User blog:Breywood/Dragon Talon Kicksin: Act 5. Hell.

I put Sabolita aside for a week or two to grind on my other build, the Rabies Rage druid in hopes of having another build to horse around with boss killing. Since there has been a "delay" on the Ladder reset this gives me some time to attempt to push Sabolita to Matriarch.

Like any melee character in Act 5, it's all give and go. I Blade Furied and I Dragon Flighted all over the damn place because missiles were 80% of the damage we were taking. The Bloody Foothills doubled up on Burning Dead Archers (which my poor Shadow took repeated beatings in a lethal manner) and also featured Slingers, which meant I had to keep it loose and move often. There usual Act 5 monsters were absent except for a few places. Given that I was simply spreading around the Malice while my rogue was trying to spread some cheer with her Witchwild String and my Shadow master was tanking the hits (quite well except for the frequent group of archers and slingers) it might have been slow, but I did waste Shenk and Eldritch without a single fatality.

And then, this morning. You know what I hate most about Act 5? Well, yes, I hate those wisps the most, but take another guess. Well, yes, I hate the fact the guest monsters are frequently more dangerous aside from the Frenzytaurs. Okay, I'll just break down and tell you. That damn walk from the waypoint in the Frigid Highlands to the Arreat Plateau happens to be the longest walk I make in the whole damn game. Ever. And I always try to snag that waypoint because I've had the game crash on me (especially with minions) trying to find the one in the Crystalline Passage. Or I die on the way and I have to walk all the way to the Passage from the Frigid Highlands waypoint because I don't have a habit of dropping Town Portals. The. Longest. Walk.

I think I died once on the Plateau where I didn't estimate the damage properly and my minions had an OCD for destroying towers and doors even when they're being quilled with enemy arrows. Again, there were Lashers and Minions, but the rest of my opponents had origins in other Acts. For a change, I had to backtrack to the space between the first and second blockades to snag the waypoint.

Now, the Crystalline Passage and the Anya Quest. Truly a test of patience. Crystalline, I ran into plenty of melee skeletons, Frozen Terrors. I died once here. But the Frozen River: Gloams, Gloams, Champion Gloams, Pit Vipers, Unique Gloams and Frozen Terrors. Oh, did I mention there were Gloams? Essentially, break them off in ones and twos and carve them to pieces when they aren't so dangerous but this process is quite tedious. And Urns. I've never seen so many Urns. I accidentally clicked on a few and immediately died to... Gloams. At a resistance level of 75%, I wasn't in a panic, but the sheer number of Lightning Bolts made it really tedious. On the other hand, Frozenstein and company weren't all that bad comparatively. Finally +10 all resistances, mission accomplished.

Next, Glacial Trail, Frozen Tundra and Ancients.