The Untwinked Level 99 Progress Thread, Revenge of the 99ers

I could also imagine that summoners require full set of skillers to be 99 material, and they are not the easiest of characters to farm the basics, as single boss targets becomes a slow grind. And Infinity is also a must.

So, Infinity, Enigma, Hoto, Beast, CtA. The hardest part would definitely getting a hold of those skillers. But after acquiring those items, I think he would ROCK! :)
 
To me Sorc seems like the cookie cutter for untwinked for the simple reason of Teleport, both to farm LK and bosses. But after Enigma I agree Nec should be the least gear dependent and pretty efficient.

Not too sure about skillers being an issue actually. CE is main source of damage which is not dependent on skill level, but only relies on +1 skill gear for more range. But range is fine if maxed plus some standard gear. Also while I have a Beast on my (twinked) Summoner, Hoto is basically just as good. At least it was in Cow runs, but I'm quite confident this should apply generally. However, if an extra Ber drops it would be cool to have an untwinked Beast of course. :)

I think for boss farming Andy could be a better choice than Meph for him, since you can raise minions there and use CE. Also the benefit from the quest bug as a side effect, and she can drop most of the stuff you would need from Meph such as Shako and +1 rings... except for Arach, which might be a real pain to get with him actually. But then again he's good at farming alvl85 at high player settings where you can get it with some luck, as well as some runes here and there, and make good XP process at the same time. In fact, as opposed to my Sorc which acquired all her gear elsewhere and has spent not more than 2 hours in AT/Pits total (!), I intend to spend a lot of time with him in lvl85 areas - once Enigma is done ofc.

But that's mostly very far away in the future since I really want to finish the Sorc first, which will take a long time still, currently some 30% into lvl 97. Until she hits 99 I'll only play him in between if Sorc runs are unbearable from time to time. One project after the other. ;)
 
Agreed. Most builds need at least some gear. For Summoners it's all icing on the cake, except maybe for Enigma. Charges probably get annoying after a while.
 
Just like Blizzy doesn't "need" Shako/Nightwing's, Fathom/Hoto, CoH/Viper/Ormus, or any FCR breakpoint whatsoever. But these are immense improvements over some random setup. Regarding Summoner, while end game gear doesn't improve his damage output as much as is the case with other characters, having the typical good caster items still makes a very big difference. And come one please, in particular regarding Enigma, at least for any non-Sorc caster, there are worlds between having it or not in terms of speedy progress. :)
 
It seems like my zealot needs some better gear to get past nightmare. I can't move 20 yards without dying to something :p Any suggestions on where to MF in nightmare to prepare for Hell? I'm lvl 47 with practically no gear atm (I have cathans armor/rings/necklace a malice flail, and crappy helm/boots/shield)
I was thinking I could farm countess NM to get some runes to make a smoke and hopefully find some base for Black runeword, as well as a rhyme shield.

I did find a 3os dimensional blade that I made a King's grace in which is nice :)
gaPJ3R0.jpg
 
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I've also been making an untwinked zealot to play between my javazon's baal runs...
He is currently in act 1 hell at lvl 70.

The best place to mf for me in normal and nightmare has been pindle on the highest player difficulty I could do it efficiently. He also give great XP. I've done some meph runs, especially in nightmare.
And by mf i mean killing him a lot of times while ignoring the actual mf of my character and only improving kill speed.

He is currently using hexfire for weapon which does decent damage in early hell.
For survivability i stacked as much life leech as i could. I also used a life tap wand on switch for bosses / difficult situations (these can be bought from normal act 3 if i remember correctly).
Sigon's gloves + any other sigon item give 30% ias and 10% life leech which also help alot and are easy to find.
Any source of crushing blow helps.

He is indeed fun, but baal runs seem quite slow due to baal's decrep.

I really don't know what zealots should run for XP when they get in their 90's...
 
Travincal, chaos, etc.

I just don't see them being comparable with a blizz sorc/hammerdin in CS (2 seals/dia) or Javazon/trapper etc in Baal runs in terms of XP gain...

At lvl 98 i guess you can do nihlathak efficiently... But how do u get there after the Pits/travincal start returning low XP?
Everyone says that 98-99 is the hardest but I for one don't consider 96-97 a walk in the park either...

That's what I meant...
 
I just don't see them being comparable with a blizz sorc/hammerdin in CS (2 seals/dia) or Javazon/trapper etc in Baal runs in terms of XP gain...

At lvl 98 i guess you can do nihlathak efficiently... But how do u get there after the Pits/travincal start returning low XP?
Everyone says that 98-99 is the hardest but I for one don't consider 96-97 a walk in the park either...

That's what I meant...

In my mind it's not a race to get to 99. So if it takes me longer to run CS instead of whatever the blizz/hammerdin can do, I don't mind :)
I actually find this thread and process a good metaphor for life, enjoying the journey not the destination!
 
