The Untwinked Level 99 Progress Thread, Revenge of the 99ers

[Neksja]

@Hookipa a bit of both I guess. Relive has been around for the past 4-5 days, as I've been so close to finishing that the feeling has been coming through. Victory mood is now around since I feel like "doing 6 more to finish a sept is not going to be that bad, right", so overconfidence in ability to just rush through the other 6 classes like that No, I do not have plans for a sept of 99ers as of now, but I know I do want at least one more.

Also, I guess there's some bittersweetness in here too. I think Aura has been running in CS since late 80s, so I've spent a significant amount of time beating Diablo and his seal bosses, it's a bit odd thinking that I won't doing much of that for now, as I want to explore other options to get to 99, Nihl/Baal mainly.

 

[Bewitch]

GZ 99!!!

 

[Foghorn Leghorn]

Congrats on the 99, Neksja!

 

[Gynli]

Big big congrats! Very much looking forward to ur write up as well.

I ask cause i dont like hammerdins comapred to the rest of the builds; did u have any plans to run him as an auradin when u started?

 

[Pb_pal1]

@Neksja - Amazing! Congrats on the finish, and a very quick one at that. I remember you were flying before you parked him for a bit, so it makes sense that you finished as strong as you did. Awesome job again, looking forward to the writeup!

 

[RIP]

@Neksja: Huge congratulations, as others said, looking forward to Your write up

 

[Neksja]

@Gynli No, no plans to run as an Auradin. Or Telesmiter or anything else. It was Hammerdin from the beginning to the end. I wanted a character I could run pretty much anywhere in the game somewhat efficiently for RFOs, MFOs, any kind of "find this" tournament this forum was going to offer. I know a Sorc would probably be a much better option in most cases, but that would require constant respeccing, farming for tokens, changing gear set ups etc etc. For me, Hammerdin was the ultimate Overall build/character that I knew I could take all the way to 99. Plus, when I started him, no one had a truly competitive Paladin running for 99 in this tournament, so I thought I'd change that. And really, I wanted an efficient Diablo/CS farmer as I've never done that too efficiently before.

Today might mark a day of retirement for Aura, but her sister, Aurora the Sorceress was also born. She is now a lvl1 baby in Rogue Encampment, but I'm sure she'll start wreaking havoc around soon enough! But it might take a while to get her added to the table, I need to put some time a side to do the write-up for Aura too.

 

[T72on1]

Huge congrats, and good luck with Aurora. Looking forward to the write-up.

 

[Ashenshugar]

Congratulations, you really sprinted the last bit. Looking forward to reading about Auroras adventures.

 

[PhineasB1]

Echoing congrats to @Neksja and I just wanted to confirm that Aura is the first documented untwinked pally 99er. The others were twinked (although some were HC, which is amazing in its own right).

So very well-done all around, both in terms of the pace (notwithstanding the extended break mixed in there ) and blazing the trail. I must say that I'm glad you came back to finish him; it wouldn't have felt right for Phaedrus to pass him.

 

[Foghorn Leghorn]

[HIGHLIGHT]Hall of Fame[/HIGHLIGHT]

Forumite         Character        SC/HC  Class  Level  Exp   Date        E/S  S/U   Grail  Deaths  Hours
---------------  ---------------  -----  -----  -----  ----  ----------  ---  ----  -----  ------  -----
zticazzy         Perkele          SC     Barb   99     3.52  2016-07-12  No      -      -       -      -
Pb_pal           Eleanor          SC     Sorc   99     3.52  2016-11-09  No   3068    437       5      -
NanoMist         Izuna            SC     Sin    99     3.52  2016-12-25  No   5109    470       4    360
PhineasB         Mercy            SC     Sin    99     3.52  2017-05-23  Yes     -    475      11      -
PhineasB         Hiatus           SC     Sorc   99     3.52  2017-12-25  Yes     -    471      21      -
ffs              HelpYourself     SC     Sorc   99     3.52  2018-04-29  Yes     -    447       -      -
Neksja           Aura             SC     Pala   99     3.52  2018-08-08  Yes     -    481       -      -

[HIGHLIGHT]Questing Heroes[/HIGHLIGHT]

