Set/Unique Item Worshippers Tournament II

[Insane Wayne]

My cold mage currently carries "Blood Crescent" which was dropped in Act 2 Normal by a flying scimitar (2 years ago in the original thread :smiley
Considering the +life, +radius, and resist-all bonus, it's a quality find.

From the poison tourney, I recall a nice double-drop from a pair of scimitars.

 

[jiansonz]

There is no area in the game I like more than the act 3 Sewers. Can´t really put the finger on why.

This time, I fought Horadrim Ancients/Horrors, bats and Feeders. Haha, the greater mummies here were less threatening (they can be frozen) than the "less advanced" Unravelers earlier.

Geshef is not useless against the cold immune bats. First, he acts as a scout. Resting bats can be hard to spot, especially if you travel 'upwards' the screen. Second, he is very good at waking up one bat at a time so it can fly over to us and get killed. :azn:

Level 2 had no less than three boss packs: two Horadrim Ancients and one Preserved Dead pack. They were all bunched up in the upper end and it was easy to fight a few at a time. The first Horadrim Ancient boss had Fanaticism Multiple Shots. I stayed outside his range and BFed him to death. Got a level-up when the last boss died. Random point to Shock Web.

Upper Kurast had Thrashers, but no such boss. I appreciated that.

There was also a Multiple Shots(?) vulture boss. OK, so the "let me just fly around a little, we can fight a little later"-thing is a ranged attack...Uh, how do you do that in multiples?
(I wonder if this is a change from 1.09, because I don´t remember ever seeing an MSLE vulture there. Vultures aren´t that rare in act 3, and I tend to remember the MSLE encounters...)

I prepared with potions, plus added 2 small and 2 large charms with a total of +60 life before entering any temples. That was standard procedure for temples this session. Becuase every bit of extra damage just might help in a tough fight, I should probably have switched on both Venom and Blade Shield (I don´t bother with Blade Shield for normal play (it has a short duration, plus I´m out of hotkeys!)) but I neglected that.

Forgotten Temple opened up right into a big snake pack. I cast CoS as soon as I could (before any monster had reacted to my presence) and moved to the side. One snake followed. It was a boss (but sneakily had almost the same colour as the others). I moved over to tank it, but took a BRUTAL Charge hit (I think I brushed one or two minions as well, and they probably also got some hits in at the same time). It wasn´t quite an NDE, but nearing that territory.

Panic! At this stage, I hadn´t even had time to identify the boss abilities. I just ran. Sometimes that is a really bad move, sometimes it´s the best thing you can do. New snake boss pack (orange boss, so it was easy to spot) in the hallway. I just blazed past them and stormed into a small hallway-room. At least one minion followed. In the meantime, the second snake pack pulverized Geshef. I portalled out.

Resurrection of Geshef, licked my wounds, filled up potion stock. When I got back, I cast CoS (to prevent more minions from coming in) and killed that snake minion. Peeked into the next room. Some Bone Scarabs and a small pack of regular snakes. Killed them with ease. With this room as base, I worked on that second boss pack. Eventually got to fight the boss: Extra Fast LE. I switched to Fade and brought down Meteors on that boss.

Cleared the rest of the temple until the starting room was the only one left. Lured out the boss and defeated it.

As it turned out, none of the other three temples was even close to this in danger and excitement. The other Upper Kurast temple had an early CE Wailing Beast pack. It didn´t manage to scare me. The Causeway temples had empty starting rooms and were quite wimpy (although I had to split up some Champion snakes in the Fane).

Just like last time, the best find in the session was a charm. 15/30 Sapphire Large Charm of Vita. Who said Large Charms always suck? :flip:


Conqueror Melica the PS Assassin and Geshef the Cold Wolf, Level 82, 16 S/U items equipped, Travincal next

 

[Insane Wayne]

Meph's Durance opened with a nasty stair trap of FE dolls. I took the burst from the boss, but my 85% resist easily handled it. After that I had plenty of room to break up the many boss/champ packs, including hurtful mummies and vampires. Meph was easily dispatched at p5. I used my Tancred's combo for extra MF, but the drop was lousy containing one paltry unique.

We hit a mjor snag entering the Plains of Despair: CI Spawners!
It was the worst spawner nuisance I ever faced, with multiple champ and boss packs including multiple CE Stone Skin mana-burners. I retreated to the stairs several times and killed dozens of pups as my frustration mounted. If you've ever wondered if spawners eventually stop producing pups; the answer is Yes. It happened against a very strong boss that drove me out of my mind. Eventually I killed Izual and admired his awesome drop.

