- Mar 19, 2020
- 3,349
- 1,404
- 113
@Crudesash68 - I don't see any reason why you can't continue with that character. There is no item taint and the progress gained/lost is negligible. Go for it!
The Three-Legged Race Tournament
- Thread starter Pb_pal
- Start date
@Crudesash68 Sucks about the save file. I agree with @Pb_pal , keep playing. Doesn't seem to me like anything was done that would hurt the standing in the tournament.
I'll have an update soon with my progress. Going very steady with McDouble and McRib.
I'll have an update soon with my progress. Going very steady with McDouble and McRib.
Crudesash
Well-known member
- Feb 19, 2021
- 177
- 255
- 63
@Pb_pal @Booble OK, you've convinced me. I've reset the leaderboard to reflect the rollback. Good luck everyone!
Code:
SP Forum Name Characters Level Furthest WP Points
-- ----------------- ---------------- ------ ---------------------- -------
Y Hanshotfirst Sorc/Sin 74/74 (H) Rogue Encampment 124
Y Gynli Zon/Necro 32/48 (N) Rogue Encampment 33
N PhineasB Necro/Druid 32/24 Harrogath 33
N DariusTriplet Sorc/Zon 31/24 River of Flame 32
N Crudesash68 Zon/Paladin 26/30 City of the Damned 31
Y Pb_pal Sorc/Zon 19/25 Canyon of the Magi 18
N Swamigoon Sin/Druid 23/20 Kurast Docks 17
N Booble Sorc/Druid 22/22 Kurast Docks 12
Y Vildecor Zon/Sorc 21/20 Lut Gholein 12
Y skoolbus Druid/Sorc 28/1 Kurast Docks 12
Y Maltatai Druid/Druid 21/15 Lut Gholein Sewers 9
Y b1ur Paladin/Druid 20/1 Lut Gholein 6
N CaseyJones Sorc/Druid 1/1 Rogue Encampment 0
- Jan 24, 2008
- 785
- 1,194
- 93
Update
Doing this from work so I don't have the char's in front of me.
McRib - Elemental Druid
Crushing it. walked all the way through Act 3 and 4. Fissure is crazy good at killing everything so far. He kills so fast right now that even with teleport the sorc takes much longer to get through acts. Not a ton of items to talk about. still has stealth armor, leaf staff, +1 elemental skills ammy. Drops have been pretty lacking but that's ok right now. McRib is pretty much single pass now but that will change once we get a little further along.
McDouble - Light Sorc
With a maxed charged bolt she is doing pretty well. Charged bolt is starting to be a little annoying to use because it eats mana so fast. I think the biggest slowdown for her is buying mana pots. Act 3 and 4 were pretty easy. Act 3 took forever because I missed a hidden way to the flayer dungeon. Looked around the map twice and then finally found it going around the third time. Bosses are super easy with static and charged bolt. She is finding plenty of items with her 150ish MF. Nothing really useful though. Lots of low set items.
Both characters a little under leveled but still going smoothly. Been playing at P3 for most of the game since I'm not single pass.
I'll probably have some time to play Friday or this weekend. Going to be somewhat busy this week.
Could someone confirm my points. Just want to make sure I'm understanding it correctly.
Act 1 = 6 / char (12)
Act 2 = 6 / char (12)
Act 3 = 6 / char (12)
Act 4 = 3 / char (6)
Act 5 = 1 quest done. (1)
total = 43 points
Doing this from work so I don't have the char's in front of me.
McRib - Elemental Druid
Crushing it. walked all the way through Act 3 and 4. Fissure is crazy good at killing everything so far. He kills so fast right now that even with teleport the sorc takes much longer to get through acts. Not a ton of items to talk about. still has stealth armor, leaf staff, +1 elemental skills ammy. Drops have been pretty lacking but that's ok right now. McRib is pretty much single pass now but that will change once we get a little further along.
McDouble - Light Sorc
With a maxed charged bolt she is doing pretty well. Charged bolt is starting to be a little annoying to use because it eats mana so fast. I think the biggest slowdown for her is buying mana pots. Act 3 and 4 were pretty easy. Act 3 took forever because I missed a hidden way to the flayer dungeon. Looked around the map twice and then finally found it going around the third time. Bosses are super easy with static and charged bolt. She is finding plenty of items with her 150ish MF. Nothing really useful though. Lots of low set items.
Both characters a little under leveled but still going smoothly. Been playing at P3 for most of the game since I'm not single pass.
I'll probably have some time to play Friday or this weekend. Going to be somewhat busy this week.
Could someone confirm my points. Just want to make sure I'm understanding it correctly.
Act 1 = 6 / char (12)
Act 2 = 6 / char (12)
Act 3 = 6 / char (12)
Act 4 = 3 / char (6)
Act 5 = 1 quest done. (1)
total = 43 points
Code:
SP Forum Name Characters Level Furthest WP Points
-- ----------------- ---------------- ------ ---------------------- -------
Y Hanshotfirst Sorc/Sin 74/74 (H) Rogue Encampment 124
Y Gynli Zon/Necro 32/48 (N) Rogue Encampment 33
N Booble Sorc/Druid 29/28 Frigid Highlands 43
N PhineasB Necro/Druid 32/24 Harrogath 33
N DariusTriplet Sorc/Zon 31/24 River of Flame 32
N Crudesash68 Zon/Paladin 26/30 City of the Damned 31
Y Pb_pal Sorc/Zon 19/25 Canyon of the Magi 18
N Swamigoon Sin/Druid 23/20 Kurast Docks 17
Y Vildecor Zon/Sorc 21/20 Lut Gholein 12
Y skoolbus Druid/Sorc 28/1 Kurast Docks 12
Y Maltatai Druid/Druid 21/15 Lut Gholein Sewers 9
Y b1ur Paladin/Druid 20/1 Lut Gholein 6
N CaseyJones Sorc/Druid 1/1 Rogue Encampment 0- Mar 19, 2020
- 3,349
- 1,404
- 113
Yes, it's a double post! This time I actually have progress though, so it's worth it!
--
Pao - Firewall Sorc
Okay first things first, a new merc for Pao. She chose a Defiance merc since I want him tanking hits so I can lay down firewalls. I muled over the merc's savage polearm from Rindo, so I can take this act in the 'correct order' quest-wise.
Off to Radament and right away she managed what her sister could not; she found a Tir! With a nice base that Rindo had shopped for her as a present, that led to this:
Nice! Everything is quite melty now, so it was smooth sailing to Radament and out into the deserts. Limited only by how fast the can find and drink mana potions, the duo easily cruised through Coldworm, Fangskin, and all the way to Duriel.
He left nothing of value (good bases, but bad rolls), so she hopped a boat with her sister to the third act and set right out. Act 3 gave me lots of practice with aiming firewalls to try and get all those pesky flayers. Well, I say practice aiming, but truth be told the 'Leaf' staff is so strong that they just have to run over the walls to die, even on /p8. On our way to Sszark this happened.
Well, a 2nd Nagelring so early certainly helps the poor topaz luck thus far (only 2x flawed between the two of them). She then popped down to Sszark, and cruised her way through to Endugu to grab the brain before hitting up the ruined cities. First came Sarina
Then a quick trip into the Sewers before heading up to the Council, who she had to watch out for since she's starting to become a little bit squishy. To mitigate this, she used the balcony to keep them still when she could so firewall could work its magic. Soon she was through the Durance and to Mephyboy.
Drop provided nothing worth keeping. Next up, Act 4!
Other finds:
- Berserker's armour
- The Diggler
- Treads of Cthon
- Sanders Boots
- Isenharts armour
--
--
Pao - Firewall Sorc
Okay first things first, a new merc for Pao. She chose a Defiance merc since I want him tanking hits so I can lay down firewalls. I muled over the merc's savage polearm from Rindo, so I can take this act in the 'correct order' quest-wise.
Off to Radament and right away she managed what her sister could not; she found a Tir! With a nice base that Rindo had shopped for her as a present, that led to this:
Nice! Everything is quite melty now, so it was smooth sailing to Radament and out into the deserts. Limited only by how fast the can find and drink mana potions, the duo easily cruised through Coldworm, Fangskin, and all the way to Duriel.
He left nothing of value (good bases, but bad rolls), so she hopped a boat with her sister to the third act and set right out. Act 3 gave me lots of practice with aiming firewalls to try and get all those pesky flayers. Well, I say practice aiming, but truth be told the 'Leaf' staff is so strong that they just have to run over the walls to die, even on /p8. On our way to Sszark this happened.
Well, a 2nd Nagelring so early certainly helps the poor topaz luck thus far (only 2x flawed between the two of them). She then popped down to Sszark, and cruised her way through to Endugu to grab the brain before hitting up the ruined cities. First came Sarina
Then a quick trip into the Sewers before heading up to the Council, who she had to watch out for since she's starting to become a little bit squishy. To mitigate this, she used the balcony to keep them still when she could so firewall could work its magic. Soon she was through the Durance and to Mephyboy.
Drop provided nothing worth keeping. Next up, Act 4!
Other finds:
- Berserker's armour
- The Diggler
- Treads of Cthon
- Sanders Boots
- Isenharts armour
--
Code:
SP Forum Name Characters Level Furthest WP Points
-- ----------------- ---------------- ------ ---------------------- -------
Y Hanshotfirst Sorc/Sin 74/74 (H) Rogue Encampment 124
Y Gynli Zon/Necro 32/48 (N) Rogue Encampment 33
N Booble Sorc/Druid 29/28 Frigid Highlands 43
N PhineasB Necro/Druid 32/24 Harrogath 33
N DariusTriplet Sorc/Zon 31/24 River of Flame 32
N Crudesash68 Zon/Paladin 26/30 City of the Damned 31
Y Pb_pal Sorc/Zon 30/25 Pandemonium Fortress 30
N Swamigoon Sin/Druid 23/20 Kurast Docks 17
Y Vildecor Zon/Sorc 21/20 Lut Gholein 12
Y skoolbus Druid/Sorc 28/1 Kurast Docks 12
Y Maltatai Druid/Druid 21/15 Lut Gholein Sewers 9
Y b1ur Paladin/Druid 20/1 Lut Gholein 6
N CaseyJones Sorc/Druid 1/1 Rogue Encampment 0- Jan 24, 2008
- 785
- 1,194
- 93
The outer defenses of Hell have been cracked!
