Diablo Minimal and No Reload Thread (spoilers)
JuliusBorisov
Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,723
in Off-Topic
There're many people on this forum who like to play games without reloads, or at least with minimal reloads.
The BG/IWD no-reload thread is quite popular.
Also, there're threads for reporting your Might and Magic and Pillars of Eternity no-reload and minimal reload attempts.
I've figured out we have been lacking a similar thread for Diablo games. So, if you play Diablo III, Diablo II or even Diablo I and want to share your experience, welcome to this thread!
The Diablo games are perfectly suited for no-reload runs because they are quite challenging. Moreover, In Diablo II and Diablo III a player may choose upon the character creation to make it a Hardcore character. This is an irreversible decision, but it is believed that a true player must have at least one such character. In this mode a character only lives until the first death, being permanently lost after that.
Cheers!
The BG/IWD no-reload thread is quite popular.
Also, there're threads for reporting your Might and Magic and Pillars of Eternity no-reload and minimal reload attempts.
I've figured out we have been lacking a similar thread for Diablo games. So, if you play Diablo III, Diablo II or even Diablo I and want to share your experience, welcome to this thread!
The Diablo games are perfectly suited for no-reload runs because they are quite challenging. Moreover, In Diablo II and Diablo III a player may choose upon the character creation to make it a Hardcore character. This is an irreversible decision, but it is believed that a true player must have at least one such character. In this mode a character only lives until the first death, being permanently lost after that.
Cheers!
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Meet Xzar the Necromancer:
Our famous Zhent found himself in a Rogues' camp, not far away from the Monastery - a stronghold of the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye. After learning that the nearest areas are full of monsters, the necromancer began his adventure.
Not far away from the Rogues' camp, Xzar found an Experience Shrine. His knowledge of magic told him he could become stronger quicker while under the effect of this Shrine. Soon enough, after killing several Fallen, Xzar got the first level up.
Fighting more Fallen on Blood Moor and in the Den of
stinkingEvil brought another 2 levels for Xzar.He spent all points on Vitality, still unsure which skills to take.
The big problem playing Hardcore you are going to have in Diablo 2 is Duriel, and you are gonna need a bunch of Town Portals to get out of there are resummon your minons. As for the Necromancer, you should focus initially on pumping out some skeletons, skeleton mastery, a clay golem, golem mastery, some skeletal mages for immunes and at least one point in Amplify damage and corpse explosion.
Hardcore is an interesting choice, but it's not for everyone.
After researching all available skills I decided to try a less popular way: sacrifice summoning skills in favor of poison.
This is a Zhentarim symbol:
So I think it's fitting for Xzar to specialize in poison and blinding enemies.
In Diablo II, it means developing Poison Dagger and Dim Vision. The Poison Dagger greatly improves damage and
THAC0attack rating, while the Dim Vision Curse is an excellent crowd control spell, making hordes of enemies blind. This means that while they're blind they don't use special attacks/abilities at all, don't shoot, just staying there waiting till Xzar finishes other monsters.This is Xzar's damage with a mundane dagger:
And this is the illustration of the Dim Vision power - all blind enemies are just staying there waiting till Xzar finishes them one by one.
Meanwhile, the Zhent killed Blood Raven and her undead army, thus getting a Rogue companion - not Montraron, of course, but Klaudia offers a great help with her bow, especially against the blind enemies.
Xzar was quite lucky to get a Topaz and then another one.
To me, Diablo games are all about finding good items. I just can't stop my wish to hunt more and more. Topazes, when put into armour and helmets, increase the chance to find magical items.
This is why there was no hoarding for Xzar - instead, he returned to the camp and bought a simple cap with two sockets.
The game rewarded Xzar quite quickly. In several minutes, the Zhent got 3 new gems: 2 topazes and one skull.
Again, Xzar returned to the camp and this time bought an armour (Studded leather) with 2 sockets, to immediately start using his new topazes.
And again the game proved that choice was right.
After killing Treehead Woodfist and his minions protecting the Tree of Inifuss, Xzar found a unigue club.
This feeling when you see a golden tint on an item...
