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General => General Discussion => Topic started by: tqrunner on 03 March 2019, 11:14:38

Title: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: tqrunner on 03 March 2019, 11:14:38
The thought of starting a journal following my toon's progress has been on my mind for a while, but being the lazy person that I am, I kept procrastinating it. Now, after botebote77's kind request, I have finally mustered up the willpower to do some typing along with the gameplay. It helps knowing that at least one person would be interested to read about the adventure :)

Her name is Eluria.
It's the name of a hot desert town in a novel by Stephen King. I also associate it with healing, because... well, let's not spoil the novel for those who haven't read it. The bottom line is that my girl's hot (duh!) and heals herself without the use of potions.

Potions are not the only thing that's been denied to Eluria. She is also not allowed to:

 * use any scrolls
 * use the Esc button in scary situations
 * have more than 50% Recharge on her gear
 * get more than 50% Damage Reduction from X monster type
 * skip any major Boss monsters (incl. Dactyls)

The poor girl needs to live with all these limitations while being a hardcore character. But she's a tough lady and such hindrances only fuel her fire! Today she will go through all of Greece and when she sets foot on Rhakotis there will be the first update with more detailed info on items/skills.

Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: botebote77 on 03 March 2019, 13:42:22
ah so the blood of this toon's predecessor is on my hands.. i did a good thing then because hybrids deserve more lovin  8)

i think threads like this can be useful to other players even if the replies are few.. sometimes i see some players ask for help for certain classes and sometimes i redirect them to threads like this

hey @Torcer there is another hybrid juggernaut here and one being played by an experienced hybrider.. might want to check this toon's progress
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: tqrunner on 03 March 2019, 21:49:03
Greetings from Rhakotis!

Eluria is now level 18, here's a summary of her journey so far:

At level 2 she picked up Earth, as it provides more DPS early game. At level 5 she had 1 point in EE and maxed out Brimstone. Armed with a bow, she laid waste to the monster population around Helos and Sparta. Most monsters would die from a single hit, so with only a minimal effort she could keep her HP intact. Nessus was the only opponent where she had to do some kiting. At level 7 she arrived at the village of Tegea and decided to do a few Fetid Lair runs. Some good MI's drop in this location, as well as venom sacks. She wasn't lucky enough to get her hands on a Deathweaver's Shield (which is probably the best shield you can have on an untwinked toon until Act III), but she did find a couple of Legtips and a decent throwing weapon - Hoi Polloi. After each run she would diligently check the merchants for HP regen armor pieces, so when she finally hit level 8, she had about 25 HP reg/sec coming from her helm/torso/bracers/shield. The only armor piece not providing HP reg were the boots, where she opted for a movement speed bonus. A lot of skill points had been saved up since level 5, so all of those got immediately pumped into the Defense Mastery, which would now be her main focus.

Having access to an on-demand heal (Rally) and some excellent HP regen, Eluria no longer needed the safety of a bow's long range, so she switched to a throwing weapon+shield setup. In her secondary weapon slot she placed a Deathweaver's Legtip in combination with the heaviest buckler she could find, for a max-damage Batter attack on tougher opponents. From this point on, she would only invest skill points in the Defense Mastery, until Rend Armor became available. That happened at level 13 and was a big power spike for her. With maxed out Brimstone, any weaker monster would die from a single hit of the primary weapon, whereas the big ones (e.g. satyr chieftains, enforcers, giant turtles) would be greeted by a nasty Batter hit, carrying poison effect from the Legtip in addition to the burn damage.

In Delphi, Eluria got lucky and found an Accursed ring among the merchandise offered by the magic vendor. This new purchase made her life a lot easier when she faced the Limos demons in the Parnassus caves, as well as the hero maenad priestess afterwards. When she reached the Parnassus waypoint, she immediately traveled to the portal stone she had set near the hidden blacksmith before the city of Delphi. The original idea was to switch between the blacksmith and the satyr merchant at Parnassus in search of an Accursed loop, but now that she already had one, it was time to do some business with a certain 2-headed demon dog.

Shadowmaw is a nasty fellow. His damage, move speed and ability to tank are abnormal. However, his attack animation is sluggish, so he can be kited around if you are armed with a ranged weapon (other than a staff, which is too slow and inefficient for the task). All you have to do is wait for him to run up to you and then, as he starts his attack animation, move a step back and fire at him. Repeat this a hundred times and voilą - a dead demon dog! Of course, things can get a lot more complicated if he summons his 3 little demon helpers - those things are even faster than him, do a ton of damage and cannot be hit by ranged attacks while they move about as shadows. This is why draining Shadowmaw's energy through an Accursed ring/amulet and depriving him from the ability to summon his minions is strongly advised.

Have you seen steamed up marines in Starcraft kiting around zerglings? That's pretty much what my girl did to Shadowmaw ;D

The 3 gorgon sisters were not much of a challenge. They got lured 1 by 1 and were easily defeated.

Alastor was a tougher opponent. However, with some fancy footwork Eluria was able to dodge his (pretty telegraphed) spells and only trade normal attacks with him. Much to his dismay, his staff damage alone was not enough to overcome the young Juggernaut's heavy HP regen, so he eventually fell.

The Minotaur Lord could've put up more of a fight if he had frost traps around him. However, the traps were fire-based, which made things a lot easier. Still, Eluria approached the fight as if those were frost traps and meticulously brought them down 1 by 1 with Shield Charge, while dodging her opponent's spells. When only the two of them remained in the room, there was nothing that could prevent the Minotaur Lord from suffering Shadowmaw's fate.

As for the Telkine, all that he was able to do was to summon his Limos minions, just to see them smashed in one shield hit and follow them soon afterwards.

So here we are now, in Rhakotis, rocking the following skill spec:
https://www.kirmiziperfect.com/titancalc-anniversary-edition/TitanCalc53b553b553b5.html?mastery=Juggernaut&master1=1&master2=5&sa=1&m1=15-1-0-8-1-0-0-1-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0&m2=16-0-1-1-0-1-3-0-0-1-0-1-1-1-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 (https://www.kirmiziperfect.com/titancalc-anniversary-edition/TitanCalc53b553b553b5.html?mastery=Juggernaut&master1=1&master2=5&sa=1&m1=15-1-0-8-1-0-0-1-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0&m2=16-0-1-1-0-1-3-0-0-1-0-1-1-1-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0)

The Defense Mastery is put on hold and from this point onward Eluria will only be investing her skill points in the Earth Mastery - all the way until she unlocks Volativity and Eruption. Her base attributes are as follows:

 * Strength = 154
 * Dexterity = 70
 * Intelligence = 70

The heavy focus on Strength is only temporary and is aiming to allow her to equip good armor while climbing the Earth skill tree as fast as possible, without spending points in Armor Handling.

