Random Tournament 2021 D2R edition!

[Grisu]

@Jcakes I feel ya there with that loss. The new necromancer looks interesting. If you manage to make it through hell and get to level 75 or so you can skip most the game by being careful and casting lots of Dim Vision.

That somehow made me lol and reminded me of the invincible Barb guide by AJK
Seriously though, I am really sorry about your deeds, @Jcakes ! You really had a great run and I was looking forward to your next update to race you!

@Grisu I'm glad you brought the Mercenary pathing issue up, I've noticed it is worse than before. I have a feeling it has something to do with the new angles of movement developed for the new UI. Wish they would rework that. (Though the Act 1 mercenary seems to last a bit longer and is better at maintaining distance, will have to play one in a later act to know for sure though)

Yeah, he seems to move more awkwardly somehow and his aggro range seems to be reduced. Also, obstacles somehow prevent him from attacking enemies and instead of moving around those, he stays immobile where he is...strange indeed. Glad not only I have had a bad feeling about this!

 

[Babyhell]

I'll make a progress post later, Act 3 is now getting closer to its end - it would have been probably without my son.

One of my novelty with this journey, particularly Hell, is the walking-using-Vigor instead of running to path through most of areas I don't want to face for whatever reason - waypoint grabbing, many physical immunes, etc.

Sometimes, I haven't found when, it bugs and it turns impossible to get back to walking. It brought some hard situations, not fatal for now, but cost some purple/teleport. When it happens, D2R has to be restarted...

 

[corale]

Baal is down, but I cheesed it, I lured Lister away and avoided having to kill him. Then I realized this might be against the rules. Is there any such rule? Or it is allowed and I must simply live the shame?

 

[Vang]

I'll make a progress post later, Act 3 is now getting closer to its end - it would have been probably without my son.

Kids...always getting in the way of my progress too (We have 4)

 

[Vang]

Baal is down, but I cheesed it, I lured Lister away and avoided having to kill him. Then I realized this might be against the rules. Is there any such rule? Or it is allowed and I must simply live the shame?

No, not against the rules. Lister sometimes needs to be parked. To bad he can't receive tickets that you cash in on the next run.

 

[aitrus]

Nightmare time!


Took some time off post Diablo experience, still painful. Act 5 has not much to report, few more sets/unique, still none usable.
Ancients were... disappointment, they manage to almost kill my single revived Something Lord (frenzy axe guy) and that's all.
Baal on the other hand was again annoying, not as much as Diablo but still, killed several sets of skeletons but merc was fine so drawing from Diablo experience I've left most of Throne mobs alive so I can go back and raise more skellies. Worked fine, dropped nothing of note, as is the way
One decent piece of luck was good merc weapon that has 5% to cast Amplify damage, though, 5% is really low - playing without a curse is just not fun.

Onto nightmare, I'm adding set 75 (Summon Skeleton Magi, Fire Golem, Poison Nova) to my repertoire.
As I am, optimistically, saving set 18 (amplify damage) for Hell, I'll decide if Confuse or Life tap are of any utility for NM.

   D2R Forum Name        Character Name       Class   Level  Skills      Location               Score
-- --- ----------        --------------       -----   -----  ------      --------               ----
   Yes Babyhell          BleedRunner          Pal     77.7   78+86+71    Kurast docks H          36
SP Yes Jcakes            SerafinaPekkala      Ama     60     5 + 50      Kurast                  24
SP Yes Grisu             Randomnipotent       Nec     60     33          NM Kurast               24
SP Yes aitrus            RandomDeadNecro      Nec     35     21          NM Rogue Camp           18
SP Yes Quackerz          Nero                 Dru     40     52          Crystalline Passage     12
   Yes corale            Meoh                 Dru     35     65          Harrogath               12
   Yes Vildecor          Fernando             Pal     25     96          Pandemonium Fortress    9
   Yes maxicek           Forley               Bar     29     42+18       Pandemonium Fortress    9
SP Yes thefranklin       RandomWayToDie       Ass     33     40          City of the Damned      9
SP Yes Dazliare          Priscilla            Sor     25     25+72       Lost City               3
   Yes Vang              TrashReturned        Bar     16     84          Sewers                  3
SP Yes Miron             Hartwig              Bar     23     8+75        Dry Hills               3
SP Yes jstani01          mystery              Bar     6      93          Cold Plains             0

