Conqueror Alkithoe, 1.11 HC naked zon [by Insane Wayne]

[Vildecor]

You never cease to amaze me with the builds you take through the game. I think this is the toughest yet.

Hell may be scary with the lack of resists. I wish you the best of luck. Keep us updated.

 

[Vildecor]

I resumed my trek through Act 1 Hell, still doing minimum p3. While rescuing Cain, I found a 4-socketed Thresher, cubed it into magical, and tried a few rerolls. Not my ideal weapon choice, but I had gems piling up and didn't want to quit for a muling session. Terrible rerolls, nothing came close to topping Pierre Tombale's.

The Countess levels were packed with ghosts, which required Woestave for Open Wounds. Very slow, but safe, progress. Countess had Fanaticism, but was no match for the valk. She dropped an Ort. :unimpressed:

I went to p5 for the Hole and the Pit, and p7 for Pit Level 2. I wanted to maximize my chances for elite drops. Pit level 2 took forever. The freeze-shattering from Woestave rarely works when the monsters levels are higher than Mizan. I had no choice but to wait as he killed the same Fallen several times until they were all shattered. From these areas, I did score some exciting drops: a rare mancatcher, rare stygian pike, and rare colossus voulge. But they were all garbage. :sad2:

The Barracks and Jail levels were packed with Fallen. Here though, the Woestave shattered them with nearly 100% certainty. No problems. I found a nice jewel, Ruby (32% ED) Jewel of Thunder (1-62).

Catacombs were tough, with lots of dangerous elemental boss packs and a couple stair traps. I got hit by lightning spitters a couple times, and each ball took off about 400 life! I often used the jail doors to lock myself in, while battles raged next to me outside the cell. This was especially useful when Fallen scattered all about after a monster died. Other times I plugged the doorway with a Decoy and stood behind it. One good find: a magical stygian pike which is getting future rerolls.

I did Andariel's level at p5, which got me to level 80 just before I fought her. My valk was immune to poison (various valk immunities are common when synergized with level 20 Decoy). I cast Decoys like crazy next to Andy, and she popped them while Mizan and the valk jabbed at her. I stood across the pond, in a narrow safety zone where her posion parted harmlessly around me. When she was slivered, I dressed Mizan in his MF armors and he finished her. Awful drop! One worthless set item, 2 rares, and 3 magics.

While clearing the rest of Andy's room, a normal monster dropped a gray hyperion spear. Hmmm... it's ethereal. Imbue candidate! Wait, it's got 3 sockets!! Perfect for Crescent Moon!!!
Needless to say, I was devastated when I remembered CM doesn't work in spears. Undaunted, I rerolled it into magical, and crafted a safety spear. Although the fixed mods on safety spears really suck, it's still worth it for a free shot at a rare cruel. I rolled Bitter Song... more like Bitter Disappointment!

My search for an uber merc weapon will continue in Act 2.

Conqueror Alkithoe, 1.11 naked HC zon, level 80, Act 2 Hell, Lut Gholein

 

[Vildecor]

Act 2, my favorite act. But not for Alkithoe. All the ranged elemental attackers had me worried. To prepare, I've been building Slow Missiles (currently level 9). That's a full minute of slowing, which helps when I'm busy dashing about during a crowded battle.

Still doing p3, but it's getting tougher. My search for an end-game merc weapon is getting desperate. I used all my gems rerolling a Stygian Pike, and the best I got was a Merciless. No good compared to Pierre Tombale's. I tried crafting another "Safety Spear", which was also garbage. I'm still seeking an imbueable ethereal, but the only ones I've found are socketed.

The desert areas kept me on my toes, dodging all that beetle lightning. The underground areas were especially tense, considering the potential for stairtraps. The Sewers and Stony Tomb were OK, but the Halls of the Dead levels were grinding. Very rough start on level 2, which quickly got far worse than the screenshot indicates. I had to do a bit of a blind run, and was lucky to find an empty hallway. I had another challenge later, my first Hell mummy casket. I recognized the room formation, and zipped in to block the casket. I had to outlast a few mummy beatings, and ran out of potions. But I got the job done, with one hit point left. I call that a "controlled poisoning". HC at its best.

