All The Good Builds Have NOT Been Taken (A Sept Story) ifr

maareek

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May 12, 2007
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All The Good Builds Have NOT Been Taken (A Sept Story)

Christmas is almost upon us, but I received my gift early: on December 20th, I completed the last leg in my latest project, a seven-pack of stylish builds. There were a few tough patches, but on the whole it's a journey I'm very happy to have undertaken.

I had two of the builds done before I had any real thoughts of making a sept. In fact, the jumpstart to the whole project came from Nagisafurukawa holding a giveaway that included his “Passion†Thunder Maul. As soon as I saw it in that stash, an idea popped into my head - Berserker Druid - and I had to have it. Even after this build, the sept idea hadn't crossed my mind - I was just making builds that interested me - but then, in the Pat thread, lionhearthebrave asked if I had further ideas for the mace. I didn't, but as I read that question one came to me. Once that build - Zealot with no points in zeal - was done, there was no escaping the sept. I was already halfway through it and I had acquired a taste for these off-center builds.

That's not to say the rest came easily. I went through several ideas for the last 3 classes (at least 5 different ideas for the Barbarians, 4 for the Amazon and 3 for the Assassin) before deciding on the builds and, even then, there were doubts aplenty whether or not they'd be effective.

But, this is about the characters, not my worries about them, and it's about time we got to them. I'll be going in chronological order.

[highlight]The Characters[/highlight]

1. Blighter, Poisonmancer with Lightning Iron Wolf and Iron Golem

Blighter stemmed from an idea I had had for awhile to make a Lightning Iron Wolf a viable killer. The Iron Golem was part of a double whammy decision to test out its capabilities as a tank in Pit running.

The build had its quirks, but it was a lot of fun and extremely powerful. Probably the least accessible build of the group, requiring the most wealth, but that's one reason I tried to make the writeup so thorough. And, let's be honest, where else are you going to see somebody crazy enough to socket a Perfect Amethyst in a Griffon's Eye? ;)

2. Fire_Sparker, Fireball/Lightning Sorceress

I'd seen builds (especially B.net based builds) suggesting Lightning as a backup, but not hitting the 117 FCR breakpoint (typically because they wore full Tal's and dual SoJs). I didn't like the thought of that, so this girl was my way of testing it out.

Fire_Sparker served almost like Blighter's opposite: where Blighter required very high-end gear, Fire_Sparker requires fairly common gear. On top of that, Blighter was rather standard skill wise, but odd in outliers, while Fire_Sparker was standard in gear, merc, etc. but very unusual in skill choice.

3. Patior, Titan Berserker Druid

The character sparked by Nagisa's giveaway. I'm still in love with the concept for this one.

In defensive respects, I've never made a better character. How can that be when the character has no leech (save for Carrion Vine) and low life? Cyclone Armor, lots of slow and big damage. I sort of doubt if I'll ever seen anybody else make one (most people think playing a Titan requires more skill than it does, I suppose), but I'm very proud of this build.

4. Zealalittle, 2 handed Zealot with no points in Zeal

I don't like paladins. I had made 2 before Zealalittle, and loathed them. They were the class that I always figured would keep me from making a sept. However, when the idea of using the Passion Thunder Maul to make a Zealot like no one had ever seen before hit me, I couldn't help but be intrigued. Plus, I really loved the name.

This guy was nifty. I still don't like paladins, but massive power along with a built-in PI and IM solution along with the sheer novelty made completing him pretty easy. Also, I don't know if I would have even made Fortitude if it weren't for this char (in planning it was pretty obvious that Fortitude would be drastically better than other options), so that's a nice note. Actually, now that I think about it, making him really freed me up to making relatively expensive items for a single build if the build was deserving enough, which came in handy a little later on.

5. WhyNot, Frenzied Zealbarb

Once I decided I was making a sept, I had to reevaluate the existing members, to make sure they measured up. Compared to the other four, I didn't feel like Warren_Zevon measured up, so I started toying around with Barbarian ideas. I had a lot, but most were just standard builds with unusual setups or rather obvious themes (Death; though I did like the fact that I planned to call my Death-themed barb “Oppenheimerâ€) and those didn't particularly strike my fancy. Finally, while I was running numbers for a Frenzy idea that was interesting but not amazing, the thought of zealbarbs hit me. There was a Eureka moment and WhyNot was born.

