Well not added to table yet, my untimely Paladin death was avenged by Shiv, though it was rough for her too! Only one NDE thus far, but alas the Vile Lancer demonic hordes have been vanquished to allow that paladin to finally rest in peace.
Well after some thinking, and requesting Bows in order to have a distant fighter, dice decided to give me good melee forever skills... however, I'll be really limited towards amazon javelins as weapons, so it will be a really tough run I guess...
Two points: must I lock already before starting or can I lock later in Normal before reroll in Nightmare? I do hesitate between locking Decoy and hoping for a Charged Strike synergy at Nightmare reroll...
Code:
Forum Name Character Name Class Level Last Waypoint Points
----------------- -------------------- ------- ------ ---------------------- -------
Vang Bludgeon Pal 64 Glacial Trial NM 28
SP DariusTriplet Vegas Pal 41 Rogue Encampment NM 15
Vang Shockingly Sor 35 Highlands 13 (RIP)
SP CaseyJones Turgruel Pal 20 Act 2 Sewers 3
SP b1ur Lynn Ama 20 Lut Gholein 3
SP Vildecor Daphydae Ama 20 Lut Gholein 3
SP Pb_pal Silika Asa 18 Lut Gholein 3
SP Grisu Pynache Ama 15 Black Marsh 0
Swamigoon Witgat Dru 18 Act 2 Sewers 3
Swamigoon Cuckoo Dru 17 Halls o' Dead 2 3(RIP)
QueenEm RandomQueen Sorc 20 Lut Gholein 3
Babyhell Frida Ama 1 Rogue encampment 0
For now, everything apart from jewelry had been shopped - a damaged cap had been used at some point, but nothing else:
Rings are 14AR 1 max damage, 42AR 10FCR, and amulet 5PR. 2 chipped rubies in cap, waiting for chipped diamonds for shield
Damage is done by Poison javelin skill, I guess i'm going for a looot of running in Normal. Started to put points in CS prerequisites too, as it is going to be my main damage dealer...
Also put a point in Critical Strike and will put in Penetrate as prereq of Pierce.
Code:
Forum Name Character Name Class Level Last Waypoint Points
----------------- -------------------- ------- ------ ---------------------- -------
Vang Bludgeon Pal 64 Glacial Trial NM 28
SP DariusTriplet Vegas Pal 41 Rogue Encampment NM 15
Vang Shockingly Sor 35 Highlands 13 (RIP)
SP CaseyJones Turgruel Pal 20 Act 2 Sewers 3
SP b1ur Lynn Ama 20 Lut Gholein 3
SP Vildecor Daphydae Ama 20 Lut Gholein 3
SP Pb_pal Silika Asa 18 Lut Gholein 3
SP Grisu Pynache Ama 15 Black Marsh 0
Swamigoon Witgat Dru 18 Act 2 Sewers 3
Swamigoon Cuckoo Dru 17 Halls o' Dead 2 3(RIP)
QueenEm RandomQueen Sorc 20 Lut Gholein 3
Babyhell Frida Ama 9 Stony field 0
Well well well - Pynache finally overcome Diablo at /p8 after 18 trips to town and probably around 14 resurrections of her merc.
In Act II, I used the rogue merc until I was able to gamble some throwing spears with which I could equip my Blessed Aim merc. His current weapon is nothing too spectactular, but serviceable (of course miles away from the usual Savage Polearms my Act II merc usually uses at this stage of the game from the cube recipe):
Armed with a Bow and no good skills, fights against hordes of Greater Mummies is tough, esp. if there are other bosspacks around, but after luring away all undead I could take care of the Greater Mummies:
After finding lots of Tir runes
I somehow managed to cube this beauty with the 3 rings = 1 amulet recipe:
NICE! I think these boots go well along with it:
I manged to find the second TC3 unique
(and later the third from an armor rack)
and defeated Duriel without any complications:
I had some stair traps in the temples in Act III.
This was relatively easy, but the next one...
Here, I had to TP back from the scene (not so easy when in hit lock), use the WP to get back to the entrance and then cast Decoys to get some breathing room.
And then a third one? Are you kidding me?
Another nasty encounter with boss pack archers (HF aura), which probably only wasn't lethal because of my Valkyrie:
All in all, the Valkyrie does good work as a meat shield and I am glad I chose her as a forever skill:
I upgraded my MF gear in Act IV
and then Diablo already...Lightning Fury proved effective against the seal bosses, and my level 10 Power Strike helped to bring down Big D. It was one of the more "awwww" drops I've got from him on Normal, although no item is usable for me:
I'm looking forward to freeing the barbs and get myself a barbarian bodyguard, probably with a "Strength" Runeword sword. The damage from my Act II merc with a throwing spear just isn't too great.
