The Lesser Skills Sept - Planning and Progress Thread

[PhineasB]

Barbarian: Bulls_Eye (Double Throw) with A1 Faith Merc
Status: Level 72, Act I Hell


Bulls_Eye has made it to Hell, transitioning to Double Throw when he could equip Lacertors at level 68. He leveled standard for a Barb, envy gear to level 6 and dual Death swords (with aid of charms) and pumping double swing, to Bloodletters at level 30 and switch to Frenzy, then dual eth Ginthers at level 37, and dual Butcher's Pupil when he entered NM at level 41.

After getting a Pul at NM HF, I cube socketed two eth Small Cresents, with one becoming 4os and an Oath (the other was 1os), and then using Larzuk NM once that quest was completed to get 4os in a eth Superior.

Oath
Small Crescent
ShaelPulMalLum
One Hand Damage: 238 - 377
Durability: 13 of 13
Required Level: 49
Required Strength: 105
Required Dexterity: 73
Fingerprint: 0x33628e56
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
30% Chance to cast level 20 Bone Spirit on striking
Indestructible
+50% Increased Attack Speed
319% Enhanced Damage
+75% Damage to Demons
+100 to Attack Rating against Demons
Prevent Monster Heal
+10 to Energy
+13 Magic Absorb
Level 16 Heart of Wolverine (7/20 Charges)
Level 17 Iron Golem (8/14 Charges) Ethereal
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Shael Rune
Socketed: Pul Rune
Socketed: Mal Rune
Socketed: Lum Rune

Oath
Superior Small Crescent
ShaelPulMalLum
One Hand Damage: 243 - 385
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Level: 49
Required Strength: 105
Required Dexterity: 73
Fingerprint: 0x37793007
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
30% Chance to cast level 20 Bone Spirit on striking
Indestructible
+50% Increased Attack Speed
328% Enhanced Damage
+75% Damage to Demons
+100 to Attack Rating against Demons
Prevent Monster Heal
+10 to Energy
+11 Magic Absorb
Increase Maximum Durability 11%
Level 16 Heart of Wolverine (20/20 Charges)
Level 17 Iron Golem (14/14 Charges) Ethereal
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Shael Rune
Socketed: Pul Rune
Socketed: Mal Rune
Socketed: Lum Rune

Not bad rolls on damage, and they are ridiculously powerful at that level. It was very quick for Normal and NM with the extra speed from Frenzy and only completing the necessary quests or those that happened to be right on the way. He was p8 the whole way, no notable drops.

Build and Gear: Throwing Mastery, Double Swing, Double Throw are maxed, with Frenzy nearly maxed, and 1 point each in Stamina, Speed, Ironskin, and Natural Resists. I'm planning to skip BO, and will add a point each in Howl and Taunt for crowd control purposes.

For gear, I am planning to test out double Lacerator with double Warshrike switch, rather than one of each. I also went with CoH rather than Fortitude to keep resists topped off.
- eth Lacertor / Lacerator
- eth Warshrike / Warshrike (at level 75)
- CoH
- Giant Skull with 2 Ruby Jewels with +80% ED, +8 dext and +9 strength (I think the knockback is worth it, and 2s allow 80% ED
- War Traveler
- LoH
- Razortail (not sure the pierce is really worth it, so may switch to Nos Coil or a rare with FHR)
- Highlord's
- Man Leech with 9@, 16 CR, 16 strength and 26 life / 250/19 Ravenfrost
- Backback: 8 Sharp GCs (7 of Vita / Sust and 1 of Maiming), no SCs so space for 8 of those, Cube, 2x2 + 8 open

Merc: A1 Cold
- 1/14 Faith Ward Bow
- eth Fortitude
- eth Vamp w elemental damage jewel

I think I will switch back to Ariel, with the goal of finishing her up by next weekend.

 

[PhineasB]

Assassin: Ariel (Fire Dancer) with A2 Infinity Merc
Status: Matriarch, Level 84

Ariel converted to true Fire Dancer for Hell, with DS helping distribute damage (and especially the unbreakable FIs). I played as fire trapper, with WoF, as the default and HotO/Spirit main, with switch to kick set up (with Dragon Flight on RMB) when FIs were around. The kick switch was Crescent Moon -> Schaefer's -> Stormlash as final. Infinity from the Merc kept WoF relevant almost all the time, with DS a great compliment. DFlight to resurrectors or OKs was great, as always, especially with CoS.

