My team is returning from my post-RFL break. Just a score update for now, as most of Act III was cleared by the team 4 months ago. Next update will be for Acts IV and V and will include details and screenies. I promise!!
I think this is a great way to get into HC, so I will be joining this once my untwinked necro hits 99. The team will be the the Spirited Helenes, with the theme of lesser spirits from Greek mythology:
Team Spirited Helenes (PhineasB) - 0 Pts
Eleos - (Trapper with merc package)
Tyche - (Blova Sorc with merc package)
Kratos - (HF/HS pally with weapon/helm)
@PhineasB - Nice! Good character choices too, those are fun one and very doable for tournament play.
I've been progressing again with my team since the RFL and plan on finishing out my 3 characters soon-ish. I've been a bit distracted with he UT99ers but these guys haven't slipped my mind so exepct some company and a progress update coming.
The Subheroes have finished normal difficulty. The will all now greatly enjoy the benefit of Insight. Due to unfortunate circumstances I'll describe in a bit, there is currently only one Insight weapon to share between the three for the moment. Now, on to the details!
[highlight]Stick_Tosser, LF/PJ[/highlight]
Stick_Tosser was actually the third to finish Act IV, but I reversed the play order for Act V, so we'll start with her. A recurring theme between all three will be mana issues. All three builds are mana hogs and so much time was spent picking up every blue pot that dropped as well as returning to town to fill up the belt + 4 slots. I couldn't complain though, they all kill faster than most untwinked melee characters at this point.
With Charged Strike at 10 points, even Izual didn't take long to kill on p8. The City of the Damned allowed a bit of sight-seeing as we spotted a rarely encountered structure.
We of course smashed all the windows for good measure. Can't risk those evil forces escaping. I occasionally threw out a Plague Javelin every now and then, but the damage wasn't much to write home about. On to the Hellforge!
YES! The perfect amethyst was the prize here. Combined with the Amn rune we collected just before and an extra Ral rune, I could now be on the lookout for Polearms to socket for Insight later on. Speaking of runes, The Chaos Sanctuary gave us a 3 rune drop. Too bad they were all junk. The oblivion knights in CS were the only challenge with their 60 lightning resist and affinity for using decrepify on the merc before fleeing. There was even one that remained alive.
So much for full clears. Couldn't hit him with anything with him behind the soul brazier. He couldn't hit us either, of course. Infector's pack didn't lock us in a corner, and they were handled quickly with Slow Missles and Charged Strike. De Seis's minions were lured out and killed before taking him on. Grand Vizier went down the quickest.
We took on Diablo on p8. Mercenary almost survived, but went down a few seconds before the killing blow landed.
Diablo Ice Shards anyone? His drop did not provide any upgrades. After taking down Shenk, a Sol rune was found in Arreat Plateau as well as a white Poleaxe. Here's where I goofed. I went ahead and cube socketed the poleaxe and it came out with 4 sockets. Then I went ahead and threw in the runes to make the team's first Insight stick. The screenshot of Insight also shows a mostly full stash. I threw the Insight stick in the cube. Can you guess what happened a few minutes later? I dropped 3 gems in the cube to upgrade them, opened the cube and immediately hit transmute...forgetting to take out Insight. It rerolled my Poleaxe into a Magical Poleaxe of crappiness. Lesson learned. Wait until Destroyer, then make Insight.
Stick_Tosser continued on, taking out Frozenstein with some Lightning Fury throws now that the skill was starting to become useful. Anya gave her a bow, which was sold right back to her. Nihlathak fell next, and the rest of the areas literally flew by with the increased killing speed provided by Lightning Fury.
The Ancients were taken on at p8 as well. I didn't bring extra pots with me, but it turned out fine with Korlic dropping first, followed by Talic and Madawc. Once Baal's throne room was cleared, things felt eerily familiar. Thanks to my untwinked 99er furyzon, taking on the minion waves and Baal felt like second nature. Except I left the players setting at p8 for Baal. He took a while, but eventually dropped. His drops were useless as well.
The Moo Moo Farm was a piece of cake as well. LF eats them up so nicely. Unfortunately, the cows didn't drop a replacement polearm nor a Sol rune for a new Insight stick, so I'd have to rely on the achievements of the rest of my team to provide that. They were nice enough to drop a new pair of sweet javelins we look forward to using.
[highlight]Mr_Bone, Bone Mage[/highlight]
Right out of Pandemonium Fortress, Mr_Bone found a nice shield that would replace his current one once he got his hands on a perfect diamond. The extra skill points will be needed, as compared to Lightning Fury and Blizzard, Bone Spear takes a bit longer to kill with right now.
Out of mana pots. This happened a TON. He's still very safe to play with Bone Armor combined with curses. Hellforge was a letdown perhaps, but it's still just normal.
His first real test came with Infector's pack. He got the hook map and figured, 'OK, we'll just bone wall them off and spear them from safety.'
