All Alone Tournament III

[Insane Wayne]

Lingering poison cannot kill you. It will take you down to 1 HP. However, if you're out of antidotes, it's important you retreat to a safe area to wait it out. You don't have to drink all your potions. Drink enough to get to a safe place. Beware of wall/floor traps that can finish you off (including the ones that spray poison, they do a little physical damage as well).

I've been "super-poisoned" a couple times without an antidote, and watched my red ball drain in a few seconds. In that case, 30 full rejuvs wouldn't have been enough. I ran away and waited (which can take a few minutes).

Nice screenshot. Since you were unsure if poison would kill you, I bet that rattled your nerves.
You just found a regeneration ring, right? That should bail you out of your delicate situation, although the waiting is no fun...

 

[tripsu]

Thanks for the help! Yeah, I was pretty scared. I had about 6 small rejuvs and 10 red potions between my belt and inventory. The poison was knocking off roughly 30-40 hp and I had rejuved myself to full life and it fell down to 3. I took the screenshot soon after that. Thank goodness for the replenish life +4 ring I found! I knew that would come in handy.

And yes, I had retreated to a floor I already cleared just running like mad and chugging rejuvs. I wish I had known it couldn't take that last point. Would have saved 5ish red potions. Oh well, I'm back at it now! :thumbsup:

 

[tripsu]

I tried, I tried, and I tried but the Halls of the Dead was just too much on players8. I couldn't get to the cube on the third level. I got swarmed too badly and had no where to run. I'm going to give this another go in a little while with the same build idea. This time all resurrecting areas where there isn't a lot of space to move freely I'm planning on taking on at p1. I think that'll make it possible to get to 30 and get my Valk.

Big congrats to those that are Destroyers!!!! I think this is the toughest/funnest tourney I've played in so far. Even the naked tourney doesn't compare to this difficulty wise.

 

[jiansonz]

Evangelina more or less cruised through the rest of Act III. A start with spider Champs in one of the temples could have been scary, if it weren´t for the resist poison shrine I had in the Bazaar. In fact, between the Bazaar and Upper Kurast, I had access to resist shrines for any of the four elements. Nice!

The Grand Charms are cursed! I made the exact same mistake as Insane Wayne, and apparently lost my fabulous 25% fire resist charm. I saw in the character screen that Evie had less than 20 resist fire. WTF? I had carried around a stupid Grand Charm of Venom! :duh:
Good thing I had shrines for fire resistance, then. Without them, the Night/Dark/Blood Lords and their multitude of fire spells could have been really dangerous.
Later in the act, I found a 26/4 Ruby Grand Charm of Dexterity :thumbsup:

There was one incident in the Sewers that could have ended in disaster if I had been just a little less alert. The Shadow Warrior died so quickly that I panicked and almost misclicked on my retreat and subsequent actions. My 'rejuve reflex' was working well, though.
Normally, even the most massive mob of Extra Strong/LE/whatever mummies and spiders, etc. will need over 10 seconds to kill a full-life Shadow. Now she died in less than 3 seconds. The culprit: this little pest and its gang.

Two interesting finds in the Sewers: another Lem rune (anyone have a suggestion what to do with the two I have?) and The General´s unique Flail. Now there´s an interesting PS weapon prospect. I thought long and hard if it would be worth toting along. Then I thought about Baal and the Ancients and yes, I decided it was worth keeping for a some key fights. But there was no way I could spare six inventory spaces, so keeping it meant giving up my beloved BF weapon, the great dual leech rare Battle Hammer (that I have invested 25 points of STR to use! (Grumbles...))

Advantages of The General´s TDLG
* Extremely fast
* Best possible range on a one-hander
* Hit Slows Target by 50%
* Mana steal, enough so that PS will hardly cost anything

Disadvantages
* Low durability. Will need a couple of repairs in the long term.
* No life steal (and since I have dropped my only life-regenerating item (Manald Heal) I can now get life only from level-ups, shrines, potions and Cobra Strike.) So I miss out on the ability to heal minor wounds with a few blades. That will make playing a little less convenient.
* Too little damage to allow endless Blade Fury use (although that can probably be remedied with an upgrade (just need a Sol for that)).

