Wow, I played the entire act 1 at players 7. That was not the intention. Svelte_Savage made it down to level 4 of the Catacombs, cleared the outer 2 rooms. I thought, "Grab some antidote potions and move the players setting down for Andy". Real life had me hurrying, so I went to Akara and bought plenty of the antidotes. I fed my merc and myself and proceeded to the battle. A touch and go battle. The rogue merc died once. Savage had two NDEs. Once Andy lay dead, it occured to me I never changed the players setting. I felt good about beating her at that setting, but I'll need to be more careful in the future.
Question: Does Andy's range attacks carry any physical damage? Is it all poison? If they are all poison and you never allow her to close to melee, you shouldn't ever die??? Assuming you don't leave other monsters or run through some fire, etc.
Full clear of the entire Act 1 at players 7 got me to level 20.1 Lut Gholein awaits...
Question: Does Andy's range attacks carry any physical damage? Is it all poison? If they are all poison and you never allow her to close to melee, you shouldn't ever die??? Assuming you don't leave other monsters or run through some fire, etc.
Thanks jiansonz and Cor Blimey for the quick testing and info. I suppose that makes sense, as the single projectile is certainly more potent poison-wise.
One interesting thing about my full A1 clear on players 7 was that I only found one rune, and that was an EL off the Countess. It's possible I missed one on the ground. Unlikely I missed more than that, as I usually scour the ground for anything useful. Found plenty of chip gems, and a couple flawed, and Andy dropped a diamond. She also dropped Hsaru's Iron Heel boots.
Just a short update on Morte. Everything is going well in Act V.
I´ve managed to put together a 3xPTopaz Great Helm for him, as well as a better javelin. It deals more average damage than any of the Throwing Spears I´ve seen (but talk about variable damage...).
Iantha´s 3x Ith bow was feeling a little weak against beefy monsters like Frozen Horrors and such. Thankfully, I found Blastbark, which helped. It´s slow, but Twitchthroe makes the attack speed tolerable.
Bone Spirit is now level 15, doing about 400 damage. It costs a lot of mana, so I use it mostly to finish off monsters if my merc annoyingly switches targets 1-2 arrows before something big has been killed.
It has been dangerous once or twice around the catapults. I tried UllaV´s method of clearing the areas from the back. It helped somewhat but I was shot at even when all catapults had been destroyed. Ghost catapults?
It´s not smart to have a cold rogue vs the shambling undead - it makes me lose out on some goodies and XP - so a certain Hannah is making a guest appearance until it´s time for WSK level 2.
In the last area I´ve cleared, Infernal Pit, I found my first Sol rune. Nice, now I could make this. Of the listed damage, only 1-85 is lightning damage that I can´t boost with Amp/Decrep.
This bow is better than anything I can (realistically) gamble and upgrade for quite a while (plus I still need an Amn for that, which I do not have).
[Highlight]Morte the Mojo/Bonemancer and Hannah the Fire Rogue, level 44, Nihlathak´s Temple next.[/Highlight]
Ah, jiansonz, thanks for mentioning the "ghost" catapults.
I, too, cleared the Act5 open areas back-to-front, but still got pelted by the occasional catapult shot so I figured I must have missed something, somewhere. Apparently not
The frequency of missiles was a lot lower using this tactic, so I consider it a superior method.
Witherstick is working his way through some very unpleasant NM Act 2 Tombs. Scary stuff. An update will follow idc.
Last night AlreadyDead defeated Andarial and moved onto Act 2.
Nothing really exciting happened in the journey through Act 1. There was a pack of LE Ghosts at one point that I remember being a bit of a bother. Only 1 rune so far (Eth). The battle with Andy required 1 trip to town to re-hire the merc, re-fill the belt and re-group. Eventually she was defeated though.
After a short break Jaheira decided to tackle the snow capped mountains. Everything when swimmingly up until she tried to rescue some soldiers. They were rescued just fine, but she didn't get credit for 5 of them. Seems that I cast CoS on top of one of the stockades just as the barbarians were released. They got out to the TP and disappeared just fine, but I can't collect my reward and ever restart stats the entire quest needs to be done. Drat. :banghead: Although a drop just after the Frigid Highlands made up for that.
