End of day 2 as The Seer, build #10:
Spent a lot of time in act 1 farming arcane crystals for my early game uniques, and then a ton of time in Tran Athula. Managed to only rip twice on cubing charms, and my second attempt only had 5-6 deaths! Not bad for my first time doing Level Challenge 1.
So far the only part of the guide I find questionable is switching to a Ra helmet from Cannonball, as it takes you from +40 faster run/walk to -10. It does give more useful bonuses elsewhere, but losing that much movespeed feels terrible. I plan to honorific that slot first to regain that 10% asap.
Skillwise everything is working as intended for the early game build, with the sole exception being I rarely activate Burning Veil, as I don’t really need it yet. I use it on bosses and superuniques, otherwise a couple well placed Boneyards along with Pestilence keep everything going.
I’m impressed by the reanimated Succubi and Dark Magistrates from my unique dirk, they do some decent damage and definitely keep enemies busy once I get them rolling. I’m curious how the skeletons will feel in comparison once I’ve moved over to crafted gear.
As for progress, I made it to the River of Flame in Act 4 Hatred, then stopped for the night. I didn’t stream any today as my girlfriend was streaming video while working on a cosplay project, and figured between that and the game I’d be pushing our connection. I might start recording anyways, however, so I at least have some highlight footage of the build fighting Diablo and such.
It’s been great diving back into Diablo 2 after taking a break for a couple years, and learning Median while doing this challenge makes it feel like a whole new experience. I’m also glad I can play it well enough with my steam controller(accessibility issues); I was wary at first but got a decent setup going.
Something that took me a bit to realize is how much defense I could get from my unique shield; with it at tier 4 I’m at 850~, which is lower than what I’ve heard everyone else having but is feeling pretty good in normal fighting. It’s not quite enough for Tran Athula, but if you’re quick on reacting and kite it isn’t too bad, just a lot of portaling or filling your inventory with potions.
Chuck, so far this build has been a lot of fun! It quickly becomes clear on what the intended playstyle is, creating an army out of your foes and then using them as cover as you advance. If it were to be expanded to more than a miniguide, I might suggest some reanimate skeleton crafts on the early runeword armors, to supplement the dirk and to give you some reanimates while working your way to it.
I might get some play time in tomorrow, failing that I’ll be back on Tuesday, as Monday is FFXIV night for me. Best of luck to everyone!