Devil in the Details Podcast - Episode 10

[Chesspiece_face]

Episode 10 of the Devil in the Details Podcast. Wherein we throw down the gloves on 1.03 and pick the gloves back up and slap each other around with them.



Mp3 Direct Download can be found Here!

[NotSoDarklord]

Great podcast as always. I was a little surprised to hear that the "Frag group" has encountered difficulties just after Skeleton King. Are you guys still playing a mostly Purist style? Having leveled my Witch Doctor this week to Hell difficulty on hardcore I can't imagine how much slower the progression must have been.

[Elric of Grans]

A lot of good discussion again.

Waller is definitely the attribute I have had the most trouble with on my Monk. Merely annoying to face with my Demon Hunter and Wizard, but a constant source of frustration with the Monk. Waller with Desecrator or Arcane hurts. It also seems very stupid that Waller is more powerful on Champions than it is on Rares, even though it does not look as though it were designed that way (smaller wall, less tactical use; coincidentally more annoying). I often start a Waller battle off being trapped between multiple walls, or inside a wall, but immediately focus on spreading the group, interrupting their timers so they do not all cast at the same time, and moving to somewhere with more room (assuming this is possible). I do not think one of these groups has killed my Monk yet, but they consistently poke at my limits.

I agree with Frag: if you are one-shotted by Arcane Sentry, your gear is wrong. My Demon Hunter can take a hit from one of them in Act II/Inferno and keep fighting, so your Monk sure as heck should be able to! I also agree with Frag (mostly) about unkillable Elites. Theoretically, there is no way known you could defeat a Hoard/Extra Health/Fast/Invulnerable Minions pack in a cave or sewer zone, but I have never seen that either I have never once seen a group I could not kill, unless I was not equipped to handle it. I have seen plenty of groups that would not have been fun to fight against and quit the game over (usually involving Invulnerable Minions), but not something I felt was 100% unkillable. Now, when two Elite packs spawn next to each other, I have seen situations that looked unwinnable, but neither pack individually was unkillable.

On the end-game, I am beginning to view it the similar to how Treesh described. Originally, I saw Inferno as Hell+1. Now, I see it as a largely irrelevant part of the game for farming top-end gear and throwing your character against absurd odds. A fine bit of fun when I want to turn my brain off and do something dull, but the fun in the game definitely ends long before you start Inferno.

[Chesspiece_face]

I agree with Frag: if you are one-shotted by Arcane Sentry, your gear is wrong.

Technically I wouldn't say I ever get one-shotted by Arcane Sentry. But for all intents and purposes it's equivalent. From my experience the way Arcane Sentry deals damage is that for every set of degrees the beam travels around the circle it checks if you are in contact and hits you with damage. What this means is that if you are standing still at the edge of the beam you might take 1 or 2 hits from it before it passes over you. If, however, you are standing directly on the origin point of the Sentry you will take many multiple hits essentially instantaneously. This isn't necessarily an issue in Act 1 Inferno when a tick of Arcane Sentry does 2.5k damage a hit. I can stand at the center (If I so desired) for a few seconds without going splat. In Act 3, when a tick from Arcane Sentry does 12-15k damage it's not feasible. Then you factor in other abilities like Waller, which we discussed can and will lock you in place for long periods, or Vortex which I also mentioned mobs tend to like to combo with Sentry and you can have what ends up being an instant kill scenario.

[Elric of Grans]

Yes, I agree on your observation there. It seems to deliver ticks of damage similar to the Wizard's beam spells, and you do seem to take more hits the closer you are. My Demon Hunter has taken one or two hits at the end and lived, but five or six from the origin would definitely slaughter her. Sorry, I misunderstood what you meant. I thought you were dead from one tick, which would be poor gearing for a Monk.

I have not found any Monk skills that allow escape, but when facing Wallers that do not have Desecrator or Arcane I find them easy to take out by getting closer. Even if they pop a wall between us, Crippling Strike passes through the wall. Probably a bug (like pre-1.0.3 Evasive Strike on the Demon Hunter), but for the moment it does at least allow you to hit them. Against Desecrator or Arcane, I use Lashing Tail Kick/Sweeping Armada. This creates space and messes up the timing on their abilities, allowing me to more easily manage the Walls, thereby reducing the difficulty of the mob (though, Desecrator and Arcane are both pretty hard on their own). I also use Dashing Strike/Flying Side Kick, which helps with positioning against Arcane/Desecrator (does nothing with Waller). With Desecrator, it positions me out of the pit and allows me to keep applying pressure; with Arcane, I use it to get into a position where manoeuvring the beam is easier.

[MonTy]

Great podcast as always. I was a little surprised to hear that the "Frag group" has encountered difficulties just after Skeleton King. Are you guys still playing a mostly Purist style?

Thanks for your comments on the show :)

Regarding Frag, he seems to find or craft his own gear. I'm trying to craft only with one of my HC chars but I'm finding it more frustrating than fun. There's Hardcore, and then there's Frag :P

[Frag]

Yes, we've done mostly purist play. All of our deaths, except two exceptions, have been because of bugs. Don't make the mistake of assuming that means we're playing perfectly. Just that we haven't been able to overpower the bugs. Also, a couple of us have tried AH purchases, or self handdown twinking, and have observed that for the most part, those decisions kill you. Playing undergeared in Normal/NM/A1 Hell is a good way to learn how to handle situations, and from A2 Hell+ you'll need to step up your gear, but assuming you've put the work in, not your play. Stepping up your gear can be done puristly via crafting from salvaging only your items and it's enough to make it to Inferno, we've proved that repeatedly.

Caveat: Optimal specs make gearing easier, poor specs make gearing necessary, also note that optimal specs are the ones that we personally are capable of exploiting well, not the theorycrafted ones.