Random Tournament 2021 D2R edition!

Athena keeps on rolling on, Act3 is down, but it did take a fair bit longer then Act 2. I continued on with Lawbringer as a weapon and I keep on liking it more and more, the knock back interupts the Undead Stygian Dolls which made it easier for me to disengage them onto the merc.

The biggest threat through Act 3 was really the fetishes in the jungle, they could surround and kill the Merc pretty quickly so I spent a fair bit of time going slowly to lure them in small manageable amounts. Still revived the merc something like 10 times through the jungle area.

Got a few more screenshots this time

This was my third set of Fana Thorned Hulks. These guys weren't too bad due to the obvious bottleneck I could use
1642079359852.png


Spiders, why'd it have to be spiders? I think there ended up being 3 elite spiders all confined in this area. didn't get a good screenshot of all their mods, but I lost the merc a couple of times here
1642079302930.png

a useable unique and a pretty good one at that. Only thing is I get pretty decent resists from my belt and I already have DR from fade, so not sure I really need it. Still a nice find for an Untwinked Random character
1642079437369.png

and finally death to Meph
1642079540111.png

I pushed on through Act 4 a little bit, but only as far as the first waypoint. Izzy is dead though.

Ended up having to deal with Gloams in the early part of Act 4 and I was taking a lot of damage initially (much more than in Act 3), until I realised that fade had warn off (doh). After that it wasn't too bad.

Athena, Level 83, Skill Set 44+51+90, Hell Act 4 River of Flame
 
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How better to start this update than to show you....
The 5th Isenhart's breastplate found by MrDevaStation.
Screenshot142.png

Didn't manage to get any screendumps by Izual battle, the concentration it took me to alternate between lifetap charges on switch wand and poison nova every 2 seconds made the 10 minutes battle fly -.-'

A useful gamble, upping both MF and resists before Diablo.
Screenshot145.png

Tried entering Chaos Sanctuary at p/8 three times, resulting in three NDEs and severeal merc ressurections.
Ended doing CS+diablo at p/3 to progress at all.

Then it was only a Tango lesson with the clients former dancing teacher, Mr. Diablo, who made it clear; Tango is a dance for two, and quickly removed Jemali from the scene.

Thus MrDevaStation ended circling Diablo and his red cape:
Screenshot151.png

Outlasting diablo after 10 minutes of running and spewing lvl 5 poison Novas (happy he was not p/8)
Screenshot152.png

MrDevastation, Level 33, Skill Set 32+63, Normal Act 5
 
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Extremely extremely annoyed with my self, I managed to separate all the ancients and took down 2 of them. Was up against Talic as the last one and had him down at a sliver of hp. Got ready to take the screenshot and boom, he used whirlwind cursed me and killed me in about half a second .... gah so frustrated for it to end this way.
 

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@Grisu Congrats!

@Jcakes RIP Athena, dying at hell ancients is the absolute worst.

On a lighter note, have a progress update for Odin. After killing Duriel Odin cleared the rest of the false tombs. The highlight was:
Screenshot004.png

While I really hope to find a better source of CBF (c'mon Duriel's Shell), it's nice to know he will at least have one option. The only other screenshot I had from the false tombs was giving @D4di56lu3 a run for his money.
Screenshot006.png

Act III saw a change in game play a bit. No longer was double swinging flails an acceptable form of damage. So, rather than try and do something about it, I shopped some mana after kill and mana leech flails and Odin began his life as a horker. I regret naming him Odin, should have been Horkippopotamus. I pumped Find Item up to level 14 (47% chance) and spent the whole act chasing Waheed and chugging blue pots. The first great (albeit unusable) find was:
Screenshot007.png

Only 30% MF, so more of missing out on the %GF. One of the council members in Trav dropped a Sol rune, which seemed extremely early to find it. Meph was taken down on /p8, and didn't drop anything usable.

As I've previously complained about Act IV, I'll keep it brief. At this point Odin had to switch to Berserk, the flails just weren't cutting it in the damage department. Diablo was killed on /p3 and dropped an interesting weapon. A rare Halberd with ctc Amp and 104% ED. I saved it, thinking that may be as good as he finds for quite a while. At this point, he was using a cubed Savage Halberd with 30% IAS, so more of a sidegrade as opposed to an upgrade in the weapon department.

