On run 8 i get my first arcane formula for artifact crafting - these are always sky blue in color and come in 3 variations: Lesser, Greater and Divine. Lesser artifacts are the easiest to craft as they normally require one completed relic, one completed charm and one magic scroll (scrolls can be bought at the vendors). Greater artifacts, most of the times require completed Lesser artifacts as part of their formula, while Divine artifacts require completed Greater artifacts to be crafted, making it extremely tedious and time consuming to collect all the needed shit to complete even a single Divine piece... not to mention all the specific lesser and greater formulas you need to have to be able to do it. I'm planning on attempting a divine craft for legendary, called Talisman of the Jade Emperor. If i get the chance to do it, you'll see how much effort it will cost me.



Too bad the one i've got is not very good for my character. The one i'm aiming for is Shroud of Eternal Night - probably the best lesser artifact in the game. It has the best chance to drop in act 1 and i almost always manage to find it, even though it's not guaranteed to drop.



This post was edited by KillingIsMyBusiness on Oct 22 2020 04:43am

Finally! Run 11



Nice, it has a Destruction suffix on it, which brings some additional physical damage to the mix and makes it even better than my Life Bane and i can add that Valor of Achiles shard i found earlier to make it better. It also has a better pierce ratio and a faster base speed than the Life Bane. A few pages back i made a mistake by saying that warriors don't benefit from raising piercing damage, but they do, as long as they are using daggers, sword or axes with decent pierce ratio. They don't have use of pierce damage only when using blunt weapons.



After the upgrade, the Legtip raises my DPS from 59 to 84... i can't wait to complete that Achiles relic



This post was edited by KillingIsMyBusiness on Oct 22 2020 06:13am

I also added a completed Essence of Heracles' Might to my body armor, mainly for the Pierce Resistance completion bonus. I'm all set to continue with the journey.



Like i mentioned before, past Tegea there's a tomb that almost always spawns an enemy hero. Hero enemies have unique, orange colored names and a gold star above them, as well as unique abilities. These enemies should be treated with respect, because they have caused many unexpected deaths. This guy here is a zombie summoner, but it's not too dangerous, it just takes long time to take town, due to undead enemies being physical resistant.



See these level 41 enemies down there... that's part of Act 5. I will have the chance to go there and slay them after maybe 20-25 hours of gameplay when i reach the Ragnarok expansion.

I encounter the first turtles on beach before the next town. They can drop the Turtle Shell charm which is very good for upgrading shields, but i'm not gonna bother farming it now.



They still dropped 2 random shards, so i added them to my Outrider's Buckler. Also, a level up - all 3 point went to climb the Defense tree



I arrive in the town of Megara at night. Here there's not much to do. There's a side quest to clear a dungeon from 3 undead princes who are sending their minions to attack the town. There's also a shipwreck survivor, who gave me directions to the remains of his ship and gave me permission to loot the cargo (if you don't take that quest, when you reach the shipwreck, there won't be any chests to loot).

The shortcut bridge to the city of Delphi is destroyed by a giant cyclops, but not just any cyclops, it's Polyphemus himself. The battle with him will be my second real boss fight. But first i have to kill the three undead leaders in the nearby dungeon.



...and they are done and dealt with!





This post was edited by KillingIsMyBusiness on Oct 22 2020 06:43am

Now... Mr. Polyphemus here can be a real bastard for the unprepared hero. I wasn't planning on farming him, because i was worried about my kill speed. But i dropped him in seconds and that gave me confidence. I think i'll do around 5-10 runs here...



...and that's the reason why! Another troll formula drop. I want my Shroud of Eternal Night so badly and i hope to get it from Polyphemus' chest.



This post was edited by KillingIsMyBusiness on Oct 22 2020 06:39am

I forgot to mention something. When the character reaches Megara for the first time, his inventory gets an extension. There will be 2 more bag extensions that will occur at the beginnings of acts 2 and 3.



Level 12 - another 3 points in the defense tree



A random skeleton hero on my way to the Cypclops. So far i haven't gotten any good drops from enemy heroes, but they do have better drop chances to spawn with rare or unique equipment



This post was edited by KillingIsMyBusiness on Oct 22 2020 09:22am

I'm farming this guy probably more than i should. I'm ~10 runs in and i finally get an epic set piece... i'll keep it for the next level. But there's still no formula drops. The reason i want Shroud of Eternal Night so badly in act 1 is because it's the best place to find it, i would barely have a chance to get it once i leave for Egypt.



Just because i'm a warrior, doesn't mean the game won't troll me with some caster equipment. There's no lame ''smart loot'' system here, it's all 100% random and i love it!



This would have been so godly if it spawned on a fast or very fast base... too bad.



This post was edited by KillingIsMyBusiness on Oct 22 2020 09:40am

That's it! I had enough of this guy. I think i did around 30 runs without getting a single arcane formula or a single Valor of Achiles shard! And besides that Obsidian Helm, he didn't drop anything useful. The game is clearly punishing me for my amazing luck earlier

Level 13 - 1 point in the defensive tree, 1 point in the second passive-offensive shield skill that gives me additional damage and slows enemies when it triggers... also, 1 point in the Batter synergy that makes it attack 3 enemies at once, while reducing their armor - the only negative is the higher mana consumption, now i have to waste money on mana potions as well...



The shipwreck quest doesn't provide good loot either



Ichtian hero - ichtian battlemages are mostly harmless in Act 1, but i will face them again in Act 3 and by then i better have a good cold resist, or they will annihilate me



This post was edited by KillingIsMyBusiness on Oct 22 2020 09:42am

Gotta love when your character looks like he went to the nearest dumpster and put on everything he could find there...



Centaur Elders - i really need to be careful with them. They have a version that uses the skills Battle Standard and War Horn - one is an AoE buff skill that enhances all enemies within its radius, the other stuns you in place for a duration. Getting stunned while inside the Battle Standard radius is a death sentence... i have to avoid that scenario at all costs



Near the village of Ambrossos i meet a friendly centaur who is in need of assistance. A maenad princes has stolen his bow and i have to bring it back, she's somewhere across that bridge. This quest grants 2 attribute points, so it's a must do.