A Solo TR Leveling Quest Guide

[kuro_zero]

Having finished my first completionist, I thought I'd share my general TR Quest list to the general public for possible improvements and suggestions. Also interjected some newbie friendly advice on several quests to assist with those unfamiliar with zerg/rapid completion tactic for that particular quest.

This list is based off of the work of Carpone in this thread. I altered it for solo play and adjusted level ranges after quest ransack penalties were introduced. It is nowhere near as efficient as his, and hovers in the 1500 XP/Min range which I'll take for primarily solo.

Using this format, it typically takes me about 40 hours of in-quest time (timed by XP potions) to cap to 20. Inventory, running to quests, etc. I'd put it at 50 game hours even. Real life time for me is 11 days (helps I can play at work :P ).

This is a (very) rough guide right now, as things are pretty fluid with the Quest XP Ransack. I'll sometimes jump up and run some quests reserved for later levels, or if haven't played in a few days re-run some lower level farm quests. I am planning on building a Monkcher so while I TR to stack several PL to assist in that I plan on refining the list.

The list assumes a Greater Tome of Learning, Elite Streak, and 20% XP Potions. I also use a 2nd account that holds several key farmable open, as well as sharing quests in explorer areas to red-door them (like the desert walkups and Wiz-king).

Run Korthos quests and Collaborator on Elite to build/rebuild up streak. Take level 2 (do a 2nd Collaborator run on Hard if not enough) then continue with list. Don't forget the cheap rez cake by trading in Old Sully's Grog. If you already have an elite streak going, skip this to the end before you TR again for the cheap rez cake.

Level 1:
Stealing the Lost Tome e, 4n, h (Electricity Protection potions help on elite)

Level 2:
Haverdaher e
Information is Key e, 4n, h

Level 3:
Durk's Got a Secret e, 4n, h (Invis to each Kobold Brother for Devious bonus, Fire Protection Pots to run through trap)
Garrison's Missing Pack e (Invis to end)
Butcher's Path e (Cannith Crafted Detect Secret Door trinket useful)
Stealthy Repossession e, 4n, h (Yup, invis. 0 Kills for Ingenious, jump on top of crates to finish out)

Level 4:
Kobold's New Ringleader e, 4h, n (Aggression by killing kobolds before Ogre, shortcut over crates)
Waterworks 1-4 e (with 50 slayers, don't check for rares. Skip inquest optionals)
Waterworks 1-4 h (100 slayers)

Level 5:

Shan-to-kor 1-3 e
Part 2 can invis straight through to key, re-invis and run to the end fight. Fire protection pots help. Careful of wolves trip, and boss hits hard.
Part 3 Detect Secret Doors trinket (clickie not high enough). Ranged weapon to lower bridge. Acid and Fire protection pots, also Jump helps
Tangleroot 5a e, 5n, h (invis, requires opener)
Tangleroot 6a e, 5n, h (invis, requires opener)

Level 6:
House Denith Depths chain 1-4 e
House Kunderak quests (Ever Full Flagon tavern quests except Taming the Flames) 1-4 e
Tomb of the Sanguine Heart e
Tomb of the Crimson Heart e
Tomb of the Immortal Heart e 4n, h

Level 7:
STK 3 4h, n (Requires opener)
Delera's 1 e (Skip beginning levers using jump)
Delera's 2 e, 4n, h (Hireling or pet required for lever. Skip optionals)
Delera's 3 e
Tear of Dhakaan e, 4n, h (Kill only around named bosses. Invis past rest. There are 14 Hobgoblins at the end fight to reach the 100 needed for quest completion)


Level 8:
Bloody Crypt
Redwillow's Ruin e (Invis to each boss/quest item, skirting map edges to avoid scorpions. DDoor helps return to turn them in. Skip Drow Optional)
Greymoon 1-4 e
Co6 1-6 e

Level 9:
Delera's 4 e, 4n, h
Haunted Library e, 4n, h

Level 10:
VoN 1-2 e
Tomb of the Shadow Guard e
Tomb of the Shadow King e
Tomb of the Shadow Knight e, 4h, n (only with trapper)

Level 11: Start banking levels
Von 3-4 e
Shadow Crypt (Requires opener) 5e, h, n
Fathom the Depths e, 4h, n (Invis, DD before pulling lever. Gelatinous Cube optional on normal runs only)

