Most Efficient Diablo 3 Paragon Experience Route for Inferno

Most Efficient Diablo 3 Paragon Experience Route for Inferno

Hey nerdz, if you are still playing D3 you may have heard of someone already hitting max level of 100 paragon in diablo 3.  His name is Alkaizer, and he is the first level 100 paragon for his class, which is a WW barbarian and the world.  He was streaming his runs for a while on the way to level 100 and here is his run.

With a good geared player, you can earn up to 50 million XP per hour and get about 10 million XP points per run.  Each run takes Akaizer about 15 minutes.

The Alk Run:

Start at the heart of sin check point at the core of arreat (clear core of arreat and exit before entering Azmodan fight) work backwards towards the checkpoint.

Tower of the Damned Level 1. (Run a circle back to the WP)

Arreat Crater Level 2. (Teleport to town)

Bridge of Korsaik. (Run a circle around the battlefield)

Keeps depth level 2 (use the level 1 WP)

Most any semi-geared player can finish the run in under 15 minutes with an exp yield of anywhere from 7m-10m /run depending on gear. It is twice as efficient as A3 clears.

As a decently geared WW barb, the alk run takes 10 minutes averages around 13 elites and 200k gold(P54) and yields 50M/hr exp anywhere from 5-10 63 loot. It is by far the most efficient run by a long shot.

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Diablo 3 – Paragon System and Levels – How Does it work?

As of D3 Patch 1.0.4, there will now be paragon levels.  What are paragon levels you ask? Well, once you obtain level 60, you will then be maxed level, but all your experience gained from that point forward will be sent into your paragon levels, which will ultimately take you from levels 1-100.

What are the benefits to the paragon system and gaining levels? Well here is what they do.

  1. It will give you something to work towards every time you log into the game.
  2. You will gain the same amount of stats (strength, dexterity, intellect, etc.) as you would from gaining a normal level when going from 1-60.
  3. You will gain 3% gold find and 3% magic find (Capped at 300% mf & gf total)

This system basically just makes the game more fun, and gives people who aren’t satisfied with grinding items all day, a reason to still login and have a good time playing, and then logging off and knowing they are almost to the next paragon level.

When you level up your Paragon levels you will also receive a new portrait every 10 levels.  Your Paragon levels can be seen by players as well.

Things to do in Diablo 3 When Bored of Grinding Inferno for Loot

It’s easy to forget what is fun in a game, and in this case Diablo3 .

Often times people get so caught up in progression it turns into a job, and becomes a repetitive chore to just play. So here are my suggestion to you when you are bored doing whatever it is that you are doing, which my guess would be farming Inferno, act 1, 2, and if you are lucky, 3.

1. If you are playing with your friends, or helping them level, buy some cheap legendaries, or good/bad yellows, and drop them on the ground when you kill a boss or elite champion pack. Keep doing this and they will probably start thinking they are the luckiest person in the world.

2.  Play Hardcore mode! Hardcore mode in Diablo 3 is almost a different game, sorta. It adds more challenge, a purpose, there is no real money auction house, so the gold auction house is better and more stable, plus gold is worth more.

3. Farm for Achievements!  This is probably one of the best things to do in my nerdy opinion.  There are tons of fun things to conquer if you are going for achievement points.  It will give new life to the game, at least until you finish all the easy/semi easy ones.  This is the only thing that kept me playing World of Warcraft in my later days.

4. Make/LVL a new character to 60.

5. Try funny builds

6. If you are rich, buy a cheap gear set, lets say 500k or 1million max, and see how far you can progress in inferno with it

Wizard Gear and Build Guide for Diablo 3 – Patch 1.03 and Beyond

Wizard Gear and Build Guide for Diablo 3 – Patch 1.03 and Beyond

INTRODUCTION

This guide is intended only to cover the basics of the wizard class in inferno; i.e. what the popular builds are and how to gear your wizard in a general sense. A friend of mine just hit 60 on his wizard and asked me to write something up for him so I decided to make it into this post in case anybody else is interested. It’s a general guide; if I don’t mention your build or your strategy it doesn’t mean I think it sucks, I’m just posting general information on what I perceive to be the popular builds and strategies. The guide is geared towards preparing for and clearing act3/4 inferno, and eventually farming act 3.

