Golemancer Attempt No.1

@Loz: I can imagine a golemmancer being extremely boring to play. You have a lot of waiting to do while the golem kills stuff.

Still, superdave's passives-only amazon had some decoy positioning to do. For gumby, the tactical cursing can break some of the boredom. Same thing with a mojomancer. In fact, alternating dim vision, attract, confuse, terror, decrepify and all that can create some interesting diversion. The difference to a mojo that the mojo's merc can eatup stuff faster at players 8 than a golem at players 1 :)
 
Keeping the Iron Golem alive makes for an interesting time of it, I have to say. I'm working at least as hard as any mojomancer with my curses :grin:

If the golem isn't in danger - facing low damage, high HP enemies - it can get a little dull. For those occasions, you can cast Confuse on the monsters and await a great rush of additional enemies that are attracted by the curse. :laughing:
 
hmm only golem... IMO impossible althoug maybe :scratch: ... neee... one golem how can do some dmg is IG rest have no dmg IMO but he must be make with nice dmg weapon/rw/uniq/set items... but i think without curses and merc dmg will be still to low for killing on late nm and hell... one
uinq with extra strong/aura (might or fana)/spectral hit/etc. and golem
will no survive this fight and kill nobody IMO :undecided: ...
SuperDave on his ama use merc too because same Valkirie can't kill a pack of monster or uniq pack... ofc Val have more dmg than IG if she random good weapon mods... only best RW IG can do more dmg but it's very very expensive and hard to make :sad2: ... i think it's impossible to end hell game with only golem (IG ofc)... but maybe i check this in future :thumbsup:

Greet Sivy
 
yeah IK maul or BS is fantastic weapon for IG :thumbsup: ... 40 CB is very helpful and a nice dmg too... but IMO: NO CURSES = FAST DIE not only golem :undecided: maybe only golem and curses can end game...

Greet Sivy
 
Golem only should be pretty nigh impossible, but golem + curses should be able to do hell ball players 1.

And I stand by my theory that merc + curses only = beat hell baal players 8 ^^
 
The Blackened Temple

Balboa's progress through Kurast's former splendour was steady and assured. Enemies were cursed, isolated and slain with practiced ease.
Only the various Temples gave us any real concerns - some of the creatures sheltering therein were quite fierce. The descent into the Kurast Sewers wasn't without its dangers, but it was a confident team that cleared the entire area of evil creatures. Rusty was quite capable of tanking and killing on his own. And few could stand against the pairing of mercenary and golem.
A stair trap in one of the abandoned temples gave Balboa a scare, but thankfully it was only Bone Scarabs. Terror kept Balboa safe whilst his team dealt death to the giant beetles.
The Council were not nearly as dangerous as Balboa had feared. They required careful treatment of course, and we got our fingers badly burned when we rushed into the Blackened Temple too soon, but patience won the day in the end. Toorc Icefist, Ismail Vilehand and Geleb Flamefinger all fell in time.
The Compelling Orb smashed, we entered the Durance of Hate, to be greeted by Maulers, Dolls and Zombie-type creatures. The Dolls make for a bit of a nerve-wracking experience, and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the Zombies rushing around nearly as fast - but it was all down to one particular boss. I was glad when he was slain.
We have the Waypoint on Durance Level 2 in our possession and now, serious thought must be given to how we will deal with Mephisto.

Stats and Such
119 Stats and 6 Skill points unspent. Is Malice Rusty strong enough for Mephisto? Will I need to go for another Strength golem?

Kill speed is on the slow side of satisfactory, with Pratham being slightly quicker than Rusty, whilst Rusty is a marginally better tank. There is a synergy here, as there was with Aliza and Rusty, which means that the golem is an integral part of this build - at least in Nightmare. Balboa is more than a mojomancer with a couple of tanks, and the golem is not over-shadowed by the merc. They are partners.
I'm looking forward to Mephy, but it will be a tough fight, that's for sure.

Slayer GumbyBalboa - Level 64, Act 3 Nightmare, Durance of Hate 2
 
Uhh, i just cant wait!
Good luck with Mephisto (though you dont need it) :thumbsup:
 
The Council's Corruptor

It was late in the day when Balboa roused his team for the assault upon the last Durance level. We'd spent much of the day planning and preparing for the biggest test yet in this campaign.