Act V was more of the same. Pumped up Berserk, so it was doing respectable damage throughout. No great item finds, but he did find a bunch of runes, including several Amns and Shaels. I did have to throw in the towel on magic finding and equip a 49 mana ring instead of my MF one. It just became too tedious all the town trips to buy blue pots to fuel Find Item. The ring made questing much smoother. Ancients were done on /p1. Lister and Baal were done on /p3, Baal pushing him just above level 47. Baal's drop was quite phenomenal in terms of quality, though Odin can't use any of it.
Screenshot013.png

After Baal, I killed Nihl and cows on /p1, really just to complete all the quests/waypoints and kill the cow king. And with that, went back to Akara and used a respec. I did a little bit of gear gambling. I did score a very nice belt (potentially endgame), which was upped, and I also upped the Halberd that Diablo dropped. The readouts are below if anyone is interested

Glyph Spike
Bec-de-Corbin
Two Hand Damage: 26 - 173
Durability: 42 of 55
Required Level: 30
Required Strength: 133
Required Dexterity: 91
Fingerprint: 0xdb0f7f39
Item Level: 40
Version: Resurrected
5% Chance to cast level 1 Amplify Damage on striking
104% Enhanced Damage
+129 to Attack Rating
Required Level +5

Glyph Cord
Battle Belt
Defense: 38
Durability: 9 of 18
Required Level: 30
Required Strength: 88
Fingerprint: 0x163f54b7
Item Level: 48
Version: Resurrected
+24% Faster Hit Recovery
+51 to Life
Cold Resist +23%
Fire Resist +6%
Poison Resist +5%
Attacker Takes Damage of 4
Required Level +5

With that, his skills are currently:
6 Howl
20 BO
6 Find Item
10 Berserk
1 Frenzy

Probably will pump Find Item a little bit, then Berserk.
 

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Odin has cleared Act I and started a bit on Act II. Only a couple of screenshots taken for Act I, and some (a unique ring) turned out to be utter disappointments (manald heal). The countess provided Odin with three decent runes.
Screenshot019.png

Amn is always very useful, and Dol is 1/3 of the Hel runes I never find. Somewhere in Act I he also found a 4os Halberd, which is one of the weapon types he can use. So I went ahead and made Insight. Pretty poor roll, so a bit of a downgrade in terms of damage, but the FCR and no more mana issues is a worthwhile tradeoff (and he could use two MF rings again!). I believe it was Act I (though could have been sewers), this unbelievable amulet dropped, almost certainly his end game amulet.
Screenshot027.png
Once I have access to War Cry in Hell, that amulet is going to be very nice indeed.

Nothing else too noteworthy until Andy, who was killed on /p8, and also dropped phenomenal quality items (and even one he could use, the Heavy Belt!).
Screenshot021.png

So far in Act II he has hired a Might merc, killed Radament and grabbed the Dry Hills WP. After Radament I did go back to normal to buy a 3os Breast Plate and stuffed it with PTopazes. I know full plate mails can get 4, but I haven't found any I could socket (though found an eth 4 socket...) so I didn't want to waste any more time and just went for the 3. If I do find one, I will upgrade and give the breast plate to the merc. I also tried my luck on socketing a Partizan, luckily I had an ilvl 40 one, so it had a 50% chance at 4 sockets, and it got 4, so I made an Insight for the merc as well.
 
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Continued on with Odin in Act II nightmare. My first screenshot is from a giant welcoming committee immediately upon descending down stairs in the Halls of the Dead.
Screenshot028.png

This was taken after several laps around the entrance spamming Howl nonstop, once it was moderately safe. There were ~6 groups of Hollow Ones and skeletons. Taunt would have been extremely useful, but he made do with just Howl. Further down in the Halls, this drops:
Screenshot029.png

Definitely not worth having Falchion for a weapon type, even with two of them. Even without the extra MF from it, Odin continued finding a lot of runes and uniques in Act II, though most were normal and weren't item types he could use. The first decent rune he found:
Screenshot030.png

Coldworm's room in the maggot lair was absolute hell. I forgot about putting it on /p1 before level 3. Attacking mobs one at a time in his room full off spawners was quite a challenge. Eventually I realized there were two options, A) just grab the staff and TP out, or B) try and work my way through constantly being surrounded (with negative poison resist) and target the mothers down. I opted for B, and thankfully the potions didn't run out.

Nothing too exciting until clearing out tombs, another bout of uniques and a Lum rune. Duriel was taken on /p3 and didn't pose much issue. Drop was useless.
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Immediately in Act III, Odin had a very fortunate rune drop.
Screenshot040.png

A Fal will let Odin make an Obedience Thresher once he finds one. The bigger debate is going to be whether to use it himself or give it to the merc. Probably will give it to Gulzar, since I quite like the FCR from Insight and in Hell I suspect Odin will be doing a lot of casting War Cry while Gulzar is doing the attacking. Speaking of Insights, Odin found a white Bec-De-Corbin late Act II or early Act III (can't recall exactly) and gave socketing it with the cube a shot. 4!! So Odin was able to upgrade weapons. The best drop he's found to date (which will never see use :cry:) :
Screenshot042.png

Would have been great on Odin or Gulzar! He also found set Demonhide Boots (which he can use!) though I don't foresee they will be used. Nothing else too exciting until the Durance. I cleared ~75% before finding the WP and level 3 (actually would be a great map to run, they're right next to each other) and just threw in the towel on the rest of it. Meph was kill at /p8 and dropped another useable set!
Screenshot044.png

Obviously not going to use it, but I suspect it's a fairly rare drop from him. Odin is currently at level 64 and really no serious NDEs so far. I'm debating dropping the players down for Act IV, my last character (pally) deeded there to a unique venom lord type monster, so I don't want a repeat. Not sure if I'll do Act IV with Odin next, or switch back to my zon in the damnation tournament. Decisions!
 