The low damage means that when I want to use BF, I will do it with Butcher´s Pupil (it takes too long to kill stuff otherwise). I may do a quick switch and add some shots with the Flail if the shadow needs the slowing to tank better.

For the Mephisto fight, I activated a Resist Poison Shrine, had the Life Tap wand ready, with the General´s Flail and Rhyme shield on the 'fighting' switch and Butcher´s Pupil in storage. It worked out well enough, although the low damage on the Flail made the Life Tap less über than against Duriel. Once the shrine effect was over and I got poisoned, I ran out of healing potions and had to gnaw a bit (3 of 10) on my full rejuve supply.
The fight consumed 10(!) durability on the Flail.


[Highlight]Evangelina the PS Assassin, level 64, NM Outer Steppes next[/Highlight]

 

[Insane Wayne]

Two interesting finds in the Sewers: another Lem rune (anyone have a suggestion what to do with the two I have?) and The General´s unique Flail.

"Treachery" armor is what springs to my mind. +2 skills and 45 IAS. Although you used up your Shael making the replacement Rhyme, you can probably get another one. Or, HF might give you a 3rd Lem, and you can cube a Pul, for a realistic shot at making a Butcher's Small Crescent.

The fight consumed 10(!) durability on the Flail.

Don't sneeze on it or you'll lose another point of durability! I've used General's plenty of times and it breaks quick, like daggers. I wonder if it's simply tied to #hits, or if some weapon types actually degrade faster.

 

[jiansonz]

"Treachery" armor is what springs to my mind. +2 skills and 45 IAS. Although you used up your Shael making the replacement Rhyme, you can probably get another one. Or, HF might give you a 3rd Lem, and you can cube a Pul, for a realistic shot at making a Butcher's Small Crescent.

Ooh, Treachery looks nice! That´s the one I always dream about for my mercs - have not been able to make one yet.
If I can solve the resist issue (need to get some good headgear) then it´s certainly an option. The Venom seems good (would be on more or less all the time, 300 bonus damage per hit) but the Fade seems a bit awkward. 15% PDR and 60% resist all is godly, but only 5% chance to trigger when I get hit (I don´t want to get hit!) and then it lasts for about 5 minutes. Maybe I should just ignore the Fade, and just think of it as something that may try to save me if I get swarmed...

Another potential problem is that I have only so-so foot speed without BoS, but with BoS and an extra 45% IAS, I´m afraid my attack will be too fast for reliable release of PS charge of my choice.

But I think I will give it a try!
I already have a Shael. What I don´t have is a Thul (or a suitable armor).


OK, seeing the Hellforge rune first sound like a plan.

 

[Insane Wayne]

Asteria continued her run through Act 5 NM, still doing p8. Some of my monster rolls were pretty easy. For example, three areas had goats. I also saw lots of of boars/imps. ID scroll shortage never became an issue, because I drew ghosts/wraiths three times, and CS tore through them popping scrolls left and right. Assisting me was an uber-valk, who had cold and poison immunity in addition to poison damage for PMH. I kept her alive the entire session.

Frozen River was the first real challenge, due to multiple scary snake packs. I found my first evil urn, and the possibility for snakes convinced me to open it with my telekinesis ring. Fittingly, an LE LI snake pack spawned directly around the urn! I would've been helpless to fight back. Another urn contained Fanaticism snakes, too close for comfort. And it happened again, in the Glacial Trail! This ring has already proven its worth.

The red portal areas had additional dangers, with amp damage witches, fire snakes, undead dolls, frenzytaurs, and knights. I lost my uber-valk to a 1-hit IM from an Oblivion Knight. The timing was OK, because I was quitting the session anyway (at the Arreat Plateau WP). Behold the worst door misalignment ever! It was funny, I couldn't go through until the door was wrecked.