After that shameful performance, I did much better against the maggots in the River of Flame. I often taunted the whole group before they laid eggs. Hellforge dropped an Io rune, which gives me the ability to cube a Lum, but will probably be meaningless unless I find a Pul, which is unlikely.

I handled the CS cleanly, with careful taunting and Berserk for IM insurance. No problems with the seal boses which I did at p3. The Grand Vizier dropped Skull Splitter. I almost tossed it but decided it might be worth having for Act 5. IIRC the blinding will prevent "special attacks" (i.e. Frenzytaur frenzies) which might be handy for nasty CI frenzytaur minions.
Diablo was easily beaten at p3, but dropped no S/Us! I constantly refreshed my slowing attacks against him which kept him hobbled. 95% of my repair costs goes to one item: Blackbog's Sharp, which is used for 3% of the attacks. I swear that thing loses durability just by gripping it tightly. It cost me over 10K to fix it after the Diablo fight.

The trek towards Shenk was easy against burning archers and quill rats. Shenk died without scoring a single hit. After considering my socket-reward options, I decided that CBF was going to be an important factor. Many of the Act 5 Hell monsters have built-in chilling attacks. Thus I equipped Hawkmail for full-time use and gave the Cow King's Hide to Flux. To compensate for the loss of resists, I socketed my Steelclash Dragon Shield with a PDiamond. Max's resists are 85 fire, 90 cold, and 75 lightning which should suffice against gloam bosses despite the lack of lightning absorb.

Crystalline Passage opened with a stair trap of normal PI frenzytaurs and champ ghosts. Luckily these frenzytaurs didn't have native CBF, and Flux's freezing kept them still whenever Howl failed from massive mana burn.
The third monster-type were mages, and Max scoffed at their ineffective attacks. The evil urns also held mages which was a relief.

Frozen River had Sirens, Frozen Creepers, and Gloams. Careful taunting kept us safe against many gloam boss packs, although occasionally they swooped by in groups of 3 or 4. Even with my good resists I went down to half life several times, but no NDEs. My greatest threat was a Conviction Gloam, but I got him isoloated.

The evil urns contained gloams,including an FELE Extra Fast! None spawned on my head, but each required an instant retreat and careful approach. Frozenstein's minions were taken one at a time around a lucky map formation. Easy pickings. With my resistance scroll reward, I replaced a few resist charms with +life/AR/damage charms. I used a free skill point in Natural Resists. Random points have gone to: Iron Skin, Leap, and Battle Command.

So far Max has seen it all: Champ/Boss frenzytaurs, Champ/Boss Gloams, Conviction Gloams, and urn gloams. Each time was a situation with favorable locations and/or map formations. Hopefully that luck will continue.

[highlight]Conqueror Maximum (Max) Fang and Flux the Cold Wolf, 16 S/Us, level 83, Act 5 Hell, Zombie Garden[/highlight]

There was also a Multiple Shots(?) vulture boss. OK, so the "let me just fly around a little, we can fight a little later"-thing is a ranged attack...Uh, how do you do that in multiples?

(I wonder if this is a change from 1.09, because I don´t remember ever seeing an MSLE vulture there. Vultures aren´t that rare in act 3, and I tend to remember the MSLE encounters...)

I've seen MS vultures many times, including this tournament, and it still makes me chuckle. They've been around a long time but I can't remember about the MSLE. In this case, I think "Multiple Shot" refers to a sudden onslaught of bird crap as they fly overhead; like a flock of pigeons after you wash your car. It's bound to happen so prepare yourself.

 

[jiansonz]

We hit a major snag entering the Plains of Despair: CI Spawners!
It was the worst spawner nuisance I ever faced, with multiple champ and boss packs including multiple CE Stone Skin mana-burners. I retreated to the stairs several times and killed dozens of pups as my frustration mounted.

"Spawnerssess. We hates them."

95% of my repair costs goes to one item: Blackbog's Sharp, which is used for 3% of the attacks. I swear that thing loses durability just by gripping it tightly.

