Green with Envy II Tournament

[jiansonz]

Re: Green with Envy II Tournament

Wow! That act was scary. I could use PS on very few of the LE bosses. (What do you expect with 1% lightning resistance?
I can get it up to 19% with Fade, and to 27% if I also borrow Isenhart´s Parry from Narphet.)

Sometimes I could come in behind the tanking Shadow and and arrange a big fire patch at a spot where I thought the LE boss would move later. If it did, I often used Mind Blast to hold it there until it died (Shadow was usually dead by this time, so I had no tank). Other times, especially against small monsters (easy to knock back) I used Blade Fury: like this. Here is one instance where the Knockback from Cleglaw´s gloves is useful.

It wasn´t just the LE bosses, there were many many nasty lightning spitter packs as well. Multishot Fouldog was just the first. Cloak of Shadows was a big help against them. My Shadow Warrior was far too fragile for my taste vs many of these bosses. That has to be remedied. Now that PS is maxed, I will pump Shadow Warrior a lot. If I survive through Act II, SW will be level 13 against Duriel. I hope that will at least let her survive longer than the casting delay...otherwise I may be in deep trouble. :scared:

Some pretty scary moments against Andariel, but have I fought her somewhat recently with worse equipment in the 'Bounty Hunter´s Heaven' tournament. I focused on bringing down 2-3 Meteors no matter how many potion I had to drink, then run small circles around Andariel so she stood in the flames but could not hit me in melee. Three such treatments and she was done for. She really does not like fire...

She dropped Skewer of Krintiz and five rares. Bah.

One more green in the act: Tancred´s Spine. I had to equip Isenhart´s shield in order to be strong enough to wear it. Once it´s on, it stays because of the +STR. The partial bonuses are too minor to offset the loss of 8% resist all from my Isenhart´s combo:
* +Defense
* 15 lightning damage
* +20 mana

My cold resist is good enough with it, so I may wear it if I make it to Duriel. That +40 life on the armor is not bad.

Speaking about life; I have avoided putting more in DEX for a while now. Shield block percentage is now exactly what the shield says.
If I am going to have crappy resists for a long time, I have to get a hefty life pool!


[Highlight]Destroyer Allisandrina the Phoenix Striker and Narphet the Cold Mage, level 53, NM Lut Gholein Sewers next[/Highlight]

 

[Insane Wayne]

Re: Green with Envy II Tournament

I thought I'd give Pepper a whirl, after a long break. She and Fazel resumed their clear of Act 1 NM. Re-familiarizing myself with her style was easy: the ole 1 2 punch of Fireball/Meteor. Meteor is maxed, Fireball is coming along nicely, with further boosts of Fire Bolt/Mastery. Every point placed in the fire tree except the basic lightning 1-pointers plus a point in Glacial Spike.

Gear is absolutely atrocious. :yuck:
As I browsed over her equipment, I recoiled in horror. No wonder I took a break!

Isenhart's Sword
Mil's Shield (reward socketed with a green MF jewel, 24% MF total, the extent of her MF.)
Infernal Cap
Isenhart's Armor
Arctic Belt
Cathan's Ring
*no boots, gloves, ammy, or 2nd ring. :embarassed:

weapon switch: Tancred's Pick (in case the ammy drops...)

Fazel's gear: Berserker's Helm, Isenhart's Case, no weapon.

Despite the laughable gear, I'm making decent progress. Fazel gets in a lot of trouble, but he can hold out long enough for Meteors to do their thing. Pepper zips around like a little firecracker; teleporting, running zigzags and circles, firing spikes, anything to herd the monsters into the meteor shower. She's a chaotic girl.

[highlight]Destroyer Pepper, Fireball/Meteor Sorc, level 51, Act 1 NM, Jail[/highlight]

What do you expect with 1% lightning resistance?

Pepper also sports exactly 1%. It must be a trend. Her fire/cold is 25/30.

 

[jiansonz]

Re: Green with Envy II Tournament

*no boots, gloves

Not even regular Demonhide items?
(or maybe you have preferred immediate gambling money instead?)

BTW, what merc type is Fazel? Prayer?

Pepper zips around like a little firecracker; teleporting, running zigzags and circles, firing spikes, anything to herd the monsters into the meteor shower.

Maybe TK as well? That would be the sorc equivalent to Mind Blast.


Our situations are quite similar, then. I also try to herd monsters into Meteor showers.

 

[Insane Wayne]

Re: Green with Envy II Tournament

Not even regular Demonhide items?
(or maybe you have preferred immediate gambling money instead?)

