The 12 Labors Tournament

[Kestegs]

Re: The 12 Labors Tournament

Act 2 is completed! like others I had no trouble finding/destroying a tower.
I was a little bit worried about Duriel, even though I have taken him at p8 with all of my characters since I started SP. I gambled a 4 row belt and loaded up my inventory/cube with an assortment of potions. It was a pretty quick fight, but still very intense! Keeping golem and decrep up are a challenge in their selves, and trying to spam BS while you do that is tough. I must have gotten the merc ignore bug active, because he REFUSED to target him, after he had torn through the CG he would come straight for me. probably not the worst thing, but I don't think it would have really mattered if he had killed the merc anyways. I never tried out bone wall/prison, as they only have about 26-27 life right now. In the end it took 9 mana pots and 1 healer. I shopped a couple wands to later make into a "white" but hopefully a better base will drop, as these are not awesome. The entire act was done on p8. Bone spear is starting to get pretty powerful, most monsters are going down in 3-4 hits, and smaller stuff goes down real quick!

[highlight]Hardcore[/highlight]

Forum Name        Character Name    Class       Clvl  Current Location   SP?  Labours
=====================================================================================
Jocular           BornToFolk        Druid         28  Kurast Bazaar      Yes     3/12 
jdkerrr           SlogTheFrog      Barbarian      23  Kurast Docks       No      2/12
Krupa 		  ThisIsMalaga 	    Paladin 	  22  Lost City 	 Yes 	 1/12
Kestegs           AWorkingStiff     Necromancer   27  Dry Hills          No      3/12
Quickdeath        Lizzie2           Amazon        20  Lut Gholein        No      1/12
Jason Maher       Jason             Necromancer   17  Outer Cloister     Yes     1/12
Sint              WorkedUp          Druid         17  Outer Cloister     No      1/12
Ojimijam          Evelyn            Assassin      13  Black Marsh        No      1/12
JimmyOfJudecca    Heracles          Barbarian      1  Rogue camp         No      0/12

[highlight]Fallen Heroes[/highlight]

Forum Name     Character Name    Class      Clvl   Current Location     Labours
================================================================================
Nightfish      Hammertime        Paladin      60   NM Durance II        7/12
jdkerr         BrusselSprouts    Sorceress    51   NM Durance II        5/12
jdkerr         MrSchizo          Druid        24   Duriel               1/12
jdkerr         Adria             Sorceress    21   Canyon of the Magi   1/12
Quickdeath     Lizzie            Amazon        1   Corpsefire           0/12

[highlight]Softcore[/highlight]

Forum Name        Character Name    Class       Clvl  Current Location   SP?  Labours
=====================================================================================
GoldenredDragon   Vein              Paladin       28 City of the Damned  No      2/12
Jason Maher       Jacinta           Amazon        25 Lut Gholein         No      1/12
Thaurus           TrevorTheTimid    Druid         22 Stony Tomb          No      1/12

[/QUOTE]

 

[JimmyOfJudecca]

Re: The 12 Labors Tournament

First, welcome to the newcomers! Second, sorrow for those lost in battle.

It has been a slow and long journey for the young Heracles, and many days have passed since resting for a recap on his journeys through Sanctuary.

The first task, as many have completed before, was naught but a breeze. Only issue was when a dozen fallen surrounded and trapped him in that smelly Den, and the only out was to kill one before being able to escape, completing the task by hitting Corpsefire.

A1 was slow as this is an experimental class and build for me, the first half on P8, the last half on P3 as life was dropping faster than I was getting the hang of warcries and slicing things, and a wussy P1 for Andariel. Way too many NDE's. Oh, and the occaisional Crushing Blow (Rixot's found in the Crypt, ftw!) helped Heracles make it to the sandy city. Also found a bonnet with "Biggin's" stitched in to the inner lining of the cap somewhere in the Catacombs. Seemed like a waste to leave someone else's property just lying on the ground; but, feeling a little guilty, Heracles' help-for-hire picked it up until enough topazes are found for socketing their headgear.

A2 has been much easier on P8 than the last half of A1. Maybe it's because Heracles is getting used to Howl/Taunt/Battle Cry and is almost ready to mix in his hitting techniques (Concentration will be needed for the little D fight). Battle Cry has turned out to be invaluable at this point as Heracles currently has base Dex (being a Zerker), and hitting things has become difficult without some help. Thanks to a Defiance merc, Heracles is more of a supporter than anything.

Having nearly 175 MF between Heracles and the moron has proven to be a good source of wealth; however, useful items are hard to come by, and most have been from gambling. It is a little sad when the Staff of King's IAS feels like it may be of more use than a rare maul.

Planning for future skill points has been the main focus, with 11 points waiting to be used. Definitately making it to at least clvl 26 before facing little D, getting a useful boost for Battle Orders will be necessary, plus a little help from Increased Speed in case running is required.

Looking to tackle the Fire Tower labor tonight and hope to get to Canyon of the Magi before another update.

Heracles will prevail!

