Guardian #15 – Bad_Cologne or: 15 years of a bountyhunting Bonemancer [tournament]

Jan 3, 2007
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Hello everybody, this is the final update on my Necromancer Bad_Cologne from the Bountyhunter tournament which started in … 2007! Phew, this was a hard tournament. Probably the hardest I’ve done so far (I did kill a Paladin at level 84 in this tournament before after all…).

Actually, I started the character in 2011 after killing my first entrant in late Act V Hell...

Screenshot015.jpg

- you have one randomly rolled "trophymob" from each act. You may only pick up and use items dropped from those monsters (plus potions/scrolls)

- the superunique monsters' drops from those trophymobs you HAVE to use - they trump the drops from normal trophymob monsters

- you randomly roll one act boss: the drops from them are "jokers" - they can trump normal drops/are interchangable with forced drops from trophymobs, but don't need to

- Anya personalize is a joker, too: if used on a regular (trophymob!) drop, it gets superunique status

- same rules apply to merc

- basically means: no buying, no gambling. Crafting is difficult, Runewords very difficult to achieve.

- no summonings

Skills:

- No summoned creatures allowed.

- Barbarian : No Find Item, Find potion.

- Assassin : No Death Sentry, Lightning Sentry.

- Amazon : No Lightning Fury.

- Necromancer : no Summon tree skills

- Paladin : No Blessed Hammer

- Sorceress : No Hydra, Meteor, FO, Blizzard, Chain Lightning.

- Druid : No ravens, wolves, grizzly, poison creeper or tornado


So yeah, really some tough restrictions and you were often depending on pure luck if your trophymobs spawned at all.

I’d say I had some pretty good rolls overall:

Act IGoatman
Act IIBaboon Demon
Act IIIWillowisp
Act IVOblivion Knight
Act VBaal's Minion
BossAndariel


Andariel as an early Act Boss for joker items was good and, with the exception of Baboon Demons, the rest usually spawned aplenty and Willowisp at least promised some rune drops.

I decided to go with a Bonemancer, because I hadn’t tried one of those yet and summons were off-limit.

Most of Bad_cologne’s journey can be found in the archives. One update is in my Tournament Character Showcase thread.

My last stop was The Ancient’s Way and I carefully made my way through the passage doing full clears at /p1. Boss packs of Frenzytaurs were nasty, as were witches who could kill my merc in an instant if I didn’t pay attention. Remember that I don’t have lots of money, because I am not allowed to pick up and sell most items. So I chickened out of a fight often to prevent my merc from dying, using the patented solution of Bone Prison and then … runaway and TP!

Once I climbed the Arreat Summit, I faced the Ancients, only to immediately despawn them using a TP because of cursed and some other nasty mods. Luckily I noticed that I burnt my last TP scroll in the process and went back to town in time to restack on TP scrolls.

I then placed ~25 Super Healing and Super Mana potions around the Altar, equipped my merc with his mighty “Malice” Fuscina to stop regeneration and then tried to split up the Ancients, which is a pain to do with only Bone Prison (which is useless against 2 of 3 Ancients thanks to Leap Attack and Whirlwind), Decrepify and Bone Spear.

After like 10 rerolls and 5 merc resurrections (I tried to engage some of the rolls and overlooked some nasty mods like…Might Aura) (gulp… 200k gold left) I finally rolled some Ancients I could engage AND I even managed to split them up: First Korlic, then Madawc, and then Talic, who killed my merc midway through the fight, but with Decrepify, Bone Spear and 20 Mana pots left, I finally overcame him, too. Only 3 merc resurrections left, though…

I had bad spawns in the entire Keep (regarding my trophymobs): Only at level 3 I had some of Baal’s minions, but the bosses of those packs were always Overlords, so no good last minute drops for me. Heading to Baal’s throne room, I had some Willowisps, but again no notable drops from them.

