[HELP] How to go up z1000

[Gorsug]

Hello,

I am currently following an Artemis formation using this guide: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jLA6XZubkvS0cAtj_BM9sLT7Lg30oz2BKyGvCJfuDVM/edit#gid=2103748333

My current maximum zone is z999. I'm seeking advice on how to significantly increase my maximum zone.

Here's the item level (Ilvl) of my champion:

https://imgur.com/a/GCq8Pqq

I understand that I need to use Forge Contracts to increase the Ilvl of my champion. I have 307 Huge Contracts, 201 Medium Contracts, 1950 Small Contracts, and 271 Tiny Contracts. However, I'm uncertain about which champion I should allocate these contracts to.

Additionally, I am using the Unaffiliated Core level 13 with everything in purple, as follows:
https://imgur.com/a/CnXXI4S

Thank you for your assistance and if you need to know anythings else hit me up :)

[kab_reg]

The best target for BS contracts in this case is Valentine.

However, you probably have absolutely wrong priorities. Having Artemis at ilvl 600+ won't help you much when you have Hew Maan at 62 and Briv at 5.

[Kyouko Tsukino]

I get to 1200+ without Artemis, with at least three different DPSs (Jim, Zorbu and D'hani,) because I spread contracts (and got boosted ilvls from seasons) between those DPSs, along with giving Valentine, Vi and Omin a couple hundred ilvls as well. Vi and Omin are both champions that buff better the higher the zone you get to and/or the longer your run lasts.

Improving (and unlocking) champions like Hew Mann, who let you get to high zones faster, can also be worth your time, even without the town's bicycle you can get tens of thousands of gems per day with a good enough speed formation - and Hew Mann is someone who'll speed things up even outside of speed formations, as long as you don't mind having to fit him in your formation (even if he has to "tank" he can be worth having there, to get you to z900+ fast.) Once you get a semi-decent speed party going, 50k gem feats don't look so unachievable anymore, and those 100k+ gem familiars will stop being tempting and start being useful. But don't neglect opening more gold chests to get your speed formation, well, speedier.

As a side note, I can get to 1100+ with Artemis, but I hate the character, regardless of how much of a God's Gift to Dwarfkind he is. His ilvl reflects that, as he's at a laughable 75 average. Just like the town's bicycle, I don't intend to use him unless a variant really limits my choices down to "Artemis or GTFO."

[Flooz]

Setting up a decent gem farm is indeed the best thing you can do in this game. That solves about all bottlenecks slowing down your progress.

I currently run a passive gem farm that does around 220 bosses/hour which makes life a lot easier. If I can keep it running all day, I easily make >50k gems.

That's a lot of resources that make progress much faster.

[Gorsug]

Thank you for your advice. Right now, I need to improve my speed formation to farm more gems and use those gems to purchase gold chests (to obtain equipment and contracts) that it ?
Currently, this is my speed formation: (+3 familiars that click and 1 to improve click damage).

https://imgur.com/a/u5ji1y8

Additionally, I plan to open some gates for Valentine, Zorbu, and Hew Mann to enhance them (I have 98 gate pieces). Do you think this is a good starting point to improve further? :)

[Flooz]

You slowly have to work towards 16/17 familiars and the most important speed champions.

I started with a couple farming the Mad Wizard and now have an almost "complete" speed farm at Roots of Loomlurch.

Once that gets going, investing in champions is a lot faster. Keep in mind that the new events open up the option to buy chests for specific champions. It's a lot easier to farm for that than to do time gates for them. I personally only do time gates to unlock other champions. Once I got all, I'll open them purely for chests.

[Kyouko Tsukino]

Put Hew Mann on the second row in any Grand Tour adventure - It will still count as the same bonus, but having more people around them will increase the chances to get more loot/kills per enemy defeated. For example, my Hew Mann gets 200% being in the second row in GT (that is, each kill will count for three kills) which really puts the "speed" in speed formations.

I tend to run "Roots of Loomlurch" freeplays (a mid-campaign adventure for Witchlight,) however, which is actually faster than any Grand Tour freeplay, even though Hew Mann needs to be at the front row in that one and gets one less adjacent champion.