Level 12:
VoN 3 4e h, n
And the Dead Shall Rise e, 4h, n
The Enemy Within e
Purge the Fallen Shrine e, 4h, n
Chamber of Korush 4e, h, n (Invis to end, pick up seal for later Wiz King runs)
Chamber of Ramuth 4e, h, n (As above, keep seal for Wiz King)
Maraud the Mines 4e, h, n (Invis, DD helpful to shed Dungeon Alert)
Offering of Blood e, h (No optionals/side chests)

Level 13:
Wiz King e, 4n, h (All towers/optionals. Previous seals help bypass Djinn annoying whirlwind invulnerable phase)
Diplomatic Impunity e, 2h, n (2nd Account cuts 3 minutes off completion time)
Frame Work e, 4h, n (Invis, kill only Minotaur, Repair +13 item helps lower needed ballista parts)
Eyes of Stone e, 4h, n (2x Scepter of the Fleshweaver)
Assault on Summerfield e
Blockade Buster 5e, h, n (Invis, DD after each ship)
Relic of a Sovereign Past e (Non-combat end optional, skip locked wing and summoners)

Level 14:
Giant Hold Saga 1 Elite

Level 15:
Giant Hold Saga Hard
Giant Hold Saga Elite
Desecrated Temple of Vol e, 4n, h
Ghost of Perdition e, 4n, h
Inferno of the Damned e, h, n

Level 16:
Giant Hold Saga Elite
Missing e, 4h, n
Giant Hold Saga Elite (Level to 17 before taking saga reward)

Level 17:
Rainbow in the Dark e, h
Ritual Sacrifice e
Coalescence Chamber e
Let Sleeping Dust Lie e

To wrap up level 17 you can either do another GH saga, or farm the quests listed in the level 15 and 16 entries on elite if ransack is gone (takes 2 days). Ideally you would do Litany of the Dead e, 4h, n but requires having a completed sigil. I haven't found a decent way to solo Fleshmaker's Lab reliably so unfortunately I can't guarantee a completed sigil on a particular life.

Level 18:
Running with the Devils e, 4h, n (Requires some luck and lots of burst AOE damage. Invis to the levers, and then run to the shrine. Sorc/Wiz ideal, but cleric/FvS with BB, Comet Fall, and Firestorm is doable as well. Includes devil portal optional)
Enter the Kobold e, 4n, h (Firestorm Greaves or Cannith Crafted fire absorbtion item helpful on elite)

I think this leaves you a bit short to cap, so I think I did some IQ quests to cap. Level 15+ isn't quite right - I know I do alot of Giant Hold sagas but exactly what and when is not exactly correct.

[Uska]

Nice guide and shows why I'll never be a quick TR I hate repeating quests so much but it is a quick way to do it if people wish

[MangLord]

That seems not fun at all. I have no problem easily capping after a couple of the Wheloon quests and some quests in Vale. I hardly ever run a quest twice, unless I'm in a PUG that wants to run something I already ran. I enjoy clearing explorers and rares in most wilderness areas, just running them solo, and usually get the 750 slayer xp for everything except Restless Isles. I'd probably be more efficient but I tend to solo 75% of the content and my static group has either already gotten completionist or doesn't care to. They almost all run epic only.

I should state that my main character is 7th life, and with the exception of barbarian, I've mostly enjoyed each class. Barbarian might have been more fun, but I played it as my 2nd life with the old enhancement system, and I was constantly held or feared. I screwed around a lot with TRing a couple other characters and probably could have gotten completionist by now, but I don't really care. It probably takes me 3-4 weeks to TR, but I enjoy the ride through each class. I managed to TR through monk in just over two weeks, and I felt like I was cheating the whole time.

I have no problem playing each quest once on elite, with a bravery bonus, doing explorers and rares in most wilderness areas, and capping midway through level 16 quests. I skip a good amount of stuff, namely Threnal, Restless Isles and Necro 3. I haven't run a pot yet on this life, and I'm on course to cap without playing through quests I don't like. I usually save the Gianthold elite saga reward for level 17, since I don't enjoy In The Flesh or most of the Harbinger chain. Getting S/R/E in most of the FR wilderness saves me the trouble, and its very easy compared to at level elites.

Generally I have an idea of what class I'm going to do next life, so I save a good 20-30 items, mostly weapons, I find on the way to 20. I have to guess that this helps somewhat. For example, I hung on to a lot of choice greataxes for fighter life, having an idea of a dwarf kensei in mind. I wound up going 12fighter/8cleric, and I really enjoyed soloing with that build.

