Bounty Run Act II - Levels 36 to 38

Note: A Purest Challenge is not to twink any character, use paragon points, or use any outside help and progress in Hardcore.  Inspired by a post on d2jsp by Bubonic.  I chose to start at Expert difficulty and do Bounties (RNG selected) and Rift runs. 

First repeat Bounty!!  Act II goes back to back!

Crap, it's Belial standing in my way again.  I go after him first.

He drops a nice chest upgrade.  I'm starting to favor armor pieces that start to increase the All Resist category.

Gobbo!  The remains of the gobbo and the glorious beam of light!

No time to collect the spoils as I am heavily engaged to complete the bounty.  Nice action pose.

This is a very interesting shield.  I'm going to mess around with the skill bar and see if I can spam Heavens Fury.  

This shield looks awesome!!!!!  I hope I got the transmog.  I don't remember if I received the notification.  It's the best looking shield and I'd certainly want to transmog any future shields.

End of session stats.

End Gold: 423,861

DPS: 1,735.50

Toughness: 54,117

Rift Run - Levels 35 to 36

Note: A Purest Challenge is not to twink any character, use paragon points, or use any outside help and progress in Hardcore.  Inspired by a post on d2jsp by Bubonic.  I chose to start at Expert difficulty and do Bounties (RNG selected) and Rift runs. 

It seems Bubonic isn't continuing with his Purity Challenge.  At least he hasn't updated it in awhile.  The most recent post was last week and he did say he had plenty of pictures. I'm hoping he'll continue with the endeavor as I am having a blast.  It adds another layer to the end game of ROS, while the developers figure out what they want the Diablo series to be.  Hint: stay away from the QQ on the Bnet forums.

A welcoming party was waiting for me at the Rift entrance.  This is the first time that's happened.  I'm lucky they were far enough away.  It would suck to load into the Rift instance and be either dead or severely hurt prior to starting a fight.

I tried, but couldn't manage not to pull the elite pack while fighting the Rift Guardian.  The RG was tough.  The elites dropped arcane beams and the RG kept trying to freeze me.  It limited when I could do.  I resorted to hit and run tactics.  The plateau I'm fighting on here contained two stairs.  I kept kiting around and around, using the stairs, dashing to the other side, below the plateau, if I saw the elite pack separate from the Guardian.  It was a long battle, but I won.

It's time for another crafting upgrade.  C'mon RNG!!!

Yesssssss!!!!!

My "old" weapons was given to the Scoundrel, giving him a nice boost to his DPS.  Needless to say he was very happy.

End of session stats.

End Gold: 324,161

DPS: 1,573.60

Toughness: 38,850

Bounty Run Act II - Levels 32 to 35

Note: A Purest Challenge is not to twink any character, use paragon points, or use any outside help and progress in Hardcore.  Inspired by a post on d2jsp by Bubonic.  I chose to start at Expert difficulty and do Bounties (RNG selected) and Rift runs. 

I'm not sure why I thought I needed to do another bounty set and messed up the routine of Bounty and then Rift run.  Oh well, Act II was randomly selected.  I'm surprised on the Bounty runs none of the acts have been repeated yet.

Blessed Hammer-Combust is working out very nicely.  Monsters are dying more quickly.  I completed the 5 Bounties in less than an hour for the first time.

This sword drop from Zultan Khule.  As usual, I did his bounty first so he didn't have the extra hit points.

I got confused on the direction for the bounty and went the wrong way.  While I was circling back, legendary gloves dropped.

Holy crap!  Magefist!  Oh, I wish I was Level 60+ to get the top tier stats.  I won't complain too much since they are such a good upgrade.  I would imagine these gloves are going to be with me for a very long time.  I've seen people spend thousands of blood shards gambling for the gloves.  Happy, happy upgrade!!

I found this Boss to be "cute".  I was expecting a large beast.  Instead this guy pops out of the ground.  I burst out laughing.  I liked this zoomed in picture because of the three hammers whirling around him and my dramatic pose.

End of session stats.  I dropped a couple of diamonds into my pants - that sounds wrong - to boost my All Resist.  DPS pushed passed the 1,000 milestone.  The sword is making a big difference.  I swapped Heavenly Strength for the other passive that gives an extra 3 Wrath per attack.

