Re: The Certain Death Tournament.
Success! Hadriela has peformed a full clear of Hell Act 5. Here’s how it happened:
Hell Act 5 began pretty well. The Bloody Foothills had Burning Archers and Gremlins. The Burning Archers did some decent damage but weren’t CI so Hadriela did way more damage and was able to force her way through the Bloody Foothills at a mix of Players 1 and 3. Shenk and company were of course CI but Azrael and Hadriela’s Level 21 Firewall was more than enough to defeat the demon and earn Larzuk’s trust (the socketing quest didn't get used . . . I guess I really didn’t need it :whistling: ).
The Frigid Highlands had speedy Corrupted Rouge Lancers, Gremlins/Siege Beasts, and CI Slingers :\ . Hadriela proceeded through the area exercising extreme caution remembering well what had befallen Shatterproof but no dangerous Slinger uniques were encountered (really nothing too dangerous was encountered except for this
massive FI/CI Beast that dropped Azrael several times).
Abaddon had Hell Temptresses (and therefore the
Blood Mana curse), Frenzytaurs (I think), and Fallen Shaman. The biggest obstacle was a group of mana burning Fallen Shaman (and therefore mana burning Fallen that tended to get resurrected next to Hadriela :unimpressed: ), plus, the mana burning Fallen Shaman had support from a big group of Hell Temptresses that really didn’t want to be separated from the Fallen Shaman. So Hadriela was getting continuously mana burned by a skirmishing line of resurrected Fallen and getting bombarded by red orbs from (mostly off screen) Hell Temptresses (not a good combo). Finally Hadriela decided to get aggressive and tele’d in close to the Fallen Shaman and orbed them to death as she dodged the Hell Temptresses stream of orbs. The rest of Abaddon was pretty easy.
The Arreat Plateau didn’t have any CI’s so Hadriela was really tempted to up the players setting . . . but there were Slingers (Poison Immune) so Hadriela decided against it. Turns out there weren’t any really dangerous monsters in the entire area but better safe than sorry I suppose.
The Pit of Acheron had Salamanders, Balrogs, and Corpse Spitters (none of them CI) so Hadriela decided to get dangerous and upped the players setting to Players 5. No problems :grin: .
The Crystalline Passage had Frenzytaurs, CI Serpents, and CI Corrupt Rouge Archers (gulp). Fortunately there wasn’t anything very dangerous near the entrance so Hadriela was able to clear some maneuvering (retreating) room before anything very dangerous appeared.
The Frozen River had Hell Temptresses (ugh more Blood Mana curse), CI Prowling Dead, and something that didn’t make a big impression (I’ve already forgotten). The Hell Temptresses were the only real problem . . . well them and the Evil Urns . . . I couldn’t stop myself from going for the full clear (urns included).
Here's the worst thing that popped out of an Evil Urn (in the Frozen River . . . plenty of other nasty things popped out of Evil Urns elsewhere . . . ugh, I wanted to stop myself from Evil Urns but couldn’t . . . oh well, it worked out . . . this time . . . ) Anyhow, Anya was rescued without Hadriela encountering anything extremely dangerous. Anya’s reward was useless and Malah’s could not be used (sigh).
The Glacial Trail had more Frenzytaurs, more CI Serpents, and CI Invaders. Some Extra Fast CI Invaders made it really hard for Hadriela to get established in the Glacial Trail but the rest of the area was pretty easy . . . though progress remained very cautious because you’d never know when
something really scary might appear out of nowhere :crazyeyes: .
The Drifter Cavern had . . . um, uh, er, . . . beats me . . . couldn’t have been anything very interesting . . . next!
Next Hadriela secured the Frozen Tundra waypoint without incident and began the march on Nihlathak. Hadriela’s began by teleing into Pindle’s Hallway and defeating Pindle and the poison immunes before returning outside for the cold immunes (no problems . . . but I usually run Pindle using a Frozen Orb Sorceress so I’d better be competent here). Then came the Halls of Anguish and Pain. Both areas were pretty easy to clear (most notably there were even more Frenzytaurs and annoying Blizzard dropping Sextons). Players 1 and 3 were used in those areas. Then onto the Halls of Vaught (a Players 1 area for sure).
The Hall of Vaught had an ambush! . . but not by anything really dangerous. The Halls of Vaught had CI Slayers, CI Prowling Dead, and Hell Temptresses (oh great more Blood Mana . . . but really I was pretty excited that I didn’t need to face Nihlathak’s extremely poisonous snakes). Hadriela cleared out the three dead ends and then prepared for Nihlathak. The battle plan was to draw as many of Nihlathak’s minions as possible out one direction, dispose of them, and then proceed to Nihlathak from the other direction. Hadriela was
pretty pleased with the battle plan but wasn’t laughing for long. Everything seemed to be perfect as Hadriela approached Nihlathak (he didn’t have any monsters near him except for some Hell Temptresses) and Hadriela began to spam Frozen Orb when a Suicide Minion spawned and blew up on Azrael and then Nihlathak blew it up :shocked: . Hadriela was across the screen from the corpse explosion but it still erased most of her health and mana :crazyeyes: . Full Rejuvenation Potion! Teleport! Spam spam Spam Frozen Orb! . . and then
Nihlathak dropped dead before he could get another corpse (yikes)!
