Ok, time for another progress report on the adventures of Elemenara, my Frost Novaress, since she's just completed Act II and is about to begin Act III in Kurast
The early mid stages of Act II went quite well. Frost Nova really shone against the denizens of the tombs (espedially against all those greater mummies and their skeleton hordes). It did pretty well out in the deserts too, proving especially good against sand leapers (no annoying leaping away from this Sorcie - they were chilled and slain within a couple of hits !) and hordes of scarab demons. (I was a bit surprised that Elemenara seemed to do so well, given all the CB's they give out on being hit, but mostly she seemed to survive with fairly minor damage). Midway through the act after about my 9th or 10th countess run, she finally picked up a Eth, and got her Stealth Armour and this together with a Eth I cubed from 3 Nef's a bit and socketed in a helm, provided some much needed mana regen. The Palace Levels were ok, although proved a bit hairy, with Horror Archers smacking her quite badly before she could get in Frost Nova range. For some reason however, Frost Nova did not prove to be much effective in the Arcane Sanctuary - are the monsters there fairly cold resistant? In the end I switched to Fireball for much of the level. The Summoner proved to be pretty easily though.
Elemenara had a fairly easily run of the Seven tombs (although at times, mana still proved to be a bit of a problem) and then it was time for Duriel. Took a 315hp merc in to tank, staticed him early on, switched to fireballs later after his health was lowered substantially and ran for safety of a portal when he came charging at me after killing the merc. I had hoped that I might be able to use some Frost Nova to chill him and slow him down, but in the end, given I was finding I didn't have much time before Duriel killed my merc, I didn't use FN at all.
Survived without a death, so now it's on to Act III.
The early mid stages of Act II went quite well. Frost Nova really shone against the denizens of the tombs (espedially against all those greater mummies and their skeleton hordes). It did pretty well out in the deserts too, proving especially good against sand leapers (no annoying leaping away from this Sorcie - they were chilled and slain within a couple of hits !) and hordes of scarab demons. (I was a bit surprised that Elemenara seemed to do so well, given all the CB's they give out on being hit, but mostly she seemed to survive with fairly minor damage). Midway through the act after about my 9th or 10th countess run, she finally picked up a Eth, and got her Stealth Armour and this together with a Eth I cubed from 3 Nef's a bit and socketed in a helm, provided some much needed mana regen. The Palace Levels were ok, although proved a bit hairy, with Horror Archers smacking her quite badly before she could get in Frost Nova range. For some reason however, Frost Nova did not prove to be much effective in the Arcane Sanctuary - are the monsters there fairly cold resistant? In the end I switched to Fireball for much of the level. The Summoner proved to be pretty easily though.
Elemenara had a fairly easily run of the Seven tombs (although at times, mana still proved to be a bit of a problem) and then it was time for Duriel. Took a 315hp merc in to tank, staticed him early on, switched to fireballs later after his health was lowered substantially and ran for safety of a portal when he came charging at me after killing the merc. I had hoped that I might be able to use some Frost Nova to chill him and slow him down, but in the end, given I was finding I didn't have much time before Duriel killed my merc, I didn't use FN at all.
Survived without a death, so now it's on to Act III.