Now it might seem that the Bard would make it through the Ironman game quite easily considering that her "special ability" is being able to identify magical items. However, the Bard also has some definite shortcomings which offset this talent, and these balance out the play somewhat.

Actually, I found the Bard to be the most frustrating of all the characters I've Ironmanned with so far (Rogue, Warrior, and Mage). She can't fire as fast or as accurately as a Rogue and so can't be played purely as a Rogue. She doesn't have good hidden melee to hit and no fast block so she can't be played purely as a Warrior. She doesn't have good hidden magic to hit adders and still has a slow cast speed and so can't be played as a Mage either. Instead, she is a Jacqueline of all trades and master of none, and if you try to play her as only one specific character type, you'll eventually lose -- as I found out many times to my chagrin. She can identify all her finds which makes you feel like she's much stronger than all she faces -- then a boss or a trap shows up to put you back in your place!

My very first IronBard game had her reaching dlevel 15 (!) where she fell to three Hellspawn guarding the Lair of the Vile Betrayer. And the Slain Hero drop from dlevel Nine was a Warrior's Bastard Sword -- a superb drop! Unfortunately, it was still in town awaiting use against Diablo when my Bard fell. But hey, dlevel 15 on the first try! This is going to be a piece of cake!

Or so I thought.

Second IronBard died on dlevel 10 to The Flayer. Can you say "blocklock"? Grrrr.

Third one died to a fire-arrow trapped chest on dlevel 7.

Fourth one died to El Chupacabras on dlevel 3.

Fifth one died to Shadowdrinker on dlevel 5.

Sixth one died to a some stupid Bone Gnasher on 4. I missed constantly. It didn't.

Seventh one died to another fire-arrow trapped chest on dlevel 6.

Eighth one died to Overlords on dlevel 5.

Ninth one died dlevel 13 to some dang Vortex Lord boss. Killed all but two (boss and one minion) by running and shooting a bow. Then I took a wrong turn into unexplored territory. Three poison spitters joined the party. Game over.

Tenth one died on dlevel 2 to a trapped barrel (how embarrassing!)

Eleventh one died on dlevel 7 due to another fire-arrow trapped chest -- and she had 95 life and over 75 dexterity at the time!

Twelfth died on dlevel 9 due to Slayers.

Thirteenth one died on dlevel 14 due to a Gold Viper Boss and one minion! This one really ticked me off as I was in a corner with a shish-kebob graphic nearby blocking a tile, so only two snakes could get to me at one time. I had a sword and a shield readied, and had 123 Dexterity at the time, and STILL the combination of the boss snake and one minion ate through an entire belt of reds and killed me! Dangnabit!

Fourteenth one was retired after she found the Deflector Shield on dlevel 2 from Pukerat, and I wanted to experiment with that item some.

Fifteenth one died on dlevel 15 (again!) due to two Soul Burners and a Steel Lord. Forgot to ready jewelry for resistances before entering the level -- the shots from the Soul Burners stunned me and eventually killed me while the Steel Lord kept me occupied.

Sixteenth one died to Mudrunners while trying to get Arkaine's Valor on dlevel 5.

Seventeenth try -- finally succeeded!

The final game was no cakewalk and had mostly poorer drops (except for the last major body armor and one shield) than any of the prior games. By the time I reached dlevel 16 I was running out of bows, swords, and shields due to durability concerns! There were several good shrines early on, and several decent jewelry drops too, but overall many of the other games had much better items. I think it was won mainly because of 1.) extremely conservative gameplay and 2.) having a quick finger on the magic spells this time when a tough boss showed.

Which to me was one of the pivotal points for playing the Bard Ironman style. She's not a pure warrior, not a pure rogue, and not a pure mage, but a blend of all three. And when the going gets really tough, you should break out everything she has in her arsenal of spells to win the day. Not having the right spells hotkeyed and not being willing to use them liberally will spell the doom of the IronBard attempt.

That said, do you know what the most important spell an IronBard can have is IMO? Telekinesis! Without Telekinesis, you're almost sure to die from some chest trap in levels 5-12. With TK, at least you stand a chance of dodging out of the way if worse comes to worst.

