"Griez has this place locked down nice and tight." Right. That's why there's hordes of zombies and reanimated skeletons being led by a giant mummy just beneath your town.



The Defense boost we get from upgrading Bloodfist is completely negligible, but I probably won't find a replacement for them any time soon, so might as well. Or maybe I should have just saved the Shael. *shrug*



Didn't need to regenerate maps to prep for some Andy runs. This is the layout we got the first time.

20 NM Andariel Runs



I missed one screenshot in there somewhere, which resulted in a very annoying blank space in the bottom right. So I included a drop of some Magefists we're never going to use instead.

Every set ring was Cathan's, but I think we can get by without resorting to the Angelic duo anyway. Some other randos dropped 2 Cathan's rings as well. Cathan was a horder.



A few note-worthy drops from Andy and friends along the way. Some charm adds. A couple cute belts that aren't good enough to replace what we have. The circlet is an upgrade for the merc.
I think about at least trying out Goblin Toe, but I put it on the ground while managing the inventory and forgot to pick it back up before exiting the session. I do switch to Infernostrides though.

Slowing enemies is good. I guess Razortine finally signifies that it's time to give up the old Amp trident and give the merc a new weapon, yes?
... No. He gets something with Amp or Reapers.



I know that when some really nice BO sticks come along, I'll have to ditch Spirit as my prebuff. But, for now, having a huge mana pool (for a barb) and being above the 63 FCR breakpoint makes buffing and horking very very pleasant.
Too bad these rolled so low that replacing Stealth will put us below 63, but we can always try again, and it's definitely long past time to replace Stealth. We don't need the FRW or the cast rate. I like having a lot of FHR, but it's also not entirely necessary for a pvm barb. So really, Stealth isn't doing much for us. I haven't really found anything to replace it with yet, however.

Back into the desert. Anything lightning related is worth taking extra care with, or avoiding completely until I can bump so more resistance. Stay away from beetles, gloams, and balloons.



Someone mentioned to follow the right wall in the Maggot Lair. I think they may be right.

Oh, and, terrible cleavers all day. The game is punishing me for allowing myself to use rare axes by giving me terrible rare axes.



We did our hoppin' thing. 2nd try this time.

sigh ... This guy though.



Why is there a giant maggot with holy freeze though? Why is this a thing?

Lamest boss ever.



Of course I had to turn back and hunt down Kaa. During the hunt I found these three all hanging out in one room. None of them are Kaa.

I never really ever did tomb runs at any point in the past, at least not solo. There are uniques and champs absolutely everywhere in these things. I didn't get a good screenshot, but there were 9 champs in this one room.



Found him/her/it. Still not worth it, but it's personal.



Oh and I also killed all these douche canoes. Didn't screenshot any of their drops as I worked through the act, which means they dropped nothing note-worthy.

Now that we're in Act 3, we should be able to finally start shopping Nagas. So, next time I play, I should be able to start off with some crafts. Wish me luck.

Axe Crafts 1 - 4



Yikes. Not ideal for our first crafts. I was hoping I'd get a couple that rolled with Attack Rating, but nada. Ended up using 1 & 3 (left to right). Was desperate for a damage boost. It definitely makes killing things less time consuming.

I'll have to do something that's not that orange background for the next edit. Didn't realize how upsettingly hideous it was until looking at it blown up now.



Here's an NPC you probably never talk to. Her voice actress sounds like she was nearly falling asleep in the sound booth.



Sszark is one of those super uniques I always tip-toe with now. I've had some pretty tanky characters get unexpectedly and carelessly bodied in the past by this spider.

This post was edited by Aphex on Mar 8 2020 07:58pm

Remember when I said we were going to hork all the things? I meant it. The double Spirit switch is working splendidly.



Ormus gave us a ring that isn't too terrible, but doesn't hold up vs. our current set. Walked around the block and gave it to Alkor.



These are dropping now.

Duger.



Pretty solid LK map. Hopefully the Durance map will be good, as it will have to take priority over LK. Even NM LK is good for running to fill up on gems, mid/low runes, and the occasional surprise.

I'll try to remember to increase map opacity before ss'ing maps from now on. You get the idea though.



These are also dropping now.

Geleb and Ismail were kinda scary, and Toorc was a nuisance as per usual. Toorc got a lockdown mod set. Fortunately our merc was able to be targeted at the time. Aldur's face.



Hadn't taken much damage, but this shit chasing me made me nope out. I couldn't name-lock the leader to see what else they had, but you know when you've been playing too long and your brain isn't up to the task of quick reflexes. It was time to call it a night at this point and come back later, without rushing the Durance.



Cute small charm.

Looked scarier than he was. A little kiting and his pack dropped fairly easily.



Mephisto also dropped faster than I thought he would. Had to town once.

Rolled a pretty nasty (not in a good way) Durance map for running Meph. I'm going to farm up some more Orts and Rubies and see about crafting some better axes, maybe some cb gloves, maybe some blood rings, and hopefully drop an armor upgrade and some res charms from LK and Trav, before farming Meph. I'm not 100% comfortable fighting him, and especially moving through Durance 3 to get to him. 17 Lightning Resistance is terrible. Might brave up and go slap Izzy too.

This post was edited by Aphex on Mar 8 2020 08:08pm