Earlier this week I gave into my D2 cravings and decided to start playing again (after not having played since March 2010). I also noticed Blizzard is doing everything in their power to make me not want D3, but that's another story.
Anyway, I fired up GoMule to assess the situation and figure out what I should do first. The main thing that jumped out at me was Ayame, a Tiger Strike/Death Sentry assassin (inspired by Nightfish's guide, which I can't find a working link to now) who was in Act 2 Hell. The main reason she caught my attention (over the M'avina's set Amazon and Ribcracker Fury Druid I was also working on) is because she was my first character created to play with two sweet toys I made not long before I stopped playing:
Code:
Fortitude
Archon Plate
ElSolDolLo
Defense: 1533
Durability: 60 of 60
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 103
Fingerprint: 0xd354b247
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
20% Chance to cast level 15 Chilling Armor when struck
+25% Faster Cast Rate
300% Enhanced Damage
+200% Enhanced Defense
+15 Defense
+81 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Replenish Life +7
+5% to Maximum Lightning Resist
All Resistances +28
Damage Reduced by 7
12% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
+1 to Light Radius 4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: El Rune
Socketed: Sol Rune
Socketed: Dol Rune
Socketed: Lo Rune
Death
Berserker Axe
HelElVexOrtGul
One Hand Damage: 160 - 471
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Level: 64
Required Strength: 103
Required Dexterity: 40
Fingerprint: 0xf63226d9
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
100% Chance to cast level 44 Chain Lightning when you Die
25% Chance to cast level 18 Glacial Spike on attack
Indestructible
345% Enhanced Damage
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
+50 to Attack Rating
Adds 1 - 50 Lightning Damage
7% Mana stolen per hit
50% Chance of Crushing Blow
40% Deadly Strike (Based on Character Level)
+1 to Light Radius
Level 22 Blood Golem (15/15 Charges)
Requirements -20% Ethereal
5 Sockets (5 used)
Socketed: Hel Rune
Socketed: El Rune
Socketed: Vex Rune
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Gul Rune
Finally, I got to play through with a melee character with armor better than 'Duress'. That, along with an eth 'Death' zerker on a character that can overcome (IMO) its one flaw (lack of WIAS)? Yeah--let's do this.
The build:
Tiger Strike: 20/22
Lightning Sentry: 16/20
Death Sentry: 20/22
Burst of Speed: 8/10
Shadow Master: 19/21
Cloak of Shadows: 1/3
Cobra Strike: 1/3
If I were continuing to level Ayame, I'd finishing maxxing Shadow Master first and then Lightning Sentry.
The strategy is simple: Lay down some DSes, whack stuff with TS and unleash TS charges with a regular attack. Burst of Speed is always active and a Shadow Master is always summoned. More gameplay thoughts further below.
Gear:
Looking at how I had Ayame geared, it was clear to my current self that my past self saw the CB and DS on 'Death' and figured "hey, why not go for 100% for both?"
Weapon: 'Death' eth Berserker Axe (50% CB, 40% DS at lvl 81)
Shield: Moser's with 2 pdiamonds
Helm: Guillame's Face (35% CB, 15% DS)
Armor: 'Fortitude' Archon Plate
Gloves: Laying of Hands
Boots: Gore Rider (15% CB, 15% DS)
Belt: String of Ears
Amulet: Highlord's Wrath (30% DS at lvl 81)
Rings: BKWB and Raven Frost
Charms: Mostly address AR and resists, with 2 Traps skillers
The Blessed Aim Merc used an eth 'Obedience' Thresher, Vamp Gaze, and 'Duress'.
I'm pretty sure Ayame is my first character with 100% CB and DS.
Some Stats:
Level: 81
Strength: 103/123
Dexterity: 169/189
Vitality: 203/203
Energy: 25/25
HP: 819/977
Mana: 145/185
Resists: 75/57/80/57
Shield blocking: 75%
8 fpa attack speed (with Burst of Speed and 40% IAS)
With Blessed Aim from Merc and Enchant from Demon Limb:
Tiger Strike: 11844 AR, 941-2701 damage.
Regular attack with fully charged TS: 3437-10k damage.
That's before accounting for 100% DS and CB, of course.
Some Thoughts:
Ayame was fun to play. I think I may have matted her without dying--I can't remember if she had any deaths last year, but there were no deaths after I picked up in early A2 Hell this week. Burst of Speed let her run like the wind and allowed her (with reasonable IAS) to swing her 'Death' at 8fpa (the fastest an assassin can swing a berserker axe). Her equipment allowed her to do decent physical damage even while charging up TS, and of course DS is sweet.
I originally used 2 Bartuc's on switch for the +skills when summoning the Shadow Master, casting Burst of Speed, and laying traps. That was nice in theory, but I had two problems:
1) Her AR was terrible, especially when using regular attack to release TS charges. I used a BA merc instead of a Might merc specifically to help with that, but a) I still missed more than I'd like, and b) the BA aura wasn't dependable because, especially while running around with BoS active, the merc liked to stay behind in a corner picking his nose while I fought.
