Uber Tristram mini guide

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Crossposted to AGD2 and AGD

Since our first success in defeating the Uber Tristram with minimal
gears, I decided to share some of my experiences here. I'm playing HC,
if you are SC, you can take more risk.

The ladder season is new and most of us do not have many good items to
choose from. Therefore the goal of this guide is to defeat the Uber
Tristram with cheapest gears possible. This guide definitely needs
refinement, your input and feedback is greatly appreciated.

Throughout this guide I may cite articles from other websites, I will
not point to the exact URL because I want you to be familiar with those
sites if you haven't already. I will use the following abbreviations:
AB = Amazon Basin, AS = Arreat Summit, d2net = www.diabloii.net, d2de =
diablo2.ingame.de, and LL = Lurker Lounge. UB = Uber Baal, UD = Uber
Diablo (not Diablo Clone), and UM = Uber Mephisto. F = fire, C = cold,
L = lightning, P = poison.

INTRODUCTION
Patch 1.11 introduces new unique charm, Hellfire torch, and 6 new
superuniques. Go to AS for more information.

There are 3 tasks that you must complete in order to obtain this
Hellfire torch.
1. Obtain 3 sets of keys.
2. Obtain Baal eye, Mephisto brain, and Diablo horn.
3. Defeat UB, UM, and UD. The last one will drop the charm.

PART 1
The best character for this task is the max block Lightning sorceress.
I recommend max block because you will be teleporting a lot, when you
block, your sorceress will not go to the hit recovery animation.
Insight is highly recommended so Mana Burn monsters will not poise much
problem. FHR are important, in case you get hit, this will prevent you
from getting stun-locked. Go to LL for FHR breakpoint.

Key of Terror. Go to AB for Tower layout. Not much else to say here,
your sorceress should be able to easily dispose of the Evil Countess.
The rogue archers are the only possible obstacles if they are present
in the Countess room. Ignore them and go straight to the Countess, if
the archer is a unique with nasty mods, I'd just create a new game.

Key of Hate. I am certain there is no quick way to find the Summoner.
I usually pick NorthEast, SouthEast, SouthWest, Northwest. The only
Lightning immunes here are those spires (lightning columns with high
elemental resistances).

Key of Destruction. Go to AB for Halls of Pain layout. This is by far
the easiest & fastest run. Once you get to Halls of Vaught, move
rather slowly to see if there are Tomb Vipers. If you are playing
solo, it's probably a good idea to quit when you see a Viper.
Otherwise, send a TP with your sorceress. Trapsin is the best
character for this. Put traps on the edge of your screen and listen if
there are monsters ahead. If you traps are weak due to lack of +skill
items, move forward zig-zag to avoid direct poison hit, then cast Cloak
of Shadow. Bone or summoning necros are probably as good with Dim
Vision.

Addendum: Key of Destruction is highly sought by the rest of B.net
players since they are not familiar with Pain layout. You can trade
KoD for multiple of other keys or trade them for items if you want.

PART 2
Once you obtain 3 sets of keys, put 1 set in cube and transmute them in
Act 5. Random portal will open, therefore you should open all 3
portals in one game.

The Matron's Den.
Hammerdin is bad due to the narrow corridors and Hell Witches shoot
rapidly from afar. Best characters are Fireball sorceress and Smiter.
Sorceress can take care of the witches quickly and paladin can deal
with Lilith. Antidotes are not very helpful here because she casts her
poison very often. Lifetap should help. Sorceress should stay in the
background. Another paladin with Cleansing probably helps too.

The Forgotten Sand.
Lesser monsters are Spiders, Hell Swarms, and there are Maggots too I
think. Duriel use the same attack, Holy Freeze aura and Charge. Once
again Smiter should have little problem. I have not tested Hammerdin
since I don't have one. This could call for one though due to the vast
open space.

