Need help with Act 1 speed run

It always takes me 1 hour to run Act 1. I have no illusion of doing it in 15 minutes like the YouTubers, or 30 minutes like some of the posters here, but I'd at least like to get it down to 45 minutes. Learning how to do Act 1 faster will help me shave time off the other Acts. I'll share the things I'm doing right, then the things YouTubers do that I can't.

I'm using Exile Leveling on Github, with my build loaded, and with extra tips added to the Guide from watching YouTube videos on speed running. I use it to know the routes to follow, which gems to purchase and take as rewards, and the passive skills I need (no need to think about it). I don't attack monsters unless there is a large mob (for XP) or they're fast and hurty like Mud Flats Rhoas. I use two Quicksilvers and Shield Bash to speed up (although my timing could be better). My hotkeys are set up effectively for me.

The YouTubers appear to memorize all the routes, gems to take, etc. but I can't do that. They can adjust their inventory and socket gems while traveling but I can't do that, either. They also seem to just click on everything faster (it takes them 1 second to find the gem they need while I still have to hover and read their names more slowly until I find the one I need). They use Regex to shop at vendors, which I haven't learned how to do, but are they really saving entire minutes by doing that?

Just like me, YouTubers go down dead ends, get surrounded by monsters they have to kill before moving on, etc. So can they really cut their time in half by being so fast and efficient that every second saved makes that much difference? Is there a tip you have that doesn't require flash memory, multi-tasking, or fast reflexes (I'm 50+ years old) that can help me shave 15 minutes off my time?

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Andy3k#6559 wrote:

The YouTubers appear to memorize all the routes, gems to take, etc. but I can't do that. They can adjust their inventory and socket gems while traveling but I can't do that, either. They also seem to just click on everything faster (it takes them 1 second to find the gem they need while I still have to hover and read their names more slowly until I find the one I need). They use Regex to shop at vendors, which I haven't learned how to do, but are they really saving entire minutes by doing that?

I guess the do save time by doing this. If you memorize where your goal (boss, labyrinth, etc.) might be, you can avoid unnecessary dead ends and save minutes. If you spend less time in town when getting rewards and buying anything, you save time as well.

About the question itself: I believe most youtubers have cheat sheets for regex, gem options, etc. You can make them yourself and use them in your runs.

Starting with the Regex, you'll probably need PoE Regex tool to automatically build regex you'll need. What you need in act 1 is boots with "#% increased movement speed", a 3-link for better damage and some attributes if you need any. When you visit town you can re-check vendors if you haven't got all the items. I believe many leveling guides already include a list of items you need to get from vendors and you can use it.

Moving to the routing: Exile Leveling for Act 1 is optimized well,only thing you may want to add is more hints to the route (where approximately are the quest goals, how to avoid dead ends, other details). I have very little good hints for act 1, so I'll use an example from the act two:



About the monsters: usually you don't want to fight large monsters. Good source of Xp is large packs of small monsters. Most leveling abilities can easily clear theese packs, which means you spend less time to get levels. Usually you want your level to be the same as the area level (or 1 level higher/lower).

If you have difficulties with finding necessary gems, there are two tips:
1. If you're trading with vendor for gems, you can utilize search box to quickly highlight necessary gem. It's the box where youtubers put theirs regex. You can simply put the name of this gem in quotations and it'll work. For example, "Shield Charge" will highlight a Shield Charge gem, which is a movement ability you use in your runs.
2. If you get your reward from quest and have difficulties with finding one specific gem, you can search for it's image instead. Their images are all different and often represent what the gem actually does. For example, lesser multiple projectiles support looks like a circle with three arrows pointing out of its center, which replicates your projectile attaks/spells supported by it. Don't be afraid to add images of all gems you want to get from quests in your cheat sheets, that'll make your runs much easier.

I hope this will help you to get better time in act 1.

Thank you for your reply, Nickname. Exile Leveling is the only cheat sheet I need for Act 1 because it has everything in it except the Regex. Your tips for where to start with Regex are good ... I'll look into it further. Like I said in my description, I have additional tips added to Exile Leveling to move around Act 1 as efficiently as possible. I already know to ignore large monsters and Rares because they are harder to kill, but thanks for the reminder since I may occasionally forget. The YouTubers say to kill packs of blue monsters but I find that trying to kill blue packs slows me down noticeably. I don't pay attention to my char level in Act 1 because I usually only end up 1 skill point beyond my build guide plan for Act 1, but I pay more attention in later Acts. Worrying about my current level is an activity that would also slow me down. I may have overstated my difficulty at finding the gems I need; I meant that it takes me 2 or 3 seconds instead of the .5-1 seconds it seems to take YouTubers. I use the text search to find them faster. I don't loose more than 30 seconds total in Act 1 looking for the gems I need on the screen, it was just an example of how the YouTubers seem to do *everything* faster than me.

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Andy3k#6559 wrote:

it takes them 1 second to find the gem they need while I still have to hover and read their names more slowly until I find the one I need

Sorry. I think this line was very confusing for me. Now i feel bad because of this.

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Andy3k#6559 wrote:

Worrying about my current level is an activity that would also slow me down

If you end up having 1 more skill point than the guide, it's almost perfec, you won't need to pay more attention to this.

By the way, one thing i forgot is flask managing. I'm not sure if youtubers do this, but there is a good balance between just running through the areas and constantly killing monsters. If you kill just enough monsters to sustain your quicksilver flasks and run in the meanwhile, you'll save more time. On the other hand, if it takes too much time, you can skip this as well.