[highlight]Hardcore[/highlight]

Forum Name        Character Name    Class       Clvl  Current Location   SP?  Labours
=====================================================================================
ancalagon         JabberWalk        Amazon        30  River of Flame     No      3/12
Jocular           BornToFolk        Druid         28  Kurast Bazaar      Yes     3/12 
jdkerrr           SlogTheFrog       Barbarian     23  Kurast Docks       No      2/12
Krupa 	         ThisIsMalaga      Paladin       22  Lost City 	Yes     1/12
Kestegs           AWorkingStiff     Necromancer   27  Dry Hills          No      3/12
JimmyOfJudecca    Heracles          Barbarian     23  Dry Hills          No      1/12
Quickdeath        Lizzie2           Amazon        20  Lut Gholein        No      1/12
Jason Maher       Jason             Necromancer   17  Outer Cloister     Yes     1/12
Sint              WorkedUp          Druid         17  Outer Cloister     No      1/12
Ojimijam          Evelyn            Assassin      13  Black Marsh        No      1/12

[highlight]Fallen Heroes[/highlight]

Forum Name     Character Name    Class      Clvl   Current Location     Labours
================================================================================
Nightfish      Hammertime        Paladin      60   NM Durance II        7/12
jdkerr         BrusselSprouts    Sorceress    51   NM Durance II        5/12
jdkerr         MrSchizo          Druid        24   Duriel               1/12
jdkerr         Adria             Sorceress    21   Canyon of the Magi   1/12
Quickdeath     Lizzie            Amazon        1   Corpsefire           0/12

[highlight]Softcore[/highlight]

Forum Name        Character Name    Class       Clvl  Current Location   SP?  Labours
=====================================================================================
GoldenredDragon   Vein              Paladin       28 City of the Damned  No      2/12
Jason Maher       Jacinta           Amazon        25 Lut Gholein         No      1/12
Thaurus           TrevorTheTimid    Druid         22 Stony Tomb          No      1/12

 

[ancalagon the black]

Re: The 12 Labors Tournament

A very tiny update, with no score change, since JabberWalk slipped off the table at some point. I only did one run through the river of flame since then, and a little shopping for better res. gear. Her resistances have improved significantly, and she made a pair of blood gloves.

Grim Touch 
Heavy Gloves 
Defense: 6 
Durability: 14 of 14 
Required Level: 22 
Fingerprint: 0x11c5f0a4 
Item Level: 29 
Version: Expansion 1.10+ 
3% Life stolen per hit 
8% Chance of Crushing Blow 
+13 to Life 
Lightning Resist +16%

Not spectacular, but a pretty good way to spend the Pruby that hellforge dropped.

This is finals week for me, so if I do get time to play her, it won't be a whole lot.

[highlight]Hardcore[/highlight]

Forum Name        Character Name    Class       Clvl  Current Location   SP?  Labours
=====================================================================================
ancalagon         JabberWalk        Amazon        30  River of Flame     No      3/12
Jocular           BornToFolk        Druid         28  Kurast Bazaar      Yes     3/12 
jdkerrr           SlogTheFrog       Barbarian     23  Kurast Docks       No      2/12
Krupa 		  ThisIsMalaga 	    Paladin 	  22  Lost City 	 Yes 	 1/12
Kestegs           AWorkingStiff     Necromancer   27  Dry Hills          No      3/12
JimmyOfJudecca    Heracles          Barbarian     23  Dry Hills          No      1/12
Quickdeath        Lizzie2           Amazon        20  Lut Gholein        No      1/12
Jason Maher       Jason             Necromancer   17  Outer Cloister     Yes     1/12
Sint              WorkedUp          Druid         17  Outer Cloister     No      1/12
Ojimijam          Evelyn            Assassin      13  Black Marsh        No      1/12

[highlight]Fallen Heroes[/highlight]

Forum Name     Character Name    Class      Clvl   Current Location     Labours
================================================================================
Nightfish      Hammertime        Paladin      60   NM Durance II        7/12
jdkerr         BrusselSprouts    Sorceress    51   NM Durance II        5/12
jdkerr         MrSchizo          Druid        24   Duriel               1/12
jdkerr         Adria             Sorceress    21   Canyon of the Magi   1/12
Quickdeath     Lizzie            Amazon        1   Corpsefire           0/12

[highlight]Softcore[/highlight]

Forum Name        Character Name    Class       Clvl  Current Location   SP?  Labours
=====================================================================================
GoldenredDragon   Vein              Paladin       28 City of the Damned  No      2/12
Jason Maher       Jacinta           Amazon        25 Lut Gholein         No      1/12
Thaurus           TrevorTheTimid    Druid         22 Stony Tomb          No      1/12

 

[JimmyOfJudecca]

Re: The 12 Labors Tournament

A very tiny update, with no score change, since JabberWalk slipped off the table at some point. I only did one run through the river of flame since then, and a little shopping for better res. gear. Her resistances have improved significantly, and she made a pair of blood gloves.

My apologies Ancalagon for omitting your progress! I do recall reading your post, and it's quite an impressive preparation for the Big D. I am drooling over those gloves, they would be perfect with my Rixot's for bosses ! And I second the style points for a Vicious Wirt's Leg of Measure.

