Skill-less tournament (3rd edition)

Sorry about the deeds.

Hazade the Prayer merc and his sidekick Incompetentus the Paladin have managed to defeat Duriel (at /p3). It was an easy fight, Incompetentus had an 'EldEld' Heraldic Shield with 10 all res, a +1 Thorns scepter and a +3 Might scepter. Whenever Duriel was attacking Hazade, he would switch to the Thorns scepter, otherwise he would tank for Hazade and try to get some hits in. With 85 cold resistance, that wasn't that hard.

Duriel dropped a failed Kinemil's Awl, how ironic.

The first session in Act III apparently had some RNG problems, as no less than 8 S/Us dropped. Here is the haul pic. I had to sell off some junk jewelry and chippies since I can't take selling S/Us even if they are green breast plates. The Hawkmail might be rather useful, too.

Other than that, it has been easy going with a nice "crafted" (chippie-rerolled) scepter with Concentration and 2 sockets (RalIth), and Hazade's Savage Lochaber Axe which allows him to kill every Act III creature in 1 or 2 hits.

I'm starting to think that this is more or less the Merc's Merc tournament (that was a good one btw). This will probably change later on in the game, though.

Incompetentus, level 29 Paladin (*), Flayer Jungle WP, V1.13d
 
Last edited:
Roland the Druid is now currently level 13, and has just emerged from the Underground Passage to find himself in Dark Wood.

With any tournament, I love playing /p 8 as long as I can for the increased item drops as well as added difficulty (HC), In a short period of time i've amassed quite a bit of chipped gems, moreso than normal considering the "No re-running" rule which i've abided by and will continue to do so.

Another reason I love /p 8 is because I almost always encounter a GC w/ 12% FHR. Roland is no exception to this, as he found one somewhere in between Cold Plains and Stony Field.

I've been using Felloak, but it's just horribly slow at killing things (Or maybe i'm too impatient? XD)

Rakinishu (Spell check?) was kind enough to drop a Rare Bardiche, which is now my main weapon.

I was intrigued to see that it's a Fast Attack Speed. Is this because i'm a druid or just the normal for this weapon type?

b4w5eq.png


I am now progressing through Dark Wood, may post an update later tonight depending on how far I get (or don't), if not, tomorrow.


*EDIT*

The Countess has been slain!

6eg2uv.png


I almost bit the dust on Tower Level 4, I ran into a few Blood Clan and Champion Pack of Ghosts.

The enemy who almost caused my demise was a Berserker Ghost. I made the assumption it was the same Champion/Fanatic pack and got a rude awakening when my Life Bulb was eaten alive in no time...

Also met a Unique Stone Skin Ghost pack on Tower Level 5, although not nearly as terryifing.

I'm going to make an assumption and say that if and when Roland Deeds, it will be Ghosts. xD
 
Last edited:
@Southpaw8668 - aww, sorry about the Deeds! yes, yes! Come to the darkside, we have staffmods!

Yredelemnul is about to face the Ancients.

Nihlathak has fallen to the righteous wrath of... Zanarhi. This is really nothing for him to be ashamed of. I hope I never incur Zanarhi's wrath. I can't even cast Arctic Blast, or CE, or summon demons. I'd be toast.

lvl 44, Frozen tundra - Dim Vision was good for separating drifter packs, and that along with Amp was usually enough to keep the merc killing smoothly. I grabbed the attract/life tap/decrepify wand from my stash in town to use against one bosspack. <3 attract.

Along the glacial trail and in the drifter cavern 2 Amn runes have dropped. One of them is going to be an Edge runeword. This will help me gamble and maybe also I will shoot at the Ancients and Baal with it.
-----
Edge
Razor Bow
TirTalAmn
Two Hand Damage: 8 - 22
Durability: 26 of 32
Required Level: 25
Required Strength: 25
Required Dexterity: 62
Fingerprint: 0x9e23670
Item Level: 32
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Level 15 Thorns Aura When Equipped
+35% Increased Attack Speed
+361% Damage to Demons
+280% Damage to Undead
Adds 75 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
7% Life stolen per hit
Prevent Monster Heal
All Stats +5
+2 to Mana after each Kill
Reduces all Vendor Prices 15%
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Tir Rune
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Amn Rune
-----

I tried it out against some imps. The attack speed is nice. My AR isn't quite good enough, but this bow will be nice in early NM to prevent monster heal. Right now it's still more efficient to amp and let the merc kill.