But enough introduction -- on to the victorious session!

Warning! The following is an Ironman write-up, filled with long boring recitations of finds and foes. Skip to the end if you need to.

A SYNOPSIS OF THE ADVENTURES OF BARDICAT, IRONBARD

Town purchase: Small Shield 5 and Buckler 3 (had to sell both small reds to get the Buckler).

Church Level One: The Usual Suspects. Drops: nothing of real importance except for a book of Heal. Shrines: Oily and Creepy. Excellent! Str up by two and Mag and Dex each up by one! Yowser! Character level 3 achieved.

Church Level Two: Skeleton Captains, Devil Kin, Burning Dead, and Skeleton Archers. Devil Kin drop both a Ring of Power (+9) and an Iron (+9% to hit) ring! Super! Books TK and Healing. Shrines Glowing and Secluded. Huzzah! Plus five to magic at only minor cost to experience (lost only about 250 experience points -- the points you get from any major battle on level 2!). The
Butcher is stair-trapped and drops the Butcher's Cleaver, of course. Character level 6 gained.

Church Level Three: Fiends, Blinks, Burning Dead Captains, Carvers, Burning Dead Archers, and Ghouls. Drops: a book Firebolt from Rotcarnage. No shrines. The Leo Quest shows up, and whilst fighting a Horror archer an amulet (of Zest) drops! Yah! Now I have both ring slots AND the ammy slot filled! Shazzam! And after that, a Burning Dead archer (raised by Leo) drops a ring of Skill +7. Zounds!

The Leo rooms yield the following:
Book Berserk and Staff Reflect from the first room. (Excellent!)
Grand Leather of Zest and Rags of Protection from the four-archer chamber. Again, very good!
Warhammer of Zest, Grand Robe, Steel Short Bow, Club of Skill from the last room with three chests. Eh, fair.

All in all some very good drops. Character level 9 fought to.

Church Level Four: Horrors, Rotting Carcasses, Burning Dead, Glooms, Flesh Clan Mace. Drops: book of heal, iron scimitar. Gharbad drops some Pearl Quilt and a Spiked Club of the Sky (+2). Doh! It could have been soooo much better! Madeye drops a book Heal. Shrines: Mysterious, which of course hits Dexterity. Clevel 11 reached.

Stats post-Church
Bardikat, Level 11 IronBard
Str 31(40), Mag 30, Dex 66(73), Vit 19(36) Life 89, mana 70. To hit 86%; damage 12-20. AC 42 using Grand Leather of Zest, Undead Crown, Hammer of Zest, Ammy of Zest, Ring of Skill, and Ring of Power.

Cats Level Five: Stone Clan Mace, Horned Demons, Hidden, and Horrors. Drops: Arkaine's Valor. Shrines: Murphy's. Nothing really to note here except that the Goat's begin hammering my shield out of existence. Good thing I bought plenty of backups in town! Arkaine's Valor starts making them miss, finally. Clevel 12 striven to.

Cats Level Six: Flesh Clan Archers, Fire Clan Archers, Glooms, Familiars. Drops: none of note. Shrines: Divine and a Purifying Spring! Shazbot! With the Heal spell I already know, we have unlimited casts of Heal here! Superb!

Chamber of Bone: first room = Ring of Power +15, Topaz Ring Mail of Thieves, and Flail of Vim. Second room = Doppelganger's staff of Heal, Flail of Maiming, and Jester?s Ax. Horned Demon drops a ring of power +11 str. Decent -- not great, but decent. Arcane knowledge (Guardian spell) gained. Character level 14 made.

Cats Level Seven: Acid Beasts, Overlords, Horned Demons, Illusion Weavers. Drops: Silver Scimitar of Radiance (nice!), Optic Ammy, Large Ax of Swiftness, Longbow of Swiftness from a Weapon's Rack, Staff MS, Staff CB, Ring of Accuracy +15. Shrines: Stone.

Not a bad level, being mostly melee. With two swords readied and a nice to hit, Bardicat can take out any foe. The Ring of Accuracy is a nice addition. Character level 15 attained.

