Matriarch/Patriarch/Guardian Archive Thread

Originally posted by NagisaFurukawa on May 17, 2013:

Guardian Shizuru, "Blade Slinger" Aggressin

Shizuru is my second favorite character from Rewrite, my favorite novel of all time. Her build concept pretty much mimics the "Blade Slinger" variant from maxicek's Aggressin guide, ie. a dual wielding melee speed demon (Dragon Claw/Burst of Speed) with moderately viable ranged support (Blade Fury). She personally opted for a high level Venom and Claw Mastery over a high level Death Sentry, but that was more for thematic flavor than actual usefulness.

Also, just as a minor spoiler, Shizuru is from an organization called Guardian, and her job is to look for the "Key" which can destroy the world. Kind of speaks for itself.

------------------------

LCS

Martial Arts
Shadow Disciplines
Traps

Her resists were pretty nice for a Burst of Speed user. Kind of surprised, really.

DC Primary: 'Havoc Scratch'
DC Off-Hand: 'Plague Fist'
BF Primary: 'Strength'
BF Off-Hand: 'Imp Scratch'

Helm: 'Carrion Circlet'
Armor: 'Prudence'
Gloves: Ghoulhide
Belt: Goldwrap (upgraded)
Boots: Goblin Toe (upgraded)
Amulet: 'Raven Scarab'
Ring: 'Skull Master'
Ring: 'Eagle Master'

Charms: Resist/Life/Mana

Act 2 Mercenary (Might):
Weapon 1: 'Amn' Kelpie Snare
Weapon 2: 'Insight' Great Poleaxe
Helm 1: Guillaume's Face
Helm 2: Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Armor: 'Treachery'

There was the idea to make her use all regular Suwayyah, since that fits her theme ever so slightly better, but she never found a two socket Suwayyah for 'Strength'. Most of her gear is pretty self-explanatory. She ended up 1 FCR short of the breakpoint, which thankfully never came back to bite her. The lack of CBF was problematic, but that was at least one part of the reason for including BF in the first place. Armor selection was a bit strange. 'Prudence' isn't something I would normally use, but her ethereal Wire Fleece came out of the cube with only two sockets, and a Mal rune had dropped in Pit not too long before that. Fate, perhaps. It does have a nice balance of defensive mods, though they weren't exactly maximized considering aura selection.

------------------------

Normal: Shizuru abused all her early game one point wonders to no end, and she more or less stopped caring in general once her mercenary got up and running. For her part, she equipped a generic mana leech claw of nothingness for essentially the entire time, mowing things down with a high level Blade Fury. Diablo was actually a pretty big concern for her, if only because of her beloved Lucia's demise, but a slow and steady diet of long ranged attacks took him down without much of a struggle.

Nightmare: A handful of problems began popping up around here. Not so much with safety, of course, but definitely with damage. Her mercenary was sporting a rerolled Partizan with minimal enhanced damage, and her own little claws weren't cutting it at all. Things were just ugly, especially since she hadn't invested in Venom (aside from a +3 claw for her weapon switch) just quite yet. Her attack rating became a bit troubling as well, at least with BF. As she had no remedy for any of these issues, Shizuru eventually settled into the first of her pseudo-farming sessions... if you could call single bonfire NM LK runs farming at all. Her main goal was a mid-tier rune or two, but she mysteriously ran into something much nicer. With all of the gold she was netting, she was also finally able to get a reasonable hat or two for herself and her companion. Viability was restored, though she was a bit unsure how to feel about this. (The exact same damage roll, at that.) Things went pretty smoothly from there on out, albeit still relatively slowly, and she actually ran into a cute little find, which led to a few obligatory Pindle runs, somehow ultimately netting her one of her two end game rings. Ancients gave her a bit of trouble, and it actually got to a point where she was just spamming Mind Blast for some pitiful amount of damage before rerolling them. Just as an aside, Korlic can apparently hit you from here. What's up with that? >_> Her mercenary sadly kicked the bucket shortly after this shot from the second time around, but the battle was thankfully all but over by then.

Hell: Stuff hurts. Even random zombies were winning 1v1 battles against Shizuru's mercenary, so things were obviously a bit rough at the start. As such, the second pseudo-farming session began, though it was mostly just for leveling purposes. Well, that's what she told herself anyway. Here's a look at her claws at the time. Yes. She was also still running 'Stealth' in her armor slot, though that was more than serviceable enough. A few dozen Pit runs later, Shizuru finally felt ready to continue, and she went all in as far as unloaded her stashes for cubing, crafting, and imbuing, netting her virtually all of her final gear changes, aside from this little thing. (Both of her claws for DC are actually imbues.) With all that in tow, the rest of the early stages of Hell were relatively simple. Shizuru's enemies weren't nearly threatening enough for her to do anything other than Dragon Flight around and DC for the most part. There were a handful of somewhat annoying/painful experiences, of course. The later stages of Hell were troubling, and she ran into the full complement of frenzytaurs, souls, dolls, and vipers pretty much as often as the game would allow. DC took a back seat to BF with excessive Mind Blast support, and battles were always pretty much the same, ie. (1) clump things together, (2) Mind Blast to hell and back, (3) toss some lolBF, (4) "remove corpses" with DS. Ancients weren't too bad this time, oddly enough, although it was just 10 minutes or so of running around, waiting for openings, using DF, and letting her mercenary take them down, with maybe a handful of DC/BF connecting in between. Baal and company were probably the easiest part of all, as Mind Blast made sure the waves were shut down by their own master's Decrepify, while Baal himself was easy pickings with Kelpie Snare.

By the way, did I mention she is Key hunter? :badteeth: 1400+ regular keys, and a couple of special ones, before finding that Key of Destruction on the third Nihlathak run. (Naturally, two of the three runs had vipers.)

------------------------

Well, this build worked out okay somehow, but it was more a function of assassin being assassin, as well as landing the appropriate gear, than anything special. Kelpie was the big one, and Guillaume's really kicked things over the top as far as bosskilling potential, ie. the only real issue with assassins.

Dragon Claw is almost serviceable for untwinked. The high AR really helps with applying CB/Venom, which is a nice plus, but the damage from the skill itself is really lacking. The build is certainly exciting, especially if you blindly glide around with Dragon Flight, hoping to jump into things you can actually handle. DF in general was just great, as I'm pretty spoiled by the repositioning aspect of Teleport at this point in my D2 career.

Blade Fury side was useful for playing it safe, but the damage output was horrible without any AR. It was great in the early game, of course. Along with some mana leech, that free 100 damage or so really cleans things out nicely.

Mind Blast still best skill in the game.

Thanks to Key for epic novel Rewrite, IRC crew for great distractions, and victims for actually reading that. :p
 
Originally posted by Nightfish on Jul 14, 2008:

Guardian #45 - Kitsune

Guardian 45: Kitsune - Lvl 78 Assassin


Well, finally got another one of my guardians down. This one's the last of my assassins and like all the previous ones, she was quite fun to play.

Stats with gear:
Str 180ish
Dex 180ish
Vit 180ish

Life: ~970
Defence: 5k
Blocking: 75%

Damage: 1000-1500ish
AR: 8k


Relevant Skills:
20 Dragon Talon
20 LS, 17 DS
20 Venom
3 BoS
1 CoS


Gear
Fleshripper
Stormshield
(switch: 2x Bartuc's)
LoH
Atma's Scarab
Fortitude Archon Plate
SoE
Gore Rider (up'd)
Guillaume's Face

Nothing fancy, really. Kinda the usual things you'd expect on a kicksin. I left her for last in case I get some shadow dancers.. never happened. Up'd gore riders did an okay job as well.

Thoughts
All in all the build doesn't play too differently from my very first assassin, TS/DL/LS with a ribcracker. Basically she takes down a few enemies, then lays some death sentries. If needed she can fall back on her traps and just kill everything with those. I did that in the obvious places, chaos sanctuary and WS K level 3 since Iron Maiden is kinda unfun if you kill yourself in one hit.

Aside from IM, there's not much that would endanger her. She can just blind everything with CoS and then kill at will. Retreating and repositioning is trivial with BoS to boost her... uh... speed, obviously.

She's got a might merc accompanying her, as do most of my chars these days.

Unsurprisingly, the build demolishes act bosses. Crushing blow plus fast attack equals relatively quick death for everything with high HP. Crowds are killed quite nicely by DS so the build is well rounded. The main "problem", if you will, is that she could not wear MF and kill at this breakneck speed, making her less than ideal to run for items. She could do a decent job, no doubt, but she's definetly not top notch.

Despite all that, she found some great stuff in Hell. First of all, in Tal Rasha's Tomb she got my .. either 2nd or 3rd Vex Rune ever (which is still my highest non-cubed rune to date). My rune luck sucks. In the first area of Act 4 she got another grandfather from a random boss pack. This is also my 3rd of this item (with no windforces found, yet...).

Ancients didn't particularily scare her. They did sport a might aura but that didn't stop her. The merc went down before the first ancient, though, so she had to tank the other 3 herself. Taking out the one with the aura first ensured victory, however. All in all the fight didn't take more than a minute, probably. Dragon Tail is just plain nice against enemies like these 3 old geezers.

SeptSept Status
Finally went and tallied up what I still need for my somewhat arbitrary goal of having 7 guardians per class. Currently I got

8 Amazons
8 Sorceresses
7 Assassin
6 Paladins
6 Necros
5 Druids
5 Barbarians

so, a grand total of 6 chars to go. Would be less if I hadnt made that 8th amazon for no reason... Thanks for reading...

later,
NF
 
Originally posted by PandadudeSP on Feb 13, 2016:

Guardian Natalya, hybrid kicksin

Those creatures I saw were beyond our known world, too monstrous and hideous to comprehend. Fiery bright ghosts sparking with electricity, armored bulls standing on two legs wielding huge spiked flails, and rotting human corpses reanimated from the dead. I know what I write here will make you doubt my sanity. I myself hope I am insane, for it would mean that what I saw was not real. Yet their horrible visages remain imprinted in my mind, and their marks on my skin haven't faded. I am afraid, afraid that another portal will open up and spill forth the denizens of Hell!

Since this is my first guardian since reinstalling I figured I would do a writeup. Pardon the intro, I listened to some H.P. Lovecraft audiobooks while playing this char. Natalya, such an original name, which I'm sure hundreds of thousands of others have named their assassin. Good thing this is single player ;-) I don't even have the set, boo hoo.

My vision for Natalya was a dual claw phoenix striker, since trapper was excluded as that had been my first guardian ever. I also didn't want to use Death Trap or Mind Blast directly since I think theyre a bit too strong, but instead figured I'd get a shadow master to use them sporadically. Somewhere in normal I gave up on dual claw since I needed cannot be frozen and could only get it from rhyme, but I finished nightmare as a phoenix striker. The built felt pretty garbage though. 7 frame attacks aren't that fast, and I needed 2 to cast a meteor and 3 to cast the lightning thingy. The damage was also lackluster, since I had a hard time getting +skills while maintaining resistances and attack rating. Once meteors starting falling I couldn't see the swirling spheres from the fire. Shadow Master also kept teleporting into melee range rather than being useful. I tried hell blood moor, but regular zombies hurt me bad since I had no damage reduction, low block, and like 900 health. I decided to park her there and I made a light sorc to farm with. 3 deeded lite sorcs later (none past Hell A1) I had a bit better gear + runes, and decided I needed a better build aswell. I respecced to Dragon Talon with Death Sentry, Max Fade and rest in Shadow Warrior. I made a Black flail since I figured the crushing blow would be great, but I soon realized the knockback worked on all the kicks. This meant that only the first would connect, unless the monster was up against a wall. I also only had exceptional boots, so my damage was overall pitiful and relied mainly on DS corpse explosion. I quested until I reached the black marsh and ran the pits looking for an elite base for Crescent Moon since I didn't want to use my only um on something I couldn't reuse. This took longer than expected, but eventually I added 3 sockets to a phase blade with the cube. In the meantime I'd picked up guillys face and gore riders which I upped, and I had to respec to get enough str to use them. I had been using Twitchroe, Rockstopper, Rhyme and went to using Duriels, Guillys, Sanctuary. With this setup I didn't need points in fade for 75 all res, so I decided to put the points in lightning sentry to deal with PIs. Thus, natalya became a hybrid kicker/trapper and ventured beyond the pits. It was pretty simple at this point tbh, did it all in a day. Bosses melted from CB + static field procs, and I had a Spellsteel to decrepify. Here's what I rolled in Act V:

WSK 1: Lancers, chargers, ghouls
WSK2: Vipers, Souls, Ancient Horardrim
WSK3: Death lords, dart blowers, Oblivion Knights
Throne: Assailant, Souls, Oblivion Knights​

In WSK1 I ran into a triple boss pack with fanatic lancers and cursed chargers, scaring the crap out of me. After reviving my merc, divide and conquer tactics with CoS worked fine. I didn't get any nasty boss mods on any of the other levels, but Bartuc did roll conviction aura which gimped my merc. Lister and Baal were (ch)easy with decrep. My screenshots just show a black screen, so I can't dazzle ya'll with those.

Notable finds while questing were tals amulet in nightmare Tal Rashas Tomb (fittingly), mal rune in nightmare RoF, and Gimmershreds from hell meph. My hell hellforge was a Lem :rolleyes:

Character
Code:
Character name  : Natalya
Character type  : Hardcore Assassin
Character level : 84
Character exp   : 1009228747

Strength        : 86 / 156
Energy          : 25 /37
Dexterity       : 158 /209
Vitality        : 246 /258
Life            : 1289
Mana            : 171

18 Dragon Talon
19 Shadow Warrior
20 Death Sentry
20 Lightning Sentry
3 Fireblast
3 Fade
1 Mind Blast
1 Venom
1 Dragon Flight

Gear
Code:
12: Gore Rider
Myrmidon Greaves
Defense: 188
Durability: 34 of 34
Kick Damage: 83 to 149
Required Strength: 156
Required Level: 72
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x8898e2e
+20 to Maximum Stamina
+169% Enhanced Defense
+10 Maximum Durability
Requirements -25%
Required Level +7
30% Faster Run/Walk
10% Chance of Open Wounds
15% Chance of Crushing Blow
15% Deadly Strike

13: String of Ears
Demonhide Sash
Defense: 112
Durability: 22 of 22
Required Strength: 20
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 52
Fingerprint: 0x3ae59162
+178% Enhanced Defense
+15 Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 15
Damage Reduced by 12%
6% Life stolen per hit
+10 Maximum Durability

14: Beast Spiral
Ring
Required Level: 65
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x5c92a903
+13 to Dexterity
+71 to Attack Rating
Fire Resist +8%
7% Life stolen per hit
4% Mana stolen per hit

19: Saracen's Chance
Amulet
Required Level: 47
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0xe88134f9
+12 to Strength
+12 to Energy
+12 to Dexterity
+12 to Vitality
All Resistances +24
10% Chance to cast Level 2 Iron Maiden when struck


21: Shadow Hold
Ring
Required Level: 66
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0x36bad21d
+19 to Strength
+103 to Attack Rating
+4 to Minimum Damage
+1 to Maximum Damage
All Resistances +4

22: Guillaume's Face
Winged Helm
Defense: 217
Durability: 40 of 40
Required Strength: 115
Required Level: 34
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x890fdd99
+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

24: Grim Clutches
Heavy Gloves
Defense: 6
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Level: 59
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x4f3603b3
+9 to Strength
+6 to Dexterity
+14 to Life
Cold Resist +27%
2% Life stolen per hit
11% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
9% Chance of Crushing Blow

40: Duriel's Shell
Cuirass
Defense: 679
Durability: 150 of 150
Required Strength: 65
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 55
Fingerprint: 0xd9cb287e
+15 to Strength
+38 to Life
+183% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +20%
Lightning Resist +20%
Cold Resist +50%
Poison Resist +20%
+100 Maximum Durability
Cannot Be Frozen
+105 to Defense (Based on Character Level)
+84 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Perfect Ruby
Inserted into a Cuirass

71: Crescent Moon
Phase Blade
'ShaelUmTir'
One-Hand Damage: 94 to 106
Required Dexterity: 136
Required Strength: 25
Required Level: 54
Sword Class - Fastest Attack Speed
Indestructible
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x532bf986
+204% Enhanced Damage
20% Increased Attack Speed
Ignore Target Defense
25% Chance of Open Wounds
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
+9 Magic Absorb
10% Chance to cast Level 17 Chain Lightning on striking
7% Chance to cast Level 13 Static Field on striking
Level 18 Summon Spirit Wolf (30/30 Charges)
-35% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
Socketed (3: 3 used)

72: Sanctuary
Superior Blade Barrier
'KoKoMal'
Defense: 405
Chance to Block:  65%
Durability: 83 of 83
Required Strength: 118
Required Level: 51
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xee9a3337
+20 to Dexterity
+14% Enhanced Defense
+133% Enhanced Defense
+20% Increased Chance of Blocking
+250 Defense vs. Missile
Magic Damage Reduced by 7
All Resistances +56
20% Faster Hit Recovery
20% Faster Block Rate
Level 12 Slow Missiles (60/60 Charges)
Socketed (3: 3 used)
Charms
Code:
15: Small Charm of Storms
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 64
Fingerprint: 0x8387282f
Adds 1-27 lightning damage

16: Steel Small Charm of Fortune
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 72
Fingerprint: 0x7d1b6141
+30 to Attack Rating
3% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

17: Lizard's Small Charm of Storms
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 64
Fingerprint: 0x66895579
+1 to Mana
Adds 1-28 lightning damage

18: Steel Large Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 36
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x5d8d1a7f
+24 to Life
+53 to Attack Rating

30: Beryl Grand Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 69
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xa45a3aa5
+39 to Life
Poison Resist +15%

31: Ocher Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0xa5a829fe
+18 to Life
Lightning Resist +7%

32: Small Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 17
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 73
Fingerprint: 0xa622e0e6
+14 to Life

33: Large Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 34
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0xc7b1c778
+25 to Life

55: Iron Grand Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 23
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0xf6dd549d
+5 to Life
+73 to Attack Rating
Mercenary
Code:
1: Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Death Mask
Defense: 107
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Strength: 55
Required Level: 66
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 55
Fingerprint: 0xe5807de0
+60 to Life
+30 to Mana
+45 Defense
All Resistances +15
10% Life stolen per hit
10% Mana stolen per hit

2: Rockfleece
Field Plate
Defense: 214
Durability: 44 of 48
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 28
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 43
Fingerprint: 0x2ccde542
+5 to Strength
+102% Enhanced Defense
Damage Reduced by 5
Damage Reduced by 10%
Requirements -10%

3: Insight
Great Poleaxe
'RalTirTalSol'
Two-Hand Damage: 151 to 393
Durability: 52 of 55
Required Dexterity: 99
Required Strength: 179
Required Level: 63
Polearm Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x1f1e27c8
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
+210% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
Adds 5-30 fire damage
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+5 to Critical Strike
35% Faster Cast Rate
247% Bonus to Attack Rating
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 15 Meditation Aura When Equipped
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Overall I guess the char was fine. Death Sentry is a good skill. CoS is a good skill. Mind blast is a good skill. Shadow Warrior is a decent tank with skill investment, although the longer leash compared to the merc was a bit annoying at times. Dtalon is like zeal, but requiring less ias. The char felt a bit too much like a trapper rather than a martial artist, with Death Sentry doing most of the heavy lifting once one creature fell. Not using it would just be silly though, especially since there's nowhere else to put the points.

Gearwise it could use some improvements, although I don't have any more rerolls to change the stats. 59% CB + ctc static field is probably a bit overkill, so I'm not sure the Crescent Moon did much other than be fast. Resistances were stacked even before doing the last Anya quest and with little from charms, so it would've been nice to have a Stormshield or something instead of the Sanctuary. Treachery is a nice option which would allow another weapon switch than 2x +3 Shadow Disc. claws, but would require a Raven Claw or something.

Coming up
I might take this girl for a walk in the secret cow level, to try and get an eth base for oath for a whirlwind barb I'm playing with (currently A3 NM). She did alright in the pits, but I think other chars will be better runners. For new chars I don't have a lot of toys to play with, currently the only good weps I have are the Crescent Moon PB, Gimmershreds, and a Wizardspike, with 1 Mal being my highest rune. The two former weapons would work well on a Holy Shock and Conviction zealot respectively, but a zealot plays like a kicker that can only use the left mouse button o_O. Ive been deeding Energy Shield mono lite sorcs lately, opting for spirit over the wizzy due to being no block and thus not wanting to spend 50 stats to reach 75 dex. It would work nicely on a block sorc however, giving me 3/4 odds of surviving nightmare FE explosions :rolleyes:. Time will tell which side the coin lands on.

You are one of a select few individuals. Congratulations! Have a beer on me.
 
Originally posted by @Pyrotechnician on Mar 16, 2013:

Guardian RiftInTheShadow - Rift Kicker/Trap Assasin

Alright, we are moving right along, and we have to go through one more short/sad guardian thread before getting to the live and kicking ones, (get it, kicking, its funny).

Guardian RiftInTheShadowRIP

While this one was alive, she was an absolute blast. I don’t particularly remember who I quested with on this one, but I believe it was a mish-mash of people and rushing until the end where you can see Fred and his wulf helping me with Baal. She deeded in the chaos sanctuary (not to grand vizior like all of you keep saying…), the only light to this is we found a cham that run (that Solar kept, that greedy guy).

This girl was a rift kicker. Pretty much for all of those who don’t know that’s an assassin that uses dragon claw paired with the rift runeword for all the cool ctc effects.

Stats without equipment:

Strength: 135
Dexterity: 55
Vitality: 300
Energy: 25
HP: 1116
Mana: 149
Stamina: 548
Defense: 13
AR: 100000239 (Yeah, go-mule doesn’t handle %ar gear well)

Skills without equipment:

Fire Blast: 3
Shock Web: 20
Charged Bolt Sentry: 4
Lightning Sentry: 20
Death Sentry: 20

Claw Mastery: 1
Psychic Hammer: 1
Burst of Speed: 1
Weapon Block: 1
Cloak of Shadows: 1
Fade: 0
Shadow Warrior: 1
Mind Blast: 1
Venom: 0
Shadow Master: 1

Dragon Talon: 20

That’s right, you read it right, no points in fade, no points in venom.

I used a mish mash of equipment, which I think ultimately was one of the factors leading to my demise (that and Fred neglecting to re-bo me with his wulf.) She deeded at level 84, similar to my sorc (that seems to be a bad level for me). Early game gear was full angelics set and goblin toe boots, rest of the slots filled with gear to even out the res. If there is one thing you should pull away from this, it is that full angelics is a great early game twinking set for a kick assassin. Since the weapon base is fast attack speed, and the full set provides an additional IAS bonus, it makes kick speed very nice early game. We all know angelics weapon is the most useless of all the early sets due to its extremely low damage, but for a kick sin, that doesn’t matter in the slightest since weapon damage plays no effect on kick damage.

