Tournament: The Randomly Challenged II
- Thread starter jiansonz
- Start date
epaminondas
New member
You all need to get a real life if most decisions you make involve dice.
BT
DT
Got the t-shirt and that's all you get fools.
Besides I can get better random numbers.
Sorry to be Off topic.
I've pondered a bit whether to respond to such trolling, but, as I think this might help others, I'm willing to attempt it.
This mode of play does not mean random decisions are made, but that random challenges are taken on. To make random decisions is madness and leads nowhere fast. But random stuff happens often in real life and a bit of it actually helps. A too predictable life can lead to depression for many people. From that point of view, it helps to have a bit of surprise every now and then. Happy ones would be preferred, but even bad events help you appreciate what you already have. As a side note about depression (or a gray view of life), the best prevention, in my opinion (informed opinion, as I've studied this in both med school and physical therapy school (though I'm an engineer
)), is exercise. Better so if it involves team playing. I've also never seen someone who does regular exercise being depressed.@jiansonz: Sorry for hijacking the thread.
If someone wants to develop the discussion further, a new thread can be opened. /off-topic
Now about Ion. He has almost climbed the mountain. From Arreat Plateau WP he made a mad dash (wearing Vidala's boots for the boost to speed) toward the entrance to the Crystalline Passage. He dove in and, after wiping the sweat of his brow, set out to explore the cave. Not long into it, the great helm dropped, and that's good as Ion has on main switch the Sigon's shield. The helm will be kept for use in tough fights, the main helm being the MF one (nicely filled with 3 PTopazes as our topaz-luck has been good).
Zanarhi's equipment has seen another improvement as finally a Savage Partizan was cubed and could be equipped. We also found some +max damage jewels and, with another Artisan's helm, we might make a damage cap for him. If we can keep him Holy Bolted, maybe the lack of life leech will not be that important, that is when he is not ignored. Nightmare will tell us all we need to know about that strategy. Another decision we have made is to mule off rings & amulets for cubing at level 56 when of Luck is available on cubed rings. We have found quite a few rings, all of them Cathan's, that in painful contrast to Adriana's journey (from Skill-less tournament) who has found only Angelic's.
Another item of interest is Cleglaw's gloves which might see some use. Rune drops have been ok. Nothing above Thul, but we can cube a kit for a weapon upgrade when a convenient one happens, and that's important as Insight is delayed in this tournament.
A curious thing happened in Pindleskin area. Entering the Red Portal we popped immediately back to see if Anya likes us and has good MF items with extras for sale. Upon returning, the undead littering the floor were gone, probably part of the game's corpse clearing routine. We were sad to miss the drops and XP from those. In compensation, we tried to profit from 2 Experience Shrines located in the temple. We were stupid enough to forget a convenient one when we fought an urn-spawning pack of prowlers, so to further our incompetence tried to fight another urn-spawning, of temptresses this time, while wearing one of them. Surprisingly, Ion managed to stay un-cursed for most of the fight, including the boss-kill, so that mistake was a bit alleviated. The other one was used for a pack of champion defilers in Nihlathak level. Didn't want to use it on Nilly himself as he's level 65, far above Ion's level, so didn't expect much XP from him. Incidentally, his kill brought Ion a level-up. The proper fight began with us trying to stun lock him with Cleglaw's gloves+Edge, but that failed (he's immune to knockback) and we switched back to Smite+Crushflange which eventually brought him down, not before we took some corpse explosions right in the face. Note to self: don't do that in next difficulties if you ever reach there.
Skill landings have emphasized Ion's tendency for Cleric-ness. Prayer, Cleansing, Resist Lightning, Blessed Hammer, another point to Holy Shield, and Concentration (main fighting aura, replacing Might) were the random decisions of this session
.Also I must note that further testing proved jiansonz correct: lashers are blindable with Dim Vision. But having the merc visible again meant less direct minion kills and less drops in spite of Dim Vision use. The bosses saw us coming and began lashing before we could curse them. It's much more easier to prevent boars from reaching exploding status when merc is ignored.
We're currently close to the Summit, only half of Ancient Way and Icy Cellar until then. Half an hour at most for professional climbers such as Ion
. Couldn't press on right now, as the TV-set (which is used for play) was hijacked by the mother-in-law to watch some soap-opera show 
.epaminondas
New member
Ion continued through the mountain. An error slipped into the previous update: the skill draws at levels 41 and 42 were not Prayer and Blessed Hammer, but Might and Smite (a mix-up in the notes).
The rest of the way to Ancients was uneventful. The Ancients themselves were harmless, but the tactic we employed exposed us to an exaggerated amount of whirlwinds. We must avoid that in future, maybe by positioning in front of a bigger wall?. This time we chose a pillar as fighting place to block the throwing guy more easily. It was unnecessary other for practice reasons.
Through the WSK we had no problems as merc has excellent damage with Concentration aura on. The minions of Baal were ok, when taken on in small amounts. Lister and 2 of his minions put Ion on the run when they began ping-ponging Zanarhi around and mixed up Ion in the play. Ion hit them with Edge for a bit to stop the regeneration. After that, stun-lock + kill. Easy.
Baal was also easy. We preferred Sander's gloves over the Pincers because of the boost to Attack Speed. As the only source of damage for Ion is Crushing Blow applied with Smite, we need Attack Speed. We needed only mana pots (had Life Tap on top of the boss). When he was slivered we went back for MF equipment and mana pots. Upon returning we needed some maneuvering with intense potion use as merc was distracted by appendages. Drop was rich in failures. A chain mail and rare kite shield were the only non-blue items.
The cows have been easier than for Adriana. The merc damage was better and he was not ignored. We woke up more of them but Holy Bolt kept Zanarhi out of danger. Any cow dropped in most 3-4 hits. The King teamed up with another cow boss but was easy prey nevertheless. Nothing remarkable dropped in that level (no S/U whatsoever, runes were represented by a Tir).
Skills landed in Resist Fire and another Concentration.
Can't wait to start Nightmare. Level 48 and counting.
The rest of the way to Ancients was uneventful. The Ancients themselves were harmless, but the tactic we employed exposed us to an exaggerated amount of whirlwinds. We must avoid that in future, maybe by positioning in front of a bigger wall?. This time we chose a pillar as fighting place to block the throwing guy more easily. It was unnecessary other for practice reasons.
