Solo-Rogue Ironman Victory Report!

[X9ss]

Kahlan Amnell - Rogue
Started 11:49 June 22nd, 2010
Solo Classic Diablo Cave-In Ironman

Since summer is finally here and I have some free time, I decided to have another shot at Ironman, I've made it through Normal so far, and hope to continue onwards into Nightmare soon!

Pre-Game Thoughts;
I've played rogue ironman before and made it to Dlvl 16, never Cave-in though, should be interesting. The lack of inventory space is a rather worrying point..

Town: ID scroll

Level 1; ID scroll, Short Bow (12/30 dur), ID scroll, Fascinating Shrine, Mag Short Staff, Club, Saber, Rags (AC 2)
Leveled to 3, 10 pts to Dex. Nothing special.

Level 2; Zombie, Fallen, Corpse Axe, Skeleton Archer
Soulpus- mag mace, Short bow, Pukerat the unclean - mag spiked club, Short Bow, book of firebolt, Deadeye - book of firebolt, Rags (AC 6), Cap (AC 2), Bonehead Keenaxe- mag spiked club, book of charged bolt, Rotfeast the hungry - mag mace, Scroll of healing, Butcher's Cleaver
Butcher was disposed of with grate, otherwise uninteresting level, gotta love being a rogue. Level up to 5, 10 to dex.

Level 3; Burning Dead Captain, Shadow Beast, Black Death, Devil Kin, Skeleton Captain, Dark One
Staff of healing (21 charges). hunter's bow, scroll of healing, scroll of healing, book of telekinesis, book of firebolt, Mag Hunter's bow, mag long bow, ID scroll, book of firewall, book of holy bolt, staff of healing (22), mag ring (Iron ring of the sky, +7% cth, +1 all), Purifying Spring

Broke my first short bow half way through the level and with the staff drops in order to keep inventory room I upgraded to first a long then hunter's bow, Level up to 8, 2 to mag, 8 to dex, 5 to str. The purifying spring was found in the last room unfortunately, but with only lvl 1 firebolt at my disposal, it wouldn't make much difference anyway.

Leoric Chamber;
Book of Telekinesis, Staff of Holy Bolt, Mag Ring Of Might, Undead Crown (unidentified), Hunter's Bow, Mag Ring, Book of Town Portal, Quilted Armor 10 AC, Scroll of Healing

Ring of might +6 str was a notable drop, I considered Id'ing the third ring, but with only 2 ID scrolls left, I decided to wait. Level up to 9, 5 to dex.

Level 4; Plague Eater, Corpse Bow, Flesh Clan Archer, Horror
Magic Ring, Enchanted Shrine, Gharbad the Weak - mag robe & mag flail, Enchanted Shrine, Mag Ring, Book of Charged bolt

Two more rings, no more ID's, I think I'll wait.. not much challenge on this level. Level up to 11, 10 to dex.



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Level 5; Burning Dead Captain, Horror Archer, Horror, Winged Demon
Eldritch Shrine, ID Scroll, Leather Armor 12 AC, Scroll of Healing, Book of Healing, Sacred Shrine, Hunter's Bow, Amulet of the Jaguar (+17 HP)

Nice amulet ID, Level up to 12, 5 to dex.


Level 6; Acid Beast, Fire Clan Archer, Flesh Clan, Bone Gnasher
Deathspit- unique small axe, Mag ring, ID Scroll x3, Short Battle Bow, Edlritch Shrine

Chamber of Bone; ID Scroll x2, Amulet of the moon (+4 all), Leather Armour AC 12 (24 dur)
Suprised to see two Eldritch in one game..Deathspit gave me a fright when I opened a small room at the end of a hall to meet his crew, with a quick side step and a even quicker retreat to out of range though, they were sniped off one by one with ease. With my limited inv space I Id'd the second amulet, nice reading glass, plus it boosted me a full damage point. Given the excess of ID's, I considered ring drops, but one ID scroll on a nice bow could change the whole game,and I've learned I can't cound on ID drops so I left behind 2 unid rings to make room for my second heal staff, and moved on to 7. Level up to 15, 15 to dex.

