I don't play much these days: this sept was started almost a year ago. So I may not remember all details of each character. Still, I'll try to give complete info on the gameplay of each char (won't be too hard, considering the builds, hehe).
Originally the idea was to make use of IK set on various classes and see what numbers can be squeezed out of it. But I found a 'Beast' war spike (it has been collecting dust in my stash for a thousand millions years). Back then, when I was making this runeword, I tried to find the balance between speed and damage and finally wasted a Ber (War Spike... FAIL, I guess?). Still, a Beast WS can be used for Werebear Skill. And after a little time here they are - Seven Immortal Bears.
The rules are simple:
- no respec.
- hell Nihlathak is to be killed and Personalization quest reward must be used.
- all runes are to be collected.
- hardcore.
1. Guardian Gaki, the Kodiak.
Rainbow damage on the IK Maul is high enough to build a character around it. Yet 2.6k damage at 6fpa proved to be less efficient than I expected (even with 75% CB), so I was a bit disappointed with the build.
But, truth be said, Gaki was a very viable character. He wasn't a super fast killer, but with ~200 dual leech, 10k def and 2.8k life he could tank pretty much anything (and don't forget about the shockwave!). An easy character, more safe then strong.
Player settings:
Normal - 8
NM - 8
Hell - 3 (Chaos Sanctuary - 1, as it took forever to kill things and Nihlathak - 1, cause he's evil and scary)
Skills:
maxed Werebear, Lycantrophy, Hunger and HoW. Rest went to Shockwave.
Equipment:
Gaki's IK Maul [shael shael]
IK boots, belt, armour, gloves
Guillaume's face
Raven Frost
Mara's Kaleidoscope
Plague Finger Crafted Ring
Required Level: 70
Fingerprint: 0x963d082
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+116 to Attack Rating
2% Life stolen per hit
+5 to Strength
+34 to Life
All Resistances +11
+1 to Mana after each Kill
A bunch of various charms (resistances, a bit of life and lit damage)
Mercenary - Defiance:
Crown of Thieves
Duress Dusk Shroud
Reaper's Toll
Random Screenies:
1 2 3
2. Guardian Gilgamesh, the Bearbarian.
I've always wondered why nobody makes bear-barbs. Wolf and Bear wereforms have some differences but pros and cons of each one make the forms pretty much equally usable and playable. And besides, Beast requires lvl 63, while Wolfhowl collects dust untill you hit 79 (yeah I know, with the newly introduced respec feature bla bla bla yadda yadda yadda. Still haven't got used to it).
On to the topic. Gilgamesh is a tank. A tank? - no. A TANK - that's how this must be typed. Just look at LCS - there's nothing much more to add. I went through hell easier than a hot knife through butter. Nothing can kill this beast - I simply ignored Nihlathak's CE. Probably my favourite character in the sept - no words can describe the euphory I felt when I was playing this char.
Player settings:
Normal - 8
NM - 8
Hell - 5
Skills:
maxed Mastery, Iron Skin, BO and Shout; got usual one-pointers - BC, Inc. Speed and Leap. The rest was split between Find Item and Natiral Resistances.
Equipment:
Gilgamesh's IK Maul [shael shael]
IK boots, belt, armour [Perfect Ruby], gloves, helmet [2xPerfect Ruby]
Raven Frost
Highlord's Wrath
BKWB
A bunch of various charms (+life and + AR mostly)
Mercenary - Might:
Andariels's Trollface
Naj's armour
Reaper's Toll
Random Screenies:
1 2 3
3. Guardian Ngonyama, the Half-Avenger.
The build name is quite awkward, but I'm fairly bad at finding good words in appropriate situations. This paladin used Conviction Aura to make elemental damage from IK Maul more effective, hense the build title.
With this char (as well as with all chars except Gaki) I encountered a frustrating problem - Beast requires lvl 63. Untill 63 you have only your normal weakling human form. I took Kuko and other equipment with +fire damage and repeated normal Baalruns till I got 63 (took a couple hours and was really, really boring).
From that moment the game was a breeze: I didn't have to care about my Attack Rating and emenies' resistances and immunities. Councils? Pff. Chaos Sanctuary? It's a Kindergarten since Blizzard removed Iron Maiden. Ancients? No problem. Nilly? Ha! Maxed redemption left no corpses to explode, so he wasn't hard at all.
