Best Run in terms of anything
Ingrid Bergman: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Casablanca, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Gaslight, Spellbound, The Bells of St. Mary’s, Notorious, June Night, Adam Had Four Sons, Rage in Heaven, Saratoga Trunk, Swedes in America, Arch of Triumph, American Creed, Under Capricorn, and Joan of Arc.
Olivia De Havilland: The Snake Pit, Santa Fe Trail, Their Boots On, The Heiress, To Each His Own, In This Our Life, My Love Came Back, The Strawberry Blonde, The Male Animal, The Well Groomed Bride, Hold Back the Dawn, Thank Your Lucky Stars, Devotion, The Dark Mirror, Princess O'Rourke, and Government Girl.
Judy Garland: Andy Hardy Meets Debutante, Strike Up the Band, Little Nellie Kelly, Meet Me in St. Louis, Presenting Lily Mars, For Me and My Gal, Thousands Cheer, Girl Crazy, Babes on Broadway, Life Begins for Andy Hardy, Ziegfeld Girl, In the Good Old Summertime, The Pirate, Words and Music, Easter Parade, The Harvey Girls, Till the Clouds Roll By, and Ziegfeld Follies.
Gene Tierney: Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake, Heaven Can Wait, Laura, Leave Her to Heaven, Dragonwyck, The Razor’s Edge, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Tobacco Road, The Return of Frank James, Hudson's Bay, The Shanghai Gesture, A Bell for Adano, China Girl, Sundown, Belle Starr, Thunder Birds, Rings on Her Fingers, The Iron Curtain, and That Wonderful Urge.
Bette Davis: In This Our Life, Thank Your Lucky Stars, The Man Who Came to Dinner, The Little Foxes, The Letter, Now, Voyager, Beyond the Forest, Winter Meeting, June Bride, A Stolen Life, Deception, Hollywood Canteen, Old Acquaintance, Mr. Skeffington, Shining Victory, The Bride Came C.O.D., Watch on the Rhine, All This, and Heaven Too, and The Corn Is Green.
Joan Crawford: When Ladies Meet, Possessed, Mildred Pierce, Hollywood Canteen, Humoresque, Flamingo Road, It's a Great Feeling, Daisy Kenyon, Reunion in France, They All Kissed the Bride, Strange Cargo, Susan and God, Above Suspicion, and A Woman's Face.
Carole Lombard: They Knew What They Wanted, To Be or Not to Be, Vigil in the Night, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
Agnes Moorehead: Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, Dark Passage, Journey into Fear, The Big Street, The Youngest Profession, Government Girl, Jane Eyre, Dragon Seed, Since You Went Away, The Seventh Cross, Mrs. Parkington, Our Vines Have Tender Grapes, Tomorrow, the World!, Keep Your Powder Dry, Her Highness and the Bellboy, Johnny Belinda, The Lost Moment, Summer Holiday, The Woman in White, The Stratton Story, Station West, The Great Sinner, and Without Honor.
Shirley Temple: A Kiss for Corliss, Fort Apache, Adventure in Baltimore, The Story of Seabiscuit, Mr. Belvedere Goes to College, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, Since You Went Away, Kiss and Tell, I'll Be Seeing You, Honeymoon, Kathleen, Young People, Miss Annie Rooney, The Blue Bird, and That Hagen Girl.
Ava Gardner: The Killers, The Hucksters, Singapore, One Touch of Venus, The Bribe,The Great Sinner, Major Barbara, East Side, West Side, Reunion in France, Fancy Answers, H. M. Pulham, Esq., Shadow of the Thin Man, Babes on Broadway, This Time for Keeps, Joe Smith, American, We Do It Because, Sunday Punch, Kid Glove Killer, Calling Dr. Gillespie, Mighty Lak a Goat, Du Barry Was a Lady, Hitler's Madman, Ghosts on the Loose, Two Girls and a Sailor, Lost Angel, Young Ideas, Swing Fever, Maisie Goes to Reno, 3 Men in White, She Went to the Races, Blonde Fever, and Whistle Stop.
Katharine Hepburn: The Philadelphia Story, Song of Love, Adam's Rib, Undercurrent, Without Love, State of the Union, The Sea of Grass, Stage Door Canteen, Dragon Seed, Woman of the Year, and Keeper of the Flame.
Maureen O Hara: Dance, Girl, Dance, How Green Was My Valley, The Black Swan, The Spanish Main, Miracle on 34th Street, Sinbad the Sailor, A Bill of Divorcement, They Met in Argentina, To the Shores of Tripoli, Ten Gentlemen from West Point, Immortal Sergeant, This Land Is Mine, The Fallen Sparrow, Buffalo Bill, Sentimental Journey, Do You Love Me, The Homestretch, The Foxes of Harrow, Forever Amber, The Forbidden Street, Father Was a Fullback, Sitting Pretty, and A Woman's Secret.
Lauren Bacall: The Big Sleep, Dark Passage, Key Largo, Confidential Agent, and Confidential Agent.
Vivien Leigh: Caesar and Cleopatra, Anna Karenina, 21 Days, Waterloo Bridge, and That Hamilton Woman.
Greer Garson: Mrs. Miniver, The Valley of Decision, Desire Me, That Forsyte Woman, The Miracle of Sound, Pride and Prejudice, Random Harvest, Blossoms in the Dust, Madame Curie, The Youngest Profession, When Ladies Meet, Adventure, Mrs. Parkington, and Julia Misbehaves.
Claudette Colbert: The Palm Beach Story, Since You Went Away, Bride for Sale, Sleep, My Love, Without Reservations, Family Honeymoon, Arise, My Love, Boom Town, Remember the Day, Skylark, No Time for Love, Practically Yours, So Proudly We Hail!, Guest Wife, Tomorrow Is Forever, The Secret Heart, and The Egg and I.
Lana Turner: Johnny Eager, Honky Tonk, Ziegfeld Girl, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Somewhere I’ll Find You, Week-End at the Waldorf, Green Dolphin Street, Homecoming, The Three Musketeers, The Youngest Profession, Keep Your Powder Dry, We Who Are Young, Cass Timberlane, Slightly Dangerous, and Marriage Is a Private Affair.
Rita Hayworth: Gilda, Cover Girl, Blondie on a Budget, Tales of Manhattan, You Were Never Lovelier, The Lady from Shanghai, The Strawberry Blonde, You'll Never Get Rich, The Loves of Carmen, Affectionately Yours, My Gal Sal, Susan and God, Down to Earth, Tonight and Every Night, Blood and Sand, Angels Over Broadway, The Lady in Question, Music in My Heart, and Blondie on a Budget.
Joan Fontaine: Rebecca, Suspicion, The Constant Nymph, Jane Eyre, The Affairs of Susan, Ivy, Letter from an Unknown Woman, This Above All, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, The Emperor Waltz, From This Day Forward, You Gotta Stay Happy, and Frenchman's Creek.
Jennifer Jones: The Song of Bernadette, Since You Went Away, Love Letters, Duel in the Sun, Madame Bovary, We Were Strangers, Portrait of Jennie, and Cluny Brown.
Hedy Lamarr: Comrade X, Come Live With Me, H.M. Pulham, Esq., Samson and Delilah, Tortilla Flat, Dishonored Lady, Ziegfeld Girl, Boom Town, Crossroads, The Strange Woman, White Cargo, Experiment Perilous, The Conspirators, Let's Live a Little, I Take This Woman, and The Heavenly Body.
Ginger Rogers: The Barkleys of Broadway, Tender Comrade, Kitty Foyle, Tom, Dick and Harry, I'll Be Seeing You, Roxie Hart, The Major and the Minor, Lucky Partners, Primrose Path, Week-End at the Waldorf, Once Upon a Honeymoon, Lady in the Dark, Magnificent Doll, Heartbeat, and It Had to Be You.
Barbara Stanwyck: East Side, West Side, Hollywood Canteen, Ball of Fire, The Lady Eve, Sorry, Wrong Number, Double Indemnity, Meet John Doe, You Belong to Me, Remember the Night, The Gay Sisters, The Great Man's Lady, Flesh and Fantasy, Lady of Burlesque, California, My Reputation, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, The Bride Wore Boots, Christmas in Connecticut, Cry Wolf, The Two Mrs. Carrolls, Variety Girl, The Other Love, The Lady Gambles, and B.F.'s Daughter.
Veronica Lake: Sullivan’s Travels, This Gun for Hire, The Glass Key, I Married a Witch, So Proudly We Hail, Bring on the Girls, Miss Susie Slagle’s, The Blue Dahlia, I Wanted Wings, Forty Little Mothers, The Hour Before the Dawn, Ramrod, Hold That Blonde, Duffy's Tavern, Miss Susie Slagle's, Out of This World, Slattery's Hurricane, The Sainted Sisters, Isn't It Romantic?, Star Spangled Rhythm, and Saigon.
Setsuko Hara: Late Spring, Toyuki, Hebihimesama, Totsugu hi made, Onna no machi, Futari no sekai, Shimai no Yakusoku, Anî no hânayomê, Ôinaru kanô, Kêkkon no seitaî, A Story of Leadership, Kibô no aozora, Seishun no kiryû, Wakai sensei, Midori no daichi, Haha no chizu, Hawai Mare Oki Kaisen, Hawai Maree oki kaisen, Ahen senso, Bôrô no kesshitai, Toward the Decisive Battle in the Sky, Searing Wind, Suicide Troops of the Watchtower, Ikari no umi, Young Eagles, Shôri no hi made, Kita no san-nin, Koi no fuunjî, Midori no kokkyô, Reijin, Midori no kokkyô, No Regrets for Our Youth, Yuwaku, Kakedashi jidai, A Ball at the Anjo House, Onnadake no yoru, Sanbon yubi no otoko, Toki no teizo: zengohen, Fujisancho, Taifuken no onna, Kofuku no genkai, President and a female clerk, Tonosama Hotel, Ojôsan kanpai, Aoi sanmyaku, and Zoku aoi sanmyaku.
Betty Grable: Down Argentine Way, Mother Wore Tights,When My Baby Smiles at Me, The Dolly Sisters, Pin Up Girl, Springtime in the Rockies, Coney Island, The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend, Tin Pan Alley, Sweet Rosie O'Grady, A Yank in the R.A.F., Footlight Serenade, I Wake Up Screaming, Song of the Islands, Diamond Horseshoe, Do You Love Me, The Shocking Miss Pilgrim, Four Jills in a Jeep, Moon Over Miami, and Hollywood Bound.
Deborah Kerr: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Black Narcissus, Contraband, Penn of Pennsylvania, A Battle for a Bottle, Love on the Dole, Major Barbara, Major Barbara, Edward, My Son, Hatter's Castle, The Day Will Dawn, If Winter Comes, Perfect Strangers, and I See a Dark Stranger.
Donna Reed: Shadow of the Thin Man, Calling Dr. Gillespie, It's a Wonderful Life, Convicted Woman, The Get-Away, Babes on Broadway, The Courtship of Andy Hardy, The Bugle Sounds, Mokey, Apache Trail, Eyes in the Night, Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case, The Human Comedy, The Man from Down Under, Thousands Cheer, See Here, Private Hargrove, Green Dolphin Street, Chicago Deadline, Beyond Glory, The Picture of Dorian Gray, They Were Expendable, Faithful in My Fashion, and Gentle Annie.
Kim Hunter: A Matter of Life and Death, When Strangers Marry, You Came Along, The Seventh Victim, Tender Comrade, and A Canterbury Tale.
Alida Valli: The Third Man, Piccolo mondo antico, The Paradine Case, The Miracle of the Bells, We the Living, T'amerò sempre, I pagliacci, Apparizione, The Song of Life, The Two Orphans, The First Woman Who Passes, Light in the Darkness, The Secret Lover, Manon Lescaut, The Last Enemy, Red Tavern, Beyond Love, Schoolgirl Diary, Invisible Chains, Stasera niente di nuovo, The Za-Bum Circus, Life Begins Anew, and Eugenia Grandet.
Anne Baxter: 20 Mule Team, The Magnificent Ambersons, Five Graves to Cairo, The Razor's Edge, Yellow Sky, The Great Profile, Swamp Water, Charley's Aunt, Sunday Dinner for a Soldier, The Fighting Sullivans, The North Star, Smoky, The Purple Heart, The Eve of St. Mark, Guest in the House, You're My Everything, The Walls of Jericho, Homecoming, The Luck of the Irish, Blaze of Noon, Angel on My Shoulder, and A Royal Scandal.
Teresa Wright: The Little Foxes, Mrs.. Miniver, Enchantment, Shadow of a Doubt, The Best Years of Our Lives, Pursued, The Trouble with Women, The Pride of the Yankees, The Little Foxes, Casanova Brown, and The Imperfect Lady.
Mary Astor: The Maltese Falcon, The Palm Beach Story, The Great Lie, Act of Violence, Meet Me in St. Louis, Fiesta, East Side, West Side, Young Ideas, Blonde Fever, Turnabout, Brigham Young, Across the Pacific, Claudia and David, Little Women, Any Number Can Play, Desert Fury, and Cynthia.
Ann Sheridan: They Drive by Night, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Kings Row, Nora Prentiss, I Was a Male War Bride, Honeymoon for Three, One More Tomorrow, City for Conquest, Torrid Zone, Castle on the Hudson, It All Came True, Navy Blues, George Washington Slept Here, Wings for the Eagle, Juke Girl, Silver River, The Unfaithful, Edge of Darkness, Thank Your Lucky Stars, Cinderella Jones, Shine On, Harvest Moon, and Good Sam.
Ida Lupino: They Drive by Night, Devotion, In Our Time, The Sea Wolf, High Sierra, Thank Your Lucky Stars, Out of the Fog, Life Begins at Eight-Thirty, Moontide, Ladies in Retirement, Hollywood Canteen, Forever and a Day, The Hard Way, Pillow to Post, Road House, The Man I Love, Escape Me Never, Deep Valley, Not Wanted, Never Fear, and Lust for Gold.
Joan Bennett: Man Hunt, The Woman in the Window, Scarlet Street, The House Across the Bay, The Man I Married, The Son of Monte Cristo, Green Hell, She Knew All the Answers, Wild Geese Calling, The Reckless Moment, Secret Beyond the Door, Hollow Triumph, The Woman on the Beach, Margin for Error, Twin Beds, Confirm or Deny, The Wife Takes a Flyer, Colonel Effingham's Raid, The Macomber Affair, Girl Trouble, and Nob Hill.
Tallulah Bankhead: A Royal Scandal, Stage Door Canteen, and Lifeboat.
Jane Greer: Out of the Past, Pan-Americana, Two O'Clock Courage, Sinbad the Sailor, George White's Scandals, The Falcon's Alibi, Dick Tracy, The Bamboo Blonde, Station West, Sunset Pass, They Won't Believe Me, and The Big Steal.
Margaret O'Brien: Jane Eyre, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Unfinished Dance, Our Vines Have Tender Grapes, Lost Angel, Three Wise Fools, Big City, Little Women, Tenth Avenue Angel, The Secret Garden, Music for Millions, Bad Bascomb, Journey for Margaret, You, John Jones!, and The Canterville Ghost.
Lucille Ball: Without Love, Ziegfeld Follies, Dance, Girl, Dance, The Big Street, Du Barry Was a Lady, The Marines Fly High, You Can't Fool Your Wife, A Girl, a Guy and a Gob, Too Many Girls,Thousands Cheer, Seven Days' Leave, Easy Living, Abbott and Costello in Hollywood, Look Who's Laughing, Valley of the Sun, Lured, Easy to Wed, Two Smart People, Her Husband's Affairs, Sorrowful Jones, The Dark Corner, Lover Come Back, Best Foot Forward, and Meet the People.
Cyd Charisse: Ziegfeld Follies, Escort Girl, Something to Shout About, Thousands Cheer, Mission to Moscow, The Harvey Girls, Till the Clouds Roll By, In Our Time, Three Wise Fools, Fiesta, The Unfinished Dance, On an Island with You, and The Kissing Bandit.
Susan Hayward: The Lost Moment, Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman, My Foolish Heart, Adam Had Four Sons, Sis Hopkins, They Won't Believe Me, Canyon Passage, And Now Tomorrow, Deadline at Dawn, Hit Parade of 1943, Star Spangled Rhythm, A Letter from Bataan, Young and Willing, Tulsa, The Saxon Charm, House of Strangers, Tap Roots, Among the Living, Reap the Wild Wind, The Forest Rangers, Jack London, The Fighting Seabees, and The Hairy Ape.
June Allyson: The Secret Heart, Music for Millions, Best Foot Forward, Meet the People, Two Girls and a Sailor, Girl Crazy, All Girl Revue, Her Highness and the Bellboy, The Three Musketeers, Good News, The Stratton Story, Words and Music, High Barbaree, Till the Clouds Roll By, The Sailor Takes a Wife, Two Sisters from Boston, and The Bride Goes Wild.
Susan Peters: Young Ideas, Tish, Santa Fe Trail, The Big Shot, Random Harvest, Keep Your Powder Dry, Song of Russia, Assignment in Brittany, The Sign of the Ram, Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant, Andy Hardy's Double Life, A New Romance of Celluloid: Personalities, Sockaroo, River's End, Meet John Doe, The Strawberry Blonde, Scattergood Pulls the Strings, Three Sons o' Guns, Young America Flies, Money and the Woman, and The Man Who Talked Too Much.
Betty Hutton: Duffy's Tavern, Hollywood Victory Caravan, Dream Girl, Red, Hot and Blue, Star Spangled Rhythm, One for the Book, Happy Go Lucky, Strictly G.I., Skirmish on the Home Front, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, Cross My Heart, The Perils of Pauline, The Stork Club,Here Come the Waves, And the Angels Sing, Incendiary Blonde, The Fleet's In, and Let's Face It.
Celeste Holm: Road House, Gentleman's Agreement, Come to the Stable, The Snake Pit, Everybody Does It, Chicken Every Sunday, A Letter to Three Wives, Three Little Girls in Blue, and Carnival in Costa Rica.
Celia Johnson: In Which We Serve, Brief Encounter, This Happy Breed, Dear Octopus, and A Letter from Home.
Jane Wyman: Brother Rat and a Baby, Bad Men of Missouri, Johnny Belinda, The Lost Weekend, An Angel from Texas, Flight Angels, Gambling on the High Seas, My Love Came Back, Tugboat Annie Sails Again, Honeymoon for Three, You're in the Army Now, The Body Disappears, Larceny, Inc., My Favorite Spy, Footlight Serenade, Princess O'Rourke, Make Your Own Bed, The Doughgirls, Crime by Night, One More Tomorrow, Night and Day, The Yearling, Magic Town, Cheyenne, A Kiss in the Dark, and The Lady Takes a Sailor.
Angela Lansbury: National Velvet, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Gaslight, The Harvey Girls, The Private Affairs of Bel Ami, If Winter Comes, The Hoodlum Saint, Till the Clouds Roll By, The Red Danube, The Three Musketeers, Tenth Avenue Angel, State of the Union, and Samson and Delilah
Jean Simmons: Hamlet, Kiss the Bride Goodbye, Give Us the Moon, Black Narcissus, The Way to the Stars, Great Expectations, Caesar and Cleopatra, Meet Sexton Blake, Mr. Emmanuel, Sports Day, Adam and Evelyne, The Blue Lagoon, The Woman in the Hall, Uncle Silas, and Hungry Hill.
Jane Darwell: The Grapes of Wrath, My Darling Clementine,Untamed, Brigham Young, Private Nurse, Chad Hanna, Thieves Fall Out, Youth Will Be Served, The Devil and Daniel Webster, All Through the Night, It Happened in Flatbush, Young America, On the Sunny Side, Men of Texas, Small Town Deb, Music in Manhattan, Captain Tugboat Annie, Three Wise Fools, The Dark Horse, Sunday Dinner for a Soldier, She's a Sweetheart, I Live in Grosvenor Square, The Ox-Bow Incident, Gildersleeve's Bad Day, Tender Comrade, The Great Gildersleeve, The Impatient Years, Reckless Age, Stage Door Canteen, Government Girl, Train to Alcatraz, 3 Godfathers, Red Canyon, Keeper of the Bees, The Red Stallion, The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe, and Highways by Night.
Jeanne Crain: A Letter to Three Wives, Centennial Summer, Pinky, Leave Her to Heaven, In the Meantime, Darling, Margie, State Fair, Apartment for Peggy, The Gang's All Here, Home in Indiana, The Fan, You Were Meant for Me, and Winged Victory.
Linda Darnell: My Darling Clementine, Chad Hanna, The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe, A Letter to Three Wives, Unfaithfully Yours, Forever Amber, The Mark of Zorro, Star Dust, Rise and Shine, Blood and Sand, It Happened Tomorrow, The Song of Bernadette, City Without Men, Sweet and Low-Down, Summer Storm, Buffalo Bill, The Great John L., Hangover Square, The Walls of Jericho, Anna and the King of Siam, Centennial Summer, Fallen Angel, Everybody Does It, and Slattery's Hurricane.
Alice Faye: Fallen Angel, The Gang's All Here, Hello, Frisco, Hello, Tin Pan Alley, Four Jills in a Jeep, The Great American Broadcast, That Night in Rio, Little Old New York, Lillian Russell, and Week-End in Havana.
Deanna Durbin: Christmas Holiday, Lady on a Train, For the Love of Mary, Something in the Wind, Up in Central Park, Because of Him, I'll Be Yours, Can't Help Singing, The Amazing Mrs. Holliday, It Started with Eve, Nice Girl?, It's a Date, Hers to Hold, His Butler's Sister, and Spring Parade.
It’s Gene Tierney or Rita Hayworth for me