After 7 full clears of Act V normal recently for my ability scroll sept, I am not looking forward to Act V...but I love Act I NM, so I have a goal set and should be fine...somehow.
How is everyone else doing?
@Vang: That is some tough luck you had there with your deeds! But man, you ARE setting a pace, are you? Level 76?
Code:
Forum Name Character Name Class Level Last Waypoint Points
----------------- -------------------- ------- ------ ---------------------- -------
Vang Bludgeon Pal 64 Glacial Trial NM 28
SP DariusTriplet Vegas Pal 41 Rogue Encampment NM 15
Vang Shockingly Sor 35 Highlands 13 (RIP)
SP Grisu Pynache Ama 35 Harrogath 12
SP CaseyJones Turgruel Pal 20 Act 2 Sewers 3
SP b1ur Lynn Ama 20 Lut Gholein 3
SP Vildecor Daphydae Ama 20 Lut Gholein 3
SP Pb_pal Silika Asa 18 Lut Gholein 3
Swamigoon Witgat Dru 18 Act 2 Sewers 3
Swamigoon Cuckoo Dru 17 Halls o' Dead 2 3(RIP)
QueenEm RandomQueen Sorc 20 Lut Gholein 3
Babyhell Frida Ama 9 Stony field 0
I should have an update later tonight as I finish up Canyon of the Magi and the seven tombs. Currently experiencing about 48 hour work weeks, and have been focusing on migration a bunch, usually allowing only a couple of hours a night for D2. It's weekend time now though!
I am stashing rings too hoping to cube something interesting at when the cube shows off. Well all those traps...I may well put points in Decoy earlier than I thought!
Deeds again (attached). Hey, at least my second druid advanced farther than the first! Level 22, almost to Duriel, and Witgat's cyclone armor was quickly depleted by scarabs' lightning. His demise came less than a second later.
Code:
Forum Name Character Name Class Level Last Waypoint Points
----------------- -------------------- ------- ------ ---------------------- -------
Vang Bludgeon Pal 64 Glacial Trial NM 28
SP DariusTriplet Vegas Pal 41 Rogue Encampment NM 15
Vang Shockingly Sor 35 Highlands 13 (RIP)
SP Grisu Pynache Ama 35 Harrogath 12
SP CaseyJones Turgruel Pal 20 Act 2 Sewers 3
SP b1ur Lynn Ama 20 Lut Gholein 3
SP Vildecor Daphydae Ama 20 Lut Gholein 3
SP Pb_pal Silika Asa 18 Lut Gholein 3
Swamigoon Witgat Dru 22 Canyon o' Magi 3(RIP)
Swamigoon Cuckoo Dru 17 Halls o' Dead 2 3(RIP)
QueenEm RandomQueen Sorc 20 Lut Gholein 3
Babyhell Frida Ama 9 Stony field 0
Oh no! Condolences on the loss, Swamigoon. Plan on giving it another go?
As promised, it's finally time for another update from me.
Forever Skills
Decoy
Fend
Lightning Strike
Normal Skills
Multishot
Inner Sight
Critical Strike
Power Strike
Poison Javelin
Armor
Light Armor
Full Helm => Great Helm
Gothic Shield
Chain Gloves
Chain Boots
Light Belt
Weapons
Maiden Javelin
Maiden Pike
Long Bow
Glaive => Pilum
Thanks to the new and improved mercenary weapon rules, I quickly gambled a Pike of the Leech for Razan the Prayer merc after slaying Radament. This was enough for me to hide behind him and pretend like I was helping kill things. Once I obtained the Horadric Cube, I quickly did a muling session to upgrade my armor to a 3xflawed topaz Breast Plate. Another gambling session gave me chain gloves with 9% FR and 9% MF along with chain boots with 10% FRW, 8% FR, and 22% MF.
I initially invested 3 points into Fend (along with 3 into Decoy), planning on using Fend as a main attack once I was able to make insight. Taking a page from Grisu, however, I decided I was better off investing into Power Strike (and later Lightning Strike), as Fend won't truly shine unless I get some really nice base damage later on.
TC3s are always nice to find!
Why do I always get a first-way Arcane when going single pass?