It was smooth sailing, a bit more complex on hotkeys and switching than most characters, but quite manageable and fun. She was also a bit slower on damage output, but oh-so-safe. I unfortunately had one death due to sloppiness at de Seis, misclicking and DFlighting into the Fanatacism pack of minions that were otherwise blinded by CoS instead of de Seis as I had intened. Oh well. She was p3 for all of Hell, with a Pul from HF.

She finished A1-A3 last Sunday, and then A4 during the week and A5 today. Her only notable drop was a Martial Arts skiller with +3 Dext.




The Throw Barb in sitting in A1 Hell until the MP missile group starts, so I will try to get the Pally in this Sept started, maybe getting through Normal this weekend.

 

[PhineasB]

Paladin: Phaedrian (FoHer) with A2 HF Merc (eventually, likely with Insight for mana regen)
Status: Level 43, A1 NM

Not much to say here, he just spec'ed to FoH and will mule on a backpack full of skillers. He leveled as envy -> damage charm gear -> Bonesnap -> Ribby -> Butcher's Pupil, with 1-pt Zeal on LMB until we unlocked HS and then ran that as the aura. Dull, but uneventful. The only notable event is finding only a single flawless gem through Normal on a p8 playthrough (plus the 2 from the HF). I don't think I've ever found fewer than 5, so quite the outlier!

I'm still debating what to do with skills as hybrid. I don't see much value in maxing Holy Bolt, so I'm still debating Charge vs. Smite, with Might pumped for switch setup. I think Smite is better and maybe I'll have to make a pure charger some other time.

 

[PhineasB]

Paladin: Phaedrian (FoHer) with A2 HF Insight Merc
Status: Level 73, A1 H

All right, last character in the Sept has made it to Hell. He was p8 all the way through NM, with Lem at HF, and no other notable finds (except maybe a 15MF Nagel, which was notable only because it had 75 AR but was promptly sold).

I ended up going for a hodgepodge of melee skills, with 1 hard point (needed to access FoH and Holy Shield) in Zeal, Smite and Charge. With +skills, each is at level 24, and I mostly have gone Charge to close distance and then zeal when used. That was rare in NM, only a handful of times where sniping with FoH wasn't viable due to higher lightning resist monsters than move fast and hit hard. Smite is on switch with Exile, thinking it will be useful at times to have life tap and the stun/knockback.

I was surprised that the FoH gameplay didn't become more boring. I ended up repositioning between casts regularly, and his high defense really lets him sort of stand there and fire away without too much concern about taking damage. He's definitely dropping to p1 for Hell though -- p3 for the Den required multiple casts to kill a single monster regularly, and that isn't going to be something I enjoy for the long-term.

Build and Gear: FoH and Holy Lightning are maxed, Conviction is lvl 26 with +skills (17 hard points), now up to 7 hard points in Holy Bolt, and then 1 pt in all Combat skills and defensive auras to Redemption. For gear, we have slightly overstacked resists on main, and using some Astreon's because it seems like a decent build to actually use that weapon:
- +4 skills Astreon's (5/3 facet) / up'ed HoZ (pDiamond)
- eDeath Warspike / eExile 45@ Sacred Rondache
- CoH
- Shako (5/4 facet)
- War Traveler
- Magefist (may equip something else)
- Rare (24 FHR / 28 life / 33 LR
- Mara's 29@
- SoJ / 250/19 Ravenfrost
- Backback: 8 PCombat Skillers (+ gold and other minor modifiers), so SCs so will likely pick up some FHR, Cube, TP Tomb

Merc: A2 HF
- eth Insight
- eth Duriels (will switch to Fortitude or CoH if I go with Delirium)
- eth Vamp w scintillating jewel (may switch to Delirium for more cc if they end up getting swarmed in Hell)

 

[PhineasB]

Barbarian: Bulls_Eye (Double Throw) with A3 Lightning Merc
Status: Patriarch, Level 83

The gear and merc changed significantly from the plan after I decided to use him for the Missile Multitude MP playthrough. The biggest change was losing the A1 Merc in favor of the A3 Merc, but @ffs ran a Zookeeper with Faith so the aura remained available. The second biggest change was @maxicek ran a Dentist, who had amp, which allowed a focus completely on Warshrikes (with eventually 8 sets being on Bulls_Eye's person for the second MP session). The third biggest change was p8 setting for A1-A2, rather than the p3 I would have likely started out on. The MP group dropped to p3 for A3-A5 when we had only three characters, and the power stayed solid.

