Bulging Biceps Barbarian Brothers Bodacious Blowout (Tournament)

Nice progress @OldSoldier I think Lawbringer is the way to go. The decrep is great, and knockback for undead is most often useful. If not set on full clears and willing to give up some horks, I think it's definitely top option for the merc.
 
Well I ended up getting another Lem on another hork in the Den of Evil, so I redid Alcuin's equipment again, leaving his helmet alone (but not really optimized anymore since it has a damage jewel and a Ral and an Ort in it) and a Treachery. With Magnus' battle orders at level 26, Alcuin has over 2700 life and 3400 defense. I tested his Fade and Venom a bit, until rescuing Deckard Cain, and he was able to tank pretty much everything we ran up against, including Treehead and his entire pack. We had to retreat for a moment against Griswold because there was an extra strong triple shot skeleton archer boss also in the fight, but so far that's been it.

I was also able to gamble this weapon (which I upgaded) and which means that I can probably handle PI undead in a pinch without the Lawbringer. I'd much rather try out Voice of Reason, if only because I've done Lawbringer several times before and I'd like to try something different. I just need to be patient for the elite sword base item to drop. I have an ethereal tusk sword but even ethereal exceptional two handed swords don't have the horsepower of an elite, so I'll wait for now. The ethereal Zweihander honor is doing well enough for the time being, and with Treachery it is pretty fast also.
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Well I finally made some progress, now Act 3 normal, last waypoint. Will make an update when the act is over, but well I realized I haven't enough long sessions to go for full clears...so well it will be a bit harder, will count on luck to at least get to Act 5 and complete Normal. Let's do this, then I'll see!
 
Act 3 - clvl 30 - Mephisto's free

Well! After a while and having left behind the idea of full clear to be able to playa bit of this char, there's finally some progress!

After the find of the first Sander's boots in the Spider cavern, my Frenzy dude found his cool Enigma base that will never be put in use probably :p

After that, the map was not really straigth, having to get through the Great marsh to acces the Flayer's jungle. It was a nice duty however, granting the merc his own MF helm. Soon after, i took the decision to leave my heavy MF boots only for some resistances and FHR:
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The flayer's dungeon delivered the second Sander's boots of the act, and a Tal Eth drop pretty close decided me to craft the merc's armor:
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Another good news came from Ormus' gift, who gave a no so exceptional but still great at this level ring:
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That was pretty it for the drops, Council had been cleared at clvl 30 1/3rd, Mephisto at clvl 30 3/4th.

Well i forgot this nice ethereal pike, sadly no OS, but helped vs Mephisto, and afterwards when clearing the second access room after Mephisto's death, i bet i found a gift for my brother-to-be-saved:
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Well to be honest almost anything is better than this weap... but at clvl 9 that would have been a great tool for him!

See you after act 4! (hopefully...)
 
Act 4 - Getting closer to my brother

Act 4 had mostly been defined by shopping... useful and useless things.

Things started with a life tap charges weap (still not put in use), followed by MF boots (also), then two +1 warcries weapons had been bought (pilum and war sword). In the middle while questing a 2os ethereal pike had been found... not socketed and will not be, but still.

Forge delivered El and no PTopaz, passed the RoF waypoint close to clvl 32, and this river played with me... couldn't get it after a hork:
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Last noticeable thing could be this 2os Steel base for the brother to be delivered, and in the end Diablo delivered... crap.
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Anyway, see you on Act 5 to quest for my brother!
 
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Our faithful brothers started in on their journey once again, scoring an important piece almost right off the bat:
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This meant that we had two Lem runes and could make both a Treachery for Alcuin, as well as either a Lawbringer or a Voice of Reason for him. We decided to wait for an elite Highland Blade, Balrog Blade, or Champion sword to see about making a Voice of Reason, mostly because the Lawbringer was probably a better choice but we wanted the ability to continue our hork-fest with less imediment. So the wait was on for any of the three types of swords mentioned.