There's really nothing to add on the gameplay, everything should be pretty clear.
Generally, without shield this kind of palas shows a good balance between defence and offence. He is strong and rather tanky due to WB health bonus and +3 life per vita for being a badass paladin.
Player settings:
Normal - 8
NM - 8
Hell - 3
Skills:
maxed Conviction, Redemption and Blessed Aim; rest went to Vigor.
Equipment:
Ngonyama's IK Maul [shael shael]
IK boots, belt, armour [Rusty jewel of Fervor], gloves
Guillaume's face [Argent jewel of Burning]
Raven Frost
Mara's Kaleidoscope
BKWB
A bunch of various charms (lightning damage mostly)
Mercenary - Defiance:
Rockstopper
Duress Dusk Shroud
Reaper's Toll
Random Screenies:
1 2 3
4. Guardian Ghana_II, the Lichlord.
This one was more tricky than previous chars. Well, look at the name - Ghana was killed in Nightmare (in the midst of a huge pack of his own minions - I seem to show some mad skills here <_<), So I had to start over.
At pre-63 levels I used Magi as main source of damage and supported them with Maelstrom's CE (the same tactics was used against Hell Nilly).
At post-63 levels the game welt like this:
1). Transform into a bear so that sudden arrow or electric bolt wouldn't kill you.
2). Find a pack of monsters and wait till they are interested in you minionpack.
3). Shift back to human form and cast LR all over the place.
4). Shift into a bear and go kill some creatures.
5). ...
6). PROFIT!
That was hard to get used to, but turned out to be really entertaining. (Especially when I learned that Town Portal is a great way to gather or reposition the army of minions). This char was quite a refreshening change from 1-button barbarian and paladin.
Somewhere at A2 Hell I found a good place for my unspent skill-points - Golem Mastery. I made Iron Golems from various items with massive elemental damage (Gimmershreds or Voice of Reason for additional fireworks). They were pretty hardskinned, but indescribably dumb: I've lost several cause they got lost somewhere far behind me.
A fun character. Moderate damage, and quite fragile - but there are lot's of backs to hide behind.
Player settings:
Normal - 8
NM - 8
Hell - 3
Skills:
maxed Skeleton Magi, Skeleton Mastery, Golem mastery, Lower Resist; put 1 pointo into Revive and threw the rest into Summon Resist.
Equipment:
Ghana_II's IK Maul [shael shael]
IK boots, belt, armour [Rusty jewel of Fervor], gloves
Eagle Shell Circlet [Perfect Diamond]
Defense: 53
Durability: 35 of 35
Required Level: 35
Fingerprint: 0x9ee331cd
Item Level: 82
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Summoning Skills (Necromancer Only)
82% Bonus to Attack Rating (Based on Character Level)
+100 to Attack Rating
+72% Enhanced Defense
+14 to Dexterity
+7 to Life
Raven Frost
Mara's Kaleidoscope
Plague Finger crafted ring
A bunch of various charms (+res and +AR; 4 Summonning Skillers).
Mercenary - Blessed Aim:
Stealskull
Duress Dusk Shroud
eth Obedience Cryptic Axe
Random Screenies:
1 2 3
5. Guardian Ursula, the Fuzzydodger.
This is my least favourite char from the sept. Gave me nothing but boredom and irritation. She's quite primitive (no prebuffing except for the Werebear OSkill, no support skills).
Nevertheless, an IK fuzzydodger is quite playable (even though you have no ways of damage amplification but merc's aura and Critical Strike). Good life pool and dodge skills kept this char safe and alive (Strong Valkyrie Helped a lot, too), so I eventually killed Nilly and Baal.
Perhaps I'll like Fuzzydodgers more when I make one with appropriate equipment like godly rare fanged knife and Forti.
Player settings:
Normal - 8
NM - 8
Hell - 3 (Nilly - 1)
Skills:
maxed Critical Strike, Penetrate (BTW, why the hell is this skill called 'Penetrate'? How on the Earth am I supposed to Penetrate with a huge Maul? [dirty dirty thoughts, dirty dirty imagination]), Valkyrie. Dodge/Evade/Avoid - 11/6/12. Rest went to Decoy.
