Conqueror Cosmo, 1.11 vanilla HC naked Druid

[Insane Wayne]

Jewel of Envy
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xc429df2f
+20 poison damage over 2 seconds

This simple jewel (found near Diablo) became the major factor in my decision to create a new armor for Jemali. Full-time off-weapon poison damage (i.e. preventing regen) is very important, and I would prefer not to rely on the poison vine, which dies constantly. I expect to have my hands full against many tough monster types. It'll be nice to have one less thing to worry about. Plus, I can summon the corpse-eating vines full-time, to keep my life/mana topped off. :smiley:

I added the envy jewel, and three others, to a Jeweler's Armor. I think it's a good mix: poison, some cold slowing/corpse shattering, meager lightning damage, decent resists boost, and the +str Jemali needs to equip Bonehew. What I'll miss from Twitchtroe is the 20% IAS. To make up for it, I cubed a Shael, the hard way, and added it to Bonehew's empty socket. All is good! I'm out of mid-level runes again, but that probably won't be a factor.

My first Act 5 foe: Burning Archers. These guys often hang out in large groups. Their strength is in numbers. Whenever a wolf goes down, lots of their arrows fly through the space it occupied, and zip by in every direction. They also have a tendency to slowly creep onto the scene, forcing me to fan out my defense on multiple edges. Ravens blinded some of them, but the arrival of another monster type made their job much harder.

Stupid slingers! Crap... I really wanted to avoid them. Their javelins pierce through merc, minions, and even land formations. And they hurt! Combined with the archers, there were too many to keep blinded. All I could do was keep running and dodging. At any moment, there might be 8 javelins piercing 8 different directions. Impossible to dodge them all! I went through lots of reds/purples.

After a stressful full clear, we reached Shenk. Even there, slingers harassed me, all the way to the WP. No decent finds along the way.

Some good news: I hit level 87. I'm still doing p7. My next goal is to reach 88. :tongue:

A glimpse of Jemali's level 87 stats.

[highlight]Conqueror Cosmo, 1.11 naked HC Druid, level 87, Act 5 Hell, Frigid Highlands[/highlight]

 

[Zarfen]

Very nice! I was a bit worried about archer packs there.
What about fridgid then? Even more chaos with all those little teleporters popping around and shooting at you :tongue:
GL :thumbsup:

 

[Insane Wayne]

There's a chance I won't see those teleporting imps, which would be fantastic. I wouldn't have to deal with those flame towers. I'd much rather face guest monsters. On the other hand, I might see imps and slingers, so who knows...

 

[Zarfen]

On the other hand, I might see imps and slingers, so who knows...

haha, wouldn't that be a "nice" surprice :wink3:
Keep up the great thread, and may your red bulb keep full

 

[maareek]

Archers and slingers...ouch. Good luck in getting a better roll in the next areas.

 

[Insane Wayne]

On the other hand, I might see imps and slingers, so who knows...

Damn! I totally jinxed myself! The Frigid Highlands unleashed hundreds of those stupid imps (and their giant pets) and of course the slingers as well. They overwhelmed the ravens and missiles flew everywhere! Normally those imps are harmless, but after a couple fire hits my cyclone armor was gone. Without constant refreshing, I'd sometimes lose hundreds of life at -80 fire resist. Against the piercing javelins, I was forced to wander away from my pack, exposed to more random imp attacks. At p7, most of those "imp factories" churned out another dozen before Jemali could bring it down. Very frustrating.

To complicate matters further, the third monster species was urdars, with their disruptive knockback attacks. Their fist boss (standing next to Sharptooth) was Cursed PI. I lured him out to take him solo, and attempted the multi-weapon amp technique I used against PI Hephasto. But this guy's PI was unbreakable! Wonderful.
I relied on OW, with small amounts of lightning, cold, and magic (Bonehew) damage to take him down, not exactly a quick process...

The entrance to Abaddon was guarded by minion slingers with big cold damage, and there were lots of them. It was a double-boss pack, and the bosses had the exact same mods. Both of them used teleport a lot, and drove me crazy. When Cosmo is hit wih a cold attack or nova, the chill duration lasts a long time. Without a handy thawing potion, I have to do the ol' slow blue walk of shame all the way to Malah, or else wait it out.

Abaddon had lightning horror archers, with a built-in poison attack (one of the most potent poison attacks in the game). A hit would drain my bulb in a few seconds. With that in mind, I contemplated how to approach this pack, which insta-killed my scout wolves. I couldn't coax Jemali towards them via the narrow bridge. Eventually I had to run among the pack, dodge a couple volleys until Jemali caught up to me, and spam wolves behind the pack continuously, so their attacks pointed opposite Cosmo. Scary, but fun. As a reward, the boss dropped a chipped topaz. :unimpressed: The other monsters weren't a threat. Boars lined up easily, likewise for Balrogs. The sparkly chest was a dud. Even at p7, nothing was worth picking up.

