What char for my specific goals?

[Damorath]

Hi everyone!
I added a TL;DR for the impatient!

I've been looking through these forums and more, but haven't really been able to decide what to do - so here goes.

I've been running a blizz sorc in AT a lot, and I've gotten decent gear now. My long-term goal is finding runes for an infinity in order to make my sorc a bad-*** lightning sorc that can handle CS and Baaling effectively, but so far all I have to show is a Vex

I don't think AT is the right place for runes. This leaves (as far as I know) Countess, LK, council and CS.
- Countess bores me, and I hate the fact that I get no xp and no other drops towards my grail.
- LK doesn't bore me, it freaking kills me! Can't handle the mindless repetition!
- Council idk, I haven't build a char that handles it effectively yet, but could get a decent barb up and running. I have IK and BK set + whatever else is generally recommended for a WW or Frenzy barb, save for top end runewords ofc.
- CS I'd like to do. My blizz sorc however isn't really fast, and when I tried a blizzballer build, I felt my damage was lacking. My gear has improved since though, so it might not be a problem. I reckon this place would satisfy my need to gain xp, find uniques and most importantly high runes. am I wrong? Would it be worth creating a hammerdin, even if I don't have enigma, to run CS?

TD;DR: I'm working towards infinity, I'd like to lvl while doing so (preferably my sorc if possible), I'd like to work towards my grail at the same time. What char do I create and where do i farm?

Best regards, Damorath.

 

[GooberGrape1]

Hi there! If you want runes, and you're not willing to AT with that sorc, then Council is where it's at.

Build yourself a WW barbarian with a healthy amount of Find Item. Avoid cold damage so you don't shatter corpses. Kill, hork, repeat. Council drops good uniques too like SoJ, and they are worth a ton of xp. I would go players 1 all the way, their drops don't change.

Countess is fun but won't help toward Infinity. Her rune drops are too low to help you there.

 

[nulio]

If your cold sorc is strong-ish you can run travincal with her with a nice efficiency - compared to WW FI Barb. Try to check frozzzen's video of his sorc doing that.

 

[Gripphon1]

Ideal would be to have more sorcs and to combine more areas, that way you won't get mad from non-stop repetition. The fact is LK is fastest way to farm Ber runes, you will also get runes for other runewords. When you had enough of LK, go in travincal with other sorc. Then you can run some CS when you get bored.
If you have enigma and grief, ww barb can be good enough for travincal too, but I'm not sure is he better than sorc.

 

[Damorath]

Thanks for the fast reply guys!

@GooberGrape: Are you saying that AT is good for runes? Cause I don't mind running AT with all the uniques that comes with it, but so far I've only ever found an Ist there. Would a full IK-barb cut it for running council? I seem to remember that there is a lot of % against demons included in the set's bonuses. Also, I guess cubing runes from Countess is an unrealistic project?

@Nulio: I'll look into that. I'll prolly have to make another sorc, as I like having my pure MF blizz sorc for AT/Meph/Andy when I get bored from other stuff.

@Gripphon: I know that LK is supposedly good, but it drives me crazy sitting for hours on end with nothing to show for it! I've even come to the realization I might not have the time/dedication to ever get two Ber runes for Infinity, which is why I'm really looking towards a method that satisfies other more short-term goals at the same time. No Enigma and Grief, as I only have a Vex rune and no high end runewords yet.

 

[pharphis]

AT = CS = alvl 85 areas for rune drop rates. I say pick your favourite and run that. The Diablo drop is not going to be worth the time or effort in CS, unless going for 99. Even then, it's not useful from what I've read until about 97 anyway, by which point you will have found most or all of the items he can drop, too (from other mobs)

 

[Dagaz]

Personally, I find IK barb running Travincal very unrewarding, I'm flirting with death every time.

 

[GooberGrape1]

@GooberGrape: Are you saying that AT is good for runes? Cause I don't mind running AT with all the uniques that comes with it, but so far I've only ever found an Ist there. Would a full IK-barb cut it for running council? I seem to remember that there is a lot of % against demons included in the set's bonuses. Also, I guess cubing runes from Countess is an unrealistic project?

The main advantage of AT is it can drop any item in the game. If you intend to do the grail, AT (or another level 85 area) is your best bet, because the sheer volume of runs means you will find three Infinitys before you get Tyrael's. It's also the best possible area for a pure blizzsorc to run, since there are no natural cold immunes. If you just want runes right away, Council or LK is much faster.

For a budget Council weapon, I'd make dual eth Oaths. You will plow them pretty easy on players 1 with a WW barb and a merc with Reaper's. There's a thousand threads on it, but basically just run to the Durance stairs, then pop back out. This teleports your merc right on top of you so the Reaper's can do its thing. Dual Heart Carvers on switch will give you a decent chance to Hork up another rune.

...and yes, cubing Infinity from Countess runs will ruin your life. It's way unrealistic and a poor use of time. She's great for runes up to Ist and that's just the way it is.

 

[krischan]

Personally, I find IK barb running Travincal very unrewarding, I'm flirting with death every time.