Until I realized 7 points in Bone Wall isn't really enough for p8 normal here (51 life for the wall I believe). So instead, we used the standard TP back and run back from the waypoint. Pulling out a few at a time. Attract was useful in helping keep the merc alive, so it was used again for the De Seis pack. Before taking on Diablo, a rare throwing spear dropped that Stick_Tosser used to clear Acts IV and V with.
The Diablo fight took a couple of trips back to town to re-stock pots and for merc resurrections. Mr_Bone ultimately took on Big D himself for the last bit. More crap drops, no upgrades.
In Act V, Bone Spear got it's 20th point, and subsequent points went into Bone Spirit (for Baal, and other bosses). I plan on maxxing Bone Prison next, then Bone Wall. It will be interesting to see what kind of damage I can get out of these two spells once all 80 of those points have been spent. Haven't made a Bone Mage that far into the game yet. Oh, and of course the rest of the points after that will be dumped into Teeth for more synergy damage.
Act V's first challenge was this guy:
I'm pretty sure the merc bit the dust rather quickly to his minions who had crossed the bridge to the right of the screenie. I had to quickly retreat, revive the merc and keep decrep and attract on the group, finally taking on the boss solo. In the Crystalline Passage, we encountered a Frenzytaur pack welcoming party, this time Extra Fast. These guys were much easier and we just powered through it. The much sought after Sol rune fell before hitting the Frozen River.
As I usually do, I tried to bottleneck Frozenstein's group on the bridge to Anya, but the mercenary wasn't cooperative. Still, situations like this are perfect for Bone Spear, even with a Yeti bashing you in the face. Mr_Bone won the necromancer duel and got a crappy reward from Anya. It's ok, the real prize was the Partizan we found on our way to Nihlathak. The cube socket recipe gave it 4 sockets and, not repeating the mistake we made with Stick_Tosser, we handed the mercenary the Partizan in this state until we made Destroyer. It was a damage increase for the merc anyway, which was greatly appreciated.
The Infernal Pit dropped the Subheroes first exceptional unique, Bloodletter. The ancients were taken on at p3. No epic screenshots, the fight didn't last long. None of Baal's minion groups gave us too much trouble. Lister's pack was pulled out 1-2 at a time. Baal was also taken on at p3. He cloned himself, but that was just delaying the inevitable. As seems obligatory, he dropped nothing useful.
Finally, we can use Insight. Horrible damage roll, but at least it's in an exceptional base, and there will be plenty of opportunity to hunt for etheral replacements. Spear-spamming was much more satisfying in the Cow Level with the help of the meditation aura. It's damage is starting to get much more decent as well (at 660 average damage now), so things are looking up.
[highlight]The_Weathergirl[/highlight]
The first to finish Act IV, and the last to finish Act V, The_Weathergirl was the greediest blue pot-drinker of the group. She was also the easiest one to do the playthroughs with, thanks to Blizzard, Static Field, and Teleport. Taking on Izual on p8? No problem, spam static til he's slivered. The Hellforge dropped another Perfect Amethyst, but it would take a long time before a polearm dropped that we could cube socket.
It got 2 sockets anyhow.
Nothing in the Chaos Sanctuary could stand the chilling temperatures of her Blizzards, and she quickly took down Infector, De Seis, and Vizier. Again, thanks to Static Field, The_Weathergirl's mercenary was the only one of the three to survive the entire Diablo fight.
The second Prime Evil fell and left nothing useful. Blizzard continued to reign supreme even in the already cold climate of the north. Lightning became very useful for taking out the demon imps. Before reaching Nihlathak, a nice rare wand dropped that Mr_Bone will gladly be using until he finds better. He especially enjoys the extra mana it provides!
The Halls of Anguish dropped a halfway decent orb. It's not even that great, but the extra armor points and extra life will be useful. The_Weathergirl still kept the wand she was using (20% FCR, 40 mana) until making Destroyer since she desperately needed the mana more. Nihlathak dropped something she would love to use, but can't. Conversely, Anya gave her something she could use, but didn't want. Par for the course.
Continuing on, she still managed to find a few unique items even without being able to use the Chance Guards. This amulet will hopefully continue this trend going forward.
Continuing on, The_Weathergirl slaughtered p3 Ancients and wiped the floor with Baal's minions. Baal himself quickly followed and gave nothing useful, but the team's 2nd exceptional unique. It was accidentally sold instead of being put in the team stash, but I doubt there will be any prize claiming anyway.
Cow Level was completed with no exciting drops. Insight actually still didn't help her mana issues all that much due to her small mana pool (sub 200 after switching to the rare orb). I could probably through a few levels' worth of points in energy (like I decided to do for Mr_Bone), but I don't really have the spare points to do so. After making Destroyer, I used her respec to get max Blizzard and Nova. I plan on giving her a 3 pDiamond Tower Shield and I'd like her to at least get the listed block rate with it, so I'll just have to keep using lots of mana pots until she gets more mana from gear or levels.
