[Guide] 1.10a beta +2 all skills BK ring seekers miniguide

Sep 25, 2017
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❗ This thread was moved from here. The OP is purplelocust.❗


A 1.10a beta +2 all skills BK ring seekers miniguide:


Overview


Here is a report on a project that I did a while ago that I'd started to write up but never finished up or posted: getting 1.10a +2 skills Bul Kathos Wedding Band rings. It is feasible and I found it pretty gratifying.

The goal is to find the elusive +2 all skills Bul Kathos rings. It's easy to see why these rings are desirable: it's the only way to get +2 skills from a ring slot. Normally, SoJs are quite desirable for builds that really need +skills, as those are often caster builds who benefit from the +mana more than they would from the life leech on an ordinary +1 skill BK ring. But for the additional skill point, casters will generally happily give up the useful mana mods on an SoJ. +2 skills BK are particularly desirable for builds that use OSkills in a melee setting, as there the +skills affect the OSkill and the life leech may be an added bonus.

The only version these exist in is the beta version 1.10a, which has synergies (unlike 1.09 and earlier) and the harder monsters in hell that we've all grown used to in 1.10a and later.


Concerns

A few things to keep in mind:

ATMA doesn't work on the beta 1.10a, and neither does GoMule. So that meant that muling was a pain. Muling off meant for me self-MPing with two computers both running 1.10a, which was tedious and meant losing the map seed. So to keep muling to a minimum, I left an awful lot of things on the ground and pretty much just picked up rings and amulets. The downside was that I probably left some decent things there, but the upside was that the runs were very quick as I wouldn't bother picking stuff up, let alone IDing it, in general. To my mind, as someone who has done a lot of 1.11/1.12 MFing, the list of items that might reasonably drop in 1.10a from Andarial that I don't already have a zillion of in 1.11/1.12 is quite short, and is mainly just the +2 skills BKWB.


Where to find a BKWB

There a good discussion some years ago about trying to get SoJs efficiently. There was a nice writeup on the Strategy Compendium (I can only find it on the Wayback Machine at this link ) summarizing that. The analysis there was that NM Andy is a great choice for single-mindedly focusing on SoJs, as Andy not only has a decent chance to drop jewelry, but also there is the Andy quest drop bug which means that you can drop some MF in exchange for speed because of essentially what amounts to "free MF" from the quest drop bug.

Much of that analysis applies to BK rings. Of course, NM Andy is out since she can't drop a BKWB, but the arguments lead to Hell Andy as an excellent choice for a BKWB. Again, the quest drop bug is a big plus and her jewelry drop chance is relatively good. Running Hell Meph is a better choice if you are interested in other items that may drop, but its to my mind a slower way of getting BKWBs in 1.10a.


Running Hell Andy

So basically the idea is to get a character in 1.10a who can run Hell Andy quickly carrying decent but not over-the-top MF. Sorcs win here because of teleport, of course, but what build?

Blizzard is ordinarily a good choice for Andy runs, but in 1.10a cold mastery is weakened enough to make that a sub-optimal choice to my mind. I went with a straight fireball sorc with a decent ES. It's a pain not being able to kill some of the monsters in her chamber but the plan is just teleport straight there and then kill her quickly. Usually it was quick and easy- sometimes a nasty boss would be nearby which complicated things and slowed down a run.

My method was as follows:

1) Rush and level a character in a version earlier than 1.10a

Starting a character from scratch in 1.10a who can effectively run Hell Andy with decent MF would take a while. So it's quicker to gather gear and level in a patch previous to 1.10a and then bring the character forward one she is ready to go.

I used 1.07 since I have a stable of characters there and it was easier to do but 1.09 would probably be easier for many. Even though 1.07 doesn't have synergies, I selected her skills knowing that she would later be in 1.10a.

2) Bring her forward to 1.10a and then kill Andy over and over again until those lovely rings drop.

I wasn't sure if the "quest drop bug" applied in earlier versions, or for that matter whether or not it applied in 1.10a. So I played it safe by only rushing her to A1 Hell in 1.07. That was something of a pain, as that meant she could not do Hell Cows in 1.07 which is a great place for levelling there. (You can't enter the cow portal in pre-1.10 unless you already killed Ball in that difficulty, and the A5 Bloody Foothills experience runs that we so common in 1.09 are similarly out of reach for a character who has only gotten to A1 Hell.) I fitted her out with resonable MF gear- not top-notch but reasonable and things I have many 1.07 copies of. I did actually stop briefly in 1.09 with her as I had a Gull there for switch and the Gulls in 1.07 have a lot less MF than 1.09+. And at that point I didn't know if the quest drop bug would work in 1.10a.

Then I brought her forward to 1.10a and had her kill Andy in 1.10a on her own, since I was hoping that the quest drop bug worked there. Indeed, that method seemed to work, which was great, as it meant that maxing MF wasn't nearly as important and I could focus more on speed.

I focuesed on speed and survival as I was contemplating also doing this project in HC as well at some point, which I haven't done yet.

3) Find a good map for Hell Andy and run her over and over.

Of course a good Andarial map made things quicker. But every time her stash got full, I lost the map seed from TCP/IP muling. So I didn't pick up much except jewelry, jewels and some charms, so as not to fill up the stash too quickly, and also I didn't try to get the greatest map ever since I knew that in not too long I would have to give it up.


Results:

Here was the count of unique rings for my runs, which took place over about a month of intermittent play. I didn't keep track of the number of runs, I just picked up every unique ring for recording purposes. I kept track of all the rings I found for the first stretch and was fortunate to find 2 BK rings relatively quickly (well, if a few thousand runs is relatively quickly!):

57 unique rings from Hell Andy:

2 BKWB
2 Carrion Wind
11 Dwarf Star
13 Manald
17 Nagel
12 Raven Frost

In terms of relative rarity of items than can drop from Hell Andarial, those are:

Nagelring 15
Manald Heal 15
Stone of Jordan 1
Dwarf Star 10
Raven Frost 10
Bul Kathos' WB 1
Carrion Wind 3

That the chance that each of these ring drops (given that Andarial has selected to drop a unique ring) is its rarity/(total availble rarities). The sum of the availablity rarities is 55 in this case. So the chance that a given unique ring drop from Andarial is a BKWB is 1/55, same as an SoJ, whereas the chance of a Carrion Wind is 3/55 given that she has selected to drop a unique ring.

Note: these are probabilities that a unique ring that drops will be of various types. First she has to choose to drop a ring, and then choose that it will be a unique. So that probability depends of course on the players count and MF and can be worked out with ATMA for specifics. For example, the chance that Andarial quest drops from the "rin" treasure class is about 1 in 10 or so, and the chance she drops a unique ring with 200 MF works out to be something like 1 in 37, which means that the chance that she will drop a BKWB to be about 1 in 2000 or so.

So I was fortunate to get 2 BKWB over that stretch, but also not so fortunate to get any SoJs. Of course, there isn't anything special about SoJs in 1.10a and I already have bunches in 1.11/1.12, so of course I was much happier with BKWB rather than SoJs there!

I did more runs after that stretch but I stopped keeping track as carefully. I did find a third BKWB but I didn't keep as careful track of all the other rings that dropped in those later runs.

Readouts of the two BKWB I brought forward:

Code:
Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
Ring
Required Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x98c721e0
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
4% Life stolen per hit
+4 to Life (Based on Character Level)
+50 Maximum Stamina

Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
Ring
Required Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0xccc5887e
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
5% Life stolen per hit
+4 to Life (Based on Character Level)
+50 Maximum Stamina

The third BKWB I don't have a readout from as it's still in 1.10a (no ATMA/GoMule) and I may use it there some before bringing it forward, or I may use it for a 1.10final Fireball paladin build I was thinking about or some other odd 1.10 builds.

I also did of course pick up unique amulets- but I was not as organized and I didn't keep or keep track of the lesser unique amulets. The yield there was:

1 Rising Sun
2 Seraph's
2 Highlords
1 Atma's
2 Cat's Eye
4 Crescent Moon
2 Saracen's

The relative rarities for Hell Andarial for amulets is:

Nokozon Relic 20
Eye of Etlich 5
Mahim-Oak Curio 5
Saracen's Chance 10
The Cat's Eye 5
Rising Sun 5
Crescent Moon 5
Atma's Scarab 5
Highlord's Wrath 5


I got some reasonable rare rings and amulets, some jewels and small charms as well. There was nothing really outstanding though besides the BKWBs, which were after all the main goal.


Final question:

Q: Is it a bad idea to obsessively run one target over and over again to find a specific item?

A: Yes. A much better way of finding items is just to load up on MF and kill things and see what drops, rather than looking for one specific item. But for this ring, it's pretty much the specific item you want from 1.10a.
 
