Leveling between 20 and 25

[Steve Linberg]

DON'T LAUGH AT ME DAMMIT. I bought a second copy of D2 so I could mule
more easily and rush my own low-level chars. I SAID DON'T LAUGH AT ME
DAMMIT!

OK. The goal here is to find the fastest path to level 40, just enough
to get a char able to pass the NM ancients (and therefore be rushed to
hell forge). I settled on a pally for this, and this as a rough plan:

1. Start off with Khalim's Will, bits of the berserker set, the full
Sigon's set, and a pair of Halo rings. Pump str and equip the items as
lvl reqs allow; the full Sigon's can be on by level 8. Solo this with a
non-partied char in the game; it's pretty quick.

2. Do public bnet games in acts 1 and 2 through about level 19. This is
also pretty quick.

3. Somehow claw your way to 25, before which the penalties are too
extreme to even THINK about act 5. See below.

4. From 25 to 40, do baal runs in normal.

5. After 40, rush on, do hell/hellforge, and hope for something sweet.
Mule the drops, mule the eq to a new char, and repeat (if I have the
patience).

The problem is step 3. Leveling from 20 to 25 is the most unbearably
slow phase of the game, even in large games. It seems that act 3 is the
best place to be, but even so, it can take 25 minutes of hard playing in
a game with 7 other similar chars to advance a single level.

It's taken me about 1.5 hours to get this first try to level 22. About
an hour to 20, and half an hour from 20 to 22 (including normal
ancients, which is one cheap level). I was hoping to be able to do the
whole thing in 2 hours or less. From 25 to the end should be quick;
even solo 2-player baal runs should be very fast if I can't find a good
bnet run. But this 20 to 25 stretch is awful.

Any tips?

[Brian Brunner]

Post by Steve Linberg
Any tips?

I have a good computer, and 3 junky computers, and a router, and DSL. I
have a KVM switch so I only need one Keyboard, Video monitor, and Mouse.

I create a character I want to run up on my good computer, and create 3
mules on my junky computers, create one game with the run-up character,
enter & party up with the three mules, and play like normal. I level up
quite quickly this way. Mules all get every quest I do when I do.

I can leave the game with the run-up char, enter with any "rich uncle",
and mule off any gear the run-up is ready for, return with the run-up,
and gear up. Mules are handy that way.

Works rather well, as getting one character to the Hellforge actually
gets 4 there.

4 is the limit, however, unless you have 2 DSL/Cable modem accounts,
since no more than 4 clients can connect on one IP, and your router
gives you *one* IP from the server side. That's a battle.net limit,
however irrational it seems.

[custard]

i will give u a hand if u want i have some nice big dudes that could easly
rush u though

Post by Steve Linberg
DON'T LAUGH AT ME DAMMIT. I bought a second copy of D2 so I could mule
more easily and rush my own low-level chars. I SAID DON'T LAUGH AT ME
DAMMIT!
OK. The goal here is to find the fastest path to level 40, just enough
to get a char able to pass the NM ancients (and therefore be rushed to
1. Start off with Khalim's Will, bits of the berserker set, the full
Sigon's set, and a pair of Halo rings. Pump str and equip the items as
lvl reqs allow; the full Sigon's can be on by level 8. Solo this with a
non-partied char in the game; it's pretty quick.
2. Do public bnet games in acts 1 and 2 through about level 19. This is
also pretty quick.
3. Somehow claw your way to 25, before which the penalties are too
extreme to even THINK about act 5. See below.
4. From 25 to 40, do baal runs in normal.
5. After 40, rush on, do hell/hellforge, and hope for something sweet.
Mule the drops, mule the eq to a new char, and repeat (if I have the
patience).
The problem is step 3. Leveling from 20 to 25 is the most unbearably
slow phase of the game, even in large games. It seems that act 3 is the
best place to be, but even so, it can take 25 minutes of hard playing in
a game with 7 other similar chars to advance a single level.
It's taken me about 1.5 hours to get this first try to level 22. About
an hour to 20, and half an hour from 20 to 22 (including normal
ancients, which is one cheap level). I was hoping to be able to do the
whole thing in 2 hours or less. From 25 to the end should be quick;
even solo 2-player baal runs should be very fast if I can't find a good
bnet run. But this 20 to 25 stretch is awful.
Any tips?