I think from this point forward I'll limit my updates to one character. These long update posts are grueling!
As the slowest runner of the team, Mr_Bone got to start things out in NM. Running at p7, his kill speed actually isn't that bad. Bone Spirit got maxxed and points are now going into Bone Prison (which got zero use). I found my first exceptional unique in Jail level 1. In the third level of the jail, I found Rockfleece, which I gave to Alhizeer. Combined with the 6% LL/57 life/2 MDR circlet, he was much, much safer.
Alhizeer even survived the Andariel fight. That is, until I spent to much time looking at her junky drops and he succumbed to lingering poison.
Halfway through Act II, I spent about 1M gold trying to gamble some upgrades for his rare gear. No luck, at least not for him. Found a couple of +1 skill rare circlets for the other two characters that I'll show off in their updates. I did manage to snag a plain +2 P&B amulet, replacing a res all ammy I no longer needed now that his unraveller head has 2 perfect diamonds in it.
We ran across our first 75% magic resistant monsters, the zombies in Lost City. They will be a pain if we get to Hell difficulty, along with all the greater mummies (who thankfully had only 50% magic resistance in NM). Speaking of unravellers, the tombs of Tal Rasha saw plenty of corpse explosion -- but only to prevent the raising of burning dead. I had one close call in one of the false tombs against a boss pack when I was a bit too close to the action and didn't realize my bone armor had faded.
Duriel was no problem at all. Alhizeer's health bar stayed green the entire fight except after one Charge. His drop looked exciting, but the ring was just another Manald Heal of course. Mr_Bone is now relaxing in Lut Gholein, waiting for the other two subheroes to catch up.
I think I'll focus on finishing the team up before continuing with my Spearzon in the Overburdened Tourney and my Exhibition Mode Druid. Perhaps I can finish nightmare before the MFO starts.
The_Weathergirl was next in line to tackle Nightmare difficulty. She got to start out with some juicy upgrades thanks to the drops/gambling done on Mr_Bone.
Also shown in these is the Tower Shield with 3 perfect diamonds.
The new orb was definitely much appreciated. Her mana problems completely disappeared when combined with Insight. The playthrough for her went blazingly fast and I'll just give a few highlights.
Hazade wasn't as lucky as Mr_Bone's mercenary and did not survive the fight with Andariel. Her drops did not include any upgrades. The Vipermagi had the worst roll at 20 resist all. I can't use it. My merc doesn't want it. It qualifies as junk in my book.
I decided to play it safe in the 2nd level of the Claw Viper Temple, taking on Fangskin's pack from the safety of the altar itself.
Duriel took a while to kill with Blizzard. Maybe because I was a dolt and forgot to drop the players setting down from 7.
He finally fell and dropped more junk to sell, including a Dwarf Star ring.
The last stretch of Act II saw a couple of nice upgrades. These boots are very yummy, though I will miss the 20% FRW on the ones I had. It's a bit on the big side, but I will likely keep a place in my inventory for this useful charm.
Other finds along the way: The Iron Jang Bong, Rite of Passage, Lum, Undead Crown, Steeldriver, Tancred's Weird, Cathan's Rule, Ripsaw, and Wormskull.
Currently, Stick_Tosser is closing in on Andariel and will probably go all the way to Diablo in the next update.
Bringing up the rear, Stick_Tosser made quick work on her way to join up, and then surpass the rest of the team. LF and Charged Strike made quick work of everything, of course. A new tower shield with 3 perfect diamonds saw both fire and lighting resists maxxed, so the playthrough was quite safe as well.
Almost before I knew it, it was time to take down Andariel. She was quickly dispatched, leaving nothing useful. In Lut Gholein, Gulzar was replaced with Zanarhi for his Holy Freeze aura.
With both LF and CS maxxed out, it was finally time to start dumping points into Plague Javelin. It saw some use against lightning immunes, but with the low damage output, it was usually quicker to just use Jab.
Duriel also fell swiftly, and actually dropped an item I decided to equip.
This maxed out my cold resist and allowed me to offload some lightning resist charms. Once I made it to the Great Marsh, it was time to stock up on Grand Charms to use for rerolling. After finding the Flayer Jungle waypoint, I gathered up the total horde of perfect gems and began rerolling the GCs I'd collected. The first results were a plain Burning GC, a plain Fanatic GC, and a bit later, a Mentalist's GC of Strength. So no help just yet, but at least now I have a use for all the gems I'm collecting.
I tanked Mephisto to help ensure my merc survived the fight. His drops would have been very nice in any normal untwinked playthrough, but no help here. The ring was a Ravenfrost.
My other two characters had already moved from Lut Gholein to Kurast during the re-rolling GC process, so Stick_Tosser went ahead into Pandemonium Fortress. Gold was nearly maxed out, so I tried to gamble some upgrades for gloves, boots, and belt. Only one candidate stood out:
It wasn't amazing, but it did feel nice to have all my resists maxed out. The City of the Damned was as annoying as I knew it would be, with lightning immune Damned, but at least they weren't joined by Dark Familiars. Plague Javelin was used more frequently here. At slvl 16 (after +skills) with 10 hard points in Poison Javelin, it did noticeable if slow damage while the merc did the killing.
