Solo Self-Found Manmode 1 Week Race (March 3rd Event)

Although I'm not using SMASH in my name, I'm also participating.

Started today.

I'm Lv. 28, Ground Slam Marauder.

My stuff:





Also, found this in Act 2 Normal, at Lv. 20!!


Character name: hSnack

I feel im about to tap out soon. Keep finding shit one handers and shit gear. My resists are bad my hp is bad. Ive had 1 alch drop and got another from shards. Somehow made it to cruel fellshrine now so ill try to find some good gear.


at least i got one amazing roll


Also feels good playing a melee ranger

Hopefully a "melee" race dominated by leap slam, lightning strike and ground slam, and one that bans something like tempest shield wont be taken seriously when it comes to using it as a reference point when addressing actual melee problems.

"

schisist wrote:

Hopefully a "melee" race dominated by leap slam, lightning strike and ground slam, and one that bans something like tempest shield wont be taken seriously when it comes to using it as a reference point when addressing actual melee problems.

I'm pretty sure the majority is ele cleavers.

Dead to desync in fellshrine. Feels like a shitty way to go out.

Died on my Lightning Strike Templar last night to Kraityn.

Anyone got any suggestions for my next roll in Man-Mode? I'm thinking pure dmg Marauder...how boring are they?

"

EvilTaffyapple wrote:

Died on my Lightning Strike Templar last night to Kraityn.

Anyone got any suggestions for my next roll in Man-Mode? I'm thinking pure dmg Marauder...how boring are they?

I rerolled as a dual wield groundslam duelist. Will probably go for a shield once i get higher up in difficulties

"

EvilTaffyapple wrote:

Died on my Lightning Strike Templar last night to Kraityn.

Anyone got any suggestions for my next roll in Man-Mode? I'm thinking pure dmg Marauder...how boring are they?

I have a Templar that has Lightning Strike as main, too, and Sweep as secondary attack. Staff as weapon. But I'm planning to ditch LS if and when I find Elemental hit. So far going in Act 2 Cruel, doing quite nicely. If I only had more time to waste...

I have another character that is a Shadow. Dual wielding swords and using Dual Strike and Frenzy. Whirling Blades for mobility and against large groups. Hugely fun and very fast, though dangerous at times. Taking as much life nodes as possible, otherwise Critical change nodes and cold damage.


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Anyone catch anything good that isn't allowed by the rules? Please post best of your contraband!

well... I died to a desync at level 49, A2 Cruel :)
(still getting hit by some monkeys and snakes when I was far away, I shouldn't have waited before disconnecting)



Here is my follow up/report if the devs want some feedbacks.



I wanted to do a cleave elementalist with shield if I'd reached Merciless.

I leveled up with a 2H weapon, I didn't feel the need to switch to 1H/shield just yet.

My skills

I didn't level up my attack skills (except for Leap Slam, but it was a mistake) to keep the mana cost low, and since I was doing elemental damage, I thought I didn't need to level them up.


Anger + Wrath (when I had Reduced Mana).
I would swap Wrath for Determination for hard part.


Infernal Blow + Weapon Elemental Damage + Fire Pen + Chance to Ignite

I wanted to be able to deal some damage even with a 1H weapon, that's why I didn't chose Melee Physical or Added Fire because I thought a 1H damage would be far lower than a 2H. I also wasn't sure if Added Fire would work with the converted damage on Infernal Blow would be meaningful.
Fire Pen worked well when an enemy explodes, it would deal more damage to close enemies, and Chance to Ignite was a chance to double my damage (on hit and on explosion).


For AoE, I mostly used Leap Slam, Sweep and Cleave.

After leveling with a staff during most of the game, when I was able to use Cleave again with an axe, it felt strange...
Cleave just seemed slower than Sweep, maybe because Sweep is a 360° attack while Cleave is only 180°, or maybe you need higher attack speed with Cleave, but it didn't felt right.
I think Chris said they would rework Cleave (or maybe just the visual), maybe it will help.

But I would use Cleave for 1H/Shield.


I didn't plan using Shield Charge.
I use it on another character and I prefer Leap Slam over it.
- Shield Charge can miss if the target moves a bit when you charge
- it's a single target skill, while Leap Slam is AoE
- I wanted to be flexible between 2H and 1H weapon, Shield Charge needs a shield
- even with a slow weapon, Leap Slam felt faster with Faster Attack linked, and you can leap over cliff.

Maybe if shield charge was AoE, I would try it again, but for now, it's just a poor choice when you can use Leap Slam.


Passive Tree

My current tree.

At first I wanted to go near the duelist area, but early on, I had some trouble hitting stuff I had to take Resolute Technique, that's where I decided to change my tree and go for Inner Force.

For late game, I was planning on using a 1H sword or axe and bump my accuracy to not have to use Resolute Technique. I tried to search some accuracy nodes near the templar area but I couldn't really find any. I can understand that the dex classes are about accuracy, but I don't really understand why there are weapon crit nodes on the left of the templar area, when you have to take Resolute Technique to hit stuff. I guess you really have to get some godly gears with accuracy if you want to use those crit nodes... But early, with 15+ mana cost per skill use, I don't want to miss stuff.

I'd rather see some accuracy than weapon crit chance here...


I didn't really have time to use a shield or spec into it, so sadly, I can't comment on that. 2H weapon just felt stronger to clear stuff. But I would have switch against stronger bosses just to be safe.


What I was planning to do...


Gears

Some screenshots of my stats, with 2H and with 1H/Shield.




Conclusion
Overall it was fun. It was my first HC character, Normal and Cruel felt balanced. About melee vs ranged, I guess the problem arise when ranged character can be as tanky as melee character, and by being ranged, they take less risk aswell. As a melee, I still have to close the gap to deal damage, and I can still get hit without doing anything, which can be a problem if you rely on LoH or life leech.

And stun was also quite a problem, especially in The Cove (Cruel) where crabs cast Vulnerability and hit like trucks. I guess it would be easier for ranged because they wouldn't take any hit from melee crabs, but it was a problem for a melee character.

A solution for melee is to distract mob (totem) or CC (stun with ground slam), but ranged can also do that by other means (stun with belt or curse).

With my other character which uses Shield Charge, I tried another form of CC with Glacial Hammer and Elemental Proliferation, but it was still too risky to get close to stuff, I'd rather spam Lightning Strike from afar than gmabling about freezing stuff.

I don't really have a solution, just some feedbacks I wanted to write.

-

"

kodr wrote:

well... I died to a desync at level 49, A2 Cruel :)
(still getting hit by some monkeys and snakes when I was far away, I shouldn't have waited before disconnecting)

/oos

i use it all the time when i can tell im desynced