Random Tournament 2020 Stay/Shelter-in-Place/Home Edition

[Vang]

I've made a fair amount of progress today, though still lacking in weapons. Currently farming Pindleskin until mid 40s hoping for some decent drop of weapons.

No real danger, and Big D wasn't to scary with a fire resist shrine right in the area that would respawn.




Could someone roll my NM skills as I should hit it tomorrow after working at some point.


Forever Skills:
Throwing Mastery
Axe Mastery - > Iron Skin (initial reroll)
Leap Attack
Sword Mastery (locked normal skill)

 

[Vildecor]

@Vang - I've got some interesting rolls for you:

Nightmare Skills
Howl
Battle Command
Berserk
Iron Skin (auto-reroll) -> Battle Orders

 

[Vang]

@Vang - I've got some interesting rolls for you:

Nightmare Skills
Howl
Battle Command
Berserk
Iron Skin (auto-reroll) -> Battle Orders

Excellent!

 

[Grisu]

Phew, Act 5 is done. Had one NDE with Infidels being extra fast and getting me into hit recovery. Purple potion saved the day though...


The ancients weren't as dangerous as I thought, because my merc kept leeching and leeching and leeching...I rerolled the first (cursed mod) roll though (Hey! I never said I wasn't a whimp!)


I had Souls in the keep, which are - as you well know - lightning immune Well, I'm glad my merc did enough damage to kill them, even though LF was useless...

This is the explosion of a frenzied Ice Spawn, and yeah, I had the bad luck to spawn them as major foes on level 2 and even had one boss pack of those - that means neither XP nor drops from one monster type, that's probably why I finished NM some XP short of level 75.


Double S/U drop with both items being usable! Since I already have Vidala's Snare, i could go for the wombo combo of Vidala's Barb and Snare...but since I will be using Javelin and Shield most of the time, I don't know if that is such a good idea...switching to bow for each kill and losing 25% resist all and CBF in the process looks a tad dangerous to me...


Then the mobs started coming after me...or rather my Decoy:

Bartuc after killing my merc:

Lister and his gang obliterated by LF:

and then being taken down in seconds by my merc and Valkyrie:


Baal shot first, but I shot back:


and back, and back, and back and...well, I stopped counting after my 20th trip to town to replenish my stack of javelins (size: 80). In the end though, the fight was never dangerours and I was impressed on how well the Barb merc held his ground as compared to those Desert mercs. I never ever had to use a potion on him. Then finally:

Wait, I fought Baal for 15 mins and all I got is this lousy t-shirt drop!?! Seriously?

Used up both of my imbues for potentially better javelins, but meh, not the worst rolls, but not better than my current ones:


So, after defeating NM (and finding another 65 S/Us one the way, which isn't too impressive for 295% MF, I guess...) I decided to swap my 3 PTopaz Breast Plate for a Smoke Demonhide Armor. I then gave up on 7%MF and 20 AR for this beauty:

Shadow Spiral
Ring
Required Level: 13
Fingerprint: 0x4f4fc9fe
Item Level: 40
Version: Expansion 1.10+
12% Chance to cast level 4 Charged Bolt when struck
+97 to Attack Rating
4% Life stolen per hit
+2 to Strength
Cold Resist +24%
10% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

And this is what my character looks like, ready for Hell (or not...we will see...):


I could probably have chosen a higher vitality score, but I wanted to be ready to equip the elite versions of my rolled weapons if they ever drop...

 

[Dazliare]

Normal completed! I ended up doing the first two waves twice due to a game crash, but I think I can still consider it single pass I turned the player settings down to 3 for Baal himself - while P8 probably would have been doable, it would have been super tedious since my damage is melee and slow. On P3, he was probably a bit too easy, but that's ok. He coughed up an amazing mercenary upgrade for heading into Nightmare!

If I'm honest, there's a good chance I'll just never bother with cows. Maybe once I'm a higher level I'll go back and do it on P8, but cows tend to be one of my least favorite parts of any tournament. Lots of gems and stuff to sell is nice, but I end up going back and forth so many times, and the cows themselves aren't trivial on higher player settings.

 

[Vang]

Eli has slain Baal! After running pindelskin until level 43 I was able to gamble this that got promptly upgraded (NM stats now with the reset):



Wait. Wait. I am way ahead of myself. Getting there was a bit rough.