:grin:

After considering my socket-reward options, I decided that CBF was going to be an important factor. Many of the Act 5 Hell monsters have built-in chilling attacks. Thus I equipped Hawkmail for full-time use and gave the Cow King's Hide to Flux. To compensate for the loss of resists, I socketed my Steelclash Dragon Shield with a PDiamond. Max's resists are 85 fire, 90 cold, and 75 lightning

Awesome resists!
Always consider good old Hawkmail. Junk to some, invaluable to others...

So far Max has seen it all: Champ/Boss frenzytaurs, Champ/Boss Gloams, Conviction Gloams, and urn gloams. Each time was a situation with favorable locations and/or map formations. Hopefully that luck will continue.

I hope so too.
It´s the combo of monsters and situations that sets the bar for the danger. But yikes, those are some tough critters Max has faced.

 

[Insane Wayne]

Very good progress for Max and Flux, mostly because the monster rolls have been unusually easy. Hell Act 5 has been difficult for my recent characters, perhaps now it's balancing out a bit in my favor.

Nihlathak's Halls were free from spawners, frenzytaurs, and cold-immunes. The final level opened into a stairtrap of boars, temptresses, and tomb vipers. I stood still and repeatedly howled away a dozen boars, while Flux slowly froze the snakes one by one. A word of caution regarding the bugged poison clouds: they can persist a short while even after they fade away. Other than that, they are easily handled as long as you play defensively. A Berserker viper sprang out of an evil urn, and I dropped him in 2 hits. :smiley:
Nihlathak was a push-over. Before dying, he sent a bizarre creature to attack me, which prompted me to start this thread. If you want to skip it, basically it was a skeleton that shouldn't have been possible to spawn.

No problems with the Glacial Trail. Mana-burning apparitions were a minor nuisance. One of them dropped a nice new sword. As always, it's an incredible MF temptation, but there's no reasonable way to work this into Max's gear. So instead I gave it to Flux. He no longer needs the resist-all from Blood Crescent, so now I''ll let him finish off the bosses for an extra 83% MF. I'll have to think about what to add to the 2 sockets.

Drifter Cavern had Infidels, Cold Mages, and Afflicted. Easy compared to what I usually see down there. Champion Infidels were tough, but otherwise it was safe. A champ mage dropped a unique ring, the first S/U ring since the dual-Cathan's from Normal!!
Because any ring would represent an improvment, I was twice as delighted to equip a rare find indeed! Not only is it magnificently worshippable, it provides nice boosts across the board. Extra life, extra damage, extra resists, longer warcry durations, etc... :thumbsup: It reminds me of when my zon in the original tourney found a Bul-Kathos ring.
The evil urns contained mages.
One pack managed to annoy Flux, when it spawned off-screen across the moat and bombarded him.

Frozen Tundra was another cakewalk, with imps, melee cats, and witches. Again no CIs and no danger whatsoever. Infernal Pit was a bit tougher with Balrogs, Knights, and CI Vampires. Lots of boss packs but I had plenty of room to maneuver.

I've partially cleared the Ancient's Way, which has yet another easy roll of Fallen, Afflicted, and Lancers. None are cold immune. The Lancers are quick, but Flux takes care of that. A showdown with the Icy Cellar awaits me. I can count on some drama there, perhaps a center-island entrance to mix things up a bit.

[highlight]Conqueror Maximum (Max) Fang and Flux the Cold Wolf, 16 S/Us, level 83, Act 5 Hell, Ancient's Way[/highlight]

 

[jiansonz]

...and tomb vipers. I stood still and repeatedly howled away a dozen boars, while Flux slowly froze the snakes one by one. A word of caution regarding the bugged poison clouds: they can persist a short while even after they fade away. Other than that, they are easily handled as long as you play defensively.

I agree. I have never been killed by them. My melee mercs have not liked them at all, though...

So, they can be frozen. Sweet!

A champ mage dropped a unique ring, the first S/U ring since the dual-Cathan's from Normal!!
Because any ring would represent an improvment, I was twice as delighted to equip a rare find indeed! Not only is it magnificently worshippable, it provides nice boosts across the board. Extra life, extra damage, extra resists, longer warcry durations, etc... :thumbsup:

Nice find. +skills is very good for a barbarian with skill points scattered all over. I recognize that from the last tourney.


Good luck in the endgame!





My own progress has been stalled. This time, the processor fan has more or less died. :sad2:
That´s the second 'friday at start of weekend' in a row my computer is broke!

The breakdown happened while I was eating dinner, and led to a spontaneous shutdown (to prevent overheating, I suppose) while D2 was running. I think the HD is OK, since I could start up some time after.

