17 replies to this topic

[Zyfoh]

This Act 2 route grants almost the same amount of XP/H Act 3 does, there's a lot of elites so you will have a fairly large amount of legendaries dropping aswell. And one of the zones that is included in this route will probably be the best for Demonic Essence farming in 1.0.7 because of the extremely high elite density (Vault of the Assassin)

This is basically the route, I did this on MP1.

Pick "The Black Soulstone" quest and then go to Desolated Sands and search up "Vault of the Assassin" when you enter that zone you will get a checkpoint there, so just leave the game and you will spawn there. Exit it so you can see later on in the Desolated Sands where it is located, then just teleport to town and take the following waypoints.'

WP to Black Canyon Mines - You will find around 1-4 elites here, clear this area

WP to Road to Alcarnus run over the bridge - You will found 1-2 elites here, you should now have 3-5 stacks.

Teleport to town and WP to Desolated sands, check the map and you will see where Vault is if you exited it earlier. Run to Vault of the Assassin and enter it, clear the whole zone there will be around 7-9 elites in this area.

This is basically the run, it usually takes 5 minutes for me to do the whole thing, it's probably really viable on higher MPs aswell, especially in 1.0.7 when we will get more XP for each MP lvl and also higher drop chance of the Demonic Essences.

Tested it on my Wizard and Witch Doctor - http://eu.battle.net...57/hero/3518648

Edited by Zyfoh, 26 January 2013 - 12:46 AM.

[Jamoose]

Yeah this is a great run! +1

[Diavolo222]

5 stack to vault is a pretty old run tbh nothing new.But I guess its a good reminder as even if you knew of it you forget its existence after doing 200+ act3 runs.

[Orb]

Why not just clear vault first then tp home and wp to mines and alcanus? That way you don't have to walk from desolate waypoint to vault.

[RMrulz]

Orb, on 25 January 2013 - 10:07 PM, said:

Why not just clear vault first then tp home and wp to mines and alcanus? That way you don't have to walk from desolate waypoint to vault.

I suspect the answer is because this can make a *significant* difference in your total experience.  There can be some truly gigantic clumps of mobs in the vault, and if you have the misfortune of running into the biggest ones after getting only 0-2 stacks, you're missing out on a ton of experience.

[overneathe]

There's usually at least one pack of 60+ skeletons in there that brings lots of pleasure when killed.

[IgnatiusReilly]

Yeah, this is what I pretty much do. Cool to see someone else thinks it's effective.

Actually, I really appreciate this thread since I've been doing it more or less like this but not so much structure. I'll try to follow this guide closely next time I play.

My semi-random path has been: Vault>Black Canyon (since the elites are easy to find)>Desolate Sands :/ But I usually do a full clear anyway.

Quote

There's usually at least one pack of 60+ skeletons in there that brings lots of pleasure when killed.

lol so much this. I always know it's coming because my computer starts to chug a bit. So it's a battle to fight slow down. (God I need a new computer...)

Edited by IgnatiusReilly, 25 January 2013 - 10:34 PM.

[shndany]

It seems like a good place to farm, I'm going to try it.

[Sigma]

IgnatiusReilly, on 25 January 2013 - 10:31 PM, said:

lol so much this. I always know it's coming because my computer starts to chug a bit. So it's a battle to fight slow down. (God I need a new computer...)

how many sound channels you got running ?   only reason I ask is that I had the same problimes in act 3 Bridge.   Dropped the sound channels down and all the FPS problems vanished instantly.

[Ethezial]

Someone had posted a run very similar to this for farming Leoric's in Normal. Works great as a farming/XP run though!

[Pietrov]

I did try this run and it is fun.

Pros:
+ isn't act 3
+ very high elite density in Vault of Assassin
+ easy to navigate - Alcarnus and Black Canyon always look the same, Vault of Assassin is always a big square

Cons:
- sometimes there are just not enough elite mobs before you hit VoA, so you need to wander around the Sands just to get stacks
- of the 3 basic areas for this run, only one is a high-density area (VoA)

Conclusion:
As for now, the run is nice and fun, but in the long run will be even more boring than the usual Alkaizer's A3 runs.
But, based on the last blueposts, when 1.0.8 comes along and we will be able to choose monster density, I think then it will shine.

[halvlitern]

.I am sure you have a nice farming route, And I am going to try it, I guess if you go to MP3 or so, you can do a keywarden aswell?
But I would very much like you to link your profile. Because I know my Wizard cant do this in 5 mins.

Rampage#2953

[Aldoran]

Black Canyon Mines?
flies. Flies! FLIES! FLIES!! FLIES!!!

..i am not going there, even on mp0.

Edited by Aldoran, 26 January 2013 - 02:42 PM.

[Fare84]

What about just running vault and nothing else?
u'll loose on xp/per mob but i assume you can kill much faster that way. since th emob density there is insane it could be even more xp/hour. anyone tried that yet?

[maka]

Fare84, on 26 January 2013 - 02:51 PM, said:

What about just running vault and nothing else?
u'll loose on xp/per mob but i assume you can kill much faster that way. since th emob density there is insane it could be even more xp/hour. anyone tried that yet?

The problem is that you'll be doing most of VoA without 5 stacks.

[Zero(pS)]

Great route.

I still find those Writhing Deceivers annoying as hell in Act 2

[maka]

Zero(pS), on 26 January 2013 - 04:21 PM, said:

Great route.

I still find those Writhing Deceivers annoying as hell in Act 2

I don't like those mobs at all. I don't like invulnerable mobs.

[Zero(pS)]

Yeah, they're really brutal against ranged characters.

Elites like Fast/Horde/Knockback/Arcane or Frozen can became a freaking mess when you're a DH or a Wizard.