The brothers trapped Blood Raven and took her down after quite a bit of running around. Neatly enough, horking the bodies of her raised minions did provide some drops, albeit nothing useful except for some gold.
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Enemies like Pulse Drinker became more common, making us rely more on the OW from Crow Caw. We dreaded running into spectres in the Crypt and Mausoleum but there were none we couldn't handle. Extra Fast and Extra Strong bosses were not able to bring Alcuin down, and he provided the shield for Magnus to throw the spears and proc Amp Damage, which helped bring them down.
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We also were able to gamble some neat throwing axes. Unfortunately, we do not possess the runes which would upgrade this to elite and make them a suitable replacement for the blood crafted flying axes we use currently, so they'll likely sit there as a pretty trophy.
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Black Hack required some careful Barbarian cursing, a la Battle Cry, which is a very potent means of slowing enemies down damage-wise. I use it a lot, and the fact that it works on Possessed champions makes us happy.
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Our first possible Voice of Reason base item dropped in the Tower, level 2, but it was already socketed when dropped and it didn't have four sockets, so we had to wait. It might have been a nice enough Steel weapon, but at this point we still liked the life leech of the Honor. Countess dropped pretty well I think, though we don't really have use of either of those runes.
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The Pit was a nice opportunity for a good drop, being a level 85 area. It started off roughly for the boys, with a champion stair trap. There might have been a boss in there too, but we finally got the entrance cleared out after a bit of running around.
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Here is a good example of how we like to fight our tough fights with a lot of melee enemies that like to surround Alcuin. They stay like this for a long time and it really helps us turn the tide in our favor.
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After a heavy fight with several enemies, we were finally rewarded with this sweet drop!
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Just what the doctor ordered. After clearing the rest of the pit and tamoe highland, the perfect stopping point was just ahead (outer cloister) which allowed us to go back to Larzuk in Normal and have him put sockets in the Balrog Blade so we could make this weapon.
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Just about the worst roll possible for demons, yuck.
 
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I must have missed the drop for Andariel, but I can't seem to find it. There was nothing there really, but she was not difficult. Magnus put on the Venom Ward he'd found before, and used the General's Flail and a Black knout to put her out of her misery for the third and final time. Along the act I way, we found some decent drops, but nothing really good outside of that Balrog Blade and the Lem. We got a Twitchthroe, Spectral Shard, Cliffkiller, Razortine, another Visceratuant, and a Moser's. For the whole act. With horking every single available body and ~400% MF. Dreadful, really. Hint, act 2 wasn't any better, although the brothers did score these:
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Just like in act I the nicest drop was almost right off the bat. We were able to use these gloves primarily in the AS and the tombs areas for additional firepower against the many undead faced in those maps. Since one of Magnus' weapons also has hefty ED against undead built in, it made fighting easier, or at least less tedious, because let's face it, a thrower barb is not a power PVM machine, at least without optimized gear, which certainly fits the bill in this case. Magnus still uses a lowish 147% ED flying axe (crafted blood axe) and the nice amp damage cruel hurlbat but that's about it.

Radament got amped and dispatched after we drew away his minions with some taunts and picked through their remains so he couldn't ask them to come back and help him some more.
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Just like in act 1, our best drops were almost right out of the gate. It had the brothers excited about the possibilities of finally getting some good loot:
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Those drops were within just one single weapon replenishment trip of each other, and expectations were high. The brothers went into the Halls of the Dead looking for more drops, using terrain to their advantage as in this shot:
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No good drops there though, sadly. The claw viper temple level 2 is always a tough spot in the game, especially for a lower horsepower build like Magnus, but he was able to stay safe behind the urns while Alcuin did his thing. Cheesy, but effective.
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After the Summoner got his (we only cleared three of the four wings in the arcane sanctuary, out of sheer laziness), we ventured forth into the tombs area, where some enemies proved very resistant to Alcuin's voice of reason.
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In those instances, Magnus' throwing axes (one with built in fire and lightning damage) and the amp damage were the main source of killing power.

Duriel fell eventually, dropping more junk.
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Drops in act 2 that we didn't already show include Aldur's Rhythm, Ripsaw, another Ko rune, and Culwen's Point. That's it. Very discouraging. Oh well, they are still on to the jungle undeterred at how crappy the equipment that Diablo and Baal have left in their guys' hands.

Magnus and Alcuin, level 80 Kurast Docks.
 
FReeing my FRother FRinally!

Well since last time (diablo deFReat), FRenchy didn't really quest - a big run FRough, and FRee doors opened. Anyway, here he is:
D19Hw3Xl.jpg


FRee you later for Act FRive questing!

FRenchy, the FRenzy FRighter and his FRother FRisian

Well i know there is a possible name that is Freawaru, but really after half an hour of refreshing i didn't even see him once, so... i took Frisian as an acceptable alternative.
 
Nice progress, @OldSoldier and @Babyhell As for me:

Conqueror Folcwald and Frisian, Level 83, A4 Hell
I had progressed to Travincal in mid-October, and finished up the last bit today as a break from Pit runs in the MF/RF tourney with my Untwinked 99er Druid. Very little to report. We're down to p1, horking whatever Frisian doesn't kill. We kept the 72MF helm up to Trav, but nothing to show for it.

We went straight to LK, abandoning full-clear, with the nice Spider Forest -> Flayer Jungle set up speeding things up. Then we went back to full clear through the end of the Act. Best find was this beauty from (I think) Upper Kurast armor rack:
H A3 45@ ST.jpg
(@Luhkoh and I had PMed about finding such a base and whether racking is worth it, for his Hammerdin. As I said, they tend to drop! :)) We switched to Darksight for Trav for CBF and Hierophant blizzard storm, then back to MF helm for Durance (and hiding behind the merc in level 2 to avoid dolls). Nothing of note dropped, and Meph was taken down.

