The Certain Death Tournament.

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Cor Blimey said:
How did you cope with lightning resistant souls in NM WSK? I assume you are a lf'er.
Click to expand...


Damasque has 61 points in the fury tree with now fully developed poison skills casting fury and plague javelin at a maximum of level 29 at the moment.



 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Cor Blimey said:
But one-pass...hehe I can only imagine the tension on your HF drops, the one and only time you get to kill the countess, even a fallen is potential LeWt.
Click to expand...

Nightmare HF is a potentially game-altering drop, and can be very important. Hell HF not so much, since you obviously have a capable character already if you can get that far...

I have stopped having hopes for the Countess drops. She will occasionally give me a semi-useful rune, but often disappoints. I look forward to act boss drop a lot more, since they deliver at least on a semi-regular basis.



 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Icybiatch the Frost Maiden(i think i'll refer to her as Icy) has begun her quest to reach the dizzying heights of her old sister (Nastibiatch, remember?). There is little chance of acheiving this but with some women you just can't talk any sense to them.

Anyway, the den has been cleared easily and BloodRaven defeated. Blood Raven took a very long time to kill, as she wouldn't keep still long enough to get hit by more than 1 or 2 arrows in a row, and her minions insisted on standing in between Icy and herself which made it very difficult to hit her with any regularity.
Her current gear is absolutely rubbish but with her immense 18% MF in her 3 to defence cap, she is getting some regular rare drops but at this point not of much use.

IcyBiatch, Frost Maiden, Lvl 8, Cold Plains
 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

@LozHinge: Congrats on your first Destroyer. (I had mine recently, too)

@scottasin: I'd say Valk all the way. There are arguments for the merc (aura/20 saved skill points), but I think the incredible tankability along with recastability is worth it. YMMV, of course, and it also depends on whether your build is skillpoint intensive.

RIP Mouse and of_Worlds

I started back in act V at /p3, but even though there were still archer packs, there weren't as many, so the going was much easier and I switched back to /p5. I was glad the valk and decoy were tanking this scary little boss and not me. I also ran into the amusingly named Gut Drinker, who was unable to obtain any guts to drink, despite his best efforts.

While rescuing Anya, I found these +2 passive skill gloves, which were great for pre-buffing the valk. I decided to try to shop a pair of +3 gloves at Anya, but I never did find any. While I was looking for them I found several +skills claws that I bought for twinking future sins. I found a +3 shadow skills hat while I was at it too. Then a Martial Arts GC dropped. The game seems to think I'm an assassin.

On my way to the ancients, I found a nice pair of boots that I couldn't wear because the lightning res was too high. Talic spawned with spectral hit, Korlic spawned with fanaticism, and Madawc spawned lightning enchanted. The valk could have done the ancients by herself, but I didn't quite have enough patience for that, so I helped with guided arrow. From a safe distance.

I proceeded into the worldstone keep, still on /p5 (/p1 for the ancients), and cleared out WSK 2. At the entrance to WSK 2 I ran into two bosspacks, serpents, and poison mages. I didn't have anywhere safe and cleared to strafe from, so it was a bit tense for a bit, and I ended up much closer to the serpents than I wanted to be at least once, but eventually we killed them. I tried to see the boss mods, but didn't have enough time to spare to find out what they were for either of them.

After WSK 2 was completely clear, I stopped for awhile and came back to it later. I was nervous about the throne, since there have been 2 deeds in NM throne already, and one of them was a stairtrap. I'd decided not to use a sheild on switch for stairtraps, but I wasn't entirely sure that was the right decision. So I went down the stairs to the throne, hoping that there would not be a bosspack of assailants waiting for me. There was a bosspack of assailants waiting for me. Fortunately, they did not have a lethal combination of mods, so they died quickly.

I cleared out the side arms on the way to the throne room, and in the right branch, my level 25 valk got IM'd, and died instantly. I recast her at level 23 and continued strafing. This one did not get IM'd and did not die, although she did have an NDE while cursed and under heavy ranged fire from harpies and being surrounded by melee monsters. Right after I took that screenshot, I put a decoy next to her and spammed FA a couple of times, and that short break was all she needed to let her massive regen heal her.

I resummoned the valk in town at level 25, and dialed the /p setting down to 3 for baal's minions. Achmel's poison was pretty strong, enough to make me drink a rejuv and a healing potion, so I decided to abuse antidote potions to fix that (although I should have done that in the first place). Bartuc's minions chased me out of the throne room, since I only had 20% fire res, but were otherwise pushovers. The valk had no problem tanking lister.

I did Baal on /p1, and he wasn't too tough, although he did teleport next to me a couple of times, which was unnerving, and trapped me in the T-junction where he spawns for a bit. But he eventually died.

When I went to retrieve wirt's leg, Rakanisu dropped a dol. Since I'd cleared the area already, I couldn't keep it, but I did pick it up to mule off to a different stash. I did cows at /p5, and the valk had no problems tanking them. One group of them ended up swinging at her in unison for a bit, which was amusing.

I got a double unique drop, although I couldn't tell you if they were from the same monster or not, there were just too many of them. I also found a nice resistance jewel, which I suspect will be quite useful, as these were my resists entering hell. Next up: shopping, gambling, and gear swapping, in an attempt to get positive resists again. Also: this is my first Conqueror. :jig:

[highlight]ancalagon, Shatterproof, Strafer, level 71 (almost 72), Hell Rogue Camp[/highlight]
 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

scottasin, welcome to the tournament!

Cor Blimey, I Guardian'd a Meteorb sorceress (non-tournament, untwinked) by wearing fighting gear until I completed Nightmare. Then I went back and gathered from MF gear and completed a bunch of runs. No luxury of that in single-pass tournaments though. Every monster drop is precious, so magic find is amplified! On the other hand, if you die with your MF gear on, you feel silly. Nice pre-update, by the way. :) Your build description doesn't fit in the table, so I called him a "Mercadin." If you want me to call him something else, just say so. I tend to put whatever people use in their summaries on the table.

Tarantella, your progress is astonishing as always. Can you tell us how much life you have? I bet, with your Valk/Decoy, that you have not been hit once. Is this correct? I took one lightning blast from a regular Tainted in Nightmare and it took off 1/3rd of my health bar! I can only imagine what Hell damage is like.

Congrats, ancalagon! Both of our Hell players have Valks. I'm not surprised; Valks and Shadow Masters are probably our best bet for beating this tournament.

Here's the new table:

Code: 
Forum Name     Character       Class            Location               Level
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tarantella     Damasque        Skirmisher       (H)Kurast Docks          83
ancalagon T.B. Shatterproof    Strafer          (H)Rogue Encampment      71
scrcrw         Kaiko           Blade Fury Asn   (N)Throne of Destruction 72 RIP
Tarantella     Amarantine      Skirmisher       (N)Throne of Destruction 72 RIP
Mursilis       Jaheira         Trapsin          (N)Harrogath             65
HanShotFirst   Ulquiorra-san   Bone Necro       (N)Mephisto              64 RIP
Drystan        Argoel          Sorceress        (N)Kurast Docks          58
Morathi        Drake           Fire Druid       (N)Arcane Sanctuary      58 RIP
HanShotFirst   Helen           FA/Strafer       (N)Halls of the Dead L.1 54
scrcrw         Jenna           Poison Java      (N)Radament              53 RIP
soulmanz       SparkyPancakes  Novawaller       (N)Lut Gholein           53
Bluechip       Inevitability   Sorceress        (N)Black Marsh           44 RIP
Thomh          Uzumati         Fire Claws Bear  (N)Dark Wood             49
wakiki         Shadow_Salad    Meleemancer      (N)Dark Wood             49
NagisaFurukawa Rin             Strafer          (N)Underground Passage   46 RIP
jdkerr         Lifeless        Wind Druid       (N)Rogue Encampment      48
HanShotFirst   Mara            Traps            (N)Rogue Encampment      48
LozHinge T.U.  WitherStick     Poison Dagger    (N)Rogue Encampment      48
Alfonso T.G.   TheAragorn      Ranger Paladin   The Secret Cow Level     46
cenyth         Teff            ES Sorceress     Baal                     48 RIP
EmperorMoo     MELIKECAKE      Concbarb         Crystalline Passage      37 RIP
HanShotFirst   Scorn           Fire Druid       Diablo                   34 RIP
Mournblade     Mouse           Golemancer       Diablo                   31 RIP
Brutass        Tane            Summ/Fire Druid  Diablo                   30 RIP
nermind        EatMyBones      Bonemancer       Chaos Sanctuary          34 RIP
EmperorMoo     FineFingers     Strafezon        Chaos Sanctuary          31 RIP
kavarin        Roadkill        Fire/Wolf        River of Flame           36
wakiki         BathtubPancake  Charge/H.Freeze  River of Flame           34 RIP
pepitosari     SassyAssasin    Assassin         River of Flame           33 RIP
jiansonz       Morte           Mojo/Bonemancer  Pandemonium Fortress     32
Brutass        Sparkles        Lite/Orb Sorc    Bremm Sparkfist          27 RIP
Zelator        WitchOfEndor    CE/Curse Necro   Flayer Jungle            29
soulmanz       SwayBabySway    Passivezon       Kurast Docks             27
JayeM          Glassjaw        Barbarian        False Tomb               25 RIP
Bluechip       Vitamin         Throwbarb        False Tomb               23 RIP
Ohomemgrande   GeneralJoe      Summon Necro     Canyon of the Magi       25
PepitoSari     Kratos          Barbarian        Fangskin                 25 RIP
scrcrw         Clodius         Throwbarb        Maggot Lair level 3      21 RIP
Morathi        Sibella         Cold Sorc        Maggot Lair              24 RIP
JayeM          Glasscannon     Assassin         Maggot Lair              20 RIP
JayeM          Trixie          Bladesin         Rocky Waste              20 RIP
holiecows      HolieTraps      Assassin         Lut Gholein              21
QuickDeath     CandleintheWind Javazon          Lut Gholein              20
Morathi        Iago            Fury/Rabies      Lut Gholein              20
Bluechip       Murderherder    Hunter Druid     Lut Gholein              19
EmperorMoo     Magrat_Garlick  Trapsin          Andariel                 18 RIP
JayeM          GlassEye        Necromancer      Jail Level 2             17 RIP
Galningen      KingLeoric      Bonemancer       Jail Level 1             19
UllaV          Tilsit          Blizballer       Barracks                 18 RIP
sirpoopsalot   QuestionMarks   ES/GS Sorc       Barracks                 18 RIP
Brutass        Snatch          Trapsin          Barracks                 18 RIP
Bluechip       Sickness        Poison Javazon   Barracks                 15 RIP
NagisaFurukawa Isumi           Trapper          Forgotten Tower          15 RIP
Jason Maher    Lurz            Summoning Druid  Dark Wood                14
scrcrw         of_Worlds       Light Sorc       Underground Passage      14
XxUberStarxX   Inevitable      Chargadin        Stony Field              12
Shaandore      Fastpoison      Psn/Feral Rage   Stony Field              12
mattinm        TomCruise       Leap/Howl/Ward   Stony FIeld              12
NagisaFurukawa Kirei           Bonemancer       Cold Plains              8
Brutass        Icybiatch       Frost Maiden     Cold Plains              8
Galningen      Blade           Bf/Light Traps   Cold Plains              6
EmperorMoo     BraveSirRobin   Mojomancer       Cold Plains              6
Brutass        Sparky          Lite/Orb Sorc    Den of Evil              6  RIP
scottasin      Todetta         Amazon           Den of Evil              5
Kefka          Fergie          Trappa           Rogue Encampment         1
maareek        DeathtoCurtains Berserker        Rogue Encampment         1
Myth           RAWR            Throwbarb        Rogue Encampment         1
Machete        Benny           Bow Barb         Rogue Encampment         1
Zefimas        Susannah        Bowzon           Rogue Encampment         1
crazy_bear     Britta          Trapsin          Rogue Encampment         1
EmperorMoo     Circe           Sorceress        Rogue Encampment         1
Cor Blimey     Sir_Healzealot  Mercadin         Rogue Encampment         1
 
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Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

wakiki said:
Tarantella, your progress is astonishing as always. Can you tell us how much life you have? I bet, with your Valk/Decoy, that you have not been hit once. Is this correct? I took one lightning blast from a regular Tainted in Nightmare and it took off 1/3rd of my health bar! I can only imagine what Hell damage is like.
Click to expand...

If you have no means of clearing bodies resummoned monsters can make it very difficult.

In Hell, apart from the hit in act 1 Damasque hasn't been hit by anything with an aura, though she suffered the occasional melee tap from a skeleton summons whilst manuevering around to poison an unraveller and collected a bit of minimal damage off dying beetles and LE's.

