Vitality Melee Diviner in Xmax

[essjayehm]

Melee Diviner in Xmax

Dram surveyed the situation before him - masses of undead scattered all throughout the ruins. Well, that was where he needed to go, and a few more skeletons were not going to deter him from his goal to finally find the source of the monster sourge that has spread across the land. He selected his target - a Frost Lord that was trying to keep his troops in hand - and slipped into the dreamland, to approach his target without detection.
As he passed into the mass of bones and rotting flesh, a tic from his magical Trance - an aura of Wrath - spread burning electrical pulses among them. They were momentarily confused, but when they spotted the Liche King and Nightmare coming towards them, they immediately started to attack the fighter-mages` pets. As the Frost Lord was about to unleash a spell upon them, Dram appeared from the dreamland and landed a mighty Strike, felling not only the Lord, but 6 other minons that were near to it. Before any of the archers could react to his sudden appearance, Dram sent a Wave of magic at them that Immolated them in electricity, as well as slowing them down so that he could easily pick them off before they could get a shot at him.
Ahead of him, a Hopolite captain mustered his gang, and started to rush Dram. Behind him, Dram saw that his pets were mopping up nicely, but were surrounded and couldn't help him with the new threat approaching. "Lets thin the herd a little", Dram said as he cast a Sleep spell at the oncoming crowd, and incapictated 7 of the attackers. 5 still were coming in, but both the Hopolite and his fire-enchanted Assassin lieutenant were caught in the spell, so Dram easily dispatched the remaining trash skeletons and regrouped with his troops before any other enemies caught wind of a battle and joined the fray.
The captain and his lieutenant awoke from their slumber, only to catch a glimpse of steel as it cut them in half. "Well, it looks like that was it", Dram said as he approached the gate to the Pythian caves. "Now, lets find out what can turn a cyclops into stone, shall we?" Silence was the only answer he got, and Dram wondered why he kept muttering things aloud when his pets only understood the most basic commands like go or attack.

Introduction - The close-combat version of the Diviner is an interesting combination to work with. With a lot of synergy between Dream and Spirit with Vitality damage, resistance reduction and crowd control, this is indeed a powerful class.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly:
Good - Synergy between masteries; early engame artifact; tons of ADCtH; very fast bosskilling capability; gets by without godly-affixed MI gear... actually quite easy to farm for!
Bad - relies on ADCtH to stay alive; needs investment in all 3 attributes; main damage source doesn`t drop until Act 4; uses several skills (uses a lot of hotkeying and reticule use).
Ugly - Low (base) strength and HP on a melee toon... very squishy

The Build:
Starting the xmax challenge is an exercise in patience for a melee toon. Lucky for us, we have Distortion Wave to start the game, and I always put 5 points into it by level 3, for 2 reasons: it will wipe out most satyrs with one wave, and I prefer to use an ...of Destruction weapon (iron knife or axe), and coupled with 1 point in Chaotic Resonance, makes a nice wave damage until Megara. You will want Psionic Immolation for 3xPoly, but not really necessary if you can sepearte them and know when to hit and when to run. I always proceed straight up the Dream mastery to max it ASAP, as I like to auramance with Trance of Wrath. This should all come together around Delphi, when you can Mystic your points out of DW, and max ToW with all of your points. You can dip into Spirit early, but the Seer is safer and faster-killing if you just beeline to max ToW.
Act 2 will mostly be building Spirit mastery and grabbing some useful skills. I like putting 2 into the mastery every level, and 1 for a needed skill for this part of the build.
Going thru Act 3, I respeced out of ToW for ToC. You should have Necrosis maxxed by now (if you have a dire / terror weapon), or you can be a Distortion Wave-pwnr which is what I usually do. With Chaotic Resonance and Ravages of Time, straight physical damage is still very good, for the few that do get into melee range.
Get a Sabertooth, squeak by Tyhpon somehow, and proceed to max out your core skills in Act 4. In order: Necrosis, RoT, Lucid Dream (+synergies), Psionic Touch, Liche King.
Weapon affixes - Only the fastest of very fast weapons only! Enfeebling. etc is always preferred early on. If you get a vitality affix, you will need a ... of necromancy on swap-out before ToW. As a DW-toon, usually don`t need to damage with your weapon except for bossfights, so go for `defensive` affixes on your weapon, like the aforementioned enfeebling (slower attack), or just straight speed if you got the debuffs from your sockets.
Gear affixes - go for resists, mostly. Movespeed on boots and attack speed on bracers (if they`re not SBC), as any melee toon. IMO, in Normal, the attribute % bonuses are not the be-all-end-all. By all means, if you got a 20-20-20 Statley, use it! I do usually worry about armour values, but not until they double... so if I have a Vet`s torso with 40 armour, and find myself headed for Wusao, it`s time to upgrade, even if it means losing that great rare prefix.
Sockets - Wineskins/Hecate (early), Demon Blood and Vile Ichor in jewellery; Fleece or Mechanical Parts in torso; Turtle Shell (pierce resist from completing in the shield) then Rigid Carapace then Shade of Hector in shield; Plumage, Ajax, Horus, etc... where you can fit or when needed. For your weapon, just synergize (ie Bat fang in Sanguine, or Prometheus in a fire-affixed, etc...) until you get the Fury`s Heartblood. Damage over time is viable, since you already have ToW and/or DW with EBD DoT, adding another (LL, bleed, poison) can give you that 1-hit kill effect.
Artifact - Soul Shiver. Multiples if you like as the attack speed bonus one is sub-standard as you get into legendary, extra damage (demon/undead) is better, situationally. Not sure what else would be best if you had ADCtH from other sources...
Note on skill points: I`m always re-speccing out of ToW to DW-PI for bossfights, while I`m auramancing in early Normal. Heh... now that I think about it, almost all of my budget is either Mystic or Enchanter for Normal 8)
Note on attribute distribution: I went 1/1/1 for my toon, but that is an average for the entire playthrough. Early on there is not typically much want for intelligence, so Put points in Str and Dex to wear melee gear, but don`t be afraid to boost Int if you get a great affix on a piece of cloth early on!