The rest of the outdoor areas proved to be no problem, it was underground (as expected) that headaches abounded. As all the guest monsters are extra fast, Jaheira's progress slowed as she used Lightning Sentries as scouts to see what was around each corner. Still she almost got caught by a pack of Rogue Spearwomen in the Crystalline Passage when the mercenary (yes no Shadow Warrior/Master) was shuffling way behind Jaheira.
Ran into my first pack of Souls in the Icy River, and they took quite a while to clear out as they were joined by Snakes and Witches. Nasty combo. Put a now maxed Fireblast to good use and it works fairly well against Souls due to their low life pool. Anya was saved, but the scroll left unread as my resistances are already as high as allowed, for fire and lightning at least. After Anya the rest of the journey to the top of the mountain was uneventful.
In preparation for the Ancients Jaheira switched out her MF boots for a pair of Treads of Cthon from her stash. FRW is definitely needed to split of the Ancients, which was done and the Ancients eliminated one at a time in short order. Onward to the WSK. First two levels weren't so tough, Snakes being the most dangerous monster encountered.
But level 3 was a completely different matter. Wander around the corner from the stairwell and ran smack into a Conviction weilding Soul bosspack, ouch. Saw the green aura, then bam!, the mercenary was dead. :scared: Luckily Jaheira was right along the wall so could scoot around the corner before the Souls noticed her. Next round she just cast a CoS in their general direction before allowing the merc to engage, while she helped with a constant barrage of Fireblast explosions.
The last level didn't mean there weren't any more Souls unfortunately, just no Conviction enhanced ones. They were accompanied by dolls and more witches, what fun. A constant supply of healing potions later and the entire area was cleared, along with Baal's minion waves. Merc actually survived them too, imagine that. This left Baal himself. Thankfully teleporting and cloning weren't on the menu today, Baal just fired cold cones and fire blasts continuously. As a result Jaheira stayed behind pillars as much as possible, only to peek out from time to time to recast a couple of Lightning Sentries at Baal's feet. Eventually he fell, dropping nothing of consequence.
Jaheira dropped all of her MF equipment in favor of maxed resistances and life in preperation to enter hell. As such she has 45% resistance to fire, cold and lightning with 0% for poison, along with ~350 life overall. Sporting both a Skin of the Vipermagi and a Rockstopper goes a long way to meeting those resistance goals.
Interestingly enough, Anya's reward was extremely useful.
Glyph Barb
Quhab
One-Hand Damage: 13 to 45
Durability: 48 of 48
(Assassin Only)
Required Dexterity: 57
Required Strength: 57
Required Level: 42
Claw Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 69
Fingerprint: 0x48d26e58
+21% Enhanced Damage
+56 to Attack Rating
+16 to Maximum Damage
4% Life stolen per hit
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
Level 2 Stun (25/25 Charges)
That along with a shopped +3 Traps claw means she's ready for the next challenge.
[highlight]Jaheira the Trapsin, Level 73, Hell Rogue Encampment[/highlight]
sparky has been plodding forward after i returned from ayers rock. she has advanced past the claw viper temple, now sitting again in lut gholein. not much to say really, all at p8 with only magic find gear on (my resists are all negative, some VERY negative). no real risk, although at players 8 my 2800 dam/sec firewall is starting to slow down ... occasionally a boss needs 2 casts!
managed to shop a lance of the leech for the new cold merc. also had a few nice drops ... most notably an iron pelt, which as an ES sorc is a massive step in the right direction. could even be end game if a gladiators bane doesnt turn up. if i put my 'safety' gear on (which because of stash space is only a few pieces) i think my pdr is around 50. with only 8 or so in buffed ES most basic enemies do no damage to sparky, although with only a 2-3 points in TK her mana ball takes a healthy whack.
a manald heal also dropped, which is nice for the mana regen, but she is sticking with her ~160% MF for now
a duskdeep also dropped for the merc, which helps too
the good has been balanced with terrible gambling luck. several million on circlets and no plus sorc skills. in fact the best circlet thus far has been 30% MF with nothing else. assassins on the other hand would be very happy with my gambling rolls!
all in all moving ok. I decided to max nova first, damage is sitting around the 300 mark for now, with 1 point left before max. then it'll be LM, then a few more in ES, with a few in TK as needed. ive made a build here that is spread a bit thin i think, but both kill skills will be maxed, with a moderate ES for safety. at the end of the day, telebombing anything not LI should be super safe, as stunlock is as safe as it gets
i have thus far skipped radament and the ancient tunnels, the Fire resistant archers slaughtered my merc initially. probably about time to take that sewer sucker down though
Svelte_Savage has made her way through most of Act 2. I hired a defensive merc when I first arrived. Made level 24 upon entering Lost City, and put a point in Decoy, which might be my favorite skill. She has killed the Summoner and gained the Canyon waypoint. Will stop there for now.