 

[JimmyOfJudecca]

Re: The 12 Labors Tournament

I would be interested in hearing if you-all are putting together customized sets of equipment and charms for any of the Labors as you go through the Tournament.

As a matter of fact, Heracles is shooting for some specifics vs. little D. A Nadir helm, a Stealth armor and a Strength Broad Sword. Since all of Heracles skills are currently slvl 1, he does not have a great chance of surviving little D on P8 without help from equipment. Of course, the current progress has been MFing while questing, so some helpful stuff has come up, but nothing worth using against little D (except maybe Rixot's :crazyeyes. So, Nadir will help with Cloak of Shadows, some extra defence and some strength. Stealth will help with FHR and FRW. Strength is supposed to be the kicker, and more difficult to get to before the labor happens (lotsa cubing up runes from the Countess), in order to use something better with CB and not just Rixot's. This is going in to a Broad Sword as a 2os Maul isn't available before little D, and I figured a shield may be of some use after seeing other posts (even though I have base Dex). Plus, the Broad Sword has the most damage and fastest speed compared to the other items with my char having the base Dex and lots of Strength (~80; befitting, no?).

Leave it to Heracles to focus on Strength and Vitality, on multiple levels. A test of strength at its finest!

 

[ancalagon the black]

Re: The 12 Labors Tournament

My apologies Ancalagon for omitting your progress!

Don't worry about it. When I started making my post, your update hadn't shown up yet, so I almost ended up omitting your progress.

I am drooling over those gloves, they would be perfect with my Rixot's for bosses !

They aren't terribly unusual for low level crafted blood gloves. The life leech is perfect, but it's only out of 3 possible choices, and still only 3%, the cb is slightly above average, and the life is slightly below average. It only got one mod, which was mild bad luck, but the mod was a small amount of lightning res., which was mild good luck.

I don't think Prubies are that hard to find in act IV, even if you don't get one tossed in your lap by hellforge. I may end up with a couple more blood or safety crafts before I hit big D.

And I second the style points for a Vicious Wirt's Leg of Measure.

:scratchchin: I've been leaning towards a triple-Ith Wirt's Leg recently, but if everyone thinks there's massive style points in it.... :scratchchin:

 

[Krupa]

Re: The 12 Labors Tournament

the labors of survival tend to be more difficult than i had imagined. therefore i´m seeking a ruling on the following before actually updating:

i made it through the glacial trail without trouble, but then got trapped in the drifters cavern. i stood there for ~3 minutes trying to figure out what to do, while they kept hitting me. i would have died at some point, if i wouldn´t have attacked them. therefore i S/E´d, deleted the map files of the char and restarted the labor at the crystalline passage waypoint. did not attack anything in the crystalline passage, the glacial trail or the drifters cavern and opened the chest

disqualified?

 

[jdkerr]

Re: The 12 Labors Tournament

I vote that you have not legitimately completed the challenge. Merely deleting the map files feels like cheating the challenge to me, since you have the same map as you already did.

This does not mean I think you should be disqualified; that is up to Quickdeath. If a person retries a challenge, though, I think s/he should have to at least follow the SC rules and get a new map.

Since this issue has come up twice now, I am curious to hear what Quickdeath has to say. I am also curious about how you retried. Did you S&E to avoid death? Or did you fight your way to safety and exit the game from town?

 

[JimmyOfJudecca]

Re: The 12 Labors Tournament

Don't worry about it. When I started making my post, your update hadn't shown up yet, so I almost ended up omitting your progress.

They aren't terribly unusual for low level crafted blood gloves. The life leech is perfect, but it's only out of 3 possible choices, and still only 3%, the cb is slightly above average, and the life is slightly below average. It only got one mod, which was mild bad luck, but the mod was a small amount of lightning res., which was mild good luck.

I don't think Prubies are that hard to find in act IV, even if you don't get one tossed in your lap by hellforge. I may end up with a couple more blood or safety crafts before I hit big D.

:scratchchin: I've been leaning towards a triple-Ith Wirt's Leg recently, but if everyone thinks there's massive style points in it.... :scratchchin:

I am glad to hear all of this. My last melee char was built years ago, well before I got in to crafting items. I will definitely be looking in to this more before tackling little D as well and big D. And the triple-Ith Wirt's Leg is also a nice choice, it just seems easier to do compared to rerolling the awesome stats :crazyeyes:

the labors of survival tend to be more difficult than i had imagined. therefore i´m seeking a ruling on the following before actually updating:

i made it through the glacial trail without trouble, but then got trapped in the drifters cavern. i stood there for ~3 minutes trying to figure out what to do, while they kept hitting me. i would have died at some point, if i wouldn´t have attacked them. therefore i S/E´d, deleted the map files of the char and restarted the labor at the crystalline passage waypoint. did not attack anything in the crystalline passage, the glacial trail or the drifters cavern and opened the chest

disqualified?

If I recall, in the event of getting stuck, one is supposed to try their very best not to kill anything, but the interpretation seems to be if you get stuck and have to find a way out, then it is permitted. I would definitely wait until QuickDeath answers your question though.

EDIT: Ninja'd by jdkerr! And I second that the task has not been completed per the Labor requirements, as well as not being disqualified.

 

[Krupa]

Re: The 12 Labors Tournament

this brings up a good question: how do u rerole a map while having only normal difficulty available? i know changing the difficulty does this, but as i coudn´t, what other way is there?

i was stuck and stayed there for a few minutes getting hit without striking back, paused to read the rules of this labor and put on a lvl 1 thorns aura to see if the monsters would hurt themselves. once i realized i couldn´t get out of there without attacking anything, i S/E´d, as i felt the non attacking rule to be the major part of this labor. it doesn´t really feel kosher to me either, that was why i asked for a ruling before making any updates to the table

 

[Quickdeath]

Re: The 12 Labors Tournament

the labors of survival tend to be more difficult than i had imagined. therefore i´m seeking a ruling on the following before actually updating:

i made it through the glacial trail without trouble, but then got trapped in the drifters cavern. i stood there for ~3 minutes trying to figure out what to do, while they kept hitting me. i would have died at some point, if i wouldn´t have attacked them. therefore i S/E´d, deleted the map files of the char and restarted the labor at the crystalline passage waypoint. did not attack anything in the crystalline passage, the glacial trail or the drifters cavern and opened the chest

disqualified?

NO, you are not disqualified.

With either great wisdom or great absent-mindedness, I did not ban S&E in the Tournament rules. And we actually addressed this point earlier when Nightfish had to S&E in the NM Underground Passage - and I ruled that he was not eliminated - because S&E is not forbidden by the rules. If you S&E on a Survival/Stealth Task you must do exactly what Krupa did - reroll the map and start the task over.

If some participants think this is too Wimpy, my response is that they are welcome to stand and die, instead of Save & Exit. S&E is certainly a tactic used by most hardcore players when they are questing. This is a very hard tournament - and the tourny is novel enough that my judgment in creating these tasks is not base on any prior experience. I am really interested in having people try these Labors and see how do-able they are. Piling up bodies in the Underground Cavern and Drifter Cavern is not the objective.

*******************

By the way, I thought long and hard about many options for a Survival Labor before I chose the Deathtrap in Drifter Cavern - because it has a twist that makes it different than all the Survival tasks. Drifter Cavern is VERY different than the Glacial Trail. The tactic that works very effectively in the Glacial Trail may be far from optimal in the Drifter Cavern. Hence, the name "DeathTrap." Visaulize these places as you plan ahead for them. That's all I will say.

 

[Kestegs]

Re: The 12 Labors Tournament

To reroll a map from normal mode, simply start a tcp/IP game and s&e after it loads.

 

[Krupa]

Re: The 12 Labors Tournament

thanks for the fast response quickdeath

as i´m still in, an update is in order:

normal a2: i was eager to find a source of cb but even after clearing each of the four ways in the sanctuary and all the tombs none was available. and yet duriel had still to be killed on /p8. my own dmg seemed to me negligibly low, so the moron had to be the one playing the main role. i cubed him a nice savage polearm he could actually use - had a partizan waiting - and spent my money gambling. ended up with a 1-97 light damage circlet and these boots, which made his total dmg with concentration roughly 120-430. he went down very easily - 3 red pots no rejuvs on lvl 26

a3: rushed through it on /p5 and made it to lvl 29

a4: while getting more lvls, the dmg of my hammers began to shine. that made the journey very easy until the time for wirts revenge arrived. lucky as i was, my one and only run to tristram netted me a zero socked leg. got my moron killed and hammer'd down big Ds life to a sliver, when my Messenger was ringing. out of a habit i tp'd back to town and didn´t pause. i was always under the impression act bosses wouldn´t regenerate their health....i was wrong and so started from scratch. the last sliver was taken care of with lvl 1 holy frost - ~10 hits were necessary

a5: still an easy journey as long as i was allowed to kill things, problems started when i wasn´t aka 'the deathrap in the drifter cavern' began. i got very much stuck and couldn´t complete the task in the first attempt. so i had to restart with a new map. this time being a bit more careful and knowing what the difficulties are, everything went quite smoothly. ancients and baal was smooth sailing. he dropped a rare 2 sin skills claw
the cow king had nothing but milk hidden...became destroyer on lvl 43

-> thx for explaining how to reroll the map kestegs

a1 nm: all done on /p5 - finally, normal difficutly was kind of boring...fire res were suddenly red and the hits of monsters actually started to hurt a bit. had to use a few rejuvs. for the dark passage labor i shopped an attract and a terror charge wand - during which my atm most dearest item appeared :cloud9:. lvl 1 attract seems to be too low to be helpful, terror worked fine. imo much easier - maybe cuz of the charges - than the prior survival task. made it without a really close call to the dark wood. had to kill nothing and use maybe one or two rejuvs, a bunch of red pots though.
for andariel and the inner cloister i wanted to get some decent mf values, so i started to gamble gloves to replace bloodfists. some very decent result, except for not having mf...andariel went down safely thanks to the IM charges

i fell in love with this armorstraight away when it dropped, but i have so few slots left for mf. at least my moron likes it too

