[Tempest] Sarah the Self-Found Solo Summoner

Awful tempests everywhere but the Library, so I ran through it again while waiting on a weather shift. Found a strongbox of singularity that dropped a Static Electricity unique jewel, interesting but not useful for Sarah. Got level 56 in the process. After that, tempests shifted to leave the Sceptre of God clear. Made it through the lower floors easily - didn't even see Caliga, which is fine by me. Ran through the Upper Sceptre 4 times, until I hit level 57. Found Elreon on the second run; easy defending a relic when you have 20+ Vaal skeletons. Cleared a Sealed Corridors corrupted area on the fourth run; no trouble with Wiraq, simply cursed him and stayed at range while the horde did their work. Found a Sacrifice at Dawn.

The horde performed admirably against Dominus, better than I'd expected. Lost a few zombies in the first two phases, as expected with all the AoE those multiple uniques throw around, but I was easily able to re-raise them as I went along. Both Dominus phases went down very quickly. I'm used to that with the giant-goat second phase, since you can gather up the minions while he's climbing out of the ground, and alpha-strike him hard. The first phase, though, usually teleports all over the place and generally makes a nuisance of himself. He didn't get that chance this time, as the horde whipped him very quickly. I did have Temporal Chains on him the whole time, which probably helped keep him still so they could hammer him. Drops again included lots of rares, but none usable.

Energizing Tempest made the trip through the Aqueduct colorful. Stopped by a Forgotten Conduit corrupted area; much easier this time than my last encounter with the Torrent of Fear thanks to Vaal Summon Skeletons. Found a Sacrifice at Dawn. The horde had no trouble with the Hundred-Foot Shadow, although it did take a chunk off Sarah's life when I stood a little too close to the big wing sweep attack. Learned my lesson there, moved back and let the horde work.

Clear weather in the Dried Lake. Cleared about 75% of it before finding Voll, and it was slow going due to sheer numbers. Had one particularly bad spot with two rares, one with extra life/armor/cannot-die aura, and the other with a slow aura. Took a lot of kiting to clear enough surrounding monsters so the minions had a clear shot at the big one. After that, Voll actually was pretty easy, only used his charge once and the big slam once. No minions down in the fight. Also found Catarina and did her mission, which took me past Nightwane. He hit Sarah once for around 1000, killed my ES and a chunk of life, but that was it. Actually got something useful for a change from a quest reward: Oyun gave me a wand with a little bit of mana and 10% cast speed.

Time to head underground to the Mines, with no tempest but plenty of those fire-throwing lanternbearers. Unlike in Normal difficulty, the minions mostly survive even if I leave them to stand in the fire for a little while, so going through here is less of a chore this time around. No trouble with either Pikerivet or Hammerstorm, though the latter did take out one zombie, but must have missed Voidscream somewhere. Moved on into the Crystal Vein and fought through a Seething Tempest of Ice...the extra fire damage is nice but the ice patches are a pain. Found and dispatched the Burning Man, though he took out most of the horde with his death explosion.

Easy choice between the Kaom and Daresso paths: no tempest for Kaom, Molten Tempest for Daresso. Kaom it is. No encounters of much interest other than the uniques: Torchoak Grove and Triskeriaki. Same tactics as usual on the grove, just ran around them while the minions got to chopping. Triskeriaki was a pain, with a whole bunch of other monsters around. Ended up having to retreat just to get some of the mess to follow me away from him. Got him down eventually, though he did hit Sarah several times with that pop-up crossfire attack.

After a tempest shift, the other path cleared up, so off to the pits. Easier this time through than it was back in Normal, in large part since I have more minions, but also because they do enough additional damage to take the bigger monsters down quickly. Steelchaw, Eyepecker, Barkhul - none lasted more than a few seconds against the horde. And of course now I have Vaal Summon Skeletons, which I used in each of the cage match areas, and twice in the final one.

Clear skies over the Grand Arena. Sarah got hit quite a few times, hard to avoid it in those fighting areas, but never more than a single flask hit could repair. Ended up using fighting bulls as spectres again, as they seem to be the best at staying alive. The triple-unique fight was a bit odd; instead of all three swarming me, they headed off in different directions, so I just let the horde beat them up one at a time. Wish they'd do that every time, was much easier than usual. Daresso didn't do a whole lot, just one tight spot where he used that quick attack charge to go after Sarah, but I ran away from him and hit flasks until he lost interest. Horde made short work of him.

