twelvebagger
New member
Thoughts on Vought, a mini guide to Nilathak.
The Nilathak mini-guide:
EDIT: My apologies for the bad formatting.
I'm no expert.
I can however, run nilathak faster than I can run countess or summoner, by a longshot. Nilathak takes less than half of the time on average, with most runs taking about 1 minute.
The build isn't a cheap one, but I'll post nonetheless:
Hammer Paladin:
Level 90 (was doing runs easily in my early 80's)
Str: Enough for gear ~ 100 prior to items
Dex: Enough for max block w/ holy shield ~ 150ish prior to gear at a guess
Vit: The rest
Energy: ZERO
Life: in the 1200 ballpark, 2k with BO
Maxed out Blessed Hammer with all synergies pumped to the hilt (BA/Vigor/Conc)
Hammer damage: 12k ish.
Secondary skills needed:
Holy Shield
Redemption
Gear (like I said, a bit expensive but I really think the only mandatory item would be enigma for teleport):
Heart of the Oak Suggested Alternative: Wizspike
Enigma Dusk Suggested Alternative: Could try a teleport amulet and duriels shell, but enigma is a blessing here. I don't suggest trying this w/o teleporting but it's certainly doable, just inefficient.
Shako Ptopaz (mf) Alternative: Lore Runeword, Peasant Crown, Any helm with resists, circlets with fast cast, etc.
Rare Paladin Amulet (+2 skills, crappy resist, no fast cast) Alt: Anything with fast cast, paladin skills, high resists.
2xrare rings: FCR, resist all Alt: Fast cast and resists would be primary. SOJ's are useful as well.
Arachnids mesh Alt: Nothing really compares to this belt for a hammerdin, so if you don't have one, slap on something with vitality, resists, life.
War Traveler Alt: Lots of flexibility here, these boots aren't necessary but mf is always nice considering Nilathaks drop tables.
Up'ed Magefists Alt: Frostburns, but fists have the fcr.
HoZ-Pdiamond Alt: Rare pally shields with resists and skills, Lidless, socketed shield with Pdiamonds.
CTA on switch Alt: none
20/17 P torch Alt: Are you kidding me?
Holy Freeze mercenary with 3944 stone armor, eth botd GPA, tals mask. Again, that level of gear isn't really necessary, just slap some leech on him with a fast mediocre weapon (bonehew would be nice) and he should be fine unless he gets ransacked by tomb vipers.
The fact that it's so easy to do with this character makes it almost boring. I died twice so far when I was in my early 80's, but this was due more to player error and arrogance (sometimes I think I'm immortal). The tomb vipers are literally the only threat. Corpse explosion isn't.
Finding the steps (this might be the only marginally useful section of this post):
The first major thing that needs to be accomplished is you need to get the waypoint to the halls of pain. Since I have it already, I won't post how to do that, you'll have to find it yourself. Be aware, that hitting this waypoint closes your portal to Pindleskin. Some people don't like doing this because they lose their easy means of farming pindleskin, but it's well worth it considering the time it takes to do nilathak runs w/o the waypoint. The first level is way tougher to manage then the second. Get the waypoint. (If you're into running Pindleskin, a fire sorc is more efficient anyways).
Once you hit the waypoint, I'll tell you this flat out: I can find the steps in 7 to 15 seconds almost every time. The stair placement for the halls of vaught is really, really predictable.
Once you get to the waypoint room, the only exit should be to the left side of your screen. Teleport that direction as far as you can go. Then, teleport UP-- there should be a path near. Roughly 70% of the time the stairs will be here. It's hard to explain, but it takes about 8-12 teleports left and about 5-10 up on average. I literally have timed out from running nilathak because the run takes less than 1 minute sometimes, and the game thinks I'm botting.