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your SOUL was swallowed by the resurrection (aka Deeds)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   Yes Sid               Brisket              Dru     8      07+52       Deeds
   Yes Jamesixgun        Devi                 Sor     7      66+78       Deeds
   Yes coju              RandyTom             Bar     25      5          Deeds                   3
   Yes Sid               Bortleby             Pal     23     40          Deeds
   Yes Vang              Multiple             Multi   58     Many        Deeds                   21

 

[Babyhell]

BleedCharger's Hell adventures - part 4

We left BleedRunner with his 15% Fire Fireball Ormus' Robe, and since he completed Act 3 and grabbed the RoF waypoint, getting the forge on the way.

Things started with back to back axes drops

Can't use any, but it's always nice to find a Gimmershred!

Map wasn't great, but as usual before LK running, the Council has to be killed. And with Lightning enchanted uniques, Charge is a p*** in the ***... you get to take all the bolts, they are not even displayed, just your life pops! Scary...

Key is: separate those baddies

Then BleedRunner met for the first time his elite shield

Magic :-(

The map to Mephisto was great though! But sacrificed to LK reroll

Mephisto has been ruled under the Law of the Decripifier. Charge is so a great skill vs bosses -_-

Sentence is death

Build had been completed thanks to Izual - now any point can go to Defiance for defense.

Gave the remaining last two points to put into Vigor

Afterwards, went with LK running, mostly fishing maps. Sometimes there were some shiny things

Mal Ist Ohm close... half of the materials checked!

This one will be useful

This one could be if needed

When a viable 2 camps map had been found, decided to push through Act 4, get the Forge and the last waypoints.

Good surprise!

Here we are. Time to build up!

Lawbringer saves the day, really. Charge is *kinda* fun, pretty efficient due to locking the target thanks to knocking back, but well it can be so painful at some times...and even dangerous. Therefore I am seriously thinking about a respec to Avenger to complete the game, probably with Fanaticism aura still, or Defiance for huge defense and one point in Vigor.

Clvl78 FanaVengeance build
[24] Holy Shield: 20+4 prereqs
[22] Vengeance: 20+2 prereqs
[20] Resist Lightning: 20
- [20] Defiance: 20 + [03] Vigor: 1+2 prereqs
- [23] Fanaticism: 20+3 prereqs

It would also mean leaving the Hone Sundan for an Insight. Some swap to be considered vs bosses...

Anyway. Now it's LK time - due to that, I may start another project beside to breathe a bit from time to time. Top runes are currently:

Lum x2, Ko, Fal, Lem, Pul, Um

A Lo for a merc's armor would be perfect. A Gloom could be fine enough for BleedRunner, an upp'ed Hand of Light could be socketed with some ED jewel and deliver some nice damage already. Infinity could be mandatory if the Avenger path is chosen, as no other Conviction is available... would mean finding some mana leech rings too!

See you on next update!

   D2R Forum Name        Character Name       Class   Level  Skills      Location               Score
-- --- ----------        --------------       -----   -----  ------      --------               ----
   Yes Babyhell          BleedRunner          Pal     78.3   78+86+71    River of Flame H        39
SP Yes Jcakes            SerafinaPekkala      Ama     60     5 + 50      Kurast                  24
SP Yes Grisu             Randomnipotent       Nec     60     33          NM Kurast               24
SP Yes aitrus            RandomDeadNecro      Nec     35     21          NM Rogue Camp           18
SP Yes Quackerz          Nero                 Dru     40     52          Crystalline Passage     12
   Yes corale            Meoh                 Dru     35     65          Harrogath               12
   Yes Vildecor          Fernando             Pal     25     96          Pandemonium Fortress    9
   Yes maxicek           Forley               Bar     29     42+18       Pandemonium Fortress    9
SP Yes thefranklin       RandomWayToDie       Ass     33     40          City of the Damned      9
SP Yes Dazliare          Priscilla            Sor     25     25+72       Lost City               3
   Yes Vang              TrashReturned        Bar     16     84          Sewers                  3
SP Yes Miron             Hartwig              Bar     23     8+75        Dry Hills               3
SP Yes jstani01          mystery              Bar     6      93          Cold Plains             0

