After some research and testing, i found the best setup to farm both xp and items.
The following Skill choice, route and description is the one im using and enjoying the most.
First of all lets get some things clear. You need to understand the concept of XP per minute and Items per minute. It involves how much xp and items you can get per minute (doh').
People fail to understand this, thinking the higher the mp the better loot they will get.
YES higher MP > higher CHANCE of getting EXTRA items. But higher mp also means higher dmg intake and health pool on mobs.
Whats the point of doing mp 7 runs that can take you 1-2 hours, when you can make mp2 runs in 20 mins??
Quick mp 1-2 runs will grant you MORE items PER MINUTE than a slow and painfull mp5+.
Same goes for xp. MP 1-2 grants more XP/MINUTE than higher mps..
So this is my guide to do that. MP 1-2 in 20 mins or less
Basics:
Farming act 3. Why act 3 and not act 1? cuz act 3 has quick waypoints right next to large groups of mobs.
None actionless runing, meaning if you hit dead end on keep 2 you dont run back 3 minutes without killing anything, you TP and hit the next map on this route
If you happen to die at the end of a map, dont run through the same path you did before. IT will not have any mobs cuz you killed em before. Keep going through a new path discovering new parts of the map full of mobs.
Ignore / run through single annoying mobs. Remember we are aiming for large groups. IGNORE the lonely roamers arround the map.
Gear: Nothing too specific. I dont have any natalyas set ( wich would increase the ammount of vaults we could do ). What you MUST have is 24% move speed from your gear. Speed is key here, and you need that speed. Also high attack speed is better for elemental arrow so you can dump your hatred faster.
That being said. This guide doenst need any specific gear besides the move speed. Skill Setup:
This setup is the one i find the best one for this route / mode. We want speed and quick clearing of large groups. The only hatred spender that can clear large groups is EA: ball lightning. Cluster bombs is good for elites, but we dont care for elites doing this route. We aim for large packs of white mobs. Thats our source of both XP and legendaries. And the best way to clear those packs is using ball lightning.
Tactical advantage is a must. We want to move as fast as posible when we are not clearing mobs.
Hungering arrow is amazing to clear elites. I find my hungering arrows doing more damage than my elemental arrows. So for elites mainly use this
Rain of vengance: its amazing elite and big packs clearer. Just stand near the packs or elites with gloom up, Pop this beauty and enjoy the extra dps.
Gloom is our life savior. Still good against reflect damage affix, and mitigates some damage under heavy situations.
Preparation: i use back up plan cuz i find myself spending most of the discipline vaulting through the map. Remember its all about fast runs.. So thats how you should be spending your discipline, vaulting for tactical advantage to proc and make your way to the next pack faster. Passives: SS + vengance has an amazing synergy for this run. Basicaly you spend your discipline vaulting to the next pack. When you aproach a big pack, ball lightning crits will fill your disc pool right away and health globes will complete this process so you can have your discipline filled to spend it vaulting to the next pack
MP level: Since my gear grants me a lot of dps. I find myself equaly confort doing MP1 o 2 at the same speed. So if you can afford doing MP 2 you should. The extra MF will help a lot.
The route: Taken from the Alkaizers run for barbarians, with a little tweak
1st : start the game at the last quest of act 3. Killing Azmodan. Head to the last waypoint. Clear the path to Azmodan but dont get inside. You will get the checkpoint right before entering his chamber. Quit the game.
Now every time you create a game, you will start at that checkpoint, right before Azmodan.
From there clear the path (core of the arreat) all the way back to the waypoint.
Grab the waypoint and head to Tower of the damned 1. Make a full circle path clearing all the elites ( Both core of the arreat and Tower of the damned 1 gives you a quick 5 stack NV).
After you clear Tower of the damned, grab the waypoint to Arreat Crater 2. Clear the map. IF you find yourself at a dead end TP back and head to the next map. Remember we dont care about full clear. Just quick large group clearing.
After Arreat crater 2, take the waypoint to Bridge of korsikk. Make a circle arround the map clearing large packs. Dont clear any caves, ignore lonely mobs wandering arround the map. Focus on large packs
After Bridge, head to The keep depths lvl 1 and take the stairs into The keeps depths lvl 2. This is where the magic happens. Keeps lvl 2 has SO many mobs its a gold mine both for xp and legendaries. Try to clear as fast as possible. Most mobs are just skeletons with no hp at all.
