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

[Vildecor]

Wow, GREAT reading Wayne!

The journey of Alkithoe is downright impressive! Keep it coming! I'm REALLY waiting for news about the final act, so one of most impressive guardians ever may be about to raise!

 

[Vildecor]

I cashed in on my second socket quest, adding the Crimson Jewel of Fervor to Mizan's Vampire Gaze. A speedier attack is greatly appreciated. The monsters I faced early in Act 5 were laughable. Imps, vultures, boars, mages; all were easily defeated at p3. After killing Shenk, I used my final socket quest, socketing the Woestave with an Emerald (+5%MF) Jewel of Fervor. Shenk dropped an interesting rare flail. I'm curious about how the mods available for rares could combine to add 401 poison damage over 10 seconds? :scratch:

The bonus lava areas were also fairly easy. Balrogs, stranglers, and imps occupied Abaddon. No problem.
Balrogs, salamanders, and PI Frenzytaurs were in the Pit of Acheron. Those frenzytaurs could've been trouble, but there were only a few scattered throughout the level. No boss packs.

The tension cranked up a notch entering the caves. Crystalline Passage had snow beasts and witches for starters. No big deal. The appearance of PI ghosts convinced me to drop to p1. Since I'm satisfied with my merc's gear, I no longer feel the need to grind out kills at high player settings, at least not when they're PI. The evil urns contained witch packs. In one instance, the low player setting worked against me. A pack spawned on my merc, and he killed the boss before I could hardly register its mods. I got hit with a boss frost nova, which removed only 540 life. Surprisingly low for -80 resists?!

Now it was time for the Frozen River. Would there be deadly gloams?
I crept along the first wall, casting Decoys ahead. A few ghosts advanced, followed by cold mages. So far so good. On the next Decoy cast, the gloam bolts came flying in! Mizan and the valk advanced. I took a position behind an ice mound. Let the contest begin! This is what I envisioned when I planned this character.

Mizan got the Woestave right away. The blinding effect was critical for reducing the stray lightning. Plus, it kept them still. At p1, Open Wounds worked well. The key to survival, was anticipating ideal spots for casting Decoys, in order to control the angle of the incoming fire. Sometimes I hugged the wall, sometimes the shore, or in between while bolts criss-crossed around me. It was exhausting. Slow Missiles helped, but only when I had at least partial control. It does no good to try spamming it at the edge of the screen. In fact, if I got caught in mid-cast, it could be deadly. Whenever a mound or pillar was available, I hunkered down behind it.

Frozen River is a big map. I didn't count, but there had to be at least 50 gloams, including bosses and champs. There was one scene, where I noticed colorful glowing through the wall, just around a corner. I knew something nasty awaited. A monster shrine was right next to me. Of course I had to click it. I cast a Decoy and valk. Mizan followed them. All three went poof. Oh boy.
Next attempt, I lured out a few gloams with Decoys. We killed a couple, and the boss flew out. Conviction!. Nothing like getting it done the HARD way! Isolating that boss was a big plus. I pulled him several screens away from the problem area. (I did not dare to take that screenshot until it was alone.)

When we turned that corner again, there were champ gloams AND champ ghosts, with more regular gloams! No wonder my team got slaughtered. I was grateful for having a corner wall to protect me.
We rescued Anya, and cleared the last bit of the map. The final room contained the only evil urn (which was sitting in fire). 1 in 3 chance for gloams? Yep! But it was a lowly Ghostly Gloam, which had a weird "gray blob" palette. The ordeal was over. All things considered, a good run. Evade protected me often, and I never sustained a multiple bolt attack. Phew! Single bolt hits were bad enough...

I found three jewels in the Frozen River. All were fervor jewels! :shocked:
Blanched Jewel of Fervor
Jade Jewel of Fervor
Shimmering (8) Jewel of Fervor

No use for them really, although I could replace the crimson/fervor jewel in the Gaze. But Mizan's resists are already high (64/75/64/64), and I like the extra minimum damage.

