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Vessel of Hatred

The Certain Death Tournament.

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Hp_Sauce said:
My favorite is when monsters come on screen, and my merc starts running away from them. My knee jerk reaction is to run towards the monsters, so I can tug on his leash and pull him towards the monsters. In response to this he generally charges straight past the monsters and up to the edge of the screen where he agro's a few more monsters. By this time the original monsters have engaged me, so I have to retreat away from them, which give Haseen another mighty tug and he immediately charges back down past me, dragging all the freshly agro'd monsters along with him towards me.
Click to expand...
Sounds way too familiar. I think Haseen and Azrael went to the same merc training school. :steam:

Well, I suppose I should be nice though. He did serve me well in Act 4, where for the first while the monsters seemed to target him well. They started ignoring him after I was forced to TP to get him back... maybe that is what triggers that particular "feature". The plains of despair had burning souls of course, and one blast from a small I failed to dodge ... just a tiny tiny sliver of red at the bottom of the bulb. OUCH!
Here's a picture of Izual ignoring the merc he can't get past.
Here's the Hellforge drop. 'Um' - interesting find, not sure what the best use is at this point.
Here's Azrael tanking D. I guess Britta has to be nice now.
Here's D's Drop

So Britta is off to act V!

[highlight]Britta, lvl 66 Trapsin, NM Harrogath[/highlight]



 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Found this thread on the 3rd page... What's going on? Where are all the suicidal people?

I have played only HC since sometime during 1.09. So I consider myself to be fairly experienced. Not necessarily skilled, but experienced, I have a pretty good idea of where the hard parts are. Looking ahead I have fear, fear of: Souls in the Plains of Despair, Diablo, Souls in Act 5, Frenzytaurs in Act 5, Evil Urns that I can't resist opening, The Ancients and stair traps in WSK level 5 and Throne of Destruction. (That's a condensed list of the worst... I could go on).

Today I discovered that the Plains of the Despair was Soul free! YAY! (delaying the inevitable).

Anyway, in the Outer Steppes, I had troubles with Haseen. I won't get into that now, maybe I'll tell that story later.

The entrance to the Plains of Despair was guarded by a pack of Champion Doom Knights(note the aura), backed by a might enchanted extra fast pack of Venom Lords. It was tough... but really it was the best place to have this battle because the stairs funneled them into much smaller battles. Still I ended up spending 150,000 on my merc (they all hit hard). The Venom Lords are immune to fire, have 50% physical resistance, and 75% lightning resistance... they were a pain in the *** to kill! But once I discovered that the 3rd monster type was those corpse eaters (and not Souls) I was delighted!

The Lower Resist wand is starting to get expensive, but vs the Venom Lords it was important. In packs of more than 3, they would overpower Haseen and take his life down faster then we could produce a body (for DS).

Izual died surprisingly fast with LR on him.

Stats, just for fun.

The City of the Damned rolled with Pit Lords, bats, and those Finger things. The Pit Lords were hard to kill, just like the Venom Lords, but the lack of Tainteds was a welcome surprise. I found the WP and proceeded to clear the rest of the area.

Ahead is Hephesto, whom I fear also.
I still have not found a decent 4os Polearm to build 'Insight' into. I did find a white Thresher, which I may try to socket. Haseen is definitely suffering from lack of life leech, which could potentially be improved by more damage.

[highlight]AlreadyDead, Trapper, City of the Damned WP (Hell), Level 80[/highlight]

-hps
 
Last edited:
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Gratz to crazy_bear and Hp for progress so far. I hope my Act 4 is a "soulless" experience (if I get that far!) in Hell as it was in Nightmare.

I'm still in the game, but have needed a break from D2 due to RL issues. I hope to be back soon. WitherBow is just about to start the Canyon of the Magi, which should be a nice gentle intro to the Tombs :dread:
 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Fantastic progress there HP.

Looking forward to seeing your updates when you have more time Loz, and good luck with the Yellow Bellies Ohomemgrande

As for me: Warning: long writeup ahead! :yawn:

Britta awoke to the patter of rain on her tent. In a haze, flashes of nightmares appeared in her head. Mt Arreat, the Worldstone keep, Baal, had she dreamed it all? She peered out of the tent into an encampment walled by logs and filled with rogues... it all seemed way too familiar...

So Britta survived NM! Act V went pretty smoothly with few LI to be found. The whole act was done on p5 except for ancients, as I was expecting trouble in some areas. As well, Britta's MF seemed to be paying off, even if at times D2 seemed to be telling her she should have been a Zon.

