I'm trying to figure out what the best XP farming route is for paragon leveling as an Archon wizard.
So far the best I've come up with is a modified Alkaizer route in which I go Core > Tower of the Damned 1 > Bridge of Korsik WP but skip mosts of fields and run straight through to Rakkis and clear all of Rakkis > Keep Depths 2 > Crater 1 > Crater 2.
I've measured my XP over about 10 runs and it's been pretty consistent: the runs average about 20 minutes and about 11mil XP, for a total of 33mil per hour. There is variance, as the runs take as little as 18 mins and as long as 23, and the XP per hour can be as little as 9mil and as much as 13-14mil. So its somewhere in the 30-35mil per hour range over time, average of 33mil per hour. This is with a 29% XP gem, but no other +XP gear such as leorics.
Not posting this to brag or anything, I just want to find out if anybody has a better route I could run. Has anybody gotten more XP per hour consistently with a different route?
Sounds like the same route I decided on, though Keeps level 3 gets an honorable mention because it's relatively short, only usually has 1 branching point, and has a decent density of mobs with a couple possible elites.
I haven't tried tracking my exp gains as a function of time though.
Anywhere between 30-40 million EXP is a good range (fluctuates given your luck and mob spawns). There are a couple of variations, the EXP yields are negligibly different and can be run based on your own preferences. And right, this is just with a ruby in the helm (I personally use Radiant Star) and no Leoric's.
1. Core --> Tower of the Damned 1 --> Crater 1 --> Bridge --> Keeps 2 — repeat
2. Tower of the Damned 1 --> Crater 1 --> Bridge --> Keeps 2 — repeat
3. Core (maybe) --> Tower of the Damned 1 --> Bridge --> Keeps 3 --> Keeps 2 — repeat
Usually I do a combination of those areas, but I try to keep it short. At the end, the most important thing is incorporating Keeps 2 as soon as you hit 5 NV stacks. My high was about 38 million EXP per hour and low was around 33 million EXP per hour when I put in an honest effort, so it's pretty stable. I'm pretty lazy, though, so I usually take my sweet time and grind at my own pace :Thumbs Up:
Sounds like the same route I decided on, though Keeps level 3 gets an honorable mention because it's relatively short, only usually has 1 branching point, and has a decent density of mobs with a couple possible elites.
I haven't tried tracking my exp gains as a function of time though.
The XP/hour is super easy to track - just mouseover your XP bar at the beginning of your run, take a screenshot, and then do it again once you finish. The screenshots will have the time on the clock and your XP.
I am on the fence with Depths 3... I've done it before but lately I've been skipping it... sometimes it is just great, and sometimes its completely awful. The inconsistency irritates me, so that's why I've skipped it lately.
1. Core --> Tower of the Damned 1 --> Crater 1 --> Bridge --> Keeps 2 — repeat
2. Tower of the Damned 1 --> Crater 1 --> Bridge --> Keeps 2 — repeat
3. Core (maybe) --> Tower of the Damned 1 --> Bridge --> Keeps 3 --> Keeps 2 — repeat
I notice that in all of these you are doing Bridge and in none of them are you doing Crater 2. I'm a little surprised at leaving out Crater 2, because I think the scorpion packs are amazing XP. I know people complain about the deadends in the craters, but for both of them I just run straight towards the exit (its usually easy to pick the right path) and clear what's on the way. If I happen to chose wrong I either skip the rest or clear backwards from the exit.
Also, with the Bridge... are you clearing fields of slaughter? I know the barbs do it, but for a wizard I've found it to be kind of bad because of there being so much open space between the groups of mobs, and there only being 2-3 elite packs in the rather large area. I take that WP but run straight to Rakkis and clear all of Rakkis, which is nice and linear and has high mob density. Are you doing Rakkis?
1. Core --> Tower of the Damned 1 --> Crater 1 --> Bridge --> Keeps 2 — repeat
2. Tower of the Damned 1 --> Crater 1 --> Bridge --> Keeps 2 — repeat
3. Core (maybe) --> Tower of the Damned 1 --> Bridge --> Keeps 3 --> Keeps 2 — repeat
I notice that in all of these you are doing Bridge and in none of them are you doing Crater 2. I'm a little surprised at leaving out Crater 2, because I think the scorpion packs are amazing XP. I know people complain about the deadends in the craters, but for both of them I just run straight towards the exit (its usually easy to pick the right path) and clear what's on the way. If I happen to chose wrong I either skip the rest or clear backwards from the exit.
Also, with the Bridge... are you clearing fields of slaughter? I know the barbs do it, but for a wizard I've found it to be kind of bad because of there being so much open space between the groups of mobs, and there only being 2-3 elite packs in the rather large area. I take that WP but run straight to Rakkis and clear all of Rakkis, which is nice and linear and has high mob density. Are you doing Rakkis?
