The Three-Legged Race Tournament

[HanShotFirst]

Have we started the fire?
Yes. The fire rises.



My new Bone Necro has done a full clear of Act I at players 7.

... and good riddance! This play through was the most troublesome of my four tournament characters. My Sorceress had Static Field. My Assassin had Fire Blast. My Barbarian is a big brute and doesn't mind normal attacking his way through things. And my Bone Necro ... my Bone Necro didn't have much of anything.

With only the Poison and Bone tree at my disposal choices were rather limited. Teeth is a fun skill but sure gets mana intensive fast. Corpse Explosion, also a good skill, but again, starts mana intensive, and only gets more so ... So, what to do? After sitting on skill points for quite some time I decided I'd try something new and put early points into Corpse Explosion. It of course doesn't synergize with Bone Spear but I figured as I'm playing untwinked I'd need to put some skill points in it at some point ... why not now? I can't say I'm sold on that decision ... but it's 1.11b, so the decision's made, and I'm moving on. I put 10 points into Corpse Explosion to get the radius from 2.6 to 5.6 yards. That also took the mana cost from an unsustainable 15 to an unbearable 24 . However, if I just put points into Teeth, it'd cost 9.5 mana per shot ... and it would take many shots to get things done on players 7 ... so that wouldn't have been great either.

So mostly what I ended up doing was 'tanking' by refreshing my one point Bone Armor ... while the hired help wandered around . <Sigh.> We were like the worst pick up group in an MMORPG. The merc was the DPS ... that had garbage gear. The Necro was invited into the group for crowd control and debuffing ... but then declared: No, no, no, I don't have points in any of those skills. I'm a DPS! ... A DPS that doesn't have enough mana to use it's DPS skills ... Yeah. Anyhow, we were quite the team.

At clvl 18 things got much better. Bone Spear immediately does enough damage to be worth using. And at a mana cost of only 7, it seemed like a deal! And at a mana increase of only .2 per level ... while the damage ceiling becomes the damage floor with each point added, the future is looking bright!

I'm also excited about hiring a better partner. You know, one that will tank instead of wandering in circles ... and attack enemies instead of door frames and walls ... Yeah. Good riddance to that Rogue merc and all of Act I!

Drops. Drops weren't making things better. I increased mf whenever possible but it didn't do much good.

Here's the complete list of set/uniques that resulted from a players 7 full clear of Act I:
I ended with 81 mf (+45 mf if the merc kills).

Infernal Cranium, Cap (Cave Level 1) <-- Coldcrow
Greyform, Quilted Armor (Barracks) <-- The Smith
Arctic Binding, Light Belt (Catacombs Level 4) <-- Poppable

There you go. If you blinked, you might have missed them .

The Greyform actually turned out to be kind of interesting:



Greyform
Quilted Armor
Defense: 35
Durability: 11 of 11
Required Strength: 2
Required Level: 7
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 13
Fingerprint: 0xc9b1db0e
+10 to Dexterity
+20 Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 3
Fire Resist +20%
Cold Resist +20%
5% Life stolen per hit
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired)

Life leech on an eth armor always gets me thinking about future merc use. It's a shame the defense is + defense not % defense but it could still be handy in NM if upped. For now though, I'll be sticking with mf gear on the merc. Apparently, I need all the mf help I can get!

SP  Forum Name         Characters        Level   Furthest WP             Points
--  -----------------  ----------------  ------  ----------------------  -------
Y   Hanshotfirst       Sorc/Sin          88/87   Guardian x2                200
N   Booble             Sorc/Druid        54/65   (H) Rouge Encampment       124
N   PhineasB           Necro/Druid       73/74   (H) Rogue Encampment       124
N   Crudesash68        Zon/Paladin       46/49   (N) Jail Level 1           67
Y   skoolbus           Druid/Sorc        48/49   (N) Dark Wood              60
Y   Gynli              Zon/Necro         32/48   (N) Rogue Encampment       51
N   Swamigoon          Sin/Druid         34/31   Harrogath                  39
Y   Pb_pal             Sorc/Zon          33/29   Pandemonium Fortress       39
N   DariusTriplet      Sorc/Zon          31/24   River of Flame             32
Y   Hanshotfirst       Barb/Necro        28/20   Kurast Docks               18
Y   Vildecor           Zon/Sorc          21/20   Lut Gholein                12
Y   Maltatai           Druid/Druid       21/15   Lut Gholein Sewers         9
N   CaseyJones         Sorc/Druid        15/23   Lut Gholein                9
Y   b1ur               Paladin/Druid     20/1    Lut Gholein                6

Up next: Act II! Glorious, wonderful, exciting Act II. Oh desert merc, how I've loved you since before we ever met. Also, using and putting points into Bone Spear is going to nice!

 

[Crudesash]

Cleared Act 1 NM with my Paladin...then summarily forgot to SS the kill. I have had limited play the last few weeks; my family and I were in a nasty car accident on the 8th which resulted in the loss of my almost new car (10 months old); we're all safe and healthy, but stuff like this really makes your life crazy. Ah well..

Cleared the whole act on /p3 save for the Den, which was done on /p5. Almost complete full clears. Much of the act was forgettable in terms of action or drops, but there were a few close calls; Salvation was the go-to aura for most fights, using Redemption for clean up and Vigor for backtracking, and the toughest mobs were the lightning enhanced Twisted in the Jail and catacombs; without Salvation they were almost fatal, with it they just required focus. The merc has an insight Partizan so he is quite effective but of course could not stay in too long on Andariel. She wasn't a whole lot of trouble and dropped a 24% Vipermagi, which while not your standard melee armor, was a huge upgrade from Sigon's, which had only moments earlier replaced Cathan's.

I think I'll push on with the Pally into Act 2 and then catch the Zon up, unless I start missing the wholesale carnage Lightning Fury provides. We shall soon see, what what!

