Hunger at last! Well... i used it about... three minutes? oO Holy crap... and that was not the only disappointment here!
While heading to the Oasis, started to find a 2os Crystal sword... Steel base? Well i may stay two handed and make some more damage. But after some time inside the lair, started to feel hungry when hitting lvl 24, and quickly after went the big disappointment of the session...
I rerolled Two-handed swords - giving Crystal swords... and i find this!
RNG hates this character, really!
The first Tir rune of the journey was a nice find so to speak to allow the Steel runeword, but i may not put it in the Crystal sword, maybe in a Giant sword if i succeed in finding a 2os one, waiting for Poleaxes/Partizans. Then the Staff was reclaimed, and the session ended with the clean of the lower level of the Lost city, and the grabbing of the waypoint on the higher level without kill to handle SP properly on next session.
As a side note, i have to say that multiple NDE were faced - lightning bolts hurt a lot with so crappy resistances, and three relatively quickly during the testing of Hunger. I don't know if it is any good at higher level, but the first play isn't encouraging at all... any tips on this crap, or should i just forget about it?
Anyway, see you on next update/edit!
Code:
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 53 NM Lut Gholein 21
SP Vildecor Daphydae Ama 48 Rogue Encampment NM 18
SP Pb_pal Silika Asa 46 NM Rogue Encampment 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 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 24 Lost city 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
And I was close to start the season yesterday...hopefully I have my twinked windy druid that ROCKS in comparison! Even if I may set it down to p1 for safety now that he hit act 4
Diablo is dead! Acts 2 and 4 in normal are my least favorite part of any single pass playthrough, and this was probably the worst of them. While barbarians are fine, my only attack skills are single target, and a lot of the enemies have high hp, so it took forever.
Big D took almost 15 minutes even on P3. I just don't have enough attack rating, and the lightning hose would kill me very quickly if I didn't run a lot. He dropped the unique flail, which I can't use
Forever Skills:
Dragon Claw -> Fire Blast
Phoenix Strike
Death Sentry
Lightning Sentry (locked in from Normal Difficulty Skills)
Nightmare Difficulty Skills:
3-6 Blade fury
3-5 Wake of fire
1-7 Dragon tail
2-9 Venom
Armor:
Light Armor
Great Helm
Small Shield
Gauntlets
Heavy Boots
Light Belt
Weapons:
Katar
Cestus
Kris
I'm still plugging away with Silika, albeit slower than I'd like to. Too many projects!
We left off with ehr having just completed normal. After a quick respec to her new skills (and putting her stats back to where they were randomly assigned at the end of normal) she sits in a slightly different spot now:
With the loss of the Shadow she if officially single-tree. The only real change is that she's lost CBS as a synergy, and has gained Blade Fury as a 1-point-wonder to deliver OW or something if she gets her hands on it before Hell. Her plan going forward is to max Death Sentry, then pump Fire Blast until it's maxed for more DS shots. Either way, she's get a great setup for NM so let's get cracking.
Progress is stupidly easy, so not much to report there. I am happy to say though that her luck is still going strong in other ways as well! She found a couple plain polearm bases and decided to try her luck for an Insight for the merc. She had enough ingredients to cube up to exactly one perfect amethyst, and combined that with her single Amn that she found back in Normal, crossed her fingers and....bingo.
With her remaining Ral and her one Sol she made this for the merc.
Well now that mana is less of an issue, things are even smoother for Silika. Shortly she found her 3rd Flawless topaz for her helm. The countess apparently didnt get the memo that Silika would actually like some useful stuff, since she dropped an El and two unuseable claw types. First LI in the cats, but the merc and DS were more than up to the task. It was then quickly through to Andy, she toasted the merc but Silika led her in an out of traps to get her.
The drop was useless and it was on to the desert. Most of the act absolutely flew and soon she was standing before the true tomb (she skipped the false ones). LE monsters are starting to get dangerous, and the merc the merc is still quite squishy so Silika has been helping out with FB when necessary.
Another thing is that her resistances are terrible low (single digits or negative) so the LE bolts (and elemental attacks in general) are hurting her a lot. The D2 gods must have been listening, sine before she reached the chamber she had a very nice drop:
That led her to make a Rhyme in a 2-socket small shield she's been carrying since a1 normal. Feeling a bit better about her resists, she was ready to take on the big bug. He killed the merc a few times, but Silika stayed well back and portalled back whenever that happened. LS took Duriel out no problem. Here's how her random stats are shaping up now.
