LonelyKDOp's guide to build a zero death leaderboard alt

[Crummypaladin]

This is a general guide to understanding what it takes to make your mark on the KD leaderboards, as learned by my Operative alt, LonelyKDOp.

First, I would like to thank AFK/Bubu for showing me the ropes back in the beta days :-)

What you need:
Reliable connection
Platinum
Patience

RELIABLE CONNECTION
I remade Pocketlegends (my Commando main character) at least a dozen times before I gave up on him. My internet seemed to know right when I got into the middle of a mob and... dc death. I upgraded my router twice, ended up learning more than I ever wanted to about wireless settings but couldn’t get a reliable connection. One day, when I couldn’t connect, I logged into my routers guest account. I have not had any problems since then. It may be the security requirements on the normal account are more strict than on the guest account, but since it started maintaining a reliable connection, I didn’t care. PL had capped by then and I didn’t want to remake him (again) so I made my Op, LonelyKDOp and the rest is history!
Anyway, it is possible to still make a KD toon with an unreliable connection if you have a lot of engi friends, and they don’t mind running with you and not killing. I have friends who are in that situation and I feel for them... I know how much those dc deaths make you wanna break your phone or tablet... And it makes the kill farming much slower being at the mercy of your engi friends. But hang in there if this is you... Leaderboard spots are still possible

PLATINUM
Your best friend is the 30 minute 2X damage enhancer. Dead guys don’t shoot back. Again not completely required, but the one hit kills greatly improve the speed at which you rack up your kills. When you get to level 39, farming kills in Voleria, although not impossible, is completely not practical. If you were to just farm the first four or five bad guys in any level, it would still take you at least 45-60 seconds to solo kill. So let’s say 5 kills a minute... you would need 2000 minutes or about 33 hrs just to get 10K kills. Once you get to level 39, the best way to kill farm is utilizing a 5 min XP anywhere enhancer. You can get between 3200 and 4400 kills per hour depending on your class. You should be able to have over 50K kills by the time you reach level 39. See kill reference table below.

Once you get to level 39, and are kill farming in Cycorp 5. Kill to 53 bad guys. That’s 24 kills in just under a half a minute. If you’re super rich and plat is never a concern, you could start farming here as early as level 8. But it’s very dangerous, even with armor enhancer until you are at least level 20. Op’s can farm 3000-3800 kills per hour. They are the slowest since it is single kill hits. Engi’s actually do a little better with their two AOE spells, they can get 3400-4000 kills per hour. Comms are the best, being able to get 3800-4400 kills per hour. These kill rates are with the 2x damage enhancer. They can be slightly boosted (except for the Op) with a speed enhancer, up to 200 more per hour.

If you use the 30 minute speed and strength enhancers, and six 5 min XP anywhere enhancers, it costs 40 plat per half hour. Or 80 plat per hr which is 3200-4400 kills. Op’s don’t benefit from the speed enhancer so it’s 70 plat per hour. Basically 200 plat gets me about 10K kills and takes about three hours of lonely grinding...

By the time I started farming Cycorp 5, I was glad to have people join. As a matter of fact, it’s a great way to power level. If it’s a players first character, I recommend they not power level, or they miss out on learning to use the new skills they get. They will not be as good a player without the real experience of leveling. However many players have alts, which you can power level from level 8 to level 18 in about 30 minutes. As a matter of fact, if you have an alt in that range that you would like power leveled, add LonelyKDOP I spent enough time doing the solo runs, I like when I have company! Just stay where you spawned and you’ll be safe and get the XP. And remember... I’m buying the kills, so I won’t chat much.

PATIENCE
When it comes to the play of a KD toon, your runs will be very lonely. Since you are trying to get every single kill and minimize your XP gain, you have to do solo runs, or at least do runs with friends you know will not kill steal. Also, you do not want to level quickly, its all about the kills, not the experience points. In fact, you want to level as slow as you can, NEVER get the experience enhancers (until you reach level 39). You should only kill the first map of each dungeon, avoid the boss, and repeat. Do this until you can no longer get XP. For example you would do Dynastar labs, level 1 until your character reached level 8. The reason for this is because bad guys are worth less than one XP as you reach higher levels.