Maggot Lair was pretty easy. The valk and merc beat everything in single file. I found a 5-socket thresher, and contemplated an "Honor". I compared its average damage vs. the 219%ED Pierre Tombale's, and factored in weapon speed and the Deadly Strike. The thresher comes out ahead, but only by a little. Not enough to bother with it IMO. It does have life leech, but Mizan already gets enough from his Vampire Gaze. I'd rather have the Amn and Sol for later use, perhaps an ethereal 5-socket Honor polearm.

Awesome find in the Far Oasis! Not an item, but rather, a rare monster. The uber boss scimitar! I've waited a long time to see this! It eminated lightning bolts, and even teleported several times. I let it hit me, and it took off about 550 life! No boss drop though, just a socketed cutlass. I forgot to check if it gave extra XP.

I did Ancient Tunnels at p5. No problems except for a brutal pack of Cursed Fanat Marauders. They diced the valkyrie in one second, and two-hit killed Mizan. Fortunately I had plenty of cleared area to pull them apart.

Next came my most feared area, Claw Viper Temple. CVT skeletons are cold immune, Woestave won't shatter them. I wasn't looking forward to relying on Holy Freeze for corpse disposal. But I got lucky, I didn't have skeletons in either level; only snakes (both types) and a few mummies. Easy clear of level one, even the urns helped me out by bottlenecking the snakes. I scored a nice decoy-block of the only mummy casket, another lucky break. On the dreaded level 2, Fangskin's pack was close to the entrance, and swarmed us quick. I was pressed against the corner, terrified. I gave Mizan about 8 full rejuvs, and he and the valk outlasted the snakes. Phew!

Slow and steady clears of the palace levels and the Arcane Sanctuary. Slow Missiles was used abundantly. No NDEs. I'm really liking Shaftstop + VG on Mizan. Only a really hurty monster boss/champ can put him in hit recovery. This keeps his killing speed up, without my having to micro-manage him and pull him to safety excessively. One find tempted me to try another merc: an ethereal 3-socket balrog blade. I considered Crescent Moon for an Act 5 merc. The damage would rock, but I need Mizan (and his Woestave/Holy Freeze) for corpse disposal and slowing. With another character I'd try it in a heartbeat.

I suffered my first Hell "dead-boss-frost nova" in the Canyon. A teleporting hellcat boss materialized near me, bled to death from Open Wounds, and unleashed. The nova took off 1100 life! Spectral Hit might've added a little. Ouch! Good thing there was no FE or LE with that!

I cleared 4 False Tombs at p3. Haven't found Kaa yet. The only problem was gorebellies. They have knockback and insane regen. Most of my duty was knockback prevention, by standing close behind Mizan, valk, or both if the angle is right. Open Wounds wore them down. I'm used to switching Mizan's weapons constantly, sometimes several times against the same pack.

I did the True Tomb at p1 (it had unravelers), upping to p5 for the Duriel fight. Again, I'm surprised to find the boss elemental auras are so weak, considering my poor resists. Duriel's Holy Freeze did little damage. I gave him a few punches, then stood back. I dressed Mizan with MF armor for the final sliver, and fed him rejuvs as he finished Duriel. Crappy drop.

Uh... I guess my search for an uber merc weapon will continue in Act 3.

Conqueror Alkithoe, 1.11 naked HC zon, level 83, Act 2 Hell, 2 False Tombs remaining

 

[Vildecor]

lmao @ boss scimitar !!!!!
you should enter that in the artwork competition.

Otherwise, well done and keep going. Just don't forget to tell us what happens next.

DelBoy

 

[Vildecor]

Haha, I missed this earlier. Very good progress, I´d say.


The boss scimtar was a treat indeed. Lovely! :laugh:




The search for good merc gear is very interesting. My suggestion is that unless you find a Hone Sundan very soon, make a Duress armor in that Cuirass. The CB will help tremendously, and you´ll have constant OW going, with any weapon.

Vampire Gaze is end-game quality. Keep that on.

As for the weapon, I´m afraid you have made a big mistake with the rerolling, trying it with weapons of too low qlvls. Apart from the early game (where ilvl 25 or 30 may actually be higher than what you get from drops, shopping and gambling) you should really stick to qlvl 75 or higher weapons, and spend your chipped/regular gem wealth on such weapons, aiming for Cruel. Threshers and Stygian Pikes just don´t cut it IMO. A low-ilvl Thresher can only get Ferocious, and a Stygian Pike only Merciless.

