Random Tournament 2022!

[little birdy]

Here is your random Druid, Vang:

Skills (1, 4, 6, 9, 14, 15, 17, 25, 29)
Elemental: Firestorm, Fissure, Twister, Armageddon
Shape Shifting: Feral Rage, Maul, Fire Claws
Summoning: Carrion Vine, Spirit of Barbs

Weapons
Axe (9) Great Axe
Polearm (1) Bardiche
(3) Bow (4) Composite Bow
(7) Spear (5) Pike
(10) Dagger (3) Kris

Other Gear
Armors (5, 11, 14) Ring Mail, Field Plate, Full Plate Mail
Shields (3, 7) Large Shield, Bone Shield
Helms (4, 8) Full Helm, Bone Helm
Gloves (3, 4) Chain Gloves, Light Gauntlets
Belts (3, 5) Belt, Plated Belt
Boots (1, 3) Boots, Chain Boots
Druid Pelts (1, 2) Wolf Head, Hawk Helm

It's a bit of a mixed bag. Fire Druid seems like the way to go, unless we're allowing an extra point into Werebear/Werewolf to make use of Fire Claws?

Good luck!

 

[Vang]

@little birdy yes, you can place a point into wereforms to use skills. Your character is:

A druid!

Skills: 6, 11, 18, 19, 22, 23, 25, 27, 29

Elemental: Twister
Shape Shifting: Lycanthropy, Hunger, Shockwave
Summoning: Poison Creeper, Oak Sage, Carrion Vine, Summon Dire Wolf, Spirit of Barbs

Weapons:
Polearm: Bardiche
Axe: Great Axe
(Random: 2,7,8) Double Axe, Spectrum, Javelin

Armor: Quilted Armor, Ring Mail, Ancient Armor
Shields: Tower Shield, Bone Shield
Helms: Helm, Mask
Gloves: Heavy Gloves, Gauntlets
Belt: Sash, Belt
Boots: Light Plate Boots, Greaves
Class Specific: Wolf Head, Hawk Helm


Poison Creeper early on, switch to a summon build with lots of life, and stun everything near you with shockwave.

 

[little birdy]

Yup, that sounds about right for what I will do! It will kind of be a worse version of the HC Summoning Druid that I've quested as far as A2 Hell At least with maxed out Lycanthropy and Oak Sage, I will be very tanky. Killing will be slow until I get myself a good axe.

A shame they just "fixed" the Shock Wave bug in patch 2.6, so now the damage is crummy again. Ah well, I didn't roll Maul to synergize it anyhow.

 

[little birdy]

wimpy the Druid is slowly making his way through Act I. He is level 17 and just arrived at the Outer Cloister. I have fully cleared everything along the way on p8.

Poison Creeper and Rogue merc are doing most of the heavy lifting here, but wimpy chips in some damage with his Bardiche. I just found a 3os Bardiche, so I intend to load that up with Emeralds... Tal runes would be better but I am not going to waste time on Countess runs. (wimpy will not strictly be a single-pass character, but I will try to limit repetitive farming unless I badly need runes or extra EXP).

 

[Vang]

I'm sitting at level 40 about to clear ancients in normal. Pretty much Fissure it down. I think I'll run into trouble come late NM like usual with a fire-only character.

 

[little birdy]

My guy is level 22 and will go looking for his Horadric Cube tonight. Stash and character inventory absolutely full of rejuvs and chipped gems for cubing, so I really need that thing.

 

[Vang]

Well dead in NM.
Some roll me up an Amazon please.

 

[little birdy]

I was hesitating to roll you a new character because I don't think I've rolled anybody a winner yet... I don't have any good luck! But nobody else has come by yet so I won't leave you hanging. Random Amazon coming up in a few minutes..!

 

[little birdy]

Here you go @Vang , your random Amazon.

Skills (1, 4, 5, 11, 18, 19, 20, 22, 24)
Javelin and Spear: Jab, Impale, Lightning Bolt
Passive and Magic: Inner Sight, Evade, Valkyrie, Pierce
Bow and Crossbow: Fire Arrow, Multiple Shot

Weapons
Bow (5) - Short Battle Bow
Javelin (3) - Short Spear
(7) Spear (1) - Spear
(10) Dagger (4) - Blade
(14) Amazon (3) - Maiden Javelin

Armors (2, 10, 14) - Leather Armor, Light Plate, Full Plate Mail
Shields (5, 6) - Spiked Shield, Tower Shield
Helms (3, 5) - Helm, Great Helm
Gloves (1, 5) - Leather Gloves, Gauntlets
Belts (1, 2) - Sash, Light Belt
Boots (2, 4) - Heavy Boots, Light Plate Boots
Amazon Weapons (1-1, 2-1) - Stag Bow, Maiden Spear

You might not be a powerhouse, but I think it's a solid mix of skills and weapon options. Good luck! I'd probably hide behind a tanky Valk and go with Multishot.

