Random musings as I just finished a short session clearing Spider Forest.

I mostly find joy with my character when I either 1) find something cool to upgrade (since I'm playing Single Pass...) or 2) when I can actually play my build like I intend to.

Well, I definitely have not found anything since my Perfect Harmony last act (that was awesome though). I've found 6/8 normal Unique bows though haha. Every time I see a Unique bow drop, I get excited before realising that they are not Exception/Elite ones...

As mentioned in the earlier post, Act 2 was a real chore too with all the high HP or PI mobs. Artemis is suppose to be a Strafezon, not a Freezing Arrow + proc Amp Zon while Merc/Valk handle the rest. An untwinked Zon really suffers from lack of overall damage. Amp is mostly a necessity for me and merc to do more noticeable damage. Alternate FA and 1 volley of strafe until Amp procs, then switch to Harmony and FA + 4 Strafe volleys and repeat. 80% of the time I'm trying to proc Amp though.

Spider Forest was really fun though. All the Fetishes and Cloud Strikers just melt to Harmony. Finally get cosplay a Strafezon!

Managed to find time for a session. Was intending to clear both Great Marsh and Flayer Jungle. Things didn't go to plan.



There's a special place in hell for Gloams/Burning Souls. Argh. Spent so much time clearing Great Marsh because of them. Around maybe 900k gold in merc too. I have great respect for you HC folks. I don't have the patience to tackle areas so carefully. Got pissed off and went to shoot random easy monsters at BM lol.

No useful drops in Great Marsh. Did find an elite unique though, so at least 1 cool one!



This post was edited by Ducko on Aug 27 2025 09:22am

Finally had time for 2 extensive sessions. Flayer Jungle all the way to Meph. Overall, it was quite uneventful, albeit fun. Act 3 are filled with low HP mobs that Artemis just shreds them safely from distance. The only challenge I had was in Disused Reliquary, in which two groups of unique Flesh Archer mobs camped the entrance. One of the unique was Cursed too. Thankful for Slow Missiles, which allowed me to reposition and slowly pick them off, albeit with several deaths (and multiple Merc ones).

Interestingly, a 2nd Gheed dropped. Didn't know that this could happen. It had lower MF than my existing. Sad that I can't keep both though.



I also found a pretty cool ring. No use for Artemis though, and overall not useful for PVM.



Meph was killed without much difficulty. Just pew pew from distance while resummoning Valk. CB does the job.



I had exactly 300MF and this is what he gave me

On to Act 4! Let's talk about the journey to Forge first.

The mobs overall were nothing scary, just Flesh Spawners, Venom Lords, Doom Casters, Damned and Abyss Knights. Thankfully I did not have to deal with Gloams again haha. Flesh Spawners were annoying because they're fairly resistant to physical damage, and the merc often gets swarmed by the Flesh Beasts spawned. I had to regularly pull him back and let the GOAT Valk tank, but AI was fairly annoying. I also had to deal with Damned spaming their lightning balls, but Slow Missiles made things manageable. At first I was playing cautious, before I realised that the best defense is a good offense. I just went full gungho shooting at them with Harmony, and the merc actually survived more often.

We did get some really cool uniques! A Baranar's Star and Doombringer! Like I said earlier, it's fun when Elite Uniques drop. Not useful for me, but I'll just throw it onto my Frenzy Barb alongside Flamebellow. At least it's a big upgrade to his Vile Husk/Headstriker that he somehow beat Hell with. Not like I'll play him anymore haha.





I also finally found a 4 Socket Thresher! Major upgrade to merc's damage, as he's been stuck with Insight Partizan for the longest. I'd say good progress!

In theme with Artemis's rune lucks so far, Forge was a Fal At least though, I have another 2 Fals to cube to Lem. A Treachery would be useful in keeping my merc alive. Just need to find a base. Side note, this run would have been long over if I was any other melee character with how late my Lem was obtained. Lawbringer is really essential for the run.



