A Guide to Rushing

A Guide to Rushing

It has come to my attention that on occasion, it becomes very neccessary to try and rush someone through the acts as quickly as possible (in order to loot a fallen hardcore player). It has also come to my attention that on occasion, the people doing the rushing might not have the experience of a professional rusher on the matter... Thus, this guide is for those that need a little more inside information before making a very sad mistake and ending what could have been a rescue prematurely.

In hardcore, you have to be alive in order to allow someone to loot you. If you die, you cannot allow anybody else to loot you. This guide is intended to get a low level person (just questing in a lower act) who has the ability to loot the guy that just died in act 5, to the scene of the disaster as quickly as possible without any undue delays or serious issues concerning quests that were available at the start of the rush but suddenly are not able to be completed because somebody said "oops". Leaving a game resets your loot setting to "not allowed". A hardcore character that is dead cannot create or join any games ever again...

If a character capable of performing the rush is already in the game and has the ability to loot, then this guide can be totally ignored. Just call in some backup help (just in case, as it is always better to be safer in hardcore with extra help on hand), and go deal with it.

If you are playing a low level character and someone dies in a later act, you can easily find help by asking someone in channel. You do this by first finding out who's in channel ("/who Op TheAmazonBasin") and then either picking out someone you know or whispering through the people there until you find someone who's not afk. Also of great use would be your friends list. Use the "/f l" command to list your friends and see who is on that you can whisper to, or if you are in a panic, "/f m <msg>" will spam the <msg> to everybody in your friends list. You should never leave the game to find help! If you have access to the Amazon Basin Teamspeak server, you can find assistance on there as well... and there is also an Amazon Basin IRC channel to use for a help request at irc.gamesurge.net #AmazonBasin. You can also try the #AB-GW channel, as there are many Guildwars players that still have their D2 disks collecting dust (like me).

Although rushing can be done with a few things skipped here or there, and may be much faster that way, especially with certain tricks in softcore, this guide is designed to keep both the rushee and rusher(s) safe while completing all the neccessary quests to get to the scene of the problem as quickly as possible. You should not skip anything that is included in this guide unless you are EXTREMELY familiar with the game and how it works. Keep in mind that someone's gear and multiple players characters are depending on you to know what you are doing, and always play it safe.

Act I: No locking quests.

Proceed straight to Andariel. From the catacombs 2nd floor waypoint, you need to make a right turn to find the stairs down to catacombs 3rd floor. The catacombs 3rd floor is somewhat random, just steer clear of the tainted demons, (the ones that shoot balls of lightning at you) and the really mean bosses. On the 4th floor, clear out the first two rooms. There are no naturally appearing cold immunes on the 4th floor. The rushee can stay in the room with the stairs, with an escape portal handy right next to them. The persons doing the rush may then proceed to kill Andariel .. the rushee does not need to be any closer (simply on the 4th floor counts), as long as they are in the party.

Act II: Two locking quests.

Collect the shaft of the Horadric Staff from the Maggot Lair. There are no fire/cold immunes that naturally appear in maggot lair. Remember to bear right when looking for the stairs down. Also remember that Coldworm is always cold enchanted. Although you do NOT need to kill Coldworm to retrieve the shaft, you most likely cannot pick it up since the area may be flooded with monsters. it is best to ensure that the area around the chest is totally cleared. After you make sure it is clear, WAIT TEN SECONDS TO DOUBLECHECK. The reasoning behind this is in case you missed a maggot egg or a maggot that may have burrowed underground and cannot be seen.]

Collect the amulet from the Claw Viper Temple. The Valley of the Snakes is on a random side of the desert (usually away from the far oasis entry into the lost city). There are no naturally appearing lightning immunes in the claw viper temple. Fangskin is always Lightning Enchanted ... and Lightning Immune. When in the temple, you want to bear left to find the stairs down quickest. Clear the second floor completely, and place your town portal in the center. The rushee can stay in town for the duration of both of these trips. After the completion of the quest, the rushee needs to talk to Cain, Drognan, and Prince Jerhyn. If the rushee forgets to talk to Jerhyn, or simply cannot reach him, then the rushee can still jump directly to arcane sanctuary and complete the summonner quest, but will most likely need a Town Portal to The Harem level 1 later on.

