I win!

[RagingGamer]

The pain, torture and writhing agony have finally been overcome, in a not so dramatic fashion. Today Ordrak fell.



Normally I wouldn't waste time posting personal triumphs, and I realize many, many, many players have already achieved this goal, but for me it was so damn frustrating getting a Vanq to a level competent enough to survive Zealot's and other one-shot monstrosities I figured I owed it to myself.

My Vanq ended up being 47 before I finished off the main quest, but I figured since I had no plans to continue playing her after that and I seriously didn't want to fail in my mission, I might as well level her as far as I could patiently do so and still leave some amount of potential to fail. Well, outside of 2+ zealots simultaneously nuking her with lightning attacks there wasn't much chance of her dying unless I did something incredibly stupid. With her Electric Resist at 544 when buffed Zealots drained about 15% of her health if they managed to drain any, with their nuke. Ordrak himself caused little damage, occasionally when casting minions the game would force her to run up (a very annoying and potential game ending bug) and he would hit her with his cold attack for about 15% of her health from time to time.

Spells at end game:

Vanq: Haste 6, Elemental Protection 6, Zombies 6, Blood Skeletons
Pet: Frost 6, Zombies 6

Skills:

Marksman - Ranged Weapon Expertise 10, Critical Strikes 10, Adventurer 6, Explosive Shot 10, Block and Parry 10
Rogue - Armor Expertise 10, Defensive Spell Mastery 10, Hamstring 1 (never used)
Arbiter - Flechette Trap 9, Advanced Spell Casting 1 (not really necessary)

Blocking: 32%

Next up: My Minion Mancer Alch, currently lvl 22.

[Zidders]

Grats!! That's pretty badass :3

[dreamrider]

Congratulations, Rage! Hurray!

(I now have a new goal in [Torch]life...finish the the campaign [with Lady Darrigan xxx] by level 46!)

dreamrider

PS - latest Lady Darrigan is #272, one day old, currently lvl 9 (its a work week).

[RagingGamer]

I highly recommend Fletchette Trap and if I had to redo it over I would probably go with Ricochette over Exploding and pushing Dex higher but keeping Defense at least even with Dex if not higher.

I highly recommend maxing Defensive Spell Mastery and taking Elemental Protection. If you are gonna try Ordrak by 40-45, getting through zealots is critical and you won't have the HP my Vanq had. Get your resists on your jewelery, I know you prefer enchanting your weapon, but find good resist jewelry (+40 or so Electric, +30 or more Fire, etc.) then enchant it a few times and hope you get increases in those resists.

Fletchette Trap, even with 1 point, can stun/stall a zealot enough you have time to escape or react, its a great seeking minion that is always with you when you need it, unlike zombies.

Forgot to mention, it may be useful since you want to complete it before reaching the level I did - the levels I did Black Palace on.

I began Black Palace at 43. I made the waypoint by 45. I made it to Aldric at 47, there is a boss on Aldric's level and that levelled me or it would have been done by 46.

I wouldn't begin Black Palace before 40, personally. However with good gear and nice resists, it's totally up to you. My end game weapon was a pistol with dps of 688 and average attack speed (though speed isn't a factor with Explosive Shot).

[dreamrider]

I've taken to storing up serindipidously aquired, hi-level, non-build spells, (like Elemental Protection) in the pack (default - the most unused storage slots) instead of selling them. This is in case I want to replace growth oriented spells with others if it looks necessary.


dreamrider