Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011

[Quickdeath]

Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011

With this rule:

"Necromancer Core Skills: All Curses, all Golems, Bone Armor"

I decided to make a golemancer out of Dooku. Then all you need as your power skills are Golem Mastery and Summon Resist. You can even get CE if you want.

First, you also put a point into Golem Mastery,presumably as a pre-requisite to a potential power skill. So your action eliminated golem mastery as a potential power skill.

Secondly, it was not the perogative of an A2 player to decide what the character was going to be. And, by the way, when I received Dooku I had the opportunity to define all 3 power skills - and if I had to play Dooku under those circumstances I would NOT have made him a Golemmancer. I would have chosen Raise Skeleton, Skeleton Mastery and CE and hoped for the best. So, I'm just saying that you were not controlling anything by putting 16 points into Clay Golem.

I put 5 skill points into my A1 character and none into my A2 character to try to give the players coming after me the resources and freedom to create a good character. And I received characters with lots of free skill points from everyone else - except for Dooku. You were the only one who made decisions in A2 with the purpose of limiting the options of the players who came after you.

Consider how unselfishly WoRG acted with Dooku in A3. And Nualum in A4. Neither picked a powerskill for Dooku because they wanted to help the person who came after them. Quite a contrast with your behavior, isn't it?

 

[Quickdeath]

Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011

Okay, the three power skills picked for Dooku are:

Raise Skeleton Worg
Skeleton Mastery Nualum
Corpse Explosion Quickdeath

In my opinion, a large radius CE is much more valuable than Skeleton Mages. I'm currently on travel and not able to play D2 until Friday night, but I thought I'd resolve this issue now.

This will be an unglamorous character to play, but after the major surgey he is undergoing Dooku deserves a chance at some future happiness.

 

[Brak]

Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011

Antilles actually received a pretty nice shield from Anya, easily rivals Ancient's Pledge, and would compete with Stealth if not for the Cannot be Frozen (although it did manage to roll Half Freeze Duration). Probably won't get much use once a Shael drops, but a bit exciting nonetheless.


Also, I think arguing over the viability of a necromancer build is a bit silly since they can likely beat the game with one point in each of Amp, CE and Clay Golem. Thus just about any skill placement is "viable." But simply viable wasn't the question.

2. You will assign skill and stat points in ways that you think will benefit the character, and make them playable late in the game.

It's really tough to see any tangible benefit from lvl 16 Clay Golem.

 

[skunkbelly]

Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011

Guys, let's let it go. We could argue the point forever, like many things in this game, and not get anywhere in the end. In the meantime, there are many other characters we're dying to hear about...

 

[jiansonz]

Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011

Some talk about the two latest characters I played:

I had Dorme the Assassin in Act IV. Her first Power was Blade Fury. This meant that my favourite build, Phoenix Striker, wouldn´t be possible since they need several points in both fire and lightning synergies.

The player before me had left a large pool of skill points to play with. After some thinking, I decided to give her a high-level Tiger Strike as second Power. She had a Malice War Hammer as main weapon when I got her, and with that, she was quite powerful with the massive ED that Tiger Strike provides. I pushed her strength to 69 so she could use a Maul, but I never found a Maul in Act IV that had the correct number of sockets to make a bigger Malice.

I figured there are three Act V Powers that would make Dorme a decent chatacter:
* Dragon Tail. Since the boots pretty much only need to be Elite for this build to work, this would be a great choice for the last Power.
* Death Sentry. Use the massive +ED from Tiger Strike with a big 2h-weapon to kill a monster, then explode the rest of the pack...
* Venom. Not as good as the other two choices, but still passable. Works nicely with Blade Fury, as long as you can hit consistently.



Fisto the Paladin had already been made a Fanatic Avenger when I got him. Only 2 points in Fanaticism, but the choice was clearly made. He had 2-3 points in the the three single element resist synergies and around level 8 Vengeance.

Fisto was quite young (level 31) when I got him. He is now level 48 when I hand him over. I added another 9 points to Fanaticism, put a point in Redemption (there are lots of annoying resurrectors in the next two acts) and made my contribution to the build, level 7 Conversion. With Fanaticism going and with a reasonably fast weapon, Fisto can now quickly and consistently recruit some tanks when the need arises.

His main melee weapon is a Malice Maul. I gave him a good ranged option by gambling javelins and upgrade & personalize the best of them. So he´s now the owner of a +118% ED, +20 max damage Simbilian. Should pack quite a punch with Fanaticism. Fisto had almost base DEX when I got him so I´ve pumped that quite a bit. First to be able to use non-magical Throwing Spears, then for the Simbilian which requires 80/80. As his future main melee weapon is important but still unknown, I have left 25 stat points unassigned.

