Woe to you, oh SPF, for Maltatai sends a wall of text
Because he knows not writing short...
Let those who hath understanding reckon the number of the post
For it is a guardian number
Its number is six hundred and sixty six
I fight alone, no hired help
I needed time to think, to solve the issue on my mind
What did I see?
Could I believe?
That what was told by them was real and not just fantasy
Just what I saw in statues blue
Was the reflection of my warped face staring back at you
Cause with the cold, they're always there
Blue arrows freeze and shatter and melt them to despair
The air was green, criss-crossing through the screen
And I just had to see, what the effects would be
In the mist dark figures move and twist
Was all this for real, so freaking good in hell?
666 the number of the post
Cold and poison neutralizes most
Arrows blazed as potion brands were praised
Like tinder that is dry, they immolate the sky
In the night the fires are burning bright
Explosions have begun, D2 work is done
666 the number of the post
Redling flames made short work of the ghosts
This feels so right, I must charge up the light
Can this skill be real, it strikes fast like a dream
And I feel drawn towards the lightning-zon
Wings seem to mesmerise...
Filling up the eyes
666 the number of the post
To act bosses charged strikes do the most
I'm coming back
I will return
I now possess the knowledge I did need to learn
I have the vote
I have the force
Now let the power of arbitration take its course
Because he knows not writing short...
Let those who hath understanding reckon the number of the post
For it is a guardian number
Its number is six hundred and sixty six
I fight alone, no hired help
I needed time to think, to solve the issue on my mind
What did I see?
Could I believe?
That what was told by them was real and not just fantasy
Just what I saw in statues blue
Was the reflection of my warped face staring back at you
Cause with the cold, they're always there
Blue arrows freeze and shatter and melt them to despair
The air was green, criss-crossing through the screen
And I just had to see, what the effects would be
In the mist dark figures move and twist
Was all this for real, so freaking good in hell?
666 the number of the post
Cold and poison neutralizes most
Arrows blazed as potion brands were praised
Like tinder that is dry, they immolate the sky
In the night the fires are burning bright
Explosions have begun, D2 work is done
666 the number of the post
Redling flames made short work of the ghosts
This feels so right, I must charge up the light
Can this skill be real, it strikes fast like a dream
And I feel drawn towards the lightning-zon
Wings seem to mesmerise...
Filling up the eyes
666 the number of the post
To act bosses charged strikes do the most
I'm coming back
I will return
I now possess the knowledge I did need to learn
I have the vote
I have the force
Now let the power of arbitration take its course
Introduction
Sixes shall thou count and the numbers written shall be six. Neither shall thou limit thyself to two damage types, nor three, nor four, except to proceed to six. Five is totally wrong and insufficient. Upon deciding upon the sixth damage type, being the sixth chosen, deliver thou thy pointy object towards thy enemy who, having been naughty in the amazons eyes, dare snuff it.
Let those who have endured the ramblings so far have a small ration of clarity. So, Rapunzel is a hybrid amazon capable of effectively dealing all six types of damage and thus destroying any enemy no matter their immunities. She is built to be light and swift and can outrun almost all enemies. The characters idea was to be a spectral amazon capable of doing a bit of everything as far as possible and also equipped with as many colours and item types represented. In my opinion she succeeded very well on both accounts and is without doubt my coolest amazon character.
The game was played in version 1.13 with no modifications or additions. Rapunzel cleared every area, playing through normal and nightmare on 8 player setting and hell on 1 player setting, ultimately reaching level 86.
And yes, I have deliberately put off responding to your comments in other threads (many thanks for those) just to make this my post number 666.
Let those who have endured the ramblings so far have a small ration of clarity. So, Rapunzel is a hybrid amazon capable of effectively dealing all six types of damage and thus destroying any enemy no matter their immunities. She is built to be light and swift and can outrun almost all enemies. The characters idea was to be a spectral amazon capable of doing a bit of everything as far as possible and also equipped with as many colours and item types represented. In my opinion she succeeded very well on both accounts and is without doubt my coolest amazon character.
The game was played in version 1.13 with no modifications or additions. Rapunzel cleared every area, playing through normal and nightmare on 8 player setting and hell on 1 player setting, ultimately reaching level 86.
And yes, I have deliberately put off responding to your comments in other threads (many thanks for those) just to make this my post number 666.
Rapunzels story
The background story amounts to about 118 MB of pictures and 3,5 MB of text, of which about 1,25 MB centres on Rapunzel. Do not expect a meaningful summary of that story in a guardian thread... The main plot is that the ideologically coloured four amazons I have previously guardianed have elected Rapunzel as arbiter in their squabbles about whose elemental skills and political ideologies and dogma has the most merit. Rapunzel has approached the task in a methodical way and had each select one skill to represent their element. In order to field test them properly she has then obviously gone through the game, without any hireling as that might have compromised her impartiality.