I was able to get this ring of pindelskin that really helped too:



The poison damage along with a +80poison damage long sword along with a random giant sword and double swing was starting to munch through pindelskin and company. Then he dropped this helm:



+2 Nat Resist and +2 improved speed with 16% LR on top of it! Holy crap this is a circlet! I promptly went and socketed it and got 1... but I found an awesome +15 max damage jewel with +1 Mana after kill that I decided would increase my kill and farming speed drastically, so I decided that helm was going to get it.

Ran Baal a few times to get to my current level and found nothing of note that was usable.

My skills are pretty much standard, 20 in sword mastery, 12 or so in Berserk, 6 in Battle Orders and 1 Leap attack, battle command, and Iron skin (Yes I know zerk eats defense, but sometimes I run!)

 

[Grisu]

Well, I started at players 8 just for the kicks, but since every Quill Rat became an act boss fight, I quickly dropped to players 3.

Which was ... only slightly better due to those darn LIs everywhere:



I tried to fight my way through the Cave at p3, but 6 boss packs in close proximity to each other with not so fun mods were a grind and test to my run and hide strategy...tried to split the packs up and let my merc and Valkyrie defeat the minions one by one, then I went for the boss. Then the next pack. And so on and so on.







And all of them LIghtning immune of course

Then, going down to level 2, this boss pack of archers got a surprise attack and instantly killed my merc in like 0.5 seconds:


That's why I

1) gave up on using my merc for the Cave, my Valkyrie was sturdy enough to hold off enemy fire. It took ages though, because my damage is abysmal with Harmony/Ice Arrow.

2) reduced player setting to 1 for Bloodraven and Mausoleum/Crypt (all LI again!!!). Phew, now that that is over, I will rescue Cain and stick to players 1, I guess...LI monsters just take way too long to defeat and I don't want to run out of money because I have to resurrect my merc so much.

Pynache, Lv 77 Ice Arrow/LF Zon and Healfdane, the Barbarian, as well as a level 23 Valkyrie, Hell Stony Field next.

     Forum Name        Character Name       Class   Level  Last Waypoint          Points
     ----------------- -------------------- ------- ------ ---------------------- -------
     Babyhell          Frida                Ama     84     WSK 2 Hell             45 (Guardian)
     Vang              Bludgeon             Pal     76     Black Marsh H          31 (RIP)
SP   Jcakes            Rurisk               Pal     73     Rogue Encampment H     30
SP   Grisu             Pynache              Ama     77     Hell Stony Field       30
SP   Pb_pal            Silika               Asa     57     NM Kurast Docks        24
SP   Vildecor          Daphydae             Ama     48     Rogue Encampment NM    18
SP   Jcakes            Nightshade           Asa     47     Rogue Encampment NM    18 (RIP)
SP   DariusTriplet     Vegas                Pal     41     Rogue Encampment NM    15
     Vang              Aergh                Nec     31     Rogue Encampment NM    15
     Vang              Shiv                 Asa     46     Rogue Camp NM          15 (RIP)
     QueenEm           Groot                Dru     45     Rogue Camp (NM)        15
     Vang              Avenged              Dru     50     Rogue Camp NM          15    
     Vang              Shockingly           Sor     35     Highlands              13 (RIP)
     Swamigoon         Niminy               Bar     28     Arreat Plateau         13 (RIP)
     QueenEm           RandomQueen          Sorc    31     Pandemonium Fortress   10 (RIP)
SP   Dazliare          IronChad             Bar     28     Kurast Docks            9
     Swamigoon         Witgat               Dru     22     Canyon o' Magi          4 (RIP)
SP   Babyhell          BrianTribute         Dru     25     Arcane Sanctuary        3
     Swamigoon         Cuckoo               Dru     17     Halls o' Dead 2         4 (RIP)
SP   CaseyJones        Turgruel             Pal     20     Act 2 Sewers            3
SP   b1ur              Lynn                 Ama     20     Lut Gholein             3

 

[Vang]

@Grisu your ability to desire to start /p8 is epic in its own right.

I have been plugging away quite steadily, neglecting my other obligations....errr I mean complete renovations of areas (Pantry still not done and my goal was the weekend) It will be done tonight though for sure, painting, the walls, and the flooring.

Act 1 and Andariel was not that exciting. Pretty safe and maybe one NDE throughout.