My gear eventually progressed; I used bartuc’s claws on switch for the boost to skills when laying traps, and had a ribcracker in my inventory when going up against act bosses. Main weapon switch was a rift war scepter (for the low requirements) and tiamat’s rebuke for some added elemental damage. I used a rare circlet with a skill and some res, although I’m sure another helm would have been a much better choice (I was really considering delirium for its ctc confuse). I used a treachery armor for the venom proc as the number of plus skills I had were pretty sad, and the ias and fade it provided were just gravy. It really does fit this build pretty well. Rest of the gear was up’d gores (obviously), nos coil for ll%, ias, and some slow, and a pair of rare gloves with +MA skills.

Orbs were constantly firing off, and so were tornados, but in high player games, I really felt the killing power of the casts to be lacking at times, but trash mobs were pretty easily taken care of. The buffed death sentry and light sentry helped and I was pumping additional light sentry synergies near the end of the build.

Overall a very fun build, and I would highly recommend it, I am currently remaking the build for the fun factor and will probably work out my gear a little bit more this time around.

Some screenshots for your enjoyment:

Minions, Minions, Minions
Baal and Baal
 
Originally posted by @Drystan on Jan 13, 2011:

Guardian Kara - Whirlwind Assassin

Kara stood in the shadows, the assassin watching for signs of movement. Rumours were abound that demonic creatures were emerging from caverns deep underground, reaching out across the lands, and plaguing the remotest of villages. Kara watched as shadowy figures crept out of the caves across the moor, their devilish grins spreading as they prepared to defile the lands.
"They'll never see me coming," she murmured, her clawed blades gleaming in the late afternoon sun. Silently, swiftly, she swept into the cave, and started her assault against the demonic creatures tainting the lands.

Kara, Whirlwind 'Sin, Level 83

Stats and Skills
Code:
Strength :   85/115
Dexterity:   74/113
Vitality :  326/326

HP       : 1192/1465

Damage (Fade+Might): 1547 - 2079
                     2375 - 3163

Attack Rating      : 4153

Resists:    Hell / Fade
Fire:         75 / 75
Cold:          1 / 53
Lightning:    38 / 80
Poison:       15 / 67

Fire Blast:            1/8
Shock Web:             1/8
Charged Bolt Sentry:   1/8
Lightning Sentry:     16/23
Death Sentry:         20/27

Claw Mastery:         20/28
Psychic Hammer:        1/9
Burst of Speed:        1/9
Weapon Block:          1/9
Cloak of Shadows:      1/9
Fade:                  1/9
Shadow Warrior:        1/9
Mind Blast:            0/2[10]
Venom:                20/29
Shadow Master:         9/17

Items

Helm: Eagle Hood
Armour: Fortitude Archon Plate
Weapon 1: Chaos Suwayyah
Weapon 2: Bartuc's Cut-Throat (Socketed with Beast Gyre jewel)
Gloves: Laying of Hands
Boots: Gore Riders
Belt: String of Ears

Amulet: Eagle Heart
Ring 1: Raven Frost
Ring 2: Viper Whorl

Rich (BB code):
Eagle Hood
Coronet
Defense: 81
Durability: 89 of 90
Required Level: 67
Fingerprint: 0xf6f28353
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
6% Mana stolen per hit
8% Life stolen per hit
+98% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +37%
1 Sockets (0 used)

Chaos
Suwayyah
FalOhmUm
One Hand Damage: 162 - 216
Durability: 38 of 48
Required Level: 57
Required Strength: 99
Required Dexterity: 99
Fingerprint: 0x669d244
Item Level: 69
Version: Expansion 1.10+
11% Chance to cast level 9 Charged Bolt on striking
9% Chance to cast level 11 Frozen Orb on striking
+35% Increased Attack Speed
316% Enhanced Damage
Adds 216 - 471 Magic Damage
25% Chance of Open Wounds
+2 to Mind Blast (Assassin Only)
+1 to Venom (Assassin Only)
+1 to Whirlwind
+10 to Strength
+15 Life after each Demon Kill
3 Sockets (3 used)

Fortitude
Archon Plate
ElSolDolLo
Defense: 1401
Durability: 60 of 60
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 103
Fingerprint: 0xe041a854
Item Level: 86
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
+83 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Replenish Life +7
+5% to Maximum Lightning Resist
All Resistances +26
Damage Reduced by 7
12% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
+1 to Light Radius
4 Sockets (4 used)

Beast Gyre
Jewel
Required Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0x66601dd1
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
11% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
Cold Resist +10%
Lightning Resist +10%
Fire Resist +30%
Poison Resist +10%

Eagle Heart
Amulet
Required Level: 51
Fingerprint: 0x32daade8
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Trap Skills (Assassin Only)
+6 to Minimum Damage
+13 to Energy
All Resistances +17
Fire Resist +31%
Damage Reduced by 2

Viper Whorl
Ring
Required Level: 65
Fingerprint: 0x412fa947
Item Level: 96
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+47 to Attack Rating
8% Life stolen per hit
+17 to Life
All Resistances +10
Poison Resist +14%
+3 to Light Radius

Charms
Code:
Mentalist's Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xa2025d9c
Item Level: 52
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)

Mentalist's Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xc1b18f5e
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)

Mentalist's Grand Charm of Sustenance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x2ab1353
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)
+28 to Life

Mentalist's Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x905a7d3a
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)

Entrapping Grand Charm of Sustenance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x77c15481
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Trap Skills (Assassin Only)
+27 to Life

Sharp Grand Charm of Sustenance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0x86044259
Item Level: 46
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+7 to Maximum Damage
+64 to Attack Rating
+30 to Life

Steel Grand Charm of Sustenance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 53
Fingerprint: 0x342dfb
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+117 to Attack Rating
+32 to Life

Boreal Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0xb45a7d3
Item Level: 82
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 5 - 13 Cold Damage Over 1 Secs (25 Frames)
+18 to Life

Burly Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x6bcc808d
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 Defense
+19 to Life

Serpent's Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 40
Fingerprint: 0x8630cd0a
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+19 to Life
+17 to Mana

Shimmering Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 25
Fingerprint: 0x773c7afb
Item Level: 73
Version: Expansion 1.10+
All Resistances +4

Shimmering Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 25
Fingerprint: 0x72e21bac
Item Level: 55
Version: Expansion 1.10+
All Resistances +4

Ahsab, Might-Enchanted Desert Mercenary

Weapon: Eth Obedience Cryptic Axe (230-1057 damage)
Armour: Eth Treachery Wyrmhide
Helm: Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest

Story

Normal and Nightmare


Kara initially ran around with 20 points in Claw Mastery, using the standard Jewel of Envy twinking setup, until I realised I could use the stat/skill reset. She then became a Lightning Trapper until the end of Nightmare. No NDE's, and standard twinked trapsin. There were a couple of scary moments, one being getting charged by a viper in Act 5 while cursed, which took down probably 500-600 health.
Kara ran Baal until about level 75 on various /player settings until she got her Suwayyah and reset her skills. She did a few test Baal runs using Chaos, and then entered Hell.

Hell

(continued from intro)

Kara ran through the cave, demonic cries echoing around the stone walls. Many, cries of surprise and anger, delighted her, as she ran her clawed blades across their bodies. She thought she had trained well, but knew a greater threat awaited her. She knew there was a Prime Evil behind these minions scattered across the lands, and she was the one to challenge them.
She twirled around the beasts, her claws darting up to swiftly deflect a spear tip, then spinning around to slice through the beasts scaled chest...

"I am Akara, High Priestess of the Sisters of... Oh! You've cleared out the Den of Evil?"
Kara blinked. These rogues had been around her, watching, but never stepped forward until the cave was littered with demonic corpses. She had been keeping an eye on them, ready to slip into her cloak of shadows if they had drawn their bows against her, but they posed no threat. They only wanted to invite her back to their encampment.
"The cave you cleared was infested by lesser demons," Akara continued. "You've earned my trust and may yet restore my faith in humanity for clearing it.
"Unfortunately, Kashya's scouts have just reported an abomination in the Monastery graveyard! You'll find Blood Raven, one of our finest captains in the battle against Diablo in Tristram, in the Monastery graveyard raising our dead as zombies!"...

The moon hung overhead as Kara gathered her energies around her, preparing to assault the undead in the Monastery graveyard, her cloak of shadows hiding her from undead eyes. The graveyard, dimly lit by scattered torches, smelled of rotting corpses, decaying flesh and freshly turned grave soil.
"What I kill, stays dead," she muttered to Ahsab, blasting the undead out of her path with her mind. Blood Raven's flesh tore apart, as she unleashed a spinning whirlwind of deadly blades...

Andariel rose from her throne, standing tall above Kara and Ahsab, her demonic fury unleashing a poisonous cloud. "Fear me," she roared, long thorned arms reaching towards the assassin. Kara spun left past the toxic cloud, exhausted by the extended fights on her way through the Catacombs to the Demon Queen, and managed to duck Andariel's outstretched arms, drawing her claws across Andariel's back as Ahsab pierced the demon's ribs. The Demon Queen roared in pain as fire engulfed her body, sending her back to the Hell's which spawned her.
"Death becomes you, Andariel," Kara laughed, wiping blood from her blades...

~~~​

Acts 2 and 3

Acts 2 and 3 were pretty easy, however, more interesting as Kara progressed. As I got used to controlling her skills, I used CoS and Mind Blast a lot more often, as well as Death Sentry to do additional damage.
I pumped up the /players setting to 3, then to 5 in Act 3, and still did plenty of damage. There were a couple of hardhitters, with the Thorned Hulks before Lower Kurast doing some damage. I had to pluck those guys off one at a time, because they could do some serious damage.
Obtaining Lam Eson's tomb was quite fun. By this time, I was very used to Kara's support skills, running head first into the room, blinding everything with CoS, and converting a few with Mind Blast. The rest was mopping up the remains with Whirlwind. From the Council onward, I had to be a little more careful. I lured them off one at a time, and then moved on to the Durance. I had to be even more careful here, due to undead dolls! No more free whirling without a care. I took it slow, and let Ahsab and Kara's shadow do most of the damage. Mephisto went down without a problem (on players 1.)
Kara stepped blindly into the portal to Hell...

~~~​

Kara blinked, her eyes searching for a source of light. As distant howls reached her ears, Kara reached deep into her energies to bring forth a dim light. She gasped as the outline of giant winged demons launched at her, fire erupting from their maws. Bloodied claws snapped at her face as she raised her hands, mentally blasting the demons back. She brought a cloak of darkness around her, and spun, driving her blades into a frenzied attack. The demons spewed forth flames into the heavy air, lighting the area.
The fabled City of the Damned! she realised, driving her claw through a demons belly.
"Corruption, take flight," she roared, charging forward further into the darkness. "It's time to correct a hero's mistake!..."

