- Jan 24, 2008
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Guardian Hoshi (an Enchanted Bow Master)
Hyperopia called and Hoshi answered.
Who is Hoshi?
Hoshi is an Enchanted Sorceress archer from the Bow Masters Tournament.
What is the Bow Masters Tournament?
Well, if you don’t know what you’ve been missing click here to find out.
How’d Hoshi do it?
Hmm, I pretty much posted everything in the tournament thread but here it all is in one place (Warning: You’ll probably be sorry you looked). :whistling:
Okay, so operating under the assumption that you took one look at that massive (though formatted) wall of text and started running for the exit, here’s the short version:
Normal
Act 1: Very easy. Countess was re-run for runes.
Act 2: Very easy. Staff with two sockets and +3 Enchant purchased. Leaf made.
Act 3: Very easy.
Act 4: Easy but slower. Diablo re-run once; Hellcast found!
Act 5: Using enchanted Hellcast, very easy indeed.
Nightmare
Act 1: Very easy. Infernostrides found.
Act 2: Very easy.
Act 3: Very easy.
Act 4: Fire immune monsters en masse create problems; merc needs better weapon. Dwarf Star found. Pul dropped from forge.
Act 5: Easy. Better merc weapon found (cedar then spider bow ‘edge’). Enchant, Warmth, and Fire Mastery maxed; remaining points start going to Teleport.
Post NM Pre Hell: NM Countess re-run until 3 Hel’s 2 Io’s found; ‘Smoke’ Ghost Armor made.
Hell:
Act 1: Getting harder. ‘Tele Archery’ born (see strategy section). Goldstrike found for merc.
Act 2: Getting harder. FHR charms and gear added.
Act 3: Pretty hard. +Life gear added. NDE #1.
Act 4: Pretty hard. Ko dropped from forge; Harmony blade bow made for merc. Teleport maxed.
Act 5: Pretty hard. NDE #2. Shael added to Hellcast. Mission complete.
General Strategy’s:
Nothing special before Hell (though obviously a weapon that fires exploding bolts/arrows was absolutely essential to this build . . . to that end and as re-running was allowed ATMA was consulted and Diablo was re-run . . . but knowing the odds let me say that I was amazingly lucky to get a weapon with exploding bolts/arrows on the first re-run).
Once in Hell ‘tele archery’ was the special strategy. What is ‘tele archery’ you ask . . . tele archery is the term I decided to use to refer to Hoshi abandoning personal offense and engaging in non stop teleporting (usually in a small pattern) while the Act 1 Cold Arrow Mercenary shot at attackers. At the start of Hell tele archery was mostly used on fire immune monsters (that Hoshi as a single element character could not personally defeat . . . note: static field, telekinesis, etc. could not be used). The only three skills that Hoshi used were Enchant, Frozen Armor, and Teleport . . . energy shield was available but Hoshi went with maneuverability (teleport) instead of tanking (energy shield) . . . but now I’m really getting off topic . . . where was I . . . ah yes, . . As Hoshi progressed through Hell tele archery went from a strategy to deal with fire immunes to strategy to deal with any dangerous unique or super unique (anything extra fast, extra strong, cursed, conviction, might, fanticism, . . you get the idea). In short, Hoshi really didn’t have many hit points (see stats below) and no damage that wasn’t fire damage so maneuverability (not getting hit) and maneuvering the merc was the name of the game. :nod:
Statistics:
Guardian Hoshi Level 81 Teleporting Enchantress
Strength: 71
Dexterity: 43
Vitality: 297
Energy: 55
Unused: 61 (enough for Demon Machine . . . the dream weapon that wasn’t found)
Life: 854
Mana: 235
FHR: 42%
FCR: 0%
Resists:
Fire: 95% (Hellcast and Infernostrides)
Cold: 75%
Lightning: 75%
Poison: 24
Damage:
Hoshi:
2693-3438 Level 27 Enchant 119-249 Not Enchanted
Merc:
1504-2251 Level 27 Enchant 551-1070 Not Enchanted
Skills:
Enchant: 27 (pre-buffing with leaf)
Warmth: 21
Fire Mastery: 21
Teleport:21
Fire Bolt: 2
Fire Ball: 2
Frozen Armor: 2
Charged Bolt: 2
Telekinesis: 2
Lightning: 2
Chain Lightning: 2
Energy Shield: 2 (I setup to use it, but never did)
4 Skill Points not spent
Items:
Hoshi:
Helm
Armor
Belt
Hand
Boot
Ring1
Ring2
Amulet
Weapon
Charms:
Grand Charms:
23% Cold Resistance
27% Cold Resistance
19% Fire Resistance
12% FHR
Small Charms:
4% Poison Resistance, 1-2 Cold Damage
5% Cold Resistance, 8% Gold Find
6% Cold Resistance, 1-2 Cold Damage
4% Fire Resistance
5% Cold Resistance
6% Poison Resistance, 1 Strength
8% Cold Resistance, 2 Strength
4% Lightning Resistance, 8 life
Merc:
Helm
Armor
Weapon
Notable Finds:
No, not really as Hoshi had zero mf (but I was glad to see these):
Hellcast (only weapon found that had exploding arrows/bolts)
Infernostrides (always useful)
Dwarf Star
Entrapping GC (courtesy of Hell Act 4 Gloams)
Pul NM Forge
Ko Hell Forge
Near Deaths:
#1 came in Hell Act 3 when Hoshi encountered and then I attempted to take a screenshot of a conviction cold and fire enhanced Gloam.
#2 came in Hell Act 5 when an extra fast extra strong Foul Crow appeared out of nowhere (at least this time I didn’t try to take a screenshot before running).
Final Thoughts:
Hoshi's been a fun character as I’d never created a crossbow wielding Enchantress (I’ve done a twinked Enchantress that uses throwing weapons, and have an Enchantress in the Sword of Destiny Tournament but I found Hoshi far more entertaining than either of those characters). Playing a one element character through Hell was something else I hadn’t done recently (normally a character such as Hoshi would probably use static, telekinesis, and some cold spell to at least decrease monster movement . . . if not outright kill them). The one element aspect of this character was pretty fun because it offered some challenge but not so much that I found myself wanting to bang my head against my keyboard (to give you an idea of what I’m talking about, Act 5 of Hell took about six hours to play through . . . not too bad at all).
In terms of regrets, I really would have like to have found some source of IAS (other than what was on the weapon) and I have the feeling that the combination of a faster weapon with exploding arrows/bolts such as a Shael’ed Demon Machine and IAS from some other source would make this character phenomenally entertaining. It might also have been nice to find some source of FCR but then again Hoshi wasn’t go blind teleporting around Hell holding a crossbow so probably the only time it really would have helped would have been when running away (and she already did that pretty well).
In terms of future plans, I’m not sure. I’ll probably continue using the tournament rules anytime I play her and might need to go mf some areas to find that Demon Machine she’s been so badly wanting. We’ll see.
Last but not at least. Any comments, concerns, questions are welcome (because I probably left out something important and this is my first Guardian thread so the formatting could probably be better). Big thanks to JayeM for hosting the tournament, Kyrandia for acknowledging my early boasting (it kept me motivated), and you for reading! :thumbup:
Hyperopia called and Hoshi answered.
Who is Hoshi?
Hoshi is an Enchanted Sorceress archer from the Bow Masters Tournament.
What is the Bow Masters Tournament?
Well, if you don’t know what you’ve been missing click here to find out.
How’d Hoshi do it?
Hmm, I pretty much posted everything in the tournament thread but here it all is in one place (Warning: You’ll probably be sorry you looked). :whistling:
Hoshi’s my characters name and she had a really easy time in Act 1 and Act 2 of normal . . . but what would you expect? Per regulations Hoshi discarded her staff and marched out into the blood moor on players one and created some bloody fists until she was able to purchase a short bow and increase the players setting to three. Upon reaching the Cold Plains Hoshi had enough strength for a long bow and increased the players setting to five and kept it there through the rest of Act 1 (excluding the Forgotten Tower Level 5 . . . for obvious reasons). Despite dropping the players setting to one upon reaching the Countess she was still rather stingy on the first go . . . so Hoshi hit her again, and again, and again . . . until Hoshi had three Tals and a Ral (and a good number of lesser runes). One Tal went into creating a Stealth, the other two Tals went into bows for Hoshi and her merc (who are using nearly identical superior long bows of Tal/Ith/Nef. Armed with these deadly weapons the duo quickly disposed of everything in their path including Andariel (who didn’t even manage to kill the merc). Here’s what Andariel dropped.