 

[Brak]

Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011

Yeah, I did the Blade Fury assignment for Dorme. I'm not very comfortable with MA sins, and trapsins are a bit overpowered for my tastes, so I figured Blade Fury could be a good way to go. i know that weapon restrictions could make getting a decent BF weapon quite hard, but I think crafting Elite 1h Blunt/Axes should yield something doable once they start dropping.

 

[jiansonz]

Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011

Blade Fury is a great skill for HC play. Just look at how many screenies I´ve posted where one of my Phoenix Strikers is fighting a nasty boss - using Blade Fury. :wink:

Normally, it´s a 1-point wonder (+2 extra prereqs) but in this tourney we can´t use it unless it´s a Power or we get it as a staffmod, and the staffmod way really limits the weapon selection.

 

[tavaritz]

Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011

First, you also put a point into Golem Mastery,presumably as a pre-requisite to a potential power skill. So your action eliminated golem mastery as a potential power skill.

Yes, because Summon Resist is one of the power skills of bonemancer. IMHO there was no rule that you cannot select a skill that already had a point put in as a prereq for a power skill.

Secondly, it was not the perogative of an A2 player to decide what the character was going to be.

Show me the rule that says so! Nobody accused me on putting all points I could in Resist Cold on Antilles, thus implicating him to be a freezealot. If there would have been such rule: why allow any skill point placement before act 3; all skill point placements will affect how the character plays.

And besides it was Skunkbelly who made all golems free for necros, not me. So if I used his rule to make a build I was quite justified.

And, by the way, when I received Dooku I had the opportunity to define all 3 power skills - and if I had to play Dooku under those circumstances I would NOT have made him a Golemmancer. I would have chosen Raise Skeleton, Skeleton Mastery and CE and hoped for the best. So, I'm just saying that you were not controlling anything by putting 16 points into Clay Golem.

The whole point of this tourney is getting a character developed by others. So don't whine that you couldn't make it as you wanted. If I had been able to play Wendu from start I'm sure he wouldn't have deeded.

I put 5 skill points into my A1 character and none into my A2 character to try to give the players coming after me the resources and freedom to create a good character. And I received characters with lots of free skill points from everyone else - except for Dooku. You were the only one who made decisions in A2 with the purpose of limiting the options of the players who came after you.

Where in the rules it was forbidden to limit options of the following players? This whole tourney would be impossible with such a rule.

Consider how unselfishly WoRG acted with Dooku in A3. And Nualum in A4. Neither picked a powerskill for Dooku because they wanted to help the person who came after them. Quite a contrast with your behavior, isn't it?

I'm not responsible if WoRG and Nualum didn't fathom the build and didn't develop it. Dooku was fine when I left him and like I've already wrote I'd like to play him from start of act 3 to prove you that he was viable.

Don't complain me if you don't know how to play a golemancer as I do.

 

[tavaritz]

Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011

Guys, let's let it go. We could argue the point forever, like many things in this game, and not get anywhere in the end. In the meantime, there are many other characters we're dying to hear about...

You started this by blaming me. Don't try to stop me defending me.

 

[Brak]

Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011

Blade Fury is a great skill for HC play. Just look at how many screenies I´ve posted where one of my Phoenix Strikers is fighting a nasty boss - using Blade Fury. :wink:

Normally, it´s a 1-point wonder (+2 extra prereqs) but in this tourney we can´t use it unless it´s a Power or we get it as a staffmod, and the staffmod way really limits the weapon selection.

I had been reading guides in the past months about how BF was actually quite effective when pumped. So I was really curious to see how a full fledged BFsin handled. Hopefully I'll get her back at some point.

 

[JoeBruce1]

Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011

Sounds like we have some fun characters developing. Some have obviously been seduced by the power of the dark side (cookie cutter builds), but we have some novelty as well.

I think Solo was the only character discussed so far that I played, and he was my Act 1 guy. I don't have my character notes handy (at work), but I would like to see a readout of his helmet - I remember passing on a pretty nice 2-socket helm that had some good staff mods on it, so I hope that got used. I'm most interested to find out what happened to Amidala, as I picked her first power in Act 3.

As for my Act 5 character, Ahsoka, she is parked up on the Plateau awaiting some free time from yours truly. I have not officially chosen her last power skill, so I won't go into detail, but she has 2 or 3 skills points waiting to be assigned and I think I've made the decision in my head. I will fill you all in when she gets a bit further along. Good luck all.

 

[smilts]

Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011

Ive actually read some of those as well Brak, and it does make me curious.

 

[skunkbelly]

Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011

You started this by blaming me. Don't try to stop me defending me.

I have done nothing thus far to stop you from defending your choices. On the contrary, I've found it interesting to hear your reasoning. I remain unconvinced, but I'm still glad you spoke up.

In your defense, I also want to make one thing clear: you committed no violations of any other tournament rule, aside from the one I mentioned in my original post about Dooku. (My judgement in that regard, and despite your arguments to the contrary, remains firm.)