Right. Any plain gear that Pepper equips is immediately sold. In that sense, Pepper has extra storage space, ~5K gold per demonhide item. I prefer the convenience, as I have scant faith in the extra defense they provide (although theoretically they could make a difference).

BTW, what merc type is Fazel? Prayer?

Prayer, although his time is limited. I will switch to HF.

Maybe TK as well? That would be the sorc equivalent to Mind Blast.

I've spammed TK against fearsome bosses, rarely. When I'm dancing around the monster groups, I like Fireball (autohit, brief stun(hit recovery), and decent damage), or GS(autohit, brief group freeze). TK is not reliable enough against dense groups. I can see how it would be useful to knock a single monster back into a meteor path.

 

[jiansonz]

Re: Green with Envy II Tournament

No, the Defense will likely not make much difference. Alli was glad for the kick damage of her Demonhide Boots, while it lasted.

Prayer, although his time is limited. I will switch to HF.

Ah, the new merc will do substantially more damage, then. Fits the build, too. I am sure you appreaciate having Teleport so you can make him survive.

TK is not reliable enough against dense groups. I can see how it would be useful to knock a single monster back into a meteor path.

I figured so. However, you need the monster pushing less than I do because you can usually just make some new patches wherever you want...

 

[Insane Wayne]

Re: Green with Envy II Tournament

Good news for Pepper, she finally has a pair of green gloves!
Yeah OK, Cleg's gloves aren't exactly helpful for a Meteor sorc, but the glove/shield set bonus is pretty good for future consideration. I searched my stash, and apparently I don't have it! Bah... usually Cleg's Shield is automatic for me. I have the sword though, which could be interesting if I do complete the set.

A short while later, Pepper scored her first green boots! Not bad boots either. With the Arctic belt, my cold resist is about maxed. I came to appreciate the Isenhart sword/armor set bonus. The +10 str allowed to equip the boots cheaply. I also found a perfect Emerald charm. Man I hate those, such a waste of a nice 30% resistance roll. At least I could use it against Andy.

No major trouble with the end of Act 1. Pepper's meteors sent monster parts flying by the cartload. The Tainted in particular were a joke. Pitspawn's horde never got a shot off; they were all annihilated trying to round a corner. P8 Andariel didn't last too long either. She succumbed after an unusual game of "run around the pond and cast Meteors in front of yourself and keep running so that Andy walks underneath it just as it lands". After a couple warm-up laps, I had the timing down and scored direct hits at will. She didn't drop any greens.

Having reached the desert, Pepper hired herself a new Holy Freeze merc. Poor Pratham has no weapon, but the slowing and extra cold damage is helpful. The Sewers were difficult, thanks to fire-resistant ranged attackers. However, the power of Meteor overcame them, somewhat nerfing this redundant shrine. A fiery death? No kidding!
Radamant's minions were shattered with Glacial Spikes fired just before the meteors hit. He eventually killed Pratham, but by that time I had a blanket of meteor fire underneath him, and he soon perished.

We paid a vist to the Stony Tomb. Creepy withstood enough fire to swat the merc once, but that's all the satisfaction he got.
Next up: Halls of the Dead. Rather than freeze-shatter all the skellies, I focused meteors from afar, directly onto the unravelers. Two shots were usually enough. After a messy battle against several small packs, I scanned the floor and was shocked to see my best find yet, a real game-breaker:

Hwanin's Justice
Bill
Two Hand Damage: 42 - 159
Durability: 33 of 50
Required Level: 28
Required Strength: 95
Fingerprint: 0x8886576c
Item Level: 44
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
200% Enhanced Damage
+330 to Attack Rating
+5 - 25 Lightning Damage
40% Increased Attack Speed
Indestructible
10% Chance to cast level 3 Ice Blast on striking

:jig: Hot damn! :jig: What an awesome find! (with 24% MF).
After a celebratory roasting of Bloodwitch, I worked backwards to mop up. I improved my boots again: another pair of Sigon's with 1 extra defense. :thankyou:

Here's a look at Pratham's stats. Now's he's more than just a walking aura.

Pepper's damage:
Meteor 2916-3111
Fireball 1421-1613

A couple nice additional finds:
Serpent's (47) GC of Inertia. :thumbup: So very helpful for Pepper's mana supply.
Azure (3) SC of Sustenance (14)

[highlight]Destroyer Pepper, Fireball/Meteor Sorc, level 55, Act 2 NM, Far Oasis[/highlight]

 

[Morathi1]

Re: Green with Envy II Tournament

Great work Wayne :thumbup:.

