Holy Bolt v1.10 B2; Paladin xp factory

[Crystalion]

Since I'm an old D1 player I like that Holy Bolt is finally getting some attention from Blizzard but I'm wondering if anyone here can punch any holes in this simple concept as a rushee xp farming build...

Paladin. Key skill points:
20 Holy Bolt
20 Blessed Hammer

optional/useful skill points:
1 Prayer
1 Cleansing
1 Meditation (for people who don't like visits to town to buy lots of mana potions)

afaik no offensive aura aids Holy Bolt (please correct me).

see my post at the Amazon Basin for more/related details

The key thought is that you're doing over 2k damage per Holy Bolt and can rip through Anya Portal Defiled Warriors very fast even if they are way above your level (once you reach level 25 and end the xp nerf for that).

Since I've been studying rushing lately (not ready to publish) I know that it isn't a big deal to put a character into Nightmare at 20 and Hell at 40 (at this point I've not studied Anya portal rushing, but logically it can't be a worse block than the Ancients, so it should be a non-issue).

So give me a critique or help me put this in perspective... is mindless farming of ~ 50k experience every second or two significant, or outclassed by some other (requirement: mindless) v1.10 unbalanced build?

[Crystalion]

I've been studying rushing lately (not ready to publish)

Well, I'm still not ready to publish on the topic of rushing, but to get ready to test (come Monday) the wHoly Bolty Paly I created a fun new character in style...

v1.10s beta (2 player TCP/IP mode used on one PC via WinXP user switching)
Paladin, level one
no xp points
no stat points (granted or used)
no skill points (granted or used)

Quest credit for: Cain, Andariel; Maggot Lair/Viper Temple; Duriel; Council; Mephisto; Diablo; Shenk; prisoners

Waypoints usable: all five act towns; Dark Wood; Catacombs L2; Arcane Sanctuary; Canyon of Magi; Travincal; Durance L2; River of Flame; Frigid Highlands

Played to this point with the initial equipment or naked, but now equiped with a ring of greed that dropped during the rush (it amused me) and misc. gear bought from Charsi with some of the ~ 50k I just gave him. Plus, of course, the Hellforge Hammer. No other twinks (I plan to twink 10+10+10% fast cast rings/amulet around level 6 and to revisit fast cast at level 17 but I would be surprised to find any other twinks needful).

misc notes:
========
Cain IDs for free (quest completed... rushee merely darted into Tristram and touched him and ran back out :) )
can shop all acts (including fair price in act5)
can *not* hire a rogue but can hire mercs from acts 2, 3, 5 (fyi, I've toyed with this before... if you hire a level 1 act 3 merc they are amusingly useless and pathetic--once in a blue moon they even take a swing at something)
since Darkness act2 quest is complete will not have to suffer that later; yes, Hellforge quest/reward is still open (I prefer the Hammer)
"payment" for the rush was that I confiscated the OrtRalTal
trivia: only thing swung at/killed was one Prison Door, which, since I used the beginning weapon (not the Hellforge) took several minutes to destroy
my listed damage, with no skills/or stat pts is 12-38 (courtesy Hellforge... I suspect it will be a while before whacking things is more than a brief affair).
Naturally, being in normal, many of the Act 2..5 shop tabs are empty, as I'm level one and they have trouble rolling any items to offer me (at clvl + 5).
I faced many terrible monsters and often survived through cowardice for several seconds before valiantly dying.

...

Loads of fun. Takes two to three hours (fyi I'm guessing that if I had two people performing the rush instead of just me switching back and forth then that would run one to two hours). A pity I have to wait until Monday to play him to test the Holy Bolt build theory.

[csivils]

Looks interesting... I can't wait for you to be ready to publish :)

Craig

[Crystalion]

Looks interesting... I can't wait for you to be ready to publish :)

Craig

I'm now ready to give the first report but I don't have time to type it up. In short: looks good.

I'm level 27 now and using (by preference) only items I've found/been able to make myself. In the longer report I'll list what (fairly minor) item twinks were done and why I don't think they are necessary.

At level 23 I finally got stir crazy and played some of the time at players 8 in order to get to the magic level 25.

At level 25 (and a couple pixels) I transitioned to Pindle mode, but forgot to take off players 8. Thus, when I (fairly easily) cleared the Pindle area I leveled to 26. Must have taken under 3 minutes.

I then went back to players 1 mode and did around 6 runs (Pindle area) to level up again in roughly 12 minutes.

The normal Pindle factory dilutes, iirc, at clvl 48. I am, of course, rushable at any time to Pindle/nm.

