The Enigma Project: How Many LK Runs Will it Take?

[BBS_Agonistes]

Start talking about Bers, @Triple Helix ! After your post about Gul frequency the first rune to drop for me is a Gul.

Another 1,000 runs down for Gul, Pul x4, and then Um. I've completed 4,000 total runs.

So I'm 2 weeks in average 2,000 runs a week. On one hand, I'm still building some rune wealth, crafting materials, and charms. On the other hand, it is demoralizing to have needed 6 Sur worth of runes, and to reach 5 on the first week and not be any closer after the second week.

Full running list of rune drops Pul and above:

Spoiler

Rolling map - Ber
173 - Um
203 - Mal
207 - Mal
423 - Pul
561 - Pul (poppable)
586 - Um
862 - Mal
928 - Mal
976 - Um
1056 - Mal
1124 - Sur
1143 - Sur
1268 - Sur
1530 - Pul
1617 - Mal
1713 - Pul
1723 - Pul
2055 - Mal
2477 - Ist
2506 - Pul
3286 - Gul
3301 - Pul
3386 - Pul
3617 - Pul
3646 - Um

We'll see how much longer I can keep it up. At this point I'm finding it's less about fast run times and more about just keeping motivated. I tried switching Spirit for Suicide Branch and some other stuff to hit 200 FCR, but that sacrificed the 86% FHR breakpoint. I move faster, but when I do get tangled up in monsters, it's harder to get out. I think it's probably the same runtime-wise all in all, but anything that makes the runs feel annoying is something I want to avoid, so I think I'll switch back.

 

[Arjan]

Start talking about Bers, @Triple Helix ! After your post about Gul frequency the first rune to drop for me is a Gul.

Another 1,000 runs down for Gul, Pul x4, and then Um. I've completed 4,000 total runs.

So I'm 2 weeks in average 2,000 runs a week. On one hand, I'm still building some rune wealth, crafting materials, and charms. On the other hand, it is demoralizing to have needed 6 Sur worth of runes, and to reach 5 on the first week and not be any closer after the second week.

Full running list of rune drops Pul and above:

Spoiler

Rolling map - Ber
173 - Um
203 - Mal
207 - Mal
423 - Pul
561 - Pul (poppable)
586 - Um
862 - Mal
928 - Mal
976 - Um
1056 - Mal
1124 - Sur
1143 - Sur
1268 - Sur
1530 - Pul
1617 - Mal
1713 - Pul
1723 - Pul
2055 - Mal
2477 - Ist
2506 - Pul
3286 - Gul
3301 - Pul
3386 - Pul
3617 - Pul
3646 - Um

We'll see how much longer I can keep it up. At this point I'm finding it's less about fast run times and more about just keeping motivated. I tried switching Spirit for Suicide Branch and some other stuff to hit 200 FCR, but that sacrificed the 86% FHR breakpoint. I move faster, but when I do get tangled up in monsters, it's harder to get out. I think it's probably the same runtime-wise all in all, but anything that makes the runs feel annoying is something I want to avoid, so I think I'll switch back.

Damn… it’s even hard keeping motivated by reading your post keep up… they are bound to drop sometime soon… ish

 

[Triple Helix]

Start talking about Bers, @Triple Helix ! After your post about Gul frequency the first rune to drop for me is a Gul.

I find it strange that you haven't found a Ber yet!

 

[PhineasB]

Runes. Will. Drop. Hang in there!

 

[BBS_Agonistes]

Next set of 1,000 runs complete, for a total of 5,000 runs.

4345 - Gul
4353 - Pul
4467 - Vex
4482 - Mal
4497 - Mal
4672 - Mal
4778 - Vex
4801 - Sur!

Spoiler

4880 - Pul
4909 - Pul
4916 - Gul

Final running list of rune drops Mal and above, haul pic in IFT. (I realized I missed logging some Puls, so I'd rather just do Mal and up for posterity instead of an incomplete list.)

Spoiler

Rolling map - Ber
173 - Um
203 - Mal
207 - Mal
586 - Um
862 - Mal
928 - Mal
976 - Um
1056 - Mal
1124 - Sur
1143 - Sur
1268 - Sur
1617 - Mal
2055 - Mal
2477 - Ist
3286 - Gul
3646 - Um
4345 - Gul
4467 - Vex
4482 - Mal
4497 - Mal
4672 - Mal
4778 - Vex
4801 - Sur
4916 - Gul

Total Runes Pul and Above:
Pul x14
Um x4
Mal x10
Ist x1
Gul x4
Vex x2
Ohm x0
Lo x0
Sur x4
Ber x1

Exceptional and Elite Uniques/Sets:
Bloodletter
Gloom's Trap
Griswold's Heart
Hone Sundan x4
Immortal King's Stone Crusher
Jalal's Mane
Nataly's Mark
Sandstorm Trek
Spire of Honor
Stormspike
Sureshrill Frost
The Meat Scraper
Thunderstroke x2 (+2 skills, +4)
Wizardspike

Misc:
37% MF Gheed's
899 Assorted Charms
2,743 Flawless Gems
725 Jewels
49 Blue Monarchs (3 of Deflecting)
131 Yellow Rings
107 Yellow Amulets
387 Blue Amulets

I haven't finished going through all the rings, amulets, and charms yet, but nothing too crazy so far. I was hoping for a Ruby Jewel of Fervor, but no such luck yet.