He was special from the start, as he started his life “wearing†Tyrael's (created him to take my MFO haul pic) and was originally intended to be a Frenzy barb wearing that armor. Months later, that still hadn't gotten started so his future was redirected.

In game terms, this guy is a monster. Seriously, you have to try this. Don't worry if you can't afford Death or Grief, you can do a Frenzied Zealbarb if you can make Passion and hit level 4 zeal. It may not be as powerful as WhyNot, but I doubt you'll be disappointed. I can't overemphasize how much fun this one was to play.

6. HopeThisWorks, Vengeance Amazon with Faith Rogue

I didn't expect much out of this one, as you can probably tell from the name. Thanks to some help from sirpoopsalot (most notably in the form of the Faith on the Rogue) she greatly outperformed my expectations. I love when that happens.

Nothing is immune to her attacks. That's just amazing. It wasn't cheap, though. And the weapon cost is non-negotiable, so that somewhat limits replication of this build, but the Faith would not be necessary. With a minor tweak or two you could have a very similar power level with a mere frame slower attack speed. That would require slower play than mine, but it should be mentioned that my play-style would probably be described as foolhardy by the nice and stupid by the truthful, so that may not be much of a hindrance. Really enjoyed examining the Amazon's passive tree with this one - there are some serious jewels there.

7. Kerrigan, Themed Assassin with Faith Rogue

As I mentioned, I had other Assassin ideas before Kerrigan, but she seemed to provide a very nice balance of skills between the three trees and a good chance to get an all around feel for the class while paying homage to my favorite game of all time and one of my favorite characters out of said game.

The Faith loan was for both characters, mainly because the Fanaticism would free up slots on Kerrigan. You could hit max speed without the aura, especially if you mix claws like I did. It's also a build easily adjusted to work with a lower budget - Bartuc's would work fine as weapons and you could replace Tyrael's with all kinds of things. I thought about using my Jeweler's Ancient Armor of the Whale and going for a more SC2 look instead, but there were too many gg mods on the Tyrael's and I didn't spend years playing SC2.

[highlight]Q&A[/highlight]

-Q: That's some impressive characters. But, I don't have Grief, Death, Faith or a CTA, does that mean I can't make any of these builds?
A: Not at all. Blighter's the only one that relies on that exact gear to be good, and, even then, if you go with something other than the Iron Wolf, you can get by with cheaper gear. Kerrigan and WhyNot, especially, could be done with pretty much whatever you have.

-Q: Patior looks interesting, but I don't think I could handle such low life. Could I use a lighter weapon and put more points in Vitality?
A: Sure, if you don't mind running down a large number of monsters you come in contact with. The beauty of that build and weapon is when you hit things they go down, making the CtC Terror a non-issue. Good positioning of yourself and the merc and high damage will help you more than those hit points will. Granted, I wouldn't advise throwing your best gear on him in HC, but in SC you shouldn't have any real problems and even in HC smart play should let you Guardian him. And even if it doesn't, it's not like he's an expensive character. ;p

-Q: So, now that you've taken these ideas does that mean that all the good ideas are gone?
A: Hardly. I still have a few not-too-bad leftovers from the planning process for these and have had another one or two come to me since. An awful lot has been done, but the soil is still fertile.

-Q: So what's next on the docket? More unusual builds?
A: Not for awhile. New characters will be more cookie cutter and I'll be spending more D2 time on MF runs. Maybe some MP with WhyNot, since Gib rolled an excellent Council map and will probably now be retired from MP action to hold on to it.

-Q Anyone you'd like to thank for this project?
A: Of course. I'd like to give hearty thanks for all of their help to the following people:

-Nagisafurukawa
-sirpoopsalot
-Pyrohemia
-bassano
-Fabian
-Paradigmshift
-Gahzban
-maxicek
-Liquid_Evil

And I'd like to apologize to anyone I forgot. Lastly, I'd like to thank all of you for reading and commenting. I'll leave you with a group picture, hopes of seeing more unusual builds in the new year and my best wishes.
 
