Timinator1
New member
Wow! A Cham is always great too see! Yet to see one in my own game so I'm a bit jelly
The Untwinked Level 99 Progress Thread, Revenge of the 99ers
- Thread starter Kitteh1
- Start date
@Tarantella - Grats on the Cham! It's the only rune I have yet to see drop in my career for my rune-drop grail, so mighty jealous there!
@OldSoldier - I see no reason why old tournament characters wouldn't qualify. We'll leave it to Kitteh for final say, but I'm a fan of "the more the merrier".
@OldSoldier - I see no reason why old tournament characters wouldn't qualify. We'll leave it to Kitteh for final say, but I'm a fan of "the more the merrier".
There isn't any stacking if I remember correctly. I dont think any of the Runewords are ideal for a merc stick compared to other options.
Probably good for a smexy source of CBF once you find your ideal circlet.
Agree with the CBF, my assassin would love to have CBF without using a raven. Or even provide CBF on a merc.
Congrats to Tarantella on the Cham. I didn't even realize Cham could drop there until now.
Minor LK update: Vex#1 Run#1411
Feels paltry in comparison.
Very informative discussion (and great progress). But first:
@Tarantella - congrats on the Cham. The CBF seems very attractive, depending on your plans and set up. I'm actually using Trang's belt for my assassin because I haven't had Ravenfrost (or any other source of CBF) drop yet. Assuming I get Arachnid's and 2 +1 skill rings--which is a major assumption, I know--I definitely think I'd use the Cham to free up a slot.
On the LK map question, I haven't maxed BoS, but with BoS at lvl 8 and Harmony bow and some FRW charms, I find running through town faster than TPing. And I think it's net faster than rolling maps to get the perfect circular map. I'm also balancing the use of teleport charges and cost to repair the charges -- my last LK map used one teleport per run, while an earlier one used 2. I suspect it is really hard to find a good circular map and minimize teleports for an assassin.
I've had some time to play but no major updates. I got a Shako (and then a second one), so I added one +skill and some MF to the kit.
@Tarantella - congrats on the Cham. The CBF seems very attractive, depending on your plans and set up. I'm actually using Trang's belt for my assassin because I haven't had Ravenfrost (or any other source of CBF) drop yet. Assuming I get Arachnid's and 2 +1 skill rings--which is a major assumption, I know--I definitely think I'd use the Cham to free up a slot.
On the LK map question, I haven't maxed BoS, but with BoS at lvl 8 and Harmony bow and some FRW charms, I find running through town faster than TPing. And I think it's net faster than rolling maps to get the perfect circular map. I'm also balancing the use of teleport charges and cost to repair the charges -- my last LK map used one teleport per run, while an earlier one used 2. I suspect it is really hard to find a good circular map and minimize teleports for an assassin.
I've had some time to play but no major updates. I got a Shako (and then a second one), so I added one +skill and some MF to the kit.
Tarantella
New member
Betraying my long Bnet career where lag and server woes cause many a HC fatality with key assignments misbehaving in a lag spike. Z and X for stand still and weapon switch keeping right mouse always for teleport except on first approach to bosses where static is pared with fireball on the mouse keys before teleporting away and reassigning. Good enough at least for Orb, fireball and lightning builds and merc control is continuous and instant.
I have no idea what do do with the Cham for a sorceress and having picked up a Ravenfrost from Andy late last night am spending time leveling in act 4. Won't think of entering the Keep till a Thundergods is found.
T72on1
New member
I followed @Brak 's advice and tried to do the route in LK he suggested. I couldn't get used to it, and as a consequence was losing too much time. Not because the advice wasn't good, but probably because I already was used too much to hitting the lower campfire huts first. So I reverted to that sequence, and after some runs, with Brak's advice in the back of my mind, managed to find a routine where I could hit quite a few poppables without losing too much time.
My first batch of LK runs didn't turn up anything good, but that's no surprise, as it was only 18 runs before I ran out of full rejuvs. So I did 50 Pindle runs to stock up again. While doing so, I found a pretty good Gheed's: 137% GF and 39% MF. Soon after I found a Goldwrap. The influence of those two, which doubled my mf%, was very noticeable, as I started finding much more S/U from that point on. Nothing fancy on those Pindle runs, but still it was reassuring that more S/U would start to drop, because my gear is still pretty so-so.