SP  Forum Name         Characters        Level   Furthest WP             Points
--  -----------------  ----------------  ------  ----------------------  -------
Y   Hanshotfirst       Sorc/Sin          88/87   Guardian x2                200
N   Booble             Sorc/Druid        54/65   (H) Rouge Encampment       124
N   PhineasB           Necro/Druid       73/74   (H) Rogue Encampment       124
N   Crudesash68        Zon/Paladin       46/50   (N) Lut Gholein            67
Y   skoolbus           Druid/Sorc        48/49   (N) Dark Wood              60
Y   Gynli              Zon/Necro         32/48   (N) Rogue Encampment       51
N   Swamigoon          Sin/Druid         34/31   Harrogath                  39
Y   Pb_pal             Sorc/Zon          33/29   Pandemonium Fortress       39
N   DariusTriplet      Sorc/Zon          31/24   River of Flame             32
Y   Hanshotfirst       Barb/Necro        28/20   Kurast Docks               18
Y   Vildecor           Zon/Sorc          21/20   Lut Gholein                12
Y   Maltatai           Druid/Druid       21/15   Lut Gholein Sewers         9
N   CaseyJones         Sorc/Druid        15/23   Lut Gholein                9
Y   b1ur               Paladin/Druid     20/1    Lut Gholein                6

 

[HanShotFirst]

@Crudesash - Yikes! Sorry to hear about your car, but I'm glad to hear that you and your family are okay.

Also, congrats on getting the defensive aura Paladin to NM Act II (and the might aura merc)! I'm very interested to see how defensive auras on the character and the offensive aura on the merc plays out!

 

[HanShotFirst]

And the Bone Necro brings down the house!



Act II was a players 7 full clear.

Act I as a pure Poison and Bone tree, Bone Necro, wasn't great. Act II as a pure Poison and Bone tree, Bone Necro, was freak'in awesome! As I mentioned before, Bone Spear has pretty nice damage right away, and the mana cost is / and remains very reasonable. I ended the act at clvl 28, with a level 12 Bone Spear that does 160-172 magic damage ... for only 9.7 mana per cast! And that damage isn't even what it could be, as I decided to try putting early points into the non-synergy, Corpse Explosion. I was skeptical about that decision, but I think it's proved inconsequential. A level 10 Corpse Explosion still doesn't seem very effective here in Act II Normal ... but I know it will be worthwhile later. And, since Bone Spear is so proving so powerful even under synergized, I can't say that I'm regretting the early experimentation.

I knew that Bone Spear was going to be great in places where enemies are forced to line up (like the Maggot Lair and Arcane Sanctuary). But I didn't recall/anticipate how great it would be against Unravelers. I felt like I was getting revenge for all the troubles they caused my other characters. The big difference here? Getting to target them at a great distance. A very great distance!



And of course, not only are you targeting them, but you're mowing down (repeatedly if necessary) all the skellies in between! At no extra cost!

What's better than taking out one champion/unique monster?



Well, taking out three champion/unique monsters (and their minions) at the same time!

Yes, once you get Bone Spear, it's good to be a Bone Necro!

Drops were picking up too.

Here's the set/uniques that resulted from a players 7 full clear of Act II:
I ended with 150 mf (+45 mf if the merc kills).

Skewer of Krintiz, Sabre (Rocky Waste)
Bloodfist, Heavy Gloves (Maggot Lair Level 2)
Isenhart's Lightbrand, Broad Sword (Lost City)
Cleglaw's Pincers, Chain Gloves (Lost City)
Nokozan Relic, Amulet (Canyon of the Magi)
Sander's Riprap, Heavy Boots (Tal Rasha's False Tomb)
Dimoak's Hew, Bardiche (Tal Rasha's False Tomb)
Hsarus' Iron Heel, Chain Boots (Tal Rasha's True Tomb)
Berserker's Hauberk, Splint Mail (Duriel)
Crushflange, Mace (Duriel)

So probably not anything I'll be using, but it's nice to see quantity increasing! There's a couple things in there that might be of interest to my Concentrate Barb ... but since I'm not sharing items this time around, I guess he'll just have to be jealous .

So since set/uniques didn't do much for me, the most consequential items were shopped and cubed.

I bought this wand as soon as I arrived in Lut Gholein:



I settled on it after only four inventory refreshes. But I don't think I could have done any better! The +1 to Bone Spear was all the +skills I could afford at the time, and the +15 to Energy is as good a roll as it gets for 'of Sorcery'. The resultant +30 to mana made up about 30% of my mana pool and really improved my quality of life!

Once I got the cube I rolled all the chipped diamonds I had into savage polearms. I didn't have many (we're talking single digits here), but with those few attempts I did manage to roll this for now:

Savage Halberd of Slaying
Two-Hand Damage: 21 to 87
Durability: 46 of 55
Required Dexterity: 47
Required Strength: 75
Required Level: 19
Polearm Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 50
Fingerprint: 0xcf53dd44
+78% Enhanced Damage
+7 to Maximum Damage

And this for later:

Savage Partizan
Two-Hand Damage: 61 to 135
Durability: 38 of 65
Required Dexterity: 67
Required Strength: 113
Required Level: 23
Polearm Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 50
Fingerprint: 0x757bde3c
+80% Enhanced Damage

Not bad. Not bad at all! The halberd kept the merc very effective through Act II. His only problem, that darn Bone Necro kept killing things first! (Yeah, it's a good problem to have ).

SP  Forum Name         Characters        Level   Furthest WP             Points
--  -----------------  ----------------  ------  ----------------------  -------
Y   Hanshotfirst       Sorc/Sin          88/87   Guardian x2                200
N   Booble             Sorc/Druid        54/65   (H) Rouge Encampment       124
N   PhineasB           Necro/Druid       73/74   (H) Rogue Encampment       124
N   Crudesash68        Zon/Paladin       46/50   (N) Lut Gholein            67
Y   skoolbus           Druid/Sorc        48/49   (N) Dark Wood              60
Y   Gynli              Zon/Necro         32/48   (N) Rogue Encampment       51
N   Swamigoon          Sin/Druid         34/31   Harrogath                  39
Y   Pb_pal             Sorc/Zon          33/29   Pandemonium Fortress       39
N   DariusTriplet      Sorc/Zon          31/24   River of Flame             32
Y   Hanshotfirst       Barb/Necro        28/28   Kurast Docks               24
Y   Vildecor           Zon/Sorc          21/20   Lut Gholein                12
Y   Maltatai           Druid/Druid       21/15   Lut Gholein Sewers         9
N   CaseyJones         Sorc/Druid        15/23   Lut Gholein                9
Y   b1ur               Paladin/Druid     20/1    Lut Gholein                6

Up next: Back to the Concentrate Barb. I suspect that he'll feel painfully ineffective after playing the Bone Necro. But with greater struggle comes greater truimph! ... Right? ... At least that's what I'm going to tell myself ...

 

[Kartongen]

Glad to hear there were only material damage @Crudesash, even if losing your car must suck alot.

 

[Crudesash]

Glad to hear there were only material damage @Crudesash, even if losing your car must suck alot.

Thanks; it did, but I actually wound up with a better car, albeit older. I'd still have rather not endured the crash, but it feels good to have a positive arise from it.

