The Committed Tournament

[Turbocannon]

Ruby returned to Harrogath victoriously, where she was greeted eagerly by Qual-Kehk, surrounded now by the fifteen barbarian warriors she had saved. "Thank you for rescuing my men! Allow me to reward you with these three runes." He produced the runes Ral, Ort, and Tal from a pouch, and pointed at his shield. "Look here - if you ever get a good shield that has three rune sockets in it, you can place these runes in there and unlock special powers with it. Just like how these runes are placed into this shield - it's the same runeword: the Ancient's Pledge, passed down from generation to gen-"

"Sorry, don't mean to interrupt," Ruby laughed, "But the thing is, I actually know this already. I've already made one for myself, too," she added, lifting her kite shield. "Quite a useful shield. To be honest, I'd rather have a Rhyme, but I've made a promise to a lover, and... it's a long story," she waved the rest of the sentence away.

Qual-Kehk frowned, dismayed. "Hang on. How does a lowlander wench like you know about the sacred runewords of our people, anyway?"

"Oh, they're not really a big secret anymore," she shrugged. "We learn them at boot camp... I mean, the academy of my order. We've invented a few ourselves, too. Like the Spirit shield. It is the mightiest of the shield runewords, eclipsing all other known recipes, and made from common runes too! Too bad few shields are able to harbor the power of four runes..."

Now the barbarian stood amazed. "Please, you've got to tell me! What are the runes?"

"Sorry captain. Our order has its secrets too," Ruby smiled enigmatically. "Farewell now!"

Two barbarians yelled after her as she left. "Did I hear something about a lover?" "Oooh, but he must be so far away! Don't you miss his touch already? Maybe I can... fill the gap in the meanwhile?" "Hey Klatu, I bet she could handle the two of us once, eh?" She heard wolf-whistles next; Ruby didn't flinch as two Mind Blasts sent the lecherous barbarians reeling.

"Thanks, Shadow," Ruby smiled at her companion. The incorporeal figure smiled back and gave a curt nod. Though she was technically talking to herself, Ruby liked to pretend that her Shadow Master was a real, sentient friend sometimes. Unfortunately, she couldn't make her talk yet, but her control over the ghostly warrior was growing - guiding her while fighting the legions of Baal gave her lots of valuable experience in controlling her under pressure and unlocking more of her mental potential. She hoped she'd learn how to have her Shadow talk at one point - Ruby grinned at the idea of all the pranks she could accomplish that way.

***

Ruby is now level 41, in Act V, having reached the Glacial Trail waypoint. Still no significant challenges. I've acquired some new strength charms and improved my existing +life charms, plus equipped that Manald Heal from before.

I've thought about long-term prospects. Throwing weapons are handy to use because two of them (Throwing Axe and Balanced Axe) plus their exceptional and elite equivalents can, I believe, be used for Blood weapon crafting (35-60% ED, 1-4% life leech, 10-20 life - all very useful for us, plus the extra mods on top of that). So I'll be on the lookout for Franciscas, Hurlbats and the like. Unless I have the great luck to find a unique throwing weapon, these will be my best choices for weapons, I think.

Other than that, I'll want Crushing Blow. Realistically, that can come from Goblin Toe, Rattlecage (with some hefty strength boosts) and Venom Grip. I'm yet to find either of these items, so unless I'll find them, Blood gloves are also a good target (I can probably craft better Blood gloves than Venom Grip anyway). I'm sure I can defeat Normal Ancients without CB, but I'll want it for NM and Hell. A Duress is a possible option if I get that Um rune. A third recipe I've been looking at is a Safety belt (har har), so that I can get all the belt-related goodnesses (lots of +str, FHR, resists, life) on a Demonhide Sash that has 4 rows.

 

[OldSoldier1]

Whitefang has continued his journey. He traveled from the Outer Cloister through the innards of the monastery to the heart of the Catacombs themselves where Andariel awaited. Still, with the help of several antidote potions, Feral Rage > Andariel. Not much else to do really except stand there and attack. I do not like Fury in these situations, I just don't because I miss too much.
View attachment 2073

Her drop did yield a unique axe, but not one that I'm interested in using.
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Radament got the same treatment, albeit with the help of a poison shrine. Those are nice as I think they set the poison duration to 0, because even with a shrine active, my poison resistance (numerically on the LCS that is) is not great.
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We walked into a nice stair trap in the Stony Tomb level 2 with a boss pack of beetles. It was survivable though. I think it is really nice that the beetles do not emit sparks when frozen (except for the death knell).
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My cold resist is negative so bosses like Creeping Feature pose a slight problem when their health gets low. Their novas hurt bad! He took about half my life (~500) when he died. Need to fix that!
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There was a strange bug in this room where all the enemies just stood there aligned with the end of the stone benches in the room until I got nearby, and then they woke up. Maybe that's not a bug and I just never noticed it before. I thought that the rock benches could be fired over but Ajheed didn't see the monsters either until they started moving when I got closer on the same side as they were. Odd.
View attachment 2078

This circlet dropped in the Rocky Wastes. AR baby! And Resists! I immediately put it on, dispatching the +35 life circlet I'd been sporting since almost the beginning. I can socket this and put a ruby in if I want, although rubies are very precious and few right now. Net loss is about 100 max life when transformed, but my CTH went up about 10% with this thing on. Good switch!
View attachment 2079

Double pack of champion Dung Beetles and Saber Cats was a good hard fight.
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I found a long sword and took a chance, burning one of my 4 Amn runes to poke some holes in it. Success! Ajheed now has a 20% FCR circlet, a 38% res all bone shield (2 PDiamonds), his stealth armor (25% FCR) and a Spirit sword (33% FCR). He fires pretty fast.
View attachment 2081

