Tournament: Envious of the Green and Gold
- Thread starter Morathi1
- Start date
jiansonz
New member
What merc type are you using and why do you prefer that compared to an Act I merc with Vidala's Barb?
Pyrotechnician1
New member
Berserkers Axe?
I'm guessing the low level berserker set axe.
Immortal_Slayer
New member
@Archone: As Pyrotechnician explained, I was referring to the Berserker's set axe.
@jiansonz: Using a prayer merc. I'm not much of a HC player, so I don't feel too safe without an extra tank since paladins don't have much innate crowd control. Holy shock kills most things in a reasonable time anyway, so merc damage isn't as much of a concern.
@jiansonz: Using a prayer merc. I'm not much of a HC player, so I don't feel too safe without an extra tank since paladins don't have much innate crowd control. Holy shock kills most things in a reasonable time anyway, so merc damage isn't as much of a concern.
Code:
Name Character Class Diff. Area Level S/U's Equipped
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Archone Chicken Necromancer Completed 87 15
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jiansonz Martina Amazon NM Far Oasis 60 14
felixbavaria Bruno Druid NM Cold Plains 48 9
srrw Selene Sorceress NM Rogue Camp 48 11
jdkerr Phusis Assassin NM Rogue Camp 47 9
RIP Thor Paladin Normal Harrogath 35 11
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Kitteh Briony Assassin Normal Kurast Docks 28 9
Glenstorm Irene Assassin Normal Kurast Docks 27 3
Immortal_S GreenGoldie Paladin Normal Kurast Docks 27 4
Tox FTW Oatmeal Paladin Normal Dry Hills 22 2
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Jason Qirana Amazon Normal Stony Field 22 4
Grisu Meronym Assassin Normal Rogue Camp 21 2
kestegs SankeEyes Sorceress Normal Lut Gholein 21 3
Morathi Yates Barbarian Normal Lut Gholein 20 0
igloosPat Hennifer Assassin Normal Great Marsh 29 3
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Archone#2 Ms_Piggy Assassin Normal Lut Gholein 20 3
Jerametrius Passion Paladin Normal Lut Gholein 20 2
CDM BK Druid Normal Outer Cloister 17 2
djmbbandie Cassie Amazon Normal Black Marsh 17 1
kstarm Malice? Necromancer Normal Outer Cloister 17 0Big D is down...It was very long, tough and interesting battle with p8 setting...Merc died almost instantly do to red lightning hose, and i don't bothered to ressurect him until Diablos life bar was very low (on last pixel)...Still, merc died at least three times before he scored last final blow...Thor killed big D with only 10% lightning resist, so any lightning from deamon could have been fatal, but thanks to Witherstring bow this battle tooked ONLY 20minutes...Strategy was very easy, stay far away from deamon at the spot, where his lightning cannot reach Thor, and then shoot at him (ideally he stayed nearby corner of the screen), and thanks to some life and mana leech i could recognize, when Diablo was hit and when not...
Otherwise, Act 4 was very easy, lots of experience gained, and also few more finds...Bverrit keep at City of Damned, Berserkers set axe at the same place, and Hellforge wasn't bad too...
Act 5 will be long one, but easy and i can finish whole Normal difficulty at p8, so i'm expecting lvl 49 before starting Nightmare
jiansonz
New member
Moving on in Nightmare. No serious stairs traps or other hiccups. Hired a temporary Rogue merc so I could moat trick /p3 Mephisto. Hired another temporary Rogue merc for the killing blow against Diablo (it was too tedious to get the HF guy to kill him, so Martina was better off tanking for an archer).
Interesting finds lately:
Stealskull (used the next session. Now that Ahsab had leech from helm, I changed Skin of the Flayed One to Twitchthroe)
Skin of the Vipermagi
Whitstan's Guard
Nokozan Relic (nice fire resist!)
Arctic Horn (from Mephisto. That completed the set, but I am not impressed by it. CBF is good, but not at the expense of other goodies from my other bows)
Sigon's Sabot
Ko rune
Fal rune
(Hellforge gave a Dol. Ugh.)
Decoy is now maxed and Exploding Arrow has 15 points. I will max that eventually, but I think I will skip the Fire Arrow synergy and put the rest of the skill points in either Magic Arrow or Charged Strike (it's mainly for use against PI+FI bosses).
Primary Gear (MF switch)
* Cathan's Visage
* Cathan's Sigil
* Blade of Ali Baba, socketed with a 6% Jewel of Prosperity
* Arctic Furs, socketed with a perfect topaz
* Sigon's Guard
* Sigon's Gage
* Cathan's Seal
* Arctic Binding
* Manald Heal
* Sigon's Sabot
Immolation switch:
* Skystrike
Emilio the Holy Freeze guard:
* Stealskull
* The Impaler
* Twitchthroe Trellised Armor
A nice thing with the Sigon's setup is that I still have the 30% IAS even when I switch away from the shield. I often run out of mana (especially against Venom Lords) but then I can still fire regular arrows at high speed. Manald Heal gives me a little mana steal, and it usually does not take many arrow hits until I can release an Immolation Arrow again.
[highlight]Destroyer Martina the Immozon and Emilio the Holy Freeze Guard, level 67, 14 S/U items equipped, NM Bloody Foothills next[/Highlight]
Interesting finds lately:
Stealskull (used the next session. Now that Ahsab had leech from helm, I changed Skin of the Flayed One to Twitchthroe)
Skin of the Vipermagi
Whitstan's Guard
Nokozan Relic (nice fire resist!)
Arctic Horn (from Mephisto. That completed the set, but I am not impressed by it. CBF is good, but not at the expense of other goodies from my other bows)
Sigon's Sabot
Ko rune
Fal rune
(Hellforge gave a Dol. Ugh.)
Decoy is now maxed and Exploding Arrow has 15 points. I will max that eventually, but I think I will skip the Fire Arrow synergy and put the rest of the skill points in either Magic Arrow or Charged Strike (it's mainly for use against PI+FI bosses).
Primary Gear (MF switch)
* Cathan's Visage
* Cathan's Sigil
* Blade of Ali Baba, socketed with a 6% Jewel of Prosperity
* Arctic Furs, socketed with a perfect topaz
* Sigon's Guard
* Sigon's Gage
* Cathan's Seal
* Arctic Binding
* Manald Heal
* Sigon's Sabot
Immolation switch:
* Skystrike
Emilio the Holy Freeze guard:
* Stealskull
* The Impaler
* Twitchthroe Trellised Armor
A nice thing with the Sigon's setup is that I still have the 30% IAS even when I switch away from the shield. I often run out of mana (especially against Venom Lords) but then I can still fire regular arrows at high speed. Manald Heal gives me a little mana steal, and it usually does not take many arrow hits until I can release an Immolation Arrow again.
[highlight]Destroyer Martina the Immozon and Emilio the Holy Freeze Guard, level 67, 14 S/U items equipped, NM Bloody Foothills next[/Highlight]
This looks like a fun/interesting tournament, so I figure I'll join. I'm playing as a Zealot, currently in Act2 Halls of the Dead. So far I have looted Biggins Bonnet, Hsarus' Iron Fist, and Hsarus' Iron Stay. Really hoping that the first S/U I get for a weapon is a decent one 
.
Small update! Duriel is dead. Was scared of her perma freeze so I lowered players to 3, she was an easy fight because of that. Somehow the very first tomb I picked had Duriel, so I'm currently going through clearly the rest of them for exp and loot. I picked up my first s/u weapon "blood crescent". I'm going to give it to my act3 merc, the weapon is way to weak damage wise.
Finally got a S/U to drop in Act3. In the sewers in kurast bazaar hunting down the heart, I click a rat pile and out pops some green chain gloves. Knockback on a Zealot :rolf:. Also since I keep forgetting to add it, I'm currently level 30 with 4 S/Us.
Proof this game hates me, just got my second blood crescent to drop. Thank goodness for weapon switch and merc, I still don't have to use blood crescent yet. Now I'm just waiting for one more to drop and force me to have to use it.
.Small update! Duriel is dead. Was scared of her perma freeze so I lowered players to 3, she was an easy fight because of that. Somehow the very first tomb I picked had Duriel, so I'm currently going through clearly the rest of them for exp and loot. I picked up my first s/u weapon "blood crescent". I'm going to give it to my act3 merc, the weapon is way to weak damage wise.
Finally got a S/U to drop in Act3. In the sewers in kurast bazaar hunting down the heart, I click a rat pile and out pops some green chain gloves. Knockback on a Zealot :rolf:. Also since I keep forgetting to add it, I'm currently level 30 with 4 S/Us.
Proof this game hates me, just got my second blood crescent to drop. Thank goodness for weapon switch and merc, I still don't have to use blood crescent yet. Now I'm just waiting for one more to drop and force me to have to use it.
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SunsetVista
New member
Typically you may reroll Ancients, since that just involves putting up a town portal and not having to reclear anything.
Have you tried going the elemental zealot road? Blood Crescent's Damage won't matter much then, plus it offers Open Wounds (great even in later game! Prevents monsters from regenerating and can cause some serious damage to monsters with much HP), 15 res all and a good AS (base weapons speed -20, +15 % IAS). Truth be told, I'd switch my Isenhart's Lightbrand for your Blood Crescent at any time!
@jiansonz: Nice going! Some pretty cool equipment, esp. for your merc!
Meanwhile, Meronym made it to the City of the Damned. After a 20 min Izual fight at /p8
Hade even to repair my weapon once during the fight. I tried to get my Shadow Warrior close to him, while I swung at him from a row behind, using the "press left click down and move the cursor out of the window tactic". No really difficulties encountered so far, Phoenix Strike is still somehow weak and takes getting used to, but I think I'll get the hang of it. Else: no stair traps in Act III, the council posed no problems.My primary equipment currently looks like this:
*Deathspade (not the fastest weapon, but currently I like the Hit Blinds Target mod)
*Gemmed Large Shield (2 chipped topaz, 1 jewel with 10% LR and 15% gold find)
*Infernal Cranium
*Gemmed Breast Plate (3 Flawed Topaz)
*Cleglaw's Pincers
*Snakecord (found 2 of those)
*Superior Light Plated Boots (yay!)
*Cathan's Seal
Switch:
*Isenhart's Lightbrand
*2 os Bone Shield
Merc (Scorch, Cold sorceror)
*Angelic Sickle
*Cathan's Mesh
*Isenhart's Horns
*Gemmed Large Shield (3 chipped Emeralds)
More S/Us I found:
*Snakecord
*The Dragon Chang
*Tancred's Crowbill
*Stoutnail
For Diablo I will probably switch my helm with my merc's helm, because that will give me almost the same resist bonus while boosting my AR, my base damage and my attack speed when combined with Isenhart's Lightbrand (hit blinds target is useless anyways against bosses). The partial set bonus of Cathan's isn't too great, that's why I keep the armor on my merc. I find the additional MF on my character much more handy at the time being.
Any advices for a phoenix striker up against Diablo in Normal? Drop the player setting? Keep it up at /p8? Fade is mandatory, I guess?
[highlight]Meronym, the level 33 Phoenix Striker, and Scorch, the Eastern Cold Soreceror, City of the Damned Normal next.[/highlight]
EDIT: Updated the table for all players.
Code:
Name Character Class Diff. Area Level S/U's Equipped
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Archone Chicken Necromancer Completed 87 15
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jiansonz Martina Amazon NM Bloody Foothills 67 14
Kitteh Briony Assassin NM Inner Cloister 50 13
felixbavaria Bruno Druid NM Cold Plains 48 9
srrw Selene Sorceress NM Rogue Camp 48 11
jdkerr Phusis Assassin NM Rogue Camp 47 9
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RIP Thor Paladin Normal Harrogath 35 11
Immortal_S GreenGoldie Paladin Normal Harrogath 34 8
Grisu Meronym Assassin Normal City of the Damned 33 9
igloosPat Hennifer Assassin Normal Great Marsh 29 3
Glenstorm Irene Assassin Normal Kurast Docks 27 3
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Tox FTW Oatmeal Paladin Normal Dry Hills 22 2
Jason Qirana Amazon Normal Rocky Waste 22 4
kestegs SankeEyes Sorceress Normal Lut Gholein 21 3
Morathi Yates Barbarian Normal Lut Gholein 20 0
Archone#2 Ms_Piggy Assassin Normal Lut Gholein 20 3
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Jerametrius Passion Paladin Normal Lut Gholein 20 2
CDM BK Druid Normal Outer Cloister 17 2
djmbbandie Cassie Amazon Normal Inner Cloister 19 1
kstarm Malice Necromancer Normal Outer Cloister 17 0
djmbbandie Catherine Sorceress Normal Rogue Camp 1 0
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Kitteh Brydon Druid Normal Rogue Camp 1 0
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jiansonz
New member
Yeah, but he could really use a bigger stick.
You are right at the threshold of it becoming powerful. I think it starts to pull its weight pretty well at around slvl 5. That is where it gets at least on par with Fists of Fire (although you can't compare with it since you can't currently use it) if you have about 10 points in that. There is a marked increase in monster life (for the bigger monster types) in Act IV and many have good fire resist. If you can make it past Diablo, Act V is an amazing blessing where Phoenix Strike grows incredibly powerful for that stage in the game.
This combo is always good for a chuckle. :badteeth:
Sounds good. More attack speed is handy. AR helps too since you are 5 levels lower than him. He has good blocking, though, so you will still miss quite a bit.
Yeah, I recommend no higher than /p3. There is no shame in going /p1 either (still leaves a good chance for a full six item drop) since this is the major hurdle for a long while for this build. In more "normal" tourneys where it is allowed, I will actually use javelins in this fight!
The need for Fade depends on your resists. If you have about 50 fire/lightning and about 400 life, you can go with BoS. A shorter fight is also safe in a way.
Be very ready with purples, especially in response to his Firestorm and Lightning Inferno.
Go mainly for the 1st charge. Diablo's large body means he gets burned by many fire patches.
Be ready to Dragon Flight to him if he Bone Prisons you.
Buff cold resist with Thawing potions so his cold-hand smackage does not chill you for long. If you think you can afford it, one column of thawing potions in belt is not a bad idea, so you can insta-drink one every time he chills you.
Good luck!
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Wow! Thanks for that bunch of info! And just in time - I am about to activate the 5th sigil! I think I'll try /p3. Worked with most characters
I have 75% Lightning resistance, but only 30% Fire Resistance, so I guess I'll have to use Fade...and good call on the Dragon Flight! Will leave a hotkey for that one!
See you in around 30 mins after the fight :crazyeyes:
EDIT: Hah! Didn't take that long at all! The cold merc was actually a very good choice (never used one against normal Diablo before) because slower Diablo = more time to react! Did him on /p3, and even got the 6 item drop, although one was a nomral sized ruby and the only S/U was an ethereal Salamander :badteeth: Oh well, on we go to Act 5!
I have 75% Lightning resistance, but only 30% Fire Resistance, so I guess I'll have to use Fade...and good call on the Dragon Flight! Will leave a hotkey for that one!
See you in around 30 mins after the fight :crazyeyes:
EDIT: Hah! Didn't take that long at all! The cold merc was actually a very good choice (never used one against normal Diablo before) because slower Diablo = more time to react! Did him on /p3, and even got the 6 item drop, although one was a nomral sized ruby and the only S/U was an ethereal Salamander :badteeth: Oh well, on we go to Act 5!