Cats Level Eight: Poison Spitters, Unseen, Horned Demons. Drops: book Heal, book Warp, Book Berserk, Staff Berserk, a Maul of the Bat from a weapon's rack, and Chaoshowler drops the Falcon's Talon! Excellent!

Mostly melee, so again Bardicat romps the level with two swords, one magical and one plain. Most of the time she fights with the Iron scimitar (from level 4) in one hand, and a regular broadsword in the other. That way the magic weapon wears only half as slowly, as the durability loss from use is spread between the two weapons. Since there are still doors present, she can hold set positions and swing at single opponents as they try to enter. She hits character level 16.

Caves Level Nine: Lava Lords and Gargoyles. Drops: Book MS, book TK, a two-handed sword of Brilliance drops from a barrel, and the Slain Hero drops a Bastard Sword of the Stars +8 all. Nice!

The Lava Lords kick my butt this entire level, forcing Bardicat to consume massive quantities of reds and blues. (Up to this point she had used about 4 reds, blues or heal scrolls. On this level along she uses up about 12 of the same!) The Lords hit so hard and so fast she eventually breaks out the Falcon's Talon and doubles it with the regular Broadsword to deal with these attackers, then the level goes much more smoothly. The Talon drops to 18 durability, however. Bardicat acquires clevel 17.

Caves Level Ten: Blood Claws, Night Clan archers, and Obsidian Lords. Drops: Elixir Vit, Anvil of Fury (left behind), Lapis Full Helm, Staff Lightning, Goldblight of the Flame drop a bastard sword of the titans +24, and Blackstorm an amulet of life +29 vit. Shrines: none.

Goldblight shows up on the other side of a fence. With a bow Bardicat is able to shoot down two minions before the rest open the door and pour out. Then Bardicat has lead them to a narrow alley that makes them approach single file, and in single file they expire, even the boss. The rest of the level is proceeding well when Blackstorm and minions show up at the base of the anvil of fury area. Multiple charges and a full belt of reds and blues later he drops an amulet of life -- not bad, but not all that great either. I'm scolding myself for walking into that ambush and wasting all those potions!
Poor playing! Bardicat reaches clevel 19 however.

Caves Level Eleven: Death Wings and Storm Lords. Drops: Elixir Mag, Garnet Long Battle Bow of Sorcery, Elixir Mag, Staff Lightning. Shrines: none.

As soon as the Storm Lords show up, they start kicking Bardicat?s hiney, so she breaks out the Falcon's Talon again and pairs it with the broadsword she has. Then she has their measure. She sheaths the FT and replaces it with the Iron Scimitar from dlvl4 when facing Death Wings singly. By this means she clears the level and gets to clevel 20 too.

Caves Level Twelve: Lava Maws, Death Wings, and Flayed Ones. Drops: Ammy of Vigor +16, and Viletouch drops the Holy Defender! OH WOW! Shrines: none.

Since nearly all the opponents are melee and slow melee at that, Bardicat opts for two swords, pairing her regular broadsword with various magical ones -- the Titans Bastard sword and the Iron Scimitar mostly. She breaks out the +8 all Stars Bastard sword when she runs into -- and then runs through -- Viletouch and his gang. His drop, the Holy Defender, is the fast block shield I've been hoping for! Now if Bardy can make it through 16, Diablo will be facing a S/S Bard with more damage than a warrior and as much dexterity/blocking as a rogue. If . . . . Sadly, the Iron Scimitar wears out this level -- Bardicat must now use the Silver Sword of Radiance, something she is not exactly looking forward to. No clvls gained, so still at clevel 20.

Hell Level 13: Doom Guards and Fire Drakes. Drops: Ring of perfection +22 (chest), Unique Flail (Celestial Flail), Lapis Scale Mail, Lapis Short Bow, Ring of precision +20 (Snake), large shield of the Moon +6 all (Snake), and Rustweaver drops an Ax of Slaying (useless!).

