The Great Race; a proposal for "Khalim" awards

[Crystalion]

Reading thru the various posts, I'm reminded of many things.

What I'm going to make a weak attempt here to summarize would take far too long to get right, and I'm definitely going to be showing my own biases and weak memory (I'm not using notes), so bear with me (or correct me)...

A whirlwind list of various xp leveling techniques of merit (strong bias toward mass killing speed net effectiveness), in minimum character level required chronological order:

clvl 1..5, untwinked, unassisted
======================
Druid Poison Creeper skill
Necro Raise Skeleton skill
Sorceress Charged Bolt skill
Fulminatiing Potions (drops, supplemented by sell to/rebuy from shop)
Javalins (fast, decent damage at range)
raiding chests etc. for cash to blow on useful shop items
skulls (chips clvl 1, flawed clvl 5) in shield for thorns damage
poison (chips clvl 1, flawed clvl 5) in bows (e.g. 3 socket long bow at Gheeds) for you/rogue hireling
stamina potions, for temporarily unlimited running
mana potions (from shop as needed)


clvl 6..11, untwinked, unassisted
=======================
Amazon Poison Javalin skill
Amazon Multishot skill
Strangling Gas Potions (drops, supplemented by sell to/rebuy from shop)
Necro Corpse Explosion skill
Necro Clay Golem (slows enemies when they hit golem)
Assassin Blade Sentinel skill
Assasin Burst of Speed skill
Paladin Thorns skill
Sorceress Ice Blast skill


clvl 12..17, untwinked, unassisted
========================
Assassin Wake of Fire skill
Assassin Dragon Talon (clvl 1 req, but starts to get really good by this point)
Assassin Cloak of Shadows skill
Paladin Zeal skill (needs a +skill or a few levels past 12 to get good)
Barbarian Double Throw skill
Amazon Lightning Bolt skill
Amazon Exploding Arrow skill (key here is double effect for +fire adders, so socket with Rubies)
use of regular gems in socketing (clvl 12 req; e.g. skulls in shields, rubies/emeralds in bows, rubies in armor/helms)
(use of flawless is only clvl 15, but you're unlikely to find/cube them before 18 and perfects are allowed)
Necro Skeleton Mages skill (+skills wand... quite a good skill offensively for a while)
Necro Iron Maiden skill
Sorceress Blaze skill
act 2 hirelings (and good polearm, spear or javalin class weapon for them)


clvl 18..23, untwinked, unassisted
========================
use of perfect gems in socketed items, if you're lucky enough to cube some up (clvl 18 req)
Sorceress Firewall skill
Sorceress Glaciel Spike skill
Sorceress Teleport skill
Paladin Blessed Hammer skill (Synergizes Holy Bolt bigtime, for massive ranged damage vs. undead)
Necro Blood Golem skill (not as good for as long as in the old days, but still good for a while)
Necro Bone Spear skill (magic damage)
Barbarian Leap Attack skill
Barbarian Battle Cry skill (in combo with Taunt skill)
Amazon Plague Javalin skill
Amazon Guided Arrow skill
Assassin Blade Fury skill
Assassin Dragon Tail skill (use with Tiger Strike for AoE mass damage)
Countess runs for the simple runewords
act 3 cold mage hireling


clvl 24+, untwinked, unassisted
======================
Assassin Mind Blast skill
Druid Shock Wave skill
Necro Decrepify skill
Necro Bone Prison skill (cheaper with slvl and works with Iron Maiden to wear them down)
Necro Iron Golem skill (e.g. takes characteristics of socketed item)
Sorceress Meteor and Blizzard skills (not clear to me that these are better than FW and FO)
Barbarian Frenzy skill
Amazon Decoy skill
Amazon Strafe skill
Paladin Holy Shock skill (esp. in combo with Zeal skill)
act 5 Barbarian hireling


clvl 25, untwinked, unassisted
=====================
can fight for good xp way above clvl (e.g. Holy Bolt Paladin builds)


clvl 30+, untwinked, unassisted
======================
Sorceress Frozen Orb skill
Sorceress mastery skills
Sorceress Enchant skill (clvl req 18, but possible to be major skill by this point)
Barbarian Whirlwind skill
Barbarian Warcry skill
Barbarian Berserk skill (magic damage)
Druid Fury skill
Assassin Shadow Master skill
Assassin Death Sentry skill
Assassin Dragon Flight skill
Necro Poison Nova Skill
Necro Revive skill
Necro Bone Spirit skill (magic damage)
Amazon Freezing Arrow skill
Amazon Lightning Fury skill
Amazon Valkyrie skill
Paladin Fanaticism skill
Paladin Conviction skill (with Vengence skill)


Okay, I know I missed stuff, but I'm going to post, then edit in the next section...

clvl 1..5, twinked, unassisted
=====================
Hellforge hammer (trivial to give out compared to Khalim's flail/will)
chipped/flawed gems or items with gems (thorns shields, poisoned weapons)
Hsarus set (clvl 3 req)
lots of charged bolt on being struck items (bugged as of v1.10s, so uber effective until fixed, then...?)
gold
Horadric cube
better potions than can be bought in accessible acts (i.e. act 1)


clvl 6..11, twinked, unassisted
=====================
Sigon's set (clvl 6, but probably Str req issues)
Strangling Gas Potions


clvl 12..17, twinked, unassisted
======================
better throwing potions
Ravenclaw bow (exploding arrows)
misc uniques for player or their hireling
better gemmed items (clvl req 12, 15, for regular and flawless).
poison and elemental damage charms; resist charms, life charms etc.
runes and runewords


clvl 18.., twinked, unassisted
======================
perfect gem items (clvl 18)
misc sets and uniques
better charms
better runes and runewords
exceptional base items as clvl allows


I totally sure I missed mentioning important things in that section, but on we go...

clvl 1.., assisted
===========
waypoint granting
kill all but last monster in Den of Evil; faster +1 skill point quest credit
Blood Raven quest credit help for hireling rights
Cain quest credit help for free IDs
Andarial quest credit for free movement to act 2
Enchantment (+100s or even 1000s of points of fire damage)
Cursing, staticing, or otherwise softening up monsters
buying expensive shop items (e.g. +skills stuff) after lowbie sets shop contents
other act/waypoint/reward rushing (or even, as of v1.10s, rushing to nightmare or hell difficulty)
(for clvl 25+) xp factories (like Zombie Garden builds) for idle party xp leeching


clvl high, reverse assistance
====================
Imbue rushees, for high qlvl (elite) items
Hellfore rushees, for runes and gems
Larzuk rushees, for item socketing
Anya rushees, for quirky item personalizations
mules
shoppers (lower clvl chars because of shop offering ilvl rules)
Enchantress builds
MF/item find barb camp followers
misc. lopsided builds for party assistance