The great demon Diablo raised his head, thick arms extending from a body, red as blood and heavily armoured by scales and spines.
"The smell of life surrounds me," Diablo growled, turning to face a cloaked Kara. The demon hunched onto all four claws, charging with elegant speed, intent on his victim. Kara dived to the side, throwing a trap down and rolled to her feet. Diablo rose to his full height, unleashing an explosion of fire as Kara summoned her shadow to fight alongside her.
The struggle between the Prime Evil, Diablo, and mortal saviour raged on, each capable of doing great injury to the other; a struggle of survival at times. Kara went into a frenzied dance of whirling blades as Diablo released a powerful bolt of lightning across the ground. Eventually, Kara's blades struck true, slicing the demon across his face. The demon fled his failing body as Kara withdrew the Soulstone from her belt, capturing the demon within it.

~~~​

Epilogue

Kara's journey led to the Barbarian highlands, where Baal had already made his way up towards the Worldstone Keep. Kara encountered some dangerous mobs, including a great unhandled exception, which defeated her once. After defeating the Ancients without needing a single potion, Kara found the way to WSK level 2, and promptly ran into the unhandled exception demon!
That meant running the Ancients again (which had more dangerous spawns,) and required nearly half of her potions.
The Icy Cellars and Snapchip Shatter were run twice because of that crash, and had some interesting spawns. It was cautious progress, but very safe.

The WSK provided some interesting spawns, but not really dangerous. Baals minions also provided a good fight, but no real danger on any wave, except Baal's Minions. I had to separate them and take them on two at a time, to keep my merc and shadow safe, as well as Kara. A bad whirlwind, and she wouldn't've been able to leach enough to guarentee survival.

The actual fight with Baal was standard. Kara didn't really care that Baal summoned his clone, and Whirlwind + Crushing Blow does wonders against bosses.

Even with only 4000 AR, I didn't actually notice much missing. The damage and AR she had was very effective, and combined with massive life and mana leach meant that even when she got hit, she recovered very quickly. Throw down a CoS, Mind Blast for stun and convert, and then whirl through, Kara was a very safe and fun character to play. Definitely worth an Ohm for a single build to use.
On low players settings, throwing a Death Sentry or two down, resulted in even more Assassin goodness! Through Acts 3 and 4, Kara used /players 5 (bosses on /players 1.)

Very fun character to play, with so many capabilities. Lots of Mind Blasts/CoS and the odd Death Sentry makes this character fun in each demon encounter. That, plus lots of life and leach. The Whirlwind 'sin is pure win.

Thanks goes to the previous WW 'sins in the Mat/Pat/Guard compilation for item options and experiences, as always, the whole SPF community for their knowledge, experience, and advice in every thread and the readers. Definitely recommend trying this build out sometime.

Comments, questions and "It's been done" all welcome!
~Dryst

PS. Sorry for the length. ;) And apparently imageshack isn't letting me direct link to the image.
 
Originally posted by EasyG on Apr 15, 2007:

First Guardian: Randa

Hi, I just finished my first Guardian named Randa, this is done in The Random Tournament 2007. I would like to thank Vang for organizing this tournament and Grisu for rolling me these random skills and equipment.

The restrictions this char had were skill and item and mercwise (untwinked, extended stash, no rerunning):

1. Character:
-Assassin

2. Skills:
-Shadow Master
-Fade
-Psychic Hammer
-Blade Sentinel
-Blade Shield

3. Weapon:
-Balanced Axe
-Hatchet Hands

4. Armor
-Great Helm
-Breast Plate
-Large Shield
-Heavy Gloves
-Chain Boots
-Heavy Boots

Merc
-Act III Cold
-Short Sword
-Great Helm
-Breast Plate
-Large Shield

Best way to describe this char would be a sentinelist with a Shadow Master, she was ultrasafe with her Fade and Shadow Master, but very slow in killing.

Now the skillpoint distibution and short description, because of the unusual skills:

Blade Sentinel:20 (21)
Blade Sentinel is a strange skill and like other traps a maximmum of 5 traps can be in the game. The sentinels can be shooted each 2 seconds and each sentinel can hit a monster each frame, based on AR, which are in the neighboorhood of the monster, but with a maximum amount of 1 hit per second per sentinel.
At least I think this is how it works.
Blade sentinels deal an amount of physical skilldamage (which cannot be enhanced with str/dex or claw mastery. I was not able to test if it was enhanceble by aura's or ed at armor) plus 0.375 times physical and elemental damage from your main claw and other items and venom inclusive charms except your second claw. This part of damage is enhanced by str/dex and claw mastery(if a claw is used).
The AR for Blade Sentinel is the same as for normal attack and cannot be seen on the screen, this AR is enhanced by claw mastery (if a claw is used).

At lvl 21 the skill damage is 84-88 and with my setup I dealed 167-296 damage with 2032 AR and with other switch 215-254 with 1848 AR.

IMO AR was not that important, because if your sentinels misses in a frame, it might hit in the next frame.
Casting a Blade sentinel allways costs 7 mana and has at lvl 21 a duration of 13.6 seconds.

Blade sentinel works with Deadly Strike, which was 17% from Claw mastery

More information about Blade Sentinels and Blade shield can be found here, bit I don't think al information there is right. For example, BS does not pierce, but goes around monsters, so if a door is blocked by monsters, you cannot hit the monsters behind those monsters.

Blade Shield: 20 (21)
Blade Shield was very similar as Blade Sentinel, except that this is some sort of Blade Sentinel which is around yourself. The blade shield can hit monsters around you and has skilldamage plus 0.25 times normal damage.
The duration and mana cost and damage becomes higher each skilllvl and at lvl 21 this was: 119-148 skilldamage, 120 seconds, 67 mana.
With my setup this was:
174-286 damage and (switch) 206-259 damage. I did not allways use this skill, because most of the time i was too far away from monsters to hit them with this skill and it costed a lot of mana.

Blade Shield does not work with deadly strike, but does work with life leech. ( do not expect these numbers of leech to be high)

Fade 20 (29):
duration 456 seconds. mana cost:10
resist all: 69%
curse duration: -85%
DR%: 29%

This was very usefull!

Psychic Hammer:
Knocks back monsters, damage is very low and slvl should be kept as low as possible, so it uses less mana.
I used this skill a lot, especially in hell, it could be used to knock back CI monsters, so that my merc hits other monsters, or to knock monsters in line so that my sentinels hits them nicely or for other usefull thing. All monsters have 100% knock back, except actbosses.
In chaos sanctuary this skill was very important. OK's were cold immune and kept running away, so i couldn't kill them and at a moment I clusterd like 10 OK's, which were very dangerous, they spammed my shadow with IM and they spammed me with LR and magiccal attacks, and I had no clue about how to kill them, since they kept runing away. Then I hammered one of them out of the group into a corner where I could kill it.

Shadow Master 20 (29).
life: 1955
resist all: +72 percent
AR: +1160
This was my main killing machine. I can say a lot about them, but this is getting long so I will keep it to the most important things, more information can be found at these faq:
-Shadow master has a bonus of 72 percent resist at lvl 29, furthermore it has resistances from items and her resists are not lowered by difficulty. Also her resist are not capped, not even at 95%. This mean that a shadow master most of the time, and especially with Fade, will be immune, or highly resistant agains elemental attacks. This is why she allmost never dies, except from physical attacks.
-The Shadow master attacks the monster which you target, this is very usefull!

Furthermore i had 2 passive skills, which were very important for this build:

Claw mastery:1 (8/10)
Claw Block: 1 (8/10): 47/50% block
both skills were a prereq for shadow master.

Remaining skill points: zero, next skillpoints would go here :)

stats

Items:
Code:
Shadow Great Helm (Shopped in act2H and socketed in act5H)
'Tal'
Defense: 31
Durability: 31 of 40
Required Strength: 63
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 78
Fingerprint: 0xeb9c4b6
+38 to Life
Poison Resist +30%
+3 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)
Socketed (2: 2 used)

Shadow Amulet (Found in act1H)
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 77
Fingerprint: 0x85bc0764
+3 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)

Switch 1:

Blood Fist (got from Anya act5H)
War Fist
One-Hand Damage: 87 to 105
Durability: 60 of 64
(Assassin Only)
Required Dexterity: 108
Required Strength: 108
Required Level: 51
Claw Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 77
Fingerprint: 0xf78e79da
+80% Enhanced Damage
+8 to Minimum Damage
+10 to Maximum Damage
Cold Resist +25%
+1 to Wake of Inferno (Assassin Only)
+1 to Cobra Strike (Assassin Only)
Level 3 Stun (27/27 Charges)

Gale Fist (Gambled i think)
Hatchet Hands
One-Hand Damage: 2 to 21
Durability: 56 of 56
(Assassin Only)
Required Dexterity: 37
Required Strength: 37
Required Level: 22
Claw Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 63
Fingerprint: 0xe2b60b7c
+26% Enhanced Damage
+21 to Attack Rating
+3 to Maximum Damage
Adds 1-7 lightning damage
7% Life stolen per hit
+1 to Assassin Skill Levels (only usefull mod)
+1 to Mana After Each Kill

Switch2:

Loath Claw    (found in Act1H)
War Fist 
One-Hand Damage: 44 to 53
Durability: 58 of 64
(Assassin Only)
Required Dexterity: 108
Required Strength: 108
Required Level: 51
Claw Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xbc9a80e1
+2 to Strength
Adds 1-268 lightning damage
+7 poison damage over 3 seconds
+2 to Wake of Inferno (Assassin Only)
+1 to Blade Fury (Assassin Only)
+5 to Mana After Each Kill
+2 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)

Magekiller's Fascia  (Gambled)
One-Hand Damage: 8 to 37
Durability: 64 of 64
(Assassin Only)
Required Dexterity: 69
Required Strength: 69
Required Level: 27
Claw Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xe51928fb
+1 to Assassin Skill Levels

Smoke   (Hellforge NM)
Cuirass
'NefLum'
Defense: 329
Durability: 32 of 50
Required Strength: 65
Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x32eb4d53
+10 to Energy
+75% Enhanced Defense
+280 Defense vs. Missile
All Resistances +50
-1 to Light Radius
20% Faster Hit Recovery
Level 6 Weaken (18/18 Charges) (was usefull sometimes against high physical attacking monsters)
Socketed (2: 2 used)

Bloodfist  
Heavy Gloves
Defense: 18
Durability: 9 of 14
Required Level: 9
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0xfdab11b3
+40 to Life
+17% Enhanced Defense
+5 to Minimum Damage
+10 Defense
10% Increased Attack Speed
30% Faster Hit Recovery

Tangerine Heavy Belt of the Squid
Defense: 6
Durability: 12 of 18
Required Strength: 45
Required Level: 30
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 52
Fingerprint: 0xd01afd57
+77 to Life
Lightning Resist +10%

Doom Slippers (crafted)
Chain Boots
Defense: 8
Durability: 9 of 16
Kick Damage: 6 to 12
Required Strength: 30
Required Level: 48
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 61
Fingerprint: 0x5d08c90d
+6 to Maximum Stamina
+47 Defense vs. Melee
Fire Resist +28%
Attacker Takes Damage of 3
30% Faster Run/Walk
5% Chance to cast Level 4 Frost Nova when struck

Nagelring
Ring
Required Level: 7
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 61
Fingerprint: 0x6fee9862
+71 to Attack Rating
Magic Damage Reduced by 3
Attacker Takes Damage of 3
29% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Eagle Master
Ring
Required Level: 35
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 50
Fingerprint: 0x352155af
+94 to Attack Rating
+5 to Minimum Damage
Lightning Resist +11%
6% Life stolen per hit
+1 to Mana After Each Kill

Merc:

Jeweler's Great Helm of the Wolf (shopped)
'RalOrtThul'
Defense: 31
Durability: 40 of 40
Required Strength: 63
Required Level: 47
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 67
Fingerprint: 0xb52f7568
+11 to Life
Fire Resist +30%
Lightning Resist +30%
Cold Resist +30%
Socketed (3: 3 used)

Stealth
Breast Plate
'TalEth'
Defense: 100
Durability: 26 of 26
Required Strength: 20
Required Level: 17
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 27
Fingerprint: 0x7d169338
+6 to Dexterity
+15 to Maximum Stamina
Regenerate Mana 15%
Magic Damage Reduced by 3
Poison Resist +30%
25% Faster Run/Walk
25% Faster Hit Recovery
25% Faster Cast Rate
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (2: 2 used)

Rhyme
Superior Large Shield
'ShaelEth'
Defense: 16
Chance to Block:  57%
Durability: 27 of 28
Required Strength: 34
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 12
Fingerprint: 0x83eaf5a1
+10% Enhanced Defense
+20% Increased Chance of Blocking
Regenerate Mana 15%
All Resistances +25
Increase Maximum Durability 15%
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
40% Faster Block Rate
Cannot Be Frozen
Socketed (2: 2 used)

Crimson Gladius (haha, not usefull at all, still have that 2os short sword, but no good jewels)
One-Hand Damage: 8 to 22
Durability: 20 of 24
Required Strength: 25
Required Level: 18
Sword Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: **
Fingerprint: 0x981423b2
Fire Resist +9%

Charms:
Code:
From good to worse:

Gheed's Fortune (first HC one)
Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 62
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0xbfe2cb85
153% Extra Gold from Monsters
40% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Reduces All Vendor Prices 11%

Steel Small Charm of Inertia
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 83
Fingerprint: 0xf2a1c141
+31 to Attack Rating
3% Faster Run/Walk

Ruby Small Charm of Inertia
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 79
Fingerprint: 0xc6a8679f
Fire Resist +11%
3% Faster Run/Walk

Arcing Large Charm of Craftmanship
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 40
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 79
Fingerprint: 0xf485fc25
+1 to Maximum Damage
Adds 1-46 lightning damage

Iron Grand Charm of Dexterity
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 23
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 56
Fingerprint: 0xdeef47b5
+5 to Dexterity
+86 to Attack Rating

Large Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 50
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 73
Fingerprint: 0xec4a9e
+27 to Life

Bronze Grand Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 53
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x92cc9a3b
+34 to Life
+12 to Attack Rating

Stout Grand Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 53
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 64
Fingerprint: 0xf6d0cb52
+35 to Life
+12 Defense

Iron Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 23
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 51
Fingerprint: 0xacc0160c
+75 to Attack Rating

Fine Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 21
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 79
Fingerprint: 0xc43e7518
+17 to Attack Rating
+2 to Maximum Damage

Fine Large Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 14
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 40
Fingerprint: 0x17fd3646
+18 to Attack Rating
+3 to Maximum Damage

Small Charm of Winter
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 38
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 79
Fingerprint: 0x64105e58
Adds 5-8 cold damage over 1 seconds

Small Charm of Venom
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 15
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 40
Fingerprint: 0x6c3b970f
+15 poison damage over 4 seconds

Small Charm of Venom
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 15
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 66
Fingerprint: 0x8d71b62b
+15 poison damage over 4 seconds

Azure Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 38
Fingerprint: 0x4f865152
Cold Resist +4%
Here is a screenie of me fighting Baal. Randa stand behind pillar shooting sentinels. Shadow stands next to baal and the merc shoots.

This char will now have a good rest, I might build a twinked sentinelist in SC maxing these skills and equipping upped eth bartuc's or upped rare claw and using a might reapers merc:
Shadow master
sentinel
claw mastery
venom

other build could be crescent moon and a lot of lightning damage, and for the richer ones an infinity merc, blessed aim will probaply be the best choice.
 
Originally posted by EasyG on Jun 1, 2007:

Guardian #2 The naked assasin: Nuts

Morathi started the We love to be naked Tournament at 15 april and I joined this tournament at 16 april.

I did full clear, use of charms and varying psettings. roughly this was p setting:
normal:8
nightmare: mostly 7 or 8 I think
hell 1&2: mostly 5 I think
hel3: 3
hell4,5: 1

The whole story of Nuts how she went through the anxious world of diablo can be read in that thread, I entered hell difficulty at page23.
Playing this char made me especially realise how strong a skill as Mind Blast is.

I ended up with these skills
Shadow master: 20
Mind Blast: 20
Death Sentry: 20
Fade: 20
Cloak of Shadows: 3
Fire Blast: 3 (synergy for Death Sentry)
Lightning Sentry: 2 (Synergy for Death Sentry)
Burst of Speed: 1
Psychic Hammer: 1

And prerequisites

Other important stats with Fade (64%):
-1649 life
-47 fire resist
-25 cold resist
-15 lightning resist
-55 poison resist
-20% DR

Here is the list of charms I used:

Code:
Russet Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 7
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 43
Fingerprint: 0x5a84a7c3
Fire Resist +20%

Russet Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 7
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 33
Fingerprint: 0xcd3a8e4c
Fire Resist +19%

Russet Small Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 17
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 46
Fingerprint: 0x6a207f4e
+12 to Life
Fire Resist +7%

Russet Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 10
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 38
Fingerprint: 0x9dcdb9f1
Fire Resist +7%

Sapphire Large Charm of Dexterity
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 48
Fingerprint: 0xdc4e1fbc
+3 to Dexterity
Cold Resist +14%

Azure Large Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 13
Fingerprint: 0x4df43a36
Cold Resist +4%

Azure Large Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 15
Fingerprint: 0xc507bba
Cold Resist +7%

Lapis Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 10
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 18
Fingerprint: 0x4a05625a
Cold Resist +6%

Amber Large Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 63
Fingerprint: 0x8f7e7c66
Lightning Resist +14%

Tangerine Large Charm of Greed
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 5
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 5
Fingerprint: 0x9fa12574
Lightning Resist +7%
8% Extra Gold from Monsters

Jade Grand Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 15
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 50
Fingerprint: 0xb447c523
+15 to Life
Poison Resist +24%

Beryl Small Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 17
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 83
Fingerprint: 0xd6dd7c7d
+15 to Life
Poison Resist +4%

Viridian Small Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 14
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 14
Fingerprint: 0x529242d2
+9 to Life
Poison Resist +6%

Jade Small Charm of Fire
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 20
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 61
Fingerprint: 0x3867022d
Poison Resist +8%
Adds 2-3 fire damage

Viridian Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 10
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 28
Fingerprint: 0x80dbfbae
Poison Resist +7%

Viridian Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 10
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 23
Fingerprint: 0xbbf55c65
Poison Resist +6%

Viridian Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 10
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 27
Fingerprint: 0x837e602e
Poison Resist +6%

Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 71
Fingerprint: 0x7abc1dd5
+19 to Life

Small Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 17
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 50
Fingerprint: 0xdd86f2b1
+13 to Life

Two LCS/skill screenies here:
Shadow skills +LCS
Trap skills + LCS

The merc I used was an act2 Might merc, he used these items:
-Blood crafted helmet "jeweled"
-"Honor" Cryptic Axe
-"Treachery" Ethereal Boneweave
-BoneFlesh "jeweled"

As you can see I've had 0MF all since the start so most merc equipment were runeowrds and rafted items, except for the Boneflesh which I used as switch armor versus PI monsters. Here are the readouts:

Code:
Nuts' Shadow Veil
Helm
Defense: 18
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Strength: 26
Required Level: 28
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 35
Fingerprint: 0x47f3e661
+16 to Life
+14 to Maximum Damage
Cold Resist +19%
3% Life stolen per hit
+5 to Light Radius
5% Bonus to Attack Rating
8% Deadly Strike
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Carbuncle Jewel of Carnage
Required Level: 18
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 27
Fingerprint: 0xf6ec8529
+14 to Maximum Damage

Honor
Cryptic Axe
'AmnElIthTirSol'
Two-Hand Damage: 94 to 399
Durability: 53 of 65
Required Dexterity: 103
Required Strength: 165
Required Level: 59
Polearm Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 83
Fingerprint: 0x866ea37f
+10 to Strength
+160% Enhanced Damage
+250 to Attack Rating
+9 to Minimum Damage
+9 to Maximum Damage
7% Life stolen per hit
Replenish Life +10
+1 to Light Radius
+1 to All Skill Levels
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
25% Deadly Strike
Socketed (5: 5 used)

Treachery
Nuts' Boneweave
'ShaelThulLem'
Defense: 681
Durability: 23 of 23
Required Strength: 148
Required Level: 47
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 73
Fingerprint: 0x7ffca6d4
Cold Resist +30%
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
45% Increased Attack Speed
20% Faster Hit Recovery
25% Chance to cast Level 15 Venom on striking
5% Chance to cast Level 15 Fade when struck
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (3: 3 used)

Boneflesh
Plate Mail
Defense: 241
Durability: 60 of 60
Required Strength: 65
Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 52
Fingerprint: 0x3817a022
+106% Enhanced Defense
+22% Enhanced Damage
+35 to Attack Rating
Adds 2-10 cold damage over 2 seconds
5% Life stolen per hit
25% Chance of Open Wounds
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Realgar Jewel of the Icicle
Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 45
Fingerprint: 0x20dfcafe
+22% Enhanced Damage
Adds 2-10 cold damage over 2 seconds

Here is a screenie of his stats, while Venom and Fade are Might are on:
screenie

The succes of this naked assassin is the following:

Defensive:
-2 meat shields (merc and shadow)
-Fade
-Mind Blast
-CoS
-Psychic Hammer

Offensive:
-Physical: Might Merc, Might Shadow, Mind Blast, Death Sentries, converted monsters with might aura
-Lightning: Death Sentries
-Fire: Death Sentries
-Poison: Venom from merc, Venom from Shadow
-Various: All kind of attacks from shadow
-Various: Open wounds from Bone Flesh at merc.
-Various: Converted monsters by Mind Blast

I would like to thank Morathi (if he is still around) for organising this tournament.
And I would like to thank Insane Wayne for the great inspiration I got from reading his posts, I would also like to wish him best luck with his Druid, Especially versus Baal, who's cold attack will really hurt and the Oak will die very often.

edit: bleh, you cannot edit typo's in thread title, it should be assassin.

edit2: Oops forgot about future plans for her.
-Well, I don't think she will make the best pvp'er: she does have a nice life pool, but damage seems a bit too low for pvp and especially at HC this might not be the best plan with her
-I could also try to go for lvl 99, but seeing that it took me like the whole afternoon to reach baal and kill him at p1, killing him at p8 might just take a little bit too long to seriously attempt lvl 99.
-MFing, you can't get yourself very much MF when you're naked, so, not a good idea.
-Bragging: ah I'll use her for this :D
 
Originally posted by @jiansonz on Nov 4, 2013:

Guardian Erica, Random tourney DS Assassin (with nicely outfitted Might merc)

I managed to go all the way with my Assassin in the Random Tournament 2013. Rules are explained in the tourney thread, but it boils down to (with some exceptions), basically, that you have 8 skills you are allowed to place points in and use at any one time. Three of these skills are the same for the whole character journey while five skills get rolled for each difficulty (we were required to use respec at the start of Nightmare and Hell). Also, the gear is restricted in such a way that only a few item types are allowed (determined at random, except for main weapon types (unless the player wants to randomize that too)).

Charges, ctc skills, equipped auras, passive staffmods and passive oskills from items are all OK. Active skills from staffmods and oskills are not allowed to be used (unless it's one of your 8 skills, of course). Starting gear is also allowed.

We could pick two main weapon types (one type would get a roll of two subtypes and the other a roll of one subtype). One class-specific item type would also be rolled, which in the case of Assassin is a claw, of course. So four allowed weapon subtypes in total for me.
I picked polearm x2 and javelin x1, the same types as my succesful Random tourney Paladin last year had. The idea behind this was that I wanted javelin for a combined ranged/melee option. All javelins are long-ranged melee weapons, great for Phoenix Strike. A big damn polearm would be good both for a Phoenix Striker (long range, plus think about 2nd charge lightning mayhem with a Crescent Moon!) or for a Tiger Striker. I am pretty new to the RWM, so I wanted to have a chance to play with some of those fancy runewords, and there are overall many good runewords for polearms. Also, if I hadn't picked spear or polearm, if I were to choose an Act II merc, he would be stuck with javelins!

Erica's item types:
Heavy body armor (armor is more generous than the other types - several types are bunched together, so I could use any of Scale Mail, Plate Mail and Full Plate Mail)
Mask
Buckler
Light Gauntlets
Sash
Chain Boots

Javelin
Scythe
War Scythe
Hatchet Hands


Forever skills (the ones that were with me the whole way):
Dragon Talon
Shadow Warrior
Fire Blast

Skills for Normal:
Death Sentry
Dragon Claw
Burst of Speed
Cloak of Shadows
Venom

Nice skill roll, wouldn't mind something like that for Hell difficulty!

First character report in the thread is post #306.

BoS was convenient the whole difficulty. Got Shadow Warrior at level 18 (around Barracks) which was nice. No need to tank much for my archer merc any longer. I could always fall back on CoS if many monsters were threatening. Got to Act II, hired a Prayer merc and rolled him a Savage Scythe with the kris/belt/staff/diamond recipe once I got the cube. I later found an ethereal rare Scythe with the same average damage as the Savage, plus it had life steal.

