Set/Unique Item Worshippers Tournament II

[jgreg7]

Yeah, a cool thing with this tournament is that you come to appreciate some unusual things. And a Bone Wand is a fast weapon.

Sander's boots and gloves aren't so bad, either. Too bad they don't have better partial set bonuses.

Gibsu is now fully equipped with 16 S/U! Last night in the Spider Forest we found both Milabrega’s orb and The Ward. I was sad to lose our +1 Paladin skills rare shield, but the 44% resist all from The Ward is some compensation.

Gibsu, level 60 Paladin, 16 S/U equipped, Act 3 Nightmare

 

[jiansonz]

I was sad to lose our +1 Paladin skills rare shield, but the 44% resist all from The Ward is some compensation.

Yep, that is a tasty bonus. Which is one of the reasons I gamble for Gothic Shields.
(along with Skull Caps, Bone Shields, Tower Shields, Studded Leathers, Heavy Gloves, Chain Gloves, Gauntlets, Light Plated Boots, War Swords, Rings and Amulets. :tongue: )

Nothing S/U from gambling so far though, other than the Death's Hand I wasn't even trying for...

 

[erimatbrad]

Yeah, a cool thing with this tournament is that you come to appreciate some unusual things. And a Bone Wand is a fast weapon.

This is true. I'm quite excited to try it out, truth be told. It won't be another bloodrise, but I can see it being useful.

No point in Cloak of Shadows yet?

Not yet. I should invest the easy points in it, but I've been kind of hoarding my points lately. Not as bad as I was with Seven and his stat points, though. Nyx only carries around 30 stat points on her, and even then I dump all the points into Vitality, so at least something is happening.

 

[jiansonz]

NM Tomb clearing

It's such a relief that Melica's resists are much better now. Most of the time I don't even bother to use Fade or switch to Steelclash, even against quite heavy elemental damage.

I am saving up stat points to use in Strength, if needed. Base STR is 82 right now (just enough for Sazabi's helm) and I have no help from equipment, not even as a side effect from my resist charms. An upgraded Steelclash will require STR 91, and who knows what kind of juicy but heavy stuff will drop later. :wink3: To keep the blocking up, I still put about half of the points in DEX, so it's discouraging that vitality doesn't get anything right now. Maximum life may be a big problem later because I can't rely on my usual 'of the Squid/Whale' items or socketed armor/helm with lots of rubies.

Mind Blast is a fabulous skill to help Geshef get the last hit in against bosses, and also when I face a boss I don't want any sort of close encounter with.
(read: brutal Gorebelly bosses...)

No exciting finds lately. I hope Duriel will give me something nice. :tongue:


Destroyer Melica the PS Assassin, Level 59, 16 S/U items equipped, NM Seven Tombs (four left).

 

[jgreg7]

It's such a relief that Melica's resists are much better now. Most of the time I don't even bother to use Fade or switch to Steelclash, even against quite heavy elemental damage.

What are her resists up to? Gibsu now has 79/80/76, courtesy of The Ward. I'm usually happy with anything over 50%, so I'm not sure I've ever been maxed out (and more!) this early in NM.

Yesterday I went through all the Act 3 jungle areas. (The only S/U was my fourth Cleglaw's Pincers) I faced champion and boss dolls in the Flayer Dungeon with some trepidation. Usually I let my Act 2 merc take them on. That wasn't an option this time, but their death explosion didn't hurt as bad as I remember. Did 1.11 nerf that, or am I just remembering them in Hell?

Gibsu, level 62 Frost Paladin, 16 S/U equipped, Lower Kurast Nightmare

 

[jiansonz]

What are her resists up to?

Something like 39/28/34 or so.

I faced champion and boss dolls in the Flayer Dungeon with some trepidation. Usually I let my Act 2 merc take them on. That wasn't an option this time, but their death explosion didn't hurt as bad as I remember. Did 1.11 nerf that, or am I just remembering them in Hell?

1.10 nerfed it quite a bit. I remember my first 1.09 HC assassin dying in NM Swampy Pit to the explosions of an Extra Strong doll boss and one of its minions.

The ones in Hell are still dangerous.