Also, I love the way the necro looks firing a bow.

Found this on the Frozen Tundra:
-----
Tal Rasha's Adjudication
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Fingerprint: 0x516cc836
Item Level: 31
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Sorceress Skill Levels
Adds 3 - 32 Lightning Damage
+50 to Life
+42 to Mana
Lightning Resist +33%
Set (4 items): +10% Faster Cast Rate
-----
Did not know it could drop so early!

Yredelemnul, lvl 45, Ancient's Way
Ancients next. I'll be using decrep and lifetap to help the merc, and perhaps clay golem/iron maiden if he drops.
 
@southpaw: what a weird way to go!
(Doesn't the game pause if you program switch away from it?)



Found this on the Frozen Tundra:
-----
Tal Rasha's Adjudication
-----
Did not know it could drop so early!

It's only qlvl 26, so you can actually get it from Mephisto or even the council bosses in Travincal.
Nice find, it's the only green ammy I have never seen.
 
After separating the Ancients and decrepifying them, Zanarhi took them out. It was not a fair fight.

Not much to be said for Normal WSK. Nothing amp and dim vision couldn't handle.

Baal's minions were pulled far back so that I could decrepify them while Baal couldn't decrepify my minion.
I tried to separate the minions of destruction and kill them. I learned that Attract doesn't work. I ended up parking Lister after 3 merc deaths to his pack. Hey, I'll take it. I will practice Lister in softcore later.

Baal was slowed to a crawl by Clay Golem and Decrepify. I used plenty of mana potions keeping Decrepify up, but didn't have to use many pots on Zanarhi. Eventually, Zanarhi was victorious. Baal dropped 3 blue items, none of which were item types I was looking for.

Hurray! My 2nd Destroyer ever!

Destroyer Zanarhi and Yredelemnul, lvl 47, 50 skill choices remaining, NM Rogue Encampment
Normal cows next
 
Vladimir and Jemali are approximately halfway through act 2 and level 25. The claw viper temple was scarier than I would have liked, but we really haven't had any problems thus far. One unique pack of ghouls sent Jemali to the grave, but we'll blame Vladimir's lack of medical experience (he is a bloodthirsty barbarian after all).

Probably the best part of this session was the chest in ancient tunnels:

View attachment 560

None of them were worth keeping, but it got me a nice screenshot :) Just needed the set and rune to complete the color wheel :D

I also made a Nadir. I think the cloak of shadows charges will be useful later in life
 
Last edited:
@jiansonz I can't believe you've never done that before unless you somehow have the Windows key disabled, which you can do in several of the newer games, but I don't believe it's possible in D2X. I'll have to look into, cause that was a really disappointing moment after moving along so well up to that point. :oops: And no unfortunately the game doesn't pause while you are standing there with you pants down.

@SunsetVista Congratulations!!! You make it sound so easy. I've never had one drop yet, maybe I need to play much more SP HC on /p8.
 
@jiansonz I can't believe you've never done that before unless you somehow have the Windows key disabled, which you can do in several of the newer games, but I don't believe it's possible in D2X. I'll have to look into, cause that was a really disappointing moment after moving along so well up to that point. :oops: And no unfortunately the game doesn't pause while you are standing there with you pants down.

@SunsetVista Congratulations!!! You make it sound so easy. I've never had one drop yet, maybe I need to play much more SP HC on /p8.
this game has paused for me on every computer I've ever used when alt-tabbing or windows-keying out
 
I use both Alt and Tab often (highlight items on ground, toggle map on/off) and I sometimes happen to press them both at the same time, which of course sends me back to Explorer or another program that is open. But the game has always paused for me in those cases. I suppose that if the computer isn't fast enough, you will lose a little time when you go back because the image isn't drawn immediately, plus you need a little time to catch your bearings.

