#1 - March 26, 2014, 8:24 p.m.
Beat him on Torment 1 as a level 70 solo Barbarian. What a phenomenal fight. It took me 3 attempts, and the third (and kill) attempt took me 50 minutes. 50 minutes! And at least 30 health potions. But kudos to the team that designed Malthael, because that is one awesome boss fight.
As I ran up to the final battle, I though about how Urzael took a while, and about how rough Adria actually was for my solo barb...but neither of them required me to change my build. I thought I'd just rush in to Malthael and be home by dinner, as it were.
NOPE. First attempt I was dead within two minutes. Second attempt I swapped Weapon Master for Inspiring Presence, and died within three minutes. Before third attempt I realized...this guy is an actual boss. After all, how much health does he have in Torment 1, 7.5 billion or something? I think I never saw Diablo get more than 500 million!
So I ended up running with http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/barbarian#WfXdRk!cUed!YZaZcb and just wearing him down. After 50 minutes of doing my best to not die (and let me tell you, even with avoiding his big mechanics I really did need all of that healing), I managed to bring down Malthael, easily the best boss fight I've done in a while, and most rewarding.
Major props to the design team for this awesome boss, who is HARD like a final boss should be! I will definitely fight him again, but not before grabbing a boatload of gear, if only to make the fight go faster.