[Legacy] Sarah the Self-found Solo Summoner

Changed my mind about using Tempest Shield with CwDT, since all it's really doing is giving me a bit of extra block chance. I think I'd rather have my guardian.

Went through The Harvest and collected the various organs with no trouble, getting level 44 and Purity of Flesh in the process. Malachai was a bit rough, though, taking down most of the horde in each of the two fight stages. I had a bad moment when my screen froze for a second when he first used each attack...some kind of loading issue? The worst bit of this fight is the limited space to manuever around all the spam floating around. I was down to two zombies, and just about to leave the Core and resummon, when he finally dropped. No useful item drops, sadly.

You may have noticed that I've had zero trouble with just about everything for the last 10 levels or so, but Malachai was still very dangerous. That kind of difficulty spike is one reason I don't play this game more often. It's very frustrating, even if you're not playing on hardcore and can try multiple times. I don't expect bosses to be easy, but a smoother difficulty curve would be appreciated.

On to Cruel Act One. First things first, check resists - all good but fire, and that's easily fixed with a master addition to one of my rings. Also upgraded from Faster Casting to Spell Echo on my spirits link. Should have done that a while back, but to be honest, I'd completely forgotten about it.

Beat up Hillock and checked the quest reward, which was a pair of boots that actually didn't suck - 25% movement speed! Crafted those a bit into usability. Got level 45 in the Mud Flats and picked up Shaper, should help with running out of mana while spamming spirits. Found an interesting tempest leaguestone that guarantees a Shining Tempest. I'll probably use that on boss areas until I hit the level 55 max or run out of charges. Ran across Cadiro in the Fetid Pool, but his item was terrible. Better luck in a Perandus Catalogue Chest in the Submerged Passage, which dropped six different fortune cards.

With the crab quest reward and level 46, started in on the Quick Recovery node cluster. Found Cadiro again in the Ledge - terrible amulet - and the Climb - a unique, but costing 3900 coins (I have just over 1000). Oh well, seems I'm not going to be getting much out of him any time soon.

Breezed through the Prison, beating up Brutus without losing a minion. Well, mostly breezed...the ascendancy trial was a minor pain, got hit several times by floor traps. Good thing Sarah has almost 2k life now. Nothing good from the quest reward.

On the passive tree, I'm heading over to the Melding cluster. After that, I'll probably boost the horde a bit more with Grave Intentions and Death Attunement.

Quick trip through the rest of Act 1, killing a bunch of rogue exiles along the way thanks to an anarchy leaguestone. Toasted Merveil, who dropped a +1 to minions circlet. I'm going to need more chromatics to get the right colors on it, but for now I can use it without Faster Attacks on the zombies.

While killing a Mutewind warband in the Southern Forest, found a Mutewind Pendant unique buckler. Not useful for Sarah, but interesting. Also came across a stone circle, traded in some tier ones for a (useless) tier two. Got to level 48 just before finding the Forest Encampment.

Gneiss dropped a Fidelitus' Spike unique foil, which goes in the stash. There were also a bunch of devourers in the Old Fields thanks to a prophecy, annoying but not really a problem considering it's only a level 45 zone. Another stone circle, which I fed with rare tier one talismans this time so the tier two was also rare, but sadly not useful.

The Den was interesting with leaguestones for a rogue exile, invasion boss, and warband. Nothing too difficult, even though Bladetooth spawned right next to the White Beast. Also found a Covered-up Hollow corrupted area and defeated Cintiq. Just a Sacrifice at Dusk reward, though...still looking for that Vaal Summon Skeletons gem.

On to the Chamber of Sins. In level one, Thena Moga teamed up with Black Death for an interesting fight in the center area. The horde handled it fine, and she dropped a Sidehebreath, which is nice but I think I'd rather stick with an amulet that provides life. The minions are fine without the damage/speed bonuses. Put it in the stash in case I need it for another incarnation someday. On level two, completed the ascendancy trial, hit 49, and beat up both Corpsestich and Damon Tui on my way to Fidelitus.

