Patriarch LuckyLuke - Best Possible Lower Kurast Runner if

sirpoopsalot

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May 24, 2005
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Patriarch LuckyLuke - Best Possible Lower Kurast Runner

After all of the LK runs over the years to finally make an Enigma (including building a couple of customized runners already), I made... another LK runner. :p

Although sorceresses rule the roost in LK, that's simply a matter of budget (read: not many people have an Enigma). Otherwise, there are other classes that have other skills (beyond teleport) that are good fits for serious LK runs. Classes like... barbarians.


Patriarch LuckyLuke, Level88
Str: 125
Dex: 60
Vit: 400
Ene: 25 (yes, I spent a few points here)

Life: 1923 (without BO, since I won't be casting it during my runs)
Mana: 831 (without BO)
Resists: 75 all

Skills:
19 (23) Increased Speed
20 Battle Orders
20 Warcry
12 Howl
10 Taunt
10 BattleCry
1 BattleCommand, MaceMastery, Berserk, prereq's


Gear:
2x Hel-socketed Wizardspike
Enigma
1.07 Valk Wing (PSapphire)
Magefists
Arachnid's Mesh
IK Boots
Bahamut's Ring of the Apprentice (101/10)
Rare ring (10 FCR, 90 mana, stuff)
crafted amulet (18 FCR, 9 dex, +1 barb skills, +15 mana, 10 regen)
switch: 'Harmony' Hunters Bow

Merc: Prayer, level88
Insight + Gloom + Crown of Thieves


Finds:
Hellforge: Pul/Um (yay!!!)
Highlord's Wrath


Notes:
1. He's got 200 FCR for a 7-frame casting speed. That's as fast as the fastest sorceress.

2. He's also got a ridiculous amount of FRW. 115 from equipment, and an additional 44 or 80 from skills (depending on which weapon-switch is active). He can run almost as fast as he can teleport.

3. His primary spells from this point will be Howl and War Cry (and Teleport). He's got crowd manipulation that a sorceress doesn't have, as well as better mobility and tanking for optimized LK runs.

4. Leveling up = slow. The merc was using a Fortitude & VampGaze with the Insight, and provided ~95% of my killing power. Luke's gear had a much higher emphasis on +skills (about +20) and +mana, while dropping down to 105 FCR. I also used Ribcracker + Berserk (+BattleCry) on switch for fighting bosses and the occasional PI.

5. The levelup process was a matter of slogging through Normal & NM on /players8, then I did ~100 Countess runs on /p1 from 75-80. After that I quested through Hell on /p1 and killed boss packs along the way, finishing just short of level 83. After a few /p8 Pindle runs to get to 83 I joined some MP Baal runs to push through to 86. After that I was anxious to get him finished, so I decided to just slog through on Pindle, which required about ~150 runs /p8 late last night (about 85 seconds per run), with my merc killing almost everything. Thankfully all his levelup runs are done.

6. No deaths. Probably a couple of NDE's, though he had ~4500 life with full questing gear, so when it looked like his lifebulb was empty he still usually had 600-800 life. :p Throw on a stunning spell like Warcry and monster-manipulation spells like Howl and Taunt, and it was pretty easy to quaff a purple potion before getting killed by even the most dangerous monsters. The only real threat to the build is Fire-Enchanted-death-explosions in Nightmare (stupid bug), but I was careful to avoid those.

7. Thanks for the MP sessions everyone.


Overall:
I've always wanted to make a "best possible build", and I think this will all add up to an absolute top-end LK runner, better for the task than any other possible build (not that I currently have much enthusiasm to put more time in LK, but when the time comes :p)...
 
Re: Patriarch LuckyLuke - Best Possible Lower Kurast Runner

Real cool patriarch :D

Go and pawn those Lk sorcs ^^


Edit: Welcome to the Nigma club......ok...I admit I got no Nigma and prob never will...but you could give me yours so I can join Nigma club...for real big congrats on both pat and armor.
 
Re: Patriarch LuckyLuke - Best Possible Lower Kurast Runner

Congratulations on your pat, interesting build indeed, when will we see an action video?:)
And of course, congratulations on your Enigma!

Just a general thought looking at your gear, why IK boots? For the stat bonus?

/g
 
Re: Patriarch LuckyLuke - Best Possible Lower Kurast Runner

Big congrats on the awesome char!

I can imagine that levelling him was quite the hassle... But hey, now you can brag about having a superior LK runner! :thumbup: May he find more stones to make h4x RWs.

I like to have a solid mana supply with my caster chars, but still, I need to ask: 2 wizzies + 2 big mana rings, was all of that needed? Then again, you needed the FCR from those rings, and other mods wouldn't have added more (you already had max resists, can't add more FRW on rings, dmg/ar not needed), but still, I'm curious.

If I'm not mistaken... is this your first Enigma build? Weird choice if so :D What's next?

EDIT:

Just a general thought looking at your gear, why IK boots? For the stat bonus?
No stats on the boots. Aldurs has 6 more life though, and it's indestructible. The fire resists are irrelevant though. I would've used Aldurs as well. Though I imagine all 40% FRW boots would have suited this build equally.


 
Re: Patriarch LuckyLuke - Best Possible Lower Kurast Runner

IK Boots:
For the 40 FRW primarily. With 2 Wizardspikes my resists were already max'ed, so Aldurs or Nat's boots weren't anything special, and I liked the IK boots better than Sanders for the remaining options (especially because I needed all the AR I could get when I was still using Ribcracker).


Mana:
To teleport around LK and regenerate naturally just through running around, the ~800 mana is about the break-even point (even with the Insight merc). Any lower than that and I require the occasional potion. Besides, there isn't much else on a ring that can contribute to the build at this point anyways.


Builds:
Yep, that's the first Enigma build. I usually want something original for a new item, and this qualifies. Up next: who knows. A summon necro is on the list, but I'm not sure if it'll be next or something else.
 
Re: Patriarch LuckyLuke - Best Possible Lower Kurast Runner

Nicely done, definitely not something you see every day. :)

Just finished leveling my more traditional LK runner this morning - a 200 FCR GS sorc.

Did you actually need insight with that mana pool? EDIT: nevermind, you answered before I asked
 
Re: Patriarch LuckyLuke - Best Possible Lower Kurast Runner

Nice build there. Glad to see you got those last few levels after last night's MP session :) I have to admit I was wondering a bit about the Barb sitting in the middle of the minions with a dagger in his hand.

However, if you're going to call this the "best" LK build, I want to see the data ;)

How fast are your LK runs over time (since that's pretty much the only thing that matters on an LK run)?

I don't doubt that this is a very, very good (if not the best) LK runner, but, I'd like to see his times compared to a tricked out sorc or something that others consider to be the "best". I'll admit that I don't have enough LK experience so I really am interested!
 
Re: Patriarch LuckyLuke - Best Possible Lower Kurast Runner

Nicely done! My 200FCR warcry barb Iahke (with Enigma) I had in mind as a potential LK runner. I haven't spent his final stat/skillpoints to optimize him for that, though. To be a good LK runner, I need a lot of empty backpack space and Iahke is currently very dependent upon his charms for mana and dex at this point. Indecision is one of my nemeses...

Do you miss TK for opening chests/popping racks/hitting WPs?
 
Re: Patriarch LuckyLuke - Best Possible Lower Kurast Runner

Way to suck, poops.
 
Re: Patriarch LuckyLuke - Best Possible Lower Kurast Runner

Nice build Sir Poops, how fast can he pop six chests ?
 
Re: Patriarch LuckyLuke - Best Possible Lower Kurast Runner

Thanks everyone.

Nicely done! My 200FCR warcry barb Iahke (with Enigma) I had in mind as a potential LK runner. I haven't spent his final stat/skillpoints to optimize him for that, though. To be a good LK runner, I need a lot of empty backpack space and Iahke is currently very dependent upon his charms for mana and dex at this point. Indecision is one of my nemeses...

Yeah, charms & planning can definitely be an issue. I was very careful to avoid counting on anything from charms (though they were extremely helpful for leveling up), and LK is to be his one and only task from now on, so every other purpose he got used for was peripheral to that.

Do you miss TK for opening chests/popping racks/hitting WPs?

I don't have any good racks (yet), so TK has little use for those when I'm running. And I like to teleport to a few steps from the chest so that I can click on it and hold down the Alt (display items) key when the chest pops to see if I get a flash of red or purple - which is another plus for having higher FRW.

So, aside from WP activation, TK has little use for me. And I think the higher FRW more than makes up for the loss overall. If I really wanted TK, I could try to get TK charges on my rings (though repairing charges would be a pain).


How fast are your LK runs over time (since that's pretty much the only thing that matters on an LK run)?

I don't doubt that this is a very, very good (if not the best) LK runner, but, I'd like to see his times compared to a tricked out sorc or something that others consider to be the "best". I'll admit that I don't have enough LK experience so I really am interested!

Well, it's hard to compare to other runners since there are at least 4 variables that are almost impossible to balance between different people: the quality of the map, computer load times, what drops in each run, and the stuff that gets picked up.

My comp's not extremely fast, I'm not anal about getting a perfect map, and I tend to pick up some stuff that others will leave on the ground. So my runs have always been slow compared to some other SPF'ers. An example is when I'm at top speed my Blizzsorc averages 26-27 seconds per Pindle run, and many other SPF'ers are closer to 20 with similar gear on their blizzsorcs.

But as a test I used the seed command to give him my usual LK map and did a couple of test runs - he was 6% faster than LuckyLucyII (my previous LK-specialist). Also the difference in his run speed made it hard for me to keep up - so once I get used to that (and considering I have a little more inventory space available) the overall improvement could go up 10-15% overall. Considering LL2 is no slouch in LK already, I think that's a pretty clear indication that Luke's going to be tough to top.

Obviously take that with a grain of salt. I want to get him his own map (using the -seed is cheesy), so I only did a couple of runs. And I'll also need to get used to his patterns and speed, so even if I had the ambition for more LK runs right now, it would still take me a week or three of practice to get a more definitive answer.



 
Re: Patriarch LuckyLuke - Best Possible Lower Kurast Runner

Ok, now the obvious question:

You did LK for sooo long to get enigma, so you could do LK more?
 
Re: Patriarch LuckyLuke - Best Possible Lower Kurast Runner

Maybe not as much as before, but I know someday I'll be back to LK. I'm still several HR's short of having "enough" afterall, and LK is one of the best sources available.
 
Re: Patriarch LuckyLuke - Best Possible Lower Kurast Runner

Cool build there 'poops. You really need to get 5k runs of practice and then buckle down and see how fast you can really go with him.

I am currently an advocate of the act 4 route and sorceresses cannot be beat going that route because of telekinesis. After you get some real speed numbers then we'll see whether running the docks compares to hoping to act 4.

I hope that you have the enthusiasm to make a lot more builds with enigma. I focused too hard on my LK running to get to enigma such that after I succeded I was bummed out on D2 after only taking one build to 95. I am starting to get back into the swing of things with this new axe barb. (Pun mostly intended.)
 
Re: Patriarch LuckyLuke - Best Possible Lower Kurast Runner

FYI, jjscud did some testing of the two approaches with his LK runner. He started with near-optimal settings for the Act4 method (a fast computer, what he called a "perfect" map, and much practice with the tactic already). If I recall correctly, he found about a 0.5-1.5 second advantage for going back to Act4. If he'd had a less-than-perfect map, that advantage would've disappeared since he'd need more time teleporting at the end of his run (or TP scrolls) to get back to Act4...

... I'd be willing to bet Luke's superior FRW could knock at least 0.5-1 seconds off of JJ's time running through the Docs, not to mention that it takes my comp a couple of seconds to load acts. So I'm 99.99% positive going to Act4 will not be faster for me. If folks build a Harmony-switch + 40 FRW boots into their LK runner and give it an honest test for a couple hundred runs, I'd be surprised if Act4 actually improves times for most of them too (unless everyone's more anal about finding perfect maps than I am).

And this way if I get a great map for chests that ends with me ~10 teleports from the WP, it's not an issue (I don't spend several seconds teleporting back to the WP or need to bother with TP scrolls, nor do I need to reroll searching for a perfect map).
 
Re: Patriarch LuckyLuke - Best Possible Lower Kurast Runner

Gratz on the Pat poops. That's a nicely tricked out Barb.
 
Re: Patriarch LuckyLuke - Best Possible Lower Kurast Runner

Of course it's somewhat irrelevant, but I'd be interested in seeing some comparison videos and stuff. I did read the entire thread, and I've read previous discussions about it, but I just can't picture how a Kurast Docks runner can be faster than a Pandemonium Fortress runner, never mind a Kurast Docks runner without Telekinesis.

My 200FCR sorc doesn't run, ever. She takes a tiny step in the Fortress to reach the waypoint, then it's just Teleport and Telekinesis. To me, TK is very important indeed for LK runs. It'd be interesting to see how a barb would compare.
 
Re: Patriarch LuckyLuke - Best Possible Lower Kurast Runner

I like the concept, it's a very interesting idea, well done and thanks for sharing it!
 
Re: Patriarch LuckyLuke - Best Possible Lower Kurast Runner

Nice job on the pat, and did you tried him yet? What average time do you have?
 
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