The Hiatus Is Over: Untwinked Sorceress Reaches 99

PhineasB

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Guide Author
Mar 14, 2020
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Originally posted December 25, 2017

Hiatus, an untwinked-99er-to be, began her journey in June 2016 as my second entrant in @Kitteh’s relaunch of the untwinked 99er challenge (original untwinked 99er tourney thread is here). Hiatus was created to provide some, erm, breaks as Mercy, an untwinked assassin, plodded her way to the goal.

When Mercy hit 99 in May 2017, Hiatus was part way into level 96. Along with progressing Phaedrus, an untwinked Pally and my third entry, from level 91 to level 94, Hiatus has been the main focus of D2 gaming time since then.

We’ll start with a vid of Hiatus pinging 99, then stats and gear, followed by a rundown of progress and reflections and finds, and then some concluding thoughts and thanks.
Obviously, Nihl had to roll LI a couple times as a farewell gift. :rolleyes:

Stats and Gear
Code:
Last skill point and stat points are unused.
Name:       Hiatus
Class:      Sorceress
Experience: 3520485254
Level:      99

Naked/Gear
Strength:   143/162
Dexterity:  25/45
Vitality:   377/416
Energy:     35/42
HP:         932/1471
Mana:       231/537
Stamina:    539/589
Defense:    6/974
AR:         75/175

Fire:       177/137/77
Cold:       178/138/78
Lightning:  188/148/**
Poison:     208/168/108

MF:         187       Block:      6
GF:         118
FR/W:       32
FHR:        90
IAS:        10
FCR:        124

Fire Bolt: 0/0
Warmth: 1/13
Inferno: 0/0
Blaze: 0/0
Fire Ball: 0/0
Fire Wall: 0/0
Enchant: 0/0
Meteor: 0/0
Fire Mastery: 0/0
Hydra: 0/0

Charged Bolt: 20/34
Static Field: 5/19
Telekinesis: 1/15
Nova: 20/34
Lightning: 20/34
Chain Lightning: 20/34
Teleport: 1/15
Thunder Storm: 0/0
Energy Shield: 1/15
Lightning Mastery: 20/34

Ice Bolt: 0/0
Frozen Armor: 0/0
Frost Nova: 0/0
Ice Blast: 0/0
Shiver Armor: 0/0
Glacial Spike: 0/0
Blizzard: 0/0
Chilling Armor: 0/0
Frozen Orb: 0/0
Cold Mastery: 0/0
Code:
Skin of the Vipermagi
Serpentskin Armor
Defense: 279
Durability: 9 of 24
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 43
Fingerprint: 0x9d495766
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+30% Faster Cast Rate
+120% Enhanced Defense
All Resistances +32
Magic Damage Reduced by 12

Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
Ring
Required Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x59e978db
Item Level: 95
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
5% Life stolen per hit
+49 to Life (Based on Character Level)
+50 Maximum Stamina

Arachnid Mesh
Spiderweb Sash
Defense: 134
Durability: 5 of 12
Required Level: 80
Required Strength: 50
Fingerprint: 0x3a9d095d
Item Level: 95
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+20% Faster Cast Rate
Slows Target by 10%
+114% Enhanced Defense
Increase Maximum Mana 5%
Level 3 Venom (11/11 Charges)

War Traveler
Battle Boots
Defense: 130
Durability: 46 of 48
Required Level: 42
Required Strength: 95
Fingerprint: 0x1a5c814e
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+25% Faster Run/Walk
Adds 15 - 25 Damage
+172% Enhanced Defense
+10 to Strength
+10 to Vitality
40% Slower Stamina Drain
Attacker Takes Damage of 9
49% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+30 Maximum Durability

Bloodfist
Heavy Gloves
Defense: 18
Durability: 5 of 14
Required Level: 9
Fingerprint: 0x244895a7
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10% Increased Attack Speed
+30% Faster Hit Recovery
+5 to Minimum Damage
+19% Enhanced Defense
+10 Defense
+40 to Life

Mara's Kaleidoscope
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Fingerprint: 0x81064460
Item Level: 95
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
All Stats +5
All Resistances +27

Harlequin Crest
Shako
Defense: 115
Durability: 9 of 12
Required Level: 62
Required Strength: 50
Fingerprint: 0xe1c79998
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
All Stats +2
+148 to Life (Based on Character Level)
+148 to Mana (Based on Character Level)
Damage Reduced by 10%
50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Nature's Peace
Ring
Required Level: 69
Fingerprint: 0xbd51218c
Item Level: 95
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Prevent Monster Heal
Slain Monsters Rest in Peace
Poison Resist +24%
Damage Reduced by 8
Level 5 Oak Sage (27/27 Charges)

Call to Arms
Crystal Sword
AmnRalMalIstOhm
One Hand Damage: 18 - 55
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Level: 57
Required Strength: 43
Fingerprint: 0x3ed2310b
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+40% Increased Attack Speed
267% Enhanced Damage
Adds 5 - 30 Fire Damage
7% Life stolen per hit
Prevent Monster Heal
+5 to Battle Command
+6 to Battle Orders
+2 to Battle Cry
Replenish Life +12
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
5 Sockets (5 used)
Socketed: Amn Rune
Socketed: Ral Rune
Socketed: Mal Rune
Socketed: Ist Rune
Socketed: Ohm Rune

Spirit
Monarch
TalThulOrtAmn
Defense: 141
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 86 of 86
Required Level: 54
Required Strength: 156
Fingerprint: 0x4969d0ea
Item Level: 84
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+33% Faster Cast Rate
+55% Faster Hit Recovery
+250 Defense vs. Missile
+22 to Vitality
+108 to Mana
Cold Resist +35%
Lightning Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
+3 Magic Absorb
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Amn Rune

Heart of the Oak
Flail
KoVexPulThul
One Hand Damage: 1 - 24
Durability: 30 of 30
Required Level: 55
Required Strength: 41
Required Dexterity: 35
Fingerprint: 0x4a8952a8
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to All Skills
+40% Faster Cast Rate
+75% Damage to Demons
+100 to Attack Rating against Demons
+150% Damage to Undead
Adds 3 - 14 Cold Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
7% Mana stolen per hit
+10 to Dexterity
Replenish Life +20
Increase Maximum Mana 15%
All Resistances +40
Level 4 Oak Sage (25/25 Charges)
Level 14 Raven (60/60 Charges)
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Ko Rune
Socketed: Vex Rune
Socketed: Pul Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune

Spirit
Monarch
TalThulOrtAmn
Defense: 146
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 73 of 86
Required Level: 54
Required Strength: 156
Fingerprint: 0x4e480d84
Item Level: 84
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+34% Faster Cast Rate
+55% Faster Hit Recovery
+250 Defense vs. Missile
+22 to Vitality
+106 to Mana
Cold Resist +35%
Lightning Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
+7 Magic Absorb
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Amn Rune
Code:
Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x5cd40a44
Item Level: 84
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x5a11b586
Item Level: **
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Life

Small Charm of Good Luck
Small Charm
Required Level: 33
Fingerprint: 0x1ba2da10
Item Level: 94
Version: Expansion 1.10+
7% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Sparking Grand Charm of Inertia
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xbad3e4b1
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Lightning Skills (Sorceress Only)
+7% Faster Run/Walk

Small Charm of Good Luck
Small Charm
Required Level: 33
Fingerprint: 0x955cf496
Item Level: **
Version: Expansion 1.10+
7% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Viridian Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0xf877dfc8
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Life
Poison Resist +6%

Serpent's Small Charm of Balance
Small Charm
Required Level: 40
Fingerprint: 0x6fb97697
Item Level: **
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+5% Faster Hit Recovery
+14 to Mana

Ruby Small Charm of Dexterity
Small Charm
Required Level: 32
Fingerprint: 0xc75ddd06
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Dexterity
Fire Resist +11%

Sparking Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x2f8b1611
Item Level: 95
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Lightning Skills (Sorceress Only)

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x9e920547
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x58cdd1a9
Item Level: **
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Life

Ruby Small Charm of Strength
Small Charm
Required Level: 32
Fingerprint: 0x49208cea
Item Level: 84
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Strength
Fire Resist +11%

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x2f14e1ec
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+19 to Life

Shimmering Grand Charm of Vita
Grand Charm
Required Level: 83
Fingerprint: 0x3481aa33
Item Level: 95
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+44 to Life
All Resistances +14

Gheed's Fortune
Grand Charm
Required Level: 62
Fingerprint: 0xdd7cbc2a
Item Level: **
Version: Expansion 1.10+
118% Extra Gold from Monsters
Reduces all Vendor Prices 12%
40% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Small Charm of Good Luck
Small Charm
Required Level: 33
Fingerprint: 0x38c48d14
Item Level: 84
Version: Expansion 1.10+
7% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Crimson Small Charm of Good Luck
Small Charm
Required Level: 33
Fingerprint: 0xc407cc55
Item Level: **
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Fire Resist +4%
6% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Serpent's Small Charm of Good Luck
Small Charm
Required Level: 40
Fingerprint: 0x3c945fb0
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+15 to Mana
7% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Serpent's Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 40
Fingerprint: 0xef682610
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+19 to Life
+17 to Mana

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x41e84d9d
Item Level: 95
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Life

Lizard's Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0xcec54b7c
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Life
+1 to Mana

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x99c17b57
Item Level: **
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Life

Lizard's Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x30694cd0
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Life
+5 to Mana

Amber Small Charm of Good Luck
Small Charm
Required Level: 33
Fingerprint: 0xea30ae3a
Item Level: **
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Lightning Resist +10%
7% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Boreal Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x3b517827
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 7 - 12 Cold Damage Over 1 Secs (25 Frames)
+20 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x55ae6af
Item Level: 84
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Life

Small Charm of Good Luck
Small Charm
Required Level: 33
Fingerprint: 0xb368f84f
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
7% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Garnet Small Charm of Dexterity
Small Charm
Required Level: 20
Fingerprint: 0xb66107d5
Item Level: **
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Dexterity
Fire Resist +8%
Code:
Not used for body recovery, but Darksight was used for CoS charges
to get some drops when Vipers were around.

Credendum
Mithril Coil
Defense: 111
Durability: 15 of 16
Required Level: 65
Required Strength: 106
Fingerprint: 0x2ec235d2
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+50 Defense
+10 to Strength
+10 to Dexterity
All Resistances +15

Moser's Blessed Circle
Round Shield
Defense: 169
Chance to Block: 37
Durability: 44 of 64
Required Level: 31
Required Strength: 53
Fingerprint: 0xd6adb5aa
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+30% Faster Block Rate
25% Increased Chance of Blocking
+202% Enhanced Defense
All Resistances +25
2 Sockets (0 used)

Heart of the Oak
Flail
KoVexPulThul
One Hand Damage: 1 - 24
Durability: 30 of 30
Required Level: 55
Required Strength: 41
Required Dexterity: 35
Fingerprint: 0xe23e4ea6
Item Level: **
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to All Skills
+40% Faster Cast Rate
+75% Damage to Demons
+100 to Attack Rating against Demons
+150% Damage to Undead
Adds 3 - 14 Cold Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
7% Mana stolen per hit
+10 to Dexterity
Replenish Life +20
Increase Maximum Mana 15%
All Resistances +34
Level 4 Oak Sage (25/25 Charges)
Level 14 Raven (60/60 Charges)
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Ko Rune
Socketed: Vex Rune
Socketed: Pul Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune

Skin of the Vipermagi
Serpentskin Armor
Defense: 279
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 43
Fingerprint: 0x250a29f4
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+30% Faster Cast Rate
+120% Enhanced Defense
All Resistances +32
Magic Damage Reduced by 10

Darksight Helm
Basinet
Defense: 274
Durability: 30 of 30
Required Level: 38
Required Strength: 82
Fingerprint: 0xd44c3f02
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
6% Chance to cast level 3 Dim Vision when struck
5% Mana stolen per hit
+198 Defense (Based on Character Level)
Fire Resist +38%
Cannot Be Frozen
-4 to Light Radius
Level 5 Cloak of Shadows (28/30 Charges)

Call to Arms
Crystal Sword
AmnRalMalIstOhm
One Hand Damage: 18 - 54
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Level: 57
Required Strength: 43
Fingerprint: 0x89994ba5
Item Level: **
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+40% Increased Attack Speed
261% Enhanced Damage
Adds 5 - 30 Fire Damage
7% Life stolen per hit
Prevent Monster Heal
+2 to Battle Command
+3 to Battle Orders
+2 to Battle Cry
Replenish Life +12
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
5 Sockets (5 used)
Socketed: Amn Rune
Socketed: Ral Rune
Socketed: Mal Rune
Socketed: Ist Rune
Socketed: Ohm Rune
Code:
Name:       Zanarhi
Race:       Desert Mercenary
Type:       Def-Nightmare
Experience: 114111696
Level:      98
Dead?:      false