Find the Summonner. There are no naturally appearing lightning immunes in the Arcane Sanctuary (with the exception of lightning spires). The Arcane Sanctuary is totally random ... pick a direction and pray - if he's not there jump back to the middle and go another direction. Once you locate which platform the Summonner is on, you will need the rushee to come to that location. Make sure the portal is not close enough to trigger an attack on someone standing by it. Once the rushee is in the vicinity (within 2 screens or so... his quest button should light up), quickly take down the Summonner first, as he is usually the greatest danger. Clear the rest of the monsters out as quickly as possible. Allow the rushee to read the book and head to the Canyon of the Magi, clicking the waypoint to activate it and return to town immediately (as the waypoint could get rushed by nearby monsters if your mercs wander too far). Make sure the rushee speaks to someone in town, or he/she will not be able to take any Town Portals into the Canyon of the Magi or the Tomb of Tal-Rasha.

After the Arcane Sanctuary, the rushee should have the proper symbol available. If he/she cannot quite figure out what it is, you are able to do so for yourself by examining the 6 symbols floating on the back of the summonner's platform. The symbols in the Canyon of the Magi do not change their order, though the ones displayed in the arcane sanctuary are in random order. The symbols of the tombs are, in order from far left to far right: Circle, Crescent, Square, Star (chinese star), Chevron (arrowhead), Triangle, Gibbous Moon (circle with a crescent under it).

Have the rushing character(s) search the proper tomb (bear left to find the room with the orifice fastest), and clear out that room completely. Once the door to Duriel is opened, you may wish to wait a few seconds for the lag to settle. The first person through that doorway should be one with a sturdy mercinary or minions to take the first charge attack. The rushee may stay in the orifice room till after Duriel is dead (that's right, he doesnt have to see Duriel die at all). After Duriel is dead, he may proceed directly to Tyreal and complete the quest (it will actually tell him that it cannot be completed before he talks to Tyreal, but that is simply a display error).

The rushee then needs to talk to Prince Jerhyn, and then take the boat to Kurast. If the rushee cannot reach Jerhyn, someone in the group will need to put a portal on the Harem level 1 (there are no monsters in the harem level 1) ... the rushee may pop upstairs into town (behind the palace guard) and speak to Jerhyn. A quick trip back down the stairs and out the same portal used will dump him right next to the boat.

Duriel Mules

It is possible in 1.10 to have a throw-away Duriel mule. He would be a 1-shot deal every single time. This is how it would work ....

Player 1 stuck in act 3 (dead) Player 2 stuck in act 2 (loot allowed) Player 3 capable of rushing (no loot allowed) Player 4 (Duriel mule)

Player 1 calls for help, player 2 also calls for help, player 3 joins game, player 2 or player 1 must leave very soon or has a very unstable connect ... player 4 joins with the duriel mule. The Duriel mule has completed all the quests up to putting the staff in the orifice, and has been left in this state up to this point. (Note .. He has the completed staff in his possession, it is NOT already placed in the orifice ... he must do this in the game where the rescue is to take place.)

Player 4 is in party with player 3 and player 2. Player 2 remains in town, player 4 has the correct symbol already, player 3 finds the orifice room, makes a TP for player 4, who then places the completed horadric staff into the orifice .... player 4 must see Duriel die (note this difference right here), player 4 then speaks to Tyreal to complete the quest to kill Duriel, while player 2 gets an instant free ride to act 3.

Please note, this is a one-shot deal, all or nothing. A duriel mule IS possible, but only for a single rush and is then totally useless (unless you bump him up to the next difficulty to do it again and grab hellforge/socket quest on the way).

Act 3: One locking quest.

Travincal High Council... The High Council minions are not naturally cold immune, but each of the High Council bosses are immune to one of the three elements in the higher difficulties, and always take care around fire enchanted bosses. One of the high council is ALWAYS fire enchanted, and the other two could be as well, in nightmare and hell difficulty. This is very dangerous indeed, as an untimely pop could kill everybody in the rushing party. Never under any circumstances should you press your luck by standing next to a fire enchanted boss that is about to die in nightmare/hell. Your goal is to get to the person that is already dead, not make them loot you too. The rushee should stand in the center area away from the fighting, but before he gets there you will need to clear out ALL of the enemy you can see WITHOUT HARMING ANY OF THE HIGH COUNCIL. If any of the High Council bosses die without the rushee there, you may be forced to collect all of the flail parts, which takes a lot of time, and deals with a lot of dolls in the sewers, most likely. The rushee should be there and safe during the death of all three of the High Council bosses. In order to get credit for this quest, the rushee will need to be within 2 screens of the High Council bosses when they die. Immediately upon seeing the quest button light up and noting that "you must speak to Cain" the rushee should leave the area right away (go directly to town via Town Portal). The rushee must speak to cain before they can take a portal into the Durance of Hate. It has been noted that you may be able to cheese your way through the High Council by only seeing the last one die (be within 2 screens), but in the case of a loot rush game, it is far better to be safe than sorry.

