Diablo 2: An Illustrated Adventure

I'm playing a melee sorceress. On ladder hardcore, only using items I've found myself. On USEast just in case I get the urge to play with someone else. I'm going to make an invincible sorceress. Once I'm set up, I'll be able to go afk in front of hell Lister (if he isn't mana burn lol). I will accomplish this by having an absurdly high defense rating with shiver armor and a defiance mercenary, by using Energy Shield with a max Telekinesis, and by wearing items with +Damage Reduction. I will also make use of the standard methods: max block, high resistances, and faster hit recovery.

Stat points:
lots of str to wear melee armor
even more dex for max block and AR
max vit so i don't die
0 energy because energy is for squares.

Necessary skill points:
20 Shiver Armor
20 Telekinesis
1 Static Field
1 Energy Shield
1 Fire/Cold/Lightning Mastery
1 to prerequisites and other shit i forgot

I'll decide where to put the remaining points when I get to a high enough level, I'll probably max Warmth and Lightning Mastery.

After creating my character, using the highly original name GhinSorc, I set off down the road to the Blood Moor.

beware foul demons and beasts, it is i, small asian girl with stick

I quickly set out to my task of murdering the aboriginal people and bludgeoning quill rats to reach level 2.

the soulless eyes of a killer

I followed the road to the Den of Evil, where my first quest of murder would be completed.

notice the aboriginal's crude form of cave art. simply fascinating

Armed with my camera and trusty stick, I descended into the Den of Evil. I was greeted by more of the sub-human population of the area and their local shamans. I even dispatched a yeti, although the surprise of the incident caused me to drop my camera.


action photography!

I dispatched Corpsefire and the final zombies with my gore-covered staff, and set about the task of looting the bodies.

hooray shinies!

I took a quick trip to town to identify my shiny new gloves and shield and to sell the various garbage I had collected on my expedition of murder. My lovely new shield of +10 strength was incredibly helpful, especially for a melee sorceress whose stat points are hard to spend. I sold my blood-soaked staff and upgraded to a Scepter of Shock (1-8 lightning damage!) that I purchased from the store. Newly armed and armored, my next task was to kill Blood Raven and hire a mercenary to kill things faster.

Flavie allowed me to pass and enter the Cold Plains.


A few steps from the waypoint, I was accosted by more of the aboriginals, who no doubt had heard of my previous deeds and sent their champions to fight me.


It didn't go well for them.

hold still and let me shoot you

I tracked the lone survivor back to a large aboriginal camp, where I encountered their leader.

rrrawrrrrghhhh none will survive

I walked around... killed stuff... blah blah blah...

Danger was all around. The moans and screams of the undead echoed in my footsteps. I was trapped in a graveyard with the dead closing in.

you can almost hear their horrid voices... braaaaaaaaains...

I tiptoed through a hole in the cemetery gate, sneaking past a skeletal sentry

nah im lying, i smashed his face in after i took the picture

...and walked right into a mob of zombies. Fortunately I'm also a part-time exorcist.

click for fullscreen!

A heroic battle ensued, many potions were drank, and I emerged victorious.

my "reward"

I returned to town to pick up my mercenary, the lovely Paige, and also buy new items for both of us. Only at level 2, Paige is already killing things with a speed and range I can't hope to match.


mmm yeah, look at those beautiful stats


fashionable and practical

Once again I set out from town. This time my destination was the ruined town of Tristram. My goal was to rescue Cain so he would identify my items for free and give me a magic ring. As I walked across the Cold Plains, I noticed the foreboding entrance to The Cave. Yes, really, that's what its actually called. Little was I to know that this cave would bring me close to a brush with death.

Exploring a cave full of bloodthirsty monsters? What could possibly go wrong? I entered the cave, turned a corner, and was greeted by a hail of arrows. Naturally I took cover, but unfortunately Paige wasn't so lucky. Fortunately for me, the demon archers decided to round the corner one at a time so I could smash their brains in with my mace.


PAIGE! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooo

Thankfully Paige was able to be revived, and after clearing the cave of all life and looting its uninteresting treasures, we resumed our journey. On my way, I liberated a house from its tyrannical landowners.


looks like a zergling got er lester

I encountered a terrifying creature. Throughout the ages, this monster has gone by many names. The scourge of the stony field. The keeper of the cairn stones. His name brings terror to the hearts of little hardcore nubbins.

