The secret to getting ethereals and primals

The thing is, even 3 minutes is too long, unless you’re going for XP/hour.

GR90s give 10 legendaries. GR70s give 8 legendaries. If you do 3 minute GR90s, you’re only getting ~200 legendaries/hour. But by doing 2 minute GR70s, you’re getting 240 legendaries/hour.

And when running GRs, run them back to back to back. Finish a GR, start the next one immediately. Don’t assign paragon, don’t identify. Just the next GR. You’d be surprised at exactly how much time is wasted in town when you take time to do stuff. It’s only a minute here, two minutes there, but it adds up.

It’s similar to the Sprinter conquest, and why I dislike having a townie. People think it helps to have one in that conquest, but unless the person knows exactly what they’re doing (and typically the people volunteering to be a townie don’t), it actually hurts over just having runners. All those seconds you spend running to an NPC can add up to 10 minutes for a campaign run that needs to be completed in under an hour.

The same thing applies when speed running GRs. Your 15 hours to complete the journey or Ethereals is probably 3 hours minimum of wasted time from those minutes which added up.

LOL you assume I can do anything in 2 minutes. My ex might say otherwise, but I ain’t no two minute man.

I do agree with your point though, but truly I think my very best GR run ever was lie a 2:15.

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GR90s give 12 legendaries. This is the maximum number of legendaries possible from a GR guardian. It’s why GR90 speeds are recommended if what you’re after is drops. Running GRs higher than that will absolutely get you more XP per run, but never more drops per run. So, you only go above GR90 if you can run the higher GRs in the same time as the GR90s.

  • An hour of 2 minute GR70s, at 8 legendaries per run, gets you 30 * 8 = 240 legendaries
  • An hour of 3 minute GR90s, at 12 legendaries per run, gets you 20 * 12 = 240 legendaries

So, the same amount of legendaries, but way more XP / paragon, by doing the GR90s.
Of course, if you can run the GR90s in 2 minutes each, that turns into…

  • An hour of 2 minute GR90s, at 12 legendaries per run, gets you 30 * 12 = 360 legendaries
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I highly agree with OP

on my monk I can clear 100’s in under 3 minutes, sometimes less depending on the maps. This for me has been, BY FAR, the most efficient way I’ve experience.

I’m getting about 5 ethreals every hour…maybe more maybe less but i’d estimate that is the average

Not sure whether this applies here—so apology if I’m in the wrong section

You said -----The secret is real simple, this game rewards speed. ---------As simple as it sounds, I do not fully comprehend this. Am I to understand that it is only by speeding through a Greater Rift one is able to upgrade their gear? What if, in the first place, the gear isn’t up to scratch, how does one upgrade it? In my case I am playing GR at Level 25, Torment 6. I’ve slowly build up to play at Torment 14. Countless gems are at level 25. Gems in my armour are at their highest level. I’m unable to upgrade/improve through Skill of Nilfur. Same applies with Haedrig Eamon is no help at all, Kanai Cube is nearly complete. I have heaps of pants and belts and boots yet in approximately 100GR games I have been unable to find a ‘green’ helmet or upgrade my sword and shield. I have 6 incomplete sets and whatever I do I’m just not moving ahead.

I do not wish to start from the very beginning and ‘take shortcuts’, I wish to continue as I’m slowly improving along the way.

No matter how I manipulate the levels I still can’t find any way to upgraded weapons. I’m able to finish a GR in between 6 – 9 minutes. If as you stated this game rewards speed, I can’t see how I could possible improve with what I’ve got.

Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls is perhaps one of the best games I’ve ever played but regrettably it is coming to a point of giving this game away; basically I simply can’t move ahead, I’m fighting a rear guard action because my weapons are simply not strong enough to continue. I will once again ask for help/advice. I’d love to know how to move forward again.

For anyone who wants to look at my gear I’m in the Asia market playing as a crusader.

The whole point in order to get the most legendaries per hour you have to run the highest level content you can handle in under 3 minutes. Just follow the build guides on maxroll, don’t know if icy veins is still any good or not. It explains everything. Now if you are wanting to play Rend Whirlwind Barb then check out the guide that I will post below.

