I can help out tonight, too. Lightning immunes are still a little tricky with 4+ players in a game, but that’s only a real problem in Baal’s Throneroom, where you have to kill them.
Bosses, on the other hand, are no problem. Compared to D’’, they’re paper tigers.
As long as we can fill eight slots, I don’t think that there’s a problem. I can play my sorc and anyone else at all can play the paladin, and after that all we need is six more clients, which could be operated by anyone at all. I only have one client, but that’s OK, I don’t feel left out by not personally having a mule in the rush. There are no runes I’m particularly looking for at the moment, and even if I were, I could probably bum one off of another doper.
So if we count clients, then we have myself, Yeti, Yeti’s son, punha, Punoq (his time constraints being the same as mine), and jmizzou, at (I think) one client each, for a total of six. Do we have any more clients? And if the team paladin is part of the effort (since we need a Baal quester anyway), then between him and my sorc, we shouldn’t need any more helpers (except possibly in the River of Flame, but since those are done separately there’s plenty of room for help). Anyone with extra seats should bring mules, to get more runes out of the rush. Or bring one mule and have another client doing something actually interesting, since the rush-ees’ job will be a bit boring.
okay, i shuffled plans around, so i’ll be around tonight for the rush. I’ll take the place of one of the rushing characters, and chronos can take the other. that leaves 6 spots. I propose the first two are taken by Chronos and myself. I can run both computers for this, assuming we put Chronos’ mule on a commie account. The third spot should go to punha with the lvl 40. I suggest the last three are filled based on the order in which people responded, which would be:
puno
Yeti
Yeti’s son
Upon preview: Chronos is the commie paladin going to be the level 20/40 character? if so then punha can bring a mule instead of the lvl 40.
Or, i can always change my plans around again, freeing up a spot for 2 other people. It’s not a big deal to me either way, as long as 3-4 people are interested in doing a rush tomorrow as well.
I won’t be available until 6:30pm PDT to get in on the rush…if that’s too late to start, then somebody else can use the spot…my son will probably be able to be in on the rush regardless, since he doesn’t work like me.
So to recap:
9:30 EST … or, less confusingly, roughly 3 hours from the timestamp on this post.
OK. I will clear that time to be online. We’re counting on about two hours? And I should bring along a non-prepped mule?
I’m now thinking that a magic arrow amazon might not be the Fastest to 40. Yes, that’s right, you min/maxer fans, there might be a better way. I ran some numbers on a tesladin (maxed res ltg and lvl 17 Holy Shock at lvl 40), and if they’re anything approaching reasonable I get 1K ltg dmg every time the aura pulses. That’s, um, a decent bit. That’s the sort of thing where stuff will die before it can get to me, I think. And, tangentially, that makes me wonder if such a char, properly equipped, wouldn’t be every bit as viable for running NM Andy for SOJs. I’m thinking rusthandle, spirit shroud, tarnhelm (or some other +1), steelclash and a +2 offensive for +6 offensive (res ltg is defensive, but it doesn’t matter because only skill points put in synergies, or I think individual +skill [+warmth, or +fireball, for example] items, work toward the synergies), which will give me lvl 23 HS at lvl 40. I could just as easily swap in a Lore for tarnhelm.
I’ll be there. I can try playing the pally or bring a mule… whatever. I’ll br back on about 9:00 Eastern
NM forges from tonight’s rush have resulted in Lem and Ko, as far as I know. We were unable to do Yeti’s son’s for some bizarre reason which will hopefully rectify itself tomorrow (today). Hell forges will probably be a bit more difficult.
So, aparently I don’t know how to use the /msg ability in this game.
In the last two days I’ve gotten messages from iamphuna, and… er… wait. I think I just realised that I’ve been spelling it iamphuna, not iampunha. Color me stupid.
Nevermind.
To send a message to a single character, use /w *accountname <message> or /w charname <message> (the w is for whisper). To send a message to all your friends, use /f m <message> (that’s “friend message”).
