ANB event planning

[Keaven]

I'd need to see it plotted on a curve including the rate in which XP gains increase and factoring average completion time.

There is obviously a cutoff point for completion time which changes as levels increase.

I just stick with my gut for now.

If trials take 4 mins or more: wait for gems/upgrades If able, or grind for XP or crafting ingredients to improve gear.

[Nhat]

While you may be able to steadily push up, if you had ran the lower trials for longer, you may have gotten more XP in the end... which will ultimately get you a higher finish... That's the deceiving thing about being able to push up trials, jumping too soon actually can result in a lower net gain...

[Keaven]

Depending on what you're targeting with this planning thread, it might be worth mentioning doing some research into the class that players want to use, to know what gear and abilities is needed...

The main goal of the topic is to be one place where anyone can discuss strategy/planning for ANB.

This will help newer players to read discussion and advice/answers so most questions they have will already be answered.

...With all the mentions of "event time is precious" the one note that is consistently missed by new players is => do NOT push trials too soon, get your levels up to unlock abilities you're going to use, and then level them up BEFORE doing your Trial runs... up to 10 if you can wait, otherwise at least hit a few of the "special boosts" along the way, roughly at level 7 or so...

Don't move up trials too soon as well, if you can clear trials quicker, you'll get more XP and gear for salvage to help with mats for crafting... 2-4 minutes clear time seems to be around the current mark, although I'm leaning more towards less than 2 minutes before moving up now. There's potential consideration for hitting the reward milestones as you unlock them... but don't forget to move back down again afterwards. This obviously change when you do the final push near the end of the event...

More experienced and better players than me can add specifics if needed, I've only ever reached TL 100 once or twice, and am happy settling for TL 80 milestone... so, yeah, probably not the best source of gameplay advice...

Good advice for sure.

I have found the last two ANBs (Mage and now BH) that I haven't needed to really stop pushing on the way to trial 100 till getting to trial 80/90 to farm as improving gear and CLs can closely match the difficulty curve with efficient gem spending.

[Nhat]

Depending on what you're targeting with this planning thread, it might be worth mentioning doing some research into the class that players want to use, to know what gear and abilities is needed...

With all the mentions of "event time is precious" the one note that is consistently missed by new players is => do NOT push trials too soon, get your levels up to unlock abilities you're going to use, and then level them up BEFORE doing your Trial runs... up to 10 if you can wait, otherwise at least hit a few of the "special boosts" along the way, roughly at level 7 or so...

Don't move up trials too soon as well, if you can clear trials quicker, you'll get more XP and gear for salvage to help with mats for crafting... 2-4 minutes clear time seems to be around the current mark, although I'm leaning more towards less than 2 minutes before moving up now. There's potential consideration for hitting the reward milestones as you unlock them... but don't forget to move back down again afterwards. This obviously change when you do the final push near the end of the event...

Edit:
Just want to clarify that I'm doing the "5 trials jump", and only doing Kara-trials - too lazy to fight the other bosses... therefore minimum "move up" is when I've unlocked the next 5 trials, to get the reward... then drop back and wait for under 2 minutes clear and doing the "5 jump" again...
(end edit)


More experienced and better players than me can add specifics if needed, I've only ever reached TL 100 once or twice, and am happy settling for TL 80 milestone... so, yeah, probably not the best source of gameplay advice...

[Keaven]

Good luck Rayn. I'll see you on that leaderboard .

It will be tough to make trial 100 in gold without many gems so preserve what you can.

[Rayn]

In bronze I did exp jewelry but in silver I did dps. I think in gold it makes sense to do dps so you don’t need to use your event timer to farm as much for crafting. I think it’s possible to get by with just a single 30min gold farming stint. Especially with BH. I crafter blue assault gear and green everything else and had around 2300% MG, was able to push out 5 mill in 30 mins.

[Rayn]

I’m planning on using a stalker BH for gold - I got to TL100 this time around with more than 3 hours left. I only used gems for unlocking skills and companions, as well as a second upgrade slot so I’m hoping I can do it again!

[Keaven]

Without crunching numbers I chose this route because the ephemeral jewellery isn't as much of an improvement on DPS jewellery I can make if I want.

I prioritise the first 4 goals much higher than the 5th. If the 5th goal was my primary I would use the ephemeral jewellery for DPS, and craft DPSXP jewellery at level 70.

[Keaven]

It seems prohibitively costly to try and switch builds, having too many abilities to upgrade and sets to craft, etc.

I like the ELR build for simplicity and farming, but I just wouldn't be too worried about very high ranking for any event using that build.

[Montresor]

Not sure if this is helpful for anyone, but due to 1. my horrific current performance in silver, and 2. not having anything to do in eternium while waiting time for my skills to cook - I started pulling together the costs, level unlocks etc, and a similar list to your second post, for mage in a google doc. The list is still a work in progress as i'll probably amend my exp farming approach to start as ELR mage, leveraging 's work on shatter effects before switching to arcanist at a certain point.

[Montresor]

i think it's a great thread. but that said, i pretty much only browse the forum through notifications or New Posts.

[Montresor]

so i see most people do as you show here - craft xp / dps jewelry with the ephemeral jewelry. i've always wondered though if you're better off in the final trials push having the ephemeral jewelry be non-exp.

i guess the question is which is greater - the value of the additional CLs gained from having better XP farming jewelry, or the additional damage from having pure DPS ephemeral rings?

[Travis | Support Mgr.]

Votes for sticking this thread?

[Keaven]

I did an ELR Mage in the first bronze, and a Stalker BH for Silver to practise for gold since I've not played much with Stalker.

Had a much lower budget for silver, but got to trial 80 with less than 6 hours remaining.

I'll need to save more gems to have any chance of 2 CTs for gold lol.

What builds are y'all using and planning for gold?

[Keaven]

From the first two ANBs of the new format I've developed the following universal strategy:

1. Create hero with boring name.
2. Unlock at least 1 research slot.
3. Upgrade primary abilities before synergy bonuses.
4. Boost researching if surplus to budget.
5. Purchase budgeted mercenaries.
6. If budget allows, use 200% XP boosters for entire event (except during gold runs).
7. If budget allows, use 200% Gold boosters for entire event (except when/If farming trials for XP without killing boss).
8. Unlock ability slots when available.
9. Craft XP gear with lessor essences every 10 levels without jewellery using Apprentice Crate(s) if needed.
10. Speed run to the end of Act 1.
11. Farm XP from trials until level 70.
12. Purchase at least 1 legendary crate.
13. Farm/exchange for enough gold to craft a few items for build starting with weapons.
14. Include XP on all gear.
15. A 200% gold booster and half kit should grant enough income to craft the rest and fill in gaps temporarily with ephemeral crates while pushing trials.
16. Improve gear till nothing less than lvl 73, then focus on two lvl 77 items.
17. Switch to XP farming trials when taking 5 mins or more to clear.
18. Use ephemeral jewellery with XP and DPS stats.
19. Only use CTs on lvl 77 items desired to keep, or best options if none attained before manually ending event.
20. When all limited CPs attained, 200% gold boost run The Severed Mountain if needed.
21. Push to trial 100 around CL1,200-1,500.
22. Farm trial 90 for MoTs until crafting desired lvl 77 items or timer expires.
23. If lvl 77 items obtained, XP farm trials without killing bosses leaving 60-90 minutes.
24. Reforge XP off gear.
25. Craft perfect DPS jewellery if able.
26. Push to glory!
27. Reforge celestial gear before ending event if another attribute desired.

There are also other key points depending on chosen class and build, based on when primary abilities unlock.