The waves were surprisingly easy: I thought that wave 2 would be bad due to Magic Immunity, but I could kill the skeletons and the use Corpse Explosion to kill the Mummies.

Waves 3 to 5 were all blocked by Bone Prisons and then killed with Bone Spear and CE (and my merc poking over the Bone Prison walls).

Baal himself wasn’t too bad either, because - as probably all of you know – Decrepify really owns Baal. I switched back and forth between Malice (for the bleeding) and the more damaging rare Thresher while I kept spamming Bone Spears from a safe distance, interrupted only to refresh Decrepify. Took some trips to town to refill on Mana potions (I needed around 22 or so) and then Baal went down and dropped…a Festering Essence of Destruction :(

Name: Bad_Cologne
Class: Necromancer
Experience: 1043632553
Level: 84

Naked/Gear
Strength: 58/67
Dexterity: 25/31
Vitality: 402/402
Energy: 25/30
HP: 1000/1115
Mana: 190/245
Stamina: 547/567
Defense: 6/191
AR: 80/660

Fire: 184/144/84
Cold: 136/96/36
Lightning: 175/135/75
Poison: 155/115/55

MF: 30 Block: 2
GF: 31
FR/W: 45
FHR: 89
IAS: 0
FCR: 54

Amplify Damage: 1/2
Dim Vision: 1/2
Weaken: 1/2
Iron Maiden: 1/8
Terror: 1/2
Confuse: 1/2
Life Tap: 1/2
Attract: 1/2
Decrepify: 1/4
Lower Resist: 0/0

Teeth: 1/1
Bone Armor: 1/1
Poison Dagger: 0/0
Corpse Explosion: 20/20
Bone Wall: 20/20
Poison Explosion: 0/0
Bone Spear: 20/23
Bone Prison: 20/20
Poison Nova: 0/0
Bone Spirit: 4/4

Skeleton Mastery: 0/0
Raise Skeleton: 0/0
Clay Golem: 0/0
Golem Mastery: 0/1
Raise Skeletal Mage: 0/0
Blood Golem: 0/0
Summon Resist: 0/0
Iron Golem: 0/3
Fire Golem: 0/0
Revive: 0/0

The journey was fun, but strenuous. It really was a sort of micromanagement to separate your trophymobs from non-trophymobs and resources were scarce. I picked up Arrows, Bolts and Antidote potions for a very long time to sell them for a meagre profit, but at some point it wasn’t worth it anymore (TP scrolls cost gold after all, too).

The Bonemancer hat very bad gear to choose from and so he lacked some firepower in late Hell. Also, I could have made better use of curses through the game and a Fishymancer would have been much safer, but as the Summon skill tree was forbidden…

I liked the challenge of the tournament, but managing the drops was only initially something new and fun and became tiring later in the game. For additional challenges in tournaments, I liked the XP based unlocking of certain skills/items etc. from the Ability Scroll Tournament more.

Thanks for reading and see you all around! Hopefully soon with an Assassin Guardian, the only character type missing in my Guardian collection.

- you have one randomly rolled "trophymob" from each act. You may only pick up and use items dropped from those monsters (plus potions/scrolls)

- the superunique monsters' drops from those trophymobs you HAVE to use - they trump the drops from normal trophymob monsters

- you randomly roll one act boss: the drops from them are "jokers" - they can trump normal drops/are interchangable with forced drops from trophymobs, but don't need to

- Anya personalize is a joker, too: if used on a regular (trophymob!) drop, it gets superunique status

- same rules apply to merc

- basically means: no buying, no gambling. Crafting is difficult, Runewords very difficult to achieve.

- no summonings

Skills:

- No summoned creatures allowed.

- Barbarian : No Find Item, Find potion.

- Assassin : No Death Sentry, Lightning Sentry.

- Amazon : No Lightning Fury.

- Necromancer : no Summon tree skills

- Paladin : No Blessed Hammer

- Sorceress : No Hydra, Meteor, FO, Blizzard, Chain Lightning.

