Act 1 General Racing Guide

I have been thinking of making a general racing guide for a while to link to people who ask for racing tips. Since I do not tell people my exact skill build at least I could tell them something. Also.. maybe it will encourage some people who have only been racing to get a few points to actually practice a bit more to earn some demis. Oh yeah... for my credibility that this general style will work. I have won around 50 first places in solo races.


TL:DR guide version.


My general racing guide


********Do not kill small mob packs********

While under quicksilver buff duration DO NOT waste time. Progressing forward is everything and quicksilver helps you progress so much. Good quicksilver usage can easily improve your act 2 timing by minutes. Skipping packs you would normally kill is okay since normally you will be too high for the map you are killing in anyway. If you are overleveled even skipping big packs would not be a bad decision under the flask effect. Sometimes I open chests sometimes I do not while quicksilvered so dunno what to say about that.

Although I mention level goals. Sometimes you will get crazy mob packs and get higher than needed but.. sometimes you get bad maps with no mobs. You do not want to reset an instance to reach the goals. Most of the level goals are higher than needed (except a few). Progression is more important than exp when reaching a map. Oh yeah.. no need to kill uniques they are usually a waste of time. If you have high single target then do it if you want....

The whole goal is to reach act 2 fast. Exp there is crazy compared to act 1 while having easy areas like river crossing / old fields / crossroads / sins 1.

Twilight Strand: Rush to hillock ignoring every monster, kill him, pick up loot.
Lioneye's Watch: Get gem reward, sell loot, check for MS boots, buy coral ring.
Terraces: Rush to mudflats ignoring monsters unless they mob up like crazy.
Mudflats: Try not to kill too much if at all. Lower submerge ASAP is the goal.
Lower Submerged: Get level 2 here if you do not have yet. Level 3 is good also.
Upper Submerged: Get level 3 here if you do not have yet. Ledge ASAP is the goal though. Sometimes in lower/upper you are forced to kill single target blocking you which is okay to not desync.
Ledge: Entering at 4 is normal but 3 is good also. Most skills level at 4 so try to get that before ledge waypoint. Warp to mudflats from ledge waypoint then run to terraces then to tidal. Kill hailrake get quicksilver + gem reward. Buy medium life and be sure to have 2 coral rings. (If you have the skill you could do hailrake right when you get to terraces to get a quicksilver + reward sooner). When you leave ledge you should be 6-7.
Rocky Climb: Rocky climb is pretty dangerous so be careful it is okay to go slower here. Normally you will leave rocky at 7.5ish
Lower Prison: Most skills level at 8 so try to get that in lower before entering upper prison. Entering at 7 is still okay but it is also not bad to kill smaller packs if you are near 8. DO NOT backtrack from upper prison entrance to try to get 8 though.
Upper Prison: Upper can be dangerous/slow with the freezing, shocking, reviving, enfeeble. Still though try not to skip bigger packs but do not waste time / take risks. You should aim to be 9 to 9.5 by brutus. After killing him logout to get to town then buy leather belt, another medium life. Sapphire ring also if its there.....
Prison Gate: Prison gate can actually be pretty decent exp but it is long and hard. It is okay to skip a bit more here if it starts looking like you will easily get 11 inside. You do not want to be killing in prison gate at 11. If you get 11 rush like crazy only killing huge packs. Goal should be to leave at 10.5
Ship Graveyard: This place is very dangerous so it is okay to skip everything and quicksilver only in dangerous spots. If you are confident though killing is also okay especially if you are not 10 yet. If you see waypoint check for sapphire ring.
Coves: When entering coves you want to be 10. Even better would be 10.5 or a bit higher. This place sometimes has huge packs, sometimes packs that take too long, sometimes small etc. It is pretty random but you do not want to waste time. Goal is to be 11.5 when you leave.
Cavern of Wrath: Get gem reward, buy sapphire ring, link gem at level 12. This place is usually easy but some mods on rares/blues can be dangerous. Anyway goal is still act 2 as fast as possible.
Cavern of Anger: Just like wrath aiming for act 2 ASAP. Playing slower is okay here though since it can be very dangerous. Even wearing a fire resis ring is not a bad idea.
Merveil: Make sure you are level 12 by merveil since thats when most skills level and when you can link support. Put on your 2 sapphire rings on make sure your gem is linked to whatever you are killing with if you can. Merveil has high melee damage and ice spears at range so if you are going to be killing with melee then HP I would say is a little more important. If you are ranging then just stay far with your 2 sapphire rings drinking med pots and TPing to town to refill when you need to. Even if you are ranging 24/7 while chilled its okay since there is not much danger. If your hp gets to point where it is a little dangerous then just run around making sure his ES does not go back up. Not sure what to say for the 2nd form.....

