07-26-2009, 08:01 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-31-2009, 01:30 PM by weakwarrior.)
Attika and I joined Shade's Lock-in IM tournament and I wanted to do well so I let Attika do most of the scouting except where that wasn't possible/reasonable. Attika took good game notes and I just edited it for this post. Rustwarrior - me. Rustrogue - attika.
Started May 22, 2009
Town Purchases: ID scroll, Small Shield 5, Cape 4
Church One: standard foes. Drops: books Heal Other, HO, Holy Bolt, Charged Bolt, and Firebolt. Shrines: Purifying Spring (PS), Sacred.
RustWarr clevel 3; RustRogue clevel 2.
In a preview of things to come, lag eats our book of Firebolt and one book of Heal Other. The Purifying Spring this level is entirely wasted, since neither one of us puts points to magic to read any books. The warrior lagged out at end of level, thus losing his first-game blocking bonus, but a rogue, especially Attika, can solo Leo so itâs not the end of the world.
Church Two: Skeleton Archers, Corpse Captains, Fallen Ones, Burning Dead. Drops: Bladeskin = Hunters Bow, Deadeye = Small Axe, Butcher = Leather Armor10. Shrines: Secluded.
RustWarr clevel 5; RustRogue clevel 5.
The archers, being merely Skeleton Archers, are more a nuisance than a danger. Bladeskin is gunned down by the Rogue and Deadeye is cornered and smashed by the warrior. Since the warrior has lost his blocking bonus, the Butcher is locked outside a room and as he paces about is bowed down by the rogue and warrior (stairtrapping is forbidden in this tournament).
Church Three: Horrors, Black Death, Skeleton Captains, Corpse Bows. Drops: Ring (chest), Books Inferno, Town Portal, Firewall, Skullfire = Buckler4, Leo = Full Helm. Shrines: Purifying Spring and Secluded.
RustWarr clevel 8; RustRogue clevel 7.
Early in the level we meet up with some very tough Horrors backed up by a telltale glow. After finishing off the first wave, we give the area a wide berth and try to complete the rest of the level, avoiding them. The warrior bows down Black Deaths and smacks down melee skeleton foes, and the rogue takes out the Corpse Bows. Rustrogue opts to put all lups into Dexterity, so no books are read and the second Purifying Spring is as wasted as the first.
When nearly the entire level is done, the rogue (clevel 7) activates Leo and uses the Hunter's bow to run and gun him down. The battle takes 12 minutes, and was nearly over before it started because RustRogue alt-tabbed out of the game to activate the Hypercam and by the time she returned to the game, Leo had smacked her twice and she had a mere sliver of life remaining. She ran and used a heal scroll, took one more hit during the long battle, and Leo drops a Full Helm AC7. Since the warrior will be using it anyway, we decide to ID it (maybe it will be glasses!). We end up with a Crimson Helm. Hmmm. Should we ever get to Lazarus and then Hell 16, this will be very handy. Until then it is of dubious value.
With Rogue only having magic 15 and no room on each character due to potions and scrolls and such, we leave behind books TP, Inferno, and Firewall.
Since RustRogue was going to put 25 points to magic anyway to use a phase scroll for a Diablo park (if it came to that) maybe we should have kept the book firewall (requirement 27 magic). With a warrior in the group items last longer so itâs not as necessary to stockpile.
Church Four: Devil Kin, Horrors, Blinks, Flesh Clan Archers, Horror Archers, Bone Gashers. Drops: Book TK, Staff Flash, Ring (inside a room), Moonbender = Hard Leather12, Spineeater = Morning Star. Shrines: Secluded.
RustWarr clevel 10; RustRogue clevel 10.
Somewhat tough level, with all the archers present. Interestingly, both of us level up to 10 on the exact same kill while bowing an opposing Devil Kin across a grating. Warrior bows down Moonbender across a grating. Spineeater, as usual, gets stuck and is bowed down by the warrior as well.
With all the damage we are taking, Rogue puts two points to magic and reads book Heal Other. That way at least the warrior can get some healing. Pity no staff Heal or HO has dropped yet. As we get ready to exit the level, we spy a ring on the ground of a room weâve already cleared. We know it could be garbage, but decide to ID it anyway. It's a steel ring +14%! Nice! The warrior had been holding his Dex at 55 (in case a mysterious shrine shows) so this boost makes him feel more secure.
Catacombs Five: Overlords, Bone Gashers, Stalkers, Flesh Clan Mace. Drops: ring (rat), Broadsword, Book HO. Shrines: Creepy and Goat.
RustWarr clevel 11; RustRogue clevel 11.
Ambush! We enter the level, both in s/s setup, and are attacked by a trio of rats! We take minor damage and finish them, then clear the room they emerged from next to the stairs. Overlords are tough but the Rogue softens them up nicely with arrows. The stalkers are purely the warrior's department, while both defend against the Mace goats. Warrior solos versus rats.
When the level is cleared we load the warrior to hit the Goat Shrine - Religious. Although nothing to write home about, it does repair our main bow (the Hunter's Bow that dropped on Two from Bladeskin) to 40/40.
Cats Six: Flesh Clan Mace, Fire Clan Bow, Bone Gashers, Stone Clan Archers. Drops: book HO, Composite Bow. Shrines: Sacred and PS.
RustWarr clevel 13; RustRogue clevel 13.
Tough level! The Goat archers really have us hopping, as the Warrior tries to get them to freeze (which Fire Clan won't do readily) while our Rogue bows them down. It's a good thing when the PS shows about 3/4 of the way through the level - now we have unlimited HO's for the warrior, who proceeds to solo the remaining 1/4 of the level, rogue playing doctor. At the end of the level there is a large room filled with goat archers. The warrior stands on one side of the door till all the archers are shooting at him and then switches to the other side since the goat archer AI causes them to take one step out of the room during which time the warrior can get a swing in (this happens only on one side of the door). This is working o.k. until one archer slips by the warrior and gets out of the room. The warrior canât chase this goat down since this will let the rest of the goats out of the room and the rogue canât kill the goat since she had gone to refill mana at the purifying spring, so the warrior takes fire from this goat while continuing with his switch side of the door method of killing the goats. At this point the rogueâs job gets more dicey and the rogue starts healing the warrior from across a wall (the warriorâs position is always on one or the other side of the door) since there is no time to walk to and from the warrior. Eventually the room is cleared and the pesky goat cornered and killed. No pots used on this room, though at times it was close.
