The Exposure Tournament

Re: The Exposure Tournament

Scaven has plunged forward, leaving a mess in his wake. Crowd control has been great with Cleglaw's gloves and the addition of warcry. The 'steel' flail he made back in act 2 lasted all the way to early act 5, then he began experimenting with a few low-end exceptional weapons. He settled on a blue chippie rolled barbed club with ctc amp and two os (ith, eth). In the main hand, Cleglaw's sword is surprisingly hard to beat at this point, especialy once socketed with his only shael. He had been considering socketing it and when he found his fourth green long sword he took it as an omen. On finding a Nightsmoke belt in the Infernal Pit, he decided it was time to move on from the arctic belt and armor. To replace the armor, he took his two best jewels and made this oddity:
Code:
Scaven's Gemmed Gothic Plate
Gothic Plate
Defense: 131
Durability: 55 of 55
Required Level: 18
Required Strength: 70
Fingerprint: 0x23a6d989
Item Level: 36
Version: Expansion 1.10+
[highlight]+26 to Maximum Damage[/highlight]
+23 Maximum Stamina
Fire Resist +15%
20% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Garnet Jewel of Carnage
Socketed: Maroon Jewel of Carnage
Socketed: Flawless Topaz
In the Ancient's Way, these cursed moon lords gave him a bit of a scare. No issues with Baal or his minions which were both done at p7. Baal dropped an eth Venom Ward and some other junk. The cows were uneventful, the Cow King making his beloved stamina pot drop. Fortunately, he coughed up a hork containing more loot, but Cleglaw's shield, however fitting for his gear, was sold. A few more flawless gems and a thul later he was ready to try NM. Resists are already well in the positive with light and fire maxed after swapping full mf boots for res/mf boots. The den was cleared and a trek in to Colcrow's cave was made. Right at the door (not quite a trap) were two boss archer packs, one CE like Coldcrow herself. A unique edge bow dropped, but it is of no use to him. His main lesson from the cave was 'failing CBF, half freeze is better than nothing'. Currently resting at the stony field WP.

[Highlight]Scaven, rag-tag profanity-shouting frenzier, lvl48, NM Stony Field, 153points[/highlight]


Code:
Name           Character       Class       Location         Level  Points
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ancalagon      Umbriel         Assassin    NM Outer Cloister  49     161
ChrisTheMean   Scaven          Barbarian   NM Stony Field     48     153
Tarantells     Uta-Refson      Necromancer Moo-Moo Farm       45     143
kestegs        Running_Scared  Sorceress   NM Rogue Camp      48     141
sequana        BlackDeath      Necromancer City of the Damned 33     100
SoulmanZ       Nevermore       Druid       Kurast Bazzar      29       ?
Jason Maher    Vanessa         Amazon      Tal Rasha's Tombs  27      65
jdkerr         Kobe            Assassin    Halls of the Dead  23      50
GCanada        PoohBear        Druid       Lut Gholein        20      42
liquid_mage    Wulfgar         Barbarian   Lut Gholein        20      42
ILikeRocks     Gragamel        Paladin     Lut Gholein        21      41
skoolbus       Gorm            Barbarian   Inner Cloister     19      37
Brak           TheStreak       Paladin     Inner Cloister     19      37
CM             Lisbeth         Assassin    Inner Cloister     18      36
DaveW          Blades          Assassin    Lut Gholein        18      36
Shaandore      Irreducible     Paladin     Black Marsh        17      30
daed           Strafy          Amazon      Stony Field        12      19
wielanja       Beowulf         Barbarian   Stony Field        12      19
Sorcererbob    Cabaret         Sorceress   Stony Field        12      19
Ashmer         Fuzzy           Druid       Stony Field        12       ?
wakiki         Polemos         Barbarian   Cold Plains         7      11
Quickdeath     Limber          Amazon      Cold Plains         6       9
scrcrw         Nagisa          Barbarian   Rogue Camp          1       2
Vang           Leeloo          Amazon      Rogue Camp          1       2
NightCraweler  Ragran          Barbarian   Rogue Camp          1       2
vague          Benkei          Barbarian   Rogue Camp          1       2 
Bluechip       SeymourKrelborn Necromancer Rogue Camp          1       2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
RIP: 
ChrisTheMean   TheLoner        Paladin     NM Underground P   48     148
HanShotFirst   Frost-Fang      Druid       River of Flame     33     100
Morathi        Dorian          Paladin     Flayer Dungeon     30      80
Krazy_Solo     Burn_Notice     Druid       Duriel             27      67
Krazy_Solo     Auriel          Amazon      Halls of the Dead  22      48
Krazy_Solo     Snave           Druid       Act II             21      46
GCanada        MsGarrison      Assassin    Jail               18      35
tavaritz       Boner           Necromancer Barracks           18      35
Dark Matter    BoneyM          Necromancer Stony Field        12      20
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Retired:
Dark Matter    Arthur          Barbarian   Lut Gholein        20      42
Jason Maher    Fanven          Paladin     Dark Wood          15      25
mattinm        Kamikaze        Necromancer Rogue Camp          1       2
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Chris, in your screenshots, you have little numbers above your life and mana bulb telling you the current/max of each stat. Do you know how to get those there? I have one stuck over my mana, but for the life of me can't figure out how to get one over my health.
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Chris, in your screenshots, you have little numbers above your life and mana bulb telling you the current/max of each stat. Do you know how to get those there? I have one stuck over my mana, but for the life of me can't figure out how to get one over my health.