- Druid : No ravens, wolves, grizzly, poison creeper or tornado

So yeah, really some tough restrictions and you were often depending on pure luck if your trophymobs spawned at all.

I’d say I had some pretty good rolls overall:

Act IGoatman
Act IIBaboon Demon
Act IIIWillowisp
Act IVOblivion Knight
Act VBaal's Minion
BossAndariel


Andariel as an early Act Boss for joker items was good and, with the exception of Baboon Demons, the rest usually spawned aplenty and Willowisp at least promised some rune drops.

I decided to go with a Bonemancer, because I hadn’t tried one of those yet and summons were off-limit.

Most of Bad_cologne’s journey can be found in the archives. One update is in my Tournament Character Showcase thread. (https://www.purediablo.com/forums/threads/grisu’s-tournament-character-showcase.1882/#post-39283)

My last stop was The Ancient’s Way and I carefully made my way through the passage doing full clears at /p1. Boss packs of Frenzytaurs were nasty, as were witches who could kill my merc in an instant if I didn’t pay attention. Remember that I don’t have lots of money, because I am not allowed to pick up and sell most items. So I chickened out of a fight often to prevent my merc from dying, using the patented solution of Bone Prison and then … runaway and TP!

Once I climbed the Arreat Summit, I faced the Ancients, only to immediately despawn them using a TP because of cursed and some other nasty mods. Luckily I noticed that I burnt my last TP scroll in the process and went back to town in time to restack on TP scrolls.

I then placed ~25 Super Healing and Super Mana potions around the Altar, equipped my merc with his mighty “Malice” Fuscina to stop regeneration and then tried to split up the Ancients, which is a pain to do with only Bone Prison (which is useless against 2 of 3 Ancients thanks to Leap Attack and Whirlwind), Decrepify and Bone Spear.

After like 10 rerolls and 5 merc resurrections (I tried to engage some of the rolls and overlooked some nasty mods like…Might Aura) (gulp… 200k gold left) I finally rolled some Ancients I could engage AND I even managed to split them up: First Korlic, then Madawc, and then Talic, who killed my merc midway through the fight, but with Decrepify, Bone Spear and 20 Mana pots left, I finally overcame him, too. Only 3 merc resurrections left, though…
Screenshot002.jpg
Screenshot003.jpg
Screenshot004.jpg

I had bad spawns in the entire Keep (regarding my trophymobs): Only at level 3 I had some of Baal’s minions, but the bosses of those packs were always Overlords, so no good last minute drops for me. Heading to Baal’s throne room, I had some Willowisps, but again no notable drops from them.

The waves were surprisingly easy: I thought that wave 2 would be bad due to Magic Immunity, but I could kill the skeletons and the use Corpse Explosion to kill the Mummies.

Waves 3 to 5 were all blocked by Bone Prisons and then killed with Bone Spear and CE (and my merc poking over the Bone Prison walls).
Screenshot010.jpg

Baal himself wasn’t too bad either, because - as probably all of you know – Decrepify really owns Baal. I switched back and forth between Malice (for the bleeding) and the more damaging rare Thresher while I kept spamming Bone Spears from a safe distance, interrupted only to refresh Decrepify.
Screenshot013.jpg
Took some trips to town to refill on Mana potions (I needed around 22 or so) and then Baal went down and dropped…a Festering Essence of Destruction :(
Screenshot014.jpg

Name: Bad_Cologne
Class: Necromancer
Experience: 1043632553
Level: 84

Naked/Gear
Strength: 58/67
Dexterity: 25/31
Vitality: 402/402
Energy: 25/30
HP: 1000/1115
Mana: 190/245
Stamina: 547/567
Defense: 6/191
AR: 80/660