I continued the session with a clear of the Drifter Cavern. Easy monsters. Good thing, I needed the break. I finished most of the Glacial Trail, battling snakes and skeletons. Here, the evil urns had snakes. Saw a good luck sign, Black Hack. He dropped Blackhorn's.

After defeating Bonesaw Breaker, I finally found the Glacial Trail waypoint, and quit there. Next up, Nihlathak.

Conqueror Alkithoe, 1.11 naked HC zon, level 86, Act 5 Hell, Zombie Garden

 

[Vildecor]

That is awesome. Big props, Insane Wayne. Not only is it insane (!), it's a good read. Good luck!

 

[Vildecor]

Been following your exploits for a while. Favorite read on the forum since you started it up.

 

[Vildecor]

Wow, what a ride!

Haha, Conviction isn´t really doing Alkithoe that much harm compared to with most characters, since the base resists are -80% anyway, right? You could say that she is always heavily Convicted...

Shenk dropped an interesting rare flail. I'm curious about how the mods available for rares could combine to add 401 poison damage over 10 seconds? :scratch:

Two poison affixes on the same item makes the damage calcuation 'ranged 1.09 style', i.e. sum up both the rate and the duration. In all other situations (except when Venom is involved), the damage rate is summed and the duration is the average of all the sources.

On your Flail, I get that damage with Toxic (150 over 5) and 'of Pestilence' (50 over 5). Sum of the rate: 40 (30 + 10) per second. Sum of the duration: 10 seconds, which means 400 damage over 10 seconds (the extra 1 is probably a rounding issue (the game uses damage per frame for the calcuations).

A Pestilent weapon of Anthrax would get something like 788 damage over 11 seconds.

 

[Vildecor]

Thanks for the comments guys.

since the base resists are -80% anyway, right? You could say that she is always heavily Convicted...

Yep. Although now her resists are "up" to -70.
No matter, anything that can kill her at -100, can kill her at -70. The difference is more psychological. The distinct "convicted" sound (more so than the graphic) puts me on edge, especially concerning gloams. How Pavlovian of me... I can't help it.

Sum of the duration: 10 seconds, which means 400 damage over 10 seconds

Good explanation. Makes perfect sense. So the best poison damage on a rare would be Toxic/Anthrax, about 513 over 11sec. Potentially useful since it's equipable around level 26 I think, and may have other useful mods.

Hmm... looks like a magical pestilent/anthrax weapon gets 12 seconds. That's 750 over 12 seconds? A rare opportunity for me to correct you, indeed... :wink3:

 

[Vildecor]

wayne, what's the deal. have you grabbed the jackpot or you're dead? c'mon tell us, fall out

 

[Vildecor]

Wow, that's absolutely insane! When I first say this thread I thought "wow, running around naked with a cracked javelin and lightning fury must be tough" until I read further and realized just how naked you were. My hats off to you, this is something I'd never accomplish is a thousand years. I might've played d2 for years but I'm not that good, and that doesn't go well with my lack of patience rop:

 

[Vildecor]

wayne your a nut job enought said.
but well done mate i didnt think you would make it into nightmare never mind nearly get thought hell

 

[Vildecor]

Nihlathak's zombie garden is pretty easy for a valkazon. As soon as I heard the zombies rising, I cast a valk in the middle, then retreated near the red portal. They formed a HUGE mob around her. The sight of them trying to get at her, blocked by their own comrades, was pretty funny. Mizan worked the edges, with Decoy protection. At p5, it took a while. Pindleskin's gang hit hard, but the valk outlasted them too.

The first level had more prowling dead, plus mages and fallen. I was at p3, and made great progress until I hit dual CIPI zombie bosses, both attacking the poor valk. Open Wounds took forever with these guys! Twice, the teleporter zipped away into a new hallway. Both times, we failed to track him down until it was too late, and he'd already regenerated all his life! :rant:
The third attempt, I punched him non-stop, so that if he teleported, Alkithoe's path-finding tracked him down. That worked, and we chased him several times, until he was slivered and I ran away from the nova. Good riddance.