And here's the gear:

 * Head - Alleviating Garland of Recovery (8% poison res, +3/36% HP reg), enhanced with Heracles' Might for extra STR and a nice 33% slower attack bonus
 * Torso - Plated Suit of Recovery (+3/43% HP reg)
 * Arms - Alleviating Ornamented Bracers of Recovery (10% poison res, +2.5/57% HP reg)
 * Legs - Protective Ornamented Leggings of Journeying (10% cold res, 22% MS)
 * Rings - Pupil's Loop of Reasoning (13 int, 71 energy) + Accursed Loop (26% energy drain)
 * Amulet - Draining Necklace (30 energy drain)
 * Primary Weapon - Hoi Polloi / Reinforced Buckler of Rejuvenation (+3.5/43% HP reg), enhanced with Archimedes' Mirror (10% fire res bonus)
 * Secondary Weapon - Deathweaver's Legtip (20 extra poison dmg as prefix), enhanced with Bat Fang (24 energy drain bonus) / Thornwall
 * Artifact - Shroud of Eternal Night (yay!), with 8% attack speed as completion bonus

[Overall HP reg per second = 39.06]

I'm quite happy about the artifact slot - throughout all of Greece I had only found 2 Leafsong recipes and just when I started feeling bad about it, the Shroud recipe dropped in the Labyrinth from a random monster. At that point I already had a completed Achilles relic, so it only took a few runs to get the rest of the components and finish the thing.

The original plan was to go through some of Act II today, but it turns out that writing this journal takes up almost as much time as the actual gameplay :))
So I guess this is going to be all for today - the next update will be at the gardens of Babylon.
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: tqrunner on 04 March 2019, 17:09:07
"Greetings from Babylon!"

...is what I'd like to say, but I didn't have much time this morning so Eluria is still in Act II (Fayum). Nevertheless, she did make some good progress - she's currently level 24, which is quite unusual for my characters (most of the time they're level 22-23 when they reach Act III).

The beginning of the act was rather uneventful. The fight with Scarabaeus was pretty much a repeat of the fight with Alastor - dodge to the left, dodge to the right, make sure you don't get hit by the poison attack and even with low poison resistance there's little danger involved.

The real shock came on the way to Memphis. Eluria was breezing through scorpions, vultures, jackal warriors and undead, when she came across Slobberjaw. This jackal specimen turned out to be quite tanky. True, Eluria's primary weapon (Hoi Polloi) is quite unimpressive compared to а Hand of Lycurgus or a good set of Skeletal Darts, but normal foes would still die to 1 or 2 attacks. Slobberjaw, however, took several hits and still had some 40% of his HP left. This is where I got lazy and stopped kiting him for a moment, which almost led to Eluria's death. With just 2 (:o) swings of his weapons, the jackal hero manged to bring her HP from 1600 to 200. The massive damage from the first blow caught me completely off-guard so I was too slow to pull her back before the second hit landed, but I didn't wait for a third (fatal) one. The Heracles' relic with attack slow bonus definitely paid off right there. Eluria never gave the jackal warrior another chance to hit her. The biggest surprise was to find out that he wasn't equipped with any strong weapons. I had to go to the TQ database to check if it's even possible for an Act II monster to do this kind of damage without wielding weapons that have exceptional mods. I did some math and my conclusion is that Eluria was just very unlucky - it seems that Slobberjaw had Battle Rage on and most likely landed a Crushing Blow on both attacks.

Since that encounter, there haven't been any surprises. Eluria did clash with a couple more hero monsters in the outskirts of Memphis, but those were easy fights. Most of the time spent in Act II so far has been dedicated to Fayum Passage runs, in search of monster charms. She's acquired 4x Vile Ichor and 2x Rigid Carapace. Three of the Vile Ichor charms were used on Eluria's jewelry and the 4th one is stashed in case she finds a Soul Shiver recipe. One of the Rigid Carapace charms has a good bonus (15% bleeding res) so it's a strong candidate for any shield that she equips at the end of Act III; the other one will most likely be used as a component for Song of the Serpent. Both of the artifacts mentioned are inferior to Eluria's Shroud, however this could change in Epic and Legendary. Soul Shiver's % damage converted to health can only get more appealing as the DPS grows and Song of the Serpent is an important component of some Divine artifacts we may be looking to build later on. The rest of the recipes that can be found in Act II are not that interesting, at least for the Juggernaut class.

During the Fayum Passage runs Eluria accumulated a good amount of gold, which, in combination with the levels that she picked up, opened up new possibilities at the merchants. She found some excellent items:

 * Insulated Diadem of Restoration (23% lightning res, +4/XX HP reg)
 * Insulated Clasp of Restoration (23% fire res, +4/XX HP reg)
 * Insulated Engraved Ring of Fire (XX% lightning res, +7/XX% fire dmg)

I can't remember the exact values (I'm writing this update from my workplace ;)), hence the XX's. Both the clasp and the diadem are very, very good - it's rare to see +4 HP reg on items found in Act II. It's a bit disappointing that those great mods had to spawn on the two armor slots that will almost certainly get replaced by a Hallowed helm and Stonebinder's Cuffs, but what can you do. They will still help immensely throughout all of Act III (particularly against Dragonian archers/mages).

The plan now is to quickly finish Act II and then return to Act I in order to farm a set of Stonebinder's Cuffs, as well as some Hermes' relics. We did not farm those before, because Eluria's damage wasn't high enough and the runs would take too long. With her current DPS (400+) it should be a much easier task. And while our main targets are the SBC/relics, these are not the only things we're hoping to find when we go back to Act I. A Molten Orb recipe or a set of Ardent Greaves would really make our day O:-)

The next update will most definitely be at the gardens of Babylon. Until then, take care! 8)
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: tqrunner on 05 March 2019, 11:38:33
And we're finally in Babylon!

Act II was finished without any notable findings. However, during the Act I Labyrinth runs that took place afterwards, Eluria was able to acquire all of the items that she was looking for (and even a few extras!):

 * Stonebinder's Cuffs (+85 hp)
 * Ardent Greaves (the 30% damage reduction from Beastmen on this one will make Act III a walk in the park, not to mention it can even be useful in Epic/Legendary vs the Minotaur Lord)
 * Hand of Lycurgus (a great weapon upgrade, which will help speed up the next Telkine runs)
 * 2 Molten Orb recipes (actually 3, but there wasn't a Prometheus' relic to go with the third one so it was sold)
 * 2 Hermes' relics (one with a mediocre bonus and one with an excellent +20% lightning res bonus)
 * Raging Bull (a nice offhand weapon upgrade, with 30% chance to stun and a good damage bonus)

The Stonebinder's Cuffs are currently stashed - Eluria will only equip those when she completes a Viny Growth charm, so that her HP regen doesn't drop too much. The Ardent Greaves have been put on, but the old ones (enhanced with the weaker Hermes' relic) are still kept in the stash - those will be put back to work once we start farming relics in the Wusao Caverns. The second Hermes' relic is meant to give us more flexibility when we decide on the footwear we'll be using when we finish Act III. If we come across boots that give resist+movement speed then we'll use a Viny Growth charm on those, and if the find boots with resist+HP regen then the Hermes' relic will be used. It's important (for my sanity mostly) to not move around at the speed of a turtle. :P

Eluria is now level 27. Here is her current skill spec:
https://www.kirmiziperfect.com/titancalc-anniversary-edition/TitanCalc53b553b553b5.html?mastery=Juggernaut&master1=1&master2=5&sa=5&m1=32-1-0-8-1-0-0-1-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-1-0-1-0&m2=27-0-1-1-0-1-3-0-0-1-0-1-1-1-0-0-1-0-0-0-0

As you can see, no skills apart from Brimstone (which is our early game damage) and Rally (our on-demand heal option) were given more than a single point. This gives us plenty of HP/stats coming from the "+" in both masteries. Also, the more skills that we have access to (even through a single point), the more value we'll get from the SBC/Hallowed helm that we'll equip at the end of Act III. By the time Eluria reaches the top of the Defense Mastery, she will have a point invested in nearly every skill in it. Only then will she start investing heavily into certain abilities.

