Matriarch/Patriarch/Guardian Archive Thread

Originally posted by Nightfish on Apr 20, 2011:

Re: HC All Stars - Guardian EatMyFeetMofo

Yay for us! \o/

I'm not gonna make my own guardian thread as a fishymancer guardian isn't exactly epic news to anyone. At best he deserves a small footnote here in Dave's thread.

Up until Act4Normal we were rolling untwinked. Which woulda been fine, except we also didn't pick up a lot of stuff. Like, at all. So, at Big D I was sitting on a nice 0% res all and I was still fresh from a several year hiatus. Plus, I didn't fully understand how to not make the game lag (This is the first game that I've seen that lags for me as the host. What is up with that?) Long story short, just before Big D died, I blinked once and the lightning hose ate me. Got a replacement necro up to speed within a day though and the rest of the journey went without a hitch. I did make some alterations to the gear I'd normally use to accomodate MP lags and what not:

Wand: Cairn Shard (+3 summoning and +life / lvl)
Gloves: Bloodfist
Rings: 2x Dwarf Star
Helm: Shako
Armour: Spirit Shroud
Belt: Gloom's Trap
Boots: Natalya's High Heels
Shield: Homunculus (<3)
Ammy: Mara's

All that stuff gave me 1200-ish life, which is like 600 more than I need in SP, but better safe than sorry. :badteeth:

Overall I provided safety and chaos in equal measure. Good luck trying to figue out what's going on between 12 skellies, 20 revives a golem and a cursespewing necro.

Me, I sat back and watched the mayhem unfold cheering my minions on.



What you need to say is that you courageously led our assault from the rear, fearlessly braving the dangers of a nasty draft that wafted up from the ancient's way.



Next thing I want to do is try this untwinked, possibly more or less single-pass. But not right now. First I want to do a tourney or two or some other random stuff.
 
Originally posted by @DaveWThe2nd on Mar 25, 2012:

Guardian SpareRibs

Guardian SpareRibs: Melee-Sorc
Character name : SpareRibs
Character type : Hardcore Sorceress
Character level : 80
Character exp : 735249545
Strength : 110
Energy : 153
Dexterity : 69
Vitality : 158
Life : 819 / 475
Mana : 491 / 429

90 FHR for 9 frame recovery I think. If I get hit I need to recover fast. 60% FHR from Ribcracker and Gloom, the rest made up with charms of balance.
No +skills
No FCR

Firstly big ups to NF for guarding this build back in the day. I've always wanted to make a melee sorc but wasn't sure where to start. And altho NF didn't exactly make a guide for this gal, he left enuff clues in the write up to make a melee sorc that could thwart the plans of the Three Prime Evils. I stayed mostly true to his build with 1 exception.

Equipment
Code:
Ribcracker
Stalagmite
'Shael'
Two-Hand Damage: 294 to 442
Durability: 130 of 130
Required Dexterity: 35
Required Strength: 63
Required Level: 56
Staff Class - Fastest Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 59
Fingerprint: 0xf4dd1aca
+15 to Dexterity
+100% Enhanced Defense
+253% Enhanced Damage
+30 to Minimum Damage
+65 to Maximum Damage
+100 Defense
+100 Maximum Durability
Required Level +7
70% Increased Attack Speed
50% Faster Hit Recovery
150% Damage to Undead
50% Chance of Crushing Blow
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Gloom
Dusk Shroud
'FalUmPul'
Defense: 1304
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Strength: 77
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x2d96b0a6
+10 to Strength
+204% Enhanced Defense
All Resistances +45
-3 to Light Radius
10% Faster Hit Recovery
5% Damage Taken Goes to Mana
Half Freeze Duration
15% Chance to cast Level 3 Dim Vision when struck
Socketed (3: 3 used)

Laying of Hands
Natalya's Soul
Angelic Jewellery
String of Ears
Darksight Helm
Demon Limb

Charms
Code:
Coral Small Charm of Dexterity
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 20
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x35f8171c
+2 to Dexterity
Lightning Resist +9%

Serpent's Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 40
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x985ef0d9
+19 to Life
+13 to Mana

Emerald Small Charm of Good Luck
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 33
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x55e2b655
Poison Resist +11%
6% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Amber Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xdfae1d9d
Lightning Resist +10%

Fine Small Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 21
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x12adc7c0
+9 to Life
+10 to Attack Rating
+1 to Maximum Damage

Serpent's Small Charm of Fortune
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 40
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xfb8d5f2
+16 to Mana
3% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Serpent's Small Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 40
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x232356c9
+12 to Life
+17 to Mana

Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x34a7751b
+17 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xf1555028
+18 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x9c0ee493
+17 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x38baa938
+18 to Life

Emerald Small Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x4272478c
+6 to Life
Poison Resist +11%

Fine Small Charm of Dexterity
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 21
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xa8ca4517
+1 to Dexterity
+12 to Attack Rating
+2 to Maximum Damage

Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xc66098cd
+18 to Life

Cobalt Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 20
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xd1da7f38
Cold Resist +8%

Fine Small Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 21
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xeefc693b
+13 to Life
+14 to Attack Rating
+2 to Maximum Damage

Amber Small Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 57
Fingerprint: 0x38f5a9cb
+8 to Life
Lightning Resist +11%

Stalwart Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 40
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 83
Fingerprint: 0xf9ac4d67
+20 to Life
+20 Defense

Amber Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0xc2f61982
Lightning Resist +11%

Coral Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x93b7430
+18 to Life
Lightning Resist +8%

Emerald Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0x548e5597
Poison Resist +11%

Small Charm of Balance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0xef5e40b0
5% Faster Hit Recovery

Emerald Small Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0x347c032d
+9 to Life
Poison Resist +11%

Ruby Small Charm of Balance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 56
Fingerprint: 0x4a034041
Fire Resist +10%
5% Faster Hit Recovery

Emerald Grand Charm of Balance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 22
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 35
Fingerprint: 0x2f76e8b8
Poison Resist +28%
12% Faster Hit Recovery

Serpent's Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 40
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x46257252
+16 to Mana

Cobalt Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 20
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x1a0075b8
Cold Resist +9%

Small Charm of Balance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x19bd1078
5% Faster Hit Recovery

Coral Grand Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 15
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x65189b67
+18 to Life
Lightning Resist +24%

Cobalt Grand Charm of Balance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 15
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x2242c3a5
Cold Resist +25%
12% Faster Hit Recovery

Coral Small Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 20
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 43
Fingerprint: 0xc1b02c3
+9 to Life
Lightning Resist +9%

Small Charm of Balance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x8f97f76a
5% Faster Hit Recovery

Mercenary : (Might merc)
Code:
Duriel's Shell
Guillaume's Face
The Reaper's Toll(for NM questing I used Hone Sundan (ShaelShaelAmn), then for Hell questing, the Reapers)
Kelpie Snare (for Act Bosses. I also swapped in a Vamp gaze and Shatfstop for the DR against Hell Ancients)

Skills
Code:
Max Shiver Armour
Max Telekinesis
Max Warmth
10+ points in Fire Mastery, Energy Shield
No points in Enchant. This skill comes from Demon Limb charges. You have to wait for clevel 63 but then you also get LoH so its all good. Btw Enchant from DL still receives synergy bonuses from Warmth which is helpful.

Norm and NM were played at players8. Hell at P1. SpareRibs can handle alot of damage, to the point that she had no NDEs until Hell Act 2. The scarabs in the Maggot Lair could evaporate my ES with 1 swipe for some reason. Cursed, extra strong bosses also proved formidable opponents but she never had those scary situations where the Health globe suddenly turns transparent in a matter of millisecs. Health and mana at these levels seep at roughly the same amount so the player can always hit a health potion to keep it topped up or a rejuve if necessary.

Some scary moments came when I absent-mindedly forgot to recharge ES and SA. If I forgot to replenish, SpareRibs health globe would dive quickly and unexpectedly. Other than that, things went quite well. Take mind that Gloams are scary; they can cut through the mana and health globes very quickly, but more so the Mana globe due to Mana Burn. But the Darksight Helm and its CoS charges can quieten those threats nicely. Only Champ and Boss Gloams deserve respect. Resists were not as high as I usually hope for (Hell LR was +55 iirc. I prefer max LR in Hell but just couldn't get there without sacrificing other gear or charms.) Wielding a 2H stave means you do have to sacrifice some. But that Ribby is was the main reason for the build so it was a necessary piece of equipment.

Mana burn enemies were annoying but not really deadly. If burned I'd tele away, hit a Mana potion and rejoin the fray.
Unlike NF I did put points into Static Field and used that skill with great abandon in Normal and NM mode. But in Hell I relied on CB from the Ribby to bring monster HPs down because getting close enuff to use SF without +skills invites trouble (Your'e standing still with no shield and slow casting. The only thing missing is a target painted on my face)
CoS and ctc DV (from Darksight Helm and Gloom armour) provide very good crowd control although Decrip over-riding CoS (and DV over-riding CoS) can be troublesome (the duration of DV is too short) I mainly used CoS when champs/bosses or lots of ranged attackers were around. Physical and Fire Immunes went down easily but combinations of PI/FI+Stone Skin were a test of patience. Thank goodness for Decrip.

Hell Ancients were re-rolled until none were cursed. Tele+Kelpie+CB can bring those brothers down very nicely. The Throne Room level was totally cleared out before taking on Baals Minions so I had some re-treating room; an especially useful tactic against Lister and Co. (A melee char suffers from Baals Decrip. Why is that? The game penalizes melee chars in that way but not casters.) On to Baal and no real scary moments. The Kelpie, Static Field and CB tames his demonic @$$ very nicely. The rest is history as they say. Btw NM Forge was an Um! Hell was Mal. Niceness.

An enjoyable char and a build I wud encourage other HC players to hit. But remember to keep ES and SA replenished. Otherwise it can get messy. Thx 4 reading. Future plans involve questing various chars spreadout through Hell and NM as well as Guarding my untwinked, single pass Trapper in Hell Act 4. I just hope her moronic merc is up to the task. (#sigh#) Laters.
 
Originally posted by DeathMaster on Apr 9, 2008:

Project finished - Guardian LadyMagic

Lame name, I know, but I didn't think of a good one at that time, and since she is sorc, LadyMagic will do.

Anyway, long ago, I decided to do HC only, and guardian at least one for each class. At first, I was too coward to only play the safe build (necro/zon). Also take into account that my play time was limited and other RL issues. I have been on and off for this project for really long time. Now, the project is finally over. I present you the last one to join the guardian team.

http://img262.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lmkk3.jpg

As you can see, she is tri-elemental sorc. You won't see any uber damages there, but this is one Lady capable of killing anything in the game.

Gears: full tal rasha's set + 2x BK ring + magefist + waterwalk + rhyme grim shield + 3 skiller (one each) + 9 x small charms to make up resistant/etc.

Major skills are pretty much all in the image. Details:
Cold tree: 20 FO, 1 CM, and you read it right, no cold shield.
Lightning tree: 20 Lightning, 20 CL, 1 LM, 1 in SF and teleport
Fire tree: 20 fire ball, 5 fire bolt, 1 FM, 1 warmth

Merc: HF A2 moron, usual gear (reaper's toll + vampire gaze + duriel's shell). I did borrow duress from my recent Darth Vader's guard at the last attempt to fast track the progress in throne room, but it turned out not as good as I'd expect (in fact, I don't know if it really made any difference at all).

NDE: Couldn't remember her early time, been too long ago. Since I last picked her up, there were three times, all were door traps. Twice to clear temp in A3. One I could fight my way and won, one I barely made outside (hair away to get killed). I still remember it was a snake boss pack, they charge too hard that entering the door = instant near death. I tried couple of times to fight them, the fact I could escape out is a miracle. Latest NDE was last night, throne room. Entering throne room and there were at least two boss packs awaiting right on the door. One is again snake pack, I hate charge. One is OK pack with doom knights (the hurt). I couldn't tell if it was OK casted AD or one pack was cursed, upon enter, I was ADed, then one charge my merc was dead, I escaped back just barely. Due to my personal rule - "no use of escape key (to escape death trap)", and no crowd control skill, every door trap could mean deed.

Edit: forgot socket. armor and mask socketed with standard PT. weapon socketed with 13% resist all/7% MF jewel.
 
Originally posted by @jiansonz on Jan 14, 2012:

Guardian Jill, v1.10-1.11 Mastery Sorceress

In September 2004, Uzziah kicked off a rather wacky tourney called Mastery Sorc Tourney. I eventually entered, but not for any prizes. My goal was not to beat NM at the lowest level but to play a single pass full clear on the highest comfortable players setting, like I usually do.

I chose a Blessed Aim merc, mostly so my character would be able to hit things without needing much help from gear. Since some decent base AR would be helpful, I went for max blocking. Seemed like the logical thing to do.

After I beat NM, Jill was put on hold for several years because I was tired of her at the time and I had more interesting characters to play. A couple of years ago, I took a completely skill-less Assassin (paired with an Act I merc) all the way to an Act III Hell temple, so I figured this challenge can´t be harder than that. Stonger merc and better merc-helper skills, and the character also has ways to do some decent damage by herself. Time to move on with this!

In Normal and Nightmare, I was forbidden to use an ATMA stash because of tourney rules. Since I could not save them for massive rerolling of merc weapons later, I used up my chipped and mid-sized gems to reroll orbs as I progressed through the game. This rerolling gave me my two main weapons already in Normal:

Jill's Garnet Sacred Globe
One-Hand Damage: 3 to 8
Durability: 23 of 30
(Sorceress Only)
Required Level: 18
Orb Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 25
Fingerprint: 0xcec6f9cd
+9 to Life
+15 to Mana
Fire Resist +27%
Adds 1-6 fire damage
+2 to Glacial Spike (Sorceress Only)
+1 to Teleport (Sorceress Only)
+1 to Shiver Armor (Sorceress Only)
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Jill's Sapphire Sacred Globe of the Sentinel
One-Hand Damage: 3 to 8
Durability: 30 of 30
(Sorceress Only)
Required Level: 18
Orb Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 25
Fingerprint: 0xd860a0a
+9 to Mana
Magic Damage Reduced by 2
Cold Resist +37%
+1 to Shiver Armor (Sorceress Only)
+1 to Static Field (Sorceress Only)
Socketed (2: 0 used)

Chippie-rerolling produces ilvl 25 weapons. These have base tier of level 18 skills, which is great, because the two level 18 skills in the first orb were exactly the ones I wanted on an orb. I was very happy to roll this orb. Shiver Armor was icing, and it even has a useful affix! :)

It´s socketed with a Jacinth Jewel of Passion. That was a spur-of-the-moment decision because I was annoyed by running out of mana so often. (Also remember that I couldn´t save all my potentially useful jewels either - they competed for limited space with runes and such throughout Normal and NM.) Later on, I could probably have replaced it with something better, but I just forgot to...


When I picked up this character again, I brought her from 1.10 to 1.11. That meant less danger in melee against FE bosses, and the addition of those seven class-oriented runewords. Still no RWM, though.


Progress up to Hell Harrogath can be followed in the tourney thread. An important find was a Lum rune in Tal´s third tomb so I could upgrade Pierre Tombale Couant to elite. Not only did Haseen now have a much better weapon, it also freed up my Lem rune. I had kept it around because of the prospect of making a 'Passion' weapon for the merc. Now that I had something that did even more damage, I made a 'Treachery' armor for Haseen. That is such an awesome fighter-merc armor with the huge IAS, the Fade (providing both fat resists, 15% PDR and curse time reduction) and the Venom.


The last act went something like this:

I met those ultra powerful Horror Archers in Abbadon. Many ouch!-moments for the merc, and a bunch of merc deaths, especially to a Might + Multishot boss pack of them.

Glacial Trail was pretty hard for us, because it had PI Frenzytaurs. I had to use the FW staff and have Haseen drink lots of lots of potions, including a large number of purples. The Champ pack that guarded the Drifter Cavern entrace were Frenzytaurs. Ouch.

Drifter Cavern was nothing special, but the next ice lake area had a very dangerous boss. Thankfully, I had secured enough space so I could do this. BURN!

Nihlathak´s floor had Tomb Vipers (the Champ pack was also Vipers), but it took a while before I encounted any (just archers and spiders early on). I avoided many merc deaths with clever Teleport use. I think he only died once.
Jill used Corpse Explosion from a 'Black' Flail to deprive Nilly of exploding fodder, and a few times the explosion even damaged to slimy Necromancer himself.

Teleport separation on the Summit worked very well. CE something Korlic and Madawc (with wimpy mods) were defeated. For some reason, they took very little damage from Haseen´s stabs, and when Jill tried a few swings with the 'Black' weapon, very little happened.

I had seen Talic before so I knew he was Stone Skin + Cursed. That didn´t look like fun for Haseen, since his leeching would be much smaller than normally. I figured that if he is going to have a chance to at least somewhat be able hold the line, I need to get Talic into a position where he won´t whirl. I needed two tries (the second time, he whirled at us when we were Amped!) and then I managed to arrange this situation. Only occasional potion use was needed now. I know he has at least 50% physical resist, but it still took a curiosly long time... Thank goodness for the Venom!

WSK 1 had vampires and spawners. Against the first vampire boss pack, when I saw how very little Haseen could damage them per hit, I finally realized my mistake: I must have typed in /players 8 when I started this game! I mean, this is standard procedure for most of my D2 sessions. I must have not really been awake when I started off today! Switched to /p1 but the mistake had been done for the monsters that had already spawned.

(Jeebers, this means I killed Ancients on /p8. That´s a first on Hell...) :crazyeyes:

What a slog this floor was. Must have taken me over two hours. Two vampire boss packs and FIVE spawner boss packs (only three of the spawner bosses had /p8 amount of life, though).

Much easier for the rest of the WSK. Wussy final floor with Pit Lords, Dark Lords and OB/Doom Knights.

Lusting for grailers, I cranked it up /p3 for the Baal fight. Static to half at first, of course. Then, whenever Haseen could stay alive long enough for Blessed Aim to activate, Jill gave Baal some 'Black' treatment. "Have at it, you ugly slime!"
(No, I have no idea why it looks like Jill has borrowed Katra Solopuro's hairdo.)

When Black no longer was effective and Haseen just couldn´t stay alive for long, Jill got into some elemental fighting, too.

The drop had 4 uniques. Never seen that before. I thought for sure such a high-end elite would be a grailer, but looking through my spreadsheet I could see that it actually wasn´t.


