After a long time away from the game and an even longer time away from the SPF, I returned to both earlier this week. I don't remember what day I did it, but I
finally got my first SP Patriarch! I give you Patriach Spinnur, clvl 83 S/S WW barb, created way back in the day well before 1.10 and for ages used just for NM Meph runs to equip my other characters, hence the possibly artificially high level.
Once I got him questing again, he made short work of Hell, and actually found it easier than 1.09 Hell despite not having the 1337 1.10 itamz. The elimination of the 50% physical resistance and the addition of one measly poison damage charm more than compensated for the fixed critical strike on masteries, increased monster life, and faster life regeneration for monsters(something I'm sure most of you knew, but it was new to me, what with him being my first 1.10 character in Hell). I leeched more, more importantly, my HF merc leeched more (there's not much worse than losing your support mid-fight), and most importantly, far fewer PI, Extra Strong, Cursed bosses to try to take down with Berserk.
It took me a short while to get used to the changed physics of WW, but nothing major. Still, I found myself using Concentrate a lot more than I'd ever done before just for mana efficiency and safety, since even with a shield it's no longer very safe to go spinning past a crowd of monsters. I also wound up using Stun, a skill I always use from levels 12 to 18 but then promptly un-hotkey when I get Concentrate, on archers and other monsters fond of running way as well as unravellers, shamen, cantors, and uh... whatever species Shenk is. Using those one-on-one skills also forced me to adopt tactics I was used to with melee zons and paladins, but never needed before with barbs: thinning herds, taking up positions just past the doorway monsters had to come through, etc. (Again, this is probably nothing new to you folks, but it was a startling find for me. ) This has re-awakened my interest in playing a Concentrate barb, or even something I've never seen or heard of since the days of D2C, a Stun barb. I know, I know, War Cry would work better on crowds, but I grew to enjoy the challenge of finding defensible positions, and managing to divide monster packs in areas without chokepoints; plus, it's been literally years since I've played a real variant barb.
Hell Ancients were an utter horrorshow. Five or six deaths, due mostly to bad tactics on my part. The Leap Attacking and WWing ones were a breeze once I pinned them in one spot, but the thrower was trouble and took forever to kill. I don't remember the mods, but given how long he took, he had to have been Extra Strong and/or Stone Skin.
I didn't even bother to fight my way through the Worldstone Keep, choosing instead to run around, WW through, and Leap Attack over everything. I could've slowly cleared the levels, at least until I found the stairs and the WP, but I didn't see much point in risking it. Still suffered a couple deaths from unseen Oblivion Knights IMing me as I began to whirl through a solid wall of monsters, though. I shudder to think how many corpse retrieval runs I would've needed had I been more patient.
Even on players 1, Hell Baal was a PITA. He was by no means difficult, but the damage output from my Lightsaber just wasn't up to the task, so it was a good 20 minutes of standing mostly in spot clicking on him. It was more of a war of attrition, with me having to portal back to town every few minutes for more potions then returning to slowly whittle him down. Since I'd switched to survival gear instead of MF gear (having no idea what to expect), the only decent drop was yet another Aldur's jagged star, but my first socketed one, so I won't complain much. My long-dormant mace frenzy barb was also pleased.
Final Stats: I don't recall exact numbers, but these are close.
STR: 180
DEX: 200 (thanks to my Rhyme shield, I maintained 75% blocking at all times)
VIT: everything else
NRG: 10
Final Gear: I'm not about to go digging in ATMA for the exact info, especially since everything has been transferred to other characters or mules already, but these are the items.
Weapon 1: Lightsabre
Weapon Switch: Heart Carver/Blade of Ali Baba
Armor: Atma's
Helm: Natalya's (filled in some badly needed resistances, and the +dex helped my flagging AR)
Shield: Rhyme grim shield
Gloves, Belt, Boots: Sigon's
Rings: rares with LL, resists, +AR
Amulet: rare with ML, resists
Charms: various resists, +AR, +damage, poison damage, +life
All told, my experiences with 1.10 Hell were so much fun and not nearly as hard as I'd expected them to be (despite some troubles in the second half of Act 5) that I'm now really excited about playing the game again! :clap: Still, I'm going to put all of my current and planned future barbs on hold for a while longer, scrap them, or restart them with the changes in 1.10 in mind and focus now on a few paladins (fanatic zealot, fanatic martyr, possibly a vigor charger and/or elemental ranger), zons (javelin fender, magezon), and if I feel like being a real glutton for punishment, a minionless venomancer.
Have a good day, everybody!