It turned out to be Felloak, a club with a knockback ability and improving resistances against Lightning and Fire. Even while Xzar will continue to develop his Poison Dagger skill, for some time this new club will be of a great use.
You can always use the atma application for inventory management. It allows you to create "mules" to store items on and transfer between saved games. I find it really useful, especially seeing as my paladin always finds my necromancer gear and my necromancer always finds paladin gear.
It's pretty cheesy, but you can also copy your mules to double their inventory. This is useful in creating gems that you need for item creation.
Before I downloaded the atma program, I was always so bothered by the fact that I would never be able to use most of the stuff I found. I didn't like plugY either, having such a large inventory made it almost impossible to keep organized.
Xzar has been experimenting with Dim Vision. No words are enough to describe what a useful tool it is. Here Xzar is concentrating on a mini boss, while all other monsters don't interfere:
It may be even more important against groups of archers. Here Xzar is fighting an archer mini boss, and isn't suffering from all those numerous arrows from her minions:
Xzar defeated the Countess who dropped the first Runes in the game:
With a few diamonds put into a shield, the Necromancer now has good resistances, especially against my least favourite type of magic - lightning:
Before reaching the Monastery, Xzar found two neat rings, one of them futher improving his Magic Find chance.
Too bad D3 couldn't pick up the torch. It was a good game, but it was never great.
It's not that it's bad so much as that it's more stressful and I try not to stress myself out too much for my own mental health and well-being. Not a comment on hardcore, which is totally a valid and cool way to play.
D3 was released with fantastically smooth gameplay, but a completely broken loot system. It's no coincidence that the guy put in charge of porting Vanilla D3 to consoles (and fixing the loot system) was subsequently put in charge of Reaper of Souls (which saved the game). I highly recommend playing D3 on PS4 or Xbox One if the PC version seems stale. It is really where it shines best.
Sooo, Walmart got his name misspelled as Wallmart because I'm dumb, he got level 2 pretty fast, sold a bunch of Poison potions for 420 (lol) and found a Chipped Amethyst on the 1st Dungeon:
Here's a picture of my character after levelling up and before quitting the game:
I used the chipped amethyst on the helmet. That gem isn't very good on weapons unless you desperately need Attack, and I don't have a socketed shield to put it on so there it goes (again ;p). I bought the club as well, it has IDK what enchantment besides two sockets.
Edit: fixed formatting, i think I've got it after the 399294th time.
The adventure of Xzar
After reaching the Monastery, Xzar found long Barracks there. In one room he met someone called "The Smith". Dim Vision protected the necromancer from surrounding archers, and the Smith was dead before blindness wore off.
Then Xzar went through several jail chambers, in one of which he found a diamond. Now his shield provided +18 to all resistances (with 3 diamonds in the sockets).
Xzar also found a Zombie Head, which could be put into an alternative shield slot. This Head provided +1 to Bone Armour, and now Xzar could easily switch to an alternative shield to cast Bone Armour and then return to his main setup, with Bone Armour still active. This armour will absorb 20 damage, which is not bad at all considering the necromancer has no more than 150 HPs.
(have to re-install D2)
About playthrought
- Going to play as (mainly) melee sorceress.
- Of course in hardcore mode.
- No grinding - I'm allowed only to clear certain area ONCE.
- The goal is to beat nightmare difficulty...
- ...since I doubt that, without grinding, I would be able to deal with all BS Hell difficulty has to offer.
- Isendra travels alone. No mercenary (minus A1 quest reward. Even then, I'm not going to equip rouge nor ressurect her)
- Main skills: Enchant, Teleport, Blizzard, Shiver Armor, Ice Mastery, Fire Mastery, Warmth
- Probably only Normal difficulty playthorught will have made-by-me plot. Nightmare and, maybe, Hell will be more "meta".
Time for some backstory.
Isendra, like most of the Zan Essu clan members, was recruited when she was still a little girl, when her current mentor noticed her potential in commanding the forces of the elements. While capable student, she was unruly and rebellious, which was displayed in her overall disposition to uses of magic in combat.
While most mages in general were seeing melee combat as a barbaric, Isendra saw it as a honorable and glorious. As result, she decided on her preferred method of combat - enhancing her weapons with fire, protecting herself with cold, teleporting in and out of combat and using offensive spells as means to only "aid" her with her combat.
