Triple Helix
Well-known member
This was my first time playing in probably 9 years, back when I played on a Mac. The Mac is long since dead, and all my characters and wealth along with it. I was never rich in terms of items, but this was a complete restart on Xbox series X. Between the lack of practice and the start from scratch, it was brutally ugly, and nothing to write home about! I can’t believe all the mechanics and tips and tricks I had forgotten, as well as strategies and items. I’ve never been a HC player, but the sheer number of deaths I had from getting in a hurry or just dumb playing seemed ridiculous, and it feels a bit shameful. 
Being on the Xbox, one is locked into /players 1 while playing offline. I made the mistake of thinking that /players 1 would be easy since I used to run at /players 8 frequently in the past -- NOPE!! Also being on Xbox, there is no GoMule ability (only shared stashes), item/character printouts, or any of number of luxuries I remember. Also no TC/IP. And an Xbox controller is not nearly as precise as a mouse, and you end up getting stuck on jars, walls, and lots of things. Also no /players 7 LK runs.
Anyway, my first thought was to create a pure Blizzard sorceress, as it was my favorite long ago. After thinking for a while I felt it would be better to start off with dual elements, so I chose a Blizzballer. I love blizzard’s power and crowd control, and I like fireball for its speed and power. This was going to be my startup character to get gear for other characters to follow, so I wanted to be able to take her a variety of places.
I didn’t take notes while playing, and there are gaps in my memory in places, but hopefully I’ll get the highlights correct.
In terms of skills, Briale was made following Miladys-Knight’s Blizzballer guide. I had looked for one by Nightfish, who was a hero of mine for his guides a number of years ago, but if he made a full guide, I couldn’t find it. Anyway, this guide looked quite good, and I didn’t deviate from it at all.
Normal: Normal was pretty easy for the most part, but I struggled with Andariel and her poison. My merc died repeatedly, and I died a number of times too. Finally made it past that hurdle and was ready to move on. I switched to a Prayer merc in Act 2 which seemed to help for a while. There were several other silly deaths along the way, but eventually made it past all the act bosses.
I used a respec in normal because I’d accidentally put an extra point into frost nova.
Nightmare: Not too bad for the most part, but still far too many deaths. Merc and I were both using mostly rares as nothing else too good had dropped, and I foolishly hadn’t made any runewords for utility. I did get hung up on Duriel for quite a while, but after several deaths finally made it past him by repeatedly chipping away at his health and TPing back for more potions and a breathing merc. I started to gain momentum, and blizzard and fireball were starting to become more powerful, as long as I kept chugging blue potions. Anya gave me a nice +2 to sorceress skills orb for a reward (that I used until Act 2 of hell). Rather than try to farm Mephy or any of the other usuals in nightmare, I wanted to move on to hell so I could start farming in earnest – probably not the best idea.
Also used another respec because I accidentally put a point in frozen orb instead of blizzard, thinking it was cold mastery.
Hell: If I thought my resists hadn’t been good before, I was shocked to see how far they had plummeted once I made it to hell (something else I had forgotten happens). I believe Briale’s level was 66 or 67 when I arrived in Act I, which I would eventually come to recall wasn’t as high as it should probably be, especially given the fact that I was pretty much a noob once again and my gear wasn’t very good.
I formulated a strategy to try to farm for some good gear, and my target was going to be The Pit. I used my best rare gloves, boots, amulet, and rings with MF, and I foolishly used Larzuk quest from normal to make a 3os helmet and inserted 3 flawless (not perfect!) topazes. I used flawless because I didn’t have many left since I’d decided to sell my gems to make room in the stash, as well as to support my habit of merc reviving.
Before attempting Andy, I made my way straight to The Pit. Just fighting my way from the Black Marsh waypoint to there was pretty hard with my pitiful merc and gear, but I knew if I could cross the finish line my troubles would be over. Once again, nope!
Years ago, The Pit had been one of my favorite hangouts with various characters, second only to Pindleskin. This time around, my merc died many, many deaths, and Briale didn’t fare much better either, succumbing to cold explosions of dying bosses and getting mobbed anytime the merc bit the dust. Faster cast rate worked its way up on my priority chart for teleporting since it would have saved me any number of times. I also finally learned to keep my distance from dying bosses.
I eventually ditched my prayer merc for holy freeze, and that seemed to help with crowd control. It also helped that I found a 4os superior halberd which I made into Insight. This didn’t help the merc a whole lot since it didn’t do tons of damage, but the aura helped me to help him by spamming blizzard and fireballs.
My first decent drop was a Highlord’s Wrath amulet, and things were looking up. Realizing my merc needed life steal for survival, I blood crafted a decent chest piece with 3% life steal. I also found a 4os chest piece that I immediately socketed with 4 flawless topazes for Briale, bringing her MF up to a better range, even though resists were sadly neglected.
At some point, a white monarch dropped, and I used NM Larzuk for four sockets to make a Spirit runeword. I also used my third respec so I could get to 156 strength for the monarch Spirit shield. Lesson learned to plan ahead, or at least save some stat points in the future when I know I’ll want a Spirit monarch shield.
