The Certain Death Tournament.

Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

What a bummer, Morathi. Drake was doing so well up to this.

CE+LE is really nasty indeed, but I do not understand how you could suddenly be in melee distance (and target of the boss?). Did the merc get killed first, or did you end up in a spot where sparks hit you?


I didn´t know about the 'no summoning in space' thing either.
 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

What a bummer, Morathi. Drake was doing so well up to this.

CE+LE is really nasty indeed, but I do not understand how you could suddenly be in melee distance (and target of the boss?). Did the merc get killed first, or did you end up in a spot where sparks hit you?


I didn´t know about the 'no summoning in space' thing either.

Well i thought, i positioned myself behind the merc, but i guess the lighting bolts still managed to hit me. It only took a couple of them to drop my life bulb, especially with the Oak's being dead.

Yeah i never new that, and i kept trying to cast the Oak's in space, i tried for probably 5 seconds or so and before i realised it wasn't possible, i was dead.



 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

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

Thanks, wakiki.
Slain by Elzix? :scratchchin: Is that because you couldn't pay your gambling debts? :D

@Morathi - sorry, mate. I know what it's like to keep trying to do something you think you should be able to do (the Oak Sage casting) and die because you didn't realise!

@EmperorMoo - isn't HC, no-vit hard enough, without throwing in random work-enchanted bosses? :crazyeyes: Bad luck.

@Everyone - keep trying, it's got to be done :)



 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Morathi - :cry: Blast it all! NM Act 2 again . . . really sorry to hear it got Drake too. Are you going to enter again?

EmperorMoo – Well that’s a different way to go :shocked: . . . best wishes for dealing with the boss.

Jiansonz – Yes! I knew there had to be someone here who knew of the Evil Overlord List! . . and congrats on completing the Sword of Destiny Tournament . . . very impressive of course! :thumbup:

Loz – What a choice for a first hardcore character! Congrats on defeating Big D!

wakiki – Slain by Elzix . . . too funny :D
 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

RIP Rin, Helen, Sparky, and Drake

I've been playing more cautiously since hearing about both of the other high-level bowazons dying to massed ranged fire. I've even started using slow missiles, which I'd never done before.

I continued my experiment with doing act 2 at a low /p setting, and xp and progress wise, it was great. I did up to the clawviper temple @ /p3, then /p1 till the canyon of the magi. Then I cleared Ancient Kaa's tomb at /p7, which was harder and slower, but bumped me up 2 levels. Finished up act 2 on /p1, skipping the other false tombs.

Duriel was a pushover, although that's only due to the valk's tanking. I put a decoy in his path, and he stopped to kill it, but he stopped long enough for the valk to start tanking him, and from that point it was all over. I took him at /p1, but it only would have taken more time at a higher setting.

Found a 1os gothic bow, which I decided to spend a few gems cubing. I ended up getting 2 sockets and 78% ED out of the first roll. I put 2 flawless skulls in it, and *finally* I could take my 2% ML ring and 4% ML ammy off and wear something useful. I would have put on the quest reward ring from Ormus, which turned out pretty good, but it had lightning resist on it and I was already at 50%. I did get to wear my shiny new +1 zon skill ammy, though.

The new bow was great, damage-wise. But it just so happens that a 10 speed bow with no IAS is slower than a -10 speed bow with 25 IAS. Who would have thought? :D

Did most of act 3 at /p3, with some at /p5. Had a few NDEs, Battlemaid Sarina's pack got a single hit in and took me to 1/2 life, which was scary, but they were dumb enough to try to surround the valk and leave me alone. Several 1/2 life NDEs in the durance, all to vampire meteors and fireballs(14% fire resistance is not enough), and there was one very interesting moment fighting 2 bosspacks of vampires at the entrance to durance level 3. Other than those packs at the entrance, all of durance 3 was at /p1. Meph was certainly dangerous, as he was one of the few things that could make the valk's lifebar move out of the green, but it took him awhile to do it, and he never paid any attention to anything but the valk.

I'm planning on taking act 4 at /p5 or /p7, both for the drops and for the xp. I want to be well into the diminishing returns area for xp again, since that will help keep my CtH at an acceptable level.