Good to see that your item luck is improving and especially in finding Hwanin's Justice :smug:. It must be a real relief to find the only available act 2 merc weapon :nod:. And if i remember correctly your Bowler's merc in the original Green With Envy ended up being weaponless. So it would be a nice addition having a weapon wielding merc .

 

[jgreg7]

Re: Green with Envy II Tournament

After a messy battle against several small packs, I scanned the floor and was shocked to see my best find yet, a real game-breaker

Awesome find! It must feel nice to finally have any weapon on the merc, and this one actually has useful mods (unlike much of the equipment we are carrying around). I find the 10% Chance To Cast Level 3 Ice Blast On Striking helpful for slowing down monsters and letting Mizan get a few jabs in.

Keep up the good work!

 

[jiansonz]

Re: Green with Envy II Tournament

Wow, nice find with Hwanin´s Bill! :thumbup:
Should we take it as a sign you have picked the right merc type?



Allisandrina has defeated Duriel. This act was all about toughing up for both her and the Shadow Warrior. Shadow has over 1000 life now, and Alli has about 740. It is much less scary to play now. Lightning resist is still not good (and I even had to sacrifice some fire resist to get it up to its current 20%) but at least I do not need to fear sparks from regular beetles.
(well, as long as I am not spending a long time among them...)

Greens found in the act:
Hsaru´s Iron Fist
Arctic Binding (in in-game stash all the time now - I want more pieces!)
Milabrega´s Robe
Berserker´s Hatchet

I have 13 greens equipped now. Only merc weapon, amulet and the second ring slot are empty.

If I want to equip Mil´s armor, I need to invest 29 points in Strength. The only notable bonus I´d get in that case is +50 life on the shield. Nice, but if I put those points in Vitality instead, I get +87 life, so no thanks...at least for the time being. Other set items that complicate things might drop, though.

MF is now up to +30%, thanks to a 4/3 Crimson Small Charm of Luck.

I have spent millions fruitlessly gambling amulets (with occasional Boots, Quilted Armors, Sabres, Caps and Light Gauntlets thrown in).


[Highlight]Destroyer Allisandrina the Phoenix Striker and Narphet the Cold Mage, level 60, NM Spider Forest next[/Highlight]

 

[jgreg7]

Re: Green with Envy II Tournament

I have spent millions fruitlessly gambling amulets (with occasional Boots, Quilted Armors, Sabres, Caps and Light Gauntlets thrown in).

I hear you there! All of Venus' gambling cash now goes to amulets. However, the fights are starting to get tough enough that merc resurrections are taking a serious bits as well.

I have been saving 20 stat points in case she gets an amazing set drop. Milabrega´s Robe certainly wouldn't count! I've swapped her primary weapon to Arcanna’s deathwand, so she isn't even carrying the shield (with its MF) either. I wanted the killing power more.

As of yesterday Venus has visited the Countess. The Countess was holding an El and an Eld. Blech! Good thing this character doesn't use runes!

[highlight]Venus, clvl 73, Score 164, Last WP: Black Marsh(H) [/highlight]

 

[Insane Wayne]

Re: Green with Envy II Tournament

Happy times for Pepper, Act 2 NM has been very good to her.
What an amazing turn-around considering the junk I had in late Act 1. Of course, the Hwanin's Bill from earlier was superb, but Pepper's luck didn't end there.

First, a nice belt. At last, a freakin' 4-row belt! More mana!
Later, a helpful mask. :grin: I sense conflict ahead, as Pepper and Pratham each clutch a horn and have a tug-of-war over this fine hat.
Then, one of the False Tomb sparklies served up set quality. 30 cold resist and 20 FCR! Faster Fireball, Spike, TK, and Teleport!
Finally, the notorious miserly slug , Duriel himself, drops... un-junkily! A miracle! The helm is Pepper's 3rd Isenhart piece (sword/armor). Bonuses include +10 str, +16 dex, and 8% resist-all. The shield is far more impactful, and is Pepper's 3rd Sigon piece (belt/boots). Notable bonuses:

Increased blocking. (combined with Isenhart dex bonus, blocking went from "negligible", to 27%.)
+1 skills. This alone improved Meteor power by 500 damage!
+50% MF, more than doubling my Mil's shield/green MF jewel amount. :thumbup:

Additional finds:
Small Charm of Fortune (3%). I'm up to a "grand" total of 53 MF! :rolf: But I'll take it.
Jewel of Knowledge (+5 energy). Sadly, this is my best green jewel.
Some very bright gloves.
cracked Giant Conch, from the Wanderer's worms, Pepper's first elite item.