 

[Oblivious]

Meninore cleared Act 2 NM. No really good usable drops or gambles. The gameplay is getting slower, Decoy more important. Still no upgrade to the 2H Spear.

Meninore the LF/Impaleazon, Level 60 in NM Kurast Docks

Updated the table, sorry if I missed any deeds or active plays:

 D2R Forum Name        Character Name       Class   Level  Post #    Location               Score
-- --- ----------        --------------       -----   -----  ------    --------               ----
SP Yes Grisu             Medea                Ass     87     121       Guardian                18
SP Yes Norcim            Sorrow               Sor     87      63       Guardian                18
SP Yes Oblivious         Meninore             Ama     60     310       NM Kurast Docks          8
   Yes gregth            The Reckless         Nec     56      64       NM River Of Flame        8
SP No  PhineasB          Randi                Ass     56     104       NM Palace                7
   Yes Dazliare          Kaltrexia            Sor     32     113       Panda Fortress           3
   Yes Nona              Sister_Ariel         Sor     ??     153       Panda Fortress           3
   Yes Babyhell          Saraya               Sor     21     237       Pandemonium Fortress     3
   Yes little birdy      wimpy                Dru     22     306       Halls of the Dead        1 
   Yes Irenicus          Norman               Pal     17      38       Lut Gholein              1
   Yes m4ke              Random_Sorc          Sor     17     223       Lut Gholein              1
   No  Arjan             ???                  Bar     17      34       Outer Cloister           0
   Yes djmbbandie        Kat                  Ass     16      80       Black Marsh              0
SP Yes Miron             Quan Chi             Nec      1      30       Rogue Encampment         0
   Yes coju              ???                  Bar      1       5       Rogue Encampment         0
   Yes Vildecor          ???                  Pal      1      77       Rogue Encampment         0
   Yes AntiRush          ???                  Nec      1     169       Rogue Encampment         0
   Yes djmbbandie        ???                  Dru      1     185       Rogue Encampment         0
   Yes Jcakes            ???                  Ass      1     195       Rogue Encampment         0
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our departed                                                           Died against/in
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Yes AntiRush          RandomI              Ass     61       9       Hell Flayer Jungle      12
SP Yes CaseyJones        Smurf                Pal     25+     280      Tal's Tomb               1
   Yes little birdy      lenna                Sor     24      59       Normal Diablo            3
   Yes Vang              Terror               Nec     ??      17       NM Arcane Sacntuary      6
   Yes Vang              ???                  Sor     ??      299      Act 5 NM                 9
   Yes Vang              ???                  Dru     40+     307      NM                       5+
   Yes little birdy      lennatwo             Sor     19      59       Jungle Act III           2
   Yes djmbbandie        Grim                 Nec     20     157       Catacombs                0
   Yes Arc1212           Random               Ama     27      81       Act V                    4
   Yes Arc1212           Bones                Nec     14     161       Act I Barracks           0
SP Yes Jcakes            Hephaestus           Pal     48+     18       NM Cold Crow             6
   Yes Vang              RagerX               Bar     ??     141       The Ancient's Way        4
   Yes little birdy      artemia              Ama     50     146       NM Durance of Hate       7
   Yes Arc1212           Crash                Bar     32     177       Baal's Throne Room       4
   Yes m4ke              Random_Pala          Pal     73      44       Hell Jail Level 2       10
   Yes skoolbus          Fenrir               Dru     53?    296       NM Ancient Kaa           6
   Yes little birdy      hiepsi               Pal     26?    290       Kurast Docks             2

PS: wow that was a lot of aligning the columns.
PS2: I cannot upload any screenshots, I get something like parsing response failed or something like that. Anyone know what this might be ?

 

[Oblivious]

So my last post being in May and what it now being November, I guess I can necro-update the thread with a quick recap on the progress I've been slowly making
Good news first: I have not had any close calls, though the decoy bug makes for some adjustments on how I approach some situations.
I've had some amazing - and usable ! - drops this time. I also used a respec and got Immo Arrow instead of Impale. A bit slower to be sure, but very much safer.

But first a wicked item that dropped on Act 2 that was sadly unusable:

I mean look at those boots !! Anyway the game rewarded me with an all res Large Charm shortly after so I was not too mad about that.

