09-07-2004, 03:42 PM
Itâs been a while since there have been any strat/tactics posts, and although this will be pretty mundane, maybe it will inspire someone else to do even better.
Here are some small pointers about tactics for playing classic Diablo Ironman. They transfer somewhat to regular play also.
**********
CHURCH CRUNCH (Tactic for Church and Catacombs 6 & 7 versus skeletal archers; all classes, most useful to warrior types)
Occasionally youâll find yourself having to rush a group of skeleton archers in your IM game. Here is a tactic I use to kill them as quickly as possible (and thus take the least return damage possible).
First, ready your best blunt, the one that does the highest amount of damage OR has the best chance of destroying a foe in one hit (depending upon what the minimum/maximum damage is and what hit points your foes have).
When you break out from behind your wall for the rush, run your cursor over the group of foes. You are trying to find a pair of archers that are adjacent each other, either side-by-side or catty-corner (diagonally adjacent).
Now plot your attack path and click to attack the FURTHER of the two side-by-side foes, moving in such a manner that when you stop and swing at that first foe you will also be adjacent to the second one.
Ok, now hereâs the tricky part; as you are moving up to attack that first foe, place and keep your cursor on the SECOND foe. When your avatar onscreen starts the swinging motion on the FIRST foe, click to attack the SECOND.
What happens -- if you are lucky -- is that the first swing hits and destroys the first foe and you IMMEDIATELY switch and attack the second foe. If all goes as planned, with just two swings youâve destroyed two foes! Then you can quickly deal with the remaining archers. Repeat the tactic if possible on them too.
With a Barbarian, you can mow down skeleton archers like a buzz-saw this way.
GETTING YOUR GOATS (A spellcasting tactic for those durn Goat Archers, esp. useful in Catacombs; most useful to mages)
When soloing an IM mage Iâve found Goat Archers to be devastating. They have ranged attacks and some run from you making pusuit frustrating and dangerous. Eventually I discovered a tactic to deal with them, and it was especially useful versus Fire Clan Archers in Catacombs.
Prerequisite -- You either need to have your CB stick readied and hotkeyed or the same for Charged Bolt: the spell.
When you hear the âpwoitâ of an arrow being fired, dodge and retreat to the nearest corner that is NOT still in line-of-sight of the attacking Goat Archer. Then, after turning the corner, step a SECOND tile away from it (still adjacent to the wall), bring up your Charged Bolt, and turn to face the corner you know the goat is going to attack from.
As soon as you see the Goat make the corner, fire off TWO quick charged bolt casts at it.
What usually happens is this: the Goat makes it to the corner, but doesnât TURN the corner per se, as its movement AI wants it to âretreatâ or at least place some distance between you and it. Thus, when the Goat Archer reaches the corner, instead of attacking you it turns and steps away! Meanwhile, youâll find your casting speed and the speed of the movement of the charged bolts is enough that when the Goat finally stops and turns to
PREPARE to fire on you, the two Charged Bolt casts will reach it JUST BEFORE it can shoot.
If the casts kill it, well and good. If they donât, make a dodging retreat for the next corner and repeat. You can usually see if the Charged Bolts are traveling âtrueâ and are going to hit the Goat beforehand; if you see that they are going to miss (or got absorbed by the wall) you can start retreating and dodging for the next corner BEFORE the goat has turned to fire on you! Nice. Save you some heartache and damage.
A FIERY RECEPTION (Three tactics for using Fire elemental damage bows, esp. useful in Caves; great for all but esp. Rogues and Bards)
Rarely, oh so rarely in an Ironman game you may come upon a fire-elemental damage bow (of Flame, Fire, Burning); occasionally a Unique Hunters bow -- Flamedart -- will show up. TREAT FIRE BOWS AS IF THEY ARE MADE OF SOLID GOLD. When properly used, a fire-bow is a terrific weapon for the IM team.
But not in the way you probably think. Youâre probably thinking of the devastating buggy damage that Fire on bows does.
Nope. What Iâm talking about is the âof Vilenessâ characteristic that all fire-bows have, in that they STOP MONSTER HIT POINT REGENERATION. How is this important, and how do you use it to your advantage? Well, there are three major ways of doing so, with most of them being of greatest use in Caves.
i.) Since wear and durability are nearly always a concern in Ironman, do this when attacking (with your fire bow) foes that are trapped behind grates, stuck behind lava rivers, or do not move to attack you (Spitting Dog bosses and their packs). Fire ONE shot from the fire bow, hitting a foe (hopefully) then place the fire bow in your backpack and finish off the foe with your rattiest, cheapest, crappiest damage bow you own.