Naked/Gear
Strength:   209/229
Dexterity:  169/169
HP:         2287/2287
Defense:    1671/2967
AR:         2066/2066

Fire:       227/187/127
Cold:       227/187/127
Lightning:  227/187/127
Poison:    227/187/127

Delirium
Superior Demonhead
LemIstIo
Defense: 437
Durability: 18 of 20
Required Level: 55
Required Strength: 102
Fingerprint: 0x4e0c42ea
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
1% Chance to cast level 50 Delirium when struck
6% Chance to cast level 14 Mind Blast when struck
14% Chance to cast level 13 Terror when struck
11% Chance to cast level 18 Confuse on striking
+2 to All Skills
+14% Enhanced Defense
+261 Defense
+10 to Vitality
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Level 17 Attract (60/60 Charges)
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Lem Rune
Socketed: Ist Rune
Socketed: Io Rune

Chains of Honor
Superior Scarab Husk
DolUmBerIst
Defense: 859
Durability: 22 of 30
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 95
Fingerprint: 0x89c6e0b6
Item Level: **
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+200% Damage to Demons
+100% Damage to Undead
8% Life stolen per hit
+81% Enhanced Defense
+20 to Strength
Replenish Life +7
All Resistances +65
Damage Reduced by 8%
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Increase Maximum Durability 10%
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Dol Rune
Socketed: Um Rune
Socketed: Ber Rune
Socketed: Ist Rune

Infinity
Superior Cryptic Axe
BerMalBerIst
Two Hand Damage: 197 - 909
Durability: 36 of 36
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 155
Required Dexterity: 93
Fingerprint: 0x6b96974c
Item Level: **
Version: Expansion 1.10+
50% Chance to cast level 20 Chain Lightning when you Kill an Enemy
Level 12 Conviction Aura When Equipped
+35% Faster Run/Walk
304% Enhanced Damage
-49% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
40% Chance of Crushing Blow
Prevent Monster Heal
+49 to Vitality (Based on Character Level)
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Increase Maximum Durability 11%
Level 21 Cyclone Armor (30/30 Charges)
Ethereal
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Ber Rune
Socketed: Mal Rune
Socketed: Ber Rune
Socketed: Ist Rune

Progress, Reflections, and Findings
Hiatus started while Mercy was progressing towards level 95, quickly making it to level 85 as a pure Blizz sorc, mostly on Pindle. She then started mixing in AT, eventually hitting level 91, but still lacking some basics (including a 4os Monarch). But she found a 3os eTomby!

At level 92 she transitioned to some LK in search of runes, with a very nice run of runes leading to her HoTo. After a little break due to work and vacation, she hit level 94 in AT and finally found Shako and a 4os Monarch.

She slogged her way to 95, and was only a level behind Mercy. Mercy got the bulk of play time through the end of year, but Hiatus eventually focused on LK to get a Ber for CoH so that she could transition to CS. She eventually hit 96 in late January 2017 (I’d started the Pally by this point also, taking him toward level 90) but was then shelved until Mercy hit 99 in May 2017.

Hiatus got the bulk of play over the next couple weeks, hitting 97, with a 40@ HoTo reroll mixed in. She set a goal of 25M XP/week, mostly surpassing it. She had some nice finds and runes for Infinity along the way to hitting level 98 in September.

Hiatus switched to pure lightning after testing, using her last respec. About 11M into Nihl runs she had a nasty mishap, dying and then again with body recovery kit on resulting in loss of gear. Thankfully, her switch to lightning made the loss of gear manageable. And she got a nice CtA reroll and a quick Mara’s to replace the lost one as she gained back the lost XP.

At this point, it was back to avoiding deaths and setting a weekly goal, which she settled on 20M XP, hitting 98.25 before leaving for vacation in early October. After being away six weeks, Hiatus got back to running in mid-November, hitting 98.5 around Thanksgiving – and finally finding her Arachnid’s! :rolleyes:

With an assist to @ffs and @Yng, Hiatus swapped in Bloodfists to complete her gear (with the exception of a slight charm upgrade later on). She hit 98.75 and then completed the last ~tenth of the level before pinging 99 yesterday with a major boost from Ancients quest reward. Charcter screen looks pretty cool:
Screenshot005.jpg

In general, she was relatively slow for the last level, with only 1 skiller to start (a second dropped along the way) and no Griffon’s. The lack of Griffon’s and skillers was felt. Given her gear available, however, I don’t know if anything else would have been faster. Maybe pure fire for Nihl, but she felt obligated to fry him to complete the elemental trifecta of sorcs in the 99er thread. She could have stuck with Blizz or gone Blova, but killing only Nihl, as those builds require, wasn’t in the plans due to loss of drops.

Speaking of which, Hiatus had some nice finds along the way, contributing a fair bit to my overall grail and eth grail. The key runewords and total remaining high runes is below:
Code:
CoH
CtA x3
Delirium
HoTo x4
Crescent Moon
Infinity (eth)

Mal – 7
Ist – 3
Gul – 6
Ohm – 4
Lo – 2
Ber – 1
Jah – 3
Overall, Hiatus made it to grail -33, with mostly TC3/TC87s (and Cow’s Set) missing. There was only one exceptional unique (unique cedar staff), Seraph’s Hymn, Frostwind, Fleshripper, and Nightwing’s missing otherwise. As with Mercy, there are too many nice items to summarize, so I will just list a couple favorites:
Code:
Astreon's (overall grailer)
Shimmering (14@) GC of Vita (44)
3os eTomby
Eth Death’s Fathom (low cold damage roll, but cool)
A couple nice skillers with sustenance suffix (Captain’s, Acrobatic, 2 Entrapping,
2 Harpoonists, Fletchers, Natural)

Thank You-s and What’s Next-es
As before, I have to start with thanks to this forum and everyone who participated or contributed to this thread. It’s much easier to plug away with company! So thanks, @everyone!

Special thanks go to @Pb_pal, @NanoMist and @T72on1 who were in it from Hiatus’s start and helped with feedback and encouragement throughout. Of course, @Kitteh gets a special shout out for (re)starting this challenge, along with @ffs for having another lightning Sorc far along. Finally, major thanks to all the recent entries for keeping this thread vibrant nearly two years after its start. :)

As for what’s next, Hiatus is going to Mat and then respec to Nova for Cow goodness in search of some bases needed for my runeword grail (and burning some of her runes along the way). Aside from that, she may get some use in future tourneys, although she will not stay untwinked. I will also sort through her stashes and may post some readouts of nice items that I’ve forgotten about.

