When To Switch To Terror Zones (Hint: At Level ...)

Diablo 2 Resurrected Terror Zones forever changed the game of Diablo, enabling players to power level to 99.
One of the biggest questions I still get is when should I switch to Terror Zones?
🎬 In this video, here is what you will learn:
1️⃣ The primary target level to switch
2️⃣ Brief review of Terror Zones & Tiers
3️⃣ A data-driven approach and considerations
4️⃣ Why even an F-Tier Terror Zone can still be valuable
🎙️ENGAGE WITH ME🎙️
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🎮 - Follow me on TWITCH: / warth3ory
💬 - Join me on DISCORD: / discord
📺 - Subscribe to me on KZbin: / @warth3ory
💢 - Join the Horde and become an active Member: / @warth3ory
🥈LINKS & RESOURCES🥈
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► Maxroll D2R Experience Calculator ➡️ maxroll.gg/d2/...
► Diablo 2 Experience Fundamentals ➡️ maxroll.gg/d2/...
► Maxroll D2R Terror Zone Tier List ➡️ maxroll.gg/d2/...
🏆CREDITS🏆
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✅Shadow for production and creative support
Thank you for watching. Before you go, remember to subscribe and hit the notification bell for more Diablo 2 guides and tips!
#Warth3ory #Diablo2Resurrected #Diablo2 #D2R

[@bobnewkirk7003]

Fantastic showcase and I agree with your assessment for EXP. However I fall into the latter camp that is more interested in loot than the race to 99, so I'll be making the switch at 91 for the most part outside of poor MF TZs. Now that we can make caster amulets at 90 with TZ amulets it just doubles down on the priority for me.

[@WarTh3ory]

The amulet adjustment was a godsend - spot on. Getting to 91 is pretty straightforward, and I know many stop there and focus on crafting/farming. I haven't been personally motivated to make the 99 push, but who knows. Cheers, Bob.

[@Sangoreborn]

They usually come together, when I did 99 pre-season 1, I found so much loot I didn't know where to put it. (Tz Didn't exist yet, so that took me 2 months)

[@WarTh3ory]

@@Sangoreborn Sango, you are, and always have been, a gifted animal of a D2 player. So glad we go way back - hope you are well!

[@xijinpig7978]

Allahu Akbar to you and family

[@WarTh3ory]

@@xijinpig7978 Cheers to you, Xijin.

[@Mark-ru7kc]

94: Do all good/great TZ or if you have a baaler do all TZ solo in high level baal games, If you don't, do chaos in baal games only killing elites and join for last baal waves if you're quick 95: Do all good/great TZ or if you have a baaler do all TZ solo in high level baal games, If you don't, do chaos in baal games only killing elites and join for last baal waves if you're quick, group TZ > baaling 96: Do all TZ solo if you have a high level baaler, solo chaos in 8P games will be slightly less exp but breaks up monotony of just TZs, 1P solo TZ in a bad zone slightly more exp than 1 solo cbaal 97: Solo 1P TZ > full baal games, don't waste your time doing baaling unless you want to chill and watch YT. solo chaos in 8P baal games ~1/2 to 1/3 the exp of TZ. 98: only do TZ no matter what

[@WarTh3ory]

Hey, Mark. Thanks for sharing your framework. Multiple ways to skin the cat and not right vs. wrong. Spot on that you always want to focus on Elite hunting at the later levels, even from a TZ perspective. At level 95--96, when looking at Non-TZ Chaos & Baal runs, even just power-farming Elites, it will not be as advantageous as most TZs, even "perceived" low-tier zones. Example below: At level 95 (to get to 96), you would need to slay 178,942 Champion Venom Lords (Chaos or Worldstone) vs. 70-90K Elite Fallen in a Blood Moor for example. So, generally speaking, if you have the right group and elite hunt in TZs, you are going to eclipse standard CBaals. The beauty of this is that a lot of folks who power 99 have created frameworks just like you described and love that people have found personal ways that work for them. Appreciate you sharing this friend. Cheers, and thanks for watching.