Some action screens:
Weakest stairtrap ever! A loner!
Teasing Fangskin. I had to stay careful, because every stray bit of lightning puts Pepper in hit recovery.
The good ol' trusty safety cage.
Fire vs. Fire. (Pepper won handily.)
False Tomb unraveler chaos. Most of the tombs spawned unraveler/skellies. Play-style was absolutely manic; dodging beetle lightning, poison, unholy bolts, resurrections, wild teleports. Pepper is so fragile. Very fun but exhausting.

Pepper's lightning resistance is now at minus 1. I think I better equip an extra SC to get back to positives.

The goods:

Sigon's Wrap
Plated Belt
Defense: 130
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Level: 6
Required Strength: 60
Fingerprint: 0x64871666
Item Level: 47
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+20 to Life
Fire Resist +20%
Set (2 item):
150 Defense (Based on Char Lvl)

Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Death Mask
Defense: 119
Durability: 17 of 20
Required Level: 66
Required Strength: 55
Fingerprint: 0xf814275d
Item Level: 48
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+60 to Life
+30 to Mana
+45 Defense
10% Life stolen per hit
10% Mana stolen per hit
All Resistances +15

Trang-Oul's Claws
Heavy Bracers
Defense: 73
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Level: 45
Required Strength: 58
Fingerprint: 0x5d7255f0
Item Level: 49
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+30 Defense
Cold Resist +30%
20% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Curses (Necromancer only)
25% to Poison Skill Damage

Isenhart's Horns
Full Helm
Defense: 25
Durability: 30 of 30
Required Level: 8
Required Strength: 41
Fingerprint: 0x50333847
Item Level: 55
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+6 to Dexterity
Damage Reduced by 2
Set (2 item):
Fire Resist +8%
Lightning Resist +8%
Cold Resist +8%
Poison Resist +8%

Sigon's Guard
Tower Shield
Defense: 22
Durability: 60 of 60
Required Level: 6
Required Strength: 75
Fingerprint: 0xc4b5a5bb
Item Level: 55
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
20% Increased Chance of Blocking
+1 to All Skills

[highlight]Destroyer Pepper, Fireball/Meteor Sorc, level 60, Act 3 NM, Kurast Docks[/highlight]

 

[sequana]

Re: Green with Envy II Tournament

Nice that this thread is busy again and congrats to all progressing :thumbup:.

Name            Character         Class      Area          Level    Points 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
sequana         Filip             Necro      Kurast Bazaar(H)76      192
jgreg7          Venus             Sorceress  Black Marsh(H)  73      164
Road Ratt       Rebel Jen         Amazon     Rogue Camp(H)   75      151
Insane Wayne    Pepper            Sorceress  Kurast Dcoks(NM)60       60+
jiansonz        Allisandrina      Assassin   Kurast Dcoks(NM)60       26+
Charlo          Fice              Sorceress  Lut Gholein(NM) 52      102
Slayer37        Bella             Assassin   Jail (NM)       51       86
Es Mors         Prisikelk         Necro      Arreat Summit   35       73
Profound        Roy               Barbarian  Lower Kurast    30       42
Jabari          Arimos            Druid      Palace Cellar   24       17
Barkstav        Dorothea          Sorceress  Lost City       25       12
Ikeren          Javazon           Amazon     Lut Gholein     25       12
EmperorMoo      Monster           Necro      Lut Gholein     19        9
Ikuze           H-lessChick       Amazon     Palace Cellar   25        7
Harrid          Veridian          Assassin   Halls o/t Dead  22        1
topoada         NaturalKingCole   Druid      Lut Gholein     20        1
Arkansaw        Sincro            Necro      Burial Grounds   8        1
Low Key         Avarice           Assassin   Rogue Camp       1        0
Hoop76          ?                 ?????      Rogue Camp       1        0
howdidigethere  Mikey             Paladin    Rogue Camp       1        0
Derivial        Zealot            Paladin    Rogue Camp       1        0
Soi Lo          Og                Barbarian  Rogue Camp       1        0
Turbocannon     Gaia              Assassin   Rogue Encampment 1        0
nilynrae        VincentPrice      Necro      Rogue Camp       7       -1
Imploder        Kyouken           Druid      Cold Plains      7       -3
erimatbrad      Futility          Sorceress  Rogue Camp      12       -5
SomethingProf   Meridian          Druid      Cold Plain      12       -8
Lostprophet     Sadler            Sorceress  Inner Cloister  19        ?

