EPTWarning: Lots of pictures!
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We ended last time with Alucard showing some truly scary skeletons.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/23svEJc.png)
Tears fill my eyes as I remembered how utterly broken.... I mean "efficient" a summon Nec is. Until you get to narrow corridors and doorways.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/L3Q9e97.png)
These are the secrets to his success.
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Aside 1:
I actually found 1 MF ring and 1 MF amulet at some point. Low percentages - something like 4% and 9%. I sold them because I wanted to maximize the number of white items like wands, orbs, etc. to drop. If only I could magically replace +1 corpse explosion with +3 skeleton mastery.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/ht0mU2k.png)
A nice side effect of Madeline’s Countess runs. The premium skill to look for here is +Raise Skeleton. Nothing else matters in comparison.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/xlHg9RV.png)
Alucard adds a specialist to his growing undead army.
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Aside 2:
Clay Golem has one main use for a Necromancer other than being an extra meat shield. Normally, Necromancers fare quite badly against Act bosses, due to the huge bonus damage Act bosses gain against summons and mercs. Because Clay Golem’s slow actually stacks ON TOP of other slow effects, such as Decrepify and Kelpie Snare, Act Bosses get slowed down to the point of barely being able to attack or cast any spells. With enough slow effects, this allows Necs to easily take down Diablo, the first boss w/ an arsenal of massive AOE threats, when usually Diablo’s long range AOE attacks are a Nec’s worst nightmare.
When I used to play a lot, I originally thought that if I tried to beat Diablo solo as summon Nec, I needed to hit Lvl 24 to have both Clay Golem and Decrepify together, and Summon Resist so my minions don’t get slaughtered by the first “ring of fire.” After growing tired of tomb runs, I tried to defeat Diablo once around level 18, and I found that it can be done by brute forcing Diablo down with super high dmg skeletons and amplify damage before he casts too many AOE spells. The engagement becomes a luck-based coin flip though of not having him cast 3 x “ring of fire” in a row to make your army disappear.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/F884ak1.png)
Alucard decides he also wants to go dungeon crawling.
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Aside 3:
I did Trist runs to level up to 13 because I felt it would be the fastest way to level, but as the EXP started drying up, I got a bit tired of Tristram. Since I still needed some Tir runes, I decided I would take the hit to my time and do Countess runs instead, even though I knew these runs would take longer. I STILL kept getting Tal runes for some spiteful ungodly reason, but I got 1 Tir!
To help me level fast, I did my Trist runs in some of the same games as my Countess runs with Madeline. This had the bonus that if Madeline saw any experience shrines, my Nec could take them. I found a few which gave me a huge time boost. Every little edge counts.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/VCEaF6i.png)
More loot! This would be great as a Rhyme or Splendor runeword, but Skeleton Mastery is nowhere near as valuable as Raise Skeleton here. Alucard and I eventually sold it after deliberate consideration.
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Aside 4:
The best rolls I can get here for wand & shield are +3RS/+3SM white wand that I can later make into a White (runeword), and a +3RS/+3SM white shield that I can later make into a Splender. IIRC, in the higher difficulties, it is actually impossible to naturally find level 1 skills on drops due to the way these mods are rolled. There was a way to do get both higher level and lower level +skills on items but I don't remember how any more. What I do remember is that certain Paladin scepters w/ +Holy Shield and Assassin claws w/ certain +skills can fetch absolutely astronomical prices. Nec wands/shields, no matter how impossibly rare, were still at garage sale pricing though, because no one played Necromancers............
Being the avid (read: OCD) Nec player I used to be, while I defaulted to Aokl as my final wand for its cheap cost and easy-to-find nature like most other sane people, there is actually a way to get a wand that give +6 Raise Skeleton and +6 Skeleton Mastery by crafting. Again being the avid/OCD player that I was, I actually rolled one at some point against astronomical odds. I looked into trying to get a +6/+6 Nec shield somehow as well, but I believe that's when I stopped playing. Crafting was simultaneously one of the most awesome and tedious mechanics in D2.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/BDfs6ji.png)
“Alucard! What is that?” I gasped.
“I feel we should take it back to Deckard Cain at once. He may be able to decipher the hieroglyphic etchings on it,” he replied. Or was that what I said to give myself an excuse to TP back to town to see what it was?
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/GPnL172.png)
My first Unique item! Ahh, the sudden surprise of the brownish-gold lettering brings me back, even if this item is only worth X amount of gold. I keep it in my stash to be sold in Act 2 for more than the current 5k limit in Act 1.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/YXlwxfH.png)
On the very last run as Alucard hits Lvl 15. I hit my target of 5 Tir runes total now.