Almost from the moment we set foot from the Durance Waypoint, we were beset by Maulers, Ghoul Lords and Stygian Dolls. This was going to be no easy walk-through. An enormous band of Maulers confronted us at one point, and beat us back several times. Malice Rusty and Pratham were in constant danger of being totally overwhelmed. Dim Vision suppressed the spells of the Ghoul Lords whilst the two meleers dealt with a Ghoul Boss. Finding the stairs down to the lowest level was hard going, yet all too soon, we found ourselves in Durance Level 3.

We teased the Ghoul Lords out a few at a time, with little danger to the team. The Council leaders were less obliging. Maffer Dragonhand and Bremm Sparkfist were both very strong, requiring careful handling. Even Wyand Voidbringer provided stiff resistance.

At the end, a lone Ghoul Lord accompanied Mephisto in our initial confrontation. Balboa made a virtue of a necessity, and Attracted the Ghoul. Although Decrepify curbed the worst of Mephisto's excesses, we could use all the help we could get! A bitter struggle ensued, requiring all my healing potions for the merc and a visit to town on at least one occasion. At some point, Mephisto had slain the Ghoul, but I didn't see when that happened - all I knew was that after a several minutes, Mephisto was at the end of his endurance.

The first of the Prime Evils has fallen!

Stats'n'Such
Discussion to follow, when I post of Balboa's adventures in Act IV. I will say, though, I've had tougher fights than NM Mephisto! :laughing:

Replies
@sequoia and Summerfun - thanks guys! :grin: I'm having a ball with this. :thumbsup:
 
Angels and Demons

Tyrael's Portal had brought us to Heaven's last outpost. Mephisto's Soulstone weighed heavily upon Balboa's mind and he felt an irrational desire to hurry, to destroy the evil thing lest it corrupt him. Such a thing has happened before, after all. After all too short a rest, the team followed the steps down from the Fortress to an eery, austere plain. Wracked by wars between Heaven and Hell, this was a desolate land, devoid of any promise of comfort or well-being.

Trouble came quickly and in great numbers. Venom Lords, Doom Knights and Casters drove us back up the stairs time and time again. Descending the stairs from the Outer Steppes to the Plains of Despair, Pratham and Rusty separated - Balboa was puzzled by what type of competitiveness might be at work here. Rusty is said to be a mindless automaton, but Balboa sometimes wonders about that. I've seen a thing or two, myself ... In any event, the lack of cooperation between the two fighters was unhelpful. A strong group of Doom Knights chased us back up the stairs.

On the Plains, we encountered the fallen angel Tyrael had warned us of - Izual. His long burden of pain was brought to a violent, clamourous end.

Nearing the City of the Damned (what were the original denizens like, in this fearful place?), some of the strongest foes yet awaited us - Pit Lords raved fiery death at us but to no avail. Their leaders fell, like all else before them.

A River of Flame

With the City's waypoint secured, Balboa had called for a rest. The next day - albeit in a land with no day or night - we braved the stairway that led down to a fearsome landscape. We were bogged down almost immediately. Legions of poisonous maggots block our way, and the two fighters could make little headway in the face of such numbers. Dim Vision seemed to slow the increase in numbers, but was essentially ineffective. Confuse was the key to unlock this problem.
A long slog led us to the Boss bug, or so we thought, but no sooner was this achieved than we were back in the same boat. Inch by inch, we hacked and slashed our way forward. Urdars were attracted to the clamour ... powerful bands of the enormous creatures frequently halted our progress or even drove us back. Quick casting of Confuse helped Rusty and Pratham to survive the first onslaughts, giving Balboa the time he needed to plan a more surgical approach - Attract and AmpDam. A successful tactic.
In time, the Hellforge came into view. Battling Maggots and Casters, Balboa used Attract and Confuse to keep the lesser creatures at bay, enabling Pratham to bring down Hell's own blacksmith.
Having smashed the Hellforge, we found a collection of gems and a second Fal rune. A waypoint was soon found and Balboa announced that we had toiled enough; we headed for home.