[highlight]ancalagon, Shatterproof, Strafer, lvl 60, NM Pandemonium Fortress[/highlight]
 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Nagisa, thanks for rejoining! I wasn't trying to pressure you or anything. I'm really happy with anyone who plays, no matter how many times. :thumbup: But anyway, welcome back. :) (P.S. I wish I could abbreviate you to NF instead of Nagisa...but then people would think "Nightfish." Oh well. :))

EmperorMoo, that's a good goal. I made the tournament so that beating Hell would be unrealistic...but getting there -- now that's a good challenge but doable! Sorry about your deeds. That's not a fun way to die at all. :(

Morathi, RIP for Drake. :( I enjoyed reading about him (enough to make a fire druid of my own).

At least you learned something. I find that I am much more satisfied when I learn something from my death than when I die like EmperorMoo did above. In case you didn't know, if the boss stays in the same place, the sparks will move in a set pattern...but it's a random set pattern. So, the spark can go around your merc then behind him. Behind your merc isn't always safe place to me...but it can be if there are no sparks going there and the boss is in place. But sometimes the sparks are invisible and that messes all preparation up, especially in this tournament. :(

If my oak dies, my first instinct is to run rather than recast it. That's my first instinct if anything goes wrong, actually. In some cases, it's probably better to cast something (Decreptify or a Bear/Valk), but in the case of Oaks, I'd say it's better to run than recast. I hope you don't mind me critiquing your play especially after you died and might be feeling bad; I just try to learn everything possible about each death. (Also I apologize in advance if you already knew anything I just said. I don't want to offend you a la Quickdeath.) I have the opposite problem that you do: I need to learn to cast things before I run sometimes.

By the way guys, when I said slain by Elzix...:D What actually happened was I went out to fight some beetles in the Rocky Waste, then came back in to shop. I was lagging however, and suddenly I appeared dead at Elzix's feet. (Other people saw me dead beside the beetles, of course.) I wish I had taken a screenshot -- I didn't know how to at the time.



* * *​



Does Blood Raven have a limit on how many zombies she raises? She seemed to stop after a while. Before that, it was basically impossible to kill her. Mizan kept getting distracted by Hungry Dead as S_S tried to find an exploitable situation. But she stopped eventually, and bled to death, true to her namesake.

It seems like early Nightmare is always a treasurefest. Sets and uniques were popping left and right. The party began with a Blacktongue from a gargantuan beast pack that nearly killed S_S. He decided to tank a Dim Vision'd minion of an Extra Strong Lightning Enchanted boss while Mizan took care of the boss himself. The first hit took off a piece of Bone Armor. The next hit took off another piece. S_S started to recast the armor but before he could, the minion pulled off a critical hit and (I hope) a high lightning roll, sending S_S's health orb to 25%! He gulped a purple and ran. Afterward, he vowed to handle all other difficult boss packs by DV'ing the minions and Life Tapping the boss for Mizan to kill.

The item party continued with the Arctic Binding and Bloodfist from the same room! Those gloves went on S_S's hands right away, only to be quickly replaced by these lovely gauntlets. He didn't even have to gamble them! And later on in the cave, he found another pair of Sander's boots.

Is Coldcrow's pack scary with Might? Eh, not really, because her pack never fired a shot! Cursed and Multishot are mods to be feared, but Dim Vision nullifies auras. Rakinishu posed a far greater threat. He was Extra Fast LE and CE. S_S stayed well away from those deadly sparks while Mizan killed him with Life Tap, but suddenly S_S's health bar plummted to 20%! Darn invisible bolts! He wasn't even remotely close to any...

In the underground passage, S_S encountered a Multishot Cold Enchanted skeleton archer. The archer invited him to test out his frost nova. S_S replied with a respectful "NO! Thank you." (I wish I had taken a screenshot. Such a boss would probably be insta-deeds. How many novas do they emit, anyway?)

Now this is my kind of rock. A set item, mid-level rune, exceptional item, and gold? From one rock?!?! Yesplz&ty Mr. Rock! (The ring turned out to be Cathan's. The only useful thing was the Io, but it's still cool, and a 'Black' flail or knout will definitely be nice for bosses.) A Doomslinger in Tristram? Worthless, but I'll take it. I just love collecting these things! Would S_S enjoy gaining the gleaming green greaves? Galloping gargoyles! S_S greeted them graciously, giggling gleefully! And then Gheed gullibly gave a gambled green! Good golly!
(Okay. I'll stop. :D.)

