The Lesser Skills Sept - Planning and Progress Thread

[PhineasB]

It's time for another Sept! I've worked through various characters I had wanted to make or rebuild with better gear, including my Runeword Bonanza Sept, Unfinished Business Sept, and 2H Melee Sept. But there are some skills I've never used, or that got only limited use when leveling, because they are not as strong as other options. So I've decided to explore some of those skills in this Lesser Skills Sept. One of the characters (Talith, a Dual Nova Sorc) was completed in MP action some time ago, but I'm now planning to work my way through the other classes.

There aren't any rules for this Sept, except as per my usual, all characters will full clear A85 areas and complete all quests in Hell. Also, they will not be cookie cutters As a result, I expect to drop to p1 in Hell for all of them. I'll post updates on the six remaining characters as they progress in this thread, with the Amazon in A3 NM. I haven't really thought through all the gear in depth, so I will likely give an overview of thoughts on gear when I make the first progress post for each character.

• Amazon – Poison Javelin w Bramble and CS/LS backup w A2 Merc (Matriarch Elly, Level 83, 11/5/22)
• Assassin – Fire Dancer w A2 Infinity Merc (Matriarch Ariel, Level 84, 1/28/23)
• Barbarian – Throw Barb with Faith Rogue (Patriarch Bulls_Eye, Level 84, 2/12/23, MP)
• Druid – Bowler, w A2 HF Infinity Merc (Patriarch Spare, Level 84, 11/12/22)
• Necromancer – Dentist w A2 Merc (Patriarch Doc_Holliday, Level 85, 1/11/23)
• Paladin – FOH / Smite w Conviction and A2 HF Merc (Patriarch Phaedrian, Level 82, 2/20/23)
• Sorceress – Dual Nova Tal's Set w Prayer Insight A2 Merc (Matriarch Talith, Level 83, 4/2/21, MP so others provided Infinity)

 

[PhineasB]

Elly, PJ Zon, Level 54, A3 NM
She's progressed to A3 NM using PJ as main attack since it came available at lvl 18. It's interesting, and I didn't find it especially useful until Pierce became available from Razortail and 1 hard point to get north of 50% chance. It just explodes on first monster, with the merc then engaging monsters beyond the cloud. Oh well, I just used normal attack with a rare javelin and things were fine. I also did 1 point in CS with 3x Tir shield, so that overtook normal attack and the combo of PJ and CS was more than workable.

Once she hit lvl 42 (needed a dozen Pindle runs after taking down Baal), the PJ damage jumped through the roof. with ~90% effective Pierce, she has made short work of NM so far, even with the higher poison resist monsters around. She has maxed both poison skills, and is pumping CS, at which point she will then focus on maxing LS. I hope to get her to at least A5 NM by Sunday evening!

Concept and Planned Gear: up'ed eth Titan's/faceted Monarch, Thunderstroke/faceted Monarch (switch), Bramble, 2/20 gloves, Razortail, Griffons', and build out the rest. My thought is that, with a backback full of skillers, both the poison and the lightning skills (with LS helping apply broad damage to immunes and CS sorting out hard hitters) should be powerful. And 1 hard point in Decoy should keep it powerful enough to hold up mobs while the poison and lightning do their jobs. I'll probably go with Mara's for +skills and resists, and +skill rings, and focus on SCs for resists, but I may go with a ML ring with resists to allow a merc weapon other than Insight.

 

[Swamigoon]

pumping CS

Charged, yes? Not Critical? (Context suggests Charged, but I tend to feel stupid when I guess wrong...)

Looking forward to watching your progress! Especially keen to see how different your MB Bowler turns out, compared to @Pb_pal's Orange druid that he built last year a couple of years ago.

 

[PhineasB]

Yes, charged strike! Only one point each in critical strike, penetrate and pierce, and same for decoy and it’s prerequisites.

I’m also looking forward to the Bowler, and likely play either him or the Dentist next.

 

[Flan]

I played a PJ back in 1.14, and it was hell in Hell. Not sure how the poison reworks are now, but she was pretty ok to play until that point. I thought about a Plague Javelin/Fender, but that will have to wait until after my Sept.

Also played a Bowler in 1.14, and he was really fun to play as well. Improved fire damage and improved gear would make it even better now.

 

[PhineasB]

I'm still in v1.14, so I suspect Hell will present its challenges I'm planning to go p1 for that reason and have a good sense that A4 could be quite dreary, indeed. But she's got solid lightning backup, so hopefully it will work out. Speaking of which . . .