Forumite         Character        SC/HC  Class  Level  Exp   Date        E/S  S/U   Grail  Deaths  Hours
---------------  ---------------  -----  -----  -----  ----  ----------  ---  ----  -----  ------  -----
T72on1           Neverland        SC     Sorc   98.66  3.42  2018-07-29  Yes  lots    480      13    300+
Yng              Sophie           SC     Sorc   98.44  3.35  2018-07-14  Yes     -      -      10      -
PhineasB         Phaedrus         SC     Pala   98.1   3.26  2018-07-10  Yes     -    370      13      -
ffs              Ric              SC     Necro  97     3.00  2018-08-06  Yes     -      -       -      -
darkstarhub      Neptune          SC     Sorc   97     2.96  2018-07-23  Yes     -    470       -      - 
Bewitch          itssoftcore      SC     Sorc   97     2.96  2018-07-02  Yes     -      -       -      -
PhineasB         Pestilence       SC     Necro  96     2.84  2018-07-31  Yes     -      -       -      -
Ashenshugar      Natur            SC     Druid  96     2.71  2018-04-24  Yes  2529      -       -      -
Gynli            Amazon           SC     Ama    96     2.71  2018-06-14  Yes     -      -       -      -
CrustyRusty      Space_Oddity     SC     Ama    95     2.49  YYYY-MM-DD  Yes     -      -       -      -
RIP              Kaira_II         HC     Sin    94     2.32  2018-07-03  Yes     -    318       -      -
Zenigma          Ayura            SC     Barb   93     2.11  2018-04-26  No      -      -       -      -
Pb_pal           Klaus            HC     Druid  93     2.09  2018-06-21  Yes     -      -       -      -
Potent           Challenge(CL)    SC     Sorc   92     1.96  2018-07-30  no      -      -       -      -
Hutton           Terrahork        HC     Barb   92     0.00  2018-08-04  Yes     -      -       -      -
Lord Molybdenum  Verisimilitude   SC     Ama    90     1.62  2018-06-02  No     98     77       3      -
Trapin'          ceegee           SC     Pala   90     1.62  2018-07-04  No      -      -       -      -
Zenigma          Gnosis           SC     Druid  89     1.56  2018-04-26  No      -      -       -      -
T72on1           ShouldBeEasy     HC     Pala   8_8    1.36  2018-06-26  Yes    59     52      NA     42
Lord Molybdenum  Cruise_Control   SC     Necro  87     1.25  2018-06-02  No    128    101      22      -
Burgomaster3     Hastur           SC     Druid  86     1.14  2018-07-02  Yes     -      -       -      -
Smittyphi        TheLongRun       SC     Sorc   85     1.11  2018-05-28  Yes    30      -     Yes      -
sanguillen       GordonChen-UT    HC     Necro  85     1.06  2018-08-09  Yes     -      -       -      -
DaveW            Long_Term        SC     Sorc   84     0.97  2018-05-02  Yes Heaps      -    Lots     30+
Xul's Gull       Xul              HC     Necro  81     0.74  2018-03-26  No      -      -       -      -
Vildecor         Trina            SC     Ama    80     0.68  2018-06-07  Yes     -      -       0      -
ioupainmax       Durnik           SC     Pala   79     0.63  2018-06-28  Yes   177    111       0      -
Burton Roberts   Arizona          SC     Ama    56     0.08  2018-06-12  No      -      -      15     38
Lord Molybdenum  Essa             SC     Sorc   55     0.08  2018-06-02  No     20     19       5      -
AlexTheNextOne   Orion            SC     Pala   49     0.00  2018-07-22  No     14      -       0     26
Pijus            AGoodBoy         HC     Druid  45     0.00  2018-05-29  Yes     -      -       -      -
kstuart          Nena             SC     Sorc   30     0.00  2018-07-22  Yes     -      -       -      -
RIP              Espada           HC     Necro  24     0.00  2018-06-01  Yes     -     13       -      -
DaveHutt         Alice            SC     Ama    13     0.00  2018-05-18  Yes     -      -       1      -

[HIGHLIGHT]Resting Heroes[/HIGHLIGHT]