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Another Act to report, probably will be switching characters now. Two things happened in Act III I forgot about yesterday and remembered about today. The first was a skiller with 12% FHR dropping right after the Flayer Jungle! The bad news was it was an amazon passive skiller... I also used my NM imbue on a barb helm, but it wasn't any good.

Shortcuts were taken all throughout Act IV. Always starting an area out on /p3 or /p1 until I knew what the spawns were. Killing speed was phenomenal on /p1 and still very respectable on /p8. Outer Steppes was done largely on /p8 since it didn't have maggots or spawners. Plains of Despair was /p1 because it had Gloams, Venom Lords, and... Spawners! Fun... Just found Izual and the exit and skipped the rest, same with the City of the Damned. River of Flame the spawns were much better, Urdars, the venom lord type, and knights. Odin's fantastic rune luck continued at the hellforge:
Screenshot047.png

Most likely going to get socketed in the armor/helm once I figure those out. Duress would be pretty good for Frenzying, but I really only Frenzy act bosses. If I never find a Lem, I may make Duress and give it to the merc as well. Then, finally another set/unique Odin can use that is somewhat useful dropped, bringing the total so far this playthrough up to a whopping 2!
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50% slow is great to have when needed. Other than that, nothing else except killing Diablo on /p8.
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Not an exciting drop. Odin is now level 66, probably a few behind since I missed out on a good chunk of xp this act. At this point, he's maxed BO and Berserk. Find Item is back at 14, where it's going to stay, since spending 2 points per 1% increase in item drop is just such bad value, I can't bring myself to do it. Howl is at 9, which is where it will stay for the rest of NM, that should be high enough to send any mobs running and the duration is already a little longer than I'd prefer. The rest of the points will probably just go in Frenzy, until I respec for hell.
 
Following the trash trail of merchandise left behind...
#6
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#7 (Yes I'm counting to set a record for most Isenharts in one tourney playthrough, only when found during questing)
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MrDevaStation searched far and wide for his lost client, finding his dentistry skills lacking for the uncivilized brutes living in this cold environment. Luckily he has started delving into anesthetics and finds that a "healthy" dose allows him to perform his arts in peace and quiet.
The runes hint that he must move west following the celestial bodies
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Finally a piece of evidence of Deva's journey has been found!Screenshot179.png
And my perseverance was rewarded
Lack of demon heads is no issue anymore (until I find a good staffmodded one to Rhyme with)
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Wicked gambled amu, though the skiller could have been better :p
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And the RNG gods saw fit to reward my stupid decision not to re-roll the unloved yew wand xD
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So taking on listers gang at p/8 was quite a foolhardy decision...
Luckily, they have shorter range than my good man Alhizeer.
So a little setup (prison spam) allowed him to continue poking undisturbed at a single target.
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Baal was a simple question of outlasting the bastard...
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I'm definitely not delaying my progress on purpose, but it seems that Patch 2.4 will increase my likelyhood of succes with a boost to the blood golem I will use in nightmare, as well as the weaken and Bone spirit synergy boost.

Forever set: 32 - Bone prison, Poison nova, Lower resist
Normal set: 63 - Teeth, Bone wall, Poison nova
NM set: 67 - Blood golem, Bone wall, Confuse
Hell sets: 10 - Revive, Bone spirit, Weaken
74 - Skeleton matery, Poison explosion, Life tap

MrDevastation, Level 48, Skill Set 32+67, Nightmare Act 1
 

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Well, it's been over three months since my last update, but Fernando has killed Diablo in NM difficulty. It took a bit to get settled, and I soon realized my mercenary desperately needs a new weapon. He still has a rare Pike with life leech, and it either needs to be upgraded to an exceptional base, or a new one needs to be gambled. Most of Act IV was spent feeding him potions or resurrecting him. My paladin's resistances are currently maxed (except poison at 73%) and his block rate is at 62% even without being able to use Holy Shield, so he's pretty decent defense-wise.