Yup, just left click on the bottom of the bulb you want to toggle.


 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

I have been wondering that for quite a while, it is just always over my mana bulb but never my life bulb! thank you chris!
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

[Highlight]Scaven, rag-tag profanity-shouting frenzier, lvl48, NM Stony Field, 153points[/Highlight]

I just realized this was the exact character I was planning on entering this tournament with if I can find to time to reinstall D2. I played a war-crying berserker in the no vitality tournament and he made it to hell, so I trust that you will do well with the war cry / frenzy combo. Just remember, patience is a virtue.



 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Impressive progress by a bunch of y'all

As mentioned my weekday play time is low, but Nevermore has made it a bit further. Hopefully tonight he will make it out of act 4, which is playing as a bit of a hassle. Too many levels filling pre-reqs for geddon, with no boost to kill skills (feral rage) means he is a bit slow, so in interests of sanity I have dropped him back to p2-p3 for this act, and figure it wont make too much of a difference to levelling following the XP bonanza of act 5. He is a little underlevelled compared to some of the other competitors though

I have still been unable to gamble ANY maul with ML and IAS. In fact, havent seen 20% IAS at all. Nev is currently using 2 mauls, one a 50ish %dam, IAS and LL, the other a 50ish %dam, ML (no IAS). He did gamble some IAS gloves which have helped (cos WW is still on 1, with +2 from headgear). However, the difference in killspeed is dramatic with the 10% on weapon IAS, so it is a constant tradeoff between killing fast (and safety) and running out of mana. The fact the LL maul has 100 AR, and the ML maul has 50 doesnt help, because it is translating to around 5% to hit.

Anyway, should get a proper update in tonight

If anyone is particularly interested Ravens is actually still pretty good. It doesnt take long to blind a pack, and they even kill tainted on p2 occasionally.

ps - had one very close NDE, got jumped by a couple of big packs (tainted and venom lords) out of the stairs to city of damned, and while running around letting ravens save my bacon, got disorientated and went into one of those cliff-face cul-de-sacs thinking it was the stairs. Got surrounded by inferno breathers, and thought it was all over. It was actually one of the sad little "paused game, pre-death hopeless" situations. Nev decided to try though, and while I still dont think there was a gap there, he somehow snuck out.

So he lives on!
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Well I've entered again...

Nispart has cleared up to Inner Cloister WP, with only one NDE. Apparently game thought it be cool to spawn four boss packs in Jail lvl 3. Ironic all 4 Lightning Enchanted. Just Ugh all over. 10 life manage to split group to take em out.

Once again unable to update table (PS3 limitation).
[highlight]Nispart, Assassin Level 19, Act I Inner Cloister WP, Score 37 [/highlight]
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

BlackDeath finished Normal and started to explore NM difficulty. Although act 4 and 5 N was going well, there were few thrilling parts. First a bit painful experience was fight with Diablo. BlackDeath was built for being offensive fighter, and here he showed his qualities : D. Straight attack was paid back. (It was for the first time on HC, when I was killing Diablo on /p8 btw.) After drinking all pots and town visit the centre of battle was moved a bit. Finally he was ready to die. Drop was rather disappoitment (as in general).

Another intensive battles were waiting for us in Drifter Cavern and Icy Cellar. In both cases, after first 2 steps, there appeared huge crowd of monsters - pack, champions and regular monsters. BlackDeath has big killing power for now, so it wasn't that big threat. But still, once monsters destroy Bone armor, things are tough then. Especially with mana burn pack in Icy Cellar - here is just small instance - BlackDeath is escaping from manaburn bosspack.

The rest of progress was rather ordinary.

