Azote's Journey
First, the plan:
Azote is a Hardcore Melee-mancer. Only Poison skills allowed (Teeth and Corpse Explosion allowed as pre-requisites). Only dagger class weapons allowed. Wands allowed, but only for Bone Armor, and that will only be used for Duriel (and as it turned out, bone armor wasn't really necessary). I didn't keep track of what order I increased my skills, but since I only used two skills, it hardly matters. I kept poison dagger at a low skill level for a while to keep the mana cost low. That's why the "New Skill" button appears in so many of my screenshots; I saved most of my points until much later.
Day One:
The first thing I did was put away that useless starter wand. Cleared Blood Moor, finding my first magic item, a cap with +2 life. The early going was tough, using mostly damaged throwing daggers I was lucky to find. Why was it so hard? Try playing a necro with NO SKILLS for 6 levels! The toughest monsters in the early going: Gargantuan Beasts and archers. So guess what I faced the most??
I had to use damaged quilted armor throughout Blood Moor, Den, and early Cold Plains. And what was the very first monster I encountered upon entering the Cold Plains? A unique Gargantuan Beast! He was Stone Skin enchanted, and I had to fight him with cracked throwing daggers! I used up all my healing potions against him, and just barely managed to kill him. I didn't find a shield until AFTER fighting him and his gang.
Back in town, I bought gloves with Slightly Increased Attack Speed. It took almost all of my gold, but it would turn out to be a good deal; I used these gloves all the way up to Act 3. Flat broke, I couldn't afford throwing knives; heck, I couldn't afford a minor healing potion!. In the Caves, I encountered not one, not two, but THREE boss-groups of archers! I really bruned through potions as soon as I found them down there. I only had one left by the end. But I really hit the jackpot at the end of the cave. I got a sword of blight, which sold for a lot, and more importantly, an amulet of greed from the last boss! That was the end of my money problems. I also hit level 6 soon after this. I finally got the poison dagger(PD)skill, and bought a normal dagger from Charsi.
Brimming with confidence at owning such a marvelous weapon, I went after Blood Raven, clearing the surrounding graveyard first. I tried throwing daggers first, in hopes of thinning the herd of zombies, but they weren't effective, and I was nearly mobbed. So I switched to poison dagger. It worked like a charm! From there on, my strategy was simple: give 'em one stab with poison dagger, then run away and try not to get hit. I went to town and picked up my free merc, Paige. She helped me clear the Crypt & Maus. with ease.
Then I hit the Stony Field. Just inside, I was mobbed by goatmen and rogues. Paige didn't last very long here. I cleared the rest myself, using up most of my throwing daggers, which still proved effective.
The Underground Passage was mostly populated by rogues and Carvers, with a few Misshapen tossed in. No problem. All the uniques were Carvers :). I found some fair armor and 3 gems! I wentback to town, bought a socketed dirk and put in a ruby. This was my weapon throughout most of Act 1.
Just outside the UPass exit, I was jumped by Treehead. It was another tough fight, and I used my remaining throwing daggers, which didn't do much. I switched to PD and ran like crazy. I finally wore him out :). Clearing the rest of the Dark Wood, I found lots of good quality throwing daggers!
My trip to Tristram was my first clue as to how the rest of Act 1 would go. Everything there, from the usual Shaman mob, Goat Champs, even the undead Returned, died surprisingly quickly to my poisonous stabs. I had an easy battle with Grizzy; I just ran away when cursed and waited. My poison eventually took care of him. Back in town Adria gave me a low-grade ring of greed to match my amulet.
The Black Marsh was a breeze. I didn't even have to use PD much, as a normal strike was enough to kill Blood Hawks and Bone Warriors. The Pit in the Marsh was another story. As soon as I entered level 2, I was attacked by a rogue boss and her followers. Usually not a problem, but I had just the tiny area near the stairs to move around in. Just as I killed the last of them, another rogue boss pack showed up! It was another close call, but I managed to slip past them and get more room.
The uniques monsters in the Forgotten Tower were pretty easy, except for two Wraith bosses I found on levels 2 and 5. Wraiths in general were a problem throughout the game, as they could stack up and make it difficult to hit all of them. I only need to hit each monster once with PD, but that's hard to do when wraiths shuffle around all the time. Plus they hit VERY hard, especially since the two I faced were Extra Strong and Cursed, respectively.
The Countess was no problem. The only major damage she did to me was her death explosion. I got a lousy trident from her.
In the Tamoe Highlands I encountered my first teleporting boss. Oh I'm SO scared. It was fun to watch it zip around in desperation, only to drop dead moments later. The poisoner's motto: You can run, but you'll just die tired!
Clearing the Hole was uneventful, except for a pack of Brute Champs on the second level. They seemed to be more poison resistant than normal, but they eventually died as well. At about this time, I had some extra gold and started gambling. After getting a few crappy items, I got lucky: a rare dagger! It didn't do much extra damage, but it did give an AR bonus and add 1 point of cold damage! Now my victims are slowed to a crawl as they suffer.
The Outer Cloister was a breeze, but the Barracks contained a teleporting boss I DID have a problem with: a pack of shamen. They toasted me pretty good because the boss was the same color as the other shamen, and it took a while to track him down. The Smith wasn't too bad. I ran far enough away that all the other monsters stopped following, and I was able to face the Smith one on one. I only got hit by him a couple times.
The goatmen in the Jail posed no threat, and the area yeilded a couple useful items: a silver ring of radiance and a pair of rare chain boots.
I broke out the throwing daggers again for the Inner Cloister. I took out Flamespike's minions from a distance to avoid getting cursed in the middle of his mob.
The fight with Boneash in the cathedral went well once I led him outside. I came perilously close to dying because I stupidly got too close to his death-nova.
The rest of the Catacombs were cleared without too much trouble. As far as I could tell, none of the monsters in Act 1 had any significant poison resistance.
Except for Andariel, of course. I'm used to chopping her up as a barbarian or roasting her as a sorceress. This time I couldn't risk getting hit by her too much, and didn't have the luxury of a ranged attack. I tried to dodge her poison blasts at first, but I soon gave up and went back to town to buy antidote potions. It took two more trips to town just to heal up and buy potions, but I eventually beat her. On to Act 2!
