Countess runes & making runewords

[roguebanshee]

what do travincal and ice cave runs do? ive never heard of them before???
what items do the monsters and uniques have in there??? :blink:

Travincal : 3 Super Unique council members and some minions

Ice Caves (below Glacial Trail and Ancients Way) : Small areas with high density of Uniques/Champions

Reasonably fast to clear, decent chance for something useful (due to mob density) and nowhere near as boring as Meph/Pindle runs.

[Obi2Kenobi]

Don't forget that council members also drop a fairly good amount of gold.

[apandapion]

Assuming you have all the gems you need, here are the number of El runes required to cube your way up to your favorite rune or runeword.

The Power of the El

I was just in the mood to code something.

[adeyke]

While Call to Arms was AmnRalMalIst in the first beta, it's AmnRalMalIstOhm in the second.

[apandapion]

Thank you, adeyke, I knew there was some little thing like that I had missed. I've added the new one, and left the old one for reference.

[StateOLuvNTrust]

Out of about 450 /players1 countess runs:
Ist: 1
Mal: 1
Um: 0
Pul: 3
Lem: 2
Fal: 0
Ko: 2
and who cares about the rest?
2 of the puls fell in the same drop. I've always wondered if there might be a bug that sometimes causes the same item to be dropped twice when it's only picked once. That sort of thing happens a lot more than I would expect it to happen, statistically speaking.
My new sanctuary shield is really nice.

[Crystalion]

Out of about 450 /players1 countess runs:
Ist: 1
Mal: 1
Um: 0
Pul: 3
Lem: 2
Fal: 0
Ko: 2

I'm assuming these are v1.10s Hell Countess runs with a Paladin of appropriate level? If you switch difficulties and then do a run so you don't know the Countess layout (new map) about how long does it take from game start to rune pickup you think? How good is your equipment and what kind of build are you?

Sorry, don't mean to pry, but it would be nice to have rough numbers when thinking about this method vs. hell Hellforge rushing (which is much more time consuming than nm Hellforge rushing).

[StateOLuvNTrust]

I was actually using an 87 sorc (and i maintain that sanctuary shields kick ass for a blocking sorc!). I can't even imagine how much longer these runs would take without teleport. Also, it was in 1.10, not 1.10s (should i bother downloading 1.10s? is there anything different other than rust storm?). I hope Countess drops are the same between them. My equipment was all legit:

Frosties
the new Scarabshell Boots, 64% PR
23% maras
xxx/16 raven
FC rare ring with 55 mana and i think 8% FR and 9% MF
+3 unique eldritch orb (doesn't that vary on + skills? or is that the other new one?)
14/14/14 Ormus Robes, with a +3 to crap
elite Rockstopper, average resists (ith socketed)
Rhyme tower shield
Charms: ~150 life, ~30 to fireght/cold res, ~150 def, 10% FHR, +1 cold skills
backup slot: depending on whether I felt like going to my stash at the beginning of every run, I alternated between a lower resist wand and a +2 sorc buffing staff with +3 energy shield and +3 shiver armor. i didn't want to waste points on energy shield prereqs. I honestly haven't regretted it.

Skills:
blizzard
skills which give love to blizzard, with distribution preference toward glacial spike as my spammable over ice blast, though wanted to keep them both useable.
12 in telekinesis, I think
4 or so in warmth
1 in static

Holy freeze merc:
Reaper's Toll
Elite Shaft (1329 def!)
Guillame's

The runs averaged about a minute, not including exiting and remaking (which takes 30 seconds when you only have 96 MB RAM), but this was using the same maps repeatedly. Freshs maps didn't take too much longer. I don't think they could have been much more than 1:45-2:00 on average, but it's still hard to get the few times that I covered every inch of the Marsh before finding the castle out of my head. It can be a real @!#@# to find sometimes. Following paths helps. It's not as random once you get in the castle. Usually you just take the first left relative to the direction the path begins heading in (not relative to the direction the stairs point) and keep heading in the direction it points, following twists when you can't stick to that direction.

My merc had to do all the work, except for static. The new Thresher made it pretty easy for him. Most of the time I could just teleport behind the countess and run between her and her minions, then static her and tank the minions while my merc finished her off in about 5 thrusts. If she got tangled up with her minions I had to kill them all since mercs won't target superuniques until nothing else is in range. A fire sorc with the same merc would have an easier time.

She dropped the shaft that my merc ended up wearing for about half the runs (as well as the runes for upgrading it and my rockstopper), but I don't recall her dropping much else that was noteworthy.

[Crystalion]

it was in 1.10, not 1.10s (should i bother downloading 1.10s? is there anything different other than rust storm?).

