EPTWarning: Lots of pictures!
+ Show Spoiler +
For information on what I’m doing, refer to my previous blog. Quick recap: I am challenging myself to, after 7 years of not touching the game (after playing way too much previously), return to the Diablo 2 ladder to start from scratch, and within 24 hours complete objectives that some have called “impossible” (after researching, I agree, but not 100%): 1) Clear Hell difficulty 2) Defeat Uber Tristram 3) Make my 1st Enigma 4) Do everything SOLO, LEGIT, and w/ only ONE copy of Diablo 2 (I really only have 1 copy). Here is the result of my gambit of either awesome success or massive failure, with explanations on my thought process and strategy as I go along.
Opening Build Order
After getting over the nostalgia attack from hearing the godlike soundtrack for the first time in 7 years, I did the first things I always do: make my ragtag team of ladder reset chars!
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/PJhxhKd.png)
These bad boys and girls are the first 8 out of 10 basic chars (characters) I make after every ladder reset. (#9 is Barbarian, #10 is my 4th Paladin, but they are not as important). They are listed in rough order of importance and progression. I try to re-use the same names every reset, and each character’s name is a reference to something nerdy outside the game as well as an indication to what type of character it will be.
SUPER MEGA DOUBLE-DELICIOUS BROWNIE POINTS to anyone who actually gets all 8 characters/references!!!
First moves
I begin my adventure with the Assassin named Madeline.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/aENQVtD.png)
“640x480!” she says... “Those hotkeys and that icon bar!” she says… “Get me out of this twilight zone!” she says. I obliged whole-heartedly.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/C56xSWI.png)
Ahh much better. I step out into the wild.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/g1I6RaH.png)
“What? That was quick!” Flavie said.
“I’ve got a plan for this challenge, Flavie.” Madeline said. “You see, I…”
“Turn back! I can tell that you need more experience to fight safely in the next wilderness.”
“I appreciate your care, Flavie, but I must forge on.”
Time check: 2 minutes 30 seconds. Level 2.
Madeline brazenly runs off into the Cold Plains, and is immediately met with a Unique boss pack of 10 Corrupt Rogues with a Fallen Shaman doing who knows what in the back. “So this is what Flavie warned me about!”
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Fzx72ra.png)
Smooth and easy. Big chunk of delicious experience bar in 5 seconds. Imagine if they sold “Experience Bar” energy bars at the supermarket.
+ Show Spoiler +
Aside: I’m going to pause here to explain my strategy up to this point. Feel free to skim or skip entirely. Also, I’m going to start using D2 lingo from now on too for convenience. Feel free to ask if terms needs clarification or something is not explained well.
Next to the Cold Plains waypoint always spawns a random Unique boss pack. Killing this boss pack is your first place to get ridiculous amounts of experience. This is my target. So I purposely kill just a few monsters on my way to Flavie, barely enough to hit Lvl 2, skill point into Fireblast, and then it's go time!
My 8 chars are (spoilers!) in order: Summon nec, FrostNova/Nova/Firewall sorc, Trapsin, Hammerdin, Zeal/Smiter, Hdin/Smiter, Light sorc, Blizz/Nova sorc. Each of these chars has a very specific utility and objective in the game if I were to play normally. For this challenge, I chose to only use the first 3 chars. My reasoning went like this:
Clearing hell mode will be do-able with many chars, but the hard parts are beating Uber Trist and getting to Enigma. After re-looking at drop rates, I realized I may be in way over my head trying to get HRs (high runes) for Enigma, unless I get ridiculously lucky with drops in certain parts of the game, so I set this objective aside in order to focus on Ubers, and possibly come back to it later on. The most reliable way to kill Ubers is to have an outfitted Smiter. But leveling some form of Smiter is backbreakingly time-consuming – time which I don’t have. The other way to do it is to abuse an outfitted Summon Nec. Less reliable, but more practical, cheaper to itemize, and faster in progression from scratch. Going through the game with a Nec is too slow though, so to pick up the pace and have access to boss killing power and quickly clearing areas to actually get some decent items, I recruited a sorc. With 2 in tow, something still felt out of place.
Since I’m starting from scratch, both a Necro and Sorc is going to have trouble throughout the game without a boost in power especially in the early game. Since I am doing this solo, what I wear when I start is probably what I’ll wear near the end. Especially since I will most likely be blitzkrieging though the game underleveled and under-itemized, I will probably be bottlenecked in certain difficult places and crunched for time. To solve this, I called upon the IMO #1 best all-around char to start with after a reset: Assassin.
If a Summon Nec is slow and unwieldy, but has the raw power to slowly crush through every part of the game, and a Sorc is insanely fast with innate teleport, but dies to every little slap by an enemy, a Sin sits right in the middle of the spectrum between Sorc and Nec – between speed and power. She has all the technical tricks to negotiate touch stretches of the game that raw power and raw speed can’t. The only problem is, in the late game without items and enemies getting tougher and tougher, this middle balance becomes out-classed by the single focus of Sorc and Nec. Knowing this, to save time, I will probably drop my Sin somewhere in Nightmare, and continue on without her. Poor Madeline =(.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Gfoh3Ea.png)
Madeline goes on a tear to Bishibosh.
