[highlight]Sheela[/highlight]
Things are starting to get more dangerous for Sheela as the monsters are getting stronger, and her attack is becoming less lethal. Gameplay has shifted, and we are now using CoS and MB pretty consistently to keep things safe for our 3 ladies. Radament Gave us some trouble, but luckily Sheela has her go-to tactic of
kick-locking him into the corner while Gaile helped to whittle him down.
The Lost City presented us with this beauty:
.
This could very well end up being Sheela's end-game helm, and is a definite consideration for a socket quest later on. We will wait for that though, as we still have all of our allotted gambles left (minus 11 ring gambles for Gort), and we plan on burning most of them upon reaching Hell.
We were actually pretty concerned for Fangskin, as Sheela is beginning to feel quite squishy, and even regular snakes managed to take a good chunk of her life off if they got in with a charge. We got a lucky break on their
placement though, and CoS took care of the rest.
On the subject of squishyness, we have started to pump the Shadow now, as she basically dies whenever there are 3+ monsters around. It's helping a bit, but she's got lots of work to do before I feel confident in her.
Through the Arcane Sanctuary we went with ease, and then began taking on the tombs. Careful use of CoS, and the obligatory 1 point in DS for corpse cleanup made the tombs pretty safe, although a bit on the slower side.
Kaa's was first (this seems to happen quite often for me!), and he needed the kick-locking treatment as well as he was feeling pretty nasty.
Eventually we worked our way to Duriel. The fight was slow and long, but never
dangerous. Lots of Shadow re-casts, and Gaile bit the dust once, but we eventually got the big bug to take his
final breath. No notable finds for Sheela this act other than her circlet, so she is taking some time to catch up with Natalya in Kurast for now.
--
[highlight]Tao[/highlight]
After saying a quick hello to Sheela, Tao set off our into the jungles. FI bosses are starting to crop up more frequently, but so far Static/TK/GS/Waheed have been way more than enough to deal with them.
Her progress is very fast, as Hydra is still gaining power and tearing through everything.
Sszark was burnt to a crisp, and Stormtree was killed almost
entirely offscreen. The only notable thing from the jungles really was this charm that I thought was pretty cool, and is the highest poison damage I've seen on a small charm:
.
Before we knew it, the Kurast cities were cleared and it was time for the temples. Sarina's was taken first, and only had some normal spiders waiting by the stairs. Shortly after this Sarina ran in the join the fun, but GS and Waheed kept her minions at bay while hydra did the
heavy lifting. The rest of the temples were easy, with only the Ruined Fane giving us a small (and ultimately harmless)
stair trap.
The rest of the Act, including
Meph were easy, and his drop was equally
unexciting (we already have a Goldwrap stashed).
finds:
- Nats boots (our second) - sold
- Blackleach Blade - regrettably sold for space
- Fal Rune
- Frostburns - kept for Tao's potential future use.
--
[highlight]Gort[/highlight]
In the interest of increasing Gort's speed out of the tedious range, he decided that the best defense is a good offense. He got Tao to buy him a nice Ancient Axe from Ormus, and crafted himself a weapon upgrade. He also let Chalan go, and opten for Emilio and his Might Aura.
His plan worked, and things sped up noticeably for Gort as he set out into Act 2. Radament was quickly
disposed, and things were speeding along nicely until the Maggot Lair. The place was absolutely filled with Black Locusts on all three levels, so it took some time for the duo to work through them all and their 80% Physical Resistance. Eventually the queen was dethroned, and the duo could move on.
Fangskin was nice enough to
pre-park himself up on the altar, so we could casually clear out the room and then meet him and his buddies on the stairs for an easy fight.
Flash forward to the tombs, where in the first one we entered we got a very rude welcoming:
.
That's a double Gorebelly boss pack (the other one was this
FE gentleman). See those ghosts in there? That's a boss pack as well (Extra Strong). Oh, and there is a beetle boss-pack (you can see the red-coloured boss just above the ghosts) as well (his mods weren't bad, although I can't remember them). Fun!
So with a ton of portal/entrance hopping (you can see our portal on the screenie), Howl-ing of minions, desperate running, and multiple Emilio deaths, we eventually got the two Gorebelly bosses
alone by the stairs. After we killed them, we killed the beetle boss, and then finally the
Ghost boss as well. Whew!
That was tough, and literally right after we cleaned up that mess we ran into
this Cursed, Extra Strong Ghost Boss. Look at where he is on the mini-map. We must have been VERY close to waking him up during that whole fiasco, and I daresy if we had, it probably would have been lights-out for Gort. Close call!
After this, the rest of the tombs provided no resistance. Horking provides easy corpse disposal with a bonus, so unravellers (
Kaa inclued) weren't an issue. The Duriel fight was easy, and he never moved from where we first
confronted him. Gort has CB and OW from his blood gear, so the fight wasn't even that painfully long, and the bug
fell without issue.
finds:
- 2x Lum Rune
- Magefists - These quickly replaced the Frostburns Tao we were holding for Tao.
--
[highlight]Destroyer Gort the Conc. Barbarian with Emilio the Might Guard - Tier 3 - lvl 60, NM Kurast Docks[/highlight]
[highlight]Destroyer Tao the Hydra Sorceress with Waheed the Holy Freeze Guard - Tier 1 - lvl 64, NM Pandemonium Fortress[/highlight]
[highlight]Destroyer Sheela the TS/DTail Assassin with Gaile the Cold Rogue - Tier 2 - lvl 60, NM Kurast Docks[/highlight]