~ SPHC Ladder Part V ~

All characters added to this point.

Mordalles and others, please try to bear with me. While I did post about my come back and I'm trying to actually do that comeback in the form of more than just that post, I still have much more limited time than what I used to have. It's under a week now for the D-day of my childs birth and we're also planning to move into a bigger apartment, things like that take time.

So instead of repeatedly asking for the characters to be added, simply post about your progress, you'll see when I've added them when I post about it. Less work for you, and less posts for me to scroll through when actually doing the updates.

I really can't keep this going on realtime speed, I'm administrating one large forum (not advertising it here don't worry), running couple of other systerms for the same place. Gaming in my teams BHD tourneys and matches when I can find the time, and on top of that I got a real life to live.

So just have fun gaming and so on, the ladder can be updated by you any time, you don't need to do it whenever you gain one level or something like that, once a day is just fine if you play alot, once per week is still fine. You decide the pace.
 
With the MFO completed, SirReptitious had time to start his trek into the jungles of Kurast. He had no real problems with the Forest or the Marsh and has now reached the Flayer WP after a major NDE in the Dungeon.

He and the merc had waded into a large crowd of flayers (I could see about a dozen initially) when suddenly everyone was Fanat'd. Holy Cow! What was a fairly straightforward slaughter became a panicked fight for survival. It didn't help that the boss that had showed up was also XFast. The merc went down in about 2 seconds without taking a single swing. I thought SirRep was gone 3 or 4 times in as many seconds. I don't think I've ever emptied my belt faster. Got my heart pumping, that's for sure. :scared:

*note to self - be more careful with crowds, that's twice you've done that.*

SirReptitious, clvl 61, Flayer WP NM
 
Haven't made much progress - I move in two weeks, so I've been a little distracted with that and the fact that my life is now almost completely in boxes...


But I just wanted to express my condolences to all those lost in the past few days! From the look of things, maybe it's good I don't have too much time to play right now...
 
Have played mostly with my IK Barb this week. Have done alot of Baalruns on players5 and earlier this day he managed to reach level 90.
No big finds but one grail item dropped from Baal. Baal was nice and held a Luna and waiting for me to kill him.

Guardian IK_Ploppy lvl 90

Gave fun and be careful

DX
 
Congrats to IK_Ploppy on lvl90! :worship:

Cletous has moved into the final phase entering A5 Hell. Act 4 was pretty simple really, with the only difficulty at the CS - as usual. The hellforge was its stingy self, coughing up only a Hel - jeezuz that's the worst possible isn't it? :rant:

I along the way, I did find a Blackhorn's Face, which helps my merc, plus a Trang-Oul's Guise, which is nice for Cletous - not necessarily stylish, but definitely an upgrade!

Even with less than great gear and a number of misplaced stat/skill points a hammerdin is overpowered. I've read about it many times, just never believed it was possible that an untwinked charater could do so well :) But I must not get overconfident. The real challenge begins now!

Conqueror Cletous the Hammerdin, lvl83 A5 Horragath
 
DX, you must play all day because you rule the ladder. Gratz on lvl 90 :drool:

Count_Leviticus made it to the RoF WP and is currently lvl 29. I haven't found anything sexy for Arcane_Slayer so he is still sitting tight doing exp runs getting closer to lvl 85. I did find a Pul rune off the Hell Council and a 2-soc Cryptic Axe so I might switch around some gear.
 
Played Ursa a while, and have reached lvl 19 at the inner cloister wp. I'm really noticing the low damage output of the bow, and using cold/frozen arrow really sucks back the mana. I did run the countess a while, maybe it would be worth loading a bow with Tal runes? Wouldn't work so well vs Andy, but it might be Ok for normal monsters.

Time for a break now though

Ursa, lvl 19 Bowazon, Act 1 Normal
 
Well I am back in the saddle. I was out of Hardcore for about 3 months and now have started up again, continuing my characters. My first day back I killed my lvl 58 Beserker on a NM Adariel run....really poor playing on my part.
On the brighter side my Sorc beat normal, where she is going to do a few more Baal runs before NM. She had some great finds along the way. A perfect pair of Chancies, A tarnhelm, and a rare orb with +1 skills, 20% fast cast, 30% cold resist, and other mods. All of my characters have very minor twinks (1-2 items). Playing (relatively) untwinked is really fun, and I recommend it highly. All items just have more value this way. I had two NDEs with her one at Diablo and one at Baal. The next goal is too get all of them to NM. Here they are:

Malice lvl 42 Meteorb--Destroyer
Exile lvl 26 PO/LF zon--Act 3 Norm.
Shade lvl 27 Trapsin--Act 3 Norm.
Justice lvl 22 Hammerdin--Act 2 Norm.
Orion lvl 19 Wind Druid/summoner? Act 2 Norm.
Seethe lvl 21 Skellymancer Act 2 Norm.
Halmer lvl 9 Concentrator Act 1 Norm.