Oops; hit refresh and lost my post.

As promised I am joining the untwinked 99er thread now that the MFO is over.

I started an Amazon with the goal of level 99; and with the MFO coming up, I thought it'd be a good place to level and gear her up. She started as a PJzon speed through Normal and NM, only stopping at Shenks on /p3~8 for quick levels, and ended up in Hell mid 70. I ran Shenks instead of Pindle, due to Pindle's high poison resist in Normal and being Poison Immune in Nightmare. I forget where I found a Ko, but when a 4os Diamond bow dropped; she respecced into a bowazon. The skills and stats are wonky atm - with 200+ vit, 10+ crit, and less than 10 on Valk - due to my desperate attempt at trying to survive and improve her kill speed.

By the time the MFO started, she was only wearing Lore, Peace, Harmony and some blue/yellow fillers. As you can imagine, her clear speed was miserable; but with some lucky drops it improved greatly over the week. Now she's rocking an upped WWS, Raven Frost, Razortail, Wartravs, a lovely tiara, and of course the Fortitude I made couple days ago. <3. Her gloves, 2nd ring and ammy are still in need of an upgrade though. I'm aiming for the Laying of Hands, a decent blood ring, and Cat's eye. Once she finds her end-game weapon - WF or Faith of course - I plan to respec into Multishot and start running CS. I hope I am lucky enough to find a Jah/Ohm or a WF by the time she hits 95; otherwise, I'll have to run LK. >=(.


Progress Update

Code:
Name          (C)            SC/HC    Class  Level/exp   Extended Stash  #of S/U   Grail/504   #of deaths  # of Hours
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
zticazzy      Perkele         SC      Barb      99             No            -          -            -           -
Pb_pal        Eleanor         SC      Sorc      99             No         3068        437            5           -
NanoMist      Izuna           SC      Sin       99             No         5109        470            4         360
PhineasB      Mercy           SC      Sin       99             Yes           -        475           11           -
Neksja        Aura            SC      Paladin   98.50          Yes        8606        464            -           -
T72on1        Neverland       SC      Sorc      98.25          Yes        2190+?      477           13         270?
PhineasB      Hiatus          SC      Sorc      98.25          Yes           -        457           21           -
hasuprotoss   Reina           SC      Sorc      97             Yes        1751        384            -           -
Tarantella    Tarasha         HC      Sorc      96             Yes           -          -            -           -
Grim          Furious_Blonde  SC      Ama       96             Yes           -          -            -           -
ffs           HelpYourself    SC      Sorc      96             Yes           -          -          many          ?
XyleneCyanol  Fishie          HC      Sorc      95             No            -          -            -           -
ThomasJohnsen xInTheBuffx     HC      Sorc      95             Yes           -          -            -           -
darkstarhub   Neptune         SC      Sorc      95             Yes           -          -            -           -
PhineasB      Phaedrus        SC      Pala      94             Yes           -        274           12           -
Reyz          Qty             SC      Sorc      93             No            -          -            -           -
Chaostar      Prairie         SC      Sorc      91             Yes         659        261           12         126
OldSoldier    Battleforge     HC      Pala      91             Yes           -        236            -           -
tokerdin      tokeress        SC      Sorc      91             yes           -          -            -           -
Zenigma       Ayura           SC      Barb      91             No            -          -            -           -
Gynli         Amazon          SC      Amazon    91             Yes           -          -         many           -
Southpaw      Njord           SC      Druid     90             Yes           -          -            -           -
Qwernt        CanbeOnlyBlizz  SC      Sorc      90             Yes           ?          -        Dont want to know
MercMan       Este            SC      Ama       90             Yes        1212        278            2  Classified
Me2Nik        Fugu            HC      Ama       90             Yes          80
Yng           Kyrie           HC      Druid     90             Yes           -          -            -           -
Lynchgrinch   Tattersail      SC      Sorc      89             Yes           ?        321         too many    lots
Yng           Sophie          SC      Sorc      89             Yes           -          -            6           -
LiquidClear   Sally           SC      Assn      **             Yes         225          -            1           -
liquid_mage   zDadColdSorc    SC      Sorc      **             Yes           -        160            -           -
Neksja        Turirao         SC      Druid     87             Yes         191        124            5           -
Gladstone     Socrates        HC      Druid     86             ?             -          -            -           -
Zenigma       Gnosis          SC      Druid     86             No            -          -            -           -
Lord Molyb    Cruise_Control  SC      Necro     86             No          115         94           19         idk
Naturallog    Athos           HC      Barb      84             No          159        105            0           -
Lord Molyb    Verisimilitude  SC      Ama       83             No           28         25            0         idk
Qwernt        AmaAgainstAll   SC      Sorc      81             Yes           -          -            -           -
Gambit        Mallenroh       SC      Sorc      81             Yes           0          0            0           0
Lord Molyb    But_Why         SC      Sin       81             Never        55         51           53
Jean Avila    SpeedAdict      SC      Ama       77             No            -          -            -          50
logo          Digimon         HC      Nec       76             Yes          85         65            0           -
TwentyMule    Rayne           SC      Sorc      76             Yes         195        140            ?           ?
Gripphon      Ryu             SC      Sorc      76             Yes           -          -         over 9k       13
Darke Rahl    Bells           HC      Ama       74             No           19          -            0
Vildecor      Celia           SC      Ama       59             Yes          52         43            0           -
ioupainmax    Durnik          SC      Paladin   52             Yes          50         42            -           -
TrU           Henryk          SC      Barb      41             Yes           -          -           22          12
Gambit        Colossus        SC      Pal       39             Yes           0          0            0           0
Smancer       Smancer         SC      Necro     26             Yes           1          -            -           -
Ergroilnin    Erilinda        HC      Sorc      20             No            -          -            -           -
Kitteh        Kaylin          SC      Ama       19             Yes           -          -            0           -
hackedagainanda Hugo          HC      Barb      16             Yes           -          -            -           -

