I just died in what was probably the most stressful POTD solo run EVER.
151-160:
I got hit by some insane server lag (note to self: don't do POTD on patch day!!) and thought I was going to DC. It didn't help that I was also slugging through a gloom/abilities floor, and used a steel to stay alive because the lag was intense (lag screws over dualcasts REALLY badly). As a result, I cleared 160 with 1 strength and 0 steel... (that's not good at all!)
161-170:
I spent my sweet time here looting as many chests as possible, and managed to recoup all my steels, minus one used on the boss. Cleared with full poms (which is usually the case for 170, you will start using them from 171-180 most of the time unless you get some nice luck).
Oh. I cleared with under a minute left. Yes, I literally used every minute I had to get every chest, even if it meant killing extra mobs (and finding mimics!)
171-180:
This set was DISGUSTING. I had to use steels to clear so many sasquatches (I used to kill them without steel, it's possible, but when you get crit, you can get one shot if a browbeat crit and autoattack hit at the same time). (Oh, I also died to one without steel and got weakness. Yay!)
There was also a treasure room FULL of wolves. On a Gloom floor. Luckily, I managed to sneak around them, but I did have to pop a steel after aggroing a bandersnatch by accident (they hit hard even WITHOUT gloom, so with gloom is definitely a must-steel). However, the Cairn of Passage was in the treasure room (luckily in the corner next to the hallway!) and I had to wait forever for the stars to align and for all the wolves to turn away.
It was so disgusting, I only had 1 steel left. I ended up raging to clear some sasquatches and anzus because the sasquatches were in the way and I did not want to use my last steel. I used a steel on 179, hoping I could clear fast enough to keep enough of it for the boss. However, this was a big mistake. The steel wore out when the boss was still like 60% HP. And it autos pretty hard. Oh, and then I got hit by a trounce. My raising popped, and I revived... with only 8 minutes on the clock. Now I HAD to pop another steel and strength, leaving me with 0 steel and 1 strength. I used a lust as well (during weakness too... lol) just because I was concerned about the time. I thought I would probably need to double-lust. The meteor phase wasn't that bad, except I literally ALMOST RAN OUT OF MANA. Yes, Lucid was on cooldown. I had literally 500 mana which was hardly enough for a Vercure, with Lucid on CD for 10 seconds. I had to go in melee range to do the melee combo (I'm terrified of melee range, even from behind the boss, because of the time I got meteor + autoed). I beat the boss with 30 seconds left.
With 0 steel, and 2 rage, things really looking good for 181+.
181-186:
This is where it ended.
Things started to look up a bit near the start, though. I got a rage back in the first gold chest on 181, which brought such a big smile to my face. I also got THREE extra flights over the course of these floors. Between clearing the flighted floors and chest-hunting, I was back up to a stock of 2 strength, 2 steel, and 3 rage. My only concern was my 1 serenity.
However... 186... I was in a dead end room, and the only way through was through a treasure room FULL of Chimeras, Flood Dragons, Worms, Claws... all that good stuff. BUT! The room was actually arranged in such a way that I literally could run past it while aggroing NOTHING. To add to that, I also managed to steal a flight from that room, which I promptly used. This means, all I had left was a flighted 187, and then I could rage on 188/189 if I really had to (or flight them as well. I still had 3 flight AND 3 rage!).
There were only 2 mobs I could pick off safely. After that, I cleared 3 mimics from a room (I used an alteration from the last floor). I did not use ANY poms for the mimics, and kited them around a room with an archeosaur in it. Sounds easy enough, right? Wrong! In both adjacent rooms, there was a worm. So when I pass through those sides, I get hit by an extra sand pillar. And trust me, 181+ mimics are hard enough to kill without poms, so getting an extra 4K damage is definitely not welcome. I managed to take out all 3 mimics, though one time I cut it close and literally fell to 3 digits of HP due to a crit. I survived by sprinting and running in a circle, which makes it so you do not take ANY mimic autoattack damage for the full duration of the sprint, buying time for my sustain potion to heal me up before the mimic got locked in its infatuation + deathtrap rotation.
However, 2 + 3 is not 6. I still had to kill one more mob. I didn't want to kill the archeosaur, because without steel, you can get one shot by it when it crits. But wait! There was a treasure room full of Chimeras and stuff! Chimeras are pretty easy to kill. But, they do hit as hard as mimics, though it's usually not too bad because they get locked in like 5 casts. But, this is where the room layout REALLY screwed me over. In the room with the 3 mimics, a crawler spawned. That means I couldn't use that room to kite in because I would have to walk, and you just can't kite while walking (also good luck walking out of the chimera telegraphs while walking haha). And that hallway was the only SAFE hallway, because the other two hallways would have worms pecking at you. It wasn't that bad - I got the Chimera down to 10% HP, but then I strayed too far to the left and actually took a sand pillar from the Worm ALL THE WAY down from the corner. The Chimera then crit me for 10K with an auto, and I promptly died to the next auto which did 6K. Well, when you fail, try again, right?
I had a raising active, and still another one in the inventory. I used the extra one, and pulled the chimera again. This time, on Ram's Voice (run away), my displacement got caught along the jagged wall, moving me nowhere. I died again. Now I have Brink of Death, and what did I do? PULL IT AGAIN! I used a strength to help with my self healing, but it turns out it wasn't enough. I used a steel as well to help with the damage... AT THE WORST TIME. Stuck in the hallway, locked in the pom animation, while the archeosaur turned around, I had hardly anywhere to run. And I died to the Chimera AGAIN. I've NEVER died to Chimeras before today, and I literally died 3 times to the same one.
With the poms I had, I was easily clear for 190+. I could have fortune + raged 187-189 if I had to, where 187 was flighted so I could probably do a carry-over rage (clear 2 rooms with rage to the Cairn of Passage, then clear 2 rooms on the next floor with the same rage), and had 2 steels for the boss. Or, I could have flighted 189, steeled on 189, then steel again for the boss mid-way though, and save a rage.
This run DEFINITELY had potential, but that floor setup on 186 was just painfully bad.
I drew a diagram of the floor layout for reference~
http://prntscr.com/i8a3f1Oh well... I will try again soon !!
