Guardian LFStrafe, the Cheese-Wielder

Anaesthesia

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Guardian LFStrafe, the Cheese-Wielder

So Guardian #2 came along a lot quicker than the first. Of course, I was using an easier build (LF is just disgusting for about 90% of the game) and was able to mule on some equipment.

Boring stuff
20 LF, Penetrate, and Valk, with random points thrown in Crit, Decoy, D/A/E, Pierce, and whatever else caught my eye. 10 or so in Strafe, which will be maxed if she continues to level, for lack of anything better to do.

Str 90, Dex 190, Vit 230. Titan's/Moser's, with a Lycander's Aim on switch, the rest filled out with rares, crafts, Crow Caw for OW, and (as always) Natalya's Soul. Merc was carrying a Hone Sundan for CB, Tal's Mask and SotFO for 17% LL (he dies often, I don't care. Archers in the Pit eat him faster than I can pump Juvs into him. Valk > Merc by a long shot. Oh, and while I'm here in the parenthesis, I traded for his armour thinking the Replenish was integer PDR for some reason, probably hysterical blindness or wishful thinking or something. Still got some use.)

Gear of note
Code:
Titan's Revenge 
Ceremonial Javelin 
Throw Damage: 77 - 207 
One Hand Damage: 77 - 151 
Quantity: 128 
Required Level: 42 
Required Strength: 25 
Required Dexterity: 109 
Fingerprint: 0x5555a49a 
Item Level: 60 
Version: Expansion 1.10+ 
+2 to Javelin and Spear Skills (Amazon Only) 
+2 to Amazon Skill Levels 
+30% Faster Run/Walk 
191% Enhanced Damage 
Adds 25 - 50 Damage 
9% Life stolen per hit 
+20 to Strength 
+20 to Dexterity 
Increased Stack Size 
Replenishes quantity 

Soul Winding 
Mesh Belt 
Defense: 56 
Durability: 16 of 16 
Required Level: 47 
Required Strength: 58 
Fingerprint: 0xbf1f4c9a 
Item Level: 88 
Version: Expansion 1.10+ 
+17% Faster Hit Recovery 
2% Life stolen per hit 
6% Chance of Open Wounds 
+37% Enhanced Defense 
+22 to Life 
Fire Resist +16% 

Stone Clasp 
Amulet 
Required Level: 15 
Fingerprint: 0x518a6652 
Item Level: 34 
Version: Expansion 1.10+ 
+21 to Life 
Cold Resist +29% 
All Resistances +9 
Fire Resist +30%

The amulet is a "for lack of anything better" item, but looks good as a general-purpose mid-level amulet.

Her Deeds of Valour Will Be Remembered
Only one death this time, but it hurt. As the screen says, level 75, by some crazy archer pack in the Pits. Two-shotted from offscreen. Lost an ethereal Titan's (15x%, but still more damage than the good non-eth one upthread), a near-perfect Hone Sundan, and a crafted belt even better than the one I finished with (24% FHR, 50+ Life, and dual resists. That cost me a lot of Tals. *sigh*) Not sure what else I had on her at that point. :tombstone:

A shot of her with the eth Titan's, in front of the best bosspack ever

Hellforges: Amn/Pul. Failed to collect Hell due to untimely death. I've had crazy luck so far on normal Hellforges, but I'd much rather have two Guls from Hell than two Amns from normal. Can't have it all, etc.

Apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?
Lots of fun, with a large asterisk. I floated through the game on the back of LF, right up until Hell Ancients. There things took a turn for the worse. All three of them ignored my merc and Valk completely and went straight at me (ever had this happen? Where an enemy will ignore your merc even when he's between you and it and attacking? It's no fun on top of the mountain.)

I ran around the mountaintop for a good ten minutes, trying to separate them and keep away from the Leaper's Leap (I could take one good hit from it, but that was it...I love 70% FRW for reasons beyond impatience). Eventually the merc and Valk pinned the thrower against the cliff side, allowing me to snipe him from the safety of a pillar with the other two unsuccessfully searching for me offscreen. I managed to pull the same trick with the Whirler (who at about 25% life remaining took a few shots at the Valk, but otherwise stood there and let my minions poke holes in him for some reason), and the Leaper. Probably wouldn't have survived the battle otherwise.

