Hp_Sauce
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Guardian #8: Nils_Hanson - Ranger Paladin
Another one in the can, and now the tedious task of writing about it... (Ok, I actually like writing about it, but it takes me forever to get everything just so).
Nils was a long time coming. He was the second SP character I created, which would have been about 4 years ago. I'm not sure why I created him, but I assume it had a lot to do with finding a Rogues Bow and wanting to use it for something.
He was named after the main character in my favorite book - The Northworld Series by David Drake - a man who was extremely adept with ranged weapons.
He was put to the side over and over and over again, but finally, I present you with...
Guardian Nils_Hanson
Level: 82
Life: 1429
Mana: 196 (not that it matters)
Chance to Block: Zero
Damage:
No Skill: 49-149
Holy Freeze: 1071-1192
Holy Shock: 50-4209
Attack Rating:
Base: 2101
Enchant (from gloves): 4122
Enchant + BA (from merc): 10625
Not enough AR!
Stats: Total (Base)
Str: 91 (88)
Dex: 114 (82)
Vit: 335 (320)
Mana: 15 (15)
It wasn't until late in the game when I started dumping points into Dex. I thought my gear would be able to carry me through, but it be came quite apparent in hell that I was mistaken.
Resists:
75/69/81/44
Nothing to complain about here, though without a shield it came at a price (see the gear section below)
Skills: After Gear (Before Gear)
Defensive Auras:
Resists Cold: 21 (20)
Resists Lightning: 21 (20)
Salvation: 6 (5) - Rest would go here
2 point: Prayer, Cleansing, Vigor, Redemption (1)
Offensive Auras:
Holy Freeze: 23 (20)
Holy Shock: 23 (20)
4 point: Might, Holy Fire, Blessed Aim (1)
I have no idea why I put a point in Blessed aim... nor do I remember when I did it...
Combat Skills:
Nada
Gear:
Weapon 1: Rogue's Bow Composite Bow (Shael) (With the gloves he hit the fastest breakpoint!)
Weapon 2: Wizendraw (I never used it... too slow!)
Helm: Rockstopper (+14 res all jewel)
Armour: Naj's Light Plate Hellforge Plate (Um)
Belt: Nightsmoke (Upped)
Gloves: Lava Gout
Boots: Rares (FR +33, CR +19, PR +33)
Ammy: Angelic
Ring: Angelic
Ring: Raven Frost
Charms: 2x Offensive Aura Skillers, the rest concentrated on AR and resists mostly.
I'm not sure I would 'waste' an Um rune in such a strange armour these days, but apparently a few years ago I thought it was a good idea. The armour was decent for what I needed, life, resists, skills and easy strength requirements.
The gloves are epic... they pushed him into the highest attack breakpoint and provided some AR via Enchant at the same time, I think they were designed for this build!
Merc: Act 2 Blessed Aim
Weapon: The Reapers Toll (Eth)
Armour: 'Treachery' Great Hauberk
Helm: Guillaume's Face (Um)
The merc was key to the whole operation... If he wasn't tanking (I.e. dead) then I was running away!
The Gist of Nils_Hanson:
Nils could do a reasonable amount of damage with Holy Shock, but if Azrael wasn't tanking there were serious problems!
He stormed through normal and nightmare... Holy Shock being fairly over powered. Upon reaching Hell he stumbled a bit. Holy Freeze was great for chilling monsters, but it didn't really do a lot of damage, often I felt like a small fly, standing in the background doing tiny amounts of damage while my Merc carried the team.
I carried a Wizendraw on switch the entire game, but could never bring myself to use it, it was way to slow compared to the Rogue's Bow
Some Tactics:
Basically it was to retreat. Once Nils had draw out some enemies he had to retreat, get the merc to engage, and then stand back and fire arrows at the fastest possible breakpoint. It worked fine if the merc was able to tank, it worked poorly if the merc got over whelmed.
He had heavy armour, and boots with no FR/W, so retreat was sometimes a challenge.
