ACT ONE
Subpoena (aka "P") started out just as planned: club the first zombie to death with his wand, raise a skeleton, then follow that minion around and replace him as required. Did you know that a skeleton with no mastery does only 1-2 damage? Normally, I wouldn't wait for them. I'd kill 95% of the targets in the Moor with my wand, and the other 5% would be the ones too stupid to avoid my minion while I'm bashing other heads. So things went slowly. I didn't mind. I'm completely committed to the purity of this character, even right at the very beginning, because I KNOW this may well be the most fun char I ever play in Diablo, but it will only be so if I embrace his limitations without any impatience or reservation. So I was content to follow that skeleton and watch as it struggled to kill the most tame opponents in the game.
At clvl 2, I invested my first skill point into the only available option: Raise Skeleton. With the point from my wand, I could now raise two of them, and that made more than double the difference.
Now how can that be? It's a simple matter of numbers: math. Remember that when opponents are struck for more than 12% of their total life, they are briefly stunned. They must undergo Hit Recovery, which takes a certain number of frames during which they are helpless. When my single skeleton would face two enemies, even sad mlvl 1 zombies, he could be overwhelmed, stunlocked. When a player or monster is sent into hit recovery and then hit again before the recovery animation concludes, they are helpless, locked in stun. Stunlock is a vital concept to playing Diablo -- not quite as much in D2 as in D1, but more so in D2X than D2. Why? A couple reasons. One, elemental damage now stuns. This applies both ways: enemy elemental damages can stun you or your minions, and your elemental damages can stun monsters. Only physical damage could stun in D2 v1.06 and earlier. Also, blocking melee blows now sends you into blocking animation. Previously, it only did so for ranged attacks: arrows, javelins, mummy missiles, purple oblivion knights' white shots. Now the blocking animation happens for melee attacks, too. This may sound bad, but it WORKS BOTH WAYS. Monsters have always had blocking, but they only used to go into block animation when you used bows or throwing weapons. Now they can be blocklocked with melee attacks, too. So... there is now both hit-recovery and block-animation, thus ANY blow that "hits" forces the opponent to recover, whether they block the blow or not. This adds to the importance of managing numbers. Now more than ever before, the advantage in melee combat extends to the force with greater numbers.
You might think this automatically favors Diablo's pets, and that's true if you just charge into combat. However, clever use of terrain, clever footwork, clever golem placement, clever manipulation of the enemy AI in all its strengths and weaknesses, can allow you to exert your influence over the battlefield, to give your own troops superior numbers most if not all of the time.
Frontage is the concept at hand. How many of your troops are engaged? How many of the enemy are they engaged with? You have to look past the mob size to the actual engagement. P's got it simple for the moment: there's one skeleton or there's two, and there's one enemy, or two, or perhaps three. There may be others nearby. One on one is even odds. One on three is bad odds. Two on one is favorable odds. The reason it makes more than double the difference is that the synergy of two on one makes the first skeleton more efficient than he was by himself. Say Skel One lands a blow on the zombie. If he's by himself, the zombie has a chance to recover before Skel One attacks again. Then if the zombie is quick (don't laugh -- HEY! I said not to laugh, OK? Cmon now)... If the zombie is quick, it may get to swing before Skel One swings again. If so, it may hit Skel One and send him into recovery, which then improves the zombie's odds of striking yet again. On the other hand, along comes Skel Two and, while zombie is recovering from Skel One's blow, Two attacks and hits. Zombie stunned again, and whoa, here comes Skel One again. We've got a genuine mugging on our hands now, and zombie goes down after a few more thwacks without ever coming out of hit recovery.
