The Great Race; a proposal for "Khalim" awards

[Crystalion]

the race for the Imbue is pretty much nailed down, give or take 5 minutes, 30 minutes seem to be reasonable

Yes. Also, because of the other rushing goals, one can pretty much presume to have quite a few level 8+ characters just lying around that could be handed a Malus almost trivially.

the longer race a try, as usual 1 player, no twink, no aid.
The ultimate target is, of course, killing Baal, and as so rush to the Hellforge in Nightmare. The limit is the level 20 and ancients quest

Yes, we can ignore the (Ruvanal) sleaze and assume that this is a two parter: level 20; act rushing.

best character for just running ahead without looking back, move forward and still get exp. The Blaze Sorceress.

An excellent choice. I should mention though that a Bone Armor Necro running with max thorns shields is a likely contender, for similar reasons.

The biggest problem is that you'll likely have to kill Andy before you get to level 12

Actually, grab those Fulminating potions when they drop and hit town just before Andy for heal and antidote potions (don't forget the new +50% poison resist from the first one you slug down). Static her at near melee range whenever you're at full HPs (run or Town Portal out if not--she's an act boss, she won't regen) and then hit her with your Fulminating potions (close range, so you don't miss)--as she is -50% fire resist, she should drop quite fast. The key would be to use poison to have cleared the way by killing all the "distractions" before pulling her. Of course if you're playing players X you'll already be 12+ here and Blaze just dusts her trivially.

- lvl 12 to lvl 18: Run and blaze. Keep a few stamina potions in the inventory at all times, very useful.

Man, aren't they! Brilliant change. Kudos to Isolde and co.

A point in a chilling armour might be worth considering

I would. The question is whether to freeze them when they hit you--a nice fit with constant run away tactics, but not with thorns twinking--or to Shiver them when they *try* to hit you (yes, you read that right, they don't have to hit you to get the shiver chill/damage). An interesting choice.

Then you'll have teleport. Teleport eats mana (you should be giving yourself nothing but life. High strength is useless, high dex as well, mana is not an issue and mana pots can be bought)

Yep and yep. This is a major score for the Sorc m.o. vs. Necro or other candidate class (though Leap Attack deserves mention).

FACT: You have to kill the council

Yes indeed. This is a blessing, actually, for act rushing, as you'll see later today when I do yet another act rushee so I can post times for you for comparision (with your no assist times).

FACT: Twinking could be a good idea.

Probably not necessary if you're going to be act rushed, as you might as well be rushed in two phases: clvl 1 to act 5; clvl 20 to act 4 NM hellforge. Thus, starting at clvl 1, you'll have total access to whatever act suits you for maximum xp efficiency (including picking only on suckers, clvl 12+, for blaze). Of course if you really want to twink, there are some lowbie items, like the Hsarus set, and Twitchthroe armor, that would skyrocket your lowbie's survivability (I like the +51 life in a mask for a clvl 5 character--that's just outrageous, isn't it?)

FACT: Cash WILL be a problem with this playing style. Using plenty of pots (and "recharging" poison pots) and not picking up much loot.

You only need to pick up rods, wands and scepters to be rolling in cash, on average. Train your ear. Naturally an initial $60,000 is helpful.

FACT: Kurast and the Durance can't be done faster with any other character.

The aforementioned Bone Armor/Thorns shield Necro has Corpse Explosion. If his life is high enough, the thorns shield will produce corpses. Those corpses can become mass destruction in an instant. So it depends on what "done faster" means and how well each contestant plays to their strengths. Certainly a Necro that hasn't been twinked with the thorns shield is at a huge disadvantage.

Very good times. Nice data to have. Be very interesting if anyone can significantly beat your times (unaided).

The Maggot Lair is horrible, with no teleport you have to move continuously and tempt monsters to follow you.

Well, in a rush this gets completely skipped. If you have to do it without teleport and without points in another skill, I'm wondering if you found any of the poison poisons with clvl 10 or 16 req? Those might work.

The arcane sanctuary is annoying

Another area where (players X?) leveling first to 18 (teleport; LA for Barb) would be a huge win.

The jungles go on for ever and ever. And is it me or the packs of flayers are a lot more dense

I suspect that maybe the lil buggers are just good at keeping up with you, so you just accumulated a whole lot of them over time? Subjectively it only seemed a little denser to me, v1.10beta1&s, iirc.

Assault to Diablo's fortress tomorrow, I'm too tired today

Nice report.

I'll skip Anya and Nithalak (sp?) in act 5 if possible (do they block any later quests?).

Well, as you can legally have a level 1 in nightmare, it is tempting to say: "block? what is this word: block?" While my "Categories" aren't perfect, they do pretty well represent what you have to think about in rushing. The short form summary of minimal requirements is:

• act 1: watch Andariel die
  <>
  
• act 2: touch viper temple chest to lift darkness; use summoner portal; talk to Tyriel
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• act 3: watch Council die; watch Meph die
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• act 4: watch Diablo die
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• act 5: (non-exploit): be level 20 and watch ancients die then watch Baal die<>
  [st]And the "exploit" means you don't even have to watch anything, as long as a party member that should (aka "needs to" just like you) does and you're in the act. I'll post some assisted times for this later. (tech note: "watch" means you are "there" when you or an ally get kill credit (xp not an issue)).