[highlight]Hardcore[/highlight]

Forum Name        Character Name    Class       Clvl  Current Location   SP?  Labours
=====================================================================================
Krupa 		  ThisIsMalaga 	    Paladin 	  49  Lut Gholein 	 Yes 	 5/12
ancalagon         JabberWalk        Amazon        30  River of Flame     No      3/12
Jocular           BornToFolk        Druid         28  Kurast Bazaar      Yes     3/12 
Kestegs           AWorkingStiff     Necromancer   27  Dry Hills          No      3/12
jdkerrr           SlogTheFrog       Barbarian     23  Kurast Docks       No      2/12
JimmyOfJudecca    Heracles          Barbarian     23  Dry Hills          No      1/12
Quickdeath        Lizzie2           Amazon        20  Lut Gholein        No      1/12
Jason Maher       Jason             Necromancer   17  Outer Cloister     Yes     1/12
Sint              WorkedUp          Druid         17  Outer Cloister     No      1/12
Ojimijam          Evelyn            Assassin      13  Black Marsh        No      1/12

[highlight]Fallen Heroes[/highlight]

Forum Name     Character Name    Class      Clvl   Current Location     Labours
================================================================================
Nightfish      Hammertime        Paladin      60   NM Durance II        7/12
jdkerr         BrusselSprouts    Sorceress    51   NM Durance II        5/12
jdkerr         MrSchizo          Druid        24   Duriel               1/12
jdkerr         Adria             Sorceress    21   Canyon of the Magi   1/12
Quickdeath     Lizzie            Amazon        1   Corpsefire           0/12

[highlight]Softcore[/highlight]

Forum Name        Character Name    Class       Clvl  Current Location   SP?  Labours
=====================================================================================
GoldenredDragon   Vein              Paladin       28 City of the Damned  No      2/12
Jason Maher       Jacinta           Amazon        25 Lut Gholein         No      1/12
Thaurus           TrevorTheTimid    Druid         22 Stony Tomb          No      1/12

 

[Jason Maher]

Re: The 12 Labors Tournament

Jacinta has now completed her third Labour. The hardest part was grinding her way to level 30 to get a Valk. It takes a while. She then gambled away all her money, finally picking up some Lightning Resistance. More importantly, she gambled a semi-decent Short War Bow that crucially included mana leech, meaning Duriel became a case of get out of the way, recast Valk when necessary, and plink away until dead.

The only real choice before her is whether to continue on with the gear she equipped to kill Duriel (including a Stealth armour), or to revert back to MF gear. Given she can re-run, I think the former is the obvious choice.

Did a bit of table re-jigging to get rid of the side-scrolling.

[highlight]Hardcore[/highlight]

[FONT=Courier New]
Forum Name       Character Name  Class      Clvl Current Location  SP? Labors
=============================================================================
Krupa            ThisIsMalaga    Paladin      49 Lut Gholein       Yes   5/12
ancalagon        JabberWalk      Amazon       30 River of Flame     No   3/12
Jocular          BornToFolk      Druid        28 Kurast Bazaar     Yes   3/12 
Kestegs          AWorkingStiff   Necromancer  27 Dry Hills          No   3/12
jdkerrr          SlogTheFrog     Barbarian    23 Kurast Docks       No   2/12
JimmyOfJudecca   Heracles        Barbarian    23 Dry Hills          No   1/12
Quickdeath       Lizzie2         Amazon       20 Lut Gholein        No   1/12
Jason Maher      Jason           Necromancer  17 Outer Cloister    Yes   1/12
Sint             WorkedUp        Druid        17 Outer Cloister     No   1/12
Ojimijam         Evelyn          Assassin     13 Black Marsh        No   1/12[/FONT]

[highlight]Fallen Heroes[/highlight]

[FONT=Courier New]
Forum Name       Character Name  Class      Clvl   Current Location    Labors
=============================================================================
Nightfish        Hammertime      Paladin      60   NM Durance II         7/12
jdkerr           BrusselSprouts  Sorceress    51   NM Durance II         5/12
jdkerr           MrSchizo        Druid        24   Duriel                1/12
jdkerr           Adria           Sorceress    21   Canyon of the Magi    1/12
Quickdeath       Lizzie          Amazon        1   Corpsefire            0/12[/FONT]

[highlight]Softcore[/highlight]

[FONT=Courier New]
Forum Name       Character Name  Class      Clvl Current Location  SP? Labors
=============================================================================
GoldenredDragon  Vein            Paladin      28 City of the Damned No   2/12
Jason Maher      Jacinta         Amazon       30 Kurast Docks       No   3/12
Thaurus          TrevorTheTimid  Druid        22 Stony Tomb         No   1/12[/FONT]

 

[Sint Nikolaas]

Re: The 12 Labors Tournament

Good updates ppl, RIP to those fallen.. my cdrom drive died out, so I won't be playing for a few days.. I might be able to hook a new one up by thursday though.

