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Here's a story, about a girl named Jenny


essjayehm

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WARNING: This will be an ugly wall of text, and an actual guide may arise from it, but I don't feel it's too different from many other 3-aspect Dryads; more or less a "usual suspects" type of build. Designed not only to get me thru Niob alive, but to keep me interested in playing one toon for a long time.

 

Welcome to the walkthrough of my ACTUAL - and this time I mean for really real - console "hardcore" playthrough. I've tried to play this style quite a number of times, but the best I've ever done was a level 70 Temple Guardian, died in Platinum due to (as usual) user error. I always end up trying to rush my toons through the difficulties, which invariably ends with the death of the toon... even without (too much) user error. I'll be playing a Dryad, a class that I feel most comfortable with to take on this challenge. I fire up the Xbox with a fresh save file (deleted the old one - it was only 2 weeks old since I corrupted the data trying the console-reset) and let's go!

 

Bronze

Well, I'd better start off in Bronze, mostly until I get some health potions gathered. Yeah, a ranged char. should be fine to start straight into Silver, but it cannot hurt to get the runes from the chest, and runemaster quest in Sloeford. So I start by exploring the 2 islands the Dryad starts on, killing all the enemies before they can get a swing in on me. I ding level 2 and Enhanced Perception is the automatic choice for skill #1, as this toon will utilize the brokeness of bargaining. Since I prefer to play the evil campaign, I swing up to the inquisitor's home and open the plethora of vases, wells and chest for a quick influx of potions. On the way back to Sloeford to finish Runemaster quest, an Ancient Bark rune drops. Sweet! Survival Bonus farming time, even before I hit level 3. I swallow the rune, and activate AB buff, find 3 wolves near the Sloeford portal, and let them chomp on me for a while. I sit and keep an eye on her, afraid to AFK, and I start planning out the build. After 30 mins, I can tell the wolves won't be able to kill her, so I go get some lunch and do some chores while the SB is rising. 3 hours later, and SB is at 51.2%... cool! I was hoping for >50% as this will raise the enemy levels, which yeild better drops since the threat circles are red instead of yellow. I remain in bronze, and make my way up toward Twainbrook, just to kill some kobolds and get up to level 5. I activate the Resurrection Monolith, as I will come back to bronze later for the Blind Guardian quest when I am in need of $$. But, for now, I'm going to Silver difficulty. I believe that if I didn't find an Ancient Bark rune, I would've stayed in bronze until finishing the Blind Guardian quest before upping the difficulty.

 

Silver

Level 5. EP 5; Concentration 1; Bargaining 2. To start, I explore / map-reveal some areas around Sloeford -> Twainbrook and advance the Main Quest to Thylisyum, exploring all caves as I come across them, for the long-term goal of getting > 100% map. I'm about level 10 as I near Thylisyum and encounter undead for the first time. 5 skellies (no champs) are wailing on me while it take me 4-5 shots to kill each bag'o'bones; but they cannot deal enough damage for me to need a potion, with the HP regen of AB, now with the 'rugged' modification. So I start gathering small groups and letting them wail on me instead of picking them off at range; this will raise the survival bonus, but it is taking a long time to kill a skeleton, and when an elite shows up, it's like a boss-battle it takes so long to kill it and I need to quaff a few potions to stay alive. So I avoid too many undead for now, until level 12 when I finally replace my level 1 blowpipe with a new one.

 

Level 12. All attribute points are going into Dexterity for this build... purely a min/max decision, to maximize her best attribute. EP 5; Conc 1; Barg 12; Nature Weaver Lore(NWL) 4; Capricious Hunter Focus(CHF) 3. Buff-suit AB+3/SP+2. I ding 13 and add the Marked Shot modification to Sinister Predator buff, which already was modified for Eagle Eye. I put the Flow mod on GGT as well, for added protection / emergencies (like elite undeads!). I head for Human lands, and the Clearview merchant offers me an All Skills +1/Opponents chance to evade -9.5%! How lucky. Shopping so far has mostly been for cheap armour with slots. The mods don't matter a whole lot right now, and the slotted armour can be used later for buff or shopping suits. There is not a lot of $ at the beginning of the game, so it must be managed tightly. With 18% OCE and 20% COCE, I am pretty certian that I do not miss with ANY shots, however the concole hitchance calcluator shows 45-55% Chance to Hit... dubya-tee-eff as the kids'say :( 1st unique? Seyr's Klinge. Oh, well, at least it doubles my $ from 60k - 120k. I beat up the broker @ 15 and head over towards Gar'Colossus, doing a little map exploration and trying to hit level 18 on the way across Atamark. Gathering bunches of humans/wolves to keep the SB rising, there are no issues with defense, even when I stumble across some Darkies (the fire-using humans near Kufferath Castle). Killspeed is a joke, since I still haven't found a Darting Assault rune nor do I have any Regeneration per Hit (RpH) yet. AB @ level 5.7 is doing its job, thankfully! The fight against Gar is a long one, 5-7 mins. I vine and shoot, vine and shoot, moving only when he goes for the "headbutt" move that does connect twice, taking 3/4 of my health each time.

