Patriarch NoPain (charger abbot)
It's been a while since my latest pat/mat so i thought it was about time to get another one. Still had a char parked in early hell which was a rebuild of another char (changed my mind about gear and i'm a perfectionist so a rebuild was in order). Still in 1.12 but even if it were 1.13 i would've gone with a rebuild instead of respecing the char. But more on topic: i hate unfinished business so the choice was obvious. That char had to be taken through hell.
Thus i present to you: patriarch NoPain. He's a charger abbot. Since i like the idea of building chars that don't take any damage (or close to it) it was i build i had to try. For another build of mine that doesn't take much damage (most of the time) see matriarch energetic in the stickies. But for now lets stick with NoPain and go see the stats.
Lvl 85
str - 136 (141)
dex - 20 (50)
vit - 289 (294)
ene - 15 (20)
unspend - 60
life - 1136
mana - 208
resists (F/C/L/P): 51/37/68/63
skills:
20 prayer, vigor, might and charge
1 in pre-reqs, cleansing, redemption (hardly used), salvation (also hardly used, but useful sometimes)
spare points in blessed aim (10 so far)
Damage with might: ~5.8-6.7K
Without might: ~5.1-5.9K
AR: 3030
Gear:
resist all/DR amu (29/22)
DR circlet (38)
Insight archon staff (switch weapon: the gavel of pain (/w hel))
The gladiator's bane (/w sol; 27 DR)
crafted gauntlets (2 DR)
nightsmoke (2 DR)
crafted boots (2 DR)
nature's peace (10 DR)
ravenfrost (18 dex, 218 AR)
5x defensive GC (all with minor mods)
3x resist all GC (2x 15, 1x 14)
Gear readouts:
The merc: Since i was using might most of the time that wasn't an option. So HF it was. He was dressed up with duriel's shell, vamp gaze and obedience in an eth cryptic axe.
The story behind the hero:
Let's start with some of the choices i made. Originally i was in the process of making an abbot with an insight cryptic axe. That was because i didn't expect to find an archon staff with the proper amount of sockets anytime soon. I was wrong. That's why i had the rebuild. With an archon staff less statpoints were needed in str and dex. So more could go to vita.
One of my other choices made it so that i couldn't take full advantage of that. That choice was to use a gavel of pain on switch. Even hel'ed it required a lot more strenght than my second highest required str (111 from glad bane). But it was i choice i was very happy with. With this build all the damage is physical. So either i had to get a backup damage (= less regular damage) or i could remove physical immunity by using amp charges. I choose the latter and as said i never regretted that.
Why the 60 unspend statpoints you say? That's because of a dilemma i'm in. The current AR isn't all that great. On the other hand i'd like to replace the ravenfrost with another nature's peace for more DR (CBF already on glad bane). Problem is i'd lose a lot of dex and AR. So i'm not sure whether i should pour those points in dex to get that up. Or that it's just not worth it and i should toss them in vita and keep the ravenfrost. Maybe someone here can give me some advice on the subject.
Let's go to the gameplay part now. As i said somewhere at the start of this post. This char had been parked for quite a while. That's why i don't remember too much of normal and NM. As far as i can remember it wasn't too difficult since you get a powerfull attack early on. And from lvl 27 you can carry an insight stick so healing get's up. And damage too ofc. since insight is powerfull that early on. I do regret the 1 point spent in redemption however. Early on it comes in handy, but once you put on a nature's peace then there isn't too much to redeme anymore. And as you're healing all the time just by carrying insight it's kinda overdone. The one point in salvation however does come in handy, but more on that later.
So let's take it from where i restarted which is somewhere in Hell act I. Didn't have much trouble there. Easy going except for the occasional PI. But i had the solution for that on switch. Andy went down very easy. Didn't even have to go back to get the merc healed up. I did switch from might to cleansing just to be safe.
Act II also pretty much a walkthrough. Only trouble there was the arcane sanctuary with all it's PI's and some more in tal's tomb. But the trouble mostly existed from the high repaircosts of the frequent use of charges. Also the lack of decent AR began to be noticable. Very annoying knocking an enemy back an entire screen but still at full health because i didn't land a hit.
Act III also uneventfull. Just as act IV. The latter did take a while though. Got spawners in more then one aerea there. Not too good on the merc either. Eventually i muled on some cash because i was starting to run out. CS pretty easy. Draw back the monsters so IM couldn't be cast. A big bonus here was that my merc was 'invisible' to the monsters. They came straight for me and while going after me the merc picked of most of them. So he had a pretty easy time for the largest part. I say for the largest part because after opening and clearing 2 seals i got IM'd and because of the range of the spell so was the merc. So he got killed and after resurrecting him the monsters could see him again. That made it tougher for him. Luckily i was through for the largest part already. Oh yeah and the forge was a mal. Not the best it can drop, but much better than i'm used to. So i was very happy with it.