Next session, I made a major gear change after a goat boss dropped the unique Double Bow, Endless Hail. I ditched my spare javs and a 3-socket tower shield. I've been planning for eventual use of low-level Frozen Arrow, for corpse disposal and crowd control. There are other unique bows I'd prefer, but Endless Hail has some advantages:
- it's very fast (and I have 35% off-weapon IAS)
- useful mana boost (+40, now I can easily top 500)
- cold damage with improved duration = increased freeze length
- big cold resist (my weakest primary resist)
- free access to Strafe (with +skill boost, I get 8 arrows)

Ancient's Way had rogue jabbers and LI Afflicted. Again, I used telekinesis for the urns, which contained Afflicted. Icy Cellar was a mess. We were met by a boss pack of dolls, some snakes, and LI gloams. Champion gloams added to the tense situation, but with good resists I survived. Asteria obliterated Snapchip's gang.

The Ancients spawned LE, Holy Fire, and Stone Skin. Annoying, but not at all dangerous, unlike the WSK levels. Each level had a mix of tough monsters including snakes, flayers, heirophants, more amping witches, and a scary intro to level 3. Frenzytaurs are actually the least dangerous. As long as the valk can hold out for 10+ seconds, I can take them down. Throne level was another tough draw: vampires, frenzytaurs, and burning souls. A Fanat gloam was the worst of it. The remaining gloams were frozen solid with freezing arrows until the valk killed them.

I had one problem with Baal's minions; Achmel at p8 had insane regeneration. I had to blast him with sustained CS while popping a few rejuvs to counter his super-poison. Very few replacement mana potions dropped from the remaining minions, and I was forced to tackle Baal with only one blue and four purples. I took a few breaks to regen life/mana. No big deal. His drop was crap. My Goldwrap belt made it all the way through the Act! After NM Daiblo, it had 2 durability, and it still does! My other armors lost a few points. That says a lot about how rarely Asteria is hit behind her valk.

Items I left behind:
Lem rune (from random WSK monster)
Jewel of Thunder (1-74)
Preserver's GC of Winter

[highlight]Conqueror Asteria, 1.11 CS Amazon, level 74, Act 1 Hell, Rogue Camp[/highlight]
Str 85, Dex 133, Vitality 223 (886 life), Energy 47 (371 mana, can go up to 512)
CS Damage: 7 bolts, 1-796 damage per bolt
Javelin skills.
Passive skills.
Bow skills.
Resists: 75/35/65/-12
Chance to block: 55%

[highlight]Gear:[/highlight]
Maiden Javelin of Replenishing
Maiden Javelin
One Hand Damage: 8 - 14
Quantity: 80
Required Level: 17
Required Strength: 33
Required Dexterity: 47
Fingerprint: 0x3e7edb35
Item Level: 30
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+1 to Javelin and Spear Skills (Amazon Only)
Replenishes quantity

Rhyme
Tower Shield
Defense: 23
Durability: 53 of 60
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 75
Fingerprint: 0xbcfd152
Item Level: 31
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
All Resistances +25
20% Increased Chance of Blocking
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
40% Faster Block Rate
Cannot Be Frozen
15% Regenerate Mana
2 Sockets (2 used)
Socketed: Shael Rune
Socketed: Eth Rune

Endlesshail
Double Bow
Two Hand Damage: 33 - 79
Durability: 19 of 36 <--- no clue why GoMule shows this. (GoMule is still awesome)
Required Level: 36
Required Strength: 58
Required Dexterity: 73
Fingerprint: 0x4589238f
Item Level: 63
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+40 to Mana
207% Enhanced Damage
+50 Defense vs. Missile
Cold Resist +35%
+15 - 30 cold damage with 3 sec Duration
+3 to Strafe (Amazon Only)

Sazabi's Mental Sheath
Basinet
Defense: 183
Durability: 29 of 30
Required Level: 43
Required Strength: 82
Fingerprint: 0x322dbe0c
Item Level: 52
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+100 Defense
Fire Resist +20%
Lightning Resist +17%
+1 to All Skills