I read something about a WinKey Disabler (small third party program) a while back...
 
What a progress! We have our first Destroyer! Now, that the path is open, more will follow.

@Southpaw8668 Sorry to hear about the loss, but it's good others sprung up to take the place :).
One question: do you happen to play on some kind of server? (eg. Battle.Net or game started up on another computer) In that case the game does not pause when you alt+tab/press windows key.


@epaminondas: I understand your woes with the rogue AI. In order for her to be effective, your whole gameplay needs to be focused on this. That's not for everyone (but I enjoy it a lot with my character in this tourney).
I wrote a guide for the rogue mercs (actually, an alternatve chapter of the merc FAQ) where I go into detail about character and merc movement - look here.

Nice read. I think I'll give her another go at a future character. I have trouble positioning *my* character in a specific place, so maneuvering the rogue might be well beyond my technique. Now I plan to use a Holy Freeze merc once I reach Nightmare. Not sure how to deal with Physical Immunes though. I'm stocking all poison charms I find for now, maybe something good will drop later.

Probably the best part of this session was the chest in ancient tunnels:

None of them were worth keeping, but it got me a nice screenshot :) Just needed the set and rune to complete the color wheel :D

Did you happen to check the durability of the no-gold items? It might have been a chest full of failed uniques!

Adriana has set upon the long journey to Duriel himself. The Palace brought the set chain gloves (nice option for later), and the Sanctuary filled both of duo's armors with flawed topazes (I think 4 flawed topazes dropped there; only one ghost died marginally above empty space) . One of the false tombs completed the Cleglaw's set (the sword for which Adriana needs 5 more strength, aaargh!), so that might be a very good option against Duriel as it provides Crushing Blow with a good attack speed at the expense of blocking. Need to scavenge 5 strength though.

Adriana has cleared only 2 and a half tombs (the game is on pause, that half is of Kaa's tomb) and she's 27 now. Kaa was scary as he shared the room with another boss pack (blood lord) and the combined cannon fodder of Adriana and merc couldn't handle all that fire (fire + unholy bolts). Lost the merc once there and finally took Kaa down with amp dmg short spears from afar. He went down pretty fast, once *my* artillery was in position :).

Important progress has been made so a table post is warranted.

Code:
Alive characters:
Forum Name      Class       Char Name    LVL   ACT     WP             Version
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SunsetVista      Necro      Yredelemnul   47   A1(N)   Rogue Enc         1.13
japanzaman       Barb       Babs          34   A5      Harrogath         1.13
jiansonz         Assassin   Helena        30   A3      Lower Kurast 
felixbavaria    *Paladin    Incompetentus 29   A3      Flayer Jungle     1.13d
HanShotFirst  ***Sorc       Two           28   A3      Kurast Docks       
epaminondas     *Assassin   Adriana       27   A2      Canyon of Magi    1.11
Dazliare        *Barb       Vladimir      25   A2      Lost City?
xXxGrimmxXx    **Druid      Roland         ?   A1      Black Marsh       1.13d
Southpaw8668     Necro      Goulash        1   A1      Rogue Enc  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dead ones:
Forum Name      Class       Char Name    LVL   ACT     Place of Deeds  Version
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Southpaw8668    *Paladin    Lucious      >19   A2      Duriel  
xXxGrimmxXx    **Assassin   Noctyria       9   A1      Cave Lvl 1       1.13d
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notes:
*  = this class has been randomly chosen
** = this class has been somewhat randomly chosen
*** = this character needed a random decision that it would not be random :)
 
Last edited:
Babs has rescued Anya and is moving on to take on Nihlthak and his boys. Currently sitting at lvl 41.

I would also add that Poison will probably not be enough to scratch those PI in hell, as most undead are highly resistant to it anyway. You'll need elemental or magic damage. Or break the immunity.
 