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purplelocust said:
I starting writing this up some months ago but didn't finish it off enough to post it. It's not so much a guide as it is more of a summary and report of what I did. Any suggestions, comments or corrections would be much appreciated!
FromLithuania said:
Damn you are lucky with those rings 👍. I am doing 1.10a andy myself now, but still no luck (I have found 3x soj, 6x tal ammy, 3x herald of zakarum shields, bunch of shakos, Carrion Wind rings). It looks like i have found every unique/set items from andy for at least few times, but bkwb rings are pain in the ***.

purplelocust said:
@FromLihuania: indeed, I was fortunate, but I did do a lot of runs! Deciding early on to focus just on small things (rings, amulets, jewels, small charms) sped runs up a fair amount for me. I really had to fight the temptation to pick up various other things (for my perfect grail, for my staffmod grail, for my ethereal grail, etc...)

I'm sorry to hear you aren't having success yet- how many total unique rings have you found from her? If you've already found 3 SoJs from her, you probably have done a fair amount of running already!

RobbyD said:
Fantastic! Great summary, and perfect timing for me!

I have a level 98 MeteOrb Sorc (pure Sasja guide, except I splurged a point in Enchant for the merc and have put the last couple points in Static to expand the radius... cows, you know) in 1.09 I was planning on taking to 1.10s for HF collections once she gets to 99, but she's done such a good job MFing in 1.09 while leveling (Mara's, BKWB, CK Horns, CK Hooves, BKSC, etc.), and since I did trade for a 1.10a Reaper's Toll for the merc, I think I'll try to get one of these.

For muling, is there not a multiple instance modified dll for 1.10a?

Obviously since my Sorc is levelling via Hell cows, she long ago finished the Hell Andariel quest. I'll check that question for you when I convert - what exactly should I be looking for to determine if she is quest-bugged or not?

Did you exploit any other 1.10a quirks, like the gem recipe? Was it you that made the 1.10a cheapo version of CtA? Is that worth a 1.09 Mal?

FromLithuania said:
@purplelocust I have neither counted the runs or ring amount from andy (I think it should be close to 80 or more). Also i have leveled my sorceress from 60 to 90 level doing hell mephisto on /p3. So i think that add little bit to :D.

I am interested in your sorceress equipment, skill placement and player setting you have been using.

@RobbyD I have made 1.10a cta and it is worth doing that (just look at this sexy beast http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/4584/l33t.jpg). It makes your runs faster and you dont have to worry about mana/life at all:thumbup:. So bye bye potions and visits to akara.

purplelocust said:
@RobbyD: Great job in 1.09, good luck in 1.10a!

To check to see if the quest drop applies once you are in 1.10a, look for a magic item dropping that has both set and unique possibilities that she can drop. Or look at the durability of the magic items that drop (for items that have durability) and compare them to normal durability.

My understanding is that quest drops from Andarial are rare, set or unique. If you get a set or rare of an item type that either doesn't exist or she can't drop, it will be an increased-durability rare or magic item. Non-quest drops can have plain magic items (without the added durability) so that is a way of helping to figure out if the quest drop applies there and that would be good to know. I may have been overly cautious but I wanted to be sure that she had a chance at the quest drop bug.

I haven't made CtA in anything yet, so that must have been someone else. I often use instead a flesh-and-blood BO Barb, BeauBeau, who has a level 50 BO (and that's before I've had him wear the +2 skill rings!)

I haven't done anything else in 1.10a except the focused BK ring search. I don't know about the .dlls as I play mostly on Macs and generally use a second, third, etc. computer for my self-MPing rather than modifying any of the game files.

purplelocust said:
FromLithuania said:
I am interested in your sorceress equipment, skill placement and player setting you have been using.
I haven't played her in a while, but when I am at that machine I can write up her build. Skill-wise I think it was a straight 20 in Fire Ball, Fire Bolt and Fire Mastery (I think I didn't go for Meteor at all- I'm sure she didn't have anything in Meteor when I moved her from 1.07 forward, but I did level during those runs. I don't remember using Meteor and I don't think I put any point into any fire skills except those three.) Then there was some combination of investment in Static, Teleport, Energy Shield and TK after the fire skills. I ran her at /players 1 or 3 I believe. I didn't think the additional time at higher player counts was worth the slight decrease in nodrop chance, at least with her.

omgwtfbbqpwned said:
Not a single SoJ. You lucky bum. :p

GG guide/summary.

jdkerr said:
@Robby: The modified .dll works fine for muling in 1.10a.

Arkardo said:
Hats off to you. I was bored running 1.13 Andariel for a SoJ after a few unfruitful days and called it quits.

RobbyD said:
jdkerr said:
@Robby: The modified .dll works fine for muling in 1.10a.
*whew* - That makes this feasible for me (plus, by happy coincidence, my choice of collection character is especially well-suited to Andy running!)

@FromLithuania:

A Mal and Ist will put a serious dent in my rune wealth, but I can justify the expense if I do my HF collections in 1.10a instead of 1.10s (though that precludes the 1.10s Ormus' I bought (+3 Meteor). With that sexy Reaper's available for the Merc, I may just give that a try. I did pick up a 4os Flail for the possibility of CtA, so that may just be what I decide to do. That will also allow for some gem/weapon recipe experiments.

Are there any material differences in Sorc skills/synergies between 1.10a and 1.10s?

thefranklin said:
RobbyD said:
A Mal and Ist will put a serious dent in my rune wealth, but I can justify the expense if I do my HF collections in 1.10a instead of 1.10s (though that precludes the 1.10s Ormus' I bought (+3 Meteor). With that sexy Reaper's available for the Merc, I may just give that a try. I did pick up a 4os Flail for the possibility of CtA, so that may just be what I decide to do. That will also allow for some gem/weapon recipe experiments.
Are you planning on taking the Mal and Ist forward to 1.13? If you are, then its value drops considerably. You could find a Mal and an Ist on your first 1.13 playthrough.

The only reason you would not make the obselete CTA is if you planned on using that Mal and that Ist in 1.09 or 1.10s. I don't think you would need those for 1.10s at all (only killing Hephasto). There also ins't much use for either in 1.09 (unless you really want 30 more mf) so I would say do it. Well, the other reason not to is if you didn't plan on staying in 1.10a long enough, but for nuking Andy and ignoring everything else 1000+ times it would be worth it.

purplelocust said:
Blizzard is ordinarily a good choice for Andy runs, but in 1.10a cold mastery is weakened enough to make that a sub-optimal choice to my mind.
CM is 3% per point instead of 5%. I am not sure of any other skill/synergy differences.

Greebo said:
That was an interesting read. I don't think I'll ever bother to do this, but if I do, I'll come back here.
--Greebo

RobbyD said:
FromLithuania said:
@purplelocust I have neither counted the runs or ring amount from andy (I think it should be close to 80 or more). Also i have leveled my sorceress from 60 to 90 level doing hell mephisto on /p3. So i think that add little bit to :D.

I am interested in your sorceress equipment, skill placement and player setting you have been using.

@RobbyD I have made 1.10a cta and it is worth doing that (just look at this sexy beast http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/4584/l33t.jpg). It makes your runs faster and you dont have to worry about mana/life at all:thumbup:. So bye bye potions and visits to akara.
Question - do general +skills add to the level of BO from that CtA? My sorc has Shako, Mara's, Skin of Vipermagi, and 2x SoJ - will that and the +2 from beta CtA add +9 to the BO level from the weapon mod?

jdkerr said:
RobbyD said:
Question - do general +skills add to the level of BO from that CtA?
Yep.

(10chars and all that.)

FromLithuania said:
RobbyD said:
Question - do general +skills add to the level of BO from that CtA? My sorc has Shako, Mara's, Skin of Vipermagi, and 2x SoJ - will that and the +2 from beta CtA add +9 to the BO level from the weapon mod?
Yes, it will add. So it is possible to reach 20+ level of battle orders easily.

Tupsi said:
That was a nice read. Thanks for inspiration 👍 I reinstalled Diablo to make a little time travel starting from 1.07. My hopes are on MPK rings, blood rings and gloves and maybe eventually +2 BKWB.

bojddo said:
Are there any other reasons to run this version?

Is this also the only version to get the h4x CTA and CM?

purplelocust said:
The CtA in 1.10a is not the one you want- it works fine there but if brought forward, it no longer works. The other beta, 1.10s, is where you want to go for some good runeword options: CtA (works if brought forward, unlike 1.10a), Crescent Moon (same runes as in 1.10+ but significantly better stats) and Bramble (very powerful but very huge range in +poison% damage rolls.)
 
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Kimppi said:
Don't forget Delirium.

purplelocust said:
Indeed, Delerium also has higher CtC percentages. But again that is in 1.10s! Make sure to keep straight which version is which as there is potential for huge rune waste if you are not careful.

My understanding of the good things in the two 1.10 betas are:

1.10a: +2 BKWB (by far the most desirable) (I think there is also a higher leech Nosferatu's Coil and some flawless cube recipes for multiple sockets but I don't know for sure)

1.10s: great runewords that work when brought forward: Crescent Moon, Call to Arms, Delerium, and Bramble.

Jaedhann's Time Travel for the SPF summarizes lots of the issues. I don't see the beta runeword stats in the wiki anymore, though.