I killed Diablo with Venom-assisted javelins. Kinda scary with 10% fire resist but a strong Shadow Warrior allowed me the time I needed to move around and avoid most of the fire.

After the Highlands quest, I hired a barb merc and gave him an ethereal Shadowfang. That was good enough for a while, especially when I could upgrade it when an Amn dropped in Infernal Pit.

Skills for Nightmare:
Claw Mastery
Cobra Strike
Psychic Hammer
Dragon Claw
Wake of Inferno

So, the RNG (that stands for Random Number Gods) want me to be a fire trapper in NM? OK, whatever...

My barb merc with ethereal Shadowfang Espandon ate Act I NM for breakfast (as I knew he would - this is not the first time I've had that setup). My Sturdy Shadow Warrior added to his (and the whole party's) safety.

Game-changing moment when I found an ethereal Battle Scythe in Fangskin's lair and the socket recipe gave it four sockets. Switched to Might merc and made Insight in this polearm for him. This was to be my companion for the rest of the game and that was to be his weapon for 6 of the remaining 8.5 acts (plus it still made "guest appearances" against some PI bosses until the very end).

The rest of Nightmare was a big treasure hunt. This version of Erica was just a big lump of life that couldn't fight and could barely move (heavy armor and no FRW) but with a good Shadow and pretty decent fire traps.

Skills for Hell:
Death Sentry
Cobra Strike
Blades of Ice
Fade
Mind Blast

So, I was not going to be a Phoenix Striker or a Tiger Striker. What to be?
A Death Sentry Assassin! Just need some corpses and you'll see dominance on low players settings.
Fade is great for Hell, as is Mind Blast.

Merc was no longer a topaz-shining glass cannon, because he was now outfitted with Tal Rasha's mask and a 'Stealth' Full Plate (hehe, nice oxymoron there...). Erica herself also toughened up considerably, getting DEX for 50% blocking, maxed resists with Fade and lots of life. String of Ears combined nicely with Fade to give her 36% physical damage reduction. I made a 'Strength' Hatchet Hands for act boss fights (actually used already against NM Baal).
Even the Shadow got a major boost, now that I could have her cast (level 17) Fade on herself. That was especially nice in Act II with all those poisonous monsters. She was practically poison immune - the poison hits only had her blink green for a moment.

So no trouble with resurrectors, and generally little problems with monsters vulnerable to physical damage. And those that are indeed PI do not have much life in the first acts (ghosts, bug swarms) or are lone Stone Skin bosses. Death Sentry was my main PI solution. It is not a powerhouse with its lightning damage (unsynergized) but some investment in Fire Blast at least made it fire many times. Not that this mattered much, because of Insight. Fire Blast also helped, and that is synergized by DS.

In Swampy Pit, I found a magical Giant Thresher that I, after spending all my chippies (save for a small reserve for cube recipes) and about half of my mid-sized gems, managed to reroll into an absolutely incredible weapon: a perfect +300% ED Cruel Giant Thresher of Alacrity with 2 sockets (!). This was his main weapon for more than two acts. For the last stretch, from Ancients' Way and onwards, it was replaced by an even more insane weapon (see below).

Overall, the toughest monsters were the Blunderbore types. Frenzytaurs had a chance to be very dangerous as well but there was only one boss pack (not even close to the entrance) on the entire Hell difficulty.

See the thread for progress on Hell difficulty. The only real hiccups were some of the Act III Temples (especially Forgotten Temple that I mistakingly entered at players 8 and got stairs trapped by two monster packs). Also, a Gloam boss pack guarding the entrance to Great Marsh suprised me, and I ate all the shots and got down to about half life. That never happened again for the rest of the game. That's how good she was at staying away from danger, and at dealing with danger when she had to. I chose to go with a teleporting amulet and while it was not used all that much (maybe 50 or so times in total), it was great to have when I wanted it.

Single-pass full clear of the whole game, on Hell mainly on players 3.

Skills for Hell:
Death Sentry 20
Fire Blast 20
Dragon Talon 7
Shadow Warrior 20
Fade 20
Mind Blast 2
(note: all skills operated at +2 because of Lore helm and Bul-Kathos' ring)

Stats:
Erica the Assassin
Level 86
STR 84+20, DEX 144, VIT 272+10, ENE 25+10
Resists 75/72/75/25
Blocking 50%
Life 1380
Mana 180
AR with Dragon Talon 3056
Death Sentry lightning damage 1-392
Fire Blast damage 323-422

Final Gear:
(Disclaimer, this exact setup was actually never used - the armor wasn't socketed until just before the cow level and for that, I replaced the BK ring with a Fortune one)
* 'Lore' Death Mask
* Amulet of Teleportation (22 charges)
* 'Strength' Hatchet Hands
* Coral (27) Full Plate Mail of the Whale, socketed with a perfect ruby (+138 life)
* 'Rhyme' Heater (yup, had to go 'l33t' to get a shield with more than one socket!)
* Light Gauntlets of Fortune (25)
* Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
* String of Ears
* Nagelring (28)
* Russet (13) Chain Boots of Transportation

(weapon switch was never used, but it had Wailing Hatchet Hands and another 'Rhyme' Heater)

* Lapis (17) Grand Charm
* Garnet (25) Grand Charm
* Garnet (25) Grand Charm of Life (7)
* Septic Grand Charm of Sustenance (33)
* Grand Charm of Vita (40)
* Sapphire (15) Large Charm
* Azure (4) Small Charm of Fortune (4)
* Lapis (7) Small Charm of Greed
* Cobalt (9) Small Charm
* Small Charm of Sustenance (12)
* Beryl (5) Small Charm of Sustenance (12)
* Small Charm of Sustenance (14)
* Rugged Small Charm of Sustenance (15)


Razan the Might merc (vital for corpses for DS so the best stuff went here!)
* Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest socketed with a Jewel of Fervor
* 'Obedience' (Superior, +10% ED) Thresher
* 'Fortitude' Full Plate Mail

Notable other item finds: Dangoon's Teaching, Bloodmoon, Djinn Slayer

I will conclude this post with Erica's sick run of high rune finds. She found absolutely no rune in the range from Fal to Mal (I cubed the Fal for Obedience from all the runes shown in my stash here). This was quite strange. With the 1.13 rune drop odds, one can pretty much expect to have the runes for Obedience before Nightmare is over.

What she did find were these runes:
Gul (in Act V Nightmare (!))
Ist (Hellforge)
Vex (early Hell)
Ohm x2 (one in early Hell, one halfway through Act V Hell)

Ohm and Ist were both grailers for me. I think I can count Lo in there as well (from the cubed Ohms). Only S/U grailer was the BK ring.
 
Originally posted by NagisaFurukawa on Aug 5, 2008:

Guardian #2: Signum, Bowsin

Introduction

Introducing Guardian Signum (????... or something like that). She happens to be Fate's rival. Surprise, surprise. In any case, she typically fights with her sword (Laevateinn?), but is capable of combining it with its sheath in order to form a bow (how's that work!?).

The original plan was to make Rika and Hanyuu Furude as a Harmony Strafer and a Melody Mageazon respectively, but my quest for a Grand Matron Bow (and Matriarchal Bow...) failed quite miserably. That... and I didn't have Treachery (or Fortitude!). Somehow that translated into making a Bowsin. ??? Even then, nothing was settled. I knew absolutely nothing in regards to successfully building a Bowsin (who cares about PvP builds anyway...), and I had no plans on reading any guides (ew!). A recipe for disaster? Perhaps. My thought process went a little bit like this...

1) Death Sentry = win.
2) Venom = some damage.
3) MB and SM = safety. <-- CoS may be godly, but I just never use it.
4) This might actually work!

. . .

5) No Widowmaker = issues with AR.
6) No skill ED = issues with damage.
7) Virtually no IAS gear = issues with FPA and trap laying.
8) Guess not.

So how was this remedied?

1) Skip out on Fade. Who cares about resists and DR?
2) Skip out on Vitality. Who cares about living?!?
3) ...Wasn't this HC?!?!? Oops.

----------------------------------------------------------

Vitals
Name: Signum.
Level: 78 (604262596 EXP).

Strength: 90 (108).
Dexterity: 350 (395).
Vitality: 20 (30).
Energy: 25 (25).

"Base" Damage: 627-985.
+ Venom: 1077-1455.
+ Enchant: 1164-1566. <- slvl 23 via Demon Limb.
+ Might: 1384-1888.

Attack Rating: 10379 with Enchant.

Life: 495.
Mana: 178.
Resists: 75/8/75/10.

FHR: 0% (9 frames). <-- Bad idea!
FCR: 30% (13 frames). <-- Good idea!

----------------------------------------------------------

Skills
Death Sentry: 20 (21).
Venom: 20 (21).
Burst of Speed: 20 (21).
Shadow Master: 18 (19).
Mind Blast: 1 (2).
Psychic Hammer: 1 (2). <-- Whee.

Prerequisites: 1 (2).

A few too many in Burst of Speed. Changed plans a few too many times, and eventually gave up and maxed it out. =). Hooray for laziness! Psychic Hammer's pretty fun too. The whole gliding thing is definitely awesome, but the Smite/TK-like effect had its usefulness in tight situations. Also quite useful for scouting.

----------------------------------------------------------

Equipment
Weapon: Upgraded Witchwild String.
Weapon 2: 'Hel' Demon Limb.
Shield 2: Moser's Blessed Circle (2x Perfect Diamond).
Helm: Vampire Gaze.
Armor: Skin of the Vipermagi.
Gloves: Laying of Hands.
Belt: Razortail.
Boots: War Travelers.
Amulet: Angelic Wings.
Ring 1: Angelic Halo.
Ring 2: Raven Frost.

Notable Equipment and Charms
Code:
Witchwild String
Diamond Bow
Two-Hand Damage: 107 to 130
Required Dexterity: 132
Required Strength: 89
Required Level: 61
Bow Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x6feef18c
+3 to Dexterity
+226% Enhanced Damage
Fire Resist +40%
Lightning Resist +60%
Cold Resist +40%
Poison Resist +40%
Required Level +7
Fires Magic Arrows
2% Chance to cast Level 5 Amplify Damage on striking
78% Deadly Strike (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (2: 2 used)

Storm Gyre
Jewel
Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0x516b0f6b
+3 to Dexterity
+25% Enhanced Damage
Lightning Resist +20%

Ruby Jewel
Required Level: 58
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 83
Fingerprint: 0x33103f90
+38% Enhanced Damage

Vampire Gaze
Grim Helm
Defense: 252
Durability: 37 of 40
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x2fcf249f
+100% Enhanced Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 15
Damage Reduced by 18%
Fire Resist +27%
Adds 6-22 cold damage over 4 seconds
8% Life stolen per hit
8% Mana stolen per hit
28% Extra Gold from Monsters
15% Slower Stamina Drain
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Ruby Jewel of Avarice
Required Level: 13
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x9ce08562
Fire Resist +27%
28% Extra Gold from Monsters

Skin of the Vipermagi
Serpentskin Armor
Defense: 297
Durability: 21 of 24
Required Strength: 43
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0xebf50ce1
+6 to Strength
+120% Enhanced Defense
+9 to Maximum Damage
+18 Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 13
Fire Resist +31%
Lightning Resist +57%
Cold Resist +31%
Poison Resist +31%
30% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to All Skill Levels
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Blood Heart
Jewel
Required Level: 25
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x7c8175a9
+6 to Strength
+9 to Maximum Damage
+18 Defense
Lightning Resist +26%

3: Fine Small Charm of Dexterity
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 21
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x99fdd9b3
+2 to Dexterity
+20 to Attack Rating
+1 to Maximum Damage

4: Fine Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 21
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 43
Fingerprint: 0xdcea6652
+18 to Attack Rating
+3 to Maximum Damage

5: Amber Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0xa76bafd5
Lightning Resist +11%

6: Amber Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 69
Fingerprint: 0xa9581b4e
Lightning Resist +10%

7: Sapphire Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0xa9fc430b
Cold Resist +10%

8: Russet Small Charm of Strength
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 10
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 16
Fingerprint: 0xb0bc2183
+1 to Strength
Fire Resist +7%

9: Russet Small Charm of Strength
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 10
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 8
Fingerprint: 0x4d5eb808
+1 to Strength
Fire Resist +7%

10: Large Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 66
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0x6ee67590
+33 to Life

11: Steel Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x21bcdfc9
+130 to Attack Rating

12: Large Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 66
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0x3d202c4d
+34 to Life

13: Emerald Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xa469cb13
+19 to Life
Poison Resist +10%

14: Jade Small Charm of Storms
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x7d70a146
Poison Resist +9%
Adds 1-28 lightning damage

19: Lapis Small Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 14
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 12
Fingerprint: 0x3a967b3a
+10 to Life
Cold Resist +7%

28: Amber Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 84
Fingerprint: 0x704d7887
Lightning Resist +10%

29: Amber Small Charm of Fire
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x9a7288b3
Lightning Resist +10%
Adds 2-4 fire damage

30: Fine Small Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 21
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x566b117b
+10 to Life
+12 to Attack Rating
+1 to Maximum Damage

----------------------------------------------------------

Mercenary
Name: Jemali.
Level: 78 (57691130 EXP).
Class: Desert Mercenary - Offensive (Nightmare, Might).

Weapon: The Reaper's Toll.
Helm: Crown of Thieves.
Armor: Duriel's Shell.

----------------------------------------------------------

Ramblings//Thoughts

1) Hooray for good gear! Nanoha_II and Feito are lovely farmers.

2) Kill speed was decent on /players 1. The bow did a pretty nice amount of damage, considering the fact that it was just "Normal Attack". Battles were pretty simple as well. Convert, shoot, kill, BOOM. Rinse and repeat.

3) Signum used a Witherstring up until Level 33 (at which point Kuko Shakuku came into play). She simply fell in love with those Magic Arrows. In case you are wondering why she decided to use WWS instead of Harmony, those arrows would be the reason.

4) Shadow Masters are pretty nice tanks. They managed to save Signum on at least a few occasions by Dragon Flight'ing into the fray and taking a shot or two for her. They could be cast (thanks to some FCR) quickly enough to get in the way of certain attacks, and their free Death Sentrys certainly didn't help. ;).

5) There weren't *too* many NDEs. The safety provided by two solid tanks as well as Mind Blast was nice. Even some of the nastier bosspacks were handled with ease. Stygian Dolls, however, gave Signum some trouble (and provided some NDEs, especially given her low life pool), but otherwise there weren't very many problems. The only other highly dangerous type of monster was the (surprise, surprise) Festering Appendage. With a poor life pool, and no FHR, Appendages could constantly throw Signum into hit recovery. Many full rejuvenation potions were wasted in the making of this Guardian...

6) The Ancients were relatively bland. Talic was FECE, and *almost* killed Signum (got hit by CE, but not FE). Madawc was Extra Strong (ew!), but thankfully could only take off a little under half of her life points per hit. As for... uhm... the guy who jumps (whee), he utterly failed. Signum simply hid behind a pillar (while I went to get some food...) and let her mercenary and SM handle the job. WSK 1? Nothing to write home about. WSK 2? Souls! WSK 3? Spawned next to exit. Throne? Souls. Vipers. Assailants. And all near the door! Other than that, nothing special...

7) Baal was a pain. He split a grand total of three different times (at near full HP no less...), and kept spawning the ever annoying aforementioned Festering Appendages. The battle took at least 20 minutes (Enchant wore off twice...), and cost me quite a pretty penny for merc revivals, potions, and scrolls.

----------------------------------------------------------

Future Plans
1) Signum? Parked. Definitely. She might be pretty safe, but knowing that you're always a hit away from death is *extremely* stressful.

2) Not sure really. MSLN has left me with so many different characters to make. Might just start by remaking Nanoha *properly*, though a pure fire sorc will be quite annoying...

Special Thanks
~ Heskla, for some of the lightning resist charms!
~ The members of the SP(T)F, for providing constant inspiration/motivation.

See you next time! =).
 
Originally posted by Nightfish on Jul 12, 2004:

Two Guardians and Completion of my Sept

Hi all, long time no see. I just thought I'd let those who care know that my septing days are at an end. Below I've posted the last two guaridans I got and a quick summary of previous ones. This is copied and pasted from stuff I posted elsewhere, in case you are wondering why it sounds a little weird at times. ;) Anyway, that's it for my sept now I'm in need of new stuff to do. :teeth:

disclaimer:
In case you didn't know, I got my last 4 guardians using a mod that removes the FE bug from the game. I don't care whether anybody disapproves of that but I didn't want a sept of only ranged characters. Also checking every boss for FE was destroying the fun in the game. So there.
/disclaimer


Well, here we go again, another fishy guardian. And this one is by far my favorite so far. Whee, does this lady own! Anyway, let's get started. The last two chars I was missing to have a guadian of each class were an assassin and a paladin. Beautiful Daevana reduces this to one paladin missing.

I think this is the first guardian I'm actually sort of "proud" of because she has no defence, no blocking, no PDR and (relatively) low life. And she still triumphed. Impossible? Ha! Read on and I'll tell you the story of brave Daevana who stormed the gates of hell with nothing but a cloak of shadows to hide her from the horrors hell had to offer.

Hm, some stats and skills first and then some more impressions:

Stats:

Daevana - level 81

Strength: 105 (140)
Dexterity: 120 (165)
Vitality: 250
Energy: 25

Life: 960 (1032)
Mana: 145 (350)


Skills:

Martial Arts:

Tiger Strike: 20
Cobra Strike

Shadow Disciplines:

Shadow Master: 17 (any extra skill points will go here)
Cloak of Shadows: 1
Burst of Speed: 1
Venom: 1
(and 1 in all the rest but I didn't use any of them)

Traps:

Fire Blast: 3 (to get an extra shot for DS)
Death Sentry: 20
Lightning Sentry: 20


Well, that's it from the stat side of things. Obviously she has a strong phyical attack and is backed up by CE and lightning leaving her able to take on every enemy.

Gear

This is definetly a notch above what you other chars get. For one, I used the complete disciple set on her. While I could have done better with the uniques and sets I found so far, using the disciple was always one of my goals in SC but I never got around to do it. This seemed to be the perfect char for that.

So, we have the gloves, belt, ammy, boots and armour occupied by the disciple. Armour was socketed with a perfect diamond, btw.

Her rings were a Ravenfrost and a rare ring with 100 AR, 8% life leech and some minor mods.

On her head she wore a rare circlet with +2 assy skills, 8% Mana Leech, +54 mana and +140 AR (partially due to the Perfect diamond in there. I could have used shako but I didn't want her to be ugly.

Her main weapon was this baby again:

Ribcracker
Stalagmite
Two-Hand Damage: 348 to 519
Required Dexterity: 35
Required Strength: 63
Required Level: 56
+9 to Strength
+15 to Dexterity
+100% Enhanced Defense
+325% Enhanced Damage
+30 to Minimum Damage
+65 to Maximum Damage
+100 Defense
Poison Resist +29%
+100 Maximum Durability
50% Increased Attack Speed
50% Faster Hit Recovery
150% Damage to Undead
50% Chance of Crushing Blow
Socketed (1: 1 used)

On switch she had dual bartucs to cast her shadows, buffs and traps.

In her cube she had a demon limb (probably she tore off a demon wirt) to make use of the enchant charges.

On the charm side of things we're looking at several res all grand and small charms, a 40% Gheed's, her only source of MF, and a few AR charms. All this junk gave her 75% resis in all except cold which was around 50% or so. She had +5 to all skills in gameplay and +9 on switch. (+2 more to martial arts but she didn't use them when switched)


Okay, that about covers the theoretical side, back to me telling the world how great it was playing her. :D Well, for one thing it wasn't boring. This girl definetly keeps you on your toes. Anything that swings at you scores a hit and if too many things hit you in rapid succession you're history. But it's not really as bad as it sounds. Cloak of Shadows keeps her relatively safe and she packs the meanest punch. With tiger strike charged up damage was about 8-12k with might. Regular attacks still dealt 1.7-2.5k. Welcome to pain. Common strategy was to charge, cast CoS and then whack one critter four times (as they took for hits to die), tap the next guy once to see him obliterated in a single stroke and then either repeat that or step back and toss a few death sentries.

That's part of why I like her so much. She's a really good trapper/MA hybrid. If you don't feel like trapping for a while you can just clobber everything and if you feel that you want to stand back for a while (because you're facing something you're scared of) you can do that and cast traps. The sentries were definetly a pleasant surprise. Though there's one aspect I'm not so happy about: AR. She almost reaches 8k AR but that's too little by a long shot. With the charge ups you can actually tell easily how often you hit and it's not often enough for my taste. She still kills well enough, I concede that. Without the 200% AR from enchant she'd have to wear the angelic set, though.

Another thing that I like is that she's just the way I think assassins should be: Fragile and yet so very deadly. She's death become flesh. :D

I can't emphasis enough what CoS does for this build. This is really what makes the difference between life and death for her. I do have a point in mind blast but I didn't find it anywhere near as useful, at least for this build. The great thing about CoS is that you don't have to target it and that it always works. Very dependable. This could very well be my favorite skill of the entire game. Not to mention that the around -25% target defence helped her hit quite a bit.

She's a first in several aspect for me. The first melee char without a decent second line of defence. All the others had either, life, blocking or defence, some even had several of these things. And she's also the first char I've not been able to use to it's full potential. I think it takes somebody who's more dexterous than myself to do that. I've been doing okay, even great at times but I think with better reflexes this char would rock even more. But it's a good thing I stopped using the F keys for hotkeys a while ago. That would have been hopeless.


Summing up I think I can safely say this is a great build to beat the game and I can even see how she could be good at MFing but I'm not sure she should be used for HC MFing. She really is a bit fragile and demands every bit of your attention.


Okay, what else? Oh, I know: A few random events:

Radament: "We live again!"
*whack*
Daevana: "No you don't""

Izual was great, too. I had already charged up on a burning soul and he died in exactly 3 seconds. :lol: I don't think any of my chars ever killed him that quickly.

The Chaos Sanctuary went better than anticipated. I used CoS a lot and either dashed past the blinded fools to smash the OKs or just cast my sentries. The grand vizier of chaos learned why they are called traps. From my battle with the guardians of the seal there were a few corpses and some of my Death Sentries left so when I opened the seal he was insta-killed. (I assume that's what happened as I only found his smoldering remains as I came dashing down from the seal...)

Gloams were less of a problem than other things, too. Once I met two boss packs and I was dodging lightning like mad for a few seconds. (CoS hadn't cooled down yet....) I had so much FRW that nothing really hit me. :)

Ventar provided my with a pleasant surprise as he dropped me my first IK Soulcage ever! And that with 40% MF to boot! Whee! But she had been very lucky before that, too. War Travs and a Baranar's Star are but two of her finds while questing. She also got two uniques from the same golden chest! o_O

Lister was almost a problem but I retreated before his onslaught and put up new sentries as I went, my sidekicks slowing his advance. Eventually he died, though it took a while, him being PI and stone skinned.

Hehe, now I almost forgot the most interesting part: The ancients. Well, they were tough, that much is for sure. On the first try my merc hit the ground before they were even done spawning... Great. "Stop dying you coward!" Was the first thing that crossed my mind Unfortunately I had only 7 Rejuvs and 170k gold. Okay, so they needed to die on the next spawn. No problem, she's not the mistress of boss killing and luck for nothing. So I spawned them and immediately charged Madawc. I think he only took 4-5 hits to die. o_O This proved to be very convenient as the whirler had spawned Extra Strong and was coming my way. I don't think I could have survived one full pass of this guy. So I went for the leaper first hoping my allies would keep the other busy. Well, that went more or less okay, except for the two times when I did get scratched by the whirly guy. But I still had two rejuvs left by the time the leaper was down. Unlike my usual self, I played it safe: I actually disengaged and let my traps finish the final ancient. Well, that's it. :)






My suicidal pally also made guardian which completes my sept. First, the new guy and then a quick look at the previous ones for those who missed them.

Guardian Knightfish - level 82

Str: 135 (177)
Dex: 155 (170)
Vit: 200 (200)
En: 15 (15)

Life: 870
Mana: 164

AR: 6.9k (with zeal, fana and enchant (demon limb))
Def: 2.7k (aka "if it swings at me it hits")

Damage: 4.5k-6.5k with a 6 fpa Zeal. 100% Crushing Blow, 50% Deadly Strike

Resis: Fire/Cold/Light/Poison: 65/63/75/14

Relevant Skills:

20 Zeal
20 Sacrifice
20 Fanaticism

Rest dumped in various skills like 10 Holy shield, 5 redemption, 4 vigor and cleansing. I really didn't need any of these points, though.

Gear:

Weapon 1: Elite Ribcracker (325% ED)
Weapon 2: Gimmershred / Gerke's Sanctuary
Armour: Shaftstop (Um)
Gloves: Laying of Hands (used Cleglaw's until mid Hell. Very fun, too)
Helm: Guillaume's Face (Ral)
Belt: String of Ears (15%PDR/7% ll)
Boots: Gore Rider
Ring 1: Rare Ring with plenty of resis
Ring 2: Rare Ring with 8% ll 6% ml, and some resis
Amulett: Highlord's Wrath

Charms: Lots of resis and some AR charms.

Might Merc using shaft, delirium and the reaper's toll


