ilvl49 for killing andy, which has very lower chance of droping a ring than the quest. Andy Quest has an ilvl bonus, like all other norm and nm quests. Both drop rates and ilvl are affected, and this has been like this since the very first patch of this game cuz blizzard wanted to encourage full completion of the game. You still get the drop rate bonus for hell quests, but ilvl is unafected.

No.
No ilvl bonus. Neither on andy nor somewhere else.
Quest kills get a bonus to the magic lvl (magic rare set unique...) but not ilvl

Just do Nightmare Andarial runs for higher chance, IF, you want to carry on mf'ing SoJs, and Andy has not dropped one, then do this in the other areas in the same game before creating next game, the reason why is that only 1 SoJ will drop in a game, so if you get one from andy, there is no point hunting the other areas.

Did not read everything, but, did you ever think of NM cows as a chance?

NM cows = ilvl 64
and yeah, thats why some items are called unique, same rules apply to all not just sojs

No matter whos right here, killing a bugged andy every 2 mins (to avoid r/d) will never be rewarding as much as killing 300+ monsters every 2 mins
This build allows a full clear of the 4 levels of cata + regular andy kill in 2 mins, for an average of 18.6% chance to drop a unique ring
while your method has 1.42% chance of dropping a unique ring, but also require 2 characters/cdkeys
use that 2nd cdkey to have instead 2x my build?
The chances now doubles for the same amount of people used in 2nd method, which means its now 37.2% vs 1.42% chance per 2mins to drop a unique ring
Thats 26.2 times better/faster (and I calculated those number with the same MF%, while Im pretty sure your andy runner wont have close to 1000% mf like my build)

and thats only considering the unique ring drops, which is like the only purpose of running nm andy quest
while my guide allows a great quantity of drops of all sort like all the gg affixes more easily obtainable on scs, jewels, circs, but also an incredible amount of crafting materials (pameth/ruby, rand jewels, low runes)

Im used to run nm andy quest. But when I tried this new method of doing things, I realized how better that was.
So Im just sharing... You take or leave

I did not doubt your method
Just wanted to say quest drop does not affect ilvl. But you are right that it affects the quality of drops

This post was edited by Hell_of_Dammed on Jul 12 2017 10:41am

Interesting idea. Is there any reason to restrict the NM areas to the ones listed in a1? Boss packs in areas down to lvl 37 would have a decent shot of a drop, and you could certainly go into most of A2 without taking a shot at dwarf stars or ravenfrost. Places like Tombs, Tunnels, Claw Viper all have a lot of monsters in tight quarters.

I know that enemies in a2 have higher LR, but does it make enough of a kill speed difference to write it off? Or it is something about the TCs of Cata monsters that makes the difference?

Those area listed are my preference for a quick run that can be done in a straight line : tamoe highland, pit lvl 1-2, monastery gate, outer cloister, barracks, jail lvl 1-2-3, inner cloister, cathedral, catacombs lvl 1-2-3-4 + andy
only 1 wp used, 100% of the time is spent killing monsters (well actually picking items since the whole screen explodes every time you teleport forward)
Yes, like you said a2 could be done, and I tried, but I found out its not as effective... some monsters wont die from a single tick of your aura, the path between each area with required lvl is not as good either

and mmh, Im not sure I understood what you meant about boss packs in areas down to lvl37... just make sure the ilvl of your drops is 39 else it cant drop soj (well, unless you aim for different items, like lld stuff)

and mmh, Im not sure I understood what you meant about boss packs in areas down to lvl37... just make sure the ilvl of your drops is 39 else it cant drop soj (well, unless you aim for different items, like lld stuff)[/QUOTE]

Bosses in lvl 37 areas would have a higher ilvl drop. Hence the reason ilvl 87 drops in hell pits, which is alvl85

Bosses in lvl 37 areas would have a higher ilvl drop. Hence the reason ilvl 87 drops in hell pits, which is alvl85[/QUOTE]

Oh thats what you meant! Yeah I know... but dont waste your time farming lvl37 just for the bosses... theres many lvl39 areas, and quantity of monster killed (with ilvl39) is the only important factor

i might give this a shot

how important do you believe is this exact gear?

i was thinking about something easier to acquire/stuff that i have

for example: shako ist, gull/hoto, i dont have offensive skillers right now...

how much damage do i really need to oneshot stuff in nightmare? did you try leaving out the skillers for example?