RobbyD said:
The CtA in 1.10a is not the one you want- it works fine there but if brought forward, it no longer works. The other beta, 1.10s, is where you want to go for some good runeword options: CtA (works if brought forward, unlike 1.10a), Crescent Moon (same runes as in 1.10+ but significantly better stats) and Bramble (very powerful but very huge range in +poison% damage rolls.)
That's exactly what I was struggling with - do I drop a Mal and an Ist for a weapon that will only be used for 1.10a Andy running? That represents a decent investment of 1.09 rune wealth.

I think it boils down to this... if you are going to commit yourself to running Andy for that BKWB, it's worth it for the survivability it will provide.

And don't worry... I fully intend to make a 1.10s CtA (and several CMs) - it just going to take some HF collections for that Ohm (though if I ever get that Vex from 1.09 Countess, that makes it a heck of a lot easier).

@Kimppi - Didn't know about Delerium myself - any standard for the helm it should go in? Is it mostly a merc helm?

jdkerr said:
I am 900 runs into my 1.10a Andy project and have never used a CtA. I do not think it is necessary at all.

RobbyD said:
Doing a little background research, I see that beta HOTO has +1 Blizzard (Sorcercess only). Not sure if that's worth making the beta, but it's more than the current RW gives you.

purplelocust said:
@RobbyD: Is that 1.10a beta or 1.10s beta?

RobbyD said:
purplelocust said:
@RobbyD: Is that 1.10a beta or 1.10s beta?
1.10a - I don't know if 1.10s is the same.

Fabian said:
That's pretty cool Robby, never heard that. Too bad it's not +1 Lightning or +1 Blessed Hammer or something :)

RobbyD said:
From what I can tell (AS updates are spotty, I checked it against the ATMA IV runes.txt file), it's 1.10a and NOT 1.10s. Not sure if that will play nice with ATMA.

I agree it's fairly useless since it's not a OC skill, but I thought is was interesting.

******EDIT******

BTW, one other thing I dug up is that, apparently, CE (and Death Sentry) scale with player setting in 1.10a. /P8 Nilly runs, anyone?

Tupsi said:
Got my 1.10a project to an end about an hour ago when Andy dropped a 2nd BKWB. Here are the readouts:

Code:
Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
Ring
Required Level: 58
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x2807d6ad
GUID: 0xffffffff 0xdeadbeef 0x0
+50 to Maximum Stamina
3% Life stolen per hit
+2 to All Skill Levels
+0 to Life (Based on Character Level)

Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
Ring
Required Level: 58
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x71769ffb
GUID: 0xffffffff 0xdeadbeef 0x0
+50 to Maximum Stamina
4% Life stolen per hit
+2 to All Skill Levels
+0 to Life (Based on Character Level)
I started untwinked in 1.07 with a Blizzard Sorc. She put about 10 points to both Static Field and Teleport, Blizzard was maxed and rest was put to Cold Mastery. That's pretty much the build except for the usual 1 pointers. I had about 100 points in energy which was an OK decision even when I think about her at clvl 85.

I finished 1.07 NM Baal at level that I can't remember but it certainly was pretty low so I leveled her a bit in Chaos Sanctuary and Baal runs. I hit level 58 and decided it was time to move her to 1.10a. I killed Andy, activated the bug and started running her at /players1. Her equipment wasn't very good, which was the reason I went for Blizzard in the first place. I knew if I had not the power to bomb Andy down with Fireballs before her minions stepped my toes, I'd be dead. With Blizzard I killed the minions and then lured Andy to the bottom right corner and made her walk in the shower of ice by teleporting back and forth. The strategy worked but I was kind of fragile for a long time.

I gained a little wealth and a good amount of levels. I was confident enough to start running her at /players3 which boosted the exp and drops. I was at clvl 75 back then. I also found a Harlequin Crest and Wizardspike which were really the keys to more durable runner. She could actually take a few hits now. She finished the quest at clvl 85 with the following equipment:
Helm: Harlequin Crest
Armor: Skin of the Vipermagi
Weapon1: Wizardspike
Shield1: Moser's with 2x pdiamond
Weapon2: Ali Baba with MF jewels
Shield2: Rhyme
Gloves: Magefist
Belt: Snowclash
Boots: Wartraveler
Amulet: Tal amu
Ring1: BKWB
Ring2: Rare with 10%FCR and some res

I didn't count the runs because I knew it could be a little devastating to my battle morale, but here are the ring and amulet tables:

AMULETS
11 Nokozan Relic
6 The Mahim Oak-Curio
4 Rising Sun
3 Seraph's
4 Highlords
3 Atma's
4 Cat's Eye
3 Crescent Moon
4 Saracen's
3 The Eye of Etlich
TOTAL 45

RINGS until 1st BKWB
4 Nagelring
2 Manald Heal
6 Dwarf Star
3 Raven Frost
1 Carrion Wind
1 Stone of Jordan
1 BKWB
TOTAL 18

RINGS until 2nd BKWB (not counting the 18 above)
17 Nagelring
12 Manald Heal
9 Dwarf Star
5 Raven Frost
2 Carrion Wind
0 Stone of Jordan
1 BKWB
TOTAL 46

And thus the grand total of rings: 64. I feel really lucky with the first one.
If someone's interested in the other drops I got, see this IFT post.

I don't know what purplelocust did with all the flawless gems that dropped but I kept them, cubed pgems and rerolled charms and crafted any items I could craft with the runes I had picked up. Mostly blood gloves and belts, hit power gloves and caster amulets and belts. I did get a nice pair of blood gloves for my wolfbarb but that was pretty much the only worthwhile craft during the whole time. But that's it, I got what I wanted and now I'm going to push the usual limits of Raise Skeleton and Skeleton Mastery skills 👍

purplelocust said:
Well done! Congratulations on the rings and thanks for such a complete report! 18 rings to the first BKWB was fantastic luck.

I had similar experience with my sorc getting sturdier as she levelled. Having Wizardspike was a very useful drop and Harlequin Crest as well must have been a real boost.

frozzzen said:
Just adding my report to this. About week ago I started playing 1.10a. My goal of finding two Beta BKWB rings is done. I think some insane luck strikes here cause in total of 30 unique rings I found 2 BKWBs.

Total rings found:

10 Nagel
10 Manald
2 Dwarf Star
3 Raven (two more in 1.10a but only one from Andy)
2 Carrion Wind
1 SoJ
2 BKWB

Amulets:

7 Nokozan
1 Mahim
1 Crescent Moon
3 Cat's Eye
1 HLW
3 Searph's

Since finding those rings was pretty easy to say at least (got them yesterday and today) I think they will stay a bit longer in 1.10a until I find couple more of them or GoMule upgrade is done. I'm not really in hurry to bring them forward.
Andy was run mostly on p1 with some trips in p3, only to conclude that it's too risky and I ended without gold for merc reviving.
It seems somewhat crazy luck getting those in just two days but I leveled my sorceress 75 - 82 in total three days on p1 Andy. If someone can calculate number of runs it would be great, but I belive I did 500 runs per day last two days.

SoJ was found as 6th ring, first BKWB as number 13 and second was of course number 30 where I stopped.

My sorceress:

Helm: Shako (ptopaz)
Ammy: Tal's
Armor: 1.07 Skulder's borrowed from Paradigmshift
Weapon: +2FM Tal's Orb
Shield: Lidless Wall
Gloves: Magefist
Belt: 15MF Tal's
Boots: tri ress rare with 25MF
Rings: first nagel-nagel then nagel-SoJ then Nagel-BKWB.

Total 70 fcr. Gear probably seems pretty clumsy but it was doing great. 3 piece Tal's gives you lovely 65 MF and orb gives you +1skills and -15 enemy FR that was very helpful since I managed to 7 shot kill Andy (rarely 6 shots when dmg rolled good). My resists were all negative somewhere around -60 for CR and -30 for PR. When Andy died a lot bosspacks getting killed caused some nasty frost nova explosions that could kill me if I didn't watch out about them. I had Wizardspike but I think that good offense is best defense - Andy rarely caused trouble unless I was FHR locked by Fallens around there and it happened A LOT. Total 5 FHR (no Spirit shield) didn't help me either. I died a lot on early levels (76 - 77 most notably, I think it was more then 30 deaths) but later when I lowered my resists for 100@ (swapped Wizzy and Rhyme for tal's Orb and Lidless) it all went better :p

Total MF 321 on lvl 82 where I finished my quest. Pure fireball build with one point in Hydra and Cold armor and standard one point wonders. Best find except rings was ethereal Vampire Gaze 6ll and 20% DR that went on my merc instantly.

Special tnx goes to purplelocust for this lovely guide as well as Paradigmshift, jdkerr and nulio for MSN spam support. And one more xtra tnx goes to Paradigmshift for most of my gear that speed up my progress big time. Sorry guys that I joined in race for those rings last, and run away with them first. I hope you find your rings soon enough 😉

Pics of rings taken couple minutes ago:

Ring 1

Ring 2

So in the end it was too easy and too fast. I hoped my first time traveling would last longer. I have too good map and I don't intend rerolling it just yet. I could find another BKWB that looks like my first one. Other one has ugly graphics and who likes ugly rings anyway :p

purplelocust said:
Wow, another quick result! That is quite remarkable and I'm glad it went smoothly. I made use of antidote potions; your -30 poison resist scares me for Andy running!

frozzzen said:
I don't think Andy was any concern at all. I didn't die a single time from her iirc.
Probably main danger were those Frost Novas that triggered when Andy died. They took 75% of my life and if I was damaged from before it was instakill more often then not.

