Insane Wayne
Diabloii.Net Member
Conqueror Jolt, the Elemental Necro, HC vanilla untwinked single-pass
Jolt the noobish Necro was about to begin his skill training. He considered the options typical for most necros: amplified physical damage, poison damage, magic damage, and CE. The truth was, none of those powers interested him. What he really admired were the pure elemental abilities; fire, cold, and lightning. He desperately wanted to learn skills such as Blizzard, LF, Vengeance, and Fissure. Seeking help, he begged other classes for training, but was rejected. They laughed at him, pelted him with fruit pies, etc... until he seemingly gave up.
In reality, he was more determined than ever. However, he accepted that he was limited to necro skills and item charges. His mission: complete Norm and NM (p8) in standard necro fashion, with maximized MF, while building up the appropriate skills for a Hell assault. The goal for Hell would be to maximize fire/cold/lightning damage, and minimize any physical damage. Jolt's future buddies would include skeletal mages, a fire golem, and an Iron Wolf.
Guidelines: HC, vanilla, solo, untwinked, single-pass, full clears. GoMule allowed as an extended stash. No ESC to escape death.
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Jolt reluctantly placed his first skill point in Amp Damage. Although distasteful, he knew this would be his default skill through Norm and NM, while he built up a wealth of resources. With a singular focus on MF gear, Jolt guided his Act 2 merc to score all the kills. He nailed Diablo with a Fire Shrine, a tantalizing sample of the type of elemental power he sought! Baal's drop was interesting, a Ribcracker in Normal! But Jolt had no taste for such a brutal physical weapon.
Throughout Nightmare, Jolt continued to build his MF. With armors/helms (for both him and the Might merc) filling with PTopaz, Jolt also equipped a Poor Man's Gull, and found a nice merc polearm. The fire golem was strengthening, tanking well, and scoffing at Diablo's firestorm. The mages, too, were growing in number and power. Although, at p8, the merc still scored almost all the kills, as I'd hoped.
Incredibly, Act 5 Nightmare provided a real honest-to-goodness Gull! How bizarre to find one at that stage, a little late but I'll gladly use it for now. In addition, I improved my MF rings with a couple decent rerolls (I never found any Nagels :tongue
. With the rest of my MF gear, I was scoring ~600% full-time MF for merc kills.
The number of S/Us was incredible, mostly crap (e.g. 9 Cathan's Seals), but I did find some useful stuff, and banked millions of gold for gambling. Baal's drop was wonderful: I got a nice Act 3 mage sword (which I'd often gambled for unsuccessfully). A happy end to NM! Jolt retired from the MF business, sent his Might merc packing, hired a Lightning mage, and prepared for his assault on Hell.
I tested the mages' power in the Blood Moor, with weak skeletons/Clay Golem for tanking. The first pack of quill rats was dead before the golem could settle in! Not bad! Now for a real test: a nasty zombie boss pack. Jolt hit 'em with some Lower Resist, and surprisingly the mages did a good job! Not uber, not cookie-cutter, but definitely respectable. Wow, I was really pumped up about Jolt's potential! Time to add a Fire Golem to the mix.
I've had very few problems throughout the first half of Act 1. The worst so far was the crypt/mausoleum, against all the lightning immunes. My strongest element is lightning. I recast my minions to get more fire mages, problem solved! We cleared the Underground Passage, Dark Woods, and rescued Cain (Griswold lasted about 20 seconds). Lastly, the Countess provided her customary El rune. Jolt's adventure is now fully underway!
Next post: stats/gear/skills...
Jolt the noobish Necro was about to begin his skill training. He considered the options typical for most necros: amplified physical damage, poison damage, magic damage, and CE. The truth was, none of those powers interested him. What he really admired were the pure elemental abilities; fire, cold, and lightning. He desperately wanted to learn skills such as Blizzard, LF, Vengeance, and Fissure. Seeking help, he begged other classes for training, but was rejected. They laughed at him, pelted him with fruit pies, etc... until he seemingly gave up.
In reality, he was more determined than ever. However, he accepted that he was limited to necro skills and item charges. His mission: complete Norm and NM (p8) in standard necro fashion, with maximized MF, while building up the appropriate skills for a Hell assault. The goal for Hell would be to maximize fire/cold/lightning damage, and minimize any physical damage. Jolt's future buddies would include skeletal mages, a fire golem, and an Iron Wolf.
Guidelines: HC, vanilla, solo, untwinked, single-pass, full clears. GoMule allowed as an extended stash. No ESC to escape death.
-----------------------------------
Jolt reluctantly placed his first skill point in Amp Damage. Although distasteful, he knew this would be his default skill through Norm and NM, while he built up a wealth of resources. With a singular focus on MF gear, Jolt guided his Act 2 merc to score all the kills. He nailed Diablo with a Fire Shrine, a tantalizing sample of the type of elemental power he sought! Baal's drop was interesting, a Ribcracker in Normal! But Jolt had no taste for such a brutal physical weapon.
Throughout Nightmare, Jolt continued to build his MF. With armors/helms (for both him and the Might merc) filling with PTopaz, Jolt also equipped a Poor Man's Gull, and found a nice merc polearm. The fire golem was strengthening, tanking well, and scoffing at Diablo's firestorm. The mages, too, were growing in number and power. Although, at p8, the merc still scored almost all the kills, as I'd hoped.
Incredibly, Act 5 Nightmare provided a real honest-to-goodness Gull! How bizarre to find one at that stage, a little late but I'll gladly use it for now. In addition, I improved my MF rings with a couple decent rerolls (I never found any Nagels :tongue
. With the rest of my MF gear, I was scoring ~600% full-time MF for merc kills. The number of S/Us was incredible, mostly crap (e.g. 9 Cathan's Seals), but I did find some useful stuff, and banked millions of gold for gambling. Baal's drop was wonderful: I got a nice Act 3 mage sword (which I'd often gambled for unsuccessfully). A happy end to NM! Jolt retired from the MF business, sent his Might merc packing, hired a Lightning mage, and prepared for his assault on Hell.
I tested the mages' power in the Blood Moor, with weak skeletons/Clay Golem for tanking. The first pack of quill rats was dead before the golem could settle in! Not bad! Now for a real test: a nasty zombie boss pack. Jolt hit 'em with some Lower Resist, and surprisingly the mages did a good job! Not uber, not cookie-cutter, but definitely respectable. Wow, I was really pumped up about Jolt's potential! Time to add a Fire Golem to the mix.
I've had very few problems throughout the first half of Act 1. The worst so far was the crypt/mausoleum, against all the lightning immunes. My strongest element is lightning. I recast my minions to get more fire mages, problem solved! We cleared the Underground Passage, Dark Woods, and rescued Cain (Griswold lasted about 20 seconds). Lastly, the Countess provided her customary El rune. Jolt's adventure is now fully underway!
Next post: stats/gear/skills...