Time check: 6 minutes, level 4.
I go back to town for the first time to have a warm cup of coffee with Akara.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/uhO8JBj.png)
Instead of coffee, she gives me gold instead!
+ Show Spoiler +
Aside 2: A lot of players on the ladder think gold is worthless (to be fair, it mostly is), but you NEED gold after a ladder reset. The best items you are going to get will probably from shopping, and little do you know, Akara, Fara, Drognan, and the rest of the gang are all colluding against you! Someone call the Feds! A good sorc staff or necro wand can cost upwards of $100,000+ gold. Those scalpers! So when people ask “what items should I pick up when I start?,” the answer is “Everything!!!” It hurts me so bad when I’m in a public game and see a floor full of items. Then again, I just pick it all up, sell it, buy a +3fireball staff, and people are like, “WTF how’d you get that?! Lucker!!” Don't be one of these people. Don’t be afraid to also spend money to buy armors and weapons for yourself and your merc.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/gQ39Zu2.png)
Madeline’s wits surround her as she learns to tackle a tough character with an explosively electric personality. Or maybe he’s just angry that the only words he can verbalize are Rah Kah Nee Shoe!
+ Show Spoiler +
Aside 3: Remember to maximize use of 2 types of shrines: Experience Shrines and Monster Shrines. Save them for when you are about to kill something big, like a SuperUnique, or do a Trist run.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/3dmZEnb.png)
Shop run no. 2 for Madeline. She likes shopping. Go figure.
+ Show Spoiler +
Aside 4: When you use Scrolls of Identify, ONLY use them on major items such as jewelry, wands, staffs, certain armors, charms, and other items with high potential sell prices. Think of it as a 100 gold (or 80 gold with the discount) investment… will you net more than 80 gold back, or less? For example, in the above screenshot, I ID’ed an amulet which probably net me an extra 1k - 1.5k gold. In a previous shot with my cursor over a magic short sword, I sold the sword without even looking at it. Here I’ll ID the 2 sorc orbs and scepter, but never would I ID the xbow.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/2gO6UQw.png)
Madeline spies an example of her target price range to get an idea of Akara’s hustling prices. Imagine this being +3 raise skeleton instead of corpse explosion. Madeline walks off more determined than ever.
+ Show Spoiler +
Aside 5: You can see I literally sell absolutely everything and wear no items except my starting katar and buckler worth 1 gold each. I’m saving up for a big purchase. Here I see my gold is at 13k and an example of a +3skill wand is at 19k without magic properties. The name is in white so it has no additional magical properties. If it was in blue, I could imagine it being easily 25k+, AKA way above of Madeline’s paygrade. She needs a raise.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/myE3Nny.png)
But! Madeline finds something amazing in the wild for a friend back home!
+ Show Spoiler +
Aside 6: This saves my Nec 2 skill points in the early game, which is huge! Super bonus points because it gives +raise skeleton instead of +skeleton mastery which is more valuable. Did you know that the best places to find Nec shields and Sorc orbs are off normal monsters up to Stony Field and (a little less so) Dark Wood? This is because monsters have such a small range of items to drop, these hard-to-find items have something like a 1/40 chance to drop off every monster here. To get magic/rare versions, Corpsefire, Bishibosh, BloodRaven, Rakanishu, and Treehead Woodfist are your best bet. Instead of running Trist, I actually run these bosses to level up in the super early game and get items which I will almost literally be unable to get for the rest of the game due to the low level properties I want on them, such as the Level 1 skill raise skeleton.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/IOKXgaB.png)
Madeline mentally prepares for an encounter with a red portal.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/1CneZjX.png)
Down the rabbit hole she goes.
Time check: 9 minutes, 98% of the way to level 7.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/gdB62lz.png)
In true Assassin style, she lures Griswold out to backstab him, netting 1/5 Experience Bar. These bars sure are popular around here. Tough fight though.
+ Show Spoiler +
Aside 7: Want chipped gems? Griswold is THE best dropper of chipped gems at this level. The only problem is, he also like to drop magic items instead sometimes, which is annoying. At least he can sometimes drop Nec shields and Sorc orbs, though at reduced % because his item drop range is much wider.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/XIO4QtX.png)
Madeline actually almost dies here, TWICE! Extra Fast Goatmen boss pack + Goatmen Champion x4 pack. Nasty. That one missing pot is me using ALL the pots in my inventory and then going to my belt. I could have sworn it should have been a bunch of Champion Fallen Shaman, which would have been EZPZLMNSQZ for my AOE fireblasts. Surely this is as bad as it gets…
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/KJsbuxb.png)
Oh no, I hate Lightning Enchanted. Nice name though. Again Madeline almost dies to never ending resurrecting waves of Carvers because the Shaman took maybe 30 fireblasts to kill. I realize that 137 hp is actually not enough somehow. I don’t remember the game being this hard so early.
