T72's Oskill Sept

[PhineasB]

Originally posted by @T72on1 on August 22, 2016

T72's Oskill Sept

I've had this idea for exactly one year now, so it's about time I get on with it. So I present to you my next Sept: the Oskill Sept.

The principle of the Sept is simple: 7 different characers, each of a different class, who all use an oskill as main attack. No other restrictions. This will be done in SC, SP.

This thread will serve as the base for the Sept. It will contain links to all 7 individual builds. The individual builds themselves will each get a separate post, so the stories on their progress will not be in this thread. The reason for this is that it's easier for people to keep track of all the individual characters. Otherwise people might have a hard time telling which character the post is about, whenever I post a progress update. Certainly if I'm not leveling the characters one after another, but instead do one for a certain period, then skip to the next, which is something that is very likely to happen, but more on that later.

So onto the 7 characters, as I have planned them for now. Suggetions are more than welcome, so this might still change around a bit. This is the list so far, with the applicable runeword between brackets:

• Amazon: Paschendale, 2H Zealzon (Passion) - finished
• Assassin: LengTche, WW Sin (Chaos) - finished
• Barbarian: ObZen, WolfBarb (Wolfhowl) - finished
• Druid: Meshuggah, Berserk Druid (Passion)
• Necro: WrathOfMages, Vengeance Necro (Kingslayer) - finished
• Paladin: FluffyFlavius, Beardin (Beast) - finished
• Sorceress: Astrape, Zealchantress (Passion) - finished

As you can see, that's actually only 6 unique oskills, with Amazon and Sorc both using Zeal. The problem is that there are only 6 viable oskills afaik. Hence the double-up.

I'll go a bit more into detail as to why I chose this list. This should give you all some insight as to why I assigned a certain skill to a certain characters, which should allow you to better give any suggestions, or answer some of the criticism you might have on a certain choice. Something is very welcome as well btw, I can only learn from it.

• Amazon: it was a choice between Zealzon or Bearzon, but what made me choose for Zeal, was the fact that, when planning her endgame weapon, I noticed that she Zeals quite fast with a 2H weapon. While still the same skill as the one my Sorc will be using, this should make for a completely different playing experience. Moreover, it's a bit of a novelty to zeal with a 2H (at least for me), I probably get to use a range 4 weapon, which should add some extra safety, and I don't have to worry about Amazon's terribly slow blocking speeds, so the Zeal option seems to be the best for me.
• Assassin: simple choice really, as Assassins are the only ones who can use this oskill. I also have been using this skill for a while when building an Ursa Major, prior to going the Bear route, and it was a lot of fun.
• Barbarian: same as Assassin, the Barb is the only one except for a Druid who can transform to a Werewolf and use Feral Rage, so the choice was simple
• Druid: inspired by this guide. When I read it, I was sold.
• Necro: I still had Vengeance to give to a character, and Necro seemed like a good option, due to his LR curse. I still expect this one to be the hardest of the Sept by far, but I hope it will work out. As I will already be using LR, I'll be maxing skeleton mages as well, which hopefully will be a bit of help. No CE cheese will be used.
• Paladin: obviously a lot of characters could have taken the Bear option, but the only oskills for him were Bear or Berserk. Since the Berserker Druid was one of the first characters to spark my interest in this Sept, Bear it is. The plan is to use the IK Maul, gloves, belt and boots and Conviction as main aura to see how far I get with it. O yes, and a Dream Helm to make sure he gets at least somewhere .
• Sorceress: the choice was between Vengeance, Zeal and Bear. Bear is out because I want Teleport and cc options like Glacial Spike / Frost Nova / Tk. Vengeance Sorc is incredibly fun, very very strong, but I already did that. So the one remaining is the Zealchantress. Should be plenty of fun if I can get my hands on one or two Dreams .

As I already stated, I most likely won't do these characters one after another, but will be mixing it up a lot. The reason for it is simple: I still lack quite a lot of endgame gear for the characters in this Sept. The original plan comes from a time when I was still playing with my tainted characters. Now that I have started over clean here, I don't have stuff like Dream, Fortitude, Highlord's, ... So I will be alternating between leveling up different characters from this Sept, up to the point where I don't have the required gear for them yet (usually somewhere in the level 50 - 55 range) and finding that required gear with my Sorc.

I started the Assassin in this Sept a few days ago and will probably put up the thread on her progress tomorrow. Over time I will probably already start the threads for the other characters as well, even if don't start them at that point, just to get discussion on their best endgame gear going. I will add the links to these individual threads here as I create them, as well as keeping their status up to date.

Thanks for reading, and please post and comments, suggestions and criticism you have. Like I said, I can only learn from it.

Edit: added the link to the Assassin in the Sept.
Edit2: added the link to the Necro in the Sept.
Edit 3: added the link to the Amazon in the Sept.
Edit 4: added the link to the Barbarian in the Sept.
Edit 5: added the link to the Sorceress in the Sept.
Edit 6: added the link to the Druid in the Sept.

 

[PhineasB]

Firewall from Trang's Set?