First Session: Bloody Foothills. Slingers and boars, can't remember 3rd monster type. No problems. First gold of Act V: Cliffkiller. Run up the stairs to WP
Second session: Go to WP... skeleton archer unique pack trap! Taking fire right on the WP. Britta blasts them and gets her second gold drop of Act V: Blackhorn's Face. Halfway through the Fridgid highlands the next gold: Ravenfrost! Score! I was having trouble finding a good place to stop so this session lasted until Anya was rescued. Happily, no gloams in the Frozen River. The scroll of resists was a definite issue for Britta trying to juggle resists. If she had read it she would have had to do a bunch of gear juggling to get back into a decent position for resists. So I put it in the stash until after cows were done, then read it after that.

There were Tainteds in the Glacial trail, and gloams in its secondary area, but Britta did Ok with these anyway.

Nilly always scares me with his CE, but he was taken care of from extra long range with traps, so no problems there.

On the frozen Tundra Britta found a Ko rune.... I have no idea what to do with that. Her runes are all in her ATMA stash now. Top 5 are Um, Ko, Hel, Dol, Sol.

The ancients were done at p1 as it seemed stupid to do anything else. Good thing too, as Korlic was highly lightning resistant and was hard to take down. In the end BF with the gnasher did more than the traps did!

WSK1 had nothing memorable, but WSK2 had gloams, fortunately only one bosspack though. Generally the gloam battle was: dodge, CoS, FB to kill. WSK3 had Ok's but that really doesn't slow down a trapper.

Finally the throneroom: Minotaurs, Snakes and succubi. Noting LI therefore a breeze. MB is such a great skill for knocking things back too. It even keeps Baal's minions from getting too troublesome. Baal himself was a pain with the tentacles and the teleporting but with BF and traps he steadily went down in life. His drop, not surprisingly, had nothing useful in it.

Cows were done at p8. Overall results were pretty disappointing. A sol rune and a single flawless gem. Everything else was just sold. Here is the cowking's drop.

Since it seems extremely unlikely that she also survives Hell it seems like this would be a good time to give a full rundown on how she is set up.

At the end of NM Britta is just a sliver short of lvl 74, after reading the scroll her LCS shows resists are 59/58/56/30, str 155 dex 221, vit 20, nrg 60, life 342, mana 206.
Trap Skills: FB 20, CBS 10, LS, 20, DS 19, WoF 1, BS 1, BF 1
Shadow Skills : BMas 1, BoS 1, Fade 1, WB 1, PH 1, CoS 1, MB 1 (the weapon block is so she still has some blocking when using 2 claw swtich)

Full gear description:
Code: 
Britta's Gull
Dagger
One-Hand Damage: 2 to 19
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Level: 4
Dagger Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 15
Fingerprint: 0x8df2a485
-5 to Mana
+1 to Minimum Damage
+15 to Maximum Damage
100% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Sigon's Guard
Tower Shield
Defense: 22
Chance to Block:  69%
Durability: 60 of 60
Required Strength: 75
Required Level: 18
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xc3524d33
+20% Increased Chance of Blocking
All Resistances +19
+1 to All Skill Levels
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Silks of the Victor
Ancient Armor
Defense: 477
Durability: 60 of 60
Required Strength: 100
Required Level: 28
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x88a95d10
+104% Enhanced Defense
5% Mana stolen per hit
+2 to Light Radius
+1 to All Skill Levels

Eagle Visage
Circlet
Defense: 48
Durability: 35 of 35
Required Level: 43
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 52
Fingerprint: 0x213bb018
+25 to Life
+56% Enhanced Defense
All Resistances +19
+1 to Assassin Skill Levels

Sigon's Wrap
Plated Belt
Defense: 157
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Strength: 60
Required Level: 6
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 40
Fingerprint: 0x17360dbb
+20 to Life
Fire Resist +20%

***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
+146 to Defense (Based on Character Level)
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***

Sigon's Sabot
Greaves
Defense: 12
Durability: 24 of 24
Kick Damage: 10 to 20
Required Strength: 70
Required Level: 6
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 40
Fingerprint: 0x5cd33b84
Cold Resist +40%
20% Faster Run/Walk

***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
+50 to Attack Rating
50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***

Raven Finger
Leather Gloves
Defense: 2
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Level: 13
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 19
Fingerprint: 0x39fad86e
+17 to Attack Rating
Lightning Resist +27%
24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Half Freeze Duration
12% Chance to cast Level 4 Charged Bolt when struck

Ring of Fortune
Required Level: 31
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 63
Fingerprint: 0x99a8708a
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Nagelring
Ring
Required Level: 7
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 44
Fingerprint: 0xfe8dd049
+62 to Attack Rating
Magic Damage Reduced by 3
Attacker Takes Damage of 3
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Amulet of Luck
Required Level: 19
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 73
Fingerprint: 0x533d30e4
34% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