Level 7; Horned Demon, Acid Beast, Stone Clan, Illusion Weaver
Book of Inferno, Book of Firebolt, Short battle bow (23 dur), Magic ring (azure ring of the dark), Eldritch Goat Shrine, Optic Amulet

The sheer volume of ring drops has lead me to ID one more, an interesting drop to say the least, from now on it shall be my enter-level equipped ring..And another Eldritch, what is this game coming to? The SBB came at an excellent time, with no backup bows my equipped long bow was about to break, thank you RNG. Lup to 16, 5 to dex.

Level 8; Gargoyle, Night Clan Archer, Poison Spitter
Book of Stone Curse, Long battle bow (17 dur), Mag studded leather armor 15 AC, mag ring >.<, Book of healing, Mag ring, Long Battle bow (27 dur), Short War Bow, Book of Firebolt, Mag Ring, Enchanted Goat Shrine (hit inferno)

Such a sad state that I cannot keep the book of stone curse or use it, but I moved onwards anyway. Second acid spitter boss was lured to just out of range for easy bowing, dropped book of telekinesis. Enough with the magic rings, I have three perfectly good ones ID'd, I left all the new ones and the old unid ones on the ground, not worth the ID's or space imo. I've also been playing it fast and loose with the goat shrines, so far I've hit both that came up, I think I've pushed my luck almost to the limit, I think one more or a cauldron and I'll stop. Lup to 17, 2 to dex, 3 to str



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Level 9; Toad Demon, Poison Spitter, Red Storm
Slain Hero- mag long battle bow, Brokenstorm - mag short battle bow, Oozedrool - book of chain lightning, Composite bow, Long bow

Nice bow drops this level, not much else of interest though, Brokenstorm was gated when found so the bowing was easy, VERY thankful for the Azure ring of dark I found earlier, made this level a heck of a lot easier, storms dual-attack is very painful. liberal healing used on this level. Lup to 18, 5 to dex.

Level 10; Toad Demon, Obsidian Lord, Night Clan Archer, Poison Spitter
Elixer of Dexterity, Short War Bow, Composite Bow, Blackstorm - mag ring

Pretty straightforward level, used up my first heal staff, more for inventory room than real need of that many heals, I've been using heals liberally rather than rejuvs. Level up to 19, 5 to dex.

Level 11; Blood Claw, Red Storm
Mag short war bow, Splint mail 31 AC, Mag ring
Not many opponents, not much exp, not much items, not much challenge =/. Still 19

Level 12; Storm Rider, Maelstrom
Mag ring, long bow, mag composite bow
Level up to 20, 5 to dex. Getting pretty tired of the double attack to be perfectly honest, 6 or 7 heals needed this level.



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Level 13; Cave Viper, Counsellor
Mag Splint Mail (Obsidian of Giants! 39/16), rags, scroll of infravision, elixer of str, spiritual cauldron
Counsellor's are my old nemesis, they ended my monk triple crown run in hell/hell, but the amazing split mail drop was nice of them, sunk 2 str points to weild it, as I had been running without armor since 11 when my studded leather broke. Fairly small level, or atleast low foe density. Lup to 21, 2 to str, 3 to dex. Looking for more bow drops..quickly please, I'm down to 20 dur on my last one.

Level 14; Blood Knight, Succubus
Staff of SC (16), Scroll of infravision, Short battle bow ( 21 dur), Scale Mail, mag short bow, mag hunter's bow

BK's were not too tough as a rogue with plenty of room to run, Succubus are annoying at times however. Not much else to say. Lup to 24, 10 to dex.

Level 15, Soul Burner, Steel Lord
Short war bow, Creepy shrine cauldron, mag war staff, mag cap, mag large shield
Laz Chamber;
Mag composite bow, mag long bow, Black Jade- mag short bow, Red Vex -,mag skull cap, Laz- mag long sword
Level up to 24, 5 to dex, pretty much the same fight as 14, just different colors.

Level 16
composite bow, mag full helm, Sir Gorash - mag large shield, elixer of dexterity
Nothing too strenuous but a long level, I had some worries early on about potion useage but in the end I still had all my full rejuvs and atleast 3 minors for Big D. By the horizontal walking trick advocates were slowly gunned down, and single's were rushed as flash hurts much less than fireball. BK's were already dealt with in 14, and so I knew what to expect, without stun damage it was a retreating level though.



