'Three Way Dance II' - H.C 1.10 Tournament

[erimatbrad]

Unfortunately, I blew my first try to get the correct number of sockets in my intended end-game weapon (1/3 chance that it would happen). :rant:
Furthermore, I had sold two Crude such weapons (the raw material I use) earlier, because I was so confident in my luck.

Ouch. I've been exceptionally lucky with all my cubing endeavors. Everything I've socketed via the recipe has come up with the sockets I've wanted (twice with ghost armors, once with a dusk shroud).

I'm missing D2 -- I've got the CD in my pocket, so unless I leave my pants at work, I'll reinstall Windows today, and hopefully be playing again in high style this weekend.

Mephisto dropped Blackleach Blade (unique Bill). It had an interesting 8% life steal and did decent damage, but...too damn slow!

I found one of those a while back -- gave it to Liselle's merc, but also found it too slow to be of any practical use. He's packing an AmnAmn Bonehew now, though. He still dies a bit too much for my liking.

Even with all the free time I've had, I haven't thought of a good plan for taking on the Ancients. My previous attempt got me about a half of the way through them, but wasn't quite enough to get me through. I was stocking up on Matriarchial Javs before the computer went boom...

As of now, I've got my normal set of crafted javs with +2 spear skills and replenish (and a few other mods), and I've got another set of +3 spear replenishing magical javs to throw in to the mix. I'm hoping that between those two I'll have enough to use a bit of fury, a bit of poisoning, and will have room for a bit of sheer luck.

Expect a post or two worth of update sometime this weekend -- even if it's just to say "Ran Shenk/Pindle/Elditch over and over again..."

 

[steelsixtyIV]

Team Steel (steelsixtyIV) - 156 points
Destroyer Steel_Sword - (Barb – Warcries/Com.Skills) - lvl 64 - Act V NM
Destroyer Steel_Poison - (Necro - P&B/Curse) - lvl 59 - Act IV NM
Destroyer Steel_Magic - (Sorc - Fire/Light.) - lvl 66- Act V NM

Sword and Magic have moved up to Act V and are waiting for Poison to finish Act IV. I had to take the player setting down to 1 for Poison, but Magic and Sword are still holding at /players 4. I had a fantastic map for running mephy with Sword and found some good endgame items for Magic: Frostburns, Vipermagi (29%), and a Volcanic Orb (+3 Fire).

Helforge droped me a Lum and Dol. I just need an Io now :drool:

Take care and watch your red

steel

 

[whomhead]

just a quick update... i haven't played any of my chars in quite a while. i took the death of my Palladin pretty hard, so i've been playing some really stupid SC chars for a while, jut to boost up my spirits.

once my newest project - a titan barb - is all through, i'm gonna come back and get myself a couple of Conquerors... and eventually guardians.

gratz to erimatbrad for getting the first guardian of the tourney! that's awesome! good luck to everyone else. have fun and be careful!

 

[Gouda]

Hi everyone,

Played the Merovingian a bit further last night. Still waaaay too easy, with my army of skeletons obliterating everything in my path. He gained another two levels in his short trip from the highlands to frozen Anya, without even trying very hard. Anya gave me a piece of crap as thanks, but the extra resist were offcourse welcome. No good finds, but that doesn't matter.
I am now aiming for level 51 before moving into Nightmare, because by then i will have maxed skeleton mastery as well as raise skellie.

Also a quick correction: I overestimated Morpheus lvl. By one.

Team the Matrix II (Gouda) – 61 points
Morpheus - (Barb – Warcries/Com.Skills) – lvl 28 – Act IV Nml
Merovingian - (Necro - Summon/Curse) – lvl 41 – Act V Nml
Persephone - (Sorc Fire/Cold) – lvl 27 – Act IV Nml

Have fun, don't die

Gouda

 

[erimatbrad]

[highlight]Team Eddings (erimatbrad)[/highlight] - 311 points
Guardian Polgara - (Sorc - Light./Cold) - lvl 82 - Finished
Conqueror Liselle - (Amazon - Jav./Passive) - lvl 80 - Act V Hell
Guardian Zedar - (Necro – P&B/Curse) - lvl 80 - Finished

I realized I've been calling Zedar a Conquerer when he's actually a Guardian. Whoops.

