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Vessel of Hatred

The Normal Set Project

M

Maltatai

Well-known member
Nov 2, 2010
1,380
689
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On the 30 of April 2016, owners of green things gathered to recover their lost possessions.

Since the forums are so filled with characters with the bestest and ubermightiest things imaginable I am sharing the opposite. I'll use this thread to write updates here and there about my project to complete a guardian using each of the normal sets and tailoring each character to the set in some way when it comes to skills and other equipment. All self-found of course, and in patch 1.13 1.14 with no mods. I'll update the first post as they progress. Please feel free to suggest how they can be improved. I hope it will be of some interest to follow.


Amazons

Arctic Gear
Alice the Arctic Archer.
Keeping herself warm with Immolation arrows and freezing enemies with ice arrows so she can set them on fire where they stand. Accompanied by Geraldine the valkyrie and Hoku Horton the barbarian who is used to arctic climates Ajheed the cold mage who is also an Arctic enthusiast.
Specialties: High life, very fast due to finding the Cat's grace (hilarious amulet) and good boots.
Missing set pieces: None!.
Level: 78 (Hell Far Oasis).


Assassins

Cathans Traps
Cathan the Trapper (duuuh!).
Throwing fire blasts with the help of her fire themed staff. Supported by lightning traps, mainly shock web, but no death sentry (just because too many people seem to think it is mandatory for a trapper). She will use a town guard with thorns and mind blast enemies to convert them so they become walking traps too.
Specialties: Well, traps... High life.
Missing set pieces: Cathans Sigil (amulet), Cathans Visage (mask) and Cathans Mesh (chain mail).
Level: 47.

Angelic Raiment
Mimmi the Mixed.
Death sentry, dragon talon, venom, cloaking mix. Strong kicker compensates for no dexterity with attack rate from ring. gamble for myrmidon greaves. Set is anti-undead and death sentry is really the only such thing for assassins as it clears corpses. Immense attack rating invites undextrous character. Has found the peasant crown and should wears it to look like the hooded angels in Diablo.
Specialties: High strength and offense, very weak defence.
Missing set pieces: None!
Level: 82 (Hell Harrogath).


Barbarians

Berserkers Arsenal
Clueles, so the personalized set items become Clueless Berserkers items. So brilliant, isn't it?
Since he is clueless he will max shout too which will become useless when he goes berserk. It isn't easy to be clueless. Frenzy and berserk combined, somehow, so he can make use of a weapon that actually can damage the enemy.
Specialties: Taunt, probably. High defence mercenary.
Missing set pieces: All.
Level: 27.

Sigons Complete Steel
Sigon.
Barbarian relying on stun since the white artwork matches the white armour. Set with weapon slot open fits barbarians, and battle orders and natural resistance compensates for the sets lack of protection. Good blocking, though.
Specialties: Stun and bashing.
Missing set pieces: None!.
Level: 80 (Hell Lost City).


Druids

Civerbs Vestments
Civerb the Fiery Druid.
New: Vestments imply a clerical character, as do the anti-undead bonus. I lean towards the Dungeons and Dragons style of clerics here and go with Armageddon and melee, having Civerbs deity rain fire upon the foes, like obnoxious gloams and ghosts and many other troublesome undead. To complement the yellow bright shield I will look for a full plate with light radius, or maybe a topaz will give it the right yellow too. A mighty town guard will complement, adding the yellow aura.

Old:Exorcising undead. This DULL and BORING set has some anti-undead characteristics and maces are usually priestly. The dire wolves eat corpses and the barbed spirit match them in colour. Finding something to add to the sets damage will be the challenge, so he can do more than watch the wolves eat enemies.
Specialties: Fiery focus. Accidently high vitality.
Missing set pieces: Civerb's Icon (amulet).
Level: 57.

Cleglaws Brace
Cleglaw the Fire Claw Bear.
Now, tooth and claw is beastly and the bear is the suffix for knockback which the gloves have. A fast but weak weapon (but not so weak for being a normal set) needs skill based damage, so fire claws it is. Shockwave and maul will support, and hopefully more damage from armour and helm. Would be fun to find guardian angel and a crafted amulet to be able to block things with that puny shield.
Specialties: High vitality, bad blocking.
Missing set pieces: None!.
Level: 49.

