Skirmisher
Where others command the pack, he chooses to lead.
Class: Druid
Skill Priority: Spirit Wolf, Dire Wolf, Grizzly Bear, Lycanthropy, Werewolf

Day 1

After the results of the poll, Skirmisher and Barb Predator were tied. I opted to try the Skirmisher (my current online character) in a dedicated p8 setting.

Dove right in. Name of the game is safety! Made sure to do all quests and hunt a bunch to maintain appropriate level. Didn't have to do any runs as I ended up at 18 prior to Andy, a comfortable level.

Early wolves pulling their weight both in damage and pulling aggro. Not at the point yet where I need to spam them. Admittedly online this was much easier due to having Insight as early as possible. That presumably won't be the case here so we'll have to wait and see how the wolf spam strat holds up.

Just picking up what drops, collecting chippies and allllllll the purple drank I see. More to come!

Gear, Skills, & Stats Nov 29th: https://d2.maxroll.gg/d2planner/vh01066e

Day 2: Conquering the Desert

With my paltry gear fully equipped I begin my usual A2 gameplan. Rush to Viper Temple and get Hills & Oasis WPs along the way and work backward.

I speed it up a little but still engage anything that walks to close to me. My damage is starting to wain with that dull axe but dogs and Merc help considerably.

Eventually buy a 3 socketed axe from Fara and shove some chip saphs in it. A bit of a boost, helps when I get to Maggot. Combo of me and merc while summoning dogs behind the packs makes it go quicker.

Arcane is fun, the ol' go the wrong way 3 times before summoner routine. I'm 24 as I approach Tombs.

This build shines in Tombs. Wolves engage undead packs while I assassinate Mummies. No Fuss.

Turns out Duriel is really easy on p8 even in garbage gear when you can infinitely summon wolves to pull aggro. Drops a real nice pair of early boots. 10 FRW 10 FHR Triple Res. Also drops a decent Maul I can equip soon.

Today's plan: Act 3 Organ Grinding!

Gear, Skills, & Stats Nov 30th: https://d2.maxroll.gg/d2planner/vh01066e

Can view the gear, skill and stat progression buy using the drop down menu under the Merc.

This post was edited by Pseudofate_D2R on Nov 30 2021 10:12am

A3 Norm

I've realllllllllllllly been spoiled these last few months rushing to Trav to kill Council and then joining a Baal Run to access Durance entrance.

But! Jungle wasn't too hard on the wolfpack. Eye and Brain found in short order and stumbled upon Gidbinn en route to LK. Ring reward sucked cause of course it did.

Killing is a bit slow but not unbearable, and personal and pack damage is good enough to make easy work of Council and Meph.

Meph doesnt drop anything spectacular. Council guy dropped an AR circlet w/ Mana Leech.

It's been brought to my attention we're not supposed to link to Maxroll for the time being. So gear, skills, and stats moving forward will be listed.

(Mods I do not have access to the edit function on the previous blog entries to remove the links)

Gear, Skills, Stats A3 End (Level 29)

Gear
Weapon, Maul: 10 ias 24% ed 3 min 95 ar 4 ml 6 pr
Helm, Circlet: 30 def 103 ar 3 ml 20 ene 3 dr
Armor, Chain: 12% def 11% dura + ruby + ruby
Glove, Chain: 11 def 5% lvl 3 frost nova on get hit 5% ar 12 ar 10% def 7 lr 5 light radius repl
Belt, Belt: 17 fhr 18 mana 9 lr 25% plr repl
Boot, Heavy: 5 def 10% lvl 3 nova on get hit 10 frw 10 fhr 11 cr 10 lr 17 pr
Amulet: 20 lr 50% plr
Ring 1: 11 fr 1 dr
Ring 2: 1 max 2 dex 3 repl 6 stamina 13 cr 5 fr