If the steps are not there (you'll know because you will hit a small room that's closed off on the top and sides, and probably has an armor shrine in it, or you'll hit a T that's closed off) then you need to turn around. Specifically: Teleport back down until you're just south (down) from the horizontal level of the waypoint. Then teleport to the right such that you pass the waypoint room (you should be teleporting under it slightly). Keep going to your right a long way. If you hit a big room with a gold shiny chest in it (the sparkly kind) you're approximately correct but you went too far south and need to teleport due north (up) from there. If you hit a room with 3 vertically stacked undefiled graves, you're close but you're still south of where you need to be. The steps will be to the right of the waypoint and almost on the same vertical plane.
Feel free to message me in game at *twelvebagger if you'd like a demonstration of how to find the steps fast, I know it's hard to explain.
(Aside: The Countess tower is structured similar to the Durance of Hate, in that the initial snapshot of the stairs up indicates the snapshot of the steps down, but it's very hard to explain).
(Read the above closely and test it yourself. It's insane easy to find, and only about 2% of the time does it vary from the above. In the event that it varies, the steps will be to the left of the waypoint and south (down)., but this is a rare event).
Once you're there:
I find that the majority of the time, Nilathak is either up or right from the center section when you get to his level. I teleport immediately up, if he's not there I go to the left section. Here is the only time you'd need to pot in this whole run, on average. You're likely to clash with some tomb vipers when you're teleporting to Nilathak. Keep teleporting, stop to sip out of a well if you can do it fast--(there should be at least two wells down there). Pot as needed, just do it while teleporting. DON'T hit any evil urns. The last thing you want is a boss pack of tomb vipers spawning. The only silly tip to offer when searching the last level for nilathak is this: Stay to one side when you teleport a segment of the halls of vaught. For instance, if you're checking the top section for Nilly, stay to one side of the hallway. If you get pelted by tomb vipers and he's not in the top segment, then when you teleport back down, take the other side (away from the pack of vipers).
Killing:
Here's the main trick to this: Redemption. Once you get to him, turn it on and leave it on.
Most hammerdins are timid about slinging out hammers without concentration on, because the damage is reduced on the hammers. Damage, in this particular instance, is overrated. I teleport straight into the pack of monsters and switch to redemption and start slangin'. Redemption not only keeps you alive, but it eats up nilathaks corpses so he can't corpse explode. He's lucky to get off more than 2 corpse explosions.
You should teleport anywhere between the edge of the platform nilathak is on, up to the center. Anywhere from front edge to center is good for clearing out his minions. If you aren't hitting him with your initial barrage, don't worry about it, just spam enough to slay his buddies and your redemption should kick in and vaporize the bodies, and you're all set. The only minor threats here are skeleton archers which will hang out of range when present (not much of a threat at all), Tomb Vipers which usually creep into your hammer field and die (moderate threat-- if they stay back and spam poison, I recommend laying them out before proceeding to Nilathak), and the last one of note are those winged Succubi type monsters (don't recall the name, Winged Temptress?)-- the ones shooting the red balls of delight. These are somewhat of a threat as they tend to spam an awful lot of attacks and they can do some damage. If I have more than 3 or so of them in a pile, I'll lay them out before Nilathak as well.
The general order in which I clear out Nilathaks area is: Big pile of grey summoned monsters first (only because this is very fast and clearing this out first makes it easier to sort out the rest). Tomb vipers if there are any in poison range, then winged critters if there are enough of them that I determine it to be a nousance, then nilathak. Consider though, that roughly half the time, nilathak dies when I'm clearing out the grey monsters. By this priority list, I just mean that about half of the runs, when nilathak isn't getting hit, I may choose to clear out the area a bit before I start smacking him around. The whole clearing process takes about 10 to 15 seconds.
That's about it, it's simple enough and hardly worthy of a guide, but I did see some people asking about what methods are used so I thought I'd post the above. I've heard a lite sorc can do it fast and I believe it, and it's probably cheap build. All I can say is, I'm pleased with my time per run and survivability, so I thought I'd share
Message me at *twelvebagger as needed.
