52 replies to this topic

[vastling]

skycrown is pretty good, i'll have to try it again.

I would still recommend to start at crater, while it isn't as xp dense as the other zones its fast and has a high legendary ratio for time even though your not at a full 5 stack when your doing it

[ogeishere]

JKlimek, on 31 December 2012 - 07:23 PM, said:

so wait, your whole strategy to save 20% time is to change where you get your stacks?  Why didn't you say "do alkaisers but start at stonefort and run backwards instead of core of arreat"... then your video could have been 7 mins shorter.

Am I missing something?

Forgive my bluntness, but your missing more then you think my friend. Alk doesn't even have Rakkis...Rakkis is the highest xp dense area in the game,. There is everything from grabbing the shrine at the end of FoS so you can run Arreat Crater 2 at a possible exp boost, to Getting the fastest five stacks while maintaining the highest xp possible (core is so slow and combined with ToTd, you may not even get your 5 stacks!!), while stonefort you will get 4-5 elites veyr effeciently. But no matter how you word it, the point is I was trying to come up with a faster run. AndI wanted to share what I found with this forum.

[Gohei27]

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

[Philss]

Hmm so this is alkaiser run but he run skycrown instead of core of arreat?

Imo a faster way is to do core of arreat ­then tower of the damned lvl 1 and IF you dont have 5 stack run keep dept lvl 3 from the end to the start ( so this way you never get stuck in a deadend) . There is alway 2-4 pack in keep dept 3 and its a very small map .

[ogeishere]

Philss, on 31 December 2012 - 08:18 PM, said:

Hmm so this is alkaiser run but he run skycrown instead of core of arreat?

Imo a faster way is to do core of arreat ­then tower of the damned lvl 1 and IF you dont have 5 stack run keep dept lvl 3 from the end to the start ( so this way you never get stuck in a deadend) . There is alway 2-4 pack in keep dept 3 and its a very small map .

How is it the alkaizer run? lol...
He doesn't have 2 of the 6 zones that are in my run... (including the top zone, Rakkis). Thats 33% of my run. And I don't have Core. The route is completely different..

[Litheum]

Gohei27, on 31 December 2012 - 08:16 PM, said:

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

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.

[kalamastan]

Getting more xp ( 18 to 19 mil ) / run from your route - for the same amount of time i need for a alkaizer run.  Generally i do not play for hours straight so can't confirm xp/hour - but it's a great leap from what i have been getting so far..

Thank you for sharing the tip.

[Domeotaku]

RMrulz, on 31 December 2012 - 05:43 PM, said:

ogeishere, on 31 December 2012 - 05:29 PM, said:

Raknar, on 31 December 2012 - 11:05 AM, said:

I am really interested in your spreadsheet numbers, because the video (i watched it) is your usual blabla talk..

The runs you did are totally inefficient and there isnt even a video proof for the 70mil XP/hour


regards =)


edit: huminator, give me your leorics instead of your follower!

Normally I would love to share my logs... Maybe if you had some decent manners. On the more positive side, you should try it out yourself if your are in disbelief, as the run only takes around 15 minutes

I have no idea if your run is really as efficient as you claim, mostly because I do not care about maximizing efficiency so am generally quite slow at paragon leveling.  But I would just like to point out that using manners as an excuse for not sharing your actual data sounds like a giant turd of an excuse to me.  If you really discovered what you claim might be the fastest possible leveling run in the game, you should be so excited about it and so interested in claiming full credit for it that you WANT to share all your data to prove how awesome you really are.  I'm pretty damn skeptical after seeing this post...

So asking for something and trying(?) to prove it wrong doesn't work like that.
He had no arguments.
He was too lazy to even try it once.
He had no manners.

Hope people like that leave this community.

[Gohei27]

Litheum, on 31 December 2012 - 10:11 PM, said:

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.

[Ryude]

So I tried this run, did it about 10 times on MP0 on my Paragon 60 WD. It seems about the same as Alkaizer, maybe a bit faster if you get lucky with stacks. All in all, not a bad run and I will try to alternate between the two to keep things fresh (if there is such a thing in D3).

[itirnitii]

why would you run skycrown first when the white mob density is good? You're killing all that trash with zero stacks. Plus traversing it takes too much time.

Seems to me saving skycrown for after five stacks is way better.

Arreat Core is the best for building stacks because it's short, has good elite density, with little time wasted killing trash mobs with low stack count.

Edited by itirnitii, 01 January 2013 - 03:25 AM.

