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

[Grisu]

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

1 - for stashing?
2 a) Scale Mail can only have 2 sockets, no matter the ilvl. Vendors who sell Scale Mails:

• Fara (Normal): The only one where you can buy grey 2 os Scale Mails
• Asheara (Normal): only magical
• Fara (NM): only magical
• Elzix (NM): only magical

2 b) Plate Mails can be shopped by lots of traders: Hralti (Normal), Halbu (Normal), Jamella (Normal), Larzuk (Normal), Fara (Nightmare), Hralti (Nightmare), Asheara (Nightmare), Jamella (Nightmare), Larzuk (Nightmare), Fara (Hell), Hralti (Hell), Asheara (Hell), Jamella (Hell)
All sell only magical items, so look for mechanic's, artisan's and jeweler's prefix. No use if you want bases for RWs though.

Plate Mails are limited to 2 sockets, no matter the ilvl.

2c) Full Plate Mails can be bought here (again, only magical quality):
Larzuk (Normal), Ormus (Nightmare), Halbu (Nightmare), Larzuk (Nightmare), Charsi (Hell), Gheed (Hell), Elzix (Hell), Hralti (Hell), Halbu (Hell), Larzuk (Hell)

Full Plate Mails can either have up to 3 os (ilvl 1-25) or 4 (ilvl 26+). This is for grey items only. For a magical one you need an ilvl of 73 for the Jeweler's prefix, so a level 68 character. Below that you will only get Artisan's (3 os) (starting ilvl 51, i.e. clvl 46).

see the shopping calculator in the wayback machine.

So for RW bases you are practically stuck with 2 os Scale Mails from vendors...

EDIT: Added some more info on socket numbers.

 

[Dazliare]

1 - for stashing?
2 a) Scale Mail can only have 2 sockets, no matter the ilvl. Vendors who sell Scale Mails:

• Fara (Normal): The only one where you can buy grey 2 os Scale Mails
• Asheara (Normal): only magical
• Fara (NM): only magical
• Elzix (NM): only magical

2 b) Plate Mails can be shopped by lots of traders: Hralti (Normal), Halbu (Normal), Jamella (Normal), Larzuk (Normal), Fara (Nightmare), Hralti (Nightmare), Asheara (Nightmare), Jamella (Nightmare), Larzuk (Nightmare), Fara (Hell), Hralti (Hell), Asheara (Hell), Jamella (Hell)
All sell only magical items, so look for mechanic's, artisan's and jeweler's prefix. No use if you want bases for RWs though.

Plate Mails are limited to 2 sockets, no matter the ilvl.

2c) Full Plate Mails can be bought here (again, only magical quality):
Larzuk (Normal), Ormus (Nightmare), Halbu (Nightmare), Larzuk (Nightmare), Charsi (Hell), Gheed (Hell), Elzix (Hell), Hralti (Hell), Halbu (Hell), Larzuk (Hell)

Full Plate Mails can either have up to 3 os (ilvl 1-25) or 4 (ilvl 26+). This is for grey items only. For a magical one you need an ilvl of 73 for the Jeweler's prefix, so a level 68 character. Below that you will only get Artisan's (3 os) (starting ilvl 51, i.e. clvl 46).

see the shopping calculator in the wayback machine.

So for RW bases you are practically stuck with 2 os Scale Mails from vendors...

EDIT: Added some more info on socket numbers.

This is so helpful! Right now I'm mostly looking for sockets for topazes. I'm in early NM so I don't need the good RWs to stay alive just yet, and my mercenary's armor is still a 2os scale mail with flawed topazes...

For RWs, I'm guessing I'll end up with a couple options like Smoke, Lionheart, or Stealth in a full plate mail. I suppose Wealth could be fun too, though if I find Lem I'll probably use it in a weapon, or for Treachery. Long shot options would be Duress, Gloom, or Stone. I would be surprised if I end up using a 4os body armour runeword. A Jeweler's Full Plate Mail would be a good option too.

 

[Dazliare]

I've made some decent progress over the past few days. Act 1 is complete. The star of the show was definitely Grim Ward. While my mercenary deals pretty good damage, he's pretty fragile, so fearing away a bunch of fodder is really helpful:



No sure what happened with the Andariel screenshot, but her drop was lame, even on P8



Also, my endless ring gambling paid off!