I was pleasantly surprised with the Thrower, with the biggest issue being depletion of weapons. Had I been solo, I would have likely just TP'ed home, but with the MP set up, I tried to keep with the group. Hence, the 8 sets of weapons. Even so, I had to return to town occasionally. With the MP group, his up side was tanking. I was able to stay in front and absorb damage and dish plenty out, allowing the other characters to send their missiles from a little more safety.

The pierce on Warshrikes (with Razortail) ended up making more of a difference than I had expected, along with the Novas. And his tossing speed was quite nice, allowing him to dish a good bit of damage out. The A3 merc was as useless as anticipated, even with Griffon's, Crescent Moon, and several facets. Oh well, no surprise. I left him down for some stretches of A4 and A5, most of ROF to CS in A4 if I recall correctly. I didn't notice any difference

Final gear:
- eth Warshrike / Warshrike
- Warshrike / Warshrike (plus x4 in backpack and cube)
- CoH
- Giant Skull with 2 Ruby Jewels with +80% ED, +8 dext and +9 strength
- War Traveler
- LoH
- Razortail
- Highlord's
- Man Leech with 9@, 16 CR, 16 strength and 26 life / 250/19 Ravenfrost
- Backback: 8 Sharp GCs (7 of Vita / Sust and 1 of Maiming), 8 Fine SCs (FHR to 20 and rest Vita with one Inertia), Cube (2x Warshrike), 2x Warshrike

Merc: A3 Lightning
- Crescent Moon Crystal Sword
- up'ed SoVM (4/5 facet)
- Lidless (5/5 facet)
- eth 20/12 Griffon's (5/5 Facet)

More thoughts on the playthrough in the Pat thread, which I hope to get posted this week. Only notable drop was a 5LR / 5 FHR SC.

 

[PhineasB]

Paladin: Phaedrian (FoHer) with A2 HF Insight Merc
Status: Level 78, A4 H
The FoHer pushed through the first three Acts of Hell, sticking to p1. He mostly just sniped with FoH, while the merc tanked, but he occasionally waded in with Smite, like this Extra Fast, Extra Strong, Amp'ed Woodtree:

He was plenty safe and the repositioning and occasional round of zeal or switch to smite keep things interesting. I ended up just going Zeal for jungle areas of Act 3 because so many fast-moving LIs, and it took three hits to take down some flayers. So Zeal with Astreon's worked quite nicely with their lower life, and Conviction helping with cth.

Brem was really tough, unbreakable LI with Conviction and Cold Enchanted, so the merc dropped immediately. I was able to take out the minions, which were breakable, with FoH, just dodging Brem's melee attacks. I then switched to smite before realizing the might aura meant that the conviction from Brem applied, and life bulb dropped really quick before I switched to conviction. Life tap triggered, and he was fine. Smite for Meph:

He was aided by two nice map layouts, skipping the Marsh and stairs all the way to right in Durance 2, which I almost missed but not quite:

I've pumped Dext to block up to 75%, and will keep it there with the rest going to life for the last few levels. His gear is mostly unchanged, but merc went with Fortitude and a Realgar JoF Vamp. I will swap in Arachnid's for the rare belt, and add in 4 SCs with FHR to keep at 20 breakpoint.

Today is a holiday, and I've gotten through much of the work that needed doing this weekend. I still need to put a couple hours into an application I'm trying to complete, but that will likely still leave time to push him through A4 today.

 

[PhineasB]

Paladin: Phaedrian (FoHer) with A2 HF Insight Merc
Status: Level 82, Patriarch

Phaedrian had smooth sailing through the last two Act, which isn't that surprising on p1 with an Insight/Fortitude merc and fully twinked. Even with FoH as main, he was able to safely snipe enemies, without tedium. So, in all, a reasonably enjoyable playthrough. Only drop of note was Tomb Reaver (1os), HF was a Ko, and Ancients were easy-peasy with Smite and life tap triggering:




Pat write up will hopefully follow this weekend to wrap up the Sept!