Here's all the gear I used throughout Act 1 (except for some early junk I eventually sold), and where it came from, if I can remember:
Heavy Boots - Defense 5, Fire Resist 8%, +2 Dex. (Bought from Charsi)
Small Shield - Poison Reduction 25%, Poison Resist 6%, Defense 9. (Bought from Charsi)
Ring of Health - Damage reduced by 1. (Found)
Silver Ring of Radiance - +3 light radius, +61 attack rating. (Found in Jail)
Sash - Poison Reduction 25%, Defense 4. (Bought from Charsi)
Amulet of Greed - 53% more gold from monsters. (Found)
Large Shield - +6 life, Defense 13. (Bought from Charsi)
Ring of Greed - 46% more gold from monsters. (Got from Akara as quest reward)
Sash - +4 mana, +6 life, Defense 2. (Bought from Charsi)
Ring of Thawing - Half Freeze Duration. (Found)
Studded Leather - Fastest Hit Recovery, Defense 32. (Bought from Charsi)
Skull Cap - Lightning Resist 19%, +8 life, Defense 9. (Gambled from Gheed)
Skull Cap - Fire Resist 12%, +13 life, Defense 9. (Bought from Charsi)
Various Quality Throwing Knives, from Cracked to Superior. (Found & Bought from Charsi)
Ghoul Carapace Rare Quilted Armor - Defense 14, Poison Reduction 25%, Damage reduced by 1, +5 life. (Found)
Skull Barb Rare Dagger - 3-8 damage, +1 cold damage, Adds 1-2 damage, +78 attack rating.(Gambled from Gheed)
Skull Brogues Rare Chain Boots - Defense 8, Fastest Hit Recovery, +1 light radius, Lightning resist 8%, Poison resist 18%, +2 Dex. (Found in Jail Level 2)
Two interesting things to note: All the rare items I found (well, except for the rare club I sold) have names that are appropriate for a necromancer. Coincidence, or fate? Also, pretty odd that I haven't found any set items yet. With all the other characters I created, I've at least found Hsaru's Iron Fist by now, or Arctic Furs if I'm really lucky. I gambled for Death's Guard (or Lenmyo)a couple times, but got crappy sashes that were sold right back to Gheed.
Act 2 started out with a harsh lesson: the Burning Dead Archers in the sewers taught me that I either needed a lot more vitality or a lot more fire resistance. I encountered a boss pack under the influence of a Fanaticism aura that nearly wiped me out. I survived by ducking around the corner, darting back to stab the first skeleton that tried to follow, then running off again.
The first real challenge that I faced was rather unexpected. I stumbled into Radament's zone of influence a bit sooner than usual. His area turned out to be right near the stairs from level two. I backed off as soon as the quest button popped up, only to back into a horde of skeletons and corpses. As I stopped to fight them, some of Radament's Horror Mage servants caught up with me! The screen was soon filled with fire arrows and all four flavors of magical blasts. I might not have made it if there hadn't been a fire resist shrine in the middle of that mess.
And as soon as I had disposed of most of that mob, some started springing back to life as I neared Radament himself. My cold-damage weapon didn't guarantee that I could always smash his minions for good. My first thought was to go for a quick kill on Radament and finish the others off later. This proved to be impossible, as "Puff Raddy" turned out to be nearly immune to poison; either that or he just had way more hitpoints than I thought. He also did a lot more damage than expected, nearly killing me with two consecutive hits.
I had to resort to the cheap tactic of luring his buddies far enough away that they couldn't be raised again. Then I went back to town and got a stack of superior throwing daggers I'd been saving in my stash. I threw the whole stack at him (only about 2/3rds of which actually hit him), and it only brought him down to about half his health. The rest of the battle was pure hit-and-run, accent on run, as I had to dodge magic blasts again when he resurrected any mages that were still lying around. When he finally expired, I hit level 16 and put the book of skill in my stash.
My first trip out of Lut Gholein was almost my last. While my hard drive was loading the new area, I was ambushed by a cold enchanted Sand Leaper that instantly chilled me. I crawled back to town as soon as I could, and went back to teach him a lesson after healing up.
I had no problems clearing the Dry Hills, but ran into a problem in the Stony Tomb level 2. The section of the level near the stairs opened up into a courtyard of sorts, with a barrier in the center and a doorway in each direction. There was also a mana shrine there, and I I was quickly surrounded by Horrors and trapped between it and the central barrier. I frantically stabbed my way out, but used up a lot of potions in the process.
Creeping Feature drove me to drink more potions, as his attacks did a LOT of damage. But he died, just like everyting else so far, and left me with a lousy axe for my troubles.
Aside from the packs of Slingers I had to endure, there were no problems in the Rocky Waste.
I ran into some trouble on the first level of the Halls of the Dead. I reached a dead end near the stairs to level 2. It was the "square doughnut" setup, where the stairs are in the center and the path leads all the way around. When I entered this area, it seemed empty until I got near the stairs. A few skeletons rounded the corner, followed by four Hollow One Champs. I soon had a swarm of skeletons chasing me as I ran around the loop over and over, getting a stab in at the champs every lap. After a while, I was getting attacked from both sides as skeletons were resurrected behind me. I managed to wear the champs down eventually, then took care of the undead mob.
Level two was much easier and was cleared without incident.
On level three I encountered my first sarcophagus. I didn't get to it fast enough, and had to kill every single corpse it contained. I made a note to get to them faster next time, and that's exactly what I did when I came across another one on this level. Exploring further, I came across yet another sarcophagus in a hallway, this was guarded by Sabre Cats. They kept me at bay long enough that I was once again forced to wait out the tide of undead.
The treasure room containing the cube turned out to be an unexpected chalenge. I forgot about the extra strong and cursed Sabre Cat that lives down there. She and her minions chased me out of the room while a nearby Hollow One blasted me with poison. When Bloodwitch caught up with me (I couldn't outrun them for long), I got cursed and was almost killed. I drank a bunch of potions and lured the mob father away, trying to lose as many as I could along the way. I eventually separated Bloodwitch from the rest of her minions and defeated her. The rest was fairly routine.
