I've been working on leveling Paragon across all my characters and noticed that I'm having the hardest time with getting my archon wizard leveled. I normally run the middle MPs 4-6, but I've seen a lot of articles from various sources that say I might be doing it wrong. About half of the articles reference running mp 1-2 and other say to run mp 9-10 in a group. I typically run Festering Woods --> FoM --> Weeping Hollow.
How do you all, more experienced, wizards do it? (Don't say roll CMWW, I've tried the spec and don't like it.)
I personally find VotA the most difficult zone for Archon, because it requires a significant amount of extra EHP and due to all the elites Archon quickly wears off if you just go "random routes". Plus, re-gaining Archon is quite difficult because you're more likely to find elite packs than non-elite packs, and have fun using LL on them... of course, this may not be the case once you have a 500k DPS wiz, but at least for me act2 as Archon was always a bit more difficult than act1+3, even act4.
@Topic: Route is okay for Archon imho, Festering Woods can be difficult if you're unlucky and lose Archon, but FoM+crypt+WH is just awesome. MP levels depends on your EHP/DPS (should match, kinda). See this thread for recommendations: http://www.diablofans.com/topic/95505-archon-dps-and-ehp-recommedations-vs-mp/
Just as a side note, it helped me a lot to practice "how to regain Archon as quickly as possible" by searching for some white mobs, FN (Deep Freeze rune), LL everywhere and pop in Archon to finish off all the mobs (and have ~20-30s on timer), but BEFORE you activate Archon one FN more. So you have 15% CC increase for ~10 seconds which results (at least for me) in 10-20% DPS increase and is pure awesomeness. If you know how to regain Archon really quick you don't mind losing it anymore because the FN+DF buff is just insane. Combine that with a monk for full awesomeness... (Guiding Light passive+Overawe)
Well, it took me about 65-70 hours to go from paragon 28 to 100 on my second wizard doing Decaying Crypt runs, I'd say 30% solo, 70% with a full 4-man party on MP10. If it's Archon, really, just farm the densest zones after picking up 5x NV stacks. Right click for one second or so and keep moving. Herding mobs help, too, if you're into that. Chain those 300-350 massacre bonuses.
I'm not exaggerating. I can comfortably say 90% of my active non-barb friends run the same route I do (find Crypt, Festering --> Weeping --> FoM/Crypt --> maybe throw in Halls 2 or restart). And these guys have several paragon 100 characters.
Well, it took me about 65-70 hours to go from paragon 28 to 100 on my second wizard doing Decaying Crypt runs, I'd say 30% solo, 70% with a full 4-man party on MP10. If it's Archon, really, just farm the densest zones after picking up 5x NV stacks. Right click for one second or so and keep moving. Herding mobs help, too, if you're into that. Chain those 300-350 massacre bonuses.
It might be useful to add that you're not quite the average joe in terms of DPS, before OP freaks out and thinks he's super slow ;-)
But definitely agree to stack up NV5, the difference is huge (cf. http://d3xp.weebly.com/). Can't be stressed enough. Woods are great because you get 5 elites with not too much trash.
Well, it took me about 65-70 hours to go from paragon 28 to 100 on my second wizard doing Decaying Crypt runs, I'd say 30% solo, 70% with a full 4-man party on MP10. If it's Archon, really, just farm the densest zones after picking up 5x NV stacks. Right click for one second or so and keep moving. Herding mobs help, too, if you're into that. Chain those 300-350 massacre bonuses.
It might be useful to add that you're not quite the average joe in terms of DPS, before OP freaks out and thinks he's super slow ;-)
But definitely agree to stack up NV5, the difference is huge (cf. http://d3xp.weebly.com/). Can't be stressed enough. Woods are great because you get 5 elites with not too much trash.
You really just need a good, synchronized team that's capable of rolling through high MP levels with relative ease. It takes a EP-Cyclone monk with Guiding Light and one SNS wizard to go with 2x high DPS characters (Archon, CoB WD, HotA barb). I once ran a full party with one guy with Cain's set who hid behind everyone else. You can do that, too, if the other three players have high DPS and synergy
Well, it took me about 65-70 hours to go from paragon 28 to 100 on my second wizard doing Decaying Crypt runs, I'd say 30% solo, 70% with a full 4-man party on MP10. If it's Archon, really, just farm the densest zones after picking up 5x NV stacks. Right click for one second or so and keep moving. Herding mobs help, too, if you're into that. Chain those 300-350 massacre bonuses.
It might be useful to add that you're not quite the average joe in terms of DPS, before OP freaks out and thinks he's super slow ;-)
But definitely agree to stack up NV5, the difference is huge (cf. http://d3xp.weebly.com/). Can't be stressed enough. Woods are great because you get 5 elites with not too much trash.
I once ran a full party with one guy with Cain's set who hid behind everyone else. You can do that, too, if the other three players have high DPS and synergy
Can I be that guy?
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How do you all, more experienced, wizards do it? (Don't say roll CMWW, I've tried the spec and don't like it.)
I personally find VotA the most difficult zone for Archon, because it requires a significant amount of extra EHP and due to all the elites Archon quickly wears off if you just go "random routes". Plus, re-gaining Archon is quite difficult because you're more likely to find elite packs than non-elite packs, and have fun using LL on them... of course, this may not be the case once you have a 500k DPS wiz, but at least for me act2 as Archon was always a bit more difficult than act1+3, even act4.
@Topic: Route is okay for Archon imho, Festering Woods can be difficult if you're unlucky and lose Archon, but FoM+crypt+WH is just awesome. MP levels depends on your EHP/DPS (should match, kinda). See this thread for recommendations: http://www.diablofans.com/topic/95505-archon-dps-and-ehp-recommedations-vs-mp/
Just as a side note, it helped me a lot to practice "how to regain Archon as quickly as possible" by searching for some white mobs, FN (Deep Freeze rune), LL everywhere and pop in Archon to finish off all the mobs (and have ~20-30s on timer), but BEFORE you activate Archon one FN more. So you have 15% CC increase for ~10 seconds which results (at least for me) in 10-20% DPS increase and is pure awesomeness. If you know how to regain Archon really quick you don't mind losing it anymore because the FN+DF buff is just insane. Combine that with a monk for full awesomeness... (Guiding Light passive+Overawe)
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I'm not exaggerating. I can comfortably say 90% of my active non-barb friends run the same route I do (find Crypt, Festering --> Weeping --> FoM/Crypt --> maybe throw in Halls 2 or restart). And these guys have several paragon 100 characters.
Armory | YouTube | Twitter | Clan Site
It might be useful to add that you're not quite the average joe in terms of DPS, before OP freaks out and thinks he's super slow ;-)
But definitely agree to stack up NV5, the difference is huge (cf. http://d3xp.weebly.com/). Can't be stressed enough. Woods are great because you get 5 elites with not too much trash.
You really just need a good, synchronized team that's capable of rolling through high MP levels with relative ease. It takes a EP-Cyclone monk with Guiding Light and one SNS wizard to go with 2x high DPS characters (Archon, CoB WD, HotA barb). I once ran a full party with one guy with Cain's set who hid behind everyone else. You can do that, too, if the other three players have high DPS and synergy
Armory | YouTube | Twitter | Clan Site
Can I be that guy?