Barbosa lvl 58 Destroyer RIP
 
steelsixtyIV said:
DX, you must play all day because you rule the ladder. Gratz on lvl 90 :drool:

Count_Leviticus made it to the RoF WP and is currently lvl 29. I haven't found anything sexy for Arcane_Slayer so he is still sitting tight doing exp runs getting closer to lvl 85. I did find a Pul rune off the Hell Council and a 2-soc Cryptic Axe so I might switch around some gear.
Click to expand...

Yeah it took longer than I expected to get from 89 to 90 with my IK_Barb.
It's summer break from the university so I got a lot of time to play. and the bad weather helps out as well. Here in Sweden it's the worst summer since 1928 so it's quite lousy, I rather sit on the beach with a cold drink in my hand :drink:

Well that's enough of the dreaming:
My amazon is moving forward slowly and have reached the outer cloister. The Raven Claw is nice with it's explosion radius. She have also gained 1 level to level 16. Soon Magic Arrow will cost no mana, thinks it costs 0.2 mana at this moment.

****************
Sniping_Ploppy lvl 16
****************

Have fun and be careful

DX
 
I don't know how acitve I will be, but since I'll probably live by the ladder rules (if not, I don't feel like trading anyway), I'll name the character I started here. I started a marrowzon (as in the guide by JohnnyBravo) named Slaylover, she just beat Andariel on normal and is level 20. So far I played all the way at /players8. This is only my third or fourth hardcore character, two of the previous ones were participants in the random tourney some time ago (half a year, a year, one and half year???). One of them is still alive, but the forum died since, and I think the tourney died with the forum. Didn't play the game for quite a while (at least three months, probably more), started again yesterday and am thus quite satisfied with managing to get my first hardcore character past Andariel.

The only set/unique item she found so far was the unique spiked club, Stoutnail, but I don't remember where she found it (according to ATMA item level 8, so maybe one of you wizkids knows). That sounds bad, but except for one ring, her amulet, her arrows and her charms, all her equipment is rare, of which worth mentioning are her ethereal boots with the autorepairmodifier.
 
Ursa continues...

Putting 2 Tal runes in a long bow significantly improved her killing speed. Since then, she has reached lvl 24 and finally gotten strafe, but now she needs mana leech to use it! Also found a cleglaws pincers which is nice for the knockback and slow.

Had lots of time today, so I got her to the canyon of the Magi. onward to duriel next.

Ursa, lvl 24 strafezon act ii norm
 
Cletous has progress to report and a major item find as well!

First step out of Horragath introduces teh qwilL ratz coupled with skelli archers!! Not too much fun there. Seems every other pack was might or fanat enchanted with the occasional cursed boss to make it interesting. It took forever to get up that mountain. :lol:

But since then, not too much trouble until the Crytalline Passage. A couple of extra fast enchanted frenzytaur packs gave me a few NDEs - gawd they hit hard when they get past my blocking! But again Cletous was able to move on.

Then in the Icy River, on the way to Anya, a boss serpent drops this:

Stormspire
Giant Thresher
Two-Hand Damage: 115 to 329
Required Dexterity: 140
Required Strength: 188
Required Level: 70
Polearm Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Indestructible
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x4b596871
+10 to Strength
+189% Enhanced Damage
Lightning Resist +50%
Adds 1-237 lightning damage
30% Increased Attack Speed
Attacker Takes Lightning Damage of 27
Indestructible
5% Chance to cast Level 5 Chain Lightning when struck
2% Chance to cast Level 20 Charged Bolt when struck

:surprise: My best D2 drop ever! And just in time for the most difficult part of the game. Since I play untwinked, I have rarely found something so useful - it will immediately go to my merc...

Oh crap, he's 4 short on Str. :( No worries, that's what socketing quests are for. A PAmethyst in his armor, and he's good to go!

No dying now, I would hate to lose this baby!

Conqueror Cletous the Hammerdin, lvl84 A5 just rescued Anya
 
Gratz on the find and progress AE. I think we can chalk you up for another Sept Guardian this weekend. What will be you next character?