"Cow level shouldn´t be so bad", I thought. GSpike makes for awesome crowd control there. But I was being an idiot (just like with the players setting earlier). Red portal was completely out in open space. First couple of cows were killed easily, but then we happened to wake up many cows from two directions at once. Haseen got Cursed and before I could help him enough, he got killed. Yikes, I am also Amped, and here they come! I ran and teleported to a calm spot, hit my TP switch hotkey, and the TP "skill" didn´t get selected! What? OK, maybe I haven´t assigned the key correctly? After all, I pretty much always cast them from the book in inventory. OK, more cows, now I need to find an even calmer spot so I can have the time to open my inventory. EXTRA FAST bosspack here, too, OMG!

Crazy fleeing once again, where I several times was very close to getting hit. I found a calmer spot, opened inventory and THERE WAS NO BOOK! Crap, I had put it in the stash so it wouldn´t get pooled with the one I bought from Akara to create the portal. Me=idiot. (Anyone else who has done this mistake?)

Red portal, red portal, must get there! But there are only two cows here, so I´ll keep them frozen until my Amp has timed out. Now it was not only a matter of getting out, I also needed to make it in such a way that the portal wouldn´t be mobbed for our return.

I did just that, and upon return, I got really lucky and reached the small corral with only a couple of regular cows there. The northern end of this corral has a very nice bottleneck that we took advantage of until more space was secured. No problems from here. Sweet!



Guardian Jill, Mastery Sorceress
Level: 85
STR 74+6
DEX 214+14
VIT 192
ENE 35
Life 987
Mana 238

Resists (main orb): 70/49/75/-15
Resists (Static Field orb): 43/75/75/-15
Resists (Fire Wall staff): 18/57/51/-40


Skills:
Warmth 20
Fire Mastery 20
Lightning Mastery 20
Cold Mastery 20
(16 unused points)


Primary Gear:
* Prismatic (16) Coronet of the Whale, reward-socketed with a perfect ruby (+135 life)
* Rare Amulet with +1 Sorcie skills, Resist All 14, Replenish Life +7, +2 Life
* Jill´s Garnet (27) Sacred Globe, +2 Glacial Spike, +1 Teleport, +1 Shiver Armor, +9 Life, socketed with a Jacinth (15) Jewel of Passion
* 'Wealth' Breast Plate (but on Hell Arreat Summit, WSK and Throne level, she used Que-Hegan´s Wisdom)
* 'Rhyme' Tower Shield
* Crafted Heavy Gloves with 10% Crushing Blow, Resist Fire 27, +14 Life, PLR by 25%, 1% life steal
* Dwarf Star
* Crafted Mesh Belt with +69 Life, 10% FHR, Resist Cold 11, 5% Open Wounds, 2% life steal
* Rare Ring with Resist Lightning 29, +39 Life, +92 AR, +5 STR, +2 DEX
* Rare Light Plated Boots with 20% Faster Run, Resist Lightning 33, Resist Cold 32, +16% MF, +48% Extra Gold

Switch:
* Jill´s Sapphire (37) Sacred Globe of the Sentinel (MDR by 2), +1 Static Field, +1 Shiver Armor, +9 mana, 2 open sockets
* 'Rhyme' Bone Shield

Charms:
* Grand Charm of Sustenance (28)
* Large Charm of Vita (28)
* Snake´s (20) Large Charm of Sustenance (23)
* Ruby (13) Large Charm of Venom
* Sapphire (13) Large Charm
* Small Charm of Vita (20)
* Small Charm of Vita (19)
* Bronze Small Charm of Sustenance (13)
* Ruby (11) Small Charm
* Russet (7) Small Charm
* Cobalt (8) Small Charm of Blight
* Ocher (7) Small Charm of Strength (1)
* Ocher (6) Small Charm of Dexterity (1)
* Ocher (6) Small Charm of Dexterity (1)
* Ocher (6) Small Charm
* Tangerine (4) Small Charm

Haseen, level 85 Blessed Aim Desert Guard
* Tal Rasha´s Horadric Crest
* Pierre Tombale Couant, 'Amn', upgraded to Cryptic Axe
* 'Treachery' Breast Plate

Other useful stuff, mostly kept in stash:
* 'Leaf' Gnarled Staff, +3 Fire Wall
* 'Leaf' Gnarled Staff, +2 Enchant
* Shocking (1-441) Throwing Spear of Vileness
* 'Black' Flail (before I could make this, a 'Strength' Cutlass was used)
* The Rising Sun (amazing against Diablo!)


Other interesting finds:
* Three grailers: Death Cleaver (my first TC87 unique), Ume´s Lament (my last remaining S/U normal item type weapon/armor) and Tiamat´s Rebuke
* Vex rune, dropped by a regular monster in Durance 2


Number of areas missed: None
Number of areas repeated: None (just the occasional following monsters killed - loot from these left on ground)
Number of monsters parked: None!


Addendum:
Haseen is Guardian follower #8 of 12 in my Dodecavirate of merc types. Remaining types:
- Act I Cold (had one with a Phoenix Striker that died in Hell Act V - D'oh!)
- Act II Prayer
- Act II Defiance
- Act III Fire
 
Originally posted by naranjadita on Feb 29, 2012:

Guardian Succubus the summoner.

Hi guys.
It's been awhile since I posted a guard thread. So here is some bragging. Enjoy.

Guardian Succubus, lvl 78 sorceress.

Now, just a lil background. The name "Succubus" was more like a code name for the char (I was actually going to change the name to something better, but I'm weaker than my laziness). However, the name fits the build quite good.

For those of you who has no idea of Heroes III - In the Wake of Gods v3.58: Succubus is a commander unit that can travel with you in your army. Whenever battle occurs, Succubi can persuade certain amount of hostile troops to join your army.
So this leads us right to the core of the build - summonning skills granted by 'Harmony' runeword via Oskills and Charges. There are similar builds is PMG Compillation, but they usually revolve around actually using a bow.. well... as a bow ;) Succubus utilized synergized Firewall to deal massive amount of elemental damage while a croud of enchanted minions was tanking and beating enemies.

Have some character info
(stats, skills and equipment included).


Some random notes on gameplay.

- Well, I think that I should have used FO instead of Firewall. That would grant me access to second element (cold). Don't get me wrong, the summoned monsters can deal serious amount of Physical damage with their strength buffed up with Might and AR increased by 'chant. But sometimes it's just not enough to make things quick and easy against flocking powerful fire immunes (Lister's Pack, Chaos Sanctuary, etc.).

- Sudden level up wipes all revives instantly. I was always forgetting about this so OUCH. I had to run for my life several times!

- Valkyrie does not disappear as soon as you remove the 'Harmony' weapon/ swith to alternative weapon set. Instead, she lasts for about 6 seconds (her skill delay?) - more than enough to 'chant her with a higher level Enchant from +3 Enchant 'Leaf' staff (too many Enchants in one sentence <_<).

- I absolutely adore Stormtree's pack of steroid pinocchios. They are fast, heavy and dangerous and generally are extremely useful as summons whenever you need to punish or tank some strong fire immunes. Also, they spawn very close to LK waypoint.

- ~60% of my playtime I was derping around with no minions except Valkyrie and Mercenary. 13k DPS Firewall was enough to kill most non-FI enemies, so Revives were more like my personal Chip and Dale that don't always hang around but come to save the day whenever stuff gets serious.

- Second wave of Baal's minions is the easiest.
What do we have here? A bunch of non-FI slowpokes who don't move from where they stand even when they get caught on fire from firewalls? Pff..

Drops.

Well. Nothing serious here. I can't even remember what was the drop from NM HF (Hell HF gave me Lum).
Essense of Hatred and Essense of Destruction from Diablo and Baal respectively.
Duriel surprised me quite a lot. Instead his usual pile of slime, gold and town portals he gave me Razor's Edge!

Also, have some random screenies.
Baal
Baal's Minions
Ancients
Diablo
Recruiting

Thanks for reading.
 
Originally posted by Nightfish on May 18, 2006:

Guardian #29 - Speedy_II (Project 3 hours)

The discussion sparked by Cormallon has reached it's culmination (at least for me) in this character. For those that missed the threads, the idea was to get a character to the hellforge as fast as possible without rushing him with outside help. Tried that, took me 4 hours 4 minutes. Okay, now, the next logical step is to test how fast I can get to guardian if I really put some effort into this. The answer is: 3 hours and 20 minutes.

Yes folks, I did indeed do it and on my first try at that. Technically project 3 hours is still a failure as I missed the time by 20 minutes. But I had some very bad mapseeds, got horribly lost in act 3 once and had to go back for a bodypart when I had picked up a potion instead. (olo. nub)

Still, I count this a success for several reasons. First of all, this was f*ing hard in hell. I also improved my time substantially from the last try. And the biggest reason is probably that she managed to beat the ancients with just a single element at lvl 63 *tanking* for her mercenary because he would die in two hits. More on that later.

Anyway, here's her log:

Normal: 1:42

Act 1: 30 minutes, lvl 18
Act 2: 25 minutes, lvl 24
Act 3: 15 minutes, lvl 26
Act 4: 7 minutes, lvl 27
Act 5: 25 minutes, lvl 40 (incl. 2 Baal runs)

Nightmare: 0:53
Act 1: 6 minutes, lvl 42
Act 2: 12 minutes, lvl 48
Act 3: 12 min, lvl 52
Act 4: 5 minutes, lvl 52 (HF: Fal)
Act 5: 18 minutes, lvl 63 (incl 2 Baal runs)

Hell: 0:45
Act 1: 4 minutes, lvl 63
Act 2: 7 minutes, lvl 63
Act 3: 9 minutes, lvl 63
Act 4: 10 minutes, lvl 63 (HF: to do)
Act 5: 15 minutes, lvl 65

Total time elapsed: 3:20


This is the time spent in game, not twinking. With twinking it's probably something like 3:30.

The Build:
Skillwise there are no surprises here. Blizzard & synergies, CM for 100%, 1 teleport, 1 static. Damage was 4k in the end. Stat wise she went for 118 str and max block.

The Mercs:
When I hit lvl 9 I hired a rogue and outfitted her with some basic items, 2-42 light damage bow, +max armour / helm. Helped early levelling a bit. Worthwhile investment for the time it took to hier / outfit. She died at andariel and wasn't resurrected.

At lvl 29 I hired a lvl 27 defensive desert merc to carry insight for me.

At lvl 63 I ditched the orignial def merc who was only lvl 51 in favor of one 10 levels higher. Same aura. He alternated between Insight and Obedience for weapons and wore Vamp gaze + shaftstop (Um). For some reason he still dies to everything in 2 hits.

The Journey

Normal
So, here we are at lvl 1 in normal. Initial weapon is a +3 firebolt staff. At lvl 2 a hunters bow with 4 jewels of envy took over. 1 hit kills everything on p8, at least until I had 23 str for a mask with 3 jewels of envy and 30 for a breastplate with 3 jewels of envy. This totals a poison damage of 200 over 20 seconds. At hunter bow speed which is pretty sweet. First boots were Hsarus. The plan was basically to set the game to p8 and fight her way through the act as fast as possible without bypassing too many enemies. She did the den of evil quest.

At lvl 6 she got to wear the partial death's set, lvl 12 brings another +115 life from angelic jewelry. Around lvl 15 the poison was starting to kill more slowly. This looks like a job for... Buggy .09 raven claw! Yeah, this is where it's it at, that's the good ****. Oooh yeah. Here, doggy. Bow lasted until around lvl 25-26. At lvl 15 she also got to wear the complete iratha's set which boosts resis and running speed and is generally pimpin. She kept that until act 1 hell. Also at 15 she changed her boots for treads. At lvl 18 her breastplate was replaced by a ringmail with 3 perfect sapphires for +114 mana and put a spire of lazurus on switch. This concludes act 1.

In act 2 she did radament for lvls & the extra skill point. Next big change in items came continuously from lvl 25 onwards. Spirit sword, Nat's soul, Visceratuant, Vipermagi. She had 2 charms with about 30% resistance to each of the elements and some +life/mana charms at that time.

Did the 2 optional stat quests in act 3 as the items dropped right in front of my feet. Didn't do anything quests in act4. Anya rescued in act 5.

At the end of normal I made the mistake of doing 2 baal runs from lvl 36 to 40. This cost her about 6-7 minutes and was unnecessary.

At this point I realised that I had already spent more than half of my time and I was just out of normal. Meh. Probably not going to make it.


Nightmare
As she was already lvl 40 I chose to skip act 1 completely. I still killed quite a bit in act 2 as I can just cast blizz - move - cast blizz and she has half a level. All in all nightmare was very easy, as it always is for twinked chars. I did some of the optional quests, mainly because I thought I would need some boost or the quest happened to be on my way from A to B. Quests done were: Bird + Tome, Izual, Anya. Not done: Den of evil, radament.

Hell:
I don't think I've ever been in hell with a lvl 63 char. Let alone a sorc with around 700-800 life depending on charms. Anyway, her final gear change included: Shako (Ruby), Guardian Angel (11% Res all), Snowclash, Glacial Amulet, Bloodfist (seriously), Upp'd Visceratuant / Occy, Wspike / Lidless, 2 x SoJ.

Anyway, I noticed I had about 5 minutes per act so I decided to just port through everything I could and not do anything I did not have to do. This worked okay in act 1 but from act 2 onwards there were about a dozen NDEs per act. I have a good reju-reflex, though, and saw her through some horrible boss packs (might, fana, curse beetles, 200 might, curse flayers, conviction gloams, etc).

So she zipped through, picking up the staff and the amulet, god the maggot lair and the temple were scary. TPing into the dark when three sucessful hits will kill you... Not fun. Arcane sanctuary... Of course in every difficulty the summoner was on the 3rd or 4th branch I tried. Sure, why not... At least I know where each of the tombs are so I made up for a bit of lost time there. Duriel was a wuss although I had to tank him myself. Merc just vaporised. Was beginning to worry about the ancients then.

Act3... Love of my life. Nah, actually I don't think it's so bad but I got horribly lost which normally never happens to me. Again dozens of NDEs porting through like mad. Council was very fun. Merc disintegrated again and in the end I had to do it myself. Somehow managed to run around dodging attacks (conviction rules with hydras and a bunch of hierophants -.-) until I had some of them down and the flail dropped. Cubed it, ported in, smashed the thing and down I went. Zipped through the durance like bugs bunny on steriods but somehow managed to not get killed. Mephisto killed my merc with one withering look thrown his way "Lvl 63? olo! Who's your daddy? Who's your daddy?"

Sorc was all like
"You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Don't see nobody else here so you must be talkin' to me"
*blizzard blizzard*
*Ice Orb of Doom*
*rejuv!*
*blizzard*
*Ice Orb of Doom*
*rejuv!*
*blizzard*
*Ice Orb of Doom*
*out of rejuvs! ... oh wait, that's not good! runs around in panic*
*blizzard BLIZZARD!!!!*

and somehow meph went down before the sorc did. Again, I was beginning to worry about the ancients as I didn't really see how mr.merc was gonna do it if he kept dying all the time.

Still, on to:

Act4: Well, zipping through to the chaos sanctuary was easy enough. But my merc kept getting vaporised again. Oh well, at least there's only OKs that are cold immune. So I zipped through the grand visier and spawned him with TK while tanking whatever else was there. Snipe'd him out and went on to de Seis. Hm, problem. He's CI and there's 6 OKs around. Time to revive mr universe. And he's down again! Sweet. So in the end I had to split up de Seis and the other OKs and stunlock them with TK after staticing them to 50%. Somehow the merc managed to kill them. Of course Infector spawned CI too. Would have been too easy otherwise.

Act 5: Again, zipping through like crazy. Not too dangerous in the first 3 areas but underground it was close a few times. Went straight for mount arreat. Rerolled ancients until only 1 was CI. The other 2 were LI. Managed to kill an extra strong whirler pretty fast and the thrower ended up getting stuck somehow so that left me and the CI leapfrog and Mr Moron. Well, one hit from the leaper took about 95% of my merc's life so I decided to tank him myself while the merc chipped away with obedience. 75% block ftw. Somehow it worked, too. The last one was just a formality then, as were baal and his minions. The throneroom was full of surprises, though. Stygian dolls and succubi. Wouldn't be so bad but a succubus also kills my merc in 2 hits. Is there anything that doesn't kill him in 2 hits? Ida know.

So, there you have it. Guardian in 3 hours 20 minutes. I think with a bit of luck I could actually do it in 3 hours but now I've got 7 sorcs through hell and 1 parked in front of the chaos sanctuary in hell so i think it's enough with the sorcs for now.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta go back to Nightmare to level her to 69...

Also: 29 down, 20 to go for the sept.

cheers,
Fisheh.


edit: Did the hellforge in hell:

GUL RUNE!!! Good return for 3 hours spent getting there?
 
Originally posted by purplelocust on Jul 22, 2009:

Queen Ceto, 1.12 Classic untwinked Static/Orb/firewall sorc

Queen Ceto, 1.12 Classic untwinked Static/Orb/firewall sorc

Story:
Ceto is a tourney character for the current Classic tourney. I used to play a lot of b.net Classic before shifting entirely to SP, so of course I had to enter!

Summary: One important difference between Classic and LoD is that Static Field is not capped at 25% health and 50% health in NM and Hell. So with enough statics, any non-LI monster can be brought to a sliver even in Hell. Then the problem is finishing them off, particularly dual immunes.

Stats:

Level 72

Str: 29/30
Dex: 25/34
Vit: 356/356
E: 35/35

Life: 967
Defense: 128, 60% blocking
Resists: 75/56/75/34, which were almost always 75/85/75/84 with potions

Orb damage: 295-311

Skills:
Max Static, Orb, 14 in Cold Mastery (16 with gear, 18 with skill shrine)
One in Fire Wall, Fire Mastery and Warmth
18 in teleport

Gear:

some really nice rares, with a couple of great gambles and some good drops early from running Travincal and Andarial.

Hat: Tarnhelm, 44%MF
Amulet: rare 19 prismatic +1 sorc
wand: rare 20 FCR, CR 31, LR 33
body: great rare studded leather, 24 FHR, 38 life, CR 22, LR 25, FR 26
shield: fantastic rare bone shield, 17 FHR, 30/20 blocking, prismatic with lightning giving 16/43/16/16 resists
gloves: Bloodfist
rings: rare FCR, LR 17, FR 16 and rare FCR, CR 18.
belt: rare belt 24 FHR, 26 life, FR 22, PR 17
boots: rare chain boots, 30 FRW, FR 37, PR 32

Merc: this is Classic, no gear for the merc, no resurrection and they can't leave the act they spawn in. Many many mercs were used as teleportation fodder, for example.

