The Certain Death Tournament.

[soulmanz]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

wakiki - dont worry about the rules ... its my fault for not reading them

i dont mule anyway, so no hassles with the armour. its gone, dont really mind myself. the pity is i sold the hawkmail he was wearing before that, but easily compensated for

i have to admit im a bit over single pass right now, would love to get into some juicy runs, but i guess thems the breaks

onward!

 

[HanShotFirst]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

wakiki – Helen died in the Halls of the Dead Level 1. Hope NM treats you better! :thumbup:

Okay. Here we go again (I’m going for the prize for the most dead characters . . . either by sheer numbers or by levels or maybe both ). But don’t get me wrong, I’m feeling pretty good about my chances with my latest character. Meet Mara, the pure lightning traps Assassin (yes I’m aware that it’s a cookie cutter but I’m not going for chivalrous or sporting at this point . . . I’m out for blood).

Act 1 was well . . . Act 1. Everything was really easy and the most interesting thing was my apparent ineptness. Mara did full clears at Players 7 up until the Countess and then the players setting was dropped to Players 1 in hopes of great rune drops (it didn’t really work). I then proceeded to do full clears through the Jail Level 2 until I realized that the drops and experience seemed really bad . . . oh, the players setting is still on Players 1 :doh: . . . yeah. The rest of Act 1 was done at Players 8 in an attempt to regain some lost experience . . . (I got to Level 20 so at least I got mostly back on track for if I had stayed at Players 7 the entire time). I hadn’t done Andariel at Players 8 recently so wasn’t really sure what to expect . . . the experience itself was somewhat under whelming. Mara dropped her Level 9 Charged Bolt Sentries and ran to and fro while Andariel electrocuted herself . . . super easy. Andariel’s drop was really disappointing . . . (no set/uniques for 54 MF? . . . come on). Actually, there was only one set/unique drop throughout the whole of Act 1 . . . at least it was a good one.

Here were Mara’s stats at the end of Act 1.

[highlight]Mara, Traps, Lut Gholein, Level 20[/highlight]

 

[soulmanz]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

well, cleared act 1 nm

raced through the cats and jail, couldnt be bothered with clears. was on p8 the whole way, maybe cleared 1/2 each level (apart from cats 2 + 3, which i ran through)

the enemies started to hurt, a lot. few scary moments. of course, every scary moment was because i blind tele'd into a nasty tainted bosspack. i was even tele'ing around frozen and cursed. damn you again mega firewall, damn you!

essentially all smooth sailing. i have been pushing nova although might need a few more ES points now. nova still painfully weak (like, 200 damage weak. my firewall is 3100-3300 per second)

andy just dropped rares, despite me being p8 and wearing my pseudo MF gear (which i dont change, dont have survival gear atm)

firewall longitudinally plus teleport was fun though. she just keeps running through the flames. silly really, with negative resists. someone should tell her

bought a nice lance for the merc with maybe ~55% ED and 7%ll

there were 2 nice jewel drops this act, a 15 IAS/4min jewel and a scintillating something jewel. will have to look at it again, but remember it was nice

anyway
SparkyPancakes, ES NovaWaller, level 53 (i think), Lut Gholein

 

[jiansonz]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

He did have one brutal NDE to a Catapult though. He was walking around in the Frozen Tundra, and suddenly his life vanished! None left in the bulb! Can anyone explain how those ember things work? Sometimes they seem to do nothing as I walk over them. And sometimes they do the above (although it's usually not as scary since my characters have more 200 health or more).

The embers will lay on the ground for a while, then they will "detonate" (and then disappear), and that´s when they do damage. The sneaky part is that this damage will not cause the character to scream.

 

[UllaV]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

He did have one brutal NDE to a Catapult though. He was walking around in the Frozen Tundra, and suddenly his life vanished! None left in the bulb! Can anyone explain how those ember things work? Sometimes they seem to do nothing as I walk over them. And sometimes they do the above (although it's usually not as scary since my characters have more 200 health or more).

Jiansonz handled the details already but here is a tactical advise:

If you hug the wall or the edge and go up then come back down destroying the catapults you're never in any danger of catapult fire. With underdeveloped character I always work those catapult areas this way.

Ulla

 

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

The Seals and the forthcoming fight with Diablo ... frankly, I was terrified at the prospect. Still, on the bright side, maybe I'd die before I even saw a Seal! Sure enough, Hephasto required careful negotiation before he was prepared to offer up what he'd been hiding underneath the 'Forge. I really wanted an Amn, though.