The Pit was stingy with drops and still very treacherous and I didn’t always get out with my life. I decided to move onto greener pastures (Ancient Tunnels), so I finally killed Andy (not too bad with fireball) and sailed east.
The Ancient Tunnels were exactly where I needed to go, and I spent the better part of a week running them . Years ago I never ran them much because I didn’t like them. That was when I had plenty of good gear and was at the top of my game. This time, however, they were a blessing because both Briale and my merc could stay alive reliably. They were also very generous. Among lots of other uniques/set items, I picked up a Skin of the Viper Magi, Skullder’s Ire, Tarn Helm, Peasant’s Crown, and two Manald Heals. I also finally realized I could make a Spirit runeword in a longsword which was nice, and a Lore helmet out of a shako just for the fun of it.
The Ancient Tunnels also gave up a white colossus voulge, which I put in my shared stash and used my necromancer (who I’d play when I got tired of dying on my sorceress) to put 4 sockets in at Larzuk – I couldn’t wait to make a more powerful Insight weapon for my merc. I knew the strength requirement was high, but didn’t think it would take very long to find the right gear with enough strength to equip. Wrong again, so the Insight colossus voulge went back into my stash for a while.
I eventually wanted to finish hell difficulty, so started the trip from Act 2 onward. My gear was coming together, I was learning to play better once again, and now, nothing could stop my ascent to Baal’s throne room. Except the Hell Ancients. Those guys were merciless on my merc, and without his pitiful Insight halberd, I didn’t have the confidence to face them alone. So back to the Ancient Tunnels I went for extra strength so my merc could equip his Insight colossus voulge. Took a while, but eventually found a Skin of the Flayed one (which also has life steal), which combined with a 3 socket helm with flawless amethysts made him good to go with the Insight colossus voulge!
Back to the Ancients, and they died pretty fast on the first try – My merc was finally a killing machine that actually survived much better than before. World Stone Keep wasn’t too bad as long as I took it slow, and then finally Baal himself went down without too much of a struggle once static’d and repeatedly pelted with blizzard. Briale beat Baal at level 84, I believe, which was pretty high, but I suppose she’s a late bloomer.
Notable finds: Mang’s Song Lesson in the Ancient Tunnels.
Highest rune found: Um at the hellforge.
Deaths: yep, definitely.
Briale’s not finished, because she will still be used for some MF runs on Pindleskin, Meph, AT, Baal, etc., as well as for cow tipping and rustling.
This was an humbling experience. In the past I remember blasting from normal to hell difficulty playthroughs largely on /players 8 without many deaths. Of course I had better gear then, and I’m sure I was equally bad when I started my first ever character. But nevertheless, I had a great time relearning and reliving the nostalgia, and I plan on playing for a number of years to come.
Being on the Xbox, one is locked into /players 1 while playing offline. I made the mistake of thinking that /players 1 would be easy since I used to run at /players 8 frequently in the past -- NOPE!! Also being on Xbox, there is no GoMule ability (only shared stashes), item/character printouts, or any of number of luxuries I remember. Also no TC/IP. And an Xbox controller is not nearly as precise as a mouse, and you end up getting stuck on jars, walls, and lots of things. Also no /players 7 LK runs.
Anyway, my first thought was to create a pure Blizzard sorceress, as it was my favorite long ago. After thinking for a while I felt it would be better to start off with dual elements, so I chose a Blizzballer. I love blizzard’s power and crowd control, and I like fireball for its speed and power. This was going to be my startup character to get gear for other characters to follow, so I wanted to be able to take her a variety of places.
I didn’t take notes while playing, and there are gaps in my memory in places, but hopefully I’ll get the highlights correct.
In terms of skills, Briale was made following Miladys-Knight’s Blizzballer guide. I had looked for one by Nightfish, who was a hero of mine for his guides a number of years ago, but if he made a full guide, I couldn’t find it. Anyway, this guide looked quite good, and I didn’t deviate from it at all.
Normal: Normal was pretty easy for the most part, but I struggled with Andariel and her poison. My merc died repeatedly, and I died a number of times too. Finally made it past that hurdle and was ready to move on. I switched to a Prayer merc in Act 2 which seemed to help for a while. There were several other silly deaths along the way, but eventually made it past all the act bosses.
I used a respec in normal because I’d accidentally put an extra point into frost nova.
Nightmare: Not too bad for the most part, but still far too many deaths. Merc and I were both using mostly rares as nothing else too good had dropped, and I foolishly hadn’t made any runewords for utility. I did get hung up on Duriel for quite a while, but after several deaths finally made it past him by repeatedly chipping away at his health and TPing back for more potions and a breathing merc. I started to gain momentum, and blizzard and fireball were starting to become more powerful, as long as I kept chugging blue potions. Anya gave me a nice +2 to sorceress skills orb for a reward (that I used until Act 2 of hell). Rather than try to farm Mephy or any of the other usuals in nightmare, I wanted to move on to hell so I could start farming in earnest – probably not the best idea.