For a refresher, his skillset rolls were as follows:
Code:
Forever Skills:
96: Holy Shock, Sacrifice, Smite

Normal: -none-
NM: 80: Defiance, Might, Conversion
Hell: 42: Vigor, Might, Concentration
86: Resist Lightning, Vigor, Vengeance
48: Resist Fire, Vigor, Redemption

And his gear rolls were thus:
Code:
Crown
Armor3 (Scale/Splint/Light/Field/Full)
Large Shield
Gauntlets
Light Belt
Heavy Boots
Crown Shield

Scepter
War Scepter
Flail


I don't even really use anything from #80 right now, although Might is the aura I use when I'm on my Smite switch with my Black Flail. That switch is super useful for tough enemies. Izual, Hephasto, and Diablo were absolutely wrecked. Gearwise I have no complaints. My Smoke armor is doing some heavy lifting and my General's Tan Do Li Ga is SUPER useful, especially when combined with my mercenary's Holy Freeze aura. After defeating Big D, I checked my GoMule stash, and saw I had a 10 all-res Crown shield with 3 sockets and my switch shield was still an Ancient's Pledge Large Shield. Putting Ancient's Pledge in the Crown Shield will increase the Smite Damage (even though it's mostly just used for the crushing blow) and help even more with resists when I get to Hell difficulty.

Looks like my screenshots didn't go through. I forgot that remapping the key doesn't work. I got a Mal rune right before completing the Hellforge quest. I've got some options with that, but I think the best one is holding out for an Oath Scourge. That would be delicious! Diablo himself dropped nothing exciting. Now it's time to get past Shenk and do some leveling at Eldritch before heading to Pindle for even more levels.


Code:
Code:
   D2R Forum Name        Character Name       Class   Level  Skills         Location               Score
-- --- ----------        --------------       -----   -----  ------         --------               ----
SP Yes Grisu             Randomnipotent       Nec     86.3   33+14+34+58+83 Guardian 01/10/22       54
   Yes Babyhell          BleedRunner          Pal     83.3   78+86+71       Guardian 10/27/21       45
   Yes Vang              Levia                Ama     82     69+9+90        Guardian 10/29/21       45
SP Yes Quackerz          Nero                 Dru     73     52+26+42       Lut Gholein H           39
   Yes Jcakes            Athena               Ass     81+    44+29+51+90    Hell Lut Gholein        33
   Yes Vildecor          Fernando             Pal     57     96+80          NM Harrogath            27
SP Yes aitrus            RandomDeadNecro      Nec     42     21+75          NM Lut Gholein          21
SP Yes thefranklin       RandomWayToDie       Ass     59     40+74          NM Kurast Docks         24
   Yes maxicek           Forley               Bar     29     42+18          Pandemonium Fortress     9
   Yes D4di56lu3         MrDevaStation        Nec     27     32+63          Kurast dock              6
SP Yes skoolbus          Odin                 Bar     26     4+45           Kurast Dock              6
SP Yes Vang              Trashard             Pal     22     84+89          Halls of Dead 2          3
SP Yes jstani01          mystery              Bar     18     93             Inner Cloister           0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your SOUL was swallowed by the resurrection (aka Deeds)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SP No  softlyfalling     Ansa                 Ass     75     39+12+14+58    Deeds                   36
   Yes D4di56lu3         Deva                 Ass     80     19+30+39+77    Deeds Hell Lut Gholein  33
SP Yes Babyhell          VangKenstein         Sor     72     66             Deeds NM Frozen Tundra  30
SP Yes Jcakes            SerafinaPekkala      Ama     60     5 + 50         Deeds                   24
   Yes Vang              Multiple             Multi   58     Many           Deeds                   21
   Yes corale            Meoh                 Dru     43     65             Deeds                   15
SP Yes Dazliare          Mulgram              Bar      ?     56             Act 5                   12
   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
 
@D4di56lu3 7 Green breast plates in normal is pretty impressive though hopefully it doesn't continue through NM.

I switched back over to Odin from my Doomed Tournament Amazon. He had a very rough start for Act V NM.
Screenshot070.png

Slingers, skeleton archers, and rogue archers. Luckily didn't encounter any truly scary mobs during it, though his health regularly took 500-1000 life drops throughout the Frigid Highlands. It was pretty smooth sailing for a while after that, could handle pretty much everything without trouble at /p8, though I did start out the red portal areas at /p1 to check for Moon Lord type mobs. Only saw them in one of the three.

Odin did have his first NDE at Frozenstein. I regularly have NDEs there, probably ~50% of my characters really struggle against him, I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. This time, Odin slowly got surrounded by them, faster than he could kill them, and eventually got stunlocked. I had just assumed once things started to get out of hand he could spam Howl and escape, but he couldn't cast it even once. I did manage to open a TP and go through it, had 1 rejuv and 1 red potion left at that point. Ran back from the WP and his pack was much easier the second time.

