The Certain Death Tournament.

[wakiki]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Ouch, a couple of deeds posts. Well, that's to be expected.

Welcome to the tournament, jdkerr, cenyth,

Edit: Ok so for as long as my character is alive there is no restriction on MF with my merc? Ok cool!

Makes me feel a little quilty though. I don't think the rule even needs to be in place TBH. You said you wanted to make Mercs be like summons but Summons have the advantage of being recasted easily, while mercs cost money and time to resurrect. Evens out IMO......so don't see a need with the MF rule.

TOO MANY RESTRICTIONS!!! arrrghhh!

Lol. But to be fair, none of the summons have Holy Freeze, or can dish out insane damage, or can freeze packs of monsters solid, etc. I don't really like the idea of giving some players an advantage in MF, that's all. I don't think resurrections are really a problem in norm, and in NM and Hell he can wear a limited amount of MF. I kinda wish I had simply disallowed both mercs and summons.

By the way, don't feel bad about the MF on your merc right now. Just phase it out whenever you find replacement gear. I gambled a Static circlet and replaced Iantha's 2'paz cap, but I'm still waiting on an armor to replace her 3 'paz ring mail. No biggie.

@EmperorMoo: Ghandi merc comment was funny. I often feel the same way about my Rogue. And ouch to deeds. Did Strafe trap you?

@JayeM: Ouch man, RIP. Sounds like you got fried by beetlebolts to me. Since the lightning damage varies by so much, you could get insta-killed by 2 unlucky rolls. (I was a sissy and let my merc take 'em all) I love seeing people enter again. Thanks.

@Wakiki: I applaud you for the rules change, and I will phase out my Topaz equipment as soon as possible. It will make my current skill progression look kind of stupid as I haven`t put a point into kill spells yet

Thanks, that's definitely playing in the spirit of the tournament. Nice update, too. That's probably one of the smarter builds for the tournament; Shockwave is pretty good crowd control, right? I've never used it before.

@nermind: Nice update. I love playing and reading about Necromancers. They are such versatile characters. My next character might be an Xbowmancer with an Blessed Aim merc.

@angcalon: Wow, that sounds epic! That's what I love about tournaments. I had one of the most intense fights of my life in a jiansonz tournament in act I normal. Also, Decoy is not considered a summon. You can use your merc with Decoy, you just have to make the choice between your merc or a Valkyrie, that's all.

The table has been updated.

 

[Quickdeath]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

The new rule of limiting MF on Mercs in normal has made me revisit the debate I had when I entered this tournament-should I get a Valk with my Javason? Or a merc?

And I debated back and forth: Merc has an aura, Valk is stronger, harder to kill and kills faster, etc. But it kept coming down to one thing: I'd really rather have a Merc and the 20 extra skill points to invest somewhere else. How does anyone justify getting a summons that consumes 20 skill points and that simply replaces their merc? Seems like madness to me.

I've also realized how very much like a Sorc a Javazon is. Dex and strength points are not too important, weapons are not important - also unimportant are many of the mods on equipment such as ED,+AR, life leech and mana leech, etc. However, mods such as + to skills, and + to mana will be much appreciated (if I ever find any, lol).

CandleintheWind, Javason, Dark Woods, Lvl 14

 

[Brutass]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Tane has made pretty good progress albeit kinda slow at times. He has transformed from a pure summoner to summoner/fire druid. Fissure causing most of the damage at the moment. Successfully clearing act 1 on p8 all the way was relatively easy - no NDE's. No decent drops along the way, however Andy did drop a couple of 2 handed axes (not much use), but got a nice rare mail from her with decent defense. He gambled some rare gloves, belt and boots to raise up his resists too. He currently rests in Lut Gholain

Tane - Summoner/fire Druid, Lvl 19, Lut Gholein

 

[jdkerr]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

And I debated back and forth: Merc has an aura, Valk is stronger, harder to kill and kills faster, etc. But it kept coming down to one thing: I'd really rather have a Merc and the 20 extra skill points to invest somewhere else. How does anyone justify getting a summons that consumes 20 skill points and that simply replaces their merc? Seems like madness to me.

This is the debate I had with myself, as well.