Through the WSK we had no problems as merc has excellent damage with Concentration aura on. The minions of Baal were ok, when taken on in small amounts. Lister and 2 of his minions put Ion on the run when they began ping-ponging Zanarhi around and mixed up Ion in the play. Ion hit them with Edge for a bit to stop the regeneration. After that, stun-lock + kill. Easy.
Baal was also easy. We preferred Sander's gloves over the Pincers because of the boost to Attack Speed. As the only source of damage for Ion is Crushing Blow applied with Smite, we need Attack Speed. We needed only mana pots (had Life Tap on top of the boss). When he was slivered we went back for MF equipment and mana pots. Upon returning we needed some maneuvering with intense potion use as merc was distracted by appendages. Drop was rich in failures. A chain mail and rare kite shield were the only non-blue items.
The cows have been easier than for Adriana. The merc damage was better and he was not ignored. We woke up more of them but Holy Bolt kept Zanarhi out of danger. Any cow dropped in most 3-4 hits. The King teamed up with another cow boss but was easy prey nevertheless. Nothing remarkable dropped in that level (no S/U whatsoever, runes were represented by a Tir).
Skills landed in Resist Fire and another Concentration.
Can't wait to start Nightmare
. Level 48 and counting.epaminondas
New member
Ion has started Nightmare.
We began by selling the stuff between 25k and 30k that crowded our SellableStash and thus managed to reach a total of 4 mega-gold in ATMA's bank. I see that poleaxes get Ferrocious at ilvl 51 and pikes at ilvl 53 so we'll postpone a bit the gambles. For now, we settled for trying (in vain) to cube some more savages for an improvement to Zanarhi's weapon (maybe with some life leech or + max damage).
I was a bit worried to start NM with some very crappy resists. Fire was a bit pumped (due to Crushflange), but lightning was single digits (and close to zero!) while cold & poison were negative. We had bad luck with resist charms and we couldn't find MF gear with resists. The shield was Sigon's so that's the full explanation. I decided the auras should be enough for the first few Act 1 areas so we ventured into the Moor. We also stocked the belt with thawing and antidote potions. The challenges met were mild and the Den provided us with a glimpse into the dreadness of the fallen. We killed them afar and then bullied the shamans while smiting fallen away from merc. That sort of worked but we could foresee problems. The reward skill point was Salvation! Indeed it was. Phew. We could not handle mixed elemental damage attacks with only specific auras. For this reason we were keeping in stash two rare rings with boosts to lightning. Now they were made obsolete.
But we still had the fallen problem, so during a tedious Cold Plains, we checked Akara for a + Redemption scepter. We finally found one (grand scepter, quite expensive!) when Blood Raven was next. We equipped it instead of Crushflange (it had also a bonus to Concentration) but the fight found us on the losing side. Though we managed to lure the Raven close to the cemetery's fence, the Smite speed while wearing the scepter was to low to make significant damage. She managed to raise minions between hits so we needed better speed, the speed of the Crushflange. We also hit her in advance with some balanced knifes with PMH to stop the regeneration. Besides speed, the Crushflange even did some damage from Crushing Blow and, after a bit, the damned rogue was dead. Anyway, the zounds of gold spent for the Redemption scepter were a bad investment as the level 49 (reached in the Crypt) landed a skill point precisely in Redemption. We are happy, though, to have to regret those misspent money. Knowing that Coldcrow awaits we also gave up some MF (4 points to be exact) to pump a bit more the Cold Resist with some MF+resist gloves. With help from vast amounts of thawing potions, the fight was manageable.
After clearing Cold Plains we took a break and Save&Exited. After returning we made a run for the Stony Field and again we were almost done for. Right at the entrance of Stony Field awaited a multi-shot cold enchanted archer boss pack that took a while to fend. We survived with help from Life Tap, which is the preferred curse when dealing with archer boss packs. And that includes damned types (lightning spitters) as after a few steps into the Underground Passage an Extra Fast boss pack swarmed us. We came prepared with Terror wand, but that was of limited use. Besides, switching to curse made us lose the resist aura and that was not good for merc. We scrambled back up and came back with Life Taps, but it was still a close thing. Too many things required my immediate attention: curse the monster merc is currently hitting, watch his life bulb, watch Ion's life bulb, dodge lightnings, smite the monsters that were attempting to surround Ion. We're glad to have postponed deeds. We found one more ring there. Again, Cathan's
. The good side is that, with Redemption, fallen went from 'dread' to 'breeze' .
The Dark Wood brought some light into our party. The war scepter resided there, but the real shining light was a Shael! We put it to use right away in a superior Heraldic Shield. Another interesting find was the greaves and we were planning to use it if the plated belt would also drop. Now that the main shield is a 'Rhyme' and not Sigon's, that is a bit in question.
The Griswold fight was a tense one as he come upon us with two leftover minions from an already dead boss. Ion put a Terror on them but they did not run far and merc was left to handle them while Ion tanked Griswold. As life pool is small, the red was bouncing a bit to ample for my peace of mind.When merc finished the minions and could take on tanking the things cooled down a little. As the wand of choice for the minions was the Terror one, we chanced it to continue Griswold without Life Tap. Some potions later we succeeded. He dropped what I think is Ion's first elite: a blue hydraskull. So Cain was saved and took up identifying duty.
Level 49 now and preparing to look for treasure.
We began by selling the stuff between 25k and 30k that crowded our SellableStash and thus managed to reach a total of 4 mega-gold in ATMA's bank. I see that poleaxes get Ferrocious at ilvl 51 and pikes at ilvl 53 so we'll postpone a bit the gambles. For now, we settled for trying (in vain) to cube some more savages for an improvement to Zanarhi's weapon (maybe with some life leech or + max damage).
I was a bit worried to start NM with some very crappy resists. Fire was a bit pumped (due to Crushflange), but lightning was single digits (and close to zero!) while cold & poison were negative. We had bad luck with resist charms and we couldn't find MF gear with resists. The shield was Sigon's so that's the full explanation. I decided the auras should be enough for the first few Act 1 areas so we ventured into the Moor. We also stocked the belt with thawing and antidote potions. The challenges met were mild and the Den provided us with a glimpse into the dreadness of the fallen. We killed them afar and then bullied the shamans while smiting fallen away from merc. That sort of worked but we could foresee problems. The reward skill point was Salvation! Indeed it was. Phew. We could not handle mixed elemental damage attacks with only specific auras. For this reason we were keeping in stash two rare rings with boosts to lightning. Now they were made obsolete.