 

[Jocular]

Re: The 12 Labors Tournament

Diablo is ridiculously hard. BornToFolk's fury/feral rage combo is lovely, but it just takes to long to finish the attack animation! I've almost died (went down to ~50 health at one point...) multiple times on my attempts upon Diablo.

I feel like I'll need to either feral rage the entire time, or level up to at least 40 so I can tank him without losing at least half my health to every pink lightning hose.

Ughhh. This is BornToFolk's first time to hit a wall, and damn it hurts.

And I *still* haven't found a good replacement polearm for the one I got in act 2! I've probably gone through at least 200k gambling on war scythes, and none of them are getting the mods I need/want.

There. There was my rant, and I'll probably update in a couple days of either Folk's death or an improbably triumph(!) over Diablo.

Plus I REALLY want to hear Ancalagon's strategy for killing big D with wirt's leg, it seems even less plausible than for me.
[highlight]Hardcore[/highlight]

[FONT=Courier New]
Forum Name       Character Name  Class      Clvl Current Location  SP? Labors
=============================================================================
Krupa            ThisIsMalaga    Paladin      49 Lut Gholein       Yes   5/12
ancalagon        JabberWalk      Amazon       30 River of Flame     No   3/12
Jocular          BornToFolk      Druid        33 River of Flame    Yes   3/12 
Kestegs          AWorkingStiff   Necromancer  27 Dry Hills          No   3/12
jdkerrr          SlogTheFrog     Barbarian    23 Kurast Docks       No   2/12
JimmyOfJudecca   Heracles        Barbarian    23 Dry Hills          No   1/12
Quickdeath       Lizzie2         Amazon       20 Lut Gholein        No   1/12
Jason Maher      Jason           Necromancer  17 Outer Cloister    Yes   1/12
Sint             WorkedUp        Druid        17 Outer Cloister     No   1/12
Ojimijam         Evelyn          Assassin     13 Black Marsh        No   1/12[/FONT]

[highlight]Fallen Heroes[/highlight]

[FONT=Courier New]
Forum Name       Character Name  Class      Clvl   Current Location    Labors
=============================================================================
Nightfish        Hammertime      Paladin      60   NM Durance II         7/12
jdkerr           BrusselSprouts  Sorceress    51   NM Durance II         5/12
jdkerr           MrSchizo        Druid        24   Duriel                1/12
jdkerr           Adria           Sorceress    21   Canyon of the Magi    1/12
Quickdeath       Lizzie          Amazon        1   Corpsefire            0/12[/FONT]

[highlight]Softcore[/highlight]

[FONT=Courier New]
Forum Name       Character Name  Class      Clvl Current Location  SP? Labors
=============================================================================
GoldenredDragon  Vein            Paladin      28 City of the Damned No   2/12
Jason Maher      Jacinta         Amazon       30 Kurast Docks       No   3/12
Thaurus          TrevorTheTimid  Druid        22 Stony Tomb         No   1/12[/FONT]

 

[jdkerr]

Re: The 12 Labors Tournament

When we last heard from Slog the Frog, he had just vanquished the miserable Duriel (may his name be ever scorned). I am happy to report that quite a bit has happened since then.

Act3 was more or less a breeze. I quickly discovered that leap makes otherwise difficult situations quite easy and moved rather quickly through the act. My mercenary's damage was much higher than my own, so he ended up with most of the kills. Leap Attack was too mana intensive to use at this stage, so I used a combination of Normal Attack and Leap. Mephisto was tanked handily while my mercenary did damage.

Act4 was similarly easy and similarly quick. When I made it to the Chaos Sanctuary, I went back to Act1 to get a 3os Wirt's Leg, since the one that had dropped while questing was 2os. After approximately 20 attempts that never saw more than 1os legs, I finally decided that 2os would work fine. I went with the Tal+Tal approach again. I cleared the Chaos Sanctuary and popped all the seals. At this point, I was a third of the way past lvl25. (That's right: I gained a total of two levels during the entirety of Acts 3 and 4.) Chance to hit with Leap Attack was 65%. I shopped until I had high fire and lightning resists (67/62), then took on Big D. The strategy was the same as all the bosses thus far: stand in his face with a large life pool, 75% blocking, and good resist; make sure Battle Cry stays up; drink a pot when necessary; watch the mercenary whittle him down. This time, of course, the final part of the battle had to be different. When Big D's health got low, I retreated, removed the merc's weapon, and watched him die. Then began the hit and run. Leap Attack in, run away. Repeat. After about three hits (~six tries), he was a goner. He kindly dropped a rare Pike that became my merc weapon for a long time thereafter.

Act5 was much more interesting. I ran Eldritch for a while, since I was so underleveled. When I thought I could take on Pindle, I hopped my way to the Underground River. On the way there, I found the stairs to the Glacial Trail and decided to do the challenge. Honestly, Leap makes the stealth challenges ridiculously easy (which is good, because this character is quite poorly suited to some of the other challenges). After activating the Drifter chest, I backtracked to the Underground River. I did not kill a single monster in the place, if I recall. Anya was frozen, so I popped a TP, chatted with Malah, thawed Anya, and headed back to town while the monsters stood around the edge of the island apparently stunned by my heroic bravery and dashing good looks.

