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Vessel of Hatred

A Lack of Information (A S/U Worshipper Tournament)

So pretty soon after starting up my next play session a second Arctic Furs dropped, from a chest or some such. Taking down my MF even further. Not super excited about that.

But lo and behold, later in the Catacombs I pop open a casket to find a green light belt. Not so happy with the loss of potion rows, but the Def bonus means I barely get hit now, and the 40% MF more than made up for my 3 chippie Ring Mail.

The MF hasn't done me any good thus far. Only had one more S/U drop. Andy gave me a matching pair of Death's Hand. I guess another Arctic Binding will come before any more upgrades.

so finds so far:
2X Death's Hand
2X Arctic Furs
1X Arctic Binding

In Act II I've decided to move on to the Cube before doing Sewer's. I'm taking a break at the Halls of the Dead WP. Current Weapon is a Rainbow Socketed Broad Sword, will probably shop a 3 Socket Flail before heading into the sewers. Have hired a Blessed Aim Merc who has a Rainbow Socketed Spetum. And we're both wearing Furs in the desert, because that makes sense.

I did waste a bunch of money gambling for a Bonesnap before I remembered that Unique item's have their own qlvl. So now I'm just saving cash until lvl 36. I'm not sure if I should keep gambling for Hand of Broc though, as gloves are still a bit cheaper than in the later game. There just aren't a lot of mana leech sources available, and a Barb build without it is gonna be a special challenge.

Horking addiction remains at 100%
 
@Brak: LOL @ the comment about furs in the desert.


Well, the second helm has now dropped, but not before some other great stuff also dropped, incluing an armor that had me at well over 150% MF for a while.

Razorswitch is not only good for resists, it's also a weapon with a longer range than The Diggler. Great vs these guys:
TinnyNM02%20Raddy_zpsqzqjbhjh.jpg


I have plenty of experience fighting greater mummies with a staff. A hint of that can be seen in my avatar.

Shadow has been summoned in a few boss fights, otherwise I avoid using her. It's annoying when she sees monsters further away and wakes them up when I am gathering piles of loot. Waheed sometimes also does that but he can't see nearly as far and he's easier to control.

Recent finds (haven't really kept track, so only the ones I remember):
Cathan's Rule
Angelic Halo
Spirit Forge Linked Mail (dropped in Far Oasis. Filled it up with topazes. For MF reasons (when I pop containers), I wear this and Waheed wears Arctic Furs, even though we would have been better fighters/protected the other way around.)
Civerb's Icon
Angelic Mantle
Whitstan's Guard (87(!)% blocking. Wow. Using this now. Current blocking is maxed. Not sure for how many more level-ups, but the all-Vita treatment in the act has made life going up nicely. Over 800 now.)
Berserker's Headgear (in Claw Viper Temple. Goodbye to the sweet topazed helm. Tinúviel took this one, so now her fire resist is pretty OK)
Silks of the Victor
Woestave (in Palace)

Fire synergy is now level 7 and lightning synergy is level 10. Going to pump the Shadow for some levels now. If she is to be of any real use later, she needs to become very sturdy.

MF is now 70%, with 94% for Whaeed's kills.


[Highlight]Tinúviel the Phoenix Striker and Waheed the Prayer Guard, level 57, NM Arcane Sanctuary next[/Highlight]
 
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Progress is super fast if I want it to be, but it's slowed down a bit now that Waheed wears an MF armor. Lightning resist with main setup is still in the negatives, but I'm getting better at 'Razorswitching' and Fading when needed. Max life is improving steadily but now blocking is pretty bad (28%), because I found the dreaded shield I can't refrain from using before Hell (or in a really dangerous stairs trap, I suppose). I keep Whitstan's Guard in the stash, both because I want it available in play and also to check on level-ups if blocking is still maxed without any more DEX investment. It's been the case this far.

Duriel was fought on players 5. I needed very few potions, if any. I still had Whitstan's by then...