 

[HanShotFirst]

Ouch.



Not really sure what happened here ... which would explain why it happened!

The LI unique could have been a problem. I was using a two-hander so my resists were a bit lower than I would have liked: 40 lightning, 28 fire, 40 cold. Natural Resistance sure would have been helpful!

But I think it's just as likely that the Doom Knights just walked up and smacked me all at once. And who knows, that Oblivion Knight might have snuck in a timely and well chosen curse (say, Amp or Lower Resist). At just 320, my life was very, very low for a level 34 character. Being able to put some of my 17 unused skill points into Battle Orders certainly would have made a huge difference!

In retrospect, more points into vitality would have been a good idea. Though to be fair, I had such horrible luck finding/rolling a decent weapon that getting my stats to where I could use a savage partizan seemed like a reasonable idea. And the increased damage was nice ... you know, until this happened .

On the upside, this character found absolutely nothing of interest. Yep. Not one item that I'll miss.

So now what? My Necro has only completed Act II, so it's a perfectly reasonable place for me to start another character ... I can't say that a one skill tree Barb was much fun ... but, this was a pretty sad showing. So maybe I shouldn't leave it here ... on the other hand, probably anything would be more fun ... hmm.

 

[Crudesash]

Sorry Han! I thought you were immortal HC can be really stressful; I had a few die in Hell back in the day and I had to take time away from the game to recover, it's always so jarring.

 

[HanShotFirst]

... I thought you were immortal ...

I must have thought so too! I don't know why else I'd be running around a players 7 Chaos Sanctuary with a melee character and 320 life .

Oh well.

We can rebuild him. We have the knowledge. Arthur will be that Barbarian. Better than he was before. Better ... stronger ... faster.

... or, you know, pretty much the same as last time ... but with less suicidal stat point distribution .

And redemption can't wait. We're off and rolling:



Act I has been cleared at players 7 ... again ...

Same plan as last time. No need to fix what wasn't broken. I normal attacked stuff with a scepter, then a morning star, until clvl 17 when I could gamble a poleaxe. I got one poleaxe to come up in the gambling screen pretty quickly ... but it was pure garbage. After opening and closing the gambling screen until clicker finger and mind were at the edge of breaking (yes, I'm very much looking forward to the refresh button in D2R), I got a gambling screen with not one but two poleaxes! And one of them was pure awesome:



Oh Gheed, despite that gruff exterior, I knew that deep down you truly care . With the poleaxe of awesomeness, and Concentrate at clvl 18, the Jail onward was a joyous hack and slash romp.

Drops:

Set/uniques started off slowly but picked up at the end.

Here's the complete list of set/uniques that resulted from a players 7 full clear of Act I:
Ending with 71 mf (+36 if the merc kills ... at tenth topaz didn't drop until Andariel ...)

Knell Striker, Scepter (Barracks)
Deathspade, Axe (Catacombs Level 1)
Cleglaw's Pincers, Chain Gloves (Catacombs Level 4)
Crushflange, Mace (Andariel)

Not bad! Not many, but not bad. My first Barbarian never got his hands on any Crushing Blow items, and here I've already got two! The slows target on the Cleglaw's was tempting for use against Andariel, but in the end I decided I'd just go with the tried and true: See demon. Hit demon with big stick. Die. Die demon, die! Like I said before, no need to fix what wasn't broken ...

... oh and before someone asks ... Yes, I am putting more points into vitality. In fact, my new Barbarian already has more life than my old Barbarian. That's right, he can be taught .

SP  Forum Name         Characters        Level   Furthest WP             Points
--  -----------------  ----------------  ------  ----------------------  -------
Y   Hanshotfirst       Sorc/Sin          88/87   Guardian x2                200
N   Booble             Sorc/Druid        54/65   (H) Rouge Encampment       124
N   PhineasB           Necro/Druid       73/74   (H) Rogue Encampment       124
N   Crudesash68        Zon/Paladin       46/50   (N) Lut Gholein            67
Y   skoolbus           Druid/Sorc        48/49   (N) Dark Wood              60
Y   Gynli              Zon/Necro         32/48   (N) Rogue Encampment       51
N   Swamigoon          Sin/Druid         34/31   Harrogath                  39
Y   Pb_pal             Sorc/Zon          33/29   Pandemonium Fortress       39
N   DariusTriplet      Sorc/Zon          31/24   River of Flame             32
Y   Hanshotfirst       Barb/Necro        20/28   Kurast Docks               18
Y   Vildecor           Zon/Sorc          21/20   Lut Gholein                12
Y   Maltatai           Druid/Druid       21/15   Lut Gholein Sewers         9
N   CaseyJones         Sorc/Druid        15/23   Lut Gholein                9
Y   b1ur               Paladin/Druid     20/1    Lut Gholein                6

Up next: More Barbarian! First Act III. Then 95% of Act IV. Now Act I. Next Act II ... my poor Necro is surely feeling left out ... It must be tough being the 'background kid' that's got all their sh*t together .

 

[PhineasB]

Both of my characters have completed A1 Hell. Really busy last two weeks at work meant limited play time since last update. We did a little leveling in NM with 10-15 minute chunks, and then progressed Necro to Dark Wood last weekend and with a few minutes during the week. We've downgraded to p1, so quite quick progress with a few hours free today.

Nothing much to report, except a Ravenfrost (now on Typhon) and a +3 Bone Spear wand that might be a nice White for another Necro.

We made a Smoke for the Necro, but he still has > 300 MF with Ali Baba, and the Druid has ~ 175 MF. We've gambled all our gold on circlets, hoping for life leech, but no dice, so still Boneflesh on necro merc and Blood helm on Druid merc. We're also looking for an elite polearm to hopefully roll 4os, and a Monarch with 4os for the Druid.

The plan is to run the Necro to A3 and spend a little time in a 2 camp LK map, while checking weapon racks when rerolling in hopes for elite polearms. It's been plenty safe, with the only challenge some nasty ghost boss packs heading to Countess that needed some teleporting to skip.

