Hard to justify playing secondary hero.

[MightyPen]

I thought I'd go farm some experience (and crafting materials) by repeatedly running TL 105, Challenge of Frost. I like this level because good contrast, and hey, I'm Canadian, so I tolerate snow well.

For variety, I thought I'd run it with HeavyMetal, my secondary Hero. She's my experimenter, but right now she's running a Fire Lily and similar Full Fury gear to my primary, Carver, except without the Celestial Transforms. Anyway, HeavyMetal can run TL 105 in about 2 minutes, including about 30 seconds to defeat Kara. Loaded up a Gold Experience Booster, and was able to fill her pockets just as the booster expired. I acquired 22 Epic items and 20 Legendary.

Then I went and did the same thing with Carver. She clears TL 105 in about 70 seconds, with her combat time against Kara only around ten seconds. So I filled her pockets with 8 minutes remaining on the booster, AND I got better stuff: 10 Epic items and 30 Legendary. I've emptied her pockets at the Salvage Table, and will go back to TL 105 see if that ratio holds up for the remaining minutes. Perhaps a faster time improves your haul, or maybe it was just luck.

Clearly, it's to my benefit to do even my farming (other than for gems) with Carver. For gem farming, I have intern Warriors with hand-me-down gear good enough to zip through the story levels.

But now I'm wondering what useful purpose HeavyMetal can serve. She's cleared out all the story gems, and raised all her abilities to 10. Experiments with variations on gear have not yet found me a build I like better. If I take her to the Arena, she drags down my position on the leaderboards. Is she doomed to be just a mannequin to hold armor that won't fit in my stash?

[Splendor]

The main reasons players run Trial 105 are for experience and salvage. In your post you describe clearing 105 faster with your main (therefore collecting more salvage) but you don't mention anything about experience gear. The main reason players have a separate toon for farming trials is to farm as much experience as possible by having experience as a stat on every single piece of gear. I'm assuming your main, Carver, does not have exp on gear. The point of HeavyMetal would be to run 105 with exp on all gear and to do it as fast and efficiently as possible. Players using toons with full exp gear can clear 105 in under a minute with warrior (some under 30 seconds). That's what you want to shoot for. Check out some of Romme's warrior exp videos for ideas on the best build and technique.

As far as getting better salvage for faster runs, afaik that is not the case, my salvage varies wildly from one run to the next, sometimes 3 epics, sometimes 3 leg, and every combo in between, and my clear times are consistent.

[MightyPen]

Thank you for this excellent reminder. Almost all of HeavyMetal's gear did have Experience as an attribute, but I had swapped in a few things for more killing power. So I have reforged one axe, swapped out another, and crafted a new Talisman of Power to make it every item. No change in her time through TL 105, and the experience booster will pay off much better. I look forward to improving her gear, and will start throwing CT's her way.

[Ozymandius]

I feel like I get better stuff when I can complete a trial faster, but I do not really have the data to back that up [too much random noise]. What I did research was the overall amount of salvage gear and XP earned for a 30 minute booster using different completion times, and the clear winner is faster completion times (i.e., more complete runs = more XP and more salvage gear). In the old days, serious XP farmers often dropped out of a trial once the boss appears, since the kill time to XP ratio tanked so much during boss fights. These days with enchantments (e.g., Osmosis on helmets, Slayer on weapons, ToS/ToP trinket, etc.) it feels like the boss fight has become less of a drain on XP farming. I mostly farm XP during ANBs when I really need the salvage gear for crafting, but you should aim for farming trials that you can complete in under 90 seconds to get the most out of your booster. I haven't seen the latest stats, but the XP benefit used to max out around TL103.