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Yes it does. And you don't need to necessarily do Act 1. Act 3 & 5 though, I would hold off on, as they tend to be time intensive, best left to having some move speed.

So, if SSF without Cache, the only classes I would start immediately as that class would be Witch Doctor and Wizard. Every other class, I'd level to 70 as a Necro, and unlock the first 4 chapters to get Haedrig's Gift, and then level up with your real character wearing Haedrig's Gift. Last season, did that as a SSF No Cache HC Demon Hunter, and was rank #8 on Lioneart (clearing a GR75): eu.diablo3.blizzard.com/en-us/rankings/season/31/74987252048933

The crypts are honestly not that big of a deal, and worst case scenario, only add about 30 seconds. Try using PokeyToe's Map Guide: docs.google.com/document/d/1OYseWy9qocOxNDNhn25318ulqML7o82PtFU5JdNoebg/edit?pli=1#heading=h.4fv9e0ka8ly4 This way, you can know if you're in the correct crypt roughly a few seconds in, as the first corner you reach (which is always a few feet in) will alert you if you're in the wrong one.

Are you playing in a group, or solo? For group play, you need to make sure you place 1st in points.

I play solo on 360 version And i got an update I did 11 runs as Soma, with 51 luck and got 1 valmanway, 2 Astarte souls and the Miser ring left. Im in awe with my results.

Pharaoh's curse

For the overall season, I'd probably look to other people. I'm not really the best person to answer that question.

Good luck with those.

The first question I have is, are you playing on the Console or PC? There are different strategies to each for quick leveling.

@@divegabe If using the Cache, gamble Grasps of Essence (gloves) with your Level 1 Necromancer. The first thing you do is head to the magic rock (Level 5 dungeon in The Darkening of Tristram) to get diamonds. You have an 83% chance to get 2+ diamonds in one attempt, 98.9% to get 2+ diamonds in 2 attempts, and a 99.9% chance of worst case scenario of being able to convert gems to diamonds. Craft a Level 70 Two Handed Scythe. Grab the cube now on T6 Difficulty. Then, finish crafting all Level 70 gear, with the Sage's Helm, Boots, Belt, and Gloves. Upgrade the Two Handed Scythe. You will need to convert some mats over. At this point, just keep killing stuff on T6. Once it starts to get too touch, switch over to running Cursed Chests.

@@divegabe That's because of the PTR. Previous seasons, I'm slightly under an hour. But the altar will make that much faster from now on.

This isn't about the Soul Stone drop rate. This is about the materials, and how, even if the diamond drops, you're not going to be close to running Level 70 gear.

@@Nytegard you’re supposed to do act 2 bounty on T1 1st but it doesn’t hurt to try getting a few soul shards I mean you’ll still have to kill him at level 18 to try and get the diamonds anyways.

@@Nytegard I just did some testing. The Diamond needed for the level two augment from the Alter, just need to be level 18. Boss bounties such as Zultan, Maghda, Ghom and Azmodan are the fastest to get to. I also did two practice runs at the Darkening Of Tristram. One run I got at least two of all Gems at lvl 15ish and the other run I got two of all gems except for only 1 Diamond that time. I know two runs is terrible and most likely insufficient data to go by, I think I'd rather do boss bounties at level 18 and hopefully get lucky and finding a Shard while farming for the Diamonds needed for the Alter. To play devils advocate. Let's assume the Darkening Of Tristram event is the most reliable way to get Diamonds for the Alter. Now we ask ourselves how many quick boss bounties could we have done in that time?

@@crazyoliver7877 The magic rock will drop 15 gems. You have roughly an 83% chance of getting 2 diamonds. And I'd agree, hitting 18 and fighting the boss bounties will most likely be the fastest way, as you'll still need Soul Shards to salvage into gems. It takes no time at all to get to 18 with double massacre bonuses. So, you get your 2 diamonds from the boss bounty, and still a few Soul Shards short up upgrading the blacksmith. What you can do though, is transfer over your gear to a Level 1 character, and kill Zoltun Kulle on T6 difficulty to get a significantly increased rate of Soul Shards.

This is mainly a response to another person elsewhere asking why not just to start off rushing soul shards. Most of my videos are targeted responses to threads with videos of why I take the approach I do.

Its 87%, not guaranteed

Go to 14:40. They can drop in Visions at any level, although the rate is much lower than live.

