With some renewed interest in D2, I've started a new untwinked 99er Sorc (D2R SC). Will add her to the table shortly. So far I've played HC in D2R, while occasionally playing SC in LoD to farm for PvP gear. I played D2R a lot initially and it didn't take too long to fully set up all traditional farming characters in HC. Then the odd Pat/Mat with fun niche builds kept me engaged for a while, but at some point I wasn't really interested in PvM D2 altogether.
My terrible D2R loading times were a major contributing factor in this regard. It really kept me from enjoying farming in D2R, with any type of short run being just painful with how much time was lost to loading screens. However, last year I treated myself with a new M4 MacBook. The other day I tested D2R via CrossOver to see how it runs... and was honestly shocked to see insanely fast loading times. So that issue now being resolved made me consider jumping back into D2R as well.
As for this project, apart from 99 it will be equally (or even more) about farming end game sorc gear from scratch... and hopefully fast!
The goals:
The plan:
Achieve the above goals reasonably efficiently. Will this include cheesing with TZs and in particular things like TZ Andy? Yes, it will.
Truth be told, I generally disliked how accessible this makes rare S&Us and so far I've stayed away from such farming activities. But I'm interested in how much it can really speed up the process of equipping a new untwinked character with end game gear, and from traditional farming methods it would take ages to accumulate the above S&Us. I don't have enough time these days, so I need to resort to cheating! Nonetheless, accumulating the above gear will still be a long-term project. Planning to more or less follow this roadmap:
doing build respecs in between ubers etc. all for a 1/7 chance. I've only ever farmed torches with a Smiter, so not sure yet how to go about it. Any ideas, please do let me know!
My terrible D2R loading times were a major contributing factor in this regard. It really kept me from enjoying farming in D2R, with any type of short run being just painful with how much time was lost to loading screens. However, last year I treated myself with a new M4 MacBook. The other day I tested D2R via CrossOver to see how it runs... and was honestly shocked to see insanely fast loading times. So that issue now being resolved made me consider jumping back into D2R as well.
As for this project, apart from 99 it will be equally (or even more) about farming end game sorc gear from scratch... and hopefully fast!
The goals:
- Sorc in D2R and getting her to 99 untwinked (obviously)
- SC this time. Risk of dying is too high for HC with a multi-purpose sorc running various areas untwinked.
- Apart from 99, the main goal is to farm end game gear sets for any sorc build and farming target. Her final default form will most likely be ES/Nova (for which I'll probably just follow my own advice), but she will go through numerous transformations and respecs along the way. With that in mind, her goal will be to farm all of the below on her way to 99:
- S&Us (minimum): Griffon's Eye, Death's Fathom, 2x SoJ, Anni (meaning third SoJ), decent Sorc Torch, Arach, Arkaine's Valor... plus of course the more common staples (Viper, Shako etc.).
- Runewords (minimum): Infinity, Enigma, Phoenix, Flickering Flame, Hoto, 5+ BO CtA, again plus useful lower level runewords (CM etc). Potentially also Chains of Honor and Obsession further down the line if I find a good base.
- 4 skillers (minimum) for each sorc skill tree.
The plan:
Achieve the above goals reasonably efficiently. Will this include cheesing with TZs and in particular things like TZ Andy? Yes, it will.

- Playthrough: Charged Bolt > Nova > FB/Blizzard for Hell
- Cows for any missing basic runewords (Spirit, Insight, Lore etc.)
- 1st LK stop: Hoto & CtA, depending on mood or mental strength I might hang around to finish Infinity in the first stint.
- S&U farming: TZ Andy and Meph when my schedule allows, otherwise probably mixing it up with LK running and/or Pindle for S&Us and early XP. The plan is to mainly keep cheesing with TZ Andy until I get Griffon's and 2x SoJ, perhaps also including running Andy in NM for SoJs. Not sure about her build for this phase, but likely at first sticking with FB/Blizzard following Hell playthrough.
- 2nd LK stop: Ideally with a 200 FCR setup from initial S&U farming. In particular to get Infinity (unless already farmed), farm up skillers and crafting amulets. Should be mid 90s from the preceding MF runs to start crafting when returning to LK.
- Ubers for a decent sorc torch... well that's going to be fun.
- XP farming: Mostly in TZs but comparing XP gain, both among TZs and to traditional approaches such as 2-seal runs, P8 Pit runs etc. I think at first I'll try pure ES/Nova for general TZ running, but for sure will be switching between builds and targets a lot.