What was annoying is that Melica had almost defeated Travincal, including:
* A Heirophant champ pack and three Heirophant bosses
* Two NASTY Night Lord boss packs.
* Ismail and Toorc with pretty tough abilities.

Khalim´s Flail may have been on the ground, but that doesn´t matter much, becuase I know the body parts were safely in the stash.

 

[Insane Wayne]

I expected Icy Cellar to be difficult but that was not the case! Very easy corner opening, and I was able to walk a considerable distance before encountering any monsters. I faced Hell Temptresses, Bats, and Stygian Dolls. There were many champ/boss packs but no serious challenges. Snapchip's gang was the easiest of them all.

Max's lack of MF is painfully obvious. All the superuniques are dropping blue/blue. But I'm content with my gear, even my lowly Arctic Belt. :tongue:

I hit the Ancient's Way WP which is close to the summit. I'll try a common technique against the Ancients: hit them with slowing/chilling and retreat across the field to separate them. I might have to sacrifice Flux in the process, but if it works I should be able to beat them.

My own progress has been stalled. This time, the processor fan has more or less died. :sad2:
That´s the second 'friday at start of weekend' in a row my computer is broke!

Khalim´s Flail may have been on the ground, but that doesn´t matter much, becuase I know the body parts were safely in the stash.

What a pain. All I can suggest is not to cheap out on the fan. Get a quality fan with good bearings. It will be quieter too.
At least you can resume at a good point. The Council is usually easy to kill with minimal interference from surrounding monsters, and the path is short. No shame in a reroll (if needed) since you already cleared it.

 

[Insane Wayne]

Max's free ride came to an end. I've had a lot of easy monster rolls lately, so I knew the game would get back at me eventually! First task was the Ancients. Very tough mods prompted several rerolls. Finally I settled on a so-so roll and the brawl was on. I led them down to the bottom edge. I rapidly hit each with a lucky, brief series of Double Swings. They all sort of converged on Flux which was perfect. I ran to the top edge, amazed that Flux had survived. As I'd hoped, the Ancients were left behind. I dumped my cube, expecting to see a pile of rejuvs on the ground. But I'd forgotten to bring them!! How did that happen?! :duh:

All I had were 8 potions in my Arctic Belt, and a few more in my inventory. I decided to see what developed. Flux attracted Korlic (Extra Strong Blessed Aim). We destroyed him and I only used 1 red potion! Lucky start. I had half a bulb left, so I switched helms with Flux and regenerated to full life. (his Steel Shade has +17 regen). Next we fought both remaining Ancients at once. It was a messy battle and everyone was taking damage. Talic's stats were weak (Magic Resistant Teleport) but his whirls cost me a few precious rejuvs, despite the slowing and Battle Cry. He and Flux fell at the same time, which left Max vs. Madawc. Normally this is an easy matchup, but he was FE Extra Strong and scoring BIG hits that had me scrambling. My potions were almost gone and Flux's helm was no longer available (which would allow me to hide and regen indefinitely.)
I made a last stand against Madawc. His axes seemed to pass right through my shield, my potions were quickly gone, he was slivered and bleeding, my BO expired, and I scored the final hit with half a bulb remaining! That was probably my best Ancients finish ever. :grin: I really put the FE bug-repair to the test!
Random skill point went to Find Item.

No stair trap upon entering WSK level 1. But a quick "through-the-wall" scan revealed frenzytaurs and vampires. They were normal so I taunted them one by one. These Frenzytaurs had CBF, which did not bode well for future boss packs. The third monster type was defilers. I briefly explored each wing, stopping when I detected nasty frenzytaur packs. I wanted more free space, but eventually was forced to decide who to face first:

1. Cursed LECE frenzytaur boss pack
2. A group of champ frenzytaurs (including a Berserker)
3. Extra Strong Cursed Stone Skin PI frenzytaur boss pack :shocked:

I chose the first pack, isolating the boss and tanking him, which worked OK. Next came the champs. By now I had lots of free room and by running I stretched them out for one-on-one fights. So far so good. I saved the worst pack for last. The minions were manageable, but the boss kicked my butt and I ran for my life. Flux lasted 2 seconds and I suspect he died of fear. I made another attempt and scored some Berserk hits, but burned through rejuvs and gave up after barely survivng an extreme NDE. I lost about 2000 life in the blink of an eye! On top of that, I only took off 10% of his life. That decided it. I parked him, and vowed to return after Baal. At least then I wouldn't feel so bad if he killed me.