Well, if you're happy as is, you might as well wait--having all your v1.10beta1 stuff go away isn't too fun. Still, there were a number of bug fixes in v1.10s (and more needed/coming soon, I hope).

it's still hard to get the few times that I covered every inch of the Marsh before finding the castle out of my head. It can be a real @!#@# to find sometimes. Following paths helps

Ah yes, the paths. I wonder if anyone bothered to mention that in the "hidden" features thread. Follow the yellow brick road.

in the castle. Usually you just take the first left relative to the direction the path begins heading in

Interesting. I'll have to pay attention the next few times to see if left hand rule is a layout bias.

My merc had to do all the work, except for static. The new Thresher made it pretty easy for him. Most of the time I could just teleport behind the countess and run between her and her minions, then static her and tank the minions while my merc finished her off in about 5 thrusts. If she got tangled up with her minions I had to kill them all since mercs won't target superuniques until nothing else is in range.

I just posted yesterday on the v1.10s power of teleporting Necros (focus the might of all minions from a single point on adjacent target) so I am delighted to see your clever application of merc focusing--I didn't realize their AI was SU-phobic.

I can't even imagine how much longer these runs would take without teleport.

IIRC you have to be level 48 to use an amulet with teleport charges. Of course you can get the charges by staff or unique, but amulets are terribly convenient. "Don't leave home without it".

1:45-2:00 on average

Ah... get in fast, assassinate special SU, watch death cloud kill locals (Countess is like Blood Raven etc. etc. that way, I'm assuming from your procedure--I usually have everything else dead so I'm not likely to notice). So you're taking an hour or so, average, per worthwhile rune, assuming realm/ladder new map. That's good to know. A nm Hellforge rush is probably faster than that if the 6x or 7x trick is used, but likely slower if that trick is eliminated for v1.10 release by, e.g., limiting Baal kill credit to level 20x characters.

I have done a bunch of nm Countess runs, and those seem pretty good for runes. As my Assassin (v1.10beta1 then naked v1.10s notwink) is only level 71 I've not yet been brave enough to try a Countess "run" in hell. My build is a bit of a glass cannon, so the thought of abandoning crowd control and teleporting into danger seems very iffy. I suppose, as beta must be nearing its end, that I should make (edit or something) some higher level characters of different classes/builds to play with. (so far I never manufacture a test char above the level 33 that -act 5 makes).

Thanks for the info and good luck getting lucky rune drops.

[whyBish]

I didn't realize their AI was SU-phobic.

My mercs have had a tendancy to completely ignore izual, regardless of whether things are in range or not. I have only seen a couple of my mercs actually ever engage him in 1.10

[StateOLuvNTrust]

I have only seen a couple of my mercs actually ever engage him in 1.10

That was a cry for help. They didn't REALLY wanna die.

[[DecoY]]

anyway to edit those statistics? ;)

[Ferengi]

I've always wondered if there might be a bug that sometimes causes the same item to be dropped twice when it's only picked once.

I have a theory to explain this. You need to have a fair grasp of the state space of a PRNG and how most programming fools fsck that up regularly. If you understand the two point correlation test for PRNG, the rest is easy. There are actually two drops BTW.

[Ferengi]

watch death cloud kill locals (Countess is like Blood Raven etc. etc. that way

Huh?

I can recall several times getting killed by the locals after the Countess was dead. Perhaps her minions will die, but there is always another fast boss pack. It's very annoying to have to give up a game with a nice drop because you have no chance of recovering your body.

[Crystalion]

Huh?

I can recall several times getting killed by the locals after the Countess was dead.

In context my statement was an implied question (the original m.o. I was curious about warped straight to the Countess, unlike the clears I always do, so I was implicitly wondering if she has a when-dies local monster death effect ala BloodRaven, Izual, etc. etc.). I've done a few "reckless" Countess runs lately and she doesn't seem to (even if she is clouding open the chest).

[Olon97]

Bump so I don't have to search for this again when I get home from work. :P

[Brista]

Interesting. I'll have to pay attention the next few times to see if left hand rule is a layout bias.

Yes, it certainly was in 1.09 and it seems to be again in the new patch, even with the larger maps beyond Normal

Hug the left hand wall and you get downstairs in no time :)

[guachi]

I've actually made it half way through lvl 4 before I've even SEEN a monster pack. good if all you want is runes, but bad if you want to slaughter hapless bosses for drops.

Maybe Bliz figured so many people will always go right that they made left the easy way.

Jason

[edited because I was really tired when I wrote it and I thought I had spelled everything correctly]

[GenericKen]

450 pure rune runs for 1-2 ists doesn't seem worth it to me; am I wrong here?

[Brista]

It's a matter of people's choice, "worth it" is very subjective

If you decide your character sucks because of weaponry and that Crescent Moon (for instance) is the answer to all your woes then this may appeal to you

On the other hand a lot of runes drop anyhow if you just play