I got really bored with Siegebreaker runs so I thought I would try something new. I starting to do runs where you start in part 7 section two of Act 3. You start there and head down to Cydaea which is two zones later. Most of the time you will have to also get one or two more stacks anywhere else and then kill Cydaea. After Cydaea is a really short zone with 2-3 elite packs and then Azmodan.
Why is this run better than Siegebreaker?
- With Siegebreaker runs I averaged 5-6 rares per run. With Cydaea/Azmodan I average 10 (120 mf pre NV 5 stack, 210ish after). They both take me approximately the same amount of time. This is because you get twice the guaranteed rares because you're killing two bosses instead of one.
- The mob types are a hell of a lot easier than Winged Molok's and plague hands (unless you're terrible against phase beasts). I have not run into a single Lasher.
- I average two treasure goblins a run. I've had as much as four. They are easily cornered treasure goblins as well.
- It's significantly less boring. The joy of treasure goblins, the easier time on elite packs and having exciting bosses rather than one really easy one makes it much more enjoyable.
- Over three days of farming this the items have been of much better quality (could be biased opinion based on luck). I've found a 1.2k damage bow, 1k damage one hand with socket and tons of 800-900 damage weapons. In three days I've gotten well over 30 million gold worth of equipment.
- Tyrael is nerfed now and much less of an assist.
- The long part of farming is getting the five stacks. It's much more satisfying to get two sets of guaranteed rares for every five than one.
- At the start of the run, check in the zone behind you really quick. There is a treasure goblin chance in the end of the previous zone.
- I've only had phase beast elites appear in the zone between Azmodan and Cydaea. If you have trouble with them, you can lure them right onto the zone out to Cydaea and die. Then move back, tp and use the waypoint to skip them.
Overall I've had much more success with this run than I ever did with Siegebreaker. I encourage you to try it out yourself. The extra treasure goblins alone should probably encourage you to switch in and of itself.
Some quick boss tips:
Cydaea:
The only deadly thing she has is standing in the poison pools where spiders spawn from. Other than that you have to get really unlucky to die from hits from range. Do not know about melee's. I suggest hitting from behind her as much as possible.
Azmodan:
His pattern is fireball, fireball, minion spawner, zombie circle, hell pools, fireballs until hell pools are done (six castings) interspersed with zombie circles, minion spawner, repeat unless he's at half or less then there is an eyebeam attack.
The most dangerous part by far is the hell pools. They always spawn in an orderly fashion with a timer based on the sounds. Right after quiet, a new one spawns. The first three spawn against the edge and you should be attacking Azzy as much as possible here. Pools 4-6 will spawn right next to or right under you. You should be running the entire time in this part. You can time the pools perfectly so get ready to pop your defense abilities before the pool appears at your feet.
An Extra Tip:
In the towers of Act 3 there are areas where you're on a walkway a floor above another walkway looking over it. There is often an elite pack on the platform below (that just seems to happen to me for some reason)
You then have free reign to just shoot down
If there isn't an elite pack, you can sacrifice an ally to lure a pack to the bottom ledge, then have that player die or somehow slip out and leave the champions sitting there, and elites will hang out as you kill them with arrows. Since they can't attack you, you can just max out magic find and damage (to make them die quicker if you are impatient).
Only teleporter and mortars can affect you conceivably. Maybe vortex?. There's often at least 2 champion packs on a map like this you can lure to these ledges. I'm not sure if Phasebeasts can phase upwards but even if so they'd do it one at a time. Tip submitted by stuff.
Here is a pic of the first time I found this in Hell:
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| Click the Above Image for the Full Size |