I was originally planning a bone necro, and would have loved to give gumby a try, but couldn't justify the skill points. When I switched to the idea of a wind druid, I had a similar debate about grizzly/wolves, but came to the same conclusion -- the skill points are too precious to pass up the friend that costs zero skill points.

If I were playing a build that was not dependent on skill points, though, I would go for it. And if I were an amazon, the Valk's power would be tempting.

 

[HanShotFirst]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Ulquiorra-san’s progress through Act 3 made death seem anything but certain. Progress at Players 7 was smooth and safe with only a couple of exceptions. There was a near death in the Forgotten Temple when Ulquiorra was greeted by a trap of lightning beetles and snakes :shocked: . . . rejuvenation potions saved the day . . . running away would have worked too but Ulquiorra really wanted the awesome loot (that as it turned out wasn’t even there). The Durance Level 3 was the next and only other scary area. The problem with the Durance Level 3 was mostly the result of the monsters opting not to target Leharas and without exception going directly for Ulquiorra (Bremm and a huge group of ghoul lords were pretty scary but nothing that some fast feet couldn’t fix). Mephisto also opted to ignore Leharas and target Ulquiorra (and nothing but Ulquiorra) . . . that also necessitated some fast feet and then a moat maneuver (better safe than sorry).

Mephisto demonstrated his displeasure for the moat maneuver by dropping nothing of interest. Ulquiorra’s 140 mf had turned up plenty of set/unique drops leading up to Mephisto but none of them were very useful (the best was probably the unique Helm ** ).

Here were Ulquiorra-san’s stats at the end of Act 3.

Act 4 continued to be pretty easy at Players 7 . . . well really, everything was really easy . . . except Diablo. The set/unique drops in Act 4 continued to be useless but thankfully there were some good rune finds. The best rune find (and probably best find so far) was an Amn Rune in the Plains of Despair. I considered stashing the Amn for later (mmm, Spirit) but instead opted to use it to create a big hitty stick for the merc (the base weapon came from the Outer Steppes as did a Tir Rune . . . so I felt that the game was pretty much telling me to create Strength . . . best not to argue with the game :thumbup: ).

I was hoping to get another Amn Rune at the Forge but the drop sort of missed. I was starting to suspect that I had used up all my rune finding luck in the Plains of Despair but then the Chaos Sanctuary offered up both an Ort Rune and a Tal Rune! . . now if only I could keep this luck going into NM . . .

I wasn’t really sure what to expect going up against Diablo (on the plus side Ulquiorra was at level 34 . . . on the downside his lightning and fire resistances were also around 34 :crazyeyes: ). I was expecting Leharas’ Strength to make a big difference in the battle but as it turns out Leharas couldn’t survive a single lightning blast from Diablo so he really didn’t get much of a chance to use it so, Ulquiorra ended up doing pretty much all the damage. He also did a lot of dodging (I suspect that any one of Diablo’s elemental attacks at Players 7 could have been game ending but thankfully Ulquiorra managed not to take a direct hit). The battle was only a few minutes but Diablo still managed to capture Ulquiorra with his Evil Forces five times (one was followed by a very scary lightning blast that arrived half a second after Ulquiorra had broken free :crazyeyes: ) . . . but that was the worst of it. Diablo didn’t drop much of interest.

Here were Ulquiorra-san’s stats at the end of Act 4.

[highlight]Ulquiorra-san, Bone Necro, Harrogath, Level 34[/highlight]

 

[sirpoopsalot]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Meh, I got careless while cursed and low on mana, running around a corner into a champ pack of bone archers in the Barracks. You can probably guess what happened next.

Since I started in SC for the purpose of writing a guide, I will continue with the build. I'll also follow the tournament rules (at least until NM, maybe farther) to see how the build turns out, trying desperately to minimize deaths (even at the cost of play speed - which is contrast to my usual SC playstyle for Normal/NM).

RIP QuestionMarks, Barracks, level18.

 

[Mournblade]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Mouse pushed on today. Countess dropped a Tir and Tal. His first S/U item dropped in Catacombs 1 from rat man boss. Arctic Binding Belt. Andy dropped a skull. Been easy enough so far, but I do play on players 2. Just what I am used to. Stopped after Andy, so sitting in Lut Gholein. Still running with base life, haven't found any life charms or items that I have been worthwhile. Life is 69. Golem is tanking while I pluck away with a gemmed hunter's bow.