Thus equipped with the Horadric Cube, I converted the pile of mana poitons I'd been saving in town into rejuvanation potions.
The Far Oasis was pretty uneventful, the only bosses in the area being Beetleburst and another Cursed scarab. As always, I didn't have much to fear from them, since I only had to hit them about three times each. I noticed something strange though: they didn't always shoot sparks when I hit them. It only happened with scarabs and death beetles, which are naturally supposed to give off sparks, so I don't know if this was a result of poison damage, or just some weird bug I'd never noticed before. Every other time I'd encountered them, beetles have always sparked at every hit. At any rate, with plenty of running room and obstacles in the Oasis, the beetles were no threat at all.
Thanks to the narrow confines of the Maggot Lair, I rarely had to face more than one foe at a time. Thus, I breezed through this area, right down to Coldworm on level three. I got into his lair before too many minions hatched, so this part was pretty easy too.
The Lost City was fairly dangerous for me. The zombies in this area really packed a punch and could easily kill me if I wasn't careful. Just like fighting the vultures, it was important that I get in the first attack. This made the Dark Elder deadly, as his fast attacks could lock me up while his minions closed in. I did more running than attacking here as I lured away minions and split them up among the ruins. Fortunately, the waypoint was nearby and I could go heal up when I suffered too much damage.
I knew Claw Vipers would be tough for the same reason: their chilling knockback attacks could leave me helpless and surrounded. That's why I stopped to see Elzix before going to their temple. I kept gambling for sashes until finally getting Death's Guard. I don't know how anyone can do without one of these things! I wore it throughout the Temple, and would come in extremely handy again later on in the game.
Thus armed, I figured the Claw Viper Temple would be a breeze, but that wasn't the case. I came across a room with a Hollow One standing right next to a sarcophagus. Other monsters in the room delayed me while more and more Enbalmed emerged. When I finally got close enough to attack the sarcophagus, I was quickly surrounded and almost died again. Feverish stabbing and heavy potion use got me out of that mess. When I broke free I had to get pounded on while I took care of the mummy, then got back for the rest. As if that wasn't bad enough, I ran into this situation again when I found this EXACT SAME setup later on this level.
The battle with Fangskin on level two was surprisingly difficult as well. I figured he would be a pushover like all the other LEB's I'd faced so far. The problem this time was the large number of monsters I faced along with him: besides his own minions there were other Claw Vipers and Salamanders, skeletons and zombies, and a couple of mummies, all crammed into the hallway near the stairs. The snakes died quickly from my poison, but the undead foes lingered. There was a mummy in the center near the Altar that kept reviving them and pelting me with "death star" blasts throughout the whole battle. I had to retreat upstairs twice to get the full effect from healing potions. I eventually picked Fangskin out of this crowd and killed him with just four PD stabs.
I rushed over to the Altar, eager to get rid of the mummy that continued to raise undead all over the place. As soon as I reached the short set of steps to the altar, I was charged from behind by a Salamander that must've been hiding in a corner! Thanks to Death's Guard, I wasn't chilled by this sudden attack, but I was still almost trapped on the stairs between the Salamander and the mummy. I made sure the snake paid for his cowardly ways...
After taking care of that business, I headed to the Harem. I had to use Death's Guard again for both levels, as they were filled with cold-flinging Horror Mages. There were also plenty of lightning-based Horror Archers, so I went through a lot of potions here.
Palace Cellar level one was uneventful, as was most of level two. The only threat there was an extra fast Blunderbore boss pack. I was nearly stunlocked a couple times, but managed to regroup.
Fire Eye wasn't too bad either, since I'd equipped a fire resistance amulet I'd found earlier. Along with other gear, I was able to max out fire resist (at the expense of very low values in the other resists).
That resistance would come in handy in the Arcane Sanctuary, but wouldn't pevent plenty of close calls. Specters caused all sorts of havoc for me again, and constantly threatened to trap me on stairways or narrow walkways. Even with the chilling damage of my dagger, it was difficult to keep the flying menace at bay. My potion usage was at an all-time high in this area, as most were used as soon as I picked them up. Fortunately, rejuv. potions were pretty common here.
I got a nasty surprise on the teleporter branch of the Sanctuary. After passing through one gate, instead of emerging next to the opposite gate, I appeared in the middle of a pack of Blood Clan, a fair distance from the gate. I had to take out the ones behind me and run farther down the path to avoid being overwhelmed.
Here's a fun fact for everyone: even though they aren't alive, those lightning spires in the Sanctuary are NOT poison resistant.
As usual, the Summoner was a complete pushover. I killed him with one PD stab.
The Canyon of the Magi was easily cleared, but I had to do it a couple times, since I didn't have time to clear all the false tombs in one night.
False Tomb One: Ran into two Ghoul Lord bosses here, plus a Gorebelly boss. Crowded, but nothing I couldn't handle.
False Tomb Two: Up until this point I had 3 skill points in Poison Explosion, but hadn't used it much. It just didn't do enough damage to kill anything. Then I put another point in it, and it finally started to become useful. I ran into a Unraveler Champion pack, and used PE to destroy corpses so they couldn't be raised, and it could even kill skeletons sometimes.
This tomb also contained an Apparition boss pack, but the boss himself got stuck on a pillar and was easily dispatched.
False Tomb Three: An Unraveler boss pack and a Cursed Preserved Dead. No problems here.
False Tomb Four: An Extra Fast Unravler pack right at the entrance gave me some trouble, but that was the only tough part.
False Tomb Five: A stupid mistake on my part nearly got me killed. I saw Burning Dead emerging from one of those little alcoves you always see along hallways in the tombs. I ran in to kill any Unravelers that might be hiding in there. There wasn't a mummy, but there was a mob of at least 15 more Burning Dead, which quickly surrounded me. I had nearly stabbed my way out when "backup" arrived: first a few Ghoul Lords, then a quartet of Gorebelly Champions, and finally, a couple Unravelers that stood just offscreen resurrecting the Burning Dead and blasting me with ranged attacks. I really thought it would all end here. I burned through all of my small rejuv. potions, all of my regular healing potions, and one of my three full rejuv. potions. I finally broke free by killing one of the Gorebelly Champs. The rest of the tomb was refreshingly uneventful.
