Meet the Rune Finders – 2023 Spring RFL

[PhineasB]

Meet the Rune Finders threads are for showing off your character from the corresponding RFL, similar to Meet the Olympians threads from the MFOs. You can include whatever details you want; it's a chance to brag on your runner or just to show them off (**but don't include details on rune drops because results for Round 1 aren't in yet**). The difference, of course, is that there are three RFL rounds, so I will edit this post and put in a direct link to first post with characters from Round 2 when we get there. (Round 2 posts here.)

There is so much great theorycrafting and nice demonstration vids posted in progress threads. If people have time and the inclination, I thought it would be cool to give everyone a chance to post some of that content along with character readouts and musings here for ease of reference in the future. I figured with D2R and new builds, it could be fun to share about everyone's runners.

I'll post about my Sorc later today.

2023 RFL sign up and progress threads, and results threads:
Round 1 – Areas (Sign Up and Progress / Results)
Round 2 – Moo Moo (Sign Up and Progress / Results)

 

[Excalibur]

Ah, I didn't record anything but will try to provide something for the next round.
As I said, I was mostly using my Fire Sorcy which was pretty much abandoned. Terror Zones gave her a new meaning and it's really refreshing to farm at new and rewarding areas with characters you weren't. I also used my MF Javazon but made a few changes on her gear.

 

[Swamigoon]

I used Qursh, my berserker. He's the same Travincal runner I used in the last two years' RFL contests. His new kit for this tournament:

• Weapons: Executioner's Justice glorious axe, with twin Heart Carver rondels on switch for horks.
• Armor: Veil of Steel spired helm, Duriel's Shell cuirass, Laying of Hands bramble mitts, Thundergod's Vigor war belt, and Infernostride demonhide boots.
• Bling: Dwarf Star, and a rare amulet and ring.
• The might-aura mercenary took the ethereal Reaper's Toll thresher I found recently, and wore a Rockstopper sallet and a Guardian Angel templar coat.

He advanced from level 88 to 89 during his 20 hours of rune hunts! And one of his Find Item searches coughed out another Hone Sundan. Those were nice consolation prizes.

 

[ffs]

For the first round I ran with three characters, all HC/D2R.

Mosaic Sin running AS, Trav, CS.
Gameplay vid here.

Spoiler

Build: 20 PS, BoI, CoT, 10 FoF, 20 Fade, 6 Weapon Block

Gear:

• Shako PT
• Enigma LP
• 2/15 FCR MA craft amulet
• Mosaic Feral +3 PS, +1 Blade Shield
• Mosaic Suwayyah +3 PS, +2 Shadow Master
• Raven
• FCR, life, resist ring
• Magefist
• WT
• Arach

~270 MF

New total powerhouse build. I still need to find Griffon's in HC to unlock her full potential, with 102 FCR and even higher lightning damage. The standard 65 FCR dual claw breakpoint is OK but a bit clunky at times and this does add up, as she relies on quick and accurate positioning quite a bit.

I plan to use her in round 2 as well, although I'm considering a respec to include a point in Death's Sentry for better clear. While the lightning charges from PS do a good job clearing even without Griffon's, including DS could be more optimal for cow running (at least without Griffon's).

WW Barb running Travincal

Spoiler

Build: Standard WW

Gear:

• GFace Um, briefly Arreat's, later on Shako PT
• Enigma LP
• HLW
• 2x Grief PB // Hoto + Wizzy
• Rare leech/res/stat ring
• Rare FCR/leech/res ring
• LoH
• WT
• SoE

~200 MF

My loading times in D2R are particularly bad, so Travincal running isn't too appealing, also considering I'm not particularly looking for runes or facets at the moment. I used him in round 1 whenever Trav was terrorized. Very solid rune finder of course, but outside of TZ Trav I don't play him that often currently.

PN/CE Necro running Pit

Spoiler

Build: Standard PN/CE

Gear:

• Shako PT
• Enigma LP
• 2/10 FCR necro amulet
• Death's Web (facet)
• Spirit
• FCR/life/res ring
• Nagelring
• TO gloves
• WT
• Verdungo

~350 MF

IMO still the best build to combine RF with some MF capability on higher player settings. Unfortunately in HC it's hard to make 125 FCR safe enough. I did find several 2os CoAs in the last few days. Once I got a 2x Ber'ed one I'll try to make it work. It means using White or Hoto rather than DWeb but could still be worth it.

 

[PhineasB]

I ran RFL Round 1 with my Untwinked 99er Sorc Redux, standard Gripphon runs. As noted in her results post, she was a few million past 97.2 and finished right at 3.11B XP, so >90M XP over the 20 hours, or ~4.5M/hr, which is faster than my first 99er Sorc Hiatus!