Well, who would have thought a no defence, shieldless, low life pally could make guardian? Nobody, probably. But I hacked the game and so he made it. No, just kidding. Most of the time it wasn't really that hard. He leeches enough to refill his lifebulb in a single swing and he can take a few hits of regular enemies thanks to shaftstop. Here's how I dealt with the obvious troublemakers:

Ranged attackers / archers: I mostly dodged their attacks until either confuse struck or I had gotten close enough to hit them. Everything dies so fast that once I start hitting it's over soon. I still nearly died in act 1 hell to a pack of mighty and cursed archers.

That's already the most dangerous combo of mods for this guy. Extra strong, might, fanatic cursed. Pick any of these two and he's in deep trouble. The only things that saved him are his high damage which lets him leech lots of life and get rid of stuff fast and frantic rejuv quaffing.

Oblivion Knights were easier than aniticipated. Okay, I admit that I tested a few things before meeting them. Going with zeal was obviously not an option. No way to stop in time. Sacrifice? Maybe. But it turns out that if you used that in combination with this amount of damage you'd actually kill yourself. So I went for something more cheesy. I just tossed my gimmershreds at them. Usually I had only used them to zeal away at PIs but they worked just fine like this, too.

The Ancients were horrible. I actually had to respawn them because one hit from an extra strong or otherwise enhanced ancient would nearly kill me. Well, after a while respawning got old and I just charged them. Luckily I leeched enough life to hang on until the first two were down (well, actually it took all but one of my rejuvs, too). So there was one ancient and one potion left. :/ Awesome. Incidentally this was my last rejuv in HC. So, no muling of new pots should I chose to leave. So I let my merc engage and tried the gimmers again. Well, that didn't work too well as I had forgotten to repair them. :/ As a final plan I let my merc engage the sucker and then snuck up from behind and gave him a solid kick in the rear...

I used the gimmershreds again in the throne of destruction, that made this place a lot easier, well mostly lister and his gang as I chipped away at the minions before engaging lister in single combat.

All in all I think this is a great character. For softcore. :/ Can't recommend anyone to try this in HC unless the pally gets cloak of shadows or dim vision in the near future.


Now, who else is part of the club?

Thanatos is your average fishymancer. He was pretty much a safe bet. Never had a chance to die. I played him completely untwinked and in vanilla D2. He is also the only char who really used a shield all the time.

Ulath was the second guy. An untwinked berserker using an elite steeldriver in the end of the game. Played in vanilla D2, survived bugged FE ancients in NM but fell a split second after spawning them in hell. Obviously I revived him as I had no mod to deal with this problem at that time.

Next char is my only "failure" in HC: PaleEnchantress, the Fireball / FO sorc. She used chromatic Ire, Iratha's Set and Shaftstop. Completely untwinked, vanilla D2. Fell at level 76 in act 2 hell to an FE beetle's charged bolt. Around that time I was starting to get a little pissed at the FE bug.

Third Guardian was Celes, the Strafezon who turned into an LFzon halfway through the game. (okay, in act5 normal, actually) The second char who sometimes used a shield. I think she wasn't completely untwinked anymore (got a lycander's, little good it did her) Still vanilla D2

The last 4 guardians were no longer untwinked and no longer in vanilla d2. Some kind soul had mercy and removed the FE bug which reignited my interest in the game. Playing with the fe bug active was decidedly no fun. Constantly scanning every boss for FE was boring and tedious. Now melee builds were again possible and pretty relaxed to play. :D Twinking was done in accordance to the build. Weak builds got better items.

Fourth guardian was Dunamis the Meteorb sorc. Just like her predecessor she used Iratha's Set, Chromatic Ire and Shafstop. But Meteor proved to be the better skill for me as she succeeded where PaleEnchantress had failed. Blocking? Nope.

Fifth guardian was my most hated class: A druid. But he was actually fun. A pretty standard werewolf build using an elite ribcracker. A Gloom Archon Plate and a defiance merc made sure he was at least somewhat safe from harm. Shield? Uh-uh.

Sixth was my best guardian (imo), Daevana the Tiger Strike / Death Sentry assassin. She used the complete disciple set and the same ribcracker my wolf had had. Cloak of Shadows was the key to success here. She was a blast to play. :) Swift and deadly, but fragile. Just like assassins should be. Again, no shields in sight.

Seventh was my most wacky project, the one you just read about. I probably would not do this again. It was easy in NM but hell sucked at times.


(as usual) Thanks go to RTB for the Mod, DC for pointing out Demon Limb's Enchant, Sam for the Ribcracker. Butzull for inspiring me to start this quest at all. And everyone I forgot to thank for not being mad at me :D


Well, thanks for reading. Now I'm out of things to do in D2. I don't know whether that's good or bad. :?
 
Originally posted by Nightfish on May 16, 2005:

Guardian #11 - Tifa

A couple hours ago my WWsin successfully pwned baal which makes her my 11th guardian. 38 left for my septuple sept. :) This, like most of the others was twinked (duh?) and using RTB's FE Mod, which makes this the 10th guardian he's responsible for. Anyway, here's some stats & skills and some pictures too:

Status Screen:

Tifa_-_Stats.jpg


Skill Tabs:

Tifa_-_Skill_Tabs.jpg


Not sure what to do with the 5 remaining skill points. Since she isn't much good for running anything they'll probably be just left unspent. Maybe more weapon block would be nice. Can't really think of anything else she needs.

Equipment:

Wpn 1: 338% ED Chaos Suwayyah / 210% ED Shadow Killer (Shael)
Wpn 2: Dual Bartucs
Helm: Rare Circlet with 140 AR, +2 skills, 8% mana leech
Armour: Shaft (Um)
Ring 1: Ravenfrost
Ring 2: Rare Ring with 100AR, 8% LL
Ammy: Mara's
Gloves: Draculs
Boots: Goblin Toe
Belt: SoE (15% DR, 7% LL)

Demon Limb was used to get her AR up to respectable levels without the angelic jewelry. Together with CoS she hit pretty good. More AR would still have been nice. Inventory was full of various charms, including one for each relevant skill tree. Resistances are with fade, without fade they're around 20-30.

Merc: Might Merc using The Reaper's Toll, Duriel's Shell & Vamp Gaze

General Stuff:

As you saw in her skill tabs she has maxed LS, DS, CM and Venom which makes her a true hybrid. No points in Mind Blast and Shadow Master which I didn't regret for a heatbeat.

She turned out quite a bit stronger than I expected, cutting through stuff like nobody's buisness in hell. On players 1 at any rate but that's okay. Looking at the skills you might think I hid behind my traps most of the time but that's definetly untrue. Those were mainly used to deal with Iron Maiden and unleechable enemies. Pretty much everything else was killed with WW since that's what this lady's focus was on.

WW sin in action:
http://upl.silentwhisper.net/uplfolders/upload0/Tifa_-_Before.jpg

Battlefield afterwards:
http://upl.silentwhisper.net/uplfolders/upload0/Tifa_-_After.jpg


Nothing really spectacular to tell about her journey through the game. As long as stuff could be leeched she was pretty much unkillable. Only NDE came from the 6th evil urn I opened in Hell. Extra Fast, Cursed, Fanatic boss pack made her run real quick.

The ancients were kinda easy, too. Only dangerous mods were "extra strong" and "mana burn" - that really hurt, though. But with CB and whirlwind you don't need an awful lot of passes to kill things so they went down as I used the last of my 4 mana potions.

In general, playing her is very straightforward. If you see stuff you just whirl through it. If there were three or more boss packs I used CoS before whirling. If there were a lot of skeleton archers or oblivion knights I hung back and used traps. Pretty much everything dies in 1-2 passes from WW and if you lay down a few DSs after that everything else just goes the way of the dodo, too. No real problems with anything, gloams included. On a scale from 1-10, with 10 being the hardest I'd rate her a 3 or so.

The biggest issue I had with her was that she didn't have as much FRW as I was used to. Running through the game with a whooping zero felt like crawling. But for WW it's okay.

She did not find anything of note. Hellforge gave her an Um rune which is okay but not great.

All in all I had a great time playing her and she's definetly one of my favorite guardians and I don't regret spending that Ohm rune on her. Whirling through stuff has this ninja feeling to it and you can do a few pretty funny moves like whirling through, dropping 2 DSs and then dashing off while everything explodes. I like it. :)

Not sure which character I'll play next. I've got a necro in A1H and a werebear in mid nightmare but I'm not sure I want to play those now. Maybe it's time to start my ribcracker avenger which is going to be dedicated to Gengis_Chuck who was -afaik- the first to use the upgraded version of that BHS.

Remaining chars for sept: 5 Amazons, 5 Assassins, 6 Barbs, 6 Druids, 6 Necros, 6 Paladins and 4 Sorcs.
 
Originally posted by @b1ur on Oct 6, 2018:

Ghost of Immortality; A Guardian Thread

Guardian Ghost
Natalya's Odium WW Sin


EU3bZJK.jpg


Hey, ya'll. It's been awhile since I've posted a Guardian thread. I've wanted to build this character since forever. I've never got around to it before. Oh, how I regret this now! It's by far the most fun I've had with Diablo recently. Probably the endless Pindle/Mephisto/LK runs have a big part in this, but let's not take away our focus hehe.

First of all I want to thank @maxicek and @T72on1 for the input provided on clearing up my very blurry knowledge about WW. And assassins actually.

I've started as Fire Trapsin for the first part of Normal, around level 30 I respeced to Lightning Trapsin for the rest of Normal and NM. Not much of note, typical grind. I usually like to start playing the desired end-game build from the beginning but this time around I wanted to go as fast as possible. And Dragon Claw is not exactly the fastest killer and not exactly Whirlwind so... Yeah. Nice skill, I like it, but you have to go much slower.

I've initially wanted to grind up to level 79 (req. for Natalya's Mark) and then respec to WWSin. I've tried a bit of NM Baal runs a bit of Hell Cold Plains grinding and whatnot but it was tedious and not very time efficient. So at Level 76 I gave up and respeced. Equipped all of my end-game equipment except the Claw, used Bartuc's as a placeholder. I was expecting the going to be slow and tedious again because of lower damage, bad resistances and much lower %DR but surprisingly it wasn't the case. I was shredding through everything in Act I on /players8. Not the fastest kill speed but super safe. My life bulb never dropped below full at any point. I've tried a few of the skills suggested in the thread linked above, like 20pt. DS. Didn't like it and didn't find it useful at all. So when I hit 79 at the end of Act I I respeced one last time.

Here's what I ended up with:
Skills
Code:
Traps:
5 (10) Blade Shield
1 (6) Others except WoF

Shadow:
20 (28) Claw Mastery
20 (28) Fade
20 (28) Venom
9 (17) Weapon Block
1 (9) All others

Martial Arts:
1 (6) Dragon Flight
1 (6) Prereqs

Unassigned - 3

Death Sentry was as useful with 1 point as it was with 20. Blade Shield is cool and I decided on dumping enough points for a reasonable duration. I'm still unsure if the stacked %DR from Fade works when cursed but there's no reason in dumping points in something I don't need/use so I figured what the hell. 1 point Shadow Master survives long enough to wreck havoc. It's probably the first Assassin I like to use Shadow with. Nice distraction. I'm considering dumping the rest of the points in Weapon Block despite it's horrid diminishing returns. I don't need them anywhere else anyway.

Stats
XEhjPnX.jpg


Equpment
Claw 1: Natalya's Mark (Empty Socket)
Claw 2: 'Chaos' Suwayyah 339%ED
I just now realized how great the roll was. I never even checked the range or the roll before starting the thread lol. I initially wanted to roll it in a Scissors Suwayyah but it turns out I didn't have one in my stashes.
Switch: 5 BO CtA + Lidless
Helm: Natalya's Totem (13STR/29DEX/15@RES) + Viper Whorl (24ED/8STR/24CRES/2MPK)
Armor: Natalya's Shadow + 34ED/-15req; 37ED; 38ED Ruby jewels.
Gloves: Slaying of Demons
Belt: String of Ears 6/14/14
Boots: Natalya's Soul 23/23

Charms: A mix of Fine SC's, Vita SC's, 1 Shadow Skiller, 2 Steel GC's.

Mercenary
Vikhyat, Act II Might
Weapon: non-eth The Reaper's Toll
Helm: non-eth Vampire Gaze
Armor: non-eth 'Treachery' Dusk Shroud

DUMP
Can't be bothered to format, probably a difficult read.
Name: Ghost
Class: Assassin
Experience: 997505687
Level: 84

Naked/Gear
Strength: 97/128
Dexterity: 69/118
Vitality: 324/324
Energy: 25/25
HP: 1188/1615
Mana: 149/225
Stamina: 578/584
Defense: 17/1537
AR: 100000309/100001275

Fire: 101/61/1
Cold: 97/57/-3
Lightning: 109/69/9
Poison: 76/36/-24

MF: 0 Block: 15
GF: 0
FR/W: 40
FHR: 0
IAS: 115
FCR: 0

Fire Blast: 1/2
Shock Web: 1/2
Blade Sentinel: 1/2
Charged Bolt Sentry: 1/2
Wake of Fire: 1/2
Blade Fury: 1/2
Lightning Sentry: 1/2
Wake of Inferno: 0/0
Death Sentry: 1/2
Blade Shield: 5/6

Claw Mastery: 20/24
Psychic Hammer: 1/5
Burst of Speed: 1/5
Weapon Block: 9/13
Cloak of Shadows: 1/5
Fade: 20/24
Shadow Warrior: 1/5
Mind Blast: 1/5
Venom: 20/24
Shadow Master: 1/5

Tiger Strike: 0/0
Dragon Talon: 1/2
Fists of Fire: 0/0
Dragon Claw: 1/2
Cobra Strike: 0/0
Claws of Thunder: 0/0
Dragon Tail: 1/2
Blades of Ice: 0/0
Dragon Flight: 1/2
Phoenix Strike: 0/0

String of Ears
Demonhide Sash
Defense: 110
Durability: 22 of 22
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 20
Fingerprint: 0x38143359
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
6% Life stolen per hit
+174% Enhanced Defense
+15 Defense
Damage Reduced by 14%
Magic Damage Reduced by 14
+10 Maximum Durability

Highlord's Wrath
Amulet
Required Level: 65
Fingerprint: 0xedd0936e
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+20% Increased Attack Speed
Adds 1 - 30 Lightning Damage
31% Deadly Strike (Based on Character Level)
Lightning Resist +35%
Attacker Takes Lightning Damage of 15

Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Fingerprint: 0xd3267abd
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+239 to Attack Rating
Adds 15 - 45 Cold Damage Over 4 Secs (100 Frames)
+20 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
Cold Absorb 20%
Cannot Be Frozen

Bitter Touch
Ring
Required Level: 65
Fingerprint: 0x43fa827a
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+101 to Attack Rating
8% Life stolen per hit
+33 to Mana
All Resistances +6
Damage Reduced by 1

Laying of Hands
Bramble Mitts
Defense: 87
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 50
Fingerprint: 0x3674d52a
Item Level: 87
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%


Natalya's Totem
Grim Helm
Defense: 290
Durability: 39 of 40
Required Level: 59
Required Strength: 58
Fingerprint: 0xcc6d9014
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
24% Enhanced Damage
+170 Defense
+21 to Strength
+29 to Dexterity
Cold Resist +23%
All Resistances +15
Magic Damage Reduced by 3
+2 to Mana after each Kill
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Viper Whorl

(2 items): Magic Damage Reduced by 15
(3 items): +200 Defense
(4 items): Poison Resist +20%
+3 to Assassin Skill Levels
14% Mana stolen per hit
14% Life stolen per hit
+150 Defense
Cold Resist +50%
Lightning Resist +50%
Fire Resist +50%
Poison Resist +50%
Damage Reduced by 30%
Unrecognized property: 181

Viper Whorl
Jewel
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x4101645
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
24% Enhanced Damage
+8 to Strength
Cold Resist +23%
+2 to Mana after each Kill

Natalya's Soul
Mesh Boots
Defense: 113
Durability: 65 of 266
Required Level: 25
Required Strength: 65
Fingerprint: 0x5e61520a
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+40% Faster Run/Walk
+76 Defense
Heal Stamina Plus (Based on Character Level) +21%
Cold Resist +23%
Lightning Resist +23%
+50 Maximum Durability

(2 items): Magic Damage Reduced by 15
(3 items): +200 Defense
(4 items): Poison Resist +20%
+3 to Assassin Skill Levels
14% Mana stolen per hit
14% Life stolen per hit
+150 Defense
Cold Resist +50%
Lightning Resist +50%
Fire Resist +50%
Poison Resist +50%
Damage Reduced by 30%
Unrecognized property: 181

Natalya's Shadow
Loricated Mail
Defense: 620
Durability: 36 of 36
Required Level: 73
Required Strength: 68
Fingerprint: 0x978d0a47
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)
109% Enhanced Damage
+167 Defense
+84 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Poison Resist +25%
Poison Length Reduced by 75%
Requirements -15%
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Ruby Jewel of Freedom
Socketed: Ruby Jewel
Socketed: Ruby Jewel

(2 items): Magic Damage Reduced by 15
(3 items): +200 Defense
(4 items): Poison Resist +20%
+3 to Assassin Skill Levels
14% Mana stolen per hit
14% Life stolen per hit
+150 Defense
Cold Resist +50%
Lightning Resist +50%
Fire Resist +50%
Poison Resist +50%
Damage Reduced by 30%
Unrecognized property: 181

Ruby Jewel of Freedom
Jewel
Required Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x8e18e499
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
34% Enhanced Damage
Requirements -15%

Ruby Jewel
Jewel
Required Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0xe3a6ca43
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
37% Enhanced Damage

Ruby Jewel
Jewel
Required Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x69d5d06d
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
38% Enhanced Damage

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x16d3ae0b
Item Level: 73
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+18 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x568af1ab
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+16 to Life

Fine Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0xbd50b9cf
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Maximum Damage
+19 to Attack Rating

Fine Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0xc85d42fb
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Maximum Damage
+15 to Attack Rating

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x3a7129eb
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+16 to Life

Mentalist's Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x7a291020
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x3e2d3ae0
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+19 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x8bcbef7
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+18 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x6801568f
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+16 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x7e223279
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+16 to Life

Stout Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x53328b5e
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 Defense
+16 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0xb3eca286
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0xf3c6c47d
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+17 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0xf98400a0
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+16 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0xba94ba66
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+19 to Life

Stalwart Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 40
Fingerprint: 0xa6acebc2
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+23 Defense
+17 to Life

Rugged Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0xaf35b0f7
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+18 to Life
+6 Maximum Stamina

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0xb995ecd7
Item Level: 68
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+19 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x70145e5d
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+16 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x488a4133
Item Level: 76
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+16 to Life

Lizard's Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x868027c9
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+16 to Life
+3 to Mana

Fine Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0xdeb39e36
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Maximum Damage
+10 to Attack Rating

Fine Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0xa5c007f
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Maximum Damage
+16 to Attack Rating

Fine Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x583a0c15
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Maximum Damage
+15 to Attack Rating

Fine Small Charm of Shock
Small Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0xe3ae9f2b
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Maximum Damage
+20 to Attack Rating
Adds 1 - 5 Lightning Damage

Fine Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0xd31ccc3a
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Maximum Damage
+16 to Attack Rating

Fine Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x33d412f0
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Maximum Damage
+11 to Attack Rating
+17 to Life

Steel Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 41
Fingerprint: 0xd35fbc22
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+132 to Attack Rating

Steel Grand Charm of Life
Grand Charm
Required Level: 41
Fingerprint: 0x886b0c08
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+127 to Attack Rating
+17 to Life

Full Rejuvenation Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 100%
Replenishes Health 100%

Full Rejuvenation Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 100%
Replenishes Health 100%

Full Rejuvenation Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 100%
Replenishes Health 100%

Full Rejuvenation Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 100%
Replenishes Health 100%

Full Rejuvenation Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 100%
Replenishes Health 100%

Full Rejuvenation Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 100%
Replenishes Health 100%

Full Rejuvenation Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 100%
Replenishes Health 100%

Full Rejuvenation Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 100%
Replenishes Health 100%

Full Rejuvenation Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 100%
Replenishes Health 100%

Full Rejuvenation Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 100%
Replenishes Health 100%

Full Rejuvenation Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 100%
Replenishes Health 100%

Scroll of Town Portal
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Scroll of Town Portal
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Scroll of Town Portal
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Death Thirst
Feral Claws
One Hand Damage: 22 - 123
Durability: 52 of 52
Required Level: 58
Required Strength: 113
Required Dexterity: 113
Fingerprint: 0xf9c9124a
Item Level: 84
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
+40% Increased Attack Speed
+7 to Maximum Damage
+63 to Maximum Damage (Based on Character Level)
Adds 1 - 3 Cold Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
+2 to Dragon Flight (Assassin Only)
+1 to Mind Blast (Assassin Only)
+1 to Lightning Sentry (Assassin Only)

Horadric Cube
Fingerprint: 0x30942eae
Item Level: 13
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Call to Arms
Superior War Axe
AmnRalMalIstOhm
One Hand Damage: 37 - 66
Durability: 26 of 26
Required Level: 57
Required Strength: 67
Fingerprint: 0x914737fa
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+40% Increased Attack Speed
270% Enhanced Damage
+1 to Attack Rating
Adds 5 - 30 Fire Damage
7% Life stolen per hit
Prevent Monster Heal
+3 to Battle Command
+5 to Battle Orders
+1 to Battle Cry
Replenish Life +12
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
5 Sockets (5 used)
Socketed: Amn Rune
Socketed: Ral Rune
Socketed: Mal Rune
Socketed: Ist Rune
Socketed: Ohm Rune

Amn Rune
Required Level: 25
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 7% Life stolen per hit
Armor: Attacker Takes Damage of 14
Shields: Attacker Takes Damage of 14

Ral Rune
Required Level: 19
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 5 - 30 Fire Damage
Armor: Fire Resist +30%
Shields: Fire Resist +35%

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

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

Ohm Rune
Required Level: 57
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Enhanced Maximum Damage
Armor: +5% to Maximum Cold Resist
Shields: +5% to Maximum Cold Resist

Lidless Wall
Grim Shield
Defense: 288
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 70 of 70
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 58
Fingerprint: 0x310c094d
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+20% Faster Cast Rate
+91% Enhanced Defense
+10 to Energy
Increase Maximum Mana 10%
+5 to Mana after each Kill
+1 to Light Radius

Full Rejuvenation Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 100%
Replenishes Health 100%

Natalya's Mark
Scissors Suwayyah
One Hand Damage: 9720 - 12393
Durability: 39 of 68
Required Level: 79
Required Strength: 118
Required Dexterity: 118
Fingerprint: 0x2e41c32f
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+40% Increased Attack Speed
200% Enhanced Damage
Ignore Target's Defense
+200% Damage to Demons
+200% Damage to Undead
Adds 12 - 17 Fire Damage
Adds 50 Cold Damage Over 4 Secs (100 Frames)
1 Sockets (0 used)

(2 items): Magic Damage Reduced by 15
(3 items): +200 Defense
(4 items): Poison Resist +20%
+3 to Assassin Skill Levels
14% Mana stolen per hit
14% Life stolen per hit
+150 Defense
Cold Resist +50%
Lightning Resist +50%
Fire Resist +50%
Poison Resist +50%
Damage Reduced by 30%
Unrecognized property: 181

Chaos
Suwayyah
FalOhmUm
One Hand Damage: 171 - 228
Durability: 26 of 48
Required Level: 57
Required Strength: 99
Required Dexterity: 99
Fingerprint: 0xd1db71b0
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
9% Chance to cast level 11 Frozen Orb on striking
11% Chance to cast level 9 Charged Bolt on striking
+35% Increased Attack Speed
339% Enhanced Damage
Adds 216 - 471 Magic Damage
25% Chance of Open Wounds
+1 to Whirlwind
+10 to Strength
+15 Life after each Demon Kill
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Fal Rune
Socketed: Ohm Rune
Socketed: Um Rune

Fal Rune
Required Level: 41
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +10 to Strength
Armor: +10 to Strength
Shields: +10 to Strength

Ohm Rune
Required Level: 57
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Enhanced Maximum Damage
Armor: +5% to Maximum Cold Resist
Shields: +5% to Maximum Cold Resist

Um Rune
Required Level: 47
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 25% Chance of Open Wounds
Armor: Cold Resist +15%
Lightning Resist +15%
Fire Resist +15%
Poison Resist +15%
Shields: Cold Resist +22%
Lightning Resist +22%
Fire Resist +22%
Poison Resist +22%

Mercenary:

Name: Vikhyat
Race: Desert Mercenary
Type: Off-Nightmare
Experience: 71978158
Level: 84
Dead?: false

Naked/Gear
Strength: 184/184
Dexterity: 148/148
HP: 1727/1727
Defense: 1274/1934
AR: 1898/1898