Next stop, the Crypt. Cleared the ascendancy trial and helped Catarina out in level one, as well as smacking down Junglemare. In level two, I hit level 50 then found a speed shrine just before the Archbishop, which worked out nicely since he was joined by an invasion boss. I forget which one, but the super-speed avalanche of spirits pretty much insta-killed them anyway. Found an Extractor Mentis unique amulet. Took an Assassin's Haste jewel for my reward, but for now I don't think it's worth two points on the tree to open up another jewel slot.

Ran up to the Broken Bridge to kill Kraityn, then off through the Riverways to the Western Forest. Equipped breach and beyond leaguestones, which makes for some fun when you set off the breach and massacre the invaders, bringing in beyond monsters as well. Also got a stone circle in the Western Forest, using up most of the rest of my rare tier 1 talismans for another level 2, and got to level 51 in the process. Went through Alira, the passage guard, and the Weaver in short order. Picked up a Generosity from Silk for the quest reward, so I can use it with Hatred if I ever have the right linked slots.

Up into the Wetlands, where I killed off Oak for the skill point and used another stone circle for another tier 2 talisman. Mostly unremarkable trip through the Vaal Ruins, distinguished only by finding a Dusktoe unique boots, which might be useful for leveling another character. Other than a nice little necromancer battle with Kutec in a Secluded Copse corrupted area, nothing particularly interesting in the Northern Forest or Dread Thicket, though I did hit level 52 and pick up Melding.

Made my way through the caves and into the pyramid. Other than a fight with a spirit-possessed Q'uru, which the horde won handily, nothing much of interest. In the pyramid itself, found a Twyzel unique wand that looks like it could be good for a wand physical attacker. Got to level 53 and started heading toward Death Attunement. The Oversoul was almost dead even before disappearing the first time, and lasted only a couple of seconds after reappearing. He dropped a bunch of rares, but nothing useful.

Rolled through the City of Sarn and into the encampment, then took a side trip over to my hideout for daily missions. Found a Belly of the Beast unique armor in one of them, pretty nice defenses for an armor-based character. On to the Slums, where a prophecy dropped a Crushing Tempest on me, annoying. Dodged those while helping Catarina and clearing out a breach, getting level 54 in the process.

Went through the Crematorium, defeating Armios Bell and Piety easily and clearing the ascendancy trial. I had one of those oddball prophecies to defeat a monster wearing a particular item, in this case Hatebeat wearing Blackgleam. Usually I end up sealing those away since I don't have the item, but in this case I actually did, so I completed it. Upgraded Blackgleam to The Signal Fire, something nice if I ever level an archer. Also found a strongbox that dropped two extra silver coins, nice bonus.

Little of interest while going through all three sewers, the warehouses, and the marketplace. Couple of rogue exiles, some talisman-carriers, but nothing particularly dangerous or exciting. Took a side trip into the Catacombs, where I completed the ascendancy trial, and fought Ossecati and the Plaguemaw in an Entombed Chamber corrupted area. Sarah hit level 55 and picked up Death Attunement.

My trip through the Battlefront, Docks, and Solaris Temple was also pretty straightforward. Plenty of warband packs and bloodlines groups thanks to my leaguestones. Killed my first Keeper of the Trove pack, though the multiple drop was a terrible rare sword. Terrible amulet from Dialla for the quest reward.

Hit 56 shortly into the Barracks. Took a quick detour over to grab the gardens waypoint, and finished off a prophecy while I was there, beating up a unique Blackguard. Back in the Barracks, went through the General like a kzak fruit through a short grandmother (who gets the reference?) and found another Fencoil.

Next, into the Lunaris Temple. In level one another prophecy gave me some extra Vaal to demolish, plus I had a leaguestone to spawn multiple talisman-carriers. That led to a fun little melee with Fleshrend, two different talisman-carriers (one possessed by a spirit) and all their friends. The horde destroyed them, of course, and one even dropped a rare talisman (terrible mods though). I was a little worried that some Vaal friends might spawn near Kole, but I was cautious approaching him and cleared out everything before he woke up. The zombies ate him. Likewise with Echo of the Vaal when he popped up. There was a suggestion earlier to show some screenshots, so here's one for you: standing on Kole's corpse.


Level two was a yawn, including the Piety "fight" which lasted literally less than two seconds. She has time for one lightning ball and that was it. The skill points finished off the Grave Intentions cluster, so that's zombie number 8. Next I'll be heading toward Written in Blood.