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Aside 5:
I'll be honest - I don't actually NEED 5 Tir runes; the 3 I have would be passable - but I was having a little too much fun playing this game again that I didn't want to be stuck only doing Trist runs. So I varied things up a bit even though it added to my time.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/X06Bp4J.png)
Time check: 45 minutes on my Nec. Level 15. 39-41 DMG skeletons x4. I did 4 Countess runs total on my Nec from level 13-15 (w/ 2 EXP shrines), each run averaging 5 minutes compared to the roughly 2 minutes on my Sin. That's quite a speed difference.
Meanwhile, Madeline has been doing work:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/EZKvfZ8.png)
The Smith has a lot of HP, but sneaky Madeline lures him out of the room next to a well and takes him down with ease.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/KEOjdLQ.png)
Looks like the Smith dabbles in magic items too!
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Aside 6:
My imbue reward on a Nec shield ends up being rather useless, but - Blatant Foreshadowing: that Eagle Orb pictured above may or may not be useful later on…
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Nb1QIHc.png)
Madeline’s speed in traversing areas is unrivaled, and clears the way for my slow summon Nec.
Time check: From Outer Cloister waypoint to Catacombs level 3, Madeline goes from 40 min to 47 min. Blazing fast. Fire should be coming off her feet while she runs. And she picks off the Smith quest while she's at it. I also get rather lucky with Catacombs level 3 taking about 10 seconds to find the stairs down.
As I move through the rooms, ideally I would like to level Madeline at the same time that I'm blitzing through an area, or else I fear she will become too underleveled later on. The trick is if you see monsters, lay your traps down, and just leave. Don't wait to watch your traps burn everything. Don't care about the drops. You're practically nonstop running while your traps kill everything in the room you just left behind. Any drops can be picked up by Alucard running in my wake of destruction.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/pKcHZJW.png)
Alucard beams with happiness at his army.
I’m very surprised that I am completely untouched (not even poisoned) after the boss fight. My skeletons are way stronger than I remembered them to be. Andariel dropped in about 3 seconds, but also dropped nothing of note unfortunately.
Time check: 45 min to 52 on my Nec, including time killing Andy. Slow and steady I guess.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/cjxBVsp.png)
Alucard adjusts to life as a celebrity following Andariel’s defeat. Next up on Sanctuary News: Andariel claims, “The sun was in my eyes! I couldn’t see during the fight!” Truthful explanation? Or wounded pride? We report, you decide.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/DffvINR.png)
Alucard feels he is rather under-dressed for the occasion compared to the others. Why does Warriv always look tired and stretching himself?
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Aside 7:
ACT 2!!! I know many people have a knee-jerk allergic reaction to the scavenger hunt Act, but Act 2 is my favorite act by far. Something about the way the sandy architecture looks, or more likely the way lightning beetles explode. I can imagine myself taking a vacation here – minus the danger of monster slaying of course. I’m pretty sure I’m playing as a Hardcore char in real life.
On another note, the goal of getting to Act 2 allows me to do one thing – go on a shopping spree for useful items. There are tons of great items sold at the A2 merchants. While I did take pictures, it’s easier if I just list my haul:
14 mana belt from Fara for my Nec (I realized he needs not mana regen, but maximum mana pool. Cheap belt for a super useful boost to mana and extra rows of pots.)
20MF boots & 20MF gloves for 40MF total on my Nec (Nec is the best natural MF carrier early on because he can get by w/o real items. All his power comes from his skills. Fara will almost never carry MF items, but Elzix seems to have shipments of them all the time. Either that, or he still raids caravans for them. While I do buy them here, I won't always use them depending on if I want magic or white/rune drops. As long as you have between 50%-100% MF, you will notice a large difference in quality of drops, but after 100% the diminishing returns is IMO not worth the sacrifice to other stats until you have very good items in the late game.)
+5 regeneration belt for my Sorc later on (I didn’t show it, but I found a +5 regen ring and a +5 regen ammy earlier on that I kept. Regen will become very helpful in not slowing my sorc’s killing speed once she is up and running.)