The current attributes are:

 * Strength = 190
 * Intelligence = 90
 * Dexterity = 70
 * Reserved points = 6

There will likely be no further investment in STR until the end of the game. From this point onward, we will be relying on Armor Handling and items providing +(%)STR/reduction to requirements. The base DEX is low, but that's compensated by the additional DEX points gained from the 2 masteries. Both INT and DEX will likely be raised a bit more and after that we'll pump a significant amount of attribute points (10 levels worth) into raw HP.

I can feel @botebote77 's hairs raising after reading this. Attribute points management is crucial for hybrids, as they have a much harder time getting the stats they need, compared to regular toons. So making a serious investment in raw HP would sound terrible to anyone who's experienced in playing hybrid classes. However, you have to take into account that Eluria's a hardcore toon, so accumulating a certain HP pool is essential for her survival. While a regular character could equip a Hale Ring or an Armor of the Mammoth and forget about any HP pool issues, she has to dedicate a number of inventory slots to HP regen items (as she can't use potions), which means that her jewelry will have to provide resistances/damage.

Investing attribute points into raw HP also allows for certain flexibility. You can always replace a Ring of Might with a Ring of Grace if you need DEX over STR, while maintaining your HP. However, if you've already invested all your raw attribute points into STR/DEX and need to change the ratio between the two, you can't touch that Hale Ring of Immortality, because your HP will plummet. Think of it as a portion of your overall stat points (~15%) that isn't allocated to any specific attribute, but can be tailored to your needs.

The reason why we won't gradually build up our HP, but instead make a massive investment between levels 30-40, is simple - Dactyls. It's probably the toughest encounter throughout all of Normal difficulty. Defeating a Dactyl is hard enough as it is; doing it without potions is... well, challenging. :D Even with maxed out lightning resistance, Eluria could die before using Rally if the Dactyl casts 2 spells in a quick succession and she has less than 3k HP. With the raw HP boost she will be guaranteed to survive the combo.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves - there's plenty of time before we hit Act IV. The next update will probably be in a few days, as I tend to spend a lot of time farming in Act III. Until then, take care! 8)

P.S. Some more stats:
Current DPS: 353 (a lot more in reality, if Lycurgus procs are taken into account)
Current HP reg/sec: 56.27
Current HP: 2505
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: botebote77 on 05 March 2019, 12:45:54
10 lvls worth into HP.... for a hybrid acckkk!!
about requirement reduction early, i do the same thing
i remember i killed Dactyl normal in about 2 secs with eruption or VO before.. that's if you start int
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: tqrunner on 05 March 2019, 17:13:40
Well, as I said, not using potions really changes things...

True - you can go INT-heavy and max out Eruption, knowing that the moment the Dactyl hits you with his 1st spell for 1.2-1.5k damage you can drink a potion and tank a potential 2nd spell. There shouldn't be a 3rd one, considering Eruption's damage. However, 2 seconds is an eternity for a toon that lacks the ability to use potions and needs to be able to tank 2 consecutive spells. My older toons used to go through Act IV having a little less than 3k HP, but that stopped when one of them died to a couple of perfectly chained casts by the Dactyl. Unlike potions, Rally has cast animation so I never had a chance to use it - my hero just exploded. And it was a toon I had spent days farming up >:(

After that unfortunate encounter, I decided to never again leave it to chance and make sure that my hero has sufficient HP.

Funny fact: One of my recent toons had 3600 HP and still got left with ~200 HP after tanking the 2 spells, barely being able to use Rally (when in theory she should be sitting at the comfortable 1000+ HP). The nasty specimen that did that to her had a green weapon with both +% to physical damage AND +% to lightning damage. Sometimes the game just wants you dead ;D
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: botebote77 on 05 March 2019, 19:49:37
no.. no potions.. i play with fully zoomed angle and as you know, eruption can be cast anywhere if you press shift.. 2 secs becomes more than enough time.. it's probably with about 400 int (give or take a few points) and fully maxed EE (maybe)
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: tqrunner on 05 March 2019, 23:43:03
Hmm, am I missing something? He should immediately come at you the moment Eruption is cast. It's not like he'd stay in one place and take it. And you shouldn't have the means to keep him pinned on top of it... not to mention that he should be accompanied by a couple of regular Gigantes who should charge at you, too. It sounds like a big gamble - if you get stunned by the charging Gigantes you wouldn't even have the chance to dodge the wave.

Also, when you say no potions do you mean that you didn't need to use any in that particular situation, or that the character was part of a no-potion challenge?
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: botebote77 on 06 March 2019, 01:12:58
i use potions.. i always play x3 it's almost impossible to not use potions.. i just didn't need to that time.. thank god Dactyl don't multiply in xmax or it would've been insane.. i also had VO (1st and 3rd) maxed that time.. iirc it was 1 VO and 1 eruption.. i almost always cast VO and eruption right in front of monsters so they eat more fragments.. it also helps that i know where Dactyl possibly spawns.. i visit the mystic many times on any of my characters
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: tqrunner on 06 March 2019, 08:21:15
Ah, I see - you used both spells! You said "eruption or VO", so I thought it was just one of the two and couldn't figure out how you had both the damage and control required.
Yeah, if you cast VO properly you can hit the target with more fragments and keep it stunned for longer. Too bad the Legendary version of the dude has max stun resist and 75% CTaP :))
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: icefreeze on 06 March 2019, 08:49:41
i use potions.. i always play x3 it's almost impossible to not use potions.. i just didn't need to that time.. thank god Dactyl don't multiply in xmax or it would've been insane.. i also had VO (1st and 3rd) maxed that time.. iirc it was 1 VO and 1 eruption.. i almost always cast VO and eruption right in front of monsters so they eat more fragments.. it also helps that i know where Dactyl possibly spawns.. i visit the mystic many times on any of my characters
You want many Dactyl appears at once?
Play Masssboss, there many place that them appears by group  >:D
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: Torcer on 06 March 2019, 10:01:43
The thought of starting a journal following my toon's progress has been on my mind for a while, but being the lazy person that I am, I kept procrastinating it. Now, after botebote77's kind request, I have finally mustered up the willpower to do some typing along with the gameplay. It helps knowing that at least one person would be interested to read about the adventure :)

Her name is Eluria.
It's the name of a hot desert town in a novel by Stephen King. I also associate it with healing, because... well, let's not spoil the novel for those who haven't read it. The bottom line is that my girl's hot (duh!) and heals herself without the use of potions.

Potions are not the only thing that's been denied to Eluria. She is also not allowed to:

 * use any scrolls
 * use the Esc button in scary situations
 * have more than 50% Recharge on her gear
 * get more than 50% Damage Reduction from X monster type
 * skip any major Boss monsters (incl. Dactyls)

The poor girl needs to live with all these limitations while being a hardcore character. But she's a tough lady and such hindrances only fuel her fire! Today she will go through all of Greece and when she sets foot on Rhakotis there will be the first update with more detailed info on items/skills.