I've cleared Act III and Act IV at players 7. (Well nearly. I didn't get all OCD about the Tentacle Beasts, so, if you happen to be visiting in the vicinity of Kurast, and this should probably really go without saying, you know, given that it's a fetid jungle . . . STAY OUT OF THE WATER!)


And now back to our regularly scheduled programming . . .


Everything but Tentacle Beasts was really easy going. The all purpose plan continued to be teleport for positioning, freeze stuff with Glacial Spike, and let Hazade shatter it. The only marginal strategizing that went on was that a Resist Fire shrine in the Plains of Despair was kept handy for the battle against Diablo. Of course that strategizing turned out to be moot when a Resist Lightning shrine was found as close as possible to where Diablo spawns. I swapped on a helm with good fire resistance and between the helm and shrine P7 Diablo was nearly harmless and fell in moments to Hazade's Savage Lochaber Axe of the Leech and a Static Field barrage.


Drops were pretty unimpressive. The big find was perhaps a Ral Rune in the Flayer Jungle . . . and then another one moments later. So, easy call then, I decided to create a Leaf in my +1 Teleport, +1 Glacial Spike staff. The increased cold resistance was reassuring and +6 Warmth couldn't have hurt (though it really didn't seem to help either). I'm now operating with 189 MF which got me three set/uniques in Act III and four set uniques in Act IV. The set/uniques were: Felloak (from the Flayer Jungle), Steelgoad Voulge (from Upper Kurast), Arctic Belt (from Mephisto), Cleglaw's Sword (from the Outer Steppes), Manald Ring (from the Outer Steppes), Cleglaw's Gloves (from the River of Flame), and a 280% ED Bonesnap (from Diablo). I'm using the Manald but everything else got stashed . . . though I'm not sure why because I'm sure it is not going to get used . . .


Hanshotfirst, Sorceress, Two, Level 34, Act V, Harrogath
 
Mephisto is down. I took him on /p8 but had Meghan moat trick him. I was able to get her close enough so her shorter range Cold Arrows also could hit him. The fight took a while, but I've had worse...

One of the temples in the Bazaar was lively, with a Spider Magus boss pack, some rogues and Wailing Beasts packed in the small entrance room. I got cut off from the stairs and surrounded, but a TP got me out and next time, I could run from the stairs and deeper into the dungeon where we could establish some control.

Forgotten Temple dumped us right in the middle of 10 beetles. I just waited and drank potions and Meghan took them out, slowly.

The most dangerous enemies were the Blood Lords in Durance 3. Not only did I need to watch their moves closely (all three types of fire spells hurt!) but they stole back so much life from Meghan that she took a long time bringing them down (+ they have high physical/cold resist) and they also flee when they get hurt. Then a "fresh" one becomes Meghan's next target, and AAAH, SO ANNOYING! My Open Wounds Flail was used to keep me sane...

Almost 400 life now, but my (non-cold) resists, blocking and number of potion slots all suck because of my MF gear. From level 35 and the following 4 level-ups, I will go 2 DEX, 3 STR so I can wear a Great Helm at clvl 39 when Larzuk can sell an Artisan's.

(Well, that's if I survive Diablo. I plan on using my standard 'happy feet and javelins' tactics against him. Going to keep an eye on Halbu's Pilums for sale. They can get Fiery/Static. Javelins would be even better (faster and bigger stack) but he can't sell those and I plan to use my gambling money and chippies for other things.
I have found Hsaru's boots, and they will be used in this fight.)

Other nice finds lately: Sigon's gloves, an 18% cold resist grand charm and a Superior (+9% ED) 2-socketed Tower Shield (all saved for later).


[Highlight]Helena the Assassin and Meghan the Cold archer, level 32, Outer Steppes next[/Highlight]
 
Last edited:
Goulash saved Cain with the aid of a Diane C/A Rouge. Played all but the very start on /p8, until I could build up enough strength and found a decent rare short sword w/ cold & fire damage. Purchased a wand from Akara with +3 BA, so I have been utilizing the added defense to take part in the melee role as Diane drops stuff with her cold arrow and a bow with chipped skull, sapphire and ruby in it.