[highlight]Weapon Switch:[/highlight]
Witch-hunter's Scissors Katar of Pestilence
One-Hand Damage: 9 to 17
Durability: 68 of 68
(Assassin Only)
Required Dexterity: 55
Required Strength: 55
Required Level: 42
Claw Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 74
Fingerprint: 0x4cf5c98d
+50 poison damage over 5 seconds
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels

Witch-hunter's Scissors Katar of the Locust
One-Hand Damage: 9 to 17
Durability: 68 of 68
(Assassin Only)
Required Dexterity: 55
Required Strength: 55
Required Level: 42
Claw Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 74
Fingerprint: 0xdc5f6155
7% Life stolen per hit
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels

[highlight]Charms[/highlight]
Grand Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 23
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 45
Fingerprint: 0x9fdb1a98
+21 to Life

Lucky Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0xa8b6e814
12% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Large Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 34
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x52414330
+23 to Life

Russet Small Charm of Dexterity
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 10
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 35
Fingerprint: 0xb55615ae
+1 to Dexterity
Fire Resist +6%

Russet Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 10
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 17
Fingerprint: 0xc41a492a
Fire Resist +6%

Fiery Small Charm of Inertia
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0xc7e775c6
Adds 1-3 fire damage
3% Faster Run/Walk

Jade Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 20
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 44
Fingerprint: 0x8db0faf
Poison Resist +9%

Beryl Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x146dda57
Poison Resist +3%

Crimson Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 27
Fingerprint: 0x188d8dd6
Fire Resist +3%

[b]Serpent's Small Charm of Vita[/b]
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 40
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 65
Fingerprint: 0xbf91e499
+19 to Life
+17 to Mana

Russet Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 10
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 40
Fingerprint: 0xd9829ab2
Fire Resist +6%

Small Charm of Pestilence
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 24
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0xf2069fd6
+25 poison damage over 5 seconds

Amber Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 57
Fingerprint: 0xef0d671a
Lightning Resist +11%

Stalwart Small Charm of Good Luck
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 40
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 62
Fingerprint: 0xa65de2e9
+30 Defense
7% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

[highlight]Merc Gear:[/highlight]

Blackhorn's Face
Death Mask
Defense: 248
Durability: 17 of 20
Required Strength: 55
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 60
Fingerprint: 0xa19f27a1
+186% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +15%
Prevent Monster Heal
Attacker Takes Lightning Damage of 25
+20 Lightning Absorb
Slows Target by 20%

Hwanin's Justice
Bill
Two-Hand Damage: 42 to 159
Required Strength: 95
Required Level: 28
Polearm Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Indestructible
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 53
Fingerprint: 0x6029626f
+200% Enhanced Damage
+330 to Attack Rating
Adds 5-25 lightning damage
40% Increased Attack Speed
Indestructible
10% Chance to cast Level 3 Ice Blast on striking

Rockfleece
Field Plate
Defense: 242
Durability: 29 of 48
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 28
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 48
Fingerprint: 0x4d8e2d67
+5 to Strength
+129% Enhanced Defense
Damage Reduced by 5
Damage Reduced by 10%
Requirements -10%

[b]Alternate stuff in In-Game Stash:[/b]

Stealskull
Casque
Defense: 243
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Strength: 59
Required Level: 35
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 62
Fingerprint: 0x322891df
+233% Enhanced Defense
5% Life stolen per hit
5% Mana stolen per hit
34% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
10% Increased Attack Speed
10% Faster Hit Recovery

Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 59
Fingerprint: 0x1391857c
+18 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
+156 to Attack Rating
Adds 15-45 cold damage over 4 seconds
20% Cold Absorb
Cannot Be Frozen

Shadow Amulet
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 60
Fingerprint: 0x28ef6d10
+3 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)

Magekiller's Amulet of Absorption
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 62
Fingerprint: 0x2693ece3
Damage Reduced by 3
+1 to Assassin Skill Levels

Doom Emblem
Gothic Shield
Defense: 53
Chance to Block:  51%
Durability: 27 of 40
Required Strength: 60
Required Level: 35
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 66
Fingerprint: 0xa6475569
+21 to Life
+49% Enhanced Defense
+10% Increased Chance of Blocking
Fire Resist +18%
Lightning Resist +18%
Cold Resist +18%
Poison Resist +31%
Replenish Life +3
15% Faster Block Rate

The Gnasher
Hand Axe
One-Hand Damage: 6 to 14
Durability: 5 of 15
Required Level: 5
Axe Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 12
Fingerprint: 0x248ed56c
+8 to Strength
+62% Enhanced Damage
50% Chance of Open Wounds
20% Chance of Crushing Blow
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired)