Hsarus Defense
Hsarus the Red Summoner.
New: Red and combat themed, the set calls for red skills along with it and Hsarus the summoner will support his minions as best he can with whatever one handed weapon he can find. Ravens are still with him of course and a battle hungry blood red spirit along with a red vine and moderately enthusiastic summoned bear named Cleglaw to throw careslessly into the fray. Where did it come from? Nobody knows, or at least Hsarus doesn't tell. Red life tap shall afflict enemy leaders and perhaps open wounds and crushing blows shall pave the way for red corpse explosions from a raven black mace.

Old: The set seems made for someone with light equipment, fightning like a swift skirmisher perhaps since it has can not be frozen. So, a thrower character. A wind druid could make the winds aid his projectiles. Therefore, hurricane to back up the throwind, and ravens to ride on the winds and add blinding for crowd controlling. Maxed ravens is THE way to clear the beginning of normal! Kraaah!
Specialties: Ravens and summons and red items and effects.
Missing set pieces: None!.
Level: 64.


Necromancers

Infernal Tools
Nokoz the Golem Master Builder.
With infernal necromantic tools and his Nokozan relic he builds something infernal, which is the fire golem. All power to it. Very simple. Hopefully he can find a good head with poison nova or lower resist so he can support it well, and something to deal damage so he can hit with the attack rating from the wand. Like a Lem or Um rune, perhaps. An added bonus is that Fire Golem annoys my wife enormously :). I should probably add a town guard as well since we both despise that mercenary type. But a lightning mage would work nice with poison nova and lower resist, since the charged bolts damage many and nova prevents their healing.
Specialties: Infernal Fire Golems and Corpse Explosions.
Missing set pieces: Infernal Torch (grim wand).
Level: 49.

Sanders Folly
Sander the Fool.
So, how can a necromancer be foolish? Confused, obviously. Blowing things up, too. Creating murderous machines that in a matter of time will turn on their so called masters, spot on. So, Confuse, Corpse Explosion and Iron Golem. Will try to acquire purple gear to match set colours. Cold mage accompanies because a corpseless necromancers is foolish too. Hopefully he can find some more damaging equipment to perhaps hit things with the wand or cast poison nova to stop regeneration.
Specialties: Iron golem,
Missing set pieces: Sanders Paragon (cap), Sanders Superstition (bone wand), Sanders Taboo (heavy gloves).
Level: 44.

Deaths Disguise
Restles the Summoner.
Using sword and goblin toe against bosses and first enemies. When personalised, all set pieces will be "Restless Deaths" items which is the perfect gear for a summoner. Aim for red gear to match sword colour perhaps.
Specialties: Yaaawn, the skeletons will ensure none are needed. Surfing skeleton jokes.
Missing set pieces: None!.
Level: 81 (Hell Flayer Jungle).


Paladins

Isenharts Armory
Isenhart the Frost Zealot.
The name sounds like icy heart so Holy Freeze it is. Support character with cold damage and conversion, helped by holy shield. Hopefully he can combine it with slowing equipment and cursing stuff.
Specialties: Cold damage.
Things to do: Hunt for teleport amulet and howltusk or face of horror for Klaudia and progress to level 75. Put all coming point into conversion.
Missing set pieces: None!
Level: 73 (Hell Black Marsh).

Milabregas Regalia
Milabrega the Smiter.
Full power smite, just because the shield is so pathetic. Backed up by blessed hammer probably, taking advantage of concentration. This will be hard with such a weak set, the second worst I think, thank Zakarum for auto-hit and stun from smiting. Ithera the cold rogue adds ranged power, which should combine nicely with blessed hammer tactics.
Specialties: Smite.
Missing set pieces: All.
Level: 25.

