Leo Parking 101

[Attika]

Classic Diablo Ironman: Leo Parking 101

The Butcher -- pah! Stairtrapping that fat fiend is a piece of cake. Now Leo, there’s a challenge.

Whether you decide to finish off as much of Three as possible and take out the The Boney One at the very last, or simply dive down to dlevel Four for the extra experience and potential weapons/spells before facing him, you’ll need to learn how to get Leo out of the way while you continue with your game plan. Plus there will always be IM games where Leo shows up "early", at a point where your team doesn’t have the weapons or spells to effectively deal with this big, bad guy and hasn’t located the stairs down yet!

Regardless of how good an individual player you are, for the sake of your IM team you need to learn how to "park" Leo in a safe area so that your group can go on.

LEO PARKING V1.01.a -- Multiplayer
The Standard park job.
Requirements: one scroll TP

Clear out as much of dlevel 3 as you can, avoid all areas (rooms, corridors, halls) where you see "boss glows" present. Try to clear an area that is
1.) away from the stairs to dlevel Four
2.) away from the stairs to dlevel Two, and
3.) away from the area of the dungeon on Three that your team is planning on clearing (if you are going to clear Three and then destroy Leo or continue to dlevel Four).

Usually the person with the most hit points (The Warrior) grabs the TP scroll (belt slot one) and goes searching for Leo once that boss’s start spot is ascertained. The other two party members take the stairs up to dlvel Two and wait. Activate Leo and as few of his minions as possible. Take off running for the area of the dungeon as outlined in the paragraph above, destroying the pursuing minions, if possible. Have The Warrior throw up the TP in the area furthest from the stairs up to Two and also any area(s) on dlvel Three that you may/may not be finishing and the stairs to dlvel Four. The Warrior then stands right beside the portal. When Leo approaches, he must wait until the last minute (until Leo is practically adjacent him!) and then dive up the portal leading to town.

Afterwards The Warrior walks back down via the stairs to dlevel Two where he rejoins his band. The party reenters dlvel Three to continue clearing Three and/or go on to Four, if needed.

Remember, by IM rules you can clear AT MOST only dlevel Four before returning to finish off Leo.

NOTE: When the party reenters the dungeon level, Leo remains "active" for 12.75 seconds of time, during which he will try to find a way to attack your group. If after 12.75 seconds he has not gotten into visual range of your party, he becomes inactive and stands in one spot -- until you come into his visual range and activate him again! So if you avoid activating Leo -- avoiding his "parking spot" -- you should be able to continue the game in whatever fashion you chose. If you accidentally activate him at this point, have the two non-warrior party members exit to dlvel Two while The Warrior attempts to park Leo again (and again and again). If your group HAS to walk past Leo’s parking spot and always seems to activate him, then you need to choose a new/better parking spot.

Otherwise, he’s safely parked and you can continue with your quest.

LEO PARKING V1.01.b -- Multiplayer
The NO TP PRESENT variant park job
Requirements: none but fleet feet

Again clear the dungeon out as per the above, looking for a place to park Leo. Have the other two players go to dlevel Two. This time simply have the player (Warrior) who has Leo in tow run to the area in which you wish to "park" him and observe Leo’s movement. With his Goat AI Leo often uses a circular attack pattern of movement.

Notice the exit direction from the area to which you have lead him. When Leo is fairly far away from that exit and moves in the OPPOSITE direction of the exit, hot-foot it out of there! Run as far away from him as physically possible. Since Leo’s movement often has him ‘starting and stopping’, chances are you will be able to lose him.

Note: it is NOT a good idea to flee directly to the stairs leading either to level Two or Four as Leo may be awaiting your party upon your return. DO NOT STOP RUNNING until you are physically as far as possible from the room/area where you chose to park Leo. If he spots you even once while you pause in running, that’s another 12.75 seconds he’ll continue to pursue you farther.

A continuous, circular path in the dungeon is FANTASTIC for doing this -- a path where you can keep running in a BIG circle and don’t have to run past Leo to get to the exit. Not all dlevels Three have this feature, but if it’s there this one will work every time (even though it may take some time to work!)

Although it would seem like a number of small rooms with doors would also be great for parking him (because he has to move through so many doors and can lose sight of you) this simply isn’t the case. Leo’s AI will have him pursue you through doors, and should you exit a room, he is sure to follow. If he spots you leaving the next door, he’ll again pursue out that door, ad infinitum. If you leave through a door, he WILL move to and exit that same door (usually quite quickly.)

In an open room he will not always pursue you in such a linear fashion.

LEO PARKING V1.01.c
Multiplayer: TWO PERSON VARIANT park job
Requirements: a second person on dlevel Three in addition to The Warrior
No TP scroll need be present.

If there is no circular pathway and there is no decently large room in which to park Leo, there is also the two person method of parking The Skeleton King.