 

[Immortal_Slayer]

SuJez has just retrieved the cube and grabbed the dry hills WP. No new sets/uniques to report of. The fight with Andariel was uneventful - Switch to holy fire and zeal to death. The random skills have been decently kind to me, with points into passive spells such as defiance and resist cold (might lead to me being a freezadin). I wish they would plop into zeal so i can have a 5 swing zeal, but meh, I'll survive on the 3 swings I have currently.

Spent 2 of my spare points into zeal, and 1 point into Holy Freeze. Still have 5spare points, and I'm currently wondering whether to just dump them into Holy freeze, or should i go for Holy Shock. How well does an Act 3 Lightning merc fair in hell compared to an Act 3 Cold? Are the lightning spells strong enough to kill immunes in hell? I'd appreciate any advice here.

SuJez
Paladin Level 22
2 S/U equipped
Dry Hills, Nml

 

[Syklar]

When last you saw Bonemuncher, he was something like this:
Bonemuncher the Druid, level 57, 13 S/U equipped, Act 3 Nightmare

Bonemuncher is more like this now:
Your Deeds of Valor Will be Remembered

Act 3: (/players 3)

Bonemuncher pretty much breezed through this act doing the same old, spam shockwave, watch the sidekicks kill stuff and grab goodies. Unfortunately, due to a lack of different damage types, I decided to park a Fire Enchanted/Stone Skin Drowned Carcass which was Fire/Physical Immune.
(In hindsight I could have picked up an Act 3 merc temporarily)

A unique tusk sword (The Vile Husk) popped up in Upper Kurast and Alaric (Barb merc) was swinging around 460~% damage (to undead) of hurt. Plus some Amplify Damage to taste.

Act 3 gave more stuff which was thrown onto Bonemuncher's Set/Unique junkheap to be worshipped all at once. (Skullsplitter, Diggler, Beserker's Headgear)

Mephisto was rough, throwing around 1 hit kill moves but eventually the merc got into an awesome position and he fell from spammed Grizzly's and fissure.


Act 4: (/players 3 ; Diablo /players 1)

More of the same old, Bonemuncher shockwaving everything in sight while Alaric and the Grizzly munch on helpless demons. Surprisingly, at this stage, Alaric could tank everything Diablo threw at him so after feeding him lots of red pots and the occasional rejuv Diablo kicked the bucket.

Act 5: (/players 3)

I knew it was going to happen sooner or later, and I so wished it was much much later but...

In the Frigid Highlands Angelic Sickle dropped. I had found one much earlier in Bonemuncher's adventure and squirreled it off. Since shockwave is so overpowered (AOE Stun with duration unaffected by difficulty :shocked: ) I decided to switch to it for the extra 50% MF on my ring. After that, uniques started raining from the sky.
In the highlands: (All axes!)
Brainhew
Deathspade
Rakescar

Arreat Plateau:
The Ward...

What?? Nooooooooooo!!!!! This isn't happening.
But it did happen and Bonemuncher had to wave Alaric away to hire an Act 3 mercenary.
So Alaric was switched for Narphet the Lightning mage or as I would like to call him "Junktastic".

The change was like ripping off a bandaid... and having your skin come off, making the wound three times the size.

Narphet wouldn't charge headlong into foes. He wouldn't scythe down battalions of hell's finest. What he did best was sleep on the ground at inappropriate times and have me pay for his outrageous bartabs.

So I decided to upgrade the Rakescar (thank goodness I didn't squirrel it away yet) and maul my way through Act 5. Having to divide and conquer every single group of 6 or more monsters was really really tedious.

Nevertheless Bonemuncher slogged through, even through one encounter with 4 champion Hell Lords which Bonemuncher paid over half a million to get Narphet to shoot little sparks. Needless to say, Bonemuncher has sworn from gambling to finance Junktastic's lazy habit.

Arreat summit and the ancients. (/players 1)
I placed ~5 sets of 16 healing pots around the place and filled the rest of inventory with rejuv/healing pots.
(Needless to say Junktastic kicked the bucket in ~5-10 seconds of the ancients coming to life)
First Roll:
Talic (Stone Skin)
Korlic (Mana Burn)
Madawc (Aura Enchanted - Holy Fire)

The pets kept Talic/Korlic at bay while I smacked Madawc up. However, Mana Burn was way too annoying and after a little while I decided to reroll.