Excellent! Melee foes! The Doom Guards are hard to hit but don?t hit that often in return. The Snakes are the reverse -- easy to strike, but they strike back! The Silver Sword in tandem with the broadsword proves their measure, however. Even Rustweaver falls beneath Bardicat's scything blades! Clevel 22 seen.

Hell Level 14: Hellspawn and Blood Knights, arrrrrrgh! Drops: Dagger of Ages, Breast Plate of the Tiger (chest), Staff of Mana, Sabre of Stars +8 all (Blood Knight), Stareye drops another Bastard sword of the Titans (+25 str), and -- get this -- at the very end of the level a Blood Knight drops a Blessed (+100%) Full Plate Mail (AC 66) of the Stars (+8 all)! Incredible! Lachdanan show up and has his say.

This started as a very tough level, with the Silver sword being out of the question since I don't want to activate too many Hellspawn as Bardicat's resistances just plain suck. She begin by throwing up a town portal and grabbing both the long bow of swiftness and the Pearl Quilt she left there -- then it's a case of switching from Arkaine's Valor and two swords for Blood Knights to the Pearl and Swiftness set for Hellspawn. She?s fortunate to locate an overhang that stops Hellspawn Bloodstars while allowing her to return fire, and she clears enough maze to allow her to string out Blood Knights when she activates more than one or two by accident. Moving very slowly and cautiously, she begins clearing the level.

And what's this? The Golden Elixir is found relatively early in the level! She re-visits Lachdanan, who drops the Veil of Steel and a book of Fire Wall. The Veil of Steel pumps her magical resistances to 50% all, effectively defanging the Hellspawn, while raising her AC to 193 with the Blessed/Stars Plate, making even groups of two Blood Knight at the same time manageable. Although these are fearsome foes, Bardicat has the equipment needed to face them. She romps the rest of the level. Clevel 23 won.

Hell Level Fifteen: Azure Drakes and Steel Lords. Drops: Gothic Plate of the Lion, Dagger of Ages, Elix Str, Elix Vit, Elix Vit, Cap of the Lion, and a Cobalt Ring.

These opponents aren't even as bad as the ones Bardicat faced on 14, and she cleans their clocks! No contest here.

Taking the Staff of Lazarus to Cain reveals the Red Portal to the lair of the Vile Betrayer. Not wishing to tempt fate and see if the 50% resistance offered by the Veil of Steel is up to the challenge of taking on four Hellspawn at once (on either side of the first door of the Lair), Bardicat readies the Staff of Berserk and 'turns' the first Hellspawn she sees in each group of four, and then she runs back to the first room and slams the door. A Fourth of July fireworks display ensues, with the Hellspawn engaging in a wild gunfight that lasts for . . . well, it just kept going! I sat for about five minutes, then went and did some dishes, read some mail, and started on some housework. Came back about 15 minutes later and they were still all at it. Bah! Obviously their resistance and regenerative powers make 'turning' these foes futile. Bardicat goes back to the regular dungeon and drinks from her Purifying Spring, then returns to the Lair and lays down three Guardians in a row to the right. The Hellspawn there are history. Leave, drink, do the same for the left and history repeats itself.

The other foes -- the four Advocates and six Hellspawn -- guarding the Laz surrounds are teased into spots where they can be bowed down while receiving no incoming fire in return. Then it?s back to town to get every fire trap (total of four, two Greater Fire Runes, two lesser) and lay them in the long hall that runs East and West of Laz?s chamber. Activate the foes -- RUN LIKE MAD! The explosions take out only TWO Hellspawn -- sheesh! Then it?s stand behind the door and use the Longbow of Swiftness against all who show up. Eventually Bardicat has to drink a large yellow and this gives her the mana needed to cast Firewalls on both Red Vex (Kite Shield of the Tiger, bah) and Black Jade (Staff of Guardian, unusable with its magic requirement). Laz is tediously bowed down and drops a Ruby two-handed sword of Ages -- useless! Rummaging through the Hellspawn corpses near the traps yields a Ring of Harmony, the most useful thing found on the entire level. BAH! Clevel 24 turned.