2) I really, really hate weapon-switching under duress. The problem is that it won't do the switch if you hit the key while you're in another animation (casting animation, hit recovery, etc.). If I tried to play quickly (which is where this character really shines), I'd find myself inadvertantly in melee with Bartuc's (without the blocking and resists from Moser's) and taking tons of damage. If I was careful about making sure the swap happened, after every time I laid traps, it slowed me down and was simply not fun.
I solved these problems by putting away the Bartuc's and using Demon Limb (Hel'd to reduce the strength requirement) on switch instead. My basic approach to combat: See pack, use CoS if they're dangerous, drop 2-4 traps, then start mowing the enemies down in melee; watch the monsters melt like butter once there's a corpse or two for the traps to start blowing up, and throw in more traps to keep it going if there are more packs coming.
The Ancients weren't difficult, but they were a bit of a speed-bump. The first one dropped quickly, but the other two were stone-skinned and I had to whittle them down more slowly. They didn't hurt me too much, though. Lister spawned as PI and his pack slaughtered my merc right away, so I had to take him down slowly with traps while occasionally recasting my SM (which tanked him much better than I would have expected). Baal (thanks to my usual abuse of Kelpie Snare) dropped quickly without incident.
All in all, it was a fun return to Diablo.
I look forward to having 'Fortitude' available for my physical damage characters, and I'd like to play some more with the 'Death' zerker too.The question is, what other builds can make good use of 'Death'? A Fanazealot seems like a clear choice (4fpa zeal would be possible with 60% IAS), but after that I'm not sure. The lack of WIAS hurts it for things like Druids and WW Barbs. I'm open to suggestions.|||Nice character. It's always fun trying to recall what you were thinking when you go back to a character you haven't played in a while.|||There was a recent pat thread with a vengeance pally and a berzerker barb using the same death, I'd definitely check it out for some inspiration. Really sweet mat, abusing tiger strike and death isn't something you see very often!|||Great job!
Having good damage numbers doubled by 100% CS is nice indeed ~_^
clicky click!
Quote:
There was a recent pat thread with a vengeance pally and a berzerker barb|||Thanks for the responses, guys!
And thanks for the link, Vulpine. I'll take a look at your pats.
|||It's good to see the old fishysin coming out of mothballs. It really is a fun build with a lot of room for customization (personally I used a 'crescent moon' cryptic axe with synergized charge 2 of phoenix strike).As for uses for a 'death' BA, I think maarek (sp?) used one on his frenzied zealbarb. Another case where the lack of on-weapon IAS isn't an issue.|||Masterfully done hero! A very cool char for a return to D2.|||A fun fact I forgot to mention: From NM Hellforge, Ayame got a Fal. And from Hell HF... another Fal.
A funner fact: While playing Ayame through Hell Chaos Sanctuary, I was cautious around the OKs, worried about being iron maidened. I was just now reminded that iron maiden was removed from the OKs in 1.13 (which I've been using the since the beta).
Well, that explains why I was so lucky in avoiding the curse..|||Grats on the Mat!A cool character, for sure. I find the fact that Normal attack is the only available non-kick finishing move for non-claw weapons very frustrating. Nicely done with getting a decent AR there.
As far as I remember, 'Death' shines on
- off-hand frenzy
- justiciar (vengeance + fanaticism)
- Blade Fury assassin
In fairness, Vengeance and BF aside (the two skills which do not work with +Damage mod), nothing will beat 'Grief', but 'Death' can come close in those rare situations when WIAS is not necessary.
Grats!
--Greebo|||Quote:
Grats on the Mat!
A cool character, for sure. I find the fact that Normal attack is the only available non-kick finishing move for non-claw weapons very frustrating. Nicely done with getting a decent AR there.
I think there were two main things that helped me deal with the frustration of normal attack: 1) Ayame could bring down monsters decently fast just by TS'ing even without releasing the charges, and 2) after the first couple kills, DS took over as the primary source of damage anyway. Releasing TS charges for the big damage spike mainly came into play against bosses and other particularly durable targets.
Still, the low AR on regular attack bothered me enough to be one of the reasons I switched out the dual Bartuc's for the old reliable Demon Limb on switch. I'm so used to using that as my AR crutch that I'm having trouble motivating myself to use my Ohm on making CtA.
Quote:
As far as I remember, 'Death' shines on
- off-hand frenzy
- justiciar (vengeance + fanaticism)
- Blade Fury assassin
In fairness, Vengeance and BF aside (the two skills which do not work with +Damage mod), nothing will beat 'Grief', but 'Death' can come close in those rare situations when WIAS is not necessary.
Good ideas. I'll likely do an Oath+Death Frenzier at some point, and a Justiciar further down the line (I just finished the Fanazealot last week--probably my easiest Pat ever). I'm intrigued by Blade Fury and am pondering doing a BF build based on BF+Venom with slow target % equipment just for fun. For that one, I'm having trouble deciding between using the 'Death' or hitting up the trade forum for an eth Fleshripper.
As for Grief, I'm looking forward to making one. If I don't find the Lo by the time I finish my Death builds and a few other characters I'm working on, I'll probably just cube up to it.
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