Just prior to entering Seven we are trading items, and our 40/40 Hunters Bow lags out. Sigh. We leave 10k of gold on the floor of six.
Cats Seven: Stone Clan Archers, Acid Beasts, Winged-Demons. Drops: Staff Firebolt, Broadsword, Full Helm. Shrines: Mysterious, Abandoned, Spiritual, Murky, and Goat.
RustWarr clevel 14; RustRogue clevel 14.
Another fairly tough level, with archers and ranged spitters both. The Mysterious Shrine shows early, and our warrior has been leaving his Dex at 55 in just such a hope. He touches it and it hits - Magic! Doh! When the Abandoned shows later, we have the Warrior hit it to get his Dex up to 56.
When the level is cleared we trip the Spiritual Shrine, and then load the Warrior once again to hit the Goat shrine. Good Lord, it's a Glimmering! We end up with: Sword of Illness, Helm of Eagle, White ring (from Church Three), Crimson Ring (from the rat on Cats Five), fine broadsword (from seven), Broadsword of Might (from five), Hard Leather of Thieves (from Moonbender), Leather of Jaguar (from Butcher), Composite Bow of Bear (Cats six), Bronze Saber (early Church drop), and Buckler of Skill +10 (from Skullfire). Wow! (The rest of the inventory area was filled with potions in hopes of an Eldritch Shrine.)
The Crimson ring means that -- paired with the Crimson Full Helm -- we can pump fire resists up past 50%! The White ring means the scouting rogue will no longer be stunned by dog spit (or, should we reach later levels, witch attacks!). The fine Broadsword actually does two more max damage than a Bastard Sword (and almost the same min damage) and has a slight +7% to hit modifier, which pleases the warrior.
We decide that the Warrior will enter future levels with the Crimson Helm and Crimson ring readied in case of Lava dudes and switch to the Eagle Helm if no fire-attackers are present. We drop 5k of money and leave behind a book Holy Bolt, Hard Leather, and bronze Saber - no room.
Cats Eight: Horned Demons and Mud Runners. Drops: Ammy, Rags, short sword, book Mana Shield! Shrines Murky, Eerie, and Abandoned.
RustWarr clevel 15; RustRogue clevel 15.
This level really keeps everyone on their toes, what with all the charging going on. The warrior gets bashed once good while holding a door set, and rogue similarly has one bad charge attack connect while scouting. Otherwise we dodge or set well, and take little or no damage. The Rogue stays in s/s setup the entire level. Near the end of the level, a long battle bow (vanilla) drops - the rogue is very happy! Then a book MS drops! Yowsah!
The Eerie shrine goes to the rogue, pushing her magic to 19, and when she lups she bumps it one more point to twenty. She won't lup again this level to reach Magic 25 and read the MS book anyway, so the rest of the points go to dexterity to use the LBB well. Still, sheâs very pleased.
The Abandoned shrine goes to the Warrior, which bumps his Dex to 58, and when he lups again he keeps two points in reserve until the level is complete and all shrines are accounted for - then he maxes his Dexterity. Now the warrior is happy too. (Note: had Fire mace goats or tougher shown earlier, we were agreed that warrior would max Dex earlier than this. Since they didnât we didnât.)
We drop 6984 gold and continue.
Caves Nine: Illusion Weavers, Mud Men, Night Clan Archers. Drops: ring (goat), crown (inside a room), Claymore.
RustWarr clevel 16; RustRogue clevel 16.
We pause after entering the level, waiting for an ambush to develop. One Illusion Weaver shows up, and gives us a devil of a time trying to kill it. Then no others appear, so we start the level, quickly finding a fence and gate where we set. Opening it, nothing happens. The rogue scouts, finding the other two foe types.
Interestingly, at one point we have to set on an island in the center of a lava lake, and when goat archers are activated by the rogue she flees back onto the island where the warrior is set. For unknown reasons the goats walk, and walk, and WALK until they even try crossing the bridge onto the island, whereupon the warrior kills them as they attempt to cross! Why they don't stop earlier and fire on the warrior or rogue - I mean, we ARE on an island, no walls at all, nothing to hide behind - is a complete mystery to us. But we won't look a gift-horse in the mouth, and continue to activate and crush the goat archers. Bizarre. When the rogue lups she puts five points to magic and reads the book of MS. We drop 3792 gold (and the claymore, no room) after completing the level.
Caves Ten: Blood Stones, Frost Chargers. Drops: Book Stone Curse.
RustWarr clevel 17; RustRogue clevel 16.
Rustwarrior is glad for the fire resists as Blood Stones make their first appearance. Then, with minimal scouting, the Mana-shield-using Rogue finds a very good set point, one that shelters the warrior from both charges and lava throws, and we work the level from this place. RustRogue uses four small blues to recharge MS/heal the warrior, and then lags out early in the session. When she returns, she's got no MS and not enough mana to cast it unless she drinks again. We decide that the set is good enough that weâll risk her going without, and the warrior gives up his Crimson ring to the scout so she can avoid being stunned. By carefully scouting and nursing all our resources, the level costs the warrior only one small red.
Prior to entering Caves 11 the rogue drops the Crimson ring so that the warrior can enter with major fire resists, as he did the previous level. The rogue immediately drops out of game, and the crimson ring lags out. Argh! We leave 4143 gold and the book SC (no room).
Caves Eleven: Cave Vipers (75) and Guardians (54). Drops: saber, spiked club, and Fangspeir = Plate armor.
RustWarr clevel 18; RustRogue clevel 17.
This starts out as a hellaciously tough level. Our stairs onto the level are somewhat centrally located, and no matter which direction we scout we draw foes, and we have no set from which to defend. In one tense battle four Guardians show up and we end up drinking six times (five small reds for the warrior and one small red for the rogue) and almost wipe. The foes are attacking both the warrior (game creator) AND the rogue, and we are getting beaten to a pulp. We decide to (desperation) ID the ammy that dropped on Eight and end up with an amulet of the Moon +5 all. Not bad, though we were hoping for fire resists again.