Gameplay:

This is covered in pieces in the tourney thread. The general approach before immunes became a problem was: play everything at /players 8, static a few times, a couple of orbs, pick up stuff to sell for gambling. It became clear that CI/LI monsters would be a problem, so the investment in Fire Wall and a +3 FW staff were occasionally used. But mostly when things got difficult in Hell, the idea was to just teleport past problems.

This build does great quick work against bosses or anything where there is no cold or lightning immunity. So the idea in Hell is: run bosses (at /players 8), run by everything else (at /players 1.) When monster types are not favorable, quit and reroll for safer monster combos.

The very limited stash size and no muling on meant that it was hard to anticipate what gear might drop. I coped with this for King Kongdenstate by excessive patience, mostly. The big question for me this time was: Sigon's shield or not? I found one relatively early and had it in the (tiny) stash for ages while I debated whether it was worth the strength investment and giving up good resists on the shield. In the end, after getting a fantastic gambled bone shield, I ditched the Sigon possibility and went low strength, almost all-vitality.

Blocking in Classic is just what the shield says (possibly plus the bonus from Twitchthroe.) No reason to put any points in dexterity (unless you choose to use Spectral Shard) and so you can basically go max vit and max-ish (60%) blocking, like I did.

I just popped in via tele to grab the amulet instead of killing Hell Fangskin. I skipped the Hell Lam Esen tome quest as too dangerous. There were very protracted battles in Hell Travincal with heirophant packs, and the Hell Council was tricky but manageable.

Most of A4 Hell I teleported through. The Chaos Sanctuary took 3 efforts before I could face Diablo and included killing a FI/CI Infector via extreme slivering with Static followed by repeated Telekinesis (doing 3-4 damage.)

Diablo himself was quick but tense- I stood right next to him and staticed with a finger ready on the fat purples, as I wasn't sure if I could tank him. But it was quick to sliver him and then over with a few orbs.

Finds:

A decent selection of normal uniques. A shorter list would be what did I really want that never dropped: Gull, Twitchthroe, Angelic amulet. I gambled a lot of boots after finding Tancred's amulet early, but never got the boots. As it was, I had nice rare body armor, shield, belt and boots and was very happy with those. Most of those came from gambling though there was a lot of gear from running Andarial at each difficulty that was useful along the way.

Screenshots:

This Geleb might have been triple-immune in 1.07 or earlier, thankfully he wasn't here in 1.12.

DeSeis on his way out of the CS

An OK boss about to be pushed to a parking spot

Diablo's hose misses those nearby, thankfully, then he was gone

(small) Stash and inventory, uncluttered finally after ages of squeezing

LCS after killing Diablo

Summary: I think any King or Queen is quite an accomplishment, even if using a pretty standard build. It was a nice diversion from my uber-twinked recent string of characters and I think I'll start some more untwinked characters for the Classic tourney, with some non-standard builds.
 
Originally posted by scrcrw on Aug 20, 2010:

Guardian #15: Ladyshave - cuddly Bearsorc

With all the runes I wasted on an Infinity stick, I thought I might as well make a character that actually benefits from it. A Bearsorc is obviously the first character that comes to mind. Not making Dream in a pally shield pays off after all... This is the result:

LCS

Rich (BB code):
Name:       Ladyshave
Class:      Teddy bear
Level:      86

            Naked/Gear
Strength:   33/154 (slightly overstacked, I didn't plan for Enigma scaling)
Dexterity:  27/62
Vitality:   425/502
Energy:     <insert joke here>

HP:         3123 (~1,4k unshifted)
Mana:       0
Defense:    ~6,5k (shifted, Shiver Armor)
AR:         2042 (shifted, enchanted)

Fire:       76
Cold:       38
Lightning:  81
Poison:     80

Block:      10 (really?)
FR/W:       68
FHR:        89 (6 frame, apparently)
FCR:        35 on switch

Skills: 20 Enchant/Warmth/FM (cast at 26)
        20 (27) LM
        11 Shiver Armor (why not...)

Gear:
Weapon: Griz's Caddy socketed with 3xShael + 15IAS/16LR jewel - enough for 5fpa attack speed. My IAS jewel collection blows, so I chose this over a 95 ias PB. Saves a ton of dex, too.

Head/Shield: 'Dream' Bone Visage/Troll Nest - what else?

Body: 'Enigma' BP - I like frw. Saved a point in Teleport as well. ;) CoH might be better, I don't have one.

Amulet: Mara's 27 - nice

Rings: Raven (19/223) and a rare (98AR/17Str/8Dex/15CR) that I forgot about.

Belt: Dungo's (39/14) - some %DR seemed like a good idea

Hind-paws: Treks (14/13/64) - nice boots, especially the fhr

Fore-paws: Drac's - not really needed, helped against the few monsters that tried to resist

Switch: 'Beast' BA + Spirit Monarch (Bear cast at level 9)

Merc (Holy Freeze): 'Infinity' CV (lol), Andy's Ugly Face (29/10, fervored), e-bugged Forti Great Hauberk

Charms: Some fhr to make the breakpoint, some life, 3 Light skill charms (need more...) and lots of resists. I only ever consider damage output when planning a build and then have to make up resists with charms. Good proper HC behavior.

Readouts (at least I edited out the potions...):
Code:
Botlike's Enigma
Breast Plate
JahIthBer
Defense: 838
Durability: 50 of 50
Required Level: 65
Required Strength: 30
Fingerprint: 0x6cc71294
Item Level: 20
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+45% Faster Run/Walk
+1 to Teleport
+770 Defense
+64 to Strength (Based on Character Level)
Increase Maximum Life 5%
Damage Reduced by 8%
+14 Life after each Kill
15% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
86% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (Based on Character Level)
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Jah Rune
Socketed: Ith Rune
Socketed: Ber Rune

Mara's Kaleidoscope
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Fingerprint: 0x1229c0e
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
All Stats +5
All Resistances +27

Silliness's Dream
Bone Visage
IoJahPul
Defense: 415
Durability: 40 of 40
Required Level: 65
Required Strength: 106
Fingerprint: 0xcf18e4c0
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
10% Chance to cast level 15 Confuse when struck
Level 15 Holy Shock Aura When Equipped
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
+30% Enhanced Defense
+211 Defense
+10 to Vitality
Increase Maximum Life 5%
+53 to Mana (Based on Character Level)
All Resistances +7
21% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Io Rune
Socketed: Jah Rune
Socketed: Pul Rune

Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Fingerprint: 0xd223013b
Item Level: 64
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+223 to Attack Rating
Adds 15 - 45 Cold Damage Over 4 Secs (100 Frames)
+19 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
Cold Absorb 20%
Cannot Be Frozen

Sandstorm Trek
Scarabshell Boots
Defense: 159
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Level: 64
Required Strength: 91
Fingerprint: 0xc9a0eddb
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20% Faster Run/Walk
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
+142% Enhanced Defense
+14 to Strength
+13 to Vitality
+86 Maximum Stamina (Based on Character Level)
50% Slower Stamina Drain
Poison Resist +64%
Repairs 1 Durability in 20 Seconds

Sparking Grand Charm of Storms
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xbb4a9acc
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Lightning Skills (Sorceress Only)
Adds 1 - 22 Lightning Damage

Sparking Grand Charm of Flame
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xb3f865f2
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Lightning Skills (Sorceress Only)
Adds 1 - 2 Fire Damage

Sparking Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x2f64b71e
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Lightning Skills (Sorceress Only)

Shimmering Small Charm of Balance
Small Charm
Required Level: 29
Fingerprint: 0x9b09fb9b
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+5% Faster Hit Recovery
All Resistances +5

Lapis Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0xf796f88c
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Life
Cold Resist +7%

Coral Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x1cfd6377
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+17 to Life
Lightning Resist +9%

Coral Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x65f51f03
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+19 to Life
Lightning Resist +9%

Bronze Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0xf6bf856
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+11 to Attack Rating
+20 to Life

Russet Small Charm of Balance
Small Charm
Required Level: 29
Fingerprint: 0x64a38b0f
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+5% Faster Hit Recovery
Fire Resist +7%

Ruby Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0xbcda8f33
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+17 to Life
Fire Resist +11%

Amber Small Charm of Sustenance
Small Charm
Required Level: 32
Fingerprint: 0x795f893b
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+12 to Life
Lightning Resist +10%

Shimmering Grand Charm of Life
Grand Charm
Required Level: 27
Fingerprint: 0x22c0ad5
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+16 to Life
All Resistances +15

Shimmering Large Charm of Strength
Large Charm
Required Level: 26
Fingerprint: 0xe1ef79da
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+5 to Strength
All Resistances +8

Shimmering Small Charm of Lightning
Small Charm
Required Level: 25
Fingerprint: 0x754ae760
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 1 - 7 Lightning Damage
All Resistances +5

Beast Master
Ring
Required Level: 66
Fingerprint: 0x48502925
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+98 to Attack Rating
5% Mana stolen per hit
+17 to Strength
+8 to Dexterity
Cold Resist +15%
+1 to Mana after each Kill

Arcing Small Charm of Sustenance
Small Charm
Required Level: 57
Fingerprint: 0xbbc1839a
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 1 - 40 Lightning Damage
+15 to Life

Shimmering Small Charm of Strength
Small Charm
Required Level: 25
Fingerprint: 0x8c954cc4
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Strength
All Resistances +4

Shimmering Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 25
Fingerprint: 0xcfcd7dbe
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
All Resistances +5

Ruby Small Charm of Dexterity
Small Charm
Required Level: 32
Fingerprint: 0xa90368d4
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Dexterity
Fire Resist +11%

Ruby Small Charm of Dexterity
Small Charm
Required Level: 32
Fingerprint: 0xc0bdd249
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Dexterity
Fire Resist +11%

Amber Small Charm of Inertia
Small Charm
Required Level: 32
Fingerprint: 0x713bc790
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3% Faster Run/Walk
Lightning Resist +10%

Amber Small Charm of Thunder
Small Charm
Required Level: 32
Fingerprint: 0x9bc03a9f
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 1 - 18 Lightning Damage
Lightning Resist +11%

Ruby Small Charm of Sustenance
Small Charm
Required Level: 32
Fingerprint: 0x5ead301b
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+11 to Life
Fire Resist +10%

Ruby Small Charm of Winter
Small Charm
Required Level: 38
Fingerprint: 0x8497f48a
Item Level: 79
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 4 - 8 Cold Damage Over 1 Secs (25 Frames)
Fire Resist +10%

Dracul's Grasp
Vampirebone Gloves
Defense: 139
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Level: 76
Required Strength: 50
Fingerprint: 0xde1fac06
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
5% Chance to cast level 10 Life Tap on striking
8% Life stolen per hit
25% Chance of Open Wounds
+111% Enhanced Defense
+14 to Strength
+10 Life after each Kill

Verdungo's Hearty Cord
Mithril Coil
Defense: 143
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 106
Fingerprint: 0x17151999
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10% Faster Hit Recovery
+117% Enhanced Defense
+39 to Vitality
Replenish Life +11
+106 Maximum Stamina
Damage Reduced by 14%

Ladyshave's Beast
Berserker Axe
BerTirUmMalLum
One Hand Damage: 84 - 250
Durability: 26 of 26
Required Level: 64
Required Strength: 138
Required Dexterity: 59
Fingerprint: 0x49aa937b
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Level 9 Fanaticism Aura When Equipped
+40% Increased Attack Speed
253% Enhanced Damage
20% Chance of Crushing Blow
25% Chance of Open Wounds
Prevent Monster Heal
+3 to Lycanthropy
+3 to Werebear
+34 to Strength
+10 to Energy
+2 to Mana after each Kill
Level 13 Summon Grizzly (5/5 Charges)
5 Sockets (5 used)
Socketed: Ber Rune
Socketed: Tir Rune
Socketed: Um Rune
Socketed: Mal Rune
Socketed: Lum Rune

Spirit
Monarch
TalThulOrtAmn
Defense: 135
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 86 of 86
Required Level: 54
Required Strength: 156
Fingerprint: 0x9b746cac
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+35% Faster Cast Rate
+55% Faster Hit Recovery
+250 Defense vs. Missile
+22 to Vitality
+102 to Mana
Cold Resist +35%
Lightning Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
+8 Magic Absorb
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Amn Rune

Silliness's Dream
Superior Troll Nest
IoJahPul
Defense: 386
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 83 of 83
Required Level: 65
Required Strength: 106
Fingerprint: 0x8fd4a563
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
10% Chance to cast level 15 Confuse when struck
Level 15 Holy Shock Aura When Equipped
+29% Faster Hit Recovery
+35% Enhanced Defense
+152 Defense
+10 to Vitality
+50 to Life
+53 to Mana (Based on Character Level)
All Resistances +10
18% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Increase Maximum Durability 13%
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Io Rune
Socketed: Jah Rune
Socketed: Pul Rune

Ladyshave's Griswold's Redemption
Caduceus
One Hand Damage: 785 - 25916
Durability: 70 of 70
Required Level: 66
Required Strength: 22
Required Dexterity: 16
Fingerprint: 0x7c4330ef
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+115% Increased Attack Speed
228% Enhanced Damage
+350% Damage to Undead
Lightning Resist +16%
Requirements -20%
Set (2 items): +2 to Combat Skills (Paladin Only)
Set (3 items): Adds 10 - 20 Damage
Set (4 items): Adds 10 - 20 Damage
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Shael Rune
Socketed: Shael Rune
Socketed: Shael Rune
Socketed: Ambergris Jewel of Fervor


Shael Rune
Required Level: 29
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +20% Increased Attack Speed
Armor: +20% Faster Hit Recovery
Shields: +20% Faster Block Rate

Shael Rune
Required Level: 29
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +20% Increased Attack Speed
Armor: +20% Faster Hit Recovery
Shields: +20% Faster Block Rate

Shael Rune
Required Level: 29
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +20% Increased Attack Speed
Armor: +20% Faster Hit Recovery
Shields: +20% Faster Block Rate

Ambergris Jewel of Fervor
Jewel
Required Level: 31
Fingerprint: 0xca3d8b7c
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+15% Increased Attack Speed
Lightning Resist +16%

Mercenary:

Name:       Neeraj
Race:       Desert Mercenary
Type:       Def-Nightmare
Experience: 77232310
Level:      86
Dead?:      false

            Naked/Gear
Strength:   188/217
Dexterity:  151/151
HP:         1807/1925
Defense:    1330/4928
AR:         1922/1922

Fire:       145/105/45
Cold:       175/135/75
Lightning:  175/135/75
Poison:    245/205/145

Fortitude
Great Hauberk
ElSolDolLo
Defense: 3282
Durability: 26 of 26
Required Level: 59
Required Strength: 108
Fingerprint: 0x1ef44f18
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
20% Chance to cast level 15 Chilling Armor when struck
+25% Faster Cast Rate
300% Enhanced Damage
+200% Enhanced Defense
+15 Defense
+118 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Replenish Life +7
+5% to Maximum Lightning Resist
All Resistances +25
Damage Reduced by 7
12% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
+1 to Light Radius
Ethereal
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: El Rune
Socketed: Sol Rune
Socketed: Dol Rune
Socketed: Lo Rune

El Rune
Required Level: 11
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +50 to Attack Rating
+1 to Light Radius
Armor: +15 Defense
+1 to Light Radius
Shields: +15 Defense
+1 to Light Radius

Sol Rune
Required Level: 27
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +9 to Minimum Damage
Armor: Damage Reduced by 7
Shields: Damage Reduced by 7

Dol Rune
Required Level: 31
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Hit Causes Monster to Flee 25%
Armor: Replenish Life +7
Shields: Replenish Life +7

Lo Rune
Required Level: 59
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 20% Deadly Strike
Armor: +5% to Maximum Lightning Resist
Shields: +5% to Maximum Lightning Resist


Andariel's Visage
Demonhead
Defense: 316
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Level: 83
Required Strength: 102
Fingerprint: 0xa06e1b66
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
15% Chance to cast level 15 Poison Nova when struck
+2 to All Skills
+35% Increased Attack Speed
12% Enhanced Damage
10% Life stolen per hit
+104% Enhanced Defense
+29 to Strength
+10% to Maximum Poison Resist
Fire Resist -30%
Poison Resist +70%
Level 3 Venom (20/20 Charges)
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Rusty Jewel of Fervor

Rusty Jewel of Fervor
Jewel
Required Level: 31
Fingerprint: 0x19652894
Item Level: 50
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+15% Increased Attack Speed
12% Enhanced Damage


Infinity
Colossus Voulge
BerMalBerIst
Two Hand Damage: 96 - 950
Durability: 26 of 26
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 200
Required Dexterity: 45
Fingerprint: 0x20685703
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
50% Chance to cast level 20 Chain Lightning when you Kill an Enemy
Level 12 Conviction Aura When Equipped
+35% Faster Run/Walk
285% Enhanced Damage
-54% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
40% Chance of Crushing Blow
Prevent Monster Heal
+43 to Vitality (Based on Character Level)
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Level 21 Cyclone Armor (30/30 Charges)
Ethereal
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Ber Rune
Socketed: Mal Rune
Socketed: Ber Rune
Socketed: Ist Rune

Ber Rune
Required Level: 63
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 20% Chance of Crushing Blow
Armor: Damage Reduced by 8%
Shields: Damage Reduced by 8%

Mal Rune
Required Level: 49
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Prevent Monster Heal
Armor: Magic Damage Reduced by 7
Shields: Magic Damage Reduced by 7

Ber Rune
Required Level: 63
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 20% Chance of Crushing Blow
Armor: Damage Reduced by 8%
Shields: Damage Reduced by 8%

Ist Rune
Required Level: 51
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Armor: 25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Shields: 25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Finds: Crafting supplies... Um from Hell HF.

Gameplay:
Up to level 67: Remember when you had to plan builds before starting? Respec definitely is not a good idea. Doesn't prevent me from abusing it though. FB up to level 30, FO to 67 if you must know.

As a cuddly bear: Nice looking LCS, isn't it? Enemies fell quickly. Hit Hell at 73, /players 7 all the way (even Ancients and Baal).
Waiting for the merc to be able to hit stuff (and kill stronger LIs) was enormously annoying though. Maybe giving him an Enigma might help a bit. Surprisingly safe, too. Ctc Confuse calmed down ranged attackers nicely and life tap triggered against everything that could take more than a few hits. Not that many things did live much longer (to be precise: one and two). Merc survivability was ok, given that he had no LL for most of Hell, no BO and not even life tap for early Hell.
A few near-NDEs in late Hell, but nothing 3k HP and quick rejuv couldn't fix.