Now suppose there are two of these deadly, vicious zombies. (I said NO LAUGHING! OK??? Now stop that.) When there was only Skel One, he was practically a punching bag for a pair of zombies. Skel One wouldn't get blocklocked, and he might even kill one before they kill him (providing me a body to replace the badly wounded Skel One as he inevitably loses to Zombie Two). Or... he might not. They might pound him. Now say along comes Skel Two. He's going to even the odds. He might turn this into a pair of one-on-one fights. Since my Skels have a lot more hit points than the zombies, they will win those fights. Or... it might be that both zombies remain focused on Skel One, while Skel Two pounds on them. Even so, worst case, Skel One buys his ticket to eternal rest while Skel Two pummels a zombie into next year. Then we have a one-on-one situation, and Skel Two wins that easily. P now has one skel left, and two bodies. He recruits a new troop and has a body to spare.
This may all seem obvious, not worth noting, but understanding the math is the essential beginning of melee wisdom in Diablo and now more so in the Expansion.
It gets a lot more complex. There are factors of damage totals, ranged attacks, mob size, opponent foot speed, opponent attack speed, minions that require bodies, golems that do not, mana, life, resists, terrain. You don't always have to manage all these factors. Mostly, you can get away with ignoring many of them. Sometimes you end up in an unfavorable situation, though, and you've GOT TO understand the math to save your own bacon.
The golem is the key. The golem was the key for Skeletorr, as well, even though it was a pathetically weak golem that, at one point, was weaker in both life and damage than the skeletons. The golem was completely disposable, though: he could be resummoned as long as I had mana, and placed anywhere I wanted him. He was my shock troop, my point man. P can get even more use out of his golem, because he will have golem mastery on hand: tougher, faster golems, and higher level golem types available. However, where Skeletorr might have to spam his golem, recasting him over and over as he dies repeatedly, P will face a whole different situation. Instead of disposable golems, he will have tough golems, but with iron golem, he CANNOT place the golem where he wants. He has to drop an item on the ground, and the golem will appear in that spot. Thus, managing the battlefield will go from placing a golem wherever it's most needed, whenever I see a need, to that of building my position around wherever my iron golem happens to be located. This will be much to P's benefit at times, but at other times not so much. Skeletorr always had curses on hand, particularly Terror and later Dim Vision, with which he could control the enemy. P can't control jack. He can't even control his minions! All he can control is which minions he puts into play, and to a limited degree, where and when he places them. Oh, and he can control himself, which is paramount, since his moves will determine (mostly) which enemies awaken and how many will be coming to dinner on any given night. This is not to be underestimated, as he can distract some enemies, which BY ITSELF can change the math of a particular fight. Stop and let that point sink in, and you will understand why a character who can't control anything at all in terms of his own attacks can end up having the most complex interaction with the enemy that is available in this game.
For most situations, the iron golem will be more than strong enough to hold his own, even against bosses. If it takes them more than ten seconds to kill off the golem, P will have time either to drop an item and summon a replacement iron golem, or retreat, or -- worst case -- switch to fire or even clay golem and spam those. If the iron golem is being completely smashed, then I will have to go with fire golem for that particular fight. Even if the fire golem gets smashed, his death explosion deals damage to any target that is not immune to both fire and physical damage. And the Iron Golem can handle the grueling act end bosses, letting their own mightly blows reflect damage back to them. It may take many golems to get the job done, but I will get it done. And what happens if a target IS both fire and physical immune? Special revives, or skeleton mages hiding behind spammed clay golems. I will INVENT a way if I have to. Everything must die.
So... at clvl 2, I added a point to Raise Skeleton and that gave me slvl 1+1, or two skels. This more than doubled my effectiveness -- and that's not even counting that the skels were now mlvl 2, while zombies were mlvl 1 still -- putting them behind the Curve. At clvl 3 I got a level of skeleton mastery, more than doubling skeleton damage (from 1-2 to 3-4) and adding more life and more walk speed to the skeletons. So now I've more than doubled my effectiveness yet again, and I'm still fighting mlvl 1 monsters. Down into the Den of Evil, where some monsters (the shamen and the garg beasts) are mlvl 2. Still, with my skels at mlvl 3, and improved damage, they have the edge. It's a mugging from here on out.
So far, P has had to use his weapon twice. That initial kill, and then one more when I had no bodies (extras had been cleaned up by the game) and my skel died in a one-on-three fight.