Rakanishu.

My battle with Rakanishu was actually quite anticlimactic. I saw the stones on the minimap and before I could get the camera ready, Paige dispatched the entire group by herself. I didn't get a shot of his feared lightning sparks. I was so shocked (har har) that I even forgot to take down the minimap. I walked away disappointed.


hooray garbage!

After an uneventful jog through the Underground Passage, I emerged in the Dark Wood. The new Vile Lancer enemies are usually something of a trouble when there's a boss pack, but my Frozen Armor protected me from their pointy sticks(level 3 with buffing staff! ha!).

The guardian of the next piece of my quest is another infamous slayer of hardcore nubs. Not quite as renowned as Rakanishu, but he has his fair share of newbie kills. His name is Treehead Woodfist. Fearing this would be another fight too quick to screenshot, I was prepared before I went into combat. My preparation was rewarded with a nice shot of him falling down as I broke his face with my kung fu.


hahaha your kung fu is weak. i am the supreme master of the fist.

With Treehead's magic scroll in my prossession, + Show Spoiler + I warped back to the Cairn Stones and unleashed my powerful magic to open a portal to Tristram.


DRAMATIZATION. DO NOT ATTEMPT

My trip to Tristram started off relaxing. I enjoyed the sights of burning corpses and exploding cows. I encountered one of the natives, who greeted me with a hug.



I encountered more of the local aboriginal people and they welcomed me by showing me their handcrafted knives and by giving me a taste of their local drinks. Naturally I repaid them by showing them my mace.


dramatic battle! click to fullscreen!

I found Cain resting in a hammock, and we returned to town together. He was so thankful for the ride that he gave me this ring.


gee, thanks cain. i'll treasure it forever...

Now that I was level 9, I decided to go on a shopping spree to pick up some of the newly available armor, which offers more defense because it's made out of metal instead of paper. Gheed's store showed off some of the latest fashions and I made some good purchases.


i hear all the kids are wearing them these days

With my shiny new metal armor, I set off down the road to the next area of my quest, the ruined tower of the countess.

I battled my way through the Black Marsh, looking for the entrance to the tower where the Countess made her lair. It started to get dark, so I decided to start a fire and camp out for the night. There was no wood to be found, so I used a treasure chest for fuel.



When daylight broke, I set out again with the beautiful Paige to find the ruined tower. For something so big, it was suprisingly hard to find.


yeah thats right bitches. level 5 frozen armor.

The black tower can be a difficult area if you aren't prepared. The goatmen and ghosts are fast, and they tend to congregate near staircases. A large group can quickly overwhelm someone who isn't equipped properly. I personally have witnessed many people in public games(read: nublets) slain by the Blood Clan's goatmen. Being equipped with my new armor (made of metal!), I was ready to deal with anything the tower cellars could throw at me.


heroically letting paige deal with a flock of ghosts

In the tower, I reached the milestone of level 12. Level 12 lets me use Shiver Armor. It's hard to explain why Shiver Armor is so awesome. On paper it looks useless at best. Shiver Armor's damage seems laughable compared to "real" spells like Blizzard. Defense rating is a stat that gets overlooked by the D2 community, and to most people the boost in defense rating is completely pointless. Most sorceresses get 1 point for the chill when attacked component, if they get it at all.

For a melee sorceress, Shiver Armor is amazing.

There's something wonderful about watching enemies kill themselves. As I made my way through the tower basements, I tried to capture some of the joys of Shiver Armor.

you're already dead

With my newly acquired powers, I snapped the Countess's neck and took her ladder points. Her minions were even nice enough to give me a new weapon, the Bloooooood Crescent.

shiver action!