My Frozen Orb Sorceress has cleared Hell Act I at players 5.
Before setting out, I did some gear swapping (mostly consisting of dropping mf gear for stuff with more essential stats). Here's what I came up with:
Lore, Circlet
Rare Amulet: +53 Mana, +38 FR, +7 LR, +7 CR, +7 PR, +3 DR, +3 MDR
Spirit, Broad Sword: +107 Mana, 6+ Magic Absorb, +28 FCR
Skin of the Vipermagi, Serpentskin Armor: +25 All Resistances, Socketed w/ Sol Rune
PDiamond Kite Shield: +57 All Resistances
Frostburn, Gauntlets
Nightsmoke, Mesh Belt
Rare Heavy Boots: +39 Mana, +29 LR, +30 FRW, Half Freeze Duration
Rare Ring: +20 FR, +27 CR, +10 MF
Rare Ring: +30 CR, +16 PR, +10 FCR
15 Inventory Spots of Life/Mana Charms
That got my fire, lightning, and cold resistances to better than 70. Life ~800. Mana ~900. MF went from 287 down to 10 ...
The merc is using:
Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest, Death Mask: Socketed w/ Sol Rune
Insight, Partizan
Treachery, Eth Templar Coat
The Treachery was probably my biggest gear upgrade. The Eth Templar Coat was found in NM Act V and cubed to three sockets! (The odds were in my favor, but it's still nice when things work out.) The Lem Rune came from the NM Hellforge. The end result:
Treachery
Templar Coat
'ShaelThulLem'
Defense: 591
Durability: 31 of 31
Required Strength: 108
Required Level: 43
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 61
Fingerprint: 0x19ec631f
Cold Resist +30%
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
45% Increased Attack Speed
20% Faster Hit Recovery
25% Chance to cast Level 15 Venom on striking
5% Chance to cast Level 15 Fade when struck
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (3: 3 used)
It's nice enough. I was hoping the Venom would at least prevent monsters from healing ... but no such luck. The Fade is nice ... though it takes longer to trigger than I would have anticipated. Still, the runner up merc armor was a Rockfleece; so I suppose I shouldn't complain.
Heading out of the Rogue Encampment things seemed a bit slow. P5 Cold Immune Zombies in the Blood Moor were immediately slow going for the merc. But we got things done nice and easy, and pretty safe, with Static Field and Life Tap. As Act I progressed and the merc gained some levels things seemed faster ... though perhaps it was simply my expectations adjusting. The merc died a fair bit but my Sorceress seldom seemed to be in imminent danger. I was most concerned about getting stair trapped in the Forgotten Tower. But to my great surprise, all the stairs were clear. I was starting to think I was in the clear and then came the great battle of Hell Act I:
I had just cleared the Tamoe Highland and decided to take a break. So coming back to the computer cold I dropped into the Pit not thinking much of it (except, 'ooh, I hope I find something cool'). What I found at the entrance was not 'cool'. A unique pack of Corrupted Rogues came screaming towards the entrance. They were (cold immune as always), Extra Fast, Mana Burn, and Cold Enchanted
. All problems for my Energy Shield using Frozen Orb Sorceress that needs her can be frozen merc to dispatch these foes. I stepped out of the mob (no mana or Energy Shield at this point) and then things got worse. A pack of champion Rogues (remember, still cold immune) came charging from the opposite direction . So now I need to teleport a tad deeper to get the champions to target the merc instead of me (though the unique pack was already more than the merc could handle). Anyhow, I teleport once to get the champion Rogues off my mana burned, Energy-Shield-less Sorceress. I'm thinking about trying to go to switch to cast Life Tap when the champion/unique packs suddenly gain the Fanaticism aura . Yes, that right, there's another unique pack right near the entrance. These Corrupted Rogues (in addition to being cold immune) were Cold Enchanted and Extra Strong to go along with their Fanaticism . Well nothing else to do now ... off my Energy-Shield-less Sorceress goes blind teleporting into the Pit with a very damaged merc in tow. The champion/unqiues gave chase, and I kept finding more and more monsters, but then, about a sixth of the way through the caverns, I landed at a narrow point where there was a single stair case. There I was able to regroup and kill the trash mobs that I'd stirred up. Then with a little room to maneuver, I was able to draw the champion/uniques to this choke point and let the merc dispatch them with copious usage of my Life Tap wand. Eek.
After that encounter, everything from the Monastery Gate onwards seemed anticlimactic.
Though, of note. There was one monster that could not be defeated:
I shopped a lower resistance wand but it didn't break the cold immunity ... and so, one monster has now survived encountering either of my characters ... oh well ...
Let's talk drops!
Here's my new highest rune:
Not bad for 1.11b!
Here's the set/unqiues that resulted from a P5 clear of Hell Act I:
Remember, I went down to a near non-existent 10 mf.
Immortal King's Will, Avenger Guard (Bloord Moor)
Isenhart's Case, Breast Plate (Cold Plains)
Crushflange, Mace (Cold Plains)
Civerb's Ward, Large Shield (Crypt)
Skystrike, Edge Bow (Tristram)
Sparking Mail, Chain Mail (Tower Cellar Level 3)
Ondal's Almighty, Spired Helm (Pit Level 1)
Rainbow Facet, Jewel (Pit Level 1) <-- Fire, Level-Up, +4, -3
Tancred's Crowbill, Military Pick (Catacombs Level 1)
Magnus' Skin, Sharkskin Gloves (Catacombs Level 4)
Better than I expected, but not useful. Though, there's really only two things that I am interested in finding: A monarch shield for Spirit, and an elite polearm in which I can make Insight. I've got one socket quest left from NM with which to work with. I didn't find any monarch shields. Period. I only found two elite polearms, both Colossus Voulges. Normally the strength requirement on those would make them useless, but I did have an interesting drop:
Combined with the Ko Rune I found at NM Andariel, I could cube a Fal Rune. I could also cube a Lum Rune from Io Runes. I could then cube the eth Russet Armor I had in reserve should the eth Templar Coat have failed. If it were to cube to three sockets (66% chance) I could then create a pretty decent Lionheart and have just enough strength to equip a Colossus Voulge Insight. Easy, no? I thought I'd give it a go, but didn't want to use my one available socket quest on something as common as a plain Colossus Voulge. So I cubed the first CV ... three sockets. I cubed the second CV ... one socket. Oh well (I have two Amn's left). The Insight Partizan still seems okay (more so now that the merc is at clvl 80). The hunt for a desirable elite polearm (and monarch shield) will continue in Hell Act II ...
Up next: My Frozen Orb Sorceress is doing well, so let's keep going! Here's to hoping for some nice socketables.
My Frozen Orb Sorceress has cleared Hell Act I at players 5.
Before setting out, I did some gear swapping (mostly consisting of dropping mf gear for stuff with more essential stats). Here's what I came up with:
Lore, Circlet
Rare Amulet: +53 Mana, +38 FR, +7 LR, +7 CR, +7 PR, +3 DR, +3 MDR
Spirit, Broad Sword: +107 Mana, 6+ Magic Absorb, +28 FCR
Skin of the Vipermagi, Serpentskin Armor: +25 All Resistances, Socketed w/ Sol Rune
PDiamond Kite Shield: +57 All Resistances
Frostburn, Gauntlets
Nightsmoke, Mesh Belt
Rare Heavy Boots: +39 Mana, +29 LR, +30 FRW, Half Freeze Duration
Rare Ring: +20 FR, +27 CR, +10 MF
Rare Ring: +30 CR, +16 PR, +10 FCR
15 Inventory Spots of Life/Mana Charms
That got my fire, lightning, and cold resistances to better than 70. Life ~800. Mana ~900. MF went from 287 down to 10 ...
The merc is using:
Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest, Death Mask: Socketed w/ Sol Rune
Insight, Partizan
Treachery, Eth Templar Coat
The Treachery was probably my biggest gear upgrade. The Eth Templar Coat was found in NM Act V and cubed to three sockets! (The odds were in my favor, but it's still nice when things work out.) The Lem Rune came from the NM Hellforge. The end result:
Treachery
Templar Coat
'ShaelThulLem'
Defense: 591
Durability: 31 of 31
Required Strength: 108
Required Level: 43
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 61
Fingerprint: 0x19ec631f
Cold Resist +30%
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
45% Increased Attack Speed
20% Faster Hit Recovery
25% Chance to cast Level 15 Venom on striking
5% Chance to cast Level 15 Fade when struck
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (3: 3 used)
It's nice enough. I was hoping the Venom would at least prevent monsters from healing ... but no such luck. The Fade is nice ... though it takes longer to trigger than I would have anticipated. Still, the runner up merc armor was a Rockfleece; so I suppose I shouldn't complain.
Heading out of the Rogue Encampment things seemed a bit slow. P5 Cold Immune Zombies in the Blood Moor were immediately slow going for the merc. But we got things done nice and easy, and pretty safe, with Static Field and Life Tap. As Act I progressed and the merc gained some levels things seemed faster ... though perhaps it was simply my expectations adjusting. The merc died a fair bit but my Sorceress seldom seemed to be in imminent danger. I was most concerned about getting stair trapped in the Forgotten Tower. But to my great surprise, all the stairs were clear. I was starting to think I was in the clear and then came the great battle of Hell Act I:
I had just cleared the Tamoe Highland and decided to take a break. So coming back to the computer cold I dropped into the Pit not thinking much of it (except, 'ooh, I hope I find something cool'). What I found at the entrance was not 'cool'. A unique pack of Corrupted Rogues came screaming towards the entrance. They were (cold immune as always), Extra Fast, Mana Burn, and Cold Enchanted
. All problems for my Energy Shield using Frozen Orb Sorceress that needs her can be frozen merc to dispatch these foes. I stepped out of the mob (no mana or Energy Shield at this point) and then things got worse. A pack of champion Rogues (remember, still cold immune) came charging from the opposite direction . So now I need to teleport a tad deeper to get the champions to target the merc instead of me (though the unique pack was already more than the merc could handle). Anyhow, I teleport once to get the champion Rogues off my mana burned, Energy-Shield-less Sorceress. I'm thinking about trying to go to switch to cast Life Tap when the champion/unique packs suddenly gain the Fanaticism aura . Yes, that right, there's another unique pack right near the entrance. These Corrupted Rogues (in addition to being cold immune) were Cold Enchanted and Extra Strong to go along with their Fanaticism . Well nothing else to do now ... off my Energy-Shield-less Sorceress goes blind teleporting into the Pit with a very damaged merc in tow. The champion/unqiues gave chase, and I kept finding more and more monsters, but then, about a sixth of the way through the caverns, I landed at a narrow point where there was a single stair case. There I was able to regroup and kill the trash mobs that I'd stirred up. Then with a little room to maneuver, I was able to draw the champion/uniques to this choke point and let the merc dispatch them with copious usage of my Life Tap wand. Eek.After that encounter, everything from the Monastery Gate onwards seemed anticlimactic.