The best find of all, however, was a 4s Partizan. (I didn't even know those could drop this early!) At the end of the session, S_S collected his Sol Rune and created an Insight. The D2 gods were smiling on him, for not only was the Meditation one level off (that's not the important mod anyway), the damage was 3% from maximum! Here's his damage before. And here's after. That's a 700% damage increase. Insight is truly an insane weapon. It has everything anyone needs - cast rate for curses, MF is always a plus, huge damage, poison damage...Critical Strike! (I never noticed that!) And the percent to Attack Rating! S_S might not even need a Blessed Aim merc. Those Blizzard guys really created an ideal weapon. It is missing attack speed though. That's the only thing. S_S hasn't used it yet, but is really looking forward to it.

By the way, I hotmuled for the first time. I did it very carefully -- doing it one item at a time as I needed space. I don't trade or MP, but I thought I should let everyone know since it's looked down upon by some people. I almost died in the Lower Kurast while running through, and I can't bear to see this character die in that fashion.

[highlight]Shadow_Salad, level 49 Meleemancer, Dark Wood cleared, Black Marsh next[/highlight]



* * *


Code:
Forum Name     Character       Class            Location               Level
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tarantella     Damasque        Skirmisher       (N)Secret Cow Level      73
scrcrw         Kaiko           Blade Fury Asn   (N)Throne of Destruction 72 RIP
Tarantella     Amarantine      Skirmisher       (N)Throne of Destruction 72 RIP
ancalagon T.B. Shatterproof    Strafer          (N)Pandemonium Fortress  60
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
Mursilis       Jaheira         Trapsin          (N)Lut Gholein           51
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
EmperorMoo     MELIKECAKE      Concbarb         Crystalline Passage      37 RIP
cenyth         Teff            ES Sorceress     Harrogath                35
LozHinge T.U.  WitherStick     Poison Dagger    Harrogath                35
HanShotFirst   Scorn           Fire Druid       Diablo                   34 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         Pandemonium Fortress     32
Brutass        Sparkles        Lite/Orb Sorc    Bremm Sparkfist          27 RIP
Mournblade     Mouse           Golemancer       Lower Kurast             28
Alfonso T.G.   TheAragorn      Ranger Paladin   Spider Forest            29
soulmanz       SwayBabySway    Passivezon       Kurast Docks             27
Zelator        WitchOfEndor    CE/Curse Necro   Tal Rasha's Tomb         28
JayeM          Glassjaw        Barbarian        False Tomb               25 RIP
Bluechip       Vitamin         Throwbarb        False Tomb               23 RIP
PepitoSari     Kratos          Barbarian        Fangskin                 25 RIP
jiansonz       Morte           Necromancer      Lost City                25
Morathi        Sibella         Cold Sorc        Maggot Lair              24 RIP
JayeM          Glasscannon     Assassin         Maggot Lair              20 RIP
Ohomemgrande   GeneralJoe      Summoning Necro  Rocky Waste              21
JayeM          Trixie          Bladesin         Rocky Waste              20 RIP
holiecows      HolieTraps      Assassin         Lut Gholein              21
QuickDeath     CandleintheWind Javazon          Lut Gholein              20
scrcrw         Clodius         Throwbarb        Lut Gholein              20
HanShotFirst   Mara            Traps            Lut Gholein              20
Bluechip       Murderherder    Hunter Druid     Lut Gholein              19
EmperorMoo     Magrat_Garlick  Trapsin          Andariel (+ office boss) 18 RIP
JayeM          GlassEye        Necromancer      Jail Level 2             17 RIP
sirpoopsalot   QuestionMarks   ES/GS Sorc       Barracks                 18 RIP
Brutass        Snatch          Trapsin          Barracks                 18 RIP
Bluechip       Sickness        Poison Javazon   Barracks                 15 RIP
UllaV          Tilsit          Blizballer       Black Marsh              17
XxUberStarxX   Inevitable      Chargadin        Stony Field              12
Shaandore      Fastpoison      Psn/Feral Rage   Stony Field              12
mattinm        TomCruise       Leap/Howl/Ward   Stony FIeld              12
NagisaFurukawa Isumi           Trapper          Stony Field              12
Galningen      Blade           Bf/Light Traps   Cold Plains              6
EmperorMoo     BraveSirRobin   Mojomancer       Cold Plains              6
Brutass        Sparky          Lite/Orb Sorc    Den of Evil              6  RIP
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
Galningen      KingLeoric      Bonemancer       Rogue Encampment         1
Zefimas        Susannah        Bowzon           Rogue Encampment         1
 