Fire: 148/108/48
Cold: 178/138/78
Lightning: 148/108/48
Poison: 148/108/48

Treachery
Dusk Shroud
ShaelThulLem
Defense: 408
Durability: 11 of 20
Required Level: 49
Required Strength: 77
Fingerprint: 0xa494d84f
Item Level: 84
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
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Shael Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Lem Rune

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

Thul Rune
Required Level: 23
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 3 - 14 Cold Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
Armor: Cold Resist +30%
Shields: Cold Resist +35%

Lem Rune
Required Level: 43
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 75% Extra Gold from Monsters
Armor: 50% Extra Gold from Monsters
Shields: 50% Extra Gold from Monsters


Vampire Gaze
Grim Helm
Defense: 252
Durability: 23 of 40
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 58
Fingerprint: 0x606f9ef9
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 6 - 22 Cold Damage Over 4 Secs (100 Frames)
8% Mana stolen per hit
6% Life stolen per hit
+100% Enhanced Defense
15% Slower Stamina Drain
Damage Reduced by 18%
Magic Damage Reduced by 10


The Reaper's Toll
Thresher
Two Hand Damage: 38 - 454
Durability: 55 of 65
Required Level: 75
Required Strength: 114
Required Dexterity: 89
Fingerprint: 0x25456959
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
33% Chance to cast level 1 Decrepify on striking
222% Enhanced Damage
Ignore Target's Defense
Adds 4 - 44 Cold Damage Over 0 Secs (10 Frames)
11% Life stolen per hit
33% Deadly Strike
Requirements -25%

Final thoughts
By far the safest character I've played through the game. Probably my Hammerdins have been a tad more safe in feel but not in practice.

From Act II onward I dropped the player settings from /p8 to /p5. Physical Immunes with Mana Burn were extremely annoying and Act II has lots of them. Otherwise I had no other problems. Act III was a complete walk in the park. Dolls? Bahahahahaha! I breezed through on /p5 no issues anywhere. Act IV has high HP monsters, some with physical resistance so I dropped the players settings to 3. Total Breeze. Hephasto had Fanaticism. Laughable! WW-ed to death. At no point still has my life dropped below 2200. I even took on Lord de Seis head on. In late Act V I dropped to /p1. Every single area that could roll Ghosts and Physical Immune Frenzytaurs did. And most of the Frenzytaur packs had Mana Burn. I started to skip them, way too much hassle. Ancients were a joke as well despite Talic's Cursed Mana Burn. They did drop my bulb on a couple of occasions. To about 1500 life... heh. WSK and Baal I did on /p3. Easy. Baal took a while because of no Crushing Blow but was really tame. Reaper's etc. Only good drop was from the HF. Got an Um as well in Nightmare, so I guess she has a nice rune luck so far :p Oh, and the Anya reward was interesting:
Death Thirst
Feral Claws
One Hand Damage: 22 - 123
Durability: 52 of 52
Required Level: 58
Required Strength: 113
Required Dexterity: 113
Fingerprint: 0xf9c9124a
Item Level: 84
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
+40% Increased Attack Speed
+7 to Maximum Damage
+63 to Maximum Damage (Based on Character Level)
Adds 1 - 3 Cold Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
+2 to Dragon Flight (Assassin Only)
+1 to Mind Blast (Assassin Only)
+1 to Lightning Sentry (Assassin Only)

Future plans
Trav runner. Will have to change some charms around to get ~100%MF and free up a bit of space for pickups.
 
Originally posted by Arkardo on Jan 22, 2012:

Guardian #10: Taz, Whirler

Sup folks,

It's been a while! A few months back I decided to get back in HC for a while, so I wanted to start a nice, durable character to get back in business. Since I also had a Jah and a Sur gathering dust in my stashes, I figured I'd go with a whirler to run the Council to finally make an Enigma. Also, I decided not to Guardian him until I had done that. I finished Hell act 5 up till Baal and started running the Council. However, due to real-life business I had lost interest for a while. I started running again recently, and the Council coughed up a Ber! So then I made this. After that I went to kick Baal's backside. Mission Complete.

There's not much to say about playing him. I went with /p1 most of the time, and I twinked a lot. Things went pretty smoothly, save for some familiar problems. No near-deaths, so no exciting stories there. I had lost my only String of Ears, Vampire Gaze and Duress earlier, but not having those was a minor inconvenience at most. I did, of course, take the time to avenge Darkoooone, my assassin that was killed by Nightmare Thresh Socket.

As for future plans, I really don't know! I might continue running the Council and see if I can get him a Grief PB or two. Or maybe I'm done for good (read: a few months) with D2. We shall see! :D

Info
Name: Taz
Class: Barbarian
Experience: 906850884
Level: 83

Attributes
Naked/Gear
Strength: 97/204 <-- didn't bother to respec before killing Baal)
Dexterity: 20/60
Vitality: 383/383
Energy: 10/10

Stats (buff'd)
HP: 4097
Mana: 284
Defense: 9913
AR: 3477

Fire: 195/155/45
Cold: 117/77/17
Lightning: 180/140/80
Poison: 124/84/24

MF: 123
GF: 236
FR/W: 77
FHR: 80
IAS: 110
FCR: 65% on switch (9 frames)

Skills (with BC):
Whirlwind: 20/28
Berserk: 1/9

Mace Mastery: 20/26
Increased Stamina: 1/7
Iron Skin: 1/7
Increased Speed: 1/7
Natural Resistance: 1/7

Howl: 1/7
Shout: 14/20 (cast at 24)
Find Item: 7/13 (cast at 17)
Battle Orders: 20/26 (cast at 30)
Battle Command: 1/7 (cast at 11)

Gear
  • Ribcracker (upgraded, Shael, 291% ED)
  • Enigma Light Plate (105 + 756 = 861 def) <-- meh, crappy def roll... oh well.
  • Arreat's Face (Sol, 3% ll)
  • IK's belt
  • Laying of Hands
  • Gore Rider
  • Highlord's Wrath
  • Dwarf Star (14 MDR)
  • Death Grip (3 max damage, 28 AR, 6% ml, 8 replenish life, 36 mana, 10@ all)
  • Switch: 2x Spirit Crystal Sword (32/33% FCR)

Charms:
Gheed's Fortune (136% GF, 10% price reduction, 40% MF)
Collection of damage/AR, AR charms, some with a little life

Mercenary
Razan, Might mercenary, sporting:
  • The Reaper's Toll (Shael, 195% ED)
  • Guardian Angel (200% ED)
  • Veil of Steel (ethereal)


Miscellaneous
Hellforge:
?/?/Fal (I think)

Drops:
  • Ber, obviously
  • Herald of Zakarum
  • Pul
  • Rest I forgot, sorry :/

Thanks for reading, till we meet again! 👋
 
Originally posted by DarkChaos on Jul 2, 2004:

Guardian Thorgas

Not much to say -- he was extremely powerful and I only had trouble with IM in Act4 and 5 Hell. I almost died to it once but I took it slowly and was able to gg the IM.

Guardian Thorgas
Level 86 Whirlwind Barbarian

Stats:

Strength: 232 (278)
Dexterity: 42 (107)
Vitality: 241
Energy: base

Life (with BO): 4056
Mana (with BO): 263
Resists: 75/75/75/75
Defense (with Shout): 10856

Skills (with Battle Command):

Whirlwind: 20 (29)
Battle Orders: 20 (28)
Mace Mastery: 20 (28)
Shout: 8 (16)
Find Item: 8 (16)
Pre-reqs: 1 (9-10)
One-point wonders: 1 (9-10)

NOTE: 7x 100Poison SC's in inventory, all damage noted after Might is applied.o

Whirlwind Damage: 3772-6104
Whirlwind AR: 7855
Concentrate Damage: 4112-6631
Concentrate AR: 8017
Berserk Damage: 4241-6830
Berserk AR: 9397

Equipment:

Immortal King's Stone Crusher (Shael, IAS Jewel)
Immortal King's Soul Cage
Immortal King's Will (PTopaz, PTopaz)
Immortal King's Pillar
Immortal King's Forge
Immortal King's Detail
The Cat's Eye
Raven Frost (20Dex/225AR)
BK Band (4%)
Gheed's Fortune
+1 Warcry Charm
+1 Masteries/1-23 Lightning Damage Charm
7x 100 Poison Damage Small Charms
Assorted +max dmg/AR charms with second mods like resists, life.

Switch:

Blade of Ali Baba
Blade of Ali Baba

Merc (Might merc, level 86):

'Stone' Balrog Skin (2612 defense)
The Reaper's Toll
Andariel's Visage (ethereal)

Merc Damage (with Might): 532-2848
Merc Life (with BO): 3903
Merc Defense (with Shout): 15589
Merc Resists: 35/65/65/85

That covers it, this is a hugely overpowered character. Of course, with this much twinkage, how could it not be? It is fun to play and he is my first melee Guardian in 1.10. IK Barb, teh omg. Defiance probably would have worked for his merc, but I really like the extra damage.
 
Originally posted by @Kitteh on Aug 26, 2019:

Guardian #21 - Worusk - The Nearly not so Immortal IK Barbarian



Worusk is guardian #21, and the second in my Saviours of Sanctuary set. He is a classical whirlwind barbarian using the Immortal King set, with a bit of berzerk thrown in occasionally. He had a couple of NDEs, typically because I was always too lazy to go and get rid of a curse. Makes you wonder how I have 21 guardians o_O A couple of nice finds too, a light skiller and a Gul got hellforge. Hellforge also dropped all gems of the same type, which I don't recall seeing before :) The only real problem that Worusk had was mana burn packs because whirlwind is such a high mana cost melee skill, in fact, it kind of killed the fun of the build at times. Worusk won't be seeing any endgame action, except for being used for his remaining socket quest. He actually hit guardianship a few days ago but I only just got time to do his thread, and also started my next guardian, a holy freeze zealot.

Code:
Name:       Worusk
Class:      Barbarian
Experience: 922906970
Level:      83

            Naked/Gear
Strength:   181/233
Dexterity:  20/72
Vitality:   299/304
Energy:     10/15
HP:         1375/1704
Mana:       92/132
Stamina:    448/448
Defense:    5/2246
AR:         85/1016

Fire:       102/62/2
Cold:       74/34/-26
Lightning:  105/65/5
Poison:     84/44/-16

MF:         115       Block:      8
GF:         144
FR/W:       43
FHR:        50
IAS:        95
FCR:        0

Code:
Bash: 1/7
Leap: 1/7
Double Swing: 0/0
Stun: 1/7
Double Throw: 0/0
Leap Attack: 1/7
Concentrate: 1/7
Frenzy: 0/0
Whirlwind: 20/26
Berserk: 1/7

Sword Mastery: 0/0
Axe Mastery: 0/0
Mace Mastery: 20/24
Pole Arm Mastery: 0/0
Throwing Mastery: 0/0
Spear Mastery: 0/0
Increased Stamina: 1/5
Iron Skin: 1/5
Increased Speed: 1/5
Natural Resistance: 4/8

Howl: 1/5
Find Potion: 1/5
Taunt: 0/0
Shout: 17/21
Find Item: 1/5
Battle Cry: 0/0
Battle Orders: 20/24
Grim Ward: 0/0
War Cry: 0/0
Battle Command: 1/5

Code:
Immortal King's Forge
War Gauntlets
Defense: 230
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Level: 30
Required Strength: 110
Fingerprint: 0x42c8f6fa
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
12% Chance to cast level 4 Charged Bolt when struck
+65 Defense
+20 to Strength
+20 to Dexterity
Set (2 items): +25% Increased Attack Speed
Set (3 items): +120 Defense
Set (4 items): 10% Life stolen per hit
Set (5 items): 10% Mana stolen per hit
Set (6 items): Freezes target +2

(2 items): +50 to Attack Rating
(3 items): +75 to Attack Rating
(4 items): +125 to Attack Rating
(5 items): +200 to Attack Rating
+3 to Barbarian Skill Levels
+150 to Life
Cold Resist +50%
Lightning Resist +50%
Fire Resist +50%
Poison Resist +50%
Magic Damage Reduced by 10

Immortal King's Will
Avenger Guard
Defense: 167
Durability: 55 of 55
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 65
Fingerprint: 0x64238d79
Item Level: 71
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Warcry Skills (Barbarian Only)
+125 Defense
+76 to Life
37% Extra Gold from Monsters
38% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+4 to Light Radius
2 Sockets (2 used)
Socketed: Perfect Ruby
Socketed: Perfect Ruby

(2 items): +50 to Attack Rating
(3 items): +75 to Attack Rating
(4 items): +125 to Attack Rating
(5 items): +200 to Attack Rating
+3 to Barbarian Skill Levels
+150 to Life
Cold Resist +50%
Lightning Resist +50%
Fire Resist +50%
Poison Resist +50%
Magic Damage Reduced by 10

Perfect Ruby
Required Level: 18
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 15 - 20 Fire Damage
Armor: +38 to Life
Shields: Fire Resist +40%

Perfect Ruby
Required Level: 18
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 15 - 20 Fire Damage
Armor: +38 to Life
Shields: Fire Resist +40%

Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Fingerprint: 0xcf4e35ba
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+236 to Attack Rating
Adds 15 - 45 Cold Damage Over 4 Secs (100 Frames)
+20 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
Cold Absorb 20%
Cannot Be Frozen

Immortal King's Pillar
War Boots
Defense: 283
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Level: 31
Required Strength: 125
Fingerprint: 0x5bed67fb
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+40% Faster Run/Walk
+110 to Attack Rating
+75 Defense
+44 to Life
Set (2 items): 25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Set (3 items): +2 to Combat Skills (Barbarian Only)
Set (4 items): +160 Defense
Set (5 items): Half Freeze Duration

(2 items): +50 to Attack Rating
(3 items): +75 to Attack Rating
(4 items): +125 to Attack Rating
(5 items): +200 to Attack Rating
+3 to Barbarian Skill Levels
+150 to Life
Cold Resist +50%
Lightning Resist +50%
Fire Resist +50%
Poison Resist +50%
Magic Damage Reduced by 10

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0xaf2b009e
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0xd312c4bf
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+19 to Life

Fine Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x1551430f
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Maximum Damage
+12 to Attack Rating

Horadric Cube
Fingerprint: 0x2e517b00
Item Level: 82
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Mara's Kaleidoscope
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Fingerprint: 0x451987a4
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
All Stats +5
All Resistances +24

Immortal King's Soul Cage
Sacred Armor
Defense: 1301
Durability: 60 of 60
Required Level: 76
Required Strength: 232
Fingerprint: 0x29010cef
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
5% Chance to cast level 5 Enchant when struck
+2 to Combat Skills (Barbarian Only)
+400 Defense
+38 to Life
Poison Resist +50%
Set (2 items): +25% Faster Hit Recovery
Set (3 items): Cold Resist +40%
Set (4 items): Fire Resist +40%
Set (5 items): Lightning Resist +40%
Set (6 items): +50% Enhanced Defense
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Perfect Ruby

(2 items): +50 to Attack Rating
(3 items): +75 to Attack Rating
(4 items): +125 to Attack Rating
(5 items): +200 to Attack Rating
+3 to Barbarian Skill Levels
+150 to Life
Cold Resist +50%
Lightning Resist +50%
Fire Resist +50%
Poison Resist +50%
Magic Damage Reduced by 10

Perfect Ruby
Required Level: 18
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 15 - 20 Fire Damage
Armor: +38 to Life
Shields: Fire Resist +40%

Sharp Large Charm of Pestilence
Large Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x315d882f
Item Level: 81
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+5 to Maximum Damage
+47 to Attack Rating
Adds 25 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)

Tome of Town Portal
Fingerprint: 0x5aecd5f5
Item Level: 96
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Sharp Large Charm
Large Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x832824f0
Item Level: 40
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+4 to Maximum Damage
+36 to Attack Rating

Fine Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0xae809c66
Item Level: 57
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Maximum Damage
+15 to Attack Rating

Fine Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0xef7c6f20
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Maximum Damage
+19 to Attack Rating

Fine Small Charm of Inertia
Small Charm
Required Level: 27
Fingerprint: 0x341992a3
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3% Faster Run/Walk
+3 to Maximum Damage
+13 to Attack Rating

Fine Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x8c921577
Item Level: 45
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Maximum Damage
+17 to Attack Rating

Fine Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0xbe8fde18
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Maximum Damage
+18 to Attack Rating

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x2bb2e141
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+19 to Life

Fine Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x23106690
Item Level: 48
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Maximum Damage
+16 to Attack Rating

Fine Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x4c1e6359
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Maximum Damage
+18 to Attack Rating

Fine Small Charm of the Icicle
Small Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x86dadd3
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Maximum Damage
+12 to Attack Rating
Adds 2 - 4 Cold Damage Over 1 Secs (25 Frames)

Fine Small Charm of Strength
Small Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x51aed3ce
Item Level: 81
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Maximum Damage
+19 to Attack Rating
+2 to Strength

Fine Small Charm of Dexterity
Small Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x4a37c6b0
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Maximum Damage
+18 to Attack Rating
+2 to Dexterity

Fine Small Charm of Greed
Small Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0xa2d52e7d
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Maximum Damage
+17 to Attack Rating
6% Extra Gold from Monsters

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x73274693
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+19 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0xcba94da
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0xe793b1b8
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+19 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0xd01d4f37
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+18 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x1b36b3e6
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+19 to Life

Sharp Large Charm of Dexterity
Large Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x953b3a6f
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+4 to Maximum Damage
+48 to Attack Rating
+5 to Dexterity

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x1bcce38e
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+18 to Life

Gheed's Fortune
Grand Charm
Required Level: 62
Fingerprint: 0xc55eb4e0
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
101% Extra Gold from Monsters
Reduces all Vendor Prices 12%
36% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Wisp Projector
Ring
Required Level: 76
Fingerprint: 0xa42bb8cd
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
10% Chance to cast level 16 Lightning on striking
Lightning Absorb 20%
16% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Level 7 Spirit of Barbs (11/11 Charges)
Level 5 Heart of Wolverine (13/13 Charges)
Level 2 Oak Sage (15/15 Charges)

Immortal King's Detail
War Belt
Defense: 247
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 110
Fingerprint: 0x29b33f48
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+36 Defense
+25 to Strength
Lightning Resist +31%
Fire Resist +28%
Set (2 items): +105 Defense
Set (3 items): +25% Faster Hit Recovery
Set (4 items): +100% Enhanced Defense
Set (5 items): Damage Reduced by 20%
Set (6 items): +2 to Masteries Skills (Barbarian Only)

(2 items): +50 to Attack Rating
(3 items): +75 to Attack Rating
(4 items): +125 to Attack Rating
(5 items): +200 to Attack Rating
+3 to Barbarian Skill Levels
+150 to Life
Cold Resist +50%
Lightning Resist +50%
Fire Resist +50%
Poison Resist +50%
Magic Damage Reduced by 10

Spirit
Broad Sword
TalThulOrtAmn
One Hand Damage: 7 - 14
Durability: 32 of 32
Required Level: 25
Required Strength: 48
Fingerprint: 0xae21a68d
Item Level: 69
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+29% Faster Cast Rate
+55% Faster Hit Recovery
Adds 1 - 50 Lightning Damage
Adds 3 - 14 Cold Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
Adds 75 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
7% Life stolen per hit
+250 Defense vs. Missile
+22 to Vitality
+89 to Mana
+3 Magic Absorb
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Amn Rune

Tal Rune
Required Level: 17
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 75 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
Armor: Poison Resist +30%
Shields: Poison Resist +35%

Thul Rune
Required Level: 23
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 3 - 14 Cold Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
Armor: Cold Resist +30%
Shields: Cold Resist +35%

Ort Rune
Required Level: 21
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 1 - 50 Lightning Damage
Armor: Lightning Resist +30%
Shields: Lightning Resist +35%

Amn Rune
Required Level: 25
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 7% Life stolen per hit
Armor: Attacker Takes Damage of 14
Shields: Attacker Takes Damage of 14

Spirit
Superior Broad Sword
TalThulOrtAmn
One Hand Damage: 7 - 15
Durability: 32 of 32
Required Level: 25
Required Strength: 48
Fingerprint: 0x52b5236e
Item Level: 82
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+26% Faster Cast Rate
+55% Faster Hit Recovery
+1 to Maximum Damage
Adds 1 - 50 Lightning Damage
Adds 3 - 14 Cold Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
Adds 75 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
7% Life stolen per hit
+250 Defense vs. Missile
+22 to Vitality
+98 to Mana
+5 Magic Absorb
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Amn Rune

Tal Rune
Required Level: 17
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 75 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
Armor: Poison Resist +30%
Shields: Poison Resist +35%

Thul Rune
Required Level: 23
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 3 - 14 Cold Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
Armor: Cold Resist +30%
Shields: Cold Resist +35%

Ort Rune
Required Level: 21
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 1 - 50 Lightning Damage
Armor: Lightning Resist +30%
Shields: Lightning Resist +35%

Amn Rune
Required Level: 25
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 7% Life stolen per hit
Armor: Attacker Takes Damage of 14
Shields: Attacker Takes Damage of 14

Super Healing Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenish Life +320

Super Healing Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenish Life +320

Super Healing Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenish Life +320

Full Rejuvenation Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 100%
Replenishes Health 100%

Full Rejuvenation Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 100%
Replenishes Health 100%

Super Healing Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenish Life +320

Super Mana Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 250%

Immortal King's Stone Crusher
Ogre Maul
Two Hand Damage: -28209 - 282
Durability: 56 of 60
Required Level: 76
Required Strength: 225
Fingerprint: 0x75b4fc18
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Indestructible
+70% Increased Attack Speed
200% Enhanced Damage
+28 to Maximum Damage
+200% Damage to Demons
+350% Damage to Undead
40% Chance of Crushing Blow
Set (2 items): Adds 211 - 397 Fire Damage
Set (3 items): Adds 7 - 477 Lightning Damage
Set (4 items): Adds 127 - 364 Cold Damage Over 6 Secs (150 Frames)
Set (5 items): Adds 204 Poison Damage Over 6 Secs (150 Frames)
Set (6 items): Adds 250 - 361 Magic Damage
2 Sockets (2 used)
Socketed: Vermilion Jewel of Fervor
Socketed: Vermilion Jewel of Fervor

(2 items): +50 to Attack Rating
(3 items): +75 to Attack Rating
(4 items): +125 to Attack Rating
(5 items): +200 to Attack Rating
+3 to Barbarian Skill Levels
+150 to Life
Cold Resist +50%
Lightning Resist +50%
Fire Resist +50%
Poison Resist +50%
Magic Damage Reduced by 10

Vermilion Jewel of Fervor
Jewel
Required Level: 50
Fingerprint: 0x795fad30
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+15% Increased Attack Speed
+15 to Maximum Damage

Vermilion Jewel of Fervor
Jewel
Required Level: 50
Fingerprint: 0x99af9be6
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+15% Increased Attack Speed
+13 to Maximum Damage

Code:
Mercenary:

Name:       Pratham
Race:       Desert Mercenary
Type:       Off-Nightmare
Experience: 69449592
Level:      83
Dead?:      false

            Naked/Gear
Strength:   183/213
Dexterity:  147/147
HP:         1687/1808
Defense:    1245/2121
AR:         1889/1889

Fire:       182/142/82
Cold:       212/172/112
Lightning:  182/142/82
Poison:    182/142/82

Duriel's Shell
Cuirass
Defense: 659
Durability: 146 of 150
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 65
Fingerprint: 0xc4bee529
Item Level: 59
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+174% Enhanced Defense
+103 Defense (Based on Character Level)
+15 to Strength
+38 to Life
+83 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Cold Resist +30%
All Resistances +20
Cannot Be Frozen
+100 Maximum Durability
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Perfect Ruby

Perfect Ruby
Required Level: 18
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 15 - 20 Fire Damage
Armor: +38 to Life
Shields: Fire Resist +40%


Guillaume's Face
Winged Helm
Defense: 217
Durability: 34 of 40
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 115
Fingerprint: 0xf13f5db0
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+30% Faster Hit Recovery
35% Chance of Crushing Blow
15% Deadly Strike
+120% Enhanced Defense
+15 to Strength
All Resistances +15
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Um Rune


Um Rune
Required Level: 47
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 25% Chance of Open Wounds
Armor: Cold Resist +15%
Lightning Resist +15%
Fire Resist +15%
Poison Resist +15%
Shields: Cold Resist +22%
Lightning Resist +22%
Fire Resist +22%
Poison Resist +22%


The Reaper's Toll
Thresher
Two Hand Damage: 36 - 425
Durability: 65 of 65
Required Level: 75
Required Strength: 114
Required Dexterity: 89
Fingerprint: 0xf6df256f
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
33% Chance to cast level 1 Decrepify on striking
+20% Increased Attack Speed
202% Enhanced Damage
Ignore Target's Defense
Adds 4 - 44 Cold Damage Over 1 Secs (29 Frames)
15% Life stolen per hit
33% Deadly Strike
Requirements -25%
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Shael Rune

Shael Rune
Required Level: 29
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +20% Increased Attack Speed
Armor: +20% Faster Hit Recovery
Shields: +20% Faster Block Rate
 
Originally posted by Milb on May 24, 2010:

Guardian Lomax, Fury Warrior

Basically, I tried to recreate a WoW Fury Warrior in Diablo, and as I've never played one, I took inspiration from the man Lomax. The general gist seems to be spam Whirlwind and try not to die (which I'm better at than he is :p), so thats what I did! Technically, I should have used 2 2handed weapons, but Grief is far too nice to not use (and far too expensive to make a second one in a 2 handed sword!). He's a fairly cookie-cutter Sword wielding WW Barb, had a little chat with RIP pre-making him, so thanks for the help :)

I didn't really enjoy WW much when I first got it, not having a weapon hitting at the maximum speed isn't great, and I felt a bit fragile at times, but when I got into the 50s and twinked on some of the nicer gear, he became a lot more fun. I put his end-game gear on at around level 72/74 I guess when I first got to Hell, ran into the Moor on players1, watched everything melt around me, had a little chuckle to myself, and proceded to do the rest of Hell on players3 or it would have been too comical. The fight with Andariel was faily amusing too, think I levelled to about 80 in the Pits after only having a few minutes to spare at certain points, so a few fast Pit runs were doable rather than questing, so thinking I'd take a while to down her, I whirlwinded through her twice, thinking she'd be on about 75%-80% hp, and she was nearly dead! The insane combination of damage to demons from gloves and weapons and the ed from Fortitude made him an insane bosskiller.

