Stygian owning my fishyzon

To all:

I got into Act 3 hell, thinking it would be no problem. After 3 deaths to stygian dolls, I realized I needed to figure out what was wrong.

Following Fishyzon's guide, I don't have a valk to tank for me. The dodge/evade/avoid bug caution kept me from putting any points there.

I was running with a 2diam moser's circle, and I've replaced that with a stormshield with a pdiam thinking that the damage reduction would help me out. I've read that I should not use LF when fighting the stygians, as their explosion will kill me.... For my FA, I'm using harmony in a great bow which is quite an improvement compared to the burza that I was using when the stygian's got me.

I'm close to lvl 87 now from doing pits at /p3. Can anyone give me advice on handling the stygians before I make another go at it?

Thanks,

Lanello|||To me unless you're pure jab the D/A/E bug is really not a big deal and still worth at least the 1 point in valk... Actually it does improve survivability by simply bypassing a good percentage of attacks before block even has to kick in, which I find outweighs the odd times it messes with your own attacks.

Either way, you should still have a merc and/or decoy? That assumed my strategy is to start double backing slightly when they rush and let my merc, (valk) and decoy stop their approach before lettin her rip with LF or FA; the last thing you want to do is annihilate a whole pack at point blank range if you know you can't take it...|||Dolls are only really a danger when you mass-kill them right in front of you (unless you draw a Fanatic pack or something).

KB+Strafe is the easiest solution, but since you're FA+LF I'd say just decoy-scout like crazy. They're harmless enough when they all swarm over to your decoy, and that lets you LF or FA or whatever you like and take them all out.|||My play style is cocky and aggressive, and that is not working for me. I was wondering if i was making the D/A/E bug a bigger deal than it really is. Too bad, I've used up my respecs. I have one skill point saved up, and need 3 more to get a valk. Once I've leveled up to 87, I'll give it another go using my decoy and merc to tank while I FA the buggers. If I get past them, and on to Act V, then I can get to sp from Izual quest. I'm taking her up to 90+ anyway, and will use her for CS and Cow running when all done. Too bad I can't annihilate the little **...

Thanks droid, I will send scout and decoy ahead and proceed slowly.|||If you're just worrying about getting past Durance II, and the dolls are the only thing stopping you, why not just remake your games/reroll your maps till you get a doll-free one? I dont play SP so I dont know if the monster spawns change every game, or only if you change maps, but they're not there every time.

You really will need, though, to get all the way past Baal so you can get a respec token. 1-pt Valk is pretty worthless without a bunch of +skills or she'll just get OHK by everything in Hell, pretty much. You want, ultimately, L17 Valk so that she gets an appreciable attack, but even just for a meat shield you need better than 1 base pt.|||Good idea, I wish I had thought of rerolling the maps. I'm going to have a problem getting to lvl 17 valk without respecing. I have +7 skills, so the best I can do by the time I reach lvl 90 is a lvl 11 valk. Going back to what the fishyzon guide suggests, do I want to put points into valk or should I consider putting more into decoy or other skills?

What I've done so far is max FA and its synergy CA, and maxed LF and CS.|||I made a fishyzon and they're awesome for farming hell. I play hardcore and I regularly farm everything in the game EXCEPT mephisto because I don't want to deal with the dolls. Random bad luck and its byebye hardcore fishyzon! I'd rather be safe than sorry.|||Quote:








My play style is cocky and aggressive, and that is not working for me.




If this is your playstyle then the Valk is of no help to you, because she will usually be behind you unless you recast her (in which case decoy serves the same purpose).|||I made it through Act III, and I resonate with Jsb comment about avoiding Act 3 Meph. Point well made Stephan about Valk. I've decided not to put points there, but rather save them and see how I do with decoy. She's destined to be a cow runner anyway, so ultimately a valk is not going to help me. Truth be told, I've been solely a paladin zealot up to know, and laying back to gain the advantage of a valk is against my nature.|||If you make harmony in a +3skill bow, you can get +5 to +9 for valkyrie.

May or may not be worth it, i dno.