But we still had the fallen problem, so during a tedious Cold Plains, we checked Akara for a + Redemption scepter. We finally found one (grand scepter, quite expensive!) when Blood Raven was next. We equipped it instead of Crushflange (it had also a bonus to Concentration) but the fight found us on the losing side. Though we managed to lure the Raven close to the cemetery's fence, the Smite speed while wearing the scepter was to low to make significant damage. She managed to raise minions between hits so we needed better speed, the speed of the Crushflange. We also hit her in advance with some balanced knifes with PMH to stop the regeneration. Besides speed, the Crushflange even did some damage from Crushing Blow and, after a bit, the damned rogue was dead. Anyway, the zounds of gold spent for the Redemption scepter were a bad investment as the level 49 (reached in the Crypt) landed a skill point precisely in Redemption. We are happy, though, to have to regret those misspent money. Knowing that Coldcrow awaits we also gave up some MF (4 points to be exact) to pump a bit more the Cold Resist with some MF+resist gloves. With help from vast amounts of thawing potions, the fight was manageable.
After clearing Cold Plains we took a break and Save&Exited. After returning we made a run for the Stony Field and again we were almost done for. Right at the entrance of Stony Field awaited a multi-shot cold enchanted archer boss pack that took a while to fend. We survived with help from Life Tap, which is the preferred curse when dealing with archer boss packs. And that includes damned types (lightning spitters) as after a few steps into the Underground Passage an Extra Fast boss pack swarmed us. We came prepared with Terror wand, but that was of limited use. Besides, switching to curse made us lose the resist aura and that was not good for merc. We scrambled back up and came back with Life Taps, but it was still a close thing. Too many things required my immediate attention: curse the monster merc is currently hitting, watch his life bulb, watch Ion's life bulb, dodge lightnings, smite the monsters that were attempting to surround Ion. We're glad to have postponed deeds. We found one more ring there. Again, Cathan's
. The good side is that, with Redemption, fallen went from 'dread' to 'breeze' .The Dark Wood brought some light into our party. The war scepter resided there, but the real shining light was a Shael! We put it to use right away in a superior Heraldic Shield. Another interesting find was the greaves and we were planning to use it if the plated belt would also drop. Now that the main shield is a 'Rhyme' and not Sigon's, that is a bit in question.
The Griswold fight was a tense one as he come upon us with two leftover minions from an already dead boss. Ion put a Terror on them but they did not run far and merc was left to handle them while Ion tanked Griswold. As life pool is small, the red was bouncing a bit to ample for my peace of mind.When merc finished the minions and could take on tanking the things cooled down a little. As the wand of choice for the minions was the Terror one, we chanced it to continue Griswold without Life Tap. Some potions later we succeeded. He dropped what I think is Ion's first elite: a blue hydraskull. So Cain was saved and took up identifying duty.
Level 49 now and preparing to look for treasure
.epaminondas
New member
Ion began searching for the treasure rumored to exist somewhere inside the Black Marsh. And what treasure: the war hat happened to be possessed by a crow there. And still another crow had the full plate mail! The hat went to stash for backup and it might well be the end-game hat for Ion. Judging from previous experience it will stay there and Ion will meet his demise wearing the MF items. Which raises some questions for me: do I need to mitigate my equipment to survival sooner? And how much sooner? It seems that deeds have come mainly due to stupidity, but better equipment might enlarge the room for error. A too early incline to safety might cut down the much needed improvements, but I need to consider the fact that runes and socketables are my main options for better, and those do not depend on MF. Might also shop some good items, again unrelated to MF. We will ponder this further.
The Sigon's armor came at a time when Sigon's set is no longer a viable option. Once Rhyme has been forged, the Sigon's shield has no longer appeal for Ion and the MF bonus is greater for a Rhyme + of Luck boots. Maybe when MF is history, the significant Cold Resist and FRW would change the balance. Need the belt though. An interesting option is armor and helm (found another one) for merc: 10% life leech and Lightning Resist (I'm not sure if the level dependent AR bonus is applyable to mercs; if so, even better). More pondering.
The tower was easier than expected, with another tough fight in the last level. A boss archer pack with cold damage put our party to the test. We couldn't venture toward Countess's location to folow them (for fear of spawning her on /p8) so we tried to lure them close to the entrance. Some NDEs happened and Zanarhi died once, but we succeeded to bring them down. The Countess herself dropped an Eth, a Ral and the kris.
The Tamoe Highland contained the pike and during Pit Level 1 we escalated to level 51 (Prayer). The Pit Level 2 was the toughest area in Ion's existence. Not one NDE but a champ pack of archers (among which a ghostly figure) combined with fallen and regular stalkers had us using most of our stash. Balanced Knifes with PMH, Life Taps, attempted some Dim Visions (to small duration), Terrors, tons of Thawing Potions, madly switch of auras, Smite/Throw/Holy Bolt/Holy Shield, all of it with its purpose. Very intensive, and I think that if another Might boss pack (which lured close by) ended up taking part, we would not have any cards left to play. Luckily the Ghost could be isolated and killed while enduring fire from the rest of the pack. The fallen needed to be cleared first, and the regulars were actually helpful in healing Zanarhi while Life Tapped and merc tanked the fire from the champs. Ended up spending almost all Life Taps but found another one (Level 2, an upgrade) for sell at Akara. What I haven't noticed was that the newly bought wand had a socket. You can probably guess what happens next. It got a regular topaz in it as I was moving stuff around in stash. I really didn't see that socket, else I would stash it in some corner, away from any socket filler. I should be happy it didn't receive my only perfect.
At Outer Cloister we took a break to craft stuff and gamble pikes/polearms. For crafting we aimed a Blood belt so we needed an ilvl>=52 mesh belt. Info about its availability at Charsi was confusing. Item Generation Tutorial says that it should not be available (as I understand the algorithm and according to my 1.11 armor.txt from ATMA), but it also predicts demonhide sashes to not be available which is false as I've seen these for sale. Other scripts on the net gave contradictory info. One said Ion was to small in level, other said it should be available. Half an hour later, I gave up shopping Charsi (finding nothing) and began gambling merc weapons, mixing belt in it, hoping for a high ilvl mesh belt. Hard to score those also, but found some eventually, and crafted 2 belts (only two PRubies available) with less than impressive results. I've scored a better simple one while gambling (dual resists and good bonus to life + good bonus to gold drops), so I'm thinking to switch even if it means losing 1 row of potions. Maybe I should just settle to gamble Plated Belts.