I ran Pindle on /p8 until lvl40, at which point I moved on to NM difficulty. I had saved an ethereal Septum to imbue, but spent the socket quest on Anya's reward. It required clvl43, so I could not equip it right away:

Ghoul Brow
Horned Helm
Defense: 26
+10% Faster Hit Recovery
+1 to Find Item (Barbarian Only)
+2 to Increased Speed (Barbarian Only)
+1 to Battle Orders (Barbarian Only)
+1 to Energy
+28 to Life
Lightning Resist +21%
Fire Resist +30%
Poison Resist +20% 1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Ral Rune

NM difficulty was incredibly frustrating at first. My "normal" quality weapon did so little damage that my merc had to do all the work, and his weapon was also inferior (still using the rare pike from Big D). We cleared the Den of Evil, hopped our way through the Underground Passage, rescued Cain, and found a map with the Countess' Tower near the WP. We then ran the Countess for a long time. At this point, two good things happened: an exceptional mace finally dropped, making my damage at least a reasonable contribution, especially with Leap Attack (a move that my mana bulb was just getting to the point of being able to support), and the Countess offered up my first "Amn" rune, allowing me to upgrade the ethereal Septum I had imbued. It was a waste of a rune, though, because this dropped shortly thereafter:

Hwanin's Justice
Bill
Two Hand Damage: 42 - 159
10% Chance to cast level 3 Ice Blast on striking
Indestructible
+40% Increased Attack Speed
200% Enhanced Damage
+330 to Attack Rating
Adds 5 - 25 Lightning Damage

The damage is slightly lower than my rare, but the IAS more than makes up for it.

The Countess was run until lvl43 when I could equip my helm. Nothing amazing came of it, but I at least have a healthy pile of low to midrange runes (highest: 2x Io). I then killed Andariel and moved on to Act2.

In Act2, I immediately purchased a HF mercenary to replace the Prayer one that had been with me all this time. Unfortunately, that sent his stats tanking, most notably his resists. Killing Radament was something of a difficulty for this reason: the mages were pummelling him. I retreated to town and started the attack over, working from the fringes in. I tanked all the damage (currently at or near maximum resists in each category); he did all the killing, and I immediately horked the corpses to prevent resurrection. Once Radament was isolated, he went down quite easily. With the skill point from his book, Leap Attack was finally maxed out. With Leap Attack at 20 and Leap at 9, my primary attack and its synergy are now finished. Points will now be placed in some combination of Natural Resists, Battle Orders, and Find Item.

Progress is quite slow. I am used to more gear-independent characters. My current plan is to find elite weapons for myself and my mercenary as soon as possible -- but that is not going to happen at lvl43, so I have a ways to go first. :thumbsup:

[highlight]Hardcore[/highlight]

[FONT=Courier New]
Forum Name       Character Name  Class      Clvl Current Location  SP? Labors
=============================================================================
Krupa            ThisIsMalaga    Paladin      49 Lut Gholein       Yes   5/12
jdkerrr          SlogTheFrog     Barbarian    43 Lut Gholein        No   5/12
ancalagon        JabberWalk      Amazon       30 River of Flame     No   3/12
Jocular          BornToFolk      Druid        33 River of Flame    Yes   3/12 
Kestegs          AWorkingStiff   Necromancer  27 Dry Hills          No   3/12
JimmyOfJudecca   Heracles        Barbarian    23 Dry Hills          No   1/12
Quickdeath       Lizzie2         Amazon       20 Lut Gholein        No   1/12
Jason Maher      Jason           Necromancer  17 Outer Cloister    Yes   1/12
Sint             WorkedUp        Druid        17 Outer Cloister     No   1/12
Ojimijam         Evelyn          Assassin     13 Black Marsh        No   1/12[/FONT]

[highlight]Fallen Heroes[/highlight]

[FONT=Courier New]
Forum Name       Character Name  Class      Clvl   Current Location    Labors
=============================================================================
Nightfish        Hammertime      Paladin      60   NM Durance II         7/12
jdkerr           BrusselSprouts  Sorceress    51   NM Durance II         5/12
jdkerr           MrSchizo        Druid        24   Duriel                1/12
jdkerr           Adria           Sorceress    21   Canyon of the Magi    1/12
Quickdeath       Lizzie          Amazon        1   Corpsefire            0/12[/FONT]

[highlight]Softcore[/highlight]

[FONT=Courier New]
Forum Name       Character Name  Class      Clvl Current Location  SP? Labors
=============================================================================
GoldenredDragon  Vein            Paladin      28 City of the Damned No   2/12
Jason Maher      Jacinta         Amazon       30 Kurast Docks       No   3/12
Thaurus          TrevorTheTimid  Druid        22 Stony Tomb         No   1/12[/FONT]

 

[Quickdeath]

Re: The 12 Labors Tournament

JD, it is absolutely mindblowing that you are doing this tournament with a Leap/Leap Attack Frogger Barb :crazyeyes::crazyeyes::crazyeyes:

 

[jdkerr]

Re: The 12 Labors Tournament

We'll see if the Ancients are similarly amused (if I get that far).

