As I mentioned some time ago, I started a Hammerdin as I wanted a caster type char to run in this "tournament" as well, but I have a lvl94 Blizzsorc (who is untwinked as well, so if I feel really desperate, I'll add her in to the table as well
).
Aura was named after a Finnish brand of blue cheese, as Hammerdins are the definition of cheesy character in D2. Plus, Aura can refer to Paladin auras as well, so win-win.
Questing through Normal and Nightmare were pretty uneventful. He didn't have much MF gear on, so drops were really quite bad, but I did manage to find possibly the cutest pair of rare gloves I'll ever find in Act 1 Normal:
Code:
Brimstone Touch
Leather Gloves
Defense: 2
Durability: 26 of 36
Required Level: 1
Fingerprint: 0x7869dd3e
Item Level: 1
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Strength
+1 to Dexterity
Cold Resist +5%
Fire Resist +5%
Poison Resist +5%
Triple res and double stat. The only other attribute available at lvl 1 as far as I know is Self-Repair, so with that, the gloves would be perfect. I'll probably hold on these forever, they look so nice
Anyhow, Aura kept running through Normal as fast as possible, only stopping at certain places like Countess, Arcane Sanctuary and River of Flame to run for experience. In no time, Aura was in Act5 beating Eldritch over and over and over again. I was using Rhyme shield with Rusthandle that I got from Mephisto I think and found nothing really worthy of note and I got to level 45ish. So, let's move on to Nightmare.
Act 1, I made a plan of finding a 4os Sword and Shield. I found them in Arcane Sanctuary... Dual Spirit and things get really fast as a Hammerdin. I kept running Arcane Sanctuary to gain levels and hoping for a better base for my Spirit shield, but no luck. At lvl53-54, I moved on and rushed through to Act 5 Eldritch again. My luck was turning around a little bit. I got 4os +37 all res Akaran Rondache so I got myself a new Spirit. I was about to reach level 70, when they gifted me with a rune, Mal rune. Got me pretty excited, don't think I've seen that high rune in NM before. Not that I needed it for anything, but it was a nice surprise none the less. At lvl72 I felt bored and decided that the faster I get to Hell Lower Kurast, the earlier I can start to hunt for Enigma so I went and rescued Anya and beat Baal. I can barely remember how these went as it took me like about an hour to quest through Act 5.
Act 1 Hell, oh boy is Aura fragile! Thankfully, I'm going for max block (because why not with Holy Shield), so I was relatively safe, but any boss pack was a real threat. I managed to get to Rakanishu and started to reset my maps for a good one to run Rakanishu, when a Zombie pack in one ugly map dropped this:
Code:
Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
Ring
Required Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0xfc6badfd
Item Level: 71
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
5% Life stolen per hit
+43 to Life (Based on Character Level)
+50 Maximum Stamina
Wow, I as expecting to see this item earliest from Mephisto/CS runs! Amazing luck for Aura! Finally got good map for Rakanishu, ran him for quite a few levels, I think until 79 and then moved on to Pits until I was 81 and decided to move on towards LK. Andariel was quite easy, Stealth armor gives a nice amount of Poison res so she didn't really hurt me much. Act 2, oh dear god. Maggot Lair. Maggot, freaking, lair. That's not a place for a Hammerdin. So, I relied on my Merc poking around and walking away and me using probably 25-30 Town Portals during those 3 levels. It was a real pain in the ass, but I made it. Duriel was easy to handle, Merc died almost instantly, but Blessed Hammer is not that mana consuming, so no necessary need for Insight. There I was, Act 3. I was Vigoring through it as fast as I could until I was in Lower Kurast. First map, one bonfire pretty close to waypoint but I didn't want to change map yet as the armor rack dropped Sacred Rondaches. Few hours later, I got myself 4os +42all res Sacred Rondache and thought that it was good enough and then changing maps. Now, I have a decent map where I have two bonfires almost next to each other next to the waypoint, so I'm now getting around 40-45 sec runs (approximate, haven't timed myself yet), which is not great, but it's something and I doubt I can make it much faster with a non teleport character.
edit. I did two test runs, both were pretty spot on 36 seconds each, but they were runs with very limited number of enemies around, so I would assume my average time is around ~40 seconds, because if there's more monsters, I need to run around them, lure them away from chests or kill them, which takes time. I need to check if I could get faster by using a Town Portal at the end of the run, wp to Act1 and Save and Exit there instead of Save and Exit in Act3 and running from the docks. With Vigor, I think it's probably faster to just run from Act 3 docks to waypoint.
