Let me introduce me and my first Patriarch

[Purzel]

Let me introduce me and my first Patriarch

So finally I made it. After years of playing D2 and LOD I defeated Hell Baal and his lesser evils and got my first Patriarch. Don't expect sensational builds now, it was just a simple Hammerdin and this is probably the only reason, I made it at last.

If you are looking for the How-I-made-it-facts, you can jump to the next post in this thread without losing any related information. But I'm going to bore you with some unimportant details of my playing history first.

Well to be honest, I'm not a real "Single Player" because I always played Battle.net. But on the other hand, I always played alone, never partied, never cheated and never traded a single item. The only reason I choosed the Battle.net-playground was to prevent myself from cheating using charcter editors (as you might guess, patience is not one of my strenghts).
Most of my 1.10 information (and inspiration) I got from this Single-Player-Forum and I always enjoyed this friendly and not-so-char-oriented community. So when I decided to share my success and build information (which should at least prove, that you can beat the game without any uber-equiment and extraordinary playing skills) there was only one place that came to my mind. This one.

I started playing years ago on US East and my "best" 1.09-builds were a Fury-WW-Druid and a Skelliemancer. Both of them got to hell and ended up at around level 75 fighting the ancients. My Tri-Ele-Sorc and my Zeal-Pally didn't even managed to clear arreat summit on nightmare. As you can imagine, over time I developed a severe Ancient Phobia.

Then 1.10 came out, and I decided to change servers (Europe, because some of my friends were playing there, and you never know ... ) and to start new (Ladder-)Chars to have a chance to get every possible item and use every available cube recipe if needed.

While looking for viable builds, I ran into Nightfishs Strafezon Guide, and it was mainly his convincing way of writing, which made my follow his guide, and I really enjoyed playing that girl. As Nighfish said, you only need some leech, knockback and a good bow to beat hell.
He's probably right.
Unfortunately, I'm still searching for the good bow. The best I found was a Riphook and this was at a time, I already tried to run hell pit . So I parked her at level 76 and looked for some other challenge.

Fortunately, Nightfish provided us that time with another great guide, and remembering my Skelliemancer-history it didn't need much to get me going. It was even more fun, and it was really easy and relaxed playing (I still have 150 skillpoints unassigned, because I can't decide if I should go max block or max life). Reading and believing that maxed CE is optional, I decided to go for maxed mages instead because I like real big armys
The first real problems came in Hell frozen river and while fighting PI-Moon-Lord-Packs (which reordered the bones of my skellies quite fast) in the Act 5 underground passages. And just then my Ancient Phobia kicked in, and I decided to rest again (Level 82) and find some sweet items first.

Guess what: There was a MF-Sorc-Guide right here, provided by Lord Vega and a similar (and even more complete) Meteorb-Guide by Sasja ... and with three pairs of Magefists and the same amount of visceratuants already found it was a matter of seconds to start a Fire/Ice-Sorc. It was as much fun as the two chars I startet before but ... well just before finishing Act III Hell (Lvl 79) I found Guardian Angel and decided to try another build ...

To make it short: I startet a Blade-Fury-Assasin (69, Hell Act I) which now has to decide to max Claw Mastery or chose the Crescent-Moon-Berserker-Axe-Way (if I ever happen to find one), I started a Conc-Barb (44, NM A.III) and a Wind Druid (17, Norm, A.II).

And I started a Hammerdin - and I got him to Pat yesterday. If you want to know how, read on ...

 

[Purzel]

So here he is:

Patriarch Geierpally, Hammerdin, Lvl 81

Stats (without items):
Str: 118 (enough to wear Guardian Angel)
Dex: 130 (enough for max block with Holy Shield)
Live: 232 (all the rest)
Nrg: Base

Skills:
Blessed Hammer 20
Vigor 20
Blessed Aim 20
Conc. 20
Redemption: 1
Prereqs: 7x1
Holy Shield: 4 (rest)

+Skills: 1 (from Guardian Angel)

Resists:
Fire 90
Cold 90
Lightning 89
Poison 90

"Godly" Equipment:
Guardian Angel
Wizardspike
2-socket-Kurast Shield (+25 res) with Rhyme

To reach 90 Resists in hell, you need 190 in total. Wizardspike and my Rhymed Kurast together give 125 res. all. 3x10 more come from Anya Quests. So there are just 35 missing.

