[Guide] LK vs Travincal vs Cows - runefinding guide

[Gripphon]

Guide now maintained here:

[Guide] Gripphon's LK vs Travincal vs Cows - runefinding guide

DISCLAIMER Here, the narrator and original writer is @Gripphon. This thread is only transferred to new forum by myself. Only addition: segmentation of guide posts and shortcuts added at the beginning of this post. Hello. In this guide I'll share some mathematical data regarding these areas for...

www.purediablo.com

 

[Gripphon]

Guide now maintained here...

[Guide] Gripphon's LK vs Travincal vs Cows - runefinding guide

DISCLAIMER Here, the narrator and original writer is @Gripphon. This thread is only transferred to new forum by myself. Only addition: segmentation of guide posts and shortcuts added at the beginning of this post. Hello. In this guide I'll share some mathematical data regarding these areas for...

www.purediablo.com

 

[Fabian]

Decent.

 

[BKC]

2. When you open chest, immediately press alt to check drops and wait for orange flash. "orange flash" is visible effect that happens when you open chest and rune drops, but it gets cluttered below items. You still see it drop and you see something orange even if you are not sure what rune it is.

you can hold alt before pressing a chest (or at least i TK my chests with alt already pressed)

edit: Very usefull information this made me smile this morning!

 

[ffs]

Great overview, very nice to have all the relevant information in one place for people getting into this, as well as for experienced players looking to refresh some knowledge on the topic. And of course thanks for the reference regarding java, I'm both flattered and slightly embarrassed by the screw ups, she deserves better.

 

[Pb_pal]

Long overdue, amazing work Gripp! Maybe @Thyiad could stick this one into the FAQ somewhere.

 

[sanguillen]

This is some awesome work, @Gripphon . As someone that is relatively poor (I've come closer to seeing a real bear than I have a Ber), this is great info for me. Thanks!

 

[TopHatCat64]

Good stuff, @Gripphon. This is a thoughtful, well-researched guide with a lot of good links to boot.

This is definitely FAQ-worthy.

 

[Codoh]

Thumbs up. Been running Trav on P3 as of late. And while i didnt have much luck with HRs, i find it more enjoyable and faster then p7. Found a Bulkathos ring so yey.

 

[GalaXyHaXz]

Very nice guide! I would like to suggest adding info based on @Treeharl and my finds in RoF superchests. On players 7/8 there are 12 ohm patterns and 3 Lo. This would be faster for getting a Lo. You also have 1 Jah/Cham, making it quickest way to cube a Zod. At work so I can't crunch the numbers, but would be a nice addition.

 

[Gripphon]

Second post is updated and with it comparison between areas is finished. I might add some more comparisons like the one suggested from @GalaXyHaXz there.
In the first post I updated info on cow trapper, cow nova sorc ES variant, added merc info for all builds in Travincal and Cow sections and solving clutter problem with Travbarb.

I'm happy to hear players find this guide useful for their needs. I might add more info whenever, so you could also give some suggestions or link to great posts about the matter. Feel free to point out any mistakes I have made.

 

[srrw]

You crazy mf! This is amazing. Although I never aim at top end efficiency for the simple fact that I can't run something more than 5 times without doing something else (smoking, checking facebook, picking proper songs on youtube and whatnot).

Big ups, your dedication to D2 farming is epic.

 

[Gripphon]

Thanks for all those kind words, everyone

Yes, I'm really dedicated farmer and still have a reason to be. There are few potential goals I'd like to fulfill yet apart from testing game limitations. I'd like to possibly complete second grail for which I miss caddy and Zod. I can't seem to get that Zod, while caddy will be problem of its own since I'd need to MF for it, and I'm kinda less interested to MF lately. Even third grail might be possible - if I find 2 caddys, 2 Zods, mang and stormlash. That is too far away though.

Another goal I'd like to fulfill is to have 10+ of each rune in my stashes (with exception of Zod lol). That is pretty much reachable, but since not too long ago I used 4 Chams for ATMA bugging claws, now I have some work to do to farm those Chams back... So, I have a reason to nail cows and travincal more for future tournaments.

I even thought about going for 99 (honestly, it just slightly crossed my mind), but only characters I might have use from to be level 99 are travincal sorc and pitbarb. And their maps are set in stone... So, that plan finished quickly. Not to mention I don't wanna hit Baal or Nihl for 100-150 hours, no damn thank you. That is 100-150 hours I'm not running Travincal or Cows or Pit!

