Introduction to character and playstyle

Marcy will be a Freezing Arrow Amazon who utilizes Multishot, Strafe, and Guided Arrow to deal with cold immunes and to help leech mana. She will be played in hardcore vanilla Diablo 2 legacy (for those who don't know, vanilla d2 means no ladder-only runewords like Insight, Harmony, Lawbringer, Ice, Faith, Fortitude, Infinity, and more). I prefer to play full clear style, clearing every monster in the game because it's good for xp, drops, safety, and mostly I just find it cool to do. I can't guarantee a 100% full clear here though, because I'm not sure how well I'll be able to deal with tougher cold immunes in Hell. However, I will be doing my best to clear 99%+ of all monsters in every area (and sub-area), and I will profile any monsters that are too much for me.

My objective is to complete and use the beautiful but fairly weak M'avina's Battle Hymn set. I would like to complete the set in the earlier stages of Hell so that I can play through the majority of my Hell progression while enjoying the challenges and benefits presented by this gorgeous set. I will hunt for the set pieces in Hell Ancient Tunnels. I'd love to be able to focus solely on Freezing Arrow damage, but considering the very weak damage of Mav's bow I'll likely need to invest a lot into the physical side in order for it to not be entirely useless. A large dex investment, damage (or poison) charms in inventory, Highlord's amulet, damage jewels rather than Facets, and Reaper's Toll Might merc all come to mind.

That being said...

Rules
1. Vanilla Diablo 2 Legacy
2. Hardcore
3. Players set to 8 for all progression. Players set to any amount for re-runs.
4. 99%+ full clear

Nightmare Goals
1. Find Lycander's Aim or Buriza
2. Farm a 150+ MF setup that's viable in Hell Ancient Tunnels.

Hell Goals
1. Try to make physical side viable too (I will consider it viable if it can take care of cold immunes at least 50% as fast as FA takes care of the rest).
2. Complete M'avina's Battle Hymn in the Hell Ancient Tunnels and use it for the rest of the game.
3. 89% IAS breakpoint with M'avina's bow (40), M'avina's diadem (30), and Highlord's ammy (20).
4. Make CTA in Hell A3.
5. Find or cube a Cham rune (unlikely, but I've done it before in sp hc here!) so I can use 2x dual leech rings instead of needing 1 Raven Frost.
6. Kill Hell Baal

Getting started


Normal Blood Moor cleared


Normal DoE cleared


This post was edited by Belarathon on May 17 2024 10:30am

Normal Cold Plains cleared


This oughta hold


Normal Cave Level 1 cleared


This post was edited by Belarathon on May 17 2024 10:32am

Normal Cave level 2 cleared


It's always fun seeing no-level-req rares!


Normal Burial Grounds cleared

Normal Crypt cleared


Normal Mausoleum cleared. Also, I remembered to pick up my mercenary at this point.


Normal Stony Field cleared

Normal Underground Passage level 1 cleared. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a screenshot of level 2 even though I did clear it Sad, but at least it's just normal. I'll be extra careful in NM and Hell to s/s all areas.


Stats at level 15 entering Tristram for the first time.


Normal Tristram cleared

I tossed this with 'Stealth' incoming soon.


Normal Black Marsh cleared, feat. nice re-run waypoint. I will do some Countess runs after I get the Horadric Cube.


Norm Tow 1 clea

NT2C


NT3C


NT4C

NT5C + Countess dropped Tal.


Normal Tamoe Highland clear


Normal Pit level 1 clear

Normal Pit level 2 clear


I had noticed that I forgot about the Hole. Normal Hole level 1 clear.


First GC that made me think, "Nice." Of course, the dex is symbolic.