That's something I considered briefly. Full set has other fire skills too. But I can't imagine them being good enough even for /p1. I have never tried it though. Maybe I should look it up.

Looks good and well thought out for each build. I, too, think the Vengeance Necro will be the hardest of the seven and will be interested to see how he turns out. Do you plan on starting them out fully twinked, or are you just going to be giving them their endgame gear once they can equip it (and once you find it for some)?

Fun! I'm especially looking forward to the zon (I have a soft spot for passion-wielding passive zons, although she never really used the zeal on her Passion), and the beardin (love that build, it's high on my list of builds to try)

Good luck!

Fully twinked. Well, as much as I have twink gear anyway. Only 3 jewels of Envy so far, so I'll have to come up with other solutions.

I remember using it on bnet back in the days with a Poison Necro. The set was great against immunes (Lower Resist + the fire skills was faster than just Poison Nova with barely breached immunities). I assume with more +skills it could be a real threat, which makes me think: the +x fire skills (Sorceress) charms and ammy should be very good here to boost it, right?

I tried a Fireball Templar back in 1.11 and it was slow even with maxed conviction. I think the fixing of the 1.10 synergy bug killed it. Lots of facets and +skills may make firewall doable though.

The only way to boost o-skills is from +all skills, +relevant element skills (ie. fire in the case of a Trang-Oul's Necro) or things that boost that skill specifically, so Burning Charms would have no effect whatsoever for the Necro. The Rising Sun would work, but you'd probably still rather use Mara's.

I used Full Trang's on my first character to compete in a MF competition so very, very long ago. Overall I found the fire skills serviceable, but I wouldn't really want to make a Vampire focused around Firewall to go through the whole game. With Infinity on the merc and LR I'm sure it could be done just fine, but it seems a little tedious and doesn't make use of Vampire Boys best asset: insane speed.

On the subject of a Vengeance Necromancer: I wouldn't expect that to be tough at all, really. I'd expect any Necro without CE to be tough and tedious, but Vengeance on a fully fledged Necro should be fine. Insane crowd-control plus Lower Resist for actual damage dealing combined with summons to protect yourself sounds fine to me. It would be different than the experience I had with HopeThisWorks but the general underlying principle of strong utility skills plus summons is still in place, but now fortified with a significant damage increase. And she was a blast, so I'd definitely think the necro could be a good time. Slow Missles would be missed, but Dim Vision does a lot portion of the same thing.

Awesome stuff mate, looking forward to this

Have you considered avoiding using the same o-skill twice?

Looking forward to this moving along, especially the Zerker Druid. Don't think I've heard of that before.

Yes, this. I loaded up on FRW in my recent Trang Nec play-through and it was quite fun to have max block along with the speed.

@maareek Thanks for the clarification.

@T72on1 Gl, this is a pretty neat idea for a sept.

Thanks a lot folks .

I added the link to the Assassin build in the OP.

Yes, but ...

I don't really see a viable 7th oskill. All the other possible ones, like Trang's fire skills, + Magic Arrow found on a few bows, seem rather tedious to me. And I hope that the Zealing experience of the Sorc will completely different than that of the Amazon, due to the nature of both classes and the fact that the one is 1H / shield, while the other uses a big 2H.

Will be nice to follow your progress! Neat idea for a sept.

I did a shiny Beardin about a year ago. If you have the set, I can warmly recommend the build!

I'm thinking about opening thread for a sept myself, but we shall see

Thanks. Also for the tip on the Griswold's Bear. That sounds like a lot of fun. I should check my stash when I'm at home, but I think I still lack one piece.

Looking forward to reading about a Sept of yours. You surely have my interest, with all the cool builds you have already posted about !!!

 

[PhineasB]

Ok, with the Assassin in the Sept getting close to finishing the game, and me not having made up my mind about how to continue the Necro, I'm starting to think which character I'll do next. I have a couple of questions though, which might decide which will be the next one.

Barbarian (WolfBarb): what's the best weapon? I'd say an upped Shaeled Ribcracker, because it can reach the same attack speed as Tombreaver, but has higher damage, 50% CB and 50% fhr, but I might be wrong there.

Druid (Berserk, inspired by this guide): again, which weapon should I take? Ogre Maul, Decapitator, Thunder Maul, Shillelagh, Giant Tresher, ... ? I hate attacking slow, so I think I'd prefer the faster options, but I'm not sure.

Amazon (Zeal): I decided I will build her as a 2H Zealer, since that seems to be a bit of a novelty. Because of that I was thinking of using a 4os War Pike as Passion base. Problem is that those hardly, if ever, seem to drop. Are these so rare that I don't have to hope for one with 4os? Or have I just been unlucky? Is it an option to rack them in LK, or would it take forever to find such a rack?

Paladin (Bear): I was thinking to go with IK weapon and 3 pieces, + a Dream helm, but maybe I'm selling myself short. What would be other options for a Beardin? @Grape suggested Griswold's set, but I don't have the shield yet. Maybe I get lucky though, so I don't rule it out completely.

Thanks for any help, suggestions, ...