Life is high though. Stats are displayed in the photo attached to name on final line.The breakdown is 50(starting) + 164 (82 levels) + 40 (2 x A3Q1 quests)+ 36(GC)+ 28(LC) +16(SC) +13(Amulet)+45(GloomsTrap) +104!(Spirit Forge).

I could put on the Sander gloves for another 40 at the cost of removing the lancers battle gauntlets and pop two jewels in the forge slots for another 18 + 7 Life but if I can find a suitable monarch and make spirit I was saving those slots for the possibility of resist runes.



 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

@wakiki: Mouse didn't get updated on the latest table, should be level 31, died to Diablo. Don't matter much to me as he is nowhere near the top, but I get the feeling you like to have it accurate.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Got Svelte Savage off the ground. Playing her on player 7 so far. Currently using a spear of blight, 7 poison over 2 seconds. No runes, no set/uniques yet. Cleared to Stony Field. Next up is Underground Passage.

The Cave was full of scary stuff, but no NDEs. We met a holy freeze hungry dead boss, two dark ranger bosses running together, and a champion dark ranger pack, and then Cold Crow, who was the worst with that freezing arrow, got her to 1/2 life and let my rogue merc Ithera take her out.

Best find so far: Camphor Jewel of Envy (20 poison over 2 seconds, 11% lightning resist)

1 - jab
1 - inner sight
5 - critical strike
4 - dodge

I will keep a mercenary, so no valkyrie. Is it recommended to put points in avoid and evade for a spearazon?

[highlight]Svelte_Savage, Spearazon, Level 13, Stony Field[/highlight]
 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Well Mara isn’t through NM Act 2 yet but Thanksgiving is upon us and family is coming and there’s so much to do that this is going to be my last update until maybe sometime around next Monday.

Mara made it up to and through the NM Arcane Sanctuary doing full clears at Players 7.

Early NM Act 2 continued the disappointment that had been NM Act 1 . . . set/uniques were rare and mostly useless and runes were next to nonexistent. The battles were also pretty boring . . . Mara continued to spam Lightning Sentry at the edge of the screen wherever she went (resulting in probably 80% of her kills being off screen . . . now that’s fighting like an Evil Overlord if you ask me).

The first real bit of excitement was reaching the Halls of the Dead (where my last character had been slain by a unique slinger door trap) so Mara approached this area with extreme caution. The tactic of choice was to drop a Lightning Sentry (or three or four) in front of any door that was closed and then making sure that she opened the door from the side . . . and it was a good thing that she did. The very first door that she opened in the Halls of the Dead was trapped with a unique slinger group that could have created an instant repeat of my last character . . . but thankfully I had learned from last time and this time it was Mara that got to do the corpse dancing! The Halls of the Dead continued to be very dangerous (almost every door had monsters waiting immediately on the other side) but the drops were pretty good for the first time since entering NM. In the Halls of the Dead Level 3 Mara found a four socket battle scythe (oh Sol, come out, come out, wherever you are) . . . Mizan hadn’t had a weapon upgrade since Act 5 . . . Insight would have been nice but Mara’s highest rune was a Thul . . . so moving on . . . happily moments later Mara found Hwanin’s Bill (which was still a big upgrade)!

The Hwanin’s Bill soon came in handy in the Maggot Lair (traps seem to have a bit of trouble shooting around hair pin turns :nod: ). The Maggot Lair was sort of slow going but Mara still cleared the entire area and it’s a good thing she did because in the very last room of the Maggot Lair Level 1 Mara found a Tarnhelm (the stats were rather low but it was still gladly put to use). The Maggot Lair also offered up the Arctic Gloves (that were equipped for the plus twenty life).

The plus twenty life boost from the Arctic Gloves was nice but nothing compared to the boost that came from this next item! An Amn Rune! . . at long last! After clearing out the rest of the Lost City Mara created this Spirit Long Sword and reorganized her equipment resulting in these vastly improved stats. So, between the Maggot Lair and the Lost City Mara had managed to gain 82 life and plus three skills! . . not bad for one play session. :smug:

Clearing the rest of NM Act 2 through the Arcane Sanctuary was pretty uneventful. Pretty much everything in the Claw Viper Temple was killed off screen. The elemental enchanted archers in the Palace hurt but not too much. The Arcane Sanctuary another area where pretty much everything was killed off screen. Mara kept a sharp eye out for Drake’s group of CE/LE Goatman but didn’t see them so I had to settle for clearing everything and instead dancing on the Summoner’s corpse in Drake’s honor. :nod:

Random set/unique finds not mentioned included: Isenhart’s Armor, Zakarum’s Hand, Hand of Broc, Sigon’s Shield, and Sigon’s Greaves. Mara also managed to gamble a Gloom’s Trap (what are the odds) that I equipped for a net plus 30 life but soon unequipped because the minus three to light radius made it so that Mara couldn’t see where she was going. Also, in addition to finding the Amn in the Lost City another Amn Rune was found in the Arcane Sanctuary and also an Io Rune!

