I decided to come up with a challenging variant. I saw that there was no dagger mastery for the Barbarian, and the dual wielding dagger Barbarian was born. I named him Kriss, appropriately. He cannot use any weapons other than dagger class weapons, and can never use a shield. I decided to allow one point in both Throwing Mastery and Double Throw for tough bosses and LEB's. He will use Double Swing as a main attack up until level 24, and then switch to Frenzy. Taunt and Howl/Grim Ward are good tools in crowd control, and of course they will be used. With daggers having a range of 1 and doing pathetic damage (not enough to leech back mana), Whirlwind is not a viable option. Here's his skill tree:
2. Bash
3. Howl
4. Find Potion
Den of Evil. Save
5. Save
6. Taunt, Leap, Double Swing
7. Shout
8. Throwing Mastery
9. Double Swing
10. Save
11. Save
12. Increased Stamina, Find Item, Double Throw
13. Double Swing
14. Double Swing
15. Double Swing
Radament. Double Swing
16. Save
17. Save
18. Leap Attack, Battle Cry, Iron Skin
19. Double Swing
20. Double Swing
21. Save
22. Save
23. Save
24. Battle Orders, Grim Ward, Frenzy, Increased Speed
25. Frenzy
Izzy. Battle Orders, Stun
26. Frenzy
Here's the tentative plan for the future:
27. Frenzy
28. Frenzy
29. Save
30. War Cry, Natural Resistance
31. Natural Resistance
32-46. Frenzy
With the quest skill points, probably some combination of BO, Natural Resistance, and Grim Ward.
So, I started act 1 with the starting equipment. First of all I ran over to Akara to rid myself of the cursed Hand Axe and Buckler, as I would not be using them. Out to the Blood Moor, what's this? A Gem Shrine already? Well, I would have no use for Gems other than to cube into Full Rejuvs, so I hit the shrine. Chipped Ruby, good deal. A few punches later a socketed dagger drops. This gemmed dagger lasted me through the entire first act. Well, I mowed through the Blood Moor and Den of Evil, and by this time had found a normal Dagger. I ran out onto the Cold Plains.
And was suddenly pushed back by a boss pack of Extra Fast Gargantuan Beasts, complete with Spearwoman reinforcements! Flavie was pissed, so she killed a few of those Spearwomen, while the Beasts were mobbing her, trying to find out why they couldn't hit her. Apparently she's got maxxed Defiance or something. I sure wish I could hire Flavie. Anyway, using Howl frequently, I decimated that group of monsters with Flavie's help. The rest of the Plains were simple, and I found the entrance to the Burial Grounds before I found the Cave. Okay. I wielded a couple of cracked Throwing Knives and took Raven down. Easy. Down into the Crypt and Mausoleum, clean them out, and back to the Cold Plains. After slaying massive amounts of Fallen, I found the Cave. Again, it was an easy clear, with the only semi-tough opponent turning out to be a Stone Skin Hungry Dead on Level 2. By this time I was almost level 6, so I finished up the Plains, leveled, and got Taunt. This skill is one of the most powerful skills for a non-WW barbarian (simply because WW is so powerful that you don't need it) It nullifies the main abilities of baddies like Fallen Shamen, Greater Mummies, Flayer Shamen, Corpse Spitters, Spear Cats, Abyss Knights, Skeleton Archers and Mages, Maggots, Vampires, Flesh Spawners, and stops anything that flees such as Zakarumites, Storm Casters, and Flayers. I'd say that's a lot of nullification, and well worth the point I invested in it.
By this time I have purchased Boots of Pacing, a Sash of Stability, and a Quilted Armor of Remedy from Charsi, and found a pair of Heavy Gloves with SIAS. Stony Field was fairly simple, except for Rakanishu of course. I took him down with a pair of throwing knives. Double Throw will be a nice thing to have, as well as enough mana leech. Which brings me to another point. Since daggers do pathetic damage, it's very hard to leech enough mana to use a special attack constantly. You've gotta have at least 10% mana steal or you're not gonna be able to use even cheap attacks like Double Swing (mana cost of 2) constantly. Back to Kriss's adventures. The stony field was cleared easily, along with Underground Passage Level 1. On Level 2, I met Flesh Killer the Quick, an appropriately named Fanaticism Rogue boss. A couple of Howls and she was dispatched with no trouble.