Into the Den of Evil, and get this, I had a close call! I kid you not.
I got myself trapped in a corner by a single Fallen. My skeletons were off beating on monsters at the top of the screen, and there were no bodies present, and I was adamantly sticking to my limitation of not attacking directly. So... there I am, trapped, getting beat on by a Fallen, getting shot by a shaman, and quietly calling for help from my preoccupied minions. I had to drink a healing potion, then another. Um... guys? Where are you guys? I need a hand here. ... Guys?
Finally they came to my rescue. Whew, that was a harsh lesson to learn. I can't afford to get cornered with this character, not ever. Even if it means, at times, playing things out the slow way, and taking longer and having more work to do (like with Unravellers, for example) I simply cannot afford to charge in to every situation, as the only ASP skill I have is Town Portal! And as I know all too well, that can't save you once you are actually swarmed. I know I will have to take some risks just to play (I can't and I won't hide behind my minions every second of every hour) but my threat radar will have to be kept at full capacity, or I know I'm going to get myself killed otherwise.
Now early in the Cold Plains, P has reached clvl 4. I've invested my Den point into Skel Mastery, and now again, a third point goes to Mastery.
My thinking with Skeleton Mastery is fourfold.
1) Skeleton Mastery boosts the walk/run speed of skeletons and revives. It works just like golem speed boosts from golem mastery. Thus, for ANY primary use of skeletons or revives, it behooves to have at least seven points in mastery because (or so I have heard) Revives are slow enough as it is! (Not to mention that speed is of some importance to the math of engagement).
2) I have to survive, to level up to where I can gain access to better skills. I could survive behind a merc with NO problems, but I'm not going to do that. I'll have to earn it on my own, and do so entirely with my summoning skills. Thus, while I could perhaps get to clvl 6 without skel mastery (wow what a long process that would be) and then perhaps get to clvl 12 on golem alone (wow what a long process that would be), and then struggle through to Andariel from there with golem mastery, clay golem, and one sad little mage with no shot power... how could I defeat Andariel with just these weak tools? Yeah maybe it's possible, with a wand, but... wow what a long process that would be. Referring back to point #1, the run speed (and life boost and damage boost) for skeletons, mages and revives lends me to the conclusion that since I will want AT LEAST seven points in mastery anyway, the time to get those points is right away. I'll have a much MUCH quicker/easier time getting through act one (and past Andariel) with half a dozen or more in mastery.
3) Skeleton Mastery improves mage damage. For cold/lit/poison necromages, the damage boost is one point per shot per level of skel mastery. For fire necromages, it's two points per skel mastery. (Yes, that makes fire mages the strongest overall: nearly double the effectiveness of the other types, not counting target resistances. Then again, the cold mages chill targets and slow them, so they have a benefit too, and very few bosses are immune to poison, and so on and so forth). Strong golems will be my backbone, but since revives only last three minutes, and I frequently take breaks to get up from the computer for a minute or so to stretch, or get a drink, or whatever else, I'm envisioning some utility for necromages indefinitely. It will certainly be easier to restart a revive army with mages on hand than golem alone, and... there may be fights in Hell difficulty when necromages HAVE to do the killing, and everything else will be there just to tank for them. So on that basis, I may well eventually max Skeleton mastery. If not max, certainly add more points.
4) Skel Mastery improves life and damage for Revives. These boosts are entirely supplementary -- perhaps even irrelevent -- when using corpse explosion, bone spirit, bone prison, poison nova, and a treeful of almighty curses, along with minions. However, when the revives and a golem and perhaps a few skel mages are the ONLY tools at hand to tackle champs, bosses, and the big guys themselves, each point of life and of damage may well matter a great deal. Toss in physical resists and immunities, and other challenges, and you can see where no point invested into Skel Mastery will be a waste for P. He's going to need all the points he can get, and yet he also MUST pump his iron golem's thorns to deal with act end bosses, particularly Diablo and Baal, whose massive elemental attacks can wipe out whole screens of minions in seconds. Then there's golem mastery to boost golem life, plus any points I may need to invest into skel mages to get more of those. Yep, even with just one tree to focus on, you can't have it all. You have to make compromises, and Skel Mastery will be among the top priorities.