The Furnace of Pain.
Lesser monsters are Oblivion Knights and quad-immune Pit Lords. I ran
solo this with a Smiter. I was lucky that I only saw one group of
Knights en-route and Izual was accompanied by Pit Lords only.
Otherwise, this definitely calls for a Hammerdin or a sorceress to
target the OKs. Summoning necros are possibly good party to have as
well.

PART 3
Now for the good part. Transmute the 3 organs in Act 5 to open the
portal to Tristram. Lesser minions are Pit Lords (FCLP immunes),
Skeleton archers, melee, and mages (random immunes), Vampires (Phys C
immunes), and Specters (Phys P immunes).

The brothers are (always?) in the middle of the town. Go to AS for
their stat. UD has same skills as Diablo Clone, UB has same skill as
the normal one. UM has a Conviction aura. Use their overly aggresive
AI to your advantage by luring them out one by one. If you manage to
do that, then that's great, but even if all 3 comes out at once, it
should be no problem. In case all 3 show up, I recommend going after
Mephisto first because he poses the greatest problem with his
Conviction.

Smite, Crushing Blow, and LifeTap. That's all you need, Salvation
helps. The brothers each have 650K life, one succesful CB takes out
65K, that's quite possibly the largest amount of damage you can deal
with. As their life winds down, CB becomes less effective, so at this
time I prefer to Zeal than to Smite. CB is chance to take out 1/10 of
life in this case, so you decide when it's a good time for you to
switch to Zeal.

2 paladins are enough to do this easily. Pre-Cry from a barbarian will
greatly help, we had level 32 Cries. With a good Shout and Holy
Shield, the minions pose very little problems. The paladins should use
Fanaticism and Salvation. Here are cheap equipments:
Cat's Eye
Raven Frost, Dwarf Star, resist rings
Guillame's Face
Black flail (thul io nef)
Elite paladin shield with high base resist, make it a Spirit or Ancient
Pledge for even more resists.
Duriel's Shell / Duress / Guardian Angel
Dracul's Grasp
Thundergod Vigor / high resists belt
Goblin Toe / Goreriders
As many life and resist charms

Those simple items net you 90% - 100% CB.
Upgraded HoZ is great but not necessary, all elite paladin shields have
high Smite damage.
Dracul's Grasp is not necessary if you have Lifetap charges somewhere
(wand on weapon switch or Marrowwalk if you are fast clicker)

Note:
1. PMH doesn't work, so Nature's Peace is useless.
2. Even though Deadly Strike doesn't affect Smite, if you have it,
Highlord's Wrath is better than Cat's Eye. In doing so, you'll lose 25
dexterity and gain 35% LR and +1 skill.
3. If you have it, use Heaven's Light to pre-buff your Holy Shield and
to Zeal with it once your opponent's life winds down. Even if you
don't have a good Zealing weapon, keeps Smiting with your shield will
do the job well.

My purpose of writing this mini guide is to build the cheapest Uber
Tristram runner possible. All other guides I found in d2net always
involves Grief, Eth Exile Vortex, and CoA. What improvements can you
suggest? What other builds can possibly do this more easily?
Kicksins? Hammerdins?
 
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Alex Holtz wrote:
<snip>

Thanks for this, Alex. Great guide.
 
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Alex Holtz wrote:

> Note:
> 1. PMH doesn't work, so Nature's Peace is useless.
> 2. Even though Deadly Strike doesn't affect Smite, if you have it,
> Highlord's Wrath is better than Cat's Eye. In doing so, you'll lose 25
> dexterity and gain 35% LR and +1 skill.
> 3. If you have it, use Heaven's Light to pre-buff your Holy Shield and
> to Zeal with it once your opponent's life winds down. Even if you
> don't have a good Zealing weapon, keeps Smiting with your shield will
> do the job well.

More notes:
4. I forgot to list Smoke and Gloom as other possible good armors to
pick from.
5. Smite always hits, you don't need high dexterity, that's why I use a
flail to make my Black.
6. Pardon any spelling mistakes. My copy of the game is French, but I
think I have all the terminologies correct. If something doesn't make
sense to you please point me to it and I'll post the original French
text and someone else here can translate it.
 