Act V. Went through it easily. Until i found the ancients way. There i stopped for a moment. I was still wearing a skin of the vipermagi, but wanted to finish the game in my final gear. Lvl 85 for glad bane was still a while away (i was 80 IIRC). So decided to run the AT for a bit. Very doable, but sometimes i really had to watch out not to get killed. Merc got whacked on a regular basis. Here's also where the point in salvation came in handy. Sometimes encountered those horrormages with a convictionaura. Nice opportunity to boost those resists.
After reaching 85 and equipping glad bane i went back to the ancients way. Got those minotaurguys there. When careful i could take them, until i hit an extrafast pack. They shredded the merc. I decided not to take them out because it would take a lot of merc ressurections. So charged past them. Still had a lot of trouble ditching them. Partly because of corners in the playingfield, but also opponents blocking my way (spearwomen mostly). And as said they were extra fast.
Finally got where i needed to be: the restingplace of the ancients. Expected a pretty easy fight since i had a lot of DR. I was wrong. First try they nearly took me out by surprise and killed the merc in seconds. Worst part was that it actually was a good spawn. So i saw dark clouds rising above my head. Second try one of them took a decent chunk away from my health (about a third of my life) and straight after that i was dead. Don't know what could take away that much life away while having that much DR, but i was dead nonetheless. My best guess would be that the thrower was FE since he already does some good damage. Several attempts later i finally got to split them up before they killed my merc and then it was just a matter of time before they went down (only 1 full juvie used in the entire fight). After that the WSK. Lvl 1 was easy. Lvl 2 a totally different story. Encountered black souls. Bosspack, FE and LE. That hurt. Even with pretty good resists. Several NDE's, only avoided by quickly using full juvies. Ok, now it get's easier i think after taking them out. Wrong. Regular souls hurt just as much. Glad i finally made it to the WP. After that lvl 3. OK's also great fun. But being carefull helps so only the merc died once or twice there. Baal's waves were easy. Baal himself proved to be very annoying. Just him was ok, but he cloned himself and they both constantly targeted the merc. So lots of trips to heal him or ressurect if i was to late. Finally got the clone down. Was still trying to determine where Baal himself was (not on my screen anyways) and before i found him, he cloned himself once more. Took me about a full book of tp's, but in the end he fell.
Overall i liked the idea of playing him, but the result was a bit disappointing. He took more damage then expected (both regular and elemental). And also adding to the annoyancefactor were 2 gameplayissue's. The first is pretty wellknown here. The freezeing in midcharge. The second i did not know, but quite often when trying to move (either in or out of danger) he got stuck. I don't mean like with charge, but you see the char running on the spot. He's just not getting anywhere. Happened a little too often for my taste. So all in all it was a small letdown for me. I have read i guide of a barb somewhere that also tried not to take any damage, so maybe i'll try that someday to see if that works out better. For now i hope you've enjoyed the read on this one.
It's been a while since my latest pat/mat so i thought it was about time to get another one. Still had a char parked in early hell which was a rebuild of another char (changed my mind about gear and i'm a perfectionist so a rebuild was in order). Still in 1.12 but even if it were 1.13 i would've gone with a rebuild instead of respecing the char. But more on topic: i hate unfinished business so the choice was obvious. That char had to be taken through hell.
Thus i present to you: patriarch NoPain. He's a charger abbot. Since i like the idea of building chars that don't take any damage (or close to it) it was i build i had to try. For another build of mine that doesn't take much damage (most of the time) see matriarch energetic in the stickies. But for now lets stick with NoPain and go see the stats.