I know it is not updated to season 24. But you can ask a few questions in the guide. The reason why I suggest it is because there are things that the maxroll version of rend whirlwind that it gets wrong and Free’s guide is better.

The other max roll guides are good at showing you the speedy versions of the build that you want to play. Now if you are not in seasons then you will have to use different weapons than ethereals since ethereals are season 24 only.

Now if you are teaming with others then that will help boost you to higher levels faster than solo. I always play seasons solo. I just love going alone.

Besides I don’t think that I could find the right group of players that would be willing to play with me due to my schedule changing a lot.

Maxing out your legendaries per hour through drops is the secret to getting not only ethereals (season 24 only) and primals. But also getting really good gear as well. Although you will want to stay doing GR90 speeds because you will no doubt be able to clear them super fast which will translate to more legendaries per hour.

If you can clear higher than GR90 speed then you only go above GR90 speed if you need more paragon levels. Again it is only if you can clear that in less than 3 minutes.

The guides on maxroll also do a good job as far as gearing up your follower in order for your follow to be the most help. Although I personally will not be able to fully use it and won’t worry becuase the chest piece is the only thing that I won’t be able to get that easily since I didn’t rebirth a Wizard. Instead I rebirthed the witch doctor instead.

All sets can easily clear GR90 in less than 3 minutes as long as you have all of the support items for your chosen build.

The only way to get the best advice for your Crusader is to post in the Crusader section of the forrums. The players are real helpful to those that want to move forward and get even higher in the GRs or reach any other goal they have in this game.

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If you’ve completed a Torment 14 Nephalem Rift, that means you have immediate access to GR65. The higher the GRs you do, the more loot each Guardian drops (until at GR90 and above you hit the max of 12 items). The higher you go, the more XP you earn, to get paragon points to spend on extra attributes, and you get a lot more bloodshards to spend on gambling for items at Kadala. Also, if you’re missing specific gear pieces, don’t forget that you could craft rare, level 70 (yellow) items of that type at the blacksmith and then use the Cube’s “Upgrade rare to legendary” recipe to turn them into a random legendary of that type. If you have duplicates of a set piece, e.g. you had 2 chests of the same set, you can use the Cube recipe that lets you convert set pieces. You’d put the chest in, and the materials, and the result will be a random piece of the same set. Also, if you have multiples of the same item, you can use the Cube’s “Reforge legendary” recipe on the worst of those items. If the result is better than you have equipped, equip the new one, and the old one becomes what you reforge with next time.

If you’ve completed a Torment 14 Nephalem Rift, that means you have immediate access to GR65-----------the highest I have been able to reach is GR26. As for Kadala, no matter how much I buy NONE are an improvement. Surely by now I’m able to upgrade my shield and yet it isn’t happening.
If the result is better than you have equipped------yep that makes sense but this is the problem, no matter what I do it is just not happening-there is no improvement anywhere. And I’m positive that putting my fist through the monitor wouldn’t help either----It is so frustrating.

like I said in my other thread… 40 GR80+ is all you need…

how fast you can do it is how fast you will get them, but speed is not the essential ingredient. grind is. grind can be slow too! though the slower it is, the more painful it is too…

Lloyd, – My best time in playing a GR was 4 min 30 sec and the slowest was 31 sec before time up. For you guys to race through at 3 min or less you must have some awesome weapons. What are they? I have a Hallowed Breach sword rated at 1882 with a gem stone and a Hallowed Breach shield rated at 22132 block-----and I haven’t been able to upgrade these two for over 100 GR events. This isn’t the first time that I’m stuck but I have been at this game over 15 months and frankly my call for help is becoming tiresome because I just simply feel that I can’t improve anymore. No mate it isn’t a whinge, just a frustration

OK on a different note you said 40 GR80+ is all you need…easy to say but at GR26 I’m taking a beating how can I expect to cut through the enemy and increase to GR80 if by GR26 I’m dying?---------due to poor weapons I’m sure.
Cheers

Search on maxroll.gg for speed builds for your character.

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you can look at my profile! :slight_smile:
anyway if you do the season journey chapter 2,3,4, you will get a fullset!
you can easily go to T10 / GR45 with it!