If you hit a dead end you can tp back, and restart keeps 2 into an undiscovered part of the map.
Same thing if you die. Dont run back just to kill that last elite mob that killed you. You will waste 3 minuts running without killing anything.
- This is where Alkaizers run ends, You can either quit the game and restart the route, or you can do Arreat crater 1 and keeps 1 for some extra mobs. -
Video of Alkaizer route in case you dont understand it.
Remember we aim for LARGE PACKS OF WHITE MOBS. Thats your main source of legendaries and xp.
VAULT > KILL > VAULT > TP
I hope this helps some lost Dhs out there. Im not claiming this is the best route / method, but its the one working amazingly for me.
Finally someone that has a brain!
I've been "friends" with all sorts of people on D3, a few times it has happened that a player ask to join my run and when he/she sees I'm running MP2 just leaves the party with like "OMG noob you farming MP2, I do MP5, you suck".
Vote up to the OP! I find MP2 sweet spot for me, since I kill elites in under 10s. Usually MP3 when with a friend, since we usually switch killing white monsters, one kills them and another is running past then, we can both one hit most of the whites.
icy, i have a pretty good gear in my opinion, and i think elemental arrow cant clear white mobs @mp4/5 like it does at @mp2. It gets worse for elite packs. In order to kill elites and large packs fast enough at mp4+ you need something with a little more kick like cluster bombs. The thing is cluster bombs is a terrible large group clearer. It lacks reach and you can only cast 2/3 depending your passives choice, making you rely more on your hatred generator..
Dont get me wrong, i can farm mp4/5 just fine if i propose to. But mp2 with this setup is just better xp/item per minute wise.
I was starting to get tired of my DH. It was just the same over and over again. I spend so much time on kiting. I've tried so many times to upgrade my gear, but I'm having trouble getting over 100k. This thread makes me wanna try again, thanks (no need to help me with gear, I'll work it out or ask my clan)
I have one question though: You have such awesome gear, including a high-tier XP gem, and so many "elite kills" on your DH and you're doing this fast XP and item run... How come you're only Plvl 21? I've played with several worse players with 30+ Plvl. Are most of the elite kills from before plvl was introduced?
Edit: I'm following this thread so I can look at it again some other time.
im only 25 paragon lvl cause i quit diablo 3 before 1.0.4 . I started playing again for this patch. So basically i did 25 lvls in less than a week. ( havent played much either)
Have you tried Bola w/volatile explosives? IMO, it does a better job of totally decimating dense packs of white mobs than ball lightning. I use bola for white mobs and cluster bombs for elites.
Mob density in Act 3 is so much better than any other acts, not to mention a whole lot more fun. I generally run MP2 and avg 1 legendary per run (native 300ish MF with MP bonus)
Have you tried Bola w/volatile explosives? IMO, it does a better job of totally decimating dense packs of white mobs than ball lightning. I use bola for white mobs and cluster bombs for elites.
Mob density in Act 3 is so much better than any other acts, not to mention a whole lot more fun. I generally run MP2 and avg 1 legendary per run (native 300ish MF with MP bonus)
i just made a run with bola, and i find my hungering arrows criting for 240k while bola barely hits the 200 mark. i know bola has a wider aoe range but i think hungering with spray of teeth works better
Updated the guide with my last Skill setup. I find SS + nightstalker to have an amazing synergy for this route. You can spend your discipline vaultingt to the next pack, and ball lightning crits will fill your disc right away.
just made a timed run. Took me 13 minutes to clear all 5 maps, for a total of 11 millon xp.
Meaning with this route im doing arround 50 millon every hour ( give or take)
For what its worth, I got about 10 legendaries yesterday doing this run about 6 times. Probably the RNG god favoring me, but the speed in which you dispatch mobs contribute to that as well.
For skills, I'm using multishot since it clears mobs faster for me. Vengeance rune also helps refill both hatred and stamina.