Act 2 continued to be really easy at players five. The only real excitement came from finding the perfect staff with which to pre-buff with . . . the only problem was that Hoshi was about 14,000 gold short of being able to purchase it. Now I’ve never made a Leaf Staff before but based on my experience shopping for bases for White Wands I know that when you see the ideal base you’d better find some way to purchase it or you could easily spend hours hunting for it in the future. So Hoshi sold pretty much everything that she had found in Act 1 and was able to purchase the staff with 500 gold remaining! As soon as she hit level 19 she added the runes and here was the end result . . . needless to say the rest of Act 2 was super easy. Duriel was easily defeated (Hoshi only tp’ed out once . . . and probably didn’t even need to). Here’s what Duriel dropped (not too bad as far as Duriel goes . . . here’s what the heavy boots turned out to be . . . not bad). Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of Act 2.
Hoshi’s (and her merc’s) long bow of Tal/Ith/Nef continued to be very effective in Act 3. The players setting three was used so that maximum forward progress could be maintained (monsters went down in two or three hits). The rainforest offered up a couple good ring finds. First, this unique ring was found (that turned out to be a nearly perfect Manald). Then, the quest reward ring turned out to possess dual resistances and AR. Both finds were huge improvements compared to the +1 to max damage and +30 to AR rings that Hoshi had been using since Act 1. The next good find came from the final Council member who dropped a Thul Rune (yes! . . a Thul in Act 3 . . . not bad at all). Hoshi had engaged the Council with her fire resistance at twenty (which was a bit concerning) but in the end the Council turned out to be no trouble (knockback kept them off the screen
). Mephisto was also really easy (the moat maneuver was used). Mephisto’s drop was not useful. Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of Act 3.
The monsters of Act 4 were a bit tougher than those of Act 3 had been (but progress was still fast). Izual was the first noteworthy encounter (knockback didn’t work on him and his frost nova basically stopped Hoshi’s already pretty slow attacks). The solution: Hoshi ran along the perimeter until some nooks and crannies were found and then Izual was lured into one of the nooks, then Hoshi tele’d out to one of the other crannies (where she could not fire directly at Izual because the arrow disappeared off the map . . . but the merc was in a position to shoot at Izual as he continued to try and charge straight at Hoshi . . . causing him to do nothing but twitch in the nook). I was pretty pleased with the maneuver (but it was only normal so it probably really wasn’t all that important). Happily the Forge was not that important either . . . because the rune dropped was pretty low. The Chaos Sanctuary was done at players three, Diablo at players one. At players one Diablo was pretty easy (he killed the merc but Hoshi was able to kill him only having to tele out once). Diablo dropped a couple nice rare armors that had life and dual resistances but could not be used. Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of Act 4.
Act 5 was started at players three and the going was getting a bit tedious (Hoshi hadn’t had a weapon upgrade since the Black Marsh) . . . so I opted to take advantage of the re-run rule and decided to hit Mephisto (because I had a good map) and Diablo (because he had a 1 in 40 chance of dropping a Raven Claw and could also drop a Kuko <- - my dream bow). Hoshi didn’t come up with a Raven Claw or a Kuko but amazingly enough she did find a Hellcast at Diablo on the very first re-run! The Hellcast was slower than her present bow but fires explosive arrows so who cares! Hoshi was able to get enough strength for the Hellcast after gaining two more levels and then Act 5 was very smooth sailing even at players five. Good finds included an Amn Rune (Hoshi’s highest rune so far), and a +1 to Fire Skills Circlet (courtesy of Ventar the Unholy). Baal didn’t drop anything interesting (but he died in about one minute flat so there really wasn’t too much anticipation). Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of Act 5.
Destroyer Hoshi then absolutely destroyed the cows (they all went down in one blast from Hoshi’s Enchanted Hellcast). I thought finding a piece of the Cow King’s Leathers would have been very appropriate considering the rules for this tournament but the Cow King didn’t cooperate. Here were Hoshi’s stats entering NM.
Hoshi continued to blast through Act 1 of NM encountering few obstacles. Players five was used (mostly to gain more experience but also in the hopes that something useful would drop). Happily a couple decent things did drop. First, Rakanishu dropped these nice dual resistance, gold find, magic find gloves (which might turn out to be a problem because I really need IAS but am going to have a very hard time letting go of these gloves). The next good find came in the Forgotten Tower when Infernostrides dropped . . . and that was really the extent of the good finds. The quest drops were not very good (here’s the quest reward ring and here’s what the Countess dropped on the first run). The bad Countess drop was really my fault though for forgetting to drop the players setting to one (so naturally I had to re-run her a few times to make up for it ). Hoshi used a Sol that dropped at the Countess to create a Lore Circlet that really helped with resistances as did swapping out the Manald Ring for a cold resistance ring. After those substitutions Hoshi’s resistances were in pretty good shape and she could be a bit less concerned about unique monsters that possessed elemental enchantments. Andariel was another source of some concern so she was done at players one. At players one Andariel was very easy . . . her drop was good . . . but not useful (Hoshi really would have loved to have been able to use that Goldskin but life goes on). Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of NM Act 1.
Hoshi continued to use players five through Act 2 of NM. Progress was still very fast and the only monsters that offered any resistance were the Burning Dead Skeletons/Archers/and Marges that were found in the Sewers (but that was to be expected considering they had fire resistances of 75/50/and 100). Once out of the Sewers there were no real obstacles (not even rooms full of Guardians could stop Hoshi). Midway through NM Act 2 Hoshi attempted her first craft and came up with these unimpressive blood gloves (I really need at least two resistances on the gloves). Hoshi then used some of her other good runes to upgrade this belt to a sixteen slotted mesh belt (I was hoping to use the Ral and Thul for something better but I really feel so much more secure running around with sixteen potions so I think it was the right decision). Another probably good decision was doing Duriel on players one (Hoshi probably could have managed players five but her merc probably would have had a hard time and it might have gotten tedious). On the other hand, at players five Duriel might have dropped something interesting as opposed to this. Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of NM Act 2.
Hoshi continued to use players five through Act 3 of NM and encountered only a handful of problems. The first real problem came in the Flayer Jungle when Hoshi encounter two unique monster groups, one being led by an FE Shaman, the other being led by an FE/CE Shaman. Hoshi recognized the danger that these FE Shaman presented but the merc must not have been paying attention. Hoshi defeated the first Shaman at a safe distance, then of course the unique flayer half of the Shaman got up and charged Hoshi . . . Hoshi retreated so not as to get caught in the death blast . . . but the merc still managed to kill the flayer while it was close enough to Hoshi to erase a huge amount of her life. Seconds later the same thing was repeated with the FE/CE Shaman and associated flayer . . . Hoshi was not amused. Other excitement came in the Flayer Dungeon where there were not only dolls but nasty dolls right next to the entrance to the dungeon. Past those encounters though there really wasn’t much excitement (except for some unremarkable finds). Here was the quest reward ring (that was really disappointing . . . Hoshi really could have used a rare ring with cold resistances and at least one other useful mod). Another disappointing find was this Witchwild String . . . that turned out to be a Stormstrike :doh: (I always mix those up . . . I see ‘battle’ and assume it is an exceptional item . . . yep, that was a very disappointing mix up this time around). The Council and Mephisto were really easy (perhaps because Mephisto was done at players 1). The moat maneuver was used on Mephisto and he showed his displeasure for Hoshi’s cheap tactics by dropping nothing of interest. Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of NM Act 3.
Act 4 of NM was the hardest act to date (and was therefore done at players three). The problem: Fire Immune Doom Knights. These buggers had infested the Outer Steppes and of course the Chaos Sanctuary and really slowed thing down. Hoshi (still using her Enchanted Hellcast) was totally ineffective against these thugs . . . the merc could kill them . . . but not very quickly (she’s still using her long bow of Tal/Ith/Nef). Things were getting tedious so Hoshi decided to tele-run these areas (which worked well . . . but could get really dangerous if she attempts to continue such maneuvers in Hell). Excluding Doom Knights, the rest of NM Act 4 was really easy. Izual got bugged on the edge of the map (as had been done in normal). Hephasto pretty much got the same treatment. The Forge drop had been highly anticipated since Hoshi’s inception. Ko (for Harmony) was the dream drop. Lem (for Treachery or perhaps a crazy Passion) would have been nice. Lum (for Smoke) would have been handy. Um (for Duress) would have been nice. Hoshi’s drop . . . a Pul . . . the best of the rest I suppose . . . but I can’t really see any good use for it (and no! . . Enlightenment is not a good use! . . not even for a Sorceress). Disappointed, Hoshi went on to battle Diablo. The battle would not have been very interesting except midway through the short battle Hoshi teleported to the Infector’s corpse to try and find some more health potions and found this instead. The missed ring hidden in the corner turned out to be a Dwarf Star! . . that was used through the second half of the battle with Diablo (though I can’t really say I noticed much of a difference since as long as there were health potions available there was really no danger at all). Diablo didn’t drop much (but after finding a dwarf star there really wasn’t much disappointment). Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of NM Act 4 (those stats are based on Hoshi using a 28 cold resistance ring instead of the Dwarf Star).