Doesnât matter that the damage isnât doo-doo; since the monster is not regenerating, it all adds up anyway and you kill it still. Thus you can use the fire bow over and over in this fashion -- one shot to damage with the fire-bow, kill the foe with your cheap bow -- allowing the fire-bow to last practically forever (great for single player IM Rogue runs where durability is such a concern).
This is ESPECIALLY useful for dealing with those foes on the other side of a lava river who run back-and-forth and back-and-forth (dogs mostly) and make you waste a good bowâs durability while trying to kill them. Instead, shoot with the fire-bow until you damage the creature ONE TIME, then switch to your el-cheapo bow and finish it off. Lose durability on that bow? -- bah, who cares, itâs a POS bow anyway!
ii.) Getting good experience to all the Ironman team players is difficult to do the further down in the dungeon you go. The more deadly the foes, the more difficult it is to get the weaker party members (read: mage) or those who have trouble with ranged attackers (read: warrior) their share of experience. With a fire-bow properly used, Caves becomes a bonanza of experience points for all. What you do is this: find a lava river (or closed corral) that separates the foes from your group. Bait/scout and bring a single or small group of foes to this area. Have either the warrior or the mage use the fire bow and shoot ONE time to damage one foe. Then trade the fire bow to the other character (warrior or mage) and have him shoot once to damage that same foe. Then have the Rogue (with a ratty bow) finish off the damaged foe. Everyone gets experience!
Rinse and repeat as many times as youâd like.
This tactice is especially useful when there are Night Clan Archers, Lava Demons, Storm Demons, or Dogs on the other side of that river. What usually happens when using a regular bow is that the warrior or mage tries to damage or kill these said foes to get experience and in return gets smacked up side the head with damage! With a fire damage bow the warrior or mage peeks out, snipes quickly, and dodges back to safety taking very little damage! Then the Rogue, using happy feet, finishes off the nasty beast while taking little damage in return! (Remember, your characters must stay on the level to get experience when the foe is killed. If you have to drink from a Blood Fountain or something, wait until after the kill is completed.)
iii.) One last fire bow tactic: dealing with bosses with minions. When a boss with a mass of minions shows up, have the Rogue immediately switch to her fire damage bow and shoot to hit AS MANY _DIFFERENT_ FOES as possible in the attacking group, and try to get a shot in on the boss especially. Then lead the enemies back to your trap point (door, gate, group of barrels, whatever) while switching to your âhigh-damageâ bow. This way youâve stopped the regeneration of a number of creatures (and lord knows it may take a long time -- read: lots of time for those foes to regenerate -- to kill all those foes at your choke point) and youâll more quickly and efficiently dispatch the entire group.
Not bad, eh?
BAITING BALROGS (A tactic for Balrog demon types, useable in Caves and Hell; most useful for warriors types)
When playing solo IM warriors, Iâm nearly ALWAYS lacking in the resistance department by the time I reach Hell. Balrog type demons are especially devastating in that they have two attacks, a physical melee attacks and a (somewhat) ranged magical attack that is tough to dodge.
After scouting a bit to draw in a single Balrog, what I USED to do was stand two tiles back behind a corner, one finger on the shift key and one on the mouse ready to swing like mad as soon as I saw the Balrog turn the corner. (Ah, you donât stand AT the corner due to Balrogâs circular movement and Inferno attack.)
Unfortunately, about 1/4 of the time the Balrog STOPS at the corner, pivots, and breathes Inferno in my warriorâs face. To move I have to stop swinging, take my finger off the shift key, and then either move to dodge the Inferno or simple move THROUGH the inferno to attack.
Very painful.
What I learned to do was this. Scout as usual, drawing in a single Balrog. Run back and turn the corner, stepping two tiles away from it. This is same as before.
HOWEVER, this time do not hold the shift key at all! Keep your cursor at the corner the Balrog is about to turn, and your eye peripherally glancing at the portion of the screen that displays dungeon information.
AS SOON AS YOU SEE the information portion of the screen display the monsterâs name -- meaning he is about to turn the corner -- click to attack. Not shift-and-click, just click. As soon as you move and are adjacent the Balrog, THEN hold the shift key and swing like mad.
IF the Balrog had stopped at the corner and fired off Inferno, youâve ALREADY stepped through it and are engaged with him and doing him damage. If the Balrog didnât and chose to attack, well, youâre already engaged with him anyway!
Whatâs nice is that the information portion of the screen will show the monsterâs name -- and you now have it âtargettedâ and may click to attack it -- BEFORE the monster has actually turned the corner! So you are given a split second where you can target a foe and move to attack it without actually âseeingâ a target/foe on the game screen!
Itâs a only slight improvement over the other method, but in Ironman every advantage counts.
