Bug swarms are highly phys resistant in Norm/NM and PI in Hell. Your Mightless wolves, even synergized w/ Grizz, rapidly lose their killing power as the game progresses. They can handle late-NM on p3 OK, but anything higher than p1 in Hell will test your patience.
Yeah, things sped up when I stopped encountering those guys, but I did also lower it down to /players 3 just to progress a bit quicker. I'm still dreading PIs (assuming I make it to Hell), but am hoping against hope for a drop to assist me there within the next act and a half. I also have been fortunate and have a stockpile of tals, rals and orts (about 7 between those 3 rune types), so have the stuff to put in a multi socket bow...whether that is enough or not...who knows. Hell WILL be on /p1 the whole way.
Back in the original tourney, I made a big mistake leaving a 2-socket Gothic Plate in mid-Act 5 NM. It wasn't until late Act 1 Hell Catacombs I found another 2-socket armor, and that was with full clears! You never know. Also, unless you very rarely get hit, or have a few spare Rals, I'd pass on Dusk Shroud due to low durability. (another reason why leaving that Gothic Plate was not smart of me. They have great durability!)
Doh! So I shouldn't have walked past that 2 socket linked mail in Durance 2 either?
Good point on the durability though...but at least cube repairs remain an option.
I agree with Insane Wayne about the armor thing. I'd get a light/medium armor with halfway decent durability and two sockets as soon as you find the nef. The nef should come first, as losing whatever assumed decent mods on your current armor would not be worth the wait, unless that armor was a great find.
Yeah, keeping the eyes open. Last night's tally was an Eld, Tir and Eth left lying on the ground. I also found a Ral and 2 Orts, but made room for them.
I thought I might not need the smoke at one stage, but then realised my confusion, but more on that in a sec...
@Butz: Ouch on the time. Hopefully Hell will be better for you. That nef will come eventually.
Thanks mate, but I've mentally prepared myself for a long slow haul...assuming I don't get massacred as soon as I step out of the Rogue Encampment. I would like to full clear, but that'll no doubt become full clear where there are no PIs, minimal clear where there are PIs...which is much of Act 1.
But on to the update:
Warnie left the pain of Lower and Middle Kurast and stormed (comparatively anyway) through Upper Kurast, Travincal, the Durances and Mephisto himself without too much trauma. Still no Nef rune, so the 2 socketed linked mail stayed on the ground because the 30% LR and FR from the runes in his gothic armour are too important to miss for now.
I did switch from the Tearhaunch to the Goblin Toe, which dropped resists from 68/65/65/0 to 58/55/55/-10 (approximates), but still plenty good enough given he doesn't get hit much. I'm still lugging the Tearhaunch around in the cube, because that extra 10% resist might be vital in hell, but the CB from the boots will be VERY hard to dispense with, especially as the minions get more and more impotent.
In Durance 2, a chest popped out a golden demonhide armour, which for a split second I though was the almost ideal Vipermagi...then I remembered that is a serpentskin, but I id'ed the Skin of the Flayed One, checked my spreadsheet (and it was a grailer), so I sat around for a few minutes for it to register so I could hotmule it off to the grail stash.
Meph dropped a bunch of rares of worthless item types which remained on the ground, and golden leather gloves. Whaddya know, Hand of Broc was also a grailer, so I sat around for a while until autosave kicked in again, and off to ATMA they went (yes, everything I carry is ID'ed already, so no chance of me accidentally sneak-peaking!).
Act 4 went swimmingly at the start, usually with me running from little spawned things that wanted to chase me. In the second area there were burning souls everywhere, and many running battles ensued, but my high LR and the fact that they're only doing NM damage meant there was never any real risk. There was one champion pack of them, but no boss-packs either, so no probs.
In the city of the damned, there were boss packs everywhere, but they were all damned and balrog types, neither of which pose a problem for me. I found the WP and left for the night. I've only cleared about 1/4 of the area so it's there if I want it, but I'll probably just go straight down to the river and push on.
I've been working on Fissure of late and have it up to L9. Pitiful damage given that I want to use it in Hell, but perhaps in a bunch of levels, and when I get Izzys gift at the end of the Act, it might at least slowly be able to do something to a PI!?!???