Amulet of Teleportation
Required Level: 48
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 73
Fingerprint: 0x10990640
Level 2 Teleport (25/25 Charges)

Notables in GoMule/Atma Stash:
Chance Guards
Chain Gloves
Defense: 27
Durability: 11 of 16
Required Strength: 25
Required Level: 15
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 55
Fingerprint: 0xac6e6df5
+24% Enhanced Defense
+25 to Attack Rating
+15 Defense
200% Extra Gold from Monsters
40% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 to Light Radius

Chromatic Bone Shield of Deflecting
Bone Shield
Defense: 30
Durability: 40 of 40
Required Level: 42
Required Strength: 25
Fingerprint: 0xb217888a
Item Level: 74
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
20% Increased Chance of Blocking
30% Faster Block Rate
All Resistances +29

Lapis Grand Charm of Sustenance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 23
Fingerprint: 0xcedfbc93
Item Level: 62
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+24 to Life
Cold Resist +20%

Ruby Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 22
Fingerprint: 0xc16a2aa6
Item Level: 54
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
Fire Resist +28%

Shimmering Large Charm
Large Charm
Required Level: 26
Fingerprint: 0x31cb3f16
Item Level: 55
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
Fire Resist +7%
Lightning Resist +7%
Cold Resist +7%
Poison Resist +7%

Spiritual Grand Charm of Life
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x66f3bfb5
Item Level: 57
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+5 to Life
+1 to Shape-Shifting Skills (Druid Only)

Lion Branded Grand Charm of Sustenance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xde5c2d2b
Item Level: 51
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+22 to Life
+1 to Combat Skills (Paladin Only)

Sharp Grand Charm of Balance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x8c965034
Item Level: 41
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+63 to Attack Rating
+9 to Maximum Damage
12% Faster Hit Recovery

Chromatic Amulet of Chain Lightning
Amulet
Required Level: 41
Fingerprint: 0x48beceb9
Item Level: 60
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
Fire Resist +24%
Lightning Resist +24%
Cold Resist +24%
Poison Resist +24%
5% Chance to cast level 3 Chain Lightning on attack

Cliffkiller
Large Siege Bow
Two Hand Damage: 42 - 160
Durability: 36 of 44
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 80
Required Dexterity: 95
Fingerprint: 0xa8546bc4
Item Level: 60
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+50 to Life
229% Enhanced Damage
+10 to Minimum Damage
+22 to Maximum Damage
+80 Defense vs. Missile
Knockback
+2 to Amazon Skill Levels

Laying of Hands
Bramble Mitts
Defense: 86
Durability: 6 of 12
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 50
Fingerprint: 0x4486e752
Item Level: 64
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+25 Defense
Fire Resist +50%
20% Increased Attack Speed
350% Damage to Demons
10% Chance to cast level 3 Holy Bolt on striking

Razortail
Sharkskin Belt
Defense: 96
Durability: 13 of 14
Required Level: 32
Required Strength: 20
Fingerprint: 0x7a62f1b
Item Level: 54
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+15 to Dexterity
121% Enhanced Defense
+10 to Maximum Damage
+15 Defense
33% Piercing Attack

Witchwild String
Short Siege Bow
Two Hand Damage: 33 - 76
Durability: 33 of 40
Required Level: 39
Required Strength: 65
Required Dexterity: 80
Fingerprint: 0xc490ed57
Item Level: 49
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
155% Enhanced Damage
Fires Magic Arrows
2% Chance to cast level 5 Amplify Damage on striking
8% Deadly Strike
All Resistances +40
2 Sockets (0 used)
+8 Attacker Takes Damage of

So now Britta has some decisions to make. She could go with fade, which would bring her resists into good shape without having to switch up much gear. Or, with some effort I could probably get to 50 res all without fade, and keep BoS to keep the quickness for dodging. I wonder if I could get 2 sockets out of Larzuk in that Chromatic Bone Shield of Deflecting... that would almost get her resists there by itself. Of course, Fade has the PDR bonus as well. Tough Call.

[highlight]Britta, lvl 73 trapsin, Hell Rogue Encampment.[/highlight]
 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

So far Hell is a tough slog through swarms of LI....

Britta is trying to stick with p3, and so far is doing Ok. I decided to go with minimal gear rearrangements and Fade. She also swapped out the MF ring for the Ravenfrost for a bit more safety. Walking so slowly is annoying, but probably much safer than moving fast and getting into trouble.

So far she cleared the Blood Moor, Cold Plains, Burial ground (along with Crypt and Mausoleum ... all three areas every last monster was LI... Ugh), Underground tunnel and Dark wood. The reason the stoney field was left is to make it easier to enter Tristram without worrying about how many extra monsters Britta kills.

