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

[Tarantella]

Back in hell using replacing the Lionheart with a Vipers required two strength rings and about 7 charms with strength on them. However this comfortably gave the 105 bp for the twin spirit set up so that was kept for fireball with blue crystal sword and blue Ward shield on swap for cold damage.

Managed to drop an um rune off the countess soon after last post so there's a hoto there somewhere. Was paying particular attention to racks on level 5 and noticed even when items seem random sometimes they were being generated as matched pairs. Anyhow decided to get a map with the waypoint closer to the tower and set to with a will to run The Countess several hundred times to get to 88 this time with the other racks on the tele route down.

Quite often they were guarded by an archer pack that just managed to let out an "ooh" as Mizan's aura caught them as we shot past but this time... this time.

View attachment 3106

It's going to cost a lot more cash to gamble something better now.

 

[Pb_pal1]

Great progress guys and some sweet finds piling up!

@T72on1 - I'll just echo what @NanoMist said. If XP is your aim, the focus on boss packs (minions included). I add in the champ packs if they are layered with a boss pack, or I'll do them alone as well if I'm feeling like running in a more relaxed fashion that day. Always at /p8 if you can handle it, of course. At the higher levels, regular creep drop off drastically in XP gains and are not worth the extra time to kill (of course, the drops can still be nice though).

As for the GCs, I would just re-roll LK ones until you find some Baal (or Nihlatha as he drops the good ones too) ones. The difference isn't much, and the chances of rolling an appropriate GC with 45 life is so small that it's not really worth waiting for in my opinion. As with NanoMist, the only reason I'm not re-rolling GCs is that I ran out of space in the stahs to hold Pgems. Sweet merc stick too!

@Kitteh - The LK frenzy is well underway! People are starting to get some very shiny items now, there's at least 1 Infinity out there that I can remember, and NanoMist is quickly approaching Enigma-sin status.

@Tarantella - Nice Shako drop! Keep it up

--

Eleanor continued the AT grind for a while, crafting caster amulets along the way whenever a Ral drops, although nothing great has come of it yet. The most annoying one so far is this. Really? The ONE tree that I won't ever use. We did manage to increase our Vipermagi from 23 to 30 res all, so that's nice!

With XP slowing down in the tunnels, we made the switch to start running the Chaos Sanctuary. It's much more dangerous, and we have to babysit Emilio more, but the XP comes quite a bit quicker here. Just as we were hitting our groove, we died to a silly teleport into a Might enchanted knight pack and promptly lost all progress we had made. That hurt. Oh well, back on the horse!

As time went on and we got more used to the runs (and the boss pack spawn points), the danger subsided a little, and runs became more comfortable. The only annoying thing is CI Infectors are a fairly common occurence. I know Infinity would obviously fix that, but I'm not ready to give up the mana from Insight just yet.

We FINALLY found ourselves a pair of Magefists! This allowed us to free us our ring slots for more MF, so hopefully this will get us some more goodies (I'm looking at you, Arachnid Mesh!).

Not a whole lot else to report other than hitting 95, so now amulet gambling is guaranteed a shot at +2 skills, which is a nice little side effect.

Other finds:
2x Vex (1 and 2)


--

Name (F)    Name (C)       SC/HC   Class   Level/exp   Extended Stash   #of S/U   Grail/504   #of deaths   # of Hours
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pb_pal      Eleanor         SC      Sorc      95             No          610        268            3           -
NanoMist    Izuna           SC      Sin       92             No          277        173            1           67
PhineasB    Mercy           SC      Sin       90             Yes           -        190            7           -
T72on1      Neverland       SC      Sorc      90             Yes         138        109            5           33
Tarantella  Tarasha         HC      Sorc      87             Yes           -          -            -           -
OldSoldier  Battleforge     HC      Pala      83             Yes           -        114            -           -
Gambit      Mallenroh       SC      Sorc      81             Yes           0          0            0           0
logo        Digimon         HC      Nec       76             Yes          85         65            0           -
Darke Rahl  Bells           HC      Ama       74             No           19          -            0           0
Kitteh      Cyanosis        HC      Assassin  45             No            -          -            -           -
Tenecabo    OldShatterhand  HC      Druid     40             Yes           -          0            0           -
Gambit      Colossus        SC      Pal       39             YES           0          0            0           0
Ergroilnin  Erilinda        HC      Sorc      20             No            -          -            -           -
Smancer     Smancer         SC      Necro     19             Yes           -          -            -           -