Though, of note. There was one monster that could not be defeated:
I shopped a lower resistance wand but it didn't break the cold immunity ... and so, one monster has now survived encountering either of my characters ... oh well
...Let's talk drops!
Here's my new highest rune:
Not bad for 1.11b!
Here's the set/unqiues that resulted from a P5 clear of Hell Act I:
Remember, I went down to a near non-existent 10 mf.
Immortal King's Will, Avenger Guard (Bloord Moor)
Isenhart's Case, Breast Plate (Cold Plains)
Crushflange, Mace (Cold Plains)
Civerb's Ward, Large Shield (Crypt)
Skystrike, Edge Bow (Tristram)
Sparking Mail, Chain Mail (Tower Cellar Level 3)
Ondal's Almighty, Spired Helm (Pit Level 1)
Rainbow Facet, Jewel (Pit Level 1) <-- Fire, Level-Up, +4, -3
Tancred's Crowbill, Military Pick (Catacombs Level 1)
Magnus' Skin, Sharkskin Gloves (Catacombs Level 4)
Better than I expected, but not useful. Though, there's really only two things that I am interested in finding: A monarch shield for Spirit, and an elite polearm in which I can make Insight. I've got one socket quest left from NM with which to work with. I didn't find any monarch shields. Period. I only found two elite polearms, both Colossus Voulges. Normally the strength requirement on those would make them useless, but I did have an interesting drop:
Combined with the Ko Rune I found at NM Andariel, I could cube a Fal Rune. I could also cube a Lum Rune from Io Runes. I could then cube the eth Russet Armor I had in reserve should the eth Templar Coat have failed. If it were to cube to three sockets (66% chance) I could then create a pretty decent Lionheart and have just enough strength to equip a Colossus Voulge Insight. Easy, no? I thought I'd give it a go, but didn't want to use my one available socket quest on something as common as a plain Colossus Voulge. So I cubed the first CV ... three sockets. I cubed the second CV ... one socket. Oh well (I have two Amn's left). The Insight Partizan still seems okay (more so now that the merc is at clvl 80). The hunt for a desirable elite polearm (and monarch shield) will continue in Hell Act II ...
Code:
SP Forum Name Characters Level Furthest WP Points
-- ----------------- ---------------- ------ ---------------------- -------
Y Hanshotfirst Sorc/Sin 80/74 (H) Lut Gholein 130
Y Gynli Zon/Necro 32/48 (N) Rogue Encampment 33
N Booble Sorc/Druid 29/28 Frigid Highlands 43
N PhineasB Necro/Druid 32/24 Harrogath 33
N DariusTriplet Sorc/Zon 31/24 River of Flame 32
N Crudesash68 Zon/Paladin 26/30 City of the Damned 31
Y Pb_pal Sorc/Zon 30/25 Pandemonium Fortress 30
N Swamigoon Sin/Druid 23/20 Kurast Docks 17
Y Vildecor Zon/Sorc 21/20 Lut Gholein 12
Y skoolbus Druid/Sorc 28/1 Kurast Docks 12
Y Maltatai Druid/Druid 21/15 Lut Gholein Sewers 9
Y b1ur Paladin/Druid 20/1 Lut Gholein 6
N CaseyJones Sorc/Druid 1/1 Rogue Encampment 0Up next: My Frozen Orb Sorceress is doing well, so let's keep going! Here's to hoping for some nice socketables.
Last edited:
Crudesash
Well-known member
- Feb 19, 2021
- 177
- 255
- 63
So, after consultation with the powers that be (i.e, Pb_Pal), I decided to resume the adventures of Hephaestus. Starting from the City of the Damned, I made my way down to the River of Flame, and went hunting for his ugly evil cousin, Hephasto. I persuaded him to let me use his Hammer...actually, his exact words were "You can pry it from my lifeless claws", so I obliged. He also left behind the Nokozoan Relic, which wasn't needed, but it was appreciated.
Next it was down the river to the CS, and the slow pull of taffy that is that area. Only Infector and his goons were any real trouble, and I saw my first Amn rune drop from them. Soon after Lord De Seis was Lord De Dead, and our buddy Big D decided to make his presence known.
All of act IV was done on /p5, and I was tempted to drop to /1 for Diablo...but a) I wasn't sure when the right time to switch was (I assume before I kill De Seis), and b) I wanted the style points. The fight was not really dangerous, never going below 50% health but I needed a few trips to town to restock. Merc only died once, since, like little D, Big D focused his attention on me. Having 75 FR and 72 LR thanks to a tower shield stuffed with diamonds (41 res all) allowed me to absorb his hoses and fire attacks well enough to use pots without any oh crap! moments. Got a decent kill pic too:
He also dropped a few interesting items; Civerb's Cudgel, which is an upgrade over Steel, but doesn't have OW, a Hatchet with 20% IAS and ML, and a Francisca that might be something I use with a throwbarb one day. I'll be keeping an eye out for a nice base for Strength, as I really want some CB for the Ancients and Baal. He is now in the hammock taking a siesta until my Zon gets through Act 3. Not looking forward to Act 5 and the damn imps, but life goes on. At least for now
Next it was down the river to the CS, and the slow pull of taffy that is that area. Only Infector and his goons were any real trouble, and I saw my first Amn rune drop from them. Soon after Lord De Seis was Lord De Dead, and our buddy Big D decided to make his presence known.
All of act IV was done on /p5, and I was tempted to drop to /1 for Diablo...but a) I wasn't sure when the right time to switch was (I assume before I kill De Seis), and b) I wanted the style points. The fight was not really dangerous, never going below 50% health but I needed a few trips to town to restock. Merc only died once, since, like little D, Big D focused his attention on me. Having 75 FR and 72 LR thanks to a tower shield stuffed with diamonds (41 res all) allowed me to absorb his hoses and fire attacks well enough to use pots without any oh crap! moments. Got a decent kill pic too:
He also dropped a few interesting items; Civerb's Cudgel, which is an upgrade over Steel, but doesn't have OW, a Hatchet with 20% IAS and ML, and a Francisca that might be something I use with a throwbarb one day. I'll be keeping an eye out for a nice base for Strength, as I really want some CB for the Ancients and Baal. He is now in the hammock taking a siesta until my Zon gets through Act 3. Not looking forward to Act 5 and the damn imps, but life goes on. At least for now
Code:
SP Forum Name Characters Level Furthest WP Points
-- ----------------- ---------------- ------ ---------------------- -------
Y Hanshotfirst Sorc/Sin 80/74 (H) Lut Gholein 130
N Booble Sorc/Druid 29/28 Frigid Highlands 43
Y Gynli Zon/Necro 32/48 (N) Rogue Encampment 33
N Crudesash68 Zon/Paladin 26/32 River of Flame 33
N PhineasB Necro/Druid 32/24 Harrogath 33
N DariusTriplet Sorc/Zon 31/24 River of Flame 32
Y Pb_pal Sorc/Zon 30/25 Pandemonium Fortress 30
N Swamigoon Sin/Druid 23/20 Kurast Docks 17
Y Vildecor Zon/Sorc 21/20 Lut Gholein 12
Y skoolbus Druid/Sorc 28/1 Kurast Docks 12
Y Maltatai Druid/Druid 21/15 Lut Gholein Sewers 9
Y b1ur Paladin/Druid 20/1 Lut Gholein 6
N CaseyJones Sorc/Druid 1/1 Rogue Encampment 0
Last edited:
Crudesash
Well-known member
- Feb 19, 2021
- 177
- 255
- 63
@Gynli I'm looking at that board, and I'm thinking you should have around 50 points? One character cleared normal, that's 30, and it looks like your other finished Act 4, so that should be another 21. I didn't want to edit that since, well, I'm not you, but I figured I'd mention it.
Wait...50 points...leapfrogging Booble...did I just pull a Dumbledore? I believe I did. Time for a Chocolate Frog.
Wait...50 points...leapfrogging Booble...did I just pull a Dumbledore? I believe I did. Time for a Chocolate Frog.
- Mar 19, 2020
- 3,349
- 1,404
- 113
@HanShotFirst - That sounds horrifying! Excellent job keeping the sorc alive!
@Crudesash68 - Glad to see you manage to get your revenge against Diablo and move on from him permanently (until the next difficulty, that is)!
@Crudesash68 - Glad to see you manage to get your revenge against Diablo and move on from him permanently (until the next difficulty, that is)!
@Crudesash68 That Harry Potter reference made me actually laugh out loud. My wife watches it all the time and I give her so much crap about that part specifically. "oh looks like harry isn't going to win, 1 million points to just harry" lol
Looking forward to playing some this weekend and surpassing @Gynli again. Especially if those points don't get updated haha
Good progress everyone
Looking forward to playing some this weekend and surpassing @Gynli again. Especially if those points don't get updated haha
Good progress everyone
- Feb 24, 2006
- 1,057
- 1,972
- 113
GunnySack has advanced to act 4. So far, I have put just one point in each of his Feral Rage, Rabies, and Fury skills. I put ten in Werewolf, and eighteen so far in Lycanthropy; I figured it would be wise to max that last skill, and after that I'll probably start pumping up Fury. He's had some nice luck with pelts, first a wolf's head with +3 Lycanthropy, and part way through act 3, he found a falcon mask with +3 Feral Rage and a socket. I have cubed up one flawless topaz, so if I'm lucky enough to find more topazes or a gem shrine, I'd like to put a perfect topaz into that bird-head.