 

Level 18. EP 5; Conc 1; Barg 19!; NWL 9; CHF 9; Combat Reflexes 1. I've added the reload mod to Darting Assault, and I have one unspent mod point in Nature Weaver aspect, which is reserved for divert on AB, but I don't add that until I am finsihed with the SB-training. Buff-suit has me casting SP@5 and AB@7.1 while enjying the level 1 regen penalties. Now that I have > 400k gold, I exhchange a rune for Darting Assault, and I forge a 0.3 and a 0.2 RpH rings into my Dethlya's Protection I picked up somewhere along the way. I zip across Nor-Plat quickly, not letting too many orcs get up close and personal but when they do, defences prove to be just fine. I am pretty tired by now, and set her up with some goblins outside Orcish Byway for some overnight SB-farming. I wake up a little nervous but she's OK. 83% SB is fine, the last time I did that, it was a full 24-hours and the SB was 88% IIRC. I add the divert mod to Ancient Bark, cast my buffs and it's Octogolomus time at level 22. It's a 3-4 min battle as I stand toe to toe with him, using about 20-25 health potions instead of keeping GGT up. Mostly spamming Ravaged Impact but I do take a moment to cast Acute Mind and an Ephadic Lances (or 3) really put the hurt on him. This is good, I say to myself, since AM-EL will be my boss-killing combat arts; without Tactics Lore or Combat Discipline planned for this toon, the Hunter Combat Arts will not be doing a whole heck of a lot against the big guys, damage wise.

 

Level 25. EP 5; Conc 1; Barg 25; NWL 10; CHF 20; CR 5; Armour Lore 1. All Skills +2. Ravaged Impact level 9, regen 5.0/3.3 with conc. potion. DA is level 8 with 6.6/4.4 second regens. I have Aspect: Capricious Hunter +6 and RpH is 1.3. GGT is level 4, and heals 232 HP/s. Buff Suit: SP 11 and AB 8.8. Atk 208 Def 427 Arm 1131 HP 1050 and almost 1 million (total) experience. The level 14 blowpipe makes damages too embarassing to report ;) Seraphim Island! My barg is 47 as I use the teleporters to shop between the 2 merchants on this island. I am ignoring the enemies as I do this, and suddenly, my toon stops moving. The handy info on the screen is telling me to re-connect controller and I realize the batteries just died in the wireless controller. There are 3 enemies - 2 stone and 1 ice, but they are ALL champions and I look in horror as the health bar starts to drop. With my heart in my throat, beating 1000 miles an hour, I press the X-button, and ... it's alive! Faster than greased lightning, I hit start -> leave game and leave the controller on while I go get a coffee, new batteries and fresh underwear. 5 mins later, the controller is still "on" so thankfully the batteries were not totally dead, or else my toon would've been. So this is what I meant when I said "without (too much) user error" - even though it is totally my fault for the batteries running out, if it was only regluar mobs, or even 1 champ and 2-3 regular mobs, I could've gone got batteries, coffee, showered, ate breakfast, etc and she would've been fine. Anyway, I find a couple of nice armour pieces while shopping for a new blowpipe, but they are level 28 and I have to wait before I can use them without penalty. So I forge them and move forward to the Dragon Caves. I hit level 26 and sink points into Armour Lore... no more waiting for armour! I beat up Orducil, keeping him away with vines and shooting mostly; I do manage to land an AM-boosted EL but he dodged more EL's than I hit him with. I will have to get some casting speed and +Nature Weaver aspect for a "bosskilling suit", but funds are tight still and I don't really think it would make too much difference as the EL regen-times are too high to spam it even @ level 1. FINALLY, I am rewarded with a pipe that doesn't blow (chunks, that is): Level 28, With 27% deathblow, 8.1 Block (all) and a silver slot. Carnach @ 27 was an epic battle. He red-lines me 3 times, each time he summons his pets but I don't notice until they're beating me sensless and I'm almost dead. I land a few EL's against him, but even the ones that were boosted by Acute Mind AND deathblow do not do too much damage to him.