[highlight]The Fallen:[/highlight]

Name (F)    Name (C)       SC/HC   Class   Level/exp   Extended Stash   #of S/U   Grail/504   #of deaths   # of Hours
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
coju        NintyNine_orRiP HC      Sorc      81             Yes          -           0            0         a few
coju        fB              HC      Sorc      29             Yes           1          1            0           2
Kitteh      Verallus        HC      Druid     26             No          N/A        N/A            0          N/A
logo        Rolex           HC      Barb      21             Yes           0          0            0           1

 

[OldSoldier1]

@Tarantella so jealous of your new hat.

I was able to find a perfect Boneshade though, just now. What are the odds in that one would be perfect? Come on, mathletes, let me know. 5 variables, but only two choices per variable. It is as simple as 2^5?

 

[PhineasB1]

@NanoMist: congrats on 2/3 of an Enigma! That small charm is pretty awesome as well.

And very nice LK finds, everyone! It's good to see the runes dropping, along with useful gear from elsewhere like the Shako for @Tarantella.

As for me, I hadn't been able to play since my last post due to lots of deadlines for work and long days, and then having to travel. I was a little more than half way to Level 91 and just got the rest of the way there with a mix of Pits, Pindle, and WSK/Baal runs. No major finds to report, other than a Unique Champion Axe from Baal.

With an assassin, where should I focus for leveling? I'd like to get at least another level before going back to LK runs. Guidance is much appreciated -- I've never really paid attention to the amount of XP gains based on level because I haven't had a goal tied to character level.

--

Name (F)    Name (C)       SC/HC   Class   Level/exp   Extended Stash   #of S/U   Grail/504   #of deaths   # of Hours
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pb_pal      Eleanor         SC      Sorc      95             No          610        268            3           -
NanoMist    Izuna           SC      Sin       92             No          277        173            1           67
PhineasB    Mercy           SC      Sin       91             Yes           -        207            7           -
T72on1      Neverland       SC      Sorc      90             Yes         138        109            5           33
Tarantella  Tarasha         HC      Sorc      87             Yes           -          -            -           -
OldSoldier  Battleforge     HC      Pala      83             Yes           -        114            -           -
Gambit      Mallenroh       SC      Sorc      81             Yes           0          0            0           0
logo        Digimon         HC      Nec       76             Yes          85         65            0           -
Darke Rahl  Bells           HC      Ama       74             No           19          -            0           0
Kitteh      Cyanosis        HC      Assassin  45             No            -          -            -           -
Tenecabo    OldShatterhand  HC      Druid     40             Yes           -          0            0           -
Gambit      Colossus        SC      Pal       39             YES           0          0            0           0
Ergroilnin  Erilinda        HC      Sorc      20             No            -          -            -           -
Smancer     Smancer         SC      Necro     19             Yes           -          -            -           -

[highlight]The Fallen:[/highlight]

Name (F)    Name (C)       SC/HC   Class   Level/exp   Extended Stash   #of S/U   Grail/504   #of deaths   # of Hours
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
coju        NintyNine_orRiP HC      Sorc      81             Yes          -           0            0         a few
coju        fB              HC      Sorc      29             Yes           1          1            0           2
Kitteh      Verallus        HC      Druid     26             No          N/A        N/A            0          N/A
logo        Rolex           HC      Barb      21             Yes           0          0            0           1

 

[Old_Frog]

Dang I've totally overlooked this gem far too long and will be starting up my next future Mat/Pat just as soon as I can decide what hero I want to play along with.

