SPF Quest for Guardians in Progress thread

[Vang]

Annihilation has defeated Baal and became my newest guardian. Unfortunately it breezed past the fact and I didn't get the almighty screenshot of the guardian screen and the drop was pretty bad overall.
I found only a couple items on my way, unique Wrist Sword was the only Elite level unique this character found from Act 1 Hell to Guardian and only a couple exceptional ones, mainly due to have a mighty 7% magic find.

Completed Guardians

Forumite         Character        Class  Furthest WP       Level      Date          UT   E/S  SP   S/U   Version
---------------  ---------------  -----  ----------------  -----     ----------     ---  ---  ---  ----  -------
lizard           Hyman            Druid  Guardian          82        2022-03-16     Yes  Yes  No   223   D2L
HanShotFirst     Mordred          Necro  Guardian          87        2022-05-11     Yes  Yes  Yes  200   D2R
abridged         sanity           Sorc   Guardian          94        2022-11-01     No   Yes  No   ?     D2R
Vang             Axer             Pal    Guardian          83        2022-07-17     Yes  Yes Yes   200   D2R
Vang             Annihilation     Druid  Guardian          81        2022-08-13     No   Yes  No   -     D2R

Questing Heroes

Forumite         Character        Class  Furthest WP           Level      Date             UT   E/S  SP   S/U     Version
---------------  ---------------  -----  ----------------       -----  ----------          ---  ---  ---    ----      -------
lizard            Deanna           Amazon Lut Gholein   H        85     2022-08-09         No   Yes  No    -          D2L
abridged          lars             Barb   Lut Gholein  NM        47     2022-05-22         Yes  Yes  No    -          D2R
Vang              Ravage           Druid  Kurast Docks  N        26     2022-08-09         No   Yes  No    -          D2R

The Fallen

Spoiler: The Fallen

Forumite         Character        Class  Furthest WP       Level  Date       UT   E/S  SP   S/U   Version
---------------  ---------------  -----  ----------------  -----  ---------- ---  ---  ---  ----  -------
abridged          persistence     Barb   Durance of Hate   23  Apr22     Yes  Yes  No  -     D2R
abridged          druid           Druid  Flayer Jungle H    80  Oct22     Yes  Yes  No  -     D2R
abridged          vanilla         Sorc   RoF NM                 55  Nov22    No   Yes  No -      D2R
Vang              Chains          Sorc   Lut Gholein H        76  Aug22    Yes                       D2R

 

[little birdy]

My Trapsin is still cruising through Normal. She is sitting at level 31 and just finished saving Anya. I pushed ahead to get the Frozen Tundra waypoint. Tomorrow night is Nihlathak, Ancients, and Baal, time permitting!

It’s been nice starting from scratch. My stashes were empty since this is my first HC character. Well, I suppose I miss my stockpile of runes a little bit… but otherwise it’s nice to have a fresh start.

 

[little birdy]

And we’ve done it! Finished Normal at level 35, a bit higher than usual, but that’s okay. It’s because I did so much p8 through the first two acts.

I might do a handful of cow runs tomorrow, but I won’t waste much time doing that. Onward and upward to Nightmare.

 

[Vang]

Update: Ravage has destroyed Andariel on players 8 in NM. This character is going to be a powerhouse. I spent the past week farming LK and finally got enough Gul and Ist drops to cube up to a Lo. I may run some more so I can actually save a few, but that remains to be seen. Will post in the IFT at some point as I found a slew of items to use, a couple being a solid ring and 2 15 resist all grand charms.

 

[Vang]

Whelp, that last all of 15 minutes. Go down to sewers and die. Lost a fair amount of good stuff (an all resist 11/21Lightning with +15dex/80ar ring, 4 shapeshifting skillers, 2 15 resist all GCs) Guess it's telling my sorry hide to take a break.

 

[little birdy]

Well, that's a bummer @Vang !

My Trapsin, yuffie, is sitting at the start of Act 2 NM at level 42. I just used my first re-spec to transition to Lightning Sentry and Death Sentry. By the end of NM, I should have LS, DS, and Fire Blast maxed, and then I can start pumping points into LS synergies.