Fire: 184/144/84
Cold: 136/96/36
Lightning: 175/135/75
Poison: 155/115/55

MF: 30 Block: 2
GF: 31
FR/W: 45
FHR: 89
IAS: 0
FCR: 54

Amplify Damage: 1/2
Dim Vision: 1/2
Weaken: 1/2
Iron Maiden: 1/8
Terror: 1/2
Confuse: 1/2
Life Tap: 1/2
Attract: 1/2
Decrepify: 1/4
Lower Resist: 0/0

Teeth: 1/1
Bone Armor: 1/1
Poison Dagger: 0/0
Corpse Explosion: 20/20
Bone Wall: 20/20
Poison Explosion: 0/0
Bone Spear: 20/23
Bone Prison: 20/20
Poison Nova: 0/0
Bone Spirit: 4/4

Skeleton Mastery: 0/0
Raise Skeleton: 0/0
Clay Golem: 0/0
Golem Mastery: 0/1
Raise Skeletal Mage: 0/0
Blood Golem: 0/0
Summon Resist: 0/0
Iron Golem: 0/3
Fire Golem: 0/0
Revive: 0/0

Bad_Cologne's Bone Star
Bone Wand
One Hand Damage: 3 - 7
Durability: 15 of 15
Required Level: 48
Fingerprint: 0x513d182b
Item Level: 52
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Curses (Necromancer only)
+20% Faster Cast Rate
Adds 1 - 177 Lightning Damage
Adds 7 - 20 Cold Damage Over 1 Secs (25 Frames)
4% Life stolen per hit
+3 to Iron Golem (Necromancer Only)
+3 to Bone Spear (Necromancer Only)
+3 to Iron Maiden (Necromancer Only)
Level 1 Enchant (11/11 Charges)

Cruel Emblem
Unraveller Head
Defense: 19
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Level: 31
Required Strength: 18
Fingerprint: 0xf95325c3
Item Level: 78
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+17% Faster Hit Recovery
Adds 5 - 14 Poison Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
+2 to Decrepify (Necromancer Only)
+1 to Golem Mastery (Necromancer Only)
+3 to Iron Maiden (Necromancer Only)
+75% Enhanced Defense
+6 to Life
All Resistances +39
Fire Resist +18%
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Perfect Diamond

Raven Collar
Amulet
Required Level: 41
Fingerprint: 0xd6343515
Item Level: 57
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+9% Faster Cast Rate
+59 to Life
+18 to Mana
Regenerate Mana 7%
Cold Resist +26%
Fire Resist +40%

Coral Ring
Ring
Required Level: 13
Fingerprint: 0x19788001
Item Level: 48
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Lightning Resist +29%

Rune Spur
Chain Boots
Defense: 15
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Level: 18
Required Strength: 30
Fingerprint: 0x1ec5388d
Item Level: 49
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20% Faster Run/Walk
+10% Faster Hit Recovery
+55% Enhanced Defense
+5 Maximum Stamina
Cold Resist +33%
10% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Wraith Circle
Ring
Required Level: 70
Fingerprint: 0x4483e4d7
Item Level: 71
Version: Expansion 1.10+
6% Life stolen per hit
+5 to Energy
+12 to Life
+13 to Mana
Regenerate Mana 8%
All Resistances +8
13% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Raven Crest
Death Mask
Defense: 82
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 55
Fingerprint: 0x6cd3a42d
Item Level: 82
Version: Expansion 1.10+
5% Bonus to Attack Rating
3% Mana stolen per hit
+19 to Mana
Regenerate Mana 9%
Lightning Resist +42%
Poison Length Reduced by 25%
+5 to Light Radius
2 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Ort Rune

Imp Lock
Mesh Belt
Defense: 35
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 58
Fingerprint: 0x8f88b9ca
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+24% Faster Hit Recovery
2% Life stolen per hit
9% Chance of Open Wounds
+9 to Strength
+17 to Life
Fire Resist +22%
Poison Resist +29%

