Re: The Certain Death Tournament.
Congrats to our first Guardian! I only hope more people can be so fortunate.
Warning, tediously detailed post ahead.
tl:dr: noobmancer Arvon II survives Act I in melodramatic fashion
So! With Arvon II I was far, far more cautious than with Arvon the Unfortunate. I didn't even visit the Den of Evil until Arvon had reached Level 6 and discarded his wand (and erstwhile skeletal companion) to become that delightful provisional build known as Stingermancer. Right off the bat I bought a good socketed dirk off Charsi and put in a chipped emerald - couldn't wait for an Envy to drop - and prepared to play the waiting game with pretty much every monster I came across.
Poison-and-run may not be the most savory of techniques, but it certainly did wonders, and for the more persistent creatures there was also
amplify damage + stabbity-stabby to death.
Unlike Arvon I, I didn't have a lot of early luck with topazes, but I did get this
grand charm that I thought was a pretty neat early booster for a no-vit contest.
As soon as I could, I got myself a cold rogue and headed for Blood Raven. Olena starts out two levels below me, but she will learn, oh yes, she will learn...
When Blood Raven went down, she was so far away (poisoned or not that girl can dash!) that we only saw the tail end of her chain lightning graphics as we chopped down the last of her Hungry Dead.
A neat charm in the Stony Field ensured that Arvon II had a permanent headstart over Arvon I in terms of +life, but there was still no sign of that topaz luck. Oh well, life's not all about magic find, and, as most of the SPF would know, if you're not getting enough loot, kill more damn monsters (of course, most of the SPF here seems to be preoccupied with the idea of killing ALL the damn monsters).
Surprisingly, judicious usage of the Terror curse, coupled with the long duration but sizeable damage on my poison dagger, made clearing my way through angry hordes of corrupted rogues, fiendish smurfs and angry porcupines far easier than I thought it would be. I realized what I had become as I herded off yet another Terrorized flock of poisoned monsters in order to face down an S/U: A Nancymancer!
In the Dark Woods, Treehead Woodfist dropped
my first Unique of this run. Mmm! Now I have something on switch with which to thwack things that I don't have to poison!
"Deckard Cain. If you value your life, leave here immediately!" With that melodramatic declaration, I rescue Cain and proceed to loot Tristram dry.
To celebrate Cain's successful retrieval, I decided to try my luck with Gheed, who chose now to tell me he'd hoped to never see my kind again before selling me
this baby. Great, I thought, all I need is a new pair of boots. And
lo and behold...
Hear that? It's the sound of my luck changing, that 666 in my stash notwithstanding. Of course, I continued spending, but when I ended up with
this pretty creature for my Rogue, I decided, spooked, that it was time to stop pushing it.
On my way down to meet the Countess I got pushed back by a bit of a pack, but fended them off before I got cornered.
Ain't nobody gonna stair-trap me on Normal Act I, no sir. My topaz luck came flooding back, and I'd filled my three-socket ring mail before long, giving me a rather decent MF rating of 50% in total. Still can't compare to Arvon I's 64%, but that's all dead and buried, now...
Normal Countess drops are usually rubbish, but I got blessed with a
neat shield that will carry me until I find a useful +curse head to go with the Knell Striker.
Pretty soon (and uneventfully, aside from a surprisingly high number of Champion packs from the Tamoe Highlands all the way to the Devilkin Shamen surrounding The Smith himself), Arvon II had found the Jail, reaching level 18 and
surpassing Arvon I. I immediately went to celebrate my emptying out my stash into Gheed's pocket, but found nothing useful in return. That's Lady Luck for you!
Poison Explosion is my first AoE damage spell and I have a great deal of fun watching monsters drop dead with the poison-daggeresque damage done in 2 seconds instead of 6. Dark Ones, Bone Archers, Wraiths (ooh, don't you love how they stack on each other in their haste to get to you) and other fiends all fell prey to the toxic clouds emitting from the bodies of their own slain brethren. Best of all, its mana cost was so cheap I felt like I was cheating.
Pitspawn Fouldog died somewhere off-screen, still trapped in his cage. Bone Ash was slain in a poison duel. I progressed without mercy.
Andariel was a really nerve-wracking fight. Several times I had to flee with my health going down to 1, dodging that last burst of poison just after I applied my own. Olena wasn't very much help, but she at least occupied Andariel for periods at a time while I dashed about and attempted to administer
my dagger to Andariel's hairy back. It got really bad at some points - when Andariel was about 60% down I had to pause the game and grab a steadying glass of water. Every time I ran out of antidotes, stamina, or health potions I'd dash right back to the Rogue Encampment for more.
Eventually, however, my efforts paid off. I began to relax as Andariel's life shrunk to a sliver, and delivered the last stab at my leisure.
Good win out in glory in the end! Useless loot, but oh god, so much satisfaction.
And with that, Arvon packs off with Warriv, and off he goes to Act II! Without even going out to level up, Arvon quickly sacks Olena and hires Gulzar, a tough Combat merc, selling Olena's lifestealing longbow for an imposing-looking poleaxe. That done, I exited, satisfied that Arvon II had been overall satisfactory.
Knowing my luck, though, I'm probably going to lose all this work to beetle bolts on my way out of town. Oh no!
Arvon (the Second), Nancy/Stinger/Splodermancer, Aspiring Novamancer, Level 19-going-on-20; accompanied by the surly Level 18 Gulzar the Combat Mercenary - Lut Gholein.
Google