BUILDS

1) BLIZZARD KITING BUILDS

Example: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#blROQS!Ydf!bbbYZZ

Strategy:

This build’s strength comes from the use of two combos: Blizzard’s strong 60% slow + Venom Hydra’s stacking DOT pools, and Teleport + Illusionist. To play this build you want to engage from max distance (preferably the very edge of the screen) by dropping a hydra about halfway between you and the mobs and then dropping a blizzard on top of them and then a line of blizzards between you and them. This way the mobs will walk through your blizzard trail while slowed and take continuous damage from both the blizzard and the venom hydra. When possible, you spam your signature spell to add damage. Continue this while kiting. When/if the mobs eventually get to you, you take a hit (which is reduced to 35% of your HP by force armor) and then teleport away. Since you have illusionist, you can do this every time you take a hit. For sustainability in the longish fights vs. elites you need some form of healing – life regen/sec is the most effective in combination with force armor.

This is the build I used to clear inferno and after trying numerous other builds its what I’ve come back to and currently use to farm act 3. A lot of people find it boring but its very efficient. Since 1.0.3 I have not had to skip a single elite pack in act 3 while farming and I generally die less than once an hour farming act 3.

Pros/Cons:

+Least gear dependant of all the builds, great for new 60 wizards, but still scales well

+Extremely safe due to permanent Blizzard slow + Illusionist/Teleport

+Great AOE damage from Blizzard + Venom Hydra + Piercing Orb

-Some people find it boring

-You have to kite a lot, you can’t stand and tank like the prismatic armor builds

-Relies somewhat on skillful play to avoid taking hits

Choices/Variants:

Signature Spell – I like Piercing Orb for better AOE damage and for shielding/invulnerable minion packs, but some people prefer Magic Missile – Seeker.

Blizzard – Stark Winter is a viable alternative to Snowbound.

Teleport – Some people prefer Fracture to Wormhole, both are fine.

4th Skill – I recommend Force Weapon at lower gear levels, but once you get enough DPS you can switch to Diamond Skin, or if you find yourself dying too much. Some people think Familiar – Sparkflint is better than Force Weapon. Some people like Mirror Images or Frost Nova here too, but I don’t think they are as strong.

2) CRITICAL MASS BUILDS

Example: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#VSYXhj!gWY!YZcbcZ

Strategy:

These builds are based primarily on utilizing high crit rate and the Critical Mass passive to constantly refresh cooldowns such as Frost Nova and Diamond Skin. Some use Prismatic Armor instead of Force Armor and build fairly tanky so that they can stand in melee range. They rely either on Spectral Blades or Energy Twister – Wicked Wind to trigger Critical Mass as much as possible. The Energy Twister variants are probably more gear dependant because you will need AP on Crit gear in order to not run out of AP, but the Spectral Blades variants probably require more defensive/resistance gear. These are the builds I have the least experience with, so I would refer people to http://www.windupwizard.com/ for more specifics on what’s probably the most popular variant of the build.

Pros/Cons:

+Much less kiting required, can often stand still and spam abilities

+Some consider it more fun/exciting, possibly more fast paced depending on the variant

+Able to put out massive dps – see the video of the Belial kill on the link above

-More gear dependant than the force armor builds

-Not nearly as safe as the blizzard/vhydra build since you are in melee range and don’t have teleport

-Requires careful play to make sure the combo doesn’t “fizzle out”

Choices/Variants:

Spectral Blades vs. Wicked Wind Prismatic Armor + Tanky gear vs foregoing that and relying on Diamond Skin + Frost Nova spam. Lots of variance in the damaging abilities used – some use meteor, some explosive blast.

