Preperation:

Get burst of speed to level 3, max claw mastery, and learn to use the few skills I have effectively, thats about it, the rest I just decided I would play by ear. I was planning a full clear and was determined to do it.

Act 1:

Easier than I thought it would be, flying through everything, no bosses were even slightly difficult, bad item luck except a rare sash I got, which was oddly named 'scake cord', i got a nice laugh off of that. I had to gamble claws because I wasnt finding a thing, so I was usually running around with close to no cash but good weapons. Clearing out everything quickly, no real skill involved yet, just *click click click* everything died, whoopdidoo. Blood Raven *click click click* dead, Griswald *click click click* dead, Countess *click click click* well, you get the point, no challenge in Act 1. Got a nice pair of chain gloves from Andariel, ended up needing to gamble a pair of boots, which were actually very nice, with some resists, 5% chance of frost nova and a few other things. I was already using a pair of rare cestus by now =)

Act 2:

Entered at level 15

Started out pretty easy, using Cloak of Shadows to prevent ranged attackers, got to Radament fairly quickly, no problem here, just lure, kill, lure kill, then go after Radament, easy easy easy. Nothing really hard yet, finding many uses for CoS allowing me to head for Great Mummies right away so they couldn't raise dead, other than that, I just blasted through everything.

But when I reached the Arcane Sanctuary, I started having my doubts, started getting really hurt and in danger, started actually needing my Shadow Warrior to hide behind so my potions could take effect. Other than that, It wasn't too hard.

Tombs were pretty easy except for Ancient Kaa, with his LEness, I had to do hit and runs with Burst of Speed to avoid getting hit by the lightning. Duriel was easy, only needed 2 Healing Potions and he was out of it. No items here that stayed with me for much longer, waeapons were constantly changing from constant gambling.

Act 3:

entering at level 22

Other than chasing flayers and the painful shots of inerno, it was all just fine here, except for that stupid spider Sszark the Burning who almost killed me, but I stood my ground and chugged potions, running back for a few seconds to let them take effect.

Flew past most of this act, although, I needed my Shadow Warrior more and more, needing to run forward, lure them to it, let them engage, then attack them 1 by 1 just so I could survive. I had low def and only 46% blocking from weapon block, so I would get hit often if I were to be mobbed. I usually stood my ground when I was mobbed and used CoS to keep all of my enemies steady while I slew them and to prevent more from engaging.

The Council wasn't that hard, I just lured the bosses out 1 by 1 until they were all dead, smashed the orb and went on a nice Meph huntin trip.

The Durance was pretty uneventful, everything fell in a few hits, but I still hid behind my Shadow Warrior just so I wouldnt get mobbed and have no way out.

Everything on Durance 3 went smoothly, usually something goes wrong, but nothing did, I killed everything easily, except meph, he killed my Shadow Warriors in a hit or 2, and I myself, even with 200+ life, couldnt take more than a few, even with max lit resist. I needed 3 full rejuvs to beat him, but he fell, and dropped the helm I still use, the unique full helm, Duskdeep.

Act 4:

Entering at level 25

Now it started becoming routine, Lure, Hide, Hit, I couldn't survive without doing that, I wasnt doing enough damage to kill everything before they would kill me. I also invented the "post-battle healing system" at this point, my belt full of full rejuvs for emergencies, and my inventory always containing 2 Greater Healing, Whenever I exited a battle, if I had less than 25% life, I'd chug down a Greater Healing and shortly found another, this worked through out the rest of the game.

Everything was was pretty much routine up until Hephasto, where I was forced to use some throwing knives and peg him from across the river, but I had no choice or I would have died, Extra Fast with an aura that lowered my def, thats one dead assassin, so I used a "safety tactic".

When I hit the Chaos Sanctuary, things started to get harder, I had to lure monsters all the way to the hallways because I couldn't prevent getting mobbed from outside of it. So it was just a much longer lure, I eventually cleared it all, and Diablo fell after chugging 13 full rejuvs and using some fancy maneuvers that I learned in past hardcore stuff, goody. Off to act 5 with the only items I'm actually still using are my Helm, and a rare belt i found in Act 2.

Act 5:

Entering at level 27

Same routine over and over just so I could survive, otherwise, I woulda been owned, except in the Bloody Foothills, once those damned teleporting demon things appeared, then it got hard because I had to chase em around and avoid the fire attacks, and usually would run out of mana to use CoS.

On and on, chase, slash, kill, chase, slash, kill, I got irritated a few times so I took a break, but left it on so I didn't rekill any areas because I wanted to avoid that, all my levels will be gained by killing just whats on there, not from killing stuff from areas that I already cleared.

Back into my lure and 1 on 1 routine as I went through the Glacial Trail ect. oh well, just routine, plenty of close calls though, which kept it exciting =).

After I cleared the Frozen Tundra and its optional dungeon, I went after that dude who name starts with 'N'(can never remember it)N----thak, thats all I can remember.

Again, routine, lure, 1on1, kill, ect. ect. ect. But still plenty of closed calls, always interesting when you know if you die you can't play your char anymore =)

Anyway, after he died, down ancient's way, flattened the ancients, through the world stone chamber and down to the Throne of Destruction, not much detail, just the routine again, but still plenty of close calls, what fun =)

Anyway, I almost died plenty of times because I'd find a bunch of red star things kinda resembling blood star from D1 and has to run into the middle of them all so I could CoS them all and kill them 1 by 1, which would've worked better if I didn't have to dodge every bloody thing!

Anyway, I cleared it all, or so I though, there was 1 thing hiding which took me 5 mins to find just so Baal could start summoning monsters for me to beat down using some clever microing. After the long hit and run of the council LEB dude, I went down to the Worldstone Chamber, my 2 most used skills here, Shadow Master and Town Portal =). Hit hit hit, run, tp, heal, repeat until the corpse of Baal is under my feet. Almost died about 30 times other than that nothing much happened, except ending up in town with 2 life left, goody =) He eventually fell, and just for show I stood on him and took screenshots =) Anyway, I hope things prove to be much more difficult in Nightmare.

I completed all my goals, proved that a shadow disciplines only assassin can survive in hardcore, although, I could've done without so many close calls and the low damage =P I also did a full clear, hurrah for me! =)

-GoDoFiNsAnItY-

| Expansion Exploits | Sirian's Expansion Page |