Killing em with toothpicks

Diablo II Notation Basic Class Skill Item Ally Quest Area Monster Tale The abm gift-and challenge taken up by emaq123 http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04082201.jpg That's it. That is my endgame weapon. Now how do I build a hell capable build that can solo without elemental arrows? (Thanks Ace) <_< Turns out, it looks to be not only doable, it may not even be that hard. I started by taking my level 91 WWS/knockback/speedazon Flit, swapped her upgraded WWS for a short bow and went to hell. It wasn't pretty, but she killed things. Thing is, Flit is not geared for off-weapon damage, so I decided see how I can optimize for the awesome weapon I have been given. Thanks to Nobbie's wonderful cube mode I now know that it is doable and that +30 max damage jewels are about impossible to find. :P In several hours of rerolling jewels I was able to create one +23 max damage jewel. That along with a set of war travs, some dual leech jewelry and a knockback gloves I was able to create a zon who can play in hell. Since I'm short on +max dmg jewels I think I will try some +min gear also. Stat points are pure dex, and skill points are max strafe, penetrate and 1 plus adders in the normal spots. So this will be the trials of GotDex, the pure dex bowazon with the bow from hell... :lol: Part 1 Woo Hoo!!! Yes I'm still around. I'm not really playing during the week but I'm still at it. Now, for the GotDex weekly update. GotDex went notwink through act 1, solo most of the way, no real problems. Act 2... Whoops. You mean 2-7 damage isn't enough anymore? She really couldn't kill in act 2. She grabbed a prayer merc and got back to work. The merc did an excellent job leveling her... :notme: Several friends came to help and donated some gear, a few damage charms, jewels, rings and such. Plus a few poison items and GotDex was back on track. The Big Bug wasn't a problem, the merc went splat, but with a few stamina pots, she ran around with a green bug chasing her. :D Entering Act 3, she has around LCS 60-120 damage with a 1-3 damage bow B) and is level 21. General Notes: I try to play at range and not get hit with bowazons, so this works well for her, as things like life and resists are optional. I dropped the act2 merc at act3 because he didn't keep up. So now I have an act 3 cold merc who is doing well at crowd control. 3 more levels till strafe!! This will start to help as I only have 1 point into prereqs so far. Speed 5 bows are slow!!! Strafe will help here... I'd like to get to 9/2 with it, but we will see. I'm not sure what I'll do with Meph, I think I'm underpowered for him, but you never know... Armor is a 2 socket studded leather with a +4 min and a +12 max jewel. Big help there! also got the duskdeep helm with +8 max on it. I've decided and have dropped 50 points on str so I can go dmg charms. Target dex will be ~500, a bit low, but should work well with all the dmg stuff. Now to go get those 3 levels for strafe!!! Rck Part II What do you get after a day of playing D2? About 20 levels.... :P GotDex decided to go hang out with some folks yesterday and made a good day of it. Meph and Diablo and Baal went down, my teammate being Cads sniper. GotDex made some solo runs also, here is a shot of her soloing the minions... http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04083001.jpg While she was playing with other people you could see that she was underpowered... Well, I wonder what a socket quest would do to a cracked short bow? Hmmm, three sockets!! The D2 gods are smiling on GotDex. Now I'm not sure if socketing the bow is cheating or not. The opinion from those I asked was it was fair game. I admit to being a bit tired of low damage and having leeching problems. So for the first load in the new sockets I went for power!! http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04083002.jpg It is amazing what 3 low runes will do for you. Strafe now leeches fine. Thanks to GrimeReaper for the nice manald. With the sockets, I now have options. I'm at 14/4 strafe now, but 3 shaels should go a long way to 9/2. 3 eths would give me close to ITD with my high dex. I need a new armor, my current one has 4-12 damage on it. I'm looking for a 4 socket armor and jewels to fill it. Got a +15 max damage jewel last night... Not sure if I want max damage or min damage. Probably try both to see what happens. Last thing for this post, a pic of GotDex's stats. She has 1 50/6 poison charm and a little bit of fire and cold, the rest is physical damage. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04083003.jpg Not bad for starting with a 1-3 bow. Rck Part III Just a quick note on GotDex's progress... She is now in act 5 nm and is level 51. The +min gear is working nicely. I still need to make a new armor, I have 2 jewels which give a total of +19 min already. With the +27 min on the bow and the +max on other items, she is getting a strafe of 203-204 now. I have strafe maxed, this is more for the min arrow count than anything else. More arrows mean more hits = more leech. I have spare skill points and I have been increasing penetrate each level. I plan to max penetrate but I don't see a need to dump points into it early. Valk and decoy are still at 1 point each. Based on my work with FlitRck, I don't think that a knockback strafer needs much in Valk or decoy as everything will be hit and knocked back often enough that it shouldn't matter. The question is can GotDex get enough IAS to make this work for her. Next question is if it does, where should the extra points go? I'm still looking to the future, 100% pierce and 20% IAS knockback gloves seem a given. If I am willing to play at max range with strafe, life and resists are optional, which gives a lot of room for +min dmg gear. 9/2 strafe would be great, but I think I can live with 10/3 or so... Oh yea, I grabbed a might merc in act2 to buff the damage up. Properly equipped, he can provide the limited tank duties I might need. PIs will be a problem soon... Atma's ammy seems to be a given, so I will have to start looking to trade for one. I see some NM Meph runs in my future. More to come soon, HeadlineRck Part IV Ok, a little D2 burnout and WoW lust have slowed down GotDex in her quest to kill Hell Baal with a cracked short bow, but she is still at it. Yesterday at level 52 she soloed the bloody foothills and took down Shenk and Eldritch. It was her standard battle tactics, advance slow, lead with strafe, place decoy to take heat off. Burning dead archers really don't work well against a long range strafe with knockback. She saw arrows from a MS boss but never saw him. Valk and Merc got Amp'ed by a boss, but not her. Shenk and crew didn't stand much of a chance and went down easy. Eld and crew were a bit meaner. Dropped the merc and a level 1 valk and decoy doesn't give a lot of tank time. So a retreating battle spread them out, and then they were done for. She does need some better gloves, IAS and knockback would be nice. Photo of the day http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04092701.jpg Smile Shenk! Rck Part V The warmups are nearing completion... The main event will commence soon. GotDex spent some time in act 5 this weekend and has killed Baal in NM. wOOt!! She is currently leveling up in prep to start Hell. Up to starting hell, she has teamed with others from time to time. The adventures through hell will be solo. All the way, by herself. She is now level 63 and won't enter hell until level 70 at the soonest. Once she starts in hell, I will post updates on the adventure as it goes. Hopefully she will get a new armor before hell. The studded leather she is wearing looks a little be faded these days. Rck Part VI [quote=emaq123,Aug 22, 2004 - 4:59 PM]http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04082201.jpg That's it. That is my endgame weapon. Now how do I build a hell capable build that can solo without elemental arrows? (Thanks Ace) <_< [/quote] Very quick recap from the first post. I can't change bows, and no elemental arrows. Now, do we consider magic arrow to be an 'elemental' arrow? I would think not. So two challenges for the build are: 1. Develop enough damage to kill things. 2. Survive Physical Immunes without elemental arrows. So while it is easy to gear up and crush anything in the game with the right gear, it is a bit harder when a cracked short bow is the endgame weapon. Thanks for the info on PIs in hell, it looks like I will need that PI solution sooner than I thought. :unsure: Rck Part VII The Way of GotDex... The power of the cracked short bow is very great. Many have asked GotDex how she is able to handle such a mighty bow. She reminds those that ask that the bow is a range weapon... http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110101.jpg GotDex vs. Shenk http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110102.jpg vs. Eldritch http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110103.jpg Minion Fighting - Pack 1 http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110104.jpg Minion Fighting - Pack 2 http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110105.jpg Minion Fighting - Pack 3 http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110106.jpg Minion Fighting - Pack 4 http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110107.jpg Minion Fighting - Pack 5 So that is the way of GotDex. Remember, if you can see the monster, you are too close. Rck Part VIII GotDex Enters Hell Yes folks, it is the main event. GotDex entered Hell tonight at level 72. Screenshots have been taken, but the battle was long and hard so the report will come tomorrow. Quests have been completed and waypoints reached. Details to follow... Time for bed. Rck Part IX [quote=FrigidWoman,Nov 3, 2004 - 2:08 PM]Just a few thoughts..... If I were designing a Bowazon to fight in hell with a bow that did essentially no physical damage, I'd go the other way from much of this thread. [/quote] I agree 100%. However, a little more backstory on this project. When I was invited to be an ABM, I was presented a personalized cracked short bow as a present. I thought it was