Okay, finished clearing Level 1 and found the entrance to the Dark Wood. As I stepped out, I found a welcoming committee in the form of Treehead Woodfist, a Carver pack, and some Rogues. Again, using Howl I managed to separate Treehead from his posse and slay him, then dispatch the rest. Of course, the Tree was nearby and I managed to find the waypoint, go back to Stony, and take the portal to Tristram. Within was a Magic Resistant goat boss, along with Gris and a Carver Shaman boss pack. This turned out easy, Griswold took a while but honestly didn't do much damage even when I was cursed. He dropped a Deadly Dirk of Worth, which replaced my old Dagger.
So I get a Ring of +1 Dexterity from Akara. Grumbling, I put it on, having nothing better to wear.
I went back and cleared Wood and Marsh. Easy.
I bought a Serpent's Sash of Stability (an upgrade for the Sash of Stability) and a Skull Cap of Stability from Charsi. Stacked Fastest Hit Recovery rocks.
Down in the Tower, there were a few weak bosses. By the way, there were NO monsters at all on Level 2 of the Tower. Strange. Each Ghost gave me a harder time than any of the bosses. Those things resist my already puny damage, and stack into groups. I had to rely on the 3-4 Fire damage on my gemmed dagger to kill them. Ugh. Well, actually there was a boss pack worse than a Ghost.
Try 4 Ghost Champs on Level 5 of the Tower. Howl is ineffective against champs. I would much rather have an actual boss with minions than champs. At least then I can Howl the minions away and deal with the boss right then. Not so with champs. I ended up ducking around a corner, trying to lure out one at a time. Okay... well here come 2 champs. I can take 2, right? After using a full sash of potions, I managed to take them down. Run to town, restock, and take on the other 2. The Countess was very simple. I picked up my quest reward, gold. I mean come on, Blizzard, the Tower has some of the worst stair traps in the game and all you get is crappy gold for completing it. Now, if there was a skill point or stat point as a reward, I would be all over it. But it's an unnecessary quest with a crappy reward and high risk. What was Blizzard thinking?
From the Hole to the Tamoe to the Pit was an easy clear, with no scary bosses. My daggers may be a little weak, but they definitely get the job done in Act 1 Normal.
Entering the Outer Cloister, I am stunned to see my health drop when there is nothing near me. My first instinct is to Save/Exit, but I remind myself that this is Single Player and there is no such thing as lag. Side note: this is my first Single Player character ever. I gulp a few potions and see a Multishot Spike Fiend (is that the correct name for them in Outer Cloister?) complete with minions. I Taunt the minions (this stops them from firing until they are obscenely close to me) and go and bash the boss to death, then take care of the minions one by one. Into the Barracks, I find the Smith pretty close to the entrance and I lead him out to the Cloister. I Bashed him into one of those walls in the Cloister, and the Smith slumped to the ground.
I ran back into the room, and grabbed the Horadric Malus. Full cleared the Barracks, with no dangerous fights. Down into the Jail and I find everyone's favorite enemy. Wraiths. Luckily there were no instances of majorly stacked Wraiths, and I full cleared the Jail with no real problems.
Up to Inner Cloister, and I'm greeted by FlameSpike the Crawler. I am immediately cursed, so I Taunt his minions in order to minimize damage. Bash bash bash. FlameSpike is dead. His minions quickly fall like their master. I run up into the Cathedral, and see Bone Ash with Might aura around it. Oh great, there's a Might enchanted boss around. I dispatch Bone Ash and look for the perpetrator. It turns out to be a Devilkin Shaman boss pack. I taunt the minions out to the Inner Cloister and take care of them there, then return for the boss, who dies easily. The Catacombs turns out to be easier than I expected up until Level 3. There, to make up for the ease of Levels 1 and 2, I get assaulted by 2 LEB Banished packs. I ended up Taunting the minions, and taking out each boss with Throwing Knives. I had Double Throw by now, so that worked out.