/ Disclaimer: This trip was at the beginning of July. The daily Covid-19 deaths in my country where around 0 and excess mortality was actually negative. In Iceland there were no active Covid-19 cases. To be allowed to travel to Iceland you had to do a Covid-test at the border that had to be negative and you had to be from an approved country.
/ Poto Album: All pictures from the report
/ Lighterpack: Lighterpack link
/ Overview: Trip route
--- INTRODUCTION TO HORNSTRANDIR ---
After landing in Reykjavik you travel to a small airport - not much larger than a bus stop - to step in a small Bombardier turboprop plane that brings you to the Westfjords. The northwestern peninsula of Iceland is about the size of Belgium but has a mere 7000 inhabitants. Our reason to go there is because on the edge of the Westfjords you can find Hornstrandir. Shut off from the outside world by a large glacier Hornstrandir is the most northern part of Iceland. It hugs the Arctic Circle and has been abandoned by its last occupants in the 50’s. The small peninsula is often regarded to be Europe’s last wilderness; where the sun doesn’t set in the summer and fails to rise in winter.
From the window of the propeller plane the Westfjords seem… desolate. A beautiful monotony without settlements, trees or even bushes. A barren landscape consisting of shades of brown and dark green with patches of ice and small lakes. It’s not as overwhelming as the Norwegian fjords or Italian Dolomites, it just looks completely different. Almost alien like. The plane lands in the capital of the Westfjords, a humongous city called Ísafjörður housing a staggering 2500 people. From there a boat takes you to Hornstrandir. With the beach in sight we jump in a small rubber Zodiac and a through and through Icelandic man with a skin that looks like leather drops us off on the rocks; “good luck! Don’t die”.
--- THE REPORT ---
/ Day 1 Landing
With your feet on the ground Hornstrandir looks completely different then it does from the sky. All the different mosses, high grass and a large variety of yellow, purple and white flowers make it far more lively than a view from the sky suggests. Small streams that spring from tunnels in the ice cross your path constantly and there is always a waterfall in sight. We decided to start on the western coast of Hornstrandir at a place called Latrar which consists of a couple of empty houses and work our way north to the Horn before going southwards to Veiðileysufjörður (try to say that three times in a row).
/ Day 2 Latrar to Fljótavatn
Before long we realize that the routes on the map and our Inreach are merely a suggestion. The window to hike on Hornstrandir is very short, only the months of July and August are deemed safe (and fun), and being the third of July it is still very early in the season so there are no footsteps for us to follow or a beaten path that we can see in the distance. That means progress is relatively slow due to a lot of pathfinding and rough terrain. Hornstrandir’s mountains aren’t very high, it seems like God used a big scythe to cut them all off at 600 meters(2000 feet) but they are steep and there is no going around them so you constantly move from sea level to the top and back down again. On the first hiking day we climb over some very steep snow patches where microspikes would have been great, but we kick steps in the hard snow and make steady progress, we face sharp rocky descends and climb over enormous boulders, but the weather is calm and beautiful so it is very doable and we are rewarded with beautiful views.
The day ends with a walk through a valley where the wind roars endlessly and your feet constantly sink in the swampy ground. Our campground is on the other side of Fljótavatn, a balls deep water that can be described as half river, half lake. The crossing is about 500 meter(1600 feet) long but luckily the water isn’t freezing. It is difficult to find a flat and dry spot on the other bank and the wind beats on our small pyramid tents constantly. Because the sun doesn’t set the temperature doesn’t really drop at night, but that doesn’t mean Hornstrandir welcomes you with comfortable summer weather. The moment you stop moving the Arctic wind is strong and icy cold and cuts through everything. So at the end of the day you’ll quickly dive into your bag and sit in the vestibule for dinner, whiskey and some reading.
By the way, this might be a good moment to mention that this is my hiking partner's very first hike. He’s not the outdoorsy type but always open to new experiences, so when I invited him to hike Hornstrandir with me I didn’t expect him to say yes, and he didn’t know what to expect at all. As an Icelandic mountain guide we’d meet later on would say; ‘You choose this as your first hike? Whew, trial by fire!’
/ Day 3 Fljótavatn to Hlöðuvík
This island has some weird fucking terrain going on. No matter how steep the side of the mountain is, no matter how high or low we walk our feet are constantly wet. The banks of the Fljótavatn lake that we have to follow to the east consist of stinky marshland concealed as beautiful green fields. The waterfalls we cross become larger and more spectacular and the climbs steeper. The map suggests we climb out of the valley over a 150 meter high slope at a 60° angle with little to nothing to hold onto. Eventually the safest way up seems to be through a calmly seeping waterfall that offered us good stepping stones and enough places to rest your feet. Later on the Icelandic man with leather skin from the boat would tell us that this is a ridiculous path to take and he doesn’t know why the maps would suggest it, he usually hikes on for another 2 kilometers where you can take a nice switchback to get up.
After the last steps on the waterfall we peek over the top and look onto a mountain plateau with clear sight of the highest pass we would have to cross today. It looked like a 300 meter high wall, luckily it ended up indeed being a 300 meter high wall without a path, consisting of loose gravel and rock at a steep angle. We were again happy with the great weather since this is the kind of mountain pass that is simply not possible in a storm. I was also happy this wasn’t my second day of hiking ever (ahum, my hiking partner). An hour of scrambling later the ridge offered great views of both the grey, icy and rocky mountain plateau we came from and the green valley filled with birds we would descend into. The amazing thing of all these short but steep climbs is that you’re treated with a completely new view and micro climate several times a day.
And this day offered us something else! Since we're getting closer to the more popular locations of the island (Hesteyri, Hlöðuvík, Höfn and Latravik seem to be the favored destinations) halfway through the day a distinguishable path opened up before us. Cairns over the passes and even wooden sticks to guide the way! And on top of that we see a small path zig-zagging up the last mountain pass of the day. With our feet horizontal for the first time, a more gradual climb and no worries about taking the right route our speed increases as well as our confidence. We even find the first signs of life other than birds; the tail of an Arctic fox. The apex predator of the peninsula, no bigger than a large house cat but in this unforgiving environment the largest predator nonetheless. According to the stories they are quite fearless and will walk right up to you, but so far we had seen no signs of the animal.
The campsite at Hlöðuvík was clearly more often visited. A wooden latrine, a weather-beaten orange emergency shelter for the shipwrecked and flat dry ground to pitch your tent right at the beach. We were soon joined by a group of four Icelandic mountain guides and a lone French photographer who tells us about his struggles to get over a practically vertical wall he had to climb over that day. Luckily there was a rope there but still it took him a good half an hour to figure out a safe way to get over it. The day was long and sometimes sketchy, but right now the sun shines, people around us and a path to follow, life is good.
/ Day 4 Hlöðuvík to Höfn
It doesn’t get dark, there isn’t even twilight. So… why are we getting up early? Usually you do this to make good use of the available daylight but right here you could go over the mountain passes in the middle of the night without issue. So we sleep until we don’t want to anymore. Eat some breakfast while looking at the sea and take some well earned time on the very clean and not all that stinky latrine. The first river we have to cross has a big tree to use as a bridge. We see a bunch of seals chilling on pointy rocks in the sea and while the climbs are steep they aren’t sketchy. This is our fourth day on Hornstrandir and we haven’t had a drop of rain yet.
On the downhill we meet an Irishman and a Dutchie (why the fuck do you walk into a Dutch person in every country, on every mountain and in every godforsaken hole in the ground), they’ve seen plenty of Arctic Foxes and apparently there will be a path everywhere we go from now. Not 10 minutes after we spot a little fox on the trot, meandering through the landscape. We sit down on the soft, cushion-like moss and it curiously comes closer. Remnants of its thick white winter coat peak through the brown fur, it makes the small animal look old and wise. It stays a little more than an arms length away at all times but has no problem chilling around us, probably used to the fact that the humans that cross its path might have something to eat.
We follow a small stream that leads us to the ocean where another fox is hunting on the beaches. Quite successfully might I add. Within a minute it has a seagull in its jaws that’s practically as big as it is itself. The last true obstacle of the day is the 6 meter(20 feet) tall wall on the beach that the French photographer talked about. But some of the scrambling we’ve been doing on the first two days was just as steep, loads higher and didn’t have a nice rope for support. The wall turned out to be a breeze, but the narrow trail right on the edge of a cliff that follows has me more worried. Parts of it are crumbled and even the path itself has a sharp angle.
The end of the day is a beach walk over large rocks towards Höfn, the most popular camping spot of Hornstrandir. The contrast with the first days is quite stark. There are picnic tables here, water taps, a toilet building with real flushing toilets and even a ranger hut that is manned in July and August. There are at least 6 other trekker tents here and a huge hot tent with couches and a barbecue that forms the base camp for organized expeditions to the Hörn.
/ Day 5 Höfn to the Hörn
Today is Hörn day. This is the reason most people visit Hornstrandir. The Hörn is a huge bowl with jagged cliffs on three sides. Puffins make their nests on these cliffs and foxes hunt for birds and eggs. This is also the reason that the closer you get to the Hörn, the more civilized the peninsula becomes with nice flat camp spots, visible trails and well, water taps. Today is an out-and-back hike so we don’t have to take down our campsite and only take my backpack for the day. The hike to the top is nothing less than scenic all the way. We cross crystal clear and ice cold rivers, beautiful waterfalls, wildflowers up to your belly button and piles of driftwood on the beaches. There is a steady path all the way up that passes a well-maintained house where an Icelandic family is nicely settled for a summer holiday (descendants of the last inhabitants of the island are allowed to maintain the wooden homes and be there in the summer).
The Hörn is charming but it isn’t necessarily the culmination of the trip. This might be due to the fact that we spot exactly zero puffins, but I think it has more to do with the fact that we’ve had views at least as beautiful on this hike where it felt like we were alone in the world. More rugged, more desolate. Views that felt more… earned. On the way down we take a shortcut over the beach that you can only take at low tide. Sandpipers happily race over the sand from seashell to seashell, but we aren’t sandpipers and there are situations where we sink into the sand thigh deep. Perhaps don’t do this one if you are on your own.
While sipping on our last drops of rum (don’t worry there is still some whisky left) we decide to skip our hike to the lighthouse of Látravik tomorrow and immediately go to our final location in the bay of Veiðileysufjörður. A boat is supposed to pick us up there on the 8th of July and since there is no cellular connection on the whole island we’ve got a little bit of anxiety about missing the boat and getting stuck there.
/ Day 6 Höfn to Veiðileysufjörður
Just one more peak to bag today! While we climb out of the valley we hear a small one propeller plane approach. On the ground we see four tiny figures waiting, so we sit down on the mountain side with a snack, I’m trading some bland nut mix for dried apricots. The plane lands in the mud perfectly next to the people and seems to drop off some supplies before taking to the skies again. That is what a holiday on Hornstrandir looks like when you’re not hiking.
The last mountain provides a now familiar rhythm. From a green valley you climb up a steep mountain side with moss and small flowers. At about 200m you reach a plateau where the green disappears and you hike over rocky terrain and cross meltwater rivers. Then, in the shadow of the peak, ice and snow starts to cover the rocks and you climb another 200 meter wall that consists of a combination of rocks, loose gravel and snow. The other side is different though, this time there is an amazing pristine snowpack readily available for us to glissade down. When I reach the bottom I turn around and look up to see my hiking partner coming at me at blistering speed, hiking poles fully extended. He bounces to a standstill at the bottom of his involuntary glissade. An amazing ending to our last climb.
The last campsite is more like those of the first days. Not a flat piece of ground to pitch your tent and not a person in sight. We wash some clothes so we’ll be a little less stinky on the boat and back in Ísafjörður. I screw my stove on the gas canister and pull out my food bag to prepare the last dinner. It is quite light now, and you might wonder; why hasn’t he told us anything about what he ate on this trip? This guy prides himself on making awesome backpacking meals, what happened? Well… I was supposed to walk the PCT in 2020 and filled my food bag for the first time in the US during the hoarding that was happening in March 2020. The shelves were half empty and I had never gone grocery shopping in the States before. The trip was cancelled the day after and I took the food home. That exact food bag is what I took with me to Iceland. And daiumn did I make some mistakes! Knorr Sides? Gross, too gross! MiO Lemon Lime electrolytes, brrrrr. I accidentally bought a huge bag of unroasted, unsalted nut mix. Boring as hell. So while my hiking partner was eating self dried Kimchi and peanut noodle soup I was reluctantly chewing on fake pasta sides. Two positives: The Epic Lemon bars and RX Bars I had for breakfast were great.
/ Day 7 Veiðileysufjörður
Maximum relaxation. Curled in our sleeping bags with an e-reader we drink hot chocolate and enjoy the last sun and great weather while we wait for the boat to arrive. Iceland is awesome. It isn’t Europe, it isn’t America. It is an island with a character of its own. But it is also a gamble! We had great weather but a week of sunshine here is more unique than a week filled with rain and storms. And the first couple of days had some climbs and descends that I perhaps wouldn't have dared in bad weather. You really need an emergency communicator in case you’ve got to abort or change plans.
From far away Hornstrandir might look monotonous, but the beauty of the island is to be found in its micro climates, and the miniature landscapes you find all around you. The peninsula offers a grand and craggy landscape that still feels flat and smooth because it is so empty, there simply is no tree or bush to be found on the island. If you really want to feel that emptiness, you’ve got to be in the northwestern or southeastern part. The farther you are from the Hornbjarg the lonelier it is. But, that also means it is going to be harder and you're more at the mercy of the weather gods. Hornstrandir? Plan it, do it and be flexible!
--- GEAR NOTES ---
You can check out my lighterpack here. I’ve highlighted the big 4 in below as well as some surprises or lesser known items. If you want to know something about a piece of gear on my lighterpack that I don’t talk about here please let me know and I’ll add it.
/ Backpack: Atom+ 40L DCF Great pack, no surprises. The little improvements over my old 35L Atom+ are great (post comparing the old and new pack). With a sub 9lb base weight and 6.5 days of food I went without the hip belt. No complaints.
/ Tent: Zpacks pocket tarp w/ doors + bathtub floor Yeah about that. Just don’t do it. I planned to take the pocket tarp with 3F UL Lanshan inner but I ended up lending the whole 3F UL (inner and outer) Lanshan to my hiking partner so went with the most barebone setup possible. This isn’t the place to do so. We were so, so lucky with the weather. Most times there isn’t a flat spot to be found and the pocket tarp is tiny so a hand or foot would constantly slip out if I didn’t pay attention. It would have been possible in bad weather but truly miserable. I also constantly had to pitch it lower because of the strong winds. If you take a tarp, take a large, stormworthy one with loads of room like the MLD Trailstar. If you have loads of downtime due to bad weather you want a little more room to live and dry stuff. I think a double walled dual pole setup with loads of vestibule space like the Dan Durston X-mid 1p would have been great here!
/ Quilt: Cumulus Quilt 350 Temperatures at night between 1C(32f) and 4C(40f) with a strong chilly wind. Perfect for the Cumulus 350 in combination with the Thermarest Uberlite, never wanted more. I usually sleep in boxer shorts and a base layer top when using a quilt, so in case I create a short draft while tossing and turning I don’t instantly get cold. The Cumulus has an insulating baffle behind the footbox zipper and footbox draw cord as well as at the top. Combined with the pad attachment system this eliminates drafts better than most quilts.
/ Sleeping pad: Therm-a-rest NeoAir UberLite Hornstrandir is a great place for the UberLite. You camp in the valleys with soft grass and moss as your surface. That means it is more than warm enough for me and the risk of a puncture is very small.
/ Shoes: Nike Wildhorse 6 The Wildhorse 5 was already my favorite trail runner and the 6 is better in every way. The ankle collar works like a gaiter and keeps water and debris out. The new outer sole is better on wet stone and wood but this is still the weak spot of the Wildhorse, Sticky Vibram is miles better. The middle sole is comfy af and the upper fits so well you almost don’t have to tie your laces. The 6 is a bit narrower than the 5 though. This isn’t your shoe if you’ve got wide feet. Oh, and you look totally fly in these!
/ Socks: Injinji liner socks Your feet will get wet here. Rivers, swamps, beaches and rain. You will get wet. Merino liner toe socks prevent blisters in those cases and keep your feet warm.
/ Pants: Ministry of Supply Kinetic pants Comfy, warm, quick drying and very stretchy. No unnecessary pockets, buttons or zippers and afterwards you can use them to drink beer in Reykjavik. Awesome.
/ Shirt: Ministry of Supply Apollo 3 This shirt is awesome at keeping you comfortable in a wide range of temperatures. I don’t know what kind of magic is happening here but it works like a charm. But it was clearly not designed for backpacks. I’ve got the brushed version of the shirt and it started pilling around the sternum strap after 5 days, I’ve ordered a non brushed version and am eager to find out if that one doesn’t pill.
/ Stove: BRS-3000T We know two things: 1. Hornstrandir is windy without cover and 2. the BRS-3000 sucks in the wind. So the conclusion would be; don’t take the BRS. I still did it though… Why? Well because my hiking partner borrowed my MSR Windburner so I had quite an awesome backup stove and also because I never had problems with the BRS before while cooking in the vestibule. And that is also my experience here. On the most windy days it would become a little slower but still worked without a problem. But if you like a hot coffee or soup for lunch when you can’t use your tent as a windbreaker the BRS would totally suck.
/ Communicator: Garmin Inreach mini Take. An. Emergency. Communicator. We saw no one during our first two days and didn’t have any cellular connection at all on the island. This is a place where you can feel that it has the possibility of going south fast. Just take one and be safe. Also you have to catch a boat on a very specific predetermined location to get back to civilization. This isn’t a ferry arriving every hour. IF you miss your appointment you want the possibility to contact someone about it.
/ E-reader: Kobo Clara HD We didn't know how fast our progress would be and how hard hiking on Hornstrandir would turn out to be, so I predicted more down time than I’m used to. I was right, and reading was awesome.