Mouse - Golemancer Level 17 Lut Gholein

 

[soulmanz]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

ok, im in. havent been around in a long time, but this will give me a reason to play the passive zon i have been meaning to. not sure if going straight tankazon is the greatest idea in this tourney though! will be passives tree only as far as i can push it, with mega beefy valk at 30

working along the idea that vitality is not the only form of safety, this plucky lass will place her faith in chance. If it can't hit, it can't hurt, right? Currently running at a 24% chance to dodge melee attacks, and a whopping 67% block percentage (those stat points had to go somewhere!), she is feeling pretty safe. Obviously the blood moor offered up no NDEs

so say hi to SwayBabySway, Passivezon, level 7, just entered the Cold Plains

forgot how slow full clears were!

umm .. how do i add to the table? guess im a SPF noob

 

[Drystan1]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

This tourney has gotten my attention as well, and pulled me out from my *cough* long-term retirement. *cough* I knew a tourney would pop up sooner, rather than later! I'm very amazed at the frequency of updates and progress. Gotta say well done on a tourney that picked up participation and interest very quickly!
A tournament barely 5 days old, with someone all the way up to NM, and many others fairly close!

Anyway, I started a Sorc (Argoel) a few days ago, but currently don't have the time for constant progress (having a trip next week,) but she's just up to Andariel, and I'll post how far I can get before my trip.

~Dryst

 

[wakiki]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

EDIT: Welcome soulmanz and Drystan! soulmanz, just post a character summary at the end of every update and I'll update the table for you. Drystan, I'll add you once I get more specific information.

Heh, so it seems like the merc/summon rule is working as I intended: it leaves players with an interesting choice. It's good that people are considering both options pretty equally. I would lean towards summons, because recasting is nice in battles. Also, RIP (or should I say POIP [play on in peace] instead?onder to QuestionMarks.
______________________

I've been having a pretty easy time with BathtubPancake. Well, this is relative, though....cause I had two NDEs so far. The first happened in the Halls of the Dead against a champion Hollow One pack. A ghostly champion hit me twice, and each time I scrambled for a TP as the poison quickly drained me to one health. That wasn't the NDE though. That came as I was trying to smite another Hollow One away from his pack. I was at half health, using potions, and he nailed me with a black star attack that brought me to a sliver. I met another pack in the next level and played it a lot safer.

The Lost City was very kind to me. I hadn't gotten a unique since the Pluckeye back in act I, then Dimoak's Hew (unique Bardiche) and Gorefoot (Heavy Boots) dropped. Then this. Then THIS. Nuts. I read in SSoG's guide that CBF is incredibly important for a charger, so those could both theoretically be end-game gear. Other sets include three Cathan's rings, an Angelic sabre (can't remember where in Act 2 I found that), and another Cleglaw's shield.

The other NDE was against the summoner. For those of you who don't know how his Fire Wall works, it deals 5 damage every frame, which means 125 damage per second. I had a Circlet with 3 magic damage reduction and a ring with 2. The Summoner cast his Firewall all me, and I stood in it, taking zero damage. Hooray! I started laughing. His Glacial Spike soared in and blasted away half my health. I stopped laughing real quick. I let Iantha clear out his platform and went to finish him, he cast a glacial spike on me, I used a red, he cast another, I was at a sliver, I frantically used a purple and finished him off. I bet if I hadn't used the red, I would have died to the second spike.

Does anyone think it's strange that those Claw Vipers made an altar the couldn't walk up onto? How did they complete it anyway? Were the skeletons their subcontractors? *shrug*

Some stats: 157 MF on the Paladin (had a good Amulet/Cubing spree), 139 HP. I have 5 points in Holy Freeze and am developing Holy Shield (3 points so far). I have to get it high before I can start using it, thanks to the Charge glitch. I wish I had put 2 points instead of 3 into Zeal, and had saved my Charge points to develop Holy Freeze faster. Oh well.

[highlight]BathtubPancake, Holy Freeze Chargadin, level 26, at the Canyon of the Magi[/highlight]

 

[JayeM]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

GlassJaw is at the Dark Wood WP. He's not having the luck with charms, gems, and jewels that his sister had, but he's currently wearing 2 set pieces (different sets): Infernal Cranium and Arctic Furs. He's dual-wielding axes and is a very fast killing machine...no NDE's so far, life at 79, stats 53/38/25/29.