Stats, Thoughts, Ummm
129 Stats and 10 Skill points spare - I'm beginning to feel that I have the flexibility now to be able to react to the skills requirements to come. Wish I could cash in Stats for skills, say five or ten for one. That would be handy!

A word about Confuse/Attract - I can't remember if I've mentioned this, but it's important enough to say it again - there are serious drawbacks to using these skills. When in danger of being overwhelmed, they take the heat off of you until ... off-screen monsters come crashing in on you from all sides. The use of these two skills need to be carefully considered before they are cast - ask yourself, "What are the potential consequences?".

Three words - Oblivion Knights, Diablo. Some serious thought is required on how to approach these two serious problems. I don't have an archer now, although I do have a possible bow I can use, if an archer were to, ahem, become available. I foresee a strong element of cheese in my diet in the near future.

Slayer GumbyBalboa - Level 66, Act 4, The River of Flame
 
Mercenary attitude

Balboa's preparations for his meeting with the Lord of Terror were thorough - in fact, they were very nearly good enough. He packed a few items for use on the way - a War Spear socketed with the Malice runeword (just in case), a rare Trident with some fair elemental damage, a vast collection of potions stored in the Horadric Cube plus one oddity, a Rune Bow socketed with four perfect gems, one of each elemental damage variety. Curious, was Balboa going to use a bow? He hasn't swung a weapon in anger since ... when?

The approach to the Chaos Sanctuary was slow but steady. It was only when the gates of the Sanctuary were in sight that resistance stiffened considerably. Once through the gates, a complicated strategy was put in place to deal with the Iron Maiden cast by the Oblivion Knights. Pratham's Strength War Spear was packed away and the elemental damage Trident substituted. Casting Confuse deflected the OK's castings somewhat, although this usually resulted in a Curse Duel between Balboa and the 'Knights - costly in terms of mana and blue pots. When the Knights' support was eliminated, Balboa had to take steps to ensure that the exposed OKs were not able to get away.
After initial success, the sheer weight of numbers took its toll on Pratham, who needed several revives. At one point, our group had to flee a large number of Venom Lords. Balboa looked back ... and Rusty was gone, spirited away it seemed. The golemancer cursed his luck and portalled home.

A different strategy was required. A new Malice Rusty was created, Pratham was dismissed with heartfelt thanks and Paige the Rogue was welcomed to the team. Balboa was confident that this was the way to beat the OKs and their minions.
Paige received a baptism of fire - and bone spirits. There were just too many Venom Lords; even when they were Confused, we had to flee back towards the entrance to the Sanctuary. Whenever a bottleneck area presented itself, we turned and made a stand. This proved to be an oft-repeated tactic. When the OK Boss came up against us, we fought it for a long time - he was one tough customer.
The first two Seals opened to us and the Grand Vizier was dealt with, although that proved a little difficult - he could hit very hard and Balboa's Confuse and Attract curses seemed to have little effect upon his minions. Random Venom Lords and their bosses meant we had little respite from battle. De Seis' crew backed us up to the point where we could retreat no further. The Decrepify curse was all that stood between Rusty and destruction. Lord De Seis himself was very strong but again, Decrepify tamed him.

The final two Seals stood between us and a powerful evil. The reputation of the Infector of Souls was fearsome and Balboa gave some thought to surviving the encounter. The answer - cast a Town Portal, open the last Seal and run through the Portal. Discretion before valour indeed, but the tactic worked. Balboa led us back through the River Waypoint and to the Sanctuary. When we met up with the Infector, we weren't trapped in a dead end and this was just as well. We ended up running for our lives.
When we turned to meet the charging Venom Lord minions, even when employing the bottleneck approach, Rusty alone could not stand against the swift strength of these savage creatures. We portalled out, as Balboa had a contingency plan. Paige was dismissed and Razan, a desert merc with Holy Freeze (just as with Pratham before him) joined us. When we returned to meet the Infector, things went very much our way.