3) ARCANE ORB BUILDS

Example: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#cRXOQS!YdU!YbaYZZ

Strategy:

These builds are kiting builds similar to the Blizzard build above, but replace Blizzard with Arcane Orb + Temporal Flux for the slow. At higher gear levels it’s possible to drop Temporal Flux altogether due to the damage output of Arcane Orb. The basic strategy is similar to the Blizzard build above; engage from max range, drop Hydra and spam Arcane Orb while kiting. When you get caught, you rely on Illusionist + Teleport to get away.

Pros/Cons:

+Less gear dependant than the Critical Mass or Archon builds

+High burst damage from hard hitting Arcane Orbs

+Fairly safe kiting build

-Not as safe as the Blizzard build since you are using a weaker/less reliable slow

-More gear dependant than the Blizzard build

-Relies on kiting, which some find boring

Choices/Variants:

Orb – Tap the Source is the most popular rune for Arcane Orb, but some people use Obliterate or Celestial Orb. To use these you probably need to add a signature spell, likely Magic Missile – Seeker.

Hydra – Arcane Hydra can be used instead of Venom Hydra to make the build safer by adding a more reliable slow. It is less damage, but not tons less and is perfectly viable/safer. Probably better at lower gear levels.

Teleport – Again, some prefer Fracture to Wormhole.

3rd and 4th Skills – Any combination of Diamond Skin / Force Weapon / Familiar – Sparkflint / Frost Nova / Mirror Images is fine.

Passives – At higher gear levels you can drop Temporal Flux for something else.

4) ARCHON BUILDS

Example: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#VmjOQS!Ybg!YcacZZ

Strategy:

These builds revolve around being in Archon the most time possible and using it to quickly melt everything. They are the most gear dependant, but probably also the most efficient at the highest levels of gear. Your buffs such as Energy Armor, Force Weapon and Familiar persist into Archon form, which itself also adds 40% resists/armor. The goal is to buff your dps as high as possible, pop archon, and maintain it by killing tons of mobs to get a bonus to the duration from each kill. Once Archon ends your goal is to refresh it as quickly as possible so that you can do it again. Actually killing things with Archon is self-explanatory, just hold down right click and point at the mobs. Don’t forget that you likely don’t have an escape or CC spell though and will quickly die if you allow anything to actually get to you and hit you.

Pros/Cons:

+Insane speed/efficiency at high gear levels

+Hilariously fun to melt entire screens of enemies in 1-2 seconds and champ packs in 5-10 seconds

+Great AOE damage, great single target damage, trivializes certain boss fights

-Most gear dependant build

-Not very safe while in Archon form due to no escape spell or CC

-Weak/vulnerable when Archon is on cooldown

Choices/Variants:

Archon Rune – I think Improved Archon, Teleport or Pure Power are the best. Some people use Slow Time.

What you do when you aren’t in Archon is up for debate. Some people take Arcane Orb and try to farm or at least clear white mobs with that while Archon is down. Another strategy (the one in the build linked above) is to take Critical Mass and either Wicked Wind or Spectral Blades to try to refresh Archon as quickly as possible. I prefer the latter.

GEARING YOUR WIZARD FOR INFERNO

Tools: The Wizard DPS spreadsheet, the best way to compare gear and decide on potential DPS upgrades: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AuCuIwwOof50dGpVRXhOYTZHNUJ3R1dWTmdNdS1TeWc#gid=1

The EHP calculator, an essential tool if you’re using force armor and very useful regardless: http://rubensayshi.github.com/d3-ehp-calculator/#intro

The maximum values of stats which can appear on gear of different slots: http://www.d3rmt.com/guides/diablo-3-item-stat-maximum-values/

Offense – Your primary offensive stats are int, crit chance, crit damage, attack speed and bonus damage, and not necessarily in that order. The relative value of all of these stats depends entirely on how much of them you already have, and the only good way to figure it out for you individually is with the DPS spreadsheet I linked above. Just as an example, for me with my current gear my equivalencies are as follows: 1% crit = 27.28 int, 1% crit damage = 4.47 int, 1% IAS = 22.29 int, and 1 average bonus damage = 2.52 int. Bonus damage is an often overlooked damage stat that can be very valuable and can often be found on jewelry for less cost than its worth because people overlook it. Stacking crit + crit damage is really the only way to get very high dps.