[highlight]JayeM, GlassJaw, Barbarian, Dark Wood, 13[/highlight]

 

[soulmanz]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

cheers for the welcome wakiki

SwayBaby plunges onwards. Full p8 clears of everything up to stony field, and grabbed the waypoint. Even with all that not a single topaz dropped! Every other gem did, multiple times. Darn

Only NDE was me trying to run away frozen from coldcrow as she bit the dust. Slivered me, not even visible red in the ball. I knew it was gonna happen too. Damn rogue merc is a liabilty

Currently playing as a jav throwing passives only zon. Mixing in some throwing axes too, I would start meleeing with a big and long stick, but my current 70% block rate is too good to give up. Just got my first points in avoid and slow missles, which should help in the future. Really hanging out for decoy though

i will just edit rather than posting again:
reading through the rules there is no limitations on jewels into sockets is there? found this http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m234/SoulmanZ/Screenshot003.jpg, which is pretty godly for low levels and short on life. pity with all the stat points around i dont need the -req

and as a playstyle thing, SwayBaby feels super safe. i got mega mobbed here http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m234/SoulmanZ/Screenshot004.jpg, that doesnt even do it justice. maybe 30 corrupted rogues, and the big guys. had a mana rejuv shrine and jabbed em all to death - that red ball is untouched for the whole battle. They just cant hit at all. Sweet!

anyway, SwayBabySway, PassiveZon, level 14, DarkWoods (cleared - gonna have to run for the black marsh!)

 

[Morathi1]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Sometimes i just hate this game!

In a single moment things can go from awesome to tragic in a blink of an eye :banghead:.

Sibella was going through the Maggot Lair level 1. She just reached level 24 and placed her first point in Blizzard, which mind you was dominating due to an already heavy investment in synergies! Anyway, we were fighting a mob and i thought to save mana i would switch to IB instead of Blizzard. Well some how i accidently switched to Teleport and stupidly i teleported Sibella into the middle of a mob of Beetles, Fly Swams and Maggots. I realised to my absolute horror what i have just done and tried to get out of the situation. I spammed a Blizzard ontop of us, switched to teleport and tried to escape. The shear number of attacks being laid upon me kept me in hit-recovery and despite healing/rejuvs the inevitable happened.

God i am so p***** off with myself for such a stupid and clumsy mistake :rant::thumbsdown:. Sibella had a bright future ahead of herself and a stupid error prematurely destroyed any chance she had of Guardianship .

I will try again and re-enter as i am determined to continue persisting. However i need some time to recover from this loss and calm my nerves.

A reminder to all of you. BE CAREFUL.....VERY CAREFUL as one small move can mean the end in a heart beat!

Final information:
Sibella the cold sorc, level 24, Maggot Lair level 1. R.I.P! (i shall avenge your death!!!!!!!!!!!)

 

[EmperorMoo]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

@wakiki: I got hit by one monster whilst running, and that knocked me against the wall where I was then trapped and pummeled to death.

@Morathi: Don't take it too hard, a momentary loss of concentration can doom you instantly. GG with the vengeance.

I am coming back in with a necro. A Merc-using, cursing, minion-less archer (or possibly melee) Guardian-for-sure-what-could-possibly-go-wrong-with-a-no-vit-necro Tournament winner.

As long as I kill Diablo, I'll be happy.

Stay safe all!

[highlight]EmperorMoo, Brave Sir Robin, Mojomancer, Lvl1, Rogue Camp[/highlight]

 

[soulmanz]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

condolences morathi. hotkeys are the devil
condolences moo also. i was toying with the necro path, but all im really hankering to make is a golemancer, and without a merc or a kill skill the early levels (10-30) are just tedium recurring. players 8 and 1 point corpse explosion dont mix as a sole strategy, and gumby is next to useless as a kill source

ok, last update for today, sorry for the triple update, i found a bit more time to play than i expected

at the outer cloister now. the black marsh on was fairly kind to me, in a fashion. Sway is now sporting a triple topaz chainmail, with another chip and a flawed in stash, awaiting a full helm to drop (as she is standing toe to toe, that armour counts!)