Also used another respec because I accidentally put a point in frozen orb instead of blizzard, thinking it was cold mastery.
Hell: If I thought my resists hadn’t been good before, I was shocked to see how far they had plummeted once I made it to hell (something else I had forgotten happens). I believe Briale’s level was 66 or 67 when I arrived in Act I, which I would eventually come to recall wasn’t as high as it should probably be, especially given the fact that I was pretty much a noob once again and my gear wasn’t very good.
I formulated a strategy to try to farm for some good gear, and my target was going to be The Pit. I used my best rare gloves, boots, amulet, and rings with MF, and I foolishly used Larzuk quest from normal to make a 3os helmet and inserted 3 flawless (not perfect!) topazes. I used flawless because I didn’t have many left since I’d decided to sell my gems to make room in the stash, as well as to support my habit of merc reviving.
Before attempting Andy, I made my way straight to The Pit. Just fighting my way from the Black Marsh waypoint to there was pretty hard with my pitiful merc and gear, but I knew if I could cross the finish line my troubles would be over. Once again, nope!
Years ago, The Pit had been one of my favorite hangouts with various characters, second only to Pindleskin. This time around, my merc died many, many deaths, and Briale didn’t fare much better either, succumbing to cold explosions of dying bosses and getting mobbed anytime the merc bit the dust. Faster cast rate worked its way up on my priority chart for teleporting since it would have saved me any number of times. I also finally learned to keep my distance from dying bosses.
I eventually ditched my prayer merc for holy freeze, and that seemed to help with crowd control. It also helped that I found a 4os superior halberd which I made into Insight. This didn’t help the merc a whole lot since it didn’t do tons of damage, but the aura helped me to help him by spamming blizzard and fireballs.
My first decent drop was a Highlord’s Wrath amulet, and things were looking up. Realizing my merc needed life steal for survival, I blood crafted a decent chest piece with 3% life steal. I also found a 4os chest piece that I immediately socketed with 4 flawless topazes for Briale, bringing her MF up to a better range, even though resists were sadly neglected.
At some point, a white monarch dropped, and I used NM Larzuk for four sockets to make a Spirit runeword. I also used my third respec so I could get to 156 strength for the monarch Spirit shield. Lesson learned to plan ahead, or at least save some stat points in the future when I know I’ll want a Spirit monarch shield.
The Pit was stingy with drops and still very treacherous and I didn’t always get out with my life. I decided to move onto greener pastures (Ancient Tunnels), so I finally killed Andy (not too bad with fireball) and sailed east.
The Ancient Tunnels were exactly where I needed to go, and I spent the better part of a week running them . Years ago I never ran them much because I didn’t like them. That was when I had plenty of good gear and was at the top of my game. This time, however, they were a blessing because both Briale and my merc could stay alive reliably. They were also very generous. Among lots of other uniques/set items, I picked up a Skin of the Viper Magi, Skullder’s Ire, Tarn Helm, Peasant’s Crown, and two Manald Heals. I also finally realized I could make a Spirit runeword in a longsword which was nice, and a Lore helmet out of a shako just for the fun of it.
The Ancient Tunnels also gave up a white colossus voulge, which I put in my shared stash and used my necromancer (who I’d play when I got tired of dying on my sorceress) to put 4 sockets in at Larzuk – I couldn’t wait to make a more powerful Insight weapon for my merc. I knew the strength requirement was high, but didn’t think it would take very long to find the right gear with enough strength to equip. Wrong again, so the Insight colossus voulge went back into my stash for a while.
I eventually wanted to finish hell difficulty, so started the trip from Act 2 onward. My gear was coming together, I was learning to play better once again, and now, nothing could stop my ascent to Baal’s throne room. Except the Hell Ancients. Those guys were merciless on my merc, and without his pitiful Insight halberd, I didn’t have the confidence to face them alone. So back to the Ancient Tunnels I went for extra strength so my merc could equip his Insight colossus voulge. Took a while, but eventually found a Skin of the Flayed one (which also has life steal), which combined with a 3 socket helm with flawless amethysts made him good to go with the Insight colossus voulge!
Back to the Ancients, and they died pretty fast on the first try – My merc was finally a killing machine that actually survived much better than before. World Stone Keep wasn’t too bad as long as I took it slow, and then finally Baal himself went down without too much of a struggle once static’d and repeatedly pelted with blizzard. Briale beat Baal at level 84, I believe, which was pretty high, but I suppose she’s a late bloomer.
Notable finds: Mang’s Song Lesson in the Ancient Tunnels.
Highest rune found: Um at the hellforge.
Deaths: yep, definitely.
Briale’s not finished, because she will still be used for some MF runs on Pindleskin, Meph, AT, Baal, etc., as well as for cow tipping and rustling.
This was an humbling experience. In the past I remember blasting from normal to hell difficulty playthroughs largely on /players 8 without many deaths. Of course I had better gear then, and I’m sure I was equally bad when I started my first ever character. But nevertheless, I had a great time relearning and reliving the nostalgia, and I plan on playing for a number of years to come.