The closest he came to an NDE happened when Battlemaid Sarina and her cohorts brought GunnySack to less than forty hit points. Red potions, a careful short retreat, and Feral Rage's life-stealing attacks soon brought his health back up to a not-so-scary level.
He also found a three-socket poleaxe. I decided to revisit some previous acts to try to glean a few runes for a Malice runeword. While doing so, he found another nice item:
He hasn't built his Malice pole arm yet, but he now has the runes to do so, as well as a +5 replenish amulet to counter Malice's life drain effect.
Recently, while researching and writing another guide, I was reminded that the Travincal council quest isn't mandatory. Only one of the three high councilors needs to be defeated, just to get Khalim's Flail. So I gave it a try: GunnySack and Vikhyat just killed Toorc, crafted and equipped Khalim's Will, raced into the temple, smashed the orb, dodged some hydras and councilors for a few seconds, and straight away went into the Durance.
I chose to use the shiny new Gull to fight Mephisto. Fury with a dagger moves really fast! But even with Gull's damage bonus, it just doesn't hurt /p7 Mephisto very much. I switched back to using his rare enhanced-damage battle axe for most of that battle, and switch again to Gull a few seconds before Vikhyat finished off the act boss. Regrettably, Mephisto dropped just three rares, none of which were exciting. I'll keep the Gull a while longer to see if it will help to find something worthwhile.
After arriving at the Pandemonium Fortress and a save/exit, GunnySack started again and instantly returned to Travincal, to take care of his last unfinished act 3 quest. I thought this plan (and the Gull) would give him an extra chance at nice drops, since all three council members would now roll random items, now that the first one killed was no longer restricted to dropping his Khalim's quest item. Unfortunately, the council only yielded five blue magic items, none of which I wanted to keep.
Instead of proceeding through act 4 with GunnySack, I think I'll let BurlapBag catch up a bit instead. She has a lot of unspent skill points, but she's tantalizingly close to level 24 and her Mind Blast skill. The highest-tier shadow disciplines (Mind Blast, Shadow Master, and Venom) are the skills I really want her to pump up. She's been plinking away with a Leadcrow unique light crossbow, but I think I'll let her carry the Gull through act 3 and see what comes of it.
The closest he came to an NDE happened when Battlemaid Sarina and her cohorts brought GunnySack to less than forty hit points. Red potions, a careful short retreat, and Feral Rage's life-stealing attacks soon brought his health back up to a not-so-scary level.
He also found a three-socket poleaxe. I decided to revisit some previous acts to try to glean a few runes for a Malice runeword. While doing so, he found another nice item:
Recently, while researching and writing another guide, I was reminded that the Travincal council quest isn't mandatory. Only one of the three high councilors needs to be defeated, just to get Khalim's Flail. So I gave it a try: GunnySack and Vikhyat just killed Toorc, crafted and equipped Khalim's Will, raced into the temple, smashed the orb, dodged some hydras and councilors for a few seconds, and straight away went into the Durance.
I chose to use the shiny new Gull to fight Mephisto. Fury with a dagger moves really fast! But even with Gull's damage bonus, it just doesn't hurt /p7 Mephisto very much. I switched back to using his rare enhanced-damage battle axe for most of that battle, and switch again to Gull a few seconds before Vikhyat finished off the act boss. Regrettably, Mephisto dropped just three rares, none of which were exciting. I'll keep the Gull a while longer to see if it will help to find something worthwhile.
After arriving at the Pandemonium Fortress and a save/exit, GunnySack started again and instantly returned to Travincal, to take care of his last unfinished act 3 quest. I thought this plan (and the Gull) would give him an extra chance at nice drops, since all three council members would now roll random items, now that the first one killed was no longer restricted to dropping his Khalim's quest item. Unfortunately, the council only yielded five blue magic items, none of which I wanted to keep.
Instead of proceeding through act 4 with GunnySack, I think I'll let BurlapBag catch up a bit instead. She has a lot of unspent skill points, but she's tantalizingly close to level 24 and her Mind Blast skill. The highest-tier shadow disciplines (Mind Blast, Shadow Master, and Venom) are the skills I really want her to pump up. She's been plinking away with a Leadcrow unique light crossbow, but I think I'll let her carry the Gull through act 3 and see what comes of it.
Code:
SP Forum Name Characters Level Furthest WP Points
-- ----------------- ---------------- ------ ---------------------- -------
Y Hanshotfirst Sorc/Sin 80/74 (H) Lut Gholein 130
N Booble Sorc/Druid 29/28 Frigid Highlands 43
Y Gynli Zon/Necro 32/48 (N) Rogue Encampment 33
N Crudesash68 Zon/Paladin 26/32 River of Flame 33
N PhineasB Necro/Druid 32/24 Harrogath 33
N DariusTriplet Sorc/Zon 31/24 River of Flame 32
Y Pb_pal Sorc/Zon 30/25 Pandemonium Fortress 30
N Swamigoon Sin/Druid 23/31 Pandemonium Fortress 30
Y Vildecor Zon/Sorc 21/20 Lut Gholein 12
Y skoolbus Druid/Sorc 28/1 Kurast Docks 12
Y Maltatai Druid/Druid 21/15 Lut Gholein Sewers 9
Y b1ur Paladin/Druid 20/1 Lut Gholein 6
N CaseyJones Sorc/Druid 1/1 Rogue Encampment 0
- Mar 14, 2020
- 1,923
- 2,640
- 113
Smooth sailing through Normal for the Druid and Necro. No drops of note (except a FCR rare ring with MF and 14LR from Cows that I hope will become obsolete), and no NDEs. Equipment is meh: basic shopped/gambled MF boots/gloves; MF circlets, rings and amulet; and gemmed body armor (topaz) and shield (diamond). I finally got 2 pTopazes part way through A5 with the Druid, and 2 pDiamonds with Necro after Nihl. But that's a consequence of skipping full clears.
The Druid continued to lead the way, finishing A5 after my Necro quested through A3 and A4. Fissure shows no problems at this stage, as expected. It was p8 except for Ancients (p1) and Baal (p3). Baal took a while with a town trip needed. The plan is to ride Fissure through A3 NM before respec'ing to Windy, and hoping for some decent +skill options by the end of NM to power up with Tornados and Hurricane.
The Necro is interesting without curses, very much a defensive character instead of the offensive powerhouse Fishymancers generally are by late Normal. He was plenty safe as long as I had the patience to let the skeletons and merc do their thing, and gave the merc a health potion if needed. He was also p8 for this stretch, except Meph, Diablo, Ancients, and Baal, all taken on p1. He will benefit from first skill tree unlock to open up Amp Damage, looking forward to the Might Merc in A2 NM.
Keep up the great progress, everyone!
* * *
Code:
SP Forum Name Characters Level Furthest WP Points
-- ----------------- ---------------- ------ ---------------------- -------
Y Hanshotfirst Sorc/Sin 80/74 (H) Lut Gholein 130
N PhineasB Necro/Druid 43/47 (N) Rogue Encampment 60
N Booble Sorc/Druid 29/28 Frigid Highlands 43
Y Gynli Zon/Necro 32/48 (N) Rogue Encampment 33
N Crudesash68 Zon/Paladin 26/32 River of Flame 33
N DariusTriplet Sorc/Zon 31/24 River of Flame 32
Y Pb_pal Sorc/Zon 30/25 Pandemonium Fortress 30
N Swamigoon Sin/Druid 23/31 Pandemonium Fortress 30
Y Vildecor Zon/Sorc 21/20 Lut Gholein 12
Y skoolbus Druid/Sorc 28/1 Kurast Docks 12
Y Maltatai Druid/Druid 21/15 Lut Gholein Sewers 9
Y b1ur Paladin/Druid 20/1 Lut Gholein 6
N CaseyJones Sorc/Druid 1/1 Rogue Encampment 0McRib - Elemental Druid
Still having no trouble. Just finished Act 1 Nightmare. Starting to look for some upgrades to gear for him and his merc. Also I need to start playing a little more careful, stuff is actually doing some damage now and I usually play SC so it doesn't matter if I die. These 2 char's are on SC but for this tournament I need to keep them alive. Time to start picking up armors and high gold items to do some gambling. Maybe craft a helm for the merc.
Gear
Weapon: Leaf Staff
Helm: Rare Circlet 25 Fire Resist
Armor: Stealth Hard Leather
Belt: Sigon
Ring1: 21% nagel
Ring2: 10% Fire 5% Light 10% FCR
Gloves: 9% Light Rare
Boots: Vidala
Merc
Weapon: Rare Pike
Armor: Bad Rare
Helm: Bad Rare
McDouble - Lightning Sorc
She is doing alright. Just made a 34% spirit sword. She is still just using charged bolt. I'm seeing how far I can go before it just cant keep up. Not a lot to say about her right now. No really close calls. I try and stay away from most things and try not to teleport into rooms I'm not sure of. Currently sitting in nightmare Act 1, just finished the den.
Gear
Weapon: 34% Spirit Sword
Shield: Rare Kite shield with resists
Switch: Gull dagger
Helm: Gemmed Skull cap 32% MF
Armor: Stealth Hard Leather
Belt: Rare 24%FHR 19% Cold 28% Light Heavy Belt
Ring1: Magic 10% FCR
Ring2: Magic 20% Light 1MDR
Gloves: Rare 19% MF 12% Light 7% Poison 56% Goldfind Heavy Gloves
Boots: Magic 31% MF
Merc
Weapon: Rare Eth Poleaxe
Armor: Boneflesh
Helm: Rare Skull Cap Frost when struck, 28% Light, 25% Fire, 1 soc (flawed Ruby)
I have not decided who is going to get another skill tree. I'll probably choose that once 1 of them starts having trouble.
Still having no trouble. Just finished Act 1 Nightmare. Starting to look for some upgrades to gear for him and his merc. Also I need to start playing a little more careful, stuff is actually doing some damage now and I usually play SC so it doesn't matter if I die. These 2 char's are on SC but for this tournament I need to keep them alive. Time to start picking up armors and high gold items to do some gambling. Maybe craft a helm for the merc.