Coral Ring of Fortune
Ring
Required Level: 31
Fingerprint: 0xce95b35f
Item Level: 52
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Lightning Resist +27%
16% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Ring of Fortune
Ring
Required Level: 31
Fingerprint: 0xb8b0946f
Item Level: 42
Version: Expansion 1.10+
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Both of these are decent upgrades. I also took a look at some crafting options. I can't use any hit power items except rings and amulets, so I figured I'd try my luck at some amulets. I saved this one for hell:

Corruption Talisman
Amulet
Required Level: 53
Fingerprint: 0xea1b4234
Item Level: 45
Version: Expansion 1.10+
5% Chance to cast level 4 Frost Nova when struck
+1 to Poison and Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)
Hit Causes Monster to Flee 3%
+5 to Mana
All Resistances +16
Attacker Takes Damage of 8
31% Extra Gold from Monsters

The beginning of Act 2 was actually pretty tough - you can't make Grim Wards from skeleton corpses, so the Sewers were quite challenging, though we persevered. The Halls of the Dead, while ultimately not too difficult, were pretty tedious. My mercenary doesn't quite have the damage output to kill skeletons faster than the unravelers resurrect them, so it becomes a game of pulling skeletons far enough away that the mummies can't reach them. This works, but takes a while.

Level 55, Maggot Lair next

 

[Vang]

Well my lastest attempt is now running Pindleskin. Going super lazy on the write up as there isn't much to say. I played it pretty safe investing 6 or so points into static field, firebolt when I can and let my mercenary do the trashing. Once I hit 30 Hydra started to grow in power and is now sitting pretty damage well at around 175 average.

Been going full runewords, Leaf and a Stealth on. My circlet was gambled in Act 1 and is pretty good, the rest is just normal subpar gear with some MF on it.




Can I get my NM rolls:

Forever skills are:

Frost Nova
Firebolt
Fire Mastery
Hydra(Locked from normal)

 

[Babyhell]

Here they are @Vang!

Forever skills
Frost Nova
Firebolt
Fire Mastery
Hydra(Locked from normal)

NM skills
3 9 : Fire mastery -> 1 2 : Frozen armor
1 10 : Cold mastery
3 1 : Fire bolt -> 3 5 Fire ball
2 5 : Lightning

Hey you got some more Hydra synergy it seems!

 

[Dazliare]

More progress!

Ironchad has forged his way through the palace to find Horazon's fabled Arcane Sanctuary. Currently level 57. The only change in gear this session was finding a 3 socket Great Helm. I only have one perfect topaz (though there are two flawless waiting to upgrade or find a gem shrine), but it was still an improvement for my mercenary's MF value

 

[Vang]

Here they are @Vang!

Forever skills
Frost Nova
Firebolt
Fire Mastery
Hydra(Locked from normal)

NM skills
3 9 : Fire mastery -> 1 2 : Frozen armor
1 10 : Cold mastery
3 1 : Fire bolt -> 3 5 Fire ball
2 5 : Lightning

Hey you got some more Hydra synergy it seems!

Actually excited about the armor since I'm going defense.

 

[Dazliare]

I've said this before, but the Arcane Sanctuary and Tombs in NM are my least favorite part of any tournament. It's a major slog, the moron gets stuck everywhere, and in the tombs themselves it can be hard to keep up with the unravelers constantly spawning undead. In Hell at least, you know it's the last time you have to do it, but in NM just blah.

So that said, I did all of Arcane Sanctuary this morning. It took about 2 hours, so I'm going to take a break now Level 58

 

[Vang]

Well I have been busting through NM. I managed to smash Andariel, Duriel, and Mephisto in the past two days. I went down to the Outer Steppes and was greeted with Fire Immunes. Yeah..this got real. Took a break as my neighbor had a fire going and talked to them for a couple hours while I managed to polish 3/4's a bottle of some elderberry wine from the local winery, decided now that I was good to go to deal with these FI's. A lot of potions, frost novas, and splitting up packs of more than 2-3 so my mercenary wouldn't die.

Spoiler: images

Duriel Drops nothing!


Izual is cremated by Hydras



and Diablo followed soon after:

Going to finish up NM tonight so can I get my final roll before I head to Hell!

Forever skills:

Firebolt
Fire Mastery
Hydra (locked from Normal)
Frost Nova

 

[Grisu]

Going to finish up NM tonight so can I get my final roll before I head to Hell!

Forever skills:

Firebolt
Fire Mastery
Hydra (locked from Normal)
Frost Nova

Wow! Nice going! Here are your rolls for Hell:

Warmth
Glacial Spike
Energy Shield
Frozen Armor

Too bad that Glacial Spike and Frost Nova don't synergize each other...Good luck!

 

[Vang]

Wow! Nice going! Here are your rolls for Hell:

Warmth
Glacial Spike
Energy Shield
Frozen Armor

Too bad that Glacial Spike and Frost Nova don't synergize each other...Good luck!