Charms
sc 1-3 light dmg
sc 8 life 3 cr
lc 9 life
lc 9 life
gc 17 life
gc 19 life

Merc (Blessed Aim)
Weapon, Scythe: Malice (IthElEth)
Armor, Scale: 80 def 32% def 2 str 12 life 8 fr
Helm, Full: 29 def 12% lvl 4 charged bolt on get hit 10 fhr 11% def 7 life 12 fr

Skills
Werewolf - 1
Lycanthropy - 2
Feral Rage - 1
Rabies - 1

Raven - 1
Oak - 1
Wolverine - 2
Spirit Wolf - 10
Dire Wolf - 12

Attributes
Strength + 58(73)
Dexterity + 29(51)
Vitality + 58(83)
Energy + 0(40)

A4 Norm

Started jotting down notes as things happen in real time. First and foremost, forgetting to /p8 like.... every fucking time I load in and realize it after the first thing I punch gets one-shotted.

Hit level 30 before Izual, Grizzly!

Confront Izual and don't even use grizzly. Izual can't seem to kill a wolf and we nibble him to death. Drops nothing,

Ral from hellforge and a pSkull, ick. Heph drops a pelt tho, +1 Summons!

Heading into chaos notice my fire res sucks, lightning is fine. Well lets try to kill diablo anyway...

[SOME TIME LATER]

What a fuckin slog that was. Lightning cheese master renders merc useless, but that was to be expected. But omfg BEAR TANK! Holds aggro the entire time while I Fury D in the spine. Even when frozen, D keeps swinging at him. Recast recast recast.

Reward: Dol rune and 4 garbage weapons

I hop on over to a5 and Larzuk has a +30 life belt and a 50% ED 20% IAS Giant axe and I scoop em up before I make my way through the foothills.

Gear, Skills, Stats A4 End (Level 33)

Gear
Weapon, Giant Axe: 20 ias 46% ed
Helm, Hawk: 18 def 5% lvl 3 frost nova on get hit 1 dru summ 5% ar 1 rabies 2 maul 16% def 1 life 6 lr 5 light radius
Armor, Chain: 12% def 11% dura + ruby + ruby
Glove, Chain: 11 def 5% lvl 3 frost nova on get hit 5% ar 12 ar 10% def 7 lr 5 light radius repl
Belt, Plated: 10 def 30 life
Boot, Heavy: 5 def 10% lvl 3 nova on get hit 10 frw 10 fhr 11 cr 10 lr 17 pr
Amulet: 20 lr 50% plr
Ring 1: 11 fr 1 dr
Ring 2: 1 max 2 dex 3 repl 6 stamina 13 cr 5 fr

Charms
sc 1-3 light dmg
sc 8 life 3 cr
lc 9 life
lc 9 life
gc 17 life
gc 19 life

Merc (Blessed Aim)
Weapon, Scythe: Malice (IthElEth)
Armor, Scale: 80 def 32% def 2 str 12 life 8 fr
Helm, Full: 29 def 12% lvl 4 charged bolt on get hit 10 fhr 11% def 7 life 12 fr

Skills
Werewolf - 1
Lycanthropy - 2
Feral Rage - 1
Rabies - 1
Fury - 1

Raven - 1 (2)
Oak - 1 (2)
Wolverine - 1 (2)
Spirit Wolf - 10 (11)
Dire Wolf - 13 (14)
Grizzly - 4 (5)

Attributes
Strength 81
Dexterity 55
Vitality 91
Energy 20

Life 389
Replenish Life +3
Mana 84
Mana Regeneration 0.7

Defense 142
Hit Recovery +10%
Damage Reduction 1

Fire Resistance 16%
Cold Resistance 27%
Lightning Resistance 43%
Poison Resistance 17%

Range Adder 3
Attack Damage 58–122
Attack Rating 745
Attack Speed 7%

A5 Norm Mini Update

Got started on A5 last night. By the time I reached Crystalline Passage it was evident that I might could use me some upgrades. Damage was a bit lacking I feel.

Also I am straight up just running away from Moon Lords due to the frenzy bug.

