Grimjerk's Caster Barb Journey

Ok, this is going to be a boring text only thing for a bit and may not get updated super often as my game play time is extremely limited. Hopefully I will ad screen shots soon. So a new patch comes out and what do I do? Play something that hasn't changed all that much. This is a wiped stash, starting from scratch thing. The rules I have set for myself are as follows.

1. No imported anything.
2. Once I found something with a spell on it I had to start using spells as my prime mode of killing stuff.

Ok, started game. Set titan strike to right click and held it down. Before level 5 got a lucky apple drop, cashed it in and gambled every long staff that came up. No TU luck. Spent my points as planned. 1 point lion stance, 1 point wolf companion, 1 point guardian spirit, held point at level 5. Did LC0 with lion stance and titan strike. Yes it is as tedious as it sounds. Got a +7 with Horror reanimate. Didn't feel like doing it again, so its what I've got.

Kicked it up to players 8. Put all the runes I found into socketable throwing weapons. Gambled my ass off. Finally got a rare long staff with +5 Venomous Spirit on it. Used this to clear the den. Yes this is as tedious as it sounds. Level 13 upon killing Prince Al. Collected more runes, socket, sell gamble. Scored a Magister!!!!! Yes!!!!! +1 to Apocolypse!!!! No!!!!!!!! Oh well, you take what you can get.

So, the basic skill plan is points in Protector Spirit, Ancient's Blood, Eagle Stance. Stat points in energy except for gear requirements.

Nice Uncle G. Keep it up. We'd love to read your progress.

Cookie man, i'd love to see where this leads to

OK.

At level 15 made Luman Arcana in some leather armor. Worked my way through to the dark woods. Found three uniques. War Cloak, the cap and and a druid bow. Disenchanted them. WooHoo....only two uniques to go before I can upgrade this staff!!!!

Rescuing Cane was slow going. Kill speed not the greatest with that +1 to Apocalypse. Got Wolf Pack, Golden Fleece and Aerin Orbiter from the Gift box. Orbiter is handy so I specced a few points out of energy and into strength. Not that bad a deal since Orbiter has +14 to energy, so it came out in the wash.

The only thing I plan on using my Character Orb for in perfect gem manufacture. Not that I am above carrying it around. So far I have only cubed it with five emeralds since getting where I can make Greater Elixers of Experience is a priority task.

Levels 18-24. Worked my way to the Catacombs skipping the Smith (fire immune) along the way. Broke down and hired a Priestess to help with the killing. Will likely replace her with a Fighter Mage--Glacial Nova crowd control--in Act 2.

As soon as I was able to gamble a i-level 24 rare short staff I spent a great deal of gold--for this early in the game--rerolling so I could experiment with some of the o-skills available at that level. These are my conclusions.

Pheonix Wave. Way too mana hungry to be practical, especially given the damage.

Avalanche. Mana hungry + goofy mechanic.

Stormfront. Not quite as mana hungry as the first two but suffers from that defect of lightning skills with a 1-x damage range. Seems like you either do decent damage or barely any at all.

Conclusion none of these are worth using even compared to as low as level a Apocalypse skill as I am stuck with at the time.

Found another unique, sent it to that great shard in the sky. One more to go.

At level 24 went back and killed the Smith. Summons and Merc made short work of him. Got the Hammer, Charsi rolled me some level 29 gloves. Let the rolling begin.

In the process of trying to get a decent level of Devouring Cloud, I tried out Fire Cascade. The damage isn't bad and would be a decent option if you can keep up with the manna cost. The big downfall is that it is auto aiming so you have no control over what the fireballs target.

Andy took a while to go down on players 8. Got the final shard I needed, up-tiered staff and............. +2 all skills +5 Apocalypse. Not bad, not perfect but it sure beats what I've been working with.

First Devouring Cloud gloves rolled even halfway worth keeping were level 12s. So I will hang on to those, get another level 24 pair and roll those till I get magic number 15.

Did 5 players 1 Andy runs since I had a decent map for it. I don't want to do too much of this sort of thing on account of my limited play time. If I spend all of it in woodshop tedium then this will probably not go very far.

No uniques worth keeping so up-tiered my staff again. +3 all skills +11 to Apocalypse.

End of Act 1 summery

*Level 28
* 10 stat points place in strength, the rest in energy.
* Eagle Stance 5, Protector Spirits 6, Ancients' Blood 6. 1 point in pre reqs plus Spirit Guide, Mountain King, Greater Manifestations, Spirit Walk
* Tier 3 Magister staff +3 All/+11 Apocalypse. Damage after Protector Spirit buff 382-772
* +12 Devouring Cloud gloves. Damage after buff 678-1583 per 1 sec.
* Tier 1 TU belt, Lumen Arcana shirt, random crap gear.

Near term goals Improve gear in general, roll +2 skill amulet and two +1 skill rings, roll +15 devouring cloud gloves.

Note, Priestess may be a keeper. She reliably casts Vindicate which greatly helps the survival of the Protector Spirits. Plus she tidies up my work area.

very interesting^^ ... i really like what you did so far, also i never had devouring clud before end of act 2 Gz for that

Thanks Rolls. Well I did over level a bit using /players8. My basic strategy was pick up every single rune that dropped and stuff them into any throwing weapons I came across--after repair that is--then Profit!. I did get lucky too. I don't think it took more than 30 potions to roll that +12. I am going to test any of the lower level skills you didn't mention in your guide. One thing I think you over looked in your guide spell wise. Rune of Fire/Ice. The damage gets nicish on these and they have no ND. Could come in handy for summoning ubers.

ACT 2

So after I posted my last update I played till it was time for me to go to work. Cleared the sewers, killed RadishMount, found a Webspinner for my girl. Now I am just about sold on keeping her. She uses sporeshot. That plus a T6 'spinner should keep everything slowed to a crawl.

Imto the wastes I went, leveling and picking up cashable items. Gambled a pair of t2 rare gloves just high enough i level to roll D. Cloud. 40 rolls later , +15 DC!! Sweet!!

After retrieving the staff I was level 34--came across half a dozen or so xp potions.

For shits and giggles I went to TA prepared to do the challange. Killed the ice priestess. Had to stop there but this is defenitely doable at this level. Died once because of a tree and some barrels. I swear the terrain is the most dangerous thing in TA. Lol. Picked up a few rings that are high enough to roll plus skills. Will roll those next then go back. Hopefully I will have video.

Your girl plays with you?Awesome   

wow123400 wrote:Your girl plays with you?Awesome   

I think he mean his act 1 Rouge Mercenery....

vadust wrote:

wow123400 wrote:Your girl plays with you?Awesome   

I think he mean his act 1 Rouge Mercenery....

   That sucks

Lol. My wife tried playing tbe mod but she thought all the eye candy might induce seizures. Lol