Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

[jiansonz]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

I just logged in to see how the forum is doing after so many years. Felt great to see this on the front page. Hope everyone is having fun.

The original Randomly Challenged tourney host! Nice to see you stop by.



Yeah, I rolled a third character. He´s a Barbarian named...Brad. The name just came to my mind and didn´t let go...

Brad is going to join up with a Lightning Iron Wolf, if he lives that long.

Cain has been resuced. Originally, I had planned to do everything in my power to get as many skill point in Find Item as possible, but after my last skill point at level 12 got assigned to Shout instead, I have changed plans. Since I now have the prereqs for Battle Orders, I am going to postpone assigning more skill points until clvl 24 so I´ll have the maximum chance to roll as much BO as possible. I think that´s the best strategy in the long-term perspective. Besides, at these low levels, the weapon masteries tend to soak up far too many points. (Well, they will later too, but probably not quite as much.).

Brad now has:
Find Potion 2
Howl 3
Taunt 1
Shout 1
Sword Mastery 1
Axe Mastery 2
Spear Mastery 1
Bash 1

Killing non-undead (except the wimpy Fallen types) with my Scepter is already starting to get slow...


[Highlight]Brad the Barbarian, level 15, Black Marsh next.[/Highlight]


Interesting fact: I have never been killed in HC with a Barbarian.

 

[littlesamurai]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Since there is still interest in this tournament I will be joining, though it will go slow for a while since I don't have much time on my hands at the moment. Rolled an Assasin, PainfulWhisper, with an Act V mercenary (do they have subtypes?). Let's see if I get that far. Happy for having rolled an Assasin since they have many 1 point wonders.

 

[Wolron]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Samuel has defeated Andariel and Radament using a werewolf with 5 points in werewolf (3 due to a hawk helm), 3 points in lycantropy and 1 point in feral rage. Not too difficult at this level.

Observation: Probability is going to make this character (and all others in the tournament) rather difficult to get into HELL difficulty. In fact, at this point I have a hard time imagining him lasting long in NM. Attributes will be rather level. Skills will be the same except they will be biased to the lower levels for a while. The only real opportunity to customize your character is to do it with equipment that you find.

 

[littlesamurai]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

I wanted to know what happens when rolling skill points if you can't place more points in the skill rolled, because I don't have enough level.

 

[Wolron]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

I wanted to know what happens when rolling skill points if you can't place more points in the skill rolled, because I don't have enough level.

Before rolling for any skill, you should look at your skills and see which ones are available to be added to. Obviously, as your prerequisites are met for new skills, that number of available skills grows. However, it could also be reduced as you have observed. For instance, when you receive a skill reward (DEN OF EVIL, RADAMENT and IZUAL are examples ), you may have skills that are already at their max for your level. I really do not think this will happen often because I do not see having many skills at their maximum when you are restricted to random assignment.

 

[Drystan1]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

[highlight]Randi_TrueBlood[/highlight], level 15 Assassin, has just found the best item in the game. After being very unlucky with topaz's, and gambling, this beauty dropped. I have always wanted it to drop in a Single Pass, Untwinked tourney, and it is very much welcomed.

Her skills layout it quite random. Nothing that'll help in the future yet, but I'm sinking points, trying to get one point into Cloak of Shadows, before it becomes even less likely at level 18.

 

[Grisu]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Huge congrats on that drop, Drystan! :thumbsup:

In the meantime, I managed to finish the first two acts without much problems (although Beetles do hurt with 0% LR (or 10%...not really that big a difference)...thank God I had around 250-300 Life).

I found the first of four (!!!) Gem Shrines in Act 1 pretty early and saved it for later, as I did with the second. Around that time I finished my 3chippie Ring Mail, so I shopped for a Mechanic’s Skull Cap of Stability, cursed that it had only 1os, as I did with the second, until there it was

Luck followed me wherever I went (e.g. gambling), and the third Gem Shrine was used to upgrade a chippie to flawed and put it in my Skull Cap for a whopping 29% MF! :jig:

I very nice early find was Arctic Furs, esp. after finding the Belt to it...(another 40% MF :jig

Almost forgot about that ugly situation: But since I had Howl...and remembered that just in time, all went well.

After I bashed Andariel to death (yes, that was really Bash I used), she did indeed drop that normal Topaz, and since I followed jiansonz’s advice to save late Gem Shrines for this occasion…here I have a Flawless Gem! (still not used though…waiting for the next Gem Shrine to upgrade it, didn’t find one in Act 2 though.)