[Highlight]BlackDeath, bone necro, lvl 49, Act I NM - Dark Wood, 155 points[/highlight]


Code:
Name           Character       Class       Location         Level  Points
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ancalagon      Umbriel         Assassin    NM Outer Cloister  49     161
sequana        BlackDeath      Necromancer NM Dark Wood       49     155
ChrisTheMean   Scaven          Barbarian   NM Stony Field     48     153
Tarantells     Uta-Refson      Necromancer Moo-Moo Farm       45     143
kestegs        Running_Scared  Sorceress   NM Rogue Camp      48     141
SoulmanZ       Nevermore       Druid       Kurast Bazzar      29       ?
Jason Maher    Vanessa         Amazon      Tal Rasha's Tombs  27      65
jdkerr         Kobe            Assassin    Halls of the Dead  23      50
GCanada        PoohBear        Druid       Lut Gholein        20      42
liquid_mage    Wulfgar         Barbarian   Lut Gholein        20      42
ILikeRocks     Gragamel        Paladin     Lut Gholein        21      41
skoolbus       Gorm            Barbarian   Inner Cloister     19      37
Brak           TheStreak       Paladin     Inner Cloister     19      37
Krazy_Solo     Nispart         Assassin    Inner Cloister     19      37
CM             Lisbeth         Assassin    Inner Cloister     18      36
DaveW          Blades          Assassin    Lut Gholein        18      36
Shaandore      Irreducible     Paladin     Black Marsh        17      30
daed           Strafy          Amazon      Stony Field        12      19
wielanja       Beowulf         Barbarian   Stony Field        12      19
Sorcererbob    Cabaret         Sorceress   Stony Field        12      19
Ashmer         Fuzzy           Druid       Stony Field        12       ?
wakiki         Polemos         Barbarian   Cold Plains         7      11
Quickdeath     Limber          Amazon      Cold Plains         6       9
scrcrw         Nagisa          Barbarian   Rogue Camp          1       2
Vang           Leeloo          Amazon      Rogue Camp          1       2
NightCraweler  Ragran          Barbarian   Rogue Camp          1       2
vague          Benkei          Barbarian   Rogue Camp          1       2 
Bluechip       SeymourKrelborn Necromancer Rogue Camp          1       2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
RIP: 
ChrisTheMean   TheLoner        Paladin     NM Underground P   48     148
HanShotFirst   Frost-Fang      Druid       River of Flame     33     100
Morathi        Dorian          Paladin     Flayer Dungeon     30      80
Krazy_Solo     Burn_Notice     Druid       Duriel             27      67
Krazy_Solo     Auriel          Amazon      Halls of the Dead  22      48
Krazy_Solo     Snave           Druid       Act II             21      46
GCanada        MsGarrison      Assassin    Jail               18      35
tavaritz       Boner           Necromancer Barracks           18      35
Dark Matter    BoneyM          Necromancer Stony Field        12      20
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Retired:
Dark Matter    Arthur          Barbarian   Lut Gholein        20      42
Jason Maher    Fanven          Paladin     Dark Wood          15      25
mattinm        Kamikaze        Necromancer Rogue Camp          1       2
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Bloody hell this can be slow going, especially when you're using your half-the-damage weapon switch and don't realise it. *facepalm* On the positive side of things, I found 33% MF Chancies, and gambled a 32% MF circlet (+2 mana per kill), so I'm now packing a sweet 109% MF (found a rare Breast Plate with LRes and FHR and 2os, and decided losing a bit of MF was more than worth LRes and FHR). What I really need is a bit of luck to gamble a rare exceptional bow with decent ED and leech. All my chipped gems are being spent re-rolling a Short War Bow, nothing useful thus far.

[highlight]Vanessa, Level 29 Bowazon, Flayer Jungle, 76 points[/highlight]

I've also started a Barb playing by the tourney rules, to break things up a bit. I may yet unretire my Paladin.
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Can't you buy such a maul by shopping in Act IV instead of gambling?

yeah, but without ED. I'm looking for a rare with at least 35% ed, some ml and ias. Feral rage doesn't have much built in damage enhancement, especially at low levels, so it makes a big difference.



 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

What I really need is a bit of luck to gamble a rare exceptional bow with decent ED and leech.

All my chipped gems are being spent re-rolling a Short War Bow, nothing useful thus far.

My standard procedure for getting a decent weapon is to gamble and upgrade a rare (because lower qlvl (i.e. Normal) weapons can get better affixes earlier than exceptional weapons). I usually wait until I have a chance to get Ferocious (alvl=41) damage on the rare, so usually very late Normal or early Nightmare. In other words, I go for the normal weapon types where I have a good chance to get ilvl >= 41 + qlvl/2, and of course the exceptional weapon type needs to have a decent base damage and speed (so no Edge Bow or something equally crappy).

