I eagerly started Victor on his Act 5 journey. I enjoy NM Act 5 because you get consistent leveling on p8, and more elite items start dropping. The danger began right out the gate, with archers and slingers. Slinger javelins pass right through the merc/golem, so it's imperative for frail builds like Victor to keep alert. Most of the ranged monsters up to the Crystalline Passage had cold attacks. At least ten times I went into "panic mode" when a chilled Victor barely dodged volleys of arrows and javelins. A few series took me down to about a quarter life. Good thing I'm investing heavily into Vitality. The lava river bonus area was a welcome breather.
Drifter Cavern opened into the nasty center island formation, right on top of a Conviction boss pack of Cold Archers. Instant NDE and Full Rejuv. Straying a few feet for position, Victor woke up an Archer Champ Pack. Wonderful. I managed to fire off a couple Terrors before leading my team blindly around the entrance block. Every couple hits while Convicted required a healing potion or rejuv. I couldn't hold any position more than 10 seconds. I did manage to hit most of the archers with a PMH knife, and after a few laps around the entry, I stranded the Conviction boss on the opposite side. That gave me enough hardiness to tolerate a few archer hits while holding a line. Another close call for Victor.
The Halls weren't too difficult until Nihlathak's level. I had another NDE when I got mobbed by those transparent Night Marauders. I didn't see them until it was too late. Victor's defense is pathetic and his chance to block is an embarassing
7%! I squeaked out away from the Marauders as those bugged Tomb Vipers advanced. Even with ultra-safe merc babysitting, the bugged poison clouds killed Razan at least once per wing. He died maybe 8 times.
One good thing about lacking decent MF is that lots of white and grey items fall, which was cool because I sought another ethereal spear before NM ended. I was hoping for a Stygian Pike, but I never saw one. I did get an ethereal hyperion spear, which I stored on the ground due to my bursting stash and inventory. I was keeping lots of gambled rares that I hadn't yet committed to.
Resuming my trip through the Glacial Trail, I finally found my buddy Bonesaw Breaker. I guess I've been playing this game a long time now, because I recognized Cathan's Mesh before it hit the ground! :lol:
The Icy Cellar was a repeat of Drifter Cavern. Same center island entrance. The initial stair trap wasn't as treacherous, but the monsters that rushed my gang were much scarier than archers. Razan and Clay advanced to intercept an Extra Strong cold snake pack, as an undead doll champ pack ran at me from the opposite side of the map. One of the snake's cold missiles chilled me as I ran across a bridge to a side island. Lucky for me there were no extra monsters there. I cast a new golem just in time to intercept the doll pack. Phew! A very sloppy fight followed, with lots of decrep and Life Tap, but I held on.
The battle with the Ancients was pretty intense. Their attacks were unpredictable. None of them "stuck" to a particular member of the gang; we were all occasional targets. Sometimes all three mobbed the merc, prompting me to tug his leash and pass him potions. His life went down to the red a few times. I was negligent in not bringing enough potions, so I mostly used Life Tap. I left the setting at p8, which took forever. Very long and very tense until the first Ancient death. After that, no problem.
Against Baal, the golem alone provided enough slowing to minimize special attacks. I switched from Decrap to Amp, but it still took forever. He dropped 5 rares, nothing good though.
I loaded up on gold with p8 cows. Lots of items sold for max gold. The King dropped a sweet rare
studded leather. Had I not screwed myself earlier with the accidental armor socketing, this would've been my endgame armor. I may still use it for myself if I reach Act 5 Hell and get another socket reward. For now, it goes on the merc.
First thing I did when I started Hell Difficulty was check my resists. Horrible!
That's why I'd saved all the possible gambles. Time to make some tough decisions. First, I gambled away all my gold, but didn't get anything useful. Then I had Charsi imbue the ethereal hyperion spear. Hey! That ain't too bad, thanks Charsi!
111% Enhanced Damage
+54 AR
8% Mana Steal
Lightning Resist +7%
Repairs durability
Ethereal
With the Might Aura, Razan now deals 709-1943 pure physical damage, and that's not counting Victor's Amp Damage! Awesome...
I used 6 of my 8 PSkulls to reroll a rare jewel. Garbage... although it did go up from level 25 to level 36.
Next, I used my Hell craft to make a Caster Ring. More garbage...
I spent the next hour trying combinations of gear, and decided I needed to use my Hellforge UM rune (and a PSapphire) in my two-socket gargoyle head. My reasons:
1. I had no elligible diamonds, rubies, or topaz. Not even flawless ones.
2. IMO Victor's life, defense, and blocking are too low too attempt Hell w/o big resists.
3. I'm an underdog to find a Fal rune for upgrading a possible elite merc weapon.
4. The aforementioned imbue is good enough to be merc's end-game weapon.
5. Without CBF, good cold resistance is much more important because of the danger of multiple hits while slowed. The shield already had 27 cold resist. The PSapphire and Um raised it to 89%!
Victor's Hell stats: Str 73, Dex 55, Vit 327 (847 life), Energy 51.
Chance to hit: mid-10's to mid-20's. Good thing I have ITD on the knives.
Chance to block: 7% --- hilarious!
Resists: Fire 75, Cold 65, Lightning 75, Poison -19
MF: 39%-50%
Slots still free for gambling: gloves, belt, both rings, one weapon, both shields, merc weapon. I really hope to improve on my gloves/rings.
I started Hell at p5, p8 for underground areas. It's working, thanks to merc's big damage + lvl 19 Corpse Explosion. The teleport charges on my circlet are awesome for managing merc/golem positions. The circlet also has +2 P&B skills but the only good that does for Victor is CE boost. Funniest sight in Hell so far: Blood Raven's bow had
monster flee. I guess to her, Razan and golem are "monsters".
Victor's
weapons/shields, his
armor/jewelry, and the
merc's gear.
Victor Shen, level 77, Act 1 Hell, Stony Field
I wanted to fight on so I could give the four closest mages a chance to bail me out. They almost made it (they had one BP segment down to 15%). If I had helped out with occasional Bone Spears from the start, we may have been able to destroy it before I had to escape.
)