Gemmed Full Plate Mail
Full Plate Mail
Defense: 152
Durability: 42 of 70
Required Level: 31
Required Strength: 80
Fingerprint: 0x67b63f9e
Item Level: 49
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
Lightning Resist +37%
+38 to Life
Cold Resist +30%
15% Increased Attack Speed
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Perfect Ruby
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Camphor Jewel of Fervor

Nightsmoke
Mesh Belt
Defense: 64
Durability: 14 of 16
Required Level: 20
Required Strength: 58
Fingerprint: 0x118982a1
Item Level: 37
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+20 to Mana
30% Enhanced Defense
+15 Defense
Damage Reduced by 2
Required Lvl +5
+50 Damage Taken Goes To Mana
All Resistances +10

Soul Hold
Chain Gloves
Defense: 8
Durability: 8 of 16
Required Level: 35
Required Strength: 25
Fingerprint: 0x4bd07126
Item Level: 49
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+2 to Strength
+14 to Mana
Fire Resist +21%
Poison Resist +16%
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
20% Increased Attack Speed

Hailstone Shank
Greaves
Defense: 24
Durability: 14 of 24
Required Level: 18
Required Strength: 70
Fingerprint: 0xeb85298d
Item Level: 46
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
56% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +34%
Poison Resist +19%
9% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Half Freeze Duration

Prismatic Amulet of Enlightenment
Amulet
Required Level: 33
Fingerprint: 0xd5cb313e
Item Level: 45
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+26 to Energy
Fire Resist +18%
Lightning Resist +18%
Cold Resist +18%
Poison Resist +18%

Bahamut's Ring of the Mind
Ring
Required Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0x1e244df2
Item Level: 49
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+6 to Energy
+114 to Mana

Garnet Ring of Protection
Ring
Required Level: 13
Fingerprint: 0x8df50fa0
Item Level: 46
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
Damage Reduced by 2
Fire Resist +29%

Charms:
Cobalt (25) Grand Charm of Pestilence (+25 poison damage / 5 sec)
Garnet (25) Grand Charm
Ruby (27) Grand Charm
Serpent's (51) Grand Charm of Dex (4)
Crimson (4) Small Charm of Life (10)
Russet Small (7) Charm of Greed
Ocher (7) Small Charm of Life (6)
Ocher (6) Small Charm of Dexterity (2)
Ocher (6) Small Charm
Tangerine (5) Small Charm of Flame
Cobalt (8) Small Charm of Strength (2)
Lapis (7) Small Charm of the Icicle (2-4)
Lapis (6) Small Charm of Strength (1)
Lapis (6) Small Charm
Bronze Small Charm of Sustenance (14)
Small Charm of Sustenance (13)

In storage:
Acrobat's Amulet
Great Wyrm's Ring of Telekinesis (17/25 charges)
Snake's Amulet of Regrowth (Replenish Life 10, for emergencies)
Ocher (17) Ring of the Wolf (16)
Tin Jewel of Fervor
Runes: Shael, Ort, Ral (2)
ID Tome (8 scrolls)

 

[OldSoldier1]

Wayne, how do you take a break against Baal when you can't leave? Those appendages seemed to follow me everywhere.

As for Princess_Diana, she went about halfway through the act, starting from the Cold Plains and clearing most areas. She needed a nef and ko rune, 2 os armor and Sigon's boots to be very happy. From the Cold Plains she tried clearing out the burial grounds and mausoleum and crypt but gave up because everything there is LI, so it was a huge drag. Then she cleared all of the holes and caves in the act, minus the pit since she hasn't gone that far yet. From the beginning up until the countess' tower a grand total of zero runes dropped. She cleared every monster available in all areas other than the burial grounds and sub-areas. Finally the countess gave her a nef and an eld, and before she found a tir, keeping all but the eld. Princess_Diana stopped at the Black Marsh WP, which is right next to the entrance for the Tamoe Highland. She found the nef and still needs the ko and 2 os armor. She dropped Sigon's gloves for a rare pair of gauntlets that have 3 separate resists (not lightning though) and IAS, which gives her 40% off weapon IAS. The only thing close to breaking are Sander's boots, which have 7 durability.