Along the way found:
Isenhart's Broadsword
Blood Crescent Scimitar
Civerb's Ward
S 69 (63)
D 79 (72)
V 20 (20)
E 45 (45)
Life 113 (98)
Mana 96 (96)
Level 4 Jab Dam. 21-121 (mostly Static Circlet she gambled, 1-63 light.dam.)
Jab AR 840
Weapon - rare brandistock 7-22 damage
5% CTC L1 amp on striking, 11%ED, +4 to max
+73 AR, 6 poison over 2, and 4% LL
Mara has completed NM Act 2 with a full clear of the Canyon of the Magi and the Tombs (all at Players 7). I continued to use very cautious play and therefore everything seemed pretty safe. The most dangerous group of monsters encountered was a group of three unique Unravelers that were camping out in the same room. One of the Unravelers had a conviction aura, another was LE, the other was LE/CE :crazyeyes: . A blast from a Death Sentry got the conviction aura enchanted Unraveler early in the battle making the remaining two pretty tame (well tame enough to feel safe taking screenshots). Past the room full of fun everything else was pretty uneventful.
The drops were also pretty uneventful through the Canyon of the Magi and the first five False Tombs (the only set/unique drop was a Venom Ward :unimpressed: and the best drop was probably a four socketed partizan to go with the Sol Rune that Mara doesn’t have ). A Partizan Insight would have been nice but Mara really doesn’t need the increased mana regeneration and Hwanin’s Bill was still serving the merc pretty well so it wasn’t too disappointing that Mara didn’t (and is yet to have) a Sol Rune . . . and if there was any disappointment it was completely gone when this dropped in the final false tomb. The stats were even pretty good and it was gladly equipped on the merc on the spot (I haven’t socketed it with anything yet but will probably be sticking an Amn Rune in it a.s.a.p. . . . and then a Shael Rune . . . if I ever find one . . . past that, . . who knows).
At Players 7 Duriel was pretty easy but still managed to kill the merc a couple times (hardly a big deal considering Mara had more gold than she knew what to do with). Duriel’s drop was pretty useless but the Hone Sundan more than made up for it so no hard feelings . . .
Shadow Salad methodically cleared the Black Marsh, Hole, Forgotten Tower, Tamoe Highlands, and Pit level 1 with ease. However, he experienced the worst NDE of his career so far in the Pit level 2. He inched his way in, spamming Dim Vision, but a pair of Archer bosses (one multishot, another extra strong) and this scary lady cornered him. As you can see, he spammed Bone Prisons all over to give himself time to think. He decided he would have to let the front prisons fall and Life Tap the boss so Mizan could take her on while keeping the prisons on the other two bosses.
He let the prisons fall and disaster struck. He accidentally cornered himself in with Mizan and the boss! Fire-boosted charged bolts were ripping through S_S's health and there was nowhere to run. He grit his teeth as his health bounced from 1/2 to full four times in quick succession as he gulped four purple potions. Suddenly all of his prisons in the hallway shattered and arrows and minions streamed in. (My heart stopped here.) Ack! Dim Vision had expired! Mizan had finished the boss though and S_S frantically threw up more bone prisons followed by a Dim Vision. Whew.Here are two screenshots of the aftermath.
The rest of the act was easy...except Andariel! Does she normally rip through mercenaries like this? I was expecting that Lifetap and Antidotes would keep Mizan alive easily enough, but no dice. I had to revive him about 10 times. I'll lower her to /p3 next time. The entire act (except the Countess) was taken on /p8.