That shouldn't be a problem. Which rings and which amulet are you using? Which merc with which equipment? A merc isn't relly needed, however, and it's sometimes a bit hard to keep him alive in hydra fields because he's so incredibly stupid.

 

[nulio]

Running travincal with a barb without using a merc is like eating a burger without hmm... meat!

Might aura and specially Decrepify from Reaper's make those runs much faster and/or allows running with an higher player settings (which gives more XP and better non-horked drops).

Just equip the mercenary better and he should do fine (if/when he has more levels). Same can be said for Barb... IK set for travincal barb isn't optimal by far.

I'd suggest reading this thread: http://www.purediablo.com/forums/showthread.php?757752-Travincal-Running-WW-Barb-Mini-Guide

 

[maxicek]

For a budget Council weapon, I'd make dual eth Oaths. You will plow them pretty easy on players 1 with a WW barb and a merc with Reaper's.

Add Black Hades with 3x Damage to Demons jewels, Laying of Hands, some FRW and you are good to go.

 

[Damorath]

Okay let me see if I got this right. Since I'm not looking to do LK runs and Countess, and can't really handle CS or Baal very well, the two most effective options are either to create a horker with some decent gear and go nuts on the council, or keep running AT with my blizz sorc?
I think I'm sticking with the blizz sorc in AT then. Is AT as good for runes as CS? I thought CS was better than most places?

 

[GooberGrape1]

Okay let me see if I got this right. Since I'm not looking to do LK runs and Countess, and can't really handle CS or Baal very well, the two most effective options are either to create a horker with some decent gear and go nuts on the council, or keep running AT with my blizz sorc?
I think I'm sticking with the blizz sorc in AT then. Is AT as good for runes as CS? I thought CS was better than most places?

Whichever area you kill faster in. Keep in mind it's bosspacks, not regular monsters, that you need to concern yourself with. Especially with a sorceress, you should be hopping from boss to boss, ignoring all the regular monsters along the way. For me personally, this is easier to do in AT with a good map since it's more compact.

However, the Council is a superior source of runes by about a factor of 4. So if you are ISO runes as a specific goal, the council is the answer. If you want a truckload of good items with some runes in there as a bonus, go AT.

 

[krischan]

That shouldn't be a problem. Which rings and which amulet are you using? Which merc with which equipment? A merc isn't relly needed, however, and it's sometimes a bit hard to keep him alive in hydra fields because he's so incredibly stupid.

Well, I tried Trav yesterday and yes, it sucks, even with a 8/6 dual leech ring, Ravenfrost and Highlord's. The merc (Reaper's, Gris armor with IAS jewels, Tal's helm) was dead after 10 seconds.

In comparison, my Grief fana-zealot mops Travincal's floor with them.

 

[jeffy]

Would it be worth creating a hammerdin, even if I don't have enigma, to run CS?

Depends. If you have all the other gear necessary to basically just stand in a big pile of monsters and hammer away, Enigma only gives you speed. However, hammerdins are extremely frustrating with low-end gear because you'll have to dodge monsters instead of just standing there.

I know that LK is supposedly good, but it drives me crazy sitting for hours on end with nothing to show for it! I've even come to the realization I might not have the time/dedication to ever get two Ber runes for Infinity, which is why I'm really looking towards a method that satisfies other more short-term goals at the same time. No Enigma and Grief, as I only have a Vex rune and no high end runewords yet.

Runes do drop, but it can take many hours between each one. And then there's the fact that you might get a Jah drop, and then a Cham, and then another Jah, and you're still not any closer to 2xBer. The power of LK lies in the fact that Surs are fairly common, and there's no chance of getting anything higher than Ber. So if your specific goal is to find the equivalent of 2 Ber runes, LK is probably going to be vastly superior to the other options.

Though, if you really hate it, Running AT is probably your best bet as you can find everything, and you are not focusing specifically on runes.

 

[nulio]

krischan that is expected since that merc setup it's not good at all I'm afraid.

Kira's is a must for stacking res and for CBF. Treachery is better than gris caddy with ias jewels (and you can consider other options if you don't want the extra IAS to make decrep proc as fast as possible). And you need to help your merc staying safe, because he will help you kill much faster.

 

[Gripphon1]

From my experience, Kira's + Guardian Angel is best possible combo to secure survivability of travincal merc. Treachery is fine option, but only for merc that don't have survivability problems, because he will continue to die easily. There are more things to insure survivability of merc, but that is too long to write about in here. Idea is to kill fast and to whirl through them next to merc so your merc is not focused from everything around him. Merc was dead in 10 seconds, and truth is all, or at least majority of council members should be dead in 10 seconds if you do things right. That is the key to merc's survivability. If you kill slow, he will take more total damage, but Kira's + GA merc is able to tank all travincal throw at him like a boss, except fana/might/curse combo, that will break him in less than a second if you leave him unprotected there.

 

[zaphodbrx]

Second Kira's+GA for merc. Also helps to get him to high level, say 88+.

Never did run LK myself. People say its good, but I just found it too boring.