clearing the pit dropped my first S/U in the form of ceglaws shield, which was painfully useless for me, and my stash is short on space because i have stored every ring and amulet to cube up in act 2 for MF gear, so im not inclined to hang onto set items right now. i never use 'extended' stashes, too much fluffing around. so im at the point im actually leaving most chipped gems on the floor now! well, amythests at least

Sway still feels pretty safe, but when the odd hit does get through the shield/armour/DAE she is starting to feel it. The red ball is getting jumpy

So, signing off for the night -
SwayBabySway, PassiveZon, Level 17, Outer Cloister

 

[nermind]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

RIP Sibella

And heres my FAIL. No its not deeds, but I was upset anyway - I accidently killed Meph with only ~60% MF instead of close to 300 like I had planned:whistling: Well, ok, chances of getteng a good S/U are low either way. Still players8 all the way.

In this act I finally gave up hardcore magicfinding and finally started improving resists and life (otherwise the smallest mistake can kill me like Morathi said), so by the middle of act EMB had the following stats: 240 life, 48-50 all resistances, 3 mdr, 30fcr and ~160 % mf, looked good on paper and didnt let me down in the game as well.



THE magic find moment of act3: a set item, this one a moment later, and another one! Btw those are my second gloves with 40 life Othrwise - a few more S/Us dropped but nothing worth mentioning.

For a change Ormus rewarded me with a ring that was actually pretty decent at this stage of the game:thumbsup:

Also got my first flawless topaz thanks to a gem shrine, found my first SC with life (+5, yay!) and improved the life LC and GC a bit.

No NDEs, so far so good.

Btw, hard to keep up with (many of) you guys, good going, keep it up!:thumbup:

[highlight]nermind, EatMyBones, bonemancer, The Pandemonium Fortress, lvl 32[/highlight]

 

[scrcrw]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Wow, great progress throughout the board. Don't think I'll be able to stay at the top for much longer.
Sorry to hear about deeds for some. I especially sympathise with Morathi, my sorcs die to the same mistake rather frequently (sc though)...

Thanks for reminding me to do the cow level wakiki. Kaiko put her mf boots in the chest before entering, to maximize the chance of some one-handed 5 sox weapon dropping for Honor. No luck though. Otherwise smooth killing on /p8.

For NM I made a slight equipment change. To keep her resistances up Kaiko now wears an Ancients Pledge Tower Shield (48) + Fade lvl 2 (27) - 30 = 45 all (40 cold to be precise). This meant she had to switch back to her Malice claw, since the other one with more damage and ll also had some poison res on it.
Also had to trade in a nice rare ring with +ar and +min dmg for Cathans ring to maintain some life leech.
In total max life dropped to ~230.
I rather hate that restriction on resistances...

Seems to be working well though. Smooth progress so far and no ndes.

On the merc vs. minion discussion: My decision for Shadowmaster was made just for convenience because this was supposed to be some quick fun leading to an early death. So I didn't want to spend time and nerves on keeping that damn merc alive... Now it seems Kaiko might live to regret that decision Recastability is a big plus though.

[HIGHLIGHT] scarecrow, Kaiko, BFsin, Stony Field NM, level 47 [/HIGHLIGHT]

 

[jiansonz]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Kaiko put her mf boots in the chest before entering, to maximize the chance of some one-handed 5 sox weapon dropping for Honor. No luck though.

It´s impossible for an item to drop with more than 3 sockets in Normal difficulty (4 in Nightmare).

However, if you make the sockets yourself (Larzuk or recipe) these caps do not apply, and the standard item level related sockets list is used.

 

[Thomh]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

I`m pretty sure your search for 5os weapons will be futile in NM as there is a cap of 3os in Normal (from things that drop from monsters and is shoppable, Larzuk will give max sockets according to the ilvl) and 4os in NM. I am not 100% positive on the NM cap, but maybe 98%

Edit: Ah, I forgot about cube recipe and good thing Jiansonz brought that up. Too bad you write faster than me, I`ll remember that and will have my vengeance

 

[scrcrw]

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Thanks very much for clearing that up guys. I was beginning to suspect something like that...
Guess I'll keep my eye open for a white knout or something similar then.

Edit: Just found a second Sol. Why does that never happen when I want Lore + Insight?