Then we hit an edge to the map and find a tolerable set next to a lava river, one that has three funnel areas that force foes into a path only two tiles wide each time. We set the warrior at nearly the end of this run, and then have the rogue ready the Composite Bow of the Bear. This way, as the foes are running toward our set spot, the rogue may knock them back and perhaps kill (or at least soften) them before they reach the warrior.
And we locate this weak set point none too soon as Fangspier and company show early. The scouting rogue locates a double gated area and spots a glow behind a wall; first she checks for Guardians, then she draws the minions to the first gate and calls for the warrior who comes and bows them down. Then she goes and finds Fangspeir (near the second gate), draws the boss to the first gate, and calls for the warrior again. As the warrior enters the screen - POOF! - the boss teleports across the closed door (on the rogue's computer screen) and wallops the rogue upside the head! We flee to the set position, and the rogue brings up the Bear Bow and guns down the snake boss. (On RustWarrâs screen the gate was open. In the future we made sure the rogue was far from the gate before the warrior approached.) A plate drops. We are so shaken by the beating we are taking so early in this level that we decide to ID it (even the rogue will be able eventually to use it, since an ammy of the moon +5 has dropped - assuming it doesnât lag out too.) It ends up being SAINTLY +129% on a plate AC 47, pushing our Warrior up to total AC 141! This plate gives the warrior maximum useful ac against all future foes except for knight bosses (where it is close) and Diablo himself.
And after this, the rest of the level goes like clockwork. The snakes can't touch the warrior, and the Guardians oblige the rogue by being knocked back and dying while assaulting our set point. After the atrocious start - where we used over ten potions and scrolls upon entering the level - we use no other resources this level. Go figure. We drop 4779 gold at the end of this level.
Caves Twelve: Flayed Ones, Pit Beasts, Cave Vipers. Drops: tower shield17, tower shield19, Elixir Dex, Club, Ammy (snake), Greatsword (on floor of corral), Long War Bow (snake)!
RustWarr clevel 19; RustRogue clevel 19.
We enter the level and find a wall parallel to a fence. We set the warrior at the corner of the wall, and send the rogue out through a one tile walkway to scout, wall on one side, fence on the other. Pit beasts immediately show on our side of the fence, and the warrior destroys them as they line up in the walkway to attack. We find a gate to the fence, and then we discover it encloses a HUGE section of the map, fences on two sides, corner walls bounding the other two sides. We secure it easily - it has only one snake inside guarding it! From this large gated area the scout goes out to bring back hordes of foes. When she returns, enemies in hot pursuit, she slams the door to isolate them outside (none have a door-opening AI). The warrior hides behind a wall while the rogue kills all the dogs, then the warrior steps out to bow down all remaining foes. In this way, at cost of only one small red (bad scouting, which of course happens immediately after the warrior and rogue agree that this level is so easy no resources will be expended) we clear the entire level. At the very end of the dungeon a magical LWB drops from a snake, and the rogue's next lup goes to strength so that she can use it. We decide not to ID it yet - we are down to our last four ID's - until we see what foes await us in Hell. The tower shield ac 19 pushes the warrior to AC 147.
For the record, the Rogue up to this point has been using a vanilla long battle bow or a composite bow of the bear, leather armor of the Jaguar, a Helm of the Eagle, and White Ring. The warrior has on a Saintly Plate (ac47 + 129%), a Crimson Full Helm7, a Tower Shield19, a steel ring (+14%), an ammy of the Moon +5, and a fine broadsword - his second ring slot is still empty. We drop 5517 gold and prepare for Hell.
Hell Thirteen: Guardians (over 75) and Gold Vipers (over 65). Drops: Elix Dex, Elix Magic, Tower Shield 20 (indestr.), Axe, Buckler, Short War Bow, Staff Guardian, Ammy (snake). Shrines: Cauldron - Hidden; Cauldron - Religious.
RustWarr clevel 20; RustRogue clevel 20.
This level is like a repeat of Caves 11 (except that the vipers are a harder bunch but so are we). Again we start poorly, with three directions we can move from the stairs, and all three have foes, and we have no beginning set position. We go through our last heal scrolls, and the rogue drinks two small blues to heal the warrior at one point. With the situation still bad we finally find that one direction dead ends and we sequester the warrior there. Then it's up to the rogue to go back to the stairs and scout around them in the other two directions, solo-killing Guardians while bringing single snakes back for the warrior to lup on. And so we try to clear the entire level. The Warrior lags out at the start and comes back to his set position. Then, over 3/4 of the way into the level, the rogue lags out and the warrior (host) loses bnet connection so she cannot rejoin. Moreover, the bow of the bear, the only bow the warrior could use, is on the rogue at this point. The warrior clears the rest of the level and hits the two cauldrons, but then has to leave behind a number of items since space is at a premium: two magical tower shields (including the AC 20 indestructible one â he has a magic ac 19 shield with normal durability), the most recent buckler, the short war bow, and the staff Guardian all are abandoned. Besides the fact that we both lupped and no one died (due to foes or traps), the only bright spot is that the Cauldron which was Religious repairs the warrior's fine Broadsword (along with the Hidden Cauldron) to 56/56 dur. When the Rogue dropped out at level's end, the warrior uses 3-4 small reds while finishing the level (mostly due to the Guardianâs inferno whilst meleeing them). We drop 10603 gold and prepare for Hell 14.
Hell Fourteen: Doom Guards, Lava Maws. Drops: Longbow, Elix Magic, Skullcap, book Charged Bolt, Graywar = Broadsword. Shrines: Cauldron = Magical.
RustWarr clevel 21; RustRogue clevel 21.
