Can confirm all of this. I'm playing a fury/feral rage druid in softcore and I'm about halfway through nightmare pretty easily with a 2 handed weapon, although I'm dying a bit more than I should be.
A Lack of Information (A S/U Worshipper Tournament)
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jiansonz
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- Jun 22, 2003
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I think the merc will be a big part of this, and that either a tanking merc or an Act III Cold one would be best.
Also, Ravens.
Welcome @JudgeHolden and happy hunting with your wolf. Might want to throw five points in spirit wolves and use those until three dire ones are available. They make decent meat shields until you can get the bear who is an awesome tank and can actually kill nasty stuff. Druids can swing mauls and long handled axes the fastest until you find your first S\U weapons, then everything changes. [emoji2]
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First off, welcome to the tournament!
Looks like everyone covered the options pretty well for crowd control on Druids. Between summons and a merc, you've got a few options for dealing with tricky situations. Best of luck out there!
Random question: on this laptop, for some reason, D2 the actual game window is pretty small, and there are huge black bars which take up most of the screen... any way I can make the actual game window take up most of the screen? I don't think its a widescreen issue because the game screen doesn't even take up the vertical space on my monitor. The resolution is at 800x600.
I've created The_Kid, named after the nameless protagonist in my favorite novel. He's currently level 14, on the way to rescue Cain. No S/U yet. 4 chipped topaz's so far. 10-point poison creeper doing most of the killing.
EDIT: First unique... blood crescent scimitar from a ghost boss in the 1st level of the countess tower. Not a terrible weapon for this point in the game. Kills stuff fast and my life stays full.
I've created The_Kid, named after the nameless protagonist in my favorite novel. He's currently level 14, on the way to rescue Cain. No S/U yet. 4 chipped topaz's so far. 10-point poison creeper doing most of the killing.
EDIT: First unique... blood crescent scimitar from a ghost boss in the 1st level of the countess tower. Not a terrible weapon for this point in the game. Kills stuff fast and my life stays full.
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Kestegs
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- Aug 27, 2008
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I would try sven's glide wrapper ( http://www.svenswrapper.de/english/ ) it will allow you to set the size of the window.
Good to see lots of progress from everyone. I've been taking a d2 break lately, so no progress from me.
Good to see lots of progress from everyone. I've been taking a d2 break lately, so no progress from me.
@JudgeHolden - As kestegs pointed out, the Glide Wrapper is an option. If that doesn't work, I'm sure someone else has some tricks up their sleeves. Also, good start with your character, nice to see a S/U drop early on for a little bit of motivation.
--
Time to start Act 2!
First things first, Miasma had to do a little bit of housekeeper for his long-term build plan. That meant letting Mizan begin his well-deserved retirement, and having Azrael the Thorns mercenary join our ranks. I've never tried a thorns merc before, and Miasma will be pumping bone wall/prison later on, so I wanted to see how it would work out with that.
His first test would be taking on the sewers. Azrael is noticeably more fragile than Mizan was, and managed to die a few times down there. Hopefully it's just his nerves of starting a new job, and once he catches up a bit in levels and confidence, he will manage to stay alive for longer periods of time. All in all though, he did well, and we dispatched Radament with relative ease.
After a marathon gambling session trying desperately to upgrade his Arctic Binding belt (seriously, ANYTHING with more than 2 rows, or a unique that I can at least upgrade needs to happen soon) which of course was fruitless, he started out into the desert. He almost immediately needed to change his pants.
The Fanatacism is coming from the leaper boss pack, and the slingers are Extra fast (with TP, which can get a little dangerous). Thankfully the beetles were just regular monsters. If you're wondering why I threw up a portal, I mis-hit my hotkey for Attract which is a very very bad thing to have happen. It turned out alright though, as we were able to pop back through that portal instead of trying to sprint back into town.
So after the aforementioned change of pants, and revives for both gumby and Azrael, we cooled our heads and took them on in a much more civilized manner. This way, Azrael took the brunt of the attacks, and Miasma could pop in and out of the town's "safe-zone" and throw PN at them. This situation shouldn't have been as dangerous as it was, we just weren't expecting a double boss pack right out of the gates. Just goes to show, you should always expect the worst! They dropped us a Cathan's staff as a parting gift.
