Group Experience META

We already have a guide on how experience works and how to farm it effectively here. In this article, we talk about the 4-Player most effective tactic available (META) for experience (exp) farming. The only real way to farm experience efficiently is in groups:

Group experience META's for Greater Rifts generally include great synergies that exceed normal support buffs.

With the high powercreep over the years players can crush high Greater Rifts with ease. We recommend running the standard 4-Player Push META and farm Greater Rifts 150 to get experience. Each completed Rift grants around 1.150 trillion experience with permanent Pools from Mirror. Coordinated groups can run these in just a few minutes, resulting in insane experience per hour!

In double support setups, the most played choices are zBarb and zDH for a strong combination of pulling ability & damage, toughness and utility buffs. Without a Barbarian in the group, a zMonk with Cyclone Strike or a zDH with Natalya's Vengeance (4) Bonus can be used to pull enemies together.

Instead of running a coordinated high-end team, you can also combine fast low GR speedfarming builds with a support or two and just rush through GRs in 1-2min.

This is the most figured out META, traditionally consisting of 2 LoD Mage Necromancers as Damage Dealers, a zNec and a zBarb. The runs are extremely fast and while it might not be the best EXP/hour it will clear way more rifts than 150 META runs, which means more loot and gem upgrades. After a long reign in past seasons, Rat Necros have slowly fallen off and can be replaced by other fast moving DPS builds but the general concept and gameplay remains the same.

The zNec leads the group, cursing every monster with Briggs' Wrath and applying the Critical Hit Chance debuffs from Brittle Touch on the enemies. They also freeze everything with Land of the Dead Frozen Lands to proc Krysbin’s Sentence and protect the damage dealers. The zBarb adds buffs, scouts and picks up the Health and Progression Globes as soon as possible! The most important buff to keep up is the crowd control immunity from Ignore Pain Mob Rule. The damage Necromancers stay close to slain enemies to get Essence back from Devouring Aura. Finally, they summon fully powered Skeletal Mage Singularity onto the Elites by hovering the cursor over them for focused damage.

At very high Paragon you can drop the zBarb completely and get a zDH in. That way the Necromancers get even more damage from Odyssey's End and Companion Wolf Companion. The tradeoff is the Necromancers can die very easily now without Ignore Pain and War Cry. This setup is only recommended for very experienced players. For 99% of players, however, we strongly recommend playing with a zBarb.

Despite what the name implies, "Rat Runs" don't always have the actual "Rat Necro" (aka LoD Mage Necro) in them. It is possible to mix in some other damage dealers without un-ratting the run. The important part is that you have zNecro in the team and you just mindlessly blast through the rift in under 2 minutes while everything is frozen. If it looks like a Rat Run, swims like a Rat Run and quacks like a Rat Run, then it's probably a Rat Run. Similar group compositions can also be played with other extremely fast moving builds such as:

In the end, there are plenty of ways to farm experience in Diablo 3. You can just group up with some friends and do Speed Great Rifts with almost any class and build. Pick whatever you enjoy!
Here are a few more general tips on how to build your group setup:

As you can see above, there has been one constant META since the Rise of the Necromancer release: Rat Runs! The Legacy of Dreams "Rat" Skeletal Mage Necromancers with their insane clear speed still stand strong and are just slightly behind but provide an excellent transition into high Great Rift Pushing as Bones of Rathma Army of the Dead RGK Necromancer and Grace of Inarius Death Nova Trash Killer Necromancer.

There are plenty of options to farm experience efficiently in groups. Always communicate with your teammates to optimize Greater Rift times, Pool of Reflection uptime and town rotations. The current seasonal theme has probably the biggest impact ever on almost any build in Diablo 3 and certainly on the amount of experience points per hour. If you ever wanted a high Paragon Level this is the Season to do it. Happy farming!