Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Season 8 Learnings for Competitive Greater Rift Pushing

As Season 8 draws to a close, and we begin planning for the next season, I feel it can be beneficial to reflect on the many things we've learned. As such, I'm documenting the things I've learned in the season, during which I ran the highest rifts I've ever run before (GR 100 4-man, and GR 82 Solo Barb - hoping for 83 before season's end).

- Now is the time to decide which class you want to play if you want to play hardcore or softcore. Season 8 was the first season I decided to play only one class and I stuck to that all season long. The reason I did that is actually quite simple: devoting all my play time to one class gave me the highest probability of acquiring the ideal rolls on all items. This strategy served me very well. Think about it. If split my play time equally between two classes, I've effectively cut my chances of obtaining the right items with the ideal rolls IN HALF! If I played 3 classes, I've split those chances into thirds, and so on. It would be the same thing if I played only one class but split my playtime between hardcore and softcore.  If you want to be competitive, spend your play time wisely! Pick one or maybe two classes and stick to it. Each class has several sets with a corresponding build so you shouldn't get bored.

- When deciding what class to play, keep in mind the meta group composition for 4-man GR pushes. There are always exceptions to the rule, but there is a reason why the meta exists:  it works. In a standard 4-man group, there are two DPS roles, and two support roles with one of these support roles being the zmonk (zero-DPS monk, or support monk). Most desired classes/roles are as follows:

-Zmonk      (support monk)
-Zbarb (support barbarian)
-Zwiz (support wizard - takes the place of the zbarb)
-FBWD (firebat witch doctor DPS)
-FBWiz (firebird wizard DPS)
-Genmonk  (generator monk DPS)

As a rule, Demon Hunters and Crusaders are not used in a standard 4-man GR push.

- Pools of Reflection exist for a reason. Use them! At the end of a high level GR, turning in the quest grants a huge chunk of experience. Before turning in, the group should scour the map in search of a pool of reflection. Once a pool is found everyone should teleport to that location and activate the pool so everyone receives the bonus. This makes a significant difference in the amount of experience received when the quest is turned in. The more you practice this technique, the more you will memorize where the potential spawn points for the pools are located and the more efficient you will become at the process. Save your Bovine Bardiches and use them for this occasion, as the cow level always seems to contain two pools. Also, the difficulty of the game should be set to normal to allow the support classes to participate in pool hunting (this will not affect the ammount of xp received from GRs).

- DENSITY DENSITY DENSITY! Stay together and  maximize DPS. Too, often I find myself in a public group which just cannot seem to work together as a team. As a result, people are spread out and so are the monsters. This is a recipe for disaster. Density is the best friend of the 4-man GR team. You want all the monsters, all the elite packs, and all the players in the same place at the same time! This is the key to not only survivability, but to maximizing DPS with area effects and area damage procs. Contrary to what may be natural thought, fighting a lone elite pack takes significantly longer than fighting an elite pack in the middle of a swarm of trash mobs. The one person who is exempt from the rule of sticking together is the Zbarb, who is often out hunting for pylons, elites, and more trash mobs to drag into the fray, creating more density, and increasing overall dps in this way.

- Pick your battles! Fighting a ranged arcane elite pack in  narrow passageways is never a good idea. Sometimes an elite will need to be skipped entirely. Sometimes the Zbarb may be able to drag the elite into an open area where a fight would be more welcome. Sometimes skipping the floor and simplying sprinting around to find the exit to the next floor is the best strategy. At really high levels, your time may even be best utilized by exiting the game and restarting the GR if it goes poorly. There are lots of things that are up to random chances, and knowing when the odds are in your favor is key to getting the most progress for your play time. Pay attention to the battlefield and elite affixes and with time, you'll gain a feel for when to make these calls.

- Be prepared! When showing up to high level progression groups, come prepared. Have your gems on the right character. Have plenty of gold to empower rifts. Have plenty of rift keys on hand (I like to have 100 in my stash). We're all here to have fun but we also want to be competitive so lets make the most of everyone's time and be ready to go when the time comes.

- Communication If we really want to be competitive, guys we NEED to have voice communication. Lets figure out how we can accomplish that, whether its TS, Skype, Ventrillo, or whatever. Grab your headset and lets do it.

Sometimes it helps me to just get my thoughts on paper but hopefully some of you are able to benefit from it as well and maybe I was able to share something you didn't think of before. Good luck in Season 9, guys!

-Tabre aka. Liquilite
tabreperez@gmail.com