Well, it's been a while since I've updated Acala, because life gets in the way. Had a whole bunch of work days in a row and then got sick so all that Mephisto running I had planned on doing kinda went out the window lol.
But Acala the Pure Vita Barb is back and has reached 63. When last we left Acala he was at the doorstep of Mephisto, ready to go one on one. I figured it would be an easy fight and I would be farming him in no time. Oh how wrong I was. My damage was pitiful. The first fight with Mephisto took about 15 minutes. Brutally slow. So the quick plan to farm Mephisto right away went out the window. I had to spend a bit of time farming in Act 2 NM for a 2 socket axe base and finally got one to drop in a hatchet. (I didn't want to farm normal because I have a perfect countess and Meph map in NM). I was able to slap the Strength runeword into that hatchet and my kill time on Mephisto dropped from 15 minutes to about 3 (time swinging on Mephisto, not full run time) thanks to the 25% crushing blow. Better, still not the best. I broke up the monotony of Mephy with making it a complete circuit of Mephisto, Tal's Tomb (for a second socketable), Countess (for some low runes to either cube some sockets in a hatchet, and the second Strength runeword), and Andy. After a few days I got a white hatchet to drop and one cube recipe later I had that two socket base and a second Strength runeword weapon. Kills of Meph dropped to about 1m30s. Finally in the range of acceptable. I did make one final concession though.... I went ahead and put points into Battle Cry. I was so starved for AR that Double Swing was in the mid 30% range and Frenzy only at 40%. Battle Cry, Double Swing with two Strength weapons and their 25% crushing blow each, and a little extra damage from the merc has dropped the kill time to below 1 minute now.
The first major upgrade I saw was a little something for the merc.... Ethereal Duriel's Shell. This is one that will hopefully last him quite a while
Then a little couple of somethings for me dropped.... 34% Chance Guards and Skullder's Ire.
And the absolute necessity for this Pure Vita build... a Raven Frost. Sadly it's only a +16 Dex and I probably need a +19 for endgame, but the AR and lack of being frozen by Mephisto is a true godsend to the run...
And finally on the drops, a Spire of Honor (187% ED) for the merc (and an Arm of King Leoric same drop).
There is still a lot of work to do and a lot of upgrades to be made. I got a Tal's mask drop that will be nice for the merc soon, but the most pressing issue is to get some actual axe drops for Acala so that eventually he can make some progression through nightmare. Crushing blow is great for bosses, but the low damage output I have otherwise makes regular enemies quite the slog.
Pertinent stats
Current level: 63
Current Strength (base + charms + gear): 107 (40 coming from 2x Strength RW axes though)
Current Life (With BO): 3180
Strength from 24 slots of charms: 25
Progress Update
Code:
Name (C) SC/HC Class Level/exp Extended Stash #of S/U Grail/504 #of deaths # of Hours
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
zticazzy Perkele SC Barb 99 No - - - -
Pb_pal Eleanor SC Sorc 99 No 3068 437 5 -
NanoMist Izuna SC Sin 99 No 5109 470 4 360
PhineasB Mercy SC Sin 99 Yes - 475 11 -
Neksja Aura SC Paladin 98.50 Yes 8606 464 - -
PhineasB Hiatus SC Sorc 98.50 Yes - 466 21 -
T72on1 Neverland SC Sorc 98.25 Yes 2190+? 477 13 270?
hasuprotoss Reina SC Sorc 97 Yes 1751 384 - -
ffs HelpYourself SC Sorc 97 Yes - - many ?
Tarantella Tarasha HC Sorc 96 Yes - - - -
Grim Furious_Blonde SC Ama 96 Yes - - - -
XyleneCyanol Fishie HC Sorc 95 No - - - -
ThomasJohnsen xInTheBuffx HC Sorc 95 Yes - - - -
darkstarhub Neptune SC Sorc 95 Yes - - - -
Dezrok Salome SC Sorc 95 Yes 792 318 - -
Yng Sophie SC Sorc 95 Yes - - 7 -
PhineasB Phaedrus SC Pala 94 Yes - 274 12 -
Reyz Qty SC Sorc 93 No - - - -
Chaostar Prairie SC Sorc 91 Yes 659 261 12 126
OldSoldier Battleforge HC Pala 91 Yes - 236 - -
tokerdin tokeress SC Sorc 91 yes - - - -
Zenigma Ayura SC Barb 91 No - - - -
Gynli Amazon SC Amazon 91 Yes - - many -
Southpaw Njord SC Druid 90 Yes - - - -
Qwernt CanbeOnlyBlizz SC Sorc 90 Yes ? - Dont want to know
MercMan Este SC Ama 90 Yes 1212 278 2 Classified
Me2Nik Fugu HC Ama 90 Yes 80
Lynchgrinch Tattersail SC Sorc 89 Yes ? 321 too many lots
LiquidClear Sally SC Assn ** Yes 225 - 1 -
liquid_mage zDadColdSorc SC Sorc ** Yes - 160 - -
Neksja Turirao SC Druid 87 Yes 191 124 5 -
Gladstone Socrates HC Druid 86 ? - - - -
Zenigma Gnosis SC Druid 86 No - - - -
Lord Molyb Cruise_Control SC Necro 86 No 115 94 19 idk
Naturallog Athos HC Barb 84 No 159 105 0 -
Lord Molyb Verisimilitude SC Ama 83 No 28 25 0 idk
Qwernt AmaAgainstAll SC Sorc 81 Yes - - - -
Gambit Mallenroh SC Sorc 81 Yes 0 0 0 0
Lord Molyb But_Why SC Sin 81 Never 55 51 53
Jean Avila SpeedAdict SC Ama 77 No - - - 50
logo Digimon HC Nec 76 Yes 85 65 0 -
TwentyMule Rayne SC Sorc 76 Yes 195 140 ? ?
Gripphon Ryu SC Sorc 76 Yes - - over 9k 13
Darke Rahl Bells HC Ama 74 No 19 - 0
aarrgus Acala SC Barb 63 Yes - - 1 -
ffs Ric SC Nec 61 Yes - - - -
Vildecor Celia SC Ama 59 Yes 52 43 0 -
Xul's Gull Araphel HC Necro 54 No ? N/A - -
ioupainmax Durnik SC Paladin 52 Yes 50 42 - -
TrU Henryk SC Barb 41 Yes - - 22 12
Gambit Colossus SC Pal 39 Yes 0 0 0 0
Smancer Smancer SC Necro 26 Yes 1 - - -
BKC FearsomeFreddie SC Nec 23 Yes - - - -
Ergroilnin Erilinda HC Sorc 20 No - - - -
Kitteh Kaylin SC Ama 19 Yes - - 0 -
hackedagainanda Hugo HC Barb 16 Yes - - - -
The Fallen
Code:
Name (F) Name (C) SC/HC Class Level/exp Extended Stash #of S/U Grail/504 #of deaths # of Hours
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
coju NintyNine_orRiP HC Sorc 81 Yes - 0 0 a few
TwentyMule Valus HC Barb 76 Yes - - 1 -
Pb_pal Stevesy HC Paladin 76 Yes - - 0 -
Tenecabo OldShatterhand HC Druid 49 Yes - 0 1 -
coju fB HC Sorc 29 Yes 1 1 0 2
Kitteh Verallus HC Druid 26 No N/A N/A 0 N/A
logo Rolex HC Barb 21 Yes 0 0 0 1