In any case the next question facing Britta is what to do with the new skill pts. She has maxed FB, LS, and DS, put 10 into CBS for synergy, and 1pt into each of the utility shadow skills. With the tourney restrictions putting more into Fade doesn't really help. CoS doesn't improve that much so the next tempting thing is more in MB, giving an improvement in stun length. Does anyone else have a suggestion?
Also, she found a 3os 475 def boneweave and her first Shael. Is this armor worthy of the Um rune for'Duress'?

CB
 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

crazy_bear said:
...
In any case the next question facing Britta is what to do with the new skill pts. She has maxed FB, LS, and DS, put 10 into CBS for synergy, and 1pt into each of the utility shadow skills. With the tourney restrictions putting more into Fade doesn't really help. CoS doesn't improve that much so the next tempting thing is more in MB, giving an improvement in stun length. Does anyone else have a suggestion?
...
Click to expand...

I had to make this same decision also. I went with 4 extra hard points into MindBlast to bring it up to 7. That puts the stun length at 3.2 seconds. However, I couldn't bring myself to pump it anymore than that, because it also increases the chance to convert. I do want MindBlast to convert the odd monster as it helps relieve the pressure on Haseen greatly sometimes. But I didn't want the chance to convert to get too high, because I didn't want to hit a pack 3 or 4 times with MindBlast and end up with almost all of them converted... so we'd just be standing there staring at each other until they all converted back, repeat.

I went back to CBS after that. The added damage is pretty pointless (not enough +skills to really bring FB up to speed), but I couldn't figure what else to spend them on. Since I'm still using BoS (not Fade) I guess I'll move to that next.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents.
-hps



 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Sorry for the double (triple) post, but I think this one might be long, and it's unrelated to the above post.

Yesterday I wasn't feeling very D2 motivated, but I decided I'd venture from the City of the Damned wp to the River of Flame wp. It went quite smoothly at first actually. I found my way through the whole area clearing everything to the wp, there was only one last arm to take, and it surely had Hephesto and the Forge, which meant I had the entire level to maneuver during the battle with Hephesto.

We began the trek up the unexplored arm, a few steps at a time, and then laid some traps to see if there was any action ahead, repeat. Tension was high. We got closer and closer when finally I got some trap activity and about 0.2 seconds later Hephesto came down from the top left corner of the screen at 'ludacris speed'.

You ever see the movie Apollo 13, near the end where they have to do one final burn with an engine they aren't even sure will ignite. When they hit the start button the rocket fires up instantly and blasts them off much faster than anyone expected, completely out of control. The one guys says "SHE'S BURNIN'!" and the other guys says "OH YEAH!!" (with panic and adrenaline in his voice).

Well that's what I said to Haseen: "WE FOUND 'IM!" and Haseen said "OH YEAH!!". Hephesto was clearly Extra Fast, and I'm not sure I've ever seen a monster move that fast... I ran back a screen length and Haseen engaged. His aura was Conviction, which was fairly painful for Haseen when combined with Spectral Hit (thank god he wasn't LE).

I considered it luck that he hadn't brought any monsters with him to complicate things. However, I also couldn't Mindblast him without knocking him back towards the monsters, I was afraid we'd stir up a bee hive while fighting with a Grizzly bear. I also couldn't really maneuver to the sides of him, to stun lock him against the wall without risking agro'ing more monsters. So I laid some traps, cast LR on him, and fed Haseen pots when he needed them. I tried hitting him with the odd Mindblast, but every time I did, Heph and Haseen would take a step closer to the monsters off screen, so I stopped that. After a little while it became clear that Haseen was going to burn through all the potions in my belt before we burned through Hephesto. The plan then was to run, as soon as I'd fed Haseen my last full juv. That way He'd stay alive plenty long enough for me to get a head start back to the wp (which luckily I'd already cleared to).

I waited a split second too long and ended up feeding my last full juv to an already dead Haseen... not good... at all. I had re-cast BoS during the battle, so I knew it wouldn't run out while I fled, but even with BoS on, there was no way I could outrun him in his Extra Fast state. My plan had gone really wrong, I was out of potions and my only distraction was dead... I ran, just as he began to head for me after realizing Haseen was dead. My mini map was open, I knew the way to the wp, so I headed there... Hephesto was fast. He had caught up with me when I was about half way there. He was too fast for his own good, he caught up enough that he thought he could stop and hit me, as if I had micro-stopped, except I hadn't stopped or lost any time. In the process of stopping, swinging and starting again, he had fallen behind about 3/4 of a screen length.