Albums

Rico Nasty - Nightmare Vision (featuring Gucci Mane, Don Toliver, Aminé, Trippie Redd + more)
Steve Lacy - The Lo-Fis
Drakeo the Ruler - We Know the Truth (featuring Lil Yachty, Lil Mosey, Tee Grizzley, Rich the KId, Da Boii, Rio Da Yung OG, Icewear Vezzo, ALLBLACK + more)
Your Old Droog - DUMP YOD: Krutoy Edition (featuring El-P, Black Thought, Mach-Hommy, Tha God Fahim, billy woods, Phonte & Tvoy)
DJ Scheme - FAMILY (featuring Joey Bada$$, Juice WRLD, Lil Yachty, Ski Mask The Slump God, Lil Mosey, Ty Dolla $ign, Cordae, Lil Gnar, ian diorr, $NOT, Danny Towers, Lil Keed, Skrillex, Zacari + more)
Jet Life (Curren$y, Fendi P, T.Y., G Style & Alia Fleury) - Welcome To Jet Life Recordings
Soulja Boy - Swag 3
Elujay & J.Robb - Gems In the Cornerstore (featuring Ciscero, Foggieraw, ROMderful + more)
Dave B - Delicate (featuring Jay Prince)
Landon Cube - Sapphire (featuring 24kGoldn, TyFontaine & Kid Bloom)
YFN Lucci - Wish Me Well 3 (featuring Boosie Badazz, Rick Ross, Jeezy, Yo Gotti, JayDaYoungan, Mozzy, Jackboy, Yungeen Ace, Mulatto + more)
Working On Dying - Waiting to Die (featuring Lancey Foux, KEY!, Robb Bank$, Zack Fox, Father, LUCKI, Zacari, Guapdad 4000 + more)
BabyTron - Back to the Future
Baby Smoove - Hardwood Classic
Craig Xen - Why
Obijuan & Dweeb - Paradice Island
Rahiem Supreme- The Treacherous Charm
Lee Fields & the Expressions - Big Crown Vaults Vol. 1
MOKA ONLY - MARTIAN 2020
Jira >< - Shores of Ma'at
Jarv & Pajama Sam - Flow Stimulus
Rittz - Rittzmas (featuring Lil Wyte + more)
Rokamouth - Rokamouth’s Window
iMAGiNARY FRiENDS (iMAGiNARY OTHER & Chuuwee) - THE STEM OF A SHROOM
Mike Holmes - Smiles & Tribulations
TisaKorean - Wasteland.
BAAUER - THE BOPTAPE
ShredGang Mone - 2Neckless (featuring BangGang Lonnie Bands, Beno + more)
Squadda B - Sm4
KayFaraway - Set It Off (featuring ROMderful)

Deluxe

Aminé - Limbo [featuring Saba, UMO, Valee & Toosii]
Justin Rarri - YOUNGEST IN KHARGE (featuring Gunna)
Blxst - No Love Lost (featuring Dom Kennedy, Tyga, Ty Dolla $ign & Bino Ridaeux)
TOKiMONSTA - Oasis Nocturno (Instrumentals)

EPs

Manga Saint Hilare - Ultima Deluxe
Che Noir - After 12 (featuring from Ransom, 38 Spesh, Sa-Roc, The Musalini, Jynx, RJ Payne, and Amber Simeone)
yungmorpheus & Dirty Art Club - Mise En Place
Serena Isioma - The Leo Sun Sets (featuring MAVI)
Yung Baby Tate - After The Rain (featuring Flo Milli & 6LACK)
RJ Payne- Beautiful Payne 2 (featuring Che Noir & Cee Brown)
Future Utopia, Dave & Es Devlin - Children of the Internet (Remixes) [featuring Joey Bada$$, Preditah & Ezra Collective]
Shrimpnose - Small Wonders
SkitzoLuvHartD & Deem Spencer - Deformation
ALA.NI - Christmas Vol. 1
Pressa - Gardner Express
FatVonFree - Abandoned
Savon - West District (featuring Sango)
Bodega Bamz - La Chassse (featuring Eto, Flee Lord, JR Writer, Joell Ortiz + more)
T-Pain - The Lost Remixes
Spectacular Diagnosis - Electronic Compositions Part 1

Singles

Lil Baby - Errbody / On Me
Freddie Gibbs - Tell Me Freestyle*
Run the Jewels & Royal Blood - The Ground Below (Royal Jewels Mix)
Juice WRLD & benny blanco - Real Shit
50 Cent & NLE Choppa - Part Of The Game*
The Weeknd - Blinding Lights (Remix) [feat. ROSALÍA]
100 gecs - sympathy 4 the grinch
Rae Khalil - Save Me
Lancey Foux - Poison (feat. Bakar)
24kGoldn - Coco (feat DaBaby)
Ant Clemons - Better Days (feat. Justin Timberlake)
LNDN DRGS (Jay Worthy & Sean House) - Legend Of Zelda (Outro) [feat. Boldy James]
Key Glock - Never Change
Cookin Soul - Mos Frees
The Cool Kids - Dapper Dan Leather
Boldy James & Real Bad Man - On Ten
REASON - Bless The Booth Freestyle*
Vic Mensa - BREATHE (Freestyle)*
Yungeen Ace - Fighting Pain
Kash Doll - Bossa Nova (feat. Tee Grizzley)
JI Prince of NY - Excuse My Pain
OMB Peezy - Borrowed Time
TM88 - So High (feat. Wiz Khalifa & Roy Woods)
Kamaiyah - Still I Rise (feat. Jackboy)
Lil Tjay - None of Your Love
Dirty Bird - New Flame (feat. ICEDOUTOMNITRIX)
clipping. - Double Live
Louie Ray & Rio Da Yung OG - Can't Smoke
Deniro Farrar - Winter (feat. Lute & Southside Gauxst)
B.o.B - Dogg (feat. Sonny Digital)
James Blake - In the Bleak Midwinter
Sheff G - No Negotiations
Fivio Foreign - Baddie On My List
GoldLink - Shags has • fghtex (Gilligan Freestyle)* / Dunya (feat. LukeyWorld)
Rylo Rodriguez & Phipps Peso - Out the Ghetto
Victoria Monét - We Wish You A Marry Christmas
GIVËON - O Christmas Tree
Yhung T.O -- Back Against the Wall
Brian Brown - OnlyFans
Arlo Parks - Last Christmas
Bad Boy Chiller Crew - Needed You
Classified - The Bells Are Ringing
Rimzee - Daily Duppy
Hatesonny - .shollam
Toosii - Sapiosexual
Jany Green - Move
Jenny Lewis & Serengeti - Unblu
Jammer - Ain't the Same (feat. Jme)
CHLOBOCOP - It'sNotOver
Freddie Joachim, Fredfades & Ivan Ave - Water & Sand / All G
VIK - 10 N
Esham - Xmas Is Dead
Rich The Kid - So Heartless
YUNGMORPHEUS - Head Cornerstone
Digga D - Daily Duppy
Jackboy - Man Down (feat Sada Baby)
Smoove’L - 4 The Fashion
Morray - Low Key
Hotboii - Menace
Tyla Yaweh - Stuntin' On You (Remix) [feat. DDG & Dame D.O.L.L.A]
Robert Glasper - Better Than I Imagined (KAYTRANADA Remix) [Feat. H.E.R. & Meshell Ndegeocello]
Chance The Rapper, Jeremih & Valee - Are U Live
Trae tha Truth & Mysonne - Time for Change (Black Lives Matter)
Jon Connor & S.B.F. the Great - The Candour
Myka 9 & Profound - Walking With God
Disclosure & Kelis - Watch Your Step (VIP)
Armani White - Danny Mac
Zion I, Locksmith & Sa-Roc - Endtimes
Mayer Hawthorne - What Do the Lonely Do At Christmas
James Fauntleroy - Mistletoe (feat. Maeta)
Daveed Diggs - Puppy for Hanukkah
AZ - Different
Lowkey - Baby Steps
Shakka - One for the Road
Fat Tony - Gambling Man (Mariachi Remix)
Bilal - Drop the World, Pt. 1
Aaron Taylor - Icarus (Gold Edit)
Phresher - Set the Tone (feat. Kocky Ka & Benny the Butcher)
Dregs One & Andre Nickatina - Fog Mode
Naji & The Kount - Angel
Mr Eazi & J Balvin - Lento
Tuxedo (Mayer Hawthorne & Jake One) - Doin' My Best

Features

Black Knights of the Northstar - T.I.M.E. (Truth I Master Equally) [feat. RZA]
Greg Spero & J'von - Peruvian Chicken (Tiny Room Sessions) [feat. Lido]
CMDWN, FIJI & Ca Guapo - Solange Hair (feat. Lil Yachty)
K1ng B0b - This Couldn't Happen (feat. Rockie Fresh)
Mikey Polo - Baguette Spaghetti (feat. Trippie Redd)
Young Clancy - Death (feat. Clairmont The Second)
KDKK, Imabek & Fett Wap - Leck
Donwill - I Could Use a Vacation (feat. Fat Tony)
ELHAE & Rick Ross - Fun Fact
Suicide Kings - Go Outside (feat. Guilty Simpson)
Bastille - Goosebumps (feat. Kenny Beats)
Rebecca Garton & Jeremih - Comfortable (Majestic Remix)
The Polish Ambassador - Mystic Matterz (Blockhead Remix) [feat. Nitty Scott & Zion I]
Hi-Rez & Twista - John Wick
Timobé Lockhart & Bilal - Sexy Suzy On a Sunday (Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah Remix)
Natanael Cano, Snoop Dogg & Ovi - Feeling Good (feat. Snow Tha Product & CNG)
Str8Kash RJ 2.0 - That Ain't Right (feat. Payroll Giovanni)
Breez - Money Mitch (Remix) [feat. Jim Jones]
YungVeli & Project Pat - Fast Life
Ben Beal - Action Figures (feat. SwuM & Mick Jenkins)
melii - You Ain't Worth It (feat. 6LACK)
Dixie D’Amelio - One Whole Day (feat. Wiz Khalifa)
Malz Monday - Clap 4 ‘em (feat. Marlon Craft)
Jalen Alexander - Paper Chasin' (feat. Rockie Fresh)
Kooly Bros - Drunk Mess (Remix) [feat. Young Thug]
ENNY - Peng Black Girls (Remix) [feat. Jorja Smith]
Jban$2Turnt - Roll Em (feat. Asian Doll)
YS - Shot Caller (feat. Guapdad 4000)
Sofi Green - All the Smoke (Remix) [feat. Shy Glizzy]
B Turk - What Money Look Like (feat. Gucci Mane & Sean Paul)
Lxrda - Burban (feat. Calboy & The Internet)
LILDTHEBEAST - Supposed to Be (feat. Problem)
Jedi P - R2X (feat. Keith Ape)
Texako - Big Fan (feat. Tony Shhnow)
CorLogic - Guardian Tablets (feat. Planet Asia)
Lizleo - Ruthless, Pt. 2 (feat. Planet Asia)
The Whyte Gucci - Ruthless (feat. Planet Asia)
2stoned - Ruthless Situations (feat. Planet Asia)
Konfyident - Ruthless MC's (feat. Planet Asia)
Aleman - Mi Tío Snoop (feat. Snoop Dogg)
Haeil - Lil Time (feat. AUDREY NUNA)
kerri - misery (ta-ku Remix)
JFX - Big Papi (feat. Michael Christmas)
Josh3 - Three Styles (feat. Kurupt)
Solo Nitty Gritty - Membership (feat. Kurupt)
Ajani Jones, Khary & Jon Swaii - Powder
Adam Snow & Josh Alias - The Prayer (feat. The Game)
Ricky Rikkardo - Mona Lisa (feat. Jim Jones)
African Americana - Arctic Monkeys (feat. SpaceGhostPurrp)
Donut Da Legend - Double Back (feat. G Perico)
Import - We on One (feat. Future)
Corde77 - Slow Ride (feat. Curren$y)
Ridgio - What's Mine (feat. Mick Jenkins & Parnell)
Hycent - Pop (feat. Jeezy)
* means not on streaming
project features are listed mostly just if the artist is recognizable
From KHDTX13 (will be updated):

Fresh Singles

Fresh Albums & EPs

Introduction

After a long, torturous grind to Legendary Rank, I thought I'd share a portion of my daily GBL notes. I take notes during my sets each day to share my progress with some friends, mostly commenting on the following:

• interesting spicy picks from opponents
• brilliant plays, terrible mistakes, strange choices (whether my own or not)
• when lag makes a difference, so I can objectively complain

As of season 6.5, I started noting all the leads in each set as well. I did this mainly to try to figure out how the meta was shifting.
I'm sharing these notes mainly to show the grind with all its ups and downs, as well as to give examples of objectively reviewing one's own performance. I see so many players blaming bad leads and "the algorithm", dismissing GBL as just glorified Rock-Paper-Scissors. While RNG certainly plays an element (and I do complain about it a fair bit in these notes), I also frequently note my own mistakes. I also hope that the notes may encourage some who are struggling during a run of bad luck - your break may be just around the corner.

Background

I am a decent PvP player, though I would not say I am great. I mostly stick to the meta and I change my team very infrequently. I very rarely count fast moves and I don't really know much about fast move denial (pretty sure it involves skilled fast move counting, which is too much work and attention for me lol). I almost never watch streamers/youtubers, though friends sometimes fill me in on the popularized teams.
I had a strong performance in season 1 of Silph Arena and a decent performance in season 2. GBL has kind of burned me out on PvP so I've elected not to participate in season 3.
In GBL, I can consistently reach rank 10, but I haven't done so in every season due to lack of motivation. I'm a sucker for exclusive avatar items though.

• Pre-season: I reached rank 10 in early-mid Ultra League.
• Season 1: I reached rank 10 near the end of Ultra League. I really like the Steven pose.
• Season 2: I reached rank 10 on the first day of Master League Premier. I wasn't a big fan of the hype pose, but I tried anyway. I started feeling burnt out by the end of UL.
• Season 3: I didn't really care for the avatar stuff so I just took a break.
• Season 4: I sat out a few weeks while waiting for an update to resolve glitches, but wasn't able to get back in the habit after. I had a miracle push on the second last day where I had multiple 5-0 sets and ended literally one win from 3000. Then I dropped like a rock on the last day. Heartbreaking.

N's pose is just the right kind of silly, so I put in the effort this season. The average player quality has definitely grown and it was a tough climb.
This season, I entered rank 20 with a rating of 2271. When UL began, I was at 2272. When UL ended, I was at 2657 (playing Premier). I committed to Holiday Cup, which was a disaster for me - not a single positive day, dropping me to 2330.
With all leagues open and my rating in the toilet, I decided to try spice in GL for a little bit. I wasn't making much progress so I switched back to my boring meta GL team. Meta is meta for a reason - I climbed relatively quickly, peaking at 2946. (OTOH, I totally stagnated while at rank 20 using the same team. Weird.) As season 6.5 changes kicked in, I was at 2896.

Season 6.5 Begins

I decided to continue using my familiar meta team, even though the moves were nerfed:

• Gunfisk (MS/RS/EQ)
• Azumarill (B/IB/PR)
• Tropius (AS/LB/AA)