2h vs 1h + source is an endless debate, but after trying both extensively I prefer 1h + source, mostly because you can get crit chance on the offhand which I think at higher gear levels pushes 1H+OH over any 2h. If you are just starting out in inferno a good 2h may be cheaper and a better way to go initially.

Defense – Your primary defensive stats are vit, % life, bonus armor (which includes strength), resistances (which includes intellect), life regen, dexterity (everybody should have at least 100), movement speed (which includes IAS), and for some builds life on hit. Which of these stats and how much of them you want depends very much on whether you are using force armor or prismatic armor, which I’ll address more below.

Gearing by slot:

As you’ll have noticed from the link above, various different stats can appear or can not appear on different slots, and in different amounts. That means there is a strategy for which stats you want to look for on each slot. Generally, the slots you should focus on for offensive stats are your jewelry, helm, bracers, gloves, weapon and offhand, while you should focus on defensive stats on your shoulders, chest, legs, belt, and boots because, except for legendaries, those slots can’t spawn the good dps stats. Every slot should have some amount of int.

DPS gear:

Helm – You want the highest int and crit chance you can afford. A socket is nice, but not necessary and sometimes artifically inflates the price. Use a calculator to compare your gain from the % life on the socket to what you can get on an unsocketed helm in terms of vit and % life. This is one of the two slots (gloves are the other) that can spawn particularly high int, so this is a relatively cheap place to get a lot of it.

Gloves – You really want int, crit chance and crit damage all on this item. This slot, along with the amulet and the weapon, is the best place to look for crit damage. These three slots (gloves/ammy/weapon) are likely going to be both the most expensive and the most worth spending on. Again, one of the two slots that can spawn especially high int.

Bracers – Again you want int and crit chance here. There are a lot of these on the market, probably due to crafting, so this is a slot you can get a very good value on.

Amulet – Similar to the gloves, but more expensive. Int, crit chance and crit damage are all mandatory. Bonus damage is a nice plus as well, and can lead to you getting more of a bang for buck on this slot. For example, an amulet with +15-25 damage adds 20 average bonus damage, which for me would equate to an additional 50 int in terms of dps. IAS would be great but unless you are super rich you aren’t getting all of that on one amulet.

Rings – Crit chance and crit damage both spawn on this item, but the crit damage modifier on rings is fairly low and adds a ton to the cost of the item. Its often a better idea to skip it in favor of getting more crit chance, some bonus damage, or some IAS.

Weapon – If you’re just starting out this is going to be one of your biggest purchases, and is also your biggest opportunity to both get a ton of value or to vastly overspend. Basically, weapon DPS is highly overvalued by a lot of people, and the stats on the weapons are undervalued, although that is becoming less true as more people are figuring this out. For example, with my current gear I could replace my 789 dps weapon (with 126 int, 65% crit damage and a socket with a 90% crit damage gem) with a 1450 dps blue weapon with no stats and I would lose dps. A 1500 dps blue weapon with no stats would very slightly raise my dps. Obviously such weapons don’t even exist. The point is to use the spreadsheet when you make this purchase and actually figure out which weapons are best before you overspend for listed dps. Another thing is that weapon speed on a 1h matters when you are using an offhand and have bonus damage from gear, so you are generally going to want to buy either a sword, wand, or dagger. The 1.3 speed 1h axe can be acceptable too if it has good enough stats, but a 1.2 speed mace or spear needs much higher stats to be better so they probably won’t be cost efficient for you.