Thanks to an experience shrine, P is clvl 5 going into the cave. This will be the last area in which I must fight with skeletons alone. I will hit clvl 6 down here, or shortly after, and I'll have a golly from then on. Can I make it through the Cave without having to swing my weapon a third time? Let's find out.
Well, well. At least my skels have 49 life each at this point. P lost a lot of warriors here, but there were enough bodies to fuel replacements and P got the job done this time.
Then on to Coldcrow, and she was a pain. Her retreating tactics gave my two skels a fit. I could not do much to help them corner her, either, but I did what I could. As with the LEB, P barely stayed ahead of the corpse economy. These bosses could NOT have been beaten without skel mastery -- or a golem. I'd have had to park them, or else use my own elbow grease, and I'm not into doing that here.
Down to level two now, and they've managed to top the LEB on level one by adding a Holy Fire boss, too.
There was also a teleportation boss down there, but I managed not to wake him until these two were already dead. It was a close deal, as even running interference for my troops to improve the math of the engagement at times barely got me through. I had one corpse to spare at the end, and had to drink a few potions.
Finally, clvl 6! Point invested into Clay Golem, and now I've weathered the first challenge. That was, without a doubt, the toughest/slowest time I have had getting to clvl 6. Not even naked or punching chars took as much work (although naked punchers might take more).
Raven was a matter of lots of mana spent. Golems and more golems. She happily supplied more bodies for skeletons as well, so I kept summoning those, too. How ironic is that, that Raven should be easier to kill off than Coldcrow or some random LEBs, solely because I now had a golem on hand?
Clvl 7, 8, 9 skill points all invested into Skeleton Mastery, taking it to slvl 7. I found a crude wand that offered +1 Raise Skeleton and +1 Clay Golem, so that allowed my golem to become slvl 2, for more health and +1 to his max damage. There was a lot of carnage in Tristram, many minions smashed and yet more summoned. P was issuing subpoenas to the dead left and right. "You shall appear on the battlefield to give your testimony." And so they did.
I should note that in the Underground Passage, on level one, a Fallen One literally threw himself on my wand. Arrgh. That increased P's personal kill count to a whopping three. My fault. I should have changed his left-click option from Attack to Throw the moment I got a golem. Ah well. I did so now, and there would be no more direct kills by P. Not ever. Three was the magic number there.
For whatever reason, the game was throwing mostly LEBs and SS bosses my way. Four out of five bosses were either Lightning or Stone Skin. That meant extra work for P, but it didn't become a crisis issue until the Forgotten Tower, on level two.
Normal Difficulty Ghosts are the only kind of this monster with less than 30% physical resistance. Since SS adds 75% to physical resistance, any creature with 25% or more to begin with will be rendered immune to physical. Even so, with 20%, this boss had 95% total, and wow, what a long fight this was as a result.
P used up the bodies a third of the way through the fight, and then it was just golem alone against the boss and three minions. I cast a lot of golems here. Like, a whole lot and then some.
Golly could only do one point of damage at a time. Skeletons could do more, maybe two points sometimes. As the minions died, I held off summoning them. I waited until all minions were dead (took several minutes), then I summoned skeletons, now that their math was at its best odds, and I could get the most out of them.
The looming possibility of an actual physical immune boss was there to consider, in light of all these SS draws. However, that could not happen until the Jail (Wraiths, with 30 damage resistance) and by then P would be clvl 12 or 13, and necromages could deal with such a target, as long as I spammed golems to tank for them. Whew boy, just scraping by here.
