Single Player
Diablo Expansion Pack Patch 1.10
06-09-04
For the second time in my Single Player career, I have bested Hell Baal! I finished the entire game solo, with a few items twinked from my other Patriarch, Lord_Soth the skelliemancer. I used /players 1 all the way through, thus my level is not as high as most other Patriarchs achieve.
Patriarch Aragorn was built using the standard Hammerdin skills, with a few points in Zeal and Charge to give him flexibility. In particular, these two skills made clearing the Maggot Lair in each difficulty much much easier than it otherwise would have been. The speed at which my blessed hammers cleared room after room of monsters, including boss packs, really astonished me. My Holy Freeze Merc Neeraj would chill them all, and they would die before laying a hand on me.
In Hell I found an amulet with teleport charges, which made life MUCH simpler. I was able to position my merc where ever I wanted him, and it made my nightmare Mephisto runs go quicker, although it cost quite a bit to repair the amulet.
As I journeyed through Act 5 Hell, I started to save up all my Full Rejuvenation Potions in preparation for my much anticipated battle with the Ancients. When I reached the summit, I loaded my belt up with rejuvs and kept a Horadric Cube full of them in my inventory so I could drop it in an emergency if I needed more (following Nightfish’s advice in an old post). It took me two tries to defeat them. The first battle happened so fast that I don’t even know what killed me. All I know is that one moment I was doing okay, just standing still and spamming hammers, then Neeraj went from full life to zero. All three of my opponents then attacked me at once, and I was dead.
Luckily, I had tons of rejuvs left over so I just restocked my belt, resurrected my merc, and tried again. This time I vowed to pay closer attention to my merc’s life total and keep him alive at all costs. Again I stood my ground and spammed hammers. Talic assaulted me with whirlwinds, and Korlic fought with my merc. Then something kinda funny happened: Madawc just stood still the entire battle and ate hammer after hammer. He was chilled by Neeraj’s aura and Decrepified by his Reaper’s Toll and did nothing! I took out both Talic and Madawc almost simultaneously. Korlic had almost killed Neeraj, but I gave him a full rejuv potion and now it was OUR turn to gang up! Korlic was not Fire Enchanted, and so he had absolutely no chance against the two of us. He was Lightning Enchanted however, so I had to use a couple more potions before he fell.
At this point I felt a tremendous weight lift off my shoulders. I knew at that moment the game was won, and that it was only a matter of time before victory was mine.
In the Worldstone Keep, I died quite a few times. I think overconfidence played a large role in these deaths, and I learned quickly that I could not simply Charge into a room full of serpent magi, hell witches, and burning souls and fire hammers. I got a bit smarter and let them come to me, backing away while firing hammers intermittently. The large groups would separate, allowing Neeraj and I to take them out a few at a time. I used this tactic to easily take care of Lister and his minions. These battles were not without cost: I spent over 500,000 gold to buy potions, repairs, town portals, and merc resurrections.
Baal at first gave me some problems, making me portal home to buy potions and heal myself a few times. However, the turning point came when my merc was able to Decrepify him. He was able to launch a few attacks here and there, but was unable to clone himself or mount any meaningful offense. He was utterly defeated! He dropped a Bing Sz Wang Dulcan Falx before returning to the depths of Hell.
I proudly present to you, Patriarch Aragorn:
Level 77 Paladin
Stat Points (Without Items/With Items)
Strength 107 / 107
Dexterity 120 / 121
Vitality 238 / 238
Energy 15 / 15
Life 906 / 1136
Mana 129 / 650
Blessed Hammer damage with Concentration: 3676-3738
Zeal damage with Concentration using Butcher’s Pupil: 346-864
Skills:
Zeal 2
Blessed Hammer 20
Concentration 20
Holy Shield 5
Vigor 16
Blessed Aim 15
Redemption 1
Vengeance 1
Charge 1
1 in each prerequisite: Holy Bolt, Smite, Might, Prayer, Defiance, Cleansing
Items:
Crown socketed with 3 perfect topazes
Amulet with +3 Combat Skills and Level 1 Teleport (22 charges)
Skullder’s Ire
Frostburn Gauntlets
Ring + 116 mana
String of Ears
Nagelring +17% magic find
Rare Boots +20% faster run/walk, heal stamina +50%, +12% poison resist, +67% more gold, 25% magic find
Charms totaling 29% faster hit recovery, +230 life, +75 mana
Weapon Switch 1: Wizardspike and Heraldic Shield socketed with 4 perfect diamonds
Weapon Switch 2: Butcher’s Pupil and Tower Shield socketed with 3 perfect diamonds
Mercenary: Neeraj Level 77 Holy Freeze Merc with Tal Rasha’s Horadric Crest, The Reaper’s Toll, and Skin of the Vipermagi.
Future Plans:
Pit runs, what else? This character will be my new magic finder. As for future characters, I already have a Blizzard/Hydra Sorceress in the works. I also have a Lycander’s Aim and a Titan’s Revenge collecting dust in my ATMA stash, so I feel compelled to make a Lightning Fury/Bowazon Hybrid. I’m still deciding between maxxing Strafe or just putting a couple of points into Strafe and investing more into Multiple Shot. I think I’ll try some Multiplayer games with some of you SPF’ers for a change of pace.
Well, thanks for reading this long post. Thanks to all the people in the Single Player Forum, whose advice I’ve taken to heart in creating my beloved Diablo characters.
-James
a.k.a. Artemis.SkF