My online version of this char put 20 in Lycan and was finishing up with 20 in Werewolf for IAS/AR and primarily used Feral as his attack. Now in a dedicated p8 setting, early indications may lead me to go Lycan/Fury.

But again it may juts be a case of my weapon being suboptimal.

I think I'll push through to Anya to unlock Pindle and start doing some runs in the hopes some nice rares drop. The A5 Trifecta, Council, Meph. Maybe check if Izual and Heph drop anything too. Sure it's only Norm diff but ya gotta do what ya gotta do in SSF.

Even better would be a nice bases for Merc and I. Just need to find some Sols and maybe an Io and I'll have a few options. Honor or Black. Or hell even a Strength may be good at this point.

I don't think I really need an Insight here, but it's still an option. It does much more than just provide Medi Aura after all.

A5 Norm

I gotta say, I'm a real big fan of these static maps. something Ive never really experienced.

Anya cave right near the wp and I save her. Pelt reward would have been ok if I was a windy.

Before moving forward I do a bunch of A5 Trifecta runs. 30 runs nets me a few decent things and plenty of Rals, lower runes, and gems to get the crafting bench up and running. Also it gives me enough xp to hit 45 pre-Baal. No new weapon tho.

PERTINENT RUN DROPS (64 MF)
1: 5% MF Glove (69 MF)
5: 14% MF Gaunts (73 MF)
12: Spirit Shroud
15: Sigon Boot
18: Shael Rune
22: Bloodfist
27: 35% MF Amulet (96 MF)
29: 27% FR GC

Other Crap
Gorefoot, Steelclash, Sankecord

Head back into caves to make my way to summit, things are dying much faster now despite no new weapon, probably cause I'm so over leveled, decide to book it to ancients

Make quick work of everything, with the exception of Lister and Co. which I need to split pull. Grizzly makes an appearance! Baal is a pushover, strap on that MF gear before death anddddddddd.... Garbage! Yayyyyyyy!

Onward to NM!

Gear, Skills, Stats A5 End (Level 47)

Gear
Weapon: 20 ias 46% ed Giant Axe
Helm: 1 dru summ 5% ar Hawk Helm
Armor: Spirit Shroud
Glove: Bloodfist
Belt: 30 Life Plated Belt
Boot: Sigon
Amulet: 3 min 18 ar 12 cr
Ring 1: 10 fcr 29 fr
Ring 2: 3 ml

Charms
sc 8 life 3 cr
lc 9 life
lc 11 life 1-3 fire dmg
lc 5 frw
gc 17 life
gc 19 life
gc 6 dex 27 fr

Merc (Blessed Aim)
Weapon: 10 ias 30% ed 38 ar 3-10 fire dmg 12 psn dmg 8 lr repl eth Pike
Armor: 168 def 24 fhr 44% def 4 life 4 mana 5 fr repl Plate Mail
Helm: 29 def 12% lvl 4 charged bolt on get hit 10 fhr 11% def 7 life 12 fr Full Helm

Skills
Werewolf - 1 (2)
Lycanthropy - 2 (3)
Feral Rage - 1 (2)
Rabies - 1 (3)
Fury - 1 (2)

Raven - 1 (3)
Oak - 1 (3)
Wolverine - 1 (3)
Spirit Wolf - 10 (12)
Dire Wolf - 13 (15)
Grizzly - 18 (20)

Attributes
Strength 109
Dexterity 75
Vitality 119
Energy 20

Life 467
Replenish Life +10
Mana 112
Mana Regeneration 0.9

Defense 370
Hit Recovery +30%
Magic Damage Reduction 7

Fire Resistance 26%
Cold Resistance 25%
Lightning Resistance -24%
Poison Resistance -30%

Range Adder 3
Base Attack Damage 85–141
Base Attack Rating 1254
Base Attack Speed 14%
Mana Steal 3%

Cast Rate +10%

This post was edited by Pseudofate_D2R on Dec 3 2021 12:15pm

A1 Nightmare

Head to den. God damn it I need a new weapon. Things are dying no problem but I want to cut the number of swings to do so by at least half.