Gear
Weapon: Leaf Staff
Helm: Rare Circlet 25 Fire Resist
Armor: Stealth Hard Leather
Belt: Sigon
Ring1: 21% nagel
Ring2: 10% Fire 5% Light 10% FCR
Gloves: 9% Light Rare
Boots: Vidala
Merc
Weapon: Rare Pike
Armor: Bad Rare
Helm: Bad Rare
McDouble - Lightning Sorc
She is doing alright. Just made a 34% spirit sword. She is still just using charged bolt. I'm seeing how far I can go before it just cant keep up. Not a lot to say about her right now. No really close calls. I try and stay away from most things and try not to teleport into rooms I'm not sure of. Currently sitting in nightmare Act 1, just finished the den.
Gear
Weapon: 34% Spirit Sword
Shield: Rare Kite shield with resists
Switch: Gull dagger
Helm: Gemmed Skull cap 32% MF
Armor: Stealth Hard Leather
Belt: Rare 24%FHR 19% Cold 28% Light Heavy Belt
Ring1: Magic 10% FCR
Ring2: Magic 20% Light 1MDR
Gloves: Rare 19% MF 12% Light 7% Poison 56% Goldfind Heavy Gloves
Boots: Magic 31% MF
Merc
Weapon: Rare Eth Poleaxe
Armor: Boneflesh
Helm: Rare Skull Cap Frost when struck, 28% Light, 25% Fire, 1 soc (flawed Ruby)
I have not decided who is going to get another skill tree. I'll probably choose that once 1 of them starts having trouble.
Code:
SP Forum Name Characters Level Furthest WP Points
-- ----------------- ---------------- ------ ---------------------- -------
Y Hanshotfirst Sorc/Sin 80/74 (H) Lut Gholein 130
N Booble Sorc/Druid 32/41 (N) Lut Gholein 67
N PhineasB Necro/Druid 43/47 (N) Rogue Encampment 60
Y Gynli Zon/Necro 32/48 (N) Rogue Encampment 33
N Crudesash68 Zon/Paladin 26/32 River of Flame 33
N DariusTriplet Sorc/Zon 31/24 River of Flame 32
Y Pb_pal Sorc/Zon 30/25 Pandemonium Fortress 30
N Swamigoon Sin/Druid 23/31 Pandemonium Fortress 30
Y Vildecor Zon/Sorc 21/20 Lut Gholein 12
Y skoolbus Druid/Sorc 28/1 Kurast Docks 12
Y Maltatai Druid/Druid 21/15 Lut Gholein Sewers 9
Y b1ur Paladin/Druid 20/1 Lut Gholein 6
N CaseyJones Sorc/Druid 1/1 Rogue Encampment 0- Jan 24, 2008
- 785
- 1,194
- 93
My Frozen Orb Sorceress has cleared Hell Act II at players 5 (players 3 for Halls of the Dead Level 2, 3, and Tal Rasha's Tombs).
Hell Act II started off pretty well. Cold Immunes seemed to be pretty rare in the desert. Radament was the first obstacle:
While not immune to physical, he seemed to be pretty darn close. Static Field took care of half his hit points, but I think it still took the merc about ten minutes to poke his way through the remaining half ... The merc's Insight Partizan had been a dread doomsday weapon of the apocalypse in Normal, and was still quite good in Nightmare, but was starting to struggle at higher players settings here in Hell. Time for an upgrade! But alas, even with full clears, four socketed elite polearms are few and far between ...
I had been hoping to keep the players setting at 5 through Hell but the Halls of the Dead changed my mind. Guardians, (a.k.a. Unravellers), were the first truly annoying monster type for my Sorceress to encounter. Cold immune, decently damaging long and short ranged attacks (especially at players 5), and of course the ability to revive the undead that were here, there, everywhere . Individually they would have been fine, but by and large they were always in groups. One especially bad chamber had a pack of champions Guardians, three unique Guardians, and a Sarcophagus (also cold immune) just for good measure . After lots of teleporting for positioning, casting of Life Tap, and some stunning with Telekinesis, I got it done ... but, wow! Work. Work. Work. After doing the Halls of the Dead Level 1 at players 5 I decided I'd do the next two levels at players 3. Progress was better but still a bit tedious. I needed a better merc weapon ...
So when this dropped:
I was pretty motivated to make it happen.
I still had a socket quest left but remained steadfast in my refusal to use it on such a relatively common item. So third time's a charm with the cube (the two CVs I found in Hell Act I both failed to get four sockets) ... but this time it worked! ... good thing too, that was my last 'spare' Amn Rune. Okay, so I've got a four socketed elite polearm ... but it needs 210 strength ... the merc has 187 ... hmm. Maybe this isn't going to work out after all. Well let's roll the runes and see if it looks like it's worth working out:
Insight
Colossus Voulge
'RalTirTalSol'
Two-Hand Damage: 69 to 585
Durability: 33 of 50
Required Dexterity: 55
Required Strength: 210
Required Level: 48
Polearm Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 77
Fingerprint: 0x486bd95b
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
+255% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
Adds 5-30 fire damage
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 to Critical Strike
35% Faster Cast Rate
199% Bonus to Attack Rating
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 12 Meditation Aura When Equipped
Socketed (4: 4 used)
Ooh. A 255% ED roll. Okay, let's make this happen! So I used one of my three Hel Runes to remove the Sol in my merc's Tal Rasha's Death Mask and added a Pamethyst (10 strength). Thirteen strength left to go ... and of course, it wouldn't hurt to have a bit more so my Assassin's merc could use it sooner than later. I had thought that I could have skipped tinkering with the Tal Rasha's Death Mask by just making a 'Lionheart' ... but alas, it takes three Ko Runes to make a Fal Rune ... for some reason I had thought it was only two . So no Lionheart for me. So I could either stuff some Pamethysts/jewels in a four socketed armor or I could socket the Toothrow I found at NM cows. After a lot of soul searching, I decided I'd use my last available socket quest and this rather stylish rare jewel:
The result:
Toothrow
Sharktooth Armor
Defense: 776
Durability: 63 of 63
Required Strength: 103
Required Level: 48
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 64
Fingerprint: 0x8bdc968c
+18 to Strength
+4 to Life
+177% Enhanced Defense
+29% Enhanced Damage
+8 to Minimum Damage
+59 Defense
Fire Resist +15%
+15 Maximum Durability
Attacker Takes Damage of 24
40% Chance of Open Wounds
Socketed (1: 1 used)
Game on!
I was worried about losing the damage reduction from the Sol and the 'Treachery' armor, but I couldn't really notice the difference. The loss of IAS from the Treachery was noticeable but the increased damage seemed to more than make up for it. Also of note, I could now kill physical/cold immunes:
I guess via the Open Wounds? I wasn't planning on this gear setup having that effect ... but it sure was nice to stumble into! The end result was that there were no monster survivors!
The biggest test of this gear setup (and my character in general) was Tal Rasha's Tombs. Seven tombs full of cold immunes (Blunderbores, Vampires, and yes, Guardians). And all of the tombs but one had Guardian type monsters . Well, nothing to it but to do it:
Same plan as Halls of the Dead: Lots of teleporting for positioning, casting of Life Tap, stunning and pushing with Telekinesis. As mentioned before, we got it done in the end. No survivors! Tombs were done at players 3 (I didn't want to spend forever there). Duriel was done at players 5, and after the tombs, was really more of an afterthought.
So no set/uniques from Duriel (what else is new). But I did get some great set/uniques elsewhere in Hell Act II:
To be continued ... after work ...
Edit: Okay, back from work ...
Here's the set/unqiues that resulted from a P5/P3 clear of Hell Act II:
Again, I went down to a near non-existent 10 mf upon starting Hell.
Bladebone, Double Axe (Sewers Level 3)
Haemosu's Adamant, Cuirass (Sewers Level 3)
Sander's Riprap, Heavy Boots (Rocky Waste)
Immortal King's Stone Crusher, Ogre Maul (Stony Tomb Level 1) <-- I knew I should have made a melee character!
Hwanin's Refuge, Tigulated Mail (Far Oasis)
Immortal King's Stone Crusher, Ogre Maul (Palace Cellar Level 3) <-- Yeah, yeah. Rub it in.
Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Through the Arcane Sanctuary, Canyon of the Magi, and all False Tombs. Then:
Wizardspike, Bone Knife (Tal Rasha's True Tomb) <-- Kablamo
Wizardspike
Bone Knife
One-Hand Damage: 23 to 49
Required Dexterity: 75
Required Strength: 38
Required Level: 61
Dagger Class - Fast Attack Speed
Indestructible
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xe55f003f
Regenerate Mana 15%
All Resistances +75
Increase Maximum Mana 15%
50% Faster Cast Rate
Indestructible
+2 to Mana (Based on Character Level)
Ha ha! A full clear at a decent players setting only results in seven set/uniques but one of them was a Wizardspike! Better lucky than good I suppose. As you can sort of see, it was found with only a few chambers left in the true tomb (done after all the false tombs). It's a neat find on a single pass character but I don't know that I'll use it. I'm feeling all set on resistances and mana and the high(er) FCR isn't really needed (I'm already hitting the 63% FCR breakpoint). But, should I want/need to free up some other slots in the future, I'll be keeping this beauty in mind!
Also of note. I found a couple elite eth armors. A Diamond Mail in the Claw Viper Temple Level 1, and a Boneweave in the Claw Viper Temple Level 2. I'm a sucker for cubing elite eth armor so I gave them both a shot:
Diamond Mail
Defense: 870
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Strength: 121
Required Level: 54
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0x1accae90
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (4: 0 used)
Boneweave
Defense: 1009
Durability: 23 of 23
Required Strength: 148
Required Level: 47
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x3eeb2764
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (2: 0 used)
The Diamond Mail could be good for stuffing full of Pamethysts so my Trapsin's merc could use the CV Insight right out of the Rogue Emcampment. The Boneweave is more interesting. If I can come up with an elite four socketed Polearm with less extreme strength requirements, a high defense Smoke could be neat. And I suppose I wouldn't be opposed to making a Prudence if one of the Hellforges were to oblige ... But there's a long ways to go before I can start thinking about that. First things first.