Had 6 million gold to spent. Wearing Edge while gambling made for a long session in which I only spend 2 but got a 133% ED polearm. Will continue today and spend it all on merc weapons as I only have one upgrade kit available now and I want to make it count.
The Sigon's armor came at a time when Sigon's set is no longer a viable option. Once Rhyme has been forged, the Sigon's shield has no longer appeal for Ion and the MF bonus is greater for a Rhyme + of Luck boots. Maybe when MF is history, the significant Cold Resist and FRW would change the balance. Need the belt though. An interesting option is armor and helm (found another one) for merc: 10% life leech and Lightning Resist (I'm not sure if the level dependent AR bonus is applyable to mercs; if so, even better). More pondering.
The tower was easier than expected, with another tough fight in the last level. A boss archer pack with cold damage put our party to the test. We couldn't venture toward Countess's location to folow them (for fear of spawning her on /p8) so we tried to lure them close to the entrance. Some NDEs happened and Zanarhi died once, but we succeeded to bring them down. The Countess herself dropped an Eth, a Ral and the kris.
The Tamoe Highland contained the pike and during Pit Level 1 we escalated to level 51 (Prayer). The Pit Level 2 was the toughest area in Ion's existence. Not one NDE but a champ pack of archers (among which a ghostly figure) combined with fallen and regular stalkers had us using most of our stash. Balanced Knifes with PMH, Life Taps, attempted some Dim Visions (to small duration), Terrors, tons of Thawing Potions, madly switch of auras, Smite/Throw/Holy Bolt/Holy Shield, all of it with its purpose. Very intensive, and I think that if another Might boss pack (which lured close by) ended up taking part, we would not have any cards left to play. Luckily the Ghost could be isolated and killed while enduring fire from the rest of the pack. The fallen needed to be cleared first, and the regulars were actually helpful in healing Zanarhi while Life Tapped and merc tanked the fire from the champs. Ended up spending almost all Life Taps but found another one (Level 2, an upgrade) for sell at Akara. What I haven't noticed was that the newly bought wand had a socket. You can probably guess what happens next. It got a regular topaz in it as I was moving stuff around in stash. I really didn't see that socket, else I would stash it in some corner, away from any socket filler. I should be happy it didn't receive my only perfect.
At Outer Cloister we took a break to craft stuff and gamble pikes/polearms. For crafting we aimed a Blood belt so we needed an ilvl>=52 mesh belt. Info about its availability at Charsi was confusing. Item Generation Tutorial says that it should not be available (as I understand the algorithm and according to my 1.11 armor.txt from ATMA), but it also predicts demonhide sashes to not be available which is false as I've seen these for sale. Other scripts on the net gave contradictory info. One said Ion was to small in level, other said it should be available. Half an hour later, I gave up shopping Charsi (finding nothing) and began gambling merc weapons, mixing belt in it, hoping for a high ilvl mesh belt. Hard to score those also, but found some eventually, and crafted 2 belts (only two PRubies available) with less than impressive results. I've scored a better simple one while gambling (dual resists and good bonus to life + good bonus to gold drops), so I'm thinking to switch even if it means losing 1 row of potions. Maybe I should just settle to gamble Plated Belts.
Had 6 million gold to spent. Wearing Edge while gambling made for a long session in which I only spend 2 but got a 133% ED polearm. Will continue today and spend it all on merc weapons as I only have one upgrade kit available now and I want to make it count.
jiansonz
New member
Yes, this is intricate. I often go through it, with some characters more than others.
Can you see the partial set bonus on the merc screen? If yes, it should work. Mercs use AR, even if we can't see the numbers.
Charsi can sell Mesh Belts, but it is often an exercise in frustration shopping for them. I usually have better luck with Fara.
EDIT: This shopping calculator is great.
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epaminondas
New member
I finally found one mesh belt incidentally, while selling some loot, which proves the script correct. I've also found that link, but I was unsure if it was valid also for 1.11. No reason to think it wasn't, unless you shop madly for an item that was supposed to be there and find nothing. I didn't even find sharkskin belts, so I began to doubt the world
.epaminondas
New member
Terrible things have happened with Ion. While playing into Jail Level 3 a power outage left Ion powerless. I didn't find the time to play for a while so, when playtime came back, I couldn't even determine what had been lost. It seems a Grand Charm with close to 20 life, my second pair of Sander's Gloves (the first one got sold when I found the second) and other still unremembered stuff. At least my Peasant Crown (which also used to get on the ground from time to time to free up stash) is still with us. It will no longer touch ground. I also lost my notes from the start of the previous session, but I don't remember seeing something special up until then. I upgraded the 133% ED polearm so merc is now using the result.
I tried my best to avoid already killed monsters, still Ion had to kill 3 boss packs (2 on /p1) to regain the lost ground. So, in Jail level 3, Ion got to level 52 (Concentration). The Catacombs Level 3 provided another tease and proof that the Universe is in equilibrium: an amulet (Iratha's). Angelic's will not drop for Ion. All of those dropped for Adriana in Skill-less tournament.
The toughest fight of the session was against a spitter Extra Strong Fanatic boss pack which had the help of a regular bunch of corpses right at the entrance of Catacombs Level 3. Merc died plenty of times (I found out Edge doesn't work with resurrections ) and, thankfully, the area was devoid of other monsters. Level 4 Terror was useless, so Life Taps were used, but Zanarhi couldn't administer enough hits to replenish. After the first death it was harder to keep him alive because his Defiance aura took a time to trigger so he was more exposed. I tried to run in the direction I saw monsters coming from, as I estimated the odds of encountering less there were better. Only after running some back and forth in order to spread the pack, with the boss far away and aura absent, things got manageable. Finally, the boss alone was easy with Smite.
This level brought Ion 53rd level along with another point into Cleansing which looks suspiciously useless to me from now on. Serious diminishing returns kick in and level 7 Cleansing seems a bit over the top. Such is random.