I'd craft the highest level weapon I could craft, start on T6, start a bounty, and just lower it down as necessary. (If HC, just start on T1). You should be able to at least end on T1 when you complete the bounty. Most likely I'd search for an Act 4 without a boss, so that I wouldn't get slowed down.

@Nytegard Thanks for the tip! I am tempted to pray to rng gods and try high roll a diamond from repeated kulle/maghda bounties in normal from level 1, unlock second altar node, craft highest possible weapon. Then go get cube and pray for a vision proc. Not going to be competing for any records but i still find optimising the levelling fun.

New random rifts=vision of enmity?

@@rauharikas6905 yes ty

Go for it. Saving your cache, you're probably looking at 75-90 minutes. Sure, you're not going to compete with people using their cache, as we should see half an hour broken this season, but 90 minutes isn't slow by any means. As far as boss bounties, the Magic Rock will be the fastest consistent way to get diamonds. You have an 83% chance of getting 2 diamonds. It's 6-7 minutes per run typically, as I put up one of my slowest runs. Plus, you have The Butcher, and can also backtrack to The Skeleton King to have 2 chances at Soul Shards. Whereas if you focus on spamming Zoltun Kulle, you're talking 14 minutes on average to get a diamond (sans 18). But my best advice here would be to just start leveling as you normally do. Because in the end, you'll still need mats to unlock the second node. It really doesn't matter if you get the diamond, yet still need 15 blues and 20 whites to actually unlock the node. Depending on how quickly you can get the mats, you might actually be Level 18, at which point, bosses make more sense, as you'll still have to face them to get the Soul Shards to salvage into gems to sell.

@@Nytegard love it dude. And ty. I'm pretty certain I'm saving cache. But also with the nerfs to the altar not sure if having it fully unlocked provides that big of a boost vs only having the 13 or 14 unlocked due to using cache. And really yea if I'd really feel up to farming staff of herding , getting lucky with ancient puzzle and hellfire ammy opening weekend.

@@superchuck6391 Not really any luck involved with puzzle ring and hellfire amu. Amu u can just craft a bunch and you're done, puzzle ring you will likely have to reforge but with the visions the only thing slowing you down is some souls.

​@@Nytegard Interesting. I thought it was 10 levels. I'll test it tomorrow probably.

They ended up getting a Cursed Chest bounty. You really only need a 200 massacre streak to go from 11-18, which can be hard depending on the bounty. Cursed chests, Halls of Agony 3, Fields of Misery, Temple of the Firstborn, grabbing the cube (Elder Sanctum), Ruins of Corvus can all get you there within a couple minutes. If you're going after the 18 approach, for instance, I was one level short of 18, you can get your final levels there. Otherwise, just run the Darkening of Tristram, get to floor 5, and open a magic rock. This is from Season 29, using a similar approach (I'm just grabbing the cube). czcams.com/video/WXP9GvhbW3M/video.html

​@@Nytegard Ran through to it with a DH. Yes, it does drop a lot of gems... Wonder about how much time would it take to get there...

@@alexanderlishnev6471 It can range between 5-8 minutes. Useful if you're using your cache. But not going to be nearly as efficient if not. Remember, you're not going to have any materials if you save your cache, so unlocking the second node is still a bit off, along with the gold needed to upgrade the blacksmith. If you're in a group with everyone saving their cache, I'd probably skip the Magic Rock approach. (I'm just uploading a video with an overall bad luck run, which should appear on my channel in a few minutes).

@@Nytegard My group is going to use the cache. So... I'm looking for ways to speed up getting that diamond...

@@Nytegard Ah! You did a "Magic Rocks" video. Nice! Watching... )

Added the final build in the description, which you'll reach by Level 41, which won't be a problem with the altar next season. Included is a link to the original strategy, though it's in Korean. I made some small tweaks for a little extra efficiency, but nothing too shocking.

With or without a cache? Because without a Challenge Cache, you'll still need to run a Vision for the Death's Breath and materials to actually do the crafting, and that was a large percentage of my run. If a cacheless run, would you happen to have a video? Always willing to see different approaches.

@@Nytegard without cache. Yes got a DB from a Vision. If you do Kulle and sell gems maybe 5-6 times, you can lvl blacksmith to 10 and craft a weapon that smashes the early lvls until DB drop. I also skipped out on finding cube, since i won’t use it until after lvling

Sadly no video, if the ptr was up I could show it

@@WaveDashDK did you also get enough mats from the ZK runs for the altar/crafting or did you go farm them elsewhere?

@@domperry4175 got the last mats from vision of enmity where i also got the deaths breath needed. so a little lucky