Note of consequence: I went in with only the 8 Full Juves on my belt and took them out on the first roll (though it was a good one: one FI, one CI, one FICI if memory serves.) First time I've done either of those things with Hell Ancients.

WSK was difficult if not quite as stroke-inducing. My WSK 2 *and* 3 maps were extremely short, and after the Ancients fight I was grateful for it (I've never done WSK runs with a Hardcore character, and don't see myself doing them anytime soon.)

While Baal is usually an anticlimax after the Old Guys, this character had more trouble with him than any I've ever played. He was not intimidated by 1-767 LF damage, unsurprisingly. He cloned himself often (I think four times before he finally went down), and had a habit of filling the screen with tentacles, pinning me against walls and other cheap tricks.

When he hit about 10% life he threw the most impressive Baal tantrum I've ever been witness to; five rapid-succession cold-wedge thingies put my merc in his usual position, and then he cloned himself and the two of them filled the screen with tentacles and fireworks. Sorry, no screenshot, was busy reminding myself to breathe, pushing back the memory of my many attempts to get my first Destroyer (the last of which had Baal literally slivered before dying to a similar hissy-fit.)

After dropping a pair of Dancers for my first Guardian, Baal resumed business as usual for the second.

Screens From My Vacation
Apart from the above, LF made everything easy. Plus her questing/levelling finds weren't bad for a character with either 6 or 9 MF (can't remember). A few pics from what was essentially a tourist trip through the game:

Worst Duriel quest drop ever (Nightmare)
Deathbit from NM Pindle
A Ko from an unwelcome guest in NM Act 5
Travs from a few minutes later (went back to grab the WP).
My LFant found a Thunderstroke, lol
Yes, I took this one into the Pits at level 75 too. Instead of speedy death, this time I got presents! I've now found five Fals over 2½ characters.
Sazabi's Pretentiously-Named Something-or-Other
Hellforges: Thul/Fal/Pul

Dude, why Strafe? Strafe is teh lame!
I disagree. Pew pew pew!

Into the Unknown
After having so much fun killing LIs with Strafe, making laser noises the whole time (not kidding), I'm going to try a bowazon. This character is pretty good at Pit runs (now that I've learned, the hard way of course, to watch out for archers) and will probably build me some HC wealth while I'm bored of questing low-level characters (or restarting them after Deeds). For now, though, I just rolled a pretty-much-perfect map with the sorc and am off to bash my head against the wall that is LK. It owes me. :nod:

See you next time, badly-rendered old guy.
 
Re: Guardian LFStrafe, the Cheese-Wielder

Grats on the second one! Man, that was fast :D.

Really nice write up, I enjoyed reading it. Sorry about the death, but it seems like you recovered from it pretty quickly.

I just LOVE amazons. It's been a while since I played some (non after my latest restart actually), but I intend to make quite a few of them once I acquire the gear I want. This particular hybrid is one of my favourites, as imo, it's one of the harder hybrids to make. Balancing everything out it great fun, though it can be really hard. I've always enjoyed a good bowa too, so I'm looking forward to that next guardian of yours.

:thumbup:
 
Re: Guardian LFStrafe, the Cheese-Wielder

Her Deeds of Valour Will Be Remembered
Only one death this time, but it hurt. As the screen says, level 75, by some crazy archer pack in the Pits. Two-shotted from offscreen. Lost an ethereal Titan's (15x%, but still more damage than the good non-eth one upthread), a near-perfect Hone Sundan, and a crafted belt even better than the one I finished with (24% FHR, 50+ Life, and dual resists. That cost me a lot of Tals. *sigh*) Not sure what else I had on her at that point. :tombstone:

Sorry, but how does a Guardian die once, before getting the guardianship?

Ulla


 
Re: Guardian LFStrafe, the Cheese-Wielder

Awesome write up. Amazons are my favorite build and I too get angry when Ancients or Baal complete ignore my merc and valk and head straight for me. If you want some serious heart pounding action, try a Glass Cannon Witchyzon in Hardcore. I was able to complete that task and the blood pressure rose dramatically in quick fashion. Quite fun!