Andariel's level had a tough start with a double boss pack in the first room (spitter + corpses). Again luck was on Ion's side because we didn't have to fight all monsters at the same time. Some remained in lurking mode at a safe distance and, although Cursed, Zanarhi could leech back (Life Taps) enough to survive. We still had to retreat upstairs from time to time to recover.
Andy herself was mild, that until slivered and MF equipment came on. At some point I needed to "strategically retreat" Ion to recast Holy Shield and re-curse Andariel with Life Tap and should have spent a purple on Zanarhi to keep him alive. I hesitated and merc died. Again, after resurrection it was harder for him to stay alive. Many merc deaths later (5-6), finally, the demon was dead, dropping nothings. A great axe, an amazon rare and some blues (among which a failed scythe).
I tried my best to avoid already killed monsters, still Ion had to kill 3 boss packs (2 on /p1) to regain the lost ground. So, in Jail level 3, Ion got to level 52 (Concentration). The Catacombs Level 3 provided another tease and proof that the Universe is in equilibrium: an amulet (Iratha's). Angelic's will not drop for Ion. All of those dropped for Adriana in Skill-less tournament.
The toughest fight of the session was against a spitter Extra Strong Fanatic boss pack which had the help of a regular bunch of corpses right at the entrance of Catacombs Level 3. Merc died plenty of times (I found out Edge doesn't work with resurrections
) and, thankfully, the area was devoid of other monsters. Level 4 Terror was useless, so Life Taps were used, but Zanarhi couldn't administer enough hits to replenish. After the first death it was harder to keep him alive because his Defiance aura took a time to trigger so he was more exposed. I tried to run in the direction I saw monsters coming from, as I estimated the odds of encountering less there were better. Only after running some back and forth in order to spread the pack, with the boss far away and aura absent, things got manageable. Finally, the boss alone was easy with Smite.This level brought Ion 53rd level along with another point into Cleansing which looks suspiciously useless to me from now on. Serious diminishing returns kick in and level 7 Cleansing seems a bit over the top. Such is random
.Andariel's level had a tough start with a double boss pack in the first room (spitter + corpses). Again luck was on Ion's side because we didn't have to fight all monsters at the same time. Some remained in lurking mode at a safe distance and, although Cursed, Zanarhi could leech back (Life Taps) enough to survive. We still had to retreat upstairs from time to time to recover.
Andy herself was mild, that until slivered and MF equipment came on. At some point I needed to "strategically retreat" Ion to recast Holy Shield and re-curse Andariel with Life Tap and should have spent a purple on Zanarhi to keep him alive. I hesitated and merc died. Again, after resurrection it was harder for him to stay alive. Many merc deaths later (5-6), finally, the demon was dead, dropping nothings. A great axe, an amazon rare and some blues (among which a failed scythe).
epaminondas
New member
Ion has started Act 2.
The Sewers were a delightful place because there Ion found his first Sol (in Level 3). Insight is still far away (Act 4) and we also lack a decent base for it. Level 3 happened to bring yet more commotion to our party when Ion ran away from merc, lost it, and, unaware of the fact, rushed inside the level looking smugly at a boss pack of skeletons. Unexpectedly, the pack went straight pass Zanarhi and challenged Ion directly. That forced us again to flee in terror. Luckily the pack was harmless and Ion survived to tell the tale.
We found some more set/uniques, nothing remarkable though. The Creeping Feature tried hard to get us something good. It dropped a belt (Hwanin's) and a failed fascia. We also got hold of the gauntlets if we so chose to use the Sigon's, but that seems more and more unlikely.
We had several play sessions for this update because we got good waypoint locations so we had one more chance to miss the merc and the bug resurfaced in the Lost City. We detected it early this time, but we found it harder to manage the situation. The monsters were fast, with good range of awareness so we had trouble waking up just a few at a time, and often we found Ion in the position to make heavy use of potions while merc was having a good time. We profited from the fact that the waypoint was close to the entrance to the Tunnels and the temple area, and Save&Exited to recover him. We were especially afraid to encounter resurrectors with swarming potential at the temple entrance. Fangskin got us a nice rare circlet with +58 life, 1-107 Lightning damage, +54 AR, Dmg reduced by 3, Attacker takes dmg of 8, and +1 Martial Arts (it couldn't have been perfect).
Skill points have divided themselves into each of the resist auras (Fire, Cold, Lightning), with the 56th level skill point going to Concentration. At level 56 we cubed all the stocked jewelry to find Luck rings with no success, though we did find quite a few + 1 skills to a class amulets to sell. Speaking of gold, we don't have a specific target for it at the moment, so we're hoarding the wealth for now (>3 milion in reserve).
The Sewers were a delightful place because there Ion found his first Sol (in Level 3). Insight is still far away (Act 4) and we also lack a decent base for it. Level 3 happened to bring yet more commotion to our party when Ion ran away from merc, lost it, and, unaware of the fact, rushed inside the level looking smugly at a boss pack of skeletons. Unexpectedly, the pack went straight pass Zanarhi and challenged Ion directly. That forced us again to flee in terror. Luckily the pack was harmless and Ion survived to tell the tale.
We found some more set/uniques, nothing remarkable though. The Creeping Feature tried hard to get us something good. It dropped a belt (Hwanin's) and a failed fascia. We also got hold of the gauntlets if we so chose to use the Sigon's, but that seems more and more unlikely.
We had several play sessions for this update because we got good waypoint locations so we had one more chance to miss the merc and the bug resurfaced in the Lost City. We detected it early this time, but we found it harder to manage the situation. The monsters were fast, with good range of awareness so we had trouble waking up just a few at a time, and often we found Ion in the position to make heavy use of potions while merc was having a good time. We profited from the fact that the waypoint was close to the entrance to the Tunnels and the temple area, and Save&Exited to recover him. We were especially afraid to encounter resurrectors with swarming potential at the temple entrance. Fangskin got us a nice rare circlet with +58 life, 1-107 Lightning damage, +54 AR, Dmg reduced by 3, Attacker takes dmg of 8, and +1 Martial Arts (it couldn't have been perfect).
Skill points have divided themselves into each of the resist auras (Fire, Cold, Lightning), with the 56th level skill point going to Concentration. At level 56 we cubed all the stocked jewelry to find Luck rings with no success, though we did find quite a few + 1 skills to a class amulets to sell. Speaking of gold, we don't have a specific target for it at the moment, so we're hoarding the wealth for now (>3 milion in reserve).
epaminondas
New member
Ion has ventured into the Palace.