After that nonsense, I went down to p1. Level 2 had goats, flayers, and freakin' spawners! No matter, they were all owned by Mizan's cryptic axe. Even the valk scored regular kills. Spawner moms couldn't pump out babies fast enough.

Stair trap on Nihlathak's level, with dreaded tomb vipers! Mizan dropped like a rock. Normally I could rely on the valk to take them out, but interference from PI night marauders made that impossible. I needed Mizan's Open Wounds. The price was heavy, 8 merc resurrections while clearing 3 wings. Four of those were for a single evil urn Stone Skin boss pack.

As I approached Nihlathak, I lured most of the monsters far from the area, including his guards. However, I didn't get all of them. For one thing, several suicide bombers exploded and left their corpses as potential CE bombs. I tried the other side, with the same results. I was in a pickle. In the past, I learned (the hard way) what CE can do to me with poor fire resist. My solution, was to go back to level 2, finish mopping up a couple hallways, and return with the hope that the corpses disappeared.
Most of them did, but it only takes one to finish me. I cast valks as deeply as possible towards Nihlathak, but he wouldn't bite. I slowly crept up towards the corpses, within the range of a frost nova. Ka-boom! I jumped in my seat, but no harm was done. After another explosion, I saw an opening.

I cast the valk on Nihlathak, and made a run for the back wall. No corpses there, no gory floor, and I figured it was my safest bet. If Nihlathak was smart, he would've exploded the nasty corpse next to me on the wall. But I suppose he likes that one for decoration. Mizan got his Crushing Blows working, withstood some CEs, and we were victorious!

Notable finds:

Pestilent Large Charm (175 over 6 sec)
Chance Guards (measly 30%)
ethereal Great Poleaxe <--- this is the very first imbueable elite eth spear/polearm I've found.
I don't expect to top Pierre Tombale's Cryptic Axe, but I'll give it a shot. Nothing else worth imbuing anyways.

Conqueror Alkithoe, 1.11 naked HC zon, level 86, Act 5 Hell, Frozen Tundra

 

[Vildecor]

OMGZ this is like amazing i think i could never do this

CONGRATS!!!!!

 

[Vildecor]

Great read! I can hardly imagine completing Hell difficulty by myself--fully twinked--let alone in Hardcore as a naked character! Your writing style is great, too. Best of luck in knocking ol' Baal down... you'll surely earn yourself a spot in the SPF FAQ, where other such feats are listed!

 

[Vildecor]

Awesome read, Wayne, I bow to your skill. Ancients could get to be a bit of a problem though... in any case, you deserve to be written down in the history books for this one!

Hmm... looks like a magical pestilent/anthrax weapon gets 12 seconds. That's 750 over 12 seconds? A rare opportunity for me to correct you, indeed... :wink3:

Pestilent War Scythe of Anthrax
Two-Hand Damage: 15 to 36
Durability: 55 of 55
Required Dexterity: 80
Required Strength: 80
Required Level: 37
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 96
Fingerprint: 0x6074b411
+751 poison damage over 12 seconds

Had this one for a long time, always wanted to use it for something...


It's too bad the actual dps is very low. :sad2:

 

[Vildecor]

Ancients could get to be a bit of a problem though...

I'm not too worried about the Ancients, and I'll tell you why:
I can reroll them until their mods are less dangerous. My Holy Freeze merc will have Woestave, which has 50% slowing. Plus he has multiple sources of cold damage. HF, slowing, and cold damage stack together. I'll lead the Ancients to the bottom of the screen. After Mizan hits a couple, I'll run all the way to the top. The slowed Ancients will be left behind, and eventually I'll separate them. The valk alone can handle 2 Ancients, if needed, and I'll have plenty of columns to hide behind. The thrower is pretty stupid; he'll throw harmlessly into a pillar if I set him up properly.