Phaedrus is almost to 94.75, so I hope to bring him to a round 95 before taking a break from XP runs to quest some characters through. I have my trio of twins project with the Auradin in NM and itching to get him end game gear. I also plan to focus on the untwinked Barb in that project (also in NM) and a new Necro that I started recently.

I also plan to start working on the SPF 99er compendium that I mentioned a while back. I have an outline, some sections written up roughly, and notes for others. So I hope to post something for feedback before too-too long.

Final thanks are to everyone who followed along as Hiatus progressed to 99. Cheers!
 
Last edited:
Originally posted December 17, 2017

As for Hiatus, we transferred her items into my general stash and burned through some runez (using Precious, the dedicated mule)!
Runewords rolling.jpg
First up was Famine:
Famine.jpg
Next was the next-to-useless wind:
Wind.jpg
Then Venom (note the base -- har har!):
Venom.jpg
Wrath and then Brand followed:
Wrath.jpg
Brand Makings.jpg
Brand.jpg
Rolls were pretty universally bad, although I don't really see myself using most of these guys. They were basically for the runeword grail. Except for Brand, the roll on that one was a bummer. :(

I still have runes in my overall stash for Exile and Fury -- looking for quality bases for those -- plus Eternity and Pride (or Doom). So good progress on the runeword grail front from Hiatus also!
 
Originally posted June 26, 2016

As for Mercy, I haven’t been online much the last three weeks, with busy times at work and some travel and moving apartments mixed in for good measure. We were also without internet for a couple weeks, but I was able to play some. I’ll do a full update later this weekend (hopefully after more playing time), but Mercy is at level 95, and a second character (Hiatus, currently a blizz sorc) is at level 84.

* * *

I’ve done a few Baal runs today, but am going to focus on leveling the sorc, Hiatus, who is following the same conditions as Mercy: extended stash, not picking up all S/Us, and not tracking time. She gained a level since my brief update this morning and is currently lvl 85. She is at Pindle in Hell.

The Hellforge drops in NM and H were both Hels. :\ Best find so far was a Stone of Jordan from Hell Andy in the early 70s when leveling at Andy + Ancient Tunnels. She mostly ran Pindle from 76 to 85, with the best find a Ko rune. I mixed in a couple Meph runs and LK runs looking for a good map. She picked up a Gul at LK, which is the highest rune found so far, but not much else of note.
 
Originally posted July 17, 2016

I had to take a break from playing for the last week due to busy work schedule. But I was able to play again this weekend. Hiatus has pushed to lvl 91. She continued to mix up AT and Meph runs from 89 to 90, with very little to show except a Pul from AT.

She then switched back to Pindle and AT for half way to 91, then switched over to p7 AT runs with LK mixed in. She had some pretty good finds, although none are useful for her.

Early on, Pindle dropped a nice 5/5 poison facet, and she also got a Harpoonist GC of Sustenance. About 2/3 of the way to 91, she got some very nice drops: Eth 3os Tomb Reaver, with a good damage roll; Stormlash, again with a pretty good roll; and another Mal from LK. She also picked up 2 plain Martial Arts skillers (oddly, the next Grand Charm to drop after the first skiller was the second skiller) and the set Colossus Blade.

She still hasn’t found a 4os Monarch, and she still has a +1 sorc skills amulet. Her life is also very low, which makes for some exciting moments.
 
Originally posted August 20, 2016

I have a quick update to share an incredible run of drops for LK over the last hour. As mentioned in my last post, Hiatus turned to LK in the hopes of finding a few runes and upgrading charms. She picked up from her last batch of LK runs, which had stopped after finding 100 runes.

Not much to show on the charm front (only thing she may use is a 9% lightning resist small charm with faster hit recovery). And nothing above a Hel for the first 49 runes. Then rune #50 was a Pul, followed by a Sur at #53 (I picked it up thinking it was a Sol and then 1 second later realized it had ended with an "r," so I dropped it back on the ground for the screenshot), a Gul for #59, a Mal two runes later, and finally a Vex as rune #65.

So that stretch of 16 runes included 5 Pul+ runes, which was incredible.

I'm curious to get opinions on whether to replace The Oculus with a HoTo. I think Hiatus would miss the 50% magic find from Oculus when she returns to AT, but the teleport was really annoying, particularly with the skeleton mages. And with a good resist roll on HoTo, she could swap out some resist charms for magic find small charms to make up some of the difference.

* * *

Thanks for the quick responses. Hiatus finished up the set of 100 runes. Rune #91 was Vex #2. She then rolled her new weapon (too bad resists weren't better) and is going to test it out in AT.

Edit: First unique drop in AT was a Phaseblade, and it turned out to be an Azurewrath. The first one of these I've found, which brings it to grail -10 between my 7x7 project and both 99ers.
 
Originally posted October 27, 2016

I had a big break from playing due to busy work and then a nice vacation without computer (or internet access for large stretches), and then of course busy work upon returning. I wasn't able to get any play time from last week of September until this past weekend, when I focused on Hiatus. I also have enjoyed catching up on this thread and some of the others.

Hiatus made it to level 94 on AT p8 runs. I wasn't satisfied with her AT map, so I rerolled every 10 or so runs until I found one that seemed efficient for experience. There are many others on the forums who have studied this carefully (many thanks!), so I tried to follow the basic concept of high boss back density relative to amount of teleporting around the map between packs.

In looking for maps, Hiatus finally found a Shako. This map ended up being the winner, despite appearances. As this screen shot of a second Set Vortex Shield shows, from the entrance, two teleports lead into a big room and then one teleport to a junction where the left turn leads to short hallway to sparkly chest. That segment alone had a minimum of 3 boss packs and up to 6, with 5 or 6 the most common and only 3 very rare. Ignoring the rest of the map led to very quick and safe runs with a pretty high boss pack density. The XP gains were pretty good and Hiatus made what felt like steady progress to 94, with no deaths or NDEs.

Along the way she finally got a 4os Monarch. I haven't bothered to look back through earlier posts, but I am pretty sure this was at least the 6th roll with the cube recipe, not to mention a number of grey Monarchs that dropped with the wrong number of sockets. But no complaints now that she finally has Spirit, which sped the last third of the level considerably and will make the transition to CS possible for the next level. Additional (notable) finds were a Cold Skiller (the first) and a Martial Arts skiller, and a Reaper's Toll.

