alas it was cathan's. Still a great ring though, so I'm happy. I cleaned up the halls and the rest of the hills and am ready to head into the oasis.
Finds:
Hellclap-Crypt
Griswold's edge-Mausoleum
Bonesnap-Dark Wood
Isenhart's case-Black marsh
Angelic sabre- Pit 1
Rogue's bow-Cellar 5
Stormstrike Cat 2
Rogue's bow- Andy
Tancred's hobnails-Sewers 3
Mahim Oak Curio-Rocky waste
Clegaw's tooth- Stony tomb 1
Cathan's ring- Halls of the dead 2
I also found a Shael, hel, 3xDol, and an Io.
Dauntless_Train, Paladin, and Jabari the wolf, level 55 Far Oasis.
As I expected, p8 NM presented a major deficiency in my damage output. Most monsters take 4-5 hits to kill, and some way more than that. Skeletons present a major problem, as I can only hit about 10 times without running out of mana, so even with redemption I'm still not gaining enough mana back. And with the NM penalty to leech I now only usually leech about 10-12 mana per hit on a leechable monster. And still no life leech. Blood raven presented the first major problem. It's really hard to charge her in the graveyard, due to all the obstacles. And she keeps summoning stuff, at one point I must have had 2o zombies following me. I did find out that she will eventually stop raising them though, which was probably the only reason I was finally able to kill her.
Crypt and maus were both tough with all the unleachables. This guy gave me a few scares. My resists aren't very good, especially lighting.
More nasty sketetons in the underground passage. After popping up to the woods and quickly finding treehead, which was really fun, my life suddenly changed. Yes, that IS probably one of the top 3 weapons I could find, and probably the #1 for this point in the game. Of course I couldn't really use it right away, as I had to wait to mule in the materials to up it and to socket it. I was really glad I decided to save that socket quest and sol rune!
Before.......After. As you can see it's also a very good roll (284 on a 200-300 ED roll)
The only big problem now is my resists, especially lightning at -33%. So I resigned myself to running salvation most of the time. It's not so bad, I don't really need the holy freeze so much now.
The rest of the act was a whole lot more enjoyable. Almost every monster dies in 1-2 hits now, which is just incredibly satisfying. I do have a major AR problem though. Well, it's not major yet, but it will be soon if I don't fix it. CtH is around 75-80% most of the time.
Based on the monsters I encountered I highly doubt I would have made it out of the act without this new weapon. Tough goat in the jail. I can charge through the bars, but it's kinda hard to hit them consistently. This guy was rough, mana burn has quickly become my most hated boss mod. I have to be in melee range, and running out of mana basically makes me useless.
I said I'd take all bosses on p1 earlier, but I figured I could handle Andy on p3 at least. Wasn't really too bad. I muled on my death's gloves and pre buffed antidote potions, so I at least had positive resists. Drop was not so helpful.
Sewers were not too bad, the skeletons are not so bad as they usually die in 1 shot, and I can redeem them for the leech I don't get from them. Mana burn plus blessed aim is no good, this guy was tough, plus they hit really hard. This archer was brutal. I learned something very important though: Respect the holy freeze aura. A couple times I screwed up and ended up doing a regular melee attack. I believe the attack animation was roughly 5 seconds. I have 0 IAS of course
And finally, a pair of boots I can wear! Not the most useful, but the +10 dex helps me hit at least. And then a unique amulet. Mahim oak, a nice amulet, but doesn't beat the bonus I get from the angelic amulet + armor. Creeping feature was a little tough, but not that bad.
Halls of the dead also finally gave me my second ring! Since I now have leech on my weapon I was really hoping for angelic, for the sic MF and 3 part bonuses. But alas it was cathan's. Still a great ring though, so I'm happy. I cleaned up the halls and the rest of the hills and am ready to head into the oasis.
Finds:
Hellclap-Crypt
Griswold's edge-Mausoleum
Bonesnap-Dark Wood
Isenhart's case-Black marsh
Angelic sabre- Pit 1
Rogue's bow-Cellar 5
Stormstrike Cat 2
Rogue's bow- Andy
Tancred's hobnails-Sewers 3
Mahim Oak Curio-Rocky waste
Clegaw's tooth- Stony tomb 1
Cathan's ring- Halls of the dead 2
I also found a Shael, hel, 3xDol, and an Io.
Dauntless_Train, Paladin, and Jabari the wolf, level 55 Far Oasis.
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@kestegs - Awesome damage boost, that club is sick now! I'm happy you found the gear to keep you in the game. Witchie would really like to find some of the bows Dauntless has had dropping like rain all around him, maybe there is hope after all if we can make it to NM. That one skeleton archer boss did look very scary and I'm sure he packed quite a punch without a shield or meat shield. Might want to switch to Cold Iron Wolf, I found them quite effective tanks with solid armor, then you can keep redemption up full time.
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Kestegs
New member
- Aug 27, 2008
- 49,770
- 12
- 3
Thanks! The bows are pretty crazy, think I have at least 5 now, all unique.
I avoided the cold wolf because you can't knock things back that are frozen. Of course now that I don't have to hit things so many times it might work better. I still haven't figured out a PI solution yet, and the lightning wolf certainly doesn't seem like he's going to be it.
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