False Tomb Six: This one wasn't difficult to clear, but it did take a much longer time than usual, thanks to the fact that there were only hordes of Preserved Dead and Unravelers in here. I also came across Ancient Kaa the Soulless, and had to make a special trip to town to fetch my lightning resistance gear. He had way more hitpoints than any LEB I'd faced before, so I wasn't taking any chances.
The True Tomb: No problems here, just an LEB Unraveler boss and a lot of ground to cover.
I knew that Duriel would be a major challenge when I started this character, and had no idea if I could beat him. I hadn't invested too much time in this character yet, but I knew I wouldn't want to start over again if I died here. I wasn't very optimistic about my chances.
I went through the usual preparations of gathering all the potions I owned and buying a sacrificial merc to absorb Duriel's first charge. I bought an extra town portal scroll and put it in my last belt slot, so I wouldn't have to fumble around in my inventory during the fight. I decided to go with my Dirk of the Glacier as my weapon, even though by now I had purchsed a kris that would do more damage and had a higher attack rate bonus. I then used my +1 Bone Armor wand for the first time and waited for my mana to recharge before going back to the tomb.
One second after I had entered Duriel's lair, my merc was dead and my Bone Armor was gone. I had used the scroll on my belt but I couldn't have reached the portal if I'd tried; he smited me back against a wall and pinned me there for the rest of the battle. At least in close quarters he couldn't use his charge attack. I kept stabbing away at him, alternating between normal and PD attacks, but I couldn't tell when the poison was wearing off because of the chilling effect of my weapon. I either had to guess or wait for both conditions to wear off, which wasn't really an option. I had to keep him chilled to minimize the damage he was doing to me.
The fight went on and on, and I soon started running out of potions. I used up everything in my belt except for two full rejuv. potions I was saving as a last resort. I had to open my inventory and start drinking regular rejuv. potions from there. When Duriel had just passed the halfway point on his life meter, I had six rejuvs. left. I seriously considered making a dash for the portal, but I knew he'd probably charge and kill me if I tried that. I had to stand and fight.
Just after I used my last normal rejuv. potion, Duriel took one last swing at me that knocked me down to half my life, then finally died! Hooray, I squished that big bug! He dropped a unique item too: the Hellcast Heavy Crossbow. That came in very handy when I...sold the useless hunk of junk to Fara two seconds later.
Having barely survived this monumental challenge, I braced myself for the hordes of fetishes and flayers I'd have to face in Act Three...
Gear used in Act 2, and where I got it (if I can remember):
Belt - Defense 5, +18 life. (Bought from Fara)
Large Shield - Defense 12, Magic Damage reduced by 1, Fire resist 26%. (Bought from Fara)
Viper Horn Rare Full Helm - Defense 32, Requirements -20%, +1 light radius, Poison Resist 9%, Fire Resist 8%, +11 life. (Dropped by Slinger in Rocky Waste)
Ring Mail - Defense 47, Poison Reduction 50%. (Bought from Fara)
Dirk - Damage 3-7, Adds 4-11 cold damage, +62 to attack rating. (Bought from Elzix)
Heavy Gloves - Defense 5, +25 life. (Dropped by vulture boss in Dry Hills)
Ring - +29 life, Poison Resist 8%. (Found in Arcane Sanctuary)
Amulet of Wealth - 118% extra gold from monsters. (Found in Arcane Sanctuary)
Death' Guard Sash - Defense 22, Cannot be frozen. (Gambled from Elzix)
Helm - Poison reduction 25%, Defense 16, Fire Resist 23%. (Bought from Fara)
Breastplate - Defense 67, Poison reduction 50%. (Bought from Fara)
Amulet - +18 life. (Found in a False Tomb)
Chain Gloves - Defense 8, +29 life. (Bought from Fara)
Belt - Defense 5, +13 mana, +18 life. (Bought from Fara)
Amulet - Lightning Resist 12%, +13 Strength. (Found in a false tomb)
Wand - Bone Armor + 1, some other stuff. (Brought over from Act 1. Only used it against Duriel)
Civerb's Ward Large Shield - Increased Blocking, extra defense, Defense 28. (Gambled from Elzix)
Kris - 6% Mana Steal, +51 Attack Rating, Enhanced Damage, Damage 4-13. (Bought from Fara)
Act 3 started out with a bad omen: the flesh beasts that appear with the Dark Wanderer kicked my butt. They were hard to hit and kept interrupting my attacks. When I finally killed one, I found that Poison Explosion would easily take care of the rest.
The Spider Forest was pretty easy. Jungle Hunters, Thorned Hulks, and a few Suckers were all I encountered here. The Arachnind Lair wasn't too bad either. Poison Spinners aren't as poison resistant as their name implies. My good luck continued through the Spider Lair. This was the easiest time I've ever had with Sszark the Burning. I managed to draw most of his minions away without attracting his attention. When I came back for him, only two minions were left. He only managed to hit me once himself, and didn't even curse me. He even dropped a useful item: an Amulet of the Mammoth!
I was on a roll when I reached the Great Marsh, and my luck continued. The only monsteres I encountered here were Bog Creatures, Swamp Creatures, a few fetishes, some Water Watchers, and a horde of Drowned Carcasses. No Gloams at all! It took a long time, but I finally cleared the entire Marsh.
Things finally got difficult again when I reached the Flayer Jungle. The swarms of Flayers and packs of vultures could wear me down very quickly. As soon as I completed the Gidbinn quest, I started recruiting Iron Wolves as soon as I could to speed things up a bit. I used PE as often as possible to thin out crowds and weaken shamen and vultures.
The Swampy Pit was fairly difficult, as there was little room to run and Water Watchers kept knocking me all over the place while Flayers swarmed around. I frequently had to return to town for healing.
The Flayer Dungeon was even worse beacuse it contained plenty of Wraiths. I continued to go through mercs very quickly and hired another one every time I went to town to heal. A cold-based merc really helped with Witch Doctor Endugu, keeping his whole gang frozen while I nicked each one.