My focus now is on finding some better gear. I've managed to make a 'Stealth' armor, which was a nice upgrade over whatever random rare I was using before. I am impatiently waiting for a 4os 'Spirit' base, but I will also spend some time shopping claws once I gain a few more levels. The plan is to either go with 'Spirit' and 'Rhyme', or dual claws with +Traps--whatever ends up being easiest to acquire. My stockpile of runes, gems, and jewels (crafting) is steadily growing, but there is still a lot of work to do yet.

 

[lizard]

Deanna joins Hyman as Guardian at lvl 86.

​

The arcane sanctuary was not as painful as I expected, even though the cold immunes were a bit of a pain to deal with. The damage of exploding arrow is really low in D2L and even worse with Wizendraw as main weapon, since I have not found any suitable base for Melody or Harmony.

Act 3 was much better apart from the Durance of Hate, where I spent an embarrassing amount of time looking for the right exit, which was really close to the entrance, but I turned the wrong way.

I finally found a 4 soc Thresher to make a higher damage weapon for my merc. Unfortunately it rolled only a lvl 12 Insight, and I still needed to chuck potions constantly. I think this character really needs MaeK or more points into Energy to alleviate this. I have not checked this in D2R, where they reduced mana costs of the elemental arrows, so it may be better there.

Spoiler: Insight

Mephisto was dealt with by lobbing arrows over the moat. His elemental attacks were not doing much to me, due to almost maxed resists and the bonus + max resist from Irathas.

Spoiler: Meph Kill

I could really feel the increase in monster HP and difficulty in Act 4. Things started to take much longer to kill and Cold Immunes became a major obstacle, but Deanna persisted and killed Diablo shortly after.

Spoiler: Diablo Kill

The slugging continued in the foothills of the Arreat Plateau and made the way up the mountain. In the frozen river, i found this unique ring, to my surprise from a normal Yeti.

Spoiler: Dwarf Star

Ancients would be my first major challenge. I tried 1 to 2 times, but quickly realized that Korlic would be a big problem, due to his cold immunity. I checked my stashes and found a Koku Shakaku, which I added to second slot to deal with CIs. This was a good addition and increased my damage considerably. Should have checked for this earlier in Act 4. With this in hand I managed to dispose of the Ancients and off I went to the WSK.
I snuck my way around the most dangerous mobs in lvl 1 and 2, til I found the wp and onwards to the Throne. I encountered souls in lvl 3 and FA is a really good way to get rid of them, even if they have cannot be frozen. I don't run Baal on Hell too much and did not remember which immunity Lister&Co have. During the waves 1-4 I was worried, that he would spawn CI, but i was wrong and Listers minions are actually FI. Who knew? not me, thats for sure.

Spoiler: Baal Kill

This makes my second Guardian on 1.14 after restarting. This was a very fun character.
I basically used the same core gear from normal to Hell, swapping only armors from Stealth -> Peace -> Smoke and Nats boots i found in AT. Rings were Nagels until I replaced them with the Rare from Diablo and the Dwarf Star in A5 H. The core gear was Irathas set and Wizendraw. This is really easy gear to farm and insanely strong throughout NM and to an extent Hell, where a way to deal with CIs is necessary, either going LF/CS (aka fishyzon) or exploding arrow. Going EA really needs a dedicated bow though, if one relies on Wizendraw for FA. Ideally, Harmony or Melody would fill that spot, but finding the runes and a good base may be difficult. Koku Shakaku is a good bandaid solution, as I found out.

Spoiler: Skill Build

Amazon
 Jav & Spe. :  Pas. & Mag  : Bow & XBow
Ja          :  IS      CS  :      MA  FA
00          :  01      01  :      01  20
 | \        :   |       |  :       |   |
 |  PS  PJ  :   |  Do   |  :  Ca  MS   |
 |  00  00  :   |  01   |  :  20  01   |
 |   |  /|  :   |   |   |  :   |\  | \ |
Im   |  LB  :  SM  Av   |  :   |   |  EA
00   |  00  :  01  01   |  :   |   |  20
 |   |/  |  :   |   |   |  :   |  \|   |
 |  CS  PJ  :   |   |  Pe  :  IA  GA   |
 |  00  00  :   |   |  01  :  01  00   |
 |   |   |  :   |   |   |  :   |   |   |
Fe   |   |  :  De  Ev   |  :   |  St  IA
00   |   |  :  01  01   |  :   |  00  00
     |   |  :   | /     |  :   |
    LS  LF  :  Va      Pi  :  FA
    00  00  :  01      05  :  20