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Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

A new entry:

[highlight]Lurz, level 14 Summoning Druid, Dark Wood[/highlight]

If you're wondering how my mind conflates the images of Druid and Orc, I have no explanation. It was first name that popped into my head, and it is similar to an existing character name.

Fairly easy, if slow, going with this guy. I've now got my Spirit Wolves up to level 9, so I just sit back and watch for the most part. It's a long time since I've bothered to do full clears, so that makes things seem even slower. I've just rescued Cain, and now have to go back and clear all the areas I skipped over before I can S+E.

A quick question for the host: do we have to quote and update the tabel each time we update, or just put the highlighted details in the post and you'll update the table in the first post?

edit: another question for anyone who knows the answer: what is classified as a club for the purposes of gaining a +Druid Skills mod?

Code:
Forum Name     Character       Class            Location               Level
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tarantella     Damasque        Skirmisher       (N)Secret Cow Level      73
scrcrw         Kaiko           Blade Fury Asn   (N)Throne of Destruction 72 RIP
Tarantella     Amarantine      Skirmisher       (N)Throne of Destruction 72 RIP
ancalagon T.B. Shatterproof    Strafer          (N)Pandemonium Fortress  60
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
Mursilis       Jaheira         Trapsin          (N)Lut Gholein           51
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
EmperorMoo     MELIKECAKE      Concbarb         Crystalline Passage      37 RIP
cenyth         Teff            ES Sorceress     Harrogath                35
LozHinge T.U.  WitherStick     Poison Dagger    Harrogath                35
HanShotFirst   Scorn           Fire Druid       Diablo                   34 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         Pandemonium Fortress     32
Brutass        Sparkles        Lite/Orb Sorc    Bremm Sparkfist          27 RIP
Mournblade     Mouse           Golemancer       Lower Kurast             28
Alfonso T.G.   TheAragorn      Ranger Paladin   Spider Forest            29
soulmanz       SwayBabySway    Passivezon       Kurast Docks             27
Zelator        WitchOfEndor    CE/Curse Necro   Tal Rasha's Tomb         28
JayeM          Glassjaw        Barbarian        False Tomb               25 RIP
Bluechip       Vitamin         Throwbarb        False Tomb               23 RIP
PepitoSari     Kratos          Barbarian        Fangskin                 25 RIP
jiansonz       Morte           Necromancer      Lost City                25
Morathi        Sibella         Cold Sorc        Maggot Lair              24 RIP
JayeM          Glasscannon     Assassin         Maggot Lair              20 RIP
Ohomemgrande   GeneralJoe      Summoning Necro  Rocky Waste              21
JayeM          Trixie          Bladesin         Rocky Waste              20 RIP
holiecows      HolieTraps      Assassin         Lut Gholein              21
QuickDeath     CandleintheWind Javazon          Lut Gholein              20
scrcrw         Clodius         Throwbarb        Lut Gholein              20
HanShotFirst   Mara            Traps            Lut Gholein              20
Bluechip       Murderherder    Hunter Druid     Lut Gholein              19
EmperorMoo     Magrat_Garlick  Trapsin          Andariel (+ office boss) 18 RIP
JayeM          GlassEye        Necromancer      Jail Level 2             17 RIP
sirpoopsalot   QuestionMarks   ES/GS Sorc       Barracks                 18 RIP
Brutass        Snatch          Trapsin          Barracks                 18 RIP
Bluechip       Sickness        Poison Javazon   Barracks                 15 RIP
UllaV          Tilsit          Blizballer       Black Marsh              17
Jason Maher    Lurz            Summon Druid     Dark Wood                14
XxUberStarxX   Inevitable      Chargadin        Stony Field              12
Shaandore      Fastpoison      Psn/Feral Rage   Stony Field              12
mattinm        TomCruise       Leap/Howl/Ward   Stony FIeld              12
NagisaFurukawa Isumi           Trapper          Stony Field              12
Galningen      Blade           Bf/Light Traps   Cold Plains              6
EmperorMoo     BraveSirRobin   Mojomancer       Cold Plains              6
Brutass        Sparky          Lite/Orb Sorc    Den of Evil              6  RIP
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
Galningen      KingLeoric      Bonemancer       Rogue Encampment         1
Zefimas        Susannah        Bowzon           Rogue Encampment         1
 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Does Blood Raven have a limit on how many zombies she raises? She seemed to stop after a while.