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Prior to fighting diablo I decided to pop my last two ID's hoping for a damage boost, I ID'd my amulet and ring, Amulet of Power (+12), and Ring of Giants (+16), a nice boost, still my was damage only 32-36, not enough for perfect stun, but I managed! It was an easy fight, as soon as D walked around the corne, I peppered him with arrows, hitting and nicely stunning most of the time, I didn't even get hit once, and it was over suprisingly quickly. Normal Difficulty Falls!



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Ended run at 11:53PM, June 27th.

Ending thoughts;
Cave-In rule added a greater challenge than I was used to, having to decide which resources to keep out of potions, ID's, healing staves, bows, jewelry at each level was harrowing, and I was constantly left with less than a "classic" game, the wonderul selection of shrines and timely drops however accomodated for this fact. I don't know that I would continue this through nightmare if given the choice, but since I've made it this far, I might as well try :D.

Onward to Nightmare!

[pocketbeetle]

Following this with interest.

Requesting a few more screenies, eg of nice equipment drops, for those who haven't had Diablo installed for a long time!

[X9ss]

Will do pocketbeetle! I'm currently held up on my run because my laptop is getting the moniter repaired, but I'll be sure to throw in some more SS's once I get it back (crossing fingers that I get it back today ) I don't know exactly what else I took pics of in the normal run, I think I have some boss mobs and possibly a drop or two, but I'll document the NM run better (if I make it off the ground, that is :P )!

[im-plague]

Good job! Cave in is really what you wanna go for, it's more or less the new ironman standard. Anyway, just a thought, why not going for Multiplayer? You know Singleplayer is nowhere near the real challenge as MP Monsters are more though, you get less Exp and there is the lack of quest.
Gl in Nightmare though

[Kylearan]

Thanks for the report! Looking forward to Nightmare.

[X9ss]

Thanks for the congrats everyone, and the main reason I'm sticking with SP plauge atm is for the convenience of easy save and stop, I don't often have time for a 4 dlvl playthrough and it's a pain to need a clearing character at hand. After the summer however once I go off to university and get high-speed (dial-up atm >.<), I have plans for some 2 and 3 man games which will obviously be MP .

PS, laptop still not back from the shop =/

Edit; Laptop is back! Run will continue into Nightmare starting tonight, more screenshots;





Update; Nightmare has fallen! Battle report to follow with plenty of screenshots. :D

[X9ss]

NM town ID revealed;
Saintly Helm of Deflection (+120%, -4)
Garnet cap of Sorcery (41%, +16)
Composite Bow of Lightning

64,253 Gold carried over.

Purchases;

Amulet of Heavesn (+12)
Amber Composite Bow of Giants (20%/+20)
3x ID Scroll
6x Heal Scroll
10x Major Red pots

Left over cash; 4k

Level 1;
Book of CB, Book of CB, Scroll of ID, Scroll of Healing x2

One hit one kill, every time. Still 25.

Level 2; Carver, Zombie, Corpse Axe
Scroll of ID, Butcher's Cleaver, Book of Healing, Bonehead Keenaxe - mag cloak, Soulpus - Mag hard leather armor, Rotfeast the hungry - mag large shield, Elixer of Magic, scroll of healing x2, Long battle bow

Butcher was faced head-on, dangerous, but fun. Otherwise uneventuful, switched to LBB to reduce dur loss on Short war bow. That'll be the general strategy for each level until I no longer 1-hit foes, use the first crappy bow that drops to save the better ones for later on. Still 25.

