... okay, I'm back. Where was I? ...
Drops!
Here's the complete list of set/uniques that dropped in Hell Act V (full clear with Find Item used on every corpse):
With 273 mf (+23 if the merc kills ... which was almost always).
Isenhart's Case, Breast Plate (Bloody Foothills)
M'avina's Tenet, Sharkskin Belt (Frigid Highlands)
Isenhart's Case, Breast Plate (Frigid Highlands)
Stormguild, Large Shield (Arreat Plateau)
Isenhart's Lightbrand, Broad Sword (Pit of Acheron)
Manald Heal, Ring (Pit of Acheron)
Tancred's Weird, Amulet (Frozen Tundra)
The Impaler, War Spear (Halls of Anguish)
Crow Caw, Tigulated Mail (Halls of Anguish)
Infernal Sign, Heavy Belt (Halls of Pain)
M'avina's Tenet, Sharkskin Belt (Halls of Pain)
Milabrega's Robe, Ancient Armor (Halls of Pain)
Boneslayer Blade, Gothic Axe (Nihlathak)
Boneflesh, Plate Mail (Halls of Vaught)
Tancred's Crowbill, Military Pick (The Ancients' Way)
Gravepalm, Sharkskin Gloves (Icy Cellar)
Taebaek's Glory, Ward (Icy Cellar)
Goldwrap, Heavy Belt (Worldstone Keep Level 2)
Griswold's Heart, Ornate Plate (Throne of Destruction)
Boneflame, Succubus Skull (Baal)
Steelclash, Kite Shield (Baal)
Cathan's Visage, Mask (The Secret Cow Level)
Isenhart's Parry, Gothic Shield (The Secret Cow Level)
Steelgoad, Voulge (The Cow King)
A pretty good haul! ... Though nothing too interesting. The Boneflame from Baal was probably the star of the show. So, I suppose that's also good news. It would have been really disappointing if a Moser's or a Stormshield dropped right after I dumped all my saved stat points into vitality. Also, I didn't find that Lum Rune I was after (for upping my 199% ED Crainte Vomir) ... my best rune drop was an Io Rune in the Halls of Pain. So, nothing at all lost on spending all those saved stat points! If I'd saved them to the end, the dream still would have been an empty dream ...
I suppose that brings me to ...
Final Thoughts:
After reaching Guardian in this tournament with a couple cookie cutter-ish builds (Frozen Orb, Trapsin) I wanted to try something different. I think I succeeded. Arthur's not a cookie cutter build ... actually I'm not sure he really qualifies as a 'build' ...
Skill Points:
20 Concentrate
20 Berserk
20 Battle Orders
20 War Cry
9 Find Item
1 Point in pre-reqs
2 Skill Points left over ...
So not exactly something you'd find on Bnet
. All in all, I'd say it worked rather well. Concentrate was used through Normal and then at bosses. Berserk was used on PIs. If I was going to do it again, I might try it without Concentrate. I kept Berserk as a one point wonder for most of the game, but then when I started adding points to it through Hell, it really started to outshine Concentrate. I mostly used Berserk on PIs, but when I'd get bored/impatient with the merc's rate of progress on non-PIs and go melee myself, I discovered that using Concentrate with my weapon resulted in really poor damage (like, why bother), but using Berserk with the same weapon resulted in ... acceptable damage. I have a small sample size, but my sense is Berserk is probably the way to go for an untwinked character.