Off to the Hedge Maze, where a talisman leaguestone resulted in a stone circle so I was finally able to get rid of some of the level 1 talismans I've been collecting. Also solved the ascendancy trial and killed off the Conqueror Wurm. Along the way, a 20% quality gem prophecy was fulfilled by dropping a Raise Spectre! It only gets a movement speed bonus, but hey, at least it's a gem I can use. Put it on the weapon switch to level up.

Next up, the Library and Archives. Found Vorici, who wanted a chest opened while the guard rogue exile stayed alive. I've found that's fairly easy to do as long as I remove culling strike and multistrike from the arc totem and zombies, and only have 3-4 zombies out. Other than that, no real interesting encounters, though Sarah did hit level 57 and a random rare guy dropped an improved shield.

Found Vorici again in both levels of the Sceptre of God, and he didn't give any of the really annoying mission types so it was easy master XP. Spotted a Sealed Corridors in the upper sceptre, and took the horde in to smoke Wiraq. Took care of a prophecy to defeat a bunch of rare abominations, too. Dominus fared little better than Piety had, though he did last a few more seconds.

Made the quick trip through the Aqueduct to Highgate, hitting level 58 in the process. Murdered a lot of frogs (from the prophecy), two rogue exiles, and the Hundred-Foot Shadow along the way.

Quick progression through the Dried Lake and various mine levels, hitting 59 on the way. Opened a bunch of Perandus chests and wiped out plenty of rogue exiles due to equipped leaguestones. The only encounter that made much of impression on me was on the second mine level when Hammerstorm, a tormented spirit, and a Perandus chest all spawned in the same small area. Sarah hid around a corner while the horde went to work on them. No minions were lost, although I did have to pull the zombies back with Convocation a couple of times to get them out of all the area damage floating around.

Labyrinth time. Other than the usual nervous time around traps, it wasn't difficult, and Sarah got to level 60 in the process. Traps make the last Izaro fight particularly stressful, but fortunately the minions were able to handle him basically without my help while I just dodged. Picked up Commander of Darkness with my ascendancy points. Found two uniques, Deidbell and another Crown of Thorns. More importantly, picked up a six-socket spidersilk robe that I rolled into 4+2 links, with life and a decent amount of ES. No resists, but I don't need them right now anyway. With a little reshuffling of gems, that extra slot lets me add LMP back to the Spectres.

Into the dreams. On Kaom's side, found a Lioneye's Paws and my first regular map drop. Kaom himself survived long enough to say "Hyrri aid me" and that was it. On Daresso's side, everything was easy until the king himself, who actually killed off 3 zombies and got through Sarah's ES a couple of times. He still went down, but I'm glad I had Enfeeble and plenty of extra zombies or it might have been a long and dangerous fight. Obtained level 61 and picked up Written in Blood.

Moved quickly onward through the Belly of the Beast, killing various rogue exiles and invasion bosses along the way. Found a Wideswing unique axe, which goes to the stash, and The Gull unique helmet which I think I'll try using. I lose the +1 to minion gems, but it's got a lot more life and ES, over 4k combined now. And who doesn't like a few free extra shrines? Piety dropped almost immediately, before even getting one full rotation of the beam of death.

Cleared the Harvest, no issues with any of the three organ donors. Lost most of the zombies to first phase Malachai, but it went pretty quick and he never hit Sarah. Resummoned them and headed into the second phase, which was not nearly so simple. I was pretty much constantly dodging some kind of attack and barely able to do anything other than the occasional Enfeeble and totem refresh. Had one particularly bad moment when I didn't see him do his teleport-emerge thing and Sarah was caught in it, dropping her down to about 1/4 health. Glad for that extra HP/ES now! Nearly all the minions died, but so did Malachai.

Onward to Merciless! I'm a tad short of max fire resist, but OK on cold and lightning. Can't correct it right now but hopefully some better gear will be forthcoming, plus I'm going to head toward Faith and Steel on the passive tree to make it a bit easier. Of course, chaos resistance is a terrible -40%, have to be extra careful around poison. I've also noticed that I'm running a bit short on leaguestones...maybe they drop less often as you level? More likely, I'm just unlucky at the moment.