a wonderful gift and wondered what I could do with it. In the discussion that followed, DCIAce said he wanted to see me solo the bow through hell without elemental arrows. Hence the character GotDex was born. With no elemental arrows available, I decided on what I knew best, the knockback strafer. The challenge would be to get enough damage to kill with. So far, so good. I believe that most builds are a balancing act. In this one, I want speed, damage, and enough leech to survive. I will give up other things to get them, so my playstyle will be measured by my lack of life, resists, etc... The first thing that I've learned is how much heat you can pull off yourself with decoy, I'm starting to get good using that skill. So now GotDex is in hell, is her driver good enough to get her through? Stay tuned. Rck Part X Who is GotDex? http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110302.jpg http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110303.jpg This is GotDex as she entered hell. Many thanks to Cads and Heather for helping dress her. :D Rck The Story of GotDex Chapter One It was a dark cold wet night when GotDex wandered into the rogue's camp. The mood was dark like the night in the camp. The rogue's had been forced from their monastery by demons. GotDex was grim but happy, this is where she wanted to be after all. One of the guards asked her name and gave her a look when she said 'GotDex' but didn't press the issue. Strange people from strange lands had been showing up here with strange names, what was one more. Diane came by her nickname 'GotDex' during her years of training with the amazons. The skill masters kept trying to get her to build up her strength to use the bigger weapons. She always had problems trying to throw the javelin, and she could only hold the smallest shields. Her work with the spear was terrible due to her lack of strength. When these things were pointed out to her, she would smile and say that while strength was nice, it took dexterity to aim a bow, and one arrow in the right place would do all that she needed. The hard thing was, she could back it up. She was more accurate with a bow then any of the trainees. She would always hit her mark. Her focus on dexterity and agility was fanatical but it got results. One day, one of the students who excelled with the spear, got tired of hearing her answer the master with "I've got dex, and it will serve me well..." and decided to show her what strength really meant. She took her spear and with a mighty yell, charged Diane. Maybe it was the yell, or maybe just that alertness and agility she always spoke of, but Diane just turned and looked at the charging girl. She calmly waited for the girl to arrive and then deftly dropped and rolled to the right as the charging girl rush through where Diane had just been. Enraged, the girl pulled herself to a stop and turned around, determined to get this weak little girl this time. As she brought the heavy spear around to start another attack she came up short as she found herself staring at an arrow leveled at her head. Diane smiled and said, "GotDex?". The rogues in camp looked at the scruffy stranger and scoffed at her bow. It was just a short bow, nothing fancy, at all and it seemed to them that there was a dark line across the top of the bow like a crack. No one would carry a cracked bow, would they? After speaking with the elder in charge of the camp, GotDex learned of the problems of the rogues, she told the elder that she would seek out the this Den of Evil she spoke of and take care of the demon that dwelled there. The elder looked at her and said, 'We are grateful for the help, but you do not seem to be well equipped for battle.' GotDex smiled, and said that she was more than able to handle a few demons. With that she strung her bow which made an odd creak as she did so and headed out of the camp. Now truth be told, GotDex didn't travel alone, being a trained amazon she could and did summon a spirit fighter to travel with her. Many foes spent to much time trying to defeat the spirit and not it's master. She had a companion in arms by the name of Gulzar who traveled with her and shared the spoils of their battles. Gulzar was nothing more than a mercenary but GotDex took secret glee in the fact she had a male retainer who followed her around and used a spear to fight with. Just outside of the gates they found zombies milling around. GotDex thought about asking their names, but decided it would be easier to put an arrow in them instead. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110304.jpg It took more arrows than expected but finally the evil things fell. Evil animals shooting spikes and demons roamed this land with the zombies. Truly a cursed place if ever there was one. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110305.jpg Even the remaining houses had been abandoned to the incoming hoard. GotDex was searching one and found a really fine bow. She thought about taking it, but decided to leave it in hopes that it's owner would find it. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110306.jpg After clearing some of the countryside, GotDex found the Den. She saw many tracks leading in and out of the hole and entered into it. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110307.jpg It was a dark place, hard to see. She could hear things moving around her. Her spirit wandered out into the tunnels and by the glow of the spirit GotDex saw the demons. She started sending a stream of arrows into the evil things. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110308.jpg Many types of monsters inhabited this foul place. Tunnel by tunnel GotDex cleared out the den. Several of the fighters in the camp had warned her of an evil monster named Corpsefire. They said that he travels with a pack and seemed to chill your soul when he hit you. Turning a corner, GotDex saw the pack of zombies with Corpsefire in the center. The battle had started. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110310.jpg It was a long battle with many foes to attack and hold off at the same time. GotDex was glad to have her companions to help against so many at once. Both Gulzar and the spirit were blue with cold from fighting the monster, but GotDex having stayed in the back of the battle launching arrows never felt the zombie's cold touch. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110311.jpg Tunnel by tunnel the evil died. Soon there was a rejoicing and a light shone down from above! The Den had been cleared. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110313.jpg Back at the camp GotDex was shocked to learn that these were not the demons that had expelled the rogues. She had not understood correctly that the rogues lived far away. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110314.jpg One interesting thing was found in the den. When Corpsefire fell, a burnt wand fell. GotDex learned in the camp that it could cast a spell to bind enemies for a time. She packed it away thinking it might come in useful one day. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110315.jpg She was asked to take on another quest for the rogues. This one was father away to get rid of an undead rogue. GotDex accepted the quest but thought these rogues were leading her on. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110316.jpg At the edge of the valley where the rogues camp was, GotDex came across a sentry wielding a large heavy bow. The sentry warned GotDex about the dangers ahead. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110317.jpg Shortly after the sentry, GotDex found the waypoint of ColdPlains. Somewhere off this valley was the burial grounds she was told off. She cleared the land of evil as she went. As she traveled, she found another item of interest. A charm that seem to make her faster and her arrows hit harder. She placed it in her pack with the others that she kept there. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110319.jpg There seemed to be no end of evil monsters and demons in this land. The battles were long and the ground ran red with blood from the fights. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110320.jpg All these undead rogues, GotDex knew she must be getting close. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110322.jpg The trio found the entrance to the burial grounds and entered. Inside they found Blood Raven. The demon never seemed to stand still! It took all the effort GotDex could muster to just to hit this demon. To make matters worse, the demon summoned the dead from the graves to fight at her side! GotDex couldn't believe what she had gotten herself into, but it was too late to worry about that now. Either she or Blood Raven would have to die here and now. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110323.jpg In the end, GotDex was able to use the battlefield to her advantage to keep the zombies off her back while she kept firing at Blood Raven. She was glad of her skill in using an arrow to stun and knockback a foe. She needed the skill to slow the attack of Blood Raven. The battle was long, but in the end, Blood Raven fell. Chapter Two The Quest for Cain It was raining outside the tent. It seemed to rain all the time around this place. Gulzar was complaining about moss growing on his shoes. GotDex smiled and suggested that maybe he shouldn't stand around so much during the fights and maybe moss wouldn't grow on his feet. GotDex was working on her journal. Things sure were moving fast these days. Out of all the battles she had been in recently, she had come across seven small bosses leading packs against her. The powers these bosses wielded against her were greater than any she had seen before. She wasn't happy at the number that were immune to physical attack. She had a feeling that if anything she would see more of this in the future. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110601.jpg Well, there was not getting around it, if this Cain fellow was to be found, GotDex was going to get wet today. She and Gulzar packed up and headed out into the rain. Across the cold plains, she was told the stoney field lay. Taking the waypoint into stoney field, GotDex started clearing the area of monsters and demons again. She didn't know where they came from, but they kept coming back. The weapons she found in this area were amazing also. She came across another great bow today. GotDex thought long and hard about using this wonderful weapon, but she was very attached to her bow and was very comfortable using it so she decided to stay with her own weapon. One day she might try a new one, but not today. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110602.jpg Reaching the end of the cold plains, GotDex and Gulzar found the stoney field. It seems word of her approach got her before she did. No less than three packs of monsters where there to greet her. It was a long terrible battle but in the end, GotDex had slain the demons again. Having cleared the entrance of stoney field, GotDex thought that the area nearby would be clear, so she started to scout the area. This was a mistake as more bosses and minions came at her. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110603.jpg More fighting ensued and again GotDex prevailed. The evil seemed determined to get her today. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110604.jpg Even after all that fighting, it still wasn't over. More bosses waited after these. GotDex lost count, but she faced 7 to 9 bosses in a row before she was able to lay claim to an area of stoney field. After that, finding the waypoint for stoney field wasn't too hard. GotDex had been told that the stone circle was guarded by a very dangerous pack of monsters. She needed to find the circle and the entrance to the underground passage before leaving this area. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110605.jpg As it turned out, the circle of stones were nearby and while GotDex knew there was a pack of monsters in the area, they didn't seem to be much of a problem. In fact as she was going through the bodies after the battle, she found the body of the boss in the circle of stones, an arrow sticking out of his eye socket. She didn't remember shooting the arrow or seeing him fall. The next thing was to find the underground passage to the dark wood beyond. In a hole coming up out of the ground she found it. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110606.jpg This place was dark, it was hard to see the attacks before they happened. In searching another group of bodies, GotDex found a small charm. She had several like it, but this one gave her more life than any she had. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110608.jpg The demons and monsters seems endless today, Gulzar and the spirit fighter kept the waves of monsters at bay so GotDex could keep the arrows flying. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110609.jpg GotDex had started to get used to this dark place. The dangers were many, but she felt she had an understanding of the place and could clear it out if necessary to find the dark wood. Entering a new area, arrows came flying out of the darkness at her. GotDex quickly fell back and started setting up a defensive perimeter and started shooting. Her spirit got taken out very quickly and her decoy was almost useless also. She knew she had to very careful to survive this battle. Back and forth the battle raged. Every time GotDex tried to advance into the area, she would be pushed back by the arrows. After a long time she started to feel that there weren't as many arrows coming at her as before. She pressed into the area again and finally identified her foe. She saw that this monster would not be effected by the poison her charms gave her arrows. She fought to keep the leader at bay while she got the minions down. When the last minion went down, she was able to turn her attention to the boss itself. It was still a very hard fight, but without the minions to protect it, GotDex was able to get rid of this horror forever! http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110610.jpg After that fight, GotDex was ready to leave this place. Yet, more evils stood in her way. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110611.jpg GotDex was weary, tired from all these long battles. After dispatching another group of monsters she looked over the dead bodies and couldn't believe her eyes!! http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110612.jpg She had heard of great magical items such as this, but she didn't think she would ever hold one herself! She would have to look over her gear, but she knew that she would be using this great hat in the future. At last, she found the end of the passage and came back out into the open air. More evil surrounded her, but after the fights in the dark passage, it wasn't that bad. At least until she found the tree she had been looking for. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110613.jpg Treehead was an evil and deadly foe. GotDex stayed as far away as she could from him. It was another long fight, but as she was fast and nimble, Treehead fell in the end. The Dark Wood waypoint was found and GotDex now had what she needed to try to find Cain. Back at the stone circle, GotDex was able to cause a red portal to open so she could travel to another place. GotDex couldn't believe the destruction she saw in this place. An entire town had been destroyed. She didn't know how anyone could still be alive here. Monsters still occupied this place. The fights were many, but not the worst she had seen this day. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110615.jpg There was one demon that was more difficult than most. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110616.jpg It was another long fight, but the monster was slow, so GotDex never was that worried about the outcome. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110617.jpg After dispatching the demon, GotDex found Cain caged in the center of town. Gulzar got the cage lowered to the ground and Cain was set free! GotDex and Gulzar went back to town to learn what knowledge this stranger held. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110618.jpg Part XIII GotDex looked at herself in the mirror. Sigh... It was an ugly hat to be sure, no doubt about it. While she loved the power of the Harlequin Crest. (Cain said it was called that) It did have the effect of making her weaker because to wear it, she had to change three pieces of gear. Normally, that was easy, power over safety. But this was a _very_ powerful hat, to be sure. Well, maybe she could find some jewels to get back the missing damage. She was good at finding +max damage jewels, she had four in her stash now. She needed +min jewels however. Sigh... Since it seemed to be a day to look over gear, GotDex decided to inventory her backpack again. 14 charms, not much room for anything else. She looked over the markings and mentally added up the effects. +3 min dmg +1 max dmg +100 / 6 poison dmg 7-20 cold damage 3-5 fire damage 8% FHR 11% cold resist 21% light resist 6% poison resist 26 AR +7 Dex +50 life She really could use some more charms with greater power. Ah well, in time all things. She looked out the tent into the darkness... Yep, more rain. Sigh Chapter 3 The Countess Look, I really want a drink and this little camp is short on booze. said Gulzar. GotDex had to agree, a nice drink to celebrate the new hat would be nice, but just because there was a rotting tower out there with a cellar didn't mean free drinks. A passing traveler she had met before had been nice enough to give GotDex a jewel for her new hat. It increased the damage she did much like her old hat, and really made the new hat a must wear. Well, back to the grind to get Gulzar a drink, thought GotDex. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110701.jpg They had been clearing the evil out of the dark wood for a while, so finding the black marsh wasn't hard. Even finding the waypoint wasn't much of an issue. Gratefully the boss monster packs had been much easier of late. Ever since she put the new hat on, her luck had seemed to change for the better. It seemed that they were finding better treasure and actually had more that 2 gold pieces to rub together which was an improvement to be sure. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110702.jpghttp://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110705.jpg Still no rest for the weary. No matter how many evil demons she killed, there always seemed to be more. She really did wonder about this, where are they coming from? If she could close the entrance to the hell these things were coming from, life would be much easier. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110703.jpg After a while of wandering and fighting in the marsh, they found a tower. Now all they had to do was go down and look for some wine... http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110704.jpg One thing GotDex was finding was that she preferred to fight outdoors over fighting indoors or in tunnels. She liked to be able to move around freely and you didn't get this in these cramped places. Just inside the entrance of the second level, GotDex ran into a boss pack of archers and a ghost that didn't take damage from her arrows like some of those boss monsters she had fought. It was a difficult fight since she had no room to move around in. The doorways did help to provide choke points to bottle up the evil for the arrows to do their job. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110706.jpg GotDex didn't like this place one bit. Every step seemed to start a new fight, and the evil was strong here. Doorways were fast becoming GotDex's best friends. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110707.jpg GotDex had fought several ghosts and had decided she didn't like them at all. She was working her way to the stairs when the worst thing happened. A pack of ghosts lead by a boss. They were very strong and fast. GotDex's normal strafing attacks could knock them back, but it didn't seem to do any damage. She knew how to fire a magic arrow as her masters had trained her, but she couldn't fire a strafing attack of them. At first, she kept falling back launching strafing attacks at the mob, trying to gain an advantage. The monsters pressed her back almost to the entrance of the level. She knew she couldn't let them get to the entrance or she would never claim this level for herself. In a risky move she ran around the monsters back the way they came to draw them away from the entrance. She ran as far as she could and then took a breath. As far as she was concerned, the monsters could stay back there. She started probing ahead again and while fighting a ghost which had not followed with the rest, she saw that one of the ones she had eluded had found her! This made the fighting more difficult, but without the whole pack, she was able to deal with the problem. Each time she tried to press forward, more of the ghost pack showed up! She had never heard of monsters tracking people down like this before! She had entered the next room when she saw a glow in the other room which could only be the boss itself. Going back into the room, she found that it was the boss and she would have to fight it after all. It had two minions with it, which made for a difficult fight. She was able to pin the monster down with her knockback arrows, which let her wear the monsters down. GotDex really wanted to get away from these things. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110708.jpg Entering the bottom level, they saw the signs of great evil ahead. A green glow appeared under their feet, a sign they had learned to dread. Again doorways saved the group. Another mighty battle ensued. GotDex found she was fighting two boss groups, and one was ghosts again. Back and forth the battle raged in a very small area. GotDex had to use all the training she had to keep the monsters off her long enough to shoot arrows. The goats fell first and GotDex was able to start working on the ghosts. Knockback arrows kept the monsters away and in time, she dispatched them all. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110709.jpg http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110710.jpg No beer of wine was to be found in this evil place, only another evil demon. She and her minions were not to be taken lightly, but after the battles to get here, the group didn't find this battle all the difficult. The Countess was sent back to the hell she came from and much gold and treasure was found, but nothing to drink. As they were sorting through the remains, GotDex looked at Gulzar and said, "You said there would be something to drink for our troubles." Gulzar looked at her and said, "Well, wine, cellars, it made sense to me..." http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04110711.jpg On the Countess GotDex found some runes, on one she she the markings of IO. Not a common rune, at least the trip wasn't a total waste. With that, they headed back to the rogue camp for the night. Chapter 4 The Assault on the Monastery Back at the camp there was a commotion. Cain was going on how some demon queen had to be behind the trouble in this land. He told GotDex that she would be in the rogues monastery without doubt. At this point GotDex was sick and tired of kill demons and if she could go stick a couple of arrows into whoever was responsible for this, so much the better! http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04112201.jpg The entrance was a valley known as Tamoe Highlands. It looked much like the others, evil things abounded everywhere. GotDex and her crew worked through these evils and put them to rest. Finding the old monastery, GotDex found it was infested with evil also. Several large battles raged while she cleared the outer cloister. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04112202.jpg http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04112203.jpg http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04112204.jpg Having secure the outer area, it was time to head into the monastery proper. The first area she found looked like it had been setup into a barracks area. Tight rooms and many monsters, not the way GotDex liked to work, but she found that she could still use the terrain such as it was to her advantage. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04112205.jpg Charsi had told GotDex about this magic hammer that she left in the hurry to get out of the monastery. This area sounded like what she was talking about, and in searching, GotDex found the new smith of the monastery. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04112206.jpg After giving Charsi her hammer back, GotDex continued down into the lower levels. Ghosts... Sigh... GotDex had had enough of these things back on the quest of the grape. Still she found that she could keep them at bay, but it took so long to kill them. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04112207.jpg http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04112208.jpg After a long battle underground, GotDex returned to the light in the inner cloister. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04112209.jpg Inside the monastery cathedral, GotDex found more ghosts, how nice... http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04112210.jpg At the back of the cathedral, the old catacombs were found. The final battle had begun! http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04112211.jpg http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04112212.jpg More evils were found down here. The evil was getting stronger to be sure, but GotDex worked her way through it all. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04112213.jpg http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04112214.jpg http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04112215.jpg Deep in the catacombs, GotDex met a new evil. They seem to be some type of vampire sorcerer. GotDex had trained to be a fighter, not a demonologist. What she knew was they were very fast and played with fire. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04112216.jpg http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04112217.jpg Still, at least they were easier to kill than ghosts. :) http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04112218.jpg The bottom of the catacombs had been reached, and the evil became greater still. Damned creatures like she had seen in the underground passage, only stronger were here, along with many other horrors. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04112219.jpg http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04112220.jpg Andariel In the dark, GotDex heard the stamp of boots. Then she heard what she had come for. The demon queen herself! http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04112221.jpg http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04112222.jpg To say it was another battle, would not be true. For this demon was powerful and smart. She was so large, GotDex couldn't knock her back with arrows. The demon also was too smart to let GotDex stay back and fire. Andariel kept charging and closing on the archer. The demon also spewed a foul poison that made GotDex retreat several times. However, GotDex knew of poisons also and used her own. It was a very long battle. The demon was not quickly effected by the poison, but slowly and surely Andariel got weaker until at last. http://lovemymac.net/d2pics/04112223.jpg In a great torrent of flame, the demon queen died. Back at the camp, GotDex told everyone that it was over. The demon was dead, and they could get back to their lives. GotDex was tired of the damp of this place and Gulzar thought it was to cold, so the travelers told the rogues goodbye and headed East... Act1 Technical Notes GotDex in Hell Hope everyone is enjoying the story and photos. I've started compressing them more and got this last batch down to 300k or so. Ok, on to the good stuff... A cracked short bow in hell, are you nuts? Maybe, but when was the last time you heard of anyone doing it? GotDex is not a glass cannon, she is a glass pop-gun. No damage, life or resists. She has been interesting to play to be sure. I have really improved on my micro-skills, having to toss a valk & decoy out, run in to cast inner sight and slow missile, run out and recast valk and decoy, re-establish strafe and feed the merc if he survived, makes for interesting play. Oh yea, take screenshots the whole time also. Of course the most interesting screens come when you are closest to dying! Speaking of dying, has GotDex died? Yes. I'd like to say that she hadn't, but that wouldn't be true. Would she be still alive if she was hardcore? Maybe. I have played a bit loose at times where I might have pulled back in hardcore. However, I do play not to let her die. All told, I think the death count in act 1 was 5. At least 2 of those were just me not paying attention. Once was going after Coldcrow, another in the pit, again being sloppy and the last was that ms boss damed in Andy's room. I was very mad about that one. However, Andy was a clean fight with no deaths. A clean fight that took twenty minutes or so. :/ So what about the future? Well, I got past Andy, but the merc and decoy did very little, and the valk was only good for one or two hits. This and the bug at the end of act 2 do not give me a warm fuzzy. GotDex is level 76 and has 11 points saved. I'm thinking I may have to break down and spend some points for a tank for fighting bosses. I'm having no problems with a 1 point decoy and valk against normal monsters, but against, act bosses, this is a problem. If anyone has an opinion on decoy vs valk for act bosses, let me know. The good news is that I don't fear PIs now. I just lean on strafe and kill em anyway. Sure it takes a while, but I can handle the average pack that way. So GotDex is headed to Act 2, what fun will she find there? Stay tuned! Rck The dust is shaken off... Eyes open. GotDex is awake once more. The terrible sickness of WoW has been lifted. Ok, look for an update in the next couple of days... I'm having to learn how to play D2 again. :P Rck. Credits Reprinted with permission of the author,emaq123