 

[Insane Wayne]

Wayne, how do you take a break against Baal when you can't leave? Those appendages seemed to follow me everywhere.

That has never happened to me. I've always been able to retreat to a safe spot out of his range. Either side usually works. If Baal wanders into one side, I run to the other. Many of my Baal fights involve retreating to restock potions, making the clone disappear, of changing into MF gear for the final hit.

Good luck with that Ko rune! It seems like a tough prospect. Now that Countess is gone, it'll be even harder to find. If you killed every Hell monster, you might be no better than 50/50 to find it. That's my gut feeling anyway, maybe I'm wrong. Mid-runes aren't super-rare but it's not easy to score a particular one. I've hoped for certain runes with previous single-pass characters (lum, lem, pul... etc...) and I learned I can't count on it. Hopefully you'll luck out.

 

[OldSoldier1]

I guess you learn something every day (Baal hiding trick). I just always went as fast as possible when switching things and hiding behind a pillar. About that Ko rune, I doubt I'll ever get one. The farther I go the more likely I am to pick up a higher damage bow and socket it and make an Edge, but socketing it would put me one Amn short, so I am still on the prowl for another of those. Heck maybe I'll go back to a Zephyr if a nice unique doesn't pan out, but then I'm searching for an eth, which admittedly is an easier task than the Ko. I don't think it is smart to wait for three Lum runes either, but I do already have one...

 

[jiansonz]

Yeah, I can usually get away from Baal´s attention if I make it to the little "room" to the left of the chamber.

Wayne, Asteria´s gloves and amulet are great. :thumbsup:
Her charm collection pwns Evangelina´s, but she is slowly getting there...


I figured Act 4 was going to be the hardest act so far. There is a marked increase in monster life, and many monster types are highly resistant to fire (Doom Knights are immune, even). With most tourney characters, this is the time I usually start buying potions quite often. So I had to be careful.

About 30% into the clearance of Outer Steppes, I ran into the bug where Cloak of Shadows makes the game crash when the CoS duration ends and there is a stationary "monster" around (Trapped Souls in this case). I decided to avoid CoS as much as possible. If I must use it, I shall first draw the monsters back to known and secured areas. This made the playing a bit awkward, and I found out just how strong my reflex to ready CoS after a used right button skill is. I tried to remember to switch to Death Sentry instead. Twice during the session, my Shadow cast CoS (since I had indeed readied the skill anyway) with Trapped Souls around. I ran away a couple of screens before the duration ran out. I don´t know if that helped, but I had no more crashes during the session.

My plan was to advance along the perimeter of the areas and move on to the next as soon as possible. Two reasons for this:
- It may be tricky to establish a foothold in a new area. It´s good to have resources from the other area(s) left in that case.
- I wanted to secure the WP soon, in case of a crash.

Outer Steppes had Cliff Lurkers, Doom Casters and Venom Lords. That was a very good draw. If the Shadow Warrior has Fade on, she can tank a massive mob of these monster types for a long time.

Plains of Despair had maybe the worst draw possible: Doom Knights, Burning Souls and Spawners. Yuck! Fighting spawners and Souls without CoS is tricky indeed. I used a lot of PS Freezing. The Souls weren´t that deadly (Evie´s LR is pretty good) but I still needed to respect them, and dodge Lightning when I could.

The toughest foes were the Doom Knights. More than three at a time and the Shadow was really taking a beating. It´s those poison hits that did it (cuts out the high life regeneration of the Shadow). PS Freezing was good here. Once I managed to freeze most of a pack, I went to work with PS 2nd charge, then 3rd, then 2nd, then 3rd, etc. Quite often, I ended up with a lone frozen Knight that had quite a bit of life left. That was my life/mana supply: 3x Tiger, 3x Cobra, Attack. If all went well, the fight had not cost me anything.

If there were spawners mixed in with the knights, it was usually easier to bring the whole pack down (all thoses pups die quickly to a Meteor, and they are good explosion fodder).