Also, take a look at this cool albeit useless GC.



Chaos wasn't challenging surprisingly. Maybe it's because I could safely spam arrows without annoyance of Decrep (unlike my Frenzy Barb/Fury Druid), and most mobs can all be frozen using FA. Mobs were also not very tanky, so Strafe+Pierce deal good damage with the occasional Amp. Diablo himself was annoying though, because I had to keep taking pot shots at him. His lightning or firestorm kills me, while his flame circle takes out half my HP if I don't dodge it. All is fine, except I died several times because I could not run in time due to Strafe lock haha. Slowly but surely, CB did its job. May I present the loot with 300% MF.



Oh well. At least Act 4 is done! I'm pretty sure Artemis doesn't need anymore gear upgrades, but I certainly wouldn't mind. Maybe it's time to start M A N I F E S T I N G again! My wish list:

• Razortail
  
• LoH
  
• Buriza or Windforce
  
• WWS
  
• War Travs
  
• Vamp Gaze for merc
  
• Ethereal Thresher

Let's go Act 5!

This post was edited by Ducko on Sep 6 2025 12:14am

Let's go A5!

Cleared Shenk easily. Then I got a good merc helm upgrade in Frigid.



Looks like a good start to the last Act right? RIGHT?

Nope. The next 2 pictures speak for themselves...

Oh well. Loads of exp lost. It is what it is. At least loots in Glacial Trail were quite cool. My third Gheed (33%), Carrion and a DWeb!







Anyway, I've cleared Frozen Tundra. Probably 2-3 more sessions to go. Nith, Ancients and Baal!

Done with Nith! It was a fruitful, albeit mixed session I must say.

Halls 1 & 2 were very fun, as I mostly dealt with Flayers. So many low HP critters which was fun to just shoot them down. Hall 3 was annoying though. I faced Tomb Vipers + Returned Archers. Vipers are notorious for their Plague cloud thingy, but FA meant I had them under control to minimise merc dying. They die pretty fast. The Archers just needed a little more strategy with Slow Missile. The annoying monster though was the Night Marauder. Tanky PI unchillable monsters that flee when low health. I had to be mindful in case mobs of Vipers/Archers were still around when they fled. Irritating.

Unfortunately while fighting Nith, my PC crashed and I had to re-run the whole thing. Thankfully Hall 3 spawned Arach instead of Night Marauder, so at least I did not have to waste time killing.

Loot wise it was awesome.

Firstly, a LoH finally dropped. I don't think it will be that useful at this stage, considering that I'm left with Ancient's Way and Throne. Not many Demons to exploit I reckon. Still, nice item to have.



Then while I was running Halls 2 & 3 the second time, a Raven Frost dropped! Low AR, but yay I have CBF now which will be useful against Baal.



Other fun items that dropped during this session:

1. Nec Summoning GC
2. Butcher's Pupil
3. Fal Rune

Technically this is no longer a Single Pass playthrough cuz of the re-run but I don't really care. I'm at the end stage with most of the gears that I wished for, and have proven that I should be able to complete it (even without Raven Frost).

Anyway time to move on. 3 more sessions. Ancient's Way + Icy Cellar next. Then Ancients + Baal. Last session will be cows.

Ancient's Way + Icy Cellar done. I had to re-roll Icy Cellar several times cuz I saw Gloams. PTSD I'd rather have an "unpure" run than to go through it again omg.

This was my M A N I F E S T I N G wish list earlier.



Got LoH. Tal Helm is a good substitute for Gaze. I would like to announce that I have another to check off my list. May I present:





I also bid goodbye to a weapon that made this run possible: My Amp Siege Crossbow. Nothing fancy, shoots slow, but did some heavy lifting for me!



Replacing this because I managed to finally gamble Amp in a better base. Elite and fast!



This was a real short session, but very very productive!

This post was edited by Ducko on Oct 17 2025 02:51am

Lol you had it rough here