SP  Forum Name         Characters        Level   Furthest WP             Points
--  -----------------  ----------------  ------  ----------------------  -------
Y   Hanshotfirst       Sorc/Sin          88/87   Guardian x2                200
N   PhineasB           Necro/Druid       78/76   (H) Lut Gholein            137
N   Booble             Sorc/Druid        54/65   (H) Rouge Encampment       124
N   Crudesash68        Zon/Paladin       46/50   (N) Lut Gholein            67
Y   skoolbus           Druid/Sorc        48/49   (N) Dark Wood              60
Y   Gynli              Zon/Necro         32/48   (N) Rogue Encampment       51
N   Swamigoon          Sin/Druid         34/31   Harrogath                  39
Y   Pb_pal             Sorc/Zon          33/29   Pandemonium Fortress       39
N   DariusTriplet      Sorc/Zon          31/24   River of Flame             32
Y   Hanshotfirst       Barb/Necro        20/28   Kurast Docks               18
Y   Vildecor           Zon/Sorc          21/20   Lut Gholein                12
Y   Maltatai           Druid/Druid       21/15   Lut Gholein Sewers         9
N   CaseyJones         Sorc/Druid        15/23   Lut Gholein                9
Y   b1ur               Paladin/Druid     20/1    Lut Gholein                6

 

[PhineasB]

Deimos made some progress through A3H, and then a few LK runs.

On the playthrough, we picked up Moser's, which at this point is an upgrade over 3 pDiamond shield. But we are still a flawless diamond short to equip. And then on the second LK run, Skako is pretty amazing. It was Larzuk'ed by Typhon and then socketed with pTopaz for now. It will be quite an upgrade for the Druid, but in general very nice. For posterity, below are Act Boss kills:

Time to push Typhon through A2. Then I will likely run Deimos through A4.

* * *

SP  Forum Name         Characters        Level   Furthest WP             Points
--  -----------------  ----------------  ------  ----------------------  -------
Y   Hanshotfirst       Sorc/Sin          88/87   Guardian x2                200
N   PhineasB           Necro/Druid       81/76   (H) Lut Gholein            142
N   Booble             Sorc/Druid        54/65   (H) Rouge Encampment       124
N   Crudesash68        Zon/Paladin       46/50   (N) Lut Gholein            67
Y   skoolbus           Druid/Sorc        48/49   (N) Dark Wood              60
Y   Gynli              Zon/Necro         32/48   (N) Rogue Encampment       51
N   Swamigoon          Sin/Druid         34/31   Harrogath                  39
Y   Pb_pal             Sorc/Zon          33/29   Pandemonium Fortress       39
N   DariusTriplet      Sorc/Zon          31/24   River of Flame             32
Y   Hanshotfirst       Barb/Necro        20/28   Kurast Docks               18
Y   Vildecor           Zon/Sorc          21/20   Lut Gholein                12
Y   Maltatai           Druid/Druid       21/15   Lut Gholein Sewers         9
N   CaseyJones         Sorc/Druid        15/23   Lut Gholein                9
Y   b1ur               Paladin/Druid     20/1    Lut Gholein                6

 

[Crudesash]

Nice work @PhineasB; nice to see I’m not the only one with an interest in Greek mythology

 

[HanShotFirst]

Okie-Dokie. I'm back. Two characters at clvl 28, at the Kurast Docks.

That's right, that big slug-bug-thing and all it's little buddies have been defeated ... once again ...



My Concentrate Barb has cleared Act II at players 7.

Game play continued to be hitting enemies with a big stick and ... more hitting enemies with a big stick.

The first big stick used was the poleaxe of awesomeness that I gambled in Act I:

Imp Scourge
Poleaxe
Two-Hand Damage: 25 to 59
Durability: 65 of 65
Required Strength: 62
Required Level: 8
Polearm Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 23
Fingerprint: 0x202a5906
+40% Enhanced Damage
+22 to Attack Rating
+5 to Maximum Damage
4% Life stolen per hit
10% Increased Attack Speed

It beat out all the first round of savage polearms cubed, but I later replaced it with:

Savage Halberd of Ease
Two-Hand Damage: 21 to 78
Durability: 55 of 55
Required Dexterity: 38
Required Strength: 60
Required Level: 19
Polearm Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 50
Fingerprint: 0x8c3b4dd8
+75% Enhanced Damage
Requirements -20%

The same attack speed and a bit more damage? Okay, I guess I'll lose the life leech for that.

Anyhow, this hitting monsters with a big stick thing, continued monster by monster until at last there was only one monster left. Duriel, got hit with the 33% chance of Crushing Blows from the Crushflange I found back at Andariel. I also had a newly found (in Act II at least) Blood Crescent in hand, but decided that Open Wounds weren't going to be needed as Duriel went down fast.

No interesting drops from Duriel ... but some stuff with promise dropped earlier.

Here's the complete list of set/uniques that resulted from a players 7 full clear of Act II:
I ended with 132 mf (+45 mf if the merc kills).

Blood Crescent, Scimitar (Sewers Level 3) <-- Woohoo! My first set/unique sword ... yet again ...
Hsarus' Iron Stay, Belt (Rocky Waste) <-- Nice, if combined with the boots ...
Hsarus' Iron Heel, Chain Boots (Far Oasis) <-- Oh look, the boots.
Arctic Binding, Light Belt (Claw Viper Temple Level 1)
Arctic Binding, Light Belt (Claw Viper Temple Level 1) <-- Can I equip them both to get four rows for potions? Aw, why not ...
Isenhart's Case, Breast Plate (Canyon of the Magi)

The Blood Crescent is a nice source of Open Wounds. The two part Hsarus' results in an attractive AR bonus ... I don't need it now ... but maybe later ... if something better doesn't come along ...

And speaking of something better coming along: I think now that new Barb and old Necro have met at clvl 28, and the Kurast Docks, I'm going to go ahead and enable item sharing between the two. I had thought that the 'dual twinking' was a bit weird feeling, but it also feels weird to be working on one project, albeit with two characters, that don't share items towards accomplishing the shared goal. So yes, as the opening post described, my second batch of characters initially groaned at the idea of teamwork ... but enlightened self interest is currently carrying the day . Also, I'd like to wrap this up before D2R goes live in 7 weeks, 1 day, 22 hours, and 32 minutes ... you know, give or take ...