Yes, I think there is a limit. The way I have come to understand it, is that there are invisible "corpses" on the ground (in limited numbers) and she can only resrurrect them if she can see those places. That´s why you often see her seek out new territory in the graveyard after a while. A couple of times, I have been able to trap her by the Mausoulem using summons, merc and myself, and then she only got to summon a few Hungry Dead. She never made it to another "cache" of corpses.



 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Hi folks.

I'm leaving this tourney now. My char of choice was stupid, as the only thing I do is cursing and relying on a stupid AI merc. I will probably re-enter later with a char that can actually kill by him/herself, as I like the tourney a lot. :whistling: You can put me on RIP list or delete me from the list or whatever you want.

[highlight]WitchOfEndor level 29 CE/Curse necromancer, Flayer Jungle WP[/highlight]
 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

I can't leave Drake unavenged now can i? knowing those damn Goat Men are laughing and prancing over his corpse in the Arcane Sanc.

So introducing Chloe the Javazon (of some sort), who aims to avenge her brother Drake.

I am currently in the process of planning her, but i am confused about a couple things and need some questions asked by the Amazon experts out there:

1- How exactly does Lightning Strike work? At level 20, it hits 21 targets, now i would assume that means if there is a pack of 21 monsters, it will hit each one once, yes? What about if there is only 3 monsters? will it continue to "pin ball" between the 3 until all 21 hits are done?

2- Can it be spammed? What i mean is, once you hit a target and the chain goes off, if i hit the same target again, while the first chain is still bouncing, will they 2nd chain overlap the first one? Or do they cancel each other out?

3- With Lightning Bolt, it says it converts 100% physical damage to lighting. Does this take into account Critical strike and Deadly Strike when the bolt hits the target?

I am a complete noob when it comes to Lighting skills with Amazons, so i would like some guidance :p.

[highlight] Chloe the Javazon (undecided), Level 1, Normal Rogue Camp, life = 50 [/highlight]
 
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Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

GeneralJoe has passed the first major test in a summon necro's life: the tedium of the Maggot Lair :)

Things are moving right along though but I haven't seen a green or gold since my early luck with the Gull and the 2 piece Arctic set. But, I'm now at 205% MF so sooner or later things will fall.

I was wondering about the Blood Golem. Does anyone have any experience with it in the most recent patches? Would it be helpful in this no-vita tournament? The last time I used it was when IM + Blood Golem = immortality.

[highlight]GeneralJoe, lvl 23, Far Oasis, life = 97; Lost City next[/highlight]
 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

I was wondering about the Blood Golem.

I was wondering the same thing . . . :scratchchin:

Mara left nothing but destruction behind her as she departed for Kurast. Absolutely everything in Act 2 (at Players 7) had been totally overwhelmed by her lightning traps. At present she’s at Level 28 and has nine points in Shock Web, nine points in Charged Bolt Sentry, five points in Lightning Sentry, and five points in reserve (for simultaneous pumping of both Lightning and Death Sentry when the time comes). I’ve never made a Trapsin before on single player and was really impressed by the difference that ‘Players 7’ can produce (instead of getting Lightning Sentry in the Chaos Sanctuary I got it in the Maggot Lair) . . . pretty handy.

The set/unique drops were more numerous than in Act 1 but continued to be unremarkable and included: Angelic Armor (from Radament . . . that’s two times in a row now that he’s dropped a set/unique for me . . . I like it), Cathan’s Armor, Snakecord, Skewer of Krintiz, Goreshovel, and a Cleglaw’s Long Sword (from Duriel who probably dropped dead in under 45 seconds . . . did I mention I was really impressed with the difference that Players 7 can produce).