At the end of those Pindle runs I hit level 88. After that I did an AT run (because you never know what could drop with this extra mf%
), but for some reason I have a map I can't get used to.
Anyway, back to LK it was. Didn't have much time, so only did about 40 or 50 runs. No HRs, but a few nice drops: 2x Lem in 2 consecutive runs, a Lum, a Druid Summoning skiller with +24 life and a jewel with 15% res all and +9 max damage. But the most important drop for Neverland was a Wizardspike, which iirc dropped from one of the superchests.
Up to that point I was running with quite horrible resists, only slightly positive, so that item was a gift from heavens. Maxed resists, all of a sudden, as well as very high fcr. For the remainder of my runs I didn't make any other changes than using the Wizardspike instead of my spirit sword. But afterwards I realized that I could easily hit the next fcr breakpoint now by switching out my gloves (dual resist rares) for the Magefists I recently found: Wizardspike + Stealth armor + Magefists + rare fcr ring. That should speed up my LK runs a little, as well as making blind tele'ing somewhat safer.
Next time: more LK runs, and probably giving AT another shot in between, to see if I get the hang of it, now that I have more fcr and maxed out resists. AT definitely gives great xp at this stage, so ...
My first batch of LK runs didn't turn up anything good, but that's no surprise, as it was only 18 runs before I ran out of full rejuvs. So I did 50 Pindle runs to stock up again. While doing so, I found a pretty good Gheed's: 137% GF and 39% MF. Soon after I found a Goldwrap. The influence of those two, which doubled my mf%, was very noticeable, as I started finding much more S/U from that point on. Nothing fancy on those Pindle runs, but still it was reassuring that more S/U would start to drop, because my gear is still pretty so-so.
At the end of those Pindle runs I hit level 88. After that I did an AT run (because you never know what could drop with this extra mf%
), but for some reason I have a map I can't get used to.Anyway, back to LK it was. Didn't have much time, so only did about 40 or 50 runs. No HRs, but a few nice drops: 2x Lem in 2 consecutive runs, a Lum, a Druid Summoning skiller with +24 life and a jewel with 15% res all and +9 max damage. But the most important drop for Neverland was a Wizardspike, which iirc dropped from one of the superchests.
Up to that point I was running with quite horrible resists, only slightly positive, so that item was a gift from heavens. Maxed resists, all of a sudden, as well as very high fcr. For the remainder of my runs I didn't make any other changes than using the Wizardspike instead of my spirit sword. But afterwards I realized that I could easily hit the next fcr breakpoint now by switching out my gloves (dual resist rares) for the Magefists I recently found: Wizardspike + Stealth armor + Magefists + rare fcr ring. That should speed up my LK runs a little, as well as making blind tele'ing somewhat safer.
Next time: more LK runs, and probably giving AT another shot in between, to see if I get the hang of it, now that I have more fcr and maxed out resists. AT definitely gives great xp at this stage, so ...
I don't think the super chests can drop S/U, maybe the wizzy came from a nearby stash?
With LK, there's enough charms/jewels/crafting in between high runes to keep me occupied, so it doesn't get very tedious. I haven't had luck with trap skillers, but there's been plenty of +life SCs. Great for boosting life pool - I'm nearing 2k life myself.
With LK, there's enough charms/jewels/crafting in between high runes to keep me occupied, so it doesn't get very tedious. I haven't had luck with trap skillers, but there's been plenty of +life SCs. Great for boosting life pool - I'm nearing 2k life myself.
Can confirm that the Superchests don't drops S/U items, only magic or rare. I have gotten a fair number of S/U from the poppables around LK though, so I'd be willing to bet it came from one of those.
Cool to read about other peoples experiences in LK so far, always very interesting!