Having been rushed to nm at level 20 I sadly discovered that rogue and act2 hires at level 21 have only 40 HPs. Spoiled my planned transition to using a HF merc, so I'm still using a Defiance merc (probably ~ level 22 now).

I'll give a detailed report sometime in the next couple of days.

[Occhidiangela]

I am falling behind in info absorption.

[Crystalion]

I am falling behind in info absorption.

Concentration no workee w/ BH anymore?

I've seen this discussed in other threads as still working fine. I don't know from personal experience because, even though my build presently has about 8 points in Blessed Hammer, I've only used them for a few minutes once when I was bored and wanted to see the pretty effect.

AFAIK no aura helps Holy Bolts damage (although Holy Freeze and Sanctuary are arguably relevant), so the only aura my test build has used has been Thorns (which, ironically, has been useful vs. non-undead, e.g. Duriel, as I have pretty good luck keeping my *merc* alive by pumping Holy Bolts into him).

[Ignatz]

But, it's really not all that worthwhile to bother with BH + Conc unless you're able to sink lots of points into Vigor and Blessed Aim. But, if you want a backup skill that would keep you chugging through non-Pindle-children runs, 20 pointing Vigor and Conc might be enough to make BH worthwhile if all you need it for is to get to Hell Pindle without being rushed. Then, you may still use Vigor to speed up the part of the runs where you're not machine gunning the hapless undead.

Edit: Yes, this is sort of antithetical to the whole concept, since by the time you'd have enough points to make BH a good killer, you're probably already doing Pindle runs. But that might mean that you simply use Holy Bolt to power level to the point where you convert your pally into a Hammerdin. That might be an interesting way to get a high level, very powerful character in record time. If you could manage to get to lvl 87 (a high, but not-too-high watermark for a character built to power level), you'd have 100 skill points, which could mean maxxed BH and synergies, plus max Holy Bolt. Of course, that's not counting prereq's. Even still, I'd be very interested to see if this could be one of the best ladder super-climbers. :huh:

[Crystalion]

Edit: Yes, this is sort of antithetical to the whole concept, since by the time you'd have enough points to make BH a good killer, you're probably already doing Pindle runs.

I've tried the build two ways: HolyBoltman with HB/BH and HolyFist with HB/FoH.

I'm not ready to do a complete report, but the overview is...

HBman twinked to start life (was fun but not necessary as the key reallywas...) and rushed to undead spots;
played into the high 20s successfully (started Pindle runs as planned at 25 and got good xp)

HolyFist given all the misc. found by HBMan junk (no twinks), starting life as a level 33 (wanted to see the alternate build--both can converge, if you eventually max both synergies). HF was rushed as needed and leveled from 33 to 42 (players 1) in the Pindle area extremely rapidly. At 42 he sat around waiting for my Assassin to feel like doing the nm rush. He is still 42 and has been rushed through nm to act 1 hell (purpose was rush testing as well as access to nm Pindle). He appears to be a bit of a glass cannon atm for the nm Pindle area (I'll probably have to actually distribute some stat points).

Everything has been going as expected. To wit, given rushing to key undead areas, esp. Pindle, the Holy Bolt synergized damage output results in very fast kills/exp gain. When my (level 67 now and just starting hell) Assassin is able to rush him to hell Pindle we'll get a final verdict. (note, however, that at 40 he qualified to pass the nm ancients, potentially unlocking the hell hellforge (testing this is on my to-do list still)... so one use for the xp rush is already validated (though perhaps not as fast as some other xp rushing techniques--I still plan to publish some interesting things I've played with in that area).

But, to get back to your comments, one of the things I like about the HB paly, is that the concept only takes 64 skill points, leaving a lot left over for various thin but somewhat viable builds.

HolyFist has seen some non-undead combat (FoH lightning or HB to heal merc repeatedly) so he's not totally hopeless as is. But I find it rather funny that he has never used an aura (he doesn't know any) and his merc doesn't either (Barb merc).

He found a Sigon's Guard shield all by himself. I thought that was hilarious.

[Occhidiangela]

By that I mean, using the Razor Tail belt, and possibly even Burrito, and trying to get Holy Bolt to Pierce.

An odd outcome might be: heal your merc, pierce him, and hit the Unraveller he is fighting.

Did you ever see this happen?

[Guest]

i can't remember which version, but i guess it was 1.09.

since then no attacks except throwing weaps/bolts/arrows pierce with help from "piercing" property.

well, or it could of been 1.10, it doesn't work now anyway.

[Crystalion]

I'm not ready to do a complete report, but the overview is...

He appears to be a bit of a glass cannon atm for the nm Pindle area (I'll probably have to actually distribute some stat points).

I tend to find repetitve tasks unbearably boring, but from 42 to 49 in nm Pindle area (players 1) was a breeze. It is true, as I've not put any points into Vitality (he has lots undistributed) that he is a glass cannon, however, his xp loss when he dies is trivial compared to the rate at which he is picking up xp.

And now, at 49, with FoH maxed (20 HB, 1 BH, 1 in other FoH prereqs, no auras) he can "show off" by marching straight from the red portal to Pindle and FoHing him and his pack to death in time to turn around and wipe out the courtyard. Mind you these monsters are all level 63+.

As a test, at players 8, HolyFist has to be rather paranoid to not get charged to death, but the rate of xp harvest is even higher. (I have no gear to speak of, just 74% blocking, so they are rather likely to hit).

Because a purpose of the build is to xp rush others, I am considering next working on maxing Sanctuary (before maxing Blessed Hammer for HB synergy maxout and perhaps then Prayer, for grins). This is because the pulses of knockback would make it relatively "safe" for the xp rushees to just hang out "afk" while I slaughter the undead horde (not to mention safer for HolyFist when those deaths are a bigger chunk of xp loss in hell).

[Catflap]

v1.10s beta (2 player TCP/IP mode used on one PC via WinXP user switching)

Ok so i'm new to windows XP and all (First computer was a Mac)
How is this done?do you simply open another user account, and get both clients running?because i heard somewhere that it wasn't actually possible.

P.S. Before you ask, yes i do have 2 D2 cd-keys and 2 LoD cd-keys. :)

[vor_lord]

Ok so i'm new to windows XP and all (First computer was a Mac)
How is this done?do you simply open another user account, and get both clients running?because i heard somewhere that it wasn't actually possible.

P.S. Before you ask, yes i do have 2 D2 cd-keys and 2 LoD cd-keys.  :)

Host a multiplayer game from one user account. Alt-tab out, then use the switch user button on the start menu.

Switch to a different user, launch Diablo II, and join a multiplayer game at your own ip address.

You can even transfer items etc as long as you don't have the server character exit the game (then the game ends).

[Crystalion]

Host a multiplayer game from one user account.  Alt-tab out, then use the switch user button on the start menu.

Switch to a different user, launch Diablo II, and join a multiplayer game at your own ip address.

You can even transfer items etc as long as you don't have the server character exit the game (then the game ends).

some additional notes for you, since you haven't done it before...

You'll need admin privilege (which you probably have) to create a new user (D2 may need them to be admin as well) in the control panel: User Accounts.

On your start menu the "Log off" button is what he means by "switch user button". Alternately, if you have a modern keyboard, you can use the Windows key to get out of D2 (instead of alt-tab) and you can then hold the Windows key and press L to get to the logout/switch-user dialog.

You won't need to remember your own ip address, as ip 127.0.0.1 is standard for "localhost" and means your own ip.

I want to re-emphasize his warning about not leaving the game with the host (aka server) before you "save and exit game" with the "join"ing game/character. If the host exits, the clients don't save.

As a final note, you might want one account to add the -w for windowed mode to the program startup shortcut, and then set the in-game options for that one to be 640x480 with no frills on the video effects/quality settings. This will reduce the load on your PC and make the game less laggy. You can also turn off the sound in the same way. Additionally you can toggle off your music at the game start menus with ctrl-m. (it is also possible that the -ns option still sets the game to not use sound at all).

I don't have a particularly beefy PC and I play hosted (by myself) often without problem 95%+ of the time. I have even occasionally used three user accounts and played with 3 characters, although that can get rather laggy.

(edit) p.s. it isn't necessary to have 2 CD keys for LAN play. I have 2 keys but haven't tried this on Realm, so I don't know any extra details for making that go right, sorry.

[Grimjack]

One question on rushing,

How do you get past Diablo ? This is the big stumbling block for me when I am rushing chars.
I do play Hardcore, so dying is not really a good option, not even for a rushee.

Grimjack

[Guest]

(I have no gear to speak of, just 74% blocking, so they are rather likely to hit)

i have 3.5k def 75% block and lvl 85, they hit me easily 80% of the time. your blocking is ignored, so you should be getting hit 95% of the time.

i hope blizz in the final version puts some oblivion knights there :P

[Raziel]

http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/in...ST&f=52&t=30567 ?

Inspired by you guys :)

[Crystalion]

i have 3.5k def 75% block and lvl 85, they hit me easily 80% of the time. your blocking is ignored, so you should be getting hit 95% of the time.

i hope blizz in the final version puts some oblivion knights there  :P

Hehe, Oblivion Knights would liven it up considerably. :D

They may ignore my blocking when they Charge, but I'm using terrain (i.e. obstacles) to make it more difficult for them to Charge me (it is, admittedly, quite freaky when they Charge around 270 degrees worth of obstacles).