Pestilent War Scythe of Anthrax
+751 poison damage over 12 seconds

Had this one for a long time, always wanted to use it for something...
It's too bad the actual dps is very low. :sad2:

Nice find! Collector's item.
Probably not very useful though, especially with the level requirement.
On the other hand, a Toxic/Anthrax rare bow, with other good mods and Multi/Strafe/Pierce, could be useful at lower levels. Multiple simultaneous poisonings, PMH, etc...

 

[Vildecor]

Well, good luck with the Ancients anyways, sounds like you'll get there eventually!

 

[Vildecor]

Been reading through this and I'm just gob-smacked.

You pwn, dude!

 

[Vildecor]

I still had a little bit of the Glacial Trail to clear, and this time, I faced Frenzytaurs. These guys are one of the few types that can consistently dice up a mighty valkyrie. The last bit of the map had a nasty Extra Fast/Strong/Might boss pack, and a dreaded urn. (I once lost a tourney HC character to an Act 5 frenzytaur urn.) This time, I was safe. The urn spawned wimpy mages.

Frozen Tundra had vultures, goats, and witches. Not too bad, so I went to p5. This would hopefully get me to level 87, before the final cave areas.
p3 for the Infernal Pit bonus area, with salamanders, witches, and damn frenzytaurs again. I took a minion salamander charge, which cost me over 900 life!
It was tough clearing those maps, but I did hit 87, then lowered the setting to p1.

When it comes to rough monster types, Ancient's Way is usually a mixed bag, and this time was no different. Upon entering, the merc chose a path towards some quill rats and cold mages. Easy!
Thirty seconds later, I'm frantically positioning my team to withstand 6 champ frenzytaurs. Ouch! We slowly lost ground, but at p1 Mizan was able to inflict big damage in between valk recasts. After the third one fell (a Berserker), I regained control. Again I faced the possibility of Frenzytaur urns, and again I lucked out with cold mages. I cleared the whole map, and finally found the Icy Cellar entrance. Time to see what good ol' Snapchip has to offer.

Good entrance, free of monsters, into the corner of the map. (Much better than the nasty center island entrance). The merc decided to follow the bottom wall, and I slowly followed, casting decoy scouts. I find it's best not to fight the merc when choosing a random path, lest I risk waking monsters from both sides.
I expected gloam lightning, but it never came. The entire bottom edge was clear. The next decoy got slaughtered. Frenzytaurs again!! A horrible CEFE Spectral Hit boss pack. I plugged the bridge with a valk cast, and tried to cast a Decoy next to her. But the decoy spawned on the opposite side of the pack, alerting a second boss pack (LE Extra Strong Spectral). Have mercy!
I couldn't hold the bridge; they were too tough. Mizan killed a couple minions, before getting himself killed. This happened a couple more times. Each portal trip, we lost more ground, until I was getting uncomfortably close to the cave entrance. I portaled out, and re-entered the main entrance. Rather than continue that fight, I took the only other option: venturing onto the center island.
No luck there, we got amped by CE boss pack witches and rushed by champ Frenzytaurs. My team was dead by the time I used my safety portal.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place! I used the main entrance again, and made a "last stand" against the remnants of the dual-boss pack. I brought at least 20 full rejuvs, and used most of them to keep Mizan going. Success! But now I was low on purples.
At least now I had room to work with, so I separated the champ frenzytaurs. Mizan blinded and killed the witches. After the center island was clear, I glimpsed across the river to Snapchip's area. It was obscene!
Amping witches, champ frenzytaurs, Holy Freeze/Cursed/Teleport frenzytaur pack, a few snow beasts for back-up, all brightly lit by Snapchip's Fanaticism! And all of them glaring at me... give me a break!

I teased most of the witches over, and lured small groups aside with Decoys. It was painfully slow, but I cleared it safely. There was one evil urn, which spawned witches.