Equipment:
Ursula's IK Maul [shael shael]
IK boots, belt, armour [Rusty jewel of Fervor], gloves
Guillaume's face [Realgar jewel]
Raven Frost
Angelic Amulet
Angelic Ring
A bunch of various charms (AR and +max damage mostly)
Mercenary - Might:
Guillaume's Face
Leviathan
Reaper's Toll
Random Screenies:
1 2
6. Guardian Buakaw, the Ursa Minor.
This sin was played as a trapper till lvl 63 (lvl 1 Lightning Sentry buffed up with +skills gear gave enough damage to roast most early NM monsters).
For this character I made a small exception - the Maul was replaced with Firelizard's Talon. Reasons - IK Maul is a clumsy, weak, slow and generally useless weapon for a bear sin.
This guardian was nice. Shaeled Firelizard's Talod provided nice overall damage and good attack speed - 5fpa.
Large crowds were not a problem - Cloak of shadows and Death Sentry provided great assistance along the journey through Hell difficulty. There are two things putting me to frustration in this char though:
1). Shadow constantly casting Mind Blast. Sometimes it's useful, and sometimes monsters almost killed by you are converted.
A note on a side: converted Flayer Shamans resurrect hostile Flayers.
2). Transparent bear is transparent. Sometimes it was hard to find Buakaw in the screen.
...I wish I'll shop a 3fpa Claw someday. Anyway, a pretty entertaining character.
Player settings:
Normal - 8
NM - 8
Hell - 3 (Nilly - 1)
Skills:
maxed Claw Mastery, Venom, Fade and Shadow Master; rest went to Death Sentry.
Equipment:
Firelizard's Talon [shael]
IK boots, belt, armour [Rusty jewel of Fervor]
Buakaw's IK gloves
Guillaume's face [Realgar jewel]
Raven Frost
Highlord's Wrath
Plague Finger crafted ring
A bunch of various charms (AR and +max damage mostly)
Mercenary - Might:
Crown of Thieves
Durex Kraken Shell
Reaper's Toll
Random Screenies:
1 2 3
7. Guardian Athena, the Enchantress.
All right, this one was really quick. God bless teleport, in nomine patris, et filii, at spiritus sancti, amen. Starting from lvl 18 and till Hell I just teleported thru the game and stopped only to do quest related stuff.
And, as any self respecting enchantress, I had to use a set of prebuff gear to maximize damage output.
When I finally managed to take all pieces of equipment together, I thpught that IK set is a sorc set, not a barb's one. Srsly, what barbarian can deal 10k-17k per hit with IK set??
The mobility and power were easily balanced with fragility of the character, so I had to play really carefully (barb was obviously easier).
Hell was beaten at p5 in no time, however. Nilly was killed at p3. First I wanted to use Corpsemourn for CE charges, but then I thought that accurate and careful repositioning via Teleport would be enough to do the job (and I appeared to be right).
Melee sorcs rock, and they always will.
Player settings:
Normal - 8
NM - 8
Hell - 3 (Nilly - 1)
Skills:
maxed Enchant, Warmth, FIre Mastery and Lightning Mastery. One-pointers are Static Field, Teleport and Cold Mastery. Rest went to Freezing Armour.
Equipment:
Athena's IK Maul [shael shael]
IK boots, belt, armour [Rusty jewel of Fervor], gloves
Harlequin's Crest [Perfect Diamond]
Raven Frost
Mara's Kaleidoscope
Plague Finger crafted ring
A bunch of various charms (AR and lightning damage mostly; 2 Fire Skillers)
Prebuff gear (stored in stash):
Volcanic Coronet of something
Volcanic Amulet of something else
SoJ, BKWB, Arachnid
Magefists
Occy
Enlightenment Ring Mail
Mercenary - Might:
Crown of Thieves
Leviathan
Reaper's Toll
Random Screenies:
1 2 3
Good Finds:
All goodies found by sept chars were stored into special stash. By the way, I collected every single rune I saw and I'll list them separately.
Runes:
Code:
13 El Rune
11 Eld Rune
27 Tir Rune
19 Nef Rune
39 Eth Rune
27 Ith Rune
56 Tal Rune
33 Ral Rune
31 Ort Rune
22 Thul Rune
24 Amn Rune
21 Sol Rune
15 Shael Rune
13 Dol Rune
8 Hel Rune
10 Io Rune
5 Lum Rune
3 Ko Rune
3 Fal Rune
3 Lem Rune
4 Pul Rune
2 Um Rune
2 Ist Rune
1 Gul Rune
2 Lo Rune
1 Ber Rune
Items (only notable ones are listed):
Code:
Gladiator's Bane
Wizardspike
Witchwild String
Bonehew
Djinn Slayer
Lightsabre
Bloodmoon
Maelstrom
Cat's Eye
Dwarf Star
Wolfhowl x2
Herald of Zakarum x2
Gheed's Fortune
Mavina's Caster GMB
Plain Lightning Skiller
Sharp Grand Charm of Dexterity
If you are still reading this wall of text (dammit... I wanted to be brief), thank you for your attention.