Andariel was actually very easy. I took her down in under 30 seconds using Throwing Knives.
Upon arriving in Act 2, I immediately went shopping at the vendors for a couple of good Krisses. I bought a Kriss of Frost, and a Kriss of Frost. Yes, exact same stats. 2-9 damage, adds 1-3 cold damage, and Very Fast attack speed. These two daggers lasted me all the way up to the Lost City. Sewers were no problem at all. I used Find Potion on the corpses near Radament and dispatched him easily.
Now, the Act 2 outdoors was very easy. The only monsters I had trouble with were Slingers, and they were easily Taunted. I never encountered any Itchies but I imagine they would cause as much difficulty as the Ghosts in Act 1. I found a 7% mana leech amulet in the Far Oasis, so I put that on.
Full cleared Stony Tomb, Halls, and Ancient Tunnels. There really isn't much to talk about there either because they were all so easy. The Maggot Lair might have been a pain because of the Black Locusts, but the confined area actually helped me traffic them easily. I found a nice rare Scale Mail here, with Poison reduction, 25 fire resist, and magic damage reduced, so I put it on. Coldworm's room was fairly empty when I arrived, so I taunted the Mother Maggots (to force them to stop laying eggs and come after me with their weak melee attack) I took down Coldworm himself (herself?) from a distance with Throwing Knives so as not to be caught in the Cold nova. I went back to town and found a Brutal Kriss of Gore for sale, so I bought it.
Down in the Claw Viper Temple is where it gets interesting. The snakes themselves weren't tough at all. I went through about 3 doors, and fought a bunch of snakes. And then a Claw Viper hits me with his cold/knockback attack, and I'm stuck in place. I try Leaping, Town Portal, walking, running, everything, but I am locked in place. Meanwhile this lone Claw Viper is eating away at my life. I decide to Save/Exit because there's nothing I can do. This turned out to be the only Save/Exit I did all through Normal. Fortunately the Lost City waypoint was very close to the Valley of the Snakes, and I redid the parts of the temple that I had already done. I did not encounter the knockback error again, fortunately.
I hired a meat shield for Level 2. I didn't get swarmed as I entered Level 2, so I ran over and Leapt upon the platform. I killed the couple of Skeletons on top of the platform, Taunted the Guardians, and just killed everything from the top of that platform with Double Throw except Fangy himself. I let him chase me around the platform, giving him a fair fight. He only caught me once, and it was with his super speedy Knockback/Cold attack. He bit the dust, I grabbed the Viper Amulet, and returned to Lut.
The Harem/Palace Cellar was void of archers, except one Cursed boss pack on Level 3. Mages are so weak compared to the Archers, so I had an easy time killing Mages, Blunderbores, and those Ape things.
Arcane Sanctuary turned out to be the hardest area in the game for poor Kriss for many reasons. It's a very large area, and it's covered with Specters. See, I have a hard time with a group of 2-3 Ghosts. The entire Arcane is full of them, as you may know. Since I was going to full-clear anyway, I picked a random direction, starting in the top right, which turned out to be the teleporting section. The going was tedious, and I had to return to town after every battle to purchase more potions. My quest log pops up, and the Summoner fries me with a large firewall, but I take barely any damage because of my Scale Mail. I Leap Attack up to his platform and he dies in two hits. Two hits from a dagger? Now that's pathetic. I grab the Canyon waypoint, and go back to the Arcane to finish clearing. I finished up the teleport section, and head to the top left, which is the stairs section.
I noticed a strange quirk while trying to use Howl on the specters. If the specters are stacked up, and you Howl them, only one out of the stack will flee. This made them even more dangerous than I had thought, and I tried to be careful about activating too many specters. Of course, this is nearly impossible and I still got mobbed frequently.
After about 15 minutes I had the stairs section done, and I ventured to the bottom left, which was the straight section. The straight section is the most dangerous overall, and several times I had LARGE packs of Specters chasing after me.