Thanks for all the encouragement and advice, everyone! It was a grueling but ultimately fulfilling project and I'll post what I do with the runes here. That last 1,000 runs netted me a good bit of Gul and Vex, so I'm going to have to ponder what to do with those.

Feel free to ask any questions!

Haul pic, minus some of the Puls--too many to fit in one screen.

 

[BBS_Agonistes]

I followed you guy's advice and used a Mage Plate. I apologize for the weird pauses and fidgeting--though you can't hear it, I was narrating the process for my two sons.

First self-found Enigma for me!

Screenshot:

Spoiler

I also rolled a 321% ED Eth Oath for my son's WW Barb with one of those many Mals. It's fun to have some runes to play around with again!

 

[ffs]

Grats! I still see many players mentioning not having things like Enigma. Hopefully it helps to have this dedicated thread prominently documenting that it can be done in no time with just a little bit of dedication.

 

[BBS_Agonistes]

Thanks, @ffs ! That was basically the goal--to keep myself motivated and give an idea to others of what could be done in LK.

The great thing is that anyone who can get a sorc to A3 Hell can run LK, and I've manage to make:
-Enigma
-Infinity
-Chains of Honor
-Grief
-Fortitude
-Call to Arms
-Exile
-Rift

Aside from maybe an Ohm and a Gul, all these runes were farmed from LK in ~7 weeks (June 27 to August 17), and I did a lot of different stuff during that time. LK was by no means my prime target.

Going ahead I can run most targets in the game with a decent setup, so I can turn my focus to the next tier of runes (Jah-Zod) in Cows and Travincal, as well as all the A85 areas and targets like Baal.

 

[Triple Helix]

I know that's a great feeling of accomplishment! Congrats!!

 

[bill_n_opus]

awesome.

great job

that's really the thing ... there's no "trick" - it's usually just

- a well thought out plan (run LK)
- dedication and perseverance
- profit!

 

[coju]

Since this is the most recent LK thread:
Has anyone noticed different patterns from 1.13c?

1.13 LK Patterns

1.13 LK Patterns I've noticed a couple LK runners in the very first (?) LK thread started by Cattleya back in the day. I recently starting running LK in 1.13 myself, mainly for skillers, gems, and jewels; and the fact that I have a 90%+ stable Sacred Rondache armour rack (which has already...

www.purediablo.com

That thread shows a list that was known patterns.

I have a few that aren't lining up, or I'm missing.

Pul with Ceremonial Spear & Pilum
Lo with Blade Talons, Shael, and Quhab
Pul with War Fork, Antlers, Amulet, Wrist Sword
Just to name a few. Either ran on p3 or p8.
A few do line up with common known patterns, though.

 

[coju]

At the end of that Archived thread, there were a couple folks that had some undocumented drop patters in 1.14.

Thoughts that there are more/different?

 

[BBS_Agonistes]

Interesting, @coju ! I went back and checked my screenshots and so far as I could see, all my patterns matched existing ones in that thread, but I only checked drops from Ohm up to Ber.

 

[maxicek]

Congratulations, enjoy it. Out of interest, how did you count runs? Silospens counter seems to do strange things in D2R as sometimes the game saves on the loading screen.

it can be done in no time

Can. Yeah, rub it in.

 

[Excalibur]

...and how many hours did it take?

 

[BBS_Agonistes]

Congratulations, enjoy it. Out of interest, how did you count runs? Silospens counter seems to do strange things in D2R as sometimes the game saves on the loading screen.

As insane as this may sound, by tickmarks on sticky notes. I had to do something during those load times.

I was led astray by one of those guys who YouTubes D2R stuff, and he said there was no way to get the auto mode to work with the run counter on D2R and went on to advocate non FAM stuff to automate the process. That was an automatic no-no for me so I didn't bother to look into it further.

Only later did I see folks chatting on the forum about the Oskros counter and got it to work on automode. I have silo's but haven't tried it yet.

The oskros one does save if you ID anything or TP, but that's not really an issue for me since I'm doing Pindle runs currently.

...and how many hours did it take?

I think 40 hours, though I didn't keep exact track because I knew I'd be interrupted a lot.

My runs with muling off etc. probably ended up being 30 seconds on average so the 4800 to get Enigma works out to 40 hours. (I finished the last 200 runs to reach 5k the following day.)

That seems to reflect the schedule during those weeks: 1 hr at night vegging with wife in front of TV (14 hrs), 2 hr slot on weekend afternoons while kids nap (14+8=22), leaving 18 or so hours to be done at work during downtime (1.8 hrs a day).

