n00b question

[BigIceKilla]

All right I haven't played since 1.09 and even then wasn't serious... I used to MF Hell Mephisto, but now all I hear about is pit runs. What are pit runs?

[handofnaz]

These refer to the Pits, a dungeon located in the Tamoe Highland in Act I. Best accessed using the Outer Cloister waypoint. Both of its levels are popular places for item finding.

[SirDooFuss]

All right I haven't played since 1.09 and even then wasn't serious... I used to MF Hell Mephisto, but now all I hear about is pit runs. What are pit runs?


People still MF Mephy, Baal and Pindy. But the Pits have been hot since v1.10. Cows now stink for uniques, but are decent for socketables and the occasional high runes.
I suggest you play through the game to get a good feel for v1.11, there have been a lot of changes to monster stats and AI.
When it comes to trading, chips are now completely worthless. Pgems and runes are good.

Good luck!

[thegiantturtle]

"The Pits" are "the Pit" as mentioned by handofnaz as well as any other level 85 area. A list can be found here (http://strategy.diabloii.net/news.php?id=551#Area%20Levels).

These places are interesting, because 1.10 changed how monster level is determined(in nm and hell mlvl = area_level) and what base items (and unique items) enemies can drop. Regular monsters in all the Pits have the highest chance of dropping the highest treasure class base items and can drop almost all uniques. Uniques, minions, and champions in these areas can drop ALL uniques.

Hell Mephisto is still a great target to run. He can't drop some of the higher end uniques, but he has a much larger chance to drop a unique. Also, the council members in durance 3 are worth killing. If I'm item running, I normally alternate between pit runs, meph runs and baal runs.

Happy item finding.

[Myrakh-2]

Starting with 1.10, monster level (in nightmare and hell) is no longer relevant; maps now have area levels instead which detemine monster levels and therefore drops.

The Pits happen to be one of areas with the highest area levels in the game (85), which means monsters in there have levels ranging from 85 to 88 --- which in turn means they can drop all items (except for the special ones like quest items or items from certain monsters). The Pits are popular because it's still an Act 1 area with easy monsters. The Pits are quite large, and the 2nd level is crowded with bosspacks and has a golden chest.

Personally, I preferred Worldstone Keep and Chaos Sanctuary over the Pits, since these are lvl 85 as well, but the act boss at the end drops better than the golden chest in the Pits.

Keep in mind that we are talking about ordinary monsters here --- monsters in the Pits are not baby mephistos. They *can* drop everything, but usually they don't.

[BigIceKilla]

thanks all for the speedy replies