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10-31-2004, 03:41 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-31-2004, 05:27 PM by vmxa.)
I just finished (yesterday) the secret cow level for hell (SP) as a Druid.
I am not sure how soon I will jump into another character, but I have use pally to around L33 and a barb through NM. I am not wondering if I should try a Necro or Amazon and if one of them what flavor it should take.
Just looking for anyone to drop in their two cents. This is 1.10 BTW.
I was shocked by the way at how Baal went down without a fight. My bear never came into the battle and Baal never hit me as near as I could tell. We were toe to toe and my merc was chilling him. He never ran away, never knocked me back, nor used any spells?
In NM and Normal Baal ran some, blasted me and my bear back, chilled us and was at least a bit of a struggle. I was Level 85. No real god gear. I was using "Bonehew" orge axe with two sockets. I used AMN and ELD in the sockets.
BTW in the cow level my merc was so worthless I finally fired him. Just would not stay out of the crowd and was killed over and over. L84 Iron Wolf, I hired a L71 rogue, hoping it would hang back.
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I'm guessing this was a wolf druid. It isn't similar to either necromancers or amazons, so not much help there. (are you saying you're going to play as an amazon or necromancer or that you don't want to play as them?) I like those characters too.
Amazons all seem to play in the same general way except for spearazons or tankers, in that they satnd back, use mercenaries, valkyries, and decoys for keeping monsters off, and attack away with ranged spells. Lightning fury is awsome for killing big groups of monsters (maybe the best spell for big groups), you will need some way to get mana though, plague javalin kills slowly but has a very low mana cost, strafe is nicer for smaller groups, Freexzing arrow also needs a lot of mana if you use it for damage but is good for stopping monsters, I've never used multishot or the fire arrowsso I don't know how they are. All the elemental skills should have a high pierce chance to go with them. Valkyries are nice for a very high hit damage absorber. If you play mainly with lightning charged strike is good for killing bosses or bi single monsters in general.
Necromancers generally go either summoning, bone, or poison spells. Summoners kill at a medium speed, but are usually very safe. They use skeletons which are very poweful, and some extra skills that depend on the chharacter such as corpse explosion, skeleton mages, revives, dim vison, and others. Poison necromancers and bone necromancers I haven't played much so I don't really knowhow they work. For all of them corpse explosion is great for extra damage, and urses like decrepify are alswys useful. Clay golem slows now, so a lot of people use clay golem and decrepify to keep bosses moving rally slowly.
As for the Baal experience, Baal has more trouble attacking when slowed than all other bosses, since he goes much more slowly and gets put in hit recovery easily. It's easiest to see with a ecromancer with decrepify, I have a summoner who is running nightmare Baal who usually looses at most 1 skeletons against him thanks to decrepify, cold, and clay golem, while against Diablo I always have tyo make trips for more skeletons. It is very strange.
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Thanks for the response. Yes I intend to go with Zon or Necro. One of things that I was worried about for a Bowazon is normal Duriel.
All of those tombs could be a rough place and then you get into that small room with Big D.
I would suspect either of those characters could have some trouble.
And yes it was a wolve. The easiest character I have used so far. It can stand back and let the summons do most of the work or jump in. Mostly I would do the fighting, except for FE monsters.
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I have sometimes noticed a slight glitch in Baal's programming where you can freeze him in place and he can't do anything to you. He'll still go through the motions of attacking and casting spells but it doesn't have any effect, even if it looks grapically like a direct hit.
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vmxa,Oct 31 2004, 11:26 AM Wrote:Thanks for the response. Yes I intend to go with Zon or Necro. One of things that I was worried about for a Bowazon is normal Duriel.
All of those tombs could be a rough place and then you get into that small room with Big D.
I would suspect either of those characters could have some trouble.
And yes it was a wolve. The easiest character I have used so far. It can stand back and let the summons do most of the work or jump in. Mostly I would do the fighting, except for FE monsters.
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Amazons do seem to have a harder time starting out. If you have plague javalin, use it for some area damage, if you have charged strike, it helps with Duriel. During the earlier levels you just have to be smart with the skills. Later levels are much easier once you get the main killing spells like strafe and lightning fury. Duriel is the big pain, Diablo also can be tricky, but if you stay at the edge of the screen compared to him you can be soort of safe, Mephisto the moat trick always works if you need it.
