99 theorycrafting and stuff like that

[Jason Maher]

I've just respecced my two level 90+ zons, one pure Multi to run CS, the other FA/Strafe to run WSK/Baal (I actually switched which one was running CS, because she still hasn't completed the Ancients quest). I've altered the gear a bit for the CS Zon:

- 'Faith' GMB
- Fleshripper + Stormshield on switch
- +2 zon skills, +20 @res, 7% mana leech rare circlet with +15 max/15 IAS jewel
- Cat's Eye
- LoH
- Fort
- BKWB
- Raven Frost
- Razortail
- Nat's boots
- 4x Acrobatic skillers
- Gheed's
- 3x Sharp GCs
- Sharp LC of Vita
- bunch of resist SCs

Might moron with Reaper's + CoA + Gladiator's Bane

Previously I had Andy's, Manald, and Highlord's.

The Baal zon is not as well equipped as I would like, but until I find the runes for Ice and Infinity, she'll have to do. She uses Melody for FA and Windforce for Strafe. Not enough damage output for p8 waves, despite level 39 FA.

- 'Melody' +3 bow skills Matriarchal Bow
- Windforce with 32 ED/IAS jewel
- Valkyrie Wing (+2 zon skills, 4 MPK) with LRes/IAS jewel
- CoH
- Crescent Moon
- +2 bow skills, 20 IAS rare gloves
- Razortail
- Raven Frost
- Wisp Projector (Gloam protection)
- Silkweave
- Gheed's
- 7x Fletcher's skillers
- bunch of resists and mana SCs

Might moron with eth 1.07 Insight + Fort + Andy's.

 

[Corrupted]

I've just respecced my two level 90+ zons, one pure Multi to run CS, the other FA/Strafe to run WSK/Baal (I actually switched which one was running CS, because she still hasn't completed the Ancients quest). I've altered the gear a bit for the CS Zon:

- 'Faith' GMB
- Fleshripper + Stormshield on switch
- +2 zon skills, +20 @res, 7% mana leech rare circlet with +15 max/15 IAS jewel
- Cat's Eye
- LoH
- Fort
- BKWB
- Raven Frost
- Razortail
- Nat's boots
- 4x Acrobatic skillers
- Gheed's
- 3x Sharp GCs
- Sharp LC of Vita
- bunch of resist SCs

Might moron with Reaper's + CoA + Gladiator's Bane

Previously I had Andy's, Manald, and Highlord's.[...]

Why the emphasis on +skills so much? How did you distribute your skills?
I think you could bump up your damage and MF some with Kira's, War Traveler, a rare/crafted ring with ml/ll/dex/min damage and more sharp charms.
How long do you stay on the Fleshripper swap for Diablo? As in how long before Faith GA overtakes it in damage output? I really can't imagine Fleshripper being that good against p7 Diablo.

If you have the wealth you could try Reaper's 'Ber', Treachery and Guillaume's 'Cham' on the merc.

 

[Kimppi]

I have an extra GMB Ice if you need one. Made it before the CtA bow hoping it would do some physical damage to CI's but didn't like it (got crap ED roll too) .

 

[NagisaFurukawa]

Pretty much what Corr said, except I would try to get 1.07 Laying of Hands and ditch the rest of the resistances altogether. If you feel you need them though, that's fine.

With only level 12 Fanaticism, you could try some fancier things such as Atma's Scarab and a different weapon for the moron. He'd probably die more than it would be worth though, given your lack of CTA.

 

[Jason Maher]

Why the emphasis on +skills so much? How did you distribute your skills?
I think you could bump up your damage and MF some with Kira's, War Traveler, a rare/crafted ring with ml/ll/dex/min damage and more sharp charms.
How long do you stay on the Fleshripper swap for Diablo? As in how long before Faith GA overtakes it in damage output? I really can't imagine Fleshripper being that good against p7 Diablo.

If you have the wealth you could try Reaper's 'Ber', Treachery and Guillaume's 'Cham' on the merc.

Which lass are you referring to?