There was only one boss pack in the entire Arcane, and it was in the winding section to the bottom right. Just a Spectral Hit Ghoul Lord pack. Luckily it wasn't a Specter champ pack, like the Tower. I finished up the tedious process of clearing the Arcane, and decided to clear the Canyon and leave my computer on all night so I wouldn't have to clear it again in the morning.
I got Hell Slingers, Crushers, and Maggots. This proved to be a tough combination. The Crushers did a lot of damage with their attacks, and I was forced to use Battle Cry frequently to lower the amount of damage done. In the meantime I had loads of Slingers slinging me. I tried to Taunt them, but I simply ran out of mana before I could Taunt them all. Another side note: If you Taunt something and it cannot reach you, it will resume its normal AI, but still have the Taunt graphic above. It cannot be taunted again. This will happen with something like a Jail cell, across a river, or if there are simply too many monsters around you that it cannot reach you (like maggots). So I had Hell Slingers that were supposedly Taunted but still slinging Hell at me from half a screen away. What an annoying "feature."
I cleared the Canyon, coming across a Stone Skin Maggot boss in the process. Went to bed, got up the next morning before work and began the Tombs.
The true tomb turned out to be the double V, so I saved it for last.
By the way, when I mention Unravelers, I am also including the accompanied Burning Dead.
The first tomb I got Preserved Dead, Unravelers, and Gorebellies. A good draw, as is anything that doesn't include Apparitions. There was a Holy Shock Ghoul Lord boss near the treasure chest, easily dispatched.
The second tomb had Unravelers, Preserved Dead, and Ghoul Lords. There were two bosses in this tomb, a multishot Unraveler pack and a Fire Enchanted Preserved Dead pack. Once again, easy.
The third tomb had Unravelers and Gorebellies. I did not see a third monster type in this tomb. Strange. There was a Stone Skin Unraveler pack near the chest.
The fourth tomb included Apparitions (yuck), Unravelers, and Preserved Dead. To make matters worse, this was Ancient Kaa's tomb, so it was very large. This is about the worst draw you can get. The Unravelers will heal and revive the Apparitions AND the Preserved Dead, so you have to Taunt them before you can do anything. And if they can't reach you their normal AI will resume. Bleh. In addition to Ancient Kaa there was a multishot Unraveler pack. This tomb took about half an hour to complete, compared to about 10-15 minutes for the others. When I reached Kaa's corner I taunted his minions out, killing them one by one. I got out the Balanced Knives and ran around a room with him until he was dead.
The fifth tomb had Ghoul Lords, Apparitions (grr), and Gorebellies. This also had one of the most dangerous treasure rooms I've ever seen. Usually there is a boss pack that spawns in the treasure room, along with some normal monsters. However, this one included not only a Fanaticism Ghoul Lord pack, but also 4 Steel Scarab Champions along with their "minions" (If you notice, beetle champs come with a set of 5 or so normal beetles). Well, I had to back out of the room (after dashing in to take some screenshots of course) and take them one at a time on the other side of the door. No near-death experiences, but something I had never seen before.
The sixth tomb had Gorebellies, Apparitions (again??), and Preserved Dead. Nothing much of note in this tomb. There was a Magic Resistant Unraveler pack, and a Teleporting Ghoul Lord.
I walked into the True Tomb praying for no Apparitions, as I had had them three times in a row now (including Kaa's tomb) and they are really a pain. I saw a bunch of Preserved Dead walking toward me. Okay, good. I kill them and continue into the next room. Burning Dead walk down the hallway. Okay, two down, one to go. The whole time, I'm thinking, "Please, no Apparitions!"
Kriss: "Tal Rasha, your tomb is full of walking skeletons, mummies, and Radament clones. Are there ghosts too?"
Tal Rasha's Disembodied Voice: "I'll let you decide that for yourself. Does this big-ass hulk look like a ghost to you?"
Gorebelly: * thump *
Kriss: "Owww..."