Level 3; Black Deaths, Carver, Ghoul, Horror
Hunter's Bow, Mag staff of healing (33), Rotcarnage - mag ring mail, ID scroll, Gutshank the Quick - mag short bow, Composite bow, short battle bow, Scroll of Healing x2, Book of FB, Book of CB, Elixer of Vitality, Blood Fountain, Full Rejuv

No shortage of bows, decided to toss my plain short war bow in favor of my Composite bow of lightning as level opening bow to give me the extra space for the newfound staff of healing. Still 25

Level 4; Corpse Captain, Horror, Plauge Eater, Burning Dead Archer, Burning Dead, Dark One, Bone Gnasher, Overlord
Scroll of ID, Scroll of Healing, Scroll of Infravision x3, Book of Firewall, Book of Lightning, Full Rejuv, Quiet Shrine, Blackash the Burning - mag axe, Unknown Burning dead boss - mag cape, Spineeater- book of lightning, Book of Holy Bolt, Snotspill - Uni Falchion, Mag Field Plate (of skill +6)

Blackash and crew gave me a fright, but with my massive pool of healing resources, I wasn't worried, I calmly walked away, picked up an errant mana pot, cast heal, and walked back into the heat of battle, disposing of them quickly. Blew an ID on a random Field plate drop because I am really THAT low on space. Still 25.


Level 5; Winged Demon, Horned Demon, Flesh Clan Archer, Blink,
Arkaine's Valor, Bloodskin Darkbow - mag broad axe, Wrathraven- mag great axe, Creepy Goat Shrine

Pretty standard level, ground potions and the level up mana was enough to keep me fully healed. Level up to 26, 5 to dex

Level 6; Overlord, Bone Gnasher, Winged Demon, Familiar
Weird Shrine, Long War bow, Book of TP, Bilefroth the Pit Master - mag axe, Short War Bow, Weapon Rack - mag large axe

Chamber of Bone;
mag short bow, mag broad sword, mag bastard sword, book of stone curse, mag quilted armor, mag axe, mag ring (of zest, +9)

I thought it was randomly cool to find a weapon rack, opponents were dispatched easily, the mag ring was thrown away in favor of my +6 str ring, as it gives me one additional point in damage. Still 26.

Level 7; Fire Clan Archer, Stone Clan Archer, Familiar, Mud Man, Illusion Weaver
Secluded Shrine, Hidden Shrine, Blightfire- mag quilted armor, Composite bow, Long battle bow, Composite bow, Long war bow (37 dur), Optic Amulet, Elixer of Dexterity

Right off the bat, Hidden Shrine, and then on the next corner, Blightfire and crew, if the start is any indication, this level will be full of suprises. Hidden shrine went untouched, 10 dur extra on a bow won't last me long, but -10 dur on armour will cause it to break alot sooner. Still 26. Bow of Lightning thrown out in favor of the higher dur LWB.

Level 8; Night Clan Archer, Familiar
Zhar the Mad- book of elemental & Unique studded armour (the gladiator's bane, unidentified), Book of Lightning, Scroll of ID, Mag Composite Bow, Book of TP, Book of Lightning, Scroll of Infravision

Leveled up to 27, 5 to dex, Night Clan Archers hurt, luring tactics and doors were used alot in this level to spread them out.


Level 9; Magma Demon, Night Clan Archer, Poison Spitter,
Slain hero - mag long battle bow (heavy +65%), Composite bow, Scroll of Healing x2

Not much to say, could have been a much worse combination of foes, hoping my luck keeps up. Still 27.

Level 10; Blood Claw, Death Wing,
Short bow, Coldblight the Flame - mag ring(ring of the stars +9), Mag ring (serpent's ring, +38), short battle bow

Switched to the Short bow immediately upon getting it, is this really a level with only gargoyle-types? Turns out it is, nice! Broke the short bow on Coldblight's group, switched back to the heavy long battle bow, the ring of stars was a nice drop, replacing my ring of might, and the serpents ring will allow one extra heal when needed. This level is a rogue's dream level, slow, halting opponents that can't open doors in grates. And when it occurs to me that the only thing that would make this better is more bow drops, a short battle bow drops! Still 27. I'm a bit nervous about what my foe combo on 11 and 12 will be now, it can't possibly stay this easy can it?

Level 11; Cave Viper, Slayer
Mag Short War Bow, Composite Bow, Fanspeir - mag short sword

Apparently my luck can hold, an excellent foe combination once more, though it made a fairly boring level. Lup to 28, 5 to dex.