Andy's poison isn't that bad since merc often stands between you and her, taking those poison clouds. Even if there wasn't merc around, from my experience, those clouds can't send you in hit recovery since it's poison based attack. When I could fire my fireballs I was doing ok. Might aura was second biggest concern. Very often mighted fallens and everything around eat my life pretty fast and runs had to be canceled. I think hugging resists and antidotes aren't necessary. %DR and LR are more important. With Stormshield, maxblock and 1.10a CtA I think any sorceress would be unkillable.

jdkerr said:
You make me sick. ;)

My update: 1200 runs done with 370+ MF. 2x SoJ and no BKWB.

RobbyD said:
frozzzen said:
With Stormshield, maxblock and 1.10a CtA I think any sorceress would be unkillable.
I can't tell you how big of a smile that puts on my face!

jDer said:
grats on the ring frozzen, now its my turn (wish me luck) already 500+ runs on her. Already had 3 nagels, 3 manald heal and 2 raven frost (no BKWB and Soj yet).

nulio said:
Grats frozzzen! :D

Yeah I really think you should go for two more rings (the third will be ugly also :p) and then gieb the ugly ones :whistling:

Kimppi said:
Good that the nomination thread brought this up since I completely forgot to mention this:

I rushed my 1.10a sorc in 1.07 to Matriarch for cow running before bringing her forward and the quest bug works fine for me.

Ragnarod said:
Very useful miniguide purple :) I started on this project a while back and decided to give it another go, haven't got any BKs to drop yet though, 31 unique rings and counting.

Besides Andariel has also decided to annoy me further by dropping a ton of TC3s instead, which are rarer drops and that I don't even collect: so far she's dropped 2 lenymos, a felloak, a gnasher, a greyform, an eth pelta lunata, vidala's armor and tancred's boots... I can't believe this game sometimes 👎
 
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Greebo said:
Oh, that has an easy solution: start collecting TC3's.

purplelocust said:
Ragnarod said:
Very useful miniguide purple :) I started on this project a while back and decided to give it another go, haven't got any BKs to drop yet though, 31 unique rings and counting.

Besides Andariel has also decided to annoy me further by dropping a ton of TC3s instead, which are rarer drops and that I don't even collect: so far she's dropped 2 lenymos, a felloak, a gnasher, a greyform, an eth pelta lunata, vidala's armor and tancred's boots... I can't believe this game sometimes 👎
Glad you found it useful! That's quite a lot of TC3 items- are you sure you aren't reading the TC3 guide instead? Just kidding, although I have found normal Andy (not NM!) somewhat dependable for TC3 items...

Ragnarod said:
Hehe, there's nothing like complaining in these forums for your luck to change it seems, her 35th and 42th unique ring drops were BKs and I'm happy to consider this project completed! The first one was 3%, the second one 5% and with my favourite ring skin :jig: The complete list of rings that dropped is as follows:

Nagel: 9 (none was 30%, two of them were 29% and another 28% though)
Manald: 10
Raven: 11
Dwarf: 6
Carrion: 4
BK: 2

No SoJs, but I've got my share already (one of the perks of having played 1.06b extensively) so it's alright. She did drop several useful items besides the rings even at p1, I was sort of impressed to tell the truth... off the top of my head I had a shako, 3 wizardspikes, wartravs (41% mf), the full tal's set except for the armor, a shaft, a vampire gaze, 2 arreats, 3 homunculus, an occulus, 3 titans, 4 highlord's, a couple vipermagis, about 3 tgods... amazingly no Gheed's dropped, considering the amount of magical gcs from her. My sorc got from 67 to 81 in the process too :)

purplelocust said:
Well done, congratulations on the BKWB rings as well as the other loot (but mostly on the rings!)

MercMan said:
jdkerr said:
@Robby: The modified .dll works fine for muling in 1.10a.
jdkerr-

I'm starting a 1.10a project and would be very interested to acquire the modified .dll file so I could successfully mule with ATMA V. Would you be willing to email me the file? If so, please send it to [email protected]. Thank you very much.

Also, is it necessary to use an alternate RWM in 1.10a? If so, is it available via a link on the forums?

MercMan

LongingForDeath said:
MercMan said:
I'm starting a 1.10a project and would be very interested to acquire the modified .dll file so I could successfully mule with ATMA V.
The modified .dll won't make it possible to use ATMA for 1.10a. You just need it to do "old school" (i.e. BNet) muling, where you have to create dummy characters that will hold the items.

I'm wondering about the RWM for 1.10a, too. Were runewords like Spirit and Insight available in that version or did they only become available in the final 1.10 patch?

RobbyD said:
Weren't the beta patches SP only? If so, I would expect the Ladder RWs didn't exist yet.

LongingForDeath said:
Weren't the beta patches SP only? If so, I would expect the Ladder RWs didn't exist yet.
Hm... that's a good point :p.

SideShowBob said:
RobbyD said:
Weren't the beta patches SP only? If so, I would expect the Ladder RWs didn't exist yet.
Yup, you're right - the ladder only RWs came later in the game with 1.10.

RobbyD said:
I converted my MeteOrb to 1.10a and did a night of Andy running, and have the following observations:

- Andy can indeed be quest bugged by a character in an earlier patch, and for anybody used to the drop rates in 1.09, a quest-bugged Andy's drop rates makes your head spin. More golds and greens in 10 minutes that a whole night of Countess running in 1.09.

- 1.10a seems to have a bug with dropping things in the Cube. The way I've run in 1.09, I have a full inventory and any drops I put directly in the cube. However, in 1.10a, if an item is >4 cubes in volume (like Bonehew), it won't drop directly in the cub. Items of 4 cube or less volume will drop in the cube. (Not material if all you pick up are rings, but I'm picking up more than that).

- Speaking of Bonehew, the graphic of that item looks unfinished, unpolished. That's what you get with a beta patch, I guess.

- I like the 1.10a CtA - I like it a lot. Well worth the Ist and Mal, IMHO.

mouseman said:
RobbyD said:
- Andy can indeed be quest bugged by a character in an earlier patch
How does this work? You just go and kill her, tele into town, S&E, repeat? So basically just avoid S&E in Catacombs 4 and you can quest-bug her even if you have already killed her in 1.09 or some previous patch?

Another question: does every boss have the quest-drop 1st kill drop enabled when you kill them first time in 1.10? So basically the game just checks you haven't killed those bosses in 1.10 and allows you to get quest-drops? Would this allow new ways to exploit the 1st drop chance? (If one would like that kind of exploit, of course).

Kimppi said:
To quest bug Andy, talk to Warriv and travel east before S&E.

kestegs said:
You don't actually have to go east just talk to warriv before You S&E after you quest kill Andy.

RobbyD said:
mouseman said:
How does this work? You just go and kill her, tele into town, S&E, repeat? So basically just avoid S&E in Catacombs 4 and you can quest-bug her even if you have already killed her in 1.09 or some previous patch?

Another question: does every boss have the quest-drop 1st kill drop enabled when you kill them first time in 1.10? So basically the game just checks you haven't killed those bosses in 1.10 and allows you to get quest-drops? Would this allow new ways to exploit the 1st drop chance? (If one would like that kind of exploit, of course).
I don't know exactly how it works with the transition, but I do know that she can be bugged for a converted character. I don't know how this impacts other bosses either, as she has not run any other bosses. I might take her (ClimateChange, that is) to visit Mephy to see, though. With that CtA BO, I think she's capable of a lot. I'll probably to my HF collections with her in 1.10a too, just to put that CtA to use while I can.

mouseman said:
RobbyD said:
I don't know exactly how it works with the transition, but I do know that she can be bugged for a converted character. I don't know how this impacts other bosses either, as she has not run any other bosses. I might take her (ClimateChange, that is) to visit Mephy to see, though. With that CtA BO, I think she's capable of a lot. I'll probably to my HF collections with her in 1.10a too, just to put that CtA to use while I can.
Alright, thanks for clearing that up. AFAIK you can't quest-bug the other act bosses alone, but you need to self-MP and create the game with a character who hasn't done the quest. I don't know if that's worth the random map factor, though.

How long does it take you to rush 7 guys in 1.09 and collect the HF rewards in 1.10a? How many of those rushes you would need on average to earn a beta CtA? And if people say that beta CtA's are like JMOD's of SP, wouldn't that make you very, very rich? :)

LongingForDeath said:
mouseman said:
Alright, thanks for clearing that up. AFAIK you can't quest-bug the other act bosses alone, but you need to self-MP and create the game with a character who hasn't done the quest. I don't know if that's worth the random map factor, though.
It's actually the other way around. Create the game with a character that has already done the quest, then kill the boss with a character that hasn't done the quest yet.