RIP
Name            Character    Class       Area            Level    Points 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bassano         envylord      Necro      Viper temple(H)   72      170
Merlin          Mihanti       Trapsin    Black Marsh(H)    77      165
StevehRogers    MrsGreen      Sorceress  Kurast Docks NM   60      108
StevehRogers    The Hulk      Necro      River of Flame    35       79
iomanip         Blisters      Sorceress  flayer dungeon(N) 46       72
DuesNox         MutNinjaTurt  Assassin   Outer Cloister(N) 48       77
Merlin          Buggha        Druid      Chaos Sanctuary   35       47
Es Mors         Kelkis        Necro      Swampy Pit lvl3   25       30
Morathi         Cosi          Druid      Chaos Sanctuary   35       23
Charlo          God_Himself   Paladin    Dark Wood         14       -2
linkato1        Albert        Paladin    The Barracks      17       -3

(Not everyone has posted score so table isn't fully updated.)


[Highlight] Filip, Necromancer, Act III Hell – Kurast Bazaar, level 76, points 192 [/highlight]

lvl 76................-76
Qs 68...............136
WPs 102..............102
greens 10............ 30
-----------------------
Total ........... 192

Filip managed to fight with Duriel. He was lucky for monster roll in Tomb, where were those big Blunderbores, who served as wonderful revives, Duriel was down in a while, iirc Filip drank just one mana potion and merc at most one rejuvenation potion.

In act III Filip reached Kurast Bazaar, proceeding through first part of act III was quite fast thanks to CE, poor flayers were without chance. Only fear were these (be far far far away) and these (even though I stood really far as you can see, nova after his death reached Filip and he survived with ~ 60 hitpoints rest, quite scarying while).

Nice drop – merc has finally green helm:

Naj's Circlet
Circlet
Defense: 105
Durability: 19 of 35
Required Level: 28
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 79
Fingerprint: 0x3315d86b
+15 to Strength
+75 Defense
Adds 25-35 fire damage
+5 to Light Radius
12% Chance to cast Level 5 Chain Lightning when struck

And nice reroll:

Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 79
Fingerprint: 0xbf5fafc5
+19 to Life

 

[jiansonz]

Re: Green with Envy II Tournament

@Insane Wayne: Those were some great drops indeed. And so many!
(btw, I love that last screenie: sorceress in cap type helms look so "girl
scout"-ish, and that big sword goes nicely with that...)

@sequana: Yikes on that Endugu incident! He can´t have been standing this far away at his death, right? Or was it the "extra" death explosion from the little guy?


Allisandrina has made it thought the jungle and got the LK waypoint successfully. Nothing too dangerous along the way.

Sszark was the most dangerous: LE and killed my Shadow quickly a number of times. I found a safe way to win the fight because a minion was around, and I managed to rain down 2x Meteor on that minion, then after the Shadow died, I used Mind Blast to keep Sszark in the flames.

Gloams in the Marsh. They did surprisingly little damage considering my crappy lightning resist (btw, it´s even worse than I said - just 14% at the start of the act. 17% now thanks to a Shimmering Small Charm I found.).

In the Flayer Dungeon, I found the only set item so far in the act - Cleglaw´s Tooth. I put it on the merc slot for the rest of the session because I had problems with storage space. So I had 14 greens equipped for a short while, but only 13 now that I have decided to make the weapon switch something Allisandrina should use during the tough moments. She has Cleglaw´s Tooth and Isenhart´s Parry there. My best resists- and blocking setup, best weapon range, plus my best 'chance to hit' setup by far (and the big +max. damage partial bonus makes Blade Fury actually do notable physical damage).


[Highlight]Destroyer Allisandrina the Phoenix Striker and Narphet the Cold Mage, level 61, NM Swampy Pit next[/Highlight]

 

[Insane Wayne]

Re: Green with Envy II Tournament

Pepper's good fortune continued into Act 3, although not much happened in the early stages. With my 5% lightning resist, I wasn't too happy about gloams in the Great Marsh. I had to be extra vigilant about waking them up in small groups. I was hit with a multi-stream on one occasion, which left me with a trace amount of visible life in the bulb. Luckily they weren't minion or champ gloams. A quick rejuv pulled me through. The first Great Marsh sparkly chest area dropped a Spire of Lazarus. 75% lightning resist! What a tease!

Swampy Pit and Flayer Dungeon were exhausting, because of stupid undead dolls throughout. A critical strike death burst could be the end of Pepper, and the flames made it hard to track them. Thus I advanced very slowly. On several occasions I found myself frantically teleporting away to safety.