After the disaster of Thirteen, Fourteen is a welcome relief. The Lava Maws are a pain to deal with, but you can dodge most of their spit and the scout has the White Ring on and so cannot be stunned. Rustwarrior has AC 147 and is fairly immune to their melee attack. The Doom Guards walk in straight lines and can be softened up by the Rogue prior to their engaging the warrior, so we simply move from one good set point to another and complete the entire level without incident. Graywar's glow shows up behind a wall, and the rogue teases him out and then switches to her Bow of the Bear to put some major hurt on him before he attacks the warrior. The Broadsword he drops looks nice, but since weâve already got one broadsword idâd already, weâll hold off on idâing it. Scout drank once the entire level; warrior none. We drop 7395 gold at the end of the level.
Hell Fifteen: Hellspawn, Snow Witches, Azure Drakes. Drops: Book Flame Wave, Book Golem, Short War Bow, Scimitar, Ring (snake), Cape, Elix Str, Greatsword, Small Shield 5, Short Staff, Red Vex = Staff Phasing, Black Jade = Rags, Laz = Claymore, Bloodlust = Scimitar. Shrines: Cauldron = Magical, Cauldron = Quiet.
RustWarr clevel 22; RustRogue clevel 22.
We start the level cautiously and activate a single Azure Drake - the warrior chops him up nicely. Then comes a Hellspawn and the Rogue guns her down without difficulty. Then a Snow Witch shows up, and we know we have our three foes for the level and are set.
The rogue scouts and brings back all snakes to the warrior; we team kill the snakes due to the experience cap. Snow Witches, if they 'sit duck', are held by the rogue and killed by the warrior with a bow. Hellspawn we again try to have sit duck and the warrior merely tags while the rogue kills then (again, the experience cap a factor here). The real mess here is that the only bow the warrior can use is a bow of the bear; so after all those witches are âsitting duckedâ the warrior moves them out of position on each tag. Eventually, we get "lucky" and a nonmagical short bow drops so tagging becomes simpler. A snake drops a ring fairly early on - we have a ring slot open in the warrior's inventory, and since it can't be cursed, we go for the ID and end up with a ring of the Tiger +50. Decent.
We clear the Laz surrounds. The rogue taunts out Red Vex and she and the warrior kill her - Staff of Phasing, bah. For some reason BlackJade is active and heads north to join Laz, both sensing the warrior who is holding just to the North of the chamber. The Rogue enters from the South and guns them both down. Rags and a Claymore, bleh. Lusty shows later and drops a scimitar and our luck is complete - all the boss drops are lousy and going to be left behind, along with 9576 gold.
With three ID and five res remaining, we prepare for Hell Sixteen.
Hell Sixteen: standard foes. Drops: Sir Gorash = Axe, splint Mail, book CL, Broad Axe, Staff Heal (29), Elix Magic, Staff TK, Staff Fireball(can't use; too much magic).
Stairs are above and to right of Diablo's room - rogue clears the track around Diablo's room first. Staff Heal (29) drops fairly early, our first one. Now the rogue finally has a means to heal herself, and so when her Mana Shield eventually fails, she opts not to renew it and use the heal staff instead.
By calculating experience points, we figure that the Warrior would need to solo 60 Blood knights and co-op 60 Advocates to level up. Since this isnât reasonable - what with the gear he has, the time it would take, (to give you an idea, it took the warrior one full circle around the track around diabloâs room to kill one blood knight with the bow of the bear) and the resources it would consume - we decide to let the Rogue with her LWB (magical, but unidâd) romp and stomp. And that she does, clearing all of sixteen except for room four (Diablo's) in less than two hours and using only one small red and two small blue pots.
Now weâve been hoping for something decent to drop, but the foes on sixteen just won't cooperate; our best drop is the elixir Magic. So our last three ID's are used as follows:
ID#1 = ammy that fell from a snake on Hell 13 = of Heavens +13! Holy crap!
ID#2 = broadsword that Graywar the Slayer dropped on Hell 14 = Obsidian/Vigor. Meh.
ID#3 = discuss options. Could do a new hat, could do tower shield ac 19, or the small shield that dropped in Cats (hoping for fast block), or the LWB (possible Massive/Swifty), or a crap ring that dropped from a goat on Caves Nine....but we end up Iding the Splint Mail that dropped on Hell 16 from a BK; any prefix on this mail would be useless vs. Diablo but any suffix would be good (if itâs + magic the rogue can use it for more virtual hps vs. Diablo). Since Jarulf says that the chance of getting a suffix on a magic item is almost 80% it seems like a good bet. We get a mail of precision +19! Fantastic!
We throw the levers to open room four and the Rogue paces the room, sniping all foes (using the method described in the 4+ tactics post). When she thinks she's got them all, she burns an infravision scroll to double check. Nope, two more advos waiting. Kill them. Burn another infra scroll. Dang! One more advo! Kill it and pace the four sides. Using her Infravision the Rogue can just barely observe Diablo and see that no bodyguards remain, not in any direction.
RustRogue tucks herself into the corner underneath stairs. RustWarr puts on the mail of precision and the shield of skill and goes to walk into the fourth room - looking for any remaining bodyguard - and to activate Diablo. It's official, no other bodyguards remain, just Diablo. The Warrior leads him back to the staircase where the rogue and warrior carve on him. After about twenty seconds, the Dark Lord dies (and drops a Book of Phasing). Hurrah!
Here are the Rogue's stats prior to Diablo:
RustRogue (Attika) clevel 23 exp 2758064
Str 50(55)
Mag 28(33)
Dex 106(111)
Vit 20(43)
Life 142
Mana 86
AC 44, To hit 105%, Dam 23-31, Res 53/59/35
Crimson Helm, Obsidian Sword of Vigor, Armor of Jaguar, Small Shield, Amulet of Moon +5, White Ring +18%, unidâd ring.
RustWarr (weakwarrior) clevel 22 exp 1960503
Str 98(111)
Mag 15(28)
Dex 60(102)
Vit 26(39)
Life 219
AC 61, To-hit 122%, damage 29-41, Res 0/0/0.
Mail of precision, helm of the eagle, fine sword, shield of skill, ring of the tiger, steel ring, ammy of the heavens.
Level 16 had 6072 gold drop, and tad more inside the fourth chamber which we couldnât gather and didnât record. Total Gold that fell during the adventure: 75,147.
As far as foes go we had a pretty easy draw. Starting from dlvl 7 the only (non-boss) foes we faced with mlvl twice the dlvl were the guardians on 11.