Have the second person stand inside a room/hallway/corridor ADJACENT to the area where you wish to park Leo, but MAKE SURE THERE IS NO CONNECTING DOOR/PATH TO THE LEO-PARK ROOM/AREA. When The Warrior enters this room with Leo in hot pursuit, have The Warrior run past the point that comes closest to the person waiting in the OTHER room (on the OTHER side of the wall). As Leo stalks past, he can somehow "sense" the person in the room/area on the opposite side of the wall, and often gets parked while trying to figure out how to get to that second person! Weird, but true. In the meantime, The Warrior continues running and leaves the parking room. The second person stands at the wall "adjacent" to Leo and waits 12.75 seconds and then leaves his/her spot also. Leo should be motionless and parked.


LEO PARKING V1.01.d
Single Player, STANDARD park job
Prerequisite: TP scroll

In Single Player Diablo it is slightly more difficult to park Leo, since the quarters are a bit more cramped in which to do it. I've consistently found that The FURTHEST of the first two rooms to the North (the room that held the single chest with two known good magic items in it) to be the best parking room.

Set the Town Portal in the Southwest corner of this room, go activate Leo, and retreat to this point with him in pursuit. Stand beside the portal (killing minions as they come) until Leo enters the room and attacks. At the last moment, dive up the TP to town.

Walk back down via the stairs. When you reenter the Skeleton King’s Lair, wait the prescribed 12.75 seconds while Leo "cools down" and stops moving. Then take your character on a SOUTHERLY course past the area where you know Leo is parked and continue clearing the Chamber. If you accidentally activate him again, repeat as needed.

LEO PARKING V1.01.e
Single Player: EXTREME VARIANT park job
No TP scroll present.
Prerequisite: nerves of steel!

If (through some incredible bad luck) you have no TP scroll AND no weapon with which to kill Leo, you may wish to "park" him and open up and inspect all the magical chests on his level (and, yes, a book HB may indeed pop out)Fret not; all is not lost!

This is incredibly risky and doesn’t work 100% of the time the FIRST time, but WILL EVENTUALLY work and is a tactic you can master.

Clear the Eastern areas of the Lair prior to activating Leo. What you want to be sure to do is to clear the first small North room (the one that held the lever that lead to the first single magic chest) and the first small South room (the room that had 8 skels in it along with the lever that opened the grating that lead to Leo’s Chamber. Then go activate Leo.

Run into the first room to the North and then run to the far North wall.

This time as Leo pursues, you’ve got to wait for him or actually lure him INTO THE ROOM with you! (Try to) Kill all minions that enter prior to Leo. Once Leo enters, try to coax him as far from the exit doorway as you can. Once he moves beyond the doorway, you need to try to run South past him and INTO the doorway tile that leads out of the room and back into the main chamber. (I like using the room to the North first as there is that chest there that you can lead Leo around a la "ring around the rosy").

When you reach the doorway, stepping directly INTO the doorway tile, STOP!!!

Now comes the steel nerves part. You have to wait there, taking arrow hits and killing minions, while you taunt Leo trying to get him into melee attacking you. When Leo charges, wait until he is adjacent to you (and he may get in a fast swing at this point) AND THEN TAKE ONE STEP BACKWARDS!

At this point one of three things will happen.

Leo will pursue and attack, in which case you should run for the South room and try to repeat this same maneuver.

Leo will raise a melee skeleton, in which case you stand your ground and destroy it.

OR

Leo will raise a skeletal archer of some sort in the doorway tile.


If Leo raises an archer, IMMEDIATELY RUN AWAY FROM IT! Chances are the archer will merely stand in the doorway zinging shots at your fleeing form, but it will NOT move from the doorway! At this point you have effectively TRAPPED/PARKED LEO! The skeleton won’t move out of the doorway, and Leo can’t/won’t push his way past that minion! You are free to move about the rest of the dungeon, killing minions and opening the other chests known to contain "good" magical items, searching for a "Leo-Killer". As soon as you get out of line of sight with that archer, you’ll stop taking arrow fire from it also.

Be forewarned, all the skeletal archers Leo raise MAY CHOOSE to run away from YOU if you stand too close to them! If this happens, they no longer block the doorway and Leo is free to attack you! For this reason it is IMPERATIVE that once Leo raises a skeletal archer in the doorway tile, YOU NEED TO RUN AWAY IMMEDIATELY!

Of course if the skeleton flees and Leo moves to attack, you again run to the South room and try park him again there via the same operation.

It’s tough, but consistently do-able. Try it and find out for yourself.

Learning to park Leo, be it in Multi- or Single Player Diablo is a tactic that all should learn/acquire/master in order to succeed in Classic Diablo Ironman. Practice improving your skills until the threat of the Big Boney Boss on dlvel Three becomes a case of "park and lock it" instead. Although still deadly, Leo CAN be avoided by the experienced IM team.

