The character is an elemental martial arts assassin intended to make a shadow warrior follow her prudent example and always use a damage type that the target is sensitive too, unlike the rebellios shadow master. The skill plan being roughly
20 blades of ice
20 claws of thunder
20 phoenix strike
20 shadow warrior
1 mind blast
1 dragon claw
1 venom
5 weapon block
Feofasia had a rather easy and simple start throughout normal as I recall it, able to depend on her skill levels for damage and getting by with unremarkable equipment. Normal Baal gifted her with superb claws that I have sadly no memory of nor any screenshot. I had however meticulously made a note that they were superb so obviously they must have been epic beyond the point of mortal comprehension.
Feofasia found a 4 socket gothic plate in lower kurast and after that unique and set pieces started raining down. Kuko Shakaku (the unique cedar bow) from nightmare Andariel was hers at level 59 and the moment after Blackleach Blade (the uniques bill) from the first unique cantor thereafter. Two excellent weapons for the inept enthusiast. From going with a fire mage for the sake of it, to a rogue to speed things up in nightmare and finally settling for Alhizeer the Freezing Town Guard after the available equipment opened up for a melee hireling to actually stand a chance. More specifically, while the nightmare Hellforge yielded a disappointing Lum Diablo gave the party the Kelpie Snare which made up for it.
Feofasia rerolled forth a good path to nightmare Mephisto that soon gifted the party with a perfect Woestave which replaced the fishing implement. Kelpie Snare is better defensively but freezing corpse control and open wounds allow the minons to outdamage any enemy on their own which is pretty much good game for any non-boss foe in itself. The halberds minor damage is a completely insignificant factor in the grand scheme of things.
For her own part, she found the generals flail, which can be used alongside phoenix strike for extra attack rating to slow act bosses and the Todesfaelle Flamme which was an excellent addition since Feofasia is weakest in the fire damage part of her build and have dire need for extra attack rating. Last but not least her signature mask, the Face of Horror, would haunt monsters throughout all of hell.
In Act I there was a tremendously dangerous archer whose enchantments I have long forgotten and also missed completely in this screenshot. Unless the point was to illustrate the usefulness of the shadow spawning with a cursed weapon, or the fact that the fallen one was converted and cursed by the dangerous archer lady. Regardless, be awed either by the formidable foes or minions of Feofasia.
A most scary ghost to haunt every assassin. No further elaboration is needed.
In hell Charsi imbued a wonderful suwayah for Feofasia with a most decisive bonus to death sentry and blade fury. Corpse control and a ranged alernative attack along with solid damage makes it one of the best imbues I have ever seen for a specific character.
The Halls of the Dead had a place at the second level with a sarcophagus where the game crashed twice, probably due to the/a cloak of shadows bug. I was so scared of it that I removed the skill from my hotkeys for the time being and made without...very much more difficult. Pesky undead...
Fangskin and his slithering pack was handled far smoother with a successful grab of the central mound. Which was just as well since the primary damage types of the party is cold, physical and lightning and none would prefer to melee a cursed viper.
Like many others, Feofasia found the blunderbores boring and troublesome. As is probably now apparent she had a large amount of skills to use and balance between which was often quite complicated. The trouble with these kinds of situations is that while you have the right tools to deal with said muscle-brained goons, none of those tools are strong enough to do it effectively. The shadow needs a hefty investment in skill levels and probably also fade to stand her ground in hell, while mind blast stunning runs out a bit too quickly to allow for much use of attacks inbetween. Eventually the blunderbore would have no more 'sins to bother, in any case.
A matching impediment was the hairy death metal singer roaming the canyon of the magi in search of beer glasses of dubious reliability and other festival necessities.
Apart from the lacking attack rating the party can be rather effective against act bosses due to the slowing and weakening effects available and the possibility to dish out lots of sparks that all hit their bulky lower parts.
Just as in the early days of the game, Duriel was not necessarily the most dangerous adversary in his act and many risky experiences awaited before the team could set sail for Kurast. One must, in all fairness, commend the enemy commanders for their prudent choice of auras to complement their innate abilities.
Great spider minds spin alike or whatever, and Sszark the Burning had taken it to heart and hired an assistant executive officer that mostly mimicked his talents. Feofasia had less admiration for the stellar example of sound business management.
The hordes of flayers and even the undead varieties were manageable since they rely so much on surprising shock tactics, which falter before mind blasts and cloaking along with sturdy minions. Once the momentum is gone, such packs are easy prey to charged attacks. The hardest monster packs are the few but strong champions of larger monsters and the mixed groups, or ranged attackers with stupefyingly overpowering combinations of skills, like conviction combined with weather sorcery and an insulting name. That one was less than amusing to have teleporting on top of your toes while in the process of losing critical health.
Being innately equipped with, but not exclusively reliant on, cloaking made stair traps less of a danger for Feofasia than for most characters. The challenge in this particular case was not overwhelming but in principle the same approach can thwart much more severe stair traps in the same way.
As of now, Feofasia has pushed as far as the second level of the durance of Hate and the way down is reasonably close to her waypoint but she has a good deal of the middle portion of the second level left to clear first. It isn't impossible, just grueling work to deal with the maulers and the fire walls and poisons that affect minions so badly.
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