[thread=843052]Snövit[/thread] the blue liberal capitalistic frost (yes) maiden (not) nominated the mighty freezing arrow to be invested in the contest.
[thread=842953]Rödluvan[/thread] the red, red-blooded and collective fire bowazon nominated the exploding arrows to show solidarity with the other skills.
[thread=867045]Askungen[/thread] the green grassroot environmentalist was unsure of whether to pick poison or plague javelin. After discovering a Lem rune, Rapunzel choose the former.
[thread=893624]Törnrosa[/thread] the illuminated celestial administrator (self)-righteously nominated charged strike to strike terror into the hearts of heathen disobedient demons.
Jabbing, strafing and archery in general provided physical damage.
A peaceful light plate gave Rapunzel access to a hearty valkyrie that could stand long enough in most situations when not poisoned.
Her discovery of the Witchwild String gave her access to fully grown magic arrows and her discovery of Kuko Shakaku enabled access to immolation arrows to support the exploding ones.
The immeasurably convenient lightning bolt skill allowed Rapunzel to cheaply destroy physically resistant enemies from a distance. It is a mystery why this skill is not more used, it is nearly a ranged berserk, which also automatically hits.
Rapunzel started off as an all-professional and stiff individual but the silliness of her squabbling colleagues and their sidekicks infested her over time.
[thread=843052]Snövit[/thread] the blue liberal capitalistic frost (yes) maiden (not) nominated the mighty freezing arrow to be invested in the contest.
[thread=842953]Rödluvan[/thread] the red, red-blooded and collective fire bowazon nominated the exploding arrows to show solidarity with the other skills.
[thread=867045]Askungen[/thread] the green grassroot environmentalist was unsure of whether to pick poison or plague javelin. After discovering a Lem rune, Rapunzel choose the former.
[thread=893624]Törnrosa[/thread] the illuminated celestial administrator (self)-righteously nominated charged strike to strike terror into the hearts of heathen disobedient demons.
Jabbing, strafing and archery in general provided physical damage.
A peaceful light plate gave Rapunzel access to a hearty valkyrie that could stand long enough in most situations when not poisoned.
Her discovery of the Witchwild String gave her access to fully grown magic arrows and her discovery of Kuko Shakaku enabled access to immolation arrows to support the exploding ones.
The immeasurably convenient lightning bolt skill allowed Rapunzel to cheaply destroy physically resistant enemies from a distance. It is a mystery why this skill is not more used, it is nearly a ranged berserk, which also automatically hits.
Rapunzel started off as an all-professional and stiff individual but the silliness of her squabbling colleagues and their sidekicks infested her over time.
Statistics and skills at her mightiest moment, upon reaching level 86
As you can see Rapunzel obtained rather high life compared to the investment in vitality, chiefly thanks to charms. She achieved max blocking throughout most of the game. Keep in mind that the [post=8778237]damage numbers for poison javelin are immensely understated[/post] for those unfortunate souls who are hit by the actual javelin.
Equipment
Her inventory was filled with charms, a key, a cube and a tome of identifying. From charms she gained life, resistances, running speed and cold damage which increased the freeze length of Freezing Arrow considerably.
Those boots were gambled in early nightmare, and remained her best item until Mephisto gave her the javelins. Rapunzel is not nearly enough of a mageazon to take full advantage of the Stone of Jordan but skill levels suited her immensely and it is an item of unmatched reputation and legend.
The ring could certainly have been better but it is rather funny that she wore a ring titled "Viper Spiral" when vipers were the only enemies she could not control.
Cleglaws Pincers and Treachery, some of those items that every single character could find a use for. Even the weakest caster could toss a fools javelin to poison and slow. Rapunzel specialized in light armor types that showed different colours; collecting a ghost armor, breast plate and light plate.
The amulet was aggravatingly indispensable. Corrupting the wearer indeed with druidic influence. Find a more stylish helm than the Vampire Gaze socketed with a green jewel, I dare all. A mighty thing indeed, it is.
Rapunzels shield is Rapunzels Chromatic Bone Shield of Deflecting, socketed by Larzuk and inlaid with two Sol runes for 14 PDR. Her switch weapon is the Titans Revenge, upgraded to matriarchal javelins.
Those boots were gambled in early nightmare, and remained her best item until Mephisto gave her the javelins. Rapunzel is not nearly enough of a mageazon to take full advantage of the Stone of Jordan but skill levels suited her immensely and it is an item of unmatched reputation and legend.