I have replaced Sharpshooter with vengance. I find that after killing a large ammount of mobs, i can fill both hatred and disc with the health globes they drop; ITs amazing to keep vaulting with full disc
Your build is far away from optimal. First HA/EleA sux a bit. If you get armor with reduce chakram cost 4 or 5 and quiver with + 1.12-1.33 HR and your warrior with ressource regen skill. Pick bat and lol you got 9+ HR/s. You will be able to keep chakram forever and you have free skill and you can choose Cluster Arrow. When you see group two clusters and than spam Chakram/Razor Disk most of the elite packs just die instant on MP2. Also you nee Legacy Nat with Tactical so you can keep 60% movement speed all the time. Also keep in mind that DH with 300Ress and 200k+ dmg without SS can farm MP4-5 without any delay.
Sorry i dont find chakram optimal at all. It doesnt hit all the mobs from a big pack. Elemental arrow does hit em all cuz it paths trough the middle of the pack hiting everything twice.
And why would i care about Hatred regen? elemental arrow doesnt cost much, and clears everything in 2 / 3 hits. Also vengance fills your hatred with 1 / 2 health globes and your discipline so you can have full disc to vault to the next pack.
And as i explained in the guide, mp 4 5 is not efficient even with ppl with 200k dmg. I can clear mp4 5 at amazing speed. And even then you cant compare the 50 millon xp/hour you can do with this route..
xp and legendaries is about killing as much white mobs as possible. Speed is the key. And mp1 - 2 is just more efficient than mp4-5 no matter what your gear is.
One thing i ask myself: Do you guys pick up all the yellow items? Is there a way to get notified of legendaries, apart from the minimap ping (which doesnt even always work as fellow streamer moldran discovered)? Because when you are rushing, there is a lot you could miss, right?
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After some research and testing, i found the best setup to farm both xp and items.
The following Skill choice, route and description is the one im using and enjoying the most.
First of all lets get some things clear. You need to understand the concept of XP per minute and Items per minute. It involves how much xp and items you can get per minute (doh').
People fail to understand this, thinking the higher the mp the better loot they will get.
YES higher MP > higher CHANCE of getting EXTRA items. But higher mp also means higher dmg intake and health pool on mobs.
Whats the point of doing mp 7 runs that can take you 1-2 hours, when you can make mp2 runs in 20 mins??
Quick mp 1-2 runs will grant you MORE items PER MINUTE than a slow and painfull mp5+.
Same goes for xp. MP 1-2 grants more XP/MINUTE than higher mps..
So this is my guide to do that. MP 1-2 in 20 mins or less
Basics:
Farming act 3. Why act 3 and not act 1? cuz act 3 has quick waypoints right next to large groups of mobs.
None actionless runing, meaning if you hit dead end on keep 2 you dont run back 3 minutes without killing anything, you TP and hit the next map on this route
If you happen to die at the end of a map, dont run through the same path you did before. IT will not have any mobs cuz you killed em before. Keep going through a new path discovering new parts of the map full of mobs.
Ignore / run through single annoying mobs. Remember we are aiming for large groups. IGNORE the lonely roamers arround the map.
Gear: Nothing too specific. I dont have any natalyas set ( wich would increase the ammount of vaults we could do ). What you MUST have is 24% move speed from your gear. Speed is key here, and you need that speed. Also high attack speed is better for elemental arrow so you can dump your hatred faster.
That being said. This guide doenst need any specific gear besides the move speed.
Skill Setup:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#aidlgV!ZbX!cabZYc
This setup is the one i find the best one for this route / mode. We want speed and quick clearing of large groups. The only hatred spender that can clear large groups is EA: ball lightning. Cluster bombs is good for elites, but we dont care for elites doing this route. We aim for large packs of white mobs. Thats our source of both XP and legendaries. And the best way to clear those packs is using ball lightning.
Tactical advantage is a must. We want to move as fast as posible when we are not clearing mobs.
Hungering arrow is amazing to clear elites. I find my hungering arrows doing more damage than my elemental arrows. So for elites mainly use this
Rain of vengance: its amazing elite and big packs clearer. Just stand near the packs or elites with gloom up, Pop this beauty and enjoy the extra dps.
Gloom is our life savior. Still good against reflect damage affix, and mitigates some damage under heavy situations.
Preparation: i use back up plan cuz i find myself spending most of the discipline vaulting through the map. Remember its all about fast runs.. So thats how you should be spending your discipline, vaulting for tactical advantage to proc and make your way to the next pack faster.