Amazon: Elly (PJ/LS/CS) with Haseen (Insight HF Merc)
Status: Act I Hell

Elly is now through NM, and sitting at lvl 71. Due to level, she won't equip Griffon's and I'm instead going with this circlet, that I think is quite solid (with 15IAS/3mpk jewel):

Plague Visage
Circlet
Defense: 21
Durability: 35 of 35
Required Level: 67
Fingerprint: 0xa1378794
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Amazon Skill Levels
+15% Increased Attack Speed
+24 to Strength
+19 to Dexterity
All Resistances +13
+3 to Mana after each Kill
Attacker Takes Damage of 7 
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Aureolic Jewel of Fervor

I added a couple Toxic charms, and it seems to really up the net-damage by shortening the poison duration. I can't really make sense of onkerduiker's poison damage guide, but it seems likely less overall damage but that lesser damage compressed into shorter period, so doing more damage on mobs?

I also now have the lightning switch equipped (Thunderstroke with 4x facet shield), but I have ended up going with Spirit shield on poison switch because it doesn't seem the -20% ePR will be worth tradeoff against +skills, given massive damage amounts and other stats from Spirit on the main. I will likely end up making one anyhow, to compare based on feel, but I'd welcome feedback from anyone who really understands the calculations!

She picked up an Um at NM Hell Forge, but otherwise has mostly plodded through without notable drops. She will be on hold until next weekend, likely getting the Bowler Druid started into Normal when I have time this week. So any feedback in the meantime would be appreciated!

Current gear is below:
- up'ed eth Titan's / Spirit
- Swtich: +4 skill TStroke / 4 facet shield
- Bramble
- +2 skill rare circlet with stregnth, dext, resists (w 15IAS/+3mpkl jewel)
- Aldur's
- 2/20 gloves
- Razortail
- 29@ Mara's
- BKWB and 250/19 Ravenfrost
- Backback: 1 Shimmering GC, 7 skillers (with decent secondary mods), 5 toxic SCs (I think more will shorten duration too much?), 2x4+3 open (not sure what to do with extra charms, but likely vita and leave 2x4 open)

This allows 55/10/70/100+ resists (with Ravenfrost absorb helping with cold), > 86 FHR, and >1000 life. Should be solid for Hell, with the Decoy also available to distract enemies.

Merc:
- Insight eth Thresher
- Fortitude
- eth Vamp w damage/r+min damage jewel

 

[PhineasB]

Druid: Spare, Bowler, Level 43, A1 NM
This guy has been interesting, and I'm definitely exercising discipline to not just pump fissure and fly through

Molten Boulder takes some figuring out, at least it did for me, but I've gotten the hang of aiming it. Given how underpowered it is, I can't believe the timer is so long, so there's definitely quite a bit of waiting around. The merc will definitely become Holy Freeze, which will help with aiming and also delay the time for mobs to swarm, which is a risk for the non-knock-back monsters. A5 was a bummer because so many monsters can't be knocked back and the boulder explodes immediately, so I ended up using firestorm a lot more there.

He was p8 the whole way, except Diablo on p1, and was level 41 when Baal dropped. Three Pindle runs got him to lvl 42, and he got a major gear overhaul with 8 skillers making MB powerful again for clearing the Moor and Den before we stopped. MB and Firestorm are maxed, with Volcano coming along next.

Concept and Planned Gear: I plan to max Firestorm, MB, Fissure and Volcano, planning to use only Firestorm and MB, and then put the rest in Grizzly. I think having a second tank to occupy monsters will help a lot. Merc will be HF with Infinity.

For gear, my plan is HotO (I thought about building HoJ for -eFR, but I don't think it's worth giving up skills, resists and FCR) / Phoenix Monarch, Magefist. Beyond that, I'm not quite sure actually, but am thinking 3 facet'ed pelt and/or maybe 4 facets in a blue armor, and then focus on resist and life in other gear slots. If we go SoJ/BKWB and Mara's, and the skillers with HotO, he should have relatively strong Firestorm and MB, at least strong enough for p3 hopefully.

 

[Excalibur]

but am thinking 3 facet'ed pelt

Flickering Flame in a base with Molten Boulder should be an excellent choice!

 

[PhineasB]

I’m in v1.14, so that sweet runeword is not available. But I also realized that Ravenlore will be equippable at lvl 74 and is a pretty obvious choice. I went through my bases and I don’t have any 3os pelts with +MB, so will likely just go with faceted Shako until the chicken head becomes available.