Act 5 of NM was pretty easy compared to Act 4 (the only fire immunes were uniques). Players five was used through Shenk, then players three was used (though the Ancients and Baal were done at players one). Since there weren’t really any fire immune monsters the battles were all pretty unremarkable. The best find was probably a three socketed cedar bow (the first expectional three socketed weapon that Hoshi had encountered). ‘Edge’ was made in the cedar bow and it was equipped on the merc (where it really didn’t seem to be much of an improvement over the good’ol long bow of Tal/Ith/Nef). The only real trouble in Act 5 came from Lister and his Plucked Chickens that were extra fast (and of course had extra fast regeneration compared to any other monster). There was some attempt to defeat the monsters then Hoshi decided it wasn’t worth the trouble and lured the plucked chickens away from the throne and proceeded to the main event. Baal himself was very easy at players one (he didn’t get a chance to clone, he didn’t throw up many tentacles, he didn’t kill the merc) . . . and oh yes, he didn’t drop anything useful. Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of NM Act 5.
Conqueror Hoshi has some marginal resistances so I’ll probably do some massive re-running/crafting/and perhaps some chest popping in nightmare before heading into Hell. I’m really tempted to re-run the Countess to try and get three Io Runes to drop . . . but as far as I can tell everyone in this tournament who attempted that aborted so perhaps it’s not really worth the time (we’ll see :thumbup: ).
Hoshi did indeed do some re-running in NM mostly focusing on the WSK, NM Cows, and then the Countess. The WSK and the Cows didn’t turn up anything (except some good experience) . . . the Countess was very productive. After maxing Enchant, Warmth, and Fire Mastery, Hoshi began putting points into teleport (the idea being that she really couldn’t become an indestructible tank so she’d better be really maneuverable). I don’t know if she’ll be getting enough skill points to be truly capable of indefinite teleporting . . . but that’s the direction she’s heading. After running the NM Cows and WSK a few times she had reached the point where her tele cost was low enough that she could tele the NM Countess on one mana potion (this made running the Countess take about a minute and a half . . . including potions, stash, creating new games, etc). About halfway through running the Countess (4 Hel’s had dropped) I stopped and checked ATMA to find that the odds of her dropping an Io were about 1:80 . . . the chances of dropping a Hel were about 1:50 . . . if I’d known that before I started I might not have done it . . . but at this point I felt pretty committed. I don’t know the exact number of runs but probably about 150 runs later Hoshi had the goods (not to mention the start of a really good hc rune stash). Here was the end result! Here’s what Hoshi’s stats then looked like entering Hell (very nice resistances . . . dangerously low life).
Act 1 of Hell was done at players one (because there were lots of scary fire immune monsters and lots of monsters that weren’t fire immune but were still pretty scary). The Den and the Blood Moor went well (there was one FE Quill Rat that exploded at the edge of the screen and still cut pretty deep into Hoshi’s life despite her 95% fire resistance (I don’t know why that happened . . . but it was pretty disconcerting). Monsters that weren’t fire immune died very quickly . . . monsters that were fire immune still died pretty quickly to the merc’s Superior (10% ED) Spider Edge. The Cold Plains was the Hoshi’s first encounter with fire immunes that could be revived . . . yuck. Here’s where Hoshi’s mobility really came into play. The strategy was to pull the Fallen from the Shaman . . . then teleport close to the Shaman . . . the merc would blast him to bits . . . and then Hoshi could tele circles around the Fallen . . . the merc blasting them from all sides (it pretty much looked liked cavalry archers routing infantry . . . well, at least it did to me). This was generally the strategy throughout the rest of Act 1. Anything that wasn’t fire immune got blasted in seconds . . . and anything that was fire immune got hit from all sides by the tele archer(s).
The best and really only good find came in the Dark Woods from an FE Fallen with Conviction. Goldstrike! . . normally I wouldn't be at all interested in this unique but this time I was very excited to see it. It was promptly equipped on the merc and seemed to be an improvement over the Edge Spider Bow. (Plus, the ctc Fist of the Heavens was way too stylish to pass up :thumbup: ).
The most dangerous area for Hoshi was by far, the Forgotten Tower. Fire Immune Goatmen were present throughout and made for a nasty stair trap on Level 3. Levels 3 and 4 had extra fast goatmen (various other nasty mods) and put up a really good fight before finally succumbing to the tele archers. The Countess drop was okay (but a bit superfluous considering the NM Countess farming that had taken place). The next really big trouble came in the Catacombs where there fire immune zombies, spiders, ratmen, and fallen (pretty much the only things that weren’t fire immune were the Fouldogs). The greatest danger came in the Catacombs 2 when Hoshi was ambushed after opening a door by a group of Extra Fast Ratmen with Blessed Aim. :shocked: Hoshi only has 20 FHR (something I probably need to do something about) so it took two full rejuvenation potions before Hoshi was able to tele free . . . for a moment I thought that she was going to be trapped in hit recovery and die on the scene . . . but happily she lives to fight another day!
Compared to everything that had come before, Andariel was super easy. Hoshi’s Enchanted Hellcast did a great deal of damage to Andariel but Hoshi opted to let the merc do the fighting (mostly so the merc wouldn’t die). Hoshi tele’d all around Andariel and the merc blasted her from every direction and despite this almost passive approach the battle was over extremely quickly (and no one died)! . . but it was players one (shh). Andariel didn’t drop much . . . but Hoshi didn’t need much. Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of Hell Act 1.
Hoshi continued to use the players one setting throughout all of Act 2 of Hell. Early on there was a good deal of opposition offered by the monsters that dwelled in the Sewers (I think the only monsters that weren’t fire immune were Radament and about half of his mages). The fire immune monsters were a bit tedious but in the end all of them fell before the tele archers.
Once Hoshi got out of the Sewers things became pretty easy. The Deserts had almost no fire immune monsters (but those encountered were absolutely deadly)! Hoshi’s biggest obstacle turned out to be her poor sense of direction. Happily, the Maggot Lair didn’t have any fire immune monsters (except for some uniques) . . . so even having to explore every last corner wasn’t too time consuming . . . the same could not be said for the Claw Viper Temple (well yes and no). The Claw Viper Temple happily had nothing but cold immune Claw Vipers and Salamanders . . . but they still put up a really good fight. The biggest obstacle was getting in the front door (note the huge pile of corpses and the fire/cold immune unique . . . there were two of those . . . and a very large number of underlings). Tele archery again was the name of the game (Hoshi discovered that the snakes couldn’t strike if she continuously teleported around them . . . but it was still scary). After securing the entrance the rest of the Temple was pretty easy to take. Level 2 was very satisfying as the altar was clear and Hoshi was able to tele onto the high ground and rain down destruction.
The next bit of excitement came in Tal Rasha’s Tomb when Hoshi discovered that there wasn’t going to be a massive battle to get in the front door. The next bit of excitement (and this is probably the really important part) was that there were no fire immunes! Securing the Tomb was therefore really easy . . . the battle against Duriel not so much (well I guess that depends on what you consider ‘easy’). From the opening seconds it was clear that standing still and shooting was going to get the merc (or Hoshi) killed . . . so Hoshi returned to the strategy that she had used against Andariel (teleporting the entire time and letting the merc do all the shooting). In the beginning Hoshi teleported in a circular pattern around the room but hit those ‘no tele zones’ way too often (and Duriel got to do a lot of damage and some scary stunning). After getting repeatedly stunned (and therefore needing to use a couple full rejuvenation potions) Hoshi changed her strategy to teleporting diagonally across the room . . . there and back . . . there and back . . . there and back . . . for fifteen minutes (mega boring but pretty safe). Duriel only managed to get a couple of hits in and in a final act of spite dropped a Chu-Ko-Nu . . . but not the one that Hoshi REALLY wanted. I can’t decide whether or not to socket the Hellcast or continue hoping that a Demon Machine or Kuko will drop (I doubt they will but don’t really want to surrender hope by spending all Hoshi’s saved stat points and socket quests) . . . decisions, decisions. Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of Hell Act 2.