... and then it happened! I morphed back into human form about a half second before Beetleburst's CE nova went off right in my face. I don't know if that fresh circlet with its 20% CR is what saved me or not but I'll bet it would have been really close without it.
View attachment 2082

Destroyer Whitefang, level 55 Titan Wolf, NM Far Oasis, Maggot Lair is next

 

[jiansonz]

Geezer and Blaise plowed on and cleared up to and including Halls of the Dead. Then I thought it was time to gamble circlets. I had about half a million from everything I had sold to that point. Didn't need more than about 4/5 of that to score two nice circlets. One for Geezer with some decent fire damage and +25 life and one amazing for Blaise:

Just wow. Damage boosting curses were now no longer needed to speed things up, I could just Dim everything that got close to us. The game was stingy with runes. After the Palace, I had not had anything higher than Nef drop. The AS came to the rescue, and a short ways into the Canyon, I could assemble an old favourite:

Decent damage for a Rogue in Normal Act II, don't you think? Actually, max damage is around 260 now, with the addition of a +8 max damage jewel in a socketed Breast Plate.

With the more damaging and faster bow, it was ownage for the rest of the act. I had my doubts about /p8 Duriel, but a couple of charms pushed Geezer's strength to 30, enough for a Bone Shield of Deflecting. His DEX in this fight was as high as 39 which meant 25% blocking. Not too shabby for a no-DEX character. With lots of life and a Decrepify that lasts over 6 seconds, it wasn't too painful:

[Highlight]Geezer the Curses Necro and Blaise the Fire Rogue, level 28, Kurast Docks[/Highlight]

 

[Turbocannon]

... and then it happened! I morphed back into human form about a half second before Beetleburst's CE nova went off right in my face. I don't know if that fresh circlet with its 20% CR is what saved me or not but I'll bet it would have been really close without it.

You had 72 HP left and lost 35 with your new circlet (in human form), so without the extra 20% CR, the nova would have had to deal 107 more damage for the CR circlet to save you (assuming no other damage occurred after that before you healed up). That means that a nova that deals 535 damage or more would have killed you if it hadn't been for the new circlet (though it did help you survive with more HP as long as the nova dealt more than 175 damage). All in all though, you survived, and that's what matters, isn't it?

 

[OldSoldier1]

Turbo, you are right of course. I am happy to have survived in order to make this small update since I am done playing for today. Jiansonz, that rogue damage is great. So do you find yourself letting the merc get the kills simply because she is faster, and not due to the MF bonus, or do you wade in and help often since you have plenty of life?

Whitefang, armed with his new AR circlet, found the going a little faster today. Last we saw him he was poised to enter the Maggot Lair. The Maggot Lair with this character was just about the easiest I've ever had. We were careful not to get surrounded by beetles, commanding a single file attack and defense. See here how fast Ajheed fires his cold spells: one Ice Blast just struck the beetle in front of Whitefang, two more were in the air, and the fourth was just being cast. I really dig it. Now that Ajheed has his Spirit Sword, he hits pretty hard and still freezes for a fair bit of time.
View attachment 2084

Level 2 was sparsely populated and I wondered where the monsters were hiding until I came to this room. It contained two boss packs of Beetles and a champion pack of maggots. Again, I only went into the room far enough to snipe at a couple, and with skills and item life leech at a standard 79%, it was pretty uneventful. Monsters now definitely have the power to kill Whitefang, whereas they pretty much didn't in act II normal, but careful use of doorways like this helps.
View attachment 2085

Here's another shot of the same room a bit further in. This was after I'd already killed quite a number, shattering their bodies into shards of ice. There were more monsters in here by far than in Coldworm's lair. She was easy.
View attachment 2086

After collecting the Staff of Kings, Whitefang continued onward at Drognan's insistence, even though he's afraid of the dark. You never know what evils lurk in the wilderness at night...

Claw Viper Temple wasn't too bad; they can still be frozen in NM. Hell will be a different matter. Hopefully I can find a source of slow monster by then. Here is a situation that causes some consternation: Vipers in the open! Not a good place to find myself at /P8 with less than a thousand life.
View attachment 2087

Level 2 had a stair trap of sorts, but it was only 5 regular monsters, not Fangskin's pack so we prevailed with some artful dancing.
View attachment 2088

We ended up getting a unique amulet here. One of very few unique drops so far.
View attachment 2089

It turned out to be this, not the best one for this character. For some reason the +Vit attribute bonus does not confer to multiplied life when in wolf form. When I had an empty amulet slot, my life was 849. When I equipped the amulet, even as a werewolf with level 26 Lycanthropy, life went up by 20 HP. Does vitality not work for multiplying life as a wereform? If so why do hard points work?
View attachment 2090
View attachment 2092
As it is, this amulet is actually pretty nice. I am saving my rings to hopefully get two amulets via the cube recipe: 1) a nice +3 shapeshifting skills prebuff amulet, other mods not really necessary, and 2) prismatic of the high-life variety (whale or squid). I'll keep it on for now; it provides +171 life over the Mahim Oak Curio which is 16% more life at the cost of 10 resist all, some damage and some AR bump (because of the +10 dex, which is nice admittedly).
View attachment 2091

Destroyer Whitefang, level 56 Titan Wolf, Palace Cellar next

 

[jiansonz]

@OldSoldier: Geezer has only 154 AR, so he is not good at hitting things unless they are Inner Sighted. And up until very recently, he also had an ethereal rare Large Shield he did not want to ruin (not that he blocked much...). It's also more messy to get in the fray so he usually doesn't. The exceptions have been if e.g. Blaise has a good position to fire through a dooraway and a Champion monster approaches (can't be blinded). Then I Decrep the monsters and tank it.

As you have found out, +life-boosting skills (Battle Orders do the same, for example) do not work on the extra life from +VIT items. Hard points in VIT work because they raise 'base life'.
OK, the most logical answer is really: the game designers made it this way.