[highlight]Mara, Traps, NM Canyon of the Magi, Level 57[/highlight]
 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

@Wakiki: mercadin is great, thanks.

@Hanshot:

so, from a screenshot you posted, we are allowed unlimited +vit on items? I realise +health mods are capped at 30 per item. Does this 'health' include health derived from +vit?
 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Life is capped at 30 for magic and rare items (Jackal,Fox Wolf and Tiger Suffixes) but not for set, unique or crafted items or runewords.

Items with centaur or elephant suffix can be worn till they breach the 30 limit

Vitality is not capped.

Details on page 1 of thread.
 
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Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Morte found an awesome item for Iantha in Outer Steppes: Twitchthroe! At the cost of slightly weaker arrow shots, she can now pump them out faster.

Izzy and Phatso were handled easily, thanks to Morte´s bony tools and some curses.

Wow, the Chaos Sanctuary was a complete breeze! Far easier than usual. That´s what I´ve always said about that place: get a strong Rogue and some nice crowd control for the job and you´re laughing.

I decided to use my nice new Throwing Spears against Diablo. Javelin throwing is my preferred method to beat Normal D, pretty much no matter what class or build I play. Since that meant I was going to lose +15 life and resists from Blood Crescent, I shopped some temporary items (Light Plated Boots, Light Plate, Crown) to boost fire resist and life. That also gave me 20% Faster Run. Here is Morte´s pre-Diablo stats. Blocking is maxed.

Fight went easy enough, but unfortunately, Iantha´s suffered her first death (I saw no way to save her without risking Morte´s life). Decrepify makes Diablo far less scary. His Charges get laughably slow, and you can see a Firestorm coming from miles away (you can pretty much be on the opposite side of Diablo when the flames arrive to where you were standing...).

On two occasions, I ran diagonally through a Flame Nova shot, and I think I got hit by 2-3 of those fire segemnt. Life went down to about 60%, which was slightly scary. When Diablo was slivered, I put on my MF gear, hit him with two more javelins and that was that. Five items dropped - a good outcome on /players 1, I think.

Best find was this bow, that will look pretty nice on Iantha as a Cedar Bow. Which I could have upgraded right now if I had, you know, an AMN rune, wakiki...

(yeah, and don´t even get me started about how many Amn runes we are going to need to craft not just a Colossus Blood craft amulet, but a good Colossus Blood craft amulet...)

Oh well, time to roll on in Act V and gain enough levels to freakin´ max Bone Spirit. I need to watch out for those fire/poison catapult shots, I know.

Btw, if Morte survives far, he´s going to be the most agile Necromancer you´ve ever seen, and he will likely be able to have max blocking even with necro heads with awful base blocking.


[Highlight]Morte the Mojo/Bonemancer and Iantha the Cold Rogue, level 35, Bloody Foothills next.[/Highlight]
 
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Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

@Hans. Wooooh! Go Mara! Drake is looking down on you with a wide grin :). He will try and guide you through the rest of your journey, spiritually of course :smug:. Its the least he can do after you avenged his death :nod:. Now its his brother, Iago's turn!

@Jian. Well done getting through Act 4! Is this the first time you have gone down as low as p/1 vs Big D? I can't remember you dropping that low vs him in normal. I guess you had to sacrifice a chance of a better drop, for Morte's life.

@Wakiki. Hahaha. I love my druids, so i try to make the journey i have with them exciting to read about. However i never would have expected Iago to be doing this well (yes i know its only Act 2 Normal, but still). Having the ability to leech at very fast speed has allowed for a very safe and speedy progress.

@My own progess. Iago is still resting at Kurast Docks, i have had no time to play today as i have spent the day traveling from the Seismic Camp, to now being at Tehran. Might get time later tonight....we shall see.
 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

@Tarantella, thanks. I did read the details, several times, but it was not explicit on +vit.

edit: update:
(I realise Act1 normal is hardly worth an update, hehe, but Sir_Healzealot feels he did a good job.)