It's a long walk from the Black Marsh to the monastery. There were some sights along the way, and also lots of murder.

that's odd, i didn't know your mom was in diablo 2

Eventually I made it to the Monastery Gate. I cleaned the blood off my fashionable tangerine chain boots with arms tired from manually smashing skulls, and slowly stepped inside.

it also doesn't hurt to cast shiver armor again

Inside the gate was a maze. Quill rats and vicious yetis (not pictured) made their homes here. I politely entered their home and greeted them with a handwoven basket full of murder. Making my way through the monastery, I watched the lovely Paige slaughter everything in sight with her bow, while I followed behind her trying to make a sandwich. I don't know if you've ever tried to make a sandwich while carrying a sword and shield before, but it isn't as easy as it sounds. Paige found the Smith and shot him full of holes while I sat down and finished my sandwich. Killing makes me hungry.


making weapons from your bones

We returned the hammer to Charsi and I tried to gamble a useful pair of gloves (somewhat successfully) and a belt (unsuccessfully). Taking the waypoint back, I pressed on through the monastery. The end of Act 1 was almost in sight.

If I had to choose a least favorite area in Act 1, it would be the jail section. Why do I dislike the jail, you ask? There are too many fucking doors. There are fences and doors and shit everywhere and it's annoying to find a straight line through. The enemies are mostly ranged or annoying, or both.

Most people skip the jail section and get the catacombs waypoint from a friend. Most people aren't aware that there is a fearsome monster lurking on The Jail Level 2. He is the most dangerous thing in Act 1. His name is Pitspawn Fouldog. He is always Cold Enchanted and Cursed. I can remember getting my face blown off by him several times.

Why is he so dangerous? The Tainted class monsters attack by firing an orb of lightning which, in addition to lightning damage, also strikes with their melee attack on contact. The Cold Enchanted attribute adds +75% to +100% cold damage to the monster's attack. The Cursed attribute casts Amplify damage on attack, which adds +100% physical damage. The curse multiplies the melee damage, which multiplies the cold damage... Basically it hurts... a lot.


yessirree that there's a good picture

I came upon Pitspawn Fouldog through a door at the end of a mostly empty side-path. His minions spotted me and fired their death orbs. I took cover behind a stack of blood-stained boxes. I knew Paige wouldn't last long against them alone, so I had to think of something fast. The jail bars stood between me and the demons, preventing me from engaging them, but also keeping them from moving closer. Knowing I had to do something, I heroically ran out to draw their fire and give Paige time to blast them back to hell. My strategy worked and Pitspawn Fouldog was defeated.

Fortunately for me, the Jail is a small area and soon I came out of it into the Inner Cloister. Through a set of french doors steps away is The Cathedral, another dangerous area. Monsters spawn close together here in a small area. There can be packs of ghosts and tainteds waiting to ambush you as you open the door. Usually it's not too bad and this time I had it easy. A group of ghosts and a group of fallen who were far from the door and far from the skeletal custodian of the cathedral. Bone Ash, the formal name of the previously mentioned cathedral custodian, is always Extra Strong, Cold Enchanted, and Magic Resistant. This means when he dies, there is a mean frost nova that's been known to kill people. This time he wasn't much trouble.

Paige is such a good shot that she can kill a skeleton mage with a bow. Think about that for a minute.



The catacombs were dark and the smell of murder was in the air. I took a small break and made a snack.


mmm looks good, is that chinese food?

Eventually I found my way to the bottom of the catacombs to Andariel's lair. There was a small antechamber that opened into a larger room full of blood and gore. It looked like no one had cleaned for a long time. I could see a hole in the floor where the pipes had burst and blood of the innocent was bubbling up.


yep, looks like yer blood pipes burst. we're gonna have to git earl to bring the truck around

Naturally I killed everyone in the room. A large door and a few empty feet of stone stood between me and Andariel. Before I faced her, I had to return to town and prepare. I bought 4 antidote potions and rearranged my belt and inventory so that I would be ready. I checked to make sure my fly was zipped and then took the portal down to the bottom of the catacombs. I drank an antidote potion and made Paige drink hers, and then we kicked down the door and started beating some demon ass.


for a giant demon woman, she has a surprisingly fit bottom. not my taste, but still.

There are some characters that have a hard time with bosses. Necromancers come to mind.

Sorceresses do not have a difficult time with bosses. Why? They have a spell called Static Field. I ran up to Andariel and spammed static field until I couldn't. Then I drank a mana potion and a rejuvenation potion and spammed it some more. When I ran out of mana, Andariel had a sliver of her life bar remaining. I took out my sword and slapped the life out of her.