 

Swamp time! I add the gold mod 'Hunting Focus' to Sinsiter Predator and DA's regen time drops from ~8s to 3.6. This gives me some options as I can start to eat some runes and keep my current RpH level, or I can drop some RpH and add other "good stuff". All Skills +2 started appearing after defeating the Miasma at 29, so it's time to shop. I mostly need jewellery, but the 15 Deth's Protection and my level 8 bracers gotta go, too :( I end up removing some RpH, and adding more + Aspect: Capricious Hunter as the regen increase from this mod (from increasing the CA and the buff) is less than eating a rune, and the equip can be used later for a buff-suit for when I do start eating runes instead of increasing thru equipment. The setup is great, as I stroll across the Desert; only the green scorpions and the champ/elite red scorps can even dint my HP-pool. Garganthopod is another epic battle... epically boring, that is! Vines-RI-RI. Rinse and repeat. I try AM-EL again, and it's not too good, but after the battle I realize that AM is still level 1.. D'oh! Well, if I want to trade for runes, I'll need some $. Orc cave time! Level 31 with AB @ 10.9/SP 13 and DA level 10 there are no issues. Knockback silver mod on DA is working like I need it to, keeping the champs from surrounding me, letting only 1 at a time get near me and take a couple of swings which don't connect very often either. Levels 31-35 do not net me too much but $$, going up to almost $3 million. I get 5 each GGT and AM runes and do some Start Island-Karagh shopping runs.. mostly looking for bosskilling setup. I manage to get 2 pieces with Aspect:Nature Weaver +3, and after re-forging some of my adventuring suit, I'm poor again; but should be good for the Jungle-Machine run.

 

Level 35. 28 hours, 28 mins :D AB 14/SP 15. EP 5; Conc 5; Barg 35; NWL 30; CHF 22; CR 5; AL 5; Nature Weaver Focus 1. Atk 279 Def 649 Atk speed 122.3, runspeed 117.5 Armour 2635 total. Deathblow 35.5%, OCE 21.2%, All Skills +9, Aspect:Hunter +8, RpH 0.7, COCE 21.6 %, Reflect:close combat 31.1%, Regeneration time: Hunter -35.0%. Chest and legs of flame, both level 35 and the rest of the equip is bought from shops. DA level 12, 3.5 regen and GGT is 8 (+611 HP/s). Funny story, since I activated the Res Mon at Karagh for shopping(oops), I have to run most of the desert again from El-Darrag to the jungle. But there are no issues with Desert, Jungle or Dryad Island. On my way thru Girvym, I pop into the cave because I forgot to try my bosskilling suit on the jungle boss. I now have 3 +3 pieces so I put them all on as I get near the Dragon.. AM +EL on him while he's vined, and WHAM! 1/3 of his health goes in one-cast. He escapes vines before I get another off because EL regen time is too high. I try the cave again on my way outta this section, this time only equipping one of the +3 Aspect-boosting equipment. I get near him again, but I don't see any regular mobs, so I cast vines and he turnsand moves towards me and starts swinging! Ugh... the console targeting system drives me nuts MOST of the time, but this time it nearly puts me on permanent mental disability with how STUPID/random it performs. I end up running around the room, killing the normal mobs with a ten-ton dragon kicking my butt all over the place. Eventually I isolate him and 10 seconds later he's dead. Sweeeet goodness! Vine him, cast AM and 4 or 5 Lances later he's a goner. THAT eases the frustration level a little. Nothing good in his drops, but I notice the magical hiding spot before I port out and out pops a pipe. I take a quick look and see the silver and gold slot.. hopes rise and the info box reads one stat: Opponent level for deathblow +28.2%. Boo-yah. I forget all about the console targeting system :( Level 43, though, so I stash it for now and presume I'll have to get thru Silver before I can use it properly. The North end of Dryad Isle has me using GGT vs. the Blood Dryads and Fen Fires. Going thru the wasteland, my failure to deepen my HP-pool is evident as WHEN a demon manages to hit me, chunks of the HP bar disappear. But, GGT is still better than that, even with 2 champion and 2 regular demon/Daemon's swinging away. A champion Temple Guardian hits me for 1/2 of my health with a trap just before I get to the merchants outside the Hub. Normally, seeing that doesn't stop me from plowing on ahead with most toons, but I kinda like this girl and don't want to rebuild; so I retreat to the Orc Cave for some levels and $$. I just hit level 39, so 6-11 levels and I'll re-run the wasteland (from Windswept fortress on) and re-assess her then. I start sandbagging skill points just in case I need to pump Constituion when I hit 50.

