Season 17 (The Season of Nightmares) – Done With Chapter III

I’ve been working my way through the Season Journey in Season 17 – The Season of Nightmares. One cool thing about this Season is that players could scroll through the entire Season Journey and see every objective.

By the time I completed Chapter I and Chapter II, I had finished a big part of Chapter III. Having a clear idea of the progress I made, and what I still needed to do, really made a difference in my outlook.

• Tristram’s Most Wanted: Obtain an Act I bounty cache.
• Caldeum’s Most Wanted: Obtain an Act II bounty cache.
• Hey There Kadala: Spend Blood Shards at Kadala. Kadala has a 10% chance to give you a Legendary.
• Arreat’s Most Wanted: Obtain an Act III bounty cache.
• Heaven’s Most Wanted: Obtain an Act IV bounty cache.
• Westmarch’s Most Wanted: Obtain an Act V bounty cache.
• The Rock: Craft a Gem of Imperial or greater quality at the Jeweler. Socketing an Emerald into your increases your Critical Hit Damage, and is a big damage boost.
• Level 1 Seasonal Cubist: Extract a Legendary power using Kanai’s Cube.
• Master: Complete a Nephalem Rift on Master difficulty or higher.

I’m playing a Hardcore Barbarian in Season 17, and this requires making good choices about things like difficulty levels. I’m hoping to get through at least Chapter IV before my Barbarian dies and I have to level up a new one.

The next thing I did was complete a Slayer objective. Someone posted a question on my blog post about How to Extract Legendary Powers with Kanai’s Cube. I decided the best way to answer that question was to go do the objective and take note of when the “Achievement Toast” popped up.

Third Power Cubed: Equip Kanai’s Cube with armor, weapon, and a ring of Legendary power.

You cannot stick anything into Kanai’s Cube and expect that will be enough for you to complete that objective. It has to be one piece of armor, one weapon, and one ring. Three pieces of armor, for example, won’t do.

After you get the right type of stuff into Kanai’s Cube, you must equip one weapon, one piece of armor, and one ring. To do that, you click the boxes on the front of Kanai’s Cube, and use them to select one of each of those items. Click on the item inside the Cube, and you have equipped it.

Athena the Barbarian had two pieces of the Might of the Earth set (the helm and the gloves).

To test out the effectiveness of those two pieces, I started running Greater Rifts on Hard difficulty. I started with Greater Rift 1, figuring that starting low would give me the most opportunity to level up Legendary Gems.

I completed Greater Rift Level 1 at 8:29.250. It’s nothing to brag about. The reason I put this screenshot into the blog is to show a quality of life change that started in Season 17.

Previously, the Greater Rift Complete notification would take over the whole screen. Now, it is much smaller. I like this change!

Exquisiteness: Reforge a weapon property to a socket at the Mystic.

My first Ancient item this Season was Tyrael’s Might. I got it from Kadala.

The flavor text on Tyrael’s Might says: “And lo, the Angel of Justice did cast his judgement in favor of the Nephalem.” – The Books of Jarl, Volume III.

The reason I posted an Ancient Tyrael’s Might into this blog is because Ancient items really matter in Season 17. There is a Community Event Buff that will last the entire Season:

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.

What I should have done was remove the two set pieces my Barbarian was wearing and replace those with non-set items. Doing so would have made the most of the Ancient item I was using. Now that I realize this, I can use it to my Barbarian’s benefit.

Kadala gave me the Immortal King’s Stride set piece. The flavor text it says: The king of the barbarians strode the world like a god.

It is not part of the Might of the Earth set my Barbarian was using. But, it is still useful, if I want to complete more than one Set Dungeon this Season.

Right after that, Kadala gave me Foundation of the Earth. It is part of the set my Barbarian is using. The flavor text says: Even the grandest structure will fall if it is built on sand.

Athena the Barbarian now had three pieces of the Might of the Earth set, and an Ancient Tyrael’s Might.

Kick Out The Gems: Level one Legendary Gem to level 5.

Kick Out the Gems is a Seasonal Achievement.

…Is Another Man’s Treasure: Use Kanai’s Cube to upgrade a rare item to a legendary quality.

I moved the difficulty to Master for the first time this Season. There was a moment when I wasn’t sure if that was a good idea.

Watch Me Araneae-Neae: Kill Queen Araneae at level 70 on Master difficulty or higher.

Just Look At You!: Learn 5 Jewelcrafting Recipes.

Penetrate & Defenestrate: Kill Urzael at level 70 on Master difficulty or higher.

Greater Rift Level 7 is the highest Greater Rift I’ve completed in Season 17 (so far). I finished it at 9.09.016 and hit Paragon 27.

Season Journey (Chapter III) COMPLETE!

Players who complete Chapter III of the Season Journey receive two more pieces of the “freebie” set. For me, this meant I was getting two more pieces of the Might of the Earth set.

One of the set pieces was Foundation of the Earth, which I already had equipped (thanks to Kadala). I picked the one that I thought was best and put the other into my Stash.

The other set piece was Spires of the Earth. The flavor text says: Travelers speak of a stone arch in the desert, where mystics seek wisdom from supernatural visions, or strength from the ground. Some claim to have received both.

Athena the Hardcore Barbarian now has four pieces of the Might of the Earth Set. She should get the rest after completing Chapter IV (some of which is already done).

If I complete the set, the first thing I’m going to do is the corresponding set dungeon. I hope to not only complete it but also master it. Players cannot die in a set dungeon, so I don’t have to worry about losing my Hardcore Barbarian in it.

If I get more Ancients before that point, then I will put the Might of the Earth Set pieces in my Stash and see how high a Greater Rift I can do.

Season 17 (The Season of Nightmares) – Done With Chapter III 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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