By the way, my UT99er Barb is still alive in 1.14 and sitting at around 97.5. I haven't touched him in ages, but might pick him up again after MFO. Perhaps I'll forward him to D2R as well, so that I have all my HC stuff there.
I was sidelined by catching up with PvP and having to build and gear a dozen characters or so but now that's largely done, at least the major goals are completed, so I can get back to some PvM action.
Asking because I'm planning to farm torches in HC soon. The plan was to wait until I've made Guardian on my Paladin in this sept, but I'm still lacking the set shield. Hoping it will drop during MFO so I can finish him and turn him into an Uber Smiter. That should be pretty easy even in HC, but if I don't get the shield soon I'm thinking maybe I can use some other class/build for Ubers without danger of dying. So I'm wondering whether a Life Tap wand + high life/resists on its own is safe enough.
Redux is half way to level 96, hitting the goal for before MFO starts. Drops were meh, with an Um the only notable rune, finally getting a Vamp Gaze that replaced Tal's mask on the merc for the DR%, and picking up the Vortex Shield that @ffs wanted
But the real upgrade was at the start of the level, after an hour of rolling LK maps hitting one that had a rack that I could get to roll Thresher ~75% of the time. First eth one rolled 2os, second rolled 3os, but the third was the charm and became a nice Insight on the fourth reroll:
The merc was quite a bit sturdier with the added damage, and even more so now that he has Vamp Gaze. Redux is still in the market for Arachnid's as major remaining upgrade, but she should be able to push to 98 as is just fine.
The first third of clvl 98 was done via Baal, Baal, and more Baal. But that's same-old, same-old. The new development has been a persistent right wrist/forearm injury. Maybe a sprain ... strain ... carpal tunnel ... idk. Asking Google results in lots of different answers, but, it's sure cheaper than asking a doctor (here in the US). Anyhow, play time has fallen off a cliff but my body seems to be recovering ... slowly. That's meant poor progress for my UT99er (I hit clvl 98 in early June), but, on the plus side, it has resulted in a long overdue re-balancing of how much time I spend on my various hobbies! My Lego collection hasn't seen this much action in decades! But that's probably a post for a different forum ...
Back to D2.
Finds through the first third of clvl 98 have been exceptional! There were three real highlights:
My first ever Zod Rune!
Dragonscale! The TC 84 I just couldn't find. It was -4 on my career grail.
The Cranium Basher! The -3 item on my career grail ... only Tyrael's and Astreon's remains ...
So, yeah! It was exciting to get the career grail moving again and to cross finding Zod off the D2 bucket list . Halaberd's Reign and Gargoyle's Bite were also found, bringing her personal grail to:
Hasn't changed since the start of clvl 98. But, I'll go ahead and repost it for those wondering. Of note though, the folks over at maxroll have gotten their D2Planner working with patch 2.4, so I've gone ahead and uploaded her current profile here should anyone be interested/prefer that format.
Das-Omen
Lightning Sorceress
Griffon's Eye, Diadem (-18/+13 <--Socketed w/-5/+5 L Facet) Mara's Kaleidoscope, Amulet (23@) Enigma, Dusk Shroud
Heart of the Oak, Flail (38@) Spirit, Monarch (35 FCR, 105 Mana, 6 Magic Absorb) The Stone of Jordan, Ring
The Stone of Jordan, Ring Crafted, Demonhide Gloves (10 Fire Resist, 7 Lightning Resist, 25 MF, 18 Mana, Regenerate Mana 8%, +3 MPK) Arachnid Mesh, Spiderweb Sash
War Traveler, Battle Boots (46 MF)
On Switch: Call to Arms, Crystal Sword (6 BC, 5 BO) Spirit, Monarch (35 FCR, 98 Mana, 7 Magic Absorb)
Inventory: Annihilus, Small Charm (13/19@/8) <-- From SoJ #4, found at H Andariel during some random MFing. Gheed's Fortune, Grand Charm (155% Gold, 36 MF, 15% Prices) Hellfire Torch, Large Charm (Sorceress, 14/20@) Lightning Skillers x3 Resistance, Life, Mana, FHR, Small Charms
Sixteen spaces left open for looting ... I love looting ...
I'll be testing my luck running Baal for the MFO (both in terms of my body and my drops ). Beyond that ... probably just more Baal. When I'm making such good progress with my grail/bucket list ... it's really hard to see any reason to make a change.
Time for an update on Exanimate´s progress. These CS runs were really enjoyable to be honest and if I ever had to choose a character for the Holy Grail challenge, then this necromancer Poison Nova / CE build would be it. Had I known that before ... It really is just super fun.
As I progressed towards level 98, I got more effective I guess. At the start of the level 97, I was constantly measuring 2.9-3.2 millions per hour. However, I continued to measure these rates every now and then and at one point the experience bar showed me a measurement of 4,4- 4,5 Mil/hr, which was just astonishing. I believe that gear upgrades plus alluring and drawing those extra monster packs together, proper map with a nice mob density and concentrating mostly on these venom lord packs are probably the key factors to raise the efficiency in CS for that build.