Recent finds:
* Tancred's Skull (Arcane Sanctuary. Waheed uses this now. +10% ED!)
* Heart Carver (Duriel)
* Raven Claw (Duriel)
* Infernal Torch
* Milabrega's Orb
* Chance Guards (25%, alas)
* Cleglaw's Tooth (Lower Kurast)
* Sander's Taboo (Lower Kurast. Only gloves with IAS I've seen, so these are valuable for now. The IAS may be badly needed because I am almost sure I will use Fade nearly full-time if I reach Hell)

When I found the Torch, I equipped it because I was already wearing the belt (it's the only belt I've found) and wanted to see the partial bonuses:
TinnyNM03%20lame_zpsnrxnn51m.jpg

A hefty AR bonus is never wrong, I suppose, but that 'any two from set' golden bonus is so lame I just laughed out loud. :D

I've upgraded my Chancies and my Diggler. River Hydras I couldn't reach with melee could be killed with Blade Fury with The Diggler. I hadn't noticed it before, but one of my (otherwise) mediocre Large Charms with lightning resist has a poison damage suffix, which is nice.


[Highlight]Tinúviel the Phoenix Striker and Waheed the Prayer Guard, level 61, NM Kurast Bazaar next[/Highlight]
 
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A quick update on Arya, in Act II she hired a Desert Mercenary and gave him an Ethereal Bardiche, which was later replaced by a superior Ethereal Voulge with 3 Eld socketed, undead fell quickly. Cloak of Shadows is insanely good and was used a ton against anything ranged and resurrectors. I was lucky enough to have my third weapon drop in the True Tomb after clearing all the false ones. Before I had Civerbs Cudgel drop, it is not as fast as Blood Crescent but I also had the shield and the enhanced max damage and the extra damage to undead coupled with Blade Fury made it kill rather fast. My third S/U weapon drop was Isenhart's Lightbrand and shortly after I got an ethereal The Gnasher, was a bit sad at it being ethereal but later I remember I can BF with it and not lose durability. I forgot to switch to a lower player setting for Duriel, but the CB and OW of my new found weapon coupled with BF and the fact that I have 100 vitality so that Duriel couldn't put me in hit recovery made the fight easy, he dropped not a single useful item... Also having loaded on every charm that gave any life, cold res or extra damage helped. I will hoard them for boss fights and mule them in.

Other then that I also found Isenhart's Horns, Civerb's Ward, Cleglaw's Claw and Gorefoot (the frw and the mana leech are really nice).

My gambling has to yield any S/U so far, I gambled for Gull since the stard and now am also gambling Chain Gloves, Skull Caps and any Polearms that can become unique. As soon as I reached act III I hired Devak the Cold Mage, so I will continue firing with BF from afar, atleast until I unlock Phoenix Strike. He will basically do the same as my Desert Merc which is to keep enemies away from me.

Small update, I've cleared Act III up to Travincal. I had my second Isenhart's Lightbrand and Cathan's Mesh drop, I also got Cathan's Seal and Cathan's Visage (partial set bonii are quite nice). Sad part was I lost my last bit of MF in my helm. An intersting drop I got was Hawkmail, ethereal which my Merc uses, I used it a bit but worried I would waste it's durability for when I really needed it. I'm still collecting charms with +life and damage for the Act boss fights, Had a really nice find, Fine Grand Charm of Balance.

Arya has slain the Council and Mephisto, my 3rd Cathan's Mesh dropped and got sold. The Meph fight was simple, cast Shadow Master next to him and blast away with BF using The Gnasher. He dropped a lot of rares and Duskdeep, ethereal, sadly otherwise the 15% res all could come in handy.

And here I am updating my progress again, Act IV slowed my killing speed a bit, principally the Venomlords who seem resistant to fire. I was forced to use all the charges of Phoenix Strike, a good strategy was to unleash a charge 3 freeze the pack and then use the lightning charge and when the freeze was almost over apply the charge 3 again. This was good because of no retaliation but also because when they weren't frozen I wiffed quite a bit. After losing my last bit of MF in Act III I noticed much less magical drops... let's not talk about anything better then that. Izual was slain by having the Shadow Master Tank and BFing with The Gnasher and my Cold Mage, once he was low I stacked Meteors on him to finish the job, the same was done with Hephaestus. I used a lot of Cloak of Shadows in the Chaos Sanctuary to keep the Mages from firing and the Venomlords from stacking on me. I cleared the first two seals easily, but the Balrog pack forced me to run a lot to split them up and face them in groups no larger then 2. Big mistake there after, I gambled my money away trying to score that lucky unique to improve my MF for the Diablo fight and there after didn't turn the player setting down. I faced p8 Diablo, my Shadow melted, and the one time the lightning hose got to Devak he vanished. I resurrected him once and ran fired some BF then run again to relocate. Devak died again and I got afraid to run out of money to buy the potions I chugged like crazy to heal after every lightning hose that hit. I drank more Full Rejuvs this fight then the whole game before together. Alone I had to run hit some BF, dodge lightning, rinse and repeat. Luckily I had loaded all my Boss Fight Charms! At the end he dropped, I had like gold left. His drop had only 1 S/U, Face of Horror, the 10 res all and 50% extra damage to undead is tempting, but using it would mean I lose my resistance bonus from Cathans Set...
 