I have never killed NM Izual faster wihout at least 25% Crushing Blow. Shadow tanked him without losing any visible life, and Evangelina only needed one Cobra Strike cycle´s worth of extra mana to finish him off with flames.

City of the Damned had Pit Lords, Stranglers and Abyss Knights. This was the promised land, a place where I could restock potions so I could go back and fight on the Plaines.

I crafted a Safety Belt and a Blood Amulet, both with crap results. The latter was a bad choice at this time, using up my only Amn rune. I forgot that I want a 'Strength' weapon soon.


[Highlight]Evangelina the PS Assassin, level 65, NM River of Flame next[/Highlight]

 

[OldSoldier1]

My update is far shorter today; Princess_Diana made it to the Outer Cloister after clearing the Tamoe Highlands and the Pit. The pit was filled with creatures immune to fire and cold, which meant that she plowed the area under pretty fast. On level 2 there were some LI rogue archers, but not many. No stair traps tonight like the goat/carver one last night in the cave. I might have the wrong place, but I remember the monsters weren't LI so she threw some javelins and cleared them out no problemo. Still level 74, but finally Princess caught up to where Warnie passed on and gave him a proper burial. Something had taken all of his money and apparel. Apparently you just can't trust these demons anymore. Her 70% MF yielded nothing on this part of the journey.

 

[crazy_bear]

Congrats on making conqueror Wayne. Asteria seems very solid at this point. Since Jane_Doe is already using a bow on switch she was also thinking of getting a 1 pt Freezing arrow for shattering corpses. Definitely something to think about...

Jane_Doe has had a couple of play sessions since last update. First, she had to clear the rest of the false tombs. It seemed like it was about 2 tombs to gain a level which was nice for getting her ready for Duriel. In the last false tomb she found this ring:
Bahamut's Ring of the Mind
Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x2310d6c2
+5 to Energy
+108 to Mana
Deciding to give up some resists she tossed a cobalt ring. I was shocked how much difference this made. She could now use LF effectively and the natural regen meant that it was very seldom that she would need a potion for anything except LF. I know now not to under value a good mana pool. She also found a Dol rune, which has few uses, but a couple of runewords (Passion comes to mind) could potentially use it, so she will wait and see what comes at HF before throwing it out.
I was very worried about Duriel, but shouldn't have been. The valk was much too tough for him to take down so Jane could stand back and throw in the PJ until he dropped. Jane only Id'd one item from the drop, a magical pilum. (Nope, not replenishing)
Now in Act 3, I figured I better do the first 3 areas all in one session, because of the difficulty of running around all the flayers at the entrances to the WP areas. She was looking forward to these areas because there were few creatures here that would be immune to her PJ. By the time she reached Lower Kurast she had accumulated 6 flawless gems on the ground that she couldn't carry! (4 had dropped in the flayer dungeon alone, very near the gate to LK so they hadn't disappeared yet.) Realizing I couldn't let these gems go to waste she cleared LK looking for any magical javelin to reroll and try for a replenishing... no javs. So she moved all these gems (up to 8 now) to the Kurast Bazaar and tried there. She finally found a magical war javelin in the ruined temple. So with that she tried the 2 rolls and didn't get replenishing anyway. The last couple she found a matched one for and made a P Ruby. She also found a second Hel rune, but I can't see a use for it. She is carrying it now, but I expect it will get left behind soon.
She did end up skipping the swampy pit, but will go back there now since it is right next to the WP, but the rest of the areas were cleared on p8 without trouble, bringing her to lvl to 62. I was surprised at the slowdown in exp gain compared to the false tombs where she gained lvls very quickly.

Jane_Doe, lvl 62 javazon, act 3 NM, Kurast Bazaar WP

 

[Sinningthings]

Many of you seem to be cruising along while I just gat back to playing Repunzul. She's lvl 40 and going through the Ancients. This is where we run into a problem. The problem's not with the Ancients themselves but with the game. Every time I get Talic (sp?) half way down the game freezes. I tried it about 5 times and it's starting to feel like it's impassable. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[jiansonz]

The problem's not with the Ancients themselves but with the game. Every time I get Talic (sp?) half way down the game freezes. I tried it about 5 times and it's starting to feel like it's impassable. Anyone have any suggestions?