He's been quite safe so far, and I'm planning to keep the little bit of MF from the helm unless an area rolls base monsters that have freeze (and definitely going Darksight for CS). I have 5 hours in the MF/RF tourney set, so I may return to Folcwald next weekend when I finish up that set. But I may also run a second set. So we'll see.
 
@OldSoldier I don’t remember for sure, but doubt it was useful because I sold it. But it should be waiting for you in Halbu’s inventory :)
 
Conqueror Folcwald and Frisian, Level 84, A5 Hell
After finishing up the MF/RF tourney set, we returned to Folcwald, whom we had left in A4 Hell.

Act 4
Act 4 was pretty uneventful, to be honest, with Stygian Hags only in the Plains and no Gloams. Doom and Abyss Knights were easily managed due to Sanctuary knockback.

We full cleared the Act, with Izual falling easily and the first part of RoF giving up another Fine SC with slight poison to further aid the AR. HF was an Io. I'd hoped for Pul to allow the Vile Husk to be up'ed but it was not to be. CS wasn't dangerous with a little patience, and de Seis's pack dropped Reapers (non-eth, of course :rolleyes:), before Diablo fell with ease.

Infector pack was on the hook layout, and we had to TP'ed back to the WP. He rolled with Extra Strong (and, I think, Spectral and Extra Fast), it took a couple retreats before they were subdued. That was actually the most challenging part of the Act.

Act 5, to Crystalline Passage (Anya Rescued)
Full-clear for surface areas was abandoned when the Foothills rolled burning archers and quill rats, lots of them. The duo dodged and ran along the right wall, clearing the backs before them, because I didn't have patience: that's the kryptonite of the Frenzy Barb with low life.

We rescued the Barbs and full-cleared the Highlands, then mostly hugged the wall to Crystalline Passage, clearing both weird portal areas. Crystalline Passage and the River were full-cleared, with WP right around the corner from the exit to Glacial Trail.

The plan to full-clear all underground areas in the Act. I hope to pick back up tomorrow, at least getting to Frozen Tundra WP if not further.
 
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Folcwold and his brother made it:
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Progress was faster than expected because the monster rolls were about as easy as could be for an underpowered, lowish-life Frenzy Barb. At the start of the session, we used the socket quest on the Darksight and added a pDiamond for more AR, with Enchant it was closing in on 10k and a good cth.

We cleared Glacial Trail and Drifter Cavern, with a Windhammer dropping along the way. Infernal Pit had witches, but other rolls were easy, so no trouble with Taunt. We hugged the wall on the Tundra because the PI Berserkers rolled, and no Moon or Blood Lords in Ancient's Way.

Ancients was shockingly easy. No amp, no auras, and it took about a half minute of running to split two off (Talic, Korlic). I initially had Talic by himself as you can see in the picture, but the merc pulled the other two in, so we had to reset. Then it was Madawc, and he got pulled to a pillar that Folcwald and Frisian had their packs so whirls weren't really an issue.

WSK was tame. Level 1 was the hardest, with Hierophants, Shambling Hoard and the witches that amp. I took the stairs down when I found them, wondering what was in store in WSK 2: serpents, cadavers, skeleton mages :) Easily managed, with WP right by stairs down, so we went back to finish WSK 1. Then WSK rolled sprites, soul killers (blowdart), and Blood Boss/Fire Boars! Throne Room had amp witches, Blood Lords, and serpents, but nothing tough with a little care. One decrep-unbreakable Blood Lord boss took a lot of potions but wasn't really dangerous.

Waves were easy, and I didn't even need to use taunt. Knockback for wave 2 was decisive. Frisian died to the hydras once (mostly because I was slow with a purple), and we drew out Ventar and Lister in groups, with Lister again delivering with a great roll. Baal hung out at the top of gangway, and was easily dispatched:
H A5 Baal down.jpg
We then returned to finish off Nihl, with the trend of good monster rolls continuing. None were troublesome, no Vipers, etc. Nihl went down, and we personalized the Darksight.

All quests were completed, and it was full-clear except A3 Hell jungle areas and surface areas in A5 Hell. He had one socket quest and all three imbues unused. Quite a fun playthrough. Summary of final gear is below, and I'll add link to Guardian write-up with full readouts when it's finished.

Thanks for hosting @OldSoldier and good luck to all the entrants still pushing through!