So I have reached and slain Duriel! The amount of NDEs I've experienced is astounding. The Summoner I thought had me. I Leap attacked over to his area, let loose a HOWL, HOWL, HOWL. Out of mana. Still surrounded, finally able to get a smidge to Leap Attack again, TP to safety, come back down ZERK the mighty Summoner to death with 2 hits and HOWL and dispatch of the surrounding area! Whew. I might have PTSD after that one (I am a mental health counselor, I admit that was in jest, and probably not the best kind of joke)

Then onto the Tomb, the real Tomb, not that false stuff you know? And a Giant undead mummy decided he was going to try to munch on my soul and he almost did. I had to rearrange myself and tackle his minions at one time, then while I was whacking away at him, I realized that these dudes have some pretty hefty Magic Resist...no wonder he won't die and he is Extra Strong and hits like a truck.

Winding my way through the tomb I see the layout and Duriel is in sight, Leap Attack, Leap Attack, oh shit the staff room is totally full! Leap to a Corner, Howl, TP, go back down and steadily dispatch the minions, and wind my way back through the opening to cleanup the area a bit.










On a side not, had I had mace mastery and some one handers I've found, unique cudgel and Barbed Club as well as Aldur's. Swords, not so much.

That jewel is actually really nice:

Bone Whorl
Jewel
Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 55
Fingerprint: 0x27373873
+12 to Minimum Damage
12% Damage Taken Goes to Mana
+3 to Mana After Each Kill

Eli, The Zerking Leaping Barb to anywhere, regardless of life expectancy after the Jump, lvl 53

 

[Vang]

Well 1200 health down in 2 hits



Think I'm going to call it an end to my runs.

 

[queenEm]

@Vang so sorry for your deeds... Good luck in MFO instead if you are joining

 

[Vang]

Eh, wtf. Nothing else going on in life. Roll me up a sorceress please. 2x staff, 1x sword.

 

[Grisu]

Wow, really sorry about your deeds, @Vang! But I do admire your persistence in getting a Guardian out of this!

Here is

@Vang's sorceress:

Forever skills:
Fire Mastery
Firebolt
Meteor -> Frost Nova
Hydra (locked normal skill)

Normal skills:
Telekinesis
Lightning
Charged Bolt
Static Field

Weapons (2xstaff,1xsword):
Short Staff
Gnarled Staff
Long Sword
Sacred Globe

Armor:
Full Helm - > Circlet
Light Armor
Small Shield
Leather Glovrs
Chain Boots
Light Belt

Well, this could work as long as you roll some other type of damage skills in NM and Hell...

Any rerolls?

 

[Vang]

@Grisu Oh my. Conventional wisdom would say lock Static and leave the rest alone. My mind instead decides to go back to my Dragonscale Paladin and Hydra. So um..yeah lets do that. Lock Hydra, reroll meteor and Full helm please.

 

[Grisu]

@Grisu Oh my. Conventional wisdom would say lock Static and leave the rest alone. My mind instead decides to go back to my Dragonscale Paladin and Hydra. So um..yeah lets do that. Lock Hydra, reroll meteor and Full helm please.

You really want to reroll Meteor? although you have one synergy and FM? I know that many people don't like the timed impact and therefore rather use Fireball... But a heavily syergised Meteor can carry you through the game (if not through FIs). So - shall I really pull the trigger on that one?


Full Helm - > Circlet

 

[Vang]

You really want to reroll Meteor? although you have one synergy and FM? I know that many people don't like the timed impact and therefore rather use Fireball... But a heavily syergised Meteor can carry you through the game (if not through FIs). So - shall I really pull the trigger on that one?


Full Helm - > Circlet

Circlet, awesome!

Yes. You have to understand for me Hydra is the ultimate fun type spell. Fun trumps everything else, including logic in my playstyle (hence my 8 failed attempts, lol)

 

[Grisu]

Ok, then here you go...drum die roll...

Meteor -> Frost Nova

Good luck and have fun!

 

[Dazliare]

Vang I would have done the same thing. Hydra is wicked fun, especially in tournaments

 

[Dazliare]

I've made some decent progress the past few days. My "build" is basically the same as normal. I basic attack things while my mercenary gets most of the killing blows. I started NM with some power shopping and gambling on rings. My amulet is decent, but both of my rings are lame, so I thought I might get lucky. This ring is decent, though I'm hoping to find better at some point:



I upgraded my Bonesnap Maul to a War Club. There's a decent chance I'll upgrade it again and personalize it if I find the runes and I'm still alive, because it has really fantastic mods. Obviously there's a chance at something like an IK ogre maul, but as it stands I'm perfectly happy to use bonesnap all game.