Up next for me is a pure Spearazon. Should I dare go no vitality in this one as well....?
 
Re: Guardian LFStrafe, the Cheese-Wielder

Congratulations on your Guardian, and sorry about the lost character along the way. Hybridzons are my absolute favorite character; it's a shame we don't see more of them around here.

For separating the Ancients, toss a Decoy between you and Madawc at the beginning, then hightail it the other way to draw one or two of the others. Credit to one of the HC guides around here for that nice tidbit.
 
Re: Guardian LFStrafe, the Cheese-Wielder

Gratz on the Gaurdian! :thumbup:
My hats off to you, stroke inducing play would leave me a quivering pile of goo after the first deeds I think.
 
Re: Guardian LFStrafe, the Cheese-Wielder

Congratulations on your Guardian! You have more patience than most, rebuilding from a lvl 75 death, grats again.
 
Re: Guardian LFStrafe, the Cheese-Wielder

Grats on the second one! Man, that was fast :D.

Really nice write up, I enjoyed reading it. Sorry about the death, but it seems like you recovered from it pretty quickly.

I just LOVE amazons. It's been a while since I played some (non after my latest restart actually), but I intend to make quite a few of them once I acquire the gear I want. This particular hybrid is one of my favourites, as imo, it's one of the harder hybrids to make. Balancing everything out it great fun, though it can be really hard. I've always enjoyed a good bowa too, so I'm looking forward to that next guardian of yours.

:thumbup:

Fast, yes. Either I've learned to avoid death effectively, or unsynergized LF is just that crazy for 90% of the game. I'd say it's a bit of both. I'll find out soon, I guess. :D

And hey, it's no fun if you're not in danger of losing all your stuff. :crazyeyes:

Sorry, but how does a Guardian die once, before getting the guardianship?

Ulla

You're kidding, right? I delete dead characters because my char names are useful, if unimaginative, and I want to reuse them. And I don't need my dead characters staring accusingly at me every time I go to play.

If you're honestly unclear on it, you shed a few tears (but only a few), roll up a new one, and quest through the boring part again. And be more careful this time, because the first 30 levels are mind-numbing.

I was just happy that only happened once this time; if I had to guess how many sorceresses I killed in stupid ways before getting my first Guardian I'd say 40 or so, two or three of them annoyingly high level.

Awesome write up. Amazons are my favorite build and I too get angry when Ancients or Baal complete ignore my merc and valk and head straight for me. If you want some serious heart pounding action, try a Glass Cannon Witchyzon in Hardcore. I was able to complete that task and the blood pressure rose dramatically in quick fashion. Quite fun!

Up next for me is a pure Spearazon. Should I dare go no vitality in this one as well....?

I have a hard enough time not dying with 1,000 life and a 2,500+ Valk in front of me. I imagine I'd run out of Witchwild Strings before finishing the build. :D

I personally wouldn't play a no-vit...anything, really, but if your Spearazon skills pay the bills, it would be an impressive feat.

For separating the Ancients, toss a Decoy between you and Madawc at the beginning, then hightail it the other way to draw one or two of the others. Credit to one of the HC guides around here for that nice tidbit.

Actually, that's a good idea. I took to not using the Decoy as without a lot of skill points (which I needed for Penetrate, to be able to hit at all with the bow) it tends just to be mana-intensive fireworks. (Looks cool when they explode, though.)

Gratz on the Gaurdian! :thumbup:
My hats off to you, stroke inducing play would leave me a quivering pile of goo after the first deeds I think.

The first is, of course, always the hardest. I played SC for a long time, and without the threat of any kind of loss it just loses its fun. And you don't really internalize the threat of loss until you lose something. ;)

Congratulations on your Guardian! You have more patience than most, rebuilding from a lvl 75 death, grats again.

I'd call it bloody-mindedness rather than patience, but in this case it works out to the same thing. Also, your avatar is looking at me funny. :S


 
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Re: Guardian LFStrafe, the Cheese-Wielder

Grats on the 2nd Guardian! Hopefully I'll be joining you soon... well, in a couple weeks after finals ;).