-12-
The Nilathak mini-guide:
EDIT: My apologies for the bad formatting.
I'm no expert.
I can however, run nilathak faster than I can run countess or summoner, by a longshot. Nilathak takes less than half of the time on average, with most runs taking about 1 minute.
The build isn't a cheap one, but I'll post nonetheless:
Hammer Paladin:
Level 90 (was doing runs easily in my early 80's)
Str: Enough for gear ~ 100 prior to items
Dex: Enough for max block w/ holy shield ~ 150ish prior to gear at a guess
Vit: The rest
Energy: ZERO
Life: in the 1200 ballpark, 2k with BO
Maxed out Blessed Hammer with all synergies pumped to the hilt (BA/Vigor/Conc)
Hammer damage: 12k ish.
Secondary skills needed:
Holy Shield
Redemption
Gear (like I said, a bit expensive but I really think the only mandatory item would be enigma for teleport):
Heart of the Oak Suggested Alternative: Wizspike
Enigma Dusk Suggested Alternative: Could try a teleport amulet and duriels shell, but enigma is a blessing here. I don't suggest trying this w/o teleporting but it's certainly doable, just inefficient.
Shako Ptopaz (mf) Alternative: Lore Runeword, Peasant Crown, Any helm with resists, circlets with fast cast, etc.
Rare Paladin Amulet (+2 skills, crappy resist, no fast cast) Alt: Anything with fast cast, paladin skills, high resists.
2xrare rings: FCR, resist all Alt: Fast cast and resists would be primary. SOJ's are useful as well.
Arachnids mesh Alt: Nothing really compares to this belt for a hammerdin, so if you don't have one, slap on something with vitality, resists, life.
War Traveler Alt: Lots of flexibility here, these boots aren't necessary but mf is always nice considering Nilathaks drop tables.
Up'ed Magefists Alt: Frostburns, but fists have the fcr.
HoZ-Pdiamond Alt: Rare pally shields with resists and skills, Lidless, socketed shield with Pdiamonds.
CTA on switch Alt: none
20/17 P torch Alt: Are you kidding me?
Holy Freeze mercenary with 3944 stone armor, eth botd GPA, tals mask. Again, that level of gear isn't really necessary, just slap some leech on him with a fast mediocre weapon (bonehew would be nice) and he should be fine unless he gets ransacked by tomb vipers.
The fact that it's so easy to do with this character makes it almost boring. I died twice so far when I was in my early 80's, but this was due more to player error and arrogance (sometimes I think I'm immortal). The tomb vipers are literally the only threat. Corpse explosion isn't.
Finding the steps (this might be the only marginally useful section of this post):
The first major thing that needs to be accomplished is you need to get the waypoint to the halls of pain. Since I have it already, I won't post how to do that, you'll have to find it yourself. Be aware, that hitting this waypoint closes your portal to Pindleskin. Some people don't like doing this because they lose their easy means of farming pindleskin, but it's well worth it considering the time it takes to do nilathak runs w/o the waypoint. The first level is way tougher to manage then the second. Get the waypoint. (If you're into running Pindleskin, a fire sorc is more efficient anyways).
Once you hit the waypoint, I'll tell you this flat out: I can find the steps in 7 to 15 seconds almost every time. The stair placement for the halls of vaught is really, really predictable.
Once you get to the waypoint room, the only exit should be to the left side of your screen. Teleport that direction as far as you can go. Then, teleport UP-- there should be a path near. Roughly 70% of the time the stairs will be here. It's hard to explain, but it takes about 8-12 teleports left and about 5-10 up on average. I literally have timed out from running nilathak because the run takes less than 1 minute sometimes, and the game thinks I'm botting.
