jiansonz said:
And...Mark died!

WTF!
Whoa! I wouldn't have expected Meph to score that kill either. Lightning damage is variable, so I suppose it's possible against meager resists. Meph's cold ball attack and Diablo's pink lightning have killed me several times in the past. Since then, I made it a habit to close in on ranged bosses in a hooking pattern. Kind of like a "moth-to-flame" spiral. It's automatic now, even with powerful characters with maxed resists. Plus, it often leaves the merc on the opposite flank, which is usually a good thing.
Anyways, RIP Mark! A tanking necro is a challenging build. I'm sure that would've been a wild tale against Hell Ancients.
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Oberon's work continues...
I cleared the River of Flame, which held knights, corpse spitters, and balrog demons. They are slow to fall on p5, but infinitely better than maggots and spawners. Hephasto was Aura Enchanted, Spectral Hit, and FELE! I didn't dare go near him, letting Fazel do the work. Hellforge dropped a
Pul rune. Interesting...
Now I can upgrade any unique weapon to elite.
I would've prefered to be able to upgrade a normal rare --> elite rare. I have a rare sythe with massive ED that would be great as a thresher. Instead, I can choose from these upgrade candidates:
Fleshrender for Oberon (good damage, plus Deadly Strike, PMH/CB/OW)
Butcher's Pupil (193% ED) for Oberon (better damage than Fleshrender and faster, but no CB/PMH)
Hexfire for Oberon (less damage, but has "Ignore Target's Defense", considering Oberon's weak AR)
Husoldal Evo with 197% ED, for merc (I believe the Deadly Strike on the "Honor" thresher rules this out, mathematically...)
ethereal
Tannr Gorerod for merc (too slow I think)
I dunno, I think I'll stick with my eth
Demon Limb for now and wait for an eth Hone Sundan to drop in the last act... :lol:
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I painfully cleared the CS, at one point having to deal with 10 Oblivion Knights at once, including a champ pack. (tried and failed to get all of them in a single screenshot.)
Diablo fried my merc, but walked into perfect position for Oberon to whack his
tail unhindered. CB from Fleshrender did the work, and I TPed out when Diablo was slivered.
I dressed Oberon and the merc in maximum MF gear. My greed (i.e. foolish recklessness) convinced me to finish off Diablo with negative resists. I led the merc towards D, then served him 4 full rejuvs as he worked off the final sliver. Diablo dropped the ethereal unique
ghost glaive. That's some sick throwing damage, but not too useful for Oberon. Prize stash.
Before Act 5, I took another shot at an imbue. This time, I tried an ethereal Colossus Voulge. It got everything nice except enhanced damage, so I sold it back to Charsi. I have one imbue left.
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So far I have nothing amazing to report in Act 5. I completed tough p5 clears of the beginning outdoor areas. Skill points have been going into Spirit Wolf, a skill I totally ignored initially. It improves the Dire Wolves' AR and defense. At this point, no other option in the Summoning Tree is very useful, so I might as well improve the wolves.
In the Pit of Acheron, I found a perfect
Que-Hegan's Wisdom Mage Plate (1:105 chance) which went to the prize stash. I've also seen plenty of rare elites, but no amazing stats. Still, it's cool to find things like rare kraken shells and "colossus girdles".
Frozen River had gloams, but I'd already committed to p5. I broke out the Djinn Slayer again. I was glad to use it, since it also offers +5 lightning absorb for insurance against gloam lightning. I also used Decrep extensively. An evil urn of gloams spawned directly around me, covering my portal. I slipped out unscathed (I think they went for my vine). My heart skipped a couple beats. My true test was not the gloams, but a triple-pack mob of jab-rogues, led by
this gal. Wolves cast across the river couldn't withstand one jabbing, and grizzlies lasted a couple seconds. Fortunately I had a large cleared area to pull them apart, but it took a long time. They are so fast, and can't be underestimated.
Nihlathak's Halls had poor monster rolls, with lots of baby
maggots to rob me of drop chances. I thought I found my end-game armor,
Spirit Forge Linked Mail, with 2 sockets just begging for topaz. Then I discovered that "+life per level" items don't get boosted by Oak Sage. Ditto for the +Vitality on my Verdungo's. That sucks. I went back to my 4 PTopaz Gothic Plate. I'm willing to sacrifice some MF for +267 life, but not +107 life. What can I say? I'm MF-crazy.
I nearly lost it on Nihlathak's level, entering into a stair-trap of ice boars, cold skeleton archers, and nasty poisonous arachnids. I used tons of wolves and all 30 charges of Decrep to gain a foothold, often taking deliberate damage to keep formation. Archers kept creeping around the corners, wreaking havoc. Ravens to the rescue! Peck their eyes out! Spiders have eight eyes, but my ravens can somehow get them all in one shot. Finally we got it under control, and Nihlathak fell easily. Scored a 6% MF small charm. :clap:
[highlight]Conqueror Oberon, Summons Druid, level 87, Act 5 Hell, Frozen Tundra[/highlight]
"vanilla" 1.10 HC
Total MF: 364% for Fazel´s kills