Make a mental to take out all unique packs I stumble across moving forward, otherwise I'm loading up on feral charge to make go run fast and speed this shit up.

Grizzly damage is just too bananas not to use full time now. Its 10x what I can currently produce. Wolves hit the bench until needed to cause misdirection when big packs show up.

Sol rune! must.....find.....2os.....pelt.....with......bonuses. Haha yeah right, every pelt I find is hot garbage

As fun as it is to smack shit around with your friends, ya gotta know when to hang back and just let em do their thing while you supervise. Like when Woodfist and friends show up and start trucking you in the mouth.

Save cain. Ring is ass.

Skipped countess in norm, but I think I'll tag her up a few times.

otw to countess, rare belt, rare giant axe! UNIQUE RING!? CAIN! CAAAAAAAAAIN! belt sucks, axe sucks, ring.... 24% Nagel. sure why not.

First sprint to countess a hel an amn drop in the room right before her lol, she drops nef and a rare ammy that trolls me hard. +2.......elemental.

Decide to run countess till 50. Ignore everything non-unique on the path to 5th floor and murder everything down there. OMFG just realized, static maps again! Wp is right next to tower. savage

Runes in parentheses are what dropped on the way downstairs.

1: Nef (Hel, Amn)
2: Nef
3: Ral (Ort, Tir)
4: Tal
5: Tir, Ral
6: Tal (Ith, Tal)
7: Tal (Sol, Sol, Tir)

Book it to Andy after this. I come a little too close for comfort in the health dept running through and around everything a few times. Her fight is easy thanks to bear tank. she drops absolute garbage. isenhart sword, milabrega sheild, hsaru belt

Did I mention I need a new weapon god damn it. Wouldn't hut to pad life and resists either. I do love me a Smoke. Maybe a Lum will show up.

Looks like I'll run Count & Andy for a while until a decent weapon drops, or a decent enough base drops and I can build something. Probably gonna end up cubing a bunch of runes anyway. Go go gadget crafting bench!

I'll provide another round of stats and gear after the runs. Not sure how many I'll do. Def wont stop until my damage is better that's for sure.

Off to a good start though. First run on Countess is Amn & Thul followed by a 25% MF hat otw to Andy and then Andy herself drops a +2 Summons Circlet w/ AR, Lit Damage and Dex.

Post NM Countess/Andy Runs

Well I only did 10. I just gotta move on. Beefed up resists and rolled a pretty garbage Insight so I gave it to the merc. Settled for a War Scythe.

RUN: Countess | Andy [134 MF]

1: Thul (Amn, Hel) | +2 Summon Circlet
2: Ort, Io | X
3: Sol | 115 AR Rare Ring
4: Ort | X
5: Shael x2 (Shael) | Iratha Coil
6: Thul | X
7: El | X
8: Tir (Ort) | X
9: Tir (Amn) | X [157 MF]
10: Ort | X

Gear, Skills, Stats A1 End Post Andy Runs (Level 55)

Gear
Weapon: 10 ias 69% ed Partizan
Helm: 2 dru summ 62 ar 1-70 light dmg 4 dex Circlet
Armor: Spirit Shroud
Glove: Bloodfist
Belt: 28 cr 10 lr 25% plr Belt
Boot: Sigon
Amulet: 40 lr
Ring 1: 10 fcr 29 fr
Ring 2: 115 ar 3 life 1 mdr

Charms
lc 1-3 fire dmg 11 life
sc 8 life 3 cr
lc 5 frw
gc 6 dex 27 fr
lc 13 life
sc 8 life
gc 24 cr
gc 23 life

Merc (Blessed Aim)
Weapon: Insight 13 aura 208% ed 214% ar 1 critical strike
Armor: 17 fhr 25% def 24 life 6 fr Full Plate Mail
Helm: Iratha Coil

Skills
Werewolf - 1 (2)
Lycanthropy - 2 (3)
Feral Rage - 1 (2)
Rabies - 1 (3)
Fury - 1 (2)