Before this is available, I usually make an 'IthIthIth' Composite Bow in Act II (you will probably want a skull in one of the sockets instead...) and then a Zephyr Razor/Cedar/Double Bow in Act V. The extra attack speed combines nicely with a Circlet with Static/Fiery damage.



 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

That's all well and good, but I need an Amn for that, and the highest rune I've found thus far is Ith (x3). Trust me, I've spent pretty much all my time since the beginning of act 2 gambling and re-rolling bows. And by the time I find an Amn, I'll be ready to make an Edge. It is very difficult to find a rare that can out-perform Edge by the time you can make an Edge.

My current bow (rare Short War Bow) does 16-32 damage. A triple-Ith'ed Long Battle Bow matches it for damage output, but is much slower. A triple-Ith'ed Long War Bow just beats it, but again is much slower. Triple Ith'ed Composite Bow, when it's faster speed is factored in, probably shades my current weapon. The problem is that I need life leech, and to get that without lowering my damage and/or speed to unviable levels, I really need an exceptional 3os bow.
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

@Jason Maher: I totally missed Edge. Just goes to show I am not into the RWM thinking yet. Nice IAS, but you still need a decent base damage bow for the big +demon/undead damage to do much, right?

Hey, that´s a pretty decent rare for mid Act III, I think.




OK, here is my first update in the tourney:
For a while now, I have played a Necromancer named Smaragd (that´s 'Emerald' in Swedish).

Yes, he is going to be a Poisonmancer. It´s a build I have long wanted to play, and one of the the main skills has received a 15% overall damage boost with patch 1.13.

But since Smaragd has no merc or minions, I have to find a way to make him able to kill (unbreakable) poison immune monsters. There aren´t enough skill points for a decent Bone skill backup, so CE and fighting will probably be the main answers, which means I will need heavy crowd control, I think. And a good Bone Armor. I am going to give Attract one more chance, and I intend to practice a lot with it before I reach the really dangerous areas.


The first two levels, Smaragd used the starting Wand. That must be the crappiest weapon among all the classes. Geez. I soon bought a 2s Scepter and put chipped sapphire + ruby in it. This weapon was good enough for clearing out the first couple of areas. I had some javelins on the switch.

I got the DEX needed for a Kris (45), and gambled one when I had reached Dark Wood. I was level 14 at the time. Krises have qlvl=17, so it wasn´t surprising that many refreshes of Gheed´s gambling screen were needed to see one. Got one with a little lightning damage. This dagger was good enough for stabbing fallen (at least up to Devilkin size) and non-bosspack corrupted rogues, Disfigured, etc. with the plain Attack skill, but taking down bigger foes like Brutes and hawk nests took far too long.

At first, I was delighted with this find. Then I read that the length of Poison Dagger is the average of all the poison sources. The rates are added, of course, but when the length of PD is significantly longer than the the 3 seconds on this charm, it means that the total damage dealt is going to be lower than with Poison Dagger alone. :(
So I stashed this charm for later - because I also read that if you combine PD with a certain other skill, the poison length will be the sum of PD and that skill, and any extra poison damage items will NOT have any effect on it! Their rates will still be added. So now I really REALLY want to get a certain item. Probably even more than I want to find Trang´s gloves.

Poison Dagger had been pumped a bit, but it wasn´t the destructive force I had hoped it would be at this stage of the game. All skeleton types seem to be highly resistant to it as well (not surprising - they should all really be immune to it as they have no blood system!)
It was also a huge mana hog. Even dedicating two columns to the blue potions didn´t help much, and it felt like a huge waste to drink all the time. I want to sell most mana potions so I can gamble more MF gear!

Still, Treehead and his minions were killed by PD and lots of running.

Mana steal wouldn´t do much either, because the damage is so puny, not at all like Impale I am used to from the Craftsman tourney. Impale does so much damage that the slightest bit of mana steal makes you gain more mana than you use for it. It will take the damage potential from something like a Spineripper before I even notice any mana steal effect...
The bad range and no shield also meant I got hit a lot. Nope, this is not working. I like the skill for boss fights, but not for the bread-and-butter general gameplay. Not in the current situation, at least.

Something had to be done. I remember my Impalazon´s success with a 'sapphired' Trident and tried that. I figured it should be viable if I Amped most enemies. Oh dear, the attack speed was crawling! I had forgotten that the amazon is especially fast with spears. For all other classes, spears are really slow weapons. I had a very tough time with a skeleton archer boss pack in the Dark Wood. I didn´t even try PD. With lots of Dim Vision casts, Bone Armor recasts and potion drinking, I slowly overcame that pack, one minion at a time. Used a map corner to great advantage as well.