Hoshi continued into Act 3 of Hell using the players one setting. At players one most areas were pretty easy. Non fire immunes continued to get blasted to bits and fire immunes got out maneuvered by the tele archers (the merc did the killing, Hoshi did the maneuvering). Often ‘maneuvering’ meant finding a natural obstacle and then leading dangerous monsters to it . . . as can be seen here, here, here, here, and yes here (no, the dark lord was not dangerous . . . but the photo shy dolls were). Some dangerous monsters could not be maneuvered to kill zones so Hoshi had to settle for isolating them and then engaging them 2v1 . . . such as this Shaman (who really doesn’t seem dangerous but his aura was Blessed Aim and he had of course been surrounded by a zillion Flayers).
The most dangerous monster that Hoshi encountered was in the Great Marsh (I nearly died trying to get a pic and thought I had one but guess not) . . . anyways, this deadly monster was a Gloam with conviction, cold and fire enchantments. :shocked: I was always moving Hoshi forward with caution (especially once I knew Gloams were about) and noticed the conviction aura . . . but didn’t know what was causing it or what other mods the monster might possess. Hoshi carefully continued to pull the nearest monsters off one by one until only the scary unique was remaining. Hoshi held it at the edge of the screen so as to be able to rapidly teleport away from any of its lightning blasts . . . then I got the bright idea to scroll over it to see what other mods (i.e. how dangerous was it really) and it answered my question by erasing all of the red from Hoshi’s life bulb. :crazyeyes: The merc was toast (for the first time in forever) but Hoshi managed to use a full rejuvenation potion and tp to town, rehire, regroup, and return to defeat the Gloam via tele archery. All I can say about that is thank goodness that Hoshi’s lightning resistance was slightly stacked (totally by accident though).
Past the dread Gloam of doom, there really weren’t any really close calls. There were dolls in the Flayer Dungeon and Durance Level 2 (some of them managed to explode pretty close to Hoshi as she of course didn’t have a melee meatshield) but not even the extra fast cursed ones came very close to killing her. Bremm Sparkfist had conviction and various other elemental enchantments but really didn’t do much except bring up bad memories of that Gloam.
Mephisto was super easy (he got hit by the moat maneuver) and didn’t even manage to get off a shot. He didn’t manage to produce a very good drop either. Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of Hell Act 3. Normally I would have stopped and posted an update at this point but I really wanted to go get that Hell Forge drop! . . so I did . . .
Hoshi continued into Act 4 of Hell at the players one setting and found that most of the monsters were fire immune . . . this resulted in really slow going but otherwise not much of an obstacle. Fire immune Pit Lords and Doom Knights in the Outer Steppes and Plains of Despair that had to be hit with tele archery (which considering the monsters hit points was indeed becoming slow going) but more importantly . . . there were more Gloams in the Plains of Despair! Hoshi spent her entire time there creeping around half expecting some shot from off screen to end her life . . . but it didn’t happen. Thankfully Hoshi didn’t encounter another conviction Gloam and the worst that she happened upon was a cold and fire enchanted Gloam that probably could have killed her in three hits (if she stood still long enough for that to happen). The merc died many times (compared to once during the Great Marsh campaign . . . these Act 4 Gloams seemed to be on steroids and aimbots so a conviction Gloam probably would have ended it all . . . but Hoshi seems to be experiencing a charmed existence). Izual managed to hide pretty well but died very quickly once found.
This post is getting rambling so let’s get to the good stuff! The Forge drop! . . that offered up a Ko Rune! Hoshi’s merc had been using Goldstrike since it was found in the Hell Dark Woods and it had been working pretty well but Hoshi had a four socket Blade Bow that had been burning a hole in her stash since the NM WSK so naturally she had to create Harmony.
The merc got plenty of chances to get used to the new weapon as Hoshi continued to the Chaos Sanctuary (where there were plenty of fire immunes for the merc to kill . . . and the first half of the Chaos Sanctuary was drawn here . . . where they literally were target practice). The rest of the Chaos Sanctuary got hit by tele archery up until the last super unique who was drawn out to Hoshi’s favorite spot (more target practice before Big D :alright: ). Diablo was pretty easy (Hoshi had 95% fire resistance and 15% fire absorb from the Dwarf Star . . . so Hoshi really only needed to worry about the lightning). The battle was brief and Hoshi was never in any danger. The drop wasn’t interesting. Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of Hell Act 4.
Hoshi stepped out of Harrogath not really sure what to expect and was excited to see that her first opponents would be Gremlins and Foul Crows. Easy! . . they don’t do much damage and don’t have many hit points right? . . wrong! Hoshi’s closest call (since conviction Gloams in Act 3) came immediately outside the gates of Harrogath when an extra fast, extra strong, cursed Foul Crow appeared out of nowhere and killed the merc in an instant and then erased almost all the red from Hoshi’s life bulb. :shocked: Hoshi managed to hit a full rejuvenation potion, tp out, rehire the merc, regroup, and head out the front gate to try things again. Hoshi had another really close call but managed to defeat the blazing fast beast through blazing fast tele archery (Hoshi tele’s the merc shoots). After that Hoshi was even more careful than before (and I was being really careful before).
The rest of the Bloody Foothills, Frigid Highlands, and Arreat Plateau were pretty easy. Each of these areas had fire immune monsters that demanded extra time (and caution . . . but then again at this point . . . everything demanded extra caution). Hoshi continued to use the terrain to her advantage as much as possible (doors, fences, bushes, . . everything).
The Crystalline Passage, Frozen River, and Glacial Trail were very nice because there were not fire immunes, no monster groups really close to entrances/exits, and there were no Frenzytaurs (but the Frozen River did have Hoshi’s favorite monsters . . . Gloams). The Frozen River was therefore cleared with extreme caution but thankfully none of the Gloams were enhanced by conviction auras. Anya rewarded Hoshi for her good efforts with this none too interesting demon heart.
The next big event was Nihlathak. Levels 1 and 2 of his temple had fire immune Flayers (melee on level 1, ranged on level 2) but that was nothing compared to group of monsters that were waiting in the Halls of Vaught. Upon setting foot in the Halls of Vaught Hoshi was immediately greeted by a great many red orbs (Hell Witches) and green clouds (snakes! . . it had to be snakes). The welcoming party was defeated and then Hoshi slowly advanced on Nihlathak (those snakes were really scary considering Hoshi had only 24 poison resistance). Happily I’ve done enough key running to know how to locate Nihlathak so Hoshi could precede right to the main event. The battle played out with Hoshi pulling Nihlathak’s minions down one corridor so that she and the merc could get a clean shot (and not corpse exploded to bits) by coming from the other corridor. Turns out though that Nihlathak was fire immune . . . that meant it was up to the merc (and Hoshi’s maneuvering). The battle was scary but pretty safe (Hoshi made liberal use of full rejuvenation potions (because she had been saving them all game and hadn’t really used many up until this point). After much teleporting, some potions, and some resurrecting of the merc, Nihlathak was maneuvered into a corner and elimated.
The Ancients was the next big obstacle (or so Hoshi expected them to be). Really though, Hoshi ended up with a pretty easy group of Ancients that died in a really reasonable amount of time. First the Ancients were separated, then Korlic was brought to the top of the area and eliminated, then Madawc was brought to the top area and eliminated, then Talic (fire immune) was eliminated in a wide ranging battle that spanned the entire area. Tele archery was used to defeat all three Ancients (Hoshi could do pretty good damage to Korlic and Madawc but needed to make sure that the merc didn’t go and die so constant tele’ing seemed to be a good solution).
Levels 1 and 2 of the WSK were pretty easy (there were no large groups of monsters near the entrances/exits, no Frenzytaurs, and no Gloams). Level 3 of the WSK was slower going due to Flayers (fire immunes) and Hell Witches (creators of endless streams of nasty red orbs). Tele archery was largely used to defeat these monsters (that and ensuring that monsters came to Hoshi and her merc . . . not the other way around). **
Hoshi was concerned about what nasty monsters might occupy the Throne . . . and her concerns were well founded. As soon as Hoshi entered the Throne of Destruction she was promptly greeted by a massive Gloam ambush (that instantly killed the merc . . . there was a unique . . . stats unknown). Hoshi tele’d around a corner (thankfully nothing was there) tp’ed to town, resurrected the merc and returned for some tele archery (which was done at such range that I didn’t get a chance to see the unique Gloams stats . . . not that I’m complaining :nod: ). Hoshi did get a chance to see the stats of some of the other unique Gloams (pretty scary stuff) and did I mention that there were also dolls? . . lots of dolls. Carefully all these scary monsters were defeated (mostly one at a time) and then the waves. Waves one through three were pretty easy. Ventar’s group needed to be separated (and each member was defeated in the halls one at a time). Near the end Hoshi got more than she’d bargained for . . . but two at a time was still pretty easy. Hoshi hadn’t bothered to defeat the Plucked Chickens in normal or nightmare but managed to do it in Hell (through separating each plucked chicken and defeating them one at a time . . . well, I suppose the merc really should get most of the credit because the plucked chickens are of course fire immune). Finally, Hoshi got the invitation that she’d been long expecting.