With Andariel's death, Act 1 was clear and I was free to identify the miscellaneous garbage she dropped (an emerald for fuck's sake) and move on to Act 2. I said goodbye to Paige, after stripping her naked, and hired a new mercenary named Ilzan. Ilzan will be my mercenary companion through the rest of the game. I armed him with a garbage socketed trident and bought him a full helm and some cheap chainmail.


fara, caught sneezing on camera

If you were curious, here's a list of the garbage I'm currently wearing:
Helmet: Gemmed Skull Cap (8 Defense, +20 Life)
Weapon: Blood Crescent
Shield: Cleglaw's Claw (27 Defense, Poison Length Reduced by 75%)
Armor: Studded Leather of the Fox (33 Defense, +10 Life)
Gloves: Sturdy Chain Gloves of Remedy (11 Defense, Poison Length Reduced by 25%)
Belt: Sturdy Belt of Remedy (7 Defense, Poison Length Reduced by 25%)
Boots: Rare Chain Boots (12 Defense, 10% Faster Hit Recovery, +1 Dex, Lightning Resist 7%, Poison Length Reduced by 25%)
Ring1: Beryl Ring of Dexterity (+2 Dex, Poison Resist 9%)
Ring2: Beryl Ring of Warding (Poison Resist 10%, Magic Damage Reduced by 1) yeah its the one from cain
Amulet: Amulet of Regeneration (Replenish Life +2)

I had made it through Act 1 relatively unharmed, but Act 2 is of a higher difficulty. I needed some better gear to deal with the new sources of damage. I had poison damage well covered, but I knew the skeleton archers in the sewers would tear me apart. My solution was to buy a bone shield from Drognan and imbue it. The result wasn't amazing, but it would do the trick. I could worry about lightning damage when I got out of the sewers alive.


hey, it's better than cleglaw's

With my new shield, I opened the door to the sewers. Immediately I was shot at by a large group of skeleton archers. Clank clank clank OUCH clank. I had survived the volley. Ilzan beat them down with his spear while I tickled them with my scimitar. After that I found the stairs down and the threat of archers was gone. The rest of the monsters were melee and easily destroyed by my Shiver Armor and Ilzan.

double action shiver armor!

While exploring the sewer and mercilessly slaughtering its inhabitants, I found my first rune!

FUCK YALL I'M RICH NOW

On the third floor I found a group of Extra Strong melee cats. They were no match for the terrible power of my Shiver Armor.

if you squint you can make out Ilzan's corpse

Stuff died, shinies dropped. I saw an icebolt and knew Radament was near. Something interesting I learned: Shiver Armor gets rid of skeletons really fast. I was also helping remove them from the game with Ice Blast.


Eventually I made my way across the shattered ice fragments to Radament. As a part-time exorcist, it was my job to remove this monster from the world. I cast static a few times, Ilzan struck Radament with his spear, and Radament shattered into a million pieces.


Free skill point hooray! I went to town and bought some ocher gloves for the journey through the desert. I felt I had a decent enough lightning resistance and life pool. It wouldn't be enough to go swimming in a thunderstorm, but it was enough to take a few beetle bolts on the chin. In the desert, I encountered my first random mana burn boss!


i dodged that spear with my ninja reflexes if you were wondering

I didn't run into any trouble, but I did run into my first real amulet.

what has two thumbs and a new amulet? this guy

I also ran into the Stony Tomb. It isn't particularly dangerous, but I needed experience and more chances at usable loot. There were monsters, the monsters died. You've played d2, you know how it goes.

so it goes

The big boss of the Stony Tomb is this wussface. I decided that Ilzan needed some exercise, so I let him do the work.

you keep fighting, i'll uhh stand over here... and guard this wall...

It wouldn't be much of a tomb without treasure, right? What could be inside? My magic powers tell me gold and potions.


Thoroughly disappointed by the quality of the the treasure, I made my way deeper into the desert. I knew what was ahead. The most annoying creatures in all of video game history.

