Well, well, Medea makes use of Grisu's prolonged vacation and is now Destroyer!
All in all I am very pleased with her finds and the progress. Only Diablo proved a bit more difficult as a Phoenix Striker, but more on that later.
I think this was one of the few times where I somehow didn't have to revive my merc during the fight against Sszark the Burning
But maybe it was because I myself was very careful and retreated very early to safety once I encountered mobs...esp. mobs like this one...
or this one...
Mephisto himself wasn't too bad, but managed to kill my merc 3 times or so until he succumbed (and dropped really nothing useful)
Against Izual, I fought very much like an Assassin: Stabbing repeatedly in his back while he was engulfed in flames:
The Amn rune from the Hellforge was later used to socket my ilvl 40 Partizan (max of 4 sockets) and boy did I get a lucky roll late in Act V on that Insight!
But before that, I had to prepare against Diablo - will 80% Fire and 74% Lightning resistance do?
I hoped so...Diablo as a melee character (esp. for one specialized in Fire) is never an easy encounter, and I tried to zig zag in front of him to distract him while my merc was poking at him with his Savage Halberd of Swiftness. Once, he caught me mid-sprint in a Bone Prison. never had experienced that before. All I could think of was casting a TP and enter it and the rerun from the last WP xD But in the end, it was enough, and Diablo died, without any useful drops of course.
I started Act V with an escort of muscular young men
and found some S/Us on my way, but none usable for me. I did find a plain Partizan though and used the socket recipe, which granted me a 4 os Partizan and this Insight roll:
Code:
Insight
Partizan
RalTirTalSol
Two Hand Damage: 122 - 269
Durability: 60 of 65
Required Level: 27
Required Strength: 113
Required Dexterity: 67
Fingerprint: 0x5e2d271a
Item Level: 40
Version: Resurrected
Level 17 Meditation Aura When Equipped
+35% Faster Cast Rate
259% Enhanced Damage
219% Bonus to Attack Rating
Adds 5 - 30 Fire Damage
Adds 75 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
+1 to Critical Strike
All Stats +5
+2 to Mana after each Kill
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items 4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Ral Rune
Socketed: Tir Rune
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Sol Rune
Holy moly! This increased damage output a lot! (Although I had a Savage Partizan of Pestilence equipped once my merc hit 113 STR).
I tried to let every killing blow be made by my merc for the additional MF and only had to change that strategy against mobs like this one, which were simply too powerful to be taken on alone by my merc:
The Ancients were quite easy, even at p8, and the keep itself wasn't difficult either. Lister and his pack were frozen with Phoenix Strike and didn't pose a real threat, and against Baal I only had to revive my merc two times until he went down.
I found some usable S/Us and some nice equipment during Act III-V, e.g.
I did single pass full clears at p8, with my merc doing most of the killing for the additional MF. I will have to see, how long that works out. Usually, I adjust my gear and drop some MF for better resists somewhere late in NM, depending on how well my merc does alone. I will probably be investing some skill points in Mind Blast for crowd control, that should make NM much easier.
I'm eager to hear about everyone else's adventures!
Medea, level 48 Phoenix Striker, with her BA Town Guard, NM Rogue Encampment next
Code:
D2R Forum Name Character Name Class Level Post # Location Score
-- --- ---------- -------------- ----- ----- ------ -------- ----
Yes m4ke Random_Pala Pal 70 44 Hell Rogue Encampment 10
SP Yes Jcakes Hephaestus Pal 48 18 NM Rogue Encampment 6
SP Yes Grisu Medea Ass 48 121 NM Rogue Encampment 6
Yes gregth The Reckless Nec 40 64 NM Black Marsh 5
Yes Vang RagerX Bar 28 141 Harrogath 4
Yes little birdy artemia Ama 24 146 City of the Damned 3
Yes PhineasB Randi Ass 20+? 104 Palace Level 1 1
SP Yes Oblivious Meninore Ama 20 13 Lut Gholein 1
No Arjan ??? Bar 17 34 Outer Cloister 0
Yes djmbbandie Kat Ass 16 80 Black Marsh 0
SP Yes Miron Quan Chi Nec 1 30 Rogue Encampment 0
Yes coju ??? Bar 1 5 Rogue Encampment 0
Yes Irenicus Norman Pal 1 38 Rogue Encampment 0
SP Yes Norcim ??? Sor 1 59 Rogue Encampment 0
Yes Vildecor ??? Pal 1 77 Rogue Encampment 0
Yes Dazliare Kaltrexia Sor 1 113 Rogue Encampment 0
Yes Nona ??? Sor 1 153 Rogue Encampment 0
Yes AntiRush ??? Nec 1 169 Rogue Encampment 0
Yes Arc1212 ??? Bar 1 177 Rogue Encampment 0
Yes djmbbandie ??? Dru 1 185 Rogue Encampment 0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our departed Died against/in
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes AntiRush RandomI Ass 61 9 Hell Flayer Jungle 12
Yes little birdy lenna Sor 24? 59 Normal Diablo 2
Yes Vang Terror Nec ?? 17 NM Arcane Sacntuary 6
Yes little birdy lennatwo Sor 19 59 Jungle Act III 2
Yes djmbbandie Grim Nec 20 157 Catacombs 0
Yes Arc1212 ??? Ama ?? 81 Act V 4
Yes Arc1212 Bones Nec 14 161 Act I Barracks 0
EDIT: Updated the table and included
@Jcakes' update, which I missed while posting...