Quest: Cube Grail, v1

One thing that always bothered me was when Cain said you could transmute a socketed long sword in act 2, but this no longer works. I haven't listened to the quest dialogue in a while to know if he still says this.

P.S. I'm waiting for the hesitation on the Ist to Gul, and Jah to Cham recipes :).

Good luck on this one! Great progress so far.
 
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@Peytron, I reviewed Deckard's Horadric Cube conversation, and you're right - the socketed long sword recipe isn't in the list of recipes. I'll investigate further later. But first, another update: Vinca was level 48 when she defeated Andy, and then I traded her gear for magic-find stuff and proceeded to keep revisiting the bottom of the catacombs under the monastery.

She had an okay map at first, with which Vinca could teleport to Andy and finish a run every two minutes. (By happy accident, I accidentally hit the wrong difficulty and had to reroll her NM map, but that turned out to be an improvement: she occasionally had runs as short as 90 seconds, and the new map also featured a reliable mana shrine just before the last downward stairway.) I saved and GoMuled each and every set and unique that she found. At first, she sported MF+195%, but as the running progressed, Andy kept dropping nice improvements: Nagelrings, a Tal Rasha's Fine Spun Cloth mesh belt (and later a Goldwrap heavy belt), Chance Guards chain gloves, an ethereal rare armor with two sockets, Tancred's boots and amulet, and a Blade of Ali Baba tulwar, as well as a couple of MF jewels to put in it. Hundreds of runs later, Vinca reached level 58. Her MF had grown to +415%, and her ethereal armor was close to being destroyed.
B4fragileArmor.png
Anyway, my intention for these NM Andy runs was to see if I could find a Stone of Jordan, to use in one of the rare upgrade recipes. Vinca found 770 S/U items during her several hundred runs. 52 of those were rings: 12 Angelic Halos, 28 Cathan's Seals, 7 Manald Heals, five Nagelrings, but still no Stones of Jordan. So that I don't burn out with grinding out several hundred more runs, I'm inclined to continue on to the rest of NM for now.

But before I move on to NM act 2, I did complete one more recipe:
B4fal.png B4falR.png
Code:
Progress: 88 recipes checked off, 29 left to go
 
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These are the 'gems + 1 weapon' recipes over the patches:
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The dialogue was probably made with Classic 1.00 in mind, not an eventual expansion. Still, they really didn't like that recipe :D
 
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Vinca has reached the Durance level 2 waypoint, and is now level 80. Her frozen orb, hydra, and fire mastery skills are maxed, and her fireball synergy to hydra is close to maxing out as well. Her most notable find in act 2 was a unique Demon Limb tyrant club.

I had felt a bit disappointed with her bad luck trying to run NM Andy for SoJs. I thought I would give her a chance at running Hell LK campfire superchest huts for a while with /players 7. After only a hundred runs or so, she was rewarded quite well with a unique Spike Thorn blade barrier, a Lem rune, and... a Ber rune! I think I will stick around act 3 for a while before she faces Mephisto; I'd like to see if she can find another nice drop.

She enjoyed a few other helpful rune drops while questing, sufficient to be able to use a few more rune upgrade recipes:
Lem:B5lem.png B5lemR.png Pul:B6pul.png B6pulR.png Um:B7um.png B7umR.png
Code:
Progress: 91 recipes handled, 26 recipes still left
 
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Here's her hell difficulty forge drop:
B7lumforge.png

And here's her greeting after finishing act 5:
B12mat.png
She had level 84 when she defeated Baal. After one tour of the hell difficulty cow level, followed by a victory lap around all of the area level 85 places in acts 1-4, she advanced to level 85.
I think Vinca's most difficult fight was at the end of Act 4, where she was killed once by the dreaded lightning hose. Her most notable finds were both in act 4, a Stormshield unique monarch and a Rainbow Facet unique jewel. Those weren't the only first time finds for me - she also found my very first Stone of Jordan unique ring! Hopefully some more grinding will bring another one, because there are two recipes that require that ring. She also spent some time running act bosses for essences, and she found three of the four - hopefully Baal will cough up the fourth one sometime.

