Optimizing your coliseum scores

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Optimizing your coliseum scores

Postby Gorka » Thu Feb 06, 2020 5:22 am

So although it might be more convenient to blame any number of external factors outside of your control, the truth is there are ways to get more out of your coliseum runs no matter what class order you have or your player power. Clearly not everyone in the game cares about "being better" but for those who do, here are some tips to help your coliseum runs. It's completely normal to need to heal or refresh in the harder coliseums.

Can I just caution those players though who are inexperienced, or new. I've seen many a player suffer, because they set there goals too high for the coliseum, or they simply followed blindly the coliseum advice offered by other players... WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING IT, or it's consequences. Some of these optimizations are advanced, are not for every one, and may not even help enough to kill one mob more in themselves, but may contribute seconds to the run overall. Don't forget in rebirth you can do everything better. I would discourage non rebirth players from reaching higher than 40 kills per gauntlet, or waiting 2 months for a good conjunction, or sitting around with 39 levels in 3 classes... there is very little wisdom to do that, and most of the time you are just harming yourself.

* Only run the coliseum on the day of Major conjunction(s) in the house(s) that boosts your primary killing method(s). Some houses may also cheapen the cost of things like heal spells.

* Run on a day with world regen, and no lost concentration.

* Enter the coliseum with a cleric supplicant such as peri or eudaemon even though they may not last long.

* Before you enter the coliseum wear eq modes that maximise your mana and moves. Gorka typically enters a coliseum run with over 1000mvs and 1150ma. It's also possible to enter the coliseum with inflated hp using an hp eq mode, or by using ferret bugs, but I personally don't bother with this. Have your most expensive spells memmed before entering.

* Generally speaking you should try and have the maximum amount of levels that a gauntlet will permit before you enter it, as to maximise your core power and attributes for your run.

* As there are only 10-15 different mobs in each gauntlet, setup an optimised killing strategy for each mob. Some will be stab, some with be ether, some grip etc. Experiment and find the most time and resource efficient way to kill each mob. Understand that this strategy may need to change on a situation. Don't firewind mobs who take more damage from turn undead. Don't ice ray some mobs because they are vulnerable - when if you actually look at the counters, firewind or disint is still better.

* Be very careful how you switch weapons in the coliseum, as remove and wearing weapons is more laggy than setting up and using eq sets.

* Some spells may seem like a waste to cast but maybe of net benefit to some players. Depending on the gauntlet, spectral shield to suck mana for a player with low mana, or even natures restoral may have an overall advantage in the context of the entire coliseum run.

* Make sure you gorge before you enter the coliseum so drinking and eating scripts do not interfere with your run.

* Some skills seem beneficial, but essentially are just a waste of time... each command comes with a cost of .25 seconds. For example, war cry or swearing victory may actually be a waste of time now.

* Before the orbs refresh you every 120 seconds, make sure all your mana is used to your benefit, and if you have any mana left just before the orb "mem up."

* Track the time between the orbs in the coliseum, the first orb will occur within 120-129 seconds. The second and third orbs will occur after exactly 120 seconds more, but the first orb is a bit variant. There may also be a way to get a few more seconds each run by entering the coliseum at the right time, but this is a theory I've not found a way to exploit.

* Generally speaking you should switch to your max mana mode before an orb occurs, maximising your mana for the next 120 seconds, however you need to understand this can also be a massive time penalty.

* Don't underestimate small details... a rebirth for instance can purchase 10 ma regen, 30 hp regen and 40 mv regen. Over a 10min coliseum run that is... 100ma, 300hp, 400mvs. The same thing can be said for the benefits of spell/heal damage among other things.

* Understand that commands such as stabbing, gripping, striking, blasting, ordering pets all have some sort of lag associated with them. Decisions on what skill to use requires "situational intelligence." For example Don't stab if you have no moves to stab, don't blast if you have no mana... bad commands cost .25 seconds. If you can kill 70 mobs in a run, and make a bad command each mob, that has cost you 17.5 seconds.

* Don't sac coliseum corpses... I know you believe in keeping Bal Harbor tidy... but seriously... lag yourself another .25 seconds?

* Have a weapon ready to use that can hit ethers and equip it for the right mobs.

* When you first enter the coliseum and "spell up" think carefully about what spells should be up and the time / cost benefit of those. For example, don't cast grace... if you have max spell saves and good hitroll.

* Squelch commands on death, so the commands in the buffer don't add there .25 lags.

* As Whatta pointed out recently... don't exercise "prime-centric" thinking in your coliseum approach. For example... I am a warrior, exercising powerful blasts and stabs to succeed in the coliseum. There won't be too much difference between what players can achieve, if they leave there "prime-centric" mindsets to one side. People who aren't succeeding will in most cases be putting too much emphasis on skills in their prime class. Everyone can stab, and everyone can blast - the class differences should be less than people imagine. Nearly all of the eq I wear in my coliseum runs is non-prime - which means you can wear it to with time and effort.

* If you are a warrior, understand that second wind is only useful to use when the command you have executed has a long period of lag, otherwise you are only costing yourself time and moves. Second winding everything will actually work against you.

* In the case of the last coliseum where there is 4 minutes without an orb... you will need to be more conservative, if you are a warrior, you may need to parry, to save wasting time on restores, or if you are a caster, maybe you need to look at stabbing to save mana.

* Log your coliseum runs with a timestamp from mudlet, clear counters before entering. Review each run, improvise, adapt, overcome. Criticize your own run, make a list of everything that went wrong and how you could do better. When Belrath first bet my level 9 score, I found over 10 problems / ways to make optimizations. There is always something that can be done better in a situation.

* Track your kill rate in the coliseum. For example to get a score of 75 in the last gauntlets 600 seconds, you need a kill rate of 8secs per mob. Optimize this rate, find new ways to kill certain mobs quicker.

* Understand that some runs are going to be better than others, sometimes you will miss an eqset change before an orb, or a mob aggros before you land a stab. A run can vary by 5-7 mobs without a single factor in your play style changing. Embrace the struggle.

* HARDCORE: (For Completeness) Buy hundreds of tokens of magic enhancement from the dream weaver to ensure every spell is masterful.

* If you suck at the coliseum don't forget the most important sloth rule, blame your failings on any thing else other than yourself.

Although some classes are naturally better in the coliseum - efficiency can improve your runs by 10 mobs without increases to any power.
Gimme a G! Gimme a ORKA!
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