Re: All The Good Builds Have NOT Been Taken (A Sept Story)

Congrats with the sept maarek. All your builds are really refreshing to see and fun to read about. You deserved your break but hope to see more of your experimental projects.

:thumbsup:
 
Re: All The Good Builds Have NOT Been Taken (A Sept Story)

You finally got the sense to make an amazon and assassin, and this is what you came up with for them? :crazyeyes:

Congratulations on completing an awesome bunch of characters. As far as your next characters are concerned, start working on PvPers please. There's far too many people I can't kill in these games. :badteeth:

Paladins and druids are fail by the way. Quintet or bust next time, IMO.
 
Re: All The Good Builds Have NOT Been Taken (A Sept Story)

Very nicely done. It's good to see there's still some original ideas for builds, even after all these years. And kudos for trying them. :flowers:

PS. You inspired me to consider a similar project, except that would involve making another necromancer... I'll probably pass. :p
Edit... :scratchchin: ... or maybe not... I just spent 2 hours planning a Necro that has some potential.
 
Re: All The Good Builds Have NOT Been Taken (A Sept Story)

This is some monstrous compilation here! I demand LESS!!!
 
Re: All The Good Builds Have NOT Been Taken (A Sept Story)

Wonderful sept maareek, your build threads are certainly some of the more interesting ones around, you never fail to deliver :) Well done, congrats!
 
Re: All The Good Builds Have NOT Been Taken (A Sept Story)

Nice job, maar! I didn't even realize you were going for a sept as you made those characters. I don't think I have seen any of those builds done before, either.
 
Re: All The Good Builds Have NOT Been Taken (A Sept Story)

And I'd like to apologize to anyone I forgot.

Apology accepted!

Lastly, I'd like to thank all of you for reading and commenting.

Oh, you had my "contribution" covered already:wink:

On a more serious note, this has been a quite refreshing sept. There are some builds that I wouldn`t want to do myself as I absolutely hate slow attacks. Do you have any other ideas for SC themed builds? I tried to wrap my head around some of those yesterday, but my creativity is clearly lacking:(

I am glad you`re back to MFing:) The Team needs the top scorer fit for fight:thumbsup:


 
Re: All The Good Builds Have NOT Been Taken (A Sept Story)

Thanks, all.

@Nagisa: You know, I wonder if your inability to get kills has anything to do with your opponents...:tongue:

Agreed about paladins - it'd take a hell of an idea to get me to make another one, though I'll probably drag my two to the Hell Forge if I can get in on some MPs - but I think there's a few Druid builds worth a go.

@poops: Looking forward to seeing that necro. Good luck. If I come up with a good paladin idea I'll be sure to send it your way. ;)

@Thomh: Yeah, I imagine I'm a little rusty on the MFing by now. Definitely looking forward to teaming up with you guys again, though. :)

As for more SC builds: yeah, I have a few. Don't really mind sharing them now. Had two Assassin builds and a vague Paladin build in mind.

1. SC1 Zealot. Assassin with Dragon Talon as a finishing move (was planning on Tiger Strike as charge-up) and Burst of Speed. Probably would have gone with a Shadow Warrior as a second zealot and a Rogue to, vaguely, simulate a Dragoon. Early pressure attack theme, I suppose.

2. Dark Templar. Assassin with Tiger Strike and Fade. Right hand would be a serious one-hander that looked like a blade (was thinking Ghostflame), left hand a small shield. Black armor/helm. Probably try to combine Dark Templar and Dark Archon by maxing Mind Blast to simulate Feedback.

3. SC2 Zealot. A Charger with a blade-like one-handed weapon. Fleshripper was my first thought, but I'd have to do more looking to really make a decision.