Here were Mara’s stats at the end of Act 2.

[highlight]Mara, Traps, Kurast, Level 28[/highlight]

Hmm, that’s a pretty sad looking little update . . . but then again I guess nothing interesting happened . . . to Act 3 then, charge!


 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Fear my HC skills!

Step 1: See pack of Ghosts in the next room.
Step 2: Proceed to namelock with FB, then turn to watch TV for a tad.
Step 3: Get surrounded by what is apparently a bosspack of LE Ghosts.

Would you believe I actually managed 4 Guardians? :crazyeyes: I will rejoin again in the near future.

[highlight]R.I.P. Isumi, Forgotten Tower, Level 15[/highlight]

EDIT: Come on 'bama, only 45-0?!? Weak. :p.

As stated above, I reentered a new character, a bonemancer this time around. His low damage from just his wand meant a pretty slow start, but once he vendored a Spear from Charsi, it was smooth sailing between that and Amplify Damage. I'm kind of looking forward to this one. Haven't really played an actual bonemancer before, and curses are always fun.

[highlight]Kirei, Bonemancer, Cold Plains, Level 8[/highlight]
 
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Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Well after seeing my terrible mistake of putting more then 1 point in BF... having misuderstood how the power works I really saw my chances of finishing the tourny slim (as if they were big before...) so I let a spawner kill me.

Will be restarting with a Sorceress.

[highlight]RIP SassyAssasin, River of flame, lvl 33[/highlight]
 
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Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

I was pretty scared of The Summoner, but I managed to get Iantha to take him out without me even seeing him (just his GSpike and FW).

It was slow going in late Act II because Iantha was still using the same bow she started with, a Long Bow with some chippies. :p She had a better weapon near the end of the act, but more on that later.

When you gamble something, and that item switches colour a split second after it enters your inventory, you know it´s green or gold. 8th time I´ve gambled these (and one of them was in v1.09 where it was ten times as unlikely).

For Duriel, I wasn´t sure if I wanted to go all Bone Prison on him (and throw Sharp Throwing Spears of Maiming) or if I should tank him. I chose to tank him, even though I forgot to mule in my Steel Flail. :bonk:
/players 1 Duriel. I had 139 life and a Bone Armor absorbing 140 life. 75% blocking, 78% cold resist. Plus Iantha providing some nice chilling effect. And of course, I used Decrepify the whole time.

Once the battle was on, I could hardly believe what happened. Duriel couldn´t tear down my Bone Armor! He only did some measly cold damage. So little that Morte´s life steal from the puny Blood Crescent hits almost kept his life at full. Here he is, post-battle. Not a single potion drunk, and no recasting of Bone Armor. Duriel couldn´t even tear down 1/3 of it. :alright:

It´s always cool when sparkly chests decide to do something like this. Even though they were not useful to Morte, I still think it was cool to see two items from the same set in one drop.

Iantha´s current bow and her listed damage. I have made +min/max damage armor/helm for her, using jewels. But I have just gambled a Static Circlet she wears now.

I have also scored some nice survival boots for later:
Spirit Stalker
Boots

Defense: 2
Durability: 12 of 12
Kick Damage: 3 to 8
Required Level: 13
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 29
Fingerprint: 0x5a49bd62
Fire Resist +23%
Lightning Resist +27%
Cold Resist +11%
10% Faster Run/Walk
10% Chance to cast Level 3 Nova when struck
Repairs 1 durability in 33 seconds

Current skills:
Teeth, Corpse Explosion, Bone Spear 1
Bone Spirit 1 (going to pump it now to see if it can be useful)
Bone Armor 1
Bone Wall 2
Bone Prison 6

Amplify Damage, Iron Maiden, Weaken, Life Tap, Terror 1
Dim Vision 7
Decrepify 6
(Level 1 Amp is not user-friendly at all, but I don´t want to pump it, because if I do, I will lose precision later when I have a bunch of +skills and want to Amp 1-2 monsters in a Dimmed mob. So I keep a silly Zombie Head with +2 Amp on the weapon switch. :rolleyes: I use that a lot.)


Current MF: +179% (with no or little help from the merc, we have to settle for mediocre values...)