Lvl 85
str - 136 (141)
dex - 20 (50)
vit - 289 (294)
ene - 15 (20)
unspend - 60
life - 1136
mana - 208
resists (F/C/L/P): 51/37/68/63
skills:
20 prayer, vigor, might and charge
1 in pre-reqs, cleansing, redemption (hardly used), salvation (also hardly used, but useful sometimes)
spare points in blessed aim (10 so far)
Damage with might: ~5.8-6.7K
Without might: ~5.1-5.9K
AR: 3030
Gear:
resist all/DR amu (29/22)
DR circlet (38)
Insight archon staff (switch weapon: the gavel of pain (/w hel))
The gladiator's bane (/w sol; 27 DR)
crafted gauntlets (2 DR)
nightsmoke (2 DR)
crafted boots (2 DR)
nature's peace (10 DR)
ravenfrost (18 dex, 218 AR)
5x defensive GC (all with minor mods)
3x resist all GC (2x 15, 1x 14)
Gear readouts:
Code:
Chromatic Amulet of Life Everlasting
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 99
Fingerprint: 0xaa70e10a
Damage Reduced by 22
All Resistances +29
Circlet of Life Everlasting
'SolSol'
Defense: 20
Durability: 35 of 35
Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xeca481e5
Damage Reduced by 38
Socketed (2: 2 used)
Insight
Archon Staff
'RalTirTalSol'
Two-Hand Damage: 301 to 349
Durability: 26 of 26
Required Strength: 34
Required Level: 66
Staff Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x4b6b5327
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
+253% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
Adds 5-30 fire damage
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+4 to Critical Strike
35% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to Thunder Storm (Sorceress Only)
+1 to Fire Wall (Sorceress Only)
184% Bonus to Attack Rating
150% Damage to Undead
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 13 Meditation Aura When Equipped
Socketed (4: 4 used)
The Gladiator's Bane
Wire Fleece
'Sol'
Defense: 1279
Durability: 135 of 135
Required Strength: 111
Required Level: 85
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xd70ec86e
+155% Enhanced Defense
+50 Defense
Damage Reduced by 27
Magic Damage Reduced by 16
+103 Maximum Durability
Attacker Takes Damage of 20
30% Faster Hit Recovery
Poison Length Reduced by 50%
Cannot Be Frozen
Socketed (1: 1 used)
Dire Grip
War Gauntlets
Defense: 90
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Strength: 110
Required Level: 36
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 74
Fingerprint: 0x5a5a89d6
+64% Enhanced Defense
Damage Reduced by 2
Magic Damage Reduced by 2
Cold Resist +9%
Poison Resist +13%
9% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Half Freeze Duration
Nightsmoke
Mesh Belt
Defense: 71
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 30
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x6bb7f956
+20 to Mana
+45% Enhanced Defense
+15 Defense
Damage Reduced by 2
All Resistances +10
Required Level +5
50% Damage Taken Goes to Mana
Nature's Peace
Ring
Required Level: 69
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x8e5d5cb
Damage Reduced by 10
Poison Resist +23%
Slain Monsters Rest In Peace
Prevent Monster Heal
Level 5 Oak Sage (27/27 Charges)
Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 99
Fingerprint: 0x4851743b
+18 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
+218 to Attack Rating
Adds 15-45 cold damage over 4 seconds
20% Cold Absorb
Cannot Be Frozen
Stone Nails
War Boots
Defense: 59
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Strength: 125
Required Level: 48
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 97
Fingerprint: 0xde0eb3bd
+5 to Dexterity
+10% Enhanced Defense
Damage Reduced by 2
Magic Damage Reduced by 2
Fire Resist +5%
Lightning Resist +32%
Poison Length Reduced by 25%
Repairs 1 durability in 33 seconds
The Gavel of Pain
Martel de Fer
'Hel'
Two-Hand Damage: 169 to 285
Required Strength: 135
Required Level: 45
Mace Class - Slow Attack Speed
Indestructible
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x6ff911ce
+158% Enhanced Damage
+12 to Minimum Damage
+30 to Maximum Damage
Attacker Takes Damage of 26
Requirements -20%
150% Damage to Undead
Indestructible
5% Chance to cast Level 1 Amplify Damage on striking
5% Chance to cast Level 1 Iron Maiden when struck
Level 8 Amplify Damage (3/3 Charges)
Socketed (1: 1 used)The merc: Since i was using might most of the time that wasn't an option. So HF it was. He was dressed up with duriel's shell, vamp gaze and obedience in an eth cryptic axe.
The story behind the hero:
Let's start with some of the choices i made. Originally i was in the process of making an abbot with an insight cryptic axe. That was because i didn't expect to find an archon staff with the proper amount of sockets anytime soon. I was wrong. That's why i had the rebuild. With an archon staff less statpoints were needed in str and dex. So more could go to vita.
One of my other choices made it so that i couldn't take full advantage of that. That choice was to use a gavel of pain on switch. Even hel'ed it required a lot more strenght than my second highest required str (111 from glad bane). But it was i choice i was very happy with. With this build all the damage is physical. So either i had to get a backup damage (= less regular damage) or i could remove physical immunity by using amp charges. I choose the latter and as said i never regretted that.
Why the 60 unspend statpoints you say? That's because of a dilemma i'm in. The current AR isn't all that great. On the other hand i'd like to replace the ravenfrost with another nature's peace for more DR (CBF already on glad bane). Problem is i'd lose a lot of dex and AR. So i'm not sure whether i should pour those points in dex to get that up. Or that it's just not worth it and i should toss them in vita and keep the ravenfrost. Maybe someone here can give me some advice on the subject.