S_S is has cleared all of the areas including the Far Oasis, and will enter the Maggot Lair next. The Pit level 2 was the first battle when he had to use Bone Prisons in earnest, and now he's learned to use them very effectively. One of his favorite tricks is to Dim Vision a pack of beetles, then surround one with Bone Prison and attack over it with his Partizan. The prison absorbs all of the sparks. Mizan can take any boss if it's Life Tap'd, so progress has been straightforward and fun. Dim Vision in front of every door before opening it; if there is a monster pack on the other side, a glow will appear; surround Hollow One bosses with a bone prison; kill skeletons one by one and explode every corpse; lure Spear Cat bosses into the next room and put up a Bone Wall to prevent DV'd minions from "leashing" in; Life Tap on the boss if she's hard, then clear out the DV'd and helpless minions. Thought-provoking, slow, fun gameplay. This is a fun character. :nod::thumbup:
Random finds:
Vidala's bow
Bloodrise Morning Star
Arctic Furs
Jewel of Fervor
Vidala's Boots
Venom Ward
Rite of Passage Demonhide Boots
Arctic bow
Cathan's mask
Pus Spitter (unique Seige Xbow)
S_S's first Blood Belt has a whopping 72 to health and 76% gold find...but no resistances. He's happy with it for now, but hopes to improve later. (He'd be willing to trade some life for resists or, equally important, FHR)
He has an embarrassingly high amount of Magic Find. 274 after he completed his 4PT Gothic Plate. (I figured that I would devote my armor to MF since that slot is really good for it without being good for much else, rubies being banned and all, and I would devote my other slots to more useful mods.) His MF is much too high because he hasn't gambled/found anything better than his 3 flawless topaz Great Helm. S_S has 290 health.
[highlight]Shadow_Salad, level 55 Meleemancer, Far Oasis cleared, Maggot Lair next[/highlight]
* * *
Alfonso, that's an amazing find. Since your Ranger needs AR so badly, you will be using the Ammy + Ring for the rest of the game probably. And if you think the armor is worth +100 MF, 50 fire resist, and +1 skills, then that's probably endgame gear as well. I'd love to find the Amulet, myself -- that has the best possible +life combo for those slots I think.
Mursilis, congrats on reaching Hell! And you beat a Conviction Gloam pack to do it!
Act four started at an optimistic p4 on the steppes but the lack of monster numbers and their dispersal made a full clearance (a repairable dusk shroud dropped-repaired for 425ed ) very slow going and for safeties sake it was dropped to p1(kept for the rest of the session) when the entrance to the outer steppes was suspected. Here again tentatively cast decoys bought no answering response from gloams so Damasque, edging anticlockwise, despatched doom casters, flesh spawners, corpulents and soon found and eagerly took the next exit a quarter of the way round the plains. The waypoint was found after severalnasty bosspacks and then steps were retraced to the plains again which was then nearly cleared (no useful drops either) before Izual was found and despatched with poison. The city was then cleared (the only good drop a being 48 life infernostrides) and at the very last a skill shrine was found and so Damasque with valkyrie at level 34 set off down the steps to the River of Flame. Here monster numbers made it easier going with fury and with an easy map the waypoint soon found. Retracing steps to the forge Damasque teased out a few creatures with a decoy and with the valkyrie in position Hephasto soon arrived with more reinforcements which meant major damage for him. A bit more teasing with the decoy bought a fresh batch of rock larvae and a despairing cry from the forge keeper. And the forge gave up an ist!
The second session started well with no elemental casters on the river and the entrance to the Sanctuary soon breached but the opposition lead by fast moving oblivion knightand balrog bosses stiffened rapidly even at p1. The Vizier died easily but De Seis cast iron maiden on the valkyrie even as his bodyguard perished before he too was dealt with. A strong valkyrie was again recast for the third of the seal boss encounters. The Infector cursed as his pack took massive lightning damage but a rapid withdrawal by Damasque allowed the valkyrie to disengage for a few seconds and recover her health before the boss fell moments later.
With a cursory look at her stash Damasque placed the so far unused gimmershreds and her two mf rings in her inventory and triggered the last seal knowing full well her lack of physical damage and 43frw wearing medium armour might prove fatal against Diablo.
Indeed things started off badly and opening the inventory to change weapons and manually reselecting throw skill to get free whilst being hosed from a distance is not recommended. Much throwing, running and dodging for 15 seconds followed, the valkyrie being regularly tactically recast, punctuated with another emprisonment from nearly two screens away.