P.S.
Another note on a side.
Inner Cloister location has an image of Bayeux Tapestry on a wall:
1 2 3
P.P.S. Sorry for all typos and mistakes.|||Nicely done, congratulations! And well-written up. There are a lot of nice techniques in there.
I kind of like translucent bears, usually via Treachery.
I had a nice experience with an IK fireclaws bear ImmolateKing during a period when I tried a bunch of bear builds, although I never tried the Hunger route. Beast is very attractive to me and I have a bunch of gear meant for eventual bear builds but I still haven't made Beast yet.|||*applauds*
Nice idea on the sept and it only taking a year gives me hope for mine. I noticed the Bayeux tapestry thing a couple of days ago; D2 is awesome for all the little details, and still spotting new ones is great in such an old game.|||TLDR.
only 7? nub.
i mean um...here have a beverage *beverages* grats on the bearsept. i love it. as my love for bears is well known i find it awesome|||A HC sept? Sweet. Grats! Also, a Ber from questing is a freakin cool find. No respecs, too.
Well done!
--Greebo|||Bayeux Tapestry was a very good detail. Well done, sir! Nice freaking rune finds.|||Congrats on the sept, Bear+LR must have been too easy
Nice find tapestry by the way, it seems even after all these years, every third time I open a thread, I learn something new :o I'll look it up if I pass those parts again ^^|||Awesome job on the write up, and an even better job on the sept. Why out of all possible routes, and combinations, did you choose an IK sept? Also one question in the write up for your sorc you say "Hell was beaten at p5 in no time, however. Nilly was killed at p3." Yet the player settings you typed in the write up say p3 for hell and p1 for nilly?
Nice job noticing the visual details also, I've always held a special place in my heart for DII details most people don't notice.|||coulda sworn i posted in this thread.... anyway. congrats on the HC sept. i did have one question though, how come you broke ranks as it were with a different sin weapon but then complained about the zon?
not a true sept till they all use the same stuff
|||Quote:Awesome job on the write up, and an even better job on the sept. Why out of all possible routes, and combinations, did you choose an IK sept? Also one question in the write up for your sorc you say "Hell was beaten at p5 in no time, however. Nilly was killed at p3." Yet the player settings you typed in the write up say p3 for hell and p1 for nilly?
Nice job noticing the visual details also, I've always held a special place in my heart for DII details most people don't notice.
I had IK set and Beast, so why not?
The player settings section has a typo. 6 of 7 player setting sections were mave via ctrl+c, ctrl+v, then some edit, and I'm kind of inattentive.
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coulda sworn i posted in this thread.... anyway. congrats on the HC sept. i did have one question though, how come you broke ranks as it were with a different sin weapon but then complained about the zon?
You see, an IK maul is just a very inconvinient weapon for a bearsin. All other chars in the sept have something to like in the IK set (elemental damage, badass aura, etc). An assasin doesn't get anything good from IK weapon: she does not need rainbow damage, she cannot increase her attack rating and phys damage, the attack speed also sucks. So I thought that an exception was a good idea.
While amazon here does not have any particular preferences. Damage dealt and attack rating is increased for any weapon, including IK maul. I'm not complaining about her performance, I'm complaining about the build and character itself.
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I never tried the Hunger route.
In retrospect, I think I should have made a mauler or a FC bear, but basically they are pretty item independent, while Kodiak relies heavily on the elemental damage from IK maul - and I initially wanted a char built arount these particular items.
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Nice find tapestry by the way
Indeed
Any other findings of this kind?
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Nicely done, congratulations!
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*applauds*
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grats on the bearsept. i love it.
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Sweet. Grats!
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Nice freaking rune finds.
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Congrats on the sept
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Awesome job
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congrats on the HC sept
Thanks guys
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not a true sept till they all use the same stuff
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only 7? nub.
this
|||Nicely done! Points out what matters and it all fits on one page. 
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