 

I take a break and formulate an "offical" backup plan - I am quite disappointed in my Hunter damage so I wanted to tweak the build to include Tactics Lore. The original plan was to add Cabalistic Voodoo Focus at level 65, and with Bargaining, Nature Weaver Lore and Concentration masteries at level 75 - adding Moribund Animus buff to help on offence while I next bring Const, Armour Lore and Focus skills to 75. So, the backup plan looks like a typcial 2-aspect build, with Tactics added as I hit level 65, and Barg. and Constitution masteries as the only skills mastered at level 75. A more balanced approach with the rest of the skill points, with the Lores stopping at 20-30 points and getting the Foci to mastery before Lores. The secondary mastery order would be: CHF, NWF, Armour, EP, NWL, Tactics, Combat Reflexes. Concentration would have 5-20 pts, max. as there is no need for an unmodified Animus buff in the higher difficulties. But I think that I will continue on the "tricksy" plan of the 3-aspect build, as having Tactics lore can easily turn her into a vine+RI for bossbattles, and DA will tear normal mobs to shreds. I just played a toon like that a couple of weeks ago (with VD to speed-level between camp runs) so I think I'll try something less powerful but more dynamic. Of course, the original plan will need to be altered now that I know how fragile she really is... er I guess fragile isn't the best term but I know I cannot wait until late-gold before pumping points into Constitution. So I opt away from NWL mastery @ 75 and develop something along the lines of the afore-mentioned balanced approach. The plan for 75 is: EP 5; Conc 75; Barg 75; NWL 30; CHF 31; CR 5; Armour 10; NWF 12, Const 31 and Voodoo Focus 22... I should also be back here (@ Hub entrance) in Gold. What to do after that, I am unsure but back to the task at hand: getting out of Silver.

 

Well, that was quick! Even before I manage to ding level 40 in teh Orc Cave, a Shoulders of Flame drops from the heavens. I kinda feel like the unique mount questgiver in Orcish Byway, with a beam of light shining down, heavy metal music (Blind Guardian, OFC) playing in the background and a demonic voice saying "Forens has blessed you, daughter. Go forth and tear asunder the machines of the False God, and claim your rightful place in this Sacred world". So I forge the shoulders with Allskills +4 and slowly make my way through the Great Machine. 1-2 TG's at a time is fine, but another elite hits me for 40% health with another trap so I keep GGT up 24/7 for the rest of the Hub. I don't let Nimrouil get any swings against me, or the Nameless Guardians either. I do take a couple of hits from their "stun" attacks when I vine them too late and they are close enough for it to hit. Actually, I got lucky with NG#4, as I vined him once and he "froze", he never moved again and I just stood there RI and EL, re-casting AM when available. Glitch or no glitch, I was in Gold... Huzzah! :) In hindsight, it was a "lucky" run as my defences were not really up to snuff. Buff-suit needs work, no HP pool increase, mostly socketed for offence. Meh... judge for yourselves, here's the 411:

 

Level 40, Silver campaign complete. 34 hours playtime. 22% map. ~6k enemies killed. 87.1 % SB. 1997 HP. Atk 289 Def 733 Atk spd 118, runspeed 117.5. Arm 2664 but for 4th guardian, I was set up with 3230 total armour, and >1000 poison in case he got some swings in. AB level 12 (oops I sold one piece!) with rugged (+80% armour) and divert (32% reflect CC) mods. SP level 16 with Eagle eye (+11.5% criticals), Marked Shot (21.6 COCE) and Hunting Focus (-35% regen for Hunter aspect Combat Arts). EP 5; Conc 5; Barg 40; NWL 30; CHF 22; CR 5; AL 5; NWF 1; 15 unused skill points and 1 unused mod point in Nature Weaver aspect (in case I HAD to switch to backup plan). Ravaged Impact at level 9 had 1.4s regen time, but it missed a lot vs. the Guardians, and when it did hit, the 459-566 damage was nearly unnoticeable. DA is 12 with 2.4s regen and 344-418 damage, modified with reload (+1 projectile) and throwback (knockback) mods. GGT at level 8 with Flow bronze mod heals 666 HP/s. AM level 8 with 2x Insight mods boosts Intelligence by 476 and reduces regens by 25.3%. BONUS OVERVIEW: Mitigation: Physical 6.4%, and Fire 8.1%. Deathblow 51.4 total (35.5 from pipe and 35.7 from bracers) OCE -29.4% Allskills +13, Defensive skills +6. Rph 1.0s, Block(all) 8.1, with +7.0 close combat and +6.8 Projectiles. Knockback +2.7% :(

 

END Bronze / Silver

Edited by essjayehm
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  • 3 weeks later...

Heh, my first really successful character was a tri-aspect Dryad too. Do you use buff suits, or are they too much of a hassle for ya?

 

Good luck from me as well.

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Buff suits, I'm pretty addicted to. So I do use them but when conc. is mastered and 3 buffs from 3 aspects need boosting, I decided to use just one setup and sacrifice some CA-levels on the buffs. They're not so bad if you're not server-hopping (ie bosskilling) but multiple pieces for different buffs do become too much micromanagement for my preferences. So I look for pieces with 2 buffs /+aspects boosts and mix'n'match to get the desired levels.