Lvl 11 by the start of stony field. I have not done a full clear for a long time, and the experience on p8 was great. At level 11 there was a big drop in experience as the +5 level diminishing returns kicked in. I was, however, a little bored, with no attack skills and a merc not suited to my build. I switched to players 1 and guided the noble knight running past every mob, skipping Cain and the Countess straight through to inner cloisters - I will return later for Wirt's leg, the Malus and a chance at an amazing Ral rune!!). I need to keep a bit of a challenge in after all :D

Once he reached the Inner cloisters he proceeded to enter the musty crypts. He was surprised to discover such a perfect map for Andy running, but unfortunately he feels his future travels will preclude returning (i.e. one-pass :)). After quickly cleaning out the atrium to the throne room with the fury of throwing axes and a few cheeky charges against shamans we proceeded into the stench of corruption. The steadfast Rogue battled hard against the demon Queen, and with the help of some divine healing managed to stay alive quite long. However, our loveable Rogue, whilst deadly with the bow and with sufficient quick wits and intelligence for an inner sight of enemies, is a bit thick and decided to tank the Queen --> exactly what I wanted, so I could heal her in peace..and yes she survived :). demon in her place. The Rogues, and the Western Kingdoms, are free again. With the demon dead, I can safely say that http://dl.dropbox.com/u/395181/D2/Screenshot002.jpg
And so, on to act 2.

Current status:
Code: 
Name:       Sir_Healzealot
Class:      Paladin
Experience: 241234
Level:      16

            Naked/Gear
Strength:   45/45
Dexterity:  50/56
Vitality:   25/25
Energy:     40/40
HP:         85/90
Mana:       75/75
Stamina:    104/116
Defense:    12/112
AR:         235/287

Fire:       17/-23/-83
Cold:       19/-21/-81
Lightning:  17/-23/-83
Poison:     15/-25/-85

MF:         0       Block:      64
GF:         0
FR/W:       0
FHR:        10
IAS:        0
FCR:        0

Sacrifice: 0/0
Smite: 1/1
Holy Bolt: 7/7
Zeal: 0/0
Charge: 1/1
Vengeance: 0/0
Blessed Hammer: 0/0
Conversion: 0/0
Holy Shield: 0/0
Fist of the Heavens: 0/0

Might: 1/1
Holy Fire: 0/0
Thorns: 0/0
Blessed Aim: 0/0
Concentration: 0/0
Holy Freeze: 0/0
Holy Shock: 0/0
Sanctuary: 0/0
Fanaticism: 0/0
Conviction: 0/0

Prayer: 4/4
Resist Fire: 0/0
Defiance: 1/1
Resist Cold: 0/0
Cleansing: 1/1
Resist Lightning: 0/0
Vigor: 0/0
Meditation: 0/0
Redemption: 0/0
Salvation: 0/0

Best/Favourite Item:
Code: 
Storm Rend
Throwing Axe
Throw Damage: 8 - 13
One Hand Damage: 4 - 8
Quantity: 34/130
Required Level: 3
Required Dexterity: 40
Fingerprint: 0xd3840549
Item Level: 12
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Maximum Damage
+15 to Attack Rating
+51% Damage to Undead
+67 to Attack Rating against Undead
Adds 1 - 8 Lightning Damage
Adds 7 Poison Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
Replenishes quantity

A little video showing the fight against Andy. In it some of the potential of this build can be seen, but obviously it cannot be demonstrated properly with the Rogue. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/395181/D2/Game 2009-11-25 14-20-30-34 compressed.avi (~6mb), click to watch in your browser or right-click->save link as for offline viewing. (for those of you procrastinating at work, it contains sound)...and yes, I realise I spent 10 seconds trying to kill a shaman before realising my thowing axes weren't long enough range :D
 
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Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Cor Blimey said:
-secondly, 20 points of Telekinesis absorbs roughly 0.8 dmg per mana lost. At level 70 (about the level for entering hell on a one-pass only game) liberally assuming all stat points into energy, her base mana is (33+70*2+5*2*71)=883 mana, plus maybe a couple of hundred more from gear. Let's call it 1200 mana, possibly more if you forget any pretence at resists and go sapphires throughout and so on. A players-1 soul in Hell WSK does around 200 average damage, but if the whole bolt passes through you then you are struck multiple times (up to 5 times from each lightning bolt). So that is, up to 500 absorbed by your e-shield (0.5*200*5). 500 to your health where it goes through the resistance mechanism, so assuming the max allowed resistance of 50% your health pool takes 250 damage.