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your SOUL was swallowed by the resurrection (aka Deeds)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   Yes Sid               Brisket              Dru     8      07+52       Deeds
   Yes Jamesixgun        Devi                 Sor     7      66+78       Deeds
   Yes coju              RandyTom             Bar     25      5          Deeds                   3
   Yes Sid               Bortleby             Pal     23     40          Deeds
   Yes Vang              Multiple             Multi   58     Many        Deeds                   21

 

[Babyhell]

Bonus: that moment when you say "Nope".

 

[Quackerz]

Nero has been progressing nicely and was able to take down Baal on p8 with little difficulty. He was once again rewarded for his impressive feats with absolutely nothing of note. He'll take the snazzy title though!



Jumping right into Nightmare to do it all over again, he hit up Gheed for a little gambling action and my jaw dropped when he actually pulled The Ward Gothic Shield. This instantly bumped Nero up to 75 poison and lightning resist, 85 fire resist and 35 cold resist. Not a bad way to start the new journey! I'm pretty sure I've only ever gambled one other unique before so this was quite the find.


Nero maxed out Rabies and Poison Creeper as his respec and set off at p8 and things almost instantly ground to a halt (I've never really used poison in the past and I didn't realize that undead had such high base resistance). Nero could only stand back and watch as his merc and bear did all the work and his poison tickled his enemies. By the end of Act 1, p1 was the only option.



Andy went down and Nero howled in anger at the failed Skin of the Vipermagi. That would have been a nice little damage boost. He quickly jumped into Act 2 and swapped in a Holy Freeze merc for the added protection on his Rabies hit and runs. There was one NDE experience while exploring the Tombs when a boss pack of extra-fast, fanaticism-ed wraiths, lovingly boosted by another boss pack's might aura, came whipping across the map as Nero opened a door. Nero dropped to 1 health before he was able to exit back to the Canyon, wraiths chasing him the whole way.

He resupplied in town, summoned all of the little friends that he could (HoW, bear and poison creeper), and jumped back into battle. Thankfully the pack had spread out a bit which made it much easier to take down. Nero pushed on to Duriel and was victorious after a long battle which involved chugging blues and resummoning his grizzly every two seconds.



Nero is now chilling in Kurast.

   D2R Forum Name        Character Name       Class   Level  Skills      Location               Score
-- --- ----------        --------------       -----   -----  ------      --------               ----
   Yes Babyhell          BleedRunner          Pal     77.7   78+86+71    Kurast docks H          36
SP Yes Grisu             Randomnipotent       Nec     60     33          NM Kurast               24
SP Yes Quackerz          Nero                 Dru     57     52+14+15    NM Kurast               24
SP Yes aitrus            RandomDeadNecro      Nec     35     21          NM Rogue Camp           18
   Yes corale            Meoh                 Dru     35     65          NM Rogue Camp           15
   Yes Vildecor          Fernando             Pal     25     96          Pandemonium Fortress    9
   Yes maxicek           Forley               Bar     29     42+18       Pandemonium Fortress    9
SP Yes thefranklin       RandomWayToDie       Ass     33     40          City of the Damned      9
   Yes Vang              TrashReturned        Bar     16     84          Sewers                  3
SP Yes Dazliare          Mulgram              Bar     20     56          Tombs                   3
SP Yes D4di56lu3         Deva                 Ass     ?      19          Lut Gholein             3
SP Yes jstani01          mystery              Bar     6      93          Cold Plains             0