Folcwald
Stats with gear: 185 Str; 153 Dext; 187 Vit; 10 Energy

Skills: Frenzy, BO maxed, Double Swing/Sword Mastery 11 each, Natural Resist 3

Gear (key stats noted):
- LoH
- Rare Plated Belt (24 FHR, life, 29 LR, 19 PR)
- Rare Boneweave Boots (30FRW, 39 CR, 13 FR)
- Treachery Mage Plate
- Darksight (socketed with pDiamond)
- Rare Amulet (+1 Barb life, mana, 39LR)
- Crafted Ring (AR, life leech, 10 strength, 19 life, 13 MF)
- Rare Ring (AR, 18 CR, 16 LR, 12 MF)
- Main: 2s Ferocious Balrog Blade (socketed with pAmmy and dual damage jewel/Vile Husk (socketed with pAmmy)
- Switch: Spirit/Demon Limb
- Charms: mix, with focus on AR/Resist/Vita/Sharps

Merc (A5):
- Guillame's Face
- Treachery Scarab Husk
- Lawbringer Balrog Blade

Cheers!
 
Well done @PhineasB ! You found some good gear for sure. Seems like the game was willing you to victory with the monster rolls, too. Great job.

Magnus and Alcuin were last spotted making their way to the Kurast Docks after dispatching Duriel in the desert tombs. Magnus found a nice GC that he'll donate to his (my) son and his summoner necromancer in due time.
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The game decided to test our will by providing many interesting stair traps in the third act. Here was a boss pack in the Disused Fane. I didn't get a chance to spot the boss for his mods but we dealt with a room full of flames for fear of waking up other beasties nearby.
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The real fun one was the actual resting place of Lam Esen's Tome, which I was hell-bent on getting because a double throw barb needs all the help he can get. These guys cursed us right off the bat. Magnus was quick to unleash a battle cry, which reduced the effect of their attacks, but it was a few clicks later before we could sneak out the door and collect ourselves.
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We ended up coming back later, after clearing other areas, and didn't make it far after clearing the area before this happened.
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Battlemaid Sarina was not in that mix, thankfully, but she made her appearance very shortly thereafter, and Magnus and Alcuin breathed a sigh of relief.

The Forgotten Temple gave us another scare. We had to move around Kurast a bit to find more purples after the scares in the other temples, and this one took several more before we could clear out the snakes.
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Ruined Fane provided a minor stair trap, but only with regular beetles, so that was like a fresh spring breeze compared to the others.
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The rest of Kurast and Travincal were uneventful, as was the Durance. We found some drops, had some laughs, got a cup of coffee with PI Wyand Voidbringer... we were able to dispatch these bosses by using Alcuin's wonderful ability to absorb massive beatings along with Magnus' ability to Amplify his Damage periodically.
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Usually we bring along the General's Flail and a Black Knout for the boss fights, and Mephisto was no different. His drop, as well as the drops in this act, weren't really too bad.
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Along with that sweet sweet Demon Limb (level 23 enchant basically gives Magnus an additional 20+ levels of his primary skill, since hard points in double throw only give +10% AR per level, so it was truly a massive find) we found Frostburn and Jade Tan Do out of a chest, Kelpie Snare, Howltusk, Nosferatu's Coil, Trang Oul's Claws, and Hellmouth (which I thought about wearing for Magnus for lots of fireworks since Alcuin does a lot of cold damage with his Voice of Reason, but I decided not to - maybe for a bit in act V just for show).
 
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Act IV was absolutely no fun whatsoever. We rolled the Stygian Hag monsters right out of the gate, and it seems like about 75% of the boss packs were those awful things.
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We got them in the first two areas, and the game actually crashed on me after I'd full cleared the first and nearly the entire second areas, so I decided to not full clear them the second time, regardless of what monsters were there. We ran away from everything until we found Izual and then of course we ran up against more stygian hags in the city of the damned, so we found the WP and called it a day. Ugh, I hate those things for this build. They spit their pups faster than I can kill them. Don't believe me? Check out this despair on the Plains of Despair. Truly a perfect name for that area for Magnus.
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...and then this guy, who was a breath of fresh air, and really not a big deal even though he was stacked with Star Maim...
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These pictures were taken before the crash so I don't think we technically even fought them as far as my save file is concerned. I know that I'll never get those hours back though, and it seemed like work rather than fun in act 4. Ugh.

We did score a nice blue drop:
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Hephasto was PI, as was an Urdar buddy of his, but they both eventually fell, without much fanfare. HF was awesome (not). Must be that @PhineasB left his Io on the ground for Magnus to get. Oh well. Any other rune would have been superior to this, except a Hel I guess. I already have several of each so this was a waste.
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We did get an interesting drop on a hork of a champion venom lord. It does less damage than the Voice of Reason so we stashed it.
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When they'd gotten about to this point, Magnus realized that he'd left his General's Flail and Black Knout with ATMA. Oops! So full-speed Diablo with only some blood gloves for CB it was.
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Fortunately, battle cry really helps out a lot, and even though it cost Magnus a purple potion every time that Diablo used Firestorm on Alcuin, it was not really too difficult of a fight. Diablo shattered into a million pieces of ice just like before, and his drop was junk.
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The brothers are headed back home for the final leg in their journey. Win or lose they've met my expectations for longevity.

