[Legacy] Sarah the Self-found Solo Summoner

This seems like a good time to move up to tier 2 maps. I'm running short on leaguestones again, not much left with any interesting mods. I do still have some basic ones like an added shrine or silver coin drop, so those will have to do for now.

Overlord's Ghetto Map of Giants: Last charge on the double-pair exiles leaguestone, resulting in Minara Anemina and Ion Darkshroud, then Torr Olgosso and Ailentia Rac. That last dropped both a rare sewer map and a rare jewel (sadly, just sword damage modifiers). There was one dangerous spawn around a shrine with a storm herald rare rock dude, causing the horde to shrink at an alarming rate. Had to use some pull tatics there, dropping a totem at the edge of aggro range to get part of the crowd, then backing off so the horde could eat them, and repeat. Completed a mission for Vagan (dummy count, 30-1) which got him to level 5 and finished off the Master challenge. The Reaver was an easy kill, and dropped another rare sewer map. I also found a Inner Treasure nemesis mod rare, who dropped a Rebuke of the Vaal unique sword.

Rare Beach map (totems, faster monsters, reduced crit damage to monsters, 15% less player AoE): I figured this looked pretty easy, with lots of nice mods for me, since I could care less about most of them. A prophecy also spawned a bunch of sea witch packs. Turns out that a bunch of water elementals boosted by totems and backed up by curse-casting sea witches are actually pretty good at killing zombies! Had to resummon more on this map than any other to this point, the worst bits being large water elemental spawns. Glace was a cakewalk by comparison. Then I triggered a breach, and that was really rough. Whatever was spawning kept summoning ice golems en masse, and just decimated my horde (even the guardian). I ended up having to run away just to stay alive, much less try to kill things. The horde still got a good chunk of the spawns before they fell, though, judging from all the loot laying around once I went back after the breach closed. Breaches are definitely not my favorite leaguestone any more. Think I'll save using those for maps with fewer mods.

Hexwarded Factory Map of Toughness: After that last map, this one seemed incredibly easy. At least, until I found Mother Phyia, who proceeded to wipe the floor with the zombies again. One quick resummon was enough to finish her off, though.

Freezing Oasis Map of Toughness: The first two rares I found here wouldn't die, and it took me a minute to realize that was because both had the other-allies-cannot-die aura. Once I ran past them and came back slowly enough to aggro one at a time, all went well. Took out Armios Bell. Got to level 75. No trouble with Planus, just kept Sarah out of the way of his charges. Came across the Trial of Lingering Pain and cleared it, with only one bad moment when Sarah got down to about half health thanks to my terrible man-eating Roomba avoidance skills.

It's probably about time to beard Kaom and Daresso in their lairs. Kaom hit Sarah hard enough to get through her ES, but after that I was able to stay away from him. He only lasted only slightly longer than he had in Cruel. Daresso was a pain, killing off most of the zombies when he was only down to about half health. I portaled out to resummon, then came back to finish him off.

While I was in Act 4 anyway, figured I might as well go ahead through the Belly of the Beast and get the Harvest waypoint. Killed a few rogue exiles on the way, including Thena Moga twice in level 2 (once from leaguestone, once from a box). Took out the Bone Queen and Piety in the usual manner - dodge with Sarah, let horde smack them around. No reason to risk Malachai just yet, so back to maps, starting tier 3.

Rare Sewer map (desecrated ground, 2 rogue exiles, accurate monsters, 15% monster chaos resist, 20% monster element resist, unlucky player dodge chance): The desecrated ground was everywhere, but fortunately I was barely losing life if I was forced to stand in it. Found Xandro Bloodrinker and Arachnoxia together, and had a bad moment when Sarah got hit by the spider's chaos spear and lost about half her life. The horde took over, though, and got the better of them both. Got a rare graveyard map from the boss. The other two rogue exiles (2 from map mods, one from leaguestone) were Oyra Ona and Ion Darkshroud. The latter dropped a Flesh and Spirit unique gauntlets.