 

[Kestegs]

Great progress, love the updates!

And now, for my final update.....

After taking a day off I decided I'd push through and hit the frozen river, I couldn't in good conscience skip so much area of act 5 after all. It produced sirens and unholy corpses, which are a bit of a scary combo. early on I was being careless and got to close to a skeleton and he charged me for over 1k damage, and that was a normal one without me being cursed. I knew I had to be extra careful after that. This was a pretty scary wad of monsters. Fozenstein was not to bad, and most of his pack was killed while moated. There was one evil urn, and I somehow convinced my self to touch it. Luckily they spawned a few steps away, and not right on top of me, and also that they weren't unholy corpses, that probably would have been a swift death in either case.

Glacial trail was an easy roll, with bats, fallen, and skeletons. Drifter cavern gave me more unholy corpses, succubi, and ice monsters. There were some massive groups of guys, and my life bubble was very swingy with all those missiles. This was a double pack. This was just a huge pack of succubi as well, I think it was a double pack as well.

After that was clear I decided to head down and pay a visit to Nihl. In these last sessions I had taken to bringing about 30 full juves total in my belt/stash, since I didn't want to run out of them like before. (I probably had well over 100 full juves coming into act 5, and a ton more regulars.)
I got pretty good monster rolls on most of the areas, nothing was terribly dangerous at least. This guy was a little rough though, at least with his massive pack of friends he came with. The final level came with spiders and succubi. The succubi are inherently PI, and those spiders packed a mean punch with their poison, even with 63 poison resist. The succubi died fairly quickly just to my hurricane, so with careful play they weren't too bad. This gal was tough though. I had lost my merc's poison damage with this new gear setup, and he only does physical and cold damage, so I couldn't beat the regen on her. I had to shop a pointy stick with 50 poison damage so that I could finally get her down. Nihl was of course very scary. I carefully lured everything out of his room and then headed in. In the chaos of him teleporting around he did manage to blow up a corpse in my face and knock off a good 1k of my life I think, was scary for sure. But eventually he ate it.

The tundra was uneventful, just a little slow. Killing those towers with demons in them is a royal pain, as they're hard to hit with tornadoes. Ancients' way was not too bad, despite a pair of PI/CI unholy corpses. One and two. The merc's pointy poison stick got more use at least!

The Icy cellar was a pretty rough one, to say the least. Thankfully I didn't get a stair trap, but immediately I realized there were some little ones about. I quickly found out I also had lords and snakes. Thankfully the lords were just LI, but they could still tear through the merc, and were obviously still highly physically resistant. The theme of the level quickly became: Use the moat wisely! This guy threatened to end my progress in the level, I tried to hit him with just arctic blast, but it couldn't beat his regen. Luckily I found a spot where hurricane could also hit him, and after a few minuets of constant attack he finally died. As if dolls aren't scary enough , you get boss packs like this one. That guy almost gave me a heart attack, flying at me at high speed! Next there were two packs of champion lords. Each guy took about 3 super mana potions, and the ghostly one took 4 super mana's and a couple juves (I wasn't about to go back to town and let him regen). One dropped this nice helm, which I would have gladly let the merc wear for most of the game, as I never found a helm with leech on it. But now I would much rather use the rockstopper he got off Diablo. After I cleared out the rest of the level I was faced with one final thing. Luckily it spawned off screen and was the best monster type.

And then came the moment of truth, ancients. I filled my inventory with potions, took some trips back and forth to get some on the ground as well, and crossed my fingers. I popped the seal and all I saw was a green aura....

Spoiler

....but then I quickly teleported to the entrance, with only Korlic in toe. I was so nervous I used my teleport staff for a while on accident Korlic was tough, he didn't have a massive damage weapon I don't think, but the merc certainly required some potions. It was also very hard to hit him with tornadoes without getting so close that he would hit me. After he died I ventured back up slowly and talic came forth to try his hand. He also did not seem to have huge damage, but I got caught in a whirl once or twice that hit me hard enough to warrant some juv use. He was also pretty slow, due to his moving around so much and stone skin. Madawc really wasn't too bad, he packed a pretty good punch, but went down pretty quick. All in all I had a pretty good roll on them.

WSK1 had invaders, heirphants and blood lords. This guy was almost a stair trap, and scared me quite a bit, as I didn't know my monster rolls yet. This blood lord pack was just stupid. Man I hate those guys, especially extra fast.
WSK2 had black souls, including a boss and champ pack, but nothing too scary. I saw this pack of exploders by the stairs before they saw me. For some reason I wasn't worried about them. When I ran around the corner I found it was a double pack and I was still charging in. I ended up with a NDE and liberal full juv use as they all blew up on me.
WSK3 was pretty uneventful, which just left me with the throne room, which I of course feared for the nasty monsters with potential to stair trap.
And yes, there was one! Maybe 5-6 regular dolls, a little rough, but it could have been worse, especially with these guys just barely off screen. I also had knights as my 3rd type of monster. That meant everything was undead, so I had to take care to get everything out of the throne room, especially the dolls. Waved 1-4 were fairly easy with a bit of running and separating. Lister was of course tough, the merc couldn't handle more than 1 at a time.
Baal was tougher than I thought, the merc couldn't seem to hold his interest, so he did a lot of teleporting and tentacle spamming. Had one solid NDE wher he popped several tentacles right on me. And he would never leave the bridge, so we were always a bit closer than I wanted. But he eventually fell.

All that was left were cows, and I had no interest in prolonging the retirement of this Druid, so I did them at p1 instead of p5. I got a good entrance next to a narrow passage at least. Progress was a bit slow, and the merc died many many times.
A lot of cows.
Extra fast cows.
And the King.