Also, regarding the paladin with all the points into Resist Cold: that was actually a strong choice, in my estimation. But contrary to your own comment, it did not limit the character to being a frost zealot. There's another perfectly viable build (you've heard of Avengers, I'm sure) who could also have used those points to great effect. Furthermore, there's the added benefit of the passive boost to maximum cold resistance. No matter how you slice it, it was a skill choice that had obvious benefits for the character, both in the short and long terms. That's why nobody complained.

Now, I have asked everyone to move on (not just you alone) because it is clear we have a stalemate. You are not going to be convinced that what you did was problematic, and those on the opposing side of the argument are not going to be convinced that what you did was smart. And as we see too often in such arguments, the more people get entrenched in their views, the nastier the discussion gets. That trend is already evident here.

Therefore, I will again make the request: let's all move along.

 

[skunkbelly]

Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011

About Blade Fury: Yes, it seems that off-weapon ED multiplies the damage from the skill points in BF... so with the right gear, you can boost that additional BF damage to very respectable levels. Some careful helmet, armor and shield socketing could work wonders here.

 

[Ohomemgrande1]

Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011

Let's see, I played Yaddle in A3.

Spoiler

She already had quite an investment in Warmth so I decided to make Enchant one of her power skills. I was thinking that maybe a Nova-Enchantress would be fun but who knows how that turned out after she left me.

Then I played Fisto in A4.

Spoiler

Vengence had already been picked and the points were heading towards Fanaticism so I just continued the trend as it looks like a Fanatic-Avenger would work OK in this tournament.

Now I have Chewbacca. The furry one is still chillin' at the base of the mountain.

 

[smilts]

Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011

I had Yaddle next . Enchantress's are one of my favorite builds. So I continued the theme with Fire mastery. I didnt however pick a power skill. I tried with her running the river and all over but never did find the gear I wanted to improve her. She was my favorite to play so far though.

 

[Brak]

Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011

Do, Nhili just dropped something interesting that might change my plans.
If I'm allowed to ask a question, how annoying is Zeal with a range 0 weapon?

 

[pwangsta]

Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011

EDIT: Spoilered my Amidala update in case other people want to keep skill choices a mystery.

Spoiler

Hmm, I thought I had some interesting screenies of Amidala throughout Act 2 to show off, but apparently I only took pics of S/U item drops. :banghead:

Anyhow, I remember when I received Amidala in Act 2 that the previous player had done an exceptional job. She had something like 15 skill points unspent and a good number of stat points as well. She also came with 600k in cash. Her weapon with a 3-socketed Longbow with +44 poison damage or something like that.

The first thing I decided was that I wasn't going to have the time or patience to let my merc stab our way through the act. So I made the decision to sink a point into Charged Strike and use that to cruise through the rest of the Act. In retrospect, I would have left her passive skills unchanged, but at the time I thought Valkyrie was a no-brainer choice for a power skill, so I took all the prerequisites for that as well. Finally, I threw a few points in Critical Strike, which is always useful. I then chucked the Longbow and shopped for a 3-socket Spetum and stuffed it with my best jewel/gems (not saying much). From there on, the act was smooth sailing and Duriel on /p1 went down with a whimper.

Fast forward 3 weeks, and I got Amidala back!

I haven't had much time to play lately, but I have taken her for a spin through the Bloody Foothills. She came to me with the Power Skills Charged Strike and Lightning Strike, although someone put 4 points into Decoy for some puzzling reason. onder:

I've made her final skill Valkyrie, so she should be a solid character. CS is cutting through the enemies like butter, so playing Amidala is a nice distraction from studying. (Hopefully my MFO teammates aren't reading this, because that was, uh, definitely not supposed to be my distraction from studying. :whistling

 

[soulmanz]

Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011

Brak:
Hahaha!
that is a great drop for any character!

Sorry, don't play paladins pretty much ever (i had to look up frost zealot guides to work out how to build antilles!) but I think the range thing is doable. I hope in late game no-one will be trying to tank a big group anyway

Doesn't really gimp wolves, kickassins or variant ww barbs!

Hang on, I just realised what I thought dropped probably can't drop yet... So I haver no idea what you are talking about! that advice still makes sense I guess

 

[purplelocust]

Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011

Quick question: I prefer not to know of the other characters' gear and builds. My understanding is that we are permitted to discuss builds but aren't required to.

So I'm trying to scan this thread to look for relevant info without ruining anything but it is very difficult! Would it be possible to have a separate thread for character specifics (I suggest "SUTC character spoilers thread") so that it would be easier for an ostrich like me to ignore the character information here and yet still keep up with updates that don't have to do with specific characters? Is there anyone else trying to keep the surprise factor continuing?

I'm happy to talk about dead characters, which we may run into, but if there is a chance I'll be playing a character I'd rather not find out about the build, level and gear if possible!