That's the end of the story, hope you enjoyed it, and hope it gives you some tactics for winning your IM games. Good luck and good hunting!
Finished June 5, 2009.
Started May 22, 2009
Town Purchases: ID scroll, Small Shield 5, Cape 4
Church One: standard foes. Drops: books Heal Other, HO, Holy Bolt, Charged Bolt, and Firebolt. Shrines: Purifying Spring (PS), Sacred.
RustWarr clevel 3; RustRogue clevel 2.
In a preview of things to come, lag eats our book of Firebolt and one book of Heal Other. The Purifying Spring this level is entirely wasted, since neither one of us puts points to magic to read any books. The warrior lagged out at end of level, thus losing his first-game blocking bonus, but a rogue, especially Attika, can solo Leo so itâs not the end of the world.
Church Two: Skeleton Archers, Corpse Captains, Fallen Ones, Burning Dead. Drops: Bladeskin = Hunters Bow, Deadeye = Small Axe, Butcher = Leather Armor10. Shrines: Secluded.
RustWarr clevel 5; RustRogue clevel 5.
The archers, being merely Skeleton Archers, are more a nuisance than a danger. Bladeskin is gunned down by the Rogue and Deadeye is cornered and smashed by the warrior. Since the warrior has lost his blocking bonus, the Butcher is locked outside a room and as he paces about is bowed down by the rogue and warrior (stairtrapping is forbidden in this tournament).
Church Three: Horrors, Black Death, Skeleton Captains, Corpse Bows. Drops: Ring (chest), Books Inferno, Town Portal, Firewall, Skullfire = Buckler4, Leo = Full Helm. Shrines: Purifying Spring and Secluded.
RustWarr clevel 8; RustRogue clevel 7.
Early in the level we meet up with some very tough Horrors backed up by a telltale glow. After finishing off the first wave, we give the area a wide berth and try to complete the rest of the level, avoiding them. The warrior bows down Black Deaths and smacks down melee skeleton foes, and the rogue takes out the Corpse Bows. Rustrogue opts to put all lups into Dexterity, so no books are read and the second Purifying Spring is as wasted as the first.
When nearly the entire level is done, the rogue (clevel 7) activates Leo and uses the Hunter's bow to run and gun him down. The battle takes 12 minutes, and was nearly over before it started because RustRogue alt-tabbed out of the game to activate the Hypercam and by the time she returned to the game, Leo had smacked her twice and she had a mere sliver of life remaining. She ran and used a heal scroll, took one more hit during the long battle, and Leo drops a Full Helm AC7. Since the warrior will be using it anyway, we decide to ID it (maybe it will be glasses!). We end up with a Crimson Helm. Hmmm. Should we ever get to Lazarus and then Hell 16, this will be very handy. Until then it is of dubious value.
With Rogue only having magic 15 and no room on each character due to potions and scrolls and such, we leave behind books TP, Inferno, and Firewall.
Since RustRogue was going to put 25 points to magic anyway to use a phase scroll for a Diablo park (if it came to that) maybe we should have kept the book firewall (requirement 27 magic). With a warrior in the group items last longer so itâs not as necessary to stockpile.
Church Four: Devil Kin, Horrors, Blinks, Flesh Clan Archers, Horror Archers, Bone Gashers. Drops: Book TK, Staff Flash, Ring (inside a room), Moonbender = Hard Leather12, Spineeater = Morning Star. Shrines: Secluded.
RustWarr clevel 10; RustRogue clevel 10.
Somewhat tough level, with all the archers present. Interestingly, both of us level up to 10 on the exact same kill while bowing an opposing Devil Kin across a grating. Warrior bows down Moonbender across a grating. Spineeater, as usual, gets stuck and is bowed down by the warrior as well.
With all the damage we are taking, Rogue puts two points to magic and reads book Heal Other. That way at least the warrior can get some healing. Pity no staff Heal or HO has dropped yet. As we get ready to exit the level, we spy a ring on the ground of a room weâve already cleared. We know it could be garbage, but decide to ID it anyway. It's a steel ring +14%! Nice! The warrior had been holding his Dex at 55 (in case a mysterious shrine shows) so this boost makes him feel more secure.
Catacombs Five: Overlords, Bone Gashers, Stalkers, Flesh Clan Mace. Drops: ring (rat), Broadsword, Book HO. Shrines: Creepy and Goat.
RustWarr clevel 11; RustRogue clevel 11.
Ambush! We enter the level, both in s/s setup, and are attacked by a trio of rats! We take minor damage and finish them, then clear the room they emerged from next to the stairs. Overlords are tough but the Rogue softens them up nicely with arrows. The stalkers are purely the warrior's department, while both defend against the Mace goats. Warrior solos versus rats.
When the level is cleared we load the warrior to hit the Goat Shrine - Religious. Although nothing to write home about, it does repair our main bow (the Hunter's Bow that dropped on Two from Bladeskin) to 40/40.
Cats Six: Flesh Clan Mace, Fire Clan Bow, Bone Gashers, Stone Clan Archers. Drops: book HO, Composite Bow. Shrines: Sacred and PS.
RustWarr clevel 13; RustRogue clevel 13.
Tough level! The Goat archers really have us hopping, as the Warrior tries to get them to freeze (which Fire Clan won't do readily) while our Rogue bows them down. It's a good thing when the PS shows about 3/4 of the way through the level - now we have unlimited HO's for the warrior, who proceeds to solo the remaining 1/4 of the level, rogue playing doctor. At the end of the level there is a large room filled with goat archers. The warrior stands on one side of the door till all the archers are shooting at him and then switches to the other side since the goat archer AI causes them to take one step out of the room during which time the warrior can get a swing in (this happens only on one side of the door). This is working o.k. until one archer slips by the warrior and gets out of the room. The warrior canât chase this goat down since this will let the rest of the goats out of the room and the rogue canât kill the goat since she had gone to refill mana at the purifying spring, so the warrior takes fire from this goat while continuing with his switch side of the door method of killing the goats. At this point the rogueâs job gets more dicey and the rogue starts healing the warrior from across a wall (the warriorâs position is always on one or the other side of the door) since there is no time to walk to and from the warrior. Eventually the room is cleared and the pesky goat cornered and killed. No pots used on this room, though at times it was close.
