Max exp episode 2

[matrim]

Episode 2...it’s at the same time the best and worst of episodes. Best because Underforge story is awesome and you get really neat equipment, worst because if you max exp, then mobs start scaling to crazy levels of difficulty, at least on Nightmare. That said, I am a bit of a sadist. I wanted to see if the Koda route or the Braeys route offered better exp because of the order that you need to kill things and monster level capping.

Koda route
Clear Braeys side first, minimum clear of Orcin Caverns (5 total fights, including the big final), clear to Morgan, respawn transition zones, full clear of them, Riven’s outpost, full clear of Darkmoss (not sure if this is quite maxed, I thought the earlier static exp rewards for shrines might make it better), clear Riven outpost quest, clear Underforge (save Smith’s Horde and Temple till last, you should be level 24 before starting them), clear Orcin Caverns, clear Ironwood, clear prospectors path, minimum clear of swamps to get to Druid, 1 fight in crag’s peak (2 if you want access to the town earlier), full clear sea road, join Koda, fight 1 fight after prospectors to get access to CoD camps and episode 3 equips (very worth it), reclear low Level respawns (all of them but Darkmoss and Sea Road, don’t forget to reclear Ironwood), clear Talia, clear Long Trail and full clear to the whiny son, clear Gholla (you can do Bone pass Braeys side after this to save steps, might lose like 60 exp), clear Darkmoss, clear swamps, clear Crag’s Peak, clear Sea Road, clear Koda Bone Pass, get log, full clear both Bone passes.

Exp 104799 lowest party member (I try to keep them even)

Braeys route
Clear Braeys side first, minimum clear of Orcin Caverns, clear to Morgan, reclear transition zones, Riven’s outpost, full clear Darkmoss (no choice here, can’t really save it till later), 1 (or 2 if you want early access to the town) for Crag’s Peak, clear Sea Road, clear Prospector’s path, minimum clear to whiny kid, clear Ironwood, join Braeys, clear Ironwood, get CoD equips (0 fights necessary, keep south), reclear respawns with Riven’s outpost quest when you get to it (minimum clear Darkmoss and don’t do Sea Road or Prospector’s yet), clear Underforge, clear Prospector’s, clear Orcin Caverns, clear whiny kid route, clear Gholla, clear Talia, clear Darkmoss, clear swamps, clear Crag’s Peak, clear Sea Road, clear Koda Bone Pass, clear Braeys Bone Pass, get log, reclear passes.

Exp 104845

So Exp was very similar (both these groups are not boosted), I had to do 1 extra fight on Koda side to access the CoD camp and it was still lower but it could still be random variance. If there was 800+ difference then I would think that 1 is the clear winner.

For the highest score, I think Braeys wins because there is less backpedaling.

The easiest is by far Braeys. The early access to CoD equips are game changing. The weapons are incredibly powerful when crafted and the armor adds huge amounts of survivability. However you have the CoD equips with either route when you really need them, the level 35 monsters in episode 2. I had 102 defense dice with Kincaid (35s, 67n) and was getting hit 1/6 by normal mobs and 1/2 by boss mobs (Warlords, Wolf Lords, Chieftains, Deathkin). Crafting let me stack Dodge to previously unachieveable points (43s, 28n) and I surprisingly did not get hit by a single ranged attack after Underforge (damn you Host Initiates!) but I tend to not let them get ranged attacks off. I would say Kincaid avoided 20 out of 20 shots in clearing everything after Underforge. One more reason I dislike the Koda route is the reappearance of Cultists, they are scaled to stupid levels by the time you get to them and are incredibly deadly. The Host had 100% hit rate on Kincaid and did 500 damage a hit.

Good luck out there! Blessings of the Nine be upon you!

[fallen]

Impressive analysis and great data for any player! Love the final summary, not what I would have expected but great data Always impressed +1

[fallen]

Note for this thread -- opening Bone Pass is in Episode 3.

[contributor]

matrim thanks for putting this together. It was very helpful. I just got a group through E2 following the Koda route. The Braeys route does seem better, but I just wanted to go through Koda because I didn't have a high level group who has done that yet. For reference my lowest xp character is 105,572 and the highest is 106,871. I'm actually surprised how close those are to your numbers. From the beginning this group was tracking ahead of all my other groups in xp. They were all 12 at the Shaman and I think one of them hit 18 for killing the Baron. They didn't kill the Whiny Son but they did open Bone Pass which gave 500 bonus xp. Without that, they're even closer your groups. Otherwise I pretty much exactly followed your plan.

One question, what do you mean about clearing out the Riven Outpost Quest respawns. I've never knew about those. Do you have to take the boat out to the area again? If that respawns then I've actually got a little more xp I could get.

[matrim]

Sorry about the confusion. I meant clear the respawns zones and then do the Riven outpost quest when you get to to that zone. Riven’s Outpost or the quest do not respawn to the best of my knowledge.

[contributor]

A little more data. I just completed the Braeys route. I actually also cheated a little because I went up into the Crypts and fought 4-5 fights there, when I first went to Ember camps to look for some better armor. Even with that, I came out with my lowest character at 104,413 and my highest at 105,265. Maybe I could have managed that gap a little better. This team was actually ahead of my other, Koda, team at the end of Episode 1. So that does lend weight to the fact that the Braeys side yields less xp, at least in this configuration. Maybe there's a way to equalize it, but it seems pretty well optimized to me.