Kylearan sends an async team to death or guardianship

[Kylearan]

Oh, there is a way to get more +skill barb helms.  Find a low-quality/cracked/etc one, and use the El + chipped gem recipe to fix it, which sets its ilvl to 1 and so it can get low-tier skill bonuses.  Most of them also get capped to 2 sockets this way, so it's easily cube-socketable into a Lore as well.  I forgot about this trick and should have used it myself.  It also works for assassin claws, to get exceptional claws with +Claw Mastery, Tiger Strike, Dragon Talon.

Oooh, nice trick! Will try that.

And if you're going to be that stubborn about no vendor grinding, I guess I was equally stubborn about no respecs and no ladder runewords.    I reacted with disgust for a second when you mentioned Insight in a bow, wow that sounds like a terrible balance mistake.  I hate Insight and Spirit and a few of the others like Obedience and Grief; they are so out of line for power compared to everything else and just dominate every other option.

I completely agree that several runewords are really bad game design (I'd add Infinity, Call to Arms and Enigma, among others, to the list), but I also find it hard no not use them, or to decide exactly where I'd draw the line. But once you come to terms with the fact that they are in the game, I actually approve that Insight is now allowed in bows. The damage output isn't that much difference compared to Harmony, but it makes it easier to use an Act 1 rogue mercenary if you want the Meditation aura, and the game really needed some incentives to use other mercs than the Act 2 ones.

[KingOfPain]

Myself, I very rarely shop for anything other than the Leaf staff and White wand early game and then BO sticks in Hell Act 5. IIRC, I have ever crafted 2 items maybe 3. As for gambling, only when my stash is full. Does anyone still use the Charis reward anymore?

I guess it just comes down to different priorities on what to waste time on.

As for re-spec, yeah, that's the difference between a toon and a character. A character shows the struggle of it growing up, how you might have a couple of wasted points in other combat skills before you get to Whirlwind, or decided to go Sword Mastery because you had a pair of Bloodletters but later went with Polearm Mastery because.... and every mis-clicks

Speaking of which, I am struggling to not re-spec McTyrael (the ladder Bliz/GSpike/Hyrda girl). It only take 3 pre-req points to get to Mana Shield, which would give her ~50 dfe. That is as good as using a Hoto's Oak Sage or CTA. I mean, I could save a point from Frozen Orb (1 point only used for fast Norm/NM rushing), and a point from using Frozen Armor instead of Shiva Armor...

[Kylearan]

Myself, I very rarely shop for anything other than the Leaf staff and White wand early game and then BO sticks in Hell Act 5.

Can you imagine I didn't know there are BO sticks for sale in Hell Act 5? What a noob I am... 

Does anyone still use the Charis reward anymore?

I remember Charis fondly, but I guess that was a Freudian slip and you mean Charsi? 

Hopefully I won't forget to imbue something before I'm Guardian or dead...

[Kylearan]

Nightmare Act 1

I usually tend to lose patience with Act 1 at some point during the Jail, so I skipped some parts of the Jail and the Catacombs, probably "losing" a level or two, ending at level 51.


Amazon

I had played her before the discussion about skills and how investing in Critical Strike first is usually better than maxing Strafe, so I raised Strafe to 19. The Edge reflex bow still worked fine against demons and the undead, but began to become slow against other foes.

At one point, I switched out her Twitchthroe armor for a Stealth ghost armor. Apart from a hairy moment with a tainted boss pack thanks to being too cocky and a misclick, she had no real problems apart from her killing speed going down - but someone else would find her a solution for that for the next act later. Andariel dropped a rare pike which will improve the DPS for one of my desert mercs, and she found a Soulflay claymore and a Rockfleece field plate. The Soulflay will be added to a growing collection of swords that I'll have to compare and think about upgrading in case my barbarian wants to use a shield for safety, and the Rockfleece could be interesting because of its 10% damage reduction and nice defense (if upgraded) for one of my melee characters - more on that later.


Druid

Hurricane and Tornado supported by Spirit made short work of the monsters, and Hsarus' set was still good enough. Hurricane is now maxed, and Tornado on the way.

He found a couple of shield bases for other characters and, more importantly, a 4os cedar bow for the amazon. Also a Hel rune dropped which got me excited for a short moment until I realized the only new runeword that it opened up is a Myth armor for barbarians, which I don't have any intentions of making, despite its +2 to barbarian skills.


Paladin

When in ranged mode, the paladin is very good. When he has to wade into melee however, things start to get a bit harder for him. Especially an extra strong, lightning enchanted gargantuan beast boss gave him a lesson in humility... he gets hit a lot, so I invested three skill points to get Holy Shield online, which helps. I also have to constantly remind myself when assessing weapons that any bonuses against undead or demons are useless to him, so he still wields the upgraded mace which is fine offensively. He found Tearhaunch greaves, which will help somebody else a bit with resistances.