In Act 3 I got my first Lum Rune out of some spiders


Khalim's Heart was "chilling" in the box under some sewers with a unique Ring.

Some more notable finds of Act 3:

The Io was eventually put in a crown to make Ground which I find an excellent HC runeword. I do not think it existed when I started playing this character but whatever

Meph died with no issues dropping of course nothing useful




I was just cruising along A4 when a skull container dropped another Manald


or did it...



First SoJ on HC, on tourney, on D2R and in about 15 or so years, so I was kinda excited !!

Diablo posed no threat to my Lightning Spears which also freeze so... yeah no body shot there, kinda melted away...



On to Act 5

Meninore the LF/Immozon, Level 67 in NM Harrogath

 D2R Forum Name        Character Name       Class   Level  Post #    Location               Score
-- --- ----------        --------------       -----   -----  ------    --------               ----
SP Yes Grisu             Medea                Ass     87     121       Guardian                18
SP Yes Norcim            Sorrow               Sor     87      63       Guardian                18
SP Yes Oblivious         Meninore             Ama     67     310       NM Harrogath            10
   Yes gregth            The Reckless         Nec     56      64       NM River Of Flame        8
SP No  PhineasB          Randi                Ass     56     104       NM Palace                7
   Yes Dazliare          Kaltrexia            Sor     32     113       Panda Fortress           3
   Yes Nona              Sister_Ariel         Sor     ??     153       Panda Fortress           3
   Yes Babyhell          Saraya               Sor     21     237       Pandemonium Fortress     3
   Yes little birdy      wimpy                Dru     22     306       Halls of the Dead        1
   Yes Irenicus          Norman               Pal     17      38       Lut Gholein              1
   Yes m4ke              Random_Sorc          Sor     17     223       Lut Gholein              1
   No  Arjan             ???                  Bar     17      34       Outer Cloister           0
   Yes djmbbandie        Kat                  Ass     16      80       Black Marsh              0
SP Yes Miron             Quan Chi             Nec      1      30       Rogue Encampment         0
   Yes coju              ???                  Bar      1       5       Rogue Encampment         0
   Yes Vildecor          ???                  Pal      1      77       Rogue Encampment         0
   Yes AntiRush          ???                  Nec      1     169       Rogue Encampment         0
   Yes djmbbandie        ???                  Dru      1     185       Rogue Encampment         0
   Yes Jcakes            ???                  Ass      1     195       Rogue Encampment         0
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our departed                                                           Died against/in
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Yes AntiRush          RandomI              Ass     61       9       Hell Flayer Jungle      12
SP Yes CaseyJones        Smurf                Pal     25+     280      Tal's Tomb               1
   Yes little birdy      lenna                Sor     24      59       Normal Diablo            3
   Yes Vang              Terror               Nec     ??      17       NM Arcane Sacntuary      6
   Yes Vang              ???                  Sor     ??      299      Act 5 NM                 9
   Yes Vang              ???                  Dru     40+     307      NM                       5+
   Yes little birdy      lennatwo             Sor     19      59       Jungle Act III           2
   Yes djmbbandie        Grim                 Nec     20     157       Catacombs                0
   Yes Arc1212           Random               Ama     27      81       Act V                    4
   Yes Arc1212           Bones                Nec     14     161       Act I Barracks           0
SP Yes Jcakes            Hephaestus           Pal     48+     18       NM Cold Crow             6
   Yes Vang              RagerX               Bar     ??     141       The Ancient's Way        4
   Yes little birdy      artemia              Ama     50     146       NM Durance of Hate       7
   Yes Arc1212           Crash                Bar     32     177       Baal's Throne Room       4
   Yes m4ke              Random_Pala          Pal     73      44       Hell Jail Level 2       10
   Yes skoolbus          Fenrir               Dru     53?    296       NM Ancient Kaa           6
   Yes little birdy      hiepsi               Pal     26?    290       Kurast Docks             2

 

[Grisu]

Nice work there, @Oblivious ! Now go get that Annihilus

After some time away from D2, the itch is starting to come back... Maybe another iteration of a Random tournament will do the trick?

 

[Oblivious]

Hello there everyone ! Long time no see/write.
I have been on and off playing the toon for quite some time now, the game in its current iteration being stable enough for me to be able to put the computer to sleep and then continue from where I left off, so being able to do a true single pass for most of the time. I am sad to report a deed at level 84 in the frozen river. I do not think I could have played it any better but still it stings. More to that later.

Last time I posted Meninore was at the beginning of Act 5 of Nightmare. Seeing as this was almost a year ago I do not think anything special happened there. I got a passive skiller with plus life and a War Travs I could not use. The cow level dropped an Um rune.