Time flew and on the 284th hour I heard a huge ding. I instantly completed Ancients quest and started to test PnB build on Nihlathak after that... well, that was just waste of time to be honest. Bone Spear damage was only 2,9 k if I remember correctly and even with 125% faster cast rate that is just not enough. This build could still be viable for D2S players with Torch, Anni and few extra skillers I guess. Anyways ... back to farming tokens it was. Now I have run a bit with Poison Nova/ CE build and 1.9-2.2 Mil/hr is the average experience gain. I think that with a better map I could reach -2.3 Mil/ hr, but not more. Hence, roughly speaking, I have 100 hours to go. Next update is going to take place somewhere next year . Target for the next year is going to be 98.75
Oh, I believe that I got my first Zod rune ever . I have seen them dropped before, but I have never managed to pick it up on Bnet
I feel relatively safe in the Nihlathak Chamber. Auras do not scare me, but that bloody curse does sometimes ...
Hmm what else ... I also managed to lose 2 gz small charms, because I forgot to pick them up again One of them was 19 life 9 poison resist Yes, I know ... I really needed that charm
Current eq:
Death´s Web Unearthed Wand - 1/ +5%/ -51%
Griffon´s Eye Diadem (sol)
Trang-Oul´s Claws Heavy Bracers
The Stone of Jordan Ring
Rare ring - 10 FCR, 11@, 26 fire res
Arachnid Mesh - 118 ed
Enigma BP
Mara´s - 27@
Stormshield (um)
Crafted boots - 20 FRW/ 10 FHR/ cold res 11/ fire res 34/ damage reduced by 3/ 30 ed
2 x PnB skiller
3 x 15@ (1 x 15@ + 12 FHR)
After taking a much-needed break for a few months, I am back in the saddle. I decided that I've filled up enough slots in the fallen heroes list, so I'm continuing with a SC zon I left off in NM Act IV. After mopping up the quests in the last two acts, I spent a few hours at NM Mephisto to try to get at least a Titan's and something for my merc to wear for Hell difficulty.
With that out of the way, I grabbed a few more levels at Baal and started questing in Hell. Jabbing with Titan's can be effective against the lightning immunes, but half of the time I just ran past them instead. I did find an amazing drop in the Claw Viper Temple:
I was obviously super excited to see this! It will mean even less time spent at LK. I finished questing up to Pindle and ran him a bit to get the last bit I needed for level 82. Spent a bit of time map rolling, and I've now got my 2 campfire LK map ready to go. I plan to finish Enigma and Call to Arms first, then I may spend some time running the Pits/Andariel, hoping to see some bases for merc's Fortitude and Infinity before I head back to LK to get the runes for Infinity.
Having already found a Jah this early, it definitely looks like I'll be finished with LK before the year is done.
The MFO took Live from 92.something ~95.25. Running as a singer, he found a lot of cool stuff, though with the exception of an Andariel's Visage for the mercenary, all for other characters.
@maxicek inspired me to take on Uber Tristram after all. After a respec into concentrate, I farmed 4 keysets (so far).
My concentrate build turned out to be quite safe:
Grief PB
Stormshield 'Um'
Guillame's face (Andariel's visage for lilith, hat tip @maxicek)
crafted +2barb 5fcr 23 str 85 mana amulet (still looking for highlords)
laying of hands (I might use dracs if I find them, but the lifetap on switch is totally fine)
String of Ears/Tgods for mephisto
Ravenfrost
10fcr/fire res/ light res ring
Gore Riders.
Life/ar/res charms. He has 330 stacked lightning res and 220+ others.
I maxed howl instead of bash for the concentrate synergy, in retrospect this probably wasn't necessary. Live still does plenty of damage, though. They don't die as quickly as a smiter but it's super safe at 48k life, max block and max damage reduction.
The torches:
13/20 sorceress. Nice!
11/12 Assassin.
11/18 Assassin
14/12 Assassin
Well, for now I guess Live will take the extra stats and resists and go back to key farming. I'm kind of hoping the extra 3 skills will make Warcry more viable at high /players settings. Otherwise after 96 I might have to break down and try dual Grief whirlwind. I just feel much safer with a shield .
The MFO took me to about 94.2. I continued running until I hit 95, then I used up my remaining six organ sets. I got three Assassin Torches, but no upgrade. Then it was off to the Chaos Sanctuary to farm a Burning Essence from Diablo as I didn't want to lose my Baal map (1.5 teleports to WSK3, 5 teleports to the Throne)
Baal Setup
Weapon: Astreon's Iron Ward
Shield: 'Spirit' Monarch
Switch Weapon: 'Call To Arms' War Scepter
Switch Shield: 'Spirit' Monarch
Fire Blast: 20
Shock Web: 20
Charged Bolt Sentry: 20
Lightning Sentry: 20
Death Sentry: 1
1 in all Shadow Skills (16 after +Skills and BC from CtA switch)
Dragon Talon: 11 (24 after +Skills for five kicks)
4 points not spent. I don't know if to put them into Death Sentry or Dragon Talon for more AR. I don't really need either though. I certainly won't put them into CoS, the duration is already a bit too long. If I kill wave 2 quickly, I can't cast it on wave 3 as soon as it drops.
