strength runeword would be a great strategy if you can manage it. may be a bit hard to keep merc alive through the firehose but lifetap should keep him alive otherwise. perhaps give him a Ral Ral helm if he's still lacking fire res for the fire nova and firestorm skills.

as to re-runs, honestly i wouldnt bother. killing diablo once will be a pain, unless it goes really smooth you're better off running shenk/eld and maybe mixing in pindle if u can push effectively to anya. but that's up to you of course.

also a crafted helm can be as effective or more than ud crown. DS is a nice addition, although u lose poi and dmg to demons.

This post was edited by thesnipa on Sep 12 2018 10:25am

Shenk and eldrich can drop half of them items, but sharptooth slayer can drop them all. Maybe i can find him each run and kill him instead of Diablo.

This post was edited by 15bucks on Sep 12 2018 10:29am

the surrounding areas can also drop Amn by shenk. good for str for merc, and good for a spirit if you're willing to burn your first socket q on a broad sword u find on the ground.

you'll need to make a strength anyways for baal. otherwise you'll have a 30+ min fight

I almost threw my laptop last night. Got him half way. Ran out of gold to rehire Merc. Went to act 1 and gathered gold. Went back in an he was full life. I shut it down and went to bed, lol. I plan on making strength for Diablo.
Then finding rattle cage before Baal.

Finally found another thul, Then spent 15 minutes searching merchants and elzix in act 2 come thru for me for a 2 socket merc wep.
Merc used strength
I used malice
Clay golem
Decrep curse

He hovered sliding twice (which ive never seen), Kept meleeing at merc, done 2 stanky breathes back to back, wiped merc out and almost come around and got me too. But i have finally Drunkenly Fell over my first hard obstacle in normal.







Ready for act 5 !!! Going to go find shenk/eldrich/sharptooth slayer and find some decsent gear before i even think about progress towards ancients or baal. I Will waste my First socket quest on a spirit sword if i have too considering im not seeing myself make it out of nightmare.

Gear of interest:
Mages/Frostburns (need more mana)
gravespine/umes Wand (or spirit)
Ratte Cage armor for merc to help with bosses
Wormskull or undead crown could be nice

Almost level 40.
5 Runs done so far (shenk/eldrich/sharptooth)
101 % magic find (no mf helmet, no mf belt, and only 1 p topaz in armor)


Frost burn - 1:3047 (sharptooth only)
Magefists - 1:4019-4179 (all 3)
RattleCage - 1:5209 (sharptooth only)
Gravespine wand - 1:7590-7892 (all 3)
Umes Wand - 1:10637 (sharptooth only)
Undead Crown - 1:4003 (sharptooth only)
WormSkull- 1:4770-4960 (all 3)

If i could EZ Diablo - everything is 1:750 or less... So i really need to find a good trick,

great WT! good shit so far

mage might be a good idea (off item if this is allowed?)
decrep+cold mage+ clay golem= a really slow diablo

Those odds for your merc wt are just so depressing
hope to see this in hell