Hellforge was a Lum. Not the most useful, as I doubt I'll be upgrading any unique weapons for the mercenary. Speaking of which, I still have not found any useful bases for another Insight. There were 4 or 5 failed attempts to cube ethereal bases. I found a 4os Halberd and a 4os Battle Scythe, neither ethereal, so I'm still stuck with the regular Partizan.
Seal bosses were no sweat. I got the hook map at Infectors seal, but with Slow Missiles and the merc's Holy Freeze, there was really no danger.
Diablo left us nothing of use. Stick_Tosser will now hang out in Pandemonium Fortress while her teammates venture into Acts III, IV and V.
Good progress from @Vildecor and it looks like we will have three semi-active teams in this challenge for now, with @Pb_pal and me. Speaking of which:
As mentioned, I planned to enter when my untwinked necro hit 99. I haven’t played HC really, so we’ll see how this goes. I am starting HC, so plan to keep items to start building up a stash (i.e., not contributing to prize stash).
I made a little progress in late July, but then started in earnest after MFO. My team is the Spirited Helenes, with the theme of lesser spirits from Greek mythology: - Eleos, the Spirit of Mercy/Compassion. She’s in honor of my untwinked 99er sin, Mercy, and will be a standard trapper with merc package. - Tyche, the Spirit of Luck/Good Fortune/Fate. (Hoping she is more on the luck side than fate side!) She’ll be a Blova with merc package and do the bulk of MFing for the group once they get to NM. - Kratos, the Spirit of Strength/Power. He’ll be Holy Freeze/Holy Shock Zealot and will have weapon/helm for his rewards.
The plan for Normal was to go through on p7, except p3 for Duriel and p1 for Countess, early A3, and Diablo/Ancients/Baal. There was a slight change up for Tyche due to mana management issues, as she went with p3 starting at A2.
I was looking forward to not full-clearing outside the more traditional tourney setting, so fairly direct playthroughs would be the order of the day, with a little rerunning targets/areas if the mood caught me. It’s really nice without full-clear pressure of tourneys because it’s easier to get 10-15 minute chunks of time to progress. The TC3 drops came pretty consistently in A1, which was pretty cool.
Kratos (HF/HS Zealot)
He was the first to progress, on the theory that sorcs can be somewhat fragile early on. He moved through A1 smoothly, with first decent runes from Countess (Tal, Eth), with Biggin’s dropping in the Jail, and then on to Andy, who fell easily. Entering A2, I focused on gambling pikes, with jackpot on the first gamble: View attachment 15061
Nice, and the rest of the team was now set for A2 merc weapon. Then luck struck again (and it wasn’t even Tyche), with this nice MF amulet dropping while questing early in the act: View attachment 15062
He also shopped 25 MF boots and 21 MF gloves, and later gambled 21 MF rare boots. We then got Greyform in the Maggot Lair. That’s where things stopped with early progress, picking back up this week after MFO. Except for, of course, picking the Summoners arm as the fourth one explored in AS, there was little excitement up to Duriel, who actually provided a nice drop: View attachment 15063
The Twitchthroe was kept as possible merc armor for the other two characters with merc package. He has since moved to the start of A3.
Tyche (Blova, eventually)
She was next, although in retrospect, I should have had her last. A1 was a bit slow toward the end due to limited mana and damage from merc. Except for a nice Countess drop (Ral, Tal, Eth), there was nothing of note up to the Barracks, where Rixot’s dropped. Slow and steady up to Andy, who feel easily enough, with nothing of note in her drop.
I wasted a jewel of envy in a short sword for some reason, rather than saving up for another bow to replace 3s chipped emerald one, and of course got a second one later on
I ended up pumping charged bolt early, planning to respect to Blizz at some point after level 24. She dropped to p3 because she was chugging mana pots. I will likely keep her there through Normal, with some leveling at Pindle before NM when the time comes.
Arcane Sanctuary was fun, and I really didn’t mind picking the right arm last Duriel went down in a heap with nothing useful in the drop. I was a little worried at how close she’d need to get for Static to work given low level. But it was fine with defrost potions pumped for her and merc, needed only one trip to down to bump merc’s health bulb.
Eleos (Trapper)
This gal has been a blast, especially because she was nicely geared. She made short work of things up to Countess (Ral and Eth), and similarly sailed through to Andy, who had a fun but ultimately useless drop. She had a nice map, so ran Andy twice more, picking up a second Rixot’s.