Fun? Well, sort of. Most of the time it's a "point towards bad guys, lock RMB, grab a beer"-type of build. Still, it's enormously satisfying to have /p7 Izual or a non-LI ancient go down in 2 seconds. Definitely worth trying.

Things to improve: Not much. More skill charms (not that damage felt too low). CoH would open up a lot more charm choices. The lack of frw would hurt though. More AR would be nice to be less dependent on the merc catching up.
Look here if you want to know what a lady bear with better equipment (and a lot of hax) can do.

Thanks for reading.
 
Originally posted by Grape on Sep 13, 2017:

One end, many beginnings - Birgitte the 1.07 Amazon reaches level 99

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the patch 1.07 by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose in the Moors outside the Rogue Encampment. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.


Introduction


There aren't many individual 1.07 character threads around, so I thought it could be worthwhile to share some insights from her journey.

Instead of my usual formatting of stats, skills, video + journey in few pictures, I'll try to give some thoughts that may or may not help someone in the future playing this patch from the past!

It's a wall of (possibly very boring) text ahead, so be warned. Go for the video if you only want to see a quick summary how was she played and what was her equipment, instead of reading through all the blabbering :p


Journey

I started my 1.07 adventures few years back, with an usual idea of racking some of the most wanted uniques, sets and eth bases. Cubing and crafting was also quite intriguing for me, and I kept those on my mind from the start. The first character was Sorc, but I quickly started this Amazon as well. My main reasoning for an Amazon, particularly a Javazon, was that she would be quicker to reach good levels for crafting.

My Sorc hadn't made it to the Hell when Birgitte was born, so apart from some random twinking items, she found all by herself. I got carried away with Birgitte and soon I was racking Hell LK with her instead of my Sorc. Not the most efficient thing to do, but I was finding good racks left and right at the time. Amazons are not the worst rack runners. Decoy "ticks" racks to drop the next item (if they are stable that is). So with a rack near by, one could test for many possible items. Decoy can be cast faster than Hydra (which has a timer). Of course she still can't rival a Sorc who has Teleport and Telekinesis on her side, but I thought it was good enough.

Somewhere between racking Birgitte also finished Hell, with no great equipment by any means. A bit shame I don't have any memories of her actual gear, but it was far from finished anyway. Main incentive to rush to Baal was that I wanted to try Hell Cows. She was supposed to run those until 91 which opens some affixes with cubing/crafting (I think it was +3 skill tab).

So there she was running Cows and LK racks, improving little by little. By the time she got to 91 I had got most of the uniques and eth bases also, and most items I'd need for my planned Travi runner Barbarian. At some point my Sorc also made it to the Hell LK. When I brought some of the items forward, my biggest D2 project was a 1.13 Hammerdin running CS for lvl 99. He was such a time sink, that there was no time to do any 1.07 when I was pushing it for the last level. After that I found myself with all kinds of new great items, and started doing regularly play throughs with different characters. 1.07 was to be almost forgotten for couple of years.

Only recently (this spring), I got back to time traveling when the recent interest with 1.00 got also me to try it out. That got me thinking with the unfinished business I felt I had in the 1.07... crafting, cubing, Travi running, more racking... I had a memory of trying Javazon out in the Travi before I left, and the first thing to do again in 1.07 was to try her out. Soon I realized the she can do it really quickly, and relatively safely. Quickly I postponed the idea to bring my Barb to Travincal, and started running it with Javazon instead!

Levels 91-95 flew by, and I had rolled her a map with the Councils in the "balcony", 1-2 shrines on the way to them. At some point I realized the potential of added shrines, not only for exp but also the gem shrines can be important. 1.08 jewels have potential for six affixes, and need 6 perfect skulls for re-rolling. I'd need massive amount if I wanted to have any reasonable chances for something good. That got me checking few other waypoints for shrines, and lead to my final form of "hybrid Travi runs". I start by checking River of Flame, then Glacial Trail and only then come to Travincal. If any of the 3-4 shrines were exp, I'd also go and kill Eldritch and Shenk also. On top of that Glacial had a boss pack next to WP as well as Evil Urn most of the time. About half of the time Travincal also had a boss pack very close to the Councils. Experience was coming really fast that way.

After that, it was just a matter of time that the levels came. It was only the levels 97-98 and 98-99 when I made any attempt to evaluate the time I was spending while leveling this way. With a short testing I came to a conclusion that 97-98 took approximately 20 hours, and the next one maybe a bit more. I had several deaths along the way, but they didn't slow me down too much, and I was there for the items (plus crafting fodder, skulls etc.) anyway, so running some more didn't hurt at all.


Build:

Birgitte is basically a pure Javazon. She uses LF to clear out packs and picks the leftovers with Jab. She has spare points (and some points already) on the bow side, but never got around to attempt these. I believe some good bow can be better than Jab, but I was making such a quick work with the levels that I simply didn't make the attempt on time. My only Sorc was stuck with a rack the entire time I was running Travi, so I couldn't have even socketed any potential bows (I meant to rush some sockets with the Sorc). For the same reason, I stayed with an Act V merc the entire time. Pharphis had a success with fast amp triggering Act I merc also in Travi, and that was something I meant to try also. Didn't happen, and with the WP checking and more boss pack killing, maybe the more tanky Barb merc really was all I needed. Besides that, LF makes such a quick killing machine any outside amp barely helps, AND my own pair of javelins has chance to cast Amplify Damage themselves.

Gear:

Weapon:
Code:
Demon Stinger
Matriarchal Javelin
Throw Damage: 66 to 174
One-Hand Damage: 36 to 121
Quantity: 31
(Amazon Only)
Required Dexterity: 161
Required Strength: 107
Required Level: 88
Javelin Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Level: 54
Fingerprint: 0x561ab166
+15 to Life
+177% Enhanced Damage
+61 to Attack Rating
4% Life stolen per hit
10% Increased Attack Speed
+1 to Javelin and Spear Skills (Amazon Only)
5% Chance to cast Level 1 Amplify Damage on striking

The main selling point here is the Ctc amp. It helps Travi running Javazon a lot. I also have +300ED pair, but I found these to be superior. I also didn't mind repairing often, because checking vendors can be potentially profitable in 1.07 (Larzuk can give up to four socket to magic items!).

Body armor:
Code:
Arkaine's Valor
Balrog Skin
Defense: 1554
Required Strength: 165
Required Level: 85
Indestructible
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x16b08c9d
+200% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +50%
+2 to All Skill Levels
30% Faster Hit Recovery
+198 to Life (Based on Character Level)
+247 to Vitality (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (1: 0 used)
Survivability skyrockets with this thing and the life it gives. I left the socket opens, maybe some other character need it more!

Head:
Code:
Guillaume's Face
Winged Helm
Defense: 217
Durability: 40 of 40
Required Strength: 115
Required Level: 34
Item Level: 54
Fingerprint: 0x3f304234
+15 to Strength
+120% Enhanced Defense
+59 to Attack Rating
15% Increased Attack Speed
30% Faster Hit Recovery
35% Chance of Crushing Blow
15% Deadly Strike
Socketed (1: 1 used)
Crushing blow shines in this patch. Had I ran cows (especially with more characters in the game) I'd have given it bigger emphasis. P1 Councils die really quickly anyway, and I thought FRW was more important with other items.

Shield:
Code:
Tiamat's Rebuke
Dragon Shield
Defense: 64
Chance to Block:  53%
Durability: 76 of 76
Required Strength: 91
Required Level: 38
Item Level: 54
Fingerprint: 0x31b53f5c
+10% Increased Chance of Blocking
+10 to Minimum Damage
+20 to Maximum Damage
All Resistances +48
Adds 10-25 fire damage
Adds 8-16 lightning damage
Adds 5-10 cold damage
Adds 14-28 poison damage over 4 seconds
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Socket is 'Pdiamond'. I feel this shield could be replaced with something else, like a good crafting shield for example, or maybe good magic shield with three sockets. I kept it until the end however, and what I liked most was the cold damage it gave me. Having your enemies freeze for a little while is a nice add. Raven Frost ring could've give the same effect (no elemental dmg charms in 1.07), but I needed both of my rings.

Rings and amulet:
Code:
Highlord's Wrath
Amulet
Required Level: 65
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x4be1b3c7
Lightning Resist +35%
Adds 5-20 lightning damage
+1 to All Skill Levels
30% Faster Run/Walk

Dwarf Star
Ring
Required Level: 45
Item Level: 78
Fingerprint: 0x2f5a3591
+40 to Life
+25 to Maximum Stamina
Heal Stamina Plus 15%
Magic Damage Reduced by 15
70% Extra Gold from Monsters

Prefix 1092 Ring of Strength
Required Level: 3
Item Level: 5
Fingerprint: 0xad09640
+1 to Strength
+37 to Mana After Each Kill

Highlord's: it's all good, skill, LR (the most important resists by far because of MSLE) and FRW in one package... MAEK ring to keep my mana up and Dwarf Star offered me the important add to MDR so that I could tank some MSLE bolts without dying. The extra gold was a nice add, because I was repairing my javelins all the time.

Boots:
Code:
Natalya's Soul
Mesh Boots
Defense: 118
Durability: 66 of 66
Required Strength: 65
Required Level: 25
Item Level: 55
Fingerprint: 0x4d73e466
+75 Defense
Lightning Resist +15%
Cold Resist +15%
+50 Maximum Durability
40% Faster Run/Walk
Heal Stamina Plus 24% (Based on Character Level)
Could be replaced by a great craft, but I wouldn't settle for anything less than 40% FRW.

Belt:
Code:
M'avina's Tenet
Sharkskin Belt
Defense: 85
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Strength: 20
Required Level: 45
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x27d97cdd
+50 Defense
14% Mana stolen per hit
+5 to Light Radius
40% Faster Run/Walk
With the FRW having no diminishing returns, this was the winner's choice. SoE would work, but I wasn't that worried about my surviving.

Gloves:
Code:
Laying of Hands
Bramble Mitts
Defense: 83
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 63
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x5e0f7224
+25 Defense
20% Increased Attack Speed
350% Damage to Demons
50% Fire Absorb
10% Chance to cast Level 3 Holy Bolt on striking
Another great 1.07 set, broken, even. Hydras were not an annoyance as they barely cast them, but I enjoyed the IAS and the ED to Demons.

Inventory is full of FRW/adds (mostly minor, few good ones) plus couple life/LR to make it above 75% LR.

Merc wears: Bul Katho's Sacred Charge (the Colossus Sword, great with the 35% CB), Tal's plate and a Guillaume's.

Skills:

Maxed Lightning Fury is the main skill. Chaged Strike was used while questing and it has 14 points in it. Not the best end game skill however. Jab was left at one point, because I was holding to my spare points to the end. I could've dumped them there as well, obviously, because no bows were used.

Critical Strike and Pierce have 20 points each, and Penetrate has four points in it. D/A/E have one points each, as do Valkyrie and Decoy. Valkyrie was rather weak but Decoy is wonderful one point wonder. I used it all the time in Travincal. Casting it to the front of the monster kept the heat away from Birgitte nicely. You'll get amp'd about every time this way though, and if I did have exp shrine, I threw my LFs behind the pillars, outside.

MA/Strafe/GA each had points already, but as said, they never got to be truly tested.


Video:

I recorded video a bit before my final level ding. She's in her final form at that, showing gear, skills and stats at the end. It also shows my running routine, but misses the exp shrine routine with Shenk & Eld.



Findings:

Running 1.07 Travincal until lvl 99 ought to get you some goodies, right? You bet it does!

I'm posting just a few examples, because going through Atma stashes for any comprehensive raport would be very time consuming, and I'm sure I'd miss some anyway.

Few charms:
Code:
Prefix 1063 Small Charm of Maiming
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 43
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x452d5f27
+5 to Maximum Damage
Lightning Resist +11%

Prefix 1165 Grand Charm of Maiming (times two! Another is in 1.13 already..)
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 37
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0xfc0d5b
+19 to Maximum Damage
+1 to Summoning Skills (Druid Only)

Prefix 854 Large Charm of Maiming
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 40
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x6d7411c3
+21 to Maximum Damage

Prefix 854 Large Charm of Maiming
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 40
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x42517c31
+21 to Maximum Damage

Prefix 857 Small Charm of Greed
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 15
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x3c774201
+5 to Maximum Damage
10% Extra Gold from Monsters

Prefix 897 Grand Charm of Maiming
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 37
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x9da8b63
+68 to Attack Rating
+20 to Maximum Damage

Prefix 834 Grand Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 53
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x3a290e8c
+34 to Life
+10 to Minimum Damage

Prefix 928 Grand Charm of Maiming
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 37
Item Level: 93
Fingerprint: 0x6ff7fa1
+54 to Attack Rating
+30 to Maximum Damage

Prefix 1142 Grand Charm of Maiming
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 37
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x4d644e38
+20 to Maximum Damage
+1 to Offensive Aura Skills (Paladin Only)

Prefix 1142 Grand Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 23
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x4bbcf96
+25 to Life
+1 to Offensive Aura Skills (Paladin Only)

+ many many others.

I forwarded also couple skillers with life, I think. From the top of my head they were 28 life Java, and a 27 life Fire.

I'm still in the process of rolling most of my gem supplies. Couple favorites so far:
Code:
Prefix 1145 Amulet of the Apprentice
Required Level: 3
Item Level: 61
Fingerprint: 0x1eac9347
Fire Resist +6%
Lightning Resist +15%
Cold Resist +25%
Poison Resist +33%
10% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Combat Skills (Paladin Only)

Prefix 1146 Amulet of Life Everlasting
Required Level: 37
Item Level: 65
Fingerprint: 0x4481886a
Damage Reduced by 20
Fire Resist +10%
Lightning Resist +18%
Cold Resist +25%
Poison Resist +53%
+3 to Combat Skills (Paladin Only)


I also have a big bunch of various magic items that shall have a date with Mr. Larzuk's hammer. Quite a few usable Exceptional uniques were also found, most of which I already had, like Arreat's, SoE, War Traveler, Vampire's Gaze, Valkyerie's Wing. Some I didn't, so it's good start for a Grail if I wanted.

I crafted greater caster boots with the Sols found, and both caster and blood gloves with Shaes. These were crafted "on the go" with bases from gambling. Lums and Kos were also used that way, as were Hel runes, because I found enough Aegis from vendors when repairing my stuff. Bunch of Po and Dol runes are saved for when I find a right rack. All the Orts were burned, mostly Giant Treshers were created. Couple of them +300ED but nothing major so far. I've kept my crafts apart from re-rollable weapon crafts, so maybe a separate post about those when I feel like there's enough to show off. Nothing jaw-dropping at the moment though.

I have now around 450 Pskulls to be burned for 1.08, with a good bunch of flawlesses to be shrined. That's not nearly enough, so the project of gathering those will continue for a good while. Probably at least until I have a second 99 char to bring forward and roll those ;)

My jewels stash is around 250, so there's definitely some crafting (and HF rushing!) to be made in the future...

Best rune I found was Vex. Then there were couple of Pul runes, so runes are really quite hard to come by.


Aftermath

I very much recommend 1.07 Javazon for Travincal. Barbarian will probably find more stuff because of Find Item, but maybe to have a break from that or for something different.

I think it's also good idea to go for exp shrine hunting if you want to speed up the process, maybe even killing coupe other packs on the way like I did.

The equip I had, surely works, but if one wanted to try something, I'd go and try the bow switch first. You could also have the amp from there if getting a pair of javelins with that is hard. Something else could work just as well as mine, or even better. There are few things to especially look for I think:

-FRW, more the better
-Max LR and some MDR to save you from instant death against MSLE
- CB speeding up the killing
- Ctc amp to break PI

Get creative, there's no one right way to do, and the most efficient way is to be yet found.

What's next? Well, I've lots of going on in 1.13, so that will get some attention. 1.00 project is still about to seriously kick in (lvl 8x barb getting some gold finding action now and then). In 1.07 I will keep hoarding more crafting and cubing materials, maybe finally bring my Barb to Travi and rush some HFs with Sorc. Few build ideas I'd like to try out for fun as well.


Special thanks:
All the people in the 1.07 gossip thread, for providing masses of useful information and being there to share your progress!

@WoRG for the awesome crafting guide and being a general primus motor with lots of insight and information about the patch! Thanks!

@pharphis being the last Travincal 99er (that I know), for being an encouraging example with that and thanks for the suggestions with some items and that merc setup I never tried :D

Lastly, thanks for reading and thanks SPF for being a great place to post and play around! If you have any comments or questions, don't hesitate to post! :)
 
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Originally posted by @Luhkoh on Mar 14, 2019:

Patriarch Tormund (untwinked) - Zero to ZERKER

Introduction
Should be the last (for now) of my many recent posts, but Tormund is the second completed character of my "untwinked and small stash till patmat" sept. I wanted to get this guy done in time for RFL round 2, and succeeded! Though it remains to be seen if I can gear him adequately to take on the council. This is the first barb I've played, and it was a surprisingly fun, and very interesting process.