[@Mark-ru7kc]

@@WarTh3ory The only hitch with the math is the practical application. If you're running solo TZs in baal games you need the runner to be a high enough level, you need the game to fill up, you need the speed of the baal run to match your speed of clearing the tz, exp is inconsistent if you don't get a lot of champ packs and you can't full clear the zone and most importantly for puggers you can't have other people doing the tz and stealing kills (unless it's something like frigid and one goes north and the other goes south). It's pretty easy to find baal games where no one is running chaos and it doesn't matter what level the runner is because the mobs are always the same level. If the runners are slow worst thing that happens is you get the exp from the last couple baal waves. If you have a group of 8 people working together TZ is definitely the right thing to do but most people I'm sure are operating with 1-3 people in their group and will have to ad lib the running strat.

[@WarTh3ory]

@@Mark-ru7kc We are virtually saying one and the same thing here. I agree with you that not everything is always perfect or practical; just a function of the situation. Are you solo? Do you have a power group of 8? What is the TZ slate that day, can you find the right pub runs, etc etc. Math is indeed a model, however, I did a stress test myself with a personal friend group having permeated different solutions/frameworks/areas. There is not a one-size-fits-all here as it depends on the variables in play in real-time to your point and some TZs being FAR superior in density to others. Without a doubt, both practically and mathematically/statistically speaking, at clvl95+, you are generally netting far more exponential experience impact powering TZs vs Elite hunting in CBAALs even in a Full P8 game doing it solo. This is why I am still steadfast in that point. I know you called out clvl98+ TZ only which I also agree with naturally per the clvl95 comment. For me the perfect inflection is starting TZs more heavily at 94, and at 95, trying to purely focus there under the right conditions. Appreciate you sharing your experience and insight. All of this makes for a more advanced and healthy Diablo community. The core of the video was to provide a data-driven model to answer this question which I still see often about when to start TZs. If I were to slice this answer in 20 different ways deducing scenarios, it would create multiple potential fringe outputs, but I avoided this as it starts to diverge from the core of the point which is meant to address in the majority of situations "what should I do". Cheers, Mark.

[@pikip1ki]

Nice video man ! 94lvl is good to jump tzone, expect if u have good fellas to run baalruns with. In that case i would say 95lvl is when to switch tzones. My advice is based on +30 x 99lvl chars our group has done.

[@WarTh3ory]

Thanks, Piki! Definitely know you guys push the ladder and align that 95 could be the right sweet spot for your framework. Congrats on another good season friend, cheers.

[@hellfish9227]

Thanks for your insights. Its fantastic how much depth Terror Zones brought to this game.

[@WarTh3ory]

I remember my first immediate reaction being a skeptic, but it really did help change the meta on farming and power-leveling - cheers, and thank for watching Wizzy.

[@kosterix123]

not really, just saved everybody a lot of time.

[@honeybadger036]

But its Den of Evil 🤢🤮 😂 Jokes. No seriously, I must be missing something. Why is blood moor F tier for Terrorized zones? I might be wrong, but when you are high enough level, that little fallen is gonna drop everything in the game, and surely kill speed is more important than anything else then right? Sure mob density might not be great in blood moor, but look at cold plains, that place is swarming with fallen, all tightly packed. The way the game was originally designed BEFORE terror zones, makes higher acts more and more difficult, in terms of killing monsters. Not just because the monsters get more health and damage, but because of little tweaks to monster defence, resistance, more aggressive AI and pathing conditions, faster movement speed, to name but a few. All of these factors are largely ignored when monsters are scaled up by terror zones. Making the lower act monsters more and more beneficial to target for kill speed as you get higher and higher. For this reason, I'd say if anything terror zones have turned the game upside down. The most lucrative parts of the game to farm are now almost all in act 1. With a few here and there in act 2 and almost only the flayer jungle in Act 3. Also, this tool at 01:17 is great, but what about a FOH paladin? Its on a totally different level. There should be a FOHDIN option too, because as you know magic resistance/immunity is completely ignored against demons and undead. But animals are always immune. Sidenote: Maxroll character planner adds dclone's magic resistance into the time to kill equation when using holy bolt. It probably does this with all the other bosses too. Completely different sidenote: Maxroll character planner also uses an amazons attack rating to determine kill speed while using the impale skill, which no longer needs attack rating. simple test, add points into "Penetrate" skill and watch the time to kill reduce significantly.