So far, I lucked out within the first 2 hours of running by finding that Sur I posted earlier. After that, I've done around 12 hours of running, so roughly 1k runs and I've gotten 1 Mal rune and 3 Lem runes. Not impressed. But I gotta keep going, I still have quite a bit to go, I set myself a target of finding a one Vex+ rune each week (I think that's quite plausible if I can do over 1k runs each week), so obviously I'm in target this week, but I gotta break this slump before it gets longer.
In case anyone is wondering Aura's gear, here it is:
Code:
Priest's Coronet of Razors
Coronet
Defense: 35
Durability: 30 of 30
Required Level: 67
Fingerprint: 0x869e3c01
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Paladin Skill Levels
Attacker Takes Damage of 9
Order Scarab
Amulet
Required Level: 15
Fingerprint: 0xe89a19d2
Item Level: 34
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Combat Skills (Paladin Only)
+17 to Attack Rating
+27 to Life
Replenish Life +7
Fire Resist +10%
Spirit
Crystal Sword
TalThulOrtAmn
One Hand Damage: 5 - 15
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Level: 25
Required Strength: 43
Fingerprint: 0xd9ec26bd
Item Level: 48
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+34% Faster Cast Rate
+55% Faster Hit Recovery
Adds 1 - 50 Lightning Damage
Adds 3 - 14 Cold Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
Adds 75 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
7% Life stolen per hit
+250 Defense vs. Missile
+22 to Vitality
+102 to Mana
+3 Magic Absorb
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Amn Rune
Duriel's Shell
Cuirass
Defense: 640
Durability: 141 of 150
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 65
Fingerprint: 0x99f214e3
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+163% Enhanced Defense
+107 Defense (Based on Character Level)
+15 to Strength
+86 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Cold Resist +30%
All Resistances +20
Cannot Be Frozen
+100 Maximum Durability
Spirit
Sacred Rondache
TalThulOrtAmn
Defense: 155
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 57 of 68
Required Level: 52
Required Strength: 109
Fingerprint: 0xf2019229
Item Level: 79
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+35% Faster Cast Rate
+55% Faster Hit Recovery
+250 Defense vs. Missile
+22 to Vitality
+108 to Mana
Cold Resist +35%
All Resistances +42
Lightning Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
+3 Magic Absorb
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Amn Rune
Frostburn
Gauntlets
Defense: 48
Durability: 23 of 24
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 60
Fingerprint: 0xa34acfd9
Item Level: 60
Version: Expansion 1.10+
5% Enhanced Damage
Adds 1 - 6 Cold Damage Over 2 Secs (50 Frames)
+16% Enhanced Defense
+30 Defense
Increase Maximum Mana 40%
Scintillating Ring
Ring
Required Level: 59
Fingerprint: 0xfae5effd
Item Level: 70
Version: Expansion 1.10+
All Resistances +15
Tal Rasha's Fine-Spun Cloth
Mesh Belt
Defense: 35
Durability: 11 of 16
Required Level: 53
Required Strength: 38
Fingerprint: 0x7a8db5e1
Item Level: 62
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Dexterity
+30 to Mana
37% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
10% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Requirements -20%
Set (2 items): +60 Defense
Set (3 items): +10% Faster Cast Rate
Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
Ring
Required Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0xfc6badfd
Item Level: 71
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
5% Life stolen per hit
+43 to Life (Based on Character Level)
+50 Maximum Stamina
Tearhaunch
Greaves
Defense: 61
Durability: 23 of 24
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 70
Fingerprint: 0xc1f8e99d
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20% Faster Run/Walk
+2 to Vigor (Paladin Only)
+64% Enhanced Defense
+35 Defense
+5 to Strength
+5 to Dexterity
All Resistances +10
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