Baal himself was in great fighting form. He cloned early and often and sent up a great many festering appendages but had one big problem . . . Hoshi could use potions . . . and Baal of course could not . . . so really the battle was over before it ever began. Here’s the useless stuff that Baal dropped (Hoshi has zero mf . . . so that’s about what I should have expected . . . ). Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of Hell Act 5 . . . and last but not least . . . Here’s to you! . . for taking the time to read this rambling post . . . thanks! :wave:
Act 2 continued to be really easy at players five. The only real excitement came from finding the perfect staff with which to pre-buff with . . . the only problem was that Hoshi was about 14,000 gold short of being able to purchase it. Now I’ve never made a Leaf Staff before but based on my experience shopping for bases for White Wands I know that when you see the ideal base you’d better find some way to purchase it or you could easily spend hours hunting for it in the future. So Hoshi sold pretty much everything that she had found in Act 1 and was able to purchase the staff with 500 gold remaining! As soon as she hit level 19 she added the runes and here was the end result . . . needless to say the rest of Act 2 was super easy. Duriel was easily defeated (Hoshi only tp’ed out once . . . and probably didn’t even need to). Here’s what Duriel dropped (not too bad as far as Duriel goes . . . here’s what the heavy boots turned out to be . . . not bad). Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of Act 2.
Hoshi’s (and her merc’s) long bow of Tal/Ith/Nef continued to be very effective in Act 3. The players setting three was used so that maximum forward progress could be maintained (monsters went down in two or three hits). The rainforest offered up a couple good ring finds. First, this unique ring was found (that turned out to be a nearly perfect Manald). Then, the quest reward ring turned out to possess dual resistances and AR. Both finds were huge improvements compared to the +1 to max damage and +30 to AR rings that Hoshi had been using since Act 1. The next good find came from the final Council member who dropped a Thul Rune (yes! . . a Thul in Act 3 . . . not bad at all). Hoshi had engaged the Council with her fire resistance at twenty (which was a bit concerning) but in the end the Council turned out to be no trouble (knockback kept them off the screen
). Mephisto was also really easy (the moat maneuver was used). Mephisto’s drop was not useful. Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of Act 3.The monsters of Act 4 were a bit tougher than those of Act 3 had been (but progress was still fast). Izual was the first noteworthy encounter (knockback didn’t work on him and his frost nova basically stopped Hoshi’s already pretty slow attacks). The solution: Hoshi ran along the perimeter until some nooks and crannies were found and then Izual was lured into one of the nooks, then Hoshi tele’d out to one of the other crannies (where she could not fire directly at Izual because the arrow disappeared off the map . . . but the merc was in a position to shoot at Izual as he continued to try and charge straight at Hoshi . . . causing him to do nothing but twitch in the nook). I was pretty pleased with the maneuver (but it was only normal so it probably really wasn’t all that important). Happily the Forge was not that important either . . . because the rune dropped was pretty low. The Chaos Sanctuary was done at players three, Diablo at players one. At players one Diablo was pretty easy (he killed the merc but Hoshi was able to kill him only having to tele out once). Diablo dropped a couple nice rare armors that had life and dual resistances but could not be used. Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of Act 4.
Act 5 was started at players three and the going was getting a bit tedious (Hoshi hadn’t had a weapon upgrade since the Black Marsh) . . . so I opted to take advantage of the re-run rule and decided to hit Mephisto (because I had a good map) and Diablo (because he had a 1 in 40 chance of dropping a Raven Claw and could also drop a Kuko <- - my dream bow). Hoshi didn’t come up with a Raven Claw or a Kuko but amazingly enough she did find a Hellcast at Diablo on the very first re-run! The Hellcast was slower than her present bow but fires explosive arrows so who cares! Hoshi was able to get enough strength for the Hellcast after gaining two more levels and then Act 5 was very smooth sailing even at players five. Good finds included an Amn Rune (Hoshi’s highest rune so far), and a +1 to Fire Skills Circlet (courtesy of Ventar the Unholy). Baal didn’t drop anything interesting (but he died in about one minute flat so there really wasn’t too much anticipation). Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of Act 5.
Destroyer Hoshi then absolutely destroyed the cows (they all went down in one blast from Hoshi’s Enchanted Hellcast). I thought finding a piece of the Cow King’s Leathers would have been very appropriate considering the rules for this tournament but the Cow King didn’t cooperate. Here were Hoshi’s stats entering NM.
Hoshi continued to blast through Act 1 of NM encountering few obstacles. Players five was used (mostly to gain more experience but also in the hopes that something useful would drop). Happily a couple decent things did drop. First, Rakanishu dropped these nice dual resistance, gold find, magic find gloves (which might turn out to be a problem because I really need IAS but am going to have a very hard time letting go of these gloves). The next good find came in the Forgotten Tower when Infernostrides dropped . . . and that was really the extent of the good finds. The quest drops were not very good (here’s the quest reward ring and here’s what the Countess dropped on the first run). The bad Countess drop was really my fault though for forgetting to drop the players setting to one (so naturally I had to re-run her a few times to make up for it
). Hoshi used a Sol that dropped at the Countess to create a Lore Circlet that really helped with resistances as did swapping out the Manald Ring for a cold resistance ring. After those substitutions Hoshi’s resistances were in pretty good shape and she could be a bit less concerned about unique monsters that possessed elemental enchantments. Andariel was another source of some concern so she was done at players one. At players one Andariel was very easy . . . her drop was good . . . but not useful (Hoshi really would have loved to have been able to use that Goldskin but life goes on). Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of NM Act 1.Hoshi continued to use players five through Act 2 of NM. Progress was still very fast and the only monsters that offered any resistance were the Burning Dead Skeletons/Archers/and Marges that were found in the Sewers (but that was to be expected considering they had fire resistances of 75/50/and 100). Once out of the Sewers there were no real obstacles (not even rooms full of Guardians could stop Hoshi). Midway through NM Act 2 Hoshi attempted her first craft and came up with these unimpressive blood gloves (I really need at least two resistances on the gloves). Hoshi then used some of her other good runes to upgrade this belt to a sixteen slotted mesh belt (I was hoping to use the Ral and Thul for something better but I really feel so much more secure running around with sixteen potions so I think it was the right decision). Another probably good decision was doing Duriel on players one (Hoshi probably could have managed players five but her merc probably would have had a hard time and it might have gotten tedious). On the other hand, at players five Duriel might have dropped something interesting as opposed to this. Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of NM Act 2.
Hoshi continued to use players five through Act 3 of NM and encountered only a handful of problems. The first real problem came in the Flayer Jungle when Hoshi encounter two unique monster groups, one being led by an FE Shaman, the other being led by an FE/CE Shaman. Hoshi recognized the danger that these FE Shaman presented but the merc must not have been paying attention. Hoshi defeated the first Shaman at a safe distance, then of course the unique flayer half of the Shaman got up and charged Hoshi . . . Hoshi retreated so not as to get caught in the death blast . . . but the merc still managed to kill the flayer while it was close enough to Hoshi to erase a huge amount of her life. Seconds later the same thing was repeated with the FE/CE Shaman and associated flayer . . . Hoshi was not amused. Other excitement came in the Flayer Dungeon where there were not only dolls but nasty dolls right next to the entrance to the dungeon. Past those encounters though there really wasn’t much excitement (except for some unremarkable finds). Here was the quest reward ring (that was really disappointing . . . Hoshi really could have used a rare ring with cold resistances and at least one other useful mod). Another disappointing find was this Witchwild String . . . that turned out to be a Stormstrike :doh: (I always mix those up . . . I see ‘battle’ and assume it is an exceptional item . . . yep, that was a very disappointing mix up this time around). The Council and Mephisto were really easy (perhaps because Mephisto was done at players 1). The moat maneuver was used on Mephisto and he showed his displeasure for Hoshi’s cheap tactics by dropping nothing of interest. Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of NM Act 3.