Remembering the demise of Adriana, the skill-less assassin, he approached it filled with respect. There were some tough boss packs inside (champion maulers were the worst, especially so when supported by archers), but all of them could either be split up or stuned in doorways. Level 2 of Harem brought us another Amn and the promise of a better weapon, while Palace level 1 kept the long sword. Useful item, but Crushflange + Smite works better for now. When MF is history, we might consider a combo with the gloves (already found) if resists will be good.
So when we reached Arcane Sancturay WP, we took another break to gamble merc weapons. After 2.5 milion a beauty of a gem of a nice weapon found us: 203% ed poleaxe which also boasted a nice 14-46 fire damage. As ilvl was only 60 I suspect that Ferocious and Fine prefixes are present (because of a +38 to AR). Of course it got upgraded and so has our killing speed.
The Sanctuary was filled with ghost, but not a single rune dropped. And because is lament time, we noticed that the flies have some sort of bug: they don't drop anything but scrolls, potions and (rarely) gems. And a lot of nodrop. I think the bug is to somehow refuse to drop normal drops. If a normal drop should occur, the game ignores it because of the fly-type. It's very odd, I went the entire Maggot Lair (full of locusts) and Far Oasis (locusts again) without a single normal drop from a fly (other than from the bosses, of course). /lamentation
But the Sanctuary was themed. Two exceptional shields found their way into our possession: the dragon shield and the scutum. Nice items! In one the tombs we also found the Mahim Oak amulet and, in another one, another ring (Cathan's again, we kept it for Duriel).
The true tomb was intense. I think we got a double unraveler draw. There were only them and apparitions there. Nice for the drops, though bad for sanity. Merc got himself ignored again soon so Ion was forced to take some unpleasant hits. The bright side were the drops which included a Lum (my first, I think, from an apparition), a Shael (a skeleton) and a 4-socket partizan! If it would also been ethereal I wouldn't have bothered to mention it on the forum as nobody would have believed it. I have a slightly better paladin shield for another Rhyme, but I'm not convinced to spend that Shael just yet. The Lum is useful to upgrade exceptional unique weapons to elite. Should I keep it in hope of a Pul and a good candidate or spend it on a nice armor? For the merc weapon we also have the option of imbuing an ethereal polearm (only after reaching level 62, so we have a shot at Cruel), but only to get us through Act 3, as in Act 4 Insight is already a sure thing.
Lastly, Duriel was desert on /p8. The curse of choice with ignored merc was Weaken and with 869 life Ion needed only reds. He dived into the stash of purples, though, at some point, because reds became scarce and a trip to town to replenish was deemed unworthy of Ion's character. When really slivered (this time, as opposed to Andariel who got the MF switch a good way before sliver and subsequently became dangerous), Ion switched to MF and run around the bug while merc poked. The efortless kill provided, accordingly, crappy drops: a voulge, some failures, a useless rare and a gem.
Skill points have went to Sacrifice, Resist Cold, Vigor and Charge. Level 60 now, and eager to start the Act of the Temples.
Remembering the demise of Adriana, the skill-less assassin, he approached it filled with respect. There were some tough boss packs inside (champion maulers were the worst, especially so when supported by archers), but all of them could either be split up or stuned in doorways. Level 2 of Harem brought us another Amn and the promise of a better weapon, while Palace level 1 kept the long sword. Useful item, but Crushflange + Smite works better for now. When MF is history, we might consider a combo with the gloves (already found) if resists will be good.
So when we reached Arcane Sancturay WP, we took another break to gamble merc weapons. After 2.5 milion a beauty of a gem of a nice weapon found us: 203% ed poleaxe which also boasted a nice 14-46 fire damage. As ilvl was only 60 I suspect that Ferocious and Fine prefixes are present (because of a +38 to AR). Of course it got upgraded and so has our killing speed.
The Sanctuary was filled with ghost, but not a single rune dropped. And because is lament time, we noticed that the flies have some sort of bug: they don't drop anything but scrolls, potions and (rarely) gems. And a lot of nodrop. I think the bug is to somehow refuse to drop normal drops. If a normal drop should occur, the game ignores it because of the fly-type. It's very odd, I went the entire Maggot Lair (full of locusts) and Far Oasis (locusts again) without a single normal drop from a fly (other than from the bosses, of course). /lamentation
But the Sanctuary was themed. Two exceptional shields found their way into our possession: the dragon shield and the scutum. Nice items! In one the tombs we also found the Mahim Oak amulet and, in another one, another ring (Cathan's again
, we kept it for Duriel).The true tomb was intense. I think we got a double unraveler draw. There were only them and apparitions there. Nice for the drops, though bad for sanity. Merc got himself ignored again soon so Ion was forced to take some unpleasant hits. The bright side were the drops which included a Lum (my first, I think, from an apparition), a Shael (a skeleton) and a 4-socket partizan! If it would also been ethereal I wouldn't have bothered to mention it on the forum as nobody would have believed it
. I have a slightly better paladin shield for another Rhyme, but I'm not convinced to spend that Shael just yet. The Lum is useful to upgrade exceptional unique weapons to elite. Should I keep it in hope of a Pul and a good candidate or spend it on a nice armor? For the merc weapon we also have the option of imbuing an ethereal polearm (only after reaching level 62, so we have a shot at Cruel), but only to get us through Act 3, as in Act 4 Insight is already a sure thing.Lastly, Duriel was desert on /p8. The curse of choice with ignored merc was Weaken and with 869 life Ion needed only reds. He dived into the stash of purples, though, at some point, because reds became scarce and a trip to town to replenish was deemed unworthy of Ion's character
. When really slivered (this time, as opposed to Andariel who got the MF switch a good way before sliver and subsequently became dangerous), Ion switched to MF and run around the bug while merc poked. The efortless kill provided, accordingly, crappy drops: a voulge, some failures, a useless rare and a gem.Skill points have went to Sacrifice, Resist Cold, Vigor and Charge. Level 60 now, and eager to start the Act of the Temples.
Your observations are correct. Any of the "Swarm" type monsters (Itchies, Black Locusts, Hell Swarm) have limitations on their drops. Normal versions of these monsters can only drop potions, scroll, runes, and other small items (keys, gems etc). Only the boss/champion-types have "regular" item drop patterns.
Very irritating in any single-pass environment.