Oh wow, the restrictions. Going through them;

I've tried a no potion run years ago, but out of habit I kept using potions. Only way I could succeed was by using a Champion and literally not having any potions in my inventory. The fact this is normal for you is quite impressive.

I don't use Scrolls for numerous reasons, I never remember to use them, they're expensive consumable items which drives me nuts, and I simply don't have the inventory space to accommodate them. I find having alternate equipment for areas more beneficial than a scroll.

As for both %Recharge, and %Damage Reduction, I've never thought about it nor prioritized it. What happens, happens with the equipment I'm wearing. I feel like min-maxing these stats takes a lot of the strategic fun out of the game, and judging by your refusal, I think you might feel the same way in that regard.

I never skip bosses, for the simple reason that it's another chance for loot.


Overall, I'm extremely interested in your run and will keep tabs on this. Good luck mate.


Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: Torcer on 06 March 2019, 10:05:56
ah so the blood of this toon's predecessor is on my hands.. i did a good thing then because hybrids deserve more lovin  8)

i think threads like this can be useful to other players even if the replies are few.. sometimes i see some players ask for help for certain classes and sometimes i redirect them to threads like this

hey @Torcer there is another hybrid juggernaut here and one being played by an experienced hybrider.. might want to check this toon's progress

I'll keep my eyes on this. Thanks for the tag.
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: botebote77 on 06 March 2019, 10:46:37
I find having alternate equipment for areas more beneficial than a scroll.
oh yes.. most of the time at least.. and interestingly, the good scrolls are not the ones that deal damage.. you'll do better with summon scrolls or unbroken fortitudes.. or for petmasters/trappers, stalwart alliance.. i like to explore many things so I've tried many of these.. when i receive scrolls as quest rewards, i often use them instead of selling them.. even if i don't need to

Too bad the Legendary version of the dude has max stun resist and 75% CTaP :))
yes of course legendary version is harder.. but there are tricks.. like Dactyl can be frozen and petrified iirc.. traps usually can kill them.. if Dactyl don't spawn, i always feel the most sensible thing to do is save and exit and do it again until Dactyl finally spawns.. so I'm used to it by now

You want many Dactyl appears at once?
Play Masssboss, there many place that them appears by group  >:D
no i don't.. if Dactyl multiplies by 3, it might drive me crazy and might force me to quit the game
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: tqrunner on 06 March 2019, 12:17:05
@Torcer funny thing you mentioned the Champion class - the only toon in vanilla TQ that I completed this challenge with was exactly that!

EDIT: Whoops, didn't mean vanilla TQ, it was in Immortal Throne ;D

@botebote77 Yeah, as far as I know Petrify indeed works on them. But it's not like one can reliably cast it, unless the Dream Mastery is involved. It's one of the reasons why I dislike Dream-based classes and consider them broken. Even if one puts aside everything else (and there's plenty more overpowered stuff in there), the fact that they're able to apply a mechanic that almost no monsters in the game have defense against, is just wrong. But enough of that - I can spend the whole day ranting about how the 2 newest masteries are poorly balanced :P
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: botebote77 on 06 March 2019, 13:24:41
the only reason why you feel dream and rune are OP is because..... you like hybrids  ;D
but for non-hybrid toons, dream is just a support mastery.. a very good support mastery.. but ultimately just a support mastery
and rune is just a squishy trying hard int version of wafare
they're only good if you build em good  O0
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: tqrunner on 08 March 2019, 02:43:08
Greetings from Rhodes!

As anticipated, Act III was a piece of cake thanks to the Ardent Greaves acquired back in Act I. There wasn't a single moment when Eluria's life was threatened - neither against the Tiger Monk (whom we encountered several times while searching for a good Sabertooth), nor against Dragonians. Advancing through the act was quick and easy, but farming up the good gear required some hard work :D

The first stop was the marsh next to the Jade Palace waypoint, where a bunch of Viny Growth charms were collected. A couple of those had bonus HP regen and were used on the Stonebiner's Cuffs we had stashed and the Hallowed Helm, kindly offered by one of the merchants in the Babylon outskirts. The torso armor was enhanced with an Essence of Set's Betrayal (with piercing damage bonus), as Eluria's HP regen was already excellent at that point and she just needed more damage to make the runs as quick as possible. The first (crappy) Sabertooth dropped in that same area, but without any points in the shield passives it didn't look very appealing. At least not as appealing as Lei Gong's Winged Mace, which dropped somewhere around Chang'an and added a lot of power to Eluria's Batter attacks. It made for an especially nasty combo together with the Frozen Buckler that she got her hands on.

The next stop were the Tigermen camps in Jinghe Wetlands (Three Sisters quest). It's a great place to get levels, gold and gear. The purple Tigermen associated with the quest can drop items with some very nice mods - like, for example, the Veteran's Champion's Coat of Rejuvenation that Eluria found O0 . Of course, there's balance in all things so all of the Sabertooth swords she found were crappy. In the end, she settled for a Poisonous one. She equipped it at level 31, when she finally unlocked all of the shield passives and a Shen-Nong relic was completed. I have to admit, though - smacking enemies with the Winged Mace was very enjoyable while it lasted :))

Next was the Telkine. I tend to get carried away with that guy, so I've come up with a rule of thumb - the farming stops when 3 Monkey King relics are completed (2 for the equipped rings and 1 for the swap-in ring). Any other usable goodies picked up along the way are welcome. In this case the extra stuff came in the form of a Soul Shiver recipe, a Guan-Yu relic and a set of Jade Greaves. I don't normally go for blue footwear this early, but those greaves rolled high both in resist (38%) and speed (17%). It felt like a nice synergy with the movement speed bonus from Guan-Yu's relic, as well as the evasion that both provide. Not to mention that it kinda matched the overall color scheme:

(https://i.imgur.com/NqGInBS.jpg)

The last stop in Eluria's farming route was the jungle area between the Great Wall waypoint and Shaanxi Fields. The goal: an Exotic Carapace shield (dropped by Tropical Arachnos). She had to farm 5 of those until she finally got a decent one. With this, her equipment was complete (the jewelry was already in place - all pieces acquired by the Chang'an magic vendor in between runs).

So here we are, level 37, with the following skill spec:
https://www.kirmiziperfect.com/titancalc-anniversary-edition/TitanCalc53b553b553b5.html?mastery=Juggernaut&master1=1&master2=5&sa=5&m1=32-1-0-8-1-0-0-1-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-1-0-1-0&m2=32-0-1-1-6-1-3-0-4-6-0-1-1-1-4-1-1-1-0-0-4-0 (https://www.kirmiziperfect.com/titancalc-anniversary-edition/TitanCalc53b553b553b5.html?mastery=Juggernaut&master1=1&master2=5&sa=5&m1=32-1-0-8-1-0-0-1-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-1-0-1-0&m2=32-0-1-1-6-1-3-0-4-6-0-1-1-1-4-1-1-1-0-0-4-0)

The shield passives are kept at 4/6 so that with +2 to all skills they reach 6/6. I don't think that it's worth investing more points in those early on, as past level 6 the proc chance only increases by 1%. Of course, later in the game they will get maxed. Armor Handling and Resilience are the first 2 skills that we max. Next on the list is the trio of Eruption/Volativity/Earth Enchantment - this will be our boss killer. The skill points that we get awarded in Act IV will go to Stone Skin and Focus, so that we can get some extra mileage from the +skills items.