Act 2…I did already mention, that Beetles hurt with 0% LR, did I? Well, that’s why I liked spots like this, where the Beetles got stuck behind Urns and Sharyn could easily take them down with her bow. Found some nice unique and sets I eventually will use or did use (Skewer of Krinitz and Hawkmail for example), but then the real bummer dropped shortly before facing Duriel: a golden Mace :jig: Duriel required one town trip and did never endager my life (or my Rogue’s).

Here are my current stats:

Name:       Samson
Class:      Barbarian
Experience: 3585146
Level:      28

            Naked/Gear
Strength:   65/66 <-- actually it's 71 with gear...GoMule doesn't add up the set Bonus properly
Dexterity:  53/53
Vitality:   63/63
Energy:     39/39
HP:         261/290
Mana:       66/66
Stamina:    157/157
Defense:    13/211
AR:         250/322

Fire:       21/-19/-79
Cold:       64/24/-36
Lightning:  10/-30/-90
Poison:     21/-19/-79

MF:         154       Block:      16
GF:         20
FR/W:       0
FHR:        22
IAS:        0
FCR:        0

Bash: 1/1
Leap: 2/2
Double Swing: 1/1
Stun: 1/1
Double Throw: 0/0
Leap Attack: 2/2
Concentrate: 0/0
Frenzy: 0/0
Whirlwind: 0/0
Berserk: 0/0

Sword Mastery: 1/1
Axe Mastery: 5/5
Mace Mastery: 1/1
Pole Arm Mastery: 1/1
Throwing Mastery: 2/2
Spear Mastery: 0/0
Increased Stamina: 1/1
Iron Skin: 0/0
Increased Speed: 1/1
Natural Resistance: 0/0

Howl: 2/2
Find Potion: 3/3
Taunt: 1/1
Shout: 2/2
Find Item: 1/1
Battle Cry: 1/1
Battle Orders: 0/0
Grim Ward: 0/0
War Cry: 0/0
Battle Command: 0/0

And my 2 main weapons (using double swing most of the time, could need some Mana Leech):

Vicious War Axe of Amplify Damage 
War Axe 
One Hand Damage: 18 - 34 
Durability: 26 of 26 
Required Level: 8 
Required Strength: 67 
Fingerprint: 0x84d98289 
Item Level: 25 
Version: Expansion 1.10+ 
5% Chance to cast level 1 Amplify Damage on striking 
44% Enhanced Damage 
+4 to Minimum Damage 
+9 to Maximum Damage 2 Sockets (2 used) 
Socketed: Jewel of Wrath 
Socketed: Cinnabar Jewel of Joyfulness 
 
Jewel of Wrath 
Jewel 
Required Level: 8 
Fingerprint: 0x6648c494 
Item Level: 13 
Version: Expansion 1.10+ 
+9 to Maximum Damage  
Cinnabar Jewel of Joyfulness 
Jewel 
Required Level: 3 
Fingerprint: 0x6a7a8d02 
Item Level: 5 
Version: Expansion 1.10+ 
7% Enhanced Damage 
+4 to Minimum Damage

Vicious War Axe of Measure 
War Axe 
One Hand Damage: 16 - 29 
Durability: 26 of 26 
Required Level: 9 
Required Strength: 67 
Fingerprint: 0x2f09f2cd 
Item Level: 25 
Version: Expansion 1.10+ 
35% Enhanced Damage 
Adds 3 - 5 Damage 
Adds 20 Poison Damage Over 2 Secs (50 Frames) 2 Sockets (2 used) 
Socketed: Jewel of Ire 
Socketed: Jewel of Envy 
 
Jewel of Ire 
Jewel 
Required Level: 3 
Fingerprint: 0x5f080e4d 
Item Level: 8 
Version: Expansion 1.10+ 
+5 to Maximum Damage  
Jewel of Envy 
Jewel 
Required Level: 1 
Fingerprint: 0xa047e777 
Item Level: 12 
Version: Expansion 1.10+ 
Adds 20 Poison Damage Over 2 Secs (50 Frames)

[highlight]Samson, Level 28 Barbarian, and Sharyn, Fire Rogue, Normal Kurast Docks next[/highlight]

 

[Drystan1]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Randi_TrueBlood has defeated Andariel at /players 5, level 19. Stacked antidote poison resist, and Tiger Strike/Dragon Tail.
She is going to become very challenging though. The past 5 levels, she has only been allowed 2 points into vitality. That's 2/25. She has not been able to get a point into Cloak of Shadows, or Burst of Speed yet. And in the entirety of Act 1, she has only found two chipped topaz's. No gem shrines at all, either.
It seems Grisu's taken all the topaz luck! Congrats!