Necromancers seem like they would have an easier time at the beginning. I have played as a summoner and the skeletons kill everything early on except act bosses, and if you put your skills points in better than I did those might not be a problem. Bone and poison I haven't played as, but it seems like bone spear and/or teeth can kill the skeletons pretty well in the tombs and Duriel may be ableto get bonewalled in. Poison does seem like a pain early on before level 30 and poison nova, although if you use corpse explosion and a lot of mana crowds might be easier.
I may be dead, but I'm not old (source: see lavcat)
The gloves come off, I'm playing hardball. It's fourth and 15 and you're looking at a full-court press. (Frank Drebin in The Naked Gun)
Some people in forums do the next best thing to listening to themselves talk, writing and reading what they write (source, my brother)
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If you do a zon for duriel you might want to stick a amn + tir for Strength runeword in a blade or kriss get a deflecting shield and just poke at him. Get some poison +other elemental damage in your stash, because Duriel'sis life will go down by Crushing Blow, but with such puny damage he seems to last forever with a slice of life. You might also try some cleglaw gloves for extra safety. The runes you can cube from repeated countess.
It might even be valid strategy for a nec, who knows, but I have used it with a zon, because zons use javelin and daggers as 1 handed weapons pretty easily.
41 dwarf priest stormrage Perchard
low lvl undead warlock terenas Slyshadow
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I went with a Necro and it is way too easy. I am going to the Palace in Act II next, but have not even died so far. I have put all points in RS and one in SM.
I bought a wand that has + 3 RS and +1 for Clay Golem, so when I got to the level that I could use it (3 IIRC) it was a cake walk. Cast Clay and raise up skels to my current limit and smack em down.
Only close call was one room in the Maggot Lair where I was nearly pinned in. I had all full rejuvs to hold me until I got some help.
Don't know about Duriel yet, but I have 9 skels so it should not be real hard.
I have not even had to use any tricks like going to an easy spot to raise my army. With a merc and a Clay, I can raise them where I start the session.
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south,Nov 24 2004, 07:00 PM Wrote:get a deflecting shield[right][snapback]61133[/snapback][/right]
I'm not sure how much practical use that would be. Duriel uses Smite, Charge and Jab; I know smite and charge are unblockable, not sure about jab.
You don't know what you're talking about.
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[quote=vmxa,Nov 25 2004, 12:51 AM]
I went with a Necro and it is way too easy. I am going to the Palace in Act II next, but have not even died so far. I have put all points in RS and one in SM.
I bought a wand that has + 3 RS and +1 for Clay Golem, so when I got to the level that I could use it (3 IIRC) it was a cake walk. Cast Clay and raise up skels to my current limit and smack em down.
Only close call was one room in the Maggot Lair where I was nearly pinned in. I had all full rejuvs to hold me until I got some help.
Don't know about Duriel yet, but I have 9 skels so it should not be real hard.
Hi
I used to have all my Golem gear on the weapon switch and the Skelly gear on the normal setup. Try gambling for a +1 all summoning skills amu, IIRC you should be able to use it at l 15.
good karma
P.S. Try Ladder-HC, so much more interesting :ph34r:
Prophecy of Deimos
âThe world doesnât end with water, fire, or cold. Iâve divined the coming apocalypse. It ends with tentacles!â
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I got a +2 amulet, but you have to be level 30 for it. I gambel when I get excess cash. I forget now if I got it that way or not. I only buy the amulets right now as I use most of the cash to get one.
Later I will gamble fo rtwo items.
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lfd,Nov 25 2004, 02:14 AM Wrote:I'm not sure how much practical use that would be. Duriel uses Smite, Charge and Jab; I know smite and charge are unblockable, not sure about jab.
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Since when is charge unblockable? Only smite is an ITD of those 3
Elvish
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Elvish_Legion,Dec 1 2004, 04:12 AM Wrote:Since when is charge unblockable? Only smite is an ITD of those 3
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There's a difference between unblockable and ignores-target's-defence; however, this would seem to be irrelevant to the point as I can find nothing to back up my assertion that charge is unblockable. :-)
You don't know what you're talking about.
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