 

[Zyr]

I can't really make sense of onkerduiker's poison damage guide, but it seems likely less overall damage but that lesser damage compressed into shorter period, so doing more damage on mobs?

Elly is a hella strong Plague/Striker; congratulations! I've built six Zons with maxed Plague and Poison Javelin, enumerated in the "Toxic Tossers" spoiler in this post in @Swamigoon's Theorycrafting a maxed skills grail thread. But I've utterly failed to find the fun in Poison Javelin with such a build. The problem, as you've noticed, is that while the skill's damage reaches insanely high levels, so does the duration over which it works.

I did find the fun in Poison Javelin by combining the skill with Venom from "Treachery" as outlined in the "One Point Wonders!" spoiler in the same thread. The problem then becomes Chance to Hit, because the missile has to hit the target for Venom to work with PoiJ.

You could test this for yourself by swapping Elly's "Bramble" for "Treachery" and her skillers for Steel GCs, and possibly replacing the BKWB with a second Raven Frost.

Hope this helps!

 

[PhineasB]

Druid: Spare, Bowler, Level 71, A1 H
Spare caught with Elly, and made Champion:

I ended up pressing on with Spare in my chunks of time during the week. He has continued with Molten Boulder as primary. But Firestorm is used quite a bit on LMB when we encounter monsters that can't be knocked back because MB really just isn't useful, largely because Hazade is so strong.

He was p8 for all of NM, except p1 for Ancients. As expected, no troubles given the heavy twinking, especially once the Merc got the eth Elite Insight. A Pul from NM forge was solid, and nothing much else of note, except gathering and cubing up flawless gems to start building back up for another Nihl GC cubing session and caster crafting session.

Build and Gear: Firestorm, MB, and Volcano, are maxed, with Fissure on its way, and 1 pt into Grizzly. With +skills, the Grizzly is quite solid, and even the Oak was solid enough to use (I suspect that will change in Hell). But even without the Oak, life is ~1400 already with BO active. I ended up following the plan laid out above on gear:
- HotO (40@) / Phoenix
- Swtich: CtA / Spirit
- CoH
- Jalal's (will be replaced by Ravenlore at lvl 74)
- Rare boots w 20 FWR / 10 FHR / 39 FR / 37 CR
- Magefist
- Rare with 24 FHR / 23 LR / +life (may switch out for Verdungo's because LR isn't needed)
- 29@ Mara's
- BKWB / SoJ
- Backback: 8 skillers (+gold, dext and strength; good ones are on my Cow Druid), no SCs so space for 8 of those, Cube, 2x2 open

This will allow 123/121/107/84, which will drop by 5@ when Ravenlore replaces Jalal's, 20 FHR (if Verdungo's swapped in), and >1400 life, with Conviction from Merc and -28 eFR, with another -19eFR when Ravenlore swaps in. With the very sturdy merc, Grizzly as second tank, and Delirium on merc for crowd control, it should be very solid, and I will try to stay at p3 for the first three acts at least.

Merc:
- eth Infinity Cryptic Axe
- CoH
- Delirium

* * *

Now it's time to get back to Elly, and try to figure out the right configuration of poison charms to maximize her lethality using onderduiker's calc that @Zyr shared with me (thanks @Zyr!). And then take her through Hell, hopefully before we head out of town for two weeks starting next Friday.

 

[PhineasB]

Amazon: Elly (PJ/LS/CS) with Haseen (Insight HF Merc)
Status: Level 81, Act IV Hell

I turned back to Elly for small chunks of time I had last weekend and this week, and then finished A3 yesterday. I stayed at p3 to start, and ended up keeping it there for this whole stretch, completing all quests and fully clearing all A85 areas.


PJ works slowly, but the Decoy and Delerium on the merc and HF aura, and lots of FRW on Elly, kept monsters at bay while the poison did its work. Poison Immunes weren't too bad with CS maxed and LS high level (and now only a point shy of maxed).

In the interest of not simply using eth Insight, we gave Haseen a Destruction polearm, which was fun with lots of fireworks to go along with Delerium. But it was lots of fireworks, which made it harder to keep track of the battlefield, and where monsters were relative to poison clouds. It also made CoH needed for leech, so physical damage and amount of leech was on lower side. When he hit level 75, we switched to Reapers and Fortitude, and it was a lot less overwhelming. And no real issue with decrep overriding confuse due to small radius around the merc where it casts.

