Trying to start up some regular diablo 2 variant multiplayer, come join!

[Dp101]

Me and Boro have been talking in the RB discord chat about potentially setting up some regular multiplayer games under variant restrictions. Initially, it was just going to be the two of us, but then Boro had the idea of opening it up to everyone, with no hard and fast rules, but with the one requirement that you bring some kind of underpowered variant character. For example, Boro is planning to use an Icebolt focusses build, and I'm going to make a build around Inferno. Any abilities on that level of power (ie ~1k damage when maxed out in hell with lots of + skills and masteries) are welcome. In terms of scheduling, we are both on summer break right now so don't have many restrictions in terms of timeslot, with the one caveat that he's in Europe and I'm in Seattle which makes timezones hard. We were going to do sessions at 9AM PDT every Tuesday, but that will probably change if anyone else wants to play given that RB tends to swing older than us, and most people here probably have jobs and such that will get in the way of that. Sessions would probably be around 2 hours.

So, anyone interested? Everything is very much up in the air and subject to change based on interest, but if you want to play an underpowered variant online with friends, this is probably your best shot for a while.

[Boro]

Another thing of note is that alongside peashooting, our abilities while giving us decent mobility (we both plan to use a single point teleport), dont give us much survivability. Now, I can live with this, as even the rogues managed with just freezing open to them, and I'd rather not hide behind minion walls and bear/fade/uberbarb tanks, but perhaps with a bit more... finesse type of crowd control, like ice arrow or ice blast/glacial spike, maybe a stun barbarian without warcry?. This is just theorizing at this point though.

A word on mercenaries: I think I'd skip them for this one, although having them be rogues with restrictions (Gemmed non-runeword gear only, gemmed blue magical gear allowed for nightmare and hell perhaps?) I think it could be fun. Melee mercs are a no-no for me though, and I'm unsure about Iron Wolves.

Personally, I intend on using ice bolt (~1000 ish damage with cold mastery), Frost Nova, (~500ish damage with cold mastery), with Blizzard as a synergy only. For my secondary type of damage I want to use a Slvl1 fire wall, and a level 10 Blaze (700ish damage) with 10 in Warmth. Strength-wise I want to stay low on strength, ( as few points as I can get away with, probably none added in normal), high on energy (about 150 minimum), high on vitality. I'll definitely add points to it if we turn up a Sigon's shield though.

For rerunning areas: I'm all for it, to get everyone decked in leaf staves, lore circlets/helmets, heck even shopping sprees for those Glacial, and powered staves. After all, we'll probably need them.

As for whether we'd be closer to the hardly able crew or one of Sirian's team variants, I don't know. I'd love to see, for example a golemancer (golems only) necro with poison maybe? or bone spirits? Or an amazon with fire, cold, and magic arrow, however this time without Valkyrie/decoy! A shouty bowbarian too, could be interesting, maybe a throwing knife enchant-sorcie? I think with the whole "peashooter" theme, a lot of options open up for tri-elemental builds, or character setups one wouldn't use because they mean spreading skill points too far apart.

[T-hawk]

I think you'd have a better shot at finding interest if you devised and wrote up a full menu of variant characters as choices to pick from. "Something underpowered" isn't enough of a hook. Write up exactly what you want to see, with skill specifications and descriptions; that's how the previous few variant teams from here got off the ground.

[Boro]

I did that, and even got a player interested from the Amazon Basin.

So far the roster is the following.

Inferno-Nova sorceress, played by Dp101
SSoG's Fearzon (Lightning Strike and some synergies, Impale,  10-10 slow missiles and inner sight no DAE/Decoy/Valk), played by Chaostheory, from the AB
Icebolt-Frost nova-Firewall-Blaze sorceress, played by me

Open slots:
Phoenix Ice Kicker

Her role is to bring hard freeze where it's most needed, to build up charges, then release them in an explosive Dragon Tail.

*The phoenix ice kicker must maximize the following skills: Dragon Tail, Blades of Ice, Phoenix Strike.
*The phoenix ice icker may have a maximum of level 1 tiger strike in normal, level 5 in nightmare, and level 10 in Hell. +skill items can raise it beyond that.
*The phoenix ice kicker is forbidden from ever having a shadow, from using Cloak of Shadows, and from using Mind Blast.
*The phoenix ice kicker may use Burst of Speed, Fade, Claw Mastery, Weapon Block, and Psychic Hammer however.
*While claws are her preferred weapon, the phoenix ice kicker may use any kind of weapon, in any configuration, should she desire.