With purples running short Damasque was again imprisoned and this time with certain death only seconds away she broke free with the axes again and gulped her last rejuv potion as the denied Diablo (now cooly observed to be down to below 1/6th life) cast a fire nova and then another to sliver her life as she sped round the corner to safety.
With a grim heart, face and just one cubed rejuv on her belt Damasque returned once again knowing one way or another there would be one more death in the arena and there was!
A closer inspection of the stash later revealed a slayers amulet of teleportation gambled way back in act 2 kept for the very purpose of escaping. :thumbup:
damn it, deeds (sort of, she was actually SC, and will continue as some sort of farmer)
Sparky bit the dust in the great marsh. I always hate it when the marsh makes a big circle into the flayer jungle, and spider forest, but ignoring that bad omen strode onwards
then i started seeing gloams. ignored that omen too
essentially teleported across a river into the middle of a conviction, mana burn gloam boss pack. as an ES sorc. with only 10 mdr
literally the one enemy within 2 acts that could challenge sparky, and she met it. absolutely nothing else had a chance, although drowned carcasses were slow at p8
i guess i coulda played a bit safer, but she was a bit of fast fun. will continue and telebomb my way to victory
and i only had to find a 4 socket polearm for insight too. the runes were set up in my stash
oh well
sparkypancakes, ES novawaller, level 58, great marsh (last waypoint spider forest), RIP
I do not understand. What is bad about this, and how do you want it otherwise?
I don´t care one bit how the areas are connected - they are are all going to be fully harvested for wealth and XP anyway.
(But I think it´s intersting to see how the areas are connected. Just whey you think you have seen it all, the game can sometimes come up with something you haven´t seen).
Unlucky, but I do not see any reason at all to teleport into uncleared territory in HC (unless it´s a panic stairs trap situation). In these jungles, you generally have miles of safe space to fall back on when something gets dangerous and you need to flee and separate enemies.
99% of all teleports I do is back in the direction I came running from (often 2-3 Teleports pack).
GeneralJoe has now completed Act 3 and is at the Pandemonium Fortress!!
Act 3 was good to Joe and his posse. Most everything gave up when they saw us coming. There were a couple boss-packs that were challenging but nothing that had to be avoided outright. Mostly it was just trying to separate the nasties. 9 on 1 is much better than 9 on 9+
There were two significant finds in this act that will see use.
The first was popped from a chest in one of the Kurast temples. Yeah for gold chain gloves. Now Joe walks around with about 240 MF%.
The second item came from old Mephy himself. Iratha's Coil with a healthy +30% resistance to fire and lightning will go a long way in this tournament I think.
I was most worried about the Council and the hydras. But, I ended up luring them out one by one and it was kind of easy. Mephisto fell to a combination of moat trick + clay golem + iron maiden.
@Tarnattela. Awesome progress man! Hell Act 5 is hell of an achievement! I wish you the best of luck with your quest to Guardianship!
@soulmanz. Ouch! may sparkypancakes R.I.P!
@Wakiki and Hans. Great progress to the both of you! Hopefully i Iago can catch up to you two!
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Big update for Iago!
The monsters of Act 3 found themselves scratching and clawing at their throats, gradually drained of life, as Rabies began to infect their vital organs. Flayers tried to escape, back to their camps, but the Rabies spread and infected them all. Chalan pinned the stragglers, finishing them off as they lay dying.
My favourite quest for this tournament, The Golden Bird Quest, benefited Iago more so than I thought. Giving him an additional +58 to life! The extra 38 coming from the added bonus of Wolf Form and Oak’s :thumbup:. This allowed for a little more comfort (so to speak) and increased my overall life pool by close to 16% .
S/U’s were very common throughout the Act. Even Icehawk Riftwing gave me a double S/U drop. Something I haven’t come across for a very long time (maybe even my first ever double S/U drop from a super unique :scratchchin. The best drop for the act however, occurred in the Spider Cavern. Nice a Tarn Helm! It rolled with 34% MF. Not bad, however it is still 16% off its best roll :greedy:. The 2nd best, or arguably, the 1st best item for the act, dropped in the Upper Kurast, under a log, Sanders Taboo! +40 to life and 20% IAS are awesome stats for a build like Iago’s. I stashed them away, in favour of my current MF/resist gloves. I prefer this choice for now.