Second Roll:
Talic (Cold Enchanted)
Korlic (Spectral Hit)
Madawc (Fire Enchanted)

Same plan, pets stall while I smack Madawc up. But when he died...
He went ker-splat.
...
And somehow Bonemuncher was still alive with ~1 hp in Druid form. So basically I should have died except me getting kicked out of bear form saved my life.

Korlic and Talic kicked the bucket soon after.

Back to /players 3 and Bonemuncher is feasting on Extra Fast Lister's bones. A shockbear versus Lister is absolutely no contest.

Baal on /players 1.
With judicious use of Town Portal and Summon Grizzly, Baal croaked leaving a unique Yari (Hone Sundan) which I can't use and Cathan's Visage. Junktastic was getting drunk in a really expensive bar at the time.

...
Oh right... by "Your Deeds of Valor Will be Remembered" I really mean

Bonemuncher the Druid, level 71, 14 S/U equipped, Act 1 Hell

(Still waiting on a Glove/Ring)
(Also I plan on Killing Nihlathak - I skipped his side dungeon - and romp around with Nightmare Cows. But Act 1 Hell looks really nice to I'll leave it there)

 

[LacertaCK]

[b]Amazons[/b]
RiverSue (Wolron), 14 S/U items equipped, level 52, Act 2 NM
Mama_ZanRondo (ECC), 2 S/U items equipped, level 19, Act 2 Normal
Brina (zatlaren), 2 S/U items equipped, level 18, Act 1 Normal - Jail R.I.P.

[b]Assassins[/b]
Confused (atidgng), 13 S/U items equipped, level 67, Act 5 Nightmare
Melica (jiansonz), 16 S/U items equipped, level 59, Act 2 Nightmare
Nyx (erimatbrad), 8 S/U items equipped, level 28, Act 3 Normal
Sassy (mwille), 0 S/U items equipped, level 16, Act 1 Normal
SUWorshipper(Billybgame) 3 S/U items equipped, level 24, Act 2 Normal
Sabriel (Kool69) 0 S/U items equipped, level 1, Act 1 Normal

[b]Barbarians[/b]
CryBaby (Quickdeath), 9 S/U items equipped, level 32, Act 4 Normal  R.I.P.
Hap (Gabriel74),  10 S/U item equipped, level 31, Act 5 Normal
DonCaballero (Lostprophet), 7 S/U Items equipped, Level 31, Act 4 Normal
Noobabarb (Purplelocust), 0 S/U items equipped, level 12, Act 1 Normal

[b]Druids[/b]
Bonemuncher (Syklar), 14 S/U items equipped, level 71, Act 1 Hell
Bob (LacertaCK), 14 S/U items equipped, level 49, Act 1 Nightmare
drood (skoolbus), 0 S/U items equipped, level 9, Act 1 Normal
Shevek, 0 S/U items equipped, level 6, Act 1 Normal

[b]Necromancers[/b]
Desty_Nova (MadMachine), 2 S/U item equipped, level 21, Act 2 Normal
ToxicMojo (NightStalker), 0 S/U items equipped, level 1, Act 1 Normal

[b]Paladins[/b]
Gibsu (jgreg7),  16 S/U items equipped, level 62, Act 3 Nightmare
Skunkmonk (Skunkbelly), 0 items equipped, level 15, A1 Normal
SuJez (Immortal_Slayer), 2 items equipped, level 22, Act 2 Normal

[b]Sorceresses[/b]
Megaera (Hrus), 9 S/U items equipped, level 28, Act 3 Normal
NeyTour1 (Mimeaphone), 2 S/U items equipped, level 15, Act 1 Normal
Liz (Hambuguer), 0 S/U items equipped, level 14, Act 1 Normal
Jenny (zatlaren), 0 S/U items equipped, level 15, Act 1 Normal R.I.P.