The Character
L7uyt04.jpg


Skills

Bash: 1/1
Leap: 1/1
Double Swing: 0/0
Stun: 1/1
Double Throw: 0/0
Leap Attack: 1/1
Concentrate: 1/1
Frenzy: 0/0
Whirlwind: 0/0
Berserk: 20/20

Sword Mastery: 0/0
Axe Mastery: 0/0
Mace Mastery: 4/4
Pole Arm Mastery: 0/0
Throwing Mastery: 0/0
Spear Mastery: 0/0
Increased Stamina: 1/1
Iron Skin: 1/1
Increased Speed: 1/1
Natural Resistance: 1/1

Howl: 17/17
Find Potion: 0/0
Taunt: 1/1
Shout: 1/1
Find Item: 0/0
Battle Cry: 1/1
Battle Orders: 20/20
Grim Ward: 0/0
War Cry: 11/11
Battle Command: 1/1

Equipment
Prismatic Amulet of Energy
Amulet
Required Level: 31
Fingerprint: 0xb09f4ecb
Item Level: 50
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Energy
All Resistances +18

Plague Touch
Ring
Required Level: 13
Fingerprint: 0x91b0ce19
Item Level: 21
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+23 to Attack Rating
+2 to Strength
Cold Resist +19%
Lightning Resist +28%

Wraith Finger
Ring
Required Level: 16
Fingerprint: 0xa9684ba2
Item Level: 30
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+113 to Attack Rating
3% Life stolen per hit
Cold Resist +17%
Poison Resist +24%

Sigon's Gage
Gauntlets
Defense: 15
Durability: 19 of 24
Required Level: 6
Required Strength: 60
Fingerprint: 0x5810511c
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Attack Rating
+10 to Strength
Set (2 items): +30% Increased Attack Speed
(2 items): 10% Life stolen per hit
(3 items): +100 Defense

Sigon's Sabot
Greaves
Defense: 12
Durability: 17 of 24
Required Level: 6
Required Strength: 70
Fingerprint: 0x416f63b0
Item Level: 56
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20% Faster Run/Walk
Cold Resist +40%
Set (2 items): +50 to Attack Rating
Set (3 items): 50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Sigon's Visor
Great Helm
Defense: 56
Durability: 26 of 40
Required Level: 6
Required Strength: 63
Fingerprint: 0xfa6b3f87
Item Level: 59
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+25 Defense
+30 to Mana
Set (2 items): +592 to Attack Rating (Based on Character Level)

Treachery
Breast Plate
ShaelThulLem
Defense: 68
Durability: 36 of 50
Required Level: 43
Required Strength: 30
Fingerprint: 0x3951216a
Item Level: 20
Version: Expansion 1.10+
5% Chance to cast level 15 Fade when struck
25% Chance to cast level 15 Venom on striking
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
+45% Increased Attack Speed
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
Cold Resist +30%
50% Extra Gold from Monsters

M'avina's Tenet
Sharkskin Belt
Defense: 81
Durability: 8 of 14
Required Level: 45
Required Strength: 20
Fingerprint: 0x20f51a12
Item Level: 49
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20% Faster Run/Walk
5% Mana stolen per hit
+50 Defense
+5 to Light Radius

Bonesnap
War Club
Two Hand Damage: 211 - 311
Durability: 10 of 60
Required Level: 30
Required Strength: 124
Fingerprint: 0x1026e78
Item Level: 49
Version: Expansion 1.10+
299% Enhanced Damage
+200% Damage to Undead
40% Chance of Crushing Blow
Cold Resist +30%
Fire Resist +30%
Required Level +5

Fleshrender (Swap)
Barbed Club
One Hand Damage: 71 - 120
Durability: 51 of 56
Required Level: 38
Required Strength: 30
Fingerprint: 0xfe82d25f
Item Level: 49
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Shape-Shifting Skills (Druid Only)
+1 to Druid Skill Levels
181% Enhanced Damage
Adds 35 - 50 Damage
+150% Damage to Undead
20% Chance of Crushing Blow
20% Deadly Strike
25% Chance of Open Wounds
Prevent Monster Heal
+20 Maximum Durability

Rhyme (Swap)
Bone Shield
ShaelEth
Defense: 18
Chance to Block: 40
Durability: 35 of 40
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 25
Fingerprint: 0x26becefe
Item Level: 20
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+40% Faster Block Rate
20% Increased Chance of Blocking
Regenerate Mana 15%
All Resistances +25
Cannot Be Frozen
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Mercenary
Name: Pratham
Race: Desert Mercenary
Type: Def-Nightmare
Experience: 47794828
Level: 73
Dead?: false

Naked/Gear
Strength: 165/190
Dexterity: 132/132
HP: 1317/1483
Defense: 980/1670
AR: 1100/1100

Fire: 205/165/105
Cold: 185/145/85
Lightning: 185/145/85
Poison: 155/115/55

Duriel's Shell
Cuirass
Defense: 656
Durability: 27 of 150
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 65
Fingerprint: 0x673f605b
Item Level: 64
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+178% Enhanced Defense
+92 Defense (Based on Character Level)
+15 to Strength
+74 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Cold Resist +30%
All Resistances +20
Cannot Be Frozen
+100 Maximum Durability

Mechanic's Great Helm of Balance
Great Helm
Defense: 34
Durability: 40 of 40
Required Level: 21
Required Strength: 63
Fingerprint: 0x122fe36d
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10% Faster Hit Recovery
Lightning Resist +30%
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Ort Rune

Kelpie Snare
Fuscina
Two Hand Damage: 83 - 153
Durability: 32 of 35
Required Level: 33
Required Strength: 77
Required Dexterity: 25
Fingerprint: 0x8c347eb2
Item Level: 49
Version: Expansion 1.10+
180% Enhanced Damage
Adds 30 - 50 Damage
Slows Target by 75%
+10 to Strength
+92 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Fire Resist +50%

The Plan
After some research on untwinked barbs (I didnt see as much data as I thought I would), it seemed to me zerker was definitely the way to go. The main issue with untwinked barbs are that they are hugely weapon dependent, as none of their skills give straight +dmg skills like an elemental zealot, but rather all give a percent damage boost to your weapon's damage. So a barb really needs a weapon with good damage for gameplay to be comfortable at all. Berserk has huge ED, minimizing this serious weapon dependency, and unlike frenzy, needs only 1 good weapon instead of two. I wanted to follow Nightfish's zerker guide HERE and so I planned to get a decent two hander (bonesnap being by far the most likely to drop). I would also need to acquire some decent AR and IAS to make a bonesnap zerker comfortable.

The Quest
Started pretty easy and average, as the barb is pretty sturdy early on. Started with gemmed scepters and farmed countess for stealth and several tals and rals, in order to ugrade to a 3x ral and 3x tal flail at the beginning of act 2. These carried me well through act 3 of normal, and began to lose their charm in act 4 and 5, but still performed fine. Was maining double swing of course with about 8 points in it, 1 pt in mace mastery and the 4 stat boosters, 1 pt in most all warcries and eventually a point in frenzy (which I never ended up using). I think after this I was putting points in bash to increase double swings damage (this was not a good idea, but we'll get to that later) I made my way through and beat normal without much problem.

First big stop in nightmare: countess. The goal is to farm nightmare Andariel soon, but Tormund has awful damage. So what we need is speedy application of crushing blow. I wanted to farm nightmare countess until I could make a strength flail and a black flail. Two black flails would of course be better, but I ran some crushing blow calcs and decided that one io for black was definitely worth farming for, but the second one had a much smaller payoff in time to kill Andy. This went well and the io dropped in a reasonable amount of time.

I was lucky during countess farming and had a map with two shrines in front of the tower and was able to shrine 3 perfect topazes during these runs. And was also able to find a 3os helm and 4os armor during the runs. 3 ptopazes went in the helm, whereas a tal for poison res, along with leftover topazes of varying quality (got too lazy to farm more shrines) went into the armor. These plus some shopped mf boots gave me an acceptable ~150 mf. Onto Andy.

Alright, so she was tough. I'm not sure if Nightfish farmed Andy with 1 point in howl, and 1 point in concentrate/berserk, which is what I infer from his skill progression recommendations, but if so I'm impressed. Because I figured out quickly I had wasted too many points and wasn't prepared for Andy at all, just couldn't reliably handle her in the least. A new plan was needed. Here is what I came up with, and of course I wish I had done this from the beginning and not needed to waste a respec, but at least I could spare it.

Build to farm nightmare Andariel
Howl: ~8
Double Swing: ~5
Battle Cry: 1
Weapon Mastery: 1
Increased Speed: 1
Natural Resistance: 1
Battle Command: 1
Battle Orders: the rest

Most importantly, I needed more points in howl! After this respec I quickly figured out just how insanely good howl is. You need ~8 points in it for a decent radius and then you just cant live without it. Secondly, ~5 points in double swing, and zero in frenzy. Double swing just has a much better fpa, and with our dinky flails, the ED from frenzy is nearly meaningless. So double swing it is, and 5ish points just to slow the mana cost to near enough to nothing. 1 point in battle cry. Tormund's absolutely abysmal AR means that battle cry is very much needed for reasonable chance to hit Andy. Battle orders makes things much more comfortable and I would certainly want 1 point in before messing with Andy, but the more the merrier. Also get max poison res and/or plan to drink a lot of antidote potions.

Now things were smooth. Run in spamming howl as needed, run to the back corner of the room, howl everything away, battle cry Andy, and start swinging. If there were multiple champion afflicteds in the back of the room, I would just save and exit. I died enough times to them to eventually realize it wasn't worth trying to salvage the runs. At this point I could only farm her on p1, as the potions just couldn't keep up with the damage she was giving me on p3. After a few dozen runs though, she had dropped me goblin toe, venom grip, mav's belt, kelpie snare (ended up being end game weapon for merc) and this bad boy:

0DwKhGU.jpg

At this point I probably could have just moved on and used fleshrender end-game, but I didn't fancy farming a pul from hell countess for upgrade, and I thought the weapon without an upgrade was just too low dmg, so I wanted to stick around a little longer, hoping ole bonesnap or steeldriver would drop soon. I was also hoping for any 1 of: angelic ammy + ring, hsarus boots + belt, or sigons gloves + helm. Any one of these would solve my AR issues and boost it to mediocre levels, and sigons would give a very nice 30ias. So I stuck around at Andy for a while longer.

The new gear's extra dmg, cb, and +max poison res made p3 comfortable now, so drops were a little better, and soon enough it was here:

ntF0vz6.jpg

l0JBbqA.jpg

299! So much better than I was hoping for! Glad I stuck around. I did do a few dozen more runs after this, and although a few set amulets dropped, as well an angelic ring, the AR and IAS issues were not solved. Sigon's boots did drop and I decided to equip them in the chance that the helm dropped but the gloves did not. Like 3 more bonesnaps dropped, but of course none were an improvement. She also dropped an SOE, which was sweet! However I kept saying to myself, I'll stick with mav's belt for the frw until the game gets tough enough that I want SOE, and (spoiler) that never happened :) But finally I respec'd, used the sol rune in my stash to up the bonesnap once, and finally got to see some real damage on the LCS.

6PVpI63.jpg

8nXJSxO.jpg

I put 11 points into war cry at this respec, planning to follow nightfish's guide. However I quickly discovered I didn't like it all. It's mana intensive, they don't stun for that long, and I was just addicted to howl + taunt now. So those points in war cry ended up just being a waste, but fortunately zerk is strong enough that I didn't notice their lack.

So I pushed on with like 1k AR and a super slow swing speed (21 fpa :eek:). But it was only nightmare so things went fine. I made a rhyme shield and kept it on swap with fleshrender for facing cold enchants, and liked that enough that I used it through end game. I was still hoping my IAS and AR woes would magically get solved before hell. And Mephy decided to help me out by dropping Sigon's helm! Glad I kept the boots! Now my AR was at a much more reasonable ~3500 and improving with every point in berserk. We then pushed on to the hellforge without any problems. This guy is really quite comfortable to play. Howl, taunt, and BO are all so OP. But guess what happened at the forge?

n9FnkKd.jpg

I think the game wanted me to succeed! After a stop back at normal fara, we had it.

kVyGizy.jpg

I shopped some 10ias gloves at some point, and now with ~4k AR and a 14fpa zerk, Tormund felt soooo much better. As he finished out a5, frozenstein gave him a duriels shell, which filled out the merc's gear rather nicely.

He was now ready for hell with regard to equipment, and just needed some levels. I stopped at nm pindle for these levels and killed him and all his minions on p8 till level 70. This took a bit of time because of his single target nature, but was easy to do (BO, howl, taunt ftw yet again). And once again nightmare pindle paid off for me.

8ioCkUl.jpg

Haha ridiculous. This is the second occy I've gotten from nm pindle in the last month while leveling a character up for hell. But here's Tormund, with battle command and fade active, getting started in hell.

dNlI6fS.jpg

Radament gave him the sigon's gloves he'd been looking for back when he was at Andy. Although he didn't really need them now, I ran with them for the extra ias breakpoint (now sitting at 13fpa). The only other thing that was interesting act 2 was getting to see this nest boss pack. I knew these happen, but it was my first time seeing one in-game.

8KWwkGJ.jpg

Everything kept going down smoothly. I think I died once in hell with him from neglecting to rejuv, and thats about as few deaths as can be expected from me :p Act 3 was smooth, Chaos was no problem, and De Seis dropped me this beauty:

CMfgeAX.jpg

I still dont have a light saber after my reset o_O. Diablo went down quickly, and even my nemesis The Frozen River was navigated without any big issues through the liberal application of howl. Ancients were no problem, as always seems to be the case with weapon-swinging builds who have some CB. Lister was cheesily walked out of the room again when I couldn't howl his minions. And after that, we did it!

SQzMdXn.jpg


What's next?
Now that can use twinked gear, I'm going to respec him to whirlwind, and try to get him good enough to run trav before RFL round 2. I'm hoping an oath base will drop during round 1, otherwise we'll be seeing some truly budget options that may not work at all! For VERY budget builds, would frenzy with oath + lawbringer be better than whirl? Or is it just ww all the way?

I have also nearly completed the third of my "untwinked till patmat" sept, a blizz sorc named Cyndane. I don't think I'll do a mat thread for her since she's as cookie cutter as it gets. I made her for a couple of reasons. First, my newly respec'd poisonmancer is rather underwhelming in cows because of no CTA and his poorly geared merc (have to use decrep a lot and mostly have to stick to p1). So I wanted another character who was better suited to budget cow runs. I'll probably still do round 1 with both of them just for variety, but I won't be expecting much from slow p1 runs with the necro. But the other reason is just that I wanted to use one of my new occy's :p. But she is my first character I've pushed into hell with no regard for handling immunes (I've always gone hybrid before). So that has been interesting for me, and it's going well so far. Yesterday in about 40 minutes I pushed her from the inner cloister to the river of flame wp! She is so fast! So still a couple of major hurdles to go with chaos, frozen river, and baal, but I think she'll be ready in the next couple of days for RFL along with these two other new characters. Thanks for reading!
 
Originally posted by @Luhkoh on Mar 5, 2019:

Patriarch Mazrim – Bone Necromancer

Couldn’t resist making a new necro so soon after my reset, as I really wanted to get some CE going in cows and pits for RFL. And this guy turned out to be a blast! He was any playersetting and untwinked + small stash until patmat. I’m working toward an “untwinked till patmat” sept for my post-reset roster, and he’s the first! Unless you count my 99er sorc, which I don’t think I will.

The only necro I’d played previously was a fishy, and while I enjoyed it, and the safety and power was excellent, I found the play-style frustrating. Without teleport I found myself running ahead of my skellies, seeing enemies and turning back immediately to get behind my army. This “2 steps forward one step back” play was what I found slow and a tad frustrating. I have a feeling I’d really enjoy the character with enigma, but for now, for a new necro, bone seemed the obvious choice.

The Character
wJtVqrk.jpg


Skills
Amplify Damage: 1/4
Dim Vision: 1/4
Weaken: 1/4
Iron Maiden: 1/4
Terror: 1/4
Confuse: 1/4
Life Tap: 1/4
Attract: 1/4
Decrepify: 2/5 (misclick :/)
Lower Resist: 0/0

Teeth: 1/5
Bone Armor: 1/8
Poison Dagger: 0/0
Corpse Explosion: 6/10
Bone Wall: 20/24
Poison Explosion: 0/0
Bone Spear: 20/29
Bone Prison: 20/24
Poison Nova: 0/0
Bone Spirit: 9/13

Skeleton Mastery: 0/4
Raise Skeleton: 0/0
Clay Golem: 1/2
Golem Mastery: 1/2
Raise Skeletal Mage: 0/0
Blood Golem: 0/0
Summon Resist: 1/2
Iron Golem: 0/0
Fire Golem: 0/0
Revive: 0/0

Equipment
Lore
Crown
OrtSol
Defense: 43
Durability: 48 of 50
Required Level: 27
Required Strength: 55
Fingerprint: 0xaaf46dcc
Item Level: 45
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+10 to Energy
Lightning Resist +30%
Damage Reduced by 7
+2 to Mana after each Kill
+2 to Light Radius

Prismatic Amulet
Amulet
Required Level: 31
Fingerprint: 0xc2fdbeae
Item Level: 57
Version: Expansion 1.10+
All Resistances +18

Stealth
Leather Armor
TalEth
Defense: 17
Durability: 20 of 24
Required Level: 17
Required Strength: 15
Fingerprint: 0xf3dd3623
Item Level: 7
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+25% Faster Run/Walk
+25% Faster Cast Rate
+25% Faster Hit Recovery
+6 to Dexterity
Regenerate Mana 15%
+15 Maximum Stamina
Poison Resist +30%
Magic Damage Reduced by 3

Coral Ring
Ring
Required Level: 13
Fingerprint: 0xf3c7fe2e
Item Level: 51
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Lightning Resist +29%

Garnet Heavy Belt of the Colossus
Heavy Belt
Defense: 6
Durability: 17 of 18
Required Level: 22
Required Strength: 45
Fingerprint: 0xf502decf
Item Level: 70
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+51 to Life
Fire Resist +24%

Hsarus' Iron Heel
Chain Boots
Defense: 9
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Level: 3
Required Strength: 30
Fingerprint: 0x12d3ea9f
Item Level: 61
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20% Faster Run/Walk
Fire Resist +25%

Trang-Oul's Claws
Heavy Bracers
Defense: 72
Durability: 15 of 16
Required Level: 45
Required Strength: 58
Fingerprint: 0x339fabe
Item Level: 49
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Curses (Necromancer only)
+20% Faster Cast Rate
+25% to Poison Skill Damage
+30 Defense
Cold Resist +30%

Cobalt Ring of the Apprentice
Ring
Required Level: 13
Fingerprint: 0x245cb039
Item Level: 61
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10% Faster Cast Rate
Cold Resist +25%

White
Bone Wand
DolIo
One Hand Damage: 3 - 7
Durability: 15 of 15
Required Level: 35
Fingerprint: 0x1b07a775
Item Level: 20
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Poison and Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)
+20% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Bone Spear (Necromancer Only)
+4 to Skeleton Mastery (Necromancer Only)
+3 to Bone Armor (Necromancer Only)
+3 to Bone Spear (Necromancer Only)
Hit Causes Monster to Flee 25%
+10 to Vitality
+13 to Mana
Magic Damage Reduced by 4

Ancients' Pledge
Superior Large Shield
RalOrtTal
Defense: 23
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 24 of 27
Required Level: 21
Required Strength: 34
Fingerprint: 0xbda6785a
Item Level: 20
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+58% Enhanced Defense
All Resistances +43
Lightning Resist +5%
Fire Resist +5%
Poison Resist +5%
10% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
Increase Maximum Durability 15%

Merc
Mercenary:

Name: Pratham
Race: Desert Mercenary
Type: Def-Nightmare
Experience: 58459036
Level: 78
Dead?: false

Naked/Gear
Strength: 174/179
Dexterity: 139/144
HP: 1487/1497
Defense: 1103/1421
AR: 1826/392590

Fire: 170/130/70
Cold: 142/102/42
Lightning: 185/145/85
Poison: 156/116/56

Dread Mask
Casque
Defense: 66
Durability: 16 of 24
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 59
Fingerprint: 0x59cd6702
Item Level: 46
Version: Expansion 1.10+
1% Life stolen per hit
5% Deadly Strike
+10 to Life
Lightning Resist +14%
Fire Resist +28%


Bone Carapace
Gothic Plate
Defense: 252
Durability: 36 of 55
Required Level: 27
Required Strength: 70
Fingerprint: 0xbfd0107d
Item Level: 61
Version: Expansion 1.10+
14% Chance to cast level 5 Charged Bolt when struck
+24% Faster Hit Recovery
+86% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +29%
Poison Resist +14%


Insight
War Scythe
RalTirTalSol
Two Hand Damage: 55 - 110
Durability: 38 of 55
Required Level: 27
Required Strength: 80
Required Dexterity: 80
Fingerprint: 0x1258ca11
Item Level: 45
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Level 16 Meditation Aura When Equipped
+35% Faster Cast Rate
207% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
214% Bonus to Attack Rating
Adds 5 - 30 Fire Damage
Adds 75 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
+3 to Critical Strike
All Stats +5
+2 to Mana after each Kill
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
(Yes that’s a war scythe insight. We’ll get to that later.)