--
Turns out her fear of losing her AT map was unfounded, as our nice new LK map has an even better AT map than her previous one as well! Eleanor is quite happy about that, to say the least, and it looks like she'll be sticking with this map for the foreseeable future. She found a couple cold facets (3/4, and 4/3), so now she is wrestling with whether or not to blow a socket quest on her fathom and throw one in there to up the killing speed a little bit more. Here is her dilemma:
I'm still planning to switch to lightning at some point in the future, so at that point this socket quest would be "wasted". Now, on the flip-side of that, since she found the fathom in the first place, we'll be keeping her as a blizz sorc for longer than originally planned, and almost certainly all the way to 98.
My plans for her (as a light sorc) for her socket quests would be (assuming all gear is found):
1. Griffon's Eye (facet)
2. Andys Visage (ias jool for the merc for faster aura proccing)
3. Not sure here, Ormus/Vipermagi (facet) would be the most likely candidate as I would likely be trying to achieve 200 FCR in an ideal scenario. I'm still debating here though (again, finds permitting), as I could use a CoH on her instead and stay at the lower breakpoint for Lightning/CL (117%).
So what are everyone's thoughts? Is socketing the fathom a worthwhile investment? Will it even make much of a difference, considering Cold Mastery already lowers enemies resistances quite a bit for all non-immunes? Or should I hold off and see what happens when she finally turns to the Lightning tree, depending on what gear I have at that point?
She pinged 94 without anything else really interesting happening. Still no Magefists/Trangs (although we have both of their wrong-coloured counterparts, of course!). Some day...
Other finds:
- Schaeffer's Hammer (a first in my D2 career!)
- Another Ist
--
Updated Tarasha as well.
[highlight]The Fallen:[/highlight]
Cool to read about other peoples experiences in LK so far, always very interesting!
--
Turns out her fear of losing her AT map was unfounded, as our nice new LK map has an even better AT map than her previous one as well! Eleanor is quite happy about that, to say the least, and it looks like she'll be sticking with this map for the foreseeable future. She found a couple cold facets (3/4, and 4/3), so now she is wrestling with whether or not to blow a socket quest on her fathom and throw one in there to up the killing speed a little bit more. Here is her dilemma:
I'm still planning to switch to lightning at some point in the future, so at that point this socket quest would be "wasted". Now, on the flip-side of that, since she found the fathom in the first place, we'll be keeping her as a blizz sorc for longer than originally planned, and almost certainly all the way to 98.
My plans for her (as a light sorc) for her socket quests would be (assuming all gear is found):
1. Griffon's Eye (facet)
2. Andys Visage (ias jool for the merc for faster aura proccing)
3. Not sure here, Ormus/Vipermagi (facet) would be the most likely candidate as I would likely be trying to achieve 200 FCR in an ideal scenario. I'm still debating here though (again, finds permitting), as I could use a CoH on her instead and stay at the lower breakpoint for Lightning/CL (117%).
So what are everyone's thoughts? Is socketing the fathom a worthwhile investment? Will it even make much of a difference, considering Cold Mastery already lowers enemies resistances quite a bit for all non-immunes? Or should I hold off and see what happens when she finally turns to the Lightning tree, depending on what gear I have at that point?
She pinged 94 without anything else really interesting happening. Still no Magefists/Trangs (although we have both of their wrong-coloured counterparts, of course!). Some day...
Other finds:
- Schaeffer's Hammer (a first in my D2 career!)
- Another Ist
--
Updated Tarasha as well.
Code:
Name (F) Name (C) SC/HC Class Level/exp Extended Stash #of S/U Grail/504 #of deaths # of Hours
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pb_pal Eleanor SC Sorc 94 No 506 246 2 -
NanoMist Izuna SC Sin 92 No 271 169 1 55
PhineasB Mercy SC Sin 90 Yes - 190 7 -
T72on1 Neverland SC Sorc 87 Yes 63 58 4 19.30
Tarantella Tarasha HC Sorc 86 Yes - - - -
OldSoldier Battleforge HC Pala 83 Yes - 114 - -
Gambit Mallenroh SC Sorc 81 Yes 0 0 0 0
logo Digimon HC Nec 76 Yes 85 65 0 -
Darke Rahl Bells HC Ama 74 No 19 - 0 0
Kitteh Cyanosis HC Assassin 45 No - - - -
Tenecabo OldShatterhand HC Druid 40 Yes - 0 0 -
Gambit Colossus SC Pal 39 YES 0 0 0 0
Ergroilnin Erilinda HC Sorc 20 No - - - -
Smancer Smancer SC Necro 19 Yes - - - -[highlight]The Fallen:[/highlight]
Code:
Name (F) Name (C) SC/HC Class Level/exp Extended Stash #of S/U Grail/504 #of deaths # of Hours
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
coju NintyNine_orRiP HC Sorc 81 Yes - 0 0 a few
coju fB HC Sorc 29 Yes 1 1 0 2
Kitteh Verallus HC Druid 26 No N/A N/A 0 N/A
logo Rolex HC Barb 21 Yes 0 0 0 1
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I know what you mean about swapping out routes. I've tried that before after realizing much more efficient paths, and it just doesn't work some times. Once you have one route programed into your motor memory you're sometimes better off just rolling a new map.