Once in the Chaos Sanctuary, all that was really required was to DV the Venom Lords (their Infernoes are stone-cold killers if you aren't alert) and avoid getting hit too often by the OK's artillery. Lord de Seis offered little in the way of resistance - surprisingly - I thought he'd be nasty. The Infector of Souls, though ... he couldn't be Dimmed of course and he couldn't be evaded. Just look how far he chased me when I got separated from my merc - all the way back to the HellForge. How embarrassing!

Well, all the trials and tribulations were as nothing when I opened the last Seal and conjured Diablo. Even lowering from /Players 8 down to P1, this battle was frightening and could easily have ended the adventure. It took an age to finally manouevre Big D into the right position the first time, and every time I returned to town (Stam/Rejuv/Merc res/etc), I had to repeat the performance. It was risky - cast Bone Wall over Big D's head to tie him up and run in, hoping the merc would follow (and not get roasted!). After a few encounters, Big D could see the end coming, but he put up a huge fight right to the end. End he did though and I actually yelled for joy. My first HC character and I beat Diablo. To celebrate, Diablo dropped junk, but I don't care.

LCS readout here. My breast plate is up to two flawless topazes now, and I'm one chippy short of the third. Current MF is 106% - not great but MF works better if you survive encounters!

Stuff
Skills
Amp, Weaken, IM, Terror, Decrep, Life Tap. Lower Res - 1 pt
DV - 8
BA - 1
BW - 7
PDag - 15

BA - 125
Block - 75%
MF - 106%

Lower Resist gets cast occasionally, it boosts my kill speed some, but it costs so much mana it's not readily useable yet. I'm looking forward to Nightmare, where I habitually reduce the /Players setting to five (at least, for under-powered characters).

Act Highlight - getting chased nearly all the way back to the City of the Damned by the Infector of Souls - woot, woot!

Ah, Act 5 Normal now, let's hope they're not too many Slingers. :fingerscrossed:

[highlight]WitherStick, Poison Daggermancer, Level 35, Harrogath[/highlight]

 

[Ohomemgrande1]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Just look how far he chased me when I got separated from my merc - all the way back to the HellForge. How embarrassing!

My first HC character and I beat Diablo.

Run away and live to fight another day is what I always say in HC!

Congratulations on your first HC Diablo kill. I find that if I get past Normal Diablo, I can usually make it to Hell with careful and attentive play. This battle is usually a challenge so well done.

 

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Thanks, Oho!
HC really is a buzz - but maybe it's also the fact that my character has 15 Vitality that has something to do with it

 

[jiansonz]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Congrats to LozHinge for beating Diablo! I must say I fear him a lot. If I make it that far, I may resort to Bone Spirits cast around a corner (if that´s even possible to arrange).

Ah, Act 5 Normal now, let's hope they're not too many Slingers. :fingerscrossed:

There won´t be any, since they are guest monsters, and those do not spawn in Normal.

 

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Thanks very much, jiansonz. I hope I get to read about how your Spirits did their thing against Diablo

I didn't realise there's no guests in Normal. Heh - you think you know a game and then ...

 

[Brutass]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Damn Damn Damn and Damn again

Sparkles bit the dust.

She had made it to Durance 3 and something very strange happened. The remaining members of the council were not in their usual around the corner place so she proceeded towards Mephisto. Suddenly from across the moat a Meditiation Aura enchanted Brem shot a hydra and the green aura of death reducing her resistances to near nothing. She got a couple of lightning shots off but it was all over in a flash

Edit: Conviction Aura not Meditation Aura

A moments silence please in respect of the dead

Sparkles, Lite/Orb sorc, Level 27, Durance of Hate - RIP

 

[LozHinge the Unhinged]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

[...]

/silence

Commiserations, Brutass. The game is playing nasty tricks in this tourney.

 

[UllaV]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

RIP Sparkles.

Yes, Bremm is not always in his room, but on the right of the Meph area.

Ulla

 

[Brutass]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Thanks for the commiserations LtU & UllaV - extremely disappointing since she was becoming a force to be reckoned with.
I think I might create her clone in Softcore just to see how well she could have done under normal circumstances. I've never actually taken Lite/Orb sorcs that seriously until now - I see great potential in the build.
Whether I enter with another character, I'm not sure. I will think about it for a few days and then decide

 

[wakiki]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

HSF, thanks for the info, good luck wish, and rejoining. I did google the evil overlord list. Got several laughs from it (especially the "Do Not Press This Button" spraying bullets at you idea).

jian and Ulla, thanks for explaining that. I will use Ulla's tactic from now on.

LTU, killing Diablo is always satisfying. Congrats! You got alot farther than my first HC character did (slain by Elzix). (And he had vitality, too.)