In my opinion, it's not worth it, though. Not on BNet, and certainly not in SP.

purplelocust said:
@RobbyD: glad you are finding 1.10a Andy running enjoyable! A level 99 character with CtA is certainly a great luxury on that front!

Do you have a screenshot of the odd Bonehew? I didn't notice the cube drop issue but I was pretty much just collecting rings, amulets, jewels and charms.

On the "quest drop" mechanics for other bosses. Indeed, the method is as follows:

1) Character A who has already done the quest (for example, killed Meph, stepped through the portal, in A4, etc.) creates the game.
2) Character B who has not done the quest but is able to reach the boss joins the game. Just to be safe, it is good to check the quest box as it should read "This quest cannot be completed in this game".
3) Character B kills the boss, gets the benefit of the quest drop, but does not get the quest.
4) Repeat.

A few things:

1) A given character can only be used for one such boss running. That is, the character cannot be built to be a Meph Glitch character and a Diablo glitch character as in order to get to Diablo, you need to have completed the Meph quest.

2) The benefit is essentially a fair amount of "free MF" in that the quest drop has better chance for uniques and sets and a guarantee of rolling at least a rare (although you may get blue magic items from failed sets and uniques.) A possible secondary benefit is that the creating character (A) can possibly do something to help character B's killing speed and/or safety (for example, BO or Enchant) or loot in HC.

3) The disadvantages are:
a) need to MP which can be a hassle.
b) loss of static maps

In SP, static maps is a huge loss and I don't think it's generally worth it.

On b.net, the creating character can leave the game if desired which is sometimes useful.

There are a few situations where it may be useful in SP:

1) In Classic, where it's much harder to boost MF (no Harlequin Crest, no Gheeds, no Skullders, no Enigma, no War Travellers, no Ists, no charms, ...) There the boost in MF may be worth the hassle, and since often the best possible gear are rares anyway, the guarantee of rares is a big plus.

2) In HC, where you may be self MP-ing for potential looting purposes.

On b.net HC Classic, I had a stable of "disposable sorcs" each glitched for one of Meph and Diablo which was useful for MFing but in SP, I don't think it's worth the trouble except possibly in HC. When I was doing a lot of MF runs in 1.11 HC I did BO barb/glitched Meph sorcs combo, but after I built up more wealth I haven't bothered. Also that was before I had GoMule and on a Mac there was no convenient way to mule items so the BO barb could also hold on to things that the sorc found, to give more space and also keep them if the sorc died in the run.

Sorry to go on for so long- perhaps I should write up a Boss Glitch FAQ if people are interested.

RobbyD said:
I've run Andy for a while and have collected my VERY FIRST:

Seraph's Hymn
Gore Rider (for some reason I never found these in 1.09)
Djinn Slayer
Bonehew

I've also collected some very useful stuff, like 46% Travs, Captain's GC of something, etc.

A couple of observations:

1.10a Hell Andy drops are SICK, SICK, SICK - It's addictive to get soooo many S/U drops - I've stopped picking up things I used to think were special - she drops Wizzys and such by the bucket now.

Couple observations - some things are buggy - Meteor sometimes casts in quick succession, monsters sometimes disappear and all you see are their shadows. A MeteOrb is a good character for this, but if you have a clear shot at Andy, Fire Ball is better than Meteor. Enchant is SO much better in 1.10a than 1.09... that AR is huge!

mouseman said:
How long does it take you to rush 7 guys in 1.09 and collect the HF rewards in 1.10a? How many of those rushes you would need on average to earn a beta CtA? And if people say that beta CtA's are like JMOD's of SP, wouldn't that make you very, very rich? :)
CtA is not the only way to generate wealth from 1.09. Raven Claws currently go for a 1.13 Vex on the SPTF, and I traded a beta CM PB and Delirium Demonhead for a Sur + lightning facet. That's half way to Chains of Honor.

Keep in mind 1.10a CtA is only good for 1.10a because it lacks the Ohm (very nice for Andy running purposes though). Also keep in mind no current muling application does 1.10a. You have to do multi-instance old style muling... but if you have rushed characters, you should be set up to do that.

It takes a couple of hours to rush a crew of characters once you have it figured out - the real investment is setting up for it. Steven Q Urquel is the person that taught me. You need a 1.09 Cannon capable of taking down Hell Duriel and Mephisto on P8. Many folks make a Sorc... but I really like a Zon for rushing. Yeah, you need a Buriza, but once you have one, she's an excellent rusher. She can cast Decoy in lil D's lair to allow you to switch windows and get a rushee in there. Then GA takes him down. But if you have a Sorc capable of dealing with P8 Hell lil D (I don't know if the static bug applies to him, but it might), then the teleport will make finding him much faster.

LongingForDeath said:
RobbyD said:
She can cast Decoy in lil D's lair to allow you to switch windows and get a rushee in there.
What for? None of the rushees have to be present when Duriel is killed. Just go in, kill Duriel, open a TP , let one of your rushees talk to Tyrael and you're done.

RobbyD said:
LongingForDeath said:
What for? None of the rushees have to be present when Duriel is killed. Just go in, kill Duriel, open a TP , let one of your rushees talk to Tyrael and you're done.
I did not know that - I thought a rushee had to be present for the boss kill.
 
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LongingForDeath said:
Usually yes, but not for Duriel. All that matters for him is that you talk to Tyrael afterwards. Your rushees will get the message that they can't complete the quest after you killed Duriel, but talking to Tyrael will fix that.

RobbyD said:
LongingForDeath said:
Usually yes, but not for Duriel. All that matters for him is that you talk to Tyrael afterwards. Your rushees will get the message that they can't complete the quest after you killed Duriel, but talking to Tyrael will fix that.
Well, I'll have to give that a try. Duriel is still a tough kill for a sorc, though... IF the Static bug doesn't work for him. I'll have to rush a set of rushees to give that a try. A profitable experiment!

purplelocust said:
LongingForDeath said:
Usually yes, but not for Duriel. All that matters for him is that you talk to Tyrael afterwards. Your rushees will get the message that they can't complete the quest after you killed Duriel, but talking to Tyrael will fix that.
In fact, it's even slightly better than that. The other 6 characters don't even have to be in the game. If they join the game and party after Duriel is dead but before the rushee talks to Tyrael, they'll get the quest. So you can actually do 8 at a time for A2, since the rusher can leave the game right after killing Duriel but before the rushee talks to Tyrael, enabling an 8th rushee to join.

LongingForDeath said:
Indeed, I was thinking of mentioning that as well. However, personally, I find the leaving/joining game to be too much of a hassle for that. But yeah, it is possible to do it that way. No point in rushing 8 people, though, if you can rush only 7 at a time in all other acts.

Hoop76 said:
Going to try to find the +2 rings also. Moved up a 1.09 sorc i had, and she seems to be doing great. Firewall kills her quick i noticed.

RobbyD said:
No BKWB yet, but I'm up to 2 Captain's Skillers (I'm developing a Teslot in 1.13, so these will be handy) and she dropped a Nosferatu's Coil - 1.10a Nos Coil has 10% life leech. Not sure if I'll use it, but I have to consider that Treachery + 10% IAS = 4 fpa Zeal with CM. Could allow a G-Face for some nice CB.

purplelocust said:
Good luck Hoop and RobbyD!

I didn't realize that Nosferatu's had higher leech in 1.10a- I didn't realize and that is worth pointing out! Are there other uniques which have better stats in 1.10a? I left a lot of things on the ground, thinking that the stats were the same as the many many copies of ose items I have in 1.11+.

RobbyD said:
purplelocust said:
Good luck Hoop and RobbyD!

I didn't realize that Nosferatu's had higher leech in 1.10a- I didn't realize and that is worth pointing out! Are there other uniques which have better stats in 1.10a? I left a lot of things on the ground, thinking that the stats were the same as the many many copies of ose items I have in 1.11+.
I had read about Nosferatu's somewhere and it crossed my mind when I saw it drop. I'll post a screenie if you like. I don't know what else changed, but both RFs I've gotten have been 20 Dex - maybe all 1.10a RFs have 20 Dex?

RobbyD said:
Some other tidbits my research has uncovered:

1.10a Arkaine's Valor is like 1.09 - +1/2 skills by class

1.10a Bramble has +100% Poison Skill Damage (doesn't vary)

1.10a Heart of the Oak includes +1 Blizzard (Sorceress Only)

jdkerr said:
RobbyD said:
I had read about Nosferatu's somewhere and it crossed my mind when I saw it drop. I'll post a screenie if you like. I don't know what else changed, but both RFs I've gotten have been 20 Dex - maybe all 1.10a RFs have 20 Dex?
Nope. So far I have found about 10 RFs, and only two of them are 20 dex. :)

RobbyD said:
According to ATMA, this is actually one of Andy's rarest drops.

Drop

1.10a Nosferatu's Coil


Now I don't know what would be a better them for my time-travelling h4xx using pally - this 1.10a Nos or a Siggard's Stealth.