[@WarTh3ory]

Lots to unpack here, Honey Badger! Everyone will have different weights, I kept the theme consistent using Maxroll's evaluation. No framework is a commandment or gospel, as it depends on how you weigh different vectors of the decision process. Blood Moor + Den of Evil has 7-9 Elites plus Corpsefire as a Super Unique, so it gets slept on from a Terrorized Zone standpoint. You nailed a fundamental which I called out on monster scaling and their personal enhancement. And as you astutely noted, many often overlook this. It is the "perceived" bias of certain zones that folk want to power or ignore. What is exciting vs. boring. The bottom line is if you are power farming you get at minimum to clvl91 and follow the Terror Zones like if you were pushing for 99. But it is all about personal preference on your rotational sequencing and what you want to do. Offline having the benefit of TZ control. On the FoH front, take it up with Maxroll :) - the holy damage is obviously unique to your point. But as it is ineffective on Animals, it does limit your TZ rotations. Power Melts Pits & Chaos, though. The planner tool is excellent, but it does have its issue with calculating DPS, among a few other nuances. So I take it as a proxy (Directional), which is all you need. Good to see you, friend - thanks for watching. War

[@donaldmack2307]

Back in the day I found a WF in DOE. Or one of those caves in A1. Almost hyperventilated lol. Probably did. It was a long time ago.

[@alaskanmalamute101]

94? I've been in terror zones since like 85 lol

[@WarTh3ory]

Hi, Alaska. This video isn't suggesting you can't power TZs for Sunders or Magic Find (which I hit at the end), but for Experience, you gain the most impact at 93-94+ and beyond vs. your standard alvl 85 CBaals. Doing them at 85 won't hurt you, but you do not gain significant benefits on experience. Really up to the player what they want to do, and focus on. Cheers friend.

[@mikehawk8984]

Hmm. I definitely think it is a bit subjective. I usually play weird builds and do it HC single player SSF, so with a lot of my builds the high exp farming areas I either straight up can't do or could likely get me killed lol. Love the introduction of TZ into the game, and allows me to get some crazy loot drops and good exp doing my stupid MF runs of flayer jungle or something 😂

[@WarTh3ory]

100% - in the end it’s up to a variety of variables. A handful of XP runners have also validated from their own POVS that they concur around 94. It ultimately depends on your objective. Cheers.

[@flamerollerx01]

When are the online non-ladder servers supposed to get the new runewords? Haven't gotten a single one since resurrected came out. They even said they were supposed to be available the season after the one they are released in, but they aren't. I've tried to make one, though I forgot which, but it was two seasons after it came out, so it was overkill to try that specific one. This is strange, because terror zones are available on the non-ladder servers, as well as those charms that break immunity, which also came out after the runeword I tried to make. It was the correct base too. I quit playing entirely because this feels like a huge slap in the face.

[@WarTh3ory]

I understand your frustration. It can be disappointing when promised updates don't come through as expected. There has not been any mention of this explicitly. However, they are available offline (Singleplayer). When Ladder characters convert to Non-Ladder, you can trade for all of the 2.6 RWs, for what its worth. Cheers, Flame.

[@dabakrada5077]

Excellent Content! My druid is 94 and can do some terror zones. I need to do more of those zones. If its an area I enjoy of course.

[@WarTh3ory]

Thank you for the support and for watching Daba. And you nailed it - really about the enjoyment vs. feeling forced.

[@hibbity_hooblah]

Great video. Answered all my questions

[@WarTh3ory]

Awesome! I'm stoked that the video was able to answer all your questions. If you have any more, feel free to drop them in the comments! Cheers, Hibbity.