More recipes to report:
After repeating the low-quality upgrade recipe again, I got a shrunken head with +3 raise skeleton. I tried socketing it:
B8socketshield.png B8socketshieldR.png
Alas, the recipe didn't produce enough sockets for a runeword. No matter, I gave it to Swamp along with a nice rare jewel, and now his maximum number of raised skeletons has increased by one:
B8socketshieldS.png
B9sockethelm.png B9sockethelmR.png
Nope, I won't be able to make a runeword out of that one either.
B10socketbody.png B10socketbodyR.png
Wow, my luck trying to prepare items for runewords is just not very good right now.
B11socketsonmagicw.png B11socketsonmagicwR.png
Right before visiting the hell difficulty cows, I decided to see if this would work:
B12magiconsockets.png B12magiconsocketsR.png
As far as I could tell, none of the cows were silver.
I haven't decided on which character will grasp the relay baton and continue working on more cube recipes. I was thinking about an Assassin with lightning traps, but I might start an Amazon javelin thrower instead.
Code:
Progress: 96 recipes accomplished, 21 remaining
 
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Thanks to the stashed finds of Swamp and Vinca, Ritzy has some access to some pretty neat gear, helping her advance reasonably quickly. Like many twinked heroes, she spent much of normal acts 1 and 2 prancing around in complete sets, first Hsarus' and then Sigon's. Not long after putting a skill point into poison javelin and lightning bolt, she had the opportunity to check off another recipe:
C1javelins.png C1javelinsR.png
Early in nightmare difficulty, she started flinging Titan's Revenge javelins and blocking with a Tiamat's Rebuke shield (both farmed earlier by Vinca). NM Larzuk socketed the Stormshield, and she will be ready to carry that monarch in hell difficulty, after gaining another level. The normal forge gave her another Eld rune, and the nightmare forge dropped a Ko. Like Swamp and Vinca before her, she retains every rune and gem she finds; among her nice finds are another Mal and Gul. No new exceptional or elite S/Us yet, but she has obtained a few new TC3s: a random unique dropped Greyform unique quilted armor, and a nightmare cow dropped a Gull unique dagger. I'll include a Flavie document attached to this update, for anyone that wants to see the amazing wealth this project has amassed up to now. (Only 47 Isenhart's Case armors collected so far, so there's still more work to be done before I have enough inventory to open that Isenhart's 'R' Us franchise down the street by Drognan's.)

I reused a recipe previously completed, and I'll include it here because I think it deserves an honorable mention.
C1upethwoestave.png C1upethwoestaveR.png
I wanted this for Ritzy's mercenary - he's been reasonably effective with it so far.
Hopefully Ritzy will achieve yet more recipes while she undertakes hell difficulty.
Code:
Progress: 97 recipes completed, still aiming to finish the last 20.
 

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After Ritzy defeated Mephisto in hell difficulty, she repeated several hundred LK runs, and collected many more runes, gems, and a few other things that might become useful someday (such as weapon bases). Among the high runes she found included an ohm and another vex and mal. Two more rune recipes down:
C2mal.png C2malR.png
C2ist.png C2istR.png
Her forge dropped a fal rune, and she coaxed a Wolfhowl unique fury visor and another essence out of Diablo. Act 5 coming up next. I haven't used any elite upgrade recipes yet. I have the runes, but I'm still unsure about whether to use one on the Titan's Revenge stick pile, or to use that recipe on some other exceptional unique weapon.
Code:
Progress: 99 recipes knocked out, 18 recipes still coming up
 
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C4mat.png
Ritzy's most challenging fight was in hell difficulty's Halls of Vaught. There were some snake monsters flinging invisible poison clouds around. Any time Ritzy, her mercenary Durga, or her summoned Valkyrie moved through one of the clouds, I could hear loud coughing sounds and watch their health meters bounce down rapidly to short yellow and shorter red. She used plenty of town portals to get Malah to heal the team, and a few more times to get Qual-Kehk to bring back Durga, but to my surprise, Ritzy managed to defeat Nihlithak without dying once. After defeating Baal, she did a couple of victory laps through the arcane sanctuary and the moomoo farm. I'd like to run the arcane sanctuary a few more times, but I think I need a lot more careful practice - I haven't yet figured out the right tactics for getting drops (hoping for runes) from the ghosts there. Her most notable find was another Ist rune, dropped by a unique archer when she revisited the tower in the Black Marsh during her victory laps.

She accomplished one more recipe:
C4eliteuw.png C4eliteuwR.png
Durga said he would put this to good use, and he was right!
Okay, now I have a decision to make. I now have two Ist runes!
  • Option: I also have two each of Gul and Vex, and one Ohm - I could chain cube more rune recipes all the way to Lo.
  • Another option: I am not yet excited with my choices so far for upgrading an exceptional unique armor, an exceptional rare weapon, nor exceptional rare armor. I also have a Blade of Ali Baba socketed with two MF jewels. I haven't yet used the empty-sockets recipe, and the two Ist runes would greatly enhance the MF of any hero brandishing that sword, to provide better stock for the elite upgrade recipes.
Each option helps me finish four more particular cube recipes. Whichever I choose, the choice significantly delays opportunities to finish the four in the option not chosen.

