Matriarch Tezaera - Statless Trapper
Another new mat, that I actually mat'd some weeks ago, but I might as well write this while I still remember something about it.
In the past I've done a couple of no-Vitality characters, an Amazon and a Paladin. Both characters proved to be pretty interesting and surprisingly durable, considering the low vitality. So I thought I should visit the same concept for the third time, but this time forgoing the use of stats all together. I also decided not use the runewords Delirium and Call to Arms, so it wouldn't be too easy.
Turns out is was plenty easy without them.
Matriarch Tezaera - 435 stat points unused.
[highlight]Stats[/highlight]
Not really much to say about these, beyond what the above screenshot shows. Overall I had pretty easy time, since a trapper is essentially a caster build, so I could make due with extremely low stats for requirements, etc. Having 4 possible Jewel sockets in weaponry also really helped. More about that in the items section.
[highlight]Skills[/highlight]
Death Sentry - 20 (37)
Lightning Sentry - 20 (37)
Charged Bolt Sentry - 20 (37)
Fire Blast - 18 (35)
Shock Web - 9 (26)
Shadow Master, Cloak of Shadows, Mind Blast, Burst of Speed, Weapon Block - 1 (8, 14 when pre-buffed)
In retrospect, I think I probably made things way too easy for myself by choosing a pure trapper. Anyone who has ever played one should know just how insanely powerful the build is, yet being very safe at the same time. I did pick the class for these two reasons, thinking that being dependant mostly on Lightning damage would balance it out and make things more difficult for me. Seems I was wrong.
I really, really underestimated how well Death Sentry and Fire Blast take care of lightning immunes. 3k damage from each Blast easily takes out on enemy starting the Death Sentry chain reaction. On lower player settings this tactic was almost faster than using Lightning Sentries alone.
On top of that, any other difficulty I would have had with enemies was mostly negated by Cloak of Shadows and Mind Blast, as always when playing Assassins. The smart use of those two skills will keep you alive, no matter what you are facing. Gloams going blind, Frenzytaurs being pinned to a wall by Mind Blasts, etc. These two skills are probably one of the best in the entire game and they only take 1p each. Got to love 'em.
One skill I found fairly useful was Shadow Master, even if some people dislike her here. Sure, it's a pain when she goes overriding your trap placements, Mind Blasting the wrong things and attracting mobs, but the utility of having a durable summon that you can recast made up for it often. My merc always died before the Shadow Master and if the shadow went down, I was one click away from getting another one. Worth the 1p, in my opinion.
[highlight]Items[/highlight]
Weapons - Pair of Entrapping Blade Talons with 2os and Jewels.
These were socketed with +Str, -req% jewels, allowing me to wear both of them and other items. The +6 to trap skills helped too.
Switch - Pair of Shadow Blade Talons with plain -req jewels.
Head - Shako
Armour - Up'd Skin of the Vipermagi with Um, +50 All res.
Gloves - Rare gloves with +10 to both Str and Dex
Belt - Rare belt with Str, Life, FHR, resists.
Boots - Waterwalks
Jewelry - BKWB, SoJ, Mara's.
Charms - 4x Trapping skiller, 3x GC's with resists and +Str or Dex, several SC's with +All resist and life.
Merc - Holy Freeze. Eth Insight Cryptic Axe, Eth Vamp Gaze, Fortitude Archon Plate.
I really misjudged just what equipment I could use. I was mentally prepared for having to use very sub-standard equipment, but it turns out I could use near normal caster gear. Even with normal stat placement, the only change would like be switching the belt to an Arachnid Mesh and the Gloves to something else.
Find were pretty uninteresting, though I did get a good amount of good Ruby jewels and my Hellforges were Io - Gul. :thumbup:
Still, I wish I would sometimes find something really good while questing.
[highlight]Thoughts[/highlight]
Normal difficulty was taken care of with a 1.09 Ravenclaw, Nightmare was easy, since I started it with near full trapping gear at level 45. Enough about those. They might as well be an extended character generation and tutorial, as far as I'm concerned.
Act 1 Hell is always where the fun starts for me and this was no exception. I started out with p8, since I was already doing a great amount of damage and a high player setting really didn't slow me down. I ended up keeping this setting for the entire act. Nothing terribly difficult here, though some Lightning Immune Rogue Archers and Damned did give me some trouble. Tanking with merc + shadow and CoS and Mind Blast kept me safe. But I did have to park Griswold, who spawned LI/FI and kept killing my merc in two hits. Oh well.
Act 2 was pretty similar. A lot of weak non-LI enemies, like Burning Dead and pretty much everything inside Arcane Sanctuary, etc. I kept the p8 setting, expect for Maggot Lair. No way I'd be able to Fire Blast my way through that, without the ability to use tanks effectively. Beyond that, it was easy going.