[Highlight]Morte the Mojo/Bonemancer and Iantha the Cold Rogue, level 30, Lower Kurast next.[/Highlight]




@pepitosari: Recent studies have shown that extra points in Blade Fury may not be a mistake. If I understand it correcty, it depends a lot on the equipment. Have you seen this post?
 
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Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

RIP all fallen.

Well after seeing my terrible mistake of putting
more then 1 point in BF... having misuderstood how the power works I really saw my chances of finishing the tourny slim (as if they were big before...) so I let a spawner kill me.

There's nothing wrong on putting more that one point in Blade Fury. Read this thread.

Tilsit is in Barracks and gonna kill Andy this night so I'll post her tidings then or tomorrow.

Ulla


 
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Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

@pepitosari: Recent studies have shown that extra points in Blade Fury may not be a mistake. If I understand it correcty, it depends a lot on the equipment. Have you seen this post?

Yes I based putting more then 1 point in it, having read the thread, but I didn't read it carefully enough, only offweapon enhanced damage works on it... and in this tourny getting offweapon dmg is hard, more so having chosen to go with shadow master instead of a merc, whose might would have worked... So basically I wasted those extra 13 points... it just seemed pointless to keep going...


 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

Gonna and gonna.

Tilsit's journey through the Tamoe Highland was not very smooth as Bone Archers were a nuicanse. Quickly runnig up to them to cast frost nova and then behind Basanti's back to wait her to kill them. Dash forward for another frost nova and back behind Basanti. Everything else was honky dory. A ranger corpse in a small hut dropped Tilsit's first set item that I thought will be handy against Andy.

Pit was easy, both levels, as most of the monsters were low damage dealing melee monsters. One boss pack of Ranger Archers on pit level 2, but nothing that the duo couldn't handle. The Outer Cloister and Barracks were quite easy as I remembered to use static against the Smith. But then the first Jail level. There were Death Clan Boss packs: first and second went down, but the third resulted deeds.

I was kinda glad as I realised somewhere that I was building her wrong way and that sorc should be one of the MF characters for my Cheese company and this was single run tourney. So she could start her MF career only after making guardian.

[highlight]UllaV, Tilsit the blizzballer with fire rogue Basanti, Jail level 1, Level 18, RIP[/highlight]

Ulla
 
Re: The Certain Death Tournament.

@pepitosari I made the same "mistake" as you with Kaiko (my BFsin in this tournament). That's why I was so eager to make Honor with 160% ed... After wondering for a while why the simple Malice claw worked better I figured it out though. As you can see it is entirely possible to beat NM with maxed BF (and maxed Venom); to be precise: it should be possible if you are not ambushed by an Extra Strong + Might Assailant entering the Throne...
Based on that experience (and the 'sin I'm currently playing in the Green with Envy Tournament) I might try the build 20 bf, 20 ls, 20 ds (or similar) sometimes. Should provide enough damage for Normal and NM on /p8 and CE-ish goodness for Hell on /p1+.
edit: Knockback is of course indispensable.

In other news:
While not gambling madly with (and sometimes playing) my GwE Trapsin, I thought the prospects of my throwbarb Clodius in this tourney. After a survey of the skills yet to become available and the experience so far, my motivation was low to continue him.
Thus I decided to simply make a run for it (killing stuff is so cheesy). I switched to /p1, put all saved skill points in leap and bought a lot of stamina potions. Radament was of course ignored and Clodius ran/leapt straight for the Halls of the Dead. Things went rather well and he ran towards the Maggot Lair. Here the situation became really scary. Leaping around in between lightning bugs drained the saved up purples fast (0 lr may have played a part). Still he made it to the room with the big maggot. Erroneously I decided to kill it first. With the poison eating away at his meager health and a few surviving lightning bugs assailing him, the belt was soon empty, no portal in sight (i.e. idiocy on my part), so deeds were unavoidable.

Sorry for my cluttering up the table. Once my GwE char is finished (hopefully not very soon) I might reenter. Might try a full lightning sorc. No need for a second element when you die before meeting more than one or two Light immunes anyway :thumbup:

[highlight] scrcrw, Clodius, Throwbarb, lvl 21, Maggot Lair lvl 3 - RIP [/highlight]
(made a level because it was 20.95 after the first act)
 
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