My (mostly unedited) daily notes follow. I put my overall rating progress at the top, and I list the leads for each set in parentheses with notes beneath that. The notes may not always be clear because they assume the reader can predict certain actions by the players. I also usually don't elaborate on the obvious, embarassing mistakes other than saying I'd made one. Note that I typically use Azu as my safe switch.
Jan 12
2896 > 1/3/3/1/1ish > 2791
(Swampert, Toxicroak, Surf Mew, Scrafty, Umbreon)
Only won the last one by timeout. Painful.
(A-Ninetales, A-Gardevoir, Deoxys, Altaria, S-Lapras)
I maybe could have won the third one, but I lost a lot of energy while trying to farm down S-Abomasnow. Dumb mistake.
Lost to the Altaria lead because I couldn't manage Toxicroak in the back without Tropius.
(S-Hypno, Deoxys, Skarmory, Gunfisk, Tropius)
Could have won the first but I lost a coin flip.
(S-Hypno, K-Ninetales, Jellicent, Surf Mew, Bastiodon)
Jellicent could have probably stayed in but we ended up double blind switching to Azu vs. Abomasnow, so still no good for me. Their third was S-Machamp so I had no chance from the start I think. I mean, I would have had a better chance if I hadn't switched Gunfisk out at all.
Narrowly lost to Basti because I was expecting a RL at the end, but it was Medicham with Ice Punch.
(Medicham, Altaria, Toxicroak, Gunfisk, Altaria)
Altaria got me with Chesnaught in the back.
Tied against the Toxicroak. Maybe would have won if I'd used Rock Slide on Umbreon, but I think that would have given the Toxi enough farm to hit Sludge Wave.
Tied against the Gunfisk when I definitely could have won. I made a really really dumb mistake that allowed their Gunfisk to Earthquake mine after shields were gone.
Altaria got me again, because of Abomasnow in the back and some bad switching.
Really bad day today, oof. I think the Bubble and Rock Slide nerfs are hurting me more than I thought they would.
Jan 13
2791 > 2/4/3/1/1 > 2758
(Toxicroak, Bastiodon, S-Hypno, Gunfisk, Umbreon)
The Basti swapped to Toxicroak. They managed to get to 2 Sludge Bomb against my Tropius and I shielded both, which I think was correct but still a bad spot. But instead of bringing Basti back in, they brought in RL Tropius. Definitely gave me the game there.
Could have won against the Gunfisk if I'd been a little smarter, ugh. Very much my mistakes.
Umbreon had Skarmory in the back. Rock Slide nerf definitely hurting.
(Charm A-Nine, Gunfisk, Altaria, Medicham, Gunfisk)
First Gunfisk was with Pelipper and Tropius. I think it's meant to be a fakeout team based on fpstick's which has Galvantula instead of Tropius, I believe. I was expecting Galv, but it still worked out for me.
Altaria - could have been a disaster as an Azu ended up farming down my Azu and was up a shield. But it turned out to be PHP so the energy didn't matter against Tropius. I ended up waiting a long time for them to try to catch the Leaf Blade on Altaria... and when I finally pulled the trigger, they still timed it just right. Unbelievable luck. But I farmed properly to win anyway.
Medicham - I went Tropius and they went Basti. Rough. But their third was Altaria. Excellent.
Second Gunfisk won the bait game hard.
(Scrafty, Umbreon, Gunfisk, Politoed, Altaria)
Umbreon - I managed to catch FP on Azu and RS on Gunfisk. Awesome.
(Toxicroak, S-Swampert, Toxicroak, Altaria, Shiftry)
Toxicroak - I had a potential win con, but it froze at the end. Journal records it as a loss. Wish I could have seen it play out.
Swampert was with Galv and Skarm. Zero chance.
Toxicroak again - I may have had a win con if I'd made a different choice, but there was no way to know at the time.
Rough set.
(S-Abomasnow, S-Mawile, Hypno, S-Abomasnow, Awak)
Could have won the first one, but S-Aboma survived an Air Slash by a sliver.
I could have won the second (double Charm) for sure, sigh. Ended up losing with both shields left.
I played the second S-Aboma better, I think, and it ended up being a gamble on the last matchup. Tropius vs. AWak, no good.
Played the last one poorly as well.
Overall... just playing poorly.
Jan 14
2758 > 2/1/2/3/2 > 2696
(Hypno, A-Ninetales, Abomasnow, Mandibuzz, Obstagoon)
Screwed up the double dark match, ugh.
Abomasnow is so much less scary than S-Abomasnow.
Mandibuzz is just too tanky.
(Bastiodon, S-Hypno, Azu, Hypno, Bastiodon)
The first Basti lead got switch advantage with S-Hypno. Almost got it back but the timers went against me, ugh. Times like this I wish I had HP on Azu.
Almost lost the last Basti lead because I was expecting double grass again. Medicham though. I was lucky and snuck an Earthquake through on the Medicham, which brought it low enough to work through it.
Doing sets at midnight is a bad idea for me. Although I've been on a downward slide ever since the move changes. Maybe I really should change my team.
(Swampert, Deoxys, Scrafty, Gunfisk, Whiscash)
Almost lost to the Gunfisk because I thought their Pelipper was dead instead of switched out with a sliver.
It's rough out here. I'm gonna try a different team.
For no particular reason... Meganium/Gunfisk/Deoxys.
(Swampert, Politoed, Jellicent, Galvantula, Azu)
Swampert switched to Umbreon and I went Gunfisk. Later, I didn't fall for a HC bait on Meg and they quit without us seeing the third Pokemon.
Galv is a huge weakness for this team. The stupid thing is, I would have had a decent chance if I'd directly switched to Gunfisk, as the rest of the team was Gunfisk and Pelipper.
I screwed up on the Azu. S-Hypno safe switch, I could have kept switch advantage but got greedy farming which resulted in double KO. Then when we came back in, it ended up being Meganium vs. Skarmory. Unfortunate.
(AWak, Bastiodon, Deoxys, Obstagoon, Obstagoon)
AWak sucks for this team too. Not sure what I should actually do. Probably just switch to Deoxys anyway. I tried staying in to bait with Meganium, but that doesn't work in the slightest. Maybe if I do that without shielding at all.
I correctly identified Deoxys as a double Dark lead, but I guessed wrong about the third one. Mandibuzz got me.
I could have absolutely won the first Obstagoon matchup. Made several huge mistakes involving their Whimsicott.
Mediocre first showing but I like it enough to keep trying. But man, season 6.5 has been demoralizing so far for me.

First Team Change

I actually changed my team for the latter two sets of Jan. 14 (above). For this section, the team is:

• Meganium (VW/FP/EQ)
• Gunfisk (MS/RS/EQ)
• Deoxys (C/RS/TB)

As I said in the notes above, there wasn't any particular reason for this team. I wanted to try a Deoxys safe switch, and I wanted to try Meganium as a friend had been doing well with it. The result was kind of similar to the old S-Vic/Basti/Deoxys line, but with less focus on fast move damage.
Jan 15
2696 > 1/2/3/4/3 > 2714
(Altaria, S?-Mawile, Galvantula, Tropius, Tropius)
Wish I had my old team for this set. Unbelievable. Lost every lead.
(A-Ninetales, Bastiodon, Mew, Abomasnow, Toxicroak)
Ehhh.
(Mew, Mandibuzz, Cresselia, Swampert, A-Ninetales)
Swampert swapped to Wigglytuff and I went with Gunfisk. Unfortunate choice as the third was Altaria.
(A-Ninetales, Scrafty, S-Hypno, Umbreon, K-Ninetales)
Umbreon had a Toxicroak in the back with 2 shields. Managed to take both shields with low Meganium and low Deoxys and win with an Earthquake. Scary.
Managed to beat the Ninetales in the end with Meganium. Deoxys was met with Cress, and I lost without shielding, but gained shield advantage. Then I was able to farm some energy on Meganium. Ended up launching 2 Earthquakes each from Meg and Gunfisk vs. Ninetales and Azu.
(S-Machamp, Venusaur, Sirfetch'd, Pelipper, S-Hypno)
Note to self, just no-shield against S-Machamp lead next time...
I thought I was screwed on Venusaur, but the guy ended up shielding Azu from a FP which let me farm down to Earthquake Venusaur after. It survived with a sliver and we both insta-swapped to Gunfisk vs. Registeel. I think we both got a bit greedy over-farming after surviving initial charged moves, but it worked out in my favour since they fainted without using a move and I had Rock Slide to finish Venusaur after.
Double-shielded vs. Pelipper. Deoxys came in and I managed to get to one FP. Wasn't sure of the right move at this point, but I chose to go with Gunfisk. I think I had the win at that point as they had Gunfisk in the back. They swapped in but I had the energy lead already.
The worst thing about the double dark team is that I'm so reliant on guessing right on whether they have Scrafty or Mandibuzz. I did not guess right.
First positive day in several days. Just barely, but at least it ended on mostly positive notes. Still not sure whether I like this team comp.
Jan 16
2714 > 2/4/2/2/0 > 2651
(Galvantula, S-Victreebel, Politoed, AWak, Altaria)
I could have won the first game but I decided to use a shield too late to register at one point. Lost with the shield remaining, ugh.
I could have had it against AWak (double grass) but I screwed up and let Meganium die full of energy. Feels bad.
(Politoed, Gunfisk, Obstagoon, Charm A9, Charm A9)
Almost lost the second match because I overestimated how much Rock Slide would do to Azu, leaving it with just enough health to get to Hydro Pump.
Lost to the first Ninetales because they correctly shielded FP both times. Beat the second one (and many others, surprisingly) because they let the first FP through.
(PS A9, Awak, S-Machamp, Altaria, Empoleon)
That first team was Ninetales, Drifblim, Abomasnow. I lost because they got Deoxys with Shadow Ball, but even without that I don't think I had much of a chance.
S-Machamp was with Cress and Hypno. I am so unfamiliar with Rock Slide damage now, I ended up Earthquaking each one even though they were at like 25%, just in case. Thankfully I had the HP to survive 2 GK (and I had enough time to beat Hypno to its bigger move, with the other being Thunder Punch).
Altaria mirroed my Deoxys switch and had Meganium in the back. I ended up giving up an extra shield to earn switch advantage, which gave me the win despite their Meganium managing to sneak in and KO Gunfisk full of energy.
Empoleon managed to win with double flier. I switched Gunfisk into Skarm which unfortunately left Deoxys against Altaria.
(Deoxys, Vigoroth, Awak, S-Aboma, Galvantula)
Almost flipped AWak again. I switched a little too early against Venusaur, I think.
Actually flipped the Galvantula. They went to Meg vs. my (debuffed) Deoxys but opted to save shields, which ended up putting it low enough that I could safely farm with my Meg. Instead of giving up all the energy they swapped back to Galv. I was able to navigate the end vs. their Deoxys.
(Toxicroak, S-Aboma, Bastiodon, Charm A9, S-Hypno)
The Basti flipped it with Sirfetch'd in the back, dang.
The meta changes are seriously destroying me. I just can't figure it out.

Team Venusaur!

Losing a set 0-5 is horribly discouraging, so I decided to try another team. I decided to go back to my old team, with one substitution.

• Gunfisk (MS/RS/EQ)
• Azumarill (B/IB/PR)
• Venusaur (VW/FP/SB)

As good as Tropius is, I felt like I was seeing a lot of Charm users both in the lead and in the back. Venusaur should help with that, as well as applying more pressure to Water-types like Politoed, Swampert and Azu.
Jan 17
2651 > 2/3/2/4/3 > 2698
Trying out a variation of my previous team. Gunfisk/Azu/Venusaur.
(Sirfetch'd, Charm A9, Altaria, Skarmory, Galvantula)
The Ninetales swapped to Medicham. It used Pyschic once on Azu and then quit. Wild.
I made three dumb mistakes against the Altaria lead. Only lost because of all three together.
I lost to Galv because of lag. Earthquake registered no damage against their unshielded Gunfisk. So incredibly frustrating.
(Drifblim, S-Hypno, Drifblim, S-Victreebel, Jellicent)
I could have won against Jellicent but I out-thunk myself in a real dumb way.
(Scrafty, Hypno, Drifblim, Charm A9, Medicham)
The Charm A9 switched to Umbreon, and at this point Umbreon switches are making me think double dark. I switched to Venusaur to save Azu for Mandi/Scrafty, which was dumb. They had K-fisk in the back. Luckily they didn't shield an Earthquake after lol.
(PS A9, S-Swampert, Jirachi, Azumarill, S-Vic)
I can't decide whether I played decently or I just lucked out with the backline comps.
(Pelipper, PS A9, Politoed, S-Houndoom, Gunfisk)
Second match should have been a lot closer. They swapped to Politoed and successfully beat Venusaur by baiting twice. Their third was Castform. But Castform never used a charged move at all. At the end, I tried swapping to Gunfisk to catch a Thunder, but then Castform just died to Mud Shot.
S-Houndoom was with Azu and Scrafty. Shield advantage let Venusaur take both.
I played absolutely terribly in the last game. Didn't help that I lost the bait game at the start, but I screwed up and lost Azu with Ice Beam ready against Jumpluff. That tilted me and I made more mistakes. Might have still been able to salvage it at the end if I'd baited a Rock Slide, but I didn't, so I couldn't even see what their third was.
Relatively decent day anyway. Surprisingly few Abomasnow, which would still hurt me a lot. Not sure whether I like Venusaur more than Tropius.
Jan 18
2698 > 1/3/2/3/3 > 2679
(AS Tropius, Politoed, Sirfetch'd, S-Hypno, AS Tropius)
Real close one against Politoed. They had a Tentacruel counterswitch and got Rock Slide bait against me in Gunfisk mirror. Sad.
Playing poorly in this first set...
(Gunfisk, Meganium, Deoxys, Mew, Azu)
Venusaur pays off in match one against double Charm, saving me from a whiffed Rock Slide bait at the start.
Beat Mew after fully losing the lead thanks to them switching Skarmory out of Azu to Scrafty. I guess they were too worried about Azu sweeping both and wanted to try to catch an Ice Beam or Hydro Pump.
Beat Azu thanks to Venusaur barely surviving an Earthquake, and Gunfisk barely surviving an Ice Beam.
(Obstagoon, Abomasnow, Galvantula, Venusaur, S-Machamp)
First team was Obs/S-Skuntank/Sirfetch'd. I swapped to Venusaur and ended up trading both shields against Skuntank and still losing by a sliver. Gunfisk vs. Sirfetch'd and I swapped to Azu, which I think was a mistake. Very unsure. They LB'd once and then swapped to Obs, although I think they should have had time to LB the second time. I ended up farming down Obs, surviving a Cross Chop and a Leaf Blade to Earthquake the Sirfetch'd. Pretty sure mistakes on both sides.
Galvantula managed to win with Venusaur switch. I'm getting worse at recognizing when I need to use a charged move before counter-switching. I'm on a multi-day tilt.
(Swampert, Obstagoon, Swampert, Bastiodon, AWak)
Beat Swampert/Registeel/Skarmory by going down 2 shields in Azu vs. Regi, yikes. Definitely a win based on opponent's mistakes.
I almost won back the third match but I made dumb mistakes at the end.
AWak stayed in and I won the 1s, but Shiftry got too much of an energy lead and outraced Venusaur. If it was double grass, they played it real weird. I should have baited a FP.
(Swampert, Skarmory, Toxicroak, Galvantula, Deoxys)
I mistapped and shielded a for-sure Hydro Cannon on Venusaur. Still won because it was double Charm.
Toxicroak hurts me so much and I'm seeing it more.
I stay in vs. Deoxys, getting it into the red and gaining shield advantage. It swaps away from Azu into Gunfisk and I reflexively swap to Venusaur. I immediately thought it was a mistake, but it turned out to be a good thing because their third was Altaria.
I still just don't have a grasp of this meta and I'm tilting hard, making elementary mistakes all the time.
Jan 19
2679 > 3/2/5/3/4 > 2811
(Abomasnow, Altaria, Pelipper, Altaria, Abomasnow)
I keep losing to baits.
(A-Raichu, Sableye, A-Ninetales, S-Swampert, Bastiodon)
A9 switched out but Drifblim and Vigoroth really helped them recover. Rough. Not sure how I should have played it actually.
I almost lost a sure game against the S-Swampert. Swapped into Azu vs. Skarmory and ended up winning shield advantage 2-0. I went back in to farm down with Gunfisk. When I was close to EQ, they swapped into Gunfisk themselves. I was expecting Swampert and reflexively went to Venusaur instead of just using EQ.
I hate Sableye switch. It becomes so bait dependent with Return. It was able to flip the Basti lead, with Serperior matching up against Gunfisk. I actually might have been OK since Leaf Tornado is meh, but I over-farmed and died with energy.
(Azu, Basti, Skarmory, S-Swampert, Gengar)
Gengar is so bait-dependent but luckily I shielded Shadow Ball twice.
It feels like forever since I've had a 5-0.
(Gunfisk, Abomasnow, Politoed, Abomasnow, Mew)
I keep screwing up against Jellicent. For some reason the WateGhost icons make me think "Flying" somewhere, so I tend to Rock Slide it instead of just switching. Luckily it didn't cost me this time. Venusaur ended up KOing the whole team (Aboma/Jell/Azu).
Fourth match swapped into Sableye immediately. I got them to shield one RS and also caught FP on Azu, then correctly shielded Return. Luck more than skill though.
(Deoxys, Deoxys, Cradily, AS Tropius, Mew)
First Deoxys insta-swapped into Gunfisk, with Obstagoon in the back.
Cradily won the lead but I saved both shields. Farmed it down with Venusaur, shielding one Stone Edge and taking the other. Skarmory came in, I swapped to Azu. They swapped to AWak. I shielded one Shadow Bone, and was able to survive with energy and just enough health launch two Ice Beams. Then I had to finish with two Frenzy Plants as well.
Lost to Mew due to getting baited by Scrafty's PuP at the end. In retrospect, I would have survived the non-boosted FP so I shouldn't have shielded at that point.
A genuinely positive day. I can barely believe it.
Jan 20
2811 > 3/4/3/3/2 > 2883
(Gunfisk, S-Hypnno, Basti, S-Machamp, S-Aboma)
Gunfisk completely won the bait mirror, but I was able to salvage it. Got an IB off on Jumpluff which switched into Pelipper against my Venusaur. Not sure if they would have had time for Hurricane, but they got scared and Weather Ball'd.
(Obstagoon, Deoxys, S-Swampert, Deoxys, Toxicroak)
Toxicroak match was weird. It stayed in against Azu and got a shield with Mud Bomb, then swapped to Skarm. Skarm took an Ice Beam, used Brave Bird to leave Azu at a sliver, but then fainted to the second Ice Beam. Sableye came in. I managed to take their second shield with Rock Slide. I was loading up energy planning to EQ the Toxicroak. Shields were all gone. But when Toxi swapped in and I actually HAD EQ, I still reflexively switched to Venusaur. Took a Mud Bomb, but KO'd with FP while they were farming energy, I guess. And then the guy quit shortly after. Probably correctly, but not sure. I think both Venusaur and Gunfisk were in KO range and Sableye would have CMP. Just not sure how much he could have farmed safely against Venusaur.
I'm surprised at how well this set went given the leads.
(Azu, Galvantula, Basti, Deoxys, Obstagoon)
I decided to switch to Venusaur in the last match, but they had Skarmory. Should just always go to Azu. I could still have won, but Obstagoon managed to bait one shield with Night Slash.
(Galvantula, S-Hypno, Altaria, Altaria, S-Aboma)
The first guy got perfect baits on me 3 times with Pelipper and Gunfisk. Painful.
Last guy gave up switch advantage but got to farm a ton on Swampert in exchange. I might still have been OK, but I played poorly against their Pelipper.
(Altaria, S-Aboma, AWak, Azu, Mew)
Almost lost against that first Altaria because I was dumb and chose to catch Pelipper's Weather Ball with Venusaur instead of Azu. Venusaur does more damage, but takes significantly more damage in return. I always knew, but now I know first hand lol. Meganium was in the back and it was able to tank a Rock Slide and an Ice Beam. Luckily I won on a Mud Shot lol.
I could have won against S-Aboma but I got greedy against Jellicent. Not used to how fast it reaches Ice Beam.
Not sure if I had any winning play against the last team - Surf Mew, Skarmory, Lucario.
Still a positive day.
Jan 21
2883 > 3/3/3/2/3 > 2924
(Gunfisk, AWak, Galvantula, Skarmory, Abomasnow)
I should have had that last match. Lost to CMP, but I think my switch timer was up a little earlier so I could have surprise swapped in to finish it.
(Scrafty, Bastiodon, Bastiodon, Pelipper, Swampert)
Scrafty stayed in for quite a while against Azu. It still switched out before I used Play Rough (because I over-farmed) but the desynced switch timers worked in my favour.
Second Basti managed to flip it with Toxicroak in the back. So bad for me. I may have had it if I'd Rock Slided Toxi before swapping out.
Pelipper was with Registeel and Bastiodon. Double Steel is getting popular and it's rough for my team. I managed to win this one by catching Weather Ball on Azumarill TWICE, and another time on Venusaur. Yeah, lots of switches.
(Toxicroak, Medicham, Charm A9, Umbreon, Pelipper)
Toxi stayed in against Azu. I won switch advantage, which was actually bad because they had Gunfisk second. But Venusaur actually survived an EQ, and the guy opted to switch out when I think Gunfisk could have outraced me. Maybe I'm overestimating it though. In any case, I was able to manage the energy lead versus Umbreon to beat their Gunfisk after.
Medicham/Basti/Gunfisk. Another double Steel. Managed to win by tanking 2 Flamethrower and hard farming Basti with Gunfisk.
Umbreon/Toxicroak/S-Hypno. I think I needed to win switch advantage to stand a chance. Didn't happen.
PelippeAbomasnow/Skarmory. I don't think I have any win con here unless I can catch multiple moves. I didn't.
(Venusaur, Gunfisk, Deoxys, Skarmory, Galvantula)
Second game I got hit with insane lag, letting my opponent fill up to 100 energy in the mirror. So frustrating. I've been seeing a fair bit of lag on my side lately but not on my opponent's.
Skarmory had a Mew switch which is always rough. Was hoping Venusaur would be safe if Surf/WC, but it was Flame Charge.
(Gunfisk, Haunter, K-Ninetales, Bastiodon, Venusaur)
Haunter made it real easy by throwing Shadow Punches immediately, so there was no shield pressure.
K-Ninetales/Lanturn/Celebi. This spice destroyed me haha. Not sure what I could have done different. Maybe if I'd swapped out of the lead, I could have aligned things differently. Side note, shiny K-Ninetales is tricky when not paying close attention. It took me two extra beats to realize it wasn't Alolan.
Venusaur match was crazy close. They switched Mew to avoid Earthquake and I swapped to Venusaur. EQ would have hurt Mew but then Venusaur would have run over me. It was Flame Charge but Venusaur still barely won. Then got EQ on their Venusaur followed by my Azu vs. Gunfisk from almost even, which is really close when Azu doesn't have Hydro Pump.
Seems like I'm out of major tilt and into "slow and steady". I'm OK with that.
Jan 22
2924 > 3/3/2/3/4 > 2994
(Hypno, Umbreon, Altaria, Hypno, Drifblim)
I actually have no idea how to deal with a Vigoroth safe switch with this team.
Altaria match was a bit scary. Hypno switch so I stayed in. Toxicroak in the back.
Fourth match I thought I had lost because of lag letting a Medicham KO Azu and then reach a charged move against Venusaur. Luckily it was PuP and I survived with a sliver to get one last Vine Whip.
(AWak, Gunfisk, Charm A9, Deoxys, S-Swampert)
Gunfisk trashed me in the bait game. Complete 0-4 in the calls.
No chance against that last team. S-Aboma and Pelipper.
This set puts me at new season high of 2948.
(Altaria, Bastiodon, Swampert, Altaria, PS A9)
Altaria switched to Venusaur and got shield advantage on me. Toxicroak in the back. GG right there. I played the Venusaur switch really poorly. I really should have stayed in a while and tried to catch the FP, or stayed in entirely.
Made a real dumb error in the second match, my gosh.
Only won the fourth match because Toxi switched out of Venusaur into Altaria, letting me farm extra energy on both Venusaur and Azu for Toxi.
Lag in the fifth match let A9 farm two extra Weather Balls. Almost cost me the game.
(Azu, Medicham, Medicham, Altaria, Azu)
Another Altaria switching to Venusaur. I just stayed in this time and it worked out.
This set puts me at new season high of 2949.
(Basti, Politoed, Charm A9, Altaria, Jellicent)
Second set was vs. [well-known streamer]. Tried to catch Weather Ball but failed, then had a simultaneous KO in Azu vs. Jellicent. He won the coin flip at this point, bringing in S-Hypno against Venusaur. If I'd gone Gunfisk, I would have had a good chance.
Won the last one by tanking Earthquake on both Gunfisk and Venusaur, wild.
This puts me at a new season high... pretty stressful to be right on the edge though.
Jan 23
2994 > 3/4 > 3049
(Azumarill, Deoxys, Venusaur, Medicham, Gunfisk)
First one was scary. I won switch advantage at cost of all shields, but it let their Azu farm down mine. Ended up losing Venusaur early because of it. Their third was Bite Hippowdon. They switched early so Gunfisk took an Earth Power but I managed my energy to beat Azu as well. [Edit: just noticed I didn't say what their second was; I think it was Deoxys but I'm not sure.]
Queue time is bad right now.
Deoxys switched after farming a bit to not waste energy against Gunfisk. They brought in Azu, and I didn't shield Venusaur. I let Venusaur go down to a Psycho Boost, then brought in Gunfisk. They swapped out to their own Gunfisk but ended up no-sielding an Earthquake. Then they quit.
I barely lost to the Venusaur lead. came down to K-Ninetales baiting a Weather Ball and landing a Solar Beam. Still ended up one Bubble from the win, ugh.
I switched to Venuaur against Medicham. Shielded 2 IP as they shielded 2 FP, then they swapped to Umbreon. I landed one FP before fainting. Farmed up as much as possible on my Azu. They brought Medi back in but I got to my PR before they got any move. They had Azu last. I swapped to Gunfisk to get one EQ but it still looked dicey. They didn't have PR though, so I squeaked in the win.
I won the bait game against Gunfisk, but they farmed down with Toxicroak. They swapped Toxi out to catch Ice Beam on Skarmory. Might still have been OK but I way over-farmed and lost Azu with 100 energy oooops.
Doesn't matter, got to 3011.
(RL Tropius, RL Tropius, Melmetal, Gunfisk, Charm A9)
First two teams were both double Steel with Basti and Gunfisk. I screwed up on the second one and it was a lot closer.
Melmetal managed its energy and switching really well. I was cleanly outplayed.
Another poor IV non-shiny Pikachu Libre.