4. Just had one come to me: A sorceress with a really well geared Act 2 or Act 5 merc. The sorceress would teleport on top of things and let the merc handle monsters - the sorceress being the shuttle and the merc being a reaver. Not the greatest idea, but interesting. Doubt anybody could really stand to do that all the way through, though. Maybe give the sorceress a weak attack like glacial spike and treat it more like an Arbiter? Yeah, I like that better.

(I'm just riffing at this point, so some of these may suck)

- Amazon with Guided Arrow or Magic Arrow (no experience with either so I'm not sure which would be more suited to the Ghost's attack) and Slow Missles. Slow Missles is the best skill I can think of to compare to Lockdown (hit freezes target could work, I suppose). Wearing Treachery to get Cloak. Inner Sight for the Ocular Enhancement, though I have no clues on Nuke. Maybe Hellmouth gloves for the CtC Meteor? Not quite the same level of destruction, though.

- Double Throw Barbarian. I'm thinking Goliath here, so maybe Lacerators (or one and something else) for the CtC Amp to simulate the ~double damage of the missles compared to the regular guns. Sturdy looking gear, so he looks sort of robotic.

- Necromancer with Decrepify to simulate Ensnare, Corpse Explosion to simulate Spawn Broodling and Revive to simulate Infest (granted, this is a bit of a stretch).

- Druid would become a crackling. Werebear with max attack speed. A maxed Grizzly would serve as the Ultralisk. I really like that idea, I have to admit.

- Amazon with Lightning Fury for Psy Storm, Decoy for Hallucinate and Valkyrie for Archon. Granted, that's cookie cutter, but it fits.

There we go, a sept (plus a bit) of Starcraft themed characters. Not all are excellent ideas, but it's something.
 
Re: All The Good Builds Have NOT Been Taken (A Sept Story)

I simply adore the crackling idea:) A 4fpa Hunger bear with a beefed Grizzly seems like a beautiful pair of monsters.

For some reason I got completely stuck with having a barb a Zealot, but couldn`t really make it fit. Your idea of Assassin is much better in my opinion. If I ever decide to try to make one of these, it better be a perfect fit as microing Zealot/Dragoons in the early game is the most fun in the whole game (it`s a shame I`m not really good at it).

A reaver can probably be made by using explosive arrows and pierce to simulate the devastating explosions, but it might be a little far fetched. The looks will be quite impossible to copy, unfortunately.

Did you inspire me now? YES!:) Having too much fun killing monsters in the pits atm, but I might steal some of your ideas the next time I need a break from the usual power gaming. Hopefully you won`t mind too much, credits will go where they belong at least.
 
Re: All The Good Builds Have NOT Been Taken (A Sept Story)

Yeah, I loved the crackling idea once it came to me, as well. I played both PvZ and ZvP, so I have some very fond (and some not-so-fond) memories of that particular combo.

You're definitely welcome to any idea (and to develop any idea into something a little different) you want. Though, as you've guessed, I would appreciate a little credit (it's good for the ego ;)). If you need a little help with an idea, feel free to ask, as well.

A couple other ideas that might pique your interest (or spark your imagination):

-Another Reaver idea: Assassin with Fire Blast for the reaver shot. I still like the idea of a dropped Reaver, so I'd team that up with a Shadow Master, which would be able to simulate any number of units that might have been part of the drop.

-Valkyrie. Glacial Spike Sorceress, wearing metallic armor. I like this idea better than the other sorc one, though I can't say I love it. If you haven't tried a GS sorc, though, they're a blast.

-Dark Templar. Barbarian with beefy blade in the main hand (Ghostflame, again, sounds like a good choice) with a small dagger in the off-hand (Wizardspike for the resists, maybe?) and Treachery for the Fade. Dark hat and armor, obviously.

-Lurker. Paladin wearing Treachery and using Zeal (Zeal because Lurker spines damage multiple enemies). Wouldn't be able to attack except for when Fade was active. Maybe not the best idea in HC, but maybe not too bad, either.

-Battle Cruiser. Bonemancer. Bone Spear/Bone Spirit for the main attacks and Corpse Explosion for Yamato.

