Season start tips and tricks

General Discussion
1

From the start I’ll assume some of us, myself included, won’t open the challenge rift cache and this makes this season atypical.
So i want to put together a thread with tips and tricks for the leveling process and further for a smooth season start.

  1. to open the first altar node, DE the follower weapon that you wont use (if it gets you just 9 reusable parts just de the templar shield too)
    2)go straight to the cube (to get this out of the way) and or a cursed thest bounty to get to lvl 18 asap
    3)to unlock the second node level to 18 and do boss bounties, you’ll get diamonds in max 2 runs and you can combine them.

Once the no lvl requirement node is unlocked things get interesting
4)if you level up with one or more friends ,i havent tried this but I understand that if one opens the cache, he can craft lvl 70 weapons and these are tradeable
Even if you don’t have a party, there will still be plenty of people that will open the cache and it shouldnt be an issue to find someone to craft you one
5)at this point you want to start doing bounties at as high a difficulty possible. A full act at t6 gives 3DB and a lot of gold and other stuff, enough to upgrade your own smith to 70 and start equiping 70 yellows in other slots
6)I recomend doing bounties till level 70 and even beyond at least till you finish a full set.
You need this for multiple reasons: you need them for the journey, you need the bounty mats to cube something since you dont have them from the challenge rift
7)sacrifice the first GR key to open the next node
8)spam your blood shards on helms in hopes to get a set piece for the next node, crafter helms DO NOT WORK

If you’re fully SSF and still want to save the cache, gold will be an issue early on unless you get very lucky. Try to sell all the gems you find and use the gold to upgrade the smith. You’ll probably end up having on average a weapon 10 lvls higher than you char lvl and that will stil be enough for you to do t1 on most classes.

These are up the top of my head , any feedback and more tips are welcome

3 Likes
2

Oh, thanks for this. I remembered I still have another 2 accounts from back in the days when I was Multiboxing !

On one of those, I will open the cache, craft lvl 70 goodies, open another D3 window with my main, drop the goodies on the ground, pick them up with my main … voila. T6 all the way! :slight_smile:

Lovely!

5 Likes
3

i’ve now tested it myself on live, crafted items are not bind on account therefor they are tradeable. Hopefully they retain their no lvl requirement.

4

The items don’t have a no level requirement, your player gains a no level requirement. The item itself hasn’t changed.

9 Likes
5

I just checked my 2 other D3 accounts. They all good. As far as I know, a cache doesn’t offer enough matterials to craft all lvl 70 items right? What about 2 caches? :smiley:

6

no clue, but a weapon, a helm and gloves can probably carry you till 61 when the other slots become close in stats as well.

1 Like
7

Also, note that some classes have good Legendaries that are easy to craft. Speaking of DH and Necromancer. Example: DH’s have two chances of Daggers with skill multipliers and Necromancer 2 handed Scythe all come with good multipliers.

You can use your cache to craft a 70 Legendary and after activating that node, use the item itself instead of putting it in the cube and also gamble a level 1 item like Hellcat Waistguard and put that in the cube so that by level 18-20 you’ll have two skills that deal good extra damage.

This isn’t absolutely necessary, just noting that some classes will still level faster than others.

8

If you convert materials, you’ll be able to craft a fair amount of items. The issue here is that you need the cube to get it, so this is more for a group of 3 or fewer, to get your alt in the game grabbing the cube.

9

True!

I will use one to get to the cube, then teleport the others 2 once I get there. Problem solved! :slight_smile:

10

most of what was written above was targeted at people NOT opening their challenge rift cache. By the time you have 25 dbs you already are lvl 70

1 Like
11

So, for SSF players, one thing I think many leveling guides are missing here is a true SSF start. Unfortunately, the PTR is nearly impossible to get a good idea of leveling. If you have altar powers, you can’t remove them, thus making you stronger than you will be come the real season (along with a 25% XP boost if you have pools unlocked). Also, the PTR has a 100% XP buff, so you’re hitting levels far faster than you will be in the real season.

When you try leveling in a real situation, most likely you’ll notice that you’re probably going to be very short on gold and materials, that you might not even be able to unlock the second node by the time you turn 18. Then the Blacksmith will also require 311k to upgrade all the way.

So, the general way around this is to run a T1 bounty. If you have enough materials and gold to craft a weapon 10+ levels higher, this should be doable, albeit not fast. Stick to Act 4, as you can avoid a boss fight, which will drag on for a very long time.

And this is where a dual class approach is helpful. Provided you’re not playing a Demon Hunter, if you can avoid touching the Enchantress until Level 11, she upgrades to a really op 2 handed staff that’s far stronger than any weapon you can craft. The stats obviously are RNG, so they’ll differ, but it’s still going to be more powerful than a Level 12 sword.