Really, is it going to be like this from now on? I was almost ready to give up. Seriously. Really a low point in Smaragd´s career. But I still felt that the basic idea was right - to score the first hit and do so much damage that I put the monster into hit recovery. If I can follow up with more hits fast enough, I should be able to dominate most monsters in any situations I fight them one on one.

I decided then and there that I should get the stats needed for a Halberd, and reach them the same character level that I find the Horadric Cube. That´s planning ahead, folks. (something I really like doing, which is why I won´t ever use respecs rewards other than for correcting misclicks.)

The archer boss dropped a 28% Deadly Bardiche of Frost. Checked a weapon speed calculator. Even though the Bardiche has a crappier WSM than a Trident, Smaragd still swings significantly faster with it. Tried it out. Not too bad - much better than the Trident at least. Fought some archers in the Highlands with it, and it worked out OK. Still, Bardiches have one big problem. Although the average damage (14) is very good for such a low qlvl item, the huge damage range with a really crappy low end hurts them big time. The min. base damage is 1! Some hits hardly did anything.

I checked some weapon tables, looking for a suitable replacement. Checked swords, axes, staves, mauls and polearms. Necros are pretty slow with most two-handers. When I read the stats for Scythe, I figured: "That´s the ticket!" Same average damage as the Bardiche, with much higher minimum and quite a bit faster. Also, I had the stats for it and the qlvl was within gambling reach. :)

My new weapon was to be a Sharp Scythe of Worth, a very dominating weapon against Amped enemies, for a while.
Still, I played around with PD from time to time, especially against fast and large mobs like this one.

My dedicated STR/DEX investment left me with little VIT, and of course not much life. I think my max. was only 133 when I entered the Barracks. In the second room, I nearly met my demise against a Lightning Enchanted Bone Mage (fire shooter) boss and its minions. I could lure away the minions one by one and take them down, but the boss was another story. I had several NDEs (both life and resists were bad) until I took a time out in the Rogue Encampment. Decided to change tactics and do some javelin throwing instead. Gambled Pilums for a while, and scored a rare that was almost perfect for the job. Note the boss corpse, the major damage vs. undead and also the Knockback (great against those mages with their 'walk up to one´s face and start firing' attitude).

The Smith scared me a lot, and the fight was dangerous a few times. Note that I´ve cursed him with a rarely used curse. It was a no-brainer choice here.

Got another scare in the Catacombs, where a Champion Ghoul hit me ONCE, taking off the whole 35 point Bone Armor and 1/3 of my life! Yikes. No more melee with that guy, it´s anti-undead pilums for you, buddy.

Andariel also got the javelin treatment.


In Act II, I could soon buy a slightly better Scythe from Fara, and Radament got to taste it (with a big boost from a helpful shrine).

After this session, I had the runes to make a Steel weapon. Bought a 2s Flail from Fara. The long range, quick swing speed and Open Wounds was a good upgrade from the Scythe.

I had tried level 1 Poison Explosion in late Act I, and found it to be great against the Dark Ones. When I saw the large damage boost that a single extra level in it would mean, I put my Radament point in PE and also the level-up point that soon followed.

What a great skill for this part of the game! I can´t believe I have failed to see that for many years. We all know and love CE for the late game where it drops /p1-/p3 Hell monsters like flies once you have some corpses, but it´s not user friendly at all in the early game. It´s also about twice as expensive as PE at low levels, and the mana cost only rises with levels. Poison Explosion costs a mere 8 mana, always!

My tactics now were to Amp incoming monsters, swing my flail until it dropped, then Poison Explode the corpse if other monsters were coming close. Weak critters like vultures, beetles and cats simply could not fall to the ground fast enough! They of course left more corpses to poison explode if I wanted to. Just amazingly cheap and effective killing. Static Field is of course in its own league for damage, but you can´t kill with it. The only skill I´ve tried in the early game that can compare in mana efficieny and fast killing is Blaze (which has its own application problems against some foes), and maybe Fissure and some of the elemental damage Paladin auras.

BTW, my preferred curse against skeleton mages at this time is Life Tap. Their damage isn´t stopped by Bone Armor, and since I am hitting them anyway and my damage is still good enough to stun them without Amp, I may as well heal up when I hit. I wish there was a 'Mana Tap' curse as well - Smaragd would have used that a lot!

Cleared the Halls, got the Cube and started cubing Savage Polearms. I soon got my current Halberd but I kept trying (and I still do) to get one with a better suffix.

Smaragd is now at a high point in his career, mowing down most enemies with ease. I´m looking forward to the areas to come.


