Eric The Red's 0 Death Xmax Challenge (redux) - paste progress here

[gasconron]

Eric The Red's "0 Death" -Xmax Challenge (Redux)

Many people have been speculating about the sudden and prolonged inactivity of Eric in updating his thread. So I thought it would be beneficial for all the people who were working w/ the the challenge, or interested in joining the challenge, if I created a thread that would continue the progress of the thread. I do know the people previously engaged with the challenge were starting to lose interest because their effort weren't being credited in the leaderboards. Also I know that some people who are disillusioned by the difficulty/slow progress of Uber hardcore wanna go back to the xmax challenge.

I am not going to revise any of the rules Eric setup for the original challenge, as this is his original work... However, I am going to be more stricter than he was in checking the progress of contenders before updating the leaderboards. I will require screenshots, but videos are very welcome, as it will help new players tackle the challenge better as they can adapt your strategies visually.

The Rules (taken from the old thread)

1. Absolutely no USE defiler to TAMPER any of your character's attributes/data

2. The only mods allowed are the ff: xmax, allskins, show all/pet damage, skip Zeus convo, freeze time of day, stacking potions, show item affixes, etc; - - "remove broken items/whites" will be allowed.
CAUTION: You will notice an improved quality in your drops. However, be warned that this makes the challenge harder, because regular mobs are better equipped. Monsters will get less damage from your attacks and you risk your hardcore toon by exposing them to potentially bigger damage.

(and all other mods that do not give players an illegitimate advantage over others)
i.e. Unlimited Life, Unlimited Energy, No Skill Cooldowns, Money Never Goes Down, Chest Drops Increase, Unique Multipliers

3. Absolutely no socketing of Blue & Purple items

4. I am aware that there are certain mods that increase the chances of getting MI's. That is why I will put faith on your integrity with the MI's you use and how you got them, but know that if you cheat, the only one you are fooling is yourself.
e.g. Act 4 MI's that contain Vanilla TQ affixes, Usage of ShopMI or Itemus maps

5. Usage of bugged items is disallowed: In the words or Eric_the_Red: "If the item is doing anything else other than what its stats tell you, then it is bugged."
e.g. Homados. EDIT: I think this was fixed in the latest 1.17 patch; 2nd EDIT: Captain's Signet was permitted due to the fact of it being essential in building some hybrid builds in its early stages. However, players are expected not to abuse the 2x Captain Signet = 0 STR req for shields bug...

6. You must play the challenge 100% xMax, except bugged quests. No x2, x3, x6, x12, x18, m4ssboss mods. JUST xMax. Since this is the "0 Death" xMax Challenge...

7. Yes... 150,000 kills is required, unless you are using a petbuild (traps do count as pets) which still requires you to do 75,000 kills
EDIT: Due to the controversy of the 75,000 kill requirement for petbuilds, I am compromising and agreeing to change the requirement to 50,000 by Epic. This is due to the fact that, it is simply ludicrous to expect a hardcore petmancer to kill by itself in Legendary. However, 25,000 kills per difficulty is VERY, VERY attainable, and I expect that there should be no more complaints about this.
*Note that this only applies to PURE petmancers/trappers. Hybrids that can kill on their own and use pets for support and buffs, are not affected by this change. they will need to kill 150,000.
Farming plays a big role in this challenge as it will benefit you in the long run (overleveled, probability of getting better equipment for your entry or for your other chars, helping you achieve that 150,000 kill count req that everyone is complaining about)

Here are some quotes, from the old thread... Some directly to me, as I was one of those with low kill counts...

Originally Posted by Persona

So far, on my two characters who have finished normal on xmax, both had a kill count of 75,000-85,000 between the levels of 50-52. You can see how this reflects badly on you, especially since your Rayearth is the self-same class as my Kaori, a Conqueror. I will grant you that I farmed my own equipment, not twink the hell out of my characters.