Passives: SS + vengance has an amazing synergy for this run. Basicaly you spend your discipline vaulting to the next pack. When you aproach a big pack, ball lightning crits will fill your disc pool right away and health globes will complete this process so you can have your discipline filled to spend it vaulting to the next pack
MP level: Since my gear grants me a lot of dps. I find myself equaly confort doing MP1 o 2 at the same speed. So if you can afford doing MP 2 you should. The extra MF will help a lot.
The route: Taken from the Alkaizers run for barbarians, with a little tweak
1st : start the game at the last quest of act 3. Killing Azmodan. Head to the last waypoint. Clear the path to Azmodan but dont get inside. You will get the checkpoint right before entering his chamber. Quit the game.
Now every time you create a game, you will start at that checkpoint, right before Azmodan.
From there clear the path (core of the arreat) all the way back to the waypoint.
Grab the waypoint and head to Tower of the damned 1. Make a full circle path clearing all the elites ( Both core of the arreat and Tower of the damned 1 gives you a quick 5 stack NV).
After you clear Tower of the damned, grab the waypoint to Arreat Crater 2. Clear the map. IF you find yourself at a dead end TP back and head to the next map. Remember we dont care about full clear. Just quick large group clearing.
After Arreat crater 2, take the waypoint to Bridge of korsikk. Make a circle arround the map clearing large packs. Dont clear any caves, ignore lonely mobs wandering arround the map. Focus on large packs
After Bridge, head to The keep depths lvl 1 and take the stairs into The keeps depths lvl 2. This is where the magic happens. Keeps lvl 2 has SO many mobs its a gold mine both for xp and legendaries. Try to clear as fast as possible. Most mobs are just skeletons with no hp at all.
If you hit a dead end you can tp back, and restart keeps 2 into an undiscovered part of the map.
Same thing if you die. Dont run back just to kill that last elite mob that killed you. You will waste 3 minuts running without killing anything.
- This is where Alkaizers run ends, You can either quit the game and restart the route, or you can do Arreat crater 1 and keeps 1 for some extra mobs. -
Video of Alkaizer route in case you dont understand it.
Remember we aim for LARGE PACKS OF WHITE MOBS. Thats your main source of legendaries and xp.
VAULT > KILL > VAULT > TP
I hope this helps some lost Dhs out there. Im not claiming this is the best route / method, but its the one working amazingly for me.
Cheers
I've been "friends" with all sorts of people on D3, a few times it has happened that a player ask to join my run and when he/she sees I'm running MP2 just leaves the party with like "OMG noob you farming MP2, I do MP5, you suck".
Vote up to the OP! I find MP2 sweet spot for me, since I kill elites in under 10s. Usually MP3 when with a friend, since we usually switch killing white monsters, one kills them and another is running past then, we can both one hit most of the whites.
Dont get me wrong, i can farm mp4/5 just fine if i propose to. But mp2 with this setup is just better xp/item per minute wise.
Apart from that, I agree with you. If I manage to craft a hellfire ring like you got, I'd be farming it up at low monster power level too.
im only 25 paragon lvl cause i quit diablo 3 before 1.0.4 . I started playing again for this patch. So basically i did 25 lvls in less than a week. ( havent played much either)
Mob density in Act 3 is so much better than any other acts, not to mention a whole lot more fun. I generally run MP2 and avg 1 legendary per run (native 300ish MF with MP bonus)
i just made a run with bola, and i find my hungering arrows criting for 240k while bola barely hits the 200 mark. i know bola has a wider aoe range but i think hungering with spray of teeth works better
Meaning with this route im doing arround 50 millon every hour ( give or take)
For skills, I'm using multishot since it clears mobs faster for me. Vengeance rune also helps refill both hatred and stamina.
Sorry i dont find chakram optimal at all. It doesnt hit all the mobs from a big pack. Elemental arrow does hit em all cuz it paths trough the middle of the pack hiting everything twice.
And why would i care about Hatred regen? elemental arrow doesnt cost much, and clears everything in 2 / 3 hits. Also vengance fills your hatred with 1 / 2 health globes and your discipline so you can have full disc to vault to the next pack.
And as i explained in the guide, mp 4 5 is not efficient even with ppl with 200k dmg. I can clear mp4 5 at amazing speed. And even then you cant compare the 50 millon xp/hour you can do with this route..
xp and legendaries is about killing as much white mobs as possible. Speed is the key. And mp1 - 2 is just more efficient than mp4-5 no matter what your gear is.
The math has been done on several forums.