Act 3 is where things started getting more difficult, greeting me with huge hordes of LI Cloud Chasers, Soul Killers, Gloams and other nasty monsters in the first few jungle areas. I was able to keep up with the p8 setting, though. Thanks to the horde type monsters having low health, Fire Blast/DS was still working. The city parts were pretty easy too, with Travincal being surprisingly easy. All of the council spawned inside the building, so I just spammed traps in from the windows and then went to mop out what was left. The Durance was huge, difficult and annoying as hell, so I dropped to p3 there and that remained as my setting for the rest of the acts, too.
Act 4 was the first really difficult act for me. All the areas spawned LI enemies for me, making my progress relatively slow. It's a short act, so nothing much to report. Chaos Sanctuary was pretty easy, since the only LI enemies there are Stranglers, which are mostly harmless. Oblivion Knights fail to impress casters.
Act 5 was pretty bizarre for me. I played it through in one sitting, that must have taken only and hour or two. It spawned absolutely no LI enemies on any area. Even boss packs with LI's were very, very rare. As a result I went through the act like a hot knife through butter. In retrospect, I probably had the easiest time here when compared to all the other acts. Ancients were done at p1, with me running in a circle while merc and shadow tanked and traps blasted away. Ball and his minions were a pushover, too. Lack of LI's really made it easy.
All of the act bosses were done in the exact same way. Keep summoning the dying Shadow to keep them busy, while the merc pokes and traps blast.
Thanks
I traded with alot of poeple for this character, so thanks for all you!
Special mention to Nagato, NagisaFurukawa's assassin which served as an inspiration for the character.
And thanks for reading this! :thumbup:
Another new mat, that I actually mat'd some weeks ago, but I might as well write this while I still remember something about it.
In the past I've done a couple of no-Vitality characters, an Amazon and a Paladin. Both characters proved to be pretty interesting and surprisingly durable, considering the low vitality. So I thought I should visit the same concept for the third time, but this time forgoing the use of stats all together. I also decided not use the runewords Delirium and Call to Arms, so it wouldn't be too easy.
Turns out is was plenty easy without them.
Matriarch Tezaera - 435 stat points unused.
[highlight]Stats[/highlight]
Not really much to say about these, beyond what the above screenshot shows. Overall I had pretty easy time, since a trapper is essentially a caster build, so I could make due with extremely low stats for requirements, etc. Having 4 possible Jewel sockets in weaponry also really helped. More about that in the items section.
[highlight]Skills[/highlight]
Death Sentry - 20 (37)
Lightning Sentry - 20 (37)
Charged Bolt Sentry - 20 (37)
Fire Blast - 18 (35)
Shock Web - 9 (26)
Shadow Master, Cloak of Shadows, Mind Blast, Burst of Speed, Weapon Block - 1 (8, 14 when pre-buffed)
In retrospect, I think I probably made things way too easy for myself by choosing a pure trapper. Anyone who has ever played one should know just how insanely powerful the build is, yet being very safe at the same time. I did pick the class for these two reasons, thinking that being dependant mostly on Lightning damage would balance it out and make things more difficult for me. Seems I was wrong.
I really, really underestimated how well Death Sentry and Fire Blast take care of lightning immunes. 3k damage from each Blast easily takes out on enemy starting the Death Sentry chain reaction. On lower player settings this tactic was almost faster than using Lightning Sentries alone.
On top of that, any other difficulty I would have had with enemies was mostly negated by Cloak of Shadows and Mind Blast, as always when playing Assassins. The smart use of those two skills will keep you alive, no matter what you are facing. Gloams going blind, Frenzytaurs being pinned to a wall by Mind Blasts, etc. These two skills are probably one of the best in the entire game and they only take 1p each. Got to love 'em.
One skill I found fairly useful was Shadow Master, even if some people dislike her here. Sure, it's a pain when she goes overriding your trap placements, Mind Blasting the wrong things and attracting mobs, but the utility of having a durable summon that you can recast made up for it often. My merc always died before the Shadow Master and if the shadow went down, I was one click away from getting another one. Worth the 1p, in my opinion.
[highlight]Items[/highlight]
Weapons - Pair of Entrapping Blade Talons with 2os and Jewels.
These were socketed with +Str, -req% jewels, allowing me to wear both of them and other items. The +6 to trap skills helped too.
Switch - Pair of Shadow Blade Talons with plain -req jewels.
Head - Shako
Armour - Up'd Skin of the Vipermagi with Um, +50 All res.
Gloves - Rare gloves with +10 to both Str and Dex
Belt - Rare belt with Str, Life, FHR, resists.
Boots - Waterwalks
Jewelry - BKWB, SoJ, Mara's.