* Sorry, I just had to say this: "I would agree with him 100% on what he said the first few parts... but no one tells me what I can or cannot do with items, I originally got from the game fairly. Collecting good Legendaries and uber MI's are time consuming as it is. I won't have some Jolly-Whack reprimand me for using them.

Originally Posted by TimelordDC

The point isn't that you cannot do boss runs to level up - the point is, you should be covering every area of the game and kill all monsters in Xmax. IMO, boss runs are more easy in Xmax than mobs as you have more chances of being killed by mobs. So, a kill count of 36k in Epic Helos is way off the mark - either you aren't using Xmax (which I don't believe is the case) or you are skipping areas (which doesn't go with the theme of the challenge)

Of course, its up to Eric the Red to decide whether its ok or not but personally, thats just working around the rules of the challenge.

Originally Posted by nzone

@gasconron: It doesn't matter how you play it as long as you meet all the criteria of the challenge and you have fun, all is good. I hope you will meet the kill count requirement. You're in Epic now, I think you cannot go back to Normal to amass the kill count -- you can go forward, but you can't come backward.

You don't have to farm boss to level up quickly; scouring every area of the map will yield you around 48-50 level by the time Normal is completed and a little more if you farm for items.
I'm just in Normal (ACT 2, Thebes), I have already gotten approximately 35,000 kill counts and level 31.

So... there guys, you've heard it from the veterans/challenge finishers, etc; KILL COUNT, KILL COUNT, KILL COUNT!!!

TWINKING ETHICS:

1. TQ vault is allowed ONLY for those attempting the twinked challenge

2. If you are twinking, you MAY use TQ vault to change the completion bonuses of your Artifacts/Relics/Charms

3. you MAY turn on, no artifact ingredients options using Defiler

4. You may use a vaulted Overlord... (although getting an Overlord from Hades doesn't exactly take that long in xMax)

5. If you have multiple entrees/participants in the challenge, and you want to equip them with the same gear. It is permissable (but not advisable) to use TQ vault to duplicate the item to avoid the hassle of switching the gear from 1 char to another every single time. *This is specially true, when you get a "own a godly 2-affix MI" that is very hard to spawn, which you wanna abuse and share to other toons.

Progress Posting Format

Also, when posting your progress this will be the required format:
"character name" ("class") "level" - "current outpost/area"
Persephone (Harbringer) 63 - Legendary Rhakotis

This will help the Leaderboard updater (me) to be more efficient, so I can just copy and paste from your post, right into the leaderboards. Remember that the only people who will be posted in the leaderboards are those who have finished the challenge in Normal. There are 2 categories available: 1 leaderboard for people who twink (like me), The Immortals, and another 1 for those doing the challenge untwinked and WITHOUT pots, The Legends. Remember that you will need defiler screenshots to prove that you have not used any pots for the challenge before I update.

Screenshot and/or Videos: I won't require them as much in Normal (except for those in Untwinked+No Pots Challenge) as it is fairly easy to go through the game twinked in Normal, although a little bit of screens once in a while would be nice to update us of your progress. However, once you hit Epic & Legendary PLEASE provide screens and/or vids of every bossfight you do.

All of those who are in the Untwinked+No pots challenge, I would ask you that EVERYTIME you update your progress, please include a screenshot of the "Misc" tab of your character using Defiler. As of now, this is the only way to verify if the character has taken health and/or mana potions.

*Optional* - you can color coordinate your progress (in case you have multiple entries to the challenge) to differentiate the difficulty your character is currently in.
e.g.
Lajoya (Ele) 63 - Legendary Warcamp
Hagerdin (Ran) 50 - Epic Helos
Verenz - (DK) 19 - Normal Delphi


THE IMMORTALS (Completed Challenge)
~untwinked~ = players who played the challenge untwinked