Level 2 opened into a boss pack of unravelers. The poison damage was severe but we oulasted them. Mummies also joined the fray, and then of course some Black Souls! No problems though, the level seemed to be sparsely populated. Level 3 was the safest, with dart flayers, mages, and knights. Safe, but brimming with dozens of flayers which wore me out.

Max's final stair trap was a pack of vampires in the Throne level. My excellent resists made it easy to tank them. I didn't want to risk fleeing around the corner and attracting unknown danger. The other monsters were assailants and red undead dolls (hard to see against the background). The minion waves were easily taunted apart. Lister was Cursed Spectral Teleport. Incredibly, he failed to land a single blow! Slowing/chilling helped, but that was weird.

We immediatley crippled Baal with Double Swing slowing and Flux's freezing. Easy finish, and I equipped Ali Baba for the final hit. Flux scored it and Baal shattered into ice cubes. No S/U's! :tongue: His best drop was an ethereal/Ferocious/Quickness/LL rare highland blade. Nice merc sword.

That left the afore-mentioned parked Frenzytaur boss. I was determined to kill him, because he stood in the way of a complete game clear. A couple attempts at tanking ended terribly, with Max running away humiliated. Flux was no help, he only served as a brief decoy which left the boss fully frenzy-charged. I let Flux rest a while and decided I would try to Open Wound him to death. I picked a spot on the map with a short loop that included a well. I would briefly attack with Fleshrender, hoping for OW to trigger, then run from the boss, hitting the well to heal/remove the curse and leading him in silly circles until the Frenzy wore off. But it wasn't working well. Usually I had to flee before OW triggered. I portaled out and thought some more.

Aha! I had the Blood Crescent sword sitting in my stash! Much faster than Fleshrender and extra OW! I repeated the same absurd technique, except this time I consistently scored quick hits and quicker OW. Much safer. So long, Puke Bite, and thanks for the drop!

[highlight]Guardian Maximum (Max) Fang and Flux the Cold Wolf, 16 S/Us, level 84, Act 1 Hell, Hell Cows[/highlight]

 

[jiansonz]

I made a last stand against Madawc. His axes seemed to pass right through my shield, my potions were quickly gone, he was slivered and bleeding, my BO expired, and I scored the final hit with half a bulb remaining! That was probably my best Ancients finish ever. I really put the FE bug-repair to the test!

Yikes! Did you block the explosion? IIRC, Nightfish had a character that lost about 900 life in such an explosion (had about 100 life left). Then again, half of Max´life is probably over 1000...

1. Cursed LECE frenzytaur boss pack
2. A group of champ frenzytaurs (including a Berserker)
3. Extra Strong Cursed Stone Skin PI frenzytaur boss pack :shocked:

OMG, what a meny to choose from! :tongue:
I didn´t know there can be Frenzytaurs already on WSK 1. That´s good to know.

We immediatley crippled Baal with Double Swing slowing and Flux's freezing.

I love that look. Max looks like a combined butcher/surgeon with that dagger.

Aha! I had the Blood Crescent sword sitting in my stash! Much faster than Fleshrender and extra OW! I repeated the same absurd technique, except this time I consistently scored quick hits and quicker OW. Much safer. So long, Puke Bite

Defeating this boss was a great achievement.

 

[Insane Wayne]

Yikes! Did you block the explosion? IIRC, Nightfish had a character that lost about 900 life in such an explosion (had about 100 life left). Then again, half of Max´life is probably over 1000...

Yes, I blocked it. It occured to me that I might be killed, but I risked it based on several factors. I have 85% fire resist, and the battle was fought at p1. Max has taken many 1.11 p1 Hell boss FE blasts and none have done that much damage. If it is possible for a 1.11 Hell Ancient to do that much FE damage against 85% resist, then I was very lucky. Normally I wouldn't take such a risk, but I didn't want to abandon the fight after my easy success against Korlic. If my life was a bit lower, I'd probably have given up and rerolled.

 

[Online]

Thats an awesome achievment Wayne :smiley: Battle against ancients was quite thrilling too.