Aside from the fighting (of which Odin still handily outdamages Gulzar, which isn't usually the case with my melee characters) his drops have been absolutely phenomenal. Of course, he can't use any of them, the only usable ones he found in Act V was a Venom Ward breast plate and Goldwrap heavy belt, neither will be used (maybe switch into Goldwrap for boss kills. Maybe). Find Item is a truly broken skill for single pass style playthroughs. His best item he's found yet is:
Screenshot072.png

Some of the other highlights include 2 IK Gloves, Nat helm, Dwarf Star, and second Fal rune. The ancients weren't much issue. Two were physical immune, but for a Zerker that's one of the best mods 😛 . After the Frozenstein scare, Odin started out every area at /p1 until he knew the mobs. The WSK mobs were all very tame, I was worried about Flayers since they could easily surround me to where I may not be able to Howl out successfully, but never saw them. Also never saw Gloams or Dolls, so the WSK levels were mostly cleared on /p8. I did the throne level and all but the first wave on /p1. I tried the first wave on /p8, but it wasn't as easy as I expected, so didn't get greedy on any of the others. Baal was killed on /p3.
Screenshot078.png

The Cow level was also fairly uneventful. I was really hoping a white Thresher would drop, but I have yet to see one (not really sure if they can drop in NM). The highlight was this (I picked up stamina potions to reduce the clutter):
Screenshot079.png

Ahhhh, the day in the life of a Barbarian. Nothing really usable or good dropped, but I thought this sword was pretty cool and would have been very nice if usable.
Screenshot080.png

With that, Odin is level 73, I used my NM respec, but I didn't plan our stat points at all and will probably respec soon after he clears the den. His gear is ok-ish for hell. I really don't have any sort of usable armor for either him or the merc. I may actually just make a Lionheart for Odin until I can figure out something better since I have a spare Fal rune and no foreseeable use for it. I haven't found a Lem, so no Treachery for Gulzar, I could make him a Duress, but the cold damage is a major turnoff and I'd rather just throw the Um in a helm for resists. I've collected a bunch of useable circlets but I think his best bet is a white Horned Helm with +2 Natural Resistance. I may just socket that, put the Um rune in and my two best jewels. That would actually open him up to gearing more for damage and life. I've picked up every single Horned Helm that's dropped, but so far none has had Polearm Mastery :cry: .

A Duriel's Shell or two would be the top choice for armor, but that doesn't look likely at this point. Anyway, enough rambling about gear options, probably going to guardian or deeds him before switching back to the Zon.

For reference, his skills available for Hell:
Forever
45 -> 1, 5,30 -> Howl, Find Item, Berserk
Hell
48 -> 2,7,9 -> Find Potion, Battle Orders, War Cry
56 -> 4, 8 ,28 -> Shout, Grim Ward, Frenzy
 
Continued on with Odin, this update will be short because I forget a bunch and there wasn't a whole lot of interesting parts. War Cry and Berserk makes for very safe and quick work of nearly all mobs. His best drop of the act came in the Tower:
Screenshot082.png

It had 4 sockets! An upgrade in the Insight! Unfortunately, despite thinking I had an excess of stat points to equip it, I miscalculated and didn't have enough. Rather than respec, I went ahead and made Lionheart in a Cuirass he had laying around. With the Lionheart and Insight Thresher, it allowed for a bit of gear shuffling. His resist and life situation is so good, I'm able to use damage charms (a rarity in tournaments). I am quite liking the Lionheart, nothing about it really wows you, but I did notice a massive spike in Odin's durability and killing speed after the gear shuffle. He did most of the act at /p3 or higher. Don't remember the Countess drop, I think it was a Sol. The only rune I want at this point is Lem, to make a Treachery for the merc.

The only other really good drop I remember is a 37%ED jewel, though I already filled all the sockets in his helm. Maybe I'll use a socket quest for the merc and give it to him. Nothing else except killing Andy (I did swap all the MF gear back on for the kill):
Screenshot085.png

Odin is now level 78. I may skip a lot of Act II, I don't really enjoy trying to speed hork corpses to prevent resurrections.
 
Did some leveling at Eldritch and Pindle before finishing up Act V. I only found 1 gear upgrade during the leveling process, but it was a good one:

Screenshot015.png

I upgraded the Tan Do Li Ga and used the polearm socket recipe to give my merc a Savage Partizan of the Locust. Poor guy probably had that Pike since level 20.

I also found a 2nd Ko rune, so I could use the Mal I found last session and make a Sanctuary shield if I wanted. Resists would definitely be covered between that, Smoke, and this amulet. I've got an Ancient's Pledge made in a Crown Shield with 10 native allres I could use as a base. I'll probably hold off and see what kind of drops I get in Act I/II before I decide though.

One of the scariest parts of this session was dealing with a Cursed Nihlathak. After getting rid of some enemies on the periphery, returning to town to clear the Amp, I decided to rush straight to him:

Screenshot016.png

It worked out very well. I think I only had to eat 1 CE after this screenshot before he perished.