Returning to the Frozen Tundra was extremely nice (nothing very dangerous had spawned) and Hadriela cleared out the rest of the area at Players 3.
The Infernal Pit couldn’t have been very interesting because I didn’t take any screenshots so let’s get to the good stuff (by the way, if you’re still reading this I’m really impressed).
The Ancients Way had plenty of nasty monsters (Frenzytaurs, Fouldogs, and some Skeleton Mages). Okay, so that doesn’t sound too bad on paper but the Frenzytaurs spawned with some really nasty mods (
here’s my favorite, and
here’s the runner up). Another problem was that the Ancients Way had plenty of Evil Urns (and I really wanted that full clear). So plenty of evil things were spawed (
here’s one of the best . . . note the conviction aura) . . . but there was good news, none of the Evil Urns spawed anything really evil directly on top of Hadriela :whistling: (yeah . . . I probably shouldn’t have touched any Evil Urns but Full Clear OCD had taken hold).
Speaking of Full Clear OCD . . . the Icy Cellar was up next and had one of the most unholy groupings of monsters possible . . . and did I walk away when I had the chance (hahaha . . . oh no). Hadriela dropped into the Icy Cellar and was dismayed to discover that the entrance/exit was in the center of the area (that seems to make characters very vulnerable in my experience . . . no exception here). Hadriela was then greeted by a great many red orbs coming from her right (oh great Hell Temptresses) . . . so she stepped ahead (out of the path of the orbs) and what should appear but two Dolls (wait! what! I didn’t know Dolls could spawn here)! The Dolls charged Azrael and Hadriela ran to get out of blast range . . . and then two champion Dolls appeared and began attacking Hadriela (oh shoot)! I managed to stay calm and let the champions attack until Azrael disposed of the normal Dolls (at a safe distance) and then tele’d to get the champion Dolls to attack Azrael. Hadriela stepped to a safe distance and used Frozen Orb to send the little buggers to the abyss.
Okay, Hell Temptresses and Dolls . . . Hadriela should probably run away and never return . . . but she didn’t. The Hell Temptresses near the entrance were ignored and Hadriela proceeded to the left (where the champion Dolls had come from) and located the rest of the champion Dolls (and unique Doll group plus some Hell Temptresses) . . . no big deal, stay calm (reinsert heart into chest). So, Hadriela cleared the area to the left for some maneuvering room and then proceeded cautiously towards the top . . . and then there was a ton of lighting! Yep! Hell Temptresses, Dolls, and Gloams. So, no doubt, Hadriela should run away and never return . . . but she didn’t. Hadriela had cleared some maneuvering room and was going to use it (or die trying). The top seemed way too hot to handle so Hadriela returned to the entrance and separated and destroyed the Hell Temptress group and then cleared out the bottom (that had next to no Gloams). The right had next to no Gloams also and was cleared next. So, how to handle the top . . . Hadriela decided to attack the top from the center (from the opposite side of the river) but not before defeating a group of mana burning extra fast Doll that had hidden behind the entrance :shocked: (reinsert heart into chest). So, Hadriela began to engage the Hell Temptresses and Gloams from across the river (mostly the idea was to
separate individuals from the larger group) . . . and it worked! . . but was still extremely dangerous. Mostly one by one the top the monsters at the top were separated (
including the uniques . . . and yes, that is a Conviction Gloam :crazyeyes: )! Finally the top was pretty much clear except for some Gloams and Hell Temptresses at the very top so Hadriela got (more) dangerous and
teleported into a corner and spammed Frozen Orb around the corner. After about forty-five minutes
victory was Hadriela’s!
Perhaps needless to say, compared to the Icy Cellar the Ancients were super easy. Hadriela got a lucky spawn (no nasty aura’s, cursed, etc). Madawc was separated and defeated, then Talic and then Korlic (only Korlic was CI so the battle was very short).
The Worldstone Keep Level 1 had CI Vampires, CI Invaders, and CI Spawners (um, that’s a lot of CI’s). However, despite everything being CI, Hadriela really didn’t encounter much trouble (Firewall was now maxed at Level 22 and Azrael was handling everything pretty well). The biggest problem came from a group of
Conviction Vampires :\ (that wasn’t even that bad as they separated pretty quickly).