I've found enough Gemcutter's Prisms (or low-quality gems, sold for prisms) now to get my zombie gem up to 20%. Plenty of options for the next gem to upgrade - maybe Item Rarity. Also found a slight upgrade to one of my unset rings with a bit more life.

Rare sewer map (monster variety, desecrated ground, 2 rogue exiles, 45% more monster AoE, 15% less player AoE): Normally I'd pick another map type, but the only tier 3 map rares I've found so far have been sewers, so it's back down we go. Rogue exiles: Lael Furia, Damoi Tui, and Bolt Brownfur. The spider didn't have any help this time, much easier. Hit level 76 and took Discipline and Training (life now 4046).

Unwavering Vaal Pyramid map of Balance: Forgot to equip leaguestones for this one so it was simpler than usual. Other than a couple of spots where a ton of lantern miners threw down huge fire patches, the horde walked right through everything. Had a volunteer rogue exile show up, Jonah Unchained, no trouble. Same with the bosses, went down quickly with no fuss.

Abhorrent Channel map of Insulation: Remembered leaguestones this time, but just basic stuff: rampage bonuses, shrine, tormented spirit. Found and helped Elreon. (Who is nice and all, but where's Zana?) Found a Rolling Flames unique jewel from a strongbox. Beat up the Winged Death and associated helpers easily, just had to use Convocation to get the horde out the way when it did the big drop attack.

Twinned Oasis map of Insulation: Haven't found an Arid Lake map yet, so I figured I'd try my last Oasis to see if one drops. And indeed one did, so that worked out nicely. The twin bosses were easy since they spawned just far enough apart that they aggroed separately, and the horde demolished them. Came across an Embezzler bloodline pack and picked up an Ancient Reliquary Key, first of those I've seen, which I later used and found another Wings of Sundering. Also found Catarina and completed her mission.

Fleet Arid Lake map of Giants: Xandro Bloodrinker popped out of a box and killed off most of the zombies while they were scattered around beating up the box spawns. The rest of the horde finished him off before I had to run away and resummon, though. Also came across some random boss casting rain of arrows, who I assume was an invasion boss from my leaguestone, but didn't catch the name. I had to pull the horde out of his kill zone with Convocation a couple of times. Defeated the Drought-Maddened Rhoa basically just by dodging his charges while the horde ate him. Found a Trial of Crippling Grief and cleared it; the sawblades aren't as bad as some of the other trap types.

Rare Graveyard map (56% extra monster lightning damage, 28% reduced monster damage from crits, 30% increased monster accuracy, inhabited by abominations, unlucky player dodge chance): I used a Chaos Orb on this one because it orginally had mods for all ranged monsters with increased AoE and chain. Terrible mods for a horde! These mods are much better, even though all the extra lightning damage did make me cautious. Hit level 77 partway through, and did a mission for Catarina. Killed an invasion boss, didn't catch who but there was a lot of lightning. Litanius did nothing against the horde.

I suppose at some point I should take care of the Merciless Labyrinth. I missed the Prison ascendancy trial, so took care of that quickly. (And while I was there, found a Foxshade unique armor and did a Haku mission.) The Labyrinth took a while to navigate, as usual, but nothing inside was seriously dangerous - the benefits of being 9 levels higher than the zone. The enchantment was useless. Picked up Flesh Binder for more defenses; Spirit Eater is definitely better on offense but I don't really need that. Probably get it if I ever do the end-game Labyrinth.

Overlord's Tower map of Toughness: A prophecy dropped a half-dozen strongboxes in this map and I opened them all. Did a Catarina mission, which was mildly annoying since the zone is split into levels and I had to backtrack to find the minions she wanted. Carnage pulled Sarah in close once, but didn't quite hit hard enough to get through her ES. Found a couple of Two-Toned Boots that I tried to roll into something useful, but no luck this time.