When I hit Kurast, I really turned up the heat, blitzing through the open areas. I'm happy to report Pepper finally found a green amulet! After identifying it, I immediately swapped to an alternate weapon I had on the switch. Behold the awesome Tancred MF power! :thumbup:
Also, the weapon bonus is +20 mana. Icing on the cake!
My MF climbed from 53% to 131%. I lost 10 dex (notably blocking%) from the Isenhart sword bonus, but the MF is well worth it. I expect to see some dividends. :yes:

I cubed all my gems to perfect and rerolled grand charms. No luck there, my best result had +43 mana.

Another green jewel:
Brown Jewel of Honor (heal stamina 14% and +1 life replenish)

[highlight]Destroyer Pepper, Fireball/Meteor Sorc, level 62, Act 3 NM, Upper Kurast[/highlight]

 

[Charlo]

Re: Green with Envy II Tournament

Struggle for awhile to get back to playing but im back to see this tournament to the bitter END!

ACT III(NM)

Took awhile to stumble upon the spider cavern but once i got through it the flayer dungeon was right next store along with the gidbinn quest.(happy dayz)

Battle my way through the weaves and bends great marsh and falyer dungeon...nothing special

Came to kurast and found the ruined temple...went inside, BIG mistake! As soon as i was thrown inside BHAM! Hit by whaling beasts, banshees and warriors with high speed and curse. Escaped and had to retreat and save nd go back.

Got past that incident and rushed my way towards Mephisto! When i got there i was hit by very fast blood lords on the 3rd floor. Took awhile to beat them dwn but got there eventually, Merc really did his job as i ran around and around and around.

Mephisto fell alot easier than i though. Killed my merc easily but jst cept dodging his attacks and he went down. Dropped HellMouth war gauntlets. If only i could wear them! Their defence is more than my entire outift nearly. Picked up sigon's sabot greaves..no use to me as i have demonhides rite o passage

Fice, ACT IV(NM), Pandemonium Fortress



Level: 61 x -1 = -61
WPs: 67 x 1 = 67
Quests: 45 x 2 = 90
Set items: 16 x 3 = 48
-----------------------
Total: 144

Name            Character         Class      Area          Level    Points 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
sequana         Filip             Necro      Kurast Bazaar(H)76      192
jgreg7          Venus             Sorceress  Black Marsh(H)  73      164
Road Ratt       Rebel Jen         Amazon     Rogue Camp(H)   75      151
Charlo          Fice              Sorceress  Pandemonium(NM) 62      144
Insane Wayne    Pepper            Sorceress  Kurast Dcoks(NM)60       60+
jiansonz        Allisandrina      Assassin   Kurast Dcoks(NM)60       26+
Slayer37        Bella             Assassin   Jail (NM)       51       86
Es Mors         Prisikelk         Necro      Arreat Summit   35       73
Profound        Roy               Barbarian  Lower Kurast    30       42
Jabari          Arimos            Druid      Palace Cellar   24       17
Barkstav        Dorothea          Sorceress  Lost City       25       12
Ikeren          Javazon           Amazon     Lut Gholein     25       12
EmperorMoo      Monster           Necro      Lut Gholein     19        9
Ikuze           H-lessChick       Amazon     Palace Cellar   25        7
Harrid          Veridian          Assassin   Halls o/t Dead  22        1
topoada         NaturalKingCole   Druid      Lut Gholein     20        1
Arkansaw        Sincro            Necro      Burial Grounds   8        1
Low Key         Avarice           Assassin   Rogue Camp       1        0
Hoop76          ?                 ?????      Rogue Camp       1        0
howdidigethere  Mikey             Paladin    Rogue Camp       1        0
Derivial        Zealot            Paladin    Rogue Camp       1        0
Soi Lo          Og                Barbarian  Rogue Camp       1        0
Turbocannon     Gaia              Assassin   Rogue Encampment 1        0
nilynrae        VincentPrice      Necro      Rogue Camp       7       -1
Imploder        Kyouken           Druid      Cold Plains      7       -3
erimatbrad      Futility          Sorceress  Rogue Camp      12       -5
SomethingProf   Meridian          Druid      Cold Plain      12       -8
Lostprophet     Sadler            Sorceress  Inner Cloister  19        ?