Inside the Durance of Hate 2nd floor, you should bear to the left in order to find the stairs down fastest. In order to get credit for Mephisto, I think you are only required to be partied and on the 3rd floor when he dies, thus the rushee need not be in direct danger or line of sight for mephisto. It is safest to clear out all of the High Council and any miscilanious monsters before engaging with Mephisto himself. While doing so, the safest place for the rushee to stand is back in one of the side rooms. As soon as Mephisto falls, the rushee should carefully make his way to the red portal with all speed, while avoiding the lightly glowing spots on the floor (evil spirits will pop up and attempt to hit you as you walk past). You can indeed be slain by "an evil spirit"... and it is a very humiliating way to go. It is safer to set a tp for the rushee on the platform right next to the red portal and have him hop the hoops, rather than having him run there... But do make sure that the rest of the level is totally cleared or the poor rushee might end up with a hot surprise when he pops down for the getaway, and that would be the end of our noble quest...

Act 4: No locking quests.

Proceed directly to Diablo. Rushee can stay in town while the rusher/team takes on the Chaos Sanctuary. Ranged phys damage weapons are best for this area, as are a mix of lightning damage (delivered by lit fury javazon) and cold damage (delivered by frozen orb sorceress). A melee physical damage based character should avoid Chaos Sanctuary at all costs, as a badly timed Iron Maiden cast on your character could be the end of the rush as well as the end of your character. A high physical damage based strafeazon with good crowd control ability should be able to clear Chaos Sanctuary solo with few problems.

Don't forget to make sure that you take care around the hot seals. I have found (and straightened out) a pic showing the orientation of the hot seals, and have included it here for you, so that you can see for yourself which seals are hot and which are not. Please note that this orientation is with north as the top right corner of the screen, just as it is in your game's automap, so that it is very easy to identify which seals are which.

http://img68.exs.cx/img68/9024/hot10.jpg

For Diablo himself ... this is the tricky and dangerous part. Using items to inflict "slow target" on Diablo helps a lot, as does holy freeze and decrepify curse, but these only slow down his movements and physical attacks. His magical attacks are full-strength and normal speed, so do not be caught off-guard (unless you use slow missile, which may be a bad idea as his damage gets buggy when you do so). The rushee needs to be nearby when Diablo dies, and there are several methods as to how this can be achieved with minimal danger to the low level character.

Method 1: Make a portal near the fighting, the rushee stands in town and enters the portal immediately when someone tells him/her to do so (you tell them to come down when Diablo has just a sliver of life left). This can be tricky and dangerous, especially if the rushee is hesitant or prone to instant afk for a sudden emergency (baby choking on something, telepone call they must take....)

Method 2: Have the rushee stand north of the pentagram, over against the left wall ... there is an outcropping that will protect a player from most effects Diablo casts as long as Diablo is south of this area. As long as Diablo does not stray too far from the pentagram, everything should be fine. Method 2 is greatly preferred over method 1, as it is much easier on the nerves ... just have a TP up and ready near the rushee on the odd chance that Diablo thinks he can have a free snack and makes a "Run for the Border".™

Act 5: One locking quest

I will include this, as the character to be rescued may have died while Baal running

Get through the Ancient Way, find the Arreat Summit ... (usually directly across the map from the waypoint). The rushee stands off in the corner or just south of the entry to the summit with town portal hotkeyed. If an Ancient gets near him, the rushee is to make a town portal immediately without fail. At this particular point in the game, taking chances is a bad idea ... only a few minutes away from your destination and finally looting your friend's items ... it is much better to play it safe than have to apologize for being silly later. In order to pass this quest, the rushee must be at least level 20 in normal, at least level 40 in nightmare, and at least level 60 in hell difficulty.

Ok now, the rushee need not be present for ANY of the fighting in the worldstone keep/throne of destruction ... they need only to get to the site of the disaster and rescue the items as quickly as possible, which should be done immediately when the area is COMPLETELY SAFE.