The ancients were handled with Smite with few issues, just some purple potions used. Baal's minion waves were a pain. From wave 3 onwards, I pulled everything out of the throne room and dealt with them in as few packs as possible. It was fun smiting Lister into oblivion.

Baal was also easily dealt with using Smite + my Black flail.

Screenshot020.png

Now I'm ready to switch to my Hell skillset:
96: Holy Shock, Sacrifice, Smite (forever)
42: Vigor, Might, Concentration
86: Resist Lightning, Vigor, Vengeance
48: Resist Fire, Vigor, Redemption

I plan on maxing Holy Shock, Vengeance, Resist Lightning and Resist Fire. Smite, Concentration, Vigor, and Redemption will get 1 each, with leftover points going into Concentration for my Smite/Crushing Blow switch. I'll definitely need to be on the lookout for a 4os exceptional/elite polearm for Insight.

Code:
Code:
   D2R Forum Name        Character Name       Class   Level  Skills         Location               Score
-- --- ----------        --------------       -----   -----  ------         --------               ----
SP Yes Grisu             Randomnipotent       Nec     86.3   33+14+34+58+83 Guardian 01/10/22       54
   Yes Babyhell          BleedRunner          Pal     83.3   78+86+71       Guardian 10/27/21       45
   Yes Vang              Levia                Ama     82     69+9+90        Guardian 10/29/21       45
SP Yes Quackerz          Nero                 Dru     73     52+26+42       Lut Gholein H           39
   Yes Jcakes            Athena               Ass     81+    44+29+51+90    Hell Lut Gholein        33
   Yes Vildecor          Fernando             Pal     68     96+80          NM Harrogath            30
SP Yes aitrus            RandomDeadNecro      Nec     42     21+75          NM Lut Gholein          21
SP Yes thefranklin       RandomWayToDie       Ass     59     40+74          NM Kurast Docks         24
   Yes maxicek           Forley               Bar     29     42+18          Pandemonium Fortress     9
   Yes D4di56lu3         MrDevaStation        Nec     27     32+63          Kurast dock              6
SP Yes skoolbus          Odin                 Bar     26     4+45           Kurast Dock              6
SP Yes Vang              Trashard             Pal     22     84+89          Halls of Dead 2          3
SP Yes jstani01          mystery              Bar     18     93             Inner Cloister           0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your SOUL was swallowed by the resurrection (aka Deeds)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SP No  softlyfalling     Ansa                 Ass     75     39+12+14+58    Deeds                   36
   Yes D4di56lu3         Deva                 Ass     80     19+30+39+77    Deeds Hell Lut Gholein  33
SP Yes Babyhell          VangKenstein         Sor     72     66             Deeds NM Frozen Tundra  30
SP Yes Jcakes            SerafinaPekkala      Ama     60     5 + 50         Deeds                   24
   Yes Vang              Multiple             Multi   58     Many           Deeds                   21
   Yes corale            Meoh                 Dru     43     65             Deeds                   15
SP Yes Dazliare          Mulgram              Bar      ?     56             Act 5                   12
   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
 
Another shortish update for Odin, continued on Act II doing everywhere without the resurrecting mummies and maggots at /p3 basically full clears. The areas with those spawns were typically done at /p1 and mostly skipped. The highlight of the act in terms of drops (cool factor, can't use it) and first elite unique:
Screenshot088.png

Reminds me of the 1.09 days. A Kuku dropped in the claw viper temple. And I have been having amazing gambling luck with my other tournament character, an Amazon, and it was finally Odin's turn:

Screenshot092.png

They must have improved the gambling odds in D2R. I've gambled an unprecedented number of S/Us so far. I had been gambling rings, but took a break to attempt for an improvement to my merc's helm, when I got that.

I remembered I'm allowed to put points in Shout now, so that's where all his skill points are going for the Berserk synergy. It may get high enough to where I actually cast it for the merc, though he's currently using the Hawkmail scale mail and a 5% LL/3DR circlet, so on the other hand, maybe not :ROFLMAO:. Howl is at 10, which is now more than enough to Howl anything, and War Cry is at 14, which gives plenty of duration in Hell. BO and Berserk are maxed and Find Item is at 13 with +skills.

He's level 81, his resists are all maxed and he's creeping up on 3k life, so all in all, I give him a very good chance to make Guardian. Probably will switch to just grabbing WPs and quests soon, but I'll try and keep it on /p3 for most of Act III still.
 
Continued Berserking with Odin in Act III. He did nearly the entire act on /p3, though skipped most areas he didn't need to go to. He finally saw a white Thresher. This is the first one I've found all game (though I did get lucky and find a 4os one).
Screenshot095.png

Almost immediately afterwards, a second one dropped. Since I now had a spare, I went ahead and tried the socket recipe, hoping for 5 so I wouldn't have to go back to a previous difficulty and Larzuk it, and luckily got 5! Made the merc a nice Obedience runeword. It almost doubled his damage, which is what it takes to allow a weapon with cold damage. At this point though, Odin really doesn't need any gear upgrades, so shattered corpses isn't the end of the world, but I still religiously hork every single corpse.