It was with this configuration that we hoped to slay Diablo, the Malice Golem and the Holy Freeze mercenary with the Strength War Spear.
We ran towards the giant pentacle hoping to engage the demon before he loosed his lightning or his fire. Balboa cast Decrepify and the two fighters engaged the huge creature.
It was quite a battle but Balboa felt in control throughout. There were a few, perhaps three, trips back to town to re-stock potions. One of these trips was slightly mis-timed and Razan didn't make it, requiring a revive from Tyrael. However, in time, the Crushing Blow from Razan and the Open Wounds of Rusty wore Diablo down and suddenly, it was all over. We had won!
Our rewards were some rare items that were later sold, plus an ethereal Lenymo sash and an Arcanna's Head skull cap. Tyrael transported us to Harrogath where we now wait and plan the road ahead.

Stats
134 Stats and 11 Skill points unspent - excellent
Razan is Level 64 but I am confident he will level up fairly quickly. His armour is 2os Ancient Armour with two pTopazes. I'm looking for something better.
Quick recap of Skills - all Curses at 1 except LR = 0; 1 BA, 1 BW; GM 20, SR 1, CG 13, BG 12, IG 5, FG 1. I am considering a point in Bone Prison, as a means of trapping OKs and other non-cursable nasties. Hmmm ...

Slayer GumbyBalboa - Level 67, Act 5, Harrogath
 
Hacking through Act V

A long day's adventuring today, so I'll limit myself to the edited highlights.
The Bloody Foothills required hit'n'run tactics as Death Maulers really hurt! Confuse, Dim Vision and Attract naturally all played a part in winning through.
Dac Farren took a while to pin down. Shenk and his horde were easily dealt with as they hadn't picked their ground very well. Eldritch spawned extra fast which meant having to keep a close eye on him and his minions.
Speaking of minions, one of my least favourite areas are the fortifications in Act V. My minions always feel more threatened by doors and barricades than by the monsters that are beating them (and me) up. Drives me nuts. I ended up taking steps to curb this behaviour.

This little feature was a problem for a while, until I hit upon the tactic of circling around the back of the huts. Actually, I didn't know what trouble was until Threshsocket seemed to two-shot my Malice Rusty. One minute, he was fine, the next Rusty was gone. Rats.
I had fortunately kept a Steel weapon in the stash just in case, and the new Rusty seemed to be doing very well. He even survived the first rush of monsters in the Frozen River, but unfortunately, I got distracted keeping myself and the merc alive - and my second Iron Golem of the day was lost. Not good. Not good at all.
Lacking a reasonable alternative, Gumby made a return and helped in the defeat of Frozenstein. It was amazing how many creatures Gumby can tank - I could almost forget about him. With the CG's Slow, the Merc's HF and Decrepify, even Vile Lancers appeared to crawl.
A rare axe with suitable, if unexciting, mods appeared from some random monster, and another Rusty was created. This version's damage couldn't outstrip monster healing and so was rejected for another rare axe with slightly better mods:
Code: 
Raven Slayer
Balanced Axe
Throw Damage: 12 to 15
One-Hand Damage: 5 to 10
Axe Class - Fast Attack Speed
+155 to Attack Rating
Adds 1-4 fire damage
Adds 1-54 lightning damage
+100 poison damage over 6 seconds
+1 to Mana After Each Kill
He was capable of contributing but he isn't a serious contender. I have prepared a couple of War Scythes for the next session, with runes for Strength and Malice on standby.

I have the Glacial Trail WP in my possession, plus a portal to Nihlathak, so it's game-on.

Stats & Chats
149 Stats and 14 Skill points unused - Rusty looks vulnerable sometimes, there's one one or two monster types that can really hurt him. May have to spend a few points somewhere ...
Balboa has found a total of three Fal runes now - he has better luck than my Summonancer ever did!
Blood Lords and Moon Lords, especially Champions, are some of the toughest critters we've met to date. Starting to think about the Ancients now, can Rusty tank one or two of them? Decrepify FTW perhaps? Hmmm ...

In answer ...
@kykle - thanks!
BP with 1 point and +skills will be weak, but I don't use BP or BW as a permanent structure. Sometimes the obstruction just needs to last a second to do its job - it can be a big help in crowd control and manipulation.