Spoiler: Resting Heroes

Forumite         Character        SC/HC  Class  Level  Exp   Date        E/S  S/U   Grail  Deaths  Hours
---------------  ---------------  -----  -----  -----  ----  ----------  ---  ----  -----  ------  -----
hasuprotoss      Reina            SC     Sorc   97     2.96  YYYY-MM-DD  Yes  1751    384       -      -
Tarantella       Tarasha          HC     Sorc   96     2.72  YYYY-MM-DD  Yes     -      -       -      -
Grim             Furious_Blonde   SC     Ama    96     2.72  YYYY-MM-DD  Yes     -      -       -      -
XyleneCyanol     Fishie           HC     Sorc   95     2.49  YYYY-MM-DD  No      -      -       -      -
ThomasJohnsen    xInTheBuffx      HC     Sorc   95     2.49  2017-03-31  Yes     -      -       -      -
NamelessPenguin  Rockatansky      SC     Barb   95     2.49  2017-12-14  Yes     -      -       -      -
Dezrok           Salome           SC     Sorc   95     2.49  YYYY-MM-DD  Yes   792    318       -      -
Reyz             Qty              SC     Sorc   93     2.10  YYYY-MM-DD  No      -      -       -      -
Me2Nik           Fugu             HC     Ama    93     2.10  2018-02-05  Yes    80      -       -      -
Chaostar         Prairie          SC     Sorc   91     1.76  YYYY-MM-DD  Yes   659    261      12    126
OldSoldier       Battleforge      HC     Pala   91     1.76  YYYY-MM-DD  Yes     -    236       -      -
kyndig           DrearyAura       HC     Sorc   91     1.76  2018-02-20  Yes     -      -       -      -
tokerdin         tokeress         SC     Sorc   91     1.76  YYYY-MM-DD  Yes     -      -       -      -
Southpaw         Njord            SC     Druid  90     1.62  YYYY-MM-DD  Yes     -      -       -      -
Qwernt           CanbeOnlyBlizz   SC     Sorc   90     1.62  YYYY-MM-DD  Yes     -      -       ?      ?
MercMan          Este             SC     Ama    90     1.62  YYYY-MM-DD  Yes  1212    278       2      ?
Lynchgrinch      Tattersail       SC     Sorc   89     1.48  YYYY-MM-DD  Yes     -    321       ?      ?
LiquidClear      Sally            SC     Sin    **     1.36  YYYY-MM-DD  Yes   225      -       1      -
liquid_mage      zDadColdSorc     SC     Sorc   **     1.36  YYYY-MM-DD  Yes     -    160       -      -
Neksja           Turirao          SC     Druid  87     1.25  YYYY-MM-DD  Yes   191    124       5      -
Gladstone        Socrates         HC     Druid  86     1.15  YYYY-MM-DD  -       -      -       -      -
hackedagainanda  Hugo             HC     Necro  85     1.05  2017-12-17  Yes     -      -       -      -
Naturallog       Athos            HC     Barb   84     0.96  YYYY-MM-DD  No    159    105       0      -
Qwernt           AmaAgainstAll    SC     Sorc   81     0.74  YYYY-MM-DD  Yes     -      -       -      -
Gambit           Mallenroh        SC     Sorc   81     0.74  YYYY-MM-DD  Yes     0      0       0      0
Lord Molybdenum  But_Why          SC     Sin    81     0.74  YYYY-MM-DD  No     55     51      53      -
aarrgus          Acala            SC     Barb   80     0.68  2017-12-30  Yes     -      -       5      -
Jean Avila       SpeedAdict       SC     Ama    77     0.52  YYYY-MM-DD  No      -      -       -     50
logoutzero       Digimon          HC     Necro  76     0.48  YYYY-MM-DD  Yes    85     65       0      -
TwentyMuleTeam   Rayne            SC     Sorc   76     0.48  YYYY-MM-DD  Yes   195    140       -      ?
Gripphon         Ryu              SC     Sorc   76     0.48  YYYY-MM-DD  Yes     -      -       ?     13
Darke Rahl       Bells            HC     Ama    74     0.40  YYYY-MM-DD  No     19      -       0      -
Smittyphi        SliceNDice       SC     Sin    70     0.30  2018-03-27  Yes    15      -       6      -
Xul's Gull       Araphel          HC     Necro  60     0.12  2017-12-21  No      -      -       -      -
Sleepybear123    Rob_theBarb      HC     Barb   50     0.05  2018-01-06  Yes     -      -       -     10
Klonki           Dualizt_Ann      SC     Sorc   48     0.01  2018-02-24  Yes     -      8       -      9
TrU              Henryk           SC     Barb   41     0.02  YYYY-MM-DD  Yes     -      -      22     12
Gambit           Colossus         SC     Pala   39     0.02  YYYY-MM-DD  Yes     0      0       0      0
Smancer          Smancer          SC     Necro  26     0.00  YYYY-MM-DD  Yes     1      -       -      -
drmalawi         Liv              SC     Sorc   24     0.00  2018-05-01  Yes     -      -       0      -
BKC              FearsomeFreddie  SC     Necro  23     0.00  YYYY-MM-DD  Yes     -      -       -      -
Ergroilnin       Erilinda         HC     Sorc   20     0.00  YYYY-MM-DD  No      -      -       -      -