Challenges:
The biggest problem was keeping my merc alive. Things weren't too bad until Act 3 Hell, where it rapidly fell apart. I remember putting the 'treachery' on him in early act 3 and thinking "that will fix him! He just needs some resist." I was mistaken. He died about the middle of act 3 for the 5th or so time (was using Hone Sunden and an empty Guillaume's)... I thought "no problem, I'll just go back to an earlier area and get Fade to re-activate and then continue." He died while I was trying to get Fade to activate, I went back again, and he died again before Fade went off, I went back to an earlier part, and he died again before Fade went off, I went back to an even earlier part and he died again before Fade went off! I was livid. I used up a socket quest and wasted an Um in his helm and he was still under powered... it was at this point I discovered the magic that is 'treachery' + Reapers Toll. Azrael had finally become the tank that I needed him to be, and we were able to continue.
I dropped the Wizendraw in favour of a Riphook for the battle with the Ancients. It wasn't a clean fight, but with my Holy Freeze, the Riphook, and the mercs Decep, it was fairly tame... I kept the Riphook on switch after this, it was more useful then the Wizendraw - though during the Baal fight I totally forgot to bring it out.
The 4th and 5th waves of Baal both rolled as what I call "attack me" waves. They had no interest in my merc what-so-ever and would run past him to attack me. There was a lot of Vigor involved in these fights in order to split them up, because there was no way I could tank them all at once. Lister rolled 'Extra Fast' of course, which made things even more awkward... It was a stressful time for Nils, but we pulled through!
(I hate to admit it, but) The Quill Rats in Act 5 were especially harmful to Nils. I had a hard time getting my merc to engage all of them without getting clobbered myself... there was always another one just off screen that was blasting at me! If only Paladins could cast Dim Vision! :crazyeyes:
Finds:
NM HF - Lem
Hell HF - ?
Random Runes: ?
Notable Finds: Bartuc's Cut-Throat, Ethereal-Edge
He's been so long in the making that apparently I didn't keep very good notes. I think he got a Lum for the Hell Hellforge, but I can't remember really.
That's about all I can think of for #8.
He really wasn't that fun to play. When things were going well it was fun, but mostly I just remember tearing out my hair with frustration towards my merc... he was always off in the corner doing nothing, and I always had to charge towards the enemies in order to tug him into the battle.
I'm ready for a few builds that don't require mercs.
I'll leave you now with his baal drop.
Thanks for reading!
-hps
Another one in the can, and now the tedious task of writing about it... (Ok, I actually like writing about it, but it takes me forever to get everything just so).
Nils was a long time coming. He was the second SP character I created, which would have been about 4 years ago. I'm not sure why I created him, but I assume it had a lot to do with finding a Rogues Bow and wanting to use it for something.
He was named after the main character in my favorite book - The Northworld Series by David Drake - a man who was extremely adept with ranged weapons.
He was put to the side over and over and over again, but finally, I present you with...
Guardian Nils_Hanson
Level: 82
Life: 1429
Mana: 196 (not that it matters)
Chance to Block: Zero
Damage:
No Skill: 49-149
Holy Freeze: 1071-1192
Holy Shock: 50-4209
Attack Rating:
Base: 2101
Enchant (from gloves): 4122
Enchant + BA (from merc): 10625
Not enough AR!
Stats: Total (Base)
Str: 91 (88)
Dex: 114 (82)
Vit: 335 (320)
Mana: 15 (15)
It wasn't until late in the game when I started dumping points into Dex. I thought my gear would be able to carry me through, but it be came quite apparent in hell that I was mistaken.
Resists:
75/69/81/44
Nothing to complain about here, though without a shield it came at a price (see the gear section below)
Skills: After Gear (Before Gear)
Defensive Auras:
Resists Cold: 21 (20)
Resists Lightning: 21 (20)
Salvation: 6 (5) - Rest would go here
2 point: Prayer, Cleansing, Vigor, Redemption (1)
Offensive Auras:
Holy Freeze: 23 (20)
Holy Shock: 23 (20)
4 point: Might, Holy Fire, Blessed Aim (1)
I have no idea why I put a point in Blessed aim... nor do I remember when I did it...
Combat Skills:
Nada
Gear:
Weapon 1: Rogue's Bow Composite Bow (Shael) (With the gloves he hit the fastest breakpoint!)
Weapon 2: Wizendraw (I never used it... too slow!)