There had been a tempest in Kaom's Stronghold, but it shifted out while I was in the arena. So it was clear sailing on the way to Kaom. The king himself was a pushover, did absolutely nothing against the horde. Totem, Temporal Chains, a few spirits, dodge the fire for a few seconds, dead. Only useful thing he dropped was an Alchemy Orb. Turned the eyes in to Dialla, let her fire the big gun, then picked up a Fire Penetration from the quest reward. Probably never use it, but nothing else was better.

My goal before taking on Malachai is level 61: that will get me the 8th zombie, and put me at +4 to the zone level of 57. Actually, make that a 9th zombie, because I also did Catarina's daily mission and got her to level 6, opening up her +1 zombie crafting mod. I've got the 4 chaos needed, and I'm pretty happy with my current body armor, so on it goes. I suppose I could wait until 63 and get another 12% life from Purity of Flesh and the adjacent life node, but I'm really not feeling the Harvest grind for another 2 levels.

Into the Belly of the Beast, fighting through a Scathing Tempest of Animation. Takes a little longer fighting through the animated weapons, but otherwise not much to be concerned about. Famous last words, eh? They almost were as the Bone Queen nearly took Sarah's head off. I knew she was there, slightly off the screen, and was moving up a bit to curse her, when out came one of her lightning volleys and Sarah was suddenly down to about 20% HP. I'm guessing the tempest must have given her always-crit and she hit me with two or three of those bolts at once. Saved myself with flasks and some serious running away, but that was a really close one. When I went back to finish off the queen, I was very careful to stay behind the minions so there was no danger of a repeat performance. Compared to that, everything else was no problem, including Piety. She didn't make it through one full round of Death Beam as the minions destroyed her, and she didn't kill even one of them.

Needed about 90% of a level to get to 61, so ran through the Harvest 4 times. Came across Vickas Giantbone on the first run, a new encounter for me. The horde had no trouble with him, although I did have to pull them back a couple of times to deal with totems that he kept raising right next to Sarah. He dropped an Asenath's Gentle Touch unique silk gloves, first time I'd seen those. The temporal chains on hit ability is interesting, but of course not something Sarah would use. In the past I'd been skipping the Godless Three during grind runs, figuring that the risk wasn't worth it, but the horde is doing so well against minor bosses now that I decided to go ahead and take them out each time. Fought Vickas Giantbone again on the 3rd run, and this time he dropped Quecholli, the unique jagged maul. Also found an even better wand, with 19% cast speed. Hit 61 as I took out the third boss on the fourth run, and picked up Grave Intentions for the 9th zombie.

I still haven't found any better gloves, so I decided to go ahead and spent the 2 alchemy orbs on the minion damage bonus from Catarina. Might as well have all the possible advantages going in to face Malachai. Here's the whole gear setup as I head in, with capped resists and 2122 life/689 ES:


I was a bit surprised to lose several zombies in the first phase against Malachai and Piety. Never was in any danger, but it took a little longer to finish than I'd expected. In the second phase, the first Heart was down very quickly, but the second one again took longer than I was expecting. I suppose that's the difference doing this at 61, rather than 63 like I did with the first Tempest Sarah. Then the real fight began with the third Heart up, stuff flying everywhere and minions dropping left and right. For a while I kept the zombies going with Desecrate and resummons in between curses, but my flasks ran low and I was forced to portal out. One full refresh of the horde was enough to finish the job. I was mildly surprised to see that my guardian made it all the way through; the chaos golem didn't last long, though. Bunch of rares dropped, none useful.

Quick trip through the Twilight Strand. Moving to Merciless has lowered my resists to 43/61/41, workable for the first couple of acts. Hopefully I'll find gear to cap them out again soon. Was hoping the ring for the Hillock quest reward would help, but it's no better than what I have now.

Rolled quickly through the Coast, Tidal Island, Mud Flats (dodging an Infernal Tempest of Cataclysm), and the Fetid Pool. Disposed of all the uniques - Fire Fury, Hailrake, Oozeback Bloom, Kadavrus - without any significant damage to me or the horde. No useful drops or quest rewards. Found either clear weather or benign tempests in the Submerged Cavern, Ledge, and the Climb. Moved on through quickly, no need to hang around. The Flooded Depths were infested with an Infernal Tempest of Fire, which was awful, so I killed the crab and got out as quickly as I could. Hit level 62, and with those two skill points picked up Faith and Steel. Helps with resists as well as boosting the armor/ES.