[HIGHLIGHT]The Fallen[/HIGHLIGHT]

Spoiler: The Fallen

Forumite         Character        SC/HC  Class  Level  Exp   Date        E/S  S/U   Grail  Deaths  Hours
---------------  ---------------  -----  -----  -----  ----  ----------  ---  ----  -----  ------  -----
Bewitch          itsreal          HC     Sorc   87     1.xx  2018-04-24  No      -      -       -      -
MizzouFTW        Pure             HC     Necro  86     1.15  2018-01-10  Yes     -      -       1      -
Vildecor         Celia            HC     Ama    84     0.99  2018-05-30  Yes   125     97       1      -
coju             NintyNine_orRiP  HC     Sorc   81     0.74  2016-04-07  Yes     -      -       1      -
TwentyMuleTeam   Valus            HC     Barb   76     0.48  2016-10-27  Yes     -      -       1      -
Pb_pal           Stevesy          HC     Pala   76     0.48  2017-06-19  Yes     -      -       1      -
weezaard         Cypher           SC     Druid  66     0.00  2018-02-21  Yes     -      -      20+     -
Tenecabo         OldShatterhand   HC     Druid  49     0.04  2016-06-16  Yes     -      0       1      -
Pijus            Pyrestarter      HC     Druid  36     0.00  2018-05-21  Yes     -      -       1      -
coju             fB               HC     Sorc   29     0.00  2016-04-09  Yes     1      1       1      2
Kitteh           Verallus         HC     Druid  26     0.00  2016-03-25  No      -      -       1      -
logoutzero       Rolex            HC     Barb   21     0.00  2016-03-26  Yes     0      0       1      1

Managed to get to level 85 doing runs involving The Pits, Ancient Tunnels, and Hell Meph. Still working on trying to find an elite 4 os polearm (preferably Thresher, as recommended by @ioupainmax ) to replace the Insight Partizan my merc currently has, at which point I'll proceed to Diablo himself and make my way to the point of rescuing Anya and opening the Pindleskin portal. I'm intrigued by the discussions here regarding saving the Ancients for later, or even lvl 98. Presuming I'm still alive to reach that point, we'll see how long I can last before deciding that Baal runs are in order to nudge the experience bar. Being HC, I have real problems with thinking Nihlathak runs would be a viable long term strategy, but I'll worry about that bridge if/when I come to it.

No wicked finds to date, but I did get excited when this dropped:

Then I ID'd it, and my excitement was quickly extinguished.

 

[Pb_pal1]

To ward off the monotony, I've started crafting caster amulets as the ingredients come to me. Nothing good yet, but it gives something else to look forward to for motivation. Hoping for some @PhineasB -tier luck on one of them, but I'm not holding my breath.

First, a quick mention of this quote after that dreadful set last time:

Hang in there! I've had similar stretches of nothing, that just means it will all come together within 30 minutes at some point.

Well, @ffs is *almost* psychic. Not quite 30 minutes, but pretty good regardless.

--

After a disappointing haul last set, this one sure started off on the right track:

5043 -

FINALLY!!! With that weight off his shoulders and some renewed motivation, the runs flowed just a little more smoothly.

5154 - Vex
5213 - Um
5379 - Sur!!! Nice!!

Then, just 5 runs later:
5384:

Speechless. No Surs for 5k runs, and then 3 within 350 runs of each other. This game is something else, I tell ya.