Sadly, i didn't have much time to play myself so my character is still in act 2 normal :sad2:

 

[azn_apocalypse]

Wayne: Amazing. Seems like you make Guardian in almost every tournament you enter. You truly have mad 133t D2 skillz...:jig:

 

[Insane Wayne]

Wayne: Amazing. Seems like you make Guardian in almost every tournament you enter. You truly have mad 133t D2 skillz...:jig:

Thanks, but you give me too much credit. My official record in SPF HC tournaments is 5 guardians, 6 deaths.

-----------------------------------

I finished up with Max and Flux, ending their careers after an uneventful clear of Hell Cows. The red portal dumped me right next to the Cow King's pack, which had mana-burn. I used 2 blues and 4 rejuvs battling the King, to keep up the necessary Howling. After he fell, I switched to Ali Baba's for the hork, but it failed. :sad2:
I gambled away the last of my gold on jewelry, with no luck.

I liked this character, because every single S/U played a part, even the dual Cathan's Seals. They were useless for Hell but played a major part in my 24% life leech setup that kept me invulnerable throughout Nightmare. Everything seemed to fit in place to suit Max's needs, eventually. Fleshrender + Guillaume's proved to be a great combo.

Guardian Maximum (Max) Fang, level 84
Str 138, Dex 134 (48% chance to block), Vit 260 (2371 life), Energy 10 (352 mana)
Resists: Fire 85, Cold 90, Lightning 75, Poison 38
AR: 3504 (Berserk), 3269 (Concentrate)

Base Skill Points:
9 Howl
5 Find Potion
4 Taunt
2 Shout
6 Find Item
2 Battle Cry
11 Battle Orders
1 Grim Ward
3 Battle Command

3 Sword Mastery
2 Axe Mastery
4 Mace Mastery
3 Polearm Mastery
5 Throwing Mastery
4 Spear Mastery
2 Iron Skin
6 Natural Resistance

5 Bash
2 Leap
1 Double Swing
3 Stun
2 Double Throw
3 Leap Attack
4 Concentrate
1 Frenzy
1 Whirlwind
1 Berserk

+2 all skills (from Battle Command and SoJ)

Gear:
Fleshrender Barbed Club (Shael)
Steelclash Dragon Shield (upgraded for better blocking and socketed with PDiamond)
Guillaume's Face (Ort)
Hawkmail Armor
Arctic Binding Belt
Bloodfist Gloves
Tearhaunch Greaves
Nokozan Amulet
Stone of Jordan
Cathan's Seal

Weapon Switch:
Blackbog's Sharp Cinquedeas
Pompeii's Wrath Crowbill

Charms:
14 charms providing +521 AR, +127 life, +68 mana, +9 max damage, 12% FHR, +2 Str, +50 poison/6 sec., 15% resist all, 12% lightning resist, 1-2 cold damage, +1 defense.

Guardian Flux, Cold Iron Wolf, level 84
Blade of Ali Baba
Steelclash Kite Shield
Steel Shade Armet
Cow King's Hide Studded Leather

In Stash:
Blood Crescent Sword
Tancred's Crowbill
Tancred's Weird Amulet

No longer used but not forgotten:
Ironstone Battle Hammer
Skin of the Flayed One Armor
Hwanin's Blessing Belt
Iratha's Cuff Gloves
Iratha's Coil Crown
Wormskull Bone Helm
ethereal Goldskin armor
Sigon's Guard Shield
Mahim Oak Curio Amulet
Crushflange Mace
Rixot's Keen Short Sword

 

[jiansonz]

Big cheer for Wayne and Max!! :worship:

Looks like Barbarians are well suited in the role of S/U worshipper.

So, you also managed to get over 2300 life? That´s a nice cushion to have.

You may be the only player who has found a use for Steel Shade. :grin:
(clever switching vs. Ancients, it´s good to know your tools)

And no random points in Increased Stamina! Whee.




After a tough "surgery" that took 2.5 hours, my computer is now working again. I had to get some bolts through holes in the motherboard from the other side. That meant I had to get the motherboard out in the open, which in turn meant I had to detach all 6 pieces in the PCI slots (plus one HD) and unplug about 20 different connections (I kept detailed notes)...


"Minimal interference" killing the Council, you say. Not quite, because I wanted space to park Ismail and Toorc. There were also about 10 Heirophants I just had to get rid of. Geleb was a wimp (Mana Burn + Magic Resistance). Cube the Will, smash the Orb, down we go!

No problem in Durance 1 & 2. First level had a Champ pack of Dolls. I took them on with great care. Second level had no Dolls and hardly any bosses, which made for a laid back clearance.