Other "needed" Equipment:
Prism Amu: 19 to Fire, Cold and Lightning, 56 to Poison (+21 MF)
2 Rare Rings to get the missing 16 to Fire, Cold and Lightning, one of which has 10 Faster Cast

Things to play with:
Helm
Gloves
Belt
Boots

So I entered hell with 3PT Crown, Chance Guards, upgraded Goldwrap and rare Boots with 23 MF (and some Resists to help out until 3rd Anya Quests).

In Act III Flayer Jungle I changed Chance Guards to Magefists for the 20 FC to reach 75 FC breakpoint (I thought that would help to mow down those little guys and yes there was a noticeable difference)

After getting 10 more resists for rescueing Anya, I exchanged the rare boots for Aldurs because I thought, 40 FRW, some more life and 10% damage to mana would help while facing the ultimate challenges.

btw: I'm still wearing the 3PT Crown and Goldwrap, so there is still room for improvement if needed.

My charms are mostly grand +Mana (~300 in total) and small +Life (~100 in total). With their help Mana is over 600, Life over 1000.

My merc was an Act II norm Defiance. After playing the Holy Freeze with two or three other chars, I wanted this one to be real tough and I did not regret it for a single second.

He wears Tal Rashas Mask for the 15% resists and 10% LL
Until Hell, he was equipped with Hwanins Bill and Silks of the Victor. Then I found a rare Boneweave with 860 Def and enough resists to fire and lightning to max them. And then I found a 5 socketed etheral Mancatcher and I made the incredible cheap Honor Runeword (Amn El Ith Tir Sol). With Conc Aura he does 1500-2800 damage, his defence is around 7800.

Pallys Blessed Hammers do 3841 to 3917 damage, his defence is 1151, 4028 with mercs Def Aura and 5352 with additional Holy Shield.

 

[Purzel]

How Pally made it:

Easy. At least most of the time. The only Act Boss, he died to was Duriel on normal (if I remember right). With Blessed Hammers (which I played for the first time of my life!) the rest of Normal and NM was a joke. He really owns all open areas and he's really suffering in the Maggot Lair. But even this place was doable with patience, because monsters come one at a time. I managed even in Hell to get some hammers off and kill a beetle once in a while.

Monsters that cause trouble are Dolls and those charging Pindle Pack and their relatives. They run so fast, the hammers don't stop them. And ranged attackers of course. I died mostly to multishot Archers and Quill Rats

So the only thing to talk about is hell. Well, he can kill everything (with the exception of this beast in Act III Temples which I skipped). Pally died several times to my impatience and my manner to run into Boss Packs and release hammers right in their middle.

Pally killed Andy and Duriel and I don't even remember the fights. He killed Mephi and it seemed to me easier as Mephi NM, I almost startet laughing seeing his lifebar drop unbelievable fast. Mephi dropped Gladiators Bane

Anything to add? Oh yes ... the council ... Im going to run them. With 90 res to fire, I simply don't care about their hydras (just have to watch my merc a bit). And they dropped Ormus Robes

So, who's next? Diablo. Same story. I stood in front of him, released hammers and his lifebar went down constantly. None of his attacks caused trouble. One row of potions was more than enough to keep me alive. He died and dropped yellow Crap
The three Boss Packs died quite quickly. I too died once, because I ran to enthusiastic into De Seis and his Knights. But I could have avoided that with a little bit more patience

So finally we entered Act V. It was a perfect day: No Moon Lords all the way to the Throne Room. Pally cleared most of the areas easy but avoided Nilhataks Temple and the Bonus Caves to speed things up. And then it was time to overcome my Phobia ...

Strategie was quite clear: Touch the altar and then run straight down to a V-shaped edge of the Summit. So all of them would be above me, which make it easy to hit them with my hammers. And whats more: Talic, the Whirlwind-Guy can't hurt me.