[@kosterix123]

Level 81 for player/8 on Nightmare is about the max. clvl 82, 83 you have too much penalty. As for hell, good luck with that solo - you'd have to defeat baal first on hell and by that time you're probably 94.

[@WarTh3ory]

Hey, Kosterix. A few important things. "You are 94 when you kill Hell Baal" 1) The avg. player is killing Hell Baal between 60 - 70; especially veterans and speed runners. 2) If playing online and with a group, in Softcore, many will get to Hell Baal in their 50's, and do this in around 2 hours. For us in Hardcore, we do this around upper level 50 or low 60's, and complete this in ~3 hours. 3) Even playing solo, and offline, using myself as an example in Hardcore, I am killing Baal in my 70's in Hell. TZs for Nightmare vs. TZs for Hell 1) Yes, this video is not a one-sized fits all, and was primarily focused on the race to 99 with majority of folks doing this online and in group play 2) If you need to down-throttle, and shift to Nightmare TZs you can certainly do so; but majority do not - especially those power (speed running) to 99 3) If you are playing online, and in group play, you are generally (typically) Chaos & Baaling from 60 to 93 assuming the current TZ option is unappealing; this is standard. From 94 onward, especially at 95, you now hit a maximum point of experience penalty dilution (in non-tz zones), and this is empirically why you should now exclusively be focusing on Hell TZs as the data showcased. 4) Many have empirically tested this and aligned that 94 is the target point, but you could begin TZs slightly earlier if you preferred. 5) If you are once again taking an offline solo play point of reference, there is value doing certain NM TZs (e.g., Chaos) where if you are around clvl 70 to clvl 80, yes, you can net more XP vs. /Players1 Non-TZ & TZ Hell Chaos, but this dramatically slows at clvl80. This is also assuming a perfect world scenario where you need the Chaos TZ to rotate accordingly which as we know is completely randomized. See example Chaos Data below for helpful context: NM TZ CS P8: XP per run clvl 70: 60,439,402 clvl 75: 47,406,993 clvl 80: 18,785,099 clvl 85: 1,177,443 Hell CS P1: XP per run clvl 70: 22,277,066 clvl 75: 17,999,071 clvl 80: 12,938,447 clvl 85: 7,095,266 Hell TZ CS P1: XP per run clvl 70: 27,772,852 clvl 75: 22,439,356 clvl 80: 16,130,270 clvl 85: 9,105,556 In the end, a handful of folks like RoneEye, and others who have made experience calculators all take a very similar approach to maximizing CBaals until shifting into TZs. The reason folks are hitting 99 in 3-6 days is because of this exact framework. Cheers, War

[@kosterix123]

@@WarTh3ory this is why I rarely comment on such videos. Posters live in a bubble where everyone they know is a veteran speedrunner. I'm just a normal dude and play offline on a switch lite. I got one character halfway act 2 in hell (stumbled over a ber in maggot). It's just very exhausting. that said, I believe the numbers, that seem to suggest stop doing NM TZ beyond clvl 75 but when I take into account that everything around keeps melting nicely whereas every step in p1 hell is deadly, I don't regret doing TZ. And I found dwarf stars, stone of jordan just the same. Very different bubbles, I respect yours, just know that there are other skill levels 🙂

[@WarTh3ory]

​@@kosterix123 Never be shy about posting by the way! I love community engagement and value different perspective. My comment was not meant to be condescending in anyway - I just wanted to provide more context in to my frame of reference. And I do agree with you per the data example that there are going to be instances where doing /P8 TZs in NM do make sense. In the end, it is all about what is your core objective: Experience or Item Hunting. From there, it is about Speed (Clearing Efficiency). If doing NM > Hell is more optimal based on your current setup, then 100% focus there until you increase your force multiplier. Once comfortable, you can safely transition. Stay frosty, Kosterix - you got this

[@kosterix123]

@@WarTh3ory it's cool. My objective was NM maxing - I played on hell on d2 battlenet online and didn't like it. I'm more playing for fun and loot.

[@Jaylaz]

Nice to see it on a graph mate well done, boy it's massive!

[@WarTh3ory]

Now the world knows...if you ignore it, that is on you! Cheers Stryker.

[@JesusRodriguez-zc2bg]

I lovev terror zones there so much fun

[@WarTh3ory]

They certainly changed the game and dynamics in a big way! Cheers, Jesus.

[@dire_prism]

Fallen are a lot faster to kill than venom lords too. Terrorized zones that are a good match for your character are optimal already at lvl 83, possibly earlier.

[@WarTh3ory]

For sure, Dire. Depending on the Area to mlvl ratio vs. your clvl - you can balance against the general experience penalty. Really depends on what is being TZd. The data and evidence were very conclusive that at clvl94 you want to ensure you are doing permanent TZs if your objective is to power level. You can speed farm elite packs and you are golden. Cheers. and thanks for watching.

[@MapHKid]

Cool vid, very clear graphs. I'm just not sure I understood the % differentials, and how they are calculated. That line with level 95 4.6mil vs 144k kills, how do we get to 187.8% gap?

[@WarTh3ory]

Hey, MapHKid, from a fundamental statistics perspective PDiff (% Differential) vs. PChance (% Change) is a more accurate framework to determine true difference. I made a speaking error in the video, which is likely what you are referring to as I alluded to my calculations being PChance; that was just a speaking error. The formula is below: V1 - V2 / (V1+V2)/2 (x) 100 To use your example: V1 = 4,600,000 V2 = 144,000 (4,600,000-144,000) / (4,600,000+144,000)/2 (x) 100 = 187% www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/algebra/percent-difference-calculator.php Cheers!

[@MapHKid]

@@WarTh3ory thanks for clarifying, I knew this value had to make sense somehow! Statistics course dates back at least 10 years for me lol

[@WarTh3ory]

@@MapHKid All good, friend! Some of this content can be dense, and I try to make it as digestible/layman as possible when I can.

[@SlimStarCraft]

this was really helpful thank you

[@WarTh3ory]

You got it, Slim! Thanks for watching.

[@glennsmetaniuk2590]

Holy shit. What a great resource here. 10/10

[@WarTh3ory]

Cheers, Glenn - thanks for watching and the feedback. Stay Frosty.

[@MasterRonin67]

Thanks for laying this out in plain speak. Keep up the great analysis.

[@WarTh3ory]

Thank you, Peter, for watching and the support. Cheers!

[@kyleaschaber]

great video. love the numbers work done

[@WarTh3ory]

Appreciate that, Kyle. Always try my best to provide transparency and keep it as layman as possible. But sometimes it does require doing clicks deeper.

[@MrZymcio]

Hey i was looking for that i am glad you made it :)

[@WarTh3ory]

Love it Zymcio; glad you found it helpful, and thanks for watching.

[@TyrantKingFrost]

Nice video and wonderfully explained!

[@WarTh3ory]

Glad you liked it! Good to see you back on another video Frost.

[@leobovine]

Awesome video

[@WarTh3ory]

Awesome viewers like you make it all worth it!

[@stevendibble5739]

Great vid tks 🙌

[@WarTh3ory]

Glad you enjoyed it, Steven - my pleasure. Cheers.

[@krispurcell3375]

Nice content dude!

[@WarTh3ory]

Thank you Kris! You know I always try to bring the heat.

[@NuStiuFrate]

I can't even remember the last time i reached 94 on a char before i made a new one but have a useless comment to help out!

[@WarTh3ory]

For many that want to loot grind, getting to 91 is really your core target. But 99 is far more accessible now, thanks to Terror Zones. But hey, maybe you give it a go Nu! Cheers.

[@seanie99511]

Good thing I stop at lvl 93 for crafting amulets.

[@WarTh3ory]

TZ's really changed the game on crafting to your point. Because of Terror Zones now, you need to be clvl91 to get base Amulet drops from white monsters that would then be ilvl93. Of course, if they fall from Elites, you can technically be a lower level. Enables you to technically start crafting amulets earlier at clvl91 vs. waiting until clvl93. Cheers, Sean.