Ancients' Way was stretched out a lot, with a massive distance from WP to exit. This was of course bad for the next session. But I could not really keep going all the way in this session, because I had not muled in my Strength claw. What saved me from a really long and dangerous trek the next session was that entrance and exit were really close to each other, so I could start the final leg from the Frozen Tundra WP, just like this one.
I fought Frenzytaurs (no random bosses), lightning dogs and abominables. The 3-4 evil urns spawned lightning dogs. Champs by Icy Cellar stairs were Frenzytaurs. Same kicking procedure as in Glacial Trail.
Got ghosts, cold rogue archers and bone fetish in Icy Cellar. A somewhat hairy start with champion dolls. Good thing I woke them up one at a time. I left it for Meghan to tank those, as I did with a doll boss later.
First attempt at Ancients started off pretty well. Meghan got Amped but I managed to get the CE Extra Fast Korlic alone. No problem for Helena to tank him, but Madawc was another story. He was the Cursed one (maybe Talic was too - I didn't see him...) and was a real piece of work. Meghan could not "tank" him, and after taking a few hits, Helena couldn't either if her potions were going to last. I was too slow with potions and Meghan died, with Madawc still at half life. Helena can dish out good damage with the Crushing Blows, but her base damage is really low, so it would take forever to kill the two remaining ones. Next!
Second try: I isolated the Teleportation Might Madawc against the upper cliff wall. Can't have Might boosting the others, so he must die. That required about a column of purples and many reds, but down he went. When I tried to get into a good position against Talic up by a corner (to stop the whirling chances) he whirled Meghan to death. Should have given her a potion so she had been at full. Missed opportunity, since he wasn't super dangerous. Helena fought on for a while:
Twice, I found a spot where I avoided the sparks, but he would make a little whirl so we'd be right on top of each other, and then the LE bolts hit. Plust I had the same problem with a fight that would last forever. And then I'd still have a Cursed something badass Korlic left. Nope, this won't fly. Next!
Third attempt: Meghan attacked by at least two of them, she died instantly. Next!
Fourth attempt: Cursed right away. Saw Conviction aura and yadayada. Took huge damage from thrown axe. This is likely very hard. Next!
Fifth attempt: Pretty much the same as the third. Next!
(I had to be careful not to use up too many purples. If this would go on for much longer, I would have had to restart the session and mule in more. Plus I needed to remember to recharge my teleport circlet - it was good for two attempts per repair)
Sixth attempt: isolated a wimpy Korlic but one that required a long grind to kill:
Maxed blocking was great here. Despite his large PDR, Helena could for long periods of time hold her life amount even or sometimes even have it go up a little because of life steal and regeneration (Regenerate Life +11 on Verdungo's belt and +8 from this ring I found in Ancients' Way):
Beast Spiral
Ring
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xcc1c4ce0
+6 to Maximum Stamina
+108 to Attack Rating
Cold Resist +26%
Replenish Life +8
Nice find, I replaced my 28% MF ring with this. It took my cold resist to 71, and the AR helped in these last fights where I used the Strength claw. After Korlic was defeated, I rested so my lost 1/3 life got replenished.
Madawc was next, and he was FE + Teleportation. Meghan could not quite "tank" his axes. Helena decided to get up in his face. That would have been suicide in 1.10-1.11 because of the FE bug. There, an FE Ancient would apply their death explosion damage if you were standing next to him when he started his attack animation. And since they have so much life, it would take the sturdiest Barb or Bear Druid to have any chance of surviving.
Actually, I was not sure if that bug has been squashed. AFAIK, it's only the damage that's been nerfed...I took my chance and held my ground a couple of seconds. I was running low on reds but I had seen Talic briefly and wasn't scared by his abilities. Still fearing the FE bug may hit (it can be blocked, so I could be alive just because of that) I let Meghan tank a little more. Then a beautiful thing happened. Fade from her Treachery armor triggered. Yay! Now she almost broke even - her suffered damage against her life steal and small regeneration. Only a red or two needed for her to score the kill.
Great chance to win now. Meghan still alive, and the last Ancient is tankable:
YES!!
I was now ready for some wild action in the WSK and Throne levels, but very little came of that. This gentleman was the only real threat left in Act V:
That's a hard-hitting Zeal-happy Invader boss, with HF aura. Ouch.
OK, I did draw Souls on two of the floors, even non-trivial Soul bosses but my CoS shut up all the minions, and Meghan's cold arrows (even though the Souls have CBF so they don't get chilled) hurt them a lot.
Baal fight took quite some time. Not a surprise, since Helena's listed chance to hit was 27%...
Never any danger, though. During the times Baal was blue from a Cold Arrow, the Riphook slowing combined with the cold dumbed him down so most of his spells didn't work. He couldn't teleport, Hoarfrost was shown but didn't work, etc. I'm sure most of you have seen this.
Easy victory. I love this part of the screen (the one I point to):
If I for some reason want to play this character some more, I can make her into pretty much any Assassin build I want, without using a respec. Neat.
Cow level layout:
Decent starting spot, plus that whole space between the two center obstacles was completely empty of cows. I happened to walk towards the fort the first thing I did, and the King's pack was as close as it could possible be from where I came from. He was in fact the second cow we killed.
So there we have it. Selena the skill-less has been avenged.
[Highlight]Guardian Helena the Assassin and Meghan the Cold sister, level 86, Complete Game Clear[/Highlight]
Note 1: Since I had played the exact same "build" up to Hell Act III Temples once already, I knew what to expect, what skills to look for, etc. What I didn't know was that my merc would end up with an Ohm-socketed perfect ED Riphook Blade Bow.
Note 2: Sissy's Defiance merc in the PA tourney was #9 of the possible 12 different merc types I've had accompany a character to Guardian status in an SPF tourney. Meghan the cold archer is #10 in my goal of this 'dodecavirate' I've had my eyes on ever since my character class septavirate was completed some years ago.
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