SP  Forum Name         Characters        Level   Furthest WP             Points
--  -----------------  ----------------  ------  ----------------------  -------
Y   Hanshotfirst       Sorc/Sin          88/87   Guardian x2                200
N   PhineasB           Necro/Druid       81/76   (H) Lut Gholein            142
N   Booble             Sorc/Druid        54/65   (H) Rouge Encampment       124
N   Crudesash68        Zon/Paladin       46/50   (N) Lut Gholein            67
Y   skoolbus           Druid/Sorc        48/49   (N) Dark Wood              60
Y   Gynli              Zon/Necro         32/48   (N) Rogue Encampment       51
N   Swamigoon          Sin/Druid         34/31   Harrogath                  39
Y   Pb_pal             Sorc/Zon          33/29   Pandemonium Fortress       39
N   DariusTriplet      Sorc/Zon          31/24   River of Flame             32
Y   Hanshotfirst       Necro/Barb        28/28   Kurast Docks               24
Y   Vildecor           Zon/Sorc          21/20   Lut Gholein                12
Y   Maltatai           Druid/Druid       21/15   Lut Gholein Sewers         9
N   CaseyJones         Sorc/Druid        15/23   Lut Gholein                9
Y   b1ur               Paladin/Druid     20/1    Lut Gholein                6

Up next: Break out the eduster. After standing back and watching as the Barb went for four acts straight, it's time for the Bone Necro. After having just killed everything one monster at a time, I'm really, really, looking forward to some mass-casualty-carnage .

 

[Pb_pal]

Sorry about the deeds Han, but a fantastic recovery! Great progress as well @PhineasB , good luck in the remainder of Hell!

As for me, I have had essentially zero playing time for the last little while. My characters have progress a tiny bit, but we're talking a waypoint or two and that's all. Hopefully some playing time will open up soon and I'll be able to try and keep up a little better.

 

[HanShotFirst]

... hmm, yeah ... I still don't know about that deeds ... maybe Iron Maiden got slipped in mid-swing and then I instantly erased all my hit points with my newly equipped savage partizan ... idk ...

Anyhow, no problems with the Bone Necro:



Acts III & IV were cleared at players 7, and in convincing fashion!

Yes, after all that Concentrate Barb play, it was good to be a Bone Necro again! I mean, a powerful, long range, straight line attack, that can hit as many enemies as there are to be hit? What's not to like?

I opened Act III with a little shopping. I was looking for a Teleport staff and a Life Tap wand, but also found this:



All the mana of my previous wand, plus enough FCR to drop 2 frames? Yes please! I was a little worried it would lead to mana shortages, but I didn't notice a difference. I have eight belt slots dedicated to mana potions (and often more in my inventory) so no big deal. I am however very much looking forward to being able to make an Insight and dropping the mana potion hunt from my repertoire ... soon, very soon ... I will have Power! UNLIMITED POWER! Muahaha.

But not just yet. So for now it was a lot of spearing enemies, picking up mana potions, and stuff to convert into gambling gold. I was gambling for circlets and didn't get anything interesting ...

I did have some interesting drops:

Here's the list of set/uniques that resulted from a full clear of Act III & Act IV:
I ended with 152 mf (+30 if the merc kills).

Angelic Halo, Ring (Spider Forest) <-- How about that! An Angelic Ring before a Cathan's!
Isenhart's Case, Breast Plate (Spider Forest)
Hsarus' Iron Stay, Belt (Spider Forest)
Steelclash, Kite Shield (Sewers Level 1)
Iratha's Cord, Heavy Belt (Upper Kurast)
Umbral Disk, Small Shield (Disused Reliquary)

Bladebone, Double Axe (Outer Steppes)
Bloodrise, Morning Star (City of the Damned)
Razortine, Trident (City of the Damned)
Raven Claw, Long Bow (River of Flame)
Steelgoad, Voulge (River of Flame)
Goreshovel, Broad Axe (The Chaos Sanctuary)
Tancred's Crowbill, Military Pick (Diablo)

Wow! More set/uniques found in Act IV?! That doesn't happen very often. All the more interesting because my first Concentrate Barb had similar mf to my Bone Necro and found zero set/uniques in Act IV ...

Anyhow, the Angelic Ring and Bloodrise Morning Star were the most interesting finds for me. I'd love to have the amulet/ring pair on my Concentrate Barb ... but I know that finding the amulet often takes a great deal of time. The Bloodrise is the best one handed weapon I've come across so far. It would be much more nice upped ... but that would take a Sol Rune ... and I'm expecting Sol Runes to otherwise be in demand for the foreseeable future ...

SP  Forum Name         Characters        Level   Furthest WP             Points
--  -----------------  ----------------  ------  ----------------------  -------
Y   Hanshotfirst       Sorc/Sin          88/87   Guardian x2                200
N   PhineasB           Necro/Druid       81/76   (H) Lut Gholein            142
N   Booble             Sorc/Druid        54/65   (H) Rouge Encampment       124
N   Crudesash68        Zon/Paladin       46/50   (N) Lut Gholein            67
Y   skoolbus           Druid/Sorc        48/49   (N) Dark Wood              60
Y   Gynli              Zon/Necro         32/48   (N) Rogue Encampment       51
N   Swamigoon          Sin/Druid         34/31   Harrogath                  39
Y   Pb_pal             Sorc/Zon          33/29   Pandemonium Fortress       39
Y   Hanshotfirst       Necro/Barb        35/28   River of Flame             33
N   DariusTriplet      Sorc/Zon          31/24   River of Flame             32
Y   Vildecor           Zon/Sorc          21/20   Lut Gholein                12
Y   Maltatai           Druid/Druid       21/15   Lut Gholein Sewers         9
N   CaseyJones         Sorc/Druid        15/23   Lut Gholein                9
Y   b1ur               Paladin/Druid     20/1    Lut Gholein                6

Up next: Time for my Concentrate Barb to go get revenge against those no-good-down-dirty-scoundrels in the Chaos Sanctuary. But first, Act III.

 

[HanShotFirst]

And the Concentrate Barb has cleared the Chaos Sanctuary!
... I didn't know that was going to be a thing ... but apparently it was ...



Yes indeed, Act III and Act IV were both cleared at players 7!

Act III was a lot more of hitting enemies with a big stick:

Savage Halberd of Ease
Two-Hand Damage: 21 to 78
Durability: 25 of 55
Required Dexterity: 38
Required Strength: 60
Required Level: 19
Polearm Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 50
Fingerprint: 0x8c3b4dd8
+75% Enhanced Damage
Requirements -20%

This continued until I went into some temple and secured some something that somehow got me five more stat points (despite all my play-throughs I'm still a little fuzzy on some plot points). Anyhow, when able, I equipped:

Savage Halberd of Alacrity
Two-Hand Damage: 21 to 79
Durability: 55 of 55
Required Dexterity: 47
Required Strength: 75
Required Level: 19
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 50
Fingerprint: 0x59a9cbe4
+76% Enhanced Damage
20% Increased Attack Speed

Woohoo! Not more damage, but the increased attack speed really seemed to help (if not the DPS, then my mental health).

I also had a boost in IAS, and mental health, from the surprising good finds:



These added 10% IAS, and about a 10% increase to my life!