**********
Hope your found at least one original tactic in the group. Please feel free to add your own.
Attika
Here are some small pointers about tactics for playing classic Diablo Ironman. They transfer somewhat to regular play also.
**********
CHURCH CRUNCH (Tactic for Church and Catacombs 6 & 7 versus skeletal archers; all classes, most useful to warrior types)
Occasionally youâll find yourself having to rush a group of skeleton archers in your IM game. Here is a tactic I use to kill them as quickly as possible (and thus take the least return damage possible).
First, ready your best blunt, the one that does the highest amount of damage OR has the best chance of destroying a foe in one hit (depending upon what the minimum/maximum damage is and what hit points your foes have).
When you break out from behind your wall for the rush, run your cursor over the group of foes. You are trying to find a pair of archers that are adjacent each other, either side-by-side or catty-corner (diagonally adjacent).
Now plot your attack path and click to attack the FURTHER of the two side-by-side foes, moving in such a manner that when you stop and swing at that first foe you will also be adjacent to the second one.
Ok, now hereâs the tricky part; as you are moving up to attack that first foe, place and keep your cursor on the SECOND foe. When your avatar onscreen starts the swinging motion on the FIRST foe, click to attack the SECOND.
What happens -- if you are lucky -- is that the first swing hits and destroys the first foe and you IMMEDIATELY switch and attack the second foe. If all goes as planned, with just two swings youâve destroyed two foes! Then you can quickly deal with the remaining archers. Repeat the tactic if possible on them too.
With a Barbarian, you can mow down skeleton archers like a buzz-saw this way.
GETTING YOUR GOATS (A spellcasting tactic for those durn Goat Archers, esp. useful in Catacombs; most useful to mages)
When soloing an IM mage Iâve found Goat Archers to be devastating. They have ranged attacks and some run from you making pusuit frustrating and dangerous. Eventually I discovered a tactic to deal with them, and it was especially useful versus Fire Clan Archers in Catacombs.
Prerequisite -- You either need to have your CB stick readied and hotkeyed or the same for Charged Bolt: the spell.
When you hear the âpwoitâ of an arrow being fired, dodge and retreat to the nearest corner that is NOT still in line-of-sight of the attacking Goat Archer. Then, after turning the corner, step a SECOND tile away from it (still adjacent to the wall), bring up your Charged Bolt, and turn to face the corner you know the goat is going to attack from.
As soon as you see the Goat make the corner, fire off TWO quick charged bolt casts at it.
What usually happens is this: the Goat makes it to the corner, but doesnât TURN the corner per se, as its movement AI wants it to âretreatâ or at least place some distance between you and it. Thus, when the Goat Archer reaches the corner, instead of attacking you it turns and steps away! Meanwhile, youâll find your casting speed and the speed of the movement of the charged bolts is enough that when the Goat finally stops and turns to
PREPARE to fire on you, the two Charged Bolt casts will reach it JUST BEFORE it can shoot.
If the casts kill it, well and good. If they donât, make a dodging retreat for the next corner and repeat. You can usually see if the Charged Bolts are traveling âtrueâ and are going to hit the Goat beforehand; if you see that they are going to miss (or got absorbed by the wall) you can start retreating and dodging for the next corner BEFORE the goat has turned to fire on you! Nice. Save you some heartache and damage.
A FIERY RECEPTION (Three tactics for using Fire elemental damage bows, esp. useful in Caves; great for all but esp. Rogues and Bards)
Rarely, oh so rarely in an Ironman game you may come upon a fire-elemental damage bow (of Flame, Fire, Burning); occasionally a Unique Hunters bow -- Flamedart -- will show up. TREAT FIRE BOWS AS IF THEY ARE MADE OF SOLID GOLD. When properly used, a fire-bow is a terrific weapon for the IM team.
But not in the way you probably think. Youâre probably thinking of the devastating buggy damage that Fire on bows does.
Nope. What Iâm talking about is the âof Vilenessâ characteristic that all fire-bows have, in that they STOP MONSTER HIT POINT REGENERATION. How is this important, and how do you use it to your advantage? Well, there are three major ways of doing so, with most of them being of greatest use in Caves.
i.) Since wear and durability are nearly always a concern in Ironman, do this when attacking (with your fire bow) foes that are trapped behind grates, stuck behind lava rivers, or do not move to attack you (Spitting Dog bosses and their packs). Fire ONE shot from the fire bow, hitting a foe (hopefully) then place the fire bow in your backpack and finish off the foe with your rattiest, cheapest, crappiest damage bow you own.