Most of her colleagues did not approve of such a thing. Fortunately, while still being student, Isendra met a mage from Vizjerei clan, named Jazreth, who was more open minded and who she could befriend. Often, they went on various investigations ordered by Yshari Sanctum. One of such investigations, however, was given to Jazreth and Jazdreth alone - to investigate the evil under the town of Tristram.
Isendra never heard from Jazreth again. Then she learned that the Tristram has been utterly destroyed, and heard the rumour as the Dark Wanderer, who has been seen traveling from Tristram to the East, was involved in the town's destruction.
Does this Dark Wanderer know anything about Jazreth disappearance? Has he killed him? Or maybe, just maybe, the Wanderer is Jazreth himself? Wanting to learn the answer of all this questions, Isendra, ignoring the orders of her superiors, followed in the Dark Wanderer's wake.
1. Den of Evil
Isendra has reached the Rouge Encampment - and learned it's all what's apparently left from the Monastery of Sightless Eye. The Unruly Sorceress has learned that indeed, the Dark Wanderer has been throught the area recently. She also learned that the Monastery Gates to the east were currently closed, as the Monastery itself was under influence of Andariel - Maiden of Anguish herself. Sounds.... interesting.
Isendra talked to seer Akara, who has recognized the Sorceress' potential. Akara told the Sorceress of the place in which nearby evil creatures gather. Akara fears the creatures are preparing to attack the encampment. Isendra figured she should do something about it.
The first creature Isendra has encountered was just a weak zombie, who had five gold piece in his pocket. Seriously, what the Rouges are afraid of? Soon, the Isendra meet the Rouge archer, Flavie. She claimed the Sorceress has no experience to fight further in the wildness. Isendra begged to differ, but she still needed to cleanse the Den of Evil first. Soon she felt lucky, as she found quite nice gloves in one of the abandoned houses:
Killing zombies, quill rats and fallen, the Martial Sorceress found some gems. And a gem shrine to boot.
Soon she reached the Den of Evil, at level three and all she could remember was slaughter, using her newly found dagger and the Firebolt spell. At the very end of the cave, she found a tough zombie pack, but Isendra remained unaffected. Soon, the place has been cleansed, Isendra being on level 4 so far.
Then, Isendra has rached the Cold Plains, ignoring Flavie by the way, and used the Waypoint to get back to Rouge Encampment. Akara was glad that the Sorceress had dealt with monsters in the cave and helped Isendra in raising her proficency with the Ice Bolt spell. Isendra then sold some treasures she found along the way and bought herself new equpment, nice magical scimitar among them.
Now, Isendra's ready to pursue new challenges.
Lvl 4.
Strength: 16 (+1)
Dexterity: 28 (+1)
Vitality: 16
Energy: 35
Firebolt (1)
Frozen Armor (1)
Warmth (1)
Ice Bolt (1)
The adventure of Xzar
When reaching the Cathedral, Xzar tried to combine Dim Vision with Amplify Damage - the first curse was for minions, the second - for the miniboss.
It proved to be good tactics, especially against such strong (so far) opponents as The Banished:
In the Catacombs leading to the Andariel lair, Xzar found his first set item (green). Yay! It's such a rewarding feeling to find green and gold items.
It turned out to be Arctic Furs, an armor with 46 defence and +10 to all resistances. Perfect for Klaudia, a rogue companion.
Xzar also found a new topaz, which was put into the Klaudia's helmet:
Now, Andariel. Xzar had antidotes and potions of rejuvenation ready.
First, all minions were defeated. Then, when Andariel appeared, Xzar casted Amplify Damage on her. Soon afterwards, after using several antidotes and rejuvenation potions, this demon was dead.
And now, the most interesting part, the loot:
As you can see, Xzar was very lucky in the Act 1, getting 2 set items and 1 unique item. Another topaz was put into the Klaudia's helmet, which now was given to Xzar. A new set item turned out to be Hsarus' Iron Stay, a belt giving 20 to life and 20 to Cold Resistance.