Both Crater 1 and 2 are prone to dead ends here and there. I only choose Crater 1 because I can do a loop of Tower of the Damned 1 and then go straight up the stairs to Crater 1, then kill to waypoint. Places like Crater 2, Skycrown Battlements, Stonefort and Rakkis Crossing are all options I take whenever I'm close to leveling up.
For Bridge, I mean Fields of Slaughter (Bridge of Korsikk waypoint). I do a loop just like I would for Tower of the Damned 1. Take a trip, go back to the waypoint, teleport to Keeps. And like I mentioned, I'll do Rakkis whenever I see I'm close to leveling up.
I do the bridge but not the fields. Like you said I find the mob density somewhat lacking in the fields. I also hate some of the elites, like those fireball chucking flying things. When they get spread out they're a pain since it still takes me a few seconds to burn them with my dps. If they swoop down in a large group I just get incinerated. Also, damage reflect on tremors is not fun in an open area.
I love the bridge though since I can clear the whole length with one Archon activation. For some reason I had problems keeping Archon active going backwards from the portal right before siegebreaker. I also like running past the portal to see if Underbridge is there for an extra elite pack, and sometimes there's an elite back around there.
I do around 35M XP/H with ruby, no leoric. +24%ms, no scramble armor, I'm not geared defensively enough. 175k dps+SoJ.
All my runs have 2 parts:
1) high elite, low trash density zone until 5NV:
Core - Keep3 - Tower of the damned 1
2) as soon as I hit 5 NV, wp to:
Arreat1 from towerD1 - Skycrown from stonefort wp - Keep2 - Rakkis south to Fields of slaughter circular clear - Arreat2
my question is where to farm paragon come 1.05 or what not where mp1 means all mobs act 1-4 are lvl 63
atm i do a similar route but never walk the same path walked before (unless its a short distance) gotta kill em all in the most lazy way possible.
Alkaizer's route is by far most efficient, keep lvl 3 is not really as good, if you want to add another area to the farming route - rakkis crossing, after the killing fields just go there, 2-3 champs there (+1 may be in the stores) as a truckload of mobs with relatively high density, with move speed run fast a single cast of archon never failed me there.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
actually people are talking about a sweetspot on act 1 and MP3-4
At MP1 and higher there is no difficulty difference between Act 1 and Act 3. MP3 on Act 1 is the same mob HP/damage as MP3 on Act 3. The mob density in Act 1 is just very low compared to Act 3. There is no equivalent to Keep Depths 2, or the Craters, or Fields of Slaughter + Rakkis. So I don't see how an Act 1 MP3-4 could even come remotely close.
personally in terms of density of mobs doesnt pony level come close to crater 2/keeps 2 and the only thing stopping it from being good before was the fact that you had to be in act 1?
personally in terms of density of mobs doesnt pony level come close to crater 2/keeps 2 and the only thing stopping it from being good before was the fact that you had to be in act 1?
Actually, I visited Whimsyshire a small handful of times after patch 1.04 and I was so depressed by the emptiness of it compared to Act 3 I never returned since.
personally in terms of density of mobs doesnt pony level come close to crater 2/keeps 2 and the only thing stopping it from being good before was the fact that you had to be in act 1?
Actually, I visited Whimsyshire a small handful of times after patch 1.04 and I was so depressed by the emptiness of it compared to Act 3 I never returned since.
Completely agree the density is far too low in whimsy.
With regards to act 1 MP3-4 i have no idea why that even came across - as you mentioned the damage / HP is the same as act 3 MP3-4, in terms of density i can't really think of areas on act 1 that are much better or even just better than act 3. I could see act 2 working with 5-8 elites in the vaults of the assasin alone and a few other very crowded areas
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
So far the best I've come up with is a modified Alkaizer route in which I go Core > Tower of the Damned 1 > Bridge of Korsik WP but skip mosts of fields and run straight through to Rakkis and clear all of Rakkis > Keep Depths 2 > Crater 1 > Crater 2.
I've measured my XP over about 10 runs and it's been pretty consistent: the runs average about 20 minutes and about 11mil XP, for a total of 33mil per hour. There is variance, as the runs take as little as 18 mins and as long as 23, and the XP per hour can be as little as 9mil and as much as 13-14mil. So its somewhere in the 30-35mil per hour range over time, average of 33mil per hour. This is with a 29% XP gem, but no other +XP gear such as leorics.
Not posting this to brag or anything, I just want to find out if anybody has a better route I could run. Has anybody gotten more XP per hour consistently with a different route?
I haven't tried tracking my exp gains as a function of time though.