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Is nobody other than me and littlesamurai still playing? :confused:

Pretty boring update, which is actually a good thing because it means I had no temple stairs trap to speak of.

Shadow Warrior is now level 7. Still a wimp against boss packs, but now she can at least usually survive longer than the casting delay unless the pack is a serious threat.

Recent finds:
* Stout Small Charm of Sustenance (12)
* Garnet (9) Small Charm of the Icicle
* Warlord's Trust (from a bat Champ in the sewers; sold)
* Spectral Shard (again)
* another Cathan's Seal

I have well over 900 life now, but quite a bit of that comes from Spirit Forge.

Highest rune I've found is Lum. Isn't that pretty bad for being so far into NM? OK, not that there are many useful of the higher ones. Lum is at least an upgrade prospect.

Not sure what to do about Mephisto. I should be quite OK in melee holding Whitstan's, but I will for sure be on the lookout for a resist lightning shrine. That would really help.


[Highlight]Tinúviel the Phoenix Striker and Waheed the Prayer Guard, level 63, NM Travincal next[/Highlight]
 
@Kitteh I have a Wolf druid in the commited tournament and he is fun and fast, but I use a rare Maul which isn't an option here, you really need a strong weapon and preferably a 2-hander, because blocking is way to slow for a shifter, if you could get the Unique Maul and up it you could have an endgame weapon, but it's a big if!

@jiansonz I have 3 characters in tournaments and just recently have putting in more gaming time, let's see how Arya does. So far I switch merc every act and don't feel like Act V will be different. The lack of MF is killing me and I also didn't land any set with good MF potential...
 
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I'm still waiting for you guys to catch up!

.... Yeah... That's what I keep telling myself at least.
 
littlesamurai said:
@Kitteh I have a Wolf druid in the commited tournament and he is fun and fast, but I use a rare Maul which isn't an option here, you really need a strong weapon and preferably a 2-hander, because blocking is way to slow for a shifter, if you could get the Unique Maul and up it you could have an endgame weapon, but it's a big if!

@jiansonz I have 3 characters in tournaments and just recently have putting in more gaming time, let's see how Arya does. So far I switch merc every act and don't feel like Act V will be different. The lack of MF is killing me and I also didn't land any set with good MF potential...
Click to expand...

Haha, that is exactly what I'm hoping for! I wanted something which is equipment based so that the rules actually matter :p I will probably pour my gold into heavy gloves, but I need to figure out the optimal level for gambling them.
 
Just wanted to give an official welcome to @Kitteh and Genome! Good luck, I'll be rooting for that Ribcracker to make an appearance for you!

@kestegs - What do you mean, you're not excited to charge down all those Flayers and Gloams one by one? Come on! :p

Good progress as well to everyone else, it's about time we get an updated table in here. :)

--

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  81     A3(H)    Kurast Docks
jiansonz        Assassin     Tinúviel         63     A3(NM)   Travincal
jiansonz        Paladin      Beren            61     A3(NM)   Lower Kurast
EasyG           Barbarian    Ignorant         ??     A3(NM)   Kurast Docks
Naturallog      Sorceress    Permafrost       53     A2(NM)   Lut Gholein
littlesamurai   Assassin     Arya             ??     A5       Harrogath
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
Brak            Barbarian    Snowflake        ??     A2       Halls of the Dead
JudgeHolden     Barbarian    Jackson          20     A2       Lut Gholein
U.i.n.i.u       Necromancer  SetUnique        ??     A2       Lut Gholein
Lord Molybdenum Paladin      Zarquich         17     A1       Outer Cloister
skoolbus        Druid        Clyde_Frog       16     A1       Black Marsh
Bry             Necromancer  BoneCut          15     A1       Black Marsh
Jocular         Paladin      Grok             12     A1       Stony Field
Kitteh          Barbarian    Genome           1      A1       Rogue Encampment
Sid             Druid        Berta Reed       1      A1       Rogue Encampment