Grats on the Wizspike. Glad to see poppables paying off for you already.
Also I almost never use pots in LK. I think I must be doing it wrong.
Actually I almost never use pots anywhere, which probably means I'm doing D2 wrong. The feel so overpowered.
@Pb_pal - Congrats on 94! As you implied, the +%cold damage on the facet is more important. Not sure how much you'll gain there for blizzard, but if it's not that much, I'd hold off. Tough call though as future items are uncertain. Griffons would be nice but tough to find.
@Brak - I also almost never use pots in LK. Once in a long while there will be an extra strong pack waiting in the hut, but a S/E is no big deal either.
@Brak - I also almost never use pots in LK. Once in a long while there will be an extra strong pack waiting in the hut, but a S/E is no big deal either.
T72on1
New member
@Pb_pal Tremendous going there !!! Keep it up.
Socketing stuff is indeed a tough decision. I was wondering about this the other day myself. Although it's easy for me atm, I still have quite lowby gear
. Not sure what you mean with faster aura proccing on the Andy's for the merc though ... is the aura activation tied to attack speed? Otherwise it doesn't seem that important to me.
@NanoMist and @Pb_pal Indeed, uniques and sets can't drop from the superchests. My bad. It was certainly inside a hut, but probably from a normal chest in that case. Either way, I'm very happy about the drop for now.
@Brak and @NanoMist You are definitely not doing things wrong if you don't need pots, it probably means I'm not doing it right. I just teleport into strong packs inside the huts from time to time (afaik, you can't see them, until you are inside the hut), in which case I use a full rejuv if in doubt. I probably wouldn't be so trigger happy for the pots, if this wasn't a quest for 99, where a loss of xp hurts more and more. But I still would need one from time to time. Seems more efficient than a S/E to me, no?
Socketing stuff is indeed a tough decision. I was wondering about this the other day myself. Although it's easy for me atm, I still have quite lowby gear
. Not sure what you mean with faster aura proccing on the Andy's for the merc though ... is the aura activation tied to attack speed? Otherwise it doesn't seem that important to me.@NanoMist and @Pb_pal Indeed, uniques and sets can't drop from the superchests. My bad. It was certainly inside a hut, but probably from a normal chest in that case. Either way, I'm very happy about the drop for now.
@Brak and @NanoMist You are definitely not doing things wrong if you don't need pots, it probably means I'm not doing it right. I just teleport into strong packs inside the huts from time to time (afaik, you can't see them, until you are inside the hut), in which case I use a full rejuv if in doubt. I probably wouldn't be so trigger happy for the pots, if this wasn't a quest for 99, where a loss of xp hurts more and more. But I still would need one from time to time. Seems more efficient than a S/E to me, no?
Basically, when an A2 merc attacks he makes a "decision". Those decisions include either normal attack, jab attack, or activating their aura. Faster attack means more opportunity for him to choose to activate his aura, which translates to faster aura initiation.
This becomes increasingly important in situation like Nihlathak running where it's a very short run and the merc isn't really doing anything before you get to your target (Nihl).
I started LK runs right after I leveled to 92, so there wouldn't be any experience to lose if I were to die. Also, exp loss isn't a big deal until the high 90's, to me at least. I only S/E once every couple hundred runs or so, for the really nasty monsters that'll kill you in a blink. Otherwise I agree, pots for normal circumstances.
