haha yes we stay physical if possible ^^ hell will be a challenge. the most similar character I've run through hell on classic was a zealer, where even with a really nice 17xed 30ias naga and crushing blow things got extremely difficult and slow.

however I'm actually pleasantly surprised by the fend amazon so far, she is much stronger than i expected. even with zero ias pike fend attacks pretty fast, and the range on these pikes along with valk/decoy and avoid means I actually have fairly good survivability. the main thing I will need to source are crushing blow and maybe some open wounds for boss fights.

I think this basically means I need goblin toes, since rattlecage will be really frustrating with the fleeing enemies. so might require some substantial farming.

This post was edited by ains21 on May 26 2024 03:06am

Just planning some imbues, they will be vital for the viability of this run. White lances can now drop from Arcane Sanctuary NM onwards, and lance is qlvl47.

First imbue is intended to get me through most of NM and potentially some of hell. It will be around lvl 45 (ilvl=50) and gives access to:

- Prefix: Merciless (100%ed), Soldiers (50%ed)
- Suffix: Alacrity (20ias)

Second imbue to get me through as much as hell as possible at a level that is viable to achieve in A1 or A4 NM. I expect this will be around lvl 65 (ilvl=70) and it gives access to:

- Prefix: Merciless (100%ed), Lords (80%ed)
- Suffix: Quickness (40ias)

If I had the wild luck that these both give me something usable I will save the last imbue for lvl 73 so I can get Kings prefix for the potential max 200ed. But I suspect I will have not have it to spare.

If I can't get a decent imbue I will try and shop a lance in the highest ilvl shop available to me. Getting 80-100ed and any ias will hopefully be enough to get me deeper into hell. Fingers crossed!

This post was edited by ains21 on May 26 2024 03:23am

I'm debating on doing a ssf - never done one before, but i play ironman on runescape which is ssf.
WIll get this a shot on d2r

Yeah you should do it, completely different experience to online. tbh challenges like this are the only thing that keep d2 fresh for me nowadays.

Soon as I hit A3 i ran through to LK to try and roll a nice map for finding my lance. Low and behold a few runs in i get this from a poppable:



Fingers crossed for first imbue of the run, clvl 46 i think ...



holy shit!!



decent dmg, ll, ar and even cd! this will take me quite far imo

This post was edited by ains21 on May 29 2024 03:23am

I think the next step will be trying to run norm cow king for death set, twitch, maybe something like hotspur. Death set is the biggest one since it will allow me to switch out my armour, as well as giving ias/ll/res. such an imba set, and cow king has fairly decent chance to dropping. feel like it is required to make run viable. wish me luck, might be a long grind!