Diablo II: MFO #3

The Magic Find Olympics (MFO) is a contest run twice a year on the Single Player Diablo II forum. The basic premise is that each contestant picks something to run: Baal, Mephisto, Level 85 areas or Super Uniques. Then everyone has nine days to run those areas as much as possible, the person with the best items found wins their respective section and can then take a few items from the losers.

Last time I ran Pindleskin (SU category) and had a dismal showing for the time invested. Granted I didn't go all out but only ran as much as I felt like without making it a burden, so those with more dedication blew me away. The returns from Pindleskin are based purely on luck, and with him as a target luck has been hard to come by for me. So this time around I'm going back to Mephisto. I had originally thought about participating in the Level 85 area category but my Fishymancer simply can't compete with the other players running the Ancient Tunnels and Pits at extreme speed. I'd like to have some sort of chance, no matter how small, of placing in the top three. Therefore Mephisto it is.

Again Malice my main magic finder is my runner of choice. She's level 93 now (barely) and only gets used for magic finding purposes, therefore only in tournaments like this. I had to rearrange her inventory and equipment a bit as her last target was Pindleskin and the Harmony bow she had on switch wasn't going to be useful. That and I didn't need quite so many resistance charms since fire damage wasn't something I needed to worry about. This freed up a 4x6 area in her inventory to pick up items, meaning she wouldn't have to stop off at Cain every run to identify her loot.

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Malice's runs followed a nice progression, slightly different from before based on some tips I've picked up. She starts in Act IV and uses Telekinesis on the WP to activate it. She does have to take a step to the side first as otherwise the spell fails. From there she teleports to Mephisto and uses Static Field to reduce his life to one half. She then steps backwards a bit to let the mercenary tank while she fires meteors and fireballs at him. Four meteors and about 12-15 fireballs later Mephisto is dead and I can review the dropped prizes. Then she teleports to the portal and uses it to enter Act IV again.

On average the mercenary requires 2-4 health potions per run to stay alive and Malice has to teleport him away on a regular basis in the vain attempt to keep him vertical. Even with all that he does have to be resurrected once every twenty runs or so. This is because he is wearing the wrong equipment, which I found out after the MFO was over. He has an Insight Cryptic Axe, Shaftstop and a Tal's helm. Instead he should be wearing the Shaftstop, a Rockstopper and Keplie Snare and then wouldn't require any health potions at all. Malice does lose the Meditation aura from the Insight so she'll have to drink a mana potion each run, but it does make things much easier with the alternative setup.

Malice made a total of 4534 Mephisto runs over the nine day tournament. In all this took 49 hours, 13 minutes and 19 seconds and netted her 421 total qualifiers. This came out to 10.8 runs per qualifier, which is right in line for the average I received last time running Mephisto. The 39 seconds per run however is much lower than that from last time, and I doubt I could get much lower without switching to a pure Blizzard sorceress instead of Malice. The number of runs however is over double what I performed last time, and it showed. I ended up coming in second place overall, even though I was last with only two days to go. Found four of the top five items on the very last day, which I spend all day running Mephisto with breaks here and there for sanity's sake.

Qualifiers:
Immortal Kings Stone Crusher - 33
Dagoons Teaching - 15
Laying of Hands - 20
Dark Adherent - 19
Ariocs Needle - 11
Wizardspike - 12
Bonehew - 8
Ethereal Edge - 14
Windhammer - 13
Gimmershred - 11
Demon Limb - 11
Jade Talon - 11
Djinn Slayer - 7
Bloodmoon - 8
Natalyas Shadow - 11
Credendum - 10
Nords Tenderizer - 7
Razors Edge - 10
Ormus Robes - 6
Sandstorm Trek - 12
Baranars Star - 6
Rune Master - 7
Demons Arch - 11
Flamebellow - 5
The Reapers Toll - 8
Harlequin Crest - 9
Shadow Killer - 10
Thunderstroke - 3
Eschutas Temper - 4
Hellslayer - 6
Lightsabre - 7
Viperfork - 3
Hellrack - 3
Arachnid Mesh - 5
Blackoak Shield - 5
Draculs Grasp - 4
The Gladiators Bane - 5
Marrowwalk - 3
Stormshield - 2
Stoneraven - 8
Najs Puzzler - 6
Blood Ravens Charge - 3
Nosferatus Coil - 3
Spike Thorn - 2
Steel Shade - 4
Soul Drainer - 10
Wolfhowl - 2
Andariels Visage - 2
Verdungos Hearty Cord - 3
Heavens Light - 2
The Redeemer - 3
Cerebus Bite - 1
Alma Negra - 5
Ondals Wisdom - 1
Demonhorns Edge - 5
Sazabis Ghost Liberator - 1
Azurewrath - 1
Doombringer - 1
Arkaines Valor - 1
Head Hunters Glory - 1

The prize of my loot is the Azurewrath, an item I've been searching a long time for. It is one of those items I keep seeing everyone else finding and yet I'm simply not able to. It's also the reason I ran Mephisto really, as he can drop it but Pindleskin can't. Just behind the Azurewrath was my next prized possession, a Tal's amulet. That completes the set for me as I found the armors last MFO running Pindleskin. Of course now I have to figure a build to make, but I have time for that. Beyond that I found enough class specific items (HoZ, Titans, Bactucs, Jalal's Mane) to keep any characters outfitted for a very long time.

Overall I am very pleased with this MFO. I didn't lose any items since I came in second and the top finisher plays Hardcore and therefore can't use my Softcore items. I also didn't take any items from people below me as I am self-found and intend to stay that way. The next MFO isn't for another six months so no idea which category I'd run that time around, assuming I have time to participate at all. Time will tell.