Progress note for me:

Arcane_Slayer finally found a Raven Frost and continues to farm NM Meph.

Count_Leviticus made lvl 34 and saved the barbs.
 
Very nice find AE :clap:
Whispers from the underworld told me that you only had 25% MF on you when you found it. That's not fair I had more than 500% MF when I found mine.
When reading about your adventures with the Hammerdin makes me miss mine, maybe I will start a new one soon, don't be surprised if I do, it's such a fun character to play

DX
 
Sweet find AE...

Ursa is working forward. It seems like work because of low dmg, but the merc is starting to do more dmg, and she is still moving forward on p8. She has reached the Flayer Jungle. Almost to Meph! I'm looking forward to running meph for a bit. A manald heal would be a huge help to this build, and would allow more use of strafe. She did gamble a circlet with 1-108 lightning dmg on it which has also helped with the low dmg.

Anyway:

Usra lvl 27 freeze/strafezon act iii norm
 
Slaylover continued a bit in act II, and found the horadric items. She switched merc to one with a defiance aura. She found a few more items, but none too useful for her, Arctic Binding, Blood Crescent, and Cleglaw's Pincers. From gambling she did get anice bow, though slightly less damaging, it has life steal and 1 cold damage, the latter being quite nice against resurrectable monsters. Also by now, 80% magic find, which does seem to help quite a bit, at least for gambling money, which she's spending rather quickly by trying to get a better armour. I'll probably go and see today how she fares in the palace and hopefully further.
 
Well, Cletous has completed his quest - he's now a Guardian :)

He was pretty lucky with the monster draws in the 2nd half of A5. Only saw gloams once, no tomb vipers guarding Nihlathak (I always kill Nihlathak), and the WSK monsters rarely swarmed :D Baal himself was surprisingly tough - took a lot of potions to take him down.

As a hammerdin, his gear and stats are unimpressive. I found him a frustrating charater to play - not because of the aiming, but because of the really massive number of NDEs. There were very few areas where he was "safe". I guess I do better with ranged/minion classes. I think Cletous will retire, unless I ever decide to do some MFing inthe Pit.

With my paladin out of the way, I have three to go for the Septavirate. I think I'll try another frail character - the sorceress.

Guardian Cletous the Hammerdin, lvl85, heading for a token cow run :)
 
Pokes his head in thread....

Congrats on the Guardian AE. I found my hammerdin pretty fragile as well (even when I was twinking him), and I don't really enjoy playing him mcuh. I had a hammedin in 1.09, who only did a fraction of the damage (I think I got him up to 900 or so per hammer once), but was virtually indestructible (maxed block, maxed resists, lightning absorb, 10k or so defence...).

What kind of sorc are you planning on making?

Edit: Almost forgot - the Optimist MP group is trying Hardcore. Wish us luck - we'll probably need it. We've got a barb, trapper, wind druid, skellymancer, and blizzard sorc, and have made to Act II Normal without killing ourselves.

Chris
 
Icebird said:
What kind of sorc are you planning on making?

Edit: Almost forgot - the Optimist MP group is trying Hardcore. Wish us luck - we'll probably need it. We've got a barb, trapper, wind druid, skellymancer, and blizzard sorc, and have made to Act II Normal without killing ourselves.

Chris
Click to expand...
Thanks Chris. I'm not sure what to do with the sorc. I've never played one past normal, so I am very inexperienced - I was planning on a cookie-cutter meteorb. :rolleyes: But maybe I'll consult with Lira to see if there is another build that I might be able to play. :)

Very best of luck to the Optimists. Seems like a well-diversified group. Shouldn't be much you can't handle! :thumbsup:
 
Slaylover is already dead. I was worrying too much about Duriel instead of the task at hand, maybe a bit overconfidence (I think it was the first time I survived the summoner, with a hardcore character I'd never gotten past act I). Some special unravelers, bosses such as Ancient Kaa I managed to slay, but some normal ones killed her of, when I was not paying enough attention and forgot to drink. Still, she reached level 27, near the end of act II, and that is by far the furthest I've gotten a hardcore character. Another think that might have caused some trouble was the fact that I'd just switched from players8 to players5 and felt that the game was going a lot faster, not just the higher killing rate, but the general movement. That was quite odd, since the framerate remained the same, and I'd just never noticed it before.

The next one I'll try is an assassin, but I have no idea as of yet which type.
 
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