Diablo 2: Resurrected will test your resolve to boycott Blizzard

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685

I thought I was going to skate through Duriel on Nightmare with players set to 8 because I assumed he would attack my Merc and I could wail away on him.

Oops.

For the entirety of the very, very protracted battle which ensued, he never once attacked my Merc, in spite of my best efforts. All he did was chill me and then chase me around the room like some demonic bull, nipping at my heels. So my initial plan was shot, because my Fire Ball does not do the kind of damage needed to dispose of him in any kind of reasonable time with just hit and run techniques, and I certainly can’t go toe to toe with him. So what the hell do I do?

Well, maybe I’ll try Meteor. Nope, meteor does even less damage than Fire Ball since I haven’t pumped points into it yet, and it’s difficult to lure him into the blast zone without getting close to him.

Glacial Spike to slow him down and then Fire Ball? Nope. GS affects him little, and only for a very brief time. He’s (practically?) immune to cold damage, so Blizzard, which is by far my strongest skill at the moment, is all but worthless against him.

In the end I wound up using Teleport and Fire Ball. I run to one corner of the room and let him chase me, then immediately double TP to the opposite corner and unleash flurries of FB as he barrels across the room towards me. Rinse and repeat for uh, quite a while, and he’s dead.

Thankfully I have a good run speed and a fair amount of Faster Cast Rate. But that was by far the most brutal fight I’ve had to this point.

686

Nice.

687

My favorite thing about physical damage characters is the life and mana steal. Being able to run through mobs of enemies and come out the other side with full pools without using any potions is a huge benefit.

688

I thought the trick to beating duriel with a sorceress was with blaze, the skill where you run away and leave a trail of fire. Does that not work anymore?

689

Did you not Static Field him down to 25% out of some kind of masochistic impulse? ;)

690

I did indeed, and it still took that long to take him down the rest of the way!

691

He is the Absolute Penis, after all!

692

Truly

693

I did try blaze as well, but with the one point I had in it, if it was dealing damage it was an imperceptible amount.

694

I think we’re missing the important bit here, which is that Penny Dreadful made it! He beat Duriel!

And via stats that I usually don’t pay much attention to!

Faster walk/run speed and Faster Cast Rate. I mean, who pays attention to those two for helping them fight?

695

I thought that was JMJ.

696

I assume Lord of Pain is one of his personas.

697

Oh yeah, that reminds me, I hope everyone is watching the improved cutscenes. Anyway, in the one where The Wanderer assumes his new form and goes through the portal, Tal Rasha goes through the portal too, and Mephisto stays behind.

Which reminds me: So, what’s the deal with Tal Rasha? It’s just a plothole? Or did we ever see Tal Rasha again after that cutscene?

698

He’s rather a central character in the cutscene between A4 and A5 ;)

699

I didn’t know that! I thought that was Baal? Which one is Tal Rasha? The guy in the throne chair?

700

You’re Baal. Diablo 2 is a journey of self discovery.

701

Dude. What do you think the whole point of imprisoning Tal Rasha was, lo those many years ago?

702

Are you saying Tal Rasha is Baal?

703

Tal Rasha housed Baal’s soulstone in the same way the Wanderer held Diablo’s.

704

Very cool. I’ll watch the cutscenes again this time with these latest characters with new knowledge. I’ve been enjoying the voice acting with renewed interest in Act 1 and 2, but the instinct to skip all dialog is so ingrained in me from years of playing that I usually can’t resist it so I haven’t heard anything the characters said in Act 3 to 5 this time. Not yet. But I’ll try.