[Accidentally pressed Enter - Title should be: Guardian Players 8 Single Pass Fireclaw Druid]
Hi all,
Just finished my first guardian single player self-found single-pass full clear (all dungeons) P8 HC toon on a fireclaw druid!
I've had several other attempts in the past, the most notable being a lvl 87 Berserker Barb (fell to Lord De Seis), a lvl 85 Strafazon (fell to A3 Gloams), a lvl 80 Hammerdin (fell to A1 spiders) and a lvl 80 Javazon (fell to A1 Minataurs). The fireclaw druid was the safest of the five toons, had zero issues with immunities, easiest to gear and probably had the fastest run time because he could handle all mobs equally without risk.
The druid was also the luckiest single-pass toon I've had. He was rocking 250% MF in normal and nightmare and 60% MF in Hell and found an amazing set of goodies, including a Hotspur, Rockstopper, three IK pieces, Spellsteel, Headstriker, Steeldriver, The Minotaur, Warshrike, Razor's Edge, Ravenfrost, two 5-socket threshers, 1 eth 4-socket CV (for the merc), all Sigon pieces except armor, all Angelic pieces, three Fals and 1 Gul. The other toons never found a Ravenfrost, Rockstopper or Spellsteel - critical pieces to the journey.
Final gear on druid:
- Obedience thresher | General Tan Do Li Ga's Flail and Radamant's Sphere shield on switch
- Rockstopper (socketed Ort)
- Lionheart mage Plate
- Sigon's gloves, belt and boots
- Ravenfrost ring and Angelic ring and amulet
Final gear on merc:
- Insight on Eth Collossus Voulge
- Tal Rasha's helm (socketed with perfect amythest)
- Spirit Shroud for CBF mod
Final skills:
- 20 points into fireclaw and 51 points into synergies (volcano, fissure and firestorm)
- 20 points in shockwave
- 5 points into lycanthropy
- 1 point into werebear and maul
- 1 point into werewolf and feral rage
Stats:
- 2600 HP in bear form
- 3409 - 6862 damage (half is physical damage from the Obedience)
- 12,000 attack rating after enchant
- 1,311 defense
- Resists (F:70, C:75, L:75, P:-8)
- Merc damage: 900 - 5057 (2.77 attacks per second)
Some really challenging experiences along the way:
- Hell Duriel on P8 with a melee char is tough! I couldn't find a way to keep my merc alive because of Duriel's holy freeze, even with a Life Tap wand. I almost bankrupted myself resurrecting my merc and at one point had to sell my flawless gems for gold. I finally resorted to using Decrepify from Spellsteel and the General Tan Do Li Ga's flail to slow Duriel sufficiently for my Merc to deal damage. I had to cast Decrepify, turn into bear, smack Duriel three times, then turn back to human form to Decrepify again. It took about 20 Decrepify cycles to kill him.
- Ancients were tough! I had to re-roll them a few times and eventually defeated Korlic (Holy Freeze, Mana Burn), Madawc (Extra Strong, Cursed) and Talic (Spectral Hit, Magic Resistant). Normally, I wouldn't take them on with those mods but I was able to isolate them and pick them apart one-on-one.
- There were two mobs I couldn't kill in Hell. The first was the giant maggot queen Coldworm in Maggot's lair. She kept spawning rock worms, so much so that the whole page was filled with them and I couldn't kill them faster than her spawn. At one point, the screen was just rock worms all spitting gunk at me. I had to tele (spellsteel) in to sneak the staff then bugger off. The second mob was the super unique Sezark the Burning in Spider Cavern. I couldn't break it's physical or fire immunity with decrepify so I had to leave it in its cave.
Some really enjoyable experiences along the way:
- The General Tan Do Li Ga's flail is the best kept secret in single-pass for a fireclaw druid. With 20% IAS and 50% slow, it was critical for all my encounters with uniques/champions/bosses to keep my merc alive. That weapon alone made Duriel, Mephisto, Diablo and Baal a walk in the park, not to mention Ancients and champion frenzy minotaurs.
- Max shockwave in single pass is a must. The 13-second stun allows you to perma-stun all mobs, including uniques/champions. The latter only have 10% chance of stun but if you're throwing 1 shockwave per second, odds are you'll stun them again within a 13 second window. This was paramount for beating uniques/champions that had frenzy or extra strong. I wouldn't have been able to pass Ancients without perma-stunning Madawc with Extra Stong and Cursed.
- Everything was killable. The standard approach was to approach a mob, lure them away from their pack, shockwave all monsters on screen and them get a few hits in before resetting the stun. This ensured literally nil damage in most encounters, even for fire immunes. It also encouraged maxing stun duration less time would be spent casting Shockwave. I actually think the druid could easily complete HC P8 single pass naked with this strategy re-investing FC points into rabies.
Some tips for any toons who wants to complete single pass HC on players 8:
- Maximise your magic find in normal and nightmare to set yourself up for hell. I started off as a wind druid with 250% MF for most of normal and nightmare. Your default setup should be three socket helms and four socket armors for perfect topazes and MF gloves and rings. Sets can also give you good bonuses, including three piece Sigon's (boots), two piece Artic (belt) and two piece Tancred's (amulet). I ran this for all my single-pass toons through to Hell.
- Find a reliable CC skill that can perma-control a screen. It could be shockwave, howl, mind blast, bone wall, terror or CTC flee, blind, freeze. The best defense is not HP or resists, it's actually not getting hit. This also helps your merc's survivability.
- Find a weapon with slow target and crushing blow. These mods are probably the best mods in game. Slow stacks with cold damage and decrepify to nullify all threats. Crushing blow means reduced the reliance on damage and works well in P8 even with reduced effectiveness.
- For melee characters, make an Obedience weapon. I've found a Ko and Fal rune in nightmare for all my single pass toons. At some point, you will also find a 5-socket polearm in Hell. Obedience guarantees 370% ED, 40% crushing blow, 30% CTC lvl 21 Enchant, -25% target defense, cold damage, and +25 all resist. Every single mod there is a must have. It's absolutely brilliant. Another useful weapon is an upped Bonesnap with a Shael rune which I have always found in single-pass before Hell - my go-to until Obedience.
- Ancients are not too hard if you isolate them. You can do this by running to the Ancient's Way entrance (SW) after activating the alter, running along the bottom to the bottom right corner (SE), running along the right to the top right corner (NE) then running along the top to the top left corner (NW). At this point, only one ancient will have chased you (usually Korlic) which you can take down one-by-one. It helps having only 20% R/W speed so you don't lose them.
- Lastly, take it slow. The thing I love about D2 is that the journey is as enjoyable as the destination. Killing mobs is fun. Working towards waypoints is fun. D2 combat is fun. Even nightmare is fun because that's when you're most OP. Take it easy, lure mobs, check their mods, stun them and smack. If you rush in like my first five toons, you'll most definitely die.
This pretty much wraps up my 1-year journey on single-pass HC P8! I'm not sure what the next challenge will be - probably a single-pass poison necro with an A1 Merc but I'll take a nice long break before then. Hope you enjoyed the read.
This post was edited by Play3967 on Jan 5 2021 11:03pm