Here's the gear:

 * Head: Hallowed Babylonian Great Helm of Essence - enhanced with a Viny Growth with HP reg bonus
 * Torso: Veteran's Champion's Coat of Rejuvenation - enhanced with a Guan-Yu's relic with MS bonus
 * Arms: Stonebinder's Cuffs (of Life) - enhanced with a Viny Growth with HP reg bonus
 * Feet: Jade Greaves
 * Amulet: Prismatic (22%/12%/12) Talisman of Life (145) - enhanced with an Isis' relic with energy leech bonus
 * Ring 1: Molten (!) Band (87/18) - enhanced with a Monkey King's relic with intelligence bonus
 * Ring 2: Accursed Loop (26%) - enhanced with a Monkey King's relic with MS bonus
 * Primary weapon: Poisonous Sabertooth - enhanced with a Shen-Nong's relic with attack speed slow bonus (33%)
                             Exotic Carapace (26% lightning res/17% pierce res/22% poison res) - enhanced with a Rigid Carapace with bleeding res bonus
 * Secondary weapon: Good old Hand of Lycurgus // Phrygian Shield of Rejuvenation - enhanced with an Archimedes Relic with fire res bonus
 * Artifact: Shroud of Eternal Night

HP regen/sec: 63.55
DPS: 750
OA: 248
DA: 352

And the attributes:

 * STR: 190
 * INT: 130
 * DEX: 90
 * Reserved attribute points: 8

So far we've only raised our raw HP by 200 extra points. We'll likely add another 200 and stop there, because we've got some nice HP bonuses from the amulet/SBC. Lightning resistance is almost maxed out, so we're ready to kick some Dactyl ass 8). Pierce resistance isn't very impressive (37%), but our Veteran's armor provides 20% CTaP, so we should do just fine against Machae archers. The OA and DA are kinda low - this is something that we'll have to work on.

If all goes well, next update will be from Corinth. Until then - take care! ;)

Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: tqrunner on 09 March 2019, 10:47:55
Greetings from Corinth!

Act IV was completed pretty quickly, as there weren't any farming runs involved. Don't get me wrong - there's plenty of good items that can be acquired there, but after all the tedious farming done in Act III I felt like spending more time on the move. Eluria's only stop was at Hades' palace where we had to reset the seed several times in order for a Dactyl to spawn. The fight was a weird one - although it went according to plan (the Dactyl cast both his spells bringing Eluria's HP to 1/3, and then died) there was a bothersome part about it. Even though I kept pressing the Rally hotkey, the spell just wouldn't go off (yeah, we basically killed the thing without healing at all ;D). I made a recording of the fight and watched it several times afterwards. One can clearly hear (and see) the button being spammed and there's definitely no disruption effect taking place to prevent the cast from happening. I suspect that my own right clicks might've interrupted the cast animation of the spell, which is a problem, because one does not want to stop right clicking a Dactyl before all of his energy is drained. NOTE TO SELF: on my next (Defense-based) toon I should try maxing out Disruption to see if I can prevent him from casting anything at all during the fight.

Anyway, apart from the Dactyl the only other tough opponent was Cerberus. For that fight Eluria swapped the Stonebinder's Cuffs for an item with poison resistance. She only showed at the door for a second to provoke the enemy to use his Crack Fire ability and then stepped back in the hallway to clash with him there. The hallway offers limited space, but it's sufficient to dodge the Acid Puddle, which was his next attack. Upon entering the hallway, Cerberus used his third ranged ability, Acid Breath, and then engaged Eluria in melee combat. Her HP regen wasn't high enough to compensate for the massive amount of damage coming from the bites, so she only traded hits for a few seconds (to keep her opponent on top of the Eruption while draining all of his energy). As soon as Cerberus' energy was gone, she moved into the room without fear of him using Crack Fire again and then kited him for while until Rally and Eruption were available again.

Eluria finished Act IV with a couple of great findings - Royal Cavalryman's Boots and an Aristotle's Jewel of Endowment. The boots will be very useful in Epic when we meet Cerberus again, because they provide exactly 15% damage reduction from Beasts, which, in combination with any armor piece that has "of the Glade" suffix, would give us the maximum allowed damage reduction (50%). The jewel has already been equipped in place of the Accursed Loop - the boost to INT and OA that it provides is exactly what we need. Also, energy drain can be detrimental in Act V where there's a lot of monsters with built-in Reflection. Of course, we'll still keep an Accursed ring as a swap-in option for boss fights.

Since the last update we've picked up 3 levels. Together with the quest reward from "The Dust of a Titan" that makes 11 skill points, which were invested as follows:

 * 1 point in Focus
 * 1 point in Stone Skin
 * Defensive Reaction raised from 1 --> 2
 * Rally raised from 3 --> 5
 * Eruption/Volativity/EE all raised from 1 --> 3

In terms of attributes, INT was raised to 130 and DEX was raised to 110. Health was increased by another 200 points, so we're currently sitting at 3600. Over the next 10 levels we'll be saving up all attribute points and when we hit Epic we'll decide how to spend them depending on the item drops.

HP regen hasn't changed, DPS is good (almost 900 now), OA is a little over 300 (still not satisfactory, but we're making progress).

Next update will be in good old Helos, until then - take care! ;)

Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: botebote77 on 09 March 2019, 11:42:29
NOTE TO SELF: on my next (Defense-based) toon I should try maxing out Disruption to see if I can prevent him from casting anything at all during the fight.
yes do that.. and post the result.
spellbreaker used to make Dactyl easy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRRPQUncseY
although that was dated January 2018 and i think TQ has received numerous updates after that

also, post pics next time

edit: and yep that was me playing but nope it's not my char
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: tqrunner on 10 March 2019, 00:20:31
Pics are problematic because all screenshots that I take ingame appear black for some reason. In order to post that pic of Eluria's outfit in Act III I had to make a recording and use that for the SS (hence the crappy quality). It's too much work, so I'm only going to do it on rare occasions...
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: Medea Fleecestealer on 10 March 2019, 08:59:23
Are you just pasting the screenshot into whatever programme you're using?  If so, don't.  Use Print Screen and there should be a screenshots folder under My Documents\My Games\Titan Quest Immortal Throne they'll save automatically to.  If there isn't, then make one.  Screenshots will then save to there and you can access them that way.
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: tqrunner on 10 March 2019, 09:43:30
Greetings from Helos!

Act V and it's terrible voice acting are finally behind us ;D

I kind of dislike the Ragnarok arc, so I try to spend as little time there as possible (only completing side quests that yield good rewards). Of course, some farming had to be done, else Eluria would've finished Normal difficulty starved for levels and gear. My choice of farming spots in Act V is simple - first the Dvergr Overlords and their juicy majestic chest, then Land's End.