The roughest tomb to establish an initial foothold in. There were an additional four unravelers hanging around the pillars off-screen.
Once I hit level 28 in the last false tomb, I went on my final Act 2 gambling session. Since it was also only my second one this act, I had a nice stash of gold saved up. I tried out 5 great helms, netting only a 9% cold resist one for myself and an enhanced defense one for the merc. I also scored 24% MF chain gloves, a rare light belt with 17% FHR, 32 life, and 8 LR, a deadly (23%) pilum of slaughter (+15 max dmg), and... a shimmering (+6% all res) Gothic Shield. All slots are now filled with the correct items!
Additional MF jewlery was also found (10% and 14% on rings, 12% on amulet), netting me a total of 120% (147% for merc kills). I also found my first Maiden Pike, which I used a chippy + Eld to un-crack it. I'm saving this (and the first white Maiden Javelin I find) for possible imbues. I plan on holding off on my first imbue until I rescue Anya and see what she decides to give me. Knowing her, it'll probably be some crappy bow.
As with the entirety of Act 2, Duriel was taken on at /players8:
1. Merc knockback prevention
2. Easy belt refill
3. Show off my all my item slots filled with the proper gear (no more starter shield!)
4. No full rejuvs necessary!
Well, yes, I can use light belts...but I don't think I'll want those.
Code:
Forum Name Character Name Class Level Last Waypoint Points
----------------- -------------------- ------- ------ ---------------------- -------
Vang Bludgeon Pal 76 Black Marsh H 31 (RIP)
SP DariusTriplet Vegas Pal 41 Rogue Encampment NM 15
Vang Shockingly Sor 35 Highlands 13 (RIP)
SP Grisu Pynache Ama 35 Harrogath 12
SP Vildecor Daphydae Ama 28 Kurast Docks 6
Swamigoon Witgat Dru 22 Canyon o' Magi 4 (RIP)
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
SP Pb_pal Silika Asa 18 Lut Gholein 3
QueenEm RandomQueen Sorc 20 Lut Gholein 3
Babyhell Frida Ama 9 Stony field 0
@Babyhell You should be able to buy 2os ring mails in act 1 already, I buy 3os there from Charsi
My RandomQueen has cleared act2, I have filled all my equipment slots. MF = 104 and with merc kill + 53. Not that bad, I am using Chain lightning as main skill and it is causing me to drink mana potions like a maniac... I found a Nagelring (15MF so a really vad one..) but apart from that nothing spectacular.
Now off to act 3. I hate the jungle... grr...
Code:
Forum Name Character Name Class Level Last Waypoint Points
----------------- -------------------- ------- ------ ---------------------- -------
Vang Bludgeon Pal 76 Black Marsh H 31 (RIP)
SP DariusTriplet Vegas Pal 41 Rogue Encampment NM 15
Vang Shockingly Sor 35 Highlands 13 (RIP)
SP Grisu Pynache Ama 35 Harrogath 12
SP Vildecor Daphydae Ama 28 Kurast Docks 6
Swamigoon Witgat Dru 22 Canyon o' Magi 4 (RIP)
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
SP Pb_pal Silika Asa 18 Lut Gholein 3
QueenEm RandomQueen Sorc 28 Kurast Docks 6
Babyhell Frida Ama 16 Luth Golein 3
Well in fact Charsi only offered me one after Andy kill, I checked earlier I only found a 1os one until then.
Anyway it will be time to look forward, in Act 2 then 3 there will be access to better armors, I made a table in order not to miss the Strength reqs on the droppable armors, see here for up-to-date version, below a copy of current status: Strength req for targeted armor bases
Code:
Difficulty/Act nb | Armor base | Str req | Clvl | Points available
Normal Act 1 | Ring mail | 36 | 16 | 10
Normal Act 2 | Splint mail | 51 | 17 | 0
Normal Act 4+ | Gothic plate | 70 | 30 | 45+ 5 (L.E. Tome Norm)
NM Act ? | Ancient armor | 100 | 55 | 140+ 5 (L.E. Tome Norm)
Hell Act ? | Diamond mail | 131 | 75 | 210+10 (L.E. Tome Norm+NM)
I'll be on the Edge of using it... But it would be a Tal requirement, you seemed to make an o'Ral mistake (am I ready for a Drunken HC shot?)
It would be either going on to the end of Normal with this runeword bow or count on Charged Strike. But in any case it can be a vendor gambling advantage of the build ;-)