Oh. And before I go. I also thought this was neat:
Loath Ward
Monarch
Defense: 137
Chance to Block: 42%
Smite Damage: 12 to 34
Durability: 73 of 86
Required Strength: 156
Required Level: 54
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x6de57c87
Damage Reduced by 5
Fire Resist +23%
Lightning Resist +18%
Cold Resist +18%
Poison Resist +18%
Replenish Life +5
Poison Length Reduced by 25%
Socketed (2: 0 used)
I believe it came out of the Claw Viper Temple. Great stats! But not such a great base. I've been keeping the option of a Spirit Monarch open on both my characters so I have the saved stat points to get to 156 strength. This beats my three Pdiamond Kite Shield so I might go ahead and spend the stat points on strength and use this shield until/if a four socket monarch comes along ... Those 86 saved stat points aren't doing any good sitting in reserve ... hmm ...
Up next: Time for my Trapsin to get a taste of Hell! In addition to 86 stat points, she's sitting on 19 skill points that I get to spend now that her Shadow tree is unlocked. I'm a bit on the fence about Shadow Warrior vs Shadow Master. I haven't used Shadow Master in ages ... so I'm a bit curious now ... but I'm pretty sure there's a good reason I always choose Shadow Warrior. I'm thinking a minion casting Cloak of Shadows and Mindblast could be pretty annoying and perhaps dangerous. But maybe that wouldn't happen as much as I fear ... idk ... anyone have any strong feelings on Warrior vs Master?
Edit: Too late! I'm going Shadow Master. I decided that sharing traps with Shadow Warrior would be more annoying than an occasional Mindblast from Shadow Master. But more than that, I'm going with Shadow Master for curiosity and fun! I mean, what's not to like about watching a minion decide to use fire skills against fire immunes? Should be great comic relief!
Hell Act II started off pretty well. Cold Immunes seemed to be pretty rare in the desert. Radament was the first obstacle:
While not immune to physical, he seemed to be pretty darn close. Static Field took care of half his hit points, but I think it still took the merc about ten minutes to poke his way through the remaining half ... The merc's Insight Partizan had been a dread doomsday weapon of the apocalypse in Normal, and was still quite good in Nightmare, but was starting to struggle at higher players settings here in Hell. Time for an upgrade! But alas, even with full clears, four socketed elite polearms are few and far between ...
I had been hoping to keep the players setting at 5 through Hell but the Halls of the Dead changed my mind. Guardians, (a.k.a. Unravellers), were the first truly annoying monster type for my Sorceress to encounter. Cold immune, decently damaging long and short ranged attacks (especially at players 5), and of course the ability to revive the undead that were here, there, everywhere
. Individually they would have been fine, but by and large they were always in groups. One especially bad chamber had a pack of champions Guardians, three unique Guardians, and a Sarcophagus (also cold immune) just for good measure . After lots of teleporting for positioning, casting of Life Tap, and some stunning with Telekinesis, I got it done ... but, wow! Work. Work. Work. After doing the Halls of the Dead Level 1 at players 5 I decided I'd do the next two levels at players 3. Progress was better but still a bit tedious. I needed a better merc weapon ...So when this dropped:
I was pretty motivated to make it happen.
I still had a socket quest left but remained steadfast in my refusal to use it on such a relatively common item. So third time's a charm with the cube (the two CVs I found in Hell Act I both failed to get four sockets) ... but this time it worked! ... good thing too, that was my last 'spare' Amn Rune. Okay, so I've got a four socketed elite polearm ... but it needs 210 strength ... the merc has 187 ... hmm. Maybe this isn't going to work out after all. Well let's roll the runes and see if it looks like it's worth working out:
Insight
Colossus Voulge
'RalTirTalSol'
Two-Hand Damage: 69 to 585
Durability: 33 of 50
Required Dexterity: 55
Required Strength: 210
Required Level: 48
Polearm Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 77
Fingerprint: 0x486bd95b
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
+255% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
Adds 5-30 fire damage
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 to Critical Strike
35% Faster Cast Rate
199% Bonus to Attack Rating
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 12 Meditation Aura When Equipped
Socketed (4: 4 used)
Ooh. A 255% ED roll. Okay, let's make this happen! So I used one of my three Hel Runes to remove the Sol in my merc's Tal Rasha's Death Mask and added a Pamethyst (10 strength). Thirteen strength left to go ... and of course, it wouldn't hurt to have a bit more so my Assassin's merc could use it sooner than later. I had thought that I could have skipped tinkering with the Tal Rasha's Death Mask by just making a 'Lionheart' ... but alas, it takes three Ko Runes to make a Fal Rune ... for some reason I had thought it was only two
. So no Lionheart for me. So I could either stuff some Pamethysts/jewels in a four socketed armor or I could socket the Toothrow I found at NM cows. After a lot of soul searching, I decided I'd use my last available socket quest and this rather stylish rare jewel:The result:
Toothrow
Sharktooth Armor
Defense: 776
Durability: 63 of 63
Required Strength: 103
Required Level: 48
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 64
Fingerprint: 0x8bdc968c
+18 to Strength
+4 to Life
+177% Enhanced Defense
+29% Enhanced Damage
+8 to Minimum Damage
+59 Defense
Fire Resist +15%
+15 Maximum Durability
Attacker Takes Damage of 24
40% Chance of Open Wounds
Socketed (1: 1 used)
Game on!
I was worried about losing the damage reduction from the Sol and the 'Treachery' armor, but I couldn't really notice the difference. The loss of IAS from the Treachery was noticeable but the increased damage seemed to more than make up for it. Also of note, I could now kill physical/cold immunes:
I guess via the Open Wounds? I wasn't planning on this gear setup having that effect ... but it sure was nice to stumble into! The end result was that there were no monster survivors!
The biggest test of this gear setup (and my character in general) was Tal Rasha's Tombs. Seven tombs full of cold immunes (Blunderbores, Vampires, and yes, Guardians). And all of the tombs but one had Guardian type monsters
. Well, nothing to it but to do it:Same plan as Halls of the Dead: Lots of teleporting for positioning, casting of Life Tap, stunning and pushing with Telekinesis. As mentioned before, we got it done in the end. No survivors! Tombs were done at players 3 (I didn't want to spend forever there). Duriel was done at players 5, and after the tombs, was really more of an afterthought.
So no set/uniques from Duriel (what else is new). But I did get some great set/uniques elsewhere in Hell Act II:
To be continued ... after work ...
Edit: Okay, back from work ...
Here's the set/unqiues that resulted from a P5/P3 clear of Hell Act II:
Again, I went down to a near non-existent 10 mf upon starting Hell.
Bladebone, Double Axe (Sewers Level 3)
Haemosu's Adamant, Cuirass (Sewers Level 3)
Sander's Riprap, Heavy Boots (Rocky Waste)
Immortal King's Stone Crusher, Ogre Maul (Stony Tomb Level 1) <-- I knew I should have made a melee character!
Hwanin's Refuge, Tigulated Mail (Far Oasis)
Immortal King's Stone Crusher, Ogre Maul (Palace Cellar Level 3) <-- Yeah, yeah. Rub it in.
Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Through the Arcane Sanctuary, Canyon of the Magi, and all False Tombs. Then:
Wizardspike, Bone Knife (Tal Rasha's True Tomb) <-- Kablamo
Wizardspike
Bone Knife
One-Hand Damage: 23 to 49
Required Dexterity: 75
Required Strength: 38
Required Level: 61
Dagger Class - Fast Attack Speed
Indestructible
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xe55f003f
Regenerate Mana 15%
All Resistances +75
Increase Maximum Mana 15%
50% Faster Cast Rate
Indestructible
+2 to Mana (Based on Character Level)
Ha ha! A full clear at a decent players setting only results in seven set/uniques but one of them was a Wizardspike! Better lucky than good I suppose. As you can sort of see, it was found with only a few chambers left in the true tomb (done after all the false tombs). It's a neat find on a single pass character but I don't know that I'll use it. I'm feeling all set on resistances and mana and the high(er) FCR isn't really needed (I'm already hitting the 63% FCR breakpoint). But, should I want/need to free up some other slots in the future, I'll be keeping this beauty in mind!
Also of note. I found a couple elite eth armors. A Diamond Mail in the Claw Viper Temple Level 1, and a Boneweave in the Claw Viper Temple Level 2. I'm a sucker for cubing elite eth armor so I gave them both a shot:
Diamond Mail
Defense: 870
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Strength: 121
Required Level: 54
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0x1accae90
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (4: 0 used)
Boneweave
Defense: 1009
Durability: 23 of 23
Required Strength: 148
Required Level: 47
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x3eeb2764
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (2: 0 used)
The Diamond Mail could be good for stuffing full of Pamethysts so my Trapsin's merc could use the CV Insight right out of the Rogue Emcampment. The Boneweave is more interesting. If I can come up with an elite four socketed Polearm with less extreme strength requirements, a high defense Smoke could be neat. And I suppose I wouldn't be opposed to making a Prudence if one of the Hellforges were to oblige ... But there's a long ways to go before I can start thinking about that. First things first.
Oh. And before I go. I also thought this was neat:
Loath Ward
Monarch
Defense: 137
Chance to Block: 42%
Smite Damage: 12 to 34
Durability: 73 of 86
Required Strength: 156
Required Level: 54
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x6de57c87
Damage Reduced by 5
Fire Resist +23%
Lightning Resist +18%
Cold Resist +18%
Poison Resist +18%
Replenish Life +5
Poison Length Reduced by 25%
Socketed (2: 0 used)
I believe it came out of the Claw Viper Temple. Great stats! But not such a great base. I've been keeping the option of a Spirit Monarch open on both my characters so I have the saved stat points to get to 156 strength. This beats my three Pdiamond Kite Shield so I might go ahead and spend the stat points on strength and use this shield until/if a four socket monarch comes along ... Those 86 saved stat points aren't doing any good sitting in reserve ... hmm ...