Slayer GumbyBalboa - Level 70, Act 5, Glacial Trail
 
D2 Bonanza

(I've played so much D2 over the past couple of days, the addiction is in full flow :grin: )

Progress through the Ancient's Way was punctuated by attacks from Moon Lords. Bosses and Champions are especially dangerous, and required multi-cursing with Decrepify and Attract. Rusty and Razan were able to tank the normal 'Lords one to one or two on two, but they really needed help from Balboa's curses in the face of anything stronger.
We took a detour through the Icy Cellar, where Balboa really needed his wits about him. You develop a sixth sense in the presence of Gloams. Against Champion Gloams, Dim Vision is useless - Balboa used whatever cover he could find to weather their attacks. Where no cover was available, Decrepify seemed to tame these dangerous creatures.
Snapchip Shatter and his crew were a powerful foe, but Amp Dam and Attract enabled our victory.

Having cleared the Ancient's Way, Balboa's thoughts turned to Nihlathak - perhaps the traitor should be dealt with before braving the Ancients. The garden of Pindleskin is a dangerous place to loiter if you have no easy way to dispose of the corpses before they re-animate. The tactic we used was to draw all the corpses off to one side and deal with them there. We then ran to the entrance to the Temple and defeated Pindleskin before any of the enemies outside could get back to us. The last thing Balboa wanted was to be trapped between two powerful forces - the little plan worked like a charm.
The Temple itself was entirely clear of re-animating dead, for which we were all heartily grateful. It made the huge labyrinth much more enjoyable (if that is the right word to use!). Returned, Temple Guards, Infidels, Grotesques and Flayers made up the majority of opposition we faced. At one point, Balboa narrowly avoided a serious mistake - tipping over an Evil Urn at the wrong moment could prove fatal. Numerous encounters with Hell Temptresses were managed through the use of Dim Vision.

Balboa's idea for dealing with Nihlathak was to be ultra-careful and elaborate. His minions were teased a safe distance out from the traitor's lair one, two or three at a time. This perhaps excessively cautious approach paid dividends. The traitor had spawned with a disagreeable mod, but lacking all but a couple of corpses to raise or explode, he fell to Decrepify, Rusty and Razan very easily.

Nothing now stands between us and the Worldstone Keep ... ah, except the small matter of the Ancients.

Stats & Chats
164 Stats and 8 Skill Points unspent. I'm tempted to spend some stats on Vitality, as a couple of hits from Temple Guards was enough to smash my Bone Armour and halve my HP. I'm S/C but I'm playing the game like it's H/C so caution is key.
In preparation for the today's trials, I'd maxed out Blood Golem, in an effort to beef up Rusty. The Iron Golem had been looking vulnerable recently ... I was also going to max Clay Golem, to achieve an AR boost for Rusty, but the Pet Calculator indicated a rather modest increase for the seven point investment. In view of this, I am holding on to the points as I may want them for DV in WSK and Hell (if I get there).
The Calculator shows that Rusty is at HP 4522 and AR 2502. I don't know what the Defence value is except for what the LCS shows: 560. Yikes. Maybe I need to max out IG instead! It's in the skill plan, but not until later on ... may need a re-think.
Quick re-cap of skills: 1 in all curses except LR. BA/BW 1 each. GM 20, SR 1, CG 13, BG 20, IG 6, FG 1. I may need to rob a point from the planned DV allocation and place it in LR - PIs in Hell that cannot be broken worry me a little as I get closer!

Notable drop: Grim's Burning Dead - nice, but useless to this build.

Slayer GumbyBalboa - Level 73, Act 5, Arreat Summit
 
I must say I'm impressed- not only that you've made it this far, but by your documentation. Very well organized and worded.

Why not use Grims for a Rusty? Would give him some really nice damage (Fire damage as well)
 
@kykle - myself, I could wait a little while longer but I've no excuses to put it off. :grin:

@Jaquizz - thanks very much!
Grim's wouldn't make a very effective Rusty (compared to the Malice or Strength runewords). especially in Hell with all the Fire Immunes - but it might make a decent Elemental pole for the merc if we meet a Physical Immune that Amp Dam cannot break ... hmm ... worth a try, perhaps! Thanks for the idea. :thumbsup:
 
Log in to Reply / Create Site Account
Remove Ads - Go PurePremium

Latest posts

Back
Top