 

N E way, part 2 is almost finished, I'll upload it a little later on today. Stay tuned! :)

 

Grab a beverage and a snack, here we go!

 

GOLD:

 

I start off in Gold by running the campaign up to Skooks' Corner, taking different routes to get some more map uncovered; but only the minimum amount of exploring along the way for now as I want to get to the areas with a lot of fire-users while I have an "up-to-date" 3piece Eternal Flame bonus (9.5% fire mitigation). Skooks Corner-Kufferath Castle-Atamarks Gate, aka the Bermuda Triangle for AB-Dryads, is cleared without so much as a health potion used, and GGT was up only as a precaution vs. really bad luck. In fact, only the "Darkies" with the 2-H swords (I swear they must be >8ft. long) could even put a dint in my little hitpoint pool. Levels 45 & 46 are spent in the Dragon Caves, running the "good" path and the islands (except Fire Lord... too scary). The baby dragons are the first enemies in a while to "require" GGT as 3 or 4 fireballs landing simultaneously puts the hurt on her. I go back to the camp and progress to Orcish Byway and run the mount quest in search of dangerous enemies. I chicken out vs. the spider and hydra, and kill them from range with AM + EL, but otherwise the t-mutants are no challenge. Gar goes down in about 3 mins; AM with ~ 30 runes now so Lances are getting better. I don't let him melee me, but I do let a couple of headbutts connect, but they are only able to hit me for 50% of my health, on the biggest hit (a critical, I assume). The goblins are not dangerous at all, and the Orc Cave is the only place that offers a challenge for her at level 49. My heart skips a beat a couple of times that 3 orcs manage to get some swings at me simultaneously before they are knocked back (knocked in a random direction, actually :) Their CtH must be pathetic, as they do not connect very often, but when they do, the health bar drops FAST. Once, they got 1/4 of my health in the matter of a couple of microseconds... but otherwise no issues here, with properly stacked defences and the jewel in the crown that is knockback. I am on 1* or better pickups, and I have to stop and scrap some crap about 4 times while I am trying to get my 9th skill cemented into the build. Once, an orc manages to get to close range... I exit the inventory and kill him; and the only set piece I get from this run drops. Level 50 Pantaloons of Flame, a welcome upgrade with Dex, runspeed and base defence with 2 silver cherries on top.

Level 50 EP 5; Conc 5; Barg 50; NWL 30; CHF 31; CR 5; AL 5; NWF 12 and I pump the 26 points I sandbagged into Constitution (soft level 56) to give me 4832 HP, up from ~3300, which gives me some breathing room for the big hits/lucky streaks. Ancient Bark now casting at level 30.8, and Sinister Predator level 26. I ding 51 in seraphim land, and convince myself to do the Demons! quest... it's map % and it's better to do it now, rather than in the harder difficulties. My heartbeat raises as I decend the stairs and accept the quest. I let the demon wail on me for a bit, to see whazzup. He can barely hit me, and when he does, it is only for a small sliver of health. Part 2, I cast GGT, but its not needed as Darting Assault keeps most of them knocked back... but that doesn't do much to alleviate my still-rising heartbeat! Inhale.... exhale... I take a deep breath and cast GGT before accepting the 3rd leg of this scare-fest. Immediately I call on Forens to reflect ~75% of all attacks for 15 seconds. There are only 3 - 3/4dead demons left after that, so I re-cast GGT and finish mopping up. After the dust settles and the drops are collected, the lowest my health fell was a sliver below full (round 1!). Whew! I don't think I'll be doing that quest again, not in HC anyway. Well, MAYBE not ;) I check the last opponent screen and it says the demons' CtH was about 55%, and I laugh out loud as that is obviously not the case... have I ever said I hate the console hit-chance calculator? I HATE IT. I contiune thru the Dragon Caves; Oradusil, 15 second fight. GGT-talk-Vine-retreat-vine-AM-EL-EL-Vine-EL-EL dead. Maybe it was 5 Lances, IDK :P Carnach @ 52 is another epic battle as he red-lines me once when (again) the summons get to me while I was paying attention elsewhere. Miasma at 53 is a snore, I avoid trying to see what wins between Miasma's tornado and GGT. He drops a Girth of Flame, and I am able to swap out my 35-shoulders and keep the 3-piece Fire Mitigation bonus. I did have the long-term goal of getting map revealed => 100%, so I have the 'rule' that I must enter a cave whenever I come across it. Crossing the desert to get to the big scorpion, I come across the Harpy Queens' cave. Gotta do it, I tell myself, and I have no issues clearing the cave. The miniboss fight is "fun"; whenever he debuffs my SP, I re-cast it so he doesn't take out AB. Garganthopod falls at level 54, I go toe to toe with him and he cannot hurt me enough to use GGT or a potion even. Kraal is 15 seconds... the Dragons and him seem to be most vulnerable to Lances, I notice. Facettileon is the usual, boring fight; but I need to use 2 potions which I thought was odd... IDK. Fighting up to the Fortress of Storms, the demons (even reg. ones) can bring the pain, so I do not let them gang up on me without casting GGT. The Guardians are a 'bore'; I go toe to toe with Mr. #4 and I'm A-OK as long as I have GGT up.