The ring could certainly have been better but it is rather funny that she wore a ring titled "Viper Spiral" when vipers were the only enemies she could not control.
Cleglaws Pincers and Treachery, some of those items that every single character could find a use for. Even the weakest caster could toss a fools javelin to poison and slow. Rapunzel specialized in light armor types that showed different colours; collecting a ghost armor, breast plate and light plate.
The amulet was aggravatingly indispensable. Corrupting the wearer indeed with druidic influence. Find a more stylish helm than the Vampire Gaze socketed with a green jewel, I dare all. A mighty thing indeed, it is.
Rapunzels shield is Rapunzels Chromatic Bone Shield of Deflecting, socketed by Larzuk and inlaid with two Sol runes for 14 PDR. Her switch weapon is the Titans Revenge, upgraded to matriarchal javelins.
Extra equipment in stash and cube
Rapunzel usually wore her breast plate and donned the peaceful light plate to summon the valkyrie and gain extra dodging against bosses. She had the Spirit Shroud ghost armor socketed with a red jewel of fervor when dangerous magics abounded.
She switched hats between the green Vampire Gaze and Blackhorns Face when slowing and lightning protection was needed.
Kuko Shakaku was extraordinary against ghost packs, like in the forgotten tower, or gloams.
The generals flail was almost never used. I thoroughly enjoy that weapon but it proved to have no obvious place in Rapunzels tactics. Foes dangerous enought o slow that much were usually foes dangerous enough to keep the distance from, which she could do well enough with "only" 45 % slowing from mask and gloves.
The Goblin Toe is always useful against bosses but Rapunzels gorgeous rare boots were so good I was very reluctant to switch them out.
Rapunzels extra amulet is for PDR, which was used when visiting Nihlatak to withstand viper clouds. Her main amulet was so useful despite the irritating lack of amazon skills that I could not find anything that could compete. I also kept a teleport amulet in the cube.
I kept M'avinas belt in stash for super-speed running but Rapunzel turned out to not require it to outpace the ancients, which would have been the main reason to use that belt. I also kept her Chance Guards for the event that she would need to make money urgently, which proved not to be the case.
She switched hats between the green Vampire Gaze and Blackhorns Face when slowing and lightning protection was needed.
Kuko Shakaku was extraordinary against ghost packs, like in the forgotten tower, or gloams.
The generals flail was almost never used. I thoroughly enjoy that weapon but it proved to have no obvious place in Rapunzels tactics. Foes dangerous enought o slow that much were usually foes dangerous enough to keep the distance from, which she could do well enough with "only" 45 % slowing from mask and gloves.
The Goblin Toe is always useful against bosses but Rapunzels gorgeous rare boots were so good I was very reluctant to switch them out.
Rapunzels extra amulet is for PDR, which was used when visiting Nihlatak to withstand viper clouds. Her main amulet was so useful despite the irritating lack of amazon skills that I could not find anything that could compete. I also kept a teleport amulet in the cube.
I kept M'avinas belt in stash for super-speed running but Rapunzel turned out to not require it to outpace the ancients, which would have been the main reason to use that belt. I also kept her Chance Guards for the event that she would need to make money urgently, which proved not to be the case.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Rapunzel is a skirmisher with an answer for every defense, capable of picking apart any enemy in the game on her own. When enemy regeneration is a problem she can poison, burn and prevent monster healing with her mask. Despite the mobility, she has solid defenses. Maxed blocking, around 40 % chance to dodge, 30 % damage reduction (45 % with Fade triggered) 24 MDR and by the end 14 PDR from the shield.
The closest Rapunzel has come to dying was in nightmare in Act V before such defenses were online and running. [post=8773367]8 player pit vipers spawned from an evil urn and charged[/post] her, one of them eating up more than half of her life with one charge. After that experience I promptly assigned the 35 stat points I had saved in anticipation of new equipment into vitality. The 8 player nightmare ancients did on the other hand fall without a potion needed and despite Rapunzel accidentally wearing the wrong circlet.
In hell, Rapunzel never [post=8779861]deliberately[/post] drank a potion before the Halls of the Dead. She was so nimble I actually kept count of hits taken during the first half of Act I. Andariel never scored a single one, not even with her poison spray, as Rapunzel roasted her with her arrows. Utterly superior in every location with space to manoeuvre, her only weak point was confined spaces. The spread out skills mean that apart from the posion javelins, overcharged as they are from venom, resistant enemies can take a long time to tear apart. Rapunzel also lacks a curse, such as weaken or cloak of shadows, that is easily cast from charges or has a high chance to trigger form weapons.