A few observations:
1. Synergized bone armor is awesome
2. CE is still devastating even if you don’t max it.
3. Decrepify is OP
4. Gumby is better than I gave him credit for

The Quest
I made some really annoying mistakes starting this guy. I thought starting with teeth would be workable after seeing all the necro speedruns, but quickly found out this works far, far worse on p8 than the already mediocre job it does on p1. So I was mostly amping stuff and hitting it with an ith’d scepter. At this point, I started trying to put some points into skeletons, but it was too late for them to be very useful. I doubt I’ll start a necro again that doesn’t main raise skeleton till his end game skill is available.

Lvl 18 was a huge relief and I went ahead and burned the respec, and life was good from there on out. Bone spear pretty much wrecks normal and nightmare. For the general gearing plan, I decided early on to do zero magic finding, and just get all my gear from runewords and vendor shopping. This gives you less to work with of course, but it sure was a relief not trying to shrine up all my topazes like usual :p

I started running just a 3x tir rune broad sword to help with mana and this worked well. Also farmed a stealth from normal countess of course, and I think I even got enough ral's to make ancients pledge after getting the cube. Also saved enough cash to shop a tele staff in a3 normal. After getting bone spear, normal was a dream. Super easy and not really noteable other than the basic normal countess gear.

Onto nightmare. Before beginning farming nightmare countess, I went ahead and beat act 1 in order to get access to Mr. Drognan and start shopping for a white base. I made sure to save up some serious cash, and think I had even shrined up a couple of amethysts for cubing a potential base (I decided I wasn't willing to go with Larzuk on it). I ran some staffmod calcs, and estimated that I'd need to look at ~500 white/gray bone wands from this guy, on average, to successfully shop or cube any +3 bone spear white base. So I got ready to buckle down and do 300ish shops. After about 40 shops this beauty showed up :)

RFNopis.jpg

Well that was much easier than expected! Didnt even have to cube it! Alright nm countess time. Made lore and found a war scythe base for insight and the runes fairly quickly. Good deal. But the io took ~60-70 runs. Pretty unlucky, but I didn't care, because I finally had this:

xRDSgsG.jpg

I was planning on farming hell countess for a lum to make smoke to take care of my resists in hell, but during this time when I was looking for io, nm countess decided to grace me with a lum! Thats from her normal drop, not her special drop, and the odds are approximately 1 in 2600. Wow so things are going great. When a 2os cuirass dropped a little later I decided to go ahead and make smoke just to clear some stash space, even though I would use stealth for the fcr through the end of nm...

OLaO0EP.jpg

Nooooooooo. Alright well I flushed countess's gift right down the toilet. Moving on.

Had some excellent luck when I decided I wanted to finish off nm dark elder despite the fact that he takes forever for a bone necro. He dropped me trangs gloves! So nice and very lucky. I was really hoping to find these AFTER he had patmatted. After this, nm progressed very easily. I didn't even really use corspe explosion, as bone spear was so powerful at this point. Nothing noteable through nightmare acts 3-5. Just cruised on through.

Now time to lvl and gear for hell. I decided to scrounge up (meaning shop) right about 100 mf and then lvl up on nm pindle. I usually go to baal for this but wanted to try out pindle for potentially better drops. It was a fair bit slower as I started doing it on p1, eventually getting a little better and going to p3. So it probably took about 150-200 runs to get to lvl 73, at which point I decided I'd lvl'd enough. And boy am I glad I went the slower route with pindle because...

0J0YCSk.jpg

I7k95f2.jpg

Those are each about 1 in 20k odds. So needless to say, I was pumped.

Now that we're lvl'd, time to think about hell. During lvling, I put points in the bone armor synergies before putting any in bone spirit, so I used spear the the entire playthrough and got a very nice bone armor. I also decided to put a few extra hard points in CE, and i thought that might have a bigger effect than the extra synergy points from bone spirit. Not sure if that was correct, but it worked well. I am a BIG fan of having block in hell difficulty, but because of the huge bone armor on this guy, and the fact that resists were in high demand, I decided to go max vita and keep using ancient's pledge. I thought I was still gonna need to farm hell countess for a lum for the res, but I decided to see what I could slap together with what I had first. After some shopping, I ended up with the gear shown near the beginning and very respectable res. So no hell countess was needed, which was a huge relief. This was my first time using stealth or lore in hell, but it worked out great!

Here he is geared up for hell:

CxSt0ad.jpg

Which I did end up dumping those points into Vita.

My biggest weakness at this point was the merc. He had crap gear, and a war scythe insight, and I just didnt see a way to get him a better weapon that wouldnt take more than a couple of hours. So we pressed on. He actually did surprisingly ok. He had gumby to soak some dmg and more importantly had me casting DECREPIFY. This spell is so op, and made my terrible merc reasonably safe in most situations. I used a holy freeze merc despite the corpse shattering. I just really thought he needed the safety.

Quick note on gameplay. I didnt find myself using bone wall or bone prison much at all. I used it on ancients, diablo, and i think lister's pack, and that was about it. Mostly it was spam decrep, shoot spears, recast golem, and CE. Is there a better way to play this or am I approaching it about right?

Things proceeded nicely. Duriel dropped rockstopper, atma's scarab, and treads of cthon. Very nice of him. Found a stormshield from a random flayer dungeon boss. And CS was really pretty smooth. In act 5 however, we encountered a few situations where the merc just could not cut it, even for a second. First was frozen river. I'll say it again: I think this is the hardest area in the game. At first I was panicking, saying how am I gonna get though this? As you can tell, I've become far too dependent on the merc. I said wait a sec, I have a recastable minion, and bone spear isn't even that mana intensive. So me and gumby did it without Pratham, and honestly it went fine. A bit slower and countless golem recasts of course, but it was fairly safe and didn't take as long as I expected. With that hurdle out of the way, it was time for ancients.

I went the through the same exact crisis where the merc wouldnt stay alive even for a second, despite decrep and bone prison (not sure why he was so bad honestly), and after a few resets and a short panic, I said wait a sec, wasn't I just in this situation? So me and gumby did it again! And it worked like a charm. His slow, plus decrep made things downright easy. I did prepare badly though, and had only 1 mana potion remaining at the end of the fight, but we eeked through!

WSK and baal were uneventful by comparison. CE rocks. Decrep rocks. That is all. Though I did cheese lister and walk him out of the room so I could skip him. After a long but relaxed fight with a completely disabled baal, the journey was over.

qDp9WAF.jpg

Hthva9l.jpg


What's next?
Now that he's a patriarch, Mazrim can use twinked gear. I don't have a ton, since my 99er sorc is my only other advanced character, but I do have homunculus (!), as well as a better weapon for poor Pratham. Except I'll also have to swap him out for a non HF merc. Ah well, your hardship was much appreciated. Rest well Pratham. I will respec Mazrim to poison and max block, and try and get him going for RFL round 1!

Next in my "untwinked till patmat" sept is a barb named Tormund. Getting the toughest class out of the way early, since I want him for RFL round 2. At the time of actually posting this writeup, I have actually just finished Tormund up, so another patmat thread should be coming soon! I also have another post I want to make before RFL, so you all let me know if I'm posting too much, but I think it will all be good stuff. Thanks for reading!
 
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Originally posted by Arkardo on Dec 17, 2009:

How NOT to make your upcoming Counsil Horker

So yeah, I was making this titan whirler when I learned of 1.13 and the increased rune drop rates. I decided it would be nice to have a horker right away. I made this guy in 1.12 and have not converted him to 1.13 yet; no use in losing a Fortitude and other goodies to a patch I might not like in the end.

Anyway...

Name: Snoeihard
Class: Barbarian
Experience: 820813815
Level: 82

Naked/Gear
Strength: 415/425
Dexterity: 42/57*
Vitality: 25/35
Energy: 10/10
HP: 277/622
Mana: 91/91
Stamina: 173/253
Defense: 10/2061
AR: 195/540
*Yes, this 'titan' has points in Dexterity. He needs them for his upped Ribcracker and Blades of Ali Baba. :whistling:

Resists:
Fire: 177/137/77
Cold: 127/87/27
Lightning: 173/133/73
Poison: 127/87/27

More stats...
MF: 82
Block: 6
GF: 288
FR/W: 25
FHR: 70
IAS: 110
FCR: 25

Skills:
Bash: 1/2
Leap: 1/2
Double Swing: 0/0
Stun: 1/2
Double Throw: 0/0
Leap Attack: 1/2
Concentrate: 1/2
Frenzy: 0/0
Whirlwind: 20/21
Berserk: 1/2

Sword Mastery: 0/0
Axe Mastery: 0/0
Mace Mastery: 20/21
Pole Arm Mastery: 0/0
Throwing Mastery: 0/0
Spear Mastery: 0/0
Increased Stamina: 0/0
Iron Skin: 1/2
Increased Speed: 0/0
Natural Resistance: 1/2

Howl: 1/2
Find Potion: 1/2
Taunt: 0/0
Shout: 20/21
Find Item: 2/3
Battle Cry: 0/0
Battle Orders: 20/21
Grim Ward: 0/0
War Cry: 0/0
Battle Command: 1/2

Inventory & Stash:
Tome of Town Portal
Fingerprint: 0xd2caa3d2
Item Level: 11 These actually have item levels? :scratchchin:
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Fine Small Charm of Anthrax
Small Charm
Required Level: 36
Fingerprint: 0x8e1ef468
Item Level: 58
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Maximum Damage
+14 to Attack Rating
Adds 50 Poison Damage Over 6 Secs (150 Frames)

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x7ad6dbec
Item Level: 76
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+19 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0xae60fbf
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+18 to Life

Stalwart Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 40
Fingerprint: 0x567547cc
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 Defense
+20 to Life

Sharp Grand Charm of Sustenance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 23
Fingerprint: 0xbacc1334
Item Level: 99
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+9 to Maximum Damage
+73 to Attack Rating
+23 to Life


Gheed's Fortune
Grand Charm
Required Level: 62
Fingerprint: 0xdbb06b53
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
**% Extra Gold from Monsters
Reduces all Vendor Prices 12%
32% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Sharp Grand Charm of Sustenance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 53
Fingerprint: 0x8642b542
Item Level: 99
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+8 to Maximum Damage
+57 to Attack Rating
+33 to Life

Sharp Grand Charm of Life
Grand Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0xfb3007b
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+7 to Maximum Damage
+60 to Attack Rating
+11 to Life

Shimmering Small Charm of Fortune
Small Charm
Required Level: 25
Fingerprint: 0xe76c15ee
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
All Resistances +4
5% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Amber Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0xa80133b8
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+18 to Life
Lightning Resist +11%

Sharp Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x50cdce7f
Item Level: 99
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10 to Maximum Damage
+66 to Attack Rating

Gear! Now it gets interesting.
Ribcracker
Stalagmite
Two Hand Damage: 315 - 472
Durability: 130 of 130
Required Level: 56
Required Strength: 63
Required Dexterity: 35
Fingerprint: 0x20619b3f
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+70% Increased Attack Speed
+50% Faster Hit Recovery
281% Enhanced Damage
Adds 30 - 65 Damage
50% Chance of Crushing Blow
+100% Enhanced Defense
+100 Defense
+15 to Dexterity
Required Level +7
+100 Maximum Durability
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Shael Rune


Fortitude <-- Hurray for Lower Kurast!
Archon Plate
ElSolDolLo
Defense: 1572
Durability: 60 of 60
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 103
Fingerprint: 0x714aad2c
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
20% Chance to cast level 15 Chilling Armor when struck
+25% Faster Cast Rate
300% Enhanced Damage
+200% Enhanced Defense
+15 Defense
+123 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Replenish Life +7
+5% to Maximum Lightning Resist
All Resistances +25
Damage Reduced by 7
12% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
+1 to Light Radius
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: El Rune
Socketed: Sol Rune
Socketed: Dol Rune
Socketed: Lo Rune


Kira's Guardian
Tiara
Defense: 155
Durability: 25 of 25
Required Level: 77
Fingerprint: 0xbba2e1b5
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
+115 Defense
All Resistances +68
Cannot Be Frozen


Laying of Hands
Bramble Mitts
Defense: 87
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 50
Fingerprint: 0xd6eb9555
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
10% Chance to cast level 3 Holy Bolt on striking
+20% Increased Attack Speed
+350% Damage to Demons
+25 Defense
Fire Resist +50%


War Traveler
Battle Boots
Defense: 122
Durability: 48 of 48
Required Level: 42
Required Strength: 95
Fingerprint: 0xba830f5a
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+25% Faster Run/Walk
Adds 15 - 25 Damage
+156% Enhanced Defense
+10 to Strength
+10 to Vitality
40% Slower Stamina Drain
Attacker Takes Damage of 6
45% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+30 Maximum Durability


String of Ears
Demonhide Sash
Defense: 111
Durability: 22 of 22
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 20
Fingerprint: 0x81cc7cd
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
8% Life stolen per hit
+176% Enhanced Defense
+15 Defense
Damage Reduced by 12%
Magic Damage Reduced by 13
+10 Maximum Durability


Highlord's Wrath
Amulet
Required Level: 65
Fingerprint: 0x1206c932
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+20% Increased Attack Speed
Adds 1 - 30 Lightning Damage
30% Deadly Strike (Based on Character Level)
Lightning Resist +35%
Attacker Takes Lightning Damage of 15


Dwarf Star
Ring
Required Level: 45
Fingerprint: 0x16cf4914
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+40 to Life
+40 Maximum Stamina
Heal Stamina Plus 15%
Fire Absorb 15%
Magic Damage Reduced by 15
100% Extra Gold from Monsters


Dwarf Star
Ring
Required Level: 45
Fingerprint: 0x90fea9d4
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+40 to Life
+40 Maximum Stamina
Heal Stamina Plus 15%
Fire Absorb 15%
Magic Damage Reduced by 14
100% Extra Gold from Monsters


Blade of Ali Baba
Tulwar
One Hand Damage: 33 - 73
Durability: 32 of 32
Required Level: 35
Required Strength: 70
Required Dexterity: 42
Fingerprint: 0x7d8a0662
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
111% Enhanced Damage
+12 to Dexterity
+15 to Mana
205% Extra Gold from Monsters (Based on Character Level)
82% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (Based on Character Level)
2 Sockets (0 used)


Blade of Ali Baba
Tulwar
One Hand Damage: 34 - 76
Durability: 32 of 32
Required Level: 35
Required Strength: 70
Required Dexterity: 42
Fingerprint: 0xebda1d9d
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
118% Enhanced Damage
+12 to Dexterity
+15 to Mana
205% Extra Gold from Monsters (Based on Character Level)
82% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (Based on Character Level)
2 Sockets (0 used)


Mercenary:
Name: Waheed
Race: Desert Mercenary
Type: Off-Nightmare
Experience: 66118234
Level: 81
Dead?: false Though pretty much...

Naked/Gear
Strength: 179/184
Dexterity: 144/149
HP: 1607/1607
Defense: 1189/2453
AR: 1865/361810

Fire: 145/105/45
Cold: 175/135/75
Lightning: 145/105/45
Poison: 145/105/45


Vampire Gaze
Grim Helm
Defense: 252
Durability: 40 of 40
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 58
Fingerprint: 0xaeb9f39d
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 6 - 22 Cold Damage Over 4 Secs (100 Frames)
7% Mana stolen per hit
8% Life stolen per hit
+100% Enhanced Defense
15% Slower Stamina Drain
Damage Reduced by 15%
Magic Damage Reduced by 15


Treachery
Boneweave
ShaelThulLem
Defense: 1012
Durability: 23 of 23
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 148
Fingerprint: 0x4c8cbf92
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
5% Chance to cast level 15 Fade when struck
25% Chance to cast level 15 Venom on striking
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
+45% Increased Attack Speed
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
Cold Resist +30%
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
Ethereal
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Shael Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Lem Rune


Insight
Thresher
RalTirTalSol
Two Hand Damage: 72 - 740
Durability: 33 of 33
Required Level: 53
Required Strength: 142
Required Dexterity: 108
Fingerprint: 0xb2442672
Item Level: 81
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Level 17 Meditation Aura When Equipped
+35% Faster Cast Rate
251% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
193% Bonus to Attack Rating
Adds 5 - 30 Fire Damage
Adds 75 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
+6 to Critical Strike
All Stats +5
+2 to Mana after each Kill
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Ethereal
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Ral Rune
Socketed: Tir Rune
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Sol Rune

Hellforge drops:
Normal: dunno
Nightmare: uuh? Probably something not worthwhile
Hell: Ko (well, that was time well spent)

Other drops:
  • Harlequin Crest
  • Ethereal Edge
  • Some nice Sharp Grand Charms (though none were used for this guy
  • Various other nice stuff, but not noteworthy here

So what can this guy do? Well, pretty much nothing. I had expected the 30% fire absorb from dual Dwarf Stars and 42 MDR from String of Ears and dual Dwarf Stars would be a great help against the Counsil, but he gets creamed anyway. On p1.