1 2os white helm
3 3os breastplate (yes 3 of them. I only wanted 1 but they just kept coming)
1 polearm w/ cold damage for my merc
1 5% chance to cast Frost Nova when struck body armor for merc
1 5% chance to cast Frost Nova when struck helm for merc (I do this for all my A2 mercs until I get some nice items for them. As they are playing the role of tank and distraction/crowd control, Frost Nova goes very well with that to protect my main char. Since the terrible AI automatically tells them to run headlong into enemies, you would be surprised (as I was when I first tried it years ago) how often Frost Nova procs to help out during a fight.)
1 2os white scepter
1 2os scepter with +3 holy fire (it’s only useful for a Paladin, but I couldn’t resist!)
1 2os +3 Fireball staff (a classic. I’ll make Leaf for my sin eventually)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/4N1fsHd.png)
Alucard’s jaw drops as he sees the scalper’s prices. He angrily raises his wand at Drognan.
“I can’t do that here.”
*Curses!*
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Aside 8:
THIS damn pricing is why I literally sell everything in the early game. 121K price tag vs. my 130k bank. I got extremely lucky and found another one in the shop for about half price. I’m looking for +nova and +mana after each kill. I could have nearly bankrupted my Nec. Later on the shop prices start hitting 200k-500k+. Then again, I guess Blizzard needed some type of gold sink other than just gambling.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/4ivjBd6.png)
Alucard goes to hire some help. Kasim leaps into action!
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Aside 9:
Defensive Vs. Offensive Vs. Combat
=
Defiance aura Vs. Blessed Aim aura Vs. Prayer aura
Prayer is always useful, and you can never go wrong with it.
For my Nec, I like Blessed Aim to help out my army in Acts 3-5, especially against Act bosses w/ higher than normal defense. Of course, if you are in a party with other people, usually Prayer is most useful.
I do prefer Defiance on my Sorc. Since I'm constantly potting anyway, I figure the slight regeneration is not as useful. What I use defiance for is while my Sorc is teleporting through an area, I want to prevent hits as much as possible that put me in a dangerous FHR animation.
On another note, the reason why I like to be Lvl 15 before heading into A2 is because if you are Lvl 14, IIRC you get a penalty in EXP gain for being underleveled. At Lvl 15, you gain much more EXP. But here I actually run out for about 1 minute with my Nec to hit Lvl 16 very quickly so that I could hire a Lvl 15 merc and have him level up at the same time as me. This is a bit OCD of me, but want as little lag time as possible between levels so my merc can wear gear I have for him faster. That, and also it only takes a minute to level in the Dry Hills since there are always a lot of beetles and a Unique boss pack right outside town.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/SOQXb5i.png)
Sexy armor.
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Aside 10: I actually pass on this because I didn’t want to use gold on it before other items. It's perfect for building Stealth in. I admit Stealth is very useful, especially the on a trapsin, but for its stats it's not always needed. And I don’t have either 51 Str on my Sin or 18k gold to put down with all the other items I’m prioritizing before it. Still, it was tempting.
Time check:
I spent 1 minute leveling on Alucard (AKA playing around in the Desert sands) to 16. Add to that 20 (TWENTY) minutes just on shopping with Alucard to get these items.
And then I spent 2-3 minutes doing some preparation for my Sorc.
52 min to 1:16 now on my Nec
That's 2 hours that have passed by. Suddenly I’m not sure if I made the right decision to spend so much time here. At some points while playing, I lost track of time because I was having too much fun. Nostalgia is a double-edged sword.
But it doesn't matter. The road has now been paved. Her time has come ---
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/B57Kyl1.png)
The 3rd hero steps forward to take her place.
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Aside 11:
The screenshot above is supposed to have my Nec at Lvl 16, not 15. I thought I had the picture but couldn’t find it, so I stuck this old one in for the sake of storytelling.
Everything up to this point has essentially been preparation for my Sorc. She is fragile but will eventually overtake my Sin at some point to play the leading role that pushes for speed. Starting from my sorceress, I suddenly realize my pacing will have to ramp up dramatically, so I can get to Hell mode in a timely fashion. I’ve been lucky enough with drops for sure, but I am still on the fence on just how ready she is.
This is the last hour of my first roughly 3 hour session playing Diablo 2 after 7 years! And I'm having a blast! (It's actually closer to 4 hours, as I had some lag and technical difficulties as well)
At last, IgniteMemories begins the true climb to Hell with a 6 minute deficit from running behind my sin to pick up waypoints. The gloves come off now. If things go according to plan, she will explode out of the gates w/ near light-speed progression. But of course, it wouldn't be fun if it was as simple as that....
Until Next Time,
Chapter 4: A Song of Frost & Light
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/cqZ1zqC.png)