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Below is a link for the Aegis of Valor Crusader guide from maxroll. You not only need the full set but also the support legendaries in order to not only go higher in the GRs but also go faster in GR90s. It also tells you the followers to use as well as how to gear them up. You also learn about how to spend your paragon points and all of the other good stuff as well. Like I said below is the link.

https://maxroll.gg/guides/aov-heavens-fury-crusader-guide

@FrankCachia I’m no Crusader expert but general advice, I don’t think the problem is your weapon. Weapons do get better, but even the best weapon can’t multiply your damage by thousands, which is what you need for significantly higher GR. Looking at your build, what you’re missing is perhaps not obvious but once you hit level 70 items, the game’s main massive damage multipliers are through specific other gear, not weapons. There are three major kinds of damage multipliers you want:

The first is the Legacy of Dreams (LoD) legendary gem, which is a percent damage multiplier per legendary or set item you have equipped, no matter whether a low level or endgame item, no matter what it is, so long as you have no set bonuses. If you have even one set bonus, the gem will do nothing, so watch out for that. (The Legacy of Nightmares (LoN) set works too but skip it since it requires all Ancient items.) The LoD bonus starts low but gem levels add up quickly. With random legendaries in every slot, roughly every two gem levels will double your damage.

LoD is what you should be running at GR26, on any build, and at higher levels, at least until you have a full class set, and probably until you have a full class set and a decent set of items that match it. So forget sets, run pretty much any legendary or individual set items (which count as legendary to the gem) with this. Just avoid getting a set bonus, as it’s a gem condition that you don’t. LoD with random legendaries can carry you to much higher GRs easily, so long as you keep trying to level the gem whenever you can.

Next are class-specific legendaries which boost specific skills for your class. These are random drops so you’ll find one eventually even at low GR. When using Legacy of Dreams I’d ignore builds completely, if you find a damage boosting item like Darklight (800%-1000% x2 more damage through Fist of the Heavens), I’d use the first one you find and switch to that skill. If you’re lucky you can stack a few of these (which is how the wizard’s Legacy of Dreams Twister build works, several items all boost Energy Twisters, and LoD boosts everything). It doesn’t matter if your build isn’t “official”, it’ll carry you a long way into higher GR.

Finally there are the class sets, where the six piece bonus is a many thousands of percent damage multiplier. Once you’ve a full set and a few particular-skill boosting items which go well with it, you can switch out from Legacy of Dreams to this. Pieces will drop, and Kadala can fill in the blanks if she’s in a good mood. Some sets are much better than others, unfortunately. maxroll.gg can help tell the most effective sets from the least.

maxroll.gg and similar sites have particularly optimized builds for GRs 90 (“speed”) up to 150 (“pushing”), but they don’t really cover the earlier game, and they presume high paragon and a lot of experience with the game. If you happen to be able to assemble something approximating one of their builds sooner, great, but it’s not required to make significant progress from where you are now. Hope that helps.

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Crusader, with no set gear, no abilities selected, no paragon points allocated, GR90 completed, the only actions taken in the GR were to click pylons…

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Thanks mate, you’ve pointed me in the right direction

Thanks for the correction. The point still stands though that if you’re after ethereals, you need to find the right balance of speed and power. Not everyone is after paragon. Some just want to complete the conquest as fast as humanly possible, and yeah, that might mean you end up hundreds of paragon below what you could have had should you have taken an extra 3-4 hours for collecting the ethereals on a higher difficulty.

Aha something new where are or what are pylons—there are so many variables in this game it is downright confusing.
OK This is what my Crusader currently have
Aughlid’s Power Aughlid’s Power Flavor of Time
Shoulder Helm Amulet

Pride of Invoker Torso has Aughlid’s Power
Gloves Emerald and Amethyst Wrist

Ring Captain Crimson Ring
Litany of Undisputed Belt with Topaz and Wailing Host with Boyarsky’s Chip
Topaz Ruby

Primary weapon Captain Crimson Shield
Hallowed Breach Waders + Ruby Hallowed Barricade

  • Topaz

Under Kanai Cube I’ve selected

Mad Monarch Sceptre Belt of the Trove Archstone

All of the above were in columns now they’re all over the place

Diablo III - Game Guide - Pylons