Boss Strategies (Normal): this is what I have done so far...
Poly - PI or seperate. If I am facesmashing them, I disengage every 10 seconds or so and run until he yells. Otherwise, it`s just a run around like a madman, casting DW-PI when it recharges.
Gorgons - Lure the Euryales out first or it`ll be a half-hour battle at least. I go petless.
Alastor - cheese from the doorway if you don`t have good cold resist and some lesser damage from undead. Or run in cicrles and DW them... bring lots of both kinds of potions!
Minolord - 1 on 1, should be no problem with ToW.
Megaleosis - I like to have a demon`s blood socketed... with the vitality resitance completion. Can be a dangerous battle if you cannot kill the statues fast enough.
Scarabeus - Pristine Plumage in a poison-resist piece for swap-out.
Aktaios - some fire resist, stay out of areas where the lighbeams hit. Easiest battle in the game, IMO.
Chimera - fire and lightning resist. Expect any pets caught in the breaths to die, so Outsider must be used carefully.
Barmanu - stun resist, and pull one by one... or circle and PI... both work good. Don`t get cute and try to side-step the avalanches.... run far away and return to your last footsteps in the snow to re-engage.
Yeti - ultra-dangerous if they freeze-lock you with perfectly timed breaths. Just pull them 1 at a time for safety.
Yaoguai - 80% fire resist. Pets RIP to his fire dance, so don`t count on them.
Wusao and Olympus - Sleep (max) for deathlancers, and the olympus run. Lesser damage from undead for the packs of Abyssal liches, the biggest threat to us here.
Ormenos - either 5 seconds with a good LK and Outsider combo, or a PI fight (running in circles).
Typhon - I have only PI-battled him sucessfully. I really need either a) help or b) practice with this one.
Grae Sisters - max. Vitality resist, PI battle.
Bloated One - I`m sooooo glad there`s only one of her... PI battle with your maxxed vitality resist setup is still a challenge if LK and Outsider don`t get it done.
Cerebus - 2 items with ... of the Glade socketed with Hydradon Hides = immunity from everything but his poison gas bomb attack, which he only uses when at range. If you don`t Phantom Strike, just waltz in, and dance around the PGB bottles (or clouds if they land), and just facesmash them.
Charon and Undead Typhon - lesser damage from undead. Necromancer`s robe, Crown of the Dead and Spririt Ward.
Hades - max vitality resist again and pull them 1 at a time... avoid the red blob of death as he comes at you, then move to Epic!

Epic
In Epic, we focus on getting skills maxxed to ultimate levels, about 40% on primary resists, max attack speed and keep swinging! ie... avoid stun/freeze/etc when necessary. I farmed Minolab for SBC (2 all skills) and Megaleosis for Battlemage robe (1 all skills), which just looks badass when weilding a sabertooth and a big shield. The last point is pretty easy... Divine amulet, Hallowed hat, Loratian Greaves, all popped from triple-orbs while I was looking for the SBC. This carried me to my death at Epic Ormenos, then 6 deaths vs. Typhon before I could get to the Secret Passage.
This is where I made the discovery that got me really excited about the class: Buccaneer`s Garb! I geared around these 3 items, and that has taken me to the Plains of Judgement in Legendary. , or in a word: Arrrrrrrrrrrrr! For a 3-piece set, the bonuses are almost perfect for my toon - 50/74/61/67/70 primary resists, 25% Total damage, 1000 HP, 400 OA, 350 DA, 80+ sleep/stun/skill disruption protection, with a little movespeed, dodge and CtaP sprinkled on top. The other main piece to get in the SP is Tarwater Shade, for a fire resist swapout. I only had one other swap-out piece - Umbral robe came in for the undead-slaying portions to replace the Necromancers set items I was using for lesser damage shenanigans.
The hardest spot to fill on the roster is without a doubt, the amulet. Prismatic, Sacred, Ritual, and Dreadful all compete for prefixes (more important), and with ... of Feasting/Devouring, Augury, health or OA suffixes.

Epic / Legendary bosses
Talos - Seperate them and have good fire, lightning and stun resist.
Manticore - Find a spot where you can see where he is, summon Outsider and send in the Nightmare to draw aggro. Flank them to avoid stray attacks and it could be a 10 second battle!
Dracoliche - 100% less damage from Undead and just hack at their ankles until they drop.
Hydra - The first run was ultra-bad, I got hit with triple-breath but managed to esc-quit before death . Second time around was not much more fun... no breathweapons, but luckily one went down before a second round of 3x poison-biting could occur. Two was OK, actually... with only 30% resist to poison. Obviously, I would have an epic Ismene`s helm with legendary Pristine Plumage on swapout for this battle when actually in the challenge.

Final Thoughts
In Legendary, trance swapping makes killing faster (and safer, with more ADCtH) when there aren`t tons of ranged enemies. I had played with ToC from Act 3 Mongolia to Legendary Minotaur Lord, when I had to Esc-quit against him, even 1-on-1, his Onslaught overpowered everything I had. I slapped 1 into ToW and tried it against him... to awesome effect! Without the yellow circles of doom, I was able to take him one at a time. and the second run thru him with maxxed ToW, was actually `safe`, getting enough health back (due to increased damage) and a timely potion to get in the 8 hits (2 Psi-touch procs, as long as they hit) it took to down them. I disbanded the pets for this fight, as I figure it is safer, accidentially aggro-ing another boss into the fray would just be too dangerous... and we want to save the outsider for the Telkine anyway. But, there is enough room to have 12 idle points in an unused trance for the ease of swapping on the go.

But, all that Epic-quality gear I used to get thru Legendary (while still earning 50k kills... which means going everywhere, doing everything... and more!) did have some drawbacks... and I have suffered 19 deaths so far to the Plains of Judgement. 9 were forgetting to swap gear, 3 "I don't care if I die... " deaths, 3 against Typhon, Barmanu (I tried side-stepping an avalance and got nailed by a bouncy one), Over-aggro'ed Yerren and got scattershotted while they pelted my pets (trying to run awaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy).
All those deaths mostly because I wasn't in "HC mode"... but 2 I cannot blame myself fully for, yes I had too many enemies on me (the point of a test-run, IMO), but these were harder to own up for - Deathlancers got me... I was surrounded, and stopped hitting for some reason... momentary lapse in ADCtH = death. Maybe Nightmare confused the target I was on (I shift-attack while melee-ing mobs), I cannot recall. The other death was vs. the Olympian Cyclopses. With pets to distract, and the ol' Distortion Wave-Sleep cheese, these guys aren't so much trouble... but I figure I got hit with a collateral yell (aimed at a pet), which stops my PT on LMB. Again, since I was easily handling the ones in melee range, I was comfortable being surrounded, but didn't see that I wasn't swinging anymore. No ADCtH = death Even if they can't yell or stomp... these guys still pack a punch. With only 4k HP, the bar goes down fast, fast fast!

AND, I haven't finished yet. But, the rest of Act 4 shouldn't be too bad, I'm immune vs. Cerebus and Typhon, really only have to avoid making a mistake vs. Machae archers. I definietly don't know how the Generals, (possible) Dactyl or Hades fights will go, though, with my setup. The Nightmistress and Warden of Souls are lesser worries for me, but still could go badly.

Since having a good run (finally) in the Hardcore challenge with this toon, I wanted to put the build out there, and improve on it Comments and critisisms welcome!