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your SOUL was swallowed by the resurrection (aka Deeds)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SP Yes Jcakes            SerafinaPekkala      Ama     60     5 + 50      Deeds                   24
   Yes Vang              Multiple             Multi   58     Many        Deeds                   21
   Yes Dazliare          Priscilla            Sor     25     25+72       Deeds                   9
   Yes Miron             Hartwig              Bar     29     8+75        Deeds                   6
   Yes coju              RandyTom             Bar     25      5          Deeds                   3
   Yes Sid               Brisket              Dru     8      07+52       Deeds
   Yes Jamesixgun        Devi                 Sor     7      66+78       Deeds  
   Yes Sid               Bortleby             Pal     23     40          Deeds

I also took some time to go back through the thread and I've updated the table as best I could with Deeds or any characters who had been missed. I didn't add any rolled characters who haven't begun their journey yet.

 

[D4di56lu3]

So smug questions aside in search of a more specific ruling,

@Vang is it against the spirit of the tournament to have a shadow warrior use non-set skills from pre-reqs and staff mods or is it smart use of the shadow warrior which gives me a dubious and unreliable edge?

Edit: and @Quackerz, thanks for editing me into the table.

 

[Vang]

So smug questions aside in search of a more specific ruling,

@Vang is it against the spirit of the tournament to have a shadow warrior use non-set skills from pre-reqs and staff mods or is it smart use of the shadow warrior which gives me a dubious and unreliable edge?

Edit: and @Quackerz, thanks for editing me into the table.

I'm not going to rule on this in one way or the other. Part of me says, yeah it is against the spirit of the tournament, and part of me sees the randomness of it and how ineffective and unreliable it will be overall and you have to gimp yourself for the most part hoping the warrior uses it when you need. All the while making L/R MB not available for your own use (This is where I would see multiple mistakes happening and using skills your not supposed to use in the heat of battle)

The skills I see a player could use effectively:

BoS/Fade/Venom
Death Sentry (This one may give you a small edge in Hell, but will be hit or miss I imagine)
Mind Blast

 

[D4di56lu3]

I'm not going to rule on this in one way or the other. Part of me says, yeah it is against the spirit of the tournament, and part of me sees the randomness of it and how ineffective and unreliable it will be overall and you have to gimp yourself for the most part hoping the warrior uses it when you need. All the while making L/R MB not available for your own use (This is where I would see multiple mistakes happening and using skills your not supposed to use in the heat of battle)

The skills I see a player could use effectively:

BoS/Fade/Venom
Death Sentry (This one may give you a small edge in Hell, but will be hit or miss I imagine)
Mind Blast

I agree with your assesment of its uses and on your wording that it’s not the spirit of the tourney. Enough loopholes found for me, since the shadow warrior is a COPY of Deva, it will use the same skill set as her for the Journey

 

[corale]

@Quackerz Thanks for the progress post. It made me realize I won't get through NM with just Rabies+PoisonCreeper+OakSage combo and a merc. I'll need to steal something from my planned Hell setup before I start Nightmare. It's hard to break something out though. Does anyone have any tips that will make it more NM viable without killing my chances in Hell?

-- Forever --
65 -> 16,22,23 -> Rabies, Poison Creeper, Oak Sage

-- NM/Hell --
1 -> 5,15,16 -> Cyclone Armor, Maul, Rabies
32 -> 18,19,30 -> Hunger, Shockwave, Summon Grizzly
58 -> 2,5,13 -> Molten Boulder, Cyclone Armor, Werebear
93 -> 7,12,28 -> Volcano, Lycnathropy, Solar Creeper

 

[corale]

I guess if I take Hunger, Shockwave, Summon Grizzly in NM I still get to keep Werebear and Lycanthropy in Hell. But I lose two good crowd controls.

 

[Babyhell]

I guess if I take Hunger, Shockwave, Summon Grizzly in NM I still get to keep Werebear and Lycanthropy in Hell. But I lose two good crowd controls.

