Chipped gems - what is the easier/fastest way to get some (for cube formulas)?

Hi

I need some specific chipped gems for cube some low runes...

What is the easier/fastest way to get them?

- Play a little on Normal or Nightmare (I thought about Normal Cows)
- Spend a "Gem Shrine"
- Just play your regular farm on Hell and hope to find one chipped (In my case I farm Chaos and Cows more frequently - from time to time a chipped drops...)
- Another thing

OBS: At first I don't want to trade for this because I want 1-2 and trades are like 10 chipped for 1 rune...

Walk thru A1 Norm with a

Holy Fire pala in a game with idealy 8 players, starting from

Cold Plains

Don't have a High level Paladin.
But a Necro Summoner may work on the same role (your minions kill things while you walk)

And maybe just the Act 2 Merc

Holy Freeze can kill thing in normal too while we are walking

Do you need them on nl or ladder?

Non ladder (

Ruby,

Amethyst).

Use one of your useless mules and run around places like

Mausoleum,

Crypt, Tower...

Especially chipped Topazes are super rare after normal act1.

As for cubing, there are not that many using gems that are really worth it.

Probably
3

Amn + 1 chipped Am ->

Sol (used for

Blood Gloves or ring I think)
3

Dol + 1 chipped Em ->

Hel (valuable)
3

Fal + 1 flawed Ru ->

Lem (start of valuable)

3

Thul to

Amn (chipped T) is not really useful as reaching

Sol is tough.

Lowest runes -> cube to

Ral that sells well.

Others even I do not collect stuff like

Shael,

Io... except if I know I need them.

fredkid wrote: 11 months ago

And maybe just the Act 2 Merc

Holy Freeze can kill thing in normal too while we are walking

Yes, in Normal the mobs just die when aura reaches them.
I farm Countess for runes and I need some chipped also but I don't want to change the difficulty now, 'cause it 'll change my maps. Maybe another time, after I'll try the Ubers.

I got an

Ist from her. Thought I was an

Ith and left there for some time

fredkid wrote: 11 months ago

Non ladder (

Ruby,

Amethyst).

This is a pity. I have some in ladder.

Normal Tower is a great place to get bunch of chipped gems. IIRC you get about 4-6 on average per run (depending on how many champion groups spawn).

I have a dedicated shared tab only for gems and gem cubing, it's 3 of each tier + 1 flawless (since you'll rarely use them for rune

Conversion), for every gem type, and then at the bottom I collect all from flawed and up that are in process of cubing. This means whenever I get 3 of same type I immediately cube and re-sort them again... And I always keep those 3 of each topped out just in case. It not only yield a bigger stack of PGems in the end but also give an access to and from any character if needed.

Edit: It looks like this (yes they are in TASRED order)!

Made a test run on Normal (

Stony Field +

Tristram - for the

Wirt's Leg, then

Secret Cow Level):

1 - Act 2 Merc

Holy Freeze is enough to kill things while we walk
2 - Dropped 3 chipped on

Stony Field +

Tristram
3 - Dropped 2 chipped on

Secret Cow Level (plus

Tal,

Sol and

Cathan's Seal )

You want my 3 and 3? If it's on non-ladder... If you want them, leave me ur bnet so I can add you from another acc

TheDoo wrote: 11 months ago

You want my 3 and 3? If it's on non-ladder... If you want them, leave me ur bnet so I can add you from another acc

Thanks, but don't worry.
I just need more 2 (I think 1-2 normal runs will be enough - it is quick )

On last thing... don't try Normal

Secret Cow Level to search for chipped gems. Yes,

Secret Cow Level drop many gems, but as the level is higher, most of them (sometimes 100%) will be flawed or standard...

Catacombs, on the other hand seems a good place:
Level 2 + Level 3 + Level 4 -> dropped 7 chipped

Really any place with a lot of mobs, im willing to bet walking through from rogue camp to andy you'd see you're fill. I've lost count at how many have dropped leveling

Holy Fire paladins at this point lol. The

Secret Cow Level drops a lot of various from chipped to flawless that's generally where I go cause I like

The Cow King set for alts anyways. I'm sure flayers not bad for gems over all also, but likely beyond flaweds not sure though.

As I often run out of

Larzuk's socket quests, I've decided to level up my mule chars. I play through normal and nightmare until act 5 quest one. This gives me two socket quests. On the way, I normally find a lot of chipped gems and low level runes. And if I find someone who can kill the ancients and

Baal in nightmare quickly, I can even trade with my mule chars in hell after that.

I'm sure, that there are a lot ways to reach that faster, but I like it this way.

run around a1 norm catacombs as any auradin while opening chests and graves

I keep a mule that has chipped gems of every color (and a few other qualities). Honestly I don't use many of them other than

Chipped Emerald.

I used to find

Chipped Topaz and

Chipped Ruby the rarest ones to drop.

fredkid wrote: 11 months ago

But a Necro Summoner may work on the same role (your minions kill things while you walk)

Too slow. First you need to gather your army (each game!), then the skellies have to approach each enemy to kill it. Mages are slightly better because of the ranged attack, but still too slow for efficient farming, and they miss frequently. An active build with ranged AoE attack would be a better gem farmer miner.
If you insist on a passive build, but different than Auradin, you may try Ele Druid. Both

Armageddon and

Hurricane work similar to damaging auras, with the latter being more reliable (no random factor).
And if you are filthy rich, you can always equip Dreams or Dragons+HoJ.