Yesterday's session left with me with a bitter-sweet taste. On one hand, we found a very good Master Seer Robe and a nice shield (The Boar of Witham), however, once again we failed to acquire a good weapon despite our hard efforts (pretty much the story of Act III ::)). Eluria must've done way over a hundred runs in Land's End, but neither of the giants that she fell had Raven's Beak or an Executioner with good damage mods. There are a couple of other items that we were hoping to find in Normal, too - most notably Sirona's Leggings and Arubianus Helmet. Well, at least those two can be dropped by Megalesios, so I guess we'll pay him an extended visit ;)

Eluria is now level 50, with the following skill spec:
https://www.kirmiziperfect.com/titancalc-anniversary-edition/TitanCalc53b553b553b5.html?mastery=Juggernaut&master1=1&master2=5&sa=10&m1=32-10-0-8-1-1-0-1-0-0-1-0-8-0-1-0-0-0-10-0-10-0&m2=32-0-1-1-6-3-5-0-4-6-1-1-1-1-4-2-1-1-0-0-4-0 (https://www.kirmiziperfect.com/titancalc-anniversary-edition/TitanCalc53b553b553b5.html?mastery=Juggernaut&master1=1&master2=5&sa=10&m1=32-10-0-8-1-1-0-1-0-0-1-0-8-0-1-0-0-0-10-0-10-0&m2=32-0-1-1-6-3-5-0-4-6-1-1-1-1-4-2-1-1-0-0-4-0)

The trio of Eruption/EE/Volativity is almost maxed - just in time for the numerous boss runs we'll be doing in Epic. You'll also notice that we've invested quite heavily in Soften Metal. It's a multi-purpose skill that boosts both our defensive and offensive capabilities (by reducing enemy's OA/armor), while improving looks (8)). Of course, all of that comes at a hefty price - the skill drains a lot of energy, so in order to maintain it, the torso armor needs to be enhanced with an Essence of the Stew of Eldhrimnir. This means one less Viny Growth charm and it hurts the HP regen, but it's well worth it, considering that the relic also provides a significant boost to STR and comes with some nice completion bonuses. Once we get our hands on an Arubianus Helmet we'll forget about any energy issues and this will give us more options for good torso armors in late Epic.

@botebote77 asked for some screenshots, so I spent half my morning putting together this ugly image - I hope you enjoy ;D

(https://i.imgur.com/WMM2PDi.png)

I've only included the new items and the two character screens - ain't nobody got time to take pictures of the whole inventory! (need to grind that Telkine >:D)
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: tqrunner on 10 March 2019, 12:25:33
Are you just pasting the screenshot into whatever programme you're using?  If so, don't.  Use Print Screen and there should be a screenshots folder under My Documents\My Games\Titan Quest Immortal Throne they'll save automatically to.  If there isn't, then make one.  Screenshots will then save to there and you can access them that way.

It's the screenshots in that folder that appear black for some reason.
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: Medea Fleecestealer on 10 March 2019, 12:43:06
Um. strange.  Are you using Print Screen to take them?  Usually it's when you do that then then paste them straight into something like Paint that you get the black screen.  May be a bug in the game though.
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: tqrunner on 10 March 2019, 14:03:42
Yeah, I'm using Print Screen (I'm not aware of any other options), but I'm not pasting the screenshots in Paint - I'm opening those straight from the TQ folder where they're stored and they're black.

On a side note, does anyone know if in Ragnarok there's a way to claim the skill point for killing Nessus if you did not talk to Leonidas right afterwards, but met him outside of Athens instead?

EDIT: Okay, nevermind, I found the solution posted on steamcommunity:

"You could backup your save file to another location, just leave your [player.chr] file where it is.
Start the game and load your character, teleport to Sparta, kill the boss again and talk to Leonidas.
After you get the quest reward, quit the game, keep [player.chr] file, delete everything else, and restore the backup files earlier."

Too bad that I didn't have this info in the past - last couple of times it happened to me (some 5-6 years ago) I ended up deleting my character because I would get triggered every time I opened the skill tab :)
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: AlcyonV on 10 March 2019, 16:52:59
For the black screenshots, alt-tab from the game to desktop, then alt-tab back to the game. The next screenshots will be fine. Old TQ bug.
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: Torcer on 10 March 2019, 18:10:22
Yeah, I'm using Print Screen (I'm not aware of any other options), but I'm not pasting the screenshots in Paint - I'm opening those straight from the TQ folder where they're stored and they're black.

On a side note, does anyone know if in Ragnarok there's a way to claim the skill point for killing Nessus if you did not talk to Leonidas right afterwards, but met him outside of Athens instead?

EDIT: Okay, nevermind, I found the solution posted on steamcommunity:

"You could backup your save file to another location, just leave your [player.chr] file where it is.
Start the game and load your character, teleport to Sparta, kill the boss again and talk to Leonidas.
After you get the quest reward, quit the game, keep [player.chr] file, delete everything else, and restore the backup files earlier."

Too bad that I didn't have this info in the past - last couple of times it happened to me (some 5-6 years ago) I ended up deleting my character because I would get triggered every time I opened the skill tab :)
Steam has the ability to use F12 to take a screen shot.
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: AlcyonV on 10 March 2019, 18:47:40
I mean the printscreen key, saving the pictures in the screenshots folder of the game.
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: tqrunner on 10 March 2019, 21:24:55
I wasn't aware of that, thank you!

I try to keep the alt-tabbing to a minimum, because every time I do it the game colors change (as if someone pumped up the brightness level while I was tabbed). Another bug I suppose ;D
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: Torcer on 11 March 2019, 09:24:01
I wasn't aware of that, thank you!

I try to keep the alt-tabbing to a minimum, because every time I do it the game colors change (as if someone pumped up the brightness level while I was tabbed). Another bug I suppose ;D

Not a bug so much as a consequence of Windows XP era programs. Never alt tab on anything that was made for or can be run on Windows XP as a rule. Can end up with all kinds of weird or down right hazardous results.
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: tqrunner on 11 March 2019, 10:09:31
So yesterday was basically a wasted day.

Arachne's chest dropped Fenrir's bite (+50% damage to Deities), so I thought to myself "Hey, this should make for some easy quick Surtr runs". Quick and easy they were, but nothing else. I'm actually annoyed by the ridiculously low drop rate that Surtr has. 50% of the time there would be nothing but yellow items and a couple of relic shards (sometimes not even those!), in 40-45% a green item or two would pop, and the remaining 5% of the runs would yield a blue item. This ratio can't be adequate for any game's final boss. I must've reset the seed some 20-30 times over the 100+ runs, but it changed nothing.

I think we'll only be doing Telkine runs from now on. True, those can get a bit dangerous when the Minotaur Lord spawns with strong weapons, but at least I know that Eluria won't be left empty-handed.

EDIT: I might've exaggerated a bit. A more accurate figure for the drop rate of blue items would be ~10%, but that is still way too low. I'm not saying that players should be swimming in good items, but it wouldn't hurt if every other run resulted in some sub-par blue drops (even if they're mostly useless for the player's current level). Anything is better than the depressing sight of gold+yellow items.
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: botebote77 on 14 March 2019, 03:53:32
tqrunner, have you experienced this on your char?
shield charge missing
https://titanquestfans.net/index.php?topic=889.msg10149#msg10149

hmm I'll look to continue and update that on the weekend
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: WNG on 14 March 2019, 12:34:22
So yesterday was basically a wasted day.