Code:
SP Forum Name Characters Level Furthest WP Points
-- ----------------- ---------------- ------ ---------------------- -------
Y Hanshotfirst Sorc/Sin 85/74 (H) Canyon of the Magi 136
N Booble Sorc/Druid 32/41 (N) Lut Gholein 67
N PhineasB Necro/Druid 43/47 (N) Rogue Encampment 60
Y Gynli Zon/Necro 32/48 (N) Rogue Encampment 33
N Crudesash68 Zon/Paladin 26/32 River of Flame 33
N DariusTriplet Sorc/Zon 31/24 River of Flame 32
Y Pb_pal Sorc/Zon 30/25 Pandemonium Fortress 30
N Swamigoon Sin/Druid 23/31 Pandemonium Fortress 30
Y Vildecor Zon/Sorc 21/20 Lut Gholein 12
Y skoolbus Druid/Sorc 28/1 Kurast Docks 12
Y Maltatai Druid/Druid 21/15 Lut Gholein Sewers 9
Y b1ur Paladin/Druid 20/1 Lut Gholein 6
N CaseyJones Sorc/Druid 1/1 Rogue Encampment 0Up next: Time for my Trapsin to get a taste of Hell! In addition to 86 stat points, she's sitting on 19 skill points that I get to spend now that her Shadow tree is unlocked. I'm a bit on the fence about Shadow Warrior vs Shadow Master. I haven't used Shadow Master in ages ... so I'm a bit curious now ... but I'm pretty sure there's a good reason I always choose Shadow Warrior. I'm thinking a minion casting Cloak of Shadows and Mindblast could be pretty annoying and perhaps dangerous. But maybe that wouldn't happen as much as I fear ... idk ... anyone have any strong feelings on Warrior vs Master?
Edit: Too late! I'm going Shadow Master. I decided that sharing traps with Shadow Warrior would be more annoying than an occasional Mindblast from Shadow Master. But more than that, I'm going with Shadow Master for curiosity and fun! I mean, what's not to like about watching a minion decide to use fire skills against fire immunes? Should be great comic relief!
Last edited:
- Mar 5, 2021
- 89
- 194
- 33
@Pb_pal Thanks for the advice! I'll start putting points into Fissure.
@HanShotFirst I enjoy reading about all the S/U drops you find each update, I'm quite in awe of the sheer number you're finding. Even after dropping the MF for survival gear, it's still impressive.
Since Ifrit had made it to Act III, that meant it was time to start on Shiva. She was planned to be a FO/Hydra Sorc. The beginning of her journey was fairly uneventful, arbitrary allotment of skill points into whatever cold skill was the best at the current time, knowing I can respec later. I am optimistic about her MF'ing luck, despite not having enough chipped topazes to fully outfit her and the merc, she has had great luck so far with set/unique drops. The highlight has been a 29% nagel. Once she hit level 30, the game basically went into easy mode, FO simply lays waste to everything. Meph and Diablo were easily handled on /p8. Her health is pretty low, I wasn't always sure she would make it out of normal (still hasn't), I may be ditching MF items sooner than I'd like in order to ensure survival. As far as interesting pictures, I have a couple of her:
The third Crushflange she's found, courtesy of Meph:
Bring on the runes!
After killing Diablo, she's level 35, sitting in Harrogoth, where she will wait until Ifrit kills Baal or dies in the journey.
SP Forum Name Characters Level Furthest WP Points
-- ----------------- ---------------- ------ ---------------------- -------
Y Hanshotfirst Sorc/Sin 85/74 (H) Canyon of the Magi 136
N Booble Sorc/Druid 32/41 (N) Lut Gholein 67
N PhineasB Necro/Druid 43/47 (N) Rogue Encampment 60
Y Gynli Zon/Necro 32/48 (N) Rogue Encampment 33
N Crudesash68 Zon/Paladin 26/32 River of Flame 33
N DariusTriplet Sorc/Zon 31/24 River of Flame 32
Y Pb_pal Sorc/Zon 30/25 Pandemonium Fortress 30
N Swamigoon Sin/Druid 23/31 Pandemonium Fortress 30
Y Vildecor Zon/Sorc 21/20 Lut Gholein 12
Y skoolbus Druid/Sorc 28/35 Harrogoth 12
Y Maltatai Druid/Druid 21/15 Lut Gholein Sewers 9
Y b1ur Paladin/Druid 20/1 Lut Gholein 6
N CaseyJones Sorc/Druid 1/1 Rogue Encampment 0
Crudesash
Well-known member
- Feb 19, 2021
- 177
- 255
- 63
Artemis ventured into the Jungles of Kurast armed with her trusty javelin and faithful sidekick paid flunky Vikhyat and taught those nasty ankle biters, walking trees and zealots a thing or two. Or three.
Act 3 was very easy for our young Amazon, clearing the entirety on /p5, including most of the fame/temple areas and the great marsh. No NDE's but I had to dance with Bremm who spawned with Conviction...nasty bugger. Mephisto was a little tricky but once I got him in a good spot he choked on a volley of lightning bolts.
While I was savvy enough to swap to the Gull and let the merc enjoy the KB, the result was Arcanna's Head and some rares. Ah well.
No great drops but way more than what the Paladin was able to find: The Chieftain, Isenhart's Lightbrand, Bloodrise, Skewer of Krintiz, Sander's Tabbo and the above Arcanna's.
Now to Act IV, as we start to see Lightning Fury take over. Mana is super low so it'll be chug city for a while.
Act 3 was very easy for our young Amazon, clearing the entirety on /p5, including most of the fame/temple areas and the great marsh. No NDE's but I had to dance with Bremm who spawned with Conviction...nasty bugger. Mephisto was a little tricky but once I got him in a good spot he choked on a volley of lightning bolts.
While I was savvy enough to swap to the Gull and let the merc enjoy the KB, the result was Arcanna's Head and some rares. Ah well.
No great drops but way more than what the Paladin was able to find: The Chieftain, Isenhart's Lightbrand, Bloodrise, Skewer of Krintiz, Sander's Tabbo and the above Arcanna's.
Now to Act IV, as we start to see Lightning Fury take over. Mana is super low so it'll be chug city for a while.
Code:
SP Forum Name Characters Level Furthest WP Points
-- ----------------- ---------------- ------ ---------------------- -------
Y Hanshotfirst Sorc/Sin 85/74 (H) Canyon of the Magi 136
N Booble Sorc/Druid 32/41 (N) Lut Gholein 67
N PhineasB Necro/Druid 43/47 (N) Rogue Encampment 60
Y Gynli Zon/Necro 32/48 (N) Rogue Encampment 33
N Crudesash68 Zon/Paladin 30/32 River of Flame 39
N DariusTriplet Sorc/Zon 31/24 River of Flame 32
Y Pb_pal Sorc/Zon 30/25 Pandemonium Fortress 30
N Swamigoon Sin/Druid 23/31 Pandemonium Fortress 30
Y Vildecor Zon/Sorc 21/20 Lut Gholein 12
Y skoolbus Druid/Sorc 28/35 Harrogoth 12
Y Maltatai Druid/Druid 21/15 Lut Gholein Sewers 9
Y b1ur Paladin/Druid 20/1 Lut Gholein 6
N CaseyJones Sorc/Druid 1/1 Rogue Encampment 0- Jan 24, 2008
- 785
- 1,194
- 93
Andariel has fallen. Again, and for the last time! (This tournament.)
Wow. Before starting this tournament I really failed to realize how much time would be involved in doing a single pass full clear on two characters. Now that I've completed twenty-three acts, I'm feeling it. All I can say is, good thing I chose two 'normal' character builds. I don't think I could have handled attempting this with an Inferno Sorceress and a Psychic Hammer Assassin.
Indeed, with my Trapsin entering Hell she was now very 'normal'. I unlocked the Shadow tree and with my 19 saved skill points put one point in every Shadow tree skill except Venom. Shadow Master got everything that was left and was nearly maxed by the end of the act. With all the usual skills at my disposal I thought the challenge part of the tournament had ended, and in some ways it had. But there was something I didn't consider, I have the skills at my disposal, but do I know how to use them? Hell Act I felt like a lot of learning on the job.
Doing a players 3/5 full clear of Hell Act I, the danger was real. And I wasn't always sure I was up to the task. There was confusing which new skill was hot keyed where (and therefore using one skill in place of the other). Then there was missing opportunities to head off threats by under utilizing my new skills (I still haven't decided on how best to use Mindblast). And then there was the just plain stupid stuff, like casting Fade and Burst of Speed one right after the other and expecting both to work ... So, yeah ... My Assassin play is evidently more than a little rusty ...
But it didn't catch up to me. I got the full clear done at a mixture of players 3 and 5 (depending on how many and what kind of lightning immunes were around). And it was a full clear. My Sorceress had to leave a unique monster behind, but my Assassin left no survivors! Interestingly, my Trapsin had the same experience as my Frozen Orb Sorceress. The early parts seemed hardest. Though this was somewhat expected. The Burial Grounds, Crypt, Mausoleum, and even the Cave are all brimming with lightning immunes.
So before starting Hell Act I, I had to do some work on the merc's gear. (My Trapsin is pretty much using the same gear as my Frozen Orb Sorceress except is using mf gear in place of mana boosting gear.) I decided against all those LIs I'd want to use the Insight CV that my Sorceress had made. Problem is, my Assassin's merc needed +37 strength to make that happen. The gear my Sorceress had created (Tal Rasha's Death Mask w/Pamethyst, and Toothrow Sharktooth Armor w/+8 strength rare jewel) only has +28 strength total. So I needed to make some new merc gear. But even with full clears from two characters, we're on a bit of a budget here:
Gemmed Diamond Mail
Defense: 870
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Strength: 121
Required Level: 54
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0x1accae90
+30 to Strength
Lightning Resist +22%
15% Increased Attack Speed
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (4: 4 used)
I mean, it's not that ba-aaad. The IAS/LR jewel takes the merc's attack to seven frames (down from eight). The defense is nice and high from being cubed. And it is a pretty shade of purple. Add Tal Rasha's Death Mask w/Pamethyst and we're in business right out of the Rogue Encampment! It wasn't ideal, but it would get the job done until something better came along:
Insight
Thresher
'RalTirTalSol'
Two-Hand Damage: 51 to 503
Durability: 63 of 65
Required Dexterity: 118
Required Strength: 152
Required Level: 53
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x457dc361
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
+257% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
Adds 5-30 fire damage
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+5 to Critical Strike
35% Faster Cast Rate
191% Bonus to Attack Rating
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 12 Meditation Aura When Equipped
Socketed (4: 4 used)
Killer ED% roll to boot! Not needing +strength gear changes everything! I Hel'ed the Pamethyst out of Tal Rasha's Death Mask and stuck a Sol Rune back into it. (Yes, I had a Sol Rune there before I Hel'ed it out so I could get to 210 strength on my Sorceress' merc.) I considered using my last Hel Rune to remove the rare jewel from my Toothrow to stick a Sol Rune in its place ... but I was out of Sol Runes ... curse you 1.11b! That's okay, the Treachery my Sorceress used from Hell Act I to mid Hell Act II is quite nice:
Treachery
Templar Coat
'ShaelThulLem'
Defense: 591
Durability: 31 of 31
Required Strength: 108
Required Level: 43
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 61
Fingerprint: 0x19ec631f
Cold Resist +30%
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
45% Increased Attack Speed
20% Faster Hit Recovery
25% Chance to cast Level 15 Venom on striking
5% Chance to cast Level 15 Fade when struck
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (3: 3 used)
The 45% IAS takes the merc's attack down to five frames! And the rest of the stats are quite helpful too. Still, I sure do miss the Open Wounds on Toothrow ... hmm ... maybe later!