On my way into Lower Kurast, I met Stormtree. He was tougher than most LEB's simply because he had no problem hitting me, while I missed him with PD very frequently. I got him though.
Once inside, Lower Kurast was pretty easy. Just lots of Hell Buzzards and Tree Lurkers.
The Kurast Bazaar was also not a problem. I didn't let Sextons live long enough to do too much damage.
Then it was off to the lovely Kurast Sewers, home to Horadrim Ancients and Undead Soul Killers. My only problems here came when Stygian Watchers would bat me around with their ranged attacks while I was trying to pick a Horadrim Ancient out of a pack of his followers. If I wasn't careful I could've been surrounded or cornered. I was rewarded with a Silver Ring of Craftsmanship somewhere in these sewers, the best ring I'd found so far.
The second level was only populated by Stygian Watchers, so I had no trouble there.
So far, Act 3 had turned out to be a lot easier than expected. No near-deaths except for one swarm of Flayers a while back, and a close encounter with some Wraiths in the Flayer Dungeon. But things really started to get ugly in the mini-dungeons throughout the Bazaar and Upper Kurast.
I knew that Lam Essen's Tome is always in the Ruined Temple in the Bazaar, so I went there first. I was prepared for an ambush at the stairs (loaded up on extra potions), and that's exactly what I got. Immediately upon appearing downstairs, I was surrounded by Wailing Beasts and Spider Magus. There was still room to move between them, but as I tried to squeeze past, Battlemaid Sarina and company showed up to fill in those spaces! I stuck around long enough to PD the closest monsters, but soon had to retreat upstairs. Back in town, I hired another merc to replace the one that fell to the mob. There weren't anymore cold-based mages, so I went with a lightning-slinger.
I didn't think it was possible, but on my second trip into the temple, things actually got worse. I was still surrounded by the original mob, but they were now joined by an Extra Fast Wailing Beast boss pack! I didn't know it at the time, but EVERY LAST monster in the temple was now packed into this tiny room near the stairs. To make a long story short, it took lots of trips back to town, an entire company of mercs, and tons of healing potions, but I finally worked my way through that crowd. It helped that the extra fast boss pack was stuck at the rear of the crowd. Poison Explosion also proved effective in wearing down groups of monsters I otherwise couldn't have reached.
The Disused Fane in Kurast Bazaar was a bit kinder to me. There were only Wailing Beasts, a few rogues and a few Night Lords inside.
Upper Kurast was also pretty easy, except for a pack of Winged Nightmare Champs that nearly killed me. They could do a lot of damage very quickly and required several stabs to kill.
The Forgotten Reliquary in Upper Kurast contained nothing but a horde of Night Lords. I was ambushed again at the stairs, but since they were more spread out than the first mob, I had plenty of room to avoid the worst of their attack.
Around this time I bought a Platinum Blade of Burning from Hratli. It could do a lot more damage than my dirk, and I was more likely to hit with it beacuse of the +117 attack rate bonus. I still switched back to my dirk of the glacier whenever I expected to encounter a large number of weaker enemies, or anytime I thought cold damage would be more useful.
The other dungeon in Upper Kurast was the Forgotten Temple. Ironically, I had "forgotten" that there could be snakes in this area. I wasn't wearing Death's Guard when I ran into Serpent Magus here, but I was able to retreat before getting frozen and stunlocked. A few Gloombats and Spider Magus were the only other creatures here, so this dungeon was quickly cleared.
That just left the two dungeons on the Kurast Causeway. The Disused Reliquary contained nothing but Blood Divers and Temple Guards, so there were no threats here. The other dungeon, the Ruined Fane, WAS a problem; I was ambushed by a Bone Scarab boss pack. There was more room to run this time, but I had to be careful not to alert other monsters. Once again I had to target one monster at a time and avoid the rest by running in circles.
After that, it was on to Travincal. In true assassin fashion, I ran in, stabbed the first Heirophant or Dark Lord I saw, and ran all the way out of Travincal again. It was fine with me if any Zakarumites followed me out, since they died very quickly from my poison and were dead ducks without healers around. It was slow going when I reached the usual boss pack of Heirophants but I was never in any real danger until I reached the High Council.
The first Councillor out of the gate was Geleb Flamefinger. As I took a couple swings at him, Ismail Vilehand and two minions came after me. Ismail hit me with his first shot and cursed me, so I ran for it. He chased me all the way to the start of Travincal, but the others couldn't keep up. I just had to dodge him everytime he cursed me, wait for it to wear off, then stab away. When he died, he dropped Khalim's Flail and a flawed diamond.
I went back for the rest of the Council and didn't have much trouble until I met Toorc Icefist. I didn't have Death's Guard on, so his chilling attacks slowed me down while he pounded on me and his hydras blasted me. Fortunately, there was a well nearby, so I could heal up whenever I needed to. Even though I was slowed, I still only needed to stab him a few times. The poison took care of the rest.
On the first level of the Durance of Hate, I discovered that poison will kill Maulers very quickly. One stab was enough to kill a Mauler Champ in short order. There were just Cadavers and Undead Soul Killers here, so this level was no problem.
There was another pack of Mauler Champs on level 2, this time accompanied by some Night Lords. It was a little more difficult this time because the Night Lords stayed bunched together in a corner and just filled the entire room with several layers of firewalls and meteors. I had a fair amount of fire resistance by now but still got burnt before taking care of this group.
After that I went down to level three and faced another inferno. Blood Lords and Council Members kept me on the run the whole time. It took quite a while just to single out the Blood Lords. Once they were dead, I was still faced with Bremm Sparkfist. Even with maxed-out lightning resist (there was a resist lightning shrine just upstairs on level 2), his sparks could still do a number on me. I soon discovered that my poison alone wouldn't be enough to kill Bremm; every time I ran away to avoid his sparks he could heal himself whether he was poisoned or not. After several minutes of my usual hit-and-run approach, he was still at half life. Even worse, when I went back to town to buy more healing potions, he was back at full health by the time I came back! There were no more cold-based mercs for hire and since all other mercs would only last a few seconds anyway, I decided to go solo. I knew there was only one way I'd get past Bremm. I threw common sense out the window and just sat there stabbing away with my Dirk of the Glacier. Since he was chilled, he didn't hit me too often, but his sparks sure did. I used all of the super and greater healing potions I had left, and quite a few rejuv. potions as well. Bremm tried to retreat and heal himself a couple times but since he was chilled I was able to catch him in time. I eventually wore him down.