Gear-wise, I know there's things that can use improvent. Like, more leech (I know I don't have mana leech at the moment, I recently switched a dual leech ring out for a Dwarf Star, hoping I would be able to kill the Counsil quickly enough), more resists, more LIFE, but I can't imagine any gear will make this guy from CREAMED to HORKIN' HR'S TILL WE DROP.

So I'll probably wait until I have decided whether I'll move on to 1.13 or not. If I do, I'll respec him. At least 100 points will go in Vitality, or maybe so much that BO will not even be needed. Also, maxing Shout was a bad idea. It was useful for questing, but in the end they would've been better off in Iron Skin, to save the time to cast it. Even better, 5+ in Natural Resists, at least another 5 in Find Item, and the rest in... well, dunno.

Also, the AR of this guys is terrible. Only about a 50% chance to hit a Counsil. And that's with all those charms. How do you guys do that?

Oh well, at least he was fun playing. Did he die? Of course he did. A lot. Now that I think of it, he was quite frustrating at times.

Well folks, that's all! Better make your horker more durable than mine. :scratchchin:

Pindle creams him too, btw.
 
Originally posted by Ugla on May 17, 2008:

Matriarch Kyra and Patriarch Tauron

(early this year)
"What about going on, an act or two?"
"I don't know, I'd better watch some movie.."
"OK."

(~two months ago)
"I thought we could move on with our characters.."
"Not sure about gear, I'd better start new ones."
"Well, ok."

(~month ago)
"I have just realized, we still have those two loosers sitting in act one Hell, what about finishing them?"
"Well, we could push forward, but I'm tired today, so I may take some sleep instead.."
"Ok, what about tomorrow?"
"We have some volleyball, and then we'll go to a pub."
*Sigh* :rolleyes:

(~week ago)
"Act4?"
"Which characters?"
"Ehm."
"Hmm."
"Cmon, it's just a short one.."
"The NBA is starting in an hour, I have to prepare some food, and besides, I need to reequip.."
"Omg."

(Thursday evening)
"There's one last act remaining." "?"
"Well, ok. We could just get over it.."
*Cheers* "Great, I've already got Frigid Highlands WP, needed a hole."
"Created."
..
(Tauron dies)
"Playing this character excludes with eating.."
"Where are you going? Do we have Glacial Trial WP?"
"We've got the WP already."
"I have full stash, need to restart.."
"Wait, there are no Souls in the Frozen River, let's Rescue Anya first"
"OK. That's it. Do we have Glacial Trial WP?
"Yeah, let's kill Nilly."
"I need that restart."
(restart)
"Do we have Glacial Trial WP?"
(Tauron dies again)
"Could I have a supper here!?" 😠
(Kyra dies)
"..just when I decided to stop drinking potions"
(Tauron opens the TP and takes a few more CEs, nearly dying again)
"Damn Nature's.."
"Maybe the bear got a few kills.."
"Impossible!"
"Or the merc.."
"That's more like it."
(The Ancients, the first attempt)
(Tauron dies)

"Something's wrong.."
(Kyra opens a TP)
"Here you go.."
(the barbs die on the second try)
"Have you seen my Lacerator lately?"
"No."
"Damn, it must still be lying in the Halls of Vaught. I wondered why I died so fast.."
(a few minutes later Baal dies)
"Ufff.."
"Ok, see you!"
"Bye."
(slaughtered the cows, putting the two remaining points into Feral Rage, and swore never to touch this one again)

Patriarch Tauron
lvl83 Summon Druid

Stats:
str 175/225
dext 80/120
vita 200/225
erg 20/55
left 30

Skills:
20 Spirit&Dire Wolves, Grizzly, HoW
3 Feral Rage
1 Fury, Shockwave, Carrion Vine, and all prerequisites

The next points won't go anywhere, because there won't be any. This character is condemned to instant deletion, as soon as I find sufficient amount (read three) white circlets/tiaras to burn my imbue rewards on.

resists:
fire 50
cold 38
light 64
poison 42

Life 811/1490/1610 man/wolf/bear

Fury 1504-2273, 3478 AR (without Enchant)
Feral Rage 1189-1802, 3580 AR (without Enchant)

Gear:
Jalal's Mane
Mara's
Raven Frost/Dwarf Star
'Lionheart' Mage Plate
Ghoulhide
String of Ears
Gore Rider
main: Windhammer
switch: Lacerator/Blackoak Shield (for +dext)

1 Shape-Shifting skiller, various damage or resists charms

Merc: act2 might
Stealskull (PTopaz)
eth Duriel's
Reaper's (Shael)

finds: Griswold's Valor (20% MF)
HF: nothing to remember

Remarks:
As may be apparent from the above, the most funny part about these characters was to convince Hrus to play them. I decided to try a summon druid hoping for a more interesting experience than a summon necro. Pitty the summons basically do nothing even when all three skills are maxed. A much better part was the druid himself, despite the minimal investment in the Shape-Shifthing tree. Both Maul and Fury work with mere one point once you equip a decent weapon, with Feral Rage or Shockwave used as survival tools. The AR was sufficient due to Enchant, once Hrus joined with an enchantress, and eventually made 'Beast' to provide some competition in Shape-Shifting.

I used Athena's for the +skills during NM. Once we entered Hell, I gave up on using spears (which was the theme idea) and deciced to take Lacerator on switch to help deal with PIs. Since my dexterity was way too low, I eventually opted for Blackoak Shield for its per-level dext bonus. Once Athena's started to lack behind, I put all remaining points into strength and equipped Windhammer, giving up on +skills. Very nice weapon indeed. I'd gladly exchange all the points from Grizzly and Spirit Wolves for Twister's synergies, which could make for a decent build.

We had some issues with Hell Chaos Sanctuary - Kyra lacked sufficient life to run past Doom Knights to take out OKs, while Tauron stunned them with Shockwave. In the end, I used wolves for more distraction and joined the fray. Enchant proved more than enough against PIs, thus I slowly quit switching - we had a Reaper's merc from lvl75 onward anyway.

The most annoying part about low-level wolf was when it wore off during the battle (you're dead before you know it, and recasting is annoying because of its delay). There also appears to be some bug involved concerning poison damage and lycanthrops. We both took some unbelievable amounts of damage from other sources while poisoned :undecided: Otherwise, the char is relatively safe if you keep Feral Rage active and drink some potions in dire moments. The Spirit Wolves were a total disappointment - I hardly ever witnessed their teleporting ability, and they were horribly dying even with maxed DW. Similarly, Grizzly is a tank and nothing more, definitely not worth the extra points.

Hrus said:
Kyra, lvl 80 Bearsorc.

Stats with Phase Blade and Enchant on in bearform:
Attack damage 4124-5103
Attack rating 3221
Defense 1618
Life 1252
Mana 408

Resistances: 58,35,43,75

STR - enough for Berserker Axe
DEX - enough for Phase Blade
VIT - rest
ENE - none
28 points remaining

Skills:
20 Enchant
20 Warmth
20 Fire Mastery
1 Static Field
11 Energy Shield
13 Telekinesis

Items:
head: Rockstopper (????) -FHR+resists
amu: rare +2sorc skills +18res all +18FR
torso: Skin of Vipermagi 35 res all socketed with +15 res all jewel - skill, resists, MDR
gloves: Frostburn - mana
Boots: Sandstorm trek - stats. FHR, PR
Ring1: Ravenforst - AR, DEX, CBF
Ring2: Carrion Wind - PR, LS, Damage to mana
weapon slot1: BEAST -Bear FTW
shield slot1: Gerke's Sanctuary -DR,MDR
weapon slot2: 6shael Phase Blade - 4frame attack FTW
shield slot2: Blackoak Shield - low bocking, FBR, DEX for PB

Charms 6 Fire skillers, life/mana charms, LR charms

Mercenary: Duriel's Shell, Vampire Gaze, eth Bonehew, Holy Freeze


Well, Energy Shield sucks or I can't use it right.
I thought that with ES - resistances are not used, so I don't need them - in fact, I was dying everywhere and often. With ES on, I took more damage than without it - at least in hell, where most of the attacks have elemental component. That's the main reason I didn't like this character and Ugla has hard time to convince me to play her. So I reequip her CB, +FHR +mana oriented gear with more balanced gear with resistances (especially PR) and it got better in the end. But still, I have played Fireclaw bear and he got better support skills (Shockwave, Cyclone Armor, Summons) and got way more life and better damage.

I am starting to believe that I made a mistake making Beast instead CoH. :(, OK I have to think about the gear for 2frame sin now...

Anyways if someone can spare two Jahs, I could considerate transorming this character into RWM and use dual Dream setup. :evil:
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by Ugla on May 21, 2008:

Patriarchs Manwe and Archeon

Patriarch Manwe

lvl85 paladin

Stats:
str 190
dext 95
vita 220
erg 15

Skills:
20 Fanaticism, Sacrifice, Fist of Heavens, Holy Bolt
1 Zeal and all prerequisites
7 Blessed Hammer

The next points will go to BH to further synergize HB, but I also consider taking Vigor aura.

Resists (fighter/caster switch):
fire 30/50
cold 10/30
light 55/0
poison -20/0

Life 999/1009

Zeal 1173-3466, 4758 AR
FoH (lvl32) 1355-1405 lightning, 2568-2608 bolts
HB (lvl34) 6351-7192, heals 67-138 (no prayer)

Questing gear:
Vampire Gaze (Sol, 20%DR, 12MDR, 7%ML&LL)
Prismatic Amulet of Life Everlasting (20%res/22PDR)
Raven Frost/Dwarf Star (Nature's Peace against Nihlathak and revivers)
'Treachery' Wyrmhide
Laying of Hands
Arachnid Mesh
Gore Rider
for beating: Schaefer's Hammer (Eth)/ Gerke's Sanctuary (unsocketed)
for casting: Hand of the Blessed Light/ Herald of Zakarum (still empty socket)

3 Combat skillers, 1 Offensive skiller
2 +10max Sharp GCs (one with +28 life)
Fine SC of Venom (+3max/15AR/15 poison)
SCs with mana, life, FRW

Merc:
act2 might
Rockstopper (empty socket - always wondering if I ever fill this one up)
Iron Pelt (unsocketed)
Reaper's Toll (Shael)

finds: nothing worth mentioning
HF: NM - ? Hell - Hel

Remarks:
Some time ago, I have finished a PDR cleric, and greatly enjoyed him decimating the undead and healing his allies in an MP game. Within the pat thread, I presented an idea to adopt the build for pure SP purpose, thus forging a very versatile runner. The idea is the following:

I takes only 44 points to create a core build for a Zealot (20 in Fanaticism with its three prerequisites, 20 in Sacrifice and 1 in Zeal). Since the character is supposed to have nice amount of +skills for his caster side, Zeal still gets the maximum number of hits. The damage increase via additional points into Zeal is negligible, and the AR can be made up for using the appropriate gear.

As for the progress, I started pumping Sacrifice to get the damage up, then switched to HB, and then to FoH. I placed 1pt into Fanaticism and proceeded with the cleric skills, so I could enjoy them in NM. At the same time, I put all the stat-points into Str heading for the end-game value to equip the Schaefer's. For a moment I was toying with an idea to go (almost) base vita, but eventually rejected it as foolhardy. I counted on questing with PDR gear, but for later purpose (running AT, Pindle, and more) I needed to ditch some for sake of MF stuff. Besides, I'm notoriously unable to maintain decent resists from NM onward. As a warning, I was burnt to ashes by normal Infector and then again beaten up by Baal. So, the next points went into vita until it reached 200.

I was excited zealing with Fetid Sprinkler throughout NM that I almost forgot about casting, at least until act4. I must admit I love clearing the Chaos Sanctuary using maxed FoH and HB. I shamelessly leveled on NM Baal until at last I was able to equip the Schaefer's (lvl79). By that time, Manwe was already dressed in all the gear stated above. I cleared the first two acts on Hell and eventually put an Eth in the weapon, since I was whiffing to much to my liking.

But the time I arrived to Kurast, I once again dug out one of Hrus's long forgotten characters. This time it was a real relic - the ancient fire-druid Archeon I vaguely remember MPing with about two years ago. He eventually got "parked", and now has been awakened (to rush me through the jungles :hide:). I must once again praise the PDR gear. While running through the Sewers, Archeon blasted an entire pack of Dolls right beneath Manwe's feet. Worse yet, I just turned back at that point heading the opposite way - kaboom. Yet surprisingly, nothing happened, beyond loosing ~80% of life, that is. In the same fashion, I tanked the entire Durance stuff without taking any serious damage - almost looked like the good old normal is back. Just a moment before that, Manwe was fighting the council in Travincal - an impressive sight to behold. Standing in a lake of fire, both friendly and enemy, I couldn't see a damn thing. Manwe was putting his heavy hammer to the best possible use, and only the occasional flukes inside the red bulb indicated that another enchanted boss bites the dust :cool:

We obliterated the River of Flame, rushing the act from its WP onward (Hrus was willing to pursue this way, until he eventually ran out of waypoints in Frigid Highlands). Chaos Sanctuary was relatively slower due to the (over)cautiousness on my side and the presence of FIs. After this session, I soloed the Plains of Despair for the two skill-points, and got toasted by Burning Souls once (and a few times again while picking the body), all because I was too hasty. Hephasto, the extra strong, mighty defender of the Forge, almost instant-killed me. And I got that Hel for all the troubles 😠

Act5 finally brought some heavy hitters. I tried to keep my dexterity relatively low, still uncertain of how my "final" HS bonus would be, and the low block started to matter when mobbed. I got almost killed by Nihlathak - next time I will finally confiscate the moron's stick so that it actually makes sense to switch to Nature's Peace. We have decimated the Ancients, though at least one of them was Stone Skin and two of them FI, but the funny part was yet to come.

For some reason, we both shared the same idea to clear the Icy Cellar - the one place I hardly ever pay a visit. I remember leaving this place in a big hurry when making my "full clear" guardian back in TWD3, but this time I was sure it would be a cake-walk. Thus, we entered. First sight - some witches, a pack of taurs - seems easy enough. Another pack of taurs, with Might. Hmm, let's see if.. ouch :shocked: Finally, I vastly underestimated something. If Archeon had enough time to run out, I wouldn't blame him, but the truth is that additional targets (like merc or a bear) serve as an excellent "prebuff" in such case. Poor Archeon. How we ever managed to make this through you ask? I used the portal Archeon managed to open before he evaporated, and charged through the pack towards the right side, before I got killed again. Then, I re-entered Archeon's portal and charged in the opposite direction quickly opening a new portal in the corner of the map, leaving one follower in its vicinity. At this point, Archeon accidentally entered his own portal instead of mine and got massacred. Then he used the area entrance to lure the tougher of the bosses away from the center, while I revived the merc and secured the place on the other side. I was scared when the second enemy I met turned out to be the other boss, but the merc made a short work of him taking some healing from my HBs. Eventually Archeon rejoined me, and together using both mercs and a Bear, we cleared the central part. Thus, I was able to pick my corpse before taking on the troublesome boss. And it was badly needed. I took us all some time before he dropped dead. The rest of the game was one boring trip compared to this.

Today, I cleared the farm with one rejuv used on the king's fanatic pack, but that was the only slight issue. Now, I'm thinking about various gear setups for different MF targets.

Hrus said:
Yep I know Ugla's posts are usually "too long, no read" type, but no response at all? I guess ?obody is interested in Archeon's stats either? I will give you relevant stats either way:

Damage: sucks
Life: sucks
Mana: you don't need much anyways

Equip: Even when twinked to the bones, damage sucks.

Skills: Firestorm, Molten Boulder, Fissure, Volcano maxed + several points in summoning tree. They all suck.

That's me ranting about pure fire-druid build in hell difficulty.

Forgot my merc - he was the only one doing some damage - HF A2 merc - Reapers Toll, Shaftstop, Rockstopper.
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by zaphodbrx on Jun 18, 2012:

Patriarch Imhotep- Bonemancer

Imhotep is my third necromancer and the last to complete my three septs. Since I had done summons and poison already, only one build really remained and this was it.