Another juicy plan might be to try to level sorc to level 96 in Travincal. That could be the first character leveled to that level by only Travincal running. I think I'm like 26k runs away from doing that assuming I don't die. Death would be painful. And they say I don't play HC... But, if I managed to level pitbarb to level 96 by p1 running, I don't see a problem to do this also!

Okay, I didn't mean to share my diablo plans now in such detail, but couldn't stop writing. Bad habit of mine on this forum.

EDIT
Kinda forgot I also lack Stormlash for the potential third grail.

 

[Atomic Love]

This is incredibly useful to me. It's almost as if you read my mind, in fact, because for the past week or so I have been wondering about some of this specifically. Good job on this one! Quality work.

 

[krischan]

Great!

That's a really helpful guide, even long-time players will find a few reminders about improving on a couple of things. For example, I'm not using TK in LK often enough. My blizz sorc is usually just using it to pin cold immunes to a wall.

A few comments:

1. I think pretty much any melee barb with maxed resists is good for Travincal.For example, I'm using a conc barb. I recommend a weapon+shield build. Being hit only 25% of the time in comparison to a shieldless barb greatly reduces the chance of dying from a streak of bad luck. A shield is also a carrier of magical effects which cannot be offered by weapons. For example, I'm using Rhyme in a hyperion which offers CBF, blocking bonuses, allres and even a bit MF... and it's dirt cheap. Unfortunately, I don't have enough resources for Enigma on that character yet, so I'm using Skullder's.

2.

Runes I'll consider cubing up to Zod: Sur, Ber, Jah and Cham

I would never cube up a Bar or Jah rune because there are so many, many runewords involving them. Beyond HF runes, I only upgrade Vex runes. If I had two Cham runes, I would turn them into Zod on the spot. I'm just not sure whether to make BotD in a CB or in a GPA.

3.

Spoiler

It's campfire, not campire!!11! Yes, that's a smartass comment, but it hurts my eyes .

 

[Gripphon]

@krischan
I have no idea how I managed to misspell campfire 6 times in a row lol. Thank you for telling me this. Corrected.
Added a comment about other barb variations, though I won't make a new section about those since they are really unpopular.
As for cubing runes to Zod all the way from Sur, calculations are made mostly for fun to also include LK into equation. I also wouldn't cube Jahs just to make Zod (perhaps only for Cham), but as I've seen people do it, I kinda included Jah also as a cubing material for Zod.

 

[Codoh]

I'm having a hard time finding a map where all the Trav mobs are clumped up outside on that little tight spot to the left as u showed it on those videos. Gona keep trying. The best ones i found always had Tooric inside derping alone. Gahhh!

 

[T72on1]

Yes, that definitely happens a lot. Keep on trying, you'll find it eventually. Although, even then, when they all spawn outside, there's still quite some difference possible. It will certainly enable you to do fast runs. But a good map will allow just that, fast runs, while a very good map will have you shave off even 2 - 3 seconds of that fast runs. At least that's how I explained my fast but not lightning fast runs at RFL 2 .

 

[Brak]

Great guide! If you ever plan on expanding into RoF let me know. I'm hoping to optimize my runs once I finish my Sept Sorc (she's using a bunch of my runners gear ATM).

Also curious if you CS strangler running might get updated at some point.

I also wouldn't cube Jahs just to make Zod (perhaps only for Cham), but as I've seen people do it,

I think by people you mean Grape. Maybe zticazzy for his non-extended stash dual eBotD barb

 

[Burgomaster3]

Superb stuff, thanks for the guide! My own experiences correspond with most of the numbers (except my game seems to think Pits are the best source for Ists, go figure).

My only criticism is that this guide is ~4 years too late for me But it's great to have the relevant info "under the same roof", and I'll most likely return to this from time to time even though I've memorized most of the stuff. In fact, this guide kinda made me want to hit LK/Travincal, even though I don't actually need any runes after the RFL. Definitely vote for sticky/FAQ-inclusion, this has some invaluable stuff for newcomers and anyone without much experience with rune hunting.

If I would add something, it would probably be at least a small section about RoF. It wont compete much with the three top places I think, but it can be combined with LK or CS running, and can be interesting for those who want a bit of variation once in a while.