How to build a perfect Mephrunner

[Artis]

How to build a perfect Mephrunner

Greetings. After some chars made exlusively for fun and excitement, I've decided to start a full MF life The problem is which build to choose to start earning stuff. If it was about softcore, this question wouldn't even arise, and my blizzsorc would start farming Meph already

This new char will hunt Mephisto. Exclusively. No Pits, no Pinlde, just Hell Mephisto, over and over. I'm deciding between three variants, but any advice besides these three would be greatly appreciated as well.

1) Sorceress.
Any one-tree build. Great killing speed, yes. But we are in hardcore. One wrong teleport, one tiny lag and this girl is dead. ES could help a little, but her tankiness is still far inferior to the next choices.

2) Barbarian.
Fast runner, fast killer, and a huge life pool to make him a decent choice. Needs some good gear, so his death would be a financial shock for me

3) Hammerdin.
Vigor to get to Meph, Holy Shield to finish this trip aive and Blessed hammer to make a period in Meph's life. Sounds good as well.

So, what would you suggest for farming Hell Mephisto, if you can't afford a new BotD every day and there are not so many friends willing to rush your new char to Guardian every other day? Thank you, any answers will be appreciated.

 

[PhatTrumpet]

Orb/TK Sorc. Do a search for a short-ish guide by Mouse_Wiz. It's pretty much the standard build most of us use or have used at one point or another.

 

[Nilaripper]

1) Sorceress.
Any one-tree build. Great killing speed, yes. But we are in hardcore. One wrong teleport, one tiny lag and this girl is dead. ES could help a little, but her tankiness is still far inferior to the next choices.

Build your sorc with at least 16 hard points in TK,use ES and give her max block and she will be a tank,any one-tree build will work.Just tele close to the walls an don't give you merc a weapon which is too strong in the beginning.Life/mana charms are the best for your sorc.

 

[PhatTrumpet]

Regarding the 16 TK, I refer you to this post in the Sorc Forum.

 

[Socialism]

I'd want at least 17 into it so I could claim I made it more efficient than 1:1.

And yes, Orb/TK sorc will be fast, effective, and disposable. It takes a bit to get to level 30 if you're untwinked/soloing, but hey - don't solo, you're playing multiplayer right? And it's all downhill from there on.

Mephtips: Keep cold and lightning resists up, have ~500 mana, and give 'slow' items to your mercenary if you want him to live at lower levels (kelpie snare for example is perfect). Max block is best. Moat trick is a waste of time; tele right up, orb, static 5x, walk away (leaving merc to tank), orb meph so it explodes inside him.

Mouse_wiz has the definitive guide on this; excellent source right there.

Peacelove

 

[Full_Circle]

Not sure if this will turn out, but here's some evidence proving that stopping at 16 TK is a mistake. Each point in TK is more efficient than the previous...

tk = telekinesis skill level
dtl = damage to life
dtm = damage to mana
% change = decrease in dtm from the last point

Assuming 50% Energy Shield and 1,000 Damage.

tk dtl dtm %change
00 500 1000.000 ---
01 500 968.750 3.23%
02 500 937.500 3.33%
03 500 906.250 3.45%
04 500 875.000 3.57%
05 500 843.750 3.70%
06 500 812.500 3.85%
07 500 781.250 4.00%
08 500 750.000 4.17%
09 500 718.750 4.35%
10 500 687.500 4.55%
11 500 656.250 4.76%
12 500 625.000 5.00%
13 500 593.750 5.26%
14 500 562.500 5.56%
15 500 531.250 5.**%
16 500 500.000 6.25%
17 500 468.750 6.67%
18 500 437.500 7.14%
19 500 406.250 7.69%
20 500 375.000 8.33%

 

[Artis]

Thank you for all the answers. You're pointing to a certain guide by Mouse_wiz. The only sorc-related thing by Mouse_wiz I was able to find is this one: http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=237602. But seems it's the wrong topic, cause it details a blizz sorc, not a TK/Orb one. Could you you post a link, please?

On a side note, would a zerker barb run Meph much slower with insane damage and Leap to get to the place just a bit slower than a sorc, while having about 3-4 times more life?

 

[AzaZaz]

A barb, although Tanky and running quickly, will have speed greatly inferior to that of a sorc. Your mf sorc will probably run 2:1 if not 3:1 for every run the barb does. That may not seem like much but after 200 runs? What about after 2000?


Also, a barb to have good tankiness and good dmg will need good gear. Where's his MF coming from?


The sorc can be made tanky enough to handle meph, especially if its sole purpose is to run meph.

 

[Rekoc]

Pls click me for meph build.

 

[PhatTrumpet]

Zerkers don't really tank bosses very well at all. Berserk brings your defense down to zero, and none of the crowd control skills that a Zerker relies on work on bosses. If anything, you'd want to use a Conc Barb.

 

[WrongdayJ]

Why not a Lightning Javazon? Massive killing power on bosses with the CS, uses a shield for resists and blocking without a loss of killing power, & strong enough to wear almost any gear in the game. . .do I have to go any further?

I use one for MF'ing all the time. Throw on a Stealskull helm, a goldwrap belt, Skullders armor, upped Chance Guard gloves, have a Rhyme shield and a Gull dagger (or, an Ali Baba or a Langer Briser crossbow) on the switch for when the merc makes the kill. Give your Act II NM Defensive Merc A 'Meat Scraper' and a good helm and armor stuffed full of P'Topazes and you'll be sitting around 500-600 MF. That, coupled with /Players 8 should net you some pretty nice drops (it works for me anyway). And not just for Meph. You can potentially run anyone with this set-up. I do. Your merc will die. But he'll die regardless of what he's wearing. I usually don't go in with him anyway. I go in and sliver the Boss, then go out and get the Merc revived, switch weapons and sit back and try to keep him alive until he can land the 10 or so hits left on the Boss. I might also plink away with the langer briser to help him out.

If you've never made a Lit Zon MF'er - you should try. They are a hoot to play.

 

[Tai.]

Yes they are fun to play, but unfortunately, they don't teleport.

If he's looking for efficient and not necessarily a slower build that will be more enjoyable than a zon is right out.

1.) No speed boost so it's even slower than assn, barb, pally.
2.) Lower life than a Baba
3.) You want your merc to get the kill which means he has to have a decent gear setup and level or he'll just get offed by Mephy since you won't be slowing him at all and you'll be staying back.
4.) Yes, CS tears through bosses, but running through the Durance in multiplayer in hell w/o MH can take some solid time, it isn't killing meph that slows ya down.

Personally I'd rather get 1000 mf runs in with a character who can weapon switch to same rhyme/gull and cast the last orb than do 200 with a zon, not saying thats the best approach, I do in fact get bored of MFing fast, but when he's looking for "perfect mephrunner" he doesn't necessarily need a build that can tank better, runs slower and can go anywhere if played slowly and safely.

Cheers
-Tai

 

[WrongdayJ]

Good point.

I run Meph casually so time doesn't really matter for me. But If someone is making a power runner then I suppose another build (or some major modifications to the build I recommended) would be better.

 

[AlienBoyz]

My Beserk Barb was my main Hell Meph Killer. Very quick and very safe - did many (thousands?) Hell Meph runs. Never died but account expired when I got bored. Could generally tank Meph while only using health potions - almost never rejuvs.

Make sure you have decent resists, around 3k life and you good to go. I would avoid a might enchanted Meph but otherwise it is easy. Use Warcry (any level) to stun mobs while sprinting to find the Meph entrance.