End Gold: 290,507

DPS: 1,140.10

Toughness: 31,129

Bounty Run Act III - Levels 29 to 32

Note: A Purest Challenge is not to twink any character, use paragon points, or use any outside help and progress in Hardcore.  Inspired by a post on d2jsp by Bubonic.  I chose to start at Expert difficulty and do Bounties (RNG selected) and Rift runs. 

Time for another Bounty run!  I randomly roll and it's time for Act III, one of my favorite the acts.  In case you're wondering, I rank the Acts by most fun in the following order:  Act I, Act V, Act III, Act II, Act IV.

The goal is to have a Crusader using fire damage.  Sweep-Blazing is bugged with the 2% DOT not working.  Blizzard is strangely silent on any forthcoming hot fix.  They've fixed (nerfed) and buffed several skills of the Crusade and other classes, but not Sweep-Blazing.  I read on the forums that Blessed Hammer-Combust provides good DPS.  It's also something different and I'm ready for a change.

I'm pleasantly surprised at how effective it is.  Bricktop the Bounty Boss is also impressed as he dies.  Monsters ignite and definitely die quicker compared to Sweep.  Sorry Sweep, you're on the self until fixed.

Here's a nice helmet upgrade (socket!) that I find shortly after killing the Bounty Boss.  Throughout the other bounties I find shoulders and pants upgrades.

Frozen and Vortex affixes on this elite pack.  They almost kill me.  I get chain frozen.  I remain calm and press Steed to bug out.  Nothing happens.  Okay, Plan B goes into effect.  I smash, a little too forcefully, Falling Sword to get out.  Nothing happens.  WTF.  I thought either of those two skills should allow me to break crowd control affixes.  Uh oh.

I'm unfrozen.  I start DPS'ing like a madmen, killing one of the elites.  I run out only to be pulled back into the center of them by Vortex.  I'm frozen again, but it doesn't seem too bad in regards to my health.  Hammers, Hammers, Punish, Punish and the elites are dead and I'm left curious.  The next day I find out you need Ankarats to break crowd control and then you can use Steed.  Lesson learned.

The legendary chest served me well for a very short time as I find a good chest upgrade due to the extra damage with Falling Sword attribute.

A nice pair boots.  I lose movement speed.  It's worth it.  I'm going solo, so no one cares how slow I go.

End of session stats.  Just as I take this screenshot, the dog barfs all over the carpet.  I exit the game and clean the mess up.  About 30 minutes later after the computer is off I realize I forgot to collect my Bounty Cache.  D'oh!

End Gold: 209,154

DPS: 719.00

Toughness: 19,620

Rift Run - Levels 27 to 29

Note: A Purest Challenge is not to twink any character, use paragon points, or use any outside help and progress in Hardcore.  Inspired by a post on d2jsp by Bubonic.  I chose to start at Expert difficulty and do Bounties (RNG selected) and Rift runs. 


The Rift started in Act IV.  Mob density was average, but the bar was over 70% when I entered the second Rift portal.  Ugh.  It's Pandemonium.  Have I mentioned that this area is not my favorite because there isn't room to maneuver.

Well it is not like I was going to stop the Rift and say "F-it".  The meter was at 99% and I run into an elite pack near stairs.  Crap.  I am worried that I'll kill one of the elite's minions and the Rift Guardian will spawn.  Worse, the elite affix is mortar.  It'd be just my luck to trigger the Guardian and a bunch of bombs exploding all around me.

But it doesn't happen.  I wipe away the elites and the Guardian doesn't appear.  The next white monster I kill makes the world tremble and the air weep blood.  It's a clone of the Act IV Keywarden - What's His Face.

This was a really annoying fight; it almost killed me.  Do you see those circles?  It rains ice and causes DOT.  I had to wait until the circles disappear before I could close in and DPS him down a little.  Templar was doing great, he could stay in the circles without a problem.  Me on the other hand, I see red numbers ticking away my life.  Wham - wham - wham - dash out - rinse and repeat.  The icing on the cake is that the Guardian kept debuffing me as well.  Ouch and double ouch.  Bastard.