My formation is currently:

Hew Mann and Sentry at the front. Deekin, Widdle and Nahara in the second row. Virgil and Shandie in the back row. This lets me zoom through a loop of 300 zones in around fifteen minutes (or less if it auto-consumes small or medium speed potions on zone 1.)

However, my Modron core is the Fast core at max level, and some of my nodes get a somewhat okay e08 flow. Fast core has nodes that speed up enemy spawn, game speed and give extra loot chances. Every little bit helps.

Oh, and Hew Mann and Widdle have gem feats that increase their speed. Some of the 50k gem feats are actually worth getting since they increase your gems per hour.

[Gorsug]

I already have 18 familiars actualy ! :)

[Flooz]

I use Hew in the middle in Loomlurch. Having him front or middle makes little difference in terms of resource decrease but it makes a lot of difference for the more annoying bosses like Chucklehead (z50). That combined with Selise's stun ensures I can keep Shandie's speed running, at least often enough to not consider the bosses a problem.

I run 400 in about 22 minutes without pots and, since I use him too, can manually load Briv up at the zones with ranged mobs (364 mostly) and do the next run in about 10min. I usually pop a small speed pot when loading him up since those don't run out as long as I do it every 800z.

[Gorsug]

Thanks kyouko for the advice, i will try the roots of loomlurch run with your speed formation to see if its worth it for me !

[Gorsug]

With that, do you think farm every week the 4 patron to buy chest or gate fragment is worth it ?

[Kyouko Tsukino]

Gate fragments are always worth buying - at least while you haven't unlocked every event/gate champion. Modron chests are what I prioritize nowadays - as I have less and less champions left to unlock, and modron cores need a lot of epic pieces to get a good enough flow, and they can always be improved (well, until you have all pipes in a core to 40% buff.

Patron chests are an infinite resource, and while they can give you event champion ilvls, they also have core/evergreen champions in the mix. I'm waiting until I clear the shop (buying all unique items that can be bought with patron tokens) before I start buying patron chests.

[kab_reg]

Originally posted by Gorsug:

Additionally, I plan to open some gates for Valentine, Zorbu, and Hew Mann to enhance them (I have 98 gate pieces). Do you think this is a good starting point to improve further? :)

Nope. Don't open time gates for champions you already have until you get a full roster. There are minor possible exceptions, but that's it.

[Gorsug]

Originally posted by kab_reg:

Originally posted by Gorsug:

Additionally, I plan to open some gates for Valentine, Zorbu, and Hew Mann to enhance them (I have 98 gate pieces). Do you think this is a good starting point to improve further? :)

Nope. Don't open time gates for champions you already have until you get a full roster. There are minor possible exceptions, but that's it.

Okay, what's your advice to improve rarity of Valentine, zorbu etc... equipment then ?
I shiuld wait for event chest, season quest ? 😉

[Gorsug]

Originally posted by Kyouko Tsukino:

Gate fragments are always worth buying - at least while you haven't unlocked every event/gate champion. Modron chests are what I prioritize nowadays - as I have less and less champions left to unlock, and modron cores need a lot of epic pieces to get a good enough flow, and they can always be improved (well, until you have all pipes in a core to 40% buff.

Patron chests are an infinite resource, and while they can give you event champion ilvls, they also have core/evergreen champions in the mix. I'm waiting until I clear the shop (buying all unique items that can be bought with patron tokens) before I start buying patron chests.

Okay thank you 😉

[Kyouko Tsukino]

Originally posted by Gorsug:

Okay, what's your advice to improve rarity of Valentine, zorbu etc... equipment then ? I shiuld wait for event chest, season quest ? 😉

Blacksmith contracts. Once you get a speed farm going, you'll be able to buy many gold chests per day (or even per hour) and you'll see those contracts show up a lot.

I got Hew Mann from a pathetic average ilvl of 30 to 500 in a few weeks just from gold chests - which they were helping me get faster as their equipment improved. Nowadays, if Hew Mann can be in an adventure or variant, I get through each non-boss zone in one or two seconds, and even without potions, thanks to the Fast core, bosses take four to ten seconds to get through, except for chucklefu- I mean Chucklehead, who slows Shandie down for a whole ten seconds (I'm not that worried about optimizing runs, frankly.)