Although the entranceway was very well lit from the daylight, deeper into the cavern, it was quite dark and Dram stopped for a moment to wait for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. He disbanded his pets, so that they did not draw any unwanted attention to him while he assessed the situation. There were a bunch of what he could only describe as half-woman, half-snake type of creatures in the clearing ahead; this must be the answer that Apollo`s Oracle was speaking of. 9 of them, all on-guard as if expecting an attack was immiment. Dram was not used to that - typically all of the monsters he had faced so far were relatively unorganazied and typically a chaotic mess of creatures, which made it easy for him to get within range to thow his deadly spells and thin the crowd so his bloodstained sword could reap the leftovers like ripe wheat.
A plan formed in his head, different than the one he was going to use. Instead of summoning up his `team`, and rushing headlong into the fray with spells and sword, he kicked a stone across the floor. The three cold-enchanted beastwomen heard this, and decided to come investigate. It seemed that these monsters could not see any better than he could, as they would fire arrows blindly into his general direction, and then advance. Shoot, advance, shoot, advance. One stopped near where Dram was hiding, while the other 2 contined searching for the sound of the noises Dram had been making by throwing rocks and luring these things to him. As the two that had passed him readied another volley of arrows, Dram leapt from the shadows and started attacking the backup. The monster took quite a beating, and he had almost vanquished the beast when it seemed like every wound Dram had made almost instantly healed. With both a sinking feeling in his gut, and the pin-pricks of cold arrows in his back, Dram figured the other 2 monsters had realized what was going on... and that they had healing spells. Healing spells powerful enough to make this a losing battle. He turned and charged the 2 Medusae that had done the healing, and started alternately attacking them. If he split up their healing spells, it could give him a chance to win this unwinnable scenario. The Psionic Touch fighting style that he employed provided massive damage, but only after a series of thrusts and feints had lured the enemy off-balance.
He concentrated these intense blows on one of the cold-triplets, and his plan seemed to be working. It went down (for good, he hoped...) and Dram had to retreat for a bit while he guzzled a healing potion as he had taken quite a pincusioning and needed some recovery. He hid momentarily, and the snakewomen started to retreat back to the center of the cave. Realizing this would be very bad (they would rally their compatriots and come looking for him), Dram had to act without thinking. He selected his target for the Phantom Strike skill and stepped into the shadows once again. Only by the time he had gotten to his target, they reached the clearing in the middle of the cavern, which was eerily well-lit compared to the rest of it. When he reappeared from the dreamland, to his horror there were 8 sets of eyes on him! He struck with his sword an awesome blow, finishing off the wounded monster and nearly decapitating the one he had first engaged when he Stole the Dreams from her subconsous mind. Two of the fire-enchanted beastwomen drew aim at him with their bows, as the third readied a spell, but Dram knew he had to finish this one before it was able to heal itself, or be healed.
He took 2 arrows in the chest as he landed the killing blow, but managed to avoid the oncoming magic missles that were cast at him from the eyes of the monster. Just as the 3 spear-using, poison-enchanted monsters reached Dram, he Distorted the very fabric of Reality, sending a massive shockwave out to damage, stun and petrify the new threat. Immediately after, he sent a smaller Wave of Distortion thru all 6 remaining bosses, and retreated again to allow another healing potion to reverse the effects of the fire arrows that he was hit with. He endured the momentary stab of pain as he broke off the arrows sticking from his body, while the magical elixir pushed the arrowhead out of his body and mended the wound almost instantly. As the remaining monsters searched for Dram, he realized that their wounds were not healing as the cold-enchanted ones had. This gave new hope to Dram, and he decided to go back to his original plan. Nightmare was sent in to initate contact with the enemies. As Dram rushed into the fray alongside the 30-foot tall Outsider, the Liche King Blighted the Souls of the 6 remaining Medusae and a couple of swings from thier swords ended the horrible reign of the monsters.

Or did it? <dumb dumb dumb>

[essjayehm]

Reserving for a quick-reference post... pics, updates, etc...

Heh... if you read all of post 1, you deserve a cookie Just don't log out or the forum will delete it Forgot my 'bucket password yesterday so I couldn't get these in here... and I have to throw out a TitanCalc or two, so please bear with me there.

Endbuild TitanCalc
With +5 allskills, all the skills are 1 less than maxxed, which left room for 2 trances. I could go with maxxed Distort Reality, but I found myself not needing it as much as I thought... trance-swapping was definietly more powerful. Max on the Death Ward and Distortion Field, helps tons in suviving over-aggro moments. Sleep I really only used for late Act 3 and most of Act 4, but is an invaluable tool for handling ranged mobs without a ton of CtaP thru all of legendary.

At any rate, here is some of the stuff I was using, stats, etc.

First, The toon, with both shields as I regularly swapped them out in Legendary. Left side is with the Essence Guard unique buckler, and the left with the Lithe of the Winds shield I picked up in early Epic.



As I said in the build, jewellery choices galore:





Of note, I used the Hale ring in Epic when I was messing around trying to get high enough strength for melee gear. The intelligence-boosters I found to be underwhelming, but those Divine Jade rings just don't drop very often Band of Souls I had for the Legendary Typhon fight, and it helped a ton when all 3 decided to lifesuck at the same time. And not having to use a blue potion every 10 seconds was nice, too.
Prismatic amulets are bomb-tastic, IMO. Well, the min. level 11 one is insane, and carried me thru until I got the Sacred one in Legendary. I swapped in the Ritual for Act 4's... and the Feasting one was OK, but the Dreadful better, for offence.

A pair of Sabertooth swords from Epic.... I duped it in Defiler to check out which Fury's was actually better, and not surprising to me, the default completion bonus one blew the attack speed one out of the water:

[essjayehm]

Well, now that I am again back in the seat, I am going to post the walkthrough, mostly what actually happened, as well as things that could be changed, done differently etc.

Act 1

At level 3 I put 2 points in each STR and DEX to use a Short Sword of Destruction. With 5 points in Distortion Wave, it takes 5-7 waves to kill the shamans outside Helos; I get unlucky as both shrines are healing, not the regeneration ones that I typically lure them to and fight them from within the pink circle. I favour caster gear at this point, for the energy regeneration.

I do the quests along the way to Sparta and get there with this build. I`ve saved my attribute points and only socketed a Herkales for 23 str... the other charms I save for an artifact, for now. Lots of satyrs survive the wave now, so I have a mace of destruction for 1-shot mop-up. Most of the budget is health and mana potions, and this playstyle uses a lot of both! I lure out the Nessus one at a time, the level 15 is a toughie but the others aren`t too bad. With a better weapon and melee torso gear, I probably wouldve used less than the 30 potions that I did.

I shopped a little for the fight but nothing was decent so I just rushed it somewhat, hoping I can score some Deathweavers items (Legtip and Bracers, notably) when I get to Tegea. I add Trance of Covalence when I hit the 16 level in Dream, and 5 trips into they Nyiad`s honeypot is fruitless, and I am level 11 so it`s time to leave with only a bunch of arachnos armour. I have yet to leave here with a legtip with an untwinked run, once I had all but the knife in the same amount of time!

Psionic Immolation kicks in at level 12, and the going was getting pretty rough before that, so maybe staying in Tegea until I have PI would be better. But, I typically just skip most of the trip from Tegea to Megara, and hit Old Eleusis with waves boosted by ...of Necromancy in my alternate weapon slot. The next "farming" destination is the master blacksmith, but Poly and Arachne stand in the way!

Polyphemus - I find the safest way to fight is to get them to the bridge, as my wave will pass thru the lamppost but theirs cannot! Then run back a few yards until they turn away, then rinse and repeat. It is boring, but unless you have a Demons Blood or 2 completed, it is the safest way. I get my first Ethereal item along the beach shortly thereafter, not the first green item but a keeper for the collection.