 

[gregth]

Nice job !
I found Gripphon's guide on LK runs recently and started a few weeks ago and for the first time the long journey of getting enigma + infinity on LK runs
Seeing that this strategy works for others helps me to keep going

 

[LouB]

I've been following this thread and did some checking and My one and only Jah was found over a year ago and my Ber last December. I've been running a couple of Travincal and LK runs just about every day with no results. The RFL did generate either one for me so I guess its time to get serious and really start farming LK.

 

[BBS_Agonistes]

Yeah, it was a bit boring doing it, but I'm really enjoying all the gear I've put together, and now I'm doing stuff I enjoy a lot more.

There are a lot of psychological factors behind doing a high number of repetitive runs. You can run LK with almost any character, but I think the key to doing a lot of runs is not only making runtimes quick, but also making them as painless as possible. For example, I tried 200 FCR and less FHR, but though my runtimes on average were about the same, it was frustrating getting snagged by monsters more without the FHR, so I switched back. Try to eliminate anything that is annoying or frustrating as it will really demoralize you over thousands of runs.

For me that meant:
-A sorc with 86% FHR and 105% FCR breakpoints with Insight on the merc.
-Harmony bow on switch to help run through town, EDIT: I also TKed the WP when in view, as coju mentions below
-If on PC, don't hold down mouse click to run through town, use force move button ("E" by default). Otherwise, you'll wear out your hand.
-I want to avoid engaging monsters at all, but Glacial Spike on left click gives an option to completely lock down any normal monster if mobbed.
-In case of the huge drops where runes can be hidden under loot, just hit zoom and run through the pile. You won't be able to read everything in the blur, but don't pick through it. You'll see the orange runes. I found some HRs buried under junk this way.

I'm probably missing a lot of good tips here. When @coju mentioned he was hitting 19-second runtimes in D2R in the IFT, I realized I was going pretty slow and just blaming it on D2R load times. After that, I looked to streamline, and though I didn't have as good a map as coju, I still managed to get runtimes down to 22-23 seconds when I was focusing.

Also, even though the stated goal of the thread was to farm specific runes, I tried not to think of it that way, but rather just set goals for numbers of runs. If you just farm without counting runs and wait for a high rune to drop, it will feel like forever. On the other hand, if you set a goal of 2k runs or 5k runs and don't worry about rune drops and focus on just completing that many runs, I'm pretty sure you'll be satisfied with your results at the end, but everyone is different, and even with a set of 2k runs you can get some bad RNG.

Sorry for the long-winded and poorly organized post, but maybe someone finds that helpful.

 

[coju]

Yeah, it was a bit boring doing it, but I'm really enjoying all the gear I've put together, and now I'm doing stuff I enjoy a lot more.

There are a lot of psychological factors behind doing a high number of repetitive runs. You can run LK with almost any character, but I think the key to doing a lot of runs is not only making runtimes quick, but also making them as painless as possible. For example, I tried 200 FCR and less FHR, but though my runtimes on average were about the same, it was frustrating getting snagged by monsters more without the FHR, so I switched back. Try to eliminate anything that is annoying or frustrating as it will really demoralize you over thousands of runs.

For me that meant:
-A sorc with 86% FHR and 117% FCR with Insight on the merc.
-Harmony bow on switch to help run through town.
-If on PC, don't hold down mouse click to run through town, use force move button ("E" by default). Otherwise, you'll wear out your hand.
-I want to avoid engaging monsters at all, but Glacial Spike on left click gives an option to completely lock down any normal monster if mobbed.
-In case of the huge drops where runes can be hidden under loot, just hit zoom and run through the pile. You won't be able to read everything in the blur, but don't pick through it. You'll see the orange runes. I found some HRs buried under junk this way.

I'm probably missing a lot of good tips here. When @coju mentioned he was hitting 19-second runtimes in D2R in the IFT, I realized I was going pretty slow and just blaming it on D2R load times. After that, I looked to streamline, and though I didn't have as good a map as coju, I still managed to get runtimes down to 22-23 seconds when I was focusing.

Also, even though the stated goal of the thread was to farm specific runes, I tried not to think of it that way, but rather just set goals for numbers of runs. If you just farm without counting runs and wait for a high rune to drop, it will feel like forever. On the other hand, if you set a goal of 2k runs or 5k runs and don't worry about rune drops and focus on just completing that many runs, I'm pretty sure you'll be satisfied with your results at the end, but everyone is different, and even with a set of 2k runs you can get some bad RNG.

Sorry for the long-winded and poorly organized post, but maybe someone finds that helpful.

I haven't tried the zooming in and out. Only running through and autopicking gold. The 19 second time was only hitting chests, no racks or corpses, TK'ing WP when in view, and that map .
Grats on the 22 time! My average without diehard focus and popping the 2 racks 2 corpses was closer to 25.