Found a pair of interesting strongboxs in the Strand, one rare gemcutters box and the unique Ashes of the Condemned. The former dropped a 14% Elemental Focus, which I can use on my fire nova mine dude. The latter got me a couple of tormented spirits closer to the achievement, but didn't drop much in the way of gear. Hillock didn't even get to draw his sword.

The Coast had Catarina, a breach, and a rogue exile guarding a strongbox. One of the breach rares dropped a Shiversting unique sword. Hit level 62 then on to the Tidal Island, which had a whole lot of shrines. That worked out nicely since I had breach and rampage leaguestones equipped, and thus it was fairly simple to complete the "100 breach monsters while under effects of a shrine and rampage streak" encounter.

Murdered everything I could find in the Mud Flats, including Oozeback Bloom and breach monsters. Found Haku and cleared his mission, then opened up the passage. Nothing useful from the quest reward, unsurprisingly. Cleared out the Fetid Pool as well, nothing remarkable other than another breach.

In the next four zones (Submerged Passage, Flooded Depths, The Ledge, The Climb) I found no less than five leaguestones on my way to level 63. Guess I'm not likely to run out after all. Picked up The Halcyon unique amulet from a breach. Those breaches are becoming more dangerous with huge swarms of enemies and the occasional very hard-hitting boss. I've had to take Sarah out to the edge of the breach circle a couple of times to avoid being swarmed under.

Into the prison, where I found Vorici just inside asking me to keep his target on low life for 8 seconds. The target rogue exile appeared close enough to aggro on the horde, which made for an exciting few moments while I tried to simultaneously avoid damage and watch for the low-life counter. Worked out OK in the end. Nothing much else worth noting, including Brutus who didn't last long at all. Got to level 64 and picked up Faith and Steel.

Picked up a few white gloves of appropriate types and rolled them up trying to find an improvement, and got lucky with one that has good life, decent ES, and fire resist. Added cold resist to them and now I'm back up to full elemental resists. I also considered removing Clarity and using the free slot to link up Hatred-Generosity, but my mana won't hold up in big boss fights and I'd lose the Commander of Darkness resistance bonus. The former could be handled with flasks, but I really don't want to deal with the latter until I have better gear options.

Easy trip through the Prisoner's Gate, just had to kill Ungulath and help Elreon out. Perandus chests are getting tougher, though. Lost several zombies when clearing the guards around those in the Ship Graveyard and cave. Got rid of Fairgraves and headed into Merveil's Caverns. Found an Inner Treasure nemesis rare, which dropped The Rat Cage unique sharkskin tunic, and cleared a whole bunch of shrines which dropped some free currency items thanks to a "Lucrative" leaguestone. Merveil dropped almost immediately.

Treked through the Southern Forest to the Forest Encampment, then on to the Old Fields, Crossroads, Broken Bridge, and the Den (in approximately that order). Defeated the Child of Lunaris in the Crossroads thanks to a prophecy, and put Kraityn and the White Beast down in short order.

Headed over toward the Crypt next. There was a Covered-up Hollow in Fellshrine, and Cintiq didn't fare any better here than back when I saw her in Cruel. Found an Enlighten, which I put on weapon switch even though I'll be shocked if I play long enough to level it. Hit level 65. In the Crypt, killed a whole lot of beyond monsters including a couple of uniques, thanks to a "of Worship" leaguestone that guaranteed a unique spawn. Hit the ascendancy trial, then defeated the Archbishop. Took Conqueror's Efficiency from the quest reward. Probably need to grab a jewel slot at some point for it.

Chamber of Sins next, with more of those beyond monsters. In level one, Ephij, Crackling Sky spawned as I was clearing around a replenishing shrine. That was a very bad combo, as he and his archer buddies were throwing around lightning like nobody's business. The horde held up for a while before they keeled over, which was good since I used that time to draw them away from the shrine. Once I was able to run past them and take the shrine bonus, the tables turned. I was able to resummon zombies from all the shrine guard corpses and they made short work of the no-longer-shrine-boosted Ephij. After that, the rest seemed easy. Black Death dropped The Covenant unique robe, which I believe my trapper might use. The beyond unique in level two was much easier, the frost guy. And Fidelitus was a road bump. Got a quartz flask from the quest reward - finally, been looking for one of those.