Final Thoughts

I'm glad I finished in GL. I don't think my current ULP team can stand up to the XL onslaught.
For those who read through everything - I hope you found it interesting and got something out of it!

Untold RPG on iOS- partial walkthrough (MASSIVE SPOILERS)
So I was kind of loving walking through and trying to poke into everything and max out as much as I can. Below are the things I’ve found thus far, admittedly an incomplete list. If anyone has any good hidden gems (literal or figurative) please add.
For starters the below post from u/Dharzi is a pretty great start with the following additional notes:
In the game opening, one of the armors you can find early is a black linen cloak (“cartel cloak”). You’ll get one by Act 3 Roeberg anyway, but it might change some things to have it earlier.
There are two things you’ll want in the Dusk Megalith garden: moon orchid and strange fruit. It is very unlikely, but possible, to find a Strange Fruit when searching the garden after negotiating with the guard to talk to Mev if you have 2 perception. The fruit gets you +1 Charisma -5 health. If you have the patience to go for it, when you level up from game start get Agility, then Perception, then Charisma before going to the gardens, and bribe the guard to find Mev. Getting this, plus another Strange Fruit from the Druid in the Dusk Megalith residence hall gives you 4 Charisma when you’re talking to the Merchant for some MASSIVE discounts in bandages and good sales prices on everything. This, plus some perfume later means you’ll be the most charming rogue to walk the land with only using one point from a level. Moon orchid should always drop in the garden, but more is better; you don’t need to mix the moon orchid with anything, but you can eat them straight up, and each one gives you 5 XP.
Second, there’s an update since Dharzi’s post that has a second floor to the tavern, where you can loot corpses, giving a bronze bracelet which gives a defense. When going through the crypt, even though the Golden Bracelet is less immediately useful, it has amazing sales price, better than the gold chalice. Either way, save all your antiques for Roeberg, and don’t sell them early.
Buy a ton of bandages (~22) from the merchant; it’ll be a long while before you max Charisma and can get them so cheap, and you tear through a bunch them to get through the underworld with no resilience. Also hold off on selling things, ESPECIALLY antiques (you’ll want those later). To the extent you need cash, selling cheap things with low markup hurts the least. don’t spend any money on food, medicine, or equipment for a while if it doesn’t upgrade a stat, listed below. You’ll want at least 725 gold stockpiled, preferably over 925, by the midpoint of Set, and the hyacinth and black diamond in your kit are worth more with higher charisma.
Stat boosting items after the opening 2 Strange Fruit are listed here for reference:
-Dread root : Nomads by Set, if you give them 3 bandages. +1 agility
-Exotic Perfume (+1 Charisma) is sold in the Thieves den by Set. It’s 300g at 4 charisma, 150 at 8 Charisma
-Sacred elixir: +1 perception can be bought at Roeberg’s Soma gardens (“noble”gardens) south of Selikro Plaza from a nomad merchant that sells these for 263g each with maxed charisma if you chat with him about how business is going first and have good charisma
The Walkthrough
For the beginning, Following Dharzi :
https://www.reddit.com/iosgaming/comments/fzmm69/untold_rpg_demo_guide_save_scum_edition/?utm_source=amp&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;utm_medium=&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;utm_content=post_body
You should end up fighting Mev before going on to give the antidote to your buddy. It is possible (though difficult) to beat Mev at level 6 with only 2 Strength, 3 Agility and 2 Perception ( with 4 Charisma, and 1 Resilience) if you have the good helmet from the underworld (Gotterdammerung), the quality brass sword from the Druid assassin, bronze armor from the catacombs, and a bronze shield from the Merchant. You’re welcome to try other combos, but I quite like that one. She’s crap at dodging so the Gotterdammerung is worthwhile, but after this fight and the next one I generally prefer to use another helmet to keep my perception up and hit rate good. After healing you should hopefully ~17 bandages, ~550 gold/goods
Moving on to the Pylon, after trying to give the antidote, you’ll find your friend Rasleen is missing and a Druid chieftain wants to fight. He’s nowhere near as hard as Mev, and can drop a weapon (trident), helmet, or rusty iron chain armor. It might take a few tries if he gets lucky with a “sweep”; and you probably won’t have much life left after and will need to use a bandage. I love the armor here (you’ve already got a legendary helmet and the amazing Black Phosphorus mace from Mev, using those it’ll be a while before you hit a fight that’s a challenge). Alternatively, you could keep the hat (which has good defense without costing a perception) and cobble together armor as you go. I feel trident is the weakest of the three after already getting Black Phosphorus.
After that, start heading to the gardens and a turncoat Druid, Ato Triasteen, will tell you that Rasleen is in the prison. Before going to the prison, go to the spire and tell the merchant he can come, but he has to pay you (nets 25g) and tell Arvie Graker in the barracks to come also for 20 xp. Take the stat boost for level 7 and put it towards perception, it’ll save you from getting ambushed in the prison, and your master thief can never have too much perception and agility.
Go to the prison dressed in your disguise (Green robes, Death mask) and you can just wander around and ambush all the guards and the warden, which you should do for the XP. Going west, you’ll find a laudanum, amphora of wine and fruit (up to 3 each of pears and apples, anything 4 fruit or more is good luck). Go east and make sure you’re NOT wearing your disguise to kill the guard there. Giving the antidote to Rasleen should get you to level 8. Hold off on telling her the guards are dead, to put the disguise back on and kill the warden if you didn’t already (don’t worry if you get a bit dinged up, you’re about to rest) THEN do the prison break; should be at ~600 gold/goods at this point. Steel longswords or body armor tend to have best sale price from this area.
Shadow coast, organize a raid for xp. You don’t get much from it; moving in for the kill on the first knight should get you to level 9 after all the quest finishes you just did. If you kill the women and children then you get away free and clear with two bags of loot; if you leave them alive then Mastaba the barbarian dies and drops a bag of loot. Killing the knight that got Mastaba gets you 40 xp and ~35 gold, plus an armor (kite shield can be nice), after Ato either shoots the horse or you do an acrobatic leap at him. If you choose to kill kids and avoid the fight, when you get backstory on the barbarian if he survives, you get 25 XP for showing him the underworld tablet, if you share 25 gold with Mastaba (though the loot bag he brought should have had ~20 gold plus goodies, so you’re out the 35 you would have gotten from the Knight, the 15 extra experience, and the rather nice sale price for the tablet itself in Roeberg). Not sure what keeping poor Mastaba alive might do for you late game, but I didn’t want to kill any kids, which nicely gets you more stuff anyway. The loot bags themselves don’t have much special. The jade idol is worth 60 in Roeburgh, the expensive fur coat for 28. The painting is worthless except for the gold frame, but the ruby bracelet has an ok non-antique sales price at 26 at a normal shop, but don’t expect much from the loot here. The commemorative plate isn’t a real antique and isn’t worth anything. Gold necklace can get 10g. If you have bad charisma you get an extra 5xp for killing a pirate.
Note that you can get more money if you let people starve for a while until breaking into a cathedral; this gets up to 3 diamonds, but you can only fight one knight if you break into the cathedral, so you’re short 40 xp vs the raid route for about 100 gold.
Not much happens on the boat. You can tell Ato that he owes you for poor Mastaba’s death (he gives you a bow and arrow later, but I think he might do that anyway). You can give Laudanum and the prison ledger to Rasleen and you can let the merchant have your cabin; not sure what benefit either of those do for you.
Fighting thieves in the tavern, you can just go all out and kill three, each gives single digits gold, some junky armor, a tusk medallion and some bandages. Should be an easy fight.
Decision time : cool accessory, or more XP? Just walking up to the bandits in the east and killing 5-in-a-row (at 20 XP each) plus their leader (50) and concubine (25) isn’t a bad haul, and gets you the bone crown, an accessory with 8(!) defense and apparently no weight. Each bandit also drops a medallion worth 25g after you’ve won, if you stop by the Set town hall. If you get the nomads to fight the bandits, you lose out on some money and the cool accessory, but get 110(!) more XP. edit it’s an extra 120 xp. If you shoot first (5xp) then step aside and ambush the tusk warrior after you follow the nomads, you get 25 xp instead of 15.
Either way, wander around town a bit, kill off the bandit hanging out in the alley, then head out of town and visit the army and nomads in the west. You can kill the nomad sentry on the way to visit them for 30 xp. I feel bad doing it, but there don’t seem to be any negative consequences to the action; hopefully the nomads just blame the militia or the bandits for the missing sentry :(.
Talk to them both, and give the nomad healer 3 bandages for an agility boost. Also stop by the infirmary in town to advance the Mind Affliction quest, and swing by the boat and talk to Ato for a free bow and arrows along with some info on the healing druids. Stopping by the the longhouse can net you a moonshine, but it also gets the Spire merchant who came with you dead before giving you whatever reward he’ll get around to giving you, so hold off and come here after defeating the tusk bandit holdout, but before stopping by the market.
If you’re a true knave, you can stop by the eastern wilderness and on your way down to the tusk gang a fisherman will give you a helpful warning. If you repay his kindness by robbing and killing him, you get 5xp and a silver medallion with religious significance that is a 1-defense accessory.
It’s usually a good idea to have your bow in your off hand to get more options, but shooting arrows is an expensive way to go through life, and you usually end up having to use two arrows for the same amount of XP.
To kill bandits, you just walk out the east exit, walk up the bridge and kill lots of guys. If you have BAD charisma, you can also first fail in negotiations between the nomads and the soldiers for 30 xp, 5-30 gold and an iron weapon/armor. If you do this, make sure you get the bone crown from the leader (he can also sometimes drop a bone shield, which is just an ok shield). I went the other way; talk to Rasleen for a clever solution to the impasse, and then talk to the army and nomads again. The nomads will kill the thieves and give you a whopping 250 XP for the solution (and level 10), plus you can follow the Nomads and pick up an easy bandit fight yourself for 15 XP, plus an extra 20 XP for refusing the nomad’s gold and then another 25 for rescuing the ferryman and army captain (you get that 25 either way).
On the way back up the east side, you can find the Thieves den in the basement of the abandoned house. Here’s where the money magic happens, but it’s a bit of a two-parter. You can either go all out and get super charisma now plus the lockpicks, or just get the lockpicks for a lot and come back for charisma after going to Graefir Island, getting two +Charisma items, and then coming back. If you can get up to 925 getting just the lockpicks now is the better way to be.
If you’re doing all that sweet, sweet Charisma now (not recommended) then at 4 charisma the exotic perfume costs 300; at 5c it’s 240; at 6c it’s 200, at 7c it’s 172, at 8c it’s a mere 150 (this is as low as they go). The advanced lock pick similarly goes down from 225 at 4c to a 180, to 150, to lowly 129 at 7c and the extremely cheap 113 at 8c. If you use one of your skill boosts on Charisma (up to 5), then with 725 gold you can buy 3 perfumes, using each perfume before buying the next, and then buy the lock picks for the cheapest price. You are now officially a golden-tongued master, but DON’T sell your stockpile down yet. Selling prices go up past C8 even though buying prices don’t go down anymore, but C8 is about as far as you probably want to go. However, for 183 gold extra, buy the lockpicks now and then come back, you get an extra attribute point of your choice by not having to use a level point on Charisma.
Math : lockpicks and rope at C4; 225+18 = 243 + 15 gold entry fees for the thieves den and ferry costs +4 perfumes starting at C6 = 672 for a total of 930 vs 113 + 12 for lockpicks and rope plus 10 for entry fees and ferry + 612 for 3 perfumes starting at C5 = 747. So by spending an extra 183 gold, you get a free attribute upgrade of your choice, which is worth it in my book. All that loot you got from Shade Coast and since are mostly getting sold at C10 or are artifacts either way; to the extent you have to sell stuff early you’re also losing out on a bit of gold.
Heading to town, stop by the longhouse for that free moonshine; now that it’s safe the Spire merchant shouldn’t die. You’ll meet an affable soldier named Arturo that hasn’t gotten the news Hadrian is back. Next stop by the market for a rope and then talk to Hadrian by the Wolf shrine, grab his reports and read them. Important info is that those tusk medallions can now be traded in to Hadrian for 25g each, so do that. You can choose to go ferry to the healing druids or look for Arturo. It’s worth it to bring Rope to Arturo, and you save money buying rope later, so druids are probably a better first stop.
Going to Graefir Island and the Ephemeral Druids will have you go through some stuff. They seemed trustworthy, so I drank their black lotus drink, which helped somewhat what with being mind controlled. If you ask the leader for a history of the island he has his guard give you a book; if you search the backyard you’ll find a glyph that leads you north to a guy in a pit. If you have rope, you can let him out for some XP and a map to the truly magnificent tomb of Hieronymus where, after fiddling with your shiny advanced lockpicks, you get a +agility sword (Crimson Falcata), +charisma crown (Jewelled Circlet, under jewels, counts as headwear) and +charisma off-hand item (Orb of Reflection, also under Jewels). The extra agility can make it worth using the ruby sword instead of your Black Phosphorus mace, the +Charisma make selling goods even sweeter.
After Graefir stop by the Thieves Den and get charisma if you’re doing it my recommended way.
With all that lovely charisma you can now buy... some cheap rope. That’s about the only thing worth getting in town, plus a Wolf idol you can sell for a 17g profit when you get to Roeberg. Some of the weapons, like the Iron Pike can be useful, and maybe some 3g arrows from your old friend on the boat if you’re into archery. Never waste money on regular armor.
To get Arturo, go to the longhouse and ask the bartender about him. After he rebuffs you, one of the prisoners you rescued will tell you to check out the abandoned farm to the SW. Sneak around the back and use your lockpicks to ambush Arturo from behind; tying him up and bringing him to justice will get you 150g from Hadrian (way more than the 12 cost of the rope itself) plus some info on the gang. Don’t worry about your health here if Arturo got you a bit; the Island of Bast events make your current health relatively moot.
Next we go to the Island of Bast, with the secret hidden Tusk base. Rasleen gets spoilered by Mantis (not sure if a resilience-specced character can make it a difference but you’d need more than 5 Resilience). If you followed the initial part and have a shovel, you can get some more xp. Shooting his bodyguard before charging gets you 30 ox instead of 20.
It’s worth swing by the dead forest to pick up ~9x Palefoot mushrooms that heal up to 18 each. The mushrooms will help your chronically non-resilient ass stay alive. If you use the prompt “You better put that knife away before you get hurt”, they’ll walk away and grant you 20 xp for the glory of having heard your mellifluous voice. Alternatively you can fight the poor wretches for 35 xp (or shoot 4 of them with arrows first for an extra 40 xp on top of that), the fights are pitiful but you’ll get whacked for 18 or so after fight 4. The prompts to get all seven fights are talk, “I don’t want trouble”, fight, defend yourself, kill her, take a look, fight him, run away from the fiend with the rusty hatchet, stay and fight (gets you hit with a club for 18), kill him, fight them, keep fighting. They’ll leave you alone after that, but if you fight the hatchet-wielder (or try to use 5 arrows instead of 4 opening up) you get overwhelmed and robbed. The 18-point-hit plus any nicks you pick up should be more than offset by Palefoot mushrooms dropped by the fiends.
Climbing the mountain, you can talk your way up to guys so you can ambush them for both the guard and the archer. It’s probably a good idea to be up to at least 3 strength here, even just running rusty chain mail armor you’ll need a bit more power. I killed the brute at the gate rather than sneak around him, ambushing didn’t do much good but it’s better than nothing. At the top, you’ll find tusk HQ. I killed the leader ‘cause he deserved killing. You have to talk to the iron vagrant and either keep your word to let him go, or leave him chained up. You get 50 XP for letting the incredibly-armored probably-immortal cannibal madman who gets people addicted to opium go. But hey, your word is your bond. You can choose to fight him after freeing him, but I’m not sure you can even do any damage through that armor and it’s pretty much a lost cause. Maybe you can figure a way to fight him and actually cause damage. Anyway, head back to Set, tell the nomads in the tavern the bad news (or on the plain if you went that way) and get 20 XP and up to level 12 before going on to the next adventure. Edit it is technically possible to kill the Iron Vagrant at level 12, but only through the use of specials - regular attacks don’t hurt him. He gives 500 xp and no loot.
You can hear the news of the Roeburgh invasion from a town crier by the shrine. If you stop by the longhouse, you’ll meet a mysterious woman you can kill for some xp and a gem, plus a free drink if you apologize for the mess. Amethyst sells for 10g here at 10c and she might drop multiple, an uncommon-drop emerald is worth 31. After a quick nap at the tavern you should be able to negotiate the druids into surrendering the boat you came on for 50 XP. Stop by the mayor’s office after to get bounties on tusk amulets and a bit more experience for sharing the tusk journal with Hadrian before heading out to Roeburgh. Stopping by Graefir Island will get you another 50 XP for the 5g cost of the ferry trip.
Supplies you’ll want: Roeburgh has some color coding clothing, so not sure if you can pick up a useful set of clothes from the tailor here, but if there’s a trick to the clothing I haven’t figured it yet. It’s probably a good idea to have extra rope just in case, though, spoiler, I haven’t found use for that either. As much as I want to, I can’t get the Ephemeral Druids to give me more lotus juice, even though I have an empty vial. If you’re inclined towards archery the Druids on Graefir island have a nifty longbow, which packs a bigger punch than your hunting bow.
At Roeburgh you’ll first be greeted by refugees, who you can donate to. It’s diminishing returns with the donations of 3,10,20, and 50 gold yielding 5, 10, 15, and 25 experience. 20 is probably the best value, but Mr.-Charisma-who-doesn’t-buy-armor-and-wants-lots-of-levels-to-avoid-speccing-resilience is probably better off giving 50. Getting to the city itself gets you another 20 XP, and you should easily pass an early agility check from a falling burning building, but you’ll get dinged for 8 health if you have less than 4 resilience, which is fine. A dying militiaman will give up some studded leather gear and 3-6 gold; the studded leather helmet or a 4-defense studded leather belt could both be useful.
You should see an alley you can duck into, but it’s the lesser option. You go in and avoid another falling militiaman with identical goods for plundering then fight one easy guy with a morning star. Instead, it’s recommended you keep walking forward and fight 4 guys for some XP, with the commander being a bit tough; mace is easier than sword here and fighting four guys nets more xp and loot. You could end up with a full set of iron scale armor (body, boots, gloves, and a spare body armor to sell), and it might be worth upgrading from that old rusty chain mail. If you got the helmet from the Druid War Chief, this is where you can finally have a good set of full body armor head to toe.
Crossing the Hydran bridge, you’ll get a coded message, and begin your Roeberg adventure.
First things first, equip your +Charisma items for town and head northwest from Selikro Plaza to Emerald Avenue, where you find an armorer, seamstress and an antiquarian. You can sell the armor you don’t need to the armorer for a better price than the nomad merchant, and you can sell the antiques in your bag to the antiquarian for lots and lots, including that clay tablet (75g) from the underworld. I had two bronze chains (25 and 20 sale price, respectively) two cultist masks, and was happy to sell one (30g) along with the gold chain(130g)/gold chalice (90g) from Dusk Megalith and the mechanical hand (60g) looted from a Druid body. I also a sold the Wolf idol (20g, purchased from carpenter in Roe for 3g), the death mask (80g) and mask of Nievra (70g), and with great reluctance gave up the Cipher Stone for 600g. Maybe I’ll regret that. We’ll see if I ever need a mask or Cipher stone again. You should (temporarily) go to astronomical sums of money.
South from Selikro plaza to the Soma Gardens. A vapid rich couple doesn’t seem to give you anything, but chatting with the Nomad merchant a bit before shopping will unlock his unusual goods, including Sacred Elixirs to improve perception for 263 each. You should be able to squeeze getting at least 4, possibly 6, which would bring your Perception up to 8 or even 9. He also sells the “Desert Cavalry Shield” which contains the soul of Ebiddon and grants an extra 10 protection on top of its 23% block chance for 7 Encumbrance. Not bad for 75 gold if you’re going sword-and-shield, and a magic shield might sneak past my usual “never waste money on armor” rule.
You can stop by the walled orchard and forage some green apples.
Now that you have an acceptable perception level, time for exploring. The inn on Selikro square will provide info about a mysterious woman and her cartel crew, and grant you a brothel token. Taking this up to Emerald road, you can get to the back room of the brothel to ... talk ... to one of their girls. If you ask about Mantis she’ll attack you (pitifully) and give you 15 xp. My poor minmaxing heart still can’t do it and I just sit passive trying to help her, and maybe I can save her later. Killing the guard for 15 xp, I have no problem with. Killing madame brimstone for 10 xp is a bit more gray, but she had it coming.
Quick note on health; if you stay at the inn, your high Charisma gives it to you for half price and you get unlimited uses out of it either way. If you’re low on health, it’s a good time to just rest instead of using items.
You can now find the gambling den off emerald street, or if you go back to Selikro square and listen to a sermon at the church you’ll get a new side quest to help out a church worker. To get the church event to proc you may need to go to the gambling den and then just walk away without starting that line of activity. I did the church quest first, since it gives better rewards.
Unfortunately, after visiting the church servant’s house you find you’re too late and he cannot be helped, only avenged. After chasing his killers, and getting a brief helping hand from an unknown woman (not sure about options to find more about her?), you can listen in on their conversation in the orchard, and then dispatch them. If you approach them openly you can ask for a bribe (they only give 70-80 regardless of what’s promised) and then kill them after they throw the money on the ground; this gets 20 fewer xp than doing a sneak attack. When you tell the preacher the bad news you are rewarded for your efforts with a holy talisman; Phenris’ wolf medallion boosts resilience, Meym’s Rook Medallion improves perception, and Nierva’s fireball improves Charisma. At this point, with Charisma already at 8 and perception at 8 or 9, it’s a matter of preference what you want to get. Since the default for accessories is to give defense, I lean away from resilience even though it’s the only one you actually NEED. I picked one of the others and you can swap in a defense accessory when fighting a slugfest that doesn’t need perception.
Moving on to the gambling den off of emerald street, you should hit level 13 when you kill the cartel roughs hanging out in front disrespecting you. You’ll meet an old acquaintance in the form of Cleo Verdandi. She’ll give you the info you want, but if you try to fight immediately you just die. Leave the gambling den, and then you can come back when there’s not a sword already at your throat to kill her and her brother for 100 xp and a big sword. It’s up to you whether you want to sell the Heavy Iron Scimitar for 35g, or just keep the rather nice 2-handed sword for yourself. I (barely) had enough to pick up one more Perception from the nomad and keep it.
Next, go on to Soma Gardens, pick up a Perception if you can afford it and find the hidden estate for 100 XP. You can get into the grounds several ways, but killing guards gets you money and XP, and each one drops a temple key. You should be able to go through the gate guard and then a patroller in the front yard quickly. From here you can either go in the front door or, with agility 5, scale the wall of the backyard to go in through an open window. I went with a frontal entrance on the theory I could fight more, but I don’t think it makes a difference.
In the Sleep Temple you’ll head to a ballroom, and then quickly see a cloak room where you can snag up to three snazzy black cloaks to sneak through the dining hall unnoticed. Or you can fight a whole lot of guys who drop no gold but are super easy to mace through and get up to level 14. So yeah, forget sneaking, I killed a bunch of bad guys. The last one is a woman who slashes your shoulder for 14 before she fights you. Or, almost the last one; there’s one guy with a scimitar left. After killing him you can either go upstairs or the kitchen.
Kitchen doesn’t have anyone, but does have plunder. Pantry has : top shelf, Maleqite brandy (up to 2) and Panossian wine (up to 3), middle has mead (8) and cider (4), bottom has empty bottles. Wooden box has a rawhide bone to avoid fighting dogs if you hate xp or love doggos. The strongbox only has drugs, boo. Up to 12 laudanum. For a palace this place has surprisingly bad loot.
Upstairs you can go to the dormitory that you can climb into from the backyard. You can find a mead, some coins, 2 laudanum in the drawers, a cell key in the guy’s pocket and you can kill him in his sleep for 10 xp. At least you can sell the Laudanum for 17g each.
Moving to the atrium, you see a map depicting Iblyss, a bust, and two doors, one to an armory and prison, the other to the master bedroom. Go to the armory first, where you’ll find the captured high lord; releasing him and giving him the message grants you 60 xp. I felt sorry for the naked bugger and gave him a black cloak for safety, even if I did kill everyone already. Search the Iron Maiden VERY thoroughly for a Red Stone Bracelet, a +Agility accessory. You can go to the prison and kill the guard dog for 50 xp and releasing a former gladiator by the name of Avon Lorca from Malequiem, Mantis’ home town. He apparently doesn’t need a cloak. :/
Speaking of the devil, if you head to the master bedroom you get a warning that this could be the end. If you’re interested in utterly maxing out, you can duck out to Soma Gardens quick to sell Laudanum and buy a perception or two.
heading into his master bedroom, you can find his journal on a nightstand, a hidden compartment in the wardrobe with Laudanum, up to 5 (more drugs? Boring!). As you you leave, you’ll fight the man himself. If you try to run away, he breaks your body, but Avon Lorca saves you. If you man up and fight, He’ll break the fight halfway through to try throwing a knife at you (misses easily if you have 6 agility with the red stone bracelet), then he tries throwing a chair (again missing). Round three is a bit harder fight; if you pursue he’ll call for help, but since everyone’s dead, unsurprisingly this is fruitless. After defeating him, you can kill him, or join the dark side. Either ends the game. Not killing everyone will allow some different endings, but still ends the game. Wait, so how do I get to Iblyss and kill the real cartel leader? Huh? Come on!
A little sad I don’t get to check out Malequiem or Iblyss, but a well told story and a lovely game.
Ending line edited for an extra level for killing Ironclad Vagrant: level 15 with 8 strength, 8 Charisma, 1 Resilience, 6 Agility, 12 Perception, plus; two + Char items, a +Perception item, a +agility item, and a plus agility sword and + defense shield I never use since Black Phosphorus lets me just slam through everyone, and steel scale helmet, gloves, greaves and body armor. Note that I’d probably keep the Cipher Stone and maybe a Druid mask and have lower perception if the game were to keep going.