Arachne doesn't spawn the first time around, I get the chest but not the branch, so I am happy there is a respawn very close to her. Again, I take them one at a time, with only 9% poison resist I have to stay out of her clouds as they hurt a lot. Twig in hand, I get to the blacksmith and shop between him and Megara, looking for a Grim, Bloodthristy or Poison-affixed gladius (very fast sword), ideally with of quickness. Damn my luck as still no dice on what I am looking for exactly, but the first trip has a Ritual Neclace in stock. It costs 100K, and I have 300K, but I pass on it as I`d like something less situational for 1/3 of my cash. Hindsight is 20/20 as I only buy some jewellery and throw on the Thonry Bracers I just scored, leaving him with 220 thousand gold (and lots of potions). But I am very happy with my setup from here, statwise:



Arriving in Delphi at level 15 I tear all points out of distortion wave, and switch to this setup. What had been a challenging and at some times harrowing journey now becomes a walk in the park, er warcamp should I say? If you know the areas well enough, you can get around with minimal backtracking to find the drops, but otherwise I don't stop, just keep running and potioning when needed.

I get unlucky with the Heroes, as Ortos the onslaught pig tears some chunks out of me, and then not moments after, the most dreaded sound of all rings from the speakers: Spell Breaker. That Satyr mage makes things tricky as I had umpteen aggro'ed monsters nipping on my tail as my buff gets turned off every few seconds while I look for the bastard. Other than that, it's all smiles as the Parnassus caves cough up 5 Deathweavers items, 3 chitin and 2 helms. I max out ToW at level 16, but only have put 7 points in each of STR and DEX so far, saving points for now. Some INT is justified, no doubt, but not needed yet. For level 16, I max ToW, and afterwards I start rebuilding Distortion Wave for bossfights. 1 in the base skill, and I just pump up Psionic Immolation to maximum; ToW takes care of all the trash, and the waves will be needed for bossfights, especially the 9 snakes we have coming up next.

The Gorgon sister fight is a very patient battle. At first, I had only 1 Medusa crash my Euryale party, and I had them positioned with 2 in my trance and I could hit the other 2 with a wave. But, the wave pissed off the other 2 Medusa and then it started going downhill. The thing to do here is back away, and get the redheads back into the clearing, but keep the healers engaged. I get lucky and the Medusa are firing into the pillar while I try to dodge cold arrows while keeping a DoT on them with ToW or PI. It takes a while, as even when the healers run out of energy, they regenerate some back and can heal again. To combat that, I try to damage as many different ones, so the healing is spread out. Eventually the first 6 are down and it's some more dancing with Ssethno, as all 3 can kill me if I stand still too long. The whole long battle there were a couple of green twinkles on the ground, and I was completely salivating as one of them was definitely a bracer. Gorgons' of the Gryphon, to be exact, and the rest of the drops are similar... not horrible but nothing special.

Athens at level 19, and the TitanCalc. Now I really regret not buying the ritual amulet, as 3x Alastor is another tough battle. I scored an Outriders tunic on the way thru the battlefield... it seems this toon likes the MI's, and I hope this continues! As I am standing at the doorway looking at the 3 undead bosses, I have more hindsight as I could have gotten 50% or more cold resist for the bossfight, but I opt not to cheese this one from the doorway as I am wont to do most times (just shift-cast DW at any Alastor that strays too close). During the fight, there are a couple of close calls with only 27 cold resist, mostly I was just running and casting DW into them whenever I could hit 2 or more of them. It takes some time, but eventually they're dead and I'm not, luckily.

The drops start getting decent, a definite change from the first few sections of the act. By the time I get to the end of the act, I have a bunch of artifact forumula (6), but nothing I can make without backtracking for a reagent, so the artifact can wait for now. Sentinel's armour (my favourite for females...) and a godly early-game MI Helm drop on the way thru the Minoan Labrynth, and I ding level 22 during the Telkine fight, if I had noticed I should have gotten that level before the bosses as I can have Ravages of Time at 22 after maxing PI at level 21. But the orbs drop 3 more formulae, and the Shroud of Eternal Night is among them (this one is worth farming for)... but among all my completed crap I only have 1 achilles shard. I will go back to Knossos and rerun the last part of the act again one time, to try to complete the Valour, and the artifact. Then I suppose if the snakes spawn near the last fountain, AND the MinoLord and Telkine fight are better/faster with my new setup, I will farm the last part of the Minolab. Otherwise, onto Act 2. Typically I wait until I have my Soul Shiver (and maybe a vile ichor or 2) before farming the act 1 and 2 telkines, so I will play it by ear and report back after the next act is done.

[essjayehm]

Act 2

To start, I return to Knossos, and re-run the last portion of Greece. As I get to the last rebirth fountain in the Labrynth, I decide not to farm here yet, as those Atlas Bracers are really awesome, and Stoneform is a nice trick to have at this point, for extreme emergencies. The bossfights are safe enough, but lenghty as my DPS is not stellar; I managed to kill the statues before the cauldron was destroyed, but the Telkines take a while to go down. Off to Egypt!

Big grins for me as the formula for my endgame artifact drops in Rhatoksis, it came from the mob that the sword-stealing hyenas were hanging out with. So, the race is on... to see if I can gather one shard of Achilles for my Shroud of Eternal Night, or pick up the reagents for my Soul Shiver. I shop out a Curative winding (bracer), and socket it with a Pristine plumage to get my poison resistance to 53% for the fight with Scarabeus. I manage to isolate them one at a time, their melee hits hurt pretty good but the poison is negated by the life leech of my Blood Stone ring, and the little beetle summons die to my trance.

Seems this is another lucky run, as Theban Curiass, another Bracers of Atlas, Ramses Greaves, Deathwing Helm (MI), Bloodstone, Rambo and Pharoh's Standard all drop along the route to Memphis. The uniques slow down afterward, but before I am finished Act 2, I also score an Oath Ring, Nomad's bow, Teslos, Staff of the Falcon, Crag, Marduk's Rage, Papyrus Winding, and one other MI - Windswept Bracers (of the Gryphon). Another nice bracer, and I don`t even have SBC yet!

Arriving in Memphis, looking like this. “How is my artifact coming along?” you ask... no Achilles yet, and 2 Anubis, 2 Vile Ichor and a full Lupine Claw so far, so now I am betting on the Shiver I am still hoarding Attribute points - I had to put a couple of points into Intelligence to wear that winding I bought, and so far I have 6 in Str, 4 in Int, and 7 in Dex, and so far only spend points to wear items. I have rushed to get to Memphis, mostly only doing the quests along the way; but now I slow down and clear almost every inch of the areas from here forward. Partly because I am MI-hunting for my Collection, but also to get the reagents for my artifacts. I battle the Xmax statues one time just for some fun and experience, and it goes not too badly - I anticipate when I need to run away and regroup, so are no panicy moments. When finished, I teleport out to Giza and clear the rest of the map here, with the second rebirth fountain still lit in the Sphynx so I can just re-start in vanilla when I need to get the Hand of Balance.

I do get a panic-moment when fighting the boss doggies at the end of the Missing Brother quest. Those damn things hit like brick trucks, and Stoneform saves the day (on top of insta-potioning at the GONG). Then I run in circles, each time they catch up to me, they get hit with another zap of my trance, and their attack fails as I keep running away when they try to bite. 2 laps of that around the room, and it's over. Grabbing the Staff of Khufu is likewise dangerous, but with Psionic Immolation maxxed, even my low INT still clears them out with just one wave. Still, lots of care is needed, as you can never tell if you are going to get stun-locked (or whatever) by this group of mages.