Anyway, while I think about that choice, another character is underway:
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According to an entry I found in an online dictionary, Tulle is a type of fine lacy fabric used for veils and tutus, and is pronounced "tool." I thought the name fit my planned dancer (kick and trap) build on multiple levels. :whistle:
Code:
Progress: 100 recipes served, 17 recipes still on order
 
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This was actually my first ever kick/trap dancer character. She was fun to play. Her Dragon Talon attack has 18 skill points invested, and it worked reasonably well with Tulle's rare mirrored boots. She spent a fair amount of time running LK looking for runes. She found quite a few, but no elite runes this time. But when she finally proceeded toward act 4, she got two mal runes - one from Bremm Sparkfist at the bottom of the durance, and the other from the act 4 forge:
Dforg.png
(For whatever it's worth, her normal and nightmare forges burped up an ith and a fal, respectively.) I think her most interesting finds were an Arreat's Face unique slayer guard hat, and an ethereal Hawkmail scale mail in Baal's quest drop.

She completed four more recipes. CAUTION: This spoiler may cause acute anxiety among some of you reading this. Expose the spoiler at your own risk.
D1gul.png D1gulR.png D2vex.png D2vexR.png D3ohm.png D3ohmR.png
D4eliteua.png D4eliteuaR.png
I was pleased with the sharp defense increase produced by this upgrade, and I look forward to placing this warm coat on one of my next characters.
Next up: I haven't decided, but I'm inclined to try one of the classes not yet used in this project - barbarian, druid, or paladin. I will also casually do some runs with the four pat/mat characters so far. For the remaining recipes, I need to find the following: more runes, some intriguing exceptional rare items to upgrade, another SoJ, and the last essence from Baal.
Code:
Progress: 104 recipes honorably achieved, 13 recipes sinfully coveted
 
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Trivia: according to several online dictionaries, "wadge" is old British slang for "large portion" or "large collection."
The first four "cookie-cutter build" characters in this project all summoned minions and other assistants to participate in battle. (Swamp raised skeletons, Vinca raised hydras, Ritzy brought a valkyrie and decoy, and Tulle and her shadow master dropped death sentries.) This pattern continues: Wadge will use yet another standard build plan: a shockwave summoner. I will do a lot of "/players 1" questing by default, in order to get to the main rune-grinding areas (such as Hell LK) as quickly as possible.
 
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Trivia: according to several online dictionaries, "wadge" is old British slang for "large portion" or "large collection."
The first four "cookie-cutter build" characters in this project all summoned minions and other assistants to participate in battle. (Swamp raised skeletons, Vinca raised hydras, Ritzy brought a valkyrie and decoy, and Tulle and her shadow master dropped death sentries.) This pattern continues: Wadge will use yet another standard build plan: a shockwave summoner. I will do a lot of "/players 1" questing by default, in order to get to the main rune-grinding areas (such as Hell LK) as quickly as possible.

If you've found a Ribcracker you may have fun respecing to a shapeshifter at level 31! I had a lot of fun with a Maul/Fire Claws hybrid. Ribcracker makes the game a breeze, and would be a worthy weapon for the Elite Weapon Upgrade recipe.

Great thread, btw👍
 
Thanks, @Jocular! I do have a Ribcracker, and I do plan on using it with this character. I also found my first ever Lacerator, which I have never tried before. When I get past NM, I'm hoping to experiment with it as Wadge's weapon switch to deal with physically immune enemies.
 
Actually, I expect that I will use it as-is (quarterstaff), rather than use runes to upgrade it.

I already used the elite weapon upgrade recipe once, to get an ethereal Woestave great poleaxe for Ritzy's merc.
 