There have always been annoying enemies in video games. Birds, medusa heads, Science Vessels, the list goes on. Diablo 2 has an enemy on this list: leapers. Why are leapers annoying? They're fast and hard to hit because they're leaping around. When you strike a leaper, they tumble backwards. Leapers don't do much damage, so they're not a threat, only annoying. My sword doesn't do enough damage, so I let Ilzan deal with them


knock knock, whose there? fuck off leapers

My quest today isn't murder, although I'm sure there will be plenty of it. Today I'll be finding the Horadric Cube at the bottom of the Halls of the Dead. The Halls of the Dead are named as such for two reasons. The first reason is because there are lots of zombies and mummies wandering around. The second reason is that I'll be making everything inside dead.

shiver armor tells skeletons to fuck off

The Halls of the Dead are easy and I can't remember ever seeing anyone die here. There's a fighter cat boss guarding the cube, but fighter cats are so weak in general that it's never a problem.

i'm casting magic urn if you were wondering

Now that I have a cube, I can upgrade my rubies and buy a new breastplate. Later on, I can craft items that will turn out to be garbage 90% of the time. For now, it's time to go shopping. I bought a new weapon, a 3 socket flail that i dumped some chipped gems into. I also gambled a new belt, shown here.


bob marley would be proud mon

The next part of my quest would take me to the Maggot Lair, a favorite spot of all D2 players. As a melee sorceress, I don't particularly mind going there. The narrow hallways mean that only a single enemy can attack me at a time. Also, I have teleport.


lots of bugs were harmed in the making of this picture

The narrow passageways and Ilzan helped to shield me from the lightning. With my new flail I found I could actually harm monsters. The maggot lair went quickly and I obtained the first staff piece.



The next staff piece wouldn't be so easy...

Armed with my awesome flail, I set off to the Lost City to find the Viper Amulet. I entered the city and was greeted by a wave of fireballs and zombies. As you might be aware, zombies do not fare well against Shiver Armor. I killed them all and found some shiny boots for my trouble.


woohoo... i guess

I'm not exactly sure how they dropped. I also don't like using my boot slot for something other than Faster Hit Recovery and Fire/Lightning Resist. However, my previous boots were trash, so I won't complain too loudly. The stats will help me out.

After killing a small army of bugs and zombies, I finally found the Viper Temple and made my way inside. I can't say I agree with their choice of decor.


I'll be sure to pick one of these up next time I'm at bed bath and beyond

The Viper Temple is the most dangerous place in Act 2 Normal. Vipers use a nasty charge attack that has a knockback in addition to hurting a lot. If you're unlucky or unprepared, a group of vipers can chain charge attacks and kill you. Once again Shiver Armor proved useful and helped me deflect some of the incoming damage.


kaaaliiiiiimaaaaaaaa

The worst part of the Viper Temple is the second floor. A monster called Fangskin lives here, a viper boss who always has Lightning Enchanted and Extra Fast attributes. This is not a good combination for my personal safety. Fangskin and his minion's charge attack does an absurd amount of damage thanks to Lightning Enchanted, and thanks to Extra Fast, the whole group can repeatedly smash the life out of you in seconds.

How did I deal with this? I teleported onto the center platform, stole the amulet, and let Ilzan kill them by himself. There was no way that I was going close to that monster with 33 Lightning Resist and only two rejuvenation potions.



The staff completed, my next task was a quest of murder. The Summoner needed to die, and I had just the blunt object to make it happen.


you may not pass

The palace cellar on the way to Arcane Sanctuary has my favorite monster in the game, the urdar. Why are they my favorite monster? I think the urdar artwork and sound is fantastic. It's not too clear from this picture, but they use a corpse wrapped in chains for a weapon.They have the Smite skill and increased health regeneration. From a necromancer's perspective, this is the best monster to revive.



The cellar is also the habitat of the dreaded skeleton archers, bane of my existence. I went through this area as fast as I could and took the portal to Arcane Sanctuary. I found a ral rune and socketed my armor with it, hoping to reduce some of the upcoming fire damage. What actually hit me the hardest was the lightning tower.


fuck off lightning tower

The Arcane Sanctuary is divided into four wings, with The Summoner residing at the end of a random wing. Of course it would be my luck to find him at the end of the fourth and final path I chose. When I heard his mocking laughter, I went to town and bought Thawing potions for myself and Ilzan.


click for fullscreen action!