Current skills:
1 point in all 'up to lvl 24' Curses except Decrepify
1 point in all 'up to lvl 24' skills with the name 'Bone' in it, plus CE and Teeth
8 points in Poison Dagger
4 points in Poison Explosion

My current maximum life (with items) is 206. It will get boosted a lot until the Duriel fight.

Primary Gear:
* Circlet of Luck (30)
* Fortuitous (12) Amulet
* Savage Halberd of Burning (20-78 + 5-17 damage)
* 3s Breast Plate with regular topaz + 2 flawed topazes
* 27/24 Garnet Leather Gloves of Fortune
* Fortuitous (13) Ring
* Hsaru´s Iron Stay
* Fortuitous (13) Ring
* Heavy Boots of Fortune (25)

* Static Grand Charm of Life (10)
* Tangerine (10) Grand Charm
* Small Charm of Life (10)
* Small Charm of Life (9)
* Lapis (6) Small Charm

Weapon switch:
* anti-undead rare Pilum shown in a screenie above

In stash:
(I wish I had three weapon switches, so I could have this ready also!)
* Sharp Kris of Measure (6-12 dmg)


[highlight]Smaragd the Poison/Meleemancer, level 25, Jerhyn´s palace next[/highlight]
 
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Re: The Exposure Tournament

I'm just getting frustrated over the deaths of my toons. I'm just unlucky, cursed, or doomed to fail. Sucking the fun I had of this game. In the 7+ years of playing not once had a high end item drop. No elite Uniques, no runes higher than Ist, ect...

Once again a toon dies before getting started. What bothers me mostly has nothing to do with me. At least it shouldn't be. Never have I died so much so early. String of disappointment.

Rather than stop playing I will break the streak. Even if I have to stoop so low as to use cookies. I'm going to restart again.

[highlight]DEEDS
Nispart, Assassin Level 20, Act I Andariel, Score 39[/highlight]
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Found a potentially useful Unique: Steelgoad, which is now sitting on switch with it's 75% monster flee. Naturally it came after I'd got through all the Flayers and Soul Killers, where it would have been tremendously helpful...
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Running_Scared has slain the horrors of acts 1 and 2 NM :alright:

Things have been going rather smoothly for the most part, taking it a little slower than I might normally, just to be safe. Rogue archers were the most dangerous part of act 1. But as long as I don't get too surprised or am not in open ground it is easy to get them with hydras from around a corner. Skeleton archers are even easier to fool, as they seem to have a much stupider AI than rogues (maybe its the lack of a brain :whistling:) Andy was pretty easy, I decided not to go in for the static this time and instead played a rousing game of ring around the bloody pool instead.

Viper temple 2 could have gotten ugly, Fangskin immediately came out and had fana aura, but I was able to take the pedestal and keep control of it until he was dead.
The first good find of act 2 was clear into the canyon, where a 36% chancies dropped :thumbup: That brought my MF up to 283% and my resists down to about 40 each. There were some close calls in the tombs, but nothing terrible, managed to not spawn to many bad monster type combos, I think I only got blood lords and unravelers together in one tomb, thats always nice. Really starting to enjoy Hydra, although it is seeing very limited use still. Only encountered one stairtrap :scratchchin:
Duriel was a little scary at times, but I only had to use one purple, so thats not too bad really, I just tele'd from corner to corner while I orbed him. It works pretty good if you are careful, the chamber is a little tough to tele in because if you click to close to a wall it won't work and you will just sit there. Drop was terrible, with not even 1 S/U and only 2 useless rares. Also found a riphook in the tombs (sorry Jason).

Act 3 worries me quite a bit, with stair traps and dolls mostly, I do have over 700 life now, so hopefully I can stand up to a little bit of heat!

My condolences to all the deeds out there, this tourney is proving to be tougher than I thought it would be!