Fire Blast damage has gone up dramatically since I respecced and improved my kill speeds of waves 2-4.
I still haven't gotten back to running with my Barb here he's been parked for around a year now, really should play him again.
@maxicek Very impressive gear already at 95... but tidy up that inventory please!
I take it from Astreon's that you're including Baal? I wonder how Lister vs Baal runs compare regarding XP gain, and in particular P8 Pit runs. I understand the "traps count as boss packs" bug has been fixed in D2R which should make Pit runs more competitive for XP. And they were never "bad" to begin with, at least not until 97 or so, IIRC other 99er Trappers ran the Pit quite a bit even in later levels. With that bug fixed, personally I plan to make Trapper my go-to Pit/cow/area runner for high player settings in HC/D2R, looks really appealing with much higher life than the usual suspects such as Necro/Java.
When caring less about drops and only for XP, Lister's XP may still come out on top though in your case/current level, despite the trap bug fix and load times in D2R in particular for act 5 areas.
The 21st torch was a barbarian torch. 11/18. Good enough.
I respecced Live to Warcry and he's currently doing 4 wave baal runs. With gavel of pain on switch they are pretty quick and he's halfway to 96. Lister is certainly killable but the experience is slower. I hope to get him to 96 this weekend.
Just a short update while I have a moment (will update the chart when I get more time) - my Frostmaiden May-may has ticked 92, and was just killing time with a few LK runs while waiting for my son to finish his dessert so I could bathe him, when this fell from a poppable:
After I picked myself up off the floor, I thought of two possible paths for this Ber rune:
-upgrade my Smoke armor to Chains of Honor, as I already have the other runes I need, plus a 4os Wyrmhide and a 4os Archon Plate. The +2 skills is great, and the added resistances might afford me some flexibility with other items (such as my helm).
OR
-save the Ber until I have enough for an Ice bow. If the Ber was all I needed, I would replace my +6 Melody with Ice, but I barely have enough to cube up to the Lo that is needed. I would still need either 2 Sur runes or another Ber rune or a straight Jah rune, + a 3 socket bow with at least +2 B/C skills, to make the Ice.
I feel like the Chains of Honor is the better choice for now, recalling @PhineasB 's advice that more high runes will eventually fall as I level toward 99, and Chains of Honor will make for a QoL improvement for sure. What do people think?
I'm currently flipflopping between that +6 Melody and a Wizendraw, testing each to see which is better. It's a really close call, from what I've been noticing/feeling.
*Wave* thanks for the invite over here PhineasB & Maxicek.
@PhineasB - When D2R was announced your 99 compendium was one of the first threads I read to get back into the game. Interesting read, especailly as it bought back so many memories in the early days! A big well done!
First thing I realised with D2R was just how easy runes were to come by. I remember with my Sorc, Ohm was the highest rune I found from all of those Baal runs. Runes were cheesed by HF rushing multiboxing, used to get on IRC and chat with Marvel, DC, Tim while we were running.... boring but effective. Contrast that with my Windy's trip to 99, where I found a ridiculous 4 Zod Runes (2 from Diablo himself).
I thought the Windy would be a 99 project from the start. over at GO there was a revival in people coming back to the game. I've always liked grinding so was just a natural thing to aim for.
So after reading PhineasB's compendium, I was pretty set on Chaos runs the whole way, savings the 40m Hell Ancients for the last little bit. Was a lot quicker this time around, Windy super safe char, I remember dying at 95 once from being stupid, but aside from that deathless.
I started as a standard 99FCR Windy until 97 running /p7 Seals & /p3 Diablo, then after finding a Cham, made Doom, slapped on Nightwings and ran 97 - 98 /p3 Seals /p7 Diablo, not the most efficient probably, but insta killed packs and I was still interested in items at that stage.
98 gave up on that and went to /p1 seals, /p7 Diablo. had a pretty meh 2/20 Circlet (did have 16 strength so not all bad), rejigged to 163FCR to get it done as quickly as possible. Spent a good deal of time throughout the trip trying to craft a 2/18+ Druid ammy, didn't ever get close. did get some nice 2/10 Ammys which fit in the end.
I took a look at Nilly runs early @ 98, just wasn't quick enough to warrant it (I'm playing on an old laptop with some horrific load times), so Diablo the whole way it was. helpful is anni charms are a thing now, I got a 10% exp roll on the 2nd SoJ I burned, first anni was 5%
Played pretty casually really, nothing like I used to play (real life gets in the way now). Overall, fun journey, Windy definitely not the strongest char, however, is one of the safest chars to play, really have to try and put yourself in situations that'll kill you!
The next 500 LK runs are done. It definately gets tiresome. Now at 4000 runs in total with Fiona. However the last 500 made up for earlier dry stretches.
1x BER
1x SUR
1x Um
1x Ist
Other notables: Warcry and Fire skiller, 5@ SC, 20 life SC
Next up are probably the 2.5 GoMule transition and the Random-Tournament. Let's see, if Fiona will be at 4500 runs end of October.
but now that's largely done, at least the major goals are completed, so I can get back to some PvM action.
.
Google