If the steps are not there (you'll know because you will hit a small room that's closed off on the top and sides, and probably has an armor shrine in it, or you'll hit a T that's closed off) then you need to turn around. Specifically: Teleport back down until you're just south (down) from the horizontal level of the waypoint. Then teleport to the right such that you pass the waypoint room (you should be teleporting under it slightly). Keep going to your right a long way. If you hit a big room with a gold shiny chest in it (the sparkly kind) you're approximately correct but you went too far south and need to teleport due north (up) from there. If you hit a room with 3 vertically stacked undefiled graves, you're close but you're still south of where you need to be. The steps will be to the right of the waypoint and almost on the same vertical plane.
Feel free to message me in game at *twelvebagger if you'd like a demonstration of how to find the steps fast, I know it's hard to explain.
(Aside: The Countess tower is structured similar to the Durance of Hate, in that the initial snapshot of the stairs up indicates the snapshot of the steps down, but it's very hard to explain).
(Read the above closely and test it yourself. It's insane easy to find, and only about 2% of the time does it vary from the above. In the event that it varies, the steps will be to the left of the waypoint and south (down)., but this is a rare event).
Once you're there:
I find that the majority of the time, Nilathak is either up or right from the center section when you get to his level. I teleport immediately up, if he's not there I go to the left section. Here is the only time you'd need to pot in this whole run, on average. You're likely to clash with some tomb vipers when you're teleporting to Nilathak. Keep teleporting, stop to sip out of a well if you can do it fast--(there should be at least two wells down there). Pot as needed, just do it while teleporting. DON'T hit any evil urns. The last thing you want is a boss pack of tomb vipers spawning. The only silly tip to offer when searching the last level for nilathak is this: Stay to one side when you teleport a segment of the halls of vaught. For instance, if you're checking the top section for Nilly, stay to one side of the hallway. If you get pelted by tomb vipers and he's not in the top segment, then when you teleport back down, take the other side (away from the pack of vipers).
Killing:
Here's the main trick to this: Redemption. Once you get to him, turn it on and leave it on.
Most hammerdins are timid about slinging out hammers without concentration on, because the damage is reduced on the hammers. Damage, in this particular instance, is overrated. I teleport straight into the pack of monsters and switch to redemption and start slangin'. Redemption not only keeps you alive, but it eats up nilathaks corpses so he can't corpse explode. He's lucky to get off more than 2 corpse explosions.
You should teleport anywhere between the edge of the platform nilathak is on, up to the center. Anywhere from front edge to center is good for clearing out his minions. If you aren't hitting him with your initial barrage, don't worry about it, just spam enough to slay his buddies and your redemption should kick in and vaporize the bodies, and you're all set. The only minor threats here are skeleton archers which will hang out of range when present (not much of a threat at all), Tomb Vipers which usually creep into your hammer field and die (moderate threat-- if they stay back and spam poison, I recommend laying them out before proceeding to Nilathak), and the last one of note are those winged Succubi type monsters (don't recall the name, Winged Temptress?)-- the ones shooting the red balls of delight. These are somewhat of a threat as they tend to spam an awful lot of attacks and they can do some damage. If I have more than 3 or so of them in a pile, I'll lay them out before Nilathak as well.
The general order in which I clear out Nilathaks area is: Big pile of grey summoned monsters first (only because this is very fast and clearing this out first makes it easier to sort out the rest). Tomb vipers if there are any in poison range, then winged critters if there are enough of them that I determine it to be a nousance, then nilathak. Consider though, that roughly half the time, nilathak dies when I'm clearing out the grey monsters. By this priority list, I just mean that about half of the runs, when nilathak isn't getting hit, I may choose to clear out the area a bit before I start smacking him around. The whole clearing process takes about 10 to 15 seconds.
That's about it, it's simple enough and hardly worthy of a guide, but I did see some people asking about what methods are used so I thought I'd post the above. I've heard a lite sorc can do it fast and I believe it, and it's probably cheap build. All I can say is, I'm pleased with my time per run and survivability, so I thought I'd share
Message me at *twelvebagger as needed.
-12-