Conclusion: a sorceress will not survive, regardless of e-shield, a full hit of soul lightning. Given they come in packs of around 4..that is a lot of kiting and frenetic dodging :D
Click to expand...

I believe you may be mistaken on your damage calculations with regards to ES.

Your energy shield skill level determines how much damage gets diverted to mana.

Your telekinesis synergy determines how much mana you lose from the damage that is diverted to the ES.

So for a skill level 20 ES, 75% of the damage will go to mana. It doesn't matter your TK skill level. For a 100 point attack, 75 damage goes to mana and 25 damage goes to health (where it is then further modified by resistances and DR).

At this point, the TK synergy kicks in. Telekinesis affects the "multiplier", which at 1 hard point of TK is 1.93. That means that the damage diverted to the energy shield is multiplied by 1.93 and that's how much mana you lose.

So, for a 20 ES, 1 TK skill distribution, a 100 point damage would cause a loss of 25 health (before resistance) and 145 mana (75 * 1.93).

For a 20 ES, 20 TK distribution, that changes to 25 health and 56 mana (0.75 multiplier; 75 * 0.75).

Let's look at the gloam example again and assume 5 shots of 200 points, 50% lightning resistance, 20 ES/20 TK. To make it easy, I'm just going to assume 1000 points of damage.

250 points would go to health which would then be modified by 50% LR resulting in 125 points of damage.

750 points would go to mana which would be multiplied by 0.75 for a loss of 563 mana points.

I think that you could survive a direct hit as an ES sorceress based on those numbers.

Additionally, if you can manage to find some +skills or get fortunate to make Memory (+6 to ES), you can increase the amount of damage that gets diverted to the ES.

ES skill of 25 = 80% to mana
ES skill of 30 = 85% to mana

Now we're talking 100 points of health or 75 points of health for those 5 blasts of lightning.

That's certainly safe enough to be able to escape from a gloam I would think (and +10 to ES isn't unreasonable in this tournament if you manage to make Memory (Lum + Io + Sol + Eth))

Frankly though, how many characters in this tournament could survive 5 direct shots from a gloam anyway (assuming 1000 total points of damage)?



 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

yes, you are right. I can't believe I did not factor in the ES level :p

I was also wrong on the health aspect. I thought that vit has to be base, and health has to be base except for the charms, therefore giving about 200-250 health. After reading more closely what other people have done, and the rules, in fact it would not be hard to have well over 400 health in this tournament. (base life, around twenty on each piece of gear and the allowed charms. Say at level 66 (for easy sums), with 10 +vit (harder to find than +life), and 1.5 health per level (sorc is 1, but 1.5 is pretty average across the classes), 66*1.5+40+60+10*2+20*10+3*30 = 510.

A bo barb could buff that to around 1200, which is not too bad for hell (well, it is but given the restrictions :)). A druid with max sage and lycanthropy could have over well over 2000 health. Not too shabby, eh..

As per the ES sorc. assuming 400 health, 1500 mana, 20 tk (implying 0.89 mana per damage point), 30 (pre-buffed) ES (0.85:1 to mana), then

assuming unlimited mana and 50%lr the sorc can take
400/(0.5*0.15) ~= 5300 damage before dropping dead (i.e. effective health =5300)

However, assuming finite mana then the damage absorbed by her mana is
1500/(0.85*0.89)~=2000

However, during that period she is still taking damage. The total amount of damage she can take before dropping is
2000+400*2-2000*0.15*0.5 = 2650 points of lightning damage. This is about the same as the barb, but less than the druid.

However, no sane person will be standing still during this period (unless you get hit-locked, in which case gg). An insight on the merc, and a couple of health potions, will ensure virtual immunity except against a very large amount of damage in a short period.

Against all non-magic/elemental forms of damage, the sorceress equals the barbarian and druid, because 400/0.15 is the limiting factor in this case. However, it is trivial to chug a potion to heal her, whereas healing 3000 health on the druid is no small matter. Indeed, the druid and barbarian will have to drink 6 and 2/3 times as many health potions than she will.

Conclusion: Even a charge from Hell Duriel is a piffling matter.
 
