- Dec 23, 2007
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The Build
I did look at some Blade Fury mat/pat threads, but since Blade Sentinel used to have limited effectiveness due to NHD, I didn't see much about that skill. Blade Shield affects weapon durability, so the builds I saw often didn't use it since they were using ethereal weapons for more damage. The eth weapons I used were either indestructible or self-repairing, so that wasn't a problem.
Blade Sentinel: 20
Blade Fury: 20
Blade Shield: 20
Shadow Warrior: 20
Burst of Speed: 1
Dragon Flight: 1 (helps with positioning since we'll be using Fortitude)
Saved: 9 (not sure what to do with these, maybe BoS?)
Early Levelling
I actually finished this character a few weeks ago, so my memory is a bit fuzzy, though I did keep pretty good notes.
I started out using Hsaru's set and then Death's Set. Blade Sentinel is pretty fun to use and it does decent damage early on, especially with Death's set. Other weapons used were a Spirit Broadsword and Bloodletter. Twitchthroe, Duskdeep, and The Ward were used for a while as well. Probably pretty standard twinking for a Fury sin.
One thing that I noticed pretty early is that you can set up your Sentinels at a closed door by casting blindly into the next room, then when you open the door they all burst into the room at the same time. It's highly effective.
Mid Levelling
I also used Butcher's Pupil, Earthshaker, Duriel's Shell, The Spirit Forge, Infernostride, War Traveller's; all pretty standard melee stuff.
I noticed that setting up Sentinels could be a bit clunky unless there was an obvious chokepoint, like a doorway. The Shadow Warrior takes a very simplistic approach to using Sentinels, but she casts it fairly often, so it's effective in larger/longer battles. Sentinels cast by the SW use the assassin's weapon for damage, so the damage output is good even if the placement isn't great. I kept Blade Sentinel on left-click so that the SW would consistently cast it. SW doesn't use Blade Fury, so normal attack was the only other main attack used. I didn't put points into SW until NM was done.
Other gear that cycled on were Treachery, Ravenfrost, Moser's, Lava Gout (which stayed), and Vampire Gaze.
Late Game
At level 57, I switched to Oath in an ethereal Scourge, with CtA on switch. At 62, on went Shako and an upped Moser's. At 63, Fortitude went on, and Highlord's Wrath went on at 65. At 69, I switched to BotD, which was the motivation for the character.
At level 82, I was starting Act 3, and the gear looked like this:
weap: BotD eBA
shield: upped 2pdiamond Moser's
helm: Shako, ptopaz
chest: Fortitude
belt: String of Ears
gloves: Lava Gout
boots: War Traveler's
ammy: Highlord's Wrath
rings: BKWB, Ravenfrost
merc:
weap: The Reaper's Toll, shael,
chest: Treachery Dusk Shroud
helm: Vampire Gaze
My memory on the gameplay loop is a bit fuzzy, but it was basically: run around, when you see a group, set up 2 or 3 long range Sentinels, starting firing Blade Fury, then reposition closer to the merc and SW as needed. Mobs went down pretty easily, even on /p8. A nice feature of Blade Sentinel is that you can cast it around cover and it will hug the wall/obstacle and still usually reach the point that you cast on.
I also tried out a Spirit Monarch instead of Moser's and Arachnid Mesh instead of SoE for the +skills. Blade Sentinel and Fury get a lot of their damage from +skills, so that helped a bit. It's interesting to have a physical damage build that benefits so much from +skills.
Gear upon Baal's death:
weapon: eBotD BA
shield: Spirit
switch: CtA, Spirit
helm: CoA, Ral Ort
chest: Fortitude
belt: Arachnid Mesh
Gloves: Lava Gout
boots: upped Gore Rider
ammy: Highlord's
rings: Raven/Raven
charms: torch, anni, 3 traps, physical sunder, gheed's, AR/life/FRW/FHR
merc:
weap: reaper's toll, shael
chest: Treachery DS
helm: Vampire Gaze (forgot to swap to Andy's)
Weapon Choices
I relied on Ceramic Weasel's guide, so what comes next is not new info.
It turns out that BotD is not the best Blade Fury Weapon for DPS. Even a non-eth Fleshripper does more, so I used that a bit as well. The only drawback is that I then have to get dual leech elsewhere. So while BotD doesn't maximize damage, it's still quite good for other reasons. If I had an ethereal Fleshripper, the difference would be more stark and probably enough to make me not use BotD.
I also tried out an ethereal Lacerator, which was quite good once Amp procced. Other weapons I tried were: Crescent Moon ethereal Ettin Axe, Horizon's Tornado, Rift Cadaceus, Voice of Reason Scourge, Dangoon's Teaching, Shadow Killer, and Earthshaker. None of those had great DPS, but the procs were interesting.
Blade Fury Proccing
I noticed that Poison Nova from BotD procs from the sin and not from the target, which is too bad. It makes sense, but it's still a bit disappointing. This got me thinking and I checked some other weapons to see where they procced.
Fissure on Earthshaker: target
Tornado on Horizon's: character
Frozen Orb on VoR: character
Frost Nova from Dangoon's: target
I don't have any notes on Warshrike or Shadow Killer, so maybe I need to regear and test those as well, but I would expect them to work the same way Dangoon's Teaching does.
Deaths
None, despite doing the whole playthrough on /p8. There were a few NDEs, though. My notes say that a charging Revenant hit me while I was cursed and that I screenshotted it, but I'm not sure which one that is. Oh well. I also had an NDE with /p8 cursed ancients.
Finds
Pul in Act 5 NM
Hellforge was Lum
Boneshade at Diablo
Vex in Act 5 Hell
Fine SC of Vita in Act 5 Hell (1/10/20 meh)
Future Plans
I've already started a physical damage bowzon since I found a Windforce recently. Another melee necro is probably next. That one will synergize Poison Nova and use BotD.
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