Rhett the pure vita elemental Druid and Pratham the prayer guard, level 86, Guardian

Final thoughts:
I don't ever want to play a windy druid again. They have great damage in two different types, but neither are that great to use, as you really want to be too close to things that will kill you. It would have also been so much easier if I could have had a bear, oak, and vine. Corpse disposal and a good tank were 2 things I never had. And having double the life would have been great, especially for the merc.

Low str was not horrible, but it was annoying for sure, there were a couple things I would have liked to use but I could not.

No Mf was a lot more enjoyable early on, and made me view items a lot differently, but in the later part it became a major disadvantage for sure, as my gear was lacking. It's especially tough when you can only have 1 merc.

The rune drops were just abysmal. I knew the drops would be bad, but I expected to get some at least decent rune drops to keep me going. Never in all my planning did I think that I wouldn't be able to make a lionheart by early hell. Turns out my highest drop (besides gul from forge) was a single lum.

The /p setting being locked in was interesting. It provided some very tough choices, but ultimately made me play it safer than I likely would have otherwise. Some areas I would have done much higher.

 

[OldSoldier1]

Well done Kestegs! That's super cool! Some great shots of some really nasty monster bosses for sure. I see them and I wonder how in the heck I'm going to handle them since many were cold immune base types. Maybe I'll make a Nadir helmet for act V, who knows.

That was a great roll on the ancients; I think if any of them had spawned cursed that your merc would have gone down and it would have been really tough.

I hope my rune luck with Whitefang isn't as bad as yours. I'm mid way through A2 NM with him and he's found 2 Hel runes and that's his highest. In this same tournament, Sharon had good rune drops, Splat was OK, and in this go round for me, it has gone like your character did. But hey, you made it and that's what counts! Great run and a good finish to your journey.

 

[bladejj]

Wow, great Guardian with some tough restrictions. I love the use of screenshots. What did you final skills end up looking like?

Also, I have an update on Element, the all energy lightning sorceress, coming up shortly.

 

[bladejj]

Here is the final picture of Element just a second or two before her death. The final deeds screenshot isn't opening and appears to be corrupted, but I think you get the idea. It was a two shot KO, first hit dropped mana to zero, second shot drained all my life. The only thing I could have done differently was not get hit. Energy Shield did not matter in the least in this situation. I learned a good lesson though I didn't know before. It appears the Mana Burn modification of the boss also applies to his minions...lesson learned the hard way.

View attachment 2095

Overall, a very strong character that passed away at the earlier age of 78. It was a fun run. Gear was surprisingly strong given the no magic find restriction. Opposite of Kestegs, my rune luck was great. I netted 2 puls (one from HF), 2 Lums, Fal, Lem, and multiple Io's, to name a few. Killing was quick. I recently substituted out the sockets in my mercenary's Hone Sundan from an Amn, Amn, Shael, to Amn, Shael, Shael. This dramatically increased his survivability as it allowed him to leech quicker. I also used my one allowance to switch mercenaries from a Prayer guard to a Blessed Aim guard. In addition, I socketed the Tal's Helm with a Shael for more FHR. All in all, he was a great helper and could more than handle all lightning immunes at players 7.

Other good finds in Act 1 Hell were a Ravenfrost, which was a fantastic ring for this type of character. Mana and cannot be frozen were awesome. The Stone of Jordan, which was nicely situated on the other hand, was a great find as well. I did get a good amulet (finally) just a few waypoints before her death. It is a rare with +3 strength, +60 life, +20 energy, +30% CR, +2 lightning skills. Other nice finds which were lost were a Memory Staff (with native +2 to Energy Shield), Lionheart, Treachury, Hone Sundan, Enlightenment (1.11 sorceress armor), and some sweet crafts. My gloves, belt, and boots were all spectacular crafted items.

I'm not sure what character I'm planning on playing next. I may take a break or may go back and play a character under an older tournaments rules. I do like the idea of a no vitality build....perhaps a reincarnation of Salad, the titan berseker...

Conqueror Element, Level 78 all energy Sorceress, Hole Level 1, DEEDS TO BE REMEMBERED

 

[OldSoldier1]

bladejj, no! That's almost exactly where Splat was killed! Sounds like you had some pretty great gear, sorry about the deeds. Sadness.

 

[jiansonz]

Big congrats to kestegs. Nice that the Ancients roll was decent.
Jeebers, taking down PICI bosses with nothing more than 'of Pestilence' level damage...

I've only played a wind Druid very late in the game (the final act, I think), in one of skunkbelly's pass-it-on tourneys. I thought it was a strong build but sometimes hard to aim the Tornados.

 

[Pb_pal1]

@kestegs - Awesome job! Huge congrats on the super stylish Guardian, it was great reading his adventures. I've never taken a windy to completion, but I think I might have to give it a shot now, even despite the fact that you've stated you'll never play one again. Great job again.

@bladejj - Damn, tough luck on the deeds. Mana burn does indeed transfer to minions, and is IMO one of the most deceptively dangerous mods out there. Great job getting her as far as you did though, best of luck on your next adventure.

 

[bladejj]

@bladejj - Damn, tough luck on the deeds. Mana burn does indeed transfer to minions, and is IMO one of the most deceptively dangerous mods out there. Great job getting her as far as you did though, best of luck on your next adventure.

As it's not an aura, I didn't think it transferred. In retrospect, it acts similar to extra fast or spectral hit, while it is not an aura, it is still transferable. Oh well, lesson learned.

May I introduce my next project. He will be a singer barbarian who uses only warcries. Stats points will be evenly distributed. I thought about going Titan or all mana, but I'm going to need mana to excessively use war cry, but I'll also need strength and maybe dexterity for a powerful two handed weapon. Future plans to take care of PI's will be a Passion weapon of some sort. Luckily for me, the synergies for berserk (I assume the +1 berserk will be synegized) are both warcries. Mercenaries will be a fire rogue and normal and NM will be done on players 8.