Poison Golemancer.
The poison golemancer's role is simple. Provide cheap but weakish golems, and spread poison, and use the "weaker" curses to keep threats off our backs.

*The poison golemancer must maximize Poison Nova as soon as possible. He may also use Poison Explosion or Poison Dagger.
*The poison golemancer may use any curses except the following: Dim Vision, Confuse, Attract.
*The poison golemancer must have one point in each golem, may maximize Summon Resist, and may increase golem mastery up to Slvl5. +skills may raise it beyond that. This is so that the golems stay as disposable tanks with varying utility against certain kinds of enemies (example: gloams, cold enchanteds, etc.) instead of impenetrable roadblocks. They will STILL have 2000 life and great resistances.
*The rest of the skill points may be used on the preferred curses of choice. Terror and Lower Resist will benefit this variant greatly, but weaken, life tap, and decrepify shouldn't be ignored either.

Roguezon.
The roguezon is our Rogue. Whereas the Rogue Revival's Sorcies were closer to the high level rogues' ideals, being archers with minor magic use, this rogue is the purest essence of archery.

*The roguezon must may only attack with Magic Arrow, Fire Arrow and Cold Arrow.
*The roguezon may add points into Explosive and Ice arrow but they are synergies only.
*The roguezon may freely use Inner Sight, Slow Missiles, Critical Strike, Penetrate, and Pierce, although it's best to coordinate it with the Fearazon in advance, which rogue will use what magic skill.
*The roguezon may use bows or crossbows, no other weapons.
*Valkyrie, Decoy, Dodge, Avoid, Evade are all forbidden.

Fearazon.
Where the roguezon is the bow with multiple ways to deal damage, the fearazon is the craziest lightning-based amazon ever conceived. She also uses the hit causes monster to flee modifier. Chaostheory will gladly play this unless someone else is interested, in which case he'd play the poison golemancer.

According to Chaostheory:

My variant of this build would basically be:
- max Lightning Strike + some synergies (if I have points left)
- max Impale all the way! (to deal with Lightning Immunes)
- 10+pt Inner Sight
- 10+pt Slow missiles (Always wanted to use this spell!)
- HCTMF-% from Dol runes or items
- Insanity to use 1-2 seconds lasting Impale attack against a pack of Gloams, because they are lightning immune in Hell and run before I actually hit them.

In addition to that.
* The fearazon is allowed to spend 1 point in dodge. She will be a tank-y character after all.
* The fearazon should use lightning bolt or power strike as her lightning strike synergy.

Link to the fearazon: http://www.theamazonbasin.com/forums/ind...nt-1317093

Beyond these, I'm considering:
* A revised Protector barbarian (Maximize stun, a mastery of choice, the rest can go into howl, taunt, battle cry (reduce enemy damage and defense, make them easy targets for fearazon, the ice kicker, and the roguezon)
* a bone-clay golemancer (Maximized Teeth, Spear, Spirit,  the rest of the points can go into clay golem, summon resists, and mastery, plus curses of choice)
* a A CBS/Fireblast trapper(Maximized Charged bolt sentry, fire blast, shock web. Lightning sentry is synergy only and can't be used. Rest of the points can be spread between the same shadow disciplines as the kicker.)


Edit: I can play any of the above builds if someone else wants to play the icebolt sorceress.

[Dp101]

Just to clarify on my build, the plan is to max Inferno, Warmth for synergies, and Fire Mastery, then put everything left into Nova. I will use only melee attack until I get Inferno, at which point I will attempt to use Inferno against everything that is not fire immune, and only use Nova against those enemies. One point will go into Fire Wall for situations that are way too dangerous to get close to.

[Boro]

Since it was just the three of us interested, we went forth and began our adventure on Saturday, and what a beginning... For starters we didn't get to go until we had everyone on voice, but then.. a +2 ice bolt 2 open sockets before we hit level 2!

Oh yeah, our final roster was the one above.
Spearazon Rayi - Chaos_theory
Infernova sorc EndlessBurn - Dp101
Ice boltress Tsuraratan - Boro

Somewhere in the middle of blood moor we decided we'd full clear, and that's just what we did.

Other than that, we mostly just followed Chaos. He's an experienced AB player, and Jab, +damage adders and a decent spear made him our point man. Dp101 whacked the leftovers and I kept shooting from the relative safety of the backline, targeting shamen and unleashing barrages that I want to feel they were impressive, even if in reality did very little, despite all my points put in there. For me it sure felt strange being able to stand up to hits, after the extreme challenges of hell

I'm sure dp101 was glad too, after Endless Burn got stunlocked by corpsefire's crew! His pessimistic prediction that he'd die from a zombie almost proved true, but in the end we could free him.

