Hi all.

As a background, I used to play in bnet USWest about 15 to 20 years ago. Back then, I had fully decked out Wind Druid, Bone Nec, HDin, ES/FB Sorc, BvC, Trap Sin etc, all for PvP. The characters have all long expired. I suddenly felt like playing again for nostalgia, but there's no way I can return back to my level of wealth and no friends to play with again. So my only option is just to play Single Player.

It's relatively easy to just play Blizz Sorc or other spell casters as they are mostly level dependent. I want to challenge myself by playing melee characters instead that have to mainly rely on their Weapons for damage. This means no CS Zons, FC Bear, Rabies Wolf, PS Sin etc.

As an additional challenge, this will be a an untwinked Single Pass run. This means that I cannot return to any previous areas to MF or rerun countess for runes etc. I can only use whatever I can find or make or craft/gamble. This is pretty much madness for a melee character, but I have done it once last year with a Frenzy Sword Barb (non upgraded Vile Husk + Headstriker as final weapons).

My choice for this walkthrough will be a Fury Druid

Rules
1.14D with all the available runewords in that patch (I don't have D2R)
Single Pass
Full Clear
Untwinked*
ATMA stash
Softcore (no balls for HC haha)

* Although I said untwinked, I will allow this Fury Druid to have access to my Barb's rune stash (mainly Jah/Mal/Um) only under very strict conditions, that is only after A4 Forge and that I must find all the other runes first. For example, if I found a Shael + Pul + Lum, I will allow myself to build an Oath (Mal from Frenzy Barb's stash). The reason for this rule was during my Single Pass Frenzy Barb run, I found cool runes like Jah (?!?!??)/Mal/Um, but I could not use them at all. It was such a pity. Most likely though, I don't believe I'll be touching them unlike something really really cool drops.

Plan
20 Fury
20 HoW
20 Lycan
9+ Werewolf (might decide to put more for AR)
Rest in Dire Wolf (To boost HP of Grizzy)

1. Dream weapon will be an Obedience in an elite base or some cool elite unique like Reaper's. I foresee myself likely to be using Insight though.
2. First Lem goes into Lawbringer so I can reliably deal with PIs. Second Lem goes into Treachery.
3. Holy Freeze Merc with Insight as I need some form of crowd control
4. Up to late nightmare, I should be using mass MF gears (PTopaz'd Helm/Armour, gambled boots/gloves, cubed Rings/Ammy). Basically this was following jiansonz guide from the Single Player Forum in another site. After that, I will adjust accordingly based on what I find/need.

This post was edited by Ducko on May 9 2024 05:13am

Although this is a walkthrough, I actually only decided on documenting it halfway through my game. Right now I am at NM A2 Far Oasis. I'll quickly summarise roughly what happened prior.

1. A1 Normal dropped me a Death Sash. CBF solution fixed early on.
2. As per Jiansonz guide, all my chipped topaz were immediately put into two sets of 3Soc Armour/2Soc Helms. I subsequently upgrade both armours into 3 x Flawed Topaz each. Thereafter, all Topaz found were to be upgraded to Perfect.
3. All my diamonds (chipped/flawed/normal) that were found were cubed into Savage Polearms in A2 Normal. I managed to roll Partizans/Lochaber Axe, which were my and merc's main weapons once Str/Dex requirements were fulfiled
4. Found Angelic Ammy + Ring combo, which would be useful in Hell
5. Finished normal with nothing else significant.

In Nightmare, I found this helm. Cube socket and lucked 3 sockets, in which I filled it with 3 x PTopaz which I am currently using.



Later, a white Partizan dropped. Pretty sure max socket was 4, so I had a good chance for cubing it. Lucked out again and I've made my first Insight. Low roll, but I'd make do. May decide to reroll it though



Current stats at the moment. Resist are really low. Hopefully I find my 2nd Lem before Hell. So far I can survive fine with Merc/Grizz tanking.



This post was edited by Ducko on May 9 2024 05:58am

Small update regarding equipment.

I rerolled my Insight and it resulted in a slight improvement. Wished the Critical Strike was higher.



Merc is the one enjoying it because soon after, a 3s Siege Crossbow dropped! I made Edge with it. Gut feel though is that Insight is better, but at least collectively Merc and me will have better damage output.



Lastly, this unique Casque dropped! Perfect helm for my merc right now imo. LL + MF + Def. A good source of LL to make him an awesome tank.



I don't foresee any other major improvements soon except for 4PTopaz armour next. Hope I get blessed with good drops!

This post was edited by Ducko on May 10 2024 01:58am

Love it, how will you deal with physical immune in hell when Lem fails to drop?

FC

Does FC require some synergy investment to be effective?

My Frenzy Barb found total 3 Lems during the single pass run. So hopefully this will be the case for the Fury. Fingers crossed. If not, I'll figure something out. Let's wait till I conclude NM first.

Hopefully at least 1 drops, what level did you reach after completing normal? This a fun idea makes me want to play D2 again.

I think you should finish normal at around 45 and nm at around 72 if you full clear single pass. Full clear is quite important for melee because you need the levels, otherwise your chance to hit gets low.

I have finished NM.

For most of A2, I was using the Edge Siege Crossbow. But I felt like the killing speed was inferior to an Insight Partizan. Quick math and I was right. It was cool to have both Thorns + Holy Freeze + Meditation Auras, but in reality Thorns didn't seem to provide much. A 4 soc Partizan dropped, so I decided to just make a 2nd Insight for my own use. Sadly the roll was nothing fantastic, but I will not reroll it.



I also found a Humongous Giant Axe, which gives 33% CB. Sounds like a useful option for later bosses, though I couldn't hit Duriel much with it compared to Insight. Might upgrade it in the future if I have no CB alternatives.



Duriel by the way was irritating as usual. Merc/Grizzly kept dying, while my CtH was only about 73%. Of course nothing great dropped. Just a unique Flanged Mace which isn't useful for my build.

I'm still patiently for a 4 soc armour to drop. I have my PTopaz ready....