Magnus and Alcuin, level 82, Harrogath.
 
Congrats on the Demon Limb @OldSoldier definitely a great find untwinked, but for the thrower build in particular it's more critical than it was for the Frenzier. Also, congrats on that blue sword. Very sweet, especially if it picks up two sockets at Larzuk!

I will second the distaste for Stygian Hags, quite possibly my least favorite spawn in the game and a major drag for untwinked melee characters with the high physical immunity also. When playing twinked melee, I will sometimes reroll if I encounter them right away in the Steppes and/or immediately when entering RoF from the waypoint. Good job on pushing through the slog with them, and most importantly keeping Magnus safe.
 
Hi everyone, it's been a LONG time since I've picked up D2 or posted in the forums. I've been lurking around for ages but hadn't wanted to actually play for several years. Finally started to get that itch again since I'm working remotely full time for the foreseeable future and have so much more free time at home on my hands. I'll work up a re-intro post at some point, but figured I'd jump back in with a tourney character since these were always my favorite part of playing before and I've never successfully guardianed one yet.

I've always been intrigued by the idea of a bow-barian using leap, taunt, battle cry, and grim ward to maintain control over the battlefield, so that's what I've decided to roll with for this entry. Lars was started back in mid-September, and finally completed all of Normal yesterday. I figured I'd wait to see if I could get through Normal before posting since I'm rusty and starting out having to report a quick deeds didn't seem that fun.

Lars started out pretty standard with a quick point in mace mastery and then got double-swing up to 9 as quick as we could. A no-mana double-swing with two socketed scepters really makes pretty easy work out of the early game. Topaz luck was pretty stingy early, then I had a quick run of them that allowed for a completed 3 soc armor and 2 soc helm by the Tamoe Highland. This would use all my topaz luck for pretty much the rest of Normal. This play through was by far my most stodgy for topazes, and we only found one gem shrine the entire play through.

I took the first screenshot in one of the false tombs, where some monsters really wanted to make sure that Lars had some great end-game glove options available. These will be stashed until later when the MF gloves come off.
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In act 2 we rushed for the cube, then went back and completed the sewers after. By the Halls of the Dead we had completed two Steel flails, which are pretty overpowered for that stage of the game. These would remain our weapons of choice through most of Act 5. Lars had an Ort drop in Kaas tomb, so we rolled up a Zephyr composite bow. Lars stayed with the Steel flails most of the time, but the bow came out for tough monsters as needed.

Playthrough was straightforward all the way through the rest of Normal. I wasn't paying attention in the Plains of Despair until Izual was right on top of us, so we had to fight him at P8. Not a hard fight, but it took FOREVER. Lars broke both Steel flails, and after a repair almost broke them both again. I was worried about Diablo, but I dropped to P3 and then it was just battle cry, double-swing, drink reds, and wait until he dropped. The merc lasted almost the whole fight but Diablo finally got him right near the end. Actually had to go resurrect him twice so he could get the last hit. Diablo rewarded our efforts with Sigons Helmet, which could be nice for the AR bonus if we find another piece.

Once we were able to, we fired Leharas and hired our new brother-in-arms, Lief. I didn't have any screenshots after Act2 up until this point, where the game wanted to reward Lars for having a bow. Shooting this pack down at P8 took so many arrows, but we were determined to have a full clear so we toughed it out. It was at this point that I started thinking about turning down the player settings since killing speed was noticeably slower and we didn't have any great options for improving it.
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We had our first NDE from champion pack of hell lords in Abaddon. I had put some early points put into leap for just this occasion, where I could pin a champion against a wall until the merc took it out. We got the WP for the Ancients Way, then went looking for Nihlathak. Glad we did that first, since we scored our first Amn in the Halls of Anguish. This went right into a Strength flail to replace one of our trusty Steel flails, so we were now ready for boss hunting. We actually found a second Amn when finishing clearing the Ancients Way, which went into a 3 soc superior Edge Bow we had found earlier in the Ancients Way for our first Edge Edge bow. Ancients on p1 were no problem. Crushing Blow dominated. No separation needed, just battle cry and hold down double swing until dead. Rinse and repeat.
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Our next gear upgrade came in WSK1, where we were very excited to see the Generals Tan do li Ga drop. This replaced our final Steel flail, so Lars now had slow and CB on the double-swing switch.
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I ended up going down to p1 for the waves after the first one. It just took too long with the limited damage we are doing and I'm pretty confident Lister would have been the end of us otherwise. We could handle him on P1 without too many issues.
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Baal was a joke with our current weapons. Battle-cry, then hold down double-swing. Rinse and repeat until dead. The drop had some green, but nothing helpful for our journey.
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Tyreal thought it would be funny to put the portal just out of reach. Don't think I've ever actually not been able to go through it before.
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We completed our journey by taking a stroll through the cow farm. Nothing difficult in here, and we actually got a pretty cool drop for our troubles. This is actually a grailer for my D2 career.
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Name: Lars
Class: Barbarian
Experience: 38323520
Level: 47