When I picked up Asher, my pet rabbit, from the store weeks ago, he sort of came with a bit of a disclaimer.
"Look, every other pet in this store....going to be about as predictable as dry toast," the owner, Jack, began to tell me, then hesitated, rubbing his chin thoughtfully with one stubby finger. He seemed to be thinking how to put the rest. I'd gone into the shop a few times before, and always thought the tattooed, heavyset man behind the counter to be affable but a bit strange.
"Let's just say I get these rabbits from an unusual place," Jack finished, smile gone.
"Where? Jersey?" I joked, but I lost my own grin in a matter of seconds. Jack was completely serious, and the dim lighting of the main display room cast eerie shadows over his face.
"Where do you get them?" I asked in a solemn tone.
Jack shook his head. "That's a secret of the business, buddy. But I can tell you the rabbits, at least from this store, each has its own quirk, you know? If you're going to purchase one, just be careful."
"You aren't the greatest salesman," I said. It started out as a joke, but I ended up being completely serious.
Jack only shrugged, rubbing one tattooed arm. "Hey, take 'em, or leave 'em. I have to sell them regardless."
Despite what I said to him, Jack must've been an effective salesman because I ended up buying the rabbit. I thought about its name on the way home, and for some reason Asher popped into my head.
"Seems fitting," I said, and Asher clucked almost as if in agreement, and he appeared to be dozing in the cage as I walked through the front door of my house.
At first, everything was great with my new pet rabbit. He loved attention, but wasn't overly fussy or anything. Nothing really out of the ordinary happened, except for the first several nights I would be woken up by a slight whooshing or crackling sound. It'd be very subtle, but just enough to stir me from sleep.
So I'd get up and check on Asher, and there he'd be, sleeping in his cage. Then one night something really off the wall happened.
I heard the same sound as usual, and I slowly got out of bed to check up on him. I was irritated and mystified. This had been going on every night since I'd gotten the thing.
I could've sworn I also heard cursing. The voice coming from its cage seemed oddly human.
Asher stood on his legs, eyes large and rimmed in a mildly horrifying red. It didn't look like blood exactly, and I wondered if it had to do with him being demonic. Or possessed or something. I brushed those thoughts away as being the remnants of a half-forgotten nightmare.
"I can't believe I lost!" Asher said. My mouth dropped and dread dried my tongue. He was shaking his head, eyes nearly murderous with rage. "Another month in this fucking rabbit body, on top of 3 years, 46 days...etc. At this rate, I'm going to gamble my way right into eternity!"
Just the look in Asher's eyes scared me, and they actually appeared larger than before. His little rabbit body also had taken on a red, angry tinge. Despite its size, I was afraid to take a step closer.
Then, as if remembering himself and the superficial laws of nature, he stopped speaking and just looked at me, making those soft clucking sounds.
"I know you just fucking talked!" I said to the thing. He merely cocked his head, licking a paw and rubbing it over one long ear.
"C'mon, say something!"
But Asher was silent, except for a few confused seeming clicks. Even though I was very certain he'd said something, something undeniably human, I began to doubt what I'd heard.
So, after several moments of confusion, the exhaustion from the previous day still clinging to my bones, I crawled back under the covers. I slept for a few more hours, then, since I had the day off from work, I decided to get dressed and take Asher back down to the pet store.
Honestly I didn't know what I was going to do. Ask for a refund? Try and pry out of Jack he knew he sold me a super-intelligent, deranged rabbit? I remembered the look in its eyes, and I involuntarily shivered.
Down at the pet store, Jack was wiping down the main service counter (he told me once he liked to keep a clean establishment, almost obsessively so). He yelled at an employee I'd never seen before, a skinny, scrappy looking dude who looked a little too young to be working there.
Jack seemed to be uncomfortable with maintaining eye contact with me, and as soon as the skinny kid went into the back storage room, I stared at Jack, hoping to make him crack and tell me the truth.
"You know about the rabbit," I said. "You knew there was something wrong with it, but you still sold it to me!"
Jack gave me a hard look, then his gaze went to the back part of the store, scanning it to make sure the gangly kid had gone.
"I'm not sure what you're referring to," Jack replied, voice cutting against a slight gurgle because of the beverage he'd been drinking. "What exactly did you find strange about the rabbit?"
Then I realized how much of a talented salesman Jack was. Turning my accusation into a question.
He ran a large, pale hand across a shaved head. He was waiting for me to answer. Actually, it felt more like a bluff. I knew he'd knowingly sold me some possessed or demonic rabbit, and I brought the cage up to the counter, holding it there almost accusingly. I couldn't come right out and say it, and Jack figured I didn't want to come across as crazy.
Asher clucked a few times, then a strange intermittent purring sound took over.
"Look, you even said you got the rabbits in your store from an unusual place, right? Well, this one's clearly fucked up, and I'm betting the other ones are too!" I said, placing Asher's cage on the counter.
"And I don't care if you won't refund me my money. Just take the damn thing back!"
On the way out, I caught the kid gawking at me for a brief moment. I tried not to make it too obvious that I'd seen him. So I headed out to the cold, sunny afternoon...and hid out of view of the front doors. I didn't know why, but I had the distinct impression he'd come outside and say something. I saw it in those eyes.
After about twenty minutes, I was nearly ready to leave because my ears were close to snapping off, when he came out.
He introduced himself as Caleb, and the first thing I noticed was how twitchy he appeared to be. Yet I detected in his large hazel eyes that the fear and anxiety stemmed from something recent, not innate personality.
Caleb said he couldn't talk long, didn't want Jack to become suspicious. He also claimed he wanted to show me something later that night, once the store had closed. His parting comment had been a warning, that just because I returned the rabbit didn't mean it would disappear from my life.
I walked home, and I found I was a bit jittery coming through the front door. Despite that, I decided to try and take a nap before nightfall in case whatever Caleb wanted to show me made for a long night. My thoughts turned to Asher as I fell asleep.
I woke to a painful biting sensation on my foot, and I instinctively kicked my feet to shake the thing off. I threw off the covers, and there was Asher, large eyes rimmed in a hungry red, ears slicked back against his head in a display of sheer predatory evil.
But he was yanking my foot, not just biting it.
"Why won't it fucking come off!" Asher exclaimed, but a moment later he disappeared in a quickly dissipating cloud of smoke buttressed flame.
I just sat on the couch, stunned. I remained that way for several minutes until the phone alarm I set buzzed against my leg. I shook my head as if to clear it, then looked out the window of the living room. The rays of the setting sun were poking through the curtains, and I jumped into action, grabbing my hoodie from the rack and heading out the door as quickly as possible.
Along the way, I figured I'd get there a little after dark. I walked a bit more casually than normal, so I wouldn't get there too early and risk a run in with Jack.
My estimation was spot on. The stars were sparkling in a sea of eerie blackness as I approached the doors, with Caleb waiting just behind them. The anxious look on his face from earlier was still there, and he opened the doors with a weird kind of flourish, like it was the grand opening or something.
"You got lucky," Caleb exclaimed while I walked in from the gnawing chill outside. "Jack left not even ten minutes ago. I think you'll want to see what's in back. Well, you might want to un-see it if you get what I mean."
We walked to the back of the store. I did my best not to focus on the various animal sounds as we did so, and before I knew it we were past the double doors which had initially piqued my curiosity.
A large room with bare concrete walls stretched into darkness. It felt nearly cavernous, but not quite. I wondered if it was a part of the store condemned on the other side of the building.
More importantly, rows of cages stretched along the walls, some of them empty, others occupied by the same fiery eyed kind of rabbit I'd owned.
"They come in through the dark hole over there, already in cages," Caleb said, voice shaking. He was wringing both hands, probably thinking the mere act of talking about it would curse him.
"What is this place?!" I asked incredulously.
"Nothing special about this room, but it's what's beyond that dark hole that matters. I've never had enough balls to go through it."
Caleb went on to explain. According to him, these things came from Hell, or something vaguely similar. He said Jack talked about them all the time, about how they'd gambled their lives away previously, and some of them, if they'd had otherwise rotten, morally bankrupt lives, would come back as evil rabbits obsessed with luck.
I thought of my foot, and how Asher seemed so intent on removing it from my body. So I told Caleb what happened, how the hellish creature disappeared in a cloud of smoke and flame.
Caleb looked like he was thinking of something.
“Well...if what Jack told me is true, some of the damned rabbits will gamble all their time away, so they have to spend the rest of eternity in their current bodies. They don’t like the outcome, so try to escape. Hell, or whatever that place is, not saying it is or isn’t, but it’s similar, like I said...it doesn’t like defectors. That doesn't stop them from trying to steal good luck charms right before they disappear in a sulfuric haze. I mean, I got lucky and was able to slither into a human body, but Asher?...he didn’t know what he was doing.”
A slight, thoughtful pause, then Caleb continued. “It wasn’t just luck on my part. I waited out my initial sentence after I was “damned” then found some random kid on the street. But Asher didn’t want to wait. Fuck. He could never wait for anything! He thought if he could win at cards, or the slots, he wouldn’t have to wait out his sentence. I kept telling him, the house always wins!”
His monologue went from claiming Jack told him everything he needed to know about this hellish other dimension, to him asserting direct experience. From a lie to a tainted truth. Being a damned soul himself. Caleb was prideful, trying to say because he knew enough to wait, he preyed on some unsuspecting teenager and used him as a vessel. And now he was free.
I left the pet store, and Caleb said he wouldn’t hurt me as long as I kept my mouth shut. Jack knew, he said, had known for ages the price of not knowing when to wait out your sentence to live another day. Asher didn’t listen.
The luck obsessed rabbits rarely did.
X