Okay, rough start! Luckily after this is was very smooth sailing, and Azrael stated to get the hang of things and managed to keep himself alive for the most part. We worked our way through the desert, killing Creeping Feature and everything else in our path along the way. The Maggot Lair was a bit of a pain, but it was very safe hanging out behind my two friends. One cool tactic in here is once the first monster in a hallway is dead, you can use Poison explosion, and the rest of them will run into the clouds and drop. Rinse and repeat that strategy, with some PN for the larger "rooms", and we had eventually cleared the place, and taken out the Queen.
In the lost city, we had this happen:
Miasma couldn't believe his eyes! Those are his DREAM gloves for end-game! I never expected to see them, especially not this early on. We are sticking with Chancies for now, but we'll keep those in the stash just in case some tough situations call for it. Awesome!
So with a little extra pep in his step after that awesome find, Miasma pushed on into the CVT where we found ourselves a nice little welcoming party:
Luckily for us, snakes have 0% PR in NM still, so Miasma made very short work of them, and Attract kept them concentrating on each other. The rest of the level went very easily and quickly, and before we knew it we were heading down to greet our good friend Fangskin. We inched into the room, and then Azrael got a sudden burst of confidence and made a break for the altar. Fangskin and his pack were more than happy to say hello:
His aura is Might, so Miasma kept a close eye on the situation, making sure to always have a couple of them Attracted so that they didn't get any ideas. We managed to stand strong and kill them where they stood, but it was quite tense as azrael's health was bouncing around like a ping pong ball. A couple rejuvs was all he needed to pull through though. After this we cruised through the Palace, and cleared 2 legs of the Arcane Sanctuary before calling it quits for the session.
Other finds:
- Isenhart's Shield (Sewers 3)
- Swordback Hold (Halls of the Dead 2)
- Cleglaw's Sword (Maggot Lair 1)
- Naj's Circlet (Maggot Lair 2)
- Stormstrike (Lost City)
- Berserker's Helm (Lost City)
[highlight]Destroyer Miasma the Poison Necromancer, with Azrael the Thorns Guard - lvl 57, NM Arcane Sanctuary[/highlight]
--
Let's update the table now, to get our two new participants in
--
Time to start Act 2!
First things first, Miasma had to do a little bit of housekeeper for his long-term build plan. That meant letting Mizan begin his well-deserved retirement, and having Azrael the Thorns mercenary join our ranks. I've never tried a thorns merc before, and Miasma will be pumping bone wall/prison later on, so I wanted to see how it would work out with that.
His first test would be taking on the sewers. Azrael is noticeably more fragile than Mizan was, and managed to die a few times down there. Hopefully it's just his nerves of starting a new job, and once he catches up a bit in levels and confidence, he will manage to stay alive for longer periods of time. All in all though, he did well, and we dispatched Radament with relative ease.
After a marathon gambling session trying desperately to upgrade his Arctic Binding belt (seriously, ANYTHING with more than 2 rows, or a unique that I can at least upgrade needs to happen soon) which of course was fruitless, he started out into the desert. He almost immediately needed to change his pants.
The Fanatacism is coming from the leaper boss pack, and the slingers are Extra fast (with TP, which can get a little dangerous). Thankfully the beetles were just regular monsters. If you're wondering why I threw up a portal, I mis-hit my hotkey for Attract which is a very very bad thing to have happen. It turned out alright though, as we were able to pop back through that portal instead of trying to sprint back into town.
So after the aforementioned change of pants, and revives for both gumby and Azrael, we cooled our heads and took them on in a much more civilized manner. This way, Azrael took the brunt of the attacks, and Miasma could pop in and out of the town's "safe-zone" and throw PN at them. This situation shouldn't have been as dangerous as it was, we just weren't expecting a double boss pack right out of the gates. Just goes to show, you should always expect the worst! They dropped us a Cathan's staff as a parting gift.