On Delerium, I'm sort of lukewarm. With only a Decoy and merc, I'm not sure crowd control would be enough in open areas. Delerium really helps with that and minimizes the amount of running Elly has to do. But it also tends to cause monsters to walk out of poison clouds when confused or terrorized, and it sometimes throws off the initial plan around a fight with mulitiple packs. With Valk as another tank/target for monsters, I don't think it would be worth it, but with only Decoy I think it probably has worked out reasonably well.

She had no real issues for this stretch, only some annoyance in A3 Sewers and Durance with overlap of PoI monsters (dolls and mummies) and LI monsters. A few exploding dolls from an LS chain took her life quite low, but otherwise no NDEs to speak of. No finds of note, or actually anything at all except flawless gems and some Rals.

I am thinking of keeping it at p3 for A4, although I may drop to p1 if PoI rolls get too annoying. The goal is to finish A4 today and then get her through A5 during the week.

 

[PhineasB]

Amazon: Elly (PJ/LS/CS) with Haseen (Reaper's HF Merc)
Status: Level 83, Matriarch

Elly finished her journey, completing A4 last weekend and then finishing off A5 yesterday evening. The monster rolls in A4 were quite friendly, with limited Poison Immunes (only worms in RoF and they didn't spawn much and are easily addressed with CS/LS). So I kept it at p3. CS was surprisingly easy, just staying behind the Decoy that was also used to scout ahead. HF was an Um and Diablo dropped quickly:


A5 was as expected, open areas with lots of projectiles and PoIs, including some that are also LI. When we reached Anya rescue, we dropped to p1 because p3 was doable but was becoming a little tedious and it was getting toward bed time. Glacial Trail has the PoI/LI skeletons, plus LI (Moon Lord type, I believe) or PoI (skeleton mage, I believe) monsters, so Elly just ran through that area. Ancients were easy at p1 -- cast PJ and run around until the timer reset; let one of them get close and throw a PJ, run around; repeat

We cleared the red portal areas and WSK. Amp witches were a challenge for Haseen (with Moon Lord type bosses mixed in), and WSK2 had Gloams, as did the Throne Room (along with Unravellers). At p1, it was fine, but I was very glad not to have been at p3. Waves were easy, although the Hydras got Haseen, and then Baal took several dozen PJs, with occasional CS attacks to whittle down:

The only drop of note was Mavina's Diadem in the WSK:

She was a fun character, and I enjoyed the playthrough. I'll include some more thoughts in the Mat write up that I hope to finish up later today. Next up is progressing Spare through A1 and A2 Hell!

 

[PhineasB]

Druid: Spare, Bowler, Level 80, A4 H
Now this is a fun character! I was worried about the Hell playthrough being a little frustrating due to timer between MB casts and slow roll/aiming issues for monsters that move. But Bowler has been anything but, with very engaging playthrough at p3 and using slightly different tactics depending on monsters and immunities.

He has top-shelf gear, of course, but he has been plenty powerful and sturdy so far, with no deaths. I've invested to 1pt Armaggedeon, which allowed a good solution for non-FI heavy hitters (like Stormtree), and the 1pt/12 sec Hurricane that it unlocked a back up to aid Hazade for any unbreakable FI/PI (or barely breakable FI that are PI). Other than that, he has solid life pool with BO (>1500), and he can safely roll the MBs while the merc and Grizzly occupy enemies, with the life regen from Phoenix making it not really a problem for the areas with swarming non-heavy-hitters, like A3 jungle. Firestorm is a boss killer, and is quite strong for non-knockback-able enemies.

He's full-cleared all A85 areas and all the temples. His first breakable FI/PI was in Catacombs, and we just rolled MBs at him and kept him pinned against the wall, without issue. Andy fell shortly after:


We encountered our first unreakable FI/PI in AS, and I missed the screenshot, but 1pt Hurricane (lvl 21 with +skills) took him down without having to recast, along with Hazade's HF. Unravellers and such are not really much annoyance due to the Redemption aura, and it was smooth sailing to Duriel:

As noted, I was worried about A3, but it worked out just fine, with Armaggedon helping with the fast movers and Redemption keeping the life bulb topped off as MBs, fire-from-above, and Merc took out Flayers. Sszark was breakable FI/PI, and overlapping with two other bosses, and required a merc resurrection, but we cleared out the rest and then pinned him against a wall:

We had the Spider Cavern area direct entrance to Flayer Jungle WP, which was nice, allowing him to bypass the Marsh. This screenie shows how Armageddon helps with the fights with non-FI heavy hitters (it's not worth it otherwise due to cool-off to cast any other fire spells and short duration):

Meph dropped with ease, with a triple boss pack at Galeb, and one overlapping with Meph, for a little excitement:

Nothing too interesting on the drops front for S/Us or runes, but this nice SC dropped in A1:

I'm hoping to finish him up this week, and will also be progressing the Dentist (who's now in Normal Outer Cloister), and maybe finishing both up by the end of next weekend.

 

[PhineasB]

Druid: Spare, Bowler, Level 84, Patriarch

I picked up the Spare (har har), and he was an absolute blast of a playthrough. We kept at p3 the whole way for A4 and A5, except p1 Ancients and Baal, full clearing the A85 areas and the red portals. With a second pass through Anya rescue after Delirium crash hit right after pinging lvl 82 just before rescuing her (interestingly, the Anya rescue didn't stick, but the level 82 did when I restarted the game, weird), he got to lvl 84 right before taking down Nihl to finish up the last uncompleted quest.

A4 was fairly straightforward, and he stayed plenty powerful with the mix of MB (primary) and Firestorm and Armageddon mixed and matched for non-knock-back-able monsters and non-FI fast movers, respectively. The Izual fight provided a pretty cool action shot, and he also encountered two more unbreakable FI/PI monsters that the 1 pt Hurricane managed along with Hazade:



Mixed in was a Lem from the Hell Forge. De Seis spawned Might, and the pack took out Hazade before we ran past them and TP'ed out to resurrect him, and then was smooth sailing when confuse triggered. There was another fun action shot for the Diablo fight (I'll see your Firestorm and raise you some fire from the sky!) and a Nature's Peace among the drops that I ultimately sold because it was low roll:


We got Moonlord types in two of the Red Portal areas, with the PI ones easily managed (even with boss spawns) and an LI boss roll absolutely smoking Hazade with the amp mod, and nearly getting Spare as they chased him down all the way to the entrance but thankfully only one left at that point and far enough away that a Grizzly cast created space to allow a TP and resurrection of Hazade before slowly taking them out:


As noted, we dropped to p1 for Ancients, and the first four rolls were amp, and the first non-amp set was managed reasonably well, without even having to split them up. WSK was safely and methodically cleared.

The waves were easy until Lister, whose pack I wasn't able to split (I think due to Grizzly). Spare was eventually pushed back almost to the stairs, but Hazade finally took out one of the minions, and then I was able to keep 3 occupied with regularly recast Grizzly, and Hazade whittled the others down. Delirium helm actually helped with the Mind Blast casts giving him some breathing room. Baal was then taken at p1, dropping nothing of note.

Aside from the Fine SC of Vita noted in the prior post, the only notable drop was an eth unique Stiletto, which ticks another off my eth grail. As noted, this was a really enjoyable playthrough, with a skill that I'd really never used being quite fun and more than powerful enough. I'll try to post his Pat thread tomorrow, and will provide more thoughts on the build and play style there, but I'll just put in a plug here for giving this build a shot. Quite fun!

 

[PhineasB]

Necromancer: Doc_Holliday (Dentist) with Emilio (Insight Might Merc)
Status: Level 72, Act I Hell

This guy has been interesting, as teeth is a skill I've never actually used. It's like charged bolt, with a damage type that has limited immunes but also no +damage% or -enemy resist options that I'm aware of. So it doesn't scale as well, and I've found him much less powerful than my charged bolt Sorcs.

He does have CE, but it's not as useful in Normal and early NM, and I'm also trying to avoid abusing it (i.e., not just getting one corpse with teeth and then CE'ing away).

I also have not made use of bone wall or bone prison because I've found them more annoying than useful. But I decided to skip summons entirely to pump teeth damage as high as possible, and this guy needs some help with high-life heavy hitters to keep them at bay.

I put only a single point in amp (no other curses), which is a first, and otherwise everything has gone to teeth and its synergies. Bone Spirit is on RMB for use on high-life single targets.

Playthrough: He was melee until Spirit became available to allow teeth mixed with melee (teeth was too weak and mana intensive before that), and then full transition to caster when Insight became available at lvl 27. Teeth damage scaled well through Normal as its level, and synergies got pumped.