Attika -- 10/11/03

[the Langolier]

Not too long ago I created a new character to show a newbie the ropes and we virtually played ironman. Amazingly, we had found two rings before even facing the butcher, and with our other equipment he was pretty easy. We did not have a decent club yet, but I figured we could just avoid Leo until we were ready.

Wrong. We go down the sairs, and we see the glow on the other side of the wall in front of us. The dungeon at the stairs had a wall that turned into a grate in front of us and to the left, and to the right was a U-turn that lead to the other side of the wall - to the glow. As we turn the corner, there is Leo with a fleet of horror archers - and they aren't blocking him in. We fall back to the stairs, but he is coming. When we go to exit through a the door in the grated wall, it leads to the archers. Running past would be risky because they are shooting us and blocking most of our path at the same time, not to mention the enemies that will be beyond that - with Leo hot on our tail. Our only "safe" area was behind the solid wall where at least the archers were blocked, but where Leo could nail us (and he was). We went back to 2, and I decided we had just better tough it.

He was in the first position, so Leo would attack him if we both went after him. The new player was a level below me, and hadn't put many points into dexterity despite my advice. I grabbed our best equipment, which would mean I would be fighting him alone. I told my partner to grab the bow and contribute as much as he could. We dive into level 3 and start at it. Leo got stunned twice, which I am guessing is how many times I hit him as I was rounding the 8th potion. I was pretty sure he had more life than what he started with. Not caring to those the two rings for my partner, I decided we weren't getting any further. It was a little bit disheartening after just telling the newbie that legits are much more skillful players than cheaters and eventuallly are more powerful. And here we were stuck after the first two levels...

[Yogi_Baar]

I know it's completely irrelevant as the point of your post was something else, but still. :)

I always laugh when I get burning dead archers with Leo. I believe the game chooses the skeleton type randomly, but most often I seem to get those dreaded ones. Is it Murphy or just a case of selective memory? Or do the 9 possible types have different probabilities to get chosen?

[the Langolier]

I guess I didn't hang around long enough to check :)

[LemmingofGlory]

Usually the person with the most hit points (The Warrior) grabs the TP scroll (belt slot one) and goes searching for Leo once that boss’s start spot is ascertained.

Why not the character who casts fastest? If archers aren't a danger, I rather think a Mage would be safer. Then again, it doesn't really matter which character does it as long as the player is skilled enough to not get hit.

Remember, by IM rules you can clear AT MOST only dlevel Four before returning to finish off Leo.

This varies by version.

NOTE: When the party reenters the dungeon level, Leo remains "active" for 12.75 seconds of time, during which he will try to find a way to attack your group.

I'm not so sure re-entering the dlvl resets the timer to 12.75 seconds. Hmm, need to test.

With his Goat AI Leo often uses a circular attack pattern of movement.

Technically Leo has Leo AI, though it is similar to Goat AI in its walk pattern.

Note: it is NOT a good idea to flee directly to the stairs leading either to level Two or Four as Leo may be awaiting your party upon your return.

Only if he was considerably close when you left. If nobody's on the dlvl I'm pretty sure monsters don't move. They might while you're loading/exiting, and they will still be active when you return. If that's what you meant, yes, that could be a danger.

As Leo stalks past, he can somehow "sense" the person in the room/area on the opposite side of the wall, and often gets parked while trying to figure out how to get to that second person! Weird, but true.

Does it have anything to do with who's first in the game's internal playerlist?

[o: *LEMMING* :o]

[Zenda]

"As Leo stalks past, he can somehow "sense" the person in the room/area on the opposite side of the wall, and often gets parked while trying to figure out how to get to that second person! "

All activated monsters are aware of the location of the closest character and will make that character their target. You can say they can see through walls. Those that have the follow ability will, as a result, always try to find a path to that closest character, even if that character is out of sight and another is not.

[Alamara]

Yes, I know in advance that this is an old topic.

I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how to park Leoric in a Cave-In variant of Ironman. My current party found a book of HB on level two, so we didn't have a problem. However, I'm confident that in the future we won't always be so lucky.

[Nystul]

Yes, I know in advance that this is an old topic.

I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how to park Leoric in a Cave-In variant of Ironman. My current party found a book of HB on level two, so we didn't have a problem. However, I'm confident that in the future we won't always be so lucky.

You essentially use version 1.01B, although it is a bit riskier since the other players have to remain on the level. Basically, you need one clear area designated for the non-scouts to run to in case of emergency, and a separate path by which the scout can lure and park Leo. If you are unfortunate enough to run into him at the very start of the level and you have no holy bolt, there probably won't be room to do anything. But to be honest, that rare situation is usually a death trap even without the lock-in restrictions.