Halls of Anguish/Pain/Vaught Exp Runs for Melee Characters?

[Liquid_Evil]

Halls of Anguish/Pain/Vaught Exp Runs for Melee Characters?

I was curious as to why I never hear about players running Halls of Anguish, Halls of Pain, and Halls of Vaught for experience. It's an mlvl 84 area with a variety of monsters that aren't too god-awful fearsome. There is no Iron Maiden, no Gloams, and not many Physical Immunes. (Plus, if we want to throw needless speculation into here, Nithy drops a Key that may one day be enabled in SP)

Assuming I want to level melee characters in Hell but solo /p8 Baal runs aren't quite a speedy alternative just yet, would these runs be a good option? From level 80-89ish? I've already done a clutch of them tonight just to feel 'em out, and I haven't noticed any glaring problems, so what am I missing? Why aren't these the standard leveling ground for melee characters looking to graduate into high lvl solo Baal runs? What's the better alternative? And how do *you* traditionally level your melee characters outside of MP? (I'm usually a big /p8 Eldritch fiend, but I'm looking for something else to mix it up a bit)

Here are the common monsters and their immunities:

Returned           Poison/Lightning
Horror Mage        N/A
Devilkin           N/A
Devilkin Shaman    N/A
Blood Clan         Fire
Temple Guard       Lightning
Razor Spine        Lightning
Returned Archer    Poison
Slayer             Cold
Ice Spawn          Cold
Tomb Creeper       Cold
Night Lord         Lightning
Death Brigadier    Cold
Scarab             Lightning
Heirophant         N/A
Zealot             Lightning
Flayer             Fire
Blood Maggot       Poison/Lightning
Blood Maggot Yng   Poison
Tomb Viper         Poison/Lightning
Nihlathak          Cold
Arach              Fire
Ghost              PHYSICAL/Poison
Hell Temptress     PHYSICAL
Night Marauder     PHYSICAL/Poison

 

[pancakeman]

Re: Halls of Anguish/Pain/Vaught Exp Runs for Melee Characters?

I used to mess around in there when getting pwnt by Gloams was getting to me, and the experience was indeed bountiful. What ruined it for me was:
A) Pindle spawning omgwtf mods and costing me ten runs' worth of experience
B) The lack of good drops.

Maybe it was because I was used to the (sometimes) sweet Baal drops at the end of runs, but the drops always seemed...disappointing. Some bright spots, but overall it was oddly empty. It just seemed like so much trouble for not much results, especially if Pindle killed me the next run.

 

[Neksja]

Re: Halls of Anguish/Pain/Vaught Exp Runs for Melee Characters?

Maybe it was because I was used to the (sometimes) sweet Baal drops at the end of runs, but the drops always seemed...disappointing. Some bright spots, but overall it was oddly empty. It just seemed like so much trouble for not much results, especially if Pindle killed me the next run.

You have some kind of special Baal? All my drops have been pretty much awful, can't remember if there's been something nice.

Nice idea Liq, I might try that place with my next melee char. He's in act3 Normal, so not very soon unless I get someone to MP with me to boost things up...

 

[pancakeman]

Re: Halls of Anguish/Pain/Vaught Exp Runs for Melee Characters?

You have some kind of special Baal? All my drops have been pretty much awful, can't remember if there's been something nice.

He usually gives me crap, but every once in a while there's a nice shiny thing laying on the ground for me. It's really the hope that there will be something shiny that makes the runs easier rather than the actual results.
What's odd is that my melee characters always have better items on average than my MF sorc. So it seems that for my Zealot, Baal is special :grin:

I like the new 'tar, by the way.

 

[DeathMaster]

Re: Halls of Anguish/Pain/Vaught Exp Runs for Melee Characters?

Very interesting idea indeed. I never thought about it. It could be interesting area for SC players, or you have godly HC skills. I certainly don't think it is for everyone.

There is one major problem down there - those snakes are bugged. They are on the list of my most hated monsters.

I think these bullhead and temptress are also very dangerous, and you almost always meet them there.

 

[Dunedain]

Re: Halls of Anguish/Pain/Vaught Exp Runs for Melee Characters?

There is one major problem down there - those snakes are bugged. They are on the list of my most hated monsters.

Yea that bug is really nasty. Step in that poison cloud and you're toast. Even my duped out hammerdin on closed bnet had troubles with them.

 

[Albatross]

Re: Halls of Anguish/Pain/Vaught Exp Runs for Melee Characters?

Doesn't 30 PDR completely negate their attacks? Considering melee builds, they can easily have that much..

 

[DeathMaster]

Re: Halls of Anguish/Pain/Vaught Exp Runs for Melee Characters?

Step in that poison cloud and you're toast.

There are certain gears to make them harmless, the problem is those gears are not for usual power build. I believe the number of straight DR required is about 50, which is not easy to get without give up a lot of power.

The easiest way to deal with them with melee build, is barb. use your war cry tree to control them, and kill them one by one. But that will greatly slow the "run" down.

PS: I don't believe most melee builds can get 30 straight PDR without very specified gears, and those gears don't give you much power you needed to kill fast.

 

[Neksja]

Re: Halls of Anguish/Pain/Vaught Exp Runs for Melee Characters?

Hmm.. Now that you mentioned, that you need to have some PDR, I might get my Griz Pally geared up and try that. He has maxed res, 100pdr and fairly nice damage, so he might cope well there :scratchchin:

 

[DoomBoy]

Re: Halls of Anguish/Pain/Vaught Exp Runs for Melee Characters?

Don't forget about those charging zombies...

 

[Neksja]

Re: Halls of Anguish/Pain/Vaught Exp Runs for Melee Characters?

Okay, did couple of test runs with my Griz avenger. I know, some of the members don't count it as melee char (me neither, but it's the most suitable char I had), but still.

I did /p1, runs were super safe. Well, Max block, 85/80/85/75 res, 100pdr are something that make everything safe, but... It was slow. Okay, Vengeange is single target skill, which makes it slow. He has Zeal, but it only deals ~1k damage so I didn't feel like using it.

I noticed that there were very few boss packs. Maybe it was my map, so that might change. Also, with lvl81 and /p1, I got at least some exp. Maybe with higher player setting it's actually worth to run, if you maintain your speed. But it was very refreshing, kind of a new world of D2 for me :crazyeyes:

I'm going to test that place with some of my Fury druids, maybe with my Titan Earthshifter, Fury/FC and Fury/Summon. They've been parked for too long :wink:

 

[Mostly_Harmless]

Re: Halls of Anguish/Pain/Vaught Exp Runs for Melee Characters?

I haven't tried it in Hell, so my experience might not relate so much, but I used a similar method to level my Fury wolf in nightmare. Oblivion knights and Lister were a little too annoying, so I switched to Pindle/Nihlithak (or however you spell it). I don't know if this is the most efficient method, but I just cranked up the players setting, killed Pindle, then ran to Nihlithak's room and cleared that. I was swinging a Lawbringer for the rest in peace. The damage is way too low for hell, but Nature's Peace would work just as well. I also had about 100% FRW, which made the runs much more tolerable. If I ever find an Azurewrath, I might have him run the place on a regular basis. Sanctuary plus Rest In Peace makes those two packs a lot more friendly.

 

[Justa]

Re: Halls of Anguish/Pain/Vaught Exp Runs for Melee Characters?

I found I could level a fissure druid extremely quickly down there.. but pindle really daunts most of my melee chars, especially since I love p8 runs.