10-02-2003, 04:06 PM
Act 4 Normal
Ah, act 4 -- I've always liked act 4. Even if some of my characters can barely squeak through the chaos sanctuary on their own, it's always been one of my favorite challenges. And, for the first time in Skel's short life, he was challenged.
Right out of the gate, things started relatively easy. Once my rogue merc slew a few venom lords and provided me with a few mages, we were on our way, marching through a sea of leapers, casters, and the same venom lords. Thankfully, skeleton mages chew right through those annoying leapers, and my skeletons held the line against everything else that came their way. Izual was literally the third enemy I fought in the plains of despair. And, of course, Izzy was just Izzy -- I think I recast golly once, and never lost a warrior or mage, but the fight lasted about 10 minutes.
By the way, if no one has used clay golem in the patch, the "slows target" effect really becomes noticeable every once in a while. Any enemy that strikes my golem is slowed by about 30% -- Izzy took that blow and was also being hit by 2 cold shooting mages. Yeah, he was REALLY slow. And if it's slow, it's not a threat. J
The river was routine -- Heph is a piece of cake to a necromancer with lots of minions. He did require me to recast a few warriors, but the bodies were more than plentiful. What I really wanted from the hellforge was a diamond -- any diamond. Hell, I'd have been happy with a chipped or flawed. I got a nef rune, a perfect saph, some other junk, and no diamonds. Oh well. Already have 1 perfect and 1 flawless. Should easily have my 3D shield for hell (assuming I get there).
 Right at the gate of the CS was a lightning enchanted boss that finally gave my skels fits -- leaving me short of replacements for the first time I can remember. However, my mages and golem were more than sufficient to peg the bastard back to hell.
I decided to tackle de Seis first, since I expected him to give me the most trouble. Well, I did go through a lot of mana (he killed golly in one hit while I used the poor little clay lump to distract) but the threat level just wasn't there.
I save the Infector for last, and he DID give me trouble. He was FAST, much faster than I remember him, and his attacks stung hard. Also, he was the one of the three seal bosses who seemed to spawn with enough minions -- both the vizier and de seis had only 4 minions each.
Anyways, the infector chewed my golem and set on my mages very quickly. I ported to town and came back through the WP, but he chewed through my replacement army AGAIN, forcing me to run back almost out of the CS. That, however, was his undoing. His minions got strung out and separated (although that did cost me my two remaining mages, and me with no bodies left to raise more). Even with no mage support, fighting his minions, and then the infector himself, one on one was no trouble. I had 5 mages (my max), 1 warrior, a level 1 clay golem, 1 level 32 rogue merc, and slvl 1 iron maiden when I tackled the big guy.
A couple mages survived for a few minutes, even through a fire nova or two (have I mentioned how glad I put a second point into summon resist, and how glad I am that my wand has +1 summoning tree?). Before Diablo had lost even a quarter of his life, however, the skeletons were all gone. My merc lasted longer -- past the half way point (according to D's life bar). However, eventually she took the brunt of one of D's lightning breath attacks, and that put her down. And then, the unthinkable happened:
Diablo caught me in a bone prison! Me, with my sad little 4-6 damage on my wand, to-hit probably lower than 25%, no merc, no teleport, nothing but my sad little golem:)
And a town portal. The TP appeared outside the bone prison, but somehow, when I clicked on it, I appeared in town. Phew.
I took the WP to act one and rounded up a few mages before running up the river to continue the fight. Hey, it felt good, letting my boys get in a shot or two before D toasted them. After they were dead, it was down to just me and golly. Diablo ate a lot of golems. A lot. And, of course, only the ones he slapped into oblivion were useful to the cause. The others perished in a flame river or lightning attack, not reflecting any damage back.
Eventually, however, the big one dropped. He dropped a few rares (no keepers, mostly weapons) and spineripper. Hmm... Nice little dagger, but +1 skills just ain't enough. The other mods are all oriented to a poison dagger necromancer, really. Maybe I'll try that next :)
4 acts cleared end to end. Up next -- act 5. Hopefully I don't get bored to tears before the ancients and baal's minions (I hope those aren't the only interesting bits in the whole act!). All in all, I'm starting to enjoy this character more and more. Golly's starting to be so weak, I have to almost constantly reposition him. My mages are definitely becoming the focus, already. I'm saving up a few skill points -- probably add to my artillery count ASAP.
Skeletorr will see you in act 5.
gekko
Ah, act 4 -- I've always liked act 4. Even if some of my characters can barely squeak through the chaos sanctuary on their own, it's always been one of my favorite challenges. And, for the first time in Skel's short life, he was challenged.