Okay, so no Apparitions. I was happy, to say the least. There were no boss packs in the entire tomb, and with Taunt for the Unravelers, and no Apparitions, this was an easy clear. I hired a meat shield for Duriel, stuck the Staff into the Orifice, and walked downstairs.
Duriel didn't even touch my merc. He survived through the entire battle. I just kept getting knocked back and gulping potions. Because I was using a sash, I had to return to town once to refill it.
Duriel dropped Wall of the Eyeless, which I sold to Hratli when I reached act 3.
I did some shopping for Blades at Hratli. Soon I found a Savage Blade of Craftsmanship - 8-23 damage, and I bought it. I also got a Deadly Blade of Carnage - 6-27 damage. I equipped them both, hired a cold merc, and went out to rock Act 3.
Spider Forest ended up easy. Cloud Stalkers and Suckers, with the occasional Fetish. The blowdart Fetishes ended up doing major damage to my poor merc, but I made frequent town trips and he survived through the entire Spider Forest.
The Arachnid Lair was simple. The Spider Cavern was mildly easy, with Ssark being the only threat in there. I had to Howl the minions away and deal with Ssark alone, but he proved easy with Bash knockback lock.
I came upon the Flayer Jungle and was wondering what happened to the Marsh. So I backtracked and found it on the other side of the Spider Forest. Strange. I had never seen a formation like that. The Marsh wasn't even connected to Flayer in any way. And I've never seen a direct connection between Spider Forest and Flayer Jungle. Well, anyway, my merc died quick in the Marsh. Gloams were plentiful, and they destroyed my merc quickly. There were also Frogs and Fetishes. Next to the first chest I found an LEB Bramble Beast, which I killed with Balanced Knives.
The second chest was next to a pack of Magic Resistant Drowned Corpses, which was no problem at all.
So I run back to the Flayer Jungle, and immediately am assaulted by blowdart Flayers. My fire merc bites the dust, but they have such little life that I was able to kill each one with one double swing. I would use Taunt on the blowdart guys to stop them from running away from me, and Howl if a large pack of knifers surrounded me.
The first alcove included the waypoint and the Swampy Pit. There were Undead Dolls and Gloams down there. Once again, the Gloams killed my merc. But the Swampy Pit was an easy clear. I made clvl 24 down here, and got the highly anticipated Frenzy and Grim Ward, along with the obligatory Battle Orders and Increased Speed. A rare Kite Shield, which I had no use for, came out of the golden chest.
The second alcove held the Gidbinn and Flayer Dungeon. Ormus ended up giving me a junk ring.
Down in the Flayer Dungeon, I encountered a number of (what else?) Flayers, both undead and normal. The only highlight of this run was the Spectral Hit Dark Shape boss I found. Did I mention how much I hate Ghosts? I used my newfound ability to fashion Grim Wards (can you believe I typed Grim Wands before I caught myself?) to scare off the minions so I could deal with the boss himself. It was about this point that I discovered the Frenzy/Bash combo. This was to be the cornerstone of my future encounters with bosses. Basically, if you Frenzy and then hold down Bash on the baddy, you can keep him in knockback lock until you have to refresh Frenzy. I'm not entirely sure if Frenzy speed is based on weapon speed or not, but Dagger Class weapons are of sufficient speed to knockback lock anything, even with some misses. So anyway, with Frenzy/Bash, that boss didn't get another hit in on me. After I took the boss down I dealt with each minion separately, using Grim Ward to keep the others away. There are so many tactical methods of using Grim Ward, which makes it one of my favorite skills in the entire game. Plus, the idea of building a totem out of a fresh corpse is too funny to ignore.
Endugu and his minions were nowhere near the chest. They were in the corner of Level 3. Quite strange. Anyway, I cleaned out the rest of the dungeon with no trouble at all.
The rest of the Flayer Jungle was fairly routine.
I took Stormtree on with Balanced Knives.
There were Zakarumites, Doom Apes, and Tree Lurkers in Lower Kurast. The Apes and Zakarumites will flee when injured, but there's no problem there. I used Taunt a lot here. Taunt works wonders for the Leapers too, because they tend not to jump around when Taunted. Nothing much of interest here.