Brutass, dang, sorry for your loss. Conviction Bremm is a beast. By the way, I've seen him spawn in the first room, in the archway, around the corner to the left, in the middle peninsula, and anywhere on the right edge near Wyand Voidbringer.

So far HanShotFirst, Bluechip, EmperorMoo, Brutass, and Jayem have each entered 4 times. They are the most. Many people have entered two or three times. I'd say the people retrying outnumber the people who stopped after one character. Cool!

 

[NagisaFurukawa]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

So far HanShotFirst, Bluechip, EmperorMoo, Brutass, and Jayem have each entered 4 times. They are the most. Many people have entered two or three times. I'd say the people retrying outnumber the people who stopped after one character. Cool!

Payment received, character creation commencing. .

Rejoining with a trapper. Not much to say so far. She's got most of her points in Energy and Fire Blast, and she isn't doing entirely full clears, so progress is quick. Once she's done with Fire Blast, she'll probably only then move on to Lightning Sentry and Death Sentry, assuming she even lasts that long. She won't be sacrificing her gear too heavily for MF, as she really doesn't need it, so *hopefully* that keeps her alive better than my previous attempt. Hopefully.

[highlight]Isumi, Trapper, Level 12, Stony Field[/highlight]

 

[EmperorMoo]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

So far HanShotFirst, Bluechip, EmperorMoo, Brutass, and Jayem have each entered 4 times. They are the most. Many people have entered two or three times. I'd say the people retrying outnumber the people who stopped after one character. Cool!

I don't know about the others, but it's sheer stubbornness keeping me coming back. I know I can at least get to hell in this tournament.

I know I might end up looking like this, however.

edit: deeds struck at Andy. Is there a special term for "being caught playing D2 by your boss, and having to talk to him whilst you watch your life bulb disappear?"

[highlight]Magrat_Garlick, Trapper, Lvl18, Catacombs Lvl4, RIP[/highlight]

 

[jiansonz]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

edit: deeds struck at Andy. Is there a special term for "being caught playing D2 by your boss, and having to talk to him whilst you watch your life bulb disappear?

1. Oops, playing at work...

2. Esc, then Alt+Tab before you get caught? Or at least Esc while you talk...

I did google the evil overlord list. Got several laughs from it (especially the "Do Not Press This Button" spraying bullets at you idea).

"The Top 100 Things I´d do if I Ever Became an Evil Overlord" - I LOVE that list! Here are some of my favourites:

34. I will not turn into a snake. It never helps.

37. If my trusted lieutenant tells me my Legions of Terror are losing a battle, I will believe him. After all, he's my trusted lieutenant.

46. If an advisor says to me "My liege, he is but one man. What can one man possibly do?", I will reply "This." and kill the advisor.

56. My Legions of Terror will be trained in basic marksmanship. Any who cannot learn to hit a man-sized target at 10 meters will be used for target practice.

98. If an attractive young couple enters my realm, I will carefully monitor their activities. If I find they are happy and affectionate, I will ignore them. However if circumstance have forced them together against their will and they spend all their time bickering and criticizing each other except during the intermittent occasions when they are saving each others' lives at which point there are hints of sexual tension, I will immediately order their execution.

 

[EmperorMoo]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

1. Oops, playing at work...

2. Esc, then Alt+Tab before you get caught? Or at least Esc while you talk...

Normally, yes. However, he came in like a whirlwind, and I had my office door open so I didn't even have any grace whilst he knocked/opened the door.

 

[Morathi1]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Ah damit!!!!!!! :banghead:.

Deeds in the Arcane Sanc!

Came up against a pack of Goat Men, the boss was LE/CE, brutal combination. I Fissured the group as they clogged up trying to get to us on the bridge. Lighting sparks flying everywhere. I dedicded while Volcano was on cool-down to engage behind my new Holy Freeze merc, Pratham, and lay some OW shots. Turned out to be the wrong decision! The lighting bolts from the boss killed my Oak's instantly. I tried to re-cast it, but i made the mistake by trying to re-cast the Oak's off the platform "in space". For some reason i thought that you could because Oak's always seem to fly out and roam around there. It took me too long to realise that this wasn't possible. With no Oak's and being in melee distance, it was deeds in seconds .

Its a shame really, becuase Drake had a bright future ahead of himself. He just assembled a nice Rhyme shield and he was looking as though, he could make it. Aw well, least i learn't that you can't cast Oak's "in space" in the Arcane Sanc :wink:.

Final stats:

[highlight]Drake the Fire Druid R.I.P, Level 58.1, Deeds in Arcane Sanctuary[/highlight]