Meet Guardian Aine - The Rune-Hunter
Some of you may noticed that I've lost a HC sorc on saturday. Well, at first I thought that I will take a break for a while, but then I decided to give that another try. I've played pretty much whole sunday and today's afternoon/evening and here she is.
Let me introduce Aine, the rune-hunter. I wanted to make a sorc who would be able to safely run countess or LK. These were my thoughts:
1) She needs lightning damage to smash a rune or three out of the countess.
2) Cold or fire damage will be handy - single element sorcs have a tough life; besides that, almost everything in LK is LI.
3) There are some "friendly" archers and other vermin in the tower/LK. Thus she needs some improved survivability => ES+TK
4) So far I have had very good experience with no-block, max vita sorcs (max block = low life = dead HC sorc)
5) It is an ES-sorc, but having low life and huge mana is not very clever IMO. Mana burn bosspack => good bye. It is easy enough to build up mana pool using gear and charms(spirit, frostburns, serpent's GCs...). Therefore: zero points in energy!
6) Maxing telekinesis = lack of skillpoints. As I see it, Nova + Orb was an obvious choice.
Character name : Aine
Character type : Hardcore Sorceress
Character level : 78
Character exp : 617641390
Strength : 156
Energy : 35
Dexterity : 45
Vitality : 244
Stat Points Rem : 0
Skill Points Rem: 0
Life : 1078 / 645
Mana : 886 / 189
Stamina : 467 / 385
Skills:
Nova 20
Telekinesis 20
Lightning Mastery 15 (will be maxed next)
Static 1
Teleport 1
Frozen Orb 20
Cold Mastery 5(additional points will probably go here)
Frozen Armor 1
Warmth 1
All prereqs 1
Equipment:
The gameplay:
I started with /players 8 and shooted my way through act 1 normal. 4x flawed-topazed hunter's bow was my best friend. As soon as I got teleport, I equipped 6x Tir crystal sword, 2x Tir bone shield and a mask/armor with a total of 6 Psaphires. The strategy was kill monsters, tele further, kill, tele.... I still needed a lot of mana potions but without all those Tirs it would be a real pain.
I got to lvl 24 in the tombs and switched to /players 1. After killing Duriel, I mainly teleported through the whole difficulty without killing anything non-necessary. Then I ran normal baals up to lvl 45. Frozen Orb became really powerful(on normal:tongue
, I equipped some FCR gear to reach 63% and the whole nightmare was a matter of 1-2 hours. And no, I did not die due to FE this time. Baals to lvl 75, then hell.
The first two acts were quite fast, I simply teleported through. From act 3 I slowed down and became more careful. I had some trouble with Hephasto(cold immune, extra fast, might aura - sweet) who kept killing my merc with 2-3 hits, but I managed to get him stuck and fry him to death. The reward was an Um rune. Act 5 was slow and painful, but eventually I won. I also got mistakenly hit by Nihlathak's CE once, which tested Aine's survivability. Mana dropped to zero, life to ~1/2 but a quick purple pot did the trick. A max block sorc could be dead at this moment.
Being only lvl 78, Aine needs some practice before going into the real battle. I will probably try Tunnels until lvl ~85. With better gear, charms and some more levels, it should be possible to have ~1400 life and ~1200 mana. That should make the sorc even more durable.
Lucky drops:
None. Besides that Um from hell HF(NM was a Dol - meh! Even a Shael would have been more useful).
Thanks for reading and wish Aine luck!
Some of you may noticed that I've lost a HC sorc on saturday. Well, at first I thought that I will take a break for a while, but then I decided to give that another try. I've played pretty much whole sunday and today's afternoon/evening and here she is.
Let me introduce Aine, the rune-hunter. I wanted to make a sorc who would be able to safely run countess or LK. These were my thoughts:
1) She needs lightning damage to smash a rune or three out of the countess.
2) Cold or fire damage will be handy - single element sorcs have a tough life; besides that, almost everything in LK is LI.
3) There are some "friendly" archers and other vermin in the tower/LK. Thus she needs some improved survivability => ES+TK
4) So far I have had very good experience with no-block, max vita sorcs (max block = low life = dead HC sorc)
5) It is an ES-sorc, but having low life and huge mana is not very clever IMO. Mana burn bosspack => good bye. It is easy enough to build up mana pool using gear and charms(spirit, frostburns, serpent's GCs...). Therefore: zero points in energy!
6) Maxing telekinesis = lack of skillpoints. As I see it, Nova + Orb was an obvious choice.