Okay, rough start! Luckily after this is was very smooth sailing, and Azrael stated to get the hang of things and managed to keep himself alive for the most part. We worked our way through the desert, killing Creeping Feature and everything else in our path along the way. The Maggot Lair was a bit of a pain, but it was very safe hanging out behind my two friends. One cool tactic in here is once the first monster in a hallway is dead, you can use Poison explosion, and the rest of them will run into the clouds and drop. Rinse and repeat that strategy, with some PN for the larger "rooms", and we had eventually cleared the place, and taken out the Queen.
In the lost city, we had this happen:
Miasma couldn't believe his eyes! Those are his DREAM gloves for end-game! I never expected to see them, especially not this early on. We are sticking with Chancies for now, but we'll keep those in the stash just in case some tough situations call for it. Awesome!
So with a little extra pep in his step after that awesome find, Miasma pushed on into the CVT where we found ourselves a nice little welcoming party:
Luckily for us, snakes have 0% PR in NM still, so Miasma made very short work of them, and Attract kept them concentrating on each other. The rest of the level went very easily and quickly, and before we knew it we were heading down to greet our good friend Fangskin. We inched into the room, and then Azrael got a sudden burst of confidence and made a break for the altar. Fangskin and his pack were more than happy to say hello:
His aura is Might, so Miasma kept a close eye on the situation, making sure to always have a couple of them Attracted so that they didn't get any ideas. We managed to stand strong and kill them where they stood, but it was quite tense as azrael's health was bouncing around like a ping pong ball. A couple rejuvs was all he needed to pull through though. After this we cruised through the Palace, and cleared 2 legs of the Arcane Sanctuary before calling it quits for the session.
Other finds:
- Isenhart's Shield (Sewers 3)
- Swordback Hold (Halls of the Dead 2)
- Cleglaw's Sword (Maggot Lair 1)
- Naj's Circlet (Maggot Lair 2)
- Stormstrike (Lost City)
- Berserker's Helm (Lost City)
[highlight]Destroyer Miasma the Poison Necromancer, with Azrael the Thorns Guard - lvl 57, NM Arcane Sanctuary[/highlight]
--
Let's update the table now, to get our two new participants in
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
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
kestegs Paladin Dauntless_Train 77 A1(H) Outer Cloister
jiansonz Paladin Beren 60 A3(NM) Kurast Docks
EasyG Barbarian Ignorant ?? A3(NM) Kurast Docks
Naturallog Sorceress Permafrost 53 A2(NM) Lut Gholein
Pb_pal Necromancer Miasma 57 A2(NM) Arcane Sanctuary
Southpaw8668 Amazon Witchie 54 A2(NM) Halls of the Dead
Dazliare Necromancer Covenant 28 A2 False Tombs
Virtue Assassin ThisWontEndWell 26 A3 Kurast Docks
srrw Sorceress Zoey 25 A2 Palace
SunsetVista Assassin Kalandra 23 A2 Far Oasis
U.i.n.i.u Necromancer SetUnique ?? A2 Lut Gholein
Lord Molybdenum Paladin Zarquich 17 A1 Outer Cloister
Bry Necromancer BoneCut 15 A1 Black Marsh
JudgeHolden Druid The_Kid 14 A1 Rescuing Cain
Jocular Paladin Grok 12 A1 Stony Field
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
ranagrande Druid Orbin 34 A4 Diablo
Jcakes Paladin Ares ?? A4 Diablo
Bry Sorceress ScruffMcBuff 31 A4 Plains of Despair
------------------------------------------------------------------------------JudgeHolden: If you have a Nvidia GPU you can go into the control panel and under tasks select Display->Adjust desktop size and position. There you will find Scaling and if you tinker around a bit with that you should be able to stretch it to full screen, or full screen still in 4:3 or the setting you have now.
If you use other GPU vendors there will probably be something similar, but not identical in the settings.
Sorry for the off-topic!
If you use other GPU vendors there will probably be something similar, but not identical in the settings.
Sorry for the off-topic!
Thanks for the screen advice, everyone!
The_Kid is having fun. I forgot to post the description of him from the book he's based on, which is why I chose The_Kid as the character's name: "he can neither read nor write and in him broods already a taste for mindless violence".