But now level 15 is cleared, and only 16 and Diablo himself remain, and the Holy Defender is at durability 95/96 while the Falcon's Talon is at 11/28. Mmmmmm - mmmm!

Hell Level Sixteen: the Usual Suspects. Drops: Sapphire Ring, Ring of Giants +20, Staff TK, Fleshstinger, Staff MS, Staff TK, Splint Mail of the Wolf, Ammy of the Star +8 all (alright!), Savage Spiked Club of the Ages, Crimson Ring of Perfection +25 (Sweet!!!), and Sir Gorash drops a Sapphire short war bow (bah!).

On this level Bardicat wears out the Garnet bow (used on Advocates), the Silver Sword (used on BK), the Long bow of Swiftness (Advos again) and uses 1/2 the durability of Fleshstinger as well! But she clears all the surrounds and rooms except Diablo's.

Inside the third room she tosses up a town portal, then throws the two levers. Then readying a lighting scroll she sends and wicked bolt down into the fourth Chamber! Diablo responds with a blast of Apocalypse (which the Holy Defender neatly blocks) and charges! Bardicat runs to the town portal and waits until the last minute -- and several apocalypse blasts -- before diving up the portal to town, Diablo's outstretched claws inches from seizing her!

Then she walks back down the to level and clear out the remaining bodyguards in the fourth room, until only Diablo and she remain.

Stats Pre-Diablo

Bardicat, level 25 Ironman Bard
Str 71(102)
Mag 34(50)
Dex 97(130)
Vit 22 (53)
Life 141
Mana 102

AC 209, to hit 155%, Damage 48-50, Resistances 50/Max/50
Wearing Veil of Steel, Blessed Plate of Stars, Holy Defender, Falcon's Talon, Ammy of the Stars +8, Crimson Ring of Perfection +25, Ring of Perfection +22, and using both Mana Shield and Reflect.

From taking out the bodyguard in room four Bardicat is down to six belt potions -- two small reds, one large yellow, two small blues, and one large blue. There are at least 30 more potions lying on the ground in town, but the Staff of Reflect is down to zero charges. If she goes to town to grab potions, she'll also have to visit the Stone Shrine on level 7 to recharges her staves (both reflect and MS) and that will mean several trips and much changing of items. She looks at her stats and her gear and nods.

Walking to the third room Bardicat burns her last Infravision scroll, revealing Diablo on the other side, actually standing IN the Town Portal she left there. Bardicat confidently strides around the entrance and walks to the first corner there she can reach. Diablo saw her turn the corner and runs to join her there.

The battle is joined.

It lasts all of about 28 seconds, even with the Bard swinging a hasted weapon. However, the issue is never in doubt. Bardicat takes NO damage -- beyond durability loss to her shield -- and thus has to drink no potions. Meanwhile Diablo is hit and stunned consistently and near-constantly, having great difficulty completing an attack and even greater difficulty getting off an apocalypse spell (he manages about three the entire conflict; all get blocked). It?s only a matter of time before the blood-spewing- fiend animation begins, and the game is over. Yah! Finally!

Looking back: the Bard is somewhat a tricky character to play. Her lack of bow punching power and slow shooting animation means she needs to rely more on melee than archery. I suppose I could have tried to mini -mage her since there was that Purifying Spring on dlevel Six, but her lack of a decent offensive Lightning based spell nixed that idea.

Previously I had tried to use a S/S combo with the Bard, and this always seemed to end up with blocklock and death in the lower (Hell) levels (these were NOT fast block shields). The two weapons combination actually does work -- the damage is HUGE -- but mostly on levels where you can face opponents singly, i.e., through a door or a gate or such. By the time you reach Hell, you simply need to play conservatively to take out opponents one at a time.

Bardicat was also VERY fortunate in that she didn?t meet up with too many ranged attackers in either Caves or Hell. I don?t know how the Bard would have faired in such an environment, especially a triple witch level or such!

But I'm pleased she won, happy it is finally over. It was a LONG time and a lot of work in coming.

Thank you for you time; hope you enjoyed the read.

Now on to the Barbarian . . . .

*******

Attika
12/31/02

Ironman rules

Ironman Strategy Guide