Act 5 is always the most fun. Exp is raining, exceptional items appear on the drop table now and then.
Killed Shenk, then ran a few rounds of Eldritch to get enough levels for binding demons, and went back to pick up Shenk.

Saved the barbarians and Anya, and equipped the ancient's pledge shield in preparation for nightmare.

Got a random amulet upgrade, mana is great to have, I was even considering putting some stats on energy.
Ancients were easy, I kept experimenting with new demons - the succubbus with her curse was fine. Picked up worldstone wp then went back for Nihlathak.

Nihlathak actually dropped a +3 skill circlet. Imagine if it was a warlock one!

I also tested every single Baal wave boss and their consume buffs. I couldn't bind Bartuc, I assume council members are immune to these jedi mind tricks.
Lister was a beast against his own minions and could easily tank Baal too. Baal fight took some time, but the sigil kept him easy to hit, and I was comfortably far away from danger during the whole ordeal.

I kept Lister for now, but I was thinking of doing a few runs for Hephasto later - as he always spawns with an aura, picking up conviction or fana would be amazing.

The obligatory cowrun after finishing the difficulty level. The FCR ring was a small upgrade and I also stashed a white crystal sword which I'll try to socket cube for a 50-50 once I find the mats for that, unless I find a 4os base first.

I went back to Ormus for a teleport staff, then entered nightmare to shop for some resist/frw gear from Charsi and a caster belt craft.

The caster belt unfortunately does not do much, I'm not even sure of the FCR breakpoints for now, not that they matter much with the cooldown of the skills.








Stats, skills and items when starting nightmare. 60 strength for some general items (4-row plated belt from act 4), the rest is on vita. Blade warp + Consume + Bind Demon unlocked from skill trees, rest are chaos fire spells and the sigil prerequisites. I will max the fire spells first, then I'm not even sure what's the next step. Should I improve my demon? Should I respec to the magic tree from act 4 in nightmare? Feels like respeccing to eldritch would require completely different gear.

Gear-wise I'll be looking for the usual suspects: Spirit sword, Lore helm (also for the sweet light resist), some fire/light resist on gloves, maybe a Smoke armor. For the mercenary an Insight exceptional polearm + Bulwark helm + also maybe a Smoke armor.

I might pop back to normal act 4 before starting to see if I can bind myself a Hephasto with conviction.

Good work. I'd say it depends what you get from Hephasto.
Conv aura, stay fire. Cursed+fana/might, go echoing blades for sure. The dmg is insanely OP.
When I first found Bonesnap on Andy NM I respec'd to echoing build and it was only until Hell act5 before I could find a replacement (IK maul).

Also another possibility is to get a shaman which will summon 5 more meat shields which seem to be like indestructibles fallens. It makes things pretty safe for you and your merc.

It was actually really easy to find them, I created a few games, and if I remember correctly maybe the 4th one had Fana, 5th or 6th one had conviction. I didn't take a screenshot in the heat of the moment, but I bound myself a Hephasto with conviction, pretty sweet bonus especially that I can blade warp him to bring the aura closer, and by the time Apocalypse activates, the mobs' resists are already reduced.
Really? I actually also found a Bonesnap, I kept it based on your post and I might give it a go at act 4 if I'm stuck with fire.


No need to cube my normal-cow-crystal-sword, I found a spirit base very early on, missing an Amn rune though, but I will do Countess runs anyway.

Cain is saved, Akara actually gave me a ring upgrade too. Also found a neat Insight base, I'll have to find a Sol rune first.