[Raknar]

Dear ogeishere!

My previous comment wasnt meant to be rude, it is just that i dont like 10min videos with information worth like 1min.

I tried your route and i have to say, that i am 10-15% faster! (10-15% more XP/hour compared to alkaizer - route)
Now i added keep3 to it too, cause after some runs (of course not enough to nail me statistically!) it does not show a decrease in XP/hour.

So thanks for the share, i really like skycrown more than core!


PS.: Please try to compromise your videos and dont act like most of youtube´s video stars!

PPS.: To all the min/max players here, i think it is nice to know we are going in the right directions, but at the end of the day everything that matters is how much fun the route makes! At least i dont get paid for playing, therefore even if someone sacrifices some efficiency in favour of more fun, it is a good choice and i like it! =)

Edited by Raknar, 01 January 2013 - 03:38 AM.

[JKlimek]

I'd be interested in seeing your data sets too, and I will ask nicely (please?)

I did add Raxxis on the end of my FoS run (I do this in an S pattern now instead of an O and that way you don't have to waste time backtracking).  And based on the fact that I lose time on Archon I have to assume that the mob density isn't anywhere near the other big three (FoS, Arreat 2, Depths 2) so I'm curious to see the actual numbers on it.

I have been doing Stonefort but not Skycrown and I added that to my run and found similar results to others who have posted above.  Mainly that there are large gaps where it's tough to keep Archon up, but the areas that have mobs are great density and I assume that those areas would be better after 5 stacks.  Did you do any testing with that area to see if it was better to do after 5 stacks?  I would be very curious to see the numbers.

Above all, thank you for the work you've done!  Even if all it does is make a discussion and move the efficiency of Act 3 runs forward, you've done a good service!

[JKlimek]

PS, dear god I hate running those areas backwards.  I dunno what it is about the game, but it feels like you just don't get the same field of vision when moving towards the bottom of the screen.

[Kanio]

JKlimek, on 01 January 2013 - 03:07 PM, said:

PS, dear god I hate running those areas backwards.  I dunno what it is about the game, but it feels like you just don't get the same field of vision when moving towards the bottom of the screen.

Have the same "problem". But anyway, thanks for the route, them first five stacks goes so much faster than before. Running without Leoric ring but still manage to get around ~65m xp/hour.

[ogeishere]

itirnitii, on 01 January 2013 - 03:24 AM, said:

why would you run skycrown first when the white mob density is good? You're killing all that trash with zero stacks. Plus traversing it takes too much time.

Seems to me saving skycrown for after five stacks is way better.

Arreat Core is the best for building stacks because it's short, has good elite density, with little time wasted killing trash mobs with low stack count.

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.

[Pew]

ogeishere, on 31 December 2012 - 07:09 PM, said:

It takes me a little under 12 to do the entire run on average. This run is specifically made for xp/hour and not loot, although if you add the core and the caverns of frost in the fields of slaughter, it will be perfect for loot, as those two zones are extremely high in elites, but they will drop your exp/hour.

You mention Caverns of Frost. Does this also include Icefall Caverns? My instinct says "no" since it sort of feels like it's bigger, maze-ier, and maybe there's fewer elites, but I was wondering what your data says.

[Nyarlathotep]

Quote

You mention Caverns of Frost. Does this also include Icefall Caverns? My instinct says "no" since it sort of feels like it's bigger, maze-ier, and maybe there's fewer elites

bigger : dunno
maze-ier : dunno
fewer Elites : NO. For both caverns, they are the same : 1 blue pack guaranteed in lvl 1, +1 potential yellow pack. lvl 2 : 1 yellow + 1 big chest guaranteed, sometimes a second yellow. Always. In both "of frost" and "of icefalls" caverns.

What I would like to ask though, is if it does matter (or not) to run areas "backwards" like some posters have mentioned above.

[JKlimek]

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).

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 Icefall caves are TERRIBLE.  I went into one with a minute buffer on Archon and lost it before the end of the cave.  Despite the number of elites/resplendent chest, the mob density is terrible.  I haven't gotten a map with Caverns yet, so I can't make the comparison.

[Gohei27]

ogeishere, on 02 January 2013 - 11:50 AM, said:

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.

JKlimek, on 02 January 2013 - 01:55 PM, said:

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.

JKlimek, on 02 January 2013 - 01:55 PM, said:

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.

Edited by Gohei27, 02 January 2013 - 03:47 PM.