Barbarian

His playstyle of jumping into packs is a bit dangerous, as he sometimes gets whacked hard before being able to jump again. I practiced jumping on monsters at the fringe of a pack, but aiming over long distances is not easy sometimes. I guess I should learn to use Leap and its knockback effect more for crowd control, but it feels...a bit clunky.

In softcore I would keep the two-handed weapon, but this being hardcore, I see myself switching to a one-handed weapon and a shield soon. This will slow him down, but also provide extra safety. Compared to other melee characters, he is also noticably better protected against missiles which cannot hit him mid-air. A M'avina's Tenet with mana leech dropped which allowed him to swap out the Manald Heal for a life leech ring, which improved his safety a bit.

I still tend to forget to use Find Item when I start playing him, which really annoys me - I only start to remember the skill after a third of the act or so is already played. Andariel dropped a perfect Ripsaw which went into the pile of weapons to compare and think about later.


Necromancer

The bonemancer hit jackpot very early: A Io rune dropped in the mausoleum! Since he himself found it, he could immediately create a White wand and didn't need to wait until the next act. Unfortunately I only had found a +1 Bone Spear base so far, but of course White is still a very big improvement even in this base.

He also found a 4os partizan for someone to make an Insight with, for one of the desert mercs. When fighing Andariel, I finally remembered to use Bone Wall and, uh, yeah, that made the fight quite anti-climactic.

   

Andariel seemed to have been frustrated by this too, as out of spite she dropped two Isenhart's Cases. Double crap.


Assassin

The assassin was the undisputed queen of Normal but now struggled a bit in Nightmare. Her offense was still fantastic, but her defense was not up to par any longer. She got hit way too often for my liking and had some close calls. This could also have been simply because of some bad luck - one clue hinting at that was that her mercenary died a lot, which didn't happen to any other mercenary. It was ridiculous how often I had to revive him, despite his equipment being of similar quality as the other mercs'. The bad luck bit was that I encountered five double boss packs, i.e. a boss pack with a second boss back directly nearby. Often I would see the first boss and not realize that some of the other monsters would be a second boss with minions. And most of these bosses were archers or tainted with multi-shot, extra strong and/or cursed, which in combination really hurt.

To mitigate this, I first upgraded Twitchthroe to exceptional. I didn't want to forgo its bonuses just yet, although I already have a plan for the next act. In addition, all my skill points went into Fade. As I said, her offense was still more than good enough, so I wanted to have the extra physical and elemental resistance of Fade now. She also found a rare demonhide armor with two open sockets, which I put two perfect rubies into and gave to my merc. (I hope to find a Ravenfrost ring at some point along the way, as she suffers the most of all my characters from becoming frozen and cannot use Rhyme.)

She felt more safe afterwards, but I will have to tweak her a bit more for the next act.

A Io and a Ko rune dropped for her. The Ko rune opened up the immediate option of making a Harmony bow for the amazon, but I will stash the rune for now and either wait for an elite base or for other runes to drop to use the Ko with. I don't need the Harmony just yet.


Sorceress

The final pass through Act 1 with the Sorceress turned out to be on easy mode. Planting some Hydras, occasioanlly sending a Frozen Orb as preparation and then letting the merc and Hydras do their jobs while the sorceress herself could already pop barrels, chests and graves is not the fastest, but the most laid-back way to play the game. One time I almost died (with <10 hitpoints left) because I must have accidentally hit the mouse wheel which changed the skill I had configured for the right mouse button. That sometimes happens and is very annoying, most of the time for most characters causing me to spam Town Portals instead of whatever skill I normally have on right-click. Here, my default Frozen Orb switched to Teleport, which as you can imagine put me in a very dangerous spot. It also took me a very long second to realize what had happened and what I had to do to get out of the pack of tainted I had materialized. I hate when I (almost) die not because of bad strategy or slow reflexes, but because of accidents like this. (It also made me realize I'm not yet trained to hit Escape in case of emergency.)


Gear

This time I remembered to switch to players 1 for the countess. Drops from her were 2 Dol, 3 Amn, 2 Eth, 1 Nef, 1 Sol, 1 Tir, 1 El, 1 Tal, and 2 Ort runes.

I also gambled plated belts and circlets. I got nothing ground-breaking, but some ok stuff which was definitely an improvement for some. Other items I found or already had were also swapped in.