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"Alex Holtz" <aholtz29@yahoo.com> wrote...
>
> [snip]
>

Fabulous guide, Alex. Thanks for taking the time to write this!
 
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I think it was "Alex Holtz" <aholtz29@yahoo.com> that wrote something
like...

>Key of Destruction. Go to AB for Halls of Pain layout. This is by far
>the easiest & fastest run. Once you get to Halls of Vaught, move
>rather slowly to see if there are Tomb Vipers. If you are playing
>solo, it's probably a good idea to quit when you see a Viper.
>Otherwise, send a TP with your sorceress. Trapsin is the best
>character for this. Put traps on the edge of your screen and listen if
>there are monsters ahead. If you traps are weak due to lack of +skill
>items, move forward zig-zag to avoid direct poison hit, then cast Cloak
>of Shadow. Bone or summoning necros are probably as good with Dim
>Vision.

Actually, the vipers aren't all that bad for a sorc that they're not
immune to. You just stand still. Their poison attacks reach you, but
don't generally actually hit you unless you move into them. The real
bad thing about them seems to be if you move onto their fresh corpse,
you get hit rapidly by something. With max block you'll have time
enough move away. It's murder on mercs though as they're too stupid
to move and can't block.


Ashen Shugar
--
The lions sing and the hills take flight.
The moon by day, and the sun by night.
Blind woman, deaf man, jackdaw fool.
Let the Lord of Chaos rule!
 
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<snip>

Awesome guide Alex. I'm fixing a Summoning Necro to hopefully go in sometime
with some friends. I have me a little Teleport amy which helps visit Bosses
with my entire force in 1 hit.

Keep up the good work.


--
Jake Mysterio - The Mysterious One of Nothingness.
 
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Alex Holtz schrieb:

<sniping great UT stuff>

Key of Destruction addendum:
Slain monsters rest in peace works with sorc spells too. A CL/FO sorc
might be able to clean the whole area avoiding any corpses for Nilly to
blow up.

> My purpose of writing this mini guide is to build the cheapest Uber
> Tristram runner possible. All other guides I found in d2net always
> involves Grief, Eth Exile Vortex, and CoA. What improvements can you
> suggest? What other builds can possibly do this more easily?
> Kicksins? Hammerdins?

I'm currently working on a Dragon Talon Kicksin. The one I had in the
old season was able to do all the work solo with the exception of BO
support in UT.

Key items:
Lawbringer Phase Blade (I've yet to find a 3 socks PB for my new girl)
Upgraded Gore Riders (Using crafted boneweave boots ATM)
UMed Guillaumes Face
Shield with high blocking (IMO best: Gerkes with good resists,
Stormshield, Whitstans. Currently using a Rhyme Heater)

The rest of the equipment isn't as critical. Good options are crafted
hit power gloves, Duress armor, Ravenfrost, String of Ears and such. You
should have 10 IAS somewhere for 3 fpa follow-up kicks when faded. +3
shadow claws on switch. As much life leech as possible.

Skill distribution is easy:
Max Dragon Talon (even if you don't get it on lvl 24 with +skills for 5
kicks)
Max Shadow Master
Max Venom (it sure helps against PIs)
One point wonders Cloak of Shadows, Mind Blast and Blade Fury
Fade: all the remaining points

Stats:
Str for equipment (and damage. Maybe even 208 for Myrmidon Greaves)
Dex for max block
Vit all the rest
Energy at base

Merc should be a Holy Freeze dessert warrior.

Lawbringer has ITD as soon as Decrepify has triggered. Very important
for The Furnace of Pain where Blade Fury is mandantory when OKs are around.

Lawbringer has SMriP. Usefull for fighting Nilly. Just make sure you
don't have a merc and a Shadow when approaching him.