Right out of the gate, things started relatively easy. Once my rogue merc slew a few venom lords and provided me with a few mages, we were on our way, marching through a sea of leapers, casters, and the same venom lords. Thankfully, skeleton mages chew right through those annoying leapers, and my skeletons held the line against everything else that came their way. Izual was literally the third enemy I fought in the plains of despair. And, of course, Izzy was just Izzy -- I think I recast golly once, and never lost a warrior or mage, but the fight lasted about 10 minutes.
By the way, if no one has used clay golem in the patch, the "slows target" effect really becomes noticeable every once in a while. Any enemy that strikes my golem is slowed by about 30% -- Izzy took that blow and was also being hit by 2 cold shooting mages. Yeah, he was REALLY slow. And if it's slow, it's not a threat. J
The river was routine -- Heph is a piece of cake to a necromancer with lots of minions. He did require me to recast a few warriors, but the bodies were more than plentiful. What I really wanted from the hellforge was a diamond -- any diamond. Hell, I'd have been happy with a chipped or flawed. I got a nef rune, a perfect saph, some other junk, and no diamonds. Oh well. Already have 1 perfect and 1 flawless. Should easily have my 3D shield for hell (assuming I get there).
 Right at the gate of the CS was a lightning enchanted boss that finally gave my skels fits -- leaving me short of replacements for the first time I can remember. However, my mages and golem were more than sufficient to peg the bastard back to hell.
I decided to tackle de Seis first, since I expected him to give me the most trouble. Well, I did go through a lot of mana (he killed golly in one hit while I used the poor little clay lump to distract) but the threat level just wasn't there.
I save the Infector for last, and he DID give me trouble. He was FAST, much faster than I remember him, and his attacks stung hard. Also, he was the one of the three seal bosses who seemed to spawn with enough minions -- both the vizier and de seis had only 4 minions each.
Anyways, the infector chewed my golem and set on my mages very quickly. I ported to town and came back through the WP, but he chewed through my replacement army AGAIN, forcing me to run back almost out of the CS. That, however, was his undoing. His minions got strung out and separated (although that did cost me my two remaining mages, and me with no bodies left to raise more). Even with no mage support, fighting his minions, and then the infector himself, one on one was no trouble. I had 5 mages (my max), 1 warrior, a level 1 clay golem, 1 level 32 rogue merc, and slvl 1 iron maiden when I tackled the big guy.
A couple mages survived for a few minutes, even through a fire nova or two (have I mentioned how glad I put a second point into summon resist, and how glad I am that my wand has +1 summoning tree?). Before Diablo had lost even a quarter of his life, however, the skeletons were all gone. My merc lasted longer -- past the half way point (according to D's life bar). However, eventually she took the brunt of one of D's lightning breath attacks, and that put her down. And then, the unthinkable happened:
Diablo caught me in a bone prison! Me, with my sad little 4-6 damage on my wand, to-hit probably lower than 25%, no merc, no teleport, nothing but my sad little golem:)
And a town portal. The TP appeared outside the bone prison, but somehow, when I clicked on it, I appeared in town. Phew.
I took the WP to act one and rounded up a few mages before running up the river to continue the fight. Hey, it felt good, letting my boys get in a shot or two before D toasted them. After they were dead, it was down to just me and golly. Diablo ate a lot of golems. A lot. And, of course, only the ones he slapped into oblivion were useful to the cause. The others perished in a flame river or lightning attack, not reflecting any damage back.
Eventually, however, the big one dropped. He dropped a few rares (no keepers, mostly weapons) and spineripper. Hmm... Nice little dagger, but +1 skills just ain't enough. The other mods are all oriented to a poison dagger necromancer, really. Maybe I'll try that next :)
4 acts cleared end to end. Up next -- act 5. Hopefully I don't get bored to tears before the ancients and baal's minions (I hope those aren't the only interesting bits in the whole act!). All in all, I'm starting to enjoy this character more and more. Golly's starting to be so weak, I have to almost constantly reposition him. My mages are definitely becoming the focus, already. I'm saving up a few skill points -- probably add to my artillery count ASAP.
Skeletorr will see you in act 5.
gekko
"Life is sacred and you are not its steward. You have stewardship over it but you don't own it. You're making a choice to go through this, it's not just happening to you. You're inviting it, and in some ways delighting in it. It's not accidental or coincidental. You're choosing it. You have to realize you've made choices."
-Michael Ventura, "Letters@3AM"
-Michael Ventura, "Letters@3AM"