Since we won’t have the benefit of Darkening of Tristram in the next upcoming season… I am curious if there are any other known tricks for getting diamonds earlier than level 18. That is aside from getting lucky with a goblin of course.
Anyone know of any other shortcuts similar to the mystery rock?
The shards you can get from the bosses like Zoltan Khule can work. When you salvage them you have a 20% of getting diamonds. And any diamond flawless or better will work. I did this on the EU server at level 4 or 5. Yeah, it sucks wasting an Imperial Diamond but it does the job.
However it’s still not a sure thing, on the NA server I went thru 7 shards and still didn’t get diamonds… was about level 20 by then and some diamonds dropped naturally and I combined them at Shen’s.
Of course since the shards are going away after this season that won’t help with S31 game play.
I appreciate that, however I am talking about next season which will not have the shards.
Are there any gems in the reward chest for the challenge rift? If so if you really want to rush unlocking the level 70 gear that helps in all sorts of ways… you get 5 million gold, death’s breaths… enough to easily max out the forge and enough mats to create one legendary level 70 weapon at the cube as well. Sure, you have to run another challenge rift later on to unlock the altar but it might be worth it.
Sadly no, the CR contains no gems.
What about bounty chests?
Not sure it is possible to do all 5 bounties in an act and open the chest before reaching level 18. Either way it wouldn’t really be a shortcut. I have been going through area by area looking for any out of the way stuff that no one has any real reason to visit, and generally I have to reset the character as it hits lvl 18 or so by the 2nd bounty even.
One could easily get to 19 with just the first Altar node before a shard would drop.
If it’s impossible you can do first 4 bounties and fifth on the boss bounty. Boss bounty chest drops a gems. Act horadric cache also can drops it. Unfortunatelly I don’t know will it works before you reach 18lvl.
Don’t think there is any way to get gems to unlock node 2 before 18 for the upcoming season unless you get lucky and get a gem goblin or rainbow goblin.
1-18 should take 20 minutes or less with massacre bonus. After that, just need farm Kulle and Maghda bounties on normal a few times and get the diamonds.
Yup need to be level 18. If you do a bounty boss sub 18 you won’t get a gem.
This is one of the problems in the game. What I’m saying you really don’t need the gems in the early part of the game. The mind set in the this game by more 80% of the people is Damage. Yes Damage is #1, but staying alive is #1 in the early part of the game.
There other things you can do is use the gear you get to help you stay alive. Look for gear that has life per sec, Life per hit. They can really help you more than the Diamonds in the beginning.
Now on gems somebody told many years ago now they work and I just laugh said right. Take Diamonds from the lowest one to the highest one. There really not that much difference between the two. If you take the 5 lowest Diamonds VS the 5 highest ones. It is only between 70 to 100 you gain on each resist.
The point of getting diamonds early is to unlock the no level requirement node on the altar as soon as possible at the start of season to get a head start on levelling with full lvl 70 items.
I’ve been flip flopping on opening the Challenge Cache. This season, I barely got my Gift before the new Challenge Rift. But really, the advice to saving it seems to be coming more from people who will only play the opening weekend and moving on after.
I look at it this way.
You use the Challenge Cache, you can be #1 on Friday and Saturday. You save the Challenge Rift, you can be #1 on Sunday and Monday. But come Tuesday, it doesn’t matter if you used it or saved it.
As far as early diamonds, to the best of my knowledge, outside of getting lucky with goblins as previously mentioned, you just have to get to 18.
You start off doing the T1 bounty with your Necro for the DB, and hope that you’re at 18 by the time you complete it (you should easily be). Then switch over to your real character.
You just rush the cube at the very beginning. You need it anyway. And then hunt for your DB with an intermittent weapon.
You just rush to 18 and then hunt for your DB with an intermittent weapon.
Obviously, if you use the Cache, I’d probably take 3.
And for the none cube, when I say hunt, it’s because it comes down to Visions vs running a bounty, and there are tradeoffs with each, and I can’t say which is faster in the grand scheme of things.
I always use the CR cache, I enjoy the early start more than saving it for later. This current season we had a trick where there is a magic rock in Darkening of Tristram to get diamonds as early as level 3.
I created this thread on the chance anyone had discovered a non event version of such a thing in the base game. I am aware that getting to 18 is the default known method. The curiosity is simply if there are any other hidden novelties out there that have not been well known.
There might be something in the new season. Does anyone know what the theme will be? I know it’s a recycled season but is there a schedule or list of which ones then plan on using?
It’s a fair bet it will either be Ethereals or Sanctified. Beyond that guess we don’t know yet.
If it’s Ethereals, I believe they can drop as early as level 1, in which case you may be able to blast a Vision early and get lucky that way.
You need to be Level 5 for Ethereals.
But yes, there’s no real trick going to be faster. With a bit of skill, you can hit 18 in 4-5 minutes, so you’re looking at maybe losing 8-10 minutes vs this season (having to farm the diamonds, and restart a new character, which was where this season shined).
EDIT
I forgot to grab and show the altar (add about 10 seconds), but only the first 2 nodes are selected. The no level requirement is pointless here, and you’ll have the double massacre bonus. No other altar nodes are selected, to avoid the power boost it gives. This is just demonstrating hitting 18 in under 5 minutes. This is why I believe going for the altar at the cube at the very beginning is slower than just rushing 18.
You can kill bosses and get the seasonal soul shards.
Salvaging them gives random gems.
During the original Ethereal season, I know at least one of my characters got one at level 3, and pretty sure I heard at least one person got one at level 1. If I recall accurately the season notes even said that they can drop as early as level 1.
You won’t have soul shards next season if they hold true to rotating Seasonal Themes.