KrisKrosAplSauc - An Aggressin's Adventures

[Jocular]

Hello all!

Thought I might as well start making some journal entries for ol' Kris. The decision to start her came out of momentary burnout in the 'Orange You Glad' Tournament...Double Swing+bad crafts+full clears=a sad, sad time. Anyways, back on topic. KrisKrosAplSauc, so named for the slice 'n dice nature of her skill of choice, Dragon Claw, had no playstyle restrictions at start. Want to blast through an annoying area? Go right ahead. Feel the need to re-run NM Andy for her bugged quest-drop? Oh, let's. I was needing some freedom to let D2 play unfettered, and KrisKros is that outlet. However, as soon as Kris started some restrictions could not help but naturally fall into place


She is based off of our mod's fine guide (found here). Dragon Claw, Death Sentry, a bit of this, a bit of that. It's a nice build, very open for experimentation. With all that openness some order began to form, shaping Kris' path. They are simple, but have large consequences.


1. Untwinked, and no muling. I mentioned recently in a thread I am looking forward to playing D2:R w/o the assistance of GoMule as it likely will not be compatible at release. I guess I couldn't wait.

2. Each level-up, I must place two points into Strength/Dexterity, and only 1 into Vitality. After all, how could Kris be called an Aggressin without throwing caution to the wind in pursuit of power? Prior to doing 2/2/1 stat placement, I first made Kris' stats such that her Vitality was half of her Strength and Dexterity. However, I am allowed to place quest rewards at will.


How I plan to deal with these restrictions:

1. To increase available stash space while also somewhat efficiently cubing up gems, all gems two steps lower in quality than the best quality gem of the same type will be sold. For example, if a chipped diamond drops, it will be sold if a normal diamond is already stashed. It's working...okay so far. Chipped gems are mostly being used for rerolling magic Blade Talons. Runes are being sold indiscriminately at the moment, but I'm sure it will become more difficult to decide what to keep and what to sell once Sols/Shaels/Lums and above start dropping.

2. Maxing Fade may be a good use of skill points for the damage reduction. Getting large bonuses to life via my Amulet, Helm, and Belt will be of high priority. Blood crafts will be very important. And Weapon Block, despite the guide's advice to avoid it, may be simply too important to pass up on. If I get lucky and find/shop a Jeweler's/Artisan's Body Armor of Amicae, I may try out doing a damage reduction by integer build. If not, Lionheart is the natural choice. It fits in with the build theme, too. Depending on how many +skills I get, pumping some points into Mind Blast may be necessary for a longer stun duration.


As you might have guessed...this is not HC




Poor Kris. Certainly will not the last time I see that screen with her. Those scarab lightning bolts hurt on /p5 when your life pool is less than one usually has halfway through Act I. I will be keeping a tally of deaths, when and where. (Could someone smarter help me out? I dunno how to make one of those fancy tables like I see in tourneys)


I think that's it. Norm and NM will be run on /p5 mostly I suspect, maybe down to /p3 in the later Acts. Hell will *definitely* be on /p1. Unless I decide to do a lot mfing. I guess there is room in the build for some points into Dtalon for Boss running/killing with Strength on switch. I have yet to figure out exactly how I plan to deal with Physical Immunes...if the right runes and weapon base drops Lawbringer and an Act V Merc might be fun.



Anyways, here we go, let's see where Kris takes us

 

[Vildecor]

I'll be keeping an eye on your progress! I've never made an Aggressin myself, and untwinked play is always fun to follow.

Oh, and since you asked, how's this?

The Death Table

 #    Lvl     Diff   Location             Slain By
___   ___    ______  __________________   _______________________
 1     ?      N      ?                    Steel Scarab

Edit:

Or, alternatively, for more flavor:

Krossed Out Kounter

 #    Lvl    Diff   Location             Slain By
XxX   XxX    XxXx   XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx   XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
 1     ?      N     ?                    Steel Scarab

 

[Jocular]

It's perfect, thank you! And you filled out the first entry as well!

 

[maxicek]

Good luck with this and in particular your claw drops / shops
Get a couple of Strength Claws for bosses.

 

[Pb_pal]

Aggressins are super cool, good luck!

 

[Jocular]

Good luck with this and in particular your claw drops / shops
Get a couple of Strength Claws for bosses.

Of course, I dunno why I thought using one claw+DTalon would be a better option instead of simply doubling up on Strength...

I've been thinking more about the build's skill placement and came up with:

20 Claw Mastery
10 Dragon Claw
20 Death Sentry
20 Lightning Sentry
1-point wonders (Mind Blast, CoS, DFlight, Weapon Block)
Rest into LS synergies

And rely on Treachery's ctc% Venom/Fade. But then I realized this would require using fast, low damaging claws in order to hit the 9 or 10 fpa trap speed, as well as a good DClaw breakpoint. And then DClaw isn't fully mastered which drops my damage even more...a delicate balance.