Okay, I get the Guardian's health bar lower than the picture below.  I decide to use Falling Sword to issue a coup de grace!

Whoops!!  I Falling Sword on him.  He's still alive.  I'm standing in overlapping circles.  Uh oh.  My health starts draining rapidly, falling sword on cool down and it's time to pot.  I run off the circles, heading towards a gate.  Red numbers still flashing over my character and my potion is on cool down.  I wonder if I'm dead as the Templar kills the Guardian.  I laugh when the orange beam appears.

I go back to retrieve my loot.

Nice!  Another upgrade!

It was time to get a new weapon.  So I try another flail.  It's my opinion the Crusader and Flail are linked and should be used if at all possible.

Oh heck yes, I get real lucky and a nice flail.  I drop Amethyst gems in the chest to make up for the loss in Vitality.  I end up -600 health when all the gems are upgraded and socketed.

End of session stats.

End Gold: 140,475

DPS: 585.71

Toughness: 12,774

Bounty Run Act I - Levels 22 to 27

Note: A Purest Challenge is not to twink any character, use paragon points, or use any outside help and progress in Hardcore.  Inspired by a post on d2jsp by Bubonic.  I chose to start at Expert difficulty and do Bounties (RNG selected) and Rift runs. 

The weapon upgrade from the previous Rift Run gave me the confidence to continue with Expert difficulty.  It also might have been due to me randomly rolling Act I bounties, which I feel are easier than the Act IV and Act V bounties previously.  Oh and the Act I bounties was a Bonus with double shards awarded!

The five bounties took about an hour; halving the amount of time for the previous set.  Was it the new weapon upgrade?  Was it the new skills available to boost DPS and attack speed?  Was it the Act I monsters are easier to manage (slower)?  Methinks it's a combination of all of the above.

The Butcher was a bounty and I chose him first.  Similar to when I went after Urzael, I didn't want to wait until he was the last bounty remaining and be 4 or 5 levels higher and push up his HP.

A funny thing happened on the way to the Butcher...

I think I've found this ring 3 times so far in ROS.  At this level, it's a welcome upgrade.

The Butcher fight went smooth and only drank from the healing well once.

He dropped a good helmet upgrade as well.  Kind chap he is.

I cycled through the rest of the bounties and upgraded and replaced the legendary belt with a very nice rare.

Always check vendors for upgrades.  I always liked the look of these rare shields.

You'll notice Steed - Nightmare is now on my bar, as well as Akarat's Champion.  Iron Will and Law of Judgment is gone.  I hate the 90s cooldown on Akarat because the movement and DPS increase is great for fighting elites and single targets.

Here's a boot upgrade after such a fight with elites.

Stats at the end of the session.

End Gold: 121,036

DPS: 361.70

Toughness: 11,834

Rift Run - Levels 20 to 22

Note: A Purest Challenge is not to twink any character, use paragon points, or use any outside help and progress in Hardcore.  Inspired by a post on d2jsp by Bubonic.  I chose to start at Expert difficulty and do Bounties (RNG selected) and Rift runs. 


It's time for another Rift Run.  I keep the difficulty at Expert, with the plan in the back of my mind that if it becomes unbearable and too time consuming, I'll lower the difficulty.

There are some who may argue that smashing every barrel, vase, weapon stack, hive, etc., is a waste of time.  Well, sometimes you find an upgrade...

I didn't take a screenshot prior to unlocking the Rift Guardian, but I almost died.  Okay, I'm being overly dramatic, but I cleared Rift Level 1 and was at the entrance of Rift Level 2 when my latency went Red.  WTF?  I checked the connection and it was fine.  I then heard voices coming from my wife's computer and I realize she is streaming.  I kindly ask if she could stop for 10 minutes.  She turns off the stream and the ping goes Green.

It's Ghom the Rift Guardian.  I kite him back and back and back.  I don't want to fight him in enclosed areas and choke on his poison farts.

Rift Guardian drops a nice upgrade for bracers.

I'm really tired of my weak DPS and now that I have enough materials to craft (I keep Scrubsaders materials separate from the main stash) I got for a new flail.

Thank you RNGeeesus.

Stats at the end of the session

End Gold: 70,499

DPS: 290.86

Toughness: 11,351