Arachne's chest dropped Fenrir's bite (+50% damage to Deities), so I thought to myself "Hey, this should make for some easy quick Surtr runs". Quick and easy they were, but nothing else. I'm actually annoyed by the ridiculously low drop rate that Surtr has. 50% of the time there would be nothing but yellow items and a couple of relic shards (sometimes not even those!), in 40-45% a green item or two would pop, and the remaining 5% of the runs would yield a blue item. This ratio can't be adequate for any game's final boss. I must've reset the seed some 20-30 times over the 100+ runs, but it changed nothing.

I think we'll only be doing Telkine runs from now on. True, those can get a bit dangerous when the Minotaur Lord spawns with strong weapons, but at least I know that Eluria won't be left empty-handed.

EDIT: I might've exaggerated a bit. A more accurate figure for the drop rate of blue items would be ~10%, but that is still way too low. I'm not saying that players should be swimming in good items, but it wouldn't hurt if every other run resulted in some sub-par blue drops (even if they're mostly useless for the player's current level). Anything is better than the depressing sight of gold+yellow items.

Well, I've inspected the loot tables of both the Greek Telkine and Surtr, and yes, Megalesios does have better odds to drop uniques than Surtr. But shouldn't it make sense that it is this way, since Surtr (or any boss in Act 5) can drop items that are undeniably stronger?
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: tqrunner on 14 March 2019, 18:21:45
Well, everyone has their own way of seeing things.

To me, all act bosses should have similar drop rates - it's only the quality of the items that should go up as you fight tougher opponents. I wouldn't mind if Surtr dropped stuff from Act I-III every now and then. In my experience, he either drops an Act V unique (some 10% of the time) or nothing but gold and yellow stuff (the vast majority of the time). I'd much rather see a Soul Shiver recipe than an all-yellow screen :)
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: tqrunner on 15 March 2019, 22:36:56
Greetings from Rhakotis!

It's been a long time since the last update, but the RNG gods have not been favoring us, so it took a few hundred Surtr/Telkine/Talos runs to obtain the key items that Eluria needed. Well, it's not like we couldn't proceed without them, but I got very annoyed by the fact that those (rather common) items keep eluding us, so I decided we wouldn't go anywhere until we get 'em.

As a result, Eluria picked up some 9-10 levels just from farming the Telkine/Talos. O:-)

Yup, we're talking hundreds of runs. Statistically, those items should have been in our possession in about 100 runs, but apparently the values listed at the TQDatabase are not correct. There's no other explanation why a Raven's Shadow recipe dropped only once (!) during all that time, whereas Jade Idol and Spirit Blight (which have the exact same drop %) were available in abundance. Our two main targets - Sirona's Leggings and Arubianus Helmet - also dropped just once, despite the probability on those being 0.55%/0.44% respectively. At the same time, the Helm of the Firewalker/Marbod's Mask (with their measly 0.186%) dropped at least 5-6 times each. And those were not duplicate drops, caused by a bad seed - they all had unique parameters!

In the end we got what we needed, so let's not get too whiny about it! :P As a result of those few hundred extra runs we now have an impressive collection of blue rings that will help us customize our stats/resistances in times of need. Here's a couple of screenshots of our findings (I'm getting better and better with that Paint!):

https://i.imgur.com/4un8onh.png[/img]](https://i.imgur.com/4un8onh.png) (http://[img)
https://i.imgur.com/iGZuJFs.png[/img]](https://i.imgur.com/iGZuJFs.png) (http://[img)
https://i.imgur.com/8Dc63Kv.png[/img]](https://i.imgur.com/8Dc63Kv.png) (http://[img)

The resistances shown are with Rune of Life/Heat Shield active. That awesome Titanic Trigonos Shield of Renewal was dropped by the Telkine, and the other one seen in the stash (Sentinel's of Focus!!) was kindly provided by Talos on the next day. I'm planning to put some nice Rigid Carapace charms in those. For the Outrider's Buckler I'm thinking Turtle Shell.

And here's Eluria's (lvl 62) skill spec:
https://www.kirmiziperfect.com/titancalc-anniversary-edition/TitanCalc53b553b553b5.html?mastery=Juggernaut&master1=1&master2=5&sa=11&m1=32-12-0-8-1-1-0-1-0-0-1-0-8-0-1-0-0-0-12-0-12-0&m2=32-0-12-1-6-3-5-1-6-6-1-7-1-1-6-8-1-1-1-0-6-0 (https://www.kirmiziperfect.com/titancalc-anniversary-edition/TitanCalc53b553b553b5.html?mastery=Juggernaut&master1=1&master2=5&sa=11&m1=32-12-0-8-1-1-0-1-0-0-1-0-8-0-1-0-0-0-12-0-12-0&m2=32-0-12-1-6-3-5-1-6-6-1-7-1-1-6-8-1-1-1-0-6-0)

The shield passives are now maxed out, as well as Battle Awareness. The DA coming from the latter will be much needed in Act III Epic, where the enemies start to hit hard. We're currently working on Shield Charge, in order to add to our damage. Next on the list will be Adrenaline/Stone Skin, but if we don't get some decent OA by the end of Epic, we might go for Flame Surge instead (for the -% defense debuff).

The update at the end of Act II will likely be short - a Manticore shot and, if we're lucky, some new gear. And as I say that I realize that I forgot to take a screenshot of Boar Snatcher's death ::)
Well, sorry about that - the encounter ended so quickly that it didn't feel like a boss fight at all.

Take care, everyone! ^-^

Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: tqrunner on 17 March 2019, 09:00:28
Hi, everyone!

A quick little update and a few screenshots from yesterday:

This nice lady dropped Nebuchadnezzar's Greaves:

https://i.imgur.com/TzpS5yc.png[/img]](https://i.imgur.com/TzpS5yc.png) (http://[img)

Forgot to take this SS originally, so I had to go back for it :P

https://i.imgur.com/FkDBsPH.png[/img]](https://i.imgur.com/FkDBsPH.png) (http://[img)

This one turned out nicely:

https://i.imgur.com/zel2Q5X.png[/img]](https://i.imgur.com/zel2Q5X.png) (http://[img)

I'm sorry that the screenshots are trimmed and don't show Eluria's health/status bar. They're too big when pasted in Paint and I'm not sure how to scroll down without losing the selection that I want to crop (and I can't use the whole image as it's a huge screenshot of both monitors).