So, hit Level 18, unlock the No Level Requirement, and consider just putting all your gear in storage, and creating a new character, and using that gear. It will be enough to carry you through a T1 bounty with relative ease. This will get you 1 Death’s Breath, allowing you to upgrade the Blacksmith all the way when you have enough gold. Plus, it gives you 160k gold.

So, why relevel from Level 1, and why not just continue on? Because once you have a Level 70 weapon, getting to Level 50 will take no time at all. Once you’re 18, is it better to spend 10 minutes with a brand new character, and then another 10 to get to 50, or to try to go complete the T1 bounty from Level 18 onward without all the extra power.

8 Likes
12

Why not open the cache? You start at friday and the next one is 3 days later. Better get that quick start and leveling

13 Likes
13

It could be that some people want to have the entire season finished in the first two days.

That way they can complain on the forum that they no longer have anything to do.

12 Likes
14

“Why not open the cache?” @Phoenix

For me personally, as a SSF HC player, I feel that using the Cache, (something gained outside of “normal” gameplay), negates SSF, and trivializes a portion of the game.

However, due to the altar requiring a cache, I will allow myself to use one to unlock the node, but can’t by my rules use the items from a cache to PL myself.

I don’t even use paragon I have earned on a fresh character if my 1st dies. Only once I hit level 70 will I assign paragon.

Just me, not looking to debate what is or isn’t a true SSF character, just giving you a little insight into why someone might prefer not to use the cache.

4 Likes
15

if the no level requirement node wasnt a thing. most people would open the cache but since it’s easy to lvl up regardless some people would prefer to use it to unlock the altar.

I for one save all the other chalenge rift caches for Hardcore.

or just because the fun is in those few days and i enjoy pushing the extra mile and the aformentioned saving caches for hardcore, you can verify posts history to see if there’s complaining done before being condescending.

Gold yes, mats no, you find plenty.

this right here is what i was looking for.

Great advice. Thank you

2 Likes
16

Depending how quickly you level up, even mats can be.

This was performed on live (not the PTR).

Full 1-18 in HC, and getting a Flawless Diamond via Boss Bounties.
No use of the vendor, and didn’t salvage anything.

Materials at the end when salvaging:

x8 Reusable Parts (12 Reusable Parts Short)
x6 Arcane Dust (9 Arcane Dust Short)
x5 Veiled Crystals

The Reusable Parts is easy enough to get, worst case. Start another character, and salvage Follower gear.

And yes, I didn’t open up every chest, so I could have gotten more. So I did rerun a couple more times, going out of my way to open every chest, and it is possible to unlock the second node, but I would still be short materials to craft anything at all. And remember, double massacre bonuses would make my 1-18 even faster, which means less gold and fewer materials.

17

you went for extra efficient leveling imo, i’ll just look for a cursed chest bounty and go for the cube and with the extra loot from one or two boss bounties could probably be enough.
Should be easier to keep massacre bonus going with double duration

18

Played this to level a DH. I stated a WD, set to master, and cleared to cube. Did this a couple times, its 17-22 in 1 run. 1 bounty for gems, then switch to DH, craft lvl70 gear and your good. Master WD is chill compared to Hard DH for me, as to why I did WD. I dont know why people keep asking for WD buffs, its the perfect class to powerlevel the real classes with!

I play tested this part. I did Act 1, since RORG drops at low level, and I think I was level 36 by the end of ACT1, and on T6 its 100% legendary drop from the cache. I got the Mace, which is actually what normally happens! I think Ill massacre level, but figured Id point this out.

Edit: If I was too level this way, prob ACT 1 and 3 for chance at both rings.

19

I never start a season with a cache. Sometimes I level in a public group, but mainly level with a clanmate or solo. If I level solo, I start with bounties. Sometimes I do two runs, most the time I do just one. Then I mix it up with killing randoms in high populated areas for the kill bonuses and regular rifts. Soon enough I’ll get to 70.

As a fresh 70, if I am playing solo, I do a round of bounties for the mats and plans. I usually bump into a goblin here and there, so that helps. I make as many legendary items as I can, making sure I don’t have a set bonus, then I do my very first greater rift. It always drops a LoD. I level my LoD to 25 and start on the journey.

Sometimes I get my Gem of Ease to 25 before starting my Journey for the fast experience points, but I generally don’t do that until I am ready to set up a second character for fast solo leveling.

After I get my free set, then I grind away till my fingers are worn to nubs and my eyes bleed and brain oozes out of my head, you know the typical D3 grind because it’s FUN!

I may do a cache later on in the season because it’s something else to do and because the free mats are just too dang good to pass up. Plus, further down the line I have both SC and HC going, so I have a good idea of which one will get the free stuff.

20

I think that on 18 lvl without opening CR cache you won’t have enough matts and gold to upgrade the blacksmith and make equip. So i’ll take the infinity pools second and last node before 70.