Helm: Rockstopper (+14 res all jewel)
Armour: Naj's Light Plate Hellforge Plate (Um)
Belt: Nightsmoke (Upped)
Gloves: Lava Gout
Boots: Rares (FR +33, CR +19, PR +33)
Ammy: Angelic
Ring: Angelic
Ring: Raven Frost
Charms: 2x Offensive Aura Skillers, the rest concentrated on AR and resists mostly.
I'm not sure I would 'waste' an Um rune in such a strange armour these days, but apparently a few years ago I thought it was a good idea. The armour was decent for what I needed, life, resists, skills and easy strength requirements.
The gloves are epic... they pushed him into the highest attack breakpoint and provided some AR via Enchant at the same time, I think they were designed for this build!
Merc: Act 2 Blessed Aim
Weapon: The Reapers Toll (Eth)
Armour: 'Treachery' Great Hauberk
Helm: Guillaume's Face (Um)
The merc was key to the whole operation... If he wasn't tanking (I.e. dead) then I was running away!
The Gist of Nils_Hanson:
Nils could do a reasonable amount of damage with Holy Shock, but if Azrael wasn't tanking there were serious problems!
He stormed through normal and nightmare... Holy Shock being fairly over powered. Upon reaching Hell he stumbled a bit. Holy Freeze was great for chilling monsters, but it didn't really do a lot of damage, often I felt like a small fly, standing in the background doing tiny amounts of damage while my Merc carried the team.
I carried a Wizendraw on switch the entire game, but could never bring myself to use it, it was way to slow compared to the Rogue's Bow
Some Tactics:
Basically it was to retreat. Once Nils had draw out some enemies he had to retreat, get the merc to engage, and then stand back and fire arrows at the fastest possible breakpoint. It worked fine if the merc was able to tank, it worked poorly if the merc got over whelmed.
He had heavy armour, and boots with no FR/W, so retreat was sometimes a challenge.
Challenges:
The biggest problem was keeping my merc alive. Things weren't too bad until Act 3 Hell, where it rapidly fell apart. I remember putting the 'treachery' on him in early act 3 and thinking "that will fix him! He just needs some resist." I was mistaken. He died about the middle of act 3 for the 5th or so time (was using Hone Sunden and an empty Guillaume's)... I thought "no problem, I'll just go back to an earlier area and get Fade to re-activate and then continue." He died while I was trying to get Fade to activate, I went back again, and he died again before Fade went off, I went back to an earlier part, and he died again before Fade went off, I went back to an even earlier part and he died again before Fade went off! I was livid. I used up a socket quest and wasted an Um in his helm and he was still under powered... it was at this point I discovered the magic that is 'treachery' + Reapers Toll. Azrael had finally become the tank that I needed him to be, and we were able to continue.
I dropped the Wizendraw in favour of a Riphook for the battle with the Ancients. It wasn't a clean fight, but with my Holy Freeze, the Riphook, and the mercs Decep, it was fairly tame... I kept the Riphook on switch after this, it was more useful then the Wizendraw - though during the Baal fight I totally forgot to bring it out.
The 4th and 5th waves of Baal both rolled as what I call "attack me" waves. They had no interest in my merc what-so-ever and would run past him to attack me. There was a lot of Vigor involved in these fights in order to split them up, because there was no way I could tank them all at once. Lister rolled 'Extra Fast' of course, which made things even more awkward... It was a stressful time for Nils, but we pulled through!
(I hate to admit it, but) The Quill Rats in Act 5 were especially harmful to Nils. I had a hard time getting my merc to engage all of them without getting clobbered myself... there was always another one just off screen that was blasting at me! If only Paladins could cast Dim Vision! :crazyeyes:
Finds:
NM HF - Lem
Hell HF - ?
Random Runes: ?
Notable Finds: Bartuc's Cut-Throat, Ethereal-Edge
He's been so long in the making that apparently I didn't keep very good notes. I think he got a Lum for the Hell Hellforge, but I can't remember really.
That's about all I can think of for #8.
He really wasn't that fun to play. When things were going well it was fun, but mostly I just remember tearing out my hair with frustration towards my merc... he was always off in the corner doing nothing, and I always had to charge towards the enemies in order to tug him into the battle.
I'm ready for a few builds that don't require mercs.
I'll leave you now with his baal drop.
Thanks for reading!
-hps
