LucidMagic.net

Zonked! Both my casters have better gear.

last time I won  Civ game was Civ 3. I played the Celts. Managed to get Magnetisim first and found an unsettled continent. So to keep everyone else off it until I could put my own people on it I made a blockade of privateer ships that could attack anything without triggering war. Ended as a cultural victory.

It's an ethereal, the highest commander type in Xcom. not a lot of offensive power but it can mind control your people and make shields.

Here's a look at the Arch Angel armor my sniper has now.  She's also packing a plasma sniper rifle. The jet pack looks cool and it lets you hover high over the battle giving you eyes on lots of targets. Just make sure you take them out before they get close enough to shoot at you as you don't have any cover when flying. Looks pretty cool but I miss the blue accents of her previous armor.

Bit of a quirky bug today. This guy and his minions only used their fear ability. Not one of the others ever triggered.

"Are you using our tracking terminal to play Civilization?! (exasperated sigh) I hope you are at least going for a military victory."
-Random taunt from the base lackey while viewing the situation room in Xcom.

Wow. You let me know the names of your buyers and I'll cut you in on a bridge I need to sell.

Not sure if this was meant to be a wand or a +5 back scratcher.

First time I have seen this one. Might be nice if it had some damage mods on it.

Good achievement to have done on12-12-12 too.

Build in progress

   Thumpinskull. Formerly known as Kol Thumpinskull a hero of Sanctuary who rose to near godly power in his youth. When his kinsman Dan the Dangerous of clan McGrew presented him with the lost armor of the Immortal King he knew he was bound for great deeds. He foresaw all of the Children of Bul Kathos united under his banner, known and accepted by the rest of the world for the stalwart guardians they were. Alas when he struck down Baal, The Lord of Destruction, that vision fell too. The loss of the world stone and the scattering of his kind shattered his dream. To make matters worse his family, cherished siblings, also fell. His twin brother Lok the Silent was taken by a horrid undead beast called a Dracolitch, and as for his younger brother and sister, Zin and Eva they vanished into portals and never came out. Now as the last of his line he has forsaken his given name. He is Thumpinskull, and that is all. Following these multifold tragedies Thumpinskull buried his sacred armor and weapon on the remains of Mount Arreat. For many years he made his way through mercenary work until the rumors began to spread that the lords of hell were not all defeated. Thumpinskull returned to where he cached his legendary battle dress to discover that something had already taken it. He began to seek the missing pieces and his searching led him back to Tristram where he saw a star fall to the earth. He knew then that with or without his mighty regalia his job begun twenty years before was not yet done.

Character page: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Fogtreadder-1202/hero/18031571

Skills

Primary : Bash / Punish (up to 24% damage bonus)
Secondary: Whirlwind / Blood Funnel

Leap / Iron impact (defensive boost)
Hammer of Ancients / Smash (406% damage)
Battle Rage / Marauders Rage (30% damage boost)
Wrath of the Berzerker / Insainty (100% damage boost)

Passives: Nerves of steel, Weapons Master, Superstition

Preferred weapon: The biggest badest 2 handed monstrosity possible. The IK is ideal; otherwise a mace class is preferred over swords or polearms.

The idea behind Thumpinskull is he is the One Hit Wonder. Jump into the fray with a defensive boost and start hitting things one at a time until the 54% damage bonus from Battle rage and Bash is built up. Then finish off whatever might be left with devastating hits from HoA. Speed is not a factor for this build since every hit should bring a kill. Currently this is working. I have WW on this guy for when he goes up against especially large mobs. HoA is the skill Thump is built around for the largest possible single hit damage.

Perhaps the greatest weakness to this build may end up being a substandard defense and life. So I am thinking that in regards to how I gear him up I should focus on items with vitality and resists. A hit vita will of course improve defense through Nerves of steel. Of course this may compromise the One Hit Wonder effect in inferno. I foresee a tricky damage / defense balancing act in the near future. Also his life on hit potential right now is pretty much zero. So I will need to try and get more of that in the future.

Skills that may be changed out in the future are Whirlwind, Leap,  and Weapons master.

WW has not been a favorite skill, but after I began trying it out again after the last major patch it does not seem to leech fury quite as fast as it used to.  I may put HoA in the secondary position in time, but I would rather not since it is on the same key as my other Barb and I have become accustomed to it. WW is also my best escape skill if I get trapped by monsters. I may try other forms of it as they unlock to me.

Leap is kinda nice as it can be used to travel across different levels quickly. The iron impact boost is very short so I may replace this with a buffing skill and keep him as ground assault.


Weapons master is really only useful to me as long as I have a mace class weapon for the 10% crit. If I get the IK weapon for him and indeed the whole set I will want to replace this.