I actually fixed my computer! And I spent the evening doing a few Elditch/Pindle runs with Liselle and some Mephisto runs with Polgara. I gave up after Mephisto dropped me Raven Claw (long bow) and the gloves from Death's set. Boo, low level S/U's!

Pindle wasn't much kinder to Liselle, but she did gain a level. I might level her up a bit more before hurling myself on the Ancients. Hopefully some fun new weapons will fall my way, although that's not looking too likely...

 

[XorceR1]

Hi guys!

I've been kinda absent for a long while thanks too NWN, school and other things. Today I played a little bit of DII, I killed the High Council with my druid and gained a level. He's now 63. I got down to Durance 2 but I had to quit so I didn't get the WP. So after all this time I finally got a "big" DII session in :lol: . Anyway, I'll hopefully start progressing again slooowly but surely.
This is such a nice tournament that it would be a shame to drop out.

 

[XorceR1]

I played a bit again with my druid, I brought him to ActIV and earned some points.

[highlight]Team Magick_XR 149 pts[/highlight]

Destroyer WindFury_XR - Wind/Summon - lvl63 - ActIV NM - 49 pts
Finds: Hellcast, Arctic Binding, Sigon's Guard
Destroyer Suzy_XR - Cold/Lightning - lvl66 - ActIV NM - 51 pts
Finds:
Destroyer DarkMage_XR - Bone/Curses - lvl63 - ActIV NM - 49 pts
Finds:

 

[erimatbrad]

[highlight]Team Eddings (erimatbrad)[/highlight]- 311 points
Guardian Polgara - (Sorc - Light./Cold) - lvl 82 - Finished
Conqueror Liselle - (Amazon - Jav./Passive) - lvl 81 - Act V Hell
Guardian Zedar - (Necro – P&B/Curse) - lvl 80 - Finished


At almost 3 million exp for a p5 Elditch run, it's pretty fast to level Liselle, still. She's not found anything new or exciting, unfortunately, but she is building up an exciting bankroll. So far, I haven't gambled anything new, but that can change at a moment's notice...

 

[jiansonz]

Conqueror Liselle - (Amazon - Jav./Passive) - lvl 81 - Act V Hell

Tsk, erimatbrad the Area & Monster Skipper.

My characters are level 82 when the enter act 5 Hell, and that is if they have been on /players 1 the whole way...


Just kidding. I am really just jealous of your excellent progress and I admire your ability to decide where to play, where to hunt and what to skip. I could never do that.

 

[erimatbrad]

Tsk, erimatbrad the Area & Monster Skipper.

That should have been what I called my team.

Just kidding. I am really just jealous of your excellent progress and I admire your ability to decide where to play, where to hunt and what to skip. I could never do that.

It's a matter of enjoyment, really. I like some areas more than others. I'm honestly not enjoying the mindless leveling I'm doing now, but it's more fun than it would have been to, say, clear the false tombs. (This, of course, is just my opinion. Some people LOVE the tombs. LOVE!).

Basically, it's a cost-benefit analysis. Where can I run the fastest, for the best EXP or equipment? With Liselle, she can WP over to Elditch, throw a Valk at him, get his pack to attack her, and then throw furies until they die.

Pick up equipment, stop, and then start all over, selling off gear and replenishing Javelins (it takes 10-20 to clear out Elditch, depending...), and I can do a run in less than a minute.

I'm hoping that a level or two more will be all I need to handle the Ancients. Baal isn't at all scary to me, in theory.

In practice? Who knows...

 

[JicamaEater]

The "what to skip" risk-benefit analysis is the reason I can't play HC very well (I'm a few very big steps away from jiansonz's playing style, but still closer, I believe, than many of the members on this here forum); my favorite areas aren't boring, low-risk areas like the Kurast cities or the Bloody Foothills, but the areas where you're always on your toes (that hopefully don't include bugged Megademons and Gloams). . .Chaos Sanctuary, the Hell-Pits in Act V, Nihlathak's Temple, Arreat Summit, the false tombs (but really, Unravellers shouldn't be able to revive Vampires or wraiths, that just sucks!) but best of all, Kurast Temples! Some of the most varied monster mixings in the game, and the biggest thrill when you have Gloombats, Vipers, and those damn meteor throwing vampires, combined with the Stair Trap. . .

Well anyway, I wish I was still in this tournament, good luck to everybody (especially jiansonz, not that I'm *cough* biased or anything), and Erimatbrad, I have a good feeling about your ancients.

 

[jiansonz]

Some of the most varied monster mixings in the game, and the biggest thrill when you have Gloombats, Vipers, and those damn meteor throwing vampires, combined with the Stair Trap. . .

Spiders, beetles, corrupted rogues, Wailing Beasts...

(but really, Unravellers shouldn't be able to revive Vampires or wraiths, that just sucks!)

They can´t resurrect vampires, even though those are undead. But they can resurrect wraiths, mummies and Dolls (act 3 sewers) and of course, Doom/OB knights in NM/Hell WSK.

 

[Igor Potapov]

[highlight]Team Mages of Rainbow (Igor Potapov) [/highlight] – 154 points
Conqueror Iarde – (Amazon – Passive/Bow) – lvl 82 – Act I Hell
Conqueror Rose – (Assassin – Shadow/Trap) – lvl 74 – Act V NM
Delon – (Paladin – Combat/Offensive) – lvl 31 – Act IV Nml – R.I.P. Infector of Souls

I am not sure, that I calculated my score correctly last time. This time I did it more carefully.
20 quests completed by Delon.
66+66 points earned by Rose and Iarde for finishing NM difficulty.
2 more quests completed in Hell by Iarde.

I could not resist the magic of the 3rd weekend Mini-MFO and interrupt my resting from Diablo II.

So Iarde, The Amazon, finished first two quests in Hell and did a lot of Mausoleum runs. I added elite unique to prize stash. Unfortunately, it is ethereal.

Djinn Slayer
Ataghan
One-Hand Damage: 114 to 202
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Dexterity: 95
Required Strength: 138
Required Level: 65
Sword Class - Fast Attack Speed
Unidentified
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x3721a05f
+193% Enhanced Damage
Adds 250-500 fire damage
4% Mana stolen per hit
145% Damage to Demons
+266 to Attack Rating against Demons
+6 Lightning Absorb
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (2: 0 used)

Next task: level Rose on Baal.

Total Normal set/unique items in my prize stash: 361.
Total Exceptional set/unique items in my prize stash: 131.
Total Elite set/unique items in my prize stash: 2.

 

[AndiDi]

[highlight]Team Bavarian Forest (AndiDi) [/highlight] – 140 points
Resl – (Amazon – Passive/Bow) – lvl 24 – Act II Nml - 11 points - R.I.P. Duriel
Conqueror Hias – (Necro – Summon/Curses) – lvl 80 – Act I HELL - 72 points
Destroyer Sepp – (Paladin – Combat/Offensive) – lvl 70 – Act IV NM - 57 points

Hias: WP: Catacombs Level 2 - Last Quest: Killed Andariel
Sepp: WP: Harrogath - Last Quest: Nihlathak

No new points to report. Just an update stating that I am still playing. I did some Countess and Pits runs. A few good items turned up. I am particularly happy about the Skullder's Ire. This replaced the Skin of Vipermagi which went into the Prize Stash. With now over 150% MF Hias finds a lot more rare items. I am still looking for an IO rune and a good helm to socket. Next I will do some crafting to upgrade Sepps equipment for Hell.

Be carefull out there.

Recent Set/Unique Items:
- Manald Heal
- Soulflay
- Milabrega's Orb (The second)
- Skullder's Ire
- Butcher's Pupil

 

[JicamaEater]

They can´t resurrect vampires, even though those are undead. But they can resurrect wraiths, mummies and Dolls (act 3 sewers) and of course, Doom/OB knights in NM/Hell WSK.

I guess that there's always just a bunch of vampires in the false tombs, and that they're not being ressurected. But in Act II the ghosts are a bigger threat.