RIP
Name            Character    Class       Area            Level    Points 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bassano         envylord      Necro      Viper temple(H)   72      170
Merlin          Mihanti       Trapsin    Black Marsh(H)    77      165
StevehRogers    MrsGreen      Sorceress  Kurast Docks NM   60      108
StevehRogers    The Hulk      Necro      River of Flame    35       79
iomanip         Blisters      Sorceress  flayer dungeon(N) 46       72
DuesNox         MutNinjaTurt  Assassin   Outer Cloister(N) 48       77
Merlin          Buggha        Druid      Chaos Sanctuary   35       47
Es Mors         Kelkis        Necro      Swampy Pit lvl3   25       30
Morathi         Cosi          Druid      Chaos Sanctuary   35       23
Charlo          God_Himself   Paladin    Dark Wood         14       -2
linkato1        Albert        Paladin    The Barracks      17       -3

 

[jiansonz]

Re: Green with Envy II Tournament

When I hit Kurast, I really turned up the heat, blitzing through the open areas. I'm happy to report Pepper finally found a green amulet! After identifying it, I immediately swapped to an alternate weapon I had on the switch. Behold the awesome Tancred MF power! :thumbup:
Also, the weapon bonus is +20 mana. Icing on the cake!
My MF climbed from 53% to 131%. I lost 10 dex (notably blocking%) from the Isenhart sword bonus, but the MF is well worth it. I expect to see some dividends. :yes:

I am sure you do! You have a lot of ground to cover before it´s starting to become really hard; plenty of time to wear full MF gear.
Very appropriate tourney name - I now know what envy feels like...



Allisandrina, Narphet and the Shadow are moving on. The green drops are few, but one of them was at least very promising. An annoying and dangerous Holy Shock FE Wailing Beast boss gave me a second Angelic Halo! Alli´s current AR is about 1900 which leads to a lot of whiffing, but if she were to find another Angel´s item, she will never have AR problems again.

The only other green drop since the last update was the (pretty useless by itself) Civerb´s Cudgel.

There was a dangerous stairs trap in the Ruined Fane: Fanaticism LE beetle pack and some regular bats right by the entrance. With skill and luck, Allisandrina eluded their ambsuh and it was the merc and shadow that got surrounded by the stairs. They both died, but Alli had rained down enough flames by this time that the scary but quick fight was now over. Three Super Healers and three full rejuves used (some of those to keep Narphet alive during some critical moments Alli needed to safely unleash the flames).

Over 800 life now. Whee!


[Highlight]Destroyer Allisandrina the Phoenix Striker and Narphet the Cold Mage, level 62, NM Travincal next[/Highlight]

 

[Insane Wayne]

Re: Green with Envy II Tournament

An annoying and dangerous Holy Shock FE Wailing Beast boss gave me a second Angelic Halo!

I forgot to mention, Pepper is now sporting dual Cathans! (laughable compared to a couple Halos.)

You have a lot of ground to cover before it´s starting to become really hard; plenty of time to wear full MF gear.
Very appropriate tourney name - I now know what envy feels like...

Uh-oh, I am sorry to say I might make you feel slightly greener, MF-wise. But let me pick up where I left off... Kurast.

I feared the temples enough that I went in defensively: left-click Spike and right-click Teleport. Meteor would take too long to kill my way out of dangerous stairtraps. I don't know how I ran through these particular spiders avoiding poison, but I did. From a safe distance, I let the meteors fly. Next temple was much worse, I immediately dodged a group of beetles to Pepper's left, and recognized, too late, that I was running into a ceiling boss pack of bats. I teleported as they descended, barely avoiding them. After a couple blind teleports, we were in a room of snakes. Pratham survived the charges, I cast a meteor on them, then turned to plug up the door. Very close call with those bats, I think Pepper's life flashed before her eyes. That same temple, I executed a TK-Fire Shrine. Not exactly the smartest move in that situation, but who can resist a good Fire Shrining?

Down in the Sewers, Pepper chanced upon an unfortunate squad of mummies, trapped on a tiny ledge. Truly, my heart bled for them.
Indeed, there were plenty of opportunities to strand my foes, all too easy with fast-cast teleport. Extra Fast LE doll madness? Not today. Level 2 kept me honest, with a scary champion doll pack. Back on level one, I finished clearing a very peculiar looking map. I'm not a fan of the Sewers, but I do appreciate the incredible variety of bizarre formations it spawns.

No major trouble with the rest of Act 3. Pepper avoided the dolls throughout the Durance, racked up kills and loot, and gambled it away to no avail. Meph was moated (merc-friendly style, by trapping Pratham on Bremm's peninsula.) He dropped golds and yellows, including Lava Gout battle gauntlets. No help for Pepper, the last half of Act 3 had been green-free.