Meph was very straightforward and trouble-free for Iago. Feral Rage, fully charged, gave enough LL for the battle to be safe, while Fury and OW from my “Steel” Battle Axe, wore him down. With the very fast attack speed of Fury, I was able to leech back very quickly if Iago was hurt, going from half, to a full life bulb with just a few quick hits! His drop left little to be desired.
With Meph down, it was time to head to hell, where Diablo himself had made his home.
The journey towards his sanctuary was steady and safe. I was surprised to see that my “Steel” Battle Axe was still holding up nicely, getting the job done at reasonable pace on p/8. I guess my fast attack speed is the reason behind this, either way, I am not complain!
The Chaos Sanctuary was preceded with great caution. High physical damage, low life and fast attack speed do not mix well together when you get IM’d. Around OK’s, I played it safe, staying back behind Chalan while he fought away. Ever so often I would engage to only infect the pack with Rabies and then retreat back to safety.
Diablo was tackled at p5. Good move that was! Boy did he get my heart pumping! Facing Diablo in melee is a very very terrifying ordeal to say the least. Positioning was crucial. I tried to take him on at differnt angles, get him to focus Chalan, while I sneaked around the back and attacked, unharmed. It wasn’t as easy as it sounds. Several times Chalan got roasted and required countless resurrections, which threw off the positioning each time. It got to the stage where I had to take matters into my own hands. I came out ontop :smug:. The drop didn’t yield anything useful, apart from the Halberd and Circlet selling at max gold .
[highlight]Iago the Fury/Rabies Druid, Level 35.2, Normal Harrogath, Life = 189 (425 with Oaks + Wolf Form) aided by Chalan the Prayer Merc[/highlight]
wow, Tarentella. That photo of being bone-prisoned a few metres from Big-D as he hoses the area is amazing. I have to say at that point my tp finger would be itching, let alone cooly taking a screenie. Well played indeed.
WitherStick listened patiently whilst Jerhyn explained how it had become necessary to take in the Harem girls into the Palace. "Ah-huh. I see. Goodness!", purred the Daggermancer, in a conciliatory fashion. "Dirty perv", he thought to himself.
EF/CE Redeye in the Palace Cellar was no joke. I was ready for him when he made is death lunge for the necromancer and urged WitherStick to safety, away from the lethal cold explosion. The cellars were by and large a case of DV everything and pick our way through. In no time at all, we found the portal to the fantastic Arcane Sanctuary. Almost immediately, we discovered Razan's vertigo problem - damned merc is afraid of heights and they make him sick. Not pretty.
Our first choice of direction in the Sanctuary led us straight to the Summoner and the portal to the Canyon of the Magi. The Summoner himself was somewhat allergic to WitherStick's blade. One poke was enough. More serious dangers lurked down the other paths which, for completeness sake, we thoroughly explored. WitherStick could not withstand the piercing attack of the Lightning Spires and needed Razan's help. The merc, though, retreated when WitherStick did, a situation which infuriated the necromancer. A quick Bone Wall would help focus Razan's attention (even if it didn't endear him to the merc). For myself, I don't feel guilty in the slightest. Aside from Ghost bosses (and those Spires), progress through this region was safe and steady.
Once the Sanctuary was totally cleared, WitherStick took time out to reconsider his gear. A decent amulet had finally dropped (!) plus some Blood Crafting was performed. In short, new gloves and a belt are in use (details later) and an enormous re-shuffling of charms and such was made to accommodate the changes.
The false tombs were, mostly, horrible. Sometimes the monsters could corralled and controlled but when Ghosts were in the mix, especially boss/champions, all hell broke loose. One of the tombs had a triple boss pack of Blunderbores at the entrance, which required the cheese of repeated portalling-out and entrancing-in. Too hot for a screenie at the time, this was the aftermath. I wish I could protray just how stressful that was. At some point I turned things down from /Players 5 to P3 as I could see my Deeds just around the next corner. There were Blunderbores, Scarabs, Blunderbores, Blunderbores, Ghosts (ooh, nice name!) and (did I mention ...) Blunderbores. The Boss packs and champion packs were brutal. Ancient Kaa was light relief by comparison (no screenie, sorry).
EDIT: Yes, they are actually Gorebellys, but I like the word "Blunderbore"!