Oh right... by "Your Deeds of Valor Will be Remembered" I really mean

Bonemuncher the Druid, level 71, 14 S/U equipped, Act 1 Hell

You are an evil evil person

Bob is still alive and kicking. He is slow, but steady, and still going at /players8.

He has worked his way up to the Forgotten Tower, where the countess is sure to be holding an El rune for Bob's collection. He had a bit of adventure today in the Underground Passage, where he encountered a quintuple boss pack. That's right, 5! groups. He waded through until all were finally deceased, to be rewarded with Skull Splitter Military Pick, which could come in handy on those few mobs in NM that are resistant to both physical and cold, which take me forever to take out.

My best find today was a Sigon's Wrap. I am no longer stuck with 2 rows, and my fire resist is maxed out. I also added an Io rune to Bob's collection from a generous Spike Fiend in the Dark Woods.

Bob, level 49 Druid, 14 S/U equipped, Act 1 Nightmare

I'm down to just needing one more shield and some gloves.

Updated everyone (I hope)!

 

[jiansonz]

Melica has slogged trough (not as bad as it sounds, it was quite fun and fast) the remaining four tombs. I intended to take down the players setting to 3 or 5 for Duriel but I forgot to do that. He died anyway, dropping his full 5 items + TP scroll. No S/U among them.

Earlier (wearable) finds were Isenhart´s Horns and Milabrega´s Rod.

I found an Amn rune from an Apparition in the true tomb. After a little rune cubing (all the way from 3x Ort, actually) I could finally upgrade Bloodrise to a Jagged Star.


Destroyer Melica the PS Assassin, Level 60, 16 S/U items equipped, NM Kurast Docks

@Lacerta:
Welcome back! :flowers:
(and thanks for updating the table)

 

[erimatbrad]

It seems like it's been a while, but in fact, it's just been a weekend!

Act 3 feels so long, but I know 5 is going to be much worse. Nyx is doing quite well, and managed to rack up three more items -- An Isenhart's BP for herself, Arcanna's Sign, and...

Cleglaw's Pincers.

Crap. I've got the shield, so that's a nice boost to AR, which I appreciate, but knockback.... oh the knockback. It makes Phoenix Strike, which is interesting and fun a little more irritating.

So I dumped points everywhere in my trees. Unlocked Dragon Flight, Venom, and.... Blade Fury!

I *love* Blade Fury. She's got so much Mana Leech and Life Leech that it's free, it's fast, and it carries over 3/4 of that 25-75 cold damage. Most things die pretty easily under it, and knockback keeps them from reaching me. When life hands you lemons, y'know...

So I think Nyx will be a BFsin, though I'm continuing to punch points into PS because it seems like it could be useful at higher levels.

Random points went into Fade, Tiger Strike, and Dragon Talon.

Nyx the BFsin, Level 32, 11 S/U equipped, Next Area: Act IV

 

[LacertaCK]

Bob continued through the Forgotten Tower last night and on through the Outer Cloister WP. The countess coughed up an Amn, which was better than I expected from the greedy witch. On the way down, I came across an interesting find: Isenhart's Parry. Ok, so that isn't all that really interesting except for 2 things.
1) I had to take off my Ancient's Pledge, since that gave me 3 shields, leaving me with just gloves left to find. And
2) That gave me the Entire Isenhart's set.

I previously had equipped the other 3 pieces on my merc, so put the shield on him as well. So question.... do you think Bob would be better off to wear the full set himself? I didn't, because it would mean splitting up my Angelic and Hsaru's partial sets and losing those bonuses, plus, neither my merc nor Bob actually spend any time "hitting" anything, so the LL and the AR don't do any good. And if I was going to hit something, I wouldn't want to be doing it at this point with a 17-18 damage weapon anyway.

I was going to have to break up the set anyway on my merc, which would have made the decision a bit different, as my ethereal Duskdeep helm is getting low on durability, and it was going to have to go on the merc soon to keep it from breaking, but I also found another helm last night. Lo and behold, it is another Duskdeep :badteeth: but not ethereal, so I can continue on.

So I think Nyx will be a BFsin, though I'm continuing to punch points into PS because it seems like it could be useful at higher levels.