Wraith Hold
Chain Gloves
Defense: 12
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Level: 49
Required Strength: 25
Fingerprint: 0x8b5fa60e
Item Level: 81
Version: Expansion 1.10+
5% Chance to cast level 4 Frost Nova when struck
3% Mana stolen per hit
Knockback
+28% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +23%
Poison Resist +19%
Attacker Takes Damage of 7

Bad_Cologne's Stealth
Hard Leather Armor
TalEth
Defense: 21
Durability: 28 of 28
Required Level: 17
Required Strength: 20
Fingerprint: 0x5ef21de8
Item Level: 13
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+25% Faster Run/Walk
+25% Faster Cast Rate
+25% Faster Hit Recovery
+6 to Dexterity
Regenerate Mana 15%
+15 Maximum Stamina
Poison Resist +30%
Magic Damage Reduced by 3
2 Sockets (2 used)
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Eth Rune

Weapon Switch:
Demon Horn
Long Bow
Two Hand Damage: 3 - 12
Durability: 20 of 28
Required Level: 3
Required Strength: 22
Required Dexterity: 19
Fingerprint: 0xfbb6f6b2
Item Level: 12
Version: Expansion 1.10+
23% Enhanced Damage
+20 to Attack Rating
Adds 1 - 5 Fire Damage
Adds 1 Cold Damage Over 2 Secs (50 Frames)
+2 to Dexterity

Lizard's Large Charm of Life
Large Charm
Required Level: 9
Fingerprint: 0xadf517f4
Item Level: 19
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+13 to Life
+4 to Mana

Lizard's Small Charm of Fortune
Small Charm
Required Level: 18
Fingerprint: 0x3499c649
Item Level: 60
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Mana
4% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Grand Charm of Greed
Grand Charm
Required Level: 14
Fingerprint: 0x318695e4
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
31% Extra Gold from Monsters

Tangerine Large Charm
Large Charm
Required Level: 1
Fingerprint: 0xd85bbdd5
Item Level: 10
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Lightning Resist +4%

Russet Large Charm
Large Charm
Required Level: 12
Fingerprint: 0x321ddae9
Item Level: 49
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Fire Resist +8%

Small Charm of Fortune
Small Charm
Required Level: 18
Fingerprint: 0x5fd1f3d2
Item Level: 48
Version: Expansion 1.10+
3% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Small Charm of Balance
Small Charm
Required Level: 29
Fingerprint: 0xd69b03ab
Item Level: 60
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+5% Faster Hit Recovery

Stout Large Charm of Balance
Large Charm
Required Level: 15
Fingerprint: 0x512cfefd
Item Level: 60
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+8% Faster Hit Recovery
+10 Defense

Russet Grand Charm of Life
Grand Charm
Required Level: 7
Fingerprint: 0x5877d8a4
Item Level: 19
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+8 to Life
Fire Resist +19%

Mercenary:

Name: Ahsab
Race: Desert Mercenary
Type: Def-Nightmare
Experience: 71995392
Level: 84
Dead?: false

Naked/Gear
Strength: 184/192
Dexterity: 148/148
HP: 1727/1749
Defense: 1274/1614
AR: 1898/1960

Fire: 148/108/48
Cold: 148/108/48
Lightning: 170/130/70
Poison: 187/147/87

Soul Shell
Winged Helm
Defense: 184
Durability: 29 of 40
Required Level: 27
Required Strength: 115
Fingerprint: 0xf16375cb
Item Level: 82
Version: Expansion 1.10+
12% Chance to cast level 4 Nova when struck
+86% Enhanced Defense
+2 to Energy
+7 to Life
Lightning Resist +7%
Poison Resist +12%


Hailstone Wrap
Plate Mail
Defense: 156
Durability: 40 of 60
Required Level: 35
Required Strength: 65
Fingerprint: 0x5be1df30
Item Level: 53
Version: Expansion 1.10+
1% Life stolen per hit
+34% Enhanced Defense
+2 to Strength
+15 to Life
Lightning Resist +15%
Poison Resist +27%
+2 Life after each Demon Kill
2 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Camphor Jewel