Completed Guardians

Forumite         Character        Class  Furthest WP       Level      Date          UT   E/S  SP   S/U   Version
---------------  ---------------  -----  ----------------  -----     ----------     ---  ---  ---  ----  -------
lizard           Hyman            Druid  Guardian          82        2022-03-16     Yes  Yes  No   223   D2L
HanShotFirst     Mordred          Necro  Guardian          87        2022-05-11     Yes  Yes  Yes  200   D2R
abridged         sanity           Sorc   Guardian          94        2022-11-01     No   Yes  No   ?     D2R
Vang             Axer             Pal    Guardian          83        2022-07-17     Yes  Yes  Yes  200   D2R
Vang             Annihilation     Druid  Guardian          81        2022-08-13     No   Yes  No   -     D2R
lizard           Deanna           Amazon Guardian          86        2022-08-21     No   Yes  No   -     D2L

Questing Heroes

Forumite         Character        Class  Furthest WP           Level      Date             UT   E/S  SP   S/U     Version
---------------  ---------------  -----  ----------------       -----  ----------          ---  ---  ---    ----      -------
abridged         lars             Barb   Lut Gholein  NM        47     2022-05-22          Yes  Yes  No     -         D2R

The Fallen

Spoiler: The Fallen

Forumite         Character        Class  Furthest WP       Level  Date       UT   E/S  SP   S/U   Version
---------------  ---------------  -----  ----------------  -----  ---------- ---  ---  ---  ----  -------
abridged         persistence      Barb   Durance of Hate   23     Apr22      Yes  Yes  No   -     D2R
abridged         druid            Druid  Flayer Jungle H   80     Oct22      Yes  Yes  No   -     D2R
abridged         vanilla          Sorc   RoF NM            55     Nov22      No   Yes  No   -     D2R
Vang             Chains           Sorc   Lut Gholein H     76     Aug22      Yes                  D2R
Vang             Ravage           Druid  Kurast Docks  N   26     22-08-09   No   Yes  No   -     D2R

Deanna updates: [1] [2]

 

[little birdy]

yuffie has arrived at the Canyon of the Magi in NM, but before tackling Duriel, she is going to circle back to Act I to load up on some much needed runes, and perhaps test her luck running Andy for a bit too.

I burnt my first re-spec to go from a Wake of Fire build, which rocked in Normal, to a LS/DS based build. It was working OK, but I dunno... it wasn't sparking joy, as they say. So, perhaps foolishly, I used my NM re-spec and now yuffie is specializing in Blade Fury. I'm running dual claws, one 'Strength' and one random magic claw. I also made a 'Malice' claw but the life drain is a bit annoying. I will likely try to make a second 'Strength' to up my Crushing Blow %, but I have also been considering new new rune word 'Pattern'. Running two of those would give nice boost to my weak resistances.

Long story short, the gear needs work, but she's not struggling to kill things anyways, and I'm having a blast with Blade Fury.

 

[Miron]

Made some progress from last update finished Normal and reached NM.

While questing through act 3 I was lucky enough to gamble a rare bow that together with ML from gloves allowed me to use strafe almost constantly:

Soul Harp
Long Battle Bow
Two Hand Damage: 4 - 32
Durability: 43 of 44
Required Level: 10
Required Strength: 40
Required Dexterity: 50
Fingerprint: 0xa742b681
Item Level: 28
Version: Resurrected
+10% Increased Attack Speed
34% Enhanced Damage
+8 to Maximum Damage
+39% Damage to Undead
+66 to Attack Rating against Undead
5% Mana stolen per hit <-- most important stat!
Cold Resist +5%

Although nothing impressive this bow gave the best kill speed compared to other bows I had at the moment including Zephyr RW that I made in an Edge bow. The buff they gave strafe in this patch is noticeable.

Slowly made my way through act 4 with Izual taking the most time to kill. This fight was clear indication that without some equipment upgrade the future looks bleak.

Spoiler

After Izual the next step was naturally the Hellforge reward. Hephasto was nasty with his Fanaticism aura and managed to kill the merc once or twice but nothing really dangerous. Took the hammer, crossed fingers and BAM:

Spoiler

Cleared the river and CS, was a bit afraid of Diablo, especially his cage that can quickly result in deeds. He managed to trap me once but he was far enough and I managed to destroy it before he came closer. Had to go back to town few times for merc resurrection but in the end managed to bring him down.