Just prior to entering Seven we are trading items, and our 40/40 Hunters Bow lags out. Sigh. We leave 10k of gold on the floor of six.
Cats Seven: Stone Clan Archers, Acid Beasts, Winged-Demons. Drops: Staff Firebolt, Broadsword, Full Helm. Shrines: Mysterious, Abandoned, Spiritual, Murky, and Goat.
RustWarr clevel 14; RustRogue clevel 14.
Another fairly tough level, with archers and ranged spitters both. The Mysterious Shrine shows early, and our warrior has been leaving his Dex at 55 in just such a hope. He touches it and it hits - Magic! Doh! When the Abandoned shows later, we have the Warrior hit it to get his Dex up to 56.
When the level is cleared we trip the Spiritual Shrine, and then load the Warrior once again to hit the Goat shrine. Good Lord, it's a Glimmering! We end up with: Sword of Illness, Helm of Eagle, White ring (from Church Three), Crimson Ring (from the rat on Cats Five), fine broadsword (from seven), Broadsword of Might (from five), Hard Leather of Thieves (from Moonbender), Leather of Jaguar (from Butcher), Composite Bow of Bear (Cats six), Bronze Saber (early Church drop), and Buckler of Skill +10 (from Skullfire). Wow! (The rest of the inventory area was filled with potions in hopes of an Eldritch Shrine.)
The Crimson ring means that -- paired with the Crimson Full Helm -- we can pump fire resists up past 50%! The White ring means the scouting rogue will no longer be stunned by dog spit (or, should we reach later levels, witch attacks!). The fine Broadsword actually does two more max damage than a Bastard Sword (and almost the same min damage) and has a slight +7% to hit modifier, which pleases the warrior.
We decide that the Warrior will enter future levels with the Crimson Helm and Crimson ring readied in case of Lava dudes and switch to the Eagle Helm if no fire-attackers are present. We drop 5k of money and leave behind a book Holy Bolt, Hard Leather, and bronze Saber - no room.
Cats Eight: Horned Demons and Mud Runners. Drops: Ammy, Rags, short sword, book Mana Shield! Shrines Murky, Eerie, and Abandoned.
RustWarr clevel 15; RustRogue clevel 15.
This level really keeps everyone on their toes, what with all the charging going on. The warrior gets bashed once good while holding a door set, and rogue similarly has one bad charge attack connect while scouting. Otherwise we dodge or set well, and take little or no damage. The Rogue stays in s/s setup the entire level. Near the end of the level, a long battle bow (vanilla) drops - the rogue is very happy! Then a book MS drops! Yowsah!
The Eerie shrine goes to the rogue, pushing her magic to 19, and when she lups she bumps it one more point to twenty. She won't lup again this level to reach Magic 25 and read the MS book anyway, so the rest of the points go to dexterity to use the LBB well. Still, sheâs very pleased.
The Abandoned shrine goes to the Warrior, which bumps his Dex to 58, and when he lups again he keeps two points in reserve until the level is complete and all shrines are accounted for - then he maxes his Dexterity. Now the warrior is happy too. (Note: had Fire mace goats or tougher shown earlier, we were agreed that warrior would max Dex earlier than this. Since they didnât we didnât.)
We drop 6984 gold and continue.
Caves Nine: Illusion Weavers, Mud Men, Night Clan Archers. Drops: ring (goat), crown (inside a room), Claymore.
RustWarr clevel 16; RustRogue clevel 16.
We pause after entering the level, waiting for an ambush to develop. One Illusion Weaver shows up, and gives us a devil of a time trying to kill it. Then no others appear, so we start the level, quickly finding a fence and gate where we set. Opening it, nothing happens. The rogue scouts, finding the other two foe types.
Interestingly, at one point we have to set on an island in the center of a lava lake, and when goat archers are activated by the rogue she flees back onto the island where the warrior is set. For unknown reasons the goats walk, and walk, and WALK until they even try crossing the bridge onto the island, whereupon the warrior kills them as they attempt to cross! Why they don't stop earlier and fire on the warrior or rogue - I mean, we ARE on an island, no walls at all, nothing to hide behind - is a complete mystery to us. But we won't look a gift-horse in the mouth, and continue to activate and crush the goat archers. Bizarre. When the rogue lups she puts five points to magic and reads the book of MS. We drop 3792 gold (and the claymore, no room) after completing the level.
Caves Ten: Blood Stones, Frost Chargers. Drops: Book Stone Curse.
RustWarr clevel 17; RustRogue clevel 16.
Rustwarrior is glad for the fire resists as Blood Stones make their first appearance. Then, with minimal scouting, the Mana-shield-using Rogue finds a very good set point, one that shelters the warrior from both charges and lava throws, and we work the level from this place. RustRogue uses four small blues to recharge MS/heal the warrior, and then lags out early in the session. When she returns, she's got no MS and not enough mana to cast it unless she drinks again. We decide that the set is good enough that weâll risk her going without, and the warrior gives up his Crimson ring to the scout so she can avoid being stunned. By carefully scouting and nursing all our resources, the level costs the warrior only one small red.
Prior to entering Caves 11 the rogue drops the Crimson ring so that the warrior can enter with major fire resists, as he did the previous level. The rogue immediately drops out of game, and the crimson ring lags out. Argh! We leave 4143 gold and the book SC (no room).
Caves Eleven: Cave Vipers (75) and Guardians (54). Drops: saber, spiked club, and Fangspeir = Plate armor.
RustWarr clevel 18; RustRogue clevel 17.
This starts out as a hellaciously tough level. Our stairs onto the level are somewhat centrally located, and no matter which direction we scout we draw foes, and we have no set from which to defend. In one tense battle four Guardians show up and we end up drinking six times (five small reds for the warrior and one small red for the rogue) and almost wipe. The foes are attacking both the warrior (game creator) AND the rogue, and we are getting beaten to a pulp. We decide to (desperation) ID the ammy that dropped on Eight and end up with an amulet of the Moon +5 all. Not bad, though we were hoping for fire resists again.
