The only time I have issues with keeping archon up going backwards in raxxis is if the door is open and the amount of mobs outside the door is low that going inside wasted a bunch of archon time.
do you refresh before you go to that area? I usually cancel Archon and recast my buff spells before depths, fields, and crater 2.
It can vary because the beginning of the run isn't consistent keeping archon up, however usually I refresh after taking the raxxis wp. Sometimes I have a really good archon coming out of tower of the damned so I don't refresh. I also don't refresh going in fields of slaughter after raxxis, and sometimes I refresh at skycrown after keep depths depending if I had to back track. If I have less than 60s after keep depths, I usually refresh at skycrown. I use teleport archon so I'd rather keep the 10s teleport, the 40% resists, and 300% damage nuke over my buffs. Which are force weapon/blood magic and shock armor/scramble.
Out of the 6 zones I use in the route, skycrown has the lowest xp/min, and the highest elites/min. This makes it perfect for starting the run with, as you can get that 4-5 stacks quick without sacrificing xp. The Core of Arreat's xp/min is too low in my opinion, which is why I don't use it, as my xp/min drops significantly.
I'd really like to see your data because core's exp per minute shouldn't even equal a minute.
There is a lot of dead space at the beginning of Skycrown (walking from town to the exit point from town, walking from the door to the stairs) that you don't need to do if you run it backwards. It may only be 10-15 seconds, but it adds up when your runs are 10 mins. (if you do the math, it's about a 2.5% loss in experience per hour).
As an archon I think it's worth the 15s to run to the beginning since I get that time in archon from the starter pack that runs down the steps.
I'm not sure that Raxxis matters if you run it backwards or not, but the density in Raxxis isn't enough for me to build up Archon, so I have to start in the fields and then once I have an Archon buffer, I can do Raxxis fine. I do Skycrown forwards as well because I do Stonefort afterwards and that area has the same Archon mob spacing problem.
The only time I have issues with keeping archon up going backwards in raxxis is if the door is open and the amount of mobs outside the door is low that going inside wasted a bunch of archon time.
This is almost exactly what I do as well. Except I normally don't run battlements, I really only run stonefort for KW, becuase there are 2 points where theres a stretch of no mobs and I often lose Archon.
I'l try battlement tonight and see. I guess the only other thing I do is Keeps 3, but I only do 1 pass.....its basically a big X, so I go to the center, pick 1 leg, run it, and port out. Its quick and a good way to finish out the area since I usually have 45 seconds or more left on Archon after Keeps 2.
I have the same issue with stonefort, also an archon build. I have no issues keeping archon up during battlements and usually walk into stonefort with a minute plus. Which gives me time to check the little paths where packs and the kw can hide. I usually repop archon in the middle of the zone and it fades at the last catapult where there are never any mobs. Sometimes archon lasts long enough to get passed the catapult but if not by that time it should have cooled off.
I do something very similar to this run, it's a mix between yours and alkaizers actually.
I start off at core like Alkaizers, I like this zone because it has a 1-3 champ packs and is small. wp to the tower of damned 1, also small, 1-3 packs, if I don't have 5 stacks I wp to tower of cursed 1, relatively small 1-3 packs. Once I have 5 stacks I head to raxxis, work my way backwards to fields of slaughter, run a circle around the fields and wp to keep depths level 1, head to level 2, clear it and teleport to town. stash the items i have and then run to skycrown battlements, clear it and stonefort.
The only area you need to know your way around if keep depths 2, which is pretty easy, the exit is always left, so I always check going right first. If i started on a bottom entrance, I do right then bottom first, if I started on a top entrance, I go right then top first. This method usually helps me finding all the champs without backtracking, "much."
Correct me if I'm wrong but iirc it's something like this.
Core = 1-3 packs
Damned 1 = 1-3 packs
Cursed 1 = 1-3 packs* I only run this if I was unlucky with packs in the first two zones.
Raxxis = 3-5 packs* Since I don't clear the top part I never count on getting the min or max number of packs.
Fields of Slaughter = 2-4 packs
Keep Depths 2 = 3-5 packs
Skycrown Battlements = 3-6 packs
Stonefort = 2-4 packs + keywarden
It can vary because the beginning of the run isn't consistent keeping archon up, however usually I refresh after taking the raxxis wp. Sometimes I have a really good archon coming out of tower of the damned so I don't refresh. I also don't refresh going in fields of slaughter after raxxis, and sometimes I refresh at skycrown after keep depths depending if I had to back track. If I have less than 60s after keep depths, I usually refresh at skycrown. I use teleport archon so I'd rather keep the 10s teleport, the 40% resists, and 300% damage nuke over my buffs. Which are force weapon/blood magic and shock armor/scramble.
I'd really like to see your data because core's exp per minute shouldn't even equal a minute.
As an archon I think it's worth the 15s to run to the beginning since I get that time in archon from the starter pack that runs down the steps.
The only time I have issues with keeping archon up going backwards in raxxis is if the door is open and the amount of mobs outside the door is low that going inside wasted a bunch of archon time.
I have the same issue with stonefort, also an archon build. I have no issues keeping archon up during battlements and usually walk into stonefort with a minute plus. Which gives me time to check the little paths where packs and the kw can hide. I usually repop archon in the middle of the zone and it fades at the last catapult where there are never any mobs. Sometimes archon lasts long enough to get passed the catapult but if not by that time it should have cooled off.
I start off at core like Alkaizers, I like this zone because it has a 1-3 champ packs and is small. wp to the tower of damned 1, also small, 1-3 packs, if I don't have 5 stacks I wp to tower of cursed 1, relatively small 1-3 packs. Once I have 5 stacks I head to raxxis, work my way backwards to fields of slaughter, run a circle around the fields and wp to keep depths level 1, head to level 2, clear it and teleport to town. stash the items i have and then run to skycrown battlements, clear it and stonefort.
The only area you need to know your way around if keep depths 2, which is pretty easy, the exit is always left, so I always check going right first. If i started on a bottom entrance, I do right then bottom first, if I started on a top entrance, I go right then top first. This method usually helps me finding all the champs without backtracking, "much."
Correct me if I'm wrong but iirc it's something like this.
Core = 1-3 packs
Damned 1 = 1-3 packs
Cursed 1 = 1-3 packs* I only run this if I was unlucky with packs in the first two zones.
Raxxis = 3-5 packs* Since I don't clear the top part I never count on getting the min or max number of packs.
Fields of Slaughter = 2-4 packs
Keep Depths 2 = 3-5 packs
Skycrown Battlements = 3-6 packs
Stonefort = 2-4 packs + keywarden