Definitely! When you get to Hell, and start running into lots of immunes, it is very very nice to be able to pick and choose what type of attack to hit them with.

 

[jgreg7]

Earlier (wearable) finds were Isenhart´s Horns and Milabrega´s Rod.

Did you equip the Rod? That actually would have been quite useful for Gibsu a while back. If you find any of the exceptional unique scepters now I'll really be envious! Gibsu found Milabrega's Diadem in an Upper Kurast temple yesterday, but that's not even worth considering IMO.

Gibsu, level 62 Frost Paladin, 16 S/U equipped, Upper Kurast Nightmare

 

[jiansonz]

Did you equip the Rod? That actually would have been quite useful for Gibsu a while back. If you find any of the exceptional unique scepters now I'll really be envious! Gibsu found Milabrega's Diadem in an Upper Kurast temple yesterday, but that's not even worth considering IMO.

No, it couldn´t compare with either Bloodrise or Spineripper, or even Death´s Touch for that matter (slower, low damage, no interesting bonuses (for non-Pallys, that is!)). Since I want Sazabi´s helm for the skills and resists, the only other Mil´s item would be the shield. The +50 life on the shield would be nice, but the partial set bonus for 'any 2 items' is just a little AR boost (the scepter has no extra bonus). Not worth it at this stage.

 

[jiansonz]

We took a nice stroll in the jungle. No particularly exciting finds; got a 4% Small Charm of Fortune, Duskdeep (which Geshef now uses because it maxes his resists), Civerb´s Ward and Angelic Halo. The Halo has MF potential if I can find the amulet or the armor.

I am not as scared as usual when the temples are coming up. Geshef´s cold shots, CoS and Mind Blast makes for great crowd control.

If I can just get Melica´s maximum life up substantially, get slightly better tanking gear and somehow solve the future resistance problems, I have great hopes for this duo.


Destroyer Melica the PS Assassin and Geshef the Cold Wolf, Level 62, 16 S/U items equipped, NM Kurast Bazaar next

 

[Lostprophet]

No playing time for me, recently, seeing as how the right-click button on the mouse was broken for a good week and we're just now getting in replaced. It's possibly for the best, seeing as how another tragedy befell Don and he's now pitifully weak. More on that later, in my proper update. Just wanted to let everyone know I'm still planning on finishing this jon't.

 

[jgreg7]

No playing for a week? I'd get withdrawal!

Gibsu finished Meph last night. He took a while, since he has so many hit points and I had to keep going to town to shake off his poison. However he wasn't very dangerous - even Jelani survived the whole thing. No S/U drops, though.

Bonesnap did drop on the second level of the Durance. That would have been a nice backup weapon, except that it is two-handed so Gibsu can't use it without giving up one of his precious S/U already equipped. Oh, well. Now we're off to find Izual and my two free skill points!

Gibsu, level 64 Paladin, 16 S/U equipped, Act 4 Nightmare

 

[Wolron]

RiverSue is an Amazon at level 53. She and her faithful merc have 14 of the 16 possible S/U items (need a ring and amulet). She just killed Radament in NM. She is killing (barely) with a crushflange mace (using P8). Never used that sort of weapon with an Amazon before!

Question: Are we allowed to use the cube recipe to upgrade a unique item from normal to exceptional (later to Elite!)?

I have the runes to do it for a weapon and for a piece of armor, but none of my current uniques are worthy of being improved. Hopefully I will find something that is worthy in the near future though (hope springs eternal...)

 

[erimatbrad]

Question: Are we allowed to use the cube recipe to upgrade a unique item from normal to exceptional (later to Elite!)?

Yes! Please do. I made it well into Hell last time using an upgraded Bloodrise, and wish I had the runes to take it all the way to elite.

 

[Insane Wayne]

Hey erimat, now that I've finished in the Money-hater tourney, can I port over my barbarian from S/U worship #1? The original rules are compatible with yours. I'd like to finish that character, not start a new worshipper.

Exhibition of course, no competition intended with the current entrants. My character's progress fits in the range of your current leaders. I could revive the old thread, but then we'd have dueling Worshipper threads. No big deal, but I don't want to cause any confusion.