 

[Kestegs]

Well done Kestegs! That's super cool! Some great shots of some really nasty monster bosses for sure. I see them and I wonder how in the heck I'm going to handle them since many were cold immune base types. Maybe I'll make a Nadir helmet for act V, who knows.

That was a great roll on the ancients; I think if any of them had spawned cursed that your merc would have gone down and it would have been really tough.

I hope my rune luck with Whitefang isn't as bad as yours. I'm mid way through A2 NM with him and he's found 2 Hel runes and that's his highest. In this same tournament, Sharon had good rune drops, Splat was OK, and in this go round for me, it has gone like your character did. But hey, you made it and that's what counts! Great run and a good finish to your journey.

Thanks!And I hope your rune luck isn't that bad as well!

Wow, great Guardian with some tough restrictions. I love the use of screenshots. What did you final skills end up looking like?

Also, I have an update on Element, the all energy lightning sorceress, coming up shortly.

Here's my character dump from Gomule:

Spoiler

Name: Rhett
Class: Druid
Experience: 1159115795
Level: 86

Naked/Gear
Strength: 15/34
Dexterity: 20/24
Vitality: 465/487
Energy: 20/40
HP: 1122/1265
Mana: 190/516
Stamina: 609/609
Defense: 5/236
AR: 70/834

Fire: 237/197/137
Cold: 208/168/108
Lightning: 213/173/113
Poison: 163/123/63

MF: 0 Block: 1
GF: 0
FR/W: 20
FHR: 75
IAS: 0
FCR: 52

Raven: 0/0
Poison Creeper: 0/0
Oak Sage: 0/0
Summon Spirit Wolf: 0/0
Carrion Vine: 0/0
Heart of Wolverine: 0/0
Summon Dire Wolf: 0/0
Solar Creeper: 0/0
Spirit of Barbs: 0/0
Summon Grizzly: 0/0

Werewolf: 0/0
Lycanthropy: 0/0
Werebear: 0/0
Feral Rage: 0/0
Maul: 0/0
Rabies: 0/0
Fire Claws: 0/0
Hunger: 0/0
Shock Wave: 0/0
Fury: 0/0

Firestorm: 7/11
Molten Boulder: 2/6
Arctic Blast: 1/5
Fissure: 4/8
Cyclone Armor: 20/24
Twister: 20/24
Volcano: 1/5
Tornado: 20/25
Armageddon: 1/5
Hurricane: 20/24

Eagle Chain
Sharkskin Belt
Defense: 31
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Level: 44
Required Strength: 20
Fingerprint: 0x9362d89
Item Level: 62
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10% Faster Cast Rate
+6 to Life
+18 to Mana
Regenerate Mana 10%
Fire Resist +9%
Repairs 1 Durability in 20 Seconds

Cruel Blazer
Demonhide Boots
Defense: 33
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Level: 28
Required Strength: 20
Fingerprint: 0xecc748bd
Item Level: 70
Version: Expansion 1.10+
14% Chance to cast level 5 Nova when struck
+20% Faster Run/Walk
Cold Resist +33%
Lightning Resist +20%

Dread Grasp
Ring
Required Level: 47
Fingerprint: 0x94fb9625
Item Level: 76
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Maximum Damage
+10 to Strength
+33 to Mana
Cold Resist +12%

Tome of Town Portal
Fingerprint: 0x7bb8e979
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Graverobber's Grand Charm of Vita
Grand Charm
Required Level: 69
Fingerprint: 0xab7ff93c
Item Level: 79
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Summoning Skills (Necromancer Only)
+39 to Life

Russet Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x5ad70c16
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+17 to Life
Fire Resist +6%

Skull Band
Ring
Required Level: 48
Fingerprint: 0x6965f4ca
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+49 to Attack Rating
+15 to Life
+86 to Mana
All Resistances +11
Poison Length Reduced by 25%

Hailstone Fist
Chain Gloves
Defense: 14
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Level: 25
Required Strength: 25
Fingerprint: 0xbaec7dfe
Item Level: 43
Version: Expansion 1.10+
5% Bonus to Attack Rating
+40% Enhanced Defense
+4 to Strength
Fire Resist +29%
+5 to Light Radius
Repairs 1 Durability in 20 Seconds

Serpent's Grand Charm of Dexterity
Grand Charm
Required Level: 35
Fingerprint: 0xd9d8a821
Item Level: 50
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+4 to Dexterity
+51 to Mana

Serpent's Large Charm of Strength
Large Charm
Required Level: 41
Fingerprint: 0x41f9ced9
Item Level: 71
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+5 to Strength
+33 to Mana

Havoc Necklace
Amulet
Required Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0xfdff1654
Item Level: 76
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Sorceress Skill Levels
+10% Faster Cast Rate
+16 to Mana
Regenerate Mana 10%
All Resistances +15
Fire Resist +30%
Poison Length Reduced by 25%

Key
Fingerprint: 0x8922f479
Item Level: 35
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x28682b4a
Item Level: 82
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+19 to Life

Natural Grand Charm of Anthrax
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xf6afa368
Item Level: 84
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Elemental Skills (Druid Only)
Adds 50 Poison Damage Over 6 Secs (150 Frames)

Small Charm of Sustenance
Small Charm
Required Level: 17
Fingerprint: 0xfe12dff1
Item Level: 38
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+12 to Life

Small Charm of Life
Small Charm
Required Level: 14
Fingerprint: 0x2f4db3b8
Item Level: 10
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10 to Life

Large Charm of Sustenance
Large Charm
Required Level: 34
Fingerprint: 0x970dcc34
Item Level: 70
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+25 to Life