I've often thought about this build, and I know I've built one a while ago, but I think I'd miss CS going this route; I just love that skill. I haven't completed a fishyzon, but the one I was playing was great fun. I think that'll be my 2nd or 3rd HC toon (with a fishymancer being the other one).

Good luck mfing and I hope you continue to enjoy her!
 
Re: Guardian LFStrafe, the Cheese-Wielder

I've never done WSK runs with a Hardcore character, and don't see myself doing them anytime soon.

How incredibly unmanly. Make yourself a fishymancer and get on with it:)

Pew pew pew!

I am pretty sure there is a room in some institution with your name on it

making laser noises the whole time (not kidding)

OK!

Seriously, great write-up and congratulations are in order. Your build seems like a better fit than the usual LF/FA for the pits. No LI/CI to make your life miserable and strafe is faster than FA. Hmmm, I might build one myself just to see how it does.

Have fun with the next one too:)


 
Re: Guardian LFStrafe, the Cheese-Wielder

Congrats on the Guardian, and I agree that is one very cool boss pack. I wonder could a Demon Hut spawn as a bosspack? The best I've personally encountered was a Suicide Minion bosspack. A very quick fight! :D

I must say I admire your patience/bloody mindedness. It takes me weeks to stop sulking over a hardcore death. ;)
 
Re: Guardian LFStrafe, the Cheese-Wielder

You're kidding, right? I delete dead characters because my char names are useful, if unimaginative, and I want to reuse them. And I don't need my dead characters staring accusingly at me every time I go to play.

I do the same, but they aren't the same character. The lady Fortuna makes that very clear. So why mention any previous tries except in numbers.

Congats anyway.

Ulla


 
Re: Guardian LFStrafe, the Cheese-Wielder

Grats on the 2nd Guardian! Hopefully I'll be joining you soon... well, in a couple weeks after finals ;).

I've often thought about this build, and I know I've built one a while ago, but I think I'd miss CS going this route; I just love that skill. I haven't completed a fishyzon, but the one I was playing was great fun. I think that'll be my 2nd or 3rd HC toon (with a fishymancer being the other one).

Good luck mfing and I hope you continue to enjoy her!

I didn't put any points into CS as, well, it wouldn't really help with LIs, and Fury rips a fair-sized hole into anything non-LI, even unsynergized. A 20-point Valkyrie was more appealing, and turned out to be useful. Stand behind 2500+-life meat shield = not die, ever. (Mind the Gloams.)

Also, she's a pretty good fire alarm, so to speak. If a particular spawn rips through her quickly, get out before they do the same to 1000-life you.

How incredibly unmanly. Make yourself a fishymancer and get on with it:)

Unmanly?! Unthinkable! I'll do it sometime, but the first 30 or so levels of Hammerdin make me want to claw my eyes out, and with a fishymancer it's more like the first 85 levels. WSK for me is nothing more than a place to lose a character 95% of the way to Guardian.

Seriously, great write-up and congratulations are in order. Your build seems like a better fit than the usual LF/FA for the pits. No LI/CI to make your life miserable and strafe is faster than FA. Hmmm, I might build one myself just to see how it does.

Have fun with the next one too:)

One thing about Strafe vs. FA: Strafe does far lower damage and randomly selects targets. It just...looks really cool, which IMO is almost as important. You'll need a good bow, high Pierce, a lot of AR, and Open Wounds (which works at full efficiency on ranged attacks, unlike CB, and has the added advantage of leaving huge bloodstains all over the field). Then again, an LFant has lots of skill points to spare.

And yeah, the worry about LI/CI is not gone, just transferred to LI/PI, which are thankfully rare. (And with good OW, you'll kill those too. Eventually. Put some coffee on.)


 
Re: Guardian LFStrafe, the Cheese-Wielder

GG. Guardian is always nicer. I'd try something else before rebuild if I lost a lvl75 char.

NagisaFurukawa said:
Hybridzons are my absolute favorite character; it's a shame we don't see more of them around here.

My Guardian zon is also hybrid strafe and LF. But I strafe over 90% of time, only use LF as backup skill for PIs.
 
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