Just wanted to re-affirm your suspicions, and let you know that we're still out here watching your progress, so keep the updates coming! Best of luck to Ion!
epaminondas
New member
@Pb_pal : Nice to know Ion is watched .
@jiansonz: I haven't yet had the opportunity to suspect vultures of hiding drops and Ion has met mosquitoes in Spider Forest with nice gem results. But flies are something else. They seem to have *a lot* of nodrop (for /p8). So I suspect you were right about them having normal routine drops intended (as ATMA files also state), but they are somehow bugged to never drop anything else that a, for instance, gloam would drop.
I remember from previous years of playing D2 I always laughed at flies carrying mauls or polearms. I don't remember seeing that in 1.11.
.@jiansonz: I haven't yet had the opportunity to suspect vultures of hiding drops and Ion has met mosquitoes in Spider Forest with nice gem results. But flies are something else. They seem to have *a lot* of nodrop (for /p8). So I suspect you were right about them having normal routine drops intended (as ATMA files also state), but they are somehow bugged to never drop anything else that a, for instance, gloam would drop.
I remember from previous years of playing D2 I always laughed at flies carrying mauls or polearms. I don't remember seeing that in 1.11.
epaminondas
New member
Ion has entered the jungle.
Right before that though, we spent some perfects to re-roll a Grand Charm with ilvl 52, previously in the possesion of a boss from Canyon of the Magi. First roll got us a 7FRW, 119 AR which we decided to keep. We mainly use Smite now but we might find a need for AR later, who knows. Looking over our equipment we could also spot a slot with much improvement potential. Although relatively expensive at this stage, we threw 1 milion at gloves (Ion is wearing some with 19% Col resist, 23% MF) with no improvement. As amulets are relatively cheap at this stage we also spent 1.5 mil on those with very nice results. Our best was a rare with 25%MF and +56 life and little else. It can be surmounted by a lucky Luck ammy roll, but for now it's our fighting amulet, kept in stash for tough spots.
Starting for the jungle we prepared our best socketed armor (3-sock mesh armor) as topazes began to accumulate and our eighth perfect was not far (the first 6 found spots in 2 artisan great helms for Ion and merc; we had to choose between a lesser MF armor for Ion and a MF helm for merc; the optimum choice would have been an armor for Ion, even with lesser sockets, but we took the non-optimum route). Luckily the Spider Cavern had a 4-socketed full plate mail inside and the forest was full of mosquitoes, so soon the breast plate was switched off and merc kills now provide over 450% MF. The Spider Cavern had more treasure for Ion in the form of another Sol rune, so now Ion can afford to make Insight in the 4-socket partizan previously found, not worrying that something better is around the corner. Speaking of runes luck has been great this session as another Amn was found inside Spider Forest, so we now posses another upgrade kit if we find something better to get us to Act IV.
In Flayer Jungle we hit level 61 (Holy Fire) and the Dungeon inside got us another Nagelring (30%). As Lower Kurast WP was close to the entrance, we took a break there and Saved&Exited to try and craft some blood gloves. We had resources for five tries. None of the results was keepable. At the restart we lost the merc while retreating in face of an Extra-Fast zakarumite boss pack and, once again, Ion could enjoy full monster attention. This was actually a very good area to lose one's merc because lots of obstacles exist behind which monsters easily get trapped and, with careful management, merc can be lead in the same place. Slaughter ensues, but the situation requires patience and careful play, tough I was a bit worried to start the temples in this setup. It provides nicer monster wake-up control, but an initial stair trap might deed Ion.
We still risked the first 2 temples on /P8, but took our fighting gear inside for the first one. It had a stair trap of normal vampires and poisonous spiders. Despite our huge life (>800) and adequate blocking we barely got out alive. We returned stocked with more antidotes and managed to prevail eventually. The second was approached with MF gear and it also had a regular stair trap around, this time of vampires and hunters. Spiders were lurking nearby and I feared that if merc was visible they would also have been drawn to the fight. This temple had Extra Fast Mana Burn Sarina inside and that provided a tough nut to crack as our main crowd control skill (Smite) was no longer very effective. The knockback from Crushflange compensated somehow, but still this forced us to retreat again to the stairs and, around the pillars there, we managed to control the pack.
Mana Burn monsters are an issue for Ion. The closest thing to a NDE came against a Mana Burn leaper pack supported by a normal zakarumite pack. The lack of Smite and surplus of confidence made Ion an easy target for too many successive hits. He came out of it alive, but it was a close call, with many potion keys pressed at once.
Finds have been good this session as already mentioned. What is to be added is an amulet with teleport charges which freed up some space in the stash from the TP staff we kept around. We also cubed some Dim Vision rings, so we can play necro for a short while if the need arises. Level 2 Dim Vision is not very useful though.
Closing the session after we cleared the Bazaar, we had another amulet gambling session with no luck this time and we also re-rolled another Grand Charm we found (ilvl 52). We stopped when a Coral prefix was landed (25).
Ion is now 62 (another Cleansing point) and preparing for some dirty work in the local sewers.
Right before that though, we spent some perfects to re-roll a Grand Charm with ilvl 52, previously in the possesion of a boss from Canyon of the Magi. First roll got us a 7FRW, 119 AR which we decided to keep. We mainly use Smite now but we might find a need for AR later, who knows. Looking over our equipment we could also spot a slot with much improvement potential. Although relatively expensive at this stage, we threw 1 milion at gloves (Ion is wearing some with 19% Col resist, 23% MF) with no improvement. As amulets are relatively cheap at this stage we also spent 1.5 mil on those with very nice results. Our best was a rare with 25%MF and +56 life and little else. It can be surmounted by a lucky Luck ammy roll, but for now it's our fighting amulet, kept in stash for tough spots.
Starting for the jungle we prepared our best socketed armor (3-sock mesh armor) as topazes began to accumulate and our eighth perfect was not far (the first 6 found spots in 2 artisan great helms for Ion and merc; we had to choose between a lesser MF armor for Ion and a MF helm for merc; the optimum choice would have been an armor for Ion, even with lesser sockets, but we took the non-optimum route). Luckily the Spider Cavern had a 4-socketed full plate mail inside and the forest was full of mosquitoes, so soon the breast plate was switched off and merc kills now provide over 450% MF. The Spider Cavern had more treasure for Ion in the form of another Sol rune, so now Ion can afford to make Insight in the 4-socket partizan previously found, not worrying that something better is around the corner. Speaking of runes luck has been great this session as another Amn was found inside Spider Forest, so we now posses another upgrade kit if we find something better to get us to Act IV.