Those two Threshers were the only elite polearms I came across in the process of full clearing Hell Act I. Perhaps oddly, my Sorceress only found two elite polearms (CVs) in a players 5 full clear of Hell Act I (neither cubed to four sockets). No monarch shields dropped for my Trapsin just as none had dropped for my Sorceress.
So while socketables have been my main interest since entering Hell there were some set/unique drops. My Assassin is operating with a bit more mf than my Sorceress ... but probably still not enough to make much of a difference ...
Here's what resulted from a players 3/5 full clear of Hell Act I with 80 mf (+23 if merc kills):
Ume's Lament, Grim Wand (Blood Moor)
Stormstrike, Short Battle Bow (Cave Level 1)
Warshrike, Winged Knife (Mausoleum)
Manald Heal, Ring (Tower Cellar Level 5 - Countess) <-- Aaah. Got my hopes up here.
Bverrit Keep, Tower Shield (Barracks)
Bloodthief, Brandistock (Jail Level 2)
So yeah. Seventy more mf than my Sorceress, but six set/uniques to her ten. Oh well. That's been the case this whole tournament. And I can't complain! Not when my Assassin has gone and done it again: Finding a nice base for an Insight and getting a killer ED% roll!
Up next: Hell Act II. I'm feeling pretty good with my new merc setup ... I can't really think of any foreseeable problems ... which now that I think about, gets me kind of worried . Oh well. Maybe I'll find a monarch shield (... which I don't/won't have a sure-fire way to socket for a while anyways ...) At the very least, I'm looking forward to introducing those cold immune Guardians (Unravellers) to my Death Sentries and my newly upgraded merc!
Wow. Before starting this tournament I really failed to realize how much time would be involved in doing a single pass full clear on two characters. Now that I've completed twenty-three acts, I'm feeling it. All I can say is, good thing I chose two 'normal' character builds. I don't think I could have handled attempting this with an Inferno Sorceress and a Psychic Hammer Assassin.
Indeed, with my Trapsin entering Hell she was now very 'normal'. I unlocked the Shadow tree and with my 19 saved skill points put one point in every Shadow tree skill except Venom. Shadow Master got everything that was left and was nearly maxed by the end of the act. With all the usual skills at my disposal I thought the challenge part of the tournament had ended, and in some ways it had. But there was something I didn't consider, I have the skills at my disposal, but do I know how to use them? Hell Act I felt like a lot of learning on the job.
Doing a players 3/5 full clear of Hell Act I, the danger was real. And I wasn't always sure I was up to the task. There was confusing which new skill was hot keyed where (and therefore using one skill in place of the other). Then there was missing opportunities to head off threats by under utilizing my new skills (I still haven't decided on how best to use Mindblast). And then there was the just plain stupid stuff, like casting Fade and Burst of Speed one right after the other and expecting both to work ... So, yeah ... My Assassin play is evidently more than a little rusty ...
But it didn't catch up to me. I got the full clear done at a mixture of players 3 and 5 (depending on how many and what kind of lightning immunes were around). And it was a full clear. My Sorceress had to leave a unique monster behind, but my Assassin left no survivors! Interestingly, my Trapsin had the same experience as my Frozen Orb Sorceress. The early parts seemed hardest. Though this was somewhat expected. The Burial Grounds, Crypt, Mausoleum, and even the Cave are all brimming with lightning immunes.
So before starting Hell Act I, I had to do some work on the merc's gear. (My Trapsin is pretty much using the same gear as my Frozen Orb Sorceress except is using mf gear in place of mana boosting gear.) I decided against all those LIs I'd want to use the Insight CV that my Sorceress had made. Problem is, my Assassin's merc needed +37 strength to make that happen. The gear my Sorceress had created (Tal Rasha's Death Mask w/Pamethyst, and Toothrow Sharktooth Armor w/+8 strength rare jewel) only has +28 strength total. So I needed to make some new merc gear. But even with full clears from two characters, we're on a bit of a budget here:
Gemmed Diamond Mail
Defense: 870
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Strength: 121
Required Level: 54
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0x1accae90
+30 to Strength
Lightning Resist +22%
15% Increased Attack Speed
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (4: 4 used)
I mean, it's not that ba-aaad. The IAS/LR jewel takes the merc's attack to seven frames (down from eight). The defense is nice and high from being cubed. And it is a pretty shade of purple. Add Tal Rasha's Death Mask w/Pamethyst and we're in business right out of the Rogue Encampment! It wasn't ideal, but it would get the job done until something better came along:
Nope. Go fish!
Thresher
Two-Hand Damage: 12 to 141
Durability: 51 of 65
Required Dexterity: 118
Required Strength: 152
Required Level: 53
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x3ffcf0c5
Socketed (5: 0 used)
Thresher
Two-Hand Damage: 12 to 141
Durability: 51 of 65
Required Dexterity: 118
Required Strength: 152
Required Level: 53
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x3ffcf0c5
Socketed (5: 0 used)
Insight
Thresher
'RalTirTalSol'
Two-Hand Damage: 51 to 503
Durability: 63 of 65
Required Dexterity: 118
Required Strength: 152
Required Level: 53
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x457dc361
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
+257% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
Adds 5-30 fire damage
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+5 to Critical Strike
35% Faster Cast Rate
191% Bonus to Attack Rating
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 12 Meditation Aura When Equipped
Socketed (4: 4 used)
Killer ED% roll to boot! Not needing +strength gear changes everything! I Hel'ed the Pamethyst out of Tal Rasha's Death Mask and stuck a Sol Rune back into it. (Yes, I had a Sol Rune there before I Hel'ed it out so I could get to 210 strength on my Sorceress' merc.) I considered using my last Hel Rune to remove the rare jewel from my Toothrow to stick a Sol Rune in its place ... but I was out of Sol Runes ... curse you 1.11b! That's okay, the Treachery my Sorceress used from Hell Act I to mid Hell Act II is quite nice:
Treachery
Templar Coat
'ShaelThulLem'
Defense: 591
Durability: 31 of 31
Required Strength: 108
Required Level: 43
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 61
Fingerprint: 0x19ec631f
Cold Resist +30%
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
45% Increased Attack Speed
20% Faster Hit Recovery
25% Chance to cast Level 15 Venom on striking
5% Chance to cast Level 15 Fade when struck
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (3: 3 used)
The 45% IAS takes the merc's attack down to five frames! And the rest of the stats are quite helpful too. Still, I sure do miss the Open Wounds on Toothrow ... hmm ... maybe later!
Those two Threshers were the only elite polearms I came across in the process of full clearing Hell Act I. Perhaps oddly, my Sorceress only found two elite polearms (CVs) in a players 5 full clear of Hell Act I (neither cubed to four sockets). No monarch shields dropped for my Trapsin just as none had dropped for my Sorceress.
So while socketables have been my main interest since entering Hell there were some set/unique drops. My Assassin is operating with a bit more mf than my Sorceress ... but probably still not enough to make much of a difference ...
Here's what resulted from a players 3/5 full clear of Hell Act I with 80 mf (+23 if merc kills):
Ume's Lament, Grim Wand (Blood Moor)
Stormstrike, Short Battle Bow (Cave Level 1)
Warshrike, Winged Knife (Mausoleum)
Manald Heal, Ring (Tower Cellar Level 5 - Countess) <-- Aaah. Got my hopes up here.
Bverrit Keep, Tower Shield (Barracks)
Bloodthief, Brandistock (Jail Level 2)
So yeah. Seventy more mf than my Sorceress, but six set/uniques to her ten. Oh well. That's been the case this whole tournament. And I can't complain! Not when my Assassin has gone and done it again: Finding a nice base for an Insight and getting a killer ED% roll!
Code:
SP Forum Name Characters Level Furthest WP Points
-- ----------------- ---------------- ------ ---------------------- -------
Y Hanshotfirst Sorc/Sin 85/79 (H) Kurast Docks 142
N Booble Sorc/Druid 32/41 (N) Lut Gholein 67
N PhineasB Necro/Druid 43/47 (N) Rogue Encampment 60
Y Gynli Zon/Necro 32/48 (N) Rogue Encampment 33
N Crudesash68 Zon/Paladin 30/32 River of Flame 39
N DariusTriplet Sorc/Zon 31/24 River of Flame 32
Y Pb_pal Sorc/Zon 30/25 Pandemonium Fortress 30
N Swamigoon Sin/Druid 23/31 Pandemonium Fortress 30
Y Vildecor Zon/Sorc 21/20 Lut Gholein 12
Y skoolbus Druid/Sorc 28/35 Harrogoth 12
Y Maltatai Druid/Druid 21/15 Lut Gholein Sewers 9
Y b1ur Paladin/Druid 20/1 Lut Gholein 6
N CaseyJones Sorc/Druid 1/1 Rogue Encampment 0Up next: Hell Act II. I'm feeling pretty good with my new merc setup ... I can't really think of any foreseeable problems ... which now that I think about, gets me kind of worried
. Oh well. Maybe I'll find a monarch shield (... which I don't/won't have a sure-fire way to socket for a while anyways ...) At the very least, I'm looking forward to introducing those cold immune Guardians (Unravellers) to my Death Sentries and my newly upgraded merc!
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