I found a decent boots with 20% move speed, and since I was swapping gear anyway, spent some time moving things around to get the best gem links, life, and resistances possible. Ended up being able to cap all three, thanks in large part to a different wand that has both fire and lightning resist. I lose the 19% cast speed bonus on the old wand, but that's OK for now. Armor is back up to 23% percent reduction. And as an added bonus, I can put Sidhebreath back on, since my rings have enough dexterity for now. I was able to link the spectres to LMP, and move Flame Dash back on the main weapon set. It will displace Desecrate off the hotkey bar, but I barely use Desecrate outside of resummoning anyway, and it'll be nice to have the movement option again.


Shielding Tempest of Fire in the Prison, nice to have the shields but annoying to have to dodge the fire patches. Had a fairly easy trip through, demolished Chatters but never saw Sawbones. Killed many necromancers, though, rare and otherwise. It's great having extra move speed, makes getting around so much easier. Brutus didn't last long, and never hit Sarah, although she did take some damage from falling debris. Lots of rares dropped, none useful.

After the gear changes mentioned above, my mana globe barely has a chance to budge from full. Between Sidhebreath and my wand, I've got 59% increased mana regen. Thought about adding an aura, but I don't really want to have to change around the slots on my gear to make room for one. Plus I'm not anywhere near aura-bonus nodes on the passive tree (other than Sovereignty). Instead, since I can get away with less mana help on the passive tree, I spent a couple of respec points to drop Deep Thoughts and its adjacent mana node. Used those to pick up Purity of Flesh, which moves my life up to 2307. Next I'm going to head down the left side of the tree toward Barbarism.

Clear weather for both the Prisoner's Gate and Ship Graveyard. Barely had to slow down as the horde rolled on through. Cleared out the cave, beat up Fairgraves, and found the Cavern waypoint. Without Deep Thoughts, I see my mana drop to around half in some fights, but I don't have to use flasks unless Sarah gets hit and Mind Over Matter kicks in - a rare occurrence, and a time I'll want to hit a flask anyway.

An Obscuring Tempest of Poison infested the Caverns of Anger and Wrath. I'd usually avoid something like that on general principles, but since this is the only way forward and I'm 63 to the zone's 58/59, decided to go ahead with it. Besides, I expect Merveil will be a pushover. And in fact that was the case, with the only real effect of the tempest being to make me pay attention to whether Sarah was stading on a poison patch. Neither of Merveil's forms lasted more than a few seconds against the horde.

Either clear weather or benign tempests in the Southern Forest, Old Fields, Den, Crossroads, and Broken Bridge. Moved on through without issues, resulting in Kraityn down, Den beast down, and mediocre quest reward belt stashed. After a tempest shift, same through the Riverways, Western Forest, and Spider Lair. Took down Kall Foxfly, Wilorin Demontamer, the Weaver, Alira, and Captain Arteri along the way with only minor difficulty.

I realize this sounds like everything has been a milk run thus far through Merciless, and for the most part that's true. When you have to build a character up to get past Cruel Malachai, there's not a lot in early Merciless that's going to give you any trouble. You still have to play smart, of course...figure out your resists, watch out for rare monsters with bad combinations of mods, etc. But there's not much new and different in terms of the enemy power level, and you don't need any build improvements (outside of resists) if you managed to survive that Cruel Malachai battle.

Had to deal with an Arctic Tempest of Fire in the Crossroads to get to the Chamber of Sins, but weather was clear once I was there. Found my first map (a Dunes) after killing Calaf. No trouble with Black Death or Fidelitas. Got a Quartz Flask from Gruest for the quest reward, and reworked my flask belt a bit. Now looks like this:


Fought through a Ghastly Tempest in the Wetlands to find the waypoint and kill the tree, but decided to skip Oak until the weather was better. No tempest in the Vaal Ruins, but plenty of constructs to deal with. Found a Silverbranch unique bow off one of the rares. Broke the seal, headed up into the Northern Forest, and fought through a Divine Tempest of Fire to reach the waypoint.

