Gunter, the Barbarian Mage

[MongoJerry]

The Arcane Sanctuary was grueling. The Ghosts are immune to physical attacks and the hell clans are immune to fire. The toughest part was dealing with the Ghosts, because when they'd attack me or my mercenary from the side while we were on a narrow bridge, I couldn't start up a Firewall underneath them. When that happened, I'd coax the ghosts back to an area with a larger shelf where I could cast Firewall on them. Progress was slow, and it didn't help that I was unlucky and found the Summoner in the very last direction I looked.

In the Sanctuary, I found a Rising Sun amulet which gives +2 to fire skills and absorbs 60 fire damage (based on character level). This put me in an interesting conundrum. The Rising Sun amulet increases Gunter's Firewall damage by 150 points/second and the fire absorb is sure nice. But, if I wasn't wearing the 30% magic find amulet, maybe I wouldn't have found the Rising Sun amulet in the first place. I decided to keep wearing the magic find amulet for now and save the Rising Sun amulet for special occasions -- especially for use against end of act bosses where magic find doesn't matter. I may break it out in Act V if Gunter gets there to protect him against the Imps.

When I found the Summoner, I leap attacked onto his platform and spammed War Cry. The Summoner fell quickly. He can dish out the damage, but he can't take it. Also, the spammed War Cry held the hell clan minions at bay while I focused on the Summoner.

In the Canyon of the Magi, I found a damaged hyperion spear. I figured, "What the heck? Might as well spend my last imbue." When I did, my jaw dropped. +193% enhanced damage, +167 to attack rating, 3-8 cold damage, 4% life leech. That's better enhanced damage than 'Honor' and is in the upper range of what 'Passion' can give. I'm going to spend my second socket quest on it and socket it with a perfect emerald. That way, my mercenary can keep wearing the Vampire Gaze. If I end up wanting to socket it with something else later (e.g. a Mal rune), I have a Hel rune that I can use to remove the emerald. Now I just need a decent set of armor for my merc. I think for now, I'm just going to find a decent 3-socket armor and socket it with an Ort, Ral, and Thul to max out the mercenary's lightning, fire, and cold resistances until I find something better. I also have two +20 enhanced damage jewels that I'd like to find a way to use.



Gunter took a page out of Grizabella's playbook when fighting Duriel. He walked into Duriel's chamber, leap attacked past Duriel to keep Duriel from charging him, cast Battle Cry to decrease Duriel's damage by 47%, stayed right next to Duriel to keep from getting charged, and spammed his attacks. He had to go back to town once to refresh healing and mana potions, but otherwise, Duriel fell with no difficulties. He dropped a pair of Aldur's Advance battle boots (40% faster r/w, +50 life, +46% fire resist, and 10% damage taken goes to mana). I was quite happy about that and quickly switched my boots out. (I had found a lightning resist charm earlier, so my lightning resistance remains maxed even without the rare boots I was using before).


And so Gunter managed to free the fair city of Lut Gholein from the evil forces that had surrounded it. But the news was not all fair. Diablo had managed to free his brother Baal, the Lord of Destruction, from his imprisonment inside the mage Tal Rasha. Cain told Gunter that their next destination should be Kurast where rumors had reported that the city was under siege. Jehryn thanked Gunter for his services and asked the sea captain Meshif to take Gunter and Cain to Kurast. What would Gunter find there?