Time for a change in strategy. I spend gold to stock the F up on mana pots. I’m just going to chug them for infinite fireblasts. My null hypothesis is that there is no relationship between chugging mana pots and killing power. My alternative hypothesis is that there is. Let’s run some tests to see the results. For Science!
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/voGfL4A.png)
The “Before” picture.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/JrgtGCx.png)
The “After” picture.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/zG19ZIF.png)
Side quest found! I’ll come back to it later. The dungeon’s dampness is bad for Madeline’s hair. I’ve learned from experience that you need to be mindful of these things in life.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/ccorVlm.png)
Another challenge!
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/cgYVvxD.png)
Challenged accepted. F yeah.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/gdtlS7W.png)
I am no longer afraid. These packs of monsters are so happy to run straight at me, and I serve them orders of Fireblast cake! Service with a smile, my old boss said.
Here is a trick for those of you who may find it useful: I use the 10-5 Rule when I used to work in a restaurant. When walking to greet a customer, at 10 feet distance away, make eye contact and smile, at 5 feet, verbally greet them. I use this rule at social functions, job interviews, etc. If I don't want to talk to someone, I stay 10 feet away and pretend to be distracted. If I want to meet someone, I 10-5 them and voila! A comfortable and formal greeting. If they don't want to greet you, you'll be able to tell between 10 and 5 feet, and can safely veer off in another direction as if you were going to do that anyway. Though you may wonder why they didn't want to talk to you though.... o_O
+ Show Spoiler +
Aside 8:
The trick is to use BoS to lure all of them to 1 spot, and 5 seconds later, I get more Experience Bars than I know what to do with. Many people skip BoS for more fireblast/trap damage. Don't do it. The time you'll shave off traveling from place to place far outweighs the extra few points of damage.
It is always profitable to kill boss and champion packs as a Sin, even if you have to use pots. They drop pots themselves to re-fill your belt, lots of gold and items, are the best EXP around, and your trusty fireblast kills them in 5 seconds or less. THIS is why you see random high-level Assassins running around at blistering speed in Hell difficulty doing Nilathak runs in the beginning of ladder. No other char has such an early game spammable AOE, which gives them the early advantage, along with an arsenal of technical tricks like Fade, Cloak of Shadows, Weapon Block, Mindblast, and traps that allow you to “glass cannon” because you don’t even need to be in the same room you’re clearing – all these allow Sins to overtake even Sorcs in speed early on the ladder.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/vanKrVd.png)
Welcome to the Tamoe Highland Resort. Our special massages in the Spa area include the exotic Pointy Stick massage. You’ll have to sign a full release of liability for that one. But doesn’t it sound great! You gain a great (lots of) experience!
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/W40Hk2B.png)
Time check: 13 min. Level 8. Outer Cloister waypoint.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/QKly7vs.png)
Gear check: Sell buckler because I realized my close encounters with death are the result of being block-locked. Sins have absolutely amazing FHR anyway so being hit, and running away with movement speed from BoS is just fine. (FHR = faster hit recovery, BoS = Burst of Speed)
1 real item on me: GF ring. Remember it’s all about that gold in the early game! (GF = Gold Find)
Stash: Got my first chipped ruby! A side effect of not running Trist to level up is a severe lack of chipped gems.
+ Show Spoiler +
IMO all chippies except rubies and topazes are completely useless in the early game, so I sell them for gold. Most valuable are topazes for the MF (magic find). Rubies are good technical items because they give really good minimum damage in weapons and lots of life in socketed armors.
Best and cheapest Lvl 1 (or 6) Paladin setup IMO is 2x ruby helm, 3x ruby body armor, 2x ruby scepter w/ might or holy fire – you literally become a walking tank that one shots everything in Act 1 and part of Act 2 as you level up. I once tried to start w/ a Pal from scratch and stacked him with this sort of gear, was in Act 2 at level 6, carrying my party of level 15+ chars (after their Trist runs) and almost doubling everyone else’s damage. It was freaking awesome. And then you get a Ravenclaw bow, Cathan’s rings/ammy, and turn on Holy Fire Aura. At some point I was shooting explosive fire arrows with 100+ minimum damage in Act 2. Disgusting.
Of course, you could also just put Death's set on any char and win all of Normal difficulty. But that requires a lot of preparation.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/9GhwHyM.png)
Onwards and upwards! It’s time for why I called on Madeline for help. Countess Runs, baby.
Madeline gives me a look. THAT look.
"Your hair will be fine. I promise!"
...
Until next time,
Chapter 2: Necromancers & Tal Runes