Act 5, was quite excited to try the new barb merc but for some strange reason Qual-Kehk didn't have any mercs for hire... had to keep the old merc for a bit.
Finally managed to hire a new merc, made him Steel RW and game him this sword:

Soldier's Long Sword of the Locust
Long Sword
One Hand Damage: 4 - 27
Durability: 44 of 44
Required Level: 19
Required Strength: 55
Required Dexterity: 39
Fingerprint: 0xd1c674af
Item Level: 39
Version: Resurrected
45% Enhanced Damage
+64 to Attack Rating
6% Life stolen per hit

Actually, wasn't quite impressed with his performance, tried the other type with 2H Steel RW... some real potential there but he will have to wait for other char. Re-hired the new merc type. Progress was slow but steady, rescued Anya and immediately went to check reward:

Spoiler

Spoiler

Ancients went down on the first try and Baal was tedious but not really dangerous. Got 'all rares' drop but nothing of interest. The %ED from skills and DEX proved to be enough to finish Normal mode, and so I continued to NM hoping to slog it through somehow. The real breakthrough came in the Cave:

Spoiler

Possible end-game weapon!

Thanks to this find and this ring:

Dragon's Ring of the Bat
Ring
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x4b10978d
Item Level: 35
Version: Resurrected
3% Mana stolen per hit
+40 to Mana

the progress became much smoother. Also managed to craft KB gloves (27% LR) but those will wait for another ML item.

Llia, lvl 51, Outer Cloister

 

[little birdy]

Time for a HC status update:

yuffie is part-way through Act III NM, just got the Lower Kurast waypoint. Smooth sailing so far. I put a point into Shadow Warrior to basically act as a decoy, and then I mow everything down with shurikens. I have maxed Blade Fury and Blade Sentinel, and now I'm pumping points into Blade Shield to further synergize Blade Fury. I also have a point in Death Sentry to add in Corpse Explosion as needed. One point in Venom and Cloak of Shadows as well, to help with extra damage. I try to keep both active at all times. I'm still running with my Act I Rogue merc, but I have considered a change to an Iron Wolf merc (Fire) if I need help with AR later on. The merc's Enchant might be nice.

I have also started questing a HC Summoner Druid: seymour. He finished Normal last night at level 32. I got to Act V using nothing but Ravens, and it worked quite well. At level 30 I added in the Grizzly, and I started using Spirit Wolves in the WSK as well since I started putting points into that skill after Ravens were maxed. Ravens are still the biggest damage dealer, but the wolves and bear at least help to distraction monsters.

 

[little birdy]

This is definitely the farthest I've ever taken a character through Hardcore!

yuffie has arrived at Hell at level 62. Ancients and WSK and Baal were no trouble at all. I've left it on /p1 so it really shouldn't be difficult, but I guess I thought Blade Fury with crummy gear would be a bit more of a challenge. Hell will surely be much more difficult, though. I might need to spend some time running Baal to build up a few levels and maybe find some nice items in the process.

 

[Oblivious]

Hello everyone and congrats on the progress you've been making. I decided to join you and try to get a Guardian after 22 years of playing the game.

Enter Sgillvalr the Polearm weilding Concetrate Barbarian who will be making heavy use of the CC Warcries.

I will try to update regularly as I go through the game. I will be playing standard tourney rules (p8/p3 in Hell, full clears, single pass) with allowed restats but not respecs.
Anyone got any tips before starting out ?

Also some clarification is needed on the table, what do the abreviations:
UT (I presume Untwinked), E/S (Escape and Save?), SP (Single Player or Single Pass ?) stand for ? I made some educated guesses.

