My summons druid has a cursed cube! No doubt about it. Before starting Hell, I upgraded two more crude knouts to normal knouts, and tried to score 3 sockets with the recipe. Both times I failed (2 sockets again both times.) For the record, that's 3 failed knout attempts plus one failed 4-socket armor attempt. Odds of missing them all: 1/54
Clearly the game has decided I will do without a "Black" Knout. Life goes on.
I cleared the first few areas of Act 1 on p5. It was very tough, especially against zombie packs. My wolves, which were unstoppable in Nightmare, are frequently killed now. Hwanin's Bill in an OK weapon, but too weak for many p5 Hell situations. I use Decrepify a lot against bosses and Champs to speed things up, and it makes a big difference. I've burned through several hundred thousand gold to repair the charges, but it's worth it. The only problem is that the ravens' blinding will overwrite the Decrep, so against normal monsters it's less effective, unless I let the ravens expire first.
I had my first serious NDE in the Hole Level 1. Soon after entering I ran into a champ pack of fallen. They were soon joined by a Holy Freeze, Extra Fast, Cursed pack of Afflicted. As if that weren't bad enough, in wanders a pack of MSLE rogue archers (with poison arrows) on my flank. My whole gang was obliterated in an instant as I scrambled for position. My heart jumped when I realized I was tankless, chilled, and Cursed. Plus, I was greedily wearing my MF armor instead of the "Smoke" I made earlier. Hobbled by the Freeze, I wedged between the cave wall and a boulder, put up a TP, hit a couple rejuvs, and escaped. That stupid rock saved me.
After re-using the cave entrance, I cast multiple grizzlies to tank that mess. Ravens were the key. I often cast them directly on ranged attackers for full effect.
On my quest for the Countess, I found the unique
elegant blade. No use for Oberon, so I saved it for the prize stash. On Tower Level 1, I found Oberon's seventh Shael rune. Ridiculous. The Countess dropped a single El rune, my all-time worst drop from her.
Pit Level 1 provided instant
drama. Dual extra-strong packs which required a steady stream of wolf casts and full-time Decrep. Level 2 was easier, (for once), and provided some decent drops including another Lum rune, several elite armors and swords, and a magical Stygian Pike.
Now comes part 2 of my Cube Curse. Using all my saved gems, I cubed that damned pike dozens of times. My best result was 30% ED plus 2 sockets. Man, I was pissed. I couldn't even improve on Hwanin's Bill. I'm still waiting for an ethereal elite, for my imbues. I need some good luck soon. If I find an ethereal thresher, I'll use a socket quest to make an Honor.
I pressed on with p5 throughout the rest of Act 1. No noteworthy finds though, not even from Andariel. Warriv, get me outta here! The highlight of Act 1 was flirting with
Flavie.
I thought my luck had changed when I started Act 2. The first boss in the first hallway of the Sewers dropped a
rare Hyperion Spear, and it was
black! The first mod was 40% IAS! Yes! But wait... where's the ED? The only damage bonus was +12 minimum damage, which caused the black coloring. Ripped off again... and still inferior to Hwanin's Bill :uhhuh:
I had a nice entrance battle on level 3, against Holy Freeze/Cursed packs of Burning Dead. No chance out in the open, so I slid into a narrow channel and TP'd out. After resurrecting the merc, I used the grizzly to plug the alley nicely. Here's Oberon fighting with his back against the
grating. Fun stuff.
Capping off my latest session, I tackled the Stony Tomb. I went down to p3 for the second level. I drew the worst map, which opens wide directly into a 3-way intersection. Beetles and poison mages advanced quickly. A champ pack of beetles immediately joined them. Now I'm stressed. Very little room for maneuvers. Suddenly, the whole room lit up with the brilliant orange known as "Fanaticism". It took every ounce of resolve not to flee. I had a safety portal set up, but only a few meters from the doorway. Not enough distance to park any monsters. I started pissing wolves, again resisting the urge to duck out the door. Get a grip.
Decrep. Wolf. Wolf. Swing club. Heal. Merc rejuv. Wolf. Decrep. Stupid Oak Sage. Wolf. Decrep. Club a champ, apply PMH. Mana. Merc rejuv. Repeat 10 times.
Wow, what a fantastic battle! My left hand was shaking as it hovered over the hot-keys. I went through all my reds, blues, and nearly a dozen rejuvs. (I always carry extra for Hell Stony Tomb) After killing the first few beetles, it was easier to finish off the champs. I must have gone through 60 wolves. I had to keep the merc protected. A single grizzly wouldn't cover enough ground. Even so, I had to use most of those rejuvs for the merc. Getting poisoned sucks. The last to fall, was the main
culprit. I picked up a few potions from the ground and tracked him down. Good riddance! Creeping Feature was easy in comparison; his pack only killed about 20 wolves.
Conqueror Oberon, Summons Druid, level 81, Act 2 Hell, Rocky Waste
"vanilla" 1.10 HC
Total MF: 255% for Fazel´s kills, 183% everything else.
@jiansonz --- Monster Slowing is a fantastic approach, to stack with Decrep. Totally underrated IMO for tanking. General's Flail is a good start, maybe if you're lucky you'll find Blackbog's. (Max still frenzies with this in the S/U tourney) No Cleglaw's Pincers?
PDR is an interesting idea. Hopefully it will be enough to make it worthwhile. Oberon has 30 MDR with Spellsteel/String of Ears/Nagel, which fully absorbs a lot of the auras and minor spell attacks.
@Cormallon --- I empathize with your merc weapon shortage. Without Decrep, I'd be hopeless against PIs. Even with Decrep, it still sucks to fight ghosts.
