- Jun 22, 2003
- 7,940
- 0
- 0
Hi there,
I am currently playing an Amazon in the 'Envious of the Green and Gold' tournament over in the Single Player Forum. It's an untwinked Hardcore, Single Pass (no rerunning of areas) tournament where we can (once we have filled the slots) only use Set and Unique items. Sockets can only be filled with emeralds, topazes and jewels with the green or yellow graphic. No restriction on stat points or charms.
Since I did not know what weapon types I was going to find and use, I saved a lot of skillpoints once I got past the early part, unsure of what build to go for. We are allowed to use respecs but I prefer not to. She was played as a melee fighter in late Normal, wielding Skull Splitter (eventually upgraded) and later Heart Carver. But now I have found both some spears and some bows (upgraded Blastbark and Skystrike). I have tried out Immolation Arrow for the first time and I love using that skill. It's maxed now, and I have pumped the synergy that boosts the explosion damage about halfway. No extra points yet in the other synergy (the one that boosts the damage of the lingering flames). I am currently halfway through Nightmare Act III.
Not planning to get a Valkyrie (partly because I have 'Been There, Done That' already and partly because I want to have no points in Evade with this character) but my Decoy is close to maxed (17 points, I think) and a sturdy tank where I am now.
My merc is currently a Might guard with The Impaler, Tancred's Skull and Skin of the Flayed One. My own gear is heavily MF oriented now: Blade of Ali Baba, Sigon's 3-combo with boots, Arctic armor(with PTopaz)+belt, Cathan's 3-combo with amulet.
So, a couple of questions for you people in-the-know:
1. Is Immolation Arrow generally seen as a good PvM skill for questing through the game?
(I hope to be able to make decent progress in Hell, doing full clears on /players 3, but /players 1 will do in a pinch.)
2. Which of the two synergies is seen as the most useful? Explosion or flames? Or do people go for both?
3. Can you steal mana with Immolation Arrow? If yes, is it feasible to dream about doing enough damage and having enough mana steal to make it support itself, or is that just a futile hope?
4. What level of Pierce is good to aim for, mostly for use with Immo Arrow? It's at level 2 now.
5. Merc choice. This seems very open to me, and I want to discuss it a bit. Both the melee dude types are good for tanking, and the Act III Cold merc sort of does a similar job (will help the Decoy to survive and tank better). Act I mercs are great in many areas in Act V NM and Hell (with all the ranged guest monsters). Current weapons I can give mercs are:
bows: Skystrike or upgraded Blastbark (whichever one I do not use myself)
spears/polearms: The Impaler, upgraded Bloodthief or upgraded Razortine. I had a Dimoak's Hew but I sold it. Maybe that was a bad choice...
swords: upgraded Soulflay
Or course, future weapon drops may push me in a certain direction. I mean, if a Bonehew, a Goldstrike Arch or a Doombringer would drop, that would clearly affect my decision. :badteeth:
6. What to do about PI+FI monsters? Skipping them is not an option - everything must die! I can plink with Skystrike's Attack (125 lightning damage on average) but that will take forever on a tough boss on Hell. Of course, three of the merc types add decent cold damage (although the Rogue's cold damage requires a bow with big damage to be good). The Impaler and Skull Splitter have Open Wounds, which is always handy against these kinds of bosses. Thoughts? Adding another skill based elemental damage type? Do I have enough skill points for that? Keep in mind that I am unlikely to find a javelin.
I am currently playing an Amazon in the 'Envious of the Green and Gold' tournament over in the Single Player Forum. It's an untwinked Hardcore, Single Pass (no rerunning of areas) tournament where we can (once we have filled the slots) only use Set and Unique items. Sockets can only be filled with emeralds, topazes and jewels with the green or yellow graphic. No restriction on stat points or charms.
Since I did not know what weapon types I was going to find and use, I saved a lot of skillpoints once I got past the early part, unsure of what build to go for. We are allowed to use respecs but I prefer not to. She was played as a melee fighter in late Normal, wielding Skull Splitter (eventually upgraded) and later Heart Carver. But now I have found both some spears and some bows (upgraded Blastbark and Skystrike). I have tried out Immolation Arrow for the first time and I love using that skill. It's maxed now, and I have pumped the synergy that boosts the explosion damage about halfway. No extra points yet in the other synergy (the one that boosts the damage of the lingering flames). I am currently halfway through Nightmare Act III.
Not planning to get a Valkyrie (partly because I have 'Been There, Done That' already and partly because I want to have no points in Evade with this character) but my Decoy is close to maxed (17 points, I think) and a sturdy tank where I am now.
My merc is currently a Might guard with The Impaler, Tancred's Skull and Skin of the Flayed One. My own gear is heavily MF oriented now: Blade of Ali Baba, Sigon's 3-combo with boots, Arctic armor(with PTopaz)+belt, Cathan's 3-combo with amulet.
So, a couple of questions for you people in-the-know:
1. Is Immolation Arrow generally seen as a good PvM skill for questing through the game?
(I hope to be able to make decent progress in Hell, doing full clears on /players 3, but /players 1 will do in a pinch.)
2. Which of the two synergies is seen as the most useful? Explosion or flames? Or do people go for both?
3. Can you steal mana with Immolation Arrow? If yes, is it feasible to dream about doing enough damage and having enough mana steal to make it support itself, or is that just a futile hope?
4. What level of Pierce is good to aim for, mostly for use with Immo Arrow? It's at level 2 now.
5. Merc choice. This seems very open to me, and I want to discuss it a bit. Both the melee dude types are good for tanking, and the Act III Cold merc sort of does a similar job (will help the Decoy to survive and tank better). Act I mercs are great in many areas in Act V NM and Hell (with all the ranged guest monsters). Current weapons I can give mercs are:
bows: Skystrike or upgraded Blastbark (whichever one I do not use myself)
spears/polearms: The Impaler, upgraded Bloodthief or upgraded Razortine. I had a Dimoak's Hew but I sold it. Maybe that was a bad choice...
swords: upgraded Soulflay
Or course, future weapon drops may push me in a certain direction. I mean, if a Bonehew, a Goldstrike Arch or a Doombringer would drop, that would clearly affect my decision. :badteeth:
6. What to do about PI+FI monsters? Skipping them is not an option - everything must die! I can plink with Skystrike's Attack (125 lightning damage on average) but that will take forever on a tough boss on Hell. Of course, three of the merc types add decent cold damage (although the Rogue's cold damage requires a bow with big damage to be good). The Impaler and Skull Splitter have Open Wounds, which is always handy against these kinds of bosses. Thoughts? Adding another skill based elemental damage type? Do I have enough skill points for that? Keep in mind that I am unlikely to find a javelin.
Last edited: