Overall fastest (including deaths) SC Character for Level 99 grind with controller

[LeOsTyLe]

Hello i am LeOsTyLe,

i found this Forum some weeks ago, because some of the best Diablo 2 Guides i ever read was here. Like "SPF 99er Compendium" and "Build Efficiency 101" I read many guides in the last weeks and months and played serverel builds for preparing for D2 Ressurected.

I played this game and its mods probably easy offer 10.000 hours, but i never had a level 99 char in the unmodded version of the game. My highest was a Level 96 Hammerdin years ago, when Hammers damaged Undead Magic Immun Monster. For D2 Ressurected i plan to make my first and probably only Level 99 Character.

I will play with controller on PC on a TV (i know to play with mouse and keyboard is more efficient, but i want to chill, especially in a long grind such a Level 99 Project. And at current state (beta) where is no fast way with controller to safe and exit the game and this must be considered. I am still unsure where i will do this. Singleplayer, where i can probably use the /players8 command for faster leveling or battlenet where i cant but i can play with other people. But this is not the question i want to ask here.

My question is what is probably the "Best" build to get to Level 99 in Softcore. With best i mean the sweet spot between kill speed and not to die and lose experience. According to the 99er Compendium most play Sorc (Blizzard/Lightning to 98 when Lightning) or Hammerdin. I would never play a build which i dislike, because the route to Level 99 is very long. But the both builds are fun to play for me. So i can not erase one of them from my list. I like to play both of them.

I assume both build are good geared. According to the 99er Compedium the main spots to level in high levels are Chaos/Dia and Baal/Waves and at 98 Nila.

In my opinion Hammerdin is very good at Chaos Farming (even he can not telestomp with controller), but he is bad at killing Baal Wave 2 and very bad at killing at baal. When i play Singleplayer, wave two is not the problem, I just can switch to /players1 and after to /players8 again. For clearing Thron i can go /players1 too because sometimes Magic Undead apear there. But the problem is baal. When i kill him on /players1 he grants low experience and when i kill him on players 8 it takes ages, almost like the entire run. I know his experience is currently capped at /players3 but there is a good chance it will be fixed and when it is fixed, Baal will become very attractive and a Hammerdin can not run Baal at /Players8 fast, so a Hammerdin would not benefit from this fix. According to my Math Baal will beat Nila in this case as primary spot for level 98-99. And second i think Nila Runs are not for me, because i can not imagine make 20 seconds run to Level 99. It would be to boring for me. So i will to focus on Dia or Baal or all Three.

On the other hand a lightning sorc can kill Baal and the waves very very fast, even on /players8 due to static. But is weaker as a hammerdin in chaos (at least on /players8, because paladin have better aoe clear and sorc is not very good vs the ghosts which have high lighning resistances after pierce, even with some - lightning resistence from griffon eye etc.) She is still good but a Hammerdin does better in Chaos in my opinion. I heard a Blizzard sorc should be the fastest Chaos Runner when you make the 2 Seal Gripphon runs, i personal probably would kill dia as well because of fun. So in terms of just kill speed and ignoring death penalty till Level 98 Blizzard Sorc in Chaos and 98->99 Respec into lighting and Baal run should be fastest.

But in terms of survivability a paladin is probably much safer. A sorc can go max or 50% block, too but she suffer from life when. And pala have much more life. The paladin have faster FBR Animation with his Holy Shield and faster FHR Animation, too and can avoid the FHR Animation more as a sorc due to his high life pool. Many dangerous situation apear by tele into a fana pack with or without amplied damage curse. Although the sorc have a slighty faster FCR Animation i think due to the Faster Paladin FBR and FHR Animation a Paladin can get faster away from this situation. Because i can not fast save and exit because i play with controller and have to naviagte through some menus i think this is import. And dolls are a problem too. Sometime they surprise you and and as a sorc i generelly are far away as a pala. So a paladin have more risk, but a sorc have lower life so if the sorc dont block the explosion it will be more painful for her.

This was Signleplayer only thoughts, but what when i decide to play on the battle net. There will be probably no /playersX commands. So i can only run on /players1 or join public games. And run with a 8 Player Party Dia and/or Baal Runs. In a party a Hammerdin could make Baal runs even with his horrible Baal Damage on a 8 Player game because other player will damage Baal as well, but he needs to rely on the other players. When i am lucky and the party allows it, i can run dia in a baal run or baal in a dia run. But i can not except this every run.

And one question to each builds. Killspeed vs the experience penealty when i die. Should i go max block with sorc? I think yes. If i can maintain a Life Pool 1500+ i feel much safer especially when i tele into a fana pack and with controller i can not safe and exist and need to tele away first and then make a tp. And the kill speed lose is not as big. The lose in FHR due to not having spirit shild i have to compensate with FHR Runes or Charms, so i will lose some more Life again. But i think overall max block is worth it in my case or what do you think? If lightning sorc runs Chaos, do you think Cresent Moon is an option? Its a good boost in dmg vs the ghosts but when i already have Stromshield and max block i will suffer very heavy on FCR especially when i dont wear an Arach Mesh because i like Thunder Gods for Baal Runs because of the Souls. In a Baal Run i dont need Cresent Moon but when i make only Dia Runs or both runs. I personal think it is not worth it in my case. And the question to the The Hammerdin build. 125 or 75 fcr. With 125 fcr i can tele faster away from dangerous situations and due to spirit i have easier/faster FHR Animations. But Herold of Zakarum gives much more Defence and i can avoid some hits. Theoretically i could socket even a Ber for Damage reduce in the Herold of Zakarum if i am very rich.

So overall as a sorc i should faster kill and collect experience (when i am not die), compared to a Hammerdin i think. But what when deaths are calculated into it. Is a Sorc faster/slower or same as a hammerdin in this case? And does your suggestion change then Baal Experience is not more capped at Players8 or is the result of "best" build independent of it. And did you have a diffrent build suggestion for Singleplayer and Battlenet or does the suggestion not change? Currently every few days i change my mind what i should play and want to hear some opinions of expert players and i think the best chances i have here.

 

[Ohomemgrande]

I've been pushing a Hammerdin (lvl 97) and recently started a Sorceress (lvl 90) . The Sorceress is still in the gearing phase but the Hammerdin is fully geared now. Both have been running as self-found characters (i.e. no shared stash and they find everything)

Hammerdin is running CS only at this point and I'm saving the Ancients for the end. Right now I'm running P8 for the Seals and P1 for Diablo but will switch to P1 for the Seals and P7 for Diablo once I hit 98. I think the XP/hr makes it worth it to progress from 2-Seal runs to 3-Seal runs around level 97 but really you just need to do what you find fun because the grind is long. The runs feel pretty fast to me (although I'm certainly not the fastest runner on this forum)

I would recommend 125 FCR because it kills faster. For shield, I'm using Spirit in a Sacred Rondache and Holy Shield gives 75% block that I rarely feel in danger. Call to Arms also helps of course in being safe. I think my last death was at level 94 after I finally found a 5s Crystal Sword to make CTA and used a respec to optimize things.

It will be interesting to see how controller support works. I have played D3 on Switch and PC. I feel like that system works well with either. I can't imagine playing D2 though with a controller as I feel like I make full use of 12-15 hotkeys when I play D2.

 

[d2lover]

Do you allow mouse+keyboard for "special" stuff in the game? (ancients)

Is twinking allowed?

 

[Babyhell]

In fact...I guess I would go Hammerdin. Just because of his survivability, any death costs sooo much at high level...

 

[LeOsTyLe]

I've been pushing a Hammerdin (lvl 97) and recently started a Sorceress (lvl 90) . The Sorceress is still in the gearing phase but the Hammerdin is fully geared now. Both have been running as self-found characters (i.e. no shared stash and they find everything)

Hammerdin is running CS only at this point and I'm saving the Ancients for the end. Right now I'm running P8 for the Seals and P1 for Diablo but will switch to P1 for the Seals and P7 for Diablo once I hit 98. I think the XP/hr makes it worth it to progress from 2-Seal runs to 3-Seal runs around level 97 but really you just need to do what you find fun because the grind is long. The runs feel pretty fast to me (although I'm certainly not the fastest runner on this forum)

I would recommend 125 FCR because it kills faster. For shield, I'm using Spirit in a Sacred Rondache and Holy Shield gives 75% block that I rarely feel in danger. Call to Arms also helps of course in being safe. I think my last death was at level 94 after I finally found a 5s Crystal Sword to make CTA and used a respec to optimize things.

It will be interesting to see how controller support works. I have played D3 on Switch and PC. I feel like that system works well with either. I can't imagine playing D2 though with a controller as I feel like I make full use of 12-15 hotkeys when I play D2.

Thanks. Would be very nice if someone already played both to high levels and can share the experience he/she made. The controller support is pretty well, the online thing i dislike is some skills like teleport have a fixed distance. I made a suggest in beta forum they should include the left analog stick to it. It already controlls how fast or slow you run/walk. Via this stick you should be able to change the distance in my oppinion. Otherwise its alwasys impossible to tele stomp with Hammerdin or other builds. On controller you have 12 Buttons for skills (6 button and by holding an extra button you have 6 more on that buttons so 2x6) and theoretically you can set diffrent buttons when you weapon switch (like battle orders or other buffs) so you dont lose one of the "main" 12 skills buttons.

Do you allow mouse+keyboard for "special" stuff in the game? (ancients)

Is twinking allowed?

Mainly i want to play with controller, but if there are special stuff i have to do with mouse and keyboard i can do this. But stuff like doing runs i want to do with a controller. I know you can safe ancients for level 98, but what you mean with special stuff with mouse and keyboard on ancients?

If i play Singleplayer it will be probably untwinked, but if many people say if i go with hammerdin i should make first a sorc and farm the enigma runes, maybe i will do this too. I am just searching a overall way/method to minimalize the timespent to get one character to Level 99 . The sorc could make fast lower kurast runs to get or cube them but i hear ( i am not sure) that the maps even in singleplayer in D2R are not more static. They are random everytime like on battle net. In this case a Hammerdin can run Travi and the result should not be so different to a sorc running lower kurast, because you have on random maps on averange only 1 camp fire and you need to search it. If i play on Battle net, i will probably trade with other people but i am not sure yet. I am even not sure if i go Singleplayer or Battlenet. On Singleplayer i can use /players8 and on battlenet i can play and trade with others. But when the Ladder is over and i will not be Level 99 i think i will have a big problem to find full games and in worst case i will do solo runs which would be very painfull in terms of experience. When ladder will be 3 month, i am almost sure i will go for singlerplayer, but when ladder will be 6 month + maybe battlenet. I will decise when the game is out.

Does your suggestion depend on twinked and unwinked? I can image its sometime really hard to find as a Hammerdin exactly the runes you need like Ber + Jah. Sometime you will find 3 Jah and 0 Ber. And you need to rely on the tele staff oder amu. The tele staff is dangerous because you dont have a shield. And a sorc can innate teleport. So i think a sorc would befefit from a untwinked play. But when she dies many time later in the late levels the hammerdin could be faster level 99?

 

[d2lover]

Ah that makes another interesting point:

Do you join games to play with others in baalruns?

Blizzard, Hammerdin, can both be a good addition to any team because there gigantic damage and aiming is not much of a problem in baals.

Still not entirely sold on the idea of controller gameplay.

They are just those split second decisions like Deseis (or any other fana mob) and being handicapped doesn't help.

I mean with special stuff Ancients, WE, Torch.

 

[LeOsTyLe]

Ah that makes another interesting point:

Do you join games to play with others in baalruns?

Blizzard, Hammerdin, can both be a good addition to any team because there gigantic damage and aiming is not much of a problem in baals.

Still not entirely sold on the idea of controller gameplay.

They are just those split second decisions like Deseis (or any other fana mob) and being handicapped doesn't help.

I mean with special stuff Ancients, WE, Torch.

If i will play on Battle net, when i would join Baal Runs, too, yes. But if i am strong enough i would prefer do a dia run in that baal run and later join the baal run or doing a Baal run in a Dia run game. (If it is ok for the party) Because this grants me more exp. And when i am not strong enough for doing this i can may doing a Pit run (Hammerdin) or a Ancients Tunnel run (Blizzard Sorc) in a Baal er Dia run. Same goes for Singleplayer. If i am not strong enough for /players8 chaos i will go /players8 Pit or Ancients Tunnel. I think /players8 Pit / Ancients Tunnel should beat /players1-5 chaos, does it? In terms of experience for non high level characters i mean.

I know for "competetive" play or efficiency mouse and keyboard almost everytime beats a controller. But for me its much more comfort with controller. I prefer comfort over efficiency. Just laying lazy on a couch with a controller after a hard/stressfull work day is just to good.

Edit: What would you suggest for my "handicapped" route for level 99. Sorc or Hammerdin? And does your suggestion change when the Baal Experience Bug is fixed (and the others)?

 

[d2lover]

I would go with sorc. Aiming with blizzard is just easier for me and can be done while not standing in the middle of the mobs.

Still I would avoid any teleporting with BOTH, since manaburn=death, in case of a "real" mob. (Found that out while qbugging baal in self-mp with my fishymancer). Insight and doubleSoJ would help in that case of course, especially as sorc (since you have a slightly higher teleport lvl), to regenerate mana fast enough such that you aren't manalocked by fast attacking burnmobs.

The additional exp is just not worth it IMO for all the hassle.(you mention couch play, so I think that argument is valid)

It could be worth it tho, if you have a group of friends who help you save the corpse after a death.

Btw, do you have a controller in mind already? Can you show it please?

 

[LeOsTyLe]

I would go with sorc. Aiming with blizzard is just easier for me and can be done while not standing in the middle of the mobs.

Still I would avoid any teleporting with BOTH, since manaburn=death, in case of a "real" mob. (Found that out while qbugging baal in self-mp with my fishymancer). Insight and doubleSoJ would help in that case of course, especially as sorc (since you have a slightly higher teleport lvl), to regenerate mana fast enough such that you aren't manalocked by fast attacking burnmobs.

The additional exp is just not worth it IMO for all the hassle.(you mention couch play, so I think that argument is valid)

It could be worth it tho, if you have a group of friends who help you save the corpse after a death.

Btw, do you have a controller in mind already? Can you show it please?

If i really should not teleport, a Java would come into my considerations as well, because i like the playstill of her the most. Hammerdin and Sorc are still a good fun for me, but Java delivers me slighty more fun. I just cutted her out because the horrible teleport speed even with many fcr on her and this decreases my overall fun with her very much. You easy get locked (fhr, fbr and the avoid damage animation "bug") with her in fana groups because of the slow teleport speed.

Years ago i read a Hardcore Sorc Guide and the Author suggested to invest some points into teleport to reduce the mana cost of it (because of the reason you mentioned with mana burn monsters). So when i am mana burned i still can teleport. At skill level 24, teleport costs 1 Mana. 0 Mana is notpossible. The deaths are only in high levels very painful and when i have a high level char i should have many + skills. So i probably only have to invest some point into teleport to get 1 Mana Teleport. As a Hammerdin its not possible. What are your thought about this. I assume you suggest max block build because of the mana burn fana mobs?

In the D2R Beta i used my Nintendo Switch Controller. https://cdn03.nintendo-europe.com/m...tch_NintendoSwitch_Accessories_Controller.jpg

Edit: In the Beta there was another thing not optiomal with controller. You can only drink potions with the D-PAD Buttons. This you do normaly with your left thumb. When you do this, you need to release your thumb from the left analog stick which is your direction input. So while you press the drink button you can not input the direction you want to teleport and i think it will teleport you to the direction your characters face. When you are very near to a wall and your character will face to the wall and dont give a input where he should teleport, he will not teleport. I suggest in the Beta forum, the potion buttons should be settable to other keys like the skills, normal attack, throw, interact, etc.

 

[d2lover]

I find maxblock just a gamble, because you either are hit and lose a greater % of your life than without mb, or are not hit and are in a blockanimation which itself can be dangerous (except on pally).

Can't recommend, but to be frankly, didn't try it on sorceress (except Passion dreamsorc with storm)

Also depends heavily on the shield, if you use Storm you will have better breakpoints and overall damred than with Mosars for example.

A cheat would be Whistans, because you block really fast by default with it. Would be interesting to test it out

 

[LeOsTyLe]

I find maxblock just a gamble, because you either are hit and lose a greater % of your life than without mb, or are not hit and are in a blockanimation which itself can be dangerous (except on pally).

Can't recommend, but to be frankly, didn't try it on sorceress (except Passion dreamsorc with storm)

Also depends heavily on the shield, if you use Storm you will have better breakpoints and overall damred than with Mosars for example.

A cheat would be Whistans, because you block really fast by default with it. Would be interesting to test it out

Yes this it true, but a block animation is shorter as a fhr animation, even as sorc. In case you dont block you will get 100% a hit (because defense/attackrating hit calcuation is calculated before block.) and will trigger depends on the damage the fhr animation. i can not tell how many times you would avoid the fhr animation because of damage taken/ max life in real situations (i could calcuate it but the reallity have to many variables). Maybe someone have excperience. If a monster just do a couple of dmg and you dont go into fhr animation but you would go into fbr animation because of max block the situation is not very dangerous. But if you tele into a fana monster and they deal big damage to you and you would 100% goes into a fhr animation, a max block build should be very good. Because you have a short fbr aniamtion rather a "slow" fhr animation and you nullify the damage in 3/4 cases due to block and possible damage reduce% from strom shield. Beacuse of the lesser hp pool lets not say 3/4 lets say 1/2.

Bye the way i edited the post before.

 

[maxicek]

 

[LeOsTyLe]

Made some teleport stuck tests. Even with 1 Mana cost sometime you can not tele because mana burn takes you to zero and it take sometime 0.5 second or so till the mana regeneration kicks in. But another problem is when the monsters just lock you in any kind of animation. In unlucky situations even my 86 fhr, 125 fcr, pala with holy shield and 75% block got in lock animations and could not tele away for some seconds. And when you are unlucky and the mosters have some lucky hits it can be dangours. The only reliable way to get around this is to save and quit fast, but on controller there is no fast way for doing that. When i die on Level 98 i lose about 350 baal runs or 87,5 baal runs, when i get my body back. i will definitely put some emergency equipment in my stash for getting my body back.

@d2lover do you really think not teleporting is a realistic option? Made some dia and baal runs and i need at least the double time. While in "lower" character levels this is maybe ok because i kill many unqiue monster on the way, but in the later character levels where the most experience come from dia/baal/nila, not teleporting is a pain. The big question is what gives more pain, the very long run times or the maybe the deaths because of teleport. When i take the number above 87,5 baal run lose per death, when i need to stay alive while tele for 175 games. I still hope they give controller players a way to save and exit fast.

 

[d2lover]

If you level in a group often you just join and someone else makes the teleporting job. (And hopefully this time, there will be no bots)

Also you can't have fast solo-runs and relaxing gameplay on a couch with controler, IMO.

Your damage output will speed up the Baalrun in question, and therefore you are not leeching, you just don't teleport (like 99% of non-sorc will at the start)

 

[LeOsTyLe]

I thought about this, too, but there are two problems. 1) I need to depend on someone. I remember many games with 4 sorcs and no sorc is teleing. So i would prefer to tele my self to speed up this procces and not to have to rely on someone And 2) I dont know if a tp is safe and have to trust someone. I heard in Hardcore many people died entering a Hot tp. Theoretically i could wait till i saw some playern entered and not died.

And when i play singleplayer there is no one who tele for me. Maybe i tele the last or last two levels via mouse and keyboard just to have a fast save and exit option. Or play entirely with mouse and keyboard for the last (two) levels. I think i will need to make some experience with it and see how many time i die while tele.

Bye the way i totally understimated Glactical Spike. Its a hug defense bonus. Everything is frozen, except the cold immuns and unique mosters. The merc almost never dies.

Edit: I did in the beta some teleport Andy runs. I put all skill points to teleport (to reduca mana cost) and the most stat points in energy, just to test teleport on controller. And i could make fast "relaxing" solo runs. Relaxing is subjective i know, but its was for me more relaxing as mouse and keyboard runs, but this is for every person diffrent. Maybe some people can relax with mouse and keyboard, but i cant.

 

[ffs]

Fastest classes in general are Sorc or Paladin yes, I'm not sure how playing with a controller changes how they compare.

But I don't get why you want to do it with a controller tbh. I mean I do play other games with a controller (big fighting game fan here) – but D2 just isn't meant to be played that way, pretty much what @maxicek subtly pointed out.

For SP 99ers, even with mouse + keayboard it takes some 200-400+ hours depending on class/build and that's with fixed maps in SP which helps a lot. This is with precise inputs over thousands of runs, in case of Nihlathak >10k. Plus in all of those runs there will be many situations where you have to react quickly and precisely in order to not die and lose time on top of that. When playing with a controller, even disregarding deaths, the amount of hours to finish a 99er will skyrocket out of control. Determination can only do so much, for me at least.

For MP/group play that changes of course, but then again in this case it doesn't really matter which class or build you play if you have a group to rely on and getting XP anyway.

 

[d2lover]

Ah, also forgot, will there be crossplay or only crossprogression?

 

[LeOsTyLe]

Fastest classes in general are Sorc or Paladin yes, I'm not sure how playing with a controller changes how they compare.

But I don't get why you want to do it with a controller tbh. I mean I do play other games with a controller (big fighting game fan here) – but D2 just isn't meant to be played that way, pretty much what @maxicek subtly pointed out.

For SP 99ers, even with mouse + keayboard it takes some 200-400+ hours depending on class/build and that's with fixed maps in SP which helps a lot. This is with precise inputs over thousands of runs, in case of Nihlathak >10k. Plus in all of those runs there will be many situations where you have to react quickly and precisely in order to not die and lose time on top of that. When playing with a controller, even disregarding deaths, the amount of hours to finish a 99er will skyrocket out of control. Determination can only do so much, for me at least.

For MP/group play that changes of course, but then again in this case it doesn't really matter which class or build you play if you have a group to rely on and getting XP anyway.

Thanks. I see in your signature you have already 3 chars at Level 99. Including a sorc and a paladin. I just read your history of them. May i could ask you 10 questions about your journey with them? It would be a very big help for me, if i could benefit from your experience.

Sorc 1) In your nila setup you runned. Cresent Moon and Spirit Monarch. What did you runned in your Baal Setup? Hoto+Spirit or Hoto+Storm(Max Block) and did you wear Thundergods because of Souls or did you wear Arach?

Sorc 2) If you decised to run chaos with your lightning sorc, would you have diffrent gear?

Sorc 3) How often you was in Baal Runs or in the few Chaos Run you did (including teleport) in situations where you had to Save and Exit? For Nilathak you wrote it in your history but i do not plan to run him anyway.

Sorc 4) When you now with your experience of 3 Level 99 untwinked chars would make another sorc and you never had a Level 99 char before would you do the same thing or do you suggest to change someting, like farm somewhere else or change a item etc. (based on your experience now) and does your suggestion change when in D2R in Singleplayer the maps are randomly changed like in Multiplayer? I assume Lower Kurast time will must be at least doubled or even trippled due to on averange only 1 cap fire spawns and you have to search it every time. Is it still worth it or better "normaly" farm in Travi, AT, Chaos or Pindle for the runes?

Pala 1) Before you runned nila with your avenger, you had a Hammerdin. Did you go spirit palashield for 125% fcr or what was your setup? If you would runned Baal (you had not, i know) did you would include Thundergods belt?

Pala 2) How often you was in Chaos Run (including teleport) in situations where you had to Save and Exit?

Pala 3) Would you suggest someone who is going a Hammerdin to Level 99 he should go the same way like you or would you change things (based on your experience now) I probably will not run nila, so i would stay in Chaos. And here the same does the suggestion change when in D2R maps are not more static and change every time? Enigma in Lower Kurast Farm would probably takes ages than. Not better farm in this case Chaos with Teleport Charges or Travi?

Paladin 4) You wrote you made Mephi and Chaos Runs till 90. Did you Chaos /players1 or higher till you start with your two seal grippon runs?

Generel 1) According to your Paladin Level 99 history you think a Hammerdin is overall slighty better / not so gear dependent for untwinked Level 99 play like a sorc. Does your suggestion change when in D2R the maps arent anymore static and they are random like in Multiplayer?

Generel 2) When you do 2 Seal grippon runs, i assume you kill all unique monster on the way and not only the seal bosses, do you?

Ah, also forgot, will there be crossplay or only crossprogression?

It will be crossprogression.

 

[ffs]

Sorc 1) In your nila setup you runned. Cresent Moon and Spirit Monarch. What did you runned in your Baal Setup? Hoto+Spirit or Hoto+Storm(Max Block) and did you wear Thundergods because of Souls or did you wear Arach?

Hoto + Spirit + Arach is what I ran I think. Exact setup should be in the write-up somewhere.

Sorc 2) If you decised to run chaos with your lightning sorc, would you have diffrent gear?

Can't remember exactly, but must have been very similar to Baal setup. I ran CS with Lightning/CL because I had found a Griffon's on that Sorc and wanted to use it. That's not ideal in any case, Blizzard is go-to build for CS. Lighting Sorc is OK but not a great CS runner, she does better at Baal.

Sorc 3) How often you was in Baal Runs or in the few Chaos Run you did (including teleport) in situations where you had to Save and Exit? For Nilathak you wrote it in your history but i do not plan to run him anyway.

Rarely at Baal, more often at Chaos. No idea how often exactly.

Sorc 4) When you now with your experience of 3 Level 99 untwinked chars would make another sorc and you never had a Level 99 char before would you do the same thing or do you suggest to change someting, like farm somewhere else or change a item etc. (based on your experience now) and does your suggestion change when in D2R in Singleplayer the maps are randomly changed like in Multiplayer? I assume Lower Kurast time will must be at least doubled or even trippled due to on averange only 1 cap fire spawns and you have to search it every time. Is it still worth it or better "normaly" farm in Travi, AT, Chaos or Pindle for the runes?

Depends, I only went the Lightning route because I found a nicely rolled Griffon's with her. For fastest 99 I'd surely go Blizzard in CS until 98, then switch to Lightning at Nihlathak for 98-99. She only needs CtA early on basically, so rune finding is not a big deal normally. I don't think fixed maps will change for SP in D2R? For MP/changing maps, LK running will be much less efficient, probably same for Trav. Cow level may be the best target in such case or maybe AS even (not having to look around stony field).

Pala 1) Before you runned nila with your avenger, you had a Hammerdin. Did you go spirit palashield for 125% fcr or what was your setup? If you would runned Baal (you had not, i know) did you would include Thundergods belt?

It's in the write-up somewhere, typical 125 FCR hammerdin with spirit/hoto etc.
Thundergod means you can forget about 125 FCR which is clearly worse than a minor quality of life upgrade, he can be safe enough easily without thundergod's.

Pala 2) How often you was in Chaos Run (including teleport) in situations where you had to Save and Exit?

My Hdin died 2 or 3 times in Chaos IIRC, it's just more dangerous than Baal. No idea how often I S&E'ed to avoid a death, but it happened occasionally.

It's not really important how often I had to S&E, my point was rather just situations that require "immedaite reaction". That is usually teleporting to safety, but often this needs to be done very quickly and to a pretty specific location. I may have S&E'ed only 5 times in all of the runs, but this kind of immediate repositioning surely >100 times in order to avoid dying in an instant... that's what I'd be concerned about when playing with a controller.