The Bat Demons are by far the thing I fear most in the temples. Shocking Hit is EVIL!

 

[Porius]

Team Venom (Porius) – 57 points
Adder – (Amazon – Passive/Jav.) – lvl 40 – Act V Nml
Asp – (Assassin – Shadow/Trap) – lvl 36 – Act V Nml
Viper – (Necro – P&B/Curse) – lvl 25 – Act III Nml RIP Ssssark the Burning

Well, had a couple close calls getting through Act IV (Infector of Souls and his minions are pretty tough for poison-based characters), but we have finally made it through to Act V. Diablo was much easier for the Amazon than the Assassin, but I am betting that will change in NM.

This is several firsts for me. The first Amazon, ever. The first time I got to Act V with an assassin. My first HC character to make it past Act IV. :yep:

Now, we'll see what Act V brings. Adder has already completed the Shenk quest and ran him and the guy right after the waypoint for 4 levels, hoping to get some decent javelins. No luck, yet, but I'm confident that things will get better. After all, she has almost 100% MF, which isn't bad considering that I haven't used any PTopazes, yet.

Have fun and be careful out there.

Porius

 

[erimatbrad]

Team Eddings (erimatbrad) - 311 points
Guardian Polgara - (Sorc - Light./Cold) - lvl 82 - Finished
Conqueror Liselle - (Amazon - Jav./Passive) - lvl 82 - Act V Hell
Guardian Zedar - (Necro – P&B/Curse) - lvl 80 - Finished

No new update, really. An extra level, and a new weapon -- one I can actually use!

Liselle now is the proud wielder of...

Gargoyle's Bite! (Winged Harpoon)

It's intriguing -- Liselle is finding an awful lot of poison related weapons. This is actually a nice set, with 223% ED (max possible is 230%), and it has 14% LL (max 15%). With the level 11 plague jav charges (of which there are *sixty*), I think I might have a better chance of running the ancients. I now have 2 sets of class-specific javs that replenish, and the Gargoyle's Bite, which also replenish.

That's 3 replenishing stacks of 80. I can fury 'til my heart's content now... theoretically.

Tomorrow's election day - I'm IT for an NPR (news) station. The actual reporters get to take half days because of the late-night coverage. I have to work from 8AM until midnight, because I have to set up the wants I found out about today, and then be on hand in case of any issues. So there won't be a run until at least Thursday, when I get a chance to breathe again.

Good luck, don't die!

 

[Mage11]

I finally got back to Starm, and took her the rest of the way through Act III last night. She didn't have any troubles with Mephisto & friends, and is now in the Pandemonium Fortress, ready to continue.

Current Status:

[highlight]Team Mage1 (Mage11) [/highlight] – 47 points
Sara – (Amazon – Passive/Bow) – lvl 26 – Act III Nml - 12 points
Klaudia – (Assassin - MA/Shadow) – lvl 31 – Act III Nml - 17 points
Starm – (Sorc - Cold/Light.) – lvl 29 – Act III Nml - 18 points

 

[kramph]

Team Marvel (kramph) – 85 points
Destroyer Red Skull – (Necromancer – Summoning/Curses) – lvl 50 – Act I NM – 31 points
Destroyer Emma Frost – (Sorceress – Cold/Lightning) – lvl 50 – Act I NM – 31 points
Jubilee – (Amazon – Bow/Passive) – lvl 35 – Act V Nml – 23 points

Prize Stash (60) – Set Items (37); Unique Items (23)

After a lengthy delay due to an addiction to City of Heroes, Team Marvel is running again. Currently, Jubilee is making her way through the last act.

 

[nemar]

[HIGHLIGHT]Team HALL OF FAME[/HIGHLIGHT] – 246 points


Conqueror Andariel - Necromancer - Summon / curses – lvl 82 - 84 points – actIV - Hell
Conqueror Baal ......- Assasin - Trap / Passive .......... – lvl 80 - 80 points – actIII - Hell
Conqueror Diablo ...- Amazon - Passive / bow .......... – lvl 79 - 82 points – actIII - Hell
Be Afraid, we are back ! !

special note, found a little charm that give more 300 poison damage over 11 secondes (in kurast)