Made my way through an Ethereal Tempest of Animation in Fellshrine, with little difficulty, to the tempest-free Crypt. Nothing noteworthy in either level until reaching the Archbishop. Slightly different fight than usual against Geofri because I came at his area from the side instead of the front, which actually made it easier because he walked over to engage the horde without his pack of blues. Got the hand, and turned it in to Yeena for a Conqueror's Efficiency jewel. I'd like to use that at some point for the skill cost reduction and duration increase, but I think I'll wait a few levels until I can get the jewel slot below Barbarism since that will gain me 10 strength, instead of 10 intelligence like the other nearby jewel slots.

Went back to a now tempest-free Northern Forest and headed up to the Caverns. Hit a moderately nasty group on the way, Tailslinger with two rares, one of which was a Devourer. Sarah took a couple of big hits, plus a puncture from Tailslinger, but fortunately I have a bleeding flask and was able to get out of danger. Once the horde had cleared out all the little stuff, they made quick work of the big guys. Also cleared the Dread Thicket once, since I happened across it and there was no tempest. Once I made it to the Caverns, I had to deal with an Obscuring Tempest to get to the waypoint, but that only slowed progress a little bit.

Found a Bloodpay unique stilleto, good for the guild stash. More importantly, finally came across a better set of gloves, armor-based with a big chunk of life and some resists. Was able to get BBGR links thanks to Vorici's "at least 2 blue sockets" crafting option, and the extra minion damage from Catarina. Lost about 45 ES with the switch, but gained over 140 life.

I also checked to see what Catarina had for sale, which I hadn't done in forever, and was pleasantly surprised to find a Flesh Offering gem. (Also Elreon sold me a bunch of Jewller's Orbs cheap.) To make room for it, I moved LMP back to the weapon switch and rerolled to a BBB wand. On the skill bar, I'll run with Move-Convocation-Spirits/Temporal Chains-Skeletotem-Flesh Offering-Vaal Summon Skeletons-Flame Dash. That means no quick zombie re-raising in battle, but that's a rare occurrence these days anyway. I can always run away then put the zombies back in place of Vaal Summon Skeletons, if the situation warrants it.

Went back out to the Wetlands, roamed around in the Seething Tempest until I found Oak, and killed him. He hit Sarah a time or two with a leap, but otherwise no trouble. With the skill point from Eramir, got Barbarism, up to 2680 life and now 76% max fire resist. Then it was pyramid time, through a Quickening Tempest of Intensity. The speed increase for the horde easily offsets any additional incoming damage, as long as I keep Sarah out of the line of fire. Did a mission for Catarina on the way up to the top. Found Haku as well, but when I saw a bunch of those unkillable lightning totems in the first couple of rooms of his mission, I decided not to bother. Those things combined with the time limit makes it too risky for my taste. Took care of the Oversoul in short order, though he did kill half the zombies with a melee slam.

Hit level 66 on the way up the pyramid, and picked up the last node in the Barbarism cluster. Here's the current passive tree. Next up is the jewel socket directly below, followed by Juggernaut. Also upgraded my helmet to an armor/ES helm with lightning resist, life regen, and of course the +1 to minion gems. Added quite a bit of armor, up to 24% reduction now before the chaos golem bonus. Would be nice to have max life, too, but no such luck this time.

No tempest in the City of Sarn, easy trip with no trouble. The Enlarging Tempest of Ice in the Slums didn't cause too much trouble, although it did make those undying guys hopping around even more annoying than usual. Killed Perpetus on my way through; he got Sarah with a couple of Bear Traps, but the horde kept him busy enough that it didn't matter. Beat up Vagan, too.

The Crematorium was infested with a Devouring Tempest of Animation, which slows down progress but isn't all that dangerous. Hatebeat was literally the second mob I saw, and later on I found Ion Darkshroud. The horde handled both, though I did have to dodge Ion a few times, and then it took a while for the horde to put down all the weapons they dropped. Moved on to Piety and got her down to zero again before she could port away. I know that doesn't matter, but I feel a sense of accomplishment when it happens anyway.