Blood raven died easily enough. She ate a lot of my icebolts though. even pumped up and amplified with +2 from the eagle orb, it was just not a big damage skill. Good thing we had Rayi's spear for damage!

I think we hit level 6 in the crypt or mausoleum. Anyways from then on Dp101 could use inferno, and all of a sudden he was drinking potions, despite his hefty warmth.   It sure was good that my mana consumption and regen started to even out with my heavy investment into energy. Power strike also came online, but it was not worth using much, when jab just one or two-shot everything.

So we went on to the cave, (RIP Coldcrow) then the stony field and underground passage. Inferno was certainly getting better with each level, even though it put EndlessBurn into harm's way many times. I recall having to shield him with all my delicate 10 vitality body once against an archer boss pack. Yikes! Then Rayi came to the rescue and they died. Oh yeah, I had 10 vitality for most of the session. So what? Nobody was really hitting me and I needed the energy to deal damage. Stamina was horrible though.

In the dark wood we realized we hit about the end of the session time, so we caught the waypoint, grabbed Treehead Woodfist's scroll, and rampaged through Tristram. Poor Gris didn't know what hit him!

Next up we finished clearing the Dark Wood, and then the Black Marsh. The forgotten tower had greeted us with a stair trap, that was literally the first of those dreadful situations I recall encountering, even if it was just a champ pack of devilkin with some goats plus archers, so it was more confusing than deadly. Yet. In nightmare and hell it will hurt us a lot. But with great danger came great reward, an Infernal Cranium for our Frontline Firestarter. The 20% damage taken goes to mana really complimented dp101's daring attack style, and turned his health pool into a mana supply, kinda like an inverted energy shield.

Impale came online right after, and wow was it slow! I was reminded of the time I moved hay with a fork. Even the grunting felt the same. The countess was disposed in short time, I stashed her Tir rune for now.

The rest of act I was routine though. We acquired fast cast rings, so I could deal decent damage with icebolts, Dp101 also got a nice pair of them. His inferno was also gaining range and damage. His total damage reached 100 (200 displayed) dps, and his range was increasing. It was not uncommon to see him turn his fire hose around in the middle of a pack and have all those monsters drop dead

I also started using a +2 Frost Nova staff, as it was one of the skillls I allowed myself to use, but didn't want to start pouring my points into just yet. That way I could slow down the incoming attacks in tight spots.

Finally, Andariel was hopelessly mobbed and mugged in her own throne room. She dropped a Ruby and a Cleglaw's Small Shield, and we bugged her for good measure.

That's how Act I ended. We'll surely return there in the next sessions, hunting for runes, hunting for staves, maybe even for Andy, I don't know.

What I know is that I have a pretty long shopping list for now.

* +3 fire wall 2 socket staff for Leaf Runeword. 2 pcs
* +3 Inferno 2 socket staff for leaf runeword. 1 pc
* +3 Ice Bolt 2 socket staff for leaf runeword. 1 pc - check
* +3 Frost Nova 2 socket staff for leaf runeword. 1pc - got a +2 one.
* +3 Blaze 2 socket staff - Leaf - 2pcs
(7x tir 7x ral)

Other than that, I'd like for us to get:
Stealth armor for everyone. (3x tal 3x eth)
Lore circlet or better for everyone (up to 3x ort 3x sol)
TirTalAmn (Edge) runeword bow for managing gamble costs.
Ith runes for mercenary 3socket hunter bows. (3x3=9x ith runes)

Why all these things? well, I will replace my two leaf staves with a glacial staff I hope by the middle of nightmare act II, but even then the extra warmth from a leaf can hopefully keep my frost nova habits manageable. Blaze or fire wall staves would be my mainstays for hell when we would encounter cold immunes, and I wanted one of those staves for dp101 as well.

[Boro]

Well, check on that Inferno staff! Dp101 found it after some shopping at Akara.

And today I found the most peculiar thing at Drognan: A Chilling staff with +2 to firebolts. Now if you don't understand why this is such an important find, well, I recommend that read up on Ember's story. Her case was looking for a good firebolt staff, something she could only do in act I and act II. Firebolt (and level 1 skills in general) stop showing up at Ormus and later. However +3 to cold/fire/lightning skills staves still happen.