Meanwhile, I learned two things last night. First, I learned that my sorc can easily conduct a mule rush, if nothing goes wrong. Second, I learned that something always goes wrong. All it takes is one lagspike at the wrong moment, and a well-oiled coordinated rush turns into a deathfest best described as farcical.
Meanwhile, iampunha, I’ve been thinking, and it seems to me that the most efficient 40rusher might be a tiger/cobra/talon assassin. All of the key skills are low level, so you can get started quickly, and similar builds seem to do well in the low-level duelling department, which faces many of the same constraints as your characters. Tiger Strike will greatly enhance your physical damage, and Cobra Strike, with enough physical damage behind it, will provide all of your mana and life needs. Plus, the dragon talon kicks can be delivered extremely quickly (potentially the fastest melee attack in the game), making it very conducive towards Enchant (should you happen to have it) and all your elemental charms.
Definitely something to try out in the future. I just don’t know what ideal gear would be apart from the obvious (Iratha belt, bloodfist, etc). Other hand, Sigon’s set might be ok as well. I’d like to hear from more experienced assassins before I undertake something like this, too. Are there any synergies that would be good to pump? Would it be better to simply max claw mastery and put the remaining 23 points equally in TS/CS/DT?
Wow, am I up against a hard wall. Trapassassin at level 59. I’ve gotten through nightmare, and now EVERY DANGED THING IN HELL IS LIGHTNING IMMUNE!
Well, not everything, but enough to be a serious PITA. I guess I ought to be pumping fireblast, or ought to have pumped it a bit earlier (it’s just at lvl 7 now). Is that really going to be enough to get me by the misshapen in the underground passage? Gah, and all was going so well.
No, not everything is lightning immune in Hell. Some things in Hell are fire immune. Or both.
I got a trap assassin through Hell Baal solo, both realm and single-player. By Act 5 NM, my realm assassin had a Lore helm, Skins of the Vipermagi, a +1 assasin skills amulet, and 2 +2 traps claws, with 2 +2 shadow disciplines on weapon switch. I pumped my shadow master up to level 10 (17 with +skills), and she could tank NM Baal with ease. Putting 1 point into mind blast (8 with +skills) helped her with crowd control, and putting 9 points into fire blast gave her both light fire damage as well as giving her death sentries 3 extra shots. Note that a death sentry’s corpse explosion shot is half physical, half fire.
When she ran into a whole bunch of lightning-immune stuff, she would use mind blast to keep them stunned as well as convert some of them to her side. While her shadow master and mercenary attacked the stunned crowd, she would toss some fire blasts onto creatures that looked the most damaged. When one or two of them went down, she’d place the death sentry near their corpses. There would then be a chain reaction, with one or two corpses killing four or five creatures, which would then fuel that many more corpse explosions. Having a decent number of points in death sentry would get the radius of the blast large enough to then make short work of the crowd. This worked reasonably well except when I encountered creatures with high hit points and low damage output.
Alternatively, you could just run away.
Also, at level 59, you’re probably not ready for Hell. I’d recommend being at least level 65, if not level 70, before going trying to do Hell. But most importantly, things would be easier if you got together with other folks whose skills complemented yours. And don’t forget to post your account name (and maybe character’s names) to this thread.
For those of you that were not there, I’d like to relate a little story. iampunha and I were playing a Hell game. We both went away from the keyboard for a few… when I came back, I waited for punha’s return. While I was waiting, the “Stones of Jordan sold to merchants” message started counting upwards. After 45 minutes it was up 15 stones and punha’s character dropped without him returning. I checked my friends list… no one on. I stayed in game… hoping that someone would log on.