Out into the Slums again, to the sewers. Didn't see Spinesnap. Got the bust easily enough, moved on and found no tempest in the Warehouse Sewers. Had one bad moment when my controls froze for a second and Sarah got hit a few times by an Undying Grappler rare, but recovered in time to prevent anything truly unfortunate. Found yet another Belt of the Deceiver. I hate to complain about any unique drop, but something else would be nice...that's my third one. Found the second bust, then moved on up into the Warehouses. Slow going as usual, especially since the instance had a whole bunch of multiple-projectile snakes and lightning-arrow skeletons. Killed off the Gemling Legionaires and found an Ungil's Gauche unique dagger. Also found an Enhance gem, first one of those I've seen, and put it on the weapon switch. Be a good long while before anything useful comes of that.

No tempest in the Marketplace, making it an easy trip through both the upper section and sewers. Found the bust, found the waypoint, moved on into the Battlefront and grabbed that waypoint. Found a 11% quality Flesh Offering to replace the basic one I got not too long ago. Easy tempest-free journey through the Battlefront, Solaris Temple, and Docks. Well, easy except for the Revenant, who spawned next to a rare voidbearer, and the combination of both packs wiped out all but one zombie. Vaal Summon Skeletons bolstered the horde enough to take them out, though. Turned in all the various items to Dialla, got an awful amulet, and opened up both the Eternal Laboratory and the Barracks. Got a few levels to go before worrying about maps, though.

Tempest-free in both the Barracks and Lunaris Temple. Overwhelming force took care of Gravicius and Kole...with Vaal Summon Skeletons each fight was 58-to-1. Also beat up Armios Bell and Fleshrend along the way, with only the usual 26-to-1 horde advantage. Piety only had time for one transformation before the horde knocked her out. Nothing useful dropped, but with the skill points I was able to pick up the jewel slot and put Conqueror's Efficiency to use.

Moved on quickly through a Ghastly Tempest of Fire in the Imperial Gardens to the Sceptre of God, and cleared through it until the waypoint. Had to take down Caliga this time, which required one round of retreating to raise some more zombies, but never put Sarah in danger. A couple of other things did, though, such as one spot with a huge pack (or maybe two packs) of blue frog chimerals that all decided to hop directly on her head. And another place with a Brutal Shrine surrounded by three different rares and all their friends, which decimated the horde and caused some serious running away. I got 'em all eventually with careful positioning and attrition tactics, but it was definitely not easy.

Went back through the Gardens to the Library. Found an Ethereal Tempest of Animation, which is workable. Killed off Tyrannursus Maximus and Trinian along the way as I collected the pages. Also saw a Restricted Gallery corrupted area, but I decided not to risk an encounter with Ch'aska on Merciless. Took an unset ring from Siosa for the quest reward, sadly no good, though I did find another one that's not bad. Combined with a swap of belt and shield, I can keep my resists capped and push my life up over 3000, plus a slight increase to armor and cast speed. With the extra slot and some re-locating of gems, got the spectres linked back up to LMP and Increased Critical Strikes, and sacrificed the Fortify linked to the guardian/golem in favor of an Increased Duration linked to Vaal Summon Skeletons and Temporal Chains.


Did a couple of runs through the Catacombs, then headed over to the Hedge Maze. Moved through there with great caution, which paid off as I was able to avoid being hit by the Conqueror Wurm when he popped up just a bit ahead of me. Found the plum and turned it in to Fairgraves; mediocre ring for the quest reward, stashed in case it looks more useful later. All that got me to level 69, but I'd like to be 70 before going after Dominus, since I'll get Juggernaut with the skill point. The Lunaris Temple looked clear, so did a few Piety runs. Found some uniques (Ungil's Gauche again, Brute Force Solution) but otherwise uneventful. After a tempest shift set a Seething Tempest in the Sceptre of God, switched there for a couple of runs until I hit 70. Here's the current passive tree.

I wish I could say something of great import about the Merciless Dominus fight, but it really wasn't much of a battle. I lost about half the zombies in the initial onslaught of uniques, as expected, and used Vaal Summon Skeletons right away just to make sure they stayed distracted from coming after Sarah. Raised new zombies as the horde was finishing off the last of them. First form, just made sure to stay away from Dominus or any exploding minions, and kept Temporal Chains on him...the horde did the rest. Second form, gathered everyone at the goat-spawn spot and cast as many spirits as possible while he was climbing up, then hit the curse and stayed out of his way while the horde took him down hard. Bunch of rare drops, but nothing worthwhile.