The_Kid has finished Act 1. Andarial was no big problem, though she did kill my merc once just because I wasn't paying attention. An Arctic Belt dropped from some monster in the catacombs.
Moving into act 2, got a defiance merc. Cleared the sewers... sad to leave that book behind. Cleared Halls of the Dead, now I have the cube and will move on to the far oasis later today. I think I'm at level 21 right now, but I could be off by a level or so. 10 points in poison creeper, 5 in lycanthropy, and now points are going into rabies. Rabies is fun, but I feel a bit more fragile since stuff hits me now as I run around doing hit and run rabies bites. Also, its somewhat annoying to have to drink mana a lot at this stage, but no big deal. Had a minor scare fighting unraveller type monsters... my life bulb got low and I was in a long-duration poison and no antidotes around... I came very close to dying before I TP'd and raced to Fara to get healed.
Questions:
Do people keep run toggled on or do you guys walk when in mobs?
I don't really understand how gambling works... any particular point where gambling for S/Us is most likely to pay off, and what sorts of items would I be gambling for?
Is there any reason to save chipped or flawed gems or should I just be cubing those?
The_Kid is having fun. I forgot to post the description of him from the book he's based on, which is why I chose The_Kid as the character's name: "he can neither read nor write and in him broods already a taste for mindless violence".
The_Kid has finished Act 1. Andarial was no big problem, though she did kill my merc once just because I wasn't paying attention. An Arctic Belt dropped from some monster in the catacombs.
Moving into act 2, got a defiance merc. Cleared the sewers... sad to leave that book behind. Cleared Halls of the Dead, now I have the cube and will move on to the far oasis later today. I think I'm at level 21 right now, but I could be off by a level or so. 10 points in poison creeper, 5 in lycanthropy, and now points are going into rabies. Rabies is fun, but I feel a bit more fragile since stuff hits me now as I run around doing hit and run rabies bites. Also, its somewhat annoying to have to drink mana a lot at this stage, but no big deal. Had a minor scare fighting unraveller type monsters... my life bulb got low and I was in a long-duration poison and no antidotes around... I came very close to dying before I TP'd and raced to Fara to get healed.
Questions:
Do people keep run toggled on or do you guys walk when in mobs?
I don't really understand how gambling works... any particular point where gambling for S/Us is most likely to pay off, and what sorts of items would I be gambling for?
Is there any reason to save chipped or flawed gems or should I just be cubing those?
@JudgeHolden - I usually run most of time in normal and nightmare, unless I have a high block rating and in melee most of time. If I have a faster r/w then I don't mind walking, but if not it drives me insane walking everywhere. I think in Hell it becomes pretty important, since death usually lurks around every corner in the darkness and if I run into a bad mob ahead of your mercenary it's deeds generally.
I usually cube everything from normal up, but I try to keep one chipped topaz and amethyst to up those runes. You'll mostly be using the runes for upping items in this tournament if you find a piece you like.
I usually cube everything from normal up, but I try to keep one chipped topaz and amethyst to up those runes. You'll mostly be using the runes for upping items in this tournament if you find a piece you like.
Awesome! Fits with the theme very well, I like it.
As for your questions:
running:
I run pretty much exclusively in normal and NM, and will change situationally in Hell. Truth be told, I still run most of the time in Hell unless it's with a high blocking character, even though it's quite a bit more dangerous.
gambling:
To gamble a S/U, the only real stipulation is that the ilvl of the item gambled must be equal or higher to the qlvl required for the specific S/U (Qlvl list is here, although I know there are easier to use lists out there). Your character level determines the ilvl of the item to be gambled by using the following formula:
ilvl = clvl + rnd[10] - 5
(i.e. from clvl-5 to clvl+4)
let's take Chance Guards (qlvl 20) as a quick example. I would start gambling for them at lvl 25 (so ilvl is still >= clvl-5), so that every gamble I do has a chance of rolling unique.
Once the ilvl/qlvl conditions are satisfied, the odds of gambling a S/U never change, they are
As for what to gamble for in this specific tournament, I shoot for pieces that will net me MF. So Chance Guards, Goldwrap, Gull, Tarnhelm as my go-to uniques. Other than that, you can try for set pieces that will net you a partial set bonus with MF on it (Tancred's amulet comes to mind). Basically, take a look at achievable qlvls for your character's level, and see what you want. After that, it boils down to patience.