Eventually I saw Yeti log on. I sent a message to him and he and Punoqllads entered the game. (I quickly entered Punoqllads into my friends list) We waited there as the counter kept rising. Eventually we got the message, “Diablo Walks the Earth”. Punoqllads and I quickly run to the stones in the Stoney Field… only to find that Rak was already dead. Since my druid was only in Act1, it left us less than desirable alternatives, although admittedly, we didn’t check in Tristram. We decided to try Corpsefire, in the Den/Cave. We spawned him and started attacking… Chronos showed up and left to go get the fledgling clone killer. The four of us fell into a frenzy of slaughter… unfortunately, we were the ones getting slaughtered. No one there was really set up or prepared to go up against DC yet. The community clone killer wasn’t set up with much crushing blow yet, we had no “prevent monster heal”, although my druid who I was using had crushing blow, his resists were low.
Yeti’s mercenary somehow got prevent monster heal, I don’t know if he runeworded something or equipped an item… but he got it. Punha came back at about this time. Eventually, after much death, Diablo Clone was vanquished. The reward? A 20/17/9 anni…
Since that time, I have now equipped my druid with PMH and the community clone killer has been upped to 90% crushing blow, so next time it shouldn’t be quite as bad.
In other news, I’m going to be hitting the trading forums to try to get bargains. I’m looking to get a couple Duriel’s Shells… one for my druid and one for the new community barb that punha and Yeti’s son are building. Hopefully I can get them for Pgems. I also want to get a crappy Vipermagi for my sorc… good ones don’t go for Pgems. I’m going to be using the gems off of the community mule, since we’re coming up on 60 of them now. If anyone else has a want, post it and I’ll give it a shot (Please no requests for Tyriel’s Might ;)).
My cold sorc is sitting at level 52. Are there any plans for a mule rush this week at all? I really would like to get her some levels, and trying to level her any more in normal would take forever. If there aren’t any plans, I’ll just do Baal and head to nightmare. We have several other characters that can get the Baal quest for the next mule rush.
Who_me?, Yeti’s son and I will be taking the barb through Norm Baal and at least part of NM today. Please feel free to tag along:)
Unfortunately, since I haven’t been able to hit the Lotto yet, I’m working until 3 today and I should be home after 4. If I notice you on I’ll message you. You’ll probably have to back up for me, but that’ll just let the barb get a few more levels. If you don’t want to come back to get me, I’ll just kill Baal solo and hit the pub games to get to NM Baal.
Of course I may want to pick up some better armor off of one of the mules since she’s still wearing a Stealth armor with 57 defense. She really didn’t need more for normal, but NM and hell will probably require something a little better.
Lotto? Feh. You just need to increase your goldfind;)
The sorc is now 87 (barely), the barb 42.5 and wielding dual Aldur’s Rhythms. That’s really the highlight of his gear. Fortunately, he’s still in norm, which can be beaten with a wet noodle and a rock hammer (I haven’t yet tried that particular gear alottment without potions, alas). NM will require a bit more.
My merc is equipped with a double amned Bonehew. He currently averages 1550 pts. per hit… 
My request is simple…a T-Gods belt! What do they normally go for?
An arm - not King Leoric’s - and a leg - not Wirt’s.
Barb is now sporting IK helm to go with dual Aldur’s. And here’s a thought: Fleshrender (U barbed club) has 20% crushing, 20% deadly strike, 25% open wounds and prevent monster heal. We have at least two of these (I just spawned a 186%). What are thoughts on upgrading it (current dmg is 72-121) and using it for the clonekiller? We might have to Shael it as well, though.
Upgrading it? What are the rules for upgrading/socketing uniques? (I feel like I’m the perpetual n00b here).
My major request, which is probably unavailable for pgems, is Guardian Angel. I’m currently using Twitchthroe (60 def! Woo!) for the +blocking stats. Note that once I acquire one, the +max lightning resist mod will free up the TGods that I’m currently using to survive packs of gloams and DClone’s lightning blasts.
Eonwe, to socket a unique or rare item, you need to use Larzuk’s quest reward. It will always put one socket in those items. For a magic item, it will put either one or two sockets in, 50/50 chance. For a normal/superior item, it will put the maximum allowed sockets in that item.
As far as upgrading armor/weapons, look here. Also mentioned on that page are recipes for putting sockets into magic/normal/superior weapons and normal/superior armors, and the recipe for removing sockets from an item.