Playing through Hell on p3, I was disappointed by the lack of runes really, not that I was expecting HRs, but the volume was extremely low I felt, and I don't think I found anything higher than a Lum the whole way through. I also horked every champion/unique corpse with about 250 mf I guess and found nothing, wasn't until the Ancients Way I found a nice item, Stone Crusher, which is actually a Grailer. On a side note, by this being a grailer I've decided I have spent too much time rune finding and not enough mf'ing, which leads me to his future. RIP pointed me to this post of his, and I'm basically going to steal his idea and try and make a decent MF Barb, so I'll be respeccing Polearm WW and have fun with Pindle and/or the Pits and seeing what I can find!

Here's the stats anyway:

20 WW, BO, Sword Mastery, 13 Find Item, 5 Shout (rest will be going here), 1 in all the usual places and 1 in Frenzy (love the run speed boost too much to do without!)

LCS

Max damage on my Oath weapon is 489 when used as a 1 hander, if Grief, with an average damage of 400, were displayed correctly I'd guess it would be in the 4.5k-5k damage range per hit on the LCS.

My hellforge luck ran out and I got a Hel for my troubles, checked my screenshot folder and I saw I found an ilvl88 Lightsabre, which I can remember being a slight disappointment at the time.

Code:
Character name  : Lomax
Character type  : Hardcore Barbarian
Character level : 84
Character exp   : 1029096546

Strength        : 130
Energy          : 10
Dexterity       : 92
Vitality        : 283
Stat Points Rem : 0
Skill Points Rem: 0

Life            : 3059 / 1313
Mana            : 398 / 93
Stamina         : 1438 / 433

Gold (Inventory): 51428
Gold (Stash)    : 1646109

Number of Items : 73

3: Steel Grand Charm of Inertia
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x77f1dffd
+90 to Attack Rating
7% Faster Run/Walk

4: Steel Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 50
Fingerprint: 0x80f516b8
+130 to Attack Rating

6: Shadow Circle
Ring
Required Level: 65
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x1475dfc3
+68 to Mana
8% Life stolen per hit
4% Mana stolen per hit
26% Extra Gold from Monsters
8% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

7: Thundergod's Vigor
War Belt
Defense: 141
Durability: 23 of 24
Required Strength: 110
Required Level: 47
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x46f83f49
+20 to Strength
+20 to Vitality
+167% Enhanced Defense
+10% to Maximum Lightning Resist
Adds 1-50 lightning damage
+3 to Lightning Fury (Amazon Only)
+3 to Lightning Strike (Amazon Only)
+20 Lightning Absorb
5% Chance to cast Level 7 Fist of the Heavens when struck

10: Fortitude
Archon Plate
'ElSolDolLo'
Defense: 1488
Durability: 59 of 60
Required Strength: 103
Required Level: 63
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xd40b524d
+200% Enhanced Defense
+300% Enhanced Damage
+15 Defense
Damage Reduced by 7
Fire Resist +30%
Lightning Resist +30%
+5% to Maximum Lightning Resist
Cold Resist +30%
Poison Resist +30%
Replenish Life +7
+1 to Light Radius
25% Faster Cast Rate
12% Damage Taken Goes to Mana
20% Chance to cast Level 15 Chilling Armor when struck
+84 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (4: 4 used)

12: Bronze Small Charm of Inertia
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 66
Fingerprint: 0x68afcea1
+10 to Attack Rating
3% Faster Run/Walk

13: Shimmering Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x263ae87b
All Resistances +13

14: Gore Rider
War Boots
Defense: 158
Durability: 34 of 34
Required Strength: 94
Required Level: 47
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 94
Fingerprint: 0xa4535383
+20 to Maximum Stamina
+194% Enhanced Defense
+10 Maximum Durability
Requirements -25%
30% Faster Run/Walk
10% Chance of Open Wounds
15% Chance of Crushing Blow
15% Deadly Strike

15: Amber Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x37fd23
Lightning Resist +10%

16: Mara's Kaleidoscope
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xcaeb409d
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
All Resistances +22
+2 to All Skill Levels

17: Coral Small Charm of Balance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x2a3ccfa3
Lightning Resist +8%
5% Faster Hit Recovery

18: Coral Small Charm of Balance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xd04db73
Lightning Resist +9%
5% Faster Hit Recovery

19: Arreat's Face
Slayer Guard
Defense: 360
Durability: 52 of 55
(Barbarian Only)
Required Strength: 118
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xf8fb5d06
+20 to Strength
+20 to Dexterity
+198% Enhanced Defense
All Resistances +30
5% Life stolen per hit
24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 to Barbarian Skill Levels
30% Faster Hit Recovery
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
+2 to Combat Skills (Barbarian Only)
Socketed (1: 1 used)

20: Steel Grand Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 69
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x342b7cd9
+36 to Life
+113 to Attack Rating

21: Coral Small Charm of Good Luck
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 33
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x83c684d1
Lightning Resist +8%
6% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

22: Steel Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 60
Fingerprint: 0x1272247d
+128 to Attack Rating

23: Gheed's Fortune
Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 62
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xc2ac0214
146% Extra Gold from Monsters
32% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Reduces All Vendor Prices 13%

28: Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xffd035ae
+20 to Life

29: Shimmering Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 99
Fingerprint: 0xfcb949d8
All Resistances +14

30: Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x3bc28240
+19 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
+213 to Attack Rating
Adds 15-45 cold damage over 4 seconds
20% Cold Absorb
Cannot Be Frozen

59: Ghoulhide
Heavy Bracers
Defense: 117
Durability: 15 of 16
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 36
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x2491dc0
+20 to Life
+162% Enhanced Defense
5% Mana stolen per hit
168% Damage to Undead (Based on Character Level)
672% Bonus to Attack Rating Against Undead (Based on Character Level)

61: Laying of Hands
Bramble Mitts
Defense: 82
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 63
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xd3897ed0
+25 Defense
Fire Resist +50%
20% Increased Attack Speed
350% Damage to Demons
10% Chance to cast Level 3 Holy Bolt on striking

70: Grief
Phase Blade
'EthTirLoMalRal'
One-Hand Damage: 31 to 35
Required Dexterity: 136
Required Strength: 25
Required Level: 59
Sword Class - Fastest Attack Speed
Indestructible
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xf4d44a8a
Adds 5-30 fire damage
+15 Life after each Kill
34% Increased Attack Speed
Adds +379 Damage
Ignore Target Defense
-25% Target Defense
Prevent Monster Heal
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
20% Deadly Strike
35% Chance to cast Level 15 Venom on striking
157% Damage to Demons (Based on Character Level)
-25% to Enemy Poison Resistance
Socketed (5: 5 used)

71: Oath
Balrog Blade
'ShaelPulMalLum'
One-Hand Damage: 96 to 489
Two-Hand Damage: 358 to 773
Required Dexterity: 77
Required Strength: 175
Required Level: 53
Sword Class - Fastest Attack Speed
Indestructible
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 79
Fingerprint: 0xb2b48c1a
+10 to Energy
+337% Enhanced Damage
50% Increased Attack Speed
Prevent Monster Heal
75% Damage to Demons
+100 to Attack Rating against Demons
+14 Magic Absorb
Indestructible
30% Chance to cast Level 20 Bone Spirit on striking
Level 16 Heart of Wolverine (20/20 Charges)
Level 17 Iron Golem (14/14 Charges)
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (4: 4 used)

72: Blade of Ali Baba
Tulwar
One-Hand Damage: 29 to 64
Durability: 32 of 32
Required Dexterity: 42
Required Strength: 70
Required Level: 35
Sword Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xd00af207
+7 to Dexterity
+15 to Mana
+84% Enhanced Damage
210% Extra Gold (Based on Character Level)
84% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (2: 0 used)

73: Blade of Ali Baba
Tulwar
One-Hand Damage: 26 to 57
Durability: 31 of 32
Required Dexterity: 42
Required Strength: 70
Required Level: 35
Sword Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x288ec402
+9 to Dexterity
+15 to Mana
+64% Enhanced Damage
210% Extra Gold (Based on Character Level)
84% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (2: 0 used)
Code:
(Might) Mercenary Items : 

1: Shaftstop
Boneweave
Defense: 2094
Durability: 32 of 45
Required Strength: 148
Required Level: 54
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x4eef1f78
+60 to Life
+193% Enhanced Defense
+250 Defense vs. Missile
Damage Reduced by 30%
Required Level +7
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired)

2: Guillaume's Face
Winged Helm
Defense: 217
Durability: 29 of 40
Required Strength: 115
Required Level: 34
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xb8b108ab
+15 to Strength
+120% Enhanced Defense
30% Faster Hit Recovery
35% Chance of Crushing Blow
15% Deadly Strike

3: The Reaper's Toll
Thresher
Two-Hand Damage: 38 to 452
Durability: 40 of 65
Required Dexterity: 89
Required Strength: 114
Required Level: 75
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x8d8a7e76
+221% Enhanced Damage
Adds 4-44 cold damage over 1 seconds
12% Life stolen per hit
Requirements -25%
Ignore Target Defense
33% Deadly Strike
33% Chance to cast Level 1 Decrepify on striking

And since my last thread where I said I wasn't going to make any more Guardians, I actually made a sorc too, she doesn't really deserve a write up, named Expendabelle, as I could care less if she died, but she's found me a nice stack of runes anyway (Ber, Sur, Ohm, 2 Vexes and more). LCS on killing Baal, and here's her ATMA dump:

Code:
Character name  : Expendabelle
Character type  : Hardcore Sorceress
Character level : 79
Character exp   : 652369044

Strength        : 92
Energy          : 35
Dexterity       : 192
Vitality        : 166
Stat Points Rem : 0
Skill Points Rem: 0

Life            : 830 / 490
Mana            : 418 / 191
Stamina         : 355 / 308

Gold (Inventory): 13392
Gold (Stash)    : 2009549

Number of Items : 72

1: Crimson Small Charm of Frost
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 10
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 17
Fingerprint: 0xe397654b
Fire Resist +3%
Adds 1-2 cold damage over 1 seconds

2: Tangerine Small Charm of Frost
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 10
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 19
Fingerprint: 0x78022131
Lightning Resist +5%
Adds 1-2 cold damage over 1 seconds

3: Dread Grasp
Ring
Required Level: 13
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0x79071f7a
+1 to Dexterity
+10 to Maximum Stamina
Damage Reduced by 2
Lightning Resist +26%
Poison Resist +11%
10% Faster Cast Rate

4: Russet Small Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 14
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 57
Fingerprint: 0xf35f27ca
+5 to Life
Fire Resist +6%

5: Mara's Kaleidoscope
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x5dd2cfe4
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
All Resistances +21
+2 to All Skill Levels

6: Raven Circle
Ring
Required Level: 21
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x34ea605d
+84 to Attack Rating
+2 to Minimum Damage
Fire Resist +30%
Lightning Resist +5%
10% Faster Cast Rate
12% Chance to cast Level 4 Nova when struck

7: Snake's Grand Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xb77b8b07
+30 to Life
+37 to Mana

8: Grand Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 69
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 83
Fingerprint: 0x1ca5efef
+39 to Life

9: Grand Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 69
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xc1502738
+40 to Life

10: Grand Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 69
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xdf46c17d
+39 to Life

11: Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x79950594
+19 to Life

12: Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x36085e40
+19 to Life

13: Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xab48d05f
+17 to Life

14: String of Ears
Demonhide Sash
Defense: 113
Durability: 20 of 22
Required Strength: 20
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x6a67a747
+180% Enhanced Defense
+15 Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 10
Damage Reduced by 15%
6% Life stolen per hit
+10 Maximum Durability

19: Ocher Small Charm of Strength
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 10
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 11
Fingerprint: 0x57ffed2a
+1 to Strength
Lightning Resist +6%

20: Trang-Oul's Claws
Heavy Bracers
Defense: 74
Durability: 13 of 16
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0xbeb374f4
+30 Defense
Cold Resist +30%
20% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Curses (Necromancer Only)
+25% to Poison Skill Damage

21: Grand Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 69
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xf4995027
+39 to Life

24: Gheed's Fortune
Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 62
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x51a54026
98% Extra Gold from Monsters
33% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Reduces All Vendor Prices 12%

32: Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xe2687115
+19 to Life

39: Death Visage
Coronet
Defense: 37
Durability: 25 of 30
Required Level: 67
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xc6156226
+2 to Strength
+77 to Mana
+7 to Maximum Damage
Magic Damage Reduced by 3
All Resistances +17
+2 to Sorceress Skill Levels

41: War Traveler
Battle Boots
Defense: 136
Durability: 48 of 48
Required Strength: 95
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x31f3d3f5
+10 to Strength
+10 to Vitality
+184% Enhanced Defense
+15 to Minimum Damage
+25 to Maximum Damage
+30 Maximum Durability
Attacker Takes Damage of 10
38% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
25% Faster Run/Walk
40% Slower Stamina Drain

52: Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x2f23eb17
+17 to Life

58: Skin of the Vipermagi
Serpentskin Armor
Defense: 279
Durability: 17 of 24
Required Strength: 43
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x3c68c65b
+120% Enhanced Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 11
All Resistances +28
30% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to All Skill Levels

70: Harmony
Heavy Crossbow
'TirIthSolKo'
Two-Hand Damage: 55 to 95
Required Dexterity: 40
Required Strength: 60
Required Level: 39
Crossbow Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xa668e89d
+10 to Dexterity
+232% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
+9 to Maximum Damage
Regenerate Mana 20%
Adds 55-160 fire damage
Adds 55-160 lightning damage
Adds 55-160 cold damage over 2 seconds
+2 to Light Radius
+2 to Valkyrie
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 10 Vigor Aura When Equipped
Level 20 Revive (25/25 Charges)
Socketed (4: 4 used)

71: Spirit
Crystal Sword
'TalThulOrtAmn'
One-Hand Damage: 5 to 15
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Strength: 43
Required Level: 25
Sword Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xd5a816a
+22 to Vitality
+103 to Mana
+250 Defense vs. Missile
Adds 1-50 lightning damage
Adds 3-14 cold damage over 3 seconds
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
7% Life stolen per hit
55% Faster Hit Recovery
35% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to All Skill Levels
+3 Magic Absorb
Socketed (4: 4 used)

72: Moser's Blessed Circle
Luna
Defense: 336
Chance to Block:  65%
Durability: 79 of 84
Required Strength: 100
Required Level: 52
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0xb7d6a7ad
+212% Enhanced Defense
+25% Increased Chance of Blocking
All Resistances +63
Required Level +7
30% Faster Block Rate
Socketed (2: 2 used)

Mercenary Items : 

1: Treachery
Wire Fleece
'ShaelThulLem'
Defense: 444
Durability: 22 of 32
Required Strength: 111
Required Level: 53
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 79
Fingerprint: 0x279f9bcc
Cold Resist +30%
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
45% Increased Attack Speed
20% Faster Hit Recovery
25% Chance to cast Level 15 Venom on striking
5% Chance to cast Level 15 Fade when struck
Socketed (3: 3 used)

2: Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Death Mask
Defense: 120
Durability: 19 of 20
Required Strength: 55
Required Level: 66
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x6a0c8a07
+60 to Life
+30 to Mana
+45 Defense
All Resistances +15
10% Life stolen per hit
10% Mana stolen per hit

3: Insight
Superior Thresher
'RalTirTalSol'
Two-Hand Damage: 49 to 470
Durability: 73 of 73
Required Dexterity: 118
Required Strength: 152
Required Level: 53
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x6245b327
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
+224% Enhanced Damage
+10% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
Adds 5-30 fire damage
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
Increase Maximum Durability 13%
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+6 to Critical Strike
35% Faster Cast Rate
182% Bonus to Attack Rating
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 12 Meditation Aura When Equipped
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Just noticed some of the comedy small charms on her, will replace those I think!

Anyways, time to stop drivelling on and respec the Barb, thanks to all for reading (especially if you got this far), RIP for the guidance, hope you are well mate :)

Milb 👍
 
Originally posted by nermind on Oct 20, 2009:

Guardian #2 - Rocky the "Overgrown" [LoD v1.09]

Hello:wave: reader, let me tell you what has kept me busy for the last few days.
Be aware that this post is full of so known haX, so if you keep reading don`t tell me I didn`t warn you 😉

For those who don`t have much time to waste trying to figure out what I want to say with my little wall of text I`ll start with the stats (naked[with gear&BO]):

LCS

Character name : Rocky
Character type : Hardcore Barbarian
Character level : 85
Character exp : 1056880441

Strength : 153 [153]
Energy : 10 [10]
Dexterity : 20 [88]
Vitality : 337 [803]
Stat Points Rem : 0
Skill Points Rem: 0

Life : 1531 [9738]
Mana : 94 [301]

Skills:
Battle Orders - 20 [30-with BO switch]
Mace Mastery - 20 [24]
Iron Skin - 14 [18]
Natural Resistances - 9 [13]
Increased Speed - 1 [5]
Whirlwind - 20 [24]
Berserk - 1 [5]
+prerequisites

Inventory:
Code:
1: Angelic Wings
Amulet
Required Level: 12
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x317b0737
+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***


2: Angelic Halo
Ring
Required Level: 12
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 61
Fingerprint: 0x4dcb77f2
+20 to Life
Lightning Resist +20%
Replenish Life +6

***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
+1020 to Attack Rating (12 per Character Level)
50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***


3: M'avina's Tenet
Sharkskin Belt
Defense: 84
Durability: 5 of 14
Required Strength: 20
Required Level: 45
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x486fd065
+50 Defense
14% Mana stolen per hit
+5 to Light Radius
40% Faster Run/Walk

4: Harlequin Crest
Shako
Defense: 286
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 62
Indestructible
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x241fbd60
+100% Enhanced Defense
Increase Maximum Life 40%
74% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 to All Skill Levels
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Perfect Topaz
Inserted into a Shako

24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Required Level: 18
Item Version: Expansion

5: Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0xf8798690
+20 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
+244 to Attack Rating
Adds 15-45 cold damage over 4 seconds
20% Cold Absorb
Cannot Be Frozen

6: Grim Greaves
Greaves
Defense: 24
Durability: 20 of 24
Required Strength: 70
Required Level: 38
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x18ef407f
+8 to Dexterity
+47% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +36%
Cold Resist +36%
30% Faster Run/Walk
Half Freeze Duration

7: Doom Grip
Heavy Gloves
Defense: 5
Durability: 8 of 14
Required Level: 49
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 65
Fingerprint: 0x7ee6fa26
Cold Resist +18%
20% Life stolen per hit
5% Chance of Crushing Blow
+2  to Passive and Magic Skills (Amazon Only)

8: Arkaine's Valor
Balrog Skin
Defense: 1557
Required Strength: 140
Required Level: 85
Indestructible
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x787fedec
+200% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +62%
+2 to All Skill Levels
Requirements -15%
30% Faster Hit Recovery
+170 to Life (2 per Character Level)
+212 to Vitality (2.5 per Character Level)
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Garnet Jewel of Freedom
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x51273ca2
Fire Resist +12%
Requirements -15%

9: Echoing War Axe
One-Hand Damage: 10 to 18
Durability: 26 of 26
Required Strength: 67
Required Level: 45
Axe Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 91
Fingerprint: 0x7b7b3f1a
+3  to Warcry Skills (Barbarian Only)

10: Echoing War Axe
One-Hand Damage: 10 to 18
Durability: 26 of 26
Required Strength: 67
Required Level: 45
Axe Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 94
Fingerprint: 0x550d33e5
+3  to Warcry Skills (Barbarian Only)

11: Baranar's Star
Devil Star
One-Hand Damage: 132 to 162
Required Dexterity: 44
Required Strength: 153
Required Level: 65
Mace Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Indestructible
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x52501e19
+15 to Dexterity
+200% Enhanced Damage
+31 Defense
45% Increased Attack Speed
200% Bonus to Attack Rating
150% Damage to Undead
10% Chance to cast Level 5 Meteor on striking
+127 to Vitality (1.5 per Character Level)
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Bone Jewel of Fervor
Required Level: 31
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x3ab71cad
+31 Defense
15% Increased Attack Speed

12: Baranar's Star
Devil Star
One-Hand Damage: 132 to 162
Required Dexterity: 44
Required Strength: 153
Required Level: 65
Mace Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Indestructible
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x554dc36a
+15 to Dexterity
+200% Enhanced Damage
+4 Defense
45% Increased Attack Speed
200% Bonus to Attack Rating
150% Damage to Undead
10% Chance to cast Level 5 Meteor on striking
+127 to Vitality (1.5 per Character Level)
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Blanched Jewel of Fervor
Required Level: 31
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x154c83ee
+4 Defense
15% Increased Attack Speed

Charms (+2x4 free space, set of keys&both tomes):
Code:
1: Serrated Grand Charm of Maiming
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 37
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0xaf6e3d0
+34 to Maximum Damage

2: Serrated Grand Charm of Maiming
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x6b28e849
+37 to Maximum Damage

3: Sharp Grand Charm of Maiming
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 37
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x64e90456
+50 to Attack Rating
+29 to Maximum Damage

4: Shimmering Grand Charm of Craftmanship
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 27
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x1846583f
+8 to Maximum Damage
All Resistances +16

5: Forked Large Charm of Maiming
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 40
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x4a1c39fc
+20 to Maximum Damage

6: Serrated Large Charm of Maiming
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 42
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x7ed9d4ae
+20 to Maximum Damage

7: Serrated Large Charm of Quality
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 42
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x3c7fe0f4
+20 to Maximum Damage

8: Shimmering Large Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 26
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x29dc7572
+15 to Life
All Resistances +13

9: Bloody Small Charm of Maiming
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 50
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x40a8209b
+3 to Minimum Damage
+5 to Maximum Damage

10: Fine Small Charm of Maiming
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 43
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x2ffb9cc7
+20 to Attack Rating
+8 to Maximum Damage

11: Bloody Small Charm of Maiming
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 50
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x5f3764a
+3 to Minimum Damage
+6 to Maximum Damage

12: Forked Small Charm of Maiming
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 43
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0xa55b1cf
+9 to Maximum Damage

13: Forked Small Charm of Maiming
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 43
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 78
Fingerprint: 0x45c5f0f2
+9 to Maximum Damage

14: Serrated Small Charm of Maiming
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 45
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x6c5aa8fb
+11 to Maximum Damage

15: Shimmering Small Charm of Quality
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 28
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x21f954f7
+4 to Maximum Damage
All Resistances +6

Might Mercenary:
Code:
1: Duriel's Shell
Cuirass
'Um'
Defense: 715
Durability: 150 of 150
Required Strength: 65
Required Level: 47
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0xe863d647
+15 to Strength
+199% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +35%
Lightning Resist +35%
Cold Resist +65%
Poison Resist +35%
+100 Maximum Durability
Cannot Be Frozen
+106 to Defense (1.25 per Character Level)
+85 to Life (1 per Character Level)
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Um Rune
Inserted into a Cuirass

All Resistances +15

Required Level: 47
Item Version: Expansion

2: Vampire Gaze
Grim Helm
'Um'
Defense: 254
Durability: 40 of 40
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 47
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x1e5dce26
+100% Enhanced Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 15
Damage Reduced by 25%
All Resistances +15
8% Life stolen per hit
8% Mana stolen per hit
15% Slower Stamina Drain
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Um Rune
Inserted into a Grim Helm

All Resistances +15

Required Level: 47
Item Version: Expansion

3: Cruel War Pike
'EthShaelShael'
Two-Hand Damage: 114 to 605
Durability: 25 of 25