In Flayer Jungle we hit level 61 (Holy Fire) and the Dungeon inside got us another Nagelring (30%). As Lower Kurast WP was close to the entrance, we took a break there and Saved&Exited to try and craft some blood gloves. We had resources for five tries. None of the results was keepable. At the restart we lost the merc while retreating in face of an Extra-Fast zakarumite boss pack and, once again, Ion could enjoy full monster attention. This was actually a very good area to lose one's merc because lots of obstacles exist behind which monsters easily get trapped and, with careful management, merc can be lead in the same place. Slaughter ensues, but the situation requires patience and careful play, tough I was a bit worried to start the temples in this setup. It provides nicer monster wake-up control, but an initial stair trap might deed Ion.
We still risked the first 2 temples on /P8, but took our fighting gear inside for the first one. It had a stair trap of normal vampires and poisonous spiders. Despite our huge life (>800) and adequate blocking we barely got out alive. We returned stocked with more antidotes and managed to prevail eventually. The second was approached with MF gear and it also had a regular stair trap around, this time of vampires and hunters. Spiders were lurking nearby and I feared that if merc was visible they would also have been drawn to the fight. This temple had Extra Fast Mana Burn Sarina inside and that provided a tough nut to crack as our main crowd control skill (Smite) was no longer very effective. The knockback from Crushflange compensated somehow, but still this forced us to retreat again to the stairs and, around the pillars there, we managed to control the pack.
Mana Burn monsters are an issue for Ion. The closest thing to a NDE came against a Mana Burn leaper pack supported by a normal zakarumite pack. The lack of Smite and surplus of confidence made Ion an easy target for too many successive hits. He came out of it alive, but it was a close call, with many potion keys pressed at once.
Finds have been good this session as already mentioned. What is to be added is an amulet with teleport charges which freed up some space in the stash from the TP staff we kept around. We also cubed some Dim Vision rings, so we can play necro for a short while if the need arises. Level 2 Dim Vision is not very useful though.
Closing the session after we cleared the Bazaar, we had another amulet gambling session with no luck this time and we also re-rolled another Grand Charm we found (ilvl 52). We stopped when a Coral prefix was landed (25).
Ion is now 62 (another Cleansing point) and preparing for some dirty work in the local sewers.
jiansonz
New member
Nice going, detailed write-up, looks like you're enjoying it. You are now way past my Barbarian.
Nice. Get through this act and your merc can start using it (see the rules).
She also has Spectral Hit.
That other LK temple also sounds like it was scary. That spider poison is one of the strongest in the game. Well done defeating this temple, and good luck in the ones coming up.
Nice. Get through this act and your merc can start using it (see the rules).
She also has Spectral Hit.
That other LK temple also sounds like it was scary. That spider poison is one of the strongest in the game. Well done defeating this temple, and good luck in the ones coming up.
jiansonz
New member
One leg done in the AS and...I'm totally spent for the session. Have to leave the rest for next time. Gawd, this is slow! Goats and ghosts are OK but the Ghoul Lords are maddening to fight! Me and Flux are pretty much equally bad at damaging monsters.
One thing has made it less tedious, though. I found a flawless topaz and could cube a second perfect for my Find Item helm. Even though it still has an empty socked (and thus provides 24%-units less MF than my other helm) I have stashed the other helm and use the FI helm full-time. So I get less MF for my kills but I also run a lower risk of going insane from incessant helm swapping.
I saw a Possessed Ghoul Lord and thought that maybe Brad would have to park his first monster. I can't even use Battle Cry on those. But I found Spineripper in my stash, and it has PMH. That worked. I then tried Spineripper some more, thinking it maybe would be more powerful than Bloodletter but it seems it's not. The damage is slightly lower, but one could think the PMH would make up for that (I still do not have any sounce of poison). They both have life steal and decent attack speed. The difference may be due to that there is no dagger mastery among a barb's skills. I do have a couple of points in Sword Mastery (and two extra on Bloodletter).
[Highlight]Brad the Barbarian and Flux the Lightning Wolf, level 57, remaining 75% of NM Arcane Sanctuary next[/Highlight]
One thing has made it less tedious, though. I found a flawless topaz and could cube a second perfect for my Find Item helm. Even though it still has an empty socked (and thus provides 24%-units less MF than my other helm) I have stashed the other helm and use the FI helm full-time. So I get less MF for my kills but I also run a lower risk of going insane from incessant helm swapping.
I saw a Possessed Ghoul Lord and thought that maybe Brad would have to park his first monster. I can't even use Battle Cry on those. But I found Spineripper in my stash, and it has PMH. That worked. I then tried Spineripper some more, thinking it maybe would be more powerful than Bloodletter but it seems it's not. The damage is slightly lower, but one could think the PMH would make up for that (I still do not have any sounce of poison). They both have life steal and decent attack speed. The difference may be due to that there is no dagger mastery among a barb's skills. I do have a couple of points in Sword Mastery (and two extra on Bloodletter).
[Highlight]Brad the Barbarian and Flux the Lightning Wolf, level 57, remaining 75% of NM Arcane Sanctuary next[/Highlight]
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ranagrande1
New member
This looks like fun! I'm going to join this one too. I'm still enjoying the Passive Aggressive tournament, but I get bored with playing the same character every time.
I rolled a Necromancer with a Fire Rogue mercenary. In keeping with the random theme, I used behindthename's generator to name my new character.
Khurshid the Necromancer, level 1, entering the Rogue Encampment.
I rolled a Necromancer with a Fire Rogue mercenary. In keeping with the random theme, I used behindthename's generator to name my new character.
Khurshid the Necromancer, level 1, entering the Rogue Encampment.
epaminondas
New member
Isn't it possible to shop for a throwing something with PMH? If you also have point(s) in throwing mastery it should help with chance to hit. I would spam it in the direction of incoming monsters (better so in AS where the terrain is favorable to throwing chars) and switch to damage stick when closing up.
About my Ion: he is parked amongst the temples in Act 3 NM, due to real life interferences. We will pick up our adventures again at some point. In the meantime, we enjoy the write-ups of our fellow randomers
.