Bremm had Might as aura. His random abilities weren´t threatening so Melica tried to tank him. Very bad idea! He often hit for 500 damage or so. Is Might really that powerful? (I got hit by some bolts and I have only about 55 lightning resistance, but still...) OK, back to Blade Fury. One of Bremm´s abilities was Stone Skin (making him PI) so killing him took a long time. I resurrected Geshef three times during the fight.

Wyand and Maffer were tankable and fell quickly.

Boosted resists with potions for Mephisto. I chose Crushflange + Sigon´s shield. I needed some rejuves (hard melee hits from Mephy) but it felt like I had good control in the fight. No interesting drop.


[Highlight]Conqueror Melica the PS Assassin and Geshef the Cold Wolf, Level 82, 16 S/U items equipped, Outer Steppes next[/Highlight]

 

[jgreg7]

Fabulous accomplishment, Insane Wayne! It made for nice reading, too!

 

[Morathi1]

Wayne you seriously are a champion. Great achievement and good luck with your other future characters. And my god, nice resistance for hell.

 

[jiansonz]

Act 4 was hard work, with some danger here and there.

Steppes had Cliff Lurkers, Doom Casters and Venom Lords. The first two types died very quickly, but the Venom Lords were quite the opposite. :tongue:

The second Phoenix Strike charge did its thing, but that wasn´t much against these foes. I switched to Crushflange for the early part of every Venom Lord fight. When it was down to about 20-25% life (Crushing Blows had done most of that damage), Bloodrise took over to finish it.

Plains had Doom Knights, Corpulents and Burning Souls. Corpulents have a lot of life but are vulnerable to fire (and can be frozen) so no big deal. Doom Knights required only 1-2 lightning storms to be almost dead (however, if they landed a poison hit, I had to go back to town very soon). Souls died from fire, Open Wounds and Geshef´s ice. They provided a few scares, but no NDEs.

Izual got seriously owned. After some thought, I spent the two reward points in Claws of Thunder. There are more balrogs coming up, you know...

The Damned were present in their City, along with Abyss Knights and Pit Lords. The Abyss Knights were very annyoing, usually staying out of Cloak of Shadows range and firing like mad from off-screen. And if I moved closer to nail them with the next CoS, you can bet that I woke up other Abyss Knights just outside the area of effect. Or a bunch of Damned that now shambled in and could be quite dangerous now that I couldn´t blind them for several seconds.

River of Flame had Maw Fiends, Grotesques and more Abyss Knights. Oh my, that was a struggle indeed! There was a boss pack of Knights bunched up at a choke point. This made it hard to dodge their shots when I tried to assault them. I almost had doubts whether I would make it through that passage!

Hephasto had Holy Shock. His two random abilities weren´t so bad, but he still did far too much damage for Melica to be able to tank him (he´s fire immune, so it would require tanking for a long time). Blade Fury pretty much all the way. Geshef got his head handed to him on a plate several times. Heph is very quick when he´s badly injured. I suffered two NDEs here. Then I got an idea. I summoned a Shadow Warrior and switched to Mind Blast on the right button. The Shadow obeyed me right away, stunning Hephasto with MB a few times while I could blast with BF in more safety than usual. If the shadow hesitated just a little, Heffer would run over to her and slay her in one hit.

This made for better progress, enough so that a few final heroic tankings from Geshef would be enough for Open Wounds to kill Hephasto.

Um rune from the Hellforge. It´s typical, normally a very nice find but not so useful for me here.

Chaos Sanctuary next. I had planned to use Skewer of Krintiz to minimize the Iron Maiden danger. It worked well against Doom Knights and Storm Casters, but it was so bad against Venom Lords and OB Knights that I gave up on the Skewer here. I decided to mainly use my standard cautious play (draw everything far away from the Oblivion Knights) and not use Bloodrise much.

Storm Caster SOP: Geshef freezes it. I go over and hit it twice with Crushflange, releasing a Meteor that kills it.

Venom Lord and Doom Knight SOP: Repeated PS second charges with Crushflange.

Oblivion Knights: I tried several things (Phoenix Strike Meteors with different weapons, Blade Fury with Crushflange), but finally settled for all-out Blade Fury with Bloodrise while Geshef soaked up the damage. Worked out well enough.