Question: what if I cannot find/make a 6os merc weapon by the time I get to DeSeis?

 

[Krupa]

Re: The 12 Labors Tournament

We'll see if the Ancients are similarly amused (if I get that far).

Question: what if I cannot find/make a 6os merc weapon by the time I get to DeSeis?

the only way i know of getting a 6 soc weapon at that point is by using the socket reward on a weapon capable of getting 6 socs out of mid-late nightmare.

update:

act 2 nm: i didn´t change my merc, cuz i liked his name: 'azrael', so i stuck with the defiance dude. through out the act there were only a few things worth mentioning. despite having 75 light res, the scarabs lightning bolts still hurt, a lot. how would ThisIsMalaga hold up against conviction souls? The Labor of Persistence was easy. i navigated my merc next to a tower, parked myself somewhere safe and browsed the internet or watched some youtube while my merc was killing the towers. took him 5-7 minutes each one.
found a fal btw in the arcane sanctuary.
Next on the charter was the Ancient Kaa. I changed to /p8 and went into the first tomb. bingo! first try went back to town to get into my nice outfits and first made his minions go away, then him follow then.
as it didn´t make much of a difference if i played on /p5 or /p8 i didn´t change back. so after clearing all the remaining tombs, i payed duriel a visit. no tp needed, so it was kind of like the second challenge.

a3: made an effort to complete my "DeSeis" rune set as i was an ith or io rune short. so cleared everything everywhere, till i finally had found 3 eth runes (had to cube all my low runes away earlier, cuz my stash was more than full and didn´t think of keeping one...). so the rune set was complete. so i was missing a weapon. but i decided to look for that in a4, as again my stash was completely full. met some nice champion viper magus pack in one temple. took me almost all my rejuvs to dispatch and kill them, lots of close calls :-( compared to those travi was easy. they awarded me with a lum rune that meant if i could find a hel rune till hell i could make a lionheart, otherwise a smoke.
killed mephi with around 220 mf on p8 and he actually dropped an excep unique and a set item: aldurs headgear and pompeji wrath.

a4: now was the time to get a weapon for the deseis labor. but first get some room in the stash by crafting away all the pgems. got a really nice ring
so still on /p8 i decided on full clears. outer stepped -> nothing capable of 6 sockets. in the plains of despair i was just looking through the stuff the slain had left me, when suddenly i noticed my life bulb going down rapidly. 2 rejuvs safed me for about 5 seconds...some conviction soul pack appeared, probably awoken from the merc or my aura. the next wave of lightnings took my last two remaining rejuvs and i started to run away. got far enough so they didn´t shoot anymore, but my life was down to 12 points. red pots couldn´t fill the bulb fast enough as i had of course strayed the path of some other monsters...

oh well, was fun while it lasted. should have done my uni assignment instead :whistling:
karma strikes back and i will listen to her for a while, at least until the assignment is done. good luck to all the others

[highlight]Hardcore[/highlight]

[FONT=Courier New]
Forum Name       Character Name  Class      Clvl Current Location  SP? Labors
=============================================================================
jdkerrr          SlogTheFrog     Barbarian    43 Lut Gholein        No   5/12
ancalagon        JabberWalk      Amazon       30 River of Flame     No   3/12
Jocular          BornToFolk      Druid        33 River of Flame    Yes   3/12 
Kestegs          AWorkingStiff   Necromancer  27 Dry Hills          No   3/12
JimmyOfJudecca   Heracles        Barbarian    23 Dry Hills          No   1/12
Quickdeath       Lizzie2         Amazon       20 Lut Gholein        No   1/12
Jason Maher      Jason           Necromancer  17 Outer Cloister    Yes   1/12
Sint             WorkedUp        Druid        17 Outer Cloister     No   1/12
Ojimijam         Evelyn          Assassin     13 Black Marsh        No   1/12[/FONT]

[highlight]Fallen Heroes[/highlight]

[FONT=Courier New]
Forum Name       Character Name  Class      Clvl   Current Location    Labors
=============================================================================
Krupa            ThisIsMalaga    Paladin      64   Plains of Despair     6/12
Nightfish        Hammertime      Paladin      60   NM Durance II         7/12
jdkerr           BrusselSprouts  Sorceress    51   NM Durance II         5/12
jdkerr           MrSchizo        Druid        24   Duriel                1/12
jdkerr           Adria           Sorceress    21   Canyon of the Magi    1/12
Quickdeath       Lizzie          Amazon        1   Corpsefire            0/12[/FONT]

[highlight]Softcore[/highlight]

[FONT=Courier New]
Forum Name       Character Name  Class      Clvl Current Location  SP? Labors
=============================================================================
GoldenredDragon  Vein            Paladin      28 City of the Damned No   2/12
Jason Maher      Jacinta         Amazon       30 Kurast Docks       No   3/12
Thaurus          TrevorTheTimid  Druid        22 Stony Tomb         No   1/12[/FONT]