With the socketed magical weapon recipes, you should stick to Ghost Spear and higher, and Cryptic Axe and higher. (Ghost Glaives and Winged Harpoons can also get Cruel, but they do low damage and won´t get sockets, of course). You should really do some shopping for rerolling and crafting materials! Fara can apparently sell Ghost Spears and War Pikes, and Hratli can sell Cryptic Axes and Great Poleaxes. Shopped War Pikes should be excellent crafting materials from here on. At this stage, a bought and crafted WP would get alvl 71, which is truly awesome! (Cruel on rares/crafts is only alvl 56).
Be careful with STR/DEX requirements with some of these weapon types.


The qlvl 75+ ones are also the ones you should craft, if you use recipes to make them magical. At your current level, a qlvl <75 spear needs to be ilvl 74 or higher for a chance of Cruel on the crafted spear. That crafted Hyperion Spear never had a chance. Rerolling socketed weapon recipe sets the ilvl to 30. Resulting ilvl=30/2+80/2=55, which for Hyperion Spears means alvl=29. Not possible to get higher ED than Savage!
The magical elite spears you find, gamble or buy now should work fine to craft at clvl 83, regardless of what type they are.



Weapon for act bosses and the like: I´d go with a 'Strength' weapon of a fast type. Best would be an ethereal Mancatcher, but I´d settle for a non-eth Hyperion Spear or a Thresher if needed.

Good luck! I think you can make it. Considering how little actual fighting my amazon in the first Tankazon tourney did in Hell, I think you have good chance. My HF merc there had Hone Sundan and Iceblink, so what I did most of the time was to aim for formations where valk + Decoy tanked and the merc could deal his CBs without being attacked.


No access to Teleport and Life Tap vs. Ancients will be a major drawback!

Ranged elemetal attacks will probaly be the worst threat until then.

 

[Vildecor]

Well done. About the boss scimitar, did you just find it or did you use a monster shrine? I've been wondering what will happen if someone's able to get a high council to follow to a monster shrine.

 

[Vildecor]

My suggestion is that unless you find a Hone Sundan very soon, make a Duress armor in that Cuirass. The CB will help tremendously, and you´ll have constant OW going, with any weapon.

Duress is even more attractive, since I found a 3-socket Loricated Mail. I actually prefer the heavy armor, to slow down the merc and keep him behind the valk more. CB/OW would help a lot. Problem is, the 49% PDR from Shaft/Gaze combo rocks. I'm going to hold off a little longer. Hopefully I'll use my eth imbues soon, which will narrow down my choices. But I'll probably end up with Duress soon, unless I find a 3-socket eth polearm.

I really blew it with the rerolls. I suspected a problem, but lacked the patience to research it. The Merciless cap on Stygian Pikes is disappointing, I expected at least Ferocious. The crafting issue is a laugher. My hyperion spear was a complete joke. What a disaster! I think I have the runes for 2 or 3 more crafts. I hate the thought of shopping for War Pikes, especially since Alkithoe's base str and dex causes all the items to show as red. I'd have to mouse over each pike to check it! I'm a terrible shopper.

Weapon for act bosses and the like: I´d go with a 'Strength' weapon of a fast type. Best would be an ethereal Mancatcher, but I´d settle for a non-eth Hyperion Spear or a Thresher if needed.

Agreed. Still searching for a 2-socket elite.

No access to Teleport and Life Tap vs. Ancients will be a major drawback!

With slowing from Woestave, I believe I can separate them by running.

Ranged elemetal attacks will probaly be the worst threat until then.

My number one fear is gloam lightning, as they pop in and out all around me. That's my primary reason pumping Slow Missiles, to give me a chance against gloams.

Well done. About the boss scimitar, did you just find it or did you use a monster shrine? I've been wondering what will happen if someone's able to get a high council to follow to a monster shrine.

Monster shrine. I killed all the other monsters first, to ensure the outcome. Good question about the council members. I'm curious if a boss river snake is possible.

 

[Vildecor]

This is amazing, I wish you the best of luck completing this task, I'll be waiting for updates on this cool achievment

 

[Vildecor]

I hate the thought of shopping for War Pikes, especially since Alkithoe's base str and dex causes all the items to show as red. I'd have to mouse over each pike to check it! I'm a terrible shopper.