Maffer Dragonhand was no problem because I was able to corner him. The rest of the Blood Lords in the area were also chased down and eliminated, leaving only Wyand Voidbringer and Mephisto. Wyand was a bigger problem than I expected since he could heal a lot more than your average teleporter. He never hit me for too much damage, but it was a pain to chase him all over the place. The chilling effect of my weapon again provided the edge I needed to finish him off. When I finally caught him between teleports I killed him before he could get away again. Wyand dropped a Ruby Amulet which would've come in handy about 2 levels earlier.
Then it was time for the showdown with Mephisto. He'd never given me much trouble before when playing as any other class. But this time I had no ranged attacks or even amplify damage to help me. I wore Death's Guard again for this battle, just in case I got hit with his iceball attack. It was easy enough to get Mephisto down to half health, but that must have made him mad. He suddenly shot out three waves of charged bolts, followed by two iceball blasts. I was forced to back up, and was hit by one of the iceballs. It dropped me down to a fraction of my life and I had to run for it. He followed me all the way back to the stairs, so I went up and back to town to buy more potions. When I came back, he was waiting right there and nearly wasted me again with an iceball. I dodged in between the row of pillars to avoid future assaults. This proved very effective, as I could run in for a quick strike then retreat to relative safety. The only attack that could still reach me was his poison cloud. I had a fair amount of poison resistance myself but only 50% poison reduction, so it continued to slowly wear down my health.
Mephisto must have gotten wise to my strategy because after a few more dodges, he moved away from the pillars and unleashed charged bolt and iceball attacks from an another angle, forcing me to charge at him again. He hit me with one more iceball that forced me to use my very last potion. I knew that if I ran, I'd most likely get killed by another iceball. But by now he only had a sliver of life left. A few more stabs and I had defeated him. Mephisto even dropped a semi-useful unique - Bladebuckle. I couldn't use it without also equipping +strength items in place of more useful things though, so I just kept it as a souvenir. It was time to face even greater challenges in Act 4.
Items found/used/bought in Act 3, and where I got them:
(To save time from here on, I'm only listing items I actually USED.)
Amulet of the Mammoth - +31 Life. (Found in Spider Forest)
Silver Ring of Craftsmanship - +75 to Attack Rating, +1 Max. Damage. (Found in Kurast Sewers)
Ruby Amulet - 41% Fire Resist. (Dropped by Wyand Voidbringer)
Cobalt Ring - 27% Cold Resist. (Found somewhere...I forget where)
Breast Plate of Defiance - Poison Length Reduced by 75%, Defense 66. (Bought from Hratli)
Bone Wand - +2 to Bone Armor. (Bought from Ormus)
Platinum Blade of Burning - 4-12 damage, Adds 10-17 Fire Damage, +117 to Attack Rating. (Bought from Hratli)
Glorious Large Shield of Deflecting - 52% Blocking, Defense 22. (Bought from Asheara)
Amber Breast Plate of Remedy - Poison length Reduced by 25%, 46% Lightning Resist, Defense 66. (Bought from Hratli)
Bitter Grip Leather Gloves (Rare) - Half Freeze Duration, +2 Light Radius, 13% Poison Resist, 19% Fire Resist, 113% Extra Gold from Monsters, Defense 2. (Gambled from Elzix)
Death's Hand (Set) - Poison Length Reduced by 75%, 50% Poison Resist. (Gambled from Elzix)
Just as I took a few steps away from the stairs to the Outer Steppes I was attacked by a horde of Flesh Spawners and Corpse Spitters. I had switched to my Platinum Blade of Burning, so I didn't have the benefit of cold damage to slow them down. Even so, I was pleased to discover that I could now kill Flesh Beasts with one normal attack, and didn't get hit by them as much, thanks to a Glorious Large Shield of Deflecting I bought from Asheara in Act 3. Then I was assaulted by a boss pack of Stranglers. The boss himself was a Mana Burner, so at least there weren't any extra abilities to worry about. Despite being mana drained a couple times, the extra damage from my blade was enough to take care of them. The rest of the Outer Steppes was cleared without incident.
The Plains of Despair turned out to be "Revenge of the Gloams." Since I didn't have to face any in the Great Marsh, their more powerful cousins showed up here. I found I could kill them with one PD stab, but it was still difficult to find and get to them fast enough. That made this area slow going, and I had to return to town several times to buy potions. There were more Flesh Beasts here too, but by now I knew PE would take care of their spawn.
I had cleared most of the Plains before I found Izual near the stairs to the City of the Dammned. I was caught without Death's Guard on again and I knew I'd really need it for this battle. I took a few stabs at Izual but soon gave up and tried to outrun him. I managed to lose him near the stairs to the Steppes, so I portaled out. When I returned (with Death's Guard on), he was waiting for me! He was sitting at the base of the stairs so the rest of the battle took place in the Outer Steppes. It didn't take as long as I feared (he only has 30% poison resistance), but he did land some powerful hits that nearly killed me. All I got from him was magical gothic plate I couldn't use and two more skill points to save up.
In anticipation of the elemental attacks I knew I'd face from here on, I decided it was time to make a gemmed shield. It would mean getting hit a lot more often, but without it, one shot from an Oblivion Knight would ruin my day. I didn't have enough strength to use a tower shield, so I went back to Act 3 and bought a socketed large shield. I'd been saving gems from the start but one normal quality diamond was the best I could manage. I could get plenty of lightning resistance from my other items, so I added a flawed ruby after that. And since I had zero cold resistance, I put in a chipped sapphire, the best I could do at the time as well. Then I decided it was finally time to use my imbue. I knew the odds were slim I'd get anything spectacular, but it was bound to be better than what I had. I decided on a full helm, and here's what I got: Spirit Horn Full Helm - Defense 25, Poison length reduced by 25%, +1 light radius, 9% poison resist, 7% lightning resist, +39 life. So, I didn't get nearly as much resistance as I'd hope, but the extra life and poison reduction makes up for it. With my new shield, my resistances for the rest of Act 4 were: Fire - 46, Cold - 23, Lightning - 72, Poison - 59.
