Chaos Sanctuary

PhineasB wrote:

The general approach was to hit the seals at p8, taking out boss packs along the way, and then hitting Diablo at p7 (max experience from any monster is capped in the game code, and p8 exceeds that cap; so using p8 for Diablo only adds more HP). Some players just run on p7 to avoid switching p-settings over the course of thousands of runs. At p8/p7, you are looking at ~3300 runs for 94-98. Corrupted and others skipped Diablo at earlier levels for faster XP/min.

Gripphon did extensive testing to show that a particular type of CS run (now called a Gripphon run) is the most efficient way to gain XP for classes that are the most popular for 99ers (Sorc and Paladin) and potentially a great option for others (e.g., Necro).

In short, these runs involve using the tele-trick (see Tidbits and Pro Tips for an explanation) to reach the Pentagram in the middle of CS, then hitting only two seals (Vizier and Infector) and taking out boss packs along the way. Further testing has confirmed that hitting the seal for de Seis and then Diablo gives less XP/min for some builds than just focusing on the other two seals and boss packs, although the calculus changes a bit for 97-98 due to relative XP gain due to XP penalties. The best maps for Gripphon runs have boss packs clustered together near the seals so there is less time taken to stop between the seals.

It’s difficult to calculate the number of Gripphon runs exactly (or p8/p7 runs, for that matter) because the number of boss packs (and monster types) hit in addition to the seals changes the XP gain/run. But the number of Gripphon runs needed is much higher than p8/p7; assuming no boss packs are hit (which is very unlikely), it would take ~6750 runs. That number drops significantly when the average XP/run from boss packs are factored in and, because the runs take less than half as long for certain builds, you can see why this can be a faster than p8/p7 runs.