Character name : Aine
Character type : Hardcore Sorceress
Character level : 78
Character exp : 617641390
Strength : 156
Energy : 35
Dexterity : 45
Vitality : 244
Stat Points Rem : 0
Skill Points Rem: 0
Life : 1078 / 645
Mana : 886 / 189
Stamina : 467 / 385
Skills:
Nova 20
Telekinesis 20
Lightning Mastery 15 (will be maxed next)
Static 1
Teleport 1
Frozen Orb 20
Cold Mastery 5(additional points will probably go here)
Frozen Armor 1
Warmth 1
All prereqs 1
Equipment:
Code:
Wizardspike
Bone Knife
'Hel'
One-Hand Damage: 23 to 49
Required Dexterity: 60
Required Strength: 30
Required Level: 61
Dagger Class - Fast Attack Speed
Indestructible
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xb7c915c0
Regenerate Mana 15%
All Resistances +75
Increase Maximum Mana 15%
Requirements -20%
50% Faster Cast Rate
Indestructible
+156 to Mana (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (1: 1 used)
Spirit
Superior Monarch
'TalThulOrtAmn'
Defense: 165
Chance to Block: 42%
Durability: 86 of 86
Required Strength: 156
Required Level: 54
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 84
Fingerprint: 0xeb70e818
+22 to Vitality
+109 to Mana
+11% Enhanced Defense
+250 Defense vs. Missile
Lightning Resist +35%
Cold Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
55% Faster Hit Recovery
34% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to All Skill Levels
+6 Magic Absorb
Socketed (4: 4 used)
Aine's Skin of the Vipermagi
Serpentskin Armor
Defense: 279
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Strength: 43
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x710b06ae
+120% Enhanced Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 13
All Resistances +27
30% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to All Skill Levels
Sazabi's Mental Sheath
Basinet
Defense: 175
Durability: 30 of 30
Required Strength: 82
Required Level: 43
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xbce8fb78
+100 Defense
Fire Resist +20%
Lightning Resist +18%
+1 to All Skill Levels
Angel's Amulet of Greed
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 57
Fingerprint: 0x5db29c67
40% Extra Gold from Monsters
+1 to Sorceress Skill Levels
Viper Winding
Plated Belt
Defense: 18
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Strength: 60
Required Level: 18
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 59
Fingerprint: 0x22949a30
+25 to Life
+55% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +20%
Cold Resist +24%
24% Faster Hit Recovery
5% Chance to cast Level 3 Frost Nova when struck
Frostburn
Gauntlets
Defense: 47
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Strength: 60
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x6e2b9e92
+10% Enhanced Defense
+5% Enhanced Damage
+30 Defense
Adds 1-6 cold damage over 2 seconds
Increase Maximum Mana 40%
Waterwalk
Sharkskin Boots
Defense: 115
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Strength: 47
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x5e377dff
+15 to Dexterity
+49 to Life
+40 to Maximum Stamina
+188% Enhanced Defense
Heal Stamina Plus 50%
+100 Defense vs. Missile
+5% to Maximum Fire Resist
20% Faster Run/Walk
Shadow Eye
Ring
Required Level: 35
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 60
Fingerprint: 0x60dbe1d9
+3 to Life
+39 to Mana
+16 to Attack Rating
Fire Resist +25%
6% Life stolen per hit
8% Chance to cast Level 3 Chain Lightning on attack
Great Wyrm's Ring of the Tiger
Required Level: 43
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x8bf99b3c
+28 to Life
+80 to Mana
[B]On Switch:[/B]
Glowing Battle Staff
Two-Hand Damage: 6 to 13
Durability: 40 of 40
Required Level: 25
Staff Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x4b7a62bc
Adds 1-175 lightning damage
+2 to Energy Shield (Sorceress Only)
+1 to Chilling Armor (Sorceress Only)
+2 to Thunder Storm (Sorceress Only)
150% Damage to Undead
[B]Mercenary Items : [/B]
1: Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Death Mask
Defense: 103
Durability: 13 of 20
Required Strength: 55
Required Level: 66
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xdd9e1289
+60 to Life
+30 to Mana
+45 Defense
All Resistances +15
10% Life stolen per hit
10% Mana stolen per hit
2: Rattlecage
Gothic Plate
Defense: 333
Durability: 35 of 55
Required Strength: 70
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x6f961862
+45 to Attack Rating
+200 Defense
Hit Causes Monster to Flee 40%
25% Chance of Crushing Blow
3: Insight
Partizan
'RalTirTalSol'
Two-Hand Damage: 165 to 343
Durability: 33 of 33
Required Dexterity: 57
Required Strength: 103
Required Level: 27
Polearm Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0xcdc9fe8
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
+207% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
Adds 5-30 fire damage
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 to Critical Strike
35% Faster Cast Rate
237% Bonus to Attack Rating
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 16 Meditation Aura When Equipped
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (4: 4 used)The gameplay:
I started with /players 8 and shooted my way through act 1 normal. 4x flawed-topazed hunter's bow was my best friend. As soon as I got teleport, I equipped 6x Tir crystal sword, 2x Tir bone shield and a mask/armor with a total of 6 Psaphires. The strategy was kill monsters, tele further, kill, tele.... I still needed a lot of mana potions but without all those Tirs it would be a real pain.
I got to lvl 24 in the tombs and switched to /players 1. After killing Duriel, I mainly teleported through the whole difficulty without killing anything non-necessary. Then I ran normal baals up to lvl 45. Frozen Orb became really powerful(on normal:tongue
, I equipped some FCR gear to reach 63% and the whole nightmare was a matter of 1-2 hours. And no, I did not die due to FE this time. Baals to lvl 75, then hell.The first two acts were quite fast, I simply teleported through. From act 3 I slowed down and became more careful. I had some trouble with Hephasto(cold immune, extra fast, might aura - sweet) who kept killing my merc with 2-3 hits, but I managed to get him stuck and fry him to death. The reward was an Um rune. Act 5 was slow and painful, but eventually I won. I also got mistakenly hit by Nihlathak's CE once, which tested Aine's survivability. Mana dropped to zero, life to ~1/2 but a quick purple pot did the trick. A max block sorc could be dead at this moment.
Being only lvl 78, Aine needs some practice before going into the real battle. I will probably try Tunnels until lvl ~85. With better gear, charms and some more levels, it should be possible to have ~1400 life and ~1200 mana. That should make the sorc even more durable.
Lucky drops:
None. Besides that Um from hell HF(NM was a Dol - meh! Even a Shael would have been more useful).
Thanks for reading and wish Aine luck!