Titan's Academy map of Venom: The Arbiter of Knowledge took quite a bit of killing, but wasn't particularly dangerous. Also ran across some invasion boss that was using a lot of raging spirits, but that's about all I noticed before the horde took it down.

Unwavering Spider Lair map of Venom: Wiraq the Impaler invaded the lair, as did a Brinerot warband, and neither were happy with the result as the horde steamrolled them. Thraxia didn't last long enough for her minion resurrection to be an issue. Got to level 78 and took Sanctity.

Not many tier 5 maps have dropped, and only a few at tier 4. So I'm mostly back to running lower tiers, hoping for a decent drop or two. I'd hoped the Atlas of Worlds would improve this aspect of the game, but thus far no such luck.

Rare Vaal Pyramid map (30% more rare monsters, 13% elemental reflect, nemesis mods, 30% monster accuracy, 25% less curse effect on monsters, unlucky player dodge chance): Four invasion bosses in here thanks to a combination of prophecy and leaguestone. Within the first few rooms, killed off an invading Wiraqucha, Ancient Guardian; opened a strongbox guarded by Antalie Napora; and killed off a Redblade warband. That last dropped The Broken Crown, another fairly useless unique in a HC league. Next invader was Shrapnelbearer, easy to kill but I didn't stand far enough away and Sarah got hit in the death throes...glad for that 7k life/ES! I forget who the third invader was but the fourth was Docere Incarnatis and he spawned in the arena area. Fortunately the map bosses aren't too tough anyway so fighting him off first wasn't a big deal.

Rare Jungle Valley map (shocking ground, totems, 62% extra monster lightning damage, 15% monster chaos resistance, 20% monster elemental resistance, 20% less player armor and block chance): Low level, I know, but it's rare so I thought I might as well run it. Three invasion bosses again: first Ossecati, second Mother of the Swarm, third Jikeji. Got Tinevin Highdove out of a box, and killing him took a little extra effort since a cannot-die aura totem also spawned from the same box. Leading him a little ways away from the box took care of that. Easy fight against the spider boss. Found a rare Marshes map, which is one I haven't done yet.

Rare Marshes map (goatmen, elemental equilibrium, 17% more monster life, monsters cannot be stunned, two unique bosses, 15% less player AoE): Marsh-loving goats, sure, why not? The three invasion bosses were Glassmaul, Droolscar (who dropped an Obliteration unique wand), and the Duchess. Did a mission for Vorici, fortunately the fairly easy version to wipe out the target's guards. The twin bosses were a problem - two whirlwinds leaving fire trails and generally just tearing zombies to shreds. I had to do a lot of running around, dropping totems and casting spirits and keeping them cursed.

Unidentified blue Sewer map: Decided I'd try this one without identification just for the heck of it. It hides the leaguestone mods as well as the map mods, which is a little strange. Nothing seemed seriously dangerous right away so off I went. Invasion bosses: Kamaq, The Raging Mask (lotta fire with that one), and Harbinger of Elements. Arachnoxia jumped on Sarah once, but I ran away and all was well after that. Found a Trial of Crippling Grief, but I've done that one already, so I didn't feel the need to risk it.

Rare Beach map (desecrated ground, totems, ranged monsters, two unique bosses): Another low tier map that I figured was worth the time to run since it was rare. Last charge on the triple-invasion leaguestone: Mother of the Swarm, Glassmaul, and Perquil the Lucky (who wasn't). Double Glace was a non-issue. Hit 79 and took an extra ES node.

Overlord's Vaal Pyramid map of Drought: Did a Vorici mission, the one leaving one guard alive. Just dumb luck that the spawn was such that the horde didn't aggro on all the guards before the main guy. Had a rough fight against an essence-locked archer rare, with spite/contempt/sorrow essences. He was summoning so many totems and doing so much area damage that I lost two full sets of zombies before they took him out. The usual easy fight against the bosses, although I did stand too close to the last guy and he took out Sarah's ES. No life damage though.