Charms - 4x Trapping skiller, 3x GC's with resists and +Str or Dex, several SC's with +All resist and life.
Merc - Holy Freeze. Eth Insight Cryptic Axe, Eth Vamp Gaze, Fortitude Archon Plate.
I really misjudged just what equipment I could use. I was mentally prepared for having to use very sub-standard equipment, but it turns out I could use near normal caster gear. Even with normal stat placement, the only change would like be switching the belt to an Arachnid Mesh and the Gloves to something else.
Code:
Cunning Blade Talons
One-Hand Damage: 10 to 14
Durability: 69 of 69
(Assassin Only)
Required Dexterity: 35
Required Strength: 35
Required Level: 45
Claw Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 97
Fingerprint: 0x348ab61
+13 to Strength
+7 to Dexterity
Cold Resist +20%
Requirements -30%
+3 to Trap Skills (Assassin Only)
Socketed (2: 2 used)
Cunning Blade Talons
One-Hand Damage: 12 to 14
Durability: 69 of 69
(Assassin Only)
Required Dexterity: 35
Required Strength: 35
Required Level: 45
Claw Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 94
Fingerprint: 0xecf2f79
+16 to Strength
+10 to Mana
+2 to Minimum Damage
Heal Stamina Plus 15%
Requirements -30%
+3 to Trap Skills (Assassin Only)
Socketed (2: 2 used)
Fiend Grasp
Heavy Gloves
Defense: 8
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Level: 51
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x539e601d
+10 to Strength
+11 to Dexterity
+16% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +22%
Cold Resist +12%
3% Mana stolen per hit
Imp Cord
Demonhide Sash
Defense: 53
Durability: 10 of 12
Required Strength: 20
Required Level: 50
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x1c6f6ed8
+17 to Strength
+57 to Life
+53% Enhanced Defense
Cold Resist +30%
Poison Resist +15%
24% Faster Hit RecoveryFind were pretty uninteresting, though I did get a good amount of good Ruby jewels and my Hellforges were Io - Gul. :thumbup:
Still, I wish I would sometimes find something really good while questing.
[highlight]Thoughts[/highlight]
Normal difficulty was taken care of with a 1.09 Ravenclaw, Nightmare was easy, since I started it with near full trapping gear at level 45. Enough about those. They might as well be an extended character generation and tutorial, as far as I'm concerned.
Act 1 Hell is always where the fun starts for me and this was no exception. I started out with p8, since I was already doing a great amount of damage and a high player setting really didn't slow me down. I ended up keeping this setting for the entire act. Nothing terribly difficult here, though some Lightning Immune Rogue Archers and Damned did give me some trouble. Tanking with merc + shadow and CoS and Mind Blast kept me safe. But I did have to park Griswold, who spawned LI/FI and kept killing my merc in two hits. Oh well.
Act 2 was pretty similar. A lot of weak non-LI enemies, like Burning Dead and pretty much everything inside Arcane Sanctuary, etc. I kept the p8 setting, expect for Maggot Lair. No way I'd be able to Fire Blast my way through that, without the ability to use tanks effectively. Beyond that, it was easy going.
Act 3 is where things started getting more difficult, greeting me with huge hordes of LI Cloud Chasers, Soul Killers, Gloams and other nasty monsters in the first few jungle areas. I was able to keep up with the p8 setting, though. Thanks to the horde type monsters having low health, Fire Blast/DS was still working. The city parts were pretty easy too, with Travincal being surprisingly easy. All of the council spawned inside the building, so I just spammed traps in from the windows and then went to mop out what was left. The Durance was huge, difficult and annoying as hell, so I dropped to p3 there and that remained as my setting for the rest of the acts, too.
Act 4 was the first really difficult act for me. All the areas spawned LI enemies for me, making my progress relatively slow. It's a short act, so nothing much to report. Chaos Sanctuary was pretty easy, since the only LI enemies there are Stranglers, which are mostly harmless. Oblivion Knights fail to impress casters.
Act 5 was pretty bizarre for me. I played it through in one sitting, that must have taken only and hour or two. It spawned absolutely no LI enemies on any area. Even boss packs with LI's were very, very rare. As a result I went through the act like a hot knife through butter. In retrospect, I probably had the easiest time here when compared to all the other acts. Ancients were done at p1, with me running in a circle while merc and shadow tanked and traps blasted away. Ball and his minions were a pushover, too. Lack of LI's really made it easy.
All of the act bosses were done in the exact same way. Keep summoning the dying Shadow to keep them busy, while the merc pokes and traps blast.
Thanks
I traded with alot of poeple for this character, so thanks for all you!
Special mention to Nagato, NagisaFurukawa's assassin which served as an inspiration for the character.
And thanks for reading this! :thumbup:
Last edited:
Now what next? Statless frenzier mmm? 
.
