So, after some analysis, I think there remains a lot of room for improvements to sub-40 minutes. But we’re getting deep into the realm of divine RNG and I’ve yet to complete a full run using these methods.
The first major improvement lies in maxing your gold at level 1 and then using the golems, dragon, and stone giant around Harkyn’s castle. These creatures are easier to access than Ogre Lords and the 2x golems, 1x giant, and 1x dragon yields 11k xp in one round. The order to do these starts at the south end of Harkyn and proceeds clockwise – golem, stone giant, golem, dragon. Then by entering and leaving Harkyn’s, two stone golems can be repoped, this time to be taken in a counter-clockwise fashion.
One cycle with the grey dragon is ~11kXP, each 2x golem cycle thereafter is ~6kxp. This yields ~25k xp/min, significantly faster than Ogre Lords due to the shorter travel time on each repop cycle.
The downside is that the RNG is much harder than the Ogre Lords. The Grey Dragon has a 50% chance to breathe fire, and a 25% chance to attack you, both of which are always fatal until higher levels. The golems also hit much harder than Ogre Lords, so the odds of surviving a hit are very low. The upside is that the pathing and XPM is so much better that even if you die, you can use the temple near the guild to respawn with minimal penalty, and in some cases a slight advantage. A homebase respawn repops the stone giant and the grey dragon, letting you get a better first cycle on return. And, it lets you pass the adventurer’s guild to get a few levelups and more hitpoints to survive future hits.
The second major improvement is at Wiz 1 to combine the 9 wights in Catacombs 1 with a cycle around Harkyns. This is done by farming wights until you have no more spellpoints. Then bumping to Wiz 2, then after healing spellpoints, doing one cycle of Harkyns, then returning to wights. This takes additional advantage of the time spent traveling to heal mana.
A third improvement, but somewhat RNG dependent, happens at Wiz level 9. Wiz 5 through 11 are obtained through the spectre in the catacombs. At Wiz9, spellbind is unlocked, giving a 3/8 chance to spellbind the spectre. This allows you to leave Cats, heal up, level up to 10, and then immediately party attack the spectre as if you had summoned it at level 11, saving one trip down the catacombs. (I am unaware of how to force an aggro’d special slot creature to be peaceful, nothing seems to work except killing or replacing it).
The combination of the above, in addition to some minor optimal pathing improvements from my prior video, should take the time down to sub-40.
Want to push further? A fourth improvement, a minor RNG miracle, and a radical departure from the past approaches, is to start as a magician, level to 7 then go conjurer and level to 13/14 (may be worth the RNG benefit to get another level), do Harkyn/Kylearan to obtain the crystal sword, two silver items, and onyx key. Then go to Mangar to obtain the silver circle and… a mournblade! Put the mournblade on a level 1 hunter, and levelup to Magi 7 via Harkyns and then Wiz 1 to 30 with the hunter.
This has several interesting benefits, first, the time spent in Harkyns and Kylearan and Mangar is well utilized. A conjurer at 13/14 can do the run across Harkyns, Kylearan’s tower, and Mangar’s Circle just as efficiently as a Wiz 30. Assuming they make all of their flees…. which is a big assumption. The real kicker is the RNG to get the Mournblade, which is found on Mangar 2. The most consistent and easiest things to clear on Mangar 2 are the 99 hobits and the 3 bandersnatches and single creatures that try to join your group. Using teleports, the fixed fights can be cleared in succession, and the level reset by hopping down and back.
The upside to this approach is that you have a level drain object for the majority of the levels where you need it the most and get the most time advantage (Wiz 1 to 30). Your level 1 hunter will very rarely, if at all, critical hit. And even if he did, you have infinite gold anyway. You can level Wiz 1 to 11 without going into the catacombs, and 12 to 30 faster than summoned spectres via SPSP! The party attack steps are far less complex and less time consuming with a hunter, and there’s no need to refresh on spellpoints. So, assuming perfect RNG for the mournblade, you’re going to be pushing 37 minutes.
The downside is that the RNG involved is really, really low, and your conjurer has a relatively low mana pool and some flee luck is needed. Oh, and almost all fights on Mangar 2 are invariably fatal. Also, some extra time is spent in Mangar 2 getting the blade, and returning to the guild, and in returning to Mangar when going for the win, which adds up to maybe 1.5 minutes.