She then gambled a nice belt at the start of A2, and then decided to use her chipped/flawed diamonds on savage polearm rolls, netting a Partizan on the first one: View attachment 15064
We made quick progress to Duriel, who went down in a heap with only one town trip needed for mana pots (she had just hit lvl 24 and LS). At the start of A3, we stuck some amethysts in a 2s helm and one socket of a 3s armor, using a jewel of freedom that had dropped on a chippie-rerolled 2os Brutal Partizan: View attachment 15065
So the mercs should be pretty powerful for the next little bit, with 1os left on the Partizan and flexibility with the armor 4 levels after equipping at lvl 23.
While the other two characters had found almost no useful charms in A1 and A2 (only three 5/6 resist SCs), she made up for it. She picked up two Lightning resist GCs, another Fire, and a fourth one with Poison, along with three more low resist SCs. So, at the start of A3, she had 44/33/63/66 for resists and 166 MF.
She moved through A3 smoothly, getting Lightning Sentry prior to the Council. Notable finds were a nice rare FCR ring with mana and MF, another interesting potential merc armor in Hawkmail from Council, and unique Yew Wand (which has been stashed due to Tyche finding a 20FCR wand with boosts to energy and mana and DV charges). Meph went down after being moated with nothing useful in his drops.
* * *
Eleos was parked at the end of the Act until Tyche finished A2 earlier this am. She can now move forward to A4. I plan to split time between this project and Nihl runs with my untwinked 99er zon. But next up here will be Kratos completing A3. Tyche found a 10@ 3os rondache that will get 3 diamonds to get his resists approaching max without needing any charms, so he can start gathering damage charms
Team: Spirited Helenes (PhineasB) – 42 pts
Eleos - (Sin: Traps/Shadow - 10) - lvl 27 - Act IV N – 18 pts
Tyche - (Sorc: Cold/Light - 10) - lvl 23 - Act III N – 12 pts
Kratos - (Pala: Offensive/Combat - 7/1) - lvl 25 - Act III N – 12 pts
* * *
Edit, I figured that I'd add some updated scores, which I can maintain periodically.
Team The Immortals? (smloeffelholz) - 287pts (completed) Persephone - (Assassin: Traps/Shad.Disc - 10) - lvl 82 - Act V H - 100pts
Athena - (Amazon: P&M/J&S - 10) - lvl 82 - Act V H - 100pts
Hecate - (Sorc: Lightning/Cold - 10) - lvl 81 - Act V H - 87pts (dead)
Nice to see your team start @PhineasB! It's also cool that at least one of us decided against full clears. I'll probably end up dropping the player setting for my Bone Necro for Acts IV and V, his kill speed just can't compete with a Javazon and Blizz sorc.
Oh, and welcome to HC! Once you've finished your UT 99er sept, now you have an excuse to do it again in HC mode.
Just under a year is pretty good time for getting through two acts on Normal right?
I got sucked into other games, first Path of Exile and then the return of City of Heroes, but I always come back to D2 eventually. I was glad to see this still going strong, and I picked up right where I left off.
Nothing too exciting; Chance Guards would have been nice, but the Pages can't use them anyway.
So far there's a definite hierarchy with Tenzin being the best, followed by Caelius, and Petro still hasn't really found his groove yet. I like that all three of them play so differently though.
I'll try to take less than eleven months for the next update.
Team: Paige's Pages (ranagrande) - 36pts
Tenzin - (Barb: Masteries/Skills - 7/2) - lvl 28 - Act III Norm - 12pts
Petro - (Druid: SS/Summon - 7/2) - lvl 27 - Act III Norm - 12pts
Caelius - (Paladin: Combat/Def.Auras - 7/2) - lvl 27 - Act III Norm - 12pts
The team is back in action! Where we left off Ketto (Singer) and Bedoe (Liberator) had just finished NM, whereas Ribble (Lord of Mages) was prepping to hit Act V NM. I decided that here was no better way to get into the swing of things than to head out into Hell, and Ketto was the lucky recipient of that honour since Singers are WAY safer than Chargers.
[highlight]Ketto - Singer[/highlight]
Ketto leveled up a bit on Pindle/Eldritch and reached level 74 before taking the plunge into Hell. Upon gaining Conqueror, his armor slot is open to S/U now so it was time for a bit of a re-shuffle gear-wise. He equipped the Spirit Shroud, and juggled some other equipment and charms to focus more on safety, allowing him to set out with respectable resists (53/38/75/19). He'll be taking on Hell on /p1 entirely since, well, he's a Singer and I don't want to go insane.
Killing speed is actually decent against the smaller monsters (fallen, Quill rats etc), but anything with higher life/physical resistance (yes you, zombies) still take a mana pot or two to get through. Corpsefire managed to kill the merc, but Ketto persevered and killed him easily enough before clearing out the rest of the Den and then moving on and killing Blood Raven.
Ketto then met his first unkillable (PI/CI) boss in the Cold Plains, and another in the Stony Field:
I knew this would be an issue when I picked the cold Iron Wolf as my mercenary since high PR monsters tend to be high CR as well, so now I'm just hoping it doesn't happen in a situation which is more dire. For now I'm lucky enough to be able to just leave the bosses behind to wander around to entertain themselves.