Each dungeon series has a recommended level. For example, Red Sun is recommended level 6-10. If you are level 6, you will get 1 XP per kill in Red Sun 1. For the second and third character levels (in this case 7 and 8), you will get 2/3 XP per kill for the bad guys in Red Sun 1. For the last two recommended character levels (9 and 10), you will get 1/2 XP per kill. If you stay in Red Sun 1 beyond the recommended levels (11 and 12) you only get 1/3 XP per kill. Basically you are getting 3 kills per XP. Very slow leveling, but its all about the kills, not the XP. There are a couple dungeon series, like Shipyard, where you can still get XP if you are 3 levels above recommended (level 38 in this case). For those few dungeons, you get 1/4 XP per kill.

DO’s
-Buy 2X damage elixer especially when moving to new maps and always have the best weapon
-Equip the best armor, when starting a new map (moving from Red Sun to Cycorp) buy 2X armor enhancer if you can afford it
-Run only the first level of each dungeon series
-Continue running that level until you no longer gain XP.
-Have shortcut texts for KD farming

Don’ts
-Don’t kill by using barrels or cannons. You will get the XP for the kill, but not credit for the kill.
-If you are using enhancers, you’re paying for the time... don’t open chests or open doors. Also, minimize chat. Something I used a lot.../g “going kd farming, chat log going to one line”. When you need to chat, it’s two buttons to get back to town. Pop into B* and take care of your chat. Don’t burn your enhancers chatting.
-Don’t boot players that join if you don’t take the time to password protect. Another text shortcut I had was “Kill farming, plz don’t kill”. If a joining player still kills, remake.
-Don’t Die

Remake Points
There are many ways to do this and multiple remake points. I’m not saying these are the best, but they’re the ones I did.
Dynastar 1 – straight thru, remake at 8 left
Red Sun 1 – at split go right then up the middle, take out two guys in teleporter, then left for three at barrel, back right kill two more at teleporter, further right to trigger door but go down and kill two by chest, back up to kill the three by the triggered door... remake at 7 (sometimes 6 if you timed guys from teleporter right)
Cycorp 1 – straight through (gotta open door by spawn area) remake at 49 left
Delta 1 – Clear room on right, then up past lifeless miner. Go right to trigger rockslide, killing while it stops movement. Continue to room on far right to kill the five in there, then back out and up to kill the 6 that spawn from the grates. Remake at 29.
Numa 1 – straight up, kill the 12 dogs that spawn from holes, remake at 78
Slouch 1 – Circle clockwise into room with supply crate, clear guys in this room and remake at 26
Shipyard 1 – Many may disagree with me here, but I did the full level, remake at 0
Cycorp 5 – Circle counter clockwise. Get close enough for the cannon to shoot at you and then double back. This will trigger both spawning grates. Remake at 53

Kill reference table
These kills listed below are a ballpark of what you should have if you are getting the maximum kills for the least XP.

Lvl......XP.....Farm In...Kills...........Lvl.......XP.....Farm In Kills
1-2.....8.......Dyna 1....8............21-22....495....Delta 1...12073
2-3.....16.....Dyna 1....32...........22-23....515....Delta 1...13618
3-4.....42.....Dyna 1....95...........23-24....536....Numa 1....14422
4-5.....68.....Dyna 1....231..........24-25....557....Numa 1....15536
5-6.....94.....Dyna 1....419..........25-26....570....Numa 1....16676
6-7.....120...Dyna 1....779...........26-27....602....Numa 1....18482
7-8.....146...Dyna 1....1217.........27-28....626....Numa 1....20360
8-9.....172...Red 1.....1475.........28-29....651....Slouch 1..21337
9-10...198...Red 1.....1871.........29-30....677....Slouch 1..22691
10-11..224...Red 1.....2319.........30-31....704....Slouch 1..24099
11-12..250...Red 1.....3069.........31-32....732....Slouch 1..26295
12-13..276...Red 1.....3897.........32-33....761....Slouch 1..28578
13-14..302...Cycorp 1..4350........33-34....791....Shipyd 1..29764
14-15..328...Cycorp 1..5006........34-35....823....Shipyd 1..31410
15-16..354...Cycorp 1..5714........35-36....856....Shipyd 1..33122
16-17..380...Cycorp 1..6854........36-37....1284...Shipyd 1..36974
17-18..406...Cycorp 1..8072........37-38....1798...Shipyd 1..42368
18-19..432...Delta 1...8720.........38-39....2338...Shipyd 1..51720
19-20..458...Delta 1...9636..........39-40....2806...Cycorp 5..62944
20-21..476...Delta 1...10588........40-41....28000..Cycorp 5..174944

Good luck to you all! See you in Blackstar (or cycorp 5 if I'm on lonely:-)