NM was also quite smooth, with bone wall making appearances beginning in A4 and then A5 around Moon Lord types. Bone prison was used situationally to keep bosses from moving, and was fun for Ancients to isolate the thrower with the merc

It was p8 all the way, except Normal Diablo taken on p3. Rune luck was pretty good, with a Fal and Lem dropping in A3 and A4, respectively, and Pul from NM HF. I'm building up my caster ammy and GC rerolling stock, so he's also picking up flawless gems.


Build and Gear: Teeth, Bone Spear, and Bone Spirit are maxed, with Bone Wall on its way, and 1 pt into CE, amp, Bone Armor and Bone Prison (rest of points will go here). With +skills, Teeth is listed at 662-836, and Bone Spirit is 3270-3488. Those should climb a bit more as synergies continue to get points. For gear, I focused on +skills and resists to be maxed in Hell, and the 125 FCR breakpoint (which made a noticeable difference once I could equip Darkforce):
- HotO (40@) / +3 PnB Darkforce (Um)
- Swtich: CtA / Lidless
- Vipermagi
- Rare cirlet w +2 Necro, big +strength and +life, 18@ and +26FR (Larzuked but not yet socketed)
- Rare boots w 30 FWR / 10 FHR / 34 FR / 28 CR
- Magefist
- Rare with 24 FHR / +strength / CR and LR
- 2/10 caster amulet with 11@
- SoJ x2
- Backback: 8 skillers (one each +life, + FHR, +RFW, the rest dext and strength; the of Vita and Sustenance ones are MF Pit Necro), no SCs so space for 8 of those (will at least add 2 FHR ones to hit 56 FHR), Cube, 2x2 open

Merc:
- eth Insight
- eth Fortitude
- eth Vamp w damage/resist jewel

For Hell, this will mean resists are maxed (with significant overstack for fire), 56 FHR, and >1600 life with BO. Might merc is very strong, so I will see how teeth damage fares in Hell. I will start at p3, but suspect he will scale down to p1 fairly quickly.

 

[PhineasB]

Necromancer: Doc_Holliday (Dentist) with Emilio (Insight Might Merc)
Status: Level 82, Act V Hell

Doc stayed at p3 through Diablo, finishing all quests and full-clearing all A85 areas, with smooth sailing. The merc is a powerhouse, and I've also gotten a feel for when Bone Wall or Bone Prison will help. CE is making some appearances with higher life packs, but mostly staying behind the merc and whittling down life with Teeth as the merc takes the fight to Hell's hordes. Bone Spirit takes out bosses and single target high-life monsters, making a nice compliment to teeth's area of effect modest damage.




The screenshots above give a good picture of how safe he is when needed, just casting bone prison (or wall in case of Diablo). HF was a Lum, and a special guest made an appearance:

I'm hoping to make some early progress through A5 this evening and then finish him up during the week.

 

[PhineasB]

Necromancer: Doc_Holliday (Dentist) with Emilio (Insight Might Merc)
Status: Level 85, Patriarch

Doc stayed at p3 the rest of the way, given how far he'd made it at that setting. He finished Baal off before completing the Nihl quest, and when he did that he was just shy of lvl 85. So we did ~15 Pindle runs at p5 to ping the level.

CE made more frequent appearance in A5, particularly for Gloams at Anya, WSK2 and Throne Room. But otherwise, the rolls were quite tame, with mostly low life monsters that Teeth actually could take down. He full-cleared all the Red Portals and WSK and Throne as A85 areas, but otherwise played direct to complete all quests.

Ancients fight made liberal use of Bone Prison, after about 6 rerolls due to amp.

This actually highlights his more frequent use of the Bone Wall and Bone Prison tactics for heavy hitters, especially as monster life increased. Bone Spirit also got more use to help the merc take down higher life monsters. His final Teeth damage was ~850-1020 or so, so it did respectable damage to soften things up before deciding whether to switch to Spirit to take out individual monsters.

Interestingly, I found p3 manageable with him, while I ended up dropping to p1 in A5 with my twinked Bone Spear necro in Unfinished business sept. I think the broader AoE from Teeth to soften packs might have made a more powerful approach, or maybe I was just a little more patient with the playthrough with Doc? The merc was pretty much the same, so it may also be that my willingness to figure out Wall and Prison skills and use them in later acts made the difference.