Treehead (Amp+Might) absolutely smoked the merc (sensing a pattern yet? ) and was quite a handful for Ketto as well. Luckily, since Superuniques (and champ packs too, for the record) can still be stunned - albeit only occasionally - it was doable with lots of potions and running. If Treehead hadn't been stunnable, there was no way Ketto would have survived as each successful hit on him took ~1/3 of his life bulb. Speaking of which, I learned something; War Cry can even stun PIs! I just assumed previosuly it wouldn't work, but he was stunning a PI goat pack into yesteryear, so that was delightful news to me.
The trip down the Countess' Tower was easy, netting us an Ort for our trouble. After that he decided to take a quick detour in the Pits and look what a double champ pack of devilkin/rogues spit out.
Well. That settles the debate for Bedoe's end-game charging weapon! Ketto finished off the run (hitting level 75 in the process) and then made this cute little toy for his brother.
Bottom of the barrell roll for resistances, but I can't really complain.
With renewed vigor, he set off for the jail. The Smith was toasted easily, and we found this cool hammer in the Catacombs. No use for it in this tournament, but I'm gonna hang on to it for a future rares-only build or something like that.
Andariel was easy but tedious, a recurring theme for Kettos Act boss fights. Black/Butcher's Pupil, plus a few town trips to heal and restock pots. She dropped Rockfleece, which could be cool but I already have better options so it won't see any use.
Excuse the double post, but I felt compelled to get Ribble into Hell with his brothers so here is a short update on him.
--
[highlight]Ribble - Lord of Mages[/highlight]
First things first, he popped an Amn and two Shaels into the mercs newly acquired Hone Sundan (which Bedoe found in his previous update). The merc is basically unstoppable now with his meatshield of Revives.
The trip to Shenk was both quick and efficient, as was his death. Not surprising with a dozen or so Thorned Hulks fighting for our team.
Ribble kept up his pace and soon Thresh Socket was dead, Anya saved, Pindle dispatched, and he made it to the Halls of Vaught. We drew vipers down there, and although they aren't SUPER dangerous in NM, it's still good practice for a potential Hell matchup. Luckily, DV is as good as advertised and made them completely benign, leading Ribble to kill the necromancer-wannabe with relative ease. Open areas tend to get a little bit wild with such a large army, as you can see here:
There are at least 3 separate fights happening here, so it's easy to see how things can get out of control quickly if you're not paying attention to all the groupings. Soon enough, he had cleared to the Ancients, gathered a full army of Revives (snow beasts, mostly) and hit the altar. Normally I like to try and separate the Ancients out and take them on one at a time in a tournament like this, but that just isn't possible with all the minions, so we took them all on at once.
It was a little bit scary since it was difficult to keep track of the axe throwing and whirlwinds. Ribble got tagged by a couple errant axes throughout the fight but it went by largely without issue, not super surprising since Ribble had THIRTY FIVE helpers for the fight.
The WSK was easy, as were the Baal's waves of minions. Even Lister's crew was kept at bay and overpowered by our army. Baal was an absolute cakewalk with Clay Golem, Decrepify and a Hone Sundan on the merc. Ribble is officially a Conqueror at level 72.
He took some time to level up to 74, and will take on Hell next. Should probably spend some of those stat points too...
Ribble decided to keep his momentum going and headed out into Hell. First off was a big re-gear for survival. I got lucky shopping Anya for a while and he managed to make what I can only assume will be his end-game armour. It even matches his red wand!
We kept the players setting dialed down to /p1, and that kept things nice and smooth. The merc is equipped now with Rockstopper/Toothrow/Hone Sundan (AmnShaelShael) so he just rips things apart. Surprisingly, the mages still have pretty decent power too, I just have to keep a bit of a closer eye on immunities and mage types. Revive is also maxed now, and they're performing great. I've run out of things to max in the standard build, so I'll pump Fire Golem for now until the mana cost tops out. The only downside to the build is that you can lose huge chunks of your army pretty easily if they stray while you progress, especially the mages. it's really not a big deal, but a bit of a nuisance since mages aren't that quick on the uptake and apparently don't know how to play "follow the leader" very well.
Smooth sailing as Corpsefire, Blood Raven, and Treehead all met their demise and we freed ol' Cain for the last time. Check out this sweet stair trap in the Countess' Tower.
Luckily, Ribble was able to sidestep out of the way while keeping the monsters' focus on his own army. He kept Decrep on them at all times and then it was just a waiting game. The rest of the Tower was uneventful, as was the Coutness' drop - an Eth. The rest of the act flew, the Smith was killed, and the path to Andariel cleared. she went down like a pile of bricks and left nothing useful in her wake.
The desert was equally boring as our army just tore right through. Radament fell easily, and we unsummoned all but the merc to get through the Maggot Lair. Once we found Coldworm, we resummoned the army in her chamber and the queen was easy pickings. Decrepify remains the main curse of use, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. The mages still do damage without LR and the control that Decrep offers is just too valuable to pass up.