Untwinked, but with pretty reasonable gear
. Angelic armor, amulet, rings and Sigon's gloves, belt, and boots is my favorite gear for twinked play through Normal. I've often thought that it might be interesting to keep it for play through Hell ... but then of course move on to better gear. So it was quite satisfying to find it all and finally give it try. It didn't disappoint! The dual Angelic rings kept my attack rating so that I was hitting right around 95%. And the rest of the combined set bonuses, including lots of mf, are always most welcome! It would have been fun to find a way equip a stylish elite weapon and have max block ... but I just couldn't quite get there with what I found ... my resistances would have fallen too low. Oh well. My high mf setup had it's merits. I found a lot of set/uniques. Here again were my favorites:
Duriel's Shell
Cuirass
'Sol'
Defense: 606
Durability: 150 of 150
Required Strength: 65
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 60
Fingerprint: 0xb5503218
+15 to Strength
+199% Enhanced Defense
Damage Reduced by 7
Fire Resist +20%
Lightning Resist +20%
Cold Resist +50%
Poison Resist +20%
+100 Maximum Durability
Cannot Be Frozen
+1 to Defense (Based on Character Level)
+1 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (1: 1 used)
Verdungo's Hearty Cord
Mithril Coil
Defense: 136
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Strength: 106
Required Level: 63
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x1f51887b
+36 to Vitality
+109 to Maximum Stamina
+107% Enhanced Defense
Damage Reduced by 15% <-- Yes! Yes! Yes!
Replenish Life +11
10% Faster Hit Recovery
Ghostflame <-- -5 Grailer!
Legend Spike
One-Hand Damage: 145 to 221
Required Dexterity: 57
Required Strength: 55
Required Level: 66
Dagger Class - Fast Attack Speed
Indestructible
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xee0fdd50
+217% Enhanced Damage
+108 magic damage
13% Mana stolen per hit
+2 to Light Radius
Ignore Target Defense
Indestructible
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired)
Mara's Kaleidoscope
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x522ebf30
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
All Resistances +26
+2 to All Skill Levels
Three of the four of those (including the -5 Grailer) were found with Find Item! ... I'm going to miss that skill when I go on to play another character. I normally keep it as a one point wonder and only use it on champion/unique corpses ... I'm going to have to reevaluate that going forward. So many key pieces of my gear were found with Find Item. The merc's +199% ED Duriel's Shell. The merc's Tal's Mask. Arthur's Angelic armor ... it'd have been a different experience without those!
And again, what a shock finding one of my five outstanding Grail items! When I started Hell, and progress was at it's slowest, I was tempted to abandon Arthur in favor of spending my D2 item playing a character that could find something cool ... good thing I didn't
. Arthur was a bit of a chore at times, but as the only Barbarian in the tournament I wanted to see him through. He accomplished what we set out to do, and more! Now he's ready for a well earned and restful retirement!
Code:
SP Forum Name Characters Level Furthest WP Points
-- ----------------- ---------------- ------ ---------------------- -------
Y Hanshotfirst Sorc/Sin 88/87 Guardian x2 200
N PhineasB Necro/Druid 83/83 Guardian x2 200
Y skoolbus Druid/Sorc 83/85 Guardian x2 200
N Booble Sorc/Druid 74/70 Matriarch / Deeds 174
Y Hanshotfirst Barb/Necro* 88/56* Guardian / Deeds 138
N Crudesash68 Zon/Paladin 46/50 (N) Lut Gholein 67
Y Pb_pal Sorc/Zon 45/44 (N) Rogue Encampment 60
N Swamigoon Sin/Druid 45/45 WSK2 60
Y Gynli Zon/Necro 32/48 (N) Rogue Encampment 51
N DariusTriplet Sorc/Zon 31/24 River of Flame 32
N Arjan Druid/Necro 28/28 Khurast Docks 24
N Dazliare Sin/Sin 28/28 Kurast Docks 24
N Zedwardson Sorc/Necro 17/26 Kurask docks 17
Y Maltatai Druid/Druid 24/24 Far Oasis 14
Y Vildecor Zon/Sorc 21/20 Lut Gholein 12
N CaseyJones Sorc/Druid 15/23 Lut Gholein 9
N Zedwardson Druid/Paladin 3/18 Lut Gholein 7
Y b1ur Paladin/Druid 20/1 Lut Gholein 6
Up next: I'm done until D2R ... And I mean it this time! I haven't decided on what I'll do in D2R first. Maybe I'll recreate Mordred, my deeded Bone Necro, minus the skill tree restrictions. Maybe I'll just create a softcore Sorceress and start up a mfing/twinking operation. Or maybe I'll come back for more here ... I couldn't help but notice that we still need a Paladin and Amazon finisher ... though perhaps
@Crudesash will have that covered when he gets going again! Good luck everyone and thanks for reading!