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Ribcracker and Lacerator turned out to be a great weapon switch combination. Even though it had a slower attack speed, I grew to prefer it as the primary weapon for regular questing, as soon as Wadge had a high enough level to swing it. The Ribcracker on switch became the boss killer. Among his interesting finds were a M'avina's Embrace kraken shell and another Demon Limb truncheon. He also found a nice pelt, on which I re-used the socket recipe to see if I could turn it into a Lore runeword candidate:
E1sockethelm.png E1sockethelmR.png
Unfortunately, the result is more suitable for a Delirium runeword, and I'd rather not spend those runes in case I need them to set up future cube recipes.
I also found an interesting scepter, with which I was able to finish the last of the normal socketing recipes:
E2socketweapon.png E2socketweaponR.png
Alas, this one won't get runeworded. I'm still not giving up on this weapon, though - it may still get a nice rare jewel and then be carried by my next character.
His forge runes were el, fal, and fal. I ran Baal a few times with Wadge. Between his Ribcracker, his maxed grizzly and heart of wolverine, and the mercenary's Kelpie Snare, he defeats Baal faster than any of my other characters so far on this project. I haven't found the last essence yet, but Wadge may well be the one that finds it.

Up next:
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Another random 5-character dictionary word. According to an online dictionary, the word represents an ancient unit of not-so-valuable currency. I've used up all of the hero classes that have summonable minions. For the paladin, I'll settle for the next best thing: summoning electric cartoon anvils that drop from the sky! I plan to turn him into a Fist-of-the Heavens specialist, which means it will probably take me quite a bit longer than the others so far to advance him to Patriarch. Until then, I shall also participate in a "magic finding olympics" soon, with all of my matriarchs and patriarchs collected so far. Hopefully I can find some good stuff useful for future cube recipes.
Code:
Progress so far: 105 recipes catered, 12 recipes still simmering
 
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Uncia just defeated Hell Mephisto. He won't advance to Patriarch any time soon, but at level 81 he has advanced far enough for me to use him in this years MFO tournament. The Mausoleum is pretty far away in his current map, so I'll try rerolling it before he starts competing. He is indeed using the scepter that Wadge socketed almost 2 weeks ago:
E3socketweaponG.png

To mix it up, reduce boredom, and keep things fresh, I also plan to run Throne of Destruction with druid Wadge, run River of Flame and Ancient Tunnels with sorceress Vinca, and perhaps some Pits with amazon Ritzy. I might even do some Pit runs with necromancer Swamp. Yesterday, I did a practice pit run with him. He will have adequate boss clearing speeds, just not spectacular. During Swamp's practice run, a random archer dropped an "ith" rune, and as is habit with every rune, I picked it up. After finishing the run and sorting through loot back at the Rogue's camp, I noticed that the ith rune looked a little strange. I looked more carefully and was delighted to see that it was not an "ith" I picked up - it was actually an "ist!"

Swamp's lucky find gave me a good reason to use another cube recipe, probably my most important MFO preparation task. This one completes the "repair" category of recipes in my list:
E4unsocket.png
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and now let's replace those pretty jewels with some some dull gray rocks:
E4unsocketG.png
Okay, I think my MFO prospects are a little improved now... 🤩

Code:
Progress: 106 recipes itemized, 11 undocumented as yet
 
For the MFO starting this weekend, I rolled a good Cold Plains/Burial Grounds/Mausoleum map for the paladin. After a few practice runs, I'm still disappointed, because I'm only getting about three bosspacks per run. So yesterday I decided to go ahead and start a pure blizzard sorceress to complement the other MFO runners.
F0.png
It didn't take to long to teleport and finish Nightmare, so I think she should be ready to run Hell Ancient Tunnels by the time the MFO starts.
 
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Okay, now that the 2020 MFO is finished, I have another recipe to report. During one of Wadge's practice runs before the olympiad, he got the fourth essence.
E2essence4.png
E3token.png E3tokenR.png
Code:
Progress: 107 recipes cubed-up. It's finally down to the last remaining ten:

upgrade: add socket to rare (rare + SoJ + 3 x perfect skull)
upgrade: rerolled higher rare (rare + SoJ + perfect skull)
upgrade: elite rare weapon (exceptional rare weapon + fal + um + perfect sapphire)
upgrade: elite rare armor (exceptional rare armor + ko + pul + perfect amethyst)
rune: Lo (2 x Ohm + diamond)
rune: Sur (2 x Lo + flawless topaz)
rune: Ber (2 x Sur + flawless amethyst)
rune: Jah (2 x Ber + flawless sapphire)
rune: Cham (2 x Jah + flawless ruby)
rune: Zod (2 x Cham + flawless emerald)
 
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Some very painful recipes coming up :) Don't even remember the SoJ reroll, selective memory I guess.

I doubt anyone in legit SP cubed two Lo to get a Sur, you'll likely be the first person to use all the recipes when you complete the list.

I've done that one (cubed up to get an Enigma for RFL):
screenshot552-jpg.54809
 
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