Don't expect a ton of S/U through gambling, with my last character who died in A3 NM, I gambled 2 S/U. With my current char (a2NM currently) I haven't gambled any.
EDIT: Sidenote - I don't even bother trying to gamble an exceptional/elite S/U, as the chances of an item being upgraded AND rolling S/U are quite low.
chipped/flawed gems:
Cube them. Then use the Perfect gems to re-roll charms later on. Keep a few around of each type though, in case you want to upgrade some runes at some point.
Cleared up through the Claw Viper Temple. Currently level 25, headed for the Palace Cellar. Everything is going well, rabies is fun. Beetles and vipers in particular go down super fast. However, I've been drinking a lot of blues and reds. I hope I don't get stuck with the 2-row arctic binding for long like some other tournament players!
10pts poison creeper, 5 points lycanthropy, 8 points rabies, the rest are 1pt pre-reqs.
Only one more S/U so far, cathan's mesh, which went on the merc. Sad to lose the MF from his 3-chip ring mail.
Trying to decide whether to reduce the /players setting for Duriel. He has 20% poison resistance which ain't much, but I'm worried about being made super slow and unable to bite-and-run with rabies whilst my merc hacks away.
10pts poison creeper, 5 points lycanthropy, 8 points rabies, the rest are 1pt pre-reqs.
Only one more S/U so far, cathan's mesh, which went on the merc. Sad to lose the MF from his 3-chip ring mail.
Trying to decide whether to reduce the /players setting for Duriel. He has 20% poison resistance which ain't much, but I'm worried about being made super slow and unable to bite-and-run with rabies whilst my merc hacks away.
Cleared up through the Claw Viper Temple. Currently level 25, headed for the Palace Cellar. Everything is going well, rabies is fun. Beetles and vipers in particular go down super fast. However, I've been drinking a lot of blues and reds. I hope I don't get stuck with the 2-row arctic binding for long like some other tournament players!
10pts poison creeper, 5 points lycanthropy, 8 points rabies, the rest are 1pt pre-reqs.
Only one more S/U so far, cathan's mesh, which went on the merc. Sad to lose the MF from his 3-chip ring mail.
Trying to decide whether to reduce the /players setting for Duriel. He has 20% poison resistance which ain't much, but I'm worried about being made super slow and unable to bite-and-run with rabies whilst my merc hacks away.
EDIT: Apologies for the double post... internet issues.
10pts poison creeper, 5 points lycanthropy, 8 points rabies, the rest are 1pt pre-reqs.
Only one more S/U so far, cathan's mesh, which went on the merc. Sad to lose the MF from his 3-chip ring mail.
Trying to decide whether to reduce the /players setting for Duriel. He has 20% poison resistance which ain't much, but I'm worried about being made super slow and unable to bite-and-run with rabies whilst my merc hacks away.
EDIT: Apologies for the double post... internet issues.
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@JudgeHolden - With that lousy belt and lack of anything else worth mentioning I would probably drop down to /p3, since he generally drops junk anyway. He will trounce your creeper and quickly do the same to your mercenary if he doesn't have any LL and significant CR.
Seconded. Don't forget to buff with thawing potions for you and the merc before the fight! I typically go for /p3 for all act bosses to minimize the no-drop chance, unless I'm feeling really confidant or just want the challenge of a /p8 fight.
The_Kid is still alive. Last update I was heading for the palace cellar at level 25. Completed act 2 (no probs with Duriel), act 3 (no probs with mephisto) and act 4 (diablo's lightning hose one hit killed my merc like 5 times). Currently act 5, arreat plateau. My level is in the low 30s... I think maybe 33?
Rabies has been maxed. Points are now going into fury to prepare for poison immunes come nightmare. Of course rabies has been powerful and fun in normal... I'm assuming nightmare is when The_Kid will start struggling mightily.