War Pikes have a quality level of 85, so you won't see them in LK. 1.07 LK drops them however I'd still hold on to that idea, just keep your eyes open when running alvl85 areas.

IK Beardin sounds nice. I plan to revisit that build one day, but with Holy Freeze instead of Shock, and instead of Griswold's I thought to socket all kinds of Jeweler's items with facets. But we'll see.

Wolfbarb, Gris Caddy ofc But if going for physical damage, Ribby and/or Tomby will be your best bets I'm sure.

The *best* option for the bear would likely be a Grief Phase Blade. You need a 40 IAS roll to get 5 fpa, so cross your fingers when rolling! (unless you're fine with settling for 6 fpa, of course )

I was coming here to edit that to my posts

+1 to Grief for Beardin. And I had fun with dual Dreams with mine. And +1 to Holy Freeze, especially if you are sporting Dreams (unless it's possible to triple stack with a 15 slvl on Holy Shock?). Phoenix shield would add to damage, although ctc Firestorm would slow down fpa for attack. Or maybe dragon armor/shield for kicks? Either way, Infinity on the Merc makes that character a powerhouse (and probably still would with a Dream helm only)

The Grief Beardin sure sounds like fun. I'll be making 2 Dreams for my Sorc, so the Paladin will be able to use it as well. Sounds really cool. Which helm and shield do people usually make Dream in? I was thinking a circlet type for the helm, since those look the best on Sorcs and defense isn't really important on most characters anyway.

Edit: my current Grief is only so-so, but I was planning to roll another one anyway. The Beardin will be a good reason to do so.

Also, I was wrong with the War Pikes. I actually have a 4os one. It's the Mat Pike that I have difficulty finding. Not sure if the +Amazon skills on those outweigh the loss of damage on the weapon itself though, on a ZealZon.

That would work I'm sure.

Or better yet, add some 'Destruction' fireworks!

The Dragonscale and / or 3 Trang piece solution have been mentioned before. I just think it will be too weak and therefore to tedious. O yes, and I don't have a Dragonscale yet.

If I would find one and if it wouldn't have a level req of 80, I might have tried it. But now, I don't think so.

Anyone cares to let me know which they think is the best base for Dream helm and shield, given that they will be used by other characters than Paladin too?

O yes, after making the Passion War Pike and finishing the Assassin in the Sept yesterday, I couldn't resist taking the Amazon as next character and starting her yesterday evening. I'll add the link to the progress thread when I create it. First I have to finish the write-up for my Assassin.

If you don't have a Tiara or Diadem available I'd say go with a Crown type helm they're the next best to me as far as looks go for three sockets. For the shield I would say a Dragon type because it won't slow you down at all and the Dragon actually has a higher block rate % than the Scutum and it is a lighter shield. Oddly enough the Hyperon slightly betters the Monarch in block rate again at the elite level with a much lower strength requirement. Vaarwel!

This is a very cool idea for a sept. It's a shame there's not just one more strong damage-dealing oskill. Echoing what's already been said, the Fire Wall from the Trang-Oul's set could technically be used as a primary killer, but it would be tedious. You'd need some secondary skill to deal with unbreakable fire immunities, and that secondary skill would probably be stronger than your primary, which would defeat the whole point of using Fire Wall as your primary.

I'd always planned Dream in a Hyperion since its made of metal that just made sense for the Holy Shock aura and the block rate is nice. Same reason I went with Great Helm type for the head gear. I just imagined the spark rushing between the two metal horns.

Did you consider a 2h Vengeance sorc? I really liked mine, you can get 7FPA with a Silver-edged Axe & Faith merc.

Yes. But I've already built one in the past, that's why I now take a ZealSorc.

The Vengeance Sorc was very fun though. Made mine in an eth bugged Decapitator iirc. Silly Lcs numbers I got with here ...

Added the link to the Amazon progress thread in the op .

 

[PhineasB]

Added the link to the Barb and the Sorc in the op. Barb is already finished. Finished the Necro as well.

Very nice progress!

Not even year yet when you started this. Going to hurry for a finish under that or taking your time and enjoying the rest few?

My approach with Zod God sept has been the latter lately

Lately I haven't done anything else but this Sept when playing D2, so I actually feel slow. But yeah, a few fast characters in the Sept, like the Barb and now the Sorc. She is already level 84 and ready to start act 5 Hell, but I haven't gotten around to do a progress report.

I should actually do it more, to take the time to enjoy my characters more. But lack of time isn't helping in that respect. The fact that reading about other characters makes me want to build so many more, and as a consequence having so many plans, isn't helping either. And then there is my 99er Sorc. And PoE getting an expansion in august, which makes me want to pick up that game again and this time finally properly.

The remaining two characters in the Sept won't be finished that fast though. I expect the Druid to be slow, and still need a Ber if I want to turn my Paladin into a Bear. O yes, and we go on holiday in 2 weeks time.

Ok, Sorc is finished, added the link to the Druid thread.

Apparantly I never added the link to the Paladin here. Too late now, as I just finished him today, and as such the entire Sept .

Good job mate, but hard to pick a favourite. What next? a CtC sept?