I've seen The Summoner kill many a noob with his elemental attacks. I was determined to not be one of them. I teleported on top of him and necksnapped the pizza-faced geek asaply. This done, I claimed my handful of gold coins as reward and read the book that warped me closer to Duriel's lair.

The symbol for Tal Rasha's Tomb was a circle. I've played this game way too much, and therefore I know where all of the symbols are. The circle symboled tomb happens to be at the bottom left side of the canyon.



Tal Rasha's Tomb can be difficult depending on the types of monsters that spawn, on higher difficulty especially. I got an easy group with no mummies and no ghosts. Even easier, I could see the staff room from the entrance. It wasn't long before I found myself in front of Duriel's door.


gulp

To prepare, I went to town and made sure all of my gear was properly equipped. I took the rejuvenation potions from my stash and filled two belt rows with them. That done, I bought a handful of health potions and set them in easy reach at the top of my bag. I was as ready as I would ever be.

I held my breath and entered Duriel's lair. He waved a claw at me in greeting and charged. My life bar dropped a third from this single attack. As I brought up the first static field, Duriel's chilling aura snapped onto me and Ilzan. While he was occupied with Ilzan, it didn't take me long to static off the majority of his life. As I switched to my physical attack, Duriel took notice of me and leveled another charge. As I recovered, he charged again, bringing my health dangerously low. I fatfingered my potion bar as I brought my flail down on Duriel for what would be the last time. An earthquake shook the chamber and I squinted to see my reward.


hooray me!

Unfortunately (fortunately?) the Hawkmail turned out to be ethereal. Because of this and because my cold resistance was a whopping 0, I decided it would be best to give it to Ilzan.

Now that I'm in Act 3, here's what I'm currently wearing:
Helmet: Gemmed Skull Cap (8 Defense, +20 Life) still using it lol
Weapon: Gemmed Flail (2-28 Lightning Damage, -25% Target Defense) that's two flawed topaz and an eth rune if you were wondering
Shield: Rare Bone Shield (too lazy to type its stats, it's the same one from the picture)
Armor: Gemmed Breastplate (67 Defense, +34 Life, Fire Resist +30%) 2 flawed rubies and a ral rune
Gloves: Ocher Heavy Gloves of Remedy (5 Defense, Lightning Resist +20%, Poison Length Reduced by 25%)
Belt: Rare Belt (the one from the picture)
Boots: Sander's Riprap
Ring1: Beryl Ring of Dexterity (+2 Dexterity, Poison Resist +9%)
Ring2: Iron Ring of Thawing (+31 Attack Rating, Half Freeze Duration)
Ammy: Russet Amulet (Fire Resist +15%)


Here's what Ilzan is wearing and his character screen:
Helmet: Rare Bone Helm (+3 Mana, Lightning Resist +9%, Fire Resist +19%)
Weapon: Beryl Poleaxe (Poison Resist +8%)
Armor: Ethereal Hawkmail (170 Defense)

Unlike most people, I actually enjoy Act 3. Why do I like Act 3? It's mostly in a straight line and I like hearing the flayers squeal when I kill them. It's also fun when you come back to Act 3 in Nightmare with fullscreen death spells like Frozen Orb or Lightning Fury and watch the flayers die in groups.

It's fun for me this time because I have Shiver Armor to kill groups of flayers. Shiver Armor's damage is getting close to a level where it kills enemies outright.


look mom, no hands!

My jungle safari through the Spider Forest began uneventfully enough. After I made sure my Fire Resist was 75% to survive the flayer's firebreath, my first task was to try capturing some pictures of midgets killing themselves on my armor. This proved difficult because the only flayers I could find were blowgun flayers. To catch the crafty buggers, I decided to do some stretching and limber up.



I rounded a corner and was surprised to find myself in the Flayer Jungle. Rather than turn around and find the waypoint, I decided I could come back later and made my way forward and onward. It was then I encountered the scariest thing in all of Diablo.


nooooooooooooooope

Pretending I saw nothing, I continued on the path deeper into the jungle. It was there that I found an incredibly useful item.