Gold Complete Level 56. STR 189; STA 219; VIT 209; DEX 381; INT 232; WIL 169. EP 5; Conc 10; Barg 56; NWL 30; CHF 31; CR 5; AL 5; NWF 12; Const 31. Ravaged Impact level 10; Darting Assault 22; GGT 33.8; AM 35.7; Buffs SP 33 and AB 35.3. 54.0 hours, 13k enemies killed, 90.2% SB, 4667 HP, Armour 9892.

 

PLATINUM:

 

I pop into Plat, and see the level 73 kobolds, etc. are no challenge as I run up to Twainbrook and set the Res. Mon for shopping (Free world). I think for a minute and decide to see how she handles the orcs... I use the Isle of Many Roads to port to Nor Plat and run, run, run to Karagh. The run was uneventful, but I didn't dare to stop and fight. Having a 3-stop shopping route is ideal, IMO, as I have had merchants fail to re-set their inventories when running between 2 merchants. It takes a few hours to get a few rings, an amulet, a helm and new boots. I throw caution to the wind and jump into the Platinum Orc Cave, definitely a mistake. Outch. Level 81-83 champ Orcs give me a real good scare when 3 land hits simultaneously (maybe it was 2 crits, w/e) and 3/4 of my HP disappears instantaneously. It reappears almost as instantly as it left, as GGT was going (whew). I realize the danger, but I stay for a bit... and at one point the spiders have stopped spawning and there are 3 orcs in cc range almost every run now, which is just asking for "it". I retreat to the Gold Orc Cave; level 68 Orcs are much tamer, and at one point, I walk into the middle of the room and let them all beat on me to see what happens. I chuckle a little as they all Kamikaze on my reflect and my HP never moves, WITHOUT GGT. Big grins. I decide to stay here for a while, as I am getting 3 cave clears per Light Mentor Potion as opposed to only 1 in the Plat. cave. Also, I think I got a lucky server, as the uniques are dropping and they are good ones (Memtar's Protector, Atamarks Star, Kyberle's Tear, Aspect set pieces, 2xTinwora's Curse, etc). I manage to go from level 58-61 before "it" happens. Stoopid Ogres and their Ice spell hit me twice in < 5 mins and the 63% movespeed is too painful to endure, especially with a knockback toon driving the orcs to the back of the cave every trip. I start the Plat. campaign, and decide to have a go at Ghanka. I have some equipments to test for bosskilling, but it is all in vain as I cannot overcome the trolls' HP regen. and I abandon the fight. I do some map-reveal of Tyr Lysia and Atamark and ding 65 before heading to Gar'Colossus. I add 5 points to Cabalistic Voodoo Focus and mod Twisted Torment (headhunter) and Black Curse (porus). The battle is interesting, I start by waiting for him to chuck a rock, so I can drop his shield easily; he throws 3 in a row, so I vine him up after destroying them. His headbutt move only tickles so I keep him vined while I cast AM and spam EL. At one point, I let him close into cc range, and boy do those big fists ever hurt. By the time AM is ready for the second casting, he has <50% health and 4-5 lances finish the job with 3528 Intelligence. After abandoning the bosskilling suit for Gold, I now have an Armguards of Nettles with 2 Plat Lances runes socketed for a good +15 to EL, which keeps it spamable (with AM running) and a few levels now to boost the damage. Nor Plat FINALLY offers some challenges as I need to cast GGT once or twice <yawn> to protect vs. "the worst". I am fighting Octogolomus and I decide I don't like my boskilling combos. I go into the CA screen (after casting GGT) and I hear the dreaded sound of red-lining, and I am very lucky to exit the menu and pop a potion while standing on my dead lizard. I don't know why, but this is typically one of the most annoying fights for my Dryads, I usually have to use a few potions as his one attack really packs a whallop. Anyway, a good wake-up call for me to remind me I'm only level 67 in Platinum. I manage to keep a decent killspeed by picking up a new pipe (nothing interesting but high damage) and socket a Lava into it. I get another pipe, lower damage but 2 slots, which I fill with Deathblow and an Ice chunk ( for Dragon caves). I manage to instigate a circumstance, as I find 6-7 baby dragons (1 champ/elite) and a few earth elemental thingys are able to take my health down by 50% in about 30 seconds of standing and doing nothing. I wonder how she will do vs. Carnach, but there is only one way to find out! My biggest fear is that vines do not help vs. his biggest "threat", his summons. It's a good battle; I do not let the summons catch me off-guard and I need 2-3 potions when GGT runs out and I am in the midst of casting other spells. 