Zeta Tries to Go to Hell

In a previous blog , I wrote about my Barbarian, Zeta, who was trying to finish Act IV of Nightmare Mode in Diablo III, in the hopes of being able to start Hell mode soon. She had reached level 49. I ended up having to stop playing before I reached a checkpoint (I prefer to stop right after hitting a checkpoint). Where would she end up when I next logged in? Here’s some highlights of her adventure.

It turned out that Zeta had been magically placed back in Bastion’s Keep. This wasn’t where I wanted her to be at, but it was safer than logging in and instantly being surrounded by demons. I used the checkpoint to go to Gardens of Hope 1st Tier, in the hopes of finding Tyrael. (I needed to finish his conversations for an Achievement).

He wasn’t there. (I’ve no idea why I figured he’d be there, so this is not too surprising).

Zeta brought Kormac, the Templar, with her. Together, they started trying to slay some demons, starting with this Armored Destroyer. If you look at where the cursor is at, you can see an impaled Angel, waiting to be released from torment. Gruesome!

They made it into the Hell Rift where Zeta was at before I stopped playing. Perhaps things would be easier this time? Zeta and Kormac managed to take out this Mounted Armaddon without too much trouble.

Ready to take on Hammermash, again. Would this be as difficult as last time?

Yes, yes it was! Dead again. DAMN!

What can I do differently to get past this part? The answer turned out to involve switching gems. Zeta had a lot of Ruby gems in her armor and weapon sockets. Rubies add to strength – and this sounded good for a Barbarian. It was good, up until this point in the game. Now, it seemed she needed more “hit points” than she had. To fix this problem, I took out the Rubies and replaced them with purple Amethyst gems. This worked!

This time, Zeta (and Kormac) were able to get farther into the Hell Rift. Even Diablo thought so. He warned If you destroy the oculus, my Hell Rift will consume you!

Despite the threat, Zeta and Kormac were undeterred. They ran to the Oculus…

…and destroyed it! (Completing a quest)

Auriel (whom we rescued in a previous part of the game) has something to say:

Auriel: Well done, nephalem. Diablo’s vile minions can no longer use this rift to find their way into the Silver City. Now, only one rift remains.

Treasure Seeker! Get ’em!

Here’s the loot he dropped.

Another pack of Subjugators

Checkpoint! Gardens of Hope 2nd Tier

Tensor joined my game around this point, and was a huge help in getting Zeta through Act IV. (Thanks, again, Tensor!)

Auriel returns and says: The Hell Rifts are closed! You have far exceeded my expectations, nephalem, but there is not a moment to waste. Quickly — you must make your way to the Silver Spire. So, we jumped into the portal Auriel created for us.

From here, things moved extremely fast as Tensor’s awesome Wizard brought mass destruction over everything in our path. SO. MUCH. FUN! Needless to say, I don’t have a ton of screenshots to share from this part of Zeta’s adventure.

Ding! Level 50!

A couple of cool drawings

Morlu Legionnaire

Nekarat the Keywarden

Mallet Lord

Elitist Bubble: Kill 1500 elite (champion, rare, or unique) enemies.

Tyrael had that little blue star above his head, indicating that he had something to say. I needed to hear this for the Achievement (and Tensor was patient and waited for me to finish talking with Tyrael.)

It’s Just Us: Listen to all of Tyrael’s conversations.

It turned out that Tyrael was the last one I needed to talk to. I also got:

Now I’ve Heard Everything: Complete the main character conversation achievements listed below: Stay Awhile and Listen, More than Stories, Bewitched, It’s Just Us

Ready to Fight Diablo!