Once I build up some gold I'll continue shopping for a better wand with hopefully +3 DV and hopefully some other goodies.

Running on /p8 I have been able to pick up Death's Hand and Arctic Furs with very little MF build in thus far. Only been able to find one chipped topaz I placed in my 2os helm.

Goulash, lvl 14, Black Marsh, 1.13 HC
 
I would also add that Poison will probably not be enough to scratch those PI in hell, as most undead are highly resistant to it anyway. You'll need elemental or magic damage. Or break the immunity.

I was thinking more in the lines of Nightmare. I honestly don't plan for Hell as I am confident Adriana won't reach it :). Is a HF merc capable of helping with cold damage added from the aura? All in all, I might stick some sort of dmg together for the occasional unique/ghostly champion.

In terms of progress update: merc has slained Duriel. Adriana helped significantly. The tombs until that were relatively easy. Only trouble, as usual, rose with resurrecting monsters, but luck had it that merc was able to kill monsters faster than they were resurrected. When luck was not on our side Adriana made a run for the boss and won time for merc to gain the edge. Until Duriel some failures dropped, including a studded leather (so I know what jiansonz must have felt :) ), and some assasin weapons. Only one unique thus far (Steelgoad) in entire Adriana's existence, but lots of sets (the belt from Hsaru dropped again in the false tombs; it had even the same durability as the one I already had). And, of course, lots of failed ones.

Now for the details about the fight. I tried in vain to get a Mechanic Deflecting Bone Shield. Adriana checked Drognan's wares EVERY time she was in town in entire Act II. The rumors of the oftenness of the MBSoD (spread entirely by me :)) seem to suffer a solid blow. So she had no choice but to settle for a simple Deflecting which she put on switch along with a wand with Weaken charges. I decided to go on main switch with full Cleglaw's. Belt and boots were Hsaru's. I preferred those boots to some with cold resist (17) and MF (18) because Adriana could get to 85% cold resist anyway (with help from potions of course) and I highly valued FRW, not to mention AR bonus. Rings were two rares with life leech (both, 7% total) and some attack rating (79 total), replenish life (+5), +9 life, +1 max dmg, 10% FCR and insignificant others. For amulet, Adriana kept the MF one (18%). Headgear: circlet of luck (31%) with extra defense (40 total). As armor, the MF breast plate (the merc also kept his). The charms added +42 life (for a total of 331), some cold dmg (1-2), a little poison, about 2 dex, 1 str and unimportant others. The char screen shows 19-99 dmg on the attack, 1275 AR (average chance to hit Duriel 95%!) and a little over 800 defense (with merc's aura on). Blocking was only 30%. I was hoping to reach lvl 29 before Duriel as Adriana was very close. Alas, it did not happen so dex could not be pumped further for higher blocking and some bonuses that were level dependent were a little diminished.

I read in ATMA files that normal Duriel has no resistance to physical, but 20% for each fire and lightning, so I chose, for the merc, a circlet with +7 max dmg over others with +fire dmg (18-44) or +lightning dmg (1-72). The chosen rare circlet also had cold dmg (7-19, heavily resisted by Duriel) and dmg reduced by 1, for a listed merc dmg (with savage lochaber axe) of 54-271 and 830 defense (with aura on).