Completed Guardians

Forumite         Character        Class  Furthest WP       Level      Date          UT   E/S  SP   S/U   Version
---------------  ---------------  -----  ----------------  -----     ----------     ---  ---  ---  ----  -------
lizard           Hyman            Druid  Guardian          82        2022-03-16     Yes  Yes  No   223   D2L
HanShotFirst     Mordred          Necro  Guardian          87        2022-05-11     Yes  Yes  Yes  200   D2R
abridged         sanity           Sorc   Guardian          94        2022-11-01     No   Yes  No   ?     D2R
Vang             Axer             Pal    Guardian          83        2022-07-17     Yes  Yes  Yes  200   D2R
Vang             Annihilation     Druid  Guardian          81        2022-08-13     No   Yes  No   -     D2R
lizard           Deanna           Amazon Guardian          86        2022-08-21     No   Yes  No   -     D2L

Questing Heroes

Forumite         Character        Class  Furthest WP           Level      Date             UT   E/S  SP   S/U     Version
---------------  ---------------  -----  ----------------       -----  ----------          ---  ---  ---    ----      -------
abridged         lars             Barb   Lut Gholein  NM        47     2022-05-22          Yes  Yes  No     -         D2R
Oblivious        Sgillvarl        Barb   Dark Wood              13     2022-09-07          Yes  Yes  Yes    1         D2R

The Fallen

Spoiler: The Fallen

Forumite         Character        Class  Furthest WP       Level  Date       UT   E/S  SP   S/U   Version
---------------  ---------------  -----  ----------------  -----  ---------- ---  ---  ---  ----  -------
abridged         persistence      Barb   Durance of Hate   23     Apr22      Yes  Yes  No   -     D2R
abridged         druid            Druid  Flayer Jungle H   80     Oct22      Yes  Yes  No   -     D2R
abridged         vanilla          Sorc   RoF NM            55     Nov22      No   Yes  No   -     D2R
Vang             Chains           Sorc   Lut Gholein H     76     Aug22      Yes                  D2R
Vang             Ravage           Druid  Kurast Docks  N   26     22-08-09   No   Yes  No   -     D2R

 

[HanShotFirst]

Also some clarification is needed on the table, what do the abreviations:

Yeah, you mostly got them .

UT: Untwinked, E/S: Extended Stash (GoMule/ATMA), SP: Single Pass.

Good luck on that first Guardian! I'm looking forward to reading all about Sgillvalr!

 

[Oblivious]

Yeah, you mostly got them .

UT: Untwinked, E/S: Extended Stash (GoMule/ATMA), SP: Single Pass.

Good luck on that first Guardian! I'm looking forward to reading all about Sgillvalr!

Makes sense ! Edited the table in my orginal post

 

[Vang]

Nice job everyone on the updates, it has been a few crazy weeks on my end, and I've slacked on even visiting the forums!

 

[little birdy]

seymour the Summoner Druid zipped through much of NM difficulty this week. All this time, I've been in search of a base for a 'Spirit' sword, and finally a 4os Broad Sword presented itself to me in the Frozen Tundra of Act V NM. As soon as I confirmed it had 4 sockets, I went back to town to make my rune word and re-summon all my pets. Then the very next mob I found in the Frozen Tundra dropped a Lidless Wall unique Grim Shield! In the blink of an eye, I went from a random Club for a weapon and 'Ancients Pledge' to +3 all skills with 'Spirit' and Lidless Wall. Nice! I got as far as the WSK Level 2 Waypoint last night and then hit the hay. Tonight, seymour will gain the title of Conqueror.

 

[Oblivious]

Sgillvalr has completed Act 1 Normal with no real NDEs. Progress is slow what with me HAVING to hork every last Fallen...
He has had some very good luck sofar, Death's Gloves AND Sash dropped which means he gets access to CBF, All Res, 8%LL and really crucial for my sanity 30% OW IAS. If the calculator is right I am down to 15frames Concentrate which is... bearable. Andy dropped nothing of course





Sgillvalr the Polearm Concentrate Barbarian, Level 20 in Lut Gholein

Completed Guardians

Forumite         Character        Class  Furthest WP       Level      Date          UT   E/S  SP   S/U   Version
---------------  ---------------  -----  ----------------  -----     ----------     ---  ---  ---  ----  -------
lizard           Hyman            Druid  Guardian          82        2022-03-16     Yes  Yes  No   223   D2L
HanShotFirst     Mordred          Necro  Guardian          87        2022-05-11     Yes  Yes  Yes  200   D2R
abridged         sanity           Sorc   Guardian          94        2022-11-01     No   Yes  No   ?     D2R
Vang             Axer             Pal    Guardian          83        2022-07-17     Yes  Yes  Yes  200   D2R
Vang             Annihilation     Druid  Guardian          81        2022-08-13     No   Yes  No   -     D2R
lizard           Deanna           Amazon Guardian          86        2022-08-21     No   Yes  No   -     D2L