Still not too optimistic about my chances against Oblivion Knights and the like, I decided to spend my gold gambling for a better belt. The one I'd been using since Act 2 (when not wearing Death's Guard)only added life and mana, so I was hoping for one with some resistances. Several gambles for heavy belts resulted in one decent item; a Glorious Heavy Belt of the Colossus. Again, not what I was looking for, but it worked out. I now had a whopping 344 life at level 26.
On to the City of the Dammned. Oddly enough, there were no Dammned to be found here. I was greeted by Stygian Hags and Balrogs instead. An extra fast Balrog boss proved to be good practice for the Infector of Souls. I found I could JUST stay one step ahead of them even though I gained no extra speed from my boots. It must've been because I was only wearing a breastplate.
Just as I was celebrating the fact that there were no actual Damned in the City, I found they'd been replaced with something much worse - Abyss Knights! And as if that wasn't bad enough, I soon stumbled across *GASP* four Abyss Knight Champs! Two were cold-based and two were fire-based. There was a lot of dodging involved here, as well as a couple of near-death experiences. The rest of the City was just as bad. Every few feet I had to dodge Abyss Knight blasts while Stygian Hags and their spawn chased me. I was fine as long as I could get to the Knights before the Dogs surrounded me.
Then it was down to the River of Flame. As usual, it was a long trip. It started out with a Storm Caster boss pack at the stairs. The River was not all Urdars, as I had hoped. There weren't any at all except for a cold enchanted boss and his minions. What the River DID have plenty of was Grotesques. This time, PE was less effective because Grotesque Wyrms could last longer after being poisoned by it, and ofen travelled single file on the River. The poison cloud would frequently die down before all the Wyrms in a group were poisoned. I was still doing all right against them, but another stupid mistake almost led to disaster. I allowed myself to get backed into a corner by a mob of Wyrms. Two Grotesques sat behind them, spitting out more Wyrms as quickly as I could kill them. I triggered more poison explosions, but it didn't kill them fast enough. I switched to PD, but there were plenty more on the way. I didn't have time to switch weapons, and ran out of mana. For the first time, I had no choice but to hit Escape and start over again.
I paid a high price for restarting too. Instead of Grotesques, I now faced Blood Maggots, wich turned out to die faster to PE. Not so bad, right? Well it would've been if it weren't for the Abyss Knights that came along with them! The rest of the River became a constant game of Diablo Dodgeball as I tried to avoid Abyss Knight blasts while staying ahead of blood maggot swarms.
Before I knew it, Hephasto was charing after me. He sped out well ahead of the mob waiting at the Hellforge, so it was easy to isolate him from the group. I knew that one shot while cursed would be enough to kill me, so I used the usual trick to minimize contact with him. I lured him over to a lava trench on another part of the River. I'd PD him once, then run around until he got stuck on the opposite side of the trench and with there while he suffered. I still had to run back around and stab him again whenever the poison wore off. Then he started showing more intelligence than usual and found his way around the edge of the trench a few times. I had to risk portalling out once to heal up, but he was far enough away when I got back. He didn't last much longer after that. I was lucky; he only hit me about 9 or 10 times and only cursed me once. I was only really close to dying that one time. I got a rare tower shield from him, another item I couldn't use.
The mess back at the Hellforge took another 15 minutes or so to clear out. There was a swarm of Blood Maggots with plenty of Abyss Knights mixed in, so it was very difficult to reach the "parent" Blood Maggots and stop production. When I smashed the Hellforge, I got a perfect skull, a flawless emerald and a flawless amethyst: nothing that would make a better shield.
The "Maze" section of the River of Flame brought more of the usual suspects: Grotesques, Storm Casters and Abyss Knights. A quartet of Grotesque Champions was a particular problem; three of them refused to follow me back into open territory. I had to fight them in the narrow confines of the Maze and risk getting cornered again. I was careful not to back into a dead end, and took care of them eventually. Once they were out of the way, the rest wasn't too bad. There was an open area in the center of the Maze, so I lured most monsters there and used PE to wipe them out. That just left the Abyss Knights to chase after, and one or two PD stabs took care of them.
It took me a while after that to actually get into the Chaos Sanctuary. Monsters started pouring out as soon as I reached the door, and many battles ended up taking place outside. Oblivion Knights would only go as far as the door, so I just had to worry about them decrepifying me as I led the other monsters away. There were a few close calls when I faced more than one Knight at a time, but I was usually able to dodge their blasts or run away. It took almost an hour from the time I started at the River waypoint just to reach the pentagram inside. It took another 15 minutes to clear the rest of the Sanctuary.
I thought Lord De Sies would be the toughest of the three remaining bosses, so I released him first. For all three of these groups, I opened a portal right after touching their seal, went through right away, and used the River waypoint. No sense in getting trapped after making it this far. When I came back, De Seis constantly decrepified me while I tried to chase down his buddies. They had the annoying habit of running away just as I went to stab them. I usually didn't catch one until it moved close to a wall. At least they died fairly quickly after a couple stabs. De Seis himself had more hitpoints of coruse, so I couldn't count on a quick kill for him. I trapped him in the usual corner where Sorceresses like to zap Diablo with static charge from safety. He stayed there a while, cursing away at me, but eventually found his way around the corner. He was weakened enough by then that a few more stabs put him out of my misery.
The Grand Vizier of Chaos was my next target. I ran toward the entrance to the Sanctuary as soon as I was certain he was following me. He and half of his minions got trapped outside. I took care of the other half while he watched through the windows. I ran back toward the pentagram to get him back inside, then raced back toward the door again. The Vizier and his remaining minions were caught in one of the lava pits that had a wall on its' south side (see Ember's Quest for a better description of this). I ran back and forth a few times, stabbing whichever Caster was foolish enough to come after me, then running back to trap them again. In this way, I was able to wear down the Vizier and the rest of his minions without a scratch. I lured the Vizier himself out a bit farther so he'd die over land. Not that I got anything useful from him.