[RU42]

Post by Steve Linberg
DON'T LAUGH AT ME DAMMIT. I bought a second copy of D2 so I could mule
more easily and rush my own low-level chars. I SAID DON'T LAUGH AT ME
DAMMIT!
OK. The goal here is to find the fastest path to level 40, just enough
to get a char able to pass the NM ancients (and therefore be rushed to
1. Start off with Khalim's Will, bits of the berserker set, the full
Sigon's set, and a pair of Halo rings. Pump str and equip the items as
lvl reqs allow; the full Sigon's can be on by level 8. Solo this with a
non-partied char in the game; it's pretty quick.
2. Do public bnet games in acts 1 and 2 through about level 19. This is
also pretty quick.
3. Somehow claw your way to 25, before which the penalties are too
extreme to even THINK about act 5. See below.
4. From 25 to 40, do baal runs in normal.
5. After 40, rush on, do hell/hellforge, and hope for something sweet.
Mule the drops, mule the eq to a new char, and repeat (if I have the
patience).
The problem is step 3. Leveling from 20 to 25 is the most unbearably
slow phase of the game, even in large games. It seems that act 3 is the
best place to be, but even so, it can take 25 minutes of hard playing in
a game with 7 other similar chars to advance a single level.
It's taken me about 1.5 hours to get this first try to level 22. About
an hour to 20, and half an hour from 20 to 22 (including normal
ancients, which is one cheap level). I was hoping to be able to do the
whole thing in 2 hours or less. From 25 to the end should be quick;
even solo 2-player baal runs should be very fast if I can't find a good
bnet run. But this 20 to 25 stretch is awful.
Any tips?

I have 2 comps and here is how I do it:

Step One: Build a dedicated Enchantress 20 to Warmth, Enchant, and FM
and all the +fire you can get. She enchants you every 15 mins.

Start:
I use Pallys (for Fanat) or Baba (for the BO)

Equip with Hunter Bow (fast or very fast), Death Hand and Sash (IAS),
Armor with life, helm with whatever (str or dex is nice) and hsarus
boots. Rings and ammy = whatever

At clvl 16 switch out to Raven Claw bow and Twitches. Use stat points
to make sure you can equip, dump rest into life. The explosive of
raven is awesome (enchant applies to the splash damage) and twitches
gets you to your next speed break (IAS>)

At clvl 20 have enctantress open a cow portal for you Norm. You will
be able to solo it with the Enchant. 2 trips will get you to about
clvl 26/27. I do a 3rd trip to get to 28ish.

Run ancients way and ws2 to baal for lvls 28 to 40.

Or for fun, run all of act 5 and you will be near 35 one time thru.
Then the baal runs will be better.

At clvl 32 you can switch to Kuku shaeld, Twitches IAS jewel (you will
need a second one), and turn on fanat and you will have 9 frame shots
coming out of it. Again, Kuku has explosive arrows.

Your 20-25 problem will disappear. I can get those levels in about 10
mins with my Chantress and Cows. All in all I can be at lvl 40 in
under an hour if I join public games for increased exp. I always do
public until lvl 20, then I usually switch to solo for the cows. Then
after them I will go public and run all of act 5. (Most Pk'ers wont
hunt for you above the firgid wp.)