Lore
Antlers
OrtSol
Defense: 22
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Level: 27
Required Strength: 24
Fingerprint: 0x9c727531
Item Level: 31
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+1 to Tornado (Druid Only)
+10 to Energy
Lightning Resist +30%
Damage Reduced by 7
+2 to Mana after each Kill
+2 to Light Radius
2 Sockets (2 used)
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Sol Rune

Ort Rune
Required Level: 21
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 1 - 50 Lightning Damage
Armor: Lightning Resist +30%
Shields: Lightning Resist +35%

Sol Rune
Required Level: 27
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +9 to Minimum Damage
Armor: Damage Reduced by 7
Shields: Damage Reduced by 7

Smoke
Breast Plate
NefLum
Defense: 115
Durability: 47 of 50
Required Level: 37
Required Strength: 30
Fingerprint: 0x1abcbc6
Item Level: 33
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
+75% Enhanced Defense
+280 Defense vs. Missile
+10 to Energy
All Resistances +50
-1 to Light Radius
Level 6 Weaken (18/18 Charges)
2 Sockets (2 used)
Socketed: Nef Rune
Socketed: Lum Rune

Nef Rune
Required Level: 13
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Knockback
Armor: +30 Defense vs. Missile
Shields: +30 Defense vs. Missile

Lum Rune
Required Level: 37
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +10 to Energy
Armor: +10 to Energy
Shields: +10 to Energy

Halberd of Pestilence
Halberd
Two Hand Damage: 12 - 45
Durability: 55 of 55
Required Level: 18
Required Strength: 75
Required Dexterity: 47
Fingerprint: 0xdb99f24
Item Level: 90
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 50 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)

Divine Gnarled Staff of Teleportation
Gnarled Staff
Two Hand Damage: 4 - 12
Durability: 35 of 35
Required Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0x93c16438
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+337% Damage to Undead
+419 to Attack Rating against Undead
Level 4 Teleport (28/45 Charges)

Spirit
Crystal Sword
TalThulOrtAmn
One Hand Damage: 7 - 22
Durability: 11 of 11
Required Level: 25
Required Strength: 33
Fingerprint: 0xab9c7a0b
Item Level: 65
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+32% Faster Cast Rate
+55% Faster Hit Recovery
Adds 1 - 50 Lightning Damage
Adds 3 - 14 Cold Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
Adds 75 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
7% Life stolen per hit
+250 Defense vs. Missile
+22 to Vitality
+89 to Mana
+5 Magic Absorb
Ethereal
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Amn Rune

Tal Rune
Required Level: 17
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 75 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
Armor: Poison Resist +30%
Shields: Poison Resist +35%

Thul Rune
Required Level: 23
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 3 - 14 Cold Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
Armor: Cold Resist +30%
Shields: Cold Resist +35%

Ort Rune
Required Level: 21
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 1 - 50 Lightning Damage
Armor: Lightning Resist +30%
Shields: Lightning Resist +35%

Amn Rune
Required Level: 25
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 7% Life stolen per hit
Armor: Attacker Takes Damage of 14
Shields: Attacker Takes Damage of 14

Gemmed Superior Large Shield
Superior Large Shield
Defense: 15
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 23 of 24
Required Level: 18
Required Strength: 34
Fingerprint: 0x25d07433
Item Level: 20
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+6% Enhanced Defense
All Resistances +57
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Perfect Diamond
Socketed: Perfect Diamond
Socketed: Perfect Diamond

Perfect Diamond
Required Level: 18
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +68% Damage to Undead
Armor: +100 to Attack Rating
Shields: Cold Resist +19%
Lightning Resist +19%
Fire Resist +19%
Poison Resist +19%

Perfect Diamond
Required Level: 18
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +68% Damage to Undead
Armor: +100 to Attack Rating
Shields: Cold Resist +19%
Lightning Resist +19%
Fire Resist +19%
Poison Resist +19%

Perfect Diamond
Required Level: 18
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +68% Damage to Undead
Armor: +100 to Attack Rating
Shields: Cold Resist +19%
Lightning Resist +19%
Fire Resist +19%
Poison Resist +19%

Mercenary:

Name: Pratham
Race: Desert Mercenary
Type: Comb-Normal
Experience: 70781722
Level: 86
Dead?: false

Naked/Gear
Strength: 192/216
Dexterity: 155/155
HP: 1870/1870
Defense: 1373/2046
AR: 1985/2174

Fire: 180/140/80
Cold: 198/158/98
Lightning: 186/146/86
Poison: 153/113/53

Gemmed Chaos Armor
Chaos Armor
Defense: 478
Durability: 36 of 36
Required Level: 37
Required Strength: 130
Fingerprint: 0xf2a67ad1
Item Level: 69
Version: Expansion 1.10+
30% Enhanced Damage
+24 to Strength
Ethereal
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Perfect Amethyst
Socketed: Flawless Amethyst
Socketed: Realgar Jewel of Virility

Perfect Amethyst
Required Level: 18
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +150 to Attack Rating
Armor: +10 to Strength
Shields: +30 Defense

Flawless Amethyst
Required Level: 15
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +100 to Attack Rating
Armor: +8 to Strength
Shields: +24 Defense

Realgar Jewel of Virility
Jewel
Required Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0x7c3bd76
Item Level: 82
Version: Expansion 1.10+
30% Enhanced Damage
+6 to Strength


Rockstopper
Sallet
Defense: 195
Durability: 18 of 18
Required Level: 37
Required Strength: 43
Fingerprint: 0xa44b2892
Item Level: 94
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+30% Faster Hit Recovery
26% Enhanced Damage
Adds 1 - 8 Fire Damage
+211% Enhanced Defense
+15 to Vitality
Cold Resist +37%
Lightning Resist +33%
Fire Resist +27%
Damage Reduced by 10%
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Realgar Jewel of Passion