Then it was time to meet the Infector of Souls. I knew from previous experience I could just barely stay ahead of extra fast Balrogs, so I wasn't too worried. As planned, I ran laps around the pentagram, stopping to turn and stab at the closest enemy every once in a while, and running off again. The only problem I had here was that I kept missing! I had an 89% chance to hit a level 27 monster with PD's attack rate bonus, and Venom Lords like I was facing are level 30. You do the math. A nearby combat shrine helped me hit a bit more often, but I still took more damage than I would've liked. It took ages to wear down the Infector himself. I used PE on his fallen buddies so I wouldn't have to stop and stab him as much. He hit me with a chilling attack a couple times, but I was never close to dying.
Once the Infector was history, I prepared for my showdown with Diablo. I hit the last seal and portaled back to town. I decided to keep using my Dirk of the Glacier even though it would only slow Diablo for a fraction of a second. I took along a Soldier's Blade of the Locust I'd bought from Jamella just in case I wasn't doing enough damage with the dirk. I had kept my PD skill level at 13 for a long time now to keep the mana cost low. But since there was only one foe left now, I maxed it out with my remaining skill points. I used my Bone Armor wand for the second time and headed back out to the River.
By the time I got back to the Sanctuary, the combat shrine near the pentagram had reset. Diablo got to me before I reached it though. His first blast of lightning breath only grazed me, but that was enough to remove most of the Bone Armor. His next shot removed it completely, and I didn't bother using the wand again after that.
Even with a combat shrine active, about half of my attacks missed completely. I couldn't have hit him with a non-PD attack if I tried, so I didn't. This battle dragged on and on. I did a lot of running and dodging for the first ten minutes or so. Then I managed to get him in the usual corner. He'd stay there for a while, but I had to run back and stab him again whenever the poison wore off. I trapped him there as often as possible, but he wouldn't always co-operate. He'd sometimes wise up and find his way around the corner, or just stand still and breathe lightning instead of following me. One time, he even managed to sneak one of his "hot foot" attacks through that corner.
Despite my high lightning resist, Diablo's lightning blast nearly killed me several times, probably because I didn't have any -magic damage items. This usually happened when I was running in to attack. A few times I'd find myself running STRAIGHT INTO the blast. My rejuv. potions didn't last too long. I made plenty of trips back to town to buy healing potions. The battle went on for so long, the combat shrine reset itself.
When Diablo had less than a third of his life, I switched over to my life-stealing blade to try and speed things up a bit. It didn't make much difference. The extra damage was barely noticable and the life leeching wasn't enough to slow my potion consumption. But at that point it didn't really matter. It was clear I'd be able to defeat him eventually. A few minutes later, Diablo finally keeled over. Diablo dropped a rare suit of light plate, a magical great maul, and a set of full plate mail that turned out to be Tancred's Spine. A pretty good reward, even if I couldn't use it. But then, finishing the game in Hardcore is reward enough.
Here are the items I gained and used in Act 4, and where I got them:
Glorious Heavy Belt of the Colossus - +58 to Life, Defense 10. (Gambled from Elzix)
Spirit Horn Full Helm (Rare) - Poison Length reduced by 25%, +1 Light Radius, 9% Poison Resist, 7% Lightning Resist, +39 Life, Defense 25. (Result of Charsi's imbue)
Soldier's Blade of the Locust - 8% Life stolen per hit, +72 Attack Rating, 7-18 damage. (Bought from Jamella)
Large Shield (Gemmed) - 11% Poison resist, 23% Cold resist, 11% Lightning resist, 27% Fire Resist, 32% blocking, Defense 12. (Bought from Fara, then added gems)
So what did I learn from all this? For starters, playing a Poison Dagger Necro is great if you want to learn how to dodge. I was pretty good at dodging ranged attacks already, but now most melee monsters seem painfully slow to me. Only vultures, leapers and those blasted wraiths feel like a threat in hand-to-hand combat. I probably won't be continuing with this character due to the slow playing style it requires. There was way more running involved than with any other class I've played. Not to mention the time spent hiding while waiting for creatures to die.
I was pleased to note the effectiveness of Poison Explosion. I doubt it'll ever replace Corpse Explosion, but it has the potential to do more damage if Blizzard reduces the duration in the expansion.
I also doubt this variant would ever work on Battle.net. One little spot of lag would ruin everything. A really high level of Bone Armor might save your skin in Normal, but not in Nightmare.
I didn't get to try out Poison Nova, but from my experiences so far, it's not really necessary. Poison Explosion already lets you create a cloud of poison, and can do so at range. Sure, you don't need a corpse to Nova, but when ISN'T there a corpse lying around? Against bosses like Duriel and Mephisto, I hear you say. But in those situations, there are far more effective skills to use than something meant for large groups of enemies. Besides, the other level 30 Necro skills are much better. It would've been useful the time I got ambushed in the Ruined Temple, but it's pretty clear why Bone Spirit and Revive are used more often than Poison Nova.
Azote's Journey was a refreshing challenge and I strongly recommend Poison Dagger to any Necro looking to get his hands dirty instead of following a skeleton crew all the time. A few choice curses, like Terror, Dim Vision or Decrepify would've made the going a lot easier, and they're ones you'd probably use anyway. The trade off would be that you'd need more Dex. and Vitality than normal, and wouldn't have as much Energy. But I found that even at fairly high levels, I didn't NEED much mana to take care of most foes. One stab would kill just about anything, and my mana recharged fast enough while I was doing all that running and dodging anyway. Remember, I didn't have or need any mana leeching items throughout the game. I only needed mana potions when I faced mana burn bosses or Storm Casters. Plus, curses have fairly low casting costs and don't go up with each level. You'd just have to stay away from those mana hogging Golems (though even then you might be able to get by with a few +mana items, or Magefists). So, if you want to stand out from the crowd of Wormskull-wearing zoo-keepers, why not give PD a stab?
- Clash
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