Then we hit an edge to the map and find a tolerable set next to a lava river, one that has three funnel areas that force foes into a path only two tiles wide each time. We set the warrior at nearly the end of this run, and then have the rogue ready the Composite Bow of the Bear. This way, as the foes are running toward our set spot, the rogue may knock them back and perhaps kill (or at least soften) them before they reach the warrior.
And we locate this weak set point none too soon as Fangspier and company show early. The scouting rogue locates a double gated area and spots a glow behind a wall; first she checks for Guardians, then she draws the minions to the first gate and calls for the warrior who comes and bows them down. Then she goes and finds Fangspeir (near the second gate), draws the boss to the first gate, and calls for the warrior again. As the warrior enters the screen - POOF! - the boss teleports across the closed door (on the rogue's computer screen) and wallops the rogue upside the head! We flee to the set position, and the rogue brings up the Bear Bow and guns down the snake boss. (On RustWarrâs screen the gate was open. In the future we made sure the rogue was far from the gate before the warrior approached.) A plate drops. We are so shaken by the beating we are taking so early in this level that we decide to ID it (even the rogue will be able eventually to use it, since an ammy of the moon +5 has dropped - assuming it doesnât lag out too.) It ends up being SAINTLY +129% on a plate AC 47, pushing our Warrior up to total AC 141! This plate gives the warrior maximum useful ac against all future foes except for knight bosses (where it is close) and Diablo himself.
And after this, the rest of the level goes like clockwork. The snakes can't touch the warrior, and the Guardians oblige the rogue by being knocked back and dying while assaulting our set point. After the atrocious start - where we used over ten potions and scrolls upon entering the level - we use no other resources this level. Go figure. We drop 4779 gold at the end of this level.
Caves Twelve: Flayed Ones, Pit Beasts, Cave Vipers. Drops: tower shield17, tower shield19, Elixir Dex, Club, Ammy (snake), Greatsword (on floor of corral), Long War Bow (snake)!
RustWarr clevel 19; RustRogue clevel 19.
We enter the level and find a wall parallel to a fence. We set the warrior at the corner of the wall, and send the rogue out through a one tile walkway to scout, wall on one side, fence on the other. Pit beasts immediately show on our side of the fence, and the warrior destroys them as they line up in the walkway to attack. We find a gate to the fence, and then we discover it encloses a HUGE section of the map, fences on two sides, corner walls bounding the other two sides. We secure it easily - it has only one snake inside guarding it! From this large gated area the scout goes out to bring back hordes of foes. When she returns, enemies in hot pursuit, she slams the door to isolate them outside (none have a door-opening AI). The warrior hides behind a wall while the rogue kills all the dogs, then the warrior steps out to bow down all remaining foes. In this way, at cost of only one small red (bad scouting, which of course happens immediately after the warrior and rogue agree that this level is so easy no resources will be expended) we clear the entire level. At the very end of the dungeon a magical LWB drops from a snake, and the rogue's next lup goes to strength so that she can use it. We decide not to ID it yet - we are down to our last four ID's - until we see what foes await us in Hell. The tower shield ac 19 pushes the warrior to AC 147.
For the record, the Rogue up to this point has been using a vanilla long battle bow or a composite bow of the bear, leather armor of the Jaguar, a Helm of the Eagle, and White Ring. The warrior has on a Saintly Plate (ac47 + 129%), a Crimson Full Helm7, a Tower Shield19, a steel ring (+14%), an ammy of the Moon +5, and a fine broadsword - his second ring slot is still empty. We drop 5517 gold and prepare for Hell.
Hell Thirteen: Guardians (over 75) and Gold Vipers (over 65). Drops: Elix Dex, Elix Magic, Tower Shield 20 (indestr.), Axe, Buckler, Short War Bow, Staff Guardian, Ammy (snake). Shrines: Cauldron - Hidden; Cauldron - Religious.
RustWarr clevel 20; RustRogue clevel 20.
This level is like a repeat of Caves 11 (except that the vipers are a harder bunch but so are we). Again we start poorly, with three directions we can move from the stairs, and all three have foes, and we have no beginning set position. We go through our last heal scrolls, and the rogue drinks two small blues to heal the warrior at one point. With the situation still bad we finally find that one direction dead ends and we sequester the warrior there. Then it's up to the rogue to go back to the stairs and scout around them in the other two directions, solo-killing Guardians while bringing single snakes back for the warrior to lup on. And so we try to clear the entire level. The Warrior lags out at the start and comes back to his set position. Then, over 3/4 of the way into the level, the rogue lags out and the warrior (host) loses bnet connection so she cannot rejoin. Moreover, the bow of the bear, the only bow the warrior could use, is on the rogue at this point. The warrior clears the rest of the level and hits the two cauldrons, but then has to leave behind a number of items since space is at a premium: two magical tower shields (including the AC 20 indestructible one â he has a magic ac 19 shield with normal durability), the most recent buckler, the short war bow, and the staff Guardian all are abandoned. Besides the fact that we both lupped and no one died (due to foes or traps), the only bright spot is that the Cauldron which was Religious repairs the warrior's fine Broadsword (along with the Hidden Cauldron) to 56/56 dur. When the Rogue dropped out at level's end, the warrior uses 3-4 small reds while finishing the level (mostly due to the Guardianâs inferno whilst meleeing them). We drop 10603 gold and prepare for Hell 14.
Hell Fourteen: Doom Guards, Lava Maws. Drops: Longbow, Elix Magic, Skullcap, book Charged Bolt, Graywar = Broadsword. Shrines: Cauldron = Magical.
RustWarr clevel 21; RustRogue clevel 21.
After the disaster of Thirteen, Fourteen is a welcome relief. The Lava Maws are a pain to deal with, but you can dodge most of their spit and the scout has the White Ring on and so cannot be stunned. Rustwarrior has AC 147 and is fairly immune to their melee attack. The Doom Guards walk in straight lines and can be softened up by the Rogue prior to their engaging the warrior, so we simply move from one good set point to another and complete the entire level without incident. Graywar's glow shows up behind a wall, and the rogue teases him out and then switches to her Bow of the Bear to put some major hurt on him before he attacks the warrior. The Broadsword he drops looks nice, but since weâve already got one broadsword idâd already, weâll hold off on idâing it. Scout drank once the entire level; warrior none. We drop 7395 gold at the end of the level.