Yeah, long shopping session sure isn´t fun. Too bad you didn´t know before you played act 2, because then you could have checked Fara on each selling trip when you talked to her anyway.
Finding one shouldn´t take you too long, because you are looking at a 2.4% chance each time a Pike she offers for sale will be what you seek (since any War Pike will be good for you). That´s less than five times as rare as those 3s Ring Mails we always bug Normal Charsi for...

Imagine my pain back in v1.09 when I shopped Jamella and Larzuk for hours for a Cruel elite (bow). And succeeded! Twice!!

Good question about the council members. I'm curious if a boss river snake is possible.

I see nothing strange about Council Members. If it´s already a boss, nothing will happen. If not, it will become a random Council boss (which otherwise does not exist).

The snake will probably be affected, too, but I think it would have to be "awake" for it to be possible. Not sure if a river snake tail will be affected, though!
(and what a waste of a potentially good drop!)

 

[Vildecor]

whats the point for critical strike?
anyways.. congrats!
Valk go go! =)

 

[Vildecor]

Just nuts ... go Insane Wayne!

 

[Vildecor]

That's really cool. Maybe I could do something like this to spice up the game for mE!

 

[Vildecor]

whats the point for critical strike?!

CS was absolutely necessary for me in the beginning. I had to punch my way to level 8 (or 9?) before I could hire a rogue merc. Without it, I couldn't counter some monsters' life regen (at least not on p8). Plus, CS synergizes the valk. She has 38% chance to inflict double damage with her beyond-cruel war pike. I plan to put a couple more points there.

Finding one shouldn´t take you too long, because you are looking at a 2.4% chance each time a Pike she offers for sale will be what you seek (since any War Pike will be good for you).

I suppose that's tolerable. Better than I thought. Turns out I can only craft one more safety spear, after cubing 3 Amns to a Sol. I better make it count!

 

[Vildecor]

This thread gets better as you progress.

Monster shrine. I killed all the other monsters first, to ensure the outcome. Good question about the council members. I'm curious if a boss river snake is possible.

I wonder if it would work on a Gargoyle Trap too :scratch:

 

[Vildecor]

I wonder if it would work on a Gargoyle Trap too :scratch:

I like to play with Monster Shrines. I've tried in the past to change a minion into a unique boss. In my experience, it does not work. It only seems to work for regular monsters, so I assume that it would work on a Water Watcher.

To illustrate, my sorc has a fixed shrine right next to Bremm Sparkfist. It's my habit to kill Bremm and pals before Mephisto. When the shrine rolls as a monster shrine, and I trigger it with none of those vampires left alive, Bremm's minions do not turn into a unique boss. Likewise, it doesn't seem to happen elsewhere when minions are about but no regular monsters.

It never occurred to me to change a flying scimitar into a unique though. A very good thread Wayne. Like many others, I'm following this closely. Good luck!

 

[Vildecor]

I must agree. This thread is insanely entertaining. Controlled poisoning?? she is a HC character right?
Wish you all the best and keep us posted!

 

[Vildecor]

I see nothing strange about Council Members. If it´s already a boss, nothing will happen. If not, it will become a random Council boss (which otherwise does not exist).

I think that's the interesting thing. Even though the high councils aren't mentioned individuals in the story (AFAIK) there're no random members of the high council of the Zakarum. So if a random guy named "Fart Brawler" or whatever showed up it would be a little silly IMO. Perfect place for an Easter egg btw, even though I sincerely doubt there're any more of these to discover.

/hijack

 

[Vildecor]

Before starting Act 3, I had to mop up two False Tombs, including Kaa's. When I started a new game, I clicked the wrong difficulty and lost my map! Now the tombs were re-shuffled and I had no clue which ones to enter. I cleared two random tombs, which were small. No Kaa. He got a break.

Next order of business was to try another safety spear craft. Following advice from jiansonz, I shopped Fara for a war pike. I started losing my mind, after 100 pikes I saw no war pikes and only 2 lances! Finally I found one, and tried my luck... DAMMIT!!! Not one bit of extra damage! Even the name was a letdown.