Doesnât matter that the damage isnât doo-doo; since the monster is not regenerating, it all adds up anyway and you kill it still. Thus you can use the fire bow over and over in this fashion -- one shot to damage with the fire-bow, kill the foe with your cheap bow -- allowing the fire-bow to last practically forever (great for single player IM Rogue runs where durability is such a concern).
This is ESPECIALLY useful for dealing with those foes on the other side of a lava river who run back-and-forth and back-and-forth (dogs mostly) and make you waste a good bowâs durability while trying to kill them. Instead, shoot with the fire-bow until you damage the creature ONE TIME, then switch to your el-cheapo bow and finish it off. Lose durability on that bow? -- bah, who cares, itâs a POS bow anyway!
ii.) Getting good experience to all the Ironman team players is difficult to do the further down in the dungeon you go. The more deadly the foes, the more difficult it is to get the weaker party members (read: mage) or those who have trouble with ranged attackers (read: warrior) their share of experience. With a fire-bow properly used, Caves becomes a bonanza of experience points for all. What you do is this: find a lava river (or closed corral) that separates the foes from your group. Bait/scout and bring a single or small group of foes to this area. Have either the warrior or the mage use the fire bow and shoot ONE time to damage one foe. Then trade the fire bow to the other character (warrior or mage) and have him shoot once to damage that same foe. Then have the Rogue (with a ratty bow) finish off the damaged foe. Everyone gets experience!
Rinse and repeat as many times as youâd like.
This tactice is especially useful when there are Night Clan Archers, Lava Demons, Storm Demons, or Dogs on the other side of that river. What usually happens when using a regular bow is that the warrior or mage tries to damage or kill these said foes to get experience and in return gets smacked up side the head with damage! With a fire damage bow the warrior or mage peeks out, snipes quickly, and dodges back to safety taking very little damage! Then the Rogue, using happy feet, finishes off the nasty beast while taking little damage in return! (Remember, your characters must stay on the level to get experience when the foe is killed. If you have to drink from a Blood Fountain or something, wait until after the kill is completed.)
iii.) One last fire bow tactic: dealing with bosses with minions. When a boss with a mass of minions shows up, have the Rogue immediately switch to her fire damage bow and shoot to hit AS MANY _DIFFERENT_ FOES as possible in the attacking group, and try to get a shot in on the boss especially. Then lead the enemies back to your trap point (door, gate, group of barrels, whatever) while switching to your âhigh-damageâ bow. This way youâve stopped the regeneration of a number of creatures (and lord knows it may take a long time -- read: lots of time for those foes to regenerate -- to kill all those foes at your choke point) and youâll more quickly and efficiently dispatch the entire group.
Not bad, eh?
BAITING BALROGS (A tactic for Balrog demon types, useable in Caves and Hell; most useful for warriors types)
When playing solo IM warriors, Iâm nearly ALWAYS lacking in the resistance department by the time I reach Hell. Balrog type demons are especially devastating in that they have two attacks, a physical melee attacks and a (somewhat) ranged magical attack that is tough to dodge.
After scouting a bit to draw in a single Balrog, what I USED to do was stand two tiles back behind a corner, one finger on the shift key and one on the mouse ready to swing like mad as soon as I saw the Balrog turn the corner. (Ah, you donât stand AT the corner due to Balrogâs circular movement and Inferno attack.)
Unfortunately, about 1/4 of the time the Balrog STOPS at the corner, pivots, and breathes Inferno in my warriorâs face. To move I have to stop swinging, take my finger off the shift key, and then either move to dodge the Inferno or simple move THROUGH the inferno to attack.
Very painful.
What I learned to do was this. Scout as usual, drawing in a single Balrog. Run back and turn the corner, stepping two tiles away from it. This is same as before.
HOWEVER, this time do not hold the shift key at all! Keep your cursor at the corner the Balrog is about to turn, and your eye peripherally glancing at the portion of the screen that displays dungeon information.
AS SOON AS YOU SEE the information portion of the screen display the monsterâs name -- meaning he is about to turn the corner -- click to attack. Not shift-and-click, just click. As soon as you move and are adjacent the Balrog, THEN hold the shift key and swing like mad.
IF the Balrog had stopped at the corner and fired off Inferno, youâve ALREADY stepped through it and are engaged with him and doing him damage. If the Balrog didnât and chose to attack, well, youâre already engaged with him anyway!
Whatâs nice is that the information portion of the screen will show the monsterâs name -- and you now have it âtargettedâ and may click to attack it -- BEFORE the monster has actually turned the corner! So you are given a split second where you can target a foe and move to attack it without actually âseeingâ a target/foe on the game screen!
Itâs a only slight improvement over the other method, but in Ironman every advantage counts.
**********
Hope your found at least one original tactic in the group. Please feel free to add your own.
Attika