Tancreds Battlegear
Tancred the Tesladin (Holy Shock).
Shield is left in set and that screams paladin. Fast weapon is good for someone with an elemental aura. The set has some slowing at least and can be combined with cleglaws pincers with slow and knockback. Will be the lightning twin to Isenhart.
Specialties: Lightning fast lightning zeal.
Things to do: Put points in zeal and prerequisites, gamble poleaxe and cube pole arms to use with town guard.
Missing set pieces: All.
Level: 28.


Sorceresses

Arcannas Tricks
Arcanna the Charged Bolt and Frozen Orb Witch.
Arc-Anna. Full power arcing charged bolts, rest into frozen orb. Weaken from gloves hopefully. This will be tough! The set is in my opinion the very worst with no shield and negligible resists and all the most important spots occupied. She must rely on charms and hope to find the very best of gloves and boots.
Specialties: Weak defense, strong attacks.
Missing set pieces: All
Level: 29.

Irathas Finery
Marlotta - Fire Tree Sorceress
Specialties: Melee capability due to Spineripper and Whitstans guard. Set is burnt black by fire spelling following the same procedure as last year.
Missing set pieces: None!
Level: 82, Guardian.

Vidalas Rig
Vidala the Enchanting Archer
Full power enchant backed up with full light mastery and the rest in cold mastery (light damage on bow and blackened set from burns implies fire and lightning damage) and hopefully elemental charms for extra damage. Icy rogue friend Visala to bring up cold damage. If she can teleport around and keep the rogue (preferably wielding Kuko Shakaku) alive this should be great fun.
Specialties: Fiery arrows. Weak defense and no tank...
Missing set pieces: All.
Level: 22.
 
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Reactions: Pb_pal
Yeah, that's true. The reason is simply that I have played and written so much about the Amazon class already so I wanted to tone down that content here. Vidalas and Hsarus sets would otherwise be strong candidates for Amazons.

Possibly Orphans Call? Those items are not super rare and it would be sort of nice to have a javazon along too. Full power fend and jab perhaps, to take advantage of crushing blow in the set, along with a javelin with amplify damage for immune enemies. And the high block could allow you to forgo the dodge skills so it wouldn't mess with fend.
 
Nokoz walks the earth. While his coming is not heralded by falling fiery stones like when Diablo does the same thing his fire golem shall spread terror. For now he is but a meekly level 12 necromancer.

Edit: Level 17, but still meek without a fire golem.
 
Based on the experience so far I will do what I can to limit the grinding part. I won't enter Hell without the full set but otherwise there will be no restrictions, so I expect that the game will drown me in exceptional uniques that would have been perfect for the respective characters and which I will have to throw away. This is Diablo after all. I tried out some plundering early on with a few characters but it is too dull. The idea is to assemble a full suit of magic finding gear through nightmare and when all is finished go back to whatever boss is best to look for the missing pieces. Hopefully all characters will have found one or two already by normal questing by then.

Mimmi is for example running nightmare Andariel in search of the angelic amulet. I think normal Duriel is optimal based on drop odds but Andariel can give other useful items as well which makes up for it I Believe.
 
Southpaw8668
Wonderful idea and a humongous undertaking! This will certainly keep you busy for quite some time. This would be a great idea for a collective effort campaign, where each of your SP Forum volunteers, who might already have all if not most of the required themed set pieces assists you in your endeavor and reports back to Maltatai the siege master!!!:D
Click to expand...
 
I'm surprised to see this generate such interest, that's inspiring.

Siege master, that sounds like Shenk... :D "I've tried whipping them, Sire, but the forumites are spent!" *

* This reference makes sense if you have played Medieval II Total War.

Restles is now level 25, ran through the later parts of Avt II until Duriel smashed the skeletons. He will need a head with a point in decrepify. After ressurecting the army of a modest 8 bony types Duriel fell quickly and dropped nothing of note.
 
Restles is yawning his way through the jungle, finding annoying gloam packs, or maybe just one, Khalims Eye and no green items whatsoever. His Equipment is so bad it's a travesty, he'll probably die against Mephisto or Diablo from my sheer negligence. Now at level 27.

Mimmi has sniped Nihlatak from a distance with her Death sentries and gained a level. Taste your own explosions, you creep! That was a really funny event and she was fortunate not to encounter tomb vipers which could have been a serious danger with no pdr. Her ring mail is now also personalised. Ancients are next. But to be attacked, not personalised. If anyone wondered.
 
