Belial's Defeat

Finally defeated Belial at the end of Act II (Torment II) but it took the combined might of Gerry and I to bring the bastard down. Gerry's been having problems defeating the Lord of Lies himself for a few days now, same as me. He messaged me earlier and asked if I'm up to ganging up on Belial and, of course, I was raring to go.

The beasts between the gates and the Imperial Palace were easy enough. I'm a Paragon Level 97 Barbarian and Gerry's a Paragon Level 71 by this time.

Battling the minions were relatively easy (we were in no danger of dying) as well as Belial's initial form.

The killer really was Belial's ultimate form.

We actually died the first time around. Truth be told we still died at our second attempt but with his dying breath Gerry managed to land the killing blow (I was already dead at this point...my Barbarian's high on damage but relatively low on hitpoints, Gerry's is the opposite I think).

It was such a surprise that I forgot to take screencaps. Oh well!

On to Act III!

My Favorite Companion

My favorite companion is the Enchantress. Why? There's lots of reasons why.

1. She can charm enemies to fight for me for 8 seconds.

8 seconds might not seem too long in real life, but in Diablo time, that's a lot. A lot of things can happen in 8 seconds which can spell the difference between life and death. The best thing is, she can charm not only mobs, but elite enemies and the big dudes like the one above. Imagine being in a situation of almost dying, the monster gets charmed, stops fighting you and fights others... you have time to recover your life as you continue hacking him unopposed. 8 seconds is a LOT of time. I've escaped many scraps where I could have died because of this.

Apparently, the only thing the Enchantress can't charm are the big bosses like the Skeleton King, Ghom, Rakanoth, Azmodan, Belial and of course Diablo himself.

2. She increases your armor by 3% just by being the chosen companion.

Again, it may seem like not a lot, but it is. It works even if she's dead.

3. She increases your attack speed by 3%, Attack speed is important for a Barbarian because increased attack speed is increased damage. Nuff said!

There's another skill that I would like to use, but that means removing the additional attack speed, and that's the Enchantress' ability to turn enemies (even Elite monsters) into chickens for 5 seconds, making them lose their ability to use their skills as well as make them easier to kill. I opt for the attack speed though.

That said, I'm now Paragon Level 69, Torment II and I think I've pretty much hit a wall with Belial. I've stacked a lot of my skills in defense and vitality. I've got a TON of life but not so much damage. It takes a long time to kill Elites on Torment II and it takes forever to kill something like Belial. It gives Belial time to trigger his enrage timer at which point everything goes insane and I'm dead. There's no more going past it until I get better gear which gives me higher life and higher damage.

Reaper of Souls is just around the corner anyway so it won't be long now before I get that better gear! Belial better watch out!

Things are Challenging Again

For a time, my main concern was getting the best gear (which really meant going shopping at the Auction House) and accumulating as much gold as possible. After Patch 2.0.1 it became more of the adventure again and less of the daily struggle to earn gold.

Aside from the improved system, the bosses were challenging again particularly this guy...

I've died several times and I just couldn't beat him.

Decided to level up first so off I went.

The 50% XP Bonus was particularly helpful. Maybe I'll stand a chance this time. I'll find out tomorrow.

In the meantime, check out what's new with Patch 2.0.1! Click here.

Hardcore Barbarian, Level 21

My Hardcore Barbarian is still alive at Level 21!

I'm currently on the search for Zoltan Khule in Act 2 and it's going good so far.

I must admit, I almost died a couple of times. One time was against those huge Elite Bull Creatures and that huge mace weilding monster guarding the gate to Alcarnus. I thought I was a goner that last time but I managed to pull through.

I've been going very slowly making sure to search every part of the map, opening chests, and breaking pots. I do this so that I would level up more before progressing further. This makes my character stronger and more durable.

Whatever gold I make, I buy the best armor and weapons I can find at the Auction House. Low level items generally costs dirt cheap on the AH, as compared to Level 60+ items that range in the millions.

My hardcore character would most likely be dead long before then so I'm not really worried about spending that much.

I figure this character will die when he goes up against Belial, the boss of Act 2. I died there plenty of times with softcore characters before but since I've been really buffing this character up level wise and gear wise, who knows?