Enough distance for me to make it to the wp, but not enough to make it out unscathed, he would be right behind me again when I hit the wp, and in his Extra Fast state, he'd almost certainly have time to get off a hit before I could get the mouse up to pick a location to escape to. He had Spectral Hit combined with Conviction, I only had 547 hit points and 4x% resistance... I wasn't convinced I could take a hit from him, I didn't know what to expect. As we got closer to the wp I wondered... Would this be it for AlreadyDeads journey? Would I make it out with 5 hit points? Maybe 10 hit points?

We were close now, I was nearly at the wp, and he was nearly upon me again. Maybe I'd make it out with 100 hit points? He was so fast, the timing was perfect, he head pretty much reached me and started to prepare for the hit just before I reached the wp... If the wp had been half an inch further away, he would have stopped and whiffed as if I'd micro-stopped, but it wasn't, I was going to take the hit. I wanted to move quickly, but not so quickly that I risked miss clicking and ended up taking a second hit. The wp menu was open... his arms were coming down! I was moving the mouse up, almost at the button, his arms were right there as I was about to click! and that's when it happened...

*tink*

...And AlreadyDead vanished and reappeared in the City of the Damned completely unharmed. Three cheers for max block!!

I couldn't believe it happened that way, it was not one of the scenarios I had even considered in my head at the time. And I couldn't help but think of all those max block haters out there who could possibly have been dead right now. PHEW!

After returning to town to re-hire Haseen and stock up on potions we went back to the City of the Damned wp, down the stairs and ran all the way back to where I had left Hephesto at the wp. This time in an already cleared area it was much easier to use MB to stun lock him against a wall, and we finished him off with relative ease. Should have just done this to start with!

After that, we returned the the Forge area and cleared away the rest of the easy monsters. Found this experience shrine when there was about 2 monsters left alive in the whole level. Forge was a Mal.

At that point I S&E for the night.

(continued below)
 
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Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Tonight I began the long journey from the River of Flame wp to Diablo. We were about half way between the wp and the CS in that maze area when the game crashed (unexpected halt). I see this error message maybe once a month, and I was not impressed to see it tonight. I decided I would not play again tonight, but after I finished eating, I decided that (if I focused and pushed hard) I could get through the CS and be in bed by a reasonable hour. So we set out again. There was no choice but to re-kill some monsters, but it wasn't that many, and at this point, they aren't adding up to much in the experience bucket anyway. The area was tough, the Abyss Knights would stand all over the place throwing hurty elemental damage from just off screen or out of CoS range (they were LI also). We ran around a lot, and used a lot of LR charges, but eventually did get a footing into the CS. It quickly became apparent that Lower Resist was going to be my enemy. I expected the OK's to be LI also, but to my surprise they were not! The only thing that was LI was the Finger Mages, and they aren't that hard to kill with Fireblast. However, there were a few times where it felt like the Balrogs were LI. I returned to town a lot to remove LR, but only had to return to town twice to remove IM from Haseen, and he only died once during the entire fight!

I'm not sure if this is cheating, but I did it anyway and it was safe! My reward was that I stopped to try and pickup that bloody pile of gold at least 4 times! (couldn't reach it). I didn't even see De Sies (though I did see a couple of his minions), pretty much AlreadyDead just dropped traps at the edge of the screen while trying to keep Haseen from doing anything stupid (running ahead). Infector was a little hairy, but with Mindblast and some well timed retreats, we managed to split them up into 3 more manageable packs.

Next was the big D himself, and tensions were high once again. About half way through the CS I realized I didn't have a Kelpie in my stash, but it hadn't helped much in NM so I figured it wouldn't make much of a difference in Hell. Before popping the last seal I prepared a welcome for him. After popping the last seal, I ran up and dropped a shot of LR on him from my switch wand (he fired a hose at me) and I retreated back to where Infector spawns so D could play with my traps. I had a TP waiting for me down here. After waiting a bit, I crept back up to his pentagon, dropped 5 more traps, and fled back down to Infectors area. I planned for this to be my tactic for most of the battle, fight him from as far away as possible, and always have an escape route. However I did not expect it to work so well. I thought he would run around more, I thought he would give chase, I thought we'd have to tp out 50 times and start back from the RoF wp, I expected him to bone prison me at some point for being a chicken **** and that's when he'd get me. I figured there would be rings of fire and hoses and complete and total chaos!

But he didn't do any of those things. I would run up, drop 5 traps in his pentagon and run away. As I ran away, I could tell where he was by the direction of the lightning. We would run back to Infector's area, count to 12 and then repeat. I hardly saw him at all... just the direction the lightning was going in. he stayed in his pentagon for a while, and then started to stray up above the pentagon (away from the direction I was fleeing in). We repeated this hit and run tactic for maybe 6 or 7 minutes? At that point, based on the direction of the lightning, it looked like he had crawled up behind that wall... you know the place where you hide your low level character while you're rushing them past Diablo?