1500 fire armour vs. level 84 Carnach was OK, no huge chunks were seen disappearing. Back to the fire pipe for the Swamps, where I find a good pair of bracers with deathblow+socket. Ice pipe for the Desert and I feel like I'm pushing too much, but GGT 24/7 is still doing a damn fine job at making her immortal. The scorpion boss declines me the treasured shrunken head on my first "real" try (ie using TT at end of battle). The Jungle isn't too bad with a total 61% deathblow, but Kraal comes so very, very close to KO my hero; I am VERY lucky to survive his sonic booms with AB active, I would guess that I had 1 or 2 HP's left when I guzzled the potions after getting hit by it. Aargh! My arrogance almost cost me the HC challenge, again at level 70. I hit start->leave game mid-battle, deathly afraid the next attack will not leave me breathing. More Orc Cave training, they're still level 82 vs. my 70, but the damage chunks are a lot smaller/bearable. Most runs I get 3 cave clears per light mentor potion, sometimes it runs out mid-way thru run #3. I re-forged the fire pipe for poison, although I don't think that matters a whole lot inside the "cave". I ding 74 and realize I don't have a shrunken head yet! Well, I did get a Monster head from the 2nd Guardian in Gold, so I have something; but the mods are crap and I decide to devote level 74 to headhunting. I head back into gold and head for Girvym dragon...and I bork the respawn after run #3, headless. I run over to Garganthopod and set the Res. Mon., he declines me his head, as well. Back to Girvym... no dice. For whatever reason, I cannot target the dragon (invisibility?) with Twisted Torment, so I am actually happy for the first time for the targeting style of Ephadic Lances, as I can still lance the big bugger even though I cannot hit him with a weapon CA. I ding 75 without finding my Dragon head, so I head back into Platinum for some shopping - more like a complete toon overhaul. The main focus of my gear/socketing has been Aspect:Capricious Hunter, +Darting Assault, allskills, and damage (incl. deathblow). But, now I should switch around and remove most +Aspect/+DA and eat some runes so some sockets can be used for hard damage rings. Hrm.. tricksy buff-suit building time! I look for pieces with 2 slots and +buff/+aspect, OR preferably 2 native buff/aspect mods as they are better than anything that can be socketed. I eventually have to sacrifice some buff levels to get one gear setup for all 3 buffs. Usually, I keep buffsuits casting buffs at 1/2 of my character level, but I might fall below that threshold for the sake of easiness. Of course, I still don't have a good bosskilling setup yet; I've never built one so it's a learning experience for sure. Stats time! 76.5 hours before shopping, 79 after. 38.2% map explored, ~22k enemies killed, 92.3 SB, 8500 HP. EP 5; Conc 75; Barg 75; NWL 30; CHF 31; CR 5; AL 5 NWF 12; Const 31; CVF 22; 5 points leftover. I'll list all the rest in a "before shop-after shop" method: AB 36.3-39.5; SP 40.8-36; Moribund Animus (Malice-Elevation-Fury) 0-40.6; RI 35-1 :); DA 45.7-50.9; GGT 34-43.9; AM 39.3-42; EL 16-28. Deathblow: 47%(bracers); +41.2%(ice pipe) = 61.4% when using both. OCE 38.9-37.9; Aspect:CH 34-0; Allskills 35-61; Def. skills 6-13; RpH 1.0-0.8; Knockback 5.7-5.2 :) Atk 824-732; Def 2650-3036; Armour 10,717-13,874. I port back to the former home of the Great Machine and turn off Ancient Bark for round 2 vs. Kraal. The lowered armour "helps" as his sonic boom now only hits for 75% of my health (instead of 99.9). Oops... runspeed got ignored during the retrofit, and it becomes an issue in the Girvym cave as I cannot get out of the cave before the dragons' body disappears and borks the respawn. I only get about 6 kills in the 3 "runs" I do on the Plat campaign visit to these islands (once in, once while getting the poison/antidote, once on the way out). But, she is pwning mobs on Dyr-Laigh & the Minotaur (Yellow monster head, aka Minnie) is a good help with the champs as I do not have any RI runes eaten yet. Knockback (knockanydirection) + pet seems to be antisynergetic so I really want a dragon head to see if he can keep up with the bouncing enemies :bounce: But I give up on that for now, and fetch my mount for movement speed.. and that handy protection vs. the "schot". Dryad and Wasteland areas cannot even come close to eating my mount, with GGT up, so I breeze on thru to the Guardians. That battle is going smoothly, until a TG spawns just as I am waking up Mr. #4. They both follow me into the hall & I resort to Darting Assault as RI has no levels, YET :(

The TG is almost dead, and the Final Guardian gets to cc range and starts an attack... I see the starburst animation of the critical hit... The red flash procs and I hear that HORRIBLE sound...