A few unusual finds thus far:
Sazabi's Ghost Liberator (set Balrog Skin)
Marrowwalk Boneweave Boots (grail item)
Bloody (+3 min) Grand Charm of Sustenance (31)
Carmine (+9 min) Jewel of Bliss (+8 max)
--------------------------

Hell Ancients

After a few rerolls:
Korlic- Extra Fast/ Teleport
Talic- Extra Strong/ Mana Burn
Madawc- Spectral Hit/ Holy Fire

I made a run to the bottom of the map, where Mizan hit Talic with Woestave. I quickly ran all the way to the top, and left Talic in the dust. Mizan battled Korlic while the valk attacked Madawc. This worked for a while, and then suddenly Talic rejoined us. No problem, the valk tanked him and Madawc. Mizan worked on Korlic, and the position held until Korlic was slivered and began teleporting. Madness ensued, and I was targeted as our formation broke down. Talic clipped me down to 500 life, then killed Mizan. As I ducked behind pillars, the valk finished Korlic. No problems after that. She easily finished Talic and Madawc.

I jumped right into the WSK. Flayers, unholy corpses, and witches. While amped, the zombie charges hit hard enough to kill Mizan a couple times.
Level 2 was another tense barn burner, with 3 kinds of lightning foes: shocking bats, scarab beetles, and BLACK SOULS!
Mizan got the Woestave again. It was a trench war, I darted from one obstacle to another, shielding myself with anything available. What fun!
I took a few stray bursts, but nothing removed more than half my life. I regretted not having Blackhorn's available for Mizan, but he held up pretty well with a few rejuvs. Decoy held up well too. Nevertheless, it was so tense, I didn't even care when a semi-rare Lem rune plopped in front of me.

Level 3 was another cruel joke. PI Cursing Witches, Oblivion Knights, and why not some more Frenzytaurs? Slow progress (with lots of resurrections) clearing one wing. The next wing started with Extra Fast/Extra Strong Frenzytaurs and champ knights. If I had started that wing first, with zero retreating room... I don't want to think about it! :shocked:

The Throne level had a minor stair trap of witches and vampires, easily handled. Did you think I was done with Frenzytaurs? Not a chance! 5 out of the last 8 maps had them, let's do it again! This time there were no boss packs. Even so, the minion waves were a welcome relief!

I attempted Baal at p3. Eventually, I lured him out, and Mizan hit him with Woestave. All that slowing/chilling tamed him, so I added some punches. Alkithoe loves to help out. CB from Mizan's Duress wore him down, after which I switched his armors with topaz gear. Baal dropped one S/U, Tal's mask.

Guardian is a nice title, but I won't be satisfied until I defeat Hell Cows. Nothing is certain, but I like my chances. So much has gone right for Alkithoe, I can't imagine a bunch of stupid cows will defeat her. :scratch:

If all goes well, my next post will have a full breakdown of Alkithoe's final stats.

Guardian Alkithoe, 1.11 naked HC zon, level 87, Act 1 Hell, Cow Level

 

[Vildecor]

0.o Congrats on the shiny new title! That's awesome. Good luck with the MooMoo's, though like you, I can't imagine a bunch of silly cows being her demise.

 

[Vildecor]

Great work Wayne! Congratulations * 28

I've loved this thread and been enthralled with each of your posts. In a different way, this is just as remarkable as DC's self-found HC grail. I'm in awe.

*insert old :worship: smiley here*



Now go make me a steak. :wink3:

 

[Vildecor]

Fantastic! :worship:


Those were some of the worst monster draws I have seen. Holy crap.

Good entrance, free of monsters, into the corner of the map. (Much better than the nasty center island entrance).

Absolutely.

I find it's best not to fight the merc when choosing a random path, lest I risk waking monsters from both sides.

Yeah, that can be a tough choice to make. It´s those times you wish you could teleport.

Slow progress (with lots of resurrections) clearing one wing. The next wing started with Extra Fast/Extra Strong Frenzytaurs and champ knights. If I had started that wing first, with zero retreating room... I don't want to think about it! :shocked:

Been there, done that. Always a relief when you pick the 'correct' side first.


Good luck in the cow level!