I was concerned that he might be stuck behind the wall regenerating to full health while I thought I was killing him. So I decided that I needed to stick my nose in and see what level his health was at, with any luck, maybe Haseen would have time to give him a poke and apply Prevent Monster Heal while we were at it.

Based on the direction of the lightning I thought he was over to the left of the pentagon, so I charged that way, and as I was heading through the pentagon I dropped some fresh traps. The traps indicated that he was actually up higher, but still in the general area of that wall. I decided that I should go up through the top point of the pentagon instead of over through the left one... figured I'd have a better chance of seeing his health from that angle... and that's when he hit me with the bone prison I had been fearing so much!

Still, I couldn't actually see him, he was up off screen. I hadn't seen him since he first spawned, when I LR'd him and he tried to Hose me. So I thought there was still a chance I could get free before he showed up and gave me my deeds. As I started dumping traps at the base of the cage he scampered onto screen, I felt only panic in my heart! Haseen was right beside me, attacking the prison, which meant he wasn't going to cut Diablo off, or slow him down... I needed out, and right ****ing now! I started throwing Fireblasts at my feet. I hadn't had a chance to mouse over Diablo and see if I'd actually damaged him at all during the fight, at that point it didn't matter, I needed out! He knew he had me, so he wasn't in any hurry as he trotted around to the upper pointy entrance of his pentagon. With me trapped in the center where I had left a trap for him not 10 minutes earlier. There was nothing I could do but try to free myself.

AAHHHHHrrgh!... Death.
Couldn't. ****ing. Believe it! If that is not the cooled freaking screen shot you've ever seen... well then... you must have a really cool screen shot!

I was so surprised/relieved that I actually launched my hands up off the keyboard into my hair in an "OMG!" sort of fashion and threw myself back in my chair! Luckily I came to my senses in time to take the screen shot (the bone prison fell just after I hit the print screen button. I'll never know if I would have made it out in time!
Diablo's drop (crap).
Didn't have to drink one single potion. Ha!

[highlight]AlreadyDead, Trapper, Harrogath, Level 81[/highlight] - with shattered nerves

-hps

P.S. Sorry it's so long, but I think it's totally worth the read!
 
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Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

HP - I'll never doubt max block again! Great job with D and that is one awesome screenshot. Good luck in Act V!
 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Awesome fight and write-up, HP! I wish you good luck in the areas ahead.
(I am also impressed that you have managed to get so far. Myself, I have started two trapper assassins a long time ago (back in v1.09-v1.10) but I got bored to tears both times somewhere in mid-NM and stopped playing them).
 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Yikes, HP, that was intense, seriously intense. I've had foot-chases with Extra-Fast Hephasto, scary as Hell, so I can sympathise. The Diablo fight was epic - you're totally in control, very little risk, you start to doubt the ease of your progress, you sneak a look at the state-of-play and you're suddenly fighting for your life with your death right in front of you! Been there :D

Congratz on making it through Act 4, alive and sane :)
 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Wow, Hp, those are some of the greatest write-ups ever! I hope your act V experience is just as exciting and that you go all the way! Good luck, man.

P.S. Yes, that Diablo screenshot blows my mind.

S_S has cleared Act III. Check out Mephisto's crappy drop.:whistling:

Full update later. I'm still reeling.....
 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

jiansonz said:
Awesome fight and write-up, HP! I wish you good luck in the areas ahead.
(I am also impressed that you have managed to get so far. Myself, I have started two trapper assassins a long time ago (back in v1.09-v1.10) but I got bored to tears both times somewhere in mid-NM and stopped playing them).
Click to expand...

I'm thinking it's very hard to get bored when every hit feels like it could be your last....

@ Wakiki - Grrr. I wish I could get some crappy drops like that. (Ok, I can't complain, Britta has been crazy lucky this tourney)

CB



 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Nice drop wakiki and great going and fantastic write-up hp!

# --

It looks like I have some vanilla competition. Hi crazy_bear :wave: (How can you tell a vanilla tourney player? Easy - their merc is not using Insight).

The thing I like about general tourney play is that whether or not you're ready, you've got to go. You can't just do a few more MF runs or levelling runs or whatever. You have to make do with what you've got. The number of chars I left in hell rogue camp because they were not perfectly equipped, I tell ya. And that is why DeadTwo is running round hell with ~930 life and resists at 13/19/22/-41. Anyway, I digress. What else?