Realgar Jewel of Passion
Jewel
Required Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0x87f8f36d
Item Level: 49
Version: Expansion 1.10+
26% Enhanced Damage
Adds 1 - 8 Fire Damage


Beast Song
Colossus Voulge
Two Hand Damage: 45 - 444
Durability: 150 of 150
Required Level: 48
Required Strength: 210
Required Dexterity: 55
Fingerprint: 0x741248da
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
169% Enhanced Damage
+1 to Maximum Damage
+189 to Attack Rating
Adds 1 Cold Damage Over 2 Secs (50 Frames)
7% Life stolen per hit
Cold Resist +8%
Repairs 1 Durability in 20 Seconds
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Amn Rune

Amn Rune
Required Level: 25
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 7% Life stolen per hit
Armor: Attacker Takes Damage of 14
Shields: Attacker Takes Damage of 14

As you can see my resists were crazy stacked, and I don't even use them if cyclone is up

I ended up randomly spreading points mostly, because I just didn't know what to do. If I had to do it over I would have put the extras into molten boulder, as it proved most useful for ci/pi bosses as it also puts them in hit recovery.

Big congrats to kestegs. Nice that the Ancients roll was decent.
Jeebers, taking down PICI bosses with nothing more than 'of Pestilence' level damage...

I've only played a wind Druid very late in the game (the final act, I think), in one of skunkbelly's pass-it-on tourneys. I thought it was a strong build but sometimes hard to aim the Tornados.

Thank you!
But hey, don't forget about that 72-79 fire damage per second on molten boulder for those PICI bosses!!!!

@kestegs - Awesome job! Huge congrats on the super stylish Guardian, it was great reading his adventures. I've never taken a windy to completion, but I think I might have to give it a shot now, even despite the fact that you've stated you'll never play one again. Great job again.

@bladejj - Damn, tough luck on the deeds. Mana burn does indeed transfer to minions, and is IMO one of the most deceptively dangerous mods out there. Great job getting her as far as you did though, best of luck on your next adventure.

Thanks! I should qualify that though. I used to play windys a lot, and liked them. I don't think I'll ever play another tourney one, and since that's all I play now I won't ever play one again!

As it's not an aura, I didn't think it transferred. In retrospect, it acts similar to extra fast or spectral hit, while it is not an aura, it is still transferable. Oh well, lesson learned.

May I introduce my next project. He will be a singer barbarian who uses only warcries. Stats points will be evenly distributed. I thought about going Titan or all mana, but I'm going to need mana to excessively use war cry, but I'll also need strength and maybe dexterity for a powerful two handed weapon. Future plans to take care of PI's will be a Passion weapon of some sort. Luckily for me, the synergies for berserk (I assume the +1 berserk will be synegized) are both warcries. Mercenaries will be a fire rogue and normal and NM will be done on players 8.

Darn, sorry for the loss!
Good luck on the next project, I considered a singer myself. And yes, the synergies will apply to the +1 from passion.

Minions don't get mana burn in normal is all, here's how it actually works: (from AS)

Mana Burn:

Mana Minimum Damage: +66% damage
Mana Maximum Damage: +100% damage
Magic Resist: +20%

• In Nightmare and Hell, Minions gain +33-50% Mana Damage.

• Difficulty level penalties to Resist % apply, so mana damage is 40% higher in Nightmare and 100% higher in Hell.

• Due to a bug, mana damage is multiplied by 256 when applied by a melee attack.

 

[Brak]

If I had to do it over I would have put the extras into molten boulder

Molten boulder is always the answer

 

[Kestegs]

Molten boulder is always the answer

If I had it to do completely over again I would have done a fire elemental druid. Kinda sad I didn't do it. I love molten boulder!

 

[OldSoldier1]

That is one sweet crafted amulet on Rhett.

 

[Turbocannon]

"My brothers will not have died in vain!" Baal screeched, and suddenly, a clone of him appeared behind her. Ruby found herself surrounded, and felt the loss of her Shadow to one of Baal's fiery blasts as well. Not long later, her mercenary screamed with pain as he was impaled on one of Baal's appendages. The last thing she saw was one of Baal's Hoarfrosts flying at her - her last thought, I wonder which one fired that, the real one or the copy...

Ruby awoke with a start, and it took her a few seconds to realize that she had dozed off. It had seemed so real. Figures - it can't possibly be this easy. I wonder if my real quest will be similar? she mused. The dream seemed so unusually vivid - it was more like a vision, something she had never experienced the like of.

Ruby got up from the haystack she had collapsed upon. A rogue was watching her curiously; they smiled at each other. And I wonder if these rogues are more receptive for a quick lay... oh. It dawned upon Ruby that Natalya still existed, and that she was the reason she was undertaking this whole quest to begin with. She was no longer in a mood for flirting with the rogue, though, and decided to just go to the high priestess and learn about her contract.

***

Well, despite the fakeout there, I didn't die; instead, I completed Normal, finishing it at level 48. None of the remaining parts of Act V posed any challenge. Nihlathak dealt about 50 damage with his corpse explosions - not much of a threat, but I haven't done him in some time, and I doubt I'll do so in NM or Hell, either. The Ancients went down fast - I bought some replenishing throwing spear, but I didn't even get through the initial stacks of my two throwing weapons before they all died (on /p8 still). Then later, I had to buy a Consecrated Throwing Spear of Vileness because otherwise I couldn't kill the Minions of Destruction fast enough, and some reanimated hordes gave me some scary (but not yet threatening) moments since I simply couldn't see them creep out of the shadows sometimes.

I've also started to find some uniques. The Drifter Cavern presented me with the useless Humongous and the even more useless ethereal Steelclash. Baal would drop a Blacktongue, still useless, along with some other items:

All of them useless, except the chain mail, which I've considered a slight upgrade over my merc's current armor (it has 23 LR, 27 life and 3 MDR on it).