Silika, the Trapsin - lvl 57, NM Kurast Docks
Code:
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 Pb_pal Silika Asa 57 NM Kurast Docks 24
SP Grisu Pynache Ama 53 NM Lut Gholein 21
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 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 24 Lost city 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
Ironchad has completed the first few areas of act 5. The first rune to drop in A5 was a Shael, so he went back to Lut Gholein to shop a 3os Large Shield and make Rhyme. This is a big increase in staying alive and MF, but a rather large hit to killing power. He was using a big maul to kill things rather easily, which has now been replaced with a Crushflange Mace. Crushing blow is nice, but the base damage is low, and he's basically auto-attacking everything on P8 so it's slow going. Slow and steady wins the race right?
Another highlight was the golden dagger. Can't use it, but I threw it in the stash in case NM rolls daggers
Since last time, Lost city upper level had been cleant, so had been the Viper temple, and the Staff had been cubed with this unique amulet, at lvl 25.
Then the palace had been... ran through. i must admit that this character is more an annoyance to me, so i'm starting to giving up the full clean - let's go SP still, but don't make much of an effort, especially when leveling up is soooo long. And NDE coming so often...
Anyway crafted a MF breast plate, and been rewarded pretty soon with a rare amulet - not fantastic, but i'll take the replenishes mod. Ended the session after having visited one branch of the Arcane Sanctuary, still at lvl 25.
Well... see you on next update/edit!
Code:
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 Pb_pal Silika Asa 57 NM Kurast Docks 24
SP Grisu Pynache Ama 53 NM Lut Gholein 21
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 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
Well I have finally vanquished Duriel and moved onto Act 3 with my druid. (Add to table with next update) Been a long few weeks so not much going on in the way of updates and I managed a little bit of playing time over the last couple days since we finally moved.
One major NDE was in the Tomb leading to Duriel as I ran and got trapped and was able to successfully port to town before heading back down with my pack of wolves and mercenary so I could infect the dead safely. A lot of the tactics has been just running around and infecting the damned while my mercenary and wolves do the mop of duties of finishing them off.
Gracias. Perhaps I should try to find a way to use a scythe, the universe seems to be telling me it's important for this character
Awww yeah! Venom! Maybe I should do a Titan kicker build
Locking in Mind Blast as my fourth forever skill. I can't say yet if Fade would be a better choice, but I feel like I've got to take any crowd control skill I can get given that I'll be up close and personal for the entire game.
Jocular's Assasin:
FOREVER SKILLS
Shock Web
Shock Web -> Wake of Inferno>>Venom
Dragon Talon
NORMAL SKILLS
Claws of Thunder
Fade
Fire Blast
Dragon Talon -> Fire Blast -> Claws of Thunder -> Claws of Thunder -> Death Sentry
Mind Blast<<Locked in
The weapon reroll just gives you a different weapon from the same type. It doesn't re-roll the base weapon class, unfortunately. Good luck with the assassin!
The weapon reroll just gives you a different weapon from the same type. It doesn't re-roll the base weapon class, unfortunately. Good luck with the assassin!
Act 1 went pretty easily. For the first 15 levels Calf was kicking barefoot (ouch). Progress was somewhat slow, but picked up of course as soon as she was high enough level (clvl 16) to gamble a pair of Light Plated Boots (ilvl 20).
I've never used DTalon as my main attack, and it's taking some getting used to. The inherent knockback is a double edged sword. It's very useful to use when encountered with multiple monsters; kicking each one at a time in a cycle keeps them from attacking you as often. But, it can be a little annoying chasing single monsters down. Also, since I don't have Burst of Speed, my kicks aren't terribly fast. I think it will be necessary to hold the number of kicks at 3 (slvl 17) to prevent Calf from being swarmed.
I've also come to the conclusion that randomly attributing my stats simply is not going to work. I'm gimping my damage in multiple ways (Light Plated Boots, not greaves. No Death Sentry. Only 3 kicks. No BoS), so I'm going to need to have a lot of strength to boost my damage. It's /players8, but already in Act II Calf's killing speed is slowing down quite a bit. Luckily I have Venom, and access to Chain Gloves, so Trang's may be an option. Plus, one of my weapons is 'Mace', so I can use Crushflange! As soon as my mf% is a bit higher I plan to make a few trips to Andariel. I don't plan on doing too much mfing/rerunning, but I think it will be necessary to a degree since Death Sentry will not be a given. As well as Cloak of Shadows.
One real problem is that Claw/Katar have a range of 1, and Mace has a range of 0. I would prefer to put some distance between Calf and her targets. I do have access to War Scythe which has a range of 4(!)....but I don't know if survival will be possible without a shield since a fairly large percentage of my stats will go to strength. Hmmmm. Though it would be fun to use Rift...
Some other pics:
Finally, boots!
DTalon can knockback The Smith, which is very good news for when Calf meets his older brother in Act IV.
This mace is a drop from Andariel, and I may keep it around for quite a long time. Poison damage for PMH, 5% life steal, CTC Amp, a little MAEK...not bad at all.