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

[BBS_Agonistes]

Yeah, that was certainly without hitting racks or corpses. I probably quit hitting those at all after about 2.5k or 3k runs. I also quit obsessing about picking up flawless and other crafting materials. I'd still pick them up when convenient, but before I'd been a bit obsessive-compulsive and would even teleport back if I realized I had missed one. Oh, and the TK the waypoint as soon as in view is a good point--I did that as well, so updated my list of tips to include that.

 

[BBS_Agonistes]

I decided to do a second round of 5,000 LK runs in roughly 2 weeks / 38 hours. I ran with full Tal's + FCR rings with Harmony Bow on switch. The Tal's set was nice... this time I didn't die at all.

I'm not going to make Enigma from the runes, but it's worth noting that this time I farmed an Enigma's worth of runes by run #4,277. All in all, this was a far more productive 5k runs with the massive number of Ohms and 2 Los I farmed. I've needed some more Griefs, CTAs, Beast, and some other RWs, so I farmed than and then some and am quite happy! Just setting a number of runs and only doing that in D2 until I was done was far easier psychologically than trying to farm a specific runeword.

Total Runes Pul and Above:
Pul - 7
Um - 5
Mal - 8
Ist - 3
Gul - 7
Ohm - 6
Lo - 2
Sur - 5
Ber - 1

Full List of Rune Drops By Run Number:

Spoiler

69 - Pul
85 - Mal
472 - Pul
514 - Gul
522 - Ist
632 - Lo
697 - Pul
1062 - Sur
1472 - Sur
1537 - Gul
1622 - Sur
1672 - Mal
1807 - Um
2005 - Ohm
2119 - Sur
2127 - Mal
2191 - Ist
2257 - Gul
2539 - Mal
2594 - Pul
2705 - Mal
2844 - Gul
2922 - Gul
2938 - Ohm
2998 - Um
3185 - Ist
3192 - Lo
3336 - Ohm
3375 - Ohm
3524 - Um
3637 - Gul
3682 - Ohm
3886 - Ohm
4159 - Mal
4164 - Gul
4231 - Sur
4255 - Um
4277 - Ber
4289 - Pul
4307 - Mal
4313 - Um
4498 - Pul
5000 - Pul

Haul Pic, Mal & Above:

 

[Excalibur]

Congratulations @BBS_Agonistes ! Quite jealous of that Ber right there!
I am not gonna lie, I am really against LK and I really hate that it's so easy to grab such runes but my luck lately with Vex-Jah runes has been quite low and all of those posts with high runes from LK from everyone have almost persuaded me to give this a try.

 

[BBS_Agonistes]

Congratulations @BBS_Agonistes ! Quite jealous of that Ber right there!
I am not gonna lie, I am really against LK and I really hate that it's so easy to grab such runes but my luck lately with Vex-Jah runes has been quite low and all of those posts with high runes from LK from everyone have almost persuaded me to give this a try.

I definitely get that. I think landing a Cham off Nihlathak was my proudest rune moment by far, not just because it was a really high rune, but also because I got it by killing a monster. Fundamentally, that seems to me what D2 has always been about: killing monsters. Racking and farming runes in LK is fine and all, but it feels a bit off from the teleological character of the game.

That said, my last time at D2 I never really got to where I could run the toughest areas of the game (A85, Baal, Cows, etc.) because I never really got the gear. This time, farming LK has allowed me to do that, and that's certainly my goal: to be dropping Jah-Zod in Cows, etc.

All that to say, I completely get where you are coming from, but especially for a guy like you who has a pile of Chams and Zods from elsewhere, no harm in filling out gaps in your rune inventory with LK.

 

[ffs]

You can treat LK as just being a "phase" of racking and chest popping, but it's simply illogical not to do that in order to initially get the gamechanger runewords like Enigma/Infinity/CtA. After farming them you can go back to monster killing! You're exactly right, LK comes first to put you in the position to efficiently farm other areas. Then once you found all the S&U and made some "fun build" runewords or whatnot, you'll eventually go back to LK because it is also the best end game target.

 

[Excalibur]

I seriously don't know if I have the patience to do it. Just considering running it is already a big step forward for me. xD
In any case, I think I have already found the perfect character for it so I am going to try it soon!

 

[BBS_Agonistes]

I seriously don't know if I have the patience to do it. Just considering running it is already a big step forward for me. xD
In any case, I think I have already found the perfect character for it so I am going to try it soon!

This time around I rarely ever was “just” running LK. It can help a lot to listen to a podcast, lectures on YT, music (not just as background music but if you’re a music nerd and it’s a new album you’re excited about), or whatever. I’d also do runs while my wife and I were vegging out watching TV and she’d be working on her furniture refurb or whatever. That can slow down runs a tad bc there’s a visual component, but it’s still better than just doing runs with nothing else going.

And yeah, it’s also great for accumulating crafting materials for sure.

This time around I picked up:
-Runes
-Flawless gems
-jewels
-SCs and GCs
-Blue Monarchs
-Yellow Eth dimensional blades and crystal swords (nothing cool so far)

 

[Excalibur]

This time around I rarely ever was “just” running LK. It can help a lot to listen to a podcast, lectures on YT, music (not just as background music but if you’re a music nerd and it’s a new album you’re excited about), or whatever. I’d also do runs while my wife and I were vegging out watching TV and she’d be working on her furniture refurb or whatever.

Exactly what I was doing when I was running for keys.
I had some ideas for a LK runner and the character is ready! Once I find one more HR in Cows I will probably switch to LK to see how it will go.

 

[ffs]

Not sure what you had in mind for perfect character, but it's been settled for years namely 200 FCR Sorc. Fastest casting + telekinesis = win.

 

[Excalibur]

Yeah, I probably overreacted.
Due to the slow loading times in D2R, I assumed it would be more profitable to invest in FRW.
Let me first develop what I had in mind to see how it will go.

 

[BBS_Agonistes]

On that note, I haven’t quite been able to put together a decent 200 FCR set up yet, and my feeling had been that the teleporting to huts and TKing the chests is the faster approach. It’s quite a bit more fiddly and haven’t quite got the hang of it, so I’m still faster just teleporting on top of chests and clicking them. That said, I want to try the TK approach next go around. I’m sure if I grit my teeth through it that I will be good at it once I’m a few thousand runs in. I tried to switch to that approach this time but just didn’t have the discipline to fully transition to it.