Time to head west. Last charge of that beyond leaguestone in the Riverways, resulting in Tzteosh, Hungering Flame. Had to dodge a couple of big fireblast circles from him before the horde took him out. Just Abaxoth left on the challenge now. Took care of the quests in the Western Forest and Weaver's Chambers, and hit level 66. With those two skill points, picked up the jewel socket below Melding and slotted in Conqueror's Efficiency.

Eventful trip into the Wetlands: killed Oak, found a rare that dropped two uniques thanks to a prophecy, got a rampage kill streak up to 132 in a breach, beat up a warband, cleared out a Narrow Ravine corrupted area, and killed the tree. The uniques were a Wildslash unique Awl and another Lioneye's Paws. The Vaal Ruins weren't nearly as interesting, though the breach was very active and one of the rares dropped a Sibyl's Lament unique ring.

Through the Northern Forest with a quick stop off in the Dread Thicket, where I found a Secluded Copse and slew Kutec again. A random rare bear dropped a Bitterdream unique sceptre, and I also found a nice belt with a ton of life/ES plus fire and lightning resists. Hit level 67 and picked up Devotion. Easy trip through the Caverns and Pyramids, other than a Perandus chest. Those guys do a ton of damage now, and managed to kill off 3 zombies. Otherwise, the only encounter of interest was my first bloodline pack with Bearers of the Guardian. At the apex, the Oversoul survived long enough to disappear once, but dropped as soon as he popped back up. No drops worth mentioning, sadly.

Going through the City of Sarn was an adventure. First, the Perandus chest was guarded by Vitorica Perandus, Maker of Marvels. I hadn't seen her before, and she was tough - killed off a full set of zombies and one revive, and nearly killed my guardian (who has handily survived everything since I first got him). A bit of running away and re-summoning of zombies was enough to take her out. Second, I almost died a very stupid death when I didn't notice a group of bloodline monsters dropping a bunch of those cold circle traps around me. Hooray for nearly 5k combined life and ES!

The Perandus Chest in the Slums was even worse, killing off three full sets of minions (except the Guardian) before I finally cleared it. Good thing there was room to manuever! The one in the Crematorium was the last charge of that leaguestone and ended up being much easier, plus I found Cadiro who was selling a Wanderlust unique for only 19 coins. Guess he doesn't like Wool Shoes much. Beat up Piety easily, and cleared the ascendancy trial without too much trouble.

On through the sewers and warehouses, getting to 68 along the way. Started in on the Sovereignty node cluster. Found a Walled-Off Ducts - no trouble with Cava since Sarah could just hide behind a wall while the horde fought her. On into the Marketplace, made a stop off in the Catacombs, and grabbed the Battlefront waypoint.

Gear and tree update time. Swapped in an unset ring and new amulet which allows me to add Discipline. I have plenty of strength and dexterity for now, so I refunded the Agility and Might nodes, using the points to finish off Sovereignty. With all those various updates, I have 3327 life and 2377 ES, which makes me feel a bit safer. But not enough to stop being cautious!

Current passive tree

Current gear:

Went to the Battlefront and the Docks, hitting level 69 and picking up another 6% life node. Found a Neglected Cellar and proceeded through it extremely carefully, since Rima's area damage is no joke. Lost a lot of zombies, but with a few back-off-and-resummon cycles was able to take her down. She dropped a Shiversting, and I picked up a Sacrifice at Midnight so I now have all the Atziri fragments...not that I plan to use them anytime soon. Picked up Dialla's junk and headed into the Solaris Temple.

The first level of the temple had quite the welcoming party with the Seals, a warband, and a Perandus chest all in the same room. The horde handled it nicely, though, with just a few Convocation casts needed to keep them from standing in the wrong places. As long as I have room to spread out the enemy AoE, those kind of stacked spawns aren't too bad. Nothing much of interest on the second level. Found Dialla and got a not-too-useless amulet for the quest reward, with lots of increased rarity - might use that later on if my other gear can handle resists and such. Opened up the Eternal Laboratory, but I'm going to wait on maps until I've gotten up into the 70s.