Intro: eeek clvl35 really? Ouch...It will hurt oO

Why not Maul? With the mandatory point allowed in Werebear. A risk to be taken I guess to have a chance in Hell. It also adds Cyclone armor which isn't bad either, but you can't get everything anyway...maybe as follows:
23skpts: Get werewolf, 1pt Rabies and max synergy (better damage per sec if I'm right)
1 Oak
Then either max Rabies, or start to build up Maul with the point in Werebear and the remaining skpts in Maul
1 Werebear
13 Maul

But with only 38 skillpoints at this clvl, it will be tough...

However, I read somewhere that a max synergy Rabies can handle NM on its own...maybe not untwinked though, but probably enough to get through Act 1 and level up a bit there?

 

[Quackerz]

I guess if I take Hunger, Shockwave, Summon Grizzly in NM I still get to keep Werebear and Lycanthropy in Hell. But I lose two good crowd controls.

Ouch, your sets are rough with everything so spread out. I'm assuming for Hell you're going Mauler? Shockwave and Grizzly would be really nice tools to keep. Shockwave would also be of limited use to you through NM since you'd have to switch forms.

I'm boosting Lycanthropy for survivability through NM but you do have access to Oak Sage already so that's a good alternative. I'm doing Single Pass and currently only have +1 to skills from Lore so if you've got your skills boosted a bit more, you might have better killing speed. I could probably be going on p3 but I sort of just want to get NM over with so I can go back to elemental. I might hit a wall in Act 4/5 but I've stepped out in Act 3 and Rabies still has enough damage to take everything down. I think if you do play it safe, you could definitely get through NM with only your base set. Definitely grab the Holy Freeze merc in Act 2 to keep you safe. I've got Grizzly as an extra shield for NM, but I think if you used summons to scout corners you can probably get by. Not super helpful, but I can see why you'd like to keep something from all of your other sets.

As @Babyhell just said, you definitely want to get your level up a bit more before heading out. I was able to fully max Rabies and Poison Creeper before leaving the Rogue Camp.

 

[corale]

I could level up a bit more first, technically I haven't left Normal yet (assuming that Nightmare starts when I actually start my first Nightmare session and not when I enter the red portal). Ok, maybe going into a 1 pt Bear + Maul is better for some situations, but I guess the kill speed will usually be lower than synergized Rabies. The Cyclone Armor does look nice. Thanks for the tip!

Is it allowed to pick up a second set of skills a bit into NM if things are not going well, or they have to be picked before starting the difficulty

 

[Babyhell]

Just spotted that...has someone experimented it? Has it been corrected?

 

[corale]

Ouch, your sets are rough with everything so spread out. I'm assuming for Hell you're going Mauler? Shockwave and Grizzly would be really nice tools to keep. Shockwave would also be of limited use to you through NM since you'd have to switch forms.

I'm boosting Lycanthropy for survivability through NM but you do have access to Oak Sage already so that's a good alternative. I'm doing Single Pass and currently only have +1 to skills from Lore so if you've got your skills boosted a bit more, you might have better killing speed. I could probably be going on p3 but I sort of just want to get NM over with so I can go back to elemental. I might hit a wall in Act 4/5 but I've stepped out in Act 3 and Rabies still has enough damage to take everything down. I think if you do play it safe, you could definitely get through NM with only your base set. Definitely grab the Holy Freeze merc in Act 2 to keep you safe. I've got Grizzly as an extra shield for NM, but I think if you used summons to scout corners you can probably get by. Not super helpful, but I can see why you'd like to keep something from all of your other sets.

As @Babyhell just said, you definitely want to get your level up a bit more before heading out. I was able to fully max Rabies and Poison Creeper before leaving the Rogue Camp.

Yep, plan was Werebear, Maul, Lycanthropy, Oak Sage as main investments for Hell. Then Grizzly and Shockwave in some combination. I suspect Grizzly won't do much if not maxed out though.

I might just try with just Rabies for NM then and start maxing out Oak Sage next for survivability (I just maxed out Rabies and Poison Creeper and have +1 from Amulet, so there's plenty of room to get more +skills).

 

[Quackerz]

Just spotted that...has someone experimented it? Has it been corrected?

Oh my, maybe that's why I'm struggling so much.