Steven Q Urkel said:
gg on the belt, but why is a MeteOrb sorc using Enchant? :D

RobbyD said:
Steven Q Urkel said:
gg on the belt, but why is a MeteOrb sorc using Enchant? :D
1 point wonder to help out the Merc.

RobbyD said:
Sorry for the double post, but I have a couple of observations that are pertinent to this guide:

1. When you kill Andy, all the monsters around her die. This is different than what I've seen in 1.13, and it has an impact on how you should run her - don't worry about killing the other monsters, just take her out ASAP.

2. Static appears to not work on Andy - it's hard to tell sometimes, but I'm pretty sure it's the case. It may soften up the monsters around her to make sure they all die when she dies (sometimes the FI monsters around her survive her death sequence, so I'm thinking it might be a mix of fire and phys damage).

3. We have a couple of reports of being able to quest-bug her in earlier versions so that she has the sweet drops once you convert to 1.10a - I would suggest a revision to the original guide to that effect.

thefranklin said:
My first attempt was sort of dismal. I had a character rushed in 1.09, and I had planned on using orb and fireball. I maxed fireball and fire mastery in 1.09 because it helps there, now she has a gimped fire attack in 1.10a. She is also only level 67, so not a big loss.

I have rushed and cowed a sorc in 1.07 to level 69. I have 80 skill points to use and 320 stat points to use. I have upgrade most of my available sorceress equipment from 1.09. I do not have a lot of .09 wealth. My equipment is as follows (and can/will be improved by what Andy drops for me):

Ptopaz Shako (can't really be improved, maybe a 2/20 48 mf circlet...)
Wiz spike (don't have the dex for it yet, it would cost 100 life, and I would switch to Occy once I found it anyway. Thinking of just going with what I find here)
27 @ skins of vipermagi (unsocketed)
2 sorc skills 10 fcr amulet
Visceratuant Shield (non-upped, unsocketed)
26% mf chance guards
Goldwrap
Sanders
2 mf rings totaling 45% mf.
Some mana charms.

Merc: (haven't hired yet)
Kelpie Snare
Duriels Shell
Rockstopper

What would you all do for skills/stats?

I want to run Andy without dying too much in the early going. With my experience with my level 67 sorc (which was max block btw), that ignoring them was bad and block didn't really help. Here is what I am thinking:

1. Orb. I have never done a frozen orb only sorc since ladder season 1 or 2. I would max orb and its synergy (CM is nerfed and I will let + skills take care of it). Nothing is immune to cold in her room (minus a random boss), and spare points could go to teleport.

2. Orb + Firewall. I haven't done firewall post 1.09, and it sounds like fun. Don't know how effective it will be with orb, but the skill points work out. If my firewalls stacked, it would take 6 seconds to kill her with that alone. I think I/merc would be able to tank her that long.

3.Orb + Fireball. With my starting +6 skills my orb will be doing 511 and my fireball could be doing 1300. My failed sorc attempts fireball was only doing 800+, so going to 1300 doesn't seem like a huge improvement. I would guess I would still orb her to death.

4. Orb + Meteor. I have done these before, and as fast as I hope to running her I would probably only hit her with meteor once a run, so I am not sure if it would help.

5. Full fireball. This would give me a 5.6k fireball and an 11k meteor. That should nuke her quickly?

What do you guys think?

Thanks.

RobbyD said:
Andy's especially susceptible to fire, so fire is what you want for a 1.10a Andy runner.

I use a MeteOrb Sorc with maxed Meteor, Fireball, FM, and some points in Fire Bolt. Orb as secondary, and it really doesn't need a synergy or more than a couple points + skills on CM. I also put a point in Enchant (with all the +fire skills and the maxed FM, it gives your Merc a nice bump, especially against Andy). I made the non-Ohm CtA and do not regret that for a minute.

So that's what I would do - Fireball/Meteor/Orb (synergize FB/Meteor, only a point or so in CM, maybe a point in Enchant for the AR for the Merc alone). I would not skip Meteor because sometimes Andy is very hard to get to with FB and Meteors drop where you cast them.

I do HIGHLY recommend getting a Reaper's Toll for the Merc. 1.10a Reaper's Tolls aren't falling from the sky, but I found one on the SPTF and I did farm another one from Mephy with my Sorc.

thefranklin said:
RobbyD said:
Andy's especially susceptible to fire, so fire is what you want for a 1.10a Andy runner.

I use a MeteOrb Sorc with maxed Meteor, Fireball, FM, and some points in Fire Bolt. Orb as secondary, and it really doesn't need a synergy or more than a couple points + skills on CM. I also put a point in Enchant (with all the +fire skills and the maxed FM, it gives your Merc a nice bump, especially against Andy). I made the non-Ohm CtA and do not regret that for a minute.

So that's what I would do - Fireball/Meteor/Orb (synergize FB/Meteor, only a point or so in CM, maybe a point in Enchant for the AR for the Merc alone). I would not skip Meteor because sometimes Andy is very hard to get to with FB and Meteors drop where you cast them.

I do HIGHLY recommend getting a Reaper's Toll for the Merc. 1.10a Reaper's Tolls aren't falling from the sky, but I found one on the SPTF and I did farm another one from Mephy with my Sorc.
Thanks for your input.

Option 4 does seem pretty safe. I would have a 2660 fireball and a max 372 orb with current gear and level. I am not level 99 doing this like some people :). I guess I could level her in .09 cows though, but I don't think orb will do high players count quickly and I don't want to put more than 10-15 points in fire mastery.

I really wanted to just get in - nuke her - get out, but that doesn't work at my level. It seems like I am going to need orb for all the fallen (if I tele into the middle of the fallen they kill me) and fireball/meteor for Andy.

RobbyD said:
One other thing about my Sorc - she uses a Stormshield instead of a Visceratuant. That and that Shako would get you to about half damage taken. I also would like to highly suggest making a 1.10a CTA if you have a Mal sitting around. This really adds to a Sorc's ability to survive in a middle of a pack until the Meteors drop.

Kaerion said:
I started my bkwb hunt about a week ago and had been running her constantly. Finally got my second one, so here is my writeup of my experience.
Skills and p settings
I used a pure fireball sorc. Leveled through some 1.07 cows, brought her forward at level 65 I think. I maxed firebolt last. Started on players1, but once I could equip stormshield it was players 3 all the way.

Finds
Mal
BKWB 1
BKWB 2

I had 3 manalds, 1 dwarf star, 1 carrion wind, 3 nagel before the 1st bkwb, then my next ring was a SOJ. After that, I had 9 manalds, 9 dwarf stars, 3 nagel, 3 ravenfrost, 1 carrion before I got my second bkwb.
As you can see, I got really lucky. 2 bkwbs and 1 soj in 36 unique rings. heh.

equipment
I started with:
Code:
+2 fire skills circlet (with all resistances and mana)
+3 fire amulet with +16 str
1.07 Suicide branch (no +1 skills)
1.07 Skin (no +1 skills)
1.07 String of ears (for the DR%)
Tower Shield of Deflecting with 3 Larzuked sockets filled with pdiamonds
Magefist
FCR ring with poison resist and mana
24% mf ring

+9 BO CTA on switch with sigons
Inventory with life and mana charms
This allowed me to hit the 105 breakpoint. I changed the shield for a stormshield and rings for a bkwb and a soj when I found them. I was using 50% block at this time, which is very very safe already.
The big change came when I found a skullders and shako. I ended with:

Code:
Shako socketed with ptopaz
Skullders socketed with ptopaz
+3 fire amulet with +16 str
Oculus
Lidless Wall
Magefist
Goldwrap
War Travs
2x bkwb
I dropped 1 fcr breakpoint in exchange for a lot more mf. The pingpong from Oculus was manageable with the extra skills as I could kill Andy much faster. I also gave up the stormshield as I needed the 20 fcr from using Occy. I lost safety (a few deaths while teleporting to the 4th level due to low block and slower tele). My damage per fireball at this point was 12K-13K after battle cry.

I think that my final setup was the best setup I could come up with.

Positioning
I'm not sure how new this is, but I discovered that this was an excellent spot to hit Andy. I could easily get off about 6-7 fireballs before my line of sight gets crowded by other minions. I tried to keep maps where minions spawn less in that area so I had a clear line of sight most of the time.

Well that's it from me. thanks again to purplelocust for this wonderful guide and inspired madness.

purplelocust said:
Well done, and that was a good run of luck to get two so quickly! And those were good gear upgrades along the way.

Block and big DR% are quite nice. I don't see much FHR which is helpful for tele problems going through Cat 2 and Cat 3. I went for higher block and didn't have the strength for Stormshield.

That is a good spot to stand for a FB sorc, and the monster congestion (particularly with FI monsters) is more of a concern. I found re-teleporting (intentionally, not via the Oculus!) helpful after drawing a crowd, but sometimes that would draw more monsters over.

I should mention in the guide that the best map is not necessarily the one with the fewest teleports, because of the boss pack spawn variability. But since muling items off generally requires resetting the map, I don't think it's worth optimizing the map as much as it usually is.
 