Oldsoldier
I also have a side project called Tancred (also a zealot like yours), but I twinked him with the set, because finding the individual pieces with each character seems like a big beat down. GL!
Click to expand...
 
Yeah, digging up the gear pieces will certainly be the major challenge.

Restles now stands at Lower Kurast at level 29. I Went through the entire Great Marsh almost Before finding out that the Falyer Jungle was on the other side of the Spider Forest instead. Yay... Great job, Maltatai...

Restles managed to GAMBLE Bloodfist! Otherwise one of the best gloves in the game for flimsy mages wanting to play fighter, he will have to give up those once he finds Deaths... Typical of this game. None the less, it's a great addition until then and along with a Steel flail Restles is doing a good support job when so inclined. Also gambled a 20 FRW, 19 magic find, 27 PR, 5 FR and 10 CR light plated boots! If only it could have been 27 FR instead...
 
No, heretically enough I have spent my gaming time on Supreme Commander lately, trying to get the hang on the Total Mayhem mod if anyone is familiar with it. The AI is vasly improved by it, and much more unpredictable with the multitude of new units...apart for my precious Seraphim who got just a few. But the did at least score the Tau Artillery...

This weekend me and my wife launched our boat and had her masted, so I will probably play a bit of Diablo soon. If anyone wonders what the far-fetched connection is, the boat is red and therefore named Rödluvan, incidentally like one of the amazons in my tale about them. So I always think of that and thereby Diablo II when spending a lot of time doing marine stuff.

Edit: Mimmi now at level 65. Has found a fortuitous ring of fortune which was rather funny and also Bloodfist which could prove really useful since she is a bit unsteady and fragile. The attack speed will also ease the transition froom burst of speed to fade later on.
 
Grindily-grindily-grindily-grindily-grind! Mimmi has found her last set piece!
And it did not take too many runs considering the drop odds actually. She tried out her new gear against ancients and Baal and is now on level 67. I'll stay in nightmare for a while and level up. Mimmi packs 140% magic finding even with her questing gear so some good stuff should appear. Like perhaps a Kelpie snare or black horned mask, perhaps... Then onto hell to find a pair of myrmidon greaves or the runes to upgrade goblin toe. It lacks resistance which is bad and don't has the highest damage, but goblin toe is goblin toe.

I have decided to skip Phoenix strike in favor of synergizing Death sentry. She is very fragile so it feels better to have a stronger ranged option. She also already has Three damage types which should be enough (tell that to the hell burning souls who are highly resistant to all...).

Hittat_zpsgh6m4uys.jpeg
 
Restles advanced through Mephisto and Diablo to level 35 yesterday. He found several set pieces but all wrong sets. Diablo was very troublesome with no clay golem or decrepify but in the end I managed it after having to raise the army Three times over. Annor the rogue did survive the fight :), which I was very satisfied with as Diablo tend to be so dangerous for mercenaries.
 
Restles now at level 38, with Anya but without set pieces and the 300 000 gold coins he just gambled away on potential such.

Skeletal mages are really extremely useful to break down tough large bosspacks with stone skin and such. Many seem to frown on going for full mage and skeleton at the same time but I find them working well together, except of course at the Arcane Sanctuary and Maggot Lair where pretty much no summons work very well.
 
@Pb_pal
I'm a fan of the mages, as you say they definitely serve a purpose. As for the Arcane Sanctuary (in NM and Hell anyways), if you have access to Revive, revive as many ghosts as you can as they can fly and stack on the enemies.

Maggot Lair, well, CE and a strong merc is the only thing to do really.
Click to expand...
 
Mimmi is now level 68, having ran Baal a bit. She found Spellsteel from Diablo but can't use it due to gear restrictions, alas. It would otherwise have been most useful.

EDIT: 69, and the game continues to taunt me with Kuko Shakaku and the generals flail! Superd items that can't be utilised here!

@Pb_pal
Don't forget teleport charges! They could be available from an amulet or circlet for the summoners of the Project.
 
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