NM Mephisto MF Runs (yes again)

[darzog]

I know this is talked about all the time but I haven't been able to find what I'm looking for so hopefully someone can help me out.

First, I heard somewhere that there's a good Meph guide already written so that might answer all my questions (if someone can point to it).

Second, what's the best way to find the lvl 3 Portal? Normally I just teleport straight up from the WP and then circle the perimeter (hoping it didn't spawn in the middle). Some people say clockwise is faster, some say counter-clockwise. Any thoughts?

Third, what's the best way for an untwinked sorc (I can use a lvl 77 meteorb or lvl 78 bliz-fball currently) to get to meph and kill him quickly. I see several threads where people talk about doing a full run in 1-1.5 min but I usually take quite a bit longer.

Fourth, what's the best way to not die to all the pigmy guys? If I don't see them coming and have an orb or fball ready they seem to kill me in 1 shot (even though I can stand toe-to-toe with most other mobs for a short while). Is there anything specific (other than better defense or max block) I can do to survive them better? I've gone the high vit route instead of max block with both sorcs (actually bliz-fball has about 50% block with a decent shield which isn't too bad).

As background my gear isn't great. I've found vipermagi, and some decent uniques but other than vipermagi, none ever get mentioned in guides as good gear. Which probably explains why I get manhandled in hell. Other than that I've followed the Meteorb and FBall/Bliz guides pretty close for stats and skills. Just don't have jack for gear yet. Any help would be appreciated.

___________________
Darzog

[GovernerOfCali]

First, I heard somewhere that there's a good Meph guide already written so that might answer all my questions (if someone can point to it). <----sorry... don't know... maybe somebody else does?

Second, what's the best way to find the lvl 3 Portal? Normally I just teleport straight up from the WP and then circle the perimeter (hoping it didn't spawn in the middle). Some people say clockwise is faster, some say counter-clockwise. Any thoughts? <---I don't think there is a perfect way. I usually go first to the bottom left corner.... then move around clockwise... why? Because I had to choose some way... that's what I choose. Sometimes I TP directly to the stairs... other times, I go 3/4 around before I find the stairs. Make 10 games... 5 one way and 5 the other... see what works, but I have not noticed any way as being 'better'

Third, what's the best way for an untwinked sorc (I can use a lvl 77 meteorb or lvl 78 bliz-fball currently) to get to meph and kill him quickly. I see several threads where people talk about doing a full run in 1-1.5 min but I usually take quite a bit longer. <----once your in his chamber, I kill the monsters in front. In hell, many of them are cold immune, so I use fireballs and meteors. After this, I walk up the left side of the screen (not so far you go into that room and have another minion spawn)... TP over ... let mephisto come out...and TP back to the other side and walk back. You can get far enough back where he will stay at the edge of the moat, but not fire at you. From there, I drop meteors and lauch fireballs until he is dead.

Fourth, what's the best way to not die to all the pigmy guys? If I don't see them coming and have an orb or fball ready they seem to kill me in 1 shot (even though I can stand toe-to-toe with most other mobs for a short while). Is there anything specific (other than better defense or max block) I can do to survive them better? I've gone the high vit route instead of max block with both sorcs (actually bliz-fball has about 50% block with a decent shield which isn't too bad). <---I never shoot them when they are close to me. Their exploding bodies kill me too. I suggest you use a good blocking shield like whitestans guard... and all the fast cast gear you can get. If you can manage to block their hits and have fast cast gear on, most of the time you should be able to get out of their before they do much damage (don't forget to drink pots while TPing if needed)

As background my gear isn't great. I've found vipermagi, and some decent uniques but other than vipermagi, none ever get mentioned in guides as good gear. Which probably explains why I get manhandled in hell. Other than that I've followed the Meteorb and FBall/Bliz guides pretty close for stats and skills. Just don't have jack for gear yet. Any help would be appreciated. <---if you can get ahold of a Lem and Ko rune... you can upgrade this armor and get about 900 defense out of it (a little more actually). Not sure what helm your using, but Lore will give you plus 1 skills... or peasant crown is good until you find better...

On my sorc, I don't worry a whole lot about resists (although, I don't ignore them either)... I focus on +skills and faster cast. If you can get perfect gems... save them up, ppl trade pretty good gear here for them... you should be able to get most if not all your gear from finding yourself and trading perfect gems in these forums.

[wise_man]

try this:
http://forums.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=221490

or this:
http://forums.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=143676

or this:
http://forums.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=222442

It's enough to search for "durance" in the sorceress forum. this narrows it down to a human-searchable list...

[darzog]

Thank you very much.... I was looking for things like "meph", "mephisto", "meph runs", and other things like that. Tried in title only, tried in whole post.

Unfortunately there are quite a few references to Meph in posts. Didn't think about searching by Durance.

Thanks again.
_____________________
Darzog

[BlackWinterDay]

First has already been taken care of.

Second is to always teleport clockwise in Durance. The Countess' Tower and WSK are both counter-clockwise, but Durance is generally clockwise. The odd time you will get screwed, but it's definately clockwise more often than not.

Third and fourth are related. If you are stopping to fight pigmy dolls, that is your entire problem. Get at least 65% fcr and do not stop teleporting. Even if you end up in the middle of a pack of maulers, do your best to teleport out of it or save and exit. Do not stop for anything, including council members (unless you really want to). NM meph runs should take you less than 3 minutes, including the time required to kill Meph.