What a loaded chest! Three part Sigon's (gloves, belt, boots), is a favorite combo of mine. Here's to hoping the rest turns up sooner than later! For now, the belt was immediately equipped.



Could it be ... might it be ...

Spoiler

Angelic Wings
Amulet
Required Level: 12
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 27
Fingerprint: 0xc5e1ed6e
+3 to Light Radius
20% Damage Taken Goes to Mana

It is! My duos first green amulet and it turns out to be the one I most wanted! I took a pause before the Kurast Causeway to go get the ring that my Bone Necro had found:



Angelic Halo
Ring
Required Level: 12
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x93850d2f
+20 to Life
Replenish Life +6

... and basked in the glory of those set bonuses! (Currently +75 life, and +408 AR ). Of course if I could find the armor in a timely fashion ... things would only get better!

Here's the complete list of set/uniques that resulted from a full clear of Act III at players 7:
I ended with 119 mf after swapping in the Bloodfist and the Angelics (+45 mf if the merc kills):

Bloodfist, Heavy Gloves (Great Marsh)
Sigon's Wrap, Plated Belt (Sewers Level 1)
Angelic Wings, Amulet (Upper Kurast)
Crushflange, Mace (Upper Kurast) <-- Handy, but I already have one.
Treads of Cthon, Chain Boots (Disused Reliquary)
Isenhart's Case, Breast Plate (Durance of Hate Level 1)
Cathan's Rule, Battle Staff (Durance of Hate Level 2)
Cathan's Seal, Ring (Durance of Hate Level 3) <-- Surprising it took so long to come across one of these.
Griswold's Edge, Broad Sword (Mephisto)
Stormguild, Large Shield (Mephisto)

That's a pretty good haul! Especially considering I'd dropped down to 119 mf at the point most of those were found.

Then came Act IV. Much more of the same: Hitting enemies with a big stick. At players 7, monsters weren't in a hurry to die, but progress was smooth and felt quite safe due to adding plenty of stat points into vitality. I arrived at the Chaos Sanctuary with 647 life ... just about double the amount of life I had last time I was there with a Concentrate Barb ... And this time I decided to take no chances. I took Concentrate off the hot keys and only used Berserk. The result? No problems! I mean, The Infector of Souls put up a good fight ... but that's expected. After a routine clear of the Chaos Sanctuary, I started in on a P7 Diablo without even considering doing anything less ... and he was a bit of a rude surprise. Life Tap had been very handy against Mephisto, but didn't seem to be good for anything against Diablo. At players 7, his elemental attack wiped the floor with the merc, and were pretty dangerous to the Barb too. Thankfully, with 647 life, there was plenty of room for trial and error. In the end I settled on leaving the merc dead and standing toe to toe with Diablo and attacking him with a Crushflange. It was a bit dangerous, as Diablo's elemental attacks needed to be immediately evaded, but again, with 647 life, I didn't need to be too very fast on my toes. The crushing blow approach was a bit slow going, but once Diablo was under ~20% health I brought the merc back into the battle and we whacked and smacked the demon until until he was dead. I was hoping for some super awesome weapon to replace my now outdated savage halberd of alacrity ... but no so such luck.

With 126 mf (+30 if the merc kills), the only set/uniques found during a players 7 full clear of Act IV were:

Sander's Superstition, Bone Wand (Hephasto)
Blastbark, Long War Bow (Diablo)

Oh well. Act III was more than productive enough for both acts! Besides, my Bone Necro now has a chance to find some super awesome weapon. Fingers crossed!

SP  Forum Name         Characters        Level   Furthest WP             Points
--  -----------------  ----------------  ------  ----------------------  -------
Y   Hanshotfirst       Sorc/Sin          88/87   Guardian x2                200
N   PhineasB           Necro/Druid       81/76   (H) Lut Gholein            142
N   Booble             Sorc/Druid        54/65   (H) Rouge Encampment       124
N   Crudesash68        Zon/Paladin       46/50   (N) Lut Gholein            67
Y   skoolbus           Druid/Sorc        48/49   (N) Dark Wood              60
Y   Gynli              Zon/Necro         32/48   (N) Rogue Encampment       51
Y   Hanshotfirst       Necro/Barb        35/34   Harrogath                  42
N   Swamigoon          Sin/Druid         34/31   Harrogath                  39
Y   Pb_pal             Sorc/Zon          33/29   Pandemonium Fortress       39
N   DariusTriplet      Sorc/Zon          31/24   River of Flame             32
Y   Vildecor           Zon/Sorc          21/20   Lut Gholein                12
Y   Maltatai           Druid/Druid       21/15   Lut Gholein Sewers         9
N   CaseyJones         Sorc/Druid        15/23   Lut Gholein                9
Y   b1ur               Paladin/Druid     20/1    Lut Gholein                6

Up next: The Bone Necro takes on Act V! He'd like an Insight, but even with full clears, Sol Runes aren't guaranteed in 1.11b. And my Concentrate Barb would like him to find some super awesome melee weapon ... we'll see ...

 

[PhineasB]

Nice going @HanShotFirst and great recovery from that earlier deeds. As for me, the duo's journey is drawing to an end, with the last all that remains for both the Necro and the Druid.

As mentioned in my last update, Typhon the Druid was up next to catch up a bit, but ended up finishing A2 and A3, and then leveling him from 79 to 80 on a two-fire LK map, taking on boss packs at p7, and then doing Meph runs through two sets of charges on a teleport staff (12 runs per fully charged staff, so 24 total). Guillame's dropped in the Durance as the only notable drop while questing,:



No meaningful drops from LK, except 3 plain Cryptic Axes to roll in the cube as pAmmy became available, and Kelpie's from a corpse. Meph finally provided a life leech circlet (I'd been gambling all gold on circlets because best options were still Boneflesh and blood helm for each merc) and Verdungo's belt, which the Necro may end up wearing. No NDEs, except during one Meph run where the Cyclone Armor wore down due to a stray hydra while fighting Meph, but big purple provided relief.

The resists on the circlet are handy, and a Ral socketed in the armor gets the merc to maxed resists. We then turned back to Deimos the Necro for A4, and he had smooth sailing, with CS being quite easy with corpse explosion He also picked up Duriel's and an Ist at the HF, which was quite nice:



Typhon then tackled A4 yesterday evening. He was not quite as safe. Windy is quite powerful, especially with the HF merc, but lack of summon tree/Grizzly has been noticed. Hephasto was HF aura and extra fast, and smoked the merc, and couldn't get outrun by Typhon, even when using teleport charges. Thankfully, Typhon didn't get into hit recovery and eventually teleported across a lava canal to get enough space to TP and refresh the merc. He was rewarded with a Mal from HF!