Its really not grindy at all to reach level 20 anymore, which I totally love. Enjoy more of the content and don't treat it like work. It feels like work if I have to run a quest three times in a row.

[kuro_zero]

Its really not grindy at all to reach level 20 anymore, which I totally love. Enjoy more of the content and don't treat it like work. It feels like work if I have to run a quest three times in a row.

Different strokes for different folks. This guide is not for you, but it is how I enjoy the game.

[Cardtrick]

Thanks for sharing this list, it's very interesting and well laid out. I look back at Carpone's old threads every once in a while, but they're way out of date, and they never really applied too much to solo players.

I don't usually run like this -- more often than not, I run every quest once on elite for Bravery Bonus. Most of the times, I'm in the mood for variety rather than optimum XP/min.

But sometimes I just want to zerg, or I want to level my way out of an awkward spot in a build. A resource like this is really helpful for that.

Can I ask for some details on how you, as a solo efficient leveler, use your opener?

I have a second premium account that currently owns just Necro1, Necro2, and Delara's, and I leave that guy flagged for Bloody Crypt, Shadow Crypt, and Delara's part 2. I don't take him inside for those quests, just use him to open them up for my main. That works great for Bloody/Shadow, and I suppose that's probably the best way to do things, right?

But for Delara's, I'm not sure. It's usually worth it to me to run the whole chain there, even parts 1 and 3, because i want a chain end reward (ideally account-bound DR-breaking quarterstaffs for crafting), and because even part 1 is worth doing once on elite with BB. I'm thinking that maybe the best way to do this is take my alternate guy inside with me for Delara's 1 on elite, then use him to open Delara's part 2 for as many repetitions as I feel like doing, but bring him inside for my final run of part 2. Bring him inside for part 3. Use him as an opener for part 4, but again let him finish that one on the last run. In other words -- don't use him to hold a particular quest open like I do with Bloody/Shadow Crypts, but instead have him tag along for the ride on some of the actual Delara runs. Each life or alt on my main account, the secondary guy goes through the whole chain once. Does that make sense? Otherwise, it seems like I'd need to have 2 alts to hold open part 2 and part 4 all the time, and that's frankly more work than I want to put into my second account (unless I buy vet status for it or something).

Thanks for the tip on using the 2nd account on Diplomatic Immunity. That's brilliant. The run back in that quest is deeply annoying.

Soloing Fleshmaker's is definitely a pain. I've never been able to do it without wings. Even with wings, it sometimes takes me a couple of tries to coordinate the hireling properly. But it's very good XP when you can manage it. Also, I actually think that a couple of Orchard slayer/rare/explorer runs can be worthwhile -- they're easy, there's a chance at sigil pieces, and the XP/minute is unusually good for an explorer zone.

For the L15+ stuff that you say isn't quite right -- have you tried doing a heroic Forgotten Realms saga? I know the XP over there isn't great, but with bravery bonus / tome of learning / saga reward, it seems like a single elite run through might be worthwhile.

[Jasparion]

We have tried many different things over the years, but these days we just run all the dungeons we like on E, then repeat the good XP ones on H and that is more than enough XP to get right through to 20.

Occasionally you may also need an N to get you over the line, but since the change in XP we have not needed to.

[kuro_zero]

Thanks for sharing this list, it's very interesting and well laid out. I look back at Carpone's old threads every once in a while, but they're way out of date, and they never really applied too much to solo players.

Yes, I did the same, and as you say his was geared towards 2-3 TRs splitting up objectives. Because his thread is so out of date, and his stating he wasn't going to update it (or if he's even playing anymore) I felt it was a good time to throw my modifications to it here.

Can I ask for some details on how you, as a solo efficient leveler, use your opener?

I have a second premium account that currently owns just Necro1, Necro2, and Delara's, and I leave that guy flagged for Bloody Crypt, Shadow Crypt, and Delara's part 2. I don't take him inside for those quests, just use him to open them up for my main. That works great for Bloody/Shadow, and I suppose that's probably the best way to do things, right?

My set up is a bit different. I normally don't do Bloody Crypt as its a very long quest by one's lonesome, and one that defiinately benefits from more than one person splitting up to complete. Although I'll have to look into it for a hefty chunk of XP with BB and first time elite bonuses.