I hope to spend some time this weekend running Baal with Mercy, who is about 1/7th of the way to 97. Table update is below.
 
Originally posted November 25, 2016

Hiatus hit level 95.

Thanks to @T72on1 for feedback on the merc. She switched over to HF and made Treachery and it made a big difference. She switched around merc gear until finally finding a good combo. Like @T72on1, I found that Treachery with the Delirium didn’t work well due to lack of life leach. Resists are also only 58@ for fire, lightning and poison (level 94 merc), and confuse from Delirium wasn’t enough to keep him safe. Although I think it will be useful if she makes it to level 98 and decides to run Nil.

Andy’s ended up working best among the options, and the faster attack on Delirium and Andy’s seemed to make a big difference in how the merc leeches. Hiatus finally ditched the Tal’s armor, as I recognized +skills would help and the focus on MF was impacting kill speed. So she adjusted charms, added Vipermagi and it made a huge difference. First, the faster cast gained breakpoint for teleport, which sped up the runs noticeably. Second, all resists were now maxed and the extra skill point seemed to improve survivability and reduce need for repositioning between Blizzard drops near the seals.

The change in merc also led to a much better (but more dangerous map). There are between 1-3 boss mobs in the area immediately to the left of the pentagram on the way to Vizier’s seal, with sometimes up to 2 additional bosses around the seal. Then there are up to 2 other bosses on way to Infector or around his seal. She had one death when playing around with gear combos, which was annoying, but the body recovery kit worked to minimize XP loss.

Generally, she picked up all flawless gems, charms, jewels and runes, along with interesting uniques/sets and socketables. She cubed the gems as she went and rolled GCs and caster amulets as a way to keep engaged due to long stretches without exciting drops. She had 2x8 open inventory, which is going to be pared down as she gets more and better charms. At this point, there was nothing worth carrying to fill that space.

Finds were okay, with the highlight a new skiller. Early on I hoped that she had gotten a game changer, but it turned out to be a Veil of Steel. :( She then lucked out with GC rolling, hitting a Chilling GC of Sustenance. That’s her second skiller (other is plain). A Gul dropped fairly early on, with an Um and a Pul the only other runes of note for the level. About half way in, a 5/3 Cold facet dropped, which will be useful down the road. Then another good GC reroll (Trap with + life), although it’s a shame it wasn't with Mercy. Near the end she rolled a 2/20 necro caster ammy, although the rest of the mods aren’t very good.

That’s it. She going to take a little break in LK, with a goal of another 100 runes. Hopefully there will be some charm upgrades, with more GC rerolling included. If she’s lucky, she will find another Sur or a Ber and be able to make COH, which will allow some reshuffling of belt and gloves plus another + skill (although she also needs an Ist, I think).

Congrats to @Neksja for the great progress. After completing the LK runs with Hiatus, I need to return to Mercy so she get to 97 before you do.
 
Originally posted December 28, 2016

Small update for Hiatus: as mentioned in an earlier post, she had returned to LK to try to find an Ist or Mal to allow her to complete CoH. My goal was 100 runes found and maybe some charm upgrades. She had just a few pixels of XP on the bar, so I wasn't worried too much about deaths, which was good because she died about 10 runes in :rolleyes:.

The highest rune was a Lem, with Lum the next highest. She also found some decent charms for other characters (9% LR w FHR, steel SC with 7% MF, which she actually is using for the MF, plain Traps skiller), but no major upgrades.

Returned to AT and CS for a bit, but the runs were just too hectic to be sustainable for stretches. Her life was barely over 1200 prior to BO (~1750 with BO), with charms needed to keep key resists maxed rather than being able to focus on +life. She found a Unique Troll Nest in AT (her second) but nothing else of note.

So I eventually bit the bullet and returned to LK, determined to run until an Ist or Mal dropped. She had gained some XP, so I rerolled maps to find one with only 1 blind teleport into a hut and took a more careful approach. The fifth rune found (from a corpse) was a Mal and she finished a set of 25 with a Fal the next highest rune.

The Mal allowed her to cube up the Ist and with the two stashed Surs, a Ber. She dusted off a superior Scarab Husk (higher defense than the best Archon Plate she had, and I like the look of the leather armor with Shako -- though she may regret it if she finds Nightwing's because it won't match :eek:).

And she had CoH (thought I'd taken a screenie when she made it, but apparently not, so just took one). Major difference -- the extra +skill is noticeable and mainly the resists allowed charm reshuffle to add vita SCs. Life with BO active is now above 2000 and she's much more durable. The new CS map also has 1-2 fewer boss pack on average near Vizier but a stable boss pack in the big room prior to Infector's seal. It lowers the possible XP a little but makes the runs safer and quicker. She made solid progress and is ~1/5 way to 96.

I'm going to focus on Mercy and hope to get her to 97.25 to stay "close" to @Neksja and @T72on1, but look forward to returning to Hiatus soon in the hopes of getting her to 96.
 
Originally posted January 31, 2017

Hiatus also got some runs, enough to ping level 96. No major finds, with an Um, Unique Champion Sword, Nature’s Peace (first for her), and Unique Winged Axe. She also found a fun +2 traps ammy that will likely never see use.
 
Originally posted June 10, 2017

Champion Hiatus and Zanarhi the HF Desert Merc, Lvl 97 (pic)
Hiatus continues her progress, hitting level 97. Nothing too exciting (in a good way) for the last quarter level, aside from Mal #3 (so she's now just a Sur away from Infinity) and a Pul, which allowed a very nice reroll on the Heart of the Oak.

Zanarhi was still squishy, dying too often, so we sorted through the stash shortly after the last update. OKs were the biggest problem, so we tried out Gladiator’s Bane due to integer DR and MDR and cannot be frozen. Big improvement, with only two merc deaths the last quarter level.

Hiatus is also starting to run low on gold, due ~$250K per repair (I guess from the superior base for her CoH). So she is probably going to switch up to GF gear for council and then hit Meph for a bit in hopes of scoring Arachnid’s (there is a theme with my 99ers in the difficulty finding that key piece of gear :rolleyes:).

Once that's finished, she’s going to test out a different gear set up for CS, with Ormus’ Robes. That will mean a few Shimmering GCs swapped in for SCs of Vita, but that will also allow her to go back to SoJ x2 due to the FCR from the armor (BKWB would be better for the +life, but no luck there yet). I’m curious if the loss of one +skill will be worth the +skill damage.
 