Through the CVT we took a bunch of vipers with us as Revives, and that let us give Fangskin a taste of his own medicine.
The army plowed their way through to the tombs where a double draw of Unravellers made things quite slow (physically resistant vampires were the third type, which didn't help things). It was never dangerous as I just raised new skeletons from theirs to keep the corpses away. I put the /p setting up to 3 for the Duriel fight, but he still dropped crap.
CG+Decrep+CB from Hone Sundan is just too powerful, it's really insane. Ribble will pause here now as the rest of the team catches up.
Act III provided the first shift in the power rankings of the Pages. Petro was the weakest in Acts 1 and 2, and is now the best of the bunch. He's the only one with real AoE right now. Rabies is awesome. I'm sure I'll feel differently when I run into a bunch of poison-immunes, but I'm enjoying it now.
Caelius is the opposite. Vengeance is so slow, and it's annoying to have to individually target everything because right-click has to be reserved for an Aura. He's by far the best against a single target, but that doesn't happen very often. I'm debating now if I want spend some points on getting Holy Shield or if I want to stay focused on Vengeance.
Tenzin is still very good, and very consistent. I'm looking forward to seeing what all of them, but especially he can do after unlocking weapons in Nightmare.
Some statistics:
The team has found 380 rare items, 38 set pieces, and 24 uniques.
They have found two complete sets, both of them Berserker's.
Paige has now died 58 times to protect her Pages.
He leveled up to 74 like his brothers before heading out into Hell with his shiny new Obedience CA (thanks Ketto!). Add in some CBF from Hawkmail and we're golden. LCS is looking pretty sharp:
That 2-8.7k Charge damage just tears through everything on /p1. We're gonna keep it there for now as he's still quite the glass cannon, and a higher setting makes things a bit too dangerous for my liking. Blessed Hammer is so damn powerful that I have to make a conscious effort to only use it when needed. I will say though, man is it ever fun to throw up a field of hammers and then Charge through it and watch everything melt.
The Den was cleared with ease, Blood Raven was cornered and Zealed down, Cain saved, and we cruised to the Countess' Tower. It was a bit tricky in there as close quarters are bad for both BH and charge. We made it though, and the Countess gave us not one but THREE useless runes. The Smith was Charged back and handled easily, and we found a Crown of Thieves in Andy's chamber which could potentially go to Ribble's merc.
Zealing with 'Black' has lost its luster for Boss fights, so Andy just got BHed until dead and left nothing useful behind.
On to the desert!
Let's see, what's the best way I can put this?
Things are getting dangerous.
Unleechables everywhere means that Charge is a tougher sell, and the merc is losing power fast as we haven't had a weapon upgrade in... well, I don't actually remember, but a looong time. He's been relying more and more on the BH switch, throwing up a field of hammers and then picking off stragglers with Charge.
Radament's LE bolts were too much for Charging, so it was BH from a distance while the merc got up close and personal. Not so bad, off to the.. Maggot Lair. Sigh.
Charge is next to useless in there, BH as well. PI bugs also happened to render the merc completely useless (not that he's that useful on a good day, mind you). It was a long slog of re-positioning, BH-ing down the first couple bugs, letting the rest come to you and starting the sequence over again. It was however extremely satisfying to finally burst into the queen's chamber and just decimate everything with BH
The CVT was more interesting, with all the snakes and their penchant for knocking back. For those who don't know, one of the main bugs with Charge happens when you get knocked back while charging. It forces you to "moonwalk" backwards until you release the mouse button and start a new chain. After a while of careful charging and strategic group separation, Bedoe made his way to - and killed - Fangskin to retrieve the amulet.
The rest of the act was a blur of ease as the tomb was promptly cleared, and after a long act of frustration I cheesed it for the Duriel fight and just BHed him into the void.
The drop was garbage, but Bedoe is very VERY pleased to leave the desert behind for the last time.
It’s been awhile, but we are still in it. We got all three to the end of A3 Normal before I left for vacation in October, and then returned to this project today, getting our first Destroyer and some nice item upgrades.
Eleos (Standard trapper)
We left off at the start of A3. Not much to report, as she moved through easily with solid resists from charms swapped among characters, sticking with p7 until Meph (p3). She picked up the first Amn from Brem, which went into the 2s Savage Partizan to give life leech, which was nice. Meph went down easily enough with nothing useful dropping. She’s still at the beginning of A4, so the next to progress.
Kratos (HF/HS Zealot)
He was next up to tackle A3, again with little to report . . . actually nothing to report. Slow and steady at p7 to ensure he didn’t get swarmed, with the merc much sturdier with the life leech. No meaningful drops, with Meph drop providing nothing of use.
That was before vacation, and I picked back up with him this morning as the first to tackle A4. He rolled a map with stairs immediately to the south, and eventually took down Izual. I am looking forward to the character reward and access to crushing blow to speed up those fights in NM HF provided Eth, and then he carefully navigated CS.