After dispatching the vanilla Pharoh's Guards, the race is over as the last Valour of Achilles shard that I need for my Shoud of Eternal Night drops from the chest. I grab the loot and complete my first artifact, with a 10% damage completion bonus, and re-load Xmax. The Nehebkau fight is also one where I pull them one at a time, by learning where to stand and letting their patrols bring them to me, and retreating into the bottom-right corner. Another fight where the little spawns can cause havoc, but Trance of Wrath negates them nearly instantly and even without my poison swapout, I only use a few health potions here.

This is about when the drops dry out for a while, and I feel the dryness of this run especially from Memphis to Thebes, I arrive with only one green item in my inventory to sell, and only a few charms or relics are dropping... but the important one does! I get the final piece of my Soul Shiver puzzle and put it together upon arrival in Thebes, and I get the attack speed bonus to boot. DPS doesn`t skyrocket or anything, and I have a second Vile Ichor I could socket in my Prismatic Neclace, but I hold onto it and the second Lupine claw I completed, as I have another Shiver formula I would like to use it on. The attack speed version is nice for Normal, but IMO, there are better completion bonuses for Epic and Legendary like slower attack, stun, +50% damage to demons or undead... but I won`t complain for now. Another interesting thing to note that only the 2 Soul Shiver and one Touch of the Fool formula drop in this Act... still not complaining as my stash is quite full.

Departing from Memphis at level 28, with this setup. I fill out some Attributes, as I had over 40 points free... so I even everything out by bumping all 3 to 90 (ie 10 points each). I beeline straight to the Telkine (after shopping a new Dire weapon), but the fight is still long-ish, and I realize that I probably should add Psionic Touch now. With the 2 skill points from returning the tablet to Imhotep, I get it and Distortion Field, another 1-pointer I have been putting off while marching up the Spirit tree trying to get to the Outsider. I add the Liche King as I ding level 29 along the way to the portal, but he proves useless in the bossfight and dies to the sandstorm AoE instantly. The battle itself is not bad, but I still have pretty low damage, so the fight is long, and I use some potions as the ADCtH is not very good, even on PT procs. I did lose 6 Vitality damage when I changed weapons, but upgraded damage and speed, and bonus strength. I had a couple of interesting options, at this point. My Prometheus relic got the % fire damage bonus, and with the Brimstone ring and of the Gryphon bracers, to add a nice fire DoT to go with my electrical DoT. Another possible option was the poison-theme - Shroud, socketing Venom Sac, a Noxious sword and desecrated item... but ultimately I went with the Blood Stone and Bat Fang for life leech, as one fang had rolled the attack speed bonus... so I run around just hitting something once, and running off to another target. The LL is a gimmick, as the trance is still doing the killing, but it does help reducing the health potion habit from all the incoming that cannot be avoided.



And, we see the fasionsable purple and green ssssssssssexy Sentinel's setup with my gear choices. Stats are groovy, just a couple of weak points... Stun - I can swap in the Oath ring for 48% Stun resistance, and socket my Demons Blood for maxxing (er, 73%) Stun resist when I need to. Neclace is the Prismatic from Act 1, and the new weapon, Dire Khandar of Virility gives 11 Vitality damage. I held off socketing the snake helm, as I was waiting for an Udjat of Horus, and then the Telkines drop that Stately helmet... in which I feel my Herkales Might with 5% Str bonus would fit quite nicely. Will have to test them in the Temple of Marduk as I really don`t need attributes, as evidenced by my lack of spending points!

Stats:

[Relord]

Loving this sofar.. great read!

[essjayehm]

Act 3

I thought about my choice to go with the life leech setup... without LL on the weapon itself, and an ...of Feasting suffix (weapon/amulet); I won`t be getting very much health from it, especially now that the enemy damage is starting to ramp up. And, it demands hitting multiple enemies, especially in Xmax. My fears are confirmed when I play, when I get netted by Ithicans and surrounded, I get hurt bad, and I am not gaining back any noticable health from ADCtH and LL. So I just continue with the auramance dance, doubling back for stragglers and drops every so often. Still, I get trapped pretty often in the narrow confines of Marduk's Temple, and am very happy to have stoneform on a couple of occasions.

The Chimera battle is not too bad, one firebreath gets me down about 1/2 health, so I am careful to just keep moving, and I focus on the devices first (2 were ice) and I only use a couple of health potions this fight. My technique is to wait for at least 2 to start their firebreath animation, and then I run in to let ToW zap 'em and then turn around and hit them with a distortion wave. I do get hit with the lightning attack a few times, but I have high lightning resist, and they only tickle a little. Argh, I forgot about my Crag helmet in my stash, it is a good fire-resist swapout that would have made this battle safer.

Unhappy with my sword, I bounce around between the Outskirts and the Temple merchants, looking for weapons, and jewelery as I still want a Ritual amulet for Act 4. No luck here, but I do notice I scored a Ravenous Ithican Harpoon, and with the speedy Bat Fang, I get to 250 DPS. I think this is the first time I realized that those spears are not only 30% piercing, but average attack speed, as well – damn good weapon, IMO. So, it's the "Baskin Robbins 32 flavours of damage" as now I'm doing physical, piercing, elemental, life leech and bleeding damage. Psionic Touch procs can almost one-shot the trash mobs, and I am contented with my weapon for now. I also switch my Sentinel Helm for the Herkales-enchanted Stately, and I am off! The quest Ichticans raiding the farmland drop me my first Veteran's armour, with Virility (Str) suffix. Too bad it's Ichtican Armour, not the MI, or I would swap it out immediately; but I like to melee in a bikini so for now flavour wins out on function. I hold on to it for the time being, naturally.

I reset the "hidden" merchant in Chumbi Valley a couple of times when I get there, but seems to be a bad day for shopping here, and I don't stay long. Barmanu stuns me once, but I avoid all his other attempts at cheesing me out of the HC challenge and it's off to the Yeti. 4 Maurader's MI drop on my trip (2 bracers, girdle, bone axe), so I'm feeling lucky today... but Barmanu's chest spews scrap.

I get to the Yeti, and I pull one out of the pack, but as soon as I hit it with a wave, all 3 are aggro'ed and this is the most dangerous situation I have encountered yet. Without reduced freeze duration, I get very lucky not to get freeze-locked even though they get me with breaths a couple of times and surround me. Balls in throat, I venture forward ignoring all the junk that the Majestic Chest had contained. So much for my luck today.

After the fight, I ding level 32, max Spirit mastery and add the Outsider. the tigermen are pretty squshy to my trance, and I just maintain my frantic runaround playstyle, occaisonally casting distortion wave to thin out dangerous packs (fire talons, heroes, etc). The second Sabertooth that drops has the Dire prefix, but my smiles are turned upside down when I realize I don't have a decent socketable for it. I used my only Achilles to make the Shroud of Eternal Night, and it was a crappy one anyway; so I will have to go farm for one. I make my way to the Great Wall portal - the Xaio fight was chaotic, but otherwise uneventful as fighting on the stairs seems to give some avoidance of his soundwaves. This time...

