Lilura1 cRPG: Diablo 2: Twinked Multiple Shot Bowazon: Part IV

The hail is penetrating -

- the decimation is total -

- the reanimates are legion.

Reminder of the parameters of play: Hell mode /players8 with solo twinked-out Bowazon.

Well, here we are in Hell. We are not Hell-proof but we are Hell-ready. In addition to par-for-the-course sensible skill allocations, we have hit major itemization breakpoints that should carry us through; namely:

• Faith runeword in hydra bow (recap pic). Almost every mod is pure awesome-sauce. These include Level 15 Fanaticism aura, 330% enhanced damage, 300% attack rating bonus and 10% Reanimate: as Returned. On-switch: Call to Arms for Battle Command and Battle Orders barb survivability skills? No. I have it on another character but my Bowazon just doesn't need it. Instead, I have Harmony on-switch for its 10th level Vigor aura. Gets me from a-to-b in no time.

◦ Update: Windforce unique hydra bow, Shael'd (pic). Part way through Hell, I decided to upgrade to Windforce because it's simply more damaging with its scaling Maxium Damage based on character level mod, and the fact that my Rogue Sister can then wield Fanaticism-aura'd Faith instead of Holy Freeze aura'd Ice. Throw in the IAS boost and this results in a significant DPS increase (though at the expense of more comfortable - and safer - play).

• Fortitude armor runeword in wire fleece (recap pic). 300% enhanced damage. 200% enhanced defense. 20% level 12 Chilling Armor when struck. +life. +resists. It doesn't get any better than that for our bowazon. Update: Plonked Fortitude in an Archon (pic).

• Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest set death mask (recap pic). Already had one in my stash but have also found two in this run, as well. 10% mana steal. 10% life steal. Mana and Life Steal are absolutely mandatory for any bowazon. Don't have them? You're dead. +resists and +life are just icing. For now, this is my source. Andy's Visage or good rare headgear are certainly options if I can find them in my stash...

◦ Update: I found Andariel's Visage unique demonhead in my stash for even more IAS, life leech and +2 all-skills (pic). At the same time, I changed the wield to Windforce hydra and got my vital mana leech from that glorious unique bow (7% roll) instead of the above death mask (10%).

• Razortail unique sharkskin belt (recap pic). +15 Dexterity and 33% Pierce that stacks with 'zon Pierce. Don't need to say anything else.

• Laying of Hands unique bramble mitts (recap pic). +20% IAS, 350% damage to demons. Bad ass.

• Gore Rider unique war boots (recap pic). The decision between these and War Traveler was easy because I couldn't find the latter in my stash. 15% Crushing Blow, 15% Deadly Strike, 10% Open Wounds and +30 run/walk is good enough for now, though. Update: My Wartravs (pic).

• Raven Frost unique ring (recap pic). Its Cannot be Frozen mod is mandatory for us. I don't have a godly rare ring yet, so I just wear two of these. I tested 2x Wisp Projector for the Lightning proc, but no. Just like Amplify it won't trigger on every arrow in the fan. More's the pity! :P Its Oak Sage can give a nice life boost that stacks with Call to Arms, but I didn't bother.

• Cat's Eye unique amulet (recap pic). This is our main ammy by virtue of +30 IAS, 30% run/walk and +25 Dexterity.

• Atma's Scarab unique amulet (recap pic). We swap out Cat's Eye for Atma's when facing off against bosses. Why? Its devastating Amplify proc (Necro skill).

You will note that I lack the Annihilus small unique charm (70th) and Hellfire Torch large unique charm (75th). Well, that's because I can't find them in my PlugY stash.

I also have neither access to a Grand Matron bow nor Matriarchal bow. These could potentially give me +3 bowskills on top of Faith or another runeword. However, I'm happy enough with Windforce hydra. Plus, the build is almost wholly non-synergistic in its skillset, so +skills are not going to shake the earth. Bottom line: Faith with +3 bowskills and +2 allskills still won't outstrip Windforce. Not with this build, anyway. Update: Faith in a Matriarchal Bow (pic).

***

We don't need to be optimized in order to beat Hell. We just need key items and a sensible build. That said, any changes to this twinking will be covered in this post, and after beating Hell I may attempt optimizations on the twink in order to tailor to farming purposes.

Act One Rogue Sister mercenary:

• Ice runeword in great bow (recap pic). Holy Freeze aura to slow mobs down. She upgrades to Faith when I upgrade to Windforce hydra.

• Stone armor runeword in ethereal-bugged ornate plate (recap pic). 3861 defense. Update: Got an eth-bugged boneweave going (pic). 4140 defense and lower strength requirements.

• ethereal Giant Skull bone visage with one socket (unsocketed) (recap pic). +35 Strength enabled fast-tracking to Stone in a heavy base, such as ornate/boneweave. I don't have a second Andariel's Visage for her, much less an ethereal one.

Yep, we're sitting pretty enough atm though we are still flying by the seat of our pants at certain points. Total Hell mastery requires optimizations that go beyond the purposes of this write-up - at least, at this point.

So let's get to it, shall we?

***

Den of Evil: the beauty of amplification:

Boom! Goodbye, Corpsefire.

Let's zoom in on that one. I just really like that "amp-pop" sound.

Flanking Griswold with Magic Arrow. It's funny because he died.

MA is hot-knife-through-butter. It will ofc cut through physical-immunes BECAUSE MAGIC (Griswold can spawn as physical immune + stoneskinned).

Treehead Woodfist foolishly preoccupied with fanaticized Faith reanimates:

The confidence to battle on multiple fronts as we storm the Black Marsh...

Awesome.

Once she gains the strength required to wear it, I reward my Rogue Sister with Stone put into eth-bugged ornate (as per).

Actually, I got an eth-bugged boneweave going. Slightly better D and lower strength requirements - for future merc-twinks.

Hell Andy. Faith reanimates are resilient tanks. They won't kill a damn thing but by god will they hold the fort. Even one is incredibly effective. Get a legion going and it's casual mode. Here Andy can't even kill them after she vanquished the Valkryie (which can be resummoned, ofc).

Hell Duriel. Amplified and then torn a new one. Nothing new to see here.

Ok, so things got messy against the Council of Six in Travincal. My merc died and the Valkyrie was not worth resummoning as it was utterly useless in regards to staying power.

The sheer speed and mobility of the Council meant I couldn't line them up for a Strafing very often. This was one of the rare exceptions.

Still, it doesn't matter. The Council can be problematic on ocassion for even optimized characters built to farm it due to the highly varied AI and random property changes of each encounter, and each monster. (My Hammerdin owns them on /players8 95% of the time.)

I also can't say Blood Lords - headed up by three super-uniques - were easy as I descended to Meph's lair at the bottom of Durance.

Meph himself was much more tameable, post-amplification.

Meph drop.

Hell Hellforge runedrop:

Grand Vizier of Chaos:

Diablo:

Diablo drop:

Level 83: Andariel's Visage unique demonhead.

At this point I also sub out Faith hydra for Shael'd Windforce hydra, and give the merc Faith instead of Ice. This is just to kill Baal quicker. I prefer the Faith/Ice combo for more general play (player wielding Faith gets way more reanimates than merc doing so, for example).