I've found some better magic items; an Amulet of Strength +2 (won't use it yet, but who knows when I might need it), a +15 @res amulet (which I'm not sure is better than my Amulet of the Centaur, but I'll do the math and think about it). Overall, my gear is still not that impressive - the same rare balanced axe from Act 2, Ancient's Pledge, the rare circlet I had mentioned before, the gemmed breastplate (which I'll probably upgrade in some way soon), +2 str gloves, +5 str belt, 10% FRW 33% FR boots, and some more strength and stuff on the rings. I've also found a few mid-runes like Shael, Sol and Dol - sadly, no Amn, which I want for an Edge.

Either way:

Onwards to Nightmare! Not sure when I'm gonna start gambling and crafting for some better stuff, but probably soonish.

I also read some other stories. Sucks about the deaths - looks like the Hole really is a deathtrap at times. Not sure if I've mentioned this, but I did have a major stairtrap in one of the Kurast temples/reliquaries/fanes myself - might have been deadly if it had occurred in Hell. Moral of the story is: immediately cast CoS every time I go into such a location.

 

[OldSoldier1]

Well Whitefang made it past Duriel last night. Over the past few days I've taken him through the palace cellar and the arcane sanctuary, and last night I did all the tombs and killed Duriel. So without further ado... some screenshots!

The palace cellar had boss packs of blunderbores inside each entrance from the harem so I made liberal use of the dual entrances in order to clear the area. Whitefang can no longer handle multiple strong enemies simultaneously so he uses liberal channeling efforts like doorways and frozen enemies, urns, etc. Some of these guys we hit through the bars. It was necessary because the fire skeleton archers hit very hard (Whitefang's fire (and cold) resist is positive but not by much).
View attachment 2121

The arcane sanctuary greeted us with multiple physical immune boss packs pretty close to the entry way point, i.e. not much maneuver room. Since this was Whitefang's first encounter with ghosts, and since Ajheed doesn't always remember to fire Glacial Spike instead of Ice Blast (freezing one rather than all of them much of the time) it was a harrowing adventure. The standard operating procedure for PI monsters so far has been to let Ajheed pound away and Whitefang focuses on minions, and switches to his Steel Giant Axe to finish the boss.
View attachment 2122

Here is the second of three PI ghost bosses. All said, the AS greeted me with five boss packs on the first leg I explored, and one for the other seven legs. No good loot.
View attachment 2123

Here is an area where I let Ajheed do most of the work. I didn't need a dozen goat men bearing down on us after the teleport, blocking escape. When we did go across, with maybe 5 or 6 of them left, about 6 more came running toward us, making for a hearty fight.
View attachment 2124

Now last night was the tombs. I cleared the canyon of the magi, and got a Venom Ward breast plate. At this point it was about 8 PM and I started on the tombs in order. The first tomb had three packs of ghosts, some were extra fast, right near the stairs. The second tomb had these guys, which are a double pack of unravelers. This guy went first,
View attachment 2125

and this guy went second. They had a lot of minions that got shattered along the way.
View attachment 2126

The next tomb had this guy almost right away, along with several of his minions. A boss pack of these guys is hard for Whitefang to deal with. He gets a couple whacks to get some small life leech going with Feral Rage, and then gets his mana drained, so his normal attack is slower than Feral Rage, and he never has any mana until most of the enemies are frozen. But of course Ajheed mostly uses Ice Blast, which works great one on one, but not when there are 8 ghosts stacked up all aiming for Whitefang. So these packs took a while to spread out and dispatch. And hoo boy there were a lot of them. Later in this tomb I went right on the map and saw both might and fanaticism aura stacked on each other. That room took a while. It had a mummy sarcophagus in it too, which Whitefang is too slow to destroy unless he can stand in front of the opening. About 70% of those just died on their own when they ran out of mummies.
View attachment 2127

This tomb had 4 champions and at least that many regular unravelers. The amount of skeletons and apparitions and unholy bolts in this tomb was unreal. And Whitefang has a single target attack (Feral Rage >> Fury in many circumstances, this being one of them) and his weapons (low ED bonus war club) are not spectacular so each monster takes many hits to bring down, missing many times each monster. Needless to say it was pretty painful in this fight. The unravelers themselves weren't bad but the skeletons didn't allow leech so I had to stay alert.
View attachment 2128

In the true tomb I found this. D2 has a sense of humor! It is a second source of CBF and I didn't find anything else except a Dol rune in 5 hours of play to clear the tombs and kill Duriel. Of course, all the cold damage is pretty much wasted since Ajheed deals plenty of that and freezes enemies anyway.
View attachment 2129

Duriel hit pretty hard at /P8, and I was forced to use some potions until Feral Rage got energized and the life leech started. Once it got going, I only used a rejuv when getting around 300 HP. I think I saved myself once when Duriel hit especially hard and I got down to 122 HP, had my finger on the purple launcher, and very shortly after I did that he hit me again for what would have been enough to kill me. But the life bulb oscillated quite a bit but never emptied so Whitefang was victorious after some of the most un-fun play time I've had in ages. No wonder people don't do werewolves untwinked very often. Argh. I'm in desperate need of a Ribcracker and a Demon Limb! Not from Duriel! This is one of the worst /P8 drops I've ever seen him give.
View attachment 2130

Oh well, at least I got a Dol rune out of all that pain and suffering! Oh yeah, I found a nice 2 os War Club and had a spare Tir and El to upgrade my steel, but it doesn't work on hammers. Dummy. I could have made a Strength and used it to beat on Duriel harder. Oh well, it took less than 10 minutes of poundage to beat him anway.

Destroyer Whitefang, level 60, NM Kurast Docks