I didn't calculate this into my plan. I expected I'd either live with a +3 icebolt staff (for leaf), or a +3 cold skills one preferably with Apprentice or Magus, and if the stars align and hell freezes over, even some cold mastery. Since the latter was such an improbable find (Cinderella went shopping through most of hell for one but never got any beyond a plain Glacial Staff) I was prepared to live with a leaf for most of my career, at least until a glacial staff/orb comes along. Orb would be preferable, as it would allow me to use a shield for either resists, or a sigon's shield. Still, finding a sorceress orb with the glacial prefix is all but impossible, and I'd need to find a Sigon's Shield anyways. (Or a Lum rune), nor my favorite lottery to play.

What to take away from this, is that I expected +3 icebolt from the staff (+ whatever came from an amulet/circlet), with an astronomically small chance of getting to +4.

However I can get +4 icebolts, at the cost of a lower Cold Mastery with just shopping in normal act II. Now, with decent rolls on an amulet and a circlet this should be more or less as good as having +3 to cold skills, the difference is 10% in enemy cold resistances mostly made up by increased cold damage on the icebolt.

Add to that shopping for a chilling prefix at drognan is much faster than getting a glacial later, this was a surprising discovery

---

Anyways, onto Act II.

On our first morning (We switched schedules on monday from 7pm Central European summer Time to 7am) we made the decision to alleviate our inventories by grabbing the cube. So we headed out to the rocky waste where we made our first important discovery:

Mostly Able Crew discovery 1: Scarab lightning hurts.

With no lightning resistances to speak of, and a low vitality invested by both Tsuraratan and EndlessBurn, a quick inferno sweep often heralded so many bolts that we ended up on death's door. Chaos then asked us to let our rogues and his impale deal with this problem, so as to at least let the red potions keep up with the incoming damage. This relegated us to clearing up stragglers, something that Dp101's inferno excelled at much better than my icebolts. This leads to the second discovery.

Mostly Able Crew discovery 2: A weak Frost Nova doesn't produce that many sparks, if it produces any at all.

This put me into the position of crowd controller, which I didn't mind at all. I'd start to skirt around an engaged group, blasting them with frost nova instead of icebolts more and more often, as the danger levels increased. After all, our killing speed was already top notch, and all we needed was to prevent Chaos from getting overwhelmed while he did his impale work, and frost nova was perfect for that.

This was good enough get us to the Stony Tomb in a good shape, and even with half the region uncleared we were confident in our ability to rush through. Well, it worked, tight packs of skeletons were easy prey for an inferno hosing. But then tragedy struck us in Creeping Feature's room. Chaos was slain by the boss, and at the same time, scarab LEB-ness backfired upon EndlessBurn, taking Dp101 out of the fight. Thankfully, this is normal, and I could somewhat stabilize the situation at the door entrance, stopping briefly only to drop a safe town portal for the two.

After that, we'd head for the cube, blast through the halls of the dead, then Radament's lair (No fair, inferno is better against burning dead than my icebolts!!!), and even have time to spare for the Maggot Lair (Inferno Heaven. If you ever wanted to farm that place, just make an inferno sorc! ). all involved areas full cleared of course.

Next morning my family would arrive, and with sound issues already in place we had to communicate by text. The game was fun none the less, and we blazed through the claw viper temple since we found it literally a minute after entering the Lost City.

Mostly Able Crew discovery 3: Fangskin is Lightning Enchanted.

Dp101 found it out the hard way that applying damage every other frame was an invitation for as many sparks as a LEB can possibly spew. However our crew had the situation in hand. This was a hiccup I am sure we'll learn from. If only that Lightning Reistance is critical.

At this point we've long graduated from staff-shoppers to Elzix's regular patrons, and I could have reasonable lightning or fire resistances thanks to his cheap belts, headgear, boots or gloves. I also scored a 3 row belt thanks to my modest but reasonable strength, and life was good.

With the viper temple, then the lost city cleared, we spelunked the Ancient Tunnels, and hit the Palace and it's myriad Archers. Perhaps it was our harrowing experience with fangskin, but this time we didn't suffer any deaths. I chilled things with frost nova, shot through doorways, and in general focused on minimizing enemy threat while the team mopped them up.

Finally arcane sanctuary dropped a Ral rune, and Dp101 could make his Leaf Staff at last.

Mostly Able Crew discovery 4: Inferno range is HUGE!

I saw it start at one edge of the screen and go out on the other. That huge. That was it for the sanctuary. That, and that it was maggot lair #2, with masses of goats who could reach us in 1s and 2s, and stay lined up for the firehose.

So we are at the Canyon of the Magi, Duriel and his false tombs will be next.