A bit of history behind the Thumpinskull Clan. Lok was my first D2 barb. Mace class based and I did not use any warcries. Naturally this build could not hack it in Hell level. The account Lok was on was full of first time chars all who just didnt have the stones for Hell. So as I had another account full of better builds I announced on the chat board that the first one to whisper me would get my old account. A guy by the name of Dracolitch was the winner. Zin and Eva were mace class builds on Guild Wars and Hellgate London respectively. Both used the smallest body size available on those games and so they are the little bother and sister. Kol came about when my D2 finder barb, DangerDanMcGrew found the IK armor and I was at last able to bring the complete set together. So Kol named after Lok as a twin *cough Tomax Xamot* was built specifically for the IK set focused on Whirlwind and Berserk. I would have put the first name Kol in the name in D3 but there were just enough spaces for the last name.

Got the Tal Rasha armor yesterday, here's how it looks on different chars.

This was my thoughts on it. See if you count the spelling errors!

My favorite is not one of the options, probably because it is so small. The Highlands Passage between Halls of Agony 2 and 3. It's a wonderfully rendered area, where you cross a rooted stone bridge whose supports vanish into the misty river far below. Though for my vote it has to be the cathedral. It's not just eye candy. It reacts to your presence. Bits of the floor falls away as you get too close and it makes the most use of interactive environment in the crumbling walls and chandeliers that you can use as traps with the right timing. The later acts have very little of this and other than the act 2 sewers and aqueducts the traps are just a handful of placeables. So here's something to make a note on for Act 5 Blizzard, More practical, interactive scenery!
                       

Well lets review them.

Andariel: Maybe she could have been something better but really she was small time. At best she had corrupted the Rogues on her own before her career got torn down. Did she really take part in bringing down the Prime evils? A bit mixed up in her ambitions if you ask me.

Duriel: Hmm some blob of flesh who shows up with no introduction in place of what you thought would be one of the prime evils. There is a word for that kind,  Tool.

Belial: Fool. I think Mo drove that point home already.

Azmodan: If I can give him any kind of credit it would be that the death of Belial stepped up his timetable way above his comfort zone. So he had to begin his attack early. Where indeed were the other five sins? My guess is they were still on leave and could not make it back in time to join the battle. So with his command structure pretty much absent he threw everything out at once. As you kill off his minions and destroy his lovely toys you can taste the panic rising in his taunts. When it finally comes down to him he has lost all control, and being unaccustomed to getting his claws dirty, fails outright.

Mephisto: Some good points have been made about him already so Ill go into what does not work for him. Of the three primes, Meph is the sniveling, anemic, weasely one. What went on after Diablo entered into hell? Notice that Mephisto was the only one of the three left when you arrive on the scene. Im thinking Baal heard the compelling stone being smashed and then said, well bro gotta get back to my business, been imprisoned for a long time and all so theres a lot of work to do. So just chill out here and ill catch ya later. Bye! And really, Meph does drop like a sack of potatoes.

Diablo: Hes a tough customer. Very powerful and is always seeking more power. However he is over arrogant, has poor leadership skills, and not very good at dealing with new situations. He does have a handful of minions but he just throws each one out with a threat ringing in their ears and leaves them. He also has a fixation with fallen angels, in particular, Izual. Honestly why did that guy come back? I thought when you killed him the first time and his spirit appeared in angelic form and vanished that it was done and signed for. Diablo must have really missed him to bring him back if you know what I mean. Finally Diablo only learned one new trick after absorbing all the other souls of the lords of hell. That was to port you into another realm where he can summon shadow versions of yourself. Otherwise he sticks to his old game plan, fire, lightning, cages. Rinse and repeat.  Finally he always seems very frustrated that he keeps getting beaten. You would think he had learned a bit more about the abilities of people after having died at their hands multiple times.

Baal: Yes I have saved the one I am leaning towards for last and Ill tell you why. Terror, hate, anguish, pain, lies, and sin are all personal, abstract, mental and emotional constructs requiring an outside effect to exist. Most of these require sentient thought. All can be ignored, or at the least lessened by the mindset of the one who feels them. Destruction however is a force. All which is created will ultimately be destroyed, living or not. Baal is that. Where was he when his brothers were slain? Obviously lying low and giggling his head off as he watched it happen. Baal needs no motive; he has no long term goals. Yes he seeks power but for why? So he can destroy even more. He does not need to plan, only to wreak mindless havoc wherever he goes. He also is very good about how he uses his tools, all of which are intended to be destroyed as soon as he no longer needs them. Duriel and Nilithak, they served their purpose to perfection. Hes the kind of guy who laughs his ass off as wave upon wave of minions die in front of him. Hes a bona fide maniac and he loves every moment of it.

Baal he's the freak to fear!

At last got my Witch Doctor to level 60. now he can use this. What's better than one snake? Why two of course. What's better than two snakes? Duh! Three dummy!