There's no screenshot for Barmanu, as I was too focused not to miss him cast the meteors. Last time I visited he greeted me instantly with those while I was still clearing up the neanderthals. But the one fight that I regret the most not recording was Eluria's encounter with the Tiger Monk. That freak of nature managed to crit her for 2500 damage while she was wearing Ardent Greaves! I had a mini heart attack there :))

Eluria is now level 66 and doing Telkine runs. She's got her first real legendary items (we're not counting the garbage throwing weapons found in Act I):

 * Ring of Gaia
 * Shield of the Hideous Visage (decided to prioritize Focus/Quick recovery over Stone Skin because of that one)
 * Rhesus' Whitewashed Armor (currently wearing a Purifying Prowler's Cuirass, though)

I was a bit disappointed to find out that in TQAE you can no longer find Nature's Blessing or Shield of the Korybantes in Epic, but it seems there's still a small chance of getting Athena's Battle Greaves. We'll see what else Ormenos has to offer. 8)

Next update will be from Rhodes. Until then - take care!
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: botebote77 on 17 March 2019, 09:53:02
I'm really impressed you're doing this self-farmed.. just from memory, my very first attempt at a hybrid stat character was Poinas harrowing ternion build.. he suggested getting all 3 stats in his guide so iirc i went with 1:1:1 stat ratio distribution.. it was a failure.. it wasn't that his guide was bad, it was just my lack of knowledge of the game.. i was still fairly new to the game so it was self-farmed.. it was very long time ago in TQIT

then i tried again with earth + something.. iirc it was also 1:1:1.. i had some items already so it was partly twinked.. it was also a failure :D

then I'm not sure but i think i tried again with dream + something.. long story short, i failed again lolz.. they were mostly cases of couldn't wear items that 2 stat builds could already wear

it was only in TQAE that i finally learned.. these days I'm too lazy to farm and i have many items already so i twink all my characters.. i once thought that if you want to play a hybrid, you have to plan the items you will wear even before you create the character.. but from experience, my planned gear combination don't always end up that way.. and in this game, just 1 gear change can mean 2 to 3 gear changes.. so I've developed my rule that on epic, i wear requirement reduction items before i spend my stats

after all these hours of playing and after all those failures, building hybrids is fairly simple for me.. but i do it fully twinked.. you are doing it self-farmed.. I'm still holding my applause until you get to legendary :)

ps: i don't doubt you can do it though
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: tqrunner on 17 March 2019, 12:38:45
Hehe, different people look for different things in games...

Some players like to play powerful hero classes and push the boundaries by equipping them with some impossible to find gear. Some lack time, some lack patience.
To me, playing twinked takes away half of the pleasure in the game. It's like comparing a delicious home-cooked meal to something that you bought from the supermarket and put in the microwave ;)

Thank you for the kind words! O:-)

P.S. I'm sure you jinxed it
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: tqrunner on 17 March 2019, 20:56:31
Today we beat the crap out of Ormenos.

He got so fed up with it that in the end he was like "Here, take this Tyrvidar's Might amulet and go kick Typhon's ass instead". And that's exactly what Eluria's about to do >:D

Needless to say, our time in Wusao Caverns has been quite productive. Here's what our beloved Juggernaut looks like at the moment:

https://i.imgur.com/gN7Jd7A.png?1[/img]](https://i.imgur.com/gN7Jd7A.png?1) (http://[img)

We also found a few other useful items:

 * Amaranthine (amulet) - this one grants the Herbal Remedy skill so it can be very helpful against Cerberus or the Hydra (but I'm too lazy to switch it in and out during regular questing)
 * Coil of Resilience - a very interesting item providing excellent HP and energy regen (could replace the SBC if we find an alternative source of +skills)
 * Eye of Flame - not likely to be used in the near future as the amulet slot is crucial for resistances, but it could come into play (the fiery lady deserves some fiery jewelry ;D)
 * Volcanic Band of Power - probably the luckiest find of the day!

Over the next few days there will be repeated assaults on Mt. Olympus. I really want to get Athena's Battle Greaves and if TQDatabase can be trusted, this is the best place to farm those. Let's hope this time luck's on our side and it doesn't take 300 runs to accomplish our goal. O:-)

See you all in Rhodes!

P.S. I'm getting more and more convinced that @botebote77 has jinxed us. Every time I get this many good drops in a single day, my hero dies in some stupid way soon after!
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: tqrunner on 17 March 2019, 22:08:05
Aaand we're dead.

On run number 7-8 I didn't notice that Typhon popped his spikes out and Eluria got massive amount of damage returned to her in combination with a hefty punch (might've been a crit, too). Didn't even have a chance to press Stone Form. This is probably the last time I farm such dangerous location while taking sneak peaks at my second monitor (damn DotA Major) O:-)

There was another important oversight by me. The original plan was to use Viny Growth charms with bleeding res bonus for the Mt. Olympus runs. This would've given Eluria 50% extra res and she wouldn't care as much about the spikes, but I got so excited when Tyrvidar's Might dropped, that I forgot about it.

Oh well, at least it didn't come as a surprise. Overall I am pleased with the way the Juggernaut played out. I'll give it another go later, but right now I feel like playing some Illusionist.

Thank you all for your time!
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: botebote77 on 18 March 2019, 00:26:51
it's not my fault   :'(
and really.. self-farmed hybrid with all those restrictions, what you're doing is really difficult
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: tqrunner on 18 November 2021, 02:23:22
Reviving this dead-ass thread just to let everyone know that I was able to complete the hardcore challenge that I started a couple of years ago.  ;D

The entire playthrough was done live on Twitch (with little to no commentary, as there was hardly anyone watching). It took a total of 67 streams, each about 2 hours long. The first 25-ish have been deleted, as they only stay up for a couple of weeks, but if anyone is interested how things went after Act IV Epic, the VODs are still available at twitch.tv/j_farer.

I'm leaving this comment mostly for my buddy botebote77, who shares my love for hybrids.  ;)
I'm planning to try a few more hybrid combos (thane/illusionist/bone charmer), so we'll see how well those perform.

Best wishes to you all, fellow TQ lovers!
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: Medea Fleecestealer on 18 November 2021, 08:04:56
Congratulations on finishing your challenge tqrunner.  Well done!   :)
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: botebote77 on 18 November 2021, 23:20:43
i searched on twitch and watched a little bit. dem that must feel satisfying. you used thrown weapon on secondary and frequently changed items. i totally get that. gratz that's very nice

edit: yeah. there should be a rule against pressing ESC button on hardcore challenges. i never did that on my earth/rogue deathless run
Title: Re: Diary of a teenage Juggernaut
Post by: tqrunner on 20 November 2021, 01:07:51
Yeah, there's no way I can say "No" to -50% enemy res on a weapon. It just takes care of Juggernaut's biggest weakness - the lack of a debuff (which leads to big damage issues in Legendary). There's a reason why I chose to go with Pendant of Immortal Rage instead of Myrmidon's Pendant, which most players would agree is the superior amulet.

Though the use of Asphodel almost came to bite me in the ass during the Dactyl encounter. I "kinda forgot" that those guys have some ridiculous chance to avoid projectiles in Legendary. So every time I switched to the ranged weapon it felt like an eternity missing attack after attack and watching my HP go down (cause all my damage converted to health was coming from the Sabertooth). Even the energy was going down at an alarming rate (with almost 80% resist, mind you!) thanks to that guy's dual leeching weapons. Like, the game really wanted me dead there!  ;D

I guess it's the last time I throw away a Sapros. I thought I'd never be able to use it because of the STR requirement, then the dvergr surprised me with 14% reduction to requirements on my Veleda ring. But it's impossible to keep all the good stuff on you when the stash is not accessible and it's hard to decide which items are most worthy of occupying that precious inventory space.
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