I hit 36 after about 1,000 SY2 runs, so I thought I would share what I learned for those who are trying to cap before the next update in December. I realize some of this is common sense and well known, but I've done enough PUG runs to know that not everyone knows this stuff. My main is a damage + support engineer so I'd appreciate any input from Comm's, Op's and other Engie builds. (I do have a Comm and an Op alt, but they have been neglected while I capped my main, and so are still in Sloucho at this point.)
Edit: I neglected to say thank you to the many, many people that I did runs with and learned from. To my guild mates, you guys rock and always kept it fun despite the repetitiveness. Special thanks to a certain level 36 who jumped in a few times so the rest of us could get the XP bonus - you know who you are! There were also several non-guildies that I did grinding sessions with. If you were one of those people behind the toon, then thank you!
Here we go...
Maximizing XP/minute in SY2
Important: Always use the free daily elixer when it is available but wait for a team of 5 because there is a small XP bonus for a full team. (Edit: Per Apollo's Operative levelling guide, this is a 25% bonus!) There is already a nice guide on how to get a team of 5 via guild, friends list and PUG, so I'll just say that the below is done faster the more people you have, on top of the bonus for a full team. This can easily be done with 3 players, and I've even done it with 2. On solo runs, it is slower due to the AOE cool down and I died a few times trying to take on too many mobs with my green armor... Oops! Anyway, the point is that you really only need 3 players to do this quickly and effectively but it will obviously go faster with 4 and at 5 you get the bonus XP, which adds up over a few hundred runs.
Early SY2
The first turn takes you into the first 3 mobs, who are easy. Just keep running past them while shooting at them. Target the black robe guy first because his bombs hurt more than the others. (Note: As an engineer, I use pain to stun him. Ops can use Flames of Insanity or Lurch to do the same thing. Comm's shouldn't have a problem with their higher armor - save your AOE for the next group.) If you don't have a full team, use short cool down skills to blow through here but don't stop moving forward. The key is getting quickly to the second group of mobs, because once you get close to the 2 you can see, another 8 mobs appear, two at a time but on a delay. The faster you get here, the faster they start to appear, meaning the faster you can kill them and move on. The key detail is that whoever in the group gets here first should take the second turn and run into the larger room just far enough to trigger the mobs in the back of that room. Target one of them if you need to, but don't start AOE blasting until you drag them back into the previous room where your team is beating up on those delayed appearance guys. Once the 5 from the larger room follow you back, everyone can AOE and kill them all in one shot. By this time, the delayed appearances should be over and you can move on with no down time.
Important: Whoever runs into the larger room should not stay there and shoot. Drag them back to the others to maximize the AOE. You'll get plenty of kills doing this over and over!
Middle SY2
As you move on to the 3rd turn, there are 3 white robes and one black robe. As before, target the black robe first and use short cool down skills but keep moving. You do not need to stop here with a team of 3 or more if everyone is shooting as they will die as you run through. Worst case is they follow you anyway. As you move down the long hallway, there is a great pull opportunity.
Step 1: If there is a commando, he should try to be ahead of the group at this point to open the blast door as everyone else catches up. Only one player needs to run into the comm room to pull those mobs back to the group so let whoever opened the door do that. Again, don't stay in there killing them - pull them to the group so you don't miss the XP from the larger mob ahead. This step is completely optional, so don't worry if you have no comm. I did most of my runs without going into this room. (Note: The first chest in this room will be elite from time to time.)
Step 2: Whoever is in the lead (besides a Comm who stopped at the blast door) should keep running past the blast door. Mobs will appear behind you, but go past them and target the black robe by the chest (this chest will be elite crafting from time to time). Target him as you keep running down the hall past the large room towards the group of 7 between the first and second large rooms. Once you get far enough to trigger their aggression, pull them back by the chest where the black robe mob was. This is best done by someone using an elixer with a speed boost, but that is not required for this to be effective. (This step is also optional, but highly recommended).
Step 3: The next player through should auto attack the mobs appearing while running into the first large room. Target the black robe if the first player through didn't kill him. In the large room, there are 4 sets of 3 mobs that appear for a total of 12. Once the first set appears, head back towards the chest behind you and they will follow. (Note: The chest in the back of this room will be an elite crafting chest from time to time. I never worried about this while XP running though.)