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nulio said:
Stahp! Necro-time!

I'll probably be forwarding a lvl 76 sorc I have in 1.07 (iirc she stopped leveling at this point because it was best level for Bahamut's Ring of Apprentice?) to 1.10a and hunt for the sexy BKWB. I have enough fire skillers, will use life/frw/pr in small charms probably, 1.07 shako (I wanted to forward another one to 1.13d anyway) but not sure about the rest.

I can forward a skin of vipermagi, wall of eyeless, 1.07 mav's belt, magefist and a 3fire 116life 37pr crafted amulet from the 1.08 sorc. Dunno if I should move a skullder's and WT from 1.07...

What's the minimum MF you would run with?

What is the best merc and setup for him?

redragon said:
Have been thinking of Time Traveling lately, have never done any before, but now I'm getting some decent runes especially, the thought of a decent base for a RW has me tempted.

Not to mention reading about some of the lovely itamz like the BKWB from previous patches.

HanShotFirst said:
@nulio - Hmm, I guess no one who knows more than me is going to take a stab at that so I guess I’ll try:

1.10a Andariel can be quest-drop-bugged by a character from a previous version so assuming your Sorceress talked to Warriv in 1.07 after defeating Andariel for the quest MF shouldn’t be nearly as important as it might otherwise be . . . If your looking for a number for minimum MF you’ve got me stumped, I’ll simply say that apart from MF I focused on maxed resistances (well, maxed at 75) and damage reduction. My personal running strategy is to teleport to an empty spot near Andariel, drop Meteor and then spam her with Fireballs while ignoring every other monster that swarms me (so I get hit plenty and damage reduction really helps me stay in there as does maxed resistances as there’s often a pesky elemental enchanted unique nearby). For reference here’s what I’m using:

Shako -Ptopaz (v1.09)
Wizardspike (v1.07)
Stormshield –Sol (v1.09)
Tal’s Armor –Ptopaz (v1.07)
Tal’s Amulet (v1.07)
Tal’s Belt (v1.07)
War Traveler’s (v1.07)
Chance Guards (v1.09)
Stone of Jordan (1.10a)
Carrion Wind (1.10a)
1.10a Beta CTA on switch

I’m not sure what rings I was using before I found those but I do recall my poison resistance was not at 75 and that really undermined my tanking strategy vs the poison spraying Andariel (duh, right). I wasn’t sure about the Beta CTA before I made it but it turned out to be a great investment (even though it only got a +7 to Battle Orders) as it provides overflow life and mana so I don’t have to worry about managing (w/ potions) my characters life or mana from game to game. If you have an extra Mal and Ist I would really recommend it!

For a mercenary I chose a Holy Freeze Merc for crowd control (though if I’m running at players 1 Andariel is dead before his aura engages . . . at Players 3 and above it does help some). I don’t know what gear would be best . . . the gear he’s using is based on what I had available to be forwarded . . . and is:

Tal’s Helm –JoF (1.09)
Duriel’s Shell (1.09)
1.07 Eth Cryptic Axe Honor (made in 1.10a) until replaced by a found Eth Bonehew –Shael/Amn

The Eth Cryptic Axe Honor was cheap and appeared decent on paper but seemed really lacking in game . . . I suspect it was too slow to support life leeching at the rate my mercenary needed . . . Eth Bonehew helped but it was the Beta CTA really saved the day (or at least some time and gold) . . . Did I mention that I would really recommend a Beta CTA :whistling: .

@redragon - Do it! Do it! The time to start time traveling is before you start sticking good runes in sub-optimal bases!

nulio said:
I ended up with:

- 1.07 Shako with PTopaz
- 1.07 Skullder's with PTopaz
- 1.07 Wall of the Eyeless
- 1.07 WT
- 1.07 Magefist
- 2x 1.07 Nagelring (to be replaced with new rings as they drop)
- 10 fire skillers
- Small charms with 20fhr, some life and PR

Misc orb, belt and amulet. Will use Tal's as they drop. Two of three dropped so far.

Also the 8th unique ring was a BKWB :D If it continues this way, it will be ridiculous.

No merc, I play very aggressively and she has a great damage, I die when I miss my tele on top of Andy and get swarmed. Otherwise p1 and p3 are pretty safe. p5 is too risky, would need cta and merc.

RobbyD said:
P5 is the way to run Andy. The difference in drops is very noticeable. You don't need tremendous MF... the quest bug does so much more than MF.

I totally agree that a 1.10a CtA is worth the investment... as does a 1.10a Reapers (Andy can't drop that... but Mephy can).

HanShotFirst said:
nulio said:
Also the 8th unique ring was a BKWB :D
That's disgusting . . . seeing your Death's Web didn't bother me at all . . . but the BK is really getting to me . . .

I mean,

Nice find! Glad to see it's working out ;) !

P.S. Please don't tell me you found a Tal's Amulet too . . . that's the only 1.10a Amulet I want, and the only one I haven't found . . .

nulio said:
I totally get it. I was pretty mad when I saw jimsfriend getting a 1.08 HLW so fast and I was pouding 1.08 Andariel for ages.

I still would like to get two more, so let's see what will the numbers be like in the end.

No, still hoping for one also. Funny would be finding a second BKWB before a Tal's Amulet :p

How many Andariel runs have you done?



I'll check the runes I have in 1.07, but I don't want to sacrifice part of the runes I have for 1.10s CtAs since I want to avoid having to HF rush again. Maybe I'll try to trade/borrow a 1.10a CtA.

HanShotFirst said:
I'm not sure how many Andariel runs I've done (since I really don't want to know) but I do know that the BKWB was about my 60th unique ring to drop . . .

Anyhow, you've inspired me to redouble my 1.10a efforts so now the only question is should I run Andariel for the BKWB and only the BKWB or should I run Mephisto for a chance at a Stormlash or eth Reapers . . . hmm . . .

nulio said:
HanShotFirst: Will you need the stormlash or eth reapers for some time travel project?

1.10a done for me I'd say:


After getting the first two so fast, my goal became stopping at the 4th BKWB or at 125 unique rings (otherwise I'd go "just one more" until I found it and I didn't want to stay at 1.10a long). But then I traded two, and changed it to the 5th BKWB or 175 unique rings.


End results:


41 Nagel
51 Manald
33 Dwarf Star
30 Raven Frost (6 20dex ones, best 237AR)
10 Carrion Wind
3 SoJ
5 BKWB
173 Total Unique Rings


BKWB: #8, #20, #99, #101 and #173 rings (one design of each, 3x 5LL, 1x 4LL and 1x 3LL)
SoJ: #86, #96 and #113 rings


I was (not that this is a new information) very lucky at the start at the runs, and even if it faded a bit, the whole project was lucky. Getting two beta BKWB in 20 runs is unheard of and beats frozzzen's first two in 30 runs by a mile (take that :p).

I hope my luck rubs off on those who are currently or are going to gun andy down again and again and again... Still it's way more fun than 1.08. It just sucks losing a good map if/when you need to mule stuff off.

Forwarded to 1.13d and read-outs:

Code:
Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band Ring
Required Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0xdef60c83
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
5% Life stolen per hit
+4 to Life (Based on Character Level)
+50 Maximum Stamina


Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
Ring
Required Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x8824688f
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
5% Life stolen per hit
+4 to Life (Based on Character Level)
+50 Maximum Stamina


Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
Ring
Required Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0xc6ad3602
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
4% Life stolen per hit
+4 to Life (Based on Character Level)
+50 Maximum Stamina


Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
Ring
Required Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x9e702601
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
3% Life stolen per hit
+4 to Life (Based on Character Level)
+50 Maximum Stamina


Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
Ring
Required Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x3c052546
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
5% Life stolen per hit
+4 to Life (Based on Character Level)
+50 Maximum Stamina

thefranklin said:
Congrats! 10 fire skillers would make a world of difference, kudos for the 1.07 dedication! Now that she is done giving you rings, she can float me a couple.

HanShotFirst said:
@nulio - Big congrats on all those 1.10a BKWB’s! I’m a bit confused though . . . why’d you decide to find three for yourself?

I found my second 1.10a BKWB at Andariel a bit ago but haven’t forwarded anything yet as I’m still deciding if I’m done with 1.10a or not. (The Stormlash and Eth Reapers didn’t have anything to do with 1.10a, they’re simply my chase items I can’t seem to find and am therefore always looking for . . . )

nulio said:
Thanks!

@thefranklin: They did make a lot of difference, I'd have to change my playstyle and make the CtA for sure, and in the end the runs would be slower. It was one thing I regretted when I played 1.08, not having the best gear for the project. So I only went for the rings in 1.10a because since then I've played enough 1.07 to have all the goodies.

@HanShotFirst: With the one I had in 1.13d I can now trade up to two rings. So basically trade fodder.
I'd hunt those two items in a version where mulling is possible (and you probably have better gear for the runner) :D

finalldeathhh said:
Hello, i am new to this community(from spain, sorry for my bad english) and was interested in this topic but i have a little(maybe stupid) problem. I dont know how to download the version 1.10a, i searched in the internet and nothing...cant seem to find it. Could anyone tell me if there is a page i could download 1.10a patch? thank you in advance.

nulio said:
Hi there,

This might help you: http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/...-READ-BEFORE-POSTING-**&p=6590395#post6590395

I use trenshadow to switch between versions. Now there's singling also.