Act 4 of NM was the hardest act to date (and was therefore done at players three). The problem: Fire Immune Doom Knights. These buggers had infested the Outer Steppes and of course the Chaos Sanctuary and really slowed thing down. Hoshi (still using her Enchanted Hellcast) was totally ineffective against these thugs . . . the merc could kill them . . . but not very quickly (she’s still using her long bow of Tal/Ith/Nef). Things were getting tedious so Hoshi decided to tele-run these areas (which worked well . . . but could get really dangerous if she attempts to continue such maneuvers in Hell). Excluding Doom Knights, the rest of NM Act 4 was really easy. Izual got bugged on the edge of the map (as had been done in normal). Hephasto pretty much got the same treatment. The Forge drop had been highly anticipated since Hoshi’s inception. Ko (for Harmony) was the dream drop. Lem (for Treachery or perhaps a crazy Passion) would have been nice. Lum (for Smoke) would have been handy. Um (for Duress) would have been nice. Hoshi’s drop . . . a Pul . . . the best of the rest I suppose . . . but I can’t really see any good use for it (and no! . . Enlightenment is not a good use! . . not even for a Sorceress). Disappointed, Hoshi went on to battle Diablo. The battle would not have been very interesting except midway through the short battle Hoshi teleported to the Infector’s corpse to try and find some more health potions and found this instead. The missed ring hidden in the corner turned out to be a Dwarf Star! . . that was used through the second half of the battle with Diablo (though I can’t really say I noticed much of a difference since as long as there were health potions available there was really no danger at all). Diablo didn’t drop much (but after finding a dwarf star there really wasn’t much disappointment). Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of NM Act 4 (those stats are based on Hoshi using a 28 cold resistance ring instead of the Dwarf Star).
Act 5 of NM was pretty easy compared to Act 4 (the only fire immunes were uniques). Players five was used through Shenk, then players three was used (though the Ancients and Baal were done at players one). Since there weren’t really any fire immune monsters the battles were all pretty unremarkable. The best find was probably a three socketed cedar bow (the first expectional three socketed weapon that Hoshi had encountered). ‘Edge’ was made in the cedar bow and it was equipped on the merc (where it really didn’t seem to be much of an improvement over the good’ol long bow of Tal/Ith/Nef). The only real trouble in Act 5 came from Lister and his Plucked Chickens that were extra fast (and of course had extra fast regeneration compared to any other monster). There was some attempt to defeat the monsters then Hoshi decided it wasn’t worth the trouble and lured the plucked chickens away from the throne and proceeded to the main event. Baal himself was very easy at players one (he didn’t get a chance to clone, he didn’t throw up many tentacles, he didn’t kill the merc) . . . and oh yes, he didn’t drop anything useful. Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of NM Act 5.
Conqueror Hoshi has some marginal resistances so I’ll probably do some massive re-running/crafting/and perhaps some chest popping in nightmare before heading into Hell. I’m really tempted to re-run the Countess to try and get three Io Runes to drop . . . but as far as I can tell everyone in this tournament who attempted that aborted so perhaps it’s not really worth the time (we’ll see :thumbup: ).
Hoshi did indeed do some re-running in NM mostly focusing on the WSK, NM Cows, and then the Countess. The WSK and the Cows didn’t turn up anything (except some good experience) . . . the Countess was very productive. After maxing Enchant, Warmth, and Fire Mastery, Hoshi began putting points into teleport (the idea being that she really couldn’t become an indestructible tank so she’d better be really maneuverable). I don’t know if she’ll be getting enough skill points to be truly capable of indefinite teleporting . . . but that’s the direction she’s heading. After running the NM Cows and WSK a few times she had reached the point where her tele cost was low enough that she could tele the NM Countess on one mana potion (this made running the Countess take about a minute and a half . . . including potions, stash, creating new games, etc). About halfway through running the Countess (4 Hel’s had dropped) I stopped and checked ATMA to find that the odds of her dropping an Io were about 1:80 . . . the chances of dropping a Hel were about 1:50 . . . if I’d known that before I started I might not have done it . . . but at this point I felt pretty committed. I don’t know the exact number of runs but probably about 150 runs later Hoshi had the goods (not to mention the start of a really good hc rune stash). Here was the end result! Here’s what Hoshi’s stats then looked like entering Hell (very nice resistances . . . dangerously low life).
Act 1 of Hell was done at players one (because there were lots of scary fire immune monsters and lots of monsters that weren’t fire immune but were still pretty scary). The Den and the Blood Moor went well (there was one FE Quill Rat that exploded at the edge of the screen and still cut pretty deep into Hoshi’s life despite her 95% fire resistance (I don’t know why that happened . . . but it was pretty disconcerting). Monsters that weren’t fire immune died very quickly . . . monsters that were fire immune still died pretty quickly to the merc’s Superior (10% ED) Spider Edge. The Cold Plains was the Hoshi’s first encounter with fire immunes that could be revived . . . yuck. Here’s where Hoshi’s mobility really came into play. The strategy was to pull the Fallen from the Shaman . . . then teleport close to the Shaman . . . the merc would blast him to bits . . . and then Hoshi could tele circles around the Fallen . . . the merc blasting them from all sides (it pretty much looked liked cavalry archers routing infantry . . . well, at least it did to me). This was generally the strategy throughout the rest of Act 1. Anything that wasn’t fire immune got blasted in seconds . . . and anything that was fire immune got hit from all sides by the tele archer(s).
The best and really only good find came in the Dark Woods from an FE Fallen with Conviction. Goldstrike! . . normally I wouldn't be at all interested in this unique but this time I was very excited to see it. It was promptly equipped on the merc and seemed to be an improvement over the Edge Spider Bow. (Plus, the ctc Fist of the Heavens was way too stylish to pass up :thumbup: ).
The most dangerous area for Hoshi was by far, the Forgotten Tower. Fire Immune Goatmen were present throughout and made for a nasty stair trap on Level 3. Levels 3 and 4 had extra fast goatmen (various other nasty mods) and put up a really good fight before finally succumbing to the tele archers. The Countess drop was okay (but a bit superfluous considering the NM Countess farming that had taken place). The next really big trouble came in the Catacombs where there fire immune zombies, spiders, ratmen, and fallen (pretty much the only things that weren’t fire immune were the Fouldogs). The greatest danger came in the Catacombs 2 when Hoshi was ambushed after opening a door by a group of Extra Fast Ratmen with Blessed Aim. :shocked: Hoshi only has 20 FHR (something I probably need to do something about) so it took two full rejuvenation potions before Hoshi was able to tele free . . . for a moment I thought that she was going to be trapped in hit recovery and die on the scene . . . but happily she lives to fight another day!
Compared to everything that had come before, Andariel was super easy. Hoshi’s Enchanted Hellcast did a great deal of damage to Andariel but Hoshi opted to let the merc do the fighting (mostly so the merc wouldn’t die). Hoshi tele’d all around Andariel and the merc blasted her from every direction and despite this almost passive approach the battle was over extremely quickly (and no one died)! . . but it was players one (shh). Andariel didn’t drop much . . . but Hoshi didn’t need much. Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of Hell Act 1.
Hoshi continued to use the players one setting throughout all of Act 2 of Hell. Early on there was a good deal of opposition offered by the monsters that dwelled in the Sewers (I think the only monsters that weren’t fire immune were Radament and about half of his mages). The fire immune monsters were a bit tedious but in the end all of them fell before the tele archers.
Once Hoshi got out of the Sewers things became pretty easy. The Deserts had almost no fire immune monsters (but those encountered were absolutely deadly)! Hoshi’s biggest obstacle turned out to be her poor sense of direction. Happily, the Maggot Lair didn’t have any fire immune monsters (except for some uniques) . . . so even having to explore every last corner wasn’t too time consuming . . . the same could not be said for the Claw Viper Temple (well yes and no). The Claw Viper Temple happily had nothing but cold immune Claw Vipers and Salamanders . . . but they still put up a really good fight. The biggest obstacle was getting in the front door (note the huge pile of corpses and the fire/cold immune unique . . . there were two of those . . . and a very large number of underlings). Tele archery again was the name of the game (Hoshi discovered that the snakes couldn’t strike if she continuously teleported around them . . . but it was still scary). After securing the entrance the rest of the Temple was pretty easy to take. Level 2 was very satisfying as the altar was clear and Hoshi was able to tele onto the high ground and rain down destruction.