So onto the Worldstone Keep Level 2. Beetles were encountered (great those are easy) but then a different type of lightning came streaming onto the screen. Gloams (not again)! Okay not a big problem, I’m getting pretty good at killing Gloams . . . and then the
last monster type appeared (Horadrim Ancients and Gloams . . . why me)?! So, the Worldstone Keep Level 2 was pretty much one big near death (I’ll spare you most of the details and get to the really good part . . . the last dead end). The last dead end on the WSK Level 2 was full of Horadrim Ancients, Gloams, and Beetles that combined had the
extra fast mana burn mods plus the Might and Fanaticism Auras :shocked: . So the situation was pretty much the same as in Abaddon only instead of a constantly resurrecting skirmishing line of Fallen there was a constantly resurrecting skirmishing line of mana burning Gloams :crazyeyes: and instead of Hell Temptress orbs there was a steady stream of Might/Fanaticism enhanced ‘spider missiles’ that Hadriela had to dodge (plus the lightning blasts coming from the Gloams that remained behind the skirmishing line; next to the Horadrim Ancients). (What did I do to deserve this mess)? Anyhow long story short, Hadriela did an absolute ton of dangerous teleporting/dodging to separate the Gloams from the Horadrim Ancients and then proceeded to engage the Beetles and Horadrim Ancients (hmm, that sounded easy on paper . . . it really wasn’t . . . ). Anyhow, after an hour (maybe) . . . the WSK Level 2 was
all Hadriela’s.
The Worldstone Keep Level 3 didn’t have anything really dangerous in it (so I used that time to reinsert my heart into my chest . . . though it turned out to be wasted effort as the Throne of Destruction caused my heart to leap out of my chest once more).
The entrance to the Throne of Destruction was an absolute nightmare. Hadriela entered running (good thing too because a salvo from five Gloams nearly ended her story). So great, more Gloams, and then Firewalls started appearing (and they weren’t coming from Hadriela) and then red orbs starting appearing from the opposite direction. (Why me)!? Full Rejuvenation Potion. Full Rejuvenation Potion (and all told, about a second later Hadriela had managed to return to the WSK3 wondering ‘why me’? Well nothing to it . . . she had to try again. Hadriela returned to the Throne of Destruction again dodging a deadly salvo of Gloam lightning, and then began spamming Frozen Orb at the Gloams (as she zig-zag dodged their lightning). The Gloams dropped dead but by this point red orbs, Firewalls, and Meteors had appeared everywhere so Hadriela
tele’d to the corner nearest the Vampires and added her Firewall to the mix . . . after a couple of retreats to Malah the CI Vampires and CI Hell Temptresses were defeated. Hadriela had breached the entrance. Clearing the rest of the Throne of Destruction was much more controlled (there were plenty of Gloams and one Fanatic Gloam . . . but what’s new).
Baal’s Minions were the easy part. The Horadrim Ancients resurrected some Gloams (I couldn’t get rid of the corpses) and the Plucked Chickens (led by a FI/CI Lister) forced Hadriela and Azrael out of the central chamber but everything else by the book. So, finally Hadrieal got to battle the big guy . . . but it wasn’t much of a battle. Baal got hit by the Kelpie Snare / Static combo and dropped dead in about a minute.
Baal didn’t
drop anything worth getting excited about but Hadriela had already found a new to SP item (
Medusa’s Gaze Aegis) . . . so I’m not complaining. Other set/unique drops from Hell Act 5 included:
Hellslayer Decapitator,
The Patriarch Great Sword,
Milabrega’s War Scepter,
Langer Briser Arbalest,
Wizendraw Long Battle Bow,
Angelic Sabre,
Lycander’s Ceremonial Pike (another one of these dropped in Hell Act 3 . . . perhaps the game is urging me to make the Fendazon I’ve been wanting to try),
Whistan’s Round Shield,
Angelic Wings (sure now it drops), and a
Stormchaser Scutum. The best rune drop was a
Sol Rune (only Hadriela’s second found Sol Rune) :doh: . Another pretty high ED
rare Colossus Voulge dropped (40ias . . . but not as good ED or LL as the one from Hell Act 2 . . . sigh). Also, a normal Berserker Axe dropped (hey, you never can have enough of those)!
Here were Hadriela’s stats at the end of Hell Act 5.
Guardian Hadriela then entered the Moo Moo Farm and was pleased to see that she didn’t get the portal that drops you next to the Cow King (she’d begun to expect the worst). The Hell Bovine were strong even at Players 1 but Hadriela’s Frozen Orb was stronger (and using the Frozen Orb, Frozen Orb, Tele retreat and repeat plan worked well . . . only an
FI/CI unique required extra attention). Hadriela found an
Eye of Etlich (and nothing else of interest . . . including at the
Cow King).
Here are Hadriela’s final stats.
[highlight]Hadriela, Frozen Orb/TK, Guardian, Level 86[/highlight]
Last but not least, big thanks to wakiki for creating such a great tournament idea and being such an involved host! . . and thanks to you for reading (I know it was anything but short)! :thumbup:
. Another pretty good drop from the River of Flame was a four socketed Monarch Shield (pretty nice but Hadriela really can’t use a Spirit Shield because of what it would do to her resistances . . . but . . . a four pdiamond shield could really free up some other slots, so, perhaps there might yet be some use for it).
