Optimal Melee Baal Runner Research

[Liquid_Evil]

I've always been curious as to the melee character with the fastest, most efficient solo Baal runs. Hence, this experiment.

The premise:
Several forum-goers will be involved (hopefully), bringing together a nice compilation of melee chars. They play their chars and post their results so we can compare. It's that simple.

What do we do?
Post your interest and character here. We will then set a date where everyone will be able to join a MP game to acquire the same good map seed (to make sure the level layout doesn't influence the outcome).

Then, each participant will have one hour do to the following on their own time.
-Get to the throne room
-Eliminate throne room minions at players 8
-Eliminate Baal at players 3
-Save and Exit, new game, rinse and repeat
(Make sure to record any deaths)

How do we score this?
Well, we need a way to score this and I'm open to ideas. The best way would probably be tallying experience and then figuring out how much you actually earned by somehow breaking it down, out of its inherent level penalties. (a lvl 97 char would gain far less exp than a lvl 77 char if you didn't take into account the leveling penalties).

Or! We could just go based on how many runs each char was able to complete. This is simpler, but isn't as accurate. Like I said, I'm open to ideas.

Can we enter more than one char?
Yes.

Someone is entering the char I wanted to enter.
Enter yours as well. The more data we collect, the more definitive the results.

What chars can we enter?
Anything that's melee. I'd like to see a broad spectrum of characters as well as differently geared specific classes. Here are some of the classes I'd like to see.

Frenzy, Concentrate, Whirlwind, Wolfbarb, Zealot, Smiter, Avenger, Tesladin, Frost Zealot, Fury, Fury/Rabies, Fireclaws, Mauler...
And although not really "melee," it would be interesting to see the results for a Double Throw barb.

When you post your char, could we maybe get a screenshot of the stats and a breakdown of what you are using, specifically Crushing Blow, Deadly Strike, damage, life, PDR, FRW, FHR, and resist totals. Does your guy block? Swing exceptionally fast? Does your guy use a curse? Is there something interesting or unconventional about your skills or item choices?

Is this a tourney?
No. There are no prizes, its all for the sake of knowledge. There's no reason to report 111 runs in the hour time limit if you only managed 15. The purpose of this experiment is to compare good chars and maybe get some inspiration going for someone to get a melee char into the top ~30 (at least) in the Quest for 99 thread.

[Ray Patean]

I'm in. Stryfe, my Grief zealot/smiter, will have a good time pwning Baal for an hour. I've got a couple other characters I can use if we don't get good participation.

[YoungDbl]

I want to see concentrate barb and a fury druid. Those are my votes.


edit: can any one enter?

[Liquid_Evil]

I want to see concentrate barb and a fury druid. Those are my votes.


edit: can any one enter?

Anyone can enter, yes.

[RibGriller]

This may be suicide for my Frenzier, but I'll try to help out. I've only used him for Pits/Tunnels, so this will be interesting. He'll be using Grief/Oath.

[YoungDbl]

Oh thats cool. I want to see a pure fury druid some body!

[jjscud]

Oh thats cool. I want to see a pure fury druid some body!

This isn't really a request sort of thing, more of a volunteer sort of thing so please build that fury druid.

@Liq - any idea on time frame? I would like grief for both my builds but really need a few more runes to make it happen. Right now I would like to try a Greif/Beast WW barb and a pure smiter.

[grogs]

Cool idea liq, I'll be taking an interest in this A couple of things that may help when reporting results and trying to make sense of them:

*I think that you need to have a minimum character level or you'll get some skewed data as it will take a 80ish character FAR longer to complete a run than a 90+ char.

*Scoring: I think that the easiest way to do it would be on average time per run. I say this because it's well established how much exp you get from each run, and in the end, if you are looking to find some function of exp over time factoring in deaths etc, then trying for 99 probably isn't for you :P

At least if you use jj's run counter then the playing field is even for everyone, and you should still be able to see anomalies in runs if pepole die as their run times will be longer.

@ Liq: I don't have a telsadin, but would lend you the required peice of equipment to test the build

[sirpoopsalot]

I have a couple of IK barbs (neither is standard - instead of Shout they have Increased Speed & Berzerk), as well as a 'lash/schaeffer's frenzier that I'd be willing to try.

Oh yeah, a PS/Nat's 'sin too that I can un-mothball if no one else volunteers. (btw, I have a fury druid, but I didn't enjoy him enough to un-retire him - someone else can do the fury tests).

Not sure if any of my other my melee chars would have a chance to be a successful runner, as IIRC they're pretty underpowered.


Edit:
as for scoring, would it make sense for a forumla something like: (clvl / seconds per run) * MF
... or something similar where the variables are all given a consistent weight? What additional variables do we need (perhaps # of deaths?). Where's Shags when we need him?

[hepcat]

I'll enter my lvl 96.333333 Grief Zealot/Smiter too since he's been running Baal since lvl 83 or so.

The purpose of this experiment is to compare good chars and maybe get some inspiration going for someone to get a melee char into the top ~30 (at least) in the Quest for 99 thread.

Ackbar has 2.8 mil experience and would sit at 24 or so if I would enter.....ahh, apathy.

I know my runs have been taking 5-6 minutes apiece (even longer when Lister spawns PI), but that includes killing a path through WSK 2 and sometimes WSK 3. No Nigma either, which would definitely help speed things up.