Code:
Name           Character       Class       Location         Level  Points
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
kestegs        Running_Scared  Sorceress   NM Kurast Docks    60     201
ancalagon      Umbriel         Assassin    NM Outer Cloister  49     161
sequana        BlackDeath      Necromancer NM Dark Wood       49     155
ChrisTheMean   Scaven          Barbarian   NM Stony Field     48     153
Tarantells     Uta-Refson      Necromancer Moo-Moo Farm       45     143
SoulmanZ       Nevermore       Druid       Kurast Bazzar      29       ?
Jason Maher    Vanessa         Amazon      Tal Rasha's Tombs  27      65
jdkerr         Kobe            Assassin    Halls of the Dead  23      50
GCanada        PoohBear        Druid       Lut Gholein        20      42
liquid_mage    Wulfgar         Barbarian   Lut Gholein        20      42
ILikeRocks     Gragamel        Paladin     Lut Gholein        21      41
skoolbus       Gorm            Barbarian   Inner Cloister     19      37
Brak           TheStreak       Paladin     Inner Cloister     19      37
Krazy_Solo     Nispart         Assassin    Inner Cloister     19      37
CM             Lisbeth         Assassin    Inner Cloister     18      36
DaveW          Blades          Assassin    Lut Gholein        18      36
Shaandore      Irreducible     Paladin     Black Marsh        17      30
daed           Strafy          Amazon      Stony Field        12      19
wielanja       Beowulf         Barbarian   Stony Field        12      19
Sorcererbob    Cabaret         Sorceress   Stony Field        12      19
Ashmer         Fuzzy           Druid       Stony Field        12       ?
wakiki         Polemos         Barbarian   Cold Plains         7      11
Quickdeath     Limber          Amazon      Cold Plains         6       9
scrcrw         Nagisa          Barbarian   Rogue Camp          1       2
Vang           Leeloo          Amazon      Rogue Camp          1       2
NightCraweler  Ragran          Barbarian   Rogue Camp          1       2
vague          Benkei          Barbarian   Rogue Camp          1       2 
Bluechip       SeymourKrelborn Necromancer Rogue Camp          1       2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
RIP: 
ChrisTheMean   TheLoner        Paladin     NM Underground P   48     148
HanShotFirst   Frost-Fang      Druid       River of Flame     33     100
Morathi        Dorian          Paladin     Flayer Dungeon     30      80
Krazy_Solo     Burn_Notice     Druid       Duriel             27      67
Krazy_Solo     Auriel          Amazon      Halls of the Dead  22      48
Krazy_Solo     Snave           Druid       Act II             21      46
Krazy_Solo     Nispart         Assassin    Andariel           20      39
GCanada        MsGarrison      Assassin    Jail               18      35
tavaritz       Boner           Necromancer Barracks           18      35
Dark Matter    BoneyM          Necromancer Stony Field        12      20
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Retired:
Dark Matter    Arthur          Barbarian   Lut Gholein        20      42
Jason Maher    Fanven          Paladin     Dark Wood          15      25
mattinm        Kamikaze        Necromancer Rogue Camp          1       2

[highlight]Running_Scared, lvl 60, NM Docks, 201 points[/highlight]
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

Scaven's journey has continued from the land of the rogues into the deserts and tombs of act 2 NM. He has had many interesting encouners including one with Treehead, who spawned with very annoying mods. He had to be separated from his pack to be dealt with. The Countess dropped a Io, so he is on the lookout for a suitable 'black' base. Somewhere in the barracks he picked up a plain jewel of fervor which could prove very handy down the road. Two uniques dropped in the pit level 1 including Rattlecage which he is now using. It's CB and monster flee mods seem to be very well suited to his lonesome quest. He was careful to lure as many monsters away from Andariel before engaging her, but this guy just wanted to stick around for the fight. Scaven was annoyed, but less so after identifying the GC he dropped (3-7 cold dam/25 fire res). Andy dropped a yellow barb helm with a few warcries, but it wasn't worth sacrificing most of his current helm's mf, so it was stashed. He was quite surprised to walk into a trap in the sewers right at the start of act 2. There were fire arrows, a conviction aura, and he was cursed immediately. He had to take the other entrance through town and come in cautiously to lure one group at a time. Maggots spawned everywhere possible in the desert, much to Scaven's dismay. He has cleared out ot the Lost City, including romps in the Ancient Tunnels and the Claw Viper Temple. His gear has changed constantly, but amazingly, Cleglaw's gloves and sword lasted all the way to the Lost City. There, things were rearanged with the addition of Sander's gloves, a crafted crowbill (30IAS/93ED/1-128lightning/3LL) and a 'Kings Grace' holy water sprinkler. He is now anxiously anticipating the archers of the Palace Cellar.

[highlight]Scaven, purple-clad foul-mouthed frenzier, NM Lost City, lvl55, 186points[/highlight]