The amazon made an Insight in the cedar bow the druid had found:

   

Almost perfect damage, perfect Meditation aura and okay bonus to attack rating and Critical Strike. Very nice, and this should be a huge improvement to the Edge reflex bow! I also swapped out the Biggin's Bonnet for a circlet with +18 all res, +5 minimum damage and some minor other stuff (no +skills, sadly), and she got one of the gambled plated belts with fire and lightning resistance (not much, however). Instead of Twitchthroe, she now wears a Stealth ghost armor. With Insight and Stealth, I need less mana leech and so could replace the bad magic amulet with a new one with quadruple resists (I still have 2% ML from Gorefoot). She still has only 17% fire and 5% cold res, but she's at 67% lightning and 47% poison resist with the option of swapping out my rings which sport no resistance bonuses once I find better ones.

The assassin upgraded the Rockfleece to exceptional:

   

It has roughly 380 more defense than the upgraded Twitchthroe. I will miss the 20% IAS and 20% FHR fromn Twitchthroe, but I'd like to see how the combined damage reduction from Rockfleece and Fade will play out. This is only possible because of the -10% for the requirements; otherwise my assassin wouldn't have the strength yet to wear it.

I made no changes to the barbarian, but gave him all the necessary items to switch to sword and shield if necessary. He has 44% fire resistance, 11% cold and 19% lightning and poison resistance. That's not great and another reason for switching to e.g. a Rhyme shield, but I also have a lot of room for improvement for resistances with the rings and the belt. I just have to be careful not to wait too long...

The Druid's mercenary received an Insight partizan:

   

Very good enhanced damage. Not the best roll on Meditation, but more than enough considering the druid has a Spirit sword and Stealth armor. It was also time to say good bye to Hsarus' set. I made him a Rhyme bone shield, gave him one of the gambled plated belts with resists and +31 to life, and Tearhaunch for more resistances. Finally, he received a magic circlet with +3 to Elemental skills and +28 to life. His lowest resistance is Lightning with 35%; fire with 80% and poison with 72% are good, with cold at 44% good enough. His rings are quite bad however, so chances are good I find something better soon. Not wearing Hsarus' any longer means he has a lower defense rating; I'm curious to see how this will play out. (Famous last word.s..? )

The necromancer not only has his White wand now, he also got a gambled circlet with +2 to poison and bone skills. He now wears a Rhyme unraveller head with +2 to Bone Spirit (couldn't find anything better yet) and one of the gambled plated belts with resistances. 29% Lightning res and 39% fire res are his weaknesses; he has several slots with mediocre equipment to remedy that later hopefully.

The paladin how has a dual Spirit setup for ranged mode and got a gambled circlet with +1 to paladin skills and some resistances. For melee mode, I made him an Ancient's Pledge in a heraldic shield; I'm still looking for a paladin shield base for Rhyme.

The sorceress now sports a circlet with 20% FCR, quadruple resists and +38 mana (no +skills sadly). All her resistances are fine except her lightning resistance at -1%, which worries even me. Again, lots of slots with bad gear and the opportunity to find better resistance bonuses soon, however. She has a magic ring with some lightning resistance in the stash for special occasions, if need be.

[T-hawk]

By BO sticks, he means the Echoing prefix with +3 to warcries, shoppable from any vendor in nightmare or hell, once your character level is high enough (60+ depending on base item type.) Most often people shop at Anya since she's right next to the Nihlathak portal to refresh quickly.

For imbues for this format, I use them at the start of hell difficulty, or later when I find an elite weapon base. Most often I do class-specific items, except for amazons where a rare weapon won't beat a runeword or unique. Circlets are another good option.

Damage to demons/undead works for your paladin. It adds physical damage the same as with any other skill. It doesn't multiply Vengeance's elemental damage, but that is expected since it doesn't multiply with any other skill either, it's always additive with the skill. If your weapon does 80 damage, then +50% to undead/demons will add 40 physical damage, and that works the same for Vengeance and for any other skill.

A Hel rune has another important use - it's the formula to unsocket an item. I do this a lot, use a socket quest on a helm or armor to put in a resistance rune, then change out that rune frequently as needed for whatever resistance is lacking otherwise.

And feel free to spend that Io on the White, you will find plenty more.

You forget to use Find Item - I forget to start using Battle Orders about half the time when I start an act with the barb. For a barb using a shield, I find the most important part of that is the resists that can come on a shield, more so than blocking or defense.

The way an assassin protects a merc is to use Mind Blast frequently around him. Also, I forget, which type of merc is it? Defiance mercs always survive better than any other type (at least in the original before Resurrected), and the aura helps the shadow too. And I found Dragon Flight to be the key for a melee assassin's defense - always cast Cloak of Shadows, and use Dragon Flight to zip to a safe spot to attack a small number of monsters.