At last we reached Eyeback. Am I finally free from imps/slingers? Absolutely not! My jinx continued into the Arreat Plateau. More annoying imps, and more dangerous slingers. Unbelievable. I cleared some of the map, and paused the game at the Acheron red portal. I need a breather before venturing in there.

Latest finds:
Amn, Thul, and yet another small vita charm (+16) I can't use.

[highlight]Conqueror Cosmo, 1.11 naked HC Druid, level 87, Act 5 Hell, Pit of Acheron[/highlight]

 

[maareek]

Wow, terrible luck. But very nice job getting through it. Hopefully you'll be able to get through this section and have better luck monster wise from here on.

Though I must admit, as a reader it's somewhat more enjoyable to see you have terrible monster rolls. So I'm sorta for you/against you here...I hope you understand.

 

[Insane Wayne]

I get it.

I am for/against myself. I'd rather win big (or lose big) against challenging monster rolls, than win by stomping wimpy monsters at p1. But I'm also terrified to run into stairtrap gloams or frenzytaurs.

 

[Fluffballer]

I've noticed you seem to pause your games for hours or days at a time? Seems to speak about the stability of Macs.

 

[chrisx]

I've noticed you seem to pause your games for hours or days at a time? Seems to speak about the stability of Macs.

What? :confused2:

As usual great stuff Wayne, most insane parts of the game coming up yet!

 

[Fluffballer]

Just from reading a lot of his tourney-tales or personal projects, as far as I can tell he leaves his D2 paused instead of saving and exiting. I don't follow him around watching him play D2 if that's what you were wondering. :smiley:

 

[Insane Wayne]

Pit of Acheron:

First up-- Hell Temptresses. These gals are the least threatening type. No immunities, no amping, and limited scattering behavior. Barrages of red balls from off-screen took down a lot of wolves, but as soon as we closed in, ravens shut them down.

The next monster type is somewhat rare and far more dangerous: Fire salamanders with super-fast long-range flame-thrower attack (or whatever it's called). Every fight against a new pack started with chaos, as their speedy knockback charges pummeled us backwards. Once they're in melee range and blinded/slowed, they lose their advantage. As we turned a corner, I noticed all 3 wolves disappeared in a couple seconds. It was an Extra Fast snake pack. I think they move at the speed of sound. We thinned them out around a couple corners, for easy pickings.

None of my recent maps would be complete without a little imp riot. But I'll glady take them over slingers. The sparkly chest dropped 5 elites. A nice little cash haul. :smiley:

Continuing along the Plateau, we worked our way around the back edge. Cosmo was helpless to assist against Thresh, but Jemali managed just fine. While mopping up some neglected area, I took a couple jolting hits from two Extra Fast Fallen boosted with Fanat. They completely caught me unprepared, while my team was battling on the opposite side. I hobbled away, and the boss leash prevented the Fallen from pursuing. It was a long chase to track down that boss, and the surrounding monsters made full use of his aura. Unfortunately for him the wolves/vine ate all his friends, and he was soon defenseless.

Now comes the really good part: Act 5 caves. Should be exciting...

Latest finds:
ethereal Goldwrap
Baezil's Vortex
Smoldering (3-9 fire damage) Small Charm of Vita (+19). :thumbsup: I'm stunned. This is Cosmo's sixth (and best) small vita charm. This one will join the others in my HC give-away stash.

[highlight]Conqueror Cosmo, 1.11 naked HC Druid, level 87, Act 5 Hell, Crystalline Passage[/highlight]

@Fluffballer-- Yes, I do leave the game running for days (sometimes weeks) at a time. It's much easier for doing full clears. I can't recall D2 ever crashing, not once in all the years I've had it. But recently my Safari browser quits once per day. :tongue: (needs an update)

 

[asdfgah]

You truly are insane, in a good way though :badteeth:
I'm pretty much only having quick reads at your progressing atm but when you're done I'll read them all carefully in one go :smiley:

You're a true inspiration, I love the way you play :grin:

Ps. good luck with the rest !

 

[maareek]

Haha, I know where your slingers went. They were busy pestering me. ;p After I read your last part, my next venture into Act V was greeted with slingers/imps/archers all in the first 2 areas. Good times.

Good luck in the caves (a HC player pretty much always needs it.)

 

[chrisx]

@Fluffballer-- Yes, I do leave the game running for days (sometimes weeks) at a time. It's much easier for doing full clears. I can't recall D2 ever crashing, not once in all the years I've had it.

Ah ok, that would be kind of annoying for me though because then you can't play any other chars.