I was nervous about Diablo, but it was not an issue, with maxed fire allowing him to tank the firestorms and lightning hose tank-able with a health potion. It took one trip to town for potions, and we prevailed: View attachment 52191
Tyche (Blova)
The sorc was next up, and we used the respec to Blizz from Charged Bolt, allowing Ice Blast to be nearly maxed. She continued on p1 due to mana issues, and blitzed through, picking up a Tal from HF and taking down Diablo with ease. The orb was useful (lots of mana and FCR with resists and FO charges), but rendered obsolete before she could equip it
At p1, A5 went quickly, and she picked up the first Sol in Crystalline Passage, which will hopefully become an Insight very soon. She rescued Anya, and the reward was quite nice: View attachment 52192
The +mana was helpful, and +skill and FCR were useful. She had just hit level 30, and Pindle coughed up some nice tri-resist gloves on the way to Nihl, who dropped easily. She then Pindled at p3 to level 34 before moving on. Baal fell, and she became the first Destroyer: View attachment 52193
She then levelled to 40 at Pindle (p5 and then p8). Useful finds were a Bloodletter (that Kratos will likely use for early NM), and an upgrade for Kratos’ shield:
Code:
Armageddon Ward
Aerin Shield
Defense: 26
Chance to Block: 42
Durability: 34 of 50
Required Level: 15
Required Strength: 50
Fingerprint: 0x517ca5b0
Item Level: 45
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+17% Faster Hit Recovery
+30% Faster Block Rate
20% Increased Chance of Blocking
All Resistances +15
Fire Resist +6% 2 Sockets (0 used)
* * *
Team: Spirited Helenes (PhineasB) – 69 pts
Eleos - (Sin: Traps/Shadow - 10) - lvl 27 - Act IV N – 18 pts
Tyche - (Sorc: Cold/Light - 10) - lvl 40 - Act V N – 30 pts
Kratos - (Pala: Offensive/Combat - 7/1) - lvl 32 - Act V N – 21 pts
* * *
Team The Immortals? (smloeffelholz) - 287pts (completed) Persephone - (Assassin: Traps/Shad.Disc - 10) - lvl 82 - Act V H - 100pts
Athena - (Amazon: P&M/J&S - 10) - lvl 82 - Act V H - 100pts
Hecate - (Sorc: Lightning/Cold - 10) - lvl 81 - Act V H - 87pts (dead)
It was time for a break from the Untwinked 99ers, so we returned to the HC crew. All three are now Destroyers, with some gear building ahead now that slots are unlocked.
Eleos (Standard trapper)
We picked up with her at the start of A4 later in the weekend after my last update. After the experience with Tyche, she progressed at p3, with the plan to level at Pindle before moving to NM. As with A3, she moved through easily, which isn’t surprising given lower p-setting. No meaningful drops, with Diablo falling without need for a town trip.
She then plowed through A5, again on p3, picking up a Fine LC of Sustenance that went to Kratos, before taking down Nihl. Baal then fell, and she made Destroyer: View attachment 52331
She then leveled to 40 at Pindle and then moved to NM, where she currently sits.
Kratos (HF/HS Zealot)
He picked back up earlier today, and moved through A5 at p7 until Crystalline passage, when the chilling effect without CBF and zeal prompted a downgrade to p3 to be safe. I’m glad of that decision, as it would have been tedious otherwise.
Nothing of note until Frozenstein, which was the first real danger spot for any of the trio. I hadn’t run forward fast enough to keep them stacked up on the bridge from where Anya was imprisoned. He almost got surrounded and the merc got smoked, but Kratos was able to get out and run far enough away to safely TP back to town. The team pulled them back safely to the next bridge and got them stacked up nicely for a safe fight.
Smooth sailing to Baal, who fell and dropped a skiller of all things View attachment 52332
I kept it for now, given that it’s a tree that Eleos is using. Too bad it wasn’t Traps though. He then made Destroyer at level 41 without any re-running of areas: View attachment 52333
Given his momentum, I decided to tackle A1 NM, at least until he gathered some bases, most importantly for insight. He stayed at p3, equipped the Bloodletter, and moved smoothly up to Countess, whose crew dropped an Io that will hopefully become a Black for boss fights when we find a 3os hammer. A partizan fell but got 2os, before a Halberd dropped with 4os, and was muled off at Inner Cloister for Tyche to make an Insight.
Kratos then took down Andy, needing two trips to town to replenish potions and resurrect merc (who died every time she stepped back to pop at TP ). He had picked up a 3os bow, so took out Radament and made Edge before burning through gold on gambles for Polearm-types and circlets. He picked up a 29MF circlet and a 20@ with +75 mana rare one that is stashed for possible use by Tyche questing.
We still would like a 4os Partizan (or Bill) for Insight upgrade, and a 3os mask to supercharge the MF (although we only have 1 pTopaz and two flawless, so not a major rush).
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