Really good rolls, thank you! No, but Glacial Spike FREEZES!!! which is so much better.

 

[Vang]

Short in sweet:





Running Mephisto to upgrade gear and got trapped by dolls who all went boom.

 

[Dazliare]

So sorry to see this Vang!!

I finished two tombs this morning, one short and Ancient Kaa's tomb. As expected, it's been quite tedious, but doable. My mercenary dies a lot, so it may be time to get him a real chest piece instead of topazes. Dealing with the skeletons really isn't bad though. It's pretty straightforward to drag them far enough away that the unravelers can't do anything. The real challenge is ghosts, and when you get the occasional mummy sarcophagus *with* unravelers

Level 59!

 

[Vang]

I will officially be retiring from Random Tournament 2020 edition. Got a few cool changes for next years to boot!

 

[Babyhell]

BrianTribute doesn't want to die
Session brought him to lvl 26, getting Radament's skillbook and hitting Canyon's waypoint.

There's not much to say, he almost died vs a pack of archers in Radament's levels when the werebear form popped off, then another time whiel trying to find the summoner vs a champion pack of vampire with goats and ghosts all around the place, and one last time vs the Summoner himself, who was teaming with a pack of vampires and goats:

So close that i wanted to stop to save the character, but decided to take the chance on the purple... and it worked. If i hadn't see my merc beside, i may have stopped, but well. He is still alive, fck it!

 

[Grisu]

Sorry about your deeds, @Vang! See you in your in-training-tournament! And nice save there, @Babyhell!

Although I have still 3 false tombs left, here is my Act II update:

Lots of LI monsters and bosses made my life hard...or at least made my progress slow...
Guys like this teleporting PI LI kept regenerating so fast while my AR was so bad (remember the AR bonus from Ice Arrow is only for cosmetics...) that fights like this one often took 5 mins or more. I even had to buy a ~200 fire damage sword for my merc to help with PIs. I really regret spending the Lum on my Smoke armor now instead of on a Sanctuary Sword for my merc...


A pair of greater mummy bosses was bad, too, because they kept a) regenerating too fast and b) resurrecting minions. So I first had to kill all minions with Ice Arrow *yawn* 10 mins later I took them off one by one.


And yes, I do regret rerolling my Maiden Pike roll to Reflex Bow now...

Spoiler

Please picture every boss pack from now on LI and some of them LI/PI and you will know how act II looked so far for me. Throw in Cold Enchanted for additional high cold resistance and you can imagine that this fight alone took like 15 mins:



I took the chance with my Barb merc accidentially getting teleport bugged and cleared the true tomb first in order to fight Duriel. That came in quite handy, because my barb could block doors and hit the bad guys while they ignored him in melee, which resulted in no deaths for my barb (no resurrection cost for me) and easier, albeit slow progress in the tombs:


See how Duriel ignored my merc, too:


So no surprise we brought him down:


I then started clearing the tombs, which went slowly, so I only put my laptop into hibernation in order to keep on playing with my teleport bugged merc, because it was sooo convenient! Well, after two tombs though, my laptop didn't get out from hibernation and I had to reboot...the third false tomb was played with a mortal Barbarian again (12 resurrections in tomb 3...), so I will probably be trying to teleport bug him again for the remaining 3 tombs...We will see.

Pynache, level 82 Amazon, with Valkyrie and Healfdane, the Barbarian, 3 false tombs left before entering Act III Hell.

 

[Dazliare]

NM TOMBS DONE!!

 

[Vang]

Okay okay...let us try one more time.

Barbarian, Maces x2 and 1x spear.

 

[Dazliare]

Not much to report on this update. I've completed the forest areas of act three, and snagged the Lower Kurast waypoint before saving the game to mule. Level 62, Lower Kurast next

 

[Grisu]

Okay okay...let us try one more time.

Barbarian, Maces x2 and 1x spear.

Nice to see you give this one another try! Here you are!

Vang's Barbarian

Forever Skills
Find Item -> Increased Stamina (initial reroll)
Mace Mastery
Spear Mastery
Whirlwind (locked Normal Skill)

Normal Skills
Howl
Double Swing
Natural Resistance
Grim Ward

Weapons
Spiked Club
Flail -> Great Maul
Trident

Armor
Heavy Body Armor
Circlet
Leather Gloves
Belt
Light Plated Boots
Bone Shield -> Spiked Shield
Avenger Guard

This actually looks nice! Funny that I actually rolled the two masteries you chose (Spears - really???). Any rerolls or locking a skill? Some fine candidates: Howl is good, so is WW, Natural Resistance and Grim Ward...