Well, I suppose it's time to do some farming... I teleport to the Valley of the Kings and head for Atkaios. The outsider helps a ton, but dies to the sunbeams and gets lured into them easily. Otherwise the fight is fairly quick, and very safe (staying on the ledge). Since that “test” was OK, I head to Knossos, beeline for the Labrynth, and light up the last rebirth fountain here. It takes a few tries to get gorgons to spawn, but once they do, I start my run.

I head backwards from the rebirth fountain to kill the packs of snakes, looking for Stonebinder's Cuffs. Then straight for the Minolord, saving the Outsider for the Telkines. Teleport to Thebes, and head backwards to the Mysterious Tomb for Gilded Dead, then teleport to the Valley of the Kings and hit Amenhetep 1 and Merenptah, caring only about finding a Revenant piece. Then it is down Ramses tomb, sidetracking for the possible Gilded and onto the Telkine down here. Outsider should be recharged by now, and the fights where he doesn't get sucked into the beams, are short ones. But I am not finding what I want to... Achilles for my Sabertooth, Anubis for my second Soul Shiver, and situational stuff like Necromancer's Robe, ...of the Glade, etc. I do score a new shield (Trickery) to replace my Outriders, and eventually complete an Achilles, and that Shiver, but sell it when it spawns the useless Life Leech completion bonus. Is that an Accursed ring I spy? Why yes, oh me, oh my! But that is jus the tip of the Iceberg, as this is the toon that scores my first Revenant Plate! Great score, but with a shitty Protective prefix, of course. In the very next room, I get a Ritual neclace, so persistence is paying off.

Level 34 sees Necrosis at 8 points, and I decide that I will just invest in Sands of Sleep for the next few levels, as I like to have that for managing the dangers of Wusao and Olympus. Currently, the build looks like this



I will pause the story as I farm more Telkine orbs for my wantlist. I could venture forward with the current setup and return later, but I have found that at level 40-ish, the XP drops off the deep end, so it is better experience per hour running them now than waiting to get my Fury`s Heartblood, maxxed Lucid Dream and/or Psionic Touch, etc., that makes the bossfights last 10 seconds. Just my personal preference.

[essjayehm]

Act 3, the conclusion

Hours of farming produces nothing more than a few bucks, some relic shards and a lot of fustration. So, I teleport back to the Great Wall and proceed from there. I run the tigerman farmland (last portal outside Chang'an) a few times, and a couple of interesting Sabertooth swords drop, but not much else. I have 2 Prismatic Neclaces, one with spectral Matter for mobs and one with Demon`s Blood... and I find myself with the wrong one on when I face Bandari! I run all the way back outside while my HP bar refills and get a chance to get my vitality resistance back on. I do wish I had some slow resist here, but as long as those pink projectiles don't connect things are not too bad and I just keep running while ToW kills all the pesky statues. Then, it is just a matter of timing the distortion waves into the pack of bosses and it's off to see the emperor, the wonderful emperor of Oz... (did you sing it?)

OK, those damn Fire Talons are quite dangerous at this point. I swap out Stoneform for Sands of Sleep (8 points, which hits 5 targets), and use SoS to be able to get close enough to the packs of them to cast DW into them and run away before they whittle me down to nada. I head for the Jade Palace portal before collecting the general's quest reward (handy especially in Epic and Legendary), and the trader here has a nice fire resist ring that is an insta-buy. AND, the third Prismatic neclace shows up, with a feline suffix for a 10% total speed boost! I think for a second about it - the cost is 1.2 million, and I have 2.9 million gold, and the stats are mostly better, so I buy. I have saved a lot of cash this time around by not spending at the Mystic as I usually do, and that amount of money for 3 elemental damage and 10% speed is usually not affordable. Previous builds I would typically have less in PI, and then swap points around from Necrosis to PI for bossfights, which gets expensive in the long run. This time around, I used the wave less and just auramance-danced more, keeping an eagle eye on the HP bar while fighting the mobs.

The Yaoguai fight is somewhat cheesy; again I try to pull one, but all three coming charging in so I just retreat to the bridge, and pop back into their aggro range after dispatching each wave of shadowstalkers. I get hit with one scorched earth, and it does about 1/3 of my HP bar with 59% fire resist. For safety sake, each time all 3 bosses gather around me, I retreat to the bridge to break the aggro, to ensure I do not get triple-scorched (+melee hits). The first 2 go down quickly, but the last still has most of his health. I summon the Outsider for help, but the useless twit dies immediately to the burning ground... which I can mitigate nicely with attack damage conversion and a timely potion. Just one potion, as I am doing decent damage and there is actually noticeable health coming back via ADCtH.

I yak at the Emperor for a time, discussing matters of philosophy and whatNOT... before he can even finish one sentence I teleport the hell back to Chang'an and this is the first time in a long time I feel OK about opening the gate and getting raped by 500 champion tigermen. Stoneform FTW! Sure beats standing there casting cheese waves thru the gate (before opening) to thin the herd, but without the Atlas bracers... that is typically what I do. The new fire resist ring is decent against the Firetalons, but I still SoS them when I come up on a group to be safe. Same for the Gilded casters, and the wretched packs of Accursed Dead. I miss not having 70+ lesser damage from undead that I had last time around - Necro robe, Ritual ammy, Spirit Bane, all allowed me to just run up and DW these guys, with only the stunning being of any consequence. There are a couple of really close calls grinding up to the Wusao portal, and I probably should have swiched my Trance back in Chang'an... but Stoneform saves the day, again.

Anyway, I get to the last rebirth fountain in the mountain with ToW and then I teleport back to swap my Trance to ToC, and buy some health potions, and prep for the bossfight. One more really close call - I really hate the lag from those lava spouts and Stoneform is not there to save the day, as I had put Sleep on that button... but I survive and the only change I make for the Telkine fight is to get a 40% Vitality resist Demons blood into my new fire ring, as I have 0 resist with the new amulet I just got and didn`t socket it yet. I get hit hard a couple of times, but otherwise another fight in which the Outsider gets killed instantly, and I am able to facesmash them with only a couple of retreats to heal up. Onto Olympus!

The trip up to Typhon is played Freddy Kreuger style (wave+sleep), but I get sloppy against the cyclops and have to retreat multiple times after getting hit with the disrupting screams even though I try to stay on the stairs. It works sometimes, but you can never really count on that trick to work, I guess. I play peekaboo with triple Typhon, hiding behind the statues and just casting DW thru the statue at them as they approach. Run to the next one, and rinse and repeat. 2 go down, and I attempt some facesmashery on the last, but he hits like a cement truck and that was a bad idea while wearing the 2-piece outfit I got on. Note to self: do not melee Typhon with 40 torso armour and 388 DA. Luckily I dodge the lightning bolt on the retreat or I would be dead. TitanCalc, and gear.





