Tournament: Envious of the Green and Gold

[Dezrok]

@Daz - I rolled randomly for mine. Did the same for you and ended up with a Furyzon … a really bad choice given how unlikely it is that you will find any S/U javelins. So I rolled again and got a Fury Wolf. Seems that fury is the theme! But really I think you should play a bear. Then you, HC Gunther and jiansonz could be The Three Bears! If that doesn't excite you then Trapper should be about as easy as it gets.


@jiansonz - Tal's Crest! I'm really impressed by the quality of your drops. Didn't know about vultures not dropping weapons or armour either, never liked them much already, now even less reason to like them.


Seems that the Flayer Dungeon had a nasty start for both of us. Shame about the lost boss drop, but nicely played.


I only had a bit of time the past couple of days so limited myself to going back and clearing the Great Marsh. One S/U to report: Blacktongue - another sword for the merc with higher physical damage but not much use without ll and with poison. I also had both types of frogs, along with flayers. Fortunate to have two sparkly chests but neither dropped anything exciting.

 

[jiansonz]

@Dazliare: caster builds are obviously easier, but I think weapon based builds are more interesting, since the drops have more impact on the success and you can go through several stages in the game going from easy to tough and back.

You can also play a skill-based fighter build that can get the job done with crap gear, but will be much better with good fighting equipment. Examples of this: Charged Strike Amazon (be prepared to use spears!), elemental aura Zealot/ranger, Enchantress and my favourite: Phoenix Striker.

Didn't know about vultures not dropping weapons or armour either, never liked them much already, now even less reason to like them.

It's the same with swarms.
It is also the same with gloams, ghosts and finger mages, but these guys are instead four times as good as regular monster types at dropping 'misc_ good' items, i.e. rings/amulets/jewels/runes/gems.

Fortunate to have two sparkly chests but neither dropped anything exciting.

I wonder when/if we will have one of these drop 'desired quality' of set or unique. I think the chance is 3% and 2%, respectively. If it does roll one of those outcomes, one can get several items of these qualities. Up to 7(!) in a drop is possible, and getting 3-4 is not unlikely on high players settings..

 

[Dazliare1]

@Dazliare: caster builds are obviously easier, but I think weapon based builds are more interesting, since the drops have more impact on the success and you can go through several stages in the game going from easy to tough and back.

You can also play a skill-based fighter build that can get the job done with crap gear, but will be much better with good fighting equipment. Examples of this: Charged Strike Amazon (be prepared to use spears!), elemental aura Zealot/ranger, Enchantress and my favourite: Phoenix Striker.






It's the same with swarms.
It is also the same with gloams, ghosts and finger mages, but these guys are instead four times as good as regular monster types at dropping 'misc_ good' items, i.e. rings/amulets/jewels/runes/gems.



I wonder when/if we will have one of these drop 'desired quality' of set or unique. I think the chance is 3% and 2%, respectively. If it does roll one of those outcomes, one can get several items of these qualities. Up to 7(!) in a drop is possible, and getting 3-4 is not unlikely on high players settings..

Phoenix striker sounds like a lot of fun, though I've literally never played one. Any pointers?

Dezrok - I'll definitely consider a bear - another build I've never tried. I'll see if I can find some stuff online and pick between that and phoenix striker.

Thanks for the tips!

 

[jiansonz]

Phoenix striker sounds like a lot of fun, though I've literally never played one. Any pointers?

maxicek and I wrote a guide for the build. It's specifically meant to be useful for any kind of play (SC, HC, twinked, untwinked, etc.)

I have played Phoenix Strikers in at least two tounaments similar to this one: Green with Envy III (set items only) and Set/Unique Worshippers II. As usual, I have written detailed reports in those threads.


It's a build that is easy to start off with, because you can use the Phoenix Strike synergies as you level up. I usually put about 10 points in Fists of Fire and use that until Phoenix Strike starts to become strong enough (around PS level 5 which happens in late Act IV on a players 8 full clear). FoF has several advantages: available already at level 6, cheap mana cost and once you get a couple of levels in it, the flames from the 3rd charge will remain for a little while. I recommend using two claws with it (for as long as that is possible) because it's faster and you will usually score three charges with two uses of the skill.
In this tourney, it's no problem if you find your third S/U weapon while you still rely on Fists of Fire. Even though you can't use the skill with non-claw weapons, you can use it bare-fisted.

 

[Dazliare1]

maxicek and I wrote a guide for the build. It's spcifically meant to be useful for any kind of play (SC, HC, twinked, untwinked, etc.)

I have played Phoenix Strikers in at least two tounaments similar to this one: Green with Envy III (set items only) and Set/Unique Worshippers II. As usual, I have written detailed reports in those threads.


It's a build that is easy to start off with, because you can use the Phoenix Strike synergies as you level up. I usually put about 10 points in Fists of Fire and use that until Phoenix Strike starts to become strong enough (around PS level 5 which happens in late Act IV on a players 8 full clear). FoF has several advantages: available already at level 6, cheap mana cost and once you get a couple of levels in it, the flames from the 3rd charge will remain for a little while. I recommend using two claws with it (for as long as that is possible) because it's faster and you will usually score three charges with two uses of the skill.
In this tourney, it's no problem if you find your third S/U weapon while you still rely on Fists of Fire. Even though you can't use the skill with non-claw weapons, you can use it bare-fisted.

Won't I not be allowed to use claws outside of the really rare gold ones?

 

[Dezrok]

I wonder when/if we will have one of these drop 'desired quality' of set or unique. I think the chance is 3% and 2%, respectively. If it does roll one of those outcomes, one can get several items of these qualities. Up to 7(!) in a drop is possible, and getting 3-4 is not unlikely on high players settings..

So it should, theoretically, happen about once per full clear. Any time from now to the end of NM would be great!

Won't I not be allowed to use claws outside of the really rare gold ones?

You can use white and/or grey claws up until you have to replace them with an S/U. With a bit of bad (good?) luck that wont happen until you are able to use PS (which doesn't require claws) and will certainly allow you to get well started with FoF. Could be interesting if you have good (bad?) S/U weapon drops and end up with both you and your merc not being able to wield a weapon for a while. Oh and don't forget the even rarer TC87 green one!

 

[Dazliare1]

Trifecta, the phoenix striker has joined the tournament! With the help of rogue scout Gwinni, act 1 was no match for our fists of fire. Act 1 was largely uneventful, especially with the coveted golden precious gemstones (also known as the topaz). Only 9 were obtained throughout the act, while other precious gems rolled in by the dozen.

Gear is as to be expected, 3x chipped emerald long bow on the rogue, and a 2x chipped emerald hatchet hands for Trifecta, topazzed armors and helms, with the rest being white. I did manage to shop a 3os large shield, in which I put 3 emeralds, making the demon queen fight trivial. Only 1 S/U found in act 1, which dropped from Andariel. Interestingly enough, though I have several of the rarest items in the game on softcore (I even have 2 astreons), this one was a grailer. Bane Ash Short Staff is now being used on switch. I could see it being useful perhaps in the fight against Diablo for increased fire resistance, and it being usable with Phoenix Strike.

Trifecta and Gwinni, Lvl 20, Act 2, 1 S/Us equipped, Desert up next

 

[Grisu]

Welcome, Dazliare! I play the same build.

Just one quick progress note and a reminder for you, Dazliare: Had almost cleared the 2nd tomb when I didn't think of the Mummy Sarcophagus in the room while casting CoS...bad idea, game crash! Now I have to see how I can best clear the 2nd tomb without rerunning the area...

 

[Dazliare1]

Awesome, thank you for the heads up. I know CoS has some issues, but I didn't realize people had figured out what actually causes it.

I have a question though. I found a unique staff yesterday, which went to my swap weapon. Say my next S/U is a two handed sword, and I don't have an A5 merc to use it. Okay I'll wield it, but then say a unique shield drops. Can I go unarmed with the shield, or do I have to use the 2h?

 

[Grisu]

Yeah, casting CoS crashes the game when Mummy Sarcophagi or The Ancients are around...and something else I think, but I can't remember right now...was it Foul Crow Nests? Me thinks so...

As for Meronym, she killed Duriel for a lousy "rares only" drop...and man were those rares bad...things like "+1 Min Damage, Adds 8 Poison damage, 1 socket"- like bad...I had to use up 10 Full Rejuvs for the fight, mainly for my Barb merc (/Players8), but overall Duriel was no threat to Meronym.

Finds in Act II were...well, mixed: Finally filled the last slot (boots) with Infernostride, which is pretty cool and boosts my Fire Resistance to 95%. Plus, I found Plague Bearer and an ethereal Sparking Mail (both now equipped by my Barb - they replaced the up'd Shadowfang and Cathan's Mesh). Another top notch find was a Shimmering GC (14%) and an Iron GC of Life (+81 AR, +15 Life) as well as two Small Charms with MF (3% and 5%). Oh, and I completed the Cleglaw's Set, but ... well, you know what I mean.

My current equipment:

Infernal Cranium
Cow King's Hide with PTopaz
Infernostride
Sigon's Gage
Sigon's Wrap
Nokozan Relic
2x Cathan's Seal
Weapon 1: The Diggler (normal monsters)/Deathbit (bosses)
Shield 1: Milabrega's Orb
Weapon 2: Langer Briser

Mercenary:
Plague Bearer
eth Sparking Mail
IK's Will (2 PTopaz)

Found a lot of runes, but they're only useful for upgrading uniques in this tourney: 10 Amns, 5 Shael, 3 Sols...

[highlight]Meronym, the Phoenix Striker and Ethelred, the Barbarian Merc, level 60, NM Kurast Docks next[/highlight]

 

[Dezrok]

I have a question though. I found a unique staff yesterday, which went to my swap weapon. Say my next S/U is a two handed sword, and I don't have an A5 merc to use it. Okay I'll wield it, but then say a unique shield drops. Can I go unarmed with the shield, or do I have to use the 2h?

You can leave any slot empty by choice. So if you choose not to wield a weapon then you could wield a shield. That's my interpretation of the rules anyway. Oh and great find on the staff!!

@Grisu - that is some mighty fine gear you've got, including the charms.

Envy and Klar dropped into the Arachnid Lair expecting lots of poison and weren't disappointed. Cleglaw's Tooth dropped and then Envy managed to get himself trapped in a small alcove in the wall by Wind Maim the Destroyer. It is a bit hard to see in the image but Wind Maim is directly behind the portal and Envy is just to the right, behind the torch, in that tiny dimple in the wall. No way to run out, so tried using a portal but whenever the mouse was over the portal it showed the boss, not the portal. Oh well, no option but to slug it out. Luckily Klar and the CG came to the rescue and once the golem had Wind Maim slowed and Klar had him stunned with his Bash or in hit recovery it didn't take too long to vanquish him.


Then it was on to the Swampy Pit. Some Flayers in the waypoint clearing chased us into the dungeon, so I was hoping retreat wouldn't be necessary with them lurking above. Level 1 saw Undead Soul Killers, Undead Stygian Dolls and Gloams. Ouch! Mostly Envy kept well out of the way and let Klar and the CG handle things with some curse support. Level 2 was a bit better with Gloombats, Drowned Carcasses and Undead Soul Killers. I also managed to lose a boss drop when a Gloombat boss was killed by Klar as he tried to fly away under an arch. You can see the FE explosion mess made by his death but not a single item. Not something I've paid attention to before but seems that it is not uncommon.


A level gained brings us to 62 and maxed PE to go with maxed PN. Next up, on to LK.


[highlight]Envy the novamancer and Klar the barb merc, Lvl 62, NM Act 3 LK, 15 S/Us equipped[/highlight]

 

[Dazliare1]

FFound my second S/U, angelic sickle. Quite disappointing, though it may open up set combos later. If I'm reading the rules right, can I choose to go unarmed instead of using it?

 

[jiansonz]

FFound my second S/U, angelic sickle. Quite disappointing, though it may open up set combos later. If I'm reading the rules right, can I choose to go unarmed instead of using it?

You (and merc) are always allowed to go unarmed, and you can use a white/grey weapon until you have found three S/U weapons.



Arachnid Lair, Swampy Pit and most of the rest of Act III were no problems, although the Sewers posed a strange challenge to my full clear status. I could not reach over there to hit them. I borrowed Soulflay from my merc (required a +5 STR investment) but that did not help. I had no weapon in my stash with really long range. There was just one option left, barring a merc switch: switch to human form and freakin' shoot those suckers down with Arctic Horn! I had to take off Cleglaw's gloves, or the knockback would push the victim behind the others and I would lose my progress since I had to keep hitting the same mummy over and over again. My poison charm was crucial here, as was the AR bonus from my spirit (I hit with most shots). I burned almost 1000 arrows. Really boring, but I always want to preserve full clear status when possible. Thankfully, all five dropped just gold piles. If something like a Pul rune had dropped, that would really have sucked...

Stairs trap in the lefthand Causeway temple, a Bone Scarab Champion pack. You know, the ones that come with a horde of 'champion minions'. Maybe I should have moved forward and try to fight them in a doorway, but that always runs the risk of triggering some Cursed or aura enchanted boss. So I duked it out by the stairs, with about half a dozen retreats and potion refills. I was always worried my re-entrys would land me in the middle of the pack and too far from the stairs to click on them but that did not happen.

In general, Shockwave rules the day, and allows me to kill enemies while I hold my 40% MF Arctic combo (which in other aspects is pretty bad...). My merc kills little monsters efficiently but takes a long time to bring down the beefier ones, or the ones with high physical resistance (swarms, vampires). I got in and hit most Ghoul/Dark/Blood Lords my merc was attacking, to apply poison so they died faster. Unferth was pretty good against Maulers. Does stunning actually stops their life regeneration? At least it looks like it does.

Mephisto fight was taken on players 3 and as usual, with the Cleglaw's setup. This is one of the few times that meleeing NM Mephisto has not been scary for me. That's due to the massive life pool of this bear.

Several nice finds since last update. Let's see if I can remember them all: (probably not)

Middle of Act III:
* another Isenhart's Lightbrand
* The General's Tan Do Li Ga

One of the Bazaar temples (or was it in an UK temple?)
* Nagelring (26%)
Also: a 5% Small Charm of Fortune was found shortly after the Nagel (so MF is up to 101% now)

Random Heirophant boss in Travincal:
* Rattlecage

Bremm Sparkfist's minions:
* Goblin Toe
* Humongous (third unique with Crushing Blow this session!)

Mephisto:
* Cathan's Rule
* The Grim Reaper

I have made some gear changes for Act IV. Monster life goes up a lot now for the bigger types, so I have stashed Cleglaw's set for the first part of Act IV, and will instead have Steeldriver Martel on switch. I plan to soften up big monsters with this hammer and kill them with the Arctic switch (or have Unferth kill them). My hits average about 800 damage with Steeldriver (not including Maul bonus).
Sander's gloves are back on.


[Highlight]Eric the Werebear and Unferth the barbarian, level 64, 13 S/U items equipped, NM Outer Steppes next[/Highlight]

 

[Dezrok]

It seems every session I play at the moment Envy ends up in a bit of trouble. This session was no different with a Champion Spider Magus pack stair trap in the Ruined Temple. By the time I'd taken it on board, the monsters from the side rooms had joined the fray and things were VERY crowded around the entry. Luckily I hadn't taken a single step into the room and could still exit. Actually I couldn't take a single step anywhere by this stage. After a few failed attempts at killing anything and clearing some space, or a path to get further into the room, I realised that I just didn't have anything that was going to beat this one. Klar was too slow killing anything, Envy's poison was also too slow, Terror didn't work. There were just too many monsters packed in too tight, big poison from the spiders and most of the monsters had high life. And then Battlemaid Serena and her minions decided to join us from the centre room.


Ducking up and down the stairs, I made a few more fruitless attempts to make any sort of impact until I had to admit defeat. This was the end of full clears … unless, maybe if I swapped to a Cold Iron Wolf who could freeze all the monsters around the stairs, which would allow time for Envy's poison to work. This ended up being ridiculously easy. We killed everything around the entry, we killed the two spiders in the rest of the temple that hadn't decided to come to the doorway and we found Lan Essen's tome (so lucky we didn't decide to skip the temple). I was very tempted to keep Jalani the Cold Wolf but the extra 86% MF I can put on an Act 5 merc won out, so Jalani was sent on her way and Wulfgar joined the team.


The rest of Act 3 was pretty straight-forward. A Lum rune dropped in the Forgotten Reliquary. My highest rune so far and useful for an elite unique upgrade. Meph was taken on p3 with Bonesnap and Decrepify and wasn't a problem.


Quite a few S/Us:
LK: Milabrega's Robe; Arctic Horn;
KB: Milabrega's Rod;
Sewers: Stormstrike; Angelic Sickle; Meat Scraper;
UK: Isenhart's Lightbrand;
Durance: Cleglaw's Tooth; Cathan's Seal; Tancred's Crowbill;
Meph: Inferno Stride; Cathan's Mesh; Todesfaelle Flamme;


That is 7 uniques and 15 set items for the Act, most of them are pretty low quality though. Still, Infernostride and Meat Scraper should prove very useful at some point and I'm going to give Todesfaelle Flamme a try on Wulfgar for a while, although without any life leech I don't think it will last long.


[highlight]Envy the novamancer and Wulfgar the barb merc, Lvl 64, NM, Act4, 15 S/Us equipped[/highlight]

 

[Dazliare1]

Awesome finds Dezrok! I'll post some another progress post later this evening

 

[Dazliare1]

Trifecta and her desert mercenary Mizan have nearly completed the deserts of Lut Gholein, ridding the sewers of the mummy known as Radament, obtaining several rare artifacts including the infamous Horadric Cube. We decided to take a break after one wing of the Arcane Sanctuary was defeated. It just so happened that the Summoner was present in this wing.

Progress is easy, though a little slower than I had hoped. I switched from unarmed to using angelic sickle for the 250% damage to undead. Razortine dropped in the claw viper temple, and while it's a great item, its damage isn't stunning. Needless to say I'm looking forward to having a couple points in PS for more consistent damage.

3 S/Us so far in this act:

Angelic Sabre in the Dry Hills
Cleglaw's Claw in the Sewers
Razortine in the Claw Viper Temple

Trifecta the Phoenix Striker and Mizan the desert mercenary, Lvl 26, Normal, Act2, 4 S/Us equipped, final wings of arcane sanctuary and tombs up next

 

[jiansonz]

And then Battlemaid Serena and her minions decided to join us from the centre room.

Yikes! Makes my beetle stairs trap look easy.
Well done finding a way to defeat them.

The Meat Scraper, Infernostride and the Lum rune are pretty good finds.

so Jalani was sent on her way

Is Jalani the little-known sister of Jelani? :badteeth:




I'll write a proper update later but I can mention that Eric has made it to the River of Flame entrance. Just one S/U in those areas, but it was great.

 

[Dezrok]

Envy and Wulfgar have progressed to the City of the Dammed. So far Act 4 has been a bit of a grind as Wulfgar doesn't do a lot of damage (maybe around 100-300) and I still want him to do most of the killing for the extra MF. As expected Todesfaelle Flamme only lasted a couple of combats. No leach sucks as much as it always has and leads to rapid merc death.


Two S/Us, both from the Outer Steppes. Another pair of Sigon's boots and then the mighty Peasant Crown. I'm not wearing it for now as the trade off is a loss of MF and resists, but it will get worn later.


[highlight]Envy the novamancer and Wulfgar the barb merc, Lvl 65, NM Act 4 River of Flame next, 15 S/Us equipped[/highlight]


@jiansonz - Jelani/Jalani … they're twins I think.


@Dazliare - a low damage spear beats no spear! You're guaranteed not to end up unable to equip a weapon on your merc now, which made the end of Normal Act 2 an absolute grind for me. That was by far the hardest Act so far for Envy.

 

[jiansonz]

The Steeldriver Martel was very helpful against megademons, spawners and corpse spitters. Hehe, check out the damage of fully charged Maul. You can also see some other stats like my (pretty good) resists, the big life pool and the pile of unused stat points. Steeldriver is a good weapon (and fast!) but there are far bigger beasts out there that I may want to use.

I had no Crushing Blow against Izual but it still did not take very long to kill him. His blows were quite painful, so Eric and Unferth took turns tanking.

While we were fighting our way into the Plains (against Burning Souls and Doom Knights), a unique ring dropped. I thought it was going to be another Nagelring, because they are the most common. Eager to get the MF working right away, I used a scroll to ID it, put it on instead of Cathan's Seal and finished the fight. Then I looked at it more closely: "Hello, gorgeous."

What a great find. CBF is excellent, AR with Steeldriver jumped from 1500 to 3000 (and I have 5.8k with the Arctic combo), cold absorb and other stuff.


Hephasto had Fanaticism and Stone Skin but that did not bother us much. He got slaughtered. Against single bosses (that aren't PI), Eric and Unferth are very powerful. Lum rune from the Forge, nice.

Until I set my foot in the Chaos Sanctuary, that Raven Frost was the only green/gold drop in this act, but now they started to drop quite a bit more often:
* Gorefoot and Rusthandle in early CS
* Blacktongue from the Grand Vizier
* Isenhart's Case (my 2nd) from random OB Knight boss
* Hellplague and Wizendraw from Diablo

This was my second Wizendraw. Same ED as the other one, more +AR but less cold resist reduction. I sold it.

Diablo fight was safe. Cleglaw's adds another 15% to resists, so I had them high, and CBF makes his cold-hand smackage much less annoying.

Not sure what merc type I am going to use now. On one hand, ranged mercs are great in some areas (think easy Frenzytaur executions from across river, and the possibility to work on nasty archer packs from very far away) but it sure would be nice to have a tanking buddy in some other areas (think early Invader Champ pack in an ice cave. Did I mention that Shock Wave does not stun Champions?). Too bad I have no more powerful bow than Skystrike. Still, an Act I merc with this bow will pretty much guarantee that I won't run into monsters I can't kill (at least if I socket it with an emerald). With the HoW help, I think she will be doing OK damage to at least kill most monsters reasonably quickly. Act III Cold merc is quite tempting eventually, but not as long as I want to kill things holding my Arctic bow. Act II merc? Not good enough weapons yet. I only have Razortine and The Grim Reaper. The former is too puny and the latter would be doing OK damage if upgraded (+20% ED with guaranteed Deadly Strike is rougly equivalent to +140% ED) but 140 DEX is an insane requirement for a weapon that is far from top notch, and I think it's far out of their league for a long while yet.

OK, I have decided to keep Unferth for now, but mule in Skystrike. Just in case.


[Highlight]Eric the Werebear and (maybe) Unferth the barbarian, level 67, 13-14 S/U items equipped, NM Bloody Foothills next[/Highlight]

 

[Dezrok]

The River of Flames was more grinding away. Venom Ward dropped and then a Ko from the Hell Forge. That's another unique upgrade rune. Chaos Sanctuary saw Ironstone and The Diggler drop from random monsters. Then I dropped to p3 for Infector of Souls. It had been taking forever to kill the regular poison immune Venom Lords on p8, so didn't like my chances. Stayed on p3 for Diablo and went with the Poison Nova/Lower Resist combo after Envy found going toe-to-toe with the CB Maul/Amp option just a little frightening. The style was to run in a circle around Diablo while he generally stood still and blasted with the hose. Every time he stopped blasting Envy would cast PN. It turns out the hose and PN both have 2 seconds duration, so this generally worked well.


Here is a shot of Envy's stats during the fight, for comparison with Eric's. You'll note only a couple of spare stat points (I spent about 20 on Vitality just before the fight), PN doing pretty similar damage to Eric's maul damage, about half the life of Eric and some cranking resists. The resists were achieved by putting on Infernostride for the extra fire res and then tagging a Resist Lightning shrine that was right next to the RoF waypoint. Just before Wulfgar made the killing blow (he was resurrected for the honour) I swapped back into the Sigons boots for the extra MF. Diablo dropped Isenhart's Case and Aldur's Rhythm. 4 uniques and 3 set items for the Act.


Like jiansonz I'm also considering a merc change. With the stashed Meat Scraper I feel I could kit out an Act 2 merc pretty well, so it could do some decent damage and gain what should be a very useful Holy Freeze aura. At the moment Wulfgar does little damage, has no access to any items with CB or OW and I'm getting tired of waiting around while he wears monsters to death. Increasingly I find myself losing patience and killing things with poison. However, a merc change does mean giving up 61% MF on merc kills.


For now I think I'll stay with Wulfgar, but he is on notice and I fear very close to reaching the limit of his abilities without a sword upgrade.

And very nice ring jiansonz. Very nice indeed!


[highlight]Envy, Lvl 67, NM Act 5, 15 S/Us equipped[/highlight]