CS was manageable, but I was worried about Infector and Diablo, and both worries were warranted. Infector was fine stringing out the pack, but Infector was PI, and I had to use a belt of big Purples to keep the merc upright while Hurricane did its thing.

Then Diablo exhibited the best AI I've experienced: firestorm when merc was up close dropped the merc, and as I retreated to TP out, he through lightning hose, which knocked through CA and dropped life below 400! And then, when we came back, he threw lightning hose and dropped the merc as we approached. Same thing happened the second time, but I avoided the lightning hose by teleporting right on top, and then he firestormed the merc again! (But I was prepared and teleported the merc to the far side. I successfully dodged firestorms in this way twice more, but the third time I wasn't quick enough. Diablo was whittled down pretty low, so we just finished him off without the merc. Whew!

We had rolled two of the Cryptic Axes and a plain Thresher, with no luck, but had a new pAmmy after cubing from HF, and the third CA rolled 4os, with the second Insight roll yielding a winner:

I think it's time to bite the bullet and make Lawbringer for an A5 merc. Tornado is slowing down with physical resistant monsters, and there could be nasty rolls in A5. I haven't found a Lem, but can cube up from Ko and still have a Ko left to make it. Only option is a 3os Balrog Blade, but that Guillame's and up'ed Twitchthroe should pair nicely. Then Deimos's merc will get the Insight, circlet, and Duress using the Um from earlier. The two characters are sharing Shako, but otherwise will have their own gear once we go different merc set ups.

Deimos is up first, and may finish today!

* * *

SP  Forum Name         Characters        Level   Furthest WP             Points
--  -----------------  ----------------  ------  ----------------------  -------
Y   Hanshotfirst       Sorc/Sin          88/87   Guardian x2                200
N   PhineasB           Necro/Druid       81/80   (H) Harrogath              184
N   Booble             Sorc/Druid        54/65   (H) Rouge Encampment       124
N   Crudesash68        Zon/Paladin       46/50   (N) Lut Gholein            67
Y   skoolbus           Druid/Sorc        48/49   (N) Dark Wood              60
Y   Gynli              Zon/Necro         32/48   (N) Rogue Encampment       51
Y   Hanshotfirst       Necro/Barb        35/34   Harrogath                  42
N   Swamigoon          Sin/Druid         34/31   Harrogath                  39
Y   Pb_pal             Sorc/Zon          33/29   Pandemonium Fortress       39
N   DariusTriplet      Sorc/Zon          31/24   River of Flame             32
Y   Vildecor           Zon/Sorc          21/20   Lut Gholein                12
Y   Maltatai           Druid/Druid       21/15   Lut Gholein Sewers         9
N   CaseyJones         Sorc/Druid        15/23   Lut Gholein                9
Y   b1ur               Paladin/Druid     20/1    Lut Gholein                6

 

[Pb_pal]

Nice progress as always @HanShotFirst , and you too @PhineasB ! Home stretch, woohoo!

As for me, after saying this in my last post:

As for me, I have had essentially zero playing time for the last little while. My characters have progress a tiny bit, but we're talking a waypoint or two and that's all. Hopefully some playing time will open up soon and I'll be able to try and keep up a little better.

The D2 gods were lenient on me. It appears that complaining doesn't only work to get you drops in MFO tournaments, but it can also free up surprise playing time for HC ones too!

--

Rindo - Lightning Strike Amazon

Straight out into Act 4, Spawners slowed her down a touch but overall she's humming along nicely. Izual was his normal boring self. Took quite some time, even while chugging blues to keep PS going. Shortly afterwards though she finally hit 30 and got access to Lightning Strike!

It's not super strong just yet, but she's still moving well. She found an Ort on her way to the Forge (which produced a Thul) and it was up and through to the CS. She plowed through slowly and eventually got to Diablo:

He fried the merc a couple times, but was otherwise pretty benign. His drop provided her with a small upgrade in her weapon slot and she went straight out into Act 5 to keep her momentum going. LS is beginning to really pick up steam now and I'm hopeful the XP-bonanza that is Act 5 will cement it as her #1 skill, even so she's an absolute mana sink and basically non-stop chugs the blues. Up to Shenk without issue (though she did pop an Amn on the way) and we get our first really good shot of LS doing some work saving the barbs.

Fun! Quickly and easily through to Anya (and another marginal weapon upgrade, mostly due to a faster base speed) before heading up to the Ancients, who she took head-on and easily cleared. She's hit a point now there LS is powerful enough to just melt its way through, so the rest of the act was predictably easy. She hit WSK 2 WP before realizing she forgot to kill Nihlathak, so she did that before heading to the waves. They were melted easily with the exception of Wave 5, who had to be led out in pairs. Soon enough though, only the big boss remained.

Simple stuff really, some town trips for mana, and it's Destroyer at 45 for Rindo! Baal left us a Peasant Crown and a Topaz, which could definitely be worse so I'll take it.


Pao - Firewall Sorceress

Not to be outdone, Pao quickly set out to show her sister that she too can vanquish Baal. She set out into the foothills, and what followed can only be described as absolute and total carnage. She carved her way through so quickly and effortlessly that there is next to nothing to even talk about.

She killed Shenk, saved the barbs and Anya, killed Nihlathak and then the Ancients, and found herself through Lister and right in front of Baal.

He also died in a matter of seconds. That was a wild and fast ride through Act 5, I had to periodically check to make sure it was on /p8. If I didn't have the pictures, I couldn't be absolutely sure it had happened at all.

other finds:
Sol
Amn

--

Well, after some debate I'm choosing to unlock Rindo's Passive and Magic tree for Nightmare. Couple reasons for this choice:

1. I haven't decided what Pao's second tree will be yet.
2. Rindo is in need of some AR, and a bit of meath-shielding from the valk doesn't hurt.

See you in NM!