Not much notable gear. Some crummy unique weapons, crummy set armor, etc. The cleglaw glove/shield is a nice combo actually at this point in the game, because knockback is fun with rabies, and it gives me some resists, and the AR bonus is useful. Also got an angelic ring... but other than that no jewelry. Also, no S/U headgear yet, and no S/U boots yet.
Questions:
1) Should I go for /p8 in nightmare?
2) Should I keep the defiance merc or get a holy freeze merc once I hit act 2 NM? I suppose might is a possibility too, but I'd rather focus on staying alive over killing fast, plus might won't help rabies.
3) Since I don't know what weapon I'll be using, and since I will not be blocking, how would you guys suggest I go about allocating points to str and dex... I know I need "enough for gear" but what is a good estimate of what "enough for gear" is when I don't know what gear I'll be wearing?
4) I found a superior antler helm with 3 open sockets... but it had +2 to hunger which I don't need. Can any antler helm get 3 sockets? If I were to find a nice normal white antlers with +skills to stuff I need (rabies, lycanthropy, etc.), will it get 3 sockets if I use the larzuk socket quest on it? My understanding is that larzuk adds the max # sockets to white items, so how do I know which druid helms can potentially get 3 sockets? It would be nice to have a 3 ptopaz helm with +skills to skills I'm using. Since I haven't gotten any S/U headgear yet I'm assuming I'd be able to use it for awhile after putting the first S/U that drops on the merc. Is this a stupid idea?
5) is fury worth maxing, or should I just leave it at 4 points (thats the level at which you get 5 hits)? The questions is maxing fury now, or dumpoing points into poison creeper as a synergy for rabies.
Rabies has been maxed. Points are now going into fury to prepare for poison immunes come nightmare. Of course rabies has been powerful and fun in normal... I'm assuming nightmare is when The_Kid will start struggling mightily.
Not much notable gear. Some crummy unique weapons, crummy set armor, etc. The cleglaw glove/shield is a nice combo actually at this point in the game, because knockback is fun with rabies, and it gives me some resists, and the AR bonus is useful. Also got an angelic ring... but other than that no jewelry. Also, no S/U headgear yet, and no S/U boots yet.
Questions:
1) Should I go for /p8 in nightmare?
2) Should I keep the defiance merc or get a holy freeze merc once I hit act 2 NM? I suppose might is a possibility too, but I'd rather focus on staying alive over killing fast, plus might won't help rabies.
3) Since I don't know what weapon I'll be using, and since I will not be blocking, how would you guys suggest I go about allocating points to str and dex... I know I need "enough for gear" but what is a good estimate of what "enough for gear" is when I don't know what gear I'll be wearing?
4) I found a superior antler helm with 3 open sockets... but it had +2 to hunger which I don't need. Can any antler helm get 3 sockets? If I were to find a nice normal white antlers with +skills to stuff I need (rabies, lycanthropy, etc.), will it get 3 sockets if I use the larzuk socket quest on it? My understanding is that larzuk adds the max # sockets to white items, so how do I know which druid helms can potentially get 3 sockets? It would be nice to have a 3 ptopaz helm with +skills to skills I'm using. Since I haven't gotten any S/U headgear yet I'm assuming I'd be able to use it for awhile after putting the first S/U that drops on the merc. Is this a stupid idea?
5) is fury worth maxing, or should I just leave it at 4 points (thats the level at which you get 5 hits)? The questions is maxing fury now, or dumpoing points into poison creeper as a synergy for rabies.
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Witchie and Scorch have made it through the Jungle and carried out a tactically perfect battle against Mephisto. Here she started at a distance launching her standard offensive and quickly realized that the Valkyrie would need some assistance up front.
View attachment 2499
She weapon switched to her newly found Kelpie and crippled the demon to a snail's pace. She was very safe fighting over her tank's shoulder as she hardly took a hit.
View attachment 2500
She has found another Cathan's ring, which makes three now and the mask as you can see adds a nice boost to her defense, even though the mask is hideous on such a striking woman she feels.