Once successfully past the Ancients, he can take a town portal into the Worldstone Keep. From the WSK2 waypoint, bear right to find the stairs down fastest. WSK 3rd floor is random (follow the trail of empty corridors or corpses to locate the stairs down or the body). Always be cautious on 2nd floor, as gloams may be lurking in nightmare/hell. Oblivion knights (the ones that cast iron maiden) may be lurking on the 3rd floor, and you may have the serious misfortune of dealing with not only gloams and oblivion knights in the throne room, but those thrice-cursed exploding dolls as well. If unravelers are also present, you may be in for the worst day of your D2 life.

Always kill unravelers first, if knights/gloams/dolls are around, as they will raise those undead at the most inopportune times... You should not have to deal with the minions of destruction unless the poor victim died while in the middle of fighting them ... Just remember that Colenzo is always fire enchanted and fire immune, the second set contains unravelers (be wary of dolls/gloams/knights sneaking up on youright after getting raised by the unravelers), Bartuc is lightning immune in hell (and always lightning enchanted), and Lister is always Fire Enchanted.

NONE OF THE MINIONS OF DESTRUCTION PACKS ARE NATURALLY COLD IMMUNE. Freezing arrow/glacial spike are your best friend, as is Shockwave (stun) from a Werebear Druid. The burning dead that come with the unraveler pack are always Cold Immune in hell, but are typically easily dealt with after the unravelers themselves are down. Make sure you bring antidote pots for the second group ... their poison is horrifyingly high and takes forever to wear off.

During this entire process, remember that time is of the essense ... you don't know if the server will suddenly crash, you don't know if the poor soul who died will stay connected for very long, and you have no idea if even the person you are rushing has a good stable connection to bnet. But under no circumstances should you attempt to take shortcuts past the things in this guide unless you are EXTREMELY experienced in the game, as a simple mistake could cost everybody some valuable time and stress, as well as ending up with an unlootable corpse. I also wish to say that although time IS of the essense, you should also not get into so much of a hurry that you neglect the safety of your character or those around you.

Games protected by the weaseltech pass are there for questing, not rushing or magic finding. If a rushee is stuck in act 2, and someone dies in act 4, it does not help in any way shape or form to have had someone else Magic Find farming Mephisto, as that totally ruins the quest and makes it impossible to get the rushee to the proper location for looting. If anybody in the game could possibly end up in the area you wish to do your magic finding in, please think twice about asking if you can run that area, as it may turn out to be of great importance later on--even after you have left the game. Magic Finding is best done in private games, as this makes monsters much more easy to kill. In hardcore, of course, this is inherently dangerous, as a bad moment of lag or two could wipe out your character with all equip, and nobody around to loot you .... What to do? Go Magic Finding in teams! Much more fun to have a friend along anyways!

Always remember, that if someone enters your game and is stuck in an earlier act, and you know there are uncompletable locking or act boss quests between you and them, you should have them remake the game. They will appreciate the ability to quest freely, and YOU will gain the added security of knowing that they can indeed get to you if the worst happens.

Please note that with some tweaking (and skimping on safety in softcore), this guide can also be used to rush Duriel/Hellforge/Nihlathak mules or Amazon Basin Password Change Characters... ;)

Good luck, Good hunting, and Godspeed...

[Thank-You's goes out (in no particular order) to Ancient 1 (Lois) for her great support of the idea, Ceolstan (Kate) for her excellent pointers and advice, Grimborn for his excellent technical support, and BugBoy_M (Paul) for his happy-go-lucky proofreading. Oh yes, and finally ... in case people were wondering why I ever wrote the guide in the first place: Thank you, Rue (Mary), for letting me know that there are many people in the Basin that still need a little help here and there... and an apology as well, that I could not be there to help when it was needed most back then... I hope that there will be no more failed loot rushes anymore. I wrote this guide for you and all of your friends that still play Diablo II who may need this again someday.]

[edit notes: Minor grammatical/spelling corrections, and the correction of a nagging error that I had missed long ago when I origionally re-posted the guide ... Ceolstan is NOT a GUY... Again, Kate, my apologies! Did some experimentation with the "indent" feature ... but it doesnt look like it's working properly. May edit again if I can figure out how it's supposed to work! Oh yes ... and also added additional assistance possibilities of using Teamspeak or IRC to find help!]