Questing Heroes

Forumite         Character        Class  Furthest WP           Level      Date             UT   E/S  SP   S/U     Version
---------------  ---------------  -----  ----------------       -----  ----------          ---  ---  ---    ----      -------
abridged         lars             Barb   Lut Gholein  NM        47     2022-05-22          Yes  Yes  No     -         D2R
Oblivious        Sgillvarl        Barb   Lut Gholein            20     2022-09-07          Yes  Yes  Yes    4         D2R

The Fallen

Spoiler: The Fallen

Forumite         Character        Class  Furthest WP       Level  Date       UT   E/S  SP   S/U   Version
---------------  ---------------  -----  ----------------  -----  ---------- ---  ---  ---  ----  -------
abridged         persistence      Barb   Durance of Hate   23     Apr22      Yes  Yes  No   -     D2R
abridged         druid            Druid  Flayer Jungle H   80     Oct22      Yes  Yes  No   -     D2R
abridged         vanilla          Sorc   RoF NM            55     Nov22      No   Yes  No   -     D2R
Vang             Chains           Sorc   Lut Gholein H     76     Aug22      Yes                  D2R
Vang             Ravage           Druid  Kurast Docks  N   26     22-08-09   No   Yes  No   -     D2R

 

[little birdy]

As planned, seymour finished off NM on Friday night:



I got Larzuk to punch a socket in my Lidless Wall and put a P. Diamond in it to help a bit with resists. I can switch the armor from 'Stealth' to 'Smoke' since I do have a Lum rune--just need to find an acceptable base for it.

I don't think it will be necessary to spend much time levelling up in NM. I'm going to take on Act I Hell and see how it goes.

 

[Miron]

Time for an update:

Continued the journey from Outer Cloister deeper into the Cathedral. Skystrike definitely made the journey more bearable and less of a crawl but there was a noticeable drop in speed when I reached Catacombs level 3. Apparently, I expected too much from those 250 lightning damage.


I was a little worried about Andariel with ~30 or so poison resists and lvl 20 Valk but in the end she managed to tank her long enough for me to finish her off. The merc on the other hand.... well, you can see for yourself:

Spoiler

You can see him near the Valk

Act 2

Much more a crawl then Act 1, the need for better weapons became more and more urgent with every step, especially frustrating were encounters with Unravelers and their minions. Without real means to destroy skeletons and with their seemly unlimited resurrection range it was a real nightmare to separate the group. Some noticeable encounters:

Spoiler

Spoiler

At some point I felt that merc's weapons reached their limit so I had to gamble new ones for him. After few tries, decided to settle for War Sword type (cost efficient) which turned out to be a good decision:

Viper Song
Ancient Sword
One Hand Damage: 26 - 66
Durability: 44 of 44
Required Level: 25
Required Strength: 127
Required Dexterity: 88
Fingerprint: 0x7b25c705
Item Level: 57
Version: Resurrected
+20% Increased Attack Speed
49% Enhanced Damage
+2 to Maximum Damage
Adds 6 Poison Damage Over 2 Secs (50 Frames)
4% Life stolen per hit
Poison Resist +6%


Pain Hew
War Sword
One Hand Damage: 21 - 52
Durability: 44 of 44
Required Level: 33
Required Strength: 71
Required Dexterity: 45
Fingerprint: 0x353db9d2
Item Level: 55
Version: Resurrected
+30% Increased Attack Speed
164% Enhanced Damage
Adds 1 - 174 Lightning Damage
Adds 50 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
+16 to Mana

Rest of the journey was mostly uneventful except 2 tough spots. The first one occurred in the Claw Viper Temple, I entered lvl 2 and went by the upper wall, unfortunately managed to trap myself in a corner between cages with only the merc between me and the snakes while the Valk on the other side of the group. After some quick thinking I opend TP went through and back to bring us all to one spot:

Spoiler

A similar event occurred in Arcane Sanctuary. On the branch with those red portals, near the middle, took the wrong portal and appeared in the middle of the group with the way back blocked. Luckily was able to use TP to come from WP again and clear the trap:

Spoiler

P8 Duriel, on SP HC, was as scary as his Normal mode version, especialy with 5% CR. I don't know how, but managed to place Valk in a place that he couldn't knock her back and since she is the strongest of us 3 Duriel concentrated on her and allowed me and the merc to take him down after 5 tedious minutes (really need a source of CB).