Duriel was toned down to P1 but I needn't have bothered. For once, he wanted to kill the merc instead of the necro. Made a nice change. Rubbish was dropped, including a Bloodthief brandistock (would have been useful in Normal, perhaps!).
LCS readout as of now is here. The resists have changed a bit with the big re-shuffle of gear. I will be going back to /Players 5 for Act3 except for underground areas, which will be done at P3 (or maybe even P1). I'll see how I feel about the Durance levels if/when I get there.
Stuff Skills
Amp, Weaken, IM, Terror, Decrep, Life Tap. Lower Res - 1 pt (3 pts)
DV - 10 (12)
BA - 1 (5)
BW - 15 (19)
PDag - 20 (24)
PExp - 9 (13)
Teeth, CE - 1 (3) (Pre-reqs only, not to be used)
BA - 285
Block - 75%
MF - 8% (who needs it?)
Useful charms, GC 27 Life, LC 14 Life/16 AR, SC 12 Life, a peachy 8/15 FHR/FR LC (Yo!) plus some with +FHR, +Str, +Cold Dam and of course, resists.
Notable Drops:
Nothing I can recall, other than a second Shael plus that nice LC mentioned above
Crafting:
[highlight]Demon Fist[/highlight] - equipped
Heavy Gloves
Defense: 6
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Level: 53
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x412f517e
+7 to Dexterity
+16 to Life
Fire Resist +7%
Poison Resist +9%
1% Life stolen per hit
74% Extra Gold from Monsters
8% Chance of Crushing Blow
[highlight]Havoc Lock[/highlight] - equipped
Mesh Belt
Defense: 35
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 38
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x1569f373
+10 to Life
1% Life stolen per hit
Attacker Takes Damage of 2
17% Faster Hit Recovery
10% Chance of Open Wounds
14% Chance to cast Level 5 Charged Bolt when struck
[highlight]Glyph Winding[/highlight]
Mesh Belt
Defense: 46
Durability: 12 of 16
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x3c62c122
+16 to Life
+22 to Maximum Stamina
+13% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +28%
3% Life stolen per hit
6% Chance of Open Wounds
[highlight]Death Clutches[/highlight]
Heavy Gloves
Defense: 8
Durability: 9 of 14
Required Level: 31
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0xdca0fe70
+1 to Dexterity
+11 to Life
+24% Enhanced Defense
2% Life stolen per hit
41% Extra Gold from Monsters
8% Chance of Crushing Blow
[highlight]Ghoul Claw[/highlight]
Heavy Gloves
Defense: 10
Durability: 12 of 14
Required Level: 57
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0xc0394364
+13 to Life
+43% Enhanced Defense
3% Life stolen per hit
41% Extra Gold from Monsters
20% Increased Attack Speed
5% Chance of Crushing Blow
14% Chance to cast Level 5 Nova when struck
Act Highlight - surviving the worst entrance to a Tomb that I can recall (plus I enjoyed my crafting attempts, this part of the game is relatively new to me).
I have to say, Well Played to those who are forging on ahead of me, and to those who will no doubt be doing so once they catch up to me! I love reading your reports :thumbup:
jianz, i absolutely agree. i made tons of mistakes, and they all stemmed from the fact the character was too strong. i hadnt even cleared the false tombs, or ancient tunnels, or the palace cellar, so was underlevelled too. i was running mf gear (had negative resists, LR was like -30). the thing that really killed me was no fcr. i just couldnt teleport out to save myself
the thing was i could stand in the middle of any non-boss pack and not fear for my safety. the red ball wouldnt even budge. that combined with massive FW killpower resulted in a very non-HC mindset
the last HC toon i had before this comp was a tri-element caster druid. in some ways weaker characters do better in HC (at least for me) because I am more careful
anyway, sparky was SC, so im gonna turn her into an area runner. maybe LK
i think i am out of the comp, although i do have a bowler/grizzly druid that had been following the rules (i think - will have to confirm) that might have a shot at it. a nice, weaker character for my delicate psyche to protect!
). A Partizan Insight would have been nice but Mara really doesn’t need the increased mana regeneration and Hwanin’s Bill was still serving the merc pretty well so it wasn’t too disappointing that Mara didn’t (and is yet to have) a Sol Rune . . . and if there was any disappointment it was completely gone when 
S_S has 290 health.
. 