It worked almost perfect. My merc engaged them a little bit to early so I had to leave that save spot to help him out. So I got hit once by a whirlwind. That turned my life down a lot, but my belt was filled with fat purples ...

Talic died first, and then I ran up to Madawc to kill him Toe-to-toe, Meanwhile my merc engaged Korlic ...
I used two rows of potions and I had luck again. The two remaining Ancients were lined up so perfect, I hit them both with every hammer. The whole fight was over in 30 seconds. And so was my Phobia *g*

Continuing to Wordstone Keep, I had to be cautious and retreat from time to time. On my way I found Windhammer and Mavinas Bow
Unfortunately, the Honor Runeword turned my merc dead the moment he was cursed with IM. But at last and many resurrections later we entered the Throne Room.

Time to laugh again:
All waves of minions were born into a field of flying hammers and died within seconds. All but Lister. He was somewhat harder and seeing my merc die caused me to retreat all the way to the entrance. Then I advanced more slowly, killed the minions and Lister one by one and finally it was time to visit Baal.

Ok, it was the longest fight in my Pallys career but for sure not the hardest one. He never was in slightest danger to die. It was annoying to get pushed back by his Cold Wave and beeing out of Mana many times. But over time Baals lifebar came down. When he was half the way he spawned his twin but it was time to return to town to refill the belt anyway and when Pally and his merc returned, the Twin was gone.
Well, thats it. Baal died, dropped Sigons Gloves and Deaths Sword (Hooray) and I got my first Patriarch.

Thank you for your patience ... if anyone's still reading *g*

 

[DevontheGnomey]

hey awesome! grats on pat and welcome to the forums as a poster =-P

looks like a pretty good character given all you had to work with, awesome.


with so thurough a post i don't have any questions for you except..


whats next?

 

[Purzel]

Well, I have still six builds to finish ...

and my Pally found etheral Titans in Hell Act I, so I think, it's time to start my first Javazon

 

[Kaysaar]

Welcome to the SPF! :howdy:

Great writing on your pat too :clap:

 

[Zertuals_Ovrlrd]

Congrats on the pat, and great write up!

You seem very proud of him :thumbsup:

I hope you can pat/mat all your other chars! It should be easier now with a great MF'er like a hammerdin.

I know what you mean about b.net. I played solo all the time, and then it hit me... why not play SP? I pretty much am now anyway. Then I learned about ATMA and playersX from this forum and SP had me hook line and sinker :lol:

Z_O

 

[N'thraXX]

Impressive (I read it all)! :worship:
And now I'm forced to make a Hammerdin too. And I thank you!

I can't even remember how I beated Hell Ancients with my Sorc and Javazon, without a merc. Exactly I never use a merc, but I guess it's time to start.

 

[Slartibartfast]

Gratz on your first pat then :thumbsup: and it was a nice read, (yes i read it all^^ )
About the reason for playing bnet, it's a good one and i admit that in the beginning the temptation to use editors was quite big But the game grows soooo boring very fast if u use them (i did use them even before coming to bnet, just after LOD came out, grew bored, deleted all and went to bnet, grew bored, started SP again ), that kept me motivated not to use them, that and ATMA

cheers and welcome
Bart

 

[zelfmoordis]

Gratz on your first pat, I love the detailed posts!!!

Welcome and keep it up!

:wave:

 

[HBeachBabe]

I certainly recognize the temptation to use an editor. in 1.09 I did just because it irked me that in SP there was no way to transfer the Bonesnap my amazon found over to my druid and the possibility of finding let alone storing a complete set of any sort seemed impossible. However, with 1.10 and this community, I have deleted all traces of 1.09 characters that went through an editor. As far as removing the temptation, in 1.10 it's easy- there are no editors to tempt you.

regardless, welcome to the SPF :howdy:

 

[Araknis]

WOW! That's gotta be the most complete intro and pat post EVER! Awesome dude!