Required Dexterity: 106
Required Strength: 165
Required Level: 66
Spear Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 94
Fingerprint: 0x61a96821
+238% Enhanced Damage
40% Increased Attack Speed
-25% Target Defense
Socketed (3: 3 used)

Eth Rune
Inserted into a War Pike

-25% Target Defense

Required Level: 15
Item Version: Expansion

Shael Rune
Inserted into a War Pike

20% Increased Attack Speed

Required Level: 29
Item Version: Expansion

Shael Rune
Inserted into a War Pike

20% Increased Attack Speed

Required Level: 29
Item Version: Expansion




The Birth.

It all started in the ... Durance of Hate! Mephisto was as evil as he had never been before (ok ok, this was actually the first time I got so serious about running him) and my MF sorc failed to find a single Titan's Revenge (my MF was slowly growing and had reached ~520% @p3 so I "should" have found about 4 of them) when I was aiming for two stacks of them.

Best thing I could think of in such situation was to take a break. No, it would be foolish not to play D2, right? So I decided to do something I hadn`t done for quite some time (its been a few months since GwE tourney) - actually play the game!

Thats why theres the #2 in title - this is only my second character I`ve taken through the whole game without any MP or rushing, I`m not counting plenty of others that are Guardians only technically.

It didn`t take long to decide the class and roughly plan the build. I love whirlwind ever since I tried it in 1.07 with my GFer. But the character was rushed and never did much killing outside the Travincal, so I still had a lot to try out and discover about this wonderful skill, and this was a good opportunity for that (I`m usually too obsessed with farming to find some time for characters that have no "end-game use").

Just like for almost any barbarian the most important part of equipment is The Weapon. Two of them in this case. The choice was easy - while playing 1.07 I got extremely lucky finding 2 (!) Baranar's Stars without actually looking for them - one dropped in a few rack-runs while I was just testing the stability of a newly found rack and second (iirc) came from a completely random rack. While these weapons have some insane stats (1.5 vitality per level) they are clearly too weak compared to the worst of 1.12 runewords, but turned out to be just fine for 1.09 where monsters don`t have so much life. Add the fact that in pre-1.10 BO multiplies life and vitality based on level and you have an excellent base for building an overgrown barb.

The core of this build included two other life-orientated items - 07 shako with +40% life and 07 Arkaines (+2.5 Vitality per level & +2 life per level), although I failed to equip the last of them before beating Hell Baal.

Sounded pretty safe for my first melee guardian attempt, unless I mess something up in CS, so I didn`t think much more and Rocky (not very original, but it just came to my mind... seemed to fit a sturdy and powerful warrior) was born.

Childhood.

This was quite fun - as I didn`t have much experience with twinking he used lots of items that seemed good for the level he was - from (almost) full Sigon`s to 7X +14 max dmg GCs from 1.07 (req lvl 22 - this is almost the same as using Raven Claw in 1.10+ 👍).
Almost all of the Normal (except act 3) I used Safety Crafted Khalim's Will (no typos - 1.07 crafting can do wonders...) and Safety Crafted Khalim's Flail - ~20 PDR & MDR made him invulnerable pretty much all the way through Normal.
After finding a helm with +Double Swing and equipping some +dmg charms as well as with some points in Mace Mastery early on the progress was fast.

Changed to dual Aldur's Rhythm both socketed with 15% IAS jewels to reach 2 frame whirlwind and whirled all the way through NM, upgrading his equipment with what I had found in 1.07 & ~2.5K Meph runs in 1.09. This was even faster than Normal. Played mostly on p8, dropping to p1 from time to time for some bosses and ancients (although that wasn`t really necessary, but I was in a rush).

Growing big as Hell.
I really wanted to equip all the +vitality items before beating most of the Hell, but I failed with that - leveling to 85 for Arkaines was too tedious even in Hell act1, so I ended up doing ~ 500 Pindleruns to get him to 85.
Before that he used Skullders, otherwise the equipment was almost the same as listed at the beginning of this post.

Hell was played @p8 all the way, including all the bosses and Ancients with the only exception being CS for well known reasons - he didn`t feel that big. With respectable damage (thanks to some charms as well as the Mastery Bug), good defense, extreme life, ~20% life leech and high mana leech he was a real powerhouse with or without Arkaines and his life bulb stayed full 99% of the time.

The only place he didn`t feel himself comfortable was (of course) CS.
I used the same tactics on all difficulties - leaped straight to the seals, opened them and killed only the seal bosses with Berserk, tanking everything else thanks to high life & stun from leap - best I could think of having no War Cry or high enough Howl.
Luckily this worked.

Weapons are socketed with +defense & IAS jewels instead of plain ones just for some style :)
Too bad I couldn`t Eth them and forget about AR (thanks to Eth bug in 1.09) without sacrificing 2 frame whirlwind, but Angelic combo helped me out here - 20% damage to mana was often useful too. The Angelic ring with 20% lightning resistance is once again from 1.07.

I know that noone usually recommends frw or CNB for whirlers but I got both of them on purpose - I prefer to have full control over my character and after all - being faster doesnt decrease your actual DPS unless you`re whirling out of the monster pack, so as long as I`m accurate with whirling I feel better staying fast. Especially if most monsters died from one whirlwind anyway :)

The skill placement is pretty simple, the last skill points went into Iron Skin as Shout has very low duration in 1.09 and Arkaines has very good defense to boost.

Any finds?

I expected a little more from doing Hell @p8 & with ~200% MF, but there were very little good drops (so little that nothing worth mentioning comes to mind right now), best being some charms like 7% MF sc that my sorc will love when I get back to running Mephisto.

Future plans:
1. Back to Mephisto, hes got to drop that Titans!
2. LF zon. I used a bowazon in 1.07 cows, now I want to try this more popular version of cowrunner.
3. Leveling sorc (or two) for 1.10 betas.
And so on...I`ve got much more plans than time for them :whistling:

Thanks for reading:thumbup:

nermind
 
Originally posted by Nightfish on Jul 25, 2005:

Guardian #18 / 49

Well, it's been a while since my last one but here we go again. This time the char is mostly standard except for one detail, his weapons. Presenting,

Guaridan Butzull - Level 79 Barbarian

(tribute to Butzull, who originally inspired me to try my hand at my own sept and was a general asset to the forum. Of all the people that left he's one of those I miss the most. Great guy.)

Stats:
Str: 160
Dex: 90
Vit: 225

Skills:
20 WW
1 Berserk
20 BO
20 Shout
1 BC
4 Find Item
1 Nat Res

Spare: 14


Gear
W: Fleshripper (Shael) / Fleshripper (Shael)
Helm: Guillaume's
Armour: Fortitude Boneweave
Belt: SoE:
Gloves: LoH:
Boots: Gore Rider
Ammy: Highlord's Wrath
Ring: Rare 8% LL, 6% ML, Resis, etc
Ring:Rare 8% LL, 100 AR, etc

Charms: AR & Resis

All that good stuff gives him about:
600-2150 damage per hand at a 2.5 FPA Whirlwind
3500 AR
12k Defence
2.2k Life
Target Defense: -75%
Open Wounds: 60%
Deadly Strike: 93%
Crushing Blow: 75%
Slow Target: 20%

Might Merc using Eth Crescent Moon Thresher, Shaftstop, Vamp Gaze

Best Finds : Gul (Hellforge), 5% Res All Small Charm (Grand Vizier of Chaos; Hell)

Thoughts:
Mine and everybody's favorite part (yeah, right :p). I get to ramble about my char. Well, if you read the thread and noticed his weapons you're probably thinking Nightfish has gone nuts to whirl with freaking daggers when it's common knowledge that they have range 1 and you want range 5 for WW. Quite frankly, having played this char I'm kinda like "WTF" about the range thing. This build, well this setup, kills pretty fast, and I never noticed the range being too short, compared to say, my IK Barb. The fact that daggers have no mastery is more than offset by fleshripper's deadly strike and -target defence.

Now, for his journey through the game... Through normal he had the company of corpsie's paladin and necromancer as we "rushed" our chars. I say "rushed" because it ended up taking at least as long as regular questing. At least nobody died, always a plus. Nightmare was equally uneventful, I bypassed lots of stuff and killed only what I needed. Leveled to 68 at NM Baal and entered hell once able to equip my endgame gear.

Hell itself was pretty uneventful. As long as he can leech, he doesn't die, even if amp'd. The only real problem is iron maiden. Before entering the chaos sanctuary I haxxed myself a char to test several strategies for that place as I was too low level to howl stuff, which is my usual way of getting barbs through the CS. One thing I tried was zerking with a bonehew and CEing when something died. Didn't really work out as I had hoped since the wraith type monsters drain your mana and you're still killing yourself if you're unlucky. I then tested various throwing weapons and ended up using all 4 of my demon's arches with a regular throwing attack and angelic / enchant combo. Killing was slow but at least it was perfectly safe. I think I should have put one point in double throw.

The ancients went down in under a minute. Big surprise with the massive CB and 12 attacks per second... I'd love to tell some exciting stories but there wasn't really anything. He just kills stuff pretty well and doesn't really fear anything. He doesn't really like stuff he can't leech and he's not too thrilled about iron maiden. I'm not sure whether to even attempt the WS K with him. It's probably better not to.

One question that remains is what to do with him now. I think I'll spend the remaining points on find item and polearm mastery and give him one of my 3s Tomb Reavers once he hits 84 and turn him into an MF oddball. Will be nice to compare him to my upcoming IK Whirler. Final verdict on him will be passed when I see how he performs at MFing but for now I'm happy with him. Finally found a good way to use the fleshrippers and playing the char was good fun. Not as good as my WWsin but still nice.


Which brings me right to the next question people sometimes ask when I post my guardians: "What's next?" Well, I've still got my (ugly) mauler bear parked in act 2 NM and there he'll stay for now. I've got a Fanatic Zealot in mid nightmare, my IK Whirler in late nightmare and a bunch of chars in early normal.

And there's my below level 90 chars that still want to MF some more. Just picked up a very leet +3 bonespear wand that will get 2 sockets from lazurk which will then go to my golemmancer.

(On a sidenote, I might be off on the count of guardians, didn't take off my shoes this time so it's possible I miscounted. :teeth: If I didn't I'm now more than 1/3 of the way to the septuple sept. )

Well, thanks for reading.
Cheers,
Nightfish
 
Originally posted by PandadudeSP on Feb 25, 2016:

Guardian Whirler

Ive never made a guardian barb before, and in general never really understood the class while playing on ladder in the old days. I made a whirlwind barb because I liked the idea of applying aoe CB twice every 4 frames. My plan was to use oath, but I could never find a good base and went with some lesser options instead.

Normal difficulty was boring, playing twinked but basically just using khalims flail and lvl 1 concentrate until level 30 where I could use dual bloodletters and whirlwind. He was using goblin toe + rattlecage for massive CB, had good DR with string of ears and a rockstopper + good life overall. I didn't have stacked resists though, and once he entered hell I had to change his gear to get resists and AR (I'd just lost a good deal of resist charms deeding a sorc). Rattlecage was traded out for a lionheart (i figured all the stats/life > +20 res from smoke), string for credendum, Angelics jewelry for AR, Tals helm to make up for the lost leech. My NM HF was a pul that I used to upgrade a P butchers pupil, and the best I could do for a companion weapon was the passion runeword. I didn't have a 4os war spike, so the weapon only reached 6 frame attacks. My gimmershreds wouldve hit the same speed, but I think I figured the lower range would be annoying? Can't quite remember my reasoning. I farmed the pits to level 80 and continued on my quest. Blind and monster flee did end up being very useful, providing some crowd control while whirling. Vs slow monsters the fear would send them running the same way I was whirling giving me more hits, but vs fast monsters (gloams / blood lords) it would be quite annoying since they would outrun me. I wasn't running any CBF so I would sometimes get stuck in some pretty long whirls which were scary when you can't use potions mid-whirl. I did S&E once mid-whirl in pits 2 :oops:. PIs were a pain when they came in packs, since berserking with 0 defense and 0 leech isn't very safe.

Some NDE: Tal Rashas Tomb, Cursed Wraith + Champion Blunderbuss (busses?). Ancients way, lots of champion death lords while I was cursed, ended up using 2 rows of rejuvs here. The ancients, I couldnt really split them up and ended up being attacked by all 3 at once while cursed.

WSK2 had a pack of conviction black souls, but I took another route and walked around them :p Throne also had burning souls, but these were more of a hassle than a real threat. Baal's minions were all easy enough, lister was cursed but I managed to split his minions a bit. No screenshots since I still can't get them to work!

Notable finds: Pul and Mal hellforges is pretty good, a tals amulet farming gold off NM travincal, some useful sets and uniques (trangs, IK, mav gloves, another guillys face etc.) but nothing really rare.

Character
Code:
Character name  : Whirler
Character type  : Hardcore Barbarian
Character level : 82

Strength        : 110 / 146
Energy          : 10 / 30
Dexterity       : 58 / 104
Vitality        : 317 / 337
Life             : 1769 / 3626
Stat Points Rem : 10
Skill Points Rem: 0
Reists: 75 / 52 / 73 / 59

20 Whirlwind
1 Berserk
20 BO
19 Shout
1 Battle Command
3 Find Item
15 Axe Mastery
3 Natural Resistance
1 Increased Speed

Gear
Code:
4: Lionheart
Diamond Mail
'HelLumFal'
Defense: 406
Durability: 22 of 26
Required Strength: 111
Required Level: 54
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xd0ce933a
+25 to Strength
+10 to Energy
+15 to Dexterity
+20 to Vitality
+50 to Life
+20% Enhanced Damage
All Resistances +30
Requirements -15%
Socketed (3: 3 used)

5: Goblin Toe
Light Plated Boots
Defense: 33
Durability: 18 of 18
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 22
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 40
Fingerprint: 0xbc13e360
+56% Enhanced Defense
+15 Defense
Damage Reduced by 1
Magic Damage Reduced by 1
-1 to Light Radius
25% Chance of Crushing Blow

6: Angelic Wings
Amulet
Required Level: 12
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0xf7bbe57d
+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***


7: Angelic Halo
Ring
Required Level: 12
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 52
Fingerprint: 0x8e6f3f96
+20 to Life
Replenish Life +6

***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
+984 to Attack Rating (Based on Character Level)
50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***

16: Laying of Hands
Bramble Mitts
Defense: 80
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 63
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 74
Fingerprint: 0x36bbf1ec
+25 Defense
Fire Resist +50%
20% Increased Attack Speed
350% Damage to Demons
10% Chance to cast Level 3 Holy Bolt on striking

17: Skull Knot
Ring
Required Level: 31
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 60
Fingerprint: 0x8dbd28a0
+10 to Energy
+7 to Dexterity
+36 to Attack Rating
+1 to Maximum Damage
Fire Resist +7%
Lightning Resist +18%


22: Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Death Mask
Defense: 107
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Strength: 55
Required Level: 66
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 55
Fingerprint: 0xe5807de0
+60 to Life
+30 to Mana
+45 Defense
All Resistances +15
10% Life stolen per hit
10% Mana stolen per hit

24: Credendum
Mithril Coil
Defense: 111
Durability: 15 of 16
Required Strength: 106
Required Level: 65
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x50c7bee3
+10 to Strength
+10 to Dexterity
+50 Defense
All Resistances +15

72: Butcher's Pupil
Small Crescent
'Shael'
One-Hand Damage: 144 to 230
Required Dexterity: 83
Required Strength: 115
Required Level: 52
Axe Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Indestructible
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 79
Fingerprint: 0xf9042691
+200% Enhanced Damage
+30 to Minimum Damage
+50 to Maximum Damage
Required Level +7
50% Increased Attack Speed
25% Chance of Open Wounds
35% Deadly Strike
Indestructible
Socketed (1: 1 used)

73: Passion
Superior Ettin Axe
'DolOrtEldLem'
One-Hand Damage: 104 to 209
Durability: 18 of 24
Required Dexterity: 45
Required Strength: 145
Required Level: 52
Axe Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 79
Fingerprint: 0xcc29b375
+208% Enhanced Damage
+9% Enhanced Damage
Adds 1-50 lightning damage
75% Extra Gold from Monsters
25% Increased Attack Speed
+1 to Zeal
+1 to Berserk
Hit Causes Monster to Flee 25%
Hit Blinds Target +10
55% Bonus to Attack Rating
75% Damage to Undead
+50 to Attack Rating against Undead
Level 3 Heart of Wolverine (12/12 Charges)
Socketed (4: 4 used)

67: Resonant Glaive of Carnage
Throw Damage: 16 to 36
One-Hand Damage: 5 to 31
Quantity: 40
Required Dexterity: 35
Required Strength: 52
Required Level: 30
Javelin Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 79
Fingerprint: 0x1682f2e6
+14 to Maximum Damage
+2 to Warcry Skills (Barbarian Only)

68: Echoing Balanced Knife of Quality
Throw Damage: 6 to 13
One-Hand Damage: 1 to 10
Quantity: 160
Required Dexterity: 51
Required Level: 45
Dagger Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 79
Fingerprint: 0xd8b77b64
+2 to Maximum Damage
+3 to Warcry Skills (Barbarian Only)
[/spoiler]

Charms [code]
8: Sharp Large Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 21
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xb98459e3
+23 to Attack Rating
+4 to Maximum Damage

9: Pestilent Large Charm of Dexterity
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 58
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0xce8563a3
+4 to Dexterity
+175 poison damage over 6 seconds

10: Fine Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0xd0dd0b31
+19 to Life
+14 to Attack Rating
+1 to Maximum Damage

11: Ocher Small Charm of Fortune
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 18
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0x93fe36b8
Lightning Resist +7%
5% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

12: Coral Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 20
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x4c645818
Lightning Resist +8%

13: Coral Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 20
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x29641459
Lightning Resist +8%

14: Ocher Small Charm of Strength
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 10
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 28
Fingerprint: 0x79f899e4
+1 to Strength
Lightning Resist +6%

15: Sapphire Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x3e5aa46
Cold Resist +11%

18: Cobalt Small Charm of Inertia
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0xc6e5df5b
Cold Resist +8%
3% Faster Run/Walk

19: Jade Small Charm of Venom
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 20
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xcaa2938b
Poison Resist +8%
+15 poison damage over 4 seconds

20: Viridian Large Charm of Incineration
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 26
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 52
Fingerprint: 0x72a69d33
Poison Resist +10%
Adds 8-14 fire damage

21: Steel Small Charm of Frost
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 78
Fingerprint: 0xedc0a67c
+31 to Attack Rating
Adds 1-2 cold damage over 1 seconds

26: Jade Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 20
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 52
Fingerprint: 0x3d742547
Poison Resist +8%

31: Cobalt Small Charm of Greed
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 20
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 57
Fingerprint: 0xc6421679
Cold Resist +9%
6% Extra Gold from Monsters

32: Fine Small Charm of Flame
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 21
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 43
Fingerprint: 0xe6a22324
+11 to Attack Rating
+1 to Maximum Damage
Adds 1-2 fire damage

38: Sharp Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 21
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x796c5025
+75 to Attack Rating
+8 to Maximum Damage

65: Jade Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 20
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 44
Fingerprint: 0xaa5c8ae7
Poison Resist +8%

Hireling - Blessed Aim
Code:
1: Skin of the Flayed One
Demonhide Armor
Defense: 393
Durability: 58 of 58
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 31
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0xb242cd49
+187% Enhanced Defense
6% Life stolen per hit
+30 Maximum Durability
Replenish Life +16
Attacker Takes Damage of 15
Repairs 1 durability in 10 seconds

2: The Face of Horror
Mask
Defense: 52
Durability: 10 of 20
Required Strength: 23
Required Level: 20
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0xb2a46f48
+20 to Strength
+25 Defense
All Resistances +10
Hit Causes Monster to Flee 50%
50% Damage to Undead

3: Insight
Colossus Voulge
'RalTirTalSol'
Two-Hand Damage: 90 to 805
Durability: 26 of 26
Required Dexterity: 45
Required Strength: 200
Required Level: 48
Polearm Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 76
Fingerprint: 0x19ca3393
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
+226% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
Adds 5-30 fire damage
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+6 to Critical Strike
35% Faster Cast Rate
207% Bonus to Attack Rating
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 16 Meditation Aura When Equipped
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (4: 4 used)



Future
I want to run hell travincal with this guy eventually, possibly with some gold finding gear. I need a few things to make it optimal though, like a dwarf star and such. I'm on my 5th attempt at a sorc, guess ill stick to running NM andy with it for stuff like the dwarf star and raven claw rather than overreaching and dying again. I found a windhammer at some point, and I think I'd like to try a fury druid using it with synergized twisters. I guess I'm on my way to a sept :)
 
Originally posted by scrcrw on Apr 25, 2010:

Guardian #9: Axe, runewordless Whirler

Looking at my previous Guardians, you might notice that there is not a single Melee character among them. For most of them AR was completely irrelevant and physical damage was only dealt via minions, merc or ranged spells.
When I got bored with my ladder Sorc, it seemed like a good opportunity to fix this. After careful deliberation (lasting about 5 seconds), Axe, the axe-wielding WW Barb was born. Gameplay was fast and fun (see below) and at the end of the road his stats and equip look like this:

Name: Axe
Class: Barbarian
Level: 82

Naked/Gear
Strength: 125/147
Dexterity: 40/87
Vitality: 270/270
Energy: 10/10
60 Points saved

HP: 1487 / 3078 (BO+BC)
Mana: 204 / 422 (BO+BC)
Def: 2526 / 4903 (Shout+BC)
WW AR: 3505 / 5276 (Enchant+BC)

Resists (w/ BC): 75 (88) Fire / 29 Cold / 75 (82) Light / 40 Poison

Skills: 20 WW/BO/Axe Mastery, 1 Berserk/NR/Speed/BC/WC, 15 Find Item
With BC: +5 All, additionally +2 Combat Skills

Gear:
Weapons: Razor's Edge (213%) + up'd Butcher's Pupil (192%) 'Shael'
Switch: Demon Limb + Heart Carver
Body: Naj's Light Plate
Head: Arreat's (6 LL) w/ 20ED/53AR/9dex Jewel
Gloves: LoH
Belt: SoE (10 MDR/6LL/15% dr)
Boots: Gores
Amulet: Highlord's
Rings: Raven Frost (18/197) + Rare (5 min dmg/44 ar/73 mana/4 ML/7 MF/Poison dmg)

Charms have Cold Dmg, Poison Dmg, lots of life and not enough AR :scratchchin:

Merc (Might): Hone (AmnAmnShael) + Duriel's + Gaze (20% DR/15 mdr/8 ll)
Good Performance, provided the aura and additional CB, didn't die much.

AR was a bit of a struggle (mostly because of the lack of AR charms in my ladder stash), but Demon Limb saved the day.
LL and ML are somewhat low for my taste, but I don't see an easy way to increase them noticeably.

To do: Get more AR charms and replace switch with 2xEchoing or Ali Baba's.
Figure out what to do with the saved stats.
Get a better Armor (Lionheart probably).
Get more leech.
Get Reaper's.
Get a better Raven Frost.
I still have to do the maths of my current setup versus single/dual Angelics. Replacing the LR on Highlord's might be difficult though.

Gameplay:
Normal/NM - Yes.
Hell: Entered at level 73 (screw you, NM Baal). NM had gone very well and I was eager to see how Axe would hold up in Hell. Equipment was already as it is now. My sorc had been kind enough to provide a Pul, so he could afford to up the best of my Butcher's Pupils.
As it turned out, his performance very much exceeded my expectations. I even dared to go for /p3 for a while. Went back to p1 in late A1 and stayed there throughout Hell, no point in overexerting yourself :whistling:
The low player setting made most encounters rather easy. Most bosses went down to two or three whirls. Andariel was the first interesting fight, she had a PI/Fanaticism Zombie to back her up.
I went through Hell hard and fast. Single pass all the way, every quest solved in the correct order. Yes, I still find pleasure in killing Blood Raven on every difficulty.
No major road bumps along the way. In general:
Whirl, Whirl, Whirl, Whirl, ****ing manaburners, Whirl, Whirl, Whirl, zerk PI boss, Whirl, Whirl, PI monsters? Whirl away!, Whirl, Whirl, Whirl etc.
The ancients were very easy, Lister as well and Baal once again failed to impress.
Finished at level 81 with ~15 skill points saved, those went to Find Item. Did a few council runs to get to 82.

Difficulties: Mana burn sucks. PI manaburners suck even more.
This led to the only emergency S&E, when I tried to rescue Anya with a stack of PI ghosts on my heels :whistling:
One nde, whirling through a might enchanted boss pack of dolls while cursed. Deeds would have been well deserved.

Finds: Duriel's (made the merc happy). Skullder's from Baal, but I failed to pick it up before going through the portal :crazyeyes:
HF: ?/?/Lum :(

Conclusion: Hmm, I was going to say "you don't need great gear to beat the game". Somehow I did find a nice item for every slot in my relatively tiny ladder stash, though. How about: "you don't need godlike gear to beat Hell" ;)
Also: Make a whirler, it's fun.
Tried him against the council a couple of times, decent performance. I dare to call it "run" (as opposed to "epic struggle").

Oh yes, the "runewordless" part: That wasn't planned. My rune luck on ladder just sucks (1xFal, 1xPul so far) and somehow I wound up never using a runeword.

Last but not least: Join the HC Ladder!
 
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