Act 1 and 2 of Hell were also very safe and slow with Immunes coming into play. However the Decoy Bug started to get annoying (for those who do not know, there is a bug where the life sum of the Decoy rolls over to 0 after a certain number of skill casts, thus being one shot. It resets with a new game and after a very long time in the same game but it is erratic and unpredictable) I decided that it was not in the spirit of the tournament for me to not be able to use the skill, so I put one point into Valkyrie which basically was a moving decoy - for my playstyle worse - but I recast it often. Valkyrie was not used when Decoy was working. Anyway a false Tomb dropped a Pul Rune. Act 3 dropped a Boneflame, Act 4 nothing of note and Act 5 a Wolfhowl

Deeds happened while Amp'd in the Frozen River from a Charge of a Viper Claw. Decoy was one shotted while I thought it worked. I was afraid the bug would cost me the life of the character.

Things I learned from this one: While the Decoy is bugged and augmented with the Thorns Aura ( I was using an Edge Bow) everything hitting it is one-shot. I considered that an abuse and did not use it knowingly.

Anyway here is the screenshot of the deeds. I never got a 3os Armor to roll Treachery in. Most useful/rare Item was the SoJ and the Fortuitous Ring of Fortune with 40 MF

See you in the 2024 Version !

 D2R Forum Name        Character Name       Class   Level  Post #    Location               Score
-- --- ----------        --------------       -----   -----  ------    --------               ----
SP Yes Grisu             Medea                Ass     87     121       Guardian                18
SP Yes Norcim            Sorrow               Sor     87      63       Guardian                18
   Yes gregth            The Reckless         Nec     56      64       NM River Of Flame        8
SP No  PhineasB          Randi                Ass     56     104       NM Palace                7
   Yes Dazliare          Kaltrexia            Sor     32     113       Panda Fortress           3
   Yes Nona              Sister_Ariel         Sor     ??     153       Panda Fortress           3
   Yes Babyhell          Saraya               Sor     21     237       Pandemonium Fortress     3
   Yes little birdy      wimpy                Dru     22     306       Halls of the Dead        1
   Yes Irenicus          Norman               Pal     17      38       Lut Gholein              1
   Yes m4ke              Random_Sorc          Sor     17     223       Lut Gholein              1
   No  Arjan             ???                  Bar     17      34       Outer Cloister           0
   Yes djmbbandie        Kat                  Ass     16      80       Black Marsh              0
SP Yes Miron             Quan Chi             Nec      1      30       Rogue Encampment         0
   Yes coju              ???                  Bar      1       5       Rogue Encampment         0
   Yes Vildecor          ???                  Pal      1      77       Rogue Encampment         0
   Yes AntiRush          ???                  Nec      1     169       Rogue Encampment         0
   Yes djmbbandie        ???                  Dru      1     185       Rogue Encampment         0
   Yes Jcakes            ???                  Ass      1     195       Rogue Encampment         0
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our departed                                                           Died against/in
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SP Yes Oblivious         Meninore             Ama     84      312      Hell Frozen River V      17
   Yes AntiRush          RandomI              Ass     61       9       Hell Flayer Jungle       12
SP Yes CaseyJones        Smurf                Pal     25+     280      Tal's Tomb               1
   Yes little birdy      lenna                Sor     24      59       Normal Diablo            3
   Yes Vang              Terror               Nec     ??      17       NM Arcane Sacntuary      6
   Yes Vang              ???                  Sor     ??      299      Act 5 NM                 9
   Yes Vang              ???                  Dru     40+     307      NM                       5+
   Yes little birdy      lennatwo             Sor     19      59       Jungle Act III           2
   Yes djmbbandie        Grim                 Nec     20     157       Catacombs                0
   Yes Arc1212           Random               Ama     27      81       Act V                    4
   Yes Arc1212           Bones                Nec     14     161       Act I Barracks           0
SP Yes Jcakes            Hephaestus           Pal     48+     18       NM Cold Crow             6
   Yes Vang              RagerX               Bar     ??     141       The Ancient's Way        4
   Yes little birdy      artemia              Ama     50     146       NM Durance of Hate       7
   Yes Arc1212           Crash                Bar     32     177       Baal's Throne Room       4
   Yes m4ke              Random_Pala          Pal     73      44       Hell Jail Level 2       10
   Yes skoolbus          Fenrir               Dru     53?    296       NM Ancient Kaa           6
   Yes little birdy      hiepsi               Pal     26?    290       Kurast Docks             2