HF Rushing

**squall78** · 07-01-2011, 22:42

I'm a bit unclear as to whether rushing a char in SP for HF runes is considered legal or not. If it is possible, do I use TCP/IP game to get both characters in the game? One of the rules I've read said that Open Bnet is not allowed.

I have 2 copies of D2 and had a spare computer lying around....

**Zaliqai** · 07-01-2011, 23:33

Hey squall,

First of all, HF rushing is allowed here. I may be one of the prime cheesy examples around here.

If you do decide to do HF rushing then don't do it in Open Bnet but use TCP/IP. Obviously you're allowed to do anything you like on your computer including playing on Open Bnet. However, any character or stash that comes in contact with Open Bnet will have become "tainted" and will no longer be allowed to interact with this forum. So I suggest you don't play on Open Bnet. There's also no reason to use Open Bnet if you want to HF rush because you can simply do it using TCP/IP, and you don't even need 2 copies of D2 or 2 computers to do it (though that may depend on the power of your PC).

However, before you decide to go the HF rushing route I'd like to suggest to you that it's probably no longer worth it. Pre 1.13 it may have been the sure way to be able to get the runes for the higher runewords, but now that the 1.13 and the increased rune drops are here I suggest you stick with just playing the game and having fun. Those rune drops will eventually occur, including all those other lovely items that, even though they may not all be useful to you at that time, will at the least be worth the Mals, Ists and Guls (if not worth a lot more) that you'd get from HF rushing.

I'm not one of the local D2 mathematicians/statisticians so someone may well end up disagreeing with me, but I'll dare go out on a limb here and say that one or more will chime in pretty soon and agree that HF rushing is no longer worth it. In 1.13 just playing the game and having fun will eventually net you those runes or the items you can trade them for.

And if you do eventually decide to HF rush (unlikely) and someone else doesn't provide them first I can provide the links to the files and info you'll need.

**Drystan** · 07-01-2011, 23:41

There's a HF rushing guide in the stickies somewhere under Guides. You use the modified .dll found in the stickies to run multiple copies on the one machine, and create/join using TCP/IP.
It can be found by googling something like 'HF rushing guide diii.net', if you don't want to search through the stickies.

Open B.net is not allowed because of all the hacks/dupes and ease of hacking found there. Any character interacting with anyone on open b.net is guarenteed to be tainted by items found using hacks, bots and editors.

Some suggest having one machine set up for the host and rusher, and the other machine for the rushees (or something similar,) and I'd agree with that, because some older machines have difficulty running 8 copies simultaneously.

**Drystan** · 07-01-2011, 23:48

Edit: Nothing like a bad internet connection for double posting!

Nothin' to see here!
Oh, and I think pwned. Also, echoing 1.13c is probably better for runes. LK running/Travincal if you really want to hunt for runes. There are guides around for both of those, including what build is best for them.
But IMO, you still need to be lucky if you're just going to play through the game, and hope to get HRs. You'll find more mid-high, but for me, it's still very lucky to see good HR's (especially since I no longer play much.

)

**Fabian** · 07-01-2011, 23:51

I think I might be one of the local D2 mathematicians/statisticians, and I'll echo Zaliqai and say that HF rushing is horribly ineffective compared to any sort of normal 1.13c activity.

**squall78** · 08-01-2011, 02:34

Alright well based on what you guys say it might not be a viable option. I've been running council and doing the usual rune hunting but results haven't been so good. I thought if I did forge runs it would be faster then to keep doing boss runs. I have many different characters (grief gb barb for gold/trav runs, sorc for lk runs, necro for everything else) but wanted a bit more variety.

**Drystan** · 08-01-2011, 04:23

For variety, go for it! HF rushing gets you guarenteed progress towards your goals, whereas Trav/LK it's still a little bit of luck. You aren't likely to be swimming in runes after a few hundred runs, but many people seem to be having lots of luck with those two areas lately.

**jdkerr** · 08-01-2011, 06:52

It is also likely that after HF rushing for a bit you will want to throw your copy of D2 off a very high cliff. I could picture myself doing it for a beta (1.10) runeword, but it would take quite a bit of convincing to get me to do that. In 1.12a I rushed for "Grief" and promptly quit Diablo (for a time... one always returns, after all).

**Jaycob** · 08-01-2011, 08:15

Originally Posted by Fabian

I think I might be one of the local D2 mathematicians/statisticians, and I'll echo Zaliqai and say that HF rushing is horribly ineffective compared to any sort of normal 1.13c activity.

Would you say this even for semi-rare hellforge runes (Um-Gul?)

**frozzzen** · 08-01-2011, 08:54

It will take you average 200-220 countess runs to get Gul worth runes if I'm not mistaken and then cube them to Gul if you really need it... but of course it depends on luck just like everything else. With good runner and map you can run Countess very fast, and I think it beats HF rushing by huge amount.