- May 11, 2022
- 448
- 785
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For this character, I really wanted Whirlwind to be the main event, not just an add-in skill. So I decided that twirlybird would keep to a strict diet of only using Shadow Disciplines. No ice cream--or Martial Arts or Traps--for 30 days!
Normal difficulty was slower than average. I didn't have great low-level twinking gear to work with. It was not difficult by any means, but it was a bit slow. The pace picked up near the end of Normal going into NM, as I could equip dual Bartuc's Cut-Throat at level 42. Bartuc's were a huge upgrade over the crummy claws I was using previously. When I could finally equip my 'Chaos' claw, that's when everything really came together. It felt so nice to just shred everything with Whirlwind. It was a night-and-day difference, a lot of fun.
With a high level Fade plus a defense boost from Cloak of Shadows, this was mostly a safe and fairly tanky character. But there is always that small risk of Whirlwind'ing into the wrong place at the wrong time, and then--BOOM. You're dead
I had several funny deaths with this character. Just a mix of bad luck and poor judgement (two things that come very naturally to me!)Since I had more skill points than I really needed given the Shadow Disciplines-only limitation, I maxed Shadow Master to see if they're any good. I am still undecided. Sometimes her Mind Blasts are helpful. Sometimes they just slow me down. A maxed Shadow Master is very tanky, if nothing else. If I had a do-over, I might just max Cloak of Shadows instead of Shadow Master, and be a lone wolf Whirlwind'ing through the game. No shadow and no merc either--who needs 'em!
The stats and things:
STATS
Level 84
Strength: 105 (135 w/ gear)
Dexteriry: 165 (184)
Vitality: 220 (no bonuses from gear)
Energy: 25
Fire/Cold/Lightning/Poison res.: 75 across the board with Fade, plus a very healthy amount of % Damage Reduced
SKILLS
Claw Mastery: 20 (26 w/ gear)
Weapon Block: 5 (11)
Cloak of Shadows: 6 (12) (rest of points go here...)
Fade: 20 (26) (28 on switch to dual Bartuc's)
Venom: 20 (26) (28 on switch)
Shadow Master: 20 (26) (28 on switch)
Mind Blast and prereqs for all the above: 1 (7)
GEAR
Guillaume's Face w/ +40% ED jewel
'Chaos' Suwayyah (plain, no staffmods, might to try upgrade that someday if the right base drops...)
Jade Talon Wrist Sword w/ +25% ED jewel
'Fortitude' Archon Plate
Laying of Hands
String of Ears
Gore Rider
Seraph's Hymn
Raven Frost
Dwarf Star (not entirely sure why I picked Dwarf as the second ring, I have better options in both rares and uniques...)
2x Mentalist's GCs
Misc. charms with +max damage, AR, life, res.--whatever I could scrounge up from other character's stashes
MERCENARY
Flux the Iron Wolf (Fire)
Harlequin Crest Shako
'Spirit'
Visceratuant
Skin of the Vipermagi
I tried using a Lightning Iron Wolf. Alas, I found they are not a great choice. You'd think Static Field would be helpful. Not really. I like this guy best for because of his use of Enchant, but the Cold Iron Wolf would have been pretty good too if I wasn't interested in the AR boost from Enchant. I expect I will eventually hire either an Act V Frenzy merc ('Lawbringer') or Act II Desert Dude (Reaper's Toll). For now, I'm rolling without a merc.
Next up, I am shifting my focus from questing new characters to spending some time farming Torches and hopefully a few Tokens too.
I think twirlybird will be well suited to farming Nihlathak's Keys of Destruction, so she's going to be seeing a lot of play-time in the coming days and weeks! Should be able to tear it up in the Chaos Sanctuary and WSK too for Essences.
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