Fleet Tower map of Rust: Found Cadiro and bought a rare unset ring from him, which sadly turned out to have terrible mods. Another tough essence-locked monster fight (wrath/sorrow/greed), though I only lost one full set of zombies on this one. There was a Perandus chest right at the entrance to the boss area, so I had to be careful not to aggro him before the horde cleared the guards. Once that was done, no problem with Carnage.

Multifarious Arid Lake map of Bloodlines: Found Cadiro, but couldn't afford the Rainbowstride he wanted to sell me. Did a mission for Tora. The essence-locked monster was fairly easy this time, only suffering/anger essences. The Drought-Maddened Rhoa kept ignoring the horde and charging at Sarah, but that was fine since it's not too hard to dodge. A rare strongbox dropped a Thief's Torment unique ring, which is interesting but certainly not right for Sarah.

Resistant Graveyard map of Bloodlines: Another tough essence-locked monster (rage/torment) that destroyed all the zombies and nearly killed the guardian too. The area damage on those essences is no joke. Litanius was easy, though. Did an Elreon mission. Another Cadiro sighting, another unique I can't afford.

Titan's Tower map of Impotence: Last charge on that essence leaguestone, which is probably just as well since it's been rough on the horde. Fear/sorrow on this one, not quite as bad as some of the others, but still took out half the zombies. The Perandus chest was bad, too, with the Master of Beasts unique and a ton of fire-tossing guards. Lost the entire horde at one point and had to retreat and regroup.

Savage Channel map of Venom: Beat up Vagan and his buddies, as well as Evocata Apocalyptica. Found a Abberath's Horn unique wand while fighting off a warband. The Winged Death was kind enough to drop two uniques, Wondertrap and Sin Trek. That last would be interesting if it had any life on it...maybe good for a CI character someday.

Mirrored Channel map of Toughness: Perquil the Lucky was the invading boss, and also killed off a Redblade warband. No uniques from the Winged Death this time, but it did drop a rare map...sadly only a tier 1 desert. Hit level 80 and picked up Foresight; now up to 3349 ES.

Rare Desert map (2 extra rogue exiles, extra monster crit change, 59% extra monster cold damage, 25% less curse effect on monsters): Used my last charge of a rogue exile leaguestone that guaranteed a quality gem drop from each of the 3 rogues in this map. First was Jonah Unchained, second Vickas Giantbone, third the void guy. One of the gems was a 10% Raging Spirit, but leveling it up doesn't seem worth the effort for the slight move speed increase; I'd rather use it as part of a Gemcutter's Prism vendor trade. Also beat up Curator Miem, and did a Haku mission. Got a Shiversting from the boss.

Rare Academy map (desecrated ground, monsters cannot be stunned, 17% more monster life, 30% less flask charges, 20% faster and 25% more damage for unique boss, 25% chance for monsters to avoid poison/blind/bleed): Got this one from a lucky chance orb roll. Killed off Sheaq, Maker of Floods without actually seeing him...the horde got him while I was still trying to figure out where all the totems were coming from. Took out a Redblade warband, who dropped a Prism Guardian unique shield (would be tempting if it had extra life/ES). Another zombie wipe on a essence-locked monster (hatred/woe) but they took it down as they fell. Did a Haku mission. In the boss area, a Voidspawn of Abaxoth pack was hanging out with The Arbiter of Knowledge. That caused some trouble since the horde was spread out, first killing the pack then split between Bameth, Shifting Darkess and the Arbiter. I had to resummon several zombies and keep Sarah moving to stay out of the way, but eventually they both fell. One of them dropped my first Apprentice Cartographer's Sextant, and a rare shield with better life, ES, and resists (though I lose evasion rating).

Unwavering Spider Lair map of Giants: Hooray, a tier 5 map! Used a few chisels to make it 20% quality, figure I might as well use 'em. Didn't get lucky with the Chance orb for rare mods, though. Found Bladeback Guardian in the very first room and a Redblade warband in the next one. Another Redblade warband later on dropped a Belt of the Deceiver unique.