FUCK YEAH

There's a dark shadow ahead. The biggest obstacle I will face is in the distance and I need to start preparing for it now or my journey will end there. It's not the High Council or Mephisto. It's not the sasquatch. It's Diablo, the Lord of Terror. I need to gather the proper gear now to fight through the Chaos Sanctuary and survive the battle against him. My fire and lightning resistance both need to be 75% before I have a chance. This ring is a HUGE step towards that. To be honest, this is probably the best item I could find right now. If I could find a 3 socket helm...

Back on the main quest, I followed the jungle trail to the flayer village where the Gibdinn was being held. I teleported into the midst of a large pack of flayers intending to take a picture, but sadly everything died before I was ready.



Shamefully I returned to town to see what trashy rare ring I'd get as a reward. To my surprise, I got a halfway useful ring.


beats a beryl ring any day of the week, that's for sure

With my shiny new rings on, I backtracked through the Spider Forest looking for random quest item #1, which I would need to proceed into Act 4. Naturally the item was guarded by hordes of giant bugs. What I failed to mention, and you may have noticed if you looked closely at the pictures, was that I went shopping for a new weapon. I purchased a 50ish fire damage wand with Ignore Target Defense, the sexiest attribute in the game for a melee sorc weapon. This is a wand that cuts through giant spiders like a hot knife through butter. I'll be buttering my toast with spider guts today.


sweet, delicious spider innards

The next stop was back through the waypoint at the Flayer Dungeon, where random quest item #2 was guarded by midgets and zombie midgets.



The Flayer Dungeon is the smaller, slightly less scary cousin to the scariest place in the game, whose name must never be spoken. Dolls will sometimes appear here. Everyone who plays hardcore knows why dolls are scary. The main reason is that they explode on death. The blast is enough to kill most people instantly. Dolls are extremely fast and often it seems as though they have the power to appear next to you. Thousands of MF sorcs have been killed because they accidentally let their mercenary pop a doll. I'm not too worried because I'm alone in the game and this is only Normal difficulty.


scaaaaaaaaaaaarrrryyyyyyy

Other notable residents of the Flayer Dungeon include giant tentacle monsters, poison dart traps, and fire-breathing flayer shamans. The Flayer Dungeon is also a Michelin star restaurant, so naturally I had to try the food.


the plating is simply marvelous; the flavor, out of this world

Finishing my excellent meal, I returned to my search for the mysterious quest item #2. I knew it was hidden somewhere on the third level. When I arrived I discovered that the entire floor was a grate-filled maze. If you remember the jail section, you may recall that I don't particularly care for grates. This time was different; I had teleport. I zipped around until i stumbled upon the treasure chest and its pathetic guardian. Fire breath tickles when your fire resistance is 75%.


Ilzan heroically deflects the fire with his face
By the time I ran over to help Ilzan, the witch doctor was dead. I portal'd to town with the second quest item and checked the stores for gear that might help on the road to Kurast.

My journey through the jungle ended in the city of Kurast. The last item I needed to unlock the door to Mephisto's lair was here, hidden in the sewers. The entrance to the city was guarded by a giant tree monster.


I'm not particularly fond of getting smacked in the face by a frenzied lightning-enchanted tree monster, so I made liberal use of Ice Blast to reset their Frenzy timers.


melee combat vs LE! fun!

All of the enemies in the greater Kurast area happen to be melee and they were nice enough to throw themselves on my Shiver Armor.



I think the best way to make clear how easy this all was would be with pictures.


before shiver armor


aaaaaaand after

This whole area was very easy for me and it went quickly. Minus the dead bodies, it was almost like being on vacation. I browsed the market.


i wonder what those are supposed to be

I knew that eventually I had to get back to my quest. This meant going into the sewers to retrieve the final cursed body part. There were more dolls in the sewer, and mummies as well to make things worse. Mummies can raise the dolls and their unholy bolts take big chunks out of my life bar. Teleport was the only thing that made the sewers bearable. Most of my time here was spent trying to get a decent screenshot of dolls.


this was the best i could do

I made it out of the sewers alive. Although smelly, I was relatively unharmed. With all three quest items in my possession, I could finally open the door to the Durance of Hate. There was just the tiny problem of murdering the council members blocking my way. The biggest challenge here was keeping Ilzan alive. He lost life quickly against all of the hydras and firebolts and I ended up teleporting around to save him.


everyone knows that politicians bleed gold

The council was dead and I was free to enter Mephisto's lair. I found more dolls, zombies, a few vampires, and even some urdar.


urdar!