Grabbed the waypoints in the Barracks and Imperial Gardens, then went back to the Marketplace and picked up Fairgraves' hip flask. Turned that in, then back into the Barracks and wiped out Gravicius. Onward to the Lunaris Temple, where I was cautious as per usual with Kole and that was very wise, since Orra Greengate spawned in the room just behind him. Had I rushed in there, I'd have been fighting both - I'd have probably survived, but why take the risk? The Piety fight was almost exactly the same as in Cruel - she got one lightning ball off, then was dead.

Made quick work of the Library and Archives. Got an unset ring from Siosa, but it wasn't usable. Another Neglected Cellar in the Hedge Maze, with the Smothering mod giving me slower mana regen. I worried about that a little, but it didn't end up being an issue, as Sarah just hid around a corner while the horde went at an Enfeebled Rima. Cleared the ascendancy trial and got the plum, then killed off Fairgraves but the reward ring was terrible. Hit level 70 and started on the Influence node cluster.

Up the tower I went, killing all the things. Vagan made an appearance, but otherwise I barely had to slow down at any point. I remember when Caliga was a real menace, but not now. The Dominus fight barely deserved the name - zero minions lost, Sarah only got hit once (by the goat, because I was too lazy to move), and each phase lasted maybe 5 seconds. Dropped a bunch of rares, none worth keeping.

On to Act 4! Quick trip through the Aqueduct to Highgate. Traded in a few divination card sets, including one for a gemcutter's prism. I decided to use it and 12 more from my stash to improve my Summon Zombie gem to 13%. As I find more I can finish it off to 20%.

Killed Nightwane and Voll in the Dried Lake, though it took some doing since both kept wandering away from me. No escape from the horde, though. Went straight through both mine levels and the Crystal Veins in quick order. Hit level 71, and with that skill point plus the Desheret quest reward, finished off the Influence nodes. Went into both dreams and cleared the first zone to get the waypoint in the second zone. The uniques took their toll: lost a few zombies to Steelchaw and Eyepecker, and lost count of how many the fire grove burned up. Got another Sidehebreath from the latter for my trouble. Ran across Ultima Thule as well, who dropped a Wheel of the Stormsail unique shield.

Before taking on Kaom and Daresso, I think I'll do a few maps. First up, one of my favorite low-level maps, the Jungle Valley. Armored and Rust mods, so more monster physical resist and less armor/block for me, neither of which should make a significant difference. Which was indeed the case, as I cleared the whole thing without any trouble. Beat up the giant spider boss and helped Elreon along the way. Got to level 72 just as I finished up - heading up to Arcane Focus on the passive tree.

I don't remember seeing the "monsters remaining" up by the zone level before, that's a nice UI addition. More new things since the last time I played: Zana shows up right away instead of waiting until after I happened across her in a map, and the Atlas of Worlds. It's pretty empty to start with but I suspect it'll fill up fast. I bought all of the blue maps Zana had for sale, figuring that a chance orb is a small price to pay to have more options open.

I'm much less of a fan of the Desert maps, but I'll need to run one eventually, so might as well get it over with. Hexwarded (25% less curse effect) and Bloodlines seem like reasonable mods. It wasn't too bad, even when fighting the boss and two magic packs together. I kept Sarah back from the line of fire, did a lot of cursing, and let the minions take out the magic monsters before focusing on the boss. Also found Vorici and did his mission, which was only the low-life objective so easy enough once I removed Culling Strike from my totem. Just let the horde hit him, and run very far away as soon as the countdown appeared.

Unwavering Crystal Ore of Miring: The "player dodge chance is unlucky" mod isn't one that I love, but my evasion is only 15% anyway. It did seem like Sarah took a few more hits than normal, but that could have just been because I was looking for it. Found a Skullhead unique helmet from a random rare, which does have some minion bonuses but they're just defense-related. The most dangerous monsters were packs of blue discharge undying guys, killing off a few zombies on a couple of occasions. Fortunately Sarah stayed well out of range. Fought off Vagan and his lackeys and killed off both bosses with ease.