:howdy: G'day mate and welcome to the SPF. There's always been a lack of editors for Macs, so cheating basically isn't an option for me anyway. Props to you dude for playing B.Net to avoid the temptation. Once you get used to it, and after doing plenty of MF runs, you don't need to cheat anyway. The only thing that bothers me is starting new chars, I really hate those low levels and lack of skills.

Bah, enough of that, drop by the EMB for a drink :drink:

 

[LprMan]

:wave:

Welcome to SPF!

And of course, congrats on your first Pat ever! :thumbsup:

 

[Crazy Runner Guy]

Congrats on the Pat and the VERY detailed post!

crg

 

[Purzel]

Thank you for your warm welcome and for reading.

Regarding the temptation to cheat - this was an issue only in the very beginning. After months playing I learned, that the only reward, this game can give to you is to achieve things by yourself. And to see some gold item lying on the floor with a name on it, you never read before...
I'm stayin on Bnet just because I'm used to it (and because I have five mule accounts filled with self found items). Besides that, I'm pretty prepared to start a single player career - and I would probably do that, if I have to start all over again (i.e. v1.11 )

Some news: After defeating my Ancient Phobia, I reactivated my Skelliemancer yesterday and made my way to Arreat Summit. The hardest battle was a Stoneskin Lord Pack in Crystal Passage and it took almost fifteen minutes to neuter his insane regeneration rate and three visits in Cold Plains to fill up my army. At last it was my mages(!) which brought his lifebar down pixelwise.
When he died he left a Leviathan, so it was really worth to fight him that long.
After that it was easy going - so easy, I died twice in Frozen Tundra while Instant Messaging with a friend on my 2nd PC :bonk:

I entered Arreat Summit with Merc, Clay Golem, 10 Skellies, 10 Mages and 10 crappy Revives I collected in Stony Field. Just to give it a try, I thought.

Again it was not easy but far away from beeing that extreme challenge: My Skellies worked for minutes to get those three Heroes down. In the meantime my revives expired and I had to recast the clay golem two or three times. The only thing I had to care for was to stay out of Talics whirlwind way. I didn't feed a single potion to my merc and I lost only one Skeleton. In the end, I reached WSK Waypoint.

Seems that this week we'll see another Pat - but this time, I promise, I will keep it somewhat shorter

 

[Dacar92]

Welcome to the SPF! and congrats on the pat!

 

[DevontheGnomey]

shorter? pleh!!

i extend the challenge that you make it LONGER!!!

pre-grats on second pat?

 

[Darkwell]

Well done Purzel

Congrats on the pat and the very interesting write-up. Luck with all your characters and keep us informed.

Darkwell

 

[Shade]

Welcome to the forum, and congratulations on your Patriarch! Good luck with the second

 

[Purzel]

...keep us informed...

OK, you asked for it

So here's a short update

First I gave my skelliemancer (WSK Waypoint) a try to pat and he did quite well in WSK. Unfortunately he got fried the moment he entered the Throne of Destruction. With a Soul- and a Viper-Bosspack waiting at the stairs it was even impossible to recover the body.

So I chosed today to "optimize" my Pally-Pat for MF. I changed the resist rings for a pair of Nagels and made up for the missing resists with charms. Because I lost 10 FC (and so the 75-FC-Breakpoint anyway) I re-changed the Magefists to Chance Guards and switched Aldurs to rares with 30 FRW and MF. Then I gave him every good MF-Charm I got on all of my chars and at last I brought him to 301 MF over all.
He still has 90 res all, 1000 life, 600 mana and about 4K hammer damage
...
and I didn't even socket one of his items

Of course I tried this setup before posting it and I did Baal and his minions, Mephisto, Travincal, the Pit and the Mausoleum without dying. Maybe it was a bit slower, but still it was pretty relaxed playing.

If anyone is interested in detailed MF stats:

Wizardspike
Guardian Angel
Rhymed Kurast (25 MF)
3PT Crown (72 MF)
Prism-Amu (21 MF)
Chance Guards (39 MF)
Goldwrap (30 MF)
Rare Boots (21 MF)
2 Nagels (29+24 MF)
3x7+3x5+1x4 Charms (40 MF)
---
Total: 301