The fight began by me shift+pumping thawing potions from inventory which, only after I realized, did not reach the merc, but Adriana, so merc started the fight with base cold resist (56). Adriana entered the room holding the wand and quickly casted Weaken and switched to smashing gear. Duriel seemed to prefer the merc so Adriana could poke him unchallenged. The merc was very resilient. I took jiansonz advice and stocked on greater healing pots (Adriana had about 15 of them), so when merc was starting to lose life I was already handing him one. He was never in real danger, although Duriel was focused almost entirely on him. Adriana's health never dropped visibly. She also had all the time she needed to recast the Weaken curse when it expired so we kept Duriel's attacks as minor threats. Quite soon he was slivered and Adriana returned to town to re-equip the MF and, this time, proper distribute thawing potions to merc. Upon return, she stepped aside and let merc finish the job which he promptly did. Drop was failed heraldic shield and brandistock, a rare bone shield (which Adriana kept as it was deflecting and had resists) and, of course, a set ring (it might have also been something else but it was not memorable). So one Angelic ring is found. One more ring, the ring mail and we're set (pun intended :) ). Adriana would be almost entirely green in boss fights (except for the headgear). (Another good tournament, Green with Envy, I think it was called, which only allowed sets and green socket fillers. We should re-play more of the old tournaments as they were indeed fun. Sets/Uniques worshiper, Gambler's Delight are some others that I think were very nice but there are more. Merc's merc I did not, but would :).)

All in all, a very easy fight on /p8, thanks mainly to the tankability of merc (which, in turn, was mainly due to casted Weaken, I suspect). Duriel probably insisted on merc as, when he was looking at Adriana, he was eventually seeing a wand-wielder :). Duriel also dropped fast mainly due to crushing blow assorted with huge AR. Slows target from the gloves obviously helped. Curiously, the entire fighting gear Adriana used, was found (including the Weaken wand). Not gambled (except for merc's circlet), not bought (ok, the merc weapon was cubed using groceries), so the start-of-game MF focus really paid off.

As people insist on making good progress, I insist on posting tables to acknowledge that :).

Code:
Alive characters:
Forum Name      Class       Char Name    LVL   ACT     WP             Version
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SunsetVista      Necro      Yredelemnul   47   A1(N)   Rogue Enc         1.13 
japanzaman       Barb       Babs          41   A5      Crystalline Psg   1.13
HanShotFirst  ***Sorc       Two           34   A5      Harrogath         
jiansonz         Assassin   Helena        32   A4      Pandemonium Frt   
felixbavaria    *Paladin    Incompetentus 29   A3      Flayer Jungle     1.13d
epaminondas     *Assassin   Adriana       28   A3      Kurast Docks      1.11
Dazliare        *Barb       Vladimir      25   A2      Lost City?  
xXxGrimmxXx    **Druid      Roland         ?   A1      Black Marsh       1.13d
Southpaw8668     Necro      Goulash       14   A1      Black Marsh       1.13
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dead ones:
Forum Name      Class       Char Name    LVL   ACT     Place of Deeds  Version
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Southpaw8668    *Paladin    Lucious      >19   A2      Duriel    
xXxGrimmxXx    **Assassin   Noctyria       9   A1      Cave Lvl 1       1.13d
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notes: 
*  = this class has been randomly chosen
** = this class has been somewhat randomly chosen
*** = this character needed a random decision that it would not be random :)
 
Congrats everyone on great progress!

It was good that I entered the cow level at a low players setting (/p3). The King's pack was right there. Decrepify and Attract were helpful in keeping Zanarhi (and myself) alive, but Attract brought tons and tons of cows. It was scary. I decided to keep it at /p3. Cows hit hard, and there are so many of them.

The Cow King dropped Tancred's Hobnails, and I found an angelic ring.

Time for Nightmare. =)

Edit: Gambled some amulets from Anya:
-----
Raven Scarab
Amulet
Required Level: 31
Fingerprint: 0xc051ee08
Item Level: 48
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Necromancer Skill Levels
Adds 1 - 4 Fire Damage
+1 to Life
All Resistances +20
Magic Damage Reduced by 1
-----
Nokozan Relic
Amulet
Required Level: 10
Fingerprint: 0x17981858
Item Level: 50
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
Adds 3 - 6 Fire Damage
+10% to Maximum Fire Resist
Fire Resist +50%
+3 to Light Radius
-----

And cubed this with leftovers:
-----
Amulet of Luck
Amulet
Required Level: 19
Fingerprint: 0x46d0856
Item Level: 35
Version: Expansion 1.10+
35% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
-----

Normally it's very expensive to gamble amulets, but I was hoping to get one with teleport charges as soon as possible.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top