Naked/Gear
Strength: 60/83
Dexterity: 100/104
Vitality: 100/110
Energy: 10/20
HP: 467/551
Mana: 56/80
Stamina: 213/213
Defense: 25/175
AR: 485/610

Fire: 34/-6/-66
Cold: 53/13/-47
Lightning: 44/4/-56
Poison: 35/-5/-65

MF: 176 Block: 23
GF: 41
FR/W: 7
FHR: 10
IAS: 20
FCR: 0

Bash: 1/1
Leap: 6/6
Double Swing: 9/9
Stun: 0/0
Double Throw: 0/0
Leap Attack: 0/0
Concentrate: 0/0
Frenzy: 0/0
Whirlwind: 0/0
Berserk: 0/0

Sword Mastery: 0/0
Axe Mastery: 0/0
Mace Mastery: 1/1
Pole Arm Mastery: 0/0
Throwing Mastery: 0/0
Spear Mastery: 0/0
Increased Stamina: 1/1
Iron Skin: 1/3
Increased Speed: 1/1
Natural Resistance: 5/5

Howl: 2/2
Find Potion: 1/1
Taunt: 1/1
Shout: 1/1
Find Item: 3/3
Battle Cry: 1/1
Battle Orders: 13/13
Grim Ward: 2/2
War Cry: 0/0
Battle Command: 1/1

Gemmed Breast Plate
Breast Plate
Defense: 68
Durability: 50 of 50
Required Level: 5
Required Strength: 30
Fingerprint: 0x449e73d1
Item Level: 20
Version: Expansion 1.10+
39% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Flawed Topaz
Socketed: Flawed Topaz
Socketed: Flawed Topaz

Fortuitous Amulet of Fortune (Rolled in cube right before Duriel)
Amulet
Required Level: 12
Fingerprint: 0x31bf55b4
Item Level: 21
Version: Expansion 1.10+
34% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Doom Eye (Great Marsh)
Ring
Required Level: 16
Fingerprint: 0x6d512a0d
Item Level: 22
Version: Expansion 1.10+
3% Life stolen per hit
+10 to Energy
+24 to Mana
31% Extra Gold from Monsters
6% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Dire Track (Bloody Foothills)
Heavy Boots
Defense: 5
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Level: 13
Required Strength: 18
Fingerprint: 0x46f3839
Item Level: 31
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10% Faster Hit Recovery
+2 to Dexterity
Cold Resist +22%
Fire Resist +10%
Poison Resist +9%
18% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Crimson Plated Belt of the Colossus (Shopped from Larzuk)
Plated Belt
Defense: 9
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Level: 22
Required Strength: 60
Fingerprint: 0x26426f06
Item Level: 43
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+50 to Life
Fire Resist +5%

Gemmed Horned Helm
Horned Helm
Defense: 28
Durability: 45 of 45
Required Level: 18
Required Strength: 45
Fingerprint: 0x80cddc7e
Item Level: 26
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Iron Skin (Barbarian Only)
48% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
3 Sockets (2 used)
Socketed: Perfect Topaz
Socketed: Perfect Topaz

Bitter Spiral
Ring
Required Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0xb81ba297
Item Level: 68
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+4 to Maximum Damage
All Resistances +3
Damage Reduced by 1
Magic Damage Reduced by 2
9% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Sturdy Demonhide Gloves of Fortune
Demonhide Gloves
Defense: 39
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Level: 21
Required Strength: 20
Fingerprint: 0x81c5de0c
Item Level: 42
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10% Enhanced Defense
22% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Edge (Bow found in Ancients Way, Amn found right before the Arreat Summit)
Superior Edge Bow
TirTalAmn
Two Hand Damage: 6 - 20
Durability: 10 of 20
Required Level: 25
Required Strength: 25
Required Dexterity: 43
Fingerprint: 0x431a57fe
Item Level: 39
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Level 15 Thorns Aura When Equipped
+35% Increased Attack Speed
10% Enhanced Damage
+324% Damage to Demons
+280% Damage to Undead
Adds 75 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
7% Life stolen per hit
Prevent Monster Heal
All Stats +5
+2 to Mana after each Kill
Reduces all Vendor Prices 15%
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Tir Rune
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Amn Rune

