- Dec 3, 2016
- 42
- 68
- 18
I previously completed the game untwinked about 4 years ago with an assassin, but at some point I decided to trade for some gear on the single player forum. I'm almost certain I completed the game and traded afterwards, but I can't remember for sure... so I decided to start from scratch to say I've done it "for real" 
.
Introducing Sable, my (maybe) first untwinked guardian!
Sable is a kicker/light trapper. I really love the assassin for its active playstyle, and the kicker/trapper really accentuates this. I'm always switching between different skills: Cloak of Shadows is on almost constantly, changing the ratios of Lightning Sentries to Death Sentries as the fight goes on, mind blasting fools who gang up on my merc Jemali, or Dragon Flight-ing away from trouble.
Skill choices:
I decided to go with max lightning sentry, max death sentry, and max dragon talon, for obvious reasons. I put some points in fade, partly for the hidden damage reduction, and boosted my Shadow Mistress (why is it called master?) to ~level 14. My hope is to eventually feel comfortable with Sable's gear to the point I can respec away from both the Shadow and Fade, and go with Burst of Steroids instead. But on hardcore survival is essential, so I played it safe!
The Journey:
The last time I beat the game I did a straight run from start to finish. I was doing similarly this time when I hit a bit of a wall in Act 4 Hell. My life wasn't huge, and my resists weren't maxed, and I didn't have max block. A few close calls left me feeling vulnerable, so I decided to drop back to NM Meph to farm up some goodies. At this point in my self-found journey I was sporting Darkglow ringmail, a Black runeword flail, a Rhyme Heater, and The Mahim Oak Curio. Meph gave me Whitstan's Guard and Moser's Blessed circle (in the same drop!) and a Dwarf Star. I also scored Darksight helm a few runs later. The Cannot be Frozen mod on the hat allowed me to swap the Rhyme out. In the end I decided on Whitstan's, and made a Smoke light plate for resists. With fade this put me at 70+ resists in Hell. The decisions on which shield, helmet, and armour combination to wear really shows the intracies of Diablo 2's itemisation, and gave me a lot of thinking to do. I shopped for some buffing claws on switch at Anya in NM and settled on +2 to assassin skills. With enough time I'm sure you can find something better (+fade, +shadow master) but who can be bothered going in and out of the red portal ten million times.
In Hell Act 4 I decided to finally give up looking for a Phase Blade, and socketed Voice of Reason into a long sword. Not 30 minutes later I found my first Phase Blade, and proceeded to roll exactly 4 sockets with the cube. Diablo 2 trolls us like this sometimes. If I find the runes I could make it again, or save the Phase Blade for a future Passion Enchantress (or something).
I'm sure Rift blows it out of the water, but Voice of Reason is a lot of fun. The ice blasts keep everything slowed, and the frozen orbs are a sweet icing on the icy cake. My preparations for the final battle were finished with a Smoke Scarab Husk. It was unfortunate I couldn't find a Wire Fleece or Archon Plate. Although the Assassin has a nice butt, having it out while she's battling breaks the immersion a bit for me, and when you combine with Fade, it looks like she's wearing shoulder pads, a bra, and not much else. Some would say it's a feature, but I prefer my babes bit more armoured!
Hell Ancients were not a battle I was adequately prepared for. Two of the fools dropped quicly under Jemali's Hone Sundan, but the axe throwing bell-end slew the Desert Merc and stayed around forever. I ran out of potions, and spent literally 10 minutes hiding in a corner for my life to regenerate on its own before finally kicking his teeth in.
There were a few other random upgrades along the way, but Baal was defeated at level 84, dropping nothing. Yay for Guardian Sable!
Notable drops:
Two 20 life small charms, and a 100 poison damage small char, all from Act 3 Hell mobs
4os Monarch from the Pits
4os Eth CV from random Act 3 mobs. Not sure what I'll do with this one.