Hope that helps

RU

[RU42]

Post by RU42
Step One: Build a dedicated Enchantress 20 to Warmth, Enchant, and FM
and all the +fire you can get. She enchants you every 15 mins.
I use Pallys (for Fanat) or Baba (for the BO)
Equip with Hunter Bow (fast or very fast), Death Hand and Sash (IAS),
Armor with life, helm with whatever (str or dex is nice) and hsarus
boots. Rings and ammy = whatever
At clvl 16 switch out to Raven Claw bow and Twitches. Use stat points
to make sure you can equip, dump rest into life. The explosive of
raven is awesome (enchant applies to the splash damage) and twitches
gets you to your next speed break (IAS>)
At clvl 20 have enctantress open a cow portal for you Norm. You will
be able to solo it with the Enchant. 2 trips will get you to about
clvl 26/27. I do a 3rd trip to get to 28ish.
Run ancients way and ws2 to baal for lvls 28 to 40.
Or for fun, run all of act 5 and you will be near 35 one time thru.
Then the baal runs will be better.
At clvl 32 you can switch to Kuku shaeld, Twitches IAS jewel (you will
need a second one), and turn on fanat and you will have 9 frame shots
coming out of it. Again, Kuku has explosive arrows.
Your 20-25 problem will disappear. I can get those levels in about 10
mins with my Chantress and Cows. All in all I can be at lvl 40 in
under an hour if I join public games for increased exp. I always do
public until lvl 20, then I usually switch to solo for the cows. Then
after them I will go public and run all of act 5. (Most Pk'ers wont
hunt for you above the firgid wp.)
Hope that helps
RU

I forgot one other thing:
Before I start leveling the char I will rush him to Act 5 - giving the
wps I want him to have and killing the bosses. My sorc can do this
for my mules in 10-15 mins; depending on layouts.

A1: Dark, Jail, Cat 2
A2: Dry Hills, Canyon (by this time I am usually lvl 20)

I choose those WPs because those are areas of less travel in public
games; therefore less likely to have a PK.

RU

[Nostromo]

Post by RU42
At clvl 32 you can switch to Kuku shaeld, Twitches IAS jewel (you will
need a second one), and turn on fanat and you will have 9 frame shots
coming out of it. Again, Kuku has explosive arrows.
Your 20-25 problem will disappear. I can get those levels in about 10
mins with my Chantress and Cows. All in all I can be at lvl 40 in
under an hour if I join public games for increased exp. I always do
public until lvl 20, then I usually switch to solo for the cows. Then
after them I will go public and run all of act 5. (Most Pk'ers wont
hunt for you above the firgid wp.)
Hope that helps
RU

Must be nice to be rich...*sniff*...;-)

--
USEast/West/Asia HCL *Nostromo21; AGD2RW - USEast HCL *Nostromo_rw
Replace 'spamfree' with ('k__umcgl_' + ascii 123456789) to reply via email.

[Steve Linberg]

In article <***@4ax.com>,
RU42 <***@nospam.com> wrote:

<tons of good stuff snipped>

Wow. Awesome advice. Thanks! :D

[Patrick Vervoorn]

Post by Steve Linberg
DON'T LAUGH AT ME DAMMIT. I bought a second copy of D2 so I could mule
more easily and rush my own low-level chars. I SAID DON'T LAUGH AT ME
DAMMIT!
OK. The goal here is to find the fastest path to level 40, just enough
to get a char able to pass the NM ancients (and therefore be rushed to

[snip]

Post by Steve Linberg
Any tips?

Use the Baal Quest bug to get past Normal/NM Baal? Basically, you exploit
this bug by creating a public 'Baal Quest' game with the
mule-to-be-rushed, enter game with the 'big char' (a lvl 89 summoner necro
in my case), and start clearing the Worldstone keep upto the Throne Room.

You will notice people start joining your game, and the thing you should
be on the look-out for are people who haven't yet completed the Baal Quest
for that difficulty. You can usually ask for that. :)

If they haven't done it yet, and stay in the game when you kill Baal, the
mule leeches the quest also.

It usually takes a few tries to get this done, but works quite OK.

Hope this helps.

Patrick.