Camphor Jewel
Jewel
Required Level: 1
Fingerprint: 0x3da8c1f0
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Lightning Resist +15%


Brimstone Goad
Thresher
Two Hand Damage: 42 - 511
Durability: 65 of 65
Required Level: 53
Required Strength: 152
Required Dexterity: 118
Fingerprint: 0x43512057
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Masteries Skills (Barbarian Only)
253% Enhanced Damage
+14 to Maximum Damage
+62 to Attack Rating
+6 to Strength
Repairs 1 Durability in 33 Seconds

Malice
Fuscina
IthElEth
Two Hand Damage: 25 - 58
Durability: 18 of 35
Required Level: 24
Required Strength: 77
Required Dexterity: 25
Fingerprint: 0x3a531214
Item Level: 38
Version: Expansion 1.10+
33% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Maximum Damage
-25% Target Defense
+50 to Attack Rating
100% Chance of Open Wounds
Prevent Monster Heal
-100 to Monster Defense Per Hit
Replenish Life -5
+0 to Light Radius
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Ith Rune
Socketed: El Rune
Socketed: Eth Rune

The journey was fun, but strenuous. It really was a sort of micromanagement to separate your trophymobs from non-trophymobs and resources were scarce. I picked up Arrows, Bolts and Antidote potions for a very long time to sell them for a meagre profit, but at some point it wasn’t worth it anymore (TP scrolls cost gold after all, too).

The Bonemancer hat very bad gear to choose from and so he lacked some firepower in late Hell. Also, I could have made better use of curses through the game and a Fishymancer would have been much safer, but as the Summon skill tree was forbidden…I chose a Holy Freeze merc for the extra saftey, although it disrupted my CE plan once in a while with shattered corpses. I felt safer using him though than using a Might merc for example.

I liked the challenge of the tournament. While managing the drops was initially something new and fun, it became tiring later in the game. For additional challenges in tournaments, I liked the XP based unlocking of certain skills/items etc. from the Ability Scroll Tournament more. And the bookkeeping wasn't better for this tournament, because you had to keep track of what were superunique drops (MUST use), joker drops (overrides MUST use) and potentially usable items that could be upgraded to joker...you had to keep track, too, of gems and runes you cubed up. E.g. if you had a chipped diamond from a joker (Andariel), you could cube it up to perfect with bountymob drops of diamonds and then could insert it in a normal bountymob item, making it a joker item to trump a bad superunique drop...but you had to constantly keep track of the type of item grade it was (regular trophymob, superunique or joker). Sounds complicated? Well, it is. Still, thanks @Merlin for having such a great tournament idea, which was very unique in what I know of SPF tournaments :)

Thanks for reading and see you all around! Hopefully soon with an Assassin Guardian, the only character type missing in my Guardian collection.
 
What an accomplishment! thanks for sharing. Did you have to do full clears, and was rerunning allowed?
 
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Reactions: Grisu
Wow! That’s quite a grind! Congrats on the accomplishment and thanks for the write up. Fairly certain I remember reading your updates way back during my last foray into D2 (2012 or so) so it’s pretty cool to see the character completed all these years later!
 
  • Love
Reactions: Grisu
Yes, kudos on the patience and skill to make this Guardian happen. Quite the set of restrictions in that tournament!
 
  • Love
Reactions: Grisu
What an accomplishment! thanks for sharing. Did you have to do full clears, and was rerunning allowed?
I didn't have to do full clears, but I did. One could argue, that defeating non-trophymob monsters was a waste of time, but the additional XP and more skill points made up for this, I think. At the beginning of Hell, I switched player settings depending on potential monster spawns: If a trophymob could spawn, I chose a higher player setting than if no trophymob could spawn. I tried to increase the number of usable drops that way.

Rerunning was not allowed - this has only been introduced the last few years for tournaments :) Hence the full clears.
 
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