Guardian Dosmingo: untwinked LF/FA -zon

Russell.s

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Dec 3, 2016
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Introducing Guardian Dosmingo, my second untwinked HC character!

The Name
Named after my fluffy toy Flamingo (see my profile pic for an example) I started this Amazon before my previous Guardian (Sable the Assassin) was created, but I slowed right down in Hell and let the Assassin overtake. Once Sable had reached Guardian, I picked Dosmingo up again. I decided to go with a Lightning Fury/Charged Strike/Frozen Arrow build. To say her gear was average is an understatement. Save for a Buriza, she really didn't do very well!

Skill Choices
Nothing too original here. As much as I like unique builds, some of the more 'cookie cutter' builds are friendlier for untwinked HC. I am constantly amazed by the challenges people set for themselves, but I have limited patience for grinding haha.

I maxed Lightning Fury for groups and maxed Charged Strike for tougher mobs. I maxed Frozen Arrow, and then as many as I could in Ice Arrow as a synergy to make sure I had an answer to lightning immunes. I originally had a chunky Valk as well, but when I made my Peace Light Plate I unspec'd away from Valk, thinking the %chance to cast level 15 Valk would be enough. Turns out there's a bug with Peace that means, if you don't have hard points in the skill, the Valk won't stay for more than a few seconds. I decided to put just one point in Valk (and therefore all the pre-reqs) for that reason.

The Journey
There's no doubt Lightning Fury is one of the most powerful skills in the game, and the damage carried the brave Amazon far further than her very average gear would normally allow. Having Freezing Arrow was invaluable. Early on I had a Duskdeep helm drop, which stayed atop Dosmingo's luscious blonde lockes until Act 4 Hell. I also found Sigons belt early on, as well as a +2 to Amazon skills throwing spear. I shopped Nightmare Fara until I found some +2 jav skills gloves. Runeword wise I made a Rhyme shield and Peace light plate. My only particularly lucky drop was a Buriza in Act 1 Hell. Although it would possibly be better to use an Amazon bow to make Melody, I found the piercing attack of Buriza helpful enough to keep. Plus it has style points. I remember multishot Buriza-zons owning it up back in my BattleNet days!

It was smooth sailing on the lightning boat, accompanied by my dear pal Chalan (Defiance Desert Mercenary) for all of Normal and Nightmare. The boat ground firmly to shore in Act 1 Hell, however, and the heroes were forced to get out and wade, slowly, through a sea of elemental enemies. Resistance was the problem, with a particular choke-point in gear being (yet again) the need for Cannot Be Frozen. Both were met partially by Rhyme Shield, which is an annoying-good runeword, but of course vanished on switching to Buriza to Freezing Arrow. The Amazon and her (frequently perishing) friend Chalan made it to Act 4 Hell with all resists sitting in the 10's before I knew there had to be a change. I took off Duskdeep and found a 3 socket crown and put Thul, Ral, Ort in it, for the 30% Cold/Fire/Lightning res. I scrounged for rings, and I gambled for amulets. Finally a lucky drop (scintillating grand charm +11 all res) pushed my lightning res to 65 and I decided I would finish the quest.

Hell Ancients was a tense battle to begin with. I managed to kill WW and leapfrog man, both of whom were not immune to lightning, and in the process used up every potion I had. There were many near death experiences. Finally Madawc and his endless supply of throwing axes was cornered, where he promptly stuck himself behind a pillar and wouldn't move. By standing slightly to one side I could Freezing Arrow him without taking damage, but I had no mana potions left. The fight lasted for 1 hour exactly (I timed it) as I waited for my mana bulb to regenerate, shot some arrows, waited, shot more arrows, waited... and waited... and waited... Each bulb regeneration took 2 minutes and 7 seconds, during which I washed the dishes, played with the cat, hung the clothes out, made some tea, wrote a cover letter... until at last he turned to gold and let me through.

Baal and his minions were a pushover in comparison.

Dosmingo completed the game still wearing Sigons belt, a 3 socket crown stuffed with runes, and plain +2 jav skill gloves.
Long live Guardian Dosmingo!

Notable Drops
Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest (from NM Meph)
Buriza
Scintillating grand charm (+11 resist all)
Hellforge gave me Ko (boo!)

The Future
Now they're both Guardians, Dosmingo and Sable have a joint GoMule stash called Valhalla. If any other heroes make it through untwinked, they will also get access to the shared booty. Dos was gifted Titan's Revenge by Sable, and thanked her lucky stars for never having to go to town to repair EVER AGAIN. Dosmingo also shelved her Peace runeword armour and picked up Smoke instead (another annoyingly good runeword), so I'll probably respec away from D/A/E and Valk at some point. In her retirement Dosmingo will MF at Andy, hoping to find some Ravenfrosts to go around.

Thanks for reading! :)
 
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Congrats! A guardian is no small feat, and an untwinked one even more so! 💪
 
Congratulations on the guardian! I love the name, I love the Buriza, I totally love the name of that shared GoMule stash, and of course, I love the build. Nice tenacity on that Madawc battle (especially with your limited patience for grinding), and I hope to see more guardians questing to get to Valhalla!
 
Congrats! A guardian is no small feat, and an untwinked one even more so! 💪
Thank you! I have a vague plan to complete a HC untwinked sept-- but I suspect life and inevitable upcoming exams will get in the way. Not to mention my RSI...

Congratulations on the guardian! I love the name, I love the Buriza, I totally love the name of that shared GoMule stash, and of course, I love the build. Nice tenacity on that Madawc battle (especially with your limited patience for grinding), and I hope to see more guardians questing to get to Valhalla!
Thank you for your kind words :). The shared stash is fun, although a large number of items go unused when you're running characters untwinked until Guardian. All those Isenhart's unloved!
 
Congrats on the second guardian - an hour on the Ancients is insane.
 
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