Inside I finally found my opportunity to get a combat picture with the dolls. When/if I get to Nightmare, I'll explain in detail why I'm not at all afraid of dolls.


what the hell is going on in this picture

I killed a bunch of stuff and some time later found Durance Level 3 and this jackass. Yet again I had to save Ilzan with teleport from fireballs and meteors and other assorted carnage. The charged bolts were a little dangerous, but I survived



I was almost out of Act 3. I went to town to stock up on potions, and then charged in to fight Mephisto. I was confident in how this battle would go because I had antidote and thawing potions, and because Mephisto hits like a sissy.


the elusive evil force, caught on camera for the first time

A few seconds, one health potion, and several static fields later, I was victorious and claimed my steaming pile of loot.


great

Here's my gear and csheet at the beginning of Act 4:
Helmet: Garnet Mask of Brilliance (26 Defense, +8 Energy, Fire Resist +28%
Weapon: Fiery Bone Wand of Piercing (25-59 Fire Damage, Ignore Target Defense)
Shield: Sturdy Bone Shield of Deflecting (39 Defense, 60% Block)
Armor: Gemmed Breastplate (67 Defense, +34 Life, Fire Resist +30%)
Gloves: Ocher Light Gauntlets (11 Defense, Lightning Resist +17%)
Belt: Belt of the Tiger (5 Defense, +27 Life)
Boots: Sander's Riprap
Ring1: Rare Ring (from the picture in a previous chapter)
Ring2: Coral Ring (Lightning Resist +28%)
Ammy: Russet Amulet (Fire Resist +15%)

I made it to the wonderful land of Act 4. Let's take a little tour and I'll point out the local wildlife unique to this area.



These guys are called Venom Lords. You would think such a large monster would have a strong melee attack, but a Venom Lord's real weapon is its fire breath. With max Fire Resistance you'll still take sizable damage, A large group of these can surround you and kill you extremely quick, so you need to make sure you're only fighting 3 or so at a time.

Another local enemy is what Blizzard calls a Finger Mage. These things are basically just weak ghosts with a special mana draining, homing magic attack. Nothing to worry about with any character and certainly not worth a picture.



These are called hags. They constantly cough out miniature hags that have a melee attack almost as strong as a venom lord's. They also have an absolutely brutal normal melee attack. The little ones aren't too hard to kill with Shiver Armor, but they disrupt Ilzan's attack. I have to teleport on top of them to get Ilzan to hit the right target.



Corpse spitters are another enemy new to Act 4. They're a weird Cthulhu-looking monster that likes to eat corpses and spit a giant ball of guts and acid at you. Corpse spitters aren't extremely dangerous, but their missile attack can be painful. If you have a high block% rating, you can deflect it.

The other enemy introduced in Act 4 is the Abyss Knight / Oblivion Knight. I'll talk about these when I get to the Chaos Sanctuary. There are also maggots and urdar from Act 2, and sometimes leapers, gloams, tainted, and others can spawn.


if I fall here, i'm suing the shit out of you Halbu

I descended the decidedly unsafe-looking steps to the Outer Steppes and looked around. Thankfully no leapers were in sight. I encountered a few Venom Lords and Corpse Spitters and found my way across the drab landscape to the Plains of Despair. It was there I confronted the fallen angel Izual. He has a high amount of health, but killing him is a short process with static field. After incinerating Izual with my wand, I eventually returned to town to spend my shiny new skill points on Energy Shield.


epic combat picture

Even though I had Energy Shield, using it now would only drain my mana. Right now I don't have enough mana, gear, or skill points to support Energy Shield, but in some situations it might come in handy.

After fighting hundreds of assorted flavors of demons, I found the halfway point of Act 4, the City of the Damned waypoint. The second half was what worried me