The next bit of excitement came in Tal Rasha’s Tomb when Hoshi discovered that there wasn’t going to be a massive battle to get in the front door. The next bit of excitement (and this is probably the really important part) was that there were no fire immunes! Securing the Tomb was therefore really easy . . . the battle against Duriel not so much (well I guess that depends on what you consider ‘easy’). From the opening seconds it was clear that standing still and shooting was going to get the merc (or Hoshi) killed . . . so Hoshi returned to the strategy that she had used against Andariel (teleporting the entire time and letting the merc do all the shooting). In the beginning Hoshi teleported in a circular pattern around the room but hit those ‘no tele zones’ way too often (and Duriel got to do a lot of damage and some scary stunning). After getting repeatedly stunned (and therefore needing to use a couple full rejuvenation potions) Hoshi changed her strategy to teleporting diagonally across the room . . . there and back . . . there and back . . . there and back . . . for fifteen minutes (mega boring but pretty safe). Duriel only managed to get a couple of hits in and in a final act of spite dropped a Chu-Ko-Nu . . . but not the one that Hoshi REALLY wanted. I can’t decide whether or not to socket the Hellcast or continue hoping that a Demon Machine or Kuko will drop (I doubt they will but don’t really want to surrender hope by spending all Hoshi’s saved stat points and socket quests) . . . decisions, decisions. Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of Hell Act 2.
Hoshi continued into Act 3 of Hell using the players one setting. At players one most areas were pretty easy. Non fire immunes continued to get blasted to bits and fire immunes got out maneuvered by the tele archers (the merc did the killing, Hoshi did the maneuvering). Often ‘maneuvering’ meant finding a natural obstacle and then leading dangerous monsters to it . . . as can be seen here, here, here, here, and yes here (no, the dark lord was not dangerous . . . but the photo shy dolls were). Some dangerous monsters could not be maneuvered to kill zones so Hoshi had to settle for isolating them and then engaging them 2v1 . . . such as this Shaman (who really doesn’t seem dangerous but his aura was Blessed Aim and he had of course been surrounded by a zillion Flayers).
The most dangerous monster that Hoshi encountered was in the Great Marsh (I nearly died trying to get a pic and thought I had one but guess not) . . . anyways, this deadly monster was a Gloam with conviction, cold and fire enchantments. :shocked: I was always moving Hoshi forward with caution (especially once I knew Gloams were about) and noticed the conviction aura . . . but didn’t know what was causing it or what other mods the monster might possess. Hoshi carefully continued to pull the nearest monsters off one by one until only the scary unique was remaining. Hoshi held it at the edge of the screen so as to be able to rapidly teleport away from any of its lightning blasts . . . then I got the bright idea to scroll over it to see what other mods (i.e. how dangerous was it really) and it answered my question by erasing all of the red from Hoshi’s life bulb. :crazyeyes: The merc was toast (for the first time in forever) but Hoshi managed to use a full rejuvenation potion and tp to town, rehire, regroup, and return to defeat the Gloam via tele archery. All I can say about that is thank goodness that Hoshi’s lightning resistance was slightly stacked (totally by accident though).
Past the dread Gloam of doom, there really weren’t any really close calls. There were dolls in the Flayer Dungeon and Durance Level 2 (some of them managed to explode pretty close to Hoshi as she of course didn’t have a melee meatshield) but not even the extra fast cursed ones came very close to killing her. Bremm Sparkfist had conviction and various other elemental enchantments but really didn’t do much except bring up bad memories of that Gloam.
Mephisto was super easy (he got hit by the moat maneuver) and didn’t even manage to get off a shot. He didn’t manage to produce a very good drop either. Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of Hell Act 3. Normally I would have stopped and posted an update at this point but I really wanted to go get that Hell Forge drop! . . so I did . . .
Hoshi continued into Act 4 of Hell at the players one setting and found that most of the monsters were fire immune . . . this resulted in really slow going but otherwise not much of an obstacle. Fire immune Pit Lords and Doom Knights in the Outer Steppes and Plains of Despair that had to be hit with tele archery (which considering the monsters hit points was indeed becoming slow going) but more importantly . . . there were more Gloams in the Plains of Despair! Hoshi spent her entire time there creeping around half expecting some shot from off screen to end her life . . . but it didn’t happen. Thankfully Hoshi didn’t encounter another conviction Gloam and the worst that she happened upon was a cold and fire enchanted Gloam that probably could have killed her in three hits (if she stood still long enough for that to happen). The merc died many times (compared to once during the Great Marsh campaign . . . these Act 4 Gloams seemed to be on steroids and aimbots so a conviction Gloam probably would have ended it all . . . but Hoshi seems to be experiencing a charmed existence). Izual managed to hide pretty well but died very quickly once found.
This post is getting rambling so let’s get to the good stuff! The Forge drop! . . that offered up a Ko Rune! Hoshi’s merc had been using Goldstrike since it was found in the Hell Dark Woods and it had been working pretty well but Hoshi had a four socket Blade Bow that had been burning a hole in her stash since the NM WSK so naturally she had to create Harmony.
The merc got plenty of chances to get used to the new weapon as Hoshi continued to the Chaos Sanctuary (where there were plenty of fire immunes for the merc to kill . . . and the first half of the Chaos Sanctuary was drawn here . . . where they literally were target practice). The rest of the Chaos Sanctuary got hit by tele archery up until the last super unique who was drawn out to Hoshi’s favorite spot (more target practice before Big D :alright: ). Diablo was pretty easy (Hoshi had 95% fire resistance and 15% fire absorb from the Dwarf Star . . . so Hoshi really only needed to worry about the lightning). The battle was brief and Hoshi was never in any danger. The drop wasn’t interesting. Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of Hell Act 4.
Hoshi stepped out of Harrogath not really sure what to expect and was excited to see that her first opponents would be Gremlins and Foul Crows. Easy! . . they don’t do much damage and don’t have many hit points right? . . wrong! Hoshi’s closest call (since conviction Gloams in Act 3) came immediately outside the gates of Harrogath when an extra fast, extra strong, cursed Foul Crow appeared out of nowhere and killed the merc in an instant and then erased almost all the red from Hoshi’s life bulb. :shocked: Hoshi managed to hit a full rejuvenation potion, tp out, rehire the merc, regroup, and head out the front gate to try things again. Hoshi had another really close call but managed to defeat the blazing fast beast through blazing fast tele archery (Hoshi tele’s the merc shoots). After that Hoshi was even more careful than before (and I was being really careful before).
The rest of the Bloody Foothills, Frigid Highlands, and Arreat Plateau were pretty easy. Each of these areas had fire immune monsters that demanded extra time (and caution . . . but then again at this point . . . everything demanded extra caution). Hoshi continued to use the terrain to her advantage as much as possible (doors, fences, bushes, . . everything).
The Crystalline Passage, Frozen River, and Glacial Trail were very nice because there were not fire immunes, no monster groups really close to entrances/exits, and there were no Frenzytaurs (but the Frozen River did have Hoshi’s favorite monsters . . . Gloams). The Frozen River was therefore cleared with extreme caution but thankfully none of the Gloams were enhanced by conviction auras. Anya rewarded Hoshi for her good efforts with this none too interesting demon heart.
The next big event was Nihlathak. Levels 1 and 2 of his temple had fire immune Flayers (melee on level 1, ranged on level 2) but that was nothing compared to group of monsters that were waiting in the Halls of Vaught. Upon setting foot in the Halls of Vaught Hoshi was immediately greeted by a great many red orbs (Hell Witches) and green clouds (snakes! . . it had to be snakes). The welcoming party was defeated and then Hoshi slowly advanced on Nihlathak (those snakes were really scary considering Hoshi had only 24 poison resistance). Happily I’ve done enough key running to know how to locate Nihlathak so Hoshi could precede right to the main event. The battle played out with Hoshi pulling Nihlathak’s minions down one corridor so that she and the merc could get a clean shot (and not corpse exploded to bits) by coming from the other corridor. Turns out though that Nihlathak was fire immune . . . that meant it was up to the merc (and Hoshi’s maneuvering). The battle was scary but pretty safe (Hoshi made liberal use of full rejuvenation potions (because she had been saving them all game and hadn’t really used many up until this point). After much teleporting, some potions, and some resurrecting of the merc, Nihlathak was maneuvered into a corner and elimated.
The Ancients was the next big obstacle (or so Hoshi expected them to be). Really though, Hoshi ended up with a pretty easy group of Ancients that died in a really reasonable amount of time. First the Ancients were separated, then Korlic was brought to the top of the area and eliminated, then Madawc was brought to the top area and eliminated, then Talic (fire immune) was eliminated in a wide ranging battle that spanned the entire area. Tele archery was used to defeat all three Ancients (Hoshi could do pretty good damage to Korlic and Madawc but needed to make sure that the merc didn’t go and die so constant tele’ing seemed to be a good solution).