Titan's Arcade Map of Venom: Sarah got hit a few times but I didn't really notice the poison, not enough damage to matter much. The boss bonuses didn't help the Heralds much, dropped pretty quick. Opened a Cartographer's Strongbox that dropped nine level one maps, eight common and one rare. Vendored all the commons (along with a few from the stash) to get four tier two commons. Found a +2 minion helm, with life and cold resist, but I'd lose a ton of ES by switching away from The Gull. Sticking with the unique for now.

Rare Crystal Ore map (totems, poison, 56% extra cold damage, monsters avoid poison/blind/bleed): Added one of my many Sacrifice at Dusk fragments to this one, so it ended up at 31% rarity and 61% quantity. Oyra Ona showed up and took a few zombies out, but Sarah stayed mostly out of the line of fire. Neither boss was much trouble, though Breaker Toruul's hammers did come close to knocking out some zombies. Got to level 73 after clearing most of the map. Then I found a Trial of Swirling Fear, and that was some trouble. Not many monsters, but all those traps are such a pain to navigate. Sarah managed it, though, and got her Offering to the Goddess at the end.

Found some interesting leaguestones for the next few outings: two different pairs of rogue exiles, and nemesis mods with extra rare monsters that drop 2 additional rare items.

Undead Jungle Valley Map of Balance: Love the elemental equilibrium mod, free item bonus. First exile pair was Thena Moga and Antalie Napora; the latter's lightning arrows were a pain, but resummoning a few zombies took care of them. Second pair was Xandro Bloodrinker and someone else that died so quick that I didn't recognize him. Got an invading boss from a prophecy, Jikeji, and made short work of it. Same with the map boss spider. Nothing spectacular in terms of gear drops, but there sure was a lot of loot - used up all but one portal clearing my inventory.

Savage Jungle Valley Map of Insulation: Exile pair one: Jonah Unchained and Ultima Thule. Pair two: Torr Olgosso and Minara Anemina. No trouble with any of them, at least partly because the pairs didn't aggro together so the horde was fighting them one at a time. The usual quick fight against the spider. Got to beat up Tinevin Highdove when he popped out of a rare strongbox, and also found a magical Diviner's Strongbox that dropped 19 (!) cards.

Rare Jungle Valley map (2 extra rogue exiles, 20% more rare monsters, 54% extra cold damage, nemesis mods, monsters have 30% chance to avoid status ailments): I made this using an alchemy orb and I'm pretty happy with those mods, especially combined with the leaguestones still in effect. There were no less than eight rogue exiles, six of whom showed up within the first few screens worth of real estate, in two sets of three: Ash Lessard, Armios Bell, and Vanth Agiel; then Damoi Tui, Igna Phoenix, and Minara Anemina. Took some doing to get them all down, largely resummoning zombies and casting Convocation occasionally to keep the horde's focus on one at a time. One of them dropped a Kaom's Sign unique ring. Then Dena Lorenni and Bolt Brownfur appeared later, the former causing some worry with all her chaos damage but I was able to run away while the horde dealt with her. Did Catarina's mission on the way. Found a bunch of currency including a Regal Orb, and a rare Beach map.

Rare Arcade map (elemental equilibrium, 57% extra lightning damage, extra unique boss damage/speed, 15% monster chaos resistance, 20% monster elemental resistance, 30% reduced flask charges): I used a chance orb on this one and got lucky with the rare roll. Found Vickas Giantbone in a box and smote him, then Torr Olgosso and Dena Lorenni, then Ion Darkshroud and Xandro Bloodrinker. The Herald of Thunder went down easily but the Herald of Ashes took out half the zombies pretty fast, so I had to retreat and resummon before finishing it off. There was also a plague of frogs in this map, which the horde happily slaughtered.

Hit 74 in that last map and took Retribution, with the plan being to get Discipline and Training in a couple of levels. Here's my current passive tree.

Gear update time! Between dropped rares and using alchemy orbs on high-level common items, I've found an unset ring, improved wand, and better boots. With some gem re-arranging, I used the additional slot to add Increased Duration to my Cast When Damage Taken-Immortal Call link. I considered doing Generosity-Hatred instead, but more damage at this point would be overkill, while more defenses in hardcore is always a good thing. The upgrades keep my elemental resistances at maximum, and bump life to 3586 and ES to 2916. As an added bonus, the boots are 30% movement speed, a slight improvement over the 25% I had before.