Act 4 provided Pepper with a taste of the truly difficult life. First, the fire-resistant balrogs required several meteors, just to get them warm and toasty. Quite a difference compared to 1-2 hit kills. Then, I met the knights, fire immune!! Keeping the merc upright required very defensive play with lots of teleports, Spike-freezing, and constant potions for both of us. I lowered the player setting to p5. Static, functioning at level 2, required uncomfortable closeness to cast. To remedy this, I placed both my Izual-reward points, and a level-up point, into Static, for a nice range increase. Much better.

Hephasto was Conviction LE Spectral Hit! Pepper's lightning resistance still sucks; I wasted no time locating a nice spot to moat him and kill him safely from afar. Hellforge dropped a Sol.

I dropped to p3 for the CS (damn FI knights again), but I did raise to p8 against the Seal bosses. De Seis switched auras (Holy Fire, nice...). Easy kill. I triggered Diablo at p8, and rushed to the center to await his appearance. When he arrived, I hyper-staticked him to the maximum damage threshhold, then teleported away with the merc in the red. Perfect. Pratham lasted just long enough (with 4 rejuvs) to die along with Diablo, who succumbed to meteor flames. He dropped blues and yellows. Wow, thanks D, what a awesome spear!

So, 1.5 Acts had passed without a single green item. :\ What about the afore-mentioned MF improvement? Well, I was struggling along the Bloody Foothills against p8 fire-resistant burning archers. I'm not too fond of the area, because of catapult nuisance, and frequent lack of boss packs (gib loot and XP!) This was one of those times, very little was gained while enduring harsh conditions. I had cleared about 80% of the area including Shenk. After a long dry session, a dud area like this sometimes tempts me to pack it in, hit the WP, and call it a day. But I ignored the urge and retraced the Hills, heading downward, to mop up, and received a reward! :grin:

This nice find prompted a gear shuffling. Isenhart's armor/helm were ditched, sacrificing the +10 str and 8% resist-all bonuses. Saved points went to Str to make up the difference. Infernal Cap and Sigon's armor were equipped, net gaining a significant amount of resistance (notably lightning, Pepper's bane, which is up to 48 now (fire/cold at 33/63)). With the Sigon armor/belt/boot combo, I already qualified for the +50% MF bonus. Thus, I stashed Sigon's shield, and re-introduced Milabrega's (socketed with the 4% green MF jewel). In addition, the session netted 2 more MF charms, 3% SC and 9% GC, which rasied Pepper's grand total to +167%MF, not too shabby for a greener. :smug:

I'll miss the +skill from Sigon's shield, but I can go without it for now. I want another quality green or two (maybe another Tal's mask :wink2 to feel better about Hell, so I need all the MF I can get.

However, there has been a price for this change. Pepper is now the weirdest-looking sorc I've ever seen.

Other finds:
Entrapping GC
Lucky LC (1%, this one I passed on...)

[highlight]Destroyer Pepper, Fireball/Meteor Sorc, level 67, Act 5 NM, Frigid Highlands[/highlight]

 

[jiansonz]

Re: Green with Envy II Tournament

Back on level one, I finished clearing a very peculiar looking map. I'm not a fan of the Sewers, but I do appreciate the incredible variety of bizarre formations it spawns.

Indeed. Even when you think you have seen it all, the game can still come up with another version. It´s the same with the jungle, to a extent.

Wow, thanks D, what a awesome spear!

Did you know that on the first kill (which is all us single-pass players will ever experience), act bosses are forced to roll rare or better for all weapons, armor and jewelry? So this a failed set Spear.


Nice find with Sigon´s Shelter! It certainly helped to improve the resists.

However, there has been a price for this change. Pepper is now the weirdest-looking sorc I've ever seen.

Adorable! :thumbup:

 

[Morathi1]

Re: Green with Envy II Tournament

May i firstly say well done to the remaining contestants :thumbup:.

@Insane Wayne. Awesome update yet again and thats one awesome spear :grin:. Loved the write-up and the screenies as well.

@Jiansonz. Good to see your Sin is going along nicely. And thank jgreg7 for the tournament name, as this was his original tournament, i was just the one to resurrect it :smug:.

 

[jgreg7]

Re: Green with Envy II Tournament

And thank jgreg7 for the tournament name, as this was his original tournament, i was just the one to resurrect it.

My ears are burning! :loveblush: Thanks to you for giving this concept a second go. Unfortunately I have been traveling, so no new action for Venus. Maybe tomorrow...

In the meantime, nice going Insane Wayne and Jiansonz. I always enjoy the accounts of your characters' heroics.