While the Gull Dagger was a very nice find, it hasn't really helped. The only other Set/Unique find was an Arctic Belt from a rogue corpse after I had killed Andariel.

[highlight]Randi_TrueBlood, Level 19 Assassin, Lut Gholein[/highlight]

 

[Wolron]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

[highlight]Randi_TrueBlood[/highlight], level 15 Assassin, has just found the best item in the game. After being very unlucky with topaz's, and gambling, this beauty dropped. I have always wanted it to drop in a Single Pass, Untwinked tourney, and it is very much welcomed.

I agree with the good fortune. In fact, my Druid (Samuel) found the Gull at about the same point in Act 1. The Werebear has been using it ever since.

Two other weapons of note have dropped since: Crushflange and Blood Crescent. Neither of them give as good a damage (though they are close), both of them have some real nice advantages over the Gull, but that +100 magic find is hard to give up. For memories sake, here they all are for comparison:

Blood Crescent Scimitar
One-Hand Damage: 5 to 15
Sword Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
+15 to Life +73% Enhanced Damage All Resistances +15
15% Life stolen per hit +4 to Light Radius 15% Increased Attack Speed
33% Chance of Open Wounds
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired)

Crushflange Mace
One-Hand Damage: 4 to 15
Mace Class - Normal Attack Speed +15 to Strength +54% Enhanced Damage
Fire Resist +50% Knockback +2 to Light Radius 150% Damage to Undead
33% Chance of Crushing Blow

Gull Dagger
One-Hand Damage: 2 to 19
-5 to Mana +1 to Minimum Damage +15 to Maximum Damage
100% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

 

[Wolron]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Samuel (Wearbear Druid so far) has reached the Lower Kurast Way Point. He is having absolutely no difficulty on P8. I am surprised at how well he is doing considering that his attributes are about flat (I would have juiced up his vitality at this point if I had my way) and, though he is at level 30, he has not put anything in a level 24 or 30 skill yet. In fact, his only level 18 skill point is in RABIES, and that skill takes too much mana to be useful at this point. Ah, but he has 5 points in poison creeper, 4 points in Raven and 5 points in Firestorm. If I were designing this Druid freely, I would have put one point in Raven and none in either of the other two. THat one point in Raven would be to get to my wolves or Grizzly bear. Of course, the random choices have blessed me with neither wolf nor bear. I do have one wolf from a pelt, but with only one point, he doesn't last long.

One thing is definite about this tournament. It proves that any build at all can be successful at normal difficulty. NM will probably be a different story. By the way, what is the best result so far? Has anyone actually gotten to HELL? It would be nice to have a chart showing the top ten results. Anyone game for that???

 

[Drystan1]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Jiansonz has the only Guardian (Pete the Necromancer) in this tournament, as far as my searching skills go.

This is his final quest, defeating the cows.

Just above comments, on the right hand side, there is a "Thread Tools v*" "Search this Thread v" and "Display Modes v". I used that to search for 'Guardian,' and the result seemed to only point to one Guardian.

I would like to see the Guardian(s) be acknowledged in the first post, with a link pointing to the post/Guardian thread. As a quick reference for anyone who reads this thread in the future (especially as it is 52 pages, and a couple years old and still going strong!)

* where 'v' is a drop down arrow/menu

 

[jiansonz]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Rolled an Assasin, PainfulWhisper, with an Act V mercenary (do they have subtypes?).

Nope, there are no subtypes. Just pick one with the highest level or the coolest name.


Good luck to all the new participants.

@Drystan: 'Ouch' at not getting CoS or BoS yet! The staffmod help is pretty far away also - you should be able to gamble Hand Scythes in Act V or so. Or if you find a lot of skulls, maybe you can upgrade a rare claw (Cestus or higher) and reroll it...

Once you do have a magical claw (Hand Scythe or higher), chippie rerolling is your friend. Base skill tier for such rerolls is level 18 skills, but you´ll see some level 24 and level 12 skills, and the occasional level 6 skill.



Yes, I should do a table update. Once of these days...

I do not know how many players that have reached Hell difficulty. My Necromancer Pete (with Barb merc) is the only Guardian this far. Guardian thread here.

 

[Fyourics]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Well, I'll be damned. When I joined a year ago, this thread was one of the first threads i saw. I quit playing shortly after. Now, a year later, I'll try my luck with this tourney. Never really played a tourney before. Should be fun. I'll begin after the 25th, though.

Also, gg jiansonz. Your skills are truly remarkable.