Kurast Bazaar was a bit more interesting. There were Thrashers, Faithful, and Hell Swarms. The first two, I did not have a problem with. Hell Swarms are a royal pain. I decided to hire a cold merc to keep them still so they wouldn't stack and bite me. It turns out that these things die in 2 of the merc's Glacial Spikes. Having discovered this, I easily cleared the Bazaar.
The Ruined Temple had one of the worst stairs traps I've ever personally seen. There was an Extra Fast Wailing Beast pack waiting just above the entrance. Also, regular spiders were sitting on the other side of the entrance. Some vampires, Sirina, and her posse entered the room as I came down. Luckily my cold merc was still alive, so I didn't get swarmed right away. The speedy Beast boss took him out, unfortunately. By this time I had erected a couple of Grim Wards in the cramped room, so everything except the vampires, who weren't in range of the Ward, and the bosses ran off. I took down the Beast boss first, then Sirina. Then those Fire Sorc wannabes. Finally I mopped up the stragglers.
The other temple in Kurast Bazaar (I forget the name) was a breeze. No stair trap, and no scary boss. I decided to wait to do Sewers until Upper Kurast was clear.
Upper Kurast was, again, routine. There were Winged Nightmares, Cantors, and Zealots. I would Taunt the Cantors and Zealots to nullify them, and frenzy them.
In the sewers there were Undead Dolls, Bats, and Preserved Dead. Easy, because there were no mummies. I found level 2 almost right away, cleared it out, and went back up to level 1 to full clear it. There were no incidents here. Now I may be making this sound way too easy, but a barb with 400+ life should in no way die in normal. We'll see what happens when I get to Nightmare.
In the Disused Reliquary I did nearly die, though. After clearing out most of it, I ran into a room and started hacking away. This was a big mistake, as there was a Cold Enchanted Bone Scarab there. Now, I don't often clear the false temples (I normally play realm hardcore and don't need to bother with that kind of thing =) I did not know that the Act 2 beetles could spawn in the temples. I have never seen them in Ruined Temple (the only temple I clear) and I didn't expect them this time. So, each lightning bolt that this beetle throws has attached cold damage. Did I mention my cold resist was 0? A few whacks at this guy got me dangerously close to death, and gulping a full rejuv, I ran into the other room, preparing my stacks of Balanced Knives. He fell fairly quickly with those, but it was an almost certain death when I first met him.
I cleared the other false temples without incident. No ugly stairs traps, no bosses worth mentioning.
Travincal is my favorite part of the game. I even occasionally clear it with my realm hardcore characters. This has resulted in the loss of a level 44 Barbarian to a Multishot Extra Fast Hierophant. (When Mulstishot, do those things cast multiple blizzards at once? That's the only way it could have killed him)
I went around the back first and cleared out the Blood Lords and Hierophants that usually sit behind the building. One by one, I lured out each council member. Together, they are powerful, but separated they are a piece of cake.
The entire Durance levels 1 and 2 were very easy. The only real threat in there is the Undead Stygian Dolls in multiplayer. In single player they are almost a joke. This was the easiest Durance clear I've ever experienced.
Bremm got killed with (surprise) Balanced Knives double thrown. The other two council members were easy too. I imagine in Nightmare they will be a lot scarier.
Mephisto was frankly the easiest out of the act bosses. He just did his poison cloud thing and his charged bolts, relatively weak attacks and I ended up with Arcanna's Deathwand. Great, a useless drop.
I had grown so accustomed to having a faithful merc that Act 4 was a big slap in the face. I drew Spawners, Venom Lords, and Doom Knights. The last two I can deal with. Spawners are almost as hard as Apparitions, because I have no area of effect attack. Wading through mobs and mobs of Flesh Dogs gets tedious. I had to make a number of Grim Wards near the Pandemonium Fortress just to gain a foothold into the Outer Steppes.
There was also a 4-pack of Balrog champs near the entrance to the Plains.