Team Pb - 60 Points
Rindo the Amazon (Jav/P+M), level 45; NM Rogue Encampment - 30 Points
Pao the Sorceress (Fire), level 44; NM Rogue Encampment - 30 Points

* * *

SP  Forum Name         Characters        Level   Furthest WP             Points
--  -----------------  ----------------  ------  ----------------------  -------
Y   Hanshotfirst       Sorc/Sin          88/87   Guardian x2                200
N   PhineasB           Necro/Druid       81/80   (H) Harrogath              184
N   Booble             Sorc/Druid        54/65   (H) Rouge Encampment       124
N   Crudesash68        Zon/Paladin       46/50   (N) Lut Gholein            67
Y   skoolbus           Druid/Sorc        48/49   (N) Dark Wood              60
Y   Pb_pal             Sorc/Zon          45/44   (N) Rogue Encampment       60
Y   Gynli              Zon/Necro         32/48   (N) Rogue Encampment       51
Y   Hanshotfirst       Necro/Barb        35/34   Harrogath                  42
N   Swamigoon          Sin/Druid         34/31   Harrogath                  39
N   DariusTriplet      Sorc/Zon          31/24   River of Flame             32
Y   Vildecor           Zon/Sorc          21/20   Lut Gholein                12
Y   Maltatai           Druid/Druid       21/15   Lut Gholein Sewers         9
N   CaseyJones         Sorc/Druid        15/23   Lut Gholein                9
Y   b1ur               Paladin/Druid     20/1    Lut Gholein                6

 

[Swamigoon]

GunnySack-I dealt with Izual, smashed Mephy's blue rock, and has arrived at the River of Flame waypoint.


So far, Brainhew has proven to be a pretty effective Feral Rage+Fury weapon.

SP  Forum Name         Characters        Level   Furthest WP             Points
--  -----------------  ----------------  ------  ----------------------  -------
Y   Hanshotfirst       Sorc/Sin          88/87   Guardian x2                200
N   PhineasB           Necro/Druid       81/80   (H) Harrogath              184
N   Booble             Sorc/Druid        54/65   (H) Rouge Encampment       124
N   Crudesash68        Zon/Paladin       46/50   (N) Lut Gholein            67
Y   skoolbus           Druid/Sorc        48/49   (N) Dark Wood              60
Y   Pb_pal             Sorc/Zon          45/44   (N) Rogue Encampment       60
Y   Gynli              Zon/Necro         32/48   (N) Rogue Encampment       51
Y   Hanshotfirst       Necro/Barb        35/34   Harrogath                  42
N   Swamigoon          Sin/Druid         45/33   WSK2                       41
N   DariusTriplet      Sorc/Zon          31/24   River of Flame             32
Y   Vildecor           Zon/Sorc          21/20   Lut Gholein                12
Y   Maltatai           Druid/Druid       21/15   Lut Gholein Sewers         9
N   CaseyJones         Sorc/Druid        15/23   Lut Gholein                9
Y   b1ur               Paladin/Druid     20/1    Lut Gholein                6

 

[HanShotFirst]

It's a wrap on Normal for the Bone Necro:



Act V has been cleared at players 7!

It was problem free except that I just couldn't find what I wanted . I had been hoping for an Insight, as the mana potion hunting game has grown old, but alas, all the white partizans I found were either too low or too high of an ilvl. That's okay though, because I didn't find a Sol Rune either . <Curse You 1.11b!> Oh well. Despite getting off to a very slow start at rune finding I did have a couple late successes:

Here in the bottom of the eighth:



And in extra innings:



It's nice to have the runes for Spirit! ... though last time through I didn't find a four socketed sword until Act II NM ...

Outside of the rune arena I had been hoping to turn up a nice weapon for my Concentrate Barb. I didn't find anything amazing but got a couple interesting items:

Shopped at Larzuk after picking up the first wp:



And a last minute cow find:



There you have it. The Yen and Yang of melee weapons. A slow two hander shopped right out of the gates of Harrogath, and a fast one hander found in the waning minutes of Normal. I suspect that the two hander will be the preferred weapon, but The General's Tan Do Li Ga Flail has nothing but good stats ... who knows, it could surprise me! Of course it would have a lot more going for it if upped ... but again, no Sol Runes dropped ... and the Necro has first dibs for an Insight.

My other noteworthy find was:



So I now have Sigon's belt and boots ... if I can find the gloves I'll really have something! For now though, I'd probably better stick with the option that gives me the most mf ... but, that 10% life leech bonus for the two items is very tempting all by itself ... hmm ...

And I also found some trash:

Here's the complete list of set/uniques that resulted from a players 7 full clear of Act V:
I ended with 192 mf (+30 mf if the merc kills).

The Face of Horror, Mask (Frigid Highlands)
Sigon's Sabot, Greaves (Pit of Acheron)
Venom Ward, Breast Plate (Drifter Cavern)
Angelic Sickle, Sabre (Drifter Cavern)
Arcanna's Flesh, Light Plate (Frozen Tundra)
Civerb's Ward, Large Shield (Halls of Anguish)
Sander's Riprap, Heavy Boots (Baal)
Snakecord, Light Belt (The Secret Cow Level)
The General's Tan Do Li Ga, Flail (The Secret Cow Level)

I was hoping for ... more ... Oh well. My topaz luck has been atrocious. I'm still working on filling the last socket of my Great Helm . Good thing I'm playing dual twinked! Perhaps the Concentrate Barb can find some of the things that the Necro didn't ...

SP  Forum Name         Characters        Level   Furthest WP             Points
--  -----------------  ----------------  ------  ----------------------  -------
Y   Hanshotfirst       Sorc/Sin          88/87   Guardian x2                200
N   PhineasB           Necro/Druid       81/80   (H) Harrogath              184
N   Booble             Sorc/Druid        54/65   (H) Rouge Encampment       124
N   Crudesash68        Zon/Paladin       46/50   (N) Lut Gholein            67
Y   skoolbus           Druid/Sorc        48/49   (N) Dark Wood              60
Y   Pb_pal             Sorc/Zon          45/44   (N) Rogue Encampment       60
Y   Gynli              Zon/Necro         32/48   (N) Rogue Encampment       51
Y   Hanshotfirst       Necro/Barb        48/34   (N) Rogue Encampment       51
N   Swamigoon          Sin/Druid         45/33   WSK2                       41
N   DariusTriplet      Sorc/Zon          31/24   River of Flame             32
Y   Vildecor           Zon/Sorc          21/20   Lut Gholein                12
Y   Maltatai           Druid/Druid       21/15   Lut Gholein Sewers         9
N   CaseyJones         Sorc/Druid        15/23   Lut Gholein                9
Y   b1ur               Paladin/Druid     20/1    Lut Gholein                6

Up next: The Concentrate Barb takes on Act V with either a big slow axe, or a small fast flail. I'd like to find a white partizan of an appropriate ilvl and a Sol Rune. Sigon's gloves and a nice new melee weapon would also be most welcome ... but let's not get too greedy ...