For Shadow Crypt my 2nd account has a "runner" (Bladeforged 7Wiz/2Pal/2Rog who doesn't level past lvl 11 for BB. I will probably change this to 9Sor/2Pal for more SP) while my main account has the opener. I log the opener, enter on my runner, switch main account to whoever I'm leveling. Firewall+Fireball and DD makes it much easier to run through as I primarily play melee characters, especially against those god awful annying phase spiders.

Keep in mind my 2nd account does have all packs, standard edition of the expansions (hence bladeforged), and 15 character slots to play with (10 Mules). I'll throw up a detailed description on how I use this account in the next post.

But for Delara's, I'm not sure. It's usually worth it to me to run the whole chain there, even parts 1 and 3, because i want a chain end reward (ideally account-bound DR-breaking quarterstaffs for crafting), and because even part 1 is worth doing once on elite with BB. I'm thinking that maybe the best way to do this is take my alternate guy inside with me for Delara's 1 on elite, then use him to open Delara's part 2 for as many repetitions as I feel like doing, but bring him inside for my final run of part 2. Bring him inside for part 3. Use him as an opener for part 4, but again let him finish that one on the last run. In other words -- don't use him to hold a particular quest open like I do with Bloody/Shadow Crypts, but instead have him tag along for the ride on some of the actual Delara runs. Each life or alt on my main account, the secondary guy goes through the whole chain once. Does that make sense? Otherwise, it seems like I'd need to have 2 alts to hold open part 2 and part 4 all the time, and that's frankly more work than I want to put into my second account (unless I buy vet status for it or something).

I do do 1 complete run of Delera's, but I have crappy luck getting DR breaking Q-staffs from it lol. I have much better luck with Co6 But yes, you need 2 alts to hold pt2 and pt4 all the time. Pt1 and pt3 elite with BB are decent XP, even a pt3 hard run isn't bad but not worth having an opener for.

See my next post for complete details.

Thanks for the tip on using the 2nd account on Diplomatic Immunity. That's brilliant. The run back in that quest is deeply annoying.

Very. Even with DD its annoying to have to run back to the root wall. Not sure if you got the hint, but basicially you enter with main, invis run to the beach and talk to the guy. Enter with 2nd account, talk to Henrietta, and have him exit the quest. There is no XP penalty for exiting a quest, only by re-entering. Advance to the root wall, and since your main is only one in the quest, you advance the "Gather Party" requirement and can run to the end fight.

Soloing Fleshmaker's is definitely a pain. I've never been able to do it without wings. Even with wings, it sometimes takes me a couple of tries to coordinate the hireling properly. But it's very good XP when you can manage it. Also, I actually think that a couple of Orchard slayer/rare/explorer runs can be worthwhile -- they're easy, there's a chance at sigil pieces, and the XP/minute is unusually good for an explorer zone.

All of Necro4 is very good XP, but yea the end of Fleshmakers is a pain. S/R/E in orchard is definately decent, and if you just check/hit Caravan and rats can rack up lots of slayers in a short time, especially if running a slayer count boost. It is an option, but one I would do if my XP potion is running/ran out and pop a slayer count boost.

For the L15+ stuff that you say isn't quite right -- have you tried doing a heroic Forgotten Realms saga? I know the XP over there isn't great, but with bravery bonus / tome of learning / saga reward, it seems like a single elite run through might be worthwhile.

The XP doesn't bother me so much, since with BB/Tome/Saga/Potion, etc the base XP is only a large factor in farming. My main issue with those quests is the insane scaling on Elite - insane amount of trash mobs with insane amounts of HP. I primarily play melee on my main, so its painfully slow having to whittle away at the HP bags. It is definately something I'll look into, however, since I believe some of them are getting a boost in the next XP adjustment pass and might work a Bladeforged Sorc on 2nd account to blast through it.

[Oxarhamar]

To wrap up level 17 you can either do another GH saga, or farm the quests listed in the level 15 and 16 entries on elite if ransack is gone (takes 2 days). Ideally you would do Litany of the Dead e, 4h, n but requires having a completed sigil. I haven't found a decent way to solo Fleshmaker's Lab reliably so unfortunately I can't guarantee a completed sigil on a particular life.
.

This bit right here the solution to solo Fleshmakers is either to use a hireling for the runes or use Arti or Druid pup even at 1 level splash the pup are great lever pullers and can expand the number of quests you can solo that have levers.

Skipping Litany is a NO NO

In your OP you ask for and tips or advice to improve the system and it was my fault for just advising against leveling like this without going into detail. Still its far from most efficient solo XP.