Pala 3) Would you suggest someone who is going a Hammerdin to Level 99 he should go the same way like you or would you change things (based on your experience now) I probably will not run nila, so i would stay in Chaos. And here the same does the suggestion change when in D2R maps are not more static and change every time? Enigma in Lower Kurast Farm would probably takes ages than. Not better farm in this case Chaos with Teleport Charges or Travi?

If not going Nilh, P1/P7 Diablo is the way to go for 98-99 with Hammerdin. Again I'd assume SP maps stay static, otherwise probably cows or AS is better for runes (because Trav efficiency is more dependent on map). You want Enigma 100%.

Paladin 4) You wrote you made Mephi and Chaos Runs till 90. Did you Chaos /players1 or higher till you start with your two seal grippon runs?

I just farmed S&Us at Meph (P1 or P3) which took surprisingly long with the Pally. Chaos runs I didn't do on P1, think I always went P8 there once I had at least somewhat decent gear, but not sure.

Generel 1) According to your Paladin Level 99 history you think a Hammerdin is overall slighty better / not so gear dependent for untwinked Level 99 play like a sorc. Does your suggestion change when in D2R the maps arent anymore static and they are random like in Multiplayer?

No, in particular for CS runners that doesn't change much at all because the seals are always reliable and good XP sources and you always know where to go.

Generel 1) According to your Paladin Level 99 history you think a Hammerdin is overall slighty better / not so gear dependent for untwinked Level 99 play like a sorc. Does your suggestion change when in D2R the maps arent anymore static and they are random like in Multiplayer?

Pretty much impossible to say who's better in an untwinked setting because it all depends on RNG, but certainly he's less gear-dependent and that wouldn't change in that hypothetical scenario.

Generel 2) When you do 2 Seal grippon runs, i assume you kill all unique monster on the way and not only the seal bosses, do you?

No, I only killed seal packs and other boss packs that I could fight simultaneously with the seal bosses. But it's fine to kill other packs too, marginal difference (if any) and more drops arguably.

 

[LeOsTyLe]

Thanks for the fast and detailed reply.

Hoto + Spirit + Arach is what I ran I think. Exact setup should be in the write-up somewhere.

Did you ever have considered max block? You are now the 2nd person here who suggest me going spirit and not max block. But according to my experience you only need to be hitted by some melee mobs e.g. unlucky tele or you dont see a monster and you get badly injured. I can not image a 2% block char is safer even she lose some life like 2300 -> 1700 life.

I don't think fixed maps will change for SP in D2R?

If i do not missunderstand his english, the streamer Debrunski125 told this in one of this videos. But i can not find any other source of this information, i tried to google it. i also tried asked people who played the alpha, but no one answered.

Rarely at Baal, more often at Chaos. No idea how often exactly.

It's not really important how often I had to S&E, my point was rather just situations that require "immedaite reaction". That is usually teleporting to safety, but often this needs to be done very quickly and to a pretty specific location. I may have S&E'ed only 5 times in all of the runs, but this kind of immediate repositioning surely >100 times in order to avoid dying in an instant... that's what I'd be concerned about when playing with a controller.

I assume not only the save and exit situations are much more often in chaos, the situations where is have to react immediately and teleport precise, too? I think while in the baal waves i can just teleport beside and have many empty room, where i could teleport. Maybe when i am clearing the thron room itself there is not many room and it affort precise teleport, but in a chaos run this can happens all time, i mean many time there is no room to tele and afford precise teleport. So when i defenitily want to play with controller no matter what, i should prefer baal runs? If this is the case, according to my knowledge a lightning sorc is much faster as a hammerdin in a baal run, especially if the baal exp bug is fixed, because of the 2nd immunity wave to hammers and because of baal high hp pool and "low" hammer single target damage comparet to a lightning sorc . Would you say a hammerdin is in a baal run overall safer because of max block and higher life or would you say he is the same as sorc or even riskier because he is in melee range? And are there any situation where you suggest to leave the game like dolls who can explode or do you try to kill them safetly?