The gambler class:
Basic idea: you have a deck of 52 cards with, like a normal deck of cards (except the jokers), you can draw 20 cards after each long rest, but the ones you had before long rest will go back in your deck. To attack you can either use a normal weapon, or use your cards to get a high number, the higher you get the more damage you do. you can also spend an action to draw another 5 cards from your deck with a maximum of 25 in your hand at a time. The number you get is equal to the damage. You must still make an attack roll before drawing a card. (intelligence modifier) the cards deal magical piercing damage.
Abilities:
Level 1
- cardplay (as listed above, at level 1 you can only use 1 card per action)
- facial language: after cheating at cards by communicating through facial expressions. You can communicate with other people that know this language without speaking a word. This language can also be taught to other people, this takes a total of 8 hours.
Level 2
- eeves dropper: you can add half your wisdom modifier to 3 skills of your choice
- ace in the deck: you add a 53rd card to your deck: a joker: when you use the joker card, you can use the next card in your hand and crit with it. The joker can only be used once per short / long rest.
Level 3
- gambler’s specialty: you can pick a subclass for your gambler:

1. the cheater: guaranteed ability: a cheaters deck: all 1’s in your deck are replaced with 6’s 3rd level ability: “some tricks up my sleeve.”: You can replace a card with a 12. This feature recharges when you roll initiative.
   
2. group gambler: guaranteed ability: “the heart of the cards” When using the help action, instead of giving advantage, you can choose to use the first card in your deck and add that number to the attack roll. A joker is considered a critical hit (but no addition to the attack roll, so if they miss the joker is wasted.) 3rd level ability: “Lucky roll” When entering a town, you can gamble your entire party’s gold with a chance to get 4 times the money, when you choose to do so, roll a d20, if 18 or higher, you succeed, if not, you lose all the gold.
   
3. The rage gambler: guaranteed ability: “sore loser” When the card you used is a 5 or lower, you can choose to attack with your weapon instead 3rd level ability: “refuse to lose” When you hit 0 hit points, can choose to immediately make a charisma saving throw with DC equal to how much damage you took that round with a max of 18. If succesful, you drop to 1 hit point.
   
4. Magical gambling guarenteed ability: spellcasting. You have learned how to cast spells to help you during games, you have the same spellcasting class as a bard and are a charisma caster. You know 2 cantrips at level 3. 3 at level 6. 4 at level 10. 5 at level 14, and 6 at level 17. You learn a 2 new spells every level. And new spell slots at the same rate as a bard.
   

3rd level ability: “future cards” When picking your next set of starting cards after a long rest, you can see the first 5 cards of your deck.
Level 4
- Observant stare: you can add your proficiency bonus to your perception and passive perception (again if already proficiened in perception)
- Ability score improvement
Level 5
- Quickdraw: you can now use 2 cards in a single attack action
- Stacked deck: you get an extra 5 cards to prepare after a long rest and your maximum in your hand increases to 30
Level 6
Fed drunk: having drank so much beer in your time makes you immune to poison and disease
Level 7
Gamblers specialty feature:

1. The cheater 7th level: “joking around” you add 2 more jokers to your card deck
   
2. Group gambler 7th level: “gamble night” when taking a short rest, you pull out your card deck to play with your party. The party regains 2 extra rolls of their hit dice worth of health.
   
3. Rage gambler 7th level: “all bets are off” when you use a card, you can choose to put it back and grab a new one from you deck (not your hand)
   
4. Magical gambling: 7th level: “spiritual peaking” You have mastered your spirit to maneuver it outside your body. As an action, you can let your spirit leave your body, you are in control of the spirit. The spirit can move through anything, but must stay within 30 feet of you, you cannot do anything when your spirit is outside your body. When you are moved by something, your spirit instantly snaps back into your body
   

Level 8
Ability score improvement
Level 9
“gamble friends” because you have played with so many different creatures, you know a thing or two about them. any creature that is native to the material plane, you know exactly what their armor class and max health is.
Level 10
“distracting story” you tell stories during games to distract your opponents all the time. During combat, you can choose a creature within 30 feet of you and start telling them a story, the creature must make a charisma saving throw equal to your charisma stat. if they succeed, they don’t pay attention to you, but you become a target because you are making noise. If they fail, the creature is now charmed by you and has disadvantage on attack rolls.
Level 11
- “fast hands” you can now use 3 cards in a single attack action.
- “steady hold” you can pull 30 cards after a long rest, and the maximum in your hand increases to 35.
Level 12
Nothing
Level 13
Ability score improvement
Level 14
Gambling specialty feature

1. The cheater 14th level: “cheaters promise” you can swear to a creature that you are not gonna hurt it, when you do so, the creature’s armor class decreases by 2 and you have advantage on your first attack on that creature.
   
2. Group gambler 14th level: “healing cards” You can choose to heal a creature within 30 feet of you with your cards, you pull the same amount of cards as when you attack, and heal the same amount.
   
3. Rage gambler: 14th level: “my game, my rules” Once per long rest, if you miss the enemy’s AC on an attack roll by 2 or less, you can choose to hit the target instead.
   
4. Magical gambling 14th level: “third draw” as a bonus action, you can use your magic to draw an extra 3 cards after taking the attack action, once per short/long rest.
   

Level 15
- “expert handling” you can now use 4 cards in a single turn, and the maximum of cards in your hand increases to 40
Level 16
Ability score improvement
Level 17
nothing
Level 18
“nothing gets by” you can add your proficieny bonus to your perception and insight.
Level 19
- Ability score improvement
Level 20
“gambler’s luck” any 1, 2 or 3 that you roll, can be rerolled. Except for d4 and d6.
“large hand” you can now use 5 cards in one turn and can hold a maximum of 50 in your hand
Hit die: d8
Proficiencies: armor: light armor, shields weapons: simple weapons, rapiers, shortswords tools: thieves tools
Saving throws: intelligence, charisma
Skills: choose 3 out of: deception, insight, intimidation, investigation, perception, persuassion, sleight of hand, stealth
Starting gold: 1d20 × 10
Starting equipment rapier, shortswords or any simple weapon an explorer’s pack light-armor shield
if you don't understand you can ask in the comments, i really want to know if it is balanced or not

Guide is written and updated for Season #1 Awakening

Some of you might know my other guide on Hybrid Bladesin from another D2 mod. Guess I had to do one for PD2 too at this point since the other guide was very popular and well-received. Blade skills and traps were reworked in PD2 and actually perform really well, making such a build possible. I followed to ladder race to 99 in season 1 and was quite surprised not seeing many Assassins at the top compared to other classes – maybe I can change this with shedding some light on some new mechanics and changes with this guide. My goal was to create a build that is versatile and clear regular endgame content and all types of maps fast solo, which would also perform well in a group scenario; at the end it worked out better than expected but let's get right into it.
Editors commentary: currently tooltip and AR calculations for Blade Skills are bugged and not working correctly - this will likely get fixed in future patches by the devs. But since this is the case currently this guide focuses on circumventing those issues and compensating for them for the time the bug exists in the game. Also -x% to enemy elemental resist and %mastery doesn't currently work on traps due to a bug (will be fixed in the future) - the build performs well despite those buggs existing, don't worry - it will get even stronger once they are fixed.

An in-depth guide?

My goal with my guides is to really provide a lot of information to players, not just a list of items and no explanation how to get there or why you want them. Also, I am not a fan of videos; imo you can’t tell if you like playing a build just by watching someone playing it in a perfect handmade setting for a couple of minutes… you can’t grasp the actual feeling of the build this way But don’t worry I got something even better for you! In various sections of this guide you will find 6 different singleplayer savegames with characters in different progression stages with real gear all functioning properly! So you can try and test the build in this guide to full extend yourself, on your pace, the way you like it and as long as you want to see if it fits your taste and if you actually want to play it on ladder.
Just to mention it: I am mostly a HC player, so I design all my builds geared towards a HC setting – feel free to adjust everything you don’t like to your liking if you play SC. Don’t treat my recommendations as the only options you have, think for yourself and try out different stuff which looks interesting to you.

General Playstyle:

This build utilizes Blade Furry in combination with Wake of Fire or Chain Lightning traps to tear through monsters. You want to position yourself about 10 yards away from monsters all the time and kite while you are laying down traps for zone and AoE clearing smaller foes. Very resistant or bigger monsters, which are able to withstand your traps long enough will get eliminated by a targeted Blade Furry shuriken. If you get in trouble cast Cloak of Shadows to get away, reposition yourself or mess with your enemies to render their attacks useless for a few seconds – otherwise run around with unmatched speed thanks to the use of Burst of Speed – pesky dangerous Conviction pack ahead? Just make a switch to Fade stance for a quick resistance boost or to get rid of a curse or poison stack in a shorter amount of time. This guide will mostly cover the WoF/fire trap version, since it is generally considered superior for mapping, while the CLt/lightning trap version can achieve higher clear speed in story areas with many fire immune monsters such as Chaos Sanctuary.

PROS

• Very versatile and fast play style
• Dual element (physical/fire or lightning) so no trouble with immunes
• Very high single target DPS
• Can be build quite tanky
• Very good bossing character
• Can do Ubers and MiniUbers solo
• Can do maps with dangerous mods/high density in HC solo with decent clear speed
• Works well in a group as DPS, since it benefits from physical and elemental buffs
• Potential ladder starter
• Very good endgame scaling / scales really well with gear / high investment build

CONS

• Requires very expensive gear and wealth to min max / high investment build
• Achieving high clear speed levels requires some gear investment / you will mostly sit in cows or TC85/87 zones to farm high runes at the start of a new ladder most likely
• You actually have to know what you are doing when it comes to gear choices and upgrades; you have to calculate everything yourself since ingame tooltip does not reflect actual damage or attack rating/chance to hit (but that's what a guide is for)
• While leveling and getting through acts in early hell knowledge about monster stats and encounters helps out greatly with lower gear levels, if you are a newer player you will likely have to learn about some stuff (aka read about some stats/mechanics on wikis)
• If you want to play this build well, you need to switch between skills, kite, pay attention to your environment and constantly reposition. The skill cap of this build is quite high – profound D2 knowledge will be very helpful to play/gear this build to max efficiency.
• Upgrading/gear progression is difficult for a newer player and for players who don’t want to learn about mechanics or do math.

Basic skill point distribution in the endgame:

Trap Tree:

• 20 Fire Blast
• 20 Wake of Fire
• 20 Wake of Inferno
• 20 Blade Sentinel
• 20 Blade Fury

Shadow Discipline Tree:

• 1 Claw Mastery
• 1 Burst of Speed
• 1 Fade
• 1 Psychic Hammer
• 1 Cloak of Shadows

This is representative of an endgame skill tree – while getting there it depends on the content you are doing. If you are farming cows for the most time 60 points into fire traps will be your priority, maxing Blade Sentinel last. If you are doing mostly Chaos Sanctuary runs or other zones with fire immunes, consider doing 40 Points into blade skills first and max out Fire Blast last. If your gear is lacking %ED while leveling, consider putting in 60 points into blade skills first (temporarily maxing Blade Shield) and only 40 in fire traps, respecing later when your gear gets better. I recommend always getting the 1 pointers mentioned. Another option would be getting Dragon Flight – here it comes down to preference. I personally don’t get it, but if you want to invest the 4 points only put 36 points into blade skills to get some extra mobility and a skill to reposition your merc.

Stats:

• Strength: enough to wear your gear (and to be able to perform a weapon swap in combat) – you can invest more, up to 200 points for additional %ED scaling (depending on your weapon base type)
• Dexterity: depends if you are going for max block; otherwise aim for around 200 points here for %ED and accuracy scaling (depending on your weapons base type)
• Vitality: Everything you can spare goes here
• Energy: Nothing

Breakpoints:

• %FCR: This build doesn’t depend on faster cast rate at all, so it can be ignored
• %FHR: If you go maxblock I would aim for the 48% breakpoint (5 frames) – if you prefer a more close up play style or tanking ubers aim for 86% (4 frames)
• %FBR: you will have some block chance regardless if going max block or not so considering at least the 13% breakpoint (achievable through corruption or specific item choices) always helps. Assassin has godly block frames, second best to paladin, if you go max block you can aim for 32% (3 frames) and feel almost like a paladin with Holy Shield active
• %IAS: This is a special case here since Blade Furry now is affected by attack speed; Breakpoints are calculated from the normal 1h attack animation from testing and only depends on weapon base speed and the total sum of on- and off-weapon IAS combined. In the FAQ section of this guide you will find more information on how to calculate it for your build.

Leveling – How to level this build from scratch:

Normal:

Pretty easy overall for assassin once you get to lvl 12 where you can start using Wake of Fire, before that it will be a little slow unfortunately. Keep using Fire Blast and normal attacks with your claw and level in Tristram/do Tristruns with a group until you hit level 12. Get 1 point into Burst of Speed on the way. After hitting level 12 you start cruising through normal without much issue. After that just straight forward max out Wake of Fire and start putting points into Wake of Inferno afterwards.

Level	Skill	Level	Skill	Level	Skill
Level 2	Claw Mastery	Level 13	Wake of Fire	Level 24	Wake of Fire
Akara	Fire Blast	Level 14	Wake of Fire	Level 25	Wake of Fire
Level 3	Fire Blast	Level 15	Wake of Fire	Level 26	Wake of Fire
Level 4	Fire Blast	Level 16	Wake of Fire	Level 27	Wake of Fire
Level 5	Fire Blast	Level 17	Wake of Fire	Level 28	Wake of Fire
Level 6	Burst of Speed	Level 18	Wake of Fire	Level 29	Wake of Fire
Level 7	Fire Blast	Radament	Wake of Fire	Level 30	Wake of Fire
Level 8	Fire Blast	Level 19	Wake of Fire	Level 31	Wake of Fire
Level 9	Fire Blast	Level 20	Wake of Fire	Level 32	Wake of Fire
Level 10	Fire Blast	Level 21	Wake of Fire	Level 33	Wake of Inferno
Level 11	Fire Blast	Level 22	Wake of Fire	Level 34	Wake of Inferno
Level 12	Wake of Fire	Level 23	Wake of Fire	Level 35	Wake of Inferno

Gear to look out for at the end of Normal: Spirit sword, Stealth chest, Ancients Pledge shield, a Lore circlet and some random rares with resist an %MF if you can get. Here is an example of how your character should look like at this stage in the game – download the savegame and copy it into your D2 savegamefolder and start it in Single Player: DOWNLOAD - Early Nightmare Test Character

Nightmare:

Got your basic gear ready and some decent resists to start out? Good – if not farm Nightmare Countess and Black Marsh/Stony Field for runeword bases and runes before you go on. You can also attempt to build a Lore now if you have a good base. Just carry on through the acts – Nightmare is easy with basic gear, you will face no problems at all (watch out for dolls in Act 3! Their explosions got reworked and now have a delay). Fire Trapsin is really fast in clear speed overall (just max out all synergies for Wake of Fire while going through Nightmare and be don’t bother with getting other stuff yet). They only time where you might have some trouble will be Nightmare Chaos Sanctuary where you will meet fire immunes – just take it slow and let the merc deal with them and support him where you can (investing some gear in your merc is crucial at this point, get him an Insight in an exceptional base weapon and some life leech and you will be fine) – after that Act 5 is a breeze again, just skip fire immunes and you will be good (if you roll many fire immunes in World Stone Keep, just make a now game and go again until easier mobs spawn) Once you kill Baal it is farming time! You have do do some farming for basic gear in PD2 before you go to Hell difficulty, otherwise you will struggle hard. So take your time to farm up some gear in Nightmare Cows. Nightmare Cows is THE best farming spot at this point in PD2 thanks to player 5 loot; Cow Kings drop table is really nice and you can kill him here; the portal can still be opened afterwards – you can drop a ton of good stuff there. Let's assume you get really unlucky and get no good drops at all; don’t worry, this build can start out with really unpopular and crappy gear (crap considered by most of the player base so it will be cheap to buy). Wake of Fire is really fast when it comes to farming Nightmare Cows without having gear – so just stack as much MF wherever you can – you can even reach close to 400% if you really want to go hard for it.
Here is how your MF cowfarmer could look like at the end of Nightmare to farm up some wealth and gear for your early hell transition and respec. DOWNLOAD - End of Nightmare Test Character
Gear to look out for at the end of Nightmare: Just pick up every amulet and charm, reroll grand charms from Cow Level for Skillers, sell them and buy 4-5 clean trap skillers for your assassin. Gamble amulets for a good chance at +3 class tree skill levels with the Gold you get from cows and selling items to vendors – sell +3 amulets for other classes and buy MF gear if you can get it for a reasonable price. Build yourself a Lionheart in a Mageplate base, and start looking out for some cheap unique items on the market (most of them you will likely find by yourself while doing cow runes) Over cap your resists with charms to have good resistances when you enter Hell difficulty paired with Fade. With all the gold you are getting from cows go shopping at Anya’s in act 5 for some +x levels to fade claws, which will help you to deal with resists in Hell using them in your second weapon slot for precasting the buff at a higher level. Try to acquire the following items: Magnus Skin (gloves Orphan set), Wilhelm's Pride (belt Orphan set), Guillaume’s Face (helm Orphan set), a Lance Guard shield with a good %DS roll and a Heart Carver dagger. If you can snatch a cheap pair of gore riders which are usually cheap at the beginning of a new ladder since there are not many attack based builds around which want to use them this early in a new season. Next goals should be a Ravenfrost or any ring with a CNBF corruption, and an Angelic amulet and ring to sort out AR issues against bosses (Heart Carver has ITD, so no AR needed for normal monsters) but you can also start without them when you go to hell, just don’t attempt any bosses without AR issues sorted.
You also want to look out for a Gavel of Pain for your future act 5 merc and other merc equipment upgrades before you transition to Hell mode.