Plains of Despair featured Spawners (argh), Doom Casters, and Doom Knights. Izual took a while, but was very easy.
City of the Damned did not include Stygian Hags. I was happy. There were Abyss Knights, Pit Lords, and Corpse Spitters. An easy draw. There was a 4-pack of Pit Lord Champs near entrance from the Plains of Despair. With the Knights and Spitters I would just Taunt them, and their main attack would be nullified. =)
In the River of Flame, I got Maggots (eek), Urdars, and Knights. I used a lot of Taunt here also, on the mother maggots and the knights. I ran into a maggot boss pack, but it was so easy that I don't remember the stats on the maggot boss. It did take time to wade through the broods of maggots, but they don't do very much damage or have much life, so I was never in danger.
Hephasto proved to be simple with Frenzy/Bash. I got him cornered against the river, Frenzied a few times, and Bash Bash Bash Bash Bash. Heph got one hit in the entire time, and that was when I was Frenzying initially. I'll have to refine my form a little bit for Nightmare so that I don't get hit at all, perhaps frenzy on another monster initially, but that was great for Normal.
Right after slaying Hephasto, I managed to gamble the Hand of Broc and upgrade my two blades to a 7-37 and an 8-21 with fire damage.
I made my way to the River waypoint and decided to stop for the evening.
The next day I began at the waypoint. There were Stranglers, Pit Lords, and Maggots in this spawn. So, four out of five spawns included Flesh Spawners or Maggots. How lucky. The upper river was routine, except for a nasty Lightning Enchanted Abyss Knight. He was kinda stuck in a corner so I couldn't Taunt his minions out. I had to run past them, right into them so they would go to melee mode, take out each minion, and run back. Then I had to take out the trusty Balanced Knives and kill the knight. Nothing I could have done on Lag.Net.
Taunt doesn't work on Oblivion Knights, so what I had to do was leap past the Doom Knights that usually accompany them, take out the Oblivion, and then go for the Knights. I took it one step at a time, being careful not to awaken too many baddies at once.
The Grand Vizier was the only problem I had on the boss seals, because he and his cronies drained away all my Frenzy mana! I had to take him out with the slow normal attack. But even though he is extra strong, he really doesn't do all that much damage in normal. I took him out easily.
Even Lord De Seis wasn't hard. I ran past his minions (again, don't try this on Battle.net, my friends), assaulted the big bad Lord himself, and mopped up his buddies. The Infector was of course the easiest boss pack (Venom Lords in my opinion are ridiculously weak monsters overall for the amount of experience they give and their level. Except, of course, in the case of hot babes.) Now it was time for the showdown with the Lord of Terror himself. Diablo. I will use Battle Cry to lower his Defense so I could hit him easier.
I will go face to face with him with two daggers. His fiery breath and burning novas are no match for 2 daggers SHOVED DOWN HIS THROAT!!
After dealing with Arcane Sanctuary, I would say that Diablo was about as tough as about 15 of the specters. Not stacked, mind you. One at a time. Piece of cake. Not a very terrifying Lord of Terror.
Diablo dropped a junk pair of rare Gauntlets.
Count Kriss will enter nightmare at clvl 26 with the following items:
Amber Great Helm of Stability - Def 30, Fastest Hit Recovery, Lightning Resist 36%
Amulet of the Bat - 7% Mana Stolen per Hit
Brutal Blade of Slaughter - 7-37 damage
Savage Blade of Fire - 8-21 damage, adds 2-6 fire damage
Berserker's Hauberk - Def 92, Magic Damage Reduced by 2, +1 to Barb skills
The Hand of Broc - Def 2, 3% Life stolen per hit, 3% mana stolen per hit, +20 mana, 10% Poison Resist
Coral Ring - 29% Lightning Resist
Ruby Ring - 47% Fire Resist
Cobalt Light Belt of the Titan - Def 3, +18 Strength, 27% Cold Resist
Coral Light Plated Boots of Stability - Def 10, Fastest Hit Recovery, 26% Lightning Resist
Count Kriss will see you in Nightmare.
- DemiSquee
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