Offhand – Bonus damage is king on this item. Here’s a thread explaining some of the math on why that is: http://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo3Strategy/comments/wfeii/wizwd_why_damage_is_king_on_offhands_and_why_you/ Basically at a minimum you want the numbers on the offhand to add up to 400, for a total of 200 bonus damage, bare minimum. Don’t buy anything less than that. 450 total is better and what you’ll want eventually, and 500 total is near perfect. The biggest stat to look for on this item is crit chance. You really want a source with the highest bonus damage and crit chance that you can afford.

Defense gear:

Shoulders – Int/vit/resists/life regen. Nothing special here, probably the most boring slot for wizards. I wore a blue archon spaulders with 170 int / a bunch of vit for the longest time, because there just isn’t anything special here. Probably best to pick up something like that if you’re on a budget. Good slot to get your resists as they are usually cheaper here than on chest/pants.

Chest – One of the two slots that can spawn a particularly high vit, the other being the pants. Also the slot that can spawn the most life regen. If you’re using a force armor build you want life regen here. Also, its almost always best to get one with 3 sockets.

Belt – Sort of like the shoulders, nothing really special here. It can spawn high strength so sometimes that’s a good find as strength = armor and you get 65% more of it from energy armor. Like shoulders, a good slot to get your resists as they are usually cheaper than on chest/pants.

Legs – Another slot to get your vit from. Get one with 2 sockets, it’s almost always better.

Boots – 11%+ movement speed is mandatory, and 12% is better. This is a slot that can spawn high dex so it’s a good place to make sure you’re over 100. Another good spot to grab resists potentially.

Force Armor vs. Prismatic armor builds:

If you’re going for prismatic armor you’re going to need a lot more EHP and resistances. If that’s the case, there really isn’t much to say other than just get as much as you can afford. However, for force armor its much more tricky.

Force armor reduces any hit to 35% of your HP, but it cannot reduce the hit by more than 100% of your HP. Therefore, Force Armor does one of four things when you get hit: A) The hit is for less than 35% of your HP. Force Armor does nothing. B) The hit is for more than 35% of your HP but less than 135% of your HP. The hit is reduced to 35% of your HP. C) The hit is for more than 135% of your HP but less than 199% of your HP. The hit is reduced by 100% of your HP and you live with a varying amount of life left depending on how hard the hit was. D) The hit is for more than 199% of your HP. Since Force Armor can only reduce it by 100% of your HP, you die.

I wrote two large posts about this in the past, one pre-1.0.3 and an update after 1.0.3. You can find them here: http://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/ukkm9/wizard_how_to_get_the_most_efficient_use_out_of/ and here: http://www.diablofans.com/topic/54852-update-gearing-for-the-most-efficient-use-of-force-armor/page__p__951032#entry951032

The short story is that for Act 3 inferno you want 117.5k EHP in order to not take more than 35% of your life from any hit. This is fairly easy to obtain. Also, fire and physical are the most common sources of damage so you can fudge a little bit by getting those to 117.5k EHP while shorting the others a little.

Obviously, there are various ways to get to 117.5k EHP, because vit, % life, resistances and armor all contribute. However, the optimal way to do it is by raising resistances and armor as much as possible while reducing vit and % life. You will still need a good bit of HP, probably at least 20k, but if you can get to 117.5k EHP while keeping your life low your survivability will increase dramatically because you will get a much larger benefit from heals. This makes the life regen stat very strong. If you can get to 117.5k EHP with 20k hp, then 1k of life regen will full heal you in 20 seconds and heal a hit that is absorbed by force armor in 7 seconds.

AP on Crit:

This stat is important for some builds and only appears on Wizard Hats, Sources, and Wands. It’s expensive on good items and part of what makes the critical mass and arcane orb builds more gear dependant.