 

[Wolron]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

In my last post about Samuel (Druid), I made the statement that this tournament proves that any build can be successful at normal difficulty. Well, Samuel overheard that and decided to accept the challenge. Well, it was partly my fault for going up against Diablo on P8 using only an edge (runeword) bow. The result was predictable. I got diablo down to where he was within about a quarter of the red line of being dead. Then he began casting those cages. The second one got Samuel. Samuel cast a portal, but could not get into it. Deeds.

 

[Insane Wayne]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Thanks for visiting, DiamondSoul. Your original tournament was the reason I joined the forums. :thumbup:

-----------------------------------------

I rolled a Paladin :badteeth:. I have no real experience with them. I'm not sure I've ever taken one out of Act 1 Normal! This should be interesting. His companion will be a Blessed Aim Desert merc; not a bad combo, at least I won't have to wait 6 acts! This may be the first time I rolled a Desert merc in a randomized tournament, I think I was due.

I rolled early skill points into Resist Fire, Sacrifice, and Might. The latter two, combined with Rixot's Keen, is more than sufficient for plowing through Act 1. 1-3 hits per monster at p7, no problems. I take more damage from Sacrifice than from the monsters!

After a brief review of Paladin skills, my goal is to hold off assigning additional skill points until level 30, when Salvation is available. As there are no pre-reqs, there will be a much greater probability to land a point there if I wait. Why Salvation? Well, it looks like an impactful skill, considering Vit will be below my norm. There is so little control with skill acquisiton, I'm going to shoot for this small edge. With the merc's help starting at level 20/21, I can go without the mid-range skills for a while, or borrow them from scepters.

D'oh! I mistakenly claimed my Act 1 merc reward. :embarassed:
I promptly got her killed by an LE Wailing Beast pack. Sorry Kyle...

 

[Fyourics]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

I rolled an amazon with an act 2 blessed aim merc. I absolutely suck with amazons, and the skills are a bit rusty so let's see where this goes.

 

[littlesamurai]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Had the chance to play a little with PainfulWhisper, advance was really fast and smooth as would be expected for an Assasin. Landed 3 early points in Fists of Fire, trying to score a point in Burst of Speed, which I finally hit at lvl 9. Those 3 points make for a really strong killer early on, lure the monsters, and release lvl 3 charge, fast and easy.

Blood Raven was a pushover, she died really fast. I decided to clear the Stony Field before clearing The Cave, but have been leaving the bosses I met alive, to try to maximize my MF before killing them. Have been selling everything that dropped, to get money for gambling. As soon as I reached lvl 12, I started to gamble, first gamble I score a 14% MF glove, and on my 3rd or 4th boot gamble I score hot spurs, which is what I am using since I didn't score a MF boot. Dark Crow dropped nothing noteworthy.

Some notable finds:

Azure Grand Charm of Life
+5 to Life
Cold Resist +10%

Rugged Small Charm of Life
+9 to Life
+4 to Maximum Stamina

And this one, which I'm still unsure where to socket:

Blood Whorl
Jewel
+6 to Life
+20 poison damage over 2 seconds
29% Extra Gold from Monsters

 

[Drystan1]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

It just gets harder for Randi_TrueBlood. Level 24, and no BoS or CoS, which means, no chance at tagging a shadow either. And with an ~1/22 shot of getting a key crowd control skill, it looks unlikely for a while.

198% MF (220 from merc kill) has yielded almost nothing yet, but still hopeful. A total of 5 topazes (3 chipped, 2 flawed.) Energy is the highest stat, Vit is the lowest, various martial arts skills have multiple points, but aren't used, and the one I want, Cobra Strike, has nothing yet. She is going to be tough. But if she can make it, any build can! She's currently playing as a TS/Dtail sin, wielding a Gull Dagger.

[highlight]Randi_TrueBlood, level 24 Assassin, Cube hunting and Lost City next[/highlight]

 

[Drystan1]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Randi_TrueBlood's life was all over the place. Scarab beetles tore through her vitality, sending her running, while Greater mummies could take it down even faster. But eventually, Randi fought her way through the deserts, and found a /players 3 Duriel. A dangerous, but not too bad, fight at Clevel 28, with a whopping 290% Magic Find (merc kill,) and Duriel still dropped nothing of value. She did find an Ethereal Crushflange though!
Still no BoS, Cobra Strike or CoS yet.

[highlight]Randi_TrueBlood, level 28 Assassin, Kurast Docks[/highlight]

 

[DiamondSoul]

Re: Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II

Modnar the Barbarian joins with a barbarian merc. Hardcore with RWM. Lets do this!