Well, I found a nice pair of Trickery bracers, since SBC seem not to like me at the moment. BUT, it requres +40 strength...er... +62 if you remember taking off Atlas reduces Str. An OK Razorback Harness could be swapped in, but I feel I should run with the Veteran's... both add strength but the Ichthian bumps my DA to 454 and gives CtaP, which I need coming up in Act 4. I have missed on some rings for swapping out, so I will keep a lookout for them, now that I can get 2 elements on a ring with a suffix, like OA or DA. I almost have a perfect idea for increasing my damage, but the completion bonus gods have not granted me a third `27 reduced armour' bonus. I have Achilles and Raptor Tooth with it, and if a Vile Ichor would just roll it, I would socket it to the Accursed ring, Raptor tooth in the new Prismatic and replace the Achilles. Stripping 81 armour I feel would be decent, and could even add Chaotic Resonance back in for more... making physical damage count, and adding some more vitality damage (5 base and 18%) until I can get to the Plains of Judgement for the much-needed Fury's Heartblood. Removing ToW really dented my "DPS" and the bits of melee I did do with ToC had me drinking like an alcoholic. Not spending my attributes has left me some options as well, like pumping strength for those bracers, or intelligence to increase my damage, or whatever.

I have 2 ...of the Glade items so now I need a Hydradon hide to hit 95% less damage from Cerebus. For Charon and Undead Typhon, I will have to mystic points into spirit bane, and use my Ritual amulet to survive those fights. The biggest pains will be the Empusae and Machae mobs, but SoS and good tactics rule those battles, so I feel confident about hitting Epic without any bumps in the road.

[essjayehm]

Act 4

To start, I head back to Fayum and farm some Vile Ichor. A Soul Shiver formula drops on the second run, and I peek in the inventory and put together an Ichor and it rolls the 27 less armour mod!!!! ... and the next one with the poison mod so I have one to use in the formula, and one for my idea. For the Soul Shiver, an Anubis is ready, but I have to get some Lupine claws; the farmland just before Memphis is a good source and I quickly have my ingredients. Shiver rolls the stun completion bonus, so I sell it with a heavy sigh. Buuuuuut, I put together the armour reduction theme and decide how to socket my Vets and Razorback torso pieces; I will have to test them in battle as there is no telling from looking at their stats as to which will be better.

Rhodes Beach, Karkinos the size of a trireme and the signal beacon all complete with maybe 2 health potions used... success! My attribute spending so far... 26 Str, 21 Int and 21 Dex - I had to put the little extra into Str to get the tricky gloves on, but worth it to get nearly 200% on the attack speed.







It goes downhill very fast from here as the very naughty Nightstalkers have no issues tearing chunks out of my HP bar. I change out the Ichthian Vets for the Dragonian MI and the arrow shots hurt a little less and I realize it is not the archers that I can see that are doing most of the damage, but the pesky buggers that hide in the trees. Three or 4 of them can be there and you don't know it until three quarters of your health goes poof. So, I alter the playstyle a little and use the mouse-over trick to identify exaclty where everyone is hiding with the Xmax overspawnage. No more health gongs, but a couple of moments where some sneak in on me and shoot me in the back... but that little change makes this short section safer.

After leaving the Nightstalkers behind, the drinking habit disappears, and I am only having the odd potion every now and again. No problems with the trash mobs as my ADCtH is keeping me afloat at the moment. My first ever purifying Ismene's helm drops, with 75% poison resistance! Now, if I can just equip it without my whole setup going to hell in a handbag because of the Stately pumping up all my stats! I don't need to worry about it for now, but for some odd reason I keep searching out Lamians when I should just move forwards... and "it" hits the fan right quick when I run face first into a badass Anteok Hero, surrounded by 20 of his inbred cousins. I honestly cannot say how I survived... each Xmax run has a few of these moments and this was one of them. Nasty poison-piercing projectiles filling the screen; Mr. Hero stunning me every 2 steps, spamming some AoE wave effect; I hit 7 for Stoneform, but it was not there and the shiny red bar went totally black. Or I thought it did... slamming the 9 key and just.... keep... running... away... worked again! Hrm, some air would be good... SIGH.

OK, I get moving after that, and a glaring error in the build surfaces... the Nightblossom plant. 1 point in Phantom Strike and there is nothing to think about but I don't have it and... it is immune to sleep... it destroys the Outsider with one shot (not to mention tearing me a few new ones as well trying to get in there for a Wave even). I manage to find a spot to hit it with a wave where it cannot hit me, and this little drama is solved. I hate that thing.

"Die, frogs, die.. gimmie some freaking greaves, dammit!" I chant. Not that I would drop everything for Batrachos Greaves, as one of the main defenses of the toon is movement speed and kiting. So, if the fabled MI drops with some runspeed, its a nobrainer. But, I will proudly wear yellow booties all day and night. Until a purple shows up, as it is pretty hard to compete with the huge DA bonus on the Hermes Sandals, which is automatically given when completed in-shoe. I swap the Veterans Ichthian Armour back in at some point, but it is clearly the loser (again) against the Anourans, which to me would be indicitave of most of the rest of the act. Razorback's pierce resistance and nearly double the armour win out but maybe the results would be closer if the Vets had 12% DA and 19% CtaP instead? Maybe. I have other socketables, too, more Horus and Graces with other completions... but even with 120+ DA difference it seems higher armour wins, even despite the nice Damage Resistance roll on this one. I honestly thought the results would have been the other way around, looking at the stats, but that was judging the book by it's cover, obviously.

OK, so the pics above a little 'chopped, right? Where is the number of deaths you ask? Well, I can say I am the proud new owner of 3 deaths, to Kalexenia. I can't talk about the first one, but the other 2 were because I did not bother to move out of the way of her funky green meteors, which destroyed me easily. So, another toon out of the HC challenge... but lucky for you folks I already started a guide so I will play this girl out and finish this off (with 3 deaths... hopefullly) later.

I can say that I was not happy with the "luck" she had with her drops... an MI collecting machine, no doubt, but pretty stingy with the Uniques. There were plenty to be had, but... 4 Bracers of Atlas; tons of useless jewelery; a few bows/spears (less than normal, actually). So many repeats, it was quite annoying. The whole thing about those droughts, though, is that they turn around at some point. So, in a way, I was "happy" with the loot as I knew my ubers would be coming when I need it somewhat more, and could be possibly end-game or at least Hydra-worthy stuff. Only time will tell!

[essjayehm]

Act 4 continued

Reluctantly, I pick Jamie up and the first thing on my mind is revenge. But I find out that I finished off the quest after I died and cannot resummon Kalexenia... so this dish will be really cold when it gets served up (ie Epic). Not too much is putting up a fight, now... although I miss my lesser damage from undead while looting Dorus' treasury. Yes, I will whine about that more, as it is quite safe with a Necro robe swapped in, but there are some DONG moments without, even with slowing down and trying to be more careful.

Nine Grae sisters down, and with only 25% vitality resist the battle is not as bad as I thought it would be. Typically at this point with my Diviners, I have had Hallowed hats at this stage, and near-maxxed vitality resist but this fight shows me that isn't really needed. Nice, but not requisite... as long as I keep moving and only let the white projectiles hit, no chunks disappear from the HP bar. Those ladies love their one-eye don`t they?