I had a Fal rune drop in the Spider Cavern. That is Odin's third now. Could have cubed a Lem if I hadn't made Lionheart and Obedience and made a Treachery... Oh well. A Ribcracker dropped in the Flayer Dungeon. Would have been worth considering if it was an option.

The gambling continued throughout the act, and this time it was Alkor's turn to deliver!
Screenshot098.png

This is the first one I've ever found! It was quite exciting. I haven't actually equipped it yet, as I think that would prevent horking, but I'm keeping it for boss fights if needed and the Ancients. The two rings he has equipped are a 30% LR/14 dex and a Dwarf Star (so you can see why I've been gambling a ton of rings...).

While there were no NDEs this act (and really none since NM Frozenstein), Odin did have several challenging fights. This picture was taken after another cursed one right beside it had already been dispatched.
Screenshot099.png

Fanat and Cursed. When I first encountered them, Gulzar literally poofed. He went from 100% health to dead instantly. That was Odin's cue to run as fast as he could and pull them apart slowly. Odin found, yet again, a Fal rune in Upper Kurast. He's now back up to two of them, so if by some miracle he finds a fifth one, I will be able to make the merc a Treachery. Another boss pack, not dangerous but pretty cool:
Screenshot101.png

The only other drop of real interest in the act was an Aldur's armor in the only false temple I went in. I wasn't going to do any, but rolled the dice on one. I was worried about stair traps, this one didn't have one, so I got lucky. I think with his high life and War Cry, he could probably survive most stair traps, but I was too chicken. After that, nothing too exciting until Durance. I did get dolls, but luckily no nasty packs of them, so War Cry allowed me to stun then from safety. Mephisto's drop was particularly abysmal:
Screenshot103.png

I had once again swapped all his gear for MF gear, which leaves resists dangerously in the negatives. I don't think I'll make a full switch for Diablo or Baal, maybe just my amulet and boots. Odin's level 83 and from here on out it will be /p1 and basically skip everything but quests and waypoints.
 
Well, I forget that Act IV takes almost no time, so here's another update. Went out into Act IV on /p1, killing speed was very fast for both Gulzar and Odin. I'm pretty happy that Odin is still killing mobs ~25% faster than Gulzar. Berserk is such a good melee skill. Odin did suffer from unfavorable monster rolls, spawners, gloams, and maggots everywhere they could roll. Here's an action shot of trying to tackle the maggots:
Screenshot104.png

It was basically spam War Cry and run around trying to snipe the momma maggots. If Odin got trapped, typically he could just fight his way out, maggots by themselves do very little damage. Unfortunately I didn't get any action shots of the Hellforge area, it wasn't safe enough to risk it until smashing the soulstone. Even bolder tactics were required there.

Luckily I lured Hephasto out right at the start and killed him pretty easily. After that, there were over 20 mother maggots, Urdars, and Ghosts still left. Standing in one spot was not an option because his mana would get sapped from the ghosts and the Urdars were relentlessly pounding Gulzar. Instead he ran around spamming Howl until a path free of baby maggots was created to get to a mother where War Cry would be used to hold it in place while it died in ~2 hits. This was repeated until I ran out of full rejuvs, so I restocked and continued. Clearing the whole area by the hellforge required 12 full rejuvs (about what he usually uses in a whole act). It's not to say it wasn't worth it. First was Hephasto's drop:
Screenshot106.png

The holy grail of melee gloves! And a type Odin can use! The forge didn't disappoint either:
Screenshot107.png

Another Um! The Um he got from NM is in his helmet. I could use a socket quest on Gulzar's Hawkmail to add it to cap off his resists. The socket quests haven't really been needed so far.

The River of Flame was another (but much easier) game of sniping maggots and also brought his rarest drop to date:
Screenshot108.png

I can't recall the last time I saw a Zakarum Shield of any quality drop, so I know it must be quite uncommon. The Chaos Sanctuary brought a yellow great poleaxe, a white GPA, and a Nagel. I socketed the GPA and got 5, so could make another Obedience perhaps. Diablo's drop wasn't really that good:
Screenshot111.png

I'm going to try and finish him this week, I'll be racing through Act V on /p1. I think he's got a very solid chance to hit Guardian, so I'm pretty excited to finish it out one way or the other.
 
Fernando took his respec before heading into Hell difficulty. Smite, Concentration, Vigor, and Redemption got a single point for utility. Holy Shock, Resist Lightning, and Resist Fire got maxed. Vengeance got the leftover 2 points, with a point going into it each level. It's quite nice starting Hell difficulty with 79 lightning resistance, but that was about the only nice thing. Our poor merc hit the floor quite frequently when facing boss packs, so I was forced to go very slowly.