Clear weather for all the early zones, so I took advantage while I could. Quick walk through the Aqueduct, and had no trouble reaching Highgate. Beat down the Hundred-Foot Shadow without losing a minion or taking any damage on Sarah. Moved on to the Dried Lake, and moved through slowly to avoid being overwhelmed, since as usual there were ridiculous numbers of monsters all over the place. I think the reason it feels so crowded is that the spawns are close together...moving to take down the last stragglers from one group usually aggros another one. Fought Nightwane shortly after entering, and was pleased to see he didn't hit Sarah too hard. Still took the horde a while to chase him around, though. Had one ugly spot with a curse-immune multiple-projectile Carrion Queen up on a hill, and a ton of other monsters at the bottom so the horde couldn't get at her. Solved that one by summoning the Vaal Skeletons up on the hill, keeping her busy while the horde finished off the rest of the pack. Voll was easier than that rare, used the Vaal Skeletons and just stayed out of his way, cursing and tossing the occasional spirit until he fell down. Also ran into Vagan and beat him up; he took out all but two zombies in the process but never got to Sarah. Nothing useful on the jewel from Oyun for the quest reward.

On into the Mines. Didn't lose a minion on Pikerivet, though Sarah did get hit a couple of times by his ground explosions. Nothing major. Much more difficult was a large room just a bit later, with 5 (!) rares in close proximity, four of which were projectile constructs. That took some work to clear out, with a good amount of Convocation use to keep the horde from spreading out and being plinked to death. Found a rare Cartographer's Strongbox, but the mods weren't useful at all, so used a Chaos to re-roll it and got some increased quantity. Ended up with 8 maps from it, all white level 68s. In level 2, defeated both Voidscream and Hammerstorm handily without losing a minion, but had a tougher time with a pack of blue snake constructs that had both Order of the Frozen Sky and Cutthroat's Touch. Had to maneuver quite a bit to stay out of the ice storms while trying to keep the snakes all cursed so the minions could chase them down. Also found Elreon and did his mission; they're getting more difficult but still nothing the horde can't handle. Moved on into the Crystal Vein and found the waypoint, taking out the Burning Man along the way.

Now that I've got the skill point from Tasuni for freeing Deshret, I'm in no hurry to move further into Act 4. I think I'll use some of these maps for the next few levels. If I live to 73 or so, then I can come back to deal with Kaom and Daresso. As for the maps themselves, I've got plenty to choose from at the moment, so I can avoid going back into those A4-based desert or pit maps that were difficult for the first Sarah. As before, I'm just using Transmutation Orbs to get blue mods for now. No need to waste Chance Orbs until higher levels, plus it's safer anyway.

Ceremonial Tropical Island Map of Power (totems, monsters get power charges) with Ethereal Tempest of Precision: Mostly monkeys, goatmen, lightning-arrow skeletons, and fetid maws. A few groups of vomit birds, too. With such an open layout, the totems weren't much of an issue, just retreated if there was a nasty one and killed all the monsters away from it. Ran into Vickas Giantbone as part of a strongbox guard, and lost a few zombies to him, but was able to retreat-and-resummon then take him out. Hit level 71 about 3/4 of the way through. No trouble with Blood Progenitor at the end; several rares along the way were tougher. One map found, another tropical island.

Armoured Tropical Island Map of Ice (20% monster physical reduction, ice patches) with Shining Tempest of Influence: Originally this rolled an Otherworldly mod, but I've never seen that one before and what the wiki had to say didn't sound encouraging. Not a big fan of new stuff spawning as the horde is just finishing a fight or is already engaged. Happy to see the Shining tempest, though, first time I've run across one. Monsters were monkeys (of course), goats, zombies, and rhoas. Found Zana for the first time, but failed her mission. Killed one group of corrupted monsters and hit a few obelisks, but then never saw any more of either, and ran out of time. Found five more maps, including one 69 and one 70. Doesn't seem like having enough maps at this level will be any issue.