Raven - 1 (4)
Oak - 1 (4)
Wolverine - 1 (4)
Spirit Wolf - 10 (13)
Dire Wolf - 20 (23)
Grizzly - 20 (23)

Attributes
Strength 123
Dexterity 84
Vitality 133
Energy 20

Life 476
Replenish Life +10
Mana 126
Mana Regeneration 6.8

Defense 383
Hit Recovery +30%
Magic Damage Reduction 8

Fire Resistance 26%
Cold Resistance 65%
Lightning Resistance 20%
Poison Resistance -30%

Range Adder 3
Base Attack Damage 140–353
Base Attack Rating 2012 (76% hit)
Base Attack Speed 7%

Cast Rate +10%

A2 NM

Same routine as norm a2, rush to viper then do maggot. maggot is surprisingly expedient. the whole act is uneventful.

This damage issue is killing me and I've made a fundamental shift in thinking. Online I maxed all summons then moved into lycan then finished with wolf for IAS. In the p8 setting it's obvious fury must be prioritized now and gear can handle IAS

Doing so has an additional benefit, the ability to sink some points into oak after all. So now I'm looking at the following progression grizzly>dire>fury>lycan>oak

Another reason I avoided fury online was I'm not a big fan of my character being locked in place, especially since I have no real Oak points. but again, the dps gain is worth the risk.

Hopefully AR doesn't suffer. it's also a slight bummer that I even have to utilize fury. Honestly was trying to avoid it since it's a more meta ability (as far as druids go) which somewhat defeats this whole experiment. Though AFAIK people dont hybrid Griz/Fury

sigh.... well let's not die to duriel shall we?

God damn I love bear tank. I also love having 36 full rejuvs at the ready. cube your rejuvs people! EQUIP THE MF GEAR!! ------------> Heart Carver & Undead Crown. Decent Merc Hat

No big gear updates. Let's see why A3 does for us.

Start A3. Decide to go and find LK ASAP and grab wp. can work backwards from there

[SOME TIME LATER]

Holy shit. I have never seen larger zones in A3 in any difficulty. Run the entirety of Spider Forest just to loop around and find the Marsh..... the Marsh..... the MARSH back towards the beginning.

Then! Marsh and Flayer go on FOREVER. It took 90 minutes. Tho much of that was due going safety slow (not about to get uber swarmed or baked to a crisp) and tping to town to sell and cube things.

Still thinking about build moving forward. doing point Fury/point Lycan every other level. It's still a ways away but already debating if the final points go into Werewolf or Oak. Leaning towards Wolf again.

Switched over to Dire wolves for a bit after Spider cave when I reached Flayer dungeon. So cramped in there and swarms were dense. Grab brain, get an Um during the excursion.

Ormus ring garbage again. Decide to craft a blood belt for the hell of it. 53 Life! 3% LL, 7% wound, def/lvl.

Grab, cue Alkor; "THE BOOK!" and heart from sewers. The dolls! The dollllllllllllls! Oh right I have 2 tanks that are happy to eviscerate them for me while taking no damage on death. Neat.

Honestly in addition to the dolls I'm letting them pull a lot of the weight lately. Tanking the dense groups while I pick off stragglers, monsters that go after Oak Spirit, and Sextons. Oh and the ravens! pulling weight. Blinding dudes. Mitigating damage. 1 point wonder

Level 60 as I make the march on Trav. It's a fuckin warzone. Right off the bat a unique zakarumite pack followed by champion hierophants that keep kissing each other's boo-boos. Council is dumb as hell this time and they all come out practically one at a time. Still, safety first! I kite everything to death.

Think I'll pop on the MF gear and kill em a few times.

[SOME TIME LATER]

The game can hear me. after dropping 4 rare bows I say out loud "can ya stop dropping rare bows?" then a unique bow immediately dropped. well played council. well played.

Would feel safer being 65 and hopefully finding some more resist gear and once again a better weapon. I'll futz around and bounce between LK and Council.

Gear, stats, skills update to follow Meph kill.