Skills:

Rhiannon (Multishot):

MS - 16 (23 after +skills)
MA - 6 (13 after +skills)

CS - 20
Penetrate - 20
Pierce - 1 (9 after + skills)
Valkyrie - 20
Decoy - 15

Ursula (FA/Strafe):

CA - 20
FA - 20
Strafe - 12

Penetrate - 20
Pierce - 5 (9 after +skills)
Valkyrie - 13 (17 after +skills)

To answer your question, Ursula's skills gear emphasis is pretty obvious: get as high a level FA as possible. Rhiannon's is more a product of seeking a well balanced character, and trying a number of different gear setups prior to this latest respec (on Ursula), before settling on one I was comfortable with. Her damage is more than high enough (handles p8 CS with ease), and she is very safe.

I have an extra GMB Ice if you need one. Made it before the CtA bow hoping it would do some physical damage to CI's but didn't like it (got crap ED roll too) .

I won't say no if you're offering. In fact, I'd be inclined to grovel and mutter "gieb please, your majesty!" until either the flattery or the sheer annoyance paid off. :badteeth: I'd still probably stick with Windforce on switch, so the ED roll doesn't matter too much.

Pretty much what Corr said, except I would try to get 1.07 Laying of Hands and ditch the rest of the resistances altogether. If you feel you need them though, that's fine.

With only level 12 Fanaticism, you could try some fancier things such as Atma's Scarab and a different weapon for the moron. He'd probably die more than it would be worth though, given your lack of CTA.

Getting a 1.07 LoH would require a high rune I don't currently have, otherwise I'd take your advice. I hate Atma's Scarab. I used to use it with Strafe, and it never went off often enough to be useful. I have CTA, I'm just not using it due to my desire to not constantly be hosed and prisoned by Diablo. Plus she doesn't need the life and mana boost.

 

[Corrupted]

I was referring to the multizon as per the quoted equipment.

[...]Her damage is more than high enough (handles p8 CS with ease)[...]

I guess this is where we have significantly different viewpoints. To me there's no such thing as having "enough" damage output, ever.

I would probably get a maxed GA for Diablo instead of the heavy investment into Decoy/Valk.


I'll just put this here for reference;

/players8 baalruns required:

Start lvl   End lvl   Runs   Total Runs  %complete
--------------------------------------------------
     98        99     3500      5500       100%
     97        98     1100      2000        36%
     96        97      450       900        16%
     95        96      210       450         8.18%
     94        95      110       240         4.36%
     93        94       60       130         2.36%
     92        93       35        70         1.27%
     91        92       20        35         0.63%
     90        91       15        15         0.27%

At clvl 98 one baalrun gives you 83k experience, a nihlathak run gives you 24k experience and a CS run gives you 50k from Diablo and ~2-12k from the seals/packs depending on player setting for those.
Diablo is the target with the best support for carrying an experience shrine as there's no chance of you losing it. There's no doubt that Baal is much less efficient than the other two from clvl 98->99.
The question is how much time you save getting to 98 by baaling compared to saving the last 40m from hell ancients and getting to 98 by other means.

Running CS to 99 is in the ballpark of 7000 runs in total depending on a few factors; deaths, average number of packs cleared per run ES usage and nm/hell ancients being saved until clvl 98. NM ancients can be saved by having your char rushed by another or reaching act 3 hell in classic and then converting.

I think the fastest possible clvl 1->99 is a light sorc baaling until 98 then switching to p1/p8 CS with good shrine locations.

With the above numbers and your own run times you should be able to figure out what the optimal is for a particular char/build.

 

[zgpmf]

I think the fastest possible clvl 1->99 is a light sorc baaling until 98 then switching to p1/p8 CS with good shrine locations.

When you reach 98 it's much faster doing Nihl runs than Diablo. You can get 3 shrines for Nihl also.

 

[Cyrax1]

I think the fastest possible clvl 1->99 is a light sorc baaling until 98 then switching to p1/p7 CS with good shrine locations.

Fixed that for you.

 

[Corrupted]

When you reach 98 it's much faster doing Nihl runs than Diablo. You can get 3 shrines for Nihl also.

Not if you can clear CS fast enough. Nihlathak also has the chance of spawning cursed as well as having witches that can curse you in his room. I think a properly played light sorc can reach as much as 4 million/hour on clvl 98 doing diablo runs.

 

[Mungojerry1]

Nihl has to be fastest, or zgpmf botted in untwinked to 99 thread. Jokes aside a nihl run can consistently be done in 20 sec so thats about 3 nihl runs per CS run?

