User blog:Breywood/Kicksin: Act 2 Hell

Act 2 can be quite a pain if there's a lot of walking involved. In fact, most folks complain that Act 2 is simply the most horrible punishment designers can inflict on the human race, as most of these people usually skip straight to Travincal in Act 3, get someone else to kill Diablo and then follow Baal runs until they get banned for joining a new game every 45 seconds. But when I'm walking a new build, I find the experience to be just a part of learning to play. I wouldn't mind having to face a lot of trash mobs if it weren't for the fact that online, massive overload of bots have made the servers quite finnicky and you can be booted while you were unable to find the waypoint or you were in Coldworm's chamber and now you are unable to rejoin.

I've learned a bit about skills, namely Cloak of Shadows. I was in the Claw Viper temple when I messed up and was charged to death. A very handy one point wonder if you're interested in evading most opponents to do things like avoid certain mobs with nasty bonuses, find the stairs while trying to evade opponents, pacifying monsters so you can retreive your corpse, etc.

So, the highlights of Act 2:

Radament: Death Sentry. Mop up those corpses.

Coldworm: Death Sentry. If I were a Phoenix Sin, I would have been be more effective, but because Death Sentry is an area of effect skill, the horde of ant lions was eventually under control enough to eliminate Coldworm.

Fangskin: I'm going to have to run this one again. Most namely because I botched Level 2 and wound up not being able to overcome it without assistance.

The Summoner: This took a long time for two reasons. The first is because I'm using Dragon Talon and Malice and the Ghosts are still a bit tough to overcome with Venom as my main means of damaging them. Although I do have a Jade Talon, I was keen to see if I wouldn't need high-end gear to complete the game. The second? He was on Loot Pad 4. Skills abused? Dragon Flight, Death Sentry, Venom, Fade, Burst of Speed and Shadow Master (but more for soaking hits than for actual help).

The Tomb of Tal Rasha: It was slow, but I managed to unload my staff. Skills abused? Dragon Flight, Death Sentry, Venom, Fade, Burst of Speed and Shadow Master, but more for soaking hits than for actual help.

Duriel: I died once, but overall it was still an "under five minute" job. I had Strength to boost my Crushing Blow to get his health bar down, and then I proceeded to finish him with Malice and Dragon Talon. I started with Fade, but I switched to Burst of Speed and resummoned my Shadow Master every fifteen seconds (mostly because it took that or less to kill my shadow, and I need the speed to outrun him long enough to resummon my Shadow and recharge Venom). It's an effective decoy for Duriel, even if it is a very short lived one.

I haven't changed my skills much. I have a circlet with resists and a Shadow Disciplines bonus. And I put on Darkglow. Coupled with Fade, it works surprisingly well. Might work even better if I upgrade it. :)