 

[T72on1]

@Pb_pal Congrats on 95, still going strong !!! Good to hear about your tactics, will be interesting for us once we get to those levels as well. I assume you already have a CtA on switch by now? HotO on main? I'm still looking for 4os Monarchs myself. Maybe I should cut down on mf, I have about 200% now, and see blue Monarchs on a regular basis ...

@OldSoldier Congrats on that perfect Boneshade. I found a near perfect a while ago, I think it was with my HC Sorc. Lovely item it is.

@PhineasB I'm not sure where you should level best. I assume you don't have Enigma yet? I'd think still Pits. I had the impression that Pindle wasn't giving good xp for my sorc anymore from 88 or 99 on. Then again, I'm playing a Sorc, where Teleport plays a big role, and running Pindle you take that pretty much out of the equation. My SC Dancer Assassin was also quite good at CS iirc, but she had really good gear, including a Stormlash, which is key for a Dancer in my opinion.

Good luck, on whatever target you decide on.

@Southpaw8668 You are joining us? Cool !!! Good luck.

 

[Pb_pal1]

@T72on1 - I was lucky enough to find a Death's Fathom a couple levels back, so I've got that and a 35 FCR Spirit Monarch on my main. If I hadn't found the DF, I would be running HoTo for sure. CtA/Spirit on switch, as you said.

@PhineasB - I'm not too well versed in leveling trappers, but the Pits I believe is the go-to spot. They should provide plenty of XP for the next few levels. Once you have Enigma/Infinity you can always try the CS as well. You will still run in to some unbreakable bosses (Spectral Hit/LE Vizier, for example), but if you can handle the runs decently the XP is quite good there, even at high levels (95+).

Another area where trappers (with infinity/enigma) excel is Baal runs. Looks like you've already done the Ancients quest (I'm assuming that screenie is from Hell?), so that could very well be your best bet assuming you can handle the runs decently at a higher /p setting.

@Southpaw8668 - Welcome! I look forward to hearing of your adventures.

 

[T72on1]

@Pb_pal Doh, of course, I saw your picture of the DF, but forgot. Did you specifically hunt for those Monarchs, or not really? I'm hardly finding any, let alone white or with 4os, and iirc it took me quite a while with my HC Sorc as well. Would it be a good idea to take off as much mf as possible (I'd rather keep my Shako, it's the BiS by far atm)? Getting 35% fcr on it is definitely nice, did it take you a lot of tries to get it?

 

[Pb_pal1]

I got REALLY lucky, and the very first white Monarch I found got 4 sockets in the cube, right at the end of the questing portion of her adventure. It took 11 rerolls to get it to 35 FCR.

I actually only found my second one WAY later. I can't remember exactly when, but I had my CtA before I got it, so 93+ to give a rough idea.

Unless you're really hurting for the FCR, I wouldn't hunt specifically for it (ie, take off MF). I look at it as something that's bound to come eventually, and the potential finds/gold for gambling/gear upgrades from the increased MF in the meantime are more valuable. Maybe just kill some extra creeps along the way in the AT.

 

[T72on1]

No, no, it's the 5os sword that I still need ...

View attachment 3107
.
After about 120 LK runs, where I found an Ist but nothing else really, I decided to continue in AT. Seems like the HRs where hiding there today .

 

[Nano]

Holding out for a stylish crystal sword CTA? War scepter CTA is nice too.

I usually stay away from flail CTA with a HoTo switch, but if I must, axe bases are good too.

Nice progress everyone!

 

[T72on1]

Holding out for a stylish crystal sword CTA? War scepter CTA is nice too.

I usually stay away from flail CTA with a HoTo switch, but if I must, axe bases are good too.

Nice progress everyone!