 

[Insane Wayne]

Crystalline Passage slowed me down with a double-dose of PI monsters. First, a stairtrap of Frenzytaurs (fortunately not a boss pack). Followed by large packs of ghosts. I started out at p7, but quickly went down to p3. The fastest way to get through this mess was to use amp against every single PI. So I grabbed the amping and Malice weapons and got busy. There are two problems with this approach:

1. Standing around in split-screen, holding a weapon as a cursor, isn't all that safe. Monsters hiding at the edge of the screen can suddenly fly in and cause a panic. It happened against a big pack of frenzytaurs, and I had to drop the Malice on the ground, close the inventory screen, and run! Then I had to risk retrieving it before we could continue.

2. Against normal monsters, raven blinding instantly overwrites amp. (Bosses and champs are immune to blinding). That meant I had to let the ravens expire.

Unfortunately, I needed the ravens against the additional monsters, rogue black archers. They fire freezing arrows, and will quickly retreat into new territory flushing out more monsters. Lots of wolves silently perished in a shower of ice. I had to resummon my ravens to control the rogues. Than I'd hit more PIs and wait for the ravens to expire again. Nevertheless, it was much quicker than waiting for Open Wounds alone. Ghosts in particular suffered group amping and Jemali tore through them impressively.

This was a challenging map. Lots of tough frenzytaurs including bosses and champs. Keeping them in place required constant and precise wolf recasts, so that Jemali could focus on one monster at a time. And they really diced apart my wolves!

My first evil urn was tense. 1 in 3 chance for Frenzytaurs. I lucked out: archers. She dropped Death's Sash. I cleared most of the map, then quit at the waypoint to mule some stuff off. I should be pretty close to the Frozen River. :nervous:

[highlight]Conqueror Cosmo, 1.11 naked HC Druid, level 87, Act 5 Hell, Frozen River[/highlight]

***Many of you are aware of Superdave's weaponless cracked gear zon in the Amazon forum. For those that aren't, he just finished (of has he? :scratch: :smiley: ) a p8 full clear of Hell. His thread is an absolute juggernaut, with hundreds of posts over the course of a year, and hundreds of screenshots:

http://www.purediablo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=480035

 

[Insane Wayne]

My new Crystalline Passage monster roll was similar to the last one: PI Frenzytaurs! (That boss had unbreakable PI). They were backed up by dangerous Invaders. Even the wimpy bone mages had a respectable edge. But nothing was going to keep Cosmo away from a showdown with the dreaded Frozen River.

All was quiet upon entry, as I nervously scanned the immediate area and cast a few scout wolves. No gloam lightning, but plenty of blood stars came floating in, from multiple directions. Two monster types revealed themselves: Cold-immune Sirens and their Succubus sisters. Sirens are the nastiest type of witches, with built-in amp damage attacks and evasive movement. In the presence of Sirens, Succubi are equally dangerous thanks to the amp.

We killed several isolated witches, slowly wandering into new area. Uh-oh. What's that noise? Bone spears came flying in, from a massive mob rounding a corner. All three wolves died intantly, and Jemali went down to the red. It was a triple boss pack, led by LE Claw Vipers. While not as dangerous as Gloams, they're fast, burst onto the scene, and have a similar ranged piercing attack. Behind them were Conviction Sirens, one of the reasons my wolves barely lasted a second. And lastly, a pack of FE Succubi. I took dozens of stray hits trying to gain some control. I couldn't keep up with the wolf deaths, and retreated a few times to restock merc rejuvs. Slowly and surely, each monster death was a mini-victory which improved my team's tanking power, and we cleared them out. The good news in all the chaos was the lack of PIs. I could do p7 the whole way.

The battles that followed were very messy. Most of the ranged attacks (especially the blood stars) came from far off-screen where the ravens can't reach. I spent 95% of the session amped and evading. Some of the meaner bosses:

Succubus
Succubus #2
Viper
Viper #2

I handled Frozenstein with a bridge bottleneck. Anya was rescued and I improved my resists to -70!
My last task was to open two evil urns. The first urn spawned a lone viper. The second was an empty dud. :tongue:

Back in the Crystalline Passage, I found the final evil urn (which had a 1/3 chance for Frenzytaurs.) It spawned mages. Piece of cake.

No helpful finds, but I found something interesting: Cruel Feral Axe of Evisceration.

[highlight]Conqueror Cosmo, 1.11 naked HC Druid, level 87, Act 5 Hell, Glacial Trail[/highlight]

 

[Feared]

!!! Eviscerate is my favorite word.

to remove some or all organs.

 

[Bliven]

This is amazing, I lost my clothed necro in act 3 normal, and you have a naked druid in act 5 hell

 

[chrisx]

***Many of you are aware of Superdave's weaponless cracked gear zon in the Amazon forum. For those that aren't, he just finished (of has he? :scratch: :smiley: ) a p8 full clear of Hell. His thread is an absolute juggernaut, with hundreds of posts over the course of a year, and hundreds of screenshots:

http://www.purediablo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=480035

Maybe I'm missing something, but I think your zon was a bit better, after all yours was naked. :/