07-09-2003, 12:51 AM
Just got through NM too and my lvl 71 Trapsin is currently working her way through the Outer Cloister.
I've already maxed Fire Blast, Shock Web and Lightning Sentry, and I'm on my way maxing Charged Bolt Sentry as well. I've only spent three points in the Shadow Discipline tree since I want to have the highest possible trap damage I can get, so Claw Mastery, Bos and Weapon Block all got a point each.
Didn't really have much trouble with NM either. Had to turn the difficulty to Players 5 a few more times than in Normal, and as always, to Players 1 when doing the Act bosses, but apart from an initial shock when I entered the Bloody Foothills and saw Extra Fast Bramble Hulks chopping up my merc in seconds and then rushing towards me, I wasn't in any serious trouble. Had to turn the difficulty down to Players 3 till about half of Act 5 was finished and I could shop for a few +Trap skills Claws. I'll tell you, The Cunning Claw is an extremely rare sight in the shops. I must easily have covered 70-80 claws a minute as I dashed back and forth through the red portal, and it took me almost two hours to get two Cunning claws! :angry:
My gear really isn't anything spectacular. Got a +60 HP belt with 16% LR, a +43 Mana ring, another ring, rare one, with very minor resistances. My armor and boots are cheap gambled rares with semi-decent resists and a few other insignificant bonuses. I'm using Sander's Gloves and a pretty nice +17% Prismatic Circlet with +22 HP and a few other bonuses that, while nice, don't really benefit me. And then there's my very lucky amulet find, a perfect Chromatic (+30%) amulet with -4 mdt, and my dual +3 Trap claws. My lvl 67 HF Mercs entire equipment comes from NM Diablo, who kindly dropped me the Tal Rasha Death Mask and the unique Partizan, along with a pretty decent rare Serpentskin armor.
Now I was dreading Hell, reading so many nightmarish reports about how it's impossible to kill anything unless you have less than 10k+ dmg and impossible to survive without several kilo hit points and maxed resists and blocking, but Act 1 Hell on Players 6 isn't that bad at all. My lvl 26 Fireblast (1096-1368 dmg) and lvl 26 Lightning Sentry (1-2649 dmg) can deal with all normal enemies I've encountered so far relatively quickly, and even against the toughest and most highly resistant uniques, they've been enough to at least beat their regen. Corpsefire did take about 2 minutes worth of Lightning sentries to down, but that's about the trickiest encounter I've had yet. What I did notice was how extremely hard they hit. I have 1100 HP and Corpsefire could easily swipe 50% in one hit, he and his minions caught me by surprise the first time and killed me for the first time since Act 2 NM. The one boss ability I dread by far the most, is Extra Fast, anything that is slow enough to be taken out with hit and run tactics isn't a threat, but if they hit hard, are durable enough not to be stunned by anything I have, and are fast enough be all over you the instant I stop to set up a single trap, then I'm usually in serious trouble. Nothing else really scares me.
Considering that I haven't even gotten either of my two primary skills up to half of my projected end-game damage, I'd say they'll probably be enough to handle most things to come in latter acts, all except dual-immunes.
I've already maxed Fire Blast, Shock Web and Lightning Sentry, and I'm on my way maxing Charged Bolt Sentry as well. I've only spent three points in the Shadow Discipline tree since I want to have the highest possible trap damage I can get, so Claw Mastery, Bos and Weapon Block all got a point each.
Didn't really have much trouble with NM either. Had to turn the difficulty to Players 5 a few more times than in Normal, and as always, to Players 1 when doing the Act bosses, but apart from an initial shock when I entered the Bloody Foothills and saw Extra Fast Bramble Hulks chopping up my merc in seconds and then rushing towards me, I wasn't in any serious trouble. Had to turn the difficulty down to Players 3 till about half of Act 5 was finished and I could shop for a few +Trap skills Claws. I'll tell you, The Cunning Claw is an extremely rare sight in the shops. I must easily have covered 70-80 claws a minute as I dashed back and forth through the red portal, and it took me almost two hours to get two Cunning claws! :angry:
My gear really isn't anything spectacular. Got a +60 HP belt with 16% LR, a +43 Mana ring, another ring, rare one, with very minor resistances. My armor and boots are cheap gambled rares with semi-decent resists and a few other insignificant bonuses. I'm using Sander's Gloves and a pretty nice +17% Prismatic Circlet with +22 HP and a few other bonuses that, while nice, don't really benefit me. And then there's my very lucky amulet find, a perfect Chromatic (+30%) amulet with -4 mdt, and my dual +3 Trap claws. My lvl 67 HF Mercs entire equipment comes from NM Diablo, who kindly dropped me the Tal Rasha Death Mask and the unique Partizan, along with a pretty decent rare Serpentskin armor.
Now I was dreading Hell, reading so many nightmarish reports about how it's impossible to kill anything unless you have less than 10k+ dmg and impossible to survive without several kilo hit points and maxed resists and blocking, but Act 1 Hell on Players 6 isn't that bad at all. My lvl 26 Fireblast (1096-1368 dmg) and lvl 26 Lightning Sentry (1-2649 dmg) can deal with all normal enemies I've encountered so far relatively quickly, and even against the toughest and most highly resistant uniques, they've been enough to at least beat their regen. Corpsefire did take about 2 minutes worth of Lightning sentries to down, but that's about the trickiest encounter I've had yet. What I did notice was how extremely hard they hit. I have 1100 HP and Corpsefire could easily swipe 50% in one hit, he and his minions caught me by surprise the first time and killed me for the first time since Act 2 NM. The one boss ability I dread by far the most, is Extra Fast, anything that is slow enough to be taken out with hit and run tactics isn't a threat, but if they hit hard, are durable enough not to be stunned by anything I have, and are fast enough be all over you the instant I stop to set up a single trap, then I'm usually in serious trouble. Nothing else really scares me.
Considering that I haven't even gotten either of my two primary skills up to half of my projected end-game damage, I'd say they'll probably be enough to handle most things to come in latter acts, all except dual-immunes.
In my mind, my dreams are real. No one's concerned about the way I feel.