Levels 1 and 2 of the WSK were pretty easy (there were no large groups of monsters near the entrances/exits, no Frenzytaurs, and no Gloams). Level 3 of the WSK was slower going due to Flayers (fire immunes) and Hell Witches (creators of endless streams of nasty red orbs). Tele archery was largely used to defeat these monsters (that and ensuring that monsters came to Hoshi and her merc . . . not the other way around). **
Hoshi was concerned about what nasty monsters might occupy the Throne . . . and her concerns were well founded. As soon as Hoshi entered the Throne of Destruction she was promptly greeted by a massive Gloam ambush (that instantly killed the merc . . . there was a unique . . . stats unknown). Hoshi tele’d around a corner (thankfully nothing was there) tp’ed to town, resurrected the merc and returned for some tele archery (which was done at such range that I didn’t get a chance to see the unique Gloams stats . . . not that I’m complaining :nod: ). Hoshi did get a chance to see the stats of some of the other unique Gloams (pretty scary stuff) and did I mention that there were also dolls? . . lots of dolls. Carefully all these scary monsters were defeated (mostly one at a time) and then the waves. Waves one through three were pretty easy. Ventar’s group needed to be separated (and each member was defeated in the halls one at a time). Near the end Hoshi got more than she’d bargained for . . . but two at a time was still pretty easy. Hoshi hadn’t bothered to defeat the Plucked Chickens in normal or nightmare but managed to do it in Hell (through separating each plucked chicken and defeating them one at a time . . . well, I suppose the merc really should get most of the credit because the plucked chickens are of course fire immune). Finally, Hoshi got the invitation that she’d been long expecting.
Baal himself was in great fighting form. He cloned early and often and sent up a great many festering appendages but had one big problem . . . Hoshi could use potions . . . and Baal of course could not . . . so really the battle was over before it ever began. Here’s the useless stuff that Baal dropped (Hoshi has zero mf . . . so that’s about what I should have expected . . . ). Here were Hoshi’s stats at the end of Hell Act 5 . . . and last but not least . . . Here’s to you! . . for taking the time to read this rambling post . . . thanks! :wave:
Okay, so operating under the assumption that you took one look at that massive (though formatted) wall of text and started running for the exit, here’s the short version:
Normal
Act 1: Very easy. Countess was re-run for runes.
Act 2: Very easy. Staff with two sockets and +3 Enchant purchased. Leaf made.
Act 3: Very easy.
Act 4: Easy but slower. Diablo re-run once; Hellcast found!
Act 5: Using enchanted Hellcast, very easy indeed.
Nightmare
Act 1: Very easy. Infernostrides found.
Act 2: Very easy.
Act 3: Very easy.
Act 4: Fire immune monsters en masse create problems; merc needs better weapon. Dwarf Star found. Pul dropped from forge.
Act 5: Easy. Better merc weapon found (cedar then spider bow ‘edge’). Enchant, Warmth, and Fire Mastery maxed; remaining points start going to Teleport.
Post NM Pre Hell: NM Countess re-run until 3 Hel’s 2 Io’s found; ‘Smoke’ Ghost Armor made.
Hell:
Act 1: Getting harder. ‘Tele Archery’ born (see strategy section). Goldstrike found for merc.
Act 2: Getting harder. FHR charms and gear added.
Act 3: Pretty hard. +Life gear added. NDE #1.
Act 4: Pretty hard. Ko dropped from forge; Harmony blade bow made for merc. Teleport maxed.
Act 5: Pretty hard. NDE #2. Shael added to Hellcast. Mission complete.
General Strategy’s:
Nothing special before Hell (though obviously a weapon that fires exploding bolts/arrows was absolutely essential to this build . . . to that end and as re-running was allowed ATMA was consulted and Diablo was re-run . . . but knowing the odds let me say that I was amazingly lucky to get a weapon with exploding bolts/arrows on the first re-run).
Once in Hell ‘tele archery’ was the special strategy. What is ‘tele archery’ you ask . . . tele archery is the term I decided to use to refer to Hoshi abandoning personal offense and engaging in non stop teleporting (usually in a small pattern) while the Act 1 Cold Arrow Mercenary shot at attackers. At the start of Hell tele archery was mostly used on fire immune monsters (that Hoshi as a single element character could not personally defeat . . . note: static field, telekinesis, etc. could not be used). The only three skills that Hoshi used were Enchant, Frozen Armor, and Teleport . . . energy shield was available but Hoshi went with maneuverability (teleport) instead of tanking (energy shield) . . . but now I’m really getting off topic . . . where was I . . . ah yes, . . As Hoshi progressed through Hell tele archery went from a strategy to deal with fire immunes to strategy to deal with any dangerous unique or super unique (anything extra fast, extra strong, cursed, conviction, might, fanticism, . . you get the idea). In short, Hoshi really didn’t have many hit points (see stats below) and no damage that wasn’t fire damage so maneuverability (not getting hit) and maneuvering the merc was the name of the game. :nod:
Statistics:
Guardian Hoshi Level 81 Teleporting Enchantress
Strength: 71
Dexterity: 43
Vitality: 297
Energy: 55
Unused: 61 (enough for Demon Machine . . . the dream weapon that wasn’t found)
Life: 854
Mana: 235
FHR: 42%
FCR: 0%
Resists:
Fire: 95% (Hellcast and Infernostrides)
Cold: 75%
Lightning: 75%
Poison: 24
Damage:
Hoshi:
2693-3438 Level 27 Enchant 119-249 Not Enchanted
Merc:
1504-2251 Level 27 Enchant 551-1070 Not Enchanted
Skills:
Enchant: 27 (pre-buffing with leaf)
Warmth: 21
Fire Mastery: 21
Teleport:21
Fire Bolt: 2
Fire Ball: 2
Frozen Armor: 2
Charged Bolt: 2
Telekinesis: 2
Lightning: 2
Chain Lightning: 2
Energy Shield: 2 (I setup to use it, but never did)
4 Skill Points not spent
Items:
Hoshi:
Helm
Armor
Belt
Hand
Boot
Ring1
Ring2
Amulet
Weapon
Charms:
Grand Charms:
23% Cold Resistance
27% Cold Resistance
19% Fire Resistance
12% FHR
Small Charms:
4% Poison Resistance, 1-2 Cold Damage
5% Cold Resistance, 8% Gold Find
6% Cold Resistance, 1-2 Cold Damage
4% Fire Resistance
5% Cold Resistance
6% Poison Resistance, 1 Strength
8% Cold Resistance, 2 Strength
4% Lightning Resistance, 8 life
Merc:
Helm
Armor
Weapon
Notable Finds:
No, not really as Hoshi had zero mf (but I was glad to see these):
Hellcast (only weapon found that had exploding arrows/bolts)
Infernostrides (always useful)
Dwarf Star
Entrapping GC (courtesy of Hell Act 4 Gloams)
Pul NM Forge
Ko Hell Forge
Near Deaths:
#1 came in Hell Act 3 when Hoshi encountered and then I attempted to take a screenshot of a conviction cold and fire enhanced Gloam.
#2 came in Hell Act 5 when an extra fast extra strong Foul Crow appeared out of nowhere (at least this time I didn’t try to take a screenshot before running).
Final Thoughts:
Hoshi's been a fun character as I’d never created a crossbow wielding Enchantress (I’ve done a twinked Enchantress that uses throwing weapons, and have an Enchantress in the Sword of Destiny Tournament but I found Hoshi far more entertaining than either of those characters). Playing a one element character through Hell was something else I hadn’t done recently (normally a character such as Hoshi would probably use static, telekinesis, and some cold spell to at least decrease monster movement . . . if not outright kill them). The one element aspect of this character was pretty fun because it offered some challenge but not so much that I found myself wanting to bang my head against my keyboard (to give you an idea of what I’m talking about, Act 5 of Hell took about six hours to play through . . . not too bad at all).
In terms of regrets, I really would have like to have found some source of IAS (other than what was on the weapon) and I have the feeling that the combination of a faster weapon with exploding arrows/bolts such as a Shael’ed Demon Machine and IAS from some other source would make this character phenomenally entertaining. It might also have been nice to find some source of FCR but then again Hoshi wasn’t go blind teleporting around Hell holding a crossbow so probably the only time it really would have helped would have been when running away (and she already did that pretty well).
In terms of future plans, I’m not sure. I’ll probably continue using the tournament rules anytime I play her and might need to go mf some areas to find that Demon Machine she’s been so badly wanting. We’ll see.
Last but not at least. Any comments, concerns, questions are welcome (because I probably left out something important and this is my first Guardian thread so the formatting could probably be better). Big thanks to JayeM for hosting the tournament, Kyrandia for acknowledging my early boasting (it kept me motivated), and you for reading! :thumbup:
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