Code:
Name           Character       Class       Location         Level  Points
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
kestegs        Running_Scared  Sorceress   NM Kurast Docks    60     201
ChrisTheMean   Scaven          Barbarian   NM Lost City       55     186
ancalagon      Umbriel         Assassin    NM Outer Cloister  49     161
sequana        BlackDeath      Necromancer NM Dark Wood       49     155
Tarantells     Uta-Refson      Necromancer Moo-Moo Farm       45     143
SoulmanZ       Nevermore       Druid       Kurast Bazzar      29       ?
Jason Maher    Vanessa         Amazon      Tal Rasha's Tombs  27      65
jdkerr         Kobe            Assassin    Halls of the Dead  23      50
GCanada        PoohBear        Druid       Lut Gholein        20      42
liquid_mage    Wulfgar         Barbarian   Lut Gholein        20      42
ILikeRocks     Gragamel        Paladin     Lut Gholein        21      41
skoolbus       Gorm            Barbarian   Inner Cloister     19      37
Brak           TheStreak       Paladin     Inner Cloister     19      37
Krazy_Solo     Nispart         Assassin    Inner Cloister     19      37
CM             Lisbeth         Assassin    Inner Cloister     18      36
DaveW          Blades          Assassin    Lut Gholein        18      36
Shaandore      Irreducible     Paladin     Black Marsh        17      30
daed           Strafy          Amazon      Stony Field        12      19
wielanja       Beowulf         Barbarian   Stony Field        12      19
Sorcererbob    Cabaret         Sorceress   Stony Field        12      19
Ashmer         Fuzzy           Druid       Stony Field        12       ?
wakiki         Polemos         Barbarian   Cold Plains         7      11
Quickdeath     Limber          Amazon      Cold Plains         6       9
scrcrw         Nagisa          Barbarian   Rogue Camp          1       2
Vang           Leeloo          Amazon      Rogue Camp          1       2
NightCraweler  Ragran          Barbarian   Rogue Camp          1       2
vague          Benkei          Barbarian   Rogue Camp          1       2 
Bluechip       SeymourKrelborn Necromancer Rogue Camp          1       2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
RIP: 
ChrisTheMean   TheLoner        Paladin     NM Underground P   48     148
HanShotFirst   Frost-Fang      Druid       River of Flame     33     100
Morathi        Dorian          Paladin     Flayer Dungeon     30      80
Krazy_Solo     Burn_Notice     Druid       Duriel             27      67
Krazy_Solo     Auriel          Amazon      Halls of the Dead  22      48
Krazy_Solo     Snave           Druid       Act II             21      46
Krazy_Solo     Nispart         Assassin    Andariel           20      39
GCanada        MsGarrison      Assassin    Jail               18      35
tavaritz       Boner           Necromancer Barracks           18      35
Dark Matter    BoneyM          Necromancer Stony Field        12      20
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Retired:
Dark Matter    Arthur          Barbarian   Lut Gholein        20      42
Jason Maher    Fanven          Paladin     Dark Wood          15      25
mattinm        Kamikaze        Necromancer Rogue Camp          1       2
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

@Hans. That was my initial plan if I was too enter in with a Druid, however, you beat me too it. So no I didn’t go down that route

@Jain. WOW, nice and long introductory post Jian! I liked the way you established new techniques to better suit the situation. I look forward to hearing how Smaragd progresses!

@Krazy_solo. Haha, i admire your dedication! Keep at it buddy! Don't let your deeds get you down!





With the demise of Dorian, a new legend was born, his name, Diago.

Diago is a hopeful pure Fury druid, who will utilize maxed Ravens for crowd control, as well as a means of early damage. The only standout problem I see with this build is dealing with PI’s. However, I have a few ideas on how I shall tackle this obstacle and it shouldn’t be too difficult either, least I hope...

Diago’s first 17 skill points went straight into Raven’s. As imagined, they proved to be a dominant force, dealing most of the damage. Diago was very appreciative of his birds, pecking out the eyes of his enemies while he clobbered away. Observe Raven’s in action, part 1 and 2!

Progress was fairly straight forward for Diago, there really wasn’t any NDE and once I started working on Wolf Form/Lycan and Feral Rage, the going became a lot safer due to the increase in life + added life steal.

Just prior to facing Andariel I decided to talk to Kashya, so she could give me a Rogue to feed Andariel. We entered the portal, back into Andariel's Lair and before we even had a chance to assess the situation, the Rogue fell in a heartbeat to the deadly poison spray. Hah! That’s a lot easier than trying to get her trapped/mobbed, that’s for sure!

The fight vs Andariel was very straight forward and surprisingly very safe! Diago didn’t even need a healing pot at all! Feral rage allowed for life leech and antidote potions boosted my poison resits to a max of 85. The drop was nothing special.

S/U’s for the Act: Cleglaw’s Tooth. (disappointing :()

[highlight]Diago the Pure Fury/Ravens Druid, Level 20, Act 2 Normal, Lut Gholein, points = 42[/highlight]
 
Re: The Exposure Tournament

I have been toying around with the tournament off and on haven't found a toon that I like in this situation so far but did find the that getting to 8 then letting blood raven slaughter the rouge for you is also way easier than getting her mobbed. As a level 4 merc doesn't take many hits to die.
 
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