For act 2, don't neglect that lightning resistance with all those sparking beetles. Do you have resistance charms? I always keep every good one of those and fill up about half a character's inventory with them.

[Kylearan]

By BO sticks, he means the Echoing prefix with +3 to warcries

Ah, those I know of; so it was a misunderstanding on my part.

Damage to demons/undead works for your paladin.  It adds physical damage the same as with any other skill.

What I meant is that when I face demons or undead, I use Holy Bolt or Fist of the Heavens. My weapon (and Vengeance) is only needed against other types of enemies, where the damage bonus against demons/undead doesn't apply.

A Hel rune has another important use - it's the formula to unsocket an item.  I do this a lot, use a socket quest on a helm or armor to put in a resistance rune, then change out that rune frequently as needed for whatever resistance is lacking otherwise.

Huh, okay - I wouldn't expect to get that many Hel runes, but I'm probably underestimating the drop rates for higher player counts again. Will keep that option in mind!

You forget to use Find Item - I forget to start using Battle Orders about half the time when I start an act with the barb.

The way an assassin protects a merc is to use Mind Blast frequently around him.  Also, I forget, which type of merc is it?  Defiance mercs always survive better than any other type (at least in the original before Resurrected), and the aura helps the shadow too.

The assassin and the druid have indeed both a Defiance merc, only the paladin plans to get himself a Holy Freeze merc for a bit of crowd control (and variety). My assassin doesn't (and won't have) have a Shadow however. I just wondered why the assassin's merc died so much more than the other two desert mercs even though the assassin had a much higher killing speed, but for now chalk it up to bad luck. I have to admit that I don't use Mind Blast; maybe I should try it if my merc continues to struggle.

And I found Dragon Flight to be the key for a melee assassin's defense - always cast Cloak of Shadows, and use Dragon Flight to zip to a safe spot to attack a small number of monsters.

I didn't mention it, but after having so much trouble with archer packs she indeed started to use Cloak of Shadows frequently, and Dragon Flight I use all the time, both for tactical positioning of myself and my merc as well as convenience. It's so much fun, too!

For act 2, don't neglect that lightning resistance with all those sparking beetles.  Do you have resistance charms?  I always keep every good one of those and fill up about half a character's inventory with them.

So far I mainly kept small resistance charms and two(?) large charms with interesting other modifiers, and only one grand charm so far - which I happened to find in my stash immediately after posting my report (had forgotten to distribute it). It's... a +30% lightning resistance charm, which my sorceress will now get.

[KingOfPain]

LoL. I googled to make sure I remember her name correctly too... and still made the mistake


Most people call it BO sticks, probably because are all shopping at Anya, and she only sells sticks. I prefer to shop at Malah because she offers a full tab of all varieties. I would buy any Echoing to use at first, but always keep shopping for throwing knives and small throwing axes. They save a lot of inventory space and makes it easier to switch them in and out.

Malah easily offers twice the inventory with variety. It will still be as efficient as Anya if you take the WP. I always have at least 2 accounts running, so I am also using (another players') TP next to the shop.

[T-hawk]

Hel runes drop roughly once per character per act if you're full clearing. You'll get plenty. I use them to unsocket items frequently.

Yes, use Mind Blast a lot with an assassin. The best time is just before Cloak of Shadows expires, to tie up monsters for the time you need to recast Cloak.

Why no shadow? (You probably said why somewhere earlier. ) It's worth 1 point just to be a cheap distraction. (Of course you won't shop vendors for two +3 shadow claws to cast her.)

[KingOfPain]

Yes, use Mind Blast a lot with an assassin.  The best time is just before Cloak of Shadows expires, to tie up monsters for the time you need to recast Cloak.

The best time is just before a uber Dbrunski build one-shot player8 Hell Baal waves.  

Seriously, you don't want to Mind Blast anything if you are overpowering. Then you have a scale of power all the way down to a naked toon - ImMcTyraelGal. ImMcTyraelGal uses Mind Blast before she casts CoS because she wants Converted monster to fight for her, not just weak and dumb converts.

[Kylearan]

Why no shadow?  (You probably said why somewhere earlier. )  It's worth 1 point just to be a cheap distraction.  (Of course you won't shop vendors for two +3 shadow claws to cast her.)

I felt like only one hard point in Shadow Warrior (or Master) wouldn't do much; I hate recasting frequently, even if it serves as a distraction for a couple of seconds. (And yep, I won't shop for +3 claws  ). For the same reason, my amazon has invested heavily into Valkyrie, so she doesn't need recasting constantly and her companion is of actualy help. For the assassin, I'd rather invest more points into Claw Mastery instead, but if I run into problems in Hell which one merc and CoS alone are unable to solve, I might still try a Shadow.