37% Gheed's charm from a trapped soul in Act 4 Hell
37% Chance guards
Although Sable's journey through Hell is complete, I'm looking forward to some MF runs to polish up her gear a bit, and possibly start finding goodies for my other characters.
Thanks for reading
.Introducing Sable, my (maybe) first untwinked guardian!
Sable is a kicker/light trapper. I really love the assassin for its active playstyle, and the kicker/trapper really accentuates this. I'm always switching between different skills: Cloak of Shadows is on almost constantly, changing the ratios of Lightning Sentries to Death Sentries as the fight goes on, mind blasting fools who gang up on my merc Jemali, or Dragon Flight-ing away from trouble.
Skill choices:
I decided to go with max lightning sentry, max death sentry, and max dragon talon, for obvious reasons. I put some points in fade, partly for the hidden damage reduction, and boosted my Shadow Mistress (why is it called master?) to ~level 14. My hope is to eventually feel comfortable with Sable's gear to the point I can respec away from both the Shadow and Fade, and go with Burst of Steroids instead. But on hardcore survival is essential, so I played it safe!
The Journey:
The last time I beat the game I did a straight run from start to finish. I was doing similarly this time when I hit a bit of a wall in Act 4 Hell. My life wasn't huge, and my resists weren't maxed, and I didn't have max block. A few close calls left me feeling vulnerable, so I decided to drop back to NM Meph to farm up some goodies. At this point in my self-found journey I was sporting Darkglow ringmail, a Black runeword flail, a Rhyme Heater, and The Mahim Oak Curio. Meph gave me Whitstan's Guard and Moser's Blessed circle (in the same drop!) and a Dwarf Star. I also scored Darksight helm a few runs later. The Cannot be Frozen mod on the hat allowed me to swap the Rhyme out. In the end I decided on Whitstan's, and made a Smoke light plate for resists. With fade this put me at 70+ resists in Hell. The decisions on which shield, helmet, and armour combination to wear really shows the intracies of Diablo 2's itemisation, and gave me a lot of thinking to do. I shopped for some buffing claws on switch at Anya in NM and settled on +2 to assassin skills. With enough time I'm sure you can find something better (+fade, +shadow master) but who can be bothered going in and out of the red portal ten million times.
In Hell Act 4 I decided to finally give up looking for a Phase Blade, and socketed Voice of Reason into a long sword. Not 30 minutes later I found my first Phase Blade, and proceeded to roll exactly 4 sockets with the cube. Diablo 2 trolls us like this sometimes. If I find the runes I could make it again, or save the Phase Blade for a future Passion Enchantress (or something).
I'm sure Rift blows it out of the water, but Voice of Reason is a lot of fun. The ice blasts keep everything slowed, and the frozen orbs are a sweet icing on the icy cake. My preparations for the final battle were finished with a Smoke Scarab Husk. It was unfortunate I couldn't find a Wire Fleece or Archon Plate. Although the Assassin has a nice butt, having it out while she's battling breaks the immersion a bit for me, and when you combine with Fade, it looks like she's wearing shoulder pads, a bra, and not much else. Some would say it's a feature, but I prefer my babes bit more armoured!
Hell Ancients were not a battle I was adequately prepared for. Two of the fools dropped quicly under Jemali's Hone Sundan, but the axe throwing bell-end slew the Desert Merc and stayed around forever. I ran out of potions, and spent literally 10 minutes hiding in a corner for my life to regenerate on its own before finally kicking his teeth in.
There were a few other random upgrades along the way, but Baal was defeated at level 84, dropping nothing. Yay for Guardian Sable!
Notable drops:
Two 20 life small charms, and a 100 poison damage small char, all from Act 3 Hell mobs
4os Monarch from the Pits
4os Eth CV from random Act 3 mobs. Not sure what I'll do with this one.
37% Gheed's charm from a trapped soul in Act 4 Hell
37% Chance guards
Although Sable's journey through Hell is complete, I'm looking forward to some MF runs to polish up her gear a bit, and possibly start finding goodies for my other characters.
Thanks for reading
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