u/New-Cardiologist-369

D2R (not RotW dlc) SC offline.

You ask me why? I’ll answer, for fun 🤘🤓🤘

Necromancer was the last class in D2R with which I hadn't yet completed the Uber quest. I’m aware of the speedrunning tactics using Urdars/poison Spiders revives. However, I’ve long harbored the idea of completing Uber quest using just mercenary. With his curses, the Necromancer was the class best suited for this task.

Full build here: https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/tybx8p03

Merc gear:

- 2x Kingslayer (eth Cryptic Swords)

- Chains of Honor (Archon Plate),

- Guillaume's Face (15 ias jewel/Um rune against Mephisto)

- Fade pre-buff from treachery (against Lilith and Mephisto)

- Enchant pre-buff from Demon Limb (I forgot to cast this pre-buff before killing the mini-Ubers)

- 68% Crushing Blow, 50% Open Wounds, 15% Deadly Strike

Character gear:

- just capped resistances, 75 FCR breakpoint, and a full inventory of HP charms.

- Infinity (Scythe) to reduce Uber boss defenses

- Mania (Fanaticism) and 4x PDiamond Monarch against Mephisto

- Amplify Damage against Izual, Duriel and Diablo

- Decrepify against Lilith and Baal

- Life Tap against Mephisto

- 1 point in Poison Nova Just in case the mercenary didn't hit Baal frequently enough to stop his regeneration (which, in the end, wasn't necessary).

Mini-Ubers were a breeze - except for the fact that I forgot about Enchant pre-buff. At the start of the fight with Lilith, I got a little mixed up with the buttons, but I quickly adapted.

However, things immediately went wrong in Tristram. I had planned to isolate Mephisto from his summoned minions by employing a speedrunner's tactic. But first, my mercenary ran too close to the center of the area, provoking all the bosses into summoning their minions. Then, I miscalculated my teleport direction, resulting in Mephisto getting stuck inside the house. After a short while, I managed to teleport inside the house myself; however, my mercenary died. From that point on, I got lucky: Mephisto ran out of the house toward the red portal and ended up relatively isolated from his summoned minions.

The fight against Baal was the longest (as expected); I kept Poison Nova at the ready in case the mercenary couldn't stop his regeneration. However, that proved unnecessary. Diablo killed the mercenary immediately but then died quite quickly himself.

All in all, it was fun - despite the mistakes made. Runs like this are much easier to pull off with a mouse than with a controller. I also didn't expect the mercenary to use Taunt so frequently and overwrite the Terror curse; that was pretty foolish of him 😅

D2R (not RotW dlc) HC offline.

You ask me why? I'll answer, for fun. I wanted to try out Bladesin's capabilities, so I respec'd and leveled up a couple of levels (90-92) to get used to the new build.

Link to the build with the current gear: https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/vq3kvt0v

On Ubers I used a partially different set of charms (more AR, HP and resistances).

The character screen in the video shows incorrect damage numbers. Maxroll calculation (with Might and Decrepify) shows up to 100k DPS (Target Dummy). The encyclopedia describes this bug: https://www.theamazonbasin.com/wiki/index.php/Blade\_Fury

> Character screen adds Blade Fury skill damage after +% Damage is applied, when it's actually added before +% Damage is applied.

I'd also like to point out Blade Fury's problem with its low attack rating. The skill only gains +10% AR per level. I only managed to get about 12.5k AR, despite a significant investment. For example, Dragon Talon gains +35% AR per level (starting at level 2), so getting an attack rating of around 25k isn't a problem.

There's also an annoying delay between pressing the button and the shurikens starting to throw.

Gear: eDeath (Ettin Axe), Stormshield (Um), CTA + Spirit on swap, Guillaume's Face (Um), Fortitude (Archon Plate), Laying of Hands, Verdungo, Gore Rider, Highlord, Raven Frost and this insane crafted Blood Ring: https://www.reddit.com/r/diablo2/s/RGaunblb2K

I also used Demon Limb for the Enchant prebuff, a small poison damage charm for an additional source of stopping Uber regeneration (except Lilith and Mephisto), and a prebuff set (Shako, CoH, Mara, and a BK ring) against Lilith (higher BO level) and Mephisto (higher BO and Fade).

Mercenary gear:

- Duriel, Izual, Diablo: CoH, Andariel's Visage (15 ias/100 ar jewel), Infinity eth Mancatcher (to reduce bosses' defense). I'll note that Duriel can spawn surrounded by physically immune Swarms, in which case I'd use Sunder + Reaper

- Lilith: CoH, Bulwark + Fade prebuff from Treachery (for PDR), Reaper's Toll (to reduce physical burst)

- Mephisto: CoH, Obedience, Tal Mask (15 ias/92 ar jewel) + Fade prebuff from Treachery (for resistances)

- Baal: CoH, Andy, Reaper (to slow down the annoying Baal) + physical Sunder (to remove immunity from summons)

Overall, I really liked this build. Unexpectedly high single-target damage, especially against demons (thanks to LoH), AoE damage from corpse explosions, and crowd control for survivability. I'd probably choose a slightly different gear for softcore, for example, Enigma, Phoenix Shield, and Infinity on a merc (to increase CE damage). But in hardcore, I don't have Enigma (hence Forti), and Stormshield and Reaper seem indispensable for survivability.