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jiansonz
New member
Great! Cold mage is indeed a good helper in this fight.
I think players 3 eliminates the no-drop risk completely for Mephisto, Diablo and Baal.
Martina and her ever-changing guard (Might in areas with shambling undead, HF otherwise) have played the first six large areas in Act V, including their bonus dungeons. There were two dangerous and tough areas that required a couple of full rejuves and some careful playing:
- Bloody Foothills, early on. I drew Burning Dead Archers and there was a nasty double boss pack. One boss was Extra Strong + Multishot and the other was Cursed something. I do not think that their arrows are pure fire because they devastated my merc and Decoy several times. I ended up luring them a few at time towards secured space. It takes a while to lure these archers - you need to stand in the small section of space between their awareness distance and their firing range in order to get them to move towards you.
- Abbadon, the whole place. Tough monster mix of Frenzytaurs (no boss, thanks!), Dark Ones (with shamans) making things chaotic and the nastiest archers in the game, Horror Archers firing magic arrows that do lots of cold and poison damage. A large pack of these is a major threat even here in Nightmare.
Glacial Trail, on the other hand, was ultra wimpy with Bone Warriors, Bone Mages and Frozen Horrors. Not only do they do little damage to my 75% cold resistant merc, everything is slow so there is no risk of ambushes or anything.
Thanks to some nice charm finds and Malah's scroll, my resist are now pretty good: 55 fire, 75 cold and 48 lightning.
Recent finds:
Cliffkiller (+2 amazon skills, good damage, Knockback. Not sure if I like the knockback, it can be both good and bad. I am trying it out now)
Natalya's Totem (I thought this was a grailer, but my spreadsheet says no. Might be useful in Hell because it has resists).
Spellsteel (interesting utility charges, especially Teleport and Decrepify. I recharged it in the cube (Ort + chippie) because Larzuk wanted 168k for a recharge!)
[Highlight]Destroyer Martina the Immozon and unknown Might Guard to-be-hired, level 71, 14 S/U items equipped, NM Nihlathak's Temple next[/Highlight]
Nice to read about Abbadon, jian, Thor fought here today, and despite the fact it was just Normal difficulty, the battle was still very long...Not dangerous thanks to Witherstring bow, i simply love this weapon....Originaly i wanted to kill Frenzytaurs here (always atleast one bosspack present here) from distance with help of FoH and Convinction, but FoH is still relatively weak and at the same time mana hungry, so Holy shock used with ranged weapon was much better choice...I will do real update after finishinh Normal difficulty
GL to all :thumbsup:
GL to all :thumbsup:
Anoter small update! Right after entering Durance of Hate 3 I managed to get a Griswold's Edge (which is quite the upgrade, although the knockback is a little annoying). I killed Mephisto gaining new unique heavy gloves replacing my clegclaws pincers. Shortly before Izual I managed to get 2 uniques to drop Nokozan Relic (huge upgrade as I didn't have an amulet at all) and The Face of Horror. So now unfortunately my attacks are knocking back and making monsters flee. I decided to try to gamble for some Goblin Toe boots, 106 boots and 900k (not including what I got back from selling the boots(don't know my total amount spent(If I wasn't so lazy I could figure it out 106 boots at the price of 10406))) later, nothing sadly. Now on to kill big D!
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I have the same problem with knockback. Try an Act III Cold sorceror merc - frozen monsters can't be knocked back and can't be forced to flee.
I know how you feel about the gambling...I gambled what felt like around 500 Skull Caps and now 170 Heavy Belts without any set or unique...
Yeah I'm already using an A3 cold merc and I just sit there waiting for him to attack before I start. Anything flying that you make flee is gone for good lol. Well based off what I was reading the chance for a unique from gambling is 1:2000 and for set its 1:1000. So I wasn't too hopeful, but was still trying. Luckily however I already have 200k again with 7 items that are maxed out at 25k that are sitting in Atma waiting to be sold.
The amount of weapon drops I'm getting compared to anything else is making me sad. 5 weapons, 2 helmets, 1 shield, 1 belt, 2 gloves, 1 amulet.
Most insane chest I've ever got. Act 5 Abaddon, the special chest at the end, 3 uniques. Voulge Claymore and Light Belt all popped out from 1 chest. I have never had that happen before.
The amount of weapon drops I'm getting compared to anything else is making me sad. 5 weapons, 2 helmets, 1 shield, 1 belt, 2 gloves, 1 amulet.
Most insane chest I've ever got. Act 5 Abaddon, the special chest at the end, 3 uniques. Voulge Claymore and Light Belt all popped out from 1 chest. I have never had that happen before.
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jiansonz
New member
RIP said:
It's not impossible, just unlikely. To put it into perspective: The chance to gamble a unique is 1 in 2000 per try. If you gamble 2000 Skull Caps, the chance to score at least one unique is about 63.2%...Even if you were to gamble 10000 of them, there is still a non-negligible risk that none will be unique.
Atroz said:
Sparkly chests (not the quest chests with Khalim's Eye and such but the ones generally found in bonus dungeons) have something called 'desired quality'. They have 2% chance to roll desired quality of unique, 3% Set quality, 5% Rare quality. They can also roll Magic quality or no desired quality (=MF works normally).
If such a chest rolls desired quality of unique, the chest first drops 4 items and tries to make all of those items unique. MF has no influence here. Each of these 4 drops may be a no-drop, but the no-drop risk goes down a lot with a high players setting. There are many instances where the game fails to make a unique because it decides to drop gold, a rune, a gem, a weapon/armor that has no unique version (common among elites, but also with most throwing weapons and class-specific item types), a jewel (yes, there are unique jewels but they have qlvl=85 and no chest can drop that high), etc.
Now the game looks at the last item dropped and checks if it is indeed unique. If yes, the drop cycles stop there. This is why sparkly chest drops that cough up just few items often have high quality items. If the last item dropped is not a unique, the game does another drop cycle of 4, again with desired quality of unique.
So it's not unreasonably unlikely to get up to 7 uniques from a chest like this.
Same routine again, check if the last item dropped is unique. If yes, stop there. If no, make a number of extra drop cycles with desired quailty of magic (but also a big probability of junk like arrows, potions, scrolls and such) . This can be up to 10 extra drop cycles (this is how you sometimes get the huge number of magic items, especially on high players settings) and finishes off with a large number of gold piles, two healing potions and two mana potions.
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Fired up my sorc again today. I remembered how annoying she is to play. She literally drives me crazy - I know I can one-hit everything and I simply can't because I don't have the mana to support that. I thought it was a good thing finding Steelgoad so I can ride behind the merc and kill just the monsters he's having trouble with, WRONG. 75% Chance to Flee makes it even more annoying as I have to freeze everything he's focusing which at times is even more mana intensive (10.5 per Ice Blast) than casting Blizzard.
If I have the nerves to push her to later Acts and find some +mana, +mana regen gear she will probably become a fun character to play but I don't think I have that. I'm no jiansonz you know.
[highlight]Selene the Blizzwaller and Chalan the Prayer merc, Level 50, S/U Equipped 12, NM Stony Field, most likely facing retirement :/[/highlight]
Now I have to figure out something I can really enjoy while playing this tournament (I was actually thinking of retiring my sorc at Level 7).
If I have the nerves to push her to later Acts and find some +mana, +mana regen gear she will probably become a fun character to play but I don't think I have that. I'm no jiansonz you know.
[highlight]Selene the Blizzwaller and Chalan the Prayer merc, Level 50, S/U Equipped 12, NM Stony Field, most likely facing retirement :/[/highlight]
Now I have to figure out something I can really enjoy while playing this tournament (I was actually thinking of retiring my sorc at Level 7).