The only notable drop was a 7FR SC with FHR. Hell forge was Lum. I will try to get a Pat write up for him done this weekend, and I'm also hoping to get a Fire Dancer started as the fifth character in the Sept.

 

[PhineasB]

Assassin: Ariel (Fire Dancer) with A2 Insight Merc
Status: Level 42, Act I Nightmare

Alright, the next character is moving along, this one the planned Fire Dancer. She was smooth sailing, starting as envy gear, to melee at lvl 12, and then full-time WoF once the merc got Insight at lvl 27 (at Durance in A3).

I had planned to go WoF with kicks and DS backup, but the limited number of shots from WoF may steer me toward WoI instead. I have a hard time seeing the WoF traps and tracking when they expire, which makes it harder. I haven't really tested WoI out though, because I focused on maxing WoF and Fire Blast first, so we'll see.

She was p8 the whole way, except Diablo on p1, and was level 41 when Baal dropped, needing two Pindle runs to lvl 42. That allowed 8 skillers, so her WoF and FB damage really jumped. I expect she will plenty powerful for NM, based on reports I've seen about WoF.

Concept and Planned Gear: I plan to max Fire Blast, WoF, and WoI, with enough points in DTalon to reach 4 kicks (plus skills will help free up points elsewhere, likely for 1-point each DFlight and Cloak, and then the rest in DS). Merc will be Might, and I'm planning to go with Infinity.

For gear, I haven't landed on much beyond CoH, Magefist, and Gores. -eFR doesn't help traps, so I'm thinking either plus skills (HotO or claw) or maybe Lawbringer for Decrep and elemental damage to augment kick, but also want to look at other options more carefully. Beyond that, I'm not sure, likely +2 amulet (Mara's seems easy choice) and SoJ/BKWB, and other +skill options. Maybe I'll find a fun Assassin circlet in my stashes to use.

 

[PhineasB]

Assassin: Ariel (Fire Dancer) with A2 Infinity Merc
Status: Level 73, Act I Hell

Smooth progress through Nightmare, basically as a fire trapper. I played around with WoF and WoI, and found WoF far superior even with only 5 shots. Due to next delay, there only needs to be 2 traps per pack, so I am able to spread them around the battlefield and replenish as needed.

As advertised, WoF was a wrecking ball until we encountered high fire resist monsters, and some immunes, in A4. I had 2-kick DTalon with regular Gores, which did enough with CoS to be workable. Then Infinity became available for the merc I know there will be plenty of unbreakable FIs in Hell, but I think this will work out nicely with DS and DTalon as backups. DFlight is great as always to help target resurrecters/healers/OKs, and generally keep the merc close.

She was p8 for all NM, no notable drops, with Io HF.

Build and Gear: Fire Blast, WoF, and WoI are maxed, DTalon has 6 hard points to reach 18 point/4 kicks with +skills using Spirit Shield, and 1 point to BoS, CoS and MB, DFlight and DS plus requisites. I've put two points into LS for DS lightning damage synergy, but will likely sink the next 2 points to DTalon to hit 4-kick attack without Spirit. I'm thinking Stormshield will be nice for the kick switch, with Crescent Moon (Crystal Sword to save Dext) for now, but planning on Schaefers once she hits 79 and then Stormlash for the last couple levels.

For gear, I focused on +skills, with bonus of resists already maxed in Hell (except 71 FR) without any charms. I'll focus SCs to hit 86 FHR (4 needed) and then likely just focus on MF because she is approaching 1100 life as is.
- HotO (40@) / Spirit
- Swtich: Crescent Moon CS / Stormshield (Um)
- CoH
- Rare cirlet w +2 Sin, 13 strength / 21 life / 7% life leech / 17@ (Larzuked but not yet socketed)
- Gores
- Magefist
- Up'ed SoE (likely will equip Arachnid's when she hits 80)
- 29@ Mara's
- SoJ / 250/19 Ravenfrost
- Backback: 8 skillers (3 inertia, 1 balance, 3 +life/sustenance, 1 lightning damage), no SCs so space for 8 of those (need 4 FHR ones to hit 86 FHR), Cube, 2x2 + 8 open

Merc:
- eth Infinity
- eth Fortitude
- eth Vamp w realgar JoF

I will pause with Ariel to quest the Barb through at least Normal, starting as Double Swing -> Frenzy until level 44 when decent throwing weapons become available. I have a handful of okay rares starting at level 17 that I've picked up over the last year+, but I've decided to focus on getting him to where double throw will be fun.