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Fallen (RIP):
Forum Name      Class        Char Name        LVL    ACT       Area
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Southpaw8668    Necromancer  Mithik           80     A3(H)     Spider Forest
JudgeHolden     Assassin     snoop_ii         77     A2(H)     Claw Viper Temple 2
Pb_pal          Necromancer  Miasma           75     A1(H)     Cold Plains
Southpaw8668    Amazon       Witchie          69     A5(NM)    Glacial Trail
Pb_pal          Assassin     Karna            67     A5(NM)    Abaddon
Azimuthus       Necromancer  BoneVoyage       62     A3(NM)    Upper Kurast
Southpaw8668    Paladin      Wolfswift        51     A1(NM)    Cathedral
JudgeHolden     Druid        The_Kid          38     A5        Pit of Acheron
JudgeHolden     Assassin     snoop            30     A3        Flayer Jungle
ranagrande      Druid        Orbin            34     A4        Diablo
Jcakes          Paladin      Ares             ??     A4        Diablo
Bry             Sorceress    ScruffMcBuff     31     A4        Plains of Despair
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
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my plan is to
1) drudge through to lvl 36
2) blow all my gold trying to gamble a Bonesnap
3) ...
4) PROFIT!
 
Kitteh said:
Sorry, could I be a pain... I've opted to do for a frenzy barb instead as I've never played one (except for a completely twinked one :p), so it will be more interesting for me. I will however return to the druid in the future if (when) I deeds. So, Genome the Frenzy Barb :p


Sorry!
Click to expand...


No worries! Table has been updated :)
 
So, here is a bit of a situation... My frenzy barb found a pelta lunata in The Den of Evil, dropped by Corpsefire. I originally did not equip it as I thought 'I'm a frenzy barb so it doesn't count as one of my slots', but then I thought 'Well actually, I probably need to use it anyway'. So, I rush back to town... Not in my stash. ****. I don't know what the hell I did, if I sold it accidentally or forgot to actually pick it up (I was discussing an exam with somebody at the same time :p), but anyway it is gone and when I went back to the location, obviously it had all disappeared. I should add that I had just cleared Stony Field when it occurred to me.

How do I play this?
Do I run around with one slot empty until I have two new S/Us?
 
Kitteh said:
So, here is a bit of a situation... My frenzy barb found a pelta lunata in The Den of Evil, dropped by Corpsefire. I originally did not equip it as I thought 'I'm a frenzy barb so it doesn't count as one of my slots', but then I thought 'Well actually, I probably need to use it anyway'. So, I rush back to town... Not in my stash. ****. I don't know what the hell I did, if I sold it accidentally or forgot to actually pick it up (I was discussing an exam with somebody at the same time :p), but anyway it is gone and when I went back to the location, obviously it had all disappeared. I should add that I had just cleared Stony Field when it occurred to me.

How do I play this?
Do I run around with one slot empty until I have two new S/Us?
Click to expand...

Hm. I'd say since it's so early on, you're probably fine to juts keep playing as normal. I think the case can be made either way for having that slot being used or empty, so I'll just leave it to your discretion as to what you want to do.

Besides, if that was your first S/U weapon or shield, which I imagine it was since you were in the den, you could just put the "phantom" Pelta Lunata on switch and continue on your merry way with whatever you want in your primary slots.

Either way, not a big deal. Do whatever you're most comfortable with. :)
 
I had a chipped topaz and a gem shrine in blood moor, plus 2 chipped topazes in The Den of Evil, so that was a good start. I've also been gambling for Gull, and it just occurred to me that I don't want it because of the range. What an idiot, all that wasted gambling gold!

Not really decided on what to turn my gambling attention to. Any suggestions? I'm thinking Tarn/Chancies/Goldwrap. Maybe Bloodfist.


Cyanosis the Phoenix Striker and Blaise the Rogue, Level 15, Normal Black Marsh Next
 
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