I also shopped a great helm with three sockets and stuffed in three topazes.

Lastly, I remember trying out Grim Ward in like 2001 on my first ever character. I thought the sprite for it was pretty cool, but ultimately have never used it since. This character is showing me that it's actually amazing though. Drop it in a pack of minions, and they will be controlled long enough to kill the unique. It does "waste" the corpse in terms of using find item, but you can't find anything if you're dead

Level 49, last area cleared is the Dark Wood. Tristram next.

 

[Grisu]

Ok, can we just officially declare my boss drops as crap?


Seriously? A Set War Sword and a rare War Scythe from Hell quest Andy???

And even on /players3! Yeah, I stuck to /p3 from my last update on, because there weren't too many LIs (only the various tainted, and my Valkyrie and my merc could handle those well enough). Oh, and a double boss pack of Lightning Skeleton mages:


Otherwise, nothing really of importance happened. For those tainted boss packs, I tried to use doorways and let the Valkyrie take the hits while Healfdane swung his sword from second row and I kept shooting from third row:


As you can clearly see, the Valkyrie taking all the hits didn't exactly *always* work out...

Andariel herself was an exercise in patience: She killed the merc with two hits (even with Antidotes) most of the time and the Valkyrie with three, so I stopped resurrecting my merc and just cast Valykrie, spammed LF until the Valkyrie died (mere seconds), ran around the pool in the antechamber and recast Valkyrie, spammed LF again. Rinse and repeat. Her ranged attacks weren't really dangerous for me, so it came down to "does my stash sustain restocking Mana pots long enough?". Well it did. The rest is history.


Well then, on to Act II!

Pynache, level 79 LF/Ice Arrow Amazon with Healfdane the Barbarian and a Valkyrie, Hell Lut Gholein next.

     Forum Name        Character Name       Class   Level  Last Waypoint          Points
     ----------------- -------------------- ------- ------ ---------------------- -------
     Babyhell          Frida                Ama     84     WSK 2 Hell             45 (Guardian)
SP   Grisu             Pynache              Ama     79     Hell Lut Gholein       39
     Vang              Bludgeon             Pal     76     Black Marsh H          31 (RIP)
SP   Jcakes            Rurisk               Pal     73     Rogue Encampment H     30
     Vang              Avenged              Dru     64     River of Flame NM      25 (RIP)
     Vang              Eli                  Bar     53?    Spider Forest NM       22 (RIP)
SP   Pb_pal            Silika               Asa     57     NM Kurast Docks        24
SP   Dazliare          IronChad             Bar     49     NM Dark Wood           18
SP   Vildecor          Daphydae             Ama     48     Rogue Encampment NM    18
SP   Jcakes            Nightshade           Asa     47     Rogue Encampment NM    18 (RIP)
SP   DariusTriplet     Vegas                Pal     41     Rogue Encampment NM    18
     Jocular           TheGoldenCalf        Ass     48     Rogue Encampment NM    15
     Vang              Aergh                Nec     31     Rogue Encampment NM    15
     Vang              Shiv                 Asa     46     Rogue Camp NM          15 (RIP)
     QueenEm           Groot                Dru     45     Rogue Camp (NM)        15
     Vang              Shockingly           Sor     35     Highlands              13 (RIP)
     Swamigoon         Niminy               Bar     28     Arreat Plateau         13 (RIP)
     QueenEm           RandomQueen          Sorc    31     Pandemonium Fortress   10 (RIP)
     Swamigoon         Witgat               Dru     22     Canyon o' Magi          4 (RIP)
SP   Babyhell          BrianTribute         Dru     25     Arcane Sanctuary        3
     Swamigoon         Cuckoo               Dru     17     Halls o' Dead 2         4 (RIP)
SP   CaseyJones        Turgruel             Pal     20     Act 2 Sewers            3
SP   b1ur              Lynn                 Ama     20     Lut Gholein             3
     intersilva        ?                    Ama      1     Rogue Camp              0

 

[Dazliare]

I haven't played in NM for a tournament in a long time, and I have two questions;

1 - what are you all using skulls for?

2 - how might I find a body armor with 2, 3, or 4 sockets? It has to be scale mail, plate mail, or full plate mail, and I don't *think* I can shop any of these, but I'm honestly not sure