Diablo II

You got it dmc. You start a new game on nightmare difficulty, take the last waypoint, run down through the last level of the worldstone keep into the throne of destruction level. Kill all of Baal minions (the minions are actually worth more XPs that Baal himself) and go kill Baal again. This works for all of the bosses. The other boss that is commonly run is Mephisto because A) he's the easiest boss to kill and B) there's a waypoint really close to him meaning you can get to him quickly.

If you don't care about XPs, you may want to do more Mephisto than Baal runs, as Mephisto can drop almost as good as Baal, and the runs are much shorter. However, if you're looking to gain levels AND find good items, Baal runs are definitely much better.

(It is usually inadvisable to start Hell difficulty before level 70, and I'm usually not yet level 70 when I kill Baal the first time. I keep running Baal until I hit level 70. You gain about 1 level per Baal run - assuming you're level 60-something - so it's good XPs. If you really want to load up on levels before going to Hell difficulty you can, but after level 70 the XPs you require to level up get high enough that Baal runs are less efficient. By level 70 you need two Baal runs to hit level 71, and by level 75 you'd need 3 more Baal runs to hit level 76. So by that point, you're much better off just doing hell difficulty.)

 

I'm about halfway through Act 1 at Hell because Baal runs just were no longer worth the hassle -- though the Minions of Destruction are worth a whopping boatload of XP! Hopefully Hell will drop me the items I'm after sooner or later... I only lack ONE piece to complete Trang-Oul's set! Argh!!!!

 

paladin is doing fairly well, just got the skins of the victor armor for hum, quite nice i must say...

and soon he will be able to wield the god feared lightsabre! duhn duhn duhn!


question:

does anybody have an idea as to how i can avoid the insta-death iron maidens from the oblivion knights in act 4 nm?

everything else is a freaking cake-walk or what it's called (very easy)

i am primarily dealing physical dammage, with maxed out sacrifice, zeal and fanatiscism with zeal being my main form of attack
i can spare a few points on something, no doubt. if it just gets me through this living hell!

 

Hmm... with a Necro, you can counter the Oblivion Knight's Iron Maiden with your own Iron Maiden, but since you're playing a pally... I'd say your best bet would be an item with Iron Maiden charges.

I believe I have one such item in one of my Nightmare games - if you want it, I can give you the D2 item file.

 

well.. would that not only make me wait around getting shot by their mages? and if it works i would gladly take it of your hands yes.

would you like something in return? perhaps this?

Darkforce Spawn
Bloodlord Skull

Shield Class
Defence: 357.6-417.2
Necromancer Chance To Block: 32%
Durability: 20
Required Strength: 106
(Necromancer Only)
Required Level: 65
+1-3 to Curses (Necromancer only)
+1-3 to Poison and Bone Skills (Necromancer only)
+1-3 to Summoning Skills (Necromancer only)
+30% Faster Cast Rate
+140-180% Enhanced Defense
Increase Maximum Mana 10%

Quality level: 72
Treasure Class: 87
Inventory size: 2x2
Max sockets: 1

i think it has +3 in all the skills, and i really have no use for it.

 

If you are playing a paladin, Thorns would also put them in the same boat as their Iron Maiden.

Also, if you have non-melee damage potential, that might get around that problem too.

 

thanks gnarrffinger, i thought that as well just now!

and i just happen to have a skill point left over, i can get over with my life then!
thx for the help

 

Balle, that's a pretty sweet item, but I have all minus one pieces of Trang-Oul's set, which includes a Necro shield, so with the sick partial set bonuses I get, I don't really need it.

And yes, I had forgotten about Thorns. If you still want the Iron Maiden amulet for a future run, though, my offer still stands.

 

oh yea, trang ouls is for the better, i think i have the glove though if that's what your missing?

and about the amu, thx but no thx man, i don't really need it.

all i got in the running is a sorc and a amazon right now, and they don't seem to have that problem...

 

The one piece of Trang-Oul's set which still eludes me is the damn Chaos Armor. I got the Necro shield, the Belt, the Helm and the gloves.

I have some decent bonuses, but the full set bonuses are simply outstanding. The Arreat Summit says that "If you complete this set the Necromancer will transform into a Vampire in appearance"... WTF?

 

i do have the armor as well if you want it, i am currently using it on my paladin, but as soon as i find a better one i can email it to ya?

 

WooWoo! Lvl 64 Frost Zealot just dusted Diablo in nightmare. Getting ready to head to act V

I do have one question though, i have been through act 4 twice now & have yet to encounter an iron maiden?
Normally the oblivion/abyss/whatever knights just charge me & get slo-moed by the holy freeze aura.
I dont think i have had very much trouble except for those little buggers in the durance of hate levels!! even with almost 800 hp's they would get me down to almost dead in one massive wave attack. Have to keep one hand on the 1,2,3,4 buttons to keep from dying. Other than that no major problems.

 

my zealot has also just slain diablo, the iron maiden things are a ***** for me (even with thorns it appeared to do nothing) though diablo was friggin' easy

act 3 has not been a problem for me on both normal and nightmare.. interesting

lvl 67 he is, and is not gaining levels fast either so act 5 will be a bit boring i presume

 

So I need to make some changes in my paladin strat then if thorns does diddly squat then...

 

I think it might be because i have a couple items with light radius reduction & blitz the enemies before they even know i am there most of the time.

 

There is no counter to the iron maiden curse. All physical melee damage that you deal is returned to you several fold. As a paladin, there are a few options: 1.) There is a defensive aura that shortens the duration of all curses. Don't remember the name offhand. 2.) Instead of using a physical damage based attack, go for elemental and/or magic damage, like the skill Fist of the Heavens. 3.) Run away while you wait for the curse to run out.

Arguably, the paladin is one of the worst classes to play against Oblivion Knights. Most pallies only do areas where there are Oblivion Knights once, just to complete the quests. Most other classes have elemental (sorceress, almost any skill), magic (barbarian skill berserk) or ranged (amazon, any skill) attacks to circumvent this curse, but the only thing the paladin has is Fist of the Heavens, which most paladins don't invest in. Your only option may be to run away, or have a ranged weapon like a bow or crossbow on weapon switch as iron maiden does not effect ranged attacks.

 

No problem, on melee attacks i'm doing 2,100-2,600 pts of damage, of which only 150-400 is physical. The rest is cold(better than 1,300), poison(500+) & a couple hundred points of fire & lightning.
Also between various items i'm stealing like 28% or 29% life per hit. As long as i am contacting with hits my hp don't seem to waver much.

 

When I Iron Maiden the Oblivion Knights after they Iron Maidened me first, and my skeletons beat the living hell out of them, nobody eats returned damage, so I feel safe to say that two Iron Maidens cancel each other.

 

Aha! I think i have it figured out, well . . maybe.
I made a necro to see what the animation was for iron maiden. Due to my blitz attack style, i'm not seeing this animation until AFTER the current knight is died. So maybe it is glitching somehow as the caster is now dead?
It's the only thing i can figure at the moment.