Let's go to the gameplay part now. As i said somewhere at the start of this post. This char had been parked for quite a while. That's why i don't remember too much of normal and NM. As far as i can remember it wasn't too difficult since you get a powerfull attack early on. And from lvl 27 you can carry an insight stick so healing get's up. And damage too ofc. since insight is powerfull that early on. I do regret the 1 point spent in redemption however. Early on it comes in handy, but once you put on a nature's peace then there isn't too much to redeme anymore. And as you're healing all the time just by carrying insight it's kinda overdone. The one point in salvation however does come in handy, but more on that later.
So let's take it from where i restarted which is somewhere in Hell act I. Didn't have much trouble there. Easy going except for the occasional PI. But i had the solution for that on switch. Andy went down very easy. Didn't even have to go back to get the merc healed up. I did switch from might to cleansing just to be safe.
Act II also pretty much a walkthrough. Only trouble there was the arcane sanctuary with all it's PI's and some more in tal's tomb. But the trouble mostly existed from the high repaircosts of the frequent use of charges. Also the lack of decent AR began to be noticable. Very annoying knocking an enemy back an entire screen but still at full health because i didn't land a hit.
Act III also uneventfull. Just as act IV. The latter did take a while though. Got spawners in more then one aerea there. Not too good on the merc either. Eventually i muled on some cash because i was starting to run out. CS pretty easy. Draw back the monsters so IM couldn't be cast. A big bonus here was that my merc was 'invisible' to the monsters. They came straight for me and while going after me the merc picked of most of them. So he had a pretty easy time for the largest part. I say for the largest part because after opening and clearing 2 seals i got IM'd and because of the range of the spell so was the merc. So he got killed and after resurrecting him the monsters could see him again. That made it tougher for him. Luckily i was through for the largest part already. Oh yeah and the forge was a mal. Not the best it can drop, but much better than i'm used to. So i was very happy with it.
Act V. Went through it easily. Until i found the ancients way. There i stopped for a moment. I was still wearing a skin of the vipermagi, but wanted to finish the game in my final gear. Lvl 85 for glad bane was still a while away (i was 80 IIRC). So decided to run the AT for a bit. Very doable, but sometimes i really had to watch out not to get killed. Merc got whacked on a regular basis. Here's also where the point in salvation came in handy. Sometimes encountered those horrormages with a convictionaura. Nice opportunity to boost those resists.
After reaching 85 and equipping glad bane i went back to the ancients way. Got those minotaurguys there. When careful i could take them, until i hit an extrafast pack. They shredded the merc. I decided not to take them out because it would take a lot of merc ressurections. So charged past them. Still had a lot of trouble ditching them. Partly because of corners in the playingfield, but also opponents blocking my way (spearwomen mostly). And as said they were extra fast.
Finally got where i needed to be: the restingplace of the ancients. Expected a pretty easy fight since i had a lot of DR. I was wrong. First try they nearly took me out by surprise and killed the merc in seconds. Worst part was that it actually was a good spawn. So i saw dark clouds rising above my head. Second try one of them took a decent chunk away from my health (about a third of my life) and straight after that i was dead. Don't know what could take away that much life away while having that much DR, but i was dead nonetheless. My best guess would be that the thrower was FE since he already does some good damage. Several attempts later i finally got to split them up before they killed my merc and then it was just a matter of time before they went down (only 1 full juvie used in the entire fight). After that the WSK. Lvl 1 was easy. Lvl 2 a totally different story. Encountered black souls. Bosspack, FE and LE. That hurt. Even with pretty good resists. Several NDE's, only avoided by quickly using full juvies. Ok, now it get's easier i think after taking them out. Wrong. Regular souls hurt just as much. Glad i finally made it to the WP. After that lvl 3. OK's also great fun. But being carefull helps so only the merc died once or twice there. Baal's waves were easy. Baal himself proved to be very annoying. Just him was ok, but he cloned himself and they both constantly targeted the merc. So lots of trips to heal him or ressurect if i was to late. Finally got the clone down. Was still trying to determine where Baal himself was (not on my screen anyways) and before i found him, he cloned himself once more. Took me about a full book of tp's, but in the end he fell.
Overall i liked the idea of playing him, but the result was a bit disappointing. He took more damage then expected (both regular and elemental). And also adding to the annoyancefactor were 2 gameplayissue's. The first is pretty wellknown here. The freezeing in midcharge. The second i did not know, but quite often when trying to move (either in or out of danger) he got stuck. I don't mean like with charge, but you see the char running on the spot. He's just not getting anywhere. Happened a little too often for my taste. So all in all it was a small letdown for me. I have read i guide of a barb somewhere that also tried not to take any damage, so maybe i'll try that someday to see if that works out better. For now i hope you've enjoyed the read on this one.
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