Edit: not singling, Bliss version switcher

finalldeathhh said:
Thanks a lot, i just read your reply.

Username is not in use said:
To anyone wanting to mule quickly:

https://d2mods.info/forum/downloadsystemcat?id=53
use Multiplay d2gfx.dll (v1.09)

it works

maxicek said:
Multi instance dlls are included in the Trenshadow files provided in the stickies.

You will find everything you need here.
 
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Going to add my input to this guide for those who seek its advice!

Today I completed my BKWB hunt with the 4th ring drop. I chose not to count runs but only unique amulets, rings and the rare set ammy's. Here are the results:

Dwarf Star: 25
Manald Heal: 19
Nagelring: 21
Ravenfrost: 19
Carrion Wind: 6
Stone of Jordan: 3
Bul Kathos' Wedding Band: 4

Total Unique Rings: 97​


Cat's Eye: 3
Nokozan Relic: 18
Mahim Oak Curio: 8
Eye of Etlich: 2
Saracen's Chance: 2
Rising Sun: 8
Seraph's Hymn: 3
Highlord's Wrath: 3
Crescent Moon: 6
Atma's Scarab: 8

Total Unique Amulets: 61​


Telling of Beads: 1
Tal Rasha's: 2
Arcanna's Sign: 2

Nosferatu's Coil: 2

I began by combining my goal of finding some BKWBs with 2 other goals: making 1.10s beta runewords and leveling a toon to 99 in 1.07. At the start of the project, my 1.07 javazon was already 94 but I had forwarded most of my .07 mules with various eth bases to 1.14. So I created a new set of rushees in 1.07 to collect their HF for 1.08 deadly crafts and to fill up self-mp games in .07. 3 of my new rushees would become BKWB hunters. I made 3 sorcs because after reading previous posts in this thread, I was not sure what /p setting I would be able to handle and what spec. With 3 sorcs, I would be able to try a few different things.

I first leveled my .07 java to 97 and by then my 3 future-BK-sorcs were all level 87. I still had 2 levels to go, but I needed to move some runes from .07 to .08 to start my deadly crafts. So I sent my first BK sorc to 1.08 briefly and then to 1.10a at level 87. I decided that if it took too long to get the rings I wanted with my 1st sorc, I would level the 2nd sorc a little higher in 1.07 send send her forward to 1.10a.

Her starting->final gear:
1.07 Shako (ptopaz)
1.07 Highlord's -> Tal's
1.07 Wizzy - Tal's
1.07 Skullder's (ptopaz)
1.07 Wall of the Eyeless -> Lidless Wall
1.07 Magefist
1.07 Goldwrap -> Tal's
1.07 War Traveler -> 1.10 War Traveler
2x random rings -> 2x 30 Nagels

Merc: NM Defensive
1.07 Gaze
Nothing -> 1.10 Kelpie Snare
1.07 Duriel's -> 1.10 Shaftstop

With regard to skills, I was really torn based on all the feedback in the thread. Several runners suggested a secondary element to deal with the fire immune monsters near Andariel, yet nearly all runners strongly recommended ignoring the extra monsters as much as possible. So I decided on the following:

20 Warmth
20 Fireball
20 Fire Mastery
13 Meteor
12 Frozen Orb
2 Cold Mastery
1 Static
1 Telekinesis
1 Teleport

Inventory: 7 Fire skillers and 12 MF small charms with 5-7 MF. This led to Andy's death in the following: teleport nearby so Merc hits with Kelpie > cast meteor > spam 4-5 fireballs > meteor kills. As a result, most of the time the fight was over in 5 seconds. If it went any longer there were problems...

I started at /players 1 and despite trying a few runs at /p3, I kept it at /p1. This means that sometimes Andariel would drop 2, 1 or even 0 items! But /p1 was much, much, much easier than /p3. At /p3, the fight with andariel would last 3-5 seconds longer, and more often than not, this was enough time to get locked into hit recovery and die. The extra run length and danger were simply not worthwhile and so I stayed at /p1. Moreover, I was lucky given that I spent so much time in the 1.07 LK and had 7 fire skillers available. While they certainly gave me an edge at /p1, they didn't feel as strong at /p3.

In retrospect, I would strongly advise against spending any points on cold skills. Even on players 1, frozen orb takes too long to kill a mob and costs you too much killing power in terms of points otherwise spent in fire skills. At /p1 and probably also /p3, static field also doesn't help nearly as much as you would think. Andariel, unlike all the other act bosses, is surrounded by monsters, and these monsters are the primary factor in run efficiency. Hit recovery was pretty much a garuntee if more than one monster reached me, and if the fight lasted more than 5-6 seconds, than that was nearly inevitable.

As I do in most situations, I picked up any and everything that could remotely be useful or a novelty. Since ATMA is not an option, I had to make 7 other mules to hold the remain-in-1.10a and the forward-to-1.14 items. Here is a rough summary of other drops from Andy:
8x Shako
6x Skullder's
3x War Traveler
4x 30 Nagels
5x Shaftstop
2x HoZ, 4x Oculus, 2x Arreat's, 3x Jalal's, 11x Bartuc's, 1x Homonculus
7x Perfect Grailers (Spirit Forge, Radament's Sphere, Vile Husk, Crainte Vomir, Moonfall, Nagelring, Maelstorm!)
1x 249/20 Ravenfrost
1x Eth grail (Fetid Sprinkler) - tons of other eth items but had them all already!
1x Eth perfect grailer - Guardian Naga
2x Cold Skiller
1x Shape-shifting
1x Shadow Disciplines
1x Javelin Skills
1x 15 @res
1x 5 @res
2x Nosferatu's Coil (has 10% LL in 1.10a)
1 5x BO Helm
1 5x Nado Pelt
1x Fal
1x Pul
1x Um
3x SOJ - haha

Ultimately I was very lucky with my drops, but there are a few takeaway points I would like to offer for others to consider:

Takeaway points:
  • My setup would not be successful at higher /p settings without significant changes including one or more of the following:
    • Higher resists; frost nova from nearby boss packs that died when andy died would almost always kill me - even at /p1!!!
    • 1.10 Stormshield (not sure if Andy can drop) - would result in loss of FCR breakpoint
      • 1.10 or even 1.07 Moser's would help, but at again at the cost of FCR
    • 1.10 Shako - Andy dropped 8x but I didn't want to use a socket quest on one
    • 1.10 Reaper's Toll on Merc - since I hired my Merc in 1.10, he would be way too low level to equip one
    • 1.10a CtA - unfortunately I didn't have the runes to create one of these
    • Pure Fire spec (I did not max Meteor)
    • Higher level for lower chance to be hit/more hp
    • Energy Shield
  • Duration of the fight with Andariel is everything! If you can kill her fast enough, you can get away with 0 survivability gear
  • Kelpie Snare is an excellent starter weapon for the merc
  • Holy Freeze (merc) was actually helpful even though the fights were so short
  • I hired my merc in 1.10 (and so he was level 45 and died a LOT before slowly leveling up) but, if you can kill fast enough in an earlier patch it might be wiser to 'forward' a merc
  • 1.10 Reaper's toll would be the ideal merc weapon, but Andy can't drop it
  • Cold Skills are not worth the loss of skills in the fire tree
  • Static field is not useful either; 1 Fireball did as much or more damage (possibly at /p3 or /p5?)
  • 3-piece Tal's is very strong due to -15 eFR with the orb, 10% FCR from the belt and 65% MF from 3-piece set bonus
  • Don't count on getting Tal's ammy from Andy; it could take a while!
  • 63% FCR is a must!

1625487728886.png
1625487770360.png
1625487816469.png
1625487346143.png
 
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Takeaway points:
  • My setup would notbe successful at higher /p settings without significant changes including one or more of the following:
    • Higher resists; frost nova from nearby boss packs that died when andy died would almost always kill me - even at /p1!!!
    • 1.10 Stormshield (not sure if Andy can drop) - would result in loss of FCR breakpoint
      • 1.10 or even 1.07 Moser's would help, but at again at the cost of FCR
    • 1.10 Shako - Andy dropped 8x but I didn't want to use a socket quest on one
    • 1.10 Reaper's Toll on Merc - since I hired my Merc in 1.10, he would be way too low level to equip one
    • Pure Fire spec (I did not max Meteor)
    • Higher level for lower chance to be hit/more hp
    • Energy Shield
If only there was a quick way to get some extra life that didn't cost an Ohm :unsure:😢
 
If only there was a quick way to get some extra life that didn't cost an Ohm :unsure:😢
:p Can't spare the Mal's/Ists for the 1.10a CtA since deadly belts take Mal's and a stop in 1.09 is not part of this project :D but I should've mentioned it indeed. Ironically the Ohms are what I do have plenty of!
 
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