1. Gasconron - (Lajoya) Level 69 Elementalist [212,197], (Rayearth) Level 67 Conqueror [150037], (Miyake) Level 65 Soothsayer [76,319], (Natsu) Level 66 Evoker [150003], (Fylio) Level 66 Diviner [150000]
2. Persona: (Kaori) Conqueror, Level 69. Kill Count [206138] ~UNTWINKED!!!~ * crazy ridiculous, Time Elapsed:
3. MagicMissile - (Sarv) Ranger, Level 68. Kill Count [160322] * crazy ridiculous, Time Elapsed:
4. CAP007 - (Exceter) Templar, Level 67. [169,649]
5. Zerit: (Sayonara) Champion, Level 65. Kill Count [150001]
6. Runefang - (Aara) Champion, Level 64. Kill Count [50,238]
7.
8.
9.
10.

Honorable Mentions:
* 0 death Normal to Legendary, All Bosses Killed, Kill Count requirement not attained

1. yerkyerk: (Yerk Krey) Soothsayer, Level 65. Kill Count [30,607] - - - negative 20,393 kills
2. ****ationed: (Artemis) Haruspex, Level 66 [113,473] - - - negative 36,527 kills
3. Poinas: (Bartholomew) Guardian, Level 62 [72925] - - - negative 77,075 kills


Hero Graveyard
* players who have advanced significantlly far in the challenge (epic or beyond), but unfortunately met their demise... (screens of your char dying would be nice...)

1. Eric_The_Red - (Captain America) 69 Conqueror, Legendary Hades Throne Room
*could not withstand xmax Hades' Vit damage in the final fight...
2. Nzone - (Sophia) 60 Juggernaut, Epic Hades Throne Room
* felt that he had to be a hero, he stopped cheesing Hades and rushed in...
3. Steek - (Raziak) 55 Bonecharmer, Epic Mino Lord Room
*got "god-smacked" by the rampaging Mino Lords.
4. Kir4 - 3 characters; lost all at the same time when he updated Vista >> Win7
a. (kir4) 67 Dreamkiller - Legendary Tower of Judgement
b. (kir4) 49 Conjurer - Epic Helos
c. (kir4) 49 Avenger - Epic Helos

5. Gasconron - 7 characters... and counting
a (Hagerdin/Ashtrix/Fylio) Ranger, Brigand & Diviner entries all died (some multiple times) at Epic at some point, but was scrapped and restarted...
b. (Theadora) 59 Druid, Legendary Megara
* ninja'd by Toxeus the Murderer
c. (Yunah) 61 Thane, Legendary Labyrinth @ Talos
* this is the Talos fight video
d. (Verenz) 66 Dreamkiller, Legendary Hades' Throne
* got smacked by Hades, after mistaking Life Leech resists as my Vita resists
e. (Hagerdin) 61 Ranger, Legendary Old Elysius
* 1-shotted myself when the Warrior Prince turned on Rally w/ Defiance


LEGENDS LEADERBOARD (UNTWINKED & NO POTS)

1. Sjeng - (Freya) 45 Soothsayer - Epic Helos
2. Enki - (no name) 24 Ranger - Normal Giza
3.


IMMORTALS LEADERBOARD (TWINKED & UNTWINKED w/ POTS)

1. Gasconron - (Ashtrix) 70 Brigand - Legendary Soronis, (Gracehym) 60 Assassin - Legendary Helos, (Verenz) 59 Dreamkiller - Legendary Helos, (Hagerdin) 60 Ranger - Legendary Helos
2. Steek - (Raziak) 64 Bonecharmer - Legendary Helos
3. Sjeng88 - (Vulcanica) 46 Conjurer - Epic Helos
4. Xinox - (Xinox) 48 Haruspex - Epic Helos
5. Gasconron - (Jin) 48 Ritualist - Epic Helos
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Active Participant of the xMax Challenge (post me a message in the thread if interested)
- gasconron; active entries - 5
- Sjeng; inactive entries - 2 (twinked), 1 (untwinked + no-pots)
- Xinox; active entries - 1
- Brother Ratcliff - 1
- Assylum101; active entries - 1
- Misterkill; active entries - 1
- Steek; active entries - 2
- Mr. Susan - active entries - 1
- iwanthidra; active entries - 1
- Elliot 009; active entries - 1

[Kir4]

Alright, I'm in. Shall I post screenies/ vids when finishing normal or asap?