Build is pure Blizz, so Blizz and synergies maxed, 15 hard points in Cold Mastery, 9 in Static and 1 point each in Warmth, TK and Teleport. The Nighwing's found just before the start of the round was a major boost to her power. Gear:
- Nightwings (13% +cold)
- HotO
- CoH
- Spirit (35% FCR)
- Chancies (38%)
- Arachnid
- War Traveler (50% found during the Round)
- Tal's amulet, SoJ, and rare ring with FCR and resists)

All resists maxed, 105 FCR, 60 FHR, 168 MF (hoping for Griffon's ). Quite solid build as advertised, and she is quite safe with the map I have -- Infector spawns consistently just off screen from where she pops the seal, and two places to teleport to safely take out convicted Infector if needed).

 

[BBS_Agonistes]

I didn't do well on round 1 because I didn't have much time to run, but I'm pleased with the build.

I think she'll perform much better at Cows. Sometimes in the more dangerous Terror Zones I ran with Dracul's, and when Andy was terrorized I did throw on some MF (War Trav, Chancies, Goldwrap, PTopaz Shako, etc.)

Thorn, my level 93 Assassin is currently using dual "Mosaic" setup with the 102 FCR breakpoint and 43k damage when charged up.

Amulet: Crafted +2 Assassin / FCR
Helm: Griffon's
Weapons: Dual "Mosaic" Claws
Switch: "Call to Arms" & "Spirit"
Body Armor: "Enigma" Mage Plate
Gloves: Magefist
Rings: Ravenfrost / Rare Dual Leech
Boots: Upped Gore Riders
Charms: Anni, Torch, Skillers, etc.

She clears similarly to my Javazon, but hops around more quickly due to FCR. I'm looking forward to round 2, because I think she'll feel fast compared to my previous Javazon cow runner. Amazon is at 12 frames even with 99% FCR, which is difficult to squeeze in, but the Assassin can somewhat easily hit the 102% breakpoint for 10 frames--she just needs Magefist/Arach's/Spirit/Griffon's and then a tiny bit from an amulet or a ring.

 

[Kruemelmonschda]

I ran Travincal with my baby GF barb: Link.
He was optimized for gold finding and speed was a bit lacking. I think I averaged about 1:20 per run. Maybe could have pushed a bit harder, but 20h stints are a marathon for me and I didn't want to burn out. Runs were done at /p1. I started at /p3 first but had to abandon the runs if the council had either convicition or might. I could handle those mods on /p1 though and decided that no abandoned runs were better even if the haul was smaller. In addition most of the gold came from horking. One difference between D2R and D2L is the effect of cold damage on the Whirlwind. While in D2L the damage is unchanged in D2R cnbf is certainly needed. As I had no Cham I decided to go the unusual route with a "Rhyme" Shield. Overall he was quite safe and the gold he made gave me the feeling of no wasted runs even when no Runes dropped. He leveled from 86 to 89 during the 16.5h I managed to run.

 

[LouB]

I ran two sets, both with my Wolfbarb, ARGH. I had dual goals of finding runes and gaining experience. As a result, during the first set I'd run at least a half hour in decent Terror Zones at p/8 and the rest of the hour Running Travincal. I ran Trav at both p/8 and p/3, but mostly at p/3. During the first set I think I spent 60% of the time running TZ and the rest in Trav. During the second set it was probably closer to 70% Travincal. The only qualifier was a single Ber, but I did reach level 98 during the second set. It would have been during the first set if I hadn't tried to watch TV and play at the same time!

I'm not using Engima, so run times at p/3 were 1:15 to 1:20 unless Vilehand was PI. I do remember one run where Vilehand was holy freeze, one of the others was conviction and the third was fanaticism. It didn't really matter. Also, while I dumped a point into find Item in the early 90s, with Redemption from the Phoenix shield by the time I kill the council and switch there are at most 2 bodies left, so I gave up trying to hork.

Amulet: Highlord's
Helm: Wolfhowl (+5Feral Rage, +6 werewolf and Lycanthropy)
Weapon: Grief
Shield: Phoenix
Switch: HoTO and Spirit sword
Body Armor: Chains of Honor Archon Plate
Gloves: Laying of Hands
Rings: Ravenfrost/ Rare ring with Mana leach and MF
Boots: War Travelers
Charms: Anni, Torch,

 

[Gynli]

Short write up for me, as there wasn't much to report for this round.

Ran /p7 throughout all of RFL with my pure blizz sorc.
I gave priority to TZ zones, but ran AT when TZ had too many natual CIs and/or was too tough for the merc to stay alive.

The build is the typical blizz sorc,:
- maxed CM (nerfed CM with sundered enemies means maxed CM is more useful than before)
- 1 in warmth, static, TK, teleport, shiver armor
- max blizz with rest in synergies

I ran with a variety of setups - all on 105 fcr setups -
ranging from MF with Tals armor to safety with Verdungos and vipermagi.

List of items used by slots :
- Shako
- +3 cold amulet | Maras
- Hoto | Occy
- Tals armor | Vipermagi
- Spirit Monarch (non-35fcr)
- Trang gloves | Chancies
- @res/fcr ring | SOJ | BK | Nagel x2
- Goldwrap | Tals belt | Verdungos
- War Travs | Aldurs | Hotspurs

Thanks for hosting, and good luck to everyone in round 2!