I decided to play a Hardcore Barbarian in Season 17, and felt like my progress was moving very slowly. Things sped up dramatically after I acquired more Ancient items.
The special thing about Season 17 is the Community buff:
While you have no Set bonuses equipped every Ancient item you have equipped increases your damage dealt by 750% and reduces your damage taken by half.
By the time I was done with Chapter III, I had completed some of the objectives in Chapter IV. Season 17 is the first one where players can scroll through the entire Season Journey and see what objectives upcoming parts require.
Chapter IV has twelve objectives. I had already completed:
- Let’s Get Started: Learn 5 Blacksmith Recipes.
- Exquisiteness: Reforge a weapon property to a socket at the Mystic.
- …Is Another Man’s Treasure: Use Kanai’s Cube to upgrade a rare item to legendary quality.
- Just Look at You!: Learn 5 Jewelcrafting recipes.
The buff for Season 17 gave players a significant damage boost for every Ancient item they have equipped. Unfortunately for me, I had only found one Ancient item. The only way to get more was to keep grinding or to spend Blood Shards and hope that Kadala gave me some Ancients.
As such, I hit a point where it felt like my progress was going super slowly. I decided to focus on doing Nephalem Rifts, and then using Rift Keys to do Greater Rifts. My goal was to get more Paragon Points for my Barbarian, and also to try and level up some Legendary Gems.
Rift And Roll: Finish a level 70 Nephalem Rift on Torment I difficulty or higher.
Stonesmith: Level three Legendary Gems to level 5.
Kadala finally took pity on me and gave me an Ancient Messerschmidt’s Reaver. I now had a total of two Ancients to work with. That wasn’t quite enough for me to be able to remove the set pieces my Barbarian was wearing yet.
The flavor text on this item says: This mighty weapon once hewed its way through the demon-infested catacombs beneath the old Zakarum cathedral in Tristram. Could it be the weapon the warrior Aidan used to defeat Diablo all those years ago?
Rift Raft: Finish a level 70 Nephalem Rift on Torment II difficulty or higher.
Eventually, I was able to obtain several more Ancients. They were exactly what I needed to speed up the process of completing the Season Journey. I didn’t have enough of them to replace all of the non-ancients that my Barbarian was wearing. But, I had enough to replace the set pieces.
Zoltun Schooled: Kill Zoltun Kulle at max level in under 30 seconds on Torment difficulty or higher in Hardcore mode.
Zoltun Schooled is not a seasonal achievement. It is a non-season Hardcore achievement. I just happened to earn it during Season 17.
Mercy: Kill Zoltun Kulle at level 70 on Torment II difficulty or higher.
Gemming Up the Works: Level one Legendary Gem to level 15.
Riftacular: Finish a level 70 Nephalem Rift on Torment III difficulty or higher.
Romancing the Stone: Level three Legendary Gems to level 15.
Death, Death, And More Death: Kill 750,000 monsters while in Nephalem Rifts.
That one is also not a seasonal achievement. It is a “regular” achievement.
Soloing In Style: Reach a Greater Rift Level 20 Solo.
Completing Greater Rift 20 was incredibly easy while wearing several Ancient items during Season 17. I had no trouble at all with it.
Great Expectations: Reach Greater Rift Level 20 Solo. Greater Rift Keystones drop from Rift Guardians in Nephalem Rifts.
Stay Classy: Complete one of the following Class Sets at level 70.
I happened to find the last few pieces of the Might of the Earth set before I finished Chapter IV. This meant that the last two pieces from Haedrig’s Gift would be duplicates of what I now had.
A Rifting Yarn: Finish a level 70 Nephalem Rift on Torment IV difficulty or higher.
Key Decisions: Slay Odeg the Keywarden at level 70 on Torment IV or higher. Odeg the Keywarden can be found in Act I in the Fields of Misery.
Key Wee: Slay Sokahr the Keywarden at level 70 on Torment IV difficulty or higher. Sokahr the Keywarden can be found in Act II in the Dahlgur Oasis.
Keeping It Low Key: Slay Xah’Rith the Keywarden at level 70 on Torment IV difficulty or higher. Xah’Rith the Keywarden can be found in Act III in Stonefort.
The Key to Success: Slay Nekerat the Keywarden at level 70 on Torment IV difficulty or higher. Nekarat the Keywarden can be found in Act IV in the Gardens of Hope 2nd Tier.
Seeya: Kill the Siegebreaker Assault Beast at level 70 on Torment IV difficulty or higher.
SEASON JOURNEY (CHAPTER IV) COMPLETE!
Players who completed Chapter IV of the Season Journey in Season 17 got the rest of the “freebie” set they had been collecting.
They also receive a Portrait Frame and a Pet. I already had the pet from a previous season when it was first offered. It’s nice that Blizzard is making it possible for more players, who may have joined the game more recently, to earn that pet.
The Greyhollow Portrait Frame is lovely! I’m fairly certain that I already earned this one last time it was offered (but I think I did that on Softcore last time).
The flavor text for this Portrait says: You braved the depths of the Season, and this is what you found.
The Season 17 pet is called Old Growth. The flavor text on this pet says: He emerged from the darkest forest, carrying many secrets. But he will not speak.
Athena the Hardcore Barbarian lived long enough to complete Chapter IV. Here she is, wearing the full Might of the Earth Set, and carrying an Ancient weapon.
My next goal is to finish Slayer. Ideally, I’d like Athena to stay alive long enough for me to complete – and master – the Might of the Earth Set Dungeon.
Season 17 (Season of Nightmares) – Chapter IV Completed is a post written by Jen Thorpe on Book of Jen and is not allowed to be copied to other sites.
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