Hell Fifteen: Hellspawn, Snow Witches, Azure Drakes. Drops: Book Flame Wave, Book Golem, Short War Bow, Scimitar, Ring (snake), Cape, Elix Str, Greatsword, Small Shield 5, Short Staff, Red Vex = Staff Phasing, Black Jade = Rags, Laz = Claymore, Bloodlust = Scimitar. Shrines: Cauldron = Magical, Cauldron = Quiet.
RustWarr clevel 22; RustRogue clevel 22.
We start the level cautiously and activate a single Azure Drake - the warrior chops him up nicely. Then comes a Hellspawn and the Rogue guns her down without difficulty. Then a Snow Witch shows up, and we know we have our three foes for the level and are set.
The rogue scouts and brings back all snakes to the warrior; we team kill the snakes due to the experience cap. Snow Witches, if they 'sit duck', are held by the rogue and killed by the warrior with a bow. Hellspawn we again try to have sit duck and the warrior merely tags while the rogue kills then (again, the experience cap a factor here). The real mess here is that the only bow the warrior can use is a bow of the bear; so after all those witches are âsitting duckedâ the warrior moves them out of position on each tag. Eventually, we get "lucky" and a nonmagical short bow drops so tagging becomes simpler. A snake drops a ring fairly early on - we have a ring slot open in the warrior's inventory, and since it can't be cursed, we go for the ID and end up with a ring of the Tiger +50. Decent.
We clear the Laz surrounds. The rogue taunts out Red Vex and she and the warrior kill her - Staff of Phasing, bah. For some reason BlackJade is active and heads north to join Laz, both sensing the warrior who is holding just to the North of the chamber. The Rogue enters from the South and guns them both down. Rags and a Claymore, bleh. Lusty shows later and drops a scimitar and our luck is complete - all the boss drops are lousy and going to be left behind, along with 9576 gold.
With three ID and five res remaining, we prepare for Hell Sixteen.
Hell Sixteen: standard foes. Drops: Sir Gorash = Axe, splint Mail, book CL, Broad Axe, Staff Heal (29), Elix Magic, Staff TK, Staff Fireball(can't use; too much magic).
Stairs are above and to right of Diablo's room - rogue clears the track around Diablo's room first. Staff Heal (29) drops fairly early, our first one. Now the rogue finally has a means to heal herself, and so when her Mana Shield eventually fails, she opts not to renew it and use the heal staff instead.
By calculating experience points, we figure that the Warrior would need to solo 60 Blood knights and co-op 60 Advocates to level up. Since this isnât reasonable - what with the gear he has, the time it would take, (to give you an idea, it took the warrior one full circle around the track around diabloâs room to kill one blood knight with the bow of the bear) and the resources it would consume - we decide to let the Rogue with her LWB (magical, but unidâd) romp and stomp. And that she does, clearing all of sixteen except for room four (Diablo's) in less than two hours and using only one small red and two small blue pots.
Now weâve been hoping for something decent to drop, but the foes on sixteen just won't cooperate; our best drop is the elixir Magic. So our last three ID's are used as follows:
ID#1 = ammy that fell from a snake on Hell 13 = of Heavens +13! Holy crap!
ID#2 = broadsword that Graywar the Slayer dropped on Hell 14 = Obsidian/Vigor. Meh.
ID#3 = discuss options. Could do a new hat, could do tower shield ac 19, or the small shield that dropped in Cats (hoping for fast block), or the LWB (possible Massive/Swifty), or a crap ring that dropped from a goat on Caves Nine....but we end up Iding the Splint Mail that dropped on Hell 16 from a BK; any prefix on this mail would be useless vs. Diablo but any suffix would be good (if itâs + magic the rogue can use it for more virtual hps vs. Diablo). Since Jarulf says that the chance of getting a suffix on a magic item is almost 80% it seems like a good bet. We get a mail of precision +19! Fantastic!
We throw the levers to open room four and the Rogue paces the room, sniping all foes (using the method described in the 4+ tactics post). When she thinks she's got them all, she burns an infravision scroll to double check. Nope, two more advos waiting. Kill them. Burn another infra scroll. Dang! One more advo! Kill it and pace the four sides. Using her Infravision the Rogue can just barely observe Diablo and see that no bodyguards remain, not in any direction.
RustRogue tucks herself into the corner underneath stairs. RustWarr puts on the mail of precision and the shield of skill and goes to walk into the fourth room - looking for any remaining bodyguard - and to activate Diablo. It's official, no other bodyguards remain, just Diablo. The Warrior leads him back to the staircase where the rogue and warrior carve on him. After about twenty seconds, the Dark Lord dies (and drops a Book of Phasing). Hurrah!
Here are the Rogue's stats prior to Diablo:
RustRogue (Attika) clevel 23 exp 2758064
Str 50(55)
Mag 28(33)
Dex 106(111)
Vit 20(43)
Life 142
Mana 86
AC 44, To hit 105%, Dam 23-31, Res 53/59/35
Crimson Helm, Obsidian Sword of Vigor, Armor of Jaguar, Small Shield, Amulet of Moon +5, White Ring +18%, unidâd ring.
RustWarr (weakwarrior) clevel 22 exp 1960503
Str 98(111)
Mag 15(28)
Dex 60(102)
Vit 26(39)
Life 219
AC 61, To-hit 122%, damage 29-41, Res 0/0/0.
Mail of precision, helm of the eagle, fine sword, shield of skill, ring of the tiger, steel ring, ammy of the heavens.
Level 16 had 6072 gold drop, and tad more inside the fourth chamber which we couldnât gather and didnât record. Total Gold that fell during the adventure: 75,147.
As far as foes go we had a pretty easy draw. Starting from dlvl 7 the only (non-boss) foes we faced with mlvl twice the dlvl were the guardians on 11.
That's the end of the story, hope you enjoyed it, and hope it gives you some tactics for winning your IM games. Good luck and good hunting!
Finished June 5, 2009.