Edited by essjayehm
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Well, she did die, but not from the Platinum Guardian #4.

 

Niobium:

The TG died as I gulped a pot. and vined up the bugger, and Lanced my way into Niobium. Level 78, eh? Beats my best by 4 levels (An EW-Seraphim, my first bargaining toon!) Anywho, I'm feeling all full of myself so I fire up a freeworld in the newly unlocked difficulty and port to Sloeford after a quick check at the merchants. I dip my big toe into the Niobium waters with a Sloeford wolf... and it cannot hit me before Minnie kills it. A couple more wolves show me no resistance, so I cross the bridge past Flavius, turn the corner and run into the 4 elves, but they're distracted by the 2 kobolds so I begin the "Assault" - kill speed isn't too bad as I 3 or 4-shot them. Hrm.. the water doesn't seem THAT bad, lets dive in headfirst! I gather a mob of kobolds and they manage to dint the HP bar a couple of times (with GGT up) but nothing serious. I get all of Western Tyr Lysia mapped (including caves) and I come across the Old Monastery in Seraphim Valley. Hrm.. I forget how to get into that cave, as there is a locked door in front of it. "Waitaminute!" I think as I remember I have a teleport spell. The ghosts in here take a LOT of hits to put down, but they're not hitting me so I decide to get this place finished now, while I am here. I turn a corner and get ambushed by X ghosts (honestly, I don't know how many... 3 at least were 'shiny' champ/elites) and a millisecond later, I am staring down at another dead dryad.

 

I exit to the dashboard, delete the save file, and it's time to re-start! :viking:

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:sigh: Well, it was a valiant effort. Makes me want to take a crack at the challenge myself.....maybe after I get back into the game.

 

One thing that I noted from my tri-aspect dryad is that a high-leveled Ancient Bark (mine's 80+ with a buff suit) with the Rugged and Divert mods does wonders for survivability--I'm typically in no danger of dying against anything other than Demon champions (the ones armed with a sword; these guys have killed me in Niob) and those Giant Green Desert Scorpions of Murder-You-Horribly (though these guys generally move slow enough that they can be rooted before they become a problem). So, if you take another whack at the challenge with this build, you may want to boost NWF higher than 12 (something that occurs to me just now--how high was it boosed through equipment?).

 

In any case, thanks for the read.

 

R.I.P. Jenny

 

She will be missed. :sob:

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Awww, shucks...:blush: thanks guys!

 

When I designed her, I thought there was no way she could get killed unless I pushed her too much. Which I did, I will admit; but the Niob Kobolds/elves were not hurting her very much at all, so I thought I was OK as long as I stayed among the "easy" enemies. It was a long time since I was in that cave, and had forgot it has those tough ghosties. I was handling them fine 1 at a time, I didn't stop and zoom out before I moved onto the next one and got ambushed by multiple champs, and she had no chance. The animation for GGT was going as she died, but I don't even think that would've saved her, as Inky, Blinky and co. were too strong.

 

@MITZE, AB was still at 39.5 from the level 75 retrofit; I feel buffs at 1/2 character level are typically good enough, unless pushing your toon into areas they really do not belong. IIRC I was below +50 total AB, so I really was not that far into the penalties that more points in NWF would've made too much difference this time. Yay console allskills.

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As far as I'm concerned, Niobium itself is an 'area toons really do not belong." Then again, I've only made it to Niob with two toons, the first of which got slaughtered by elves and one-shotted by a boar. The second one (a rebuild of the first) got two-shotted by one of those sword-wielding demons I was talking about. With Ancient Bark giving me over 60,00 armor and ~65% chance to reflect melee. :twitch: Yeah. Maybe I should have tried to fit in Constitution after all...

 

The first toon convinced me that taking Niob lightly was a (very, very, VERY) bad idea, and the second told me that being paranoid about Niob is akin to being underprepared. Yeah, I think Niob is a scary place...and I was playing with a partner!

 

In any case, both of those were tri-aspect Dryads that were designed to be played with a friend. I'm really not sure how well my character would have performed on her own.

 

Ah well...if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. (Or in my case, failure may be your style. Yeah, I'm cynical.)

 

Good luck with your next toon!

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Gah! Can't believe I forgot about this earlier: Merry Christmas! :xmastree: (If you celebrate something else, I hope that's merry too!)

 

Yeah, I know this is late. Sorry... :sweating:

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