Overlord's Tropical Island Map of Insulation (monsters avoid status ailments, faster unique boss) with Shining Tempest of Influence: Same tempest again, nice to have. Monkeys, zombies, lightning-arrow skeletons, both ranged and melee thugs, and stone elementals. I haven't been making note of my fortune card drops, but this zone was remarkable in that I found two Gift of the Flora. I have a whole bunch of cards, but all one or two of a kind, nothing redeemable. Blood Progenitor was a bit tougher this time because he spawned with a Herald of the Obelisk blue pack. So I had to dodge obelisk lightning while keeping the horde focused on taking him down, and lost half the zombies in the process. Also found a rare Gemcutter's Strongbox, which sadly had nothing good in it, but it did also spawn Eoin Greyfur who was quickly dispatched by the horde.

Mirrored Dunes Map of Deadliness (elemental reflect, monsters have increased crits) with Enlarging Tempest of Precision: Lots of zombies, both the tar-patch and poison versions, with necromancers. Also sand spitters, fetid maws, and various thugs. The Blacksmith was a royal pain since a pack of blue necromancers and some zombies were nearby, so the horde was all over the place. Had to retreat and use Convocation several times to get them together enough to make a dent in him. Had a bad moment after he went down when Sarah's life started dropping like crazy, which I assume must have been from overlapping posion clouds, though it sure didn't look like there was anything where I was standing. Hit a bunch of flasks and ran, fortunately no permanent harm done. Found Vorici, but failed his "kill the malcontent but leave his guards alive" mission, because no self-respecting horde is going to leave perfectly good guard brains alone. Found a couple more maps, one of which was level 69. Also found a very slightly improved unset ring, a bit more life and mana regen at the cost of 5% cast speed.

Tried a few more dunes maps before this next one, but they all had a Battering Tempest of Desperation. Walked in, saw a couple of zombies die immediately when hit by one of the battering tempests, walked back out. No thanks! I'm guessing each map type has a set tempest for some time period, since I tried three and all had the same one.

Armoured Dungeon Map of Flames (20% monster physical reduction, burning ground) with Arctic Tempest: Also ugly, but at least this tempest doesn't insta-kill zombies. More necromancers with zombies, some Vaal constructs, and the Kaom-zone fire dogs, totems, and rakangos. Killed one pack of blues with Keeper of the Trove, hadn't seen that one before...they dropped eight sets of hydrascale boots. Nothing usable, though. Found one really crazy area with a rare rakango right next to a skeleton shrine, which took a good long time to fight through since the horde kept getting distracted. Hit 72 partway through, and picked up Armour Mastery. Finally made my way to the end area with the Penitentiary Incarcerator, but the combination of the floor spikes, burning patches, and the tempest kept hitting Sarah. My life kept bouncing up and down as those hit, leaving me vulnerable to a big hit from the boss at a bad moment. Decided it was better to play it safe and portaled out of there.

Fecund Dunes Map of Lightning (shocking ground, 25% more monster life) with Scathing Tempest: Goats, stone elementals, floating eyes, sand spitters, spine snakes, fire dogs, and cannibals. Saw Vagan, but decided not to fight him with all the shocking ground just waiting to make one bad hit turn into a death. No trouble with the Blacksmith this time, in large part thanks to the way the map put him in the little compound at the end rather than out by the beach. Nothing else to disturb the fight, and I made very sure this time that all the zombie poison was gone before I moved Sarah in there. Found a L70 blue Mud Geyser map.

Fleet Crypt Map of Giants (faster monsters, more monster AoE) with no tempest: Skeletons, various Vaal constructs, both types of Karui totems, spiders, and undying. The Undying Aristocrats were particularly annoying with the increased AoE, made their fireblast circles harder to avoid. Minion Instability continues to work wonders in those situations, leave a skeletotem by a doorway where the fireblasts are thick on the ground, pull everyone else back with Convocation, go back a few minutes later to see mostly corpses. Found the bishop fairly quickly and had no trouble disposing of him. Ran across Haku and did his mission, which fortunately had no unkillable totems in it, plus I got lucky and chose the correct turns to find the boss within the time limit. Three more 68 map drops.

Unwavering Grotto Map of Ice (more monster life, monsters cannot be stunned, ice patches) with Static Tempest: Static is just an awful tempest for a horde summoner on a map with narrow passageways, so it slowed me down a ton. Lost a whole lot of zombies when it just wasn't feasible to get away from all the lightning. Monsters were goats, monkeys, bears, zombies, spiders, and skeletons. Found Orra Greengate close to the entrance, fortunately not in an extremely tight passageway, so she couldn't hit everything at once with her rain of arrows, but she still cost me half the zombies before she went down. When I found Fire and Fury, she had spawned with a pack of Flaring Pulseblood blue goats, so I had to retreat and fight a running battle to avoid having the horde cut down en masse by the combination of fire lines and boss AoEs. Saw Vorici and tried his mission, but he wanted a guard left alive, and the horde couldn't kill Ash Lessard before all his guards died. Found one more 68 map.