Step 4: At this point, there should be a huge mob congregation outside of the first large room. If everyone waits and unleashes their AOE skills, this group will be blown to smithereens in seconds. Single target any that live through that blast and REMAKE! Whoever is remaking should prepare to do it as soon after the AOE blows through the huge mob. If you miss a few single kills, your teamates will thank you for the speedy remake. Don't do it before the AOE mob blast though or you will miss a lot of the XP!
Late SY2
This is definitely open to discussion, but based on how long my 5-minute freebie elixers lasted, I believe remaking after the first large room is the best way to go. With a fast team, I could get through 3.5 runs on a 5-minute elixer, which equates to 72 x 3 + 30 (for the .5 run) = 246 total XP, not counting the 5 mobs behind the comm door, and before any enhancer bonus. Some people prefer to remake after the second large room, and still others right before the boss. This is up to personal preference and I never suggested one over another when I was not the host, but personally, I believe that dragging the 7 mobs between the first and second large rooms back to the huge mob and then remaking is the best way to maximize XP over time.
Map:
http://http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/...f/07d7abc3.jpg
I hope this was helpful to those who are still grinding! Here is some more detail on my Engineer build designed to blow through SY2 but still be able to effectively do SY5 runs. Some of this is leftover from the armor analysis that I never finished, but it is applicable here too...
Engineer Specific Info:
My Build & Skills - Maximized for SY2
Note: This is a SY2 only build. I switch my gear for SY5 to 35 PlasmaTech for higher hit, crit and armor.
I put all stat points into INT. I did my runs mainly with the Engineer level 35 green armor set because each piece provides 7 STR and 11 INT. With the full set equipped, the plat damage implant, The Whistler (purple drop version), and a purple drop shield (I use Holo Array for higher hit %, but Energy Field Generator improves all stats except hit % and dodge). This gives me STR of 42, INT of 240 and DEX of 1. My other stats follow (PlasmaTech noted for comparison):
Hit % = 94% (Admittedly low compared to 105% with 35 purple gear, which explains my shield choice above)
Crit = 4 (Also admittedly low compared to 15 with 35 purple gear, but you don't need crit in SY2).
Dodge = 6 (3 with 35 purple; plat gives huge bonus)
Health = 525 (502)
H/s = 2 (no change, but higher INT should give small bonus)
Mana = 521 (471)
M/s = 2 (no change, but higher INT should give small bonus)
Damage = 70 to 108 (67 to 105)
DPS = 127 (123)
Armor: 611 (665)
Also, with the revive buff, the above stats get + 1 to M/s, Damage, DPS & Armor. The reason for this build is to maximize damage because it's the AOE that let's you fly through SY2. We'll get to that under skills.
Note: The Chain Saw Asault Rifle (purple drop) adds +4 on the low end and +9 on the high end to damage, but at the sacrifice of 3 hit%, 75 health, 25 mana, and 189 armor. In a run with 4 guild mates or friends I trust, I might prefer this but I really didn't test it. In a PUG run, I would take the survivability factor because you can farm stims here at the same time.
Skills & Layout - Maximized for SY2 & SY5
Pain = 1 (A pure SY2 build might raise this since the cool down is short)
Decay = 6
Wither = 4
Leech = 4 (5 at 36)
Empathy = 6
Transference = 6
Sonic Boom = 6 ( I respec'd to raise this at the cost of wither & leech)
Revive = 1
The other skills just are not helpful in SY2 because the mobs go down so easily. If you are not running with a full team, then as an engineer, make sure sure you cast pain on one mob and immediately switch your auto attack to a different mob so that the pain AOE blast will go off. If you kill the mob before the pain AOE blast, you will lose the big advantage of having a third AOE attack. With the level 35 Green armor as outlined above, I can take out a group of mobs between the pain blast, sonic boom and transference. You'll probably have to wait for pain to go off before using the other two so you don't accidentally kill the one that you used pain on, but use transference first to get your health back if necessary, then sonic boom to finish them off. The cool down is long on sonic boom so you can also use that before transference if it won't take out your pain blast and you have plenty of health.
Thanks for reading!