I think merveil is one of the main thing new racers have a problem with. When I was new I could not even kill merveil without being overleveled. If that is your problem then get on a higher level char and learn how merveil's attack patterns work. Then get a lvl 1 skill to kill her with a few times. It helped me loads.... Went from not being able to kill at lvl 14 to being able to kill relatively easily at level 12 (without even knowing about leather belt at that time).

When you get to act 2 just progress normally till Chamber of Sins 1 and farm that till the end of the race if its a short one lol. Sins 1 is very easy while being good exp. Way better than what some people are doing to earn points.. like farming ledge or coves forever :/

Some quick tips:
1. Try to keep certain items in the same place so you do not waste time fumbling in inventory screen. Like currency in first 2 colums, items to keep on the right side of your inventory, resis rings on bottom row.
2. Early on picking up stuff to sell when you get to town for gem rewards and stuff can give you some currency that you can always rely on having.
3. Be sure to check for MS boots after killing hillock.
4. If surviving is a problem early on then make a mule char to kill hillock for the gem rewards + 3 id scrolls and whatever hillock drops.
5. Iron Ring + Blue gem sold to a vendor gives you sapphire ring (cold reiss for merveil).

Thank you so much, i am still reading :)

Hey Powster, we talked a bit randomly somewhere 1/2 season one, heard you also did races, been rooting for you since then.
I saw you got a lot better, I am still mediocre haha
Even though I basically do this routine, I should cut corners at my tactics :)


Good luck in future races, btw if you selling the Onyx amu, pls let me know.

Greets,
Starball

free bump for justice

Might also point out how useful it is to have someone else play support for you. They can ID items, farm for currency/gems, tidy up the stash, shop for you... all sorts of regularly time consuming tasks. This is how the really fast teams work.

This walkthrough is awesome and will help a lot of people. I was going without getting the quicksilver flask...
Ill have to try it with the quicksilver a few times and see if that lowers my time to Merveil.

I can't seem to get any higher than 17 in the races. I kill Merveil right around minute 45. I'm usually one of the first to kill Brutus. But I think I lose a lot of time in the caverns... Do I need to just plow through them to get to Act 2 quicker?

"

Shagsbeard wrote:

Might also point out how useful it is to have someone else play support for you. They can ID items, farm for currency/gems, tidy up the stash, shop for you... all sorts of regularly time consuming tasks. This is how the really fast teams work.

"

majesw wrote:

This walkthrough is awesome and will help a lot of people. I was going without getting the quicksilver flask...
Ill have to try it with the quicksilver a few times and see if that lowers my time to Merveil.

I can't seem to get any higher than 17 in the races. I kill Merveil right around minute 45. I'm usually one of the first to kill Brutus. But I think I lose a lot of time in the caverns... Do I need to just plow through them to get to Act 2 quicker?

Are you level 9 when you killing brutus? You want a leather belt for prison gate. If you do not have leather belt for prison gate + 2 coral rings + 2 medium life you are forced to play safer. Caverns can definitely be one of the things slowing you down what I do I can not really say because its risky which is why I did not mention it. The main thing is do not fight small packs in cavern unless you 100% have to. I do not think though that caverns would be your only problem if merveil timing is 45 minutes. I am thinking prison gate like me and possibly coves...

Im usually level 8-9 at Brutus...
I think Prisoners gate is the problem, and youre right a leather belt would probably fix that. I just never seem to have enough wisdom scrolls...

"

majesw wrote:

Im usually level 8-9 at Brutus...
I think Prisoners gate is the problem, and youre right a leather belt would probably fix that. I just never seem to have enough wisdom scrolls...

Leather belt is only 2 wisdom scrolls..... not sure what you are wasting everything on lol. If you are not picking up stuff to sell ever then try doing that. Like.. one handed wands/sceptres/swords/daggers etc take 3 boxes only. 10 of those = 2 id scrolls already.