Major blunder on the Vizier´s seal. I opened it and dashed back the hallway like I usually do. Then they spawned RIGHT ON TOP OF ME! Crappity-crap! I clicked on the ground a bit away but I was indeed stuck. I panicked. What I should have done was probably to spam Mind Blast, but it didn´t occur to me by then. Strangely enough, I did think about that I should avoid Cloak of Shadows. That would have caused them to start whacking me instead of using their missiles.

I downed a full rejuve, switched to Dragon Flight and clicked madly on a minion that was outside the ring that had surrounded me. On the third click, I got the DF off and I was free! Phew, that was too close...


/players 3 Diablo didn´t pose much of a threat, but I didn´t dare to switch to Milabreaga´s shield for his death. Drops were Wizendraw, Rusthandle, rare Twin Axe, rare Fuscina and failed set Blade Talons and War Scythe.


[Highlight]Conqueror Melica the PS Assassin and Geshef the Cold Wolf, Level 82, 16 S/U items equipped, Bloody Foothills next[/Highlight]

It´s very close to the next level-up. I hope to get it on the Foothills, because I need the stat points once (if) I get the socket reward.

 

[Insane Wayne]

Good progress. Act 5 will provide some exciting tales. Looking forward to the Ancients.

(however, if they landed a poison hit, I had to go back to town very soon)

What a nuisance. My barb had it made here. Big life pool and significant positive poison resist. I remember sucking up poison damage with ease. Worst case scenario: drink a few reds and wait to find an antidote/well.

Izual got seriously owned. After some thought, I spent the two reward points in Claws of Thunder.

:grin: Stupid me. I included my Hell reward points in the random cycle, like the original tourney. Unless it happend to be a third point, it was spent randomly. :duh:

Major blunder on the Vizier´s seal. I opened it and dashed back the hallway like I usually do. Then they spawned RIGHT ON TOP OF ME! Crappity-crap!

LMAO. I've been waiting for that to happen to me one day. I do the same as you. Who wants to use a safety TP against these guys and have to get back from the WP? I always run for it.

 

[jiansonz]

Bloody Foothills had the 'standard' Enslaved, with Burning Dead Archers as guests. This type of archers were not hard for Melica. I just had to choose the correct time and position to cast Cloak of Shadows.

Weird thing: there were absolutely NO random bosses/champs in the area.

I found a very interesting unique weapon. It reminded me of Bloodrise in several ways:
* IAS (more than on Bloodrise)
* Open Wounds (higher chance than on Bloodrise)
* Life steal
* Substantial AR bonus (but only 25% (compared to 50% on Bloodrise))
* Decent physical damage (better than on Bloodrise, at least if you compare them as elites).
Plus it had STR/DEX requirements Melica already had reached, self-repair and a little +4 mana per kill as bonus...

Sounds like a good deal. But would the "feel" be the right one? There are many factors to consider on a good Phoenix Strike weapon. Speed, chance to hit, range, etc.

The Arreat Summit says this weapon has a range of 1. That is probably true (I could never hit a blinded Enslaved without being attacked) but I liked this weapon a lot anyway. It´s faster than Bloodrise but still not too fast (like Spineripper is) for consistent 'second charge' spamming. There should be a bit more whiffing (~3500AR instead of ~3800) but I didn´t notice that.

So I upgraded it.

Since I didn´t go for the heavy Bloodrise Devil Star, I had a few unexpected things to spare:
* A socket reward!
* A Hel rune
* After the level-up, I could now max blocking again and still have 10 points over to Vitality (Life increased to 1022)

What to socket? More resists would be nice...and I do have that Um rune. No resist all jewels, though. Hmm...

I decided to put a socket in Sigon´s Guard, and shove in a perfect diamond. Resist are now decent: 76/29/74/-51.

Now I hope to find or reroll about 15% worth of lightning resistance on charms. Then I can replace an Ort rune in armor or helm with the Um rune.


[Highlight]Conqueror Melica the PS Assassin and Geshef the Cold Wolf, Level 83, 16 S/U items equipped, Frigid Highlands next[/Highlight]

 

[Insane Wayne]

My old friend "The Scalper"! And yours has near-perfect ED.
It's nice to have good old-fashioned "Throw" available. Rare for a worshipper.

Your resists are OK, but it'd be nice to cap out on fire. 85% moves you into the "ignore" category for most enemy fire attacks. Cold resist could be better but you have the all-important CBF so you're OK there for evading cold attacks. If all else fails on your quest for better resists, remember you can eventually replace that PDiamond with the Um for an extra 3% resist-all! :tongue: