Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

[Merlin The Wizzard]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

I wish I could entertain you with more amazing adventures by Scarface and his amazing Vine, but truth to tell, the past few runs have been interspersed with too many RL activities, and consequently, I forgot most of the details (Shoddy memory...)

Anyways, Scarface has cleaned out the Catacombs level 2, and so he's ready for his final Act 1 normal run. I am lvl 20 now, and from the looks of it, I might make 21 before Andy (depends on the amount of bosspacks on catacombs 3 and 4, but there are usually plenty).

MY amazing poison creeper now has 3 useless skillpoints... Sigh. But that's what happens in a random tourney. I totally missed the elemental tree with skills, but my werewolf did get another point, so that is ok.

Hardest encounters (As far as I remember):
1) The Smith. He soaked up those boulders pretty good. I made my stand at a well, and I had to drain it 3 times before the big dude croaked.
2) Pit Spawn Foul dog. A complicated battle, since those misshapen aren't pushed away by the boulders. lucky enough, they were usually more interested in my vine and spirit.
3) one extra strong afflicted boss I think in the inner cathedral. That battle was complicated due to a shaman hidden behind some walls who kept raising dark ones.

Nothing good dropped. No runes, no uniques or set items. One rare hawkhelm had +1 to spirit wolves, and so it was shucked, since I have no skill points in raven yet, and the chances of cracking that one are getting lower with every 6 levels.
All my rings have MF now, amulet as well, but all below 10%.

 

[mrsplifferton]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Randazon has made it to the Outer Cloister, so far everything was done on p8 except lvl 5 of the forgotten tower. I found a couple of things of note this time around

Ghoul Eye
Jewel
Required Level: 3
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 7
Fingerprint: 0x87459623
+6 to Life
+14 to Maximum Stamina
+3 to Minimum Damage
Fire Resist +13%

and I gambled this

Grim Knuckle
Leather Gloves
Defense: 2
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Level: 12
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 18
Fingerprint: 0xd9c9bf91
Poison Resist +12%
62% Extra Gold from Monsters
21% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Half Freeze Duration

Well Jab is definetly my best skill, I just wasted 2 more skill points, one in Magic Arrow and another in MultiShot (now rank 4)

No real NDE's, though I have realised how much I hate CE packs.

I am unable to roll dodge, 1 point is all I've wanted for a long time now, next level is 18 so I will have even less chances of getting it.

 

[OldSoldier1]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Calavera knew that her goal lay close by. She had heard from Tyrael that the Wanderer was confirmed as Diablo, Lord of Terror. She also knew that between where she stood and her goal were countless demons bred for the sole purpose of causing anguish to humanity. In their realm, she would be the outsider, alien and easily spotted. At least, under normal circumstances. In the Outer Steppes, Jemalie noticed a familiar item that he had seen many times before. Useful in many circumstances, Calavera saved it for him and later use.

Next, Calavera happened upon a fallen angel, corrupted by the Prime Evils, who seemd fearsome but did not end up causing her any real danger. Her ability to swing hard and fast, and her weapon's innate ability to somehow amplify the damage dealt to those unfortunate enough to cross her path, ensured quick victory.

In other areas, Calavera happened upon other popular items in the hands of adventurers.

She had kept Mephisto's soulstone, dragging it along with her to hell. Along the way it pulsated, even in her stash, as if begging her to turn on those around her. She fought onward, until finding the Hellforge, the legendary birthplace of countless indestructible artifacts known throughout the world. After killing the armorer, she destroyed Mephisto forever. She heard a wailing, as if Diablo himself, far away and as yet untouchable, felt the banishment of his brother and how it pierced him. Countless souls felt final redemption in that blink of an eye, and it finally showed Calavera that an end to her struggle was possible.

Once inside the Chaos Sanctuary, Calavera was sure to stay in the shadows. These demons could crush her in an instant, or fry her to death in seconds with breath of fire. She did notice that when the demons were enshrouded in a cloak of shadows, they failed to use their special attacks. In this her struggle was made bearable. It was only the Oblivion Knights that caused Jemali trouble, for he was fully bearing the burden of battle. He didn't mind, as the darkness surrounding them made the journey immeasurably safer, and he knew that every death blow he wielded to the hordes of undead brought Calavera's blood rage further to a boil. He knew she would need her adrenaline to successfully fight Diablo.

They together touched the last seal and released Diablo. Diablo, sensing that it was Calavera and not Jemali who vanquished Mephisto, ignored him completely. All Jemali was successful at doing was creating morbid gushing wounds on his legs anyway. Diablo's real prize was Calavera, the merciless assassin bent on his destruction. Calavera beat Diablo again and again with her Crushflange, crushing his bones and not staying in one place long enough to be extinguished. Finally, after what seemed like endless ages of battle, and bathed in lightning composed of pure evil, Calavera ended his Reign of Terror.

Her task complete and her family avenged, Calavera destroyed Diablo's soulstone as well, banishing him to the edges of existence to pester mankind no more. At peace, she prepared to commit suicide on the spot where she slew Diablo himself. However, Jemali, who had survived the encounter with the terrible demon, reminded her of the conversation they'd had with Tyrael in Lut Gholein: Tal Rasha and Baal still lived and threatened other innocent lives in their ques to corrupt the Worldstone. Calavera and Jemali alone knew of the rigors of the task and she knew she was now uniquely qualified to rid the world of the last of the prime evils.

And so as it happens in epic journeys, Calavera steeled her resolve to fight one more great enemy, Diablo's brother Baal. In her first journey outside the snowy walls of Harrogath, Calavera discovered an item not seen before. A grailer!

She smiled and stabbed another Berserker through the heart. They don't even know what's coming.

[highlight]Calavera, level 36 Assassin, Bloody Foothills[/highlight]

 

[jiansonz]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Revive was used/needed a lot more in Act IV than before. I think it´s mostly because of the open nature of the areas, often resulting in huge mobs to fight. Doom- and Abyss Knights are good revives, Pit Lords are OK. Corpulents are sometimes OK, but often annoying when they move away to spit a corpse. Curiously enough, Cliff Lurkers can not be revived at all.

I gambled up most of my gold, trying to get a better sword. I found out that a high-end Ferocious Executioner Sword would actually do more damage than a Cruel Dacian Falx, so I gambled Great Swords as well. I ended up with a +113% ED Executioner Sword. It does a bit more damage than the old rare Gothic Sword. The upgrade happened in the gamble itself, so I could save the Amn rune.

The Hellforge rune has a lot of potential: Um rune. Do I want to find an ethereal Legend Sword in Act V or what?! Or maybe a Duress armor is an even better solution? I guess that depends on what other weapon I can come up with. Near the end of Act V, I have two imbues I want to try on elite swords (preferrably ethereal, of course). For any of those tempting runewords, I need to find another Shael first, though. Isn´t that pretty bad Shael luck, with only one so far?

Pete has stashed his Angelic Mantle and started to wear a topazed Gothic Plate instead. I had to put away some +life charms and accept a lower cold resistance, in order to fit in enough charms to keep fire + lightning resists high.

I had hoped Drus would be able to quickly reduce Diablo´s life with Rattlecage, but Drus died right away. I went back to the old faithful Golem + IM plan. D dropped three uninteresting set items and The Atlantean. I sold this sword - it does too little damage...


[Highlight]Destroyer Pete the Necromancer and Drus the Barbarian merc, level 67, NM Frigid Highlands next. [/Highlight]


@OldSoldier: excellent write-up! :thumbsup:

 

[OldSoldier1]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Jiansonz, what good does an Amn rune do for upgrading a blue sword, or are you talking only about rares with ferocious/cruel damage?

I average about one to one and a half shael per guardian, but I begin to scale back my exploration in hell difficulty. What's your average?

That's an excellent HF drop. Um has so many possibilities. You're only one more Um from "Bone". JK of course...

 

[jiansonz]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Jiansonz, what good does an Amn rune do for upgrading a blue sword, or are you talking only about rares with ferocious/cruel damage?

Yes, I am talking about rares.

I average about one to one and a half shael per guardian, but I begin to scale back my exploration in hell difficulty. What's your average?

I guess about 5-6, plus a few more if you count what I can get from cubing Sol and Amn runes. This is the first time I have only seen one up to this stage of the game. I have seen a total of two Amn runes and no Sol, which is also unlucky. I have one Dol, one Lum and one Ko.

That's an excellent HF drop. Um has so many possibilities. You're only one more Um from "Bone". JK of course...

'Bone' is actually pretty yummy for this character, but the merc gear is more important.

 

[Oneofakind]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Quick update as my Druid runs for his cube:

Exit the dry hills wp, see leapers. Leapers are always tough with MB (at least for me). Wait, these leapers are on crack! Oh, bosspack, extra fast. Poof! What? Oh, double boss pack, the second one is teleporting. Exciting. Let's give some ground here, and...oops. Spear cats. LOTS of spear cats. Recast level 1 spirit wolf. Recast level 1 poison creeper. Recast 4 ravens. Fissure (also level 1) the spear cats. Fissure around the wolf, hoping the leapers come to it. Oops, what wolf? Recast wolf. Recast poison creeper. Well, you get the idea.

Three trips to town, finding a well (and more spear cats) and draining it repeatedly, and sucking down two rows of potions later, I had established my beach head! Wow. I went on to find the halls and touch the level 2 wp, but that's all the time I had for that session. This guy is weak...and I've been lucky with my rolls! I have a choice between WB/Maul (with 3 in Lyc) and MB/Fissure (4 firestorm, 3 MB, 1 fissure, and just found a +1 fissure pelt). Vit is above average. Energy is not a huge waste for a fire druid and dex is needed to hit in man or bear form at this level with this gear, so every level up helps something. If I live to see my level 3 merc, I might have actually learned how to play this game...

 

[stillirise]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

LoremIpsum has finished act 3, after doing the entire jungle in one play-period(well I left it there overnight). Somehow I managed to find the fourth waypoint before the first, and that sealed my fate. :crazyeyes:
Best found item so far has been an maxed etheral griswold's edge. Act 3 mercenaries don't seem to be fond of sword swinging, but it looks pretty.

[highlight]Lorem Ipsum and Scorch the Act III fire Merc, The pandemonium Fortress, Level 32[/highlight]

 

[stillirise]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Question: should nithalak be avoided or is that just a concern in hell?

 

[jiansonz]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Question: should nithalak be avoided or is that just a concern in hell?

Nilly has been nerfed a lot from v1.09 -> v1.10

Normal Nihlathak is no danger unless you have really low life. Buffing cold resist with thawing potions is a good idea, so his Arctic Blast hurts less.

NM and Hell Nihlathak can be dangerous, but you can usually survive at least one CE. Best way is to lure out all the pre-existant Ice Spawns. Then hit Nilly hard and fast. You need either a way to destroy corpses (Corpse Explosion charges from the 'Black' runeword has been used by some of us in more than one tourney) or you need to lead every freshly-summoned Ice Spawn well away from him and kill them there, then return to smack Mr N some more.

 

[jiansonz]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

More than halfway through Act V now. Most of the time it´s smooth sailing, but there have been some scares:

* Snake pack from Evil Urn in Crystalline Passage. The pack spawned a good bit away, so that part wasn´t dangerous. But while I was busy cursing and summoning in the battle, Bone Spears came flying through my allies and hurt me quite a bit. At one time, I hadn´t even noticed I was getting hit until I saw almost no red in the life bulb!

* Cold Mage pack from Evil Urn in Glacial Trail. It was my first in this area, so I didn´t know what monster type would spawn. I hadn´t buffed with thawing potions, so cold resist was a single digit value. Pete has only about 500 life and his footspeed is not good. I still managed to dodge the first volley of missiles. Just...

Evil Urns in general have been OK otherwise, mostly thanks to a Ring with Telekinesis charges I keep in the stash but put on for the Urns. I can minimize the risk of getting attacked by the mob if I open the urn from behind an obstacle.

* Starting a new session from The Glacial Trail waypoint, trying to run to the exit. It was not a long distance from WP to exit, but the corridors are narrow, and I encountered three boss packs of nasty monster types. Big monsters at that: Frenzytaurs, Abominables and snakes. The 'taur boss was Cursed, too. I spent three healing potions, four full rejuves, two TP scrolls, resurrected merc once, used Dim Vision and Terror like crazy, etc. Good grief! And those monsters shouldn´t even be there, IMO...

Near the end of the second session (the one ending with Arreat Plateu and Pit of Acheron) I found a pretty darn good rare Bastard Sword: +195% ED, +10 mininum damage and 30% IAS. This sword got upgraded, used and appreciated, but it turned out to be for only a few areas.

I finally rolled a point in Bone Armor, so now I have 29 skills to roll from on the level-ups. Bone Prison is the only skill that isn´t opened up yet.

Drifter Cavern had the potentially nasty layout with the entrance on the center island. Thankfully, I had two Revived Bone Warriors with me, and the first battle happened at a good strategic point. At first, Pete got jumped by the two goat Champs that are dead in the screenie. I managed to Decepify them and pull the merc to me without moving the golem and skeletons from the important front line they were holding.

I have found a Raven Frost, so now I can have CBF without the Rhyme shield if I want to. In addition to high resists and +life, I think I will want my gear to give as much + to Dim Vision as possible. My Rhyme currently gives +2 to it. Unsocketing this head and making Splendor in it instead is not out of the question. A rare +2 necro skills head with good resists is another possibility.

In the Frigid Highlands, I could complete my 15th perfect topaz (one has been succesfully used to put 4 sockets in a Gothic Plate because I have not found any 4s armors at all (I bought our second 4s armor, a Jeweler´s Gothic Plate, from Halbu)). So now the MF equipment is complete, as far as 'what can be expected' goes. Gloves are 1%-unit and the boots are 3%-units away from perfect MF value, but they have big resists so I use them. Total MF now: +385% when opening containers, +553% on Drus´kills. :crazyeyes:

Every time I sell stuff to Larzuk, I check the red belts, the red armors (of amor types that have at least 3 max sockets) and the 2h-swords that are too heavy for Pete to equip (i.e. they are exceptional types). Now that I had my new fast top-end Ferocious damage rare sword, I almost stopped looking at the swords. Almost...good thing I looked at this jaw-dropping beast!!


[Highlight]Destroyer Pete the Necromancer and Drus the Barbarian merc, level 71, NM Nihlathak´s Temple next. [/Highlight]

 

[Nerigazh]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Every time I sell stuff to Larzuk, I check the red belts, the red armors (of amor types that have at least 3 max sockets) and the 2h-swords that are too heavy for Pete to equip (i.e. they are exceptional types). Now that I had my new fast top-end Ferocious damage rare sword, I almost stopped looking at the swords. Almost...good thing I looked at this jaw-dropping beast!!

Nice! Have you had a chance to try it out yet?

 

[bladejj]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Jiansonz, what's your merc's actual damage output with that beast? And are you considering using a socketing quest on that sword to increase it's attack speed?

 

[jiansonz]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Jiansonz, what's your merc's actual damage output with that beast?

His base damage is listed as 681-1065. He uses Attack, Stun and Bash with equal chance. The Attack does the listed damage, his level 18 Bash does 2077-3248 and his level 14 Stun does 1661-2598. If I have understood correctly how it works...

Then we need to factor in the physical resistance of the monsters. Quite often, my merc does not need any help from Life Tap, so I can use Amplify Damage to drag the monsters´ physical resistance way down in the negatives.

And are you considering using a socketing quest on that sword to increase it's attack speed?

No, this sword is not end-game material. I have several ways/chances to get a more damaging and faster sword. At least one of these ways is reasonably reliable. My current sword is good enough as it is to give me a good chance to actually get to a stage where I can come up with a better sword.

I only have two socket rewards for the larger part of Hell - I need them for other things I have planned.

 

[Insane Wayne]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Evil Urns in general have been OK otherwise, mostly thanks to a Ring with Telekinesis charges I keep in the stash but put on for the Urns. I can minimize the risk of getting attacked by the mob if I open the urn from behind an obstacle.

I use the TK long-distance approach with some of my chars, but I prefer staying in the open, because what if the obstacle becomes part of a wall trapping you? I suppose there is no guaranteed safety with either method.