Originally posted August 26, 2017

Hiatus got 35M XP and is now just a bit past 97.75. She went back to Gripphon runs, but hitting Diablo whenever there is an experience shrine. Depending on how focused we are on speed, she’s netting anywhere from 4.2-4.4M XP/hour.

I had actually planned to stop right at 97.75, but decided to get the next 2M for a round 35M. That led to a really great drop:
CS (Astreons).jpg
Code:
Astreon's Iron Ward
Caduceus
One Hand Damage: 134 - 156
Durability: 68 of 70
Required Level: 60
Required Strength: 97
Required Dexterity: 70
Fingerprint: 0x85146ac6
Item Level: **
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Unidentified
+3 to Combat Skills (Paladin Only)
+10% Increased Attack Speed
264% Enhanced Damage
Damage +55
167% Bonus to Attack Rating
+150% Damage to Undead
Adds 80 - 240 Magic Damage
33% Chance of Crushing Blow
Slows Target by 25%
Damage Reduced by 6
That brings me to grail -6 overall, so I am very pleased with that one. :) Aside from that, drops were meh, with Hiatus’ second Leviathan and second Ghost Flame from Chaos Sanctuary the only other drops meriting screen shots. There was also a set Colossus Blade and defensive aura skiller with +4 damage. Highest rune was a Lem.

She's going to take a break to allow some questing of characters in another project. I think a couple days away from Chaos Sanctuary will also help Hiatus avoid a death -- I definitely felt myself getting a little sloppy there towards the end.
 
Originally posted September 2, 2017

Update for Hiatus, and because pictures are worth a thousand words:
CS (Fathom - Eth).jpg
Hiatus: Well, hi there!
CS (Lo).jpg
CS (Infinity Makings).jpg
CS (Sup Eth 4 os Cryptic Axe).jpg
CS (Infinity).jpg
3.2B.jpg
For the second update in a row, deciding to go a little further gained a nice drop. :) Hiatus had gotten 3M XP on Thursday and I decided to get another 1M before going to bed. Ethereal for style, with good resists, although the cold damage was low roll:
Code:
Death's Fathom
Dimensional Shard
One Hand Damage: 45 - 79
Durability: 26 of 26
Required Level: 73
Fingerprint: 0x18fd3bf7
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Sorceress Skill Levels
+20% Faster Cast Rate
+18% to Cold Skill Damage
Lightning Resist +39%
Fire Resist +38%
Ethereal
Swapping a SoJ for a 10% FCR ring kept the 105 FCR breakpoint, and sped up the progress. Then the Lo dropped, which allowed cubing the second Ber for Infinity (Hel’ed the Insight for Superior Eth Cryptic Axe, which was a shame because the roll was very solid). Appreciable step up, although she had to make sure to pick up blue pots during runs to deal with loss of Insight. It actually took about 3-4M of runs to get used to the new set up, but then things picked up.

Runs while watching college football got her to 3.2B today. Other finds were Pul #7, Pul #8, another set Colossus Sword, and another Eschuta’s. After cubing up so many runes to make the Infinity, she also backfilled a bit with nice runes: Vex #2 and Lo #2.

Monday is a holiday, so we’ll see how much progress Hiatus can make tomorrow and Monday toward the level-up. :D
 
Originally posted September 4, 2017

Champion Hiatus and Zanarhi the HF Desert Merc, Lvl 98 (pic)
Hiatus got the last 29.4M on Sunday and the Monday holiday and is ready to transition to her next phase.

One side note on gear: realizing a ring slot was getting taken up with FCR due to no Arachnid’s – still – Hiatus picked up Ith runes and Sharkskin belts to try to get a 10 FCR caster belt. After 5 tries, we had a winner, and swapped back the SoJ, which made runs more comfortable in terms on not running out of mana pots.

Aside from that, more of the same, although she slowed down when we eclipsed 2.220B because I was worried about dying as she pressed for the final bit of XP. Finds were tremendous, with the last quarter level making up for what seemed like limited drops compared to 97.

Things started off quickly with Ist #3 (I swear it’s an Ist!), then an Eth Spirit Keeper (nice for eth grail!), Ist #4, a 40MF Gheeds to replace the 36MF one that was best found so far. Then Jah #2 , unique Bone Visage, Um #6, and then Gul #6 on the second-to-last run as a goodbye gift from CS. But the highlight of this stretch was another skiller, her fifth overall:
CS (Cold Skiller - No 5 overall).jpg
She’s getting a break for the rest of the week. This means I won’t have to make the decision about how/whether to use the last respec until at least after next weekend because we’re going camping next weekend.

I’m still thinking pure lightning for Nihl, but will probably try things out with current build first. The lack of Arachnids means she’ll have to sacrifice on the amulet to reach 117 FCR, or no SoJ at all (the plan is to go with Nature’s Peace in one slot).

It’s a big decision because she’ll have to take Ancients quest XP right away (rather than waiting for later in level) if it doesn’t work out and she needs to respec because she'll need Baal essences. Advice is most welcome!

Runes found during all her CS runs, which began sporadically during level 92-93, then almost exclusively from 94-98:
Code:
Jah x2
Ber
Sur
Lo x2
Ohm x2
Vex x2
Gul x6
Ist x3
Mal x8
Um x6
 Pul x8
 
Originally posted September 17, 2017

PhineasB said: "But I've found the biggest path to safety is not being shy about S & E." Um, yeah . . . shortly after writing that I didn’t heed my own advice. :(

We were two runs short of 3.24B on Saturday morning. There were Vipers. Hiatus had to vacate her usual landing spot because there were three of them there. But she proceeded safely and had Nihl slivered when amp triggered. “Well, just two more casts . . . “ Poof! Nihl died, a Viper charged, and the merc was next to Hiatus in a cloud of green, followed immediately by the red letters.

Well, Nihl was dead, so I figured corpse recovery would be safe enough and mean only an hour lost. The corpse recovery kit lacks FHR and isn’t 105 FCR, however, and I hadn’t noticed the Vipers and pack of witches lurking right by the stairs. Charged immediately upon hitting Nihl’s level, in hit recovery, and dead again before I could hit Esc.

I had no idea if recovering both corpses allows recovery of items from the first one, but I figured we had nothing to lose. The only problem was a fatal exception error from Merc’s delirium triggering while teleporting to reach the stairs from the way point. So S&E was imposed by a crash.

We decided to take a break before surveying the damage. Returning later in the day, she had the body recovery kit on the corpse and lost everything else from her main equipment.