These are Xzar's stats and inventory after finishing the Act 1 (look at those awesome resistances) - the stats don't show Poison Dagger bonuses (to damage and attack rating) as Xzar mainly uses Felloak, the unique club he found.
Isendra didn't even had a time to wipe out blood of her enemies from her clothes when Kashya, the battle commander of Rouges, approached her and told her about Blood Raven - formerly known as Moreina - who was corrupted by demon queen Andariel. Now raising undead on the Monastery's burial grounds, Moreina used to fought against Diablo in Tristram. Possibly alongside prince Aidan an Jazreth. If closed Monastery gates weren't enough to motivate Isendra, then that possibility surely was.
Isendra started to explore Cold Plains, and immediately found a shrine that, she thought, temporary enhanced her learning rate.
Isendra made almost full circle around plains, finding two unknown roads. Just as she was to make a full circle, she encountered unusual foe in comparison to ones she has slain so far.
Storm Wound the Hunter. The master of such creature surely was on something while giving it a name. Perhaps that ridiculous name was why the creature was "cursed". Regardless, he was slain easily. But then Isendra found entrance to the Cave.
The Unruly Martial Sorceress had to admit that their peers' way of combat had their perks. First special monster pack she has encountered was of corrupter rouge archers, with teleporting mistress. To her dismay, Isendra had to rely on distance combat and offensive spells way to much for her liking. The next pack she has encountered was only worse.
Coldcrow, an Cold Enhanced corrupted rouge, surrounded with minions, all with ice arrows. Together, they gave Isendra really hard time, and she had to drop the melee combat almost entirely - but her life was more valuable than her pride. Eventually, Isendra has won, reaching level 6. Her last experience with ice made her think that learning both Frost Nova and Ice Blast was good idea. Especially since from now on she could chill all enemies around her with Frost Nova and finish them off with her trusty scimitar.
Isendra reached level 2 of the Cave and - what do you know - another corrupted rouge archer pack surprised her. This time however, leader was extra strong.
The fight was overall easier, thanks to chilling effects of the Frost Nova. Isendra could take the pack on with relying on melee combat. The pack leader has dropped a magical charm. The Sorceress used the scroll of town portal to get back to encampment to identify it.
Looks quite a handy. In the future. Back to the Cave level 2, Isendra encountered special hungry dead pack (accompanied by some skeletons), but deal with them with ease.
Isendra looted the cave and then came back to town once again. The Eagle Orb she found enhanced her Frozen Armor by 2 levels, so she kept it as a alternative weapon, just to cast this spell alone.
Isendra then continued her quest. While searching for the burial grounds, she has found an encampment of the fallen, with Bishibosh as their leader:
The Sorceress has sensed that he is highly resistant to magic, and any fire would be totally ineffective on him. But he couldn't resist few slashes of the scimitar.
Finally, Isendra has found the burial grounds and made short work of skeletons and hungry dead roaming around the gate. She then proceeded to cleanse both crypts, so that Blood Raven couldn't the undead minions inside as a backup. Bonefire has proven itself notable foe, but his extra strength couldn't help him against swift slashes of the scimitar. The monster's skull has rolled to the floor.
After cleansing the crypts, Isendra challenged the Blood Raven herself. She gathered the lucky zombies that Isendra overlooked, and ordred them to attack, but Frost Nova and swings of scimitar made short work of them. Blood Raven, however, was notable opponent since she utylized the battle strategy that evidently worked very well against demons from Tristram: shoot few arrows, then run the f... away. Repeat. But Isendra was victorious in the end.
Back in the camp, Kashya couldn't believe Isendra has succeed. How nice of her. She then gave off one of her archers as an escort. How nice of her.
Now, among the loot the Sorceress found was the rare magical spear. Isendra was skeptical about the item, but after identifying it, she has decided to sacrifice some of her defense for more offense.
Being content with her new loot and money she got from trading, Isendra has approached Akara with intention of resting and drinking some wine with the priestess.
EDIT:
Thanks, @JuliusBorisov . I personally think Xzar would need more luck, if Poison dagger will remain your only weapon. I recommend getting Poison Nova at level 30, together with Lower Resist curse.