ABOUT ME – Full Credit for Guide goes to Prime_Meridian (from Reddit)

I’ve played a wizard as my main character since release. I cleared inferno on 6/7/12, pre-patch: http://imgur.com/4bbB6

My current stats in my farming gear: http://imgur.com/LKlTJ http://imgur.com/jAP3G

My current gear: http://imgur.com/vGN4S

The build I’m using in the previous screenshots: http://imgur.com/iJaPi

My follower for Act 3 soloing: http://imgur.com/mzUNa http://imgur.com/s0l9M

 

Diablo 3: New Tristram

The dark and foul place that once caged Deckard Cain prisoner is making its return for Diablo 3!

 

“New Tristram is a town in central Khanduras which was built near the ruins of Old Tristram. It was founded by merchants in an unknown year after the events of Diablo II to capitalize on the popularity of the legends and folklore of the Cathedral of Old Tristram. People slowly settled down and built a town. After the Cathedral was plundered, people lost interest and the town fell into decline.”

Diablo 3 New Tristam

Tristram Lore

We have all heard the tales associated with Tristram. The very mention of its name brings to mind images of undead monstrosities, demonic possession, “King Leoric” monarchy driven to lunacy, and, of course, the greatest legend of all – the Lord of Terror unleashed. Although many now claim that a peculiar mold upon the bread or perhaps a fouling of the water drove the populace mad with visions, I have seen too much in my varied travels to dismiss such stories out of hand. It is within this context, then, that I have to say my journey to what is now called “New Tristram” was somewhat of a disappointment. New Tristram has been in existence for several years, though the exact date of its founding is unclear. Originally simply a collection of merchants looking to profit on adventurers and travelers drawn by legends of riches within the old cathedral, it slowly set down roots and became an established town. As soon as the cathedral was looted bare, however, the adventurers and travelers stopped coming, and New Tristram found itself in decline. The town is now comprised mostly of depressing shacks; the inn is the only building that looks even the least bit habitable. Before I took my leave of this dreary place, I was cornered by Deckard Cain an eccentric old man who seemed to have an endless supply of anecdotes and folksy wisdom to impart. He went on about there still being much of value deep within the cathedral in the form of tomes of ancient origin and wisdom. I will have to take his word for it, for I must admit that while I did explore the burnt remains of the “old” Tristram, I lacked the intestinal fortitude to do much more than take a few hesitating steps within that infamous cathedral of legend.

Diablo 3 Inferno Details

In Diablo 3, there is a new super hard game mode, like Hell, but harder!

This mode is called inferno and should be a good experience for people who strive for a challenge and might not mind a few deaths.

With the recent revelation of the beginning of Inferno becoming slightly easier, did the rest become harder in compensation?

Yes, the Acts each get significantly more difficult than they were before when it was all one level.
Sorry, to clarify, the beginning of Inferno is not any easier than it was before. We’ve only made Inferno harder. (Source)

So, what is the incentive for players to fight their butt off in order to get to later Act in inferno? Just to prove because they can?
Achievements. Banner decoration. Bragging rights. … Fun?

I mean it’s like asking “Why do you play video games?”, right? Most of the time the answer is “Because I enjoy it.” and that’s going to mean something different to everyone. When you hit 60 in Diablo III, you have everything available to you in the game as far as game systems go, you’ve beaten the game at least three times already on previous difficulties… why are you still playing?

If you want to hit Inferno and then be happy to just try to farm up a perfect gear set in Act I and never progress, and never want to try to test yourself against more difficult content … well I might ask why you’re building a perfect set, but whatever, if you’re having fun more power to you.

Someone working hard to progress all the way to Inferno (Nightmare and Hell are no picnics) just to stop at Inferno and be happy with just playing Act I and never attempting to beat the game seems kind of unlikely. If you do that’s cool, but it’s a hypothetical situation that I think would be pretty rare because it just doesn’t mesh with why people are playing, or what they need to do to achieve their goals.