In sorting through the stash, she had lower spec versions of everything except: socketed Shako (now only a plain one available), both Spirit shields, Mara’s, and nice rare boots with 40% FR, 20 FRW, and 22 MF. She also lost 1 of her 2 SoJs, but the other was still available, and she lost the CtA with 5 BO, but still had the 3 BO one stashed.

She went back to HoTo instead of Eschuta's, and used double lidless, Aldur’s boots, and a 9FCR +2 sorc skills ammy she’d crafted a while back. Overall, her damage and life were lower. We had two Vexes and a 5os crystal sword stashed, so we cubed up and tried our luck for a better CtA:
Nihl (6 BO CtA).jpg
Nice! We started running again, getting back 3.24B between yesterday and today. She mixed up some p1/p7 Diablo runs (about 2M worth), and I think that’s something she will continue off-and-on. She eventually found a plain Monarch that got 4os in the cube and became a 33FCR Spirit. The extra skill, +vita, and mainly FHR were much welcomed back. Oh, and as Diablo taketh away, Diablo giveth:
Nihl (Maras).jpg
Four lower on resist-all than the one she lost, but very nice to have back now that she doesn’t need the FCR from the amulet due to having Spirit again. She’s also picking up flawless gems now and cubing Nihl GCs. She got a Spiritual skiller with gold find, and a passive Zon skiller with +15 life. Hoping for a Sparking skiller to up her damage a bit.

I’ll try not to die again :rolleyes: The painfulness of it will definitely make me more disciplined in bailing on runs on the future. So I’m optimistic!
 
Originally posted September 18, 2017

As for Hiatus, thanks for the encouragement, @everyone! :) One interesting thing about her conversion to lightning is that the loss of equipment wasn't too bad. Griffon's would have been really painful (as I believe @hasuprotoss experienced -- condolences again on that :(), but not much else beyond that. Most others seem to have found multiple Arachnid's by this point (not Hiatus though).

Most everything else was items that she had multiples of and had actually stopped bothering to pick up. A 33@ Vipermagi was replaced by a second 33@ with only one point lower integer MDR, Trang's gloves with 2 lower defense, Verdungo's with 3 lower +vita, etc. She hadn't bothered picking up any more grey Monarchs after getting two Spirits. But that would be overcome by a different approach through the leveling: rolling new Spirits in new bases rather than being lazy and Hel-ing one of the two until 35FCR was reached. And it was pretty quick to replace the first Spirit anyhow.

I had actually planned on trying out new gear combos at 3.24B, most notably going back to HoTo and using Aldur's (on the premise that +17% lightning damage from Eschuta's is marginal on top of mastery, and plus life/MF from Aldur's and charm swaps that would be possible with better resists might be better). I actually like her replacement set up more on those fronts, so those items were not really a loss for Hiatus, even if the rare boots would have been very solid in my general stash for other characters. The replacement Mara's was very fortunate, but she had two +2 skills amulets with 9% and 10% to choose from in the meantime.

So her build thankfully made it less painful. Loss of Fathom would have hurt much more. And an Enigma wearing character would have been a totally different story. I'm not sure how I would recover from that.

But that's good knowledge for Phaedrus -- he'll definitely keep a second CtA for the body recovery kit and bail at the first sign of trouble in a recovery attempt. The full 10% XP penalty would not be nearly as bad as losing Enigma and other gear for him!
 
Originally posted October 7, 2017

Hiatus joins Neverland at 98.25, with no major excitement (good or bad) since her last update. Efficiency of runs slowly picked up. She’s now averaging pretty much the 2.5M/hour benchmark (+/- dependent on number of LI Nihl and other monster rolls that lead to S&E).

On the finds front, little of note. For runes: Gul, Um, Gul #2. The only items worth a screen shot were Death Cleaver and Head Hunter’s Glory that turned out to be eth, which was pretty cool. Other notable finds were a 3/18/5 SC of Fortune, Trang’s helm (grailer for her), and eth Blizzard Ormus (low damage roll), Highlord’s Wrath (grailer for her), another Azurewrath, and Vidala’s armor (grailer for her). For her grail, she’s down only to 2 exceptional uniques, and everything else is jewelry, TC3 or TC87, except a few other remaining elite uniques (including Arachnid’s still :().

It was basically three weeks of running for this quarter level, with the death and loss of 11M XP mixed in. Hiatus still has Ancients, so this pace would leave ~7 weeks to hit 98.

Like Neverland, though, Hiatus is going, um, on hiatus for a while, probably not picking back up until Thanksgiving (US). We are leaving for three-week vacation mid-week, and then it will be very busy work when I get back, and limited playtime will go to MFO. Then we’re visiting my wife’s parents, followed by my brother visiting from the east coast. We also have a trip back east in early December. So the goal of finishing before the end of the year may be out of each. But the holidays are the wild card.

Phaedrus will get some runs for the few days before we leave, hoping to make solid progress toward 95. Good luck to all the runners. And congrats @ffs on the Griffon’s and decision to go pure lightning. I hope it’s fun and the runes (edit: rune after nice drops) for Infinity fall quickly!
 
Originally posted November 26, 2017

It’s time for an update, with Hiatus hitting a significant milestone:
98.5.jpg
The highlight was this finally dropping around 3.362B:
Nihl (Arachnids).jpg
Mercy didn’t find her first Arachnid’s until after 98.1, for Hiatus it was around 98.45, so I guess I should plan on Phaedrus finding his on the last Diablo run before he hits Ancients to ping 99. :rolleyes:

But this was a significant upgrade (over TGods, which she’d been using for +strength), mainly because she went for the 86 FHR breakpoint with Sandstorm Treks. She dropped two 6% MF charms for 2 crimson FHR SCs and these rare gloves to make up fire resists lost from Aldur’s boots:
Code:
Raven Fist
Chain Gloves
Defense: 11
Durability: 13 of 16
Required Level: 13
Required Strength: 25
Fingerprint: 0x26aecd86
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
5% Chance to cast level 3 Frost Nova when struck
+14% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +9%
Fire Resist +29%
20% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Her magic find actually increased due to the gloves. I really regret not making 86FHR work earlier, even if it had meant using 6FHR SCs in place of vita SCs – it’s been that big a difference in terms of safety, speed, and less tense runs. Overall, I’m sure the extra skill helps, but the FHR breakpoint is very noticeable when teleporting through and when the stray Ice Spawn gets to Hiatus when she’s spamming lightning at Nihl. I would definitely encourage anyone running Nihl with a Sorc (and probably any character) to figure out how to reach the 86 breakpoint. :)

That’s a lot of words about a belt, so how about other highlights from the ~51M of XP progress? First, there were a couple exciting moments and panicked S&Es, largely due to spawn combos like the ones @Grape recently encountered with his 99er. I had missed that post while on vacation and thankfully came across it just as Hiatus was getting back into runs. So I was primed to bail when witches spawned with Might or Fanatacism (or if there were lots of witches around the platform and the merc’s confuse didn’t trigger).