So with the Trang's providing CBF I decided it was time for DeadTwo to be all he can be. Well, at least half of what he can be anyway. I bumped Dex upto 180 for a bit more AR and I dropped another 9 skill points in Berserk and another 9 points in Mace Mastery bringing it to 10/10. Why not all in Berserk? Well, all my half decent weapons are maces and I do like to use bash and concentrate from time to time (and in those cases, I really need the AR). So that leaves me with 130 stats and 14 skill points spare. Why not allocate the rest? I might find a great weapon that is not a mace. To round out the package, I upped Bonesnap.

Wow, awesome. AR is over 4k and I'm pretty sure that DeadTwo is now outdamaging the merc (substantially in the case of versus undead critters). Let's get it on. I decided I would continue at p5 except for areas where wraiths could spawn where I would drop it down to p1. I forgot to do that in the barracks... but I'm getting ahead of myself.

# --

A ring of the tiger with +24 life dropped in the underground passage. I had started to think it was not possible.

Entering dark wood was a bit of a pain. A combination of howl, taunt, war cry and battle cry got us through. Is it ironic that the "simple" barb is among the most hotkey busy of characters? (beaten only by melee assassin out of the chars I have played I think)

Any combination of fanaticism, extra strong and archery is always tough. That is why I was so happy to see Soul Flame on entering Tristram.

This monarch might have made me happy if I was not playing vanilla. And a barb.

Maybe my least favourite ability is physical immunity. As Azrael contributes around 40% of the damage between us, that slows things down a lot. And here is another one.

The countess was pleased to share her treasure with us. I was less pleased.

Multi-shot critters can hurt too - their extra bolts often miss the merc and tag DeadTwo.

Is the unique stilleto the least useful out of all of the exceptional uniques? Oh well, I still have to be happy with the RNG for my Trang's.

Another archer blocked our path in the barracks. And combos with stone skin (to slow down the killing) with something like extra strong can cause problems. You'll notice this is a rare screenshot where the life bulb isn't close to full ;)

The (thankfully p1) jail brought more dratted physical immunes as well as this persistent archer.

Of course, there a little bit of good news too. In the cathedral I was able to upgrade the nagel.

I have 7 screenshots of tough times in the catacombs but I'll let this one speak for the rest.

DeadTwo managed to reach level 80 before the end.
 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

jiansonz said:
...
(I am also impressed that you have managed to get so far. Myself, I have started two trapper assassins a long time ago (back in v1.09-v1.10) but I got bored to tears both times somewhere in mid-NM and stopped playing them).
Click to expand...

Yeah, pretty much what crazy_bear said. I Guardianed a trapper on b.net years ago, but that doesn't count (with friends makes it fun and fast). I started one in SP years ago also, but she was abandon in early NM (and is still sitting there). This Trapper is different though... there is no boredom involved, just white knuckle driving!

@ crazy_bear & kavarin: Congrats on making it to / welcome to Hell! It's more fun here! :alright:

@ wakiki: Yes... terrible drop...

-hps

Edit: Kavarin: I forgot to mention, you're nuts for playing a melee character at /p5 in hell with no life. My hat is off to you!

Edit2: Made it to the Frigid wp safely.



 
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Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Hp_Sauce said:
Edit: Kavarin: I forgot to mention, you're nuts for playing a melee character at /p5 in hell with no life. My hat is off to you!
Click to expand...

Make sure you put it back on - you need the resists :jig:

Seriously though, I think that higher p-levels make it easier, if you don't die of boredom. Your char becomes higher-level which means more life, easier to hit and harder to get hit. And you get more/better items. To weigh against that, a few nasty critters take a bit longer to whittle down. At least you can hit them more easily though :scratchchin:

And good luck in the endgame. Let's make it 2 :thumbsup:


 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Condolences on your deeds, Kavarin. A melee Guardian would have been an epic achievement. Still, getting that far is already incredible.
Was it a melee hit or the multishot "magic missiles" that got you?

Also: Nice updates, HP. Indeed totally worth the read. Good luck in A5!
 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

scrcrw said:
Condolences on your deeds, Kavarin. A melee Guardian would have been an epic achievement. Still, getting that far is already incredible.
Was it a melee hit or the multishot "magic missiles" that got you?

Also: Nice updates, HP. Indeed totally worth the read. Good luck in A5!
Click to expand...

Hi scrcrw, grats on your other tourney guardians - I meant to say something previously.

I'm fairly sure the fatal blow was a melee swipe although I'm not 100% certain. The real cause though, was super poison (does spectral hit modify it?). The life bulb emptied in the blink of an eye. Anyway, lesson learned. Against critters like that, wait for the merc to engage and then smack 'em in the back. Or even bash would probably have worked.


 
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