Savage Grotto Map of Balance (elemental equilibrium, 15% more monster damage) with Static Tempest: More of the same, but this time monsters were bears, skeletons, spiders, miners, and revenants. The addition of those Act 4 miners was a major pain, since the lanternbearer fire patches do so much damage. Had one particularly bad spot with a pack of blue bears in a narrow passage, and lanternbearers behind them, so the horde was constantly fighting the bears in stacked fire patches. Lost a lot of zombies there before I finally resorted to Vaal Summon Skeletons, which spread things out enough that the damage wasn't all concentrated in the choke point and the horde could get the job done. Ran into Thena Moga, fortunately in an area by herself so there wasn't much of a fight. Hit 73 and picked up another 14% armor node, putting me at 25% physical reduction prior to the Chaos Golem bonus. Fire and Fury was much easier this time, no bad mods on her pack of blue friends. Found a belt with improved stats, including 118 life. Picked up five more maps, including three level 69s.


Multifarious Grotto Map of Desecration (desecrated ground, more monster variety) with no tempest: The monsters didn't seem all that varied to me: bears, undying, revenants, and fire dogs. Other than one revenant with a cannot-die aura, which I had to kite all over the place, nothing gave the horde much trouble. The difference without that Static Tempest is pretty noticeable. The poison patches from the desecrated ground are nice. Obviously I have to avoid letting Sarah stand in them, but drop a skeletotem near a big patch and then retreat and use Convocation, and most of the monsters will kill themselves fighting skeletons (which also explode for more damage). Found Vorici and actually managed to complete his mission for a change, though it was rough. I had to keep a hostage alive, and the boss was Magnus Stonethorn, who did a real number on the horde with his Flameblast and Searing Bond. I was down to only skeletons by the time he died, but they managed to keep his attention away from the hostage, so the mission succeeded. Found two more maps, one level 69.

Mirrored Grotto Map of Balance (elemental equilibrium, monsters reflect 13% elemental damage) with no tempest: Bears, monkeys, a few Vaal guardians, necromancers with zombies, and some floating eyes and beetles. By far the easiest of the Grotto maps thus far, with no tempests or ground patches to worry about, no Act 4-based monsters, and no dangerous mods. Cleared it out quickly, with no notable fights other than Fire and Fury, who wasn't much of a challenge. Didn't lose a minion through the whole thing. Found two more L69 maps.

Fleet Dunes Map of Smothering (20% slower regen, faster monsters) with Brisk Tempest: My first encounter with the Brisk Tempest, which gives chance to dodge, no complaints about that. Sand spitters, bears, mindless scavenger birds, archer skeletons, fetid maws, beetles, and cannibals. I was pleased to find that the Smothering mod didn't cause any major trouble, just meant I had to either cast less spirits or use a flask more often. Pretty uneventful trip through, no real encounters of interest until the Blacksmith. He didn't have any really dangerous friends nearby, and the horde handled him and his poison zombies easily enough. Found a rare L69 Mountain Ledge map, could be interesting later.

Burning Dunes Map of Deadliness (increased monster crits, 63% extra fire damage) with Brisk Tempest: That's a lot of fire, but with my capped resists I should be OK. Sand spitters, cannibals, necromancers with either bone rhoas or tar zombies, dockhand wraiths, and carrion queens with beetle minions. Lost a zombie every once in a while to all the fire damage, but nothing I couldn't keep up with. One nasty undead blue pack had Herald of the Obelisk, which required quite a bit of work to keep the horde from getting shocked to death, but there was plenty of room to kite them apart. The Blacksmith was a bit tougher this time between the extra fire damage and a pack of blue carrion queens with Spirit Walker. I ended up having to kite him away from them since the horde was split up too much, not focusing damage on any one target. Once he was down, the pack went easily enough. Found 3 maps, including one L69. Hit 74 right at the tail end of the run and picked up the 12% armor node...next will be Warrior's Blood.