... Oh noes ... welcome to the wonderful world of T72on1's dull moments. For some reason, I was convinced that CtA could only be made in Swords. Which is stupid really, because I have actually seen pictures of CtA War Scepters before, and when I found another Ohm with one of my tainted SC characters about a year ago, I asked around in the Basin who else had made a CtA to actually use as weapon, and not only for the oskills.

While very embarrassing, this is of course quite good news . I'm not longer looking for Crystal Swords as the only candidates, but can also make it in Flails, Double Axes, Military Picks, War Axes and War Scepters.

I can see why you wouldn't want a Flail CtA with a Flail HotO, but in fact I might have a 5os Flail somewhere. Would be awesome if I could make it, as my merc still dies from time to time in AT, and a lot of other times I still have to take care of regular mobs as well, because not doing so is too dangerous. This obviously leads to far slower running times. I also had another death in AT yesterday, shortly after my previous post, which not only bugs the hell out of me, but also is getting bigger consequences as my level increases.

Thanks @NanoMist for pointing out the obvious.

 

[Nano]

Good luck with the CTA roll!

On the topic of runeword bases, I'm hoping it doesn't take eons to find my infinity base. I'll probably use the first eth elite polearm I come across. I don't think I'll wait on a thresher/giant thresher.

 

[T72on1]

Good luck with the CTA roll!

On the topic of runeword bases, I'm hoping it doesn't take eons to find my infinity base. I'll probably use the first eth elite polearm I come across. I don't think I'll wait on a thresher/giant thresher.

Thanks . And yes, same here. Or maybe not, I still need two Bers or a Ber and a Sur for Infinity, so I have plenty of time.

On the upside, I have finally found a white Monarch, and it got 4 sockets in the cube !!! Got a 34% fcr roll, so I still need to use one fcr ring, but could ditch my Magefists and the other ring for something more useful. Also found a white Crystal Sword, but that one rolled 2 sockets in the cube. Actually I had to hit LK again to find an Amn before I could use the cube recipe. I used to keep way too many lower runes, now I'm apparantly at the other side of the spectrum, because I found a huge number of Amns in LK and other places already, but left them on the ground most of the times.

 

[Smancer]

Name (F)    Name (C)       SC/HC   Class   Level/exp   Extended Stash   #of S/U   Grail/504   #of deaths   # of Hours
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pb_pal      Eleanor         SC      Sorc      95             No          610        268            3           -
NanoMist    Izuna           SC      Sin       92             No          277        173            1           67
PhineasB    Mercy           SC      Sin       91             Yes           -        207            7           -
T72on1      Neverland       SC      Sorc      90             Yes         138        109            5           33
Tarantella  Tarasha         HC      Sorc      87             Yes           -          -            -           -
OldSoldier  Battleforge     HC      Pala      83             Yes           -        114            -           -
Gambit      Mallenroh       SC      Sorc      81             Yes           0          0            0           0
logo        Digimon         HC      Nec       76             Yes          85         65            0           -
Darke Rahl  Bells           HC      Ama       74             No           19          -            0           0
Kitteh      Cyanosis        HC      Assassin  45             No            -          -            -           -
Tenecabo    OldShatterhand  HC      Druid     40             Yes           -          0            0           -
Gambit      Colossus        SC      Pal       39             YES           0          0            0           0
Ergroilnin  Erilinda        HC      Sorc      20             No            -          -            -           -
Smancer     Smancer         SC      Necro     26             Yes           1          -            -           -

[highlight]The Fallen:[/highlight]

Name (F)    Name (C)       SC/HC   Class   Level/exp   Extended Stash   #of S/U   Grail/504   #of deaths   # of Hours
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
coju        NintyNine_orRiP HC      Sorc      81             Yes          -           0            0         a few
coju        fB              HC      Sorc      29             Yes           1          1            0           2
Kitteh      Verallus        HC      Druid     26             No          N/A        N/A            0          N/A
logo        Rolex           HC      Barb      21             Yes           0          0            0           1

Bit of progress. Smancer made it through Act 2,

Really was a frustrating A2. It made me put it off for so long. First and only S/U was a green double axe.