View attachment 2486
The Sparkling Mail was upped as Scorches' was previously and thus she had to done both Cathen's rings to have enough strength to wear it. It definitely adds a nice level of safety as things begin to get a bit more dicey going into the temples around Travincal and beyond. She has found the dark, red suited Valkyrie to perform best with the heavy levels of poison throughout the past two Acts and when she finds a skill shrine she exploits it by going back to town and repeatedly casting her until she ends up with a level 25 Valkyrie which also includes the mod1 Amulet. She has really only come up against one combo of foes that tested her life, however she bested the creatures and we quickly went back to town in time to save her.
View attachment 2487
View attachment 2488
A skiller P/M GC was found, so some charms had to be shuffled around to make room. They stand at the gates ready to approach Diablo.
Witchie and Scorch, Level 65, Act IV
View attachment 2499
She weapon switched to her newly found Kelpie and crippled the demon to a snail's pace. She was very safe fighting over her tank's shoulder as she hardly took a hit.
View attachment 2500
She has found another Cathan's ring, which makes three now and the mask as you can see adds a nice boost to her defense, even though the mask is hideous on such a striking woman she feels.
View attachment 2486
The Sparkling Mail was upped as Scorches' was previously and thus she had to done both Cathen's rings to have enough strength to wear it. It definitely adds a nice level of safety as things begin to get a bit more dicey going into the temples around Travincal and beyond. She has found the dark, red suited Valkyrie to perform best with the heavy levels of poison throughout the past two Acts and when she finds a skill shrine she exploits it by going back to town and repeatedly casting her until she ends up with a level 25 Valkyrie which also includes the mod1 Amulet. She has really only come up against one combo of foes that tested her life, however she bested the creatures and we quickly went back to town in time to save her.
View attachment 2487
View attachment 2488
A skiller P/M GC was found, so some charms had to be shuffled around to make room. They stand at the gates ready to approach Diablo.
Witchie and Scorch, Level 65, Act IV
jiansonz
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- Jun 22, 2003
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This is a good idea, I think.
Any druid helm that's at least ilvl 26 has 3 sockets max. So anything that drops from where you are now can get it. The only ones that won't are low quality helms you have 'normalized' with the chippie + El recipe. Those get ilvl set to 1, which means 2 sockets max.
I would save the Larzuk rewards for S/U items. The socketing recipe gives you 2/3 chance of 3 sockets in an ilvl 26+ druid helm.
@JudgeHolden - 1) I (and most, I believe) go /p8 full-time, with /p3 for bosses in NM.
2) Of the three choices there, I would go Holy Freeze. For a build with little to no crowd control, the slowing will be important.
3) What I do is keep a pile (~30 or so, sometimes more) available at all times for a big boost if I need it. Otherwise, you can check the S/U you are hoping to find, and pump your stats close to those numbers accordingly.
4) jiansonz covered this one well. I'll just second that yes, that sounds like a good plan.
5) Personally, I would keep it at 4. Your merc is hopefully going to be the one dishing out physical damage. You can help in boss fights by having something with Crushing Blow on switch, and furying with that. That said, if you want to be more involved in general combat, go ahead and max it. You can't really go too wrong.
6) Good progress btw, great job so far!
@Southpaw8668 - Wow, sweet progress! Love that shot of Witchie poking Meph over the valk's shoulder. Awesome!
--
Miasma continued on and cleared out the remaining half of the Arcane Sanctuary without difficulties. Once the Canyon was cleared, it was time to start clearing the false tombs.
We found Kaa down the first wing of the first tomb that we tried:
He wasn't too much of an issue, but the lack of mana and belt space is starting to take its toll on the longer fights. It's much more dangerous having to drink pots from the inventory to keep the curses up and running. I have a feeling this is going to be one of the bigger challenges for our group moving forward.
The second tomb started out with not one, but two boss packs right off of the stairs. Azrael bit it once during this fight, but with a quick trip back to town to revive him, we were able to finish off the packs safely. Miasma has now maxed Poison Explosion as his first synergy to PN, so we will now work on both maxing the remaing synergy, as well as pumping Bone Prison and get used to using it in combat. Hopefully the Bone Prison will give our group a little added security in the future.
The rest of the false tombs were actually quite uneventful. Azrael did die a few times, but it was mostly due to Miasma being stubborn and not wanting to relinquish position in the fights, subsequently running out of red potion to feed to him. Unravellers in general were not a problem, as PE both clears corpses, and kills fairly effectively.