The General's Tan Do Li Ga (WSK1)
Flail
One Hand Damage: 2 - 56
Durability: 30 of 30
Required Level: 21
Required Strength: 41
Required Dexterity: 35
Fingerprint: 0x7db1818e
Item Level: 34
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20% Increased Attack Speed
51% Enhanced Damage
Adds 1 - 20 Damage
+150% Damage to Undead
5% Mana stolen per hit
Slows Target by 50%
+25 Defense

Strength (Amn found in Halls of Anguish, Strength flail made before fighting Ancients)
Flail
AmnTir
One Hand Damage: 1 - 32
Durability: 30 of 30
Required Level: 25
Required Strength: 41
Required Dexterity: 35
Fingerprint: 0x709537dd
Item Level: 35
Version: Expansion 1.10+
35% Enhanced Damage
+150% Damage to Undead
7% Life stolen per hit
25% Chance of Crushing Blow
+20 to Strength
+10 to Vitality
+2 to Mana after each Kill
2 Sockets (2 used)
Socketed: Amn Rune
Socketed: Tir Rune

Name: Lief
Race: Barbarian
Type: 1hs-Normal
Experience: 12727138
Level: 47
Dead?: false

Naked/Gear
Strength: 136/136
Dexterity: 86/86
HP: 630/630
Defense: 391/469
AR: 592/592

Fire: 89/49/-11
Cold: 89/49/-11
Lightning: 89/49/-11
Poison: 89/49/-11

Fiery Circlet
Circlet
Defense: 30
Durability: 23 of 35
Required Level: 18
Fingerprint: 0x62a917a3
Item Level: 37
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 17 - 32 Fire Damage

Gemmed Ring Mail
Ring Mail
Defense: 48
Durability: 23 of 26
Required Level: 1
Required Strength: 36
Fingerprint: 0xa6ff487f
Item Level: 12
Version: Expansion 1.10+
27% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Chipped Topaz
Socketed: Chipped Topaz
Socketed: Chipped Topaz

Massive Great Sword of the Leech
Great Sword
One Hand Damage: 19 - 32
Two Hand Damage: 40 - 67
Durability: 50 of 50
Required Level: 15
Required Strength: 100
Required Dexterity: 60
Fingerprint: 0x51dd5ab4
Item Level: 45
Version: Expansion 1.10+
61% Enhanced Damage
5% Life stolen per hit

We burned so much gold trying to score a better sword for Lief with just terrible luck. Even with the Edge bow letting us stretch our gold supply out, nothing ended up being better than what Lief currently is wielding. This will be our number one priority for upgrading for the foreseeable future. The LL is great, but I have a circlet with that on it if we can find a more damaging sword. I actually swapped out Lief's topaz helmet in Act5 for the current circlet because our kill speed was really suffering.

Clegaws Shield - Tower Level 1
Topaz armor and helm completed - Tamoe Highland
Hsarus Boots - Radamant
3ll ring - Dry Hills
Angelic Armor - Arcane Sanctuary
First gem shrine - Canyon of the Magi
Serpent Lord - False Tomb
Vidalas Amulet - False Tomb
2x Cathans Armor - Kaas Tomb
2x Clegaws Gloves - False Tomb
Zephyr Composite Bow - Made in false tomb after Ort drop
Bladebone - True Tomb
Artic Belt - True Tomb
Fortuitious Amulet of Fortune 34MF - Rolled right before Duriel
Dimoak's Hew - Spider Forest
Skewer of Krinitz - Spider Forest
Doom Eye ring (3LL, 6MF, Mana)- Great Marsh
Isenharts Lightbrand - Swampy Pit
Sanders Boots - LK
Berserkers Hatchet - Forgotten Reliquiary
Tancreds - Durance Level 1
Cathans Armor - Mephisto
Death's Touch - Plains of Despair
3LL circlet - Gambled in City of Damned
Cathan's Ring - Grand Vizier
Sigons Helmet - Diablo
Dire Track boots - Bloody Foothills
Angelic Halo - Arreat Summit
Ichorstring - Crystalline Passage
Wall of the Eyeless - Frozen River
Vidalas Amulet - Frozen Tundra
Bloodfist - Infernal Pit
3 soc superior Edge Bow - Ancients Way
Gleamscythe - Ancients Way
Isenharts Armor - Ancients Way
Amn - Halls of Anguish - Strength flail made before fighting Ancients
Hsarus Boots - Halls of Anguish
Steel Grand Charm of Strength (99) - Halls of Pain
The Diggler - Halls of Pain
Amn - Right before the Arreat Summit - Made Edge in superior Edge bow
3 soc jawbone visor with +2 FI - WSK1
Generals Tan do li Ga - WSK1
Civerbs Shield - Baal
Cathans Staff - Baal
Cow Kings Armor - Cows

Lars and Lief are currently resting up before starting NM. Hoping our topaz luck starts to turn around, it'd be nice to fill the +2 Find Item helm with 3 perfect topazes. We'll start with MF of 176/203 and hopefully the goods will start to show. There are so many good exceptional unique bows, hopefully one of them wants to end up in Lars's hands. My updates will be fairly infrequent, I don't play that much these days. The goal will be to make a post now after successful completion of each act.