Crusader DPS and EHP Spreadsheet, meant for Crusaders
My Wizard
1. Core --> Tower of the Damned 1 --> Crater 1 --> Bridge --> Keeps 2 — repeat
2. Tower of the Damned 1 --> Crater 1 --> Bridge --> Keeps 2 — repeat
3. Core (maybe) --> Tower of the Damned 1 --> Bridge --> Keeps 3 --> Keeps 2 — repeat
Usually I do a combination of those areas, but I try to keep it short. At the end, the most important thing is incorporating Keeps 2 as soon as you hit 5 NV stacks. My high was about 38 million EXP per hour and low was around 33 million EXP per hour when I put in an honest effort, so it's pretty stable. I'm pretty lazy, though, so I usually take my sweet time and grind at my own pace :Thumbs Up:
Armory | YouTube | Twitter | Clan Site
The XP/hour is super easy to track - just mouseover your XP bar at the beginning of your run, take a screenshot, and then do it again once you finish. The screenshots will have the time on the clock and your XP.
I am on the fence with Depths 3... I've done it before but lately I've been skipping it... sometimes it is just great, and sometimes its completely awful. The inconsistency irritates me, so that's why I've skipped it lately.
I notice that in all of these you are doing Bridge and in none of them are you doing Crater 2. I'm a little surprised at leaving out Crater 2, because I think the scorpion packs are amazing XP. I know people complain about the deadends in the craters, but for both of them I just run straight towards the exit (its usually easy to pick the right path) and clear what's on the way. If I happen to chose wrong I either skip the rest or clear backwards from the exit.
Also, with the Bridge... are you clearing fields of slaughter? I know the barbs do it, but for a wizard I've found it to be kind of bad because of there being so much open space between the groups of mobs, and there only being 2-3 elite packs in the rather large area. I take that WP but run straight to Rakkis and clear all of Rakkis, which is nice and linear and has high mob density. Are you doing Rakkis?
Both Crater 1 and 2 are prone to dead ends here and there. I only choose Crater 1 because I can do a loop of Tower of the Damned 1 and then go straight up the stairs to Crater 1, then kill to waypoint. Places like Crater 2, Skycrown Battlements, Stonefort and Rakkis Crossing are all options I take whenever I'm close to leveling up.
For Bridge, I mean Fields of Slaughter (Bridge of Korsikk waypoint). I do a loop just like I would for Tower of the Damned 1. Take a trip, go back to the waypoint, teleport to Keeps. And like I mentioned, I'll do Rakkis whenever I see I'm close to leveling up.
Armory | YouTube | Twitter | Clan Site
I love the bridge though since I can clear the whole length with one Archon activation. For some reason I had problems keeping Archon active going backwards from the portal right before siegebreaker. I also like running past the portal to see if Underbridge is there for an extra elite pack, and sometimes there's an elite back around there.
Crusader DPS and EHP Spreadsheet, meant for Crusaders
My Wizard
All my runs have 2 parts:
1) high elite, low trash density zone until 5NV:
Core - Keep3 - Tower of the damned 1
2) as soon as I hit 5 NV, wp to:
Arreat1 from towerD1 - Skycrown from stonefort wp - Keep2 - Rakkis south to Fields of slaughter circular clear - Arreat2
atm i do a similar route but never walk the same path walked before (unless its a short distance) gotta kill em all in the most lazy way possible.
At MP1 and higher there is no difficulty difference between Act 1 and Act 3. MP3 on Act 1 is the same mob HP/damage as MP3 on Act 3. The mob density in Act 1 is just very low compared to Act 3. There is no equivalent to Keep Depths 2, or the Craters, or Fields of Slaughter + Rakkis. So I don't see how an Act 1 MP3-4 could even come remotely close.
Actually, I visited Whimsyshire a small handful of times after patch 1.04 and I was so depressed by the emptiness of it compared to Act 3 I never returned since.
Armory | YouTube | Twitter | Clan Site
Completely agree the density is far too low in whimsy.
With regards to act 1 MP3-4 i have no idea why that even came across - as you mentioned the damage / HP is the same as act 3 MP3-4, in terms of density i can't really think of areas on act 1 that are much better or even just better than act 3. I could see act 2 working with 5-8 elites in the vaults of the assasin alone and a few other very crowded areas
Yes, but the coefficient is .1 so it's pretty much worthless compared to lifesteal.
The best method i used to farm is running with a barb with Sprint (Force March) and using Scramble Armor with regular archon spec
ms boost from Scramble + Force March really help a lot (50-60m exp/hr) ms from both buff can stack
for route please check in my diabloprogress page (newbie can't post link)
or youtube > sYj5SFJNXsQ
http://i.imgur.com/1gAhgGy.jpg
http://www.twitch.tv/popsecret