I almost stopped looking at the swords. Almost...good thing I looked at this jaw-dropping beast!!

Very nice! What a great shop. :thumbup:

His base damage is listed as 681-1065. He uses Attack, Stun and Bash with equal chance. The Attack does the listed damage, his level 18 Bash does 2077-3248 and his level 14 Stun does 1661-2598. If I have understood correctly how it works...

The way I understand it, lvl 18 Bash adds 135%ED to the 298%ED already on that sword? A total of 433%? And then the extra +18 integer damage. However, the weapon speed calculator lists a significantly slower attack speed for Bash/Stun. Hmm... there's a nice mutual synergy between Bash and Stun. I wonder if the merc benefits from that.

 

[jiansonz]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

The way I understand it, lvl 18 Bash adds 135%ED to the 298%ED already on that sword? A total of 433%? And then the extra +18 integer damage.

Ah, then it´s not quite as much as I stated in my last post, because I took the Attack damage value and multiplied it with 3.05 for Bash (skill calculator said level 18 Bash with level 14 Stun synergy gives +205% ED).

I am almost sure the synergy is in effect.

 

[jgreg7]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Wow, nice progress jiansonz! In the screenshot, it looks like Pete is wielding a sabre. Why not a wand? I’m personally addicted to +skills…

Neddy is moving slowly, due to RL interruptions. He just made it into Act II, following behind Gumby and three skeletons. He also has Bone Armor, which I’m surprised Pete had managed to miss up until now.

[highlight] Neddy the Necromancer, clvl 20, Dry Hills[/highlight]

 

[jiansonz]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

In the screenshot, it looks like Pete is wielding a sabre. Why not a wand? I’m personally addicted to +skills…

It´s Angelic Sickle, and I use it for MF reasons. Weapon + amulet + 2 rings give me +100% MF, better than anything else I can wear in these slots. They also give me +115 life and +1 All Skills, among other things. I had the Angelic armor on as well for the larger part of NM, but it the +40% MF full set bonus can´t compete with a 4 PTopaz armor.

Once I stop the MF craze, I will most likely use some sort of +2 Necro skills wand.

 

[buraz]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Firstly I would like to say that it's very interested to read all those updates.. just keep on writing them

Secondly i would like to report that Oblivion_Bob died of 3 steel scarab pack in Canyon of the magi . What a shame.. after defeating packs of 20< scarabs, I feel like an idiot :hammerhead:

[highlight]Oblivion_Bob the necromancer, clvl 27, RIP Canyon Of The Magi[/highlight]

 

[Butzull]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Nice progress jiansonz, but RIP Oblivion_Bob!

Fate has become a Destroyer at the ripe old age of 48. Her skills are pretty well spread as you would well expect from a random tournament, but of late too many have been going to "useless" skills such as Fists of Fire! Stats are pretty evenly spread too, Vit and Ene are neck and neck for the lead, both in the mid 80's, with Dex in the high 70's and Str in the low 70's (from memory).

The skill that has totally changed her life was when she got 1 point in Blade Fury. Sure, i've read plenty about it and heard people rave, but I've never actually used it myself before, and thus far it is working fantastically and keeping me at a safe distance. Just a shame that the level 5 Shadow Warrior won't be a sturdy enough tank to keep me safe as I get deeper in NM and hopefully Hell.

Now I just need to do a bit of forum scouring to find out what I should do to maximise BF, namely considerations like impacts of IAS, what weapon mods are transferred (I "vaguely" recall something about CB being reduced or impotent with BF for example) and I should be able to get rocking and rolling.

The other dilemna I face is whether to keep going with the /players 8 full clears. I don't get as much playing time as I used to now we have a little boy, and I like to feel like I'm making forward progress, one or two WP from a decent evening session is ok in Hell, but feels interminable in late normal and early NM! Yet, there are items, runes and gems I would hate to miss, so I just need to work out the trade-off I'm willing to make! Aaaaarghhh!

I'll post the update of skill and stat progression at the end of Normal from home. In the meantime, all the best to those still alive!

Butz.