Second, this map spawn apparently really likes Mals, Guls, and Ohms. The rune finds: Mal #2, Mal #3, Ber, Mal #4, Gul #3, Ohm #2, Mal #5, Ohm #3, Gul #4, Ohm #4, Gul #5 (actually missed hitting Alt for the screenie, but there is a Gul on the ground), and Ist. A couple of those took some work to retrieve due to lots of vipers, but the Darksight helm she had in the body retrieval kit came in handy – swapping it to allow use of CoS charges took some extra time but was worth it for the safety.

Finally, the other finds that merited sceenshots were Halaberd’s Reign and Spirit Ward, which were both grailers for her -- even though it merited a screenie, there was so much junk on the ground that I missed the Halaberd’s :(. Other notable finds were +1 skills Arkaine’s, another 23@ Mara’s, a second BKWB, Horizon’s, a 4/5 fire facet, eth Gorerider’s, 2 Ums, and another nice jewel:
Code:
Scintillating Jewel of Truth
Jewel
Required Level: 36
Fingerprint: 0x195fae4
Item Level: 95
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Unidentified
+7% Faster Hit Recovery
Cold Resist +13%
Lightning Resist +13%
Fire Resist +13%
Poison Resist +13%
Congrats to everyone on the good progress – keep it up! Progress for Hiatus will slow back down after the 4-day holiday weekend. But I think she’s back on track to finish before the end of the year. She still has Ancients, so a little more than 105M from Nihl to go!
 
Originally posted December 21, 2017

Hiatus hit another milestone with three-quarters of the way through the level. So this will probably be her last update here before hitting Ancients and level 99 (assuming no deaths).

The past .15 of the level was fairly uneventful, except for one near death that got my blood pumping. There were witches and she didn’t notice the might aura right away. Confuse didn’t proc, she cast two rounds of lightning, and I saw the aura just as a batch of red stars hit her. A pretty panicked small purple with one finger while the other went for ESC saw her through. But she was slivered prior to the purple, so it was definitely a close call.

Aside from that, the drops were a bit disappointing. Without a Jah, another Ravenlore, Death’s Fathom, and Boneflame #3 in quick succession during the last 5M, the best drops would have been a Pul and Boneshade. The Death’s Fathom is +21 cold damage – I believe it is her first TC87 unique, and she probably would have preferred many other options, most notably Griffon’s but also anything that contributed to her grail. Oh well . . .

Other drops of note were two Arachnid’s :rolleyes:, another Azurewrath, Eaglehorn (grailer for her), two Horizon’s, Stonecrusher, The Gnasher (grailer for her), and another 27@ Mara’s. The only gear change came when this charm dropped:
Code:
Shimmering Grand Charm of Vita
Grand Charm
Required Level: 83
Fingerprint: 0x3481aa33
Item Level: 95
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+44 to Life
All Resistances +14
Not super useful in the grand scheme, but I felt compelled to figure out a use for it. She was using a 25 fire resist GC of Sustenance to max that resist, which this replaced. The resist all allowed her to drop a lightning small charm and stay maxed there also, with a small charm with fire resists and MF replacing it to bring fire back up to max resist.

The other feature of this stretch was that aborting for any LI Nihl roll finally started to become a drag. There were more outlier stretches (or at least it seemed) where nearly half of the runs in a 5-minute span were aborts, so I found myself taking breaks more regularly. Having some -ELR would definitely help, less so for overall speed than to minimize aborted runs. This is the most notable difference from Mercy, who only aborted when Nihl was FI/LI.

She is getting quite close now, and I think will finish before the end of the year. :)
 
Originally posted December 24, 2017

Champion Hiatus and Zanarhi the HF Desert Merc, Lvl 99
99.jpg
Hiatus made it! :) Smooth sailing, aside from the one NDE posted in the quest for 99 thread while teleporting from the WP. The only drop worth a screenshot was a second Griz Caduceus. She found an Um and a Pul on successive runs and a 30 life Captain’s skiller, but otherwise little else to show for this tenth+ of the level.

Runes found from Nihl (she picked up Ko+):
Code:
17  Ko Rune
13  Fal Rune
3   Lem Rune
4   Pul Rune
4   Um Rune
7   Mal Rune
2   Ist Rune
5   Gul Rune
0   Vex Rune
4   Ohm Rune
1   Lo Rune
0   Sur Rune
1   Ber Rune
1   Jah Rune
0   Cham Rune
0   Zod Rune
Much worse rune drops for Hiatus compared to Mercy, even accounting for only 85% of the total runs for the level due to Ancients XP. No matter, the main thing is that she made it!

I’ll try to post a 99er write up in the next couple days. Merry Christmas!
 
Originally posted May 27, 2017

Congrats on the Captain's skiller @Pb_pal. And generally on the good progress, although that last pic still terrifies me.

After a break from D2 during the week after Mercy pinged the final level (although we did sort through her stashes a bit), Hiatus has, um, ended her hiatus?

I was worried about a death after such a long break from CS, which turned out to be the case. She was getting close to 2.80B before a conviction Infector got her. Body was recovered and some of the XP regained, back to 96.3 (~2.791B).

But CS welcomed Hiatus back with open arms, with a Gul, Mal, Um, and Sur dropping today. She also got some +19 vita SCs to improve the life pool. And Sandstorm Trek's from a poppable.

After the experience with Mercy, Hiatus is streamlining her approach. Inventory is already crammed full with SCs, and she is cutting way back on items to pick up: Ral and Ko+ runes only, flawless amethysts (no other types), GCs/SCs, jewels, and interesting sets/uniques. She is no longer worried about progress toward grail either, so likely only picking up useful elites.

The goal is for her to reach 97 before @Gripphon's WSK tourney starts around June 20. She's hitting Diablo whenever there is an XP shrine in the CS, but otherwise just Gripphon runs.

Edit: Hiatus hit 96.5, with a Greyform, another Mal, a +life Elemental Skiller, and an Insight upgrade (been rerolling at Superior Eth Cryptic Axe for higher +damage% and critical strike)
 
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