Code:
[highlight]Alive Characters[/highlight]
[b][u]Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP [/u][/b]
Mursilis Anubis Summoner Necromancer 63 A5 NM Harrogath
Butzull Warnie Hunter Druid 62 A4 NM City Of Damned
OldSoldier Princess_Diana MA/LF Amazon 58 A3 NM Kurast Docks
skoolbus OneFingaPushup Trapper Assassin 52 A2 NM Lut Gholein
Breaker Nosiop Poison Necromancer 36 A5 Norm Frigid Highlands
jiansonz Evangelina Phoenix Assassin 35 A5 Norm Harrogath
Chern All_Alone Summoner Druid 33 A4 Norm River of Flame
Zodwizard HC_Rainwalker Fire-Hunter Druid 29 A4 Norm Pand Fortress
Anraxas To_easy Summoner necro 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
WestXylophone SoloFirer HolyFire Paladin 26 A2 Norm Kurast Docks
SinningThings Rapunzel Trapsin Assassin 25 A2 Norm Kurast Docks
stephan Louise Assassin 23 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Silverslasher Forlorn fire/summon Druid 28 A3 Norm Kurast Docks
Cygnus Lycus Hammers Paladin 25 A2 Norm Harem
Friiser HCAll_Alone Summoner Necro 22 A2 Norm Far Oasis
Docturnal Angriez Fishyzon Zon 21 A2 Norm Rocky Waste
Ron Bamboozle Passive Amazon 17 A2 Norm Sewers Level 2
San Sigrdrifa PsnJava/MA Zon 21 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Tweety Remi Boner Necromancer 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Brak Tojolobal Quesodin Paladin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Ohomemgrande Lonely Trapper Assassin 19 A2 Norm Lut Gholein
Crazy_Bear Jane_Doe Javazon Amazon 19 A1 Norm Inner Cloister
Credge YinMKII -- Necro 17 A1 Norm Jail Level 1
Hoop76 Lone_Ranger Paladin 15 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
ZeN DieAlone Fishy Necro 14 A1 Norm Outer Cloister
GreyEagle LoneEagle Trapper Assassin 17 A1 Norm Tamoe Highlands
mjosh Electrolyte light sorc Sorceress 15 A1 Norm Black Marsh
Feared April_Ethereal Summoner Necro ? A1 Norm Black Marsh
Farfus Farfus Healbot Paladin 12 A1 Norm Stony Field
FromBeyond HesHardcore Barbarian 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
SonOfBaal IHateYouAll Trap/Summon Assassin 11 A1 Norm Stony Field
Quickdeath Eve Cold Sorceress 10 A1 Norm Stony Field
Sindus LonelyMaiden Enchantress Sorc 7 A1 Norm Stony Field
Chizz Trapper ? Assassin 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
AlienBoyz DocWho Summoner Necro 12 A1 Norm Cold Plains
Liquidcore ThaDru Wind/fire Druid 6 A1 Norm Cold Plains
newco Pilgrim ? Paladin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Vang WirtsOldMan Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
tripsu InsaneEnvy Amazon 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
rY xD Illidan Berzerker Barbarian 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
adny Scorch Hydrasorc Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Gabriel74 Smelly Lightning Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Retawd Sinistral -- Assassin 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Chymaera Marius BlizBolt Sorceress 1 A1 Norm Rogue Camp
Dead Characters
Forum Name Character Build Class LVL ACT WP
Breaker PokePoke Lancebarb Barb 36 A4 Norm River of Flame
inSTAALed EmoPhil Ele Druid 28 A4 Norm River of Flame
whoisfu WhoIsZon Amazon 35 A4 Norm Chaos Sanctuary
jiansonz Kevin HF Zealot Paladin 31 A3 Norm Disused Reliquary
Silverslasher Sizzlingpain Trap Assassin 28 A3 Norm Kurast
EmperorMoo GumbyKicksAss Golemancer Necro 26 A3 Norm Flayer Jungle
Jabash RunAway Blade/Shdw Assasin 28 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Anraxas ibone_alone ranger Paladin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
newco KissMyBoots Hybrid Assassin 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
Crazy_Bear Silent_Bob Psn/Mage Necromancer 27 A2 Norm Duriel's Chamber
EmperorMoo BertieWooster Summoner Necromancer 25 A2 Norm Duriel's chamber
Sindus Sindus Comando Necro 25 A2 Norm Summoner
inSTAALed HumanMeatBlock Con Barb 21 A2 Norm Halls of Dead
Colorless Green Omega Assassin 21 A2 Norm Halls/Dead2
EJB WheresEveryone Druid 22 A2 Norm Radament
EmperorMoo GotArrers Mageazon Amazon 21 A2 Norm Radamant
ShockTactics Frostshock Frostadin Paladin 20 A2 Norm Radamant
chizz Chizzy Summoner Necro 11 A1 Norm Jail level 1
EmperorMoo Wordsworth Summon Necromancer 11 A1 Norm Tamoe Highland
Anraxas ibone_alone bone Necro 8 A1 Norm Countess
Liquidcore FightingLove Sniperzon Amazon 6 A1 Norm Stony Field
Butz. :dunce:
. Currently using the golem with Attract to get my first body. Takes a while, which is why in Act II I had 30+ monsters surrounding the golem at one point (really should have taken a screenshot). On the flip side Act III was a piece of cake with the dark wanderer spawning 6 monsters.
rop: 