They most certainly do not ignore my blocking as they try to slice me with their swords through the bushes. :)

An advantage to the build I may not have made clear is that even when I test players 8 my damage is so high that I'm always (except vs. Pindle and perhaps his minions) doing more than 1/12th damage and putting them into hit recovery. Since my mana cost for spamming Holy Bolt is negligible I do a lot of it, and thus their Charges typically stop "dead", so to speak. In players 1, of course, a single Holy Bolt is a RIP for the Prowling Dead. And even when it isn't a one-shot kill anymore, it will continue to force them into HR, based on the numbers I read for hell difficulty HPs, even without me putting 19 more points in Blessed Hammer for max synergy. I've got the max synergy now for FoH's holy bolts, and they will do nicely on the 1/12th concept into hell as well (though not for players 8, I think).

Still, those Charges are killer, so I think the build will be more unfair with high Sanctuary skill.

[monkorn]

Wow, odd that I never saw this. I currently have one of these doing hell pindle runs almost exclusively. Currently at players 1 in hell my level 27 HB(maxed +3 combat weapon, +2 pal shield, +2 pal ammy) gets prowling dead to about 10% hp, and am waiting for that +3 combat skills circlet to drop so that I can finally only have to hit them once. Currently my HB does 6080-6800 damage with maxed HB, Blessed Hammers, and I think level 18 or so FotH(might be maxed though).
+1 Redemption might be something to think about, even though you dont gain exp from redemptioning the prowling pre-resserection, it can help you make sure you stay alive when there might be a bunch of guys swarming you.

Crystalion is absolutely correct with the hit recovery thing, in the middle of a charge they will just stop and allow me to finish them off quietly. It takes about a minute for me to clear the entire level using redemption to kill 70% of the monsters before they wake, and at level 77 levels kinda slowly, but since it is solo I can understand it.

Overall Build:

20 Prayer
20 Holy Bolt
1 Cleansing
5 meditation
1 salvation
20 Fist of the heavens
20 Blessed Hammers

Now I am slapping my forehead because I forgot Holy Shield earlier, and because I spent so much dex getting to 75% block and am remaking the pretty much same build except stat points will change and Holy Shield will come earlier as well as prayer coming later(it's healing abilities is nil in hell unless you get it to atleast like 50 and yes there is soem odd bug that lets +skills work with meditation, and its synergies are where it shines, but even then it is barely needed until hell and therefore maxing it by nm was useless)

[Crystalion]

he can "show off" by marching straight from the red portal to Pindle and FoHing him and his pack to death in time to turn around and wipe out the courtyard. Mind you these monsters are all level 63+.

I've not played him in some time (he's level 52), especially since, if I had it to do over, I think the best scheme is to build a Blessed Hammer Paly and get the Holy Bolt from Boneslayer (which I've mentioned elsewhere--however I didn't mention that the BS 50% proc of synergized level 25 Holy Bolt when struck is an obvious candidate for circ/amu of life everlasting treatment... i.e. hit me and die, zombie scum!)

However, from my Great Race thread, I had the idea to do a little movie. I threw together the following quick and dirty vb script (windows script host .vbs file) which takes a screenshot every second...

Code:

set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
rem WshShell.Run """C:\Program Files\Diablo II\Game.exe"" -w"
wscript.echo "will start in 10 seconds"
wscript.sleep 10000
do while wshshell.appactivate("Diablo II")
    wshshell.sendkeys "{SCROLLLOCK}"
    wscript.sleep 1000
loop
wscript.echo "all done"

I rem'ed out the program launch because I prefer to do that manually. I set the game into 640x480 windowed mode (I'm used to 800x600 full screen) and added Scroll Lock as a second key to trigger a print screen (in the configure controls game menu). The cute thing is that you can see the scroll lock light on the keyboard winking on and off, kinda like a "on the air" light.

So I filmed (silent) two minutes of a lazy Pindle run (nm players 1, SP) and did a voice over, stitching it together in the freebie windows movie maker. If you're curious and have 10 meg of bandwidth to burn, you can download it here: HolyFist Pindle Run

If you watch it and go: "so what's the big deal? he just waltzes through the zombie garden?!" then you have it precisely right... since his mid-40s, with lousy equipment he's found himself, he's been smacking down those level 63 Prowling Dead like they were dried cow dung from the moo moo farm. Were it the least bit challenging, I might have had the patience to level him to 68 by now and be ready to do it all over again in hell difficulty.