The Fallen
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
TwentyMule  Valus           HC      Barb      76             Yes           -          -            1           -
Pb_pal      Stevesy         HC      Paladin   76             Yes           -          -            0           -
Tenecabo    OldShatterhand  HC      Druid     49             Yes           -          0            1           -
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 agree with @Trapin' . There's only a handful of builds that can do it fastest, and even then there's only really 2 - 3 builds that compete for first spot. Picking something you like and which can at least kill at decent speed is most important thing. While 97 - 98 is no picknick either, it's mostly 98 - 99 where you'll spend time, and luckily there are a number of builds that can do Nihl just fine there, including a Zealot (I'd think).

@Gynli Good luck !!! I'm still amazed (but pleasantly surprised) at how many people are have joined and are still joining this madness fun journey.
 
I didn't mean to seem like I disregard zealers as "competitive" untwinked 99ers.
Getting to 99 is simply a matter of time. You could do it completely naked, in theory at least. Making it fun is the challenge.

I really don't see it as a competition and I enjoyed all my play time on my 99er. You guys gave me a great challenge and longterm project to enjoy my limited gaming time. And I thank you for that. For almost a year, my only D2 character was the 99er javazon. I simply liked it that much.
Unfortunately, now I'm hooked and can't see any reason to make a twinked character. It just seems too easy.

Inspired by @PhineasB 's multiple 99ers, I started another 99er and chose zealot for nostalgic reasons. It's the first build I ever made in D2 about 13 years ago.

My comment was intended to open the discussion about where you guys would run a zealot, that wouldn't be Baal (just to change things a bit for me).
I for one am planning now to run trav for runes for a while. Then respecking to a auradin and doing 2 seal CS/dia.

I'm glad to see other amazons here. I just love how they look and how powerful they feel.
Best of luck to everyone.
 
So i found a rare dimensional blade that has 40 IAS and some decent ED! I'm able to reach a 4 frame zeal with it vs my King's grace which can only get 5 with my IAS. There isn't any life steal on it or % damage to demons, but it may kill faster, I have life steal in rings, and I think there's style points in using a rare :)

EDIT: Update: the kill speed with rare/sanders is wayyy better. So using that combo now until I can find some end game gear!

View attachment 6815

Also want to make sure i'm approaching the zeal breakpoints correctly. I'm using the german calculator and filling out the calc to get this table. Which means if I get 60 IAS i'll reach the max frames, which i can do with the rare 40ias and Sanders gloves 20 ias right? If i used the kings grace it would just be 20ias and only hit the 5/5/5/5/9 which is two breakpoints slower
2b4495659d7f99dc36a8aee8a5723ba3.png
 
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well ceegee is now a champion :) He had a great welcome to hell!!

View attachment 6818

Now my only problem is whether to put it on my merc or myself :confused:
I think for now I will sport it, as it's too sexy not too. Hopefully I can get a G helm soon and throw it on my merc then :)

I also found a 4 os thresher in Hell den! Great for insight... oh wait i'm not using a RWM :p
Hurts to let a 4 os thresher sit in den :oops:
 
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well ceegee is now a champion :) He had a great welcome to hell!!

View attachment 6818

Now my only problem is whether to put it on my merc or myself :confused:
I think for now I will sport it, as it's too sexy not too. Hopefully I can get a G helm soon and throw it on my merc then :)

I also found a 4 os thresher in Hell den! Great for insight... oh wait i'm not using a RWM :p
Hurts to let a 4 os thresher sit in den :oops:

that is a nice helm for an untwinked zealot starting hell indeed!
I remember that my first untwinked barb got arreats from nightmare Baal quest :)
Why not RWM?
 
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