Hell:

Now it is finally time to respec! Leveling as a trapper is fast that's why, but now we actually want to go hybrid at this point because of the many fire immunes in Hell. If you followed my gear recommendations to buy from the Nightmare section (or getting most of them by yourself while farming cows with great %MF). Socket your shield and helmet or weapon (your choice) with your Larzuk Quests, get a perfect diamond for your shield and a random 15% IAS jewels for your helmet or dagger to reach the next breakpoint without putting in much effort – this allows you to use Fade over BoS and still maintain your %IAS breakpoint for Blade Fury. Equip all your gear (make sure you can wear it after the respec!) and do your respec. You want:

• 100 base strength (before stats from gear)
• 110 base dexterity (before stats from gear)
• Everything else in vitality
• None in Energy
• 20 Blade Fury
• 10 Blade Sentinel
• 20 Wake of Fire
• 1 Claw Mastery
• 1 Burst of Speed
• 1 Fade
• Rest goes into Fire Blast

Don’t worry, you still will have more than enough health even for HC mode with all your gear on and being an assassin which has very good vitality scaling in general. The high base dex and strength is used for wearing future gear and for providing flat AR and %ED to your build, which you will need for dealing damage with Blade Fury. Your gear should provide you with a considerable amount of off-weapon %ED and %DS. If you followed my recommendations your character should be looking something like this after the respec with your new gear. You should also swap your Act 2 mercenary now for an Act 5 barbarian and equip him with the gear you prepared, since you now actually benefit from his Might aura greatly. Here is an example of how your character should look like at this stage in the game at the bare minimum before you should enter Hell – download the savegame and copy it into your D2 savegame folder and start it in Single Player mode: DOWNLOAD - Early Hell Test Character
Hell is difficult for almost any character build without gear in PD2 similar to vanilla. If you followed my advice you will have no problems at all – Blade Fury one or two-shots most monsters in Act 1 hell and even farming pits is no problem with this setup if you want to farm for gear there. But you can also directly progress if your gear is good enough – you will face no issues at all, your damage will be nice and since you are dealing physical and fire damage you won’t face much difficulty at all – just progress slow and steady, let your Act 5 merc tank and distract while you are throwing shurikens and traps from the back. Try to upgrade your Heart Carver to an elite version if you get your hands on a Pul rune, it makes a significant difference. You can progress easily until Act 3 with that amount of gear and even further if you know what you are doing – but still, you want to upgrade to a cheap midgame setup at some point to be faster and more efficient when it comes to clearing with fire traps. Your goal is to get to Hell cows and farm this area for High runes, since most of your endgame upgrades will be very expensive, at a decent and comfortable pace. To get there I recommend trying to acquire a well rolled Demon‘s Arch Balrog Spear (no, I am not kidding!) – this it is mostly considered trash by many players but in PD2 it is a fantastic and cheap option to start out this hybrid build. Once you got that, focus on getting a Rising Sun amulet and a pair of well rolled Hellmouth gauntlets for additional fire penetration. These gloves are not only good for fire traps, not the on hit effects are also very good for knock back and stun locking monsters with Blade Fury – a combination of those 3 items provides your character with massive flat fire damage and fire pierce, ideal for Hell cow farming with traps and shurikens. After getting that just stack %MF and switch to an act 2 mercenary again (most of your damage will be fire based anyway just for farmign Hell cows and you need the additional AR again since you would lose Angelic combo and ITD from your weapon); get him a Reapers Toll, a Treachery chest and some items with leech – you also can do Chaos sanctuary with this setup, not very fast but you can if you want and thanks to the fire absorb from your gear you will be able to do it very safely in an HC setting which is also beneficial. But your main focus should be Hell Cows at this point. If you have not already pushed to Baal and start farming cows. When it comes to skill point distribution from now on, get Cloak of Shadows, max out fire trap synergies next and max out Blade Sentinel last, put some additional points into Fade if you need it to sort out your resists (you can always respec later once you acquire better gear, you got 2 free respecs left at this point, so don’t worry)
Here is an example of how your character should look like at this stage in the game. You can cruise through Hell now and farm any regular Hell content with this setup and even do easy maps – download the savegame and copy it into your D2 savegame folder and start it in Single Player mode: DOWNLOAD - Midgame Test Character
From here on out it is your choice where you want to take the build – get more clean skillers first and decide from there what you want to upgrade next. I would recommend aiming for a Phoenix shield as soon as you can before upgrading any other gear piece. After that focus on getting close to 100% Deadly Strike.

Endgame Gearing:

This section only covers endgame gear options (check leveling section for gear progression). PD2 provides a very in-depth gearing system thanks to various balancing changes to uniques, runewords and adding a corruption and socketing system on top of that. Everything depends on gear composition – imo there is no (or very seldom) clear BIS option for a gear slot for any build type. Just take a look, compare and try to reach breakpoints where you can. I will also mention useful corruptions to look out for on each gear slot. I won’t list every option since there is just too much to cover – instead I will focus on pointing out interesting concepts and ideas for you to build around. If you have questions regarding gear choices just ask in this thread – people can have a discussion and help each other out with ideas. Since this is a Hybrid Bladesin guide, which does rely on 1h weapons, I won’t cover 2h weapons here specifically (check out this excellent pure Blade Fury guide by SassCastle for reference and suggestions if you want to go that route)

What should be your focus?

This is a hybrid spec, so you want a good mix of +skills (for your fire traps) and %ED (for your Blade Furry). Aim for around avg 3.5k Wake of Fire damage with at least 20% fire penetration, if you want more I recommend the 33% breakpoint (many monster types in Hell have 33% fire resist if not immune, so it is considered a sweet spot) – after that point more damage doesn’t make a significant difference in clear speed while playing solo (since damage is dealt in multiple waves), in groups you receive additional scaling from party members anyway. Otherwise, reaching close to 100% deadly strike will be your main goal over everything else - %DS is the biggest damage multiplayer you can get for Blade Fury. After that it is just getting as much %ED and flat added damage wherever you can get it without compromising defenses. Once you reach around 12k per blade it is a good time to stop, more won’t improve your clear speed by much after that (speaking for solo play) and since this isn't a pure bladesin don’t try to reach the next breakpoint, you won’t get there realistically without cutting into your fire trap damage or sacrificing defenses. Once again I want to advise the community not just trying to be mindless about tooltip DPS/sheet DPS – your build isn’t clearing any faster at some point, you can only one-shot mobs that hard with your shurikens. If it takes 2 seconds longer to kill a boss but you would have to sacrifice a lot of defenses for it it isn’t worth it, not even for softcore players (most of your time is spent getting to the boss clearing content – the more defenses you can get, the more reckless and fast you can play, the quicker you will get to the boss; you can save those 2 extra seconds easily while clearing)
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Weapons:

• Fleshripper: I consider this one the „all-rounder“ option if you don’t want to think about it or calculate much, just pick this one and be happy – it will perform in every situation thanks to solid base damage, %DS, -X% target defense and %slow, and it even has some CB for bossing. Due to those stat combinations it ist he perfect choice for doing ubers, for maps and other content, other options will outperform it handily.
  
• Bartuc‘s Cut-Throat: solid choice, especially for hybrid sin thanks to +2 skills, some stats (which translate into 20% off-weapon ED), life leech, %AR and valuable %FHR. Can be upgraded, which is recommended, for more base damage. Thanks to -30% base speed this weapon proofs very flexibile when it comes to various %IAS breakpoints.
  
• Natalya’s Mark: With at least 3 set pieces it gains –x% target defense on PD2 (no longer has ITD) which makes it quite good even in midgame, in endgame it shines with high base damage, good speed and wopping 200% off-weapon ED against demons and undead which is nothing to sneeze at.
  
• Ghostflame: Yes, this thing is pretty decent actually – good base damage, always ethereal and it adds a lot of magic damage on top as well as mana leech. It also comes with ITD which solves any AR issues you might have against non-bosses.
  
• Heart Carver: Okay, this might be unexpected by most of you but actually this tiny little knife has the potential to be on ef the highst raw damage weapon for 1h Blade Fury in PD2 – no joke! It comes with ITD, %DS and flat damage paired with solid %ED which leads to great base damage. A well rolled upgraded ethereal Heartcarver with a good corruption is likely considered BIS realisticly achievable option for raw BF damage in solo play when we don’t factor in the one of a kind godly ethereal rare claw or a very specific setup with an perfect ethereal 2os Stonecrusher. The greatest benefit of choosing this weapon: it is cheap and readily available thanks to it being a common drop.
  
• Stone Crusher: This is going to be the only non-claw/dagger I am going to mention. It provides tons of raw damage on top of massive %CB, strength, off-weapon %ED against undead, -defense on hit, -x% target defense and the unique stat -%x to enemy phyiscal resist which makes it the highest possible damage option available for group play regarding Balde Fury. A well rolled one will be rather rare to find and will be quite expensive to get.
  
• Fury [Jah-Gul-Eth]: in a Suwayyah/Scissors Suwayyah. This runeword seems to be made for Blade Sin. ITD, -x% target defense, solid %ED and massive amounts of %DS and %OW, as well as %AR and leech. The real benefit of this runeword ist hat you can utilize automods on the claw base to your advantage. Getting an elite base with +3 Wake of Inferno, +3 Blade Fury and +1 to Dragon Flight would be optimal. Damage wise it can get outperformed by other options due to it being a runeword (lack of corruptions or custumizable sockets)
  

Corruptions to look out for: %ED, %DS, Sockets, ITD, +1 skills, %fire damage, %IAS, life leech
Speaking in general for all weapon choices: You want to look out for an ethereal version when it comes to a weapon whenever you can due to massive base damage increase. Exceptional base typs should always be upgraded to the elite version to increase base damage.

Shields:

• Spike Thorn: Want %DR paired with great added flat damage? Yes, this thing exists in PD2. It even provides solid amounts of %FHR on top. Don’t really get why people would use Stormshield over that thing for this build. Safe yourself some runes and be happy.
  
• Lance Guard: provides %FHR, %DS and tons of life. 50% FBR makes it a blocking powerhouse. Especially if you lack %DS on the rest of your gear this thing makes up for it.
  
• Phoenix [Vex-Vex-Lo-Jah]: in a Monarch. The top end all of all shields (especially for Hybrid Bladesin) – this build utilizes every single stat of this beauty. The %ED is a build enabler by its own, the –x% to enemy fire resist is very valuable for your fire traps, redemption gets rid of corpses, fire absorb and max resistances are just great and even the Fire Ball proc is somewhat useful since it procs very often when using Blade Fury. It is very expensive to build but very well worth every high rune.
  

Corruptions to look out for: Sockets, +1 skill, resists, CNBF, block chance/block rate, %PDR, %FHR, Replenish Life

Weapon Swap:

• Call to Arms [Amn-Ral-Mal-Ist-Ohm]: While BO got a massive deserved nerf in PD2 CtA ist still great and better than ever for this build in particular. Mostly overlooked CtA also gives the player access to Battle Cry which got reworked and reduces physical resistances of monsters now. You can break physical immunes with this and it stacks with curses and Cloak of Shadows! It is a massive buff to your build so use it in your weapon slot to prebuff (it basically gives +2 skills, one from the runeword and one from Battle command) and as a utility tool – use your weapon swap actively in combat against bosses for physical resistance reduction on them. Also often overlooked. Battle Command provides some off-weapon %ED with its buff which benefits this build greatly.
  
• Lidless Wall: Great caster shield overall with skills, %FCR and mana after kill. In this build it is used as prebuff gear – you can even corrupt it for another skill which leads to a +3 all skills off hand, which is he highest you can get in this gear slot. Consider putting an Eld rune into it to maintain good block chance even on weapon swap.
  

Body Armors:

• Lionheart [Hel-Lum-Fal]: Really great runeword for the rune cost. Got buffed in this mod and offers up to 110% ED. It also provides a lot of stats (which translate to even more effective off-weapon %ED), flat life and resists. This will likely be your chest before you get your hands on some wealth. Consider rerolling it until you get a good roll, it is cheap and worth it.
  
• Fortitude [El-Sol-Dol-Lo]: Would likely be the best option back in vanilla but since it got heavily nerfed in PD2, I personally don’t consider it BIS anymore – 200% ED is nice but not exceptional, so are the life and @res you get from it. For the high cost of a Lo rune you may just invest your wealth into other gear slots. The removal of Chilling Armor really killed it for me on this build since armor scaling is useful on any build now.
  
• Chains of Honor [Dol-Um-Ber-Ist]: 200% ED against demons and 100% ED against undead is very good, not as good as Fortitude but solid. Paired with all its other stats and huge resist makes this runeword a top choice.
  
• Enigma [Jah-Ith-Ber]: If you want the blink skill, %FRW, skills on top of %MF go for it. The strength scaling translates into off-weapon %ED indirectly as well. Not the most damage option but still a solid choice depending on preference and play style.
  
• Templar’s Might: Thanks to the rework this thing is now pretty insane for this type of build (especially if you can get good corruptions and/or sockets on it). Having access to Might aura on top of +1 skill, massive stats and %FHR is great. Don’t hesitate with the strength requirement too much – strength invested directly translates to off-weapon %ED anyway.
  
• Tyrael’s Might: Think of it as an amalgamation of Enigma and Chains of Honor – you will get the best of both chests without the +skills but with CNBF. Getting a good corruption on it paired with socktes could lead to the best chest piece for this build you can imagine. Due to its rarity, don’t expect to get to this point but if you are lucky enough this thing will outshine every other option.
  

Corruptions to look out for: Socktes, +1 skill, resists, CNBF, %PDR, %FHR, Replenish Life, %life, %FRW.

Helmet:

• Guillaume’s Face: The popular orphan set piece provides very valuable stats to this build such as %DS, %FHR and strength. The %CB is useful against high health bosses but not needed if you have enough damage scaling for regular content.
  
• Steelshade: Got reworked and is now one of the best option for any max block build which depends on +skills – it grants massive block chance and block rate… on a helmet! This helm can save you tons of dexterity investment which leads to more effective HP overall. This also allows to go for maxblock even when using Phoenix!
  
• Veil of Steel: Newly introduced unique helmet in PD2 which some of you might remember from Diablo 1 – it provides massive amounts of %ED, stats and great @res and even +1 skill. With good corruptions this thing can be a top choice.
  
• Rare Circlet: can get +2 assassin skills, 30% FRW stats and resists. The flexible sockets make this option a top tier choice.
  

Corruptions to look out for: Sockets, +1 skill, resists, CNBF, block chance/block rate, cast speed, %PDR, %FHR, Replenish Life

Gloves:

• Laying of Hands: %IAS, Fire resist and up to 150% ED against demons are solid
  
• Ghoulhide: %IAS, %ED/AR against undead on level as well as mana leech and flat life
  
• Gravepalm: %ED and flat AR against undead as well as some strength and valuable %DS
  
• Lava Gout: %IAS, max fire res and lvl 10 Enchant on Striking can be very useful if you lack AR since, thanks to Blade Fury, it will have 100% uptime.
  
• Steel Rend: up to 80% off-weapon %ED, paired with strength and %CB for even more raw damage.
  

Corruptions to look out for: block chance, block rate, %IAS, Replenish Life, flat life, resists, stats, -x% to enemy defense

Boots:

• Waterwalk: are now 40% FRW in this mod, also max fire res and flat life are nice. The 20% FBR on it will get you the first block frame breakpoint too which makes them worth to consider.
  
• Gore Rider: %DS, %CB, %OW, what's not to like. If you are already capped on %DS you might consider something else.
  
• War Traveler: The flat damage is what makes this pair of boots great. Flat damage is more valuable than %ED at some point. The fact that they also provide %MF and some stats makes them a great choice.
  
• Goblin Toe: They provide %ED in PD2 on top of some %CB if you want some for ubers – cheap but solid option.
  

Corruptions to look out for: CNBF, Curse Duration Reduction, %FRW, %FHR, resists, Replenish Life, %PDR, %FRW

Belts:

• String of Ears: great belt since it provides leech on top of %PDR and flat mdr
  
• Verdungo’s Hearty Cord: %PDR and huge amounts of Vitality paired with little %FHR – solid defensive choice
  
• Rare/crafted belt: have huge potential and can be some of the best items in the game.
  
• Nosferatu’s Coil: Really great belt which provides %IAS and %DS in PD2 as well as some strength to scale damage. Also, great for %slow stacking with Fleshripper.
  

Corruptions to look out for: max res, block chance, %PDR, %FHR, resists, stats, Curse Duration Reduction, %FRW

Rings:

• Bul-Katho’s Wedding Band: +1 skill, life on level paired with life leech which are both useful for this kind of build.
  
• Wisp Projector: got reworked in PD2 and provides non class skills now and +1 all skills on top of it. Having access to HotW is a great source of %ED and %AR scaling. The spirit scales with +skills and can be precasted as well. %Lightning Absorb ans %MF are great stats on top of it.
  
• Ravenfrost: Can’t get CNBF on other gear slots? Going for max block? Then this is a great ring for you. Up to 20 dex and 250 AR help you reaching max block and hitting monsters. The cold absorb is also great to have – consider having one around for heavy cold damage encounters. The flat cold damage on the ring helps you chilling mobs for additional CC.
  
• Rare/crafted ring: can provide life, stats, dual leech and resists to fill out deficits
  

Corruptions to look out for: %FRW, leech, CNBF, Curse Duration, Resists, Stats

Amulet:

• Atma’s Scarab: Amplify damage proc can be nice when facing bosses where Cloak of Shadows doesn’t work anyway (CoS acts like a curse and will overwrite Amplify damage and vice versa, keep that in mind) or breaking some physical immunities – other than that the %AR is very nice to compensate AR issues somewhat.
  
• Seraph’s Hymn: +2 skills and a lot conditional off-weapon %ED against demons and undead as well as AR.
  
• The Rising Sun: You only want this if you want to boost your fire traps further, the +skills and the -x% enemy fire resist are a really strong damage enhancement – some maps can be cleared faster with fire traps so maybe keep it as a switch if you like it.
  
• Highlords Wrath: besides the +1 skill and 20% IAS you want this amulet for its %DS/lvl
  
• Rare/crafted amulet: can get up to +2 assassin skills, 10%FRW and other useful stats
  

Corruptions to look out for: max res, %FRW, +1 skill, %FHR, block chance, resists, Replenish Life, stats, %ED

Inventory:

• 9x Trap Skiller
• Torch/Anni
• Resist/FHR charmes to reach breakpoints
• Max damage small charms for more BF damage
• Life charms

Open Sockets:

Sockets should be used to reach breakpoints where you can (%FH%FBresists/%IAS) after that you can socket either Fire Facets (which now work with traps in PD2) or %ED jewels to boost your Blade Fury damage even further. If you want to make your other gear slots more flexible, consider using Lo runes for 20% DS each for your weapon as a high-end option.

Due to exceeding the character limit of this reddit post, please check the reddit commentary below where you can find the Merc Section and the additional FAQ Section of this guide - thank you!