I put it behind me and started Act 3 at p5. I was 5 minutes into the Spider Forest, when I decided that I could not let Kaa live, even if it meant violating my single-pass rule. So I went back to Act 2, tried another tomb, and got lucky. I found him early, and he was the only unraveller in the tomb. The rest of the map was still very tough. I had a close call after I cast a Decoy and quickly charged into a hallway, convinced I'd see a mummy casket to be blocked. Instead I ran headfirst into a triple boss pack (2 apparitions and 1 beetle) which diced my Decoy in a second. Good thing I had that extra second, to get my feet going the other direction! They destroyed my merc and valk too. No wonder, there was a Fanat aura and Extra Strong Cursed CE "Snot Skull" leading the attack. Ouch! I had to break them apart slowly.

I cleared the Act 3 jungles at p5. No problems in the outdoor areas except for occasional uber-Thorned Hulk packs. They took forever on p5. Woestave got a lot of useage, to keep flayers, hawks, and apes blinded and unable to flee. I had to box in the champ apes, literally surround them on 4 sides, to keep them still. For such a large size, they are quite slippery.
I had one severe NDE. An FE Teleport shaman boss, slivered and bleeding from OW, teleported right in my face. I was acutely aware of the possibility, and was able to flee out of the FE blast range by a narrow margin. My guess is a p5 boss FE blast (with -80 fire resist) probably would've killed me. Alkithoe's guardian angel helped her out there. Which reminds me, I did find Guardian Angel Templar Coat in the Arachnid Lair. Nice armor!

After creating that scimitar boss earlier, who'd have guessed I'd have a perfect set-up for a River Snake boss? Indeed, as I approached a dead-end area in the Great Marsh (which contained a super-chest) I spotted a Monster Shrine in there. After clearing the entire map, I went back there and flushed out the river snakes, half a screen away from the shrine. Mizan killed both tails, and I clicked the shrine.... and nothing happened. The snake did not transform.

Flayer Dungeon was gloam-free. I was at p1 just in case. Back to p5 for the Witch Doctor, but no good drops. I was not so lucky in the Swampy Pit. Undead dolls on levels 1 and 2, and gloams on level 2! There were only about 8 or so, and no bosses. I hid behind structures and let Mizan blind them. No problems. My last 2 skill points went to Critical Strike, giving the valk a 46% chance.

I did Lower Kurast at p7, because it had weak monsters. Tons of drops there, even a handful of ethereal elites, including 3 ethereal vambraces. :confused1:
Still no appropriate elite eth polearms/spears. Instead I was teased with a 1-socket eth colossus voulge and a 4-socket eth thresher (2,3, or 5 would've helped me)

Best non-useful finds:
Toxic (+100 poison) Small Charm of Balance (5% FHR)
Guardian Angel
another fervor jewel
Impaler War Spear (would make a decent Hyperion Spear, but that's not likely)

Conqueror Alkithoe, 1.11 naked HC zon, level 85, Act 3 Hell, Kurast Bazaar next

 

[Vildecor]

But I got the job done, with one hit point left. I call that a "controlled poisoning". HC at its best.

I'm sorry, I cannot believe that. A wonderful story (absolutely amazing if it were true,) but nothing you say will make me believe it.
Some of the monsters/poisons have done 50 poison/second or something ridiculous, and I've gone through 5-6 full healing potions.
I believe (as I myself have done this in HC) that you might've gone to town and let the poison get you down to 1hp, then went back down, just for a nice story. I just can't believe you were saved by 1hp.

Anyway, enough of the disbelief. You've done an absolutely amazing job man! Very patient you are, very brave and very skilled! I hope you make it all the way. Best of luck for the rest of act 3 and beyond!
An awesome read and even better accomplishment! GL!


Oh, can I have that Guardian Angel. Nice find, sort of. :wink3: jk.

 

[Vildecor]

Pure poison can not kill you (in town or not), only reduce you to 1 HP. However, some poison traps (like those in the Flayer Dungeon) will do a small amount of physical damage as well, so you need to watch out there. I have been in the same situation as Wayne when it comes to mummy fighting and sarcophagus blocking after they are dead. Once you manage to block the sarcophagus, you really don´t want to let go of the situation.

Life drain (e.g. from a Malice weapon) can not get you below 1 HP either.


@Wayne:
Nice to see you went back to give Kaa a good spanking!