I popped down to p1 for Durry, super easy with decrypt. The maggot hole was hell. The Arcane sanctum was hell. Confuse did virtually nothing to make other monsters attack themselves. I think in Nightmare, I will turn these areas down to p1, and CE my way thru just to prevent me from smashing my head against the wall.

 

[T72on1]

Finally ...

View attachment 3109
.
Quite a good roll, although I obviously would have loved the most important stat to be higher.

Nothing too soon, as I suffered yet another death in AT. Not sure why my play is so sloppy atm, considering I got my HC Sorc to 95. Ah well, after the CtA, everything went much smoother. Also tried a couple of CS runs, but those can be quite tough and scary, I must say. Will get the hang of it eventually though.

I'm up to some 1750 life and 1150 mana now. I should probably try to switch out my merc's Insight for the much better Obedience. And then try to get the runes for Infinity. For now I'll probably mostly run AT and not LK though. I've had 2 Bers drop there with my HC Sorc too, I might get lucky again ...

 

[Nano]

I'm on the verge of reaching a milestone!

Vex#2-Run#3686
Lo#1-Run#3815
Sur#5-Run#3824

Lo and Sur 9 runs apart after going 1k runs since my last Sur. Nasty monster pack hanging around the Lo rune too. Now I have enough runes to cube up to an enigma.

Haul pic!

Gul runes galore? Now to continue LK to collect the gems needed to cube up the runes. Will clear up some much needed stash space.

Name (F)    Name (C)       SC/HC   Class   Level/exp   Extended Stash   #of S/U   Grail/504   #of deaths   # of Hours
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pb_pal      Eleanor         SC      Sorc      95             No          610        268            3           -
NanoMist    Izuna           SC      Sin       92             No          296        178            1           82
PhineasB    Mercy           SC      Sin       91             Yes           -        207            7           -
T72on1      Neverland       SC      Sorc      90             Yes         138        109            5           33
Tarantella  Tarasha         HC      Sorc      87             Yes           -          -            -           -
OldSoldier  Battleforge     HC      Pala      83             Yes           -        114            -           -
Gambit      Mallenroh       SC      Sorc      81             Yes           0          0            0           0
logo        Digimon         HC      Nec       76             Yes          85         65            0           -
Darke Rahl  Bells           HC      Ama       74             No           19          -            0           0
Kitteh      Cyanosis        HC      Assassin  45             No            -          -            -           -
Tenecabo    OldShatterhand  HC      Druid     40             Yes           -          0            0           -
Gambit      Colossus        SC      Pal       39             YES           0          0            0           0
Ergroilnin  Erilinda        HC      Sorc      20             No            -          -            -           -
Smancer     Smancer         SC      Necro     26             Yes           1          -            -           -

[highlight]The Fallen:[/highlight]

Name (F)    Name (C)       SC/HC   Class   Level/exp   Extended Stash   #of S/U   Grail/504   #of deaths   # of Hours
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
coju        NintyNine_orRiP HC      Sorc      81             Yes          -           0            0         a few
coju        fB              HC      Sorc      29             Yes           1          1            0           2
Kitteh      Verallus        HC      Druid     26             No          N/A        N/A            0          N/A
logo        Rolex           HC      Barb      21             Yes           0          0            0           1

 

[Tarantella]

Tarasha safely leveled to 88 in the Tower, amassing a selection of runes topped by more Ko's, another Fal, a Pul and 2 Ums. In the process dropped a Titans and Bartucs but more usefully another cold skiller with 4 strength. Coupled with this The Countess dropped a rare ring with 20 strength and poor other stats which allowed a good reshuffling of charms in the stash part of the space occupied by a nice large charm with 35 life and 15 cold resist. Interspersing a few Sanctuary runs dropped a Credendum and unique Templar coat.