If you or your Shadow are using Cloak of Shadows, that´s most likely the reason for the crashes.

 

[Sinningthings]

Thanxs jian. Boy though, that's a big part of my little build.

 

[OldSoldier1]

I don't think it would have any effect on them anyway, aren't most unique monsters able to see through CoS? Time to put on them running boots!

 

[Fingerzam]

I don't think it would have any effect on them anyway, aren't most unique monsters able to see through CoS? Time to put on them running boots!

Well, CoS also lowers enemy defence and increases your defence.

I want to join this tourney too, I'm currently enabling HC (I just reinstalled D2, haven't played for many years, not since 1.10 came out) and I'll start as soon as I have HC enabled.

I'm going to play an assassin. I'm not exactly sure about my build yet, but I'm probably going to use dragon tail as a finisher and either take TS or PS+synergy as a charge. I've never used a dragon tail build before, but I wan't to try it out. Also after trying blade fury I noticed how awesome it is so I'll definitely put a point in it.

That CoS bug scares me a bit, because I was planning to use CoS as a backup resource of AR (well, -enemy defence) if I can't hit anything otherwise. And the AI effect is also nice (well, my life will probably depend on it a lot). But that bug is only a problem in some A4 areas and ancients, right?

 

[jiansonz]

That CoS bug scares me a bit, because I was planning to use CoS as a backup resource of AR (well, -enemy defence) if I can't hit anything otherwise. And the AI effect is also nice (well, my life will probably depend on it a lot). But that bug is only a problem in some A4 areas and ancients, right?

As I understand it, it´s the Ancients and all 'stationary monsters': crow nests, mummy sarcophagi, Trapped Souls, Evil Demon Huts etc.

I have used it very often around the imp towers in act 5, and it has not been a problem there. Not around catapults either.

 

[OldSoldier1]

:duh: I forgot about the defense changes. My assassin is even waiting to take on the ancients in the afterlife tournament and having a tough time with the LI one (Madawc I think).

Princess_Diana took advantage of my not wanting to play against the ancients last night and went from the outer cloister to the inner cloister. In that span of time she found a good Stormeye, Soul Harvest, Milebrega's Rod, and a couple of really nice circlets with massive amounts of +life and +mana. All left to rot. In the jail the part I was most concerned about Pitspawn Fouldog because his guys' lightning balls hit really hard and they're sometimes pretty fast as well, sniping from odd directions and generally causing much mayhem. Well I lucked out this time as his entire crew was parked inside of a locked small jail cell. Princess_Diana stood directly outisde of the range of their lightning attack and plinked away, bit by bit, with the gothic bow and MA. They all died, even Pitspawn, until only one was left, and I opened the door for the valk who finished him off quickly. They were the only LI monsters in the entire jail until level 3 when some bone mages showed up.

She found a 2os Demonhide armor with good durability left and made the Smoke out of the Nef from hell countess and Lum from NM hellforge. Appropriately, about 3 minutes later a 2os Cuirass with roughly double the defense and durability dropped. Argh! Shortly after that a Ral fell, which eased the pain slightly. No Ko though...

So far she's found 3 Duskdeep helms and 4 Cathan's Rings (a perfect complement to the Angelic amulet she is still dragging around). With the equipment she has on, she can get good resists; +15 (Duskdeep), +50 (Smoke), +25 (Rhyme), and +20 (shimmering amulet) puts me over zero for all. Add in separate resists items (charms, belt, gloves) and I am looking OK for resists. I am still on the prowl for a higher base blocking percentage 2os shield to make my blocking percentage better (I put enough in dex to maintain 60% now). Putting on the smoke hurt my attack speed and MF though, as the old armor had 2 fervor jewels and a Ptopaz.

Next stop: the catacombs!