So I fired up D2 again

[maxbeedo]

Very nice.  My Javazon is certainly enjoying the Griffon's, makes going through Hell easier when you're guaranteed to instantly wipe most enemies on several screens with one Lightning Fury since many monsters have 33-50% resist.

Summon Necro plowed through all of Hell difficulty without issue so he can start running Cows.  Found a Sur Rune in the River of Flame, which is the highest rune I've ever found, so hopefully that's a good sign that Cows will provide some more.

[mn4nu]

Congrats on the Sur rune!

[maxbeedo]

No grail items in almost 3 weeks.  Found a 2nd Stormspire, now have 4 complete Bul-Kathos sets, found a 2nd Griswold's Valor (both have 30% MF), and this pretty good ring:

+27 Attack Rating
5% Life Steal
5% Mana Steal
Fire Resist +9%
Cold Resist +9%
Lightning Resist +9%
Poison Resist +30%
15% Magic Find

But otherwise it's been pretty hard to keep doing runs with nothing coming.  My lightning sorc even had 3 Gheed's Fortunes drop but all of them were either 20% or 21% MF and hers already has 33% (but it rolls 20-40).

[Timinator]

Running 1.07 nilly temple to try to get racks to drop the right base is soul destroying.  So I changed things up and picked up my assassin in Act 2 normal.  I was in the desert and picked up about 5 levels, finished the act, and later equipped a whole Sigon set.  Having some fun there!  When I can, I'll get the others running in normal too. Can't wait to hit the ancients.

[maxbeedo]

Assassin is the only class I don't feel comfortable using much in Hell.  She's really fun before that, but an MA build can't survive without godly gear and a Trap build can't deal with immunities well without a godly merc and/or Infinity (something has to die first before Death Sentry can do its work).

Found 3 more grailers, although no real GG ones.  Spike Thorn, Ume's Lament x2, and Lenymo (from Pindle!).  Also found another Ohm from Hell Meph.  Trying to keep things interesting by switching between several characters for farming, even though most of them have terrible MF%.  Got my Bowazon to act 2 Hell so she could run the Ancient Tunnels, though she only has around 125% MF (Javazon has even less).  Would be nice to find another Skullder's Ire and at least one War Traveler's (or 5).

[mn4nu]

...a Trap build can't deal with immunities well without a godly merc and/or Infinity (something has to die first before Death Sentry can do its work).

Fire blast does a pretty good job against LI/PI monsters.  Most people add to it since it is a synergy for death sentry.

[maxbeedo]

...a Trap build can't deal with immunities well without a godly merc and/or Infinity (something has to die first before Death Sentry can do its work).

Fire blast does a pretty good job against LI/PI monsters.  Most people add to it since it is a synergy for death sentry.

I've run into multiple uniques with LI + PI + Fire Enchanted before (or Magic Resistant), so Fire Blast does almost nothing.  Sucks that Wake of Fire and Wake of Inferno are such garbage at higher levels.  I have a Reaper's Toll on my merc so he doesn't die instantly and can crack the physical immunity (most of the time), it just takes sooooooo long.  Most of getting her through Hell involves resetting the game so that specific monsters don't spawn, like trying to get most of Act 2 to not have beetles, etc., but with the right spawns it's not too bad.

[mn4nu]

Good point Max.

[Timinator]

In 1.14 I got my future armageddon druid to Slayer.  Nightmare will be interesting to see just what its like against non FIs with some proper skiller gear.

In 1.07, I got my necro through act 3 normal.  He started with terrible gear and slowly I hit level 13. I shuffled on 3 pieces of Isenharts set!  That let me equip 3 spare pieces of Sigons set and he was able to finish the act.  The council went down ok and Meph wasn't too bad, but there were a few deaths.

I think I'll take my zon and assassin through  act 3 next as part of my "Project Complete Normal"

[Timinator]

Armageddon druid up to level 40, stripped of the Raven claw and given nightmare proper questing gear.  Parked in the Rogue Encampment for now.

I then ended up moving a 1.14 CLASSIC barbarian who was in act 2 normal.  The poor guy was underleveled and after trying and finding it slow going, I went back to mid act 1 and at players 8, quickly got up to level 15.  That let me equip a gleamscythe and a coif of glory!  The best of my spare twinking gear so far .. Also a scepter with a normal sapphire and two topazs helping.   I managed to push from the Dry Hills up to the Arcane Sanctuary. 

Its nice to make progress and work towards my goal of finishing normal difficulty with everyone.

[maxbeedo]

So yeah, there's definitely something fishy about the RNG in Diablo 2.  I finally got a Herald of Zakarum, then got another one 20 runs later.  The 2nd to last Exceptional I needed was a Buriza-Do Kyanon (so I had found 117 out of 119 at that point), and then I found another within 5 runs.  At least when I find that Tyrael's Might I might be able to snag another right after. 

Of course, the last Exceptional I need is arguably the most useful for MFing, War Traveler's.

[dave in the basement]

Gratz on the HoZ! I miss drops like that.