[1.05b] Lord Baco (Barb) [Level 41 | A1 Hell | Softcore | Character SSF | No Extended Stash | Retired]

[fearedbliss]

Greetings World! I'm happy to have the pleasure of revealing my newest universe, Lotus (2026), and the first character in that universe, Baco, the Grape Weasel Barbarian. Baco was a Mythical Grape Weasel that resided in the Eastern part of the Seneca Lake region in Upstate New York's Finger Lakes Area. A creation by the folks at the Hazlitt Vineyards. Baco is also a type of grape.

All characters in the Lotus (2026) universe will abide by the following standards:

- 1.05b w/ Singling
- Softcore
- Character-based SSF
- No Extended Stash

What this means is that every item that a character uses will be found by that character themselves (Character-based SSF), and it also means that I won't be using TCP/IP to have an "Extended Stash" for that specific character through additional storage space provided by Mules. I will only be using the stash that the character themselves has. All of the characters in this universe are also on 1.05b w/ Singling, and are all Softcore characters. I've deleted all other universes on all versions of the game, and this is now my only universe and character. You can read more about the differences between Character-based SSF and Player-based SSF here.

With that said, Baco is currently in A2 Normal, and A1 was a pretty smooth ride. I was able to find an Infernal Cap, and also found a Greyform Quilted Armor from a rack I think in Catacombs Level 4, right before I was about to find Andy. So I'm pretty happy about that. I currently already have 10 points in Sword Mastery and will be specializing most likely in Sword/Shield, I don't believe I will necessarily be a Whirlwind Barbarian for this character. Maybe a future character will have WW. Thus I most likely will be maxing out damage with a Rare Executional Sword (Exceptional) since there are no Elite items in Classic, thus no Colossus Blades. I'm pretty excited for how this will play out and I will try and reach end game with this character and not get bored when I get to Hell lol, the hunt for rares forever in classic <3, it will never end lol. Enjoy the journey folks. I know I usually always say this and I end up wiping all my stashes lmfao. Let's see what happens.

 

[fearedbliss]

Currently in A2 Lost City heading to get the ammy. Level 15 and RNGesus has been good to me so far lol.

 

[fearedbliss]

A2 went smoothly. Got a Rockfleece from Duriel Quest drop and some other goodies.

 

[broxigaarr]

Nice one, I am watching each upload. Keep em coming

 

[fearedbliss]

Haha I'm happy you are enjoying the videos @broxigaarr.

Baco has now been Sirred. A3 and A4 went well as well, and there were some little items picked up along the way. In the past I use to put 5 points in Leap since it's such as a nice mobility skill, especially in 1.09b since you can MF Bosses very quickly, specifically leaping over the little river in Durance of Hate Level 3. In 1.05b it's less useful since you can't MF bosses (or more that it's pretty much a waste of time to do so). However, Leap Attack is very nice since I can actually leap wherever I click with just 1 point in it and I _don't_ need to have a monster selected, I can just select the area to jump, and it will go there. So this means that I can just leave 1 point in Leap and use Leap Attack instead for this specific purpose. For whatever reason I thought that you had to have a target selected for you to leap (target as in a specific entity, not just a random place on the map). I haven't tried Leap Attack in 1.09b+, but in 1.05b you don't need a target to just select and jump at essentially any area within your observable range.

Besides that, Baco is happily resting for now, but he will resume his adventures soon. Sanctuary never sleeps!

 

[fearedbliss]

I'm currently just chilling and grinding A4 River of Flame and now I started grinding Chaos Sanctuary. I was able to find a Magic Great Sword which boosted my minimum damage by a lot, and also the maximum damage increased as well but not by as much. I then was able to find a Rare Great Sword from Lord de Seis which was a beautiful drop. The damage difference wasn't the most different between the Magic and Rare, but now I have lightning damage on the sword which should help with any Stone Skin monsters, and it also has Greatly Increased Attack Speed so the weapon speed is way faster. This is what's boosting my total damage output. I'll keep chilling here until further notice. I also stopped by A1 NM real quick to get the DoE skill point.

 

[fearedbliss]

Two new gambles and one of those is a lovely rare cap , definitely an upgrade.

 

[fearedbliss]

Reached level 30 and Norm CS clear speeds have increased. Found some nice little upgrades as well.

 

[broxigaarr]

Reached level 30 and Norm CS clear speeds have increased. Found some nice little upgrades as well.

Nice finds, especially like the cap in the previous post.

Also on the last screenshot, love Sir Baco´s stance in the menu screen. Looks badass.

 

[fearedbliss]

Haha definitely, and the Hardcore stances look even better!

 

[fearedbliss]

Baco has finished A2 NM and is currently in A3 Kurast Bazaar .

 

[broxigaarr]

Hmmm, the Amber Cap of Light... very impressive

 

[fearedbliss]

Lord Baco has finished A3 and A4 NM and made it to A1 Hell and will need to get stronger before he can actually progress in Hell without getting nuked lol. Some nice little gear upgrades but lots of room for improvement.

A few things I've noticed:

1. If you are wearing a 2 handed weapon and a shield on a Barb and die, when you pick up your body only the two handed weapon will be picked up and auto-equipped. The shield will either stay on the body on the ground or it may go to your inventory on pick up, but it won't automatically equip both of them.

2. I've heard about this before but was reminded by force through the game, if you already have a body on the ground, and then you die a second time, it seems that your body will pop :O. So I had to pick up all of my gear from the ground individually. This was changed later on in Lod (up to 15 bodies IIRC).

 

[fearedbliss]

Grinding and grinding in Normal p8 CS and getting decent experience, but I'm gonna see what areas of NM I want to explore. I still need better gear to survive in NM but I want to get the chance for the exception bases.

 

[fearedbliss]

These are some final screenshots from Baco since I'll be moving to working on Susuwatari.

 

[broxigaarr]

You´re not finishing Hell?

 

[fearedbliss]

Not on this character. The build is bricked for what I want to do in Hell, it would be too slow. I would rather restart the barb completely. Lessons have been learned though so I'm happy to take that knowledge and apply it on a new Barbarian.

 

[broxigaarr]

Aight Good luck then.

Offtopic: Where are 1.05 screenshot stored? I am currently playing Paladin via Cactus and can´t find them.

 

[fearedbliss]

They are stored in the normal D2 root directory (assuming you put Cactus.exe next to Game.exe).