Speaking of PE, we got a fun fight in the true tomb when a boss and a champ pack of unravellers joined forces right inside a doorway (the boss is the one by the door, and you can see the colourful champs further inside the room):
This is a situation where PE really shines. Once we had our first corpse, we just stood back, spammed PE, and watched death spread through the room.
We got to try out a new tactic against Duriel for the first time in my D2 career. The old 'amp-him-and-let-him-beat-himself-to-death-on-gumby-thanks-to-thorns' tactic. The fight was very safe, and not a single healer was needed, just some mana pots to keep the stream of CGs going.
His drop was not very useful, although we might use Stormguild against Diablo if our LR doesn't improve by then (still 8%).
Miasma is now resting at the docks, but he's itching to get into the jungles and play around with all those lower health monsters. Should be fun!
Other finds:
- Arcanna's Helm (Canyone of the Magi)
- Dragon Chang (False Tomb #3)
[highlight]Destroyer Miasma the Poison Necromancer, with Azrael the Thorns Guard - lvl 60, NM Kurast Docks[/highlight]
2) Of the three choices there, I would go Holy Freeze. For a build with little to no crowd control, the slowing will be important.
3) What I do is keep a pile (~30 or so, sometimes more) available at all times for a big boost if I need it. Otherwise, you can check the S/U you are hoping to find, and pump your stats close to those numbers accordingly.
4) jiansonz covered this one well. I'll just second that yes, that sounds like a good plan.
5) Personally, I would keep it at 4. Your merc is hopefully going to be the one dishing out physical damage. You can help in boss fights by having something with Crushing Blow on switch, and furying with that. That said, if you want to be more involved in general combat, go ahead and max it. You can't really go too wrong.
6) Good progress btw, great job so far!
@Southpaw8668 - Wow, sweet progress! Love that shot of Witchie poking Meph over the valk's shoulder. Awesome!
--
Miasma continued on and cleared out the remaining half of the Arcane Sanctuary without difficulties. Once the Canyon was cleared, it was time to start clearing the false tombs.
We found Kaa down the first wing of the first tomb that we tried:
He wasn't too much of an issue, but the lack of mana and belt space is starting to take its toll on the longer fights. It's much more dangerous having to drink pots from the inventory to keep the curses up and running. I have a feeling this is going to be one of the bigger challenges for our group moving forward.
The second tomb started out with not one, but two boss packs right off of the stairs. Azrael bit it once during this fight, but with a quick trip back to town to revive him, we were able to finish off the packs safely. Miasma has now maxed Poison Explosion as his first synergy to PN, so we will now work on both maxing the remaing synergy, as well as pumping Bone Prison and get used to using it in combat. Hopefully the Bone Prison will give our group a little added security in the future.
The rest of the false tombs were actually quite uneventful. Azrael did die a few times, but it was mostly due to Miasma being stubborn and not wanting to relinquish position in the fights, subsequently running out of red potion to feed to him. Unravellers in general were not a problem, as PE both clears corpses, and kills fairly effectively.
Speaking of PE, we got a fun fight in the true tomb when a boss and a champ pack of unravellers joined forces right inside a doorway (the boss is the one by the door, and you can see the colourful champs further inside the room):
This is a situation where PE really shines. Once we had our first corpse, we just stood back, spammed PE, and watched death spread through the room.
We got to try out a new tactic against Duriel for the first time in my D2 career. The old 'amp-him-and-let-him-beat-himself-to-death-on-gumby-thanks-to-thorns' tactic. The fight was very safe, and not a single healer was needed, just some mana pots to keep the stream of CGs going.
His drop was not very useful, although we might use Stormguild against Diablo if our LR doesn't improve by then (still 8%).
Miasma is now resting at the docks, but he's itching to get into the jungles and play around with all those lower health monsters. Should be fun!
Other finds:
- Arcanna's Helm (Canyone of the Magi)
- Dragon Chang (False Tomb #3)
[highlight]Destroyer Miasma the Poison Necromancer, with Azrael the Thorns Guard - lvl 60, NM Kurast Docks[/highlight]
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