Arkendrak Ragestorm
26 August 2013 at 11:58am
Name: Arkendrak Ragestorm
Path: Warrior
Career: Gladiator (Blood rage, Head butt)
Title: Champion of the Light (Bright shield)
Speed: 17
Brawn: 30
Magic: 0
Armour: 0
Health: 55
Head: Black Widow (+2 S, +2 B, Webbed)
Cloak: Nemesis Shroud (+2 S, +3 B, Dark pact)
Gloves: Scissor Hands (+1 S, +4 B, Piercing)
Chest: Raider's Tunic (+2 S, +4 B, Retaliation)
Feet: Barbarous Boots (+2 S, +3 B, Savagery)
Main hand: Retribution (+3 S +6 B, Feral fury)
Left hand: Thunder Hammer (+2 S, +4 B, Shock)
Talisman: Dour's whetstone (+1 S, Piercing)
Necklace: Horn of Courage (+1 S, +1 B, Courage)
Ring: Khana's Revenge (+2 B, Bleed)
Ring: Tooth 'n Claw (+1 S, +1 B, Sideswipe)
Extra abilities:
Snakes alive!, Windwalker
Backpack: Compendium of Dwarf Lore, Gold Detector, Fluffy Dice, Pot of Mending, Elixir of Swiftness
Strategy:
Round 1 - Use Courage to attack with Speed 21, then assuming hit, use Dark pact, Feral Fury, Piercing, Savagery and Shock to do 36 + 2D6 + (enemy's armour/2) damage, all ignoring armour (averaging around 50 damage say). Bleed also applies from this point on for an extra 1 damage per round. (Also lose 4 Health from Dark pact).
Round 2 - Use Webbed on enemy, then assuming hit again, use Windwalker to do 30 + 2D6 damage (plus Bleed).
Round 3 - (Blood Rage should kick in now) Use Snakes alive! on enemy and do 32 + D6 damage each round hereafter (plus Bleed).
Defensive skills to use when needed:
Bright shield, Head butt, Retaliation, Sideswipe.
I think? all the above is legit (but let me know if I'm doing something wrong). Basically I took items based on Speed > Brawn > Armour > Magic, and then favoured abilities that increased damage (Piercing was a particular favourite, since it typically did in the range of 12 extra damage a combat, hence I ended up having two items with it in case one got replaced with another ability).
I also made use of the additional items on offer from downloads section (I think the Raider's Tunic is one such item)... I typically breezed through combats with a few quick and hard hits (vs. multiple opponents I usually targeted the big guy first), and I think? never actually lost a combat. I missed the Berserker career, but never found anything better than the Gladiator in terms of maxing out damage... Surprised to see I ended up with higher speed than others here, I was maxing it out but I figured the Rogues could end up with Speed 18-19 no?
(I should add this was my second playthrough, the first one being a Rogue I got to halfway through Act 2, and without the extra items on the downloads. He died lots and struggled without enough Speed or Health to out-slug some of the big guys... So I restarted with the above hero and did a lot better )
Many congratulations Mr. Ward in creating such an original, well-balanced and epic masterpiece!