She was caught and defeated once, by the nefarious viper lord [post=8809026]Black Snarl[/post], the [thread=927643]terror of terrors[/thread] among serpents. The occasion was the most classical mistake possible when playing amazons - advancing too far and letting the valkyrie advance too far in the second level of the Claw Viper Temple, alerting the packs closest to the corridor. Black Snarl, fire enchanted, cursed and extra fast, charged the valkyrie back and Rapunzel was chased back to a corner awaiting his charge. I will always wonder if she would won that fight. I think she could, but I would not risk the story with those odds.
The proper way to approach the situation is to snipe at the mound with guided arrows to see if vipers are present there (through the life and mana drain) and then sprint forward and teleport up. I have both committed exactly the same mistake earlier and conquered the mound on several occasions and should in every way be expected to know better. Also, not least, the second level should be dealt with before and not after you have exhausted your reflexes and creative thinking by clearing the entire first level.
The rest of the game went by comparatively slow and safe. [post=8856911]Hephasto[/post] was dangerous and fast but Rapunzel lured him to a fiery moat and escaped to the other side. [post=8858857]Nihlatak[/post] had prepared a solid defense with spiders, snakes and succubi, and cursing from himself along with his corpse explosions, but freezing arrows shut the whole party down. I dared not, however, open the evil urns in that place.
[post=8873347]The ancients could not catch her and Baal and his minons made a worthy effort but neither stair traps, uncancellable regeneration or fanatically stacked resistances would suffice[/post].
The closest Rapunzel has come to dying was in nightmare in Act V before such defenses were online and running. [post=8773367]8 player pit vipers spawned from an evil urn and charged[/post] her, one of them eating up more than half of her life with one charge. After that experience I promptly assigned the 35 stat points I had saved in anticipation of new equipment into vitality. The 8 player nightmare ancients did on the other hand fall without a potion needed and despite Rapunzel accidentally wearing the wrong circlet.
In hell, Rapunzel never [post=8779861]deliberately[/post] drank a potion before the Halls of the Dead. She was so nimble I actually kept count of hits taken during the first half of Act I. Andariel never scored a single one, not even with her poison spray, as Rapunzel roasted her with her arrows. Utterly superior in every location with space to manoeuvre, her only weak point was confined spaces. The spread out skills mean that apart from the posion javelins, overcharged as they are from venom, resistant enemies can take a long time to tear apart. Rapunzel also lacks a curse, such as weaken or cloak of shadows, that is easily cast from charges or has a high chance to trigger form weapons.
She was caught and defeated once, by the nefarious viper lord [post=8809026]Black Snarl[/post], the [thread=927643]terror of terrors[/thread] among serpents. The occasion was the most classical mistake possible when playing amazons - advancing too far and letting the valkyrie advance too far in the second level of the Claw Viper Temple, alerting the packs closest to the corridor. Black Snarl, fire enchanted, cursed and extra fast, charged the valkyrie back and Rapunzel was chased back to a corner awaiting his charge. I will always wonder if she would won that fight. I think she could, but I would not risk the story with those odds.
The proper way to approach the situation is to snipe at the mound with guided arrows to see if vipers are present there (through the life and mana drain) and then sprint forward and teleport up. I have both committed exactly the same mistake earlier and conquered the mound on several occasions and should in every way be expected to know better. Also, not least, the second level should be dealt with before and not after you have exhausted your reflexes and creative thinking by clearing the entire first level.
The rest of the game went by comparatively slow and safe. [post=8856911]Hephasto[/post] was dangerous and fast but Rapunzel lured him to a fiery moat and escaped to the other side. [post=8858857]Nihlatak[/post] had prepared a solid defense with spiders, snakes and succubi, and cursing from himself along with his corpse explosions, but freezing arrows shut the whole party down. I dared not, however, open the evil urns in that place.
[post=8873347]The ancients could not catch her and Baal and his minons made a worthy effort but neither stair traps, uncancellable regeneration or fanatically stacked resistances would suffice[/post].
Conclusion
Rapunzel was meant to represent all amazons in some way and in terms of skill choices and colour choices she is as diverse as she could be. She has experienced almost all archetypical amazon career episodes, from early gemmed hunters bow hunting to diminishing damage until recovering a class-specific unique from nightmare Mephisto and finding the most famous Stone of Jordan. In that sense it is perhaps fitting that she should have had to retreat one time, and nowhere more so than in the second level of the Claw Viper Temple. Despite such a setback and very much due to the fact that she beat the game without ever having a mercenary I still consider Rapunzel the coolest of amazons.
Resistance is futile.
Resistance is futile.
Over and out!
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