 

[zgpmf]

Not if you can clear CS fast enough. Nihlathak also has the chance of spawning cursed as well as having witches that can curse you in his room. I think a properly played light sorc can reach as much as 4 million/hour on clvl 98 doing diablo runs.

Yes if you can avoid the witches and shoot at Nihl from distance.

 

[pharphis]

Oh come on you guys, all this arguing is silly.

Basically, the best way to get to 99 is the one that yields the most zods, and thus is the slowest method. In other words, Cow runs. hundreds of thousands of cow runs (maybe?)

 

[Jason Maher]

No way in hell am I taking Big D down with Guided Arrow. I used to do it that way, and the result was being constantly bone prisoned and lightning hosed. Plus the Fleshripper is much faster at actually killing him. And that is compared to Windforce.

As for Nihlathak runs, I imagine 20 secs requires teleport, which could be disastrous on a slow casting Zon.

 

[Mungojerry1]

As for Nihlathak runs, I imagine 20 secs requires teleport, which could be disastrous on a slow casting Zon.

I did it with my infi-zon just now to check, time was 20 sec flat. Oh and she has 45% fcr and one java-skiller.

 

[Jason Maher]

Redid the Baal Zon again, with Silence as the wepaon, Enigma, and CtA/Spirit on switch. Works better.

Hey Kimmpi: you need to clear out your inbox. My email is nswhorse[at]gmail[dot]com.

 

[Arkardo]

I know this isn't really the place for this, but this experience might help other HC players that want a high level character.

Because for myself, I guess even a level 95 char for gambling/crafting will have to wait for a while... gone is Guardian Fail, the level 92 Hammerdin sporting an Enigma, Shako with a resist all/life jewel, Stormshield, String of Ears, Wizzy, etc. He was killed by a large group of monsters, including a fanatic/cursed/extra fast pack. He teleported passed them earlier, not noticing the cursed and extra fast mods. I figured that I could spawn Lord de Seis & co, since there would be fanatic monsters anyway. Turned out the combination with cursed and extra fast was too much for him, even with all his DR%. If only had I made that CtA earlier. The DR% alone isn't always enough.
.View attachment 3236 View attachment 3237

Oh well, it was time for a D2 break anyway. Good thing real life is good atm. :loving: RIP my friend! You fared much better than your name implied! :guiness:

 

[SkaMan]

RIP Fail... Sorry to see that Arkardo, that's a painful one
Worst death I've had since restarting was my frenzy barb, and the best thing I lost on him was a decent OATH... I don't even want to think about losing an enigma! (not that I have one to lose, but if I did...)

 

[Solar Ice]

Damn, Arkado. That is incredibly rough. My condolences and I hope that you have the desire to rebuild the Paladin sometime and farm the gear again. It was really ballsy of you to not wear a CtA in CS :O

I am almost 95 with the Hammerdin in that place and I cannot stress enough the danger that an Extra Fast de Seis mob presents. It is easier at 94 because of the lvl differences but I am always on my toes in that seal. Even with 2.8k life, I had a couple of semi-close (wake-up) calls with that pack. It is the only thing that I really fear in CS. They can EASILY deeds you if you are not paying full attention.

One piece of advice for CS runners is to always Tele underneath them (south of the Pack) once you open the seal. And Tele around -not through - them, once the seal is opened.

 

[Thyiad1]

Doesn't tele'ing to the South of De Seis mean you have a lot more nasties behind you? If you go from the North, there shouldn't be much alive behind you (if anything)?

I'm doing some CS runs with Atil as a change from Baal and I have to say it's a lot more relaxing blasting through on P8 than faffing around with Baal throne/waves etc. Not convinced about Nithy though. Never did like him. Not with my lousy sense of direction.

 

[Cyrax1]

With a hammerfield you need a) the space and b) when you set it up your hammers start above you. So it's a better way to let them walk into the hammerfield instead of them coming up from the less protected 'underbelly'.

As far as the number of enemies goes: In my map i had more bosspacks above than below where he spawns. If i'm teleing past it and see something nasty (like might aura), i'll clear it before activating the seal.

Also Solar's advice of teleing around them is very important. Had some deaths by teleporting straight into the pack. Them being extra fast + fanat sometimes makes them hit you even when you're teleporting at full speed.