5398 - Um
5443 - Mal

Nothing for the rest of the set, but I can't complain with that haul. Klaus is so damn close to Infinity now he can taste it, I just hope it's not another 5k run dry streak before the final Sur shows up. I don't have that long before the MFO hits!

That Vex leaves us with "just" a Jah to find for Phoenix as well, so that's nice.

This set was also pretty fruitful for other goodies as well:

Skillers:
1x Captain's
1x Graverobber's
1x Fungal
1x Chilling
1x Lion-Branded (that makes 6 so far)
1x Fanatic
1x Entrapping GC (of Sustenance +31)

Other finds:
- Sharp GC of Sustenance
- Steel (120) GC of Sustenance (35)
- Saracens (gambled)
- Infernostride (corpse)
- Fleshrender

Happy running, folks!

 

[Quinneczech]

Hello guys,

I am quite new to the forums, even tho I anonymously browsed this place for couple of years now. I have started playing d2 at it's launch and as many of you (us) I didn't stop ever since - excluding some breaks. However, lately I started to be tempted by SP d2 more than playing online, so I decided I will make untwinked 1.14d barbarian. And while doing so, why not to join this great tournament..

So, here he comes, Blackwell, the barbarian.

He is Hardcore, but still undecided what path he will choose. It will hugely depend on what kind of equipment he will find. I will be pushing him towards Sword/Shield ww/conc or ww/frenzy (with use of frenzy as skill to quickly deliver stacked CB to bosses, mainly).

Right now, he is lvl 12, just made it to Black Marsh (I forgot how "tough" can untwinked p8 be playing a melee char), where he found a WP pretty close to tower entrance, so he is eager to do couple of countess runs.

His progress wont be very quick, since I don't have that much free time at this stage of the year, but I believe there in no need for rush

Wish me luck, it's my first char on SP.

Regards,

Quinn

 

[ffs]

Well, @ffs is *almost* psychic. Not quite 30 minutes, but pretty good regardless.

Nothing supernatural going on – just my extreme depth of D2 knowledge allowing me to calculate that (almost) precisely, I just spared you the numbers. Kidding aside, very nice stretch and cool to see him being so close to Infinity. Though I'm still somewhat torn, because the more awesome stuff Klaus gets, the more it would hurt to... you know, just be careful please!

Oh, and welcome and good luck to @Quinneczech!

 

[RIP]

@Quinneczech: I had to stop here and welcome my fellow countryman (if part of Your nickname is truly reffering to Your nationality )

Welcome here and enjoy Your stay, You've picked up very interesting character, ma favourite in the past, so i wish You best of luck, especially considering Your HC status ( we are also on the same boat here )

 

[Yng]

@Pb_pal some long overdue Sur payout, kudos! Looking forward to more progress from Klaus.

 

[Quinneczech]

@RIP yup, you got that guess of yours right ;-)

About that choice - everyone can play a sorc as their first char, but since I like a challenge and I lose interest in fully twinked chars quite quickly, I figured that there will be a lot to improve all the time on barb, so I picked this sub optimal class

 

[Foghorn Leghorn]

@Quinneczech - that's a good point you make about the choice being dependent on what equipment he finds. When I first made my return to DII a couple of years ago, I was in the same boat and then a 4 open socket partizan dropped so I made him a Whirlwind barb that used Insight. As a fellow HC player, it felt quite safe to me (he has since made lvl 87 and uses an upped Ribcracker, and is my dedicated LK runner).

Best of luck to you!

 

[ceegee]

I've been thinking... Would it be possible to use Sazabi's set for my zealot running pits? How effective could %dmg to demons with some %dmg to undead gear be when running end game stuff? I really like the idea of using Sazabi's but I hope it's not me just fantasizing of a set build a bit too much. Do any of you guys know how to calculate %dmg to demons from a sword? is it the same as from gloves?

 

[darkstarhub]

Awesome job @Neksja Congratulations on the achievement and pushing through the last part so efficiently.

Since I’ve started running 97-98, the XP rate slowed drastically from 96-97. It seems to be dragging along and I could only imagine how much it slows 98-99. But, that’s the challenge and the accomplishment of getting to 99. I only wish more options existed for decent XP at the later levels.