-Defiler. Amazon with Plague Javelin for Plague, Slow Missles for Dark Swarm. Still don't have a better (without having enough Jahs to start "wasting" them...:rolleyes:) idea for Consume than having some MaeK.

I think that gives decent options for doing a sept of SC themed D2 characters. Mainly just wanted to give a little better options for the, in my opinion, weaker ones from my last post.
 
Re: All The Good Builds Have NOT Been Taken (A Sept Story)

Archon - Energy Shield sorc with a Lightning skill. Charged Bolt works because it simulates the Archon's small range and splash damage. Lightning / Chain also have splash. On one hand, they look more like the Archon's attack. However, they have more range which is less Archon-like. Even Nova feels archon-like, since it has short range and Archons seem to emanate waves of power. The sorceress would need to wear fat, glittery Full Plate-ish armor (preferably white or blue) and keep one of the cold armors plus thunderstorm active, since that would make them glitter more like an Archon.

Another Archon possibility would be a flail-weilding Holy Shockadin. Too bad the impact doesn't deal splash damage though.

For a Lurker, I would suggest any character wielding an upped Shael'd Koku and a Razortail, with lots of fire damage charms. Piercing shots with splash from the exploding arrows would pretty accurately simulate the attack, although it wouldn't look similar. The advantage of this is that it uses 0 skills, allowing for infinite customization. The disadvantage is that the lurker has no other skills anyway. (Oops!:cool:)

I think the Ghost has to be a sorceress. Nukes = Meteor. Glacial Spike or Ice Blast = Lockdown. Cold immune monsters = non-mechanical units which are immune to Lockdown. Cloaking (for positioning and escape) = Teleporting, but only vaguely.

Actually, Cloak only possible to properly simulate with CoS or Dim Vision. Perhaps a Meteor Pheonix Striker Assassin would be better for the task. The Meteor should be fully synergized to be powerful like a nuke, while the ice (Lockdown) should only be used for disabling, not damage dealing.

Are you sure DT's don't wield their weapons with two hands? It seems like an Assassin with Fade and CoS and perhaps Tiger Strike wielding a big two-hander would be a great DT. A black Helm and dark blue Leather/Hard Leather/Studded Leather/Ring/Scale/Chain mail would be the way to go, I think.

For the Battlecruiser, I say go with a bow-wielding Druid. For BC's regular shots, he fires his arrow. (Consider my Koku/Razortail/fire charm idea here). Molten Boulder is perfect for Yamato Cannon. There are few spells that will emulate how long Yamato takes, but Molten is one of them, and it has the right element/impactful feel to boot! Synergize it fully. Too bad it has the same elements as his physical attack, though. Another option would be to give him a fast-attacking bow that deals loads of lightning damage and give him some lightning charms. He also deserves the support of stealthy fleet of Wraiths (Ravens). :)
 
Re: All The Good Builds Have NOT Been Taken (A Sept Story)

WOW! :strong: So this is what I've been missing. A poisomancer who uses a kitted Lightning Iron Wolf and a Kelpie IG. A Barb that uses Frenzy to charge his Zeal speed. A Vengeance 'Passive' Amazon. A Berserker Titan Druid with a skill point allocation similar to a Windy. An Assassin that looks and plays like the evil-turned "Kerrigan" in Starcraft. Just to mention the ones I enjoyed the most reading about.

Overall this is a very original sept. Granted, I've entertained some of the ideas used here (eg, using Frenzy as a speed charge for another skill or trying out a Iron Wolf with uber gear), but there are plenty ideas I would never think of (eg, the general concept of the Druid or a Vengeance Amazon). Perhaps more importantly, it is the first time I see all these ideas being put into practice which is truly a monumental achievement! The story and details of each build were written in a comprehensive and insightful manner. The end product being a 5 stars inspiring sept thread definitely worthy of being reread in the future.

Many Congratulations maareek :worship:
 
Re: All The Good Builds Have NOT Been Taken (A Sept Story)

Congratulations on completing the Sept. Off the wall builds a challenge and a lot of fun, your plans for the next sept look interesting too.

(I honestly can't recall what I helped with though...)
 
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