Destroyer Lars and Lief, Level 47 (Eventual) Bow-barian, NM Rogue Encampment
 
@PhineasB, I'm pretty happy about the Demon Limb. Since much of my AR is dexterity based, and thus straight points as a baseline, the extra % that comes from skills and enchant makes a big difference. Without enchant, my AR hovers around 6000, but with it Magnus is about 9000. I did some napkin calculations at my current level against a high defense enemy like a pit lord, and my CtH went from about 70% to over 80% with the Demon Limb enchants active. With Battle Cry active, it went past 90%, which is pretty great if you ask me. Magnus' life is right around 2000 (if he could ever find a Fal it would go up because of Lionheart but still haven't seen one yet) so being high dexterity doesn't seem like a huge life penalty.

@Norcim, welcome to the tournament, and welcome back to D2! I thought long and hard about making a bowbarian myself, but I saved it for a twinked journey with my boys, which is still upcoming (neither of them have ever played D2 before as they're just getting old enough to enjoy video games not named Minecraft). I planned on using a Harmony bow for that one, thinking it would be a good solid source of damage against PIs, kind of like a poor man's Gimmershred. I agree with your solution of going Double Swing against bosses. That's exactly what I do. Double Swing is incredibly fast and the General's Flail and Strength/Black will make for an effective combination the whole way through. Well done! Those Cleglaw's gloves you have too will be good sources of slow as well if you need them.

As far as the Cow King's armor, I'm jealous! Never seen a single piece of the Cow King's set and I've made lots of steak in my day.
 
Almost right out of the gate of Harrogath, we picked up a Dwarf Star ring, which replaced the second Nagelring (the 23% MF one). The GF and MDR are pretty nice mods, and the 40 life is nothing to sneeze at.
Screenshot286.jpg

We'd made it a point to maintain over 200% MF, which is pretty nice and more than I've been able to pull off. 72% was on the helm, which sported +2 BO and +1 Find Item and which I could never seem to find anything better. The Frozen River rolled Burning Souls, which with maxed out lightning resist and almost 2000 life seemed less dangerous than I remembered.
Screenshot288.jpg

After rescuing Anya, the resistance scroll allowed us to remove the LR and FR belt and replace it with an upgraded Goldwrap for some additional MF and GF. It rolled almost perfect (79%) GF, so that was nice. The Glacial Trail had a couple of thugs that were happy to fight (and die) together. Huah!
Screenshot290.jpg
Screenshot291.jpg

All the Frenzytaurs we rolled in the entire act were FI or LI, not a single set of PI ones, which is really nice. I had nightmare visions of those at a stair trap, but we only had one stair trap in the entire act.
Screenshot293.jpg

None of the monster types in the Halls were all that difficult, although the kurast blizzard types are always a fun fight. Nihlathak blew up a bunch of bodies but Alcuin didn't seem to care, taking care of business after only a few short minutes.
Screenshot296.jpg

After reaching level 84 in the Halls areas, shortly before killing Nihlathak, Magnus reached level 84 where he would finish his journey. His LCS looked like this:
Screenshot298.jpg

Note that the attack ratings are with enchant active, maximized throw mastery and double swing, and 13 points in double throw. One weapon AR is roughly doubled compared to the other, because one of my blood crafts (axe) rolled with both fools and grinding, so the damage was pretty good and the AR was exceptional. Defense is also pretty high because we found an ethereal wire fleece which rolled two sockets in the cube, so we burned yet another of our six Lum runes we found, making our third Smoke. It has still 13 of 17 durability and 1734 native defense rating, which is the best we could do.

Frozen Tundra saw a Butcher's Pupil drop, as well as another Hellmouth pair of war gauntlets and another Dwarf Star ring, and this one was perfect (15 MDR) so Magnus promptly replaced his 13 MDR with this one.

The Ancients needed two re-rolls. The first time they killed Alcuin with extreme prejudice (he was amped and dead in two whacks despite being Faded) and the second time we got cursed and I could not separate them, so we tried again and did pretty well.
Screenshot303.jpg
Screenshot304.jpg
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