MFing in Nightmare (is it even rewarding?)

[DeluksZ]

MFing in Nightmare (is it even rewarding?)

Hi guys!

I am reading over and over every topic regarding to MFing in D2 (it is kind of hard to find them as I experienced so I'm sure I'm missing some of the best topics to read) but I haven't found any topic about Nightmare MFing. With the ladder reset me and my brother started 2 soso so we can MF a bit before "real" characters, but we are kind of stucked right now. I know about the "anything can drop" zones in the different acts, and what bosses and why to farm mostly, but has no knowledge about how to get lower runes, how to get some items what can make us start hell. With our actual resists and gear we wouldn't survive a single eyeblink from the crappiest of monsters so we are doing Nm cow runs, trying to get some low lvl runes for spirit, insight, and stuff. Is this the way to go? Or we should do Pit and AT runs like we are going to on hell when we get the gear? Any advice are welcome on this topic.

If I missed something and there are already several topics discussing the Nightmare MFing then pls direct me there and delete this one. Thanks.

 

[Sun Fired Blank]

Re: MFing in Nightmare (is it even rewarding?)

It's worth knocking out Andariel, Mephisto, Diablo and Baal. Andariel in particular is good for plenty of unique rings and nice low-level items like Skins of the Vipermagi, and Diablo / Mephisto for mid-level items. In terms of your best possible drop, NM Andariel can drop Stone of Jordan, and as I remember, she has the best chance in the game to drop this item. I believe she can also drop Tal-Rasha's Adjudication for a 1 in "probably not in your lifetime" chance. For Diablo or Mephisto, your best pull is probably Herald of Zakarum. NM Countess might also be worth it if you're hurting for a bunch of the lower runes. I believe ATMA is up to date on drop rates if you're interested in those.

The Pit, Cows, etc. won't be too useful to you in NM. In short, alvl != mlvl in NM. I don't actually know what the mlvl of the monsters in those areas are in NM (cannot be arsed to look it up right now), but you're definitely best off just knocking out bosses at that difficulty level.

 

[Uppis]

Re: MFing in Nightmare (is it even rewarding?)

If you're 2 sorceress', you should propably start by getting a merc that can provide what you need. Mana. NM Act 2 Defensive merc is my merc of choice here, for Holy Freeze aura. Equip him with an Insight polearm. The runes for this you'll get by running NM countess. Countess is good for running runes for other low level runewords too, like Smoke/Rhyme/Splendor/Lionheart.. the list goes on. Also, you should get Spirit swords, the mana and FCR on it will make a huge diffrence (especially the mana).

When you think you can sustain the mana to teleport a little longer, start running Mephisto like mad. Even on NM, he can drop really good stuff that can either get you little profit or help you gear out for hell. I have first hand experience on this, since I did exactly 60 runs for Nightmare Mephisto today (aimed for 100 but had 3 Temp bans, which all lasted over an hour). My best drops today were: Raven Frost 19/159, The Spirit Shroud, plenty of not so useful uniques (Bloodletters, heartcarvers and Stormspikes for example) and numerous set items, Trang Oul gloves and Aldur weapon.

I wouldn't go areaclearing on NM, unless you're doing it for leveling purposes or trying to find socketables. If this is the case, all I can say is: Nihlataks temple. Clear all of the halls (Anguish/Pain/Something). It nets you insane ammounts of XP (I leveled about 2 levels/full clear when I did them) and also has lots of chests and racks to get you some good socketables.

Sorry for a long write, hope it's some use for you.
*Uppislol

 

[DeluksZ]

Re: MFing in Nightmare (is it even rewarding?)

Just the information I was looking for guys. I wasn't sure about the area MFing, but good to know that I was positive. We are lvl75 atm so nothing really provides us with a good amount of xp instead of act 5 levels I assume. Since we play legit (w/o maphack) and teleport is really a mana issue, we walk (yeah, I know... walking soso is the lamest) but we are running cows for socketed crystal sword, board sword, polearms, shields... just the usual. But we will focus on the Countess from now on. And Mephi. good to know that practicing the "Mephi run" has some materialistic advantages also besides the "get to know" thing