Spoiler: Duriel

^after 5 minutes....

Gamble/Drops

Doing full clears even without any MF still yielded nice amount of unique/sets:
- Cathan's Seal
- IK helm
- Gravenspine (bone wand)
- Bonesnap
- Rockfleece
- Hawkmail
- Hellclap
- Razortine
- Soulflay
- Sparking Mail
- Axe of Fechmar
- Bloodletter


Gambling - I think I spent over 2M trying to improve equipment almost without results until recently. I did manage to find some items for future chars if GoMule will work for 2.5:

Spoiler

I even tried some crafting in hope for an upgrade:

Spoiler

Llia, lvl 58, Act 2 - seven tombs

 

[BBS_Agonistes]

I had said I would join with a Paladin, but since decided on a Frenzy Barb, Eegan. He has finished A4 Normal and run CS a few times.

Normal Andariel dropped a 23% Nagelring, which was nice to get MF up. At level 32, I happened to look at Halbu's stock of boots and noticed a 35% MF Light Plated Boots of Luck. A +3 Find Item barb helm with a perfect and flawless topaz are also in the mix to get his total MF to 138%. No crazy drops yet, but Diablo dropped Razorswitch, which is nice if I decide to start a sorc in HC.

He's using a typical Frenzy build with swords. He's currently using a Brutal War Sword of Amplify Damage and a yellow Bastard Sword with two Tals in it. I've also used the "Malice" runeword a bit. I'm trying to get him leveled up a bit more and then press on through A5. I'm a tad nervous about starting NM. I've never made Guardian before, but I came the closest with a barb in my last D2 go around. He was a WW barb and died around level 70 in the middle of a whirlwind when potions are redded out, which caused me to take the Frenzy route this go around.

I added my name below... hopefully I didn't mess up the formatting!

Completed Guardians

Forumite         Character        Class  Furthest WP       Level      Date          UT   E/S  SP   S/U   Version
---------------  ---------------  -----  ----------------  -----     ----------     ---  ---  ---  ----  -------
lizard           Hyman            Druid  Guardian          82        2022-03-16     Yes  Yes  No   223   D2L
HanShotFirst     Mordred          Necro  Guardian          87        2022-05-11     Yes  Yes  Yes  200   D2R
abridged         sanity           Sorc   Guardian          94        2022-11-01     No   Yes  No   ?     D2R
Vang             Axer             Pal    Guardian          83        2022-07-17     Yes  Yes  Yes  200   D2R
Vang             Annihilation     Druid  Guardian          81        2022-08-13     No   Yes  No   -     D2R
lizard           Deanna           Amazon Guardian          86        2022-08-21     No   Yes  No   -     D2L

Questing Heroes

Forumite         Character        Class  Furthest WP           Level      Date             UT   E/S  SP   S/U     Version
---------------  ---------------  -----  ----------------       -----  ----------          ---  ---  ---    ----      -------
abridged         lars             Barb   Lut Gholein  NM        47     2022-05-22          Yes  Yes  No     -         D2R
Oblivious        Sgillvarl        Barb   Lut Gholein            20     2022-09-07          Yes  Yes  Yes    4         D2R
BBS_Agonistes    Eegan            Barb   River of Flame         33     2022-10-06          Yes  Yes  Yes    -         D2R

The Fallen

Spoiler: The Fallen

Forumite         Character        Class  Furthest WP       Level  Date       UT   E/S  SP   S/U   Version
---------------  ---------------  -----  ----------------  -----  ---------- ---  ---  ---  ----  -------
abridged         persistence      Barb   Durance of Hate   23     Apr22      Yes  Yes  No   -     D2R
abridged         druid            Druid  Flayer Jungle H   80     Oct22      Yes  Yes  No   -     D2R
abridged         vanilla          Sorc   RoF NM            55     Nov22      No   Yes  No   -     D2R
Vang             Chains           Sorc   Lut Gholein H     76     Aug22      Yes                  D2R
Vang             Ravage           Druid  Kurast Docks  N   26     22-08-09   No   Yes  No   -     D2R