When last we left AllBlues, he was at the Far Oasis WP waiting to get the staff and ammy.
He ventured into the desert in pursuit of these relics. The Maggot Lair was first and I tried to spend as little time there as possible (as most of my chars do). It is just so annoying running down those narrow passageways and being forced to fight enemies without the help of your merc.
Once I got to Level 24, I got Shockwave, which was quite helpful in the Claw Viper Temple to stun the vipers and prevent them from charging my party. Shockwave is a great skill indeed; however, I'm not sure if it's worth more than one hard point (I'm hoping to eventually find a helm that will boost the stun length).
With each diamond (chipped or flawed) I found along the way, I bought a cheap staff from Drognan and made a cubing attempt with the Savage Polearm recipe. Eventually, to my surprise, I started getting exceptional polearms. Unfortunately, none had the evisceration suffix that I had managed to get on that voulge earlier (which I eventually sold b/c of the high lvl req), but I did end up with a Savage Lochaber Axe of Fire that I immediately gave to my merc once he hit the strength requirement of 80. Very nice item for such an early level.
Unfortunately, my own weapon is crap because I _still_ have not found any jewelery with mana leech on it. I am using a Mechanic's Scythe of the Bat without any %ED on it, and nothing socketed in it yet. I chose this weapon because of the faster attack speed of the scythe over the other weapons, but I am hoping to find a big hurty weapon soon.
Around the False Tombs I decided to ditch Oak Sage and go HoW, since I wanted a skill that would boost both the attack rating of both Maul (for the charge-ups) and Fire Claws. The enhanced damage for my party is not such a bad thing either. To boot, HoW gets more hit points than Oak Sage so it is tougher to kill. Now that I've made my decision to stick with HoW, I am hoping that the Werebear defensive skills (Shockwave, Maul, enhanced defense) will help offset the loss of life from Oak Sage. I figure I can always cast Lvl 1 Oak Sage in special situations when life is sorely needed (Chaos Sanctuary, for example).
I entered the True Tomb and found the Orifice rather quickly. I switched to players 1 (with s/u and rare drops out of the picture, no real reason to do players 8) and beat on Duriel until the big grub died. I had to resurrect my merc twice but I was not in real danger.
Entered Act 3, did the Jade Figurine quest. AllBlues now has ~530 life in bear form
Score:
Level = -27
Quests = 13 * 2 = 26
WPs = 19
Score = 18
Tasdaz said:
The biggest problems I have faced is the attack speed of the werebear and any bosses that spawn cold enchanted. Slows my attacks to around 1 attack per 3 seconds.
I agree. If you don't have a weapon with "Very Fast Attack Speed" (Large Axe, Scythe), the bear attacks very slowly. Once I clicked on a scarab to attack it, the bear started to swing, and in mid-swing the scarab just walked away from me, leaving me attacking thin air.
. 20 seconds later, after letting them in, I come back and see the death screen. Slain by a flesh beast because I wasn't thinking 