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Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Act 1 Nightmare is a ... nightmare. Every time I go underground, I feel I may never see the sun again. Even with the /Players setting toned down to 5, kill speed is quite slow and threat development very fast. Stress!

Enough hysterics. The first major challenge, Blood Raven, was a tactical success. Separated from her Army of the Dead (thanks for the invite, maybe later), she was pinned like a bug and slain.

I'll admit that Rakanishu scared me a little, throwing out bolts like that. I managed to position him away from me in time for his death explosion. The Underground Passage Levels 1 & 2 were negotiated (I had a bad feeling about that place) and soon, Treehead Woodfist was chasing me for what felt like a long time. I eventually manoeuvred him to a clump of trees that I could run around, whilst keeping him in range of the merc's rare Pike.

That was all fun and games though, as I reached the Countess's tower and descended. I was convinced that it was in this place that I was going to meet my end. A double boss pack of Ghosts, including Extra Fast within their mods, made me think, "This is it", but we prevailed. The Countess herself appeared to drop four runes - 2 Elds, Eth and Tal - not sure whether that is possible, but I'm sure that's what I saw.

It was The Hole, though ... that place filled me with dread. I was relieved to find only one boss pack of Misshapen near the entrance, and I was lucky to have been able to clear some running space before encountering them. Still, I had an NDE when I rushed in to try to save the merc and got mobbed. Hurray for Terror.

After locating the Black Marsh WP, I decided it was time to rescue The Old Dodderer. Tristram just needed careful play - Griswold was a tough old bird as usual, but tactics won out - I stabbed him in the back and ran away, maybe twenty-five times. Hawkmail had dropped from the first group of monsters I met in Tristam, and I grateful replaced Sigon's on the merc for it. Handy CBF in time for Griswold :thumbup:

I now stand at the entrance to the Tamoe Highland, but my nerves are shot so it's update time, as you see. LCS readout as of now is here. My merc needs an upgraded weapon, with LL hopefully, as I cannot always be there with Life Tap (I have my own worries!). Merc deaths number around five (or maybe even six) since starting Nightmare, which is nothing short of scandalous :) Krises, belts, diamonds and staves are being sought as we speak.

Stuff
Skills
Amp, Weaken, IM, Terror, Decrep, Life Tap. Lower Res - 1 pt (3 pts)
DV - 10 (12)
BA - 1 (3)
BW - 13 (15)
PDag - 20 (22)
Teeth, CE - 1 (3) (Pre-reqs only, not to be used)

BA - 235
Block - 75%
MF - 18%
Useful charms, GC 23 Life, LC 16 Life, SC 12 Life plus some with +Max Dam, +FHR, +Str, +AR and resists.

Act Highlight - not dying in The Cave, The Underground Passage, The Forgotten Tower, The Hole, etc etc.

[highlight]WitherStick, Poison Daggermancer, Level 49, The Tamoe Highland (NM)[/highlight]
 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Quick question for the original poster...

I just accidentally put 5 points into vitality... wasn't paying attention and thought I was clicking dexterity... Can I keep playing but under some form of penalty? Perhaps no small charm with a life mod, or something along those lines? I feel like a complete fool...
 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Thanks, Mournblade. I'll fix him.

scottasin said:
Quick question for the original poster...

I just accidentally put 5 points into vitality... wasn't paying attention and thought I was clicking dexterity... Can I keep playing but under some form of penalty? Perhaps no small charm with a life mod, or something along those lines? I feel like a complete fool...
Click to expand...

Oops! I've almost done that before. It's an easy mistake to make, and I think one or two people did it in the No Vitality tournament as well.

I guess you have a few options The problem with going without a charm is that most won't have +15 life at that stage. If you found a grand charm with 15 life and small resist, and you avoided using that in favor of a grand charm with just small resist, that could work. You could keep track of the +life on your items and replace your gear with less, with the difference being 15 or more. There are many options. Like, say you gamble a plated belt with +20 life....now you say to yourself "okay, I can use one with up to +5 life." But the problem is, let's say that your original gamble was +20 life only, and now your +5 life belt has 10 cold resist. That's an advantage, right? Bleh. Same problem with charms, or any peice of gear.

You could just continue on and ignore the points. Problem is, there would always be a nagging voice in the back of your head, especially any time you ever have an NDE...

Or you could just restart. If you are in Act I, that would probably be the best option.



 
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