Stats

Code:
Name:       Imhotep
Class:      Necromancer
Experience: 887093167
Level:      83

            Naked/Gear
Strength:   153/156
Dexterity:  29/37
Vitality:   298/330
Energy:     25/26

Life            : 924 / 794
Mana            : 620 / 189

Resists
Fire:       169/129/69
Cold:       147/107/47
Lightning:  163/123/63
Poison:     139/99/39

FCR: 125

Skills

20(42) Bone spear
20(38) Bone wall
20(38) Bone prison
20(38) Bone spirit
1(20) Corpse explosion
1(22) Bone armor
1(8) Decrepify, Clay golem, golem mastery, summon resist
5 Teeth
0(8) Skeleton mastery, revive ( from white)

Items

Noxious circlet of the magus (Um)
'White'wand with +2 bonespear +2 revive
Spirit Monarch ( 35 fcr )
'Bone'dusk shroud
Arachnid mesh
Magefist
Beast necklace amulet ( 2/10 fcr )
Dracula's doom shank boots
Storm Touch ring
Stone of Jordan

Switch- Naj's puzzler

Gear readout

Code:
White
Ghost Wand
'DolIo'
One-Hand Damage: 20 to 40
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Strength: 25
Required Level: 48
Staff Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0x4362770d
+10 to Vitality
+13 to Mana
Magic Damage Reduced by 4
20% Faster Cast Rate
+3 to Bone Armor (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Bone Spear (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Bone Spear (Necromancer Only)
+2 to Revive (Necromancer Only)
+4 to Skeleton Mastery (Necromancer Only)
Hit Causes Monster to Flee 25%
150% Damage to Undead
+3 to Poison and Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)
Socketed (2: 2 used)

Spirit
Monarch
'TalThulOrtAmn'
Defense: 139
Chance to Block:  42%
Durability: 86 of 86
Required Strength: 156
Required Level: 54
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0x1445dccf
+22 to Vitality
+89 to Mana
+250 Defense vs. Missile
Lightning Resist +35%
Cold Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
55% Faster Hit Recovery
35% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to All Skill Levels
+6 Magic Absorb
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Bone
Dusk Shroud
'SolUmUm'
Defense: 441
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Strength: 77
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0x828c2589
+117 to Mana
Damage Reduced by 7
All Resistances +30
+2 to Necromancer Skill Levels
15% Chance to cast Level 10 Bone Spear on striking
15% Chance to cast Level 10 Bone Armor when struck
Socketed (3: 3 used)

Beast Necklace
Amulet
Required Level: 52
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 92
Fingerprint: 0xd15eb3b9
+48 to Mana
+2 to Minimum Damage
+1 to Maximum Damage
Regenerate Mana 6%
10% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Poison and Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)

The Stone of Jordan
Ring
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x3297ec83
+20 to Mana
Adds 1-12 lightning damage
Increase Maximum Mana 25%
+1 to All Skill Levels

Storm Touch
Ring
Required Level: 13
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 84
Fingerprint: 0x8e67a02d
+1 to Energy
Fire Resist +20%
Lightning Resist +27%
Poison Resist +29%

Arachnid Mesh
Spiderweb Sash
Defense: 125
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 80
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x8e43ff8
+99% Enhanced Defense
Increase Maximum Mana 5%
20% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to All Skill Levels
Slows Target by 10%
Level 3 Venom (11/11 Charges)

Dracula's Doom Shank
Demonhide Boots
Defense: 34
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Strength: 20
Required Level: 38
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xd0379e85
+8 to Dexterity
+28 to Maximum Stamina
Fire Resist +35%
Lightning Resist +19%
30% Faster Run/Walk

Magefist
Light Gauntlets
Defense: 24
Durability: 17 of 18
Required Strength: 45
Required Level: 23
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0xc7fdb7fd
+21% Enhanced Defense
Regenerate Mana 25%
+10 Defense
Adds 1-6 fire damage
20% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to Fire Skills

Merc: Act 2 normal combat ( prayer )

Merc gear

Code:
Bone
Archon Plate
'SolUmUm'
Defense: 628
Durability: 31 of 31
Required Strength: 93
Required Level: 63
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x19f1cae9
+114 to Mana
Damage Reduced by 7
All Resistances +30
+2 to Necromancer Skill Levels
15% Chance to cast Level 10 Bone Spear on striking
15% Chance to cast Level 10 Bone Armor when struck
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (3: 3 used)

Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Death Mask
Defense: 114
Durability: 18 of 20
Required Strength: 55
Required Level: 66
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 63
Fingerprint: 0xf8521332
+60 to Life
+30 to Mana
+45 Defense
All Resistances +15
10% Life stolen per hit
10% Mana stolen per hit

Insight
Great Poleaxe
'RalTirTalSol'
Two-Hand Damage: 233 to 617
Durability: 28 of 28
Required Dexterity: 89
Required Strength: 169
Required Level: 63
Polearm Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x63f71555
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
+225% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
Adds 5-30 fire damage
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+3 to Critical Strike
35% Faster Cast Rate
185% Bonus to Attack Rating
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 17 Meditation Aura When Equipped
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (4: 4 used)


The journey and other thoughts

Imhotep is the last twinked character that I will make for good reasons. I just don't enjoy it any more, it's just too easy in normal and nightmare. And despite being easy it still takes forever to get through, and by the time I get to hell I am all annoyed and don't enjoy it. Earlier I used to take pleasure in using low level twinking gear in progression like Arctics -> Ravenclaw -> Insight, vipermagi, peasant's crown, razorswitch, etc. Not any more. Blizzard really should have made an option to start a character straight away in hell at level 70 for twinkers.

I now have twenty one characters ( three septs ), and that's pretty much good enough for MFing, general questing and really anything. If I want to test a build, I'll just respec and try it, no point in creating a new character. I have ~10 socketing quests saved and if I use them sparingly there's no need to make any more characters. Any future character I make will be untwinked, single pass, and/or hardcore, otherwise there is no challenge.

I've also decided that I don't like necromancers. Their abilities really lack oomph, have annoying dependencies on minions and corpses mechanics and none of their skilsl have a 'wow' factor. Except maybe corpse explosion, and even that starts sucking big time on the higher player settings. This one is easily the worst of the lot ( summon, poison, bone )- It is somewhat like a feeble wannabe-lightning sorceress with one fourth the damage and no teleport. Sure he has corpse explosion. Who cares. In hell I scaled down the psettings from p5 in act 1, p3 in act 2 and finally p1 in Act 3 when I got level 80 for Arachnid and didn't care for levelling. Bone spear+CE does level players1 hell pretty easily, I'll give him that. I just thought well synergized level 42 bone spear was capable of more.

This character is pretty safe though. Bone armor + revives+ bone wall/prison ( which I didn't use much ) give him a lot of safety. I still managed to die twice due to impatience and lack of hp. Also, I really like the bone runeword and it's recasting bone armor. I made one for the merc too and I think it worked well. This is the first time I took a prayer merc all the way through hell without losing patience and switching to defiance. I suppose the bone armor helped, or maybe it was the revives. I used revives everywhere.

Other notes

-Boneshade sucks. Yes blizzard, you want to make a hard-to-find high level unique item, and then make it awful compared to a runeword that costs Dol and Io and can be equipped at level 35. Great work.

-Since this character doesn't rely on amp or LR, I had an idea to use lifetap all the time to keep the merc alive. I never got around to doing it though, and on players 1 it wasn't needed.

-I am amazed at the amount of effort it takes to get a 35 fcr spirit. After 60+ runes spent on it and getting unlucky, I borrowed one from my sorceresses. Same with the insight eth GPA and stone of jordan, and PnB skillers borrowed from poisonmancer. Didn't spend much on this character.

-Finds were zero, zilch, nadda, nil. Okay not that bad, he did get a Gul at hellforge, continuing my insanely lucky streak ( Ist-Gul-Gul-Gul for my last 4 characters ).

-For the first time in my last 9 characters I did not get tomb vipers in halls of vaught. Instead I got three types of physical immunes- Hell temptresses, Night marauders, Wraiths. Lucky mine wasn't a physical damage character, or I would have had a fit.

-Not having to deal much with immunities was nice though. There aren't very many magic immunes and merc/CE dealt with them.

-Ancients were not a problem. It never is for necromancers, because of revives and decrepify. This time I used a bunch of death berserkers as the revives and it was pretty funny to see them uselessly hitting the physical immunes.

Future plans

Stick an engima on him and make it a pvp character of some sort, otherwise I don't see a future for him- he doesn't do anything particularly well. I did leave the Anya portal open for potential pindle runs and skeleton revives.

Tri sept completion- 21 of 21.
 
Originally posted by zaphodbrx on Dec 14, 2011:

Patriarch #7, Duran the Meleemancer

Warning- Long read ahead, this is the last character I am creating for some time.

I'd like to thank the authors of two excellent guides that inspired this character- 'the Commandomancer' on the necro forum, and 'the Bonemason' on the Amazon Basin. Also thanks to janooo for his trade of oath base and runes, without which this hero would be incomplete.

To begin with, this character was a bonemancer with bone spear/spirit and some points in fire golem and revives. This worked through normal but in mid nightmare I got bored, and besides it seemed more like a sorc v2. Everyone and their mother creates a corpse exploding skelliemancer for MFing, so I decided to respec and make one too.. And man was it awesome, plus ridiculously overpowered. I just wait for minions to kill one dude, then boom boom boom, everything dies.

So even before starting hell I had decided that this nooby corpse explosion skill wasn't for me. After obtaining a bonehew and reading its proc, I decided to make some kind of meleemancer with synergized bone spears/spirits. I read up a lot of guides and eventually settled with the following build. Was held up a long time however because of the lack of appropriate oath base and runes, however thanks to janooo I was able to trade for it.

By this time however my necromancer was already made into a patriarch using the nooby corpse explosion skill. But no problem! I decided to revisit all the major areas of the game and redo act bosses and suchlike after respecing. First I did Bloodmoor and cold plains to make sure that the character works ( and it does work, more on that ). First stop was the chaos sanctuary. Didn't have a problem with it other than annoying decrepify spamming oblivion knights. Diablo went down easy, and rewarded me with my third wizardspike.
On to WSK. There I enountered no gloams, so it was pretty much easy until the last wave where extra strong cursed lister killed all my skellies so I had to go back for more. Then Baal went down too. I decided to do WSK again to make sure this wasn't a fluke. This time gloams spawned and they were hard, so I went up to WSk 1, cleared everything, then descended to the Arreat Summit to battle ancients. No problems at all with them, though I had expected that as I had beaten them before with just summons and amp and standing there. Popped back to WSK, beat the gloams somehow, and Baal dropped me a widowmaker bow and a unique linked mail.

Next, Canyon of the Magi. I had forgotten the tomb but only one was explored, so there. I had forgotten which way the chamber was and halfway remembered that I didn't have a horodric staff to open it. I proceeded anyway and thankfully the chamber was still open. Duriel popped blues and scrolls of town portal, then I headed in to speak with Tyreal, but he wasn't there! So this is what a 'Duriel run' is like. Hmmm.. Then to catacombs and Andariel, who dropped me a green war sword to complete my Death's set. Last on my itinerary ( because I hate durance 2 ), was Mephisto, then my journey was complete.

tl:dr - I made a meleemancer

Some screenshots of my journey

The commandomancer takes out Baal

Duriel gets his just comeuppance

Battle in the pits

Encounter in the icy cellar.

Skills

20(24) Raise skeleton
20(24) Skeleton mastery
20(24) Bone wall
20(24) Bone prison
1(5) Clay golem, golem mastery, summon resist, revive, corpse explosion, 1(7) in amplify, decrep
Used all of these
1 in all prereqs

1 skill point unused.

Stats

Character level : 85
Character exp : 1056398207

Strength : 116
Energy : 25
Dexterity : 181
Vitality : 193
Stat Points Rem : 0
Skill Points Rem: 1

Life : 1002 / 586
Mana : 429 / 192

Resists ( Hell) 75/68/75/75
Blocking 75%

End game stats
Damage( with enchant and might): 150-1768, 12 fpa attack, AR 6433
Merc damage: 1073-3943 hp 1805
Skellies: damage 186 hp 675

Gear
Code:
Angelic Wings
Amulet
Required Level: 12
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x8a92e1f3
+3 to Light Radius
20% Damage Taken Goes to Mana

***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
+75 to Life
+1 to All Skill Levels
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***


Bone
Dusk Shroud
'SolUmUm'
Defense: 441
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Strength: 77
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0x828c2589
+117 to Mana
Damage Reduced by 7
All Resistances +30
+2 to Necromancer Skill Levels
15% Chance to cast Level 10 Bone Spear on striking
15% Chance to cast Level 10 Bone Armor when struck
Socketed (3: 3 used)

Sol Rune
Inserted into a Dusk Shroud

Damage Reduced by 7

Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion

Um Rune
Inserted into a Dusk Shroud

All Resistances +15

Required Level: 47
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion

Um Rune
Inserted into a Dusk Shroud

All Resistances +15

Required Level: 47
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion

Viper Grip
Ring
Required Level: 12
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 30
Fingerprint: 0x9763a9af
+1 to Strength
+100 to Attack Rating
+2 to Minimum Damage
Magic Damage Reduced by 2
Poison Resist +20%

Angelic Halo
Ring
Required Level: 12
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x55e5dec2
+20 to Life
Replenish Life +6

***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
+1020 to Attack Rating (Based on Character Level)
50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***


Trang-Oul's Girth
Troll Belt
Defense: 164
Durability: 18 of 18
Required Strength: 91
Required Level: 62
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 99
Fingerprint: 0x39990133
+66 to Life
+49 to Mana
+30 to Maximum Stamina
+100 Defense
Replenish Life +5
Requirements -40%
Cannot Be Frozen

***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
Cold Resist +40%
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***


Raven Tread
Sharkskin Boots
Defense: 61
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Strength: 47
Required Level: 25
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 52
Fingerprint: 0xe448d928
+2 to Dexterity
+53% Enhanced Defense
Cold Resist +22%
Poison Resist +13%
16% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Repairs 1 durability in 33 seconds

Laying of Hands
Bramble Mitts
Defense: 79
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 63
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0xa706af2e
+25 Defense
Fire Resist +50%
20% Increased Attack Speed
350% Damage to Demons
10% Chance to cast Level 3 Holy Bolt on striking

Guillaume's Face
Winged Helm
Defense: 217
Durability: 40 of 40
Required Strength: 115
Required Level: 34
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x38d91db1
+15 to Strength
+38 to Life
+120% Enhanced Defense
30% Faster Hit Recovery
35% Chance of Crushing Blow
15% Deadly Strike
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Perfect Ruby
Inserted into a Winged Helm

+38 to Life

Required Level: 18
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion

Weapons
Code:
Oath
Scourge
'ShaelPulMalLum'
One-Hand Damage: 12 to 374
Required Dexterity: 67
Required Strength: 115
Required Level: 57
Mace Class - Fastest Attack Speed
Indestructible
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0xffbebfc6
+10 to Energy
+212% Enhanced Damage
50% Increased Attack Speed
Prevent Monster Heal
75% Damage to Demons
150% Damage to Undead
+100 to Attack Rating against Demons
+14 Magic Absorb
Indestructible
30% Chance to cast Level 20 Bone Spirit on striking
Level 17 Iron Golem (14/14 Charges)
Level 16 Heart of Wolverine (20/20 Charges)
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (4: 4 used)

Shael Rune
Inserted into a Scourge

20% Increased Attack Speed

Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion

Pul Rune
Inserted into a Scourge

75% Damage to Demons
+100 to Attack Rating against Demons

Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion

Mal Rune
Inserted into a Scourge

Prevent Monster Heal

Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion

Lum Rune
Inserted into a Scourge

+10 to Energy

Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion

Homunculus
Hierophant Trophy
Defense: 186
Chance to Block:  72%
Durability: 20 of 20
(Necromancer Only)
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x62608dac
+20 to Energy
+162% Enhanced Defense
+40% Increased Chance of Blocking
Regenerate Mana 33%
All Resistances +59
+2 to Necromancer Skill Levels
30% Faster Block Rate
+5 to Mana After Each Kill
+2 to Curses (Necromancer Only)
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Perfect Diamond
Inserted into a Hierophant Trophy

All Resistances +19

Required Level: 18
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion

Weapon switch ( for enchant)
Code:
Demon Limb
Tyrant Club
One-Hand Damage: 101 to 183
Durability: 65 of 65
Required Strength: 133
Required Level: 63
Mace Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x3fa78a34
+217% Enhanced Damage
Fire Resist +15%
Adds 222-333 fire damage
8% Life stolen per hit
123% Damage to Demons
150% Damage to Undead
Level 23 Enchant (20/20 Charges)
Repairs 1 durability in 20 seconds

Lidless Wall
Grim Shield
Defense: 300
Chance to Block:  40%
Durability: 70 of 70
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x57744076
+10 to Energy
+99% Enhanced Defense
Increase Maximum Mana 10%
+1 to Light Radius
20% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to All Skill Levels
+3 to Mana After Each Kill

Mercenary: Act 2 offensive ( Might )
Note all the sockets in his gear, which I carefully selected to fit the theme ( Bonehew in particular )
Code:
Black Hades
Shadow Plate
Defense: 1320
Durability: 59 of 70
Required Strength: 230
Required Level: 71
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x4a68b5f6
+151% Enhanced Defense
+10 to Attack Rating
+7 to Minimum Damage
Fire Resist +29%
Lightning Resist +27%
Poison Resist +27%
Adds 2-6 fire damage
32% Extra Gold from Monsters
-1 to Light Radius
Required Level +7
7% Faster Hit Recovery
Half Freeze Duration
51% Damage to Demons
+207 to Attack Rating against Demons
Socketed (3: 3 used)

Viper Talisman
Jewel
Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xf9eef84b
+7 to Minimum Damage
Lightning Resist +27%
10% Extra Gold from Monsters
7% Faster Hit Recovery

Jade Jewel of Passion
Required Level: 14
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 29
Fingerprint: 0x919fc76c
Poison Resist +27%
Adds 2-6 fire damage

Storm Eye
Jewel
Required Level: 13
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x23f9d382
+10 to Attack Rating
Fire Resist +29%
22% Extra Gold from Monsters
+1 to Light Radius

2: Giant Skull
Bone Visage
Defense: 417
Durability: 37 of 40
Required Strength: 106
Required Level: 65
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0xcffd460b
+41 to Strength
+38 to Life
+269 Defense
Knockback
10% Chance of Crushing Blow
Socketed (2: 2 used)

Perfect Amethyst
Inserted into a Bone Visage

+10 to Strength

Required Level: 18
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion

Perfect Ruby
Inserted into a Bone Visage

+38 to Life

Required Level: 18
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion

3: Bonehew
Ogre Axe
Two-Hand Damage: 128 to 667
Durability: 35 of 50
Required Dexterity: 75
Required Strength: 195
Required Level: 64
Polearm Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x81287038
+6 to Strength
+360% Enhanced Damage
All Resistances +8
Adds 16-47 fire damage
30% Increased Attack Speed
Prevent Monster Heal
50% Chance to cast Level 16 Bone Spear on striking
Level 14 Corpse Explosion (18/30 Charges)
Socketed (2: 2 used)

Skull Talisman
Jewel
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xebb6b487
+1 to Strength
+29% Enhanced Damage
Adds 16-47 fire damage

Stone Whorl
Jewel
Required Level: 25
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x7b295cbf
+5 to Strength
+18% Enhanced Damage
All Resistances +8

Overall I was very satisfied with the items, hp was a little low but even after stuffing his inventory with charms ( leaving only a 2x4 space ), he barely manages 1k hp. Bone armor adds 660-750 to that though, so its good. One mistake I made was not having lifeleech on my char or on the merc, but replacing LoH with draculs ( or something like that ), would require a complete rethink on the charms, and it doesn't really affect him that much as skellies are there to tank damage. Strategy is just summon skellies, amp and whack things. I'm still trying to get the hang of bone wall, I know its an awesome spell. Also use corpse explosion at times- it is fantastic at level 5 ( 1+skills) which makes me wonder why people put points into it. Infact one might even say this setup is better for CE as it takes much less time for the first few corpses to drop.

This is definitely the most fun character I made. While he cannot clear the WSK in 380 mf gear like the corpse exploding necro, he can definitely beat everything in the game without much trouble, and I'll be playing him for a while.

With this, my sept is completed. It took three months to complete, and I'll probably be playing these chars for a while before beginning new ones, as I have a lot of RL work.
 
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