Leveled to 89 doing Crypt runs finding a Mal and Um in the barrels and dropped a pair of Goreriders on the way to the Burial grounds. Found yet another cold skiller but couldn't safely find room to use it at this point and also stashed a combat skiller with 27 life. In preparation for equipping a Hoto and wishing to keep the 86 fhr breakpoint dug out a few small charms and two grand charms of balance found much earlier in her career. Crafted 20 belts in an attempt to drop one with 24 fhr and high strength but failed and set too gambling for plated belts with the same intention. Finally just after reaching 89 got a second 4 socket Monarch off a rack in the crypt with the map rerolled after visiting nightmare to shop belts and then another white shortly after which cubed to a single socket yet again!


Switched to the AT after making a 36 Hoto and leveled half way to 90 settling on P5 and a map with a circular route which avoided the middle. Finding a large and a small charm of balance meant another reshuffle to get in the 3rd cold skiller and remove the grand charms of balance but much of the damage is done using stand off fireball keeping Mizan on the spot. Drops included a rare diadem with 2 pala skills and 20fcr (otherwise poor stats) and a Jah which was the only drop off a lone wandering undead bushwhacked at the end of a run. I think he was looking for change.

Name (F)    Name (C)       SC/HC   Class   Level/exp   Extended Stash   #of S/U   Grail/504   #of deaths   # of Hours
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pb_pal      Eleanor         SC      Sorc      95             No          610        268            3           -
NanoMist    Izuna           SC      Sin       92             No          296        178            1           82
PhineasB    Mercy           SC      Sin       91             Yes           -        207            7           -
T72on1      Neverland       SC      Sorc      90             Yes         138        109            5           33
Tarantella  Tarasha         HC      Sorc      89             Yes           -          -            -           -
OldSoldier  Battleforge     HC      Pala      83             Yes           -        114            -           -
Gambit      Mallenroh       SC      Sorc      81             Yes           0          0            0           0
logo        Digimon         HC      Nec       76             Yes          85         65            0           -
Darke Rahl  Bells           HC      Ama       74             No           19          -            0           0
Kitteh      Cyanosis        HC      Assassin  45             No            -          -            -           -
Tenecabo    OldShatterhand  HC      Druid     40             Yes           -          0            0           -
Gambit      Colossus        SC      Pal       39             YES           0          0            0           0
Ergroilnin  Erilinda        HC      Sorc      20             No            -          -            -           -
Smancer     Smancer         SC      Necro     26             Yes           1          -            -           -

[highlight]The Fallen:[/highlight]

Name (F)    Name (C)       SC/HC   Class   Level/exp   Extended Stash   #of S/U   Grail/504   #of deaths   # of Hours
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
coju        NintyNine_orRiP HC      Sorc      81             Yes          -           0            0         a few
coju        fB              HC      Sorc      29             Yes           1          1            0           2
Kitteh      Verallus        HC      Druid     26             No          N/A        N/A            0          N/A
logo        Rolex           HC      Barb      21             Yes           0          0            0           1

 

[Nano]

@Tarantella - Congrats! Any plans for the Jah? Even enigma would be great for a sorc.

Speaking of enigma, I removed the treachery from my light plate for a big upgrade.

Rolled a 40% Hoto first try too.

Also found my CTA base within an hour of pits, no socket recipe needed. Going to be difficult to top this CTA roll in the future. Might as well though since I don't need to burn any more vex runes for hoto rerolls.

 

[Tarantella]

A 40 Hoto is very nice first roll.

I had the runes for enigma once with a HC summoner but never used it. For a SC sorc it must be the bee's knees saving stat points all round to put out extra damage. I'd put it in a 15 ED elite heavy armour for style points for Tarasha.

If you're into 200fcr "nosebleed" territory though is it still an option?