I aimed to try to full clear as much as possible to look for some usable bases, but had to abandon this tactic after spending almost an hour in the Caves. Lightning Immune monsters are really the only pain. I tend to swap over to my Black Flail and use Smite on those. The Caves had lightning immune mummies and skeletons, and the boss packs took forever. Then there was LE/CE Coldcrow. I couldn't kill her with the merc out, as Smite caused her lighning bolts to immediately fry the merc since I couldn't get them both in a decent position, so I spent WAY too long getting her down to a sliver and then reviving the merc for the last hit to make sure I'd survive. Once level 1 was clear, I went down to level 2, only to be immediately confronted by a LE/FE/CE mummy boss. Merc went down quick, and at that point I didn't have the funds to resurrect him.

So I exited the game, muled on a couple of rares I didn't need anymore in order to fund the merc resurrection, and decided to abandon the idea of clearing as much as possible. While continuing the questing, I did find a 3os ethereal Full Plate Mail that I really wanted to turn into a Treachery armor for the merc. I just needed a Lem rune, so I figured I'd do some countess runs for it after I got the Outer Cloister WP. On the way through the Tamoe Highlands, I found something exciting:

Screenshot003.png

I'd already found a Mal rune back in A4 NM, so I'm now just an Ist rune away from being able to make CtA! I felt like smacking myself very hard for not keeping the plain War Scepter that had dropped before the Caves fiasco, so I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for future Flail/War Scepter bases. My 2nd countess run gave me the Lem rune I needed.

Screenshot005.png

Our merc's survivability is much better now once Fade procs, and he leeches much faster. I did a few more countess runs, hoping for an Ist before I decided to just continue on. If I find a base for CtA, I'll definitely go back for more Countess runs.

The rest of the Act went by much more smoothly now that I didn't have to babysit the merc so much. I tried a Charsi imbue on a Hyperion Spear, but the affixes weren't good enough to justify using a socket quest on it in order to add life leech. I've pretty much abandoned the idea of an Insight weapon, since Crowns can't get life leech on them. Maybe I should have run NM Mephisto for an Undead Crown/Crown of Thieves... I'll try a couple of more imbues on elite bases as well as Safety Weapon recipes for magical elite spears I find.

I ended up tanking Andariel to keep the merc alive. Blew through some full rejuvs to do it, but at least by that point I had a surplus stashed.

Screenshot007.png

I probably should have leveled some more in NM as well... Starting Hell at 68 is a tad too low for my tastes on a melee character.

Code:
Code:
   D2R Forum Name        Character Name       Class   Level  Skills         Location               Score
-- --- ----------        --------------       -----   -----  ------         --------               ----
SP Yes Grisu             Randomnipotent       Nec     86.3   33+14+34+58+83 Guardian 01/10/22       54
   Yes Babyhell          BleedRunner          Pal     83.3   78+86+71       Guardian 10/27/21       45
   Yes Vang              Levia                Ama     82     69+9+90        Guardian 10/29/21       45
SP Yes Quackerz          Nero                 Dru     73     52+26+42       Lut Gholein H           39
   Yes Jcakes            Athena               Ass     81+    44+29+51+90    Hell Lut Gholein        33
   Yes Vildecor          Fernando             Pal     72     96+80          H Lut Gholein           33
SP Yes aitrus            RandomDeadNecro      Nec     42     21+75          NM Lut Gholein          21
SP Yes thefranklin       RandomWayToDie       Ass     59     40+74          NM Kurast Docks         24
   Yes maxicek           Forley               Bar     29     42+18          Pandemonium Fortress     9
   Yes D4di56lu3         MrDevaStation        Nec     27     32+63          Kurast dock              6
SP Yes skoolbus          Odin                 Bar     26     4+45           Kurast Dock              6
SP Yes Vang              Trashard             Pal     22     84+89          Halls of Dead 2          3
SP Yes jstani01          mystery              Bar     18     93             Inner Cloister           0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your SOUL was swallowed by the resurrection (aka Deeds)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SP No  softlyfalling     Ansa                 Ass     75     39+12+14+58    Deeds                   36
   Yes D4di56lu3         Deva                 Ass     80     19+30+39+77    Deeds Hell Lut Gholein  33
SP Yes Babyhell          VangKenstein         Sor     72     66             Deeds NM Frozen Tundra  30
SP Yes Jcakes            SerafinaPekkala      Ama     60     5 + 50         Deeds                   24
   Yes Vang              Multiple             Multi   58     Many           Deeds                   21
   Yes corale            Meoh                 Dru     43     65             Deeds                   15
SP Yes Dazliare          Mulgram              Bar      ?     56             Act 5                   12
   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
 
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