Kir4 - (Kir4) Dreamkiller, Level 13, Megara Bluff

He's not (yet) twinked, but zero pots is not an option anymore. :/

[Lepruk86]

oh lol I just post one of these too

Use this one unless you really cant be bothered to update? Also I'd say wipe original leaderboards? (cept maybe The Immortals) so new players can start fresh and feel like they have a shot.

[Kir4]

Clearing the leaderboard is good idea to motivate people. maybe put a link to the round one leaderboard in the OP? That should be enough to frighten newbies.

[Lepruk86]

Yeah also can you add *live off the land* (just look at the thread I made to get an idea)...

as thats how I am playing xD

[gasconron]

@Kir4 - post screenies at your own volition... but I will require at least 1 each per act boss of normal. Videos are OPTIONAL... but if you would like to, do so when you do Boss Fights for Epic or Legendary...

Also, I would like to protect the integrity of this thread. and seeing as I have a lot of entries to the challenge. I will post my progress in the thread but I won't post my characters in the leaderboards unless they are in Legendary w/ 0 deaths, as supposed to the Epic hardcore req. I will do this to prevent my chars from potentially clogging the leaderboards. As to some of you who are wondering "why are you attempting this challenge with so many characters?" Well I set it as a personal challenge to myself to complete or at least attempt to do so with as many chars with various gameplay styles as possible.

Also I would like to request from people who are currently listed in the Twinked Leaderboards to inform me if they are going to continue with the challenge or drop it. I will give you guys 2 weeks to verify if you are still going to continue on with the challenge or not. If I do not receive a reply, I will wipe of your name from the leaderboards temporarily (to prevent it from clogging). Should you wish to continue, post me a message in this thread so I can retrieve your date from Eric's original thread.

[gasconron]

Here are some of my own progress, and a description of what their gameplay is like to those new to the thread:

Lajoya (Ele) 63 - Legendary Warcamp - - - fast recharge nuker
- Leg Nessus: http://www.xfire.com/video/cf0f8/
- Leg Polyphemus: http://www.xfire.com/video/cf0f9/
- Leg Arachne: http://www.xfire.com/video/cf0fd/
- Leg Gorgons: http://www.xfire.com/video/cf0fe/
- Leg Hydra: http://www.xfire.com/video/cf104/

Hagerdin (Ran) 51 - Epic Helos - - - typical ranged char w/ pets
Fylio (Div) 50 - Epic Helos - - - High Int (doesn't follow Poinas's Pwning w/ Spi Guide setup)
Ashtrix - (Brig) 51 - Epic Helos - - - 80+/100 CtaP Bow + Spear Hybrid

Natsu (Evo) 37 -Normal Chang An - - - Auradin
Verenz - (DK) 24 - Normal Parnassus - - - DOT/Degen Dreamkiller
Miyake (Sooth) 18 -Normal Delphi - - - Petmancer obviously

Most of you guys who remember me from Eric's original thread know that the videos/screenshots of my progress are still in there. So you can refer to them if you please. I also erased my Thane, Assassin and Champion who were still at low normal, since I have been neglecting my other competitors who are already far into the challenge. I may restart them as soon as my chars on top either complete or go bust.

[Kir4]

Sounds good to me, gascoron.

Kir4, the awesome dreamkiller. will do this with 0 problems.

[Runefang]

Aara (Champion) 37 - Normal - pure pet based, fully twinked with the best possible pet gear

No screenies or anything atm, you'll just have to take my word for it. Might actually try making a vid of taking on the Grey Sister.

[gasconron]

@ Runefang: I'm assuming you scrapped your char that is currently in the leaderboards atm? You want me to wipe the name of the list? - - Enoch (Haruspex) 48 - Epic Parnassus