By the time P killed the Countess, he was clvl 11. I saved that point, and the one from clvl 10, to invest into mages. My intent was to put only two points into mages, and dump about ten in a row into golem mastery. I could use the Radament point to get Blood Golem, and I'd need to save a point for Summon Resist. (With Skeletorr, I had put four points into Summon Resist, but my intent here is to go with one, and try to use +skills/+tree items to get up to slvl 6+, where I want to be.) I'd then switch from golem mastery to investing in Iron golem, and I'd save Izual reward for Fire Golem and Revive, then invest several points into Revive and see where I stand at the end of Normal, to decide which among the skills most needs to be pumped first: Iron Golem, Revive, or Skel Mastery.
In the Highland and Pit, by way of full clear, Skeletorr reached clvl 12. Golem Mastery made for a stronger, faster golem, and I now had one mage on hand. The Outer Cloister provided me yet another LEB to fight.
I began to search for wands. I wanted to find a wand with boosts to skeleton mages and/or mastery. I bought such a wand while early on Jail level one. I had also invested points at clvl 13 into both Golem Mastery and Skeletal Mage. The wand offered +2 to Mages and +1 to Clay golem. I also found a shrunken head with +1 to Clay Golem, so that boosted my golem to slvl 1+2, with slvl 2 Mastery. Down to one skeletal warrior now, but 2+2 Mages, and with the damage boosts from mastery in place, those mages started tearing things up. I now had the math in place to own even the LEBs I encountered.
By the end of the cats, I had found a better shrunken head: +1 skeleton mastery, 10% hit recovery, and +7 Cold Resist. I also had a few charms, mostly small ones with minor resist bonuses. I had one grand charm of note, though: +20 Life and +8 Defense, and I was carrying around a second grand charm with bonus to gold. I'd replace that one with a better one down the line.
I also found a unique: the Skewer of Krintiz. A saber that ignores target defense, among other things. Too bad I have no use for it. Down on Cats four, I also found the Umbral Disk unique small shield. Once again, no real use for it, as its main bonus is Hit Blinds Target. I saved both these artifacts in my second weapon/shield slot, but I would later sell them both without ever using them.
Before I went down to cats four, I made sure to buy some antidotes. My plan was to make maximum use of the bodies there, and to do so, I had to complete the level up through Andariel in a single run, no towning. I just hoped that I could down old Bad Hair Day without running out of recruit possibilities, as I did NOT relish the prospect of casting golem hundreds of times and waiting on its piddley melee damage to get the job done.
The key would be the math. It's always the math. Always.
The mages will stand back. I have to cast my golems so that if Andi sprays them, she won't hit the mages, too. I will have to use myself as bait, at times, to distract her. As with Chess, where the king is a powerful piece, one you MUST sometimes employ offensively, yet cannot afford ever to lose in combat, so it is with Subpoena. Despite his own pacifist nature, his hogtied offensive options, he is the sturdiest piece in his own army, the smartest, the most versatile, and he must often put himself into play to overcome certain opponents -- just not in a way that will get himself killed.
The front room was cleared out with a minimal use of the bodies. I recast golem into the faces of the shamen -- a luxury I won't have with Iron Golem, but one I took full advantage of here. Andi no longer aggressively charges out, so I had to go in there and get her, first clearing yet more Dark Ones and a few ghouls and such. Andariel wiped out my initial troops with no fanfare. I don't think they even damaged her. She was on a tear, but I raised more mages and tanked her a bit, and she took some mage hits before multiple poison sprays killed my troops and the lack of replacement bodies chased me out of there. I made my next stand in the front room just below the doors.
By the time I took this screenshot, she's down below half. That's better than I could have hoped, because even though I was running out of bodies in this area, I had not tapped into my reserves on the upper side yet.
When the bodies down there ran out, I ended up circling the blood pool about three times, trying to get her out of her poison spray rage before I raised more mages. Then she started to melee my golems and I made a stand. I drank my last antidotes, raised mages and golem and tanked as best I could. I had five bodies left unused (on the entire level) when she finally collapsed in defeat.
A great victory indeed! I defeated her with summons alone, on the first attempt, with a small bit of room to spare. By the time I have to face another act end boss arrives, I will have Iron Golem in place. So this will be the only major fight I have to engage where mages had to inflict the bulk of the damage.
- Sirian
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