Level 12; Storm Lord, Death Wing
Hunter's Bow, Scroll of Mana Shield, Staff of Golem, Viletouch - mag long bow

Storm's hurt a little, with multiple storm hits they drain my life bulb at a fair rate. Some healing needed, a retreating level to string Storms out for the most part, and park Death Wing's behind grates. Still 28.


Level 13; Steel Lord, Gold Viper
Divine? Cauldron (full heal + 2 full rejuvs), Composite bow, Elixer of Vitality, Murky Pool, Mag Gothic Plate (Armour Rack), Short Bow, Warlord of Blood - mag quilted armor, Mag long battle bow! (21 dur), mag falchion, mag breast plate, mag broadsword, mag plate mail, mag maul.

Don't think I've ever seen stairs this close together (screenshot) All opponents are beyond my stunning capability with a plain long bow, not suprising, but since I'm trying to save my Amber bow of giants for 16, I'll be hoping for a better bow drop. Just as I hit 29, and with about half the level cleared, my long bow drops to 1 dur, I decide to swap out my amber bow while it's still on 1 dur so that if I have the insane luck to find a religious shrine I'll get a free repair, but I doubt it, now even more so hoping for a bow drop. As luck would have it, after losing only 1 dur on my Amber bow, a composite bow drops, only 18 dur on it, but still, every bit helps. With the levelup points allocated to dex and the upgrade to a composite bow, I get stun damage on Gold Vipers, but still not on Steel Lords. After clearing the whole level using the Short Bow and Composite bow, both finally broke, leaving me with my trusty amber bow to take care of the Warlord. Very thankfully, one of my rewards was a long battle bow. Lup to 29, 5 to dex.


Level 14; Black Knight, Gold Viper
Cryptic Cauldron, Fangskin - mag bastard sword, elixer of magic, Long war bow (39 dur), elixer of vitality

With the LWB drop, I was consistently stunning everything, and black knights fall much easier than Steel Lords, overall an easy level, lup to 30, 5 to dex.

Level 15; Cabalist, Soul Burner
Mag long bow, Composite bow, The Vizier - mag maul, Mag mace

Broke the LWB from 14 after about 1/2 the level, otherwise not very eventful, using my heal staff as the main source of healing. The Vizier and group were very damaging until I found the safe spot.

Laz's Chamber; Blackjade - mag broad sword, Red Vex - mag staff of healing (34), Lazarus - mag small shield

Laz cost me dearly, 5 full reds, and the other bosses also hurt, 2 heals each, but I survived, on to 16! Lup to 31, 5 to dex.

Level 16;
Long War bow, Mag Amulet, Elixer of Vitality, Sir Gorash - mag small shield, Mag great helm (AC 15, of deflection -4 DFE), Book of lightning,

Stairs were in between quads 3/4, not my preffered setup. However, with careful posistioning and luring, the level went well overall. I used my new staff of healing (down to 13 heals left when I faced Big D) to heal when possible and some major reds in the heat of battle.


Diablo Fight; A long fight, 45 seconds of constant hammering, and D got a couple lucky hits in on me which brought me to near death, I hovered just over the potion row and had to use more than one. But in the end, I came out on top!

NIGHTMARE DIABLO FALLS!

As an added bonus, his death pushed me over the edge for a level up! Level 32 going into hell, 5 to dex.

Town ID revealed;
King's Staff of Healing
Amulet of Precision

Cash to carry-over; 179,064 Gold.

Post game thought; Bow durability is a huge concern, I've been living bow to bow on many levels here, unfortunately not much I can do about it unless I get an indestructible bow drop (unlikely). Hoping for continued good luck into Hell!

[im-plague]

Just give me a message in case you need another player :D

[X9ss]

I certainly will Plague, however, I'll need some time to train the others I'll be playing with, they are diablo and IM noobs . Also, I need some practice with MP ironman, I'm rusty at co-op gameplay at the moment.

Back on topic; Screenshots are coming, however I'm quite busy the next few days and I have to convert to .gif before uploading on a slow connection, and there are quite a few. ^^

[pocketbeetle]

Back on topic; Screenshots are coming, however I'm quite busy the next few days and I have to convert to .gif before uploading on a slow connection, and there are quite a few. ^^

=)