The jungles of Act 3 weren't as bad as I'd feared, in terms of LI-infestation. Spider Forest had LI cloud-stalkers and apes. I thought I was in for a long lesson of frustration, but I perked up when my carefully-selected valk 1-hit killed the first stalker! She was very strong, and cut through the mobs which I kept frozen. Asteria took care of the bramble hulks herself. The spider caves had no bats. 100% spiders and fat maggots, very easy for CS. Great Marsh had gloams, but I soon found the waypoint.
Next session, Great Marsh rolled zombies, hulks, and frogs. A dream roll, rich with boss packs. The first zombie pack dropped a perfect Small Charm of Vita (20)! However, the pack had spawned along the small trail to the waypoint, and thus was already cleared the previous session. D'oh! Sadly, I gave up the charm.
No major problems with the Flayer Jungle. Some of the flayers were LI, but others were CI or PoI, and easily killed. The dungeons were dangerous but the valk was able to tank the narrow passages OK. I scouted a pack of HF gloams, and emptied a quiver of arrows while the valk tanked them. The Witch Doctor dropped a rare coronet. +10 dex and 18 resist-all. Not nearly good enough to give up my Sazabi's helm. Finally, Stromtree made his appearance: CELE Extra Fast Fanaticism. I took down a couple minions before the full pack arrived, which was enough for the valk to survive while I killed the rest.
The Kurast monster rolls were also good to me. I think one area had LI leapers, and LI vultures in another. No big deal. Lots of fat hulks again! Whee!! :grin:
At the start of a new session, the first thing I did was
click a log. It was close to previously cleared area, but I knew for sure it was legal and gladly equipped it. My FA damage is improved, and now I can cast level 24 valks full-time. Also my D/A/E is significantly better, very helpful when wielding a bow.
Down into the sewers, rarely a fun experience for me. Bats, mosquitos, and mummies, another great roll! I saw the tiny X-shaped island, with 4 mummies and a skull pile. Eager to keep my latest uber-valk, I used a
teleport charge. Of course, I didn't think it through very well, and had to use another charge to get off. A while later, another little island! This time, I killed them all with FA. One of them dropped an ID scroll. I decided it was worth 1 telekinesis charge to fetch it.
Severe NDE against Icehawk. As jiansonz mentioned earlier, Icehawk loves to flee and disappear. I was too zealous about preventing that, and nearly paid the price. Chasing him relentlessly, too close to the remaining minions, Asteria took a couple hits as his CELE nova unleashed. I was in the process of pressing the rejuv key, and saw a brief glimpse of an
empty life bulb before it filled again. I killed another minion, and just sat there stunned for a few seconds. :nervous:
Back to business. The task at hand: clear the Kurast temples.
Ruined Temple was crazy. 4 boss packs in the large room, and much of the crowd piled up against the
doorway. Boss vampires and spiders too. CS works well against such a dense mob. Usually the monster I'm jabbing lasts longer than those behind it.
Forgotten Reliquary:
Hello! Very scary, but they didn't last long and I only needed one healing potion.
The Travincal zealots were LI. Valk +
group freezing sufficed. Durance wasn't too bad, although the LI maulers were a pain. I did Meph's level at p3. Wyand spawned PILI which required the malice
knife. At p3 it was a bit of a wait.
Asteria wasted no time rushing Meph and
zapped away. Meph scored a couple good hits, but nothing too drastic. Soon the valk caught up, and drew Meph's fire. An easy battle, with an unrewarding drop.
Keepers:
Ral and Sol
Russet (7) Small Charm
Small Charm of Sustenance (11)
Small Charm of Vita (18)
Left Behind:
Steel (105) Grand Charm
Spineripper
[highlight]Conqueror Asteria, 1.11 CS Amazon, level 82, Act 4 Hell, Outer Steppes[/highlight]