The biggest problem will be to finish off the three brothers after CB
has done its work due to the limited damage that can be applied with
kicks (compared to Zeal that is). Just make sure you have a cup of
coffee (or tea, I prefer tea) ready before entering UT.

---
Hannes
 
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Alex Holtz wrote:

> Addendum: Key of Destruction is highly sought by the rest of B.net
> players since they are not familiar with Pain layout. You can trade
> KoD for multiple of other keys or trade them for items if you want.

Pity. HoP is one of the best leveling areas in the game, especially
with a gold chest and evil urn with only 3 map layouts. I can tell from
memory where they are just by the WP location.
 
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Alex Holtz wrote:

Superb guide! Thanks! Posted a *quoted copy* to my guild forum.

<snip>

> The brothers are (always?) in the middle of the town. Go to AS for
> their stat. UD has same skills as Diablo Clone, UB has same skill as
> the normal one. UM has a Conviction aura. Use their overly aggresive
> AI to your advantage by luring them out one by one. If you manage to
> do that, then that's great, but even if all 3 comes out at once, it
> should be no problem. In case all 3 show up, I recommend going after
> Mephisto first because he poses the greatest problem with his
> Conviction.

My guild has an informal Uber Tristram (Clone Wars) team dedicated to
securing a torch (SCNL\SCL) for every guild member who wants
one\donates keys or parts, stands with us against the clones:

* Fanatic Zealot
* Convicting Avenger
* Frost Zealot
* Hammerdin
* Singer Barb
* Lightning Sorc
* Fighting Cleric (Healer with Hammers, 'borrows' Conc aura from the
Hammerdin, heh)
* Whomever else is around and wants to mix it up ;-)

Our people pool keys as they're found ... mostly this is the Sorc's job
(she's the fastest ... grrr).

We paid our 'respects' to Lillith, Uber Izzy\Duriel and Uber Brothers
Three last evening.

Took us 45 minutes for the undercard (Lillith, Izzy & Duriel) ... not
bad 15 minutes average for each of the Junior Varsity ... heh.

We pretty much used the exact same strategy enumerated above for the
Main Event. Real basic, we opened the Uber Trist portal, the Hammerdin
turned on the jets (Vigor slvl 20), we jammed through the portal,
blitzed straight north (right by the river in the Northeast corner) and
the Fanatic Zealot (was his turn) then teased first Meph, then Baal and
finally Diablo back into our ambush. Structured mayhem, jack! The
brothers didn't even have a chance to summon their minions before we
beat 'em down!

Even so, our dedicated MF\Key Finder (Sorc) failed to consider using a
Black rune word! Just proves ya learn something new every day!

Again, thank you for the guide.

Pendraig-HKW
Warrior, Holy Knights of Westmarch
http://hkw.diabloii.net/index.php?l=paladin.php
 
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my level 79 smiter solos the trip to UT except OKs in furnace and use
hammerdin for that.
exp gear but I don;t have to share spoils
this is in sc east non ladder (forner ladd chars)

umed kiras
dusk coh
87 resist sanctuary kurast shield
gore riders
34 15 dungos
perf dracs
last wish zerker with ebotdz on switch
various resist charms
total resists before penalties are all around 350%

easy enough

fastest time from first portal to torch is just over 5 minutes



I need a SOH mule
 
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j_spencer wrote:
> my level 79 smiter solos the trip to UT except OKs in furnace and use
> hammerdin for that.

This works! ;)

> exp gear but I don;t have to share spoils

One of the *few* benefits of running solo

> this is in sc east non ladder (forner ladd chars)

This guide was written for people playing in the HCL\SCL (Ladder
Realms); thus the emphasis on cheap, *reasonably attainable* gear and
team strategy.

> umed kiras
> dusk coh
> 87 resist sanctuary kurast shield
> gore riders
> 34 15 dungos
> perf dracs
> last wish zerker with ebotdz on switch
> various resist charms
> total resists before penalties are all around 350%

Nice gear, but all NL ... try running the Ubers on SCL or better yet HC
and then tell us of your prowess ;)