Ugh. Paseron brings Empusae, one of the biggest threats for me each and every time I get here in Xmax. Mountaineer's would be the go-to here, but... it still doesn't have the best (ie 80%) freeze reduction which is the "killer". Getting stuck with incoming Fire, Poison, Cold and...er... whatever the Soul Carvers do.... is not a good thing at all. I can respec into Phantom Strike and Distort Reality (plus synergies) which does a very good job if you pull them into nice tight clusters; but I choose to be a retard and just shift-cast SoS and/or VoD then charge in. The result is one more death - almost at the Tower of Judgement - to Empusae and a couple of Machae archers (normal ones). Those sections of the Plains where you can get them together (Machae and Empusae) are deadly, and need to be properly cleared to avoid over aggro and death.

I forgot to mention Charon... I figured you didn't want to hear me whine about missing my Necromancer's robe again I should have died there, but did not, luckily. Even with respec to 8/8 on Spirit Ward. Ousider suicides on a water column, as per usual, and I shelf him for the rest of Normal.

Fury's Heartblood brings the "listed" DPS up to about 750 or so, but I know I am doing much more after Necrosis hits, and the character comes into full bloom. Machae archers and the aforementioned Empusae are the main threats as I approach Cerberus, but getting hit with multiple poison grenades from the floating squiddies really hurts with only 13% poison resistance. I manage to only get hit by Grandmaster Archers twice on the way down the Tower, each one doing nearly 1/2 of my HP. Good hide and seek behind pillars and doorways, with Sleep and Visions keeping the hordes manageable and the odd lucky break to avoid getting nailed by the glass cannon archers. But, better CTaP would definitely be needed if I had gotten hit by any with some collateral damage coming in. I found a Veteran's Batrachos Breastplate with another toon, and twink it on for a small section of the ToJ, with great results.



The 22% CTaP actually gives me some breathing room if I mis-click and run into a pack of the archers, so that is exactly what I would suggest for increased safety, as I didn't need to hide from normal Machae archers (I'd still tiptoe around Masters and Grandmasters, tho). But it`s twinked, so I go back to the Dragonian MI and peekaboo tricks. Melinoe are easy, just don't let the Blade Dancers charge up their Onslaught (target them first). I check my DA... it is only 300-ish and I am very happy with my defenses even with such low DA, as other toons coming thru here have been at least 600, and as high as 750.

I teleport back to Rhodes after mopping up the ToJ and find I have 7 Hydradon Hides for my bracers and leggings of the Glade, which adds up to 98% protection from nine canine heads. The only trick now is to avoid the poison clouds, so at the start of the battle, I just enter and wait until the bombs are airborne before I charge in. Ugh.... time for more Empusae.

My typical routine for the sidequests around Elysium is to clear the Fields, and then pick up the messenger after claiming the reward for the siege striders. Likewise, I clear out the route to the Achean Pass before picking up the archers... but typically that doesn`t matter as almost everything dies in the part where you defend the flag anyway. I don't restart in vanilla for this part of the quest... I know where the last enemy of each wave hides with Xmax overspawnage, so I get the full force of Xmax for the flag defence. I clear out all the Machae outside the Palace, looking for death, but he cannot see me; and I am looking at a gaping hole in Hades' Palace wall contiplating the bony Typhon fight without my Necro robe <crycrycry>. So, I learn how to spawn them one by one, and individually they cannot get me below 1/2 HP and I don`t even need a potion for the entire fight with the heaps of health coming back via soul Shiver.

I mystic 7 points back from spirit ward to sleep for the palace, and one thing dominates my mind entering this place: Dactyls. Usually, I am afraid of seeing any, but I think "I've already died, I should want to find some!" and the second pack of Gigantes does not disappoint. The battle is won even before it starts, as I see it before it sees me. This is the biggest thing with these guys, and I carefully pull as many yellow ones away as I can before I tackle the Dactyl. I put it to sleep, and close in to melee range. I am happily smashing face on the dactyl and he raises his arms as if to cast a wave... but I sigh when it is just a dual wield proc. I hold my breath the second time it happens, and a couple of measly critical hits barely dent my health... another crosscut (or whatever). Third time`s a charm, as I get the wave... the good one, not the cheesy close-quarters 360-one. But I survive handily (maybe I proc'ed a PT at the same time...) and the satisfying sound of crumpling tin signals the demise of the badass gigantes. Smiles and overcinfidence beam from me as I sing songs of destruction thru Hades house... and I hear that sound. I did not hear the first one, but number 2 I do. Second verse, same as the first: "...Knowing is half the battle", and again I pull most of the trash but he catches me in the act and I end up doing a little dance around a couple of waves before I sleep him and get up close and personal with the walking trashcan. No heartattacks this time around, and I pick my way a little more carefully thru the rest of the act, but no more Dactyls... just 3 Vindicators, whose wave attacks damage me as much as the first Dactyl's did! Huh.

I get to Hades with only a Demon`s Blood charm for Vitality and Stun resistance. Well, good for a test run, I suppose, and I enter the chamber with low expectations for the fight. I aggro the first Olympian and the first 2 forms are a pushover (no red blobbies of death) but the third has me mashing the health button and praying... but I don`t fall too far below 500-ish health and I attempt to grab the attention of the next one... oops. Both of the remaining Hades remind me that I will pay for my hubris, and I scurry out the door, very happy it opens after you kill one of them. Upon re-entering, I manage to isolate one and again (each time) the third form has me potioning like crazy, but no DONG or Death Ward procs, so I suppose I did not need the second socketed Demon Blood after all.

After the fact, I admit I did not face the Bloated One in the Eurydice sidequest, so I go back and have a go at it, with the Outsider. We crush the fat spider with no issues, so that is that I suppose. Next up, Secret Passage. I suppose I should get max Vitality resist, whatd'yathink? Toxeus down with nary a health gong. I did kill him with PI just to be sure I didn't suicide on him without "protection from myself". Lots of running around like a scardeycat.

I export the toon to ShopMI for what I consider a fair test of true DPS. The only trick is not to use %health reduction in this test, so I do not activate Deathchill Aura, just RoT, which gives me Necrosis. Against the Normal version dummies with 400k hitpoints, Jamie needs three minuites and fifty eight seconds to kill one. I tried to get a hit-count, and I counted 151 hits in 60 seconds. Clickety-click on the calculator tells me that I am actually hitting for 670 Average Damage and 1680 DPS. Not bad, methinks. I hop into epic to snap the stats, and I thought I had a lot more than 50K kills... I guess I didn't farm the Telkines (with ToW "collateral-killing" on the run-ups) as much as I thought I did... sure seemed like a lot of runs, compared to other toons.



Hmmm I haven't posted a build in a while, so here 'tis! I have now started using the Liche King in Epic, but the points have been there for a couple of levels at the end of A4N. Sleep can be replaced, and if I choose Distort Reality then VoD can be removed, too. But I am eating mana potions if I cast DW a lot, so DR/TR will redouble the mana drain, so that is mainly why I stay away from those skills in the early-going. PS could go in, but it wants the RMB, competing with DW/PI.... decisions decisons.

[Nightmare14]

keep DW on RMB nd set PS to quick slot 8 then go into options and set the activation button for slot 8 to mousewheel so that when your playing you can easily aim mousewheel/LMB fast to activate it, its really simple and affective
this way you have quick/easy access to PS and get to keep DW on RMB