This blog is part of the series I am doing about my progress in Season 2 of Diablo III. This time around, I’m working on leveling up a hard core Demon Hunter named Dusk. My primary goal is to get him to Level 70 so I can unlock the transmogs that are exclusive to Season 2. If I accomplish that goal – I’ll pick another one to work towards.

The screenshots you see in this blog were taken on February 15, 2015. I decided to do some solo play through parts of Act I in Normal difficulty. In other words, I was playing it extremely safe. I was having a bad allergy day and was worried that this would affect my ability to focus on the game. So, I took things slow and hoped to level up my Demon Hunter a little bit more.

I decided to continue the game that I’d started before I got into a game with my friends.  It was Story Mode of Act I and Normal difficulty.  The plan was to grab some easy to obtain Achievements and work towards some of the Act I Achievements that take longer to earn.

A Guiding Light: Use the Templar as a Follower.

I hadn’t gotten very far through Act I of Story Mode before I left that game to join my friends. When I returned, the game had unlocked the Blacksmith, Jeweler, and Mystic for me.  I also gained access to all three of the Followers.  This was my first opportunity to take a Follower with me through part of Season 2 (and get the corresponding Achievement). Kormac the Templar can heal, so I picked him.

Next stop, Cathedral Level 1.  Ragus Grimlow, Gorged Undead Brother, was waiting for me.  Killing him off earned me an Achievement.


Never Seen That Before: Kill one of the following unique enemies.


“Follow me… to Tristram.”

You don’t get an Achievement for this, and I’ve rescued Deckard Cain and seen this part of the game tons of times before.  It always feels special, so I stop and watch instead of rushing through it.

Poor Mira Eamon!  I feel bad for her.  The reason I included this screenshot is because it shows that I’ve re-taught myself to keep my Demon Hunter out of harms way where he can safely shoot at monsters.  the blue trap that Mira Eamon triggered was put there by me seconds before she “turned” (and then I ran away).  My concerns about accidentally playing as though I was still using my powerful Barbarian from Season 1 turned out to be nothing to worry about.

Grave Buster: Destroy 50 tombstones.

To get this Achievement, I positioned my Demon Hunter so that there was a tombstone in between him and a zombie. The shots from his crossbow would hit, and destroy, the tombstone before it reached the zombie.  It didn’t take as long as I figured it would.

Level 23!  The progress I’m making in a solo, Normal difficulty, Story Mode game isn’t anywhere near as fast as when I was in a game with friends.  I expected it would be slower… but didn’t realize it would be incredibly slow.  Or, at least that’s how it felt.  I wasn’t keeping track of how long I was playing.

Demon Hunter fire power appreciation screenshot!


    Longshot: Kill 100 monsters from 45 yards away.


This was the first Demon Hunter specific Achievement that I earned in Season 2.  I couldn’t earn any of these in Season 1 because I played a Barbarian the entire season.  Someday, if I ever get obsessive about earning as many Achievements as possible during a Season – I’ll have to roll a bunch of characters of different classes.

In my previous blog about Season 2 of Diablo III,  I mentioned that when Dusk the Demon Hunter ran into his first pack of blue monsters, with a gold monster, he wasn’t too effective at fighting them.  Fortunately, they were in a cellar, so he could dash in and shoot and then rush out before he died.  It was tedious and took a long time.  Now, Dusk was at level 23, and he was having no problems at all killing the more difficult monsters.

Things stopped being frustratingly slow, which was nice.  However, now things felt almost too safe.  That was ok for the moment, since I was playing while sick.  Next time, though, I was going to have to either kick it up to Hard difficulty, or start doing bounties, to make things more challenging.  It is smart to play slow and safe in hard core – but this was borderline ridiculous (and starting to get boring).


Level 24!

What to do now?  I’d completed the quest where you fight Chancellor Eamon and obtain the broken crown.  There were two more crypts that I had yet to plunder.   The Crypts area is one of my favorite places in Diablo III.  One of the remaining crypts was going to give me an event to do: either Jar of Souls or Matriarch’s Bones.  Either would do at this point in Season 2.  In addition, I was also working on one of the Seasonal Monster Slaying Achievements for Act I (which requires a player to kill a certain amount of skeletons).

I got Jar of Souls!

Jar of Souls is one of my favorite events to do.  It gives the player a room filled with skeletons to slay.  How would my Demon Hunter do?  Overall, it was a good challenge.  Dusk the Demon Hunter dropped caltrops, bounced around the room, shot at skeletons while running away.

I forgot that there was a gold monster in the Jar of Souls event.  This provided a little extra challenge for me – which was welcomed.  Dusk had to fight Tartus, Jailer of Souls.  This monster has a purple name, so I suspect it might be on the “Never Seen That Before” list.

Jar of Souls: Complete the Jar of Souls event.

Seasonal Major: Get 200 Season Achievement Points in Season 2.

This time around, I managed to earn some Achievements and move Dusk the Demon Hunter up two more levels.  Things were moving slow and I’d unintentionally gone back to the way I played through Season 1.  There I am, right back in Story Mode in Normal difficulty.  I’ve no intention of playing Season 2 by going the the content in a straight line (again).  Next time, I’m going to get out of Story Mode and run some bounties in Adventure Mode.

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